Entertainment For Lively Minds
Films that make you go 'Eh?'
Posted by Niks on 17 March 2008 - 11:57am.
I went to see a new print of Bertolucci's The Conformist with some freinds last night. We'de chosen the film partly because one of my freinds is Italian and wanted to see a film in Italian and partly because all the reviews on Rottentomatoes.com seemed to suggest it is just about the best film ever made.
Whilst there were one or two interesting scenes, we were largely baffled by the whole thing. Now I love European cinema, old movies, surrealism and bleak cinematography as much as the next man but I was just left wondering if I'd spectaculalry missed the point.
When was the last time you were left feeling a bit thick after watching a supposedly classic film?
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The Shining
This scene just blew the film wide open.
After abit of browsing on the internet, found out it's some reference to the book regarding former residents from the hotels glory days.
The book, from which the film is adapted,
is one of the better things Stephen King has done, and is well worth a read on a long flight.
Equally, "The Stand" by the same author is a good holiday read, but I have my doubts about the film adaptation of that one.
Where to start
The Player
Clockwork Orange
Moulin Rouge
All 3 i thought were Totally overrated and about 7 hours of my life i'll never get back.
Last Year in Marienbad
Saw it in virtually alone at a Brighton Duke of Yorks in late 80s.
Doesn't it go on and on. No idea what its about whatsoever.
For once I used common sense
I rented it. Watched two minutes of it and gave up. Already it was repetitive, pretentious and boring. I thought it was safe to assume it wasn't going to pick up and get better so I was only too happy to give it up unwatched.
Into The Wild...
a profound meditation upon a man's rejection of the mores of straight society, or a confused, zzzzz-inducing snoozefest? I go with the latter.
Sean Penn is the anti-Christ of enjoyable movies
If he directed, then you know it's gonna be bad.
Carlito's Way is the only good movie he ever made as an actor.
The Secretary
Whisky, Tango, Foxtrot?
I'd like to second...
The Secretary. Did not get it at all. I think it was supposed to be sexy, but it wasn't, and I'm a Maggie Gyllenhaal fan. Perhaps I was to innocent and naive and missed some kind of subtext...
Nope.
It was crap.
Secretary is bloody marvellous
There, that's told you.
Seriously, despite its ostensibly tawdry plot and the dodgy posters, I found this a thoughtful and psychologically plausible tale of two damaged people hooking up, acting out some of their neuroses, and despite/because of this finding a deep connection. It doesn't hinder anything that Maggie Gylenhaal and James Spader are so brilliant in their performances; or that the film is so funny in places. I defy anyone not to laugh when Maggie gamely clamps a carrot between her teeth.
Maggie G is right up there - have a look at her gut-wrenching turn in Sherry Baby for further evidence.
Agree to disagree.
Not enough happens, and what does happen, happens too slowly. Neither of the main characters elicited any sympathy from me, rendering their eventual togetherness something of a damp squib dénouement. Spader's familiar moon-faced emotional cripple left me unmoved, and Ms G's wasted as the irritatingly torpid yet unfathomably devoted eponymous note taker. I just wanted to shout at them both and tell them to get over whatever it was had reduced them to this level of helplessness. There is the odd laugh, I'll allow, but for me every snort simply emphasised the overall atmosphere of hopeless triviality.
Secretary is a lot better than The Piano Teacher
You want a bad S&M movie, try The Piano Teacher. It's super deluxe boring and is so cold and remote and detached from its characters that it's completely empty. An awful movie. Looks deep on the surface, but it's all surface.
The New World
Terence Malick is, I gather, a well-respected film-maker, but this film left me cold... no, that's not true, I actually spent the next couple of hours ranting about how useless it was to the friends who'd seen it with me, and I gather I rather spoiled the memory of it for them.
Misery loves company, and so, it seems, does bewildered resentment.
Two more that come to mind
The Conformist - I simply had no idea what was happening. The lesbian dance and the chase through the forest away from the car are the only bits that I enjoyed.
The Man Who Fell To Earth - boring, tiresome movie. I forced myself to watch it over several days. No idea why I bothered.
Don't Look Now - pointless, aimless and overlong.