Ghost in the Shell (2017) - In the near future, Major is the first of her kind: A human saved from a terrible crash, who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals.

The story was flat, but it looked nice. 2.5/5

I watched Boyhood this saturday, not much of a story, quite basic, the the story about the life of a boy and his family. It might get a little boring for some people and it's quite long. Having said that, i really enjoyed it throughout the whole film. Good acting. 4/5

myth of the american sleepover - 2.5/5 the first film by the director of 'it follows,' which i liked quite a bit. this has a lot of the same qualities - believable teenagers attempting to be at least somewhat cool - but i liked this a lot less. many of the scenes in this movie actually made me squirm (not in an enjoyable way) over the stilted, uncomfortable ways the kids interacted. realistic, i suppose, but i didn't have much fun watching it.

Deidra & Laney Rob A Train 4/5 This was so cute and refreshing different without being all weirdly over the top different.

damosuzuki said:

myth of the american sleepover - 2.5/5 the first film by the director of 'it follows,' which i liked quite a bit. this has a lot of the same qualities - believable teenagers attempting to be at least somewhat cool - but i liked this a lot less. many of the scenes in this movie actually made me squirm (not in an enjoyable way) over the stilted, uncomfortable ways the kids interacted. realistic, i suppose, but i didn't have much fun watching it.

^The people in that picture are too old to have a sleepover. At that age, it's called an "orgy".

RodeoSchro said:

damosuzuki said:

myth of the american sleepover - 2.5/5 the first film by the director of 'it follows,' which i liked quite a bit. this has a lot of the same qualities - believable teenagers attempting to be at least somewhat cool - but i liked this a lot less. many of the scenes in this movie actually made me squirm (not in an enjoyable way) over the stilted, uncomfortable ways the kids interacted. realistic, i suppose, but i didn't have much fun watching it.

^The people in that picture are too old to have a sleepover. At that age, it's called an "orgy".

surprisingly enough, it was a fairly clean movie. despite being more or less about teenagers chasing after other teenagers, you could almost describe it as chaste.

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i went to see get out for the 2nd time this afternoon. my sister wanted to see it, and i was interested to see how well it would hold up to another viewing. i think it played just as well, perfectly paced, genuinely creepy at times. the only real flaw in my eyes is that the reveal is more or less what i expected, and in that sense the movie didn't really surprise me, but that aside, i think it deserves all the praise it's received. 4.5/5

[Edited 4/5/17 18:46pm]

Star Wars: Rogue One (2016)

Confirms my opinion that it is a top-tier film in the franchise. Puts the Wars in Star Wars for sure. Like Episode V, this film has a beating heart. Plus, it also has the greatest Vader sequence ever.

.25

namepeace said:

Star Wars: Rogue One (2016)

Confirms my opinion that it is a top-tier film in the franchise. Puts the Wars in Star Wars for sure. Like Episode V, this film has a beating heart. Plus, it also has the greatest Vader sequence ever.

.25

i gave rogue one another look last week. i was fairly indifferent to it when i first saw it, & while i still didn't like it as much as you ( i'm with you on the end, which was ridiculously great, though), i have to admit it worked pretty decently on a second watch. my main sticking point is still finding all of the characters really blank & uninvolving, & that dulled the bite that the ending could have had for me.

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but i think this has enough detail & moving parts to make it a very 'rewatchable' movie, in contrast to the force awakens - 2nd and 3rd viewings of tfa really underscored how much of a retread it was. i don't really fault the makers for being conservative their first swing at bat, & i think they did give us fun, charismatic new characters, the quality i really felt was mia for R1, & that makes me pretty hopeful for the next installments.

embrace of the serpent - 4.5/5 two explorers, thirty years years apart, are guided through the amazon rainforest by the same shaman in search of a plant. a really singular, one of a kind experience, consistently brilliant to look at, filled with truly great images & some bizarre, surreal & confounding moments.

damosuzuki said:

embrace of the serpent - 4.5/5 two explorers, thirty years years apart, are guided through the amazon rainforest by the same shaman in search of a plant. a really singular, one of a kind experience, consistently brilliant to look at, filled with truly great images & some bizarre, surreal & confounding moments.

Love this movie. 9/10 for me

I Know Where I'm Going! (1945) Joan Webster is an ambitious and stubborn middle-class English woman determined to move forward since her childhood. She meets her father in a fancy restaurant to tell him that she will marry the wealthy middle-aged industrial Robert Bellinger in Kiloran island, in the Hebrides Islands, Scotland. She travels from Manchester to the island of Mull, where she stays trapped due to the windy weather. Whilst on the island, she meets Torquil McNeil and as the days go by they fall in love with each other.

Delightful, whimsical opposites attract story that doesn't seem to me the masterpiece its lovers claim it to be. Perhaps I need another viewing, but I liked it a lot. 8/10

Full of Grace (2015)

A heartfelt, emotionally vivid imagining of the Virgin Mary's last days. Seen as a mother to Peter and the disciples, she provides comfort and counsel to them as they wrestle with questions surrounding the growing Church. They are the same questions we grapple with today in some ways, so Mary, with the aid of well written dialogue, is in a way speaking to the audience. Verged on maudlin but never crossed that line.

.25

fitzcarraldo - 4/5 just a bit too long & a bit too plodding in places for me to give it the kind of unconditional love i felt for the other herzog films i've watched recently. it's still an absolutely mental, absurd testimony to missplaced ambition & miserable failure. and where else are you going to see a huge boat hauled up a mountain. i never really would have said that's something i needed to see in a movie, but i'm glad that i did.

your name 4/5 this is the rare time where i think it's worth seeing an english dubbed version of a foreign movie, for the simple reason that it gives you more time to admire the really great animation on display. starts out as a seemingly somewhat goofy body-swap comedy, but develops into something that has a bit of an emotional bite.

damosuzuki said:

sexton said:

Oh dear. I've had this movie on my shelf for awhile and never found the time to watch it. Maybe this could be one of those Loneliest Planet-type cases.

i am genuinely curious to hear what you'll have to say about it if/when you do get around to it. i'm really still open to liking it at some point, funnily enough. i can't see myself ever watching it at home again, but if it ever showed up on a big screen as part of a restrospective or something like that, i would absolutely give it another try. i do think movies that might land with a thud at one time or another will 'click' if your neurons are firing in just the right way, and i really could see this being one of those. i can't completely dismiss it because so many of the elements that tend to get my motor running are in place.

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but i'm staunch on this point: you couldn't pay me to watch the loneliest planet again.

[Edited 3/13/17 15:28pm]

I had to open my mouth...turns out 'the man who fell to earth' is playing for three nights at our local art-house theatre in June. it's showing as part of our jazz festival - quite what its connection to jazz is escapes me, but there you go. i guess i'll be a man of my word & do a follow-up in late june.

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but the big news is that 'the lure' is going to be playing here for a week & change in early june. i actually gave a little very atypical fist pump when i saw that.

damosuzuki said:

damosuzuki said:

i am genuinely curious to hear what you'll have to say about it if/when you do get around to it. i'm really still open to liking it at some point, funnily enough. i can't see myself ever watching it at home again, but if it ever showed up on a big screen as part of a restrospective or something like that, i would absolutely give it another try. i do think movies that might land with a thud at one time or another will 'click' if your neurons are firing in just the right way, and i really could see this being one of those. i can't completely dismiss it because so many of the elements that tend to get my motor running are in place.

.

but i'm staunch on this point: you couldn't pay me to watch the loneliest planet again.

[Edited 3/13/17 15:28pm]

I had to open my mouth...turns out 'the man who fell to earth' is playing for three nights at our local art-house theatre in June. it's showing as part of our jazz festival - quite what its connection to jazz is escapes me, but there you go. i guess i'll be a man of my word & do a follow-up in late june.

.

but the big news is that 'the lure' is going to be playing here for a week & change in early june. i actually gave a little very atypical fist pump when i saw that.

I just bought a new giant-size TV so maybe it's time for me to finally watch The Man Who Fell To Earth Blu-ray.

There is a rumor that The Lure will get a Criterion Blu-ray release later this year. If true then

Great movie! Those Kinski/Herzog collaborations are ALL very, very slow and plodding, I agree but in my opinion that slow tempo is part of the charm.

They really moved that ship up the mountains for that film.

One of my favorite Herzog/Kinski movies...but they are all great.

damosuzuki said:

fitzcarraldo - 4/5 just a bit too long & a bit too plodding in places for me to give it the kind of unconditional love i felt for the other herzog films i've watched recently. it's still an absolutely mental, absurd testimony to missplaced ambition & miserable failure. and where else are you going to see a huge boat hauled up a mountain. i never really would have said that's something i needed to see in a movie, but i'm glad that i did.

This one was a pleasant surprise. I still have mixed feelings about Mel Gibson as a person but, just like with Polanski and Woody Allen, I try to separate the man from the artist and this film was really enjoyable. It´s another Gibson film where a father tries to protect his daughter from gangsters but the action scenes and chases are superb and made me think that Gibson should have been in Mad Max Fury Road (though I know that the action in Fury Road was a whole different level).

I also liked the desert setting and the visuals and colors in this movie.

Really nice movie that kind of fell under the radar.

This one is an absolute must-see movie, not just for fans of the zombie genre. It´s about so much more than just zombies.

Also make sure to watch the interviews if you watch the bonus material on the DVD.

Really great movie, made with a very small budget, and very good considering it´s just the third film of the director. Great effects, pretty much no CGI (or very little), great acting and great action scenes.

Five out of five stars.

KoolEaze said:

Great movie! Those Kinski/Herzog collaborations are ALL very, very slow and plodding, I agree but in my opinion that slow tempo is part of the charm.

They really moved that ship up the mountains for that film.

One of my favorite Herzog/Kinski movies...but they are all great.

damosuzuki said:

fitzcarraldo - 4/5 just a bit too long & a bit too plodding in places for me to give it the kind of unconditional love i felt for the other herzog films i've watched recently. it's still an absolutely mental, absurd testimony to missplaced ambition & miserable failure. and where else are you going to see a huge boat hauled up a mountain. i never really would have said that's something i needed to see in a movie, but i'm glad that i did.

i think aguirre is one of the most perfect movies i've ever seen. i loved it so much, i watched it a 2nd time immediately after my first viewing. and i think the non-kinski stroszek & kaspar hauser are just as great. i'd rank all three among the best movies i've ever seen for sure. & you're right, they do take their time, they have odd tangents, & i think that's part of what makes them work so well. I just didn't quite latch on to the flow of fitzcarraldo; filled with great moments for sure, unforgettable images, but overallit felt just a little too long, a little too loose, so right now i just can't quite rate it that highly.

KoolEaze said:

This one is an absolute must-see movie, not just for fans of the zombie genre. It´s about so much more than just zombies.

Also make sure to watch the interviews if you watch the bonus material on the DVD.

Really great movie, made with a very small budget, and very good considering it´s just the third film of the director. Great effects, pretty much no CGI (or very little), great acting and great action scenes.

Five out of five stars.

i loved that one too, and i agree that it's a great watch for people who ordinarly wouldn't go for films like that.

The Fate of the Furious (2017) I really enjoyed this film.....lots of action, funny one liners, special effects and great locations. Watch it on the big screen and I give it a 4 out of 5

Goddess4Real said:

Threads (1984) 5/5

Although undoubtedly dated (and very British - I'd be interested to see what someone across the pond thinks) this is essential viewing given the political state of the world right now.

Tensions have built between the Middle East and the West and Russia has become involved (sound familiar?). Many threats are made until threats no longer carry any weight and the button is pressed for a nuclear attack on Britain. The film/drama is about the lead up to the button being pressed and the fallout afterwards. It is very well researched and, I believe, not far from the truth of how life would be following a nuclear attack. It makes shocking and thought provoking viewing. Honestly, it was refreshing to see a film like this with no apocolypic zombies or anything other than how Britain might be following a nuclear attack. It mainly focuses on Sheffield which is a mining town, rather than the obvious choice of London.

There are faults with it, as there are with everything, but the basic message of the film, the fact that it really gets you talking about what would happen if war started, any war - not just nuclear war, and the fact it shows you the reality of the damage a nuclear warhead can do (there are many, many professors listed in the credits), makes this a gritty and powerful watch that affected me in a way I didn't expect. Recommended.

Coraline (2009) - An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.

I rewatched this to test my 3D TV. I hadn't seen it since it was at the cinemas. It still looks great. 4.5/5

[Edited 4/17/17 14:30pm]

maplenpg said:

Threads (1984) 5/5

Although undoubtedly dated (and very British - I'd be interested to see what someone across the pond thinks) this is essential viewing given the political state of the world right now.

Tensions have built between the Middle East and the West and Russia has become involved (sound familiar?). Many threats are made until threats no longer carry any weight and the button is pressed for a nuclear attack on Britain. The film/drama is about the lead up to the button being pressed and the fallout afterwards. It is very well researched and, I believe, not far from the truth of how life would be following a nuclear attack. It makes shocking and thought provoking viewing. Honestly, it was refreshing to see a film like this with no apocolypic zombies or anything other than how Britain might be following a nuclear attack. It mainly focuses on Sheffield which is a mining town, rather than the obvious choice of London.

There are faults with it, as there are with everything, but the basic message of the film, the fact that it really gets you talking about what would happen if war started, any war - not just nuclear war, and the fact it shows you the reality of the damage a nuclear warhead can do (there are many, many professors listed in the credits), makes this a gritty and powerful watch that affected me in a way I didn't expect. Recommended.

i went through a little phase about 7 or 8 years ago and watched i don't know how many post-nuclear armaggedon films, and i would definitely rate threads as one of the best. it's pretty much the single most bleak, unrelentingly grim film i've ever seen, & definitely superior to 'the day after,' the us tv movie that came out around the same time.

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testament is another 80s era post nuclear war film that i thought was very good, and unique in that it focused on a family in a small community & the impact on them in the immediate aftermath of a nuclear attack.

the cat from outer space - 3/5 i planned on watching 'the handmaiden' again yesterday afternoon, but the first thing that popped up on hoopla when i went to 'borrow' it was 'the cat from outer space.'

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when i was 9 years old, not only did i make my sisters take me to the cat from outer space, i read the novelization more than once. time makes fools of us all, i suppose. anyway, this movie is not an unheralded classic or anything, but it has it's charming moments.

[Edited 4/17/17 17:49pm]

damosuzuki said:

sexton said:

Words And Music beats the U.K. Lipslide for me, but the U.S. release replaces some of the weaker album tracks with some excellent b-sides so that's why it's my favorite.

The band announced a new album this week. http://www.saintetienne.c...gory/news/

i noticed the other day that a new song popped up on their youtube channel. i am a touch indifferent to the new track right now, but it's nice to have a new album to look forward to.

I kind of felt the same way about the first song "Heather". The second song leaked, "Magpie Eyes" I like a lot more.