I'm gonna get in the habit of posting a topic at the beginning of each month dealing solely with what we've recently watched. For me, one of the most interesting things is learning what other people are catching up with on DVD or which classics that they're seeing for the first time.
I'm gonna start that here. So feel free to kick in with whatever you've watched in theaters, on TV, on DVD, whatever. There are no restrictions.
Also, I'm just a little disappointed that it seems like the conversation on the site has come to a standstill. I have no problems being responsible for the main page, but I figured the comments section would be where the real heart of this site was as we could debate back-and-forth on topics. The last three posts have a grand total of 10 replies. The post before that had 11 all by itself. I dunno. C'mon guys, let's show that movie passion.
22 comments:
Yeah...I'll apologize for not posting much recently...I'll get around to the last Top 7 posting by tomorrow. In the meantime, I hate to admit that I haven't watched a whole lot lately.
I did manage to sneak in a viewing of 28 Weeks Later a couple of days ago. Very surprised. It was quite excellent. It's very different from the first film in some big ways...but the overall feel of it is similar enough that it certainly a part of the world that Danny Boyle created. It has some problems. It uses the shaky-cam technique a bit too much. I understand the realism aspect it was shooting for...but it eventually becomes nauseating. There's also a certain "infected" that seems to be almost hunting our heroes...which is bothersome given the fact that he is more or less a zombie. It never becomes ridiculous, but it did kinda bug me.
Other than that though, it was a very solid entry into a shaky genre. I'd say it's not a better film than the first...but it is more enjoyable. I'd probably watch it more often than 28 Days Later. Just for that helicopter scene....god...that was fantastic.
In more exciting news...in several days...I will finally get Lady Vengeance from Netflix. Been waiting for quite awhile to get to this one. I love Oldboy...and this is supposed to be even better...so I'll update once I've had the chance to watch it. (and no damn spoilers from those who have seen it)
I would pretty much echo pengin sentiments about 28 Weeks Later. I loved it. I thought the opening was fantastic and really sucks you in. It has some dumb parts, namely lead zombie hunting down group throughout, but overall, very worthy sequel. I need to check out Intacto to see Fresnadillo's other film to see if it matched up.
Saw Deliver Us from Evil. Should have won best Documentary. Excellent. Very well done, and a most intriguing topic. Makes me hate the Catholic church that much more.
Been catching up on my Woody Allen. Just saw Manhattan. I think this may be one of my faves after Annie Hall and Crimes/Misdemeanors. Very sincere and honest portrayal of relationships and age differences. Also pretty funny naturally.
Little Children was terrific. I think Jackie Earle Haley should have won the Oscar over Arkin, whom I loved too. I wish this movie got more recognition during the awards season. I loved the narration. Felt just like a story. Very American Beauty like, which I know will cause one poster here to rent it now.
For your Consideration was okay. Disappointing I guess. Had some great moments, but wasn't focused enough. Great idea, but execution was a little off.
I also loved Fast Food Nation. I still eat fast food, so perhaps it wasn't a good film if it didn't effect me enough, but I though it did a great job incorporating all the aspects of it. Well acted and directed. Great humor, in a I-cant- believe-this-is-happening-kind-of- way.
Also watched all the Naked Guns again. Loved the first one. Second one kinda sucks. Third one was much better, but still not as good as the first one.
Now I'm going to participate in Filmspotting film noir marathon. Up first...Double Indemnity.
When I first heard about 28 Weeks Later, I thought for sure that it was a film I'd never see. Didn't have Danny Boyle. Didn't have Cillian Murphy. Didn't have Brendan Gleeson.
So of course I saw it on opening day.
And now I gotta go and agree with both you guys about it. Totally unexpected, but I thought it was a really solid film with a couple of great ideas for continuing the story, a memorable opening sequence and the guts to slaughter off major characters along the way. On top of which, it took some of the best parts of 28 Days Later - namely the emptiness of the city, and the musical tone - and continued with them.
Honestly, I think it's more solid on a whole than 28 Days Later was, because I feel like the ending of that film still falls apart and doesn't make all that much sense... but obviously it's not as innovative or, at least for a 'zombie film', as artistic. And it doesn't have that living-on-the-fly sensibility that Days does so well.
So, in the end, I place it... even. Which, for a movie I never wanted to see is kind of remarkable.
I'll be back on later to discuss some of the other movies you guys have mentioned, along with throwing in some thoughts on The Hoax and The Ex. Later.
Just finished Double Indemnity. Fantastic. Ive always considered myself a fan of film noir, but I don't really think Ive seen too many of them. This is probably the pinnacle of the genre, at least from what Ive seen. But it had all the conventions I know and love and it still surprised me. I was so smart in its plot, though one we've seen a dozen times since. But this one had smart characters making smart moves in there favor. No one is a dummy in this movie and thats what I loved. Fred MacMurray riddles off the dialog as if he is Bogie himself. The dialog itself has some of the best sentences ever uttered. Also it proves to me once and for all, that smoking does make you cooler. I'm convinced. Definitely check it out if you guys haven't.
Also saw the Ex. Great cast, but this movie clearly was made on the fly. You can just tell they don't know where they are going with anything, and you the audience just don't care either. Very disappointing to see this great cast wasted. But I did leave hysterically at one moment between Charles Grodin and his lamp. But otherwise, I hated the characters and it didn't make me laugh nearly enough.
I'm now also starting up on Battlestar Gallactica. Ive always heard how terrific it is, but never caught an episode. I bought the first season and watched the three hour miniseries last night. I was still blown away by how good it is. Great characters and drama. Really clever story. Terrific set pieces. Also very ballsy. Does things even Lost wouldn't do. Watch the miniseries. If you don't like it, don't go any further, but I beat you will.
Yeah, The Ex was a total waste, and the first sub-par effort I've seen from Zach Braff. Before this he was nearly batting 1000 with "Scrubs," The Last Kiss, Garden State and even his "Arrested Development" cameos were hilarious.
The Ex is so bad, it's a career-killer type of movie. If Zach had been a major star and made this type of movie, he would have had a Gigli-like fiasco on his hands. So I guess we can be thankful that he isn't all that popular yet, because I think he still has a chance to bounce back from this.
But c'mon, a Bateman and Braff combination and this is what they come up with? Some type of weird The Ringer-as-romantic-comedy-battle script? Awful. Just awful.
It's only not the worst movie I've seen this year because I also saw Because I Said So.
Haven't seen any of the Oldboy/Lady Vengeance trilogy. I know, I know... I should, but there's just so much to catch up on and I've only got so many hours to do it.
Manhattan I have seen. Same with Little Children. And I love both. Little Children lodged itself into my head though, so I think I'm gonna have to give that one the nod slightly. You're right to single out the voiceover. I've never seen a film that changes so dramatically because of it's voiceover. Without it, it's a standard drama. With it, it seems surreal, alien. And that's what gives it such a creepy, memorable vibe. Plus the actor's are terrific, Winslet and Haley especially. Manhattan I think I'd have to refresh my memory on before I really comment on it, but I remember liking it a little less than Annie Hall, but it still stands among Allen's best (in spite of the fact that even he didn't like it - maybe foreshadowing the fact that he can't really tell what works about his own material).
I'm gonna have to disagree slightly on Fast Food Nation. I think the movie would have probably worked better as a documentary (although hypothetically less commercial, with how uneventful Fast Food's box office was, maybe it'd have been more successful. And as a Michael Moore documentary it probably would have been considerably more successful). I don't want to rip this film though, because I enjoyed it, but I also wanted more from it. I wanted more of Kinnear and Hawke's characters and less of the Mexican storyline (although interesting it was starkly divergent from the other storylines and deserved it's own story, in a Maria Full of Grace-sort of way). Also, the freedom fighting kids were dull and anticlimatic. I dunno, it wasn't my favorite Linklater film.
I really want to follow along with the Filmspotting Noir Series too, so I'm gonna have to catch up with Double Indemnity soon and then I'll be able to really discuss it with you chachi.
And finally, The Hoax. I honestly think it's Lasse's best film (but I was only a moderate fan of Gilbert and his Oscar-nominee Chocolat everyone seems to hate). It's also among my favorite Richard Gere performances (again, not a fan). Somehow putting the two together for this Howard Hughes biopic just, well, worked. But I love films where characters find themselves in impossible situations and manage to talk themselves out of it - and that it's real only adds to the storyline. True, Gere's character is totally despicable. But damned if he didn't almost get away with the whole thing. Plus he gets played for a fool in the end. Bravo.
hmmm most of the stuff I have seen in the past month we have already talked about lol...today i did watch The Promise which i thought was pretty good...some of the scenes were really bad...especially the bull scene in the beginning, but when it is all explained a little the cheesy becomes ok and I didn't mind as much…I liked it enough that when it isn’t $20 I will probably buy it lol
as for Battlestar Galactica i LOVE that show =) my friend Jeremy sat me down and had me watch both season one and two like three weeks before season three started…I was hooked after the mini series...I thought I was going to hate it since most space TV shows bore me (not counting firefly) but I love this one =) I hate to break it to you TK...season four doesn’t start until 2008 *cries*
How have you not seen Oldboy Mulligan...My god man. Rent it. Although I still havent seen the other two vengence flicks, but Oldboy nearly won the Palme Dor, and probably should have. The twist will leave you so disturbed, plus the fights are so brilliantly choreographed and shot. I get goosebumps just thinking about the movie.
I've watched alot of DVDs, some stuff I missed in theaters (and for good reason) like Freedom Writers, the rest of Because I Said So and Catch and Release for a third time, but the most important thing is.
The Fountain came out on DVD.
I've seen it three times since.
I was so fucking disappointed that there wasn't a commentary, because I know it's probably hard for Aronofsky to talk about the picture since it was in development hell for so long and had to be completely renovated. There's a rather lengthy making of, but for how long it is it doesn't reveal a single damn thing about the movie. It shows the FX stuff and the beginning of the project back in '04 when they first went down to Mexico and Peru to do research, but that's it. It does show that Weisz has a potty mouth and that Hugh Jackman likes to raise his arms in victory a lot, but that's all. I wanted all the emotional stuff, I wanted to see how he went crazy and disappeared in China for almost a year and what he thought of Pitt leaving the project. Hopefully he'll release something later, I have no problem just watching the movie another twenty or thirty times.
I wish this blog existed when that movie came out, I would've written a rather lengthy post about what I felt and admired in the movie. It probably would have had to be broken down into chapters. I do have to say one thing though, seeing it on DVD didn't change anything for me. Ya know how watching a movie on DVD after seeing it in theaters kinda distances you from it? That didn't happen with The Fountain. It was just as involved and intense as the two times I saw it in theaters. It still makes me sick to my stomach and mind-numbingly happy at the same time.
Perhaps it's better that I try not to put feelings into words with The Fountain because I'll always feel that I haven't done it justice. I can barely explain the film without pausing mid sentence and thinking about how foolish I am trying to explain something like that.
I think it's the most influential movie we may ever watch in our lives and probably the most robbed and underappreciated film of all time.
As for 28 Weeks Later, I'm a zombie NUT. I really am. I have a dozen zombie movies, every zombie game, zombie comics and zombie shirts. I write about zombies. I read about zombies. I really do love them. So it baffles EVERYONE when I say that 28 Days Later has been stationed on my bottom #1 spot for my personally most hated movie of all time. I thought it looked bad, I thought it had no atmosphere, the violence was either not enough or too much, Cilian Murphy is the biggest douchebag I've ever seen on celluloid, and the characters had no depth whatsoever. It was the biggest disappointment, ever. Even with all thirty-seven of it's super special alternate endings.
So I knew in my heart I would hate 28 Weeks Later. Until I saw the trailer and they actually focused on a story intsead of showing three minutes worth of shots of an empty London. It looked great, looked like it had a perfect zombie atmosphere, the characters appeared to have some depth, THE WINK, I was all in.
By the Sons of Warvan. That movie was spectacular. I haven't actually been scared in a movie since...
....
Uh...
Hmm.
....
That part in Cape Fear where DeNiro runs across the lawn.
Anyway, I was actually really freaked out in this movie. The night vision scene in the escalators...F'in A Cotton, F'in A. Of course the helicopter scene was the most brilliantly executed thing ever (the arm bouncing off the ski? Genius). Most importantly though, the kids were kids. They weren't movie kids, they were real kids. They were scared and lucky, not brave and smart. And who didn't think Robert Carlyle was the scariest damn movie villain ever? I think he belongs in one of those Clive Barker and Todd McFarlane toy lines next to Michael Meyers and Leatherface.
I definitely echo myths sentiments about Fountain, for the most part. I think you maybe giving it a bit more credit than it deserves. Most influential movie ever? Doubt that, but I still loved it. Go ahead and make a post for it Myth. Express you love for it.
That said,...your still an idiot. I cant understand how anyone can absolutely loathe 28 Days Later, but think 28 Weeks was brilliant. I can understand preferring one over the other, but you drastically different reactions to these films puzzles me. I really think you need to watch the first one again. Perhaps your hatred for Cillian blinded you to some of the brilliant things in it. After all, what works so well in 28 Weeks, is a lot of the same things brought over from 28 Days,.. namely the music, camera technique, obviously what rules were laid down for the first are once again continued. It boggles my mind, that you continually disappoint me myth.
OK....I'm going to respond to everything and add some shit later on....but I just read this on IMDB...and it angered me to the point that I have to share with others...so that they may feel as angry to.
The classic British film "The Long Good Friday" starring everyone's favorite Smee/Mario Mario (and, I just learned was once a fire-eater in a circus....how fucking cool is that) Bob Hoskins, is going to be remade. Now...that in and of itself is a travesty....but just like a Discreeto Burrito...it can only get worse.
This travesty will be directed by none other than the hack-tastic Paul W.S. Anderson.
This is arguably the greatest British gangster movie ever made. And its going to be remade....by the guy who wrote and directed AVP?!?!?!?!?! What the fuck is wrong with the film industry???? We have but one choice....we must pit Paul W.S. Anderson against Uwe Boll in a battle to the death....a Mortal Kombat perhaps....cuz there's just no reason for both of them to exist.
No reason for either to exist really, outside the butt of jokes.
And Myth, you watched Catch and Release three times!?!? What the hell for?
The only thing marginally entertaining in that film was Kevin Smith fishing in the dirt road outside. That was a truly terrible film.
As for The Fountain. Again, haven't seen it. I was not real impressed by Darren Aronofsky from the pieces of Pi I've seen and the entirety of Reqieum. Still, I have a copy of it from a friend so I'll check it out eventually. But wow, Myth, I can't help but think you're a touch overpraising it. "Most influential movie we may ever see in our lives?" What has The Fountain EVER influenced to date? I'm not saying it may not inspire some discussion and future films, but most influential ever? Right now that's a category that only films like Citizen Kane or Hitchcock films could fit in.
Ok so I just watched the Fountain today and I really enjoyed it, but it’s definitely going to be one of those movies I have to watch two or three more times to completely understand and catch everything lol…sometimes I’m just a little slow
Saw Guide to Recognizing Your Saint. Shia has cemented his status as one of the brightest young stars working today. He gives an emotional performance as Dito, that is his best yet. The rest of the cast is great too, including Chazz Palminteri, Robert Downey, Dianne Weist, Channing Tatum, and even Eric Roberts in a bit role. It was written and directed by the real life Dito himself. He has created a film that resurrects his childhood in Queens. It is very believable and honest, with no easy answers for the hero. Nothing is black and white. Everyone has motives for their actions and it makes sense, even if in the long haul it was the wrong choice. Also produced by Sting. How weird is that? To have a British rock star be so taken with a coming of age story in Queens.
Also caught Notes on a Scandal. It was very well acted obviously, but wasn't all that thrilling or engrossing. The music by Philip Glass felt too overbearing and manipulative. There is nobody to really like or root for in this film, and I think that is its problem. Their actions may make sense, but they still seem so obviously wrong that it is hard for me to feel sympathy for them. Bill Nighy kicks ass though.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is much like most of Miyazaki's films. Amazing animation, a bit too convoluted of a story, overbearing message about saving the environment. Still the story was fascinating at first, but ends up having just too much going on with too many people involved. Made it epic when it should have been intimate. That's what made Spirited Away work for me. When Miyazaki tries to do epic, it seems to show its seems like Princess Mononoke and Howls Moving Castle. Keep it simple like in Spirited Away or Porso Rosso, and he scores. Absolutely stunning to see though. Wish I got to see some of these in theaters.
Saw Amelie again. Fun, surreal, sublime,...a real treat to watch. Audery Tautou is a gem. Jeunet made up for Alien Resurrection here. Although I do think No Mans Land deserved the foreign Oscar award it so deservedly got.
Since I last posted which was only a few hours ago, I managed to squeeze in a couple more flicks.
I caught Come Early Morning. I wanted to see it because it was written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams, whom I will forever know as Alissa in Chasing Amy. She has a natural talent both in front of and behind the camera. She also manages to get a great performance out of Ashley Judd, whom Ive never liked. She gives the film much needed sincerity and honesty it needs. Not a particularly original film, but one that felt very honest in its intentions. It felt tangible and realistic, and perhaps that was all Joey intended.
Also saw Michael Winterbottom's Road to Guantanamo. My god was it ever so terrifying and compelling. He has managed to combine the realism of documentary and the emotional complexity of scene-directed films so effectively. It really was quite harrowing to see these guys story unfold. Winterbottoms has actors reenact their manipulative and dehumanizing interrogation processes, all while the real victims tell their story through narration. Its hard for me to imagine anyone, conservative or liberal, disagreeing with how evident this film shows us that we just don't have the slightest idea of what we are doing anymore.
I meant that it influences us personally. I once read a review for Fight Club where the guy called it the "Most Important Movie" that you'll ever see. I thought, "How ridiculous." What he meant was that the film taught him a lot about being a person and how one should look at life and existance. For that guy, Fight Club did what no movie had ever done but should've done. It made him realize something. This is The Fountain for me. The movie's biggest theme is death, and what the back of the DVD box calls "man's most immutable foe".
I've been afraid of death my entire life, just like everyone else. It doesn't matter who you are or what you believe, you'd have to suffer from the most rooted case of dimentia not to be afraid of dying. Personally, I haven't found a religion that I really hold any merit in and until I do I'm going to beleive that death is finality. I'm going to believe that there will be a second where I'm alive and remembering evverything that makes me happy and then nothingness. No more memories. No more thoughts. No more potential. Death.
While watching The Fountain, for a little bit, I almost forgot all about that fear. I saw a man so afraid of death, like myself, that he was going to spend his life defeating it or drive himself mad in order to cope with it. He succeeds and spends scores of years heading for a dying star that he would die within with the memories of his wife, eventually coming to a point where he is RACING to die first. A smile on his face.
Though I may never truly realize what Tommy Creo realized, I'll still remember that while watching this film all of those fears are subdued and that that is a step, a step towards that same realization.
No other film has ever done that.
It's not the greatest movie, just the most important.
Oh yeah, I saw Catch and Release once with Chachi, once with my girlfriend and once more with two friends who'd never seen it. The third time wasn't really WATCHING just it was playing in the background and I would phase in and out of it. I have no feelings for or against it really, but it does have Kevin Smith who I deeply admire. So I'll put up with the rest of it.
Okay Myth, you did a good job of clearing up the misunderstanding. I'd probably be one of the guys to lean towards Fight Club, but since I still haven't seen The Fountain I'll reserve judgment until I do.
Other than that, I caught up with Aliens the other day - yes, for the first time. For some reason the entire Aliens franchise I avoided since I was a kid. It's unfortunate the first one I saw was Alien vs. Predator. Dreadful. I have since seen both Ridley Scott's Alien and James Cameron's sequel... and I gotta lean towards the sequel.
Ridley seems to be so obsessed with imitating and creating his own 2001 that I felt like the pacing suffered from it. He purposely slows things down to a crawl - and honestly, I fell asleep the first time I tried to watch it. I went back and started it over, finishing it the second time and enjoying it quite a bit. But there's something refreshing about Cameron's simple eagerness to continue the storyline and dig you in to the action. Scott captured a couple amazing and fascinating moments, but until the end, there's no urgency. Aliens is all urgency.
Mulligan...how the hell can you let AVP be the film to take your cherry in the Alien franchise.
I agree with just about everything you say, but I lean slightly more towards Alien. Mostly because I think it was a harder picture to make effectively. I am more bias to a great horror picture than a great action picture, mostly because they are so few and far between. No question that Aliens has more nostalgia and the more entertaining picture though. A lot more replay value.
Also be easy on Alien 3. You can tell there is a great picture in there, but the studio really fucked with Fincher. If you try to take it for what it is, and not compare it to the two masterpieces, than perhaps you can at least acknowledge that it is worthy of the name Alien, even if it is sub par.
And since you saw AVP, you might as well catch the other bastard cousin Alien Resurrection. Has some fun spots, but is still really bad. These four films are all vastly different with such visionary directors behind all of them,..and then they give one to Paul WS Anderson. Someone better have been fired.
Like I've addressed in previous posts Chachi, while I avoided Aliens, I'm a complete Predator fanboy. So I had to see it.
That said, Paul WS Anderson is a travesty to all things film, and the next person to green light a film for him to direct should be simultaneously be signing their own death warrant.
And I will definitely give Alien 3 a watching solely for David Fincher, but I don't know if I'll extend to Resurrection in spite of my enjoyment of Amelie.
Haven't watched much recently, mainly because of the overload of TV finales and shows I've been catching up with, but I did manage to track down Reno 911!: Miami and watch the majority of an old Michael Mann film called The Keep that I doubt anyone else has seen.
I was pleasantly surprised with the goofy exuberance of Reno having never seen the show before (I have since been trying to catch up with Season 1, one of the many TV shows I'm in the middle of watching). Admittedly, the show - and the movie - is ludicrous. These merry band of cops head to Miami for a convention, get rejected and because of some "24"-like quarantine, they are put in charge of policing the city. However, having watched a couple of the early episodes of the show, I feel like they've honed the characters to the point that they know what works and what doesn't and successfully stretched the show into a skimpy 80-minute film that works for the most part.
Now, it's not a great film, it's not even as great as the other 2007 cop comedy Hot Fuzz... but sometimes low expectations can be all you need, and I enjoyed myself quite a bit.
As for The Keep... it looked and felt like Michael Mann was toying around with genres. He got a number of good actors, including Ian McKellan and Gabriel Byrne to show up. And at least for the first hour plus, it's largely a waste. Mann seems to be blending the supernatural with the historic (yes, Nazis are prevalent) but doesn't do it as well as, say, Guillermo Del Toro is doing it currently.
But if this is the type of film it took for Mann to hone into the director of Heat, Collateral, The Insider, Ali, etc. then so be it. He's currently one of our best filmmakers... but he wasn't then.
Alright...I waited til I got to watch a bunch of stuff to post. So...here it goes.
First up...I caught up on some DVDs I've had sitting around for awhile. Boyz n the Hood was up first. I hadn't seen it in quite some time. It holds up surprisingly well. The acting throughout is solid. It's nice to see a good Cuba Gooding Jr. flick...haven't seen one in quite sometime. This also begged the question, What the hell happened to John Singleton? He could have gone on to do some very important films. Instead, he directed the Shaft remake and 2 Fast 2 Furious.
Second, Mean Streets. I bought this with the first Scorsese box set came out, and just now got around to watching it. I love watching big director's early films. Seeing where they started and how they've turned out. This film drips with style. Some very inventive camera angle and movements. The cinematography is just great. His use of shadows and light...and color as well is all just suberb. What struck me most about the film however is De Niro's performance. This was really his first big role (in the same year, he also starred in Bang thr Drum Slowly...which is a great baseball flick for those who haven't seen it). He is absolutely bat-shit crazy in this. Like nothing he's done since. It's really a great performance...one that no doubt influenced Joe Pesci's performances in Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and Casino.
OK...now onto my biggie....Lady Vengeance. Good Christ. Park Chan-wook has got insane talent. It's going to be hard to compare this to Oldboy (for those not in the know...director Park Chan-wook is responsible for the "vengeance trilogy" which started with Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, then Oldboy, and finally Lady Vengeance.) This is such a different film from Oldboy, that I can't really say which I prefer.
It's kind of like Alien vs. Aliens. When I want atmosphereic horror, I choose Alien. When I want nonstop action, I choose Aliens. This is the Alien to Oldboy's Aliens.
This really only has a couple of scenes of violence...but the violence is very Cronenbergian, in that it's quick and it's ugly. The story is what drives Lady Vengeance. It's about a woman who was semi-falsely imprisoned for the kidnapping and murder of a 5-year old boy, and her desire to seek revenge on the man responsible for the act and her imprisonment. There is more to it...but I don't want to ruin it. This doesn't have the twist-ending that made Oldboy so effective.
The structure of the story is highly influenced by Tarantino, it makes the occasional time-jump...and can be confusing at first, until you figure out exactly what's going on.
Just like Oldboy, the power of this story lies almost solely on the shoulders of one character/actor. In Oldboy, Min-sik Choi had to make Dae-su Oh relatable and empathetic...even as he is ripping guys' teeth out with the claw end of a hammer. In Lady Vengeance, Yeong-ae Lee must make Geum-ja Lee sympathetic and fierce...despite the whole kid-killing thing. the two characters could not be more different though. Their reasons for revenge are similar (unjust imprisonment), yet their modes of seeking said vengeance could not be further apart. One is cold and calculated. The other takes the shit as it comes...and deals with it as necessary. One's life is ruined by the end...the other's is saved.
What Park Chan-wook has done with these two films (I haven't seen Sympathy yet)..is to create to justifiable scenarios for vengeance... characters that we feel for..and want to see them get their desires. And more importantly..he did it with a style that is totally his own. Unlike so many American filmmakers, who simply copy and paste Tarantino or De Palma or Hitchcock...Park has taken these influences and more and used them to build his own unique style. His use of color and contrast, his sometimes frantic camera movements, his close-ups of eyes in particular...these all shape his films into true works of art...very bloody art. But what always strikes me most about his films are the quiet, simple scenes. The ending of Lady Vengeance is beyond perfect. It's beautiful and graceful. Its cathartic and energetic. Its quiet, yet says more about our heroine than any other moment in the film did.
I need to rewatch Oldboy again...but I think I may prefer Lady Vengeance. This is more subtle. It has more heart...and more to say about the nature of revenge and of guilt. If you're a fan of Tarantino or of revenge films in general, I cannot recommend these films enough. They really are unlike anything I had seen before. They have more violence, more style, more heart, and more balls than just about anything you're likely to see in theaters any time soon.
My most recent watch is Alan Parker's The Commitments and if anyone else has seen this film, I'd really like to hear your opinion of it.
Myself, I thought it was good... but far, far from great. In fact, the majority of these characters are, well, assholes.
In the aspect of watching the formation and early stages of a band, it's good. I enjoyed Jimmy's struggle to get this band together and rolling (although it did feel just a little convenient).
Otherwise, it's about a bunch of jackasses who we know next-to-nothing about. The only character we really get to know is Jimmy, and he seems like the biggest prick of all. He's a crybaby, he's a bully, he has childish fantasies of being interviewed and he has a self-centered egotism despite the fact that he's a nobody.
I don't know, I was recommended the movie by Zeus (yes, the same Zeus who joined the blog and has thus far contributed nada). Maybe I'm missing the appeal? Like I said, if anyone else has seen it and liked it considerably moreso than I did, please, let me know why.
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