What I Watched, What You Watched: Installment #2
Horror, gangster, romance and sci-fi television
Back again with another installment of "What I Watched, What You Watched," and due to my time in San Diego covering Comic Con and the fact one of the selections included this time around is the complete season from a television show this installment doesn't have as many titles, but the second page has a little extra something I hope you'll be interested in checking out.
As a reminder to those that either didn't read the first installment (read it here) in this new feature series or forgot, "What I Watched, What You Watched" is a chance for me to share with you the movies (and sometimes television shows) I have been watching that don't necessarily make it into the headlines every week. My goal is to do this on a weekly basis unless things get in the way (such as this time around).
I hope this will spark conversation based on the titles I watched as well as get you to share some of the films you may have watched recently and suggest future titles for myself and others to add to our Netflix queues, which if you are Netflix subscriber you can connect with my queue by clicking here. With that said, let's get started as this time I have four movies and one television show to share with you.
| [REC] (2007) |
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| QUICK THOUGHTS: Yup, I finally saw this 2007 first person thriller and it works, it really, really works. A lot of credit to the writers who created a story in which the character's continued use of the camera was warranted, especially in the film's closing and more terrifying moments. I would think most of the people that saw Cloverfield would agree, like it or not, the use of the camera in that one was a bit of a stretch since at the point you are being chased by either the giant monster or those littler ones you would pretty much abandon the home movie and try to save yourself. With REC however, the Angela character played by Manuela Velasco is extremely well done in how she doesn't flip her lid immediately and is more upset with the fact they are trapped in a building, seemingly illegally and without cause. And even once she learns of the danger they are in, she still wants to keep the camera rolling as proof of what her and the rest of the captives have been trapped with. From what I have been told, Jennifer Carpenter's portrayal of the same character in Quarantine goes a bit crazy much sooner causing the performance to be a little less effective. I haven't seen it yet so I can't say, but after seeing REC I'm not sure I care to. I also don't know what they are going to do with a sequel, especially one in which it looks like they are again going for the first person angle, which seems like redundant overkill, but who knows. | |
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| Band of Outsiders (1964) |
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| QUICK THOUGHTS: I hardly know how to classify Jean-Luc Godard's gangster drama, but to call it "gangster" and leave it at that would be to certainly confuse modern American audiences going in with expectations of The Godfather or Goodfellas. If anything this is Godard's re-telling of the early American gangster drama, and going beyond what he did with Breathless, these characters almost seem to be playing characters themselves. In comparison, I would say Breathless's Michel Poiccard was influenced and at times attempts to mimic American gangster films while Franz and Arthur (Sami Frey and Claude Brasseur) in Band of Outsiders almost seem, at times, to be a parody of them. Frey's performance, by far, was my favorite of the bunch as he coolly sashays through every scene. Even when Odile (Anna Karina) turns down his offer for a cigarette only to accept Arthur's he makes a small gesture noting his frustration at her acceptance of the more brutish of the two, but moves on almost as if he knows something those two do not. Then there is the dance sequence in the cafe, the best part of the film and an example of how classifying solely as a gangster film and not mentioning the sex appeal and the goofy behavior throughout would be to read it wrong entirely. However, all of this said, I can't say Band of Outsiders moves me one way or another. After repeated viewings I may grow to like it more, but it didn't register as an instant classic for me the way Breathless did. Below, is the dance scene I referenced. Franz is the one wearing the suit, but this one really shows off Karina. The narration you hear is done by Godard. Enjoy. | |
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| The Hit (1984) |
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| QUICK THOUGHTS: Along with Band of Outsiders and Le Samourai (fantastic film), I bought Stephen Frears's The Hit back toward the end of June and finally got around to watching Band and The Hit in the past couple of weeks. Between the three movies, Le Samourai directed by Jean-Pierre Melville is the definite must buy, but The Hit is a stand-out starting with its performances followed by a fascinating ending. The film stars Terrence Stamp as Willie Parker, an informer who sends his one-time gangster buddies to jail in exchange for a peaceful life in a Spanish village. Of course, come ten years later, the boys are out of jail and a couple of hit men turn up, kidnap Willie and we follow their journey to Paris where it is assumed he will be executed at the hand of those he fingered. The hit men are played by John Hurt and a 21-year-old Tim Roth. Having the three together in almost every single scene for the film's final hour is a pleasure, especially Roth's performance, which I absolutely couldn't get enough of. | |
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| Battlestar Galactica 4.5 |
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| QUICK THOUGHTS: Laremy just reviewed the second-half of the fourth and final season of "Battlestar Galactica" (read that here) so I felt a second review from me for the Blu-ray complete series would seem a bit redundant. I will say I think this is a tremendous television series and Universal's complete series package is impressive to say the least, but I can never get over how much I hate the word "frak," there is no reason for it to exist and the way it is used is ludicrous. My annoyance with that one singular word was the reason I took so long to return to this series and wasn't able to even watch the first half of the fourth season when it arrived for review back in January. However, I got over it and even got over the melodrama between Adama and Roslin and Adama's frequent bouts of insanity such as spontaneously deciding to go crazy and paint a wall only to fall backwards on it with his arms spread wide while trying to convince me he is crying, or the especially disgusting moment he sits down drunk in an alley and pukes all over himself. Yeah, that didn't exactly work for me, but the overall gist of this show is enough to make you forgive the bad parts and eat up everything else. On top of that the series finale was so well done I am now anticipating the upcoming straight-to-dvd movie "Battlestar Galactica: The Plan" which hits DVD/Blu-ray on October 27. Check out a trailer for "The Plan" directly below and I also included it in the "Buy Now" link along with other "BSG" titles available for purchase. | |
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I finally watched The Departed. Saw one part of the ending, but not the rest. Excellent.
Also watched the canadian film "Babin". It's the kind of film you hate or love. It's based on a tale by a man of Fred Pellerin. Follow the imaginary story in a village of no time with a young name, Babin, who have autist and he's accused of having burn the church.
And I went to see Brüno. More vulgar, shocking and disturbing than Borat. But more excellent.
I plan to watch March of the Pingouins this week.
Last 2 weeks have been all about movies..i have watched around 12 movies….and some of them are as follows-
1)Driving Miss Daisy
2)Divorce,Italian Style
3)Offside(Iran,Dir;Jafar Panahi)
4)Paths of Glory
5)Yojimbo…and etc
Hey Brad i would suggest you Divorce,Italian Style and Kurosowa's Yojimbo which was a take on Western Cinemas and if you are still left to see Day for Night do watch it..
~High Noon
~The Lost Weekend
~Casablanca
~From Here to Eternity
~The Grapes of Wrath
Not a lot, I know, but at least I'm caught up with every cinephile.
Oh, God…trying to remember what I've watched over the past weeks is really actually kinda…difficult. Lemme think…
The Great Dictator (Chaplin) 1st viewing, excellent
What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (Hallstrom) 1st viewing, excellent
Mad Max (Miller) 1st viewing…actually kinda bad. Sometimes exploitation films are oddly charming…this one really isn't.
Following (Nolan) 1st viewing. Exceptional debut.
Quantum of Solace (Forster) 3rd viewing. Yeah…quite a flawed Bond film, but a really interesting one both visually and in terms of script. The aerial dogfight is one of the least involving Bond set-pieces ever, though.
Appaloosa (Harris) 1st viewing. Dull, dull, dull…
Lethal Weapon (Donner) 1st viewing. Great, although I got the feeling that someone came up with the ending, and then clumsily tried to work their way back…
Lethal Weapon 2 (Donner) 1st viewing. Less good, but still broadly entertaining.
Lethal Weapon 3 (Donner) 1st viewing. Actually really enjoyed this one, maybe because Stuart Wilson is the first genuinely menacing antagonist in the series.
Lethal Weapon 4 (Donner) 1st viewing. Less good, again, but still fun.
The Man Between (Reed) 1st viewing. Curious film. Mason is excellent as always, but it's a sort of even more bleak Third Man. Claire Bloom is terrific, but then I've never seen a bad performance from her.
Champagne (Hitchcock) 1st viewing. Semi-interesting, but falls to pieces in the second half. Still…not typical Hitchcock.
I'm sure I've left something out, but… meh.
Eastbound & Down (whole season, second viewing)
A Clockwork Orange – 9/10
Vertigo – 7/10
A Time to Kill – 9/10
The Squid and the Whale – 8/10
The Aviator – 9/10
Garden State – 9/10
Things We Lost in the Fire – 8/10
Casablanca – 8/10
Funny People – 7/10
Finally watched "Almost Famous" the other day…. I was unimpressed by most of it, and wondered why in the world it won best screenplay instead of just being nominated…. and then I thought the last 25 minutes were absolutely amazing. It's too bad they couldn't have kept that up for the whole movie.
And rewatched The Orphanage the other night with a group of friends; The Orphanage is one of my favorite movies. Seen it, Brad? Oh, well, I'll just search the site to see if you have.
Dexter seasons 1-3 10/10
Deliverance 7/10
Batman 6/10
So I Married an Axe Murderer 8/10
Step Up 2 (mistake, but I was curious) 2/10
Romance and Cigarettes 6/10
I love [REC]. Love it, love it. I was so impressed by this movie when I saw it at the theater (it's a real shame that you guys from the US didn't have a chance to see it where it should be seen). The ending is on the same level as "The Blair Witch Project", when it comes to "scary-ness" factor.
The comment regarding Jennifer Carpenter's character in "Quarantine" is accurate. She goes hysteric really early on the film – most people at the theater were laughing at her. In [REC], she's more likable and focused, and the actress (sorry, I forgot her name) is a damn good actress.
I'm unsure about the sequel also.
As for "In The Mood For Love", I guess I have to watch it again. When I saw it – almost 10 years ago, I suppose? – I wasn't that impressed… Actually, Wong Kar-Wai doesn't do much for me. What I vividly remember is the soundtrack with the sensational Nat King Cole songs…
@Abishek: Plan on seeing Divorce,Italian Style one of these days and I own Yojimbo, perhaps my favorite film of Kurosawa's.
@Kevin: Love your ratings on those and agree with most… especially like the rating on A Time To Kill, I thought I was the only one that really liked that movie.
@Dan Tralder: Love The Orphanage, it was in my top ten in 2007.
I have seen both Rec and Quarantine, and I would advise a pass on the latter. In now way does the film try and make something new, it is a shot for shot remake if I have ever seen one. Added both Band of Outsiders and The Hit to my queue (the clip and trailer got me interested), and I am a big BSG fan. In the Mood For Love has been in my queue for quite a while but after doing your little suggestion with the music and pictures, I think I will be moving it up. Haven't watched to much this week, but here is some of the latest I have seen:
The Hurt Locker
I really enjoyed this film, recommend checking it out in the theater if your lucky enough to have one close by that is showing it.
The Man Who Wasn't There
I don't know if I was expecting to much out of it, but the film just didn't seem to do if for me unlike alot of the other Coen(s) films.
Battle Royale
I absolutely loved this film. Brad, after adding you to my netflix friends (HavokAndChaos here) I see it is in your queue and I definitely recommend moving it up. Although if your the type, you might want to check out the book first, I am reading it now and loving it (although I wish I would have read it before seeing the film.) Both are billed as the Lord of the Flies for a new generation, and they do not disappoint.
Here's what I saw from 7/26-8/1:
Infernal Affairs – 7/10
The Girlfriend Experience – 10/10
Empire Falls – 7/10
Malcolm X – 10/10
Amores Perros – 10/10
Wyatt Earp – 8/10
Didn't rewatch anything this week except for several episodes of The West Wing Season 3 (I'm going back through that show a second time, other than Lost it has got to be my favorite TV show of all time).
Next weekend I'll hopefully be seeing 500 Days of Summer and Moon, I can't wait for both.
Cast Away: B+
Loved the originality of the story and the performance of Tom Hanks.
Sideways: B+
I'll call this a human comedy, human for the feelings and comedy for the humor.
Fallen: B
The idea is great they could have made even greater but still, it's a great movie with a lot of twist that will keep you up.
What Lies Beneath: C+
Another interesting movie but gets lost in it's way. Also it's running time of 130 could be perfectly reduced to 95 minutes.
The Others: A-
The only movie that get close to this kind of mystery is The Orphanage and it is one of my all-time favorite. This one is almost the same. The whole movie is mysterious and you just ask yourself what is going on in here?! Nicole Kidman can't be better.
Troy: B+
I gotta say that the first 45 minutes were a bit boring but after the hour the story gets even stronger as with the performances.
The Proposal: B
This movie touched me. Ironically, not in the humorous side, but in the feelings side. Don't ask me why but I laughed a lot but still with that, I really felt connected with Sandra Bullock's character.
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3: B-
The performances are just great but just with the use of the camera and the high music at the beginning, it simply got me dizzy. But the story keeps your eyes open.
The International: C+
I would describe this movie as a movie that have a good story but it simply never gets to it's climax or peek. No point after all.
The Fall (Re-watched): B
This movie had a A- before this but I gotta say that this movie is no movie for seeing twice so that really affect it's rating. The visuals are just marvelous and the story is really absorbing but just for the music, the movie depress me.
Meet Joe Black: B+
Really liked this movie but as What Lies Beneath, I would have shorten it a little bit, at least one hour less, but, I have never been a person that minds sitting for 3 hours to see a movie, I even like doing that so… I liked this movie.
Traitor: C+
The reason for this rating is just the fact that if you compare this movie with other movies of the same genre like The Kingdom and Body of Lies, this movie just stay behind and is the worst of all. But that doesn't make me forget it's good story.
The Notebook: B+
The typical chick flick just that with some better performances and with a huge fan base. I really liked the story and how the represented their incredible love for each other but sometimes it's too cliche.
The Hours: A
I have seen this movie 3 times in the last week. In the first viewing, I like it and give it a B+ but in the second and third, this movie got me like no other movie have ever touched me. It's parallel stories are just so well made and each of them deals with human feeling like I have never seeing. The performances are just breath-taking. Nicole Kidman once again gain all my respect with one of her best performances. Meryl Streep made the modern woman look miserable and Juliane Moore made one hell of a sad performance. Even with all the sadness I wouldn't say this is a movie in which you get sad after seeing it, no, this is a movie that leave you with hope. It's a hopeful movie and a movie that made you think twice how you live your life.
Forrest Gump: A-
I had seen it but I was too young so I thought of give it another try. Really loved this movie and this just prove that I'm a Robert Zemeckis fan. Tom Hanks gives (as always) an incredible performance.
Garden State: (A-)
I love this movie! It's simply hilarious and so original. Natalie Portman's performance is just amazing as Zach Braff give this movie the same touch that Bill Murray gave to Lost in Translation The Screenplay is smart and I have to say that Mr. Braff just surprise so much. It's the style of dialogue-driven romantic movie like Lost in Translation, Before Sunset, Before Sunrise, etc. And all of these movie are in my all-time favorite list just as this one just entered in it.
The Fellowship of the Ring: A
Everything have already been say.
The Two Towers: A
Interesting fact: Weirdly enough, this IS my favorite Lord of the Rings movie.
The Return of the King: A
Yeaah…
Coraline: B+
This is, definitively, the hardest movie to review that I have seen in a while, I loved this movie but it's so strange. The music is just amazing and the story is simply… magical.
Duplicity: B
Great dialogue, performances, music, and story. How did this didn't get a higher grade? Don't know but still with that, it's great.
State of Play: B+
This and Duplicity are what I would like to call the intelligent films of the first 4 months of this year. And both of them bombed at the box office… what's going on with this modern civilization? They prefer seeing 17 Again than this?? God! Now.. about the movie, is great but it could be much better given the fact that they put too many twist at the end of it. It just got more complicated.
Watchmen: B+
Fan of the novel. Like it a lot. But it's just no. It isn't exactly WATCHMEN. They could simply forget about this movie and never have done it.
How do you people get to watch so much movies? Anyway, saw "The Hurt Locker" yesterday, what a great movie. Also saw 'Get Shorty" on AMC (skipped "Be Cool" afterword.) Above average movie.
How to lose friends an alienate people – 6/10, predictable but enojoyable as well
Street Kings – 5/10, Would not say its horrid but it is very mediocre with some diabolical plot twists, odd acting and some nonsense dialogue
Fanboys – 5/10, has a few funny moments but overall i found it unsatisfying
Duplicty – 7/10, entertaining, a few too many flashbacks which i felt affected the pace but i liked it
Knowing – 7/10, i liked this despite the bad buzz that surrounded the film, found it refreshing, although it felt like it had one too many endings but it did surprise me
I Love you Man, 6/10, slightly disappointed by this seemed to follow all the conventions of a normal romantic comedy but wrapped up in a bromance.
The Girlfriend Experience – 8/10, still trying to wrap my head around this but i do like it, just not sure why the narrative has to jump in time so often
Haven't seen too much lately, just caught up on some new releases.
Fanboys: It was ok, but could have been much funnier had they actually had approval from George Lucas.
Push: Pretty boring, seemed like a cheap imitation of Heroes.
Miss March: I was in the mood for a stupid comedy and this had some pretty funny parts. Not a bad rental if there is nothing else available.
Die Hard: Re-watched one of my favorite action movies ever. Still holds up today.
@Carson Dyle: I love how you watched all four Lethal Weapons for the first time. I've been considering powering my way through the 9 disc Alien quadrilogy set, cause I've yet to check out any of the supplements.
Just finished rewatching the Avatar: The Last Airbender series, excited to see how the movie turns out. Last new film I saw was Hurt Locker (felt like Generation Kill, the movie). Rewatched MI:3 (BR), Bonnie & Clyde (BR), Redbelt and Spartan, the Flight of the Pheonix remake (BR), and 2001.
Then there's the sometimes ridiculousness that is the melodrama of BSG. I just started 4.5 and each episode feels like a choir. Every time I hear the Watchtower remix I lose all interest. Whatever subtlety the show has is drowning in an ocean of blatant attempts at symbolism.
Funny People – I was bored to tears. The drama was not compelling enough. The comedy bombed. I heard crickets.
Cheri – Nice period movie with great costumes. The dialogue left me cold.
3:10 to Yuma – Not a good western. Too talky.
Bambi – Haven't watched the movie in over two decades. Good movie. Lost a bit of luster over the years.
I finally finished an exellent tv series studio 60 on the sunset strip. it was written by aaron sorkin who wrote west wing, and it lands in that bracket of tv seris that got canceled when it souldn't have. but as a credit it ended with all the loose ends bieing tied up and no end season cliffhangers. q it if you get time.
Here would be a couple films I've seen recently, with my ratings for them (out of 4 stars):
The Hurt Locker – ****
500 Days of Summer – *** 1/2
Knowing – *
La Vie en Rose – ****
Ed Wood – ***
Carrie – ** 1/2
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – **
Sleepy Hollow – **
Goodfellas – ****
In the Valley of Elah – ***
Agree/disagree?
Hey Brad, I saw that you recently queued "Two Lovers". I saw that a while ago, but I really liked it. The acting is top notch, and it is really an original experience compared to other movies in the genre. It is a very dark film, but it worked perfectly for me.
The Unborn: 3/10
The Haunting In Connecticut: 3/10
Miss March: 6/10
Bruno: 8/10
Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince: 9/10
Watchmen: 10/10
Tokyo!: 10/10