The Syndicate

DisgruntledPorcupine wrote:I'll rate all the movies I've seen the last 4 days.

Man Bites Dog - 7/10

Jagten (The Hunt) - 10/10

Her - 9/10

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - 7/10

Synecdoche, New York - 11/10

Amour - 9/10

Needless to say I've made some amazing choices the past few days.

Well color me impressed.

I finally saw Snowpiercer. I loved the alleghory of transversing the train being like transvering social castes. I loved the references to Terry Gilliam (a character is named Gilliam and it will make you think of Brazil).

Well acted
Well paced
Well structured
Good cinematography
Okay SFX

The Ending WTF

an 8.

BTW, I hope you will get to see Blue is the Warmest Color if it's playing there.

timmer wrote:God, I'd love to teach a film studies class. Or even attend one.

Speaking of movies, in about two weeks I find out if I've been given press credentials for the Vancouver Film Fest.

Timmer - Being outraged with me - the Film Studies course at the college where I work - it does not even have New Wave on it.


The last movie I saw was The Sapphires. It's Australian and is about 4 Aboriginal girls (3 sisters and a cousin) who sing Motown and Soul hits for the troops in Vietnam. It's not Dreamgirls + Jindabyne though; it's so much richer than that. Chris O'Dowd takes a evocative turn at their manager, and I loved seeing him play a more "straight" role.

Also I am of course jealous of the possibilities of your press credentials for Vancouver. It's on my bucket list. When I was still in the game, the only place I got press credentials for (of that caliber) was Savannah Film Fest, but Peter O'Toole was there, and I'll never forget that

Epignosis wrote:I am teaching cinema studies this year, and I could not have asked for a more thoughtful class, big as it is. 30 kids- but Jesus, they are so fun. I could not even get through the Syllabus yesterday before they went to arguing about what the title of "The Butterfly Effect" meant.

I made sure they understood by the end of the class.

So stoked.

Re: Cinema Studies -- Are you showing them A Sound of Thunder? It was in development hell for years, but I was stoked to see it when it finally came out. I find it a terrible version of the source material though.

thellama73 wrote:Just saw a documentary called The Imposter about a guy who pretends to be a missing kid from Texas. Chilling.

Oh man, that was an intense film!!! Are you watching it on Netflix Instant? We are about to watch My Amityville Horror (a doc about the real haunting) on there now.

Hedgeowl wrote:I saw Joss Whedon's version of Much Ado About Nothing last week. I have been a fan of the Kenneth Branagh version, but would now recommend seeing this one too. It is nothing like the other version. I know the movie is getting some flack for being unpolished, but I really enjoyed watching through the first time. I have been debating whether it will hold up for multiple viewings.

Filmed in 12 days at Whedon's house with many Whedon World actors, it was enjoyable just to see them in different roles. Also they did a good job making the jokes in the play understandable. If you don't know the plot I would recommend a quick summary read, so things are a bit clearer.

oh my good god. Wasn't that magical? I saw it at the historic Tampa Theatre, which is worth a visit to all y'all who might come to this rea from out of town.

I just saw Pacific Rim. It's very ID4 meets Godzilla meets Rock Em Sock Em Robots, but it's a fun enough ride. You can tell it was del Toro behind it, because of the patina'd look of the metal that you see in Hellboy and even more historical fare like Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone.

Today I saw No, starring Gael Garcia Bernal. It's about the "No Campaign" which tried to oust Pinochet back in the 80s. I liked it a lot, and I think it's important historically, so I would recommend in despite (because of?) the minimalist cinematography.

7.5

I saw the new Farrelly Bros movie, Movie 43. It has one billion famous A-listers in it. Some of the concepts were pretty good, but the execution was usually lacking. It was better than an episode of SNL lately though.

I give it a hard 6 because I enjoyed it even though it was somewhat crappy.

Rust & Bone, starring Marion Cotillard and the guy from Bullhead. Pretty good but weird pacing, especially in the last act.

7.5/10

I saw A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III last night. It's by Roman Coppola, who is Sofia's brother and Francis Ford's son. You'd think being friends with Wes Anderson would give Roman some great directorial skills, but that was hardly the case. I found this film nearly unwatchable despite its very cinematically-solvent cast (P Arquette/B Murray/J Schwartzman).

Here's hoping Roman will get his sea legs.

3/10

insertnamehere wrote:Skyfall

I think this is definitely the best Bond film in my opinion, great performances by Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, and Javier Bardem. Great cinematography and direction also.

9.5/10

I've been reading on Cinema Blend et al. that now Sam Mendes may indeed be back to direct the next Bond. I sure hope so!

I saw Cheerful Weather for the Wedding last night, which was mildly engaging but a bit stuffy and sleepy. Some good performances mixed amongst the blander ones.

6/10