Oscar nominations.

Chris Nolan was fucking snubbed for Best Director.

At 1/25/11 01:52 PM, Ptero wrote: Oscar nominations.

Chris Nolan was fucking snubbed for Best Director.

David Fincher? Puh-lease.

Jesse Eisenberg? LOL.

Watched recently:

The Crazies (original) - Decent horror film. Bioweapon released on small town community, an unprepared, uninformed and poorly managed military tries to contain it. Focuses on a group of survivors who must avoid both the insane infected residents and the military who are generally just making things worse.

7/10.

The Crazies (2010 remake) - Drops the best of intentions military for a more boring "HURR DURR SLAUGHTER ALL CIVILIANS EVEN THOSE CONFIRMED UNINFECTED" approach. As such, none of the military or scientist characters from the original appear, who were by far the most interesting aspect of that film. Seeing the bureaucracy fuck up time and again why the military commander struggles to keep control of the situation was easily the most compelling part. Without it, it's just people running away from mental people and soldiers in hazard suits.

4/10.

Abominable - Surprisingly good sci-fi original. Man who lost his wife and the use of his legs in an accident returns to his mountain side home only to be terrorised by Bigfoot. Uses the less-is-more approach that low budget horror requires to remain believable, but the Bigfoot suit is perfectly convincing. Way better than recent CGI attempts by SyFy. Stand out scene is a group of hunters being slaughtered by the creature, two of which are played by genre legends Lance Henriksen and Jeffrey Combs. It's basically just a cameo, but I love Combs so much I don't even care.

7/10.

Withnail & I - Insanely quotable black comedy about two out of work actors living in 1969 London who decide to go on a weekend's holiday to Penrith. Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann are SUPERB and it's a pleasure just to see them interacting on screen, which is just as well as there isn't much of a plot to speak of. Loved this film so much I'm considering buying the special edition Blu-ray only a week after buying the barebones DVD version.

10/10.

127 Hours - I was expecting more from Boyle, as I generally love his work. Good film, but I guess I'd just hyped it up too much for myself. It's certainly no Trainspotting or Slumdog. Franco was great, however. Going on my list of actors who can carry entire films by themselves, right next to Sam Rockwell.

7/10.

At 1/25/11 03:36 PM, Makeshift wrote: David Fincher? Puh-lease.

It's funny because he's probably going to win.

I'm fine with The Social Network winning, but I wish Black Swan, 127 Hours, or Inception would come out in front of it.

At 1/25/11 05:03 PM, Ptero wrote:

At 1/25/11 03:36 PM, Makeshift wrote: David Fincher? Puh-lease.

It's funny because he's probably going to win.

I'm fine with The Social Network winning, but I wish Black Swan, 127 Hours, or Inception would come out in front of it.

I haven't seen 127 hours yet, but agreed with the other two. Although I thought The Social Network was a good film, I wouldn't like to see it coming out as THE big winner.

But for the rest, I don't think the nominations are that bad this time. Christopher Nolan not being nominated for best director is about the only complaint I have.

At 1/25/11 05:03 PM, Ptero wrote: I'm fine with The Social Network winning, but I wish Black Swan, 127 Hours, or Inception would come out in front of it.

It's got to be Inception or The King's Speech for me. Probably The King's Speech. Seems like at outsider at this point, though.

At 1/23/11 12:11 PM, Ptero wrote: I saw three movies.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

An awesome period piece with beautiful shots, was a little too long. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck were both fantastic, as well as the supporting performances by Rockwell, Renner, and more. 9.5/10

I always felt that after the actual assassination itself, which is a great scene, it kind of indulges itself and is saved mostly by the performances because it gets a little ridiculous. Not to mention I found it kind of odd how inflated the image of Jesse James seems to be in this film, I don't know if that's just me being uninformed but it took me out of it a bit.

Still a great movie though

only three nominees for best animated picture? Surely there were others this year that deserve nomination.

Toy Story 3 shouldn't win best animated picture, although it will. L'Illusioniste is an amazing film and thoroughly deserves every accolade that could ever be bestowed upon it.

Also saw Black Swan today, it deserves to sweep. Certainly best picture and best actress.

At 1/26/11 04:08 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote: Toy Story 3 shouldn't win best animated picture, although it will. L'Illusioniste is an amazing film and thoroughly deserves every accolade that could ever be bestowed upon it.

I'd put a $1000 on Toy Story 3 winning best animated picture, even if I could only win $10.

Putting L'Illusioniste on my watch list, after all I have seen and heard from it now.

Also saw Black Swan today, it deserves to sweep. Certainly best picture and best actress.

I guess Nathalie Portman is the favorite for the best actress award, but it seems less likely that the best picture will go to Black Swan. Although I agree it deserves to sweep.

At 1/28/11 01:45 PM, Auz wrote:

At 1/26/11 04:08 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote: Toy Story 3 shouldn't win best animated picture, although it will. L'Illusioniste is an amazing film and thoroughly deserves every accolade that could ever be bestowed upon it.

I'd put a $1000 on Toy Story 3 winning best animated picture, even if I could only win $10.

Putting L'Illusioniste on my watch list, after all I have seen and heard from it now.

Also saw Black Swan today, it deserves to sweep. Certainly best picture and best actress.

I guess Nathalie Portman is the favorite for the best actress award, but it seems less likely that the best picture will go to Black Swan. Although I agree it deserves to sweep.

I gotta hand it to Natalie, I'm sure, but the movie was ridiculously over-the-top. In a kinda good way, but I felt that when Aronofsky needed to bring some tender moments to sear things up, everything would just turn into bloody (or sexy) mayhem. The director's ambitions are set high, but under the exaggeration, the movie is a tad disjointed, held together with the glue of a lot of slamming doors.

At 1/28/11 01:45 PM, Auz wrote:

At 1/26/11 04:08 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote:

I guess Nathalie Portman is the favorite for the best actress award

I still can't believe I would ever read these words after watching Star Wars

But that's what I love about the ambitious, youthful actors willing to break free from the campy and hammy films and make something meaningful. Kind of like what James Franco did this year with 127 Hours, you can never really dismiss anyone, regardless of their image.

I finally got to watching Die Hard (1) last night. I always had the feeling everybody had seen it except me.

I guess it's a classic example of an action flick, with all kinds of elements that are now cliche like over the top explosions, cheesy one-liners, people talking to themselves all the time for no reason and the happy, stereotypical black guy as a sidekick of the main character. Because of those things it just came over to me as a B grade action film, but I know it's actually an A-film.

I thought it was kinda funny how the bad guys were all talking German with each other, except when the lines were important for the plot. Then they all switched to a fake German/American accent. Next to this there were plenty of other nonsensical, 'convenient' things in the plot.

Anyway, my only complaint is that the action dragged on for a bit too long in the second half of the film in my opinion. I was getting a bit tired of it, but other than that it's an amusing action flick.

At 1/28/11 02:38 PM, thatbennyguy wrote:

At 1/28/11 01:45 PM, Auz wrote: I'd put a $1000 on Toy Story 3 winning best animated picture, even if I could only win $10.

Putting L'Illusioniste on my watch list, after all I have seen and heard from it now.

Also saw Black Swan today, it deserves to sweep. Certainly best picture and best actress.

I guess Nathalie Portman is the favorite for the best actress award, but it seems less likely that the best picture will go to Black Swan. Although I agree it deserves to sweep.

I gotta hand it to Natalie, I'm sure, but the movie was ridiculously over-the-top. In a kinda good way, but I felt that when Aronofsky needed to bring some tender moments to sear things up, everything would just turn into bloody (or sexy) mayhem. The director's ambitions are set high, but under the exaggeration, the movie is a tad disjointed, held together with the glue of a lot of slamming doors.

That's not really what I picked up, but I'll give it a second watch someday and see if I notice any of this.

At 1/28/11 05:42 PM, Gobblemeister wrote:

At 1/28/11 01:45 PM, Auz wrote:

At 1/26/11 04:08 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote:

I guess Nathalie Portman is the favorite for the best actress award

I still can't believe I would ever read these words after watching Star Wars

But that's what I love about the ambitious, youthful actors willing to break free from the campy and hammy films and make something meaningful. Kind of like what James Franco did this year with 127 Hours, you can never really dismiss anyone, regardless of their image.

Nathalie already won the Golden Globe and I believe those are usually pretty good at predicting the winners at the oscars.

But yeah, I'm starting to get pretty impressed with Nathalie Portman's acting capabilities and her career. I happen to see Leon again yesterday. That was only her second role, she was only 13 back then and she was already doing a good job there. Especially considering how difficult that role must have been for an unexperienced actress who has barely hit puberty yet.

Now she's 29 and she has played (big roles) in plenty of significant films. I don't think many actresses have had a career as impressive as hers at that age.

I just finished watching Steven Spielberg's Shindler's List.

It is definitely not a comedy.

I'm a little angry because I was very interested in seeing The Town. I thought I was going to love it when I saw the trailers, and then reviews came in and everyone seemed to love it. So I went into watching this tonight thinking it was going to be one of my new favourite movies, or at least of 2010. It wasn't a bad movie, but it didn't feel full enough. I felt the pacing was a little off, and Ben Affleck wasn't great in the position of acting. He did do a good job directing, and I'm sure that if he had just stayed behind the cameras and someone I enjoy watching took his place, it would have been much better. I did read that when it came down to editing, they had about 6 hours of good footage, which eventually got cut to 3 hours, and then finally to 2 hour, so if I had watched the extended version it might have felt more complete, but then I could be complaining about length here.

So The Town, although somewhat entertaining, just not good enough for me. 7/10.

Now that I have the week off for (after exam, waste some time out of school break), I have time to watch some movies. Luckily I have Buried and The Sorcerer's Apprentice to watch. I've been wanting to see Buried for a really long time, but The Sorcerer's Apprentice looks like... well, crap.

At 1/28/11 01:45 PM, Auz wrote:

At 1/26/11 04:08 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote: Toy Story 3 shouldn't win best animated picture, although it will. L'Illusioniste is an amazing film and thoroughly deserves every accolade that could ever be bestowed upon it.

I'd put a $1000 on Toy Story 3 winning best animated picture, even if I could only win $10.

Yeah, my money's on Toy Story 3 to win best animated picture, and I don't think they really have much competition in that department.

Putting L'Illusioniste on my watch list, after all I have seen and heard from it now.

I might check it out, even though I usually don't pay too much attention to foreign animated films, outside of anime movies.

Also saw Black Swan today, it deserves to sweep. Certainly best picture and best actress.

Best actress, I would agree with that, but I don't really see Black Swan winning best picture. Right now, I'm leaning towards The King's Speech over The Social Network, but Black Swan and Inception are certainly in the discussion for the award as well.

I watched Hard Boiled today and it was pretty damn good. The gunfights were some of the best I've ever seen, and Yun-Fat Chow is badass. I'm definitely going to check out some more of John Woo's movies. Any suggestions?

At 1/29/11 11:45 PM, orangebomb wrote:

At 1/28/11 01:45 PM, Auz wrote:

At 1/26/11 04:08 PM, BananaBreadMuffin wrote: Toy Story 3 shouldn't win best animated picture, although it will. L'Illusioniste is an amazing film and thoroughly deserves every accolade that could ever be bestowed upon it.

I'd put a $1000 on Toy Story 3 winning best animated picture, even if I could only win $10.

Yeah, my money's on Toy Story 3 to win best animated picture, and I don't think they really have much competition in that department.

I would bet on it if the votes were being made by the general public. The fact is, they aren't. So I believe L'Illusioniste has a chance.

Putting L'Illusioniste on my watch list, after all I have seen and heard from it now.

Yeah, I need to see it still.

At 1/30/11 12:08 AM, Ptero wrote: I'm definitely going to check out some more of John Woo's movies. Any suggestions?

The only movie I can remember enjoying is The Killer, but I haven't watched a lot of John Woo's movies.

At 1/29/11 11:40 PM, Makeshift wrote: Luckily I have Buried and The Sorcerer's Apprentice to watch.

Got some more movies from my dad. Salt, Astro Boy, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Brothers, A Christmas Carol, and Prince of Persia...

At 1/30/11 12:25 AM, Makeshift wrote: I would bet on it if the votes were being made by the general public. The fact is, they aren't. So I believe L'Illusioniste has a chance.

Naw don't kid yourself, pixar will bag it because TS3 is a giant film and the academy awards aren't that indie or anything.

I watched Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times this afternoon.

It's still an entertaining film, even 75 years after it was made. Of course a lot of the humor is silly slapstick that's been done over and over again by now, but there haven't been many actors who can do it as well as Chaplin could. You can clearly see he was born for comedy and the white screen.

I liked how the film gave a nice look into the society of the 1930's and the conditions some people lived in back then. Although it's intended as a comedy, it also gave something to think about. I don't see that often anymore in (popular) modern comedies.

In my opinion this is a classic worth checking out.

Are you ready for the film of the year 2011?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGvSPnU_K nY&feature=player_embedded

Premières tomorrow.

Two films down, seven to go. Eight if I feel like watching The Social Network again.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice was quite bad, but it was just as expected. Nicolas Cage continuous to annoy me, and Jay Baruchel was annoying for the first time. What can I say, this film's just a stupid kids' movie. -- 4/10

Now Buried was something I actually expected to be really good. I've been looking forward to it for a while now. It really just ended up being boring to watch. I understand they wanted you to feel claustrophobic, but I just got bored watching Ryan Reynolds face, literally nothing, and hearing stupid people talk over the phone. The ending was somewhat interesting, but I was expecting more. Ryan Reynolds played his part perfectly, there's nothing bad I can say about it, but he didn't have all that much to do... -- 6/10

Watched Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins.

Half parody of Harry Potter rip-offs, half love letter to Mark Kermode, the film is about an abused nerd from Cockfosters England living with his Aunt David Morrisey who learns he is the son of a famed Witter (like a wizard, but better dressed) who defeated the evil Lord Emmerich (a criminal wanted for both his attempts at world domination and his 1998 remake of Godzilla) at the cost of his and his wife's lives.

Benjamin travels to Australia, and under the guidance of Pentangle, Professor Mumblecore and eccentric Bavarian filmmaker Werner Herzog learns the ways of Wittertainment, a combination of magic and skiffle music.

The film is very low budget (made for about £6000 if I remember right), and feels more like a particularly well made webseries than a film. Think something Channel 101 would make, or something like 28 Day Slater. The acting is iffy at times, sometimes clearly deliberately ("I AM FULL OF DOUBT!"), sometimes unintentionally, and due to the low budget a lot of the more exciting stuff happens off screen and is then discussed by the characters. At one point, a reel of film is lost by the projectionist, and the director speaks with him on the phone and states it contained a sequence in which Benjamin discovered a fellow student was a young Bob Dylan who had travelled forwards in time to steal the secrets of the Large Hadron Collider, defeats him, and then plays a gig with Elvis Costello and Paul McCartney.

These fake projection issues and cutaways to the bickering projectionist and director happen a few times throughout the film, and by the third time the joke has outstayed it's welcome.

I loved it, but I think you'd have to be a Kermode fan already to get much out of it. There are quite a few bits anyone should find funny, but most of the best bits are in jokes and references to gags Kermode has made in his reviews.

Can someone explain to me what happened in Salt? I am so fucking confused. I'm assuming EVERYONE'S a Russian spy, and EVERYONE wants to save the work while they simultaneously want to destroy it.

At 1/31/11 12:33 AM, Makeshift wrote:

The Sorcerer's Apprentice was quite bad, but it was just as expected. Nicolas Cage continuous to annoy me, and Jay Baruchel was annoying for the first time. What can I say, this film's just a stupid kids' movie. -- 4/10

Nicolas Cage and kid's movies never really go together. Not to mention, it's one of Disney's craptacular live action movies, so you know it's going to be pretentious crap.

Now Buried was something I actually expected to be really good. I've been looking forward to it for a while now. It really just ended up being boring to watch. I understand they wanted you to feel claustrophobic, but I just got bored watching Ryan Reynolds face, literally nothing, and hearing stupid people talk over the phone. The ending was somewhat interesting, but I was expecting more. Ryan Reynolds played his part perfectly, there's nothing bad I can say about it, but he didn't have all that much to do... -- 6/10

Haven't seen Buried, but from the looks of it, I might have to take a pass on this one, which was a bit of a shame considering the expectations for the movie.

I'm looking forward to seeing Sanctum, even though it won't be a huge blockbuster compared to Avatar and Titanic, I still think that Cameron can make something like this work.

I watched a lot of great movies recently so I'm just gonna rattle off a few

Some Spoilers Below

First I saw An Education, great movie, Carrie Mullaghen(sp?) was great I really loved her in this movie for whatever reason.

Then Kramer vs Kramer, heartfelt masterpiece, just felt great to watch it throughout and I really felt for these characters. One of the few great objective dramas i've ever seen.

Then Boyz in the Hood, really depressing to be honest, still amazing it it's own right, really resonated emotionally. I nearly teared up in the final scenes when Doughboy goes up to Tre and Tre says "You still got one brother left"

Then Good Will Hunting, probably my favorite of the movies I watched. Funny, well written, moving, amazingly acted, the whole thing comes together wonderfully and has so many great lines.

Finally, The Pianist. This one was a bit weird for me because I was just so engrossed in it. I didn't even realize how invested I was in Spillman until the scene where the Russians almost shoot him in the Jacket. I was literally yelling at the screen like "Why did you do that! You almost got shot!" I was genuinely worried, Brody deserves that oscar for sure.

At 1/30/11 12:08 AM, Ptero wrote: I watched Hard Boiled today and it was pretty damn good. The gunfights were some of the best I've ever seen, and Yun-Fat Chow is badass. I'm definitely going to check out some more of John Woo's movies. Any suggestions?

The Killer is a similar Woo movie. Both that and Hard Boiled are crazy awesome, but what bothered me about Hard Boiled is that apparently, everybody has infinite ammo and they never need to reload. A Bullet in the Head is an alright action movie, too. Full Contact is a cool one. It's not directed by Woo, but Chow Yun Fat is the star. pretty silly movie, but that's part of the charm. I still shake my head at the part where he throws a knife straight through a guy's hand as if it were a bullet shot from a gun.

Red Cliff is also really good, if you're not just looking for Woo's shoot 'em ups. I'd rent the "international" version because the regular version is butchered, a popular practice among western publishers. It's two separate movies. Together, they equal up to at least 4 hours, but it's worth your time.

I finally got around to watching Full Metal Jacket and all I can say is that it made me feel astoundingly uncomfortable throughout.

I watched The Machinist last night. Christian Bale was great like usual. Some of the smaller twists were predictable, but the ending blew me away.

Saw 'Let the Right One In'

A little slow in starting but the relationship between Oskar and Eli become really endearing and the film as a whole really is a fresh take on the vampire tale.