So we can all live with it if we say that Inglourious Basterds is the best film of 2009?

Alright!

I myself have just ordered American Beauty and Groundhog Day. The first one I was very curious about and the second one was a recommendation from my gf. I think I'll buy some more movies in the near future since I received a shitload of cash after Christmas and New Years =)

Also I've seen Babel yesterday. I thought it was pretty good, but I didn't like the abrupt ending so much. I felt like it was still building up to the climax and then BOOM credits.

Overall 7.5/10

At 1/2/10 09:59 AM, Auz wrote: American Beauty

Fantastic film.

Just had a look on HMV and there's nothing new coming out I want until March 1st meaning I've got a couple of months to try and buy a couple of the DVD's I've had on my wishlist for a while now. Those being;

Ashes to Ashes: Complete BBC Series 1
Ashes to Ashes: Complete BBC Series 2
Crank: High Voltage
Dollhouse - Series 1
Green Street 2
I Love You, Man
Inglourious Basterds
Into The Wild
Max Payne
My Name Is Earl - Season 4
Prison Break - The Complete Collection
Skins - Series 3
Sling Blade
The Hangover
The IT Crowd: Version 3.0
The Wrestler

I'll start blowing my student loan on some of the cheaper titles in January and hopefully some of the newer ones and boxsets will go down in price towards the end of February.

Citizen Kane was on TV today.

Like I described it in my blog: It's a timeless movie of which I can imagine why some people would call it the best ever made. It does not go into my favorites however, but I thought it was very good. Especially for a 70 year old movie.

One thing though, it's been spoiled to me often which is a shame. It's probably best if you don't know the mystery behind 'Rosebud' yet ;)

At 1/2/10 10:28 AM, DannyIsOnFire wrote:

At 1/2/10 09:59 AM, Auz wrote: American Beauty

Fantastic film.

I'm sure it is, I heard lots of good stuff about it. I should get it with the mail tomorrow =)

At 1/3/10 11:17 AM, DannyIsOnFire wrote: Those being;
Crank: High Voltage
The Hangover
The Wrestler

I got those on my wishlist as well at the moment. I think I'll go pay the store a visit in the upcoming week and see if I can find them for a decent price. Gonna look for Spirited Away as well.

Also I can recommend Into the Wild.

I watched Falling Down.

Good film. I love how Michael Douglas' character gets less and less sympathetic as the film goes on. At first you're just like "oh he's just an ordinary guy being pushed too far, it's reasonable he might knock over a few shop displays" and then he's mocking a guy dying of a heart attack and you realise he's totally insane. Pitting him against the much more sympathetic police officer is what tips it over the edge, though.

8/10.

At 1/2/10 09:59 AM, Auz wrote: So we can all live with it if we say that Inglourious Basterds is the best film of 2009?

Alright!

no. District 9.

I myself have just ordered American Beauty and Groundhog Day.

Groundhog Day is pretty good.

Also I've seen Babel yesterday. I thought it was pretty good, but I didn't like the abrupt ending so much. I felt like it was still building up to the climax and then BOOM credits.

Overall 7.5/10

Yeah, I thought Babel was alright, not great. The other two films in the trilogy, Amores Perros and 21 Grams, are definitely better, especially Amores Perros.

At 1/3/10 12:40 AM, EclecticEnnui wrote: The following was written as a response to this thread, for someone who didn't like World's Greatest Dad:

I thought World's Greatest Dad was alright. Sometimes the black humor didn't really work and came off as just plain sad, but whatever. And at the end, I accidentally guessed right what Robin Williams was going to do as a joke and was like "oh, he actually did that", except he didn't point and laugh or say "you guys suck" afterward.

lol fuck Kyle, right? The world's better off without him! the end!

At 1/3/10 11:17 AM, DannyIsOnFire wrote: Crank: High Voltage

That movie's fucking horrible. The first Crank was awesome, though.

My Name Is Earl - Season 4

That show is really good.

At 1/3/10 12:12 PM, Auz wrote: Also I can recommend Into the Wild.

Yeah, that one was good. And Spirited Away is just fan-freaking-tastic.

I just watched Crank 2: High Voltage.

I would definitely not say that it's good, but it is pretty fucking awesome in my opinion. Very entertaining from the beginning to the end. I haven't watched the first one yet though. It could be that Crank 1 was waaaaay better, hence why Crank 2 was so poorly received everywhere. But I'll check that one out as well sooner or later.

At 1/3/10 08:08 PM, Sense-Offender wrote:

At 1/2/10 09:59 AM, Auz wrote:

no. District 9.

I haven't seen that one yet, but whenever I ask around I always hear Inglourious Basterds so...

Yeah, I thought Babel was alright, not great. The other two films in the trilogy, Amores Perros and 21 Grams, are definitely better, especially Amores Perros.

I have heard of those films, but I never knew they were part of the same trilogy. I guess that could explain the lack of a satisfying climax in Babel.

Watched Red Dragon and Valkyrie today.

Red Dragon was worse than I was expecting. I'd just read the book and so had to compare it to that, and it paled in comparison. If I'd not finished it only the other day, I doubt the film would have made sense, many important plot points were just thrown in from nowhere. And Norton didn't seem to be trying very hard, which is a shame as I really like him. And The appearances of Hannibal Lecture are no way as affective as they were in Silence of the Lambs, that character peaked way too early in cinema - though I suppose that is the case with all things.
Fiennes was alright though and PSH was a shock. That guy has to be one of the most versatile actors there is. The last thing I saw him in was Capote - completely different character and both were so believable.

Valkyrie was better than I was expecting. The story is interesting and not done in a lame Hollywood way. The lack of consistancy with accents is poor and having Eddie Izzard as a Nazi cast member is almost as ridiculous as Austin Powers in Inglorious Basterds.
But the story is something I'm interested in and I think they did it justice.

At 1/4/10 09:56 AM, Auz wrote: I just watched Crank 2: High Voltage.

I would definitely not say that it's good, but it is pretty fucking awesome in my opinion. Very entertaining from the beginning to the end. I haven't watched the first one yet though. It could be that Crank 1 was waaaaay better, hence why Crank 2 was so poorly received everywhere. But I'll check that one out as well sooner or later.

I love Crack 2: High Voltage - like you say, its terrible but so damn entertaining.

"Chicken...and broccoli."

Genius.

At 1/3/10 08:08 PM, Sense-Offender wrote:

At 1/2/10 09:59 AM, Auz wrote:

no. District 9.

I haven't seen that one yet, but whenever I ask around I always hear Inglourious Basterds so...

Inglorious Basterds was awesome, but not as awesome as District 9.

And Crank 2 is basically made up of either new, really unfunny shit, or the same exact shit you saw in the first movie as if to say "hey remember this part in that movie you should be watching instead of this shit?". And the energy/chemistry in the whole movie just feels false, artificial, not like the first one, which was freaking great and felt like a true, genuine attempt to entertain, rather than something shat out in minutes with money and only money in mind. The message I get after the credits roll at the end of this movie is "lol fuck you". I give it 1 out of 5 stars. Oh yeah, and Chev fucking died in the first one. "Oh but he blinked" some people say, as if they'd never seen/heard of such post-mortem twitches or what have you, which I thought was pretty apparent. His face had "I am dead" written all over it. But that has nothing to do with my hate for the movie. That's just a little issue I have.

I watched Apollo 13.

I enjoyed it, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't familiar with the Apollo missions in general, since it reduces tension when you know that they all survived anyway. Also, while it wouldn't have worked as a film, the episode in Tom Hanks' fantastic "From the Earth to the Moon" dealing with the mission is much better.

7/10.

My Top 10 of 2009

A Serious Man
Coraline
Crank 2: High Voltage
District 9
Inglourious Basterds
Moon
The Road
Up
Up In the Air
The White Ribbon

Watched Taken and Gran Torino and enjoyed the pair a lot. Would rate them both at 9/10. Each portrayed the emotion of love (Taken) and friendship (Gran Torino) fantastically and kept me entertained and guessing throughout. Considering you can them up for about a fiver a piece these days I'd highly recommend checking them out.

At 1/5/10 09:52 AM, DannyIsOnFire wrote: Considering you can them up for about a fiver a piece these days I'd highly recommend checking them out.

lol u actually pay??? u can just download them bro

Went to the store today and got me a nice pile of new DVDs. I bought:
-The Godfather (I)
-Spirited Away
-Old Boy
-The Wrestler
-Slumdog Millionaire

At first I was only gonna go for the middle three, but I found The Godfather and Slumdog Millionaire for a relatively low price. So I thought "Why not?". They're probably worth it.

At 1/5/10 04:33 PM, Frank wrote: lol u actually pay??? u can just download them bro

Personally I also buy them for closet decoration ;)

At 1/6/10 09:22 AM, Auz wrote: Went to the store today and got me a nice pile of new DVDs.

I bought DVDs from a shop today, actually, for the first time in years. Do it all online, but I got a giftcard for Christmas, and you can't use them online.

Got The Running Man, In Bruges and a box set of 3 Billy Connolly live shows (Was It Something I Said?, Live in Dublin and Billy and Albert).

I've seen In Bruges before, and loved it, and it was only £3, as was The Running Man.

I'd originally planned to put the £20 voucher towards the complete series of Rome on Blu-ray, but it was £64 in the shop, and is only £45 online, so it would have made fuck all difference to what I'd have ended up paying, so I just picked what I did get off the sale rack.

At 1/5/10 04:33 PM, Frank wrote: lol u actually pay??? u can just download them bro

No case, no extras, worse quality, laptop screen rather than 37" LCD, illegal, etc.

I just watched Rambo 4.

I wouldn't say that this is a masterpiece or a classic or whatever, but it is quite entertaining. And you definitely get what you pay for when you buy a Rambo movie: a crapload of blood, gore and violence. The violent scenes are very well made actually.

It's a little on the short side though with only 77 minutes runtime and a bunch of characters were a bit annoying.

But overall 7/10.

At 1/6/10 12:57 PM, TheMaster wrote:

At 1/6/10 09:22 AM, Auz wrote: Went to the store today and got me a nice pile of new DVDs.

I bought DVDs from a shop today, actually, for the first time in years. Do it all online, but I got a giftcard for Christmas, and you can't use them online.

I often check online stores as well, but they're usually a bit inconsistent here. It happened to me more than once that I found a DVD cheaper in the store than in the online store. Plus I won't have to pay extra for shipping and stuff.

I watched a Korean sci fi movie called Re-Cycle. meh. It had some interesting Terry Gilliam-ish visuals, but the movie itself was mediocre. And I finally got around to seeing the martial arts classic, the Magnificent Butcher. good stuff. The best fight in the movie was with the pole-fighting monkey dude.

At 1/6/10 09:22 AM, Auz wrote: -The Godfather (I)
-Spirited Away
-Old Boy
-Slumdog Millionaire

quadruple awesome (I still haven't seen the Wrestler)

At 1/6/10 12:57 PM, TheMaster wrote: Got The Running Man

Sub-Zero...now PLAIN zero

In Bruges

pretty good movie

and a box set of 3 Billy Connolly live shows

aaaaaaweesoooooome

I'd originally planned to put the £20 voucher towards the complete series of Rome on Blu-ray,

That there's a good show.

At 1/6/10 02:59 PM, Auz wrote: I just watched Rambo 4.

good violence fix

At 1/5/10 09:52 AM, DannyIsOnFire wrote: Watched Taken and Gran Torino and enjoyed the pair a lot. Would rate them both at 9/10.

Well, I liked Gran Torino.

At 1/6/10 05:13 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: That there's a good show.

Yeah, but I've already got it on DVD, so it's pretty steep just for a upgrade to Blu-ray.

Yesterday I watched Spirited Away with my gf and we both loved it.

Simply an amazing movie that (I think) was very different from your average hollywood or anime stuff. I thought the plot, characters and the world it all takes place felt very interesting and original. The animation was simply amazing and the music was also really good. And when the credits rolled after two hours I kinda wanted to see more actually.

Overall 10/10. It's probably my favorite animation movie next to Coraline. I'm not quite sure which one I liked more, but that doesn't matter. Anyway I can certainly recommend it to anyone. Unless of course you really, really hate Japanese animation movies.

Me and my gf held a little mini-movie-marathon last Friday. We watched Groundhog Day, Slumdog Millionaire and Koyaanisqatsi.

Groundhog Day
To be honest I'm not really a big fan of the romantic comedy genre. As a matter of fact I hate most of those movies (for several reasons). Groundhog Day was alright though and pretty funny at times. I also just liked the idea of a guy who wakes up on the same day every day and there is nothing he can do about it.

Still it was a little random how he got in and out of that situation, and I thought the girl he was going for was way too cliche as a personality. But a decent movie overall.

Slumdog Millionaire (might contain spoilers)
I was actually slightly disappointed by this one. I didn't think it was all that amazing and the plot wasn't as interesting as I expected. I thought it was gonna be about this guy who happens to know all the answers in "Who wants to be a millionaire?" because of certain major events that occurred in his life. And in a way it is, but it turns out that only a few questions are threated out of which two were just a wild guess for him... =/ The answers he did know he just happened to stumble across somewhere in his life and it seemed a little forced to me.

So I just thought it wasn't worked out as well as I expected. All in all still an enjoyable, good movie, but 8 Oscars is a bit much in my opinion. I wasn't really that impressed by the soundtrack and cinematography for example. I thought both of those were done better in The Dark Knight.

Koyaanisqatsi
This movie is an odd experience. For those unfamiliar: It doesn't have any plot, characters or whatever. It are just motion pictures of machinery, cities, nature, people walking around and other random stuff, driven forth by the music. I think it's best watched when you're not sober, because the first 45 minutes are kinda boring and reminded me of old documentaries I had to watch in high school. It got more enjoyable after that though.

Also I think it's mainly so popular because it was revolutionary at the time and movies of today are still using the same filming techniques often.

At 1/10/10 07:25 AM, Auz wrote: Also I think it's mainly so popular because it was revolutionary at the time and movies of today are still using the same filming techniques often.

I thought it was just Philip Glass wanting to have a visual addition to his art. So he wrote Koyaanisqatsi as a film/soundtrack.
I should check it out as I absolutely love the album.

Kooooyyaaaaaaaaaniiisssssqaaattsiii....
Kooooyyaaaaaannnissssqaaaattsssiii....

Watched The Running Man.

Awesome action film, full of ridiculous characters and bad puns.

8/10.

Watched Dans Paris (Inside Paris) t'other night on iPlayer. It's about this fella whos relationship with his girlfriend has completely deteriorated and he's gone into bed-ridden depressed mode. Then it follows a day in which he perks up a bit whilst he brother goes around fucking girls.
It's nothing spectacular but I found it charming and did like it.
There is also this scene at the end where the depressed brother and his girlfriend sing this song to each other which I found amazing. It's definately one of my favourite scenes ever.

Caught The Hudsucker Proxy on Dave tonight as well, it's a Coen brothers movie and as such its got some good surreal humour in it but its no way near as memorable as Fargo or Lebowski.

So, Sherlock Holmes is pretty badass. glad I saw it.

I'm gonna watch the Fall (I've decided to watch this one stoned) and Chan Wook Park's new movie, Thirst. I heard people were disappointed in Thirst, though, but I love Park so much, I snatched this up from Netflix right away. And I have another Korean movie to watch called Save the Green Planet, which just looks very interesting.

At 1/8/10 06:20 AM, Auz wrote: Yesterday I watched Spirited Away with my gf and we both loved it.
Overall 10/10.

the only rating one can give this movie.

Anyway I can certainly recommend it to anyone. Unless of course you really, really hate Japanese animation movies.

to a point of blind stubbornness, maybe. You should give the other Studio Ghibli movies a watch since you say you wanted more. Most of them are great or at least good.

At 1/10/10 07:25 AM, Auz wrote: Koyaanisqatsi

been on my queue.

Also, I thought Slumdog Millionaire was really good.

At 1/10/10 08:32 PM, Nev wrote: Caught The Hudsucker Proxy on Dave tonight as well, it's a Coen brothers movie and as such its got some good surreal humour in it but its no way near as memorable as Fargo or Lebowski.

I really liked it, but those two movies are definitely better.

At 1/11/10 02:15 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: I really liked it, but those two movies are definitely better.

I liked it, but of the Coen movies I've seen its my least favourite. Though the reason I prefer Burn After Reading is pretty much all because of Brad Pitt.
I do love the circle gag though... you know, for kids.

Watched La Vie En Rose last night too which I enjoyed on and off. It's a very good film and the soundtrack is especially fantastic. My problem with it is that Edith Paif is so fucking unlikable in parts. But then she stops being a bitch and becomes enjoyable to watch again for a bit.

At 1/10/10 01:30 PM, Nev wrote:

At 1/10/10 07:25 AM, Auz wrote: Also I think it's mainly so popular because it was revolutionary at the time and movies of today are still using the same filming techniques often.

I thought it was just Philip Glass wanting to have a visual addition to his art. So he wrote Koyaanisqatsi as a film/soundtrack.

I believe what I said was pretty much on the back of the DVD case, but that could be it as well.

At 1/10/10 07:54 PM, EclecticEnnui wrote:

At 1/10/10 07:25 AM, Auz wrote: Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi is unfortunately not for all tastes because some people can't be bothered with "slow moving" films.

Agreed it's not for all tastes.

Like I said, I think I'd enjoy it most when I'm not sober. Other people might love it any way.

At 1/11/10 02:15 PM, Sense-Offender wrote: So, Sherlock Holmes is pretty badass. glad I saw it.

The trailers on the dutch TV made it look terrible. Lots of slow-motion fighting, spectacular explosions and cheesy one-liners. It seemed to have nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes and had Hollywood written all over it.

But when I saw another trailer on youtube, it didn't seem so bad.

Anyway glad I finally heard an opinion.

At 1/8/10 06:20 AM, Auz wrote: Anyway I can certainly recommend it to anyone. Unless of course you really, really hate Japanese animation movies.

to a point of blind stubbornness, maybe. You should give the other Studio Ghibli movies a watch since you say you wanted more. Most of them are great or at least good.

Maybe I will. Although anime movies are a little hard to find here. Even Spirited Away was a last copy I found on a small 'special interest' shelf, between all kinds of comic book cartoons and other odd 'geeky' stuff.

And importing them usually makes them twice as expensive. But if I happen stumble across any of them I'll see if I find them interesting :)

Also, I thought Slumdog Millionaire was really good.

Could be that I was expecting too much.

I really liked Slumdog, too, particularly the childhood scenes. Plus, it's success got all of Boyle's old films re-released on DVD and Blu-ray, including Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, which are both excellent films that were then out of print.

At 1/12/10 09:22 AM, TheMaster wrote: I really liked Slumdog, too, particularly the childhood scenes. Plus, it's success got all of Boyle's old films re-released on DVD and Blu-ray, including Trainspotting and Shallow Grave, which are both excellent films that were then out of print.

I don't know about where you live, but Trainspotting was never out of print out here.