Flipside Movie Emporium

[the night watchman]

[the night watchman]

[Danny Baldwin]

I liked Hollow Man when I saw it in sixth grade. Then, and still now, I knew/know nothing.

For me:

Freddy Got Fingered

My Boss's Daugter

Halloween 6

Jackass

Jeepers Crepers



I'll think of more later.
_________________
Danny Baldwin

View My Reviews

[Dr Giggles]

[the night watchman]

[Michael Scrutchin]

The past ten days:

[the night watchman]

[Dr Giggles]

[the night watchman]

11/2-11/9

Horror & Desecration (Dante Tomaselli, 1999/2002) Neither of these movies show quite the promise of other low-budget first-timers, like Romero with Night of the Living Dead, Jackson with Bad Taste, Lynch with Eraserhead, or even Craven with Last House on the Left. The major problems I find are Tomaselli?s shaky pacing, tendency to overstate, and a small reliance on cliches. (In these two movies alone he has already used up all of his allotted there-someone-there/not-there cuts for the rest of his career.) On the other hand, he obviously has a non-traditional imagination and is not afraid to express it. Out of the two I think I liked Desecration slightly more. Perhaps it contains the ?emotional core? Michael found lacking in Horror. I thought Irma St. Paule as the grandmother gave a good performance, and although she and her grandson (Danny Lopes) share only one scene together, there?s a real sense of bond between the two. There was a greater sense of psychic collapse in Desecration than Horror, perhaps because the narrative centered on a single character, and I liked how the ghost of the dead nun wasted absolutely no time at all getting around to haunting. Horror has a few good surprises, and there?s one moment, late in the movie, that?s as startling as the blind-man-and-his-dog scene in Susperia and the cat-hater scene in Inferno. As you said, Michael, Horror is more interesting the second time around; there are some connections and clues that aren?t obvious the in the first viewing, and work successfully to bring the narrative together. I?m hesitant to make too many criticisms, since Tomaselli was obviously working with limited resources and time. His next movie is apparently going to use a more linear and traditional narrative. I?m very curious to see how it turns out.

Terror Train (Roger Spottiswoode, 1980) Watched this one out of obligation as a horror fan. Homework, ya know. Not the worst slasher flick in the world, and the only one to include magician David Copperfield in the cast. (Most of his tricks seem like cheats, but there is one where the camera doesn?t cut away at all that?s pretty impressive.) It also has a few nice details, especially the constant rocking of the train. Obviously this must have been filmed on a set, but the filmmakers put forth enough thought to go to the trouble of including a sense of motion, which establishes a nice foreboding atmosphere. I also liked how a competent adult character, the Conductor (Ben Johnson), was included. And Jamie Lee Curtis is still one of the best screamers. Incidentally, I?ve read many comments complaining about the picture quality. The version I watched was anamorphic and very clear.

Matrix Revolutions (Wachowski Bros., 2003) Either I watched a different movie than everyone else or had lower expectations. This struck me as clever popcorn, with dazzling visuals and more than a few surprises. I think it pretty much ties everything up, at least within the context of the world established by The Matrix. Sure, there?s some clunky dialogue, and a lot of ?you gotta just believe? pseudo-enlightened mumbo-jumbo, but nothing that exceeds the first two movies. Usually mass audiences eat up this mystical crap (I?m looking your way, Signs), and I can?t understand why they didn?t here. It was also nice to see the one rationalist (Jada Pinkett Smith) not be shot out of the water for her skepticism. Thank you, movie.

Poolhall Junkies (Gregory ?Mars? Martin, 2002) What a hoot. Sure, the plot is contrived, but it has a quick pace and snappy dialogue (provided the dialogue isn?t required to move the plot forward), and Martin is smart enough to allow the camera to linger on Chris Walken, knowing that Walken is interesting even when he doesn?t seem to be doing much. There?s also inventive shots of pool games (though this is no Color of Money), some clever hustles, and the ending rises enough above clich? to satisfy.

Eyes of the Mummy (Ernst Lubitsch, 1918) I have to confess this melodrama about a mysterious girl brought to Germany from Egypt while being menaced by an infatuated mesmerist from her homeland struck me as pretty turgid. It took me three days to watch (the movie runs just over an hour), and nothing in the storyline, performances or direction struck me as particularly worthwhile, beyond wondering how contemporary audiences responded to it. It has all the style and technique of a home movie. Maybe worth seeing for Lubitsch scholars, but otherwise, blech. I will give it credit for refusing to force a happy ending into the proceedings.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[mfritschel]

This might have been one of the worst movie watching weeks I have ever had to experience in my life, with the Milwaukee Film Festival going on as we type, I feel ashamed to call myself a dedicated movie goer. But that aside there was one bright spot to my week and then the rest:

Rebel Without a Cause (Ray) B+ : With its Oedipal and Electra complexes running rampant, Ray dives into the dark side of the human psyche and takes a look into the relationships between teenagers and parents. I throughly enjoyed this film, and its classic look at the way that parents and teenagers are unable to connect and form meaningful conversations or relationships with one another. Also, much of what Ray discusses in this 50's classic holds ever the more true in today's society and how even though we claim as a society to have evolved and become more open minded, why are we still troubled with the same problems.

Matrix Revolutions C- The Wachowski Brothers : How to destroy a a very promissing franchise is eloquently illustrated is this movie. Although they stayed true to there heavy realiance on fantastic special effects, they seemed to get away from what made the other to poplular. One can argue that the first two were not deep philsophical treatises, like many people tried to make them out to be, they managed to constantly keep the audience guessing and allowed for a fun time and great discussion on what would happen next. This movie seamed to completely disregard the first two, form its own chain of thought and leave behind what made the first two good.

Life of David Gale D - : I don't even really feel on commenting on this movie, I had it figured out half way through. The suprise ending wasn't good, or even a surprise for that matter. Finally, the acting was horrible. Just an all around bad movie.

Italian Job (2003) D : There are well done action movies with somewhat good acting and then there are those with Marky Mark in them. I just really couldn't get into this movie, and didn't find a whole lot to like about it.

[beltmann]

Haven't had time to post in this thread for a few weeks, and I still don't: It's nearly 11:00 and I just returned from the Milwaukee Film Festival. I've attended 11 pictures and one Q&A over the last 3 days. (Thank goodness for the speedy Grecian Deli nearby!) If all goes according to plan, I'll hit films every day through Sunday, except for Thursday (parent-teacher conferences). I'll report back later, but I'll say now that I'm having a ball.

Michael, I completely agree with your criticisms of Home Room and Versus, although I think I forgave the former more and the latter less. Versus is one of my least favorite movies of the year. I wanted to fast-forward through it.

Eric

[Mark Dujsik]

11/3 - 11/9

In the Cut (Campion, 2003)

The Matrix Revolutions (Wachowski and Wachowski, 2003)

A Mighty Wind (Guest, 2003)

Radio (Tollin, 2003)

Reviews of the other two are forthcoming.

EDIT: Added link to review of In the Cut and A Mighty Wind.
_________________
"Film lovers are sick people."

--Francois Truffaut

10 Best Films of 2006

Mark Reviews Movies

[the night watchman]

Interesting review of Radio, Mark. I haven't seen it yet, but I always feel uncomfortable when I see mentally capable actors (or, at least, presumably mentally capable actors) playing mentally challenged people. Especially if that actor is Cuba Gooding Jr, the "actingest" actor working in Hollywood today. The only two performances of the afflicted by the non-afflicted that didn't make me sink into my chair was Leonardo DiCaprio's in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and Wu Xiang's in Shower, or at least the first two-thirds of that movie. I had a feeling when I heard the trailer for Radio using a clip from The Speech, which is always present in feel-good movies just in case the dummies in the audience don't get The Lesson, that the movie was going to be pretty much by the numbers.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[Mark Dujsik]

[Danny Baldwin]

Arg...forgot to post here...

This is through monday...

The Matrix Revolutions

Love Actually

Funny Games

The Lion King (Millionth Viewing)
_________________
Danny Baldwin

View My Reviews