Flipside Movie Emporium

[Michael Scrutchin]

The last three weeks or so:

[beltmann]

[Danny Baldwin]

[HoRRoRFaN]

[mfritschel]

After an extremely long hiatasis this is what I can muster up.

Barbarian Invasions (2004)

Bowling for Columibne (2002)

Bus 174 (2003)

De-Lovely (2004)

Pitch Black (2003)

The Dreamers (2004)

Out of those Bowling for Columbine I found far more intersting and seemed to follow a much more logical thought process then Farenheit 9/11. Also, Bus 174 was quite an amazing film, with the extensive coverage that was provided during the events, and the way the film maker was able to blend together interviews, back story, and actual footage into a quite through moving and critical piece. I keep trying to find time to make it to the theatre and keep getting shot down, so I will continue to live off rentals when I get the chance.

[Danny Baldwin]

8/17 - 8/23

If I had been let into Open Water, there would've been one more. But, oh well, I shall try again, tomorrow. That'd be a riot if this theatre tried to check an ID after my parents buy the ticket for me. As for the small list, I've had quite a bit to do (Golf, lots of summer AP homework I've neglected, etc.), so, I will hopefully see a lot, to wrap up the nice vacation from school. Well, at least hopefully better than these measly four:

Predator (McTiernan, 1987) - Honestly, I thought it was rather awful, with no especially riveting or shocking sequences. It's not even all that cool, and there's no charm in Arnold's presence. I suppose my hatred is more because it's average than that it's bad. I'm not all that sure Predator is really a good villain, either. I originally rented it in preparation for Alien vs. Predator, but with so many other, better choices, I think I'll pass 'till video.

Bus 174 (Larcerda, Padilha; 2003) - Overly long, and, at times, strays from the point. Other than that, it's flawless, containing absolutely haunting footage, far superior to anything in City of God. The comparisons seem inevitable, but are actaually rather unjust. While that one focused purely on crime, itself, this picture is more a view of the general depression of a society. The clips of some of the Rio de Janero prisons are absolutely unreal, raising unanswerable questions about punishment (at least politically). There's a fascinating layer to a two-sided debate of the issues presented in the film--neither political "side" can really resolve the problems. Ironic, but not surprising, that the conviction made by one of the interviewees in the documentary say Brazilians "only care about elections."

De-Lovely (Winkler, 2004) - Interesting, but almost entirely unsatisfying, even if likable. Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd are absolutely terrific, sharing some moments of quiet intimacy that are beyond almost any other biopic ever made. What a shame that the rest is as plain as genre-material could be. The music is certainly well sung, but are the performance sketches really all that good? I blame Winkler; he hasn't really done anything special. And, the screenplay, by the otherwise fantastic Scorsese-colaborate Jay Cocks contains a few good, zingy one-liners, but, aside from that, basks in shallowness. It's a mixed bag, but I guess you could say I found it worthy of a viewing, sometime.

Garden State (Braff, 2004) - It grew on me as it played, and has continued to do so, after walking out of the theatre. I love Braff's writing; it has a quirky resonance to it that's subtly brilliant. I think that I originally thought it'd be kind of forgettable, seeing that it's light. And I guess I still don't know if I'll remember it for awhile. But, I sure enjoyed it more than most pictures, this year. The final sequence is absolutely brilliant, too; I was literally leaning towards the screen, as my heart rushed. I learn that it was the definitive, original ending choice, too. That, in a sense, proves Braff to be far more confident than I thought he was, making the film. His style is flowing, too; I especially dig the spin the bottle scene, towards the beginning, in that sense. Great work from Natalie Portman; she's so warm here, it's impossible to dislike her. Same goes for the dark, blank deepness of the Peter Saarsgard character. Exceptional, all around. I hope it ends up on my best of the year list; only time will tell.
_________________
Danny Baldwin

View My Reviews

[matt header]

I'm not going to post my viewing list yet - I'll wait about two more days, since I have two more movies I really want to include on this list but haven't seen yet - but there's lots of juicy discussion going on here.

[frostiang]

This week I saw:

Napoleon Dynamite (Jared Hess 2004)

Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie (Hatsuki Tsuji 2004)

Dogville (Lars Von Trier 2004)

Bandits (Barry Levinson 2001)

Show Me Love (Lukas Moodysson 1998)

The Big One (Michael Moore 1997)

The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez 1999)

Fargo (Joel Coen 1995)

The Sandlot (David M. Evans 1993)

The Godfather Part III (Francis Ford Coppola 1990)

Do The Right Thing (Spike Lee 1989)

Flying (Paul Lynch 1986)

Flashdance (Adrian Lyne 1983)

Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks 1974)

The Wild Child (Francois Truffaunt 1970)

The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock 1963)

Sunrise (Raymond Longford and F. Stuart Whyte 1926)

A lot for me but I had a week of vacation and had nowhere to go so I decided to watch a bunch of movies and join a forum. This is a bit new for me but reading previous posts should allow me to get a hang of these things. I watched most of these on movie channels but some in theaters and some on VHS and DVD. So I hope this is really fun in the future.

[beltmann]

[stefanieduckwitz]

[theatrejunkiecampbell]

You really do have to steer clear of ducki!!!!! Beltmann knows best EXCEPT IN CLASS.....wait I never had him in class, but he knows what hes talking about most of the time

[the night watchman]

Mmmmm... cookies...
_________________
"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

[beltmann]

8/23 ? 8/29/04

New this week, alphabetically:

The Bad Seed (LeRoy, USA 1956)

Brakhage (Shedden, Canada 1998)

Brakhage on Film (Gassan and Seegmiller, USA 1965)

Ghosts of the Abyss (Cameron, USA 2003)

I Vitelloni (Fellini, Italy 1953)

The Lower Depths (Renoir, France 1936)

The Manchurian Candidate (Demme, USA 2004)

The Milky Way (McCarey, USA 1936)

Open Water (Kentis, USA 2004)

Phantom of the Paradise (DePalma, USA 1974)

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (Sturges, USA 1947)

Who?s That Knocking at My Door (Scorsese, USA 1967)

None of those approach must-see status, although The Lower Depths and Who?s That Knocking at My Door contain passages that might be considered classic. In the former, Gabin's scenes with Louis Jouvet, as a baron whose gambling losses land him in a flophouse, ooze true friendship, while in the latter, Keitel impressively mimics Scorsese, especially in a breezy conversation about The Searchers.

Neither Brakhage documentary was remotely interesting, and neither Harold Lloyd talkie?Milky Way and Sin of Diddlebock?ranks among his quality work. The 1947 Diddlebock revives Harold?s character from the 1925 silent The Freshman to investigate whatever happened to that fresh-faced college boy over the last 20 years. (He?s now a mediocre Babbitt about to get canned.) That premise reeks of classic Sturges and is a great place to start, but it?s also where the picture?s resourcefulness stalls.

I found De Palma?s Phantom of the Paradise insufferably tacky, and became equally exasperated with Ghosts of the Abyss. Cameron secured such beautiful images of the sunken Titanic, but his central gimmick?superimposing costumed actors over the wreckage to ?visualize? the ship?s former glory?grows tiresome, especially since it continually obscures the evocative pictures. And even though Cameron deeply furrows his brow while trying to recover two lost research robots in the final sequence, I wasn?t buying the sense of dramatic ?urgency? being sold. After all, we?re talking about metal boxes, not, say, hundreds of drowning human beings.

Open Water more tactfully taps into multiple facets of human vulnerability?such as the fear of injury, of isolation, of the unknown, of the natural world, of the universe's ultimate indifference?yet the purely functional acting and dialogue prevents the movie from becoming more than a tepid thriller. Although the film has a flat, cruddy digital look?the artless images are much uglier than necessary, I think, especially in the opening scenes?at least the ocean is photographed with some reverence, and there is a sense of poetry to the story?s inevitability. Unlike some, I wasn?t put off by the ending (except perhaps in terms of banality). Instead, my biggest complaint is that the film is never daring ENOUGH. For example, the movie?s truest moment of panic occurs when Susan wakes to discover herself alone, but Kentis doesn?t have the guts to commit to that deepened helplessness. He lets her?and us?off the hook almost immediately. (In his defense, such a scenario raises questions of where-do-we-go-from-here?, but a careful re-shuffling of events could address that.)

I confess that this week I most enjoyed watching the campy histrionics of The Bad Seed. I?ll leave my badge at the door.

Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[the night watchman]

[beltmann]