3/29/11
3/27/11
3/24/11
3/23/11
3/22/11
Ralph Nader - An Unreasonable Man
A great documentary that shows the hypocrisy of Democrats that blamed him for Al Gore's 2000 Presidential loss.
3/21/11
3/20/11
MARATHON MAN - HQ Trailer ( 1976 )
A movie I streamed last night. Overall it was good-solid. Not great, but more like a plot-driven thriller, albeit more intelligent than the crap today.
I also tend to enjoy '70s movies set in NYC--maybe because Dan has told me so much about his childhood.
3/19/11
The Verdict on the Case For Christ - Lee Strobel
A charlatan who propagated a bad book and documentary on Christ's supposed existence.
3/18/11
3/16/11
3/15/11
3/14/11
Untitled Trailer
A fun movie that can be streamed off Netflix--pokes fun at all the pretension in the arts. Bad music, bad contemporary art and the poseur types who dig this crap. An entertaining watch.
3/13/11
“Bonnie and Clyde” (1967) by Arthur Penn
Bonnie and Clyde is without a doubt one of the most influential films ever made—influencing such diverse films as Terrence Malick’s Badlands (a superior film) and Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers (an inferior film). It is also a very good film. It is NOT, however, a great film.
The comparison between this and Malick’s Badlands is a good one. Bonnie and Clyde does contain some potshots at the media, and the way they make celebrities out of killers, but it is neither too deep nor profound. Never are Bonnie and Clyde themselves really sketched as three-dimensional characters, and we never get a very good understanding of them. In Badlands, the entire film is told from Holly’s subjective point of view, and thus we grow to understand her, and why she fell for Kit and went on this wild killing spree with him, even if Kit remains a bit of an enigma—although Martin Sheen gives a truly great performance.
Granted, Faye Dunaway is a great actor, and gives a damned good performance, and Warren Beatty also does a good job. But the two don’t really seem to share anything in common, nor do we ever see their relationship develop. This lends a certain aloofness to the whole proceeding, that doesn’t necessarily work here. Although Stone’s Natural Born Killers is not as good a film, at least there the film is so pedal-to-the-metal in its style and its vicious attacks on the media that the human dynamic between Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis doesn’t even matter anymore. Bonnie and Clyde has no such excuse.
The reason, however, I do recommend it is that it is indeed a very entertaining film. The revolutionary technical pyrotechnics may not be as “shocking” as they were 4½ decades ago, but it’s still a very fast-paced and energetic tale, extremely well-told, minus some of the rambling indulgences and excess fat of Stone’s later…whatever-the-hell-it-was. Thus, I can ultimately recommend it as a good, solid bit of entertainment, although not a great work of cinema nor art, by any stretch.
3/12/11
3/11/11
3/10/11
3/9/11
3/8/11
Samurai Rebellion (1967) trailer
Streamed this GREAT Kobayashi classic. Very complex--mostly dialogue that builds a great suspense and then...fucking sad.
3/7/11
Two Lovers - Official Trailer [HD]
Here's a very good film I streamed off NF recently. It was better than I expected--from the guy who directed The Yards. It really handled the subject matter well, I thought, and the writing has depth to it. The film is more about selfishness and how it can affect those close to you. I recommend the watch--stream if you can. (Netflix not urine--ha--I make joke.)
3/6/11
3/5/11
Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster : Save the Earth
I remember seeing this film on the big screen as a kid, and this was a cool song. I had the hots for the Japanese singer.
3/4/11
Love Is the Devil Trailer
This is probably the worst biopic I have ever seen and that says A LOT. I'll go as far as to say this is worse than The Hours, and that's pretty bad. At least with The Hours there were some nice pastures to look at and there were some sunny moments (yes it is a very dour film but I mean 'sunny' in the literal, not happy sense, like you saw the sun). In this piece of excrement there is nothing but dismal rooms and horrid filming accompanied by very pretentious artsy torment cliches.
So how I came to watch this was I was killing some time and so I streamed it off NF because it has Daniel Craig and I think he is cute. Ok, not a profound reason, but also I didn't know much about the painter Francis Bacon so I figured what the hell.
But all this film showed was all his crap: fucking lots of guys, brushing his teeth with bleach powder, living in a shithole pile of filth, enjoys being beaten and burned with cigarettes, etc, etc, etc. Not a single mention about his work, why his painting is any good or why he is worth examining. While I don't expect biopics to go into great length or depth, there should at least be a minimal effort.
Pollock is a masterpiece compared to this (overall a pretty good biopic). Although it does go into some of the melodrama, there's at least discussions on art and an attempt to address why Pollock is a notable painter (even if you disagree--I don't think much of him but I do enjoy the film).
But this is crap. You can stream it off NF if you are bored but chances are you will be even more bored watching this.
3/3/11
Godzilla Raids Again
GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: Movie Trailers, Godzilla Raids Again
3/2/11
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)