Oscars '08

Woot! The nominations are out, and for the most part, look great.

http://a.oscar.abc.com/media/2008/html/printer.html

I AM GOING TO SEE THERE WILL BE BLOOD BEFORE THE OSCARS. That's my mantra for the time being. :) Otherwise I've done better than usual at seeing all of this year's "top" films.

What was your favorite film of '08?

Over the Holidays...

Sweeny Todd ****
I really enjoyed it. Will probably make my Top 10 for this year.
Superbad ***
I thought that I'd get more from this one after hearing it billed as the year's funniest film... It was funny, but didn't leave a big impact. (I'd rather re-watch Juno, Knocked Up... and Super Troopers to get the jokes the first time around.) :)
Blob [1958] & Blob [1988] ***
I re-watched the classic horror the other night and enjoyed a Steve McQueen lead performance I'd forgotten about, then I watched the 80's remake with Kevin Dillon (Johnny Drama, for all you Entourage fans) taking over as the hero. Best if seen back to back (and for free with ON DEMAND).
Shindler's List ****
Yeah, I'd never seen it before! Definitely a more conventional story than I imaged for this one (but what should have I expected, from Speilberg, after all?). Easy to watch, which is an interesting (not necessarily good or bad) thing to say about a holocaust film.

Ratings. Better than nothing.

OK. So I thought that I'd start rating movies that I've seen on a simple 5 star scale. That way, when I don't take the time to actually write a review of a film, at least some information will be displayed here. Hopefully it encourages some of you to share you're thoughts/ratings too.

Also, it would be fun to have another movie night sometime soon. (Especially with the Holiday Upgrades made to the basement at 581.) Stay tuned.

Also also, because the OCD part of me likes to list/order things, I'll be working on my Rankings-of-Movies-Released-in-2007-[That-I-Saw] list in the next couple weeks. At last count, there are more movies that I want to see than I have seen in '07, but I'll try my hardest to rectify that as the awards season comes into full swing.

So without further ado: Movies I've seen semi-recently...
No Country for Old Men ****1/2
I loved it, and was going to write up something about it, but what I wanted to write about would probably spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it. So see it!
Michael Clayton ****
Like No Country, one of the few movies that lived up to the hype. In any year that's saying something, and this year especially because of all the great stuff that came out.
The Darjeeling Limited ****
Probably only scores so high because the wife and I are such Wes Anderson fans, but really an entertaining movie. (An interesting suggestion about how to see Wes' films: Each of his movies could be taking place simultaneously in an alternate Wes universe. Each story opens a portal into which we get to see these highly stylized, quirky, character-comedies. But I guess if you don't dig it, you don't...
Juno ****
Like in Knocked Up, the scenarios, characters, and dialog are often completely over-the-top, but still manage to convey some really truthful ideas. More specific to Juno is the great writing that's so consistent without being predictable, and persistently witty. We laughed through half the jokes at our showing.
The Mist *** (But barely.)
The more I let go (in terms of plot, etc) and freely interacted with the movie, the more I enjoyed it. Classic King ending. (Good or bad is up to you.)
Eastern Promises **1/2
I was mostly underwhelmed and didn't really get into the story or its characters. But I guess I didn't exactly see the end coming either... meh.
3:10 to Yuma ***
Pretty entertaining western remake. But why didn't he just get on that damn train at the end!!! (Parts of the story bothered me when I should just been happy watching the gun battles. :)
Dan in Real Life ***
Cute, nice and fun. And I mostly forgot that I was watching Steve Carrel and Dane Cook. Which is impressive.

Want to see:
There Will Be Blood, Once, Into the Wild, I'm Not There, Atonement, I am Legend, Superbad...

American Gangster

I went to see American Gangster the other night with Jeff, Steve, Jon, and Cutler, and came out wondering what I was supposed to take away from the film. The story definitely had it's messages and points to make, but at the end, I felt as if the would-be strongest message (something about the real effects of drugs and drug trafficking in America) was over shadowed by the "Denzel is a Bad Ass" message. I wonder what the original intent/message of the filmmakers was before this film became the (more-palatable) cop drama that I saw?

But yes, the movie is entertaining, and in terms of story-telling, pretty good. I especially enjoyed watching how the film crafted the Crowe/Denzel characters to be so ideally and principally(?) similar. I thought that that aspect of the film was one of the more interesting/effective. I just wish that the film wouldn't have left the ending hanging (morally) wide open. Are we supposed to think that Lucas (Washington): has gotten what he deserved; gets off easy; feels any remorse; should feel any remorse; is to blame; or is just a cog in a faceless machine? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Impromptu Movie Night?!

Summer's over. Let's face it.

Did it go faster than usual? Well, of course not, really... But our 2-month break became 3-, and I thought, before we fall completely off this wagon, we should try to have a movie night.

Does this weekend work well for people? Saturday night?

Screening suggestions? A new theme for this 'club season'? Let me know.
I've been itching to re-watch a couple of favorites from last year (The Fountain, Stranger Than Fiction, Children of Men...), so those are possibilities. Something fairly light and entertaining.

Reply [to hagstrbh@yahoo.com] YES or NO if you think you could make it Saturday. I'll email again if we have enough interested.

Thanks.
Bjorn

ps- I was introduced to another film discussion resource. http://www.armchairdirector.org/ It looks like a little up-start web periodical, all about movies. The reviews look fairly well written. Take a look.

2 Month Break

Film Club is going to take a 2 month break (this July and August) to let people catch up on their out-of-doors activities and Summer Blockbusters in the theaters. We'll return stronger than ever in September. If you see anything good in the mean time, feel free to post about it here. It's always nice to have suggestions!

Bjorn

P R I M E R

We watched Primer on Saturday night, and I'm glad that everyone was at least as befuddled by the movie as I was the first time I saw it. I enjoyed it just as much the third time through too, so I'd definitely recommend additional viewings.

For more info, Wikipedia has a sizable entry on the film. Also, www.primermovie.com is the film's official sight with a link to a discussion board that is administered by Shane Caruth (he no longer has the forum open to new users, because of spammers, but all of the content is still up).

I own the film now, so let me know if you'd like to borrow it.
Bjorn