Thread: Justin's Review Thread

No, nothing with Ben Stiller is worth wasting a Netflix slot on.

Thanks for the heads up, Justin. This sounds interesting and, as it came out last year, I might be able to find it somewhere.

Nice reviews mate

Haven't heard of that until now, I'll have to check it out. Also meant to post that I caught the new Winterbottom film, The Killer Inside Me a few weeks ago. I rate it a little lower than you but definitely worth seeing.

I'd probably start with After life. Before going over to the other side, you have to choose one moment of happiness, and the production crew of angels with reenact it for you.

It's a great question: What single scene of your life would you choose to take with you. What moment of happiness?

The International (Tom Tykwer,2009) [rating]2[/rating]



Had to watch this for my World Cinema course. Not bad, but not totally efficient in its storytelling. Like The Constant Gardener and Quantum of Solace, The International does present globalization theory in a pretty interesting manner. But those films -- especially the unbelievable Constant Gardener -- work more fluidly, whereas, The International sort of plods along and fails to keep the viewer engaged. While the concepts are interesting and the film is well-shot, it doesn't completely work on a fundamental storytelling level.

However, I did like how it ended, though, which was one of the better moments in the film.

I loved The innocents. Loved. It. There weren't any classic thrills and scares sequences, just a brilliant sense of macabre uneasiness and ambiguity. Some of the photography was kinda unbelievable [spoilers="The Innocents"](like the blurry woman in the lake, holy sh*t, I won't forget that any time soon)[/spoilers] considering the period it was shot. Definitely one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises of the past year for me.

Thanks!

A lot of these newer films I have never heard about apart from actually seen. I've been dying to see Mother but it's not "available" yet if yall know what I mean.

Anti-Christ is one of the best films of the last 5-10 years, I would say. Absolutely a 10/10 for me.

I could never give Celebration a 10, because it's just shot so horribly. Intentional--I know--and I really sort of respect Dogme, but I don't see how this film is better by being Dogme. Honestly, the writing and performances are so strong that they really "deserved" a kinder visual treatment. Even if the quality of the film was improved a little. The graininess is a noticable bother. I'm not sure there's added intimacy here either. In fact, I'd even go as far as to call it a purposeful distanciation. The film works extremely well undoubtedly so I'm not sure if my "what-if" criticisms are even accurate, but this film--not so much The Idiots--"should not" have been Dogme shot IMO. I wouldn't shave off more than half a point, but film as art, as a poetic medium... NEEDS visuals IMO.

Yeah, definitely need to check out Farewell starring Emir Kusturica of all people. Thanks, Justin.