Originally Posted By Wimli (23 JAN 2006 11:51pm)

Originally Posted By Eva (23 JAN 2006 12:16pm)
How have you been?  

We want you to post more [size=15]more [size=19]more.  

I'll do my best.

So tell me, Drabet, what's that about? (oh, and what does it mean)?

It means "The Murder"

It's part of a sort of trilogy by a Danish director, Per Fly, the first being about the lower class, the second about the upper class and this about the middle class. They're all excellent and don't really have much in common. This one is about a man who's a high school teacher, married, has kids and a nice house but is bored. He has an affiar with a young activist and she kills someone during a "mission". He gets her out of jail by stopping her confessing to the murder and from then on it all goes wrong because he takes on her feeling of guilt. Well, it's more complicated than that but it's quite powerful and most of the actors do a great job.

Originally Posted By Wimli (23 JAN 2006 10:38pm)
Still, I do remember the transformation scene being intermixed with someone trying to enter the house, leading to some comedy moments as the guy didn't want the other person to come in and see he's a werewolf, or am I totally off now? I should just rewatch the movie I guess (like SO many other

)

So yeah, it was scary in parts, uncomfortable in others, jsut never 'aaah, it's sooo scary I can't watch anymore'.

Wolf Creek has received some fantastic praise world wide, didn't hear yet that it might go to far. Hm, then again, people have said that about Saw as well.

Originally Posted By Wimli (23 JAN 2006 11:49pm)
Actually, I haven't seen Confessions yet. Was it any good, or only so-so? GN&GL I would go see it for the subject alone, so Clooney is not really the principal reason for going, having never seen Confessions (wouldn't know what to expect of him as a director)

Yeah, subject is really interesting, but I've never been very fond of Spielberg doing the more serious stuff (well not very impressed with his summer blockbusters either, but that's a different discussion). Ok, I admit, I haven't seen Shindler's List yet (so sue me  

), but Saving Private Ryan? My God, I hated that one!

Sure, he's made a lot of good movies, but God, everytime: he's the best director ever, he hasn't put a foot wrong, everything he touches turns into a masterpiece... But I'm sorry I'm just rambling here (does it show I'm not a big fan?  

). Do let me know what you think of Munich when you've seen it. It's that kind of feedback that I still trust for a new Spielberg film.

Originally Posted By Wimli (23 JAN 2006 11:49pm)

Aah, some of my all-time movies came out that year

, more than any other year after it. I mean: Fight Club, Magnolia (probably both in my top 5 of all-time fav movies), Sleepy Hollow, American Beauty, Todo Sobre Mi Madre, The Green Mile, The Sixth Sense, Election, Three Kings, Pitch Black, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Boys Don't Cry, American Movie, Man on the Moon, The Matrix, Snow Falling on Cedars, Titus, The Virgin Suicides, The Five Senses, Girl Interrupted, eXistenZ, The End of the Affair, Go, and probably a whole series of others.

Oh, yes, yes, yes.  

I love all four of the Alien movies, but Alien 3 takes the cake for being the bleakest, boldest, darkest and most sinister Alien episode. Technically, it's absolutely brilliant, from set design, lighting to Fincher's ace directing debut. Alien 3 kept me enthralled from start (a stunning title sequence, with brilliant use of harsh sounds, high key lighting and a fantastic hook into a new story) to finish (yes, I loved that ending). Only thing it has against it, is the weak narrative, the plot jumps and stops, characters are forgotten, and things don't make sense. The revised cut (still not a director's cut unfortunately) improves this defect in ounces. Suddenly, the story actually makes sense, becomes much more intriguing and adds extra background. The only one who can (amost) match Alien 3 is Scott's original one.

Originally Posted By SirDave (24 JAN 2006 6:23am)

Originally Posted By Not A Speck Of Cereal (24 JAN 2006 4:53am)

Originally Posted By SirDave (7 JAN 2006 10:54pm)

Originally Posted By Caroline (7 JAN 2006 1:54pm)
SirDave
Jodie Foster always struck me as having a few more smarts than Jennifer.....

Okay, back to the fantasy. Into the bedroom you go, ready, willing, and o-my-golly, able. But then, she takes one look at you and says, 'BUT YOU'RE A MAN!' Icccckkkkkk!

Naw man, it's a fantasy--she's "available" in a fantasy, see?

I've always admired her intellectually, so it's not just a "I find her hot" thing. I find her interesting as well as attractive... though, not in a Hinkley sort of way <shudder>.

I wonder how she deals with that...

Originally Posted By Eva (24 JAN 2006 11:59am)

Originally Posted By Wimli (23 JAN 2006 11:51pm)

Originally Posted By Eva (23 JAN 2006 12:16pm)
How have you been?  

We want you to post more [size=15]more [size=19]more.  

I'll do my best.

So tell me, Drabet, what's that about? (oh, and what does it mean)?

It means "The Murder"

It's part of a sort of trilogy by a Danish director, Per Fly, the first being about the lower class, the second about the upper class and this about the middle class. They're all excellent and don't really have much in common. This one is about a man who's a high school teacher, married, has kids and a nice house but is bored. He has an affiar with a young activist and she kills someone during a "mission". He gets her out of jail by stopping her confessing to the murder and from then on it all goes wrong because he takes on her feeling of guilt. Well, it's more complicated than that but it's quite powerful and most of the actors do a great job.

Sounds interesting Eva! What are the titles of the other two movies of the trilogy. I don't think they ever got a cinema release here in Belgium, but they might be available on dvd. You Scandinavians sure do produce a lot of great films. Not a film, but I'm really looking forward to my Riget dvd boxset which is due to arrive any day now.  8-)

Originally Posted By dombrewer (24 JAN 2006 6:19pm)

No, no comedy moments in the transformation - it's extremely painful to watch as it is obviously agonising for him. Watch it again.. the recent 20th anniversary DVD is very good.

So yeah, it was scary in parts, uncomfortable in others, jsut never 'aaah, it's sooo scary I can't watch anymore'.

First time I watched AWiL i was 10 years old, and believe me, I turned it off!

But Saw was ridiculous - the whole thing was presented as a modern horror movie, Seven-alike with a memorable villain etc. Wolf Creek is supposed to be much more realistic and dramatic. Have a look at some of the reviews on http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wolf_creek/ and you'll see what I mean.

... Confessions...
It's not good or so so... it excellent.

I think I have to sue you. Schindler's List is the one film in Speilberg's career to see if you don't really rate him as a filmmaker. Saving Private Ryan is utterly lame in comparison - badly cast, derivative, even pointless.

You know, not really. Speilberg isn't really rated so highly. I think you can divide Speilberg very neatly down the middle - the blockbusters and the dramas, and then in those two divisions- the good and the bad. There are two many good to discount the man, but enough bad to be cautious. Munich looks like a good one to me.

Just out of interest, and this is taking into account critical favour as well as a lot of personal choice -
l

Originally Posted By dombrewer (24 JAN 2006 7:05pm)

Interesting Wim, you list about 10 or 11 films there that I thought were pretty average

- also a lot on your list are 2000 not 1999 - .

Looking at it I think 95 was classic year - Shallow Grave, Leon, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Quiz Show, The Usual Suspects, To Die For, Crimson Tide all highlights. I was going to the cinema a lot at that time, so managed to see a lot of modern classics on the big screen.

Originally Posted By Wimli (25 JAN 2006 2:42pm)
Damn, which werewolf movie is it then that I'm thinking of with those comedy moment intervals?

I should really really really cut back on the buying part and start watching some more.  

Still, that one is heralded as a classic at the moment (not by me though

).

I've had a long lasting hate against Kubrick as well, based especially on 2001 and Eyes Wide Shut, but have recently changed my mind by finally seeing, and loving, Dr. Strangelove. Don't think the turnaround will be as great with Spielberg though.

The readers of Empire Magazine recently voted him as being the best director of all time. I was just thinking like, you can't be serious! So ok, it's not a vote by critics, but still it goes to show how highly Spielberg is rated at times. For me to place a director in such a top ten, a director would have had to at least have made more than one masterpiece and have some consistency of quality throughout his career.

Really, which ones? I wouldn't all rate them as absolute masterpieces, but they surely all rate above 'average.

That's UK (and Europe in general) release dates you're talking about. All these movies were produced (and released in its land of origin) in 1999, except for maybe Pitch Black, that one may have been 2000.

And Pulp Fiction is definitely '94.

But i think a lot has to do with the circumstances that our perception is different

Ok, we'll have to take the Alien discussion into a third post. Damn, 5500 characters is so not enough for a good film discussion!  

CGI is utterly lame,

the characters bar none totally disposable

and the script deeply insulting to the ranks of fans of the first and second films. Also the reason for the story to even start is flawed from the beginning. There were no alien eggs on the Sulaco. Just stupid.

Originally Posted By Wimli (25 JAN 2006 4:59pm)
You can fault it for bad special effects, but not for lame CGI.

Isn't Aliens then guilty of the same crime? I mean, how many names of the marines can you remember, let alone recall faces? Except for Hicks and Newt, all the others only role seemed to be to be killed off as well.

You're wrong actually. Cameron has said on record that he always intended to insert a soundbite of an egg opening after the credits of Aliens. Due to lack of time that didn't happen. Some say, it was added in the director's cut, but truth be said, I didn't actually hear it. The writers of the third movie though embraced Cameron's idea and made it into the starting point for Alien 3. The idea then is that the Alien queen has produced two eggs and attached them to the ship that took Ripley and the others back from the planet, right before she comes down and attacks Bishop. Knowing the species is at risk, one egg is a normal one, the other contains a new queen.

And Fincher didn't decide to throw out the Hicks and Newt character because they didn't fit into the story I think, there may have been ways to keep them, especially Newt. He did it to enhance the dramatic situation for the Ripley character. Personally I thought it was a gamble that in the end payed off big time. It succeeded in further developing Ripley's character, bringing her eventually to total breakdown, and next to sacrifice. If Newt and Hicks would have survived, evolution or change in Ripley's character would not have been possible, she would still be the same woman she was in Aliens, fighting for her new found family.

Originally Posted By dombrewer (25 JAN 2006 4:22pm)

Teenwolf?

Texas Chain Saw ... the appalling remake.

Ouch! You hate Kubrick? You hate The Shining?

Empire is rubbish.

Spielberg, Coppola, Scorsese, ...

saccarine endings

Jurassic Park. "bad" catagory. Close Encounters is it obviously a well made film

Originally Posted By dombrewer (26 JAN 2006 9:46pm)
and the special effects work is poor - you can see the lines where the Alien has been inserted into the shot because the colours and shadows don't match at all.

I could name all of the characters in Aliens with no trouble at all. To be fair, I think it's a favourite film, so I could

I've never heard that said anywhere. Even if it were true the soundeffect of an egg opening after the credits doesn't imply anything to do with the film, just something for the people who sat until the end of the credits.

The idea of the Alien Queen "producing" two eggs is flawed - the ovipositor with which she lays eggs has been destroyed on the planet, she doesn't have the physiology to lay eggs directly from her body, I also have doubts about the Queen's ability to produce new Queen eggs by will.

script

Originally Posted By Wimli (27 JAN 2006 4:42pm)
Lol, damn it, you answer quicker than I can type. You already answered while I was still working on my alien 3 post.  

lol, I thought about that one, but I've never actually seen it.

Must be some other Michael J. Fox starring werewolf comedy.  

I sensed I should stay away from that one.  

That's hated, past tense.

I haven't seen The Shining yet, simply because I wasn't particularly interested in seeing anything else from the director responsible for one of those I-don't-get-it-so-it-must-be-brilliant movies, 2001.

While I agree with you there, I personally don't hate it that much but made the switch to Total Film a long time ago

It's true they all had their misses (e.g. Coppola with Dracula, Polanski with Ninth Gate). As for Burton, I disagree with him having had lapses.

I can honestly say that I've enjoyed both Mars Attacks and Planet of the Apes more than any Spielberg film I've ever seen.

And you're right as far as Fincher and Tarantino is concerned, but there's a consistency in their quality that I like. Five good movies each (ok four for Fincher in your opinion

), that's a lot more than most directors can say. And I'll add P.T. Anderson to the list with 4 excellent films.

Tell me about it!  :

I was enjoying A.I. just fine, right up until the ending. The movie should have ended when the little guy arrives at that statue and drop the entire one-more-day-with-its-human-mother. They say it was all Kubrick's writing (or maybe it was in the story it was based on), but that ending had Saccharine Spielberg written all over it!

Alien 3 does show more of the creature in its final stage than either Alien or Aliens ever did

I sensed I should stay away from that one.  

Suffice to say the scriptwriter and director thought it would be alright to have characters have entire limbs cut off and not die within a matter of minutes from bloodloss. It's that intelligent.

Well, "The Shining" is unquestionably the best horror film ever, so get renting my friend! No, actually, I take that back - I don't want to raise your expectations too high - it's pretty good.. you know, you should check it out someday....  

I've not found a film magazine that really suits me to be honest. I quite Empire about 6 or 7 years ago after reading it for a long time through gritted teeth. I've been reading "Hotdog" since, but even that winds me up at times. I think that they're in trouble anyway and may stop publishing entirely from poor sales. So that leaves me with.... not much. Never got into the issues of Total Film I've bought.

Coppola hasn't really made a great film since Apocalypse Now - which makes sense really because they say he had a breakdown making that film. It seems it broke his directing ability too. I like "Mars Attacks", but you're on your own with "Apes". You really think it's better than "Raiders" or "Jaws". How odd.

Fincher - yes and no - I think "The Game" was a mis-step, and "Panic Room" was very good in parts but inconsistent. Only "Seven" is the real zinger for me. Similarly Tarantinos first two and the first part of Kill Bill I really like, but Jackie Brown and KBv2 don't do anything for me at all. Must agree with the Anderson name check though... excellent work from him.

As for the remainder of our Alien debate we've covered our points of view, some might say, over exhaustively. what I will do is watch the extended cut at some point to give it a fair reappraisal.

Mean time - I did go and see "Munich".

Originally Posted By Wimli (30 JAN 2006 10:41pm)

Come to think of it, you're right about Coppola. Hm, too bad, he's made some awesome classics before Apocalypse Now. The Rainmaker was ok, but nothing more.

And I haven't seen 'Jaws' in its entirety, so I can't comment on that one.

I think 'The Game' is still a very good movie, but again like 'Planet' more on its blockbuster strengths than it being a real masterpiece. Nevertheless, I thought it was well structured, kept you guessing and delivered a nice vintage Fincher-twist ending.

I notice though you side stepped 'Fight Club'. What's your opinion on that one? For me that one is even better than Seven.

It certainly raises Munich on my should-see movies list. But first 'Good Night'.

oh, and The Libertine, and I haven't seen Jarhead either.

Oh, and I forgot to ask last time: what didn't you like about Three Kings?

Originally Posted By dombrewer (31 JAN 2006 6:00pm)

And I haven't seen 'Jaws' in its entirety, so I can't comment on that one.

You continue to surprise me! Not seen The Shining... not seen all of Jaws... next you'll be telling me you've only seen bits of Star Wars.  

I think that was the problem - the end completely ruined it - if you think about it it's ridiculous to the extreme. Spoiler AlertThey set that crash mat nice and accurately didn't they? Good job he didn't go off the roof at a different place, or have a heart attack on the way down ... that would have spoilt the party.  

Fight Club

Libertine
Jarhead

Three Kings?

Originally Posted By Wimli (31 JAN 2006 9:53pm)

Anyway, it's difficult to have seen all the classics of all times.

Must say that my interest at the moment lies in movies from the forties and fifties, together with those of the last 15 years or so. The sixties, seventies and eighties are currently on hold until I find the time to catch up.

Oh, and I'll soon find that masterpiece where you're committing the crime by not having seen it yet.  

Originally Posted By Wimli (2 FEB 2006 8:20pm)
If you haven't already, you should check out Billy Wilder's other films as well (Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, The Appartment, The Lost Weekend).

I don't know, I've never been able to get into Asian cinema much, whether they're classic or contemporary. The only one I thought was really top rate is Oldboy, man what a fantastic film! But apart from that, movies like Ringu or Hero don't do anything for me.

Well... at least I'm more than halfway there, right? So what are your numbers?

And I wondered, how come recent films aren't on it? I mean Serenity has an average score of 8.0, and it's not on the list. I know the top 250 is based on votes from regular voters only, but I can't believe from the 30000 votes Serenity has received so far none of the high votes came from those regular voters.  :-/

Originally Posted By Wimli (2 FEB 2006 8:20pm)
If you haven't already, you should check out Billy Wilder's other films as well (Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, The Appartment, The Lost Weekend).

I don't know, I've never been able to get into Asian cinema much, whether they're classic or contemporary. The only one I thought was really top rate is Oldboy, man what a fantastic film! But apart from that, movies like Ringu or Hero don't do anything for me

Well... at least I'm more than halfway there, right? So what are your numbers?

And I wondered, how come recent films aren't on it? I mean Serenity has an average score of 8.0, and it's not on the list. I know the top 250 is based on votes from regular voters only, but I can't believe from the 30000 votes Serenity has received so far none of the high votes came from those regular voters.  :-/

Originally Posted By Wimli (2 FEB 2006 8:20pm)
Oh, and about the imdb top 250:

Seen: 147
not seen: 103 (of which I already own 11, just have not gotten round to seeing yet)

Originally Posted By dombrewer (3 FEB 2006 11:27pm)

Originally Posted By Wimli (2 FEB 2006 8:20pm)
If you haven't already, you should check out Billy Wilder's other films as well (Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, The Appartment, The Lost Weekend).

I'm not too bad on my Wilder - seen the first three at least - Some Like it Hot is a favourite.

I'm really into my Asian cinema at the moment - they seem to have the action and horror genres completely sewn up at the moment - Infernal Affairs, Brotherhood, Oldboy as you mentioned are all terrific films. Battle Royale, Brother. Funny timing actually, as I watched Oldboy again just last night, and saw lots of details I'd missed before. Have you seen Audition? That's a seriously disturbing film. Ringu, Dark Water are great. Hero and Flying Daggers I rated as well. Not to mention the animated features - Spirited Away for one.

I've seen 169, with 8 waiting on my DVD or video shelf to be watched. 78 of the top 100 I'm pretty pleased with.

I don't have an answer for that, other than they must take into account a film's sudden popularity when it comes out and balance it across some timescale - otherwise Episode III would be number one from everyone going mad on it and giving it 10 - I guess that's another reason they don't count infrequent voters. Having said that I'm noticing the recent Crash is in there, so that doesn't make too much sense. I'm guessing out of that large number of votes there are too many people who liked it less than a 7.8 for it to be in the top 250.