I love Seabiscuit; just watched it again very recently.

I've read Cicero, Ovid, and Thucydides. And even some Mark Twain. So guilty as charged. And I also have books of Taoist poetry. Duel at dawn with swords? Let's do this John. ��

Heh. I've read Hesiod, Virgil, and Plato in the original. And Mark Twain--in the original. Not well, of course, so I surrender.

Pick 4

Primer



So I heard this was meant to be good and I watched it. There were lots of things I didn't understand but I enjoyed it. I watched it again and understood a bit more and enjoyed it more. I then watched a YouTube video explaining what goes on in the movie and realised that I only understood a fraction of it.

There's more layers than an onion to this movie so it's great to rewatch and spot something new. It doesn't dumb things down, at all. To the point where it makes a bunch of the audience switch off, but the film maker doesn't seem to care. It's his vision and he's doing it his way. He's the writer, director, star, producer, music by, film editing by, casting by, production design and sound department.

It's the best movie I've seen that only cost $7000 (notice how he didn't get funding so that he wasn't reliant on anyone and could do it his own way).

Of course it's rough around the edges technically, but the story and dialogue is great and carries the whole thing and then some.

Watch this one only if you're feeling awake and are prepared to rewatch it.

Owning Mahowney
The Royal Tennenbaums
Dancer in the Dark
Primer

JC has been PMd

I will need to writeup tomorrow, but I'm going with Johnnie To's Mad Detective for the round four pick.

damn sniped again!

My 4th round pick is Mad Max: Fury Road. Write up tomorrow.

Kiosk on the. Lock! But he has until the morning.

I'm taking Bad Santa! The legendary Billy Bob Thornton kills it as the degen's degen. He does whatever he damn well pleases and doesn't give a **** if polite society disapproves. There's a certain appeal to that, I'd say. And he gets a hot young bartender girl to **** him too, she's got a Santa fetish hahaha. "**** me, Santa!" is about as good as movie taglines get. There's also a little black dwarf sidekick who swears a lot and a pathetic fat loser kid that Bad Santa might be able to give something back to while he's also stealing all he can for himself ofc.

There's no Christmas like a Phoenix Christmas, baby. I mean this has the late great Bernie Mac as a store detective who likes big asses, what more do ya need! Made by Terry Zwigoff who also made Crumb, one of the greatest documentaries evaa. He should make more movies I think!

like 8 years ago me and my special lady friend we're eating at the bar at matsuhisa (original nobu) where we ate like 2x a week and the lead actress from bad santa was sitting right next to us.

after about 45min of us gorging ourselves on all kinds of amazing **** that isn't listed on the menu she turns to us and says "you are the best sushi eaters I've ever seen".

probably my biggest brag.

bad santa such a great movie but man was the sequel unwatchable.

Chocolate is simple to explain. It's kinda like Rain Man, except instead of Dustin Hoffman we have a little Thai girl, and instead of living in a ritzy asylum she lives with her mom in the Bangkok hood, and instead of being a math/card-counting whiz she watches the dojo next door and absorbs the martial arts. And instead of her dad being dead he's a Japanese gangster--but her mom's dying of cancer, so I guess it's all pretty much the same. Oh, and if you remember the Robert De Niro character in Awakenings who could catch stuff without looking at it, she's kinda like that too.

I saw this flick at a time when I was getting really sick of CGI in movies, I mean really really sick of CGI in movies and and how cool CGI thought it was, and found Chocolate's return to old-school athleticism and camera angles compelling. Plus, given the actors, the plot and the direction, it's clearly the greatest movie of the millennium.

While I wander off to PM Howie T., I'll leave you with a minute and a half of the first fight scene.

Trigger Warning: Raggedy Ann Fu.

Inglorious Bastards. Writeup to follow.

Round 4. Mad Detective

I love Johnnie To's films, and Mad Detective is a masterpiece of editing and cinematography. It takes a little while before you realize the eponymous mad detective, who will soon retire, cutting off his ear and giving it to his boss in a grand, final gesture, sees that other characters are driven by multiple personalities. The opening scene pictures two girls, one urging the other to shoplift. We realize later that, in reality, it's only one girl, but the detective sees her second personality urging her to commit the crime. His approach to crime solving is equally intuitive.

The antagonist in the film has seven distinct personalities guiding his actions, and To does a great job of showing us those seven personalities throughout the film throughout the film. On occasion, we see only one person; at other times all seven appear on screen. The main character teams up with a younger detective to work on solving the crime committed by the guy with seven personalities. He also has a wife who has left him, but she's featured in many scenes, a product of the mad detective's projections.

All of To's films are fun, and this is a departure from most, but it's highly entertaining.

I hope there's a special place in heaven for whoever wrote this screenplay.

Primer is an interesting pick. I have seen it a couple of times and it is one confusing MFer. I even looked up that flow chart that sorta explains it. It is certainly fascinating. Also a big Bad Santa fan. It has a regular spot in my seasonal Christmas viewing schedule.

10 rounds isn't gonna be enough though as I have way more movies to get in here than spots left.

I think you might like this one.

another on my list!
might be the best screenplay of the 21st century.

the scene in the basement bar is one of greatest ever.

another fantastic pick.

can't believe I'm getting sniped left and right but I somehow haven't sniped anyone else yet despite feeling like I've taken some of the best movies ever made.

I'm away from laptop all day so can't do my usual write ups till later and I hate just making the pick and doing write up later cuz my fav part is the build up n trying to get u guys to see if u can guess my pick from the description before the reveal but since I don't wanna get skipped and sniped I'll post my 2 picks and do write ups later.

I take

sideways

and

sexy beast


I'll PM Howard but if someone can pls fill in the spreadsheet for me I would appreciate it.


children of men
o brother where art thou
TAOJJBTCRF
sideways
sexy beast

edit: oh ya I second mr.baseballs statement that 10 rounds inst nearly enough

I will be absolutely mind blown if either of my next 2 picks get sniped.

A lot of these are on my list, as well

The Prestige. Writeup in a bit.

I'm a big Johnny To fan, but somehow this one got past me. Will look for it.

guys, fill out the spreadsheet, so we know where we are

We all share the same planet. We all live under the same sun. Yet some of are oppressed, and as a result we are marginalized, stereotyped and underrepresented in the movies. Well, maybe not underrepresented. I am speaking of the Stupid. How often does a movie focus on the lives and points of view of the Stupid? The answer lies somewhere between not often and never.

This changed with the release of the greatest film of the millennium, Pain and Gain. It's depiction of the Stupid is not only realistic and accurate, it is absolutely breathtaking.

When it was first released, Pain and Gain received criticism for being too violent and too sympathetic towards its criminal characters. Ridiculous! First of all, where do they think violence originates? Is not violence the tool of the ignorant and the last resort of the incompetent? Doesn't it's depiction provide a commendable educational purpose?

What if we held a presidential election and one of the candidates were stupid? (Note use of subjunctive.) Wouldn't we want to know the downside of such a person being elected? What if both candidates were stupid? We'd need to prepare.

And as for the criminals being portrayed sympathetically, they're not. They are merely portrayed as people we all know and see a hundred times a day. There's nothing sympathetic about them.

Something else: This picture cements Dwayne Johnson's rank as the greatest actor of our time. He absolutely nails it.

Phat Mac, that PM you sent is to Kioshk and you're just CCing me, right? Stop it, it's annoying lol.


And guys, fill out the spreadsheet with your picks!