Absolutely Frances Ha is great! I'm smitten by Greta Gerwig. I wanted to reach through the screen and embrace her! The B&W definitely worked well. I cannot put a finger on why, it looked fantastic. Besides mobile phones in the movie, I think it's timeless. Can't wait for the film to hit VOD, don't think I need the blu-ray. I'm trying to save shelf space, my movies are bursting at the seams!

Just got back from The East. Starring Brit Marling and Alexander Skarsgard (kind of a discount Claire Danes and Viggo Mortensen). It's like Archer without the funny (or stunts - but Patricia Clarkson and the company certainly resemble Jessica Walter and ISIS).
Anywhom - Archer, I mean Brit, is sent undercover to infiltrate "The East" - an anarcho-syndicalist commune (where decisions are ratified by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs) which is giving some payback to corporations that have wronged the public and/or the environment. Will she turn in the group or become a Johnny Utah? Watch and find out! Worth a view.

The Fast and the Furious

Part one. Not as many mentions of "family," but still quite good. I've never seen parts 2+3. Not sure if I want to. Why sully my love for this wonderful series? 1-4-5-6 (and I'm sure soon to include part 7) are all excellent.

Thelma & Louise

Ridley Scott has one of the most diverse palettes of any filmmaker I've seen.

He's also a producer for The East (along with Tony).

Oz the Great and Powerful is watchable, about what I expected. 6/10

Mama is really bad for the most part. 4/10

This is pretty awesome, De Niro auditioning for the role of Sonny in The Godfather

Only God Forgives

Which is greater: number of players on an MLB team (before Sept 1), or number of lines Gosling has in this movie.


Oh yeah - uh, don't say "Want to fight?" to someone known as the "Angel of Death", okay? Just a little suggestion here - do with it what you will.

Now, the big question: Chang vs Chigurh - who wins?

i liked only god forgives , visually the movie is beautiful , it played alot like some weird japanese arthouse movie , something Takashi Miike would have made..... i did think they could have cut about 15 min of the movie though, it felt like it dragged a bit at the end .....ill def pick it up on blu-ray whenever it comes out .

Upstream Color, Shane Caruth, 2013

I may be a little perplexed, but I think I just saw an amazingly unique and gorgeous film. Shane Caruth's meditation on identity and free will, takes as its metaphor a science fiction-like parasite that can be passed between human, pig and orchid - through a worm.

Caruth wrote, produced, stars,co-edited, did the score, was the DP, and I'm sure he schlepped lots of equipment around. Hell, his parents are responsible for the craft services.

Just like with his first film, Primer, UC is a completely original and breathtaking movie. It's narrative is both straight-forward and maddeningly elliptical, and to try and rehash the plot would be an exercise in futility. This is like Terrance Mallick on acid.

It's also one of the most gorgeous digital films ever shot. Caruth is a master at framing and composition, and the editing of this film could be held up as the pinnacle of the art form. With it, he creates, in what some might call a nonsense plot, an amazing immediacy and tension that is as gripping as any thriller I've seen in recent years, yet still completely impressionistic. The mostly electronic score is also to be lauded, as it's both beautifully symbiotic and a major plot point in the film itself.

The film is also an affecting love story. The highlight for me is a montage of scenes that show the two lovers arguing over whose childhood memories they are telling one another, and how it's both frightening and exhilarating that they are apparently sharing memories.

The last third of the film is wordless, and is a brilliant collage of images, droning, ambient music, guiding the story to its deeply enigmatic, yet somehow satisfying and necessary conclusion.

I'm beside myself because I'm not sure how else to describe it. The only thing I can say is - see it! I'd love to get a real discussion of this film in The Lounge.

Upstram Color is, by far, the best film I've seen this year. Pure mastery by Caruth.

It's confusing that reputable reviewers are giving only god forgives such a high rating, I read that it was an awful and played out version if Drive. Come to think of it, how good was Drive really?

Drive no good

Great writeup Dom! Upstream Color is a hell of a movie. I definitely need to watch again before elaborating any further. Like most I got a little lost and because I missed a shot of the orchid in the beginning I was only able to "solve" the first two stages of the film. I found myself thinking, "Htf did Carruth manage to move me with freaking pigs, man??"

I'd definitely participate in an Upstream Color discussion breakout thread. There's already been a fair amount of discussion in this thread as well.

Dom,

Wonderful review for a wonderful film. Visually stunning. The sound was a bit off tho. Really hard to hear the dialogue almost all of the time. I had to read this Slate article to understand the movie, but it's not a movie I needed to understand to be engrossed by. Also saw a very nice discussion on Reddit that proposed alternate ways of watching the movie.

lol ok i'm not exactly comparing Spring Breakers to UC, but I kinda am. What comes to mind first is the first ~3 minutes or so of UC... it was very similair to SB (or SB similar to UC whatever) in that both tried to bring a complete cinematic experience rather than just having a straight forward who dun it plot. It's the future of cinema ladies and gentleman, and you know what? I kinda like it.

The Conjuring

Power went out last night so had to do something on short notice. Movie was as bad as it looks.

Snyder just announced at Comic Con, next DC film will feature Superman AND Batman!

I wish they would just get on with it, make a giant film with every stupid superhero ever at the same time, then retire the whole awful genre once and for all.


P.S. GET OFF MY LAWN!

You know what Hollywood does with any success, rehashes it and plays it out until even the original successful idea is annoying.

Anyone got any good movie review/discussion places? I love the movie geeks united podcast (they do amazing interviews) and whattheflick on youtube (RT's Matt Atchity and film critics Christy Lemire and Alonso Duralde) for reviews but these are the only places I know, so not sure how they compare to others,

I heard NextProjection.com is on another level and has some great writers (me). Seriously though? It's become more difficult to discuss films in a central location. Twitter/fb have basically killed message boards. This is the only message board I read.

Ah and comments sections quite often initiate discussion. I read the following sites on a regular basis: Criticwire/Indiewire, film.com and The Dissolve has some great stuff.

Saw The Lone Ranger last night. Worst movie I have seen in a long long time. It is sooooooo long! Has multiple spots to end but just goes on and on. Disney will lose a bundle on this one. I don't think even Depp's one liners can save this one. Epic Epic fail....

I've been catching up on a bunch of films mentioned in here and all the film drafts. All awesome films, thanks.

Once Upon a Time in the West - Loved it. The dubbing of the audio was a bit jarring at first but I got over it. The opening train scene was amazing - I loved reading up how they filmed the fly on Jack Elam.

High Noon - I'm thinking I should have watched this before OUATITW then I might have got a few more of the references. It's a fine film but I wasn't particularly blown away by it. Grace Kelly and Katy Jurado are gorgeous. I liked the real-time gimmick. I wouldn't have minded learning a bit more about the villains but I guess maybe that's typical of the genre.

12 Angry Men - Fantastic. Some awesome performances. Was great seeing Henry Fonda in this after OUATITW -- he nailed both roles.

The Maltese Falcon - I think I'm a sucker for noir films but this was so good. Bogart just nailed it.

For websites:
A. V. Club
Collider
Screenrant

For podcasts:
/filmcast
Filmspotting
Filmspotting SVU
Yeah, It's that Bad
How did this get made?

I'd also suggest the Mark Kermode podcast, though it focusses on British release dates.

Vodcasts - take a look at the site "theguywiththeglasses" - I particularly like the stuff done by "Nostalgia Critic" and "Nostalgia Chick"


If you want something more exploitation/action, and generally more fun, I heartily recommend The Gentlemen's Guide to Midnite Cinema and Outside The Cinema. "Horror Etc" is also fantastic if you want quite erudite discussion on horror in movies and TV.

I also do a movie podcast, PM me for the details or just look in my biography under 'interests'. Examples of ones I've done recently are Black Caesar/Hell Up in Harlem, This Is The End, the movies of Ben Wheatley, and The Longest Yard, if that floats your boat.