The Movies Discussion Thread

[David Smith]

Thought black swan was ok, although incredibly overrated. The basic story was good enough, even if a little like the piano teacher, but i found the imagery so (intended pun coming up) black and white. Everything in it seemed very transparent, with constant references of 'white is pure but repressed while black is embracing your freedom and sexuality' etc etc and the lesbian scene seemed utterly gratuatous with her being sexually advanturous getting equated with getting in touch with her dark side and other vague concepts. Very melodramatic ending too. Still, was pretty darn impressive visually with the usual great score from an Aronofsky film and some of the horror elements towards the end were really rather engaging - i would definitely say the final act justified what came before it

[danielcaux]

Yep, also the plot developement is hilariously heavy handed, but in a way that was part of the fun, all the time I was laughing at the movie, but at the same time was captivated by its atmosphere. The most hilarious moments were those when the ballet director opened his mouth to give little nuggets of exposition and dummy-proof meta-analisis that outlined the plot:

-You could be brilliant, but you're a coward!
-Perfection is not just about control. It's also about letting go. Surprise yourself so you can surprise the audience. Transcendence! Very few have it in them.
-Because everything Beth does comes from within. From some dark impulse. I guess that's what makes her so thrilling to watch. So dangerous. Even perfect at times, but also so damn destructive.
-The only person standing in your way is you. It's time to let her go. Lose yourself!
-Your final dance! You've tasted your dream. Touched it! Only to have it crushed. Your heart is broken. Wounded! Your life force fading. The blood drips. The black swan stole your love! There is only one way to end the pain. You're not fearful, but filled with acceptance!



I agree about the whole Black Swan/White Swan dichotomy, it was kind of simplistic, but the thing I really liked was how the movie used simple images and visual tricks to create the psychological horror of being obsessed with yourself, encountering your own image everywhere, how she began to perceive herself outside of her own point of view, as just another spectator of her act and all that, and how at some point the movie puts you in her shoes so to speak, forcing you to question if some of the things you were watching were real or not.

Trashy and certainly not a deep and complex movie, like The Fountain, but definitely fun. It feels more like a campy and surrealistic companion piece to the starkness of The Wrestler.

SPOILERS

It felt to me like a happy ending though, just a metaphoric death/deflowerment; somehow I could see the ballet team rushing Nina to the ER and then they would let her take some time to recover, and everything was going to be OK. Really, it was just a minor glass cut in the stomach, some blood transfusion, some stitches and voila, back to normal.

[moom]

My Boy Jack starring Daniel Radcliffe aka Harry Potter.
I wrote this at rateyourmusic.com
"I stopped by some channel to watch this movie, of course, mostly because of Daniel Radcliffe, being quite a fan of Harry Potter. I knew I shouldn't expect it to be HP, but I did want to see Daniel outside that role and just to stay in touch with what he does in cinematography.
In this piece he portrays the son of famous Rudyard Kipling, John. Or is it Jack? Is it true that in the English-speaking world all men whose names start with J are called Jacks? Nevermind. This is the story of a boy who wants to live up to his last name, to make his parents proud, and not forgetting about his siblings. A boy who's stepping into manhood, a bit scared but willing. And this is where one can draw parallels to Harry Potter. Mind you, in the battle scenes he even acted just like Harry would have.
Alas, I do not see this role or film making big waves because of Harry Potter. As good as the latter role is, I'm afraid it overshadows Daniel's other inputs and outputs. And it may be that Daniel will only be remembered for it alone. Except maybe that naked scene in some theatrical play. Which actually was a good sign of Daniel still being able to surprise people. But will that moment be the last one? He still has a lifetime to catch some more."

[justabagofatoms]

Anonymous. It purports to be a different version of the ''who writ it" conspiracy theory that has dogged poor William Shakespeare since he first dipped his quill. And since he started writing.
It has a host of brilliant actors, and is worth the money, honey.

Spoiler

It turns out that it really was a room full of monkeys with typewriters. Shocking.

[wiped]

Apollo 18 .....which was better than Paranormal Activity ... which was my other most recently watched movie - and what a fuckin waste of time that was.

[Beowulf]

... maybe that naked scene in some theatrical play

The play, staged in London's West End, was Equus

"Radcliffe has to be applauded for taking on such a difficult role for a stage debut, especially with so much attention centred on his part. He’s perfectly fine, but not much more, has reasonable stage presence, remembers his lines, speaks clearly, and if there were furniture to bump into he’d surely acquit himself nicely there too. But convincing as an intense, repressed and guilty 17 year old?"

http://westendwhingers.wordpress.com/20 ... radcliffe/

[danielcaux]

Has anyone watched Dogtooh? I think it's a greek film, but not like My Big Fat Greek Wedding or anything like that. Quite the opposite, very interesting movie, and hard to put into a genre, perhaps the most accurate tag would be "Domestic Horror" or maybe even "Psy-Fi".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlN5qpp8j74

[justabagofatoms]

Thanks fo the clip, though it was a bit nightmarish. I don't mind people hacking each other up, but I can't take it when they go after the family pet.

The Green Lantern. I stayed awake through the entire movie. Actually,I enjoyed this more than I would admit if I were sophistcated, which I am not. The animation is gorgeous, and I don't know where to get one of those lamps, but I really need one.

[danielcaux]

Thanks fo the clip, though it was a bit nightmarish. I don't mind people hacking each other up, but I can't take it when they go after the family pet.

Yeah I'm the same, but as long as it's special effects or off camera action I'm more or less OK with it; but when you know the film makers were hurting real animals for their "art" it becomes unbearable to me. That's why I couldn't finnish Pink Flamingos, why did they need to hurt those poor chickens in the sex scenes? Low budget is no excuse. Not fun.

[Idisaffect]

when you know the film makers were hurting real animals for their "art" it becomes unbearable to me

How about Herzog pushing that poor horse into the Amazon River in Aguirre, Wrath Of God?

[danielcaux]

Yeah not nice at all, and throwing the little monkeys away was completely unnecessary too. The late 60s and 70s films were like an endless parade of cheap ass directors celebrating animal abuse.

[danielcaux]

Did anyone else liked Fincher's version of The Girl With The Dragon Tatto? I thought it was pretty awesome, better than the Swedish version, although certainly less chilling and gritty. So I guess it wasn't really absolutely better, but vastly different, stylistically, and that's always good in a remake. I found it to be a very "sensual" film, the good use of both great photography and sound desing created a really hypnotic atmosphere.

Gotta love that titles sequence too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uznO8-QeE44

[moom]

Watched Cube 2: Hypercube again, yesterday. What a great trilogy, but the best one is surely number 2, in my opinion. What I like about Cube and Saw movies is that they're not your average blood'n'demons movies, but with things to think about.

[David Smith]

Just saw the semi wicker man sequel The Wicker Tree. Good, but certainly not great. Recreates the feel of the original, but with a lot more humour to it (which is often to the movie's detriment)

[nosaj]

I saw The Artist at the theater last week, and I liked the premise in many ways, but I would have preferred it to be a little more edgy.