Last movie you watched?

[Ccook50]

The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger is brilliant as the Joker.

[Sparky]

Saw Woody Allen's Sleeper last night. Great movie. Weird stuff.

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Well, here I am with my first post in two months, because I really need to get something off my chest here; I went to see Wall-E last night and...well, in all honesty, I didn't think it was very good.

If you know me at all, then you'll know that I'm a card-carrying Pixar worshipper; they are, to me, absolute masters of all aspects of their medium, and I've loved every one of their films up to this point, but Wall-E simply didn't work properly as a story in my eyes. The first twenty silent minutes are flawless, moving, charming and brilliant, rivalling anything Pixar's done for compelling character work and deep emotional meaning, but as soon as the action relocates to the Axiom, the film's beautiful simplicity and subtle existential reflection becomes lost under a suffocating mass of satire, hastily-introduced supporting characters and an awkward stop-the-villain-and-save-the-world climax. There's almost an embarassment of brave, creative and intelligent ideas at work here (the social satire, the environmental message, the Captain's dilemma, the redemption of the humans and misfit robot crew), but for the first time Pixar fail to develop said ideas properly or integrate them into a cohesive narrative, meaning that they all end up drifting around the film, jostling with each other for attention without ever really commanding it.

Most tragically, the biggest casualty of this messy plotting ends up being Wall-E himself, who ultimately ends up getting completely crowded out of his own film. He's a genius creation, yes, but he's also a low-key, subtle character; in the face of the narrative noise that forms the film's second half, he struggles to make his voice heard (so to speak), and his romance with Eve, so touching and adorable in the glorious opening, ends up an inconsequential footnote, deprived of the emotional punch it deserved by having been so oddly fragmented and dispersed amongst lesser material. Come the film's emotional finale, in which Eve attempts to revive a broken Wall-E, I found myself in the utterly unpleasant situation of feeling heartbroken not because of how much I cared, but because of how much I didn't.

I'm someone who generally enjoys analysing and dissecting the things I watch, and as such I know that it's sometimes it's fun to pick apart a film you didn't really like, but believe me, I take no such pleasure from this. As I've said, I love Pixar dearly, and I wanted nothing more than to fall in love with Wall-E as much as almost everybody seems to have done, but in the final reckoning, I can't in good conscience evaluate it as anything other than their weakest film, by a large margin. Really disappointed...

[AerostarMonk]

Originally Posted by Ditchy McAbandonpants

Well, here I am with my first post in two months, because I really need to get something off my chest here; I went to see Wall-E last night and...well, in all honesty, I didn't think it was very good.

If you know me at all, then you'll know that I'm a card-carrying Pixar worshipper; they are, to me, absolute masters of all aspects of their medium, and I've loved every one of their films up to this point, but Wall-E simply didn't work properly as a story in my eyes. The first twenty silent minutes are flawless, moving, charming and brilliant, rivalling anything Pixar's done for compelling character work and deep emotional meaning, but as soon as the action relocates to the Axiom, the film's beautiful simplicity and subtle existential reflection becomes lost under a suffocating mass of satire, hastily-introduced supporting characters and an awkward stop-the-villain-and-save-the-world climax. There's almost an embarassment of brave, creative and intelligent ideas at work here (the social satire, the environmental message, the Captain's dilemma, the redemption of the humans and misfit robot crew), but for the first time Pixar fail to develop said ideas properly or integrate them into a cohesive narrative, meaning that they all end up drifting around the film, jostling with each other for attention without ever really commanding it.

Most tragically, the biggest casualty of this messy plotting ends up being Wall-E himself, who ultimately ends up getting completely crowded out of his own film. He's a genius creation, yes, but he's also a low-key, subtle character; in the face of the narrative noise that forms the film's second half, he struggles to make his voice heard (so to speak), and his romance with Eve, so touching and adorable in the glorious opening, ends up an inconsequential footnote, deprived of the emotional punch it deserved by having been so oddly fragmented and dispersed amongst lesser material. Come the film's emotional finale, in which Eve attempts to revive a broken Wall-E, I found myself in the utterly unpleasant situation of feeling heartbroken not because of how much I cared, but because of how much I didn't.

I'm someone who generally enjoys analysing and dissecting the things I watch, and as such I know that it's sometimes it's fun to pick apart a film you didn't really like, but believe me, I take no such pleasure from this. As I've said, I love Pixar dearly, and I wanted nothing more than to fall in love with Wall-E as much as almost everybody seems to have done, but in the final reckoning, I can't in good conscience evaluate it as anything other than their weakest film, by a large margin. Really disappointed...

Weaker than Cars? Them's fighting words.

[Lynnie]

Phantom of the Opera -2004 version

I saw this at the theatre as part of a date with a guy back during the year when our favorite show first premiered. It's not exactly the classic musical/opera it was written to be as it was very much modernized, but the costumes and the music were still absolutely gorgeous! I bought the soundtrack only a few days afterward. I still love it. It inspires me, and makes me wish I were an opera singer and I can sing as splendidly as Christine can. I can't, blech. Doesn't mean I can't try though.

[jekylljuice]

Blood Simple

Excellent film. This was the Coen Bros' directorial debut, and a definite precursor to their more recent No Country For Old Men (which opens in precisely the same manner). As neo-noirs go, it's not as polished as NCFOM, nor as innovative as Fargo, but it's raw, taut and compelling, with some brilliantly atmospheric direction, and M. Emmet Walsh is particularly great in it. For my money, it also contains what has to be the single most gruesome moment in any of the Coen Bros' movies - makes me cringe every time!

Apropo Pixar, I was a bit lukewarm on Finding Nemo when first I saw it, but it grew on me with time (even if it's still not a favourite of mine). I'm not overly wild about Cars or A Bug's Life, but everything else from them I love (Ratatouille is now my second favourite movie of all-time), and I absolutely cannot wait to see Wall-E later this week. I want to get me a little plushie Wall-E at some point, only our local Disney Store seems to have sold out of all but the most expensive ones already. He's certainly quite bankable as a marketting character.

[emperor26]

The Dark Knight

Yesterday, by chance, I was able to see the sequel to Batman Begins, and I was pleased how this film turns out.

It is one of the few sequels that is actually a major improvement over it predecessor; the actors were superb, the plot is deep, and most of all, there were great sequences that leaves you wanting more.

What I also like about the sequel is the portrayal of the Joker (performed by the late Heath Ledger); unlike Jack Nicholson's version in Tim Burton's Batman (which I now find cheesy), this Joker was frightening, as well as unpredictable, making you wondering what he'll do next. This was surely Heath's greatest moment, and it's a shame that he has to pass away so soon.

Overall, the best film of 2008.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

The Dark Knight

Saw it for the SECOND time today, mainly because my girlfriend hadn't seen it yet but also because I absolutely loved this movie. I caught the midnight showing of its original release and loved it then too. Everything about this movie was magnificent. The actors, story, pacing, action, music, its all flawless.

This sequel much like Hellboy, Spider-man, and X-men perfects every flaw the first movie had and improves on everything wonderfully. Heath Ledger (who truly IS a legend now) is god as the new Joker. He's creepy, eeriely funny and utterly psychotic. I knew he'd be good but I didn't think he'd be this damn good.

However one of my favorite aspects was Harvey dent/Two-face played wonderfully by Aaron Eckhart. He was the one I was most worried about but he played it totally bad ass. Also emperor26 much as I loved Ledger's Joker, I think its unfair to compare to Nicholson's Joker since they are both done VERY differently, different emphasized characteristics and are VERY different Jokers.

[Ccook50]

Word is that Ledger could be up for a posthumous Oscar. For the weekend, The Dark Knight (which was more a moral drama--superb one at that--than a comic book movie) took in over $155 million.

Yesterday TNT ran Batman Forever and Batman & Robin while ABC Family screened the 1989 Batman. After seeing The Dark Knight, the cheese of the aforementioned three films is quite evident.

[jekylljuice]

2 Days in Paris

A pretty charming and enjoyable film from Julie Deply about a young couple who make a brief trip to Paris in the hopes of rekindling their on-the-rocks relationship. I liked it, albeit not quite as much as the Before Sunrise/Before Sunset films (if you're expecting something along those lines...well, you'd only be half-right). There's some neat character banter throughout, the film is well-directed, and Deply and Goldberg are both great as the two leads, but, I don't know, I just didn't find the protagonists here to be quite as likeable and sympathetic as I did those in the aforementioned films. What I liked best in this one was the more quirky, whimsical stuff - the "anti-globalisation protester" was a nice touch, easily my favourite character of the entire film.

Last night, I also attempted to watch There Will Be Blood, a new favourite of mine which I recently picked up on DVD...unfortunately, I'd literally been up all the night before typing out some essay work, and I somehow managed to wind up sleeping through the whole thing. Oh well, later.