Rate That Movie 2!: Electric Boogaloo

[MisterInformative]

Because of course homoeroticism is the FIRST thing on people's minds when they're deciding whether or not to see a movie (Brokeback Mountain perhaps excluded, or I Love You Phillip Morris)

[Buscemi]

Take a look of the poster. The first thing that you think about is definitely not fighting.

[MisterInformative]

Yeah, you're SO right, this just screams "gay."

Jk, I know you meant the final, and it may be true, but you really think people factored that in when deciding whether or not to go see it?

[Chienfantome]

You've got a twisted mind when it comes to why people didn't go to see Warrior, Boosch

[Chienfantome]

Well Chien, when almost all of your recommendations are 3.5+ it is nice to once in a while say, "Nah." It was very atmospheric and subtle but I had hoped for a little more action. I guess my heist need is more Richard Starkey than French Noir.

I guess it's only fair you can't love everything I recommend... although you should

[Buscemi]

Actually, I said that I didn't know why but the poster didn't help.

[Chienfantome]

My bad then. But history has showed that the quality of posters rarely have an impact on the commercial success of a film. I've often noticed, in France at least, that the uglier the poster, the bigger the success. Marketing departments don't care to come up with a good looking poster, and audiences don't care either. It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Warrior, of course.

[silversurfer19]

Last night we watched Paul - (6.5/10). To be honest I was actually quite surprised in that I actually enjoyed this. I suspected, much like all Pegg minus Wright movies, that this would be a charming, if rather unimpressive comedy thin on laughs and with a concept stretched to its limits. And while it's hardly going to break any barriers of the genre, I did actually find myself amused for it's length with a nice homage of sorts to the sci-fi greats of the past, mixed with a little of Pegg/ Frost's top notch ability to delight their audience with plenty of heart and a lot of raucous comedy. Rogen, surprisingly, also worked as the alien to two guys run into while on their great American road trip, with the comedic accents to his character evoking a character who has been ruined by years of western culture. At times the jokes felt a little repetitive, and it did seem to run out of steam after about an hour, but nevertheless, it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours, with enough references to keep a geek's attention maintained throughout.

[Chienfantome]

Blackthorn (8/10)
2011 is a year for westerns, strangely. We already had two great ones, True Grit and Meek's Cutoff, but here comes a third one, and one from Spain, from Mateo Gil, the guy who cowrote the screenplays of the first Amenabar's films. Blackthorn reimagines the story of Butch Cassidy as if (as some think) he had not died with Sundance in that Bolivia shoutout we see in the George Roy Hill film. In Blackthorn, Cassidy is an old peaceful farmer in Bolivia, who after all those years, decides to return to the US. But on his way, he meets an engineer who stole money from a powerful and dangerous man, and Cassidy decides to help the engineer escape his chasers. The film mixes that odyssey in the Bolivian mountains and deserts with flashes of Cassidy's past. It's a slow paced, visually stunning journey about the reminiscence of the past and the bitterness of time. Sam Shepard plays Cassidy, and he is better than he has been in a long time. His rugged face, tired eyes and yet still deadly figure, inhabit the film with charisma. Beautiful film.

[Buscemi]

Magnolia is releasing Blackthorn in the US but I don't know when. It will probably come here though (Westerns tend to do very well).

[Chienfantome]

I had read it was to be released at the beginning of October ?

[Shrykespeare]

Drive - 4/5 stars

Very cool movie. First, the good points:

1. The cinematography is Oscar-worthy.
2. The editing is brilliant. There are no superfluous scenes, nothing is wasted. If we are told something is going to happen, rather than waste time showing it happen, there's a cut to just after it happened, without any sense that we've missed anything.
3. Gosling is amazing. Driver is a man of very few words, almost never speaking unless spoken to, but he is able to convey almost everything he needs to via body language and facial expressions.
4. The soundtrack is phenomenal, and makes the whole experience very surreal. Watching scenes of brutality set to new age or classical-type music gives the film a noir feel that really adds to its substance.

Now, the bad:
1. Unfortunately, the ethereal quality of the music/violence combination provides kind of a disconnect, like we're watching all of the events unfold from a high remove. The whole film just floats along on a smooth, even sea of violence and character interaction. (That's not a bad point, actually... I don't think I can remember the last film that pulled that off so perfectly.)


I've never seen any of Refn's past works, but he seems to draw forth from noteworthy directors such as Coppola, Lynch, Tarantino and one or two others I can't think of right now.

I would recommend this film to anyone.

[Ron Burgundy]

Gah!
Im excited!

[Buscemi]

Drive ***.5/****

Why can't car movies be more like this one? This 1980's inspired crime thriller is a to the point and visceral ballet of violence and driving. Ryan Gosling is good as usual, Albert Brooks is excellent playing against type (who knew he could play such as a scary villain?) and even Carey Mulligan does well. The cinematography is excellent and deserves an an Academy Award nomination while Refn's direction is fresh in a genre filled with hack directors and dumb characters. A fun throwback to older action movies and a good companion to Michael Mann's debut feature Thief.

Also, I do not get all of the complaints that this is a pretentious and boring mess. It's easy to figure out and besides, not every movie needs to be big, loud and dumb.

[undeadmonkey]

went to go see The Lion King with the family. While the 3D doesn't add anything, it was well done. The showing we went to was sold out and apparently every showing before had been sold out as well. Another interesting note, this is the first time that i've heard an applause from the audience in a general public showing since 300. Had a good time, and it was fun to finally see the film on the big screen.