Seen any good movies lately?

[Roderick]

I went to a press screening of Casshern half a year ago Nice movie.

Yesterday I saw Mists of Avalon and liked it. Here's how it rates to other Arthurian movies I've seen:

Excalibur: 7

First Knight: 9 (whether zou like Richard Gere or not, Sean is awesome and the music is excellent)

The Sword in the Stone (animated Bluth cartoon I believe?): 5

King Arthur (the Bruckheimer fest): 7,5

MISTS OF AVALON: 9

I totally liked it.

[Marek]

I saw the first 20 minutes of Casshern and then switched it off. For some reason I totally could not stand that movie.

[Savage Cabbage]

I saw the first 20 minutes of Casshern and then switched it off. For some reason I totally could not stand that movie.

GO back and watch it in it's full. It isn't a gungho action crazy flick. It's the characters that really show at the end.

But it's an incidental scene during the flick that leaves quite a shock at the end.

A really good film. Give it another go.

[Dingo Chavez]

Dingo: Tee. I loved Rushmore actually, I need to grab Bottle Rocket now.

Another fine movie, my good man.

I don't have an illustration for it.

[Roderick]

I liked Casshern, but its tiring display of visual switches sometimes becomes bothersome (because they're completely pointless at times and seem to change in mid-scene, which disorients you) and the storytelling can be fuzzy and erratic. But I found enough handles in the film that made me like it, even if the overall feeling is a clumsy one.

[Roderick]

Yesterday I saw Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas for the first time and I liked it! This was also because I knew what to expect, and as such I was able to enjoy every delightful moment of it

[Dingo Chavez]

I finally saw

Howl's Moving Castle

It was gorgeous, stunning, outstanding, mesmerizing, breathtaking, wonderous, charming, terrific, great, beyond good, fantastic, and just plain nice.

Though I can't say I liked the way they disspelled Turnip's curse, it was just annoying and dumb.

So it's good. It's tied with Spirited Away for my favorite Ghibli film. Now I need to finally get my rapacious paws on the book. (I looked for it months ago but couldn't find it. Stinking book stores and their "translated" versions, I can read the original english version and refuse to read a translated one!)

[nsps]

"Me and You and Everyone We Know" is quite brilliant. I've seen it twice, at Sundance and Cannes, and it's a fabulously odd interpretation of modern life. JIm Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers" features one of Bill Murray's best performances.

I have to go catch up on mainstream releases now, as I had to do some emergency work in Ohio to help my sister, so I haven't seen anything new for the last couple weeks, except for the Island, which I saw before leaving. It didn't impress me. It started off interesting, but gradually got worse until it was complete Michael Bay crap.

[miffy495]

"Me and You and Everyone etc." opened at the theater I work at last night. I'll have to check it out now. Thanks for the heads up!

[scabb]

So it's good. It's tied with Spirited Away for my favorite Ghibli film.

Have you seen Nausicaa, of the Valley of the Wind? Totally my favourite at the moment. I wish they'd release more of them on DVD over here. Instead we have a few generally overpriced and pretty poor editions - Spirited Away being the exception, with no dub-titles or anything.

I still really need to see My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and the Castle of Cagliostro. I shall no doubt be downloading since I am home for the holiday with nothing better to do.

[Erwin_Br]

I finally saw War of the Worlds this weekend. Well, I didn't get bored for a second because it was almost a non-stop thrill ride. Very spectacular with impressive special effects. So that is good.

The part when they're taken by the machine, in that cage, with the grenades was too much, though. And Dakota Fanning, who I admired in the miniseries 'Taken', was very annoying throughout the entire movie with her constant screaming. The ending felt a little forced and abrupt. Oh, and Cruise isn't a believable harbour worker.

And I suddenly got the urge to play Half-Life 2 again.

--Erwin

[Steve]

Calamari Wrestler. 'nuff said.

Dogville - Why do people like this movie so much?

Why? The ending. THE ENDING! I'm with you, I goddamn despised watching that film from the end of the first act til the Big Climactic Twist, but then it totally became worth it just for that. It's the same reason that Miike's Dead or Alive is incredible-- it ends up making itself worth suffering through.

Also let me second whoever suggested Happiness of the Katakuris. Fucking outstanding, not to mention insane. Hilarious. The new Kitano Zatoichi is another good call. If you're looking for the best representative sample of Kitano's depressing Yakuza films, find Fireworks.

Stuff I'm not sure has been mentioned here (if it has, take it as a seconding): Chinatown. About Schmidt. Kiss Me Deadly. North by Northwest. The Bicycle Thief. The Conversation. Tokyo Drifter. Tokyo Story. Crumb. Ghost World. Bad Santa, believe it or not; Terry Zwigoff is awesome.

And to whoever mentioned it, do find Castle of Cagliostro. One of Miyazaki's very best.

[Chris]

I just happened to watch Chinatown last night, it was awesome. Your other suggestions are also great, although I can't speak for The Conversation, The Bicycle Thief, or the ones with Tokyo in their titles.

[Knar]

I just watched "Shaun of the Dead". It was hilarious - I never thought of "Shaun of the Dead's" angle on zombie movies. A definite watch.

[Chris]

Rather suspiciously, I ended up seeing Shaun of the Dead in theatres four times.

[Marek]

Why? The ending. THE ENDING!

I actually hadn't seen the last 10 minutes yet, and I'm glad I now did. I still don't like the movie at all, but I no longer think it's horrible, just really mediocre.

[Dingo Chavez]

Have you seen Nausicaa, of the Valley of the Wind? Totally my favourite at the moment. I wish they'd release more of them on DVD over here. Instead we have a few generally overpriced and pretty poor editions - Spirited Away being the exception, with no dub-titles or anything.

I still really need to see My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and the Castle of Cagliostro. I shall no doubt be downloading since I am home for the holiday with nothing better to do.

Yeah, I liked Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, it was nice.

My Neighbor Totoro is one adorable and simply lovely film.

Kiki's Delivery Service is a charmer.

Castle of Cagliostro is the only Miyazaki film I haven't seen yet. I need to find it and fast.

Ghibli movies are just unique and beautiful, I already can't wait for the next one (which I understand is based on a Chinese novel).

[lailoken]

I just finished watching Casshern. After 4 attempts... good god, this movie SUCKS! Unbearable bullshit... utter b-movie crap. If there is any merrit to it, it's the fact that it is so ridiculous! But then I don't think it was intended as a satire, non? What a waste of time... and the effects are incredibly mediocre...ah, I won't waste any more time on this...

Sin City I thought was nice, but not THAT special. Some of the scenes could have used some more takes or possibly more effort. Love Mickey Rourke's bit. My other big problem with the movie is the fact that there is no story... just seems odd... but I guess it's a REAL conversion...

Unleashed (Danny the Dog) I thought was a really nice attempt at making a good martial arts movie and it works on a lot of levels and only completely fails in the last stretch for me, where the time appears to run out and the movie comes to a rather hasty conclusion. well IMO Morgan Freeman and Jet Lee are always worth watching, non?

[Jake]

Have you seen Nausicaa, of the Valley of the Wind?

I saw that last night, or the night before. Was pretty enjoyable. The subtitles were outrageously poor though. Holy crap. The version I saw was part of a huge 9 disc (or 8? something like that) Studio Ghibli set that my friend had. I felt like I was missing half the dialogue because of the subtitles though.

[Steve]

The version I saw was part of a huge 9 disc (or 8? something like that) Studio Ghibli set

Hey, I have that set (I think. Mine has a silver/gray cover with the Ghibli logo.. sound familiar?) I don't remember the subtitles being bad on any of the movies, but it's been a long time since I've watched any of the discs in that set.

[scabb]

The version I saw seemed to be subbed pretty well although it was all downloaded and stuff. Maybe some friendly IRC fanboy became fluent in Japanese and translated it himself.

I wish Ghibli/Disney/Whoever would spend more time with their DVDs, they really do treat Western audiences like shit. They even mess with the translation, casting big-name stars rather than real voice actors. It's hard to like Pazu in Castle in the Sky when he has the voice of Dawson.

[lailoken]

Just saw two "scary" movies last night.

White Noise (starring Michael Keaton and Deborah Kara Unger):

This movie was in serious need for SOME KIND OF STORY. There is disturbingly little going on and it doesn't add up to anything much... also, Keaton is quite disturbing as the lead, somehow he always freaks me out.

Hide and Seek (starring Robert Deniro, Haley Joel OsmondDakota Fanning, Elizabeth Shue and Famke Jansen):

Nice movie but nothing THAT special... I don't really have much to say about this one. The mood is great and Fanning is doing a freakishly good job that puts a LOT of big hollywood actors to shame for dramatic effect. It actually worries me how good she has become. Deniro sadly to me, really isn't giving it his all and I wonder what it's going to take for him to really take the gloves off once more.

I was really looking forward to him playing his Alter-Ego, but it just didn't really feel that great. Sadly I was really aware of the fact that this was going to be one of those Sixth Sense movies and knew the conclusion 20 minutes in...

[JoeX111]

I still really need to see My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service and the Castle of Cagliostro. I shall no doubt be downloading since I am home for the holiday with nothing better to do.

I love Kiki's Delivery Service. *points at his icon* It is almost like Fight Club, in that you can just pop it in and watch it at any point in the film and get something out of it (otherwise, comparisons kind of fade ) Anyway, thus far, it is my favorite Ghibli movie, though I still have many left to see.

Porco Rosso or Spirited Away are probably next on my list.

[miffy495]

Anyone who doesn't mind a very extreme movie should check out "Save the Green Planet" whenever they get the chance. It just came to my city and I went to see it. I was reading a review beforehand that said "A movie for anyone who's ever thought about reaming their boss with a steam powered dildo" and I was sold. The plot revolves around a guy who's absolutely convinced that his boss is an alien, so he kidnaps him and attempts to prove it. It gets really crazy from there, with scenes involving the aforementioned mechanism, and lopping off of limbs.

Goddamn those Koreans can make some batshit crazy movies...

[lailoken]

Yep it also shows the proper way to use Brad Pitt in a movie...