Does anyone else still cry at movies theyve seen a million times? In 8th grade my ninja ass got caught tearing up at Forrest Gump "I buried you under our tree".. Flowers for Algernon, and the ending of Shawshank Redemption when Red finds the box of money from Andy. All in that same year and I still tear up at those damned scenes

@ !@#$%! It's a movie I found on late night satellite tv years ago, and I caught it about halfway through at the time. Needless to say, I went looking for it for a little bit and found it at Barnes N Noble sometime. Not one I recommend watching on repeat, but the DVD does have a special feature of the documentary it was based on. "Sex in a Cold Climate".

I tear up at movies/scenes I don't want to sometimes, other times I'm all like "whatevers".

Now if only I was watching with a special someone...that's a different topic.

I watched Hitman randomly tonight after a long day at work then class.. I dont particularly knkw why,but I LOVE this movie. I love everything about it and of all the video game movies I think this ties the first silent hill as best and definitely resident evil in second

The Descent

other day i forgot to mention

almodovar's "i'm so excited". terrible translation for "los amantes pasajeros" which is a pun that both means "fleeting lovers" and "lovers & passengers" (as in, airplane passengers who fuck).

well, shit, movie got poor reviews because people expect too much of the man, but the movie is fucking hysterical and hilarious. yes, like with the title, much is lost in translation, .e.g. people who don't get what "la movida" was might miss out on a big context, but hey, eye speeky dee langwich, and i fucking loved it, not as a genius masterpiece but as a great time (goes well with drinks, ha ha ha).

recently seen a mixture of new and old:

1. The Sacrament (2014)- I really like Ti West. His low-fi horror film "House of the Devil" will probably become annual Halloween viewing. This one is a found footage experiment concerning a Jonestown-like cult investigated by three journalists. It's decent. The "found footage" wall is continually broken as it winds down (who exactly is supposed to be shooting this footage now?) and it ends predictably. I couldn't help but think back to Gareth Evans' strong entry in "V/H/S 2" for the best cult-horror-found-footage film in years... if such a genre exists. Amy Seimetz as the sister of one of the journalists who leads them to the cult is very solid as usual.

2. God's Pocket (2014)- One of the last Philip Seymour Hoffman flicks also displays him on virtual auto-pilot as a down and out Philly hustler dealing with the shit of urban Philadelphia.... which means local hoods, stolen meat packaging trucks, a dead son-in-law and getting to screw Christina Hendricks. Based on a book by Pete Dexter (whose work is so rich for further films), "God's Pocket" is just too much of the same urban malaise.

3. The Drop (2014)- Urban malaise is done more acutely in Michael Roskam's "The Drop", namely because, unlike "God's Pocket", the secondary characters (especially Matthias Schoenaerts) feel alive and three dimensional. There's also novelist Denis Lehane's strict adherence to forgiveness and Catholic guilt that propels the basic moral complexity of the film. As the low-mannered and quiet barkeep caught up in the middle of underworld robberies and spent lifestyles, Tom Hardy scores again in a role that could have become rote. He makes it work. The relationship with equally damaged woman Noomi Rapace is sensitive and genuine as well. A very good, low-key atmospheric crime film.

4. Falling Point (1970)- Robert Hossein directs and minimally stars in this thriller about a group of men who kidnap a rich man's daughter and extort him for money. What's unique about this film is that it jettisons the usual action and focuses on the psychological attachment that develops between captor (Johnny Halladay) and captive (beautiful Pascale Rivault) as they wait in a lonely beach cabin. Basically a chamber piece, "Falling Point" is great for the way Hossein (as usual) exerts so much through little dialogue. The eyes of Hallyday say everything about his doubts and reservations when the time comes and the shootout on the sandy dunes harks back to Hossein's love for the western. Hard to find, but well worth the hunt.

5. The Green Berets (1968)- It would be easy to dismiss John Wayne's Vietnam film was gung-ho Americana, but that's too easy. It's much better than that. Dealing with the war at the height of its volcanic temperament both here and abroad, "The Green Berets" satisfies its anti-war clique by addressing their concerns in the beginning and then embedding a liberal reporter with Wayne's group as they try and defend an outpost in the Vietnam jungle, questioning many of the film's attitudes towards the event. The war scenes are admirably filmed (except for a few model/dummy explosion scenes that are straight B-movie stuff) and even my lackluster admiration for Wayne as an actor is subdued by the rich characterizations and easy sentimentality.

6. This Is Not A Film (2012)- Jafar Panahi's self exploration documentary shows what's best about Iranian film making- the ability to turn 'meta' at any moment and transform fiction into stunning reality. The first hour of the film documents Panahi's secluded lifestyle in his apartment- forbidden to make films and awaiting his final appeal decision from an Iranian court where he's facing 20 years for anti political film making. He acts out scenes from an unfinished script.... talks to his lawyers... deconstructs his own films he shows on TV... and then a casual meeting between the building custodian outside his door turns into an opportunity for Panahi to invest his time in someone else.

7. The Tit and the Moon (1994)- Bigas Luna's childhood fantasy film about a young boy's obsession with the breasts of a traveling circus woman (Mathilde May) after he becomes jealous of his newborn sibling. Like Luna's other 90's films (especially "Jamon, Jamon"), "The Tit and the Moon" is an elaborate soap opera where lust, fantasy, childhood and adulthood swirl around in high style. It's entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.

8. Johnny YesNo (1983)- Short film about a man (Jack Elliot) searching the neon streets for the woman of his dreams. Filmed in grainy black and white and featuring a weird soundtrack by the cult band Cabaret Voltaire, "Johnny YesNo" is like a Sex Pistols inspired film noir.

9. Play Dirty (1969)- Andre deToth's hard nosed, nihilistic war film stars Michael Caine and Nigel Davenport as renegades sent into the African desert to destroy a German oil depot. The scene where the men drag their military vehicles over a mountain and especially the ending are top notch sequences in a genre full of top notch sequences.

10. Lucy (2014)- Luc Besson's grrrrl power update of "La Femme Nikita" stars Scarlett Johansson as a woman infused with a drug that allows her to utilize 100% of her brain potential. Naturally she becomes the Terminator. As goofy and ludicrous as it is, I still found myself hugely entertained and even moved by "Lucy". There are a few scenes- namely Johansson's phone call to her mother and the downright weird ending- that linger in my mind.

I have a soft spot for it too but it just feels hopelessly out of step with its age: playing like something made twenty years earlier.

The director Ray Kellog started out as a sfx guy on b movies which probably explains some of the wonky model set ups.

I'd say it's better than its reputation suggests but, given how bad its reputation is, it could hardly be anything else.

The Raid. Was pretty entertaining. Lots of action.

noo… i loved this one! yes, upon rewatch it wasn't such a great quality film, but it has something unforgettable for me actually-- not sure if the story or the characters or the kid's theory of the milk cycle or that "al primer rayo de la luuuuuuuna…" or everything combined, but i've found myself thinking about that movie regularly over the years. i suppose it's that i find it has some fundamental truths about things that other films are afraid to show.

I've been on a Bigas Luna kick lately after finding a ton of his films on torrents, and I think my main reason I called "The Tit and the Moon" forgettable is because so many of his other films are just incredible. "The Ages of Lulu", "Anguish" and "Caniche" especially. Also, "The Tit and the Moon" reminded me sooo much of Julio Medem's films of the 90's, which get at the roots of childhood, fantasy and unrequited love in much more touching ways. By the way, if you like Luna, I highly suggest Medem's films such as "Earth", "Vacas", "The Red Squirrel" and especially "Lovers of the Arctic Circle", which is one of the most under appreciated films ever and one of the best of the 90's!

I just watch The Last Samurai for the first time.. I had a gut feeling I would like it back in 2003 when it came out but it got shitted on in reviews so I didnt bother. Whoa, this was one of the most visually beautiful movies ive ever seen and the storyline and dialogue was superb! Fuck the bullshit, I loved this movie

Dune. Complete garbage.

Off to watch Demons.

Cloud atlas which blew my mind. Original Nightmare On Elm Street which was so much better than I.remembered. Silent Hill which was si much worse than I remembered but that game was stunningly terrifying

Awesome review time.
I watched Demons. Duh.

Sort of awesome, sort of shit. Pretty much any superior awesomeness is undermined by 80's hair metal shite soudtrack.

Grave Encounters. Nowt but rip-off/illogical/cliche bullshit. FUCK OFF.

I found it disappointing.

As someone said on IMDB Joaquin Phoenix just seems "to be channeling nerdy Johnny Galecki from The Big Bang Theory".

The strong retrofuturistic aspect ended up annoying me too.

I really liked Amy Adams and Rooney Mara's acting though (very convincing and touching).

that movie is my guilty pleasure!

entertaining and terrifying too

lol.so gay.

Maps to the Stars 9/10
Nightcrawler 9/10

Both gripping and fucked up thrillers

Have you saw Session 9 Slavo? If not, similar setup. There's a nightime scene with this guy wondering around an abandoned hopital at night with a torch and headphones plugged in is really creepy and atmospheric. Worth watching just for this part alone.

Silence of the lambs.. it was surprisingly better than I remembered.. I also watched some Alien Nation movie, in the 90s I really liked this.show but the movie was terrible in the sense that it didnt come across as a movie at all, just an extended episode of the tv version

That's what the Emperor's lackeys would say.....

come on, we've all watched that movie because it's dune, and we love dune, but as a movie, this is a massive turd. the de laurentiis fucked it up to the point that lynch himself won't recognize the film as his (this is lynch's "spartacus", if you wanna draw a parallel w/ kubrick repudiating his only movie where assholes meddled).

dune the book is amazing, dune the movie is just a poor adaptation of a great book. full of holes and horribly put together with voiceovers. they should have let lynch do his 3 hours.

Babadook, best horror movie I've seen in years.

I'd be much more concerned with what the Emperor's Carkeys had to say. That is indeed if the Emperor has a car and those cars keys had thoughts and articulated those thoughts through a mouth (as opposed to brain - because that could be someone else's thoughts intercepting the telepathic stream, duh). I'd be VERY concerned indeed to hear those thoughts. I mean the keys could belong to a Volvo. The lights would never switch off! Nicolas Cage could be living on the back seat stinking the place out reprising his role from Leaving Las Vegas.

It is true. all true. Sometimes the amazing failures are more fun than the amazing successes.

Yeah, I enjoy Dune because of its failings rather than in spite of them.

for all my criticisms, some things from that movie are highly memorable (e.g. the harkonnens, their mentat, etc) and i'd watch lynch's dune over inland empire anytime.

the silly voiceovers and all the missing fremen action and the overly rushed ending?

in truth even a 3 hour cut would be too much cutting. the right format for dune would be a tv series. let all the nuances and plots twists and angles take shape. that's what made frank herbert great. dammit, hbo, do it already! or syfy, the way they did battlestar galactica's early seasons.

i've seen anguish recently, and i liked it. it was made to watch at the movies in its day, nowadays (at home, on a tv) it looks clever it but can't have the same paranoid effect intended-- the mom though! yikes!

the other movie i've known him for is "jamón jamón" which i also liked but hasn't stuck in my psyche the same as "la teta y la luna" did. i still have to see "huevos de oro". his older stuff is hard to find! (legally anyway).

thanks for the medem recommendations. i did like "el sexo y lucía" but never followed through with the rest-- i'll check them out (if i can-- "vacas" seems out of print)

Sounds promising. Added to my Halloween horror fest.


It's about time I had a full on nuts to the wall Argento bender..

Dune is like Eastenders...in space.

syfy already did a Dune mini-series, witha very limited special fx budget. Not too good. I like the insane archaicness of the movie.

Sex & Lucia used to be my wife's favorite movie. she'd watch it all the time, then she finally goaded me into watching it with her (we did a film swap. she watched Glengarry Glenross, whcih she hated because she cannot stand to see older men humiliated) and we watched Sex & Lucia and I misunderstood the entire thing, and she said I ruined it for her.

I found it a very boring movie where about 20 minutes worht of plot happens in an hour and a half.

yes, lynch did great w/ the set designs etc. i always figured herbert was talking in code about ey-rabs in dune (w/ the spice being oil). then again he smoked some fantastic hawaiian weed.


i don't remember much about it to be honest but i remember liking it (netflix also keeps track of my likes/dislikes ha ha). glengarry glenross is fucking awesome though! david mamet can be great. have you seen "house of games"? also written by him-- similar kind of theatrical dialogue. it's pretty fucking great.

Yes. I dig Mamet. Movies are either one of two things ussually. People talking or people doin stuff. I love hearing mamet's characters talk. Scorcese can di good talk too. The best parts of goodfellas are the characters just talking, like when they go to Pesci's character's ma's place and eat spaghetti.

I hate movies where neither happens. This is what I felt about sexo y lucia

I surprisingly watched Gravity last night.. I say surprisingly because I had no business watching it when it came out a year ago. I mean, really, the premise is almost worse than Snakes On A Plane! Most of the movie is just people floating around in space? I mean, its a great plot on paper but to watch for over an hour?? Also I really don't like movies that are 91% (literally!!) CGI graphics but this one wasn't all that terrible. Yet I found myself really really liking this one. Also, nobody told me it was an existentialist morality play?? I would have possibly been more sold on checking it out but all the shit I read and heard suggested it was just another sci-fi blockbuster and I haven't like a sci-fi blockbuster in several years, Hollywood puts out such crap its possibly the only thing worse than commercial radio music.

Thank God. I loved that movie but kept hearing people say how much they hated it, to the extent I really started questioning myself about it.

Session 9....good damn movie imho. I recently bought the soundtrack on amazon mp3 too.

fuck no, it was pretty fucking great, i watched it on your recommendation and loved it in spite of the "star-studded cast". sure, some shit a bit preposterous, but what movie isn't? just the other day was watching something (justified, i think it was) where "ducking" would magically save people from bullets for fucks sakes. i find the satellite debris much more compelling though escaping it unscathed would have been as unlikely--suspension of disbelief makes fiction possible and i like fiction.

of course for someone like me it would have been better marketed as "by the director of y tu mamá también and children of men" but that's just me being a fucking snob.