Scots Taffer on 11/2/2008 at 23:19
I'm going to see either The Mist or There Will Be Blood Tonight.
On all accounts, TWBB looks like over two hours of Daniel Day Lewis schooling Hollywood on How It's Done.
Angel Dust on 12/2/2008 at 01:20
Saw Sweeney Todd and Juno last week.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
This is a fantastic musical, probably the best I have ever seen. Unlike othe musicals I have seen it is not overly 'stagey' with backup dancers and wide shots etc. It is really focused on the actors performance of the songs and how they express the emotional content of the lyrics (which are absolutely amazing). Intimately staged with lots of close ups and usually only a couple of actors in a scene at a time the end result is a musical where the songs ebb and flow organically throughout the film.
Johnny Depp's performace is a real slow burn and he acquits himself very well as a singer. He doesn't have a big broadway voice, it's more a rock voice, but his voice is pleasant and very very expressive. Helena Bonham Carters voice is a little on the weak side but I think it really works to her advantage in regards to how she plays the Mrs. Lovett character. She was the heart of the film for me. Alan Rickman and Timonthy Spalling both provide appropriately slimy villany.
A warning though, it is very gory.
Juno
Another excellent film although not for the reasons I was expecting. I went in expecting a comedy with elements of drama but what I got was a drama first, comedy second. Which is not to say the film isn't funny, because it is, but the drama and characterisation had me so completely enthralled. I think the script, as far as witticisms goes, has been a tad overrated but everything else about it is perfect. One of the most well cast movies I have ever seen too. Ellen Page is of course great but Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney and J.K.Simmons are just as good. Last but definitely not least Michael Cera is flat out phenominal, and slightly under used, especially in the hallway argument and when he first hears the 'news'.
My revised list (I've taken 'The Lives of Others' because it was 2006)
1. Ratatouille
2. Zodiac
3. Sweeney Todd
4. Juno
5. No Country for Old Men
The ranking on that list changes depending on my mood so any one of them could be no. 1.
Seeing 'There Will Be Blood' on Thursday.
Fafhrd on 12/2/2008 at 03:13
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
I'm going to see either The Mist or There Will Be Blood Tonight.
On all accounts, TWBB looks like over two hours of Daniel Day Lewis schooling Hollywood on How It's Done.
TWBB is completely brilliant through and through. The Mist is also brilliant, but is also the bleakest most depressing film of the year. The ending physically hurt me.
I keep wanting to put together my list, but I always forget, and there are movies that hadn't/haven't seen yet, and I keep forgetting that some movies even came out in 2007.
Suffice it to say that The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men, and There Will be Blood are tied for my number one spot.
Scots Taffer on 12/2/2008 at 03:26
You know, Jesse James didn't even feature on my radar but I'm seeing more and more people really highly recommend it.
Definitely catching The Mist tonight, TWBB next week.
The_Raven on 12/2/2008 at 18:28
Quote:
...The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford...
Now I haven't seen the movie, but I think the person who named this should be shot.
Aja on 12/2/2008 at 18:53
What are you talking about, it's a great name!
And it was filmed here in Edmonton :thumb:
(haven't seen it)
Thirith on 12/2/2008 at 22:02
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
You know, Jesse James didn't even feature on my radar but I'm seeing more and more people really highly recommend it.
It's slow and ponderous, artsy, long. If that doesn't turn you off, if some of your favourite films are like that in fact, chances are you'll love it. It's definitely the most beautiful, moving film I saw last year.
Scots Taffer on 12/2/2008 at 23:25
Well, wow, I don't know what kind of shape my 2007 list is in after The Mist but fuck me, that was a whole lot of movie.
Angel Dust on 13/2/2008 at 00:02
Could you go into more depth there Scots? I've heard mixed things about it but nobody has really explained what they liked/didn't like about it.
Scots Taffer on 13/2/2008 at 00:24
Sure. I will avoid spoilers, as much as I can.
Essentially the movie's main centrepiece (everyone trapped in the store with the mist surrounding them) is about fear, the controlling power of it and the abuse thereof; the motivations that surround that power and abuse (religion) and acts as a metaphor of the post-9/11 Bush government.
Aside from that, it's an effective enough horror - you see enough of what's in the mist for the splatter scares and not enough to maintain tension when they are out in it. It's ambiguous too, you never quite know who makes it out and who doesn't, similarly for the source of the mist and what it contains, you're given answers that aren't necessarily the truth.
It also has the most balls-out depressing ending you're likely to encounter in a movie. It's like the most utterly depressing and horrible ending you can imagine happens and then to underpin that sense of despair, it's made entirely pointless. Sublime. And the most impressive thing about this ending is not how non-Hollywood it is, but rather how it all makes sense in the context of the movie.
Apart from all that, it's decently acted (after the first 30 minutes warms up) and a solid character drama with a severe horror bent.
