I thought it was an insult to the original, they made Father Spiletto look like a slightly deformed version of Voldemort! Julia Stiles should be embarrassed that she did it, she's better than that.
I agree it was not has good as the original , but I thought it was OK.
Yeah Father Spiletto did look a bit strange.
Peter Postlethwaite has Father Brennan ,I thought was excellent and better than the original.
The scene where the photographer lost his head was I thought better than the original.
The trouble they had was the original is such a classic that a remake was always going to be slatted , Gregory Peck and Lee Remick were just so good in it.
The trouble they had was the original is such a classic that a remake was always going to be slatted , Gregory Peck and Lee Remick were just so good in it.
I didn't think the Omen remake was "an insult to the original" at all. There was nothing wrong with it besides the fact that it was pointless and the cast were never going to top the old one.
I didn't think the Omen remake was "an insult to the original" at all. There was nothing wrong with it besides the fact that it was pointless and the cast were never going to top the old one.
It wasn't bad considering the whole thing was created so they could release it on 06/06/2006. It wasn't up to the standards of the original, but it was ok as far as cash cow projects go.
I just thought it brought nothing new, had completely bland performances and ruined some of the key scenes from the original...it wasn't quite the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake but I thought it was pretty crap as a standalone movie and even worse compared to the original. The kid was good though, I think. Been a few years. A quick check shows Rotten Tomatoes giving it 26% and IMDB with 5.6...not that either mean anything.
Sunset Blv.
Don't see many movies that are elevated to such a degree purely by the performances, especially in the age of special effects, take away Swanson and von Stroheim and it could've been bland (without knowing the personal career parallels brought it about, which is part of the genius of it). Maybe even just Swanson, she just got better and better until that brilliant final scene. Olson and Holden both great in key but understated roles. They don't make 'em like this any more. Could watch it again and again just because the performances are so strong.
I can't remember if the theatrical version has it, but the extended version includes a subplot where frozen-for-58-years Ripley mulls over how she missed out on her daughter's entire life and how she'd promised to come home soon. So when she meets Rebecca...well, yeah.
Also, getting eliminated right before the fight starts is a not-so-subtle but brilliant move: No guys to swoop in and save the day, folks. Womano e womano for all the marbles.
I find much of that kind of 50s/60s "comedy" dated and completely unaccessible to my tastes. Entirely a personal thing I'm sure. Double Indemnity was an unintentional parody of itself. (see My Review) Not it's fault per say, just - again - unsuited to my sensibilities or expectations.
Anyone ever seen Born Yesterday? I wouldn't say it hasn't dated at all, but it's fecking hilarious central performance from Judy Holliday as a dumb gangster's moll who realises she's got a brain after all. Broderick Crawford's also terrific as the gangster, William Holden a bit meh as the tutor/love interest. But it's genius stuff from Holliday, who'd played the role for years on Broadway and had it down to perfection.
I find much of that kind of 50s/60s "comedy" dated and completely unaccessible to my tastes. Entirely a personal thing I'm sure. Double Indemnity was an unintentional parody of itself. (see My Review) Not it's fault per say, just - again - unsuited to my sensibilities or expectations.
I agree with you about the falling in love in 5 minutes thing. That grated me, I've known this Woman for 5 minutes, but I'll hatch an elaborate scam with her and risk everything in the process. The repeated use of the word Baby was something I brushed aside as an expression of the time, albeit overused. The forgotten Hat scenario irked me a bit too. Overall, I still enjoyed it though.
I might have to check out Sunset Blvd if it's really that good.
I watched the Dollars trilogy again the other week. Decided the 2nd one's probably my favorite. But only because the 1st one is such a rip off of Yojimbo and the last one has some pretty awful dialogue and more silly scenes than the other two (not to mention some obvious moments where Clint has forgotten what it was he'd said in that scene in the dubbing and just made something up.) Though it probably is the most entertaining. Great fun all of them though. The long elaborate Morricone staring competitions are some of the most evocative things on film.
I'm going to have to watch Once Upon a Time in The West again now, just to reassure myself I'm still right that it's the best one. I seem to remember there's even more staring in that.
The Tree of Life - Absolutely sensational at times, but I had trouble getting into it...more of an experience than a movie really. I thought the ending was weak. Sometimes it feels like Malick is his own worst enemy. I had stupidly high expectations of it and in the end was left slightly disappointed. It's definitely one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen though, reckon it'll require another viewing.
After watching the remake last night , thought I would watch the others.
Omen 2 is excellent every bit has good as the original , William Holden was very good in it and again the music made if feel scary.
Then we get the pile of shite that is Omen 3 , it could of been so much better.
Good story that just got ruined , Sam Neil was appalling in it ,I like Sam Neil seen him in a few things but not Omen 3.
The trilogy was crying out for a big ending and what did we get , Neil getting stabbed and a light in a window followed by babble from the Bible and rubbish music.
Just one point , in the first film , it was said that the Anti Christ could only be killed by all 7 daggers , one that killed him and the rest that killed his spiritual life's , what happened he was stabbed one died and that was it.
Kieslowski's just brilliant, all there is to say. Blue was the best, Red the most beautiful (in terms of visuals and narrative) but White was still excellent. It was a work of art all together. Loosely based on liberty, equality, fraternity in the same way the Decalogue was loosely based on the Ten Commandments, with Kieslowski saying: "“The words [liberté, egalité, fraternité] are French because the money [to fund the films] is French. If the money had been of a different nationality we would have titled the films differently, or they might have had a different cultural connotation. But the films would probably have been the same.” Impressed that the two standout performances were from women, Juliette Binoche and Irene Jacob. Again uses different cinematographers for each, different sets of actors for each, brings in a couple of other screenwriters for Blue, uses a different producer for Red, uses a different editor for white...the only thing that stays the same is the score composer, Zbigniew Preisner.
9/10
Nilsson if you didn't think Three Colours: Blue was all that then I'm not sure you'd think much differently of the Dekalog, stylistically it's very similar.
Really enjoyed this. A notch slightly below In Bruges but entertaining stuff nonetheless. Brendan Gleeson is excellent (as always) and the trio of villains (Mark Strong, David Wilmot and Liam Cunningham) were a motley crew. Strong in particular had some cracking one liners.
If I had a small criticsm it's that it was slightly signposted where the story was going and therefore there weren't any real 'twists' as such.
Both the McDonagh brothers are great talents and I look forward to more from them both.
Hmm the positives first...... Beautiful cinematography, I loved the films approach to the folly of pride and the complexity of family was well protrayed but....
I thought there were needless lengthy scenes, I also felt this film was a Shakepearian rip off(and not in a good way), I don't agree for a second that ths film was better then Old Boy.
Hmm the positives first...... Beautiful cinematography, I loved the films approach to the folly of pride and the complexity of family was well protrayed but....
I thought there were needless lengthy scenes, I also felt this film was a Shakepearian rip off(and not in a good way), I don't agree for a second that ths film was better then Old Boy.
Premier Desirs. Holy shit, this movie is terrible. The French can make some damn good movies, but they can also make some fecking terrible ones. This is definitely one of the latter.
OMG this film plunges to new depth's of crap , by a long way the worst film I have ever seen.
Quite why they put 2012 in the title is anybody's guess , maybe just to get gullible idiots to buy it.
The story is dreadful , the acting is like a second rate crossroads and the holes in the plot you could drive a bus though.
It has no redeeming features about it and why I sat and watched it for 90 mins , I have no idea , I must just be stupid.
I cant even give the film a 1 for effort , it gets a 0/10
I liked the first two very much ( despite the inclusion of K Knightly ) and found the third tedious.
This last offering is similar to the third,despite a great role by Ian McShane. I think they've just gone on too long and it should be put out of its misery
The Perfect Host- It's not overly brilliant, nor overly bad, it's just a watchable film. Made more watchable by the fact it's probably not going to pan out how you expect, indeed it's pretty unique and funny at times. Niles Crane was fantastic in it, actually both lead roles were played very well. A film definitely worth watching if you have nothing else to watch and want to kill 90 minutes. 6.5 / 10.
Ran is far far better than Oldboy IMO, which has the most ridiculously contrived plot. Ran's also supposed to be based on Lear. At least partially.
"What has always troubled me about 'King Lear' is that Shakespeare gives his characters no past. ... In Ran, I have tried to give Lear a history"
- Kurosawa
As for Three Colours Trilogy. - Yeah it's good. Very good. But it's not quite the bowled over masterpiece I was expecting. I liked it in the opposite order you're supposed to like it as well. White the most, and Blue the least. But I'm not sure whether that's because I expected Blue to be the best, and White the worst, and my expectations clouded my judgement or whether it's just because no one else who's watched them is nearly as cool as me. It's probably a bit of both.
Go into a bit more detail below, if anyone's arsed.
Blue - I was very much enjoying it for the first 45 or so minutes. Binoche is fantastic of course, and I liked a lot of the allusions and symbolism. The strong orchestral stabs whenever she was overcome and drawn back to the past were very evocative, and a good audio/visual metaphor for anyone who's ever experienced loss in one way or another (so, everyone) and the way it can suddenly 'hit' you. But it just seemed to drag on a bit for me, with some inescapably dull characters (Olivier) and occasionally a bit of cliche..Par example
The stripper/hooker who just needs a friend is rather pointless, as is the boy first on the scene. They're sort of in there for deus ex machina reasons and their presence at the end during the "people she's affected" montage isn't really very poignant, or whatever it was supposed to be, for me.
And the mistress who's pregnant - Da de DAAAA!! - was the kind of reveal from 1000s of average films and TV dramas about widows. I dunno, I was perhaps just expecting a little more than that as the pivotal plot point from this.
I certainly didn't not like it, but it just seemed a bit ponderous at times for me, and everyone other than Binoche was very 2D, which fit with the theme of liberty/individualism, but when they're also painfully dull it's not exactly riveting viewing. If the Decalogue's like Blue, I certainly wont be able to sit through 10 hours of it.
White - Zamachowski, for me, gives the best performance of the trilogy. Karol is certainly the most sympathetic, 3D and rootable character even if he's also the least realistic (after his wife).. I found there were a lot more interesting and original scenes an ideas in this than in Blue, even though it's essentially, at root, a straight forward revenge fantasy. It had people in it beyond the central character to be interested in too, which is always a plus. I dunno why, but I found myself far more involved in this than in Blue or Red, both of which had moments when I drifted out of them. That said, I wasn't sure about the ending, and how it connected to the end of Red is a bit of a mystery.
Didn't like her claiming to love him to the police though, or her doing the sign language in the prison. The whole idea of her suddenly appreciating him seemed forced, as did the whole crying motif, which only really works in Blue for me.
Red - I liked Red. More and more by the end, which is in contrast to Blue which I liked less and less by the end. It's definitely the best shot, and the symmetry of the story & it's images (in both it's contained story, and the trilogy as a whole) were lovely.
My only criticism of it would be a couple of rather out of place stylistic flourishes, which weren't bad at all, just out of place. The first being the opening scene, which was the kind of thing you'd see in a thriller, or some kind of fast paced stylish drama. Nothing wrong with that, but then you never see anything filmed remotely like that again throughout the rest of the film, until right near the end, at the theatre, when the camera suddenly swoops dramatically to follow the motion when Kern is telling the story of how his book fell from the gallery..Again, this was a very nice shot, but completely out of keeping with the slow, character study film it was in. If it'd been in a Guy Richie film it would've probably been dismissed as the director being needlessly wanky & stylish, but at least it would've fit in/].
My other concern was that Auguste was very peripheral and uninteresting until the very end, but I suppose he was meant to be. Still think he could've been less though.
It benefits a lot from being the last one and thus has the bit tying them all together with that climactic last scene (and terrific last shot) but that's particularly appropriate for fraternité
There are probably things I've missed about some of these criticisms though, be they symbolism or thematics. It's just the way they struck me when watching.
I think it's better as a collective piece than individually, and as such it's great, and a very solid 8, but I personally wouldn't stretch close to a 9 for any individual one, so I can't as a whole either. The 8.1 highest on IMDb seems about right to me.
It's not that it's similar to Blue specifically, it's that the trilogy itself is very similar to the Dekalog in its style and central themes, it just approaches a wider range of topics with a wider range of characters. . It's more sombre throughout, though. The only reason I mentioned Blue is because I think that's the only one Nilsson's seen. I think Kieslowski has a very distinct style, that's all I was saying really. If you liked Zamachowski he's in Dekalog 10 along with Jerzy Stuhr (his brother in White). Very different character though I thought, which took some getting used to. Especially since he was only a couple of years older but played a minor rockstar in Dekalog compared to a divorced hairdresser. Makes it more impressive really.
Indiana Jones
Well at least Harrison Ford suited this role, being a cheesy hero with a winning smile. And it was fun. I still don't get all the greatness attached to it...or Harrison Ford. Who is this generation's Harrison Ford? I'm not sure whether I'm just at the wrong age to get into these kind of things, too old to appreciate the simple childish adventure of it and too young to enjoy it as perfect family fun. Like I'm subconsciously trying not to like it to try to convince myself I'm no longer a kid, but I just found some of it so unintentionally cheesy and funny right from the opening part of the score with over-dramatic background music to try and add to the scary atmosphere of being in a deep, dark forest...when none of it was remotely eerie or scary. There were obviously intentionally cheesy bits to make you laugh and it was good fun, maybe they were all intentionally cheesy and I just missed it...but I dunno. Something I'd not have any desire to watch again other than to show it to my kids. Had almost no annoying bits though, so miles better than Aliens...
7/10
Ikiru
Hadn't watched any Kurosawa in a while and think I might've forgotten just how good he was...brilliant film. Can guarantee I'll watch it later in life and it'll take on a completely different meaning, or I'll appreciate it differently. Really touching story and the social commentary's still completely relevant over half a century later, if not more so. Eerily heartfelt song. Takashi Shimura's excellent, in amongst all the adulation for Toshiro Mifune it seems like Shimura is sometimes slightly forgotten.
Yeah it was Raiders I watched. Next up for Spike Lee is the Hollywood remake of Oldboy, with Josh Brolin...genius.
Taxi Driver
I was mildly disappointed to be honest. De Niro was great in it and his character alone keeps you interested, because he's so on edge and is constantly in two minds about everything and he transfers the same feelings over to the audience well...but aside from that, and the fact it was smartly made and well polished, it didn't really do all that much for me. Felt a bit like a great performance carried a (very?) good movie, in some ways. I'm not sure what I was expecting or what I felt was missing, I just wasn't really captivated. I went in really looking forward to it and all, unlike some classics I was a bit hesitant about. I dunno, I'd give it a generous...
It was a definite 7/10, the only thing about it that came across as 'great' was De Niro's performance, which is what I'd say about John Hurt in the Elephant Man or Max Schreck in Nosferatu...minus them I'm not sure how much they appealed to me. Basically the way I see it is 8's a classic, 9's an instant classic and 10's the perfect movie, in that context I don't think 7's a bad mark. So far the only movies I'd have as an 8 and up are...
12 Angry Men
2001: A Space Odyssey
Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes
Andrei Rublev
Annie Hall
Apocalypse Now
Blade Runner
Blue Velvet
Breathless
Chinatown
Dial M For Murder
Dr. Strangelove
Fargo
Ikiru
In the Mood for Love
Metropolis
Mulholland Drive
North by Northwest
Persona
Psycho
Rashomon
Repulsion
Rear Window
Solaris
Stalker
Sunset Blv.
The Godfather
The Godfather II
The Lives of Others
The Seven Samurai
Touch of Evil
Three Colours Trilogy
Un Prophète
Vertigo
Zerkalo
I don't think it's ridiculous to say I don't think Taxi Driver's better than any of them...anyway, next up's The Seventh Seal. Sarcastic jibes always appreciated though. Sorry for having an opinion on movies, or something.
WP, I'm just after watching Indiana Jones and Aliens...very un-film school, surely? You can never watch too many great movies. I'm just on a classic films binge at the moment, in the same way I was on a Pele and Maradona binge earlier...it only lasted a couple of months, after this I'm sure I'll go back to watching crap movies.
