midnight express - dunno if it was mentioned here. great film!!!

As great as The 400 Blows is, I think Breathless is far greater. The film has much more depth; there's so much going on beneath the surface, and it is difficult to figure out just what Godard is doing with only one viewing. The film moves at a fast pace and it's easy to get sucked along with it, yet you could hours analyzing any five minutes from it. Plus the ending is incredible, moving, and sarcastically funny. I can't believe how much I'd forgotten about it. Unfortunately it seems like many of the subtleties of the film are lost on us English speakers...

Also I liked The Black Cauldron, though it waters down Lloyd Alexander's "The Prydain Chronicles", and is lacking in depth. Still I thought it was a fun little film with excellent visuals... really the only notable movie Disney produced in the 80's.

Last movie I saw was Jean Pierre-Jeunet's "A Very Long Engagement". I've been expanding my knowledge of French film vastly here at school...Interesting but not totally successful war film/romance/historical epic/comedy. It played with narrative interestingly as it wound it's way through flashbacks upon flashbacks, memoirs, and different periods of time, as it followed the simple, yet tangled story of a woman (Audrey Tautou) searching for her fiancee who went missing in World War I three years ago. The visuals were very beautiful, vivid, and exaggerated; it looks like the comic book version of a historical epic. A bit overcomplicated, and it's very difficult to figure out who the characters are talking about early in the film, since it expects you to remember several characters names right off the bat. Also the clashing tones (which are edited so that one follows the other, we cut from a battle in World War I, to the antics of Tautou's kindly relatives) were interesting but made the film lack consistency. Jodie Foster, interestingly, showed up, speaking French fluently (she wasn't dubbed), in a very effective role. However she and some of the other actresses in the film turned in such good performances that it made us realize how limited Tautou is as a dramatic actress. She's very adorable, but she does endearing better than depressed. I found myself caring more about the side characters and their stories than I did the central (and highly predictable) one. And some of the minor characters became far too cute at times, and the film was extremely sentimental at moments, which is odd because it was also very cynical... One of the best things about the film was the sweeping, moving score by the master composer Angelo Badalamenti.

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

This is England

Fantastic. Shane Meadows is just one of the best underground directors around today. 

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

I can't envision him handling a musical. oh... wait.

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It's true that I am a bad person.

That being said, I really, really liked Code 46.  So after 24 Hour Party Peoiple and Tristram Shandy, I guess I'm at the start of a Michael Winterbottom phase.

(I'm buying a camera soon! Honestly!) 

Lost in La Mancha

I think every film student should watch this doc. "Still want to make movies? Huh?"
My film professors always speak of Murphy's Law. Now I really know they're not joking.

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Ratatouille

Viva la cinema. As far as I'm concerned, Brad Bird can do no wrong.
It's nice that they didn't cheat the happy ending.

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"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

LWAPOM, that is a better review for Lust, Caution than many I have read.

All I can say is check out the following: Eat Drink Man Woman, Ride With The Devil, Brokeback Mountain and especially The Ice Storm by Ang Lee at you nearest convenience.

The Kingdom - If you want to see this film, I suggest you see it in the theater (unless you have a kick ass home theater). I really enjoyed this film. I thought it avoided the preachiness for the most part and Fozz, Garner and Cooper were all good. Piven and Jenkins were great in their supporting roles. The gray hair was very becoming on Jeremy...lol...The story builds well and the movie just flies by and the last 30 minutes are as intense as the reviews let on. A wild ride that had a lot of action but not lacking in good story and it was shot very well. It reminded me a little of Black Hawk Down in some of the ways it filmed, not taking away from The Kingdom at all. Highly recommended.         

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Ghost Ship

A consistent 5/10.  Predictable bit of mindless action.  The most interesting scene was the first 2 minutes - from there it was just ho hum.

Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest: I really enjoyed this fun-filled romp and I will say I liked it better than Black Pearl, but it has been a while since I saw it. I borrowed this when I was at mt friend Mark's a couple weeks back and finally got around to watching. I found myself laughing quite a bit and thought it had plenty of good swashbuckling action.

Casino Royale - yeah, I finally watched it and I like Daniel Craig to begin with. Bond showing vulernability? I love it, he's human after all, but not for long as we see how his early antics as a 00 scarred his for life. And looking at Eva Green for long periods of time wasn't too bad either (that's for you, Req). That foot chase in the beginning was amazing. Overall, a big thumbs up.                  

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

American Psycho

What is it about this story that I find so fascinating? Is it just the idea of the high-functioning psychotic calmly taking lives and inflicting pain, with no one around him being any the wiser? I doubt it's an interest in '80s Wall Street consumerism and greed. If I wanted that I'd watch the Oliver Stone movie.

One thing is for certain, I keep coming back for Bale's performance. I should probably check out more of Mary Harron's work too.

This time I watched the film with co-writer Guinevere Turner's commentary track. Wow. Could you, like, not yawn into the mic? I'm sure she's a very intelligent woman, but here she comes off like she could be a girl in my literature class.

And, finally, I think it all happens in his head.

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"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love."