What movie are you watching right now?

[mue 26]

Just watched Black Death starring the one and only Seany Bean. I'd never heard of this film before, but when I saw it featured Sean-"the man"- Bean kitted up in medieval amour/ weaponry, and brooding like only he knows how, I was sold! What I wasn't expecting though, was for the film to be quite as good as it was. Certainly one of the most memorable and haunting film depictions of medieval England that I've seen. The writing was more nuanced than I expected on the whole, and the plot definitely ended up going in a different direction to the standard fair that I was anticipating, the film having a nice and bleak little subtext on how fanaticism effects us. The postscript type segment that the film ends on, is perhaps a little unnecessary and overt, the movie would have been better off rolling the credits a couple minutes sooner in my opinion. Still, I would recommend Black Death, as when it comes to Bean snarling and brandishing swords, you could do worse than this

[Bluecast]

^ Really enjoyed that film and most the film I kept saying so does he die here...oh nope. OH DOES HE DIE HERE? Oh nope . WHen he does THERE WE GO! He can't be in a movie without being dead at some point

[mue 26]

Watched Black Gold yesterday. I quite enjoyed it. It was just a good ol fashioned Hollywood epic, nothing more nothing less. It's true that it could have been more I guess, what with the plot based around the beginning of the 1930's arabian oil boom, and the religious and cultural tensions mixed up in all that, it could have delivered a unique and currently relevant story. It fails to really exploit it's interesting subject matter, however, and what we end up left with is essentially a Hollywood Arabian based fairy tail, rife with all kinds of exotic Orientalist trappings. I still found it an enjoyable old fashioned epic nonetheless. The cast are alright, Banderas as the unscrupulous Emir Nesib, is, quite frankly awful, but Mark Strong as the backward and religiously fanatic but more or less honorable Sultan Amar is great, the main protagonist Auda's actor is decent enough, and Freida PInto as the princess daughter of Nesib is...Freida PInto. The conclusion of the protagonist coming to realisation that he must find a middle path between greedy Nesib and the backwards Amar, is entirely predictable of course, but I found it even more depressing when it actually came round, and the film just ends with a segment showing off Auda clad in a western suite (for the first time in the movie) dealing with chattering American oil tycoons. I don't know, it just seemed a bit empty. Still, I can think of worse ways to kill time than watching this movie, it has a good budget and some fun battle scenes at the very least.

Also watched True Grit again today. Liked it just as much as the first time. One of my favourite Coen brothers films for sure.

[Bluecast]

^ True Grit is how you do remakes correctly.


Watching Castle in the Sky

[OL]

Got my bluray copy of Malena today.
Hadn't actually watched it in years, despite being one that instantly comes to mind for me when the subject of "favorite movies" comes up. But maybe it's a good thing that I haven't seen it in so long. Aside from finally seeing it unedited, it was almost like I was watching it for the first time again. Which is just an amazing feeling.
This movie hits me hard every single time I see it.
The final shot, the voiceover, and the music leading in to the credits always made my eyes well up a bit before, and it's no different now.
Still an absolute favorite, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

[Who Really Cares?]

really good fighting film, was really surprised, relly intensive atmosphere at the end

Ending was too hollywood for me.

[Bambi]

[ThyDarkAngel]

^Ralph's pixelated angry face reminds me of Ryudo for some reason.

[Bluecast]

^Ralph's pixelated angry face reminds me of Ryudo for some reason.

Must have been gone a while. I'm not him anymore

[ThyDarkAngel]

^I know. I was just kidding, blue.

[Kenny]

Before Sunrise.

Really boring conversational piece. Picture hanging out or eavesdropping on a couple who try really really hard to be interesting by ping-ponging the most inane, pseudo-philosophical conversations mixed in with random childhood memories for five minutes.

Then if you had a choice between sticking with these people for an hour and thirty minutes or putting your head through a meat grinder, which do you think you'll have more fun doing?

[Kenny]

Darkman.

A little too campy for my tastes but otherwise a really fun movie. I love the makeup effects, they were outstanding.

[Rakim]

Before Sunrise.

Really boring conversational piece. Picture hanging out or eavesdropping on a couple who try really really hard to be interesting by ping-ponging the most inane, pseudo-philosophical conversations mixed in with random childhood memories for five minutes.

Then if you had a choice between sticking with these people for an hour and thirty minutes or putting your head through a meat grinder, which do you think you'll have more fun doing?

At least Julie Delpy is cute. I dare you to sit through the entirety of My Dinner With Andre.
Before Sunrise is a thrill ride in comparison.

I can't believe people actually like that picture.

[OL]

People like to pretend they're smarter than they actually are by saying they like pretentious crap.

[Bluecast]

pretentious crap.

David Lynch
David Cage

Wait a sec starting to not like the name David