Thursday, June 21, 2007
Review #1
Shark Skinned Man and Peach Hip Girl sucked pretty horribly. Their clever "matching" algorithm said I would really enjoy it because I loved:
The thing I don't understand is tonight's movie really had nothing in common with ANY of those. Maybe a tiny bit of Lock Stock, but nothing substantial with Princess Mononoke except for possibly that they might both be in Japanese, which strikes me as terrible matching point. Just to let you know how boring this movie was (even though it's marked thriller), I got to about 35-40 minutes in, activated fast forward, and just sped-read the subtitles for the remainder in a few minutes.
Chris awards this movie 1 out of 5 stars.
Spirited Away
The Royal Tenenbaums
Kung Fu Hustle
The Professional
Princess Mononoke
Rushmore
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Arrested Development: Season 1
The thing I don't understand is tonight's movie really had nothing in common with ANY of those. Maybe a tiny bit of Lock Stock, but nothing substantial with Princess Mononoke except for possibly that they might both be in Japanese, which strikes me as terrible matching point. Just to let you know how boring this movie was (even though it's marked thriller), I got to about 35-40 minutes in, activated fast forward, and just sped-read the subtitles for the remainder in a few minutes.
Chris awards this movie 1 out of 5 stars.
Labels: movies
Movie madness
It finally happened. I got caught by the Netflix bug. After spending years working around people with accounts, and Phil finally getting one himself, I decided that it was finally time for me to jump on the train as well.
Now that I am officially signed up I can see why so many people like this service. Particularly the movies they think I will enjoy. Phil put it best, "it's like they know what movies I own." After providing a couple seed values they pretty much started listing off movies that I own on their recommendation list. Recommendations coupled with the ability to rate a movie on any page of their site creates a unique user experience to say the least. For instance, I would not say that I am a thorough movie buff, but having rated a couple hundred movies off the top of my head I might start to change that perception.
The one thing I have truly enjoyed so far is the ease with which I'm gaining access to obscure movies. Phil's first arrival was Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance. I'm not going to go into the details, but suffice it to say, it is the truest definition of an art house movie I can think of. Think an hour and a half of orchestral music put to a video montage juxtaposing hot dog production, public mass transit, and day-to-day monotony. It's worth the investment of time.
Tuesday night we wanted movie #2, Shortbus. I remember when this was released something like two years ago and how much I wanted to see it. Clearly, I did not understand the scope of that movie, otherwise I would have kicked my ass for not seeing it. This is an oversimplification, but think of a movie told through de-eroticized sex, miscommunication, and social awkwardness. I believe I was reading on IMDB that it was a movie about people reclaiming their sexuality after it had been bruised in some way. Either way, the tag line of the movie is "voyeurism is participation." Not that I make snap judgments, but I really don't need to be friends with people who don't like Shortbus.
My first movie arrives today: Shark Skinned Man and Peach Hipped Girl. I am rapt with anticipation. Also, all of this movie talk just furthers my need to have a movie-night at my house on a weekly basis. I think I should really, really get the ball rolling on that.
If you wanna be my Netflix friend, you should click here.
Now that I am officially signed up I can see why so many people like this service. Particularly the movies they think I will enjoy. Phil put it best, "it's like they know what movies I own." After providing a couple seed values they pretty much started listing off movies that I own on their recommendation list. Recommendations coupled with the ability to rate a movie on any page of their site creates a unique user experience to say the least. For instance, I would not say that I am a thorough movie buff, but having rated a couple hundred movies off the top of my head I might start to change that perception.
The one thing I have truly enjoyed so far is the ease with which I'm gaining access to obscure movies. Phil's first arrival was Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance. I'm not going to go into the details, but suffice it to say, it is the truest definition of an art house movie I can think of. Think an hour and a half of orchestral music put to a video montage juxtaposing hot dog production, public mass transit, and day-to-day monotony. It's worth the investment of time.
Tuesday night we wanted movie #2, Shortbus. I remember when this was released something like two years ago and how much I wanted to see it. Clearly, I did not understand the scope of that movie, otherwise I would have kicked my ass for not seeing it. This is an oversimplification, but think of a movie told through de-eroticized sex, miscommunication, and social awkwardness. I believe I was reading on IMDB that it was a movie about people reclaiming their sexuality after it had been bruised in some way. Either way, the tag line of the movie is "voyeurism is participation." Not that I make snap judgments, but I really don't need to be friends with people who don't like Shortbus.
My first movie arrives today: Shark Skinned Man and Peach Hipped Girl. I am rapt with anticipation. Also, all of this movie talk just furthers my need to have a movie-night at my house on a weekly basis. I think I should really, really get the ball rolling on that.
If you wanna be my Netflix friend, you should click here.
Labels: movies
Monday, April 23, 2007
So beautiful...
Lately I've been watching movies that could best be described as "gut wrenching" or "emotionally disemboweling" in some way or another. About a week ago, after I got back from Philadelphia, I watched Takeshi Kitano's "Dolls." That was sort of like taking a melon baller to my heart. Heidi best described the movie as "having tendrils of visual metaphor to rip out your still-beating heart and show you how beautiful it is." A very fitting description for a movie that is essentially about the astonishingly self-natured qualities of love, but that we somehow forgive them because they are, in fact, in the name of love. If that movie had mantras they would be: "Guilt can hold even the most hollowed relationship together," "no matter how much we want the past, a lifetime of selfish wants cannot be undone," and "obsession of another is not a substitute for one's own life." Highly recommended.
Tonight I watched "Babel" by Alejandro González Iñárritu. The movie was exquisite. I've probably spent at least the last half-hour crying in my movie room. The title makes absolute sense by the time the movie is over. Cultural misunderstandings abound, whether it's the collision of neighboring countries or social groups clamoring for acceptance from their peers. Equally, it could be a treatise on the nature of despair and isolation that derives from cultural interaction. It's a small world after all? Somehow it makes me think of Serial Experiments Lain, but without the ubiquitous technology metaphor.
I'm going to attempt sleep now and hope that I don't have some seriously fucked up dreams.
Tonight I watched "Babel" by Alejandro González Iñárritu. The movie was exquisite. I've probably spent at least the last half-hour crying in my movie room. The title makes absolute sense by the time the movie is over. Cultural misunderstandings abound, whether it's the collision of neighboring countries or social groups clamoring for acceptance from their peers. Equally, it could be a treatise on the nature of despair and isolation that derives from cultural interaction. It's a small world after all? Somehow it makes me think of Serial Experiments Lain, but without the ubiquitous technology metaphor.
I'm going to attempt sleep now and hope that I don't have some seriously fucked up dreams.
Labels: movies
