Recommend A Movie Thread

Do you remember when Jeff did the server thing and all of a sudden there were a bunch of ads between the posts? That's Netflix! Everyday you saw tons of Net Flix ads and never took that in?

^ Hey TJ, you seeing this?)
Hope Netflix doesn't get wind of how ineffective the ads are!:ha:

 

I just added Hustle and Flow & The Constant Gardener to the top of my list. They will be the next couple I get. I love Ralph Fiennes. He is a fantastic actor. He is also in The English Patient (which I loved) and the new Harry Potter.

 

So I had a chance to watch a couple of my shiny new DVD’s over the weekend.

Hustle & Flow was excellent. In short, a great film about having the courage to go after your dreams. Director Craig Brewer also wrote the screen play, and his intimacy with the story shows. Brewer shows an affinity for seventies blaxplotation films in both style and content. The film’s deeply flawed characters are well written and fully realized. Fine performances are given all around by a strong cast. Interesting to see actors generally thought of as comedic take on more dramatic roles (Anthony Anderson, DJ Qualls). Terrence Howard continues to shine; it’s easy to see why he’s been nominated for a bunch of awards. I can only recall seeing him in three films (Crash, Hart’s War and Four Brothers) and he’s always been excellent. I suspect that I’ll be seeing a lot of movies from him over the next twenty years. Special features on the disk are better than usual, with some behind the scenes stuff about the film’s producers’ futile efforts to get some studio backing for the film.

8.5 out of 10


Grizzly Man is the best documentary I’ve seen in years. Director Werner Herzog serves up the story of Timothy Treadwell; self proclaimed Grizzly Man. Herzog’s film consists mainly of footage shot by Treadwell himself during his many years in Alaska living amongst the grizzly bears, edited together with new interviews filmed specifically for the film. In the hands of a lesser artist Grizzly Man could have come off as either maudlin or trite, but in the hands of Herzog it is a truthful, yet empathetic film both tragic and haunting. I have to admit to being a huge fan of Herzog’s work (Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre: The Wrath of God). An intense and passionate filmmaker it is easy to see why Herzog would find Treadwell’s story hard to resist. I’m almost tempted to say this is the best documentary I’ve ever seen, but perhaps I should take some time to reflect upon the movie before making such goofy proclamations. I will however go so far as to say it’s the best film I’ve seen from 2005. I hope a few of you take the time to search out and watch this gem of a film.

9.5 out of 10

 

Just found this thread...

A ton of people read all of the LOTR books before the movies were ever thought of, just not nearly as many people that are still under 25...

Whoever recommended I heart Huckabees, that's a hilarious movie. It's got a lot of slapstick type humor, but as a philosophy major, there are a ton of levels to the movie, all of which are great.

My big recommendation: Confidence
Great movie about a group of con artists with an all star cast. Ed Burns, Rachel Weiss, Andy Garcia, and of course, Dustin Hoffman, in a hilarious role. Not a comedy, more of a twist and turn movie, i.e. The Usual Suspects (another classic not mentioned on this list). It's definitely not a family movie, but a good movie if you like movies that come at you with changing directions.

 

I finally watched this yesterday. Great flick! Amazing complex, interweaving storyline; Okamoto's Sword of Doom is quite similar. Not the kind of film that you can give less than 100% of your attention to. Even as a long time viewer of Japanese films I still find Okamoto's work among the most difficult to follow. The sword play was excellent as was the acting. Okamoto really allows his actors to use a fairly realistic approach as opposed to Kurasawa who has always preferred more theatrical, stylized performances from his players. And what was up with those crazy-@ss, fluorescent green subtitles? :ha: I've never seen two different colors of subtitles being used to reflect who was speaking. Interesting idea, but a bit distracting.

In the special features there's an essay concerning the actual historical events upon which the film is loosely based. Have you tried to read it? I'm a pretty fast reader, but the pages just whip by a lightening speed so I'm forced to just skim the text and hence am not able to absorb all of the info fully. The frickin' thing won't even allow you to pause or slow play the pages. It's both annoying and funny.

But again, it was a great film, I'm really glad I picked it up. Big thanks for the recommendation KZ.