Tuesday, June 15, 2010

#122 Cinema Paradiso: The soldier stood up, took his chair, and went away

1988. dir. Giuseppe Tornatore, starring Philippe Noiret, Marco Leonardi, Salvatore Cascio, Jacques Perrin. Italian with subtitles.

Seen it before? No.

@#$% 177 minute director's cut... burn in hell, Giuseppe Tornatore... (checks imdb, he's still alive) never mind.

Position on the list 84

#113 Bridge on the River Kwai - All that work for nothing

#113 Bridge on the River Kwai: Be happy in your work
1957. dir David Lean, starring William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa.

Seen it before? No.

Why oh why are most of these movies war movies? I know I've complained before and let me tell you I am not going to stop until we've seen the last one! American prisoners in WWII are commissioned to build a bridge on the River Kwai. What I didn't understand was how the Japanese army officers got the American soldiers to build their bridge without major physical contact...it seems to me there was a certain sense of civility, respect even, to how prisoners were treated by their captors...or was that just the beauty of the movie? Don't get me wrong, the lead officer refused to let his commanding officers work like the rest of the soldiers and therefore got punished by being placed in a box with barely any food for days on end. I mean, when you watch this movie you'll see just how much time and planning went into creating this bridge. It was crazy!

Favorite part - when the two guys at the beginning of the movie are creating grave markers in an attempt to get placed in the infirmary.

See it again? Sure
Own it? Meh
What has piqued my curiosity - the real life relationship of Commander Saito and the lieutenant/colonel.
Cool fact - Sessue Hayakawa made a script for himself that was only his character's (Saito)lines to create authentic reactions! How cool!!!

#112 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - You have to understand...

2004. dir. Michel Gondry, starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Tom Wilkinson.

Seen it before? Bits and pieces

I am not a stay up late to watch a new movie kind of girl...and so, I will watch this movie, in its entirety after we move! =) 6-15-2010

#111 Psycho - Here's where I say....

1960. dir. Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam.

SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT You're going to have to wait for me to re-watch this...and not just in segments...and not just the first ten minutes before my brain turns off for the night...SOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY! 6-15-2010

Monday, June 14, 2010

#110 Amores Perros - I know what you're thinking, how can she forget about THIS movie?

#110 Amores Perros: If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans
2000. dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Emilio Echevarría, Gael García Bernal, Goya Toledo, Álvaro Guerrero, Vanessa Bauche. Spanish with subtitles.

Seen it before? No.

Sam's been pretty good about writing his posts but I haven't...aside from being terribly busy packing we've had an out of town guest and gone on vacation too...for this movie my excuse is that I was at a loss for words about what to think about this movie. It was confusing for sure but it was truly disgusting in the Michael Vick way so I am going to tell you now, do NOT watch this movie if you are a member of PETA or don't like animal violence (of any kind)...it is truly disturbing!

As Sam wrote there are three stories that intersect due to a violent car wreck. The dog fighting plot is the first set of tales. A boy wants his douche bag brother's wife and earns his money by bringing his brothers' dog to the dog fights. It is a brutal, brutal dog, to be sure...in fact, the third plot has a hit man/bum collecting stray dogs and the brutal dog from the beginning does not repay the mans' kindness by way of his dogs. Meanwhile the second plot is about a man who has an affair with a model...he's not that great looking so I don't get it...but she has a dog and it gets stuck under the floorboards because the condo they are living in is cheaply built...

To say I hated this movie would be wrong. I didn't hate it...I didn't love it either. I wouldn't watch it again and it truly did disturb me to no end. I get how they can say this is Mexico's Pulp Fiction I really do. I did stay up for it hoping it would get better and it just didn't. Sam mentioned this is from the guy who did Babel...that was another movie I was indifferent too but that's another blog post.