Flipside Movie Emporium

the night watchman · Posted: 09.29.2004 10:49 pm Post subject:

On the contrary, the movie is a mean-spirited mockery of these people. It went out of its way to be visually ugly (Patrick Fugit's TV dinner; Mena Suvari's teeth), and to make them look ridiculous (Leguizamo hopping naked on the matress, masturbating into a sock, screaming, "I'm almost there!" with the word LOSER spray-painted on the wall behind him). Everyone who comes into contact with the drug is dehumanized and made to look ridiculous, even the two undercover cops. By contrast, Schwartzman's "clean" ex-girlfriend looks shiney and angelic. Spun is a comedy, but it laughs at the characters, not with them or in sympathy. It is a criticism of individuals found in drug culture, to be sure, but it's a nasty one that loathes its subjects.
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"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

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beltmann · Posted: 10.03.2004 2:37 pm Post subject:

9/27 ? 10/304

Chronologically:

Shaun of the Dead (Wright, UK 2004)

Persons of Interest (Maclean and Perse, USA 2004)

The Corporation (Abbott and Achbar, Canada 2004)

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (Perez and Sekler, USA 2004)

Set Set Spike (Hubley, USA 2002)

Carandiru (Babenco, Brazil 2003)

Coffee and Cigarettes (Jarmusch, USA 2003)

The only one I disliked was Unprecedented, which unveils only a single provocative idea, that the Florida Republican party, led by Jeb Bush, enacted modern-day versions of Jim Crow laws in order to drain the voter rolls of likely Democratic supporters. Otherwise this rote, choppy, and amateurish screed fails to rouse the same kind of fascination, passion, and outrage that merely watching the event unfold on CNN did?it doesn?t even have the artistic shape of day-to-day journalism.

Speaking of comedies, Shaun of the Dead and Coffee and Cigarettes are two of my favorites of the year.

Eric
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matt header · Posted: 10.04.2004 5:54 pm Post subject:

Coffee and Cigarettes is fantastic. After I saw it, having a mundane conversation with a friend felt like the most beautiful (and hilarious) thing in the world.
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"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

matt header · Posted: 10.07.2004 3:17 pm Post subject:

In preferential order:

The Last Laugh (Murnau, 1924) A

Evil Dead II (Raimi, 1987) A-

Battleship Potemkin (Eisenstein, 1925) A-

Festival Express (Smeaton, 2004) B+

The Last Waltz (Scorsese, 1978) B

A Dirty Shame (Waters, 2004) B-

Taxi (Story, 2004) C+

What the Bleep Do We Know? (Arntz, Chasse, Vicente, 2004) D-

The Last Laugh is brilliant, and if it didn't have that unfortunately ludicrous and overlong epilogue, it would be a total masterpiece; nearly every shot is perfectly composed.

Evil Dead II lived up to my expectations, which is saying a lot; it's inspiring to remember this is the curious fellow who also brought us the Spiderman movies.

I had seen Potemkin before, and although it is certainly groundbreaking (and the Odessa Steps sequence is an undeniable powerhouse), its didacticism dates it poorly. I have yet to see Eisenstein's other films, which I'm very much looking forward to.

I saw a sneak preview of Taxi, and it was a lot more fun than it has a right to be. Jimmy Fallon's character can be an obnoxious fool, but Latifah's character has a definable personality and great charm; she elevates the film from a stupid sitcom to a very agreeable sitcom.

What the Bleep Do We Know? is an insult to the audience's intelligence and the worst film of the year so far; there are astonishing ideas about quantum physics presented by inspiring free-thinkers, but the trio of directors assume that we the viewers are too dim-witted to stomach these ideas and turn them into cartoonish vulgarities. Seemingly, no shots last longer than four seconds and the real-life vignettes that prove the role of quantim physics in our everyday lives are idiotic, tedious, and impossible to relate to. The film becomes mindnumbingly boring after 30 minutes despite its relentlessly loud whooshing noises and cheesy computer graphics. It's something close to astonishing that a movie about such heady topics can be so moronic.
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"I don't like talking to people I know, but strangers I have no problem with." -- Larry David, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

xAndyx · Posted: 10.07.2004 4:28 pm Post subject:

the night watchman · Posted: 10.07.2004 6:48 pm Post subject:

the night watchman · Posted: 10.07.2004 7:10 pm Post subject:

Danny Baldwin · Posted: 10.07.2004 10:25 pm Post subject:

Aw. I really liked What the Bleep..., even if it was 'kinda cheesy.
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Michael Scrutchin · Posted: 10.10.2004 7:13 pm Post subject:

From 9.20.04 to 10.09.04:

the night watchman · Posted: 10.10.2004 9:00 pm Post subject:

Michael Scrutchin · Posted: 10.10.2004 9:45 pm Post subject:

the night watchman · Posted: 10.10.2004 10:08 pm Post subject:

Badass. Thanks for the info, Michael.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

mfritschel · Posted: 10.11.2004 2:04 am Post subject:

In descending order:

Spring, Summer, Fall. Winter . . . and Spring (Kim, 2004)

Carandiru (Babenco, 2004)

Dracula (Browning, 1931)

Close Your Eyes (Willing, 2004)

A very solid two weeks as far as content goes, not much in the way of quantity so, but when it boiles down to it quality is far superior to quantity. Spring, Summer is by far one of the best movies I have seen so far, literally poetry is motion, and I would have to say I was a little taken a back by how well it blended modern day (to a point) into the whole fable underlying transcending the story, and it wasn't even modern day things, just rather a touch of modernerity. Or maybe it was just how well the story itself is timeless. Also, Carandiru was a very solid movie, nothing outstanding, but it captivated and had its interesting characters. Finally, I was quite suprised with Close Your Eyes, it was by far nothing spectacular, but I couldn't help by find myself getting caught up in the story and being quite frighetened by it, at times as well. Simply a well put together movie, with solid characters and a somewhat intersting story line.

Erickson · Camera Operator Joined: 15 Mar 2004 Posts: 81

In order of preference.

Elephant

Fahrenheit 9/11

Welcome to MoosePort.

I think Elephant was one of the best movies I have ever seen. To me, it's an artistic look at a high school shooting. The dialogue in the movie was so unimportant but yet, the movie made so much sense and left tons of "What ifs..." in my mind.
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beltmann · Posted: 10.11.2004 2:25 am Post subject:

10/4 ? 10/10/04

Chronologically:

Special Delivery (Macauley and Weldon, Canada 1978)

The Stone of Folly (Rosensweet, Canada 2002)

Loon Dreaming (Paabo, Canada 2002)

Envy (Levinson, USA 2004)

The Perfect Human (Leth, Denmark 1967)

Afterschool Delight (Bregman, USA 2003)

The Five Obstructions (Von Trier and Leth, Denmark 2003)

The Hunting of the President (Perry and Thomason, USA 2004)

Joy Street (Pitt, USA 1995)

Barrier Device (Lee, USA 2002)

The best of the bunch is The Five Obstructions, while the worst is Envy. The problem with Barry Levinson?s turgid satire on upward mobility?and the jealousy that fuels it?isn?t that the jokes are lame, it?s that there aren?t even any jokes being told. Stiller and Black have never been so neutered; their performances seem comprised entirely of bad shirts and bad combing. My heart goes out to Barry Levinson, who once was my favorite American storyteller. Is it possible that this is the same man who made Diner and Avalon?