Flipside Movie Emporium

Danny Baldwin · Posted: 12.22.2006 7:16 pm Post subject:

12/12 - 12/21

One last post before 45-hour holiday theatre work weeks and Private College Application mania begin.

We can only hope I will be more consistent about this come the new year.

The Architect (Tauber, 2006)

How To Eat Fried Worms (Dolman, 2006)

The first is a pleasant little drama, but it's not likely to leave much of an impression.

The second is a little more obscure in merit than typical contemporary Nickelodeon fare, but I can't say I found it very involving. I really dunno who the movie is marketed to when each plot development means eating a different type of worm. Sounds more like birds than kids to me.
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Danny Baldwin

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beltmann · Posted: 12.23.2006 7:46 pm Post subject:

11/13 ? 12/22/06

The last month or so, in preferential order:

Outstanding

Why We Fight / Jarecki / USA / 2006

The Pursuit of Happyness / Muccino / USA / 2006

Very Good

Stranger Than Fiction / Forster / USA / 2006

Casino Royale / Campbell / UK / 2006

American Dreamz / Weitz / USA / 2006

The Break-Up / Reed / USA / 2006

Worthwhile

Babel / Inarritu / USA / 2006

Monster In a Box / Broomfield / USA / 1992

Click / Coraci / USA / 2006

Elizabethtown / Crowe / USA / 2005

Apocalypto / Gibson / USA / 2006

The Road to Guantanamo / Winterbottom and Whitecross / UK / 2006

Who Killed the Electric Car? / Paine / USA / 2006

Over the Hedge / Johnson and Kirkpatrick / USA / 2006

The Notorious Bettie Page / Harron / USA / 2006

Mediocre

Slither / Gunn / USA / 2006

Water / Mehta / India / 2005

Three Times / Hou / Taiwan / 2005

Poor

Freedomland / Roth / USA / 2006

The Omen / Moore / USA / 2006

Poseidon / Peterson / USA / 2006

Art School Confidential / Zwigoff / USA / 2006

The Polar Express / Zemeckis / USA / 2004

The Parent Trap / Meyers / USA / 1998

Bewitched / Ephron / USA / 2005

Nacho Libre / Hess / USA / 2006

Sidewalks of New York / White and Myers / USA / 1931

Basic Instinct 2 / Caton-Jones / USA / 2006

The Producers / Stroman / USA / 2005

Obviously, I?ve been catching up with a lot of junk on DVD. The only real surprise, though, was The Pursuit of Happyness, which has more to say about class in this country than just about any other recent picture I can think of?its clear-eyed depiction of how society organizes itself to benefit those already advantaged is matched by its vivid sense of how heavy an empty wallet feels. Plus, it conveys the complex emotions of parenting with truth and depth. It might be one of the year's best, but I fear that its sentimentality--every ounce of which is earned--will result in a lot of knee-jerk harrumphs.
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Danny Baldwin · Posted: 12.29.2006 6:02 am Post subject:

12/23 - 12/28

Blood Diamond (Zwick, 2006)

Dreamgirls (Condon, 2006)

Both bring some pizzaz back into Hollywood productions and are rightfully deserving of their Oscar buzz. The first reminds me of a forties action epic in its ability to both provide engaging action and make a political statement at the same time, something rarely seen (let alone executed effectively) in contemporary cinema. The later has dynamite first and third acts and kind of tapers off in between, but makes for a terrific entertainment nonetheless. Not to mention, it's the most inventive musical I've seen in a long time, much thanks to Bill Condon (who I've now thoroughly forgiven for the ambitious misfire that was Kinsey...)
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beltmann · Posted: 12.29.2006 3:02 pm Post subject:

After a second viewing, I am thoroughly convinced that Kinsey is a masterpiece.
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

Jim Harper · Posted: 12.30.2006 9:04 pm Post subject:

It's been ages since I posted, so apologies for the length. Anyway, it's going to be my last post of 2006, so there.

14/11/06 - 30/12/06

Jaws (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1975)

Dracula (dir. Tod Browning, 1931)

Blow Out (dir. Brian De Palma, 1981)

Deep Red (dir. Dario Argento, 1976)

The Beyond (dir. Lucio Fulci, 1981)

Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man?s Chest (dir. Gore Verbinski, 2006)*

The Vanishing (dir. George Sluizer, 1988)

Kill, Baby? Kill! (dir. Mario Bava, 1966)*

Second Name (dir. Francisco Plaza, 2002)

From Hell (dir. Hughes Brothers, 2003)

Phantasm II (dir. Don Coscarelli, 1988)

Dead Birds (dir. Alex Turner, 2004)

Night of the Living Dead (dir. George A Romero, 1968)

District 13 (dir. Pierre Morel, 2004)*

Dead Calm (dir. Philip Noyce, 1989)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (dir. Philip Kaufman, 1978)

The Seventh Victim (dir. Mark Robson, 1943)

Black Christmas (dir. Bob Clark, 1974)

Murder by Decree (dir. Bob Clark, 1979)

Clive Barker?s The Plague (dir. Hal Masonberg, 2006)*

The Legend of Zorro (dir. Martin Campbell, 2005)*

Bodysnatchers (dir. Abel Ferrara, 1993)

A History of Violence (dir. David Cronenberg, 2005)

Black Christmas (dir. Glen Morgan, 2006)*

Mimic (dir. Guillermo Del Toro, 1997)

The Keep (dir. Michael Mann, 1983)

The First Great Train Robbery (dir. Michael Crichton, 1979)

Duel (dir. Steven Spielberg, 1971)

The Ghoul (dir. Freddie Francis, 1974)

Equilibrium (dir. Kurt Wimmer, 2002)

An American Werewolf in London (dir. John Landis, 1981)

The Woods (dir. Lucky McKee, 2006)*

Don?t Look Now (dir. Nicholas Roeg, 1973)

The Reptile (dir. John Gilling, 1966)*

The Gorgon (dir. Terence Fisher, 1964)*

Switchblade Romance (dir. Alexandre Aja, 2003)

Fiend without a Face (dir. Arthur Crabtree, 1958)

Night of the Comet (dir. Thom Eberhardt, 1984)

Night of the Creeps (dir. Fred Dekker, 1986)

The Dunwich Horror (dir. Daniel Haller, 1969)*

The Bunker (dir. Rob Green, 2001)

Collateral (dir. Michael Mann, 2004)

Silent Hill (dir. Christophe Gans, 2006)

Best Film: The Woods. Excellent second feature from the director of May. Echoes Suspiria with its story of a girl who discovers sinister goings-on at her new boarding school, but creates (and sustains) a wonderfully creepy atmosphere, bolstered by an excellent performance from Agnes Brucker as the rebellious new girl. Great cinematography too. Well worth seeing, although I doubt it would have found much of an audience in theatres. Recommended!

If fantastic stunts and martial arts sequences (with absolutely no CGI) are your bag, then you'll enjoy District 13. Paper-thin story, but one amazing action sequence after another, written and produced by Luc Besson.

My review of Black Christmas is already up at the Flipside. Check it out, because it's perhaps the only positive review of the film you'll ever come across.

The Hammer double bill- The Reptile and The Gorgon, both Christmas presents- was a lot of fun too. I actually preferred the former, but they're both among Hammer's better projects.

I've heard a lot of good things about Kill, Baby... Kill!, but I just couldn't get into it. I didn't see a particularly good copy, but it never really caught my attention.

The Plague starts off very well, but loses steam as it becomes apparent that the writer-director had little or no idea of how finish the story. Very limp and confusing ending. Likewise with The Dunwich Horror; invisible monsters are very hard to portray on screen, and this one didn't succeed.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was okay, but mostly held up by Johnny Depp and the bad guys.

Worst Film: The Legend of Zorro. Absolute rubbish. Even the first film had some basic entertainment value, but the sequel is just pathetic, limping from one underwhelming action sequence to another. For once I agree with Roger Ebert: when did Catherine Zeta Jones' character become a nagging pain in the ass? Entirely boring.

Michael Scrutchin · Posted: 12.31.2006 4:08 am Post subject:

beltmann · Posted: 01.01.2007 11:22 pm Post subject:

12/23 ? 12/31/06

The last week of 2006, in preferential order:

Blood Diamond / Zwick / USA / 2006

The Descent / Marshall / UK / 2005

Gabrielle / Chereau / France / 2005

Rocky Balboa / Stallone / USA / 2006

Scoop / Allen / USA / 2006

Akeelah and the Bee / Atchison / USA / 2006

Jackass: Number Two / Tremaine / USA / 2006

4 / Khrjanovsky / Russia / 2005
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment