Aug 12, 2016

 

Aug 12, 2016

suicide squad gets just a little better every time i watch it. i'm glad i saw it in theaters once because this cam cuts the entire lefthand side of the film off

 

Aug 14, 2016

Audition (1999) (Dir. Takashi Miike) ★★★★☆


The only promotional image I'd ever seen for Audition was a woman in a butcher's apron with a hypodermic needle. With that in mind, I spent the first hour wondering if I'd acquired a romantic drama by mistake. You don't expect a film so highly touted by fans of bizarre cinema to take on the form of a typical Sundance entry. A single father seeking a wife is persuaded by his business partner to hold an audition under the guise of casting a movie. Hi-jinks ensues, right? Thankfully, this isn't a 2000s romcom starring Matthew McConaughey. It is something much, much darker.

Takashi Miike exerts masterful control of tone concealing his more sinister intentions by lulling the audience into a false sense of security. We see the heartbreaking loss of a mother/wife, the tender relationship of the father & son, the comedic premise of auditioning wives... It's an almost saccharine veneer that Miike proceeds to chip away at most impressively in the visual side of the medium. When the transition begins, the more natural lighting and framing gives way to dreamy neons and dutch angles. Flashbacks of previous scenes reach a different timbre. More first person POV is utilized. This stylistic shift happens so gradually, at first I mistook it for sheer incompetence. At the fulcrum of the picture, the world begins to crumble in on itself with surreal sequences that combine elements we were introduced to earlier in the film. The magnitude of the revelations for the main character is unmistakable.

After the turn, the icy heart of the film reveals itself through brutality. The gore is medieval, but the execution of it is modern and clinical. It's not meaningless bloodshed. It's as pointed as Pascal Laugier's Martyrs (2008) and similarly that point is up for some debate. While the femme fatale is a deranged product of child abuse, the flaws of our main character have also been revealed conveniently right before his torture begins. He has coldly rejected a lover. He has secretly lusted after his son's girlfriend. He tricked women into auditioning for him. It's even suggested that he only wanted sex out of the antagonist, a comment that has some grounds in what he expects of a wife. His demons have manifested themselves into his own personal angel of death. One that can open his eyes up to his own sins. While the punishment doesn't exactly fit the crime, he is shown mercy and sparred, left permanently handicapped in the same way as her abuser. She suggests that pain is the only truth and by the end of the film he has definitely suffered his way to a salvation. A baptism by fire of sorts.

http://boxd.it/aQDqL

 

Aug 17, 2016

Duelle (1976) (Dir. Jacques Rivette) ★★☆☆☆


Rivette's Duelle (the femimine form of "duel") marries fantastic elements with a very naturalist preference which is refreshing in an age when this type of story requires a special effects budget of millions. Unfortunately, for a picture about gods and tantamount apocalypse, there is very little to chew on here. After recently praising Refn's Drive (2011) for the import its silences carry, this picture has reassured me to never overlook silence again. While a pause can be a powerful tool in the right hands, it can also be a red flag for empty gesture.

Initially, I appreciated just how subdued a conflict of this magnitude could be portrayed. My experience with French film had led me to believe every story had to have serious themes and philosophic principles. From the Greek mythology I've read, it's all very simply put with much broader implications. That's the angle I believed this film to be taking and were it half an hour shorter, it might have gotten by in that way. Unfortunately, for all of Rivette's stunning visuals, excellent casting, and interesting choices in execution, this script is an absolute dud.

For starters, the one character in this film with any definition is tossed aside like an extra. The characters that survive her have motivations that aren't given any weight. Gods that wants to be human? An assassin under their spell turned against his own sister? Murder? Seduction? Immortality? There are a million ways to make these complex and thematic issues. There are countless monologues to be written. Instead, the most interesting conversation is about why a dancer uses a pseudonym and how much she hates her job.
The most climactic sequences of the film are frustratingly barren of dialogue when you expect some resolution in thought as much as in action. The scattered attempts at saying anything of note should confirm that this was a choice made out of necessity. Pretentious gets thrown around a lot, but the dream is the night's aquarium fits the bill if any phrase ever has.

For anyone who sees a lack of narrative as a lack of substance, let this be a counter example. I kind of wish I would have watched it with the subtitles off. For all of the tracking shots and long takes, all of the cinematic locations, all of the fashion direction, the beauty here is only skin deep. Is this how people who don't enjoy Malick feel?

http://boxd.it/aSVUD

 

Aug 18, 2016

Straw Dogs (1971) (Dir. Sam Peckinpah) ★★★☆☆


Sam Peckinpah's A Series of Unfortunate Events uses the guise of a nuanced marital drama as a front for an exercise in transgressive cinema. Per the Wikipedia page, its release alongside of Clockwork Orange and several other landmark releases spurred controversy over the increasing violence in cinema. Fresh off of a bad experience with the studio system, I imagine Peckinpah created this to reclaim his creative freedom with a big "**** you" to mainstream sensibilities.

Straw Dogs follows a traditional hero, his sympathetic relationship, and the tragedy befalling them. Its most interesting indulgence in deviance lies in its portrayal of r---, presented as a murky ethical dilemma for both the victim and the culprit. Much like the film itself, this sequence regrettably wanders from an interesting conflict into the territory of absurd provocation. This is compounded by a wholly unrelated series of contrived events that conveniently sets the third act into motion. As far as home invasion pictures go, I'd consider this well crafted horror more than a thoughtful drama, and there's nothing wrong with that.

http://boxd.it/aTPph

 

Aug 18, 2016

^whyd u post this

 

Aug 19, 2016

Suicide Squad

truthfully, this is one that you can wait for on DVD. this movie is solid at best. however, you can still have a fun time at the theater if you simply take it for what it is. some aspects of this movie were awesome, like the music and how they introduced the characters, but overall it was underwhelming.

6/10

 

Aug 20, 2016

Anthropoid
Really well done action war film

 

Aug 22, 2016

h--- or High Water

this is a crime film set in texas. i had only seen one trailer but during it they said it was very good and they weren't lying. this is one of the best movies i've seen in a while. good acting, humor sprinkled throughout the film at all the right spots and an ending that is not predictable. the pacing of the movie is also very good and its not filled with too much action like i've seen in other movies. you would doing yourself a dis-service to not go SEE THIS MOVIE IN THEATERS

9/10

 

Aug 22, 2016

Sausage Party - Wasn't sure what to expect, thought it would be dumb but went. It was actually hilarious. If you can take crude and vulgar humour you'll love it. I haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a few years. Definitely recommend it.

 

Aug 25, 2016

Is this worth a watch, i downloaded it a while back and havent seen it yet. Im in the mood for some scary s---, or is there a really really good horror movie that has came out the last year or 2 ?

 

Aug 25, 2016

Good sequel, is worth, there are some solid scares, but i still prefer the first movie.
7.5/10 anyway...

 

Aug 31, 2016

viva las vegas

 

Aug 31, 2016

Suicide Squad - Wasn't that impressed with it. Felt bored throughout it and overall just didn't enjoy it.

Don't Breathe - Good movie, pretty intense and that

Spoiler

Turkey baster scene had the whole theatre going nuts lol

. I enjoyed it more than Suicide Squad for sure.

 

Aug 31, 2016

Forsaken

 

Aug 31, 2016

Bowling for columbine

Um ya it was p good

 

Sep 1, 2016

Raging Bull, 35mm at Vancity Theatre, 3rd or 4th viewing.

Engages with powerful cinematography, yet profound are the intricacies of score, dialogue, and symbolism. Masterful - 97/100

 

Sep 1, 2016

The Passion of Joan of Arc(1928)

waatched in a film class it was amazing even tho it was silent s--- was devastating and the technical aspects of film were on another level given the time period s--- was genius.
10/10

 

Sep 1, 2016

smoke out and watch the jetsons movie. you won't regret it

 

Sep 5, 2016

Naughty Black Housewives 3