movies

[ghostrunner]

I watched this movie last night. Discuss.

I can't get my head around the two job titles. He needs to come down off the fence and choose a career.

[omaha_red]

i'm so glad i don't look at movies like that.. seriously.. i just like what i like and
do i miss all of the "tortured metaphors" and hidden symbolism and politics? probably..
but that's fine with me.. when i watch a japanese movie from the 50's i'm not thinking
how it was a play on post-war japan.. i just like the story and enjoy what i see..

That's cool. Art can be viewed on many different levels, and there's just as much to watch in the pretext as there is in the meaning behind it. Personally I try to (but don't always) view art on both levels, as I find it to be much more fulfilling - it allows me to better relate what I just saw to the world around me. And I don't want to even say that one experience is "better" than the other, simply that an artist took the time to craft something that can be experienced on many levels - I would never feel "glad" in favoring one level over the other.

yeah.. i'm glad i don't do any of that..

[clement]

i'm so glad i don't look at movies like that.. seriously.. i just like what i like and
do i miss all of the "tortured metaphors" and hidden symbolism and politics? probably..
but that's fine with me.. when i watch a japanese movie from the 50's i'm not thinking
how it was a play on post-war japan.. i just like the story and enjoy what i see..

That's cool. Art can be viewed on many different levels, and there's just as much to watch in the pretext as there is in the meaning behind it. Personally I try to (but don't always) view art on both levels, as I find it to be much more fulfilling - it allows me to better relate what I just saw to the world around me. And I don't want to even say that one experience is "better" than the other, simply that an artist took the time to craft something that can be experienced on many levels - I would never feel "glad" in favoring one level over the other.

I agree. I'll go to a museum and just look at the paintings and get a lot of enjoyment out of it. But if there is something to read about the art, the artist, the symbolism, the historical context or movement it came out of, etc, that makes me appreciate the art in another, and usually deeper way. When I was a college student I took a couple of film classes. One was a basic intro film course and the other was on Italian neo-realism. Having a professor who wrote books about neo-realism explain the camera shots, the symbolism, the metaphors, the social and political context in post-war Italy in the 1950s, etc, really enhanced my understanding and appreciation of those movies. When I go to film festivals one of the things I like most is seeing the directors come out and talk about their movies after the screening and take questions. Obviously I don't need that for every movie and I can enjoy a movie without that deeper understanding. But the more I like a movie, the more I wanna learn more about it. If I can't see the director in person, then I'll usually go on-line and look for reviews or interviews with the director.

The only thing I'll add is that I prefer to first look, and then learn more, and not the other way around. I want to take it in with an unbiased, independent eye. I don't even like to see previews and in a perfect world I prefer to know absolutely nothing about a movie before I watch it.

[omaha_red]

I don't even like to see previews and in a perfect world I prefer to know absolutely nothing about a movie before I watch it.

i agree with this big time..

[Jocephus]

you put LTCG in any situation, and it becomes funny

A slovenly cable repairman becomes a big-city health inspector and is tasked with uncovering the source of a food poisoning epidemic.

The story centers on a small-town sheriff who witnesses what he believes is a kidnapping and rushes to rescue a woman.

Three bumbling Army reservists bound for Iraq are accidentally dropped at Mexican village besieged by hostile forces.

[ghostrunner]

I think there's a reason No Country won best picture over Blood. But I did enjoy them both.

Yeah, I liken it to the year that both Chinatown and Godfather II were nominated. Sometimes, you get those awesome years where you have two very worthy candidates (IMO, anyway). And other years, [expletive] Crash wins.

What kills me is that I know ppl who still claim Crash was worthy.

If people want to say that they like Crash or enjoyed Crash, that's cool. But as far as it being Oscar-worthy, that argument is way beyond me.

Yeah, but the Oscars are the Gold Gloves of movies... just look at the list:
American Beauty
Gladiator
Titanic
Forrest Gump

American Beauty absolutely does not belong on that list.

A lot of people, including myself, thought it was pretentious and full of tortured metaphors. One of those movies where you feel smarter after viewing it because you "got" the abstract ideas contained within. You feel good about yourself because you figured out the puzzle, but in the end it's all just a facade with no real applicable meaning to it. Even the meaning is flawed, I think. All it does is replace fake suburban romanticism with another kind of romanticism, which is just as fake. That and the "middle aged guy discovers his life is unfulfilled" storyline is overplayed.

But that's just me.

This. When I first saw it, I liked it a lot, and then the more I thought about it I felt it was manipulative. You're conned into rooting for Kevin Spacey's character, who'd be a lot happier if he could just ditch his insane wife and go back to acting like a college student again. The ending was a cop out - realistically there's no way to keep his feel good story going - he'd have to pay some emotional price for all this fun he's been having and make some sort of compromise. So they have a closeted homosexual who hates himself come over and shoot him. Not to mention Annette Bening's character is a crude stereotype. I'd almost say misogynist, though I think that term gets overused.

The paper bag thing gets made fun of a lot, but I find it genuinely moving. I've had a lot of great small moments in my life like that.

[Freed Roger]

You're conned into rooting for Kevin Spacey's character

with me, any movie with this in it is flawed from the get go. Spacey reminds me of an annoying ex-co worker of mine so I can't stand the guy.

The paper bag thing gets made fun of a lot, but I find it genuinely moving. I've had a lot of great small moments in my life like that.

I agree, but pretty sad when its the highlight of a movie, other than the boobs.

[Richie Allen]

The only thing I'll add is that I prefer to first look, and then learn more, and not the other way around. I want to take it in with an unbiased, independent eye. I don't even like to see previews and in a perfect world I prefer to know absolutely nothing about a movie before I watch it.

I agree. It's unbelievable how many people I know that don't appreciate this. Even the ones that sort of do, still don't quite get it. "I'm not going to say anything that might ruin the movie, I was just saying how heartbreaking the story is."

[maddash]

Just caught The Burmese Harp (Biruma no tategoto) on TMC. Excellent and riveting movie. I was familiar with Ichikawa's work from Tokyo Olympiad, and he didn't disappoint here.

[SHOW]

Being a bit of a WWII buff, I couldn't help but feel that there was some "revisionist history" going on - at least in the vibe. Ichikawa certainly touches on the fanatical aspect of the Japanese Army, but considering the atrocities committed in Burma, it almost seems like he made the unit in focus overtly friendly and sing-songy (literally) to compensate. Still, the use of song as an interplay between characters was all worth it. An anti-war movie set in WWII with Buddhism intertwined? Doesn't get much better than that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049012/

[Richie Allen]

Just caught The Burmese Harp (Biruma no tategoto) on TMC. Excellent and riveting movie. I was familiar with Ichikawa's work from Tokyo Olympiad, and he didn't disappoint here.

[SHOW]

Being a bit of a WWII buff, I couldn't help but feel that there was some "revisionist history" going on - at least in the vibe. Ichikawa certainly touches on the fanatical aspect of the Japanese Army, but considering the atrocities committed in Burma, it almost seems like he made the unit in focus overtly friendly and sing-songy (literally) to compensate. Still, the use of song as an interplay between characters was all worth it. An anti-war movie set in WWII with Buddhism intertwined? Doesn't get much better than that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049012/

I've always wanted to see that.