NOW WATCHING

[Forostar]

Movie studios fighting over the rights to the film based on the graphic novel, Watchmen.   I can't comment on it, but here is an article from the LATimes:   http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/la-ca-watchmen16-2008nov16,0,5337353.story

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I don't even remember Aragorn, Saruman or Legolas being in The Hobbit.  Here is the DVD of the animated version:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B00005MP59/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=130&s=dvd. 

Sorry, I didn't read you post well. I thought it was about the animated LOTR. :/

I was never aware of this "The Hobbit". Interesting to know

 

[Hunlord]

Cornfed, please prevent Watchmen from being released, as I do not want to see the graphic novel destroyed by that retard Snyder. I really really hate the slow down/speed up sequences that he seems to have a major hard on for love of, and apparently the ending has been totally changed. Also, Rorschach does not sound like Christian Bale as Batman, doesn't everyone know that?

kthxbai

 

[Jordan]

At about 7 I'm watching a movie called Christina's House that's coming on the Lifetime Movie Network, it's about some girl who's house is like possessed or haunted. Sounds pretty intriguing. 

 

[Forostar]

Funny, tonight Roger Moore will be one of the guests in a very popular Dutch talkshow (mostly they only have Dutch guests, and this is surely the most famous guest they've ever had), presenting his memoirs. Also it is said he will do a performance with violin star Janine Jansen. I'll post a link of this, later in the week.

 

[Onhell]

At about 7 I'm watching a movie called Christina's House that's coming on the Lifetime Movie Network, it's about some girl who's house is like possessed or haunted. Sounds pretty intriguing. 

Jordan... this is getting old dude...

 

[Forostar]

Halford - Live at Rock in Rio III

(NP - Nightfall)

Very entertaining DVD, with a helluva setlist. The audience gets warmed tremendously up before Maiden take the stage.

Bonus: Resurrection, remastered, including 2 new tracks but what I find more important:

It also includes the great Japanese bonustracks Hell's Last Survivor and Sad Wings !!
Any fan of the Metal God should own these tracks! 

The documentary gives us an insight in how Halford recorded "Resurrection" and how Roy Z a.o. influence the process.

 

[____no5]

Jane Campion -An Angel At My Table

I enjoy so much to watch biographical movies about poets /writers, but this time it's also a Jane Campion film, a woman director that I respect a lot

Jane Campion has a clearly woman's point of view when she's directing, but this was more than suitable in this film, telling the story of a lonely schizophrenic writter from New Zealand, Janet Frame

I found some montage gaps here and there, but the final impression of the film is more than satisfactory to my taste
I liked a lot the performance of Alexia Keogh (little Janet) and the performance of  Kerry Fox (adult Janet) is not bad either

A certainly good watch 

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Stanley Kubrick -The Shinning

two films in a row that night !! after An Angel At My Table, I saw The Shinning : for the first time ever
(yes I know, I'm terrible not to have seen before)

-sometimes I think Stanley Kubrick was the biggest director ever lived -I don't claim to have seen all great directors, but Stanley Kurrick is the most powerfull and  consistent filmaker I know

All his films -except Spartacus- every one of them is a piece of art, the kind of productions I love : not really expensive, but under a very clever, critical and sharpe point of view, very minimal too!

even if I've never seen The Shining before, there were a lot of deja vu images here and there,
and I don't speak only about Deano's avatar nor the very famous art work with Jack and his wife (by the way the
choise of that woman was an excellent choise for this role)

in a film full of powerfull images that stuck in your mind, my very best image of the film was : [SPOILER FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE FILM YET]

Spoiler

well what to say about this film .....you knew from what is going to happen and still you couldn't take your eyes from the screen -what a maestro this Kurbric! .........and Nicholson ? so naturally in his element during the film
a big pleasure to watch him !!

 

[Forostar]

@no_5: If you haven't done it yet, check out "The Killing" (1956), a brilliant film noir by Kubrick.

 

[____no5]

@no_5: If you haven't done it yet, check out "The Killing" (1956), a brilliant film noir by Kubrick.

no I was totaly ignoring it -thanks for the tip 
1956 ? wow

plus the artwork is awesome

you see Forostar, what I love in Kubrick is that he experimented to a lot of different movie genres
with a notable access pretty much everywhere : and every time signing them with his unique style

about his mediocre moments

All his films -except Spartacus- every one of them is a piece of art, the kind of productions I love : not really expensive, but under a very clever, critical and sharpe point of view, very minimal too!

I forgot to mention Eyes Wide Closed -I didn't like it that much -even worst : I couldn't recognise Kubrick in it


...
ok, Killing is in my shopping list
for today, I could chose between Z (political film noir I think)  and Sideways
--> a difficult choise

 

[____no5]

SIDEWAYS

I enjoyed this film!
two Californians, the best man and the futur husband go for a bachelor week
it's a week of various adventures and in the center of action the best man introduce the future husband
to the magic world of wine ......la robe! le nez! la bouche !

a kind of a cool film with some elements of road movie, jazz and wine all around
an American movie made in the European way, I'd say the French way

if you gonna watch this movie make sure you have a nice bottle of wine somewhere!
(it's more than sure that you gonna drink it while watching the movie)
-be sure that you have some proper wine glasses* as well because "the glass is as important as the wine"

*

 

[____no5]

STANLEY KUBRICK -THE KILLING

well let's start from the end of the film : GE-NI-OUS, and I speak not only for the incredible last scene
-yes this scene, along with 2-3 other did made me think of Tarantino

my first difficulty was to can adapt myself to the cultoure of then movies : 1956 ! black & white !
as I haven't seen that many pre-60s movies, I couldn't really understand how this movie could be revolutionary
-or not
during his time. well, as the time was passing I was entering deeper to the magic of Kurick,
and as I told the final scene of the movie looks like the very last note of The Legacy : ABSOLUTE !

my second difficulty was that I couldn't recognise easily the Kubrick style, of course now I've saw it all
and I'm pretty wowed with the end, I would say that there are some traces of the classical Kurbrick signature
but this film was probably more mainstream in its total than some that later works

nevertheless, with his intelligence overpassed the lack of a big bugget and gave us an excellent film noir
so here's a classic Kubrick element

how he managed this? with a lot of narrative passages, some parallel characters
(as the 2 womans : the bad beautifull womanand the faithfull but sick, by the way I liked very much the bad one-Coleen Gray-  in her role), by distributing the action to second roles, by diffussing since the start
the element of tragic irony

right now, I'm pretty much excited with the film, and all I want is my delievery for Lolita and Barry Lyndon don't take long

 

[Forostar]

That end was incredible wasn't it!

...and after that (if you haven't seen it yet) Kubrick's psychological WWI film "Paths of Glory" (1957), with Kirk Douglas in a very agonizing role, one of this iconic actor's greatest legacies.

The film was not shown in France until 1975. This should make you curious enough.

 

[LooseCannon]

I loved Paths of Glory.  I thought it was one of the best movies I've ever seen.

 

[Forostar]

Same here. 

 

[____no5]

...and after that (if you haven't seen it yet) Kubrick's psychological WWI film "Paths of Glory" (1957), with Kirk Douglas in a very agonizing role, one of this iconic actor's greatest legacies.

added 

the only thing I know about this film is that it was the start of a short friendship between Kubrick and Douglas (which would have been destroyed few years later after the disaster of Spartacus)

The film was not shown in France until 1975. This should make you curious enough.

in deed I am 

but for tonight......... Barry Lyndon !

 

[____no5]

STANLEY KUBRICK -BARRY LYNDON

In recent years, it has come to be regarded not only as one of Kubrick's finest films, but indeed as a classic of world cinema. It was part of Time magazine's poll of the 100 best films as well as the Village Voice poll conducted in 1999 and was ranked #27 in 2002 in a poll of film critics conducted by Sight and Sound. Director Martin Scorsese has cited Barry Lyndon as his favorite Kubrick movie. Quotations from it appeared in such disparate works as Scorsese's The Age of Innocence, Lars von Trier's Dogville and Wes Anderson's Rushmore.

well, I've certainly enjoyed that film, but I was surprised not to can recognise Kubrick's signature (so present in allmost every films between 1962 -1990) except from a very few moments
*in fact if I was seeing the movie without knowing whose the director I would have beted for Milos Forman

my best scene was the funeral of the kid with this excellent piece of classic music behind -a huge moment inside the movie.

I liked a lot the narrative style of the movie, which brought me 'Dogville' in mind

conclusions :
not a typical Kubrick film, as '2001' or 'Orange' are but an extremely nice watch
my admiration for Kubrick is growing huge -and still there is a couple of major films that I haven't seen yet

 

[Shadow]

What is your definition of a typical Kubrick film? In my view, the slow pace, themes of man as a pawn in a game beyond his control and extreme attention to visual detail mark Barry Lyndon as a very Kubrickian film indeed.

 

[____no5]

very interesting! you're right, especially for 'slow pace' and 'extreme attention to visual detail'*

but in fact I meant some even more personal elements than these you've described (and very well too)
so I would say : over-real images, intense images with comic music behind, heavy use of hand camera

with other words : Clockwork Orange




*
for the history in Bary Lyndon Kubrick used some special hi-tec cameras made originally for NASA

The film is famous for its cinematography, which was overseen by director of photography John Alcott (who won an Oscar for his work), and for the technical innovations that made some of its most spectacular images possible.

Alcott used three f/0.70 lenses developed by Zeiss for NASA for use in the Apollo moon landings, which Kubrick discovered in his search for a lens that could film in low-light situations. The super-fast lens allowed him to shoot scenes lit with actual candlelight with an average lighting volume of only three candlepower. In fact, the film features the largest lens aperture in film history.

Most shots, however, were achieved with conventional lenses but were lit in a way that mimics natural light. This has the dual result of making the lighting seem more realistic and giving a look to the film similar to 18th century paintings (because, of course, painters of the period were depicting a world devoid of electric lighting). For example, to light a room, rather than placing the lights inside as would be done in a conventional movie, the lights were placed outside and aimed through the windows, which were covered in a diffuse material to scatter the light evenly through the room. Not only did this give the look of natural daylight coming in through the windows, it also protected the historic locations from the damage caused by mounting the lights on walls or ceilings and the heat from the lights. One telltale sign of this method occurs in the scene where Barry duels Lord Bullingdon. Though it appears to be lit entirely with natural light, one can see that the light coming in through the cross-shaped windows in the barn appears blue in color, while the main lighting of the scene coming in from the side is not. This is because the light through the cross-shaped windows is daylight from the sun, which when recorded on the film stock used by Kubrick showed up as blue-tinted compared to the incandescent electric light coming in from the side.

Principal photography took 300 days, from spring 1973 through early 1974, with a break for Christmas

 

[____no5]

...and after that (if you haven't seen it yet) Kubrick's psychological WWI film "Paths of Glory" (1957), with Kirk Douglas in a very agonizing role, one of this iconic actor's greatest legacies.

I'm shaked !! wow what a film!
only 1 1/2 hour long (kind of short for Kubrick) but incredibly compact
the story-line /scenario is just brilliant, and in the end you feel like you received a punch in your stomach

The film was not shown in France until 1975. This should make you curious enough.

I'm not surprised -considered that it came out around the rising of De Gaulle to the head of state

 

[LooseCannon]

I just had the pleasure of watching the newest Sean Penn movie, Milk.  It's a biopic of San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to a major political post in the United States.  The movie profiles the part of the man's life where he was in San Francisco, from his rise as a local businessman to a controller of the influential gay political block, and his subsequent assassination.

Penn was amazing as Milk, and he had a strong supporting cast of Emile Hersch, James Franco, and Josh Brolin.  Highly recommended.