What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

I just watched Life Itself, the Roger Ebert documentary. Ebert helped the director until the very end. Very powerful film, but often heartbreaking and painful to watch. Still, I recommend everyone here to see it once.

I just finished "Steve Jobs." It had some great lines and Sorkian dialogue, but felt kind of like an episodic slide show of sorts. I liked it, but it wasn't the movie I wanted it to be.

Watched Le Samourai. It's a great film! I don't think I'm able to say why it is so engrossing but it really is. Kept me glued to the screen the whole time.

The only problem I had with it is that I was watching it to practice my French and it barely has any dialogue.

I love Le Samourai!

Of course, now you're contractually obligated to watch Le Cercle Rouge as well.

Gregarius wrote: I love Le Samourai!

Of course, now you're contractually obligated to watch Le Cercle Rouge as well.

Hahaha, you are the second person who tells me to watch that film. And I like the sound of it, so I probably will. I think I'm a sucker for this kind of "storytelling through great shots" films so why not? I mean, doesn't the heist in the movie take like 20 dialogue-less minutes or something like that? It sounds fun!

The big problem for me is finding the films with actual French subtitles and getting them to run on my phone so I can watch them on the metro. It's far more difficult than it looks at first glance. And yeah, it's kind of a shame to watch films like that instead of a big screen but it's the best way I have to watch films.

Erik Twice wrote:

Gregarius wrote: I love Le Samourai!

Of course, now you're contractually obligated to watch Le Cercle Rouge as well.

Hahaha, you are the second person who tells me to watch that film. And I like the sound of it, so I probably will. I think I'm a sucker for this kind of "storytelling through great shots" films so why not? I mean, doesn't the heist in the movie take like 20 dialogue-less minutes or something like that? It sounds fun!

No, that one is Rififi. Also excellent, but quite different.

Gregarius wrote: No, that one is Rififi. Also excellent, but quite different.

Oh yeah, you are right! I saw a "trailer" of that one and it looked really fun so I should watch it too.

Erik Twice wrote: Watched Le Samourai. It's a great film! I don't think I'm able to say why it is so engrossing but it really is. Kept me glued to the screen the whole time.

The only problem I had with it is that I was watching it to practice my French and it barely has any dialogue.

Watch The Class next for your French. Fantastic.

And since David Bowie has been relevant, you can try C.R.A.Z.Y. For some Quebec French if you want.

Black Barney wrote:

Erik Twice wrote: Watched Le Samourai. It's a great film! I don't think I'm able to say why it is so engrossing but it really is. Kept me glued to the screen the whole time.

The only problem I had with it is that I was watching it to practice my French and it barely has any dialogue.

Watch The Class next for your French. Fantastic.

And since David Bowie has been relevant, you can try C.R.A.Z.Y. For some Quebec French if you want.

Army of Shadows . Same director, 8.2/10, so many great shots, and Nazi killing by the French resistance. I'm pretty sure there is French dialogue.



Because he worked in the Resistance (and because he was working from a well-informed 1943 Joseph Kessel novel), Melville knew that life for a fighter was not a series of romantic scenes played in trench coats, but ambiguous everyday encounters that could result in death. After Gerbier escapes from Gestapo headquarters, he walks into a barber shop to have his mustache removed. The barber has a poster of Petain on his wall. Not a word is said between the two men. A sweating man at night who wants his mustache removed is a suspect. As Gerbier pays and readies to leave, the barber simply hands him an overcoat of another color.

--Roger Ebert

There were complaints it made the resistance look like brutal gangsters. When the film was shown to actual members of the resistance, they supposedly were all "Yep. That was it." Mieville did say, however, that the only realistic shot in the movie is the opening scene of marching Nazis on the champs de elysee (sp?) for which he had to get a special permit, because the wearing of a German uniform was illegal.

Black Barney wrote: Watch The Class next for your French. Fantastic.

Oh yeah, it has been on my list since you mentioned it. I just haven't found it subtitled yet.

Yeah only see it subtitled (in French it's called ENTRE LES MURS I think). I mean I speak pretty good French and I couldn't understand a word they were saying. I desperately needed the subtitles to know what "pétasse" was

My wife and I were tired last night so we just sat back and watched Galaxy Quest. What a great, fun movie. But man, the perpetual nerd argument that we need to have a "real" Galaxy Quest show is some of the dumbest dumb in dumbtown.

Hail, Caesar!: At times, it seems like it wants to be a bit of a screwball comedy, but never quite gets there. Or rather, doesn't consistently keep that feel. But even though it's not greater than the sum of its parts, it is still quite a fun collection of parts. It's kind of a love letter to 50's Hollywood, with some meta commentary on the Coens work and movies as a commodity. Some great production numbers that feature tangentially to the plot, and some hilarious scenes including Ralph Fiennes as a director trying to coach a bad actor, Jonah Hill as a very clever "person" (makes sense in context), a group of religious leaders discussing whether the film will offend their flocks, an increasingly homoerotic dance number, etc. I loved a lot of little moments throughout, and like any Coen comedy, the word "quirky" is an obvious way to describe it. Not their best work, but mostly very good.

I had never seen it but for some reason I wanted to watch The Truman Show and I really liked it. It's one of those "science-fiction what ifs" that aren't actually about science or fiction but simply about interesting hypotheticals. I would call it a parable, except that it's not about morals, it's about what we can make out of it. One can use it to think about Christianty, about the power of media, about privacy and about finding's one place in the world and it really left me wanting to discuss it.

It may also seem silly or obvious, but something I really appreciated about it is that it's a good film. Too often all these "what ifs" are muddled because the author decided to add some silly geekery on top of a good premise, like clones, psychic powers or BDSM. You are all well-read on sci-fi so you know all the examples. Well, those issues are not found here: The photography is great, the script is tight and Carrey's performance is both believable and fun.

My only issue with the film is that sometimes it's a bit too on the nose. Not because of its themes or anything, but because the way some ideas are shown is a bit abrupt. The producers could have been a bit more competent (specially Meryl) and while sailing off in a ship called Santa María and literally piercing the heavens didn't bother me, I admit the shots of the eagle (so as to represent freedom) did. The ending line, that "What else is on?" also came out a bit forced, pacing-wise which is a shame because it's a sharp one.

Still, it does really leave you with some quesitons. After all, in this age of social media aren't we all a bit of a Truman? And the whole "sure, it's wrong but you are tuning in anyways" angle? That stuff resonated with me.

I want to like The Truman Show a lot more than I actually do, but I do like it. It definitely does give you a lot to chew on. I like that you pointed out how many different ways you can read the "message" of the movie. That's always a strong positive for me, when you can interpret a work multiple ways.

This will sound weird, but I've always sort of thought of it as a flip-side of Brazil. Truman Show is sunnier and more obviously comedic, but they're both really kind of dark and cynical, yet somehow contain hope. The main characters are both trapped in an oppressive world designed to keep them contained, but only Sam Lowry is aware of his predicament. Both characters are spurned to break out of the norm by their love for a woman who breaks the rules.

What I like most about the premise of Truman Show is how preposterous and yet believable it is.