I can't say I ever enjoy watching a Lars von Trier film, but they are extremely effective at doing what they set out to do.
I can agree with that, I'll give you that. That being said there are only a few Lars von Trier movies that I actually like, but don't enjoy the act of sitting through. They are Dancer in the Dark, Melancholia, and Dogville.
Saw Zero Dark Thirty. Was a really good movie, but is very dull for the first half. I think because they want to go in chronological order, you have to sit a lot through the practices and errors at the time while knowing the answer. And the other issue, where I found the movie to be weaker than Argo, is that it didn't do a good job explaining the purpose of the bureaucracy or delayed actions of what needed to happen.
However, it was another case where the film was hindered by the people watching. I could hear a guy chewing and spitting tobacco a few seats away from me and a pre-teen was laughing anytime someone got shot.
It provided a beautifully shot insight into the mind of a depressive. Lots of dark imagery and tones. On a technical level, it has near perfect cinematography with fantastic lighting.
You don't have to feel comfortable after watching a movie to enjoy it. There are more emotions to experience through movies other than just happy/sad/startled, and this film is one of the rare ones that takes you places were can explore the boundaries of your emotional spectrum.
Zero Dark Thirty disturbs me. I haven't seen the movie, so I can't judge it as art, but I can judge the factors that allowed it to be made. We didn't make movies about Vietnam during Vietnam. We didn't make movies about Korea during Korea. The only movies we made in World War II were propaganda pieces used to get people to support the war. The fact that we made a movie about an event so current with no romanticism indicates that we don't think of ourselves in a war, despite the massive number of soldiers in Afghanistan.
Again, not a criticism of Catherine Bigalow herself or her work itself.
I would contend that we have been making war films concurrent with the war they portray starting (slightly) in Vietnam, and continuing in our modern wars (see Battle for Haditha, The Hurt Locker, and Redacted).
It's definitely a relatively new thing (~1975 on), but Zero Dark Thirty isn't alone in its portrayal of very recent events.
There have been movies about the presently occurring war for almost as long as war and film have both existed. Look how many World War 2 films were made during World War 2.
I would contend that we have been making war films concurrent with the war they portray starting (slightly) in Vietnam
Note how between '65 (beginning of Escalation) and '73 (end of Vietnamization) only four American movies were made on the subject.
It's definitely a relatively new thing (~1975 on), but Zero Dark Thirty isn't alone in its portrayal of very recent events.
I didn't mean to imply that it did, merely that it's the most recent, and the first that Congress has gotten twitchy about.
There have been movies about the presently occurring war for almost as long as war and film have both existed. Look how many World War 2 films were made during World War 2.
How are you defining propaganda? It could be argued that Zero Dark Thirty is a propaganda film to get people to support the war on terror.
I'm not sure, but the way that Bigallow is defending it as an anti-torture movie excludes it from such a label.
If that's the case, then it's still propaganda, it's just anti-war.
I didn't mean to say it wasn't (though I realize I did) (I also realize that I'm using this construction too much and should copy edit my posts better). I meant to say that it excludes it from being pro-war propaganda (which is what I was referring to in my OP regarding WWII), but got lazy and just said "label."
Watched Batman and Robin with some friends a few days ago specifically so we could get cold puns to use to describe this friggin weather. Future generations will look upon the Schumacher movies with the same campy shock as we look at the 60's movies. There was also a lot of "aww man I had that toy" nostalgia among us.
It ended up being a surprisingly pleasant way to spend an evening.
Alien3 anthology cut was good and bad. While I liked most of the changes I feel that the removal of the prison dog was not done correctly.
In the original the alien gestates in the dog and comes out dog-like. They switched it to an oxen but the alien still looks and acts dog-like. They also left in one scene where a character is talking to the dog but since the dog is not there (anywhere in the movie) the guy ends up looking crazy.
I also felt that with the changes in Aliens (Reiser's character sent the colonists to the crashed ship not the corporation) should have been carried into the ending of this movie. When real Bishop shows up he should have stuck to the "we are here to help you and not bring the alien into the lab" line rather than begging Ripley not to kill it. Would have added to the mystery of how involved/evil the corporation is.
Granted Alien Resurrection shows the corporation's true colors but...
Watched Pitch Perfect two nights ago with my wife. The set-up was an awful Romeo & Juliet hack: you can join our acapella group, but you are forbidden to date boys from the other, even though you just flirted with one. I groaned and braced myself for the rest of the movie. Surprisingly, they spend a lot of time NOT focusing on the relationship stuff and it pays off when they give attention to many of the bit players. Plenty of funny moments and good laughs, making this not the greatest movie ever, but a pretty enjoyable comedy rental.
I watched Prometheus. I didn't really pay attention to it's origins, I just knew it was a pretty good Sci-Fi movie. I was a bit surprised by what it was, but I still really enjoyed what I saw.
Watched Pitch Perfect two nights ago with my wife. The set-up was an awful Romeo & Juliet hack: you can join our acapella group, but you are forbidden to date boys from the other, even though you just flirted with one. I groaned and braced myself for the rest of the movie. Surprisingly, they spend a lot of time NOT focusing on the relationship stuff and it pays off when they give attention to many of the bit players. Plenty of funny moments and good laughs, making this not the greatest movie ever, but a pretty enjoyable comedy rental.
It doesn't help that the female lead is pretty terrible but its easy to ignore her when the rest of the group are pretty funny. The film would have been many times more interesting if she had not been there.
Are we talking about Anna Kendrick? I'll be honest, I couldn't disagree more. That girl can act, and I think we'll be seeing a lot more of her as the years go by. Have you seen Up in the Air?
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However, it was another case where the film was hindered by the people watching. I could hear a guy chewing and spitting tobacco a few seats away from me and a pre-teen was laughing anytime someone got shot.
I really enjoyed the film.
You don't have to feel comfortable after watching a movie to enjoy it. There are more emotions to experience through movies other than just happy/sad/startled, and this film is one of the rare ones that takes you places were can explore the boundaries of your emotional spectrum.
Again, not a criticism of Catherine Bigalow herself or her work itself.
It's definitely a relatively new thing (~1975 on), but Zero Dark Thirty isn't alone in its portrayal of very recent events.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_films#Films_made_during_the_Second_World_War
Royal Tennenbaums was pretty great, but it didn't shift up my rankings of Wes Anderson films.
It ended up being a surprisingly pleasant way to spend an evening.
In the original the alien gestates in the dog and comes out dog-like. They switched it to an oxen but the alien still looks and acts dog-like. They also left in one scene where a character is talking to the dog but since the dog is not there (anywhere in the movie) the guy ends up looking crazy.
I also felt that with the changes in Aliens (Reiser's character sent the colonists to the crashed ship not the corporation) should have been carried into the ending of this movie. When real Bishop shows up he should have stuck to the "we are here to help you and not bring the alien into the lab" line rather than begging Ripley not to kill it. Would have added to the mystery of how involved/evil the corporation is.
Granted Alien Resurrection shows the corporation's true colors but...