What are you watching? (Film edition)

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Wuxia. Awesome. A bit slow at the beginning -really hate that idyllic China setup so common in movies nowadays, as if everything was such a paradise back then... yeah, right, but once the fighting starts, everything is OK. And Kaneshiro was awesome. Didn't get what he was talking at the start -thought he was doing Taiwanese accented guoyu or something. Seems it is Shanghainese what he was muttering. Luv Takeshi, handsome and talented, brought a complicated character to life so well.

As to Peter Chan -the director of one of my favorites, Comrades a love story- his homage to One armed swordsman is quite evident.

My only beef is how come they always give these movie such a lame title in English. Dragon? WTH?! Swordsman -as it has been refered, too-works a bit better, but not there yet.

[trubadour]

Anyone know if and if, where, I can see Cronenburg's new movie? -

[trubadour]

nothing on Taiwan or Japan...
http://cosmopolisthefilm.com/en/international

[Rockefeller]

Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) Black and white film, shot on color film but grayscale set. Love Robert Elswit's work here.

The Big Lebowski (1998) DUDE! ABIDE. I don't know if when I first saw it I went in with low expectations or it's just that the film is that good, but damn it gave me many pleasant chuckles.

[Pop Fly]

Oooooo....good one from The Bobcat. God Bless America. Don't get put off by the opening sequence. Yes. it may be the roughest concept ever filmed, but get past it and there is a gem of a flick here.

[GuyInTaiwan]

Toe Save: I watched about half of that movie the other day. It had some funny parts, but it was generally fairly retarded. I thought the concept and the general plot was good (loved the idea of the parody of the right wing shock jock), but most of the individual ideas were poorly executed.

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What I have been saying all along, only prettier and funnier:

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Sorry for the two in a row, but does anyone has any inkling as to the hopes of watching Magic Mike in Taiwan? According to critics, it is not just beefcake and eye candy, but actually a good movie. I mean, if they are showing the documentary about Crazy Horse in Paris, they could show MM here, right? Heavily censored, I suppose, but show it anyways.

Funny bit about a critic's inner struggle to watch this movie:

“Should I take a date? But wouldn’t that set a weird tone for the evening? No way I can compete with Joe Werewolf. Maybe she’ll think I’m gay. Maybe I’ll take a girl, but then I’ll look away during the strip club scenes. That sounds silly. Maybe I’ll earn points because I bear a passing resemblance to Alex Pettyfer. Everyone says so. Maybe if I take two girls, it’ll be less awkward. Do I know two girls? Maybe I should just take Staskiewicz. We both love movies. Steven Soderbergh is a great American director. We’re just two straight dudes sitting in a theater, watching the latest movie by a great American director. Oh, what, the movie is about male strippers? That’s cool. I didn’t realize that. Personally, I’m just here for the themes.“

Et cetera. On an upcoming episode of Louie, Louis C.K. talks about the peculiar anxiety of the modern heterosexual male, pointing out that straight men are the one demographic who feel outright threatened by the notion that that their sexual orientation is not set in stone. In that sense, the mere existence of Magic Mike feels like a gauntlet being thrown down. Which is stupid. Magic Mike is first and foremost a great movie, and great movies can be enjoyed by anyone.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/07/02/magic ... ght-dudes/

[Rockefeller]

Welp, I know what I'm going to see this weekend:

[Bu Lai En]

Empire of the Censors (1995) Interesting documentary about film censorship in Britain.

Funny Games (1997) Excellent film by Austrian director Michael Haneke. Two young guys invade the home of a family staying by the lake and terrorize them with sadistic games, as one of them makes knowing asides to the audience. I'm glad I persisted with Haneke, after being disappointed with 'Cache'.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Very good comedy with Marilyn Monroe as the quintessential gold-digging dumb blonde. Good laughs (but 'Some Like it Hot' is still much better).

Imaginary Witness: Hollywood and the Holocaust (2004) Holocaust films are so apt to be awful ('Schindlers List' and 'The Pianist' being prime examples) that I wasn't expecting this to be very good, but it was an excellent treatment of the subject, and perhaps even more interestingly Hollywood's treatment (or lack thereof) of Hitler's rise to power at the time. Excellent film history indeed.

DMT: The Spirit Molecule (2010) I find DMT fascinating. The documentary was not particularly good though.

Out of Africa (1985) Meryl Streep, massive 80s epic, huge period piece, blah blah blah ... I thought this was going to be awful. I was pleasantly surprised. Not a GREAT movie, but quite entertaining.

I know Where I'm Going (1945) A busy city fish-out-of-water lass, stranded in the countryside, falls for the local charm and the local charmer. Quite a cliched story, but rendered enjoyable by the lovely light British touch of Powell and Pressburger.

Babel (2006) An interesting ensemble film showing tangentially inter-related events with an over-riding theme in a similar, but better, way to the film 'Crash' (which I thought not nearly as bad as a lot of people make out). This time the theme was communication, and its failure, shown through families and children in three different countries. Well worth a watch.

Judge Priest (1934) Quite a charming portrait of late 19th century Southern life, despite the ludicrous (but unhateful) racial stereotypes.