General Movie Thread

[Martin]

Can we at least agree that Sally Hawkins wuz robbed?

Samir, can I get a witness?

[Stupornaut]

According to the official Warner Music Group website (Hungarian Version), this is the tracklisting to the motion picture soundtrack of The Watchmen:

1. Desolation Row - My Chemical Romance
2. Unforgettable - Nat King Cole
3. The Times They Are A-Changin' - Bob Dylan
4. The Sound Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
5. Me & Bobby McGhee - Janis Joplin
6. I'm Your Boogie Man - KC & The Sunshine Band
7. You're My Thrill - Billie Holiday
8. Pruit Igoe & Prophecies - Philip Glass
9. Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen
10. All Along The Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
11. Ride of the Valkyries - Budapest Symphony Orchestra
12. Pirate Jenny - Nina Simone (used in the end credits of the Black Freighter DVD)

Wow. I didn't expect a Wax Poetics comp or anything, but that's like the Movie Soundtrack Cliche 1992 USA Olympic Basketball Team.

[Bryan]

I'm glad you're keeping an eye on the Hungarian Warner's website, Stupornaut.

Reading that list of music, you can see just as clear as day how on-the-nose and trite the use of each of those songs is going to be. How am I supposed to maintain my unrealistic expectations for Watchmen when I read stuff like that?!

[Stupornaut]

I'm glad you're keeping an eye on the Hungarian Warner's website, Stupornaut.

I got it offa Douglas Wolk's Twitter! I'm not sure why he went to the Hungarian site, but I'll trust his judgment on that one.

Also I have it on good authority that "I'm Your Boogie Man" scores the scene where Rorschach kills those dogs.

[samir]

Can we at least agree that Sally Hawkins wuz robbed?

Samir, can I get a witness?

Testify!

She was capital-g Great in that film.

En-Ra-Hah.

[jbissell]

Can we at least agree that Sally Hawkins wuz robbed?

Samir, can I get a witness?

Testify!

She was capital-g Great in that film.

En-Ra-Hah.

Thirded.  She was excellent, as was Eddie Marsan.

[Martin]

Yesterday I watched a film which will surely end up on my eventual 2008 top ten (I'm way behind, there's so much to see) - the Italian political satire/drama Il Divo. Really top-notch, only possibly tainted by the fact that as an outsider - even if you're well-read on the subject - you don't have a chance to catch all the subtle nuances of the plot, or fully appreciate the endless parade of characters. It's a testament to the film, however, that it still works, and beautifully so. If you can see it, do. (Plus it also reinforces the notion that Italy, as a country, is simply fucked - or at least impossible to understand.)

Also yesterday, I watched what is destined to be this year's Swedish arthouse movie to watch - Man tänker sitt / Burrowing. I'm biased, because it's directed by two close friends of mine, Henrik Hellström and Fredrik Wenzel, but it's really something. They're competing with it in Berlin right now, in the experimental Forum section. It's a bizarre, some would say pretentious, completely original mood-piece set in a dysfunctional small-town neighborhood. Closest references would probably be Malick, Korine, the Dardennes or even Bresson! - but with a voice of its own. The boss of the Vienna Film Festival said it reminded him of an Ulrich Seidl movie, "only more poetic and less calculated". Screen Daily liked it too.

[jbissell]

Coraline in 3D is absolutely beautiful to look at, really the first time I've seen 3D used in a way that isn't just for pointing things at your eyes.  Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher didn't even bother me too much.

[Bryan]

This has been on my mind for obvious reasons:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEnjiGwVw6o

[crumbum]

I just saw (Canadian director) Bruce MacDonald's new horror movie Pontypool, and it is fantastic. I wasn't a fan of his previous work but he really nailed it this time. Please see it if it comes your way.

It's set in a small town Ontario talk radio station and follows the outbreak of a zombie virus as the morning host and his producers learn of events bit by bit, mainly through call-ins... the device sounds stale, but pretty much everything about the movie is fresh and surprising. It has a great live-wire energy, it's beautifully shot in a very tight space, and has an amazing central performance by Stephen McHattie (a.k.a. Nite Owl I). I really can't say enough good things about it. Best Canadian film I've seen in a very long time.

[Martin]

Trailer for Armando Iannucci's In the Loop, based on his TV show In the Thick of It.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQrqMkCuHqA

I can't wait for this, even if the trailer makes it seem more slapsticky than it probably/hopefully is.

[Sarah]

I just saw (Canadian director) Bruce MacDonald's new horror movie Pontypool, and it is fantastic. I wasn't a fan of his previous work but he really nailed it this time. Please see it if it comes your way.

It's set in a small town Ontario talk radio station and follows the outbreak of a zombie virus as the morning host and his producers learn of events bit by bit, mainly through call-ins... the device sounds stale, but pretty much everything about the movie is fresh and surprising. It has a great live-wire energy, it's beautifully shot in a very tight space, and has an amazing central performance by Stephen McHattie (a.k.a. Nite Owl I). I really can't say enough good things about it. Best Canadian film I've seen in a very long time.

I want it.  Always looking for something new and fresh in the undead line.

I want In the Loop, too.

Maybe someday.

[Matt]

Trailer for Armando Iannucci's In the Loop, based on his TV show In the Thick of It.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQrqMkCuHqA

I can't wait for this, even if the trailer makes it seem more slapsticky than it probably/hopefully is.

Coogan! Iannucci! Reunited! Coogan! Gandolfini! Together At Last!

I saw Gimme Shelter for the first time a few nights ago. It's become kind of a cliche to say so, but what a legitimately terrifying movie. I had a pit in my stomach throughout. Still, it was responsible for one of the funniest moments I've seen in any movie: the Stones are playing at Altamont, and things are not going well at all. They've had to stop playing a number of times to try and convince people to stop being so violent in the crowd. They start to play "Sympathy for the Devil" (I think) and just when it looks like things couldn't get any worse or look any more apocalyptic, a stray dog wanders across the stage. Mick Jagger is unfazed.

Marty Balin's denim outfit was pretty funny too. Also, the idea of getting Hell's Angels to provide security for a concert and paying them in beer. And Belli being Belli. And that some of the Angels left their motorcycles directly in front of the stage, and were apparently upset when they fell over and were being trampled upon. I don't think there has ever been so many stupid people in one movie.

[DoodleJump!]

I am about to watch the movie Eraserhead. I had never heard of it till it surfaced in our library's dvd collection. Has anyone seen it? Care to comment before I take the plunge?

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I am about to watch the movie Eraserhead. I had never heard of it till it surfaced in our library's dvd collection. Has anyone seen it? Care to comment before I take the plunge?

It's pretty great, especially the cameo from The Monkees.