Take Eiji Miyake (I think that's his name) from Number9Dream, a touch of punch drunk love, a dash of lost in translation, a bit of the miscommunication from Love Actually (ok, not the finest of movies to make comparison with), some trippy from Love Me if you Dare and Donnie Darko and Adaptation and remove all sense of a plot with closure. You get Last Life.
It's actually impossible to grade this thing. It's rough around the edges, the middle sank to slowness (it was generally slow anyway) and there is no real payoff, except the quiet contemplation. Christopher Doyle helps. Suffice to say I left feeling greatly impressed, if not a bit confused. I won't be grading it, except something like this:
3/5-4.5/5
Rocco Longazzano, tired of having no friends, September 4, 2003, What's going on here?
Maybe I read this book wrong but I'm still the loser I was before I read this book. I did what this book said to do to the t, and nothing! I think this book is terrible and wish someone could tell me how to get friends. I'm desperate here guys. When I read the book I was confident and felt assured that I had what it took, but after several attempts I had to give up.
------------------------
Rocco, my heart goes out to you. Hint: Never, ever read self help books.
Direcow's Double Review Date:
The Last Samurai:
A movie pitched perfectly, engineered with great techinical skills. Fantastic casting, especially for Watanabe. Watanabe is FANTASTIC. He is pure onscreen animal charisma. 4/5
House of Sand and Fog:
Wow. Kingsley is both regal and fallen... it's hard to describe how everybody's performance in the movie was fantastic. A sad movie, without being depressing, and it's in no way predictable even tho you know it's going to be sad. 4.5/5
The Truman Show:
Jim Carrey. Ed Harris. Peter Weir. Enough Said.
5/5
Shakespeare in Love:
Where starcross'd lovers doth presume
To fall where rules must then be bent
Then refusing thoughts of love so doom'd
Onstage, woman, in great pretend
To play Shakespeare's greatest muse
And bring his thoughts on wings of love
When instead there is naught to choose
Down to Virginia she must move
The greatest love now torn asunder'd
Of Romeo and Juliet
From Shakespeare's play this show had plunder'd
Would Luhrman's be much better yet?
A healthy grade I give thus far
Out of five I give four stars
--------------------------
From pete's blog
1. X-Men
2. The Craft
3. X2 4. Swimfan
5. Fellowship of the Ring
6. Finding Nemo
7. Peter Pan (the cartoon)
8. Home Alone
9. Aladdin
10. The Ring (either one)
11. 10 Things I Hate About You 12. Not Another Teen Movie
13. Spiceworld
14. 8 Mile
15. Bambi
16. Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl 17. Edward Scissorhands
18. Stepmom
19. My Best Friends Wedding
20. 101 Dalmations (the cartoon)
21. Scream 22. Scream 2
23. Scream 3
24. Big Daddy 25. Billy Madison
26. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
27. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 28. Heartbreakers
29. Dumb & Dumber 30. Two Weeks Notice
31. Scary Movie
32. Look Who's Talking 33. Blade
34. Blade II
35. O 36. Titanic 37. Carrie
38. Carrie 2: The Rage
39. Daddy Day Care
40. Legally Blonde
41. Austin Powers 42. Storm of the Century
43. Oliver and Company
44. The Two Towers
45. Return of the King
46. Mighty Ducks 47. Fast and the Furious
48. 2Fast, 2 Furious
49. A Walk To Remember
50. XXX
51. Beauty and the Beast 52. I Know What You Did Last Summer
53. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
54. Sound of Music 55. Mary Poppins
56. Tuck Everlasting
57. The Patriot 58. The Wizard of Oz
59. Killing Ms. Tingle
60. Crossroads
61. Now and Then
62. Pearl Harbor 63. Just Married
64. Cast Away 65. Radio Flyer
66. Final Destination
67. Lady and the Tramp
68. Dancer In The Dark
69. 40 Days and 40 Nights
70. Bring It On 71. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
72. The Outsiders
73. The Matrix 74. Perfect Storm 75. Cruel Intentions
76. Never Been Kissed
77. Clueless
78. Bruce Almighty 79. Remember the Titans
81. Girl, Interrupted 82. SWAT
83. Sixth Sense
84. Phone Booth
85. The Lion King 86. Urban Legends
87. Nightflier
88. Lion King 2
89. Little Mermaid
90. American Pie 91. The Challengers
92. Scooby Doo
93. Bedazzled
94. Mrs. Doubtfire
95. Save the Last Dance 96. My Girl
97. American Beauty
98. Romeo + Juliet
99. Jurassic Park: The Lost World 100. Housesitter
101. Miss Congeniality
102. The Rock
103. Face/Off
104. Moulin Rouge
105. Sleeping Beauty 106. Alien
107. Tombstone
108. Lake Placid
109. The Recruit
110. The Shining
111. Pocahontas
112. Win a Date with Tad Hamilton
113. Koyaanisqatsi
114. Princess Mononoke 115. Braveheart
116. Gone with the Wind
117. She's All that 118. Heavy Metal
119. Remo Williams
120. Fried Green Tomatoes
121. Steel Magnolias
122. Fight Club
123. Star Wars: A New Hope
124. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 125. Toy Soldiers
126. Clerks
127. Magnolia
128. Wild Things
129. The Nightmare Before Christmas
130. What Dreams May Come 131. Heavenly Creatures
132. Frequency
133. The Others
134. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
135. Along Came A Spider
136. Annie
137. Eyes Wide Shut
138. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
139. Practical Magic
140. Down With Love
141. The Fifth Element
142. Donnie Darko 143. Kiki's Delivery Service
144. Big Fish
145. Chasing Amy
146. Unbearable Lightness of Being
147. Parent Trap 148. Great Expectations
149. Bridges of Madison County
150. I am Sam
151. Life as a house
152. Prince of Tides
153. Kill Bill Vol. 1 154. Bowling For Columbine
155. Elf
156. spun
157. Weekend at Bernie's
158. The House of Mirth
159. The Rose
160. Chocolat 161. Requiem for a Dream
162. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
163. The Mask 164. Gia
165. The Secretary
166. The Big Lebowski
167. Rushmore
168. Return to Me
169. Muppets Take Manhattan
170. The X-Files: Fight The Future 171. Moonstruck
172. Happy Gilmore
173. Mona Lisa Smile
174. Bad Boys 175. Bad Boys 2
176. The Delta Force
177. A League of Their Own
178. Murder by Death
179. The Hot Chick
180. Shrek 181. Groundhog Day
182. Liar Liar
183. The Silence of the Lambs
184. Run Lola Run 185. Devil's Advocate
186. se7en
187. Zoolander 188. The Life of David Gale
189. Swing Kids
190. One True Thing
191. Mommie Dearest
192. Chicago 193. Guenevere
194. The Worst Witch
195. Gas Food Lodging
196. Go
197. Return To Oz
198. Saturday Night Fever 199. Xanadu
200. Grease
201. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
202. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
203. Star Trek: The Search for Spock
204. Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country
205. Star Trek: The Voyage Home
206. Snatch
207. Murder By Numbers 208. Thirteen Ghosts
209. Grease 2
210. Scarface
211. American Splendor
212. Lost in Translation 213. Reservoir Dogs
214. Penn & Teller Get Killed
215. Man on the Moon
216. Gattaca
217. A.I. 218. eXistenZ
219. Tron
220. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 221. The Thirteenth Floor
222. Cube
223. Cube 2
224. Dune
225. Matrix: Reloaded 226. Star Trek: The Final Frontier
227. Avalon (aka Mamoru Oshii's Gate to Avalon)
228. Courage Under Fire
229. Gangs of New York 230. Glory
231. Good Will Hunting
232. The Truman Show
233. Millennium Actress
234. The Goonies
235. Labyrinth
What saddens me is the number of movie up there that I've burnt or shelved for watching one day.
You are a Theory Slut. The true elite of the postmodernists, you collect avant-garde Indonesian hiphop compilations and eat journal articles for breakfast. You positively live for theory. It really doesn't matter what kind, as long as the words are big and the paragraph breaks few and far between.
This mind make things look somewhat different somehow. And I'm not even sure what they're trying to describe me as. (Haha, I hate postmodernism. I think.)
1) Irreversible
Review: This movie tries too hard be different or clever. Spinning cameras try to empart the feeling of confusion, with images going by before you can take a second look. However, the lack of focus and reason for spinning other than to purely confuse does wound the movie. The 9.5 minute long rape scene was actually very boring, thought I realise the reason for fixing the camera there: to keep your eye on the "action", however boring it was. Plotwise the story doesn't really work, and fails to be compelling, and in the end you end up being isolated from all the characters except maybe Belluci's (who's still not pretty). As for the movie moving backwards: Memento already did it, and did it way better.
Rating: 2.5/5 (for some of the clever bits)
2) Lost in Translation
This is a little quiet, silent gem. It might not run the same way as most stories, with it never really hitting a climax but rather just simmering around until before you know it, it's done, and you're left there feeling just a little bit alone. It's definately rather pretty all round, but since we all can see where the story is going, the gravitas is perhaps a little lacking. Murray as the dry mid-life crisis dude seems to be acting as himself, the same way Jack Nicholson has been doing the past few movies. Nevertheless, this movie is a great experience, with everybody adding to a final product that a little whimsical and a little sad. It just doesn't blow you away. Pink wigs are fun!
Rating: 4/5
Am left with:
1) The Last Samurai
2) Last Life in the Universe
3) Dogville
4) 21 Grams
5) House of Sand and Fog
6) Mystic River
7) Something's Gotta Give
8) Cold Mountain
9) City of God
American Idols to keep an eye on:
Last year I watched Clay from the beginning, and I was kinda right. This time there's nobody who really stands out but here are some of my picks:
Eric Yoder: This Chris Martin lookalike seems to look like Chris Martin. Good enough for my books.
Erskine Walcott: Reminds me of Outkast, but he has that zing.
John Stevens: Johnny got jazz!
Jon-Peter Lewis: This sleepy dude seems to have the right due to bring him somewhere.
Jonah Moananu: This big guy is just so happy! Haha.
Matt Rogers: Another big guy, sings with just that extra twinkle. Will do well.
What? No girls? Firstly non of this list stands out (my original favourites are gone) and unless Cheerleader girl has changed her look... Maybe Briana Ramirez-Rial for that angst loner schtick. Haha.
Direcow's A Movie in a Minute
Review: Not too bad, not too good. Nice pretty babes here and there, Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon do a good job (in that order). Some parts of the story falls a little still/flat, for with no choice but to forward the story, one has to ignore them jokes. Jokes are pretty good, and strangely very PC... 2 of the jokes are seriously damn funny. One includes Frankie Muniz, the other, a bear. Probably about 3/5.
So that's one down.
AND... Mystic River is opening next week, together with and one more pretty good show, Something's Gotta Give. That brings my list to 10-1, leaving 9. And I think My Life without Me is opening soon too? Hmz.
Wish me luck.
1) The Last Samurai
2) Last Life in the Universe
3) Dogville
4) 21 Grams
5) House of Sand and Fog
6) Mystic River
7) Lost in Translation
8) Something's Gotta Give
9) Cold Mountain
10) City of God
11) Irreversible (maybe)
It's happened again. The unfeeling. The termination. The alienation.
It's happened again.
Why? Is this malaise something which shall plague me for the next few years? Never by my own fault, perhaps preventable, if not for my allowing it to be left to chance.
Whoa man. Shiznit. Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig ROCKS.
It utterly does. The first episode, at the very least, is a total winner. Fantastic stuff.
The second episode was social commentary, and got me confused a little.
But wow... wow.
Oh, and don't you hate it when you programme a very elegant solution to a problem only to realise it only works in the original test situation? And that subsequent tests only produce... zilch?
Sigh.
It's happened twice in 2 days: Once for stats and once for Amalgamate.
What? 1 Blog a week? And it's not even interesting?
It's sad, but true: My free day IS tuesday, and it's time where I can find myself alone in front of the computer. Ah well. Other factors would also include a kind of dry spot: Typing but having nothing really forming. Yeah, sometimes with something to say, but usually nothing really forms. Or that something to say was just some figment of my imagination.
I don't really remember the past week. I remember watching peter pan (again), buying comics, reading them, staying over at Kak's place for an RP, having Sam over for a tender afternoon. Not much, really to fill up 7 days, but with the unmistakable mist of boring forming this dark cloud (let's play with metaphors) which occluded my vision like high-degreed glasses for myopics or a blindfold woven from spider silk, I am unable to truly pick myself from the ground and dust the miasma of boringness from my dirty self.
Maybe it would be insulting to others for even calling it close to boring (for that's not what it truly is), so I shall rephrase it as such: The past week has been less memorable than other weeks, but still, it was a good week, if unremarkable.
What I know is that I need to (a) watch Last Samurai (b) watch Stuck on You (c) watch 21 Grams (d) watch Lost in Translation (e) watch House of Sand and Fog (f) amongst other things like reading my readings.
It really pains me to know that sometimes I'm just missing out on some really good movies just because I have nobody to watch them with me: be it because of time or money (cost). I know that not all my choices are golden (see: Stuck on You), but, well, I just love my movies. Give me a well told yarn and I'll be there. It really, really fustrates me to know that I missed out on watching Master and Commander. Now, if Academy Awards were an indication of quality (not always true see: Titanic), I've then really missed out on something big, but of course since, according to someone, trailers are everything, and hence let's not watch Troy.
After reading what I just wrote, another reason would be how stilted my language is: It doesn't actually flow. It comes in little spurts, goes nowhere, and then fizzles out. If people who write don't read here. Or something.
They sat on opposite sides of the same carriage. He was reading a book when she stepped in at Admiralty, snuggled up close against the corner of the rows of seats, trying to prevent his head from wiping against the oil from somebody's hair. The last train of the night droned towards City Hall, as she smoothed her skirt and sat down, closing her eyes and leaning back. The man looked up at her book and the woman behind it, stealing glances. He held tight his eyes, sucking in his breath, chancing another look.
She wasn't asleep, not yet, not in the bright startling lights trying to pry her lids open. Her lids fluttered as she shifted to find a position more comfortable, bag held closed to her. He pushed his glasses up as he traced her features, her vaguely bronzed skin, hair straight but ending in tight curls, tinted brown. She shifted, and he turned his glance back to his book. Not a page had been turned since she came on, nor a word read, just slowly biding his time, to steal another precious moment.
She opened her eyes, and looked around. The trains doors whistled their intentions at Bishan and buzzed closed. She glanced at him, and read the title of his book. She grinned and got up, moving towards him. His heart raced. She spoke before she sat down.
That's where it started, questions about the book, on how she'd had to read but couldn't bring herself to. Was it any good? Did he have a summary of sorts?
This went on until they reached city hall, and she went west, he, east.
(vaguely inspired by Clarissa Oon' article in Life today, very uninspired by myself and now I shall go watch Ghost in the Shell 2nd Gig)
