Quote:
Originally Posted by lucifer_sam
Fucking awful movie, plot does not make sense from red herring to red herring, storyline was absurd bordering on asinine, and Ellen Page's character made me want to punch her in the fucking face. I don't think I've ever seen a movie that made me empathize with a pedophile, this movie was terrible.
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two I have enjoyed on late-night TV lately
the Entertainer (1960)
I've shamefully seen hardly any films with Laurence Olivier (ostensibly one of the greatest film actors of the last century), but this and
Richard III alone justify these claims in my eyes. This is a Tony Richardson-directed adaptation of a John Osborne play, and if you recognise those names you will know what you are getting - 'kitchen sink' drama/social realism and lots of good dialogue. It only fails towards the end where it really feels a bit stagey, the misfortunes heaped upon the main character pile up and some slightly cringeworthy speeches are made. Otherwise definitely worth a watch if you like the era. (The girl on the right of the screencap was in the definitive k-sink drama 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning', which is more essential IMO)
the Cell (2000)
Tarsem Singh would later go on to direct
the Fall, which I haven't seen but remember Marijan trumpeting on here a while back, and after viddying
the Cell for the first time in a good 7 years I am intrigued by this guy's style.
Cell is essentially a beautifully designed thriller/sci-fi/horror in the Se7en mold. Jenny Lopez (back before she had dedicated her acting career exclusively to sickly romcoms) is only semi-believable as a hot Latina psychiatrist who has to use a magical gizmo that is never really explained to dive into the subconscious of a comatose serial killer in order to find out where he is stashing his last victim for whom time is rapidly running out *deep breath*. Sounds 'meh'? The OTT gore and acts of sado-masochism feel very late 90s to me and for some reason made me nostalgic for what was an utterly rubbish time... but it's good fun and combined with the amazing set/costume design and dreamlike quality to the 'mindmeld' scenes made for a diverting couple of hours. The pic above depicts my favourite un-nerving bit and one of the only really genuinely surreal moments. DIG?!!