there's two other Jean Pierre Jeunet movies:
-Un long dimanche de fiancailles (A Very Long Engagement)
-Delicatessen
and a short movie called "Foutaises"

there's "Les Choristes" a good french movie with a really good original score ...
Sciences des reves [Science of sleep] ... but i think you already watched that one ...
8 femmes is a great movie also ...

if you liked City of lost children i think you'll like "Pan's Labyrinth" too [that one is spanish].

Paris, je t'aime - Run lola run - Malena - Breaking and Entering - La mome ...

or just search movies by these: Anthony Minghella - Michel Gondry - Giuseppe Tornatore - Walter Salles - Alejandro Amenabar - Francois Truffaut - Jean Luc Godard etc etc ...

---

I last watched Mona Lisa Smile ... it's like the third time a watch it ... it's not that good ... it tends to be too melodramatic ... but i love anything that has something to do with modern art paintings ...

http://www.elite-view.com/art/Movie_...le-Posters.jpg

At least until the "physical antagonist" who seems to survived the massacre of all the other soldiers is about to kill the protagonist, then the minority in disparage in the film rises and kills him in a very ants-to-grasshopper like fashion.

Very helpful, thanks! :thumb: I have seen a couple of those but will look for the others.

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^ Loved it, not that I'd expect any less from the mighty Mike Leigh. Fascinating story (it had to be given how this one veers away from the standard Hollywood plot), well-rounded and interesting characters (though one of them, the closest thing there is to an antagonist here, could probably have done with a little more work), great script, great acting - it's up there with Career Girls, Secrets and Lies and Naked as one of my favourite films of his.

Career Girls did nothing for me at all and as much as I admire Leighs work, I much prefer the more brutally honest Ken loach. That man is one fantastic director but I definitely agree with both Naked and Secrets and Lies being fantastic. I also like Leigh's Life Is Sweet too.

Someone liked Career girls? :|

OT:
The African Queen (1951) - John Huston - 8/10 - It's just a treat to see two of the greatest and most lovable actors of the last century doing their thing. Everything else is secondary.

The Killing (1956) - Stanley Kubrick - 7/10 - The ending really ruined it for me (I mean, c'mon!) but pretty good nonetheless. Sterling Hayden is pretty great, I've been intrigued by this man ever since I saw The long goodbye (he's fantastic in it), I've read up a bit about his life and wow...respect.

Paths of glory (1957) - Stanley Kubrick - 9/10 - One of the best (anti-)war films out there. Outstandingly realistic performances from the cast (especially the scene in the holding place
). I couldn't believe this was filmed only a year after The Killing. It's an entirely different sort of film.

The Shining (1980) - Stanley Kubrick - 7/10 - Loved some bits, but the downside to watching such pop-culture classics is that you know a lot of the scenes already which takes away some of their power. Other than that, horror just isn't my genre of choice so this film probably has the least replay value of all of his films I've seen so far. :\

The graduate (1967) - Mike Nichols - 8/10 - Great fun. Laughed my ass of at certain scenes. Hoffman was absolutely perfect(ly awkward), so was the soundtrack. Oh and my God, Ann Bancroft has an amazingly commanding presence doesn't she? Dayum...Will add to my library a-sap. (:

Battle of Algiers (1966) - Gillo Pontecorvo - 8.5/10 - Pretty spectacular considering when it was made (years ahead of its time methinks in the documentary style). And surprisingly enough, given that it was financed by Algeria, it's very even handed in that none of the sides come out looking particularly good but you get a great insight into their struggle. I don't think it has much replay value for me though...:\

Persona (1966) - Ingmar Bergman - 7.5/10 I liked and understood most of it, which is why I like his brand of art film, he does actually try and spell it out for you. I didn't understand the opening or closing sequences though but it doesn't matter much I figure. Very good idea, but spectacular performances from the two leads. It was a pleasure to watch great acting...

Psycho (1960) - Albert Hitchcock - 7/10 It was all pretty good, but as I mentioned in The Shining, too much of it has been exploited indefinitely in the last 50 years so pretty much all of the initial impact is gone, I knew what happens in the end. The half nekkid guy at the begging. http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...ower/drool.gifHe plays in Spartak too *downloads*

Vertigo (1958) - Alfred Hitchcock - 6.5/10 Probably the most languid of the films I've seen by him. It does force the psychological issues too much, but Hitch has had that problem in many a film (remember Spellbound? *shudders*)...in any case, pretty enjoyable experience...

Oh yeah, and Breaking away (1979) - Peter Yates - 5/10 - pretty average post highschool bs in small town america. But dayum, Dennis Quaid was RIPPED in his younger days...http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...ower/drool.gif

Ooh I've been thinking about watching this for a while now. You've just convinced me to do so! I actually am quite unfamiliar with Mike Leigh but saw the preview to this film and it caught my eye.

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After hearing so much about it I decided it was well worth the £3 from HMV. I thought it was a really cute, charming film and in places very funny. I like very much.

ZOOLANDER! it was quite funny :) some parts were boring though :O

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^ Great humor ! just loved it.

Ok, now I'm starting to understand where Bungalow was coming from.

I know it's annoying when people are too generous with their reviews, but I find it just as annoying when people refuse to give anything higher than a 8.

I had to watch that when I was doing Government & Politics at A-level - probably the highlight of two years if I'm honest.

http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/...20of%20London&
^ My joint-favourite Ealing comedy, and as such one that still endures today. Superb film.

Um, there's a 9 in the very post you quoted. :\ But I sorta understand where you're coming from as I tend to get annoyed when someone dislikes (or doesn't like them enough) some of my favorite films. What can I tell you, I'm just rating my personal reaction to the film more than anything. Sorry we have different tastes. I'll try to do better next time..:,(

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Coraline - ****

You know, I haven't seen Up yet but y'know what? F*ck Pixar, they always get the Oscars, and I don't know how anything could possibly beat this for the best animated film of 09.

Even though he only has 4 films in his resume, I think this solidifies Henry Selick's placement as one of the great animators of our time, in terms of both technical animation skill and pure imagination, he's on par with the Pixar team and dare I say it? Miyazaki himself.

Nightmare Before Christmas was amazing, and so was James & The Giant Peach. Monkeybone of course blew major ass but I think Selick has redeemed himself with this adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel. And god this film makes me wish Selick was more prolific, though I know the kinda thing he does takes a lot of time and effort, and I've never seen so much effort put into a non Pixar/Miyazaki film since, well, A Nightmare Before Christmas.

This time around Selick dosen't have Tim Burton to collaborate with, nonetheless Burton's style is all over this film. So if you're a Burton fan you'll eat this one up for sure. It's probably the best film he wish he made.

Just about everything is worth raving about here. The animation is top notch, the colorful visuals are stunning and it's surprisingly well written. This is a really fascinating world Gaiman and Selick have created here, the characters are very interesting and original.

The story here follows that old traditional premise of a young girl whisked away to a magical fantasy land. Easy to say you could draw a few paralels between this and all those other stories, especially Lewis Carrol's Alice and Miyazaki's Spirited Away.

The story begins with the title character and her parents moving into an old flathouse. She soon finds a secret door that then takes her to a world paralel to her own.

Like Spirited Away it's basically about a spoiled and cynical little girl (though Coraline is a LOT more spoiled and cynical than Chihiro was) who of course becomes immersed into another world, a world where it's always night, everything is lush and colorful and the people have buttons for eyes. But unlike Dorothy or Alice or Chihiro who wished they were at home almost immediately after arriving in their fantasy land, Coraline actually prefers this paralel world to her real life, can't blame her. In real life her parents are boring and unattentive, but her "other" parents are almost perfect, they pamper Coraline and give her almost everything she wants. If she could have her way she would stay with her "other" parents forever.

But of course, not everything is what it seems. Well f*cking duh. This is when the film takes a completely different direction from all the other "girl goes to a fantasy land" tales and it pretty much turns into what basically resembles one f*cked up LSD trip. Suddenly Coraline's real parents don't seem so bad.

The animation is fantastic, so is the Danny Elfman-ish score and the voice acting (I know people hate Dakota Fanning and I dunno why, but whatever). Selick brings us into a world that is both beautiful and f*cking scary at the same time. The protagonist is especially well developed and I like how her character builds throughout the story. Selick like Miyazaki knows how kids actually act, and thus makes their adventures no matter how bizarre and fantastial, all the more plausable and immersing. And it's these kinda films that no matter how old you are, make you feel like a kid again.

If there's one negative thing to say, it's that this film is probably a bit too scary for it's target audience of children. In fact this film will f*ck them up. The scenes where Coraline's fantastical world devolves into a hellhole is pretty frightening, especially when the villianous "other" mother begins to turn Coraline's "other" father and her "other" neighbors into deformed monsters, or when she wants to gouse Coraline's eyes out and replace them with buttons. Holy sh*t that's f*cked up.

Also, there's a scene with a half naked old fat lady, WTF? Seriously wtf. They give out their PG ratings with a lot more generosity these days don't they? :laughing:

Anyway. Awesome movie, check it out.

^ Can't WAIT to see this. I'm a huge fan of Tim Burton and held lots of admiration for Selick after Nightmare Before Christmas which was amazing. I love fucked up/ creepy stuff in this kind-of genre.

At the moment a lot of theatres here are showing Coraline in 3D which I don't think would be as rewarding so I'm waiting until I can go see it in a normal cinema. Highly looking forward to it, especially after that great review boobs!

I've seen Coraline and like Boo, I liked it - a lot! The movie certainly is scary, but I actually think the kids can take it. I was quite the little horror buff when I was a kid and at least it's not entirely malicious .. Possibly as good as Nightmare Before Christmas although the soundtrack is not quite as good (few are) and of course it doesn't have the same sentimental value, but I guess it will for some in a few years time. :)

It's a pretty satisfying experience, it surpassed my expectations which were already very high to begin with. For an animated kids film it's very well paced, smart and the effort is unbelievable. The story doesn't get too caught up in the frenzied chaos and actually allows for you to get lost in it's world and absorb the surroundings, which is a big problem with most kids films these days which are so f*cking fast paced they always seem to be tailor made for kids with ADD.

^Pixar has totally lost the concept of animation ... why are they struggling so much to get everything so real, when the best thing in animation is that your imagination doesn't have any technical boundaries.

"Fantasia" is so much better than any of those 3D stuff.

Now now, let's not bash Pixar. I love Pixar, but I will say that they're the only people that really excell at CGI animation films, Dreamworks are very hit and miss and there's certainly more sh*tty and medicore CGI films than good ones. But Pixar have yet to do a movie I didn't like.

Overall, I think CGI is really ruining the magic of cinema though. Not just for animation but films in general. What happened to stop motion, animatronics, makeup, pyrotechnics, stunt actors, real props and real live sets? These days for the sake of convenience (and money) the majority of that stuff is now done on computer and greenscreen, overall good CGI is harder to pull off than any other kind of special effect, because it doesn't have any real organic quality to it and thus it's harder to make you believe it could be real. A lot of it nowadays just looks cartoonish and unauthentic, I miss the organic aspect that special effects used to have.

I mean imagine how awesome it must have been to work on the set of Jurassic Park? Being on set with what to you looks like real f*cking dinosaurs. Nowadays that stuff is done on greenscreen and the dinosaurs are added later, it makes the human interaction a lot less convincing.

Pu-239

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Donno ... the last animations that i loved were Spirited Away and Waltz with Bashir. ... the good old 2D still amazes me.

i watched Ice Age III 3D last week ... bored to death ... it's not funny and not even cute!

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Me and the GF just watched Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, the latest Ghibli movie. Studio Ghibli were also behind movies like Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. Ponyo is perhaps a little more aimed at kids than those, but it's an incredibly charming film for people in all ages. All the characters were brilliant, the story was highly original and somewhat unpredictable (which I like, you wonder what's gonna happen) and for me it had lots of laughs in it. It's more of a feelgood movie than the previous Ghibli films I've seen too and of course it has that strange Ghibli setting where no character is only bad .. Those who have seen the other movies I've mentioned will understand what I mean.

I dunno what to say, I don't think you're gonna be able to prepare yourself for what comes when you watch it but it's absolutely brilliant. I wanna watch it again with my nephews, I'm sure they would appreciate it too!

Best animated movie since Spirited Away for me!

edit :

I thought about writing a bit about what it's about but it's a bit crazy .. here's the trailer instead!



I don't have sound on this comp, but I'm guessing that's the english trailer. Of course you wanna watch it in original japanese with subtitles!

^^ I hated it. But I also hated Totoro...*gasp* You won't be surprised to hear that I also dislike (or just don't get along with) kids. I guess I can't really bring myself down to the level of a 3 year old...:\

Anyhoo:

The treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) - John Huston - I'm a bit ambiguous about this one, on the one hand it was very engaging, I found myself completely suckered into taking sides and rooting for the good guys, I liked its ancient Greek idea of fatalism but on the other hand, intellectually I find it's not a very credible case of character development (I'm sorry, I've never been sold on sudden changes in personality unless the change is triggered by severe trauma. Bogie's transformation therefore struck me as somewhat silly, almost cartoonish near the end, complete with the maniacal laughter). It's also a very frustrating watch so I'm not sure what its replay value is, but let's compromise and give it a 7.5/10

Best boy (1979) - Ira Wohl - Not much to say, obviously given the subject matter (a retarded 50-something year old is being prepared for independent life) it's a given that it's going to be a very emotional documentary. I was on the verge of tears several times. Extremely melancholic viewing. 8/10

It happened one night (1934) - Frank Capra - Very charming (and apparently very influential and innovative) romantic comedy which actually made me laugh a few times (not common for older films), but the concept is a little too familiar by now (Roman holiday anyone?). Was pleasantly surprised by Clark Gable's performance (haven't seen many of his films though). 7.5/10

Umberto D (1952) - Vittorio de Sica - Not nearly as good as The Bicycle thieves (which for me is one of those very rare perfect 10s) but a very solid and moving neo-realist movie nonetheless. The far too obvious amateurishness of the main actor was its main flaw for me. 7/10 (I'm being controversial again aren't I....http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/c...wer/dreamy.gif )

INTO THE BLUE, was on tv last night, i really liked it, it kept me on edge :O.
n made me think i could find the 6billion pounds worth of unfound treasure thats still lost in the sea :(.
i would give it an 8/10

^I hated Bicycle Thief, never knew what's so amazing about that movie.

all HAYAO MIYAZAKI movies ... that man is great.

http://jackasscritics.com/images/movies/big_fish_02.jpg

I just watched BIG FISH for the second time ... I think it's the finest Tim Burton movie.

Agreed, it's also my favourite Burton movie .. Everyone should watch it! :)

What did you "hate" about it?

the boy especially lol...
but the movie in all was really boring ... and there's A LOT of drama about a stolen bicycle ... all along the movie i couldn't sympathize with the guy at all ...
I just can't get along with Italian realism.

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A 'remake' of the immortal 1985 Day Of The Dead. I knew it was going to be awful but I had to satisfy my curiosity. It was absolutely awful. Worse zombie film I have ever seen and I have seen a LOT of zombie films. Useless.

^^I didn't even bother to finish it

Fucking awful and that was even trying to ignore that it was a remake and just watch neutrally. So many plot inconsistencies.

I think i made the half way mark before I had enough.

Gawd....I told you didn't I!? "Don't watch it!" I said..."It's the worst movie ever" I said. Sheesh....

It would be ignorant of me to not watch it and be an ass and dismiss I guess. still crap though. i watched a JCVD film tonight and that was a masterpiece in comparison.

LOL...good times.

Yea, I suppose you are right. But still...you don't have to learn everything by experience you know. :P

I don't know how anyone can hate a Miyazaki film.

I loved Tortoro, I don't understand people's criticism that it has no story, which is not true, it just doesn't happen to be a fast paced by the numbers kids film with love interests, supervillians, fight scenes and what not.

That's what I love about Miyazaki, the atmosphere of his films, they're not super fast paced, they take their time so you get to know the characters and the setting.

Anyway I really want to see Ponyo.

I love plenty of Miyazaki films, just not the ones that were meant for kids under 5. ;)

OT:

In the heat of the night (1967) - Norman Jewison - Electrifying thriller with an amazing ensemble cast. But the scene stealer wasn't Poitier (who, by the by, really isn't that good of an actor), but Rob Steiger. - 8.5/10

A night at the opera (1935) - Sam Wood - My first Marx brothers film. I didn't particularly care for it. - 5/10

Uh oh, somebody's asking for it now.

Well he's not that bad, but like I said, Steiger was just so much better he made everyone else look bad...:\

Plus, there's something about the way Poitier talks I've always found annoying, too much affectation or something...-.-

Unbreakable
 

Unbreakable.

I watched a vid of Tarantino saying his favourite twenty films since he started making movies. Unbreakable was on it.

I loved the filming, the story etc... The twist. I thought some scenes were a bit much; scenes with the girlfriend for example... some of them were cringe-worthy...

I watched it with a Swedish guy who talked CONSTANTLY, though. It was a bit much.

Love
Stephen