So it goes.

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The Saw Franchise 

Me: “Wanna watch all the saw movies in one day?”

Melanie: “Sure!”

(Twelve hours later)

Melanie: “That sure happened!”

Me: “That was very much an event that occurred!”

This was a good marathon to start out on. The first saw film is great. The second is shitty. The third one was even worse. The fourth one was confusing as hell, but made the third one a little better. The fifth one was also confusing, but once you figured it out it made three, four, and five like one big story, which I thought was really cool. The sixth dropped the ball. The seventh shit the bed hard, except for the last like 5 mins, where it was kind of awesome. 

This was kind of a rollar coaster ride of a franchise. The first one is legitimately great. it dealt with themes that hadn’t been explored as throughly ever before and brought a new and unique horror story to life. Three through five, if considered as one long, story is at least impressive, if not really cool. That is certainly not really something that has been done correctly by a big horror franchise before. Two is a definite weak point because it was a completed script that they changed to be the next saw movie, and it showed. I don’t know if they thought they were being sudle with the sixth, or if they really just wanted to shove the health care thing down our throats to the extent that it thoroughly ruins the movie. The seventh was so shitty. Everything was just terrible. it wasn’t even horror anymore, it’s morphed into a kind of shitty action/mystery movie where people get tortured, except for the very very end. the very very end is awesome. stop reading if you don’t want to know why. you know how at the end of every one they have a big twist where they explain everything for everyone? At the end of the seventh one, they do that for the entire series.

The quotes at the beginning generally wrap up my feelings for the the franchise. There are legitimately some good moments through out the franchise, and some good twists. But there is also a lot of really really shitty movie to sit through to get to those good moments. So in the end the series is something that I feel very strongly about, I’m just not sure whether I feel strongly negative or strongly positive. So I guess I’m strongly neutral.

001

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo David Fincher

So this was really great. Rooney Mara was fantastic as Lisbeth and Fincher proves that he is still at the top of his game. I will definitely watch this again and again. I’ve already seen it twice. I wanted my year in film to start out well, since the first film I saw last year was Aranofsky’s Black Swan. This more than lived up to that.

The score was fantastic (as to be expected) and the cinematography was absolutely stunning. Daniel craig did much better than I expected him to do in the role. You could really tell that he was a journalist, as opposed to James Bond. This is highly highly recommended.

The format of my movie blog is changing this year. This year the theme is “Marathon Man.” I’m going to do marathons of different series, franchises or directors. I will also be doing reviews of single films like this one. I hope you enjoy the new format. The 365 was grueling because sometimes I simply didn’t feel like watching a movie. Or I wanted to re-watch something. Now I can review whatever I want. 

cgspeaks:

antrozous:

The 365 Films Challenge

Short and Sweet Overview: Watch 365 films in the year 2012.

What Is This Challenge?
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to spend the next year delving into the world of film by watching one film that you have never seen before per day.

How Do I Participate?
The extent of how you participate is totally up to you, however it is recommended that you post some form of a review, whether it be as simple as a star rating or as extensive as a critical film analysis. Some also do graphics along with their reviews.

When Do We Start?
Like most 365 challenges, the best day to start is January 1st so that you end on December 31st.

But Isn’t This A Leap Year? It Should Be 366.
Consider it a free day or a bonus film, I could care less.

What If I Can’t Watch A Film Each Day?
No one is monitoring how you reach 365 films, so if you fall behind or watch ahead a few movies, that is your choice.

How Am I Going To Find 365 Films To Watch?
I suggest signing up for iCheckMovies and start with their top movies lists. You’re bound to find something you haven’t seen before.

Recommended Tags:
#365films, #365 film challenge

366 films in 366 days. Leap year!

I finished my 365. You do yours now. It’s a really great experience.

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The Magnificent Ambersons Orson Welles

I wanted to end this year with a bang, So I decided to review a film by one of my favorite directors, Orson Welles. This was his second film, just after Citizen Kane, that he made for RKO. This is a hard to find film because the rights to it are so completely fucked that no one seems to be able to work it out, so the last readily available release that I could find of it was a Criterion Collection Laserdisc release. It was even said (and watching it it is quite obvious that it was) to be a major influence on The Royal Tenenbaums. I bought this over a year ago, even before I had a laserdisc player, and I’ve kept it without watching it. I’m not quite sure why I waited so long, I’ve read so much about this film and done so much research that I guess I was afraid that I might be disappointed. 

The original cut of this film was seen by very few people. Welles left very specific editing notes with his editor because he couldn’t be there to help. He was off filming “It’s All True” another failed project that had a documentary made over it in the 90s, I’ve done a review of that documentary earlier if you want to read about it. But I digress. Very few people actually saw the original cut of this film. The few people that saw it that knew anything about film said that it was better than even Citizen Kane. Unfortunately RKO decided to do a test screening of this double billed with a war/musical in front of it. Needless to say, all the kids that came to see the light technicolor war/musical hated the black and white, moody, drama that was The Magnificent Ambersons. So they gave it bad reviews. Very bad reviews. And it just so happened that the people that ran RKO had recently changed, and the new guys didn’t like, or have any faith in Orson Welles. They cut his film to pieces, they cut around 40 minutes, and filmed a new, tacked on, happy ending to replace Welles’ ending. Sadly, this is the only surviving form of the film. But even in it’s mutilated state, this film is a cinema classic. It is quite noticeable where large chunks of the film have been removed, and the ending doesn’t work as well as it could have, but it is still a great film. 

The film is about a rich family living through the industrial revolution in America. The spoiled asshole son George is overly possessive of his lilting mother. After his father’s death, he spurns the advances of his mothers new suitor, a man who was with her at a very young age. I don’t want to give too much away of the plot, but this is one of my new favorite films. I loved this film and I hope you will too. I highly highly recommend this film.

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Salo or The 120 Days of Sodom Pier Paolo Pasolini

I wanted to end this year with a bang by watching this. This is one of the most controversial films ever made and I had heard that it was one of the most shocking and disturbing films ever made. When I was in New York with a couple friends and I saw a bootleg copy being sold on the side walk, I figured “Why not, It’s only a couple bucks.” This film was shocking and disturbing, but I’m not sure if I would call it one of the worst of all time. It did draw some really interesting parallels between the torturers and the audience, about how these guys watching torture is roughly similar to us searching out and watching this film. The basic plot is a bunch of late teens/twenty somethings in WWII Italy are kidnapped and taken to a large estate. There they are tortured, mentally, physically, and sexually for something like 120 days for the amusement of a small group of aristocrats. This was one of those that gets under your skin and just sort of sits there. I think I had a more visceral reaction to something like The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Irreversible or A Serbian Film, but this really stays with you and forces you to think about it, and the implications of it for quite some time. Quite disturbing, if you think you can stomach it, I recommend this. 

363 of 365

L’Atalante Jean Vigo

This was a great little film. Made by Vigo as he was sick with tuberculosis, he actually directed several scenes from  bed. It is about a young married couple who live on a boat with an older man and a young boy. The married couple has to figure out how to make their relationship work and how to accept and deal with each others faults. Its a really great, and a really mature film for one made by a 29 year old. It is also really fucking funny when it wants to be and very sad when it wants to be. Over all, this is a really great film. I thoroughly enjoyed it and if you’re okay with old foreign films, you definitely will too. Highly recommended.

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Zéro De Conduite Jean Vigo

This was the third film from Vigo, it was a 44 minute short about several boys in a boarding school that decide to lead a revolt. It is funny and a really easy watch. It definitely seems like a fore runner to Truffaut’s The 400 Blows, as well as lots of boarding school films. I would highly recommend this film.

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Taris Jean Vigo

This is Vigo’s second film, it was a nine minute short documentary that he was commissioned to make about a French olympic swimmer. it’s half documentary and half instruction swimming video, and he uses several camera techniques and and tricks to make some fun effects to keep it interesting. It was fun and it was only nine minutes, so I’d recommend it.

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A Propos De Nice Jean Vigo

This was the first of a Criterion Collection blu ray that I got for christmas that had all the films of Jean Vigo. Jean Vigo was this brilliant filmmaker that has inspired countless directors and other people. Her only ever made four films in France in the 30s before he died of tuberculosis at 29. 

This was his first, it’s 22 minutes, and it’s a bit experimental and a bit surreal, but the themes he is playing with and exploring are really great. Its sort of a travelogue of the city of Nice. He uses a combination of hidden camera stuff and staged stuff to try and evoke the fear that people will eventually get to where they can’t really distinguish between real life and whats in the movies, as well as playing with different camera speeds and types of score to evoke different feelings in the audience. Its really great and you should watch it.

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Beginners Mike Mills

This was a really great independent film. The writer/directer apparently made it about his own life and experiences and I quite enjoyed it. I loved Christopher Plummer in it and think he deserves at least an oscar nod, if not a win. This was recommended to me by a couple of friends who happen to know quite a lot about good films, and I’m very glad that I took their recommendation. Highly recommended.

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Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows Guy Ritchie

I love sherlock Holmes. I also love Stephen Fry. This was great. My sister and her husband hated this movie. I could not disagree with them more. I thought this was better than the first. There were a lot more references to the original cannon that the first Sherlock Holmes had and I thought the actions sequences and the overall story was just plain better. Plus the effects were just amazing. Highly highly recommended.

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Touch of Evil Orson Welles

This was a film written and directed by Orson Welles in 1958. It was one of his last Major films before he started going to smaller budgets. It’s about a crooked old american cop (played by Welles) and a young up and coming mexican cop (played by Charlton Heston, oddly enough) who are investigating a murder together. I ended up watching this in several thirty minute blocks because Stuff kept getting in the way, but I definitely really like it. It is really suspenseful and has quite a bit of good action. One of the few negatives of it was how little the writers seemed to know about drugs. It was definitely worth watching. I see why Wilson (on House) Has a poster of this up in his office. Recommended.

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Machine Girl Noboru Iguchi

This was a japanese goresploitation action/comedy/yakuza movie. It was fun and ridiculous, but it got a bit campy at times. Its about a girl who’s little brother gets murdered by the kids of yakuza members that go to his school. She tries to get revenge but her arm is cut off and so two mechanics make her a machine gun arm to replace it. then she goes on a roaring rampage of revenge. Not the best of the goresploitation genre. Not bad, but not really recommended.

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Time Bandits Terry Gilliam

Oh this movie was so fun. It played like a kids movie, where a small boy joins a band of little people who used to work for god. They just quit and stole god’s map of all the wormholes in time and they intend to get rich off of stealing from several famous historical figures. its really fun and really great and really Gilliam. Really recommended.

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The Pleasure Garden Alfred Hitchcock

This was Alfred Hitchcock’s first film. It was a silent film about two showgirls and their tribulations with marriage. It was actually really entertaining for a silent film and kept my attention the whole time, though it was too early in Hitchcock’s career for him to really have added his personal style to it. Recommended if you like short films.