Film Buffery

[Gillianren]

I've been derailing threads all over the board. I'm sorry. So let's make one thread where we can discuss all nature of film.

I will say that I'm aware everyone has their own opinions. I think the advantage of having a film journal is that I can explain why I like or dislike things in great detail. However, the main reason negative reviews are so rare in my journal is that I feel no shame in turning the things off. There are days where I go through four movies but only write one review, because I simply can't take whatever-it-is. Generally, if I watch a movie I hate all the way through, it's because either I'm seeing it in the theatre or there's a real reason to watch it, such as my annual Oscarpalooza watching. (Lord, I hated Transformers and Surf's Up.)

I consider myself to be designing my own private film school. After all, I've got the time.

[CodeSlinger]

Have you thought about posting some/most/all of your reviews in a blog format to share with others?

[Gillianren]

Have you thought about posting some/most/all of your reviews in a blog format to share with others?

"Thought about"? That's where they've always been! I'm at Rotten Tomatoes over at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/j...urnalid=246086 and have been for quite some time. I'm at 650 entries right now. Two are duplicates (I just didn't check to see if I'd done the movie before, though it is interesting to compare what I had to say about it each time), and some aren't reviews, but there are also a fair number of multi-movie entries. Another one's coming up--when I get to Deep Impact, I'm going to double review it with Armageddon, even though I haven't seen it in years.

I'm not sure you'll like my Man Who Fell to Earth review, Don, though I'll freely admit that I pretty much watched it for naked David Bowie. (And I'm not ashamed!) I didn't think it was great, but as I keep saying in my reviews of things, I could list worse movies, but we'd be here a while.

No, Fazor, I don't start many threads. But since I've diverted at least three into general movie discussion in about the last week, I felt it was time.

[geonuc]

...I'm at Rotten Tomatoes over at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/j...urnalid=246086 and have been for quite some time. I'm at 650 entries right now. ...

Gillian,

Does that mean your reviews contribute to the tomatometer calculation? Or is that just professional critics?

[Gillianren]

Does that mean your reviews contribute to the tomatometer calculation? Or is that just professional critics?

Alas, just the pros. There is a secondary and seldom-checked Tomatometer based on user data, and I contribute to that, but mostly, I just do it for me. A friend asked as a favour that I'd start it, and I find it soothing, in a lot of ways.

The last movie I loved . . . the last movie I gave a 10 to was Crash, but I don't think I loved it. I think that's the wrong feeling it inspired. Alternately, I loved Clue, which we watched the other day, but it wasn't good. Not really. I think the last movie I really loved that was also really good was the '46 Cocteau Beauty and the Beast. I've got another Bogart sitting in my bag, and I'm looking forward to that--and I've got a Fellini, and I've never watched any Fellini.

The last bad movie I watched, on the other hand, was The Damned Don't Cry, with Joan Crawford. Ah, Joan Crawford.

I'm pretty much with your brother, Paul, and I try to find it. Sometimes, though, I think you'd have to watch it a second time to see that moment, and in the case of a lot of these movies, I simply can't stand to do that.

And Ara Pacis, I have to say that I think you have to really love the artform in order to make good movies. Sometimes, I feel as though I'm drowning in film, but I still love watching them. I watched two movies about the death penalty and one about Hitler yesterday (I didn't write a review of the Hitler one, because there's already, like, half a dozen Holocaust movies in my journal, including at least two with much of the same footage), and I still had a really good time. Admittedly, this morning, I'm watching the last four episodes of My So-Called Life, but I just got the series again, and I've missed it so. And I have to say, I'm seeing it through new eyes--and loving it even more. The scene I'm watching right now could almost come out of a noir, except there's no Venetian blinds. Just a pattern of rain reflected on the wall behind the married man and the woman he might end up having an affair with. Even if you don't like the show, there's your one moment.

I will watch just about anything, or at least, the first fifteen minutes of just about anything. Sometimes, I'm hypnotized by what I'm watching simply because it is that bad, and I sit through the whole thing in a sort of rapture of awfulness. Sometimes, I don't notice the time passing until suddenly, the movie is over--those are the movies I love. And, yes, watching movies with good friends is better than watching them alone. But I have more time and more inclination to watch movies than most of my friends.

[soylentgreen]

Alternately, I loved Clue, which we watched the other day, but it wasn't good.

I also like CLUE. More so than friends think I should. However, what trumps it and I recommend(if you haven't already seen it) is MURDER BY DEATH. Neil Simon's send up of the detective genre is a blast. While it could have been a simple parody, spry and clever dialogue betrays a sincere appreciation for the trappings of the literary sources. Peter Sellers is his fantastic chameleon self and Peter Falk is hilarious as Sam Diamond, but it's really Maggie Smith and David Niven who steal the show as Dick and Dora Charles. Their banter(as Smith did with Michael Caine in CALIFORNIA SUITE) is priceless. Alec Guinness' blind butler is a beautiful glimpse of subtle Brit comedic style. Plus Truman Capote's a hoot and it's great to see Elsa Lanchester again.

Simon(and director Robert Moore) did a follow up in 1978, of sorts, called THE CHEAP DETECTIVE. It takes off on the hardbolied Bogey pictures. It's got some great sequences but it's not quite as satisfying.

[Jeff Root]

I think the last movie I really loved that was also really good was the
'46 Cocteau Beauty and the Beast.

I finally saw that last year, after knowing of it for decades, and was
surprised that I wasn't disappointed at all.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[CodeSlinger]

"Thought about"? That's where they've always been! I'm at Rotten Tomatoes over at http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/j...urnalid=246086 and have been for quite some time.

Well, you know what they say about great minds... Cool, I'll check it out.

Films I've most enjoyed recently include the Lord of the Rings (but let's hope this thread doesn't become another "it did/didn't do the books justice" thing), 24 Hour Party People, Everything Is Illuminated, The Simpsons Movie and (to my surprise) Music and Lyrics.

Yes, me too! I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw it.

[Fazor]

Wow Gillian, I think this is the first thread I've seen you start since I joined BAUT. I don't know a whole heck of a lot about film... I rarely find myself able to sit though a movie because by halfway through, I generally just don't care. If I sit though a bad movie, it's because of an attempt to spend time with the 'ol g/f...and let me tell you, she has awfull taste in movies.

Now I do have some artistic training in that I went to school for and at one point aspired to be a computer animator a-la Pixar (is it ironic that a guy who openly admits his lack of attention span to at the same time be able to spend hours behind a computer making the very same movies he can't suffer through to watch?). So I have at least some understanding of film composition and lighting and such...but much less than many of you.

As for actors/actresses...I'm awfull with names. Aparently not as bad as my g/f... but not good none the less.

Oh, and to show how up I am on the "classics", my g/f made me watch Sixteen Candles for the first time Monday night. I thought it was the 80's version of Can't Hardly Wait (yes, obviously Sixteen came first).

[Noclevername]

Oh, and to show how up I am on the "classics", my g/f made me watch Sixteen Candles for the first time Monday night. I thought it was the 80's version of Can't Hardly Wait

It was. The Hollywood Plot Recycler grinds on...

[sarongsong]

Buffery?

No results found for buffery.
dictionary.com

[geonuc]

Buffery?

Means all things to do with films and those that love them.

Everybody has an opinion on particular films, which is great. And which is why I really like Rotten Tomatoes. When you take an average of a whole bunch of opinions and present them in a tomato meter format, I think the results are morely likely to identify the good films and the bad.

The FlickFilosopher is good, too.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by sarongsong
Buffery?

Means all things to do with films and those that love them.

As opposed to "buffyry" which means all things to do with The Slayer and those who love her.

The worst film I ever sat through (the worst I ever saw is mentioned here) I cannot remember the name... probably a good thing. I remember it was set in ancient Greece and was a typical "buff guys and girls in skimpy costumes" period piece. (Uh, buff and skimpy apply to both guys and girls.) It "starred" twin brothers who were professional wrestlers; they were certainly not actors. Hey, I was working out of town and it was $1 movie night. How could I go wrong?

It did have one memorable scene, though. The bad guy had just reanimated the corpses of hundreds of long dead warriors. As he led them out of the catacombs and after the brothers, a parade of Vestal Virgins went by. The warriors, walking along like zombies, paused. They looked at the young women, at the brothers, at the women... and started going after the women.

One brother turned to the other and said, "Hey, they've been dead for 300 years. What do you expect?"

[LemonE]

Does "film buffery" means cinephile? Look forward to your reply, thanks!

[BigDon]

worst movie I ever sat all the way through:

The Man Who Fell To Earth. It sure as hell seemed a lot longer than 139 minutes. I thought it was longer than Kurasawa's Ran, (which I enjoyed).

[sarongsong]

What a patient fellow (!)---I walked out of "8 1/2" after 10 minutes and met my date outside the theater afterwards.

[Disinfo Agent]

Can't be worse than 2001: A Space Travesty. Yes, I sat through it all. Leslie Nielsen, I thought.... it's bound to get better.

[clint]

What a patient fellow (!)---I walked out of "8 1/2" after 10 minutes and met my date outside the theater afterwards.

I'm more on the impatient side, too.
Happened to me with the Charlie's Angles sequel (part 2).
Couldn't take it longer than 20 minutes. 5 minutes later, my wife walked out, too

I was also tempted during 300, but I had an XXL bucket of popcorn to help me get through

[Donnie B.]

Man, 300. That was on Cinemax recently -- I don't subscribe, but they were having one of those free weekends. I tried to watch 300 but couldn't take it for more than a couple minutes. They call that dialog?

I'd rather watch some old Charlton Heston viking movie than that thing... and I hate Charlton Heston.

[closetgeek]

Man, 300. That was on Cinemax recently -- I don't subscribe, but they were having one of those free weekends. I tried to watch 300 but couldn't take it for more than a couple minutes. They call that dialog?

I'd rather watch some old Charlton Heston viking movie than that thing... and I hate Charlton Heston.

I liked the characters, some, in that movie, alright, I just like to stare at the hot friend with the long blonde hair "Then we'll fight in the dark". Every seen was overdone and dramatized to the point of riddiculous. I love impersonating the naked, pensive king, staring off into the night.
I really don't think many can compete with Charlton Heston's presence though...apples and oranges.

[BigDon]

Like Jodie Foster in Death Wish? Eh, I mean The Brave One?

[Ara Pacis]

I'm not sure if I'd qualify as a buff. I've watched a fair number of movies and reviewed some, but these days my main motivation is to learn the craft so I can apply it to my spec scripts.

[Paul Beardsley]

My brother has a saying that every film - including the very worst - has something of merit in it. Whether it is a particularly photogenic shot when someone opens a car door, or a surprisingly credible character moment, or an unexpected funny line, or whatever, there will be at least one in every film.

Incidentally, when talking about the very worst films, I tend to draw a distinction between those with virtually no budget and which hardly anybody has ever heard of (Plughead Rewired, anybody?) and those made by people who should know better (The Grudge 2, AI, The Time Machine (2002)).

Regarding films mentioned, Surf's Up - Clare and I tend to go to see any film with penguins in, and we thoroughly enjoyed March of the Penguins and Happy Feet. I also liked the spin-off from the rather boring Madagascar (yeah, I know it's a children's film but so is Happy Feet). But Surf's Up was very poor. Basically a teen movie with the human characters replaced with penguins who generally don't behave in a penguine* manner.

I think The Man Who Fell To Earth is one of the very few good SF films. Of course, it helps to be a bit of a Bowie fan, and to enjoy the weirdness, but the whole seeing-our-world-from-an-alien-pov was very well done, I thought.

Films I've most enjoyed recently include the Lord of the Rings (but let's hope this thread doesn't become another "it did/didn't do the books justice" thing), 24 Hour Party People, Everything Is Illuminated, The Simpsons Movie and (to my surprise) Music and Lyrics.

Hoping to get Control (another Joy Division film) soon.

Enjoyable but forgettable include Pan's Labyrinth, The Fountain, Casino Royale and whatever that last Harry Potter film was called.

Very disappointing include The Gelding Compass.

*Pronounced peng-wine.

[drainbread]

The worst movie I have seen (by worst I mean it would be more enjoyable to perform genital nullification on myself than to ever watch it again) would be any Uwe Boll movie.

[Maksutov]

My brother has a saying that every film - including the very worst - has something of merit in it. Whether it is a particularly photogenic shot when someone opens a car door, or a surprisingly credible character moment, or an unexpected funny line, or whatever, there will be at least one in every film....

He's right.

Even the worst films have a few special frames. They're usually the last ones and, when run through a projector, read "THE END".

Meanwhile, give me anything Hitchcock directed.

[Fazor]

I'm having a hard time coming up with the last movie I saw that I really loved. Not that I'm a complete humbug, there's plenty of movies that I liked or enjoyed...but few that really grabbed me in the same magical way that the Indianna Jones series (or yes, the original SWs) did.

I did very much enjoy Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Pan's Laberynth (the former moreso than the later)

[Fazor]

Gillian, just curious, is there a way to search your RT page for a particular movie review? I couldn't find a way, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a big red flashing "SEARCH HERE" button that I didn't see.

And, the reason I was asking was I was curious to see if you had reviewed 2007's Stardust. I gather that new releases are far outnumbered by "older" movies...but I've been debating whether or not to order this while it's on "On Demand". (And anyone else that has seen it, of course your opinions are welcome aswell).

[Van Rijn]

And, the reason I was asking was I was curious to see if you had reviewed 2007's Stardust. I gather that new releases are far outnumbered by "older" movies...but I've been debating whether or not to order this while it's on "On Demand". (And anyone else that has seen it, of course your opinions are welcome aswell).

My opinion was that it was okay: There wasn't anything about it that seemed especially memorable or great, but I didn't hate it either.

[HenrikOlsen]

My impression was that it was a surprisingly faithful conversion that only fell short by missing the language of Gaiman in full Lord Dunsany mode.

And Gillians review of it is on the second page of the fantasy/sci-fi reviews, just after the one of Dogma.

[Van Rijn]

I haven't read much Gaiman, so I had no idea of what to expect when watching this movie.