Recommend a new or newish film you've seen fairly recently.

I saw Factorum this week. It's a very good film.

It retained Bukowski's dejected perseverance and humor.

Matt Dillon nailed Charles Bukowski's mannerisms, even his way of speaking. I was impressed.

Last year's All the King's Men was also a pretty good film. They could have used an actor more able to do a Southern accent than Anthony Hopkins, though.

dj--

I almost picked up "Layer Cake" last week because I loved "Snatch" and "...Barrells...," so on your recommendation, I'll give it a try.

Loved "London." It cracked me up, but I have a rather dark sense of humor. It was sorta sweet.

Saw Branaugh's "Henry V," which I loved. Of course, I'm nuts for Shakespeare.

Mike Leigh's "Naked" was really spectacular, I thought. ...if you appreciate dark, quirky philosophical movies with sadistic overtones... my favorite.

I did see "Brokeback..." Absolutely heartbreaking. One of the most excruciating love stories I've ever seen. The score was amazing. It nearly made me cry every time I heard the strains.

Been seeing lots of movies.

"Little Miss Sunshine" was great. A good escape.

Little Miss Sunshine was truly delightful, and if you like something
along these lines, also with Toni Colette (she's so un-Hollywood-like thank gawd) "In her Shoes" was quite remarkable too.

Oh Yeah! I tried a couple of her other movies, as well. "Muriel's Wedding" (LOVED HER and it) and "The Japanese Story" -- I can't decide what I thought. I sorta liked it and sorta dinna.

let me know what you think

Two movies I've seen recently:
"Cinderella Man" - not easy to watch at times, a true story and highly recommended.
A compeltely different genre - "The Devil Wears Prada" is good entertainment and very well acted.

Children of men was really good I thought. Very well done!

As a childhood devourer of everything Robert Penn Warren wrote, I was fairly pleased at the Play version of "All the Kings Men" It wasnt the novel, but it was the play. I didnt mind Hopkins, however I really minded Tony Soprano playing "tiny". Sean Penn is one of the best actors weve got going today.

Tonight we got "The Illusionist" with Ed Norton and Paul Giamotti. Excellent! Right to the end.

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I liked In Her Shoes too - even though I guess its supposed to be a "chick flick" (what's that mean, anyway?) I like Toni Collette, too. Did anyone see Dinner With Friends?

Pursuit of Happyness is a satisfying tear-jerker. Will Smith can actually act.

I have seen, and greatly enjoyed, three films recently.


Volver

The Queen

Pan's Labyrinth

I saw Babel yesterday.



.... & found it quite a stunning experience. (I literally felt stunned & overwhelmed at times! The locations, the sounds, the emotional impact of the situations the characters found themselves in....) I can't fault the casting or any of the acting performances. But .... I think I'm growing a little tired of films with inter-connecting plots ("everything is connected") which assault the senses & leave you drained & wrung out by the end. I think I've just seen too many of them. Personally, I preferred 21 Grams & Amores Perros to this one, but some of you may disagree.

Babel reviews on Rotten Tomatoes:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/babel/

djj--

I really loved Layer Cake. Daniel Craig is so infinitely watchable. I first noticed him in Munich (I saw it only recently). I heard buzz about his Bond assignment-- I usually hate Bond movies, but I'll watch him.

I thought the editing was good and loved the soundtrack.

Funny irony.

Generally--

I was amazed at parts of "Everything is Illuminated." It's interesting to see so many movies that don't mind mixing irreverent humor and really serious material. I can't recall a movie that made me laugh out loud and cry within a few minutes.

Re-watched "Orlando" after several years of the first viewing. Glad I did.

"Equilibrium" weird. Snort. I don't know why it broke down into contemporary political factions for me.... Still, the most important message: Christian Bale is hot.



I have a stack of movies waiting at home.

~L

Films I have seen recently that have gotten MY high marks (an 8 is indeed a high mark):

10
Babel
Match Point

9
Pan's Labyrinth
The March of the Penguins
The Illusionist

8
Children of Men
The Story of the Weeping Camel
Volver
Little Miss Sunshine
Les Choristes
Borat

Ya want to see a film that is truly built on an unlikely premise, see CRANK.
It was like a train wreck, strangely compelling , yet gruesome.

Cannibal women of the avocado jungle of death.

Bunny: "I've been thinking about changing my major from Home Economics to Feminist Studies, but I wasn't sure if you had any feminist cooking classes."

Bunny: "Well, sometimes when I'm with a guy I wish that he would tie me up with red licorice ropes and then spank me... ...and then he'd eat the ropes... ...and then he'd free me... ...and then we'd make love while the philharmonic played 'Bolero.'"

Bunny: "I have a lot of fantasies about being tied up and spanked."

Jim: "Okay, let's see... ...so she's going to make love to me, that's, that's good - but she's going to kill me and eat me, that's bad."

Starring Bill Maher.

Since we usually do double features, or second film was Heidi, the one starring Shirley Temple as Heidi, made in 1937 by 20th Century Fox.

Plot Summary for
Crank (2006)

Chev Chelios is a professional assassin working for the West Coast crime syndicate. Chev's girlfriend Eve doesn't know what Chev does and Chev is planning to quit the crime syndicate so he can spend more time with her. But for Chev, things about to get very bad, when he learns he has been injected with a poison called "The Beijing Cocktail" by his rival Verona, which will kill him if his heart rate drops. Trying to stay alive and seeking help from friend, Kaylo and Doc Miles, to keep his heart pumping. Chev sets out to find answers as well as protecting Eve, and get his revenge on those who have betrayed him before the poison kills him.


Plot Summary for
Transporteur II, Le (2005)


Former soldier turned hired criminal Frank Martin, now living in Miami, has been hired for his latest assignment. Frank has been hired as a bodyguard to Jack Billings, son of Jefferson Billings, a wealthy US official for the US government drug control organization who is attending a conference with the DEA. When Jack is kidnapped by a international crime boss known as Gianni and his associates including his murderous lover Lola and gets implicated in the kidnapping, Frank with help of trusted friend, French police detective Tarconi, sets out to rescue Jack and takes on Gianni and his henchmen, as Gianni infects Jack with a engineered virus which will infect those who come into contact with Jack, as Gianni plans to infect Jefferson and sabotage the conference.


, jason stratham (chev, frank) is the king of i, or someone close to me, has been poisoned, and i'm gonna kung fu the ass of anyone who get's in my way

I reckon 2006 qualifies as newish.

I took Lady in the Water (2006) from the shelf at the video shop tonight and I must say I thought it was a quite entertaining movie. I has assumed it was the creature feature "She Creature (2001)" (because I just went for the box cover, not being able to read the Finnish title). I had an aversion to Shymalan's work due to all the negativity surrounding his work, but upon checking found that I had seen three of his films (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs, of which I quite liked the ones with Bruce Willis). True the film is kind of predictable, but is is a bit outside of the ordinary, a real bed time story.

Good night!

I saw Volver a couple of weeks ago- and I absolutely loved it! The colors and scenery were amazing as was Penelope Cruz, whose character reminded me of a young Sophia Loren.

It had it's "quirky" plot twists, which if you are familiar with any of Pedro Almodóvar other films, you've come to expect.

It is a beautiful and engaging film- I definitely recommend it!

Lonesome Jim-- Casey Affleck and Liv Tyler. Offbeat--same recent trend toward underlying (or overlaid...?) black comedy with minorly uplifting humor... Still, ok. Eh.