Monday, May 17, 2004

Open Discussion

Here's an open thread where you can discuss any movies that you might have seen this weekend.

Also note that I've fixed the comments section so that you don't have to register to use them.

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bah, I typed a long comment but it got removed when I hit preview then back.... Anyway gonna get this started.

I saw two films this past weekend, 21 Grams and Better Luck Tomorrow. Both are somewhat lower budget and "indie".

Better Luck Tomorrow tells the story of a group of Asian American students who are highly intelligent but become bored of their public high school. In addition to padding their resumes with extra carricular activities and sports, the group of friends begins to sell cheat sheets and steal computer equipment. I liked the film because it wasn't your ordinary "high school" movie, and dealt with deep issues such as drug use, academic honesy and popularity. The director used a number of interesting techniques to propel the story - such as showing an SAT vocabulary word before a relevant scene.

21 Grams was a very heavy, emotionally charged film. This is the second film I've seen by the Mexican director Alejandro Iñárritu, the first being Amores perros. Three middle aged American's lives intersect around a tragedy. I enjoyed the film on a number of levels. 21 Grams is told non-chronologically, each scene instead being a potent slice of one character's life. In this way, we can empathize with the characters, instead of allowing their actions to paint them as villians or heros (if told chronologically). The film is also shot grainy and dark to reflect the somber subject matter.

I'd highly recommend both these films. Also, here's a link to favorite film reviewer James Berardinelli:http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/
I think he often tops other reviewers such as the AJC, EW or even Ebert.

-Timothy Donlan
gte184u

9:20 PM  
Blogger chutry said...

Hmm...Not sure why the comments are configured this way still. Anyway, I like "21 Grams" quite a bit. It was probably my favorite American film last year. I still haven't seen "Better Luck Tomorrow," but I'll put in on my list.

Bernadelli is a solid reviewer. I'm a little partial to Ebert because he had strong ties to Champaign-Urbana, IL, where I lived for two years. He held an annual film festival that brought some great films to the community.

10:55 PM  
Blogger chutry said...

Oops, I completely butchered Berardinelli's name...

12:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

After we mentioned it in class, I watched All About Eve again. I first saw it early in high school, and it's become one of my favorite movies. The character development, especially that of Eve, is fascinating. The storyline is framed well, beginning and ending in the same scene. Lots of well-known actors appear- Bette Davis is wonderful, and I thought it was interesting to see Marilyn Monroe in a bit role before she became very famous. Like The Player, it's a commentary on Hollywood and the theater, but also on society and ambition in general. I don't think everyone would like this movie, but I've always enjoyed watching it because every time adds something more. Since you know the irony of the ending, the characters seem even better played and more intricate every time.

~Karen Donaldson
gtg112h

12:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

On a completely different note.....

I saw a movie for the first time this weekend called Pitch Black. I think it was Vin Diesel's first movie. It's your basic sci-fi futuristic thriller (with a heart?) I guess. I don't know how many people have seen this movie because I hadn't even heard of it. The movie centers around Diesel's character who, while in prison for some sort of mass murder, has undergone an "eye shining" procedure that enables him to see in the dark. Conveniently, a plane (spaceship?) he is travelling on as a prisoner crashes onto a planet with three suns. Even more ironically (insert sarcasm here), it happens to be at a time when all three suns are eclipsed. And of course, there are horrible, horrible things that happen when it gets dark.

I thought this might be worth mentioning because there is going to be a prequel to this movie coming out sometime called Chronicles of Riddick (Riddick is Vin Diesel's character). Anyway, it was pretty good brainless entertainment. It seemed to be a fairly cheaply produced movie, so it will be interesting to see how the new movie is marketed now that Vin Diesel is a Hollywood star.

Jacob Norton
gte369p

1:03 AM  
Blogger chutry said...

Thanks, I'll put this on the main blog so everone can see it.

12:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a chance to watch "Van Helsing" this weekend at the theatre. The movie was alot better than I expected. The special effects and fight scenes were outstanding. Also the story line was more intersting than I expexted. It was like a classic Hero tale. It had humor, romance(not alot), and violence.

Christopher Dunlap

9:53 AM  
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