list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around There Will Be Blood on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/There_Will_Be_Blood/277967/default.aspx Title: There Will Be Blood
Year: 2007
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Plot: A loose adaptation of author Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!, visionary director Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood stars Daniel Day-Lewis as an early oil prospector looking to turn a profit in turn-of-the-century Texas. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 65
Number of Lists: 63
Number of blog posts: 54
Number of discussion threads: 23
SpoutRating: 4
]]>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 02:26:31 GMTThere Will Be Blood2007Paul Thomas AndersonA loose adaptation of author Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil!, visionary director <a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P___231996/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Paul Thomas Anderson</a>'s There Will Be Blood stars <a href="http://www.spout.com/players/P____17559/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Daniel Day-Lewis</a> as an early oil prospector looking to turn a profit in turn-of-the-century Texas. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide65Tag Target (>10)6354234http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s277967.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/There_Will_Be_Blood/277967/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/risselada/archive/2009/9/16/43916.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Risselada Blog
Post Date: 9/16/2009 12:35:10 PM
Body: This is the fifth feature length film I've seen by director Paul Thomas Anderson. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing. There Will Be Blood I'd seen all of P.T. Anderson's other films up to this point. I had been hoping to see There Will Be Blood in the theater because I had huge expectations for it. The reason being is that Anderson's trend for me was that I thought each of his subsequent films was better than the last. It seemed like maybe he was going to keep on perfecting himself in my eyes. Now however the trend has ended. There Will Be Blood for me did not surpass Punch-Drunk Love (which may forever remain my P.T. Anderson favorite) or even Magnolia (also pretty darn close to perfect), but apart from those comparisons it is still an exceptionally great film. Of course the film has a lot different about it from any of his past films. It's the first period films he's ever done, and the first adapted from another source (although apparently loosely). And although he's done other films that achieve running times of two and a half hours or more, those other films are much more of ensemble films than this one. When you put Daniel Day-Lewis in your movie you have to expect him to steal the show. And this film is really singularly about him with only the character of Eli Sunday coming anywhere close to being as important of a character. Thus because the film is really about one person than an ensemble, it feels a lot longer to me. I can't fault anything about the film. Captivating story. Amazing sets. Fantastic acting. I guess unlike most of Anderson's other films though, I couldn't find anyone to really sympathize with. Also it was lacking a bit in some of the same kind of humor as his other films. But again, I'm comparing a bit unjustly probably. It's fantastically done for what it is. Paul Thomas Anderson:Total feature length films seen: 5Previous average film score: 9New average film score: 9 Rating: 9/10
]]>Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:35:10 GMTRisseladaRisselada Blog9/16/2009 12:35:10 PMThis is the fifth feature length film I've seen by director Paul Thomas Anderson. I chose to watch this film based on previous good ratings I've given other films by this director and to better my favorite directors by algorithm listing. There Will Be Blood I'd seen all of P.T. Anderson's other films up to this point. I had been hoping to see There Will Be Blood in the theater because I had huge expectations for it. The reason being is that Anderson's trend for me was that I thought each of his subsequent films was better than the last. It seemed like maybe he was going to keep on perfecting himself in my eyes. Now however the trend has ended. There Will Be Blood for me did not surpass Punch-Drunk Love (which may forever remain my P.T. Anderson favorite) or even Magnolia (also pretty darn close to perfect), but apart from those comparisons it is still an exceptionally great film. Of course the film has a lot different about it from any of his past films. It's the first period films he's ever done, and the first adapted from another source (although apparently loosely). And although he's done other films that achieve running times of two and a half hours or more, those other films are much more of ensemble films than this one. When you put Daniel Day-Lewis in your movie you have to expect him to steal the show. And this film is really singularly about him with only the character of Eli Sunday coming anywhere close to being as important of a character. Thus because the film is really about one person than an ensemble, it feels a lot longer to me. I can't fault anything about the film. Captivating story. Amazing sets. Fantastic acting. I guess unlike most of Anderson's other films though, I couldn't find anyone to really sympathize with. Also it was lacking a bit in some of the same kind of humor as his other films. But again, I'm comparing a bit unjustly probably. It's fantastically done for what it is. Paul Thomas Anderson:Total feature length films seen: 5Previous average film score: 9New average film score: 9 Rating: 9/10 http://www.spout.com/groups/Movie_Polls/Which_of_these_film_directors_with_the_name_Anders/657/43311/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Movie Polls
Post Date: 7/29/2009 1:50:50 PM
Body: Please reference this thread for the rules of this group. Again it's kind of an arbitrary comparison I know, but I still thought it was interesting how many Andersons there were as famous directors. I know Roy Andersson has an extra "s" in it, but as far as I know it's pronounced the same. Please vote only once in each poll. Some of the movies from these directors: Lindsay Anderson - This Sporting Life, If...., O Lucky Man! Paul Thomas Anderson - Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood Paul W.S. Anderson - Event Horizon, Resident Evil, AVP: Alien vs. Predator Wes Anderson - Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Roy Andersson - A Swedish Love Story, Songs from the Second Floor, You, the Living
]]>Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:50:50 GMTRisseladaMovie Polls7/29/2009 1:50:50 PMPlease reference this thread for the rules of this group. Again it's kind of an arbitrary comparison I know, but I still thought it was interesting how many Andersons there were as famous directors. I know Roy Andersson has an extra "s" in it, but as far as I know it's pronounced the same. Please vote only once in each poll. Some of the movies from these directors: Lindsay Anderson - This Sporting Life, If...., O Lucky Man! Paul Thomas Anderson - Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood Paul W.S. Anderson - Event Horizon, Resident Evil, AVP: Alien vs. Predator Wes Anderson - Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Roy Andersson - A Swedish Love Story, Songs from the Second Floor, You, the Living http://www.spout.com/blogs/kevynknox/archive/2009/7/10/42996.aspx Post By: KevynKnox
Post To: KevynKnox Blog
Post Date: 7/10/2009 11:47:44 PM
Body: (this review was first published at www.thecinematheque.com on 1/28/08) Beginning with a buzzing disturbance straight out of a Kubrickian nightmare (or is it a Lynchian nightmare?) and ending in a Brechtian feast of gruesome delight that one has to see to believe, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a monster of a movie - more monstrous than anything King Kong could ever dream of serving up. It is some sort of Orson Welles, John Ford, D.W. Griffith, Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Erich von Stroheim monstrosity of a motion picture. A cinematic amalgamation of the whole of film history, with arms and legs and heads and horns of all those auteurs that came before him, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a billion-eyed beast of a movie that goes far beyond anything any of us thought Anderson was ever capable of - or pretty much anyone was capable of. Movie y mano, Anderson venomously concocts a near perfect mixture of madness and mise-en-scene to create a motion picture of undeniable cinematic bravura. Taking Upton Sinclair's Oil! (or at least the first few chapters and epilogue) and transposing it into a postmodern Citizen Kane, Anderson has perfected the very art of auteur filmmaking. Taking what he did with the essence of Scorsese in Boogie Nights and the spirit of Altman in Magnolia, Anderson has multiplied it a million fold with the biblical monster movie There Will Be Blood, and going beyond mere imitation or homage like De Palma or Tarantino, he has entered a magical realm of honest loving cinematic genuflection the likes of which we have not seen from an American director, with the lone blazing exception of David Lynch and his Mulholland Dr., since the days of the director driven cinema of the 1970's American New Wave. This is a bold new American cinema being born, Phoenix-like, from the bloody ashes of all that came and went before. As iconically American as Kane or Chinatown or Taxi Driver or Greed - and just as caustic - this motion picture is something truly incredible. This is something that cannot be missed. This is something superhuman, something supercinematic. To sound quite genuflectory myself - and I cannot help but do so (sounding more like a studio adman or perhaps Anderson's own press agent than the hard-nosed film critic I claim to be) - this is not only the best film of 2007, this may very well be, no make that this is one of the greatest films ever made. Ever. As far as the story goes, it is a tale of old testament fire and brimstone - literally and figuratively. As pertinent today as it was when Sinclair wrote it in 1927, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a staggering monster movie pitting God vs. Greed, and in the end, as is always the case, Greed wins. This is the story of the deceptively named Daniel Plainview, who we first meet in the dark numbing silence of a makeshift silver mine, then crawling on his back, shattered leg in tow, across miles of rocky terrain just to make his claim and finally as the explosively charged self-proclaimed oil man offering up his services to the throngs of genuflecting would be oil barons, all the time growing richer and richer upon the backs of these naive cash cattle with each successive bursting oil well exploding from the dry dusty ground as if trying to escape the very Devil himself, only to find an even worst beast above the surface. Although blatantly modeled after Charles Foster Kane, from humble beginnings to self-exiled madness, Daniel Plainview, without the crutch of any sort of rosebud-esque sentimentality, is 100% pure monster, from top to bottom, from beginning to end. At one point, in a cinematic moment of Hellish Nirvana, as one of Daniel's wells explodes into an inferno straight out of revelations (his water is oil and it runs with the blood of all those around him) and his adoptive son, who is nothing more than a cherub-faced pawn, is nearly killed and left for deaf, we see Daniel silhouetted against the raging fire, covered in a skein of bloody oil, lording over his "creation" as if he truly were the King of Hellfire. As one watches this scene unfold, one surely begins to realize that perhaps this man, this Daniel Plainview is indeed the very Devil himself. Played with a ferocity that surpasses even Gangs of New York's Bill the Butcher, Daniel Day-Lewis is an ever-simmering, constantly bubbling, potentially explosive demon of a human being as Daniel Plainview - Moloch devouring all that lies before him. Channeling John Huston's Noah Cross with each and every deep long breath and every hulking purposeful step (as I said before, his water is oil and it turns to blood in his own private 'Chinatown') Daniel Day-Lewis proves once again that he is the most intensely superhuman actor working today - and probably the most powerful since the early days of Brando. Full of spleen for the whole of humanity, Day-Lewis/Plainview (for the method actor and the demonic character become one entity throughout) trepidatiously keeps his evil mostly in check, with only brief shocks of madness, until his full out direptitious mega explosion come the undeniably full-throttled bestial finale that will take everyone completely and utterly off guard with its absurd madness. In short, Day-Lewis/Plainview will drink your milkshake. He'll drink it up! (trust me, once you have seen this film, that reference will make sense to you, albeit in the most senseless way). Meanwhile, playing the antithesis to Daniel's fire demon is Paul Dano as the meek-willed young evangelist Eli, who wants his upstart church to be able to cash in on Daniel's oil boom. Stomped at as if a tiny bug by the giant shoes of Daniel, never able to defend himself against this goliath, Eli seems to be the very embodiment of sanctimony itself, but do not let that fool you, as with a glint in his eye, Eli is also the embodiment of the church, a church that wants its lion's share of the gold (or oil in this case) making it (the Church, organized religion, supposed Christian values) play out as just as evil as Daniel and his insatiable thirst for power and money. Using each other for their own cause, trying to prove which is master, God or Greed, Daniel and Eli are the crux of a battle between good and evil, right and wrong, God and Man. A war which has been raging since before time began and will be burning throughout eternity - long after Daniel's oil wells dry up and long after Eli's congregation dies off. The only question remaining is, which side is good and which side is evil - or is there even a difference? And then there is the ending. Analyzed and theoricized to death, Anderson's final twenty minutes of There Will Be Blood is so reelingly absurd, so dangerously deranged, so batshitcrazy that we may think we are imagining what we are seeing. That somewhere during the buzzing madness that underlies the entire film, we were seduced, hypnotized, poisoned or drugged and what we now are watching is some sort of fever-induced nightmare born of the mad blood that is Anderson's movie. We must be thinking to ourselves that this is not real, that Anderson would not end his film in such a preposterous manner. Yet it is just this ending, this Grand Guignol monster ripped from the death grip of Luis Buñuel, that turns this already brilliant thesis on religion, humanity (and cinema) into a work of mad art that will never be forgotten in the annals of film history. Just as Anderson has stripped bare such films as Citizen Kane, 2001, The Shining, The Searchers, Once Upon a Time in the West, Birth of a Nation, Greed, Chinatown, Taxi Driver McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Citizen Kane (yes I said Citizen Kane twice!), fifty, a hundred years from now, filmmakers not even born yet, not even thought of yet, will strip bare the bloody bones of Anderson's film and in turn will create a new American cinema of their very own - and the phoenix shall be reborn - again. In sum, while many of Anderson's critics have called him and his film pretentious (probably the most oft-mentioned criticism about Anderson throughout his still young career) one must take that as cop out criticism by those who know not how to take this brave film. Beneath the mantle of a different kind of filmmaker - a lesser filmmaker if you will - pretension can easily take down even the best of intentions, but in the hands of certain auteurs - Welles and Kubrick come to mind immediately - pretension, or more aptly that which one perceives as pretension, can be the very backbone of a great film. In the hands of Paul Thomas Anderson (the heir apparent to Welles and Kubrick perhaps?) it is spun as if gold from the guts and groin of Rumpelstiltskin. To paraphrase Truffaut when writing about Johnny Guitar back in his Cahiers days, if one does not like Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood then they should never go to the movies again, for they know nothing of cinema. With that already brazen statement, allow me to make an even bolder, brasher one now. I shall take a word that is tossed about so willy-nilly by studio admen all across the Hollywood hills and mainstream movie critics hoping to see their name in lights (aka as poster blurbs) that it has nearly lost all meaning, all sincerity, and I shall place this word where it should have been all along, upon the most revered pedestal of honour, only to be used in the most extreme cases of canonization. Taking this word - a word I have not used in describing a new film since Lars von Trier's Dogville four years ago, and Lynch's Mulholland Dr. two years before that (and capitalizing it for added impact) - I proudly proclaim at the very top of my lungs and from the very acme of cinematic worship, and with no shame at all in my voice, that Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a Masterpiece!! Nothing else need be said.
]]>Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:47:44 GMTKevynKnoxKevynKnox Blog7/10/2009 11:47:44 PM(this review was first published at www.thecinematheque.com on 1/28/08) Beginning with a buzzing disturbance straight out of a Kubrickian nightmare (or is it a Lynchian nightmare?) and ending in a Brechtian feast of gruesome delight that one has to see to believe, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a monster of a movie - more monstrous than anything King Kong could ever dream of serving up. It is some sort of Orson Welles, John Ford, D.W. Griffith, Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Erich von Stroheim monstrosity of a motion picture. A cinematic amalgamation of the whole of film history, with arms and legs and heads and horns of all those auteurs that came before him, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a billion-eyed beast of a movie that goes far beyond anything any of us thought Anderson was ever capable of - or pretty much anyone was capable of. Movie y mano, Anderson venomously concocts a near perfect mixture of madness and mise-en-scene to create a motion picture of undeniable cinematic bravura. Taking Upton Sinclair's Oil! (or at least the first few chapters and epilogue) and transposing it into a postmodern Citizen Kane, Anderson has perfected the very art of auteur filmmaking. Taking what he did with the essence of Scorsese in Boogie Nights and the spirit of Altman in Magnolia, Anderson has multiplied it a million fold with the biblical monster movie There Will Be Blood, and going beyond mere imitation or homage like De Palma or Tarantino, he has entered a magical realm of honest loving cinematic genuflection the likes of which we have not seen from an American director, with the lone blazing exception of David Lynch and his Mulholland Dr., since the days of the director driven cinema of the 1970's American New Wave. This is a bold new American cinema being born, Phoenix-like, from the bloody ashes of all that came and went before. As iconically American as Kane or Chinatown or Taxi Driver or Greed - and just as caustic - this motion picture is something truly incredible. This is something that cannot be missed. This is something superhuman, something supercinematic. To sound quite genuflectory myself - and I cannot help but do so (sounding more like a studio adman or perhaps Anderson's own press agent than the hard-nosed film critic I claim to be) - this is not only the best film of 2007, this may very well be, no make that this is one of the greatest films ever made. Ever. As far as the story goes, it is a tale of old testament fire and brimstone - literally and figuratively. As pertinent today as it was when Sinclair wrote it in 1927, Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a staggering monster movie pitting God vs. Greed, and in the end, as is always the case, Greed wins. This is the story of the deceptively named Daniel Plainview, who we first meet in the dark numbing silence of a makeshift silver mine, then crawling on his back, shattered leg in tow, across miles of rocky terrain just to make his claim and finally as the explosively charged self-proclaimed oil man offering up his services to the throngs of genuflecting would be oil barons, all the time growing richer and richer upon the backs of these naive cash cattle with each successive bursting oil well exploding from the dry dusty ground as if trying to escape the very Devil himself, only to find an even worst beast above the surface. Although blatantly modeled after Charles Foster Kane, from humble beginnings to self-exiled madness, Daniel Plainview, without the crutch of any sort of rosebud-esque sentimentality, is 100% pure monster, from top to bottom, from beginning to end. At one point, in a cinematic moment of Hellish Nirvana, as one of Daniel's wells explodes into an inferno straight out of revelations (his water is oil and it runs with the blood of all those around him) and his adoptive son, who is nothing more than a cherub-faced pawn, is nearly killed and left for deaf, we see Daniel silhouetted against the raging fire, covered in a skein of bloody oil, lording over his "creation" as if he truly were the King of Hellfire. As one watches this scene unfold, one surely begins to realize that perhaps this man, this Daniel Plainview is indeed the very Devil himself. Played with a ferocity that surpasses even Gangs of New York's Bill the Butcher, Daniel Day-Lewis is an ever-simmering, constantly bubbling, potentially explosive demon of a human being as Daniel Plainview - Moloch devouring all that lies before him. Channeling John Huston's Noah Cross with each and every deep long breath and every hulking purposeful step (as I said before, his water is oil and it turns to blood in his own private 'Chinatown') Daniel Day-Lewis proves once again that he is the most intensely superhuman actor working today - and probably the most powerful since the early days of Brando. Full of spleen for the whole of humanity, Day-Lewis/Plainview (for the method actor and the demonic character become one entity throughout) trepidatiously keeps his evil mostly in check, with only brief shocks of madness, until his full out direptitious mega explosion come the undeniably full-throttled bestial finale that will take everyone completely and utterly off guard with its absurd madness. In short, Day-Lewis/Plainview will drink your milkshake. He'll drink it up! (trust me, once you have seen this film, that reference will make sense to you, albeit in the most senseless way). Meanwhile, playing the antithesis to Daniel's fire demon is Paul Dano as the meek-willed young evangelist Eli, who wants his upstart church to be able to cash in on Daniel's oil boom. Stomped at as if a tiny bug by the giant shoes of Daniel, never able to defend himself against this goliath, Eli seems to be the very embodiment of sanctimony itself, but do not let that fool you, as with a glint in his eye, Eli is also the embodiment of the church, a church that wants its lion's share of the gold (or oil in this case) making it (the Church, organized religion, supposed Christian values) play out as just as evil as Daniel and his insatiable thirst for power and money. Using each other for their own cause, trying to prove which is master, God or Greed, Daniel and Eli are the crux of a battle between good and evil, right and wrong, God and Man. A war which has been raging since before time began and will be burning throughout eternity - long after Daniel's oil wells dry up and long after Eli's congregation dies off. The only question remaining is, which side is good and which side is evil - or is there even a difference? And then there is the ending. Analyzed and theoricized to death, Anderson's final twenty minutes of There Will Be Blood is so reelingly absurd, so dangerously deranged, so batshitcrazy that we may think we are imagining what we are seeing. That somewhere during the buzzing madness that underlies the entire film, we were seduced, hypnotized, poisoned or drugged and what we now are watching is some sort of fever-induced nightmare born of the mad blood that is Anderson's movie. We must be thinking to ourselves that this is not real, that Anderson would not end his film in such a preposterous manner. Yet it is just this ending, this Grand Guignol monster ripped from the death grip of Luis Bu&ntilde;uel, that turns this already brilliant thesis on religion, humanity (and cinema) into a work of mad art that will never be forgotten in the annals of film history. Just as Anderson has stripped bare such films as Citizen Kane, 2001, The Shining, The Searchers, Once Upon a Time in the West, Birth of a Nation, Greed, Chinatown, Taxi Driver McCabe &amp; Mrs. Miller, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Citizen Kane (yes I said Citizen Kane twice!), fifty, a hundred years from now, filmmakers not even born yet, not even thought of yet, will strip bare the bloody bones of Anderson's film and in turn will create a new American cinema of their very own - and the phoenix shall be reborn - again. In sum, while many of Anderson's critics have called him and his film pretentious (probably the most oft-mentioned criticism about Anderson throughout his still young career) one must take that as cop out criticism by those who know not how to take this brave film. Beneath the mantle of a different kind of filmmaker - a lesser filmmaker if you will - pretension can easily take down even the best of intentions, but in the hands of certain auteurs - Welles and Kubrick come to mind immediately - pretension, or more aptly that which one perceives as pretension, can be the very backbone of a great film. In the hands of Paul Thomas Anderson (the heir apparent to Welles and Kubrick perhaps?) it is spun as if gold from the guts and groin of Rumpelstiltskin. To paraphrase Truffaut when writing about Johnny Guitar back in his Cahiers days, if one does not like Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood then they should never go to the movies again, for they know nothing of cinema. With that already brazen statement, allow me to make an even bolder, brasher one now. I shall take a word that is tossed about so willy-nilly by studio admen all across the Hollywood hills and mainstream movie critics hoping to see their name in lights (aka as poster blurbs) that it has nearly lost all meaning, all sincerity, and I shall place this word where it should have been all along, upon the most revered pedestal of honour, only to be used in the most extreme cases of canonization. Taking this word - a word I have not used in describing a new film since Lars von Trier's Dogville four years ago, and Lynch's Mulholland Dr. two years before that (and capitalizing it for added impact) - I proudly proclaim at the very top of my lungs and from the very acme of cinematic worship, and with no shame at all in my voice, that Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is a Masterpiece!! Nothing else need be said. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/12/19/38614.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 12/19/2008 2:00:53 PM
Body: Because there’s nothing like waiting until the last minute to do some holiday shopping, we’ve compiled this handy-dandy shopping guide to the best DVDs of 2008 that you can use now, or wait until the dust settles and clean up with any cash that Santa or Hanukkah Harry happened to leave you. It’s broken down by the person you’ll be shopping for to make things easier, even if that person happens to be yourself. When noted, we’ve picked the Blu-ray version over the standard definition, because we try to be all about 1080p and other technical terms whenever possible. But, the regular versions are just fine as well. Still, it’s true what they say: once you go HD you’ll never go back. The Superhero Fan Iron Man: In my opinion, this was a much better movie than The Dark Knight. Why? Because it nailed the whole comic book formula so well. This literally made me feel like I was back on my grandma’s summer porch reading a huge stack of comic books. Hancock: It was darker than the commercials let on, and Will Smith didn’t make his “concerned face” nearly as much as he does in Seven Pounds. That’s a plus that’s definitely not listed on the back of the DVD box. The Blu-ray version includes both the unrated and normal cuts of the flick, and also has producer Michael Mann popping up from time to time in the commentary. The Dark Knight: Even though I didn’t go bananas for it, this recently became the first Blu-ray DVD to sell a million copies. The best thing about the movie is Heath Ledger’s lip-smacking performance, and although the DVD lacks commentary from Christopher Nolan, it’s packed with enough extras to make you forget that. The Dreamer The Fall: This goes down as the most under-appreciated movie of the year. It’s part Princess Bride and part The Wizard of Oz, and is just incredibly gorgeous. Catinca Untaru, the little girl in the film, will charm your socks off, and the cinematography is stunning. It even features underwater shots of swimming elephants. Son of Rambow: This appeals to the filmmaker inside of all of us. It’s about a boy who has never seen movies before trying to make his own home video version of First Blood. It’s also a good way to jumpstart your own under-utilized imagination. Wall-E: Disney/Pixar’s robot-in-love story won’t just please any kids who happen to be within viewing range, adults will love it too. Plus you’ll be humming “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” from Hello, Dolly the rest of the day. The Drama Queen (or King) Juno: While I wouldn’t have thought that a movie about teenage pregnancy would end up being one of my favorite dramatic films from 2008, here it is. It retains all its charm on DVD, and adds a ton of special features like blog posts, screen tests, and the “Diablo Cody is Totally Boss” featurette. There Will Be Blood: I just watched this again last night, and I’m still amazed by what Paul Thomas Anderson can do with so little. There are scant few extra features on the DVD unfortunately, but there’s a great extended scene in the restaurant with Daniel and H.W. where Daniel Day Lewis cracks up at the end. That’s pure gold. How The West Was Won: Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart and John Wayne star in this sweeping Western epic. The first disc contains the movie formatted for regular television screens, but the second disc features the full three-camera Cinerama process, and they’ve digitally erased the lines between each image. While this really needs to be seen on a giant screen to be appreciated, it will look pretty darn good in your living room too. The Space and Fantasy Crowd CJ7: Stephen Chow’s slapstick comedy version of E.T. didn’t really connect with audiences over here, but it’s a really fun movie that deserves a second chance. Spielberg meets Wile E. Coyote is about the best way to describe this, with the touching story of a little boy (who is played by a girl) and her down on his luck father. Southland Tales: Yes, this movie is still a trainwreck, but what I can’t figure out is why it’s such a watchable trainwreck. With the new edition of the DVD out, writer/director Richard Kelly actually offers up a commentary track that leaves you even more perplexed. But for some reason, it’s impossible to turn this off and walk away. MirrorMask: Full disclosure: I actually did notes on the early drafts of scripts for this when I worked at Henson. It’s truly spectacular that Dave McKean was able to pull this off on a shoestring budget, and it’s a fantasy written by Neil Gaiman. Pure escapism and gorgeous visuals. The Election Buff JFK: New to Blu-ray this year was a special edition of Oliver Stone’s JFK in Warner’s “digibook” format that features the disc along with a slim book in one package. This director’s cut added 17 minutes of unused footage, a lot of special features, and it’s the perfect movie to herald the dawn of new hope with our new President-elect. While the film focuses on the assassination of Kennedy, it also shows the impact his presidency meant to people, and what drove one man to pursue justice to the brink. Nixon: Also new to Blu-ray in the hopes of capitalizing on an election year was Oliver Stone’s Nixon. Even the case for it shouts Election Year Edition on the front cover. But it adds more than a half hour of footage to the movie and includes great extras, like the documentary made by Stone’s son Sean called Beyond Nixon. I missed this in the theaters, and saw it this year for the first time and it did not disappoint. Recount: It’s hard to watch this HBO Films movie and not get angry while doing so. Yes, it’s been eight years since the election, but seeing this is like tearing the band-aid off a wound that’s almost closed. Kevin Spacey is really great in this, but it’s Laura Dern, as former Secretary of State for Florida Katherine Harris, who you’ll find yourself loving to hate . The Documentary Addict The Unforseen: This documentary screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and it’s an extremely impressive (and scary) look at the effects of land development on the watershed in an area of Austin, Texas. It’s both tragic and hopeful, and it’s coming out on DVD during the start of the U.S. recession, which can be blamed on poor real estate planning and development. Eerily timely. John Adams: This HBO miniseries is based on the David McCullough book of the same name and produced by HBO Films. While it might take a few liberties with creating historical dialogue, it’s a great way to learn about our nation’s history. Paul Giamatti really hits all the notes as Adams, and Tom Wilkinson is surprisingly perfect as Benjamin Franklin. Also includes a nice documentary about the author called Painting With Words. This American Life: This Showtime series based on the long-running radio show falls between entertainment and documentary. All of the stories are real, and they’re some of the most hilarious and moving things you’ll ever see. Episode four’s animated Chris Ware piece is worth the cost of the whole set alone. The Gamer WarGames: Yes, it’s an oldie. But the 25th (god, I’m old!) anniversary edition of this came out this year, and it’s bargain priced. It’s also been beautifully restore, and has never looked better. Toss in the fact that both Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick came back to do new interviews for this version, and it’s a perfect stocking stuffer. Tilt: The Battle To Save Pinball: I’ve written about this movie previously, but I can’t say enough good things about it. If you or someone you know loves pinball machines, you really can’t go wrong with this one. Just don’t complain when they ask for a full-sized machine of their very own next year. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters: Despite the controversy that swirls around it, this movie is so entertaining that I’ll usually end up watching the whole thing when I flip past it on cable, even though it’s sitting on a shelf a few feet away. It also cements Steve Wiebe in place as probably the nicest guy in the entire known universe. The Boxed Set Obsessetarian Casablanca: The Ultimate Collector’s Edition: Casablanca is probably one of my favorite films, and this edition is the ultimate for any movie geek. Not because the transfer is excellent and the sound pristine: it’s because it comes with a replica of the Letters of Transit! Now you too can pretend to be Peter Lorre and wheeze “Hide me, Reek!” to people. Okay, the movie is also gorgeous, too, and it’s been given the Blu-ray treatment. There’s also a great documentary here called Jack Warner: The Last Mogul. This is some good stuff. The Godfather Trilogy: The Coppola Restoration: The Godfather films have been released before on DVD, but this new set runs rings around it. Coppola called up Steven Spielberg when Viacom acquired Dreamworks, and asked him to let them release money for a Godfather restoration project. This is the end result, and it has been digitally restored and packed with amazing extras. A real gem. Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition: This boxed set features four of the best MST3K episodes, along with a 3-part documentary about the history of the show, as well as video coverage of the MST3K reunion panel from this year’s Comic-Con. Plus if you can find the limited edition version of this set in a collectible tin, it comes with a little Crow figurine. Rad. The Non-Tivo Owning TV Watcher Mad Men: If you think it’s impossible to like this show, then you need to head out and pick up the first season on DVD. It will definitely change your mind. You’ll either want to be Don Draper, or have sex with him. Just stay away from my Joan Holloway. The first season DVD includes commentary on all 13 episodes, and a nifty “Advertising and the American Dream” documentary. Dexter: Michael C. Hall made the near-impossible jump from one highly successful series to another, only now he’s playing a lovable serial killer instead of a gay undertaker. This is one of those shows I hate to miss, and the new Blu-ray of the first season looks great and is packed with nifty features, including the first two episodes of the Steven Spielberg / Diablo Cody tv show The United States of Tara. I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series: Earlier this year Sony released a boxed set of I Dream of Jeannie, and it comes in a big purple bottle carrying case. That’s almost reason alone to pick this up. It’s the complete series, and features commentary from Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, and Bill Daily. This is one of my true guilty pleasures, and this is the first time I’m publically admitting it. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:00:53 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com12/19/2008 2:00:53 PMBecause there’s nothing like waiting until the last minute to do some holiday shopping, we’ve compiled this handy-dandy shopping guide to the best DVDs of 2008 that you can use now, or wait until the dust settles and clean up with any cash that Santa or Hanukkah Harry happened to leave you. It’s broken down by the person you’ll be shopping for to make things easier, even if that person happens to be yourself. When noted, we’ve picked the Blu-ray version over the standard definition, because we try to be all about 1080p and other technical terms whenever possible. But, the regular versions are just fine as well. Still, it’s true what they say: once you go HD you’ll never go back. The Superhero Fan Iron Man: In my opinion, this was a much better movie than The Dark Knight. Why? Because it nailed the whole comic book formula so well. This literally made me feel like I was back on my grandma’s summer porch reading a huge stack of comic books. Hancock: It was darker than the commercials let on, and Will Smith didn’t make his “concerned face” nearly as much as he does in Seven Pounds. That’s a plus that’s definitely not listed on the back of the DVD box. The Blu-ray version includes both the unrated and normal cuts of the flick, and also has producer Michael Mann popping up from time to time in the commentary. The Dark Knight: Even though I didn’t go bananas for it, this recently became the first Blu-ray DVD to sell a million copies. The best thing about the movie is Heath Ledger’s lip-smacking performance, and although the DVD lacks commentary from Christopher Nolan, it’s packed with enough extras to make you forget that. The Dreamer The Fall: This goes down as the most under-appreciated movie of the year. It’s part Princess Bride and part The Wizard of Oz, and is just incredibly gorgeous. Catinca Untaru, the little girl in the film, will charm your socks off, and the cinematography is stunning. It even features underwater shots of swimming elephants. Son of Rambow: This appeals to the filmmaker inside of all of us. It’s about a boy who has never seen movies before trying to make his own home video version of First Blood. It’s also a good way to jumpstart your own under-utilized imagination. Wall-E: Disney/Pixar’s robot-in-love story won’t just please any kids who happen to be within viewing range, adults will love it too. Plus you’ll be humming “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” from Hello, Dolly the rest of the day. The Drama Queen (or King) Juno: While I wouldn’t have thought that a movie about teenage pregnancy would end up being one of my favorite dramatic films from 2008, here it is. It retains all its charm on DVD, and adds a ton of special features like blog posts, screen tests, and the “Diablo Cody is Totally Boss” featurette. There Will Be Blood: I just watched this again last night, and I’m still amazed by what Paul Thomas Anderson can do with so little. There are scant few extra features on the DVD unfortunately, but there’s a great extended scene in the restaurant with Daniel and H.W. where Daniel Day Lewis cracks up at the end. That’s pure gold. How The West Was Won: Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart and John Wayne star in this sweeping Western epic. The first disc contains the movie formatted for regular television screens, but the second disc features the full three-camera Cinerama process, and they’ve digitally erased the lines between each image. While this really needs to be seen on a giant screen to be appreciated, it will look pretty darn good in your living room too. The Space and Fantasy Crowd CJ7: Stephen Chow’s slapstick comedy version of E.T. didn’t really connect with audiences over here, but it’s a really fun movie that deserves a second chance. Spielberg meets Wile E. Coyote is about the best way to describe this, with the touching story of a little boy (who is played by a girl) and her down on his luck father. Southland Tales: Yes, this movie is still a trainwreck, but what I can’t figure out is why it’s such a watchable trainwreck. With the new edition of the DVD out, writer/director Richard Kelly actually offers up a commentary track that leaves you even more perplexed. But for some reason, it’s impossible to turn this off and walk away. MirrorMask: Full disclosure: I actually did notes on the early drafts of scripts for this when I worked at Henson. It’s truly spectacular that Dave McKean was able to pull this off on a shoestring budget, and it’s a fantasy written by Neil Gaiman. Pure escapism and gorgeous visuals. The Election Buff JFK: New to Blu-ray this year was a special edition of Oliver Stone’s JFK in Warner’s “digibook” format that features the disc along with a slim book in one package. This director’s cut added 17 minutes of unused footage, a lot of special features, and it’s the perfect movie to herald the dawn of new hope with our new President-elect. While the film focuses on the assassination of Kennedy, it also shows the impact his presidency meant to people, and what drove one man to pursue justice to the brink. Nixon: Also new to Blu-ray in the hopes of capitalizing on an election year was Oliver Stone’s Nixon. Even the case for it shouts Election Year Edition on the front cover. But it adds more than a half hour of footage to the movie and includes great extras, like the documentary made by Stone’s son Sean called Beyond Nixon. I missed this in the theaters, and saw it this year for the first time and it did not disappoint. Recount: It’s hard to watch this HBO Films movie and not get angry while doing so. Yes, it’s been eight years since the election, but seeing this is like tearing the band-aid off a wound that’s almost closed. Kevin Spacey is really great in this, but it’s Laura Dern, as former Secretary of State for Florida Katherine Harris, who you’ll find yourself loving to hate . The Documentary Addict The Unforseen: This documentary screened at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and it’s an extremely impressive (and scary) look at the effects of land development on the watershed in an area of Austin, Texas. It’s both tragic and hopeful, and it’s coming out on DVD during the start of the U.S. recession, which can be blamed on poor real estate planning and development. Eerily timely. John Adams: This HBO miniseries is based on the David McCullough book of the same name and produced by HBO Films. While it might take a few liberties with creating historical dialogue, it’s a great way to learn about our nation’s history. Paul Giamatti really hits all the notes as Adams, and Tom Wilkinson is surprisingly perfect as Benjamin Franklin. Also includes a nice documentary about the author called Painting With Words. This American Life: This Showtime series based on the long-running radio show falls between entertainment and documentary. All of the stories are real, and they’re some of the most hilarious and moving things you’ll ever see. Episode four’s animated Chris Ware piece is worth the cost of the whole set alone. The Gamer WarGames: Yes, it’s an oldie. But the 25th (god, I’m old!) anniversary edition of this came out this year, and it’s bargain priced. It’s also been beautifully restore, and has never looked better. Toss in the fact that both Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick came back to do new interviews for this version, and it’s a perfect stocking stuffer. Tilt: The Battle To Save Pinball: I’ve written about this movie previously, but I can’t say enough good things about it. If you or someone you know loves pinball machines, you really can’t go wrong with this one. Just don’t complain when they ask for a full-sized machine of their very own next year. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters: Despite the controversy that swirls around it, this movie is so entertaining that I’ll usually end up watching the whole thing when I flip past it on cable, even though it’s sitting on a shelf a few feet away. It also cements Steve Wiebe in place as probably the nicest guy in the entire known universe. The Boxed Set Obsessetarian Casablanca: The Ultimate Collector’s Edition: Casablanca is probably one of my favorite films, and this edition is the ultimate for any movie geek. Not because the transfer is excellent and the sound pristine: it’s because it comes with a replica of the Letters of Transit! Now you too can pretend to be Peter Lorre and wheeze “Hide me, Reek!” to people. Okay, the movie is also gorgeous, too, and it’s been given the Blu-ray treatment. There’s also a great documentary here called Jack Warner: The Last Mogul. This is some good stuff. The Godfather Trilogy: The Coppola Restoration: The Godfather films have been released before on DVD, but this new set runs rings around it. Coppola called up Steven Spielberg when Viacom acquired Dreamworks, and asked him to let them release money for a Godfather restoration project. This is the end result, and it has been digitally restored and packed with amazing extras. A real gem. Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition: This boxed set features four of the best MST3K episodes, along with a 3-part documentary about the history of the show, as well as video coverage of the MST3K reunion panel from this year’s Comic-Con. Plus if you can find the limited edition version of this set in a collectible tin, it comes with a little Crow figurine. Rad. The Non-Tivo Owning TV Watcher Mad Men: If you think it’s impossible to like this show, then you need to head out and pick up the first season on DVD. It will definitely change your mind. You’ll either want to be Don Draper, or have sex with him. Just stay away from my Joan Holloway. The first season DVD includes commentary on all 13 episodes, and a nifty “Advertising and the American Dream” documentary. Dexter: Michael C. Hall made the near-impossible jump from one highly successful series to another, only now he’s playing a lovable serial killer instead of a gay undertaker. This is one of those shows I hate to miss, and the new Blu-ray of the first season looks great and is packed with nifty features, including the first two episodes of the Steven Spielberg / Diablo Cody tv show The United States of Tara. I Dream of Jeannie: The Complete Series: Earlier this year Sony released a boxed set of I Dream of Jeannie, and it comes in a big purple bottle carrying case. That’s almost reason alone to pick this up. It’s the complete series, and features commentary from Barbara Eden, Larry Hagman, and Bill Daily. This is one of my true guilty pleasures, and this is the first time I’m publically admitting it. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_Collaboration_Best_Films_of_2007/643/38246/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/11/2008 12:09:19 PM
Body: So here are my favorites, with my most favorites at the top: No Country for Old Men The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters For the Bible Tells Me So - pretty great documentary. Surprised I've never heard anyone mention it on any of the discussions here. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters - almost as long of a title as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Grindhouse Paris, je t'aime - this one made the film festival rounds in 2006 but didn't really get a wider theatrical release in the US until 2007 Rescue Dawn - same case as Paris, je t'aime Fay Grim - also the same case Honerable mention - Election Day - a lot of you probably haven't seen this but my girlfriend knows one of the producers and I saw a screening of it at the Gene Siskel center. Worth checking out. BTW, I have yet to see There Will Be Blood, but I can't doubt it will make my list.
]]>Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:09:19 GMTRisseladaCommunity Recommendations12/11/2008 12:09:19 PMSo here are my favorites, with my most favorites at the top: No Country for Old Men The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters For the Bible Tells Me So - pretty great documentary. Surprised I've never heard anyone mention it on any of the discussions here. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters - almost as long of a title as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Grindhouse Paris, je t'aime - this one made the film festival rounds in 2006 but didn't really get a wider theatrical release in the US until 2007 Rescue Dawn - same case as Paris, je t'aime Fay Grim - also the same case Honerable mention - Election Day - a lot of you probably haven't seen this but my girlfriend knows one of the producers and I saw a screening of it at the Gene Siskel center. Worth checking out. BTW, I have yet to see There Will Be Blood, but I can't doubt it will make my list. http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_Collaboration_Best_Films_of_2007/643/38187/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: dibot
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/10/2008 1:36:01 PM
Body: Many good films have been listed. My ulitmate favorite for 2007 is There Will Be Blood. But I have a few others: 1. 30 Days of Night 2. Black Snake Moan 3. Breach 4. Eastern Promises 5. Gone Baby Gone 6. La Vie En Rose 7. No Country for Old Men 8. Sunshine 9. The Mist 10. Waitress
]]>Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:36:01 GMTdibotCommunity Recommendations12/10/2008 1:36:01 PMMany good films have been listed. My ulitmate favorite for 2007 is There Will Be Blood. But I have a few others: 1. 30 Days of Night 2. Black Snake Moan 3. Breach 4. Eastern Promises 5. Gone Baby Gone 6. La Vie En Rose 7. No Country for Old Men 8. Sunshine 9. The Mist 10. Waitress http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_Collaboration_Best_Films_of_2007/643/37946/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: seely
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/4/2008 2:46:41 PM
Body: Thanks for reminding me about Michael Clayton--I forgot that was '07. I really enjoyed Clooney's performance, and the movie dealt with ethics in a very deep, real way without making everything obtusely black and white. But... Ocean's 13? Really? I liked the Ocean's series and the Rat Pack/heist flicks they harkened back to, but I thought this to be the weakest of the bunch with a scattered plot and what seemed like endless inside jokes delivered at a pace that left the audience trying to catch up through the entire film, and further obscured any attempts at humor or storyline. Maybe I'm just too slow for it :-) [quote user="SkyPilot"] I agree with a lot of picks from the other people. In no specific order, these are my favorites: 1. Ocean's 13 A heist film with a conscience. 2. Michael Clayton Deceit, courage, human connection, mission. 3. Eastern Promises A frightening gangster film that made London feel like a separate, exotic country. 4. Gone Baby Gone A private detective movie with a conscience. 5. Hot Fuzz Like Leeroy, I liked this one even more than Shaun of the Dead. 6. The Orphanage The closest I've ever come to screaming in the theater. 7. 3:10 to Yuma This really made me soul-search, and the ending leaves me breathless. 8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Like falling asleep from a flavorful and slow-acting poison. 9. No Country for Old Men Looks like 2007 was Year of the Western. 10. American Gangster Not perfect, but I thought it was intense and affecting. I'd like to include The Fall, This Is England, and Rescue Dawn,but Spout says they were made in 2006. Maybe they were released in the US in 2007, but I'm not sure. Movies that didn't quite make my Top 10: Persepolis, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and There Will Be Blood. The last one in particular is great, but after seeing it 3 times I won't need to see it again for a loooong time. [/quote]
]]>Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:46:41 GMTseelyCommunity Recommendations12/4/2008 2:46:41 PMThanks for reminding me about Michael Clayton--I forgot that was '07. I really enjoyed Clooney's performance, and the movie dealt with ethics in a very deep, real way without making everything obtusely black and white. But... Ocean's 13? Really? I liked the Ocean's series and the Rat Pack/heist flicks they harkened back to, but I thought this to be the weakest of the bunch with a scattered plot and what seemed like endless inside jokes delivered at a pace that left the audience trying to catch up through the entire film, and further obscured any attempts at humor or storyline. Maybe I'm just too slow for it :-) [quote user="SkyPilot"] I agree with a lot of picks from the other people. In no specific order, these are my favorites: 1. Ocean's 13 A heist film with a conscience. 2. Michael Clayton Deceit, courage, human connection, mission. 3. Eastern Promises A frightening gangster film that made London feel like a separate, exotic country. 4. Gone Baby Gone A private detective movie with a conscience. 5. Hot Fuzz Like Leeroy, I liked this one even more than Shaun of the Dead. 6. The Orphanage The closest I've ever come to screaming in the theater. 7. 3:10 to Yuma This really made me soul-search, and the ending leaves me breathless. 8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Like falling asleep from a flavorful and slow-acting poison. 9. No Country for Old Men Looks like 2007 was Year of the Western. 10. American Gangster Not perfect, but I thought it was intense and affecting. I'd like to include The Fall, This Is England, and Rescue Dawn,but Spout says they were made in 2006. Maybe they were released in the US in 2007, but I'm not sure. Movies that didn't quite make my Top 10: Persepolis, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and There Will Be Blood. The last one in particular is great, but after seeing it 3 times I won't need to see it again for a loooong time. [/quote] http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_Collaboration_Best_Films_of_2007/643/37944/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: csprague
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/4/2008 2:20:49 PM
Body: [quote user="SkyPilot"] I agree with a lot of picks from the other people. In no specific order, these are my favorites: 1. Ocean's 13 A heist film with a conscience. 2. Michael Clayton Deceit, courage, human connection, mission. 3. Eastern Promises A frightening gangster film that made London feel like a separate, exotic country. 4. Gone Baby Gone A private detective movie with a conscience. 5. Hot Fuzz Like Leeroy, I liked this one even more than Shaun of the Dead. 6. The Orphanage The closest I've ever come to screaming in the theater. 7. 3:10 to Yuma This really made me soul-search, and the ending leaves me breathless. 8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Like falling asleep from a flavorful and slow-acting poison. 9. No Country for Old Men Looks like 2007 was Year of the Western. 10. American Gangster Not perfect, but I thought it was intense and affecting. I'd like to include The Fall, This Is England, and Rescue Dawn,but Spout says they were made in 2006. Maybe they were released in the US in 2007, but I'm not sure. Movies that didn't quite make my Top 10: Persepolis, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and There Will Be Blood. The last one in particular is great, but after seeing it 3 times I won't need to see it again for a loooong time. [/quote] There Will Be Blood was great, but I don't really want to see it again if you know what I mean. It's not like a good friday night movie at all, unless you are feeling in a particularly dark mood, and maybe it's a terrible idea then too. I'm not sure what the proper mood or motivation to watch this movie would be. I eventually just bit the bullet and watched it. When it was over, I was tired and felt like a crazy person, but I loved it. So hard to explain. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the longest movie title in the world (I would actually really like to know what the longest movie title is). It's so hard to spit it out when people are like "what's good movie you've seen recently?" But, nonetheless, I do spit it out because it was beautiful and interesting and I loved the characters. Skypilot, how on earth did Hot Fuzz beat The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for your top ten? Were you just trying to be diverse in genre? I only say this because I think making a movie about a guy who can only communicate with one eye is incredibly difficult. I expected it to be the most arts, boring piece of crap I have ever seen. Ya know, the sterotypical french new wave kind of stuff that ends with "fin". But it wasn't, it was surprisingly human and colorful and full of life. It fits with something I read recently that "your plight is also your redemption". Good times.
]]>Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:20:49 GMTcspragueCommunity Recommendations12/4/2008 2:20:49 PM[quote user="SkyPilot"] I agree with a lot of picks from the other people. In no specific order, these are my favorites: 1. Ocean's 13 A heist film with a conscience. 2. Michael Clayton Deceit, courage, human connection, mission. 3. Eastern Promises A frightening gangster film that made London feel like a separate, exotic country. 4. Gone Baby Gone A private detective movie with a conscience. 5. Hot Fuzz Like Leeroy, I liked this one even more than Shaun of the Dead. 6. The Orphanage The closest I've ever come to screaming in the theater. 7. 3:10 to Yuma This really made me soul-search, and the ending leaves me breathless. 8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Like falling asleep from a flavorful and slow-acting poison. 9. No Country for Old Men Looks like 2007 was Year of the Western. 10. American Gangster Not perfect, but I thought it was intense and affecting. I'd like to include The Fall, This Is England, and Rescue Dawn,but Spout says they were made in 2006. Maybe they were released in the US in 2007, but I'm not sure. Movies that didn't quite make my Top 10: Persepolis, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and There Will Be Blood. The last one in particular is great, but after seeing it 3 times I won't need to see it again for a loooong time. [/quote] There Will Be Blood was great, but I don't really want to see it again if you know what I mean. It's not like a good friday night movie at all, unless you are feeling in a particularly dark mood, and maybe it's a terrible idea then too. I'm not sure what the proper mood or motivation to watch this movie would be. I eventually just bit the bullet and watched it. When it was over, I was tired and felt like a crazy person, but I loved it. So hard to explain. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is the longest movie title in the world (I would actually really like to know what the longest movie title is). It's so hard to spit it out when people are like "what's good movie you've seen recently?" But, nonetheless, I do spit it out because it was beautiful and interesting and I loved the characters. Skypilot, how on earth did Hot Fuzz beat The Diving Bell and the Butterfly for your top ten? Were you just trying to be diverse in genre? I only say this because I think making a movie about a guy who can only communicate with one eye is incredibly difficult. I expected it to be the most arts, boring piece of crap I have ever seen. Ya know, the sterotypical french new wave kind of stuff that ends with "fin". But it wasn't, it was surprisingly human and colorful and full of life. It fits with something I read recently that "your plight is also your redemption". Good times. http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_Collaboration_Best_Films_of_2007/643/37929/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: SkyPilot
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/4/2008 12:01:28 PM
Body: I agree with a lot of picks from the other people. In no specific order, these are my favorites: 1. Ocean's 13 A heist film with a conscience. 2. Michael Clayton Deceit, courage, human connection, mission. 3. Eastern Promises A frightening gangster film that made London feel like a separate, exotic country. 4. Gone Baby Gone A private detective movie with a conscience. 5. Hot Fuzz Like Leeroy, I liked this one even more than Shaun of the Dead. 6. The Orphanage The closest I've ever come to screaming in the theater. 7. 3:10 to Yuma This really made me soul-search, and the ending leaves me breathless. 8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Like falling asleep from a flavorful and slow-acting poison. 9. No Country for Old Men Looks like 2007 was Year of the Western. 10. American Gangster Not perfect, but I thought it was intense and affecting. I'd like to include The Fall, This Is England, and Rescue Dawn,but Spout says they were made in 2006. Maybe they were released in the US in 2007, but I'm not sure. Movies that didn't quite make my Top 10: Persepolis, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and There Will Be Blood. The last one in particular is great, but after seeing it 3 times I won't need to see it again for a loooong time.
]]>Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:01:28 GMTSkyPilotCommunity Recommendations12/4/2008 12:01:28 PMI agree with a lot of picks from the other people. In no specific order, these are my favorites: 1. Ocean's 13 A heist film with a conscience. 2. Michael Clayton Deceit, courage, human connection, mission. 3. Eastern Promises A frightening gangster film that made London feel like a separate, exotic country. 4. Gone Baby Gone A private detective movie with a conscience. 5. Hot Fuzz Like Leeroy, I liked this one even more than Shaun of the Dead. 6. The Orphanage The closest I've ever come to screaming in the theater. 7. 3:10 to Yuma This really made me soul-search, and the ending leaves me breathless. 8. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Like falling asleep from a flavorful and slow-acting poison. 9. No Country for Old Men Looks like 2007 was Year of the Western. 10. American Gangster Not perfect, but I thought it was intense and affecting. I'd like to include The Fall, This Is England, and Rescue Dawn,but Spout says they were made in 2006. Maybe they were released in the US in 2007, but I'm not sure. Movies that didn't quite make my Top 10: Persepolis, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and There Will Be Blood. The last one in particular is great, but after seeing it 3 times I won't need to see it again for a loooong time. http://www.spout.com/groups/Community_Recommendations/Re_Collaboration_Best_Films_of_2007/643/37895/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: rjsprague
Post To: Community Recommendations
Post Date: 12/3/2008 2:49:10 PM
Body: Much to my shame I have not watched The Darjeeling Limited yet. In fact I've not seen a number of these films. I suck at this. I watched Juno, and while I enjoyed it, I also felt it lacked... candor. I still need to see No Country for Old Men, but something's been holding me back, and also There Will Be Blood seems to continue to escape my radar. I have heard great things about both of these films. Thanks for the picks Leeroy. It looks like we've got some work to do to figure out what films to keep and which to leave out. :)
]]>Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:49:10 GMTrjspragueCommunity Recommendations12/3/2008 2:49:10 PMMuch to my shame I have not watched The Darjeeling Limited yet. In fact I've not seen a number of these films. I suck at this. I watched Juno, and while I enjoyed it, I also felt it lacked... candor. I still need to see No Country for Old Men, but something's been holding me back, and also There Will Be Blood seems to continue to escape my radar. I have heard great things about both of these films. Thanks for the picks Leeroy. It looks like we've got some work to do to figure out what films to keep and which to leave out. :) http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/murder/MemberTagFilms.aspxmurder
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