The Terminal

Great movie, might even say it was excellent. Aside from the awkward romance it's an interesting comedy-drama.

Non-Stop

There are some movies that get better after you've finished watching them, and have time to contemplate them. Non-Stop is the opposite. While watching it, I thought it was a top-notch thriller. It was only afterward, when I had time to actually think about the movie, that I started to see its issues. The motivations of certain characters in certain situations are a little unintelligible. There are a few plot holes. The climax is just silly (although to be fair, not to the extent of the similar airplane thriller, Red Eye). Still, as a thriller, it nails the essential bits. The pacing is sharp, and it keeps you guessing and on edge. And, of course, it has Liam Neeson doing his Liam Neeson routine, which is always worth the price of admission.

I enjoyed it. If you're looking for a thriller that gets the job done, it's not a bad choice. Just don't expect a masterpiece.

Could Atlas

It's about peoples' lives being connected with and influencing each other across time, starting in the early 1800's and ending in the 24th century. The stories are told in a non-linear way with the scenes switching between storylines, so you need to stay focused as it's like watching six films at once. It's also a rather long film (almost three hours), so plan accordingly.


Quite late, but I couldn't resist replying - the whole concept was hilarious and I enjoyed it very much. I'm no fan of Tom Hanks but The Terminal is one of the very few films of his that I like.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

I'm of the opinion that good art can generally transcend time and culture, but at the same time, there are very few serious films from the 40s and earlier that I can say I genuinely appreciate. Casablanca is one. I think it genuinely holds up today when it comes to the essentials, barring some of the expected cheesiness and over-playing.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, however, didn't do it for me. It was too steeped in all the inanities of its particular era of film making, lacking both coherency and believable character behavior, and anything resembling subtlety or finesse. The music is likewise just as over-blown as you would expect, and does its best to pummel the potential out of any scene that wasn't already ruined by the aforementioned 1940s silliness. But that's not why I didn't like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. I could have overlooked those things if it was actually interesting. But to me, it wasn't, and I think that's entirely due to it not focusing on the more intriguing, character-driven portions of its narrative.

There's a scene about 3/4ths of the way through the movie where Bogart and Tim Holt (who actually did a pretty darn good job with his role) are sitting at a campfire talking. The conversation gradually turns into an argument, then an all-out fight, ending with Bogart saying menacingly "I'll bet you a hundred thousands dollars (the amount of gold they are carrying) you fall asleep before me." THAT is interesting. That's what the entire movie should have been. The motivations and interests of the three characters clashing in increasingly aggressive ways, leading to the climax. In reality, it's a few such scenes, interspersed with other scenes that don't really take the story or characters anywhere. And nothing Bogart or anyone else does feels like the natural conclusion of a psychological journey--rather, their actions and reactions feel like the scatter-shot whims of a scriptwriter with a vague idea of where he was going, but no idea how to get there in a logical fashion.

There's another scene maybe half way through, where our three protagonists are deciding what to do about another man that's tracked them to their camp and is demanding an equal share of the prospecting. They decide to kill him. And right as they level their guns at him and prepare to shoot, they are attacked by bandits. During the ensuing firefight, the man is killed. They examine his body, and find (and read aloud) a letter from his wife.

It's supposed to be an emotional scene, but to me, it was a criminally wasted opportunity. If only those darn bandits hadn't shown up. But they do show up, saving the movie from the burden of interesting character development. And after the requisite sobbing music and haunted looks, the characters go back to acting as if nothing had happened. In many ways, I think this scene sums up my issues with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. And intriguing premise that ultimately--due to its era, its script, or maybe both--fails to deliver what it implicitly promises.

Captain Phillips.

Somalis pirates board the Alabama cargo ship and take the Cap' (Tom Hanks) hostage.

I had conflicting emotions throughout. Terrifying for the crew of the Alabama, their fear was well portrayed. I then felt overwhelming sympathy for the Somali pirates and the communities they live in. When a child holds a loaded gun before a rattle, what chance do they have?

Noah!

Outstanding

I know. That movie was amazing, for that very reason. They way all those conflicting emotions came to a head at the climax was just incredible. I don't remember being that emotionally effected by a thriller in... well... ever.

And Hanks' scene afterward was amazing as well.

The Stuff

It's a nice goofy B-movie from the 80's. It's on Netflix if I'm not mistaken.

My sympathy stemmed from comparing the social, economic, relative wealth (compared to Somalia) and safety that I was born in to with the war torn, desperate, frightening and corrupt conditions Somalis were born in to. To me, it seems pretty cold to just blame them for having guns without looking at the wider picture.

Also, who sells the guns? They're not manufactured locally, so someone is making a tidy profit without any sense of guilt or responsibility.

The final hypocrisy is how little political intervention there has been from elsewhere bearing in mind the reaction of the West to events in Iraq and now Ukraine.

My intention is not to hammer 1st world nations. They did what they had to do to protect one of their own. I just wanted to communicate how I felt throughout the film.

***SPOILER COMING UP***

Towards the end of the film was the powerful image of US warships, air-support and sophisticated weaponry costing billions vs 3 malnourished, scared, desperate Somalis in a tiny vessel holding black market guns.

Prisoners (2013)

Didn't think much of it when I read the description though it turned out to be a lot more interesting and the whole movie reminded me a little of Spoorloos ( Vanished 1988).
Excellent acting by Jake Gylenhaal by the way, even though initially I thought he was miscast but I turned out to be wrong.
There were some things I couldn't quite follow though but that might become clear when I rewatch this some day.

Favourites:
The place promised in our early days
5 centimeters per second
Mononoke-hime
Perfect Blue
Adam's Apples
I'm a cyborg, but that's ok
The Fountain
The thin red line
Into the wild
Batman - The Dark Knight
Iron Sky
Ip-Man
The Big Lebowski
Inception
Memento
The Machinist
Once upon a time in the west

Last one seen:
Porco Rosso

My whole appartment is arranged to be a comfortable home cinema although it has only 29,5m² space, so choosing some in my huge collection is rather hard.

The Boondock Saints

Basically garbage, but weirdly compelling garbage. Stylish, even, if souless, ridiculous, and borderline socipathic can be considered components of style. Alternately brutal, comically over-the-top--satirical, and deadly serious--it seems to have been cobbled together from all the worst parts of Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, channeling both the bizarre charm of "so bad its good" cinema and the cold sense of inhumanity that hard boiled action films tend to err towards. No sense of tonal consistency, no sense of appropriate gravitas to complement its violence, and characters that were, with the exception of Dafoe's cartoonish scenery-chewing FBI agent, unbelievably flat and lifeless.

I did kind of enjoy it, perhaps because it's so weirdly flawed. The shootout in the middle of the street, in particular--a nirvana of utter filmmaking ridiculousness if there ever was one. I'd sooner watch it again than the similarly bi-polar (and, in my opinion, extremely overrated) 'The Untouchables.' And there were a few moments that felt genuinely inspired. But, at the same time, I agree wholeheartedly with the Rotten Tomatoes critical summary: "A juvenile, ugly movie that represents the worst tendencies of directors channeling Tarantino."

Yes! I love this movie! I think it is really underrated. Hanks and Halle Berry put in very good performances in the movie. It probably puts some people off though because of the length (~3 Hours)

A movie I really enjoyed was Django Unchained.
Dicaprio, Fox, and OMG Cristoph Waltz. After this movie, I formally got a man crush on Waltz. He put in a FANTASTIC performance and totally manages to sell his character.

Inglourious Basterds - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I'm a fan of the Quentin Tarantino films and this didn't disappoint. One character, Colonel Hans Landa was brilliantly acted by Christoph Waltz...it's worth watching just for him.