Adrian wrote:I'm forgetting Mateo Gil's Blackthorn (2011) which also deserves a mention.Was just about to come here to day that this was, with the exception of a single scene, one of the worst films I've ever seen, like in my top five worst films.Walking and Talking was pretty good though, if you like Nicole Holofcener's films.

Robert G wrote:I recently got to see Tarkovsky's The Mirror here in Cleveland at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. An aquintance of mine who studies film was also there, and when she and I were walking out, she was in a zone, as apparently she saw The Tree of Life not long ago and just realized that, to her anyway, the latter is an homage to the former.So jealous. Mirror is my favorite movie. I can sorta see the influence on Tree of Life, but ToL looks pretty hollow to me if you compare the two. I liked the odd structure of the film and the relationship of the main character to his overbearing father, but ToL has a lot of hokey, overblown invoking of The Lord, lots of gimmicky quick editing, and cliched religious imagery that looked like it came from an ad for Viagra. Tarkovsky, by contrast, seems to understand in every way how to navigate dark, strange, tragic, beautiful, and completely unmappable emotional landscapes. Even though his film is supposed to be about one person's memories, the worlds of everyone he remembers is completely tied into his own. It's like they're all one person, no one the protagonist. I think it speaks loads that, despite being farther removed from the world of Mirror, I still find way more there that resonates with me than in ToL.I just saw Paris is Burning yesterday. It was good.

I have been watching the older titles in the catalog of Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio headed by Hayato Miyazaki. So far, I've watched Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro. These films, they are so good.

Red Square wrote:Robert G wrote:I have been watching the older titles in the catalog of Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio headed by Hayato Miyazaki. So far, I've watched Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro. These films, they are so good.Castle In The Sky is one of my favorites, Totoro is also excellent...The Keiko and I just watched Arietty recently. It was probably my least favorite Miyazaki movie, which is to say it was ok. I used to have a roommate who own some crazy collection box set of his work, and it had one Ive been meaning to hunt down again. I cant remember the title, but it was about a village of raccoons trying to save their forest from construction. And they had magical powers that mostly involved their balls. Like inflating their balls and flying around on them. I dont recall any raccoon vagina magic.

Finally saw the unedited Major Dundee.Not crap, but hardly great. Some bad actors, music, and voice-over nonsense; but Heston, Harris, RG Armstrong, Oates and the rest of Peckinpah's regulars were tops.Seems like this film was a warm-up for ideas he used in the middle section of Wild Bunch.

Watched The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover last night and was nearly in tears twice during. Man, what a film. Helen Mirren is sublime and Michael Gambon is incredible. The whole film is flawless.

I think God's Angry Man by Herzog, which I just watched, was pretty incredible. Like an Errol Morris Doc x10

caset wrote:I used to have a roommate who own some crazy collection box set of his work, and it had one Ive been meaning to hunt down again. I cant remember the title, but it was about a village of raccoons trying to save their forest from construction. And they had magical powers that mostly involved their balls. Like inflating their balls and flying around on them. I dont recall any raccoon vagina magic.POM POKO!AKA Heisei Tanuki Gassen Ponpoko.Tanuki in the 1960s.I think it was just a Ghibli production, not an actual Miyazaki flick, but it's been ages since I saw it.

Senna.I don't have a great deal of interest in formula 1 but this plays out with an oddly strong 'narrative' for a documentary. It gets pretty tense in the build up to the incident.All surprisingly gripping and pretty moving at times.

Robert G wrote:I have been watching the older titles in the catalog of Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation studio headed by Hayato Miyazaki. So far, I've watched Castle in the Sky and My Neighbor Totoro. These films, they are so good.Castle In The Sky is one of my favorites, Totoro is also excellent...