Friday, August 28, 2009

inglorious basterds

Quentin Tarantino - 2009

I didn't see either of the Kill Bill movies, and I thought that Jackie Brown was lame. But I loved Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs and absolutely loved this. It's a more mature, and yet still fun and interesting, film. I'm a big structure fan and I love a 5 act structure - my only venture into screenplay writing included a 5 act structure. The acting was amazing, and the opening - with the music, cinematography and pacing - is sublime.

tropic thunder

Ben Stiller - 2008

Absolutely hilarious.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

brokeback mountain

Ang Lee - 2005

I love Ang Lee (The Ice Storm is one of my all-time favorites), and had only seen this once before. First off - the cinematography and pacing are amazing. It's slow, it uses every last bit of that huge Wyoming sky. Heath Ledger builds his character so well, so gracefully. He is this generations James Dean.

Ang Lee really has a thing for America - in The Ice Storm he shows you the beautiful rural/suburban Connecticut that I remember from growing up (and look for Katie Holmes in one of her best roles!), in Brokeback he shows the beautiful landscape of Wyoming. It's interesting, when the story goes to Texas for Jack's scenes, he doesn't show any landscape. The only landscape that matters is the one they share, in Wyoming.

air force one

Wolfgang Petersen - 1997

Harrison Ford - hey wow.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

factory girl

George Hickenlooper - 2006

Sad. Andy Warhol was kind of an ass hole.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

avenue montaigne

Daniele Thompson - 2006

Sydney Pollack was a great surprise in this French film. Miss him, he was so great both in front and behind the camera. Not a lot to this one, but I enjoyed it even so.

finding nemo

Andrew Stanton - 2003

Always good. Not so hot on the jellyfish scene.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

funny people

Judd Apatow - 2009

Actually a very sad film, and not for the ways you'd think. Heartwrenching. This is the film he'd always wanted to make - and I'm really glad he did.

casino

Martin Scorsese - 1995

Always amazing.

horton hears a who

Jimmy Heyward - 2008

funny.