28 March, 2010

Amusement

Once again, I've fallen behind in my reviewing/providing snarky, short descriptions of the films I've seen. The following films will receive painfully short descriptions, so that I might get a bit caught up on the over fifty films I've yet to post. Here goes:

Tale of Cinema
South Korean Director Hong Sangsoo's 6th feature film, Tale of Cinema, is an engaging film that, like all of Hong's work, features a simple plot and complex characterization. It's also very good.

Vampires
What can I say about John Carpenter's Vampires? It's enjoyable if one has been drinking. Heavily.

Days of Being Wild
Wong Kar-wai's first foray into cinematic romance. Few films have captured love and it's pangs as beatifully as Wong's second feature, and of those few films, most were directed by Wong.

Dreams may come
Little happens in director/actress/super-blogger Xu Jinglei's third feature, but the conversation between the two main characters that comprises the film is far more insightful than the premise would suggest. A wonderful film, from an incredible director.

Woman Is the Future of Man
The fifth film from Director Hong Sangsoo, Woman Is the Future of Man is what one would expect from Hong, a great film that affects more than seems possible.

Police, adjective
A Romanian film about choices. One of my favorite films of 2009.

Yesterday
An unispired serial killer/sci-fi flick that manages to entertain, despite being somewhat convoluted.

Avatar
A waste of time and money.

Nightwatch
Danish Director Ole Bornedal's American remake of his Danish film, Nattevagten. A decent horror flick that fails to impress as much as the original.

Nattevagten
Shocking and frightening, Bornedal's original Nightwatch film, Nattevagten, is one of the finest horror films created.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
A great black comedy from Romania about healthcare that goes beyond complaining and points out the ugly side of humanity.

À bout de souffle
Jean-Luc Godard's first and finest film, À bout de souffle (a.k.a. Breathless) helped usher in La Nouvelle Vague, and showed audiences that all one needs for a good story, is a girl and a gun. A great director doesn't hurt.

Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa's samurai epic. Duh.

Scandal
Like much of Kurosawa's work, Scandal was astonishing upon it's release, and still is today.

I Live In Fear
Kurosawa's film about living in fear of nuclear holocaust is 55 years old, and, like Scandal, still terribly relevant.

The Idiot
Akira Kurosawa's filmic version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot is, much like the source material, a great work. Unfortunately, the studio cut the 265 mintue film down to 166 minutes, and the missing 99 minutes are most likely lost forever.

Thirst
Bong Joon-ho's vampiric drama is one of the best vampire films ever made, and one of my favorite films from 2009.

The Substitute
An excellent horror-drama from Danish Director Ole Bornedal.

Fong Sai-yuk
Classic Hong Kong Cinema.

Next time, I'll share my thoughts on a few films that I'm looking forward to seeing.

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