Rach's Media Opinions

New Format! Woo Hoo!

2010-03-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

Hey ramblers!
So, with the new template designer in blogger, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and mix my blog up a bit. I think it's a little lighter and makes much better use of the space.

Whaddya think?
Any complaints, comments, suggestions?

Pretty please?

Lusty, Lewd, Lollygagging Lists of Enlightenment

2010-03-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

New segment! Woop woop! Put your hands in the air, Yo!
This one is clearly my list segment. I love reading lists, so I figured it was about time I started making them. The reason these are Lists of Enlightenment is simply because they are constructed using only my opinions, thoughts and feelings. As such, they may enlighten my readers to various aspects of my personality that would otherwise have remained unknown. So, today’s list is:

Top 5 Movies to Turn me into a Snivelling, Slushy Bag of Sap
That’s right, these are the movies to remind the world (and myself) that I am a woman and actually quite capable of being reduced to a giggling ball of fairy floss as well as a sobbing mess.

5. Pride and Prejudice
The BBC series, not the Keira Knightley, “didn’t really need to be made and really wasn’t as good” number. I know it’s technically not a movie but I could care less. Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy *sigh* *swoon* *sigh*.

4. JSA: Joint Security Area
No, this isn’t a girly movie, but my reaction was. At the point where I realised how this was going to end, I got quite upset. When it finally happened, I wept. I’m not ashamed, it was a magnificent film and I’m glad to still be affected in this way. So there :P

3. Love Actually
This movie is played every Christmas and every time it comes on I get a big ol’ smile on my face and say “I looove that moooovieee!”. I blame Colin Firth and Liam Neeson. And possibly Bill Nighy just a bit ;)

2. My Sassy Girl
This movie made me laugh, cry, laugh again, and go “Awwwwwww! That’s so sweeeeeeet!” (pitch should increase to the level of squeaking). And I finished on more tears. Then I watched it again with my Mother, and I still teared up. It just rocks so much :)

1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Yeah, this film destroyed me. If you need more details, go here. I’m not explaining it again.

So that’s my list. Let the ribbing begin…

del.icio.us Tags: Movies,girlie,crying,sweet,sad,funny,Colin Firth

Actors FTW!!! Song Kang-ho

2010-03-17T07:48:00.001-07:00

Hello peoples :)

I’m starting to get my shit together a little here at RMO and I’m starting to set up some regular segments (mostly so that I have something to fall back on when writers block hits). I started earlier with the new segment “Movies to Grow Up On” and now I’m starting “Actors FTW”. In this segment I plan to outline an actor that I have recently been impressed with and the movies that acquainted me with said actor. Today is Song Kang-ho.

Song Kang-ho is a South Korean actor that I first saw in The Host. I really enjoyed that film and the simple yet utterly devoted father played by Song is one of the reasons. His goofiness is perfectly balanced, as is his desperate need to find his daughter. This was actually the very South Korean film I had ever seen. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was onto a good thing.

From there, I found him again in Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. Considered the calmer of Parks Vengeance Trilogy (see my review here) I enjoyed this film nonetheless. His part wasn’t spectacularly huge though so I’ll move on. Straight after watching Sympathy for Lady Vengeance I watched Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, which is backwards but I’m glad I watched it in that order. Song’s performance in that film is just brilliant. He demonstrates the lengths a father will go to to have his child returned to him, and the actions he might take if that doesn’t happen.

At this point, I started my 4 Week Subtitle Sensation and was really pleased that a few of the films I watched in that time had Song Kang-ho in them. I won’t go through all of them, but the titles and the order I watched was JSA: Joint Security Area, Thirst, Memories of Murder, and Shiri. All of those titles are brilliant, but I feel the need to draw attention to Memories of Murder. Not only are the performances fantastic, but it’s as Coffin Jon of the VCinema Podcast pointed out to me, its an awesome retelling of Moby Dick.

So if you haven’t seen any of Song Kang-ho’s work, I strongly suggest you go looking. Meanwhile, I’m going to continue to hunt down the rest of his films :)

He not too shabby on the eyes either. Just sayin’…

del.icio.us Tags: actors,Song Kang-ho,Thirst,Sympathy For Mr Vengeance,The Host,Korea

Movies to Grow Up to – The Battle for Endor

2010-03-10T05:27:00.001-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been inspired. The source of that inspiration? The Gentlemen’s Guide to Midnight Cinema podcast.
“Oh,” you might be thinking, “we don’t need any of THAT sort of inspiration here.”
But it’s totally not what you’d think! And besides, they weren’t responsible for any of that nasty salsa waffles business anyway.*

It just so happens that I was a-listening to the GGtMC’s most recent podcast and the topic got onto what movies The Samurai intends on showing the new edition to his family (Mrs Samurai is expecting! FTW!!). It got me thinking about the films that helped me grow into the she-geek extraordinaire you see before you. Now that I’m 30, you see, I feel I’m allowed to say things like “you know what’s wrong with kids these days?” I also feel like the answer of “they watch the wrong movies” is actually a pretty good one.

So I’ve decided to start going through the old movies I used to watch repeatedly as a youngster. I plan to make this a regular feature. Hopefully I can give some future parents some ideas, or at least get some nostalgia juices flowing. Yes, I know what I just said there…

The first film I’m going to talk about is the result of yet another twitter conversation. I recently mentioned the term Caravan of Courage and was immediately rewarded with recognition by Emily, creator and owner of the XTREEEEEM Deadly Dolls House of Horror Nonsense. Yeah. She cool, yo’. She then reminded me of the other Ewok title.

The Battle for Endor

This film is the sequel to The Caravan of Courage. It centres around Cindel, the little blonde girl with the ace headband and totally rad curly hair, and Wicket W. Warrick, Ewok. The basic story is a group of nasty marauders led by King Terak and the witch Charal attack the Ewok village, killing Cindel’s family (thank God, that snarky teen brother is infuriating) and capturing the Ewoks. Cindel and Wicket escape and manage to find the only other human on the planet, Noah. Noah also has a funny, furry friend named Teek (not an Ewok). They join forces to defeat the baddies and save the other Ewoks.

*Smile* I love this movie. It’s dodgy as all bollocks. The acting is absurd, the dialogue more wooden than Keanu Reeves and somehow Wicket can talk, which is funny because this supposedly takes place before Jedi where he meets Leia and can’t understand English. But Teek is disgustingly cute with a spectacularly addictive giggle and the monsters are genuinely monstery. Not the sanitized, plastic attempts at scary you get in kids films today (sans Pixar). On top of that, you’ve gotta admire Warwick Davis and Niki Botelho. Both of them ran around in the summer wearing teddy-bear suits. Forget. That.

*Sigh* Meeeemoriiiies. Light the cooorners of my miiind…

* Not for public consumption.

del.icio.us Tags: GGtMC,nostalgia,Ewoks,Caravan of Courage,The Battle for Endor,Star Wars,Deadly Dolls

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2010-03-06T07:06:00.001-08:00

Hey champs, fiends, and inbetweenies, I’m done with discussing the cowardice of anonymous commenting and I’m back to reviewing movies from my 4 Week Subtitle Sensation.

First off, my review of I’m a Cyborg But That’s OK is up on (Cool)Shite. Go check out the review and then watch the film because it is awesome :)

Secondly, here’s my review of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I’ve posted it on here because this review is going to go into a little detail on some personal experiences of mine, so I decided it should probably stay on my personal movie blog. I guess I should warn you that if you’re looking for a clinical, intellectual or unemotional review, you’re reading the wrong blog but I will break it up.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly tells the story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, French a journalist who was the editor of Elle magazine until he suffered a massive stroke. The stroke leaves him with a condition known as locked-in syndrome, where he is completely self-aware but paralysed and unable to speak. Through the patience and encouragement of a brilliant speech therapist, Bauby learns to communicate by blinking his one functioning eye as she reads reads a list of letters to spell out his messages. As a well respected journalist, Bauby had already signed a contract with a publishing firm for a book deal. In a pretty incredible act of faith the firm agrees to send a secretary to take dictation, allowing Bauby to write his book.

Intellectual Side

The direction of this film is superb. At the beginning of the film we are restricted to seeing what is happening through Bauby’s eyes. We hear what he is thinking in response to the people speaking to him, but the camera only moves with Bauby’s good eye and we experience his frustration at being unable to communicate or move. It’s not until Bauby himself begins to look beyond his loss and see his future that we as an audience are allowed to do the same.

From then we see the writing of the book juxtaposed with Bauby’s memories, his recollections and regrets. We see him find similarities in others who find themselves “locked-in” to their situation, and we see him attempt to reconnect to his family. The movie flows perfectly from the writing to the story being written about and back again. It never feels heavy-handed nor sappy, but if you don’t find yourself moved then I would seriously consider checking your pulse. You could be a cyborg.

Emotional Side

I remember when this film was release in Australia. I didn’t go and see it in the cinema and I have to say, I’m pretty glad about that. I’m also glad my friends and family didn’t go and see it. You see, about a month before the Australian release of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Dec 2007) I suffered an intracranial brain haemorrhage, otherwise known as a brain bleed. I experienced aphasia (couldn’t speak) and lost all feeling to the right side of my body. At the time of its actual release I was in a rehabilitation hospital. I heard about it because my speech therapist was going to see it.

That was 2 years ago (last November). It didn’t take long for me to start speaking again, nor did it take long for me to walk again, but the feeling of not being able to do those things is not something you forget. Consequently, watching this film was like a rollercoaster for me. About 20 minutes in, I fell to pieces, put myself back together again, fell to pieces again, and so on. And the ending completely destroyed me. The imagery of the diving bell that is used when Bauby is feeling completely isolated is just striking. Likewise when he has his awakening of sorts and starts embrace his rehabilitation (the first of my little breakdowns), the depiction of the honest, human therapists who are genuinely concerned with his wellbeing reminded me of the people who helped me.

I found that the true brilliance of this film was in the small details. Things like the awkwardness of some visitors who couldn’t quite hide their grief, the well-meaning staff turning the television off, or the person who should have come to visit but couldn’t handle seeing him in his weakened state (there’s some contention about whether that actually happened, but I didn’t know that when I was blubbering into my puppy).

I guess what I’m trying to say is that this film is pretty damn real and heart-wrenchingly honest.

And if you or anyone close to you has ever had a brain injury, get ready for a shit-storm.

Dear Anonymous...

2010-03-05T05:44:00.001-08:00

Hi pets.
As a lot of my regular readers (and twitter followers) know, this blog hit a spectacular milestone today. That’s right, I received my very first idiotic, narrow-minded comment from Anonymous. It’s on the post directly after this one, but so that you don’t have to leave this page to see what it says, here it is:
I was so excited. As a horror/exploitation/art-house/foreign film blogger, you aren’t important until someone thinks you’re disgusting. It turns out that Anonymous had tried to post the same comment on the review of Deadgirl I posted on (Cool)Shite. Knowing that at least explains where the points in the comment are from. It’s still idiotic and narrow-minded, but at least I can see what movie brought it on.

The post started receiving support comments (all of whom identified themselves) and talked with a lot of people on twitter and there was a couple of things that became clear. Firstly, Anonymous is a self-righteous coward, secondly, as a woman I feel obliged to answer the charge that people who watch horror films like Deadgirl think rape is sexy or get enjoyment from witnessing violence against women. I’m not going to waste time defending my review. I used to have a t-shirt that said “Sarcasm is just one of the services I offer”. Maybe I should add that to my bio on (Cool)Shite. Obviously Anonymous has no sense of humour though, so I don’t think I’ll bother.

So Anonymous thinks horror films like Deadgirl, Martyrs, or Irreversible glorify violence against women and that people who watch them find rape sexy. I have some questions for you, Anonymous. Firstly, are you trying to tell me that the film industry should not portray rape or assault? Or that people should not choose to watch these films? Why? Is it so the existence of unpretty or unhappy things can easily be forgotten or denied? Perhaps it’s so that people who experience these nasty things will think they’re the only ones and keep their mouths shut?

What about movies like Iron Jawed Angels? That’s the movie about a group of uppity birds thinking they had the right to vote (FYI – sarcasm). You know the one, where the women get sent to a work camp so they declare a hunger strike and get force-fed. The force-feeding scenes are pretty horrific, best if we shield the worlds eyes from such nastiness. Nevermind that it’s a true story and an integral step in the Equal Rights movement. After all, sexual assault is true and real but you obviously don’t approve of it being made a public issue.

Knowledge is power. It’s a cliché but, like most clichés, its quite true. One of the greatest barriers stopping victims of assault (domestic, sexual, any really) from coming forward is that they lack the knowledge that they aren’t alone. They aren’t aware that the world knows it happens and that there is help available. They also lack the encouragement and inspiration to do what is required to free themselves f rom their isolation. There’s a fabulous singer named Tori Amos who was sexually assaulted after a gig just before she started making albums. Her first solo album Little Earthquakes contains the song Me and a Gun, an a cappella number describing her assault. She then went on to co-found RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) and went on a year-long campaign called, wait for it, “Unlock the Silence”.

And so, Anonymous, I throw your charges back at you. The only intelligent reason I can think of to ban movies with assault is to hide it’s existence. The only reason to disparage those watching it is to encourage ignorance. If you don’t like watching horror films, then don’t watch. If you have the opinion that they shouldn’t be made, then stand up.

I’m not just speaking to the coward who posted the above comment, I’m talking to anybody who has ever posted an abusive comment and hidden behind Anonymous. You call me and mine pathetic, at least we have identities. If you have an opinion, stand the fuck up and own it.

Get on twitter and discuss it.
Email me and explain yourself.
Otherwise, shut up and fuck off.

From here on in, any comments posted under Anonymous will be deleted for being gutless. Only identities can have opinions here.

Love,
Rach

Update – The Exceptional

2010-03-01T02:32:00.000-08:00

Hello again! I’ve managed to find myself with my laptop and no TV, so I’ve resolved to get as much writing done as possible. Right now I’m on a train on my way to Kalgoorlie.

My last post went through some of the great films I’ve been watching as part of my 4 Week Subtitle Sensation. In this post I’m going to go through some of the exceptional films I’ve been watching. These are films I recommend everyone watch, though I’ll mention which are horror (not everyone enjoys horror).

Attack the Gas Station
Hilarious! It’s like a Korean Airheads, but with less reason and more madness! Everyone needs to see this film. Everyone :)

Audition
*Shudder* Whooee. There isn’t much I can say about this film without spoiling it, but I want to advise that it’s pretty much the slowest burn to ever stay alight, so give it a chance.

Inside
Horror, and then some! Almost too realistic. It’s quite possible to imagine the events of this film playing out exactly.

JSA: Joint Security Area
Oh God, that was so sad. You can see what’s going to happen, but you have to wait the whole film to learn exactly how. I was distraught afterwards. Just ask my twitterfiends!

Let The Right One In
Original vampire movie. I know! There’s 2 in this list! Beautifully shot, slow-burn film. Loved it.

Martyrs
Has it’s own post but it has spoilers. It’s an uber-intense study of torture, madness and faith. Not for the faint hearted.

Tetsuo
Cyberpunk, noisy, madness. Listen to the VCinema Podcast (if it’s out yet *dig dig*). Actually, you should be doing that anyway.

The Bird People in China
Awwwww! I loved this movie! The yakuza is my favourite. He’s funny from his first scene :)
I should probably mention its a Takashi Miike.

Thirst
Chan-Wook Park’s take on the vampire thing. Very awesome (of course) with Park’s usual quirky humour which I am completely in love with.

del.icio.us Tags: Exceptional,subtitles,review,movies

Update Time! – The Greats (so far)

2010-02-25T07:36:00.000-08:00

Hey all, I promised an update, so here it goes. I’ve actually had to turn the TV off to get this done. It’s too massive. If it’s on it demands your attention. I found myself watching Seinfeld yesterday. I don’t fucking like Seinfeld.

Anyhoo, my 4 Week Subtitle Sensation has been going quite well, with 14 movies watched. All have been great with a handful of the exceptional. Just to catch you all up, I’m gonna list them with just a few words on each. Todays post will be on the great films. I’ll cover exceptional in my next post.

Azumi
A great Japanese tale about a young female assassin. Really awesome humour and great fight scenes. I recommend it to anyone who likes Kill Bill.

Castle in the Sky
A Studio Ghibli anime directed by Miyazaki Hayao. Apparently it’s their first official feature. It’s lovely, of course :)

District B13
Very cool futuristic movie by Luc Besson. The best part is the stunt work. It was all parkour, with no wires or CG. Really worth seeing.

Les Diaboliques
Old French mystery. Decent suspense and great plotline. I’m fairly sure it’s now freely available online, so check it out.

Ninja Scroll
Not your mama’s animation. Uh, very original storyline :D Really great old guy. A total crack up :)

Martyrs - not a review (complete with spoilers)

2010-02-20T05:01:00.000-08:00

So, the 4 Week Subtitle Sensation has been going well since Wednesday. The first film I watched was not Martyrs, and I promise I’ll do a post on what’s been seen since I started, but right now I need to get Martyrs out of my head. If only so I can free up my brain for watching other things.

Firstly I’m going to say that this post is only for people who have already seen the movie. You see, to write about Martyrs is to spoil it. I’m not going to do a synopsis, nor a summary. I’m just going to talk about my feelings about it so if you haven’t seen it, it may not make much sense.

Secondly I’m going to make sure you’re aware that things don’t often get to me. I watched Cannibal Holocaust, laughed at my friend for throwing up, and finished it by rather analytically stating that the director did himself a disservice by killing the animals but that I could see what point he was trying to make.

But Martyrs got to me. In a really big way. At first it goes along as expected. The creepy violence gets started a little earlier than expected (like, before the title appears) but that’s all good. I was creeped out with woman attacking the young girl, but nothing serious. It got serious once we arrived at the house. From *ding dong* *door opens* BOOM, I started getting more and more affected by this film.

What starts as a horror film becomes a study of insanity. The moment when you realise that Lucie is doing that shit to herself, it’s a revelation equivalent to Unbreakable. My brain had no idea what to do with the information. So, to maintain the order of things, my brain decided that she must have been completely nuts and that the family she just slaughtered were innocent.

Course, that’s when Anna finds the trap door with the tortured woman inside. The entire sequence with the tortured woman had me devastated. Devastated that Lucie had been right, devastated that I had doubted her, devastated for this innocent woman who had a metal plate stapled into her head to cover her eyes. To then hear the explanation that the same madness that caused Lucie to kill herself had caused the tortured woman to cut at her arm to get imaginary cockroaches off…

To be honest, what happens to Anna didn’t get to me as badly as the earlier scenes (that’s when my analytical side got to have a go, I found the concept of martyrdom intriguing). I’ve been thinking about what that might mean and I believe I have a greater fear of losing my wits than I do of experiencing great pain. Makes sense I guess. I just don’t think I’ve ever had it so clearly illustrated until now.

Quite a fucking film.

del.icio.us Tags: Martyrs,insanity,torture,other hilarity

The Shutter Island Experience

2010-02-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

G’day ramblers. How’s things?

Last night I managed to score tickets to see Shutter Island at an advanced screening. I have to tell you about it. It was so great! I had two tickets so I took my sister. She enjoyed it too, so it wasn’t just me fangirling after Scorsese (ooooh Marty, you make the BEST movies *squeak*).

The film starts with U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels on the ferry going to Shutter Island. He is investigating the disappearance of Rachel Solando, a patient from Ashecliffe which is a hospital for the criminally insane. She was there for murdering her three children, but apparently she had no memory of the event. From the point he arrives, Teddy senses there is more going on at Ashecliffe than the good Dr. Crawley is letting on. When a storm hits the island and wipes out the power and the backup generator, the prisoners escape and provide Daniels the opportunity to explore unhindered. Hi-jinx ensue.

Do you know what doesn’t happen often anymore? Filmmakers don’t often use artistic techniques to generate specific responses from the audience. I’m not just talking about music to create tension, I’m talking about using silence to create even more tension. Or lighting. Or weather. It’s something that foreign films still do, but a lot of Hollywood filmmakers take shortcuts. Not so with Master Scorsese.

The first thing that will hit you is the music. It’s dark as heck, and loud. Not bad loud, but it makes you uncomfortable. Then there’s a lady in the garden. Creeeeepy. The dream sequences are magnificent and again, creepy, and the scenes in ward C were fabulously tense. But I think my favourite technique was the humanising comedy that is dropped in at the best moments. I’m not gonna quote any of them. Wouldn’t be funny here anyway. Ya gotsta be there ;)

The performances are outstanding, which is to be expected given the cast. For me, the more noticeable awesomeness came from Ben Kingsley as the the peculiar Dr. Crawley, Michelle Williams as the dead yet chatty Delores, and the two smallest parts, Elias Koteas and Jackie Earle Haley. Don’t get me wrong, Leo was awesome as well, but these guys were mental.

So that’s my quick review. Now go see the film.

del.icio.us Tags: Martin Scorsese,Leonardo Dicaprio,Shutter Island,Review,Movies,Michelle Williams,Jackie Earle Haley,Ben Kingsey

Deadgirl Review at Cool(Shite)

2010-02-16T19:16:00.000-08:00

Heya zombie fans.

My review of the excellent Deadgirl is up at Cool(Shite). Check it out here!

del.icio.us Tags: Deadgirl,Jenny Spain,Grace,Horror,slow-burn,Unbreakable

My Australian Hero

2010-02-14T18:54:00.000-08:00

Hi all, what’s occurring?

I thought that seeing as it’s the Winter Olympics and I don’t care, I’d make a little post to remind everyone of the Australian hero of the 2002 Winter Olympics. That’s right, I’m talking about Steven Bradbury, the short track speed skater.

Bradbury won his first heat off his own back, but it looked like that was as good as it was going to get. He was in the same race as the favourite and the defending champ for the quarter finals. Naturally, he came 3rd, only to find that the defending champ was disqualified. Bradbury was in the semis!

Once again, this looked like the end of the road. Bradbury was in last position for the entire race. All of a sudden the first 3 racers crashed into each other, putting our Aussie legend in second place, scoring him a spot in the final.

Come final time, no one could believe what had happened, least of all Bradbury himself. Australians all waited with baited breath to see if his luck would hold out. And did it. The crash that caused all 4 of Bradbury’s competitors to tumble was a gift from God himself, and Bradbury took home gold.

Fucking superstar.

del.icio.us Tags: winter olympics,australia,skating,gold medal,Steven Bradbury

LAMB Devours the Oscars - Up

2010-02-10T16:37:00.000-08:00

Howdy all!
Just a note to say that my write up of Up and its Best Picture nomination is now at the Large Association of Movie Blogs (LAMB) for their LAMB Devours the Oscars event.

Go there NOW!!!

The 4-Week Subtitle Sensation!

2010-02-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

Orright all? What’s occurring?

Here at Rach’s Media Opinions we have an event. It’s huge. Massive, even. On Tuesday night, my best mate is going away with her folks for 4 weeks . Granted I’d give the left testicle of God to go with her (Mauritius *sob*), but I can’t, so instead I’m house-sitting their 2 (that’s right, TWO) flat-screen televisions.

Consolation prize, yes, but I’m making the most of it. How am I going to spend my magical 4 weeks of magical TV alone time? I’m havin a foreign movie marathon, that’s how!

See, the thing with watching a subtitled movie is that you can’t really walk around or do too much else. That makes it difficult to watch them in a share house where people keep asking you to do shit. I’ve had a number of foreign films in my collection waiting for a moment where I could dedicate my uninterrupted attention, and I’m finally getting the chance!

Currently in my collection:

Thirst
JSA
Nosferatu (technically silent, but you still have to pay attention)
Audition
Dead or Alive
Fudoh
Les Diaboliques

Already on my list (but don’t own):

Let The Right One In
The Chaser
The Returner
Inside
Salo
Full Metal Yakuza
I’m a Cyborg but that’s OK
Battle Royale
Versus
Cure
Memories of Murder

I need more. That’s only 18. I NEED MOOOOOOOORE!!!!

I want 28 that I can get hold of. 1 a day (though that’s not necessarily how they’ll be watched). So I need a massive bunch of suggestions just in case my rental stores don’t have copies (stoopid Perth).

HELP!!!!

del.icio.us Tags: Movies,subtitles,towatchpile,4-week Subtitle Sensation

District 9 vs Avatar – Best Visual Effects

2010-02-08T04:53:00.001-08:00

I know, I know, another Oscar post lamenting the popularity of Avatar. But I watched District 9 again last night and 2 cents jumped into my hand so I’m giving it to you whether you like it or not.

Look, as I’ve said before, I really did enjoy Avatar. It was a fun movie and the special effects were fabulous. For $300 million USD they’d fucking want to be! But here’s the thing. District 9 had a budget of $30 million USD, and the effects were as good, if not better. See where I’m going here?

The effects of District 9 were grittier and more realistic, and they demonstrated the quality that could be accomplished without a Cameron-sized budget. It’s not like the aliens only appeared in shadows, and it’s not like the aliens and humans never interact. You also can’t tell me that the cost was because the horizon needed to be generated, because District 9 has a dirty, great, big spaceship in the horizon for most shots!

But the other night, during my re-watch, I realised something that I believe puts District 9 over the edge. The lighting. One of the most difficult things to do right in graphics is lighting. Most filmmakers try to avoid well lit shots that involve CG. The reason is that if you don’t have the light source coming from exactly the right place, the shot looks fake. Basically, you shouldn’t be able to do shots like this without a budget higher than some countries GDP:

Alas, the likelihood of District 9 beating Avatar in the Best Visual Effects category is about as likely as it winning Best Picture. *Sigh* I know. Give it up.

del.icio.us Tags: Avatar,District 9,effects,graphics,Oscars,Best Visual Effects,awards,lighting

Happy Birthday to 3 Fabulous Fellas!

2010-02-04T21:58:00.000-08:00

Everybody knows it was George Romero's birthday on 4th Feb (yesterday).

Happy Birthday!

Did you know it is H.R. Giger's birthday today ?? Me either! My friend at The Glass Walking Stick told me!

Happy Birthday!

And lastly, just for shits and giggles, it was Heavenztrash from In Nervous Convulsions birthday yesterday as well :)

Happy Birthday!

(not actual photo :P)

A Horror Weekend!

2010-01-31T21:24:00.000-08:00

In more ways than one! Jeeby heebies, kids! What a weekend! I'm totally zombied on this Monday-est of mornings, so you'll have to excuse the typos, the ramblings and the tangents while I attempt to tell my story.

I'll start on Friday. What did I do on Friday? That's not a hypothetical question guys, I can't feckin remember...
Hmm. Watched Star Gate SG1 season 2 I think. It wasn't exciting. Maybe I shouldn't have started there...

OK. Saturday.
What did I do in the morning? God I'm tired.

Saturday Afternoon.
This I remember. I went to a friends house to help her move in. Now, this is fine. Helping friends move is always pretty tiring, but it has to be done (at least, it does if you ever want help for the same thing). So I did what I could, followed instructions and stayed on my feet for most of the arvo. We left around 6.20pm because I had to get changed.

To go to a concert of The Horrors.

Yep. I helped a friend move house before going to a live gig. Clever huh? I've also just realised that a lot of people reading this may have thought that "A Horror Weekend" may have meant that I spent a weekend watching horror films...
Hee! Ha ha ha! *Giggle* *Giggle* *Snort* *Sigh* Sux to be be you :P

Back to the gig.
It took place in a venue called The Amplifier Bar, which is a shite venue but seemed to suit the crowd. I felt old but that's no surprise. I managed to remember how to dress appropriately, but my hair wasn't big enough. Stretched ears and an eyebrow piercing made up for that though so I was able to conform nicely to the "total non-conformists".
Alright, I'm taking the piss out of the crowd (and myself) but I promise that I won't be doing the same for the bands.

The support act was called Fabulous Diamonds. They were great! They're a duo from Melbourne I'd really like to hear more of. Repeating drumbeats with echoing vocals and electric organ melodies, I could have listened to them for a lot longer.

After an intro that was ridiculously long (seriously guys, that's not the way to rile up Perth audiences), The Horrors finally came out and started kicking everyone's arse. It was a really great gig, the sound was good (although the vocals could have been louder), the performance was great, and the crowd was happy. Two numbers that stood out for me were Scarlet Fields and Primary Colours. They didn't play "She is the New Thing" or "Jack the Ripper", but you can't have everything, can you? I was just happy to be in a place where I could dance around to music I actually like!

It was also a relief to hear Faris Badwan sing and know that his vocals are actually him and not some machine. There are too many "musicians" around nowadays that started in the studio. These guys are the real deal, thank God! Furthermore, Rhys Webb and Tom Cowan would swap instruments between them (bass and synthesizer) depending on the song (and album it came from).
Speaking of Tom Cowan, what a creepy mofo. Kinda glad he's found his outlet, if you know what I mean...

Once the concert was over, it turned out my weekend of horror was not complete. You see, me and my best mate volunteered to take care of the children of the friends who were moving, just to give them some space. So I wake up, deaf mind you, that concert was loud, jump out of bed and trundle back to the house I'd left the day before.

To keep the 3 kids occupied and hopefully tire them out, we decide to take them to the pools. 4 hours of swimming, eating, swimming and 1 exploding nappy later, do you think it was the kids who were tired? Hells no! It was the 2 adults skulling coke and coffee in a desperate attempt to outlast the children! It didn't work. I'm totally shattered. I don't even have the energy to yawn.

On the plus side, I just found out that The Big Pink are touring at the end of Feb, and Henry Rollins is doing a spoken word gig in May :D

I am Officially LAMB #435

2010-01-28T19:52:00.000-08:00

Hey all!
I know I've been a little slack on my blog this week, but there's 2 reasons (excuses) for it.
Firstly, Monday I went to Raggamuffin, a Reggae music festival. Fantastic music but got stoned just by standing in the crowd. Ended up with the munchies by the time I got home! No where near a computer all day.
Secondly, Tuesday was Australia Day. It's un-Australian to do anything that can be considered work on Australia unless you don't have a choice (i.e. those serving food to the rest of Australia who can't be shagged cooking).
Those are my defenses and I'm sticking to them.

But on the "good news" front, I have officially been welcomed as a member of LAMB (Large Association of Movie Blogs). I am LAMB #435. Check my post out here.

Vote! Vote! Vote!

2010-01-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

Here in Australia voting is compulsory, and so it is here too:

Do it now!

Mega ToWatchPile Update Part San (3) - Vengeance!

2010-01-21T20:04:00.000-08:00

Alright guys, this is a wicked long post, but I've decided I don't want to break it up. It's a review of Chan-Wook Park's Vengeance trilogy, which I've just finished watching for the #towatchpile. I watched them completely out of order but I'm a little glad I did. Finishing on Mr Vengeance was a good way to go in my opinion, but I'll get to that. Let me start at the beginning. Once upon a time I decided to ask bloggers to suggest movies that they believe must be watched. I received quite a few suggestions, enough for me to add a button to the side of my blog.

Then one day the wunderbar @MattSuzaka of Chuck Norris Ate my Baby found the call for suggestions and took it upon himself to pave the way to the road to great films. And yea, he didst provide a list. And on that list was Chan-Wook Park's Oldboy. And the Rach didst watch the film and didst cry out!
"YEA! What the fuck was that???"
All did rejoice for Rach was on the path to movie salvation.
And a voice came from the @Heavenztrash (see what I did there?).
"You know its part of a trilogy?"
And Rach understood her journey had only just begun.

Note to self: if you break out into biblical verse, it is time to go to bed.

So, now we skip forward a month and I've finally seen the other two films. I'm going to get this out of the way first. There's an ongoing discussion on the the webbynets about which film from the trilogy is the best. Well, I genuinely feel that the films all benefit greatly when considering them together, but I'm gonna add my 2 cents to the minority and say that I preferred Sympathy for Mr Vengeance. My reasons will become clear later in the review, so lets get started.

The trilogy, for those who haven't seen it, is all about vengeance. I'm not going do a synopsis for each, it's basically three different stories that all focus on different reasons for vengeance, as well as the different ways the vengeance is obtained. There's also three different types of endings, but I'll leave that for a special "spoiler" paragraph.

These films are what I like to call "slow burn" movies (see my review of Grace), and Chan-Wook Park is the slow-burn master. It's not that he "keeps you guessing", movies that keep "keep you guessing" have a use-by date. Instead, he creates a tension with such subtlety that you have no idea it's happening until the cat knocks something over and your heart stops. You find yourself watching the next film with trepidation because you realize how involved you're going to get, and what that's going to do to you after it's finished. In each case the movies leave your mind ticking over at a hundred miles. I replayed parts of each film over and over in my head, savoring it and the genius behind it.

In this age of large, blue monkeys and their flying lizard friends, 3D, explosions, effects, and every other trick designed to make you forget that movies are supposed to have a plot, the use of artistic techniques like slowly draining the color from a film (Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) or minimizing background music to allow moments of genuinely awkward silence (Sympathy for Mr Vengeance) seem almost new. A breath of fresh air, if you will. I also have to mention the clever use of comedy found in the trilogy. It's a very clever way to control tension levels.

**SPOILER ALERT**

You've been warned.
The different types of vengeance shown in the trilogy. What can I say? I'm going to go through it in the order I watched it. The ending to Oldboy has already been listed as my favorite ZOMG moment in film. It's such a grey-area ending! In the same way that Oh Dae-Su is manipulated to fall for Mi-do, we are manipulated to sympathize with Oh Dae-Su. Hence the ZOMG reaction.

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is very straight forward by comparison, though it would definitely have its haters. It seems to suggest that vengeance can be curative, and that there is a place for it. What I love though, is that the ending is bittersweet. The families know that they still have to live with what they have done.

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance. Phew. Bleak is the word. This movie is about vengeance out of honor more than vengeance out of any real hatred. And that makes it all the more painful to watch. When Park Dong-jin tells Ryu that he's a nice enough fella but he has to kill him anyway, it's heartbreaking.

**END OF SPOILER SECTION**

So why do I prefer Sympathy for Mr Vengeance? Well, technically I don't, I prefer to think of the trilogy as a whole, but there are a number of reasons. Firstly, the ending. I'm one of the people who prefers Empire Strikes Back because of the bleak ending. I prefer an ending to be clever more than happy. Secondly, it was the best example of a slow-burn film out of the three. So much messiness, slowly, slowly building the tension, giving you wallowing time. This is not a film for an impatient person. And lastly its the way sympathy for Ryu is built through juxtaposing the uncomfortable silences with noisy events that he can't hear.

In short, I loved Oldboy and Lady Vengeance, but Sympathy for Mr Vengeance was one of the smartest works of art I've seen.

So, I've put Thirst on my list, what other Chan-Wook Park films do I need to see?

Mega ToWatchPile Update Part Ni (2) - Horror Mania

2010-01-20T21:09:00.000-08:00

Hullo everyone. I'm back with part ni of my Mega #towatchpile update. For this post I'm going to go through some of the horror films (dodgy or otherwise) that I've been watching. Please bear in mind that I'm using the term "horror" quite loosely. That means that I'm including the zomedies and anything else that contains horror themes.

Zomedies:

Well seeing as I've already mentioned the zomedies, I might as well start with them. There's 2 that I've recently seen for the #towatchpile, Zombieland and Fido. So much awesomeness. I'm not gonna review Zombieland beyond saying it was hilarious and awesome and it was really good to see Woody Harrelson doing what he does better than mos. If you want more than that then read one of the MILLIONS of reviews around.

Fido
As much as I love zombie movies, I really don't think any of them have ever made me go "awwwww, how cute!" until Fido. A twitterbud (@Heavenztrash) described it as Lassie with zombies, which is a more succinct synopsis than I can come up with (trying not to start chanting "succinct synopsis"). The acting is fab, especially Billy Connolly as Fido. He says more with his facial expressions than a lot of actors can do with a 10 minute monologue. Anybody who enjoyed Shawn of the Dead will love this film. I really want a pet zombie...

2009-ers:
These were some of the 2009 horrors that I hadn't managed to see before getting started on the #towatchlist (and were consequently added).

Drag Me To Hell

I thoroughly enjoyed this film from Sam Raimi. I liked the humor in it as well as the action. It wasn't scary, just entertaining.

The Hills Run Red
A little trashier than Drag Me To Hell, it was still an entertaining (if brainless) watch.

The Children
This one was technically released in 2008. I didn't hear about it til the end of 2009. To see my thoughts of The Children, head on over to The Paradise of Horror for my guest post.

Chuckies
Another series that I never watched in my youth was the Child's Play franchise. Even when I was at the age where I was allowed to hire out horror, Child's Play was never permitted. I don't think it's because my folk thought it would be extra scary, I just think they had no intention of ever sitting through it themselves! But now, thanks to some suggestions from a friend of mine, I have seen all of the Child's Plays and Seed of Chucky. The only one I haven't seen is Bride of Chucky.

So what do I think? I think it plays out much like a lot of horror franchises. The first is a relatively scary and entertaining horror film and it all goes downhill from there! Seed was ridiculous, but entertaining. I just hope they stop making them, though. The madness has gone on long enough.

That's the end of part ni. Come back tomorrow for part san :)

Mega ToWatchPile Update Part Ichi (1) - Trek-along Y'all!

2010-01-20T00:12:00.000-08:00

Hi All. I've realized that I've been actively watching movies from my #towatchpile without posting any information about it! I've also added a bunch and am always happy to add more (it should be called the towatchbottomlesspit). So this is my start. I might make it a regular segment :)

Star Treks 1-6 (minus 5) + Star Trek (the new prequel-ish one)
I know. I'm 30 at the end of February, a movie geek, and I watched Star Trek: The Motion Picture for the first time at the end of last year. In my defense, my sci-fi love comes from my Dad, and he never liked Star Trek. My first viewings of Star Wars, Alien, Blade Runner, and Predator were all with my Father, consequently I was never introduced Star Trek.

So when the new one was announce... well, I didn't care. But when it was announced that Zachary Quinto would play Spock, suddenly I needed on this bandwagon (mmm, Sylar). But I didn't want to be the annoying fuckstick in the cinema going "What? What? Why was that funny? I don't get it.". To avoid this, I didn't see it in the cinema. Instead, I watched all the Star Trek I could get my hands on. I have to say, I'm damn glad I did.

The new film is great fun and has some great references to the originals, but the best justification for my marathon was to recognize the awesomeness of Karl Urban as Bones. A lot of people rave about Quinto's Spock and ,don't get me wrong, he was great, but Urban was hilarious! Having watched Star Trek 6 days before watching the new one, I can tell you he was spot on. Not mimicking, but acting as a younger version. Loved it.

So if, like me, you've never a Star Trek film but wouldn't mind seeing the new one, do yourself a favor and watch at least one. You won't regret it. Or if you do, you were never going to love the new one anyway.

Avatar Should Not Have Been Nominated: An Opinion

2010-01-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

One that may well cost me some readers, but there it is. I don't think Avatar deserved to be nominated for the Best Drama Globe, let alone win it. Don't you hiss at me!

Look, the Best Picture award is supposed to go to a film that is important. I liked Avatar. But it wasn't important. Films can be important for a range of reasons, some "random" examples are films that celebrate some otherwise unknowns heroes (Schindler's List, uhhh Hurt Locker?), films that are new ideas, that could potentially inspire a new genre (Titanic, uhhh Inglourious Basterds?), films that successfully translate the suffering of an individual(s) and their hope in the face of adversity (Slumdog Millionaire, uhhh Precious?) or films that come together where everything works, great direction, great acting, great script (American Beauty, uhhh Up in the Air?).

See what I did there? I outlined why every other picture nominated should have bested Avatar. Clever, huh?

My personal opinion was that Inglourious Basterds should have won. It introduced the concept of using film to correct the wrongs in history. Filmmakers don't have to follow the constrictions of genuine history. This is fiction, make-believe, go to town, says I! Stop retelling the same crap!

What did Avatar do? It used groundbreaking special effects. Fab. So did District 9. Why didn't that get nominated? Because it cost hundreds of millions less to make. It would have been dead embarrassing if they admitted it was a better film. Seriously, you could have put a noticeable dent in the world poverty crisis for the cost of Avatar, and District 9 was a more unique story!

*sigh*

The thing is, it's almost guaranteed to be nominated for an Oscar. I hate that. It's stopped being about recognizing steps forward in film. Actually, my disenchanted mind now wonders if it was ever about that.

Top 5 ZOMG Moments in Film

2010-01-13T04:49:00.001-08:00

Hullo everybody, how are we all? Good? That's good. Wow! This will be my third update this week! I'm on a roll!

Today's post is my personal top 5 ZOMG moments in film. Just so we all know what I'm talking about, a ZOMG moment is where you suddenly realize what's going to happen milliseconds before it does. Or when you guess a piece of information juuuust before they tell you.

ZOMG moments are personal things. There are some that are widely shared, but most depend on a variety of factors (that I'm not getting into now). These are my favorites:

A warning: these are going to be spoilerific.

5. Saw
The cellmate with the key in his stomach? Yeah, he's alive. ZOMG!
I was squirming through this whole scene.

4. The Usual Suspects
The identity of Kyser Soze. ZOMG!
The first time I saw this I held my breath for the last scene. Then let it out with a drawn out "fuuuuck!".

3.Unbreakable
They call me Mr Glass. ZOMG!
This ending was satisfaction guaranteed :)

2.The Mist
Oops, out of bullets. Maybe the army will give me some. ZOMG!
I read the book. The movie ending was a hundred times better O.o

1. Oldboy
If you've seen Oldboy then you know what part I mean, and if you haven't then I'm not telling. It's too intense. It's not so much a ZOMG moment as a "hey that's a... Wait, is she... OH HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!" moment. You know the one.

1001 Movies to see before you die

2010-01-12T19:06:00.001-08:00

As opposed to after you die, coz how are you supposed to review them then?
I mentioned in a previous post that I was planning on working on this list because a lot of the films on here are already on my "to watch pile". Well here's the most recent version of the list with the ones I've seen crossed out and the ones that are already on my "to watch pile" highlighted. I'll continue to update this post as I watch films from the list.

Le Voyage dans la lune (1902)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Les Vampires (1915)
Intolerance (1916)
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1919)
Broken Blossoms (1919)
Way Down East (1920)
Within Our Gates (1920)
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
Orphans of the Storm (1921)
La Souriante Madame Beudet (1922)
Dr Mabuse, Der Spieler (1922) Parts 1 and 2
Nanook of the North (1922)
Nosferatu, Eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
Häxan (1923)
Foolish Wives (1922)
Our Hospitality (1923)
The Wheel (1923)
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
Strike (1924)
Greed (1924)
Sherlock, Jr (1924)
Der Letzte Mann (1924)
Seven Chances (1925)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Big Parade (1925)
~~Metropolis (1927)~~
Sunrise (1927)
The General (1927)
The Unknown (1927)
October (1927)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Napoléon (1927)
The Kid Brother (1927)
The Crowd (1928)
The Docks of New York (1928)
Un Chien Andalou (1928)
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)
Steamboat Bill, Jr (1928)
Storm over Asia (1928)
Blackmail (1929)
The Man with the Movie Camera (1929)
Pandora's Box (1929)
The Blue Angel (1930)
L'Âge D'Or (1930)
Earth (1930)
Little Caesar (1930)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
À Nous la Liberté (1931)
Le Million (1931)
Tabu (1931)
Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
City Lights (1931)
The Public Enemy (1931)
M (1931)
La Chienne (1931)
Vampyr (1932)
Love Me Tonight (1932)
Boudu Sauvé des Eaux (1932)
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
Trouble in Paradise (1932)
Scarface (1932)
Shanghai Express (1932)
Freaks (1932)
Me and My Gal (1932)
Zéro de Conduite (1933)
42nd Street (1933)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Duck Soup (1933)
Queen Christina (1933)
Las Hurdes (1933)
King Kong (1933)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Sons of the Desert (1933)
It's a Gift (1934)
Triumph of the Will (1934)
L'Atalante (1934)
The Black Cat (1934)
Judge Priest (1934)
It Happened One Night (1934)
The Thin Man (1934)
Captain Blood (1935)
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
A Night at the Opera (1935)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Top Hat (1935)
Une Partie de Campagne (1936)
Modern Times (1936)
Swing Time (1936)
My Man Godfrey (1936)
Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Camille (1936)
Sabotage (1936)
Dodsworth (1936)
Things to Come (1936)
The Story of a Cheat (1936)
Captains Courageous (1937)
Midnight Song (1937)
La Grande Illusion (1937)
Stella Dallas (1937)
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)
~~Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)~~
The Awful Truth (1937)
Pépé Le Moko (1937)
Jezebel (1938)
~~The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)~~
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Olympia (1938)
The Baker's Wife (1938)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Stagecoach (1939)
The Story of the Late Chrysanthemums (1939)
Babes in Arms (1939)
Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
~~The Wizard of Oz (1939)~~
Destry Rides Again (1939)
Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Le Jour Se Lève (1939)
Gunga Din (1939)
Ninotchka (1939)
La Règle du jeu (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
~~Fantasia (1940)~~
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)
~~Pinocchio (1940)~~
The Mortal Storm (1940)
The Bank Dick (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
The Lady Eve (1941)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Sergeant York (1941)
~~Dumbo (1941)~~
High Sierra (1941)
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
The Palm Beach Story (1942)
Now, Voyager (1942)
~~Casablanca (1942)~~
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Cat People (1942)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
Fires Were Started (1943)
The Man in Grey (1943)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
The Seventh Victim (1943)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Ossessione (1943)
Meet Me in St Louis (1944)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Laura (1944)
Gaslight (1944)
Henry V (1944)
Ivan the Terrible (1944) Parts 1 and 2
Double Indemnity (1944)
Farewell My Lovely (1944)
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
Spellbound (1945)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)
Roma, città aperta (1945)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Detour (1945)
I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Brief Encounter (1946)
Paisà (1946)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
The Stranger (1946)
La Belle et la Bête (1946)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Killers (1946)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Great Expectations (1946)
Notorious (1946)
Black Narcissus (1946)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Gilda (1946)
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Build My Gallows High (1947)
The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947)
Odd Man Out (1947)
Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)
Secret Beyond the Door (1948)
Force of Evil (1948)
Spring in a Small Town (1948)
Red River (1948)
Rope (1948)
The Snake Pit (1948)
The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
The Paleface (1948)
The Red Shoes (1948)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Louisiana Story (1948)
The Heiress (1949)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
Gun Crazy (1949)
Adam's Rib (1949)
Whisky Galore! (1949)
White Heat (1949)
The Reckless Moment (1949)
The Third Man (1949)
On the Town (1949)
Orphée (1949)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Rashomon (1950)
Winchester '73 (1950)
Rio Grande (1950)
All About Eve (1950)
Sunset Blvd (1950)
Los Olvidados (1950)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
The Big Carnival (1951)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
The African Queen (1951)
Diary of a Country Priest (1951)
An American in Paris (1951)
A Place in the Sun (1951)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
The Quiet Man (1952)
Jeux Interdits (1952)
Angel Face (1952)
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Ikiru (1952)
Europa '51 (1952)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The Big Sky (1952)
High Noon (1952)
Umberto D (1952)
The Golden Coach (1952)
The Bigamist (1953)
The Band Wagon (1953)
Madame De… (1953)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Tokyo Story (1953)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Wages of Fear (1953)
The Naked Spur (1953)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
The Big Heat (1953)
Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1953)
Voyage in Italy (1953)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
Shane (1953)
Beat the Devil (1953)
Johnny Guitar (1954)
On the Waterfront (1954)
~~Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)~~
Les Diaboliques (1954)
~~Animal Farm (1954)~~
Rear Window (1954)
A Star Is Born (1954)
The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
La Strada (1954)
The Seven Samurai (1954)
Senso (1954)
Silver Lode (1954)
Carmen Jones (1954)
Sanshô Dayû (1954)
Salt of the Earth (1954)
Artists and Models (1955)
Guys and Dolls (1955)
Pather Panchali (1955)
Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
The Mad Masters (1955)
Hill 24 Doesn't Answer (1955)
The Ladykillers (1955)
Marty (1955)
Ordet (1955)
Bob Le Flambeur (1955)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
The Man from Laramie (1955)
Rebel without a Cause (1955)
The Phenix City Story (1955)
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Night and Fog (1955)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Lola Montès (1955)
Forbidden Planet (1956)
The Burmese Harp (1956)
The Searchers (1956)
A Man Escaped (1956)
Written on the Wind (1956)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Giant (1956)
All That Heaven Allows (1956)
~~Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)~~

The Wrong Man (1956)
Bigger Than Life (1956)
High Society (1956)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
12 Angry Men (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
An Affair to Remember (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
The Nights of Cabiria (1957)
Throne of Blood (1957)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Aparajito (1957)
Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Mother India (1957)
The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Man of the West (1958)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Cairo Station (1958)
Gigi (1958)
The Defiant Ones (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
Dracula (1958)
Mon Oncle (1958)
The Music Room (1958)
Les Quatre cents coups (1959)
North by Northwest (1959)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Les Yeux Sans Visage (1959)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
Black Orpheus (1959)
Shadows (1959)
The World of Apu (1959)
A bout de souffle (1959)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Pickpocket (1959)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Rio Bravo (1959)
Le Trou (1959)
Floating Weeds (1959)
Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
La Dolce Vita (1960)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
Tirez sur le pianiste (1960)
L'Avventura (1960)
The Young One (1960)
The Cloud-Capped Star (1960)
The Housemaid (1960)
~~Psycho (1960)~~
Black Sunday (1960)
Peeping Tom (1960)
The Apartment (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
Splendor in the Grass (1961)
Last Year at Marienbad (1961)
La Jetée (1961)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Lola (1961)
~~Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)~~
La Notte (1961)
Jules et Jim (1961)
Viridiana (1961)
The Ladies Man (1961)
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Chronique d'un été (1961)
The Hustler (1961)
West Side Story (1961)
Mondo Cane (1962)
Cléo de 5 à 7 (1962)
Dog Star Man (1962)
An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
L'Eclisse (1962)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Lolita (1962)
Keeper of Promises (1962)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
Vivre sa vie (1962)
Heaven and Earth Magic (1962)
The Birds (1963)
~~The Nutty Professor (1963)~~
Blonde Cobra (1963)
The Cool World (1963)
8 1/2 (1963)
Passenger (1963)
Le Mépris(1963)
Hud (1963)
Winter Light (1963)
Flaming Creatures (1963)
~~The Great Escape (1963)~~
Shock Corridor (1963)
Il Gattopardo (1963)
Barren Lives (1963)
Méditerranée (1963)
The House is Black (1963)
The Haunting (1963)
An Actor's Revenge (1963)
The Servant (1963)
~~Goldfinger (1964)~~
Scorpio Rising (1964)
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964)
Marnie (1964)
My Fair Lady (1964)
Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Dr Strangelove (1964)
A Hard Day's Night (1964)
The Red Desert (1964)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Before the Revolution (1964)
Gertrud (1964)
The Gospel According to St Matthew (1964)
Black God, White Devil (1964)
Onibaba (1964)
Vinyl (1965)
The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
The War Game (1965)
Tokyo Olympiad (1965)
The Battle of Algiers (1965)
~~The Sound of Music (1965)~~
The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
Alphaville (1965)
Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Repulsion (1965)
Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
Pierrot Le Fou (1965)
~~Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)~~
Golden River (1965)
The Man Who Had His Hair Cut Short (1965)
Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966)
Blowup (1966)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Daisies (1966)
Come Drink with Me (1966)
Seconds (1966)
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Persona (1966)
Masculin, Féminin (1966)
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)
In the Heat of the Night (1967)
2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle (1967)
The Graduate (1967)
Playtime (1967)
Report (1967)
Hombre (1967)
Belle de Jour (1967)
Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (1967)
Week End (1967)
Le Samouraï (1967)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Point Blank (1967)
Wavelength (1967)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
The Red and the White (1967)
Marketa Lazarová (1967)
~~The Jungle Book (1967)~~
The Fireman's Ball (1967)
Earth Entranced (1967)
Closely Observed Trains (1967)
Vij (1967)
The Cow (1968)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
~~Planet of the Apes (1968)~~
Faces (1968)
~~Rosemary's Baby (1968)~~

If… (1968)
Memories of Underdevelopment (1968)
The Producers (1968)
David Holzman's Diary (1968)
Shame (1968)
~~2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)~~
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Targets (1968)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
My Night at Maud's (1969)
Lucía (1969)
A Touch of Zen (1969)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Midnight Cowboy (1969)
Satyricon (1969)
Z (1969)
The Conformist (1969)
Easy Rider (1969)
High School (1969)
In the Year of the Pig (1969)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
Andrei Rublev (1969)
Le Boucher (1969)
The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
Kes (1969)
Tristana (1970)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
El Topo (1970)
Woodstock (1970)
Deep End (1970)
The Spider's Stratagem (1970)
Little Big Man (1970)
The Ear (1970)
Patton (1970)
M*A*S*H (1970)
Performance (1970)
Gimme Shelter (1970)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
The Bird with The Crystal Plumage (1970)
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)
Wanda (1971)
WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
~~A Clockwork Orange (1971)~~
The Sorrow and the Pity (1971)
~~Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)~~
McCabe and Mrs Miller (1971)
Walkabout (1971)
Klute (1971)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Red Psalm (1971)
Get Carter (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
Shaft (1971)
~~Dirty Harry (1971)~~
Murmur of the Heart (1971)
Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song (1971)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
Straw Dogs (1971)
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Cabaret (1972)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
High Plains Drifter (1972)
Sleuth (1972)
~~Deliverance (1972)~~
Solaris (1972)
~~The Godfather (1972)~~
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Fat City (1972)
Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie (1972)
Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra Von Kant (1972)
Frenzy (1972)
Pink Flamingos (1972)
Superfly (1972)
The Sting (1973)
La Maman et la putain (1973)
Badlands (1973)
American Graffiti (1973)
Papillon (1973)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Mean Streets (1973)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
The Wicker Man (1973)
La Nuit Américaine(1973)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Sleeper (1973)
Serpico (1973)
~~The Exorcist (1973)~~
Turkish Delight (1973)
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Fantastic Planet (1973)
Amarcord (1973)
The Harder They Come (1973)
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
Dersu Uzala (1974)
The Conversation (1974)
~~The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)~~
Mirror (1974)
A Woman under the Influence (1974)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Chinatown (1974)
Céline et Julie vont en bateau (1974)
~~Blazing Saddles (1974)~~
The Godfather Part II (1974)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
~~One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)~~
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
~~The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)~~
The Wall (1975)
~~Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)~~
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Fox and His Friends (1975)
India Song (1975)
~~Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)~~
Manila in the Claws of Brightness (1975)
Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Nashville (1975)
Cria! (1975)
The Travelling Players (1975)
~~Jaws (1975)~~
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
~~Carrie (1976)~~
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
~~All the President's Men (1976)~~
~~Rocky (1976)~~
~~Taxi Driver (1976)~~
Network (1976)
Ascent (1976)
Ai No Corrida (1976)
Novecento (1976)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
~~Star Wars (1977)~~
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Last Wave (1977)
Annie Hall (1977)
Last Chants for a Slow Dance (1977)
Stroszek (1977)
Man of Marble (1977)
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Killer of Sheep (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)
Ceddo (1977)
The American Friend (1977)
The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
Soldier of Orange (1977)
Suspiria (1977)
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
Five Deadly Venoms (1978)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
~~Grease (1978)~~
Days of Heaven (1978)
~~Dawn of the Dead (1978)~~
Shaolin Master Killer (1978)
Up in Smoke (1978)
~~Halloween (1978)~~
Die Ehe der Maria Braun (1979)
Real Life (1979)
My Brilliant Career (1979)
Stalker (1979)
~~Alien (1979)~~
Breaking Away (1979)
Die Blechtrommel (1979)
All That Jazz (1979)
Being There (1979)
Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
~~Life of Brian (1979)~~
~~Apocalypse Now (1979)~~
The Jerk (1979)
~~The Muppet Movie (1979)~~
Manhattan (1979)
~~Mad Max (1979)~~
Nosferatu (1979)
Ordinary People (1980)
Atlantic City (1980)
Le Dernier métro (1980)
The Shining (1980)
~~The Empire Strikes Back (1980)~~
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Big Red One (1980)
Loulou (1980)
~~Airplane! (1980)~~
~~Raging Bull (1980)~~
~~Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)~~
Das Boot (1981)
~~Gallipoli (1981)~~
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Body Heat (1981)
Reds (1981)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Three Brothers (1981)
Man of Iron (1981)
Too Early, Too Late (1981)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1981)
ET: The Extra-Terestrial (1982)
The Thing (1982)
Poltergeist (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Evil Dead (1982)
Tootsie (1982)
Yol (1982)
Diner (1982)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
~~Gandhi (1982)~~
The Night of the Shooting Stars (1982)
A Question of Silence (1982)
Fanny och Alexander (1982)
A Christmas Story (1983)
El Norte (1983)
Videodrome (1983)
~~Return of the Jedi (1983)~~
The Big Chill (1983)
Sans Soleil (1983)
Le Dernier Combat (1983)
L'Argent (1983)
Utu (1983)
~~Terms of Endearment (1983)~~
The Fourth Man (1983)
The King of Comedy (1983)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Koyaanisqatsi (1983)
Once Upon a Time in America (1983)
Scarface (1983)
The Ballad of Narayama (1983)
~~Amadeus (1984)~~
~~The Terminator (1984)~~
Paris, Texas (1984)
~~A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)~~
This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Ghostbusters (1984)
A Passage to India (1984)
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
The Killing Fields (1984)
The Natural (1984)
~~The Breakfast Club (1985)~~
Ran (1985)
Come and See (1985)
The Official Story (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
~~Back to the Future (1985)~~
The Time to Live and the Time to Die (1985)
~~Brazil (1985)~~
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
The Quiet Earth (1985)
Mishima (1985)
Prizzi's Honor (1985)
Vagabond (1985)
Shoah (1985)
The Color Purple (1985)
Manhunter (1986)
~~Stand By Me (1986)~~
Blue Velvet (1986)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
She's Gotta Have It (1986)
The Decline of the American Empire (1986)
The Fly (1986)
Aliens (1986)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Down by Law (1986)
A Room with a View (1986)
Children of a Lesser God (1986)
Platoon (1986)
Caravaggio (1986)
Tampopo (1986)
Peking Opera Blues (1986)
Salvador (1986)
~~Top Gun (1986)~~
Sherman's March (1986)
The Horse Thief (1986)
Yeelen (1987)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Project A, Part II (1987)
Babette's Feast (1987)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Withnail and I (1987)
~~Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)~~
Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
Broadcast News (1987)
Housekeeping (1987)
~~The Princess Bride (1987)~~
Moonstruck (1987)
The Untouchables (1987)
Red Sorghum (1987)
The Dead (1987)
Fatal Attraction (1987)
A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)
~~The Vanishing (1988)~~
Bull Durham (1988)
Ariel (1988)
The Thin Blue Line (1988)
Akira (1988)
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Hôtel Terminus: Klaus Barbie et son temps (1988)
A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
The Naked Gun (1988)
Big (1988)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Landscape in the Mist (1988)
The Decalogue (1988)
~~Die Hard (1988)~~
A Tale of the Wind (1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Rain Man (1988)
The Story of Women (1988)
Drowning By Numbers (1988)
Alice (1988)
~~Batman (1989)~~
When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
~~My Left Foot (1989)~~
The Killer (1989)
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Roger & Me (1989)
Glory (1989)
The Asthenic Syndrome (1989)
Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989)
Say Anything (1989)
The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
A City of Sadness (1989)
No Fear, No Die (1990)
Reversal of Fortune (1990)
Goodfellas (1990)
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
King of New York (1990)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Europa Europa (1990)
~~Pretty Woman (1990)~~
Archangel (1990)
Trust (1990)
Close-Up (1990)
~~Edward Scissorhands (1990)~~
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1990)
~~Total Recall (1990)~~
Once Upon a Time in China (1991)
Boyz 'n the Hood (1991)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Delicatessen (1991)
A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
Naked Lunch (1991)
La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
The Rapture (1991)
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
JFK (1991)
Slacker (1991)
Tongues Untied (1991)
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
La Double vie de Véronique (1991)
~~Strictly Ballroom (1992)~~
The Player (1992)
~~Reservoir Dogs (1992)~~
Romper Stomper (1992)
Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer (1992)
A Tale of Winter (1992)
The Actress (1992)
Man Bites Dog (1992)
The Crying Game (1992)
Farewell My Concubine (1993)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Thirty Two Films about Glenn Gould (1993)
Short Cuts (1993)
Philadelphia (1993)
The Puppetmaster (1993)
~~Jurassic Park (1993)~~
Trois Couleurs: Bleu (1993)
The Piano (1993)
The Blue Kite (1993)
The Wedding Banquet (1993)
Schindler's List (1993)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
Trois Couleurs: Rouge (1994)
Hoop Dreams (1994)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Lion King (1994)
Clerks (1994)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
The Last Seduction (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The Wild Reeds (1994)
Chungking Express (1994)
Crumb (1994)
Sátántangó (1994)
Through the Olive Trees (1994)
~~Heavenly Creatures (1994)~~
Dear Diary (1994)
Muriel's Wedding (1994)
Riget (1994)
~~Babe (1995)~~
Deseret (1995)
~~Braveheart (1995)~~
Safe (1995)
~~Toy Story (1995)~~
Casino (1995)
~~Heat (1995)~~
Zero Kelvin (1995)
~~Clueless (1995)~~
Smoke (1995)
The White Balloon (1995)
~~Se7en (1995)~~
Underground (1995)
The Brave Heart Will Take the Bride (1995)
Cyclo (1995)
~~The Usual Suspects (1995)~~
Dead Man (1995)
~~Fargo (1996)~~
Three Lives and Only One Death (1996)
Shine (1996)
Breaking the Waves (1996)
~~Independence Day (1996)~~
Secrets and Lies (1996)
Gabbeh (1996)
Lone Star (1996)
Trainspotting (1996)
Scream (1996)
The English Patient (1996)
Happy Together (1997)
Princess Mononoke (1997)
LA Confidential (1997)
~~The Butcher Boy (1997)~~
The Ice Storm (1997)
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Funny Games (1997)
Taste of Cherry (1997)
Open Your Eyes (1997)
~~Titanic (1997)~~
Festen (1998)
~~Saving Private Ryan (1998)~~
Buffalo 66 (1998)
Rushmore (1998)
Lola Rennt (1998)
Pi (1998)
~~Happiness (1998)~~
The Thin Red Line (1998)
There's Something About Mary (1998)
Ringu (1998)
Magnolia (1999)
Beau Travail (1999)
Audition (1999)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Three Kings (1999)
All About My Mother (1999)
Fight Club (1999)
Being John Malkovich (1999)
American Beauty (1999)
The Matrix (1999)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Gleaners and I (2000)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
~~Gladiator (2000)~~
Kippur (2000)
Yi Yi (2000)
~~Requiem for a Dream (2000)~~
Amores Perros (2000)
~~Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)~~
Traffic (2000)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
~~Memento (2000)~~
Kandahar (2001)
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)
~~Spirited Away (2001)~~
No Man's Land (2001)
Moulin Rouge (2001)
~~The Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002 & 2003)~~
Uzak (2002)
The Pianist (2002)
City of God (2002)
Talk to Her (2002)
Irréversible (2002)
The Best of Youth (2003)
~~Oldboy (2003)~~
~~Kill Bill Volume 1 (2003)~~
Good Bye Lenin! (2003)
Head-On (2004)
Der Untergang (2004)
~~Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)~~
~~Sideways (2004)~~
Paradise Now (2005)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Tsotsi (2005)
Crash (2005)
~~Little Miss Sunshine (2006)~~
The Lives of Others (2006)
Once (2006)
The Departed (2006)
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006)
~~The Host (2006)~~
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)
La Vie en Rose (2007)
~~No Country for Old Men (2007)~~
There Will Be Blood (2007)
~~Atonement (2007)~~
Surfwise (2007)
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Wall-E (2008)
The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Wrestler (2008)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Gomorra (2008)
The Class (2008)
~~Slumdog Millionaire (2008)~~

Le Voyage dans la lune (1902)
The Great Train Robbery (1903)