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[ciallkennett]

I watched The Orphanage the other week

Finished watching El Orfanato (The Orphanage) in Film Studies today as part of our World Cinema unit. It was quite good, reminded me of films such as The Ring with its eerie atmosphere and supposed-to-make-you-jump moments, none of which made me jump.

The fact it was Spanish didn't detract from the clever and beautiful cinematography and acting.

A great film.

8/10

We're doing an in-depth study of both films, so we might get to watch some of the others too, but I must point out to you Jordan, that Del Toro was only producer in The Orphanage ,and other than his roles, had nothing to do with the film.

Misconception that he directer/wrote it as his name was heavily linked and advertised with the film to actually help it sell more

 

[Ben]

^Check out Del Toro's other movies, they're all delightfully twisted and bizarre (with the exception of Hellboy, blergh)

Hellboy's fab >.< And the second is even better xD

Also, saying Del Toro "just" produced The Orphanage is a bit inaccurate too. It's clear that his "stamp" and "style" are ALL over that film (it's REALLY similar to The Devil's Backbone), so it's clear he's had a vast amount of creative input. Like Burton and Nightmare Before Christmas, he may be listed as a producer, but, he's clearly been heavily, heavily involved, and so to list it amongst his other films really isn't that inaccurate at all. I know it's in my Del Toro section of my DVDs (like Nightmare is in my Burton section...)[/url]

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

^Check out Del Toro's other movies, they're all delightfully twisted and bizarre (with the exception of Hellboy, blergh) But seriously, check out The Orphanage, Devils Backbone and Cronos, all highly awesome.

They're less fantasy than Pan's, more horror, but still have the same style.

Also, if you like that sort of dark fantasy, you should watch (if you haven't already) Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Kids films yes but I find them very macabre and disturbing. Jim Henson is pure evil and I love it =]

I've seen the Orphanage.. It was pretty good but I don't remember too much of it. Labyrinth on the other hand, stands as my favourite movie alongside Wizard of Oz, and I agree it's pretty awesome but I find less of the horror in it than in some other films. There is a darker side to it for sure, but I wouldn't necessarily say horror.

 

[nadroJ]

Dark Crystal is more horrifying than Labyrinth but they have the same feel in my opinion, it's so bizarre and odd, it gives me the creeps to watch, the whole thing feels 'evil'.

 

[Ploddish]

Ben, The Orphanage is "Presented by" Del Toro, rather than produced by. He described the differences in an AICN interview:

Q: I was curious if you had the opportunity to direct the script yourself, would you have?
Del Toro: No. You know, I wouldn't have. It was a big difference for me in producing and presenting for me. When I present a movie, I try to present a movie that I would have gladly tackled myself and so forth. When I produce, I try to produce movies that take you to places that are different than I would. I try to allow for the voice of the filmmaker to impress me. And when I was reading SPLICE, there is a particular scene towards the end, towards the last third that shocked the hell out of me; it shocked the hell out of me and challenged me. And I would have never been as brave or as crazy as Vincenzo was in doing that scene. But reading it, I felt if it's jolting me, that means it has enormous power. But I don't know how he's going to solve it, and I was intrigued.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/45341

Shame MGM stalled enough to knock him off The Hobbit. Very much looking forward to what he does about Saturn and the End of Days, though. His next Pan's Labyrinth, according to him.

 

[ciallkennett]

I do remember having Dark Crystal on video back when I was younger, and I must've watched it, but my memory fades and I don't remember what I felt about it....

Continuing with the Foreign Film topic in Film Studies, we finished off watching Chungking Express today. It was such a surprisingly cute, weird and good film. The first "story" seemed very neo-noir in it's style (I studied Noir film in detail earlier this year, so it was easy to spot) with the femme fatale and the seedy bars and settings. the second part was very rom-com, and very pleasant to watch.

Overall, I found my interest was slim in the first story, but the second really was a nice touching tale. A good film.

7.5/10

Off to the cinema tonight for the first time in weeks...should be watching Wild Target.

EDIT: Ahhh, I was told he produced it, and I looked on IMDB as well. Ah well, his name was heavily used as an advertisement tool for the film, and rightly so. Like Ben said, I could see the Auter influence that he must have had on the film.

 

[Ben]

Yeah, IMDB says he produced it, and in that article he compares his role on it to that he had on Splice, which he says he's producing He's listed as Executive Producer on the back of the DVD... If I could be bothered I'd stick it in and skip to the credits, but, CBA.

ANYWAY, his stamp's all over it

Andddddd finally, Splice looks awesome. The guy who directed Cube? AWESOME.

 

[Ollie]

And the award for the worst name for a movie EVER goes too.....
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/524618/ ... title.html

I thought that last one was meant to be the final one anyway.

 

[RCF]

^It was. Unless someone else picked it up.

 

[Ben]

It was until the 4th made more money than they thought it would.

And now because of every stupid person that went to see 4, we get a 5th.

Which will be terrible.

And the title makes it look like Anal Destination.

 

[RCF]

^As were the third and fourth

 

[ciallkennett]

...and in that article he compares his role on it to that he had on Splice, which he says he's producing

I saw a poster at the cinema for it today and IT IS WANTED! That's a must see me thinks.

Anyways, back from Wild Target which was surprisingly amusing and yet charming at the same time. Unusual, as I didn't expect much except from Bill Nighy (<3), but it actually surprised me in the fact almost every line was secretly a sexual joke. I'm not sure the 8 or 9 year old in our screening understood why I was laughing at the line "You first, then me"...

Good fun.

7/10

 

[Snoo]

Obsessed

Beyonce.. god she sucks. The plot was actually kinda cool.. but they pulled it off HORRIBLY.

2/10

 

[Nic]

Here's what I watched yesterday

Death at a Funeral (the 2007, English, version)
Didn't quite manage to hold my attention throughout, but it was quite good. Some very funny moments, but I somehow felt like I'd seen it all before. Worth a watch though
3/5

Fantastic Mr Fox
I thought this was going to be dreadful. Thankfully, I was proved wrong. Very wrong indeed. To me, it was the best of all the Dahl adaptations, as it really kept to the spirit of his writing. That said, I have read the book, but Iwas so young at the time that I actually couldn't remember ANYTHING about it... so I can't really comment on how close it was to the story etc. It somehow just felt right. The animation also really worked very well. Keeping it kind of Blake-esque was a master-stroke. However, why the hell were all the animals American?! WHY? That was one one thing I didn't like about it. Oh, and, am I the only person who now desperately wants some of Farmer Bean's special cider?!
5/5

I also watched Cars, but I don't need to review that, cause we all know it's AWESOME!

 

[furie]

I also watched Cars, but I don't need to review that, cause we all know it's AWESOME!

I watched Cars after Ponyo last week. I didn't review it cause we all know it's mediocre at best

Fantastic Mr Fox is tonight's movie night film actually

 

[divvie_dave]

^ Mr Fox was such a little gem. Obviously aimed at adults, definatly a good film though!

 

[Snoo]

However, why the hell were all the animals American?! WHY? That was one one thing I didn't like about i

You get Harry Potter, we get Mr. Fox.

 

[furie]

Oh, watched Bram Stoker's Dracula last night on Blu-ray.

I watched it on release at the cinema (Stafford Apollo, 3:15 p.m. showing) and thought it was "meh".

It's still pretty much the same. For such a famous director, I just don't get where Coppola was going with this film.

The sets are very clearly sets. The train journey at the start is obviously a Hornby toy train. Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder are both plainly completely out of their acting depths trying to be English.

A lot of the "depth" of the vampire powers in the book is kind of copied into the film, but without the background and explanation to go with it - so there's random stuff (like the blue circles) that just don't make sense.

It feels half finished and quite a few scenes are quite ham fisted directorial wise.

Add to that it's tediously dull about 3/4's of the way in and you have something that's a real mess. Only Gary Oldman lifts the film above being something really awful, playing a chilling role as Vlad himself.

5/10

 

[Snoo]

Toy Story 3

Well.. hell yeah.

11/10

 

[Gavin]

Obsessed

Beyonce.. god she sucks. The plot was actually kinda cool.. but they pulled it off HORRIBLY.

Beyonce ruins everything.

I watched it on release at the cinema (Stafford Apollo, 3:15 p.m. showing) and thought it was "meh".

It's still pretty much the same. For such a famous director, I just don't get where Coppola was going with this film.

The soundtrack is absolutely AMAZING though.