Jake Gittes

Not a fan of Melancholia, but I think Antichrist is fucking incredible. It had that rare effect on me where I didn't watch anything else for days after seeing it for the first time, because it just refused to leave my mind. Stunning film. Haven't seen anything else yet.

Dead Man is one of my all-time favorites. I have a particularly fond memory of my first viewing of it, because I was like 13, and it has to be one of the first full-stop arthouse films I ever saw. I certainly didn't completely understand it at the time, but I was still transfixed by its unique atmosphere, and the performances and the dialogue were just fucking beautiful. "Do you know my poetry?" Other than that, I've only seen Coffee and Cigarettes. Pretty wonderful little movie, endlessly enjoyable if you like the actors involved.

To compensate for that wall of rambling: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0hgFNxj8wg

Lynch has to be my biggest blind spot in modern cinema. Over the years I've learned enough information about the man, his style and his work that I sometimes feel like I'm actually familiar with it, except that, in reality, I've only seen The Elephant Man (and that was over a decade ago) and Lost Highway. What's funny is that there's no problem of him not appealing to me - I dug the hell out of Lost Highway, and from all I've read and heard, I'm actually pretty sure he's right up my alley. Yet somehow I can never just sit down with a movie of his. (Well, there are reasons: over the past few years I've become used to catching modern filmmakers' films in weeks before the theatrical release of their new films, and since Lynch hasn't released a film since Inland Empire, I've always been preoccupied with other notable directors. Meanwhile, I'm also catching some classics, both old and modern, on whatever DVDs I can get in this country, and I actually own a 4-disc Lynch box set that includes The Elephant Man, The Straight Story, Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire; only problem is, I also own a couple dozen films from 1960's and 1970's that I haven't seen yet, and I'd like to deal with them chronologically. I know it's largely a "problem" I created for myself, by myself, but still, those 1960's movies are pretty fascinating too. And in addition to all of this I have a life going on, too. I dunno, maybe I should just drop whatever the hell I'm doing right now and watch something of his just like that, right now. Anyway. I sure can't wait.

Zodiac

Bird with the Crystal Plumage is quite good, has to be one of the better gialli out there (and definitely one of the most visually beautiful). Four Flies on Grey Velvet is okay. Deep Red has a lot of good stuff going for it, but it's also at least 20 minutes too long, which took away from my enjoyment of it. Suspiria kicks all kinds of ass - I don't know if some of Argento's later films are as bad as they say, but he gets a lifetime pass from me for that film alone.

I would have said the same thing after my first viewing. If there's a clear example of a film that truly benefits from repeated viewings, it's Chinatown. I don't think I had realized the full brilliance of the script until I watched it for the third time.

Yeah. I loved Gravity but I can't see how it losing BP would be one of the biggest upsets ever (or, hell, an upset at all - to me it'd actually be an upset if it did win). It's not even one of the three best films I saw in the theater this year, and I can definitely believe that 12YAS *could* be a better movie, and a just as important one (since it seems like the first one to talk so directly and explicitly about slavery).

Pines is still my #2 film of the year after Before Midnight.

Must have been after The Town but before Green Lantern.

http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/month/?mo=10&sort=gross&order=DESC&p=.htm

I think a sub-35% drop is very possible. 25-30% is less possible, but could happen. Sub-25% I'm not counting out entirely, but it seems really unlikely.

300 isn't out of the question (and would be a stunning result), but yeah, better at least wait for the second weekend. If it has a $75m opening week and a $40m second weekend, it'll have a shot. We need to remember that $300m would take a 5.5x multiplier, and even recent films as broadly crowd-pleasing as Inception and HTTYD couldn't manage that. Among films that weren't aided by holidays in their first couple weeks of release, only The Hangover, Taken, Bridesmaids, The Help and Argo immediately spring to mind that made it. All opened lower than Gravity (the latter four WAY lower), and four out of five had summer weekdays on their side. Basically, unless it just pulls an Avatar and has sub-10% drops in the next few weeks, it's gonna be a long, hard battle. Personally, right now the highest gross I'm comfortable predicting is around $260m.

Based on all the raves it looks closer to Schindler's List.

Don't think I'm surprised by anything in there.

I thought Blanchett was versatile enough. The movie jumped between two radically different timelines, for chrissake. Gave her plenty to do.

I love subtle movies as much as anyone, but I don't understand the view that unsubtle movies are inherently worse. Jackson sure isn't subtle, but when he applies his particular sensibility to the material that suits it, he produces great stuff. I'm not even talking about LOTR and his early horror flicks - but Heavenly Creatures is a fantastic drama that only Jackson could have made as good as it is.

I'm firmly rooting for Blanchett until I see a better lead female performance this year - and I doubt I will.

That's a damn fine brand of cookies, my friend

I never heard the name Jaffa Cakes before, but we got cookies here that look exactly like that. With jelly inside, too. They're pretty delicious.

People were laughing at her nearly drowning at my screening too, although it was quiet and nervous laughing. Like, "man, is this director sadistic or what..."

That's a hell of an essay B. Really shows how passionate you are about it. And yeah, this is pretty much a total gem from beginning to end. I'm not a big fan of the glowing eyes thing, especially considering the rest of the film works perfectly at suggesting, rather than directly showing, the supernatural presence. Otherwise I unabashedly enjoy everything about it. A fantastic combination of horror and film noir, pulpy, sweaty and sleazy as fuck, yet chilling and effective on a human level. Rourke is at his ruggedly charismatic best and De Niro projects so much menace just sitting there and talking it's amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQfiuHK_U84 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLjy8Yb98nU

Reitman's best. Tone-wise, it's like a darkly comic, sharp and cynical character study straight out of the 70s; ironically, while it would have probably been a small hit and a future cult classic back then, it basically got rejected today. (See also: Killing Them Softly). Mature writing and terrific acting from everybody. One of the most underseen and underappreciated movies in recent years.

I agree with most names on here, personally I'd add Bela Tarr, Peter Greenaway, Richard Linklater, Emir Kusturica, Patrice Leconte, Leos Carax, Gaspar Noé, Andrew Dominik and Lynne Ramsay.

I know. And?..