top 50 films for the half decade; Kalo's list begins! (pg. 45)

[Dementeleus]

#15: Gravity (2013)

written by: Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron

directed by: Alfonso Cuaron

 

 

One of the great pure thrill rides in recent years. The story is stripped down to narrative basics and the visuals cranked up to the max. A feast for the senses, anchored by Sandra Bullock’s strong performance and George Clooney’s solid supporting role. The character arcs are basic Hollywood tropes, but still effective, and Bullock sells her transformation well.

 

[Avatree]

Gravity...

 

[Dementeleus]

#14: The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

written and directed by: Wes Anderson

 

 

Farce is one of the hardest genres to pull off — you need to be frenetic without being frantic, the characters need to be arch but play it straight, and pacing is everything. Somehow, Anderson manages to pull it off, aided by a knockout score by Alexandre Desplat and a tremendous performance by Ralph Fiennes. His creation of Gustav H. is instantly iconic. What separates it from other Anderson productions is the strong sense of melancholy under all the hijinks… at its core, this is a story about places (and people) who’ve drifted out of history, and exist now only as nostalgic memory. Hilarious, whimsical, and touching, this is one of the best movies in years.

 

[The Futurist]

#16. The Act of Killing (2013)

directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous, and Christine Cynn

 

 

This is a documentary unlike anything you’ve ever seen. It’s also one of the most unsettling you’ll ever see… not necessarily because it’s extremely graphic (it isn’t), but because it strikes at the heart of evil: the utter banality and normality, the satisfaction of sociopaths. If it wasn’t real you’d think this was the work of an incredible satirist. The fact that it’s true makes it all the more unsettling and provoking.

 

You re wrong on the sociopaths thing though, a lot of studies and experiments have been made about men inflincting pain over other men and the conclusion is always the same : could have been you, me. Everybody is a potential sadist or murderer, it just all depends on the circumstances. Think also about Nazy germany or any other nation that went on a mad murdering path.

[Dementeleus]

You re wrong on the sociopaths thing though, a lot of studies and experiments have been made about men inflincting pain over other men and the conclusion is always the same : could have been you, me. Everybody is a potential sadist or murderer, it just all depends on the circumstances. Think also about Nazy germany or any other nation that went on a mad murdering path.

 

I think you misunderstood what I was saying (or perhaps I just didn't phrase it well). I agree with you.

[Dementeleus]

#13: Amour (2012)

written and directed by: Michael Haneke

 

 

This isn’t a film about death. It’s a film about life. About love. About regret. About our minds and spirits, separated by our physical forms. Poignant but relentless.

 

[Ethan Hunt]

Gravity... :/

[The Futurist]

Hanneke is one of the worst human being I know.

Can't stand him, his movies, his way of thinking.

He IS the worse.

Yuck.

[Dementeleus]

Hanneke is one of the worst human being I know.

Can't stand him, his movies, his way of thinking.

He IS the worse.

Yuck.

 

I know, right? Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Haneke.

[Ethan Hunt]

Tele, will any film I've heard of appear in the top 10?

[The Futurist]

I know, right? Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Haneke.

 

You re godamn right.

[Dementeleus]

Tele, will any film I've heard of appear in the top 10?

 

I dunno, how up to speed are you with Turkish, Armenian, and Slovakian cinema?

Edited February 10, 2015 by Telemachos

[baumer]

#13: Amour (2012)

written and directed by: Michael Haneke

 

 

This isn’t a film about death. It’s a film about life. About love. About regret. About our minds and spirits, separated by our physical forms. Poignant but relentless.

 

 

This was one film that Ric was not being pretentious about.  I saw it because of him and it blew me away.  Riva should have won best actress as well.  One of the best performances I've ever seen.

[baumer]

Hanneke is one of the worst human being I know.

Can't stand him, his movies, his way of thinking.

He IS the worse.

Yuck.

 

I hear he speaks very highly of you.

[baumer]

I dunno, how up to speed are you with Turkish, Armenian, and Slovakian cinema?

 

As long as they film noir, existential or European snuff, Ethan will be fine.

[BK007]

...which is exactly the point that the film and book were going for. Nick and Amy are manipulative sociopaths who deserve the misery that they inflict upon each other, and the only true justice that either one will ever face will be at the other's hands because Amy is too good at covering her tracks (which is established about halfway through the film, when we learn what happened to the ex who she framed for rape). Meanwhile, everyone who doesn't know them on a deeply personal level will assume that they're a happy couple that made it despite their difficult times. It's an extremely cynical ending in which neither person will be truly happy.

 

The point of the film is for everyone to ignore the evidence at the house? 

 

That entire sequence is shown in the film. In real life, when someone turns up soaked in blood after being missing, they are still going to investigate it and not take it for granted. For example, NPH's family/colleagues/etc, no one can corroborate where he was for the first week or however long it is, that goes by before she met him? I get they deserve each other's misery and etc, but the movie stumbles on its way there with dumb plotting undermining the message and turning it into another B-grade slasher flick. 

[DAR]

I dunno, how up to speed are you with Turkish, Armenian, and Slovakian cinema?

Way too lowbrow for Lisa

[baumer]

Way too lowbrow for Lisa

 

That's not entirely fair.  If they are 7 minute shorts on youtube, in said languages, she will love them.

[Jessie]

The writing was the one that undermined him.

 

Seriously with Talia al Ghul? That was a joke. 

 

God, I hate how disappointing TDKR was. Shit movie. 

 

Well actually no, Hardy had some great dialogue throughout the movie, hence why he's more quoted than The Joker.

 

As for being a shit movie, we are all entitled to our opinions, I was disappointed on first viewing but its grown on me ever since.

[TalismanRing]

12 Years was really interesting to me - living in Europe, we don't learn anything about slavery in our education system, so it was a quite fascinating insight into the old American slavery culture.

 

That's surprising that it's not taught in school there since England of course started the slave trade in America and it was a major industry for a long time in the British Empire.  Slavery and the slave trade was only abolished in the British Empire in 1807.  You might find Belle interesting.