Kam
10-24-2005, 08:09 AM
Capote - highly reccomended. phillip seymour hoffman is phenomenal and dead on playing truman. the movie follows the behind the scenes makings of capote's book, in cold blood. a murder happens in kansas. makes the page in the new york times. capote reads it, wants to do an article on it (he writes for the new yorker, also wrote breakfast at tiffany's and was a total nyc socialite and openly gay, which in 1960's wasnt an easy thing, not that it is now either). he goes to kansas with harper lee (yep, the kill a mockingbird harper lee) and begins his investigation. to say he is self centered and absolutely ruthless in getting his story is an understatement. the scene where he first meets the sheriff and gets information from him is incredible. he reveals a touching story about himself, showing his vulnerability, his weakness.... and right before the sheriff is about to reciprocate and reveal something about the murders... there's this soft, almost imperceptible smile that hoffman gives and it is chilling. his 'ruse' worked and hoffman plays it brilliantly. the story itself is incredibly fascinating and draws you right in. i didnt know much about the events and havent read the book, although i knew the basics of what happenned, seeing how capote manipulated events to get "his ending" is amazing.
Infernal Affairs (2002, Hong Kong)- this is the movie that Scorcese is basing his latest on. another remake, great. BUT, since it is scorcese, i would hope for something great or at least different from the crap remakes that have been plaguing the system. the only problem is, this movie is awesome as it is. (reference back to my remake dillemma, why remake an already great movie vs. the movies that should be remade {i.e. a great idea that was not executed properly and was a bad movie}). starts off with a police chief sending his men in to the mob to be undercover agents and a mob boss sending his men in to the police to be a mole and his eyes and ears. the police chief and mob boss each know that the other has an informer in the other's operation, but they don't know who. what ensues is a cat and mouse game to discover the identity of the informer while still trying to get information. Highly highly highly reccomended. great acting, phenomenally shot, incredibly touching movie.
M (1931, Germany) - fritz lang brings the germans into the new age of filmmaking with their first "talkie." its about a child murderer, go figure. The genius of fritz in his directing and techniques used are phenomenal. to think that devices that are common place NOW he used in the first major talkie motion picture from germany is incredible. overlapping dialogue cuts (where the camera cuts but you hear the other person still talking), voice over, montage scenes to voice over, etc. and peter lorre is REALLY creepy as the murderer. i went into this blind, not knowing much else about it so i dont want to reveal anything other than what i put above. Highly reccomended as well. although hearing them say "commissar" for investigator was funny for some reason. don't ask me why, but germans saying 'commissar' sounded funny.
next up: Samurai Assassin, Assassination Tango, and All About Eve.
peace
k2
Infernal Affairs (2002, Hong Kong)- this is the movie that Scorcese is basing his latest on. another remake, great. BUT, since it is scorcese, i would hope for something great or at least different from the crap remakes that have been plaguing the system. the only problem is, this movie is awesome as it is. (reference back to my remake dillemma, why remake an already great movie vs. the movies that should be remade {i.e. a great idea that was not executed properly and was a bad movie}). starts off with a police chief sending his men in to the mob to be undercover agents and a mob boss sending his men in to the police to be a mole and his eyes and ears. the police chief and mob boss each know that the other has an informer in the other's operation, but they don't know who. what ensues is a cat and mouse game to discover the identity of the informer while still trying to get information. Highly highly highly reccomended. great acting, phenomenally shot, incredibly touching movie.
M (1931, Germany) - fritz lang brings the germans into the new age of filmmaking with their first "talkie." its about a child murderer, go figure. The genius of fritz in his directing and techniques used are phenomenal. to think that devices that are common place NOW he used in the first major talkie motion picture from germany is incredible. overlapping dialogue cuts (where the camera cuts but you hear the other person still talking), voice over, montage scenes to voice over, etc. and peter lorre is REALLY creepy as the murderer. i went into this blind, not knowing much else about it so i dont want to reveal anything other than what i put above. Highly reccomended as well. although hearing them say "commissar" for investigator was funny for some reason. don't ask me why, but germans saying 'commissar' sounded funny.
next up: Samurai Assassin, Assassination Tango, and All About Eve.
peace
k2