Last movie watched...

[Lenny_Zero]

I'm a big Cronenberg fan, but COSMOPOLIS just about killed it all for me.  What a spectacular waste of time, and not in a good TROLL HUNTER way.

[qtwerk]

I'm a big Cronenberg fan, but COSMOPOLIS just about killed it all for me.  What a spectacular waste of time, and not in a good TROLL HUNTER way.

Hmmm, I've read the book and it didn't really scream out "MAKE ME INTO A FILM! IT'LL BE ACE!" so I was quite surprised (and largely disinterested) when a cinema version was announced.

[Hawkmumbler]

Cronenberg directed my favourate movie of all time, Videodrome, as well as a number of other loves (Scanners, The Brood etc) so I had to see Cosmopolis at the theaters...it wasn't great but i enjoyed it for what it was. Cronenber will always be worth my money I say.

[I, Cosh]

Watching a lot of obscure, pretentious, supposedly arty indie cinema can be a pretty thankless task. Every now and again though, you get something like The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser which makes it all worthwhile. Take two Vincent Gallos, as many stunning Italian actresses I've never heard of and an androgynous female as the eponymous stranger washed up on the beach, add black and white photography, some self-conscious weirdness, UFOs, a sprinkling of Mediterranean package holiday tongue in cheek and serve without any real thought for the connections you're hinting at.

Alternatively, you can look at it as an extended promo video for the Vitalic soundtrack. Either way, it was great.

[TordelBack]

Take two Vincent Gallos, as many stunning Italian actresses I've never heard of and an androgynous female as the eponymous stranger washed up on the beach, add black and white photography, some self-conscious weirdness, UFOs, a sprinkling of Mediterranean package holiday tongue in cheek and serve without any real thought for the connections you're hinting at.

I'm guessing this isn't the Herzog version!  Sounds intriguing, been fascinated with the character since Suzanne Vega sent me on a difficult pre-google search many years ago, but this had completely passed me by.  Is it available on that video-thing yet?

[I, Cosh]

Take two Vincent Gallos, as many stunning Italian actresses I've never heard of and an androgynous female as the eponymous stranger washed up on the beach, add black and white photography, some self-conscious weirdness, UFOs, a sprinkling of Mediterranean package holiday tongue in cheek and serve without any real thought for the connections you're hinting at.

I'm guessing this isn't the Herzog version!  Sounds intriguing, been fascinated with the character since Suzanne Vega sent me on a difficult pre-google search many years ago, but this had completely passed me by.  Is it available on that video-thing yet?

It's not the Herzog version and I think it's still doing film festivals and the like so no DVD for a while yet.
The key elements of the story are all there but often in a pretty silly way: he's constantly listening to imaginary music on his unplugged headphones, for example. He doesn't have a backstory and no attempt is made to fill one in. Instead, we just see the other characters trying to project their own interpretations onto his blankness.

[JamesC]

Snow White and the Huntsman

Really good fun and reminded me of 'Willow' quite a bit.
It was all very overblown and a bit silly but then I think that's the point of a film like this.
There's some really lovely design all the way through the film. Costumes, sets, everything looks great - in particular a scene set in a fairy wood.
If I worked in a TV shop I'd put this on Blu-Ray to show off the tellys.

[von Boom]

I saw Snow White and the Huntsman a while back. Not bad, but I couldn't tell the difference between Stewart and the trees around her.

[qtwerk]

Cronenberg directed my favourate movie of all time, Videodrome, as well as a number of other loves (Scanners, The Brood etc) so I had to see Cosmopolis at the theaters...it wasn't great but i enjoyed it for what it was. Cronenber will always be worth my money I say.

I don't think I've ever seen a Cronenberg film at the pictures - I was too young to get into The Fly and his earlier 18 (sorry, X-rated) films and never been interested enough in the later ones - but skimming through his imdb page, it's quite telling that I've watched about 90% of the rest on DVD/ TV.

Almost always interesting.

Apart from M. Butterfly, obviously

[Professor Bear]

Yeah, Willow is a good call as a point of reference, though not as eventful in terms of fights.  The Stewart hate has mostly passed me by so I was a bit flummoxed when mates spoke of Snow White and the Huntsman with the consensus opinion that it would be great if not for her presence.  I saw it and thought it was a pretty decent romp and not exceptionally good or bad - the odd flat performance, but nothing film-breaking.

It does do that thing where it uses FX to make regular-sized actors look like dwarfs, though, which I am in two minds about these days seeing as it takes acting jobs off actors who are dwarfs already and arguably a specialist role like that is something that comes along for them pretty rarely.  Fair enough they want someone recogniseable in the parts like Simon Pegg's mate and that other English actor, but if they did this all the time we wouldn't have the lovely Pete Dinklage's star on the rise and his part in Game of Thrones would probably have gone to some cleverly-angled shots and that actor who played the zombie team member from Torchwood, so go on and imagine that for a few moments.

[Hoagy]

We had a viewing at a mates place of Videodrome last night. My first ever viewing of it. Madcap! Good to have a look at Debbie Harry as a brunette.


As for dwarfs in jobs, I watched The Train Agent about a really pissed off dwarf who lives in a train depot. quite nice for a film where nothing out the ordinary is happening but chasing trains and overcoming the crowd as an individual. Trains and dwarfs man! What's not to like?

[Richmond Clements]

They're filming midgets!

[qtwerk]

We had a viewing at a mates place of Videodrome last night. My first ever viewing of it. Madcap! Good to have a look at Debbie Harry as a brunette.


As for dwarfs in jobs, I watched The Train Agent about a really pissed off dwarf who lives in a train depot. quite nice for a film where nothing out the ordinary is happening but chasing trains and overcoming the crowd as an individual. Trains and dwarfs man! What's not to like?

It's called "The Station Agent" and stars Tyrion. (Or Peter Dinklage as he's otherwise known).

[Professor Bear]

For all my pro-dwarf bluster, I have never seen an episode of Life's Too Short, not even the one where Liam Neeson played himself as if he was the main character from Taken.

[von Boom]

As for dwarfs in jobs, I watched The Train Agent about a really pissed off dwarf who lives in a train depot. quite nice for a film where nothing out the ordinary is happening but chasing trains and overcoming the crowd as an individual. Trains and dwarfs man! What's not to like?

Best film with the under statured ever is Time Bandits.