Mafiascum Movie Club

[jeep]

I think I'm too slow for this crew.

I'd give Whale Rider an A. I saw it on an airplane first, then at home. I agree with the comment about the speech. It was a particularly moving part of the film.

-JEEP

[Narninian]

Whale Rider: B

The acting was excellent, and I too was very moved by the speech. The thing that brought down the score a bit for me, is the plot. I respect what was going for, and I understand they did a lot in challenging Gender roles. The plot seems... like it was trying to be deep and meaningful, but wasnt. There was vague notions of Destiny being furfilled, but I just feel its missing something.

I did feel good after watching it, and I agree with most on Kiesha's acting.

[inHimshallibe]

Wow. I really enjoyed Whale Rider the second time around. The first time? I was a bit contrary at the time of viewing.

Anyway, I give the movie a solid

A

. The acting was well done, and the 'speech' was incredibly moving. After watching the movie, and then reading Talitha's comments on the movie's "validity" (I guess that's the right word), it showed to me a technical excellence in the direction as well.

Ah, and now it's up to my choice. I expect this one may be a wee bit more difficult to find as compared to the others.

[MeMe]

If you can't find it at Blockbuster, check the local library -- that's where I found it.

[Fletcher]

Whale Rider

I liked the story and the acting a lot and it had a really interesting story. I enjoyed it the most of any movie yet.

A-

My movie is going to be EdTV

[Fishbulb]

Whale Rider

Huh? I don't get it.

I mean, I get the movie part; I got it within the first 5 minutes. I'm lost on why it is so highly praised. I did find the cultural exploration interesting, just like I find most shows on TLC interesting. But as a movie I found it lacking -- predictable right from the start.

Removing all of the praise which led to the letdown, it is still a decent movie. The documentary aspects are especially interesting. But all in all, not anything I'd go out of my way to view again.

C

[MeMe]

Alright - we're slackers. Fletcher & I haven't had time this week to watch Night of the Hunter, but we plan to do it tomorrow evening.

Until that time, I'll just say that I watched this movie about 6 years ago and, although I didn't write a text review at that time, I can tell you that the grade I gave it after that viewing was "D-." I will be watching with an open mind and I'll change the grade if I find I've changed my mind!

[MeMe]

Night of the Hunter

Momma always told me if I didn't have something nice to say -- don't say anything at all.

F

Oh, who am I kidding...

Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck. Seedy story. Bad acting. Horrible direction. Case in point: what was up with that ooo-eee-ooo-eee-ahh hop run that propelled Mitchum to the barn near the end of the film? I feel quite sure that the direction he was given was "Hey, Bob -- remember when Bugs Bunny gave Elmer Fudd a hotfoot? Do what he did, but with a Yosemite Sam accent. OK --

Action

!"

Ninety minutes that feel like several hours. I must've been in a really good mood the first time I saw it -- I can't think of any other reason to have given it anything above the lowest possible rating. At least I can be thankful that Charles Laughton never directed any other films.

[inHimshallibe]

I put this movie in the queue because I thought you might have needed a laugh... I'm sorry you suffered.

Anyway, I first saw "The Night of the Hunter" during a summer program. My friends and I never stopped laughing... at how crazy/possibly horrible the movie actually was. Objectively, I think the movie merits a

D

. However, I still crack up whenever I think about it, and would give a sentimental grade of B- (because I enjoy watching this more than "The Thirteenth Floor.")

(Use the

D

on the front page. )

[MeMe]

I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd chosen it because you loved it -- IMDb's average score (of 7,372 votes) has it at 8.2 out of 10 stars. I just don't understand

why

.

[inHimshallibe]

I love it, because it tickles me so much. I kind of like the story, but, eh...

[Internet Stranger]

The Village:

For something that was supposed to be oh so scary and suspenceful, this thing barely tickled. The villagers just looked like ignorant uptight buttmunches. At once point, once you realize that the movie is dragging without even a whiff of the ooh scary monsters your mind starts churning and ding, you figure it out.

You cant help it, not because of some clueful relevation, its because the acting is so hokey that you just start thinking about the ending, hoping it comes sometime soon.

I didnt even realize that the girl was supposed to be blind until it was almost over. Yea, a blind person running through the woods, she might as well have been carrying scissors too.

Grade: D

[MeMe]

The Village

Second viewing (first saw just a few months ago).

I'm a fan of Shyamalan -- even though his dialogue can be pretty stiff in all of his movies. Looooved Sixth Sense. Became an Unbreakable Apologist when it was widely misunderstood. Signs? Great.

But this one? What a huge disappointment. It was obvious what the "twist" was (I figured it out before I ever even rented the thing) -- but I thought that it wouldn't matter much if the film itself was well done. No such luck. The dialogue is laughable…the blind girl's not blind-acting enough...and the retarded man-boy is hostile and frightening for no discernible reason.

And while I empathize with the desire to keep family safe at all costs...and to live somehow more simply than society allows -- I just don't understand some of the ridiculous choices that were made in the founding of this settlement. For example: why on earth would they choose to speak like the Amish? What purpose does that serve? And why did they go to the bother of pretending that it was ACTUALLY the early 1800s (as the tombstone at the beginning said)? If I were born and was told it was 2130 I wouldn't think "well, shouldn't we be way more modern then?" I'd just assume that the world looks like THIS in 2130.

C-

(Saved from a D because I enjoy some romance -- and Ivy's "quit asking me" flirtation was somehow lovely. I know that's kind of a small thing...but sometimes just one beautiful moment can linger in my mind for years and that's certainly worth a slight bump in grade)

[Fletcher]

The Night of the Hunter

OK. Thanks for the waste of my life inhim. It was ridiculous. It was like they had the first hlaf planned out then "Uhhh.. ok, I got it! now they'll escape down a river! And then...... they'll arrive at this old ladies house.....".

F

Village

Pure genius. (when compared to the former) It was mediocre. I thought the whole idea was pretty cool, but it didn't deliver it in a way that I really enjoyed it. And what was up with Noah (I think) growling when he was in the suit? Was it like supposed to add to the effect then by the time we found out it was him we were supposed to have forgotten?

C-

[LoudmouthLee]

Just got around to seeing:

The Village: B

Not nearly as bad as I have heard, better than the sixth sense, much better than signs, but does NOT hold a candle to Unbreakable.

EdTV: B+

A really witty, interesting film that was more serious about itself then it led on at the beginning. However, it's no

The Truman Show

[halfpint]

Edtv

I didn't think I would like this movie since I really liked the Truman Show. However, after I finally saw the movie, I enjoyed it (it might have something to do with my love affair with Matthew McConaughey). Woody Harrelson was pretty darn funny in this movie also. Acting by some other bigwigs (Ellen DeGeneres, Rob Reiner, Martin Landau, Dennis Hopper, and Elizabeth Hurley) also helped. Two complaints I have about this movie are that I that I thought it went on too long and Jenna Elfman's charachter annoyed me (although I know I was supposed to sympathize with her).

B

[Fishbulb]

The Village

: I didn't think it was as bad as everyone told me. But that might have something to do with expectations. I even made sure to avoid critical reviews and expanded trailers so I wouldn't know too much before seeing it (which I do with any movie that I have any interest in).

All in all, I was entertained. Yeah, I figured it out pretty quick, and there were way too many issues that didn't make sense when you compare it to his other three films; it just didn't seem as polished as the The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, all of which I enjoyed and would probably rate them in the B+ range. The Village?

C

[Fishbulb]

I just realized I used "all in all" in my last two reviews.

I gotta expand my repertoire...

[Totem]

And now, a week before the

Series 8

starts, rerun of

Series 7 – The Contenders

...

Background on reviewer:

As you know I live in Poland. Reality shows just hit this country. The first was “Big Brother” then “The Mole” then “The Bar”, I don’t think we had “Survivor” or any other reality shows made locally but my information may be outdated, I don’t watch TV a lot. I waited for the first show- “Big Brother” with what I might call ‘sociological curiosity’. I was curious about the behavior of the people in the show. Will they forget that they are being filmed? And I was also curious how the viewers will react. The airing of the first reality show caused a bit of commotion in newspapers too. There were people strongly against this kind of TV, and people watching every episode. I was discouraged after the couple of episodes. Instead I had fun watching people who campaigned against the ‘barbaric show’ yes somehow knew every detail of ‘shower scenes’.
When I was in Canada I watched a bit of ‘Survivor’ and ‘Fear Factor’ but for me it was just average shows. As I said, I don’t like to spend much time in front of TV ( Net is much better ) Just recently I am experimenting with “The Apprentice” , but I watch it mainly for small business ideas.

Review

Series 7: The Contenders

The creators of this movie did a very good job. I dislike violence and normally would stop watching the movie with that level of brutality. But what kept me watching was the felling that this was real show in every detail. This is exaggerated and satirical view of the reality show genre, but at a same time, every minute of the movie is so close to other known reality shows. The cast of characters is good. The weakest I think Is the nurse. She hangs somewhere in between reality and horror movie character, too close to horror, and it spoils the reality feeling of the Series 7. Other contestants seamed very much like the real people. I kept thinking about Dawn “the producers keep making the star of the show from her. Forced to play and fighting for her life and child, but the truth is she just likes to kill”. I started thinking like this was a real show.
The ‘lost footage’ in the end is just what producers of ‘reality’ shows do. They don’t care what really happened, the only thing they care is what will sell. This is also truth with all the invasion in the privacy and invasion in the past of the contenders earlier.
Concluding. I like two kinds of movies. The ones that make me unwind, and the ones that make me fell uneasy and stimulate my brain. This was the latter. And well made.

B

(English is not my native language remember so if you spot an grammatical error or need a clarification on my thoughts please PM me and I will edit the post)

[Talitha]

The Village

I guess it helped that I had heard absolutely nothing about this movie before I saw it?

I found this an engaging and thought-provoking story. I got genuinely scared a couple of times in this movie. Sometimes it was reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project, but the scenes were beautifully filmed and very easy to watch. I enjoyed the acting of the main characters. The story neither dragged nor moved too quickly. It unfolded nicely with eventual revelations that were satisfying enough, although a few questions were left appropriately unanswered at the end.

Where it let me down:
I was a little disappointed when it turned out there was really nothing to be scared of. I would’ve liked to walk away from it still shaking.
I found the lengths to which the elders were going, to keep up the ruse to be a little unbelievable, as I also found the completely clueless villagers to be.

Also, I felt like I really wanted the ethics of what they were doing to be examined. They were keeping people scared and clueless, not trusting them to know the truth, not allowing them to make their own decisions.

B

[Talitha]

Oh yeah, as an aside... I nearly peed my pants watching Blair Witch, because I thought it was a real documentary.

[MeMe]

Edtv

Fourth (maybe fifth?) viewing.

Well, it's probably pretty dang obvious that I like this one or I wouldn't keep watching it, eh?

It's a charmer -- and the casting is

fantastic

. I mean, Woody Harrelson & Matthew McConaughey as brothers? And Dennis Hopper as pop? Perfect. Ellen DeGeneres is also terrific -- her scenes crack me up despite the fact that I can quote them right along with her.

And I understand what halfpint's saying about Elfman - she does irritate me in almost every other role I've seen her do - but I think she really works in this role. It's

because

she's kind of whiny and not everyone's idea of a perfect woman that it makes

sense

for the TrueTV viewers to align against her.

B+

(and I'll agree it's no Truman Show...but seeing as I grade that one a "C" -- that's a

good

thing)

[MeMe]

And we've only got three pending picks in the queue -- anyone want to choose another?

[Internet Stranger]

If you really need another, ill nominate

Eurotrip

. But with a strong anti-kiddie warning.

[MeMe]

Erm...I don't think I'm

that

desperate yet.

Anyway, you'll have to wait until your movie is out of the "current film" slot before making another pick -- hopefully, by that time, someone else will have come to the rescue.