[Film] Most satisfying movie you have seen recently

[Guyver Spawn]

So what good movies have you seen lately? It can be a movie on DVD or a movie that you seen on the Big Screen. Make sure to add some discussion then a single word post since I would hate to see this topic lock.

For me it was the 2009 reboot/remake of Friday the 13th. The movie had a lot of good scary moments, I care about the characters for once then the other movies, and I love the atmosphere movie had. Overall I give it a 3.5/5!

[Joseph the PRPD]

Only movies I've seen recently had been Transformers 2 and Terminator Salvation and like I said in there respective threads they are good movies.

[Mr. Tines]

If we define "recently" as the last 3 months, then the two films I've seen are completely different -- Let the right one in, and Red Cliff -- so it's hard to compare them in terms of satisfaction. Perhaps the vote has to go to the former, because it didn't need to bludgeon the audience with CGI to achieve its ends.

[ZapX]

Star Trek. Nice reboot of the franchise and a good watch. This coming from a guy who typically hates hollywood movies.

[oOoOoOo]

Let the right one in, and Red Cliff

TINES-SAN! Our hearts beat as one.

The former, a dark, cold Scandinavian vampire flick... so good! @_@ I'm especially impressed that the child actors could carry the story. They used just the right amount of violence, and prudently kept a lot of things off camera. (The climatic scene... bliss!) Too often a vampire movie just gets pornographic.

The latter, a Chinese historical drama, was exciting especially because it showcases the maturation of that country's film industry. It was a very satisfying epic, even if you weren't obsessed with the era going into things.

[backseatjesus]

Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Dollars Trilogy, Once upon a time in the west, Watchmen(I enjoyed it a lot), and there are a shitload more I'm satisfied with. I watch too many films.

[Evangerion]

Uh..
I've been watching horror movies all week.
One of them being a Tale of Two Sisters. It's somewhat confusing, but nevertheless, a very good movie. Unless you aren't into the whole Asian horror genre.

But the most satisfying movie I've seen recently was a few months ago. It was a Taiwanese movie called Secret. It's probably one of the best movies I've ever seen. I highly recommend it. : )

[Holy Diver]

Kingdom of Heaven. Great movie, historicaly inaccurate, but a great movie regardless.

[The Eva Monkey]

Saw Up a few weeks ago, spectacular film. I really like the first 20 minutes. When is Pixar going to win best film? Also saw Ratatouille on DVD, also an excellent film. Love me some Pixar.

Saw Thank You For Smoking, which was just an excellent, well written film. If you were ever curious how Aaron Eckhart got the role of Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight, watch this movie.

[Annihilationscape]

On DVD/Blu-Ray: Gran Torino.

In theatres: Star Trek.

I loved the hell outta both of these films.

[Action_Bastard]

The most satisfying movies I have seen this summer are Star Trek and The Hangover.

Up was nice, but that is a given with Pixar.

[NemZ]

Plenty of simple entertainment, but the last movies I saw that I would consider actually good, solid films were Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and The Reader. I'll also drop in a recommendation for Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon as a clever twist to the psycho killer genre, but only for horror fans.

The two Tines suggested I hadn't heard of, but the trailers do look quite good.

[ZapX]

Ratatouille on DVD, also an excellent film.

RESPECT.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Let the right one in

The former, a dark, cold Scandinavian vampire flick... so good! @_@ I'm especially impressed that the child actors could carry the story. They used just the right amount of violence, and prudently kept a lot of things off camera. (The climatic scene... bliss!) Too often a vampire movie just gets pornographic.

That was a superb film.

Waltz With Bashir - A 2008 Israeli animated film and semi-documentary about the war there in the 80s. The film starts with its director, Ari Folman, saying he can't remember anything from the period including the massacre; except for one vision that keeps coming to him, so he goes around and interviews people he knew who fought in the war and they tell their stories. This is a devastating film, but profound in its artistry and substance. The ending, which finally changes to live action, is truly disturbing.

Last Year at Marienbad - Resnais's revolutionary art film that forever changed the rules of film-making. It's completely non-linear, and while I can't say it lacks a story, it intentionally lacks coherent storytelling. It's really about the fallibility of memory; and unlike Rashomon a decade before it it really presents a subjective POV where everything is in question. Resnais uses repetitions to suggest how memories form, and his elegant cinematography of the hotel setting really shows how sense impressions form. A gorgeous masterpiece of a film that should be seen by everyone who has an appreciation for film-making art.

Hamlet ['64; Pasternak] - This Russian version was apparently OOP for years and we should all rejoice that it's now available; it has a real claim as being the best version. It is undoubtedly the most cinematic. For those who find Branagh and Olivier to be fine actors but lacking directors, this version is sure to satisfy. The cinematography is absolutely striking, and some images are so strong and haunting that they are able to translate the aesthetic of the play to screen that nothing before it can touch. Add to this untouchable visual aesthetic a superb and psychologically penetrating score by Dmitri Shostakovich and it's difficult to lament not being able to hear the words in their native language. The DVD subtitling is awful; often skipping several lines of dialogue but, in reality, I can't even complain since so much of the dialogue is known by heart and whatever the dialogue misses the visuals more than supplant. The performances are quite strong as well; with Smoktunovsky playing a subtle, Olivier-like Hamlet with one of the most sympathetic Ophelias.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time - One of the best animes I've ever seen and one of the most gorgeous films I've ever seen, period. This is one of those films I'd give to people who claim they don't like anime, because this film has everything; a wonderful combination of drama and humour, an excellent balance between visuals, aesthetic, and narrative, a wonderful soundtrack, great voice acting... it's just an overall phenomenal production. The story itself is simple; A girl, Makoto, learns she can leap through time and begins doing so to fix small things, but discovers that even small things can have big consequences. The film also has a wonderful nostalgic feel in the relationship of Makoto and her two best friends, Chiake and Kouseke. The film, taking a cue from classic Asian cinema, is full of pillow shots and aesthetic interludes which serve to pace the film emotionally more than narratively. These often help mediate the transitions between the absurd comedy and the drama.

Belle de Jour - Bunuel's erotic masterpiece isn't quite as superb as I remembered it, but it's still a brilliant film and perhaps the best erotic film outside of Last Tango in Paris I've ever seen. Bunuel throughout his career learned that surrealism had its strongest effect in the context of realism, and it could serve to be psychologically relevant rather than simply being a mish-mash of unconnected images. It's films like this that really paved the way for directors/writers like Lynch and Kaufman. The film is a bout a bourgeoisie woman who, frustrated with the lack of passion in her own life and marriage, becomes a prostitute to live out her fantasies. The film is surprisingly discreet; with no nudity, language, or explicit sexuality and violence (yet it still garnered an R rating?). Bunuel was never much of a stylist, yet he always offers up subtle cinematic touches, such as his focus on body parts to reveal psychological turmoil. The heroine is truly one of cinema's mysteries. Like Hamlet she remains impenetrable from outside observance. One can only speculate as to her subjective world and reasoning.

[Captain_Morgan]

Finally saw Oldboy two weeks ago. Awesome movie. Only one out of the group I saw it with to like it though. Oh well.

The Hangover was pretty good too, though it was overhyped a bit.

[BrikHaus]

Star Trek and Year One (yes, my fiancee and I are the only two people in the country who liked it).

[oOoOoOo]

Finally saw Oldboy two weeks ago. Awesome movie. Only one out of the group I saw it with to like it though. Oh well.

I think you have to be slightly messed in the head to appreciate this one. I loved it. This might be a rare case of a live action film being superior to the source material. Some thought it was over-the-top, but I thought the style and tone suited the content.

I was definitely "wassljgkdakdhgdg" for a few hours afterwards, so I think this film totally meets the thread requirements.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Oldboy is awesome and Chan Wook-Park is one of the most impressive directors to hit the scene in a LONG time. Oldboy gets all the attention, but the other two parts of his Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. and Lady Vengeance, respectively) are both superb in their own right. In fact, what's so remarkable about the trilogy is how Park takes a relatively simple theme with such a long tradition (revenge) and crafts these three films that are as different in terms of aesthetics and style as they are similar in themes and (somewhat) plot. Olboy is probably the most 'Western' of the three; it has a very visceral rhythm to it and its editing, and it focuses more on narrative drive opposed to visual aesthetics like the other two.

Mr. is definitely the most brutal of the three; it has this slowness which I've always said reminds me of someone sticking a knife in and twisting it slowly; it's probably the most disturbing and I like how it achieves it without the 'twist' ending like Oldboy. Lady is the most romantic of the three; and is actually a kind of beautiful film in many ways. By far the most interesting character study of the three.

Anyways, just check them out, and also his section (called Cut) in Three... Extremes.

[schismatics]

finally got around to watching A Clockwork Orange. LOTS OF LOVE FOR THAT MOVIE!

Also - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was amazing.

I also seen the old cartoon short "The Dot and the Line" on TV a few weeks ago...cartoons in the '60s are vastly superior to new ones

[Eva Yojimbo]

I've yet to figure out what I think about ACO. Part of me thinks it's brilliant, part of me thinks it's rather sloppy and shallow. Gotta love the art direction, at least; really iconoclast. I was a bit disappointed with Eternal Sunshine after all the praise. I really liked Kaufman as a writer, but I think that one was less than the sum of its parts. Synechdoche, New York however...