Last movies you saw

[Bond]

Black Swan. 9/10.

Blew my mind into tiny little pieces.

[Professor S]

Inception: Perhaps the most brilliantly conceived movie so far this century, and one of the top ten "smartest" movies ever made.

[Bube]

I'd kill to watch Black Swan, but it opens in theaters at the end of February. And no, I do not want to download it.

I watched Inception for the second time a few days ago, and it was even better than my first viewing.

And I watched Shutter Island a few days before that. Loved it.

Last year was all Leonardo DiCaprio. This year seems like it's going to be Natalie Portman.

[Teuthida]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Inception: Perhaps the most brilliantly conceived movie so far this century, and one of the top ten "smartest" movies ever made.

I'm curious to know what you would consider the other nine.

[Swan]

I would hope that list includes Weekend at Bernies

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by Teuthida

I'm curious to know what you would consider the other nine.

I don't have a formal list, but off the top of my head...

2001: A Space Odyssey
Metrolis (original)
Nosferatu (original)
The 400 Blows
The Seventh Seal
Apocalypse Now
Wizard of Oz
Lord of the Rings
Citizen Kane

Keep in mind, this is about conception, not necessarily the greatest movie of all time.

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Inception: Perhaps the most brilliantly conceived movie so far this century, and one of the top ten "smartest" movies ever made.

Care to elaborate on the conception of the film a bit further?

I just watched The Last Exorcism. Like Paranormal Activity, this film will require you to:
A) suspend your disbelief
B) let the film take you on a ride
C) be okay with a minimal number of special effects
D) be open to ambiguous endings

All-in-all it might be a cut above Paranormal because it did not depend on cheap scares.

Not-sequitur: At the very least, The Last Exorcism got me to read some reviews. In one of the reviews Owen Gleiberman pointed out that The Last Exorcism would likely be compared to the number one exorcism movie of all time, The Exorcist. He alsos notes that in The Exorcist the emmergence of female sexuality was conveyed (via crucifix masturbation nonetheless!), which ties into the emerging feminist themes of the 70s . Interesting stuff.
Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20415539,00.html

So what does the devil look like in The Last Exorcism? I'd be the Antichrist if I spoiled it, but I will say that the movie, directed by Daniel Stamm from a script by Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland, with Eli Roth serving as producer, is a nightmare vision of the rise of Christian fundamentalism. It's about the dark side of piety — the cultish wrath that can emerge out of the high and the mighty. At the center of it all, once again, is a teenage girl's gnashing madness. The original Exorcist came out a few years after the feminist revolution kicked into gear, and Linda Blair's she-devil expressed our primal fear of a newly furious, newly empowered, and newly sexualized generation of young girls, the first that seemed to be channeling wanton forces far beyond their control. The best thing in The Last Exorcism is Ashley Bell's performance: She knows how to make rage the flip side of innocence. Especially when the camera follows her into the barn, and we see how those animals really died.

Seriously though, it is AMAZING the amount of social commentary that gets embedded into horror. Next to comedy I think horror is the deepest genre as far as film is concerned.

I actually loved The Last Exorcism, I thought the movie was moody and brilliantly shot. To take a page from the Professor's book ( ) I think the conception of the film was brilliant. I thought the ambiguous ending was more hit than miss, and I am still trying to piece together what happened.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

Care to elaborate on the conception of the film a bit further?

Just in the editing and use of perception of time from dream layer the dream layer is enough ti put this movie in top 10. The use of the van plummeting to build suspense was nothing short of genius.

I just watched The Last Exorcism. Like Paranormal Activity, this film will require you to:
A) suspend your disbelief
B) let the film take you on a ride
C) be okay with a minimal number of special effects
D) be open to ambiguous endings

I both loved and hated The Last Exorcism, but I don't think the ending was ambiguous at all. In fact, I thought they tied everything up pretty nicely, plot wise.

My thoughts on the ending: In the beginning of the movie they have clips of people talking about cults, so they laid the seed there. The son is upset at an exorcist coming, and throws rocks, not because he cares about his sister but because of what is inside of her. He is and was always a member of the cult, and his job was to protect what was in her belly. That's why he was fine with the exorcist being there when he found out he was a charlatan.

The movie failed in two ways, or one depending on how you look at it. Yes, it depended on suspension of disbelief, and for the most part it succeeded, but the ending completely ruined it for me. The concept would have worked far better if they didn't go for the fake documentary.

[KillerGremlin]

Originally Posted by Professor S

Just in the editing and use of perception of time from dream layer the dream layer is enough ti put this movie in top 10. The use of the van plummeting to build suspense was nothing short of genius.

I'm with you on that! I've seen Inception three times now, once in theaters and twice with friends. I LOOOOOOOOVE the van sequence. I think it is brilliant. The van and the hotel sequences with the reverse gravity scene are my two favorite parts. I also am a huge watch freak so I love the fact that in the dream levels time slows down and that is reflected by the character's wristwatch. If you rewatch the film you catch the slowed down watch at the beginning, total watch porn. And it is an automatic watch too (not quartz). So for those who are not in the know, an automatic watch actually ticks several times per second to give the illusion that the second hand is moving in a smooth sweep. An automatic watch will tick 6 or 7 times per second. So I thought they did a BRILLIANT job with the slowing down watch thing at the beginning of the film and then later on.

I am pretty sure Inception wrapped up with a closed-ending too: he is awake at the end. But the ONLY doubt I had was the scene where he was running from the guys and he could barely squeeze through the wall.

Originally Posted by Professor S

I both loved and hated The Last Exorcism, but I don't think the ending was ambiguous at all. In fact, I thought they tied everything up pretty nicely, plot wise.

My thoughts on the ending: In the beginning of the movie they have clips of people talking about cults, so they laid the seed there. The son is upset at an exorcist coming, and throws rocks, not because he cares about his sister but because of what is inside of her. He is and was always a member of the cult, and his job was to protect what was in her belly. That's why he was fine with the exorcist being there when he found out he was a charlatan.

The movie failed in two ways, or one depending on how you look at it. Yes, it depended on suspension of disbelief, and for the most part it succeeded, but the ending completely ruined it for me. The concept would have worked far better if they didn't go for the fake documentary.

I think that is a good summary of the ending. My only question is why did they throw the baby into the fire? To kill it? Free it? Obviously the dad was not in the cult....or the daughter.....

I still think the ending was better than just going through the motions with another Exorcism story. It was an attempt at something clever, which is better than retreading in a sub-genre that has already probably hit the ceiling.

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by KillerGremlin

I still think the ending was better than just going through the motions with another Exorcism story. It was an attempt at something clever, which is better than retreading in a sub-genre that has already probably hit the ceiling.

I liked the story of the ending, but I thought that it was too... fantastical... for the way the shot the movie. Just my opinion, though. Otherwise I thought the movie was very well done on every level.