That had to be my least favorite part. It added nothing, and was just plain odd.OldSchool_Boy wrote:That sex scene near the end of the film was pretty weird/bad. Besides that, it is a great movie.BoringSupreez wrote:Munich. I think it was great. 'nuff said.
What was the last movie you've seen?
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BoringSupreez
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
prfsnl_gmr wrote:There is nothing feigned about it. What I wrote is a display of actual moral superiority.
Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Soderbergh's Contagion is a solid techno-thriller that's well worth watching. I wish Hollywood made more of these "not-for-zombies" flicks.
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elmagicochrisg
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Check Blindness and Perfect Sense...Pulsar_t wrote:Soderbergh's Contagion is a solid techno-thriller that's well worth watching. I wish Hollywood made more of these "not-for-zombies" flicks.
Dreamcast DUX Limited Edition for sale (new, odorless and sealed)
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SwooshBear
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
I saw The Grey a few days ago and I really enjoyed it. Best movie I've seen in theaters in a long time. Totally buying it when it comes out. Liam Neeson plays his role perfectly, I couldn't imagine any other actor starring in that. Pretty deep/kinda sad movie overall.
Check me out on twitter: SwooshBear742Incognito D wrote:Mere months after buying my original GBA, Nintendo trolled me hard by releasing the SP.
Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Possession
I'm honestly not sure where to begin. TCM showed this a couple of weeks ago and by the time it was over I wasn't sure what to think of it. Honestly, I was sort of surprise TCM showed it at all. It has some rather, er, interesting imagery. Going by the title I thought it was going to be a ghost story. What I got instead was not even close.
Possession is a story about two sparring spouses who take everything to the freaking edge. Mark comes home from a business trip (we're never really told what he does, just that it involves long overseas trips), back to cold war Berlin only to find that his lovely wife, Anna, wants a divorce.
Of course I'm not happy to see you. See, I was sort of hoping you weren't coming home.
Mark's made all the more frustrated because she won't tell him why and remains purposefully vague about the reasons.
Still Mark wants to work things out, or at least he does until he has an unsettling explosive outburst in the middle of a restaurant where he ultimately has to be held down by the kitchen staff
Damn you chair!
He agrees to Anna's wishes, giving her the apartment and their son. He doesn't take it well, obsessively making calls and getting more and more pissed because he doesn't understand why she won't answer.
My guess is she saw the crazy eyes and decided to cut her losses.
He finally goes to visit, only to find their son alone and unkempt, Anna no where to be seen. When she returns he insists on staying to take care of the boy. You'd think this would be a good thing, you know? More time to talk and work things out.
Yeah.
No.
These people's idea of talking is throwing conniptions so violent that you'll start to worry about the state of their sanity and their lumbar support. Over The Top doesn't even begin to describe their talks. All of their talks usually end up with one or more of them either totally losing it or bleeding.
Gee, what could have given her that bloody mouth?
Round about the time wifey disappears again, Mark learns she has a boyfriend, an incredibly douchy fellow named Heinrich (he's sort of like a more clothed Voldo and Lector rolled into one. It's very unsettling).
Really, it's hard to blame Mark for going over there to try to find her to get her back. If I had just watched Heinrich's first scene and nothing else I'd want to punch him in the face myself. But Mark's noble attempt to return his spouse to her rightful abuser backfires horribly when Heinrich kicks his ass in the most effeminate way possible
Sadly, he is not stretching. That is his actual "martial arts" pose. I felt a little embarrassed for Mark.
And to make matters worse, she wasn't even there. Licking his wounds Mark decided to go a different route and hires a private detective to find out what his wife has really been up too, and it's at this point that the movie takes such a drastic U-turn that you'll wonder what the hell just happened. I'm not kidding, when the detective finds her and discovers the real reason for her absence you will literally have the same look of confusion that he does.
Wha-What the hell is that?
Possesion is curious in that the first half of the film focusses, essentially, on the disintegration of the family. To call it 'drama' is an understatement. It'd be more accurate to call it 'truama.' In the midst of Mark and Anna's fights, dialogue is not just delivered, it's hurled at you like a baseball... followed closely by a big ass brick to the face. They scream, they hit, and they mangle each other and themselves. It's very intense.
Of course, for very intense scenes, you're going to need some very good acting and Possession delivers.
Sam Neill (looking really, really young) plays the insecure husband. His whining and his tendency to rock in every chair he sat down in sort of got on my nerves, but his slow decent into Coo-Coo land was fascinating to watch.
What was even more fascinating was Isabelle Adjani's performance. She doesn't just make Anna look crazy
Though, she does do a very good job of it.
she make her unhinged. If everyone in this movie is mad as a hatter, than Anna is their queen. The woman plays crazed wife like nobody's business. While Sam's character starts off as relatively sane, Isabelle's Anna could never be described as such. While Mark may still be blinded by love, the audience can tell right off the bat that the woman ain't right. There's just something about her that's a little off and as the movie progresses you realize that that's just a careful facade to hide the raving madness within. Probably her most memorable scene is where she completely loses her s*&# in an empty subway tunnel. It's a long, drawn-out scene that personifies her madness and (groceries be damned!) I was completely riveted.
Ewwww....she's like, oozing from every orifice and......ewwwwww...
In 1981 the director, Andrzej Zulawski, was in the middle of a very messy divorce. So he funneled all of his anger and energy into this film. It's a very bizarre combination of drama, thriller, horror, and yes, it's a bit of an art film. Yup, Possession is chock full of symbolism, some of it was easy to pick out (hello Cold War and religion), but there was so much going on I'm sure I missed a good chunk of it.
Nope. Sorry. You blinked. I can't help you now, my child.
Part of the reason for that (other than I'm dense) is the film's often frantic camera work. Sometimes the scenes are as shaky and jerky as the actors. This often adds to the many frantic scenes, but it makes it hard to pinpoint things in the background. You often get the feeling that you see something in the background that's somehow relevant to the scene, only to have the camera jerk away a moment later.
When the camera is still the cinematography can most often be beautiful
And creepy. Beautiful and Creepy.
This brings me to the second half of the movie. When I said the film does a 180. I mean the film literally does a 180 and really does live up to that horror description I mentioned earlier. Explaining it would give away the twist, and I don't want to do that. It would ruin it. But for those who really want to know, or just don't give a damn about spoilers I shall put it in a tag.
You have been warned
For those who want less spoilers, here is the official trailer, which will only give you a glimpse of what I'm talking about:
When the movie was first released it was heavily edited in the US and the UK deemed it one of their "Video Nasties." It does have an uncut DVD release, but the damned thing is apparently rare and freakishly expensive. So if you want to watch it, hope to catch it on Netflix.
Possession definitely isn't going to be for everyone. The mixing of genres may mess a few people up, but if you like a little variety in your movies than you should be good to go. It has been compared to Repulsion and The Brood, so if you liked those movies you'll probably find it interesting. If you don't like those, or all the symbolism scares you away (though it's really not necessary to understand it to get the film) then you'll probably want to avoid it.
I'm honestly not sure where to begin. TCM showed this a couple of weeks ago and by the time it was over I wasn't sure what to think of it. Honestly, I was sort of surprise TCM showed it at all. It has some rather, er, interesting imagery. Going by the title I thought it was going to be a ghost story. What I got instead was not even close.
Possession is a story about two sparring spouses who take everything to the freaking edge. Mark comes home from a business trip (we're never really told what he does, just that it involves long overseas trips), back to cold war Berlin only to find that his lovely wife, Anna, wants a divorce.
Of course I'm not happy to see you. See, I was sort of hoping you weren't coming home.
Mark's made all the more frustrated because she won't tell him why and remains purposefully vague about the reasons.
Still Mark wants to work things out, or at least he does until he has an unsettling explosive outburst in the middle of a restaurant where he ultimately has to be held down by the kitchen staff
Damn you chair!
He agrees to Anna's wishes, giving her the apartment and their son. He doesn't take it well, obsessively making calls and getting more and more pissed because he doesn't understand why she won't answer.
My guess is she saw the crazy eyes and decided to cut her losses.
He finally goes to visit, only to find their son alone and unkempt, Anna no where to be seen. When she returns he insists on staying to take care of the boy. You'd think this would be a good thing, you know? More time to talk and work things out.
Yeah.
No.
These people's idea of talking is throwing conniptions so violent that you'll start to worry about the state of their sanity and their lumbar support. Over The Top doesn't even begin to describe their talks. All of their talks usually end up with one or more of them either totally losing it or bleeding.
Gee, what could have given her that bloody mouth?
Round about the time wifey disappears again, Mark learns she has a boyfriend, an incredibly douchy fellow named Heinrich (he's sort of like a more clothed Voldo and Lector rolled into one. It's very unsettling).
Really, it's hard to blame Mark for going over there to try to find her to get her back. If I had just watched Heinrich's first scene and nothing else I'd want to punch him in the face myself. But Mark's noble attempt to return his spouse to her rightful abuser backfires horribly when Heinrich kicks his ass in the most effeminate way possible
Sadly, he is not stretching. That is his actual "martial arts" pose. I felt a little embarrassed for Mark.
And to make matters worse, she wasn't even there. Licking his wounds Mark decided to go a different route and hires a private detective to find out what his wife has really been up too, and it's at this point that the movie takes such a drastic U-turn that you'll wonder what the hell just happened. I'm not kidding, when the detective finds her and discovers the real reason for her absence you will literally have the same look of confusion that he does.
Wha-What the hell is that?
Possesion is curious in that the first half of the film focusses, essentially, on the disintegration of the family. To call it 'drama' is an understatement. It'd be more accurate to call it 'truama.' In the midst of Mark and Anna's fights, dialogue is not just delivered, it's hurled at you like a baseball... followed closely by a big ass brick to the face. They scream, they hit, and they mangle each other and themselves. It's very intense.
Of course, for very intense scenes, you're going to need some very good acting and Possession delivers.
Sam Neill (looking really, really young) plays the insecure husband. His whining and his tendency to rock in every chair he sat down in sort of got on my nerves, but his slow decent into Coo-Coo land was fascinating to watch.
What was even more fascinating was Isabelle Adjani's performance. She doesn't just make Anna look crazy
Though, she does do a very good job of it.
she make her unhinged. If everyone in this movie is mad as a hatter, than Anna is their queen. The woman plays crazed wife like nobody's business. While Sam's character starts off as relatively sane, Isabelle's Anna could never be described as such. While Mark may still be blinded by love, the audience can tell right off the bat that the woman ain't right. There's just something about her that's a little off and as the movie progresses you realize that that's just a careful facade to hide the raving madness within. Probably her most memorable scene is where she completely loses her s*&# in an empty subway tunnel. It's a long, drawn-out scene that personifies her madness and (groceries be damned!) I was completely riveted.
Ewwww....she's like, oozing from every orifice and......ewwwwww...
In 1981 the director, Andrzej Zulawski, was in the middle of a very messy divorce. So he funneled all of his anger and energy into this film. It's a very bizarre combination of drama, thriller, horror, and yes, it's a bit of an art film. Yup, Possession is chock full of symbolism, some of it was easy to pick out (hello Cold War and religion), but there was so much going on I'm sure I missed a good chunk of it.
Nope. Sorry. You blinked. I can't help you now, my child.
Part of the reason for that (other than I'm dense) is the film's often frantic camera work. Sometimes the scenes are as shaky and jerky as the actors. This often adds to the many frantic scenes, but it makes it hard to pinpoint things in the background. You often get the feeling that you see something in the background that's somehow relevant to the scene, only to have the camera jerk away a moment later.
When the camera is still the cinematography can most often be beautiful
And creepy. Beautiful and Creepy.
This brings me to the second half of the movie. When I said the film does a 180. I mean the film literally does a 180 and really does live up to that horror description I mentioned earlier. Explaining it would give away the twist, and I don't want to do that. It would ruin it. But for those who really want to know, or just don't give a damn about spoilers I shall put it in a tag.
You have been warned
Possession definitely isn't going to be for everyone. The mixing of genres may mess a few people up, but if you like a little variety in your movies than you should be good to go. It has been compared to Repulsion and The Brood, so if you liked those movies you'll probably find it interesting. If you don't like those, or all the symbolism scares you away (though it's really not necessary to understand it to get the film) then you'll probably want to avoid it.
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Nintendork666
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
I love you, Michi.Michi wrote:Possession
*another awesome review*
What a great review. I bumped this up my list of things to watch. I apparently also need to start looking at what TCM is airing. Is the stuff edited at all on TCM? Is the creepy/cool/out of print stuff shown at particular times?
Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
dsheinem wrote:...Is the stuff edited at all on TCM?
To my knowledge, no. Which would make sense. TCM sort of prides itself by airing films uncut and how they were originally intended. That's why my viewing of The Town That Dreaded Sundown was in widescreen, while the VHS copies floating around are full frame.
So considering all the violence, nudity, and sex scenes I've seen in some of the movies I've written about here I doubt they're edited. And if they were cut somehow, I'd like to know what they did deem necessary to cut, because a lot of what I saw was pretty graphic.
Yup. Most of the stuff I did write-ups on were part of the TCM Underground. They exclusively show cult films on Friday night "around" 2 am EST (They showed Heavenly Bodies in that same time slot, but I'm pretty damn sure that wasn't part of the Underground).Is the creepy/cool/out of print stuff shown at particular times?
They won't be airing any this month though, because February is their "31 Days of Oscar" month. They won't start up again till March 9, so February is going to be a sad 'obscure horror movie' month for me.
You can get a little more Underground background info here.
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OldSchool_Boy
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
The Killer
final fight cd wrote: moral of story: when in a shady part of town, don't ask random thugs where the sega is at.