| DGT ranks THE 10 BEST FILMS OF THE PAST DECADE!; DONE! #1 on p. 28, full list in 1st post | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 8 2010, 07:02 PM (7,927 Views) | |
| <span style=island sun | Nov 30 2010, 10:48 PM Post #541 |
Dracotrix <3
  ![]](http://z5.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)
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Now! |
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| <span style=CatLurvesDorothy | Nov 30 2010, 10:48 PM Post #542 |
Hungry. ;_;
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This should be it. ETA: DAMMIT SUNNY |
Meow. Overall Statistics (that badly need an update) | |
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| <span style=island sun | Nov 30 2010, 10:48 PM Post #543 |
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Dracotrix <3
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lolpwnt |
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| <span style=CatLurvesDorothy | Nov 30 2010, 10:48 PM Post #544 |
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Hungry. ;_;
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*shakes fist* |
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Meow. Overall Statistics (that badly need an update) | |
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| <span style=recyclehumans | Nov 30 2010, 10:53 PM Post #545 |
BOOM! CROASTED.
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Thank you both. 
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| <span style=Carlito | Nov 30 2010, 10:55 PM Post #546 |
Occasional Player
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None of these movies are cool enough for Carlito. |
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| <span style=UD | Nov 30 2010, 11:04 PM Post #547 |
Refined Southern Gentleman
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have you seen The Kids Are All Right? love. so much love. |
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| <span style=Snoopy | Dec 1 2010, 03:42 AM Post #548 |
ORG GOD
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| [img]http://i.imgur.com/l26it.gif[img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/l26it.gif[img] [img]http://i.imgur.com/l26it.gif[img] | |
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| <span style=Cassidy666 | Dec 1 2010, 03:44 AM Post #549 |
ORG Legend
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ILBBS ROCKS!! Stranded in Aruba: http://www.immunityidol.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=23 Stranded All Stars: http://stranded.immunityidol.net | |
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| <span style=Teighteen | Dec 1 2010, 04:07 AM Post #550 |
Clinically Cocky
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| <span style=Mister Plum | Dec 1 2010, 04:18 AM Post #551 |
SurviBoy
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I can't find it in Torrent. Where did you watch it? |
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| <span style=recyclehumans | Dec 1 2010, 04:18 AM Post #552 |
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BOOM! CROASTED.
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It's still "tonight" for me.  I'm laughing too much at ZOMBIE STRIPPERS on Starz right now. The write-up has taken a brief pause.
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| <span style=Survivaholic | Dec 1 2010, 04:55 AM Post #553 |
Moist and delicious.
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I got that from a red box last year... it was so awful lol... |
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| <span style=recyclehumans | Dec 1 2010, 04:58 AM Post #554 |
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BOOM! CROASTED.
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It's atrociously awful. 
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| <span style=Cassidy666 | Dec 1 2010, 05:16 AM Post #555 |
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ORG Legend
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I love gloriously awful B movies. :lol: Haven't seen that one but I did see another zombie stripper movie called "Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!" It didn't have the star power of Robert Englund or Jenna Jameson or the budget either probably. :lol: But I believe it starred Hollie, a beauty from a season of Beauty and the Geek. |
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ILBBS ROCKS!! Stranded in Aruba: http://www.immunityidol.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=23 Stranded All Stars: http://stranded.immunityidol.net | |
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| <span style=recyclehumans | Dec 1 2010, 05:35 AM Post #556 |
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BOOM! CROASTED.
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My brain just stopped at that. |
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| <span style=crazyalexi | Dec 1 2010, 06:42 AM Post #557 |
Token Brit
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Dodgy B-Movies? Try Bitchslap, its amazing! |
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Top 5 Placings Stranded: Madagascar- Cristina The Pursuit of Happiness- Thomas Paine Glee- Emma Big Brother Fighters- Cameron Diaz Survivor: Isla Redonda- J.P | |
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| <span style=Cassidy666 | Dec 1 2010, 07:23 AM Post #558 |
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ORG Legend
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I would put Bitchslap as an A-grade B movie for several reasons, and both the postives and negatives are the same thing and reasons to watch for the sheer joy of it. 1. In the entire movie, there is only one physical location. Any scene that is not set in that location is green screened. Very badly green screened. Blatantly and joyously badly green screened. 2. It has cameos by Kevin Sorbo, Lucy Lawless and Renee O'Connor. Why? Because the stunt coordinator is Zoe Bell. 3. The stunt coordinator is Zoe Bell. And she basically set up to do the longest female fight scene in that one single physical location. :lol: 4. Needless to say, the entire thing is filmed in a way that at once parodies and is also in its own right shamelessly exploitative, with knowingly ridiculous dialogue. 5. No kidding about the fight scene. That's pretty much the main part of the second half of the movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0izJ6KrqpQk |
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ILBBS ROCKS!! Stranded in Aruba: http://www.immunityidol.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=23 Stranded All Stars: http://stranded.immunityidol.net | |
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| <span style=recyclehumans | Dec 1 2010, 07:41 AM Post #559 |
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BOOM! CROASTED.
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It's about to get pooooooosted... |
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| <span style=recyclehumans | Dec 1 2010, 07:46 AM Post #560 |
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BOOM! CROASTED.
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It's time. What will be #1? #1. IN THE BEDROOM  2001 directed by Todd Field screenplay by Rob Festinger & Todd Field based on the short story Killings by Andre Dubus starring Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Marisa Tomei and Nick Stahl The first film to be added to this list was IN THE BEDROOM. It was placed at #1 at that moment. It is the only film that never faced risk of being moved to a different placement or dropped. IN THE BEDROOM is a perfect film. Period. It's also one of the most brilliant, searing, brutal, captivating, touching, haunting and paralyzing films I have ever seen. Frank Fowler is a handsome young man and a skilled architecture student due to leave for graduate school in the fall. But until then, he has the summer, and he's spending it with Natalie Strout, a recently single mother of two. Frank is quick to call it just a "summer thing", but it's more than that. And deep down, Frank knows that. He's an old soul, and he works well together with Natalie. What's more, her two boys? They adore Frank. And he adores them. And he doesn't even realize how attached he's getting to them. When reflecting on a birds-and-bees moment with one of the boys, Frank catches himself saying "I didn't know what to say! if this is how he is now, boy are we in trouble--" We.  His parents are noticing things changing, too. His dad, Matt, isn't so concerned. Frankly, he's a little jealous. He never had the opportunities (or abilities) his son has. To watch his boy be successful not only with the start of a professional career but with all the ladies fills him with joy -- and some vicarious living. His mom, Ruth? Not so thrilled. She sees Natalie as baggage. A separated mother with her freshly adult son as she distracts him on the brink of his future opening to huge new horizons? Yeah. Definitely not thrilled. She tells Frank as much. She criticizes him for it. She only wants what's best for him… but like most mothers, she's not exactly able to avoid pushing Frank away in doing so. But it ends up going her way. Frank eventually breaks it off with Natalie close to the end of summer. And he's not really happy about it. Her boys are heartbroken. Natalie is heartbroken. But it's just the way it's got to be. Only problem is Richard. Richard Strout. Natalie's just about ex-husband. He's, to put it mildly, unhappy. His wife's taken the house, the kids, most of everything he's got. He wants it back, he wants it all back. But he's also petty. He's also someone who fancies himself a Lothario, though it's more Lothario meets trailer trash. A rather pointed exchange between the two includes him jumping down her throat for "fucking a college guy". She asks simply, "who was it that answered your phone the other morning?" He's also aggressive. He drives to Natalie's house whenever he wants -- and if he finds Frank there, he beats the shit out of him. If he wants to trash the living room out of rage on a stop-over, he'll do it. Natalie call Frank one day, just after Richard's left the house in shambles. She's in hysterical tears, she doesn't know what to do, what to put the kids through, whether it's calling the cops or dealing with it herself. Frank seems to be making an internal choice -- he wants to stay. He wants to stay for her. That's when Richard comes back. With a gun. And ends up blowing the back of Frank's head off. IN THE BEDROOM is not about romance. It's not about life. It's about decay. Decay in all forms. Decay ever present in our lives as relationships change, people grow older, lives move apart and experience hardens the innocent center in all of us bit by bit. And it's about the decay of death. Not of the lives lost, but the decay of the living in the face of the loss. How we each deal with a loss is profoundly unique. Sure, there are stages of grief and infinite approaches and techniques in an effort to recover and rebuild. Sometimes, rebuilding just isn't so easy. Especially if your foundation is made of straw in the first place. This film begins intimately and never loses that sense of introspection. The touches of color and character we get from everyone we meet provide a most profound insight into this world and the people that inhabit it. A small aside between Matt and his close friend Willis Grinnell about Matt picking up the wrong kind of hot dog buns -- ones he should've remembered Ruth hates -- and Willis remarking they should just use Natalie's instead. Ruth and Natalie having a very strained, very labored conversation about Natalie's aspirations to have been a teacher (Ruth is a high school choral director). Frank and Matt sharing father and son time, just hashing out what's worth getting out of life at this point for Frank. Ruth trying to have Frank just speak to her, even a little, about Natalie, only she starts the conversation by saying "We -- I -- liked her." Past tense. The relationships with those closest to us can often be the most difficult to navigate and maintain. Ruth wants nothing more than to be close to her son, to have him be able to tell her anything. Frank wants nothing more than to say nothing to his mother about his life. And Matt wants nothing more than to just be close to both without having to force it. Matt and Ruth are a real couple. They're not perfect. They don't have wonderful, insightful things to say to each other. They've been married a long time, raised a kid, built a life. They've already said plenty to and around each other. But they still love each other, most deeply. And that shows, too. And when Frank dies, those previously minor and slightly irritating differences between the two start to open. Wounds become gouges. Which become gaping chasms. And all through that, they remain real. And that's what makes IN THE BEDROOM so riveting.  The details we see are so hard to notice. They're so honest. They're so genuine. At the Fowler house, during the wake, Matt steps away and goes into Frank's room. He puts his hand on the small dent in Frank's pillow. When he takes his hand away, the imprint has changed, even if only slightly. He reads Frank's graduate school acceptance letter. Architectural sketches are admired. But it's when Matt picks up Frank's little tackle box that it really hits him. He examines the contents. Standard tackle box. But he finds a small piece of glass. It's blue. The edges are smooth. Like from the bottom of a soda bottle, maybe. It's just this little piece of glass. For whatever reason, Frank liked it. And saved it. And holding it in his hands breaks Matt's heart. It's the first time we watch Matt cry. It just hits him like a sucker punch, and he's not prepared for it. It's also the last time Matt cries in the film. Almost like he forgets how to. Richard is able to get out on bail and avoid a murder charge, as his defense team is able to corner Natalie in a lie on the stand -- she initially claimed that she saw Richard actually shoot Frank, but then later states she heard the gun go off first. With Natalie, the only witness, proving with her correction that she didn't see Richard shoot, a murder charge won't fly when it's not provable Richard intended to kill Frank. It turns into a manslaughter charge, since Richard claims his gun went off accidentally while fighting with Frank. Richard's out on bail. And the trial won't happen for a long while. And even then, Matt and Ruth's lawyer no longer feels as confident that Richard may do more than just 10-15 years. When it's pointed out to Matt that even if Richard did the maximum and got out when he's 54 years old, Matt can only answer blankly, "That's two years younger than I am." It hurts to hear it. What hurts more is how life starts to eat away at Matt and Ruth. Coping is just about impossible. They don't know what to say to each other now. Their life is upended, and after building a single track of life for decades without any interference, the obliteration of that life renders them impotent to the changes they face. Ruth withdrawals from the world. What few words she's able to speak she utters between drags of a cigarette. Internally, there's a rage swirling, boiling, growing. But she's letting it stay bottled. Matt tries to stumble into the world, meeting Willis, trying to take patients, distracting himself with his lobster fishing hobby. He tries to put on a brave face. He needs to put on the appearance that he can be okay.  They're only hurting themselves. And each other. Again, it's all in the details. This film is about little touches that amount to whoppers of emotional impact. Ruth wakes up in the middle of the night to see Matt dismantling the swing set in their backyard -- a swing set Matt set up for Frank to keep Natalie's boys entertained when at the house. Ruth, when going through the mail one morning, finds a Publisher's Clearing House notice: FRANK FOWLER, YOU MAY HAVE JUST WON $10,000,000! She chuckles at it. Then snickers. And finally laughs. The death of her son presented to her as a sweepstakes announcement becomes a tragedy of absurdity. She doesn't know why she's laughing at it. But she is. This happens. This is real. People are contradictory and impossibly complicated. Few things we do make complete sense. An emotional moment may have no basis in logic. Something we do full of common sense and practicality makes us feel dead inside. It feels so wrong to watch, but that's only because it's like watching ourselves. This film is a mirror into ourselves, finding the most vulnerable corners with laser precision. Matt keeps trying to present the brave face. Ruth keeps slipping. And what doesn't help is that she can't escape Richard. Somehow, he's there. He's always there. She's walking down a street and catches his reflection as he goes into a nearby store. She's shopping for groceries and catches him filling a cup of coffee before dashing out -- after making eye contact. The man who killed her only child has stared her in the face.  She can't take it. From anyone. From even herself. When Natalie, barely strong enough to brave this challenge, attempts to speak to Ruth and apologize -- for what, I don't even think she's entirely sure -- Ruth doesn't speak. She listens to Natalie. Waits. Listens. And then slaps her. HARD. And it's not like a mild hit. Ruth, in an instant, rears back and strikes, like a feral animal. Stares Natalie down. And then goes back to getting her work done. Natalie can only retreat wordlessly, almost as if the resolution she was looking for was just given to her. Sissy Spacek is devastating as Ruth Fowler, immersing herself into an emotional bleakness that drowns her so utterly, but one she's so desperate to escape. When Matt and Ruth finally, FINALLY, are able to speak to each other about Frank's death, it's not pretty. Think explosive. More like vicious. Fucking vicious. For a long time, Matt can't bring it up with Ruth. Ruth can't bring it up with Matt. But when they do, we can see just how unraveled they are. Ruth's silence has kept hidden the conclusion she's drawn -- she blames Matt for Frank's death. For encouraging Frank in his pursuit of the hot older woman that made Matt so proud as a father and as a man. For wanting Frank to have what he couldn't, and driving him right to his slaughter. Matt? Oh. Matt does not take this lightly. He tells her Frank didn't go to Natalie because of him. It was because of Ruth. And he has a line that destroys me to hear, especially thanks to Tom Wilkinson's marvelous, perfect performance: Matt: "You were so controlling, so overbearing, so angry that he was it! That he was our only one. From the time he was little you were telling him why he was wrong. I remember once, you yanked him out of a little league game and sent him home. For throwing his glove in the dirt. He was what, nine years old? Everything he did was wrong. What was wrong with him, Ruth? …You are so unforgiving. You are. That's what he said. And you're pulling the same shit with me. And that's a horrible way to be. It's horrible. You're bitter, Ruth. And you can point your finger at me all you like, but you better take a damn good look at yourself." Ruth (after a very long pause): "…I… just… wanted to talk about what happened, Matt…" Matt: "You want me to be open with you? Embrace you? You scare me. How can I talk to you? Sometimes, I can't even look at you." Jesus. So few films are willing -- and brave -- enough to be this sincere. And so few of those films end up succeeding at the bravery. Ruth finally admits that she keeps seeing Richard. And that it's killing her. And she can't do it anymore. Well… that's not what she says. But it's what Matt sees.  The next time he sees Willis, the conversation doesn't pull punches. Willis remarks about Richard and his ways, his attitude and behavior not changing once since high school. And how Richard is now living in a different part of Maine, tending bar for a friend -- "Ever notice how even the worst bastards have friends?" -- and no one is really the wiser. Richard's living. And Matt and Ruth are dying. What happens next is agonizing to watch. And I'm not going to discuss it. All of our characters make choices. These choices have consequences. And none of them are pretty. This movie is a tragedy. Does that give you any hint? But none of it feels forced or out of the blue. None of it is melodramatic. Every emotional inch we get from these people is earned. And the credit for this goes not only to the masterful direction and writing by Todd Field (and co-writer Rob Festinger), but to the actors. This cast is superb, right down to the brief appearances by stellar character actors like Celia Weston, who plays Willis's wife Katie and has a tremendous moment with Ruth at one point near the middle of the film. It's through these wonderful actors that we see this horror of a most intimate, delicate familial nature unfold. None of it is easy. It's not supposed to be. We shouldn't be satisfied with what takes place. Because it's not satisfying. The film is just enigmatic enough to give an audience only what is necessary to fill in the blanks of what we're watching on our own (for reasons that are abundantly clear in the last 30 minutes of the film). I credit some of this to Todd Field being in the presence of the late, very great Stanley Kubrick, whom I will always regard as the greatest director who has ever worked with a camera. The last scene is stunning in how much it says with so little. Maybe about a dozen words are exchanged in total. Lives have been restored. Or wrecked. Fuck, it might be both in a now never-ending chaotic flux. Night has transformed into the break of dawn. And we get the feeling that as we're staring into Matt's eyes, he may never sleep again.  I wouldn't ever be able to blame him. So why THIS movie? First -- watch it. You'll understand. Or, at least, I hope you will. If you've been able to glean anything from this top ten, it's that what I appreciate the most in film is the ability to convince me of an honest reality. Films like CHILDREN OF MEN, BEFORE SUNSET, etc. eschew much in the way of convention and expected dramatics in favor of fresh conversation, insightful characterization and impeccable craftsmanship. While I can sit through even the worst level of Michael Bay atrocity and survive, it doesn't make me excited. It doesn't enthrall me. When I feel so invested in the lives of fully-realized characters that every hint of pain they may face can devastate me just as strongly as I feel ecstatic joy over even the smallest hint of hope and promise? THAT is what sells me on a film. IN THE BEDROOM is one of the very best films to achieve this. Bar none. It's simply one of the very best films ever made. I could never do this film enough justice, no matter what I said, no matter how many words I wrote. Never. There are no real lessons to be learned from IN THE BEDROOM. It's in a sense a morality movie, but it's not about morals. It's about choices. How do you endure a loss? What choices do you make to try and heal yourself, however you do it? Some literally choose to keep the pain alive. The pain becomes a surrogate life, like an echo of what once was there with us. A line from 24 that I like very much comes to mind: "Some people are more comfortable in hell." It's a sad truth, sadder still that it applies to almost everyone at one point or another. And sometimes, the saddest truth is that there is simply not enough strength in a person to escape the pain. To endure it for the sake of overcoming it. Sometimes, the only strength we have is to endure the pain because it's there for us. And we don't want it to leave for that very reason. If executed well, it's the stuff of the greatest drama one can ever hope to see. IN THE BEDROOM is a hallmark of drama. It's not the easiest film to digest and process, but that's the point. It's not meant to coddle and nurture. It's meant to hurt. It's meant to damage. How else are you supposed to understand the world of Matt and Ruth Fowler? How else are you supposed to understand your own world when you're hit with an unspeakable event? A film like IN THE BEDROOM can very well help one face a darkest day when it arrives. We all have them and will continue to have them. And, in like so many other instances, to be given a glimpse of hell is simultaneously a glimpse of its escape. What you choose to do with that glimpse is up to you. It's a choice that will be explored until the end of man. Welcome to just a tiny taste of the power of IN THE BEDROOM. Welcome to just a tiny taste of why it's the greatest film of this past decade. SCORE SAMPLE: "Houses / The Cannery (Main Title) / Can't Sleep 2 / VFW / Baseball / Zeni Me, Mamo" |
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11:46 AM Jul 13