What Emmanuelle Movie Did You Just Watch?

[Matt]

'The Lincoln Lawyer'. I took the wife unit to see this this afternoon. I'll be honest, we both thought it was great. It was pleasing as hell to see a well executed legal drama again. It was well acted, well paced, and full of decent plot twists. It doesn't break any new ground BUT it does an A+ job of covering familiar territory.

McConoughey's GREAT in this.

[BillyG]

Mystery Team on Instant. Loved it, laughed my ass off. The third act doesn't have as many laugh out loud moments, but it didn't hurt the movie.

[Ed Hocken]

The Name of the Rose

If Vin hasn't seen this movie, it would be right up his alley. Sean Connery basically is Sherlock Holmes in 14th century Italy with a very young Christian Slater as his apprentice.

Really good movie

[Matt]

Don't forget Ron Perlman and F Murray Abraham. Yeah, 'The Name of the Rose' was a great film as I recall.

[Ed Hocken]

That too

Also, if you loved The Lincoln Lawyer, check out Presumed Innocent if you haven't already. I think it's one of Harrison Ford's under appreciated movies.

[Timothy225]

Let Me In - finally broke down and watched this yesterday. Great take on the original, which I felt was a bit superior when it came right down to the scares, story nuances, and atmosphere. Still, the two leads delivered - Moretz was creepy in full vampire mode, and she's definitely going to be one to watch as her career progresses. McPhee did a great job as Owen (though he looked like a miniature version of Gary Neuman - half expecting him to start singing "Cars" at any moment), and the chemistry he had with Moretz was solid.

Elias Koteas, Cara Buono, the bullies - solid stuff all around. Pacing was good - didn't drag, and I got sucked in fairly quickly. Definitely worth a view.

[Matt]

That too

Also, if you loved The Lincoln Lawyer, check out Presumed Innocent if you haven't already. I think it's one of Harrison Ford's under appreciated movies.

'Presumed Innocent' is excellent. In truth, I'd put 'The Lincoln Lawyer' in pretty much the same league as PI, in terms of quality. tLL is a bit more light hearted than PI but the overall quality of execution is the same.

[Ben Thomas]

Had a (largely martial arts-based) movie fest yesterday.

Enter the Dragon

Its still a great martial arts film and, while they put Lee front and centre, there's plenty for John Saxon and Jim Kelly to do. In fact, the only crime the film commits is killing Kelly off half way through. It must have been thrilling for black audiences to see a strong, sexy black co-lead, only for him to fall victim to "expendable nigger" syndrome before the end. On the plus side, the nemeses are great - O'Hara, Bolo and Han are strong villains and just another thing that the film gets dead right that so many copycats fall flat on. Rightly a classic. Had Lee lived long enough to direct all of Game of Death, there's no doubt he would have changed genre cinema more than he did in his short time on earth.

Project A

Still amazing, still my favourite Chan film. As great and iconic as the central bike chase/fall from the clock tower set-piece is, the full contact finale is amazing.

The Town

Just cos someone texted me a quote from it and I was high. Set to be a minor classic, in my opinion.

Blood and Bone

A Michael Jai White DTV from a couple of years ago, and a very respectable one at that. The fights are well shot, the bad guys hate-able without becoming snearing idiots and MJW sure can kick good. There's actually a pretty witty script hidden in the standard fight film tropes. Worth a watch for genre fans. Which got me in the mood for...

Black Dynamite

Entertaining, but rarely laugh out loud hilarious. They nail the tone and look and soundtrack and again MJW is great. I'd happily watch a sequel, but its not as good as the OSS117 films, which are essentially white cast versions of a similar premise.

Felt the need for something more substantial and rounded out the evening with Mulholland Drive. Which secures its place in my all-time favourites a little more each time I watch it. Lynch's most complete film out of his more surreal efforts (The Elephant Man and The Straight Story don't count) and still Naomi Watts' best performance for me. Just an incredible film and the most accurate depiction of dream logic I've ever seen. I only have love for this film and fuck anyone who dislikes it cos they don't get it - its all right there, from the first frame. Pay attention.

I also saw In the Loop late last week. Its good, but not as funny or on point as The Thick of It. And Four Lions runs circles around it as far as British comedies of the last couple of years go. So, it was enjoyable, but hardly the genius some declared it to be on release. The main thing I came away thinking was, 'Anna Chlumsky is kind of sexy and kind of ugly, completely dependent on which angle you see her from'.

And I'm spent.

[Ed Hocken]

Malcolm Tucker owns our collective asses.

[Ben Thomas]

Kiss ma sweaty balls, you fat fuck.

[Ed Hocken]

My favorite bit involves the scene where another scotsman is brought in cuz Malcolm is out of the office and he's exactly the same.

I wonder how Scotland felt about that? My guess, is that they loved it.

[Ben Thomas]

For sure. As a half-Scot myself, I thought it was both great and apt that the two best swearers in the world be Scotsmen.

Incidentally, I know I sounded harsh on the film - it really is very well written - but the confrontation between Malcolm Tucker and Gandolfini's character was awesome.

[Ed Hocken]

You get the feeling in that scene that Gandolfini has dealt with types like Tucker before and has most likely beaten the shit out of them. But in the auspice of diplomacy, he knows better.

[Ben Thomas]

They both come off great. I expected Tucker to be made into a bit of a pussy in the face of potential physical violence, but both men stand their ground in their respective ways and neither character is betrayed by the outcome.

I also saw Exit Through the Gift Shop last week. Greatness. If you imagine a combination of Man on Wire and Grizzly Man, in terms of content and technique respectively, you've got an idea of whether this film is for you. Banksy, I'm pleased to say, comes off exactly as you would hope - a bit of a street urchin, with a scolding wit. To say any more would be to spoil how damned entertaining this film is. Watch it.

[Ed Hocken]

No one knows about Persian Cats

I have about 25 minutes left on this movie, so I'll most likely finish it today. But what I have seen of it, there's not really a movie here. It really is just a showcase of music and life in Tehran with barely a plot it. It kind of reminds me of Once in that the music is the focus.

I'll have to commend the movie for at least being able to do what it did under the horrendous political situation over there. I guess what I can say is that hipsterdom is a universal concept and Tehran has worse traffic than Los Angeles.