Border Incident Film noir directed by Anthony Mann that has an unusual subject for the genre: Mexican immigrant farm workers. Ricardo Montalban is the Mexican agent who helps bust an exploitation ring that takes illegal workers across the border into the U.S. for money, then kills them on their way back into Mexico for the wages they made. Pretty classic in terms of the black/white lighting and the way it was shot, and very even-handed in terms of distributing the good and the bad in the plot to both sides of the border. If you ignore the obligatory 40's propaganda about the farming industry at the very beginning and ending of the film, it's actually quite realistic in tone and avoids stereotypes. Also has an execution scene that could have been done by Hitchcock himself.
Watched Argo.. directed by Ben Affleck, starring Ben Affleck. This was a very good thriller.. which made Canadians, British, and New Zealanders outraged, and rightfully so.
Ben Affleck is still a shitty actor, but he's actually a pretty decent director. Argo and The Town are both good movies.
i wonder why he decided to make himself lead actors in these films. i also agree that they're both excellent movies, but he could've focused 100% on directing and used a big time star and probably have his movies sweep up all of the academy awards.
But he'd probly have to pay that person (a long with himself) more. This way he probably just pays himself a modest fee, saves money. And confusion
I look at it another way too. If he gets a big time actor, the movie could even be more popular and make more money at the box office. I don't know too many people that watched The Town and not that many have even heard of Argo.
Tom Cruise still makes good movies. Argo looks like a good movie, but I won't watch it because Ben Affleck is one of the worst actors of all time.
i watched jack reacharound. it wasn't bad. was decent for an action movie but nothing too memorable about it.
Life of Pi This was a great film. I loved the music and imagery. I liked the ambiguity of the two accounts of what happened on the life boat. I'm pretty sure the second story with the murderous cook was what really happened, but the story with the animals was a nicer way of telling it. I know militant atheists like armadeadn got angry at the spiritual stuff, but I actually thought they handled it pretty well. This is a story where a guy loses his entire family, so it didn't feel out of place or preachy or anything. 9/10
The movie was spoiled by the addition of the pointless girl, Pi trying to touch the tiger, the goat magically squeezing through those bars and Pi's ridiculous behavior during the storm near the middle of the film. It makes him seem like a religious nutjob when he's actually very reasonable in the book. And that writer... He was more wooden than a chest of drawers.
I didn't read the book so I have nothing to compare it to but I don't see how any of those spoiled the movie. I also don't see a problem with the religious undertones which weren't very apparent anyway. I mean the guy is in the middle of the ocean going nuts on a boat. I think anyone would find faith under those circumstances. I guess if it didn't match the book then it would be a little odd but again I didn't read the book. Anyway, why shouldn't the goat have fit through the bars?