The Bridge (Die Brücke, 1959) - 8

Final days of WWII, nearby U.S. troops tighten the siege to a small German city. The apprehensive atmosphere of the city contrasts with the cheerful tranquility of seven teenagers. Boys with a faint grip of reality, who still nurture patriotic warfare utopias. They face the incoming enemy forces with naïve excitement and even celebrate the call to join the army, it's their opportunity to show service for the Führer. From school directly into the army combat training, they go. But negligence and unforeseen setbacks determine fate and only one day after they joined the army, the seven boys get what they craved for. Events unfold, pre-warnings and shocking displays of the horrors of war set the mood for the living hell looming on the horizon. Soon they are at the epicenter of warfare, fighting the enemy, but this goes beyond what they are remotely prepared for. The boys are alone against an onslaught of enemy forces and, one by one, they learn, the hard way, that war is not what they nurtured in their moony minds. Only one survives the massacre. Movie directed by Austrian Bernhard Wicki, based on a real event from which only one boy survived to tell the story. The Bridge is usually described as an anti-war movie and I agree. This is one of the most persuasive and desolating war movies I've ever seen. It starts in a neutral tone, but ends loaded with horror and desolation. The cinematic style is slightly bland, but works well to enhance the rawness of the experience, the excellent black-and-white cinematography contributes to the effect, it's a sin to not watch this movie in HD. Good directing and acting. This rare work deserves more attention, in fact, I think it should be regularly screened as part of schools' curricula all around the world to disseminate awareness and disillusionment among the youth about the true nature of warfare. Recommended!

Dakota's Summer-7.5/10. Very light hearted movie, makes us learn some good things.

One of my closest friends who is very active in the lesbian and gay community. She often will send me a movie recommendation for something that I likely wouldn't hear about otherwise...usually some indy film that hit Cannes or some other film festival and really impressed. That's what happened with this one, and I have to say that aside from the fact that I REALLY wish I had watched this on my 32" LCD display instead of my 92" projector screen, it was an absolutely fascinating film. A while back we had a discussion about dialogue-driven films that were well done, and I have to add this one to the list. The entire film takes place at a "cruising spot" along a lake in France where several regulars hang out and, uh, interact. It's a minimalist project but really held my interest and overall was extremely well done. 
 
"Stranger by the Lake" - 8.8/10
 

 
 
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As for this next one, all I can say is that I can't understand some of the negative reviews for this...I felt it exceeded expectations, even given the fact that I loved "Monsters" and really expected Garreth Edwards to hit a home run. 
 
 
"Godzilla" - 9.0/10
 
 

focker said:

  One of my closest friends who is very active in the lesbian and gay community. She often will send me a movie recommendation for something that I likely wouldn't hear about otherwise...usually some indy film that hit Cannes or some other film festival and really impressed. That's what happened with this one, and I have to say that aside from the fact that I REALLY wish I had watched this on my 32" LCD display instead of my 92" projector screen, it was an absolutely fascinating film. A while back we had a discussion about dialogue-driven films that were well done, and I have to add this one to the list. The entire film takes place at a "cruising spot" along a lake in France where several regulars hang out and, uh, interact. It's a minimalist project but really held my interest and overall was extremely well done. 
 
"Stranger by the Lake" - 8.8/10
 

 
 

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I have already written about this movie. I gave it 8.7/10 which is very close to your rating. 

mutabor said:

I have already written about this movie. I gave it 8.7/10 which is very close to your rating. 

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Very cool, thanks for linking me to your take...I must have completely missed it the first time. I agree 100% with what you said...very effective film

Mouchette (1962) 9/10
 
No Time for Sergeants (1958) 7/10
 
The Steel Helmet (1951) 8.5/10
 
Godzilla (2014) 5/10
 
The Mirror (1975) 9/10
 
Raise the Red Lantern (1991) 8.8/10
 
Män som hatar kvinnor The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo (2009) 8/10
 
The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo (2011) 8.3/10
 
The Act of Killing (2012) 8.5/10

Why the hell is Godzilla getting so many negative reviews?! I saw it and i thought it was fantastic. I dont understand why anyone would dislike a giant dinosaur-like beast that shoots blue flames from his mouth 

It's a Monster movie starring one of or the most famous movie monster in history.
People want (insert non realistic ideal here).
I think there wasn't enough of Godzilla in the movie. And others claim the character arc was poor.....um....it's a monster movie. #1 of 3 movies in this new series. The end was open and the next will probably have actors we never heard of who won't mail it in. Watanabe was the only guy even trying to get into it. 
Edwards delivered the goods. I'm looking forward to the next one and praying King Ghidora makes an appearance

xkonfuzed said:

  Why the hell is Godzilla getting so many negative reviews?! I saw it and i thought it was fantastic. I dont understand why anyone would dislike a giant dinosaur-like beast that shoots blue flames from his mouth 

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I don't get it either. When I heard the complaints that Godzilla wasn't in it enough and/or didn't show up until well into the film, I figured maybe it was mostly a drama and had little action. Obviously that wasn't the case at all. I was thoroughly entertained, the CGI was phenomenal, and I was even glad I went ahead and saw it in 3D (which usually I feel isn't worth the bother or the extra expense). Aside from a small issue in that I felt the Japanese scientist seemed a bit overdramatic and stoic, not a big deal at all. I had a blast with this film. 

Cabin in the Woods (2012): 8/10
 
A great extension of the post-modern blackly comedic/satirical horror that Scream did so well in the 90's. Of course, if you're not a fan of that particular breed of self-aware, cliche-ridden film-making than you're probably not going to appreciate Cabin in the Woods much, either. If you like your films with a healthy dose of meta, however, then you'll probably love this. All that said, I do feel like a golden opportunity was missed with this film, and it mostly comes down to editing. 
 
POTENTIAL FOR SPOILERS AHEAD:
 
While it doesn't much hurt the film as a whole, the fact that its rather unique (if not terribly clever, when you get right down to it) twists are telegraphed to the audience within the first few minutes of the film does, to my mind, prevent the film from being the critical 'hateful love letter' to horror films that it wants to be, and completely saps the film of any surprises that it might have been better off keeping in store. Though it would have been perhaps less marketable/commercial, what I would have liked to have seen would be the complete separation of the straightforward, cliche horror plot from the meta-crew who are controlling the situation. If the film were edited so that we stick solely with the college students all the way up to the discovery of the elevator (excising only a few moments, like the gentleman on the roof, the obvious introductions of the mind-controlling fumes, and the bird hitting the force-field), then introduce the crew who are controlling the situation and solely follow them (some additional scenes would be needed here) all the way through the discovery of the elevator before finally collapsing both plots for the ending, I believe that the end result would be far better (and twistier, and more upsetting) than what we've got currently.
 
Nonetheless, if you've got a taste for offbeat horror/comedy, there's a ton to appreciate here. Yes, the whole thing does seem like it was probably birthed from a pot-fueled discussion following a double-feature of The Matrix and Evil Dead 2--but really, does that seem like a bad thing, to you?
 
Anchorman 2 (2013): 7/10
 
Less quotable and consistent than the first, but also far more insane. Far, far more--we've reached some pretty bizarre, dumb humor meets surreal ****ery here, and I dig that. I dig that so much that even though I think I laughed less at this film than I did at the first I'll rate it higher. You know what I'm hoping for now? That a script of Anchorman 3 winds up in the hands of David Lynch.

hawaiibadboy said:

It's a Monster movie starring one of or the most famous movie monster in history.
People want (insert non realistic ideal here).
I think there wasn't enough of Godzilla in the movie. And others claim the character arc was poor.....um....it's a monster movie. #1 of 3 movies in this new series. The end was open and the next will probably have actors we never heard of who won't mail it in. Watanabe was the only guy even trying to get into it. 
Edwards delivered the goods. I'm looking forward to the next one and praying King Ghidora makes an appearance

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IMO the fact that Godzilla doesn't show up a lot is a good thing. Makes you more excited and thrilled to see what happens to him next.
I also liked Bryan Cranston's acting. Though it was difficult imagining him as anything other than crystal meth cook with lung cancer

focker said:

I don't get it either. When I heard the complaints that Godzilla wasn't in it enough and/or didn't show up until well into the film, I figured maybe it was mostly a drama and had little action. Obviously that wasn't the case at all. I was thoroughly entertained, the CGI was phenomenal, and I was even glad I went ahead and saw it in 3D (which usually I feel isn't worth the bother or the extra expense). Aside from a small issue in that I felt the Japanese scientist seemed a bit overdramatic and stoic, not a big deal at all. I had a blast with this film. 

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I saw it in iMAX 3D. BIgger screen, better speakers, and somehow more 3D than a normal 3D. To sum it up, I'd say its nothing short of amazing.

I feel like people are looking for excuses to dislike the movie. I heard someone say that he hated the movie because "Godzilla was too fat and couldn't fly like the Moto" (literally his own words) seriously, what's next ? Godzilla is not good-looking enough

xkonfuzed said:

IMO the fact that Godzilla doesn't show up a lot is a good thing. Makes you more excited and thrilled to see what happens to him next.
I also liked Bryan Cranston's acting. Though it was difficult imagining him as anything other than crystal meth cook with lung cancer

I saw it in iMAX 3D. BIgger screen, better speakers, and somehow more 3D than a normal 3D. To sum it up, I'd say its nothing short of amazing.

I feel like people are looking for excuses to dislike the movie. I heard someone say that he hated the movie because "Godzilla was too fat and couldn't fly like the Moto" (literally his own words) seriously, what's next ? Godzilla is not good-looking enough

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Yes, let's fat-shame the fictional monster! 
 

 Legendary has got Gareth Edwards locked in to direct not one Godzilla sequel but two! Godzilla 2and Godzilla 3 (working titles) will both be directed by Edwards,

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Edwards is a Fanboy...like me.
 

What people complain is why the hell didn´t he bluebeem the mutos before but let them torture and do the for the genre usual semi killing before rise again . Well I just answered my own question dramatic effect
 
But yes not much to hate. The trailer god I hated that one but it was not representative thankfully.

Godzilla (2014) - 8/10
 
First half an hour was best and then it slowly went downhill. Brian Cranston should have been the main character instead of that unknown other guy.
 
BTW it's better than the remake of King Kong and Jurassic Park (no surprise there).
 
Not sure if it's just my lame theater, but some scenes in this early on were VERY dim.
 
This movie reminded me a lot of parts of the Japanese film "Land of Hope" (about the aftermath of the earthquake and the problems with the power plants etc) and "The Impossible".
 
Ken Watanabe was wasted in this movie. All the director had him do was stand around looking confused or doing some deep thinking. Not his fault I guess.
 
Where is Will Smith when you need him! He should have been in this and that would be a guaranteed 10/10.
 
Have to say this one isn't all that fun really, but it's not totally all doom and gloom like "War of the Worlds" or whatever else.