PopcornTreeCt

Hey guys,

Just curious what you've all seen and what you recommend. I'm currently trying to get my hands on Certified Copy because I've read such great things about it and I think technically it's a 2010 film but it's still pretty new.

It's been a slow year for me so far. I've seen:

Bellflower -- interesting attempt but it misses the mark for me. It started off like a quirky indie and then just got darker and weirder and not really in a good way. This was also the movie where I first heard the term "mumblecore" -- not a fan. If you like indies I would recommend watching it, but if you don't, then pass.

Red State -- didn't like it at all. It was definitely different but that didn't relate to it being any good. Pass.

Melancholia -- loved it. Everything worked for me and I think that's in no small part to my atheism. The comparisons to the Tree of Life are warranted, whereas ToL was about faith and spirituality, Melancholia was it's opposite, emphasizing the nothingness and yet there was something uplifting about that. Without generalizing too much, I think if you lean more towards identifying yourself as a agnostic/atheist you would probably enjoy it a lot more than someone that is strongly religious. Kirsten Dunst was amazing. Nice to see father-son duo Stellan and Alexander Skarsgaard though they did not play father and son in this movie. One last thing, very cool to see Kiefer Sutherland in this kind of film. He performed very well. See it now.

Tree of Life -- didn't love it. The film meandered too much in the middle. Someone else wrote in another review or posted it here, but it did feel like I was watching someone else's beautiful home videos. It was fun for awhile but lasted way too long. Much like the prologue that went on for too long. To compare, Melancholia also had a prologue, much like ToL it also showed scenes of the cosmos, but it made it's point much stronger and in swift amount of time -- not too mention it was one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie. But back to ToL, it was a beautiful disaster. I applaud Pitt and Penn for taking on such roles but ultimately it was a failure. Pass.

That's about all I've seen. I don't think I would classify smaller films like Hanna, Drive, and Midnight in Paris as indie. Those were all very Hollywood productions even if they had smaller budgets.

What have you seen? I'm anxious to learn about some good foreign flicks, documentaries or rare flicks that have come out this year.

RichC2

Red State - Enjoyed it, mostly entertaining and different, a little overkill with the preacher scenes though.

Melancholia - A genuine bore for me, while I could relate, I just didn't feel involved.

That's about it unless you did count Hanna (ho-humm) and Drive (loved it).

Giles

off the top of my head:

Tree of Life
The Hedgehog
Trollhunter
Love Crime
Beginners

I wished I had seen 'Senna'

E Unit

Point Blank, the French film.

Dragon Tattoo

Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Giles

the low budget version:

Dr. DVD

Guess I would have to go with Red State, as it is the only one I have seen. Unless Hanna counts since it was technically a foreign film, but did get a wide release.

Red State was interesting, but overall didn't do much for me aside from Michael Parkes amazing performance.

ardathbey

Griff the Invisible was quite good, definitely a thumbs up.

Red State was something, that's for sure. I thoroughly enjoyed most of it, was pretty creeped out throughout. Michael Parks did a phenomenal jobs, and legit gave a sermon of a monologue that was bone chilling, kept me captivated even if it was quite long.

Once the blundering cops get involved, most of the ending was a mess. But huge thumbs up for Smith for coming up with something different that I am actually glad I watched.

Dr Mabuse

'Meek's Cutoff' - was very good.
'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives'
'The Way Back'
'Certified Copy'
'The Tree of Life' - amazing.
'Cedar Rapids'
'Barney's Version' - Terrific.

There's a few I really liked.

Looking forward to 'The Guard'.

Mike86

If it qualifies I guess I'd say Cedar Rapids. I haven't really seen very many others this year I guess so far unless Drive counts but I really didn't like that at all.

Superboy

Circumstance - so tragic, but a really energetic film.

Senna - heartbreaking to watch.

Arpeggi

The Tree of Life. Film of the year.

Daytripper

"Sarah's Key" and "Point Blank".

TheySentYou

The Future is undoubtedly the best indie i've seen this year.

arthouse, i'd give it to Tree of Life.

PopcornTreeCt

I watched Certified Copy this past weekend and loved it. Great subtle performances by Binoche and Shimell.