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ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp published an article titled It Looks Pretty from a Distance

For rough Polish rustics, a neighbor's property is fair game Wilhelm Sasnal is an acclaimed Polish painter and comic strip artist, who in collaboration with his wife Anka has now made a (77-min.) feature Read the article

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp wrote a review of The Darkest Hour

Two young startup guys, Ben (Max Minghella) and Sean (Emile Hirsh) take their app to Moscow, where they find their unscrupulous Swedish rival Skylar (Joel Kinnaman) has bypassed them and stolen their deal. Read the article

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ChrisKnipp started following michuk

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp wrote a review of Something Ventured

The beginnings of venture capital and historic West Coast startups Venture capital and its key role in tech startups over the past four decades are the topics of this little documentary. It describes Read the article

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented Best movies of the decade (2000-2010) (michuk)

I don't have a list. I could try to make one. But it's hard because I don't pick the best of the year, only the best ten unranked. I made a list of the best French films of the decade but it was a list of 45 films. http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2756-The-Best-French-Language-Films-of-the-Decade-2000-2009: I put a list of 90 for the decade, English and foreign, that I just made and I'll see if i can trim it down. It's on my website: http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewforum.p

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented Oscars Greatest Mistakes (queerdelys)

Well, yes, this is a better year but they're all better with ten nominees rather than five. That's why Winter's Bone is there I'd say. Though it's critical success represents a big leap for indie films in the US.

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented Best movies of the decade (2000-2010) (michuk)

I like or even in some cases love: The Pianist Fantastic Mr Fox Hadewich Songs from the Second Floor Inglourious Basterds The Limits of Control Had forgotten about The Violin and The Temptation of St. Anthony. Thanks for reminding me. Not so carzy about The Wrestler or Sin City. But we have some tastes in common here, even if my list for the decade might be, would definitely be, different.

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented Oscars Greatest Mistakes (queerdelys)

The Metacritic critical ratings show Slumdog was the preferred film that year. Milk came close, next Frost/Nixon, Benjamin Button, and The Reader far below the rest. For 1998 i'd have picked The Thin Red Line over Shakespeare in Line, but Life Is Beautiful had serious weaknesses, and Thin Red was too edgy for the Academy. I will be okay with the conventional King's Speech winning Best Picture over the smarter, more original The Social Network, but what did really hurt a lot was when Crash won

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented Why does everybody hate Howl? (queerdelys)

Everyone doesn't "hate" the new film Howl. It has a Metacrit rating of 70, which means, in the US, it has received "generally favorable reviews." http://www.metacritic.com/music/howl. It's received high marks from both critics and viewers, according to Metacritic. I don't feel entirely happy with Franco's performance and of his reading, but he brings a sexy charisma to the role Ginsberg would have liked. Jon Hamm's performance is moving and so is the trial's outcome for free speech and literary

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented Ripley's Game (philip)

The distribution story was a scandal. I love Malkovich's Ripley and think this the best of all the many film adaptations of Patricia Highsmith's greatest creation.

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented El secreto de sus ojos (cliodhna)

I am not a fan of mystical/magical stuff either, but the film is so good I swallowed it -- like a razor blade! Exacctly what cliodhna says. And the reappearances of the murdered man are in keeping with the killing scene, handled simply, without any annoying or extraneous special effects. Do not agree with the theory that remaining goodness is slipping away from Malik. He is seen in a quite positive light. That's how one can compare him with Prince Hal. Audiard does not treat him judgmentally

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented El secreto de sus ojos (cliodhna)

Michuk, we strongly agree sometimes and others equally strongly disagree, such as in this case. I do very much like Hadewijch, though, but also admire The White Ribbon and A Prophet. I more or less agree on Ajami, but one can see why it was nominated as a pioneering Palestinian/Israeli collaboration on raw, important material. I haven't the faintest idea about The Milk of Sorrow. The Best Foreign Oscars used to be a scandal, but the past couple years the nominations have been much better.

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented Is Nolan the new Cameron? (michuk)

P.s. Michuk's comment, "The fact that it all happens in a dream within a dream within a dream adds complexity but doesn't add depth," echoes one that struck me from a critic I like, Walter Chaw of Film Freak Central. He said, "In lieu of depth, Inception offers complexity; it's the philosophical/existential equivalent of a Rubik's Cube." Yet it's a great-looking (and maybe -sounding) film, and so people are awed -- by the complexity.

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented Is Nolan the new Cameron? (michuk)

I'm with you on this one, Michuk, as you know. My review and the discussion on Filmleaf are here: http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2879-INCEPTION-%28Christopher-Nolan-2010%29&p=24752#post24752. My reaction may seem negative and I agreed with The New Yorker's Denby that the theme is "overcooked," but I also added: Sure, INCEPTION is, as the summer's mainstream offerings go, a great movie -- compared to other new movies like THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE or earlier releases like THE KARATE KID

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (Daniel Anderson 2009) (ChrisKnipp)

I think the mean guardian's origins are filled in, but there's too much explanation to pick up easily. Uma Thurman/The Bride is an interesting reference, but I think a younger actress than Uma is called for--somebody who needs to prove herself, which Uma doesn't.

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp wrote a review of The Girl Who Played with Fire

The Girl who keeps bouncing back It's not giving away too much to say straight off that the wiry, secretive, and strangely charismatic dragon-tattooed heroine of the Swedish action-mystery series is Read the article

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented The Last Airbender is worse than The Phantom Menace (JeffreyVC)

It is not bombing, though it may fade fast. We'll see. It has been cruelly attacked, but Shyamalan seems to go downhill with each film after the successes of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. The flaws began to show with Signs. So what's the surprise? What would you expect? I feel sorry Dev Patel got a big American film and it's a flop. He looks silly. Sometimes noble, but mostly silly. His Karate skills come in handy, though. I don't quite see why this movie is so much despised. There

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp wrote a review of Knight and Day

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz on a wild ride that combines comedy, actioner, and romance. It’s completely silly, and a lot of fun. MISSION PREPOSTEROUS... People will cast around for comparisons to explain Read the article

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp wrote a review of Toy Story 3

Hogging the stage in a dry season...Pixar scores big again (commercially). . . "Toy Story 3" is the shot-in-the-arm big success of the lackluster Hollywood box office summer of 2010. The Pixar team is Read the article

ChrisKnipp ChrisKnipp commented When zombies are flowers (michuk)

i see that you are a bit of a chameleon. I am too I think though maybe not as much. I'm glad you grant that little point of the need to mention the director's name. Maybe though you think that if a zombie is a flower a review is not a review. Just kidding.

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