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Valhalla Rising

YoursTrulyYoursTruly
edited March 2011
Did we ever talk about this movie?
I just watched it on a whim. It is so incredibly beautiful and good!
I feel like I heard nothing about this film, except vague scoffing that it was "like 300." If anything on the earth is less like "300" than this film I don't know what it is. Maybe "rushmore." Yes there are lots of half-clothed dudes killing each other but that's where the resemblance ends. And that describes like 70% of movies ever made so I don't think that's a fair comparison at all.

I thought it was so weird and wonderful and strange and great and hypnotic. It reminded me of Terrence Malick's films. Amazing soundtrack.
Am I crazy or something? Why didn't this movie win a bunch of awards??

I just realized the same guy who made this made "Bronson," another film I fucking LOVED but never heard a single person talk about in any way.

Wow.

Just found a new dude to be a fan of I guess

Comments

  • the_owlsthe_owls
    edited March 2011
    I'm watching Marie Antoinette, a movie I wrote off as dull when it came out.
    Maybe I'm just incredibly sick, or maybe it's been enhanced by my current reading of her biography, but it's not that bad the second time around.

    WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???!

    I also watched a "rom-com" that was baffling. It had to do with early-onset parkinson's disease and viagra, and starred Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhall as two people I didn't care about.

    I must be sick in the head if I CHOSE to watch a rom com.........
  • the_owlsthe_owls
    image
  • ChrisSChrisS
    Valhalla Rising is awesome. It was, for me, the "action" film I wish Bergman had made. It totally deserved a bunch of awards. I think I actually pumped my fist a few times while I watched it. I describe it to people as "the best black metal album that is not a black metal album," which probably only makes sense to me, but I stand by that appraisal.

    Marie Antoinette is also totally underrated. Sofia Coppola is great, and I think too few people realize this.

    I did not like Bronson.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    Owly, Marie Antoinette is AMAZING. You are not weird for liking it the second time around, you are weird for needing a second time around to determine that you like it!

    HA HA HA HA HA

    Gary saw that movie in the theater with only two other people who sat right behind him and then one of the people gave the other one a handjob while that one moaned loudly for many minutes

    Chris, why no Bronson? It was so stylized and weird but then I got super into it.

    V.R. is like black metal! Totally. SO SLOW YET SO HEAVY
  • ChrisSChrisS
    Bronson had a few decent moments, but I was mostly reminded of A Clockwork Orange: loud, obnoxious, mean, empty, overwrought. All qualities I appreciate, I guess, when they're pulled off with panache, but Bronson (like Clockwork) felt sort of bullying. That actor is pretty great though, and I like the Glass Candy music at the end.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    I was so compelled by the main character because the actor was so good, and then me being compelled by him was really interesting and disturbing to me.
    I found him way more compelling than Alex from Clockwork Dude, although your general comparison of the two films is pretty accurate. Except that I didn't feel like Bronson was about Evil or Violence so much as it was about a dude with something missing. He was so good-natured! Except that he constantly beat the shit out of people! He was really weird.

    At first the stylized pretentious shit (like the interludes with him onstage in makeup, etc.) really bummed me out but then, I don't know, I just got super into them.

    I have obviously not devoted a lot of critical thought to my enjoyment of this film.

  • ThickeningAgentThickeningAgent
    Valhalla Rising is certainly a cool flick! i think it's relative lack of success has to do with the fact that it is too slow and arty for the violent/action film crowd, while it is to violent and genre-based for the art crowd. but for me it was totally great. beautiful and gorgeous and scary and moody- your Malick call is a good one. i also found a deep Stalker/Tarkovsky vibe going on as well.

    another great Black Metal arty viking movie is Severed Ways. not as beautiful as Valhalla and made for a whole lot less money, but totally worth seeing.
  • ChrisSChrisS
    Stalker/Tarkovsky: absolutely! Also a tinge of Herzog's more hallucinatory/hypnotic stuff. Such a beautiful movie. I must see it again. When my colleagues and I compiled our top ten lists last year, Valhalla was the only movie we all included on our lists. I still haven't met someone who doesn't totally love this movie.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    Yeah, definitely real Herzoggy for sure.
    I want to watch it again, with Gary, IMMEDIATELY
  • MatthewMatthew
    What about Sofia's movie Somewhere? I didn't even hear about it when it was in theaters. It is really good.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    Oh shit, I forgot to see this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Love me a Sofia. Somewhere got terrible reviews. She already has hipster backlash and she never got that much critical cred to begin with! Remember when David Denby basically said "pretty good, for a girl" of her? Cool.

  • ChrisSChrisS
    Somewhere is fantastic! Such a shame it was mostly ignored. I think it might be Coppola's best movie. She's awesome.
  • MatthewMatthew
    I agree, it is totally her best.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    I think all her films are fucking incredible

    So does Gary and he is a FILM SCHOLAR
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    so there David Denby et al
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    @teenwolf have you seen the pusher trilogy? directed by refn and is pretty awesome as well.

  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    really? I was wondering (after wikipediaing that due after seeing VR).

    I WILL GET THEM
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    yes, the third has an ... interesting ending.

    manmoviemonth.com is up now and i watched bronson last week. i also watched 5 charles bronson movies (i omitted telefon and st. ives) and i think i'm good on bronson for a while.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    did you prefer the actor Bronson or the mildly psychotic historical criminal who calls himself Bronson?

    I know who I choose
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    Good question.
    Do you prefer matlock or the new Sherlock Holmes
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    edited March 2011
    good point
  • Clever_girlClever_girl
    Guys, before you make a decision, you need to see this commercial:
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    ??
    !!!!!!
    ?
    ?
    ?
    !!!!!??????!!!!!!!

    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    EMOTICON WITH BUGGING OUT EYES
  • lml__0_0__lmllml__0_0__lml
    axe body spray of its time

    also, watch the mechanic and st. ives, that pretty much sums up charles bronson for me. manly subjects x camp x a few explosions x lifts on shoes/camera angles that make him look taller collabo
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