Recently viewed movie thread - Rental Edition (1 Viewer)

[shake zula]

Valkryie

Great at keeping you at the edge of your seat in spite of the fact that everyone knows the historical background of WWII. Great cast especially Cruise. For as weird as he is in real life as an actor he is top shelf. I'd recommend this movie especially as a rental.

 

[saintfool]

Not to take this tangent too much further, but pretty much all of Platoon is cliche after cliche. The acting (other than Sheen) is superb, but the screenplay is mostly BS. 90% of Vietnam vets will tell you they hate Oliver Stone and think that movie was total crap. The Deer Hunter is so vastly superior to Platoon, I'm embarrassed to mention them in the same sentence. While some of the scenes in Deer Hunter are beyond the realm of possibility, it's simply a film with a lot more to say. Platoon is best summed up as: 1) Vietnam was a mistake. 2) the US behaved horribly, particularly to civilians. 3) only a few soldiers had a moral compass. 4) Oliver Stone is the moral authority policing America's behavior for us. 5) oh yeah, in the middle of all the bad stuff we did, a bunch of our guys were shot and killed. let's not really dwell on that though.My advice: avoid Platoon, unless you haven't been around enough to know that a few war crimes were committed (similar to Schindler's List -- is anyone so clueless that they don't realize the Holocaust was a terrible event that killed millions and should never have happened, & should never be allowed to happen again?), go watch a better movie instead. If you want to see more about how war impacts people, go rent The Best Years of Our Lives or The Deer Hunter.

a lot of your critique of "platoon" is really a more recent re-evaluation of the film than anything. it was maybe the first film of the 80's to really explore vietnam. other films tended to follow the "rambo" or chuck norris narrative and those were perhaps catharsis of a sort. i remember seeing "platoon" in the theater and many, many vets reacting positively to the film. some talked about how stone "got it right" in depicting the fear, confusion and everything else that was part of the their wartime experience. heck, i saw vets crying as they came out of the theater. while i agree that the film is flawed and doesn't hold up well upon reconsideration, i might disagree with the a lot of the points you made. it's not a nakedly anti-war film like, say, brian depalma's moralizing "casaulties of war" with sean penn and michael j fox. as for "the deer hunter", meh. i don't especially care for it. it doesn't feel any less moralizing than any other films of the day. quite honestly, most of the people that i know who are fans of the film tend to be fans of its political message.what's funny to me is the reverence some people have for a director like cimino. he's no less a hack than stone, i think. i might even venture to say that stone is arguably more talented and more complete as an auteur. he's certainly done more interesting work - even if you don't like politics - than comino.

 

[shake zula]

In Tranzit, with John Malkovich. Interesting premise. Right after WWII, Soviet prisoner of war camp, run by all female soldiers, charged with finding 7 SS officers. Some love, some killing, harsh winter, Soviet tatas. But pretty bad movie overall.

 

[Michael Fox Fan]

Solid take saintfool. Much of what you wrote resonates.

a lot of your critique of "platoon" is really a more recent re-evaluation of the film than anything. it was maybe the first film of the 80's to really explore vietnam. other films tended to follow the "rambo" or chuck norris narrative and those were perhaps catharsis of a sort.

It may have been the first of the 80s to truly explore Vietnam, but Deer Hunter had already done it far better. The "extras" that Stone took on were purely political and meant to shock/humiliate. Maybe I take some of it for granted now.....and perhaps that is because Platoon but the issues front and center.

i remember seeing "platoon" in the theater and many, many vets reacting positively to the film. some talked about how stone "got it right" in depicting the fear, confusion and everything else that was part of the their wartime experience. heck, i saw vets crying as they came out of the theater. while i agree that the film is flawed and doesn't hold up well upon reconsideration, i might disagree with the a lot of the points you made. it's not a nakedly anti-war film like, say, brian depalma's moralizing "casaulties of war" with sean penn and michael j fox.

Platoon is far superior to Casualties of War (despite the involvement of my namesake in that film), but it isn't really any less moralizing. It just happens to be better.jdogg got it right - Full Metal Jacket was better than Platoon, and they weren't made very far apart.

as for "the deer hunter", meh. i don't especially care for it. it doesn't feel any less moralizing than any other films of the day. quite honestly, most of the people that i know who are fans of the film tend to be fans of its political message.

The beauty of this movie is that it isn't just about Vietnam, but rather about the impact that war has on an entire community. Sure, it's moralizing I guess. But instead of Stone's "in your face" approach of shouting at the world "we are evil, we repent, let us be forgiven", Deer Hunter takes a subtle approach, showing life before the war...then giving us a snapshot of the horrors of war (which is the part that I consider overdramatized, and frankly the least interesting part of the movie).....then wrapping up with the way that life is post-war. The final party scene where people are singing God Bless America and the one guy (whose name I can't remember, he was pudgy, also in No Way Out w/ Costner - oh his name is George Dzundza, thx IMDb) starts breaking down while he's in the kitchen prepping stuff....is one of the most moving scenes ever. It wraps up the entire movie perfectly.

what's funny to me is the reverence some people have for a director like cimino. he's no less a hack than stone, i think. i might even venture to say that stone is arguably more talented and more complete as an auteur. he's certainly done more interesting work - even if you don't like politics - than comino.

I don't have reverence for Cimino at all. My opinion of him (which is neutral at best) has no bearing on my appreciation for this movie. Stone is without a doubt more talented and has done more work that will hold up.

 

[SKribbles]

The Burrowers

Creature feature set in the Great Plains circa late 1800's. Tremors type story with Pitch Black type creatures and Cowboys and Indians. Creepy but not particularly scary. More care put into it than your average monster movie, but still nothing special. Wouldn't be a complete waste of time if you are a fan of the genre, like myself, and are usually left disappointed by 90% of whats being made. Really enjoyed one of the finest B/C level casts put together in quite some time. (Clancy Brown, William Mapother, Doug Hutchinson).

3/5

Watched this last night. While it wasn't bad, and definitely on a different production level than most B movies, it was pretty lackluster. Nothing scary, creatures were not interesting and the ending was boring. I also enjoyed the cast. 1.5/5.Book of Blood: Based on a Clive Barker book. An author/professor of the supernatural has a student in her class with 'powers'. Those two along with another man move into a building in which horrible murders have taken place. The haunted house thing has been done to death but I really enjoyed this one. It jumps a fair bit between sex/voyeurism, childhood trauma and of course, ghosts killing people. Definitely worth a look if you like the genre or Clive Barker films. 3.5/5.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop: Got a few laughs out of it which was all I expected. Pretty stupid for the most part but there was some pretty cool free-running in it. 2/5.

 

[guru_007]

couple from this weekend:

Rambo

not sure why this one was queued up, but alas, it showed up on Friday and thus the obligatory quick watch and back to Netflix. Not the worst 80 minutes in the world, and some of the gore was way over the top, which was nice. You know what you're getting yourself into when you get one of these movies, and I don't think this one disappointed. Score it a 1.5/5.0

The Incredible Hulk

I thought the first one by Ang Lee was mediocre, and this one really was nothing better, imho. The effects were pretty good, but it still felt like a CGI cartoon. Kind of a weird story line towards the end, and a lot of threads left unanswered or just opened, so obviously they were planning on leaving this up for a franchise type deal. Haven't heard if anything else was coming on down the line, but if it were, I'd watch it again, I just wouldn't go out to see it in the theater. Rank it a 2.0/5.0

and re: the Platoon vs Deer Hunter debate earlier, these are two of my favorite movies of all time, not just the Vietnam type movies. I think Platoon holds up very well to this day, it's a pretty simple story, a struggle about good vs evil and the things war can do to a man. Obviously Oliver Stone has a slight agenda when making a movie, but he is not a lone, you simply have to watch. It's absolutely unfair to compare Platoon to the Deer Hunter, as I never really felt the Deer Hunter to be a war movie, rather a movie about the effects of war on a small town and a tight knit group of friends. The best parts of the Deer Hunter, imho are prior to and after the war scenes. Same with Full Metal Jacket, where the best part is prior to the war. Platoon had nothing but war scenes, and did a good job with it. I like Sheen too I thought the movie was well acted, had a nice mix of action and drama and is one of the better movies of the past 25 years.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Valkryie

Great at keeping you at the edge of your seat in spite of the fact that everyone knows the historical background of WWII. Great cast especially Cruise. For as weird as he is in real life as an actor he is top shelf. I'd recommend this movie especially as a rental.

I agree. Very entertaining.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Not to take this tangent too much further, but pretty much all of Platoon is cliche after cliche. The acting (other than Sheen) is superb, but the screenplay is mostly BS. 90% of Vietnam vets will tell you they hate Oliver Stone and think that movie was total crap. The Deer Hunter is so vastly superior to Platoon, I'm embarrassed to mention them in the same sentence. While some of the scenes in Deer Hunter are beyond the realm of possibility, it's simply a film with a lot more to say. Platoon is best summed up as: 1) Vietnam was a mistake. 2) the US behaved horribly, particularly to civilians. 3) only a few soldiers had a moral compass. 4) Oliver Stone is the moral authority policing America's behavior for us. 5) oh yeah, in the middle of all the bad stuff we did, a bunch of our guys were shot and killed. let's not really dwell on that though.My advice: avoid Platoon, unless you haven't been around enough to know that a few war crimes were committed (similar to Schindler's List -- is anyone so clueless that they don't realize the Holocaust was a terrible event that killed millions and should never have happened, & should never be allowed to happen again?), go watch a better movie instead. If you want to see more about how war impacts people, go rent The Best Years of Our Lives or The Deer Hunter.

a lot of your critique of "platoon" is really a more recent re-evaluation of the film than anything. it was maybe the first film of the 80's to really explore vietnam. other films tended to follow the "rambo" or chuck norris narrative and those were perhaps catharsis of a sort. i remember seeing "platoon" in the theater and many, many vets reacting positively to the film. some talked about how stone "got it right" in depicting the fear, confusion and everything else that was part of the their wartime experience. heck, i saw vets crying as they came out of the theater. while i agree that the film is flawed and doesn't hold up well upon reconsideration, i might disagree with the a lot of the points you made. it's not a nakedly anti-war film like, say, brian depalma's moralizing "casaulties of war" with sean penn and michael j fox. as for "the deer hunter", meh. i don't especially care for it. it doesn't feel any less moralizing than any other films of the day. quite honestly, most of the people that i know who are fans of the film tend to be fans of its political message.what's funny to me is the reverence some people have for a director like cimino. he's no less a hack than stone, i think. i might even venture to say that stone is arguably more talented and more complete as an auteur. he's certainly done more interesting work - even if you don't like politics - than comino.

I look at Platoon the way I look at Dances With Wolves. Both had an emotional impact for me when I first saw them. But seeing them now they are pretty sophomoric at times. Every movie that is thought to be great deserves to be re-evaluated. A movie like Full Metal Jacket will always be great, in my mind. But much as I like Oliver Stone, Platoon is not a great movie. It's a good movie with great performances. But it is flawed.

 

[Daywalker]

Platoon is best summed up as: 1) Vietnam was a mistake. 2) the US behaved horribly, particularly to civilians. 3) only a few soldiers had a moral compass. 4) Oliver Stone is the moral authority policing America's behavior for us. 5) oh yeah, in the middle of all the bad stuff we did, a bunch of our guys were shot and killed. let's not really dwell on that though.

Who disagrees with point 1? I think most would agree that in many instances the soldiers behaved horribly to the civilians considering it was hard to tell who was a civilian. I do not agree that Platoon conveyed that the U.S. behaved horribly only that war is madness and horrible things happen by its nature. Platoon showed sympathy for the soldiers and the civilians.Dafoe, Sheen and many other characters make point 3 very weak.

 

[Bob Magaw]

visited disneyland last week for a few days, & saw terminator there, as well as taken & the international at the hotel...

i liked terminator more than some/many seemed to here... its not as good as the first two (not even close), but i liked it a lot better than the installment 3 cheese/shlock-fest...

it is what it is, a summer popcorn movie... maybe some disappointment comes from the understandably high expectations & high bar set by the first two... i think if you don't have too high expectations, you may not be terribly disappointed... maybe there were some plot holes, but if you have already suspended disbelief to the point you can tolerate & go along for the ride with killer robots from the future...

taken... as good as advertised here... well done...

international... reasonably intelligent thriller... i like clive owens & naomi watts (ever since her star making vehicle, mulholland drive )...

as to caper/heist movies, i like the classic noir suggestions...

some of my favorites (not all of these caper/heist-related)...

out of the past... maybe the best noir ever... more blackmail, revenge, doublecross... great cast with robert mitchum (one of the best noir leading man along with humphrey bogart) & kirk douglas... great dialogue, with some of the snappiest one-liners in genre history... highest possible recommendation...

big sleep... intricately plotted raymond chandler private eye film, as seminal a bogart role as maltese falcon (which was a more simplistic & straightforward plot for my taste, based on the dashiell hammett source material)... with a young lauren bacall (recently married to bogart here?)... smokin hot... a possibly apocraphyl story was that somebody involved with the movie detected a possible plot hole with the identity of a killer, & the director asked him to ask chandler, who could surely clarify this... he had no idea... possibly this occurred during his "heavy drinking" phase... in the coen bros. barton fink, i think they parodied a perpetually inebriated william faulkner (?)... another noteworth point is that older movies were imo often characterized by far superior writing & intelligence... they weren't as dumbed down, & the writing, plot & dialogue had to carry the movie, (decades before CGI special effects)... in fact, i think big sleep had separate plot & dialogue writers, with nobel laureate faulkner in latter role... he may have been slumming it compared to the sound & the fury, but his loss was the noir fan's gain...

asphalt jungle great rec, by i think saintfool... sterling hayden was born to play noir toughguys/losers (as were bogey & mitchum)... sam jaffe great as the criminal mastermind "professor"... marilyn monroe in what must have been one of her first roles, as the bad guy's mistress...

kiss me deadly influential noir with ralph meeker in the lead role (a very young cloris leachman in an early cameo)... the mcguffin brief case has some similarities to pulp fiction... pretty brutal & ruthless characterization for the time...

double indemnity... definitely one of the quintessenetial noirs, another good rec from above (krista?)... disney icon (absent minded professor, flubber) & my three sons fred mcmurray in maybe a career best against type role, with barbara stanwyck as one of the genre's best femme fatales... perfectly captures the noir mood, sense of foreboding & menace... happy ending... i don't think so...

laura... a detective (dana andrews?) falls in love with a dead woman's (gene tierney) portrait as he tries to solve her murder... good villain...

murder my sweet... intricately plotted private eye flick, with **** powell reprising the wise-cracking phillip marlowe role... re-done by mitchum in the excellent farewell my lovely...

the killers (not to be confused with kubrick's aforementioned the killing), including first time roles for both burt lancaster & ava gardner... remade in the 60s with ronald reagan improbably but excellently recast as the brains of the operation...

most genre historians cite maltese falcon (1941) as the beginning & touch of evil (1958) as the end of the classic cycle...

fritz lang's silent classic M could make a case as being at the least a noir precursor...

some of my favorite modern or neo-noirs... chinatown, point blank with an excellently cast killing machine lee marvin, sorceror (written about this before, again, highest possible rec), angel heart, thief (michael mann & james caan), to live & die in LA (young william peterson & willem dafoe), LA confidential, usual suspects, memento...

other noirs worth checking out...

detour (hitchhiking ride from hell... lead was star-crossed in real life, i think being charged with murder later)... DOA (original version with edmund o'brien infinitely superior to remake with quaid/ryan)... the big clock with robert young (?) was remade as no way out with costner/hackman)... gilda, with rita hayworth, glen ford & george macready... double life, a noir macbeth... lady from shanghai, one of orson welles best, with then wife hayworth... night & the city already recommended by saintfool, i think, one of richard widmark's greatest roles as a dangerously conniving wannabe wrestling promoter... sunset blvd, with the excellent william holden in one of the most scathing, withering indictments of the shattered dreams of hollywood ever...

not sure if commonly listed as a noir, but my favorite hitchcock with a bullett, vertigo, has many of the hallmarks of the genre (& a brilliant bernard hermann score)... hitchcock's notorious, spellbound, the man who knew too much, north by northwest & shadow of a doubt also outstanding... at close range (one of the most dysfunctional screen families ever, with cristopher walken, sean penn & crispin glover) another neo-noir... blood simple, coen bros. brilliant debut (fargo could be put in this category)... of course reservoir dogs, pulp fiction & jackie brown... dead calm with sam neill, billy zane & nicole kidman... larry fishburne goes DEEP undercover in deep cover, with jeff goldblum as a hinky lawyer...

dead men wera plaid is a montaged noir spoof with steve martin... the man who wasn't there was sort of a parody of the genre by coen bros, as was the even better big lebowski...

i'll try & get to the family/disney movies next...

ps - i liked the killing, in structure (seeing same scene, the race track caper/heist, from multiple perspectives) was reminscent of taratino's work, & may have been an influence... not kubrick's best, but it was one of his earliest, though not relagated to juvenalia work... benefits from presence of the great hayden...

 

[El Floppo]

visited disneyland last week for a few days, & saw terminator there, as well as taken & the international at the hotel...i liked terminator more than some/many seemed to here... its not as good as the first two (not even close), but i liked it a lot better than the installment 3 cheese/shlock-fest...it is what it is, a summer popcorn movie... maybe some disappointment comes from the understandably high expectations & high bar set by the first two... i think if you don't have too high expectations, you may not be terribly disappointed... maybe there were some plot holes, but if you have already suspended disbelief to the point you can tolerate & go along for the ride with killer robots from the future...taken... as good as advertised here... well done...international... reasonably intelligent thriller... i like clive owens & naomi watts (ever since her star making vehicle, mulholland drive )...as to caper/heist movies, i like the classic noir suggestions...some of my favorites (not all of these caper/heist-related)...out of the past... maybe the best noir ever... more blackmail, revenge, doublecross... great cast with robert mitchum (one of the best noir leading man along with humphrey bogart) & kirk douglas... great dialogue, with some of the snappiest one-liners in genre history... highest possible recommendation...big sleep... intricately plotted raymond chandler private eye film, as seminal a bogart role as maltese falcon (which was a more simplistic & straightforward plot for my taste, based on the dashiell hammett source material)... with a young lauren bacall (recently married to bogart here?)... smokin hot... a possibly apocraphyl story was that somebody involved with the movie detected a possible plot hole with the identity of a killer, & the director asked him to ask chandler, who could surely clarify this... he had no idea... possibly this occurred during his "heavy drinking" phase... in the coen bros. barton fink, i think they parodied a perpetually inebriated william faulkner (?)... another noteworth point is that older movies were imo often characterized by far superior writing & intelligence... they weren't as dumbed down, & the writing, plot & dialogue had to carry the movie, (decades before CGI special effects)... in fact, i think big sleep had separate plot & dialogue writers, with nobel laureate faulkner in latter role... he may have been slumming it compared to the sound & the fury, but his loss was the noir fan's gain...asphalt jungle great rec, by i think saintfool... sterling hayden was born to play noir toughguys/losers (as were bogey & mitchum)... sam jaffe great as the criminal mastermind "professor"... marilyn monroe in what must have been one of her first roles, as the bad guy's mistress... kiss me deadly influential noir with ralph meeker in the lead role (a very young cloris leachman in an early cameo)... the mcguffin brief case has some similarities to pulp fiction... pretty brutal & ruthless characterization for the time...double indemnity... definitely one of the quintessenetial noirs, another good rec from above (krista?)... disney icon (absent minded professor, flubber) & my three sons fred mcmurray in maybe a career best against type role, with barbara stanwyck as one of the genre's best femme fatales... perfectly captures the noir mood, sense of foreboding & menace... happy ending... i don't think so... laura... a detective (dana andrews?) falls in love with a dead woman's (gene tierney) portrait as he tries to solve her murder... good villain...murder my sweet... intricately plotted private eye flick, with **** powell reprising the wise-cracking phillip marlowe role... re-done by mitchum in the excellent farewell my lovely...the killers (not to be confused with kubrick's aforementioned the killing), including first time roles for both burt lancaster & ava gardner... remade in the 60s with ronald reagan improbably but excellently recast as the brains of the operation... most genre historians cite maltese falcon (1941) as the beginning & touch of evil (1958) as the end of the classic cycle...fritz lang's silent classic M could make a case as being at the least a noir precursor...some of my favorite modern or neo-noirs... chinatown, point blank with an excellently cast killing machine lee marvin, sorceror (written about this before, again, highest possible rec), angel heart, thief (michael mann & james caan), to live & die in LA (young william peterson & willem dafoe), LA confidential, usual suspects, memento... other noirs worth checking out...detour (hitchhiking ride from hell... lead was star-crossed in real life, i think being charged with murder later)... DOA (original version with edmund o'brien infinitely superior to remake with quaid/ryan)... the big clock with robert young (?) was remade as no way out with costner/hackman)... gilda, with rita hayworth, glen ford & george macready... double life, a noir macbeth... lady from shanghai, one of orson welles best, with then wife hayworth... night & the city already recommended by saintfool, i think, one of richard widmark's greatest roles as a dangerously conniving wannabe wrestling promoter... sunset blvd, with the excellent william holden in one of the most scathing, withering indictments of the shattered dreams of hollywood ever... not sure if commonly listed as a noir, but my favorite hitchcock with a bullett, vertigo, has many of the hallmarks of the genre (& a brilliant bernard hermann score)... hitchcock's notorious, spellbound, the man who knew too much, north by northwest & shadow of a doubt also outstanding... at close range (one of the most dysfunctional screen families ever, with cristopher walken, sean penn & crispin glover) another neo-noir... blood simple, coen bros. brilliant debut (fargo could be put in this category)... of course reservoir dogs, pulp fiction & jackie brown... dead calm with sam neill, billy zane & nicole kidman... larry fishburne goes DEEP undercover in deep cover, with jeff goldblum as a hinky lawyer... dead men wera plaid is a montaged noir spoof with steve martin... the man who wasn't there was sort of a parody of the genre by coen bros, as was the even better big lebowski...i'll try & get to the family/disney movies next...ps - i liked the killing, in structure (seeing same scene, the race track caper/heist, from multiple perspectives) was reminscent of taratino's work, & may have been an influence... not kubrick's best, but it was one of his earliest, though not relagated to juvenalia work... benefits from presence of the great hayden...

:subscribes: IMO Sterling Hayden was meant to play General Jack D Ripperpps: Hayden lived in my home town for a while at the end of his life and used to walk around in a long cape and walking stick... more Moses than Phantom of the Opera.

 

[Bob Magaw]

hayden looked very moses-esque in another noir (not mentioned because not one of my favorites), the long goodbye... it was almost a deconstructed noir, exploding some of the conventions... gould's shambling, bumbling take didn't work for me... i guess altman wanted to be a generalist & make a movie in every genre, but he probably could have skipped this... not sure if altman's far superior the player is generally listed as a neo-noir, but it definitely had some genre characteristics...

in further response to the thread...

for political thrillers, parallax view was a good rec above... i think they begin & end with the manchurian candidate, i prefer the original but the remake with denzel washington wasn't terrible... day of the jackal also very good (remake jackal was pretty good... note to self... don't try & extort a guy you are selling a remote controlled machine gun to)... boys from brazil part sci-fi & political thriller, with great cast (gregory peck & sir larry olivier)...

not exactly a political thriller, more of a spy genre, but i really liked marathon man, with dustin hoffman, sir larry again & roy scheider... great novel by william goldman (screen play for butch cassady, wrote princess bride)...

for family/disney fare, i like this site...

http://www.ultimatedisney.com/ultimateclassics.htm

classic disney animation... also includes link to classic disney live action...

for animated, pinocchio was just released a few months ago on blu-ray & DVD... definitely one of the best to ever came from the studio... in a few years, the studio would be commandered for WW II training/propaganda films, soon after he would be massively preoccupied with the TV show & disneyland planning/construction, & he never again had the time/inclination to be a perfectionist to the degree that was palpably & tangibly evident on every frame in the golden era...

dumbo & fantasia (on blu-ray/DVD next winter or spring) also among the best to come from the studio...

jungle book & 101 dalmatians great for kids....

more contemporary classics like lion king & alladin among their best...

treasure planet (basically robert louis stevenson's treasure island in space is the elevator pitch) a good rec from above... tarzan was pretty good...

meet the robinson's is a clever (for a children's movie) time travel story...

the recent bolt was pretty entertaining...

not disney, but i always liked the original tarzan movies with johnny weismuller (about 4-5? all fun)...

for live action disney, some of my favorites...

aforementioned treasure island, might have been disney's first shot in england (due to WW II they couldn't take profits directly as assets were frozen, but they could use the funds to make movies there, employing english actors & crew ((which may have also served double purpose of being shot across the bow of an agitating studio union back in burbank)), which could than be shown around the world & profited from... a brilliant circumvention of war-related frozen funds)...

swiss family robinson a great rec... 20,000 leagues under the sea with kirk douglas, james mason & peter lorre one of their best live action efforts ever... i think it was one of the most expensive movies ever up to that time, was an immediate smash hit & has enjoyed as enduring & timeless an appeal as the jules verne source material it was based on...

darby o'gill & the little people... essential, mandatory st. patty's day viewing, but you don't need to wait... very sophisticated effects for the time... you could already see why sean connery would soon explode into world-wide stardom with bond...

absent minded professor (flubber plot?)...

bedknobs & broomsticks... using magic to fight the nazis... like mary poppins, some of the best ever integration of animation with live action (or sometimes vice verce)...

computer who wore tennis shoes & the barefoot executive among my favorite kurt russell disney films...

TRON's EARLY computer generated effects are obviously dated, but the story holds up, imo...

pirates of the carribean trilogy...

LOTR trilogy...

spiderman trilogy...

superman movies...

narnia movies...

another classic in the sinbad vein is thief of bagdad... this was influential for a lot of contemporay directors... hasn't dated much, still very entertaining more than half a century later...

a couple fun sinbad movies with the stop-motion animation of ray harryhausen (also very influential to directors like lucas)... the 7th voyage of sinbad & the golden voyage of sinbad... jason & the argonauts and clash of the titans are excellent representatives of greek mythology genre...

james & the giant peach...

princess bride great mix of adventure, action & humor...

willy wonka & the chocolate factory (i again much prefer the original)...

miyazaki has done some of the best animation in the world, including disney... i like one of his later works, spirited away best, but most of his work is outstanding... nausica of the valley of the wind probably my next favorite, both these are wildly inventive & visionary, with some top notch voice talent...

beatles yellow submarine... guessing the psychedelic-era references will go over an 8 year old's head?

time bandits & baron von munchausen by terry gilliam are RELATIVELY kid-friendly...

& of course pixar... no clunkers...

toy story I & II, bug's life, finding nemo, monster's inc., the invincibles, cars, ratatouille & now up (did i miss any?)...

* short format kid films... the red baloon & the white stallion (also, not sure about title - wooden indian?)...

 

[El Floppo]

Three Days of the Condor was a fun political-esque thriller from that same Parallax View era.

"is it safe"?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Three Days of the Condor was a fun political-esque thriller from that same Parallax View era. "is it safe"?

Isn't "Is it safe?" from Marathon Man?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

The Wrestler - 6.5/10

Meh. It was okay. But what's the message? A burnout can't redeem himself?

And I didn't think Rourke's performance was anything special. I can walk around sighing deeply and exhaling loudly too.

 

[saintfool]

Three Days of the Condor was a fun political-esque thriller from that same Parallax View era. "is it safe"?

Isn't "Is it safe?" from Marathon Man?

You, sir, are correct! Oh Great One!:mcmahon:

 

[saintfool]

for political thrillers, parallax view was a good rec above... i think they begin & end with the manchurian candidate, i prefer the original but the remake with denzel washington wasn't terrible... day of the jackal also very good (remake jackal was pretty good... note to self... don't try & extort a guy you are selling a remote controlled machine gun to)... boys from brazil part sci-fi & political thriller, with great cast (gregory peck & sir larry olivier)...not exactly a political thriller, more of a spy genre, but i really liked marathon man, with dustin hoffman, sir larry again & roy scheider... great novel by william goldman (screen play for butch cassady, wrote princess bride)...

"day of the jackal" probably reads better than it plays. it's a pretty watered down film. the re-make is a little better, if over the top. "boys from brazil" was really tedious for me. again, maybe a film that works better as a book. once you get over the concept, it quickly becomes a "tv movie of the week" product for me. it's shame because the director has a nice track record. "marathon man" is maybe the best of that genre for the time. it's just really, really tight with good performances all the way around. olivier was always a bit of a ham as an actor but he gets it right here. one of my favorite little hollywood stories comes during the making of "marathon man" actually.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Three Days of the Condor was a fun political-esque thriller from that same Parallax View era. "is it safe"?

Great movie.

 

[jdoggydogg]

The Wrestler - 6.5/10

Meh. It was okay. But what's the message? A burnout can't redeem himself?

And I didn't think Rourke's performance was anything special. I can walk around sighing deeply and exhaling loudly too.

No.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Madagascar 2

What a piece of ####. Horrible. My son liked the first one, so we rented the second. If Pixar didn't exist, I could see that animation companies maybe wouldn't have the inspiration to make good animated adventures. But this is loud, ugly, stupid, boring, and disgusting.

 

[El Floppo]

Three Days of the Condor was a fun political-esque thriller from that same Parallax View era. "is it safe"?

Isn't "Is it safe?" from Marathon Man?

absolutely.eta: bob's post was so thorough, I went for the opposite.

 

[El Floppo]

for political thrillers, parallax view was a good rec above... i think they begin & end with the manchurian candidate, i prefer the original but the remake with denzel washington wasn't terrible... day of the jackal also very good (remake jackal was pretty good... note to self... don't try & extort a guy you are selling a remote controlled machine gun to)... boys from brazil part sci-fi & political thriller, with great cast (gregory peck & sir larry olivier)...not exactly a political thriller, more of a spy genre, but i really liked marathon man, with dustin hoffman, sir larry again & roy scheider... great novel by william goldman (screen play for butch cassady, wrote princess bride)...

"day of the jackal" probably reads better than it plays. it's a pretty watered down film. the re-make is a little better, if over the top. "boys from brazil" was really tedious for me. again, maybe a film that works better as a book. once you get over the concept, it quickly becomes a "tv movie of the week" product for me. it's shame because the director has a nice track record. "marathon man" is maybe the best of that genre for the time. it's just really, really tight with good performances all the way around. olivier was always a bit of a ham as an actor but he gets it right here. one of my favorite little hollywood stories comes during the making of "marathon man" actually.

Did you see three days of the condor? That was a pretty tight movie too, right up there with Marathon Man IMO (although Redford and ... Fonda?) weren't quite as good as Hoffman and Olivier.Essen. Essen.Agree about Brazil... came across really dated- mebbe the quality of the film they used? Lighting? Dunno- but last time I saw it it was almost laughable.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

The Wrestler - 6.5/10

Meh. It was okay. But what's the message? A burnout can't redeem himself?

And I didn't think Rourke's performance was anything special. I can walk around sighing deeply and exhaling loudly too.

No.

What'd I miss?

 

[jdoggydogg]

The Wrestler - 6.5/10

Meh. It was okay. But what's the message? A burnout can't redeem himself?

And I didn't think Rourke's performance was anything special. I can walk around sighing deeply and exhaling loudly too.

No.

What'd I miss?

I can't convince you to like him as much as I did. I guess that's personal preference. But if you know Mickey Rourke's life, The Wrestler is someone true to life for him. That makes it all the more poignant. I don't see how you can discredit his acting in this movie.

 

[saintfool]

Did you see three days of the condor? That was a pretty tight movie too, right up there with Marathon Man IMO (although Redford and ... Fonda?) weren't quite as good as Hoffman and Olivier.Essen. Essen.Agree about Brazil... came across really dated- mebbe the quality of the film they used? Lighting? Dunno- but last time I saw it it was almost laughable.

yeah, i have seen "condor" and it works pretty well. i'm not a big fan of pollack but pairing dunaway/redford for that time was damned smart.

 

[El Floppo]

I brought this one up in the talking spaceships thread...

Did anyone ever catch

? Spoof of 2001 and it's ilk. I almost want to say I saw this in the theaters when it first came out. Didn't get the humor in the crew trying to talk the "smart" bomb out of exploding by using phenomenology, but remember really liking the beach-ball alien with clicking feet.eta: I think I was 7 when I saw this.

 

[Gr00vus]

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Didn't hate it, but it was generally a waste of time. Not very funny overall, a chuckle here or there, but that's about it. Very predictable. The lead actor was just awkward, didn't like him much (not the character, but his performance).

Not worth seeing.

 

[YSR]

Have had it for a couple of weeks and have had a tough time getting into the right mindset to watch it, but just saw Milk.

Just finished it, and am kind of still processing. Not going to do any kind of write-up, really, but damn - thought it was pretty great across the board.

 

[Dexter Manley]

The Wrestler - 6.5/10

Meh. It was okay. But what's the message? A burnout can't redeem himself?

And I didn't think Rourke's performance was anything special. I can walk around sighing deeply and exhaling loudly too. :(

No.

What'd I miss?

I can't convince you to like him as much as I did. I guess that's personal preference. But if you know Mickey Rourke's life, The Wrestler is someone true to life for him. That makes it all the more poignant. I don't see how you can discredit his acting in this movie.

I need to see this movie, as I'm sure Ill love it. I just read the other day that Nic Cage was originally slated for the lead, but the director fought tooth and nail with the studio and got Rourke.

 

[Dexter Manley]

Harold and Kumar Escape Guantanamo Bay

Saw this last night. Going in, I wasn't expecting very much, but this is one of the funnier movies I've seen in a while. Pretty hillarious. Thinking of having a bottomless party this weekend.

ETA: Kumar's dream about him having a 3some was one of the most lol funny scenes I've viewed in a while.

 

[jdoggydogg]

The Wrestler - 6.5/10

Meh. It was okay. But what's the message? A burnout can't redeem himself?

And I didn't think Rourke's performance was anything special. I can walk around sighing deeply and exhaling loudly too.

No.

What'd I miss?

I can't convince you to like him as much as I did. I guess that's personal preference. But if you know Mickey Rourke's life, The Wrestler is someone true to life for him. That makes it all the more poignant. I don't see how you can discredit his acting in this movie.

I need to see this movie, as I'm sure Ill love it. I just read the other day that Nic Cage was originally slated for the lead, but the director fought tooth and nail with the studio and got Rourke.

Reminds me of Coppola fighting to get Pacino as Michael in The Godfather. Studio didn't want Pacino.

 

[Wingnut]

Inglorious Bastards - 9/10 - Pretty gruesome, and nasty. Not recommended for those with sensitive stomachs. Brad Pitt does a great job, but I had a hard time picturing Ryan from the Office as a soldier.

How did you see this? I downloaded some torrents, all fake.

 

[jamny]

No.

What'd I miss?

I can't convince you to like him as much as I did. I guess that's personal preference. But if you know Mickey Rourke's life, The Wrestler is someone true to life for him. That makes it all the more poignant. I don't see how you can discredit his acting in this movie.

I need to see this movie, as I'm sure Ill love it. I just read the other day that Nic Cage was originally slated for the lead, but the director fought tooth and nail with the studio and got Rourke.

Reminds me of Coppola fighting to get Pacino as Michael in The Godfather. Studio didn't want Pacino.

Howard Stern interviewed the director and he said Cage was actually filming for a while and he had to let him go when he finally convinced the studio to go with Rourke. Cage called him when he saw the movie and told him he made the right call.

 

[fsufan]

Taken

 

[KarmaPolice]

Howard Stern interviewed the director and he said Cage was actually filming for a while and he had to let him go when he finally convinced the studio to go with Rourke. Cage called him when he saw the movie and told him he made the right call.

Good to know that even Mr. Cage knows he can't act for ####.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Inglorious Bastards - 9/10 - Pretty gruesome, and nasty. Not recommended for those with sensitive stomachs. Brad Pitt does a great job, but I had a hard time picturing Ryan from the Office as a soldier.

How did you see this? I downloaded some torrents, all fake.

PMs can be used if needed.

 

[SKribbles]

Inglorious Bastards - 9/10 - Pretty gruesome, and nasty. Not recommended for those with sensitive stomachs. Brad Pitt does a great job, but I had a hard time picturing Ryan from the Office as a soldier.

How did you see this? I downloaded some torrents, all fake.

PMs can be used if needed.

I've searched every site I know (about 6 private/public ones) and didn't find anything.

 

[DaVinci]

Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Entertaining, even though I'm not a big fan of metal. There are several moments in the movie where I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Lips' enthusiasm seems genuine, but sometimes he comes across as pitiful. It's nice to hold onto your dreams, but the dude's 50. I don't think it's any big mystery why they didn't make it big: they're not very good. Lips singing "Metal On Metal" reminded me of the kid in "Clerks" that couldn't speak English except for the lyrics he mimicked.

3/5

 

[The_Man]

Just saw "American Teen" -- a documentary that follows a group of midwestern high school kids for their senior year (the jock, the nerd, the beauty queen, the quirky outsider). I thought it was excellent. Made me so glad not to be in high school and made me feel bad for my son who will be in middle school next year. It's kind of astonishing to be reminded how cruel kids can be.

 

[SKribbles]

Friday the 13th: I'm don't know what to think about this one. As a fan of the originals (seen them all multiple times), this new one is blasphemous. No theme music, Jason setting traps, running, torturing, master archer and basically being a pretty smart guy. It does not follow the old 'rules' whatsoever. That being said, had you never seen a Friday the 13th before, this was a pretty darn good slasher flick. Yeah it was predictable as hell but what horror movie isn't? Travis Van Winkle, one of the lead actors in the movie, made me hate him more than any other character in movie history. I can't decide whether he was horrible or if he did a great job, but I was really hoping that he got a slow painful death. At least Bay got a couple things right in the movie: plenty of gratuitous boob scenes and creative kill scenes. Rating as a Friday the 13th fan: 1.5/5. Rating as a slasher flick: 4/5

 

[fsufan]

Friday the 13th: I'm don't know what to think about this one. As a fan of the originals (seen them all multiple times), this new one is blasphemous. No theme music, Jason setting traps, running, torturing, master archer and basically being a pretty smart guy. It does not follow the old 'rules' whatsoever. That being said, had you never seen a Friday the 13th before, this was a pretty darn good slasher flick. Yeah it was predictable as hell but what horror movie isn't? Travis Van Winkle, one of the lead actors in the movie, made me hate him more than any other character in movie history. I can't decide whether he was horrible or if he did a great job, but I was really hoping that he got a slow painful death. At least Bay got a couple things right in the movie: plenty of gratuitous boob scenes and creative kill scenes. Rating as a Friday the 13th fan: 1.5/5. Rating as a slasher flick: 4/5

they did not have ch ch ch ha ha ha
i read somewhere it is acutal ki ki ki ma ma ma, which stands for kill her mommy

but it sound like ch ch ch ha ha ha

 

[El Floppo]

Mentioned this in the BSG thread- saw Caprica. Kind of meh. I won't even bother discussing unless there's other BSG fans interested.

 

[Michael Fox Fan]

Just saw The Lives of Others tonight. Set in East Berlin in the late 70s/early 80s. One of the better movies I've seen recently.

The Lives of Others

 

[jdoggydogg]

Just saw The Lives of Others tonight. Set in East Berlin in the late 70s/early 80s. One of the better movies I've seen recently.

The Lives of Others

Great movie

 

[jdoggydogg]

Milk

Good movie. No doubt. Glad I saw it.

However, that Sean Penn earned the Oscar over Mickey Rourke is insane. Penn is one of our best actors. But in the next 20 years, he'll likely get five or ten roles that are Oscar-worthy. Rourke, however, has been criminally underutilized. This was a case of Hollywood supporting an issue over a great performance.

 

[Michael Fox Fan]

Milk

Good movie. No doubt. Glad I saw it.

However, that Sean Penn earned the Oscar over Mickey Rourke is insane. Penn is one of our best actors. But in the next 20 years, he'll likely get five or ten roles that are Oscar-worthy. Rourke, however, has been criminally underutilized. This was a case of Hollywood supporting an issue over a great performance.

Pair your comments with Penn using his "I am Sam" voice for half the movie, and it is beyond insane that he won an award for his performance.

 

[El Floppo]

Milk

Good movie. No doubt. Glad I saw it.

However, that Sean Penn earned the Oscar over Mickey Rourke is insane. Penn is one of our best actors. But in the next 20 years, he'll likely get five or ten roles that are Oscar-worthy. Rourke, however, has been criminally underutilized. This was a case of Hollywood supporting an issue over a great performance.

Hmm- disagree. I think this is a case of Hollywood getting it right and going with the best performance- as much as I loved Rourke's, Penn was fantastic. And I fully expected Hollywood to use your logic of giving the underutilized but deserving guy his due instead of going with the consistently great guy who consistently gets great roles.I really don't think the issue had anything to do with it.

 

[El Floppo]

TCM or Ovation ran a Bergman spotlight the other night: Bergman and Bebe Anderson interview by **** Cavett, Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona.

I DVRed the lot and have watched the amazing Cavett interview and rewatched The Seventh Seal (I considered it in the GWD). I forget how incredible Bergman was... is? The visuals in the movies are enough for me to love them- that he also gets such amazing acting performance and writes so profoundly on the micro and macro levels... I just Bergman.

I've seen Wild Strawberries in bits and pieces before- looking forward to watching it whole. And I've never seen Persona... I DVR.

 

[krista4]

TCM or Ovation ran a Bergman spotlight the other night: Bergman and Bebe Anderson interview by **** Cavett, Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Persona.I DVRed the lot and have watched the amazing Cavett interview and rewatched The Seventh Seal (I considered it in the GWD). I forget how incredible Bergman was... is? The visuals in the movies are enough for me to love them- that he also gets such amazing acting performance and writes so profoundly on the micro and macro levels... I just Bergman. I've seen Wild Strawberries in bits and pieces before- looking forward to watching it whole. And I've never seen Persona... I DVR.

I have a love/hate relationship with his movies, but the three you named are my three favorites. And is it just me, or was Liv Ullman incredibly beautiful? There's something unusual but so compelling about her.

 

[jdoggydogg]

Milk

Good movie. No doubt. Glad I saw it.

However, that Sean Penn earned the Oscar over Mickey Rourke is insane. Penn is one of our best actors. But in the next 20 years, he'll likely get five or ten roles that are Oscar-worthy. Rourke, however, has been criminally underutilized. This was a case of Hollywood supporting an issue over a great performance.

Pair your comments with Penn using his "I am Sam" voice for half the movie, and it is beyond insane that he won an award for his performance.

I haven't seen that. But I've had enough of big actors playing mentally-challenged roles.