Would Waiting for Guffman fit the inverse theme?

That's exactly what I thought, too. It kinda ruined the whole movie for me...

¡Three Amigos!

Another one from Straight Dope.

WarGames from the point of view of the computer. The entire time it just thinks it is playing a game.

I thought I smelled something rotten.

Then I learned that McG is trying to get a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea prequel made.

So now I know it wasn't just that my cubicle neighbor farted.

That'll be a big load o' crap. :rolleyes:

I said that one already! (sorry, I love the film and can't help but make sure I get credit ;) )

oops, I didn't read far enough back. :blush:

Don't worry. There are a plethora of posts in this thread.

A what?

No, sorry but you were not the first. TiggerandTink brought it up first.

A plethora.

Oh yes, mousepod, there are a plethora of posts.

God, I love that movie. I need to watch it again soon.

I don't know what's worse - that you had make that reference or that I got the reference.

(That is one of my brother's favorite movies.....and definitely not one of mine.)

I just want to know what movie used "plethora" as dialogue. Do they also use some of my other favorite words? IE: Bailiwick & Crepuscular.

Three Amigos.

Keep up.

I learned the word "plethora" from that movie.



Whenever I buy someone a sweater as a gift it makes me giggle.

I'm behind. And, I've never seen Three Amigos. Both surprising, I know.

I've never seen Blazing Saddles. I've never really considered Mel Brooks to be scraping the outer borders of moderately amusing let alone a comedic genius.

Just watched about 40 minutes of Blazing Saddles on AMC. I know it was edited but I just really don't get whatever it is that makes so many people love it or Mel Brooks in general. He's just so broad and obvious and schticky.

And yet Gene Wilder is a genius. A genius who made so many really bad movies.

I <3 Alex.

Perhaps that's why Young Frankenstein really stands out among the Mel Brooks ouvre, since it was co-written with Gene Wilder, the genius who made 3 good movies and a lot of bad ones.

Unlike Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon and Woody Allen, Mel Brooks never really stopped writing for Sid Caesar. That said, while I don't adore "Blazing Saddles" as some do, Brooks's shtick is something I've decided I want to laugh at, so I generally do.

It's not required, but it probably helps to be Jewish to appreciate Brooks.

I don't know if I personally consider him a comedy genius or not. Taken on the whole, not so much, he's made many a stinker and the bulk of the humor ends up in the juvenile/recycled borscht belt buckets. But The Producers alone certainly qualifies him to be considered for genius status, then you add in the parts of Spaceballs and Blazing Saddles and History of the World that are more than fart, dick, and sex jokes and yeah I begin to concede. Of course, all I have to do is think of Robin Hood, Men in Tights to fall back on the "not a genius" side of the debate.

Come on. "Men in Tights" was worth it for "I have a mole?"

Certainly not in the genius category, and uneven to be sure, but I find his homage films High Anxiety and Silent Movie above his unfortunate average.





Oh and Ghoulish Johnson is right .... it helps if you're Jewish.

That's been the case throughout history.

Not so much during The Inquisition .... or perhaps the Holocaust, but most other times it's been really cool and somewhat chic.

Interesting to me that a discussion about Three Amigos, a movie directed by John Landis and starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short, (looked this up - written by Martin, Lorne Michaels and Randy Newman) suddenly shifts to a discussion about Mel Brooks. I don't think the humor is the same at all. Talk about a goyisha film. ;)

Not everything that NA doesn't like (or rather, hasn't seen) falls into the same box. I think this is one that she might actually like, in part since the jokes haven't been repeated a billion times like Brooks or Python.

I don't think the discussion of Three Amigos prompted the Mel Brooks discussion. My post about Mel Brooks yesterday was completely unrelated and prompted by me watching part of Blazing Saddles yesterday.

That said, I'm not all that fond of Three Amigos, though it does get better as it goes along it is so hard to sit through the first half.

I've never seen Three Amigos, and have no desire to. Despite all the mysterious quotes I've heard through the years. Despite my brother-in-law having done the production design. It just seems like the type of jeuvenile humor I don't particularly care for.


If it plays at the cemetery, I'll go. But I'm not inspired to Netflix it.

Yes, but the films I think are the greatest usually get the response of "huh?". I just have odd taste in films - at least form the majority of humanity.

I must chime in too about Young Frankenstein. It's a wonderful film. His best film. Very funny.
"Sweet mystery of life at last I found youuuuuu..."

"Roll in the hay! Roll in the hay!"

:sigh:

You love us... Admit it! ;)

. . . Why thank you, doctor.

Frau Blucher...

ok, how do you spell that horse noise that MUST follow???

I going to invite you all over and make you watch Fanny and Alexander or maybe Berlin Alexanderplatz.

What Knockers!!

Are you sad because you've grown old?

Yes!
YeEEes!
He vas my BOYFRIEND!!!!!

Bring it on! I've been wanting to see both of those. (Just not all in one sitting, please!)

WHINNY!

I love this film, a hilarious treatment of James Whale's fabulous (and funny) Bride of Franekstein.

Just thinking about this film makes me smile. I remember a story, and I do not know if it is true or not, the original Bride of Frankenstein machinery was sitting in the original designer's garage (unassembled) and that's how it came to be in the film, they borrowed it.

And these German dramas are replacements for silly comedy how exactly? :)

The German ones are funnier?

I wonder what the stats are on people in America born without a sense of humor?

I have a great sense of humor - you just have to work a bit harder to amuse me.

And to that I ask: Does anybody here who has met me (other than as grandmaster of MouseAdventure) think I am lacking in a sense of humor?

One Swedish, one German.

"Fanny and Alexander" is a great movie. I would happily watch it at your house any time.

That or a Bowery Boys marathon.

Ha! I've seen you laugh for hours at the most base of jokes. :p

You have a great sense of humor.

This is why when people say "I'm looking for someone with a sense of humor" I feel like smacking them. It's like saying you're looking for someone who has a taste for sweets. Most everyone does. There are many types of sense of humor, and it's hard to pin down definitions for types.

Some random types of humor I enjoy, in no particular order:

Beavis and Butthead (stupidity, gross-outs)
Mel Brooks (Jewish, sex, puns, pop-culture sillyness)
30 Rock/The Office (brainy sarcasm about everyday foibles)
Wes Anderson (detached surrealism, awkward character interactions)
Weird Al (childlike, slapsticky innocent spoofs of seriousness)
Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job (non-linear psychadelic deja vu, slow motion vomiting for no reason)
SNL (too many things to list)

Some random types of humor I can appreciate but don't make me guffaw for some reason:

Woody Allen (wordy self-deprecation)
Cary Grant style films (zinger after zinger)
Practical jokes (making someone else feel bad eventually gets to me)
Fawlty Towers and the British Office (the ultimate in awkwardness is too much for me)

Hmm, I bet there are dozens more.

Oh my ... Fawlty Towers is simply The.Funniest.SitCom.EVER.Made.



Sigh.



And yeah, Alex has a sense of humor.



He just plays a curmudgeon on the internet.

I saw a bit of an interview with John Cleese. He talked about a "fan" of Fawlty Towers that described Jen's reaction to it perfectly. She couldn't sit down and watch it. It made her so uncomfortable that she'd stand at the doorway of the room, ready to bolt. But she'd still watch the whole show.

I get a bit of that feeling watching it too, it makes me cringe and want to turn away. But I just end up finding it hillarious. Jen falls more on the side of wanting to bolt from the room, yet still finding it funny.

I didn't think it was funny at first. Watched like four episodes before a switch flipped inside of me.


Same thing with Ab Fab.



That's why I'll always give comedy a second or third chance if I can. Some of the stuff I was totally "huh?" about went on to beome hillariously funny for me.


:confused:

30 Rock/The Office (brainy sarcasm about everyday foibles) I've been told I'd loke 30 Rock. I love Arrested Development
Wes Anderson (detached surrealism, awkward character interactions) - Love him
SNL (too many things to list) - Moments of goodnes throughout the years but not all of it does it for me.


Woody Allen (wordy self-deprecation) - ADORE Woody Allen except really early slap stick stuff (but his serious films are really more up my alley)
Cary Grant style films (zinger after zinger) Heavy, witty dialog is a fav as his black comedy. His Girl Friday a great example as is Arsenic and Old Lace. The Thin Man (not Grant) but another witty dialog fav.

I can't stand The THree Stooges. Irritation!

As for Brit humor, Black Books is one of my favorites.

Two types of humor I'm not much on:

1) the Chaplainy/Monsieur Huloty gentle soul moving through wry situations;
2) the Ryan Reynolds genre--Waiting, Van Wilder--where someone is admired for being the biggest asshole possible.

But you can make an endless loop for me of the concussed Basil Fawlty with his finger on his upper lip goosestepping around the German tourists, and I'd be a happy man.

Yep, Best.Episode of Best.SitCom.Ever.Made.

No.



Films I find really funny:
Young Frankenstein
Some Like It Hot
The Birdcage
Superbad
Bringing Up Baby
Borat
Blazing Saddles
The Nutty Professor (dinner table scene)
Friday (the first 5 min especially)
Dr. Strangelove
Harold & Maude
Duck Soup
Holy Grail
Fish Called Wanda
The Thin Man
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
9 to 5
Victor/Victoria
Auntie Mame
Arsenic and Old Lace
to name a few...

As for TV shows:
South Park
Ab Fab
Little Britain
Flowery Twats ;)
to name a few...

Ah, should have been on my list. They still crack me up.

You would like The Office and 30 Rock, but these are more shows where you should probably start at the beginning.

Same here on both counts.

Didn't like American Pie at all, and I hope to continue to never see There's Something About Mary. (Ben Stiller needs a mention here - for the most part I find him unfunny.) I'm always tempted by films like Beerfest and Balls of Fury, but end up avoiding them. Then you get a good one like Harold and Kumar thrown in and my hopes for the entire college-style genre are raised.

I do like Jim Carrey, for the most part. See what I mean about "having a sense of humor" being a bullsh1t concept??

Oh, I forgot about Ab Fab. Love it.

I don't think the Three Stooges are funny at all. BUT I adore Laurel and Hardy.
:)

I liked Jim Carrey in the first Ace Ventura. After that, I didn't care for his stuff. Although I do like Eternal Sunshine quite a bit.

Good call, GC - It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is still one of the best comedy films of all time. :snap:

Benjy Benjamin: Now look! We've figured it seventeen different ways, and each time we figured it, it was no good, because no matter how we figured it, somebody don't like the way we figured it! So now, there's only one way to figure it. And that is, every man, including the old bag, for himself!

Ding Bell: So good luck, and may the best man win!

Benjy Benjamin: (to Ethel Merman's character, Mrs. Marcus) Except you lady: may you just drop dead!


Buddy Hackett's delivery of that last line makes me laugh every single time I see it.

The pie part of American Pie was hilarious. I still bust a gut at There's Something About Mary. Not so much at the brothers' other efforts.

Reverse that sentence, and you've nailed it.

Reverse that one, too. He deserved an Oscar for Liar, Liar. Eternal Sunshine was great, too.

I'm also a fan of the mature romantic New Yorker comedy, in particular, the Billy Crystal oeuvre from the late '80s to mid '90s.

I can only stand Carey in Eternal Sunshine and The Truman Show.

I'm quoting this whole thing because this part also makes me giggle like a child. This movie was the finest (3) hour(s) for that entire cadre of comedians - Buddy Hackett, Jonathan Winters, Phil Silvers, Sid Caesar...

In fact, I dare ANYONE who ever lived to watch this movie and not find it funny.

Alex?

Stooges. Nope, not funny. But yeah, Laurel and Hardy are hardy-har-har to me. Comedy and the taste for it is so strange. I prefer Carey in Sunshine and Truman to most of his more strictly comedy, even the few I like.


And wheeee, someone got me the DVD of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World for my birthday. I have to be in the right mood to watch it. There have been times it's hit me as 'meh,' and others where it's the funniest movie ever made.

I find it even more amusing now that I recognize the Long Beach landmarks in the final scenes

The Big W is, well, was on the grounds of an estate, The Hickson House, on the Portugese Bend that we got to spend the night in once. It was reputed to be haunted, and after having one of the scariest nights in my life there, I will not dispute that reputation.

But in the light of day it was a delight to find the Big W. Alas, a few of the palms have fallen in recent years and the Big W is no more. Should have dug for treasure when I had the chance. But gruesome things were said to have been buried by Satanists at the Hickson House ... and being as we went back the next night and interrupted people in white robes conducting some sort of ritual on the grounds ... well, I'm glad we didn't have any shovels with us the day before.



One other interesting Mad Mad World story ... during the original run, there were a series of police call recordings that furthered the story for the audience during intermission. These audio tracks were played in the auditorium during the break, and also in the restrooms at the Cinerama Dome - where the film premiered. But these "voices" freaked patrons so much, the intermission audio was nixed after the first week.

A couple years back, there was a revival of the film at the Dome, and the intermission audio was played for the first time in 3 decades ... including in the restrooms. It was completely rad.

Now that reminds me of Flick's Fun Fair

Are those intermission audio bits on the DVD by any chance?

Sorry to disappoint.

As for sense of humor, apparently all I need is 20 solid minutes of advertising directed by Jim Henson in the 60s. Holy hell, that stuff is amusing.

(Also 30 Rock. I often feel like Tina Fey has a video camera set up inside my head and is experimenting and recording exactly what I find funny, and then putting it in the show.)

Speaking of comedy, there was a brilliant 6-part series on PBS earlier this year (or late last year) that swept through the history of American comedy. If you can get hold of a copy, by all means watch it. It was a thing of beauty.

I hear these days they are calling it the Big Forward Slash.

Alas, no.


Sorry to disappoint.

We've got it at work (PBS gave us bookmarks to advertise it and then the DVDs as well), and I'm tempted by it. Hmm, what with the slow TV right now...

Bruno was highly amusing. I started laughing during the studio logo that starts the film, and didn't stop for 90 minutes.


But I'm curious about something. The movie mostly hinges on the Sacha Baron Cohen tradition of punking people. I don't know how that worked in this case.

In Borat, if memory serves (and that film did not imprint itself on my memory), the character was a sort of media correspondent who was interviewing people - and thus had a pretext for a camera being present.

In Bruno, most of the scenes are not "supposed to" be being filmed, and yet they are. How does the presence of the camera interfere with the "punking" process (for lack of a better term)? Clearly these people know they are being filmed. Just as clearly, the movie is funny only to the extent these are unscripted and somewhat honest reactions to the outrageousness of Bruno.



I liked the movie way better than Borat. On one hand, I saw this at the cinema, so that gives an advantage to a comedy. But mostly it's because I saw some larger "point" being made about teh gey and all that. I didn't sense anything like that in Borat.

I also found Bruno more consistently funny ... but maybe that's just my personal sense of humor.



Anyway, I recommend it. But I really want to know about the filming circumstances and how "in on it" some of these subjects were.

Borat's scenes had varying degrees of "in on it". A good chunk of them were of the variety where people were told one thing was going to happen and be filmed and then while they were expecting that, Borat made his appearance. Not having seen Bruno I can't be sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lot of, "We're filming a documentary or a tv show or whatever" and then Bruno arrives.

I'm in the didn't like Bruno camp.

On the other hand, if gay people really were as obnoxious, aggressive, and abusive as Bruno seems to be (haven't seen it, don't plan to see it, but have seen him doing the character) then I might find god just so that I could pray for him to be made straight.

I think I liked that Bruno was (almost) as stupid, vapid, cruel and clueless as the people he lampoons ... and yet still, for me, retained something sympathetic about his character.


Choice of venue is important. I specifically went out of my way to avoid a theater that I presumed might have a more gay-basher-friendly audience. And the crowd I saw it with was laughing throughout, as was I.


Borat did nothing for me. Perhaps because I didn't relate to the character Baron Cohen was spoofing while playing Borat ... but I'm obviously all too familiar with the types of people Bruno's character spoofs.


It also might have helped that I saw Bruno before any reaction was "out there." Borat had been hyped so much by the time I saw it, I may have had unduly high expectations or an ingrained prejudice to be less lemming.

Borat did touch on some concepts of poor people in struggling countries and xenophobia in America. I thought he did a good job of sprinkling that stuff in without ruining the basic "Jackass" concept.

Regarding cameras everywhere, I would assume it would be easy for them to say "we're filming a reality show" and let the cameras run.

I don't feel any pull to see Bruno.

SFW. Yeah, the film most likely will suck, but I looooove this Prince of Persia photo:

See, I'm excessively straight. So I see that picture and think:

"It is really amazing how a person can appear to have, but not actually have, a unibrow."

And then I'm off wondering if it would have been really that hard to find someone slightly less white (yes, I know he's half Jewish) to play a Persian.

I love men. I find that photo, however, to be hilarious, and not at all sexy. The hair is ridiculous. The stance is silly. And I just don't find the actor all that hot to begin with.

Perhaps I need to see Brokeback to understand.

I have to agree on the hair and stance; but generally, I do find him to be kinda sexy.

The first thing I thought when I saw the picture was "Less hair, more beard please".

Well, I like the almost unibrow, the hair and the stance. And when he and I get married, I'll be sure not to show him this part of this thread.

Everyone's mileage varies, but I don't get it about the hair. I mean, is it because it's straight and not wavy? Because you're not used to seeing the actor with long hair? It's typical long hair.

More beard? You must mean beard, then ... because he's pretty face scruffy.

Less white? Um, ok, name me some Persian or Arabic actors with similar stateside fame and box office appeal?


Quibbles. Feh. Jealous quibbles.


Oh, well, easier to fight just Gemini Cricket for him, then. ;)

We watched Step Brothers last week. I enjoyed it more than I expected. I had been expecting to like it and all. While Will Ferrell is hit and miss (heavy on the miss), John C. Riley and Judd Apatow were enough to give me reason to anticipate enjoying it. But I didn't expect it to be as fun as it was.

Don't get me wrong, it's an absolutely idiotic movie with nothing that I would describe as a redeeming value. But that doesn't mean it wasn't funny. A couple of grown men acting like children but with a whole lot of swearing. Win win. And in a surprise twist, the funniest scene was actually one of the scenes in the extended version reel. 99% of the time I watch extended versions of movies like this and think, "And that's why editors earn a living." But the scene in the extended version where Rob Riggle's character tells Ferrell's about the f*cking Catlina Wine Mixer had us rolling. And stands as the funniest thing Rob Riggle's ever done.

Not Persian, but less white (and already has experience playing Arab/Middle Eastern in action movies): Dwayne Johnson.

And on average his movies are good for $22 million more than Jake Gyllenhaal and $3 million more on opening weekend.

But I recognize why they'd choose a name like Gyllenhaal. Doesn't make it any less annoying than John Wayne playing Genghis Khan, though.

It reminds me of Marlo Thomas's hair That Girl. It looks ridiculous.

Granted, Jake has had more alluring hairstyles, but jeebus, that's hardly a reason to not want to jump (on) his bone(s)....

I liked Marlo Thomas' hair. So sue me. :)

Yeah, but Marlo was (still is, AFAIK) a woman. Chick hairstyles don't always look good on dudes--and vice versa.

True. Case in point, Robin Gibb:

Burton's Alice in Wonderland teaser trailer

I like Depp's Mad Hatter so far. The Queen of Hearts... creeeeeepy! In a good way...

Holy Crap! I'm SO going to LOVe this MOVIE! Thanks for the link GC!

I'm very excited!

First impressions: Hatter good. Queen Bighead not so good. Overall inundation of c-gen not so good. But it's of course unfair to judge from a teaser trailer.

And it's been pulled already. Wow, that was fast.

Rats, wanted to see it.


But it reminds me .... let's start the pool for how long it will be till Johnny Depp "graces" his second Disneyland attraction.

Well, it will be back online tomorrow!

As for Depp in another attraction, please NO.

Go see In the Loop if you want to experience some of the finest swearing ever captured on film. Truly, a work of art.

Also, it is a pretty fine political satire.

Yay!


But why does everything have to be in 3-D? It doesn't matter if the technology is better ... it's as stupid a gimmick now as it was in the 1950's.

UP 3-D was a big disappointment, and I can't get very far into the story with those glasses on.

So no Tron Legacy, no Alice, no 3-D for me .... but SquEE for this movie.

Well, Burton's pretty hit and miss, and his films always look great ... but that's not nearly enough.



Sigh, it LOOKS GREAT.

And I LoVE BiG HeAD Queen of Hearts.

It looks like they stole a bit from Bill Osco's X rated Alice In Wonderland - when Alice shrinks, her dress does not. (If you haven't seen the adult Alice, it's on DVD and well worth a rental - incredibly dumb but a fascinating artifact of 70s soft porn. But avoid the hardcore version - it's only got a few short bits of rather poorly shot action, and it's seedy enough to buzz-kill the otherwise light-hearted goings-on.)

Okay, I'll stop talking about porn and go back to Disney - Tim Burton's Alice looks visually splendid, and I will certainly go. but I'm with Steve about the 3D. I'm over it.

The trailer looks great, and I like the release date - just before my birthday :D

Big Wednesday. Ever see it? It may be one of those that only connects if you are from that era.

G Force made me appreciate Nicolas Cage anew. Especially on the second viewing.

I would give this the same review I gave Ice Age 3. The jokes all fall flat--even the one attempt at a dick joke--but it works passingly well as a straight-up action flick. Even had a good twist at the end, although the set-up that made the twist twisty was ridiculous.

Steven Spielberg is going to be doing a contemporary new version of Harvey. More power to him if he can pull it off, but I can't imagine why he'd want to.

Anyone else see Food Inc. yet?

Just watched Bread and Tulips and loved it. Just a charming film and now I want a hot dog phone.

Yeah, i'm so behind. But we were having a Vegas-themed day, so decided for finally see Hangover. TeeHee Hee and Hee.

Really funny enjoyable. Um, and best closing credits in a long, long time.

Have not seen Food Inc. I'm only going to be lectured by one documentary this summer and I've already decided it is going to be The Cove.

Funny People had a weird vibe to it. It wasn't bad, but it felt listless.

Yeah, I wanna be lectured by The Cove, too. Though it sounds like it will infuriate and upset me. Hmmmm, don't know if I'm up for that.

(Though I don't want to sound like I'm putting down Food, Inc. I just suspect that it is covering a lot of the same territory as The Omnivore's Dilemma and his more recent books so don't feel a need to pay theater prices to hear the same information with pictures.)

Well, Michael Pollan was heavily involved, so I'm sure there was a lot of the same info (but I haven't read any of his books, so I can't say for sure.)

We finally saw Slumdog and loved it.

I saw Burn After Reading and pretty much hated it. There was that one turn of events that took me by surprise but all in all I thought the characters were pretty much unlikable.

Tonight I watched Closer again. I love this movie. But one thing I did notice this time around was that Jude Law and Clive Owen have enormous heads.

And schvanchutas .... or so I'm told.





or is that, or so i lilke to imagine?

Yay, Hangover! :) I can't believe we saw Slumdog before L&C! And yes, Burn After Reading was disappointing.

What did we see this weekend? Step Brothers with commentary. :D Can't say I recommend the commentary. About 1/3 of it was hilarious...but the movie is still one of the funniest Will Ferrell projects ever.

It's hard to like pieces with uniformly unlikeable characters. That's why I could never get into Seinfeld.


But I kinda liked Burn After Reading. Not that I'd ever watch it again, or that it was great. But it had more of a Coen Brothers feel than their previous Oscar winning mainstreamer (which I liked), so I was glad to see a return to that. Not nearly one of their best or anything, but I appreciated it for what it was.



The more I think about Slumdog, the more I think was an overpraised, overhyped, undeserving Best Picture winner.

Gemini Cricket has his Crash, and I have Slumdog. Pfft.

We were just talking about Burn After Reading yesterday. I liked it. It's not among my favorite Cohen films, but still better than your average film.

Slumdog was extremely disappointing and way overhyped. Extremely patronizing. Poverty, it's so photogenic. And we're all equal in love so it isn't so bad as it seems.

I liked Burn After Reading quite a bit. Not a surprise that there are few likable characters in it. You could probably count the likable characters in the Coen Brothers oeuvre on one hand. To me, their genius is in being able to make audiences enjoy people they shouldn't like. A tightrope walk for sure but it succeeded for me. Also, I consider Intolerable Cruelty one of their classics and don't like Raising Arizona or The Hudsucker Proxy so obviously I'm out of the mainstream of Coen appreciation.

Slumdog was and enjoyable popcorn flick but nothing special imo.

My issue with Burn After Reading wasn't so much about unlikeability as the lack of depth to the characters. As GC said, nothing was surprising in the whole movie, you pretty much figured out who these characters were and what they were going to do from moment one. I didn't hate it, but I was disappointed by it.

Hudsucker's a weird one. I like it, but I hardly even think of it as a Coen Bro's movie, it just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest somehow.

I've been watching a truckload of movies on TCM. Tons of oldies but goodies:

A Star is Born (Judy version) - wonderful film that seemed to mirror Garland's real life here and there. I like the ending a lot.

Footlights Parade - Cagney the tough guy dancing a couple of steps here and there. It has that lovely 30's banter that I love so much:

Nan Prescott: You scram, before I wrap a chair around your neck!
Vivian Rich: [Angrily] It's three o'clock in the morning - where do you want me to go?
[Nan starts to speak, but Vivian immediately cuts her off]
Vivian Rich: You cheap stenographer...
Nan Prescott: Outside, countess. As long as they've got sidewalks YOU'VE got a job.
[Shoves her out, gives her a swift kick in the rump, and slams the door behind her]

Golddiggers of 1933 - Dick Powell was so cute when he was a young lad.

Grapes of Wrath - A classic. The more and more I re-watch Fonda films the more I like him.

The Wrong Man - a rare weak Hitchcock film. Apparently the only Hitchcock film that he narrates. (A short intro at the beginning.)

Farmer Takes a Wife - another Fonda. It was okay. Sorta dull.

I'm half-watching a Marion Davies film right now that appears to have some lesbian undertones to it. Not sure what it's called...

ETA: The MD movie is Blondie of the Follies.

If you want to engross yourself in some damn fine drama, I've got one for you. "Our Mutual Friend" is a 6-part made-for-TV BBC production of a Dickens work. One I'd never heard of before now, but having seen it, it's 100% Dickens, and fabulous.

In addition to the great underlying story, the performances were terrific. David Morrissey's portrayal of Mr. Headstone, as a nerdy schoolmaster type who can't handle being in love with a woman and it rips him apart, was particularly moving.

And some familiar faces for the Harry Potter crowd ;)

Dark as a whore's heart, but with some nice surprises at the end.

It's available for "instant viewing" on Netflix

ooooh, sounds interesting. I'll check it out. Heheh, if i put it in my queue today, it should hit my mailbox in about 3 months. ;)


So just now, I'm hitting a few titles from last year:

Schenecdody New York - No NO WTF. Take it Away. OMG, NO, don't let me watch another minute. Christ. WTF?! :confused:


on the other hand,
Vicki Christina Barcelona - utterly charming. :D

iSm, iSm, when will you learn to read my reviews??

I read it. Decided to watch it anyway. Must have been drunk when I made that decision. I was really, really, really not up for it. Ycch.



(Your review was spot on, btw. But I guess I had to see for myself. And I'm sorry I did.)

'Hangover'. OMG It was so damn funny {didn't I see a 'El Cortez' sign in the beginning? Anyone confirm that? And, is that the one that was on top of our El Cortez here in San Diego? I haven't been getting out much....}.

Hubster and I went alone and laughed our asses off.

The end credits were hillarious except......

I had promised to take my niece and nephew {12 & 7} to finally see 'Up' {while they still could}. I didn't want to see it again so Rick and I went to 'Hangover'. Our movie went 20 minutes longer than theirs so I told her, just bring the kids over and watch the end of our movie................:eek:

DAH!! If I had known.....

We saw 'Orphan'. It was very interesting but I know, not a fantastic movie. BUT it was the end that had me thinking more. So, while the Hubster said it sucked, it still made me go Hmmmm.

Saw Harry Potter with my son. Did not fall asleep {a plus!}. It was really good. Can anyone tell me what was so great about the very beginning? We missed it up until Harry was at the train station/stop.

I loved Burn After Reading simply for the chaos. Didn't see that coming with Pitts character. He was hysterical. Malkovitch was such an ass in this movie - just a riot.

Saw the end of Orphan which makes me not want to watch the rest. Need to see Funny People this week.

Yeah, BFL, if you saw the end, there went the movie. It was after that I thought about things that happened earlier in the movie and just thought of how strange it all was. But, no spoilers. Someone may rent it.... ;0)

You didn't miss anything much at the beginning of Harry Potter 6. Instead of the two charming scenes where the Muggle Prime Minister meets the new Minister of Magic and Dumbledore visits the Dursleys in the book, the film has a special-effects heavy attack of streaming black-smoke (Death Eaters) attacking the Millennium Bridge in London, snapping it in two, then raiding Olivander's Wand Shop in Diagon Alley and taking Olivander captive (hooded, because they undoubtedly didn't want to pony up for John Hurt's salary for that single shot).

Unless you read the next book, the movie gives little clue about the kidnapping. It just shows them take a hooded captive, and it happens really fast. At that point, the Death Eaters transform from flying smoke to their corporeal form and you can see Belatrix LeStrange is involved and the werewolf (Fennir Greyback?) which the movie never explains is even a werewolf. Sigh.

I will watch HP6 again when they come out with a version with all of the missing info supplied in a subtitle track - a la 'pop up video'.

Thanks you guys. Good to know. I haven't read the books, son has, but, not me.

It does sound like it looked pretty cool, though.

Julie & Julia....Saw it today....Meryl Streep outstanding as Julia Child, you sometimes forget its an actress portraying her. If you are into the Food Network and love history, your going to enjoy this light hearted tale of Julia Child's beginnings and Julies adventures into food, love and life.

The Wolfette enjoyed it even if I did have to bribe her into going with me.

I'm gonna wait for the inevitable "Julia" edit.



(I hear the Julie segments are atrocious, and the Julia parts magnificent).




And, hey, it would be the second "Julia" movie Meryl Streep's in. :)

They're not at all atrocious. But you can't evenhandedly compare a loving rendition of a true legend with a normal woman inspired by a legend. And honestly, I don't think they were trying to, per se. I thought the entire thing, normal woman's story and all, was delightful.

Watched Alien Nation for the first time since around when the TV show was on. Still an ok movie. I'd forgotten that Mandy Patinkin and Terence Stamp played the two main aliens.

Surprisingly, I didn't hate G.I. Joe. Yes, it is extremely stupid (extremely; see, for example, the self destruct method which any four year old should know wouldn't work)but it had some element of fun that is completely lacking in the Transformer movies. I can't recommend it, but I didn't leave the theater despairing for humanity.

(500) Days of Summer was really good. Not as monumentally delightful as I'd heard, but I liked it a lot. The scene of his first morning after is worth the price of admission.

Orphan has a plot twist that I did not guess (which is rare for this kind of movie), but


I didn't hate it. I was glad to see a horror movie that wasn't about teenagers, that generated suspense by putting sympathetic characters into a terrible situation, and there are terrific performances all around.

But boy is it silly.

That was the obvious conclusion I came up with early on before going a bit more off with a secondary possibility.



Silly, yes, but the genre is silly. Good performance from the girl, though.

Watched 'Reservoir Dogs' on bluray today- first time I'd seen that movie in a while. It's still neat to see my old neighborhood, and remember meeting Michael Madsen during a break in filming.

Ah, yes. Back when Madsen was a hottie. I love RD. In fact, I like it wayyyy better than Pulp.

I want to go see District 9. Sounds interesting.

I was extremely intrigued by the early teasers but the later trailers have made it look more like an average action type movie.

But I'll still be there this weekend hoping for something good.

Early returns on Rotten Tomatoes are good.

Pete Carroll seemed to like it

Much better than good - 93% overall, with the top critics going 100%! (only 14 reporting but including Peter Travers and Roger Ebert...)

If this really is as intelligent and well-written an action film as they say it is, I absolutely must see it in the theater.

We're seeing it at the Chinese at 8:30, in case anyone's interested.

Hmmmm. Considering.



In other weirdish movie news (well, to me) ... I didn't realize till watching the entire last season of Weeds that the young actor playing regular Shane Botwin (Alexander Gould) was the voice of Nemo - while this season's recurring guest star was Albert Brooks, Nemo's Dad. Heheh. Oh, and series regular Elizabeth Perkins was Nemo's mom, Coral. Hahahahaha.

They could have renamed it Sea Weeds - thank you, i'll be here all week.

TeeHee ... especially since this season they changed the entire locale for the series ... to the beach!!

I might actually go see a movie this weekend! Not sure what though. Options include Funny People, Julie & Julia, Ponyo, District 9, Time Traveler's Wife, The Hurt Locker.

Haven't seen Julia & Julia, District 9, or Time Traveler's Wife. Of the others I'd rank:

1. Ponyo
2. The Hurst Locker
3. Funny People

I recommend Julie & Julia if you're looking for charm and a whetted appetite. I hear The Hurt Locker is amazing but I can't bring myself to see it yet. I [hope my clients aren't looking] don't recommend Funny People.

Must.See.Ponyo.


But I might wait for Alex's review.

No need to wait.

My wager is that iSm makes it only 81 words into the review before deciding he will be seeing this movie.

ETA: I wonder, is anyone screening it with the original vocal tracks and subtitles? If not, DVD it is.

I will be seeing Ponyo this weekend. The guys should feel happy I waited, there was actually a midnight showing last night but I didn't go.

My understanding is that there are not any Japanese track prints out there (they tried it in the past and they seriously underperformed).

Hope I'm wrong, but if the Kabuki in San Fransisco (in the middle of Japantown) is showing it dubbed I'd guess everybody is.

Heheh, did you count the words till the magic one that hooked me, GD?


Think I'll see this at DTD sometime Sunday afternoon while SuPeR K! and my roommate play at Disneyland (or maybe I can convince them to join me). Anyone else in the neighborhood interested?


This is one I'd definitely prefer to see with the original Japanese language tracks, but I don't suppose that will be an option at the Downtown Disney AMC.

Grumble. Here's hoping it makes it to DVD before February.

Me too!

(Heh, I have made consecutive identical posts.)

Just the stills in that review made me want to run to see this - so I guess I will.

I'm going to see Ponyo. I love a good number of Hayao Miyazaki's films...

I've been watching a slew of them all week. So unintentionally primed!

I see elsewhere that the script for the English dub is by John Lasseter. That gives it at least a little street cred. (And it looks as though there really is no other option.) Like iSm, I've been having a very Ghibli week as well. (And as part of work no less. tee hee)

I could use a movie break about now.

I doubt that Lasseter wrote the English dub, though he is the executive producer for the of the effort (along with Kathleen Kennedy and her partner who I forget the name of).

Lasseter has produced the US translations and DVDs for pretty much all the Ghibli stuff over the last seven or eight years and has made sure as good a job as possible was done. To good result.

One thing, though, that I regret about not screening the original track is that Lani can't tell me what was changed for translation. That was very helpful in understanding Spirited Away.

ETA: Found my press kit. The English language translation was done by Jim Hubbert and the screenplay then massaged into usable form by Melissa Mathison (the writer of E.T., and, irrelevantly, Harrison Ford's pre-Calista wife).

D'oh - that's what I get for trusting random postings over at ebert.com

More on the translation from the press kit (mostly typical PR glurge):

I will look forward to a Japanese-language track on the DVD. But the subtitles are usually pretty poor at faithfully reproducing the Japanese dialogue.



Can I borrow Lani?

Wow - she had four days to do the translation? I hope she is either fluent or had access to an accurate transliteration (or a Japanese speaking friend).

She didn't do the translation, she was provided a literal translation and then had to rework that into something that would work for American audiences and match the animation.

I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that "four days" was exaggeration for dramatic effect.

I'm stoked - The Last Starfighter 25th Anniversary Bluray comes out on Tuesday! (preordered mine already) :D

I'm excited to see Ponyo, but I'll probably catch it on DVD. I'm reserving my next moviegoing experience for Julie & Julia.

I'm thinking tomorrow will be a perfect day for a Ponyo - District 9 double feature.

I wanted to see Julie & Julia but I've been put off by the fact that most (with a couple exceptions) of the people I know who've seen it say it is half a really good movie and half a really boring movie. So I suspect it'll end up on my Netflix queue for viewing sometime in the next decade.

Saw a bunch of movies on TCM and DVD recently.

The Sons of Katie Elder - I'm on a John Wayne kick lately. I'm not a huge fan of his but I love the Western genre. This one had a cool premise but a lot of it drags.

The Greatest Show on Earth - I haven't seen this one in awhile. Still not sure why it won Best Pic but I'm thinking it had a lot to do with the scale of the project and how the actors did a lot of their own stunts. One of the few films I like Heston's acting... I got all misty-eyed when the elephant comes to the rescue. I'm a sucker for cheese. Oy.

Patch of Blue - Sidney Poitier is amazing to watch but Shelly Winters kinda steals her scenes. Still a cool film. That melody always gets stuck in my head.

Buck and the Preacher - A not so good Poitier movie. Yikes.

Red Dust - Love this pre-code film. Jean Harlow cracks me up. Like this one better than Mogambo (the remake). Man, Gable had big ears... like me. Yay!

Mogambo - Oy. A good cast does not necessarily equal good movie. Ew. The movie does get props from me for featuring a baby rhino in a couple of scenes. Cute!

The Awful Truth - I love 99% of this movie. They lose me at the end with the cuckoo clock thing...

I have no large urge to see Julie & Julia. When the book crossed my desk I read the blurb and the description kind of turned me off. "A woman tries to fix the massive problems in her life by obsessing about cooking everything in a cookbook in one year" sounds more depressing than inspiring to me. Um, maybe there are better ways to work on your marriage or fix your career.

I know I'm judging this story without any reading or viewing experience, but I am totally clueless when it comes to these tales of supposed soul-searching experiences, especially when it comes to spending inordinate amounts of time away from the problems themselves.

I'm extremely curious to see the LoT reviews of District 9. I am intrigued by its premise, but since I'm the girl who cries when cartoon/CGA animals are hurt, I'm a bit concerned that I will be upset by the treatment of the aliens in District 9.

Oh and the whole "scary" factor. But from what I understand it's more sci-fi then scary.

We saw Ponyo last night and loved it - can't remember leaving a theater just feeling so happy before. Just love the fresh imagination that Studio Ghibli continues to put in their films.

Loved Ponyo!

She wasn't trying to fix her marriage, and she didn't have a career, she had a temp job that went permanent. She wanted to be a writer - but like many people we know, she found it difficult to find the courage and energy to finish something. So she picked a topic and gave herself a deadline, and began to write about her experiences.

Don't judge a book by its misinterpreted jacket copy. It's not a perfect book, but it was one of the only things that got me through the month of May.

And Alex, the movie may not be exactly for you, but Tom and I have seen it twice and (I'm outing my husband here) he expressed interest in seeing it a third time. I will own it, for sure. I wasn't bored by the Julie Powell parts at all - though in comparison, I am more entranced by the Julia Child parts. Meryl Streep is hard to resist.

Thanks for the clarification, H. I feel kind of dumb for trusting the blurb. :blush: That does sound like something I could relate to...

Saw District 9 last night. Very original, some quibbles about sciency things since it seemed to be trying so hard for realism but mostly they didn't bother me. Enjoyed it quite a bit.

I've been watching Elvis movies on TCM. Yeah, I'm sorry that he died 32 years ago today but his movies stunk!
:D


On a completely different note, Tea and Sympathy is a pretty good movie. Another to add to my "not on DVD" list. (Although I've never been a huge fan of Deborah Kerr. Liked her okay in Eternity tho.)

I just saw a gorgeous Bollywood film, Saawariya. I'm not too experienced in a lot of Indian films, I've seen several old style, but not too many newer films. I loved it, good music and a visual feast.

Here's the amazon editorial review:

Saw it yesterday-thought it was great. Very emotional for a sci-fi movie.

Kinda really liked D9. Sciency things sure didn't bother me, because I was too wrapped up to notice any weird science.

That's usually a good sign that I'm liking the film. I didn't realize i was till it was almost over. But it's rad.

Duel in the Sun is on TCM.
Barf!
I don't know why but Jennifer Jones bugs me. She bugs me almost as bad as the expressionless Loretta Young.

I really know only one Loretta Young movie well, because I watch it ever year at Christmastime, but she's hardly expressionless in The Bishop's Wife.

Well, Duel in the Sun is stunningly overblown cheese whiz of the highest calibre.

Poor Marion Davies got such a bad rap for heart financing her films and then had her career ruined by assumptions made based on Citizen Kane. Jones is another example, Selznick's obsession with her, my goodness there are some amazingly poor performances. I have great sentimental feelings for Portrait of Jennie, but other films ack.

Back to Duel in the Sun, worth it totally for the death scene of Lillian Gish and Lionel Barrymore's reaction. Makes me cry every time. Of course, King Vidor demanded his name be removed from the film, I can't remember if it was. And I do find the final creepy crawl over the rocks to be hilarious. The technicolor is overripe, too, but glorious. Joseph Cotten is the one the really bugs me. Well cast cheese still does smell awful sometimes.

I actually liked a lot of the Marion Davies films they showcased on TCM. I thought she was pretty danged funny.

Back to Duel in the Sun, there's so much wrong about this film. Too long, too slow and Jennifer Jones had too much tanning makeup on. I think one of the most horrible things of the film is the advertisement for the film in the film at the beginning. "Duel in the Sun... two years in the making..." etc Oy vey. Which producer allowed that? Once they're sitting in the seats, they don't need to be convinced to come see the movie.
And as much as I love Lillian Gish and Lionel Barrymore, the scene had the opposite effect on me. The film makes me chuckle. It just feels soooo over the top sad that it makes me giggle.

Ah, Joseph Cotten. Sometimes I watch the couple of films he and Orson Wells are in and wonder if Wells had the hots for him. Just my gaydar working overtime, I think.

Speaking of TCM, do they show film uncut? We're wanting to catch Coppola's The Conversation, it's airing on TCM. But if they edit movies we'll just wait for netflix.

For only the second time this summer, I made it out to see a movie at a real theater. District 9.

They had something I've never seen in a theater before, a self serve soda fountain. Very cool, and a large butter popcorn was $3.00 :eek: I think I was in junior high the last time I paid that little for popcorn.

As for the movie..... Meh. I never felt emotionally invested in it.

I was like, well duh:



The bad "sciency" parts did bother me.

A little more back story on the prawns would have been interesting.

The theatres here in HI have self-serve drinks, too. I like it. The popcorn, tho, is like $500 dollars.
:D

The schedule says it will be 114 minutes long. IMDb says the movie is 113 minutes long so I'd assume it is uncut. It is also letterboxed so no pan and scan.

The Conversation! Wonderful film. I liked it a lot.
I've seen a ton of films on TCM and don't remember any of them being cut (for length, content etc). I don't remember where they stand on films with adult language but I remember seeing a few films with the swearing in tact.

One of my local Culver City theaters has self-serve soft drinks. And the popcorn is only $459.99!

TCM shows films in original format and uncut.

Mine's free but I am they're slave...

Davies was very funny and talented. But the release of Citizen Kane really did her career legacy damage that is, thanks to TCM, that's changing.

David O. Selznick was the producer and was legendary for his meddling ways on his films. A real Type A personality and one with severe control issues, especially when it came to Jennifer Jones. Besides, Selznick was convinced this would be greater than Gone with the Wind. It sure as hell wasn't. Lust in the Dust is a moniker that still sticks. However, like Wyler's Ben Hur, or De Mille's silly as hell 10 Commandments, this is Grade A #1 cheese and can be really loads of fun when you are in the mood for it.

Lionel is such a sh!t through most of the film, the final scene moves me when he crys out "Laurabelle" those damned Barrymores, exquisite ham.

I agree on Jennifer being doused in too much make up, but her growling and grunting as Pearl, well not my taste. Still loads of fun, and may I add, Gregory Peck was a hottie as a cowboy. Rowr.

...their slave...

(Sorry, but that is one of the grammar mistakes that shreds my nerves.)

Nope, they keep him down as part of the underclass by learning him bad grammars on the job.

:iSm::iSm::iSm::iSm::iSm::iSm::iSm:
Deleted Scene from Close Encounters
:iSm::iSm::iSm::iSm::iSm::iSm::iSm:

Thanks for the uber-:iSm: alerts, but of course that's not one of the two missing scenes I'll go to my grave insisting were in the original. (And once I go to my grave, they will be erased from all recorded and imaginary history).

That's a scene that was never in the film, and not even one of the more interesting ones. Close Encounters is really marvelous for what was judiciously left on the editing room floor. In particular, Spielberg seems to have filmed every second of Roy Neary's travels on the night of the electrical blackout. That he edited this down to one of cinema's most arresting segments is quite a feat.


(My favorite deleted scene is a garden party that the Nearys have the afternoon after Roy's close encounter. It's a total hoot. Great DVD extra.)

I knew it wasn't either of your oft mentioned scenes, which is why I put it on high atomic alert. It wasn't clear from the post whether or not it was a newly surfaced find or not so I thought you'd want to know, just in case.

I really appreciate that, truly.


Sigh, I hate being (apparently) the only one on the planet who KNOWS those two scenes were in the original movie.




Well, me and that other Steven ... but I guess he's not talking.

What are the two missing scenes?

(If one of them is a building with U F O in window lights, I'm there with you.)

I'll just ditto everything LS said about Julia & Julie (the movie, not the books on which its based since I haven't read those).

District 9 is original and amazing, emotional and intelligent, heart racing and heart stopping. There were times when I was actually at the edge of my seat biting my fingers, and I was not the only one. One dude to our left kept scooting closer and closer to the screen. It was a very well written and substantial story. As said elsewhere by Jesse (or friend of Jesse), most alien movies are about what they would do to us; this movie asks what we would do to them.

I'm sure it had an outlined script but my understanding is a lot of the work was improvised. They filmed a ton of footage, much of it landing on the cutting room floor. Really looking forward to the DVD extras. I like that the scene from the teaser trailer wasn't in the movie, though I suspect it's some of the footage that was shot for the film and later cut.

Was so moved and convinced by the lead alien character I couldn't see it ("it" because I don't think gender was defined) - or any of them - as anything other than very, very real. So impressed that they were able to accomplish something like that with only CGI and sound effects.

Can't really sing praises loud enough for Sharlto Copley.

I watched The Conversation on TCM and it appeared to be in tact. Also, Mississippi Burning played right after it and I guarantee the movie is uncut. The f's and the n's are all there. (Wow, what a powerful film. I forgot that Frances McDormand was in it.)

Just watched it ourselves. What a GREAT movie.

The Conversation is the first 70's drama I've seen that doesn't bore me. (Yes, that includes The Godfather, so sue me.) Starts intriguing and remains so throughout. Damn, Hackman was amazing. Great costuming, sets, photography, casting.....near-perfect movie making.

Inglourious Basterds surprised me. I won't say it is a great film though it does have several Tarantino-standard dialogscenes that are worth the money. Particularly the opening prelude and then another scene later in a bar.

Considering that the only thing most people are talking about is the brutality and explicitness of the violence I was suprised as just how little of it there is in the movie (though it is matter of factly brutal when it does). The greatest thing about it though, as someone who sees a lot of movies, is that I had absolutely no idea where it was going and so truly was just along for the ride.

That's not a feeling I get very often.

Also liked that they didn't shy away from the language issues a movie set in European WWII should have when most of the characters is French or German. The result is that much of the movie is subtitled but that doesn't bother me at all. Christoph Waltz had to speak four languages through the movie and it is my understanding that only the Italian was faked.

Also liked that for the most part everybody, good or bad, was treated as intelligent beings. And that everybody, good or bad, were treated as somewhat couragesous.

Son of a bitch, why has no one mentioned the heavy use of shaky-cam in District 9.

Had to bail after about 30 minutes, for the sake of the other theater goers who, I presume, would not appreciate the smell (and possibly feel for an unlucky few) of vomit. :(

Does the shaky cam stop at some point?

No. But I had barely noticed it, which is why I didn't mention it. Didn't seem that bad to me.

Sorry, I forgot your shaky-camnesia. I didn't notice it either, but yeah, now that you mention it.





But hey, did you know Ponyo is available in the original Japanese on DVD or via download?

I saw this mentioned before but I thought it was pirated. Hmm, we don't buy much in movies but the ability to see this now would be nice...

District 9 was definitely intriguing me, though I found the subject matter hard to watch, much like watching documentaries on war torn and impoverished regions (obviously the intent). I think that while GD is more sensitive to shaky cam than others, I'm more sensitive than others regarding human inability to deal with these situations in a manner that leads to peace. I was flinching away, and kept thinking, "I'm going to watch 2 hours of this?". When GD said he needed to leave I was fine with doing so.

I would like to know what happens...so I guess the shaky cam doesn't stop at any time in the film? I may just have to read a synopsis.

Oof - I'm now putting off my plans to see District 9. I am also shaky-cam-averse. (I had to take a lengthy break during Cloverfield, which I otherwise kind of liked, and the less said about Blair Witch the better)

- Note to H'wood and indie filmmakers alike - Shaky Cam is over so STOP IT already.

I was okay with Blair Witch, but I nearly puked watching Unzipped from the second row.

Shaky cam was annoying, but it settles down as the movie revs up- 'documentary cam' doesn't follow the main characters around as the main storyline gets going. It's primarily a device to use epilogue as a prologue, etc. The rest of the movie is shot like 'Saving Private Ryan', etc- some erratic camera movements when things are going to hell, but for the most part not too nauseating. That's how I remember it, anyway- but I did spend most of the time trying to cover Tori's eyes. :D

Great movie. I felt like I'd had the shyt beat out of me by movie's end, but it really was incredible.

I like shaky cam actually. If it's used right, it can give a film a certain feel, a documentary-type feel that I like. I usually sit as far away from the screen as I can, tho.
Cloverfield was the most use of shaky cam that I can remember, Blair Witch, too.

I understand the creative reason to use it, it just disqualifies me from being able to watch the film.

I am particularly sensitive to it, no matter the screen size or how far I am from it. If the opening sequence of Strange Days had been much longer I would have had to bail. For the same reasons, I can't play 1st person shooter video games.

I somehow managed to make it through Blair Witch with dramamine, but even with the dramamine and a lot of time closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, it was not exactly pleasant and not something I'd want to repeat. Thus I skipped Cloverfield alltogether.

I was really enjoying District 9 (well, as much as one can be said to be "enjoying" that), so I'm bummed. I don't recall Saving Private Ryan being a problem, so perhaps when it hits DVD I'll try again, skipping what we already saw and taking viewing breaks if need be.

The theater was nice enough to give us passes to come back another day, so some time soon we'll be seeing Inglorious Basterds. That is assuming we don't learn that IT'S full of shaky-cam too.

I wish I could say I skipped Cloverfield.

I didn't notice the shakycam whatsoever. How close were you guys sitting to the screen? If you went to a megatheater (like the Chinese or the Dome) I doubt it would even register. It'll be fine on DVD.

No, I know myself, it won't be fine on DVD.

GD ~ Did you have the same problem with Waking Life? I did. I moved back and still threw up. Not shaky cam necessarily but the constant moving of the background etc.

No, Waking Life didn't bother me.

To vouch for GD - we weren't very close to the screen at all.

Ponyo has no skaky cam, and is available legit at Amazon. (The download is a pirate of the legit-released DVD.)

I just go backl from the English language Ponyo - I can't say anything about it that won't sound unbelievably sappy - but it felt cleansing in its simplicity, beauty and uncynical humanity. Just a small story, not a big emotional roller-coaster, but between the gorgeous drawings and Joe Hisaishi's score, I spent most of my time quietly leaking out of the corners of my eyes while smiling. So, I can't wait to see it in its original nihongo. (Though, as dubs go, this one was very well done.)

(Oh, but PS - there is a terrible dance remix of the title song in the end credits, complete with a Jonas brother and some other Disney tween clone - I'd be surprised if that is in the original soundtrack in any form.)

I love the end credits song (before the dance mix). Now I want to do a Mermaid mix tape with The Mermaid Song from Tokyo Disney, some obligatory tune from The Little Mermaid and the Ponyo catchy end credits song. Um, that's 3.

Well, a really brief mix tape.



I found the expository elements of the fairy tale to be beyond sappy, and the main boy character didn't grab me at all. Generally speaking, I prefer the one's without little children, but this was delightful. Visually outstanding.

I
loved
District 9!

It's a great film. Go see it. Uh, you know, if you can. There is a TON of shaky cam. But I must admit (me sitting against the wall below the projector window) it didn't bother me too much. In fact, as I was saying before I really liked it. If it didn't have it, the movie wouldn't have been as good, imho. I felt the same way about Cloverfield. The documentary feel of this movie sells it.

A couple of times I talked about grit in a movie that makes it believable, this one is has a lot of it. Casting unknown actors was also a huge plus.

One review said it had you riveted from the very beginning to the end, I would have to agree totally.

It didn't ever get cheesy either. At least not to me. As soon as it started heading there, Blomkamp cuts away from the scene. Nicely done.

The movie gets props for terrific use of editing, visual effects (they knew that the mother ship did not need to be in focus and properly lit 100% of the time) and sound effects (I've seen thousands of films and I actually thought someone was talking in the theater, realizing that it was Copley's voice).

It did take me awhile to get into the groove with the prawns. At first, the seemed comical and out of place. But that quickly changed for me.

Some of it was reminiscent of Aliens for me, but all in all I loved it.

Finally got around to Be Kind Rewind. This seemed to be two different movies in one - a tribute to pop culture film and a tribute to a jazz musician. These themes didn't mesh well and by the end when the jazz stuff was heavy and sugary, I was annoyed that it was edging out the pop culture fun.

Also - it began rather cartoony, with Jack Black's accident seeming like something out of Ghostbusters itself, but by the end it was way too real and serious. Too much variation in tone.

Enjoyable anyway, but left me wanting more fun.

I finally got around to Were the World Mine ... the movie who's trailer intrigued me when we saw Repo: The Genetic Opera. I think I liked that trailer better than the feature (sorry, GD).


But I found the movie really boring and fell asleep. Too soon, I guess. I'm glad I gave it a second chance last night when I was more awake. After a slow start, it really becomes the charmer I was looking forward to.

A gay teen always picked on at the all-boys prep school he attends (no this isn't a porn film) lands the role of Puck in a school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. While rehearsing the role, he concocts his own brew of gay love potion and accidentally doses his straight best friend. When that works to unfortunate results, he tries for better ones with the hottie guy from the Rugby team he lusts after. Then he doses the entire cast of the play. And then many people about town. Everyone goes gay for a day, and sweet hijinks ensue.


:D

Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist: I thought Michael Cera was lovely and most of the cast enjoyable to watch. The story was so-so, and for a movie so focused on music I kind of felt like music took too much of a backseat. HATED the drunk girl vomits and chews vomit gum bits. HATED. And the decision to make the girl that dumps Cera's character such a movie-typical hot teen bitch was really disappointing.

Gigantic: Starring Paul Dano who mostly wasted away here. The only person with any energy in this film was John Goodman, and this very-not-so-great movie was worth it just for his scenes. Zooey D. was the Zooey D. she always is when she isn't awesomely singing, and mostly I just wanted to steal her clothes. There was a subplot involving Zach Galifianakis that was really out of place, adding a "Fight Club" is this guy nuts question mark that is never answered and, based on how the rest of the film played out, really should have been. Quirky fluff that never delivers, again, minus Goodman.

Yep - completely killed the movie for me.

Singin in the Rain and On the Town:
Can I just say that these movies are absolutely wonderful and hysterical? That Gene Kelly, not only was he a great dancer but he had an incredible sense of humor, too.
:)

Can I just say that Isaac and nirvanaman are now officially members of Western Civilization, having successfully seen Singin' in the Rain at long last, last weekend.


Gabba Gabba, gentlemen, we accept you.


Yes, we accept you. One.Of.Us.

And Jean Hagen was absolutely under-utilized by MGM in comedy. She was glorious as Lina Lamont (YOU can't make a fool outta Lina Lamont, YOU can't make a LAUGHINGSTOCK outta Lina Lamont. A glowing and shimmering star in the cinema firmament, it says so, right there.....).

Also, Donald O'Connor was no slouch when it came to dancing.

Singin' in the Rain is a movie that always makes me happy. And I can watch the scene where Lina flies head over heels when her mic cord gets pulled over and over and over. It makes me laugh a lot.
:D

Gee, this is dumb!

One of these days I'm going to write an essay about the "Singin' in the Rain" sequence of "Singin' in the Rain". The song and the accompanying scene has been glorified and parodied to the point where it's become tired in some people's eyes. But it's a great song. It's about smiling amidst adversity. It's a rebellious song. That is why I love it. Being happy while things around you may not be so great is a wonderful message. His small interaction with the cop is f*cking priceless. The cop is trying to get him to stop and maybe he does for now but he's still unapologetically smiling and singing and is so happy he doesn't freakin' need his umbrella any more and gives it away to someone who needs it. Seriously, folks, the man was inspired.

AND to make it pertinent to LoT, Lisa has a cameo in this scene. In the window of the perfume store. There's an ad there featuring a glamorous, fashionable redhead surrounded by cats. lol!

*ETA: Well, they look like cats. But upon viewing it again, I'm not sure. lol

SITR

GC, that's a John Held Jr. figure and the cats look like a pair of Sphynx to me. So yeah, cats of a sort!

While I adore SITR, imo his masterpiece is the American in Paris ballet sequence.

What? It wasn't the roller skating in Xanadu?

Hahaha, nirvanaman only knew the song Singin' in the Rain from A Clockwork Orange.

I'm sure neither he nor Isaac were aware (!) of the over-iconic status of the number, but it was made plain with flashbulbs going off throughout the song as if Gene were alive and being stalked by paparazzi, and no less than four rounds of applause during that single number.

I've loved the song and it's message since early childhood. It doesn't rain nearly enough in Southern California, because I sing it every time it does ... and that's never enough.

IMHO, the American in Paris ballet sequence is an overbloated, far overlong, pretentioius segment of nonsense and non-musicality.


By contrast, the swift, tight, ultra-musical, story-in-five-minutes Broadway Melody ballet in SitR is genius incarnate.


Less is more.

Difference:
American in Paris - Vincent Minnelli
Singin in the Rain - Stanley Donen

IMO, Donen always, always had a much lighter touch and easy feel with the films and musicals he directed.

Minnelli, while admittedly an artist has always struck me as pretentious. He's also left us one of the hootiest fun films in The Cobweb (and a few other stinkers, too). As much as I love looking at The Pirate, it's a misfire. Lush, yes, but a little too rich sometimes. I'm with iSm on this, I think. Then again, I will watch Oscar Levant in anything. :-)

I like the Broadway Melody sequence even though it really sticks out like a sore thumb in the movie. However, I will commit heresy by saying that Cyd Charisse was too big for him, was too facially wooden even within the context of her character's impassivity, and moved like a truck.

Girl Hunt Ballet in The Bandwagon (which is my favorite MGM musical, for the record) Much sillier numbers, but it's Fred Astaire, always wins my heart.

But I do love both Kelly and Astaire, greeeeeeeeeat dancers (and Gene Kelly had a really nice tush, too)

What is UP with the missing bit of footage in the Cyd Charrise segment? Has anyone EVER seen it? Is there any story about how and when it went missing.

I don't remember the jarring moment from my first viewings as a kid, but I won't trust those long-ago memories. But from when I first starting seeing SitR in revival theaters circa 1976 or so, that horrible jump of missing slinky Charrise footage was there.

I mean, WTF? This is one of the most famous films all all time. What happened?

Censorship.

I feel I must report that Isaac is watching the over-iconic number Singin' in the Rain on his iPhone at this precise moment.



And censorship? Did Gene's Kelly pop out of his pants at that moment? Or could you somehow plainly see the boner that practically every man in America has sported at that time? He's wearing black pants, so i don't think so.

I've always understood that jump cut was always there (though I didn't see it when it was first released like you did) and that it was simply a necessity when they were forced to edit two master shots together.

They're not completely uncommon in the old dance musicals where video monitors weren't available to immediately spot a lot of issues only to be found later and the nature of the long master shots used in dance numbers made unexpected editing difficult (in a modern movie, who'd notice?).

I had heard it was because of their position and where their crotches were. But I could have sworn I heard about that here. Maybe I'm wrong...



On a completely different note, I've tried and tried to watch and like High Society but can't seem to embrace it. I guess I love Philadelphia Story too much to watch different (albeit wonderful) actors in those parts... I never really was fond of the music either...

I've heard that too (though I've also heard it wasn't their relative positions but rather she was explicitly exposed). But never from anybody who'd actually know or is able to point to someone who'd actually know.

Saw *batteries not included after many years away. Another beloved childhood film that is full of holes. And my God, the matte painting on the "roof"! Oh well, still adorable, though seeing Jessica Tandy with a lost mind just isn't as funny as it was when I was a kid...

Yes, this movie was brought to mind due to our Be Kind Rewind viewing. Any other "it'll take a miracle to keep us from getting evicted from this run down place" movies?

Rent?

Ah, never seen that. (runs away from gay people wielding pitchforks and torches)

"It's a Wonderful Life."

Eviction movies...

You Can't Take it with You
Rent
House of Sand and Fog
Grey Gardens
District 9
Shane
Lil Abner
George Washington Slept Here
Rappin'

Ponyo, Ponyo, fishy in the sea . . .

I just watched "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog" - pure awesomeness.

I tried to watch Valerkrie - but then I got bored and went and took a shower. Then it was still on and I realized I didn't miss anything. So I did really try to pay attention, but I had to blow dry my hair. Then it was still on and I did sincerely try to pay attention, but I got bored and went in the other room.

On the other hand - Braveheart on BluRay is awesome. I need to go to Scotland, now.

I actually like the current commercial for 2012. It's an ad for a group called the Institute for Human Continuity. Except for a couple of random shots included in the commercial and the "this film is not rated" caption at the end, you can't tell it's really a trailer for 2012. It's clever. Kinda reminds me of the T2 attraction at Universal or Total Recall or something. Neat! The website for the film is theihc.com, it's neat too.

I like the ad because I know it is an ad. I don't like it because I've already run into too many people who actually believe the 2012 end of the world BS. The rubes need not the encouragement.

I'm right there with you Alex. I plan on getting the rubes to sign away all their earthly possessions & wealth to me, delivery guaranteed on January 1, 2013. There are a lot of stupid people out there--I plan on becoming rich--rich I tells ya!!

I still want to see Valerkrie ... I think it would make an awesome double-feature with Inglourious Basterds. Ya know, the pompous, serious-mode, historically accurate Kill Hitler movie ... and the edgy, semi-comical, tense Tarantino instant-masterpiece Kill Hitler movie that throws historical accuracy to the winds in favor of fantastic wish-fulfillment alternate history.


In case you can't tell, i freaking LOVED Inglourious Basterds. Breezy even at 2.5 hours, a collection of very tense and fantastically enjoyable witty dialogue scenes, all with war suspense, but nary a battle scene anywhere. Oh, and the dialogue is 90% foreign language. And it's at once nail-biting and hysterical.


And the two music cues from Kill Bill totally cracked me up.

I love the discussion people have regarding the end of the movie Shane. Did he die or not, etc. I guess it's implied, but I love how people still talk about it 56 years later.
:)

Me likee

1. The Fantastic Mr. Fox ("that's my trademark")
2. A Serious Man ("please, I need help")
3. Tron Legacy (two Jeff Bridges for the price of one!)
4. Bad Lieutenant (herzog's version NSFW)
5. The Expendables (no trailer as yet)

Wow, I am so damn excited about that one. :D

Megadittoes. Plus, with all the 3D, Pixar, etc. clever animation, I've seen, this is the first movie I've been at where little kids were gasping and oohing in surprise and amazement.

And while I usually don't indulge in superlatives . . .

["Ssh, quiet, he's going to indulge in superlatives.]

. . . I would say that

The Party. Hysterical. I laughed all the way through it. I think this might have been one mousepod had recommended to me but I'm not sure. I loved it. Peter Sellers was damn funny. "Birdie Num Num."

I had a chance to see Adam a few days ago - going into it, I knew that I was going to compare it to 500 Days of Summer. With that said, I didn't think that Adam was as good as 500 Days. AFAIK, Adam is the first movie that explicitly deals with Asperger's syndrome... but yet, it didn't do much with it and it certainly did not resonate with me. It's very funny at times but also heavy-handed at others.

I would recommend at least a rental for Hugh Dancy's performance. Just ignore Rose Byrne.

I gotta say A Goofy Movie is one of my favorite Disney animated features. It's truly inspired in a lot of places. I mean, for me, it's totally laugh out loud funny. Lester's Possum Park is comedy gold in a Disney parodying Disney sort of way. All that and then there's a really cool father/son plot throughout. Good stuff.
:)

Yikes! 5% for All About Steve.

Ty Burr from the Boston Globe:
Wow! Harsh!
:D

Maddie loved All About Steve - I luckily didn't have to watch it.

In a shocking turn of events, Gamer was not very good. Though more Michael C. Hall should have had more screen time. It was like Dexter gone bad (well, badder than he is).

Gran Torino. Decent flick. I do NOT like Clint Eastwood but I really liked him as a crotchety old man. get off my lawn!

Cried at the end. Worth the pay per view.

Saw Extract last night - didn't laugh much, not very funny or interesting. The only LOL was the fate of one character that was a surpise. Other than that it was very pedestrian.

28 Weeks Later ~ I liked the first one and I liked the sequel just as much. The editing and sound was amazing in this film. I thought the cast as pretty danged good.

Sleuth (Jude Law version) ~ Mixed feelings about this one. I liked the original and liked parts of this one. I'd give it a meh but a hearty meh. I watched this one because one of the theatres here are doing the stage version and I'd love to be in it.

Land of the Dead ~ After the awesome Dawn of the Dead remake, this one was so bad that I stopped watching it after a half hour. Yikes.

Michael Clayton ~ I liked this one a lot. The more I see Clooney, the more I like him. I think Swinton was good in this but I didn't think her performance was that Oscar worthy.

Stuff I re-watched:

Dawn of the Dead ~ Remake. I like this one a lot. It was so intense. Loved it. The first fifteen minutes are damn good.

Cloverfield ~ You know, as stupid as some parts of this movie are, I like it. Yes, the handheld thing can make you nauseous but it is a really well put together film. I think the first half is better than the second half but all in all it's a cool flick.

Just watched a Nova documentary called Absolute Zero. I think they only showed half of it though, because it stopped at the invention of air conditioning. Still, very VERY cool stuff about the history of the evolving science of temperature, and I finally kind of understand how refrigeration works, which is a concept I've been trying to wrap my brain around for ages (eg: I knew it involved "removing heat" but I didn't get how it was accomplished, and this explained it).

I know I'm a total dork, but you give me a show that explains how a particular machine works and I'm all ears. Throw in a little history on the evolution of the science and I'm yours forever, or an hour, however long the documentary lasts ;)

Holy Hell, there are a lot of movies I want to see this Fall. Um, my average is paltry, so most of these would be Netflixed, but I'd like to see each of them in theaters:

9 - out just now, the post-apocalyptic animated tale that intrigues me with cool visuals.

The Informant - Matt Damon as a true-life corporate whistle-blower, but with a comical satiric twist.

A Serious Man - The Coen Brothers based this on their own dad.

Capitalism: A Love Story - Michael Moore takes on Wall Street.

Where the Wild Things Are - because I just must. It will either be an abject failure or a complete delight.

The Road - Viggo Mortensen as a post-apocalyptic dad. Reportedly very depressing. I'm interested.

Amelia - Hillary Swank as aviatrix Amelia Earhart.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox - Wes Anderson's take on the Roald Dahl tale.

Nine (not to be confused with 9) - the musical loosely based on Fellini's filming of 8-1/2, with Daniel Day Lewis as the Fellini-esque director, and the women in his life played by Marion Cottilard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Kate Hudson.

The Lovely Bones - Peter Jackson, who did so well with Heavenly Creatures, directs this tale of a 14-year-old girl who, from beyond the grave, watches the man who raped and killed her (Stanley Tucci).

Up in the Air - George Clooney as a corporate hit man who travels the world firing people.

Avatar - I think it looks really cool. Could stink. Could be great.

Pirate Radio - Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy as 60's offshore broadcasters, loosely based on truth.

The Vampire's Assistant - hahaha, the vampire is played by John C. Reily and the film is directed by the brother of the guy who directed the Twilight sequel coming out a week or so earlier (which is decidely not a movie I'm interested in seeing ... ever).

2012 - can't resist. Looks like fun.

and

A Christmas Carol - a really odd-looking take on the Dickens holiday classic with, ugh, Jim Carrey as Scrooge. But I pretty much see every version of A Christmas Carol.

Disney and Guillermo del Toro are teaming up on a new production label for scary animated films.

I predict shock the first time parents take kids to a movie because it has the Disney label only to find it has del Toro's vision.

But will it have the actual Disney name or be something like Touchstone which people "in the know" know is Disney but the general populace does not?

The production label the announced is Disney Double Dare You (horrible name).

How about Downtown Disney's Disney Double Dare You District of Disney?

Ug, that's an awful name.

I guess my next question is, are these movie going to be "Disney scary" (a la the Haunted Mansion attraction) or genuinely scary (horror film)?

If it says Disney on it, I don't expect it to be scary, by any measure.

The only scary Disney products have "Princesses" or "Fairies" in the title.

Considering I occasionally get email from parents upset that I didn't warn them in my reviews about thing they thing are too scary or intense for children in the movies Disney is already making, I think you'd be surprised.

But if it isn't scary or intense by any measure then del Toro is being wasted. Certainly a possibility.

9 was visually quite a treat.

The ending was thought provoking but as Lani and I discussed it after the fact it seemed to fall apart so now it seems faux though provoking but maybe I missed something.

Unfortunately, much of the 80 minutes is just a sequence of chase set pieces and really rather dull.

==

Unintentionally watched La Matriarca (The Libertine) a 1968 Italian sex romp comedyish thing. A young window finds the apartment her husband kept for the fun kinky sex you just don't have with your wife and decides she wants some of that too and the rest is an exploration of various kinks and fetishes until she finds her own. Comedically bad dubbing, attractive actress. Not much worth watching.

Definitely not Johnny Depp's The Libertine which is what I'd thought I put on my Netflix queue.

I get the sense that del Toro is not one to give up his own creative vision. Even if it's not horror, he does creepy very well. And I'd be down with something dark and visionary like Haunted Mansion (ride, not movie) even if it wasn't strictly "horror."

Based on your plot description, I just may have to be the judge of that.

Finally saw Inglorious Basterds last night.

It left me a little conflicted. On the one hand, it's a great movie, Tarantino doing what he does best. Reminded me in pace and story telling of Jackie Brown, one of my favorite and often under appreciated Tarantino films. Can't say a bad thing about it as a movie.

But I still don't like watching Nazi movies. Even if it was fantasy Nazi slaughter pron. The serious Jew-hunting scenes just depress me, and I can't even delight in the fantasy slaughter 'cause, well, it didn't happen that way, it never could have happened that way, and no amount of fantasizing changes that.

Not that I spent the whole movie crying over the Holocaust or anything, but I just found myself unable to indulge in the feeling of vengeance the movie was trying to illicit.

They're prepping for Indy 5

I just let out a Charlie Brown-esque "Auuuggghhh!" just now.

Ugh. Truly, haven't these people got anything better to do?

Well, whatever they come up with, my expectations are sub-basement low.

The whole fantasy revenge angle is what has kept me away. I didn't relish the idea of inhumanity being met by gleeful revenge inhumanity, no matter how justified. It sounded like a nasty pretext for nihilism on paper. But several reviews I've read have indicated that such fears may be groundless, and in any case, I totally loved Jackie Brown. So, hmm, I dunno. Probably wait for video, but I'm too intrigued now to avoid it.

Consider yourself fortunate for the mistake. Even if your incorrect choice were the second worst movie EVER made.




As for Tarantino's I.B., it's my hands-down favorite movie of the year, and I didn't for an instant feel any sort of revenge-fantasy. I'm a jew, and that wasn't an inkling's part of the fun for me. I have no idea if that was even supposed to be part of the movie's pleasures. I found so many besides that, I don't even care if it misfired on that particular score.

I do not think Tarantino is that great of a director. I think his writing skills are wonderful and he should write plays (if he hasn't already). My favorite of his is still Reservoir Dogs and I have to say I wasn't on the bandwagon with Pulp at all. In fact, I hated Pulp. As for Jackie Brown, I found it completely boring. I gave JB a couple of viewings and couldn't find much about it that I liked. With that being said, I'm going to give Inglorious a shot. I've heard a lot about this one and am curious.

I loved Pulp Fiction, but I agree that Jackie Brown was a huge bore. It struck me as one of those films where the director/writer doesn't realize that he's the only one who gets the joke/point/etc.

I know Im in the minoroty with Jackie Brown (hi flippy!). I'm actuallly surprised how well i do lime it as i usually hate long slow movies. but that one just hits me right. I love the characters and the pace is jus absolutely necessary for those characters. And say what you want about quentin's directing I thought he got some masterful performances out of that cast.

In the linked article, Harrison Ford says:

I'm assuming he is using the version of the word "script" that is synonymous with payment.



Otherwise his statement makes no sense at all.

Ugh, I hate that I clicked on that. There's a reason I don't want to know about any celebrities' personal lives. They often make me ill. I hate to be judgmental, but men who continue to Sire children like some scion of the old testament make me cringe. His kids are between 8 and 42 years old? I think I threw up a little in my mouth.

His 8 year old is not a biological child. It is a child that Calista Flockhart had adopted before she and Ford got together. His last biological child was born when he was 48. Not young, but not horribly old either (though his four biological children came in pairs 15-20 years apart with two wives).

That is one long gestation period!

That's what I felt and sounded like with the announcement of another POTC film.

Inglorious Spoilers Ahoy!
 

Inglorious Basterds

I saw it today. I have a lot to say. Sorry if this post is uberlong.

Dirty Dozen with a dash of Cinema Paradiso and a splatter of Reservoir Dogs.

Let me do bad stuff first:

1. Too long. Tarantino seems to have the George Lucas air about him that people around him are worried about telling him the stuff he's doing needs to be cut. The first table scene in the movie is dull. Now, if it built suspense, like the last five minutes of the scene did then it would have been a different scene altogether. But it didn't. At least, not for me.

2. Too long deux. There were chunks of this film that could have been featured as deleted scenes on the DVD release. I mean if long sections of a scene don't lead up to anything and doesn't move the story along, it's not needed.

3. It's built up to be this sort of Dirty Dozen with us following the Basterds around. Uh, not exactly. It's like he wanted to make one film at first and then thought... hmm, let's change course. What's the point in building up characters like the Bear Jew and Hugo Stiglitz when they are introduced as major players and then are nothing more than less than secondary characters? I know Tarantino likes to do the "ooh, you didn't expect that didn't you" thing but surprises still can be pertinent to the story.

4. "Fu ck a duck!" and referring to a guy's dick as a "weinerschnitzel" pulls me right out of the movie. They are totally modern day references that distract from the movie's intent of trying to convince you that you're in the mid-40's.

5. The gore didn't affect me at all. I was expecting it and now I don't even wince at it when it happens in a Tarantino flick. Yeah, we get it you have the brain of a teenage boy.

6. I wasn't on-board with the Aldo Raine character. Again, Brad Pitt being Brad Pitt with an accent. Pulled me right out of the movie... There's a point where certain actors become parodies of themselves on screen. I started feeling that with Pitt around Ocean's 11...

7. When the film ended, I thought what's the point of this movie? Yes, it's historical fiction, a fantasy version of what happened. But I have no idea what Tarantino is trying to say here other than "wouldn't it have been cool if..."

The good stuff:

1. Two words: Daniel Brühl. He first caught my eye in Ladies in Lavender and again in this film. So very cute and not a bad actor. But I love how he was portrayed as being so likable until you find out more and more about him. Nicely done.

2. Tarantino knows how to use music. The music choices in the film were great. But again, it pulled me out of it at times.

3. The montage of Shoshana getting ready for the premiere is wonderful.

4. Christoph Waltz is a delight to watch. So jolly then so evil.

5. The Reservoir Dogs standoff scene in a French basement. I liked it. The camera loves Diane Kruger.

So, did I like it? I guess. Did I love it? No. Did I hate it? No. I guess I'm on the fence on this one. Great moments, great choices here and there but a long-winded script is still a long-winded script no matter what.

Strongly opposing reaction for me. The prologue (assume what you mean by "first table scene" is probably the best single scene I've seen in recent memory.

According to Google Books, "**** a duck" has appeared in print at least back to the early '50s. "**** a duck and screw a pigeon, that's the way you'll get religion" is a piece of bathroom graffiti that I now learn originated in a 1955 novel.

My dictionary tells me the wiener/penis connection is about 100 years old. Don't know how long it took for the first wienerschnitzel joke to be told.

That said, it didn't take me out of the movie even if it is modern swearing. I remember hearing David Milch asked why he had his characters in Deadwood saying "**********" all of the time. His answer was that he wanted to true to the foul mouths of the characters but that we'd laugh at what was considered profane at the time. So it is spiritually accurate if not linguistically.

Loved Aldo Rains and am glad the movie wasn't actually a chronicle of the basterds exploits. That would have been boring.

To me, a big part of what the movie is saying is "how comfortable are you with brutality and slaughter when you agree ideologically with those doing it." We in the audience are condemning the Nazi's for their pleasure at a chronicle of the slaughter of U.S. soldiers and are immediately dumped into ourselves taking some positive feeling from the slaughter of the Nazis (and what exactly is the distinction between Zoller as a hero and Audie Murphy as a hero?).

To me it actually took a little bit away from that to have Hitler and the rest of the leadership there. It took away from the ambiguity. Very hard to feel any sympathy at all for Hitler. More questionable would be the slaughter of a hundred mid-level officials and their families.

I believe this is all that Tarantino is ever trying to say with any movie.

I dug this one. While the music choices and language obviously clashed with the period, I enjoyed that, as it was his way of saying that while they didn't say "kick ass" back then, they meant the same things. (At least this is how I rationalized it.)

I was also rather bummed to not see more of the cool characters. I was struck by Tarantino's usual mark of not making any of the characters stupid or bumbling (which I believe Alex mentioned earlier). Everyone was smart, everyone did the best they could, for good or evil. I'm so sick of movies where you end up shaking your head at the stupid choices that don't make sense within the characters. This was much more enjoyable.

ETA - agreed with Alex, the first table scene was awesome.

I mean, I think one would have to be pretty out of it if one didn't know the man was hiding people at his house. I knew it from the start. But the scene didn't build for me at all. When we finally saw the man cry and even seeing the expression of Shoshana (I believe it was her) through the slats that's where I bought the scene. But the scene could have started a lot later in.

I wanted to see a scene where Landa realized who Shoshana was. I mean, what's the point in him knowing her name at the beginning if that doesn't happen. UNLESS we're supposed to derive from the milk reference that he knew. Not sure.

Since half the purpose of that scene was to set a tone I think it would have lost its value if it started later (though of course that is lost anyway if the tone doesn't work for a person).

Of course we knew he was hiding them as soon as Landa's purpose was revealed. It wasn't about whether he was, it was about what Landa would do with that knowledge. But talking where Michael Bay would have a 50-person shootout is pretty much the epitome of Tarantino.

Which is why I think he'd make a great playwright.

And yes, I'm pretty sure the milk reference was the pay-off on that. Nice that it wasn't spelled out with spilt ink, but pretty clear nonetheless.

I'm with Alex all-the-way on this one. Table Scene 1 (as it shall henceforth be known) = brilliant. Un-exploit chronicling = smart. The series of scenes were tense, entertaining and suspenseful just as much for the interplay between the characters as for the situations. That they didn't consist entirely of when the situations are prevalent was a unique joy of these film.

Most movies don't have scenes that play out so langorously as these. True, if you find them boring, they are just "slow." But I found ever scene in this movie clever and interesting.

Sorry, I don't mean to go on and on about IB but things keep popping up in my little bird brain.

The whole Chapter thing and the whole "Once upon a time" thing at the beginning felt phony to me. Kinda cheesy and bushwa. I'm not sure how to describe that. It didn't seem necessary. But I like how it seemed like each Chapter could be its own movie or short film.

Tarantino's films kinda feel like this for me: You're watching a fireworks show at the beach or park. You stand there and the sky starts off black and calm. Then bang a big firework. It screams look at me! Look at what I'm doing. Then it goes away. Then there's another bang, different colors maybe bigger than the last one. We go oooh and aaahh and then it goes away. Maybe there's the Star Spangled Banner playing somewhere and it sort of fits because the blooms are red white and blue. But halfway through this fireworks show you think, hmm... I wish I was at Disneyland. At Disneyland there's music choreographed to the show, it's coordinated and makes you feel something. Happy, sad, touched etc. I never feel emotionally invested in any of his films. I don't care about a lot of his characters. I cared about Shoshana as she ran away at the beginning but I was also resolved to think that hey, Tarantino is probably going to kill her off anyway... maybe right at the beginning, right now.

I have no idea if I'm making any sense.
:D

ETA: Now, I'm not saying everything has to be Disney. That's not the point I was trying to make.

And this is why I just don't find his work as interesting as many other filmmakers'. (Though, good point about his occasional subtlety - I hate Michael Bay's films; I don't hate Tarantino's - they just annoy me.)

I agree there's more than a tiny bit of artifice that proclaims This is a Tale in Tarantino's films, rather than the usual movie mode of lulling you into a false sense of Really-Happening.

I'm not belittling that. I love the way movies can do that. And how such Absolutely Artifice conventions as a musical score can relay the element of emotion rather than proclaiming This is a Tale throughout the proceedings.


But the mode of Storyteller Presence also works for me. It's just another way of telling a story, and I find it a rather entertaining one. Yes, everything seems less "real," but as long as the story is told well, I certainly don't mind one now and again that has the Storyteller front and center.


Chapter headings, obviously incongruous music cues (heck, a few of them were from Kill Bill! and certainly "took me out" for a moment) ... as long as it's done well, I don't rather like some obvious technique now and then. I guess it's the corollary of the Roger Rabbit theorem .... as long as it was [funny], or - in this case, as long as it was [good.]

Tarrantino's style is all about the artifice of film making. He had no interest in suspending disbelief, he always wants you to be aware that you're watching a movie, being told a story. That's why, I believe, he uses so many idioms from the early days of film, when they were still toying with the medium, hadn't mastered the suspension of disbelief, and were still just putting plays and telling stories on screen. It either works for you or it doesn't I suppose. I enjoy it because it lets you in on his thought process. By making his style and directorial/editorial choices front and center you get a lot of information from the film about exactly the tone and message he's trying to send.

Getting back to Michael Clayton:
Does anyone have an opinion about the last shot of the film. Clooney in the taxi. The shot goes on and on. Kinda cool but I'm wondering why it was there and what it meant. I'm not sure. I liked it, I guess.

Actually, I find suspension of disbelief frequently tougher in current mainstream movies than in much fare from the thirties through seventies. Quick case in point: A Night To Remember (58) vs. Titanic (97). The latter is so impressed with itself and its shiny effects that it pulls me out of its story constantly. AN2R is subtle, unflashy, and even if the effects are primitive, I leave that movie feeling like I lived through it much more than Cameron's effort. Another quick example; I prefer The Longest Day (62) over Saving Private Ryan (98) for Normandy landing sequences, largely because it doesn't go out of its way to throw snazzy techniques, severed limbs and surround sound whooshes and explosions in my face. Ryan almost seemed like a (very grisly) theme park attraction. And don't get me started on Pearl Harbor. Okay, rambling, must get ready for work.

Then you liked the last shot of Jackie Brown.

I liked the performances in Michael Clayton, but I thought the script was trying too hard to be Networky. I also didn't buy the basic set-up. (He's a "fixer" at a law firm? With a gambling problem?)

It's my dream to film black box versions of all the recent special effects extravaganzas: "Black Box Titanic," "Black Box Beowulf," etc.

I'm not saying everyone other than Tarrantino succeeds at it, just that Tarrantino or that all old movies failed, simply that Tarrantino actively avoids it preferring the purposeful effect of putting style and film making technique in the forefront of your mind during his movies (as opposed to the examples you give where the same may happen for you but not for the reasons it does in a Tarrantino film).

But I liked the rest of Michael Clayton... ;)

I prefer The Longest Day over Saving Private Ryan as well, flippy. I found SPR to be pretentious in places. Also I was confused on how the movie was supposed to be Ryan's flashback but he didn't see any of what happened.

I'm pretty sure the long last shot of Michael Clayton is just to let it sink in what he's done and get a glimmer of how he feels about it and how the past week has changed his life.

Keep in mind it was just an interesting way to do the end credits. If it hadn't been the end of the film, the taxi shot would have been 6 seconds long instead of 600.

That's what I figured. Very interesting.

I've watched Saving Private Ryan a couple of times. I like the beach landing scene. Lot's of action and great sound effects. It's like a theme park ride. I've never made it much past that point however, I assume from comments above that they eventually find the guy....

Yeah, and I like the movie past that point more than the opening. IMO, it's a great distillation of the WWII genre. As such, I tend to like it better than actual WWII movies that are truly part of that genre.

The cast is great, especially Tom Hanks. And the reveal is not a trick, as some may claim.

The "flashback" used to bother me but I've decided to accept it not as a literal flashback but rather Ryan's pausing to reflect on the sacrifice that was made for him and whether he was worth it and then the movie showing us what that sacrifice was.

Still didn't much care for the movie though.

For me, one of the most unforgettable movies about WWII has to be The Fighting Sullivans. It's horribly sad but based on the true story of the Sullivan Brothers. I can't watch it any more (it makes me profoundly sad) but it's a good film.

OOOH what a flashback. I was very young and that was on TV, and man did I cry - Now, do I dare go back and see it again?

I finally saw Doubt. Great great performances! And I loved the very ending.

Yes, I highly recommend Doubt. I was especially pleased by the remarkable mid-movie performance of CCH Pounder.

Viola Davis, but yes. She was tremendous. I actually thought everyone's performances were quite brilliant. It was one of my favorites of last year (and with the exception of one or two badly-angled shots, I don't know why it wasn't nominated for best picture.)

Yes, I enjoyed that one very much, and was impressed with it. Didn't Davis win Best Supporting for, basically, her two scenes? If so, I was amazed to discover that was completely deserved.

No, she didn't win. She was nominated though (she and Amy Adams may have split the vote). Penelope Cruz was the winner for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Haven't seen Doubt yet.


Have recently seen:

Quarantine - A bad horror zombie movie. Angela Carpenter showed good natural ease in the early parts of the movie. But it quickly got down to formula and was boring.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - Both Nick and Norah are charismatic and likable (and Kat Dennings in my wheelhouse for fine people watching) but the movie is hampered by the fact that teenaged love strikes me as comicly silly and not romantically intense. Not the movies fault but I couldn't take them seriously.

The sequel was surprisingly good, in large part because the casting was terrific. And I love how 28 Days Later feels uniquely English, but 28 Weeks Later (which I believe was a domestic sequel), felt very, well, American. It was a neat contrast and made the film unique instead of just a rehash of the first movie.

Last week I watched I Love You So Long. I place Kristin Scott Thomas' performance on the shelf next to Maria Falconetti's in The Passion of Joan of Arc. Some of the finest acting I've witnessed on film or stage.

TCM-arama!!
 

Psycho - Rewatched this one for the umteenth time. Still love it. Robert Osborne introduced it on TCM and noted that the film's score was all strings. I guess I hadn't noticed that before. Pretty cool. I also chuckled at one line of dialogue Janet Leigh says at the beginning, "For this, we have to meet in secrecy to be secretive". Something like that. Funny.

Behave Yourself - Quirky slapstick comedy with Farley Granger and Shelly Winters. It was only okay. Kinda dull.

The Human Comedy - A tug at the heart strings movie about a family living in a small town. Mickey Rooney, Donna Reed are in it. It was okay, kinda sappy.

The Window - A Hitchcockian "boy who cried wolf" story. I liked this one although the ending was weak. Bobby Driscoll was in it, he was pretty good. Apparently won a special juvenile Oscar for his performance.

Breaker Morant - I love this movie. I can watch this one over and over. Something about it...

Hold Your Man - Jean Harlow, Clark Gable. Mild film with some pretty good moments in it.

Didn't know where else to post this but I found this Indiana Jones TOD animated gif on MC and it made me laugh:

It's filled with lines like that. "Mother -- what is the phrase? -- isn't quite herself today."

Herrmann's all-strings score is one of his masterpieces. Cue 17 -- "The Murder" -- is still used as a terror cue.

--t

New movie
 

I saw a new movie at a screening the other night. "I'm Good at Freaky."

It's a fictionalized imagining of what happened when Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson got together. Claustrophobic and intense. The actors are good and the story is fascinating -- when she holds a gun to HIS head you wonder if this time it's going to turn out different.

It was shot in three marathon days by B-movie guys, and it is probably going straight to video, so keep an eye out for it.

--t

Well, that's good to know about and I'll give it a chance. Kristin Scott Thomas in "The English Patient" and "The Horse Whisperer" made me want to bite the heads off kittens.

I just got back from seeing Departures. I loved this film. If you get a chance to see it, give it a shot. It's funny, it's sad, and it's terrific.

It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film this year. I think it's well deserved.

I think it's the best film I've seen in several months.

:)

FAME! - It was a good popcorn movie and thankfully we were the only ones in the theatre so we could seriously MST3K the film. Best part was when my Projectionist friend came dancing into the theatre during a dance number.

The SECRET OF JONATHAN SPERRY - Not to be confused with The Secret of Jennifer Sperrry's Body... (heheh) Saw mmost of this very Jesus/ bible thumping/ Christian films staring Capt. Stubing and Benson. A older man befriends 3 young boys and teaches them about Jesus. No, it's not a chapter from Michael Jackson's Bio-pic. This is a film that beats you over the head with Jesus this, Jesus that and wacks you in the crotch with the Bible. Horrible acting but like all "Christian" films, needs to be viewed while intoxicated and laughed at... LOUDLY..

Well, yeah, it's only the most famous scary cue ever.

It's been awhile since I watched the movie version of Hair. I gotta say, I forgot what a piece of crap the movie is. There's no comparison to the stage musical. It's awful.

I only made it about halfway through, and it has thoroughly but me off the idea of seeing it on stage.

I only made it about halfway through, and it has thoroughly but me off the idea of seeing it on stage.

The stage version is wonderful.

But have you seen it....on weeeeeed?



Yeah, still pretty terrible. But at least you laugh a lot more that way.

No. But the play... Like I said, it's wonderful.
;)

I've never seen the play. I was intrigued by a documentary I recently saw on HBO of a high school doing a revival, sans nudity, and teaching the kids enough about the '60's to have them grok their characters and the situations.

By the way, it's uber-cool that the current NYC cast of Hair is letting the show go dark one otherwise very profitable night so they can attend the gay rights Equality March in D.C.


They are attending in my stead, since I can't make it. It was all my idea. ;)

I belive I have somewhere in my newly inherited album collection a Hair album. But I don't know if it's from the movie or the play.

Gosh, guess I have to shamefacedly admit that I actually like the movie Hair. It's very eighties and has its flaws, but I think a lot of the performances and numbers are tremendously energetic and most of the songs have terrific arrangements (by the original composer Galt MacDermott, if I recall correctly.) I would certainly never prefer it over a good production of the show, but I can't say I haven't gotten a charge from much of it.

I would love to see the current revival. I have several cast albums, including the groundbreaking original cast, but my favorite thus far may be the Australian 90s revival. Haven't yet checked out the new Broadway cast, but I am certain to purchase sooner or later.

I mean, don't get me wrong, seeing Treat Williams is a treat and I must admit that I had a crush on John Savage as a kid but still the flying pregnant Beverly D'Angelo in a wedding dress was just too much. :D

I was so high when I saw it I really cannot tell you what I thought of it. I spent the whole time trying to figure out if I was watching a strangely poorly executed musical, a devastatingly brilliant parody of poorly executed musicals, or a poorly executed parody of poorly executed musicals. One of these days I'll have to watch it sober and figure it out.

You have certainly identified the worst scene in the movie.

If you wish to give it a sober re-visit, you can do so for free on hulu.

Yep. I blame hulu for my viewing yesterday.
:D

Hmmm. Zombieland's rt ratings keep going up. I have to see this flick!
:)

Probably gonna see it this weekend. It will get me in the mood for the Zombie Walk on the 17th!

I just got back from a screening of the latest "viral" indie horror event pic Paranormal Activity. Paramount has been releasing this slowly to college towns, and now it's starting to leak out into a wider release. Anyway, it's Blair Witch all over again, but this time, it's a mock-verite about a young couple in a haunted house scenario, video-taping their bedroom while they sleep at night. Needless to say, they capture images of those things that in the night do go bump.

Anyhow, there is massive hype around this film, and I saw it with a full house which, just as in the ad campaign, jumped and screamed and shouted "omigod" at all the right times.

Me? Well, I guess I'm just jaded. I admired a few scenes, I thought the main actress did a terrific job seeming natural and ordinary. I wasn't scared and I will have not the slightest problem getting to sleep. Your mileage may vary.

It's much longer than it should be. I found one scene very creepy, and the ending made me grin with shadenfreude like Uncle Fester in a famous Charles Addams cartoon panel.

two almost spoilery points:



So, well, I'm glad I went on a crowded night, but for my money, not the soul-shattering experience I had vainly hoped it might be.

We saw Toy Story & Toy Story 2 in 3D. So much fun. And the short trailer for Toy Story 3 looks awesome.

The trailer for whatever the Jim Carey Scrooge thing looks creepy. I thought for a sec it was live action but it's animated by the Polar Express people. And they all look creepy.

Yes, Robert Zemeckis has become the undisputed king of the Uncanny Valley. Dead eyes, oh, all of the dead eyes.

This Christmas Carol looks like cut-scenes from a video game, and I'm sorry to see the Disney name on it. With the way Pixar proudly boasts of (rightly) animating the hard way, it's a shame to see us putting out something that, no matter how much effort may have been put into it, comes off looking like it cut corners. This looks awful.

Zombieland was hella fun (yes, I said "hella"). Not what I was expecting, and so much better than I expected. Really a lot of fun, and pretty darn funny.

See it at the Chinese Theater for a special treat.

Ourtage premiers on HBO tonight. I can't wait to see is as I was not able to catch it while it was in theaters.

Cool, I thought I'd missed it last night during my TV marathon of Dexter and Mad Men.


(Why am I back to watching 2 shows? That's TV overload for me ... and just like the last time I watched two (when True Blood was on), they are consecutive on Sunday nights. Ugh.)

I would love to see a zombie movie made that way, though.

I had to click because I couldn't figure out what Our-tage would mean. I see it's Outrage, ok that makes more sense;)

Shhyeah. I was saddened to see that. I was hoping to see Colin Firth looking cute, but no.

Watched Seven Pounds on a small TV while visiting over the weekend. I can't not like Will Smith in anything. Rosario Dawson was good. Even knowing where the movie was going to end up, it was still disturbing.

<heavy sigh>
Thanks for catching that :)

Zombieland gets Best Picture so far this year... :)

I saw Zombieland yesterday. Loved it. It was a lot of fun.

on the subject of zombies ... maybe i'm out of it, but I only just heard of the nationwide Reenact THRILLER Project for people to get all zombied-up, learn the choreography at pre-event seminars throughout the country, and perform Thriller simultaneously everywhere on October 24 (in L.A., at the Music Center, I believe).


I even have a zombie costume for the Hollywood Zombie Walk the weekend before, but I'll be hip-deep in Masquerade work on the 24th - so I won't be able to make it. :(


Still, with Zombieland a good word-of-mouth hit, and two big Be-A-Zombie events in L.A. this month, it's turning out to be a really themie Halloween season.

So I've discovered Jim Henson's The Storyteller. If I saw any of this series back in 1987 I'm afraid I don't recall, but I am absolutely LOVING it. And just the right "flavor" of stories for the month of October. Available for instant stream on Netflix.

Even though I know it's going to be a crap movie, I kinda wanna see 2012. Chaos! Woohoo!

I can't even watch the trailer without fearing the stupid will kill me.

I feel the same way. But... still!
I predict it will have a 38% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Every time I see it, I yell out, "Train!"

I think 2012 should be screened immediately after 1776, and 1984.

and 2 Million B.C.

I like the giant destruction scenes in the 2012 trailer. I'm a bit of a sucker for natural disaster effects scenes, old and new. I feel certain the movie containing these scenes will be predictable and dimwitted, but I'm also pretty sure I'll give it a go.

And no, I don't for a second think the Mayans knew jack about events in the 21st century. AND last time there was a big "world's gonna end" alignment back in 1988, the worst thing that happened was my cash register came up short at a Burger King in Ridgecrest, CA.

I fell deeply in love during the "world's gonna end alignment" back in 1988.


I'm looking forward to 2012 with renewed gusto ... including the movie!

Hate to burst your love bubble, but there is no planetary alignment in 2012, let alone specifically on 12/21/2012. Hopefully you don't have to wait for one to find love, the next major alignment is in 2040.

Here's where the outer planets will be on 12/21/2012. Here are the inner planets.

Once the planetary alignment idea was destroyed (though apparently not for the movie) the thinking among those who take the doomsday stuff seriously shifted to that date being one on which earth will be aligned with the galactic plane (false, we're currently moving away from the plane) or that the solstice will align directly at the galactic center (essentially true, but true for the last 30 years and the next 30 years and entirely a visual artifact).

All of this, of course, ignores the fact that the Mayan calendar did not actually end on 12/21/2012 as archaeological artifacts include plenty of references to dates beyond that.

I can't wait to see Black Dynamite!

From what I read elsewhere, lots of people are putting stock in that galactic center alignment. I'm sure there will be some who will decide that the date is not a moment for disaster, but one for a re-awakening of cosmic consciousness or similar blather. I predict there will be truckloads of useless 2012 crap that will join the useless Y2K crap in our landfills.

Has anyone gone to see the Toy Story 3D double feature? I'm tempted, but I don't know if I can take that much candy-colored eyestrain in one sitting.

I'm off to Zombieland at the Drive-In tonight - whee

That is such pitch-perfect parody, I had to go look it up to make sure it was a new movie. And, if anything, it looks much cheaper than even the cheapest 70s blacksploitation. (There appear to be about three locations and a limited number of camera setups throughout the trailer.) The narration made me laugh - I hope the movie can follow suit.

No, I haven't seen the double feature and don't have much interest in doing so.

The first Toy Story is not a movie I feel much urge to see again and adding 3D isn't a significant enough change to inspire curiosity.

I'm going tonight after work. I've never seen Toy Story 2, so I am especially looking forward to seeing that.

I'm going tomorrow (if the deal is still on with mp and GN2DL). I love Toy Story, and never much cared for Toy Story 2 - which I've seen 1.5 times. Everyone raves about it, so I thought I'd give it a second chance some day ... and this seems the perfect opportunity.

It's been such a long time since I've watched these movies, I'm really looking forward to it. I love "Jesse's Song" in TS2. For real tearjerkiness, listen to it with the French language track on your DVD at home.

I now have Sleeping Beauty snuggled up next to Snow White on my Blu-Ray shelf.

That's not kinky is it?

We're going to meet at 6:15ish tonight at the El Cap for the Toy Story Double Feature. We're going to go for the GA tix... the show starts at 7.

6:15ish??? I may be a little late. :cool:

We'll save you a seat.

But we won't buy you popcorn.

Just saw Zombieland, and true to the buzz, it was immensely entertaining. So, why did I find the last third of it lacking?



I still had a really good time, but came away thinking of it as kind of a wasted opportunity. Still worth a look, and if you aren't bothered by the thing I talked about in the spoiler above, hang out until the credits are over.

Yeah, but the double-spoiler section had me doubled-over in laughter, so the shortcomings resulting from that were worth it.


And I'm so glad that hadn't been spoiled for me. I was surprised with hysterics.

I think Ratatouille has the best animation of all of the Pixar movies. I just watched it again and it continues to blow me away each time I watch it because I see new stuff with each viewing. And I just adore the Anton Ego speech at the end. I think I've watched this one more than the others.

Speaking of Pixar, Toy Story 2 still sucks. It's sequelish through and through.

No character arc for any of the characters. There's a villain, which the first movie didn't have. But the first movie was a buddy film with a decided arc for each of the two main characters so that they move from enemies to, ya know, buddies.

Part 2 was a plain-jane actioner with zero further character development. Bah.


But now I'm curious if the two Barbies the Prospector is "auditioning" during the hilarious end-credit outtakes will really be in Toy Story 3 as he promised them.

I thought the second was better than the first in every respect. Buzz may have had a character arc, but it was one of those arcs that start at complete blowhard and are very annoying to watch.

The second dealt bittersweetly with disappointment and the passage of time, i.e., toys being put on the shelf, shows being cancelled, relationships fading, dreams being dashed. And it didn't have an annoying mean kid.

That's what most people say. Better in every respect, in fact, were mousepod's exact words last night.

I just don't see it. I found it completely inferior in absolutely every respect, though not without its charms. It suffered from Star Trek Syndrome ... i.e., how to gin up drama when your entire cast is all lovey dovey. I liked it much better when Buzz and Woody hated each other, and all the toys except Bo Peep wanted to lynch Woody from the nearest Lincoln Log.

So outside characters were introduced to be villains and have the dramatic tension. I felt something for Jesse, but none of the others did anything for me and the action-packed rescue plot was sequel-all-the-way.


Bah.


But to each his own.


And I'm actually looking forward to Toy Story 3.

In a rare occurrence for this thread, I completely agree with iSm.

The big flaw with the first Toy Story is that it is vaguely boring. That first visual thrill covered all flaws the first time I saw it, but with each subsequent viewing I find I care for it less.

I loved it just as much last night as I ever did. I have a thing for perfectly constructed films. I guess that seems easier with a by-the-numbers buddy pic ... but if it was, more films would be perfectly constructed -- and most films ARE NOT.

I don't think there's a boring instant in Toy Story. If you are bored because you've seen something before (perfectly natural), I daresay someone would be just as bored watching Speed for the 4th time as Toy Story.

Perhaps, but there are plenty of films that I do not find boring simply for having seen them before (I've seen Toy Story 2 more often and don't find it boring).

So obviously, whatever element provides a movie with that boost is -- for me -- missing from Toy Story. I still wouldn't go so far as putting Toy Story in the same bucket as Speed but if you want to I won't leap in front of you to prevent it.

I was just trying to think of something with constant action, that was generally well-received. Most of the action films that came to mind were rightly crucified critically and word-of-mouthful.

I wasn't putting Toy Story in the same bucket at all. Quite the opposite. In fact, I'd put Toy Story 2 in that bucket. Action-based. Sloppy construction ... well, not really, more like zero need for any construction.


There's nothing wrong with liking that kind of thing. But the only vivid segment of Toy Story 2, imo, was Jesse's disappointment over Woody's decision not to go to Japan, her fear of being storaged forever, and her heartbreak over being an abandoned toy. That segment had heart and soul.


I find heart and soul all over the first Toy Story. Plus, witty dialogue (Heheh, I'd forgotten Josh Whedon helped pen the script) and, as I've said before, solid story construction with built-in conflict among the main characters that is resolved to great effect.


To each his own. I'm just trying to offer why Toy Story is much more my cup of tea than the sequel. Lots of good jokes in the sequel, btw. But I happen to also find the original twice as funny.

And I should be clear that complaining about Toy Story is a relative thing. It is a fine movie. By no means am I saying it is a dog. It's just that over time it slides down the Pixar totem poll.

And the 3D aspect? Did it make any real difference for you?

So far I've been underwhelmed by the technology. Bolt in 3D was a fun movie but I really don't think the 3D was anything more than a distraction.

I must admit that I don't own the two Toy Story movies on DVD because I don't think they're all that repeatable. I liked TS2 more than TS mostly because of the nostalgia of Woody's TV show and I really liked the Jessie character. I'll be checking out the third movie just to see the animation more than anything else.

But sometimes I do wonder if people say they like certain sequels better than the first film because the reviews and the promotions for the movie say so. I kinda felt that way when reviews kept saying that Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was better than Lord of the Rings: Fellowship. I love Fellowship ten times more than the other two.

So did I. But it's not because the 2nd and 3rd acts were sequels - at least not in the traditional sense. All 3 films were lensed at the same time. The last two films sucked, however, like sequels often do. They were edited after the first film was released, and I happen to think a re-editing more along the lines of Tolkien's original structure would be much better. So perhaps they were sequels in all respects that matter for suckitude insofar as any story constructions decisions were made.


I have no real knowledge, but I rather think the story construction was decided far in advance. Sometimes sequelitis is just in the cards, whether subsequent movies are true sequels or not.



As for the 3-D in Toy Stories ... meh. It was neither a detraction nor an amazement. Like with UP, it worked really well in a couple of sequences, and was worthless in most others. It's a gimmick I don't really like. (Though I remember being pleased with Nightmare Before Christmas's 3-D treatment a few years back).


According to mousepod, John Lasseter announced at D23 that TS 3-D was a gimmick to give kids a chance to see Toy Stories in theaters, now that the home theater phenomenon has obliterated Disney's old-school 7-year re-release pattern which allowed each new generation of children to experience the films in theaters as was intended by the filmmakers.

To the extent the gimmick worked to get some kids in the seats for the 2-week run of Toy Stories, I give kudos for that. (Though there were some notorious kids decidedly NOT in their seats during last night's screenings. mousepod chastized the parentsfor letting their kids run all over the theater, and so the family left the auditorium mid-TS2, heheh.)

Tour Guide Barbie - that's why TS2 rocks

I saw Barbarian Princess tonight at the Hawai'i Theatre presented by the Hawaii Film Festival. It tells the story of Princess Kai'ulani who is played by Q'orianka Kilcher. It's not a perfect film but I liked it. It's slow in places but it was nice to see a period piece about America's colonization of Hawai'i. You could pretty much tell right off that it wasn't made by American filmmakers, the U.S. is not portrayed in a very positive light. The cinematography is stellar in places. I'm not sure that it will get a very wide release from here. But if you get a chance to see it, rent it, it's worth a gander. The director (Marc Forby) and Kilcher were there at the screening with the local actors who played roles in the film. The Q&A session afterward was interesting. Most discussed was the title (which I wasn't fond of at first but after seeing the film, I get it) and the controversy it's been causing here in the islands.

Has anyone seen Where the Wild Things Are? It got really good reviews but now I've been reading that a lot of people seem disappointed in it (story:cnn). I understand that Spike Jonze intended it (w/Sendak's approval) to be more of a story about being a kid than a story for kids-- I wonder if people not knowing/understanding this is a reason for their dissatisfaction (expectations not meeting up with reality).

Of course there were also people interviewed like the guy who was upset because his 20 month old lost interest and his 4 year old got distracted and didn't get it. DUH, dude. A 20 month old and a 4 year old are not likely to sit still for the entirety of any movie.

If you saw it,what did you think? Is it good or do these people have a point?

I haven't seen it, though I plan to. I will say the trailer gave me pause with its apparent back story of suburban dysfunction. To me, the point of the book was that sometimes you want to get away for no particularly good reason.

Ugh, I meant to see it over the weekend. I'm DYING to ... but with Halloween coming up, I'm afraid I may not get to till after the holiday. Bah.

I finally saw Bolt. It was cute. It was a bit much getting through the first 10 minutes or so, but after you got through the story set up and things started moving forward, it improved greatly. I actually really loved the uber-geek hamster character.

I saw The Mist last night. It was okay. Not the best. Not what I was expecting.

The Mist? Never heard of it.


Are you sure you didn't mean The Fist? Just asking cause, well, it's you. ;)