In case anyone hasn't seen it....














I couldn't handle the scene from where they landed and someone, er, well.....the Greyhound bus incident was fresh in my head and I couldn't look at all. The first part, I just kept saying that was of course not real but still yuck...

Last night, in my ongoing attempt to watch the "1,000 Greatest Films," I watched Army of Shadows. What a great movie... really. It's a gritty, 1969 film that deals with the French Resistance during World War II. It doesn't get into the politics, or even the details of the missions - it mostly focuses on the tension of life as a secret operative, and how one group was able to maintain focus in the face of imminent capture. It would make a great double feature with Munich, if I had the nerve to watch both of them back to back. Lino Ventura, as Gerbier, one of the leaders, puts in a cooler-than-DeNiro performance. Just brilliant.

... and as long as I'm posting in this thread, my .02 on Stone's JFK: it's a fun movie - which is as fun to watch as many late '60s-early '70s political thrillers. The fact that I don't believe a bit of the conspiracy doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the film. In fact, time has been kind to the movie - when it was released, I was annoyed that Stone promoted it by sending "educational" information to schools studying the assassination. With that disgusting promotional blitz a thing of the past - the movie can now comfortably stand on its own - as a solid, well-crafted piece of entertainment.

On an entirely different note:

Hedwig and the Angry Inch. See it.

Seen it. Blegh. Though I was the only one in a room of 20 who thought so. It was all the rage among one circle of friends several years.

Just found the old mini discussion in here re: Hedwig. Funny, I didn't realize it had been a stage show. When it was over I said, "That'd make a great stage musical."

Since we're now done with blockbuster summer season I was looking at the box office leaders and saw a surprising placement.

Worldwide box office. Spots 1 and 2 aren't a suprirse: The Dark Knight and Indiana Jones and the Decrepitude.

But number three surprised me: Kung Fu Panda. I remember many of you being shocked at the Kings Canyon camping trip when I said it was good, but I saw it, forgot about it and hadn't realized just how well it had done. Almost $600 million wordwide.

Wow. How did Wall-E do?

I decided I only had time for one animated feature in theaters this summer, and that's the one I chose. But I remember your recommendation about Kung-Fu Panda and expect to flix it when available.


I think I saw but four or five movies in theaters this summer. Not including the stupid second time I saw the second Batman, and the shockingly retarded second and even third time I saw fourth Indiana Jones.

Almost exactly 1/2 the box office and it is 11th on the list. However, Disney is apparently doing an extremely slow roll around the globe (but I don't expect it'll get anywhere near $600 million from its current $280 million).

It just opened in Australia (which did $23MM for Panda), hasn't yet opened in China/Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, or Russia (each of which did $20MM plus for Panda).

But in terms of money, Wall-E is generally losing to Kung Fu Panda in countries where they've both played. In the United States, Wall-E is only about $5 million up on Kung Fu Panda.

But foreign numbers are generally fuzzy. So it isn't particularly exact. I was just surprised to see it so high. Another surprise is the second Narnia movie which is #7 on the list.

And if you wonder why we very well may see a Hancock sequel, it is because it did 60% of its business in other countries and ended up making almost exactly as much money as smash hit Iron Man (which did 55% of its bank in the U.S.).

I didn't see Kung Fu Panda but I felt Wall-E was kind of a heavy movie. Not really a kids movie. A wonderful story but not really geared towards little kids.

Parents love to take their kids over and over to movies like KFP.

I was planning on going to bed, but I just can't resist -

REFORM SCHOOLS GIRLS - currently airing on MojoHD

:D