Movies
 

Movies.

You watch them.

You write about them here.

Try and put the title of the movie in the subject line, so it's easier to wade through 'em.

I don't really have anything to write here at the moment, but give me until Monday. I'll come up with something.

Actually, I got it.

First off, the most awful "modern" movie I've ever seen - The Quick and the Dead. I hated this. It was absurd. Check it out:

So it's at the end. Sharon Stone is about to whoop Gene Hackman's ass. She shoots him in the chest. He looks down and - get this - there is a spot of light in his shadow! First, it's not like the light could come down, bend through him, and then continue down onto the groud! And secondly, it's not like the flesh and blood wouldn't cover at least some spot in the hole through him, thereby blocking the light. I mean, come on. We're movie-goers, not complete idiots.

But it gets WORSE! Then she shoots him in the head and HE DOES A FLIP! Yes, the force from the bullet actually makes him FLIP! From standing up to on his stomach. 270 degrees of goodness. Besides the fact that this would be physically impossible (being shot from a handgun and all), it looks absolutely ridiculous, and serves as a vivid reminder of how stupid bad movies can be. There's suspension of disbelief, and then there's treating your audience like fucking retards. Even if the movie had been good up to that part (it wasn't - it was okay in some parts and pretty awful in others), that completely ruined it. Unbelieveable.

Big Trouble in Little China
 

     IMO the best of the Carpenter/Russel movies. It's stupid, it's supposed to be. A classic for any Bad Movie NIght gathering. I love that friggin' movie because it's cheesy and knows it. There's no pretense involved.
     Not good if you're looking for high drama, great if you're looking for fun.

All (almost) movies played on big screens in U.S. today are controlled by Corporate Mafia. To maximize profit, they are being made for pre/teenage audiences, and also target foreign markets (read.. English dialogue bad.. action good.. understandable for non-English speakers). In general, these movies (should) insult intelligence of anyone with a (real) college degree.

Lately, for me at least, it's been very small pickings (again, talking about Big Screen.. not the few places that actually run indie stuff these days). "Waking Life" was one exception as of late.

I enjoyed Ocean's 11 while I was in Mississippi. Yes, it's a remake, but I found it to be pretty good. Certainly not bad for a remake. I'd watch it again.

Big Trouble in Little China is definitely a classic, and I don't think I'll ever outgrow that movie. I first saw it when I was a little kid, and I've liked it ever since. It's not one of the best movies I've ever seen, but it's certainly one of the most enjoyable. :)

I thought Monsters, Inc. was pretty great, of course. I went to see it 4 times in the theater, and was loving it every time. I just find it to be very satisfying - it leaves me with a big dumb goofy smile. That's the kind of movie I can watch over and over again. :)

Re: Big Trouble in Little China
 

Kurt Russell was hilarious in that! It was so goofy, and that's what made it funny.

I feel strangely compelled to talk about "The Matrix" here. I think it should definitely be noted, anyway.

When I first saw The Matrix, I was in awe. I thought it was great. I said that it raised new questions about what is "real" and what is not. Etc, etc.

Then, for some reason, I stopped liking it. I looked at it as just another dumb action movie. I felt that I was duped into thinking it was good.

But then I watched it again. I must say, it really is a damn fine movie. It's infinitely more complex than I even saw at first. There's a lot to it - the parallels between Neo and Christ, etc. The Wachowski brothers really are on to something - expect the second and third ones to be pretty good as well.

Oddly enough...
 

...I didn't LOATHE The Matrix, but I dislike it, and abhor the amount of hype it's received.

The basic concepts -- nothing you see or hear is real, virtual reality taken to its logical extreme, downloadable skills and knowledge, spunky heroes fighting against a tyrannical but faceless enemy -- were reasonable enough, and perfectly acceptable for a sci-fi pic. I believe that a great spy caper is waiting to be made with the "what skills shall I download NOW" concept, as long as you put a storage-space limit on it as well as a person's other inherent limitations. Sure, you can absorb the cumulative skills and knowledge of Bruce Lee, Einstein, a great mechanic or a great programmer... but what do you need to forget to make room for it?

The bullet-time special effects were neat, but nothing to build a movie around.

So what did I dislike?

* If you're going to make a high-tech sci-fi movie, make a high-tech sci-fi movie. If you're going to drift into flights of fantasy and Great Prophecies and This Has Been Foretold and such, do it. But don't spend half the movie building a solid technical story and then throw in crap about "The One" and "Love can bring the dead back to life" and the whole deus-ex-machina ending! Keanu could've been the conquering hero in the end without being portrayed as some sort of demigod foretold by a mystical oracle. Sure, "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Did we really need to LITERALLY cross that line?

* Keanu Reeves... in general... irritates me.

* Sequels were filming before the first one was released. That's marketing BS in its purest form, IMHO.

jeff. Then again, I still think the Star Wars series should have stopped at one, MAYBE two films.

IIRC, and I'm pretty sure that I do, The Matrix was released widespread on April 2, 1999. Word on the streets is that the first sequel, "Matrix Reloaded", didn't begin shooting until March of 2001, with a slated release date of May 2003. I seriously doubt they're spending 4 years on a movie - 2 is definitely more likely. So I really don't think that the sequels started filming before the first one was ever released.

As for the other comments, I think that The Matrix was a very ambitious movie and, by and large, hit the mark. The only major complaint, I would say, is the atrocious flying ending. I giggle every time I see that piece of awful cinema. One can only hope they'll eventually edit it out for the Matrix Boxset, much like Depeche Mode got rid of that awful ending to "Enjoy the Silence".

.     Hey, bite me. THe Empire Strikes Back is one of my all time favorites. I saw it 36 times on it's original theatrical run and I was only 'bout eleven at the time. And all it ranks is a "maybe"??? Name one other movie where the good guy's so completely and totally get their asses handed to them. You just can't beat that.

Vanilla Sky
 

I watched Vanilla Sky last night. It was amazing.

Like the Matrix, it makes you question what is 'real' and what is not (only without all the science fiction and guns). It's one of those movies that makes you think throughout the entire film.

Afterwards, I went home and checked the user comments on imdb.com. Everyone else completely hated it. 99% of the users on that review board didn't get it. What's worse, they didn't know that they weren't getting it... they just thought the movie was retarded.

I was pretty amazed by this.. I guess if you're going to cater a movie to intellectual themes, you have to sacrifice some viewers.

Some, yes. But it can be done while still holding a lot of the public. Think "American Beauty".

As for Vanilla Sky... I try to stick away from Tom Cruise movies as much as possible. Not because I think he's a bad actor - he's pretty alright. The whole <a href="http://www.xenu.net">Scientology</a> thing bugs me though.

The Sixth Sense
 

I. Hated. This. Movie.

This has to be the most awful thing I have ever sat down and spent my valuable time on. Luckily, I salvaged most of the 2 hours as I slept through all but 15 minutes at the beginning and 15 minutes at the end. As soon as I saw Willis get shot, I had a really bad feeling as to what was next. Willis' wife ignores him and he has trouble with the door, I was 99.999% sure what was coming. Then the kid said that the dead people sometimes don't know they're dead. That was it, Willis died when the wackjob shot him, time for a nap.

That's why I really can't understand people who say that they were shocked by the ending. That they never expected it. If you're reading this, and you can honestly sit there and tell me that you were surprised, please continue to sit there whilst I secure the electrodes to your skin.

And I'm not the only one who feels this way. I saw the movie with my brother and my father. My father got the tickets (and ultimately chose the movie, a fact I have never forgiven him for.) while my brother and I parked the car. When we filed out of the theater, my brother immediately went to the nearest ATM, withdrew some money, pulled some singles from his pocket, and presented it to my father on the pretense that no human should have to pay for another to see what we just did. After that, my brother and I made a pact to never leave my father at a movie ticket counter unattended.

I just don't get it.

~mike

Ah.

So what you mean to say is, "Based on 1/4 the movie, I dislike the entire thing, including the other 75%, which I didn't bother to watch."

Come on man, that's kinda lame. At least give the movie a chance and watch the entire thing. Try and appreciate it for the good acting it had.

Fact of the matter is, most people weren't making that corrolation when they saw it, and they were surprised. Even intelligent people. It is a pretty good movie, and the acting ain't too shabby either. Cut it a break - you can't really judge a movie by 30 minutes of it.

All right, how about this?
 

All around bad movie with no redeeming value at all... Cool World

My favorite "bad" movie? Tremors I,II and III.

Comments?

Brian

But you're skittish of movies featuring Tom Cruise b/c of the Scientology thing?

Sixth Sense
 

Well, I absolutely loved Sixth Sense, just about as much as I loved Vanilla Sky. And for the same reason, too -- I love movies that fuck with your head. I love movies that aren't afraid to change genre mid-film, just for the hell of it (a la Psycho). I love movies where the character realizes his own reality and everything he thought was real was all a lie. I love movies where when you walk out of the theater, you say to yourself, "What in the <i>hell</i> just happened to me?"

But that's just me. :]

Hmm...perhaps I should now think of a movie I don't like. Anyway, I say, "more movies that fuck with your head, please."

Sixth Sense and the Matrix
 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I liked the Sixth Sense, and it never even occured to me that Willis was alive. I knew the movie was about a kid who saw dead people and made the assumption in the beginning. The movie was good anyway. The story was far more important than the surprise, and only partialy connected. Willis's redemption was the same living or dead.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The matrix... Um, I liked it the first time, have no intention of ever watching it again. It doesn't hold up in my memory, I can't imagine it'll hold up in reality. Enjoy at the moment and move on. That's all it was to me. By the by, the best fight scene in the movie was the first one, with the chic. Good stuff.

Allow me to clarify:

I would rather not spend money to see a movie that Tom Cruise is in, because he always gets a cut of the gross, percentage wise. Some of this money goes to Scientology, which is a cult, most definitely not a religion. I would rather that my money not fund that cult, so I try not to purchase his movies or pay to see them. If it's on HBO, word. I'll watch it. If someone else buys it, I'll watch it. Know what? I'll probably enjoy it. But I don't want my dollar going to Scientology.

P.S. - I avoid Travolta movies too, but for a different reason - I find him to be an awful actor, and he irritates the fucking hell out of me on-screen. I, of course, avoid paying money to see them (the whole Scientology thing), but I try not to watch them on HBO or anything either. So there are two good reasons to stay away from Travolta movies. :)

(Notable exception: Pulp Fiction - when he's pushed hard enough, he can less-than-suck)

Cults
 

Off-topic, but speaking of cults...

Christianity branwashes you just as much as Scientology does. Both religions are full of freaking wackos. In addition, my life experience has brought me to believe that a number of corporations use the exact same brainwashing techniques. I found out that there is a book called "Corporate Cults". I really need to read it, I think... to put into words what I already vaguely sense.

Believing in anything to the degree that many Christians, Jews, Muslims, Scientologists and other cults do is not only self-limiting, but dangerous. One really needs to keep an open mind, and devout religion almost always forces it closed.

Sequels and LOTR
 

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings and its two sequels were all shot at once. Anyone not going to see it on principle because of that?

I'll go see it, and actually I like that the trilogy is all shot, on principle- there is a wholistic quality- rather than using the popular response/reaction to dictate the content of the sequel- such as which breakout character will the action surround...

You know what, you're right. I did. A friend rented it (against my advice), and asked me to come over. Well, never one to resist the opportunity to laugh, point, and yell "I Told You So!", I went. I stayed awake through the entire movie and here are the following conclusions I reached:

1) If the role doesn't involve some sort of violence or explosion (or best possible, a violent explosion), Willis is lost as an actor.

2) The kid getting an Oscar nod made me doubt my faith in God. (ooh, a rhyme)

3) I was completely justified in sitting on my friend's head until he reimbursed me for the gas I burned going over to his house.

So ends the saga.

~mike

A handful of replies
 

Big Trouble in Little China: I bought the DVD a month or two ago. Classic cheese.

Empire Strikes Back: Sorry if I pissed in someone's teakettle by not immediately recognizing this movie's genius, but that's because I haven't personally seen the movie (or any other Star Wars movie beyond the first). I know it's critically acclaimed as the best of the series, if that's any consolation.

From my (then-around-eleven-years-old) perspective, ESB appeared to be an excuse to crank out dozens and dozens of action figures and other paraphrenalia, and I didn't get why so many people were buying into it. Twenty years of perspective since then have allowed for the possibility that ESB was a good film on its own merits, but RotJ and CERTAINLY the new flicks are strictly merchandising vehicles. ESB just doesn't interest me, that's all, much less inspire me to go out and change my religion to "Jedi".

LotR: First off, I'm likely avoiding the movie on principle strictly because I enjoyed the books too much and I know I'd pick the movie apart. From what I've heard, it's a surprisingly faithful rendition, but it also gave Liv Tyler a big role and that's death in my book. ;) (If a zeppelin crashed into the Tyler household and took out the whole clan, I wouldn't weep. Aerosmith was a good band... in 1978... and I have yet to find evidence that anything beyond Liv's surname qualifies her for acting.)

The reason Tolkien's works were so great is the level of detail he used in creating his fantasy world, and large amounts of that will be inevitably lost in the translation to the big screen. Same thing happened with Herbert's Dune.

As for the sequels... part of me does like the idea that it's being thought of as a three-part project, but part of me does recoil at the "We know part 1 will be a hit, so we'll automatically crank out 2 and 3" mentality. The idea that they'd base the design of the sequels on "breakout characters" in the first film doesn't really apply here, IMHO -- it's based on a static work that's over 50 years old, not we'll-make-it-up-as-we-go-along like the Star Wars movies. They only have so much leeway to change things before the fanboys revolt.

Sixth Sense: Didn't impress me much, especially near the end. Unbreakable was crap, PARTICULARLY at the end. If M. Night didn't have to put endings on his movies, he'd be a helluva filmmaker. ;)

Religion: has its good points. Organized religion has its extremely bad points. Devotion to the latter (rather than the former) has destroyed more lives than anything else over the last two millennia. Scientology and organized Christianity have a lot more in common than most Christians want to admit -- largely because the two "religions" have more in common than the average practicing Christian's beliefs have with either of them.

Travolta: boring actor, had one solid role in a movie (PF) that cranked his career back into high gear, has generally gone back to sucking every since.

Willis: See Travolta, though I'll give him Die Hard as well (though that was more a creature of pacing and suspense than of acting skill).

Movies that fuck with your mind: I'll take Terry Gilliam's trilogy (Time Bandits, Brazil, Baron Munchausen) for $100, Alex.

Great stupid movie: Anything Troma has ever put out.

jeff. That oughta hold me for a while...

Well, I just got back from watching "A Beautiful Mind'. Wow... what a ride. It's a trip.


**SPOILER**


I imagine many of you will find this movie boring. But, like I said before, I love movies that mess with your mind. Movies that make you question reality itself and your own perceptions are just freakin' cool.

So, anyway, this movie is about John Nash. He's this brilliant Mathematican who gets Schizophrenia. The way that this movie delivers on that is unique, so I won't go into the details of the movie so as not to spoil that part too much.

Can you imagine what it must be like to suddently realize that half the people you've known for like 10 years were all just in your head? Your best friend.. your boss.. your friend's daughter. Nope -- i'm sorry, you're a freakin' nutjob. These people don't exist, even though they're standing right there in front of you.
Your job never existed -- i'm sorry that was all in your head. We all look upon you with pity now -- because your senses lie to you.


I used to be heavy into witchcraft, many years ago. I have since then taken on a very logical approch to life and become agnostic. I believe in the scientific method now. I like to think that I now have high standards of proof.

But, because of that history of trying to actively exercise my mind, i am very good at imagining things. If I try, i can literally see anything I want to see, just by imagining it. I can tell it's not real, because I can see through it. But it's real enough to pick out the details.

Sometimes I involuntarily find myself imagining giant wasps or bees. It's really freaky, because they're as big as me. But I know i'm only imagining it so i just ignore it.

I would never be fooled by my imagination, because it doesn't look real. But it's still creepy.

Also, I think that I have a fairly good auditory memory. Sometimes, in order to remember a sequence of numbers, I will say them out-loud to myself. It's easier to remember the sound of me saying the numbers than it is to just remember the thought of the numbers. So, I just play back that audio of my voice over and over again. I can only hold it in my head for so long before it goes away, though.

But anyway, my point is that I could really see myself hearing voices. Now don't get me wrong, I don't. But i can imagine what someone's voice sounds like, and play back the audio in my head of them saying certain things and listen to it.

So, given something wrong going in in the brain, I could very easily see Schizophrenia happening. I can already hear and see things if i actively try..although it's definitely only pseudo-real and only if i'm trying. I imagine it only takes something very small going wrong in the brain for this to happen.

Anyway...heheh... now that you're all sure i'm certifiably crazy, let me just say i've never done any drugs. I don't even smoke cigarretes or drink alcohol. I have a strong belief in having control over ones own mind, and these things undermine my control. Most people don't understand that, but that's just how I feel.


So, I really identified with this movie. I'm pretty sure i'm not crazy, but I totally could see myself hearing voices and seeing things. It could happen.

Amelie from Montmartre
 

Finally saw Amelie from Montmartre last night. More than an hour on the train because none of the multiplex cinemas will be showing it for a few weeks yet. <sigh>

This was a romantic movie. Not the schmaltzy "Meg Ryan / Tom Hanks" variety, though. It was exciting and tender and fun. Better than anything else I've seen these holidays.

Including FOTR. Yes, really. Don't get me wrong, Fellowship was an epic, and I'll be going again. But Amelie is just the kind of quirky, eccentric flick that I hang out for.

The Talanted Mr Ripley
 

Is a seriously fucking warped film, walked out of that felling really disturbed. good.

If anyone caught it last night, the American Film Institute was giving out its awards, and the Best Picture of 2001 went to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

If any of you have not seen this movie, do so urgently. This is one of those rare occurrences where a fantasy story is made into a movie and is not turned into a cheesy form of science-fiction. There is a lot of CGI, but it by no means takes over the the film, rather, it supports a fantastic cast. If it doesn't make a strong showing in the Oscars, I will have to hunt down the Academy.

~mike

I saw it this weekend and catch it if you can. Visually wonderful. It uses color and camera technique to express emotional states. very cool.
Very intimate. Follow with a bottle of red wine.

Snatch.

I can't get enough of this movie. I really do think I could watch it 40 times over. And Brad Pitt once again proves that he's not a prettyboy. Damn good movie. I think I might go home and watch it.

Snatch was great. One of my friends didn't like it, but he's got an odd taste in movies sometimes.

Do you guys ever frequent MovieLens? It's a movie recommendation site. Rate movies you've seen (good and bad, 5 star scale) and it'll recommend movies based on what other people have rated, and also predict ratings.

You can set up groups, so a whole bunch of you can see something that you all should like.

It's a lot of fun. I haven't tried getting any recommendations from it lately, but every time I update my ratings, it's got me pegged most of the time. Eerie.

Ellen and I are going to try out the group recommendation option for shits and giggles and see how well it works.

The biggest problem I have with it is that LOTS of the recommendations are for foreign movies. Not that this is a bad thing -- except that I can't rent them anywhere out here. Culture and diversity are two things that don't really make it out here.

By the by, Pecker is a hilarious, if disturbing, movie.

Happy Birthday, Elvis
 

http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/imag...hoto_elvis.jpg

Elvis starred in 31 feature films as an actor and two theatrically released concert documentary films, all of which enjoyed financial success. For a number of years he was one of Hollywood’s top box office draws and one of its highest-paid actors. His two most critically acclaimed films, Jailhouse Rock (1957) and King Creole (1958) have become classics of their era. His movies and concert films enjoy a healthy life today in television syndication and home video sales and rentals. Some of his top-selling music came from his movies. Eleven of his movie soundtrack albums went to the top ten, and of those, four went to number one. The soundtrack for G.I. Blues (1960), was number one on the Billboard Top 100 album chart for 10 weeks and remained on the chart for 111 weeks. The album from Blue Hawaii was number one for 20 weeks and was on the chart for 79 weeks.

Visit www.elvis.com or see an Elvis movie tonight.

Brazil
 

It is here. It is now.

The Maltese Falcon
 

Practically invented the film noir genre... Humphrey Bogart plays Spade as if he was born to play him (which he probably was)... The casting is superb from the devious Mary Astor to the slimy Peter Lorre.

Hopefully, Hollywood will never get around to remaking it.

Anybody see A Mighty Wind yet? Its supposed to be the folkie version of Spinal Tap.

I saw a commercial for it last night...it looks funny.

There's an article in the latest "Rolling Stone" (Good Charlotte is on the cover) about Christopher Guest. (At least that's where I think I sawr it.) ...and that's if you can stomach RS anymore. It's a bit too poppy for me these days, though the articles are funny sometimes.

Anger Management
 

Just went to see this one tonight.

There were bits that were a little slow moving, but there are some gut bustingly funny scenes in there ... two words ... "Buddhist Monks"!!

There are also a number of cameos ... some VERY unexpected ones.

I spent a lot of time making a point of not watching Adam Sandler movies, which, I find, has been a mistake. I loved this, and also thought Big Daddy was a much funnier movie than the commericials indicated.

Caught Chicago last night. Very cool! Managed to pick a local (Melanie Gage) out of the crowd. Richard Gere, much as I hate to say it, was pretty funny, apparently the guy cannot dance though.