Omnibus movies Q&A thread including trivia

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

]The Room
Finally saw this so-bad-it's-good flick. Everyone in the theatre - and it was a very rowdy crowd - was shouting back at the movie's terrible dialogue and clunky plot, which made it both bearable and hilarious. My favorite bit was when, during the party scene, several guys ran up on stage left and jumped up and down, waving and calling out to Tommy Wiseau. Just as they knew he would, he finally looked their way and waved, so they cheered and ran back to their seats.

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Good, you broke your cherry. I don't think I have a nice crisp hundred to put in your pocket, but you earned it.

Geez. That is a tough one to get through, all the "slow jam" music -- it's worth it though, it's so ridiculous.


Almost not, you gotta know by instinct when to avert your eyes.\

Meh, the Rifftrax commentary is kind of funny, I think it's about six bucks or something.

Yeah, well, I guess everyone has to watch The Room without any aids at least once. Pretty hard to get through.

But I will reaffirm my sort-of-approval of that little docu-thing with that guy from Freaks and Geeks and so forth.

All the same. I couldn't imagine sitting through The Room just, for fun -- it's pretty hard to get through.

Yep, I definitely have breast cancer!

Shut up. Now you're making me remember all the ridiculous shit about "movie"!

Yesterday saw again Blues Brothers, which I had also seen a few months ago again and had a less favorable opinion.

However, I now find it to be an acceptable movie with a wide variety of satisfactory performances.

James Brown did just fine as the preacher man -- never noticed him before in this one, probably because I was paying attn to Ray and Aretha.

Also, the opening scene with the great blues standard "She Caught the Katy" rules. Great song. I do it in Bb, just cause that's who taught me the tune did it in, but I have no idea.

Oh, since we're on keys, my biggest laugh of the movie was when the boys are playing the chicken-wire joint, "Let's do it in A -- that's a good country key!"

FYI, George Jones' "White Lightning" is done in A as well.

I'm sure, very fascinating.

Well, I thought it was funny. Because it's true!

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

when the survivors of The Canoe Trip From Hell are having dinner in the humble home of a friendly Appalachian couple. Just the simple kindness of being offered a bowl of mashed potatoes is, after their harrowing experience, enough to reduce one of them to tears.

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You know, I think I have a memory of that scene.

Here's TMI, but it reminds me of a time about...how many....J, B, some guy I can't remember, was the girl w....anyway, four or five buddies decided to take about four or five hits of strong acid and just go walk to camp out side, just, you know, sleeping bags, whatever you can carry, up in the woods behind the big plywood "M" that stands on a hill right west of Missoula.

Yeah we all came back to "The Oxford" restaurant/bar in Missoula the next day pretty rough looking and the waitress (a VERY cute young lady, who I was pleased enough to get to know a bit later -- just as a person, she didn't let me intromit) sort of intuited what the score was and did an exemplary job of loading us up with hashbrowns and the like.

Never mind.

"Intromit." Heh.

I confess I've never seen The Blues Brothers all the way through. Someday!

Yeah, well, EH, you're a giant nerd, so the ample Carrie Fisher (sp?) footage should be enough.

Good music stuff in it, anyway.

ANYWAY. Cool Hand Luke kind of resonates in a new way with me -- my new job is essential the same as picking cotton, except heavier cotton and for a bigger company.

Shit.

It would be nice to get off work and not have my shirt be soaked through with sweat, completely soaked.

Well, whatever.

Oh. You know what would better? If HR and management weren't incompetent jackasses. But hell, there are guys over seventy doing the same job I'm doing. Judas priest, some real old fuckers out on the floor, so while I fantasize about drowning whichever bitch or faggot supervisor in the toilet, I can get inspired to do as good as the next guy or gal.

Excuse my French. Hell, I should have probably just said it in French, like I do when picking my cotton and wanting to say something real filthy.

Putain, putasse, pas de quoi.

ETA Not that there's anything wrong with that. Judas priest, I don't I've ever over the past two weeks shucking cotton I've ever said the words "cocksucker," "motherfucker," "son of a whore bitch," and the like just under my breath, out of earshot of anybody.

Feels good, for some unknown reason. "Suck my dick you fucking ass cart, get that bitch unlocked, motherfuck you cocksucking ass shit piece of shit get your ass moving."

And so forth.

I should warsh my mouth out with soap, except I dislike having diarrhea and an upset stomach.

Understandably enough, Jizz.

My latest five:

Slumdog Millionaire
Hadn't seen it since it first came out. Not likely to be promoted by the India Tourism Bureau, but an engaging, star-crossed love story.

Toy Story 2
Sheriff Woody is kidnapped by a ruthless toy salesman, and his buddies set out to rescue him. Funny, heartwarming, and a worthy sequel to the first movie. (I think the Cheetos scene is my favorite).

Toy Story 3
Not quite as good as the first and second, I'd say, but still a pretty good movie, and it ended the series (at least for the moment) on a high note.

In Search of Fellini
A sheltered Ohio girl has her mind blown by the films of the Italian auteur, and naively sets out to meet him. A nice movie-loving romance that would be particularly appreciated by Fellini fans. Some of this movie was filmed near me, and it was fun to spot familiar sights.

The Road Movie
A collection of found footage from Russian dashcams (I guess they’re quite common there) showing accidents, a bear in the road, a police chase, an army tank being washed, more accidents, road rage freakouts, lightning strikes, the 2013 Chelyabinsk meteor, a woman accidentally setting her own car on fire, etc. Very offbeat and interesting.

Dark City -- I don't think I've ever sat through this all the way. I've gotten it confused with a similarly-titled movie with Kyle McCloughlin (sp?).

That is a really fucking strange movie -- quite a few good lines of dialogue, but I can't recall them and didn't jot them down in Vim (text editor).

I like that the evil doctor guy REALLY resembles the truffle-hog-sounding guy from Raiders/Lost Ark..."Your fire is dying....eehhhhehhhhehhh...."

Very good dark mish-mash of a few different genres. I don't think it can really be compared to anything -- sui generis! I approve!

FYI, in case anyone forgot, Gen. Turgidson's "secretary" (sp?) in one of the first scenes of Dr. Strangelove is extremely appealing. She had good...hairstyle.

MEIN FÜHRER, I CAN WALK!!!!!!!!

Just rewatching a bit for inspiration after a ... difficult ... morning shift, Pretty As A Picture: The Art of David Lynch

I think it's like a textbook in one exemplary way to exist as a quasi-independent artist -- filmmaker, in this case.

Very instructive, and a beautifully done documentary.

Here's a bit of semi-trivia: I completely forgot Martin Scorsese has a pretty lengthy speaking role in Tavernier's Round Midnight, the only movie AFAICR I ever bought the soundtrack to (on CD thank you very much).

Playing sort of a stereotypical NYer, full of enthusiasms for his city.

Aside from his bit in Taxi Driver, I don't recall him acting much in movies.

I suspect he was pretty coked up.

Semi-trivia that weirdo "Knox Harrington," "the video artist" from The Big Lebowski was played by the great David Thewlis.

I'm a big admirer of his interpretation of various Beckett plays, and for some other stuff, but I never even considered that might be him.

Question: how'd they get him to do a throwaway bit part, anyway? I imagine his agent sent him at least part of the script and said, "Hey, wanna do something fun in a Coen Bros. movie? One day of shooting, and it might be fun!"

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

The Room
Finally saw this so-bad-it's-good flick. Everyone in the theatre - and it was a very rowdy crowd - was shouting back at the movie's terrible dialogue and clunky plot, which made it both bearable and hilarious. My favorite bit was when, during the party scene, several guys ran up on stage left and jumped up and down, waving and calling out to Tommy Wiseau. Just as they knew he would, he finally looked their way and waved, so they cheered and ran back to their seats.

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Oh HI! Room watcher! Yes, is meant to be watched in full room of peoples, because so you can see like the olden Hollywood when we make the movies for so everyone can watch, for everyone!

Don't worry about it!

You know I don't drink alcohols1 You so beautiful, Lisa, you think of e'erythings! Pizza!

Oh HI! Denny! Yes, come on in, Lisa was just telling me about her day. Computer business is so competitive!

Thewlis was also in the most recent season of Fargo (based on another Coen Bros. work, obviously) and was creepily good.

You obviously know The Room pretty well.

I think I might be a dickhead, but Apocalypse Now (Redux) might be my favorie movie.

Yeah, so I'm not a high-class connoisseur, and I hate all that stunt-locatiobn bullshit.

Still.

I luff the Franch plantation stuff.

"You know noffing about ze Franch mentality! We stay!"

Course it was their fucking war. Bastrda.

I bet you will love love love this documentary, as I did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts...27s_Apocalypse

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

I bet you will love love love this documentary, as I did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts...27s_Apocalypse

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Absolutely. The two separate commentaries by Coppola and his wife are a gem.

"I think I swallowed a bug!"

ETA Unfortunately, there was another adaptation from the 1990s with Tim Roth and Malkovich....not very impressive, at all, called Heart of Darkness IIRC.

The John Milius interview bits from the doc were great -- he seemed like a regular guy, but apparently everyone thinks he's this raving lunatic. Maybe he was on best behavior.

The character of Walter (John Goodman) in The Big Lebowski is supposedly loosely based on Milius.

The bug line was great (and was later repeated in Good Will Hunting and Serenity). My favorite bit from the documentary, though, was when the Filipino military helicopters, painted with U.S. Army Vietnam-era markings, are ordered away from filming in order to fight an ongoing Communist insurgency nearby. History repeats itself! Coppola just shakes his head.

They're taking away my helicopters! I was promised those choppers!!!!! And now I have no choppers!

You 'Mericans, you are fighting ze biggest nothing in ze world! No! Zees is our home! Before ve came, there was noffing! You 'Mericans you know nuffing about ze French mentality!

The movie version of The Odd Couple.

That is funny as shit -- and talk about chemistry, Lemmon and Matthau.

I've only seen a few episodes of the TV show, and I know the theme from Don Patterson (Hammond organist) and his album The Return of Don Patterson (IIRC).

The movie is fucking great, though.

Supposedly it has the most jokes per minute of any movie (?) something like that I heard somewhere.

ETA Although Oscar's apt? Where the hell does he live? That's like a fucking mansion in Manhattan. Tut-tut. That's a $6000/month apartment today at least.

Odd Couple is awesome. The show was very good for its time. It is dated now and Felix is too annoying to ever want to marathon the show. The movie was incredible. I would have loved to see the play's first cast with Matthau & Art Carney. I've heard it was perfect.

I just watched X-Men (2000) Friday and it is actually a bad movie without any charm and makes little sense in the end.
Contracting that I just saw Avengers Infinity War yesterday and that was a fun movie with a great mix of humor and action. The acting is surprisingly solid. I really walked out having thoroughly enjoyed it.

Haha. It's not spaghetti, Oscar. It's linguine.

No. It's garbage.

Oh, for a while I've been trying to run down a copy of Key Largo, since WE? reminded me of it.

It's actually got some good dialogue. The plot's...kind of dumb, and Bogey didn't really have much to work with, not to mention Bacall, but it's a much better movie than I remember it from when I was a kid.

Not a great movie, but there's some nice little things in there. Granted all the gun play is SUPER corny. And it looks like it was photographed by a blind man. And edited by the same.

Still, it has a few good moments in it, mostly in the first "act" (god I hate that terminology applied to movies, but that's the way, I guess).

ETA Yeah, so 8-room apartment, I'm guessing upper West side, based on nothing but intuition. That's a 10K/month apartment now, I'm guessing, and I doubt he owned the apartment. That's just my WAG. Maybe it was different back then.

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Originally posted by What Exit?

I just watched X-Men (2000) Friday and it is actually a bad movie without any charm and makes little sense in the end.

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Oh, well thank you very much for reminding me.

Although the Rifftrax sort of made it watchable.

I hate all the X-Men movies with the fire of a thousand suns. They are just fucking dumb.

They're uneven, I'll admit, and by and large aren't as good as the Marvel movies, but I've found something to enjoy in just about all of them.

My most recent five:

Phantom Thread
Gorgeous, very well-acted tale of a control-freak fashion designer in Fifties London and his new model and muse. They become lovers and quite a bit more to each other. The movie gets seriously (and, I thought, implausibly) weird in the last act, but is still worth seeing.

Avengers: Infinity War
Fun, action-packed superhero adventure. I didn't think they could give so many characters so much to do, but everyone gets their moment in the spotlight, and it all works surprisingly well.

Did You Wonder Who Fired the Gun
Disappointing documentary about a racist's murder of an innocent black man in 1946 small-town Alabama. Seems like the filmmaker (grandson of the alleged killer) had about ten minutes worth of home movies and other footage, and then just padded it out as much as he possibly could.

Hitler vs. Picasso
Another disappointing documentary, this one about the Nazis' widespread theft of art during WWII. Interesting topic but not at all a gripping movie - I actually nodded off several times. Too bad.

Sleeper
Very funny Woody Allen sf spoof, about a nebbishy guy defrosted after centuries in suspended animation and asked to join an uprising against a bungling totalitarian state. My favorite bit: Allen, in a panic, orders his tiny, utterly unthreatening robot dog ("Woof woof! Hello, I'm Rags!") to attack an intruder.

Aaaaaaand my next recent five:

Blade Runner 2049
Saw it for a second time on the big screen - a worthy successor to the original, which has long been a favorite of mine. Ryan Gosling is excellent as a replicant cop, and it's great to see Harrison Ford return to the Deckard role. Terrific production design of a fully-realized, high-tech, dystopic L.A.

Restored Laurel & Hardy Shorts
A collection of black and white comedy shorts starring the one-fat one-skinny, one-American one-British pair of comedians. Very funny. The best part was "Brats," where L&H play (thanks to different costumes and a duplicate studio set with oversized furniture) both themselves and their bratty sons.

Vincent van Gogh: A New Way of Seeing
A very well-done, beautiful documentary on the artist, his troubled personal life and his amazing paintings, now among the most valuable in the world (although he sold very few during his own lifetime). Highly recommended.

12 Days
A documentary about how French courts handle cases involving the mentally ill, who are entitled to hearings after 12 days if involuntarily committed. One very sympathetic man in Paris, we learn only at the end of his appearance before a judge, killed his own father.

Deadpool 2
Like the first one (which I'd say is a little better), it's very funny, really raunchy, incredibly violent, and breaks the fourth wall at every opportunity. Two thumbs up.

Melancholic mood, some rain showers outside, some irritating tasks to assist with, and muscle aches comparable but less than broken fingers, so, of course:

Blade Runner (Final Cut).

Always catch a few things I hadn't noticed. I have no memory about Roy Batty's head coming through the wall and saying "You better get it up, or I'm gonna have to kill you!"

Seems like something I would have remembered.

I guess I have to enter in the whole debate thing: yeah, I like it better without the voiceover narration, and I prefer this unambiguous ending.

Keep in mind, I have no idea exactly which other versions I've watched, in what order, or how many times, or whatever. I did read the Dick story/novella, but I don't think that has anything to do with the movie, really, not much.

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Originally posted by Jizzelbin

without the voiceover narration, and I prefer this unambiguous ending.

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All right, I've closed the book on this one.

There are a few clues about who or why or how various people have "issues" with the "ending" of this movie/story.

Here's why they're wrong.

(i) Internal consistency is not a problem for the adept viewer/reader. It can become a problem for some who are concerned about such things, but, it's only an effect of the medium and can be hand-waved away in a satisfactory fashion, and appropriately, by several methods. None of those acceptable methods have much to do with things like "well, in Book I, Ariosto rode away and in Book VII, Lancelot had a new bride, my head explode!"

(ii) A movie is smaller, not larger, than the kinds of fantasies admirers of such works can admit. IOW, there is no flux capacitor, there is no warp drive, there is no goddamned shit.

(iii) At the same time, I refer to Mann's paragraphs in Faustus, about the context of Beethovens's Op. 111. There's a room for historical satisfaction of conditions. But it is a small room.

I like Blade Runner's original hard-boiled voiceover narration. Still, I'm glad Ridley Scott removed the visible wires suspending the LAPD Spinners in later cuts of the movie, as well as correcting Bryant's dialogue as to how many replicants were on the loose, and the CGI fix for the stunt double to give her Zhora's face as she crashed through the glass walls. On the other hand, I didn't like him adding red highlights to Deckard's eyes in one of the apartment scenes. Deckard was no replicant, I still think.

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

I like Blade Runner's original hard-boiled voiceover narration. Still, I'm glad Ridley Scott removed the visible wires suspending the LAPD Spinners in later cuts of the movie, as well as correcting Bryant's dialogue as to how many replicants were on the loose, and the CGI fix for the stunt double to give her Zhora's face as she crashed through the glass walls. On the other hand, I didn't like him adding red highlights to Deckard's eyes in one of the apartment scenes. Deckard was no replicant, I still think.

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Wow. That's a pretty impressive memory for detail. I never would have noticed the special effects improvements -- in this case, I'd say they were real improvements, not Lucas-style "improvements."

Deckard probably shouldn't be a replicant, but that's as far as I'm willing to say on the subject. The red eyes was cheesy, but I think Ridley Scott might be like a hundred years old now, so in 2006-2007 he might have had the dementia. Maybe he didn't get it up.

And, since the first several times I saw the movie was with the voiceover, I remember it having been just fine and very much a nice touch. Don't miss it, though, now that it's gone.

Right, Bryant's something like "Four, something something voigt-kampfed at Tyrell's escaped something something." I guess that's what you mean -- I don't remember what changed from the earlier versions, but there was something odd, either in the street, or earlier in the office ("You wouldn't have come if I'd asked you") I recall.

Checked and cleared. Have a better one.

Lost Highway. Not all that an interesting movie, but it does have one of the nicer car scenes, maybe the best outside of a car chase movie.

"Tell me you're going to get a copy of the driver's manual! And you're gonna study that motherfucker!"

SW The Last Jedi is not so bad, if you turn off all most of the sound (the music leaks through, but fortunately none of the dialogue) and "watch" it with the RiffTrax commentary.

Roast porg does sound pretty good, though. Although I'm not sure about skinning them or plucking their feathers (or whatever they have) -- sounds like a lot of work.

Yes, I'm a big Blade Runner fan, so I'm pretty familiar with all the different versions of the movie. Here's more on the how-many-replicants fix: http://bladerunner.wikia.com/wiki/Th...ade_Replicants

My latest five films seen:

Hercules
Pretty good animated Disney musical, although it takes a lot of liberties with ancient Greek legend. James Woods steals the show playing the villain Hades as a sleazy, cutthroat Hollywood-style mogul. Terrific production design, and good but most forgettable songs.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Disappointing superhero movie, as Spidey faces off against Electro, who wants to absorb all the electrical power in NYC, while trying to save his girlfriend.

Buena Vista Social Club
Wim Wenders-directed 1999 documentary about several aging Cuban musicians who enjoy unexpected public acclaim very late in life as their music is rediscovered and appreciated anew. Great music and some heartwarming moments.

Solo: A Star Wars Story
Average SW movie showing a young Han Solo as he loses and then finds his childhood sweetheart, meets and befriends Chewbacca, and faces off against the Empire, interstellar gangsters and a very suave Lando Calrissian.

The Incredibles
Still my favorite Pixar movie, a fun, clever, exciting film about a superhero family and their various adventures. Outstanding cinematography and one great action sequence after another. I saw it again to have it fresh in my mind before seeing the long-delayed Incredibles 2.

Five Easy Pieces. Yeah. Well, just an amuse-bouche yesterday morning waiting for that asshole sleeping on my futon to wake up.

Inner Life of Glenn Gould. Yeah, just looking for something to shut my fucking uncle the shut the hell up.

AHHH

The classics

What about how's it about to ask "Kay" out on a "date."

Boy, it's very true to life. A boy's life.

(It's a 1950s/early 1960s "Instructional" short "film" about some high-school geek who has trouble asking Morgan Kay out on a date. Highly amusing.)

ETA HOLY FUCKING SHIT the girl "Kay" in the flick actually kind of resembles WareGirl, i.e., my would-be date-ess, if I wasn't such a chicken-shit no-nuts asshole.

Eh, no way, it's hardcore porn from multiple angles on a first date or nothing for me.

It is one of the better MST3K of the "instructional" "movies," though — I suggest watching.

Thanks. I tried it, but it didn't grab me.

My most recent five:

36 Hours
A World War II thriller about a U.S. Army major (James Garner) who's the focus of an elaborate Nazi hoax. The bad guys try to convince him that he's the victim of partial amnesia years after the war ended, in order to trick him into revealing details of the D-Day landing. A clever premise and a pretty good movie.

Incredibles 2
A very worthy sequel to the Pixar superhero-family original - lots of fun, lots of laughs, great action sequences and beautiful animation.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Ben Stiller stars as a nerdy Life magazine photoarchivist with an active fantasy life. He has to leave his comfort zone to find an elusive celebrity photographer (Sean Penn, understated, bemused and perfect in the role) and locate an important picture. Heartwarming and funny.

Le Corbeau
A 1943 B&W French melodrama about a small French village torn apart by the revelations of a series of poison-pen letters sent anonymously to leading citizens. OK, but not as good a movie as it might have been.

Spider-Man: Homecoming
Funny, exciting reboot of the Spider-Man stories, with a new actor, Tom Holland, doing very well in the part. Lots of good tie-ins to the MCU.

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

Le Corbeau
A 1943 B&W French melodrama about a small French village torn apart by the revelations of a series of poison-pen letters sent anonymously to leading citizens. OK, but not as good a movie as it might have been.

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Nice choice.

Yeah, perhaps not a great movie judged outside of context (the war and everything), but it's deservedly a classic.

If I had to guess, the visual style of the picture influenced a good many later Fr pictures of the 1950s — very different than the more traditional "poetic realist" style that went out of fashion in the 1940s. Something like "Les dames du Bois de Boulogne" or many Bresson movies seem to owe a lot.

And Clouzot was himself a major artist in film, although his career was uneven, marked by high peaks and low valleys.

I hope I didn't make a mistake, but I'm pretty sure that was H.-G. Clouzot.

ETA WTF???? From the Wikipedia page, "The film was released on DVD by The Criterion Collection. This DVD is out of print." This is one of the most famous movies of all time, and OUT OF PRINT?

Well, that's pretty much the strangest thing I'll hear all week.

Table 19: Shortish Anna Kendrick Comedy/drama. Saw it last night when I couldn't sleep. It moved well and was entertaining. Could be the lack sleep but I found it quite good.

The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) was a nice surprise also. Ryan Reynolds wasn't bad in this one, a rarity for him. Meanwhile , Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek were great in it and drove this fast pace action comedy. Gary Oldman was solid if nothing special.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) was not very good, entertaining enough but a bad movie overall. Julianne Moore as the villain was pretty weak. Hell the movie was weak with a few good jokes from Elton John of all people.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) was terrible. Slow, muddled and lost. I gave up 45 minutes into this waste.

Battle of the Sexes (2017) about Bill Jean King and Bobby Riggs is also slow. I stopped about a third of the way through it but will eventually resume I think. I have to say, Steve Carell as Bobby Riggs was perfect.

Josey Wales: Great movie, really great movie. I think might be the best Western.
A Fistful of Dollars (1964): Very good western with a good soundtrack.
Justice League was nearly as bad as advertised. Yuck!

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Originally posted by What Exit?

Josey Wales: Great movie, really great movie. I think might be the best Western.
A Fistful of Dollars (1964): Very good western with a good soundtrack.
Justice League was nearly as bad as advertised. Yuck!

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I won't argue with you about Josey Wales. It's not my favorite, but it's certainly a great movie. Not one of those I want to rewatch every single time I want to watch a Western, but it's a very good movie, and is culturally important.

Among the Leone/Eastwood Westerns...

I want to know if WhatsYourExit? (:)) has as much affection as I do for For A Few Dollars More.

For my money, I'd watch Once Upon A Time in the West tied with For a Few Dollars More, and then if I wanted to watch an uneven, but iconic movie, particularly in the restored "extra scenes" edition, the classic, ummm, The Good the Bad the Ugly.

But I've seen the most multiple times of the Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott westerns from the 1950s. Each of them did do a number of not-so-good movies, but for those seven or eight movies, they, for me, really defined a new kind of American Western.

Of the 4 Leone Westerns I like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly the best. I will probably be re-watching For a Few Dollars More in the next week or 2. I'll report back then.
I can't recall a single Randolph Scott western I liked. But to be honest I don't love that many westerns. Only a few of the John Wayne westerns work for me. True Grit is my favorite of his.

Check out the Coen Bros. remake of True Grit, which is quite good. Also Appaloosa, a more recent Western starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen (definitely not playing Aragorn!) as two no-nonsense hired guns.

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

Check out the Coen Bros. remake of True Grit, which is quite good. Also Appaloosa, a more recent Western starring Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen (definitely not playing Aragorn!) as two no-nonsense hired guns.

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+1 for Appaloosa. I'm sorry I didn't keep a hard copy of that one — a very good movie, that I'd never heard about before here. Both Harris (natch) and Mortensen were outstanding gunslingers.

About John Wayne: I don't know about his True Grit — it has its moments, but I'd put Red River, Rio Bravo, Rio Lobo up against any other Western any day of the week. Some of the Civil War-era John Ford ones are classics, but I don't really count those as classic Westerns, for some reason.

Randolph Scott made so many crummy IMHO Westerns pre-1950s (like unwatchably bad, pretty much), but stuff like The Tall T, The Hanging Tree, and that whole cycle of Ranown Production movies really can't be beat. He really hit his stride as an older actor — nobody else really had his character/persona in the Westerns. Unique.

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Originally posted by Jizzelbin

But I've seen the most multiple times of the Budd Boetticher/Randolph Scott westerns from the 1950s. Each of them did do a number of not-so-good movies, but for those seven or eight movies, they, for me, really defined a new kind of American Western.

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And, of course, the Joel McRea/Randolph Scott great, Ride The High Country.

I forgot about Hank Fonda, Joel McRea (sp?), and...the tall guy from Montana...eh, Gary Cooper!

For my money I'd say The Wild Bunch is about the best "western" — but it gets difficult because of the overlap of the US Civil War and the "gunslinger" era.

I'd like to see, pace Roger Ebert a Good/Bad/Ugly edited down a bit. And in recollection, For A Few Dollars More wasn't that great — I just like Lee Van Cleef and think he's a badass gunslinger.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Once Upon A Time In The West.

Drops mic.

That is all that needs to be said.

While For A Few Dollars More is iconic, it isn't that great a movie.

"WHSHAW

THWACK.

TWACK.

TWACK."

—Donnie Yen to the bleach-blond bad guy in SPL: Kill Zone

I never got back to For a Few Dollars More

I finished Battle of the Sexes: a movie of the famous tennis match between Billy Jean King & Bobby Riggs. It was interesting and Steve Carrell was dead on perfect as Bobby Riggs but the movie was slow and maybe didn't really have enough to work with for a full length movie.

Watched 1941 with my son a few night back, it is a seriously flawed movie, too much going on, Spielberg failed to weave the stories together in a good way. But it did have some very funny parts and is not terrible.

Watched Stripes the night before that. That's the fact, ... Jack! This movie is dating, but still funny. It doesn't really take off until they are finishing bootcamp. Almost the opposite of Full Metal Jacket.

Blues Brothers: still awesome, still only runs on the rule of funny, still awesome.