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Thread: Omnibus movies Q&A thread including trivia

  1. #851
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    I tried watching Aquaman yesterday. It was worse than I expected. So so bad. I am seriously burning out on Super Hero movies. Aquaman maybe has the worst backstory of the major superhero movies so far. So many holes in it I could drive a ballistic sub through them.

  2. #852
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    Here's an amusing little detail I never noticed, for fans of the movie The Sting: check out when Harold Gould (I think that's the actor's name — I think his character's name in the movie is "Kid Twist" or something like that....anyway, one of the main grifters).

    So, they're going in to "paint" the Western Union office and he swaps out the picture on the guy's desk with a little portrait of him and, probably supposed to be his wife and daughter.

    No, trust me, actually look at the picture, and especially the expression on the guy's wife, I guess, face.

    That is one bad picture, man.

  3. #853
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    Hunh.

    I think I got it from one of those click-bait sites like cracked.com or some crap like that.

    Yeah it sure enough is true that the cabbie Argyle from Die Hard is the same actor who played the little kid trying to make away with the Srat from Ray Charles's music shop in The Blues Brothers

    So, I guess it's true even a blind pig finds the truffle sometimes.

  4. #854
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    My most recent five:

    Into the Storm
    Brendan Gleeson as Winston Churchill, leading Britain deeper into WWII and later looking back after his 1945 electoral defeat. Pretty good.

    Blade Runner
    Saw it yet again, this time with my youngest son, who hadn't seen it before (and liked it). Still a great movie and deservedly an sf classic.

    Labyrinth
    Having long heard about this cheesy Eighties fantasy David Bowie/quasi-Muppet movie, thought I'd check it out. I dozed off. Meh, although Jennifer Connelly is luminous.

    Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes
    Documentary about the legendary jazz recording label - founded, bizarrely enough, by two expatriate German guys in 1939. Great music throughout, with some interesting thoughts on how jazz endures and reinvents itself for every generation. A must-see for any jazz fan.

    Men in Black: International
    Not as bad as the reviews, but not nearly as good as the first film in the franchise. Good chemistry between the two leads, Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson (reunited after the Thor movies), though.

  5. #855
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    Speaking of Brendan Gleeson; I finally saw In Bruges, it was very good. Somewhere around an 8.5 out of 10. It starts a little slow but builds up very nicely. The ending was slightly annoying but only as I had just watched ...

    See you Yesterday: Not very good. The main character is a genius idiot. The ending pissed me off.
    Spoiler (mouseover to read):
    No ending, left it open.


    I just re-watched Kick-Ass. entertaining but its 7.6 rating on IMDB seems pretty much spot on. It isn't great, Mark Strong comes across as wasted in this. Nicholas Cage of course has a few Nicholas Cage moments.

    A League of Their Own: 27 years old now and still perfect. Tom Hanks & Geena Davis really shine in this but even the lesser actors were utilized and directed to perfection. Madonna, Rosie, Lori Petty delivered their best and Jon Lovitz 3 scenes have never been close to matched by him in his career. David Strathairn delivered a nuanced and solid performance as he continues to do. Garry Marshall was perfect in a Garry Marshall role.

    I love the movie and the music of the movie. Penny Marshall did great, her best work and Big was really excellent also.

    Enter the Warriors Gate was so blah, I forgot I watched it and it was only 6 days ago. Modern kid ends up in Martial Arts fantasy game world. Does stuff, pretty girl involved of course. blah blah blah. Nothing good or vaguely original.



    I love Labyrinth but I saw it at the movies when it was new. It just works for me. Bowie and Connelly were perfect in it and I love some of the Muppets, especially Sir Didymus & his dog the sometime dog, sometime Muppet. Odd note, Toby Froud who played the baby brother grew up and is still working with the Muppets. He did design work for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

  6. #856
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    Viva Knievel. Don't. Don't. Just plain no. Do not watch this movie. No. No. No. No. No. Fuck no. Horrible. No. Imagine your dick and/or clit getting caught in a rat trap. Then multiply it times a million gajillion. No. No. No. Never again. This is the Shoah of fucking movies. No. No. Do not ever. No.

    Wake Up Ron Burgundy. Ah. A pleasant "meh, whatever." It's bad, and it's stupid, and it's a dumb idea, but it's like .... well ... at least it's not that other thing.

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    In Bruges is truly great, and Gleeson is great in it (then again, I've never seen him bad in anything). Other films of his I'd highly recommend: Calvary (as an embattled priest in an Irish village) and The Guard (as a wily, pleasure-loving cop).

    Kick-Ass was a lot of fun; never saw the sequel, which didn't get nearly as good reviews.

    A League of Their Own
    is also very good. Haven't seen it in many years, but I probably should again.

  8. #858
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    No. I refuse to admit I grew up in an era when Over The Top represented even one small portion of American culture.

    I mean, come on. The shitty synth-rock music, heavy on the power bottom ballads? Yeah, sure. That happened, Sly Stallone trying to speak? Yeah. That happened. Greasy, mullet-haired little punks hanging around a video arcade? Yeah. Unfortunately that happened too. Vide The Lost Boys.

    Holy shit. This movie really does capture the mid 1980s in a bottle.

    And it is not a good flavor.

    +1 to Brendan Gleeson: he's a funny actor who has one of those unique gifts of only appearing in pretty amusing movies.

    A League of Their Own: you know, I saw it in the theater when it came out and was mightily amused, but I did indeed see about an hour or so of it not too long ago on a bar-room telelvision. I was much re-impressed, and knowing the viscissitudes of some of the actors since then only increased my enjoyment. Tom Hanks was great, but I don't think he'll ever do a dark, impish role like that again. It was probably Geena Davis's finest hour and best role. Oh, and the little patter between the commentators....I can't remember who they were. I don't know, like Hank Azaria or someone like that and whatsisface.

  9. #859
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    You know, I never realized how great the editing is in The Godfather when Michael has Carlo killed.

    The entire sequence was carefully scripted, shot, and edited to the coup de grâce of Michael attending and watching the whole fucking thing.

    No driving out to the countryside and "Hey, pull over, I gotta take a leak."

    Right there, in his fucking driveway.

  10. #860
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    The Godfather is probably the best movie ever made and yes that scene is an absolute masterpiece.

    TCM just showed "My Favorite Year", one of my favorite movies. It is more or less a fictionalize what if of when Errol Flynn appeared on Sid Caesar's Show of Shows. Benji Stone is mostly Mel Brooks and as a bonus Selma Diamond has a small role in it. She was one of the writers on the old show. Peter O'Toole playing the drunk aging actor was of course perfect acting.

    Everything else I've seen recently has been pretty forgettable except for "Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel". This low budget movie was a really nice surprise. Funny and entertaining.

  11. #861
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    Finally saw Avengers Endgame, too long but much better than Infinity War.

  12. #862
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    Captain Marvel: Seen it, way better than Aquaman but nothing great in the end. I don't really like how Fury lost his eye.

  13. #863
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    Here's what I think is a nice little wardrobe malfunction (I suppose it what it is) from The Godfather.

    Don't ask, I was just watching it now after a pretty bad day of life, just for no reason.

    So, yeah, when Tom Hagen stands up (after Vito does first) at the Sollozzo meeting, he buttons his jacket. Either the actor missed (doubtful, because, Duvall), or it was a prop costume without a top button on the coat, or it was a nice foreshadowing of "unfinished business" which, of course, we know how ends.

    It's almost conspiracy-level stuff, but eh, you never know.

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    Huh. Didn't notice that.

  15. #865
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    Oh, goddammit, I was tricked into watching the "reimagining" of that corny old Sammy Davis Jr. movie Oceans 11 by some cartoon on the something channel.

    Yes, this is not a movie one wishes to see more than once. It's the combination of the "stars": Cheadle, Clooney, Roberts, Pitt, Mac, yadda yadda. They're all fine performers. Somehow, together, they fail.

    When Elliot Gould or the guy from Godfather Part III are the most memorable actors of a movie, I don't think it's a good sign.

    Yeah, I've seen it before, I know the whole thing.

    At least there isn't some bloated turd living in a plot of stolen land smoking hippie crap surrounded by discarded animal carcasses in the movie, because those people exist IRL.

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    All right. You fucking lords of knowledge or whatever.

    WHY is it that every time I see Roy Scheider on the big screen he's got those motherfucking Elton John aviator regular glasses on? Yes, I was just reminded of it while watching Hunt for Red October again, but Blue Thunder, Jaws, All that jazz, every motherfucking thing.

    And to top it off, I'm still pretty sure Roy Scheider is the same as Scott Glen.

  17. #867
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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    All right. You fucking lords of knowledge or whatever.

    WHY is it that every time I see Roy Scheider on the big screen he's got those motherfucking Elton John aviator regular glasses on? Yes, I was just reminded of it while watching Hunt for Red October again, but Blue Thunder, Jaws, All that jazz, every motherfucking thing.

    And to top it off, I'm still pretty sure Roy Scheider is the same as Scott Glen.
    So that was confusing, I didn't remember Roy Scheider being in Hunt for Red October, but I realized you meant Scott Glen. I have no clue why you confuse them and never noticed the glasses.


    I saw "Yesterday" yesterday. $2.99 rental from Amazon, well worth it. Funny movie with great music. The Main character is a little annoying in dealing with the Romance part of the story but the movie worked very well. I won't spoiler anything, but some great scenes.

  18. #868
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    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    So that was confusing, I didn't remember Roy Scheider being in Hunt for Red October, but I realized you meant Scott Glen. I have no clue why you confuse them and never noticed the glasses.


    I saw "Yesterday" yesterday. $2.99 rental from Amazon, well worth it. Funny movie with great music. The Main character is a little annoying in dealing with the Romance part of the story but the movie worked very well. I won't spoiler anything, but some great scenes.
    No, I actually did think it was Roy Scheider in THFRO. But I realized it probably wasn't him sometime through the second "act" of the movie. It was then that paranoia started to take hold, just out of Barstow, and maybe what I thought were the same was different.

    Or something.

    But I do have the answer why I was confused: it's because they look exactly the same, at least when wearing those big eyeglasses. Leathery faces, short hair, athletic types, sort of always looked old but tough and grizzled. Both have done a lot of macho roles.

    I wonder if Yesterday featured the Beatles song of the same name. Even better would be a version of the old standard, "Yesterdays," which is a pretty kick-ass tune, even if it's a little bit overplayed.

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    I liked Yesterday, but it wasn't as good as it might've been. Seemed to be missing something, somehow... didn't do as much with its intriguing premise as it could have.

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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    I liked Yesterday, but it wasn't as good as it might've been. Seemed to be missing something, somehow... didn't do as much with its intriguing premise as it could have.
    Honestly, I am getting so tired of the big budget sequels and superhero movies. Or making "live action" movies from Disney cartoons. I was nice to see a small lower budget film heavy on character interaction. I saw Bohemian Rhapsody recently and was very underwhelmed by it, Yesterday I enjoyed a lot more.

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    Gotcha.

    My latest five:

    The Manchurian Candidate
    Classic paranoid Cold War political thriller. Despite a laughably-fake fight scene (Frank Sinatra is no Bruce Lee), still worth a look.

    Sanjuro
    Not-as-good sequel to Kurosawa's terrific Yojimbo, about an 1860s ronin who gets drawn into small-town corruption, politics and street-fighting more or less unwillingly.

    First Love
    Ultraviolent, darkly sometimes-funny crime thriller about the contemporary Japanese underworld and drug trade. Very uneven. All in all, I'd say skip it.

    A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
    Heartwarming film about Fred Rogers (very convincingly played by Tom Hanks) and his abiding commitment to goodness and kindness, which over time breaks through the shell of an emotionally-wounded writer working on a magazine profile of him. Chris Cooper is excellent as the writer's dad. One of the best new movies I've seen.

    The Winter's Tale
    A film of a British stage production of Shakespeare's play, with Kenneth Branagh as a jealous king and Dame Judi Dench as an elderly queen, perhaps his mother (a noblewoman in the original play). Great acting, beautiful cinematography and a genuinely touching final scene, even knowing, as I did, how it would end.

  22. #872
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    a Winter's Tale sounds fun. I don't believe I've ever seen a production of the play. iirc Zukofski was high on the play, so I have a good critical edition of it and maybe even read it.

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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    a Winter's Tale sounds fun. I don't believe I've ever seen a production of the play. iirc Zukofski was high on the play, so I have a good critical edition of it and maybe even read it.
    Oh, now that I'm back home, it is The Winter's Tale, as above second correctly identified. And while Louis and Celia Zukofsky, in their Bottom: On Shakespeare do devote several pages out of their two-volume text to the play, the main feature is Pericles and their musical setting, presented in standard notation.

    However, I do have an Arden Shakespeare copy of the play on my shelf for some reason, but I have no recollection of what the play is about, nor if I've read it.

    I'm sure I have it for some reason, so maybe somebody like John Berryman or somebody made a big deal about the play somewhere.

    Not sure, obviously.

    Somebody I was reading liked it, and I heard about it enough to buy a copy of it in a good edition, IMHO. I never studied Shakespeare in grad school or as an undergraduate, except the occasional play as an example of something or other. Not my specialty.

    Therefore, I shall see the movie. But first to temper my seasonal anglophobia especially this time of year (it occurs every season, but none more than the present), I shall search out a FR translation from the XIXè. if one exists.

    And then see the movie.

    ETA Actually, I'll probably just see the movie. Could be amusing.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 16 Dec 2019 at 09:38 PM.

  24. #874
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    I'd like to suggest that in Buffy : The Vampire Slayer, Season Three, Episode 3, at about twenty-seven minutes or so, the whole scene where Giles and Buffy walk through the HS halls, with Giles holding what appears to be a mug of milked tea or coffee.

    No.

    I don't believe it at all, that at no point the liquid didn't splash all over Giles. No.

    Is this the kind of "plot hole" or "continuity error" people do about squid comic hero movies?

    OMG, I hate what I have become!

    But I don't love Buffy! And I also hate Dr. Doom and Octomom!

    I am a monster!

  25. #875
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    Oh, here's my review of The Irishman.

    Kill The Irishman, which is a better film in every way.

    This new one is crap. Complete shit. I'm sorry, but it is.

    It looks like a fucking video game after thirty fucking minutes. Like some child drew some doodles on a sketch pad.

  26. #876
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    I'd like to emend my "review" of the newer movie called The Irishman.

    Looked at, in a certain way, it's kind of lovely homage to some of the genres both principals played large roles in creating, in the hands of certain flamboyant, Italian-American filmmakers.

    Sure. I would think everyone got the references. The gun sales, the .... it's just a long list of ... it could hardly ever end.

    The movie took me a pack and a half of cigarettes and most of a bottle of whiskey to get through and I'm thirsty.

    You understand?

    It was a heartfelt movie, I can understand that, and maybe it needed to have been done.

    But I'm still thirsty!

    Yeah, you understand, it's not about the beaches and the meetings.

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    All right, fine, I admit I was wrong to have eschewed seeing Once Upon A Time in Hollywood for so long.

    It'd been so long since seeing a Tarantino movie that wasn't set in some way-back period.

    But to see a movie made back in "the day" like Jackie Brown, Death Proof, Pulp Fiction, and so forth.

    I thought it was going to be some movie about the Hoffa Tate murder and all that. Which would have been a shame.

    No.

    Just a movie about the olden days. Sort of like Sunset Boulevard, I guess.

    Plus, how often do you get to see Leo using a flamethrower against a living person?

    Two thumbs up.

    Actually, I would see this again.

    If anything, I think they glammed up the truly disgusting nature of hippies, but more or less I approve of the portrayal. Got Bruce Dern in there, too, so, that was nice.

    If anything, redux, it reminded me that the next "pet" I acquire will be a superbly-trained dog with powerful jaws.

  28. #878
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    I saw The Irishman, it started strong, it was good for about 2 hours and then it went on for an inexplicable additional boring hour. Maybe Scorsese could re-edit the film into something more watchable.

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    Thanks, guys. Not sure I'll ever get around to seeing The Irishman. The reviews have definitely been mixed and I'm not a big fan of gangster films as a rule.

    My latest five:

    The Gallant Hours
    James Cagney plays U.S. Navy Adm. William Halsey during WWII and not long after, at his retirement. The 1960 B&W movie's more about the burdens and loneliness of command than exciting naval action, and is structured almost as a documentary, but even on those terms, it's kind of blah. Cagney did look a lot like Halsey, though.

    Scary Movie 3
    My only defense is that a friend insisted I see this. It's a crass, uneven but often funny spoof of several movies, including The Ring, Signs, 8 Mile and The Matrix Reloaded, among others. Anna Faris is adorable and funny as the oft-endangered heroine.

    Little Women
    The umpteenth remake of the beloved book is actually pretty damn good (still not sure I like it better than the 1994 Winona Ryder version, though). A great cast, smart script and beautiful setting and costumes. Have to admit I never quite bought that Jo and the professor had actually fallen in love.

    Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
    I saw it with two of my sons, and we were all underwhelmed to varying degrees. I liked all the callbacks to earlier SW movies, enjoyed the interplay between Poe and Finn, and the sfx and alien worlds, but thought it was really implausible (even for SW!) at times. A disappointing end to the third trilogy, I'm sorry to say.

    The Remains of the Day
    A quiet, remarkably compelling character study, all about English reserve, unexpressed love and devotion to duty. Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson are magnificent as a butler and a housekeeper at a stately home in the years leading up to WWII; their aristocratic boss gets into trouble for appeasement of the Nazis. Nominated for eight Oscars but, alas, won none.

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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Thanks, guys. Not sure I'll ever get around to seeing The Irishman. The reviews have definitely been mixed and I'm not a big fan of gangster films as a rule.
    Yeah, that's all right. I hate to say it, because of all the creatives involved, but I'd just skip it altogether and not look back. I had to watch it, because in his prime, Scorsese was a tremendous influence on the way I viewed movies from the mid-late 1970s on, but even then, I'm not on board.

    OTOH, speaking of Netflix, I'm not finished watching it yet, but the restoration and re-assembly of Orson's The Other Side of the Wind seems so far to be one of the most compelling things I've seen in a long, long time.

    I mean, disclaimer, in that I love Welles, even into his dodgy, sketchy movies from, say, 196x to the end of his life, but this is, from what I've seen so far, the real McCoy. I'll have to expand more when I'm done digesting the picture, but consider this an advance recommendation.

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    I saw the trailer for The Other Side of the Wind and have to admit it did nothing for me.

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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    I saw the trailer for The Other Side of the Wind and have to admit it did nothing for me.
    Well, I don't know what the trailer was like (I'll look it up and see it), but I'd say the movie itself is kind of like a cross between Medium Cool and Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.

    It's unique among 1970s Welles pictures (not that there were many, if any....I don't recall what the years of F For Fake were, maybe bridging between late 1960s and the 1970s) in that the film looks, visually, as though they used actual film from a reputable company, and had a good photographer to do lights and camera.

    The plot? Well, I don't know. But Welles employed (or coerced) actual actors, like John Huston and so forth.

    Is it Welles's 8 1/2? No, certainly not. I don't think it tried to be.

    It would be a good double feature with Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood, though.

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    Oh, and here's a capsule review of The Other Side of the Wind. It's a fine movie for Bogdanovich, Huston Jr, and Welles fans. But, it's really not for watching. You know, like a movie. But it's a fine movie for not watching. Like a movie.

    And the photography is kind of stitched together, from probably a wide assortment of film stock or whatever. The camerawork is tiresome, being mostly handheld, but no more than some other pictures of the era.

    Could have used an editor. But no more than some other pictures of the era.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 05 Feb 2020 at 01:07 PM.

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    Yeah, the trailer made it look kind of disjointed and jumpy. I'll pass. Plenty of other good movies to see!

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    Yesterday. I would say this is a movie to be watched. Charming, moving at quite a few times, buoyed by raw charisma of the actors at other times.

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    I liked Yesterday, as I posted above, but thought it fell short of the mark. A good movie that could truly have been great.

    My latest five:

    Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
    I'd wanted to see this for the longest time - don't even really know why - and finally got around to it. Silly, quirky and funny, most of the time.

    Scandalous: The True Story of the National Enquirer
    Pretty interesting documentary about the venerable supermarket tabloid, and its evolution over the years from horse-racing periodical to blood-and-guts rag to celebrity gossip source to purveyor of political agitprop. Quite a tale.

    Just Mercy
    Based-on-a-true-story courtroom drama about a courageous young lawyer and the wrongly-accused man he tries to get off Alabama's death row. Kind of predictable, but Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx are both excellent in the lead roles.

    Ex Machina
    Rewatched this beautifully-shot, unsettling, potent sf drama about the threats and opportunities posed by AI. Very good stuff.

    The Death of Stalin
    Darkly-comic satire about the frantic Politburo maneuvering, politicking and backstabbing that followed the Soviet strongman snuffing it at long last. Steve Buscemi is great as Khrushchev, despite looking nothing like him, and Jason Isaacs, looking nothing like Lucius Malfoy, is also very good as the blustering, arrogant Marshal Georgi Zhukov. Not great history, but a helluva ride.

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    Quote Originally posted by Elendil's Heir View post
    Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
    I'd wanted to see this for the longest time - don't even really know why - and finally got around to it. Silly, quirky and funny, most of the time
    I said "LIKE, Dottie, LIKE!"


    There are things about me you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shoudn't understand.


    MAD DOG! RRRRRRRRR!

    Yep. Just like unraveling a cable knit sweater.

    Join the club.

    PW

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    Ah. the fucking The Commitments. There's a mdern classic right there, at least in the opening half or whatever you people call it. If I had to guess it was one of those call everybody and see what sticks against the wall kind of things.

    Great cast. IIRC the lead singer was something like seventeen when he sang that, and acted. Fuck off, great. I know I've seen some of the gals elsewhere, but don't remember where. The old trumpet dude was pretty good too, good casting, don't know where they found him at.

    ETA I can't remember where or somewhere the (not onscreen, but on the soundtrack) keys player was at. Anyway, the keys playing is nice, and I can't remember the guy's name.
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 21 Feb 2020 at 08:33 PM.

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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    Ah. the fucking The Commitments. There's a mdern classic right there, at least in the opening half or whatever you people call it. If I had to guess it was one of those call everybody and see what sticks against the wall kind of things.

    Great cast. IIRC the lead singer was something like seventeen when he sang that, and acted. Fuck off, great. I know I've seen some of the gals elsewhere, but don't remember where. The old trumpet dude was pretty good too, good casting, don't know where they found him at.

    ETA I can't remember where or somewhere the (not onscreen, but on the soundtrack) keys player was at. Anyway, the keys playing is nice, and I can't remember the guy's name.
    Great movie, I haven't seen it in decades now but I loved it when I saw it. Not really modern anymore though. 1991 makes it nearly 30 years old. Has there been a modern classic, something in the last decade? I'm drawing a blank. I'll discount any super-hero movie. They may be highly entertaining but far from great cinema. The Rolling Stone top 50 doesn't have any movies I would want to watch twice, amazing. Actually that list has some poor movies on it. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014) was the best on the list for me. Dunkirk was very well done but no Private Ryan, Longest Day or Patton. etc.

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    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    Great movie, I haven't seen it in decades now but I loved it when I saw it. Not really modern anymore though. 1991 makes it nearly 30 years old. Has there been a modern classic, something in the last decade? I'm drawing a blank. I'll discount any super-hero movie. They may be highly entertaining but far from great cinema. The Rolling Stone top 50 doesn't have any movies I would want to watch twice, amazing. Actually that list has some poor movies on it. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014) was the best on the list for me. Dunkirk was very well done but no Private Ryan, Longest Day or Patton. etc.
    Yeah, that's about right. I wouldn't know except wait ten years and see then. I think Walter Benjamin had a similar idea in one of his fragments, somewhere.

    I think I did know somehow the guy who played the keys on the audio of the movie. I just can't remember if IRL or some online thing. Rewatching it last night, I have to say, the keys were "shite": yeah, onscreen they did the whole thing like they did in the movie Ray, where the closeups were on the Rhodes piano, even though that's not what is being played. Looks cool, I guess. Shit, I've got one not twenty thirty feet from me right now and trust me, kiddo, it's "cool" if all you want to do is spend your time tuning the motherfucker.

    Meh. Good question. To me? I guess anything made in the last sixty years is modern. After 1959, 1960, movies evolved, as did the finances and the whole thing. I don't think there's an exact date, but anything after, to use a canonical example, like Bonnie and Clyde, or whatever.

    Are we still in the "New Hollywood"? Yeah, I guess.

    I think theorists of postmodernism would have already had a few words to say about that, but for me, you can't change the present.

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    All right: riddle me this?

    So I glanced over at some bullshit thread about if the movie Airplane or BlazSadd is funnier.

    I don't think it's a fair comparison: different movies, each equally hilarious.

    BUT riddle me this: can you really "dig" BlazSaddl if you don't know that it is the motherfucking Count Basie is slapping some skin to a brother coming up right? Or to a paranoid reaction to "The sheriff is a ne........"? There are about three layers of irony in such jokes.

    Do people not understand irony anymore?

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    Quote Originally posted by Jizzelbin View post
    All right: riddle me this?

    So I glanced over at some bullshit thread about if the movie Airplane or BlazSadd is funnier.

    I don't think it's a fair comparison: different movies, each equally hilarious.

    BUT riddle me this: can you really "dig" BlazSaddl if you don't know that it is the motherfucking Count Basie is slapping some skin to a brother coming up right? Or to a paranoid reaction to "The sheriff is a ne........"? There are about three layers of irony in such jokes.

    Do people not understand irony anymore?
    Many people don't understand it. Some just see it as racist, which is kind of depressing. Knowing Count Basie is not required but at least knowing something about big bands should help. I was in that thread, I'm one of the ones saying both are great.




    Count Basie is a local guy for me, Red Bank is our nearby fun town effectively. I've been going to the Count Basie Theatre since it was still Carlton Theater.

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    I've already weighed in on that Straight Dope thread. I like both movies, but definitely give top honors to Airplane!

    I saw The Commitments only once, in college, but remember I liked it a lot. Great soundtrack, too.

    My favorite movies of the 2000s - my modern classics - are, off the top of my head: Limitless (outstanding sf thriller with Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro), The Incredibles (Pixar's superhero masterpiece), Memento (clever inside-out thriller) and Pride & Prejudice (romantic, funny retelling of the Jane Austen tale).

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    Rewatching All That Jazz: I think I completely forgot that Jonny Lithgow had a pretty prominent role in this one. Good movie, as probably everyone knows, or should know. At least IMO.

    (Aside: all right WE? I'm going to start calling you the Kid from Red Bank from now on!).

    Oh, about BlazSadd: yeah, that kind of bums me out a bit, that maybe some people don't get the idea, and have some kind of paranoid reaction about "ZOMG they almost said a bad word a bunch of times!" TBH, I don't roll on the floor laughing when they do the beans scene or a lot of the Mongo stuff. I still crack up about Dom Deluise toward the end. "One, two," etc. Meh, in my mind it's good natured ribbing, and it's all in the family, I suppose, what with Hollywood and stuff. I don't feel anyone was exploited, and the whole gang probably busted their guts laughing about it at the time.

    Besides, Cleavon Little had his life cut short due to health problems and death, so, it's one of the few chances to see him on screen. I mean, he killed in Vanishing Point, but BS was where we really got to see the most of his abilities.

    I mean, he whipped it out!

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    I did just now have to whip this out, rewatching the first bit of BlazSaddk. No, I'm not going to watch it all again, but those first scenes with Burton Gilliam and the musical scenes are precious. "Oh, the Camptown ladies sing this song, doo dar doo dar...." "Swing low? Chariot?"

    Yeah, that's for me the high point of the movie, until Gene Wilder comes on the scene.

    ETAIf anything, it had a bit too much plot to be really funny. I don't know the alternative, but too many characters and too much intrigue. But, then again, I guess they needed something to hang the jokes on.

    One of those movies that kind of shot its load a bit early, but, hey, it was quite a load!
    Last edited by Jizzelbin; 24 Feb 2020 at 04:22 AM. Reason: KC royals

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    I think Blazing Saddles managed a mix of high & low comedy. The Hedley recruitment scene is fairly late and absolutely classic.

    I want rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull d*kes, train robbers, bank robbers, ass-kickers, sh*t-kickers and Methodists!

    Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!

    Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications?
    Bart: Stampeding cattle.
    Buddy Bizarre: That's not much of a crime.
    Bart: Through the Vatican?
    Hedley Lamarr: Kinky! sign here
    Totally goofy stuff like the Candy-Gram & the Toll Booth in the Desert. But then
    followed by 'The Bitch Was Inventing The Candy Gram And They Probably Won't Even Give Me Credit For It.'

    Running jokes: "It's Hedley."

    Deep: Mongo only pawn in the game of life.

    Awesome lines: You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.

    Reverend Johnson: Now I don’t have to tell you good folks what’s been happening in our beloved little town. Sheriff murdered, crops burned, stores looted, people stampeded, and cattle raped. The time has come to act, and act fast. I’m leaving.

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    Excellent point: And, yes, Alex Karras as Mongo did just a superb bit of general goofery.

    Thanks for reminding about the "and Methodists!" line. That cracks me up, although I wouldn't say I'm bigoted against methodists: just some family connections that rub me the wrong way, so it's extra funny to me. Quite a cast indeed: Hillerman, Karras, Gilliam, Pickens, and the usual suspects. Everybody was firing on all cylinders.

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    Quote Originally posted by What Exit? View post
    ...Deep: Mongo only pawn in the game of life....
    It's even funnier because he omitted the word "the."

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    My latest five:

    Amadeus
    Saw this great Mozart biopic with the score performed live by an orchestra. Enjoyed it all over again. Fine cast, interesting story, beautiful cinematography, and of course the music - the music!

    Pride & Prejudice
    Also saw this favorite again. Keira Knightley is luminous as the young, feisty Lizzie Bennet and Matthew Macfadyen plays a worthy Mr. Darcy; Judi Dench has a small but vital role as the implacable Lady Catherine.

    Road to Perdition
    Tom Hanks, playing an Irish Mob enforcer, and his son go on the run in Depression-era Illinois to escape other gangsters. A bleak but compelling story, with Paul Newman especially good as Hanks's aging boss.

    Harriet
    Good but not great biopic about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. See it only if you're very interested in the subject.

    Contact
    Jodie Foster stars in this sf drama about Earth at long last receiving an alien broadcast and how it changes - or doesn't - the world. Not as good as I remembered, but still worth a look.

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    Fucking A, goddamned right motherfuckers!

    Yeah I took the day off work, cold symptoms worsened, so, rest up and all that. Did I bathe or do dishes or anything good?

    Yes!

    I knew I had a copy of Panic in the Streets around here somehere, but never felt like looking for it. Anyway, for those who haven't seen it, it stars Dick Widmark as a (uniformed) physician in the service of the US Public Health Services who is tasked with searching out contacts and vectors for a dead mobster who had the bubonic plague down in New Orleans.

    I guess you could call it a kind of film noir, but it's a pretty good movie, and essential viewing for fans of Richard Widmark in the 1950s.

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