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Well as 1 & 5 plus the last 2 Next Gen movies were so awful they killed the Star Trek movie franchise for a long time. This was a solid effort in the middle of the pack.Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Star Trek 2 & 4, The Reboot & Galaxy Quest are generally the top picks. I think 3,6, First Contact (Next Gen Borgs in the past) & the 2nd of the rebooted series are the middle performers.
Opinions vary, of course, but I'd put Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock, The Voyage Home and First Contact at the top of my list, in that order.
*Everest* is a cute kid's movie, on the level of *Rollergator* or *High School Musical*, but with better production values.
Some dudes and a chick are tourists, and they get wasted and some of them fall of a mountain. The end.
How was Keira Knightley in it?
I didn't even recognize her -- I think that's probably a good compliment for her acting ability. Maybe it was the haircut.Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
*Oceans Twelve* made no sense, and it sucked.
HOWEVER, *Zero Motivation* is a hilarious recent comedy from an Israeli film-maker. Highly recommended.
The documentary *Back in Time* about the Back to the Future franchise wasn't as depressing as that one they did about ueber fans of *The Shining* -- probably one to rent on video if you're super bored and *Mandingo 2* has been rented already.
Ocean's Twelve was the worst of the 3. 13 was pretty good though.Quote:
Originally posted by JizzelbinI didn't even recognize her -- I think that's probably a good compliment for her acting ability. Maybe it was the haircut.Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
*Oceans Twelve* made no sense, and it sucked.
HOWEVER, *Zero Motivation* is a hilarious recent comedy from an Israeli film-maker. Highly recommended.
The documentary *Back in Time* about the Back to the Future franchise wasn't as depressing as that one they did about ueber fans of *The Shining* -- probably one to rent on video if you're super bored and *Mandingo 2* has been rented already.
I saw Back In Time last night an the middle (the fan part) was slow but overall it was entertaining. I never knew there was that big of a fandom for the Franchise. I love the 1st movie, and really like the 3rd, but I was shocked there is a trekkie-like devotion to it all.
I watch and Lewis & Martin bio-pic the other day. Called Martin and Lewis from 2002. It did not suck and oddly was written by Arthur Marx son of Groucho. I am currently reading an excellent bio on Groucho it was interesting coincidence. Bunch of nobodies and I don't like Martin & Lewis movies but they still made it an interesting minor movie.
I'm looking forward to checking that out tonight or tomorrow. Yeah, the Martin&Lewis "comedies" can be pretty tiresome. I'm a big Dean Martin fan, though -- he was actually a good actor (*Rio Bravo*), a GREAT singer (for my tastes), and his variety show is about the best of that era when everyone had their own show. All the greats, Susan Anton, Chevy Chase, Judy Garland. I kid, Jeannie!Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
Also up on the docket:
*Blood Glacier*
*Foxcatcher*
and try to catch up on Bun~uel -- I think the only famous one I've seen is *Belle de jour*, aside from the earlier experimental stuff. and yes, I used to pound off to *The Story of O* as a kid when my mother's Judith Krantz and my father's Penthouses were being "used," presumably by them.
I knew there was an internet meme-thing with Back to the Future (I also loved the first one as a kid -- the guitar stuff, the cool "hey, maybe Marty McFly is like an older brother," and stuff; the second one kind of terrified and confused me as a child, but it's kind of neat, I guess; the third one I remember liking very much as a kid), and I knew there were DeLorean people out there.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
Actually, before I saw the docu I saw BTTF again (I, and III, then, biting and scratching but eventually loving it, II), and was like "hey, maybe I should get a DeLorean as my midlife crisis car! <cue Harold Ramis in *Stripes* looking at John Candy in the "cracker-barrel" scene>" Found out there are companies who make replicas (like Face's Excalibur in A-Team kind of replica) with electric drivetrains with major low-end power. Ie, fast acceleration, for well under 100,000 USD.
Well, shit on that, maybe I just WON'T buy a DeLorean for my next car. Maybe just feed an African village or some shit for an eon.
*The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie* is a very funny movie, if you like extremely dry humor.
*The Umbrellas of Cherbourg* deserves a better place in my memory. It is a mature, sensitive movie, with a minimum of whimsy and crap. The photography is beautiful, and the songs are memorable. Only problem is, it changed my internal monologue into French for the rest of the day, which I don't like.
Washed it out with *The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp*. For some reason, that was not one of my favorites, but now I think it's probably the best of the Powell&Pressburger movies. Even cried at the end, a little. Anton Walbrook's speech to the British immigration guy alone is worth watching the whole movie.
Just saw To Have and Have Not for the first time. Pretty good but practically a stealth sequel to Casablanca. It is very easy to assume Capt. Morgan is Rick's new persona. Bacall is absolutely remarkable for her first movie at age 19. An amazing job acting for a newcomer. Bogie is of course Bogie and awesome despite it. Samuel L. Jackson is pretty great at being Samuel L. Jackson but he has nothing on Bogie being Bogie.
Oh, Hoagy Carmichael played the Piano player, I never realized that he could probably be considered one of the influences on Rock and Roll but I heard it in his music in this film.
Awesome parallel -- I love that movie, but never thought of the connection to *Casablanca*. I still think "Cricket" and his boys do an incredible job of making Bacall seem like an old pro actress -- she more than holds her own. "Was you ever bit by a dead bee?" is one of the underrated movie lines, to me.
Has anyone seen *The Pride of St. Louis* (a biopic about MLB pitcher Dizzy Dean)?
I'm surprised my elderly coworker from quite a few years ago didn't mention it -- he knew everything about sports, and probably was some kind of savant genius in the area of memory, as well as a big movie buff. Given that we'd spend hours just shooting the shit to pass the time.
ETA looking the movie up, holy shit, Dick Crenna plays Daffy! You know, Colonel Troutman (eeta Trautman, apparently) from the Rambo movies, but also a great old-school actor, even turning French for Jean-Pierre Melville once.
I've seen it but it was not memorable. It is no Pride of the Yankees, that is for sure.Quote:
Originally posted by Jizzelbin
I suppose that's just as well -- I can't seem to find a copy. Still sounds like a fun movie about a real character.
*Pride of the Yankees* was a movie WITH a real character playing Gehrig. Well, that's what I remember about it, anyway. Coop just sort of lolling around doing baseball stuff. Probably should watch it again, maybe, just for fun.
Actually, Pride of the Yankees was as much of a story about Lou & his wife Eleanor played by the very cute Theresa Wright. It was well done and there is a reason that it holds a 92% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.Quote:
Originally posted by Jizzelbin
I agree about *Pride of the Yankees* -- I pulled it out over the weekend, and the famous "farewell speech" at the end even got me a little choked up. I forgot (or didn't know) that Babe Ruth was himself, in a pretty big acting role, and almost didn't recognize Walter Brennan in one of his rare "teeth in" performances.
I think I might have mentioned *Decision at Sundown*. Turns out I have no memory of having seen it. Incoherent, strange movie.
I also have never noticed two things about *The Nevadan* before -- not knowingly anyway. So, apparently there's an actor named Jeff Corey -- I guess no relation to Wendell Corey, but who knows. I bet you that's where Melville got the name for the assassin in *The Samourai*, who I'm pretty sure was named Jeff Corey as well. Also, the stunt of having the two zany brothers providing comic relief was ripped off by those *Oceans 11* people. I'm very upset about that.
Also, *Oceans 13* was kind of amusing.
Also, *Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles* (the one with Tony Shalhoub playing the talking mutant rat) was much better than *Battlefield Earth*.
Welcome back.
Oceans 13 was entertaining and better than Oceans 12 by a lot. 11 of course was the best. I am one of those rare people that actually like the original movie. The Rat Pack was good in it keeping in mind it was a silly movie.
I screwed up and missed your advice, I bought Jurassic World, it was a bad movie, not as bad as the last 2 but terrible compared to Jurassic Park.
What isn't better than Battlefield Earth? Even Plan 9 or First Knight was more enjoyable to watch.
Oh, years ago my wife dragged me to see Shadow of the Wolf, I guess that was worse than Battlefield Earth.
I don't know. I haven't seen the original probably in twenty-five years, but all I remember is being disappointed. I remember Sammy Davis Jr had the "big song" in it. I don't know.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
Whoops. Note, I said *Jurrasic Prey*. I haven't seen any of the sequels.Quote:
I screwed up and missed your advice, I bought Jurassic World, it was a bad movie, not as bad as the last 2 but terrible compared to Jurassic Park.
Well, *Jurassic Prey* is a good start. Also, see *Rollergator*, *Jack and Julie*. *The Room* is better than *Battlefield Earth*, though, as is *Plan 9*, among famous bad movies.Quote:
What isn't better than Battlefield Earth? Even Plan 9 or First Knight was more enjoyable to watch.
I've always wanted to see *3:10 to Yuma* but I could never find a copy until two days ago. It's one of the most compelling, precisely because of its odd, idiosyncratic style and content, Westerns I've seen.
Here's some bait to hook people in. It was made in 1957 -- same year as *Touch of Evil*, IIRC. There are numerous parallels, from design, photography, characters. From the beginning, Frankie Laine (trust me, you know him, if only from *Blazing Saddles*) singing one of the great theme song performances of all time. And eponymous to boot.
And the lines. I brought out my yellow pad, which I haven't done since I was eleven or twelve, to jot down:
Quote:
Will you let me finish, Bill? Then you can agree.
Quote:
Three big guys on three white horses
Glenn Ford's performance as the charismatic, even seductive, Ben Wade, is the best I've seen him -- I didn't know he could do that kind of thing. Van Heflin was adequate, I guess. The sexy bartender was a tightly-packed piece of work.Quote:
Safe? Who knows what's safe? I know a man dropped dead from looking at his own wife. My own grandmother fought the indians for sixty years and then choked to death on a lemon pie.
Tried to watch the remake, but stopped it about halfway through. The music had some interesting cues -- one in particular reminded me of Rzewski's americana on piano. But the music was slapped wildly all over the picture.
The remake was a movie for children.
The movie is one I will be watching again.
I think, next to *Predator*, *Hatari* might be the most macho movie ever made.
John "The Duke" Wayne as a great white hunter (kinda), yep I think your right on that one. Did you like it though? I enjoyed Predator but Hatari! doesn't work for me, it is almost comically bad to me. I mean it is pretty bad when you can honestly say the Plot of Predator was well planned out compared to Hatari!Quote:
Originally posted by Jizzelbin
I thought it was great! Elsa Martinelli was a new "discovery" for me. Not saying it wasn't silly, but the thought of Hawks, probably wearing his cowboy hat, and Duke Wayne fumbling around in the brush was amusing to me.
Saw *Get Shorty* again two nights ago. I know I'd seen it on TV at least ten years ago. Kind of cute. Actually, after having read yesterday the novel it was based on, I might see it again.
Speaking of novels-movies. I read last night/today *Rum Punch* -- so, yeah, Elmore Leonard has the ear for the dialogue. I think, while killing time today watching a bit of *Jackie Brown*, that people who adapt his stories and use his lines must have pretty good powers of abstraction.
This just in: I'm not sure *Hunt for Red October, The* is such a good movie. Pretty sure I saw it in the theater when it came out, and twice again in the past few years, and last night again. It's ripe for parodys -- the Rifftrax guys should do it. The Russian accents sounded like Chekov from Star Trek, the dialogue was ridiculous (whatever it was that Marko and Scott Glen each say onboard their ships, "Very well" wtf is that??? They only gave Jonesy a few good lines, and his part was the best one. The guy from *Jurassic Park* was weird-looking, the guy from *Rocky Horror....Tim Curry didn't have any good lines, and Alec Baldwin's character was ridiculous.)
The movie is, and I quote, a rude thoughtless pig.
I love it. Sean Connery doing his nearly Russian Captain with an apologetically Scottish Accent is awesome.
Dirty secret, Alec Baldwin like all the brothers really isn't much of an actor. No way around it. Most of Tim Curry's acting skill is in being a large ham, I love it but it is not great acting, it is great hamming.
Very well.
We used to do Russian accents at CalTech in our sleep.
I was all set to start tearing Tom Clancy a new one after reading his book (the October one) yesterday, but I can't, really. That's a page turner, and, unlike the Elmore Leonard book-movies noted above, it's somewhat clear how they got the screenplay. Probably the producer or director decided Jonesy would be good on the actor they picked out, and yadda yadda.
In the movie, though, the one thing that bothers me is why Jones -- probably, what, 35 years old? Not much older than that, anyway -- has the whole reading glasses thing. I get that it's a fun prop for the actor to play with, and it kind of sets off his whole anti-visual world of sonar tech.
They should do a prequel just about Jones. "Jack Ryan" is pretty much a tool, and the way he's written in the novel betrays Clancy's ignorance of the attitudes that serious academics tend to have about their professions. I could go on, but that would raise my blood pressure -- for the only reason that the inspecting of this year's crop of political people in the US reveals how little taste Americans have for any amount of culture, taste, and bookishness.
Thanks for the correction to the title. My one complaint about the movie is it recalled the term "hatari" from a brief phase I went through of playing the game "Go" (still have my board and pieces!) -- apparently it's another unrelated word from some Cushitic language or something.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
But the reason I like *Hatari!* and movies like it is exactly that there isn't much plot -- just dialogue, and some flashy action to string you along. I like slow, talky movies as much as anyone, I guess, but it's good when you can get the concepts and words in there with having some fun stuff to let your limbic brain feast on for a while.
And, *Predator* is sort of the opposite of *Hatari!* -- all dialogue, no action beyond what's necessary to flesh out the dialogue. Example? The arm-wrestling-in-midair. And so forth.
*Western Union*, from 1941. "No, but I know what you're talking about. Next time, let's talk about"Quote:
... . _.._
What the fuck, dude. This was like a wholesome Bob Young/Randolph Scott Americana movie.
I haven't rewatched to verify that "x" (_.._) was there, but it was definitely "s" (...) and "e" (.)
I somewhat doubt that the character (macking on a lady telegraph operator in the movie) was about to spell out "semen retentum venenum est."
What the fuck. Shocking.
Never heard of that one, it looks awful and the stars are pretty bad. I did like 1 book by Zane Grey, but just 1.
This just in: *Out of Sight*. Great book, terrible movie. Unwatchably bad. I guess JLo had the right look, and the character was supposed to be pretty stupid, and Dennis Farina was good. Clooney had the right idea for the character -- they roughed up his face pretty good, and thinned his hair out a little.
Unwatchable.
*Easy Rider* is far more of a bummer movie than I recall. What was the meaning of one of the last lines, "We blew it!" spoken by Capt. America? I don't know. Maybe he got religion while tripping out with Karen Black. I don't know.
That was a bummer.
I remember Out of Sight as being pretty good. Haven't seen it since it first came out, though.
Never saw Easy Rider in its entirety. I've seen enough of it in clips to know it probably wouldn't be for me.
Well, maybe seeing *Out of Sight* in the theater, back when Clooney and Jenny from the Block were big, was different. Maybe seeing it through to the end makes a difference. Also, I have pretty vivid memories of the novel, since I just read it a week or so ago. Also, the great adaptations like *Jackie Brown* and even the pretty good ones like *Get Shorty* maybe soured me. Normally I make fun of people who, as a rule, think "the novel is much better than any movie!" but, in this case, it's true.Quote:
Originally posted by Elendil's Heir
Sure, who wouldn't like *Easy Rider*? You liked *Lost in America* with Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty, right? Same thing!
It's just a major bummer, though.
Lost in America wanted to be funnier than it was, but it was OK. Not a fave.
Randolph Scott? "Pretty bad"?Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
You're skating on thin ice, buddy.
Lucky it's almost a holiday or something.
Talk about cruising for a bruising!
ETA and I forgot, Dean fucking Jagger!
And I never knew it was a Fritz fucking Lang!
Fucking hell.
And that little shit put "sex" in Morse Code, which is fucking ridiculous, and is fucking crazy. That's fucking ridiculous.
Zane Grey I don't know about -- he did some things about people riding horses and shit. Don't care.
Randolph fucking Scott is the man!
Yeah, Bob Young, who cares, and that mousy little chub they hired as the sex interest wasn't anything.
Randolph Scott?
OK, fine, he wasn't truly awesome until the 1950s, but he's the fucking man!
John fucking Carradine, and Chill fucking Wills? It's a goddamned Western! And they got everybody in it!
It is a shitty movie, though.
I saw Kingsman last night, my expectations were low but it was very entertaining. Not a well done movie, not well written and a lot of the acting was weak but somehow it was greater than the sum of the parts.
Wait a minute. Is that even possible? Was thinking about catching up on some recent movies in the next week, but that sounds like a good one to accidentally on-purpose miss.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
I'm happy to report that *She Wore a Yellow Ribbon* has gotten even better with age, meaning in the past few years since I've seen it. Victor McLagen outdoes himself. "[H]e got a breath on [him] like a hot minced pie" >= "You should stand downwind from where I am. Smells like Miller Time." (from *..............BIg Trouble in Little China.*)
Saw *Fat City* again last night. That's about right. "I believe that everybody has a right to his own life. So screw everybody." Downer of a movie, of course, but people like Jeff Bridges, and he was adequate. I guess that would have been right around the deflowering role in *Last Picture Show.*
Also, *Breathless* is good. I don't know if I've seen that before. "I don't know if I'm unhappy because I'm not free, or if I'm not free because I'm unhappy." and "Oh, monsieur, vous n'avez rien sur la jeunesse? --Non, mais j'aime mieux les viex." That's not really academy French, I don't think but that's what I think what's his face says and the student political person.
Which Breathless? The classic but boring French film or the Richard Gere remake with the gorgeous Valérie Kaprisky? I suspect you mean the classic. It was pretty slow as I recall but still better then the remake.
The original! All movies are better than movies with Richard Gere.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
I don't think it's a slow movie -- I was kind of surprised by how artsy and avant-gardy it was, compared to some other movies of that "new wave" bunch. Yes, I'm sure now I've seen it before, but it's one of those you never think of watching again, because it doesn't have Anna Karina in it.
I see I was wrong entirely about the quote. My version didn't have subtitles and I have bad memory! http://tribaal.online.fr/A_bout_de_souffle.htm Belmondo mumbles a lot, though. I was pretty sure the lady said "sur" and not the regular "contre," though.
Can't stand Gere but there was a time in my life I would watch anything with Valérie. Sadly in retrospect, her movies were all garbage. But I did enjoy them when I was 20.Quote:
Originally posted by JizzelbinThe original! All movies are better than movies with Richard Gere.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
I don't think it's a slow movie -- I was kind of surprised by how artsy and avant-gardy it was, compared to some other movies of that "new wave" bunch. Yes, I'm sure now I've seen it before, but it's one of those you never think of watching again, because it doesn't have Anna Karina in it.
Gere made one of the absolute worse movies ever. He brought the might Sean Connery low with his pathetic acting. I did not think such was possible but in first knight he dragged even Connery down.
Kaprisky Point! Didn't know about her, but I'd read her book with one hand.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
So, what's Gere's *Sardoz*? All be disrespecting Darby McGillO'Gill and shit, you better throw down, boy! Name names!
OK, so *First Knight* is the name of a movie. I'll keep a dull, filmy eye out for it.
For double del you'd think one of the strikethroughs would be bold or something.
Oh yeah, I saw *Machete* yet again last night. It keeps getting better. No lie.
Sean was good despite the weirdness of Zardoz, I happen to really like Darby O'Gill and the Little People. I even thought in one of the worst movies ever excreted Highlander 2, Sean was good while all else stunk like a garbage pit.
I remember Zabriskie Point mainly for the Pink Floyd soundtrack.
BTW: Did you ever notice that Floyd from the Muppets is basically pink?
Not prepared to weigh in on *Highlander 2* -- I can't think of anything redeeming in the movie, including Connery. Not prepared to watch it again, at any rate. I'd watch the original twenty times before the sequel.Quote:
Originally posted by What Exit?
Didn't know that about the Muppets -- I think the piano player was supposed to be a Mac Rebennack/Dr. John clone, though.
DID YOU KNOW that.......Christopher (Christophe?) Lambert is actually French and ended up married to or shacked up with Sophie Marceau, one of my "idols" from the formative years? Maybe he's Belgian or some shit, but he definitely shacked up with Sophie Marceau.
Dr. John was my impression. Floyd was an homage to Sgt Peppers with the uniform and as I recall a last name of Pepper, but dman it his name is Floyd and he is pinkish.Quote:
Originally posted by Jizzelbin
I liked Sophie Marceau, very sweet looking in her day. She was good in Braveheart & A Midsummer Night's Dream.
I did not know Lambert was French, so a French actor born in NY played a Scot, when Mr. Scotland played an Egyptian.
The "Floyd" thing is good. I saw "Muppets Take Manhattan" in the theater with my parents when I was a kid, but we never got the muppets on TV -- we got stuck with *Darby O'Gill* and pirated Hitchcock movies.
And something big deal when Jim Henson died at the local science/industry museum about those rat people from *Crystal* or whatever it was called.
What's a good way to compress all the Muppets into a few hours of "catch-up" time for a n00b? I guess the movies alone would take up more time than that, but I don't think there were that many episodes of the TV show.
So, like, *Clockwork Orange*-style, what's a good, like, four-hour compendium of muppetania?
since I brought up *CW* -- I know I've said this before at inferior boards, but true fact, my first time seeing *A Clockwork Orange* was my first time tripping on mushrooms by myself. What Exit is a NY/NJ guy, so probably remembers the Angelika in downtown Manhattan -- they were doing a late showing of it. Kind of fun. for some reason, I don't want to see the movie again, but there should be a whole thread on watching movies under chemical influences. It's the best!
2 Movies well worth watching are The Muppet Movie and The Muppets. It defines a good portion of who they are, what the humor is and where they have gone.
Of the old show, I would look for the following episodes: Vincent Price, Alice Cooper, The Star Wars cast oddly enough & maybe George Burns to round it out.
Wow. Thanks. That sounds like something I could/should do. I didn't know the Muppets had real people on it, or else I forgot. Don't care for Alice Cooper, so I'll substitute someone else I can dig up. Maybe the Nugent or Lemmy did one.
Couldn't quite make it to the end of *The Indian Killer*, a 1956 Western with Kirk Douglas and Elsa Martinelli, last night, but it looks pretty good from the first third of it. Well, no, it did not look pretty good, but it was amusing.
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OK, Star Wars people should weigh in who've seen the new one. I promise to not make fun, nor comment until I've seen it myself.
Alright, I've seen the latest Star Wars movie. It's standard JJ Abrams fare, nothing more, nothing less and it's pretty much a retread of SW:ANH.
I'll wait until more have seen it before discussing spoilers and such like.
There will be lots of hype about it now, but give it five or ten years and I think people will wonder what the fuss was about.