Schoolio's Movie Corner

[breakjaw]

One cool thing about "Inland Empire" is if you have the DVD and you fall asleep on the couch early on your night off while you are watching it (and you have your DVD player set to repeat),you can wake up and watch more,and then fall asleep again for a few hours,and it'll not make one bit of difference in your enjoyment of the film.
In fact,I think this is how it was intended to be viewed,in a sort of fugue state.

[mob roulette]

One cool thing about "Inland Empire" is if you have the DVD and you fall asleep on the couch early on your night off while you are watching it (and you have your DVD player set to repeat),you can wake up and watch more,and then fall asleep again for a few hours,and it'll not make one bit of difference in your enjoyment of the film.
In fact,I think this is how it was intended to be viewed,in a sort of fugue state.

That's really good advice, breakjaw. Hey, are there any extras on the DVD? I haven't picked it up yet.

[breakjaw]

If they put out one with a Lynch commentary,I'd definitely get that.I have Blue Velvet,Twin Peaks 1st season on DVD 2nd season Laserdisc set,Elephant Man Laserdisc,and Wild at Heart DVD.I'm a big Lynch fan.The only ones I didn't enjoy were Fire:Walk With Me(expectations too high,possibly?) and Lost Highway.
I've seen Mulholland Drive several times and have to say I enjoyed it way more than Inland Empire.Lynch is a filmmaker and should stay with film rather than video.It's like if Kandinsky started using an Etch-A-Sketch.
Plus video can make the actors seem like they are in a soap opera.I felt this way about some of the old Twilight Zone episodes also.

[schoolofruckus]

i'm sorry.
i thought that everyone knew that "The Simpsons" is considered a comedy.
i subtly described the film as slightly humorous.
if a "comedy" does not result in laughter, then is it not a failure?
i think so.
now, i don't expect you to be a mind-reader, but my conclusion isn't far-fetched.

Not all comedies are intended to have you rolling on the floor and laughing until you vomit. Some are merely meant to be lighthearted storytelling, with an overall tone of amusement and the occasional laugh-inspiring bit. For me, that's what "The Simpsons" has always been. It's never been something that I howl with laughter at; rather, it's just something that is funny from time to time, but overall I just enjoy it. Hence, your description of the movie did not sound in any way like a failure (again, until you later offered actual reasons for your "opinion"). You're clearly too proud to admit you're wrong here (or too stupid to realize it), so this is the last I'll say about it.

[breakjaw]

Has anyone here seen Starter For Ten?I'm thinking of renting it tonight.

[ghettojournalist]

i heard it was a decent film with a good soundtrack.
hope you enjoy.

[mountmccabe]

watched "The Triplets of Belleville" instead. Holy shit - this one's been on my radar for a few years, but I've never managed to catch it.... It's a unique treasure that I would recommend to just about anyone.

I agree. That's a fantastic film. Delightfully entertaining.

[schoolofruckus]

Oooohhhh...love that film! My girls and I went to see that when it first came out. Absolutely charming and funny and sweet and endearing and bizarrely original. Such a treat to see non-CG animation, too.

I especially loved all the training sequences - grandma on the tricycle keeping up his cadences, the lawnmower "massage". His calves!

Then when she's in Belleville and meets the Triplets and gets to experience their hospitality...mmm..."soup de grenouille"..."glace de grenouille"...how many ways can you enjoy grenouille? A lot, apparently.

Great film.

There are so many things to love. Again, the dog's dreams fucking killed me. The woman fishing with dynamite was priceless. And the film's opening sequence - even more Vaudevillian and deliberately old-fashioned - was absolutely stunning; I've got a fondness for ancient animation (such as the tugboat cartoon that introduced Mickey Mouse), and the beginning of this movie was wondrous. And I agree that it was nice to see a classically animated film offer up fresh ideas and sensibilities again. Disney should try doing something with the kind of heart and ingenuity that "Triplets" has, rather than making yet another played-out yarn featuring animals snidely voiced by "Saturday Night Live" cast-offs.

[PotVsKtl]

Fucking Amal isn't as good as Lilya 4-Ever.

[mob roulette]

And the film's opening sequence - even more Vaudevillian and deliberately old-fashioned - was absolutely stunning; I've got a fondness for ancient animation.

Hey Gabe, have you ever checked out the artwork of Winsor McCay? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winsor_McCay) I bet you'd dig him. Also, I heard there was another Kerouac movie being made, a Spanish one called "Luz Del Mundo". That wasn't the same one we were bitching about before, was it? I seem to recall that one being something else. Heard anything?

[schoolofruckus]

A somewhat under-the-radar film that I think is a slam-dunk to be among the year's best is Control, the Ian Curtis biography directed by longtime Joy Division/U2/Depeche Mode photographer Anton Corbjin. It comes out October 10th. Corbjin's photographs have always been top-shelf, so I was expecting this black-and-white movie to be a beauty, but there's some downright stunning virtuosity in this French-subtitled trailer. (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.fullscreen&videoid=15099883) It wouldn't be out of line to compare some of these shots to Antonioni's work, and that's a tremendous fucking compliment.

[mob roulette]

That's a bold statement.

[PotVsKtl]

F_SQyCJega8

[schoolofruckus]

That's a bold statement.

And, ultimately, an impossible one to make based on a trailer, where the shots are robbed of contextual resonance. All I'm saying is that they brought to mind fond memories of "L'Eclisse" and the like, and that's good news.

[amyzzz]

I can't wait for that one. Whoa.

[wmgaretjax]

Fucking Amal isn't as good as Lilya 4-Ever.

Which isn't as good as Container.

I saw Inland Empire for the second time, dubbed in Italian while staying here in Perugia. Talk about a surreal experience.

[schoolofruckus]

Howdy, garetjax (they keep calling you Jared...is that your name?). Where the fuck you been lately?

[wmgaretjax]

Howdy, garetjax (they keep calling you Jared...is that your name?). Where the fuck you been lately?

That is my name.

I have been all over Europe for the past two months (1.5 more to go). More specifically, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Nice, Paris, Berlin, Kassel, Rome, Venice, and Perugia. Heading to Palermo and Northern Africa soon.

I have been having a great time, and finally settled down at a friends place and had the chance to really use the internet.

Unfortunately I have only seen three movies in the past few months, Midnight Cowboy, Inland Empire, and Harry Potter V. I mourned Antonioni's death in Italy when I heard about it though. My friend has a film by him I have not seen that I will be watching tonight as a little memorial.

How have you been? I don't have time to look through this whole thread, anything amazing I've missed recently?

[schoolofruckus]

Not particularly. I've actually been a little slow in my own postings.

Which Antonioni are you watching tonight?

[mob roulette]

I loathe Midnight Cowboy. I can't help it. It's visceral.

[wmgaretjax]

Not particularly. I've actually been a little slow in my own postings.

Which Antonioni are you watching tonight?

Well, we WERE going to watch Love in the City, but there wasn't any subtitles.

So we watched Electric Boogaloo 2 (http://imdb.com/title/tt0086999/) instead. I'm dead serious.

It was fantastic.

[Yablonowitz]

Hey - have you bastards mentioned the French movie "Time Out" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0279065/). I'm not going to flip back and find out. If not, it's a fucking good movie. Slow moving, but ultimately effective. I'm not sure of its original French title.

[schoolofruckus]

I loathe Midnight Cowboy. I can't help it. It's visceral.

I do, too. Largely because of the ending - one of the serious "what the fuck?"s in movie history.

Well, we WERE going to watch Love in the City, but there wasn't any subtitles.


I fucking hate when that happens. Like when I bought the first version of von Trier's "Zentropa" and there were no English subs during the half of the movie that was in German.

Hey - have you bastards mentioned the French movie "Time Out". I'm not going to flip back and find out. If not, it's a fucking good movie. Slow moving, but ultimately effective. I'm not sure of its original French title.

I have not, but it sounds intriguing. I may have to Netflix it.

[amyzzz]

David Lynch will be interviewed on Talk of the Nation tomorrow (NPR)

[wmgaretjax]

David Lynch will be interviewed on Talk of the Nation tomorrow (NPR)

I want to punch him in the mouth when I hear him speak. Me and four friends (all big fans) walked out on a talk he gave 20 minutes in. It became a fund raising pitch for his transcendental meditation group. One of those artists who you can't help but love their work, but fucking hate them when it all comes down to it.

[RotationSlimWang]

Lynch smokes meat rope--you all know it, now just admit it. But yeah, he's probably even more irritating when he's talking about his ridiculous movies than the movies are themselves.

In other news, The Simpsons Movie was a fucking insult to what that series once represented as the leader in droll wit worldwide. What started as a smart parody of TV's misrepresentation of the American family (i.e. the Cosby family's perfection) has become over the years exactly what it was supposed to be satirizing--the dumbing down of our nation, the wanton pandering of lowest common denominator jokes to a bunch of cackling mindless hyenas.

From now on, whenever someone tells me they've seen The Simpsons Movie, I'm going to start singing the goddamn cocksucking Spiderpig song, and if they register it with anything but utter revulsion I'm stabbing them in the balls, ass, and face.

Also, the first half of Sunshine was great, before it turned into Event Horizon inexplicably. Why Danny Boyle feels some urge to do horror tripe after directing one of the absolute best movies of all time escapes me. There were some truly beautiful moments on the screen though, in particular when Underworld's score and the visuals combined into awesome crescendos. Still, the plot devices were fucking retarded at times (HE FORGOT TO CHANGE THE DISH ANGLE? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? NIGGA FORGOT TO ADJUST THE SHIT THAT'S PROTECTING THEM FROM BEING BURNED ALIVE?) and it degenerated into needlessly-created desperation filmmaking. Stick to character studies, Danny, you asshole.

[mob roulette]

Lynch smokes meat rope--you all know it, now just admit it. But yeah, he's probably even more irritating when he's talking about his ridiculous movies than the movies are themselves.

In other news, The Simpsons Movie was a fucking insult to what that series once represented as the leader in droll wit worldwide. What started as a smart parody of TV's misrepresentation of the American family (i.e. the Cosby family's perfection) has become over the years exactly what it was supposed to be satirizing--the dumbing down of our nation, the wanton pandering of lowest common denominator jokes to a bunch of cackling mindless hyenas.

From now on, whenever someone tells me they've seen The Simpsons Movie, I'm going to start singing the goddamn cocksucking Spiderpig song, and if they register it with anything but utter revulsion I'm stabbing them in the balls, ass, and face.

Also, the first half of Sunshine was great, before it turned into Event Horizon inexplicably. Why Danny Boyle feels some urge to do horror tripe after directing one of the absolute best movies of all time escapes me. There were some truly beautiful moments on the screen though, in particular when Underworld's score and the visuals combined into awesome crescendos. Still, the plot devices were fucking retarded at times (HE FORGOT TO CHANGE THE DISH ANGLE? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? NIGGA FORGOT TO ADJUST THE SHIT THAT'S PROTECTING THEM FROM BEING BURNED ALIVE?) and it degenerated into needlessly-created desperation filmmaking. Stick to character studies, Danny, you asshole.

Randy, Ritalin. Ritalin, Randy.

[ghettojournalist]

From now on, whenever someone tells me they've seen The Simpsons Movie, I'm going to start singing the goddamn cocksucking Spiderpig song, and if they register it with anything but utter revulsion I'm stabbing them in the balls, ass, and face.

whenever i hear it, i always think of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham.
where's stan lee with the lawsuit?

[RotationSlimWang]

Where's Matt Groening with the respect for his audience?

[schoolofruckus]

Lynch smokes meat rope--you all know it, now just admit it. But yeah, he's probably even more irritating when he's talking about his ridiculous movies than the movies are themselves.

In other news, The Simpsons Movie was a fucking insult to what that series once represented as the leader in droll wit worldwide. What started as a smart parody of TV's misrepresentation of the American family (i.e. the Cosby family's perfection) has become over the years exactly what it was supposed to be satirizing--the dumbing down of our nation, the wanton pandering of lowest common denominator jokes to a bunch of cackling mindless hyenas.

From now on, whenever someone tells me they've seen The Simpsons Movie, I'm going to start singing the goddamn cocksucking Spiderpig song, and if they register it with anything but utter revulsion I'm stabbing them in the balls, ass, and face.

Also, the first half of Sunshine was great, before it turned into Event Horizon inexplicably. Why Danny Boyle feels some urge to do horror tripe after directing one of the absolute best movies of all time escapes me. There were some truly beautiful moments on the screen though, in particular when Underworld's score and the visuals combined into awesome crescendos. Still, the plot devices were fucking retarded at times (HE FORGOT TO CHANGE THE DISH ANGLE? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? NIGGA FORGOT TO ADJUST THE SHIT THAT'S PROTECTING THEM FROM BEING BURNED ALIVE?) and it degenerated into needlessly-created desperation filmmaking. Stick to character studies, Danny, you asshole.

You're wrong about Lynch. Just because you can't tolerate unconventional narratives (which he uses as much as almost any active filmmaker) doesn't make him a meat rope smoker. His command of sound and imagery is virtuosic. No matter how much his films may bore you, confuse you, or piss you off, you can't deny that he has a disgusting amount of talent as a director.

You're wrong about "The Simpsons Movie". One stupid song doesn't take away from the fact that the story was a prototypical Simpsons yarn that featured as many of the series' hallmarks as could possibly be fitted into a 90 minute movie. You and ghettojournalist can go sit around on Crybaby Island waiting for it to make you laugh.

And I haven't seen "Sunshine" yet, so I skipped that last paragraph because I wouldn't put it past you to blurt out a spoiler for the sake of ruining it for other people just because you hated it.

[full on idle]

Dear Gabe,

Please watch Fast Food Nation. Including the extras where they show the three part "meatrix."

Also, Gabe, please watch Conversations With Other Women.

Oh! And Gabe, don't forget about Factotum. Unless you already watched it and I didn't see.

Cheers!

[algunz]

I watched "Blow Up" again today.

It's such a great film. For me it breaks down the essence and the perversion that is film/film making.

And I'd love to have been a hipster in 1966.

[mob roulette]

You're wrong about Lynch. Just because you can't tolerate unconventional narratives (which he uses as much as almost any active filmmaker) doesn't make him a meat rope smoker. His command of sound and imagery is virtuosic. No matter how much his films may bore you, confuse you, or piss you off, you can't deny that he has a disgusting amount of talent as a director.

Right. Also, "The Straight Story" is about as conventional as they get. As was "Blue Velvet" as well as "Twin Peaks", for that matter. At heart, they're just murder mysteries. Modern film noir, as it were. True, he's gone a bit off his rocker now, but what I feel he's really doing is just taking genre film making to its absurdist extremes. He's done that from the start to some degree or another. "The Elephant Man" was a biopic that nobody knew they wanted to see until it hit them in the face. Which is pretty genius, if you stop to think about.

Also, Gabe's right. The man's a virtuoso with the camera. He has constructed sequences in his career that leave one breathless.

You're wrong about "The Simpsons Movie"

I have no complicated opinions about this film, only to say that I thought there were a lot of good one-liners. And a lot of funny exploitation of the history of the characters. Lisa, Homer, Bart, Marge, and Flanders were all good examples of this. Which is pretty much all the main players, if you think about it. And I agree with Gabe that they shoved in as much as they could. You saw nearly everybody from a cast that numbers in the hundreds.

But I just have to ask, Randy, what did you expect from this exactly? The show hasn't been what you remember it as for years. There was no way it was going to be as funny as something you were laughing at in the early nineties. And some folks are getting long in the tooth and about to be out of a job before too long. Make no mistake, this film is a payday that's been a long time coming. And they've earned it. And we were lucky to get what we did. You think Hollywood's banging down the doors of Nancy Cartwright and Julie Kavner with script offers? Somehow I think not. Azaria's probably the only one of the major players here with a legitimate shot at an acting career. The rest are likely moving onto something else outside the industry entirely. The speaking circuit, for one, I would imagine. I guess there's some money in books as well. But I hold nobody at fault for making the best movie they could with the budget and talent available (no Phil Hartman, for one) and then taking the money and running. Any one of us would do the same thing. I would. And I don't have a beloved television show that's been on for twenty years. Do you? Face it, your generation grew up with this show. There's no way the film was going to live up to your ridiculously inflated expectations. No way.

[ghettojournalist]

Harry Shearer also has a "Hollywood" career.

[luckyface]

And if you want to get technical, Castanaletta has a pretty impressive voice-work resume.

Speaking of Azaria, I saw him at Souplantation a night or two before the Simpsons Movie opened. Thought it was kind of funny to see him that type of restaurant.

[ghettojournalist]

anyone seen the David Lynch cooking segment on the "Inland Empire" dvd?
is it is as good as i've been hearing?

[mob roulette]

Harry Shearer also has a "Hollywood" career.

Oops. My bad. You're right, I forgot about Shearer. Heat of the moment. And Castellaneta as well, to some degree. But what I really meant was a career in actual physical acting.

Also, I am listening to this right now. How random is that?

oddg6dCB7FE

[mob roulette]

Also, the question still remains: will this be further goodness resulting from Apatow's obvious deal with the devil or a misstep of Wayans-like proportions? Only you can be the judge of that. Only you.

Two views:

4yzjtnj8Y3U

kI911_Xokho

[schoolofruckus]

Also, the question still remains: will this be further goodness resulting from Apatow's obvious deal with the devil or a misstep of Wayans-like proportions? Only you can be the judge of that. Only you.

Two views:

4yzjtnj8Y3U

kI911_Xokho

I don't know if it'll be good or not, but the trailers show promise. If it's PG-13 it'll probably be on the lame side. But I know that Apatow has been gold lately (or rather, always, it seems), and the "Ray"/"Walk the Line" genre is extremely played out and ripe to be torn apart.

[mob roulette]

If it's any good, then that'll be three in one year, right? When's the last time someone hit the trifecta?

Also, I think Jack White looks great doing Elvis. I meant to put that in my original post. That part looks like gold.

[bballarl]

Anything new on Cloverfield Mr. Anderson?

[tessalasset]

mmm cloverfield.


i just saw clockwork orange for the first time and i gotta say, that may be one of my least favorite movies of all time. i hated it and wanted it to be over many times throughout the movie. shit.

[schoolofruckus]

mmm cloverfield.


i just saw clockwork orange for the first time and i gotta say, that may be one of my least favorite movies of all time. i hated it and wanted it to be over many times throughout the movie. shit.

Were you strapped to a chair with your eyelids forcefully peeled open so you couldn't look away?

[schoolofruckus]

And I do not have any new info regarding "Cloverfield". My involvement in it was very short-term, so it's not like they're keeping me apprised of it. The only stuff I could pass along would be the standard stuff that's on Aint-It-Cool News, which is that the poster art has been revealed, there's a bunch of fake (and lame) titles going around on said poster art that aren't real, etc.

[tessalasset]

Were you strapped to a chair with your eyelids forcefully peeled open so you couldn't look away?yes. fuck alex.

[bmack86]

Few quick statements

Saw Superbad last night. It was hilarious. I was laughing thru the whole thing. And, the soundtrack is beyond badass. Great blaxploitation stuff. Judd Apatow has the Midas touch.

I watched Inland Empire recently. I usually like David Lynch stuff. The movie was at times amazing with the dread and horror that permeated it, but it wasn't well put together in my opinion. It dragged for much too long, many scenes could have been cut down without losing the feel, and it was painfully insular. A work of art that didn't translate well.

I also watched Letters from Iwo Jima. It was pretty good. Interesting to see the story from the side of the losers rather than the victors. Still had the cliches of a war film at times, but it often transcended those and became entertaining and thoughtful.

Finally, High Noon. That movie was awesome. That's all there is to it.

[tessalasset]

we went to go see superbad and it was sold out. maybe tomorrow.

[Jenniehoo]

I don't know if it'll be good or not, but the trailers show promise. If it's PG-13 it'll probably be on the lame side. But I know that Apatow has been gold lately (or rather, always, it seems), and the "Ray"/"Walk the Line" genre is extremely played out and ripe to be torn apart.

Just those trailers made me crack up. I can't wait for it.

Then again...I love both Apatow AND Scary Movie, so my judgment is crap when it comes to things that make me laugh.

[luckyface]

Superbad was pretty much the best movie ever.

[schoolofruckus]

Superbad was pretty much the best movie ever.

It's going to be huge - even bigger than Apatow's previous successes ("Knocked Up" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin"). Personally, I prefer the films he's directed (the two I just mentioned) to this one (he was an executive producer, and obviously a mentor to Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as the script developed), but I thought this one was very funny, and I see it as being a much bigger commercial success.

[dorkfish]

I give Superbad 3 out of 5. But I'm now largely convinced that comedies draw the absolute worst audiences.

[schoolofruckus]

I give Superbad 3 out of 5. But I'm now largely convinced that comedies draw the absolute worst audiences.

My thoughts exactly on all counts. Did you have a bad experience?

[tessalasset]

i was gonna tell about our crowd at the simpsons.

[bmack86]

When I saw the Bourne Ultimatum there was a fight in the theatre. A large portion of the crowd left because they thought that guns were going to be involved. After the screening, the theatre gave us free re-admit passes because of the fight, so I saw Superbad for free.

[bballarl]

I saw Superbad last night. It was very, very funny. The audience was surprisingly not lame, and as Bryan said, the soundtrack owned. I am going to dl it right now.

Also, Jack White looks hilarious as Elvis.

[mountmccabe]

I also watched Letters from Iwo Jima. It was pretty good. Interesting to see the story from the side of the losers rather than the victors. Still had the cliches of a war film at times, but it often transcended those and became entertaining and thoughtful.

I'm not sure I said anything on here so here goes: that movie didn't seem the slightest bit Japanese to me. I was shocked when the credits rolled and it said a Japanese guy wrote it. At any rate that, negated the entire raison d'etre of the movie so even though parts were good overall I didn't like it.


I saw Sunshine last night. The visuals were great and the imagery was rich and the image themes were strong. I broke down and read a review beforehand that had me a little prepared for some dumb cliche bits but while there was certainly some borrowing/adapting it fit and the characterization was strong and the ending was great.

There were some missteps but I thought it was great overall.

[Somewhat Damaged]

never mind -- re-read the original post

[schoolofruckus]

I watched a couple movies today that I was mezzo-mezzo on.

First one was "Billy Elliot", which Jennie wanted me to see. It's about the son of an English coal miner who abandons his feeble attempts at boxing lessons in order to embrace his newfound talents for ballet dancing. I can't really pinpoint what it is I didn't like about it, but apart from Jamie Bell's appealing lead performance, there was absolutely nothing that excited me about it. I watched the whole movie in a complete state of ambivalence....laughing here and there (the roughneck, working-class English thing is played for some decent comedy), but never feeling like the story or the character work was compelling enough.

The one I just got out of was "The Bourne Ultimatum". I've been having a blast with this franchise so far, but this time out it just didn't have the same zip. The breakneck chases, perfectly executed escapes, hyper-technological twists and turns, and more international changes of setting than there are Bond films...it was all here and seemed recognizable enough. But I can't help but feel like this series - once a refreshingly intelligent change of pace from the same old-same old espionage genre - has become the stale routine. Let's just say that anyone who felt like the defining moment of the first film was the 15 quiet seconds of "holy shit, did we just live through that?" following the big car chase will probably not look upon this installment fondly. I'm all for ramping up the speed, force, and excitement, especially as the character rediscovers the abilities that originally put him in this position, but when the soul gets lost in the process, so does my investment. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination...it's just not as engaging as it should be.

[downingthief]

Went and saw Stardust over the weekend, cause I am a Gaiman geek. I thought it was well done. Performances were solid from DeNiro and Phieffer.
As far as the adaption from the book, I thought it was very solid. Some lapses, of course. As with most book adaptations, the book was overall better in my opinion.

[bug on your lip]

i went to go see Superbad last night but it was sold out..

so i saw The Invasion with Nicole Kidman instead

[schoolofruckus]

How was that? I've heard there are some less-than-subtle jabs at Scientology (i.e., they are equated with the "snatched" bodies).

[mob roulette]

I heard it was a trainwreck, largely because of the casting, and also because this movie NEVER, EVER needs to be remade again. Got it, Hollywood? Jesus. Give it a rest. We're done with this already.

[bug on your lip]

1st.... daymmm, ima in love with Nicole again... in the beginning of the movie she wakes up and is wearing see thru shirt & pajama pants... heavens to mergatroid !!! i never knew she had such a nice little behind


2nd- movie was wayyyyy too farfetched.... i mean she's being chased by 20 adult males, but somehow always outruns them !?!? it's stuff like that going on throughout the whole movie

so it was average, you'd be ok with just renting it....

[Somewhat Damaged]

1st.... daymmm, ima in love with Nicole again... in the beginning of the movie she wakes up and is wearing see thru shirt & pajama pants... heavens to mergatroid !!! i never knew she had such a nice little behind

You should watch Eyes Wide Shut then. Her ass is in the very first shot of the film.

[downingthief]

You should watch Eyes Wide Shut then. Her ass is in the very first shot of the film.

MMmmmm...a fine way to start a film, too. Can't wait for the uncut/Euro version coming to DVD!

[amyzzz]

I heard it was a trainwreck, largely because of the casting, and also because this movie NEVER, EVER needs to be remade again. Got it, Hollywood? Jesus. Give it a rest. We're done with this already.
I like the one with Donald Sutherland.

[schoolofruckus]

I heard it was a trainwreck, largely because of the casting, and also because this movie NEVER, EVER needs to be remade again. Got it, Hollywood? Jesus. Give it a rest. We're done with this already.

The internet rumors over the film and its failures are thus:

In conceiving of this unneeded remake, they - by which I mean producer Joel Silver - puzzlingly hired Oliver Herschbiegel, a German director who delivered an arty, talky cut of the film. When Silver didn't like the result (and, of course, "arty" and "talky" are the last fucking things Joel Silver is ever looking for in a movie), he had the Wachowski siblings re-write nearly 1/2 of it, and extensive re-shoots were conducted with James ("V For Vendetta") McTeigue at the helm. Apparently it didn't improve matters much.

[downingthief]

The internet rumors over the film and its failures are thus:

In conceiving of this unneeded remake, they - by which I mean producer Joel Silver - puzzlingly hired Oliver Herschbiegel, a German director who delivered an arty, talky cut of the film. When Silver didn't like the result (and, of course, "arty" and "talky" are the last fucking things Joel Silver is ever looking for in a movie), he had the Wachowski siblings re-write nearly 1/2 of it, and extensive re-shoots were conducted with James ("V For Vendetta") McTeigue at the helm. Apparently it didn't improve matters much.

That indeed makes it sound like a train wreck. This will be on my "I will skip" list.

[schoolofruckus]

I just got done watching "The Rules of the Game". I liked it quite a bit. It was a highly entertaining, madcap morality tale, with some gorgeous photography and a consistent feeling of chaos being just around the corner. I can see some major influences on later films and filmmakers - particularly Robert Altman - and while I'm hardly an expert on pre-WWII movies, I can say with confidence that this film was probably revolutionary in its weaving of an ensemble narrative and its depiction of upper-class hedonism. There was a considerable amount of stage-y, not-quite-convincing acting - which accounts for about 95% of my reservations when it comes to pre-50's cinema - and a noticeable absence of likability among the characters, but it wasn't enough to derail my interest or involvement.

[roberto73]

Has anyone seen Shortbus, John Cameron Mitchell's followup to Hedwig and the Angry Inch? I'd be interested to hear what people thought. It's a curious little film – lots of real, unsimulated sex – that tries (and largely suceeds) to make a serious point about our need for genuine, honest relationships.

If you haven't seen it, you might not want to if you'll be turned off by the sight of a man jizzing in his own mouth in the first ten minutes. After that, it's smooth sailing. Oh, except for the part where one guy sings the national anthem into another's guy's ass. But seriously, after that it's virtually Disney.

[schoolofruckus]

Has anyone seen Shortbus, John Cameron Mitchell's followup to Hedwig and the Angry Inch? I'd be interested to hear what people thought. It's a curious little film – lots of real, unsimulated sex – that tries (and largely suceeds) to make a serious point about our need for genuine, honest relationships.

If you haven't seen it, you might not want to if you'll be turned off by the sight of a man jizzing in his own mouth in the first ten minutes. After that, it's smooth sailing. Oh, except for the part where one guy sings the national anthem into another's guy's ass. But seriously, after that it's virtually Disney.

I wanted to see this pretty bad last year, although it sounded eerily similar to Ken Park, which was the first Harmony and/or Larry Clark film I didn't really care for. I suppose it's also time for me to actually watch Hedwig as well.

[TomAz]

forgive me if this has already been discussed:

I'm Not There (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/movies/21dyla.html)

Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan? wow.

[schoolofruckus]

I think I'm Not There is going to be fascinating, if not great. The idea of using different actors to capture different facets of Dylan's personality has the potential to be awesome.

[wmgaretjax]

I just got done watching "The Rules of the Game". I liked it quite a bit. It was a highly entertaining, madcap morality tale, with some gorgeous photography and a consistent feeling of chaos being just around the corner. I can see some major influences on later films and filmmakers - particularly Robert Altman - and while I'm hardly an expert on pre-WWII movies, I can say with confidence that this film was probably revolutionary in its weaving of an ensemble narrative and its depiction of upper-class hedonism. There was a considerable amount of stage-y, not-quite-convincing acting - which accounts for about 95% of my reservations when it comes to pre-50's cinema - and a noticeable absence of likability among the characters, but it wasn't enough to derail my interest or involvement.

best war film ever. im dead serious on this.

Shortbus was OK, that moment in the first 10 minutes was my favorite of the film.

Todd Haynes is a genius and "Safe" is one of the greatest films of the last decade and a half.

I wish I could see Superbad... there are no good movies playing here in Palermo, or in Tunis where I will be next week.

[Down Rodeo]

I just watched L'Avventura last night, and I have to say I found it to be a little boring. I understand that the point of the movie is to show these characters in a sort of existential wasteland, but I couldn't really connect with the film as I have with others. It could just be a result of my age or the style of movies I've been conditioned to watch, but I expected this movie would be more enjoyable.

[PotVsKtl]

Safe? Really? I'll have to watch that again. I saw another quirkfest last night called Live Free or Die about some douche and his retard friend trying to be hardasses and kill people or something. It was alright. Probably good if you still go in for the current rash of overaffected idiosyncrascene etc.

[schoolofruckus]

best war film ever. im dead serious on this.

Shortbus was OK, that moment in the first 10 minutes was my favorite of the film.

Todd Haynes is a genius and "Safe" is one of the greatest films of the last decade and a half.

I wish I could see Superbad... there are no good movies playing here in Palermo, or in Tunis where I will be next week.

I think you're thinking of "Grand Illusion". Unless you mean "war film" in a sociological sense.

I admired "Safe" more than I actually was enthralled with it. The tone and the style was awesome, but I just didn't get it, for lack of a better term.

"L'Avventurra" is one of the best of all time.

Pot's review of "Live Free or Die Hard" is perfect.

[PotVsKtl]

The best part is it's not a review of Live Free or Die Hard.

[full on idle]

hahaha

Superbad is funny.

There's a Coup song in it.

And Mclovin is how I picture so many of the dudes that post on this board.

[ghettojournalist]

what is really great about the Apatow films, for me, is that really good hip-hop is found in all of them. "Superbad" seems to up the quotient a bit, which adds to my enjoyment.

[schoolofruckus]

The best part is it's not a review of Live Free or Die Hard.

Really? It sure as hell sounded like one.

[Jenniehoo]

"The Rules of the Game" was dizzying. A bunch of ugly guys sleeping with relatively attractive women that sounded like tea kettles when they spoke. I hated every single one of them and wished that the movie had been made in the last 10 years so that maybe they would all die at the end. It was like The Big Chill for French people with VD. Terrible.

[wmgaretjax]

Nope, Rules of the Game. In a sociological sense, and also in an effort to examine the period and the violence, and many of the differences and dramatic changes that occured as a result of WWI. All of it functions as a great backdrop for the emergence of WWII.

Safe is brilliant. That final scene is absolute genius. I love Todd Haynes. I cannot wait for the Bob Dylan film.

Anyone here about the Taymor headed, Bono written, Spiderman musical?

[atom heart]

GzayUFFDBm0

[schoolofruckus]

Nope, Rules of the Game. In a sociological sense, and also in an effort to examine the period and the violence, and many of the differences and dramatic changes that occured as a result of WWI. All of it functions as a great backdrop for the emergence of WWII.

Safe is brilliant. That final scene is absolute genius. I love Todd Haynes. I cannot wait for the Bob Dylan film.

Anyone here about the Taymor headed, Bono written, Spiderman musical?

Alright, I'll give you that. I wouldn't have thought to describe it as a war film, but I see your point.

I do remember thinking the final sequence of "Safe" was pretty impressive. Like Pot, I feel like I should probably watch it again one of these days. I've never seen "Velvet Goldmine" or "Far From Heaven" or "Superstar".

I haven't heard about Taymor's Spiderman musical. Is it a stage show? Or a film? I know Bono plays Mr. Kite in Taymor's forthcoming (and apparently still intact, for the most part) "Across the Universe".

[amyzzz]

This is probably a recommendation against seeing it, but I love Velvet Goldmine. It's one of my favorite movies ever. I wish Todd Haynes had gotten the go ahead to make a true David Bowie biopic, but from this movie I can see why Bowie said no. Haynes makes Bowie seem like a complete self-centered asshole.

I wore glam rock type clothes for about a month in 1997 <?> when this came out.

[schoolofruckus]

Jaw. On. The. Floor.

Drop what you're doing and watch this trailer now. (http://movies.aol.com/movie/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/26180/video/trailer-no-2/1960752)

[anti-square]

wow, fuck yes. This, and "3:10 to Yuma" are on my "must see" list.

[TomAz]

Jaw. On. The. Floor.

Drop what you're doing and watch this trailer now. (http://movies.aol.com/movie/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/26180/video/trailer-no-2/1960752)

cool. I wonder how it ends.

[mob roulette]

Jaw. On. The. Floor.

Drop what you're doing and watch this trailer now. (http://movies.aol.com/movie/the-assassination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford/26180/video/trailer-no-2/1960752)

Gabe. Buddy. Breathe. You don't think this is going to be a bit too much after Anderson and the Coens drop their westerns? A little too much riding of the coattails, perhaps? This is going to turn into the flavor of the month for awhile, me thinks. But for my money, this looks less like "The Proposition" and more like an even-poorer man's "Cold Mountain". Saying.

I see what you like about it though, Toby. I had a hard on for Brad Pitt thirty seconds in myself. But this is not art, Young Jedi. This is commerce. Those people on the screen ain't even supposed to be you, man! They don't have a keen artistic eye, honed by living by standards sharp as knives. They're just pretty. You know this, Young Skywalker. Learn well the lessons of the past. There is no try. There is only do.

[schoolofruckus]

Gabe. Buddy. Breathe. You don't think this is going to be a bit too much after Anderson and the Coens drop their westerns? A little too much riding of the coattails, perhaps? This is going to turn into the flavor of the month for awhile, me thinks. But for my money, this looks less like "The Proposition" and more like an even-poorer man's "Cold Mountain". Saying.

I see what you like about it though, Toby. I had a hard on for Brad Pitt thirty seconds in myself. But this is not art, Young Jedi. This is commerce. Those people on the screen ain't even supposed to be you, man! They don't have a keen artistic eye, honed by living by standards sharp as knives. They're just pretty. You know this, Young Skywalker. Learn well the lessons of the past. There is no try. There is only do.

I'd give you a handjob for that second paragraph.

But seriously, I see this more as being a warm-up to the Coen and PTA westerns, (3:10 to Yuma could be ace, but it's not going to be in the caliber of these other three) because it comes out first, and it was shot way before the other two (it's been in the can for a couple years now). You don't see some seriously genius-level imagery in this trailer? I certainly do. I doubt it will be The Proposition because, while both films (judging this one by the trailer) have that deep meditation on nature quality that is usually found in a good Western, this one's clearly going for something a little more refined. Granted, I loved The Proposition to death, but that movie was all about grimy Aussie cowboys grittily clawing each other to death like animals, whereas this one is about the worship - and envy-driven murder - of a celebrity. And it seems to be from James' perspective, so having a bit of a dreamy eye for its subject - and casting Brad Pitt as that subject - works in the context of the narrative (assuming my interpretation of the movie's paradigm is correct). And it's not like Pitt can't do sociopath (see: Kalifornia, Fight Club). Also, Warner Bros. has been harassing them to make this movie more commercial for over a year (it should have locked picture last September), and from what I've heard, they didn't do a very good job of that. Which of course is a good thing.

[downingthief]

I'd give you a handjob for that second paragraph.

But seriously, I see this more as being a warm-up to the Coen and PTA westerns, (3:10 to Yuma could be ace, but it's not going to be in the caliber of these other three) because it comes out first, and it was shot way before the other two (it's been in the can for a couple years now). You don't see some seriously genius-level imagery in this trailer? I certainly do. I doubt it will be The Proposition because, while both films (judging this one by the trailer) have that deep meditation on nature quality that is usually found in a good Western, this one's clearly going for something a little more refined. Granted, I loved The Proposition to death, but that movie was all about grimy Aussie cowboys grittily clawing each other to death like animals, whereas this one is about the worship - and envy-driven murder - of a celebrity. And it seems to be from James' perspective, so having a bit of a dreamy eye for its subject - and casting Brad Pitt as that subject - works in the context of the narrative (assuming my interpretation of the movie's paradigm is correct). And it's not like Pitt can't do sociopath (see: Kalifornia, Fight Club). Also, Warner Bros. has been harassing them to make this movie more commercial for over a year (it should have locked picture last September), and from what I've heard, they didn't do a very good job of that. Which of course is a good thing.

Thanks for that last bit of info, Gabe. Makes me want to see it even more.

[Mr.Nipples]

http://www.nocountryforoldmen.com/redband/trailer_large.html

no country for old men red band trailer...wow...

[PotVsKtl]

Movies set in the modern South are not Westerns simply because some of the dudes have cowboy hats on.

[schoolofruckus]

Movies set in the modern South are not Westerns simply because some of the dudes have cowboy hats on.

Really? I thought every day in Texas began with a gunfight at sunrise and consisted mostly of cattle-drives and killing savages.

[mob roulette]

Yeah, I know. Point taken. I was just making fun a little bit of Gabe's fanboy reaction to it. He gets so excited. Which is one of the things I like the most about him actually.

I'm not sure I understand this film entirely yet. I don't quite get the premise. I am hoping that Gabe's thinking on it is correct. But if it truly is a meditation on hero worship and false celebrity, it seems strange that they would go there. Jesse James? I mean I would enjoy it, but it doesn't sound like a thing that would sell a lot of tickets in today's market. Which would maybe explain why they didn't push it so hard in the first place. And also this is a true story, however much they embellish it, which leads us to what Tom said. It's not like you're not going to know how this all ends. That seems like a thing that doesn't rarely pass the Hollywood litmus test, unless it's a true biopic. Is this a Brad Pitt vanity project? Casey Affleck is second billed? That also seems odd for a big-budget film like this. It looks interesting as all get out, I'll give you that. I guess I just have to do a little more research on it first.

Also, I have a feeling "No Country for Old Men" is going to rocket into my top 100 with a quickness. I could watch that trailer over and over again. Saying.

[schoolofruckus]

Yeah, I know. Point taken. I was just making fun a little bit of Gabe's fanboy reaction to it. He gets so excited. Which is one of the things I like the most about him actually.

I'm not sure I understand this film entirely yet. I don't quite get the premise. I am hoping that Gabe's thinking on it is correct. But if it truly is a meditation on hero worship and false celebrity, it seems strange that they would go there. Jesse James? I mean I would enjoy it, but it doesn't sound like a thing that would sell a lot of tickets in today's market. Which would maybe explain why they didn't push it so hard in the first place. And also this is a true story, however much they embellish it, which leads us to what Tom said. It's not like you're not going to know how this all ends. That seems like a thing that doesn't rarely pass the Hollywood litmus test, unless it's a true biopic. Is this a Brad Pitt vanity project? Casey Affleck is second billed? That also seems odd for a big-budget film like this. It looks interesting as all get out, I'll give you that. I guess I just have to do a little more research on it first.

Also, I have a feeling "No Country for Old Men" is going to rocket into my top 100 with a quickness. I could watch that trailer over and over again. Saying.

I agree that the Jesse James film is going to be a hard-sell, particularly for a high budget Brad Pitt vehicle, and even more so considering the film's apparent tone and structure. That's why I'm excited about it. Nothing against Tombstone - I fucking love it - but this seems about as far away from that as you can get.

And yeah, "No Country for Old Men" seems like a guaranteed masterpiece.

[chrislasf]

25 greatest movies about high school according to Moviefone.

25. 'The Girl Next Door' (2004)
24. 'Fame' (1980)
23. 'Stand and Deliver' (1998)
22. 'To Sir, With Love' (1967)
21. 'Can't Buy Me Love' (1987)
20. 'Brick' (2006)
19. 'Friday Night Lights' (2004)
18. 'Superbad' (2007)
17. 'Footloose' (1984)
16. 'Grease' (1978)
15. 'Napoleon Dynamite' (2004)
14. 'Sixteen Candles' (1984)
13. 'Carrie' (1976)
12. 'Pretty in Pink' (1986)
11. 'Dead Poets Society' (1989)
10. 'Mean Girls' (2004)
9. 'American Pie' (1999)
8. 'Rushmore' (1998)
7. 'Heathers' (1989)
6. 'Clueless' (1995)
5. 'Election' (1999)
4. 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' (1982)
3. 'Dazed and Confused' (1993)
2. 'The Breakfast Club' (1985)
1. 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986)

[full on idle]

I want to watch all of those, in a row.

[PotVsKtl]

I have seen 21 of those. Apparently Rebel Without a Cause doesn't rate as high as The Girl Next Door.

[chrislasf]

I was trying to think of what they missed. Rebel Without A Cause is an unforgivable omission. Even for Moviefone. Aside from that though I think they nailed most of em.

[chrislasf]

Also, John Hughes is on there four god damn times.

[TomAz]

Where the fuck is Rock n Roll High School? jeez.

[schoolofruckus]

25 greatest movies about high school according to Moviefone.

25. 'The Girl Next Door' (2004)
24. 'Fame' (1980)
23. 'Stand and Deliver' (1998)
22. 'To Sir, With Love' (1967)
21. 'Can't Buy Me Love' (1987)
20. 'Brick' (2006)
19. 'Friday Night Lights' (2004)
18. 'Superbad' (2007)
17. 'Footloose' (1984)
16. 'Grease' (1978)
15. 'Napoleon Dynamite' (2004)
14. 'Sixteen Candles' (1984)
13. 'Carrie' (1976)
12. 'Pretty in Pink' (1986)
11. 'Dead Poets Society' (1989)
10. 'Mean Girls' (2004)
9. 'American Pie' (1999)
8. 'Rushmore' (1998)
7. 'Heathers' (1989)
6. 'Clueless' (1995)
5. 'Election' (1999)
4. 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' (1982)
3. 'Dazed and Confused' (1993)
2. 'The Breakfast Club' (1985)
1. 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986)

Bolded the ones I've seen.

Moviefone can lick my nuts for not including Ghost World or Elephant on this list. I do give them props for Friday Night Lights though.

[amyzzz]

I agree on the Ghost World. It gets better with each viewing.

I've seen all of those except The Girl Next Door; Fame; To Sir, With Love; and Rushmore.

[schoolofruckus]

You really, really need to see Rushmore. Should have topped this bloody list, for my money.

[roberto73]

Coincidentally, I saw Rocket Science tonight, and it should absolutely make that list. 10-second summary: An awkward kid with a severe stutter gets invited by a girl to join the debate team. He's counting on it to give him the confidence he lacks and turn his life around. It doesn't. For my money, it's the best high school movie since Rushmore. It's pitch-perfect, and doesn't beat the audience over the head with a moral like so many movies about education do. Funny, poignant, and nails the clumsiness of high school with pin-point accuracy. It's a first-rate flick. I might go see it again tomorrow.

In regard to what actually appears on the Moviefone list, I would like to inflict severe physical and emotional pain on everyone involved with Napoleon Dynamite. If you're going to make a movie without a plot, the characters had better be someone I want to spend 90 minutes with. By the end, I just wanted to slather Napoleon with gravy and feed him to wolverines – which, come to think of it, would be more entertaining than actually watching the movie.

[kingsblend420]

Just saw Zodiac. Not too bad considering its based on real life stuff. Quality cinematography and an excellent script imo.

[breakjaw]

25 greatest movies about high school according to Moviefone.

25. 'The Girl Next Door' (2004)
24. 'Fame' (1980)
23. 'Stand and Deliver' (1998)
22. 'To Sir, With Love' (1967)
21. 'Can't Buy Me Love' (1987)
20. 'Brick' (2006)
19. 'Friday Night Lights' (2004)
18. 'Superbad' (2007)
17. 'Footloose' (1984)
16. 'Grease' (1978)
15. 'Napoleon Dynamite' (2004)
14. 'Sixteen Candles' (1984)
13. 'Carrie' (1976)
12. 'Pretty in Pink' (1986)
11. 'Dead Poets Society' (1989)
10. 'Mean Girls' (2004)
9. 'American Pie' (1999)
8. 'Rushmore' (1998)
7. 'Heathers' (1989)
6. 'Clueless' (1995)
5. 'Election' (1999)
4. 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' (1982)
3. 'Dazed and Confused' (1993)
2. 'The Breakfast Club' (1985)
1. 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986)
Also where's "Spider-Man"?Or "Mask"?or freaking "The Last Picture Show"?

[schoolofruckus]

Coincidentally, I saw Rocket Science tonight, and it should absolutely make that list. 10-second summary: An awkward kid with a severe stutter gets invited by a girl to join the debate team. He's counting on it to give him the confidence he lacks and turn his life around. It doesn't. For my money, it's the best high school movie since Rushmore. It's pitch-perfect, and doesn't beat the audience over the head with a moral like so many movies about education do. Funny, poignant, and nails the clumsiness of high school with pin-point accuracy. It's a first-rate flick. I might go see it again tomorrow.

In regard to what actually appears on the Moviefone list, I would like to inflict severe physical and emotional pain on everyone involved with Napoleon Dynamite. If you're going to make a movie without a plot, the characters had better be someone I want to spend 90 minutes with. By the end, I just wanted to slather Napoleon with gravy and feed him to wolverines – which, come to think of it, would be more entertaining than actually watching the movie.

Interesting...when I saw the trailer for Rocket Science, I felt like it was going to be yet another limp Wes Anderson swipe - an indie comedy that goes out of its way (and miserably fails) to be "quirky" and brainy and too dry for its own good a la the aforeslandered "Napoleon Dynamite". I also felt like I'd already seen a nu-Wes movie in which a high school kid cures a childhood affliction by joining the debate team in "Thumbsucker", which wasn't bad, but definitely wasn't all that memorable. However, I keep hearing that "Rocket Science" is much better than that impression, so I may need to shut up and give it a whirl.

Saw "The Ten" last night, and it was pretty fucking funny. This is the one where the guys from "The State"/"Wet Hot American Summer" (plus Famke Jannsen, Winona Ryder, Jessica Alba, and my man-crush Paul Rudd) do 10 absurdist vignettes, each dedicated to one of the Ten Commandments. I didn't catch the 7th, 8th, or 9th Commandments (goddamn late screening) but the other ones were mostly hysterical.

[roberto73]

I was afraid Rocket Science would be the same thing: forced, self-conscious quirkiness. But it wasn't. I think the trailers are playing up that angle trying to catch the Wes Anderson crowd, but it's really misrepresentating what the movie's all about.

I enjoyed The Ten, too, beyond the first vignette, which I thought was a slow start to the picture. The rest were great in that bizarre, non-sequitur way. And who knew Liev Schreiber could do funny?

[Jenniehoo]

25 greatest movies about high school according to Moviefone.

25. 'The Girl Next Door' (2004)
24. 'Fame' (1980)
23. 'Stand and Deliver' (1998)
22. 'To Sir, With Love' (1967)
21. 'Can't Buy Me Love' (1987)
20. 'Brick' (2006)
19. 'Friday Night Lights' (2004)
18. 'Superbad' (2007)
17. 'Footloose' (1984)
16. 'Grease' (1978)
15. 'Napoleon Dynamite' (2004)
14. 'Sixteen Candles' (1984)
13. 'Carrie' (1976)
12. 'Pretty in Pink' (1986)
11. 'Dead Poets Society' (1989)
10. 'Mean Girls' (2004)
9. 'American Pie' (1999)
8. 'Rushmore' (1998)
7. 'Heathers' (1989)
6. 'Clueless' (1995)
5. 'Election' (1999)
4. 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' (1982)
3. 'Dazed and Confused' (1993)
2. 'The Breakfast Club' (1985)
1. 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (1986)

I've seen 23 of these movies. That blows me away. I've never seen many movies on any condensed list.

Most of those movies are funny, though.

[full on idle]

Jen I didn't want to post it but I've seen them all except to sir with love and girl next door. I had the exact same reaction.

[full on idle]

I've seen Dazed and Confused probably 100 times. Probably I know every line of dialogue.

[Jenniehoo]

I feel like a weirdo. I never saw To Sir, with Love or Brick. The Girl Next Door was kind of funny but it's really weird that it made it on this list.

I HEART TEEN MOVIES GIVE ME CANDY

[Jenniehoo]

It'd be a lot cooler if you did.

[full on idle]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[J~$$$]

17. 'Footloose' (1984) total bs...this movie sucked balls. I guess there needs to be a gay movie on the list so maybe its the truth.

[Jenniehoo]

They danced against the grain of their society, Justin. They danced with passion. They danced....for justice.

[J~$$$]

The soundtrack gets mad points but bacons moves are sooooo forced.

[Jenniehoo]

Gabe and I just discussed the top 25 high school movies - and then decided we would make the top 10 college movies. For fun. Because a lot of good stuff fell out of the range of high school....

Here's a collaboration:


Rules of Attraction
Animal House
Good Will Hunting
The Graduate
Revenge of the Nerds
PCU
Pumpkin
Harold and Kumar go to White Castle
Higher Learning
Reality Bites


Discuss amongst yourselves, beeatches.

[PotVsKtl]

The Graduate is about a college graduate.

[PotVsKtl]

The Reno 911 movie might be hilarious.

[PotVsKtl]

Wait it just repulsed me.

[mob roulette]

I was talking to a friend of mine earlier and we realized that we are both exactly within ten minutes of where they filmed "Animal House" and "Revenge of the Nerds", respectively. It was kind of cool. Those should also be numbers #1 and #2 on your list, by the way. For what it's worth. No way am I conceding Belushi or the Tri-Lambs to the fucking Rules of Attraction. No way in hell. Or Matt Damon either. I mean, come on. "Good Will Hunting", though a fine flick, is only tangentially about college life. What gives, people? What's the criteria here exactly?

[J~$$$]

I know Im going to get shat upon for this, but old school should be on that list.

[TomAz]

Those should also be numbers #1 and #2 on your list, by the way. For what it's worth. No way am I conceding Belushi or the Tri-Lambs to the fucking Rules of Attraction. No way in hell. Or Matt Damon either. I mean, come on.

seconded. except I like Good Will Hunting a lot. but Animal House is like the funniest movie ever made ever by anyone in the entire history of human beings.

[schoolofruckus]

I was talking to a friend of mine earlier and we realized that we are both exactly within ten minutes of where they filmed "Animal House" and "Revenge of the Nerds", respectively. It was kind of cool. Those should also be numbers #1 and #2 on your list, by the way. For what it's worth. No way am I conceding Belushi or the Tri-Lambs to the fucking Rules of Attraction. No way in hell. Or Matt Damon either. I mean, come on. "Good Will Hunting", though a fine flick, is only tangentially about college life. What gives, people? What's the criteria here exactly?

Well you see....in trying to whittle it down to the most historically crucial collegiate films of all time, our main objective was....well, when we set out, we wanted to.....I mean, surely you can't look at this list and not feel some sort of.....

Ahem.

Drinking.

I saw "Shoot 'Em Up" last night and I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about it. It was a lot of fun, and featured some of the most audaciously choreographed gunfights I've ever seen, and while no one would try to claim with a straight face that this film's interest was in human observation or emotional nuance (it has pretty much zero of either), the lead characters are all damn fine variations on the standard action film archetypes. Make no mistake, the film is junk....but it's high-caliber, skillfully rendered junk. And that's worth attention in its own right.

That said, my appetite for pervasive, meaningless violence subsided long ago, and thus I can't help watching something like this without feeling like it's pretty unnecessary. The fact that it's a film designed to have carnage-crazed young men whooping and cheering at countless different action beats underlines the irresponsibility of this type of picture. But what keeps intriguing me about the movie is a question I'm not sure I'll ever have answered. I've read alternating takes on this film in which some feel that it's first and foremost about crafting the sickest, most highly-stylized action sequences imaginable, and others feel that while it does pull that off, it's intention is more to send up action film conventions in all of their inherent silliness and stupidity. After seeing it, I can say that both sides have equal ammunition (groan). Literally from the film's first scene - which features the most heinously funny umbilical cord severance since "Freddy Got Fingered" - there's a level of ridiculousness on display that does a masterful job (seriously) of walking the tightrope between genre worship and parody.

If you're a fan of old-school John Woo stuff, then I can't imagine this wouldn't appeal to you. And even if you're not all that huge into action movies anymore (again, which is the case with me), it could still be a ton of fun. But I'd recommend all the ladies stay away from this one.

I also watched "Opening Night" this past weekend. It was the last film in the John Cassavetes boxed set that I had yet to see. I loved it, of course. His films resonate in ways that few other films can match. This one is about a Broadway actress (played by the ever-lovely Gena Rowlands) who is rehearsing for her latest play, which is about a woman who is aging ungracefully. She's trying to find the human center of the piece - as she is very much in denial over her own advancing years - and she's also (like every Cassavetes character ever) a raging alcoholic. Both issues are compounded when she witnesses the death of a young fan who had followed her limousine into oncoming traffic one night following a dress rehearsal. All the Cassavetes hallmarks are here - dialogue that flows as if completely untethered to screenwriting convention; beautifully composed, naturalistic photography; a protagonist struggling with sense of self. It's not quite on the level of the holy trinity of "Faces", "A Woman Under the Influence", and "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie", but it's still a more-than-worthy entry in the hallowed Cassavetes catalog.

[TomAz]

OpIYz8tfGjY

[Jenniehoo]

I stand by my choices and ranking regardless of alcohol.

It was fun to make a list. I'm going to make more, I think.

[J~$$$]

Someday I will make it to Telluride for this.....

Meyer also plans to add more late shows and print last-minute screenings in the official program, which fest attendees had to scramble to find in the past. Movies that are expected to play the 34th Telluride include the Cannes prizewinners "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," a Romanian abortion drama; and Julian Schnabel's French-language "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

Also likely to turn up in Telluride are "Margot at the Wedding," from Noah Baumbach, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nicole Kidman; the Xtreme sports skiing documentary "Steep"; Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan movie "I'm Not There," starring Cate Blanchett and Heath Ledger; Alison Eastwood's "Rails & Ties"; and Tamara Jenkins' "The Savages," starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney, a Telluride resident.

[bballarl]

Gabe, just thought this little article I read in EW would infuriate you.

On why it took six years to round up the old gang:

Jackie Chan:
Every time I call Chris, he is on the beach. He says "Jackie, I love you, but I am so tired. I am still tired from the last movie." I say back to him, "How can you be tired? It was so many years ago and I am the one who is old."

Chris Tucker:
I was doing humanitarian work around the world, mostly in Africa. While he was making his silly blockbusters, I was saving lives. Take that, Jackie Chan! I got a little vacation time in, too, but mostly I was feeding my soul helping people-instead of doing the Hollywood thing.

Brett Ratner, Director:
It was a matter of finding the time for all three of us to be available and getting a good script. It took 20 years to build the pyramids, 13 years for me to lose my virginity, and only six years to get Chris Tucker on a plane to France to make this movie. The wait was worth it.

On the bigger, badder stunts, including one small leap off the Eiffel Tower

BR:
I have gotten to do some cool stuff in my career as a director, and go to some cool places, but being able to turn the lights on or off on the Eiffel Tower made me feel like the most powerful man alive. But if I didn't trust Jackie and his team so wholeheartedly, I would have had a heart attack up there because it was a dangerous place to be.

CT:
The Eiffel Tower bit was hard. That steel was very cold and let's just say there was some chafing involved. But it looks cool so I guess it is all good. The chafing has long since cleared up.

JC:
I love the scene where we sing. Fighting and stunts I don't like anymore, but I have to do them to get jobs. That's what people want from me. Dancing and singing is my hobby now, and I wish I could have another career as a singer. I wanna be like Elvis, but I think my fans would be so mad at me if I stopped throwing myself around and punching.

There was some more, but I thought Brett Ratner was just golden. What a tool.

[schoolofruckus]

Gabe, just thought this little article I read in EW would infuriate you.

On why it took six years to round up the old gang:

Jackie Chan:
Every time I call Chris, he is on the beach. He says "Jackie, I love you, but I am so tired. I am still tired from the last movie." I say back to him, "How can you be tired? It was so many years ago and I am the one who is old."

Chris Tucker:
I was doing humanitarian work around the world, mostly in Africa. While he was making his silly blockbusters, I was saving lives. Take that, Jackie Chan! I got a little vacation time in, too, but mostly I was feeding my soul helping people-instead of doing the Hollywood thing.

Brett Ratner, Director:
It was a matter of finding the time for all three of us to be available and getting a good script. It took 20 years to build the pyramids, 13 years for me to lose my virginity, and only six years to get Chris Tucker on a plane to France to make this movie. The wait was worth it.

On the bigger, badder stunts, including one small leap off the Eiffel Tower

BR:
I have gotten to do some cool stuff in my career as a director, and go to some cool places, but being able to turn the lights on or off on the Eiffel Tower made me feel like the most powerful man alive. But if I didn't trust Jackie and his team so wholeheartedly, I would have had a heart attack up there because it was a dangerous place to be.

CT:
The Eiffel Tower bit was hard. That steel was very cold and let's just say there was some chafing involved. But it looks cool so I guess it is all good. The chafing has long since cleared up.

JC:
I love the scene where we sing. Fighting and stunts I don't like anymore, but I have to do them to get jobs. That's what people want from me. Dancing and singing is my hobby now, and I wish I could have another career as a singer. I wanna be like Elvis, but I think my fans would be so mad at me if I stopped throwing myself around and punching.

There was some more, but I thought Brett Ratner was just golden. What a tool.

He is. When you need an interview quote that makes you want to jab a half-eaten carrot in your eye, Brett Ratner is the go-to guy.

His next project is a Hugh Hefner biopic, by the way.

Also, J scrilla - the Telluride line-up looks awesome. I'm dying to see the Romanian abortion movie.

[full on idle]

I'm dying to see the Romanian abortion movie.

Will there be rape(s)?

[RotationSlimWang]

I don't get the beef with those Ratner quotes. What's the big objection, Gabandrew?

[Jenniehoo]

http://www.acc.umu.se/~zqad/cats/1163920448-1162645493675.jpg

[schoolofruckus]

Will there be rape(s)?

I don't know. But I sure hope so!

I don't get the beef with those Ratner quotes. What's the big objection, Gabandrew?

Well, my big objection is Ratner's continued quest to flirt with himself in interviews to make up for his directorial shortcomings. Yeah, yeah, I get it - Ratner's somehow managed to become a sex panther even though he's a greasy little doughball. Doesn't change the fact that his films look like sitcoms and he takes the least risky projects of anyone in town.

[schoolofruckus]

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b126/schoolofruckus/Mrs.jpg



(Anybody else who drops a LOLcat in this thread is getting skullfucked).

[mob roulette]

I think it's cute how Jennie's made me think of Goldfinger while Gabe's is sniffing a flower over what looks like the font from The Godfather. Really, so cute. A match made in heaven.

[PotVsKtl]

I watched Mamet's House of Games last night. This was only the second Mamet directed film I've seen, the other being Spartan (which is fucking fantastic.) House of Games was funny and Joe Montegna is a hilariously bad actor. I would recommend this movie to all invertebrates, avian fowls and knuckledusting quad riders.

[mountmccabe]

What is Spartan? I have not seen that one.

The Spanish Prisoner is top notch. After that I can only recommend his movies (i.e. the ones he directs) with reservations. I like Mamet in all forms a ton so I don't mind the touch of polished silliness to State & Main or the oddly mannered and somewhat slow (and entirely lacking in action/excitement) The Winslow Boy and, hell, I even enjoyed Heist some... but these are not going to be as rewarding for everyone out there.

[PotVsKtl]

Spartan is about Val Kilmer being some kind of special agent and using clipped special agent speech. It's especially good when he's interacting with Ed O'Neill.

[Yablonowitz]

I've seen Dazed and Confused probably 100 times. Probably I know every line of dialogue.

Checkee later!!

[J~$$$]

what the hell is this?

http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12868.html

[TomAz]

that appears to be a movie about angelina jolie's breasts.

[PotVsKtl]

Starring Leonidas.

[schoolofruckus]

Spartan fucking RULES. So does Heist, for that matter. Mamet's a fine director and completely worthy of his own screenplays. I can't wait to check out the House of Games Criterion release.

I saw Sunshine last week - it was fantastic as well. The ending turns into a bit of Event Horizon-esque horror, which I could see turning some off. But the imagery in that film is some of the most delicious I've seen in quite some time, and the story (though somewhat preposterous) still worked on its own terms.

Also, Mob - think I've busted what Ronnie likes to call.....A NUT!!!....over other trailers?

An expansion on the genius teaser that was posted a couple months ago. (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17575421)


Make sure you stay for the credits at the very end to see who contributed some original music for it.

[Yablonowitz]

I like those movies with that guy who always says "Hey Vern." That guy always makes me chuckle while I'm sitting in my recliner eating pork rinds.

[TomAz]

first randy now yablo. modern medicine ain't what it's cracked up to be.

[mountmccabe]

Spartan fucking RULES. So does Heist, for that matter. Mamet's a fine director and completely worthy of his own screenplays. I can't wait to check out the House of Games Criterion release.

I thought Heist was a bit slight. I was distracted during that movie, though, so maybe I missed something.


I saw Sunshine last week - it was fantastic as well. The ending turns into a bit of Event Horizon-esque horror, which I could see turning some off. But the imagery in that film is some of the most delicious I've seen in quite some time, and the story (though somewhat preposterous) still worked on its own terms.

Seriously. The visuals were stunning but it was the themes played out in the imagery that really blew me away.

Though, honestly, I'm not sure what of that I can attribute to Boyle and/or Garland and/or MacDonald.

Maybe I need to see 28 Days Later again. I mean, that was good stuff but it was a totally different type of film. Trainspotting had a a good deal of strong imagery but it also tended to be more of the gross/disturbing variety and rarely approached sublime.

[atom heart]

Dazed and Confused

consensus says that this movie represents my school. I haven't seen it.

[J~$$$]

Stop right now. Get off the comp. Get high. Get your ass to blockbuster and rent it.

[J~$$$]

cuz its fun.

[breakjaw]

I just saw 28 Weeks Later and enjoyed it immensely.It is to 28 Days Later what Aliens was to Alien.
Also caught The King Of Kong.Best documentary ever.

[chrislasf]

Breakjaw - I have been pushing that doc HARD. Wonderfully quirky characters caught in a really expertly woven story.

"No matter what what I say, it draws controversy. It's sort of like the abortion issue."

I almost fell out of my chair.

[Mr. Dylanja]

I cant wait to see 310 to Yuma this weekend! No way its as good as Unforgiven but I'm still expecting a quality flick!

[mob roulette]

An expansion on the genius teaser that was posted a couple months ago. (http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17575421)

Deleted. What was it? Spill.

[mountmccabe]

I just saw 28 Weeks Later and enjoyed it immensely.It is to 28 Days Later what Aliens was to Alien.

That's not the way to convince me to see a movie.

Alien >> Aliens

[bballarl]

I want to see Superbad again.

[schoolofruckus]

Deleted. What was it? Spill.

Weak! It was a full trailer for this:

http://cigarettesandredvines.com/ThereWillBeBlood.jpg

And the credits at the end read:

"Original Music by Jonny Greenwood"

[mob roulette]

Goddamnit. It's been pulled everywhere. You see what happens when you leave the internet for even one day? Don't do it kids.

The rotten tomatoes forum says that it's going to be in front of 3:10. Guess I'll have to go subject myself to Russell Crowe one more fucking time. Or else leave after the previews. Whichever.

[PotVsKtl]

It seemed almost identical to the previous trailer to me. Also, Christian Bale.

[breakjaw]

.
Alien >> Aliens

I definitely agree.Alien is a classic.But Aliens is more of a popcorn flick,as is 28 Weeks Later,and there's nothing wrong with a well made popcorn flick every once in awhile.
Which reminds me,has anyone on here ever seen a "fan-edited" film?There are several out there(Casino with Sharon Stone removed,Peter Jackson's King Kong in black and white and trimmed to an acceptable length),but I just watched a pretty damn good version of The Rock,with a lot of the dumb jokes and stuff removed,and it's a fine popcorn flick.It was called The Rock "Thermalized".

[breakjaw]

Please forgive me if this has already been discussed,but Tom have you heard about
this? (http://siart.blogspot.com/2007/06/elvis-presley-crawfish-clash-im-so.html)
http://bp3.blogger.com/_v6QAgvDKNdE/RoAuewLGjTI/AAAAAAAAAXw/Islb991xk1c/s320/strummerost.jpg
Julien Temple kinda pisses me off as a filmmaker,but the subject can't be beat.The soundtrack is awesome anyway.

[breakjaw]

And I'm gonna go ahead and just post this for no other reason than it's fuckin' cool:
ZXP5ODvsXko

[ewiggy]

across the universe, anyone?

sometimes i forget that gabe still exists on the board. hello, this thread. hello, gabe.

[mob roulette]

Let me drop some names right quick:

I saw 3:10 to Yuma on Saturday. It was horrible. James Mangold is a fucking chode. So is Russell Crowe. Christian Bale was okay, but this movie is just so heavy handed that it made no difference. I know it's a remake, but all of its intentions were so telelgraphed that I just found myself incredibly insulted by the whole thing. Pacing sucks, cinematography sucks, the characters are so badly drawn as to be ludicrous. The guy who played Charlie Prince, Ben Foster, looked and acted like the little brother of the albino from Cold Mountain. Both of the love interests, played by Gretchen Mol and Vinessa Shaw respectively, are so poorly sketched that they might as well have just not bothered. Even if that's how the original was, they could have done better here. And then there's this one character, Grayson Butterfield who is played by Dallas Roberts who also portrayed Sam Phillips in Walk The Line. Now I don't know if Mr. Roberts is gay in real life or not (I don't think that he is) or if he was told to play this character this way or if it's editing or what, but he minces about the screen pretty much the entire film. Imagine David Wenham as Eden Fletcher in The Proposition, but completely over the top in both mannerism as well as affectation. I mean seriously, like giving Johnny Depp's Captain Jack a run for his money. Now this would be fine in and of itself, but THEN they introduce this other guy, this marshal played by Sean Hennigan, this burly guy with a perfectly clipped beard, this perfectly sketched daddy bear stereotype and he and Butterfield have this whole sequence where they're verbally sparring and you swear you're watching a lover's spat. I'm serious, watch for it, you can't miss it. And what bothered me about it was that it felt intentional, like this creepy target marketing or something for gay cowboys. It was weird.

So yeah, the movie pretty much sucked. It's decent escapist fare, but don't go looking for any deeper meaning here. Which kind of sucks, because that's what westerns are actually for, in my opinion. It's Man vs. Self. You set up a conflict, a crisis of conscience of some kind, and then see how your principles react. But I couldn't give a tupenny fuck about either Crowe's or Bale's moral conundrum here. It was all just way too obvious and completely predictable in terms of plot. The ending is a major Hollywood cop-out too. Assholes.

And no PT Anderson preview either. Which is the only reason I went. Total ripoff man. Fo reals yo.

[PotVsKtl]

Chud.com has a horrible review of Mother of Tears up. Inferno was terrible but I was hoping Argento would pull of a proper Suspiria sequel.

[PotVsKtl]

Then again they all think Equilibrium was some kind of masterpiece.

[Mr.Nipples]

Suspiria...a bad movie to watch while under the influence of psychedelics...

[breakjaw]

I just watched Interview and have come to the following conclusions:
1.Steve Buscemi is the best director at directing actors right now
2.Mike Nichols is 2nd
3.Sienna Miller can act

[mountmccabe]

Then again they all think Equilibrium was some kind of masterpiece.

That movie was awful. It had exactly one (1) moment of not being terrible.

[RotationSlimWang]

Has Russel Crowe ever been in an actually good movie? And don't even bring up Gladiator, LA Confidential, or A Beautiful Mind.

Equilibrium was 95 percent derivative garbage bordering on straight-up theft, but the Gun Katas were a sweet idea, you gotta admit. Sadly that was the only innovative thought in the whole picture.

[mob roulette]

Cinderella Man. But yeah, on the whole, Crowe is insufferable.

[RotationSlimWang]

Ah, Cinderella Man is nothing special really, at least not that I could see. A whole lot of Russell and chinky-faced Renee giving each other somber looks and bittersweet winning smiles. Also, poor children keeping their chins up during The Depression.

Cry me a fucking river, Ron Howard. You're a shameless pusher of the most gratuitous emotional buttons you can wrap your freckled little claws around.

[Yablonowitz]

Has Russel Crowe ever been in an actually good movie? And don't even bring up Gladiator, LA Confidential, or A Beautiful Mind.


The Insider.

[RotationSlimWang]

Eh, I'm very unconvinced by The Insider despite it's high regard in a lot of circles.

(a) like all Michael Mann movies it's at least a half hour too long.

(b) the progressively shrinking frame used in close-ups of Crowe, while I understand the justification in that they're supposed to increase the feeling of being "boxed in" that Crowe's character experience, is frankly just fucking annoying to have to watch. The entire last hour of the movie Crowe is shot 90 percent of the time in ECU with a constantly moving frame, chasing his face all over the place, and whether or not it "succeeds" in making the audience feel anxious and the such is made mostly irrelevant by the fact that it's annoying and nauseating.

(c) Mann does a remarkble job of giving practically no memorable lines to Pacino, who even though he's fallen off a lot in recent years can still take any semi-decent line and make it gangbusters when he has good material. It's a waste to throw him in the boring role. But I base this pretty much entirely on the fact that I can't remember a single one of his lines--would anyone care to refute this impression?

[mob roulette]

I do a great Pacino impression. It's pretty easy if you stop to try it. Anybody could do it really. He does the same things over and over again.

[mob roulette]

Case in point. It's a great speech and all, but nothing that complicated. This is what he gets paid to do and so he does it all the time.

9rFx6OFooCs

[RotationSlimWang]

Yeah, but there's a few he does really well. He's still my favorite part of Glengarry Glen Ross. "Fuck the machine?!" And he'll always hold a fond place in my heart because of some documentary I was watching about some movie he was in that I don't think ever went anywhere special (could be wrong), but in any event there was this great footage of some cops coming into the diner where Pacino and the crew were trying to shoot a quick scene without permits. I think it was in NYC.

Well they try explaining to the cops, "Hey, this will only take us like five minutes, do you think you could let us slide?" And the cops were having none of it, they tell Pacino to put down the sandwich he was supposed to be eating in the scene, get up, and follow everybody out the door. Well Al gets up looking righteously pissed, throws the sandwich on the floor at the coppers' feet, and as he's walking out barks "I hope you like TURKEY!"

[RotationSlimWang]

Also, few people have been in as many great movies as him. I mean both Godfathers, Dog Day Afternoon, And Justice For All, Glengarry, Serpico, Panic In Needle Park, Scarface I guess but that movie sucks--would suck immeasurably more if he wasn't in it though, and Heat/Devil's Advocate/Insider/Carlito's Way/a bunch of other shit in the nineties some people like which I couldn't care less about.

[schoolofruckus]

Randy's dead right about Cinderella Man. That movie is fucking abominable. It was so bad that they were publicly offering people a refund on tickets if they didn't like it and it still didn't make any money.

I think Randy's so far off base as to be out in the parking lot on Michael Mann's stuff.

Also, what the hell is wrong with L.A. Confidential? I know it's not as good as the book, but as a movie itself, it's fantastic.

Russell Crowe films I like: L.A.C.; Gladiator (a fine entertainment that is absolutely over-rated); the Insider; Master and Commander.

Also, even if I hated them all, his entire career would be worth having happened for that "South Park" parody where he has a show called 'Fightin' Round the World'.

[mob roulette]

Please address 3:10, Gabe.

Also I like Dog Day Afternoon. Like a lot. Like Top 25 material. But that's an entirely different Pacino, yes?

[RotationSlimWang]

What was wrong with LA Confidential... it's not a bad question really.

Um, if I had to try to put my finger on it it would be that it felt like a fairly talented screenwriting hack--not meaning a hack in the bad way, but just a hired gun who does whatever they want him to and doesn't have much style--was hired to adapt this book (it was a book? News to me) and churned out what was basically an amalgam of 40s/50s LA quasi-noir pieces.

Then Curtis Hanson came in and hired Russell The Twat, and Guy Pearce being about as uninteresting as humanly possible, and fucking Kim Basinger in the single worst performance to win an Oscar that I can remember, and he figured what he'd do is just shoot it so it looked exactly like a more expensive, easily watched Chinatown. It annoys me that instead of playing like a noir or even partial noir (like Chinatown is), Hanson just decided to throw a shitload of rich color schemes around so that it would be pretty for everybody. Tales of intrigue that look that happy are limp-dicked. He made this half-assed imitation of a gritty movie but didn't want to look gritty at all, and the mood really suffers. That world it takes place in doesn't even look real everything's so fucking pretty.

Aside from that everything just plays out really typically and the main characters never show any real faults--Basinger excluded of course because every femme fatale does what she does except in the really good movies it imitates there's a juicy secret/backstabbing at the heart of it.

And then what the fuck happens--Guy Pearce tries to expose her to Russell, Russell hits him for being mildly dick-ish to Kim which you like him for because he's all chivalrous but at the same time you like Guy too because he's right about her. If the audience likes your main characters at every turn your movie is bullshit.

Gladiator would be alright if, as is the case with so many of these ancient empires epics, they cut out about an hour of the endless prattling about the government and shit that nobody remembers afterward or gives a fuck about while it's happening. I love watching Ridley's stuff, but Joaquin annoys me to no end.

[mob roulette]

Discourse on American Gangster now Randy. Please. I know you have an opinion here. Thank you.

[RotationSlimWang]

Please address 3:10, Gabe.

Also I like Dog Day Afternoon. Like a lot. Like Top 25 material. But that's an entirely different Pacino, yes?

Yes, which is a weird thing about Pacino--he went through that bizarre transformation just before Glengarry and suddenly looked and spoke like someone totally different from only, what, like eight years prior? And it became this gross caricature around the time of Scent Of A Woman and the crap that followed it, but I stand by Glengarry as an example of how fucking awesome the older Pacino caricature can be if you give him the right lines to ham up.

Dog Day Afternoon's fantastic, but I don't think I'd go top 25 with it. I'm willing to bet if I'd been alive when it came out (or at least just before the glut of bank robbery movies of the 80s and 90s) I would be much more passionate about it. Still, I'd give Lumet a four hour handjob without thinking twice about my carpal tunnel.

[mob roulette]

Also I don't care for L.A. Confidential either. Not really.

[RotationSlimWang]

Discourse on American Gangster now Randy. Please. I know you have an opinion here. Thank you.

You want a discourse on a movie that hasn't been released yet? Um, okay. So let's say the movie starts with a natural rating of 5 out of 10.

Ridley Scott = +2

Now at 7.

Denzel Washington = +1 if he's a good guy, +2 if he's villain. He would appear to be a likable villain in this--call it 1.5.

Now at 8.5

Russell Crowe = - 2

6.5

Cuba Gooding Jr and Josh Brolin in supporting = nobody cares enough to feel one way or another

6.5

RZA = +1 for authentic niggerishness

7.5

Plot Outline: "A drug lord smuggles heroin into Harlem during the 1970s by hiding the stash inside the coffins of American soldiers returning from Vietnam." = +1.5

9

Likelihood that in Ridley's old age this shit is going to be 2 and a half hours and feature way too much of Denzel grandstanding about some bullshit = -1

Final Total: movie will likely be an 8.

[mob roulette]

Well done. - 3 for Crowe though, so I'm going a hard 7. Yeah.

[J~$$$]

yup.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/

[Mr.Nipples]

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/33971


hahahaha...

[luckyface]

In case anyone had the urge... do NOT go see Brothers Solomon.

[RotationSlimWang]

Mauve, three points just for an actor? C'mon, man. There are only a few actors that rate a swing that big in either direction. Depending on how complicated the role is most actors are just automatons spouting either good or bad writing as instructed by a good or bad director--how many points do those guys count for then? OH SON OF A BITCH. I completely forgot to check who wrote--the most important part of the How Much Will This Suck Equation?

Stephen Zaillian

American Gangster (2007) (completed) (written by)
All the King's Men (2006) (screenplay)
The Interpreter (2005) (screenplay)
Gangs of New York (2002) (screenplay)
Hannibal (2001) (screenplay)
A Civil Action (1998) (screenplay)
Mission: Impossible (1996) (story)
Clear and Present Danger (1994) (screenplay)
Schindler's List (1993) (screenplay)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) (screenplay)
Jack the Bear (1993) (screenplay)
Awakenings (1990) (screenplay)
The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)

Scratch that earlier prediction: the answer is 4.5.

[Tylerdurden31]

yup.

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/

yeah...i was watching The Daily Show and all of a sudden during the commercials...Iron Man...awesome.

[bballarl]

Should I go see 3:10 to Yuma? Anyone?

[bmack86]

Westerns rule. I say yes.

And, the Ironman trailer ruled face on Colbert.