Movies I've seen lately

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon May 13, 2002 5:20 am

Originally posted by Gruntboy
LMAO!! I can show you the post, honest!!

I am sure...I am sure

Jace · Post by **Jace** » Mon May 13, 2002 6:45 am

Not a movie, but I am quite enjoying 24.

Not sure how they are going to stretch it out to 24 episodes but is pretty good so far. Here we have just finished 9:00am - 10:00am.
It's a bit lame how the insider goes (I won't mention any names as I don't think it has been shown in Aus or some other places yet) but there is a nice tension happening and I am impressed with Keiffer.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon May 13, 2002 6:53 am

Originally posted by Jace
It's a bit lame how the insider goes (I won't mention any names as I don't think it has been shown in Aus or some other places yet) but there is a nice tension happening and I am impressed with Keiffer.

Total agreement about the insider

Keiffer won a Golden Globe or a Grammy i think, he seems to get better and better every episode. Personally the rest of the cast is so so apart from the presidential candidate he is excellent

(previously seen in Now and Again

)

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Mon May 13, 2002 7:01 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

@Ysh, Lestat is fantastic, any ideas why they didn't make a movie of it?

I honestly don't know, I am wondering if it is because it is more of a introspective, first person novel than 'Interview'? It really describes his struggle to accept what he has become, moreso IMO than Interview did for Louis - and it also introduced some of the ancient vampires. It is a shame it has been missed...considering he as a character has had more impact on the Vampire Chronicles than Louis did...

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon May 13, 2002 7:30 am

Originally posted by Yshania
I honestly don't know, I am wondering if it is because it is more of a introspective, first person novel than 'Interview'? It really describes his struggle to accept what he has become, moreso IMO than Interview did for Louis - and it also introduced some of the ancient vampires. It is a shame it has been missed...considering he as a character has had more impact on the Vampire Chronicles than Louis did...

It would have required a very good screen writer to convert it to film, perhaps they couldn't find one?

I haven't read the Queen of the Damned yet (i can't find it

) so i am not sure how well that will be re-created.

Lestat is more of a story than Interview and the character is a lot more interesting, perhaps they will go back and do it?

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Mon May 13, 2002 7:33 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

It would have required a very good screen writer to convert it to film, perhaps they couldn't find one?

I haven't read the Queen of the Damned yet (i can't find it ) so i am not sure how well that will be re-created.

Lestat is more of a story than Interview and the character is a lot more interesting, perhaps they will go back and do it?

I agree

I have it, but have yet to start it - soon methinks

I agree (again) and I hope so too, since this book introduces the characters of the subsequent books, giving a little biography on each...

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon May 13, 2002 9:12 am

My wife and I saw All the Mornings of the World (Tous les matins du monde--subtitled in English) this past weekend. It's an excellent film that came out a decade ago, made a huge impression in France, and none at all in the US. The setting is the period of Louis XIV's France, and the subject, at its most basic, is that you have to suffer to create art. Needless to say, there's a lot more to it than that. Although fictional, it is astonishingly accurate for period (makeup, costuming, court relationships, etc), and centers about the lives of two of the greatest viol players of the day, Saint-Colombe and Marais. (The viol was to baroque France what the electric guitar is to modern times.) There's a lot of pain and beauty in the film, and at the end, a moment of redemption that is totally uncliched and immensely satisfying. AMW is an intimate film, a quiet one, and one of the best things I've seen in a long time. I highly recommend it.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Mon May 13, 2002 7:53 pm

Originally posted by Jace
Not a movie, but I am quite enjoying 24.

Same here... having little text message debates with my friend about what's going to happen

Definitely worth watching

But I heard they're going to make another series... seems to me like it could only work as a one-off...

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Sat May 25, 2002 2:50 am

Well here's some run down :
Blade 2
Nice effects, as Sleep saying the film kinda a bit of total nonsense. And yes the fight scenes are so COOL especially with Blade's gadgets. The scene that I like is on early scene where Bl;ade drove a bike and almost hit his precious car. He then gives a blow kiss toward the car

<EDIT> the effect on the new enemy mouth is very cool, reminds me of Predator

WishMaster 3 : Devilstone
I was loking for some great horror film but what I got is a total crap. Kinda a huge nonsense since the stone was in a statue (on WishMaster 2) and now it got a new container ??? Story line kinda a bit forced to meet 90 mins length and definately not a good horror movie for horror movie goers. Stay out of this one !

Ode to a Grasshopper · Sat May 25, 2002 8:48 am

Has anyone here besides me seen The Weatherwoman? It's a live-action extremely strange (read: kinky) Japanese film, based upon a manga.

I have never laughed quite so hard as I did when seeing this movie with my friends.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sat May 25, 2002 3:19 pm

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: I got this movie for two reasons- the great adult actors, and one of the best scores ever.

The movie is extriemely children oriented, and the DVD is full of games and stuff for kids, but it has its moments.
A great thing about it is the special effects. I was hoping there would be a documantry on it, but was disapointed. The special effects just seemd to merge very well- all the flying object and especialy the game- I am very interested to know how they made it look realistic that all these people were actuly flying brooms.

The main actor was pretty bad, but Rupert Grint (Ron) was really good. Again, the adults were great. I especialy liked the half hour with Alan Rickman. He's always terrific.

I already reviewed the soundtrack on my other thread, but I'll just reiterate that it is a great soundtrack, oneof the best ever, IMO.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sat May 25, 2002 3:33 pm

The Rock: One of the best action movies ever.
The main draw to this movie is the great actors: Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage, Ed Harris and John Spencer.

I got the DVD just because the sound of my tape is a bit off at the start. The music is amazing- I think I'll post about it in my ST thread.
Sean Connery is brilliant, his interactions with Cage are very odd couple-ish, which is almost always a sure way to get laughs.
The chase, IMO, is the best car chase I've ever seen. Even when compared with such classic chases as 'Bullit', the music and the actors elevates it to be really great. Although I hate to go against Steve McQueen, Connery rules.

Cage is annoying as usual, but this is one of his better roles.

Harris is great as usual, and this is one of his best roles. I always thought he was one of the best actors out there, I just wish he'd get more leading roles. He was so perfect in 'The Truman Show', he should have taken the oscar.

An OK movie, with a pretty good story, with amazing acting and with a Soundtrack that's on my top ten favorites.

9/10

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Sat May 25, 2002 3:37 pm

Originally posted by KidD01
<EDIT> the effect on the new enemy mouth is very cool, reminds me of Predator

Reminds me of Alien

WishMaster 3 : Devilstone
I was loking for some great horror film but what I got is a total crap.

I saw the first one... that, frankly, was enough to bet that the sequels (which I hadn't even heard about) wouldn't be great horror films...

@Morlock go Ron!!!

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sun May 26, 2002 4:17 pm

Two things:

A. When at the begining of this thread we discussed Kubrick, I had no idea that he did 'Spartacus'! I never would have guessed it, since it is extriemely normal and clear cut to fit Kubrick's later trends. Well, I guess that makes it 5 Kubricks I've seen.

B. I just saw 'Vanila Sky', and I think I'm getting very gullible in my old age, since lately I've liked just about everything I've seen. (As implied) I was surprised at how much I liked it. I was totaly different then what I expected, since the trailer made it look like a simple case of vengful ex-girlfriend fakes death to frame the Ex that dumped her. Not nearly that simple.
I viewed the movie as I should have (but didn't) viewed 'Mulholland Drive'- I shut out common sence and just watched the movie. Where as in MD I was looking at it from an intellectual perspective, which ruins the point of the movie.

A few things I noted:

1. Cameron Diaz- besides the fact that I don't like her, I don't think she fit as bedmate to Tom Cruise. They're not even on the same level of acting. Also her cursing seems wierd at the start, as she doesn't in most of her movies.

2. Jason Lee- It was really wierd to see an actor whose rise to fame is attributed mainly to Kevin Smith and his father (Stan Lee) come in as Tom Cruise's best friend, although you get used to it in time.

3. Cruise's scars- I thought that at the begining they really looked like Mason Verger's in 'Hannibal', but then they changed the intensity of the makeup, so that sometimes he looked really disfigured, but other times he looked like himself with a few lines on his face.

4. Kurt Russel- I really thought he did a great job. He had the right amount of forcefulness and compation to balance each other out.

5. The script was really well written by Cameron Crowe (also Director/Producer). Now I think I'll get 'Almost Famous', just for him.

The part I liked best, which when I heard about it really convinced me to get the movie, was the 4 seconds in which Steven Spielberg made a cameo as a guest at Cruise's party. He was discussing 'Minority Report' with Cruise when the scene came up, so (according to the commentary) Crowe just told him 'Get in there!', and he did.
This is Spielberg's second real cameo, the last one being in the 'Blues Brothers'.

Worth the rental costs, at the very least.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Sun May 26, 2002 6:12 pm

I didn't really like Vanilla Sky at all (though it did have a cracking soundtrack)... Jason Lee was the best thing in it, Kurt Russell was ok but hardly got any screen time.

BTW, if you want to see Cameron Diaz playing a different kind of role, you should check out Being John Malkovich. Anyway, in Vanilla Sky, she's better than Tom Cruise (who played... Tom Cruise

), but hardly justifies the kind of critical acclaim she got for it. Cruise and Cruz, on the other hand, match talent admirably

IMO Almost Famous is far superior, I really enjoyed that one.

Oh, Jason Lee is in that too, I guess he's getting to be a bit of a Cameron Crowe regular.

C Elegans · Post by **C Elegans** » Sun May 26, 2002 6:31 pm

I recently saw this very weird British short movie, produced by "Soho productions" or something like that. I don't know the title of the movie, hopefully somebody else will since it was certainly worth seeing. It's very short, no more than 15-20 minutes.

It is about a young man who has a relationship with his friends imaginary sister. The imaginary sister thing started out as a joke since his friend's family had 5 brothers and no sister, so they invented a fantasy sister just for the fun of it. To his surprise, the young man fell in love this imaginary girls when the friend brought her to a party, and you can imagine the weird scenes depicting their relationship

However, the couple soon faces relationship problems, and another girl turns up and catches the attention of the young man. This naturally leads to trouble, but of an entirely different type than one would expect.

It's a very nice little movie because the acting is totally convincing, and they story is fun, unusual and have several unexpected turns. Now, if I could just find out the name of the movie, I'd recommend it

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Sun May 26, 2002 10:03 pm

Originally posted by Morlock
1. Cameron Diaz- besides the fact that I don't like her, I don't think she fit as bedmate to Tom Cruise. They're not even on the same level of acting. Also her cursing seems wierd at the start, as she doesn't in most of her movies.

Never like Diaz anyway....she looks like have some wrinkles on her face when she laugh

I always stay away from all Diaz movie except the Mask

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Mon May 27, 2002 2:26 am

Originally posted by KidD01

Never like Diaz anyway....she looks like have some wrinkles on her face when she laugh

I always stay away from all Diaz movie except the Mask

I'll have to suffer her, and probably many times over.
Since this December she's costaring with Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs Of New York', which I really want to see, plan on liking, which means I will see it a few times.
I actuly just started reading the book by Herbert Asbury.
It's very odd, since it was written in 1927, so beside the fact that it's a different style than more modern books, it also refers to gangsterism as if it ended during the World War. (It wasn't nomber 1 untill 2 came along) As I am an expert on gangsters and the 'mafia' it's funny, since a new crime syndicate was formed in 1931, which was much bigger and organized than anything in 19th century.
Also to him, 'Native Americans' are the ones who were there before the revolution, as opposed to American Indians, who are now called Native American.

Anyway, the movie looks really good, it's Scorsese's first movie since 1999, and it has a line of great actors, mostly British and Irish. It has Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Brenden Gleeson (who I really like), Jim Broadbent (won the oscar this year for 'Iris', was in 'Moulin Rouge'), David Hemmings (from 'Gladiator' and 'Spy Game') and, something that really surprised me, Henry Thomas, otherwise known as Elliot from ET!

Anyway the buzz is that 'Gangs of New York' and Spielberg's 'Catch me if you can' (both starring Dicaprio), in addition to LoTR2 are the leading contenders for the oscars, which makes the first time in a while that 2 really established directors will go head to head.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon May 27, 2002 6:39 am

Originally posted by Georgi
I didn't really like Vanilla Sky at all (though it did have a cracking soundtrack)... Jason Lee was the best thing in it, Kurt Russell was ok but hardly got any screen time.

I agree

I was very unimpressed with Vanilla Sky, in my opinion it falls into the same catergory as AI. They both have some kind of attempt at philosophy which is unconvincing. I found it was way to long (same as AI) and pandered a little too much to the saccherine sweet Hollywood ending.

There were some good scenes, like the club when he has the mask on the other side of his face, that is without doubt the best part of the movie in my opinion. As Georgi said Cruz and Cruise were unconvincing and the surprise ending was not exactly surprising at all.

I will give credit to Jason Lee who is good and Kurt Russel who shows he can still act when he tries

Yshania · Post by **Yshania** » Mon May 27, 2002 7:02 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

Lestat is more of a story than Interview and the character is a lot more interesting, perhaps they will go back and do it?

Doubtful. Having now seen the Queen of The Damned, they summarised the last chapter of Vampire Lestat taking up probably two thirds of QoTD but with the emphasis on the band and not the vampire, or his history, or his journey. Having read the books, IMO this is a very poor adaptation - I would call it an annihilation.

1) (picky I know) Lestat is black haired. Fine for the rock star image, but not as in the book - or as in the previous film Interview With A Vampire.

2) Lestat comes across as being much more brutal and arrogant than in the book, no hint of his questioning of the morality of what he has become comes across in the film.

3) Marius is portrayed as too camp, not as powerful, and appears too early in the story.

4) The film states that Marius made a vampire of Lestat on a little island in the Meditteranean. Wrong. Magnus made a vampire of Lestat in Paris, before burning himself alive. Lestat then went in search of Marius (an ancient) to try and find some answers as to the creature he now was.

5) Considering the film was about the Queen of The Damned (Akasha) very little of her history was discussed. The history of Enkil and Akasha (the mother and father of all vampires) made for a very large part of the book Lestat, but was barely touched upon in the film about her. They were referred to as Those Who Must Be Kept, but no reason was given in the film.

6) The escape from the concert. In the book, the band got away in vehicles - Lestat and Louis were aided by Gabrielle, whilst 'something' exploded the vampires that were in pursuit. Lestat then met with Akasha in his lair. In the film, the band were attacked on stage, this was where Akasha appeared setting the attacking vamps on fire before flying away with Lestat.

I suppose the redeeming quality, in my opinion, was the soundtrack (Korn). Other than that, it is a dire adaptation, and any effects that might have stood out had already been done in Blade II. Though I will say the mood of QoTD was much more gothic and brooding than Blade II. It is a shame, not only with the timing, but had the screen writers taken a real grasp of the story line, it would have bettered Blade in my opinion. Oh well.