Movies I've seen lately

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 6:54 am

Originally posted by Georgi
Wow, somebody else saw Supernova? It was pretty awful... mind you, it wasn't as objectionably tacky as Mission To Mars (which I saw the same night). It does have the most anticlimatic ending ever... it finished and someone in the audience said "is that it?"

So we are part of a special clique?

Pretty much all of the Mars related films were trash, they all seemed to be nonesense. Mission to Mars is the Gary Sinise one right?

@Ned, good point

Although i saw him in Indy before i saw Stand by me

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 6:57 am

River Phoenix was also in the forgettable Explorers (with Ethan Hawke) about three kids who build a spaceship in their bedroom and go meet aliens.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:00 am

Originally posted by Ned Flanders
Stand by me, anyone???

Nope, I only saw that after I began my mission to watch every movie River Phoenix ever made...

I was a bit young when it was first released (1986).

And what are you rolling your eyes about, it's a good film.

Posted by Sleepy
So we are part of a special clique? Pretty much all of the Mars related films were trash, they all seemed to be nonesense. Mission to Mars is the Gary Sinise one right?

I have very rarely heard anything of it, either before or since... Oh well, it deserves obscurity.

Yeah, I didn't see the Val Kilmer one but I have been reliably informed that it's rubbish.

Yeah, Gary Sinise (I always think of that scene in Being John Malkovich whenever anyone mentions him now

) and Tim Robbins... who ought to know better.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:05 am

Originally posted by Georgi
I have very rarely heard anything of it, either before or since... Oh well, it deserves obscurity. Yeah, I didn't see the Val Kilmer one but I have been reliably informed that it's rubbish. Yeah, Gary Sinise (I always think of that scene in Being John Malkovich whenever anyone mentions him now ) and Tim Robbins... who ought to know better.

Definately, total pants, but Spader was quite good; as always

I actually saw that one on Sky, not very good, slightly more plot than the other two though, the cast was quite good and the acting all bar Kilmer was passable

I know what you mean about Sinise, that joke was definately made for us regular movie watchers

Tim Robbins hasn't done anything good since Arlington Road as far as i know, perhaps he has gone off the boil?

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:08 am

I think Mission to Mars gets a deserved bad rap for the unplausible story and bad premise, but the science in it is actually pretty good. For instance, we're used to people flying around the solar system and getting from one planet to another fairly quickly (spoiled by Star Trek), but it took them something like 13 months to get to Mars on the rescue mission, and that was going as fast as they could. I had a lot of problems with the rest of the movie, but its basis in fact was pretty good (aside from the end where we find the Martians leaving the planet and colonising Earth and other worlds; but that's the fault of the script, not the science) .

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:10 am

I was rolling my eyes, Georgi, because Stand by Me seemed such a glaring omission, however, as HLD points out RP did costar in the 'forgettable' explorers. That movie was bad, but at least it ain't glitter. Stand by Me on the other hand is a pretty good movie although it is heavily tainted with the presence of Wil Wheaton. As a ST:TNG fan, Wesley Crusher episodes were always a good night to skip viewing.

@Sleep, Mission to Mars is the Sinise film. It was different, but I liked it. Red Planet would be the Val Kilmer Mars film. I don't know if I'd label it as rubbish. It isn't outstanding but it is a watchable movie

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:17 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
Tim Robbins hasn't done anything good since Arlington Road as far as i know, perhaps he has gone off the boil?

Hmmm, Arlington Road is pretty old, isn't it? He's a good actor... good director too, I saw Cradle Will Rock last year sometime I think, and that was good. Has the fine Bill Murray in it, among a great ensemble cast.

@Ned and HLD yes, I am fairly familiar with the movies of River Phoenix

but as I said, Sneakers was the first one I noticed him in. Explorers was even more before my time than Stand By Me. I have to say, for such a talented actor, Phoenix did make some pretty bad movies... Jimmy Reardon, anyone?

Since I don't take all that much notice of movie science (unless it's truly implausible), I mostly took issue with the appaling script and premise of Mission To Mars. Total tripe IMO.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:36 am

Originally posted by Georgi
Hmmm, Arlington Road is pretty old, isn't it? He's a good actor... good director too, I saw Cradle Will Rock last year sometime I think, and that was good. Has the fine Bill Murray in it, among a great ensemble cast.

Yeah it is, which was kind of my point

Any other notable recent films by Robbins'?

@Ned, Mission to Mars i found quite boring and pretentious, the beginning before they ended up on Mars was quite entertaining but once they got there it went down hill. The Val Kilmer one was probably more entertaining than the others but was riddled with excessive cliche and was fairly predictable...they even went so far as to put a Hal type character in there

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 8:06 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep
Yeah it is, which was kind of my point Any other notable recent films by Robbins'?

Not sure, isn't he mostly busy being a left-wing activist or something?

The obvious one is Shawshank Redemption, I don't know how old that is in comparison to Arlington Road... *wanders off to IMDb* It was 1994 IIRC... which actually is quite a long time ago

Oh, he did make a great cameo in High Fidelity.

*comes back from IMDb* Arlington Road was 1999... and he directed Dead Man Walking in 1995. So he hasn't done all that much recently.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 8:51 am

His cameo in High Fidelity as the sex raving Ian is hilarious. The replayable scene in the music store is one of the movies' funniest moments.

Another Tim Robbins piece you may want to check out is Bob Roberts. It is an outstanding movie. He was also Merlin in Top Gun.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 9:36 am

Originally posted by Georgi
I have to say, for such a talented actor, Phoenix did make some pretty bad movies... Jimmy Reardon, anyone?

I think that if you look at any actor's body of work, you'll see some things they're not proud of and some movies they wish people would forget about. For instance, do you think Tom Hanks, who on balance has made far more good movies than bad, watches something like The Burbs, The Money Pit or his TV show Bosom Buddies and says to himself, "What the hell was I thinking?"

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 10:22 am

Originally posted by Ned Flanders
His cameo in High Fidelity as the sex raving Ian is hilarious. The replayable scene in the music store is one of the movies' funniest moments.

Have to agree

He was also Merlin in Top Gun.

I know, and whenever I see it I go "Is that Tim Robbins? Surely not! What would he be doing in a film like this...?!?"

@HLD true, true...

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 5:52 pm

I just saw Magnolia.

All I can say right now is that it's an amazing movie.

Raistlin · Post by **Raistlin** » Wed Jul 03, 2002 7:33 pm

Don't forget "The Hudsucker Proxy " from Coen Brothers , nice performance by Tim Robbins ..

Browsing the theatre programmes i don't see anyting worth watching here ..

Wasabi : Although it's a Luc Besson film , i just don't feel like watching it .

High Crimes : Nah ..

The Experiment : Maybe ..

Impostor : Nah ..

Spider Man : Already seen it ..

Peter Pan Return To Neverland : If i am too bored ...

E.T : Already seen the remake ..

Panic Room : I remember feeling dissappointed after watching this piece .

40 Days and 40 Nights : I hate this type of movies , being extremely sceptical about it , i don't think i will watch this ever ..

Run Lola Run : Have it on DVD .

*Checks the DVD archives*

hmm "Strange Days " smiles to me ..

Popcorn anyone ?

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 4:30 am

Magnolia is great... I was quite surprised really, since I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, and thought it sucked.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 5:55 am

Originally posted by Raistlin
Don't forget "The Hudsucker Proxy " from Coen Brothers , nice performance by Tim Robbins ..

And not forgetting "The Player", great film. I wasn't saying Robbins hasn't done anything good in the past, the exact opposite i think he is a very good actor, my only concern is his form of the last few years, there hasn't really been much to judge him by recently.

@Magnolia, it runs in at 3 hrs or somethind doesn't it? I must admit Cruise actually put in a decent performance, until he had to become emotional, then i thought his skills lacked. The cast is good and the overall film is quite entertaining. The best part of the film for me is the start with the bizaare urban myth esque stories

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Thu Jul 04, 2002 10:14 am

@Sleepy: I thought Cruise was great. He was extriemly convincing as Frank Mackey and the emotional scenes might not have been convincing, but they were done as well as can be expected.
Emotional scenes are nearly impossible to pull off perfectly. There are only two that actualy affected me- Schindler's 'I could have saved...' in Schindler's list, and the scene in the godfather when Duval tells Brando that they killed Sunny.

It was surprising to see Cruise use that language- four letter words don't fit his mouth. Although he seems convinced in saying those things, so it helps the audience.

Does anyone know why they kept on saying 'It's cats and dogs out here' they must have said it at least half a douzen times. Is it as an ironic reference to the end?

I loved Phillip Seymour Hoffman's speech on the phone 'This is like a scene in a movie...' the only other scene like that that comes to mind is in 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' when they look at the camera.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman in general is great. He's the kind of actor you see a few times with out knowing his name, then you finaly put it to memory and remember from then on.
Pillip Baker Hall is also like that- I've seen him in 8 movies and on Seinfeld, but only now will I remeber his name for good.
Anyway- Hoffman is a really great actor. He can fit convincingly into any role. Like in 'Almost Famous'- he just looks like the kind of guy who would have a 'Detroit sucks' shirt.

I really liked the fact that when Hall tells his wife he cheated on her they don't show his face, so you have no idea what she';s feeling.

But my favorite scene is robably when they're all singing the same song- all nine main actors.

I didn't like a lot of reviews that said 'you have to shut your mind off before seeing this movie' and the box saying '....that builds to an unforgetable climax....'
The movie makes perfect sense- except for the fact that they made clear at the begining that this movie deals with tons of coincidences. Even the frogs, despite having no scientific explanation fits the movie, and makes sense that t happend.
I have no idea why the ending was such a big deal- the movie was great for everything leading up to it, not the fact that it started raining frogs- the frogs were IMO a very small part of it.

The DVD also has the bast documantry I've ever seen. It's filmed like a home movie, which makes everybody much more human.
It's hillarious to see Paul Thomas Anderson imitating Hoffman's movement with Hoffman cracking up in the background.

It's very wierd to see Jason Robards moving and talking coherently and at a normal rate, since he was so convincing in the movie.

Phillip Baker Hall said he had a line 'In my sleep' and right before the scene Anderson told him to say 'In my ****ing sleep'- in response to which Hall said 'I have to start making movies my kids could watch!'

I loved the way they did the documantry- day 1 of 79, day 5 of 79, day 10 of 79...... day 80 of 79.

Movie rating: 9/10
Documantry rating: 10/10

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sat Jul 06, 2002 6:08 pm

Originally posted by Georgi

@Morlock you'll be pleased to hear I booked my tickets for Minority Report today (it opens on Friday, I'm going to the preview on Thursday)...

Why are you leaving me hanging like this?

Dottie · Post by **Dottie** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 6:06 am

I saw La Pianiste yesterday, Have anyone else seen this? I am not really sure what to think about it yet, but Im leaning towards it was a good one.

The movie is about a private piano teacher who is 40 and still living with her rather dominant mother and watches alot of pornography. Then she meets this guy...

The plot isnt really as predictable as it sounds, and while the first minutes gave me the impression it was a comedy that is really not it. It gets very depressing after a while so fear not.

Also I think the movie toys with your sympathy in a rather nice way.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Jul 08, 2002 6:26 am

Originally posted by Morlock
Phillip Seymour Hoffman in general is great. He's the kind of actor you see a few times with out knowing his name, then you finaly put it to memory and remember from then on.

Definately, he has seemingly appeared out of nowhere but has been plying his trade for quite a while. I can't remember seeing a bad performance from him

I liked your review, very accurate