Movies I've seen lately

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Mon Sep 16, 2002 4:23 pm

Originally posted by Xandax
<SNIP>Also saw American Pie II, was somewhat funny, again no great story, but people wacthing these "teen-lust" movies aren't expecting stories (or so I really really hope ) .
But at 4 am. in the morning after haven't slept for 2 days, it is really funny

LOL reminds me of :
-. The Shermanator
-. Shannon Elizabeth line "**** me, geek !" - OUCH ! I wonder if such thing will happen in reality where such babe are into geeks

-. Something about Alison Hanigan, she also speak in the same tone and style on Buffy TV series. I wonder if it's all in genes

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Mon Sep 16, 2002 5:33 pm

I also just saw Sum of all fears, and I loved it. Not because it was such a great movie, but more because my expectations of it were probably lower than any other, ever.

I finished reading the book a few months back, and I absolutely loved it- one of my favorite Clancy's. But then everything I saw and heard about the movie made it look like a simple butchery of the book, even to it's smallest details. And although the movie did destroy a lot of the best parts of the book, they distroyed just enough to partialy embody Clancy's brilliance, but with that become a totaly different story, thus enabeling me to enjoy as much as I did.

I was most impressed by the visuals of the film, because, in addition to a lot of technical and digital scenes, they also went for back to basics technique's, first of which is the bigger, the better.
I took tons of notes when I saw this, as to scenes I liked, so here it goes:
I liked the sattellite shots introducing every new location.
I loved the helicopter shots introducing Baltimore.
I also loved the way they introduced Moscow each time- the pale look of the Kremlin in the winter was great.
The explosion was really well done, especialy because it comes at the motorcade, which you think will be unaffected.
I also loved the assassination scene at the end- really great to have all three of them at once, and all over the world.
They really captured the enourmaty and excitment of a football game perfectly.
About the acting:
Affleck was pretty annoying (as usual), Freeman was good, but has played too many father figures of late.
Allan Bates was fantastic- extremely convincing. It's amazing how different Dressler is from Jennings (SP) in Gosford Park in every way- attitude, assertivness, accent, physical look- he is the ultimate character actor.
James Cromwell was rather good, I never knew he had potential for comedy (especialy the Marijuana - California thing

)
Phillip Baker Hall and Ron Rifkin were also good as the advisers, also very good character actors.
some odds and ends:

It's great that they spoke the actual languages, instead of lame excuses as to why everybody spoke English.

One scene in the book that I really would have loved to see on screen is one that takes place in Berlin, where the bad guys start a fight between the American and Russian forces (to the same effect of attacking the Aircraft carrier)

It seems very unfitting that Ryan all of a sudden becomes important enough to enter meetings with the president.

I loved how Colm Feore buys the bomb for $400.

It was funny, watching the movie at a theater in Jerusalem, seeing all the hebrew words, and our own Air force's insignia on the plane.

Bottom line- hard to say. the movie has very little to do with the book for example: in the book Ryan is a middle aged, overworked high level CIA worker with some marital problems. John Clark is aproaching 50. The president is wodower who hates Ryan. At the begining of the book, Clancy solves the Middleast problem with a very naive solution.
I was very imperessed with the movie, but that, again was only because I had no expectations.
So don't take my word for it, but 7.7/10

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 12:35 am

Having now seen all the summer movies I think I'm gonna see, I officialy call myself a movie freak. Here's the list of summer movie I saw this year, and how often, in the order in which I saw them:

AoTC
AoTC
AoTC
K19: The Widowmaker
Road to Perdition
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Minority Report
AoTC
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Signs
Austin Powers in Goldmember
Road to Perdition
Spiderman
Minority Report
Minority Report
The Sum of all Fears
Signs
The Sum of all fears

DON'T LOOK AT ME! I'M A MONSTER!

Still, the show must go on:

Lawrence of Arabia:
I felt that this is a movie that needs to be re-viewed at least once a year.
It is IMO the greatest cinematic achievement of the Twentieth century. Not the best movie of all times, but has the best, grandest, most epic, camera work of all times. I'm still in awe of the absolutly amazing shot of the Arabs capturing Aquaba- a shot that could never be recreated ever again. A movie like this really makes you aware of the serious flaws of CGI.
I recently saw Roger Ebert interviewing Peter O'toole, and it's funny to see how eccentric he really is, very much like Lawrence.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost ark:
A unanimously great movie.
I hadn't seen it in a few years, and was too blinded by my love of The Last Crusade to remember how fantastic the original is. I forgot how hillarious it was:
Sallah: "Asps. Very dangurous. You go first"

It is such a perfect movie- Great script, great acting, great directing, great music, great cinematography, great editing, great stunts, great comedy.
One of the best movies ever made.
10/10 (If this doesn't diserve it, nothing does)

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 5:11 am

It's been a while

Morlock your Sum of All Fears review was a hell of a lot better than mine

Vertical Limit:

The word Maguffin, everything in the film is just an excuse for the final scenes, I just don't understand why it was written the way it was.

So these crew of people go up a mountain to film a commercial for their airline, the mountain in question is K2 and I think this movie is in poor taste considering the sheer amount of people that die trying to climb it...that is however another matter.

There is a storm etc and they get trapped...hardly surprising. Then there is some soul searching and they decide to form a rescue, only to incorporate the "edgy" mountain man who lost his lover...frankly I was bored to tears at this point, then there is all this crap with Nitro Glycerin which is just an excuse to kill some characters...and for what?

To sum up, this film is hackneyed to the extreme, actually really boring for an action film and also runs in at 2 hrs for some reason, I don't even know why they bothered, the characters are thin on the ground, the dialogue is absolutely tiresome, the computer graphics are quite poor, the stunts are not all that great and I find the whole thing insulting. All I can say is avoid!

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 6:33 am

Quills:

Do you ever get that sick feeling in your stomach at the sheer odiousness of some characters, well if you didn't before you certainly will after watching Quills.

It charts the tale of the Marquis De Sade, a rather famous novelist in France his works have become widely known for their graphic nature. Quills plays well on this with a few pieces of black humour like "Do you have to use the word pikestaff"

A great deal of the film is tinged with this type of humour. For a film thats basis is on sexual writings there is a surprising lack of actual sex scenes, to my knowledge there is only one actual scene and it is more of a snapshot than a scene.

The dialogue is razor sharp and the performances are excellent, the odious Michael Caine is great, Joaquin Pheonix continues his evolution into a good actor, Kate Winslet is convincing as the innocent Maid and Geoffrey Rush is brilliant as the Marquis himself.

The directing is adequate but nothing to stylistically captivating, rather it tells the story and there are no glaring errors.

What I will say is that it isn't a happy romp, the few bits of humour do offset some of the more shocking moments but closer to the end the film is very gruesome. It is an eighteen for a reason and take my word for it it isn't pleasent.

<edit> I would suggest you don't watch this film when you are depressed, there are some entertaining moments that are generally quite happy (like the bits with Caine's wife) yet for the most part it is very brutal. The film also manages to evoke a certain vulnrability in the viewer toward the Marquis, he is such an interesting and likeable character, yet at the same time he can be offensive, the viewer is dragged into his world very well.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 6:34 am

I avoided Virtical limit religiously mainly becaus eof the lead actor

and I find that Bill Paxton also gets on my nerves. I might have seen it for Scott Glenn, but from the trailers he looked (Physicaly) bad.

I saw The Royal Tenenbaums last week. I liked it a lot.
Hackman was Brilliant, in a role built for him. A lto of the other actors seemed to wasted on this movie, because Hackman steals every scene he's in.
I love the way he keeps on reminding Gwineth Paltrow that she's adopted, and I especialy love the montage of him with his grand children.
I think that the problem with an ensamble cast is that each one creates a character that you would love to see a whole movie dedicated to.
My favorite seen is:
Royal: "Hold it Chas!"
Chas: "Dad, what are you doing? you're on my team!"
Royal: "There are no teams!"
And Royal shoots Chas' hand

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 6:49 am

At the moment I am really waiting for Road to Perdition to come on the local cinema, it looks to be really good, although I am not looking forward to the bit with Hanks and his child that strikes me as it is probably the worst part of the film. Is it that bad? Or am i over reacting?

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 7:52 am

It is the worst part of the movie, but it's not so bad. Or even if it is- the great elements of the movie makes you forget all those scenes.

Morlock- Who's in the middle of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid' (and lovin' every minute of it!)

Gruntboy · Post by **Gruntboy** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 8:07 am

Great movie. Especially the ending.

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 9:06 am

When on vacation recently, I took along Les Enfants du Paradis (often translated as Children of Paradise, I've heard from French types that it actually means Children of the Gods, and refers to the commonfolk who occupied the balconies of old theaters). My wife had never seen it. It was released in 1944 but commercially appeared only in 1946, and was eventually given an award at Cannes as the Greatest French Film Of All Time.

I can't speak to that. But imagine, if you will, a Gone with the Wind that has far greater and thoroughly accurate historical detail (for a film set in the 1840s) in the visuals, a large dose of cynicism and a social spectrum that ranges from shady, underworld murderers and thieves to athe aristocracy, and a 6-sided love affair--and you'll get some idea of this film. The main personalities are rivetting characters that stay with you long after the film has ceased; the script is wonderful, sometimes hysterical, sometimes tragic, occasionally poignant.

It's amazing the thing was even made. The German occupation force during WWII insisted that no French film be longer than 90 minutes, so this one was deliberately made as a single 3 hour film, then issued with misleading introductory titles in two parts. Two of the main forces behind the film, its scene director and composer, were Jewish, and had to hide during production because they were on the government's Most Wanted list for deportation to concentration camps. Vichy collaborators, required for the film, were shunted in as extras, unaware that they were working alongside people who were part of the French Resistance. The subtly subversive message of the work was obvious enough to the Germans, however, who banned Les Enfants du Paradis, and made it (quite literally) Cinematic Enemy #1, with thorough attempts to destroy every copy in existence. Ironically, a well-preserved print was discovered in Munich after the war, and used for the work's general release.

It is also a beautiful film, filled with life; and in the best traditions of French film, this is achieved through magnificent artifice. It was impossible to film in a badly bombed, heavily occupied Paris. The now-famous panning shot that starts the film--slowly moving over a boulevard, with a very deep 3D feeling, taking in hordes of people, events and interactions in the middle of a festive time; it seems to go on forever--was actually made *indoors.* The film uses drastically foreshortened buildings created on a stage, and placed dwarves in miniature carriages to convey a feeling of perspective in the greater distance.

Definitely 4 stars, and well worth seeing. We had a good VHS print, but there's a new, virtually immaculate DVD available, that used computerization to remove the defects on the original. I recommend it highly.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 9:07 am

Originally posted by Morlock
It is the worst part of the movie, but it's not so bad. Or even if it is- the great elements of the movie makes you forget all those scenes.

I just knew it

I was planning on going to watch it anyway but it is nice to know I can guess that much just from a trailer

Morlock- Who's in the middle of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid' (and lovin' every minute of it!)

Funnily enough I have only ever seen the end

I really should watch the rest, plus the Italian Job, which I still haven't seen

KidD01 · Post by **KidD01** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 12:09 pm

Originally posted by Morlock
Lawrence of Arabia:
I felt that this is a movie that needs to be re-viewed at least once a year.
It is IMO the greatest cinematic achievement of the Twentieth century. Not the best movie of all times, but has the best, grandest, most epic, camera work of all times. I'm still in awe of the absolutly amazing shot of the Arabs capturing Aquaba- a shot that could never be recreated ever again. A movie like this really makes you aware of the serious flaws of CGI.
I recently saw Roger Ebert interviewing Peter O'toole, and it's funny to see how eccentric he really is, very much like Lawrence.

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost ark:
A unanimously great movie.
I hadn't seen it in a few years, and was too blinded by my love of The Last Crusade to remember how fantastic the original is. I forgot how hillarious it was:
Sallah: "Asps. Very dangurous. You go first"
It is such a perfect movie- Great script, great acting, great directing, great music, great cinematography, great editing, great stunts, great comedy.
One of the best movies ever made.
10/10 (If this doesn't diserve it, nothing does)

Those 2 are my faves...........IIRC my first sig comes from Peter O'toole line on that movie : "They can only kill me with golden bullet"

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 1:46 pm

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

Funnily enough I have only ever seen the end I really should watch the rest, plus the Italian Job, which I still haven't seen

Well, it's a great movie. Not as good as the Sting, which is one of my favorites, but very good. It has a lot of great lines, but the best one has to be:
'Next time I say let's go someplace like Bolivia, let's go someplace like Bolivia'

Don't feel bad, I also havn't seen the Italian job.

I'm about to start 'Panic Room'

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Wed Oct 02, 2002 4:01 pm

Originally posted by Morlock
I'm about to start 'Panic Room'

It's not bad, I think I wrote a basic review of it, the directing is very emotive but I think it just lacks a good story, otherwise it is quite entertaining

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sun Oct 06, 2002 2:27 pm

Just saw Life as a house.
It got to me more than any movie since 'The Godfather'.
I mean really- I've been there - Drugs, sexual exploration, self hate, hating my parents and then turning it all around- Sam was the only character I've seen who is really me.
I saw it mainly becase I was sure that Christenson could be great if the right character came along, despite Star Wars. I was right- He was the perfect actor for the role, and the insecurities from EII translated here into strength, not weakness. And although he's 19, his attitude was right on for a rebellious 16 year old.
I think it takes personal expirience to really love this movie, but, even for those who can't identify, it has some great acting.

I saw a couple of more movies, but this movie (IMO) deserves it's own post.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Oct 07, 2002 6:47 am

Training Day:

Watched it again last night, truly quite a gripping movie. It's one of these films which takes you on a rollercoaster ride and you end up forgetting time/date/place.

The basic premise has been done many times before, rookie (Ethan Hawke) being transferred to new squad, he has ambition and is trying to work his way up. The enwisened "master" takes him under his wing (Denzel Washington).

However things don't quite work out in the normal fashion, certain things happen, murder being one and drugs being another. Understandably for a Narcotics officer however it is all to an end that becomes apparent later. The great thing about Training day is the way the story is told, it is all very well written, the characters are fleshed out exceptionally well and overall the acting is top notch.

Again the directing is nothing special, however at the same time there is nothing wrong with it. I didn't notice any glaring mistakes and generally it is substance over style. This may well be intentional to some degree, after all it does give it more of an "average day in the life" feel.

There are also some rather amusing cameos from Macy Gray and Dr Dre which were both fairly convincing.

My problems with the film are also to some degree due to the writing, there are two parts of the film which strike me as tenuous, the part with smiley and his cousin is exceptionally unlikely and also near the end with the fight scene, a man can only take so much punishment.

These mistakes however are just about believable and aren't particularly insulting or stretched.

The dialogue definately makes this movie, the sharp and punchy NYPD:Blue esque conversations between Hawke and Washington are very well performed and without two notable actors this film probably wouldn't have worked.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Mon Oct 07, 2002 12:27 pm

@Fable: Some how I didn't see your post until right now. I've never seen he movie, but I've wanted to see it for a while. It's jsut not the kind of movie my Blockbuster's carries.

@Sleepy: I avoided seeing Training Day for a while, but finaly got talked into seeing it.
I wasn't crazy about the movie, but Washington blew me away. It really is his best role, totaly deserving the oscar. I was still surprised that the movie was nominated for anything, as I thought it would be to ghetto style, or too black to get any serious recognition.
I loved Washington's character firstly because I love good bad guys (Lecter is the best character ever IMO), and also because there's another level to it- Washington is bad, you always know he's bad, but you never want to believe it because you like him so much.
As I said when I first saw it- See it for Washington.

I rented the Superman DVD- highly recommended. Even though I already had the tape of it, the DVD is simply too much fun.
First and foremost- the audio commentary by Director Richard Donner. This is the third commentary I've heard with him, and he is IMO the best at, except for Ridley Scott. First of all he has a great voice, on top of that he has a tremedous sense of humour, and he gives credit where it's do. I personaly love that he really loves the music in his movies- especialy this (amazing) score by John Williams. On that note- the movie is one of the few that has an isolated music only audio track.
There are also three making of featurettes which encoumpass all the production and has several hillarious anecdotes, like the one envolving Gene Hackman and a fake mustache.

I was encouraged to see Superman after seeing The Omen for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I've found taht the scarier a movie is- the funnier it is behind the scenes. Again, Richard Donner's commentary wiht his editor is hillarious and the wonderful (Oscar winning) Jerry Goldsmith score is mentioned more than anything, which is always a plus.
I really liked the movie. Very good cast. Gregory Peck was of course great, but what really sold the cast was a wonderful performance by David Warner (Irenicus to you BG fans).
Now I'm very biased, but The music really makes the movie. Just the theme 'Ave Satani' is enough to make you think of satan coming to get you. I liked the idea behind the theme, which is a 'Hail Mary' for Satan.
I was surprised how small a part the kid had, even though he was what started the whole thing.

@Anyone: Red Dragon has just been released in the US and since it wont get here till the 31st, I'm interested in hearing people's reviews.
It's the prequel to Silence of the lambs (remake of Michael Mann's 'Manhunter' from 1986) Starring Anthony Hopkins (duh) as Hannibal, Edward Norton as the guy who catches him and Ralph Fiennes as the guy Norton has to catch with Lecter's help. It's directed by Brett Ratner (SP), director of 'Rush Hour' and it's sequel (As Hannibal is the obvious follow up to Jackie Chan

).
I was expecting to hear terrible reviews of it but so far, they're pretty good!
Ebert (who gave it 3 1/2 stars) describes the opening scene, which sounds really great for all us Hannibal fans - it's basicaly Lecter sitting in the audience of a concert as the camera movies i on him. Just that simple description sold me.

Nightmare · Post by **Nightmare** » Mon Oct 07, 2002 1:32 pm

I haven't seen Red Dragon yet, but from what I've heard, and talking to people that have seen it, they were blown away. They loved it.

Kameleon · Post by **Kameleon** » Mon Oct 07, 2002 1:58 pm

Has anyone seen Trapped with Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron? I'd be very interested in what anyone else has to say about this film - I saw it in the US and it won't be out here for a while - I have mixed thoughts on it...hearing someone else's opinion would help put my thoughts into perspective. Basically, I liked some of it...and I hated some of it. Other parts, I'm not sure...

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Wed Oct 16, 2002 4:40 am

Fight Club
I finaly saw one of the movie most hyped in front of me.
I thought of the movie sort of what I thoguht about Magnolia. Everyone talked only about the amazing, magnificent, mind blowing etc. ending. I really liked this movie (like I loved Magnolia)
Mainly becasue I knew the ending before seeing the movie, so I just sat back and enjoyed it, as opposed to waiting for the ending to solve everything. I am immune to 'Keyzer Soze' endings, as the original was perfection, to try and top it is to fail miserebly.
I liked the movie for it's psycological meaning, knowing the ending, I liked noticing the 5 flashes, understanding why Norton was the way he was.
Norton was excellent, although I still think he'll be hard pressed to top 'American History X'
Pitt was phenominal, definatly his best acting. I've always disliked him, but now I really see his talent.

A really good movie- though if you've seen (and liked) the usual suspects- you might like it more knowing the ending. I realize that the last sentence was poitnless- as I am probably the last person to see it.

Insomnia
This is Christopher Nolan's, director of 'Memento' remake of a 1997/8 Norweigen film by the same name. It stars Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hillary Swank.
First of all, I got this on DVD and although I don't often notice the picture quality, this movie is the best looking film I've ever seen out of a movie theater- the picture is so amazingly clear- just seeing the Warner Bros. logo blew me away.

It is difficult to describe the movie with out ruining it, but i'll give it a try.
The movie is about a top L.A. cop- Al Pacino, who flies up to Alaska to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. Pacino's charcater is already tired when he gets there, and can't sleep, because the sun never goes down in that part of Alaska.
The next part was in the trailer, but still, be warned- it's a major plot point.
There is massive hunt for the murderer (Robin Williams) in a fogged up forest. Because of his Insomnia, Pacino by mistake shoots his partner. He sees an opening, so he blames it on Williams. The problem is that Williams saw him do it, so now Pacino has to go along with Williams, to get them both out of the loop, or else Williams is going to say what he did.

The movie was very good. Obviously nowhere near Memento, but still very good.
Pacino seemes to be built for this role, as he almost always look washed up and tired anyway.
This is the first time I (and almost everybody else) have seen Williams as a bad guy. He really was perfect- because you know him as a comedian, he adds another dimension to the role.
I felt that Swank was rather under used- not that that's neccesarily a bad thing, but you don't have an oscar winner in a part that's almost not needed.

What I liked most about the movie is that it was set in ap,lce that you've most probably never seen anything like it.
I was really impressed y the ice field- I never knew anything like them existed.
I've never seen a movie that had the element of the sun never setting- it is really great how they managed to create such a gloomy and dark image, even though there's constant light.