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janc
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Movie Item
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Mar 26 15:36 UTC 2003 |
Reviews and discussion of movies.
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| 269 responses total. |
mynxcat
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response 1 of 269:
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Mar 26 15:39 UTC 2003 |
Watched "East is East" yesterday. It's an old movie - eighties, I think. About
a Pakistani man married to an English woman and when it comes time to get his
kids married, insists that they all marry Pakistani girls from goof Pakistani
families. It was interesting, especially when you see how the kids are torn
between culture and peer pressure. Movies about Indian and Pakistani families
growing up in the west always interest me.
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keesan
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response 2 of 269:
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Mar 26 15:55 UTC 2003 |
I watched that movie too, from the public library here. Somewhat exaggerated,
I think.
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mynxcat
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response 3 of 269:
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Mar 26 16:00 UTC 2003 |
To tell you the truth, I don't think so. We're talking about an orthodox
Muslim man, trying to control his kids. I think my parents were a lot more
liberal, but the kind of control they have wanted to exercise over us... I
can see the incidents in the movie totally happenning.
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janc
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response 4 of 269:
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Mar 26 16:26 UTC 2003 |
Lately Arlo has been hooked on two Disney films, watching them daily. Since
he needs me to fast forward through scary parts, I too have seen them daily.
Might as well review them.
"Lady and the Tramp" has long been my favorite of the Disney cartoons. It
breaks the mold of the Disney cartoons in a lot of ways. It lacks the
standard meglomanical super-evil villian character that the Disney studios
usually lavish such love on. Aunt Sarah and her cats stand in for villains.
Aunt Sarah is really rather nice, but has a prejudice against dogs that she
manages to get over in the end. The film is not really a fantasy. No magic
happens except that the dogs can talk to each other (and to a beaver - no
other animals seem to be able to talk). Dogs cannot talk to humans, and
their relations to the human characters (except maybe to Tony) are mostly
realistic. The animals are all drawn as animals, with many very naturalistic
animal behaviors. The human world is all drawn from an animal point of view,
mostly dog's eye view, with humans heads cropped off the top of the frame.
That's the source of the "magic" in the film - the world seen from a dog's
viewpoint becomes a new world.
The main story works pretty well as a love story. I've often seen the
spaghetti scene described as one of the most romantic moments in the history
of cinema. To modern eyes, however, it's rather hampered by blatant gender
stereotyping.
The story I really like is that of Trusty, the old bloodhound neighbor.
He starts out in the role of the standard goofy Disney sidekick, a humorous
foil for Lady (well, really he's the sidekick's sidekick). His one-time
ability as a tracker of criminals is dismissed - he has lost his sense of
smell. But in the end of the film, it is Trusty who rises to the occasion,
tracking a horse cart through the rain to save Tramp's life. The
transformation of doofus to hero is my favorite bit.
Lately Arlo has tranfered his obsession to "The Rescuers". I hadn't seen
it for a long time, and the opening scene of the UN was a bit of a shock
after recent events. This film is a story of the ability of faith to
transcend obstacles, and it treats the UN (and it's mousy analog) which
high regard, a vision of world unity. The "Rescue Aid Society" becomes
more effective than you'd expect mice to be through the power of faith
and teamwork.
The "Rescue Aid Society" (modified from the "Prisoner's Aid Society" in
the original book which was more of an Amnesty International for mice) is
a society of mice from all nations of the world devote to answering calls
for help. Eva Gabor voices the Hungarian representative, Miss Bianca. who
sets out to rescue a kidnapped child, Penny, with assistance of Bernard, the
RAS's janitor (voice by Bob Newhart). The story is entirely different than
the book, and the main characters have been sharpened and improved.
The theme of faith is articulated by Rufus the cat, but embodied by Miss
Bianca. Bernard is an amazingly capable mouse, reactingly cleverly in
difficult situations, but his faith in himself waivers and fails at every
obstacle. Only Bianca's belief in him lifts him out of his role as janitor
and drives him through the adventure.
I also like the fact that everyone is a rescuer here. Bernard and Bianca
rescue Penny, but Penny is a resourceful child who almost manages to rescue
herself before Bernard and Bianca answer her call, does rescue Bernard and
Bianca, and participates actively in her own final rescue. Bernard rescues
Bianca a few times, but Bianca also rescues Bernard. Well, nobody rescues
Evenrude, who rescues Bernard, Bianca, and Orville. He's got to get away
from the bats on his own.
I like the message of faith in each other and in yourself. Of little mice
being able to achieve great things. Much as I like L&tT, this has a more
uplifting message.
Both films have weirdly blatant continuity issues in the animation. Like
in the beginning of L&tT, newspaper is put down next to Lady's bed and it
is gone in the next scene, and the pattern on the teeth of the comb that
Bernard uses as a ladder varies wildly from shot to shot. It's hard to
imagine a modern animation studio letting such things stand. I guess these
were made in the movie theater days when people didn't watch a movie over
and over again every day, so little slips like that didn't get annoying.
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md
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response 5 of 269:
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Mar 26 16:52 UTC 2003 |
Speaking of movies about Indian and Pakistani families growing up in
the west, has anyone seen "Bend It Like Beckham" yet?
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scooby
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response 6 of 269:
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Mar 26 16:53 UTC 2003 |
I recently saw "Birth Of A Nation". Was kind of disappointing.
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mynxcat
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response 7 of 269:
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Mar 26 16:58 UTC 2003 |
Bend it like Beckham is next on my To See list, maybe this weekend. The fiance
says that it's a pretty good movie. He saw it in India, about a year ago
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glenda
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response 8 of 269:
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Mar 26 17:52 UTC 2003 |
re #4: When Staci was age 2 through a good portion of 4, "Dumbo" was the
video of choice. Several times a day almost every day. Towards the end of
the run it had to be on and she would often be playing in the room or another
room and would come in to watch only at certain points. She wouldn't let me
fast forward to those parts, it had to run to whole thing. We considered
getting t-shirts and bumper stickers saying: "Dumbo is a drug"
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remmers
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response 9 of 269:
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Mar 26 22:12 UTC 2003 |
For me, Monty Python is a drug. Mary knows the details.
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mary
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response 10 of 269:
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Mar 26 22:15 UTC 2003 |
But they are too shocking to share in a public forum.
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edina
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response 11 of 269:
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Mar 27 16:04 UTC 2003 |
Oh man - Taylor made me watch "Aladdin" about 9000 times.
I re-watched "Mystery, Alaska" this weekend while knitting at the speed of
light. (not bright light, mind you) I really love this movie. Hockey,
pride, great lines, speed, a guy in a jock strap and Russel Crowe. It isn't
"Slapshot" - but then, what is?
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scott
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response 12 of 269:
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Mar 27 17:20 UTC 2003 |
First half of "Shakespeare in Love" last night - would have watched the rest
under more mellow circumstances, but video has to go back today. Pretty
funny, and I'll have to watch the rest someday.
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krj
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response 13 of 269:
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Mar 29 22:46 UTC 2003 |
My inner 12-year-old had been waiting for THE CORE since I first saw the
previews for it in January; he was not disappointed. One reviewer
compared it to a combination of the 1970s films FANTASTIC VOYAGE and
THE TOWERING INFERNO, and I might go along with that; my younger
self liked both of those films too.
A few years ago we had two movies about attempts to save a planet
threatened by asteroids and comets, ARMAGEDDON and DEEP IMPACT.
DEEP IMPACT was a decent speculative fiction piece about how the
world would react; ARMAGEDDON was a bombastic piece about noble
Americans (and one plucky Russian) saving the world, wave those
flags, yeah. So I wondered where on that spectrum THE CORE would
fall.
THE CORE doesn't tell about the effects on the world at all, except
for showing scenes of destruction. The story is all about the
team going to the center of the Earth: two astronauts and a bunch
of scientists. But it's not Bruce Willis swaggering bombast this
time, the cast comes across a lot better. Having Hilary Swank and
Stanley Tucci anchor the crew helps a lot.
On the downside, the computer geek of the team is entirely too much
of a stereotype. "I'll need an endless supply of Xena videos and
Hot Pockets." And there are huge story logic holes: why is a
geologist called in when 30 people drop dead on a city street?
Probably it's best if you don't think about the science too much.
We had a flock of geology students hooting their way through it, and
a woman near us called out that she knew one of the movie's scientific
advisors.
I don't care, I had fun. The ending was a little weak, but overall
my inner-12-year-old and I had a great time. (Did anyone else love
the movie AROUND THE WORLD UNDER THE SEA when they were young?)
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bru
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response 14 of 269:
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Mar 29 23:23 UTC 2003 |
Does it rank up there eith the one about the Crack in the earth?
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mynxcat
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response 15 of 269:
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Mar 30 16:37 UTC 2003 |
Is Bend it like Backham playing everywhere, or only in select cities? i can't
find a theater playing it in Columbus.
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md
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response 16 of 269:
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Mar 30 22:29 UTC 2003 |
Bend It Like Beckhan opened in Royal Oak Friday. We saw it today. I
give it an A.
David Beckham is a British soccer star and husband of Victoria Beckham
("Posh Spice" of the Spice Girls). His trademark is a goal shot that
curves across the pitch and into the net. The soccer equivalent of an
unhittable curve ball in baseball. "Bend it like Beckham" means making
that type of spectacular shot. Apart from that, and a little shrine to
him in the main character's bedroom and a faux-cameo at the very end,
the movie has nothing to do with him.
The movie is full of little soccer in-jokes, such as the present that
one of the characters' parents give her of a jersey with the number 9
on it (property of the great Mia Hamm, to those in the know),
references to "Posh 'n' Beck," the video hommage to the WUSA one of the
characters plays for a disbelieving friend ("They *have* that??"),
lesbian gags, sports-bra gags, and so on.
The story is about a teenage girl in England who idolizes Beckham and
wants to be a soccer star. The two obstacles she must overcome are the
absence of a professional women's league in the UK (hence their
fascination with our WUSA), and her parents, who are Indian immigrants
set in very old-fashioned ways that do not allow daughters, among other
things, to engage in contact sports. The girl's family are protrayed
as figures of ironic fun, but with great affection -- think My Big Fat
Greek Wedding. The girl loves and respects them enough to go through
sitcom hell to conceal her growing soccer stardom from them. In the
end... Nope, no spoilers.
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gull
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response 17 of 269:
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Mar 31 04:00 UTC 2003 |
Re #13: Yeah...a true geek would want microwave burritos. ;)
I've been trying to decide whether to see The Core. I like a dumb but
fun adventure movie with good special effects, now and then. (I liked
_Die Hard: With A Vengeance_, for example.) But the reviews of this
movie have been so crummy I'm wondering if it'll even be enjoyable.
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jor
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response 18 of 269:
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Mar 31 11:45 UTC 2003 |
strange. I read one review on the wen and it
was quite witty and made the film sound fun,
like a cross between Airplane and Journey to
the Center of the Earth. (that may not have
been its intent.)
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mynxcat
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response 19 of 269:
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Mar 31 15:13 UTC 2003 |
My friend says I should watch Bend it like Beckham because it's a lot like
my life :P I guess it hasn't released in Columbus yet :
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edina
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response 20 of 269:
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Mar 31 16:49 UTC 2003 |
I can't wait to see "Bend it Like Beckham" - I love footie movies.
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aruba
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response 21 of 269:
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Mar 31 20:57 UTC 2003 |
Re #18: Not much of Airplane in The Core, but it was a fun movie, if you
don't expect too much from the science. At least they *tried* to do a
different kind of science fiction.
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mary
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response 22 of 269:
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Mar 31 22:10 UTC 2003 |
Two movies and a play over the past weekend - all were
interesting and worth seeing.
"Gerry" is about a minimalist as a film can get. I'm really
glad I knew almost nothing about it before seeing it so I
won't share plot here. Very cool film. Richard, you'd like
it, but I'm not sure about anyone else.
"The Russian Ark" left me wishing I'd listened to those few
brief moments of Russian history when they were offered, way
back when. The entire movie was taken in one long shot.
You are given a tour through the Hermitage and the past
300 years. Stunning.
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remmers
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response 23 of 269:
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Mar 31 23:38 UTC 2003 |
About "Gerry", I'll note that it was directed by Gus Van Sant
("Good Will Hunting", "About Forrester") and stars Matt Damon
and Casey Affleck. Knowing these facts will tell you nothing,
however, about what the movie is like.
"The Russian Ark" is indeed spectacular and stunning. Over
2000 extras re-creating some eras in Russian history in real
time with nary a single slip-up. Eye candy of the highest
order. It's claimed to be the longest single-take movie in
motion picture history. I don't know about that -- Andy
Warhol's "Empire" might have it beat but certainly can't
compete in the eye candy department.
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omni
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response 24 of 269:
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Apr 1 15:52 UTC 2003 |
I've been on a DVD acquisition kick.
Time Bandits is a recent addition, as is S.O.B.
I recently purchased VideoHound and am still pawing through it.
Cant wait to get Ben-Hur on DVD!!
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