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Grex > Cinema > #21: The Summer Movie Critique Item |  |
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| 25 new of 290 responses total. |
md
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response 150 of 290:
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Jul 29 20:46 UTC 1998 |
*Sounds* incredibly stupid, but I'll have to go see for myself.
Bloom's book is about "intentional misreading." Fairly controversial
at the time, pretty bland now.
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (B) -- Tom Hanks is excellent in this movie, but
despite its celebrated "realism" the movie is filled with cliches.
It even has an example of the "It Was Written" rule, which appeared
notably in Lawrence of Arabia: Lawrence risks his life to save a man
everyone else says is doomed, just to prove that "nothing is written"
(i.e., in the Book of Fate), and then ends up having to shoot the man
himself later in the movie. The John Williams score, complete with
piously noble chorus vocalising wordlessly, gives the game away.
High-grade kitsch, if you like that sort of thing. But Tom Hanks is
fantastic, despite everything.
Recent rental: ZERO EFFECT (B-) -- The casting was awful, but it's an
interesting idea. A postmodern Sherlock Holmes and his disaffected
Watson.
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llanarth
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response 151 of 290:
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Jul 29 23:11 UTC 1998 |
I *really* liked _City Of Angels_ and the soundtrack rocks too.
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nsiddall
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response 152 of 290:
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Jul 30 22:18 UTC 1998 |
"Stranger than Paradise", yes, that's it. Saw it years ago. One of the
characters listens to Screaming Jay Hawkins constantly on her walkman. I
guess because of that, Jarmusch got to know Screaming Jay, and he appeared
as an actor in another movie, "Mystery Train". He played a hotel clerk,
and did a good job, and was an interesting character. Soundtrack for that
movie was Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, etc. And in "Down by Law", Tom
Waits did music and acted a major part, and did brilliantly in both.
These are all great movies.
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md
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response 153 of 290:
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Jul 30 22:55 UTC 1998 |
THE NEGOTIATOR (B) -- Tries hard to be a thinking person's action
movie. Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey are both excellent.
The story is even farther fetched than you expect such a movie to
be, but I still enjoyed it.
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otter
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response 154 of 290:
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Aug 1 06:25 UTC 1998 |
Rented "Daibolique" with Chazz Palminteri (woof!) and Sharon Stone. It's about
a man who is murdered by his wife and mistress, but turns up later, very much
alive. Whatever. Thing is, I could swear it's a remake of a movie I saw about
10 years ago, almost shot for shot. Can someone here help me out with the
title of the earlier one?
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mcnally
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response 155 of 290:
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Aug 1 07:18 UTC 1998 |
"Diabolique"
the recent (94? 95?) film was a remake of the French classic starring
Simone Signoret..
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scott
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response 156 of 290:
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Aug 1 12:02 UTC 1998 |
"Seven Samurai", the Kurasawa classic (at Lorch Hall, free!). Great movie,
3.5 hours long but I even was able to stay the full length.
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otter
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response 157 of 290:
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Aug 2 04:35 UTC 1998 |
ref #155: Then maybe the one I'm looking for is an earlier remake, circa
1985-88.
<shrug> How old is the French one?
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remmers
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response 158 of 290:
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Aug 2 13:05 UTC 1998 |
The original French "Diabolique" dates from 1955. There was a
made-for-TV remake in 1974 called "Reflections of Murder" that
starred Tuesday Weld. Perhaps that's the one you saw?
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otter
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response 159 of 290:
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Aug 3 22:35 UTC 1998 |
Hmmm. Thanks, I'll check into that. The title "Dead of Winter" comes to mind,
too.
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remmers
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response 160 of 290:
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Aug 4 00:51 UTC 1998 |
"Dead of Winter" was a 1987 thriller starring Mary Steenburgen
and Roddy McDowall. It was about a woman being held prisoner in
an eerie old mansion. Not really the same story as "Diabolique",
but somewhat similar ambience perhaps.
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mystik
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response 161 of 290:
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Aug 5 17:13 UTC 1998 |
The Best movie of the entire summer is SAVING PRIVATE RYAN The movie is just
flat out great!Spielberg once again shows why hes the best...The acting was
tremendous and the movie didnt get boring for even a minuite ...(exept for
maybe the last 1 min or so...Youls see what I mean(ie the future)..The movie
is an A++...!!!
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omni
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response 162 of 290:
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Aug 8 04:08 UTC 1998 |
Evita 3 stars.
I didn't see the stage play, but it was very well staged, and acted by
both Antonio Bandares, and Madonna, who was suprisingly good as Eva. In many
respects it was typical Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice in style. It reminded
me a lot of Jesus Christ, Superstar. The songs by Madonna were excellent, and
Banderes is a good singer as well. I didn't know that about him.
I highly suggest that if you have the chance to see it, see it.
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kittie
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response 163 of 290:
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Aug 8 08:35 UTC 1998 |
I saw "Halloween: H20"
One word....
Wow
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scott
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response 164 of 290:
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Aug 8 11:42 UTC 1998 |
"Yojimbo", a Japanese film from 1961 directed by Akira Kurasawa and starring
Toshiro Mifune. If you ever wondered where John Belushi got his samurai
character from, you must see this film. Very funny!
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tpryan
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response 165 of 290:
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Aug 8 12:20 UTC 1998 |
A freind of mine said Evita reminded him of Joseph & his Amazing
Techinicolr Dreamcoat. Musically.
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scott
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response 166 of 290:
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Aug 8 12:41 UTC 1998 |
Oh, the other important thing about Yojimbo: It was remade as a western
starring Clint Eastwood, as "A Fistfull of Dollars", and appears to be the
inspiration for the classic Clint "man with no name" character that appeared
in a number of films.
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e4808mc
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response 167 of 290:
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Aug 8 16:40 UTC 1998 |
Another interesting thing about Yojimbo: the sequi "Sanjuro" is playing on
Friday Aug 14 at the UM Center for Japanese STudies at 7 pm.
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e4808mc
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response 168 of 290:
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Aug 8 17:01 UTC 1998 |
Location is actually Lorch Hall for "Sanjuro"
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krj
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response 169 of 290:
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Aug 8 17:50 UTC 1998 |
Right, Center for Japanese Studies is the sponsor of the films,
not the location. I'm glad someone is getting to see these.
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omni
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response 170 of 290:
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Aug 9 04:05 UTC 1998 |
I think Evita was written just after Jesus Christ, Superstar. I remember
buying the sountrack and libretto in 1981. I really fell in love with it, and
I was pissed when some jerk stole it along with all my other tapes.
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kittie
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response 171 of 290:
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Aug 9 04:43 UTC 1998 |
I just got back from watching "Ever After"... yet another grrreat Drew
Barrymore film :)
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scg
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response 172 of 290:
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Aug 9 05:06 UTC 1998 |
I saw Ever After last night. It was pretty nice.
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daimon
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response 173 of 290:
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Aug 11 12:56 UTC 1998 |
I saw SAVING PRIVATE RYAN last Saturday. That's a film I have no
problem recommending. The best word to describe it is "relentless" -
the killing and the mayhem just never seems to end. It was a good up
close and personal look at some real dying and death during a war. A+,
go see it, yadda yadda yadda.
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jep
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response 174 of 290:
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Aug 11 14:49 UTC 1998 |
We rented The Full Monty over the weekend. I thought it was tedious and
boring, with very little to recommend it.
We also rented Men in Black. While I enjoyed this one (as I knew, I've
seen it before) I found myself wondering, as I have with other Tommy Lee
Jones movies: if they replaced Tommy Lee Jones with a cardboard cutout,
would anyone notice the difference? He seems like an "insert generic
actor here" kind of guy.
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