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25 new of 292 responses total.
mooncat
response 200 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 13:52 UTC 1999

"Velvet Goldmine" wasn't *that* bad.. I saw it this weekend too...
I wouldn't call it a wonderful movie... but.... Hmm... The music
was a bit weird though...

But hey, Ewan MacGregor is in it...  And dances around mostly naked 
during one scene (only mostly cause him pants are around his ankles...)

rcurl
response 201 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 14:43 UTC 1999

Re #196: just who is it that should "get a life"? 
jep
response 202 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 15:04 UTC 1999

I rented "Asteroid" over the weekend, and regretted it.

I was thinking I'd seen "Deep Impact" and this was "Armageddon", but I'd 
really seen "Armageddon" and was looking for "Deep Impact", and got this 
turkey instead.  No characters, no plot, just an asteroid heading toward 
the Earth, with nothing anyone can do about it.  At one point, I was 
ready to shout at the hapless cardboard people on the screen: "At least 
call the guys from Armageddon!"
md
response 203 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 15:17 UTC 1999

Two other rentals:

VERY BAD THINGS (B) -- It's like the frat-boy version of 
A Simple Plan.  Not even black comedy.  More like black
farce.  I enjoyed it, for some reason.

PERMANENT MIDNIGHT (B+) -- Ben Stiller does the best
impression of a drug addict's spiral into hell since Frank
Sinatra in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (A).  Marred
by not enough plot, but it's based on an actual person's life 
so I guess that's to be expected.
rcurl
response 204 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 16:14 UTC 1999

Yes, "lives of quiet desperation" are due to their having "not enough
plot". 

md
response 205 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 16:41 UTC 1999

Whatever.

Btw, re Velvet Goldmine, if you like that kind of
music, or if you were ever into the glam scene,
the movie has to be heaven on earth.  There's
no arguing about tastes.  But given my own tastes,
yes I thought the movie was that bad.
mcnally
response 206 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 17:24 UTC 1999

  As an alternative viewpoint on "Velvet Goldmine" from someone who
  *does* like glam music (or at least a substantial subset..), I'd
  give "Velvet Goldmine" a B- (on a good day) or C+.  The music was
  good, the costumes remarkable, and there were not-very-subtly-
  disguised parallels to a number of real-life glam performers that
  were interesting only if you knew what they represented.  But the
  plot was weak and confusing, the movie went on for far too long,
  and I got sick of (director) Todd Haynes playing with Barbie dolls
  about two minutes into "Superstar:  The Karen Carpenter Story"
mooncat
response 207 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 20:49 UTC 1999

"Velvet Goldmine" really wasn't wonderful... When I saw the "Kurt Wild"
character, and heard he was from Michigan, immediately I thought of
Iggy Pop... It was an interesting movie... but I did have trouble
following it sometimes...

otter
response 208 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 24 23:02 UTC 1999

excuse me, #196 et al: I saw 195 as a call to elevate ourselves to that level,
not as a slam on the characters in a storyline.
Lots of people (me, too) believe that we lack only understanding and training
in that type of art. I don't know exactly what rane was after, here, but
SHEESH! lighten up on the subject.
Now, back to our feature...
ryan
response 209 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 25 23:41 UTC 1999

This response has been erased.

tpryan
response 210 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 26 03:58 UTC 1999

        It was something in watching ST: Insurerection in the theature, 
with the screen nearly overwhelming the vision, and those broad "flying"
camera scenes.
swa
response 211 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 26 04:13 UTC 1999

"A Midsummer Night's Dream."  By Shakespearean standards, mediocre -- lots
of liberties taken, cuts in the dialogue are not always seamless, many
actors seem to have trouble with the cadence of the language.  By Hollywood
standards, quite nice -- entertaining, humorous, and very artistic -- the
costumes, scenery, etc. are put together to make it a very *pretty* movie. 
I enjoyed it, and particularly liked the performances of Kevin Kline as
Bottom, Rupert Everett as Oberon, Calista Flockhart as Helena, and some guy
whose name starts with an "R", I think, as Peter Quince.  Can't remember the
name.  The humor could be a bit subtler in places, but it was still an
entertaining film.  But I don't recommend it for those who are purists about
Shakespeare.

mooncat
response 212 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 26 12:44 UTC 1999

I rather enjoyed watching Callista Flockhart stomp her foot and say "Oh
Spite!" <grins> 

richard
response 213 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 26 22:37 UTC 1999

video/dvd recommendation--  "THE SWEET HEREAFTER"-- this is a special,
profoundly moving, albeit dark, movie about a small town in Canada where
most of the town's kids are killed in a freak schoolbus accident.  A
laywer vists the town and tries to get the parents to channel their grief
and anger into a lawsuit.  The townspeople, most of whom lived through
their children, now have to accept the cold reality of life without
buffers and without illusions.  They have to accept that life has changed
*forever* and that they have gone from one existence to another; they are
living in the "sweet hereafter".  The lawyer, played by the excellent Ian
Holm, is also grieving, over his dying drug-addict daughter, and in
dealing with the townspeople, starts to realize what he has in common with
the townspeople.  Life, and this movie, is about surviving.

Note that I bought the dvd version, which is excellent-- widescreen
letterboxed version, with extras like interviews with the director and
cast, an interview from PBS's Charlie Rose show with director Atom Egoyan,
and the author of the book giving some readings and discussing the story.

SWEET HEREAFTER-- ***** (five stars, a classic)
maeve
response 214 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 27 12:53 UTC 1999

Pret a Porter:

 I'd seen it before, but we rented it again, and it was that much 
better knowing a few more British Actors (and having seen one of them, 
Richard E. Grant doing a BBC version of The Scarlet Pimpernel). But at 
any rate, it got me sketching again, and was generally a nice mostly 
brain-turned-to-stun evening.
shf
response 215 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 29 20:19 UTC 1999

any one else note any sendups of old scifi movies in Phantom Menace? I'm
thinking of the scene where the Jedi uses the light saber to try to burn thru
the door at the beginning, reminded me of the scene in Forbidden Planet where
the Krell were doing the same thing, only this time the Jedi were the Krell:)
Also saw some similarities to the way large objects and small hordes of people
were used for graphic effect and the way they were used in Dune.
senna
response 216 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 30 02:09 UTC 1999

Phantom Menace was full of allusions.  From the obvious (Ben Hur) to the 
subtle (aformentioned points).  The invasion army in theed reminded me 
of shot from the Nazis invading in WWII.  The ground battle looked very 
familiar, as well, but that was from a different era of wars.  Lucas 
tips his hat to an awful lot of people in this one.
katie
response 217 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 31 01:52 UTC 1999

Absolutely loved "Notting Hill."
ryan
response 218 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 31 14:18 UTC 1999

This response has been erased.

danr
response 219 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 31 15:28 UTC 1999

It wasn't directed to your 'demographic.'
gjharb
response 220 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 31 22:29 UTC 1999

Hmmm.  I woonder if that's why I liked Tea With Mussolini and didn't like The
Phantom Menace.  But then I did like The Matrix.   Hmmmmm.
mary
response 221 of 292: Mark Unseen   May 31 23:26 UTC 1999

"Star Wars I" was okay.  Nothing special.  Lots and lots of
computer generated stuff which left me feeling I'd watched
an animated film with actors walking through.  And I kept
hoping Liam's character would simply put that obnoxious
hyperactive rabbit-like thingie out of its misery.  C-.


"The Thirteenth Floor" is atmospheric but predictable.
I mean, *really* predictable.  They should have written
in an obnoxious hyperactive rabbit-like thing just to
keep us feeling something other than bored.  D.
richard
response 222 of 292: Mark Unseen   Jun 1 02:02 UTC 1999

#221...hyperactive rabbit-thingie?  Hey, just wait until episode II when
Jar Jar turns to the darkside! 

People are unfairly knocking Jar Jar because he takes up C3P0's screentime
senna
response 223 of 292: Mark Unseen   Jun 1 04:29 UTC 1999

He's a fair amount more obnoxious than Threepio, but he doesn't hit the 
level of annoyance that I feel with the Ewoks.  If he turned kinda 
serious in the next film, I'd be satisfied.
mooncat
response 224 of 292: Mark Unseen   Jun 1 13:31 UTC 1999

Heh, saw "Episode 1" again this weekend, and I *did* see the Wookiees and
the ETs in the Senate scene, and did catch the 'oops' when Obi-Wan had
the braid on the wrong side.

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