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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 292 responses total. |
md
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response 203 of 292:
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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.
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rcurl
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response 204 of 292:
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May 24 16:14 UTC 1999 |
Yes, "lives of quiet desperation" are due to their having "not enough
plot".
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md
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response 205 of 292:
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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.
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mcnally
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response 206 of 292:
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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"
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mooncat
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response 207 of 292:
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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...
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otter
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response 208 of 292:
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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...
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ryan
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response 209 of 292:
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May 25 23:41 UTC 1999 |
This response has been erased.
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tpryan
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response 210 of 292:
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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.
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swa
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response 211 of 292:
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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.
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mooncat
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response 212 of 292:
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May 26 12:44 UTC 1999 |
I rather enjoyed watching Callista Flockhart stomp her foot and say "Oh
Spite!" <grins>
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richard
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response 213 of 292:
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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)
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maeve
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response 214 of 292:
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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.
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shf
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response 215 of 292:
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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.
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senna
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response 216 of 292:
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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.
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katie
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response 217 of 292:
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May 31 01:52 UTC 1999 |
Absolutely loved "Notting Hill."
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ryan
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response 218 of 292:
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May 31 14:18 UTC 1999 |
This response has been erased.
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danr
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response 219 of 292:
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May 31 15:28 UTC 1999 |
It wasn't directed to your 'demographic.'
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gjharb
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response 220 of 292:
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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.
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mary
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response 221 of 292:
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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.
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richard
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response 222 of 292:
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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
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senna
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response 223 of 292:
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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.
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mooncat
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response 224 of 292:
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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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jiffer
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response 225 of 292:
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Jun 1 19:39 UTC 1999 |
I keep hearing sound bites from the film (That Phantom Menance thingie),
and Jar Jar *is* annoying, and I haven't seen the movie yet.
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mooncat
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response 226 of 292:
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Jun 1 19:49 UTC 1999 |
I rather like Jar Jar. <shrugs>
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scg
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response 227 of 292:
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Jun 1 21:39 UTC 1999 |
I liked Jar Jar as well.
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