What did you think of Titanic, or The Truman Show? Well, don't just sit
there keeping yout opinions to yourself, use this item to share them with the
rest of us. But don't think for a second that this item is confined to just
new releases, ANY movie will do. 

290 responses total.

Video: We got about 15 minutes into FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, with Ben 
Stiller, Tea Leoni & Mary Tyler Moore.   The story, as much as we cared, 
had something to do with Stiller searching for his birth parents.
The story went nowhere, and the editing seemed choppy and incoherent.
We hit the eject button; it's rare that we don't see a movie 
through to the bitter end.  
 
We had a much better time with the backup feature, GROSSE POINTE BLANK,
which was a pretty fine, if violent, black comedy.  John Cusack was 
a bunch of fun to watch, and so was rival hitman Dan Ackroyd.

We rented GATTACA (sp?) (D).  It's written and directed by the same
guy who wrote The Truman Show.  Unlike The Truman Show, it sucks.  
It does make a valid social criticism, however.  That thing we do,
where we do genetic testing on infants and then use the test results
to assign them to certain jobs for the rest of their lives?  We should
stop doing that, 'caase it's really unfair.

Yes, but Gattaca has Uma Thurman in it, whereas Truman did not.

Right.  Important safety tip.

(Dan slipped in - #4 was in response to #2)

  Given my aversion to all things Uma, #4 made just as much sense
  to me as a response to #3..

  I didn't make it through "Flirting With Disaster" either..

I thought The Truman Show blew.
If it did not have Jim Carrey in it, it would have flopped big time.  
Anyone seen There's Something ABout Mary? =)

How about a link of this item to the cinema cf?

THE X FILES (B-) -- I haven't seen many X Files TV shows, but I did 
enjoy the movie.  The two stars are incredibly likeable.  The plot is 
so-so -- it's basically just a monster movie with paranoid overtones -- 
and the special effects are okay, but without Scully and Mulder there 
would be nothing.  Less than nothing if, like me, you're bored to death 
by movies in which people are always predictably yet inexplicably 
killing themselves and others.  That is, you aren't surprised when the 
limo explodes but, if pressed, you couldn't actually say *why* it 
explodes.  You suspect it's because the occupants "knew too much," but 
you have no idea which of the other conspirators planted the bomb and 
you find yourself wondering why they don't all just blow each other up 
if "knowing too much" is such a bad thing.

MULAN (A) -- An exceptional cartoon feature.  Our kids, ages 12 and 14, 
were both crazy about it, and mom and dad kinda liked it, too.

CAN'T HARDLY WAIT (B) -- Follows the threads of several separate stories 
very satisfyingly through to the end, but you almost have to be a 
teenager to enjoy it fully.  Our teenager has seen it twice already and 
wants to see it yet again, possibly because of an actress named Jennifer 
Love Hewitt.

  Romeo+Juliet 
    Ok, I went into it with some prejudice, I thought I was really gonna hate
it and thought that there was going to be too much violence. 1. It is a
violent play. Shakespeare wrote it that way. Let's make that clear right now.
2. It also is very tender, and DiCaprio and Danes make you feel that they ARE
Romeo and Juliet, and are really in love, truly, madly, deeply. 
   However, I found it to be cool, and the producers were clever using the
LA skyline for the background, and Venice (Verona Beach), as well as showing
the Capulets and Montagues not only as warring families but competing in
business as well. But what I liked most was the adherance to the Bard's text.
That's what did it for me. 
    Paul Sorvino, Brian Dennehy were outstanding as the patriarchs of the
families, but Chris Rock was far above everyone with his performance. I really
enjoyed watching him as well as the guy who played the police chief, I don't
know his name, but he was excellent as well.

 This one is a must see. 4- stars.

  I shudder to think what they would do with Hamlet.

The really really good cartoon features also have a lot of appeal to adults,
since they're simply good films.  I have a certain distaste for recent
features that sell out on quality for that extra little kid appeal.

HORSE WHISPERER - didn't seem as long as it was. Pretty romantic and jerks
a tear or two. I could see why she would fall for him, given her life and
his, but I couldn't see what he saw in her, unless it was a physical
likeness to his former wife. Good grief, she couldn't even play a whistle. 
Lovely scenery. Horses, if you like them. No whispers. 

whee, I liked R+J..it worked well

Six Days and Seven Nights (B-)

Harrison Ford and Anne Heche crash land on an island and work out their
contempt at first sight issues while awaiting rescue.  Food and fresh
water are fortunately not a problem, but pirates are.  Similar to the
pairing of Tracy and Hepburn, Ford's dourness matches Hech's pointed
criticism of his piloting skills. 

Meanwhile, back in civilization, Hech's fiancé watches Ford's girlfriend's
bump and grind hula to the detriment of his scruples and peace of mind. 

Jaded movie-goers will recognize elements of Robinson Crusoe, The Desk
Set, Romancing the Stone, Treasure Island, and even From Here to Eternity. 
[Was that a wave or are you just glad to see me?] In fairness, being
marooned greatly reduces the plot options and some resemblence to other
wilderness situations seems unavoidable.  The script handles this
archtypical setting well enough, but one could have hoped for something
more than merely sufficient.  If you're not familiar with the antecedents
of this movie, you might find the script clever. 

I paid for a matinee ticket and more than got my money's worth in
entertainment AND AIR CONDITIONING.  Nevertheless, I think that this movie
will look good on the vcr. Taj Mahal appears briefly.

From the Video Dept.

Airplane! - No matter how much I watch this one, it still seems kinda 
funny.  Always catching something I missed the last time.  I don't know 
if anyone else agrees with me, but I like this movie.

Sgt. Bilko - This was almost as funny as Airplane!  Only saw it 2 times, 
and that was last summer.

Airplane! 2 - Not as good as the first one.  Sequels usually aren't.  
The writers tried a little too hard to make it funny.

Still haven't gotten to Showcase to see Titanic or Truman Show yet.  
Anyone have any opinions of the new theatres?

 I have a few corrections to make regarding Romeo + Juliet.

 Chris Rock wasn't in it. Harold Perrineau, Jr was. He just looks and sounds
like Chris.
 The Chief of Police (Capt Prince) was played by Vondie Curtis-Hall. Another
excellent actor.
 Pete Postlethwait played Fr. Lawrence.

The _Romeo/Juliet_ that I saw (1) had NO L.A. Skyline; and (2) could not
possibly have starred Leonardo DeCappacino, since this actor likely did not
yet exist.

Re #17:  Leonardo DeCappacino?  I thought it was DeCaprio.  Isn't 
Cappacino a coffee drink?

Agora 29 <-> Cinema 21
Sorry for the wait on linking this.

This response has been erased.

DeCappacino was supposed to be a joke.  The actor's name is spelled
"DiCaprio" and the coffee drink is spelled "capuccino," so if you
want to make fun of the Titanic star's name, as who does not, you
should spell it "DiCapuccino."

  The version I saw was made either in 1996, or 1997. Anyhow it was good, and
I really enjoyed it. DiCaprio was the right person for Romeo.

"Fallen" is a fun rental.  It's a has one trick that it kind of
runs into the ground, but it's a clever trick.

"Scream 2" is the most boring parts of "Scream" stretched into
a very long reprise.  

"Wings of the Dove" is excellent.  I really wish I'd made it
to the theatre to see it.  The female characters are real,
interesting, and believable.  How unusual.

It may not be in video stores, but the independent foreign film "La Belle
Epoque" is wonderful. It came out years ago, and it may still be seen on
satellite TV. I can't even recall the plot entirely but it involves a young
soldier and what happens when he encounters a family with four young and
somewhat horny daughters. It sounds cheesy but it isn't, and it's all done
tastefully.

OUT OF SIGHT (B+) -- This is one of those movies that sucks a
certain type of viewer in by making him or her feel privy to all
sorts of "hip" underworld lore.  As phony as can be, in that one
way.  (The author of the book and the makers of this movie all have
records of doing this.)  But apart from that, it's a well-made 
movie, with more lovable rogues than I've ever seen together in one
place, and one new-ish actress, Jennifer Lopez, who is worth the
price of admission all by herself.  The movie makes the cleverest 
use of flashbacks I've ever seen (if you discount the "backwards"
episode of Seinfeld, which consisted *entirely* of flashbacks).

Ms. Lopez has been doing cosmetics commercials lately, and her face
graces the current issue of Mirabella, but she is certainly best 
known for her role as Selena in the movie of that name.  (Another
successful avoidance of the word "eponymous."  I'm going for the 
record!)  She is said to be recording a CD.  She is definitely the
Next Big Thing, at this point.  Time will tell.

the Zepherelli version of romeo and juliet can be distunguished by the bizarre
parti-coloured hose, adn teh morning-after scene which is identical to the
morning-after scene in monty python's Life of Brian, (line to remember ''E's
not a prophet, 'e's a very naughty boy!'

(re #15: I like Airplane too. But I found the Naked Gun series to 
be better than Airplane. It is one series where sequels have been as 
good as the original.)

re #25: I guess I am a 'certain' type of viewer since I enjoyed "Get 
Shorty" :-) I like Elmore Leonard's novels in general -- "Out of Sight" 
was one exception. So I am not planning to watch the movie.

Has anyone seen a movie in one of the new theatres at Showcase?  How are 
the sightlines?  Was it too loud?  I need opinions (well, not actually 
need, just highly desire)

Can't tell any difference from the old theatres (one sample) - and they
are all always too loud (IMO).

Hm. I find the new auditoriums to be quite different from the old
ones. They have stadium-style seating, which means it's virtually
impossible for your view to be blocked by the person in front of
you, even if they're 6'6" tall. (Being of moderate height, I really
like stadium-style seating.) The screens are huge. The sound is
louder than in the older auditoriums. Whether it's too loud is a
matter of opinion, I guess.

Went to a movie theater last night for the first time in many moons. First
thing I noticed was that it was *way* too loud. This from one who grew up at
Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Judas Priest concerts.

I agree.  Movies would be more enjoyable for me if they would turn the 
sound down a notch or two.

        I need to remind myself to get to Borders to buy Carl Sagan's
Contact, now at consumer market price. 

  Why not go down to Dawn Treader and get it used. DT is 1/2 block from
Borders and saves money besides.

Two recent rentals:

AMISTAD (C-) -- Mutiny on a slave ship, trial of the (19th) century,
directed by Spielberg -- why isn't this the most spellbinding movie
I've ever seen?  Instead, it's flabby, fuzzy, momentum-free.  I don't
understand how it could have happened.  *I* could sit down at one of
those editor machine thingies and make Amistad a better movie.  I 
should rate it "P" for "pisses me off."

DECONSTRUCTING HARRY (C) -- Director James Cameron tries *way* too 
hard to establish his "hip" credentials in this film about a messed-up
writer and the lives he's messed up in turn.  It's shallow and dull
from the word go, with two or three fairly good scenes barely
redeeming it.  Cameron's best scene involves Kirstie Alley as a
clinical psychologist who flies into a jealous rage right before
her next patient: she keeps excusing herself and then storming off
camera where we and her patient hear her screaming obscenities at
her lover.  Cameron's biggest failure is casting nebbishy comic
Woody Allen as the antihero writer.  We're supposed to believe that
this creepy little man attracts women like Elizabeth Shue and Amy
Irving?  One love scene with Allen and Shue actually made my skin
crawl.  Wait . . . um, actually, Deconstructing Harry wasn't directed
by James Cameron after all.  Someone was pulling my leg.  It was
directed by Woody Allen, and I'd like to change the rating to a
solid "A."  It's a fabulous funny witty sophisticated film, and my
impression as I was watching it, that I was slowly traveling through
the inside of a tomato hornworm that had been parasitized by wasp
larvae, was no doubt exactly what angstmeister Allen intended.

Leslie and I made our first trip to the overhauled Showcase Theatre
complex last Friday.  What is it now, something like 20 screens?
We found the new lobby a considerable improvement over the old 
cattle-corral lobby, but much of our good feeling turned to 
irritation when we were told brusquely that our theatre was not yet 
ready for seating -- seven minutes before the advertised start time.
 
We were in one of the old theatres, and there was an annoying buzz
in the soundtrack throughout the show.  Argh.  
 
The movie was DEEP IMPACT.  There were some problems with it as a 
movie, and the pacing was very, very slow, but my internal 12-year-old 
science fiction fan really loved a lot about this movie.  
Highlights were the space travel scenes -- it's been a long time since
I've seen anyone attempt to do realistic space travel, and the 
landscape of the comet was pretty nifty.  I also really appreciated 
the depiction of the American Government's move into martial law, 
and people's reactions to it,  in the face of the disaster.
 
Robert Duvall was the class of the cast as the old astronaut hero;
Morgan Freeman was a pleasure to watch, as always, as the President.
Tea Leoni seemed over her head as the journalist who accidentally 
uncovers the story.  

Recommended if you read a lot of 1950's era SF as a youngster.

Re #35: I would REALLY REALLY REALLY like to see the Woody Allen
version of "Titanic".

TITANIC (A++) - This is Peter Weir's greatest film to date, even greater 
than Last Wave at Hanging Ten.  In it, Weir uses the "unsinkable" 
Titanic as a symbol of our technological hubris.  It's the Year 2000 
problem writ large, a looming iceberg of doom toward which we sail in 
our "advanced" systems, unaware of the devastating, yet well-deserved, 
comeuppance that lies just ahead.  God, I love scolding the yuppies.  
You know, the ones you see driving around in their Navigators and Range 
Rovers talking on their stupid cell phones, the ones who vote Republican 
and wouldn't know real cinematic art if it came up to them on the street 
and knocked them to the ground and started kicking their smug hateful 
faces over and over and over again until they were nothing but deformed 
bloody masses of . . . um, where was I?  Oh yes: Titanic is a fable for 
our time, re-telling the age-old story of love crushed by the forces of 
convention and the hypocrisy of society.  Particularly resonant is the 
subtext of Nature, represented by the iceberg, showing that she has 
always been and will always be supremely indifferent to our pride and 
our vanity.  Yet at the same time, the iceberg symbolizes the hostility 
of conventional society toward anything original or unusual or 
independent or creative or caring or hip or knowing or, you know, like 
*me*.

Leonardo DiCaprio might be male, but he looks like a lesbian.  A 
brilliant stroke of casting on Weir's part.  Kate Winslett, as Rose, 
the woman who learns to spit in the smug hateful face of upper-class 
American society, is that rarest of rarities: a fully-developed female 
character.  One minor problem with Weir's vision is that the most 
contemptible characters in Titanic, the ones we desperately need to look 
down on and feel superior to, are in fact the well-to-do first-class 
passengers.  How can we be expected to feel superior to such people, 
when we know perfectly well that they would have looked down on *us* 
if we'd  been there?  Being reminded of our own steerage backgrounds, 
being shown a parade of rich people who would have excluded us for the 
pretentious middlebrow nobodies we are, is not why we go to see Weir's 
films.  Maybe he'll do better by us next time.  Show us a bunch of 
idiots in a bar staring at a TV set, something like that.  

RE #37 I would like to hear "Weird Al" Yankovic do a parody of Celine 
Dion's "My Heart Will Go On."

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss