Seen any good movies lately?

326 responses total.

We saw FINAL DESTINATION (A) over the weekend and
enjoyed it.  It's a black comedy.  A highschool kid 
on a plane waiting to take him and some classmates on 
a senior trip to Paris, has a vision of the plane 
exploding after takeoff.  He freaks out, and is 
escorted from the plane along with five or six others.  
The plane takes off and explodes, just as he foresaw.  
Then the "lucky" few who escaped the tragedy with him 
start dying one by one.  Here's where the movie earns 
its "A."  The various ways the writers kill them off 
range from the stunningly sudden and unexpected, to a 
couple of elaborate Rube Goldbergian setups.  There is 
a wicked intelligence behind this movie that loves to 
play head games with the audience.  I especially liked
the music by Shirley Walker.

Rented the 1978 classic "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" this weekend.
Yes, this is the famously awful Beatles tribute musical starring Peter
Frampton and the BeeGees.

Good news!  It's just about worked it's way around to "cult classic" status.

The last two movies I saw were both way beyond excellent. That has never
happened to me before.  "Wonder Boys" and "American Beauty."

I liked them both but dunno that I'd call either of them "way beyond
excellent", although I suppose I'd call "American Beauty" solidly
excellent.







SPOILER ALERT FOR "Wonder Boys"







I thought the anti-drug turn that "Wonder Boys" took near the end
seemed a bit forced, almost as if it was included for political
rather than artistic reasons.

rented "DARK CITY" on DVD.  What a piece of work.  Visually engaging, classic
noir styling, good use of effects (mostly), a few plot holes but not so
glaring you don't enjoy the experience.

The DVD features two fascinating alternate audio tracks, with commentaries
by Roger Ebert in one, and various members of the production team in the
other.  Also included are reporductions of some of the original design
drawings.  Neato!

Excellent performances by Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt and Rufus Sewell.
Sad to say that Jennifer Connelly wasn't given much of a role, but she is ever
so beautiful in it.  (She was the protagonist in "Labyrinth" with David
Bowie.)  

Definitely a good time.

I agree.  It was a wonderful movie.  Richard O'Brien (Riff-Raff from Rocky
Horror) did a great job as one of the Strangers.  The green beam for chiming
was annoying and hokey, but I got used to it.

it was hard to understand the way they said it, but i think it was "tuning"
not "chiming."  The concept of tuning makes more sense in that concept anyway.

I thought that face looked familiar.  That's a hoot!

Ack...tuning... I don't know where "chiming" came from.  

Coffee.  Need more coffee.

  31 days of Oscar on TCM. Too many goodies to talk about. This kind of 
programming is rare indeed. Catch it before March ends. Last nite they did
"the lilies of the field" followed by "In the heat of the night" followed
by "Moonstruck" Can't beat that triple feature with a stick.

Re #5: Dark City was Roger Ebert's pick for best movie of 1998.

I saw SIMON SAYS last night. It starred Dennis Rodman. Strangely enough, it
had cool martial arts, and really weird monks. Beyond that, I can't recommend
it for much.

I also watch ALIEN WARRIOR. From it, I learned that a woman in high heels can
outrun a car, a gut shot won't hurt you, yet a shot to the shoulder will.

Well, I'd say it's about time that these facts came to light.

heck, *I* can outrun a car when i'm in high heels.  the car just has to be
going really slowly...

Agora 17 <-> cinema 37

Re #13: Let's do a public demonstration. I'll drive the car.

And I'll sell the tickets.

"BEYOND THE MAT"-- fascinating feature film documentary about pro
wrestling and the lives of the people who work in that strange subculture. 
The film centers around wrestler Mick Foley (of the WWF and those Chef
Boyardee ravioli commercials)  They show him as an extremely devoted
family man with a loving wife and two kids, whose day (or night) job just
happens to be getting pounded and thrown around a ring.  You see a WWF ppv
main event where Foley has his wife and children sitting ringside, and you
see the children's reactions when he ends up handcuffed and the bad guy
starts beating him over the head with a steel chair (the wife knows its
all an act, but the children dont and and witness their father getting
what looks like a terrific beating) You see Foley come through the
backstage curtain after the match a bloody mess, his own blood, and he
picks up his young daughter and assures her he's okay. Later at their
house, Foley is shown footage of his children's reaction to what was
happening to him at the match and is devastated.  You realize he's a
normal parent who, like many ordinary parents, is often oblivious to what
they inadvertently put their children through. 

Then you are shown Foley's hero/idol, wrestling legend Terry Funk, who is
now in his mid fifties and needs his knees replaced from all the pounding.
He is a violent, vicious character in the ring, who often bleeds, but we
see Funk at home in Texas, at his daughter's wedding giving away the
bride, and doting over his loving family and realize he's really fairly
normal.  His family wants him to quit wrestling, but he loves what he does
and loves the attention, and would get bored spending too many days at his
ranch with his grandchildren.

Funk is still a success at wrestling-- but you see his flipside, former
star Jake the Snake Roberts, once in the WWF and now wrestling in front of
50-100 people at national guard armories in east nowhere, nebraska.  Jake
the Snake stays on the road to escape his personal demons-- we learn he
was conceived when his wrestler father raped his 12 year old stepdaughter. 
Roberts has a whole laundry list of abusive family relationships.  We see
him with father, who he admits to mostly depising, and we see a reunion
with Jake's 20 year old daughter, whom he hasnt seen in six years.  You
can see the deep scars in their relationship almost instantly.  Sadly,
after seeing his daugher, Jake disappears and we're told he used the money
he was paid for wrestling earlier that night to buy crack cocaine.

"BEYOND THE MAT" is a fascinating study of people leading unusual lives in
a business that is a constant mix of fantasy and reality, and where people
who work in it long enough can often stop seing the difference.  ****
(four stars)

umm... only if i get to pick the footwear!  ;)

Whats-her-name dragged me to an 'art flick'.  _Ghostdog:the way of the
Samurai_.  Awesome film.  Saw it at the new 'black' multiplex theatre
(no signs??) in the heart of the southside - a visit is odd in an of
itself, part of the old and 'going out of business' for some years now
jewboy department store is a huge modern strip mall full of all the
usual and expected outlets including a 24-hour Home Depot.  Theatre has
'stadium seating' and is trashed a bit more and not quite as well
managed (only one of four ticket booths open and only one of many
concession registers generating lines - polite lines, black folk are
used to waiting in line taking their turn) than one is used to in the
burbs, but the armed guards and the agressive police patrols of the
parking lot made this homeboy feel right at home.  Told whats-her-name
*this* is our new shopping center, the only think missing was Target or
maybe I missed it.

Anyway, this masterpiece _Ghostdog: the way of the samurai_ is
incredible.  Forest Whitaker (_The Crying Game_ alumn - another good
one) is the 'hero'.  Not a nice chirpy safe black like the dude from
that stupid sci-fi flick (_Independance Day_ or something like that) or
the safe nice safe Denzel, Whitaker portrays the huge hulking brooding
cast-eyed suburban bigot's secret nightmare of a black.  And he works as
a 'button-man', a professional assassin for the Mob.  And what a Mob it
is -I'm not going to spoil anything I hope.  (Henry Silva has hilarious
scene after scene, one where he talks trash about the ethnicity that he
made a career of portraying.)  This film even telegraphs, has direct
references to, and hits you over the head with the notion that 'reality'
is truely an individual hallucination.  At first viewing - and I expect
many more (may even pay to see in in the theatre again) - the only
truely 'sane' people in the film are either off camera or seen only by
virtue of their feet.  Multiple sendups to even more obscure 'art films'
and I'm sure many 'inside jokes' that even whats-her-name missed this is
the best film I've seen this year, and rates way up there.  The 'studio'
has apparently targeted this to the 'black' market so I'm not sure if it
is 'at a theatre near you', but if it is, its a definate do.

"Ghost Dog" is a Jim Jarmusch film.  He also directed "Down by
Law", one of my favorites.  It's on my to-see list.

   Saw "Pitch Black" with Damon a little bit ago.  Definitely better
than I had thought it would be.  A fairly good SF film with elements
of horror and suspense built in.  There are some great shots here,
and one *treuly* amazing death scene of about 5 seconds that I'll
never forget.  A pleasent surprise.

But can "Ghost Dog" be rented at your local Blockbuster?...

You can usually find Jarmusch at a large video store.  His dark humor
master piece Stranger than Paradise about 2 Eastern Europeon imigrants from
Cleveland driving to Florida sometimes shows up in the humor section which
is a stretch.  Where ever you find it, it's worth seeing one of my all time
favorite movies along with "After hours," and "Repo Man."  Ok call me strange
<shrug>

I watched "Stranger than Paradise" and "Down by Law" on video
long before I saw any Jarmusch in a theater.

re #22: (pribly not yet. it was *just* released to theatres.)

You know, I haven't seen "Repo Man" in a while.  It's surprisingly hard to
rent.

I saw _The_Exorcist_ for the first time last night.  I enjoyed it, although
it wasn't shocking as might have been expected: we've seen a lot since it
was first released.

i never have time to go to movies.
i saw the southpark movie like 2 weeks ago.
i laughed.

I saw the Wall concert in Berlin last night. It may not be a movie, but was
fun to watch. I was impressed with the concet, but felt that if I was actually
there, I wouldn't have seen anything. Oh well. At least the people who were
there could say they were there.

Saw "Ghost Dog" at the State last night.  Great film, might actually be the
first Jim Jarmusch film I've seen.

The guys playing the Italian gansters were pretty funny, as was the French
speaking ice cream guy.  Forest Whittaker was very good as the star (minor
nit pick... his martial arts practice sword work was not that great...).

The movie described in resp 01 reminds me of _Sole Survivor_ which is 
definitely worth renting.
"I saw you not die."

I think he could have picked a better title. "Ghost Dog" sounds like an old
Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the seventies and the "Way of the samurai" subtitle
is more cheese than a Swiss Edam factory.

Another endorsement of "Sole Survivor" here.  Eerie little TV film from the
early 1970s.

No kidding...very creepy.

Whatshername and I went to the now locally owned blacksplotation/'banger
movie theater that has had to compete with the new corporate owned
megaplex on 87th street - south side chicago.  Paid almost 20 bucks for
two tickets rung up a 'nocharge' as the ticket taker pocketed the money
- skimming of his employer.  Anyway, saw _Rules of Engagement_.  You
won't beleive you actually saw the Australian actor Guy Pearce unless
you read the credits.  Ben Kingsley must have had to make a house
payment or something - no other reason for him to stoop so low and for
so few and so shitty screen minutes (Ghandi panics, hides under a desk,
and commits perjury?).  Bottom line, try to see it during the 'cheap
tickets'.  Its an OK do, but barely OK.
Even though it is a 'USMARINE as Hero' it still has the 'government bad'
stench about it which is really surprising under 8 years of the
Clintonistas.  Hmm, maybe considering Somalia where US Troopers died for
no good reason because the then Sec.D. refused to send in tanks as
requested by the 'on scene' commanders on account it would be 'too
provocative' -maybe its not so far out that such as portrayed in the
film could actually occur...

Warning, potential spoilers:

I don't care what the politicians decide on 'rules of engagement' there
is no way in hell US Marines or any other US Military unit for that
matter is going to come under hostile fire without returning fire,
especially on taking KIAs.  It just ain't gonna happen.  (At least I
hope so...well, maybeso under a Clinton administration, but I trust
troopers will do the right thing regardless.)

Bullets fired up into a building from the ground will have ballistic
signatures indicating they were fired from the ground up.  Its called
forensics. You wanna know, you check it out, its gonna be there.

There is no way an NVA colonel is going to give testimony in a US Court
Martial and there is no way the US Marine prosecutor is even gonna know
about the NVA colonel in the first place.  Oh, it does lead to a nice
scene where one warrior exchanges mutual recongnition with another (its
called a 'hand salute' and has traditional meaning), but its not gonna
happen.

Minor quibble, I don't think you salute the back of a superior officer
who is walking in front of you, not to mention he is not likely to
return the salute.

The 'Nam flashback scenes had troopers wearing ALICE gear not issued
until some years later.

There were only 4 occasions where the 'surround sound' actually worked
and 3 of them were merely irritating.

In short, I think the film intended to be at least about 30 minutes
longer than was finally released and the 'summation' text at the end was
not satisfying as a replacement for, nor are the ending scenes.  A fine
cast wasted in a poor editing job.

Again, try to see it during a matinee where you don't have to pay full
price.  I give it about a 1-1/2 on a scale of 1-5.  Maybeso you should
even wait until you can buy the 'previously viewed' video  at the local
drugstore and save some money.

Oh, and the portaits of Gore were really funny. Set designers had Gore
as the President when the events portrayed in the flick took place-
surely without realizing the implications....

<DRIFT>
I can think of two situations to salute from behind:
1) Overtaking an officer, salute as coming abreast, and request permission
   to continue ahead (marching in step until permission is granted).  When
   the salute is returned and permission is granted, cut and march on.
2) As a conversation ends, start to salute, which the officer (rudely, in
   a breach of conduct) ignores and turns away.  Hold and cut, maintaining
   discipline and decorum.
</DRIFT>

(re#37: Yeah, but I'll have to wait for the video to confirm it, but
there appears to be a scene where two females salute the back of a male
moving away from them.  Maybe it was an inside joke and an allusion to
the saying "If it moves, salute it.  If it doesn't move, paint it".)

"AMERICAN PSYCHO"-- movie of the Brett Easton Ellis novel (he wrote Less
Than Zero) that was a bestseller a while back, about a late 80's wall
street yuppie who gets so trapped in the superficiality and numbness of
his own existence that he goes mad and starts killing people.  IN a series
of grotesque and perverse murders, he is trying to force himself to feel,
not just feel pain, but just feel.  And tragically he cant, because he is
in the middle of a cold, heartless, materialistic society where all that
matters is money and status and who has the most expensive suits and most
stylish business cards.  The novel, and the movie, are a biting commentary
on the dangers of excessive ego-mania and materialism.   It takes place
int he  late 80's, at the height of the Reagan supply side stock market
boom.  But it could just as easily be today when people are, if anything,
more obsessively materialistic and ego-driven.  How close do we all come
to losing our souls in this culture.     AMERICAN PSYCHO ***1/2 STARS

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