Have you seen a gone to see a good movie lately? or bought a movie on DVD or rented a movie? Review it here. Let people know your opinions on the films of the day.225 responses total.
This fall is starting positively, with a terrific new movie just out that I saw last weekend-- LOST IN TRANSLATION-- Bill Murray stars as basically himself, a middle aged movie star on the backside of his career who finds himself having to go to Japan and do a liquor commercial to pay his bills. Murray is tired and depressed, and trying to hide out in the bar of his downtown Tokyo hotel and drink away the time, when he meets a much younger girl who is dissatisfied with her life and unsure what her goals are in life. The girl is played by Scarlet Johannson, a promising young actress who you might remember as one of the girls in the great movie 'Ghost World' Murray and this girl, with very little in common except the time and place they are in, start to hang out together and connect in a very moving, tender way. This movie is about two people who feel lost and alone in the world, who connect with each other emotionally for a short time. This is IMO a wonderful movie, the best so far this year. "Lost in Translation" was written and directed by Sofia Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, who is developing into a first rate director herself (her first directorial effort was the terrific, "Virgin Suicides") Bill Murray is great in this movie, playing a character who is tired and beaten. and lost and confused by life but has a good heart. You can tell, as Coppola has said, that she wrote the part specifically for him. Johannson, who was wonderful in Ghost World, plays well opposite Murray and shows a lot of depth. This movie is also a good film to see if you've never been to Tokyo, and wonder what its like. I've been there a couple of times, and this movie, filmed entirely on location there, really captures the feel of the place. A funny and moving movie. Highly recommended!
AMERICAN SPENDOR-- this is a live action version of Harvey Pekar's American Splendor comic books, in which if you've never read them, Pekar writes about him, his wife and his friends and their neuroses and fears. The movie is as funny as the comic books. Pekar appears as himself, along with a cartoon version of Pekar, and an actor playing Pekar in the flashbacks. The movie shows how Pekar, a real life file clerk in Cleveland who writes this comic book in his spare time who is a dysfunctional grouch, meets his wife who is another dysfunctional grouch, and through his battle with cancer and other things, manages to come to terms with his feelings about life. Paul Giamatti and Hope Davis are wonderful as Pekar and his wife Joyce, who is also a recurring character in the comic book and who also appears as herself in the movie. "American Splendor" is a wonderful, funny, touching movie and co-directors Shari Stringer Berman and Robert Pulcini do a great job of mixing present time frame interviews with the real life characters, with flashbacks featuring actors playing the characters, and images of the characters in comic book form. "American Splendor" is highly recommended, one of the best movies of the year
"Lost in Translation" is a little gem. The movies is about two people, both a bit lost and confused, who during a few days together find something valuable, in each other. It's subtle, and kind, and real. I guess the director, Sofia Coppola, stalked Bill Murray and wouldn't make the movie unless he played the lead character. She knew. I love this movie.
It's one of Murray's best performances. Scarlett Johansson proves herself to be star material. Nothing is overstated or cliched in this film, and just about everything works. Highly recommend "Lost in Translation". I'll second Richard's endorsement of "American Splendor". I'm an old Robert Crumb/underground comix fan, but my attention had waned by the time the Pekar era came along, so I never read any of the comic books. "American Splendor" nicely filled a gap in my cultural background as well as being a very entertaining movie.
I had to treat myself to the DVD issue of Disney's Sleeping
Beauty. The audio commentary is highly produced and provides a
wonderul insight to the movie. That audio track also introduces
and plays the lyric version of songs heard in the movie, as opposed
to doing so on another feature on the DVD.
I also get to send in for the $5 refund for owning the
video tape.
I rented "Dude, Where's My Car?" tonight. It was fun.
Saw the first half of "The Good Thief" last night, then stopped watching. Plot was standard, and atmosphere quite good, but acting horrible.
I'm geeked to see "Kill Bill", mainly because Sonny Chiba is in it.
I'm of two minds regarding seeing "Kill Bill". Liked Tarentino's previous work, but on the other hand looked at a couple of reviews.
The Post (in both the Style and Weekend sections - we have two reviews) gave it a thumbs up.
Julie wants to see "Kill Bill". The trailer's been out on the movie screen for a while now.
with a director llike tarentino and a name like 'kill bill' i would expect over-saturated blood-n-gore. city drains overflowing, etc.
MYSTIC RIVER-- This is the terrific new film by Clint Eastwood. The story is about three boyhood friends in, who are forever linked by a tragic event in their childhood, and who reach middle age and find themselves again linked by another tragic event. The events are linked like bookends to a part of their lives. The three friends are played by Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon. Penn's character has grown up to be a mob connected ex-con, Bacon's character has grown up to be a cop, and Robbins' character has grown up to be a regular working class guy. I won't give away what happens, but suffice to say this is a movie about friendship and loyalties, not just among the friends but among their wives and the people around them. The questions become how well do they really know each other, and has what happened in the past ever really gone away? This is a wonderfully directed movie by Eastwood, both suspensful and moving, and has some great acting. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins do IMO the best work of their careers and deserve oscar nominations, as does Marcia Gay Harden (who plays Robbins wife and who was also great in the movie "Pollack"), and Eastwood for directing. This is like a suspense thriller but it is really less a "whodunit" then a psychological drama, exploring the minds and motivations of people who were once close friends and think they know each other, but come to realize maybe they don't, and end up wondering if they really can escape the past. This is one of Eastwood's best movies.
_Out of Time_ A derivative work of a remake of a '40s film (something about a clock comes to mind) done in the style of an E. Leonard novel it is both wonderful eye candy as well as damn fine acting. Denzel plays a somewhat gelded maybe bad cop - a step up from _Training Days_. Some mexican chica plays a mexican chica con grande huevos - if we haven't seen her before I predict we will see more in the future. Denzel exhibits his strange proclivity (by hollywood standards) once again of performing love scenes either entirely off camera or at least fully clothed (compared to another person of color by the last name something like the frito bandito). An excellent do especially if you can view it in a theatre full of people of color - screen talkers.
We went to see "Lost in Translation" last night. It was certainly well done and interesting. It's about two people who are lost, certainly. Who don't know what to do. I think maybe the point is, everyone wants to know what to do, but the signals we get from the outside world amount to something we only vaguely understand. Sometimes we try to imitate other people, because that's the easiest thing to do. But most of the time we don't have a clue. Dunno. I'm still thinking about it. What did other people think?
Lost in Translation - I really liked it. I thought it was very well filmed in that every scene was visually stunning. Yeah, the main characters were lost and that was a little sad but, in a way, they seemed to find themselves. The person I went with wondered if maybe the daughter of a famous Hollywood directer got left for a week in a Tokyo hotel and the story came out of that.
I liked it a lot. Bill Murray was surprisingly good. It also makes Tokyo look really pretty.
Tokyo is very visually stunning, in different ways in different areas.
Rentals this weekend: "Formula 51" I rented it because I love Robert Carlyle. Now I wish Robert Carlyle would make better movies. Seeing Samuel L. Jackson in a kilt is rather cool, as is the scene where he beats the shit out of some English punks with a driver. "Bullitproof Monk" Loved it! But then, I'm a sucker for Seann William Scott and Chow Yun Fat. Loved the fight scenes, am totally into the hong kong wire effect, laughed a lot. "The Italian Job" This just reinforces the fact that in a perfect world, I would have unlimited access to Jason Statham in whatever capacity I wished. Fun fun movie, nice to see Edward NOrton as a bad guy, laughed over Mos Def and Seth Green and drooled over Jason Statham. And the urge to buy a Mini Cooper and have the engine enhanced and the frame work reinforced is very strong.
Watched Murder by Numbers yesterday. It wasn't spectacular, but it did keep our attention. And unlike Mulholland Drive, it explained everything. Just the way I like a suspense movie.
What about Donnie Darko?
I gave up on "Murder by Numbers" after about 30 minutes. It had little or nothing in common with the way *I* like a suspense movie.
DVD recommendation..."The Adventures of Indiana Jones"-- got this over the weekend, it is a box set containing the three Indiana Jones movies (Raiders of the Ark, Temple of Doom, the Last Crusade), and a fourth disk with like three hours of extras. The movies have been digitally re-mastered with surround sound, and look and sound great, with the added documentary and commentary by steven spielberg, george lucas and harrison ford. These movies took their sweet time coming out on DVD. When I first got a DVD player, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was one of the movies I most wanted to have on DVD. These are always going to be fun movies to have on hand on a rainy day.
Well, you do know who committed the murder and why. Most of the movie was about how the detective unravels the truth. Now for good murder mysteries, any Agatha Christie, but especially the ones featuring Hercule Poirot, is unbeatable
Hm. "Murder by Numbers" (haven't seen) sounds like a typical "Columbo" episode.
You should do it. _Murder by Numbers_ is a Sondra Bullock flick and she doesn't do trash. re#22: Why did you give up on it? I'm really curious? re#24: Ditto on the Hercule Piorot. The modern version of _Murder on the Orient Express_ is exceptional. The scene with the scotsman and the customs official is priceless. That bit is actually the genesis of a little known A2 funny story. The scotsman's name was used and published as the name of the marketing director of an A2 software firm (I am the culprit behind that of course). And the firm used to take great delight in directing such obvious sales or marketing calls to various employees including female. There was a board with the nominated marketing director for each day of the week near the coffee machine. Anyways, the calls for that person suddenly stopped although it took a while for us to realise it. Years later I happened to meet a person from A2 with the same unusual last name and mentioned the story only to find out that such a person not only actually existed in A2 but that my story probably explained the huge number of elaborate floral arraingements that showed up at his funeral from companies that the family had no idea who or what they were or what the relationship was.
Hm. The few Sandra Bullock movies I've seen struck me as a bit trashy.
Went to see Bubba Ho-tep this weekend. Pretty funny, quirky, strange, and what we've come to expect from Bruce Campbell. He actually came out after the movie for a Q & A which was pretty cool.
I want to see that movie. I think it's only playing in Royal Oak locally, though.
Saw the Italian Job last night. Predictable, but enjoyable
If Bubba Ho-Tep is playing anywhere near Ann Arbor, I'm there! Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley, Ossie Davis as a nutcase who thinks he's John F. Kennedy, an ancient Egyptian demon on the loose, all from the director of "Phantasm". I've been eagerly awaiting this one for quite a while.
A Grexpedition might be in order....
I'd be up for that!
Yes!
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I'd be game for a Bubba Ho-Tep Grexpedition as well.
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By the way, "Phantasm" is a good DVD rental at your friendly neighborhood video store. Classic 1970s grade B horror/scifi movie. Shows what you can do with almost no budget whatsoever if you've got an enthusiastic cast and a crew with a little imagination. An early film from the director of "Bubba Ho-Tep". The DVD release is digitally remastered, looks and sounds great, and has some interesting deleted scenes and a nice "making-of" documentary.
I saw "School of Rock" this weekend - fun fun movie - I laughed a lot and the soundtrack was bitching. It was fun seeing Jack Black being the typical Jack Black, but not swearing - and somehow managing to be sensitive without losing his edge.
Really? I'm kind of scared of Jack Black movies. :p
I went and saw Intolerable Cruelty Friday afternoon. This movie was really good which was nice. The previews made it look dumb but I was able to talk a friend into seeing it because it is a Coen brothers movie and he always likes those (as do I). I loved Fargo but also am a big fan of Raising Arizona,The Hudsucker Prozy,The Big Labowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou. The Coen Brothers must be wonderful fun to work for because they often have cast members return to do other movies for them. Intolerable Cruelty is no exception, George Cloony from O Brother, Where Art Thou and Billy Bob Thorton and Richard Jenkins from The Man Who Wasn't There. Besides those three, this film has a wonderful cast. Basically this is a romantic comedy done well. It's a genre that I particularly like but even someone who isnt a fan of the genre the way I am might like this movie. It is, however, very totally a Coen brothers movie. I have found that even though I tend to really like these movies, other absolutely hate them. Intolerable Cruelty seems like it will be like this more than many of their other films. It is more like The Big Labowski and Raising Arizona than it is like Fargo. It is funny though. I laughed so hard, I had tears running down my face. The timing of the lines makes them hilarious even if such timing is a little unnatural. Well, that is what makes it so funny, I think. But I know that sort of timing bothers other people. Basically this is a story of a really excellent but somewhat sleazy high priced California divorce attorney. He meets and falls in love with a woman whose husband he is representing in their divorce. I wont go into the rest of it because I dont want to spoil the movie but there are some really priceless moments. If you like Coen Brothers films, this is one to catch.
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I loved "Gosford Park". If you need names for a few of those actors, they would be Helen Mirren, Ryan Phillippe, Emily Watson, Stephen Fry, Michael Gambon, Jeremy Northam, Clive Owen, Bill Ballaban, Alan Bates and a myriad of other great Brit actors.
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Intolerable Cruelty had a very rushed end, IMO
"Intolerable Cruelty" is on my must-see-before-it-leaves-the-theaters list. It's a Coen Brothers movie, after all. Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River" is a sombre tragedy, a beautifully made film with superb acting from an ensemble all-star cast. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins especially. The story gets its hooks into you and never lets go. Highly recommended.
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Saw The Legend of Suriyothai. It only plays one more night, Thursday, at the Michigan Theater. Went for the Thai scenery since I have worked with a few young Thai people in the last few years. Most of the the movie was filmed indoors. But good traditional Thai dress and in Thai with English subtitles. A 16th century story. Court intrigue, assassination, and occasional regicide. So much killing that toward the end I gave up and didn't much care who died. An unsettled time in Siam's history with Burma threatening invasion. The last third of the movie was war. Muskets, steel, and archery. I am not a good judge of war movies. I think the last one I liked was The Longest Day (1962). The Burmese army was pictured as equivalent to the evil Germans in English language war movies and as the evil Russians in German war movies. I liked the feminist strain, albeit it at the royal level only, woven throughout despite the traditional patriarchal times.
Bubba Ho-Tep is opening tomorrow, at The State, in Ann Arbor. John and I are planning to go to the 7:15 show and have dinner, before, somewhere downtown. That's tomorrow evening. If anyone would like to join us that would be fun. I'm thinking either Seva or Cottage Inn Cafe or that no-frills middle eastern place on William, Keebob Palace or something. Around 5:30? Anyone interested?
Dammit, already doing stuff tomorrow.
"Bubba Ho-Tep" did not disappoint. The story is beyond far-fetched of course. Some very funny lines. Bruce Campbell really gets into his role as an elderly Elvis Presley, living in obscurity in a rest home in east Texas and wallowing in self-pity until... (See, the guy who died back in 1977 was actually a Presley impersonator with whom the real Elvis had switched roles.)
The first few lines spoken set the tone for all that follows. It's probably one of the most outrageously funny setups I've seen. Again, stay until the credits have finished. There is more.
"Price of Milk" - This is a New Zealand fairy tale romance set on an isolated dairy farm. Lucinda and Rob are in love. Rob has 117 cows and an agoraphobic dog. Lucinda has a collection of baby shoes and inexplicable doubts. Does Rob really love her? How can she test his love? By trading away all 117 cows to get back a blanket that was stolen from her by a team of Maori golfers to keep their auntie warm, of course. Now she just has to win him back again. The film is full of lots of bits of delightful weirdness. The dog and the bath on the hill and the upsidedown pickup trucks and the Hindi wedding dress are worth the price of admission. Which is all great, but the characters don't entirely make emotional sense, which kind of makes the whole thing feel a bit pointless. Apparantly the director/writer made up the film day by day as he was filming it.
It's now in my queue. Thanks!
We went to see another New Zealand film the other night, "Whale Rider", which is now at the Village Theater. It was fabulous - best movie I've seen all year.
I should've caught "Whale Rider" when it came through Ketchikan a week or two ago. We've got pretty limited choice in new movies so it's worth going when something decent comes to town.
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Yeah.. I give the carvers in the carving shed out at Saxman major credit for their patience with the tourists. I've stood and watched while groups of tourists shuffle through, every five minutes asking the same alarmingly stupid questions. It would drive me mad by the time the first bus got out of the parking lot.
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When they've got someone carving at the exhibition room in the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center they take that approach (though they're a little friendlier about it.) When you enter they hand you a FAQ list and ask that you read it before asking the carvers any questions.
i think the best movie i've ever seen was The Boondock Saints. I heard a new one is coming out soon.
I haven't heard of that one - what's it about?
"ELEPHANT"-- This is the powerful new movie by Gus Van Sant (director of Good Will Hunting, Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho .etc) The movie is essentially the film version of the Columbine tragedy. The high school in Colorado where two alienated students showed up on campus one and and shot up the school. The movie covers in detail the two hours or so leading up to the events, and the events themselves. Since you see all these innocent kids, and you know what is going to happen, the tension builds and it is quite intense. Van Sant didn't use trained actors, but unknown real high school kids to make the movie as real as possible. This movie is intense, disturbing and real. So real that I think I'd find it difficult to sit through twice. It won the grand prize at Cannes and is a well made movie that will have you thinking about it for some time. "Elephant" is highly recommended.
resp:62 Is that in response to The Boondocks Saints sequel?
Ridley Scott's slightly revised version of ALIEN comes out this weekend. I expect its theatrical run to be very short, as reissue runs generally are.
I somehow don't think that adding 50-60 minutes to the running time is "slightly" revised. ;-) STeve and the kids are looking forward to it. I am looking forward to the quiet, alone time them going to see it will give me (provided they go together rather than at different times).
I'd insist on father/child parenting time.
"Bubba Ho-Tep". Brilliant! Scary, too. The only thing that bugged me was the score by Brian Tyler; a little too similar to the score he did for "Six String Samurai" (a fair amount of stuff aside from the Red Elvises songs)
Alien is one of those movies that SHOULD be seen on the big screen....I remember seeing it for the first time during its original release...REALLY scary...I will definitely see the re-release
Glenda in resp:66 -- where did you hear about adding nearly an hour to the revised ALIEN? The review I saw indicated that the major addition is one key scene near the end -- a scene whose existance was generally known about for years -- and a few tweaks and trims here and there.
There is a re-release of a movie coming out very soon that STeve is waiting to see. He told me about an added hour. Maybe it isn't Alien, I just got things mixed up. But the only movie I can remember him saying he is waiting for is Alien. And maybe shoveling all this computer science and math stuff into my poor little brain is making it go over the edge and mis-remember things all together.
Alas, it appears that the ALIEN reissue is only with a limited number of prints, so who knows when one of the prints will wander by Ann Arbor? Not this week.
My son and I went to see "Brother Bear" yesterday. It was pretty good. Three Inuit (Eskimo) brothers, and a side story of two very funny moose who were the characters Bob and Doug McKenzie. John liked it a lot. We will probably see it again.
28 DAYS LATER-- rented this last week. I enjoyed it, although the people I was watching it with didn't like it at all. It is a post-apocalyptic tale in a sense, of a world ravaged by a highly contagious virus and the few healthy people left trying to survive. If you get the virus, you go mad and turn into a zombie. Obviously the director and writers were fans of George Romero's "Dead" series (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead) I found the movie well made, well acted and enjoyable, although the writing stretched things at times. It was filmed and set in Britain, no doubt playing off mad cow disease hysteria and speculating on what the world might be like if a really deadly virus ravaged it.
NOWHERE IN AFRICA - rented this yesterday. I had read some reviews but must not have paid too much attention - and somehow it slipped past us when it was in the theaters. I didn't recall it was in three languages and premised in the Holocaust. It was quite absorbing and well acted.
re #19 (okay so it's been awhile) and the Italian Job, all's I have to saw is that I agree. And in that perfect world will you share Jason with me? ;)
(er, all's I have to say is that I agree- both about the mini-cooper and Jason.)
_Matrix - Revolution_ - while they were at it why not throw in the kitchen sink?
They're saving some for the next sequel.
Re 76 and 77 - I'll take MWF and half of Saturday, you can have the rest. Work for you?
If you liked the song "Radio" during the credits of the film "Radio," come out to Green Wood tonight to see/hear Chuck Brodsky in concert. He also has a quick cameo during the credits, when the actors onscreen are replaced by the real folks. The film was based on the song, I believe. The song is from one of his earlier albums.
re #80- Sure, sounds good. :)
We saw Love, Actually last night. If there is one absolutely fluffy, feel good, "chick flick" you see this season, make it "Love, Actually". Touching on all aspects of love (new love, old love, love between siblings, love between old rock and roll artist and manager, unrequited love, betrayal...), it leaves with you with a nice warm, fuzzy feeling all over. Watch this with someone you love
Glad to see at least one american enjoyed it. apparently it hasn't gone down well ith U.S. critics. I think the chances of it not going down well with British critics are pretty slim; British films are so few and far between we need to encourage them as much as we can, whether the individual film is actually any good or not.
Got "The Guru" from netflix this weekend. I found it amusing, good fun. Staci watched it and was using head phones. Every once in a while she would break out in the giggles. A fun break from the hum-drums of studying.
Jeff, I'm nmot American, I'm Indian. FWIW, the theater was nearly full, and most people seemed highly appreciative of the movie, (and most of them were American :) ) What other British movies are there out there? Bend it like Bekham was definitely well received here. Was 4 Weddings and a Funeral British or American? I loved Full Monty. Calendar Girls looks to be the female version of Full Monty. I was pretty disappointed with The Guru. Heather Graham in a sari was just too weird. Though she did seem to get the dance moves down really nicely :)
Oh, yes, you've a good pint there about bering Indian. Well, you're over that side of the Pond and seem to like it, so that must count for something. Most of the Brit films I know of that you haven't mentioned are old. You might try the Ealing comedies if you can get them on video or DVD. Other than that there'sw really only Johnny English, Lawrence of Arabia, and a film about a Geordie ~(Newcastle native) boy who becomes aballet dancer - forget the name. Oh, and East is East about an Indian family in Birmingham? which people might like. I don't much fancy Caldendar Girls myself.
I've seen East is East. It was good, but depressing. Billy Eliott was the boy who turned ballet dancer, wasn't it? I liked that movie. Then of course there are the Merchant Ivory productions which are always good.
Billy Elliott, that's right. East is East is depressing? oh dear. I'd heard it was funny.
Billy Elliot and East is East were depressing.
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I was told East is East was funny, and since I'm always interested in movies with south-asian families settled in a Westernised country, I watched it. It started out being funny, with all those situations with a south-asian coping with British life, but it ended depressing, when you realise what the kids go through. Definitely depressing. I really want to watch American Desi.
I just found out that I missed the rebroadcast of "Saga of Mulan," a 1994 Chinese film presenting a Chinese Opera version of the same story as the Disney animated film. I did get to see it this spring, but the videotape had a little accident. It's not commercially available, last I saw. Whine.
Bummer, x2. Maybe if Nixon is still alive you could ask him to go get it for you...
Finally got around to seeing "Pirates of the Carribean" at the discount theatre. It was amusing... well, that was about it. Johnny Depp was pretty funny, anyway.
Yup, Johnny Depp made the movie enough fun to be worth it, for me. :> I wasn't expecting a great plot from a movie named after a theme park ride.
Actually, I really enjoyed POTC. Possibly because I was expecting it to be a bit of a joke, but it wasn't.
I loved it. Am planning on putting it into the permanent film library. I even loved Orlando Bloom's character quite a bit, though most think him too stodgy.
Pirates of the Caribbean was the kind of movie I expected to hate. But I enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks to Johnny Depp.
"But...why is the RUM gone?!"
Haha.
"21 GRAMS"-- This is the first english language movie by famed Mexican director Alejandro Gonz lez I rritu, and it blew me away. I found the movie really moving on a number of different levels. I don't want to give away too much of the story, because you really should experience what happens as it unfolds. But basically it is the story of three individuals, each of whom has a past they have escaped from, whose lives are inextricably linked by an accident. These are three people from different worlds, who should never meet or know each other. But fate has different plans for them. This is a movie about suffering and surviving, and living through pain, and redemption. The three leads are played in great performances by Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts. Penn is the center of the movie and if anything he as good or better than he was in the recently released "Mystic River". Del Toro (who won an Oscar for "Traffic") and Watts (who was terrific in "Mulhulland Drive") give the performances of their careers. The director, I rritu, wants the emphasis to be more on character study than plot narrative, so he dispenses with the usual chronological storytelling, and leaps back and forth to present, past, and future events surrounding the incidents in question. This is done with great effectiveness, I think, although if you don't like movies that mix up timelines, you might find the technique annoying. The movie's title, "21 Grams" is how much weight the body is said to lose automatically at the time of death. The difference between your body alive and your body dead moments later is 21 grams. Is that the weight of a soul? Is that what you lose when you die? Anyway, this was the best movie I've seen this year, although it is a very dark film and you want to be in the right mood when you see it. ***** (five stars)
The body can only lose weight if it loses real mass, by exhalation or secretions. Therefore "21 grams" is some kind of metaphor. Does the movie divulge the basis for the choice of exactly 21 grams? It sounds like "numerology" (number magic), but that then means nothing as mass is essentially continuous and the gram was defined by the French.
well the movie specifically says that is what "21 grams" means. When a person dies, his heart stops beating, his blood stops flowing. That is "kinetic energy", energy of movement. Once a body dies, no more body heat is created and the theory is that there is an instant measurable loss of kinetic energy. Somebody did a study indicating there is a loss of 20 calories of kinetic energy at the moment of death. Which in theory translates into a literal loss of twenty grams of mass.
Thats how much the human soul weighs.
I predict this item is about to devolve into yet another religious argument. ;>
I always thought it was 13 grams.
Kinetic energy has no measurable mass until you approach the speed of light. The relation would be e = mc^2. Likewise, "heat" has no measurable mass. Put another way, the energy equivalent of 21 grams of mass is the largest nuclear exposion you can imagine (somewhat like a star going "nova").
Re: #106: Praise the Scales!
rcurl testifies to the power of the human soul.
bru testifies to the persistence of human defiance of cognition.
A friend and I went to see the Loony Tunes movie. It wasn't one I was planning on seeing, but my friend bought the ticket, so what the @#$%. Turned out I loved it. Naturally, it had all the zaniness of the cartoons, but had a lot of puns and commercial references that make it really funny to me, like a Wal-Mart in the middle of the dessert.
Stumbled across a made-for-TV movie called "Skinwalkers" on PBS (Detroit Channel 56). It's a movie about [American] Indians with Indian actors involving the Navajo Nation, set in Utah. One of the lead male actors is Wes Studi, whom you may recall from "Last of the Mohicans" and "Dances With Wolves" (among others). I have a "weakness" for "authentic" Native American movies, and just settled into this one, without intending to. More info can be found at http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0312278/
With all that discussion on the soul and stuff, I nearly posted that gregb had the wrong item :P
re #113: PBS has been doing television adaptation of Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn / Jim Chee mystery novels. "Skinwalkers" is one of them. I don't know very much about the Native Americans of the southwest and have only read a couple of Hillerman's novels but he seems to get the atmosphere and settings right (based on my travels through the Four Corners area) and an acquaintance who's married to a dentist formerly in the Indian Health Service and who has worked and lived around the Navajo reservation says that Hillerman's research is pretty good.
I didn't see this myself-- was online, but Julie seemed to be enjoying it.
There are a couple of these movies out there. "Coyote Waits" and "Skinwwalkers". I hope there are more of them. I enjoyed them.
She sells sea whores by the sea shore.
Re #112: Just out of curiousity, did you like Space Jam? I hated it, and I'm trying to figure out if the new Looney Tunes movie is along the same lines.
Is this Looney Tunes movie and Space Jam the only 2 live action/cartoon mix movies since Roger Rabit, 15 years ago?
Monkeybone and Cool World are two others. I can't remember if Cool World came out before or after Roger Rabbit, though.
Roger Rabbit was 1988, Cool World 1992.
There was also a mixed animated/live action "Rocky and Bullwinkle" movie.
Re. 119: No relation. The world of Loony Tunes is treated like that of Roger Rabit, in that "Toones" exist along side humans. In Jam they were brought into the human world.
the Dangerous Lives Of Alter Boys has some great animation sequences... oh, don't forget Beavis and Butthead Do America...;-)
Did they mix live actors with animation?
Ah, yes, Beavis and Butthead. My inner 12-year-old loved that movie. :)
Mine too. But I don't remember anything live-action in it.
MASTER AND COMMANDER: FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD-- This is a terrific sea adventure movie based on the McManus books. The ships and costumes of the period, are re-produced in exacting detail. The camera even rocks slightly to mimick the way a ship rocks at sea. Russell Crowe, among the world's most charismatic actors, is perfectly cast as the "master and commander" of the ship, to whom everyone else must swear their loyalty and give their lives. Paul Bettany, who played Crowe's imaginary best friend in "A Beautiful Mind" co-stars as Crowe's real best friend, the philosophical and humane ship's doctor. They have a relationship not unlike Kirk and McCoy on Star Trek. This movie was well directed by Peter Weir (director of The Truman Show and Witness and many other movies) But the best thing about this movie is the cinematography, the beautiful scenery and realistic battle scenes between the two ships (the good guy British Ship and the evil French ship they are chasing around the world) This movie was a lot of fun (has a nice classical score too)
O'Brien books, richard. But otherwise, yeah, I loved this movie. Not a really surprising plot, but what a wonderful view of the life and times of these two men and the rest of the ship's company.
Right - I enjoyed it too. It wasn't very deep, but the production values were first rate.
RE#128 -- I misunderstood the comment regarding live mixed with animation, you are right there was no live sequences in B&B Do America....though they did appear on Letterman to promote the movie...;-)
I remember that. Strangest interview I saw on Letterman. Kind of a reverse Space Ghost CTC.
You're right, I never thought of it that way.
I've finally been catching up with what's in the theaters. I loved "Love Actually". I really debated buying this ticket thinking it was another chic-flick Hugh Grant vehicle. I even asked the guy selling tickets if he'd seen it. He said his girlfriend insisted he come along and he was quite surprise to have liked it a lot. The cast includes quite a few of my favorites and the writing was clever and honest enough that I forgave its exaggerations. "The Missing" is thin on plot, the character studies a little thicker, but that scenery! Wow. This movie stars New Mexico. But my favorite of all this season is "Bad Santa". Offensive to the max. I hope the fat boy wins an Oscar. Not kidding.
Love Actually was surprisingly very likeable.
Re #135: I enjoyed "Bad Santa" too and agree that the kid's performance is of best-supporting-actor calibre. Wouldn't be surprised to see the Academy shun the film altogether though, given the nature of material. Hollywood's come a long way since the squeaky-clean 1950s, but I'm not sure it's come *that* far.
The Last Samurai I liked it, even though I didn't want to go because I am boycotting Tom Cruise. Very intelligently done. It takes you to a time and place outside your experience. The star of this show to me is not Cruise, but rather Ken Watanabe. His Portrayal of Katumoto was magnificent.
Way to boycott Tom Cruise. Go for his movie and then give credit to someone else :P
I'm going to regret this, because it'll just look like I'm baiting bru, but I really am curious as to why the boycott of Tom Cruise.
Scientology is what I assumed it was.
I saw "Love Actually" too . . .I really really liked it and my only gripe is that I wasn't with my boyfriend when I saw it. The scenes between Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman were so amazingly done, and I loved the scenes with Liam Neeson and his son. Incredibly cast, intelligently done. What was implausible was forgiveable by the things that weren't implausible. And it was incredibly nice to see Hugh Grant shaking his ass.
Yeah, I liked Hugh Grant in that sequence, though his whole love angle was totally implausible. I like how they touched on all kinds of love, not just the "it all turned out right, so all is well" type.
I saw most of "Pirates of the Carribean" on DVD last night. I got a late start on it and will have to finish it tonight. I liked it pretty well -- there were a lot of obvious coincidences and wild circumstances so it felt to me like a comic book movie; I like comic book movies -- but will have to see the end to know if I really liked it.
Yeah, it's definately a comic book style comedy.
Tonm cruise mad a statement a while back that this country was not fit to raise his children in, adn he would be sending them overseas to another country for schooling. If he cannot support our country, I do not need to support him. But my wife twisted my arm.
Hmm. I dunno, right-wing types are always saying "if you don't like the government's policies, leave." Now you're annoyed that someone's actually doing that? ;>
So you boycott Tom coz he speaks the truth? I wouldn't say that this country is "not fit to raise children in", but there are better countries out there, when it comes to raising children.
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"Swimming Pool" (A-) -- A slightly pretentious French production with a "Sixth Sense"-like twist at the end. It's worth seeing mainly for the gorgeous French scenery and a gorgeous French actress named Ludivine Sagnier. (After traipsing around topless and humping any pair of pants that walks by in this movie, Mlle Sagnier went on to play the role of -- I kid you not -- Tinkerbell in the new live action remake of Peter Pan, which opens in a couple of weeks. One of those twists of fate you just have to smile and shrug at.)
I left that movie wondering what it means when you're more turned on by the villa than the steamy sex.
This webpage may provide some insight: http://www.algonet.se/~giljotin/explan.html
This one, courtesy of good old Altavista, might provide even more insight: http://jpg.adult.pornparks.com/totty_net/ludivines/ludivine_sagnier001.j pg Now I've got to go find "Drops of Water on the Boiling Rocks."
[Sorry, that link probably won't work unless you add "pg" to the end.]
I also thought The Last Samurai might have been a better movie if it had been shown from the point of view of Katumoto instead of from Cruises character.
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The Japanese did indeed have guns early, but they caused so much devistation among the Samurai class, that teh Shogun banned them. I mean, we can't have the peasant class being able to kill samurai with such ease, and from beyond sword reach, mind you. Guns were outlawed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1588, for the general population. They remained in the armory or relegated to shooting clubs.
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I've heard that the Cruise movie has ninjas... how much more silly could you get?
Cruise doesn't have custody of his kids, Kidman does. And she doesn't live in australia now, she lives here in nyc, she and her kids share a brownstone in Greenwich Village with Lenny Kravitz, her significant other. Cruise and Kidman got divorced because of religious reasons not geographic, he's a Scientologist and she's a catholic and she wanted her kids raised catholic and he didn't.
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his stae of existence doesn't matter. His attitude does.
Re #159: Why silly to have ninjas? Historically inaccurate?
Because Tom Cruise cares what you think.
Because ninjas never actually dressed like ninjas... they were undercover types, so they'd dress exactly like whatever army/people they were going to infiltrate.
Right now he's thinking, 'Damn, I'm not going to get that $8.50 from bru next time.' Although I can't say much, since I'm conducting a personal boycott of my own against Symantec.
(Which is why the Japanese convention is to put them in Noh (I think it is) costumes.)
The ninjas were ninjas. I didn't think of them as historically accurate (since the movie itself was not 100% accurate -- though it was better than usual) but as a plot element put in to cement the trust between Cruise's character and Katsumoto. Nothing says bonding better than a fight with ninjas and saving the other guy's life. I'm personally not anti-Cruise but I thought it would have been a better movie had the producers been able to make it without the Western viewpoint character. And of course Tom has the problem of always being Tom. He doesn't disappear into his parts the way some other actors do. I believed, for example, in Russell Crowe's portrayal of Jack Aubrey far more than I did in Tom Cruise being someone called Nathan Algren. OTOH, Tom at least doesn't have Costner disease -- aka "Look at me! Look at my butt!" -- he was *willing* to try to be less center of attention than Costner.
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Why do people have such a fetish with fictional movies being historcally accurate?
because the movies are where we americans tend to learn our history. I don't, but I do not know why they cannot be historically accuratge and still tell a good story other than the script writers are lazy.
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I've always wondered how much is edited out of Cops. Like, one episode they stop a random black guy on a bike and he turns out to have a warrant against him. Was it luck, did they recognize him, or did they spend all night stopping random black guys and we were only shown the time it paid off?
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BWB is now a crime too?
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We saw "Master and Commander" this afternoon. Bits and pieces borrowed from various books, but I didn't care. I hope they make a few more.
I loved it.
I thought it was very good. Even if it hadn't been, nice to see a Hollywood film full of English people, none of whom are bastards, even if themain character was played by an Australian actor. Actually, I can't think of another actor who would have been the right age, British, and right for the part. There's an American Civil War film of which I saw a promo where the two protagonists are played by non-Americans, too. (Nicole Kidman and Jude Law, in this case).
The Civil War flick also stars Renee' Zellwiger (sp?), an American who played a Brit not long ago.
I caught "The Last Samurai" this weekend. I liked the story, I thought Tom Cruise acted at the top of his abilities, but it was the character of Katsumoto that really captured me. I also had the same sort of affection for the character of Katsumoto's son, Nobutada, that I have for Legolas . .
Oh - and I also rented "Possession" and "Lara Croft, Cradle of Life". "Possession" was good, but a bit slow moving - no I've not read the book . . .I'm hoping it's better than the movie. "Lara Croft" was ok. I mean, it gave us Chris Barrie and Gerard Butler, so that was cool, but other than that . . .
Watched "Stuck On You" laast night. While it wasn't terrible, I wish I'd seen "Something's Gotta Give" instead. Matt Damon was a sweetheart. I've never been a big fan of Greg Kinnear, and this movie didn't change that. Whoever played May Fong was annoying as hell. And Eve whatshername who played April started out annoying, but I ended up liking her pretty much (Maybe it was coz of May being so annoying)
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Yeah, me too.
Staci and I ate cookies and knitted while watching "The Wishing Tree" yesterday. We enjoyed all. We are going to start our own tradition of Sunday afternoon movie watching while knitting and eating junk food of some sort.
My mom always knits when she watches movies. In fact, she refuses to watch one unless she has something to do with her hands.
I use knitting as a way to keep me from eating, as I rarely want to touch what I'm working on with gakked up hands.
I used to knit while watching TV. Till I realised that I was watching 6 hours of TV a day with the excuse that it wasn't a total waste of time since I was doing something productiove. On analysis, the argument didn't have much weight, especially in light of all the half- finished projects lying around the house.
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I have to have something to do with my hands when watching movies or TV. I don't watch much TV anymore (no time with schoolwork, and nothing all that interesting on anyway). I usually take knitting with me on the few occasions that we actually go see a movie at a theater (I have been knitting for so long that my fingers know what to do so I don't have to actually look at it). I also knit while reading, especially textbooks. I don't have a problem finishing knitted projects. Staci and I are currently working on Christmas presents. This may mean that we actually go to the video store to rent DVDs since my Netfilx account only allows 3 at a time with mailing back and forth in between. I think we are going to need more than that to finish up our projects before Santa time.
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Oh - caught "Pirates of the Carribean" last night. Good flick, but I was ready for it to be over long before it was.
Our daughter crochets when watching TV - no clicking of needles.
Another commitment plus busy-ness at work kept me from seeing any of the last half of "Angels in America" on HBO. Saw the first half when it debuted a week ago Sunday. What an amazing movie! Will see the rest at my earliest opportunity.
I liked the last episode best. It was awesome
Looks like I'm going to a midnight showing of "Return of the King" tonight.
YAY I have to wait till Friday at the latest.
Well, as before I can't say much good about how Peter Jackson interprets characters. But the scenery, the castles, and especially the beasties were all really cool.
Hey, you don't have to hide. The grexiest of the grexers have been known to watch TV, so you don't have to hide the habit so much.
So who is the grexiest grexer to ever grex?
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No way. Maybe Valerie.
/emote tosses in a golden apple labelled "For the Grexiest."
I'd go with Valerie
Actually... I wouldn't. Most Grexers are much, much mellower. Marcus, however, is too mellow for the award. So is Jan.
Mellow isn't the word I'd use though. No, jan's not very Grexy.
Vote for me! I am the Grexiest!! (Actually, having thought about it for a bit, I've come to the conclusion that Grexiness is an elusive concept, and there's probably no such thing. There's some *stereotypes* of what Grexers are like (e.g. read m-net), but those aren't reality.) (Also, the drift nazi in me impells me to remind y'all that this is the movie item.)
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It's funny how remmers talks about how there is no "Grexy" opf a all in a response which is distyinctly so.
Yes, yes, "elusive concept" and "y'all" in the same response is sooooo Grexy!
Objecting to "grexy" items on Grex is like objecting to apple pie in the US.
http://www.peoplecanchange.com/
http://www.ohnotheycant.com
http://www.theyespeciallywillnotchangejusttoaccommodatejerks.eat.me
Watched "Something's Gotta GIve" last night. I liked the movie. It portrays the relationship between Dianne Keaton's and Jack Nicholson's character very poignantly. I especially loved the scene where Diane Keaton bawls her eyes out while pounding out an award winning play was especially funny. Without giving away too much of the plot, I would have preferred it if Diane Keaton stayed wtih Keanu Reeves's character at the end of the movie. As my friend pointed out, if you analysed what happened, the underlying message of the movie seemed to be "Nice guys finish last". And it would have been interesting to see the on-going trned of the older woman-younger guy concept in relationships given it's belssing on celluloid.
#216...what, in a Jack Nicholson movie, somebody other than JACK getting the girl?! surely you jest! Besides if Keanu got Diane Keaton, and Jack got Diane's daughter, that would be SO politically uncorrect! :) .'
(Reminds me of Bob Hope in "The Princess and the Pirate.")
Didn't say Jack should get the daughter. That would be icky. But I think the movie would have had better punch if Diane Keaton stayed on with hottie Keanu. (If I were presented with the situation, I'd be with the hottie doctor. Nothing like a doctor handy while you have a heart-attack while having sex)
(For that purpose, I think that a paramedic might be more suitable.)
Doctor's close enough ;)
If you like movies (not shit cinematographic),
you should watch "Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain",
literal english title is "Fabulous destiny of
Amelie Poulain.
The director is a very very great professional
and this movie is excellent.
I apologize all you for "s*** cinematographic".
Have you seen Dumb & Dumber?
I amright now
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