127 new of 326 responses total.
I wasn't disappointed by "Being John Malkovich." I frequently wondered how big the hit of acid was that the writer dropped to produce such an idea. We also paused the movie several times to go "What the Fuck?". I give it an A for originality - and A for acting. But I can't say that I liked it. By the way, Cameron Diaz deserved an Oscar for it - not Catherine Keener. She was amazing.
re #200: I think the problem was that people didn't even realize that that *was* Cameron Diaz. She's nearly unrecognizable if you're looking for someone who looks like her other roles.. re #197: I liked it because it was an original and pretty surreal farce peppered with bizarre sight jokes that it didn't get too heavy to enjoy.
I came out of Being John Malkovich thinking, "wow, that was weird..." It kept me thinking about it for quite a while.
I found Dogma more chalenging than John Malkovich. Again, I reference the dropped acid.
I really wasn't impressed with the oddities in _Malkovitch_ - they
weren't fully developed and didn't seem to exist for any purpose outside of
seeming odd and artsy.
I found "Malkovitch" clever and playful and unpredictable. That's quiet an enjoyable trio of attributes.
(I'm looking forward to the impending arrival of "Dogma" which I recently ordered from Amazon)
Dogma is a very funny film that inspired a pretty good religion discussion between Gary and myself.
I was rather impressed with the way it tackled religion. Honestly, I didn't feel it plastered it as much as people thought (though there were moments.) I still prefer Clerks, though.
yeah I exactly looked at it as "Kevin Smith on religion" from pretty much the beginning. Didn't know much about it other than who wrote and directed it. I want the jay and silent bob action figures for my birthday. Hear that everyone?? <hint, hint>
"Timecode" is amazing film. Mike Figgis takes an accomplished cast, four cameras, a loose script where the actors are encouraged to improvise, and two hours of real time and makes four movies which all play on the screen at one time, weaving in and out of each other, making perfect sense. Each movie is done is one shot. The screen is divided into quadrants with a film in each corner. I especially enjoyed the part where he makes fun of himself and the effort. Highly recommended. ****
I second the recommendation for "Time Code". In addition to what Mary said, I'll mention the great stereo soundtrack (the directionality is very helpful for keeping the four threads straight) and the creative use of earth tremors as a synchronization device. In the acting department, special congratulations are due Jeanne Tripplehorn, who is onscreen continuously almost the entire time. Talk about a sustained performance. Hitchcock did something vaguely similar with "Rope" in the 1940's, where he tried to make the movie seem as though it were one continuous take, but due to limitations of film technology he had to fake it. With digital cameras, the real thing is now possible. For the benefit of Ann Arborites -- "Time Code" is playing for a few more days at the Michigan Theater. Re "Malkovitch" -- I like it a lot. Also, like others, I didn't realize that Cameron Diaz was in it until the credits. She had a big part, too.
I rented girl interrupted and being john malkovitch last night. Watched girl interrupted. Loved it, made me cry. Have to save Malkovitch for julie, cause she pouted when I told her that I rented it without her.
GLADIATOR-- I saw this at the Loews Astor Plaza in Times Square, which is one of the largest screens in the country and where many films have their world premiers. This is the sort of movie you must see on the largest screen possible. Small theater screens and videotapes wont do it justice. The special effects are really amazing-- blows the battle scenes in Ben Hur away. The performances really stand out too-- Russell Crowe gives a major star performance and is going to be in a lot more films. And also Joaquin Phoenix as the son of Marcus Aurelius who oozes evil-- you know you are watching a good villian performance when the audience cheers loudly when he gets whats coming to him in the end. And of course, Marcus Aurelius the emperor, is played in a small but crucial part by one of my favorite actors, Richard Harris (who played Arthur in Camelot) The film is predictable but the special effects make it worth while. Again see this on a big screen
I can't decide wether or not I liked "Being john malkovitch" or not. I think I need to watch it again before I make my mind up.
I liked Russell Crowe in "LA Confidential". He gave an awesome performance. I'm looking forward to seeing "Gladiator". Can't wait for Fantasia 2K to get to the theatres. It won't be like like the IMAX showing, but still should be awesome. I loved the music, esp Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, The Pines of Rome and Rhapsody in Blue, which is one of my all time favorite classical pieces. On another note, I've started a list of "Movie Picks" showing on TCM. I usually go through the monthly schedule and pick out what I like. The list for June can be seen @ http://www.cyberspace.org/~omni/tcmjun.htm I love old movies. ;)
Re: Gladiator (A) This is solid entertainment and I support the earlier praise in resp 213. Each frame of this film is beautiful in color, lighting and composition. I think that an Academy award will go to Mathieson for the cinematography. I think that Gladiator has not diminished Ben Hur's acclaim, however. I'm too sleepy at the moment to even know why. nuts.
resp:214 i've seen it 3 times and i love it, although it doesn't stay "fresh" for repeat viewings. i'd say it's got 14 more viewings left before i'm done with. i'm a sucker for magical realism, cusack, and, above all, john malkovitch, so i really dug it.
what's the movie about the art forger? The russel crowne affair?
http://us.imdb.com/Plot?0155267
no browser hunny
Adrienne and I watched "Say Anything" this evening on some random movie channel (FXM, maybe). She'd never seen it before. I had. It's still enjoyable.
My favorite John Cusack movie is still "Better Off Dead", even though I lose five IQ points every time I watch it.. I want my two dollars!
resp:220 the thomas crown affair jes, about stealing aht i didn't see it.
There was art forgery in The Thomas Crowm Affair. "Better Off Dead" is great! I have to watch it again soon.
There are some movies you just have to put your brain in neutral and enjoy the ride. Better Off Dead is one of them. I like the 2 Japanese guys. One speaks no english and the other talks like Howard Cosell. I liked Cusak in The Grifters. He did a good job in that one.
"The Thomas Crown Affair" with Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo was silly escapist fun. The original version with Steve McQueen we found pretty boring.
Better Off Dead is one of my favorite movies of all time.
It's a classic, I love it.
I have a special place in my heart for "The Sure Thing", though I'm sure it would seem juvenile if I watched it today.
The Thomas Crowne Affair is one of my favorite moives and one of the first movies I bought on DVD. It's a very sensual movie.
The original or the remake?
The remake. I thought PIerce Brosnan was great - as was Rene Russo.
peirce brosnan is the next george hamilton.
You're just jealous. You want to be that smooth. George Hamilton? I think not.
but what about that gawdawful tan? ewww creepy
they share a booth.
On my first scan through #232, I missed an important "was" and instead read:
"Pierce Brosnan was great - as Renee Russo."
I couldn't help thinking: Boy, I'll bet that *is* a "very sensual movie."
rotfl...
On the floor with joe. . .
Now *that's* an image...
You know, it's not like I am all that naieve and stuff - but I seem to be great typing stuff that when I read it, I go, "Oh shit - how oocq can that possibly be?" I meant that I was laughing with Joe.
I knew what you meant.
I just saw Fight Club tonight. One word: f%*%ing brilliant.
That's two words.
fight club is cinnematic genus
<grins> I started watching Fight Club on Sunday (liked very much) need to finish watching it though...
oh god anne, you know what you're missing, dontcha?
You're all violating the first rule: DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!
<laughs> Carla- no I don't, I hate it when people tell me what happens in a movie before I see it. ;) I do plan to watch the rest tonight. <grins>
Wel I wasn't going to do that. :) but just by watching the ammount that you did, you should be aware of what you are misisng.
The first first rule of Cock Club is not to talk about Cock club, The Second Rule of Cock Club is not to talk about Cock Club. Saw that on The Daily Show last night.
Saw Fight Club again tonight. I have to own this movie.
i hear the fight club dvd is really good, it has a whole extra disc of extras and outtakes
Yeah, that second disc has a lotof neat stuff on it.
Okay, so I finished watching it... and just wow...
I believe it's about time to found a religion on that movie.
The "Fight Club" DVD was Roger Ebert's "Video Pick of the Week" this week. He gave thumbs down to the movie but thumbs up to the DVD.
the best out-take on the dvd is rupert/chloe. the first time i saw this flic it was a choice made for lack of anything better, and to get some laffs out of it while killing time; i'd seen only one preview and the impression i took away from that was that _fight_club_ was an updated redaction of something like _bloodsport_. gee was i stunned.
Yeah, I had no idea what the movie was really about until I saw it. Someof the best movies I've seen don't reveal what the movie's about in the trailers.
and too many trailers reveal too much about the movie their trying to entice me into, good or not. i suspect that movie directors usually have little control over the advertising.
Yeah, I always think T2 would've been MUCH better if I didn't know Ah-nold was the good guy. The movie would've had a really neat twist if we didn't know that from the trailers.
Good point
I've seen some great trailers which turned out to consist of every good scene in the movie.
there's a new super deluxe dvd of T2 coming out (they shot so much extra footage that you could make another movie, alternate beginnings, endings and .etc-- the deluxe T2 dvd promises to include all versions of the movie and all alternate scenes and running commentary tracks of Cameron and Schwarzenegger among other things)
I would like to see DVD's which give that treatment to the older classic movies, to the extent possible. For example, a DVD with both the released and recently-discovered "original" version of the Bogart/Bacall "Big Sleep".
they do that with older films...the dvd re-release of the original "Dracula" with Bela Lugosi featured restored version of both that film *and* the spanish version filmed at the same time on the same sets with spanish actors. the spanish version was filmed at night and the english lugosi version in the daytime. The "Big Slee'" DVD features not only the Bogart/Bacall film but the little scene alternate version theyfilmed at the same time and didnt use (same actors, slightly different script and scenes)
there's a dvd of truffaut's _love at 20_, which is the 25 minute long 2nd part of the 'antoine doinel cycle', consisting all-in-all of 5 flics, the first of which is _the 400 blows_. sorry -- _antoine & collette_ is the second movie. it was part of a longer movie called _love at 20_ by several new wave directors. it can't be obtained on vhs because the size of the film stock for _love at 20_ is wider than normal. i saw it at the dia theater once and they had to open the curtains an extra 5 feet on each side to show it. that movie alone is the only reason i'll have to get a dvd player until vhs is rendered obsolete. i dread the idea of having to convert my entire vhs collection to dvd.
yeah but lelande, with a dvd, you can play themovie on your computer and watch it in one window while you are in grex party in the other!
As long as you're not using Linux.. Because that would be illegal and wrong..
Re #269: Just out of curiosity, why?
I was mockingly referring to the ongoing saga of the DVD Content Control Authority's court battle to suppress the "DeCSS" program, a freeware utility for Linux which can decode DVD content and save it in a viewable format, allowing Linux users to watch DVDs on their machines. The MPAA claims that because DeCSS unscrambles the broken encryption on the DVDs, that it is an illegal piracy tool which is outlawed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Supposedly there are commercial DVD players being written for Linux that are licensed by the DVD content control authorities, but I don't think any of them have hit the market yet. People who are interested in learning more about the issue are encouraged to read the voluminous writings on the subject on various free-software web pages (most of which can be found through links in stories on Slashdot, http://slashdot.org ) or to begin an item on it in one of the more technology-oriented cfs.. I don't want to hijack the Agora movie item..
(I don't either, but I have to say that the DMCA is terrible.)
Re #266: I'll have to track down the "Big Sleep" DVD then. The reason the original version was never released was that Lauren Bacall's agent threatened to sue if her part wasn't made bigger and more glamorous. So they went back and reshot some scenes and filmed additional scenes. This held up release for over a year. And to keep the film to two-hour length they cut out some scenes, including a crucial long one that tied together loose ends and explained what was going on. So I figure that if I see the original version, maybe finally I'll understand the plot.
Adrienne and I watched "Dogma" last night. Excellent. Loved it. Most of it was very amusing. It amused me that God was portrayed as an all-powerful bimbo, and that just about every character from Kevin Smith's other 3 flicks was in this - even the video store clerk from "Clerks" had a very very small part in the beginning. So did the other Clerk, I think. I was kinda bummed that Joey Lauren Adams didn't make an appearance <sighs wistfully>
I wanted to see more of the satanic hockey zombies, but otherwise thought the movie was decent. Not great, but decent..
It really pissed me off that Alanis was god.... ugh, she irks me.
Just watched "The Birds." This is a good weekend to watch AMC.
I thought the American Motor Company went broke or something.
American Motors went the way of Hudson, Packard and Stupidbaker. (I feel it is my task in life to consistently diss those shitty little cars from South Bend. They killed Packard.)
i'd suggest adopting a new task lest you consign yourself to conversational oblivion...
Actually, American Motors was taken over by Chrysler, which has been taken over by Daimler Benz.
which will be taken over by King Foods...
which will be bought my Time-Warner.
which will be acquired by the new Seagram's/SBC Communications partnership
Saw tonight:
"Rules of Engagement" -- (C+) No surprises in this military coutroom
drama, except perhaps the performances phoned in by Tommy Lee Jones
and Samuel L. Jackson, both of whom can do better. I won't go off on
another implausibility rant, but I will say that sensible plotting is
a lot more important to a movie that's not going to have any car chases
and the writers would have done well to have considered that. I will
also admit that I'm looking forward to the time, not long from now,
when military dramas set in the present day will no longer be able to
feature characters who suffer from Vietnam flashbacks..
"Mission to Mars" -- (unratable) I may have thought that "Rules of
Engagement" didn't feature the two leads' best performances, but I
wouldn't have said, either, that they were their worst. There's nothing
stopping me from saying that about "Mission to Mars", though. Terrible
script, numbing performances, and a monstrously intrusive and annoying
sountrack are the substantial downsides here. Unintended humor is the
only upside, but things were so laughable that I nevertheless managed
to enjoy the movie at least enough not to be bitter about two hours of
my life that are now gone forever..
Has anyone seen "Chicken Run" yet?
Nope, but I've seen the HBO special on the making of it. Worth seeing. They show how they animate the characters. Trays and trays of plasticine(?) chicken mouths in different positions.
I just read Dave Stein's review from the stilyagi mailing list. He says it's a hoot!, worth seeing.
Saw 2 good flix tonight: Rear Window- What else? 4 stars. Hitchcock didn't make dogs. I never saw this one before and all I can say is OH MY GOD. The movie is completely awesome, even for being made in the early 50's. You know the story, so it is pointless to recap it here, but the last half hour was so intense, I wouldn't have left the house if it was on fire. I was on the edge of my seat, paralyzed with fear that something really bad would happen to Jimmy Stewart. Fortunatly, I had the presence of mind to record it from AMC. Hitchcock, when you're speaking about movies, is God. The cast was great: Jimmy Stewart, Thelma Ritter, and Grace Kelly, not to mention Raymond Burr. Then on TCM came: Father of the Bride-4 stars In my opinion, Spencer Tracy never made a bad film. He was very funny as the Dad Who Paid For The Wedding. You had to start feeling bad for the guy when all the bills begin rolling in, then the bride decides she can't possibly get married, and from there it only gets worse. Soon, it is time for the main event and... I won't spoil the ending. An excellent cast: Elizabeth Taylor and Russ Tamblyn, as well as Spencer Tracy. Can't wait to see "Father's Little Dividend" which is the sequel. Another very funny wedding movie was "Betsy's Wedding" which borrowed a bit from FOTB. I'm getting to like old movies. :)
hot damn . . . got 'crumb' and 'rope' and a documentary on dietrich bonhoeffer on tape.
Re Dogma: Joey Lauren Adams was supposed to be in the movie, but becasue the movies was financed heavier, Kevin Smith lost some control - she was supposed to play Linda Fiorentino's part.
I finally saw "Gone with the Wind" yesterday. I'd never watched it all the way through. I also finished the book yesterday. As my wife said, the movie was over-acted. There was no subtlety; if you were supposed to think "Scarlett is self-absorbed", the movie banged you on the head several times and shouted at you "Self absorbed!!!" As anyone could tell you, it was very long. It was probably the most faithful reproduction of a book I've ever seen in a movie. Many things were left out of the movie, but almost nothing was added or changed. I thought it was a great movie. I don't know how it could have been improved in any way. I guess there's no point in saying much. If you're interested, you've seen this movie 100 times. If you don't know about it, it's because you want it that way.
Re Dogma: Some of the financing could have been spent on a good script doctor, in my opinion. A promising start and a few clever bits, but the thing became insufferably talky after a while and went on much too long.
That's probably a fair criticism.. re #288: Actually, Hitchcock made a number of films which are mediocre at best.. They're just generally swept under the rug whenever his films are discussed..
re: gwtw - my gawd what an overblown, over acted cornball flick. every actor in it chews the scenary. from "superman" on the steps of tara to rhett butler who cares more about how he stands visa vis the camera than how he "acts." far more entertaining is the pbs documentary "the making of gwtw."
<i'm a sucker. i liked the book and movie>
me too, iggy, me too
GWTW is great, but not something I'd want to watch repeatedly.
the 39 steps still kick ass. can't swallow dogma, or any other kevin smith movies -- the problem, for the most part, is the color. kevin smith can't keep his colors under control. his flics (except clerks, course, cuz it's black & white, which he obviously has better control over) come off like sloppily thrown together crayon drawings. he has no respect for shade, no respect for shadows and darkness, he has no evident interest in blank space -- just busy busy busy color color color, no symmetry, no decent portraiture, no motherlovin feng shui. i watched 'mallrats' 7 times because jason lee is a doggone funny boy. but the movie was still an acrylic array of crap. is it because smith grew up so close to comics that he can't direct anything but contrived spunk? every time i go into a comic store these days i have to put up with his cartoons everywhere. he wrote daredevil for a while, and a really good story at that, with really long, slow, sometimes pathetically dull dialogue. i wish he'd stick to movies rather than contribute to the quickening decline in the quality of comic books. i bet tim burton thinks he's an asshole, and signed him up to write the superman script just so burton could reject it. tim burton isn't the greatest director in the world, but, christ, at least he knows how to deal with something as basic as COLOR.
(by making everything a murky grey and claiming it's "artistically moody"?)
I liked GWTW, although it was a bit too long. There are a number of fine performances given by: Jane Darwell, Clark Gable, Butterfly McQueen, and Hattie McDaniel. I particularly liked Olivia DeHavilland's role. I have always like Ms DeHavilland. Ok the movie is cheesy, but it does tell a good story.
resp:299 i know it may be more work than you're willing to take on, but if you can manage to think about more than 'sleepy hollow' you might be able to contribute to discussion rather than muck it up. i used burton as an example because he's recent, well-known, and has extraordinary control over the pallette of his flix. most of the time his movies have a synthetic look to them: very plastic as in edward scissorhands' suburban setting, the miniature model town in beetlejuice, the hokey alien invasion in mars attacks, etc. etc. yadda yadda. maybe one can criticize burton for always employing such an artificial look to his movies, but since burton seems to strive for said artificial look in accordance with the characters and the places in which they exist in the movies, without trying to pull wool over the audience-eye, it wouldn't be criticism, it would be a matter of difference in aesthetic opinion. a buddy of mine is severely anti-formalist, so he'd fall into the bracket of cats that despise burton for this reason (and others); beyond aesthetic difference, it's impressive stuff that he does with his colors. then look at kevin smith, who also has very unrealistic arrays of colors, but i get the feeling that smith doesn't want his colors to look unrealistic, but that he wants his scenes and characters to look authentic, real, real-life-like. so he uses generic shirts, unprovocative lighting, and striaghtforward camera-angles. metatron and what's-her-name drink tequila in a mexican restaurant: i saw only one angle of this mexican restaurant, making it seem very much like a stage dressed up to be the quintessential small mexican restaurant. snore. snore. boy ain't no FENG SHUI, that be fo damn shur.
Kevin Smith is arguably influenced by four-colour layout comics,
though, and in accordance with that theory, his not-quite-real colour schemes,
staging, and dialogue, make considerably more sense. He's also directing on
a very small budget, unlike Burton, and the combined budgets of all of the
Kevin Smith films put together wouldn't begin to approach the special effects
budgets of one Burton film.
My beef with Burton is that he's a one-trick pony. His ideas were
fresh and creative in Beetlejuice, but by the time Edward Scissorhands rolled
out, the "Burton feel" was beginning to get a bit dated. Sleepy Hollow
deviated enough from the traditional "Burton feel" that I didn't mind it at
all, but it was still obviously a Burton film.
omni . . Rear Window . . that was Raymond Burr!
sheesh I wasn't paying attention.
Yes the Hitchcock mass showing on AMC is irresistable . .
I made the mistake of watching The Birds in it's entirety.
Their entirety. The Great Gasoline Accident is
still great, but I found myself being very critical
of much of the film, e.g., the superficial romance that
is the premise for the leading lady's visit to
Bodega Bay. Yes I was just pecking it apart, I've
seen it too many times.
I've always wanted to visit Bodega Bay.
So since then I've just watched chance segments. A bit
of Miss Froy in The Lady Vanishes. The very end of
Suspicion. The climax of Rear Window. The light and
shadow, shadow, shadow, let's colorize it all and
erase all the shadows.
I think the problem with the superficial romance in The Birds wasn't that it was superficial but rather that the actors weren't up to making the audience forget that. Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren were no substitute for Cary Grant and Grace Kelly.
Believable rumor has it that Hitchcock's interest was not primarily in Tippie Hedren's acting skills..
I've seen enough Perry Mason to know that it was Raymond Burr. He did a great job, nonetheless. Didja see Hitchcock in Dial M For Murder and The Birds? He's easy to spot in The Birds, but you have to be closely watching to see him in Dial M.
what did billy joe throw off the tallahatchie bridge?
Omni is right about Burr. And Hitch's trademark was to sneak a cameo appearance in all his movies, so keep an eye out next time . . . .
re #308: not quite all, but most anyway.. my favorite was the "appearance" in 'Lifeboat'
Was that one a dead body?
Hard to believe but there were huge protests about GWTW when it came out because when Clark Gable leaves at the end, he tells Scarlett, "Frankly my dear, I dont give a damn" A four letter word in a movie?!?! The studio wanted to change that last line to "frankly my dear, I dont care" or something weaker. Gable, to his credit, absolutely insisted that line stay in as is, and almost quit over it.
Frankly, I don't give a damn
i remember when you couldn't say pregnant or bathroom on tv.
re #310: Not a body, no.. If I recall correctly, one of the characters is reading a newspaper that has somehow survived the shipwreck and Hitchcock's image appears in an advertisement for some sort of weight loss method.
Hedren has aged well (surgically enhanced no doubt).
The best thing is to let people look for themselves. I've yet to see him in Psycho, and Rear Window.
resp:303 it doesn't take much money to make good colors, even when influenced by comicdom's classic flatness. by the time he was making movies most good comics had either improved their color schemes or stuck w/ black & white, and long, long before then, when he was still shaving with an abrasive washcloth, comics had much better use of flat color schemes, beginning over in europe. it might be better argued that he learned how to be a director from watching gap and mcdonalds commercials.
I have seen him in Psycho, but I missed him this time. I did spot him in Rear Window. We saw him in one or two of the others, but I've forgotten the details. Re the "romance" in The Birds: There wasn't one. Mother and former girlfriend *assumed* there was a romance.
Are we assuming that we share an
unambiguous definition of "romance"?
Probably. She visited Bodega Bay because she was a practical joker with no reason to limit herself. 'Twould be interesting to know what was in the original note, the one she destroyed when replacing it with a note to the sister.
Where was he in Rear Window? I watched it really close and still must have missed it.
Early in the film he can be seen in one of the apartment windows, doing some repair work or something.
are there any hitch movies where he makes his sole appearance anywhere beyond 'early in the film'? i understand he tried to get the tradition out of the way quickly so viewers wouldn't spend the whole movie searching for him while ignoring the flic.
Actually, he was visiting the piano player. I heard that he moved his appearances to earlier in the films after people started looking for him.
i just saw an episode of the simpsons where they did a brief sendup of 'the birds'. homer lisa and bart walked into a daycare to get maggie, and all the babies were sucking pacifiers in an eerie way. tons of them. like they were ready to attack and just waiting to be provoked. after homer grabbed maggie, he slowly backed out of the daycare and shut the door. alfred hitchcock made a cameo walking a dog outside.
(It was the Ayn Rand Daycare Center, if I remember correctly.)
You have several choices: