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| Author |
Message |
mary
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*** AT THE MOVIES ***
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Jul 6 22:27 UTC 2003 |
See any movies lately?
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| 112 responses total. |
mary
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response 1 of 112:
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Jul 6 22:36 UTC 2003 |
T3 is a hoot. The crane-chase scene is an amazing parody
of the typical blowed-up-real-good action sequence. And
I thought "The Hand" stuff was too cute. Catch a matinee
and check your brain at the door.
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md
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response 2 of 112:
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Jul 6 23:46 UTC 2003 |
Many funny scenes in that movie. The babelicious TX checking herself
out in the mirror as she strides through the bathroom on her way to do
battle with Arnold was my favorite. Also, minor goosebumps when the
prototype of the search-and-destroy robot vehicle that appears in
the "future" scenes in T1 and T2 first rises into view at the military
base.
We rented Adaptation (D+) and The Hours (B), neither of which we saw at
the theater. Adaptation was unfunny and unenlightening. Mainly just
retarded. The Hours featured a smattering of literary history, which
was fun, and a good performance by Ed Harris. The music by Philip
Glass was awful.
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jazz
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response 3 of 112:
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Jul 7 00:02 UTC 2003 |
Thank god someone else found Adaption lifeless.
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gregb
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response 4 of 112:
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Jul 7 00:07 UTC 2003 |
Saw X2 yesterday. I liked it, but there was something missing to me;
can't put my finger on it. The best part for me was at the beginning
in the White House. As for the new characters, Nightcrawler was
alright, but he's supposed to be furry, other than that, he was the
best of the new guys. It was pretty obvious that there's gonna be a
sequal.
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rdspike
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response 5 of 112:
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Jul 7 00:20 UTC 2003 |
T3 was the best movie out there in the theaters X2 is good too but u got to
watch T3 its the $hit!!!
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jazz
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response 6 of 112:
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Jul 7 00:21 UTC 2003 |
If you say so. It kinda felt like a nicely produced episode of
Twilight Zone to me.
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jaklumen
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response 7 of 112:
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Jul 7 00:58 UTC 2003 |
resp:4 no, no, my good man, Beast is furry. Nightcrawler is not furry
at all. They changed him a little bit with the jagged teeth and the
glyph tattoos, but they remained moderately faithful to his appearance
in the comic books. As for Beast, he has a cameo as Hank McCoy-- he
was in the scene on the television at the bar with Mystique and the
security guard.
(I am still waiting to see if they will play out the fact that
Mystique is Nightcrawler's mother in the comic books.)
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jep
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response 8 of 112:
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Jul 7 03:04 UTC 2003 |
My 7 year old and I went to see "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" on
Friday, the day it opened. There was only one other group in the
theater; a man and two girls about John's age.
This is a plain old formula adventure cartoon. It has a guy named
Sinbad, who is not like the literary version. Some critics have
objected to this, but I say, so what? My kid hasn't read Sinbad.
Come to think of it, neither have I.
I liked this movie. I liked it better than "Finding Nemo", and I
already like it better than the upcoming Rug Rats movie. All three
cartoons, you see, are set in or on the ocean.
There is a little bit of violence in this movie, but I didn't judge it
to be an objectionable amount. There are some scary scenes. It's
scarier than "Finding Nemo".
It's not as pretty as "Finding Nemo". The characters and scenes look
sharply unrealistic compared to what Pixar produces.
This movie is a giant flop nationally. On it's opening weekend, it
took in just a few million dollars. It sold less than "Finding Nemo"
did this weekend.
Nuts to that. I liked it.
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pvn
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response 9 of 112:
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Jul 7 07:35 UTC 2003 |
You may have something there. Why did it flop? Was it up against too
much? Or was it 'sinful' and 'bad'? Did parents drag their kids to see
something they wanted instead of apparently a very nice kids movie?
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remmers
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response 10 of 112:
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Jul 7 19:07 UTC 2003 |
Speaking of Sinbad, over the holiday weekend Turner Classic Movies
did a festival of the Sinbad "Dynamation" movies from the 1950s
through the 1970s, with special effects by Ray Harryhausen
(Cyclops monsters, battling skeletons, the Medusa, etc.).
Kitch maybe, but great fun.
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tod
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response 11 of 112:
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Jul 7 19:30 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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gregb
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response 12 of 112:
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Jul 7 20:09 UTC 2003 |
Re. #7: I can't speak for the comics, but according to both X-Men
cartoons, Kurt's referred to himself as "fuzzy" on several occations.
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katie
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response 13 of 112:
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Jul 11 20:40 UTC 2003 |
I saw "Whale Rider" this week. Best movie I've seen in years. Will see it
again. Anyone want to join me?
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flem
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response 14 of 112:
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Jul 11 20:51 UTC 2003 |
I watched "Disco Pigs" a few days ago. Very sad story about love and growing
up and so forth. Set in Ireland, with a dialect and accent that took a lot
of concentration for me to make words out of. I thought that the presentation
was very effective, almost minimalist in a lot of ways (e.g. there are long
periods of almost total silence, with no soundtrack). Good acting.
Good movie, but have a hankie or two handy.
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dcat
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response 15 of 112:
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Jul 11 23:42 UTC 2003 |
resp:13 is that still at the michigan?
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cmcgee
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response 16 of 112:
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Jul 12 03:32 UTC 2003 |
For a real hoot (ananny) don't miss "A Mighty Wind" now at Gladstone. Some
of the lines are priceless even if the audience didn't laugh. However sounds
of outright laughter were heard throughout the movie.
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russ
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response 17 of 112:
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Jul 12 06:26 UTC 2003 |
I'll go with ya, Katie.
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jmsaul
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response 18 of 112:
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Jul 12 06:36 UTC 2003 |
I liked "On Guard," which was a swashbuckling movie at the Michigan.
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krj
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response 19 of 112:
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Jul 12 07:05 UTC 2003 |
"On Guard" is the first of a four-week series of contemporary French
movies being presented by the Michigan.
The USA title of the movie seems to have been chosen just because
there are lots of swordfights; the French title was "Le Bossu,"
The Hunchback. The star was Daniel Auteuil, who I last saw
as an office worker pretending to be gay in "The Closet."
In this movie, Auteuil is a poor guy in the 1700s in France who
has aspirations to become a great swordsman. He's befriended by a duke
and hired as a bodyguard, so he's around when the Duke is killed as
part of a plot to steal his fortune. Auteil saves the Duke's infant
daughter who is also a target of the baddies and raises her himself, and
16 years later the story starts moving towards retribution and revenge.
It was old fashioned fun, with a really likable and well played hero.
Based on an 1857 novel, roughly contemporary with the novel "The Three
Musketeers."
My favorite French actor Philippe Noiret has a small
role as the senior French nobleman of the family who goes on to become
the regent in charge of the kingdom. (I looted imdb.com extensively
for details here...) Director was Philippe de Broca, who made two
wonderful comedic police thrillers, DEAR DETECTIVE and JUPITER'S THIGH,
both starring Noiret.
Not available on home video, it seems.
Speaking of sword fighting: the Michigan's summer classic film series
offers THE SEVEN SAMURAI on Sunday and Tuesday. One of the greatest
action-adventure films; the Michigan promo blurb credits it with
inventing the modern action movie, IIRC. Directed by Akira Kurosawa,
black and white, 1954. This is one of the Movie Classics that
Everyone Should See; Hollywood remade it as THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.
And then, back in the French series: in two weeks the movie will be
GOD IS GREAT, BUT I'M NOT starring Audrey Tatou, who played the lead
in the very successful movie AMELIE.
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mooncat
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response 20 of 112:
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Jul 15 01:42 UTC 2003 |
Hmm, may have to check out that 'God is Great, But I'm Not'
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remmers
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response 21 of 112:
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Jul 15 02:01 UTC 2003 |
Missed "Spirited Away" in the theater but watched it on DVD
last night. Quite blew me away. An animation masterpiece.
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pvn
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response 22 of 112:
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Jul 15 07:27 UTC 2003 |
Saving money is good.
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janc
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response 23 of 112:
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Jul 15 14:14 UTC 2003 |
Re #21: I only recently discovered Miyazaki's movies. The four I've seen so
far were all good: Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service
and Castle in the Sky.
"My Neighbor Totoro" has a totally off-putting CD box. Looks like it's going
to be a really cheesily animated stupid kiddy film. But from the first frame
of the actual movie you know you are in for something quite different. The
animation is mostly gorgeous. (Some of Miyazaki's kids have oversized mouths
of a style that always reminds me of "Speed Racer". Maybe it's a Japanese
style thing, but it always puts me off.) Story is about two little girls
and their dad who move into a rundown old house to be near the hospital where
their mom is recovering from some illness. The kids eventually start trading
favors with a forest spirit. The relationships among the characters are
uniformally realistic and charming. The supernatural elements are inventive
and just plain cool. There are no villians. In fact, everyone is stunningly
nice. And yet the film has plenty of dramatic tension. I suspect this was
the breakthrough film for Miyazaki - the Totoro character from it is used
as the logo for his studio. Many elements from it reappear in "Spirited
Away" - it's in some ways a first glimpse of the same spirit world.
"Kiki's Delivery Service" is almost not a fantasy at all. There is only one
fantasy element - the heroine is a witch who's only magical ability is to
fly on a broomstick. She is 13 years old and off on her own for a year to
try to learn the witch business. She settles in a town where the people
are mostly rather bored by the idea of a witch in their midst. Since her
only trick is flying her broomstick (which she isn't particularly good at),
she starts a flying delivery service. It's a story about loneliness, and
finding your own way in the world. Again, no villians, no scares. I
thought the ending was flawed - a big action sequence which gives Kiki a
bit too easy an out for resolving her doubts. Arlo loves this one.
Castle in the Sky was the weakest of the ones I've seen. It's cool. The
Disney version has the oddity of Mark Hammill (aka Luke Skywalker) voicing
the villian's part. This one is full of gun fights and explosions and
killer robots and all that old stuff. It has a fun pirate queen and a
visually interesting world, but basically it's a pretty standard adventure
flick, Ok, but not as good as the others.
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