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| Author |
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| 25 new of 269 responses total. |
jaklumen
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response 35 of 269:
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Apr 3 23:04 UTC 2003 |
resp:33 Sure, but I decided to overlook the shortcomings.
My opinion?
Hayden Christiansen may have had a lackluster performance, but I think
it wasn't necessarily inaccurate of how awkward, impulsive, hot-
tempered teenage boys can be, actually.
As far as Natalie Portman being miscast, well, hmm.. first of all, she
is supposed to be Leia's mom.. and she was much younger supposedly
when we last saw her.
The part I thought was lame was the cafe scene.. I would rather see
aliens be exotic-looking than try to emulate Heartland Americana.
The material is a bit more interesting when you get Expanded Universe
information.. such as is included in www.starwars.com. Supposedly,
Yoda heard Qui-Gon in the Force with Anakin's disturbance.
We still don't have the final product. If what a friend told me is
true, after Episode III runs through the theaters, all six Star Wars
movies will be available in a DVD boxed set with more goodies.
I also think that these current movies are just a cash cow to generate
bucks for other projects-- Lucas has admitted himself that he has
wanted to have money to do movies that might not get made otherwise.
The valid criticism is probably that Lucas is using too much CGI and
not enough real acting, which is taking away from the heart and soul
of the pictures. It was nice frosting on the old movies, but the new
ones are like eating mostly frosting.
There is, of course, scads of novels and comic books out there that
continue plotlines and fill in stories in between movies.. "Shadows Of
The Empire" is one I have failed to pick up and really would like to
read sometime.
Again, as a fan, I overlook the details. There is a comic book or two
where some storylines are pretty lighthearted and not part of the
canon.
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jaklumen
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response 36 of 269:
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Apr 3 23:05 UTC 2003 |
Is "Shangai Knights" any good?
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furs
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response 37 of 269:
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Apr 4 02:51 UTC 2003 |
It's entertaining. It's not as good as Shangai Noon, but it's fun.
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janc
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response 38 of 269:
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Apr 4 04:34 UTC 2003 |
I think Lucas suffers from a common problem: learning the wrong lessons from
an early success. Like he learned that he doesn't really need great actors.
Mark Hamill was good enough for Star Wars, why would he need good actors for
the prequels? (Never mind Alex Guinnes, Harrison Ford, and James Earl Jones).
Didn't need great dialogue for the first film, why would you need it for the
later films? People loved the special effects and sound in the first film,
let's focus on that instead.... Oh well.
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remmers
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response 39 of 269:
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Apr 4 12:05 UTC 2003 |
For what it's worth, my favorite Lucas film is "American Grafitti".
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janc
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response 40 of 269:
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Apr 4 13:48 UTC 2003 |
Which was packed full of unknown actors and actresses who quickly became
famous. (Well, Ron Howard was famous - but as "Opie" - he wasn't exactly
a bankable adult star.) I think this may have added to a "I can make my own
stars" attitude - which is fine, and partly true. Lucas doesn't need big name
actors to draw crowds to his films. But he still needs *good* ones to make
them work.
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scott
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response 41 of 269:
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Apr 4 14:00 UTC 2003 |
The first Star Wars had some pretty impressive actors, and Carrie Fisher once
remarked she'd learned a lot just getting through some of the scenes with
Peter Cushing.
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gull
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response 42 of 269:
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Apr 4 14:20 UTC 2003 |
Re #38: Sometimes I wonder, too, if he's gotten tired of the whole idea
of Star Wars movies and is just churning these three out to get them
over with.
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jaklumen
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response 43 of 269:
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Apr 4 22:14 UTC 2003 |
That's possible-- that's why I suggested the idea of them just being
money generators now.
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jep
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response 44 of 269:
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Apr 5 02:29 UTC 2003 |
I've seen two movies in the last couple of weeks or so.
John and I saw "Piglet's Big Movie" last weekend, which is about
Piglet feeling unimportant but turning out to be pretty special to
everyone.
Do you know if you go to eBay and search for "Winnie the
Pooh", "books" as a category doesn't even appear?
I'm interested in correcting a misimpression. At age 6, my son is
right on the verge of being too old for Pooh movies. (At age 3, The
Tigger Movie was *fabulous*, though.) Were the Pooh books written for
preschoolers?
The other movie I saw was "Daredevil". It's much too violent for
John, but I enjoyed it myself. I think comic book themes make for
pretty good movies. This one was no exception.
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janc
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response 45 of 269:
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Apr 6 04:12 UTC 2003 |
I think the original Winnie the Pooh books were meant to be read to children,
but they also seem popular with philosophers and mathematicians. I think the
target age range is possibly slightly older than the Disney Pooh.
By the way, Disney Pooh has very little relation to to the real Pooh. If you
search through all the original Pooh books, you'll find exactly one picture
of Pooh in which he might be smiling. Pooh is a perplexed bear, not a happy
bear. It is nearly impossible to find a picture of Disney Pooh in which he
is not grinning from ear to ear. Obviously an imposter. I suspect Disney
Pooh is really Mickey Mouse in a bear suit. At least we can be grateful that
Disney didn't give Eeyore a permanent smile.
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krj
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response 46 of 269:
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Apr 6 04:43 UTC 2003 |
Any fans of the silent film comedian Harold Lloyd in our readership?
Turner Classic Movies is having a Harold Lloyd festival every Sunday
in April, starting tomorrow/Sunday with "The Freshman."
http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com for schedule information; note that
I suspect the web listing of 9 pm for the Sunday show may actually
be the 8 pm cited by the newspaper listings.
Anyway: the article in USA Today made it sound like this will be
the best presentation of Harold Lloyd films on television, ever.
The article said that the series will include all 11 of Lloyd's
full-length movies, plus lots of shorts.
Leslie's been a fan of Lloyd's for years.
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mcnally
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response 47 of 269:
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Apr 6 05:18 UTC 2003 |
I'd like to see them, but, alas, don't get Turner Classic Movies..
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krj
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response 48 of 269:
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Apr 6 05:40 UTC 2003 |
Here's a link for the Harold Lloyd festival:
http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/ThisMonth/Article/0,,23980,00.html
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krj
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response 49 of 269:
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Apr 7 00:17 UTC 2003 |
(and yargh; the website WAS wrong, the first movie started at
8 pm, and we missed the beginning of it.)
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gull
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response 50 of 269:
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Apr 7 15:25 UTC 2003 |
Re #45: Tony Millionaire once did a Maakies comic strip in which the
Original Pooh beats the Disney Pooh senseless. It was pretty amusing.
I'd search for the link now, but I'm at work and that's probably not the
most appropriate setting to be viewing Maakies comics. ;)
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jaklumen
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response 51 of 269:
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Apr 7 22:29 UTC 2003 |
resp:45 No permanent smile, thankfully, but even Disney Eeyore smiles
now and then.
someone told me that a parody existed called "Pooh goes Apeshit." Any
confirmation to this? It sounded pretty ludicrous, especially where
he kills everyone..
"The Tao of Pooh" and "The Te of Piglet," however, I have heard of.
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gull
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response 52 of 269:
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Apr 8 02:29 UTC 2003 |
I watched _The Core_ tonight. I should have stayed home. (Word must
have gotten around fast -- I was literally the only one in the theater.)
It didn't have enough exciting bits to be a good action movie, or
enough plausible science to be a decent sci-fi movie. It utterly failed
to keep the tempo or suspense up, so you had plenty of time to think
about the problems.
I think part of the problem is that it's always dangerous to set a
science fiction movie on present-day Earth. If you set it in the
future, or on some other planet, it's not too hard to suspend disbelief
when all kinds of improbable technology turn up. But if the movie is
set in the world you've spent your whole life in, it becomes glaringly
obvious that these things could never actually happen.
On top of all that, a lot of the special effects just weren't all that
convincing. There was some good stuff (like the Golden Gate Bridge
sequence), but most of it was made-for-TV quality at best.
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slynne
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response 53 of 269:
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Apr 13 13:43 UTC 2003 |
I saw "Divine Intervention" on Friday at the Michigan Theater.
This movie was made by Palestinian filmmaker, Elia Suleiman. I found
the film to be brilliant at times with a somewhat subtle humor but also
slow at times too. There isnt much dialog. There is some beautiful
landscape shots that I found myself becoming absorbed with. There was a
scene at the end that disturbed me a little bit because of the hated
and violence of it but maybe that was the point *shrug*. All in all, I
would say this is a movie worth going to see.
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mynxcat
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response 54 of 269:
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Apr 14 14:24 UTC 2003 |
Over the weekend, I finally saw "BEnd it like Beckham" and I loved it. I'm
into "HInglish" movies, always curious to see how expatriate Indian/Pakistanis
are faring in the western world. very well made, very believable, and pretty
funny too.
Watched Howard's End. It was ok. Apart from a glimpse into Edwardian England
and a not so interesting plot of how the house that she's meant to be with
comes back t oher, the movie didn't really have much to offer me.
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other
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response 55 of 269:
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Apr 14 17:13 UTC 2003 |
Finally saw Sex, Lies and Videotape. I liked it, though some of the
characterization elements were a bit unsubtle.
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janc
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response 56 of 269:
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Apr 17 13:54 UTC 2003 |
Re 50: Did some web searching and found the strip to which you refer
http://www.maakies.com/archive/m84.gif
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scott
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response 57 of 269:
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Apr 19 00:47 UTC 2003 |
Looks like "The Two Towers" just started at the Village (discount) Theater.
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palesi
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response 58 of 269:
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Apr 20 01:49 UTC 2003 |
Teenage Caveman is a great movie. It has something, despite the poor acting
and the sucking plot, that makes it a great movie. It has some kind of visual
appeal, and the cinematography is excellent. Directed by Larry Clark. User
Rating at us.imdb.com is 2.9 out of 10. Well that sux. I would give a stark
8. I mean, cut off those prolonged sex scenes, the girl that explodes, and
the other extravaganzas, and you have a neat visual movie. Rent this, it
really deserves it. A great science fiction, anyone else agree?
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aruba
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response 59 of 269:
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Apr 20 03:08 UTC 2003 |
Do you mean the 1950's version of Teenage Caveman, or the recent remake?
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