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Grex > Cinema > #44: Movie Reviews for the Summer of 2001 |  |
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| 25 new of 284 responses total. |
brighn
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response 86 of 284:
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Jul 10 19:39 UTC 2001 |
Posh. I knew someone would come up with the balderdash of "You didn't like
the movie because you didn't want to work hard enough at it." How about, I
didn't like the movie because it didn't suit my tastes? There wasn't one thing
in the hour that I watched that qualified as unique or brilliant, in my
opinion. It was pretty, but there are prettier films. The martial arts were
excellent, but there are many excellent martial arts films. The relationships
were non-existent. The plot felt like it had been stolen from Lucas and
reprocessed (an apprentice torn between an evil Master and a good one?
please... *that's* original). Ang Lee's done better, Fat's done better. I'm
glad people enjoyed themseleves with it, but it's still very expensive tripe,
in my book.
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stacie
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response 87 of 284:
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Jul 10 21:21 UTC 2001 |
Hm. I didn't think anderyn's response was telling you that you had to
work harder. As a matter of fact, I think she was just pointing out that
she thought she had to work at the relationships.
I think someone is just eagerly awaiting an opportunity to defend their
position. Not so patiently. ;-)
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brighn
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response 88 of 284:
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Jul 10 21:42 UTC 2001 |
Posh. I knew someone would come up with the balderdash of "You're just looking
to pick a fight." Well, let me tell you something, Stacie...
;}
Yeah yeah, 86 was a heat-of-the-moment post that I thought better of later,
but figured it wasn't THAT confrontational, all things considered, so I left
it. I feel like some sort of cultural cripple because, while I like art films,
I tend not to like "critically acclaimed" films, which are often presented
as art films. (And no, by "art film" I don't mean THAT sort of art film,
though I like those, too... just don't tell slynne ;} )
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slynne
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response 89 of 284:
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Jul 10 21:51 UTC 2001 |
ew, you're icky
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jep
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response 90 of 284:
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Jul 10 21:52 UTC 2001 |
I rented some Stephen King movies recently; Firestarter, Pet Sematary
and The Dead Zone.
I thought Firestarter very closely followed the book. It had a
star-studded cast, including Drew Barrymore, George C. Scott, and I
forget who the main male lead character was, but he was a star, too. I
couldn't put my finger on anything they did wrong in making it, but I
thought it was a much more boring movie than book. At the end, the girl
was apparently firing off bazooka missiles, and not just starting fires;
it was a ridiculous way to show her unleashed power.
Pet Sematary also very closely followed the book. I liked the book a
great deal. I liked the movie pretty well, too, and also found it the
scariest movie I've ever seen. I'm 40, I shouldn't be afraid to go into
the basement at midnight after watching a movie. No complaints at all
about the quality of the movie.
The scene where the 4 year old gets run over by a truck affected me as
strongly in the movie as the same scene did in the book. I live on a
busy rural road. We very firmly instilled in our younger boy that he
absolutely cannot go near the road without an adult. The book was one
reason why.
I didn't get around to watching The Dead Zone; the movies were already
overdue when I took them back.
Yesterday I rented Christine. I've seen parts of it, but haven't
watched it all the way through. We'll probably watch it tonight or
tomorrow.
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eeyore
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response 91 of 284:
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Jul 10 21:55 UTC 2001 |
Dark Half wasn't a bad movie, but I liked the book better. Huh, wonder
whatever happened to my copies of Stephen King books...
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beeswing
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response 92 of 284:
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Jul 10 23:12 UTC 2001 |
Posh! :)
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anderyn
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response 93 of 284:
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Jul 11 01:24 UTC 2001 |
Paul, well... I don't like art movies, much (though I do like some...), most
of the movies I do like are either old (screwball comedies from the forties
rule!) or considered very lightweight (The Mummy Returns, anyone?) because
I don't like most of the movies made these days. So, *to me*, CTHD was a fun
and enjoyable movie with some very intense character moments (the tea cup
scene between Chow Yun Fat and Michelle Yeoh, for example... wow. Still blows
me away -- I think the very tips of their fingers might have touched, but it
was probably the most romantic scene I've seen in years...) I also enjoyed
the flashback to the romance between Zhang Zieyi (spelling?) and her Mongolian
lover -- simply because I really really was fascinated by the time and place,
more than what they were doing ... I know a lot of the movie was fashioned
by kung fu movie tropes... but it was still very enjoyable.
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remmers
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response 94 of 284:
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Jul 11 03:08 UTC 2001 |
Re #90: I think "Dead Zone" is my favorite movie that's based on
a Stephen King book. You might want to try again sometime.
Haven't seen "Pet Sematary". The one King-based movie that actually
did succeed in scaring me was the made-for-TV "It".
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brighn
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response 95 of 284:
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Jul 11 04:08 UTC 2001 |
#90, #94: My complaint about "The Dead Zone" was that the movie tried to do
too much. The book is much more complicated than, say, "Pet Semetary," and
they still tried to get a lot of it into the movie. It should have been a
miniseries, especially since there wasn't anything particularly objectionable
in it (as opposed to "It" and "Tommyknockers," which *were* miniseries). It's
worth watching, but I did feel like it wouldn't've made as much sense if I
hadn't read the book first (Val hadn't read the book, so I spent much of the
movie explaining things to her). Was that Martin Sheen as the presidential
candidate, IIRC? If so, a far cry from his TV President.
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vidar
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response 96 of 284:
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Jul 11 11:51 UTC 2001 |
I'm pondering going to "Final Fantasy" tonight, though attending a
movie on opening night is a rare thing for me to do.
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remmers
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response 97 of 284:
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Jul 11 12:17 UTC 2001 |
Re #95: Hm. I don't recall "Dead Zone" as being hard to follow,
and I haven't read the book.
(Yes, Martin Sheen played the presidential candidate.)
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jep
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response 98 of 284:
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Jul 11 13:01 UTC 2001 |
I believe Martin Sheen was also the head of The Shop, the governmental
agency which were the bad guys in "Firestarter".
I'll get The Dead Zone again. Thanks for the recommendation! I liked
the book a lot.
There's a movie of "The Dark Half"?
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eeyore
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response 99 of 284:
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Jul 11 14:19 UTC 2001 |
Yup...I saw it in Germany, in bad German Over-dubs. It was pretty amusing.
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brighn
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response 100 of 284:
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Jul 11 14:26 UTC 2001 |
#97> Well, yeah, but you're YOU. ;} Maybe it wasn't that it was hard to follow
so much as it was three movies pressed into one time frame (the murders, the
hockey incident, and the presidential race). It *was* a lot to put into a
two-hour flick, since any one of those stories (maybe not the hockey incident)
could have been made into a movie by itself.
What do I know, though? My favorite King-inspired movie is "Children of the
Corn," which most King fans dislike. (The sequels were terrible, though.)
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richard
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response 101 of 284:
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Jul 12 01:53 UTC 2001 |
TRIUMPH OF THE WILL-- Speaking of German films, recently got the new DVD
release of perhaps the greatest/most notorious German film ever made.
This is Leni Reiefenstahl's famous documentary of the 1934 Nazi party
rally in Nurenberg. It has been beautifully restored to its original,
uncut form on DVD, letterboxed .etc, after years of only cut up worn out
versions being available.
This movie, and the terrifying impact it had, is really scary. It is also
a hugely important historical document of a time and a place. You watch
this and see the spell Hitler had cast over the German people. The
opening scene is a plane flying in the clouds over the old city of
Nurenberg and slowly descending through the clouds as people run through
the streets awaiting its arrival. Of course the reason is Hitler is in
that plane, desending from the heavens like a God. The scenes of Hitler
riding through the streets of Nurenberg with people running after him, of
the huge jaw-dropping scenes of military rallies, and the diefic way
Hitler is portrayed, really show you why this is considered the greatest
documentary ever made. From a filmmaking perspective that is. Watching
it, you can hardly believe this was all real, that it has to be a piece of
fiction. It is as surreal as it is scary.
Obviously you can't watch this movie, knowing the terrifying impact it
had, without being really scared by it. Triumph of the Will was required
law to be shown, all or in part, all in moviehouses in Germany in the
thirties before the main feature. As a recruitment tool, the terrifying
impact of this film is impossible to even calculate.
But politics aside, it was a landmark in filmmaking that has influenced
film directors and films ever since. And the remarkable thing is the
director was Leni Riefenstahl, a woman-- in the highly sexist Nazi regime,
there were no women allowed to play major roles. Except Riefenstahl. And
Hitler gave her complete artistic freedom, to do what she wanted with the
film, use multiple cameras and camera angles, and do a lot of really
radical things that were way ahead of their time for filmmaking.
Any student of politics needs to watch Triumph of the Will. Propoganda is
defined as "the manipulation of imagery and reality to seduce the mind to
a political cause". Riefenstahl showed how moving images, film and
television, were going to be the ultimate tools for seducing the mind.
Anyway, the DVD is awesome, with the film digitally restored to its full
2+ hour length, complete with subtitles, an alternate commentary track
by noted historian Anthony Santoro (which is really good, to hear the
historical subtext of the amazing scenes in this as you watch them) Also
the DVD includes another Riefenstahl film as a extra, "Day of Freedom"
Leni Riefenstahl, btw, is still alive, in her late 90's and has led a
remarkable life, in spite of never being able to live down her association
with Hitler. I am currently reading her autobiography. Anyway, "Triumph
of the Will" is a film landmark and an importan historical docoument, and
the folks at Synapse films are to be congratulated for restoring it for
this new DVD special edition.
Which will, btw, NOT be sold in Germany. This film is permanently banned
there forever.
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richard
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response 102 of 284:
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Jul 12 02:06 UTC 2001 |
oh..and also btw, the folks at Synapse films are donating proceeds from
sales of the "Triumph of the Will" dvd to the holocaust memorial in d.c.
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krj
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response 103 of 284:
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Jul 12 03:56 UTC 2001 |
"Himalaya": One of the things I like to get from a movie is to see something
I've never seen before. And if it's a whole new world, that's even better.
In "Himalaya," the young chief of the village has gotten himself killed
on a yak caravan expedition, setting off a political struggle between
the father, who is the old chief, and the dead man's closest friend.
The old chief wants to keep control of the chieftainship so it can be
passed to his grandson, who is about 10; most of the rest of the
village lines up behind the friend, who is the most experienced
young caravan driver.
The story sags a bit as the caravans take off on their next trip
across the mountains, but the scenery is gorgeous -- I love mountains.
And the passage across the cliff trail is pretty scary.
I cried a little at the end, being a silly sentimental person.
I miss the foreign film scene of the pre-VCR era.
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rcurl
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response 104 of 284:
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Jul 12 04:45 UTC 2001 |
Re #101: that reminds me of seeing the German film of the 1936 Olympics.
I came in after the title etc, so had no idea what all the nature and body
beautiful intro was about. Once it got around to the Olympics, there
were some shots of Hitler taking the admiration of the (German) crowd.
I was surprised, however, that it included Jess Owens' win in the dash,
and that there was a second black American runner who came in second. Was
that a Riefenstahl also? I didn't see the credits.
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eeyore
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response 105 of 284:
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Jul 12 06:36 UTC 2001 |
My favorite movie about that time period in Germany would have to be
"1,2,3".
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remmers
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response 106 of 284:
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Jul 12 13:04 UTC 2001 |
Re #104: Yes, that's Riefenstahl. Title is "Olympiad", I believe.
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remmers
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response 107 of 284:
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Jul 12 13:05 UTC 2001 |
Re #105: Wasn't "1,2,3" set in the Cold War era, not the Nazi era?
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eeyore
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response 108 of 284:
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Jul 12 14:02 UTC 2001 |
Er, uh, you know, you're probably right. *sigh* Now I feel stoopid.,.....
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richard
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response 109 of 284:
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Jul 12 14:08 UTC 2001 |
#104-- yes, the 1936 Olympics film was also a Riefenstahl work. Hitler
wanted to use the Olympics that year as a propoganda tool to show off
the superiority of the German people. Jesse Owens winning the
100 yard dash upset a highly orchestrated event. Hitler of course
intended for the Germans to win all the major events.
Riefenstahl writes in her autobiography of how the film was honored
on its 40th anniversary at the 1976 Montreal Olympics for its
contribution to sports filmmaking and the olympic movement, and how
she was disinvited from attending the screening or accepting the
award due to IOC fears of demonstrations. She was not a Nazi and claims
to be non-political, but admits she never escaped Hitler's shadow.
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brighn
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response 110 of 284:
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Jul 12 17:39 UTC 2001 |
#108> Yo're just NOW getting that feeling? *ducks*
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