[Movies] Talk about the last movie you saw 2: Electric Threadaloo

[Hailey Knight]

Yoda is awesome?

You seem to be on the same trail as we are; we just watched it last weekend and I won't be surprised if we watch Jedi today. I think the whole climax with Luke and Darth Vader, and the downer ending, are really what people get on about with Empire. The characters get to flesh out a bit as well, and again, Yoda. Personally, I always felt the first movie was the best. It's tight, it's interesting, and that's probably why I've watched it many, many more times than Empire and Jedi combined. You also have to forgive Empire a little in that it's the middle of a trilogy, and those always have a rough time.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

Yoda is alright. And Vader's scenes were quite impressive, too.

The one thing Empire has going for it is the character development. They were all fleshed out and interesting in Star Wars, but Empire builds on it, and I don't remember much happening in Return of the Jedi . . . I could be wrong, but I remember that last one being more action-oriented than anything else.

And yeah, should be watching Return next weekend.

 

[Alucard]

Dude. Empire Strikes Back is the best fucking Star Wars movie ever.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I get a kick out of Yoda, and he's a far better character in the OT than in the prequel trilogy. Ugh...

And yeah, Vader has good scenes. I didn't even notice the running joke of him killing off the admiral, and then promoting the next guy to admiral, only to then kill him and promote the next guy when I was younger and watching it. Nor the payoff at the end when they lose the Millennium Falcon and the current admiral looks all scared, but Vader is too bothered by what's happened to kill him at the moment.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

And I liked that it wasn't played for laughs, just a subtle "oh no . . . phew" look on the guy's face.

Dude. Empire Strikes Back is the best fucking Star Wars movie ever.

But why? I really don't see what makes it better than the first. It certainly wasn't as much fun to watch.

 

[Hailey Knight]

And I liked that it wasn't played for laughs, just a subtle "oh no . . . phew" look on the guy's face.

Yeah, that's something lost on movie-making in these past 30 years.

 

[fade]

Spy Kids -- I rented this at the request of my son. Terrible. I can't believe this was written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Nightcrawler makes a good Floop, though. I don't even feel like giving it a good review. It was that bad.

RE: the current conversation: I hate bringing things back to Fade--I'm not that conceited--but that's actually one of the goals of Fade. I hate that good ol' fashioned fear has been drained out of non-horror movies. Excepting paralyzing fear. That's still around. But I liked in older movies that the heroes and villains actually were not cold-as-ice supercool. I wanted to capture that again in my own story.

 

[Alex B.]

Yeah, I got that much (with the montage and such). I felt a little cheated by the reveal, to be honest. Especially when there was more emphasis on Wolverine's secret, which I'd sussed very early on.

Okay, so a few more movies I've watched recently:

Gone Baby Gone
Goddamn, this was a great movie. Interesting how it feels like it ends and then suddenly, the plot takes another spin that keeps it going for another 40 minutes. Great acting, great directing, great story and overall, just a great movie. Totally one I'm going to own at some point.

Give 'em Hell, Malone
Over the last few years, I've become more and more of a fan of the film noir genre. I think it started with Sin City (reading the comics for the first time ever in preparation for the movie), which spun into Ed Brubaker's amazing Criminal series and really Brubaker's career in general, and a few novels, such as John Zakour's Zach Johnson series (Plutonium Blonde, Doomsday Brunette, etc) and Simon R. Green's Nightside series.

But this? Goddamn, if you liked Sin City, you're going to love the HELL out of this. Thomas Jane plays the part of Malone, a private eye who has a reputation for ripping people's hearts out and eating them. And it's got Ving Rhames as "Boulder". Hell, French Stewart is in this as a lounge singer and he surprisingly didn't piss me off. It had so many frigging quotable lines. It's so tongue firmly in cheek and just has a lot of fun with the genre.

Seriously, I loved this so much that it may make its way into my Top 20 movies; possibly Top 10.

I also loved Gone Baby Gone. I never really hear anything about it, so I guess it's pretty underrated. I'll have to check out Malone.

You should watch The Friends of Eddie Coyle; it's not noir, exactly, but it is a Brubaker recommendation and great crime picture.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I liked Spy Kids. The sequels, on the other hand...

And thanks Alex. I'll see if I can hunt down Friends of Eddie Coyle on the net.

 

[figmentPez]

I watched "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" on Hulu yesterday. Interesting, but strange, movie. I can see why I've heard so many people talking about it.

 

[Rubicon]

I watched Inglorious Bastards over the weekend

wow.. what a let down. the store was decent but the entire premise of Brad Pit and a squad of Nazi killing commandos in the midst of WWII Germany/France/England was totally not there..

I mean yea it was there but so very little of it.. you barely got to see any action, too much of the plot was dedicated to Shoshanna and her movie theater.

No, I never saw the original movie just this. I knew it was a remake but still, I went in expecting more heroic Nazi removal than was delivered.. Brad Pit's character is in the movie like all of 15 minutes (ok exaggeration but he is barely in the movie so it felt that short)

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

Mav, you missed the point.

 

[Frank]

I watched Inglorious Bastards over the weekend

wow.. what a let down. the store was decent but the entire premise of Brad Pit and a squad of Nazi killing commandos in the midst of WWII Germany/France/England was totally not there..

I mean yea it was there but so very little of it.. you barely got to see any action, too much of the plot was dedicated to Shoshanna and her movie theater.

No, I never saw the original movie just this. I knew it was a remake but still, I went in expecting more heroic Nazi removal than was delivered.. Brad Pit's character is in the movie like all of 15 minutes (ok exaggeration but he is barely in the movie so it felt that short)

Have you ever watched a Quentin Tarantino movie?

 

[Espy]

Mav, you missed the point.

Maybe. The trailers really sold it as some kind of crazy over the top action fest so I can understand why someone would be disappointed, especially if they aren't familiar with QT's work. I know the "frat bro" crowd that had filled the theater around us seemed really perplexed at all the... talking.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

Just finished Return of the Jedi. A few points:

1) It was nice not seeing Hayden Christensen as Anakin's ghost.
2) I'm surprised at how quickly it went from "the shield's down" to the Death Star blowing up. It wasn't played up with any tension at all, just a given, essentially part of the denouement.
3) The ewoks weren't annoying.

 

[Philosopher B.]

Network (1976)

To be quite frank, I thought the visual style was dull and some of the acting over-the-top and annoying (though apparently the Academy of '76 threw acting awards at the movie like discard-able baseballs). It almost redeemed itself, however, with the phrase 'cocksmanship'. Plus the whole mad-as-hell dealio. And Laureen Hobs. And Robert Duvall. Actually, come to think of it, the main thing that bugged me was probably Faye Dunaway.

 

[fade]

This is where I do that Klingon turn-my-back-on-you thing. Network is a really good movie. It's all about the ravenous need for sensationalism and the growth of a disposable society. The way people eat up this guy's on-air decent into madness. The way he's enamored with Dunaway's character, but as a mirror to everything he's protesting, she views relationships as a disposable thing. Her fast orgasm was even telling. Sex is a thing you do, not an experience. It was sadly prophetic of 90's onward television.

 

[Dave]

I watched "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" on Hulu yesterday. Interesting, but strange, movie. I can see why I've heard so many people talking about it.

This is the movie that shows me that Leonardo DiCaprio can really act.

 

[Shannow]

Dragonball Evolution. Why? I do not know. it was on tv, and we wanted something terrible to laugh at in the apartment.


Instead, we cried.

 

[Charlie Don't Surf]

Network is one of the best movies of all time, and I think my favorite thing about it is how completely relevant it remains today.

 

[North_Ranger]

Broken Lizard's Club Dread

Possibly the worst horror/comedy I have ever goddamn seen. Your basic "stoned and sex-hungry teens go to a remote location where a knife-happy sonofabitch starts slashing them new assholes" story with stupid stereotype characters, urine jokes, tucked-in penises (penii?) and gratuitous shots of boobies. The characters aren't interesting, but they're not even annoying enough that you would take some twisted pleasure in seeing them killed off. No, you just don't give two shits about the goat-fucking Costa Rican pretty boy, the obligatory Asian with a "funny" name ("Nice to meet you... Yu."), not to mention the stoner who looks like David Thewlis in a Hawaii shirt. Even the more 'surprising' characters are given characteristics that are supposed to make them interesting, but then they're just dropped: why does Putnam the dreadlock Indian guy speak with an obviously fake British accent? What's the significance of the blonde Love Interest(tm) getting her job because her predecessor "accidentally ate rat poison"? Why the hell does the pudgy masseur hero know pressure point attacks and Chinese?

Basically this movie feels like Psycho and I Know What You Did Last Summer had sex while snorting coke, I Know got knocked up and went on a bender, and their heavily brain-damaged son is this movie.

 

[Philosopher B.]

This is where I do that Klingon turn-my-back-on-you thing. Network is a really good movie. It's all about the ravenous need for sensationalism and the growth of a disposable society. The way people eat up this guy's on-air decent into madness. The way he's enamored with Dunaway's character, but as a mirror to everything he's protesting, she views relationships as a disposable thing. Her fast orgasm was even telling. Sex is a thing you do, not an experience. It was sadly prophetic of 90's onward television.

I do think that its prophetic nature was one of the cooler things about it. It's also what I will focus on when I write an optional opinion paper on it.

I also re-watched Casablanca lately, which I have not seen since I was about ten years old. I was intensely impressed. The visual style, the acting, the dialogue, the paths of the various characters ... absolutely superb. I loved every minute. Captain Renault is actually my favorite character. I would watch the movie for him alone.

 

[Soliloquy]

I somehow managed to get my mother to watch Inglourious Basterds last weekend. I also pumped up Tarantino's bizarre style beforehand enough that I managed to get her to enjoy it.

Well, when she wasn't covering her eyes during the scalping scenes, at least.

Man, do I love that movie.

Just finished Return of the Jedi. A few points:

1) It was nice not seeing Hayden Christensen as Anakin's ghost.
2) I'm surprised at how quickly it went from "the shield's down" to the Death Star blowing up. It wasn't played up with any tension at all, just a given, essentially part of the denouement.
3) The ewoks weren't annoying.

I never thought the Ewoks were annoying either, honestly. They were a bit silly, but they didn't ruin the movie.

 

[Philosopher B.]

When I was a kid, the ewoks were my favorite part of Star Wars.

I had a huge stuffed Wicket.

Well, when she wasn't covering her eyes during the scalping scenes, at least.

Lol.

My dad watched IB and actually liked it, which was strange, as he's more of a straight-up explosions-movie kinda guy.

 

[Frank]

Watched that Halo Legends movie at the station tonight. It's an anime anthology not unlike the Animatrix or Batman: Gotham Knights and like those two it's wildly uneven with it's quality. There are some truly, truly God awful segments and some pretty decent ones. The CG Arbiter sequence was beyond terrible. It's kind of worth a watch, I guess. I dunno, it's not very good overall.

 

[Dave]

I finally watched "Zombieland" last night. Loved it but it wasn't nearly like I thought it was. I figured there would be a lot more zombie killing like they had in the first few minutes but it was mostly about the people, which was pretty cool.

 

[Alucard]

Going through a classic Star Wars fase lately and watched Episodes IV-VI. I forgot how awesome those movies were. Do they have the un specialized versions on dvd or no?

I also picked up and watched Zombieland. It was fun and I could see this as an upcoming cult classic perhaps. Was a bit surpised to see Bill Murray in it though.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Going through a classic Star Wars fase lately and watched Episodes IV-VI. I forgot how awesome those movies were. Do they have the un specialized versions on dvd or no?

The current 2-disc editions of each movie have the original theatrical versions on the second "bonus" disc. I refused to own them for years in the "special bus" edition and my holdout paid off.

The first one is properly theatrical as well: it doesn't even have "Episode IV" at the opening scrawl.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

Yeah, on the back of the box, it will list "Original theatrical (1977) version of Star Wars" as the first item on Disc 2 (and similar for Empire and Jedi). That's how you know you got the right DVD.


A warning (if it matters): Even if you get the Full Screen version of these, the original theatrical version will still be widescreen. I bought my Star Wars collection just recently at a used video store, and Empire just happened to be the Full Screen version. It kinda annoyed me until I played the theatrical version. I said, "Sweet! It is widescreen!"

I also said "Sweet! The original theatrical versions!" when I first saw that on the back. I wasn't expecting it - really thought there was no chance of getting those versions on DVD, so this was a sweet find. And I only paid 20 bucks for all six movies . . . though I have no idea if I'll ever watch the prequels. I'm not planning on it.

---------- Post added at 02:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:35 AM ----------

The first one is properly theatrical as well: it doesn't even have "Episode IV" at the opening scrawl.

But the DVD box does have a IV behind the Star Wars title, and is subtitled A New Hope. Just saying this so you'll know how to find it.

Also quoted this to say that I had meant to check the scrawl for that but forgot.

 

[@Li3n]

Talking about the original releases:



Man, their sabers aren't even coloured differently...

 

[Cajungal]

I love Jim Carrey. Just watched Yes Man again. Second time. Still funny, still good. The 'ledge' scene especially is very funny.

I loooove that movie.

"Every girl should get to go to a ball... *sob*"

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

If I'm ever in Europe, I'll take you to a ball. Even if I have to organize it - although in that case it might just be the 2 of us alone since I don't know anybody else o'er there.



And speaking of Star Wars, I noticed something odd when I was watching Return of the Jedi. The first Death Star was described as "a small moon" and the second Death Star was supposed to be even bigger, but it was tiny sitting next to the forest moon of Endor. Shouldn't it have been at least half the size of the ewok's home?

 

[Frank]

They were both only like 120-250 Kms across. Huge by structure standards, small by moon standards. Phobos and Deimos (Mars' moons) are only like 30 and 20 Kms across respectively. Endor was a gas giant's moon (in the Ewok's movies anyway). It could easily be Earth sized.

Jesus Christ, my nerdry is incessant sometimes.

 

[callistarya]

Watched Dear John with Tin last night. He walked me out after still sobbing. I'm such a cry baby.

 

[Alucard]

Was bored Sunday evening and watched the first AvP movie. I know that was a bad movie. Some parts were decent some were mostly crappy. Why can't they make a fucking good Predator film again?