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Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: DE NIRO] #380632
03/31/07 09:43 PM
03/31/07 09:43 PM
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 4,512
Right here, but I'd rather be ...
long_lost_corleone Offline
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Right here, but I'd rather be ...
 Originally Posted By: DE NIRO
Just finished watching,and very much enjoyed,another thinking film to do with appriciating(SP)life.7/10


And that movie was...?


"Somebody told me when the bomb hits, everybody in a two mile radius will be instantly sublimated, but if you lay face down on the ground for some time, avoiding the residual ripples of heat, you might survive, permanently fucked up and twisted like you're always underwater refracted. But if you do go gas, there's nothing you can do if the air that was once you is mingled and mashed with the kicked up molecules of the enemy's former body. Big-kid-tested, motherf--ker approved."
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: The Italian Stallionette] #380635
03/31/07 10:02 PM
03/31/07 10:02 PM
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 67,851
The Villa Quatro
Irishman12 Offline OP
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 Originally Posted By: The Italian Stallionette
I have never seen Independence Day, but I was under the impression it was a blockbuster in the theaters and I just assumed it was good. Then again, I don't like "all" SciFi movies either. A matter of taste I guess.


TIS


It was a Blockbuster hit. The budget was $75 million and went on to gross over $306 million (not a bad return, huh?). Plus, this was at least for me, the movie that made Will Smith an A-list movie star. He was wrapping up on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the year before this he did Bad Boys but again, this movie made so much bank at the box office, it was hard not to look at Will differently. It's where the kid from Fresh Prince grew up. But as I said, I still love the movie and it's one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Irishman12] #380643
03/31/07 10:07 PM
03/31/07 10:07 PM
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pizzaboy Offline
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That's right on the money Irish. Smith wrapped Fresh Prince in May of 96' and released Independence Day roughly 6 weeks later. Not a bad segue if you ask me.


"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: pizzaboy] #380644
03/31/07 10:09 PM
03/31/07 10:09 PM
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pizzaboy Offline
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I LOVED Judd Hirsch as the very Orthodox Jewish father of Jeff Goldblum, I thought he was one of the best "little touches" to the movie.


"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Irishman12] #380648
03/31/07 10:16 PM
03/31/07 10:16 PM
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Posts: 13,145
East Tennessee
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ronnierocketAGO Offline
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 Originally Posted By: Irishman12
 Originally Posted By: The Italian Stallionette
I have never seen Independence Day, but I was under the impression it was a blockbuster in the theaters and I just assumed it was good. Then again, I don't like "all" SciFi movies either. A matter of taste I guess.


TIS


It was a Blockbuster hit. The budget was $75 million and went on to gross over $306 million (not a bad return, huh?). Plus, this was at least for me, the movie that made Will Smith an A-list movie star. He was wrapping up on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the year before this he did Bad Boys but again, this movie made so much bank at the box office, it was hard not to look at Will differently. It's where the kid from Fresh Prince grew up. But as I said, I still love the movie and it's one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time.


Wow, you totally ignored BAD BOYS, you know...that action movie that despite being an empty LETHAL WEAPON clone, actually made hard cash a whole year before ID4. The Will Smith fan letter is sincere and nice, but at least acknowledge history right.

Anyway, I agree pizzaboy....Hirsch really stole the movie, to me, from the people paid 10 times much more than him. Hell, even with the garbage the writers give him, he still flexes everyone out of the room on NUMBERS. Now that is impressive.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380649
03/31/07 10:21 PM
03/31/07 10:21 PM
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pizzaboy Offline
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He's a phenomenal actor. One of my favorite police officer depictions was Hirsch as the detective in 1983's WITHOUT A TRACE, loosely based on the Etan Patz disappearance, with a happy ending however. And who could forget him as Alex Reger on TAXI, one of my all-time favorite sitcoms.


"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: pizzaboy] #380650
03/31/07 10:24 PM
03/31/07 10:24 PM
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East Tennessee
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ronnierocketAGO Offline
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Don't forget ORDINARY PEOPLE pizza. Sadly, that good movie is now remembered as the flick that "beat" RAGING BULL for the Oscar.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: pizzaboy] #380651
03/31/07 10:26 PM
03/31/07 10:26 PM
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 22,902
New York
SC Offline
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 Originally Posted By: pizzaboy
One of my favorite police officer depictions was Hirsch as the detective in 1983's WITHOUT A TRACE, loosely based on the Etan Patz disappearance, with a happy ending however.


I absolutely LOVED that ending
Warning, Spoiler:
(driving back from Connecticut with the police escort)!


.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: SC] #380653
03/31/07 10:30 PM
03/31/07 10:30 PM
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pizzaboy Offline
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"WHO THE HELL IS HANK ?"


"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380661
03/31/07 10:46 PM
03/31/07 10:46 PM
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The Villa Quatro
Irishman12 Offline OP
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 Originally Posted By: ronnierocketAGO
 Originally Posted By: Irishman12
 Originally Posted By: The Italian Stallionette
I have never seen Independence Day, but I was under the impression it was a blockbuster in the theaters and I just assumed it was good. Then again, I don't like "all" SciFi movies either. A matter of taste I guess.


TIS


It was a Blockbuster hit. The budget was $75 million and went on to gross over $306 million (not a bad return, huh?). Plus, this was at least for me, the movie that made Will Smith an A-list movie star. He was wrapping up on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and the year before this he did Bad Boys but again, this movie made so much bank at the box office, it was hard not to look at Will differently. It's where the kid from Fresh Prince grew up. But as I said, I still love the movie and it's one of my favorite sci-fi movies of all time.


Wow, you totally ignored BAD BOYS, you know...that action movie that despite being an empty LETHAL WEAPON clone, actually made hard cash a whole year before ID4. The Will Smith fan letter is sincere and nice, but at least acknowledge history right.


Bad Boys budget was $23 million and it only made a little over $65 million at the box office. I stick with my original analysis of Will Smith and how Independence Day catapulted him into stardom thank you very much

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Irishman12] #380665
03/31/07 10:53 PM
03/31/07 10:53 PM
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ronnierocketAGO Offline
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Don't get mad at me because of a mistake on your part.

You made it out that Will Smith went from FRESH PRINCE to ID4 like directly or some sillyness.

Yes, ID4 and later MEN IN BLACK a year later made him a $20 million paycheck-earning movie star but BAD BOYS proved that Smith was:

(1) A legit movie star outside of TV
(2) Legit action star(which he transfered to ID4)
(3) Made him a direct hook for the young people/MTV crowds

Its like when foolish people back in 1994 were saying that Quentin Tarantino came out of "nowhere" with PULP FICTION.....in spite of the fact that RESERVOIR DOGS had great word and made a profit in theatres.

I prefer complete history compared to fractured history.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380667
03/31/07 10:58 PM
03/31/07 10:58 PM
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Irishman12 Offline OP
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 Originally Posted By: ronnierocketAGO
I prefer complete history compared to fractured history.


That's your opinion. To each his own. And as I said in my original post, "Plus, this was at least for me, the movie that made Will Smith an A-list movie star."

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Irishman12] #380669
03/31/07 11:00 PM
03/31/07 11:00 PM
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East Tennessee
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ronnierocketAGO Offline
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Technically, did Will Smith even get front billing on ID4?

MEN IN BLACK was his first, proper A-list movie star flick, getting top billing over Tommy Lee Jones.

But yeah, this is a fight over ants.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Irishman12] #380671
03/31/07 11:02 PM
03/31/07 11:02 PM
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pizzaboy Offline
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While BAD BOYS was his first mainstream hit, INDEPENDENCE DAY was clearly his first blockbuster. And that's coming from an impartial movie fan.


"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380672
03/31/07 11:02 PM
03/31/07 11:02 PM
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Irishman12 Offline OP
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 Originally Posted By: ronnierocketAGO
Technically, did Will Smith even get front billing on ID4?

MEN IN BLACK was his first, proper A-list movie star flick, getting top billing over Tommy Lee Jones.

But yeah, this is a fight over ants.


Does he need to get top billing to be a star? For a 3rd time, "Plus, this was at least for me, the movie that made Will Smith an A-list movie star." Hence, this being the movie where he transitioned from regular star to A-list star (in his next film, Men In Black).

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: pizzaboy] #380673
03/31/07 11:02 PM
03/31/07 11:02 PM
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Posts: 67,851
The Villa Quatro
Irishman12 Offline OP
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 Originally Posted By: pizzaboy
While BAD BOYS was his first mainstream hit, INDEPENDENCE DAY was clearly his first blockbuster. And that's coming from an impartial movie fan.


Thank you pizzaboy, we're both in agreement

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Irishman12] #380675
03/31/07 11:06 PM
03/31/07 11:06 PM
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East Tennessee
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ronnierocketAGO Offline
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But if this is all about perspective....what if I thought your perspective was slightly incorrect?

Its like Pink Floyd. Most people remembered them as early as only DARK SIDE OF THE MOON in what, 1973? This in spite of PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN and A SAUCERFUL OF SECRETS, and several film soundtracks.

But whatever, if that is your perspective, then you're correct.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380678
03/31/07 11:11 PM
03/31/07 11:11 PM
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Irishman12 Offline OP
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I didn't say my perspective was right or wrong. I was simply stating it. You are the one who's judging it based on "historical accuracy" when again, it's just my perspective.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Irishman12] #380691
03/31/07 11:35 PM
03/31/07 11:35 PM
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Texas
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olivant Offline
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V for Vendette. Soooo good.


"Generosity. That was my first mistake."
"Experience must be our only guide; reason may mislead us."
"Instagram is Twitter for people who can't read."
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: olivant] #380693
03/31/07 11:39 PM
03/31/07 11:39 PM
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pizzaboy Offline
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THE ITALIAN JOB (2003)

A fun movie. Charlize Theron is so forking hot!

Did I really just say that ?


"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Irishman12] #380697
03/31/07 11:51 PM
03/31/07 11:51 PM
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East Tennessee
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ronnierocketAGO Offline
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pizza.......I would be willing to park my car straight into Theron's garage.

\:\)

Irish, whats the deal? I thought you were giving a history, then I realized that in your perspective, it makes sense...and I corrected myself. You were right.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380712
04/01/07 05:21 AM
04/01/07 05:21 AM
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under there
bogey Offline
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 Originally Posted By: ronnierocketAGO
Huh?

This is like people, like my adversary, who excuse the dumbass bullshit in action movies as saying thats what "action" movies are made up of.

NO NO NO!

Same with sci-fi. Look at the great science fiction movies I love. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, BLADE RUNNER, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KAHN, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, DARK CITY, THX 1138, etc.

They all involve, in some or another, exploring the moral quandaries using the technology genre aspect of sci-fi.

2001, its about the evolution of mankind. BLADE RUNNER is about what makes humanity...well, humanity. TREK 2 is good adventure trash pulp, but it does ask about creation and destruction of life. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL is humanity not able to ensue peace among itself, with aliens willing to militarily intervene against us. DARK CITY is about our memories and the environment that could, or could not, determine how we will act as individuals. THX 1138 is about the individual's essence to escape with curiosity.

INDEPENDENCE DAY isn't a bad movie, but its not worth a fart. The only nice thing about it I can say is, its not as messy or bad as Roland Emmerich/Dean Devlin's other movies(STARGATE, THE PATRIOT, GODZILLA) that all share one trait: Great potential premises blown to shit by lukewarm weak executions.

Hell, STARGATE is more remembered now for a pretty fun TV show than it is as a movie.

INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996) - **1/2


All the movies you mentioned are very good.

I just meant some movies aren't meant to be taken THAT seriously. And a lot of sci-fi movies fit into that category. But that doesn't mean they aren't good.

This is all just opinions, and I think we're kicking the shit out of a dead horse.


President of the long_lost_corleone Fan Club
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: bogey] #380733
04/01/07 10:04 AM
04/01/07 10:04 AM
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East Tennessee
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ronnierocketAGO Offline
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bogey, if its all just opinions and not worth taking seriously...then why bother posting anything good or bad about any movie? Better yet, why would some people up in New England decided to create a GODFATHER fan website and forums?

Movies hit each individual differently. Hell, compare the positive reviews of a movie, and you'll never two reviews the same. But each review of each person reads into that person's enculturation, beliefs, etc.

Thing is, I encourage people to be intellectually honest and have balls to put them out on the slab, for everyone to read. Yet many people I know hate it when they get blasted by people who absolutely disagree.

To quote Harry Truman, if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380757
04/01/07 11:48 AM
04/01/07 11:48 AM
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THE BODYGUARD (1992) - *1/2

Remember when Whitney Houston was America's pop music queen, instead of the local crack whore queen?

Well, she tried acting....and paired up with Kevin Costner, who was a HUGE movie star at the time. The movie, and the soundtrack, made hard cash, but this movie sucks. The leads share no chemistry, and while Costner is coasting around this crap script, Houston's lack of skill in acting is painfully obvious.

Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380763
04/01/07 12:38 PM
04/01/07 12:38 PM
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Gateshead, UK
Capo de La Cosa Nostra Offline
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I saw 32 films in March. 22 were for the first time. Thirteen were on the big screen.

A few highlights, lowlights, and general points of discussion:

Inland Empire
David Lynch 2006 USA / Poland / France
An actress in Hollywood may or may not have an affair with a co-star, and her persona splinters into several parallel dimensions.
Lynch's most self-indulgent film is three hours long, and could quite have easily been double that without seeming it - there's absolutely no conventional narrative arc, no way of foreseeing where things are going or anticipating what's to come, so that it's impossible to measure how long it's been going on and how long it might continue to go on. It's incredibly innovative, a step forward in Lynch's personal ambitions: instinctive, imaginative, entrenched in its own world - its own worlds-within-worlds - so that any approach to it which might seek some kind of connection from the hermetic fiction to the environment in which it is consumed (i.e. anything outside of the film) seems to be missing the point. Indeed, rather than requiring active deconstruction (as almost all narratives do), it's a textural experience, a fabrication which is meaning, not an encoded narrative which has meaning. The move to low-budget DV has freed him up in two senses: visual expression and narrative flexibility. Lynch is a master of 'uncomfortable space': some of the shot compositions are frighteningly intimate; very few scenes have establishing shots, so that conversations, even presented in the most basic, shot-reverse shot fashion, have a disturbing edge; and each intra-scene cut seems to be ever-so-slightly delayed. It's erotic at times, funny at others, agreeably bizarre, and often terrifying: unique, original, and easily reduced to pathetic superlatives or wordy descriptions. A quote from Calvino's Invisible Cities might be telling: "I realized I had to free myself from the images which in the past had announced to me the things I sought: only then would I succeed in understanding the language [...]".

The Illusionist
Neil Burger 2006 USA
In turn of the century Vienna, a stage magician meets a childhood love, who is about to be married to the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
It begins with a "come on, let's get on with it" exposition, a flashback within a flashback, and unfolds finally as a piece of detective fiction, in which the detective is a secondary character yet the one through which we view events, in awe of the mysterious illusionist of the title. The middle third is the best bit by far - it creates great potential for a battle of wits between the master magician in love with the bride-to-be of the jealous, bad-tempered prince. Suggestions of a thriller, potential for a more exciting second half, though, are cut short, and it turns out to finally be rather quite ordinary. Oh well.

World Trade Center
Oliver Stone 2006 USA
Two Port Area policemen are trapped under the rubble of the Twin Towers, and keep one another alive until help arrives.
Stone's film has no real energy, no real explosive or electric rhythm, no narrative drive. It's not a bad film by any means - in fact it's rather watchable - but it's decidedly ordinary. It looks like a TV movie, viewable to all, with intentions of inspiration and shortcomings in production value. Two moments of mild effect - when the first tower falls, with the men inside, and when the two survivors first hear help above on the ground. It's a conventional film, though, about an extraordinary event; and what is it that makes Nicolas Cage far more enjoyable to watch when he's deliberately and physically disabled under a pile of rubble, as opposed to a pro-active, no-shit member of the emergency services...? Flat.

Superman Returns
Bryan Singer 2006 USA
Five years after returning to his home planet, Superman comes back to Earth and saves the world from Lex Luther's plans.
Action comedy, really, and it's good stuff. In fact, it's very good stuff, at times. A tad long, and the final quarter isn't nearly as good as the first three, but it boasts a shameless charm and succession of cheesy one-liners, a very old-fashioned goodie versus baddie plot with adequate enough romantic interest. A better lead could have helped, because this one is a bit cardboard, but the action scenes are really cool in an "I wish I was Superman" kind of way.

Rocky Balboa
Sylvester Stallone 2006 USA
Rocky, now widowed and owner of an Italian restaurant, wishes to take up boxing again.
A lot more subdued than what might have been expected, and all the better for it. There's no real build up to the fight, here, no oppositional adversity for the hero to overcome; instead, his demons are entirely internal, and the character seems preoccupied by how his career is now perceived by others - and so, at times, it seems Stallone too is concerned about his own career, in view of the franchise for which he is famous. Possible routes of interest are suggested but never followed up on in any great depth: the real baddies here are those who organise the exhibition match, all in it for the money, with backstage sniggering going on about how much they're making from it. The fight itself is filmed in two styles: the introductions and first two rounds are all shot as if they are a real fight shown on pay-per-view television, with commentators, announcers, and all the expected camera angles (with a cameo from Mike Tyson at ringside), and so it is suggested that the film might finally be a comment on the state of modern boxing, all money and little heart; but thereafter it blends into an equally self-reflexive and intertextual, but very different, style, that of rapid montage, in which, with every punch absorbed, Rocky has flashbacks to other moments in the five preceding films. But it's less about the fighting, here, and more about upholding and revisiting one's own persona, fame and myth; and as a veteran action star now making films, Stallone is a lot more effective than Eastwood, at least.

A Prairie Home Companion
Robert Altman 2006 USA
The last broadcast of a live radio show, as seen onstage and backstage, through the eyes of the participants and a mysterious woman.
Reductive, perhaps, but an initial point of reference: Altman's Nashville (1975), another multi-character musical had a lazy ending which brought everything together, whereas this is very succinct and satisfying, at once implicit and ambiguous; but whereas Nashville's three-hour duration gave an epic weight and allowed Altman to give a wealth and depth to each of his characters' personalities, because it is only two hours, A Prairie Home Companion is at times a little imbalanced. Another half-hour or so would have ironed its narrative out into a much more consistent rhythm and flow - and the writing and acting are both excellent enough to have made it quite watchable at a longer length. It's a brilliant film, though, full of laughs, full of wit, full of energy and colour and confidence, unfolding finally as a film driven by nostalgic characters caught up in a world slowly drowning in melancholy. Altman's camera is less casual, less roaming than his other films, but is riveting all the same - various pans and simultaneous zooms, difficult to describe but lovely to watch, bring us in and out of this conversation and that conversation.

Die Große Stille Into Great Silence
Philip Gröning 2005 France / Switzerland / Germany
Documentary on the silent Carthusian Monks in the Grande Chartreuse, France.
Like the monks themselves, Gröning goes about his business in a very humble, almost silent fashion, with no music, no voice-over, almost no interviews. It's an interesting premise because the subject matter is so unique, but it's a complete waste of an opportunity; to be frank, it is one of the most annoying, dumbfounding and frustrating documentaries made. In fact, it lacks the required insight to be classed as a documentary, and certainly isn't expressive enough to be a feature in its own right - it captures various activities without any insight as to why they go about what they do, why it is that these men have chosen a life of complete seclusion; it only serves to mystify these monks further, instead of de-mystifying them, so that anybody coming into the documentary not knowing who they are or what they do leaves the theatre having endured three hours of point-and-shoot filming of various religious rituals which aren't given any context at all. It defeats its own purpose: Gröning apparently waited close to two decades to get permission to film there, and the final product falls way short of revealing anything interesting about a potentially fascinating subject. The time-lapse shots, of the entire vicinity in the snowy mountains, are effective in their tranquility, but are completely undercut by inconsistent transitions (the film has no rhythm at all) and lazily assembled intertitles, quotations from the Bible. These quotations have some sort of obscure connection to the footage surrounding them, a bit like the Victorian quotations preceding each chapter in Fowles' The French Lieutenant's Woman; but while Fowles did immense research in assembling an eclectic, convincing range of quotes from all kinds of different sources, Gröning uses two or three and peppers them throughout his documentary as if to hammer the same point home time and time again, to the effect that, by the end of the film, you know what each intertitle says in French and German before the English subtitles come up translate it for us.

The Set-Up
Robert Wise 1949 USA
An ageing boxer fights his last bout despite angst from his girlfriend, and the fact he's supposed to lose in a staged knockout.
One of those rapid, brief B-movie productions made on an assembly line of forgotten masterpieces, by Wise, who here shows himself to be a very efficient, economic filmmaker - in the implicit, exciting exposition of narrative, in the tense, atmospheric bulk of the boxing fight itself, in the succinct, satisfying climax. Studio-bound, of course, but with an air of sweaty, dingy seediness hanging over it; you can't help but imagine that the sweat, blood and tears are in some way inherited from the rapid, low-budget production itself.

La science des rêves The Science of Sleep
Michel Gondry 2006 France / Italy
An insecure, Mexican artist moves to France and falls in love with his neighbour in his dreams.
This and Eternal Sunshine share a common emotional impact in the way they unfold: in a very casual manner, strikingly original in form and hilariously written and performed, so that any real emotional weight is accumulated as the narrative progresses in its deceptively nonchalant manner, and, come the climax of both films, an attachment has formed between viewer and film which seemingly wasn't on the cards at all. It's utterly refreshing stuff, energetic and perceptive, and determined to subvert expectations, from things such as overall narrative pattern to smaller details such as conventions of fictional character. At first, the ending might seem abrupt and unsatisfying in confirming that the narrative has been overwhelmed by its own fantasies ("when is it going to go back to reality?"), similar to, say, Videodrome, but it's written so as to be open to a hell of a lot of interpretation - what seemingly takes place during one night of dreams might actually be a collection of memories of real events, filtered into one dream-like narrative... that's the science of sleep, after all. Visually meticulous, emotionally complex, sharply written and excellently performed.

Iklimler Climates
Nuri Bilge Ceylan 2006 Turkey
A university lecturer breaks up with his younger wife when the two become bored by marriage and commitment.
Ceylan's films are obviously very personal; and all share the same world, the same vision, you see the same core entourage of actors from film to film, many of whom are friends and family. Here, in perhaps his most personal film yet (dedicated to his son), he and his real-life wife star as a couple whose marriage has already crumbled when the film begins, and generally dives into further despair as it goes along. His style is very unique and very difficult to describe - it doesn't resemble anybody else's, it's visual without being excessive, and his way of editing from scene to scene is very ambiguous. There is a scene early on, for instance, at the beach, in which the director watches his wife swimming in the sea and talks to himself, imagining that he is breaking up with her... only, he moves and behind where he was we see his wife is really next to him (a bit like the mirage scene in Gerry), and she begins to talk back, and so you'd expect to cut to a wide shot at the end of the scene, showing him alone again, with his wife in the sea, so that the conversation is confirmed to have been a dream, an illusion. But it doesn't, it cuts to the next scene, and it's very ambiguous and effective, the way things happen - similar to Julio Medem's dives in and out of realities, but a lot more subtle and casual. Climates is a fantastic film, full of great, individual scenes which unfold in lengthy bouts of silence, of emotional constipation, of lingering looks and close-ups. There are two incredible, ambiguous sex scenes, one in which two-way seduction turns into aggressive lust verging on rape, the other shot in out-of-focus, slow-motion close-ups, so that the intimacy is held at a distance. Tracing his work as a whole, Ceylan seems to have become more controlled, more disciplined with each film he's made; this shows signs of a more deliberate, self-aware and excessive self-indulgence (as opposed to the seemingly natural, instinctive way his previous films unfold), and it's his best film yet.


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Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: Capo de La Cosa Nostra] #380795
04/01/07 02:37 PM
04/01/07 02:37 PM
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Throggs Neck
pizzaboy Offline
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Quite coincidentally, I saw two Edward Burns films this weekend. I say coincidentally because I'm not really a fan of his, even though I love indie films.

Anyway...

THE GROOMSMEN (2006)

A decent film about five thirtysomething buddies getting together for a wedding in City Island (The Bronx), where they grew up. Jay Mohr was actually quite funny and John Leguizamo very believable as a closeted gay man coming home and coming out to his friends after some time away. Burns played his usual level headed big brother type of character and Brittany Murphy, who annoyed me to no end, played his fiancee. A fair movie that I enjoyed because of the on location City Island footage. If you're familiar with the area, it's worth an hour and a half out of your life.

ASH WEDNESDAY (2002)

Burns as big brother to Elijah Wood in an Irish gangster pic set in Hell's Kitchen in the early 80's. A decent plot, but Wood, who by my best guess, was about 20 at the time, actually looked about 16, making the movie that much less believable. Rosario Dawson, who was actually very good, played his wife, but again, although she's probably about the same age as Wood, looked too old to play his wife. A very predictable ending. Overall, I can't really recommend it.


"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: ronnierocketAGO] #380801
04/01/07 02:45 PM
04/01/07 02:45 PM
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under there
bogey Offline
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bogey  Offline
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under there
 Originally Posted By: ronnierocketAGO
Yet many people I know hate it when they get blasted by people who absolutely disagree.



Ronnie, feel free to blast me all you want. Won't bother me at all. \:p

I just meant sommmmmeeeeeee people take debates WAY too seriously, feelings get hurt, members get banned, babies are destroyed.

I know what I'm trying to say, I just can't make it come out right.

Opinions are like assholes.


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Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: bogey] #380802
04/01/07 03:17 PM
04/01/07 03:17 PM
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 15,022
Texas
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olivant Offline
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Texas
Somebody take pity and let me know if Rocky Balboa wins or loses the fight. No, you will not spoil it for me.


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Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: olivant] #380807
04/01/07 03:30 PM
04/01/07 03:30 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 23,296
Throggs Neck
pizzaboy Offline
The Fuckin Doctor
pizzaboy  Offline
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It comes with an alternate ending Olivant, so you can have it any way you like. Honestly, it was a very good movie and the best since the original.


"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.
Re: Movies You Just Watched Discussion [Re: bogey] #380810
04/01/07 04:20 PM
04/01/07 04:20 PM
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 13,145
East Tennessee
R
ronnierocketAGO Offline
ronnierocketAGO  Offline
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 13,145
East Tennessee
 Originally Posted By: bogey
 Originally Posted By: ronnierocketAGO
Yet many people I know hate it when they get blasted by people who absolutely disagree.



Ronnie, feel free to blast me all you want. Won't bother me at all. \:p

I just meant sommmmmeeeeeee people take debates WAY too seriously, feelings get hurt, members get banned, babies are destroyed.

I know what I'm trying to say, I just can't make it come out right.

Opinions are like assholes.


I used to take film debates super seriously, to the point of cruxcifying anyone that dissed a movie I loved like an act of war or something (MistaTomHagen can attest to it with his blood-stained ROLLERBALL review) but now unless the reviewer writes something completely stupid or amazingly ignorant, or something I don't understand, I'll then make a comment about it.

Anyway bogey, you're bullet proof! \:D

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