Dreamgirls ***
(First Viewing)

Based on the 1981 Broadway musical comes Dreamgirls, a story of greed, tough hate, and romance. Three young women Deena Jones (Knowles), Effie White (Hudson), and Lorrell Robinson (Rose) desire to become pop stars and get their wish when they're picked to be backup singers for the legendary James "Thunder" Early (Murphy). Then they're set free for leads, but Curtis Taylor (Foxx) and Effie's brother C.C. (Robinson) decide for Deena to be lead which upsets Effie.

I'm not a fan of the musical genre, but this was a great movie and I'd say another one of last year's best movies. Jaime Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles and Eddie Murphy were all great in their respective roles. Although when Jennifer Hudson sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going," I think that was one of the worst acting jobs to a song I've ever seen.

Waterworld *
(First Viewing)

In the future, the Earth is engulfed with water when the polar ice caps melts, leaving the lands and civilization beneath the sea. In "Waterworld" drifters sail across the waters of the world on their man-made ships, trading for supplies and salvaging what is left of civilization, communities of survivors lives in towns called "Atolls" and a force of evil pirates "The Smokers" travel across Waterworld in search of a mythical island called "Dryland". Arriving at a Atoll, a mysterious drifter without a name called The Mariner is sentenced to death when the community discover he is a mutant. When the Atoll is attacked by The Smokers led by their evil leader Deacon, a woman named Helen and her adopted daughter Enola bribes The Mariner to take them to Dryland, believing The Mariner has been there. But the Mariner, Helen and Enola are pursued by Deacon and the Smokers, when The Mariner learns the tattoo on Enola's back is in reality a map that will lead them to Dryland.

It took me 12 years to see this film and I could easily have died a happy man without seeing it. Did anyone else who has seen this feel as if it was a 1990s version of Mad Max on the High Seas? At least they were able to save money on the set designs. Kevin Costner & Dennis Hopper, you guys are MUCH better than this. I really shouldn't be surprised though as Kevin Reynolds directed this. Besides this film, he's been responsible for the following 2 train wrecks: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Tristan + Isolde. Some how he was able to string 2 good movies together: 187 (1997) and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) but that's it.

Plan 9 From Outer Space **
(First Viewing)

"Can your heart stand the shocking facts about Graverobbers from Outer Space?" That's the question on the lips of the narrator of this tale about flying saucers, zombies and cardboard tombstones. A pair of aliens, angered by the "stupid minds" of planet Earth, set up shop in a California cemetery. Their plan: to animate an army of the dead to march on the capitals of the world. (The fact that they have only managed to resurrect three zombies to date has not discouraged them.) An intrepid airline pilot living near the cemetery must rescue his wife from this low-budget terror. "Can you prove it *didn't* happen?"

Definitely not the worst movie of all-time as I've seen worse. Sure it's cheesy with scenes that change from night to day, cardbord tombstones and the Bela Lugosi stand-in covered his face for the entire movie. But as a low-budget Z horror film I did enjoy it.

Save WHAT money? WATERWORLD is more known now for the infamous production overspending than the movie itself(nevermind that the flick Drowns).

Consider this. They bought up all the possible steel available for sale in Hawaii(where it was shot)...then found out that they needed more, so they had to spend MORE cash on steel from all over Oceania.

But my favorite, while Kevin Costner got his own private helicopter to fly him from the floating set of the "city" so he can get back to his exclusive rented-Malibu home with top chef. The crew had to live in a barge.

Worse, they only had one portapotty...for a crew of hundreds. Opps.

Anyway, Robert Zemeckis was supposed to shoot WATERWORLD, but Kevin Costner whined. He wanted his good "buddy" Kevin Reynolds from ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES(which was a profit-maker) to helm it, and Universal said OK. The problem? For the movie's complicated technical and FX situations, Reynolds had no experience(unlike Zemeckis) and it showed.

Besides IRISHMAN, its not exactly an open secret that Reynolds got fired and Costner took over to direct for the rest of the production.

Okay, fair enough. But I can think of only a few directors whose productions are of the same kind of example: Hitchcock's masterpieces, Wilder's best work, probably Sirk, too.

I guess I could revise what I said and say Kane is rare in that it is also very good...

But you might disagree with that, too.

I don't understand this. That's a criticism which can only be said after viewing the film; and so your desire to see it in the first place contradicts it.

I'd like to see Waterworld; I have a feeling I might find it quite good.

Good luck Capo.

WATERWORLD (1995) - **

Its in the Random Post thread.

I saw it Ronnie. It's well written, good job!

I'm gonna watch it tonight. Being that it's almost 3 hours long and has mixed reviews I've been putting it off.

I'll let you know.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story ** 1/2
(First Viewing)

True story of the kung-fu king Bruce Lee that dwell not on his mysterious death but his inspirational life and improable rise to stardom from the streets of Hong Kong.

I had seen parts of this but never the whole way through. I thought it was a very respective homage to the greatest martial artists to ever grace the silver screen. It covers his personaly life, family and his acting career (not just one of them, which I enjoyed). Anybody else seen this? It seemed a little bit "made for TVish" but still enjoyable nonetheless.

Man On The Moon (1999; Forman) **

Boy, was it fun having Andy Kaufman get a movie. This movie isn't bad either...Jim Carrey is great as Kaufman onstage. But that's the problem with this film. It showcases Kaufman's on stage persona wonderfully, but we don't get much off-stage. Carrey's off-stage Kaufman comes off as a spaced out fool, and not much more. There is just not enough insight into Kaufman himself for this to be much more than a re-enacment of Kaufman's greatest pranks and hoaxes.

Can someone tell me why "Memento" is 26 on IMDB and Forest Gump is 77 that list is messed up.

1) IMDb is the fucktard capitol of the world.

2) Their votes are counted towards what films are in the top 250.

But those two statements don't necessarily go together. #1 is just a thought on IMDb while #2 is how the list is actually composed.

Yes, I do disagree, respectfully. It's unreasonable to think that, with the enormous output and resources that Hollywood had, very good autueristic-collaborative movies in the studio system are rare.

I agree with your examples of Hitchcock, Wilder, and Sirk.

But, the best work of auteurs like Ford, Nicholas Ray, Lang, Hawks, Keaton, Chaplin, Sturges, Walsh, late Murnau, Avery, Chuck Jones, Clampett sit in the company of Citizen Kane.

Movies like Singin' in the Rain do as well.

Some directors, who on the whole, maybe aren't elite, but some of their films are: Berkeley, Bacon, Minnelli, Preminger, Peckinpah, Anthony Mann, Penn, von Sternberg

The best of the modern auteurs range from very good to masterpieces and definitely sit in the company of Citizen Kane: Malick, Scorsese, Altman, Coppola, Spielberg, Kubrick

Some obviously are auteurs doing fine work, sometimes: PTA, Fincher, Michael Mann, Wes Anderson, Nolan

My post regarded pre-1967, under the Hays Code and what might constitute "classical narrative cinema".

But good post.

Singin' in the Rain is one of the best films I've ever seen.

Lots of those autuers I named made their works, that range from very good to masterpieces, pre-1967 and in the classical narrative style.



Same here!

Zodiac **
This has a plot similar to Hollywoodland. Usually I like Jake Gyllenhaal, but in this movie, he is just okay. Mark Ruffalo shines though. The movie is at least 15 minutes overlong. It needed to be a bit long in order to give us the feeling that two decades have passed. But the movie didn't do much in terms of visual setting to convince us of the passage of time. The early part is shot with a lot of yellow filter and later on, we don't see much of it. But that is about it.

Alpha Dog ***
(First Viewing)

A drama based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer who became one of the youngest men ever to be on the FBI's most wanted list.

Yes the 3-star rating is correct, you didn't misread it. I'm as surprised as you to see it up there. A drama about a bunch of wannabe white kids in California with the T-Lake. Sounded like a receipt for disaster right? Wrong. A great young cast lead by Emile Hirsch (the geeky kid from The Girl Next Door), Shawn Hatosy, Anton Yelchin, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried and my personal favorite, the speed freak himself Mr. Ben Foster (seriously, this kid's work gets better each time he's in front of the camera). He was enjoyable in The Punisher as the pierced up funny guy Dave, he really showed me his range as a young actor as Mars in Hostage, he was just a name to throw into X3 as Angel and he raises the bar again for himself in this film. Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone and Harry Dean Stanton do a good job as well rounding out the cast. Glad to see director Nick Cassavetes rebound from his last diaster, John Q (I didn't see his last film, The Notebook).

I quite enjoyed Zodiac. I believe I gave it *** 1/2 after my first viewing. I agree that it runs a little long but Fincher is the man with Se7en, Fight Club and now Zodiac. Probably my 3rd favorite movie of the year thus far behind Grindhouse and 300

The Hitcher (2007) 1/2
(First Viewing)

Collegiate couple Grace Andrews (Sophia Bush) and Jim Halsey (Zachary Knighton) hit the road in a 1970 Oldsmobile 442, en route to spring break , but their pleasure trip soon turns into a waking nightmare after encountering the mysterious hitchhiker John Ryder, a.k.a. The Hitcher (Sean Bean). The initial encounters with Ryder are increasingly off-putting for Grace and Jim, and they bravely fight back when he ambushes them. But they are truly blindsided when he implicates them in a horrific slaying and continues to shadow them. The open road becomes a battleground of blood and metal as, in trying to elude not only Ryder but also New Mexico State Police Lieutenant Esteridge's (Neal McDonough) officers, Grace and Jim must fight for their lives and face their fears head-on.

Could this film be any more vague? They don't answer a single question about ANY of the characters (particularly the hitcher). A COMPLETE waste of time. I've never seen the original 1986 version but it can't be any worse than this. Hopefully music video director Dave Meyers never gets a chance to direct in Hollywood again. Michael Bay should be ashamed to have his name attached to this movie. Sean Bean, you're MUCH better than this man And can Sophia Bush try to have a decent film career? She's beginning to turn into Sarah Michelle Gellar with this crappy resume: Stay Alive (although I did enjoy it because it was so cheesy), John Tucker Must Die and now this film

Irish hating a bastard egg from Bay's crappy stable of horror remakes?

I AM SHOCKED!
The world is ending!
The Seas will boil!
Moon covered in blood red!
The Dead coming back to life!
Cats and Dogs, Living Together!

MASS HYSTERIA!!!

Svsg, what is up with your sheer romanticism with HOLLYWOODLAND? Yeah its a nice flick, yeah Ben Affleck rocks in it, but jesus its not the standard banner as of lately.

I don't know why, but the first film that came to my mind after watching this was hollywoodland. After I pushed for Affleck's nomination into Best Actor at FCM, it is natural for you to form this opinion But honestly I do find these two movies to be of similar quality and it was not an insulting comparison to make.

Not everything Bay puts his names on turn out well. Again, Pearl Harbor wasn't great and neither was The Island. As a producer, I dug The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and that's it. His other 2 producing projects The Amityville Horror and this film both sucked. I'm not the Bay boy (see suspect_5). I'm just not a Bay basher anymore either

Deliver Us From Evil **
(First Viewing)

Moving from one parish to another in Northern California during the 1970s, Father Oliver O'Grady quickly won each congregation's trust and respect. Unbeknownst to them, O'Grady was a dangerously active pedophile that Church hierarchy, aware of his predilection, had harbored for over 30 years, allowing him to abuse countless children. Juxtaposing an extended, deeply unsettling interview with O'Grady himself with the tragic stories of his victims, filmmaker Amy Berg bravely exposes the deep corruption of the Catholic Church and the troubled mind of the man they sheltered.

A very interesting and insightful look at the corruption and cover up going on in the Catholic church about pedophile priests. The documentary focuses primarily on the Jyono family and deals with 2 other of O'Grady's victims. It also follows O'Grady's track record from the mid-1970s until the mid-1980s in 4 different California parishes. The most disturbing fact is how much damage this man was able to do on his own. Imagine it on a national and global scale.

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus *
(First Viewing)

Turning her back on her wealthy, established family, Diane Arbus (Kidman) falls in with Lionel Sweeney (Downey Jr.), an enigmatic mentor who introduces Arbus to the marginalized people who help her become one of the most revered photographers of the twentieth century.

Maybe I had the wrong idea of what this film was about prior to viewing it. I thought it was going to be about Diane Arbus becoming a photographer, which was not the case. Instead it solely focuses on her relationship with Lionel Sweeney. I thought it was pretty dull and strange.

FRACTURE (2007)***

I caught this above average court room drama - thriller last night.

Anthony Hopkins stars as a Hannibal type, minus the fava beans and chianti, charged with the attempted murder of his no good cheating tramp of a wife. Ryan Gosling co-stars as the assistant district attorney who becomes torn between prosecuting the case and moving on to a six figure job in corporate law with a prestigious firm. David Strathairn, who boinked Carmela Soprano last year, was great in a supporting turn as the DA. I found it intelligent with lots of twists and turns and not at all predictable.

Pizzboy likes, he gives it 3 slices.

I just watched High Fidelity for a class. I finished up the book last week, so I decided to watch the movie too. It was a good read and watch. I recommend it. John Cusack does a great job in the film.

I haven't seen it yet but I heard it was good. I'm not a John Cusack fan. I don't know just something about him rubs me the wrong way but I do enjoy Jack Black's work

The Gathering
Gwent Jykmel 2007 UK (1st time; big screen)

Fantastic. It's about several film buffs who meet on an internet message board, decide there is no hope whatsoever in the film industry, and meet up to make their own film, under new, Dogme-like rules; the manifesto isn't adhered to, though, and, though they create a masterpiece, some of the members wish to have their names removed from it, since it is nothing like how they imagined, and others want to claim all the credit for it. The end shot of the film is beautiful: the lead member of the crew, realising he is the only one in love with Film itself, ("Saying you like films is completely different to saying you like Cinema," he says), fucks off and vanishes forever by swimming into the sea...