FATSO (1980) ***1/2

Dom DeLuise stars as Domenick DiNapoli, an overweight New Yorker, being pressured by his cousin Antoinette (Anne Bancroft) to lose weight, after the premature death of his morbidly obese cousin Sal. With the help of Chubby Checkers, a Weight Watchers like support group, and the love of his new girlfriend Lydia, he faces his food demons.

This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I don't know if it's a New York thing, an Italian thing or a weight loss thing, but if you're any or all of these I defy you to watch this movie without doubling over in laughter.

It's one of the great movies ever about Italian-American life and culture. And like I say, it's hysterical.

Yes Virginia, you can make a great movie about Italian-Americans without a single gangster in the film.

Patton (1970) ****

First things first: George C. Scott is a powerhouse in this film. Him and Karl Malden truly shine in this film. The widescreen cinematography is also brilliant, and is effectively used to give an excellent view of many battle scenes. Jerry Goldsmith's score is also wonderful. Francis Ford Coppola's script is also very good, overall a great film, one of the greatest war films ever.

Don Andrew, your sig is the greatest thing ever.

Just watched Pink Floyd The Wall, and it annoys me that it is credited to Alan Parker alone; what about Gerald Scarfe's animation?

Excellent film, though.

I just saw Cop Land for the first time. I loved that movie! What does everyone else think of it? For some reason I don't hear much about that movie, so I'm not sure if it's hated or just underrated or maybe I just somehow missed out on it until now.

Yours is pretty sweet too.

Cute Pizza, REEEEAL cute, except I hate the little bastard, STILL!, for making me take him to see ERAGON. Afterwards, I asked him nicely if he liked the film:

"Nah, that gay film sucked."

This 11 year old has a bright future ahead of him!

I think its a good film with a nice story that gets the viewer really involved with the film, and hell the cast is dynamite.

Whatever his movies work (WALK THE LINE, COP LAND) or fail (IDENTITY), Writer/Director James Mangold can be credited with a knack that seems not that special considering his casts, which is that he seems to always get the best work from his actors.

Surely with his minimal cop part, Robert DeNiro could have coasted. Harvey "Jerry Bruckheimer, where's my next check?" Keitel could have coasted as the baddie. Robert Patrick could have coasted as the baddie sidekick. Ray Liotta could have coasted as a burned-out psychotic(a schtick he's always been playing for the last decade at least). Shit, Sylvester STallone the egomaniac fuck could have coasted as the lead.

Instead, they all busted their asses for what other castings and filmmakers would be a commercial genre movie, and we get a good movie as a result.

Not only that mate, but what about the fact that Alan Parker DISOWNS the movie?

A pity, since while I'm sure the film was too rough for the artistic expectations that Parker, Scarfe, and Roger Waters had, the film is rather creatively igniting for the musical genre(while cinema didn't pick up the film's ball and ran with it, MTV Music Videos did), unlike Alan Parker's other musical EVITA(great technical scope, but in soul its as empty as Madonna's conscience.)

Favorite part of the flick Capo?

PINK FLOYD THE WALL (1982) - ****

THE GOOD GERMAN
(First Viewing)

While in post-war Berlin to cover the Potsdam Conference, an American military journalist is drawn into a murder investigation which involves his former mistress and his driver.

Even though I'm not a fan of the genre, this is the best homeage to the Noir genre I've ever seen. Steven Soderbergh really does a marvelous job making the audience feel as if the movie was really taking place in 1945. The black and white was obviously a nice touch to keep the audience in this perspective, but he does so much more with the way he changes scenes, etc. What I enjoyed the most out of this film was Tobey Maguire stepping out of his Spider-Man costume to drop quite a few F bombs along with a beat down of George Clooney. I'm sorry but I'm not used to see Tobey do that even after 3 SPIDER-MAN films.

Then how about Tobey in THE ICE STORM, before that Spidey stuff?

Favourite scene in The Wall:

"We Don't Need No Education", with an assembly line of kids institutionalised into robots, all wearing anonymous, scary masks and falling into a grinder out of which meat exits. The production values impressed me very much, and the theme held resonance.

I can't fucking stand the education system.

says the one who's studying higher education

I'm in it because I believe I'm strong enough to use it to my means; I've gone through the last three or four years struggling to maintain a sense of individuality, personality, and not be bogged down into a dumbed down institutionalised robot with aspirations of buying a car and bringing up a family and then die "happy".

Higher education has a problem with fees; I've been here a year now, enjoyed it, but can't quite see how £3,000 has been justified (and they don't tell you this before you come, but that's just admin fees, it doesn't count all the fucking textbooks they tell you that you need to buy in addition. Everything before higher education has a serious problem with the way the system is set up.

Basically, it's not so much teaching these days as it is bringing people up to serve the State and make money. Everything is taught with the purpose of making a profit. Everyone is in love with Money. Education doesn't really educate; it manipulates. There's little room for a personality these days.

Haven't seen it. I've seen parts of the film but none with Tobey, only the Christina Ricci parts and 1 with Ms. Weaver and the car key party, etc.

Great sequence, though my personal favorite sequence might have to be the Fascist power-dream hallucination sequences tied to the tunes "In The Flesh", "Run Like Hell", and "Waiting For the Worms."

STOP!!!!!!!!!!

A BETTER TOMORROW II
(Second Viewing)

In this sequel, Ho (Ti Lung) initially refuses to go undercover to bust the gang he used to work for in exchange for his release from prison. He only accepts after his little brother, the policeman Kit (Leslie Cheung) accepts the assignment. Meanwhile in New York Ken Gor (Chow Yun-Fat), the twin brother of Mark Gor from the 1st movie, shelters the boss of the gang, who has had to flee after it is taken over by a more aggressive leadership.

Some better action scenes but still not great (see THE KILLER or HARD BOILED). Although the end shoot out is probably my favorite John Woo action scene ever. I thought Chow Yun-Fat was a little wasted in this picture having to babysit the cataonic Uncle Lung for most of the film. Still some great stuff from the best action director ever, John Woo. I don't think I'll waste my time with A BETTER TOMORROW III. Has anyone seen it?

You're just realizing this now?

PB, I LOVE Fatso. Although this may sound sick, the wake is one of the funniest scenes in the movie - all those huge, over-the-top floral arrangements!!

Blib, I also enjoyed Cop Land. I just saw it the other day, for the first time in years. After Goodfellas, I think it might have been Liotta's best performance.

Who said it was anything new for me? I've been saying it for years.

"Take me with ya' Sally Boy!"

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL
(Nth Viewing)

This swash-buckling tale follows the quest of Captain Jack Sparrow, a savvy pirate, and Will Turner, a resourceful blacksmith, as they search for Elizabeth Swann. Elizabeth, the daughter of the governor and the love of Will's life, has been kidnapped by the feared Captain Barbossa. Little do they know, but the fierce and clever Barbossa has been cursed. He, along with his large crew, are under an ancient curse, doomed for eternity to neither live, nor die. That is, unless a blood sacrifice is made. Full of edge-of-the-seat action and swashbuckling adventures, this is a movie you won't want to miss!

Just gearing up for AT WORLD'S END on Friday. Definitely the best of the trilogy with Johnny Depp as the iconic Captain Jack Sparrow and Keira Knightley as the delicious Elizabeth Swann. A fantastic script and a surprise smash hit that has had VERY high expectations for its sequels (some of which DEAD MAN'S CHEST failed to meet in some people's opinion, including mine).

Iconic?

Yes, iconic

Amazing how Irish prefer a movie where the supposed "Luke Skywalker" archetype character is rather damn useless, way over the film where he proves he can cut the mustard.

Seriously, I'm shocked that Irish hasn't jumped on the "Spidey 3 Sucks" Band Wagon.............................................yet.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST 1/2
(Third Viewing)
Once again thrown into the world of the supernatural, Captain Jack Sparrow finds out that he owes a blood debt to the legendary Davey Jones, Captain of the ghostly Flying Dutchman. With time running out, Jack must find a way out of his debt or else be doomed to eternal damnation and servitude in the afterlife. And as if this weren't enough, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann are arrested and sentenced to death unless Will can get Lord Beckett Jack's compass, who are forced to join Jack on yet another misadventure.

Much like DREAMGIRLS and other films, I enjoy this movie with each additional viewing. After seeing it in theaters last summer I was on board of the "Pirates 2 Sucks" band wagon but I'm off of it now. I think much like SPIDER-MAN 3, the PIRATES sequels just have enormous expectations placed upon them that few (if any) movies can meet. It was great seeing Johnny Depp and Keira Knightley back and I also really enjoyed Bill Nighy's work as Davy Jones. One thing this film is superior at than the original are the special FX. Jones and his crew look marvelous on screen!

De Niro should check out Shane Meadows's films; most of them are filmed in Nottingham.

I saw his new one yesterday, This Is England, which I think a lot of people here would love, but, alas, probably won't ever get to see it due to limited exposure.

My short response to the film:

An expansion upon A Room for Romeo Brass (and this is his most autobiographical film since that film), early on - in fact as early as the credits and opening establishing shots - it has an air of obviousness about it; one might be forgiven for groans of "It's not going to be like this, is it?" It gets better, though, even if Meadows is a decent storyteller at best, and a lazy one at worst - whenever he hits a narrative pitfall, he'll use a montage sequence to some sort of acoustic tune (predictable way of evoking some emotion and sense of time lapse), and the ending is almost insulting. But whatever of story-telling deficiencies, this is his most ambitious film yet, a multi-threaded tale of literal gang-culture and political allegory (it covers the Falklands War and immigration at a time of endless and futile efforts in Iraq), and does so in psychologically and morally complex ways. These two levels of narrative are weaved together by a third, the contrived but excellently-performed father-son relationship between the film's young protagonist and the older gang-leader and would-be nationalist. And if it's a messy 100 minutes or so, it is not without moments as explosive, powerful and intense as anything Dead Man's Shoes had to offer. That film's star, Paddy Considine, is absent here, but in his place is Stephen Graham, whose performance is nothing short of staggering; he steals all the film's best moments - his first scene proper, in which he tells of his time in jail with racist abandon; giving a speech on immigrants and the government and the Falklands; when he explodes into fury upon an underling who asks him if he really believes in "all this shit"; an attack on an Asian corner shop; a subtler moment of half-convincing affection; and he's completely convincing as a torn psychopath in the climax. Meadows is incredible at evoking tension and portraying power struggles, and he is at his best when he is simply showing several men in one place with their egos threatened by other forces.

I recommend Meadows's films to a lot of people round here; though he's not as good, fans of Scorsese should definitely check him out. I'd be very interested into seeing how you find them, Irish...

Meadows's feature films, in order:

TwentyFourSeven (1997)


A Room For Romeo Brass (2002)


Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002)


Dead Man's Shoes (2004)


I'd rank them thus:
1. Dead Man's Shoes
2. This Is England
3. A Room For Romeo Brass
4. TwentyFourSeven
5. Once Upon a Time in the Midlands

Dead Man's Shoes and A Room for Romeo Brass feature sterling performances from Paddy Considine, a tremendously talented actor who's actually just showing signs of making it big after starring in these smaller-budgeted films. Like I said in my review of it, he's not in This Is England, and I actually went into it with caution because when he's not in Meadows's films, they tend to suffer somewhat... but Stephen Graham, whose face you may recognised from Snatch (see below), is magnificent. Considine (see below below) is in Cinderella Man, if you've seen it.


^^ Stephen Graham, who's ferocious in This Is England.


^^ Paddy Considine, one of my favourite actors currently working.

Check them out asap, guys!

what all these are film in Nottingham,cool

Stevhen Graham i agree is a top actor,from what i seen of him...

THE KILLER
(Second Viewing)

In this bloody tale of loyalty and friendship, Chow Yun-Fat is Jeffrey, an assassin who wishes to leave the business so he can take care of Jennie, the beautiful lounge singer who he inadvertently blinded during a previous assignment. Danny Lee is the determined cop who will stop at nothing to bring him in, only he realizes that Jeffrey is no ordinary assassin, and wishes to help him in his quest. Only problem is that Jeffrey's employers refuse to pay him for his last job, money which is needed to restore Jennie's eyesight.

Definitely John Woo's masterpiece. I didn't know how he could out do himself with A BETTER TOMORROW II or HARD BOILED, but somehow he managed. Again, he is in my opinion, the best action director I've ever seen. I agree with what Quentin Tarantino once said, "If you can direct action well, you can do anything." However, much credit needs to go to Chow Yun-Fat as well. In every movie he's the character you love. Whether he's playing the hero or the villain, I always find myself wanting to be him. He just always seems like he's in command whenever he's on screen (and that's not an easy thing to do). I've found the last John Woo/Chow Yun-Fat movie that I haven't watched yet, ONCE A THIEF. If you've never seen a John Woo/Chow Yun-Fat movie, check out A BETTER TOMORROW, A BETTER TOMORROW II, HARD BOILED and THE KILLER. I know they're difficult to get a hold of, but trust me, it's well worth it!