I checked for Rope in the February guide, but it wasn't listed; I'm sure I'll catch it on TV sometime, and if not, maybe I'll get a chance to rent it. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Wow. My parents and I just finished Ray. I loved it. There was so much that I didn't know about the life of Ray Charles, and it was so touching to watch something like this about him. Foxx is just amazing; he looks and sounds so much like him. We are still in the middle of the special features, but I loved the video they had of Foxx and the "real Ray" together. It's unbelievable how much work Jamie put into this role. My mom's got one of Ray's records playing right now... I'm so glad we made the purchase on this movie, because it'll be a classic in our family.

after two nice-no-meaning flicks I watched friday and saturday, today I was awarded with a great film! I just watched 21 Grams, and it lived it up to the hype everyone made about it. the way the story is told and the acting were the best in this movie for me. and well, I'm about to become Sean Penn's fan after watching 21 Grams and Mystic River.

Okay so I haven't seen a film recently but I am dying to see are "Hitch" and "Wedding Date." Just dying - gotta find somebody to go with me.

21 Grams is a GREAT movie and am upset about the lack of exposure it gets. I'm still waiting for Universal to re-release it on DVD. I've been waiting almost a year now!

21 Grams is excellent and I hope to see the supposedly better "Amores Perros" which is by the same director, centers around a car crash, and is rated better. 21 Grams is the 2nd best of 2003 behind Mystic River IMO.

Magnum Force - (Post;1973;USA) - ***
Dirty Harry's next investigation involves a team of vigilante cops.
The 2nd Dirty Harry movie has many cliches, but also many interesting parts that would not have been put in a normal cop movie. These add to the film's entertainment and although it's nothing to the first film, it comes together nicely although it had an average ending.

Yesterday I watched "Beyon borders", starring Angelina Jolie. I expected the worst, but it turned out to be a decent movie, maybe a little too ambitious and rethorical, but there were a couple of breath-taking scenes, a good music score and a beautiful photography.

Muholland Dr. ** (1st Time)
2001, Lynch, US/Fr
An enthusiastic actress arrives in LA in hope of stardom, but befriends an amnesiac who was involved in a car crash.
Here Lynch returns to bizarre form in what seems to be a sort of compendium of his previous work: a red curtain, a midget, Roy Orbison (albeit in Spanish) and identity switching; probably best to watch and think of it as an unsolvable nightmare.

Mick

The Natural

Just watched Dazed and Confused for the first time and it was pretty good. A good cast (with PLENTY of hot chicks) and it was pretty funny. Not too shabby

Ong Bac, Kiss of The Dragon again. Ong Bac is outrageous. I am seeing it again tommorrow.

BP - bro - please, I've seen "Ong Bac" from you like, three times... can you please tell this ol' man what/who you mean?

It's a new kung fu movie but there are no wires and all the actors do their own stunts.
Trailer
Trailer 2

I just watched a movie from the 70s called Ice Castles:
" A young girl is on top of the world until a tragic accident dashes her hopes and dreams of becoming a world-class figure skater. Only with the help of those who love her can she prove to the world -- and herself -- that she still has the potential to realize her dreams."
My roommate made me watch it, it was pretty corny, but cute.

I was looking to get "Heat" today, but they didn't have it so I settled for this.

Well, as I mentioned earlier, I finally bought JFK (Director's Cut) after wanting to add it to my very small collection. I finally got to view it after about 8 yrs or so since I saw it last.

Very powerful film, with a good commentary from Stone, explaining how he came to use certain characters. It was very insightful. Ironically, like most, I was on a four day work weekend, but it didn't click til Monday, when I watched the movie, that it was President's Day. How appropriate that I got the urge to watch it on the particular day.

TIS

TIS, does Oliver Stone provide a commentary of the whole movie, like can you listen as you watch it?

Hi Lauren,

No his commentary is separate from the movie, but they show the various scenes that he is commenting on. As advised, I watched the movie first and then the commentary. That was the best way for me, especially since it had been so long since I'd seen the movie. Everything was still fresh in my mind.

TIS

Ray *** (1st Time)
2004, Hackford, US
The rise to fame of Ray Charles, and his struggle with heroin.
A solidly made biopic which gains much weight from a meticulous performance from Foxx; otherwise, it stays in the safe conventions of the genre, and is lovely on the eyes and ears.

Scenes From a Marriage *** (1st Time)
1973, Bergman, Swe
An idyllic marriage falls apart, and over the next decade the couple meet to examine their relationship.
An excess of long-takes and close-ups make for an exhaustingly claustrophobic and draining film; Bergman is at his most wordy here, but the acting is phenomenal, and carries the film by itself.

Mick

You know they're coming out with a 2-disc special edition on May 24th, don't you?

TIS, how long is the commentary? Again I've wanted to watch it but haven't really had the time. So it doesn't run the entire length of the movie? I'm so glad to hear that you liked it. I better stop talking about it or I'm gonna have to watch it again this weekend, and I have WAY too much studying to do!

Since when did they fucking announce this? Oh well, it wasn't amazing that I would have to go get it anyway, although I probably will.

Man on Fire - (Scott;2004;USA) - ***
A former CIA operative is given the job of protecting a little girl.
The plot is average at best, however everything else comes together to make this better then it would've been. Full of good performances, mainly from Denzel Washington, Dakota Fanning, and Radha Mitchell. Christopher Walken and Giancarlo Giannini are also good in their minor roles. The editing is one of the better thingd about the film, although at times it becomes too excruciating and overused. The music and ending are also different tastes from normal action movies. Overall it amounts to a good action movie, although it is a tad overrated.
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Did you just get it today? If so, ask to return it. Tell them you grabbed the wrong movie or something like that.

Costco doesn't do that, I can't just go with a movie that is open and obviously could've been watched and so "Oh, wrong one."

And it's not a big deal to me, look at my Proview.

Yeah, I did it once at BestBuy but I reshunk wraped it (we have a shrink wrapping machine at work and I did that).

Angels W/ Dirty Faces
I liked this one way better than Little Ceasar. What a way to go out eh?

Fast Times At Ridgemont High was pretty good, but not better than Dazed and Confused. I didn't like Sean Penn's "stoner personality" to tell you the truth. It was horrible to see him like that. Judge Reinhold was good as Brad and Phoebe Cates was so beautiful as Linda. I was surprised by the amount of nudity in the film, but God Bless the 80s for that! Overall, not bad, I've seen worse.

I bought the 2-disc Heat DVD today, because I've never seen it before. I watched it, and I gotta be honest, I didn't like it very much. Pacino and De Niro were excellent, as usual, but I just didn't find it interesting, and it was way too long for the subject matter. Maybe I oughta watch it again, but as of now, I have no motivation to. I was very disappointed.

I don't understand how you can do that. I hardly EVER buy a DVD without watching it first, no matter what people say. I think the only DVDs that I buy without watching first are sports DVDs (such as wrestling, Yankees, Michael Jordan, etc). I wasn't a huge fan of the movie either, that I remember. It's been a couple of years since I've seen it though. Good cast, but for the first movie ever that featured both Al and Robert on the screen at the same time, I was expecting more.

I bought Heat because I've wanted to see it for a while, and because of all the hoopla surrounding it. Believe me, I won't buy some random DVD because it's in a shiny case or whatever. I heard so many good things about this movie, and with Pacino and De Niro in the same film, on screen at the same time, you can't lose, right? I wish that were the case...

Don't get too excited, that can ruin it for you. Many thing it's too long and had too many slow scenes, and altough it does have some overlne scenes, it's a great movie, and the last few frames before the credits are perfect.

I just re-watched it, with the hopes that I would enjoy it more. I did find it more enjoyable this time around, so much so that I actually this it's a good film. But overall, I'm still disappointed. I guess I'm just not used to seeing Pacino play a "cop", or seeing De Niro and Pacino play on opposite sides. But I gotta say, I really enjoyed the coffee shop scene with Pacino and De Niro. Overall, I think it's a good film, just not great. But that says nothing about Pacino and De Niro's performances, which were, as usual, excellent.