Define "more story."

Well, the whole bit in Magnificent when

for one thing, which I thought at least added something to the plot.

Oh that contrived nonsense. Because you know, its more heroic to save folks who don't want your ass. Right.

I really like MAGNIFICENT, also the basis for a groovy The Clash funk tune, but I prefer SEVEN SAMURAI in that instead of MAGNIFICENT's simplistic dancing nonsense, in Kurosawa's picture the samurai always knew that the farmers only wanted them to save their skin, and those fighters needed a job or do something noble or whatever shit.

Remember that sequence when the Samurai Yet the leader of the samurai stayed, and without much debate or melodrama.

Which is why also the ending is better, and that last line much more at home and direct than the American western interpretation of it.

Who knows, maybe that story fits more at home in the Japanese culture than our own? Weird since Kurosawa admittedly ripped off John Ford westerns.

Well...

The latter -- despite the 21st Century effects that, truthfully, didn't even compare to Titanic (1997) -- sucked in comparison, in every other regard, to the original. In the '72 version at least I gave a shit about anyone surviving; in this case, nah, maybe just the kid, otherwise there was nothing/no one to root for, cuz there was little character development.

Another pointless/shit remake outta the way.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

So am I to assume that you saw Samurai first, and thought so incredibly highly of it that any other interpretation of the same story you've seen since couldn't possibly be nearly as good (or God forbid any better!!)...

Or...

Are you just another artflick pawnfuck who goes with the flow of what every other ostensible "expert" thinks and is expected to say? ...even if something else might possibly be nearly as good (or God forbid any better!!)... ?

"Vantage Point" - a good, taut political thriller starring Dennis Quaid as a Secret Serviceman on the president's detail and Forest Whitaker as a tourist with a movie camera in the right place at the right time.

The president (William Hurt) gets shot and the chase is on to save him and catch his shooter. The story is told from a few different vantage points and at times it gets very disturbing that each "story" is re-told from the same starting point (just before noon) but that ends up adding to the suspense.

It's three strong stars out of 4.

Neither, goofy.

Don't you remember me as the guy who by leap years prefered John Carpenter's THE THING remake over the original THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD? Oh wait, you forgot of course.

No I saw SAMURAI first, and with its methodical storytelling 3 hours of action, characters, dynamics, music, and filmmakers' intention of more a ambitious drama than simply another actioneer...A fucking perfect film. That's the sort of film that all kids in senior high school/college freshman should watch in one epic sitting...and always remember that whole viewing experience.

Anyway, Yeah I do think MAGNIFICENT SEVEN pales in comparison, if because director Sturges was more interested in yet another entertaining western gun-show instead of Kurosawa's excellent blend of art and popcorn (think RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK for its time). And yes, I still think that MAGNIFICENT addage of the villagers turning on the gang was unnecessary.

That said, MAGNIFICENT is pretty good, with a classic macho cast(Brynner/McQueen/Bronson/Coburn/Vaughn/Wallach), and a great memorable soundtrack from Bernstein. So I'm not dissing it. Its a classic, deserves the love...but head-to-head, SAMURAI chops its head off.

Remember when Wolfgang Petersen made good movies?

Now his name to me is anonymous with shit. What happened to the German who shot DAS BOOT and IN THE LINE OF FIRE?

You know, Dennis Quaid should get more action roles quite honestly. An underrated actor he is.

Hell, I still think he should have been casted for THE PUNISHER instead of Thomas Jane all those years ago.

I love me!

I never knew you as one to self-suck.

The Chase (1966) (Dir. Arthur Penn; Starring Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford, Robert Duvall)

The acting was actually okay in this, I just think the story (or execution of the story) was pretty weak. I was disappointed, and bored. Maybe someone else can share something redeeming about this other than the cast.

I had to see this for a class in college. I don't remember too much of it other than it was laughable (especially considering the cast).

I remember when "The Chase" was released. I never saw it in the theater, and only saw part of it years later when it was on tv. I turned the channel, if I recall. It just didn't capture my interest I guess.


TIS

This weekend Time Warner had movies for a penny on "On Demand". I have only accidently heard of this movie and was wondering when it was going to be released. Evidently it was right to video. I figured it'd be a good fun movie to see with my girls. I gotta say, the only person I know in this movie is Penny Marshall. The rest of the cast is new although the star looks familiar.

Anyway, the premise (more or less) both the man and woman thinks the other is Italian and pretends they are too. Kind of cute. Worth every penny.

TIS


http://www.everybodywantstobeitalian.com/

Thanks, TIS, that looks cute. I've added it to the top of my Netflix queue The trailer didn't seem to suggest Rated R, though...

It is rated R, but I'd say a "soft" R. I actually had to check, I thought it could have been a PG13 (do they even still have that rating?

Anyway, it's what I call a fun movie.


TIS

TO HELL AND BACK (1955) - ***1/2

I think its a good thing that Audie Leon Murphy was a real life person, for I doubt anyone would have conjoured up such a fantastical fictional biography in fear of being dismissed as pure absurdity. Born to an impoverished sharecropping Texas family of 12 kids, he was forced to quit school at eigth grade to get a job out after his father deserted them. After Pearl Harbor, Murphy at the tender age of 16 sought to enlist with the Marines, but at 5'5'' and 110 pounds, they turned him down for being ill-fit for combat. So did the Air Force and Paratroopers, but the Army let him join, even if his platoon thought his size was a fatal liability for them.

But shorty proved everyone wrong by earning a Distinguished Service Cross after solo-dispatching several Nazi machin gun nests after they killed his buddy. The runt ended up being commissioned second lieutenant, leading the platoon himself. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for Holtzwihr, France in 1945 where on top of a burning tank, a death trap with spilled gasoline everywhere, he alone held off a German infantry advance with the tank's .50 caliber machine gun, then organizing his surviving men, they staged a successful counter-attack. Holy shit! After the war, he became both a successful movie star (44 films in all) and a Country Music songwriter. After President Kennedy, Murphy's gravesite is the most visited at Arlington National Cemetary.

As an actor, his most notable film work was TO HELL AND BACK, based off his autobiography (which was actually ghost-written by his war buddy), so effectively you have rather uniquely bizarre film production where one of the most decorated soldiers in American history plays himself. It's a fascinating gimmick to say the least, one that easily could have been dismissed as Murphy and studio shallowly cashing in his fame as a war luminary. But Murphy surprisingly proves himself to be a captivating presence, a humble yet charismatic lead, like if Jimmy Stewart had ever quit stuttering and man up. The public agreed, for TO HELL AND BACK was Universal Picture's biggest box-office hit until JAWS.

But God knows how fucking weird and awkward it must have been for Murphy to recreate in dramatizing horrific traumatic episodes of his life a decade later. Of course the irony is that as badass as TO HELL AND BACK does make Murphy look (he needed no help from Hollywood), the producers actually cut out the more incredible details of his war years because they thought the audience wouldn't believe it. For instance, throughout his tour of duty, Murphy had malaria. That's right, he went Clint Eastwood on the Germans while suffering a disease that kills a million folks a year. Do you feel lucky mosquitos, do ya punk!?! No wonder Cracked.com praised him as "a real-life guy who made Rambo look like a pussy."

One thing you must get through with TO HELL AND BACK is that it was produced like the other Hollywood war films of that time, where war comes off as a great fun backyard adventure where soldiers simply fall down after getting shot and the Americans always die by overacting. Of course I think that epoch's censoring of war to offend audiences is a great insult to those who fought, for it makes their sacrifices seem almost trivial, and less miraculous for those that survived, all which Murphy didn't intend. Now what I do dig though with TO HELL is that alot like war vet-turned-filmmaker Sam Fuller's B-movies of the time, there is a dramatic emphasis on how in all wars, even the supposed righteous World War 2, alot of deaths occured over futile trivial matters that mock logic.

There is a great lengthy sequence in Italy where the Germans and Audie's platoon effectively wipe each other out, including most of Audie's pals, in a mud battlefield over a simple farmhouse that might serve as a temporary observation post. The Americans capture it finally, face off a column of Nazi tanks, but then have to evacuate immediately because of the advancing Allies. All for nothing.

What also caught my attention was the early scene when young Murphy had to quit school, how his hick neighbors lament over this tragedy. That's quite a contrast with modern America where a good education isn't as prized much anymore, or worse knowledge is demaned and dismissed especially in poor urban and rural communities, and nevermind that silly stigma within our politics and culture where being smart was an evil elitist trait.Better yet in Basketball, where we actually freak out in surprise when we get a major college senior star only join the NBA Draft after his senior year. Sure the NBA has since set that minimum draft age at 19, but it's not working like everyone had hoped. Instead of giving those guys at least a year of academia (which most of them waste anyway with garbage courses to stay GPA eligible), the NCAA has effectively become a glorified minor league.

Anyway, my favorite moment though in TO HELL was the ending shot when Murphy gets the parades and medals, and at this great moment of his life, he projects an empty blank uncomfortably awkward stare. It's good acting, but also it represents what I think also seperated TO HELL from the other genre works of the 1950s, which was making this critical point that as heroic Murphy was, his fallen comrades were no less brave or courageous, but are only remembered as mere statistics or unremarkable tombstones. Much like ATONEMENT, they were people with unfinished goals and dreams that were interrupted and destroyed by the war. This will sound naive, but I would like to believe that Murphy wouldn't have done TO HELL if it was just another run-of-the-mill glorifying of war.

The conclusion with the "ghost" roll call may come off to some of you as cheesy, but I appreciate that well meaning gesture, and with Murphy himself that makes TO HELL a really good watch in spite of the bland direction and an uneven uninspired episodic screenplay, though I did like that segment where this soldier, a bragger of his womanizing, confesses about his only true love back home to an Italian prostitute who didn't speak any English.

In fact, I think a nuanced biopic of Murphy should be produced. It would cover obviously his harsh upbringing, war exploits, and his cinema career (B-westerns and John Huston's THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE), but also the obscure fact that he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder ("shell shock"), which caused him to be severely addicted to sleeping pills. He quit cold turkey by spending a week locked up at a motel. Afterwards he used his fame to speak out in support of Korean and Vietnam veterans suffering from war-related mental disorders like PTSD, proving that they're all victims, even Audie fucking Murphy, of whom George S. Patton had infamously slapped literally as cowards.

Now that makes him an even greater hero.

Murphy was the most decorated soldier of WWII. I read his autobiography ("To Hell and Back") and it is quite a story.

i liked the movie and book...its kinda sad he isnt mentioned much though.

"The Children's Hour" (1961) starring Shirley MacLaine, Audrey Hepburn and James Garner.

Marlon Brando had a great run of movies in the early 50s. MacLaine had an equal run starting in 1958 running through 1963 and this movie, right in the middle of that stretch, may be her best.

It tells the story of two women (MacLaine and Hepburn) who operate a private boarding school for rich girls. They are unjustly accused of being lesbians by one of the students (this young girl will quickly make your list of hated movie villains) and how that accusation goes on to ruin their lives.

This was a taboo subject in the early 60s and it really isn't tackled here, but the acting alone makes it a great worthwhile "must-see" movie.

My old man was a big Audie Murphy fan. Him and John Wayne.

A pity that those characters weren't really lesbians.

What?

my father has every single A movie john wayne has done...he might be half way there with his B movies though.

I never heard of Wanted (2008), but it somehow ended up at the top of my Netflix queue. Did someone recommend it to me?

With Morgan Freeman and hotlips Angelina Jolie, this had great potential, but what went wrong? The action and effects were top-notch (if not over done)... the story idea was actually quite cool (tho the writing sucked)... maybe it was the main character's performance (played by James "Who?" McAvoy)... I don't know. This could've been really great, but it was still cool and fun to watch nonetheless. I'll blame it on the writing.

James McAvoy is a British actor who stars in snoozefest ATONEMENT with Keira Knightly i think!

Actually, out of all of Keira Knightley's time period films as of late, ATONEMENT was one of the better ones. Don't forget James was also in THE CHRONICLES OF NARIA: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. He was also in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND.

Here's his Filmography.

Finally watched them, back-to-back:

Grindhouse is the double-feature featuring:

Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof (2007) (Kurt Russell, Zoe Bell, Rosario Dawson). IMDb plot: "Two separate sets of voluptuous women are stalked at different times by a scarred stuntman who uses his 'death proof' cars to execute his murderous plans."

I loved the classic movie "Feature Presentation" and "Restricted" animations in the beginning, but I have to admit the old film effect, while at times creatively placed, was often just distracting -- in both films. But as for Death Proof itself, I thought it started out a bit slow, but halfway into the second story 'til the end, it made up for it and I loved it! Tarantino style throughout.

Robert Rodriguez' Planet Terror (2007) (Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodríguez, Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis). IMDb plot: "After an experimental bio-weapon is released, turning thousands into zombie-like creatures, it's up to a rag-tag group of survivors to stop the infected and those behind its release."

I don't know what it is, but for me I just cannot take zombie movies very seriously. I have yet to see one that looks realistic at all, but maybe that was the intention (being all retro and all). Nothing really new here, but entertaining nonetheless.

J Geoff, do you like zombie movies more then Godfather 3?