the C I N E M A

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Decided to make another movie thread that didn't have "best ever" as parameters (no offence 180mmmCrank). Applies more to current productions, but not limited to... Plenty of great sleepers and cult classics out there too.

Have at it!

Most recent flick I saw in the theater was 'Tetro' by Francis Ford Coppola, with Vincent Gallo.

Great flick! "Set in Argentina, with the reunion of two brothers, the story follows the rivalries born out of creative differences passed down through generations of an artistic Italian immigrant family." nabbed from Wikipedia

And surprisingly enough was written and sent to production when actors strike was going on a couple of years ago, but they got it done. Was edited in your mom's basement using Apple hardware and software exclusively.

 

[Cobber]

I saw "Surrogates" last week. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810022523/info

It was pretty entertaining, but I don't think it will win any Oscars. Kind of a mix between "the Matrix" and "Bladerunner".

 

[Anonymous]

last film i saw, was god, high fidelity...

concentration threshold of 23 seconds and the smoking ban makes cinemas my idea of hell..

 

[scribe]

I Sell the Dead. I think it has been bouncing around for a year or so, but it is entertaining for this time of year. Campy with cool visuals, but the story line falls a bit flat in spite of that. Worth seeing if you enjoy the Halloween spirit.

Dimspace: You really need to stop smoking!

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

On the cult classics tip, At least once a year I find myself getting sucked into a showing at my house or a friend's watching Stanley Kubrick flix. Namely 'Clockwork Orange', and '2001: A Space Odyssey'. And David Lynch is another cult classic master. 'Dune', 'Blue Velvet', 'Twin Peaks'. Sheesh, so many good ones!

 

[scribe]

I've been catching some Twin Peaks on CI (Crime Investigation) channel.

 

[BroDeal]

I saw "Surrogates" last week. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810022523/info

It was pretty entertaining, but I don't think it will win any Oscars. Kind of a mix between "the Matrix" and "Bladerunner".

Saw that. It was not great but it was okay. I am easily entertained and a sucker for science fiction flicks.

It took me a while to figure out what they had done to Willis' face for his surrogate.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

I am easily entertained and a sucker for science fiction flicks..

Have you seen 'District 9'?

The night I went to see 'Inglorious Basterds' everyone told me to go see D9 instead. Wish I would've.

 

[scribe]

Curious what you didn't like about Inglorious Basterds. Brad Pitt's character saved it for me. Reminds me of an Uncle of mine who is gung-ho to the point where no one would want to be around him in combat.

 

[RDV4ROUBAIX]

Curious what you didn't like about Inglorious Basterds. Brad Pitt's character saved it for me. Reminds me of an Uncle of mine who is gung-ho to the point where no one would want to be around him in combat.

Yeah, Pitt saved it. He was very good, but the rest of the performance was kind of lackluster for me. I have endless ties to WWII through family as well, and also being a Jewish American, not by religion, by birth. I thought I might connect to the story line more, but it just didn't do it for me. I was caught at the end of the movie with the lights on literally scratching my head saying; "that's it?"

Personally, I think Tarantino is going to have a hard time beating 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Kill Bill'

 

[scribe]

I was offended by the Semitic/Nazi twist, but my GF convinced me that it was just tarantino's style to do such things. Of course, I had to run home to see what his family background was (as if). I saw it in the burbs of NYC and was surprised when the lights came on as well. I was surprised because people were clapping (???). haha

Oh well. I guess the time has come that this sort of thing doesn't stir controversy?

I thought the story line was particularly bad. The german 'jew hunter' investigating the shootout scene when he should have been setting up the biggest Nazi event in France (movie screening), just about drove me to walk out.

Altogether, I think Tarantino should still be working in a VHS movie rental store somewhere instead of writing movie scripts.

 

[Tugboat]

Have you seen 'District 9'?

The night I went to see 'Inglorious Basterds' everyone told me to go see D9 instead. Wish I would've.

If you can still find it on a big screen go see D9. It's refreshingly different from the usual, formulaic crap that comes out of Hollywood (largely the only complaints I've heard are from people who prefer their movies to work to the formula) and Neil Blomkamp and Peter Jackson do a great job of building up the pace till it reaches an almighty crescendo at the end.

It it was Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer in charge there is no way they would have delivered such a great movie on 'only' a $30m budget.

See it, see it now!! It's by far the best movie I've seen onscreen this year (although I am hanging out in anticipation of Where The Wild Things Are).

 

[Kingsley A]

I hadn't heard of District 9 until I saw this thread; I don't go to the movies anywhere near as frequently as I used to in the 90s and I don't know if it's had it's UK release yet. It certainly sounds like and interesting premiss though, given the spoiling avoiding skimming I've done of wiki and the IMDB.

On the Taratino front, I've always generally felt he was a far better screenwriter than director or producer. Kill Bill was the first thing that suggested to me I might be wrong. I haven't seen Inglorious *******s yet but look forward to the DVD release.

On a lighter note the most recent movie to blow me away, I saw on TV about two weeks ago. It blew me away not because it was brilliant (it wasn't) but that it was so much better than the critics had described it at the time. As post-apocalypse fantasy movies go, the only one I can think of that was better was Mad Max 2.

The movie in question was Kevin Costner's Water World. I just don't understand how it got panned so badly and now know I made a big mistake not paying a fiver to see it on the big screen compared to some of the other movies I went to back then. Certainly it's not a movie that deserved Oscar nominations but for anyone who like fantasy, it was far better than Peter Jackson's interpretation of The Two Towers for a start. As I say, not a brilliant movie but one so surprisingly better than the reviews in it's own time frame that it should be watched bny all!

Or maybe it's just my tastes?

 

[broken chain]

I hadn't heard of District 9 until I saw this thread; I don't go to the movies anywhere near as frequently as I used to in the 90s and I don't know if it's had it's UK release yet. It certainly sounds like and interesting premiss though, given the spoiling avoiding skimming I've done of wiki and the IMDB.

On the Taratino front, I've always generally felt he was a far better screenwriter than director or producer. Kill Bill was the first thing that suggested to me I might be wrong. I haven't seen Inglorious *******s yet but look forward to the DVD release.

On a lighter note the most recent movie to blow me away, I saw on TV about two weeks ago. It blew me away not because it was brilliant (it wasn't) but that it was so much better than the critics had described it at the time. As post-apocalypse fantasy movies go, the only one I can think of that was better was Mad Max 2.

The movie in question was Kevin Costner's Water World. I just don't understand how it got panned so badly and now know I made a big mistake not paying a fiver to see it on the big screen compared to some of the other movies I went to back then. Certainly it's not a movie that deserved Oscar nominations but for anyone who like fantasy, it was far better than Peter Jackson's interpretation of The Two Towers for a start. As I say, not a brilliant movie but one so surprisingly better than the reviews in it's own time frame that it should be watched bny all!

Or maybe it's just my tastes?

Waterworld went waaaaaaaayyyyy overbudget,Kevin K. was a real s*** on set.Ego was to blame for the 225 million price tag.

 

[racerralph]

Right now, for sheer entertainment value, in the Pop movies category, now playing at your local Monster-plexes, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" is a must see. It is better written than most of the movies on the screens right now, with meticulous attention given to hilarious details, throughout the movie. And if you can catch it in 3D, it's worth the extra $.
On the other hand, For all you Sci-Fi junkies Pandorum is a very dark, and tense journey into the survival of the human race. Not one of those happy ending Sci-Fi fairy tales about the ultimate goodness in us all, like "Surrogates". In Surrogates, I think the creator had it nailed. You'll know what I mean if you've seen the movie, or if you MUST see the movie.
Go see .......Meatballs! It's a barrel of laughs.

 

[badboyberty]

We just did a Max-athon, watched he three Mad Max (Road Warrior in the States) movies in a row.

It's a strange procession, brilliant low budget schlock horror post-apocalypse horror action flick for the first film degenerating to whacked-out sci-fi kids comedy romp by the third. Watching the first film has the added bonus for me of being able to recognise a fair few of the roads and wondering if they actually used stunt drivers for the movie or just filmed local boguns* on a Sunday afternoon.

* bogun is Australian term that equates to a hybridised red-neck/revhead in American speak.

 

[rhubroma]

il Meglio Gioventù, by Marco Tullio Giordana

Litterally "The Best Youth," although we would probably title it "The Best Time to Grow Up."

If you are interested in knowing about ideological, social, "human" life in Italy from 68 to I think about 2002, when the film was made, then this saga about two brothers is a fine film to watch.

It's long, though, circa 6 hours.

 

[scribe]

Cloudy with a Chance for Meatballs = excellent. Something for everyone.

 

[runninboy]

Waterworld went waaaaaaaayyyyy overbudget,Kevin K. was a real s*** on set.Ego was to blame for the 225 million price tag.

The reason movies cost so much was explained to me simply by a Producer when the "Right Stuff" came out.
It is much easier to skim off $10 million from a 100 million dollar budget than a 30 million dollar budget.

I have mentioned it before, but people like producers or their wives start these little paper companies that sub contract the actual service to a real company and pocket a big chunk of money in the process.
Example
Brown bag catering caters everything for 3 mil(arbitrary figure)and gets screen credit. But the only person who works for Brown bag catering is the producers wife. She calls her fav caterer and they do the job for 1.8 mil and she pockets 1.2.
You multiply this many times for many things and you have "big budget"movies
sad

 

[racerralph]

I was offended by the Semitic/Nazi twist, but my GF convinced me that it was just tarantino's style to do such things. Of course, I had to run home to see what his family background was (as if). I saw it in the burbs of NYC and was surprised when the lights came on as well. I was surprised because people were clapping (???). haha

Oh well. I guess the time has come that this sort of thing doesn't stir controversy?

I thought the story line was particularly bad. The german 'jew hunter' investigating the shootout scene when he should have been setting up the biggest Nazi event in France (movie screening), just about drove me to walk out.

Altogether, I think Tarantino should still be working in a VHS movie rental store somewhere instead of writing movie scripts.

Hi there. I'm kind of confused by your taking offence to the Semitic/Nazi "twist". Could you explain the twist part to me. I thought the film was pretty straight forward, from the opening credits to the closing credits.
Tarantino gave us a harrowing account, albeit with a twisted sense of humor, of the terror that saturated, but also motivated every jew in all of Europe( and ultimately everyone else too). It was also a tale of the terror that those that fought the nazi's, attempted to instill in them, in return. And as Pitt and his boys maintained, as they carved swastika's into their foreheads, Pitt's character wanted the Nazi's to never forget their part in the atrocities they helped shape, no matter how small.
After the giddy gloating, and self congratulatory glee expressed by the evil Colonel, It was with relief and happiness that the audience greeted his ultimate destiny which was carved into his flesh. Symbolically, in the end, the bad guy, who stood for all the Evilness of the Third Reich, got his righteous comeuppance, as did the Nazi regime, ultimately.
And that is why the audience applauded.
I thought the film was very well executed. A lot of fiction mixed into a very real story about a terrible time in our history.

 

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Some viewed the twist of depiction to be the exact reversal of some of the atrocities incurred by the Jews. Of course, this is precisely what you are saying. However, not everyone is interested in vengeance for catharsis and that is the difference in our viewpoints. Additionally, Tarantino is not really personally qualified to partake in creating such scenarios with a nod toward dark history, but it is a free country, so at minimally he won't receive laudatory acknowledgment from me.

 

[usedtobefast]

saw The Passage today. came out in 1979. has an all star cast and filmed
in the Pyrenees. anthony quinn, james mason, malcom mcdowell(he is an very evil SS officer) not bad, if not super original. well done.

 

[Anonymous]

Saw "Anvil: The story of Anvil." Thought it was done very well. I love documentaries.

 

[scribe]

Where the Wild Things Are

Nice production. Definitely NOT a kids a film. I kept thinking Prozac all the way through the movie..... Won't spoil it though but dont expect a feel good movie just the same.

 

[scribe]

I really want to see the Informant, but I heard an NPR special on it which was a major spoiler. Without having seen it, it has some really wild twists and turns, AND it is a true story to boot. Let me know what you think of the movie when you see it.