Recently viewed films

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 6:32 pm

Gotta agree with The Man Who Would Be Newman on Kung Fu Hustle. Such a fun, entertaining film with an amazing villain, The Beast, and the set piece with the landlords and the assassins was five star stuff.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 11:02 pm

I know I'm totally in the minority of action-fan film lovers on this, but I was dissapointed by "Kung Fu Hustle", I just never felt grounded in what was going on and out of the loop, like I was the only sober person in a room of drunks or something -- though there were definitely moments.

Tried to see "40 Year Old Virgin" last night, but that was sold out, so I wound up at "Red Eye". It's really nothing special at all and the script is pretty by the numbers stuff Hitchcockian stuff, but that Wes Craven guy really knows how to keep the tension high and got some pretty good performances. Also saw "Batman Begins" a second time -- didn't hold up as well as I'd expected, but there were some great moments still and I remain in awe of Christian Bale and Michael Caine.

Definitely looking forward to "Constant Gardener" (loved "City of God" from -- depending on who you believe -- the same director and I'm a big John Le Carre fan, though I haven't read any books of his since "The Russia House"..actually, I need to read "A Perfect Spy" at some point...), also the new Jim Jarmusch film, "Broken Flowers" with Bill Murrya is out here too and that's a must for me....

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 12:32 am

Bobster, I wouldn't be sad about seeing "Red Eye" instead of "40-Year-Old Virgin." "Red Eye wasn't great cinema, but for what it was, it was expertly done, all that claustrophobic tension and the little touches with the other passengers, I thought were dead on. I thought "40-Year-Old Virgin" was really nothing special as a comedy; I went in last night expecting to be greatly entertained, but it just wasn't that funny. Lots of setups could have led to something great, but the punchlines were just lazy and fell flat. The only part I thought truly funny was the dance sequence. Other than that, it was just a chuckle here and there.

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 2:03 am

True Crime - very impressed again by Clint Eastwoods' high directorial, production and acting standards. Everything comes together beautifully in it, with a stream of little nuances constantly giving one something to think about. Not a dud bit of acting in it. Good to see Clint as a fading reporter and struggling husband. I liked that there's pathos in his character but with levity, offsetting his own story cleverly against the main story. And a Diana Krall-sung song during the end credits, composed by Eastwood, about how some love didn't work out...

The Rage In Placid Lake - Mug might enjoy this film-- it stars Ben Lee as lead actor. I'd never seen Lee in a film before but he carried it off very well. A thoughful blackly comic Australian movie set in suburbia with Lee the son of nerdy new age parents, trying to figure out how he fits after having been bullied at school.

King Hoarse · Post by **King Hoarse** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 8:09 pm

The penguins in Madagascar made me laugh more than any other movie characters I can remember.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:32 pm

Eep! Double post.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:32 pm

Just saw "The Constant Gardener" and "The Corpse Bride," both of which were quite good, though the first was better. It was also almost twice as long, probably because every frame didn't have to be nudged and tweaked into place. Anyway, depending on your mood, they both have plenty of merits to recommend them. (Not the least of which is a maggot that sounds like Peter Lorre.)

Tim(e) · Post by **Tim(e)** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:02 pm

Yesterday I took my 6 year old son to see "Sky High"... fortunately the session times listing I listened to on the phone the evening before was no longer correct (it was for the previous week that happened to end that night) and it was either wait an hour and a half to see "Sky High" or go directly to see "Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Were-Rabbit".

Luckily for me, young Dec was in a very accommodating mood and was happy to go see W&G.

I had been a little concerned that Aardman might not be able to pull off a full feature length W&G story, but as it turned out, my fears were unfounded. It is a very funny film. It has all of the crazy contraptions that we have come to expect in a W&G story, a screamingly funny British upper class villain (in the tradition of Terry Thomas or George Cole) and a nice little plot twist thrown in for good meassure. Highly recommended (and not just for the kiddies).

A great extra at this session was an excellent short film featuring the penguins from Madagascar... it was brilliant and I only hope to goodness that they include it on the W&G DVD when it eventually gets a release.

Post by **BlueChair** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:48 pm

We saw the Wallace & Gromit movie at the film festival. It was great!

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:05 pm

The Tom Green Show: Tonsil Hockey. Very funny stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 6?v=glance

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:19 am

Anyone planning to see "Capote"? Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Chris Cooper. That's a helluva cast. Really looking forward to this one. There was very positive review of the film in today's Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern (honest, I only read it for Peggy Noonan's column!

). He said it was "the most thoughtful mainstream feature ever made about writers and writing".

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:24 am

WSS -

For shizzle! I love Capote and I love both Hoffman and Keener so this is a no-brainer for me. Yeah, the reviews have been pretty ecstatic and it sounds like they took the right approach to this biopic and avoided all the breakfast to bed details that bog down most of them and focused on THE pivotal event in Capote's life.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:09 am

It's definitely on my list. And for the record, may I say that the most thoughtful NON-mainstream feature ever made about writers and writing has got to be Swimming Pool? Love that one.

Post by **BlueChair** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:10 am

Definitely want to see Capote.. it got really good buzz at the Toronto film festival.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:04 pm

Anyone seen "Galaxy Quest"? Dumb title but a really funny film. The wife has some weird fixation with Alan Rickman, so it popped up on the Tivo. We watched it with our friend Ben this evening and there were more than a few laugh-out-loud moments, despite the presence of Tim Allen, who I normally despise.

Post by **BlueChair** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:11 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:Anyone seen "Galaxy Quest"? Dumb title but a really funny film. The wife has some weird fixation with Alan Rickman, so it popped up on the Tivo. We watched it with our friend Ben this evening and there were more than a few laugh-out-loud moments, despite the presence of Tim Allen, who I normally despise.

Isn't that film like 6 or 7 years old?

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 10:11 pm

Yeah, but it's pretty funny.

Guess I've gone slightly off-topic.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 7:47 am

Who Shot Sam? wrote: The wife has some weird fixation with Alan Rickman

Now, now... there's nothing weird about a fixation with Alan Rickman. Just ask our Plaything Or Pet. Or me...

That's a pretty funny movie!

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 8:24 am

Who Shot Sam? wrote:Yeah, but it's pretty funny.

Guess I've gone slightly off-topic.

If you watched it the other day, it's recent for you!

Post by **BlueChair** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:14 am

Speaking of Alan Rickman, that's funny you watched Galaxy Quest cause on the same night we watched Bob Roberts (which I had never seen). Hilarious.

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 10:08 am

Watched A History of Violence yesterday and loved every single frame of it. I'll have to watch it again to see if it still holds up for me but right now I think it's one of the best films to come out in my lifetime.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 10:09 am

Ice Nine awaits you on the IMDB thread!

El Vez · Post by **El Vez** » Sun Oct 02, 2005 12:43 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:Anyone seen "Galaxy Quest"? Dumb title but a really funny film. The wife has some weird fixation with Alan Rickman, so it popped up on the Tivo. We watched it with our friend Ben this evening and there were more than a few laugh-out-loud moments, despite the presence of Tim Allen, who I normally despise.

I thought Sam Rockwell deserved an Oscar nomination for that film. My goodness was he ever hysterical! Agreed on Tim Allen but I must qualify that by saying that I liked Big Trouble a lot even though that probably has more to do with Zooey Deschanel than Mr. Tool Time.

Tim(e) · Post by **Tim(e)** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:41 am

BlueChair wrote:
Who Shot Sam? wrote:Anyone seen "Galaxy Quest"? Dumb title but a really funny film. The wife has some weird fixation with Alan Rickman, so it popped up on the Tivo. We watched it with our friend Ben this evening and there were more than a few laugh-out-loud moments, despite the presence of Tim Allen, who I normally despise.
Isn't that film like 6 or 7 years old?

No way!! Galaxy Quest is an excellent piss-take on the Star Trek phenomenon. It is well acted (Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen etc), well scripted, and has more than passable SFX (done by the Alien people). 6 or 7 year olds will no doubt enjoy it (but it does tend to get a little violent at times), but it really is a film for all of those people who have grown up with Star Trek and the like (although not necessarily hard core fans of that show - can't see what all of the fuss is about myself), and I whole heartedly recommend it... you WILL be pleasantly surprised.

I eventually ended up taking my 6 year old along to see Sky High and again, was very pleasantly surprised by what was a very clever little film. It was actually interesting logging in here and finding this discussion of Galaxy Quest, as Sky High reminded me of that film in so many ways. This was one of those films that both my son and myself could leave feeling like we had had a good time.

Before Sky High started, they showed a preview of The Corpse Bride... have to say that I cannot wait until that opens; it looked fantastic!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 7:47 am

Tim(e) wrote:
BlueChair wrote:Isn't that film like 6 or 7 years old?
No way!! Galaxy Quest is an excellent piss-take on the Star Trek phenomenon. It is well acted (Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen etc), well scripted, and has more than passable SFX (done by the Alien people). 6 or 7 year olds will no doubt enjoy it (but it does tend to get a little violent at times), but it really is a film for all of those people who have grown up with Star Trek and the like (although not necessarily hard core fans of that show - can't see what all of the fuss is about myself), and I whole heartedly recommend it... you WILL be pleasantly surprised.

I eventually ended up taking my 6 year old along to see Sky High and again, was very pleasantly surprised by what was a very clever little film. It was actually interesting logging in here and finding this discussion of Galaxy Quest, as Sky High reminded me of that film in so many ways. This was one of those films that both my son and myself could leave feeling like we had had a good time.

Before Sky High started, they showed a preview of The Corpse Bride... have to say that I cannot wait until that opens; it looked fantastic!

I think Blue just meant to say that the film came out 6 or 7 years ago, but I do agree with you about it being an awful lot of fun. I was no great fan of Star Trek growing up, but it was so omnipresent that I couldn't help but take it in through osmosis.

I may take my daughter to see "Corpse Bride" next weekend. She has an appreciation of the macabre and loved "The Nightmare Before Christmas". This looks quite similar.