Recently viewed films

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noiseradio
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Post by noiseradio »

Clark Johnson was Meldrick Lewis on my favorite drama of all time: Homicide: Life on the Streets. If we're talking about the same Clark Johnson.

He, Kyle Secor, and Andre Braugher all were brilliant on that show (now available on DVD, seasons 1-3), and they got precious little recognition for it.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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bobster
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Post by bobster »

Noise --

I did point out Clark Johnson was "Meldrick" -- I always forget it's the character's first name, not his last. And I've been renting the DVDs -- though I caught a lot of the show when it was first on, it took me awhile and I didn't realize how good it was, right away. Amazing stuff.

The acting on the show was amazingly strong all around. Kyle Secor was terrific. Yaphet Kotto is an under-recognized national resource. But,yes, Andre Braugher was criminally under recognized as one of the finest actors working. The energy and committment of the guy is awe inspiring. So sad that's he's currently stuck playing second banana on a show that I'm told is pretty third-rate. Actually, I'd love to see them just bring back his character for a "Prime Suspect" or "Cracker" type series. If I ever get to meet Jeff Zucker.....

On the other hand, Richard Belzer has certainly milked HIS character for all it's worth.....
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noiseradio
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Post by noiseradio »

Bobster,

I don't know how I missed your Homicide referrence when I read your post. Weird.

Can't blame Belzer for milking Munch. He's a funny stand up comic, but Munch is the only work he's ever done that was taken seriously. And I like the character a lot on Homicide. Less so on Law & Order, but then that particular spin off does little for me.

Remember the season of Homicide where Andre Braugher recovered from a stroke? The whole season, every episode was a textbook on how to act. Unbelievable. And yet all year, Nash Bridges beat Homicide in the ratings, and Andre Braugher didn't even receive an Emmy nomination, much less a statue. Scandal!
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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Post by laughingcrow »

Was hanging round Glasgow waiting for my buddy to arrive late...saw 3 movies, and got a funny look from the girl at the counter when I kept reappearing...methinks she thought I was a weirdo with no social life...(I vehemently deny that by the way)...

The Shape of Things....as most of you in Region 1 have already seen this, Ill just plug it again for any Region 2 buyers who might still have not...it's quality. Really good dialogue, thought provoking...plus EC songs and Rachel Weisz! How can you go wrong?

Spun....It starts really badly, really claustrophobicly, but once the characters get some meat on them it actually became fun. Really psychedelic cartoon sequence involving a kid on amphetamines being sucked into a poledancers vagina...and then leaving her handcuffed nude to his bed with tape over her eyes, and a death metal CD on repeat for 4 days. In short, don't take kids or parents to this film, but it was good.

Love Actually....shallow, pointless, badly formed characters...and worst of all for a 'comedy'....not funny. The only interesting part was Liam Neeson and his brutally honest relationship with his stepson..but it probably only took up 15 minutes of the film in total.
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Post by bobster »

Well, this is supposed to be about recent films, so I'll keep my TV reference short but yes, Noise and all the world. The Emmys (nearly always) suck. Actually, I wasn't crazy about that stroke storyline, but Braugher did it pretty flawlessly. The guy deserved an Emmy for practically every episode he was in.
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Post by martinfoyle »

Keeping on this Homicide tangent, Daniel Baldwin's work in the early seasons proved to me that he's by far the most talented of the Baldwin brothers. He's always great. Favourite Homicide episode? 1998-9's "Lines of Fire", one of the few decent things Kathryn Bigelows done in recent years.
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Post by mood swung »

is Homicide on tv anymore? we used to watch the reruns on Court TV and I miss 'em.
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Post by noiseradio »

Homicide was cancelled a few years ago. They tried in the 7th season to make it more slick, which was a shame. One of the great strengths of the show was that the cops looked like real cops and not models. It's still a good season, but between the pollish and Braugher's departure, it just wasn't quite the same show. It ended very well, though. The DVDs are being released; 1-3 are already out. Seasons 4-7 yet to come.

Lines of Fire is a great episode. I also really like "Crosetti," when Pembleton acts as honor guard for Steve. I agree that Daniel Baldwin is great in that show. My wife and I just watched the one where he comes home to an empty house and the words "good Bye" in lipstick on the bathroom mirror. His reactions are great. I felt like I'd been gutpunched.

Best character besides Frank Pembleton might be Luther Mahoney. One of my favorite villains ever.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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Post by so lacklustre »

Went to see The Return Of The King last night. First of all I should confess that I haven't read the books (although I have read the Hobbit) and so my thoughts are based purely on the film. It was overlong, the first 40 minutes dragged for me and the film should have ended about 20 mins before it did. The action scenes were spectacular though, and I particularly enjoyed the scenes where the Rohanian army attacked the orcs and the scenes with the spider were good as well. I had been looking forward to this but have been left slightly deflated, and imo it was not as good as the other two films.

Stands back and waits to be lambasted by Tolkienites everywhere!
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Post by martinfoyle »

so lacklustre wrote:Went to see The Return Of The King last night. First of all I should confess that I haven't read the books (although I have read the Hobbit) and so my thoughts are based purely on the film. It was overlong, the first 40 minutes dragged for me and the film should have ended about 20 mins before it did. The action scenes were spectacular though, and I particularly enjoyed the scenes where the Rohanian army attacked the orcs and the scenes with the spider were good as well. I had been looking forward to this but have been left slightly deflated, and imo it was not as good as the other two films.

Stands back and waits to be lambasted by Tolkienites everywhere!
I agree with you, #3 is not as good as 1&2. I had heard about the 5 endings, so it was'nt too much of a head wrecker. The quiet bits allowed one to have a little snooze now and again. Maybe I was watching out for it, but I thought Orlando Bloom's re-shoot was terribly obvious and, technically, jarring. Other than that, the 3 films are a great achievement, though I still feel no way inclined to read the book.
Now I'm off to see a film called The Cuckoo http://www.irishfilm.ie/cinema/dispfilm ... &PageID=15
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A rope leash
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Flicks

Post by A rope leash »

I don't know what it is, but the spectacular science-fiction-fantasy-special effects flicks just ain't doing it for me anymore. I think Event Horizon was the last one I tolerated enough to watch all the way through.

We rented Levity this past week, and I thought it was a good 'ern. I'm really starting to respect Billy-Bob.

Hey, guys, Homicide was the best cop show on television ever!. Whenever I see Andre on Hack I think, "what a waste". And whatever happened to Yaphet Koto? The best part of Homicide was when he got pissed-off!
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Post by laughingcrow »

:shock: Return of the King was excellent... probably the most complete 'plotwise' of all the films, and easily the best in terms of effects...the dead army/shelob the spider/smeagol to gollum/witch king/crack of doom...

woz ace! I wanted to see all three back to back, but nowhere in Glasgow was doing it.....natch!
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Post by Poppet »

LC, i saw RoTK yesterday. and i walked out practically screaming "I WANT THE EXTENDED VERSION *NOW*!!!". i want to know all the bits that got cut, i desperately want them now.

of course, LoTR is my favorite book(s).

i need to see it again. i'm hoping to be able to wait until it hits the cut rate theater in town. though, my ticket was a holiday present, so i could buy my own ticket at full price and still not be too far in the hole.

:) yes, i adore Tolkien. and i think Peter Jackson has done a brilliant job bringing the books to life in film. amazing work.
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Post by mood swung »

we rented Pirates of the Caribbean over the weekend. took me 2 days to get thru it. Keef should sue.
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Post by bobster »

I fear So Lacklustre and MartinFoyle may be experiencing the dreaded results of overhyping, which leads to the equally dreaded phenomenon we call "backlash." Don't blame you guys. It almost got to me just a tad --though in my case it was more the result of excess anticipation, but it's kind of the same thing, actually. In cases like this I usually appreciate it more the second time. (My friends and I made quite a pilgrimage out of seeing it -- caught the first show on Saturday morning at 10:30 and basically made a big ol' geek day of it. This does tend to build up the anticipation)

Of course, encouraging people who are mildly underwhelmed by a 3:20 minute film ain't easy.

Nevertheless, for me, the net result was essentially "Ohmigoodgod." Absolutely amazing and superpowerful. Forget the amazing special effects, this is the best kind of filmmaking -- Peter Jackson makes action films in the way that Hollywood has essentially forgotten how to do. He's managed to combine the sort of combination of action with character development, pathos and comedy you find in a John Ford with the strong images of silent films, possibly German expressionism, and good old fashioned horror films.

As to how this compares to the other two, well it's all really one film but as ending should be the most powerful part of any story, this one certainly was for me. It was a fitting finale, which sort of makes it defacto "the best movie."

On the issue of Tolkien, I'm a bit of a moderate. Read LOTR when I was about fifteen (which wasn't yesterday!) and remember the act of reading it more than I remember most of the book. Still, I liked it (loved it? Maybe. Don't remember! Scary.) I'm contemplating reading it again, now -- though in some sense the experience is now in some way corrrupted by seeing the film.

But what an amazing "corruption." I'm happy to have these images in my head. And, btw, I think I cried about fifteen times. I just hope Peter Jackson can find new material worth moving on to. (His next move is to remake one of my personal favorites, "King Kong" -- there are actually good reasons to remake this one, though the original is wonderful. I'm with him on this one.)

Still, don't want to be guilty of overhyping this to anyone who hasn't seen it. As Alfred Hitchcock used to say, "it's only a movie." Maybe you won't like it.
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Post by noiseradio »

After King Kong, it's said he'll tackle The Hobbit.
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Post by bobster »

I knew about that -- but I just hope after "The Hobbit" he doesn't move on to "The Silmarillion" or something....
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Post by noiseradio »

Right.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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Post by taz »

Saw Return of the King Sunday, I gotta say, if they are going to continue making three+ hour movies they will HAVE to bring back intermissions. With the previews and the advertisements before the advertisements you're sitting in the theater for almost four hours!

I'm a big bastard, and those damn seats are not very leg-friendly. My entire point on this is, the movie loses something because I have simply become sooo uncomfortable that I don't give a crap about the last 20 minutes. If there had been one more 'big goodbye/slow motion emotive look' I was gonna hurl myself into the projectionist booth....

sorry...I'm sure I'll like it more on DVD with my fat ass on the couch stretching out comfortably....
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Post by laughingcrow »

I doubt he'll do Silmarillion, otherwise he'd have to do all the appendix's and stuff as well....and would take forever.

How godlike were the effects when Legolas sprung aboard the oliphant...genius...and the smeagol scene was ace!
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Post by Tim(e) »

Firstly, a rope leash, if you want to enjoy your sci-fi styled adventure again, let me suggest that you check out some of the material coming out of Asia. A couple to note are:

"Volcano High" - a Korean film which could best be summed up as Harry Potter meets the Matrix. This has some of the nicest effects work I have seen for a while, very nice camera work, and a plot that is injected with a goodly amount of humour.

"Returner" - A Japanese sci-fi film starring Kaneshiro, Takeshi. This also has some nice effects and has a reasonable plot (although it does lend itself a little too closely to The Matrix). This film is due to be released on DVD in the US early in the new year.

Next... not having yet seen "Return of the King" (we antipodeans don't get to see it until Boxing Day), I cannot really comment... but I am amazed at how many people complain about the length... hell, most people sit in an office being bored shitless 8 hours a day (or at least, a good part of the day), 5 days a week. I have found that the first two films in the trilogy just flew past and I was sitting there just wanting to see more. I have the first two EE's on DVD and can barely wait until I can have all three and am able to sit down for an 11 or 12 hour marathon.

I also feel a little sorry for all of those who have seen the films but not yet read the book(s). For me (and I have probably said this before), more than half the fun of reading is the fact that you can let your imagination run wild. Unfortunately for those that come to read the books after having seen the films, Jackson will have done all of the work for you and you will most likely have his images firmly planted in your minds.
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Post by noiseradio »

Saw ROTK today. What a great film. I loved every minute and think it to definitely be the best of the three films. All three are stunning, though. I can't wait until the extended edition comes out. Just a brilliant piece of work. And if it doesn't win best picture, I will boycott the Oscars (which I've watched religiously for 23 years) for the next 5 years in protest.

If you haven't seen it, do so as soon as you can. Likewise if you haven't read the books, which are superb.
"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
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A rope leash
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DVD

Post by A rope leash »

Thank you for the suggestions, Time.

I rented some DVDs last weekend. I watched about six minutes of Bad Boys II. Lot's of 'splosions!

I watched The Hours.

Then, I cancelled Christmas.

Seabiscuit, here I come...
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Post by mood swung »

I took my girls to see Elf last night. I guess that warning about alcohol eating brain cells is true, cos I thought this was very very funny. I think I liked it better than my kids. just a fun movie, and couldn't we all use a little more fun?
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Post by Misha »

Well, let's see...

I saw Elf....it was tediously just ok. It was well on par with most old Christmas movies that we used to watch on tv...Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer kinda stuff, and I know that is what they were going for..but it never, NEVER picked up speed. Too bad.

I saw Haunted Mansion under protest, but roommate picked. Bad. Acting was HIDEOUS. I act better, and I don't act. When Eddie Murphy looks like an acting genius, you know you have a problem.

I saw Love Actually, liked it....made me think happy thouhts....celluloid prozac.

I saw Return of the King. Now, let me preface this by saying, I Do Not Like Fantasy Stuff. It rocked. They had me from the word go. Yeah, I got a bit fidgety sitting there, but I thought it was amazing. The makeup effects left something to be desired, which suprised me, because they did such an incredible job in the first two....but the sores on Frodo could have been done by the little brother of a first year junior college theatrical makeup student. Too bad. Also, saw the strap on one of the hobbits' feet...that sucked!!! I wasn't even looking for it!!! Still,,,,,,,a GREAT movie. Yeah, the multiple....This movie is ending endings was a bit much, but can't wait to get the whole posse on dvd to have a fantasy geek off. I'm so ashamed.....next thing you know I'll get the PS2 out and dust it off and hook it up to the internet......Lord, save me now!!!!

I've never read the books, but am actually considering doing it now.....tainted by the movie and all.....
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