Recently viewed films

Mike Boom · Post by **Mike Boom** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 7:53 pm

"Casino Royale" - best Bond film since "Live and Let Die" and Daniel Craig is excellent, best bond since Connery.
Couldn't follow the plot at all but as with most Bond movies, it didnt really matter. Great stuff.

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Sat Nov 25, 2006 4:06 am

For Your Consideration:

Christopher Guest films keep improving, but this one adds an interesting sidecar to give Ms. O'Hara a stage to showcase her genuine abilities as a premium actor. A plot within a plot.

The most fascinating thing about all of his films is that they seem to become more enjoyable with second and third viewings. Once you get the character development, and begin to really enjoy where he is taking the bit, the film ends, But when you see it the second, third, and more times, the stage is set and the brilliance of the humor comes through much more profoundly.

Quite enjoyable.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 8:02 pm

I too loved the Bond. I've never bothered much. Had seen one or two before in the cinema, e.g. Dalton with Grace Jones. Yawn. Used to occasionally watch the Connery or Moore ones on telly, but this was of a different order. Craig is a proper actor, so even though it's played in a very physical, macho sort of way, there are some lovely touches to his acting, and even the way his face was so totally trained on concentrating on every miniscule detail in the action scenes was rivetting. Loved him in the brilliant 90s TV drama Our Friends In The North, and ever since. Give me more! (Apparently the next one is based on a Fleming book not yet filmed, cool.) Incredible action stuff, and the poker was good too. And as for Vesper! I knew something alarming would happen to her once I recalled the Guardian's late 90s cocktails column having a lethal concoction of gin, vodka and martini called a Vesper, based on Casino Royale and the fate she comes to! It nearly finished me off too. I made a pitcher for us and guests on Christmas morn. Two of the guests left theirs, so my mate and I had too big ones each, and my just pregnant wife (unbeknown at the time) managed hers. I was nearly comatose later on after following it up with a hefty Chilean red, and the baby's nutjob tendencies are easily explained by the event.

Main complaint was the shameless and endless product placement. Is this a Bond tradition? Worst of all, he specified Gordon's gin when everyone knows that a dignified connoisseur like himself would go for the real thing, Tanqueray, or equivalent, not bland Gordon's!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Sun Nov 26, 2006 9:35 pm

Otis Westinghouse wrote:I too loved the Bond. I've never bothered much. Had seen one or two before in the cinema, e.g. Dalton with Grace Jones. Yawn. Used to occasionally watch the Connery or Moore ones on telly, but this was of a different order. Craig is a proper actor, so even though it's played in a very physical, macho sort of way, there are some lovely touches to his acting, and even the way his face was so totally trained on concentrating on every miniscule detail in the action scenes was rivetting. Loved him in the brilliant 90s TV drama Our Friends In The North, and ever since. Give me more! (Apparently the next one is based on a Fleming book not yet filmed, cool.) Incredible action stuff, and the poker was good too. And as for Vesper! I knew something alarming would happen to her once I recalled the Guardian's late 90s cocktails column having a lethal concoction of gin, vodka and martini called a Vesper, based on Casino Royale and the fate she comes to! It nearly finished me off too. I made a pitcher for us and guests on Christmas morn. Two of the guests left theirs, so my mate and I had too big ones each, and my just pregnant wife (unbeknown at the time) managed hers. I was nearly comatose later on after following it up with a hefty Chilean red, and the baby's nutjob tendencies are easily explained by the event.

Main complaint was the shameless and endless product placement. Is this a Bond tradition? Worst of all, he specified Gordon's gin when everyone knows that a dignified connoisseur like himself would go for the real thing, Tanqueray, or equivalent, not bland Gordon's!

I caught the new Bond picture with my wife this afternoon, and we noticed that too. Then there's that very un-Bondlike Ford he's driving around in when he gets to the Bahamas (note the prominent Ford logo on the grill). Still, I really enjoyed this one, probably the best Bond film since The Spy Who Loved Me or maybe even before that. As Mike said, Craig is the best Bond since Connery, no doubt about it. I loved the relative lack of gadgetry and flash in this one. As you say, it's a really muscular take on the character, but it's so welcome after the suave blandness of Brosnan, Dalton and Moore. That long chase scene at the beginning was a real jaw-dropper too. It is, however, a really really long movie.

Post by **BlueChair** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 8:41 am

Red and I recently rented An Inconvenient Truth and Who Killed The Electric Car?, two excellent documentaries that make us want to take measures to be more environmentally responsible.

Who Killed The Electric Car? is particularly baffling. General Motors introduced a high-performance zero-emission electric vehicle in the mid-19960s, but basically decided to scrap the program and force everyone who was leasing them to return them to the manufacturer, who then proceeded to destroy every single one. Apparently the batteries they have now can be 80% charged over lunch and fully charged overnight and can take you about 300 miles on a full charge.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Nov 27, 2006 6:19 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:I caught the new Bond picture with my wife this afternoon, and we noticed that too. Then there's that very un-Bondlike Ford he's driving around in when he gets to the Bahamas (note the prominent Ford logo on the grill). That long chase scene at the beginning was a real jaw-dropper too. It is, however, a really really long movie.

Indeed, the Ford is a real WTF moment. Laughable. Aston Martin, fine, but trying to look moody in some poxy Ford, with, as you see, the lingering on the logo. As I said, I'm not up on Bond, but if this represents a lack of gadgetry, what on earth are the full-on gadgetry ones like? I suppose the amount of mobile use in it seems part of that, though that's not what you're talking about. Still, the medical diagnosis via chip in arm and resulting cardiac work, the computer tracking, the endless guns, still seems to be a lot of gadgets. I wonder how much working out Craig did. Pretty impressive, huh? I take it the two walking out of the water shots were ironic takes on the Ursula Undress moment. Still, us boys had those two rather impressive dresses to enjoy (Dimitrios's wife's, which apparently is now selling like hot cakes for whoever designed it, and no. 2 worn by Vesper! No. 1 was pretty fine too, but no. 2 clinched it). Indeed, the building site scene is quite stunningly elaborate. They would have been pulped to pulp after all that, and Bond would have been shot a good 500 times throughout the film in reality, but it's great fun to suspend everything and succumb. I found the time flew by, alkthough my arse didn't appreciate the additional 40 effing minutes in seat before the film began!

ice nine · Post by **ice nine** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 3:19 pm

Has anyone seen the documentary American Hardcore? I'm not a fan of punk music so I have no idea if it is worthwhile for me to see.

strangerinthehouse · Post by **strangerinthehouse** » Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:41 am

One of the local theaters have had it advertised for the last two months so I've been waiting for it. I've read the book it is based on and even if you are not into punk music or hardcore its pretty interesting in a cultural level. Most of the kids who were into the scene then talk about it as if it was san francisco in the 60's but a violent, nihilistic and angry version.

ice nine · Post by **ice nine** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:28 pm

Black Snake Moan - Excellent film. Ricci should get a nomination from this movie. Clips of Son House appear in the film. Leave the kids at home if you go.

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:36 am

FINALLY saw The Departed. Man, what a fantastic film. Acting tour de force, and the first time I've been able to detach myself from the "Jack Nicholson" character and see the character he's trying to actually play (if that makes sense).

Mechanical Grace · Post by **Mechanical Grace** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:05 pm

Totally agree about The Departed, and I know exactly what you mean about Jacko. My God, he's an actual... ACTOR again. Some friends of mine have been underwhelmed by the film but to my mind it's a greaty. One of those few DVDs I bought without having seen the film, cause I knew the bonus disk would be worth the price of admission, and it is.

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:17 pm

You guys are being very gracious to Jack, as he slipped back to "The Shining's" - "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny" mode when he did the "I smell a rat" deal, where he, once again, got away with something that only Jack can get away with: he scrunches up his noise, squinches his eyes, and does that repetitive spiratory gated sniff sequence...completely overplaying the scene. But what the hell...IT's JACK.

And I loved it. Let's see Marky Mark do THAT and get away with it.

Actually, the acting that I loved in the film was Leonardo. I think that this was the first film that I realized he could actually perform. I thought he did a great job. To be fair I did not see Blood Diamonds.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 12:46 pm

I saw Reno 911!: Miami last weekend. About as funny as I thought it would be, which is to say that it was like watching 3 episodes of the tv show in a row. But there were some good laughs in it.

pophead2k · Post by **pophead2k** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 1:26 pm

Mr. Average wrote:You guys are being very gracious to Jack, as he slipped back to "The Shining's" - "Heeeeeeeeere's Johnny" mode when he did the "I smell a rat" deal, where he, once again, got away with something that only Jack can get away with: he scrunches up his noise, squinches his eyes, and does that repetitive spiratory gated sniff sequence...completely overplaying the scene. But what the hell...IT's JACK.

And I loved it. Let's see Marky Mark do THAT and get away with it.

Actually, the acting that I loved in the film was Leonardo. I think that this was the first film that I realized he could actually perform. I thought he did a great job. To be fair I did not see Blood Diamonds.

DiCaprio was great in this. I think he's a terrific actor who is actually somewhat handicapped by his pretty-boy looks. As he's gotten older and a little puffier, I think he's been better able to get past that. He's great in Gangs of New York and Catch Me if You Can, just to name a couple of fairly recent films.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Sat Mar 10, 2007 11:51 am

Ain't seen either, yet, nor Departed, but was impressed in Aviator. I think it's great the way Marty has had faith in him and made him his equivalent of De Niro in the 70s/80s. You can't compare, I think, but it's somehow reassuring given the total blight that seems to have descended over De Niro's career.

alexv · Post by **alexv** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 9:12 am

Saw The Departed last night. Agree completely with those who rave about Jack. He was spectacular in this picture. Yes, Mr. A, he does of course ham it up a bit, but that's part of what makes him great. I would love to get the bonus DVD to see if it confirms my hunch that he ad-libbed a lot in this. About 25 years ago, me and my best friend (a film nut) used to argue about who was "the greatest american actor of his generation" and we would name three guys: Jack, Hoffman, and DeNiro. My friend was for DeNiro; I was for Hoffman (he had amazing versatility then). I think we were both wrong. DeNiro has become a caricature (Alec Baldwin does him better than himself), and Hoffman is just coasting. Jack, even though he goes off the deep end here and there, is still able to do things like The Departed where he just shows what a great film actor is all about (despite the riffs).

Damon was his usual bland self, but I was really bothered by DeCaprio. I think he's a terrific young actor (right there below Depp), but I think he's consciously trying to get away from his pretty-boy looks and adding some gravitas to his perfomance and it doesn't work for me. He's all bulked up, with the scraggly beard and the constantly furrowed brow and tightly wound face in this picture, and it affects his performance. You can see him trying to act tough and crazy. It doesn't happen naturallly.

On the movie itself, which was very enjoyable, I thought Scorcese lost it a bit at the end. I really was not satisfied with the resolution. It seemed a bit contrived. But, hey, when you get these actors (Baldwin was good too), Scorcese, gangsters, cops and guns you get a certain kind of American movie that goes down easy.

Miss BA, you like Reno 911? My daughter and I love that show. I think the movie might be a little racy for her, but I'm putting it on my NetFlix list.

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Sun Mar 11, 2007 5:36 pm

Saw Black Snake Moan. A glorified vehicle for Samuel Jackson to demonstrate other talents. While his acting performance is quite good, as well as Ricci's, the film just bogs down attempting to provide set-ups for Jacksons musical performances, which are mediocre at best.

Not a great film by any stretch (pun intended). But based on my admiration for Samuel L. Jackson, I had to see it. And damn, he is a very talented guy.

Continuity issues galore. Especially the auto-cleaning cotton panties that Ricci wears through about 90% of the film: they transition between Clorox - 2 whiter than white to incredibly soiled, then back to incandescent white, then soiled. Either Samuel has a state-of-the-art microwave washer/drier that cleans and dries womans undergarments faster than Jack Bauer pee's, or the directors decided that the dirty panties detracted from the animal sexuality they were coaxing outta Ricci.

If there are really nymphomaniacs out there that are even at 50% of the level that Ricci portrays, I have only read about them in Penthouse Forum (when I was a young boy, of course).

strangerinthehouse · Post by **strangerinthehouse** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:37 am

I saw Black Snake Moan this weekend and I agree that the film bogs down between performances in fact several times I found myself asking when is this going to end. I didn't think it was a great but some of the scenes were very well delivered, particularly the title song which he sings during a storm. There was something about the way that moment was crafted that was completely engrossing.

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:17 am

I agree with you. That was the one scene where I felt blues seeping outta the pores of Samuel L Jacksons character...like he really felt that song.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:25 am

alexv wrote:Miss BA, you like Reno 911? My daughter and I love that show. I think the movie might be a little racy for her, but I'm putting it on my NetFlix list.

Reno 911 consistently makes me laugh out loud, which is really rare in a sitcom. How old is your daughter? The movie gets pretty raunchy--I would definitely watch it before deciding if she needs to watch it too.

miss buenos aires · Post by **miss buenos aires** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:28 am

The IFC Center (where tickets cost $12--hello?) just had a French film festival, and I managed to catch "The Valet," a movie by the same guy who did "The Closet" and "The Dinner Game." A billionaire businessman gets caught cheating on his wife by a paparazzo, and tries to convince his wife that his mistress is actually with the other guy in the shot (a parking valet who just happens to be walking by). Hilarity ensues, and everyone ends up getting what they deserve. Yay!

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:44 am

My wife and daughter travelled to the DC Independent Film festival for the closing ceremonies yesterday, a showing of "I Trust You To Kill Me", the film that documents Kiefer and the bands (Rocco Deluca and the Burden)first tour through England, Ireland, and Iceland.

They were able to meet and speak with Kiefer. Best for my daughter is that he wished her a Happy 15th Birthday (in two weeks) and complimented her on the advanced nature of her question to him about the making of the film and the derivation of the name of the studio, Ironworks.

She met the rest of the band and the films director as well, Manu Boyer.

She is on Cloud 9. "Jack Bauer" wished her a happy birthday. Even better, in her mind, was that he questioned whether she was actually only 14 years old, as she presented as a much more mature student of film. Not sure I know how to process that kind of compliment for my baby girl, but she loved it.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:55 pm

Story for you on CNN.com, Mr. A...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/ ... index.html

Mr. Average · Post by **Mr. Average** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 4:38 pm

Thank you. Sent it to my daughter, but she is en route back to Sou Cal as I write this...

Nice of you to forward it.

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:19 pm

Mr. Average wrote:Especially the auto-cleaning cotton panties that Ricci wears through about 90% of the film: they transition between Clorox - 2 whiter than white to incredibly soiled, then back to incandescent white, then soiled. Either Samuel has a state-of-the-art microwave washer/drier that cleans and dries womans undergarments faster than Jack Bauer pee's, or the directors decided that the dirty panties detracted from the animal sexuality they were coaxing outta Ricci.

I know nothing of the film, but this sort of transition sounds about right for a pair of auto-cleaning cotton panties (WTF?).