Catch up
So I haven't posted in the last two months. I'm ashamed of myself. Once I miss a few days, it becomes harder and harder to pick it back up. I feel that I owe each movie a thoughtful at the very least. This post will attempt to make up for lost time, but will not give these movies their due. I should talk about plot and structure, but there's really not time for that.
Body Heat
William Hurt's mustache was out of control, but it fit the character and the period.
The Bonfire of the Vanities
The author of this script must have no concept of the workings of a courtroom. Much of the story was ridiculous, but when Tom Hank's character played a taped conversation to drown out a witness' testimony, and the judge accepted the evidence as admissible, they went much too far. Then the judge immediately declares a verdict of not-guilty. Perhaps this was written by an eight-year old.
Jonestown:The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
Fascinating documentary.
Bob Roberts
Boring mockumentary.
Billy Budd
I didn't realize ahead of time that this was an opera. It's a retelling of Moby Dick. It was actually very poorly shot, and very annoying. As a rule I generally watch a movie to it's completion no matter what. I couldn't get past the first twenty minutes without hitting the eject button.
Blow Up
This is about a high-fashion, high-paced Brittish photographer. I get the feeling that some of Austin Power's character was taken from this movie. He was apparently so extremely busy that when two young would-be models asked for a few minutes of his time he replied, 'I don't have a few minutes to have my appendix taken out.' He must have been terrible at time management, because he seemed to sit around doing very little at all for most of the movie. I fell asleep toward the end and I don't regret it.
Blind Date
It was kind of interesting to see Bruce Willis in a very early role. Otherwise this movie was pretty ridiculous and annoying.
Grindhouse
Fantastic. These two movies were a terrific combination. I could talk for a long time about them both, but I'm not going to. Tarantino really impressed me with this one. I've like his past work. But clever disguising of important story points into dialogue blew me away.
Black Widow
Not that great.
Betty Blue
Long and drawn out. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't plan on watching it again.
The Big Sleep
I'm ashamed to say that I've seen very little of Bogart other than Casablanca. He is a very decent actor.
Being There
Peter Sellers amazes me. I knew nothing about it going in. This is an extremely subtle comedy. You would rarely, if ever, laugh out loud. Instead you would think to yourself, 'My, that's clever.'
Ben Hur
I can't believe I hadn't ever seen this classic.
The Battle of Algiers
It's kind of amazing how relevant this is today. It deals intently with relations between the occupying French and the Muslim inhabitants of Algiers.
Battleship Potemkin
This was made as Communist Propaganda in 1925. It's very interesting and moving. It could just as easily have been a condemning criticism of communism. It's amazing the degree to which the resulting Communist government came to resemble the previous ruling tyranny. Orwell really got it right in Animal Farm.
Bad Day at Black Rock
This was great. It's about a gimp-armed war veteran who visits a small town named Black Rock to deliver a medal of valor to the father of his fallen buddy. Some very powerful men in the town want to keep him from making his delivery.
Bad Timing
Some of the motives in the movie were interesting, but I just don't like Art Garfunkle as an actor.
300
Somewhat interesting story. Tremendous special effects. I enjoyed it, but it didn't move me to get excited about democracy. It think that's what it was intending to do.
The Bad and the Beautiful
Worth Seeing.
Basic Instinct
Some of this movie seemed a little far-fetched. I think I kind of liked it. But that last shot kind of ruined it.
Apocalypse Now
I tried to watch the extended redux version of this a few years ago and couldn't get through it. After watching the theatrical release, I love it. I can understand why a dedicated fan might want to see an extra hour, but you really do have the entire movie there in the original release. 4 hours is far too long for a movie.
Babette's Feast
Interesting.
Baby Boom
Stories should show characters pushed to extremes. This movie takes that to an extreme. We open on a ridiculously successful female executive in New York. Through an unexpected series of events she inherits custody of a baby. Through some ridiculous events she is forced to quit and move to the country, where she then builds herself back up again, but ultimately decides to keep the simple country life. These extreme changes happen much too fast. Although I must admit I didn't wish to sit through a longer movie.
Arachnophobia
The overall story was interesting and almost plausible, but I found much of the acting to be annoying.
Animal Farm 19990
Actually pretty good for a Babe-like take on the story.
Animal Farm 1954
This animation was amazing. The story was good, and I think it stayed faithfully enough to the book. I must admit I am a little annoyed at the invented happyish ending. But, what can you do?
Jesus Camp
Very interesting. I am a christian, and very disgusted at the group of people that call themselves 'Evangelical.' I grew up in a somewhat similar church, although not quite as extreme. The most disgusting thing is the intermingling of political activism with biblical teaching. These people are little more than republican soldiers.
...And Justice for All
This was a great criticism of the criminal justice system. This is the source of the famous quote, "I'm out of order? You're out of order. This whole courtroom is out of order."
Angel Heart
The story line was kind of alright, but I really can't stand Mickey Rourke. The most annoying part was that the special features kept referring to him as one of the greatest living actors on par with Pacino and the like. I think the dude's a douche.
All That Jazz
I didn't like it at first. I thought it was going to be another Chorus Line (which I was forced to watch repeatedly in high school drama class). But by the end I was really interesting. An interesting redefinition of success.
Amarcord
This is Felini's story of a year in the life of a small Italian town. Very interesting characters.
After Hours
This was a very interesting story about a night's events that start out fairly innocently with a guy calling up a girl he met in a New York dinner. And ends with the guy being chased through the streets by a murderous mob. Kind of convoluted, but I really liked it.
Alive
This is the fascinating story of the rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes and they were forced to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. It's amazing that they did survive. And even more amazing that two men were able to hike through the mountain chain with little to no supplies or gear and find civilization.
The Accidental Tourist
This is very slow-paced, but I liked it a lot. The characters are all very boring middle-americans.
Aliens
I liked it.
Addicted to Love
I didn't like it.
Adam's Rib
This was good.
Zodiac
I've been waiting a long time for someone to make this into a movie. I love how ingenious this killer was. He used publicity and interdepartmental politics to cloud the clues that might have otherwise convicted him.
Clockers
Spike Lee is a genius.
Idiocracy
A hilariously depressing view of the future that is probably much more accurate than I want it to be.
A Scanner Darkly
A somewhat interesting story. As an animator, I can appreciate the amount of work that went into this motion capture effect. In a few ways I can see how it contributed to the story, however I think overall I think it was distracting.
Amazing Grace
This was really a great story. I'm not much for political activism, but I think this was a tremendous man, who almost single handedly began the domino effect that would outlaw slavery around the world. I can't think of a modern cause that begin to compare.
Giant
I was surprised to see James Dean in a completely different role than usual. Overall interesting.
The Right Stuff
Long-ass, Boring-ass movie.
The Hours
I don't think I really understood this movie when I saw it a few years ago. But I really enjoyed it this time around.
Harold and Maude
What a bizarre film. And then just when you think it's not actually going to go where you don't want it to, it does.
Body Heat
William Hurt's mustache was out of control, but it fit the character and the period.
The Bonfire of the Vanities
The author of this script must have no concept of the workings of a courtroom. Much of the story was ridiculous, but when Tom Hank's character played a taped conversation to drown out a witness' testimony, and the judge accepted the evidence as admissible, they went much too far. Then the judge immediately declares a verdict of not-guilty. Perhaps this was written by an eight-year old.
Jonestown:The Life and Death of Peoples Temple
Fascinating documentary.
Bob Roberts
Boring mockumentary.
Billy Budd
I didn't realize ahead of time that this was an opera. It's a retelling of Moby Dick. It was actually very poorly shot, and very annoying. As a rule I generally watch a movie to it's completion no matter what. I couldn't get past the first twenty minutes without hitting the eject button.
Blow Up
This is about a high-fashion, high-paced Brittish photographer. I get the feeling that some of Austin Power's character was taken from this movie. He was apparently so extremely busy that when two young would-be models asked for a few minutes of his time he replied, 'I don't have a few minutes to have my appendix taken out.' He must have been terrible at time management, because he seemed to sit around doing very little at all for most of the movie. I fell asleep toward the end and I don't regret it.
Blind Date
It was kind of interesting to see Bruce Willis in a very early role. Otherwise this movie was pretty ridiculous and annoying.
Grindhouse
Fantastic. These two movies were a terrific combination. I could talk for a long time about them both, but I'm not going to. Tarantino really impressed me with this one. I've like his past work. But clever disguising of important story points into dialogue blew me away.
Black Widow
Not that great.
Betty Blue
Long and drawn out. I'm glad I saw it, but I don't plan on watching it again.
The Big Sleep
I'm ashamed to say that I've seen very little of Bogart other than Casablanca. He is a very decent actor.
Being There
Peter Sellers amazes me. I knew nothing about it going in. This is an extremely subtle comedy. You would rarely, if ever, laugh out loud. Instead you would think to yourself, 'My, that's clever.'
Ben Hur
I can't believe I hadn't ever seen this classic.
The Battle of Algiers
It's kind of amazing how relevant this is today. It deals intently with relations between the occupying French and the Muslim inhabitants of Algiers.
Battleship Potemkin
This was made as Communist Propaganda in 1925. It's very interesting and moving. It could just as easily have been a condemning criticism of communism. It's amazing the degree to which the resulting Communist government came to resemble the previous ruling tyranny. Orwell really got it right in Animal Farm.
Bad Day at Black Rock
This was great. It's about a gimp-armed war veteran who visits a small town named Black Rock to deliver a medal of valor to the father of his fallen buddy. Some very powerful men in the town want to keep him from making his delivery.
Bad Timing
Some of the motives in the movie were interesting, but I just don't like Art Garfunkle as an actor.
300
Somewhat interesting story. Tremendous special effects. I enjoyed it, but it didn't move me to get excited about democracy. It think that's what it was intending to do.
The Bad and the Beautiful
Worth Seeing.
Basic Instinct
Some of this movie seemed a little far-fetched. I think I kind of liked it. But that last shot kind of ruined it.
Apocalypse Now
I tried to watch the extended redux version of this a few years ago and couldn't get through it. After watching the theatrical release, I love it. I can understand why a dedicated fan might want to see an extra hour, but you really do have the entire movie there in the original release. 4 hours is far too long for a movie.
Babette's Feast
Interesting.
Baby Boom
Stories should show characters pushed to extremes. This movie takes that to an extreme. We open on a ridiculously successful female executive in New York. Through an unexpected series of events she inherits custody of a baby. Through some ridiculous events she is forced to quit and move to the country, where she then builds herself back up again, but ultimately decides to keep the simple country life. These extreme changes happen much too fast. Although I must admit I didn't wish to sit through a longer movie.
Arachnophobia
The overall story was interesting and almost plausible, but I found much of the acting to be annoying.
Animal Farm 19990
Actually pretty good for a Babe-like take on the story.
Animal Farm 1954
This animation was amazing. The story was good, and I think it stayed faithfully enough to the book. I must admit I am a little annoyed at the invented happyish ending. But, what can you do?
Jesus Camp
Very interesting. I am a christian, and very disgusted at the group of people that call themselves 'Evangelical.' I grew up in a somewhat similar church, although not quite as extreme. The most disgusting thing is the intermingling of political activism with biblical teaching. These people are little more than republican soldiers.
...And Justice for All
This was a great criticism of the criminal justice system. This is the source of the famous quote, "I'm out of order? You're out of order. This whole courtroom is out of order."
Angel Heart
The story line was kind of alright, but I really can't stand Mickey Rourke. The most annoying part was that the special features kept referring to him as one of the greatest living actors on par with Pacino and the like. I think the dude's a douche.
All That Jazz
I didn't like it at first. I thought it was going to be another Chorus Line (which I was forced to watch repeatedly in high school drama class). But by the end I was really interesting. An interesting redefinition of success.
Amarcord
This is Felini's story of a year in the life of a small Italian town. Very interesting characters.
After Hours
This was a very interesting story about a night's events that start out fairly innocently with a guy calling up a girl he met in a New York dinner. And ends with the guy being chased through the streets by a murderous mob. Kind of convoluted, but I really liked it.
Alive
This is the fascinating story of the rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes and they were forced to resort to cannibalism to stay alive. It's amazing that they did survive. And even more amazing that two men were able to hike through the mountain chain with little to no supplies or gear and find civilization.
The Accidental Tourist
This is very slow-paced, but I liked it a lot. The characters are all very boring middle-americans.
Aliens
I liked it.
Addicted to Love
I didn't like it.
Adam's Rib
This was good.
Zodiac
I've been waiting a long time for someone to make this into a movie. I love how ingenious this killer was. He used publicity and interdepartmental politics to cloud the clues that might have otherwise convicted him.
Clockers
Spike Lee is a genius.
Idiocracy
A hilariously depressing view of the future that is probably much more accurate than I want it to be.
A Scanner Darkly
A somewhat interesting story. As an animator, I can appreciate the amount of work that went into this motion capture effect. In a few ways I can see how it contributed to the story, however I think overall I think it was distracting.
Amazing Grace
This was really a great story. I'm not much for political activism, but I think this was a tremendous man, who almost single handedly began the domino effect that would outlaw slavery around the world. I can't think of a modern cause that begin to compare.
Giant
I was surprised to see James Dean in a completely different role than usual. Overall interesting.
The Right Stuff
Long-ass, Boring-ass movie.
The Hours
I don't think I really understood this movie when I saw it a few years ago. But I really enjoyed it this time around.
Harold and Maude
What a bizarre film. And then just when you think it's not actually going to go where you don't want it to, it does.
posted by excellent excrement at 7:48 PM
2 Comments:
You should check out FUBAR, it's a mockumentary on metal heads. Have you seen Lawrence of Arabia? Another epic of Ben-Hur proportions. And the original Lady-Killers with Peter Sellers. I think it might have been his first major role, but the subtlety will kill you!
I'm so glad you started posting again. How are you? I haven't talked to you in ages, as you well know...
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