Resurrecting the Movies thread...

[oilgun]

Finally watched Sweeney Todd and quite enjoyed it.   It was great hearing Johnny Depp sing, what a good voice, is there anything he can't do?  I also liked how they pared down the story and made it more intimate and internal and less of a standard musical with singing crowds & choruses etc.  The special features included in the 2 disc edition look pretty good too.

[ednbarby]

I saw Shine a Light yesterday.  Pure.Unadulterated.Joy.  And I'm not even a Stones fan, per ce.  Or at least, I wasn't until yesterday.

[Front-Ranger]

Turns out it is Michael Angarano, who played Sid in Lords of Dogtown, which I just watched last Saturday for the Heath Ledger film festival. Duh!

What? You have not seen LOD prior to this?? Thud!!

Barb, I will have to put that movie on my list!! I heard that Mick Jagger was on the cover of the AARP Magazine recently! 

[serious crayons]

What? You have not seen LOD prior to this?? Thud!!

I like Michael Angarano. I also like Emile Hirsch, who played Jay in LOD as well as the guy in Into the Wild, another good film (have we talked about this one? I saw it a few weeks ago and enjoyed it a lot). LOD really has a potential-star-studded cast. The actor who plays Tony Alva is good, too.

Barb, I will have to put that movie on my list!!

It's on my list now, too! I'm a longtime Stones fan, and I loved Martin Scorcese's other two rock movies (The Last Waltz and the Dylan one, both wonderful). Still, I might have skipped this without Barb's endorsement.

[MaineWriter]

What? You have not seen LOD prior to this?? Thud!!

No, I have seen it before. In fact, we own the DVD. I was just saying, the actor in the preview was at the edge of my mind and I couldn't place him, and then when I looked Snow Angels up on IMDb, I realized I had just seen him when I re-watched LOD for the Heath DVD festival.

L

[MaineWriter]

It's on my list now, too! I'm a longtime Stones fan, and I loved Martin Scorcese's other two rock movies (The Last Waltz and the Dylan one, both wonderful). Still, I might have skipped this without Barb's endorsement.

The other rock movie (recent) that I am wondering about, and no one talks about, is the Tom Petty documentary directed by Peter Bogdonavich. That was supposed to premiere at a film festival in NYC last fall and since then...not a word. Anyone know anything? I am a Tom Petty fan, I will admit...

L

[Kd5000]

I can be a lazy dvd watcher so I'm glad the lady at BLOCKBUSTER VIDEO STORE (yes, I go there from time to time)  talked me into watching THE KITE RUNNER.  I'm not one to read the subtitles on a TV screen and some of the stuff wasn't even translated.  I still got the important stuff, I think.  I don't know if it's already been discussed on this thread, but I strongly recommend it.   I had to check IMDB.com as it looked like it was filmed in Afghanistan and I know they wouldn't have let this be filmed there.  It was actually filmed in the westermost part of China. 

I guess I should check out the book it's based on as I've seen around quite a bit. 

[BelAir]

haha, I went to Blockbuster the other day too...  spur of the moment wanted to watch Out of Africa again.

 

[oilgun]

I'm anxiously waiting for my copy from Amazon, another item in my order has delayed the delivery.  Ang Lee also did a commentary for HULK but I haven't listened to it.

I finally got my copy and I watched the special features.  And they are special, definitely worth more than one viewing.

The interview with the very articulate,Rick Moodie is very interesting.  He talks about how he felt when the story he slaved over for so long suddenly became Ang Lee's The Ice Storm.  How the characters he knew intimately became refracted versions of what he wrote, at once the same yet different.

Weathering The Storm features exclusive recent interviews with the main actors: Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, Kevin Kline, Christina Ricci, Tobey McGuire and Elijah Wood.  They are all candid and revealing with their reminiscences. While watching them it dawned on me that if Brokeback Mountain ever gets the Criterion treatment, Heath would not be included in the series of interviews and I just emotionally deflated...

Other documentaries include "visual essays" featuring the cinematographer, production designer and costume designer.  I learned:- that most of the ice in the film was actually biodegradable hair gel!  Yep, it was all dippety-doo!  -The costumes, which were all original designs, kick-started a worldwide seventies inspired fashion trend.  - Why they picked the houses that they did for each family, the cold glass house for the Carvers, the warmer fifties modern house for the Hoods and the grand colonial house for the key party scene.  Really interesting stuff.

I still haven't listened to the Ang Lee commentary, I'm saving that for later.

All in all, highly recommended.

[BelAir]

Thanks for that review oilgun.  I was out to dinner with some friends tonight, one of whom said the most recent movie he had seen was Lars and the Real Girl (sp?) and that he loved it - of course, I immediately thought of you and MaineWriter!!!

Didn't have a chance to figure out exactly why he thought it was such a good movie, however.