Author Topic: Resurrecting the Movies thread...  (Read 1025313 times)

Offline MaineWriter

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #900 on: April 16, 2008, 08:43:43 am »
Apparently it is now out on DVD so here is your chance to watch it and tell us what you think.

I am interested in Smart People. It is at 50% on rottentomatoes and the reviewers who like it are reviewers I like: A.O. Scott from the New York Times, the guy from the Wall Street Journal, etc. Hannah and I might go see it for our Friday afternoon movie.

L
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #901 on: April 16, 2008, 10:46:01 am »
I am interested in Smart People. It is at 50% on rottentomatoes and the reviewers who like it are reviewers I like: A.O. Scott from the New York Times, the guy from the Wall Street Journal, etc. Hannah and I might go see it for our Friday afternoon movie.

Dana Stevens of Slate, another critic I like, also wrote a decent review of Smart People.

http://www.slate.com/id/2188756/

And here's a review by Chris Hewitt of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, another reviewer I like (who isn't normally on rt).

http://www.twincities.com/movies/ci_8876267?nclick_check=1

Hewitt pretty closely describes my reactions to the film when he says, "I liked "Smart People" for a while, then I didn't like it, then I kinda hated it, then I liked it again. It's a semi-infuriating movie, and yet, I think I'd recommend it." Or, "It's an occasionally amusing film, and Quaid's worth the price of admission, but I left "Smart People" with this thought: It feels like a movie that would like to tell five stories but has room enough for only one."

I didn't absolutely love it and probably wouldn't see it again, yet I was glad I saw it. I'll be eager to hear what you think, Leslie.

Oh, and look out for Christine Lahti, an accomplished actress who weirdly plays, as Hewitt says, basically an extra.

The other movie I saw last weekend that I also didn't absolutely love but found enjoyable was Leatherheads. It has gotten very mediocre reviews, and though I can see what they're getting at, I think they're being too harsh. I thought it was fun, and my son liked it a lot.

What's really weird is that I enjoyed two movies in a row featuring actresses I normally can't stand: Renee Zellwegger and Sarah Jessica Parker!






Offline Kd5000

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #902 on: April 18, 2008, 08:05:36 pm »
Has anyone seen GOYA'S GHOST. I rented it yesterday. Well I have been renting alot of movies as there is not much playing at the theater.  I don't understand why the critics were so hard on this film. It's directed by the same guy who did AMADEUS and produced THE ENGLISH PATIENT (didn't like that film thought). 

It's not a biopic film about Goya but what he sees going on around him.  The Spanish Inquisition lauches a new wave of hysteria followed by the arrival  Napoleon who gets rid of the Inquisition but starts his own reign of terror.   I thought it was a well done film.  It's one of the better historic dramas I've seen in some time.  My only gripe might be the lenght.  Javier Bardem and Stellan SkarsgĂ„rd give excellent performances.  I thought Randy Quaid was an odd choice to be the King of Spain.  It's certainly a better film then the last two historic dramas I've seen, THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL and ELIZABETH: THE GOLDEN AGE.


Offline delalluvia

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #903 on: April 20, 2008, 12:03:32 pm »
Went and saw Leatherheads.

I give it a 6.5 out of 10

Some scenes went on a little too long and overall the movie was a little too slow, the pacing off, and the Roaring 20's not quite recreated, someone needs to feed Renee Z. and give her a movie where she doesn't have to grin until her face looks like a squashed lemon.

Offline MaineWriter

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #904 on: April 23, 2008, 12:28:19 pm »
I think this has come up on this thread before, but last night I watched Dogtown and Z-Boys which was the documentary that inspired The Lords of Dogtown. I enjoyed it very much. It was fun to see the real people and real footage of skateboarding and surfing and so on. They explained alot of things which made LOD make more sense to me. I'd recommend both.

L
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #905 on: April 23, 2008, 01:53:28 pm »
I think this has come up on this thread before, but last night I watched Dogtown and Z-Boys which was the documentary that inspired The Lords of Dogtown. I enjoyed it very much. It was fun to see the real people and real footage of skateboarding and surfing and so on. They explained alot of things which made LOD make more sense to me. I'd recommend both.

Not to sound like a broken record, because I've said this before, but Dogtown and Z-Boys is one of two movies I own! (Guess what the other is?  ::)) But Dogtown came first, because my son gave it to me for Mother's Day a couple of years ago.  :)

And of course I love LOD. Which I've also said many times. So I'll shut up now.  ;D



Offline Meryl

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #906 on: April 23, 2008, 01:59:56 pm »
I saw Smart People yesterday, and like you, Katherine, I didn't absolutely love it, but I enjoyed it.  The performances were all good, and I like that kind of cynical, ironic family humor.  I didn't even mind Sarah Jessica Parker, maybe because she wasn't playing a narcissistic bimbo.  I did wonder why both she and Dennis Quaid's character kept picking up their relationship time and again.  Neither was exactly captivating.  Thomas Hayden Church was the best, I think; you just have to look at him, and you're grinning.  He's got a great comic gift.  Setting the story in Pittsburgh was a good idea, too, since that area has a combination of highly educated people and lots of depressed, poor people, both of which come into play in the movie.
Ich bin ein Brokie...

Offline MaineWriter

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #907 on: April 23, 2008, 02:20:02 pm »
Not to sound like a broken record, because I've said this before, but Dogtown and Z-Boys is one of two movies I own! (Guess what the other is?  ::)) But Dogtown came first, because my son gave it to me for Mother's Day a couple of years ago.  :)

And of course I love LOD. Which I've also said many times. So I'll shut up now.  ;D



Hahahaha, you don't need to shut up!!

You own two movies? Cripe, I own five copies of BBM alone...the bootleg version, the widescreen version, the fullscreen version, the deluxe version, and the other one that someone gave me (not sure which version that is).

L
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Offline MaineWriter

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #908 on: April 23, 2008, 02:21:49 pm »
I saw Smart People yesterday, and like you, Katherine, I didn't absolutely love it, but I enjoyed it.  The performances were all good, and I like that kind of cynical, ironic family humor.  I didn't even mind Sarah Jessica Parker, maybe because she wasn't playing a narcissistic bimbo.  I did wonder why both she and Dennis Quaid's character kept picking up their relationship time and again.  Neither was exactly captivating.  Thomas Hayden Church was the best, I think; you just have to look at him, and you're grinning.  He's got a great comic gift.  Setting the story in Pittsburgh was a good idea, too, since that area has a combination of highly educated people and lots of depressed, poor people, both of which come into play in the movie.

Hm, sounds like the kind of movie that I would enjoy, too. I haven't gotten to see it yet and I probably won't this weekend, since I need to go see Deception really fast since I think it is going to get lousy reviews and close in a matter of days. But I want to see Hugh Jackman, Ewan McGregor and Michelle Williams. That trio alone is enough to get me to plunk down $8, even on a lousy movie!

L
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: Resurrecting the Movies thread...
« Reply #909 on: April 24, 2008, 12:29:33 am »
You own two movies? Cripe, I own five copies of BBM alone...the bootleg version, the widescreen version, the fullscreen version, the deluxe version, and the other one that someone gave me (not sure which version that is).

What's even more shocking is that I didn't own ANY versions of BBM until last October, when someone (a Brokie, of course!  :)) gave it to me for my birthday.