What is the Last Film You Watched? - Part II

[Hitch 57]

About as scary as SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: THE MOVIE.

So.... I take it you didn't see it.

I see everything. The Director's Cut is out in the fall. One scene has Spongebob vomitting outside a bar and then collapsing in his own puke only to have the poke absorbed back into his sponge. Waste not, want not! Having a few drinks in your system makes this movie worthwhile. I can see Anthony Perkins as Spongebob in the Live Action feature.

[Morlock 11]

The Sting (1973). The film feels a bit dated nowadays.

I think it feels dated in a good way. Makes me nostalgic for 70's filmmaking.

[A24 4,326]

The Sting (1973). The film feels a bit dated nowadays.

I think it feels dated in a good way. Makes me nostalgic for 70's filmmaking.

That's strange, it's hardly representative for that period.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Alex is right, it must have felt sentimental to people when it was first released.

Damn good film though.

[King Mark 3,625]

RENT.Well I saw 5 minutes of it then I turned it off.I don't think I can sit though that.

k.M.

[A24 4,326]

Compared to the newer heist generation, The Sting feels a bit dated because everyone in this movie is a jolly gangster and every gangster was talking openly to everyone about their past con jobs. Today, in contemporary moviemaking, such thing would certainly come across as being sentimental and naive. Really, the only real ganster in The Sting is Salino.

Alex

[mahler3 478]

RENT.Well I saw 5 minutes of it then I turned it off.I don't think I can sit though that.

k.M.

I thought exactly the same as you after the opening, but I stuck it through and it actually grew on me - once you get used to the whole 'dum da-dum dee Please pass the coffee la la la' thing!

Last film I saw was Terence Malick's 'The New World' which reminded me again that one really needs to be in the mood for his movies. Visually stunning as per usual, but I found the narrative very disjointed and meandering. Think I will give it another viewing tonight. Horner's score is excellent, but does anybody know if the very prolonged 'ship to shore' cue after the main titles is Horner or one of the cues Malick replaced with a classical selection?

- Tim.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Compared to the newer heist generation, The Sting feels a bit dated because everyone in this movie is a jolly gangster and every gangster was talking openly to everyone about their past con jobs. Today, in contemporary moviemaking, such thing would certainly come across as being sentimental and naive. Really, the only real ganster in The Sting is Solino.

Alex

True, but no heist movie is more entertaining.

Also the film looks like it's been completely shot in a studio and the back lot, unlike most films these days, or in the 70's.

[King Mark 3,625]

, but does anybody know if the very prolonged 'ship to shore' cue after the main titles is Horner or one of the cues Malick replaced with a classical selection?

- Tim.

NOT Horner.It's Wagner's "Vorspiel" (Prelude) to Das Reingold.You have to look for it classical c.d.'s.It's actually hard to find on most common Wagner "ring" compilations because it's not the usually included piece.Anyways I did find an MP3 of it online.

K.M.

[A24 4,326]

Excerpts from the Variety X-Men III review:

Taken as a trilogy (despite the door being left open, inevitably, for an "X4"), the "X-Men""X-Men" pics most closely resemble the original "Star Wars" movies in their qualitative trajectory. Just as the second film in each instance repped a substantial elaboration of its predecessor's storytelling, visual richness and thematic depth, so "X-Men: The Last Stand" suffers from the same coarsened writing, diminished imagination and occasional bursts of self-parody that plagued "Return of the Jedi." - Variety

Where Singer brought a lingering resonance to even the series' quietest moments, Ratner seems primarily concerned with breadth and speed. - Variety

It's all over, boys.

Read the full review here:

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117930584...oryid=1263&cs=1

[Composer_Fan 2]

Born on the Fourth of July

Wow. I enjoyed the score too, even though it was always interrupted by 60s and 70s music....

[King Mark 3,625]

Poseidon.Would have benefitted from a bit more character developpement,but I still liked it.Maybe it was because of IMAX which made some of the shots look spectacular.I kept hoping they would quote Williams original theme.

K.M.

[John Crichton 4]

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Overall a loving tribute to one of the best games ever, with a nice coda to the story and especially for Cloud's character. The music video like editing of the battles got old, though, although visually the whole thing was pretty stunning, with interesting things in almost every shot. And while technically the CG is amazing and very detailed, it still lacks realistic movement and facial expressions. And I was a bit disappointed that most of the playable characters from the game had little more than cameos, as the story is pretty much 100% focused on Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris. And the little nuggests thrown in for the fans, like the recreation of several game cutscenes in the new CG were really cool.

I was scared that Uematsu, who's been doing a lot of work with his Black Mages rock group lately, was going to go that route for the score, and for the most part the fight cues are rock, including rock arrangements of Fighting, Yet More Fighting, JENOVA, and One Winged Angel. But there is some really good orchestral stuff in here too (mostly the softer cues), with live orchestral arrangements of original game pieces and also including a good new choral piece used for the fight with the summoned monster in Midgar. The end credits in particular are quite beautiful. Worth getting on CD.

[Red 75]

Hook. Very underrated in my opinion.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

The Sum of All Fears

Pretty entertaining, and with a great supporting cast. Affleck is yawneriffic as Jack Ryan, but pretty much everyone else is a joy to watch. Sweet score by Jerry Goldsmith, too.

[Ollie 1,059]

Affleck was the only thing I didn't like about the film.

[Morlock 11]

X3. On the one hand, a good film. On the other hand, a totally and utterly dissapointing film. Harry Knowles said it best in his rather negative review of the film:

Imagine… the powers that be had just made DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE… but a powerful executive for some arbitrary insanely stupid reason decides to rush GOLDFINGER… but at the same time, being so short sighted that this same executive decides that he’s tired of paying Sean Connery and wants to do a big blowout film… so he combines into GOLDFINGER… THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE and ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE and for good measure a dash or two of MOONRAKER. I mean, why not… this is gonna be the last one. Then, before a script is in place he announced the release date, one approximately a half year to a full year ahead of what would best serve the film. He decides to kill off M, Q, BLOFELD and render Bond impotent – since he won’t be in anything else, it’s best that he lose the ability to procreate.  

To reflect the giganticness of this monstrosity, they retitle GOLDFINGER… GOLDMOONBALL’S TWICE LIVED SECRET SERVICE. Because good news is delivered in short bursts – this third film will be 40 minutes shorter than the last one, because they have so many kick ass characters and action set pieces that rather than exhaust any single one of them, they’d just touch upon these bits, change day for night at a moments notice to hide the seams of the threadbare action… cuz rather than fully produce any of it… they’ll do a couple of high water marks and then let the waters recede under the cover of darkness as to not reveal that it’s mostly cardboard cutouts and extras from the SPARTACUS sets in wristwatches and togas.  

The film you’d get would be… sort of like what has happened with X-MEN: THE LAST STAND.  

It really felt like the studio tried to forcefully kill off this series, which was developing beautifully as the best comic book series to date. I cannot understand why on earth they would do this. Of all the terrific characters, the only ones who get a decent amount of screen time were Magneto and Wolverine. Wolverine was totally un-Wolverine like, he was just a walking joke (though a great deal of those jokes were very funny), and his lines in the scenes with Jean were horrendous.

I could go on forever about my dissapointment regarding the implications of this film, but I won't. I'll movie on to what I did like. If it weren't for the depressing filmic implications of this film, it was rather enjoyable. A lot of excellent scenes, excellent character moments, and no seriously bad stretches to be found. Of course, the movie was only 90 something minutes, when it should have been at least half an hour longer, and could have been an hour longer.

Without a doubt the greatest thing about this film, like the last one, was Ian McKellen's Magneto. This is by far my favorite comic book character in film, more than Nicholson's Joker or Hackman's Luthor. McKellen is just so utterly perfect at every stage- every line, every movement. Just look at his two acts of massive physical manipulation- the convoy of Mystique's police escort and the manipulation of the bridge. Any other actor doing that would look utterly ridicules, being either too bombastic or too overtly comical. McKellen is just pitch perfect, he has this wry enjoyment, that makes even these ridicules movements seem convincing, like the way he escaped from the jail in the previous film. Not many actors can get away with such things. He is a joy to watch, and the single best thing about the series. I'll see the film again just for him.

I liked Kelsey Grammer's Beast, I didn't think they'd pull it off, but he looked good as the beast. But we only got a glimpse of him in action...part of the big dissapointment in the film.

I loved the casting of Vinnie Jones as Juggernaut- there's a bit of inspired casting for ya.

The climactic battle was pretty satisfying, more than X2's climax in the dam. I loved McKellen's place as chessmaster, always from the outside.

I did not like any of the material regarding the Dark Phoenix. I thought it was clumsily done, I didn't care about Jean one bit.

I liked that the look of the film matched the look of the previous one, and I thought the effects were largely pretty decent.

As I said in the other thread, I was very impressed with the score. Powell hit this one out of the park.

I absolutely loved the final scene, it is wonderfully poigniant.

I loathe the producers/writers/executives for ending the series like this, but otherwise, I did have a good time at the theater.

*** out of **** overall.

[King Mark 3,625]

DaVinci code.*I* liked it.What the hell is wrong with the critics.Oh yeah,it's the same bunch of critics that told me Memoirs of a Geisha sucked(it didn't) and Bareback Mountain was great film(it wasn't)

K.M.

[A24 4,326]

What the hell is wrong with the critics.Oh yeah,it's the same bunch of critics that told me Memoirs of a Geisha sucked(it didn't)

They didn't say Memoirs sucked. It got a lot of 7/10's. Now, that's hardly sucky. The problem most critics had with it was that its beauty was only skindeep. I know most of you here praised the same thing. All I heard was beautiful imagery and likewise music.

[King Mark 3,625]

I just watched Rumor Has It on video.I think Jennifer Aniston has started her movie career to late.She better do something interesting before she looks too old in 2-3 years.

K.M.

[nightscape94 965]

Well, The Good Girl was a good movie that is unlike most of the stuff she does.

Tim

[A24 4,326]

The Winslow Boy (David Mamet). The acting in this movie stays in your mind for days. Great!

[tpigeon 3]

DaVinci code.*I* liked it.What the hell is wrong with the critics.Oh yeah,it's the same bunch of critics that told me Memoirs of a Geisha sucked(it didn't) and Bareback Mountain was  great film(it wasn't)

K.M.

The Da Vinci code was watchable for a bit, but it was so lazily made and condescending to its audience that it damn near made me sick. I have never been much of a fan of Ron Howard though. The book wasn't very good - just a cheap pulp-thriller with one cliche piled on top of the other - and the movie is no different. As for Memoirs and Brokeback, I'm with all those idiot critics on this one. Both movies are gorgeously shot, except Brokeback actually had depth and subtlety, whereas Memoirs offered a bland story and flat characters.

Ted

[Morlock 11]

The Winslow Boy (David Mamet). The acting in this movie stays in your mind for days. Great!

I should see this again...I remember liking it a great deal. I loved how Hawthorne was mobilized simply by asking his son if he did it. Not something one expects from a period pic starring Nigel Hawthorne.

As for Memoirs and Brokeback, I'm with all those idiot critics on this one. Both movies are gorgeously shot, except Brokeback actually had depth and subtlety, whereas Memoirs offered a bland story and flat characters.

I thought Memoirs looked and sounded great, but I cannot say either of those things about Brokeback. But I must see it again on DVD....I saw it at the local art-house theater, which is so stuffed with an air of Yuppy Pretentiousness, that it makes it nearly impossible to enjoy a film there. Most of the big recent Focus Features films were ruined for me because of it (although you never know, maybe all the film are simply not that good). Only film I really liked there was Shattered Glass, and that's almost exclusively because of Hayden Christenson's superb performance.

I saw a few disparate films recently:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Just felt like seeing it. Still good. Dynamite score. ***1/2 out of ****.

Rent. I liked it. I have never seen the musical or heard any of the songs before (though a couple sounded a bit familiar), and while I can't imagine this film looks much different than the play, for someone who never has and never will see it live, this was pretty darn good. The film was too long, and too.....bohemian for my tastes, but I guess that's the play, not the film. Colombus made a solid film, can't vouch for it as an adaptation, though. The cast was fine, some better, some worse, but I was most impressed with Rosario Dawson, one of the two new cast members. Yeah, she looks amazing, but damn! She can sing, too! Her performances were the musical highlights of the film for me (I, in general was not blown away by the music. Some songs I liked, a lot more I did not). *** out of ****.

I would have rathered he make GoF. I could live without Rent. But a GoF that would be good....or decent....or not outright terrible would have seriously gratified me. Alas, it was not to be (all this coming for an often critic of Colombus, on the HP films in particular).

Last but not least- The Aristocrats. I loved it. Around the 15 minute point I was thinking to myself 'there's another 75 minutes of this joke waiting for me?', but it picked up, and I thought it was part interesting, part fascinating, and mostly hillarious. I loved so many of the tellings, and the other jokes/anecdotes told...and those I didn't like so much, were all part of the fascinating study of this joke. My favorites were probably Hank Azaria and the guy who told it through card tricks. A unique and excellent documentry. ***1/2 out of ****.

[futuremartymcfly 0]

Avalanche: Nature Unleashed

A film by Euroimages, so I'm guessing its a foreign film, but anyways this was BAD, it was so predictable, special effects ranging from good to horrible, and of course being a b-movie the acting and dialouge was horrible.

[tpigeon 3]

As for Memoirs and Brokeback, I'm with all those idiot critics on this one. Both movies are gorgeously shot, except Brokeback actually had depth and subtlety, whereas Memoirs offered a bland story and flat characters.

I thought Memoirs looked and sounded great, but I cannot say either of those things about Brokeback. But I must see it again on DVD....I saw it at the local art-house theater, which is so stuffed with an air of Yuppy Pretentiousness, that it makes it nearly impossible to enjoy a film there. Most of the big recent Focus Features films were ruined for me because of it (although you never know, maybe all the film are simply not that good). Only film I really liked there was Shattered Glass, and that's almost exclusively because of Hayden Christenson's superb performance.

I saw a few disparate films recently:

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Just felt like seeing it. Still good. Dynamite score. ***1/2 out of ****.

Well, notice that I didn't say they both looked and sounded great. I was just commenting on the photography. In terms of music the Geisha score is infinitely better than Brokeback, but from a photography standpoint, like I said, they're both shot gorgeously, I think.

On an unrelated note, I too recently saw the Wrath of Khan and found it very entertaining, much more than TMP. Horner's score was decent - I love the main theme - but I wasn't blown away by the score as a whole. Very enjoyable though.

Ted, moving on to Star Treks III and IV in the near future.

[Morlock 11]

Well, Wrath of Khan is a good movie, TMP is not. I'm actually not too crazy about the main theme- the action music is IMO what distinguishes the score. Best action music in the series.

[A24 4,326]

The Hudsucker Proxy. Funny and good looks can go together.

Alex

[Johnnyecks 33]

The Hudsucker Proxy. Funny and good looks can go together.

Alex

I couldn't agree more. That is one great film.

I saw this in the theater, and remember not enjoying it all that much.

Now years after listening to the score (one of my favorites of Zimmer), I decided to give it another go. It really is not as bad as I once thought it was. Yes, it definately has its moments of suck-dom and the whole finale is rushed to the point of when it's over you're left with a feeling of. ... "Thats it?".

Good acting throughout, and I love love LOVED Hopkins in this role. He has so much fun.

I enjoyed the paceing of it, the different angles of who was tracking Hannibal, and why and for what reasons.

Really well done. Not a great movie, but good to watch every.. uh, 4 years or so.

You can never go wrong with this. GREAT movie.

Great performance of this awesome performer. Great songs. Can't help but sing along....badly.

Some people say this is the worst of the trilogy, some say Last Crusade is. I say neither of them are worst, they are all good in their own way. Yes, this one has a different, more darker, feel to it but it's so much fun.

And I just absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the opening credit "Anything Goes" song. Very big, very theatrical, very old-school musical. Love it.

Even down to Kate 'shes-only-in-this-cause-shes-boneing-the-director' Capshaw standing in front of the text of the title. Love it. I cannot get this out of my head, even after two days.

[Hitch 57]

RUNNING SCARED - with Paul Walker. This boy should be flogged but he is entertaining eye candy so that alone merits one star from the Hitchster. RUNNING SCARED? I was like that the whole week I was "off".

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Even though I've had this on DVD for almost two months, I saw it tonight for the first time since its theatrical release.

Let me start off by saying something about the score: Patrick Doyle did an excellent job on this film. He made this score his own, and I think it shows. It's very good, actually. I still don't like the way the first task is scored (don't like the use of that big fanfare during the anticipation too), and that sequence remains the only one where I really miss Williams. That one just screams for something like The Quidditch Match or Quidditch, Third Year.

Doyle's score has been critisized for being too heavy on the fanfares. While I too wonder if using a huge fanfare during a build-up scene like the aforementioned prelude to the first task is really the best choice, I must add that if you check out the unreleased music, there's a lot of good stuff to be found. A lot of underscore featuring thematic development. Pretty cool. And he nailed the second task.

Anyhoo. As for the film itself, GoF was always going to be a difficult book to turn into a movie, simply because of its structure. It's built around basically four major set pieces (the Quidditch World Cup and the three tasks). While the World Cup doesn't need to be seen (as it is in the film, although very clumsily removed), you really can't just throw out one of the three tasks. Plus, there's a whole lot of stuff going on inbetween these tasks that has to be dealt with. Seeing this film only reminds me how great a read the book is. It's really a page-turner, the only slow area being the Yule Ball (which does have some merit on its own I think) and is gripping pretty much from start to finish.

The film seems to scramble between trying to deal with all the kids in the school and their relations, serving up big spectacular action pieces, and keeping up a mystery plot that makes any sense.

The first of these is what has been accomplished best. I like the interaction between the kids, and particularly the material with Neville is fun to watch.

The action pieces, while technically very well done, are something less succesful. Particularly that darned first task just seems overdone. After all is said and done, that dragon chase just seems... unnecessary. Same thing nearly happens in the second task. As if Harry being weighed down by two limp bodies and nearly drowning isn't enough, there has to pop out a swarm of nasty underwater creatures to bomb down on him for seemingly no reason other than to add more danger to the scene.

When I first watched the maze sequence, I was rather confused. Being familiar with the book, these living, devious hedges caught me off-guard. But they don't bother me now, though.

The resurrection of Voldemort however, goes by WAY too fast. The pacing seems almost twice as fast as it should be. Fiennes seems to be bouncing all over that set, and I never get the feeling that Harry is in real mortal peril. A big disappointment. This scene is followed, however, by what is one of the best moments in the film, as Newell serves up some nifty juxtaposition, letting the band play the happy Hogwarts March and letting the crowd cheer, as a shattered Harry returns with Cedric's body. But soon, that scene's over, and the graveyard sequence's sour taste remains.

As for the mystery plot, it seems to fall mostly by the wayside. Oh, yeah, there's something about some guy in a leather jacket and Polyjuice Potion, but it all seems so... empty. I don't know. It just didn't work for me the way it probably should have.

I sincerely hope that when OotP is finished, we'll find the makers have focused on one or two of the many layers and storylines in the book and made a movie out of those, rather than try to use tiny bits from almost every subplot, and then try to cram them all together in a two-and-a-half-hour movie, meaning half of it ends up on the cutting room floor, and you're left with empty and useless scenes. But that's for later.

For now, GoF finds itself about tied with CoS for me as worst (that's not to say totally rubbish, but not exactly very good either), with PoA and PS as 1 and 2 respectively.

- Marc

[Marian Schedenig 8,174]

Very well put. I agree with pretty much everything, particularly the two standout bits in an otherwise really flawed film: The character interactions (which is why I think the Yule ball sequence was a delight), and the band/labyrinth/graveyard aftermath mome.t

[Morlock 11]

I saw this in the theater, and remember not enjoying it all that much.

Now years after listening to the score (one of my favorites of Zimmer), I decided to give it another go. It really is not as bad as I once thought it was. Yes, it definately has its moments of suck-dom and the whole finale is rushed to the point of when it's over you're left with a feeling of. ... "Thats it?".

Good acting throughout, and I love love LOVED Hopkins in this role. He has so much fun.

I enjoyed the paceing of it, the different angles of who was tracking Hannibal, and why and for what reasons.

Really well done. Not a great movie, but good to watch every.. uh, 4 years or so.

I also happened to have watched it recently. It's an entertaining as ever. It is one terrific bad film, with one terrific good score.

You can never go wrong with this. GREAT movie.

I think the film is overrated, landmark though it may be. Gruber is wonderful....but I likes Jeremy Irons' Simon more.

Some people say this is the worst of the trilogy, some say Last Crusade is. I say neither of them are worst, they are all good in their own way. Yes, this one has a different, more darker, feel to it but it's so much fun.

And I just absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the opening credit "Anything Goes" song.  Very big, very theatrical, very old-school musical. Love it.

Even down to Kate 'shes-only-in-this-cause-shes-boneing-the-director' Capshaw standing in front of the text of the title. Love it. I cannot get this out of my head, even after two days.

I popped the film in last week, just to watch the opening sequence. Say what you will of the rest of the film, the opening sequence is one of the best sequences I've seen, ending with one of the greatest sight gags ever.

Incidentaly, I also just saw Last Crusade again. I've probably seen this film more than any other. And I must say.....it is still as great as ever. One of the the absolute most entertaining films ever, with one of the most enjoyable comedy performances I've seen (Connery's), and one of the greatest scores.

Very well put. I agree with pretty much everything, particularly the two standout bits in an otherwise really flawed film: The character interactions (which is why I think the Yule ball sequence was a delight), and the band/labyrinth/graveyard aftermath mome.t

I felt the good character interactions were largely leftovers from PoA (I thought the Yule Ball was very annoying). The band and labyrinth were fine, nothing amazing, but that the Graveyard scene was one of the most anti-climactic scenes I've ever. Ralph Fiennes is so not threatening through that bad makeup. What he did with his voice was boring, the look of the sequence was murky, not dark, like it should be and some of the camera work is just plain awful. Quite a terrible film, IMO. Practically nothing in teh film that is any good at all was contributed by the filmmakers. Doyle's score is excellent in the film, but rather less so on the album.

I saw parts of A Beautiful Mind. This is such a not great movie. Excellent performances by all, but where the story builds to rings such a false note, that it's painful. Where this movie was about the brain, it was terrific. Where it was about the heart, it was just bad. Fantastic score by Horner, featuring one of the best scored main titles ever. His overture starts off the film in such a great way. *** out of ****.

[nightscape94 965]

The second Die Hard film is the best of the three.

Tim

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

IMO, the second Die Hard is easily the worst (although still entertaining).

As for Fiennes' make-up, I was quite impressed to find out they changed his face digitally, removing his noce and replacing it with these snakelike holes. It's seamless.

The scene itself is still horribly blah, though.

[futuremartymcfly 0]

Over the hedge, it was definitely not as good as the Pixar movies, but still better then most animated movies such as Robots and Shark Tale. However, the animation was really amazing, then again thats standard...

[Morlock 11]

IMO, the second Die Hard is easily the worst (although still entertaining).

I agree.

As for Fiennes' make-up, I was quite impressed to find out they changed his face digitally, removing his noce and replacing it with these snakelike holes. It's seamless.

I was impressed that they did it digitally. Nothing about it other than how it was done was impressive to me. The graveyard scene is so lacking a sinister feel. The most evil dude in the history of dudes has just come back to life...and after it, the best thing I can say about it is meh.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I agree, it's rather bland.

That scene should have been the Harry Potter equivalent of Luke Skywalkers confrontation with Vader in TESB.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

It didn't help that the scor-

Just kidding. But agreed about the scene. It's nowhere near tense enough, and the sense of horror at Voldemort's rising is never realised. The Death Eaters aren't afraid of him either. I felt that Lucius Malfoy was more evil in that scene than Voldemort.

[Indiana_Fett 0]

Why did that scene look like a Klan rally?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Death Eaters is a stupid name anyway.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Almost like DEATH STAR. Inherent capitals and all.

[futuremartymcfly 0]

Why did that scene look like a Klan rally?

I felt that the destruction at the Quidditch Game felt more like a Klan parade of destruction, but are the death eaters really supposed to look like the KKK?

[QMM 4]

King Kong

First time seeing it. Immediate reactions: Way too long, effects ranged from above average to really good and the score didn't have much effect on me. I do applaud Jackson with the bug scene, that freaked the hell out of me.

[Morlock 11]

It is way too long, I thought the effects ranged from rather shoddy (the dinos) to specacularly good (Kong). The score was nothing special in the film, but it makes for a very enjoyable listen on the album (Though the action music sounds a bit to Goldsmithian for me at times). And I think the score is actually what ruined the bug scene. Such a gloriously over the top sequence, it needed the music to acknowledge the campiness of what was happening, and instead we get this terrible etheral cue which totally ruined the scene for me.

Anyhoo the brief discussions about Die Hard inspired me to see the film again. I still say 3 is the best. But the first one is a damn fine movie as well. Rickman is of course marvelous, but I especialy noticed the contirbutions of Mrs. Kamen and DeBont this time around. I never realized how much the score helped the movie. The tense parts of the score do their job to a T, but what really adds to the film are the quotes from Beethoven and Singin' in the Rain. The score just has such a healthy sense of humour. I never realized that the bad guys theme shares the it's first few notes with the theme from Beethoven's 9th! I think it was a brilliant idea on McTiernan's part to have Ludwig Van in the first film, and then 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home' in the third film. I also never realized before how intricate Jan DeBont's cinematography was on this one. He does such a masterful job of guiding our emotions at every points. I love the moments when the camera is following McLaine, you feel like he's in control, but then when he stops, the camera keeps moving, you realize he's not in control at all......brilliant way of guiding the audience subconsciously .

It was a bit sad seeing Paul Gleeson, in the role he did so well. I think the part might have been really terrible, if not for some hillarious line he was given, like 'Well, I guess we're gonna need more FBI guys', and 'Oooooh, I hope that wasn't a hostage'.

***1/4 out of ****.

Also saw You can count on me for the first time. A lovely little picture, wonderfully written and performed. I was pissed when Julia Roberts beat out Ellen Burstyn for the oscar....but Laura Linney was really the gypped one. She provides one of the best female performances I've ever seen. Mark Ruffalo is wonderful as Terry, as well. And Rory Culkin does a lot to clear the family name. A wonderful little movie full of truths, especialy poigniant if you've got a sibling that your close to like that.

***1/2 out of ****.

And finally, I saw Bonnie and Clyde again. I think this movie certainly has aged, some of the homages to the French new wave in particular seem just strange today (though not the close up right before the shooting at the end). But it is wonderfully acted by the five leads, plus the actors playing Mr. Moss and Hamer. The cutting of the final scene is snesational, one of the greatest finales ever. I think the score is missing some counterpoint to the stereotypical chase music, but it adds to the spirit of the film. I was struck by how the family reunion scene had no music whatsoever.

Anyhoo, still a very good film, even though it has aged.

I feel wrong giving it less than ****, if I'm honest, the film had an impact on me of a ***1/2 film.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

 Anyhoo the brief discussions about Die Hard inspired me to see the film again. I still say 3 is the best. But the first one is a damn fine movie as well. Rickman is of course marvelous, but I especialy noticed the contirbutions of Mrs. Kamen and DeBont this time around. I never realized how much the score helped the movie. The tense parts of the score do their job to a T, but what really adds to the film are the quotes from Beethoven and Singin' in the Rain. The score just has such a healthy sense of humour. I never realized that the bad guys theme shares the it's first few notes with the theme from Beethoven's 9th! I think it was a brilliant idea on McTiernan's part to have Ludwig Van in the first film, and then 'When Johnny Comes Marching Home' in the third film. I also never realized before how intricate Jan DeBont's cinematography was on this one. He does such a masterful job of guiding our emotions at every points. I love the moments when the camera is following McLaine, you feel like he's in control, but then when he stops, the camera keeps moving, you realize he's not in control at all......brilliant way of guiding the audience subconsciously .

 It was a bit sad seeing Paul Gleeson, in the role he did so well. I think the part might have been really terrible, if not for some hillarious line he was given, like 'Well, I guess we're gonna need more FBI guys', and 'Oooooh, I hope that wasn't a hostage'.

 ***1/4 out of ****.

I love Die Hard to death. De Bont's work is awesome. The moving camera you mentioned, the Dutch angles that give almost a sense of sea-sickness when you find out Rickman is about to shoot Willis, the whole building being shot like it's a jungle. Notice also the lack of depth of the exterior scenes compared to the interior scenes, making the outside feel much smaller than the inside (love the trivia track on this DVD - far outshines the usual "this scene was done in 1 take with 5 cameras rolling at once and blah blah blah" nonsense).

The inclusion of Ode to Joy just screams how silly it all is, but it's so much fun. Also notice that Gruber sings it in the elevator.

And I can't imagine anyone other than Gleason pulling off the lines you mentioned, or the role as a whole. He's hilarious at everything he does. "I've got a hundred people down here and they're all coverd in glass!"

The third certainly is a hell of an entertaining ride, and it's one of those action films I could watch any time, any day. But the original, with its great cinematography, its great build-up from start to finish, and an entertaining cast all around just has takes the #1 position. Thanks to De Bont, it's all-out popcorn macho action, but with a classy look that's rare to find.

Best. Action film. Ever.

[Morlock 11]

The third just seems more fun to me, which is the most important thing to me about an action film. Like Brett Ratner said about the X3 (paraphrazing) 'Once you get to number 3, you've got to have som fun'. I'm not quite sure why that is, but I just like the third better. I guess it comes down to the villains. I just have a predisposition to Irons' Simon. Rickman's Gruber is legendary, and rightfully so, but I think there's something a bit stiff about him. Irons is having a ball doing this. I personally like Rickman's Sheriff of Notingham more than his Hans Gruber. More quotable lines.

Morlock- who feels like a heretic, talking this way about Die Hard and Hans Gruber.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Paul Gleeson nearly ruins Die Hard for me every time, together with William Atherton, Robert Davi and Grand L. Bush.

[Morlock 11]

The appearance of the character of the dumb police chief might have ruined it, but Gleeson is so utterly ridicules, and has a few wonderful lines, that it's okay. Davi and the other guy ar just stupid, they do harm the film. Atherton doesn't bother me too much.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Mr Smith Goes to Washington,

wonderful film.

as for Die Hard, its easily the best of the 3, with 2 being 2nd best, and Die Hardest easily the worst, contrived and conveluted, excess personified.