Heidi 's comments

Heidi 's comments from the Movies We've Just Watched group.

Note: Heidi is no longer a member of this group.

Enjoying Turner Classic Movie channel recently-- Philadelphia Story (each time I see this I discover another gem of a scene), Rear Window (Grace Kelly's beauty eclipses most of her scenes) and Gaslight.

Both John and Joan are great-- she's one of the most underrated character actress working (usually she's regulated to the Mom roles these days).

Having seen both Better off Dead and Say Anything in the theater as a teenager, I have fond feelings for both.... we routinely use quotes from both flix around the house.

And one of my ultimate 80s love songs is the Peter Gabriel song that will forever be entwined with the movie...

Thanks for the netflix tip... may have to check that out this week!

We ordered this on pay-per-view and I watched it twice... I adore Ricky Gervaise... he made the movie!

For the most part, I enjoyed this year's show better than previous years, regardless of the fact that it hasn't been a good movie year for me (saw very few of the nominated flix). One thing I missed was seeing excerpts from the movies nominated (best acting, etc)... could have dropped that unfortunate musical spot and added the performance clips.

Some of my favorite movies about love are the ones without the traditional "they lived happily ever after" films such as Now Voyager, Out of Africa and the first one I remember watching as a young adult- Somewhere in Time (Christopher Reeve never looked so beautiful and the score is still haunting). I know it's not the best movie ever made about love, but it had some lovely moments.

And even if you didn't care for The English Patient, it captures the fall out of obsessive love-- plus I think one of the most romantic scenes is Juliet Binoche being treated to the art of the cathedral ceilings in the dark complements of her soldier lover.

I've seen all three versions of this story and nothing can top the original... one of my faves to repeat.

What amazes me as a fan of the books, is that they really did a great job of bringing Tolkien's world to life. The images were true to my imagination for the most part... that rarely happens in such a large work. I still love to watch them once or twice a year.

A film score resonates with me if I can still remember the scene when I hear just the music... sometimes I even like the music better than the movie... I tend to favor the sweeping epics such as The English Patient, Last of the Mohicans, Pride and Prejudice, Out of Africa and Schindler's List... but I love quirky independents too like Juno and Napoleon Dynamite.

I definitely won't judge a movie by its trailer-- but I will say that trailers have gotten out of hand. In many cases, especially mediocre comedies, the trailers are better than the actual movies. I still do like watching them-- it's a great way to see what's coming up (then I go home and do some digging).

I love Liam Neeson but I have to admit the trailer for Taken reminded me instantly of other movies (Ransom quickly came to mind). I hope I'm wrong.

I believe Grey Gardens stars Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange... should be interesting... will have to check out the documentary... loved the Broadway musical and the overlapping of characters (daughter playing Mother as young woman, etc.).

This is one movie that my kids picked (mainly because of Jack Black) that I ended up adoring more than they did... I found myself recommending this movie to friends for months after seeing it... genuine funny movie with a "small independent" feel.

I'll weigh in on the Chicago vs Moulin Rouge discussion. As a lifelong, avid fan of both Broadway and movie musicals, I was horrified by the bits and pieces I saw of Moulin Rouge in previews and reviews.

Despite that, I just can't pass up a musical. I remember renting it (could kick myself now for not seeing it on the big screen) so I could intellectually discuss my contempt for what Baz Luhrnman did to the movie musical... lo and behold, after I rearranged my preconceptions and had sat through about 30 minutes, I realized that Mr. Luhrman had done the modern audience a favor (an audience that before Moulin Rouge may never have considered paying to see a movie musical). He reintroduced the joys of the movie musical to a new generation who likes their music delivered via MTV styled productions, which is not to say better or worse that the flicks dominated by Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Shirley Jones, Fred Astaire, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, etc.

Must admit the movie wasn't a complete triumph-- Nicole Kidman gave a fairly wooden and yet still over-fevered performance, which was easy to forgive considering the other strong performances. Who knew that Obi-wan could sing?

Chicago, on the otherhand, could have taken a few lessons from Luhrman's production. Yes, it's faithful to the stage production (which I adore) but it was terribly miscast (can you say "keep Richard Gere away from all things musical") and very uninventive in form... I won't say I hated it-- I own it and love the music, and the movie does boast the best version of Mr. Cellophane.

However, like Rent and The Producers which followed, Chicago didn't capture the attention of this generation of moviegoers... and that's a real shame.

Haven't seen it... won't see it... but the previews look pretty darn creepy.

Definitely agree that the book was better than the movie and that the movie was miscast, most especially Eric Banna.

Watched it via Netflix... glad I didn't pay for a theater ticket.

While I also wonder about the veracity of the tale told from Frank's view... I still thought it was a well-made movie and that both Denzel and Russell were believable characters... I did feel it had some timing issues (speed up, choppy), but that's probably because we saw the director's cut with extra scenes. This was also a movie that had an excellent supporting cast, as well as really recreated 70s NYC/NJ superbly.

I'm with Meg... not a big fan of Westerns (although love Silverado and several of Eastwood's) but I thought Christian Bale was excellent in the role, although I agree that Crowe phoned it in (and definitely had the least believable character). After reading reviews of the original, I think I'll add it to the list to watch. I didn't know it was remake until after I saw it...

I guess it's not a good sign when you're watching a movie (The Legion) and sit down to post on GR and the next thing you know the credits are rolling and a half hour is gone... even Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth couldn't rescue this one... but hey, my kids might like it for all the sword play.

Haven't watched nearly as many movies as I'd hoped over Christmas break... unfortunately my choices have been slightly dictated by kids (Get Smart remake-- a few funny scenes but most of the time I found myself staring... did love the two invention geeks-- they stole every scene they had).

Also saw Carousel (starring a very young Shirley Jones--love those old movie musicals, but this one won't rank in my top 10), Casino (Robert DeNiro rarely fails and its one movie that Sharon Stone nearly resembles an actress) and The Quick and the Dead (Sharon Stone terribly miscast there and the overly "arty" film direction/editing drove me crazy... enough with the clock closeups).

Got the first two Godfather movies on DVR... hoping to watch those before the weekend is over.

Interesting thread... as my kids have gotten older my reading time has increased and my TV time has decreased. As much as I love movies, I'll take a book most days. Also, I've got a thing about reading the book first, so my to read list usually has lots of books that are about to be movies, which also means I'm furiously reading to stay ahead of movies I want to see. (Sorry got off topic there for sec). I'm guessing I average 2-3 books a week with some exceptions (holidays, summer).

One more thought-- as much as my husband and I read, we've had quite a difficult time convincing our kids to sit still and enjoy some great reads... reading has too much competition these days.