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Movies (duplicate thread)
Finally watched The Hangover last night. Some of it was funny but on the whole I thought how did this win the Best Comedy Golden Globe?? I liked Bradley Cooper but most of it was just stupid! I don't want to give anything away for those who haven't seen it.Cambridge - I love The Departed too! Did you know it's a remake of a Hong Kong movie (the name escapes me) but it's good too.
Have any of you guys heard of FILMCRAVE.COM? It's a social networking site for movie-lovers.
Joy, I have seen the Hangover too, I won't give anything away either, but to say outlandish is about right :) And I had no idea that The Departed was a remake, very interesting! I will see if I can dig that up.
The name of the film that The Departed is remade from is called Infernal Affairs. It's an excellent film, but The Departed is one of the rare instances where a remake trumps the original.
Thanks Gus, I will try and hunt it down to check it out and YAY! another fan! How great is it Gus?
Infernal Affairs is very good, and you'll see the similarities between the 2 films. But I think you'll agree The Departed is the better film.
I saw Infernal Affairs a long time ago and I don't remember it that well but my husband liked it. The Departed is excellent though. Scorsese rarely makes a bad movie...
I liked The Departed, but I liked Goodfellas better. And could Jack Nicholson be more over the top? I don't think so!
Jackie "the Librarian" wrote: "I liked The Departed, but I liked Goodfellas better. And could Jack Nicholson be more over the top? I don't think so!"I agree Jackie, Jack Nicholson wasn't at the top of his game in Departed. I bought Goodfellas and it never gets old - the book it was based on (Wiseguy, Life in a Mafia Family by Nicholas Pileggi) is really good too.
Community had a really funny Goodfellas riff going a couple weeks back, except instead of money they used chicken fingers...
Yep, I saw that episode. Abed rolling like he was Henry Hill...priceless.
I, for one, think that Community is the funniest new show on TV, because of its' sharp pop culture riffing.
I, for one, think that Community is the funniest new show on TV, because of its' sharp pop culture riffing.
I thought Infernal Affairs and The Departed were both excellent. There was a little more mystery and tension in Infernal Affairs, but more visual style in the Departed - not to mention the performances were excellent.
I agree that Community is one of the funniest shows on.And I just recently re-watched They Live.
It was just as entertaining as I remembered.
Saw a couple of films over the past 2 nights. I've posted my reviews as well for each.
First up, Big Fan, staring the very funny Patton Oswalt in a darkly comic film about the unhealthy obsession of one sports fan in particular.
Paul Aufiero is precisely the sports fan I loathe: a pathetic, sheltered, delusional loser who lives only for his favorite team, the NY Giants, and ignores just about everything else. When he's not toiling in a pathetic existence - living at home with a mother who pretty much provides everything for him, and working as a ticket collector - he concocts snappy comebacks which he calls in at a sports radio station. Oh, and he harbors a creepy man-crush on Giants LB Quantrell Bishop. As devoted a fan he is, neither Paul nor his (only) friend Sal can bear to actually attend a Giants game, for fear of jinxing the team.
One night, Paul and Sal stumble upon their hero, and decide to follow him. What happens is a case of misunderstanding that leads to Paul getting physically beaten by Quantrell Bishop within inches of his life. So what does Paul do? Nothing. He stalls a police investigation, makes every attempt to prevent his ambulance-chasing lawyer brother from filing a lawsuit against Bishop, and pretty much concocts one lame excuse after another. Without Bishop, the Giants are doomed to fail, and Paul would rather see Bishop back in a Giants uniform, unpunished, than to see both his hero and his beloved team fail. It's this kind of twisted love for a team that's hard to bear, and it forms the crux of a very good film.
Patton Oswalt, easily one of the funniest comedic actors working today, plays it very straight. In interviews, Oswalt admitted his knowledge of football as a sport boils down to knowing how the ball itself is shaped. No matter; as a vocal and devote fanboy of comic books and Sci-Fi, he's able to tap into that self-minded obsessiveness of nerd culture, which is also clearly evident in sports fanaticism. In someone else's hands, Paul would have been a loathesome and unlikeable character, but Oswalt injects his performance with the right mix of declining dignity and self-effacement, making you not just sympathize with such a social misfit, but worry about how and where his blind fanaticism takes him.
If you're going to dismiss "Big Fan" as merely a sports film, don't. Written and directed by Robert Siegel, who penned the brilliant "The Wrestler,' "Big Fan" is a darkly funny character study about the kind of person all sports fans know and hate too well.
Recommended.
Next up, the rockumentary It Might Get Loud, featuring Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White.
Imagine, if you will, if three of the best guitar players alive are invited to sit together in one room and talk shop. Exciting enough, no? Now, if those 3 guitar players are - and they really need no introduction - Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White, this would be enough to make you drool, right?
"It Might Get Loud" is exactly that premise, but the drool-inducing moments - especially when each guitarist takes a turn demonstrating their technique or playing a fat riff like "Whole Lotta Love", as Page did to the appreciative Edge and White, and that moment is pure joy - often are bogged down by first-person narratives from each guitarist, so much so that they slow the film's pace down.
Regardless, "It Might Get Loud" has many great moments, all of which occur when these three guitar gunslingers are in the same room together. It's a joy to see Page, White, and the Edge enjoy each other's company, so willing to share secrets with one another. You can see and feel the respect they have for one another; when White demonstrates his blues-soaked riff that opens the White Stripes' "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," Page and the Edge follow along with their guitars. Early, the Edge demonstrates that deceptively simple riff that opens U2's "I Will Follow": Page seems incredulous that the Edge could have gotten away with a riff so simple, but immediately recognizes that the simplest riff make for the best rock n' roll.
Page, White, and the Edge are clearly the stars of this doc, and each of their distinct personalities shine brightly. The biggest surprise is Page, normally someone who keeps the media at extremely long arms' length, but he possesses a playful, professional cool side that's displayed quite often. One would think he'd grown tired of talking about Led Zeppelin, but the look in his eye when he goes back to Headley Grange, where the band recorded their 4th album (you know, the one with "Stairway to Heaven" and "When the Levee Breaks") is classic. He's embraced warmly the band's history, unlike his long-haired lead vocalist, who's suddenly fancied himself a bluegrass singer...The Edge is his usual self-deprecating self, just glad to be in such great company, but he's much too modest. White revels in his outsider status, and he displays tremendous humility; Page is clearly an influence on his guitar playing, and to be in the same room with that man must have been earth-shattering and nerve-wracking for him.
The problem I had with "It Might Get Loud" is Davis Guggenheim's directing. Much of the first person narratives he directs from each guitarist seems forced, even more contrived; it's great to see the normally reclusive Page come out from the shadows, but spending nearly 15 minutes on Page's early career as a session musician, seems flat. The Edge's ruminations about the Irish "troubles" of the 70's and '80s seems woefully out of place here. And White is too often posed as an eccentric freak; well, he is, but in this context, his eccentricities seem calculating and forced. This "rockumentary" could have morphed into a pretty average documentary, but, fortunately for the viewer, the 3 guitar gods rip out a pair of impromptu jams - first, the bluesy blitzkrieg of Zeppelin's "In My Time of Dying," followed by the Band's "The Weight," with White and Edge sharing vocals and harmonies - that save the film and make it so worth watching, despite its shortcomings.
First up, Big Fan, staring the very funny Patton Oswalt in a darkly comic film about the unhealthy obsession of one sports fan in particular.
Paul Aufiero is precisely the sports fan I loathe: a pathetic, sheltered, delusional loser who lives only for his favorite team, the NY Giants, and ignores just about everything else. When he's not toiling in a pathetic existence - living at home with a mother who pretty much provides everything for him, and working as a ticket collector - he concocts snappy comebacks which he calls in at a sports radio station. Oh, and he harbors a creepy man-crush on Giants LB Quantrell Bishop. As devoted a fan he is, neither Paul nor his (only) friend Sal can bear to actually attend a Giants game, for fear of jinxing the team.
One night, Paul and Sal stumble upon their hero, and decide to follow him. What happens is a case of misunderstanding that leads to Paul getting physically beaten by Quantrell Bishop within inches of his life. So what does Paul do? Nothing. He stalls a police investigation, makes every attempt to prevent his ambulance-chasing lawyer brother from filing a lawsuit against Bishop, and pretty much concocts one lame excuse after another. Without Bishop, the Giants are doomed to fail, and Paul would rather see Bishop back in a Giants uniform, unpunished, than to see both his hero and his beloved team fail. It's this kind of twisted love for a team that's hard to bear, and it forms the crux of a very good film.
Patton Oswalt, easily one of the funniest comedic actors working today, plays it very straight. In interviews, Oswalt admitted his knowledge of football as a sport boils down to knowing how the ball itself is shaped. No matter; as a vocal and devote fanboy of comic books and Sci-Fi, he's able to tap into that self-minded obsessiveness of nerd culture, which is also clearly evident in sports fanaticism. In someone else's hands, Paul would have been a loathesome and unlikeable character, but Oswalt injects his performance with the right mix of declining dignity and self-effacement, making you not just sympathize with such a social misfit, but worry about how and where his blind fanaticism takes him.
If you're going to dismiss "Big Fan" as merely a sports film, don't. Written and directed by Robert Siegel, who penned the brilliant "The Wrestler,' "Big Fan" is a darkly funny character study about the kind of person all sports fans know and hate too well.
Recommended.
Next up, the rockumentary It Might Get Loud, featuring Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White.
Imagine, if you will, if three of the best guitar players alive are invited to sit together in one room and talk shop. Exciting enough, no? Now, if those 3 guitar players are - and they really need no introduction - Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White, this would be enough to make you drool, right?
"It Might Get Loud" is exactly that premise, but the drool-inducing moments - especially when each guitarist takes a turn demonstrating their technique or playing a fat riff like "Whole Lotta Love", as Page did to the appreciative Edge and White, and that moment is pure joy - often are bogged down by first-person narratives from each guitarist, so much so that they slow the film's pace down.
Regardless, "It Might Get Loud" has many great moments, all of which occur when these three guitar gunslingers are in the same room together. It's a joy to see Page, White, and the Edge enjoy each other's company, so willing to share secrets with one another. You can see and feel the respect they have for one another; when White demonstrates his blues-soaked riff that opens the White Stripes' "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground," Page and the Edge follow along with their guitars. Early, the Edge demonstrates that deceptively simple riff that opens U2's "I Will Follow": Page seems incredulous that the Edge could have gotten away with a riff so simple, but immediately recognizes that the simplest riff make for the best rock n' roll.
Page, White, and the Edge are clearly the stars of this doc, and each of their distinct personalities shine brightly. The biggest surprise is Page, normally someone who keeps the media at extremely long arms' length, but he possesses a playful, professional cool side that's displayed quite often. One would think he'd grown tired of talking about Led Zeppelin, but the look in his eye when he goes back to Headley Grange, where the band recorded their 4th album (you know, the one with "Stairway to Heaven" and "When the Levee Breaks") is classic. He's embraced warmly the band's history, unlike his long-haired lead vocalist, who's suddenly fancied himself a bluegrass singer...The Edge is his usual self-deprecating self, just glad to be in such great company, but he's much too modest. White revels in his outsider status, and he displays tremendous humility; Page is clearly an influence on his guitar playing, and to be in the same room with that man must have been earth-shattering and nerve-wracking for him.
The problem I had with "It Might Get Loud" is Davis Guggenheim's directing. Much of the first person narratives he directs from each guitarist seems forced, even more contrived; it's great to see the normally reclusive Page come out from the shadows, but spending nearly 15 minutes on Page's early career as a session musician, seems flat. The Edge's ruminations about the Irish "troubles" of the 70's and '80s seems woefully out of place here. And White is too often posed as an eccentric freak; well, he is, but in this context, his eccentricities seem calculating and forced. This "rockumentary" could have morphed into a pretty average documentary, but, fortunately for the viewer, the 3 guitar gods rip out a pair of impromptu jams - first, the bluesy blitzkrieg of Zeppelin's "In My Time of Dying," followed by the Band's "The Weight," with White and Edge sharing vocals and harmonies - that save the film and make it so worth watching, despite its shortcomings.
Thanks Gus! I'm in line for Big Fan at the library.
I've been a fan of Oswalt's for years. For my $$$, his Werewolves and Lollipops album (which features the "America Has Spoken" riff I made familiar to some of you) is one of the funniest stand-up comedy albums ever. Nice to see him stretch out in a dramatic role.
I laugh until I cry listening to "America Has Spoken" with that line about the lunch gun... hahahahahahaha!!!
I thought he was very good in Dollhouse; it was also a dramatic role. I think Big Fan may already be available as an instant watch on Netflix. Both that and It Might Get Loud are on my list.
I really only know Patton from The King of Queens. And he was on that Lewis Black show on Comedy Central where they debated which was worse (can't remember what it was called).
Oh right - I forgot he was on Tara! That's a good show, very different!
Gus wrote: "Saw a couple of films over the past 2 nights. I've posted my reviews as well for each.
First up, Big Fan, staring the very funny Patton Oswalt in a darkly comic film about the unhealthy obsession ..."
Great reviews Gus, but I'm not sure I concur with your characterization of Jack White as one of "the best guitar players alive" and he's a Detroit guy for Christ's sake. But never mind me. I'll work it out.
And despite his lead singer, I still respect The Edge quite a bit. What's left to say about Page? He may have gone out on a limb to strike that Faustian pact with Satan, but it worked out for him in the long run.
Nice work!
First up, Big Fan, staring the very funny Patton Oswalt in a darkly comic film about the unhealthy obsession ..."
Great reviews Gus, but I'm not sure I concur with your characterization of Jack White as one of "the best guitar players alive" and he's a Detroit guy for Christ's sake. But never mind me. I'll work it out.
And despite his lead singer, I still respect The Edge quite a bit. What's left to say about Page? He may have gone out on a limb to strike that Faustian pact with Satan, but it worked out for him in the long run.
Nice work!
Ok, ladies. Who's gonna go see Iron Man 2 because Robert Downey Jr. takes off his shirt or something?
I am going to see IM2, but not because RDjr takes off his shirt. That's just bonus.
Just got back from seeing Iron Man 2. I liked it. RDJ was awesome in it, as expected, and I think Don Cheadle's a better Rhodey than Terence Howard was. Not as good or as charming as the first Iron Man, but still a ton of fun.
Nerd alert: stay in your seats after the credits are done...if you're like me, you'll shit your pants from the totally glee!
Nerd alert: stay in your seats after the credits are done...if you're like me, you'll shit your pants from the totally glee!
Thanks for that suggestion - I'm a stay-in-the-seat-just-in-case person, but Zu would normally have dragged me out by then if I couldn't say that there was definitely something after the credits.
OMG! I'm about to freak myself out watching a horror flick right now. It's called The House of the Devil (occult movies always freak me out), and it's an indie horror flick that came out last year. I borrowed it from my local library. And now the dogs keep barking... and Robby is snoring... and I'm feeling REALLY jumpy. I might have to check in on occasion with updates so I can take breaks from the movie when it gets to be too intense for me. Wish me luck!
I'll probably end up switching to Rudy before the night's over.
I blame the trailers for making me jumpy. They were scary.
I made it 26 minutes into it before I started nodding off. I'll pick it up where I left off in the morning. So far, so good... I'll probably have freaky dreams tonight, too.
Saw Iron Man 2 last night. It was fun!
Youndy, you stayed past the closing credits, right? RIGHT?
Okay, I finished watching The House of the Devil today. And it was creepy even during the daytime! It's probably a good thing I started nodding off during the movie (because it was late, not because it was boring) - I would've had HORRIBLE dreams if I'd watched it RIGHT before going to sleep. Sheesh! One of the best horror flicks (overlooking the anachronisms) I've seen in years... loved it.
Yes, I stayed past the credits, but I was kind of disappointed a bit. I am not familiar with this cast of characters, so I was confused by one reference. [Trying not to spoil anything here.:]
Hello Heidi, I saw HOUSE OF THE DEVIL too. I also got it from the library as always. I also enjoy movies about the occult. The best film I've seen recently is ORPHAN. I would recommend it. It was better than I expected.
My husband was on the couch reading the paper while I was watching and many times he stopped reading and started watching. Eventually, he just put the paper down.
Mona wrote: "The best film I've seen recently is ORPHAN. I would recommend it. It w..."I watched that one several months ago. I was v. disturbed. I think the teeth bothered me the most. :(
Have you seen THE STRANGERS? That one was especially unforgettable/disturbing because it is based on a real-life incident.SURVEILLANCE was also good.
Kickass was kinda the greatest movie ever...I loved it. <3 :D
Mona wrote: "Have you seen THE STRANGERS? That one was especially unforgettable/disturbing because it is based on a real-life incident.SURVEILLANCE was also good."
Hmmm... I'll have to check those out to see if I might be interested in them.
We watched Extract last night. I had hopes (not high ones) since I loved Idiocracy, but it kind of never fired for me.
The Strangers was really scary. Liv Tyler was actually a great actress in it; she really conveyed emotion well.
Sarah Pi wrote: "We watched Extract last night. I had hopes (not high ones) since I loved Idiocracy, but it kind of never fired for me."I've picked that up from the library twice and not watched it yet. I didn't fire, either.
I have Nine from Redbox, and I'm either gonna have to watch it or take it back...:)
Mod
See y'all in 2015.
No, you see, Sally, you have to watch them now, before Leah gets older. Pretty soon you won't want her in the room when sex and violence or whatever comes on. But now she's not paying attention. It's your window of opportunity.
The Strangers was lame. If I had a shot gun and a box of shells in a situation like that, I wouldn't wind up tied to a chair in the morning.
I enjoyed "Nine," thought Daniel Day Lewis was the weakest link in the movie. I might have cast someone else, like George Clooney.
I need some good suggestions for horror flicks - nothing too gory - I don't do slasher films.
Heidi wrote: "I need some good suggestions for horror flicks - nothing too gory - I don't do slasher films."
Candy ass...
"Island of Lost Souls"
"Freaks"
Candy ass...
"Island of Lost Souls"
"Freaks"
I think we may have had this discussion, but I completely love "The Shining," not the Nicholson one, but the one that aired in 3 parts on network TV. The boy and the cook were both given the emphasis that the book gives them. The story is supposed to be told through Danny's eyes--that's why it's so scary.
Right now I have AVATAR, NINE, I LOVE YOU MAN,PINK PANTHER 2, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, and PS I LOVE YOU from the library. I intend to definitely watch the first 3 before I have to return them.
I have a toddler so I have to be really careful about what I watch when she's around.
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Terminalcoffee
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-witted.