Glens Falls (NY) Online Book Discussion Group discussion
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Movies, DVDs, and Theater
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What MOVIES or DVDs have you watched? (PART FIVE - 2012) (ongoing thread)
Sometimes it's fun comparing the movie to the book... if you can remember it all. :)
So what did you think of This Is Spinal Tap, Joy?I watched Big Miracle last night http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1430615/, it was good but disturbing to know that all those involved in saving the whales did it for good PR, not from any desire to really save them.
Tonight, Wrath of the Titans http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646987/, good movie for it's genre, that or I'm just a sucker for mythology. It got right to the story which I appreciate, we all know my lack of patience. The movable design for Tartarus was wholly impressive! And worth watching it for that alone.
Do you remember "Jason & the Argonauts", Jackie? It was done in 1963 & is still remembered for some of its daring special effects (superb for the time) especially the fighting skeletons. I remember watching it in the movie theater, especially the part where the hero 'kills' the big metal warrior by unscrewing a plug in its heel.
Jackie wrote: "So what did you think of This Is Spinal Tap, Joy? ... Jackie, I posted that in Message #600 but I'll copy and paste that message here for you. (It's one page back.)
**************************************************
COPIED AND PASTED FROM MESSAGE #600:
I finished watching Spinal Tap.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088258/
I had to read the reviews to figure out what it was all about. It's such an unusual movie. James Berardinelli says in his review:
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"The film is a composite of classic moments, all of which we sense could have happened to any of the classic heavy metal bands - or at least to those whose members combined delusions of greatness with low I.Q.s."
...
"Since 1984, there have been plenty of This Is Spinal Tap imitators, but none have come close to what Reiner and his talented troupe achieved in this mockumentary classic."
FROM: http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_t...
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Roger Ebert wrote:
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"The movie looks like a documentary filmed during the death throes of a British rock band named Spinal Tap. It is, in fact, a satire. The rock group does not really exist, but the best thing about this film is that it could. The music, the staging, the special effects, the backstage feuding and the pseudo-profound philosophizing are right out of a hundred other rock groups and a dozen other documentaries about rock."
FROM: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/p...
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BTW, I streamed the movie and it had subtitles. I've noticed lately that some of the movies streamed from Netflix do have subtitles. This is a welcome improvement!
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PS-Jackie, I'm glad you had told me that "Spinal Tap" was a "spoof on the Beatles". That helped me get the point of the movie. It was funny in its own way. The band members were so clue-less. They gave such stupid answers when they were interviewed. For example, when the interviewer asked the band member if he'd rather have a job selling shoes, the band member answered by asking what the hours would be. LOL
Some quotes: "Christianity might be a good thing if anyone tried it," George Bernard Shaw/"I never hated a man enough to give his diamond back," Za Za Gabor/"Knowledge is ruin to my young men," Adolf Hitler/"I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of the way and let them have it." President Dright D. Eisenhower.
Thanks for the quotes, Nina.
Jim, I saw Jason and The Argonauts but don't remember it, way too long ago, lol Joy, I did see the message on the previous page, but you didn't say what you thought of it, just other's reviews. In message 606 I get to see what you thought of it.
Some of it was funny, and like most comedies, it was probably funnier back when I saw it for the first time. The only comedy movie that is still funny and makes me laugh after all these years is Monty Python and The Holy Grail. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/
I forgot to mention about Wrath of the Titans, keep your remote handy. Once again the sound effects are deafening, while the dialogue is low. I don't get it. How can they think it's enjoyable to clutch a remote and play up and down throughout a movie? It really takes away from a movie, IMO.
Jackie, I thought it was only old people like myself and my husband who had to sit with the control going from low to high all the time. I hate it when the music is so loud you can hear the dialect.
Nope, I hear perfectly well, it's the way the film is made. It's so annoying to me. Pick a volume and stick with it! I'm glad I didn't see it in the theater, I'd have burst my eardrums with how loud the theaters make it, even worse than the DVD.
The low high bit with the TV sound gets us all. Especially the damned commercials.Has anyone else seen Anger Management? The first scene starts off with Charley Sheen reprising his end on 2.5 Men for his therapy group. It's hilarious.
I love the whole, "Everyone deserves a 24th chance." He's an out of control party boy. That's what they billed him as & what he seems to be. At least he's honest about it & I find it funny.
Another reason I don't do commercials, lolCharley Sheen has always been honest about his flaws, I find that refreshing.
Another Quote: ""Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with." Mark Twain/One more week of over one hundred degrees so there is not much joy in mudville to divide it with.
Jackie wrote: "...Joy, I did see the message on the previous page, but you didn't say what you thought of it, just other's reviews. ..."Jackie, sometimes when I haven't clearly formulated my opinions in my own mind, it's easier to find someone else's words which help me describe what I'd like to say.
Nina wrote: "Another Quote: ""Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with." Mark Twain/One more week of over one hundred degrees so there is not much..."Nina, that is so true! That's what's good about book groups! The sharing.
Jim wrote: "... Has anyone else seen Anger Management? The first scene starts off with Charley Sheen reprising his end on 2.5 M..."Jim, I watched only a small part of "Anger Management". In Message #582 I wrote:
"I agree with the following Netflix member-review":
==============================================
"I watched a third of this film and then went to rotten tomatoes to see if I should stick it out any longer. A 43% tomato rating was enough to convince me to give up. Adam Sandler plays a nice guy trapped in unjust and infuriating circumstances. I quit watching because it was becoming less and less likely that any coming payoff could adequately compensate me for suffering through the misery. Save yourself the wasted time."
================================================
Joy, I now understand why you use other reviews. But I still don't know if you liked it or not, lol
Joy, I was talking about the new show with Charlie Sheen, not the movie with Adam Sandler & Jack Nicholson.
Jackie wrote: "Joy, I now understand why you use other reviews. But I still don't know if you liked it or not, lol"That's a hard question to answer, Jackie. I wouldn't say I didn't like it and I wouldn't say I liked it. I thought it was OK.
Jim wrote: "Joy, I was talking about the new show with Charlie Sheen, not the movie with Adam Sandler & Jack Nicholson."Oh! I didn't know about the new show. I haven't been watching much TV lately.
I just watched Man on a Ledge http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568338/ From imdb: "As a police psychologist works to talk down an ex-con who is threatening to jump from a Manhattan hotel rooftop, the biggest diamond heist ever committed is in motion."
It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I thought I'd watch 20-30 minutes, be bored and quit. Boy was I surprised! The story unfolds in such a way that I was riveted to my seat straight to the satisfying ending.
Jackie wrote: "I just watched Man on a Ledge http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1568338/ From imdb: "As a police psychologist works to talk down an ex-con who is threatening to jump from a Manhattan hotel rooftop, the ..."Thanks, Jackie.
I found the photo linked below:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm428092288...
Whew!
"Man on a Ledge" (2012)
Here's the Netflix link... for the Netflix people:
http://movies.netflix.com/movie/Man-o...
"When fugitive ex-cop Nick Cassidy steps onto a window ledge high above a busy Manhattan street, police psychologist Lydia Anderson tries to talk him down. But soon Anderson suspects that there's more to Cassidy's stunt than meets the eye."
I happened to catch the film, "The First of the Few" (1942) on the TCM channel. TCM description: "British aircraft designer, R.J. Mitchell (Leslie Howard), develops the World War II spitfire with his test pilot (David Niven)."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034734/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._J._Mi...
Mitchell lived from 1897 to 1937. (died at the age of 42)
Wiki: "The film recounts the story of Mitchell's life and how he developed the design for the famous RAF fighter. ... Mitchell is reported to have said that 'Spitfire was just the sort of bloody silly name they would choose.' "
From the IMDb plot summary: "After a visit to Germany in the 1930s, he sees the Nazi threat first-hand and decides to design a fighter with a completely new engine. The result was the famed Spitfire."
I love these old films, especially with these wonderful actors.
I agree, that spitfire film was so good. I love David Niven. He had class.
Nina wrote: "I agree, that spitfire film was so good. I love David Niven. He had class."I loved Niven in "The Bishop's Wife".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039190/
He has an interesting Wiki page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Niven
"Niven died as a result of ALS ["Lou Gehrig's disease"] on 29 July 1983, at age 73.
"Niv was the twinkling star, the meteor who lit up every room he entered..."
---from the preface of his biography: Niv by Graham Lord
Niv: The Authorized Biography of David Niven
I liked him in "Casino Royale". I think it was the first James Bond book & the only spoof I ever saw.
Jim wrote: "I liked him in "Casino Royale". I think it was the first James Bond book & the only spoof I ever saw."I think I read and enjoyed almost all the James Bond books. I never liked the movies as much as I liked the books. Somehow the books were easier to follow than the movies. The movie of Casino Royale has been on my Netflix DVD queue for a while, but it's way down on the list. Maybe I should bump it up.
Last Tuesday night, I finished watching the David Lynch version of Dune (spread over two nights --an advantage of VHS/DVD technology compared to the big screen!) Jackie, I can see why you like it; it has some positives going for it (and I liked it myself to a point, though I wouldn't rate it as highly among SF movies as I rate the book among SF novels). Lynch had more respect for the original than a lot of directors who do adaptations, and it shows. IMO, the casting was well-chosen; and not being a real conoisseuer of special effects, I didn't find these overly hokey (I actually thought they did a pretty good job of bringing out the alienness of Arrakis, and of the far-future technology). Interestingly, the movie (unlike the book), flavors the mysticism with a few theistic references; and I liked the pared-down ending here better than the one in the book. I detected some other changes from the book as well, but some of these were devices to bring out plot points better in the dramatic form (and some may just be due to my faulty memory --it's been several years since I read the book!)That said, I could see many of Joy's and Jim's criticisms, too. The plotting is condensed to the point that it IS hard to follow, even with a liberal use of verbal narration and vocalized thoughts in an effort to compensate for some of the losses inherent in the shift away from the written form. (In the action sequences, it's often difficult to tell what's really going on.) Having read the book already was a big help for me, but I could see that a viewer like Joy who hasn't would be much more easily lost. And I agree with Jim that this isn't a novel that lends itself well to translation to a two-hour movie in the first place. Too much of Herbert's detailed world-building and exploration of ideas gets just a lick and a promise, and winds up reduced to kind of a quasi-coherent muddle. I think Lynch probably did as well in adapting it as anybody could, within the parameters he had to work with. But I think it would benefit from someday being made into an at least four-hour miniseries. That might have the possibility of really doing the novel full justice.
Yes, Werner, prior knowledge always helps a viewer to figure out what's going on in a complicated plot with many different characters. I didn't have the advantage of prior knowledge, not having read the book, Dune.Enjoyed your comments.
Thanks, Joy; I appreciated your comments, too, as always!
We are a mutual admiration society. LOLhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-086j...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7qKAW...
PS-Perhaps that tune was before your time. 1956?
Yes --I turned four in 1956, so I wasn't much into popular music at the time! :-)
LOL - Werner, you missed a lot of good music! LOL
True, Joy; but being tone-deaf, I didn't feel as deprived as I would have otherwise. :-)
Aw, that's too bad, Werner.Exactly what is "tone-deaf"?
Does that mean you can't sing a simple tune?
Eddie often doesn't sing in tune but he loves Bach organ music! Loud Bach! LOL
Werner, I liked everything you said about Dune. I think even a 4 hour miniseries wouldn't be enough. I'm advocating the way HBO does an entire season per book, as they are doing with A Game Of Thrones, 10 episodes for the first two books, the third book will be 2 10 episodes seasons. It enables that in depth exploration of the book that just cannot be done in shorter lengths of time.
I prefer the David Lynch version over the Syfy versions of the early 2000s.
Thanks, Jackie. Yes, you're absolutely right; a whole season-long miniseries is what's really needed for this book!Joy, tone deafness is an inability to sharply distinguish between high and low notes by sound, unless they're at the extreme ends of the spectrum. This makes me experience music differently from people who aren't tone-deaf; I can tell that different musical pieces sound different (and I can even have likes and dislikes in that area!), but I don't appreciate the finer points of tonal variation like some of you do. And yes, that also affects my ability to carry tunes.
This also makes me attach more importance to the words of a song than some folks do, and means I don't usually enjoy purely instrumental music, such as Bach and the other classical composers generally produced. (Although there's something about the sound of bagpipes skirling that appeals even to me.... :-) )
Werner, thanks for explaining about tone-deafness.You've taught me a new word, "skirling". I looked it up and found:
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skirl: c.1400, "to make a shrill sound," from a Scandinavian source (cf. Norw. skyrla, skrella "to shriek"), of imitative origin. In reference to bagpipes, it is attested by 1660s and now rarely used otherwise.
FROM: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?t...
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It's a perfect word for bagpipes. I looked for it at rhymezone.com and they don't include it with the list of words which rhyme with "irl":
http://www.rhymezone.com/r/rhyme.cgi?...
But I asked Eddie if he knew what it meant and he did! Yet I had never heard of it. That's because he's read more than I have.
I've sent an online message to rhymezone suggesting they add the word "skirl".
Thanks for sharing your research, Joy! I knew the word, but wasn't aware that it had a Scandinavian derivation. (Since I'm of Scandinavian extraction myself, that's good to know. :-) )
Update on Temps here. We set a new record; One hundred and four. Weatherman predicts later on temp of 113 degrees. Feel sorry for me?
Yes, I feel sorry for you, Nina. We hit 102 today in Louisville, but it was only 100 here at home. Marg is freezing gallon jugs of water to put into the horse troughs so they don't have to drink scalding water. The pond has dried up & everything is frizzling.
Nina wrote: "Update on Temps here. We set a new record; One hundred and four. Weatherman predicts later on temp of 113 degrees. Feel sorry for me?"Yes, Nina, you have my sympathy. I feel bad for Jim and his crew too. Sounds like a terrible ordeal. The heat knocks the stuffing out of you.
Do your nights cool down? Ours do. The large nearby lake (Lake George) tempers the temperature.
The nights cool slightly; like it was seventy eight this morning but by ten o'oclock it was beastly. We sat however, in air conditioning and watched, "A Woman of Independent Means," last night and it was good. I had seen it years ago and also read the book but had forgotten it for the most part. Have you seen it or read the book?
Nina, thanks for telling me about A Woman Of Independent Means. I haven't read the book but I've put the movie on my Netflix queue, thanks to your post.
Jim, it was 107 here today and I gave my daughter your suggeston to freeze water in gallon jugs for the trough. She said they have been hosing down the horses but thought they might try that. They also have a swimming pool and thought that might work there also. Thanks.
We made 102 again today. We rode this morning at about 8:30. We started late because I went down the road to get some persimmon knocked down in last Sunday's storm. Lili had a good run there. Anyway, it was 85 when we started & 95 when we finished an hour or so later. Chip & I had a sweat slick worked up between us almost immediately. Of course, he'd have to pick today to duck out of jumps. He did it twice & tried bucking me off once too, the little bugger. I got after him with the whip both times & after that he settled down. Sweat or no, hard ground & hot weather, I don't ask that much out of him, so he can bloody well do it the few times I do.
We had a good ride when everything was said & done. We got in a couple of good canters since the girls were using saddles. They won't do any jumping, much trotting or cantering if they ride bareback. I didn't bother, but I get a lot more leg on a horse than they do & Chip is a lot smoother than either Topaz or Cutter. Topaz has a pretty mean backbone, too.
We jumped half a dozen things, including the blue barrels which are about 30" tall, about the highest he's ever jumped. Erin's had him over them before, but I haven't. It was kind of interesting with the dogs running around. Once we jumped over Amber who took a break in the shade of one jump.
I guess the heat made Chip a little ornery. Too bad he had to get the whip. But that's how they learn, I guess.Hope all the horses are weathering the heat OK.
Nina, I'll bet they like that hosing down!
PS-Jim and all, be careful on those jumps. You're brave!
I don't whack Chip that much or hard with the whip, Joy. I give him a good crack or two, but mostly yell at him & make him do it a couple more times. If he does it right & is honest, we only do it once. He's no dummy, just was lazy &, as you said, ornery today. Maybe he thought I'd cut him some slack since it was hot, too. Not happening, but he's still got a lot to learn.I am careful with the jumps, Joy. I'm too fat & old to hit this hard ground, but it is a chance you take when riding. We've all been dumped more times than we can count. We remember most of the ER visits, although some are hazy.
;-)
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'Army of Darkness' has two endings & the director likes the apocalyptic ending. The S Mart ending is so much more fun, but I guess the first is more in keeping with the rest of the movie. Ash can't even count drops right.
;-)