Want to talk about movies? Do it here. (Though most likely it’ll just be me talking to myself the whole time.)
Mini-reviews of 4-star movies may appear once in a while, but for the most part, anything to do with movies (and some TV shows) will show up in the comments of this post.
We finally watched “Word Play”. John Stewart and Bill Clinton doing crossword puzzles in ink! Since we are both puzzle nerds we enjoyed it immensely. I can understand why most people would rather have their teeth drilled but I would watch it again. We do the Universal puzzle to warm up and then the NYTimes puzzle every morning of our lives. We finish with a sudoku of 3-star or above.
Wednesday I did the NYTimes puzzle in 10 minutes. Today it took 53. I will say in our defense that we are eating breakfast, drinking coffee and sometimes answering the phone while we work on them. We are not just trying to beat the clock. We are just trying to fill in all the blanks without resorting to google. NYTimes puzzles start out easiest on Mon. getting more difficult through the week with the hardest one being the Saturday puzzle. The Sunday puzzle is a long Wed. puzzle.
Funny (odd), I usually love period movies. I didn’t like “Last Station”. I thought they took short cuts with minor details that, to me, make or break this type of movie. See “Gosford Park” to see period piece as art form. Every person doing some business is actually DOING THAT BUSINESS.
Last Station showed some reapers…standing in one spot and swinging their scyths back and forth with no result to vegetation and they weren’t moving. Reapers walk slowly, grass falls. The scene where two old women were doing laundry in the yard rang very false. The scene where the Missus broke all the plates. When it opened I thought “why are they sitting where they are, why are all the places set”. The answer of course was so she could break the damn dishes. And you know that the movie is not achieving its goal if you are parsing the scene set-up and not lost in the story.
I didn’t start to care about the people until the last 15 minutes of the movie. I thought the death scene was very moving.
After thinking and talking about it, I think the movie failed in that it didn’t make clear to us Tolstoy’s past and the way he was revered in Russia and the dramatic change that came over him as he faced his last years. I knew these things, but it still seemed to cheap a shot to concentrate on the young lovers and focus on him. The lovers had no chemistry so I didn’t buy their story. Give me more about why his daughter was willing to go along with the scam, why his wife was so upset…
The most interesting parts of “Wordplay” for me were the non-celebrity interviews. Using famous people to make at topic more compelling is lazy filmmaking. I don’t do crosswords. I enjoyed the doc, but it didn’t strike a chord with me. (I love watching spelling bees though.)
I didn’t know anything about Tolstoy’s life, the Tolstoyan movement, that period in time, etc., so all the inaccurate details in “The Last Station” didn’t make any difference to me. Whenever I start noticing flaws in a film within the first 10 minutes, it’s all downhill from there. My mind gets into nitpicking mode and it’s game over. I didn’t have any problem believing what I was seeing in “The Last Station” though. The cast was excellent all around and the story was well-constructed. It worked on me, though I don’t entirely disagree with your comments. I see where you’re coming from
The opening titles told us about Tolstoy’s past and what was happening in his life at that time, so they didn’t have to cover that ground. And I can see why; it’s all in the quote from the Tolstoy at the beginning: “Everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.” That’s the core of the story. Then we’re presented with young love next to Tolstoy’s relationship with his wife, and his wife is so eager to encourage the love affair because she knows what joy it brings to living. She’s just in love with love. The relationship between the young lovers was rushed and not fully developed, but they got naked and the point was made. Good enough.
And then that final scene at the train station. Bam. What a hit.
I said, “Of the 6 nominated movies I managed to see, “The Hurt Locker” shook me the most. It gets my vote for best picture, directing and editing.” And for the first time ever, something I said actually happened on the Academy Awards. I also said, “I’d like to see “Avatar” win for special FX and nothing else. It looks great, but it’s so dumb, that lack of respect for a good story shouldn’t be rewarded.” And I was pretty much correct about that too. It somehow won the cinematography award, which seems wrong for a movie that’s 95% CGI, but at least James Cameron didn’t get to hold the award for best picture and tell us, “I see you.”
I have to agree with about the best picture/best director. I would have been happy had “Precious” won. Sandra Bullock gave the best speech. I enjoyed Steve/Alec. Can we just do away with big production numbers at the Oscars? What did Sean Penn say at the end and does anybody care?
I am a HUGE “Band of Brothers” fan. I just started watching it about 2 months ago and I’ve read all about them on the internet after watching the show. Winters is still alive! He’s 92-3 and lives in Pennsylvania. This series is so good and, as you say, educational that I think it should be required viewing in HS history. Speilberg’s “The Pacific” debuts next week.
I attempted to watch Man From Earth but had to give up after five minutes. It features some ex-Star Trek and TV actors, and looks and feels like it was shot over a weekend on video with no lights and no rehearsals. Even though the guy from Greatest American Hero is in it, and I had low expectations, I had to pass. So I watched 3 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers instead.
A few movies I’ve seen recently:
I also watched the first 3 episodes of “The Pacific,” from the same people who made “Band of Brothers.” So far, it’s not as good. It’s almost the opposite of “Band of Brothers” in that it’s predictable and sentimental and feels more like fiction. The production values are excellent, but I’m just not buying into it like it did with “Band of Brothers.”
“Band of Brothers” is essential viewing for anyone who wants to see what WWII foot soldiers went through in Europe. “The Pacific” aims to achieve the same kind of realism, but it falls short because it focuses on two main characters, and the first guy isn’t all that interesting and the actor can’t carry the role. It felt like a made-for-TV special, too nostalgic and melodramatic. It’s still worth a look, I suppose, as a history lesson. It’s just not as memorable as “Band of Brothers.”
A couple DVDs I recently purchased and watched again after seeing them in the theatres this past year:
20 years from now, people will still be watching these movies and loving them.
I saw two movies in a theatre today.
I snuck off to inception…as I do enjoy science fiction….you hit it right on phillip…I felt more like I was in a heist movie and despite trying to get over leinardo…and page.. I just could not…in terms of casting they did not work for me…although alwasys delighted to see mr. caine…I know this is going to sound silly but I walked out of the theatre pining for bladerunner…of course I was in a science fiction mood this week as i was reading some ellison short stories jody had sent me…I think that having seen so many movies I just expect too much…the ending while predictable..and okay..simply screamed cynically to me..sequel…
I must admit I am suprised by the predator rating…I had not even considered this with my limited time left here on the planet…
I really liked Mr. Fox…was fun to watch with the kids…speaking of which..I may watch empire of the sun with them…I have to go re watch it…I remember liking it..and really enjoyed the book…I am trying to find a copy of the chocolate war…my kids will be tired of all these quirky movies….
“Inception” is the first movie I’ve seen in theatres this summer that I’ve had any interest in. Everything else I went to because I had nothing better to do — escapism. “Inception” is also the best science fiction movie I’ve seen since Moon. It’s not sci-fi garbage or even hard science fiction that turns stupid in the last act like “Sunshine.” So by default, if you like science fiction, it’s worth a look. And the ending doesn’t set up a sequel. It could, but come on, I don’t think that’s what they’re going for.
Ridley Scott’s prequel to “Alien” will be coming out in a couple years. If that movie sucks (and it might, because although Ridley Scott is a big time successful director, he’s never been able to match “Alien” or even “Bladerunner,” which is flawed but still pretty damn good) — then it’s going to be a sad day for science fiction movies. Not many people know how to do them right.
“Predators” is the kind of movie that benefits from running commentary — that is, people should yell out at the screen at all the stupid things the characters are up to. You have to laugh out loud at that kind of silliness, but I enjoyed it more than say “Toy Story 3”
I’ll put this comments up as post too, because I know nobody ever reads these comments.
Watched Wordplay via netflix last night. I’m not a crossword player but I enjoyed this a lot, enticing me to even buy newspapers more often and seek crosswords out.
Saw 6?
I refuse to watch any saw movie, and I refuse to watch this for the same reason.
I have no interested in any of the Saw movies either. “127 Hours” ain’t even close to crap like that, though. It only has those few minutes of gore, but within the context of the story, as simple as the story is, the gore isn’t exploitive — but it’s hard to look at. Overall, it’s not a bad flick, though I’m not sure what I got out of it. I suppose it’s an inspirational story. The guy didn’t lose his mind or panic the whole time. The filmmakers do a good job of making us feel for the guy. It’s a such a serious situation and for most of the movie you feel like you’re stuck down in the rock crevice in the desert with him, lonely and cold and totally screwed.
I saw the Coen Brothers’ take on “True Grit” tonight. Good movie. A straight up western.
I have a soft spot for the old sci-fi. I loved blade runner. It’s the the “Gone with the Wind” of sci-fi movies, and it’s fun to watch again to see where the story writers thought we would be in the year 2019.