Anyway, this evening I watched The Bucket List. When it first came out it was advertised as sort of a raucous buddy comedy--The Odd Couple Get Cancer or something like that.
I thought this film sounded like that awful Timothy Dalton movie Hawks where he goes around with a red comedy nose. It got panned.
Dark thriller about the abduction of a young girl and the private investigators, a husband and wife team made up of Casey Afleck and Michelle Monaghan brought in by the family to 'augment' the search.
Er, I didn't really get it. The young couple seem like amateurs, which is kind of the point, but immediately rub locals up the wrong way, so they're far from having their nose to the ground. Most abductions are totally meaningless in that there is no linked motive, but there's a touch of Scooby Doo about the investigation. Except it would be "If it hadn't been for you I'd have gotton away with meddling with kids..."
The drama initially is kind of cheap; like they annoy the police, only they have one up on them by turning up info, or they meet nasty locals but Afleck faces them down, despite having a gun in his face. You rally to his cause, but it seems manufactured righteousness. Actually the couple put me in mind of Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock in A Time to Kill, in that they rub people up the wrong way when mingling with the underclass.
The rest involves spoilers, I couldn't follow some of it but when I did felt mounting incredulity.
When she dived into the quarry water to save the child why didn't she? The 'child' was floating just a few feet from her, it hadn't sunk. And why did Morgan Freeman have to resign on half a pension? It went wrong but it wasn't exactly his doing. I could understand Casey feeling Catholic guilt over the murder, but why wasn't he reprimanded in some way like Brad Pitt losing his career at the end of Seven? Not saying he deserved to, mind. Then the finale - how could Morgan Freeman sort of bring up a white kid with no one finding out about it or asking any social services questions?
Overall I felt the movie wasn't as serious as the issues it dealt with. Liked Afleck as an actor, he doesn't have much range. Guess if you don't have range you have to have gravitas, like Morgan, Sean and Clint.
I thought this film (The Bucket List) sounded like that awful Timothy Dalton movie Hawks where he goes around with a red comedy nose. It got panned.
Having never seen Hawks I really can't comment on it, though it does sound like the two movies share a similar premise. But no one in BL wears a clown nose.
Anyhoo, last night I watched In Bruges. Loved it, and I'm willing to bet that in time it's going to be regarded as a cult classic. It's as witty, offbeat, and genre-bending as a Coen Brothers film; and the performances by the usually overrated Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes and the always underrated Brendan Gleeson are terrific. It's also hard not to play "Six Degrees of Harry Potter" with this one, as you've got Lord Voldemort, Mad-Eye Moody, and even Fleur Delacour in the proceedings--though their language is unfit for young wizards and muggles alike. See it. See it again. See it with friends. See it in a box, see it with a fox. Just see it!
Liked Afleck as an actor, he doesn't have much range. Guess if you don't have range you have to have gravitas, like Morgan, Sean and Clint.
Have to disagree with you on Afleck's range, I saw 2 Afleck movies, Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford during a two week period and saw an actor nail two very different roles requiring various emotional traits.
Ben Stiller is Tugg Speedman, a fading action star desperately trying to be relevant again after his last role, a shameless Oscar bait performance as the mentally challenged Simple Jack, bombed at the box office. In an effort to revive his career he signs on for Tropic Thunder, a retelling of the harrowing adventures of Vietnam vet Four Leaf Tayback (a suitably grungy Nick Nolte). Along for the adventure are 4 time oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), heroin addicted funnyman Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), hip-hop star turned actor Alpa Chino (Brendan T. Jackson) and relative unknown Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel). Gamely supporting Tugg back home is Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey), his well meaning but not too bright agent. Upon falling a month behind schedule after only five days of filming, the movie's in-over-his-head director decides to drop the boys in the middle of a real jungle and shoot the film guerilla style. Things get complicated when an important member of the crew is literally blown to bits before our eyes and the actors - who still aren't quite sure about what is real and what isn't - are left on their own to deal with a group of drug lords into whose midst they have stumbled.
The film shamelessly and brutally lampoons Hollywood's fascination with action movies, celebrities, media attention, awards, and just about every other facet of Tinseltown. Right from the opening scene, a hilariously vulgar rap by Alpa Chino (say it fast) who's title I cannot repeat or I'll be banned, the movie gleefully goes for the gutter. Its crude, crass, gory, horribly un-PC and side-splittingly funny. The film even incorporates some hilarious faux trailers at the start. A noted Trekkie, Stiller even manages to squeeze a clip from the original Star Trek TV series into the proceedings (in fact, come to think of it, the name Kirk Lazarus itself is a little reference to two characters from the show).
Everybody has their moment to shine. Stiller is his usual clueless self, completely oblivious to the danger he's in until its far too late. Jack Black's character goes into involuntary withdrawal after his stash of heroin is lost and sinks to ever more pathetic depths in attempting to get his fix. Stealing the show however is Robert Downey Jr. He turns Lazarus into an actor so committed to his craft that he undergoes skin pigmentation surgery to play a black marine sargeant. His exchanges with the resentful and very funny Jackson are some of the best scenes in the film.
Make no mistake though, this is an adult comedy. It's not for kids and it could easily offend a lot of people. Its already gotten into hot water with the Special Olympics and similar organizations over the Simple Jack character. Within the context of the film, Simple Jack is used to show the hypocrisy of some actors in stooping to any level to win accolades, but the joke could be easily lost on a lot of people. Likewise, Downey's performance might not sit well with some, even though it too serves to show the lengths actors will go through to get into a part.
Personally, I had a really good time with this movie. I found it consistently funny from start to end and far more well written and well paced than Ben Stiller's other films.
Liked Afleck as an actor, he doesn't have much range. Guess if you don't have range you have to have gravitas, like Morgan, Sean and Clint.
Have to disagree with you on Afleck's range, I saw 2 Afleck movies, Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford during a two week period and saw an actor nail two very different roles requiring various emotional traits.
Ah yes, I see what you mean. Guess I meant that within the one film, Gone Baby, he sort of has the same way about him, a bit like an early James Stewart. It's pleasing but a bit one-note.
Filthy, frenetic, sexist and morally reprehensible... I loved every minute of it!
This has Jason Stratham as a killer who awakes to find he's been injected with a deadly poison. To survive, he has to keep his adrenaline up. Cue a non-stop action thriller with gangsters, loose women plus a crazy car chase in a mall with a totally daft ending!
Rather like Shoot 'em up in fact. I laughed out loud a few times.
Gone Baby, GoneLiked Afleck as an actor, he doesn't have much range. Guess if you don't have range you have to have gravitas, like Morgan, Sean and Clint.
Have to disagree with you on Afleck's range, I saw 2 Afleck movies, Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford during a two week period and saw an actor nail two very different roles requiring various emotional traits.
Ah yes, I see what you mean. Guess I meant that within the one film, Gone Baby, he sort of has the same way about him, a bit like an early James Stewart. It's pleasing but a bit one-note.
NP, I disagree completely with you about GBG and Affleck's range (unless you're talking about Ben ) ), but the reason I'm posting is your constant comparison of him to Stewart. Which Stewart films are you specifically thinking of? ?:) Or is is the contrast more general?
"He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. and then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." Death of a Salesman
Any of them really, he has that lazy eyed, laconic delivery to me. Maybe Vertigo, though Stewart was older in that.
You know, I think I know what you mean. It's a vague connection, but I agree that it's there.
"He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. and then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." Death of a Salesman
Kurosawa's Drunken Angel, big-screen and a new print! Not familiar at all with Kurosawa's post-war modern stuff, this was a little gem. And Mifune, damn, you guys wanna see an original badass him is it, steals every scene he's in, dude is riveting. Great climax-showdown. Definitely makes me hungry to see his other films from that period/in that vein like The Bad Sleep Well, and Stray Dog.
Any of them really, he has that lazy eyed, laconic delivery to me. Maybe Vertigo, though Stewart was older in that.
You know, I think I know what you mean. It's a vague connection, but I agree that it's there.
Well, we can also agree on the ending, I'm sure.
Having Afleck settle down with the young girl's mom was the right move. Though the mom wasn't conventionally attractive, she did have a bit of a spark about and a winning way, unlike Afleck's prim partner who didn't seem much fun. And I reckon the white trash mum would be really filthy in bed... No argument from me that Afleck made the right move there.
went to see TROPIC THUNDER with a bunch of guy friends last night. We decided that it can really only be described as "hilarity in a box." So funny. Plus, Robert Downey Jr = :x ...especially his character in this movie, IMO.
deff. go see it if you're in the mood for some deep laughing, but only if you don't mind that half the script is the 'f' word.
Having Afleck settle down with the young girl's mom was the right move. Though the mom wasn't conventionally attractive, she did have a bit of a spark about and a winning way, unlike Afleck's prim partner who didn't seem much fun. And I reckon the white trash mum would be really filthy in bed... No argument from me that Afleck made the right move there.
Absolutely. ) However
did he really settle down with her? Wasn't he just babysitting for her? :v )
"He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. and then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." Death of a Salesman
Ah, well, you missed all those subtle nuances you see Dan.
You need to see the film again.
What, you mean, that by offering
babysitting services, Affleck had an interior motive? )
Yes, perhaps I do need to see the film again (and I certainly want to).
"He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. and then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory." Death of a Salesman
Silly, but highly entertaining action film with Liam Neeson livening up Paris by punching, kicking, strangling and torturing his way around the city of love after sex traffiker's kidnap his daughter. Its treatment of women leaves a lot to be desired, but the fight scenes are inspired and Neeson moves well for a 50-something.
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
edited August 2008
"The Island"
Finally came up in my Netflix queue, and I took a chance. I'd read, both here and elsewhere, that it could be unfavourably compared to the classic '70s offering, Logan's Run. Add to that the fact that Michael Bay is at the helm, and there was plenty of reasons to write this one off unseen.
But I'm glad I watched it. The first act is really excellent, in my opinion: setting up a world where clones like Lincoln Echo Six (Ewan McGregor) are raised and educated in an isolated community, awaiting the triumphant moment when they win a nebulous 'lottery' and get to leave. Little do they know that
...they're all genetic copies of someone in the 'real world'---created as 'insurance policies'---in order to supply organs, babies, etc., in the event they're needed. Going to 'The Island' means getting harvested...and put to death.
Sufficiently different from Logan's Run, IMO, where (if I remember correctly) people were basically killed when they reached the age of 30 of avoid overpopulation. A thoughtful premise, nicely set up, asking important questions about the value of life and causing that delicious sensation of dread in the deepest recesses of the audience's psyche...
Sadly the execution goes a bit awry in the second act, becoming much more typically Michael BayTM with regard to outlandish CGI-driven action sequences, where no one has any business surviving, and some easy laughs with the tried-and-true 'fish out of water' motif. Scarlett Johannson is LOVELY, :x and I thought her performance was pretty good. McGregor is always good, IMO, and Sean Bean is scene-chewingly villainous.
Two small roles were especially enjoyable for me: The fantastic Steve Buscemi (as a sympathetic "real person" who helps our protagonists), and the equally good Ethan Phillips (a friend of my brother!) as Lincoln Echo Six's simple-minded best friend.
This film isn't high art, but it is buttered popcorn...and although it doesn't quite live up to its promise---exciting, disturbing and deadpan-silly in equal measures---it ultimately redeems itself with pure ambition to entertain. An overall recommend, as long as you're not expecting Logan's Run
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Good comparison, Loeff, both films are equal parts neat idea and WTF follow-through.
Now, to lose all cool points I haven't already lost: Xanadu. How is it that such a pig-crappy film has so many utterly sublime moments in it??? Good God but it boggles the mind and steams the kidneys - the opening number with the muses coming to life; Kelly and Newton-John tap-dancing through a how-are-they-actually-singing-together-like-that 40's number; the jaw-droppingly fantastic Tubes/Big Band mash-up; Newton-John's just-stand-there-and-sing-it-and-it's-freakin'-magic ballad "Suspended In Time"; Kelly mugging his way through a fashion show of an ELO song, complete with the trippiest spiderman you'll ever set eyes on... bad was never so good. I :x Xanadu. There, string me up already.
Good comparison, Loeff, both films are equal parts neat idea and WTF follow-through.
Yes, that was a good write-up Loeffs. I watched The Island last year and had a similar reaction to it as you: the stuff in the actual island is good and interesting until it becomes another action picture. Given the concept there is an excellent film in there somewhere.
Oh, and Sean Bean *is* scene-chewingly brilliant as the villain. Indeed, it made me think that he doesn't get enough credit for his work in GoldenEye, in which he gives a similarly good performance.
Hammer's last-gasp Dracula films, both modern day, both scripted by Don Houghton (whoever that is) and directed by Alan Gibson (ditto) yet both wildly different tales. '72 is a pretty straight forward vamp/revenge story (Drac is back and out to get the Van Helsings), not unlike a lot of late 60s Hammer Drac flicks except set in swinging early 70s England - and fans seem to dump on it cuz of that, guess the rub is the Gothic/modern blend doesn't work. But for my money it's a better film than any Hammer Drac post-Prince of Darkness (my fav, that one is): nicely atmospheric, great ritual scene, and I actually like them groovy meddlesome kids. Plus there's Lee AND Cushing AND Caroline Munro ( ;% ). Plus the awesome soundtrack with the Marc Bolan-wannabes singing a couple songs at the beginning, it's all too too fun AND scary even.
Rites while a better idea for a modern Drac tale is on and off with the follow-through. Evil mods are cool but the itty bitty budget doesn't quite support the big bad plot. Close, and there are some great moments to be had along the way, but not quite a cigar in the end, just feels like it bites off a bit more than it can chew ( ). But there's Lee AND Cushing again AND Joanna Lumley ( ;% ). It kinda has a "New Avengers" feel (pre-"New Avengers"), which ain't a bad thing at all really, just wish they'd thought it through a bit more (Drac probably could've achieved his aim without so much whoopdido... ah, that vampiric hubris, gets 'em every time). Anyway, both are fun stuff if you're in the mood.
But I'm glad I watched it. The first act is really excellent, in my opinion: setting up a world where clones like Lincoln Echo Six (Ewan McGregor) are raised and educated in an isolated community, awaiting the triumphant moment when they win a nebulous 'lottery' and get to leave.
For some reason I'm really surprised you liked this movie...yes the premise was good, and sufficiently different from Logan's Run, but for me, the first half, (which was definitely the best....) was completely let down by the second.
Sadly the execution goes a bit awry in the second act, becoming much more typically Michael BayTM with regard to outlandish CGI-driven action sequences, where no one has any business surviving, and some easy laughs with the tried-and-true 'fish out of water' motif.
I think for me the
whole way they escaped, by the caretaker like character, who just happened to let them out through a very undefended scape hatch
ruined the whole movie. It just became laughable and I felt really let down, by the great set up in the first half hour.
and although it doesn't quite live up to its promise---exciting, disturbing and deadpan-silly in equal measures---
I suppose this is what got me feeling really let down, it is set up as a psychological thriller, and then makes a comedy of the whole thing. I guess I always feel cheated if it "doesn't do what it says it does on the tin"!
it ultimately redeems itself with pure ambition to entertain. An overall recommend, as long as you're not expecting Logan's Run
I suppose I didn't get that redemption enough. I just feel slightly let down, by a good strong cast, and a very interesting scenario. But each to their own!
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
The Island also borrows liberally from a 60's sci-fi film call The Clonus Horror. I also enjoyed The Island quite a bit; it had some very interesting production design and very good, if typically Baysian, action sequences.
As for my last film...The Hunt for Red October
A really fun cold-war action thriller with a great story and first rate cast that really play well off one another.
Sean Connery (who I recently discovered was a last minute replacement for Klaus Maria Brandauer) and Alec Baldwin are great as Captain Ramius and Jack Ryan, but I really loved the supporting cast: Scott Glenn, Sam Neill and especially the late Richard Jordan as Chief of Staff Jeffrey Pelt.
I treated myself to the new BluRay edition of the movie and the added visual clarity and bump in color really improves the experience. In particular, the underwater scenes are much improved and no longer plagued by the murkiness of the old transfer. The sound upgrade is equally satisfying as the ambient sounds of the ships and various whooshes of torpedoes really bounce around the room.
Red October was my favorite Tom Clancy adaptation and its a shame that future films abandoned the US/USSR cold war plots.
There's quality and there's quality. With the huge success of The Dark Knight I thought I'd rent Return to the Batcave - The Misadventures of Adam and Burt.
This is a belated comedy spoof in which the older actors, Adam West and Burt Ward, are reunited at a car convention, where the Batmobile is mysteriously nicked. The two fellows gamely try to hunt it down via a trail of clues, taking on their Batman and Robin personas as they do. (Only their personas though, you never see them don the costumes except in the flashbacks, probably for legal reasons.) It's amiable enough but there's no snap to the comedy and the jokes are all rather laboured. The most embarrassing bit is when Julie Newmar (the original Catwoman) shows up and dances with Adam West. Actually West does have some presence, and reminded me of Jon Voight.
But holy flashback, Batman, what's this? It's intercut with scenes of how they got into the Batman TV series, played by younger, decent actors who are well cast, with some high production values and an almost poignant script. It doesn't shy away from sexual revelations either, as Adam West awakes in bed with two gorgeous Batman groupies after a night togehter. These 'flashbacks' recur throughout the film, and you resent going back to the present to deal with the lazy spoofery of the modern-day actors. They seem to be two different films and they don't really match.
All rather rubbish really but in a way not as bad as Connery in Never Say Never Again or Ford in Crystal Skulls in terms of expectations dashed - I had none for this.
Heh heh, good stuff, first 20 mins the most entertaining of any superhero film I've seen, plus you get some raunchy sex too... I mean on the screen, the Prince Charles usherette doesn't creep up in the dark with her torch...
I suppose it's unusual that the real-life alter ego is all fun and loud, usually there's a dual personality thing where he'll be a nerd like Clark Kent or Peter Parker.
Lovely cinematography makes this a joy to look at, something I'm always partial too. And great unexpected appearances - I'd forgot Gwyneth is in this and a relief to see her as just a secretary rather than some 'equal' for PC purposes. Terrific pithy dialogue too.
It threatens to get a bit worthy in the Afghanistan sections where he's captured and of course there's the problem that such superheroes are analogue in a digital age. I don't really believe an iron suit can withstand all that punishment, or Tony Stark's frequent falls from great heights. I'm not a kid and I think you really have to be to believe this stuff, there's no going back.
Of course, ultimately it seems Stark isn't against weapons at all, just the effective use of them. After all, the Iron Man suit is a weapon isn't it. The film sort of touches on this a bit, to be fair.
I never realised who the actor was playing Stark's partner on the board of Stark Enterprises, wow he's great. Downey is very good too though he is a bit similar to Clooney but Clooney had his shot with the woeful Batman and Robin.
Anyway, great fun. I reckon a remake of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang could learn from this, though if it's set in the present you couldn't really have a car looking like that.
I'll paste this into the Iron Man thread too so you can respond rather than turning this thread into Iron matter...
10,000 B. C. A peaceful tribe of hunter-gatherers is attacked by a more advanced (and more sinister) tribe and taken to their own city, where pyramid-building and human sacrifice are all part of the daily grind. En route to the city there are rumbles in the jungle with man-eating beasts and a trip down a pit that fills with rain water--and at the end the advanced-but-still-primitive civilization is wiped out. Hmmm. . .y'know, I liked this movie better when it was called Apocalypto.
Vox clamantis in deserto
LoeffelholzThe United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
edited August 2008
"Duel"
Classic 1970 made-for-TV film, starring Dennis Weaver, directed by an ambitious young punk named Steven Spielberg. The premise is simplicity itself: a businessman on a day trip in the American southwest happens into a mysterious 18-wheeler, driven by a man whose face we never see. It begins as simple road rage, and escalates into a battle for survival: A Plymouth Valiant vs. a greasy, grim old Peterbilt big rig.
Spielberg shot this film in 12 days (!), and then edited it in 3 1/2 weeks to make its air date, where it got HUGE numbers and put him on the map. In an extra bit on the DVD, he talks about how the film was released theatrically in Europe, and was thought to have a lot of intended subtext---i.e., class warfare and the like---when in reality it was a simple, straightforward action-suspense piece. A fascinating aspect of this film is that it has no score at all until 25 minutes in...and when it does, it's all basically African percussion instruments. Very effective stuff.
The film's screenplay was written by none other than the incomparable Richard Matheson (one of my idols), adapting his own short story/novella. Highly recommended B-)
Check out my Amazon author page!Mark Loeffelholz
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Fun updating of the cult tv show. Carrell is a passable Maxwell Smart and there are some decent moments, the highlight for me is a Smart pulling some moves on the dancefloor with a big-boned debutante.
and
Hellboy II:The Golden Army
Wondrous sequel from Guillermo Del Toro that has more imagination than a single frame of The Dreary knight. And it's funny. If there's a finer moment than this all year I look forward to seeing it.
Comments
I thought this film sounded like that awful Timothy Dalton movie Hawks where he goes around with a red comedy nose. It got panned.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Dark thriller about the abduction of a young girl and the private investigators, a husband and wife team made up of Casey Afleck and Michelle Monaghan brought in by the family to 'augment' the search.
Er, I didn't really get it. The young couple seem like amateurs, which is kind of the point, but immediately rub locals up the wrong way, so they're far from having their nose to the ground. Most abductions are totally meaningless in that there is no linked motive, but there's a touch of Scooby Doo about the investigation. Except it would be "If it hadn't been for you I'd have gotton away with meddling with kids..."
The drama initially is kind of cheap; like they annoy the police, only they have one up on them by turning up info, or they meet nasty locals but Afleck faces them down, despite having a gun in his face. You rally to his cause, but it seems manufactured righteousness. Actually the couple put me in mind of Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock in A Time to Kill, in that they rub people up the wrong way when mingling with the underclass.
The rest involves spoilers, I couldn't follow some of it but when I did felt mounting incredulity.
Overall I felt the movie wasn't as serious as the issues it dealt with. Liked Afleck as an actor, he doesn't have much range. Guess if you don't have range you have to have gravitas, like Morgan, Sean and Clint.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Having never seen Hawks I really can't comment on it, though it does sound like the two movies share a similar premise. But no one in BL wears a clown nose.
Anyhoo, last night I watched In Bruges. Loved it, and I'm willing to bet that in time it's going to be regarded as a cult classic. It's as witty, offbeat, and genre-bending as a Coen Brothers film; and the performances by the usually overrated Colin Farrell and Ralph Fiennes and the always underrated Brendan Gleeson are terrific. It's also hard not to play "Six Degrees of Harry Potter" with this one, as you've got Lord Voldemort, Mad-Eye Moody, and even Fleur Delacour in the proceedings--though their language is unfit for young wizards and muggles alike. See it. See it again. See it with friends. See it in a box, see it with a fox. Just see it!
Have to disagree with you on Afleck's range, I saw 2 Afleck movies, Gone Baby Gone and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford during a two week period and saw an actor nail two very different roles requiring various emotional traits.
Mary Poppins: God I love that film. When I grow up I'm gonna be a chimney sweep, definitely. Definitely.
Ben Stiller is Tugg Speedman, a fading action star desperately trying to be relevant again after his last role, a shameless Oscar bait performance as the mentally challenged Simple Jack, bombed at the box office. In an effort to revive his career he signs on for Tropic Thunder, a retelling of the harrowing adventures of Vietnam vet Four Leaf Tayback (a suitably grungy Nick Nolte). Along for the adventure are 4 time oscar winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), heroin addicted funnyman Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), hip-hop star turned actor Alpa Chino (Brendan T. Jackson) and relative unknown Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel). Gamely supporting Tugg back home is Rick Peck (Matthew McConaughey), his well meaning but not too bright agent. Upon falling a month behind schedule after only five days of filming, the movie's in-over-his-head director decides to drop the boys in the middle of a real jungle and shoot the film guerilla style. Things get complicated when an important member of the crew is literally blown to bits before our eyes and the actors - who still aren't quite sure about what is real and what isn't - are left on their own to deal with a group of drug lords into whose midst they have stumbled.
The film shamelessly and brutally lampoons Hollywood's fascination with action movies, celebrities, media attention, awards, and just about every other facet of Tinseltown. Right from the opening scene, a hilariously vulgar rap by Alpa Chino (say it fast) who's title I cannot repeat or I'll be banned, the movie gleefully goes for the gutter. Its crude, crass, gory, horribly un-PC and side-splittingly funny. The film even incorporates some hilarious faux trailers at the start. A noted Trekkie, Stiller even manages to squeeze a clip from the original Star Trek TV series into the proceedings (in fact, come to think of it, the name Kirk Lazarus itself is a little reference to two characters from the show).
Everybody has their moment to shine. Stiller is his usual clueless self, completely oblivious to the danger he's in until its far too late. Jack Black's character goes into involuntary withdrawal after his stash of heroin is lost and sinks to ever more pathetic depths in attempting to get his fix. Stealing the show however is Robert Downey Jr. He turns Lazarus into an actor so committed to his craft that he undergoes skin pigmentation surgery to play a black marine sargeant. His exchanges with the resentful and very funny Jackson are some of the best scenes in the film.
Make no mistake though, this is an adult comedy. It's not for kids and it could easily offend a lot of people. Its already gotten into hot water with the Special Olympics and similar organizations over the Simple Jack character. Within the context of the film, Simple Jack is used to show the hypocrisy of some actors in stooping to any level to win accolades, but the joke could be easily lost on a lot of people. Likewise, Downey's performance might not sit well with some, even though it too serves to show the lengths actors will go through to get into a part.
Personally, I had a really good time with this movie. I found it consistently funny from start to end and far more well written and well paced than Ben Stiller's other films.
Ah yes, I see what you mean. Guess I meant that within the one film, Gone Baby, he sort of has the same way about him, a bit like an early James Stewart. It's pleasing but a bit one-note.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Filthy, frenetic, sexist and morally reprehensible... I loved every minute of it!
This has Jason Stratham as a killer who awakes to find he's been injected with a deadly poison. To survive, he has to keep his adrenaline up. Cue a non-stop action thriller with gangsters, loose women plus a crazy car chase in a mall with a totally daft ending!
Rather like Shoot 'em up in fact. I laughed out loud a few times.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Well, we can also agree on the ending, I'm sure.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
deff. go see it if you're in the mood for some deep laughing, but only if you don't mind that half the script is the 'f' word.
~Pen -{
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You need to see the film again.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Silly, but highly entertaining action film with Liam Neeson livening up Paris by punching, kicking, strangling and torturing his way around the city of love after sex traffiker's kidnap his daughter. Its treatment of women leaves a lot to be desired, but the fight scenes are inspired and Neeson moves well for a 50-something.
Finally came up in my Netflix queue, and I took a chance. I'd read, both here and elsewhere, that it could be unfavourably compared to the classic '70s offering, Logan's Run. Add to that the fact that Michael Bay is at the helm, and there was plenty of reasons to write this one off unseen.
But I'm glad I watched it. The first act is really excellent, in my opinion: setting up a world where clones like Lincoln Echo Six (Ewan McGregor) are raised and educated in an isolated community, awaiting the triumphant moment when they win a nebulous 'lottery' and get to leave. Little do they know that
Sufficiently different from Logan's Run, IMO, where (if I remember correctly) people were basically killed when they reached the age of 30 of avoid overpopulation. A thoughtful premise, nicely set up, asking important questions about the value of life and causing that delicious sensation of dread in the deepest recesses of the audience's psyche...
Sadly the execution goes a bit awry in the second act, becoming much more typically Michael BayTM with regard to outlandish CGI-driven action sequences, where no one has any business surviving, and some easy laughs with the tried-and-true 'fish out of water' motif. Scarlett Johannson is LOVELY, :x and I thought her performance was pretty good. McGregor is always good, IMO, and Sean Bean is scene-chewingly villainous.
Two small roles were especially enjoyable for me: The fantastic Steve Buscemi (as a sympathetic "real person" who helps our protagonists), and the equally good Ethan Phillips (a friend of my brother!) as Lincoln Echo Six's simple-minded best friend.
This film isn't high art, but it is buttered popcorn...and although it doesn't quite live up to its promise---exciting, disturbing and deadpan-silly in equal measures---it ultimately redeems itself with pure ambition to entertain. An overall recommend, as long as you're not expecting Logan's Run
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Now, to lose all cool points I haven't already lost: Xanadu. How is it that such a pig-crappy film has so many utterly sublime moments in it??? Good God but it boggles the mind and steams the kidneys - the opening number with the muses coming to life; Kelly and Newton-John tap-dancing through a how-are-they-actually-singing-together-like-that 40's number; the jaw-droppingly fantastic Tubes/Big Band mash-up; Newton-John's just-stand-there-and-sing-it-and-it's-freakin'-magic ballad "Suspended In Time"; Kelly mugging his way through a fashion show of an ELO song, complete with the trippiest spiderman you'll ever set eyes on... bad was never so good. I :x Xanadu. There, string me up already.
Oh, and Sean Bean *is* scene-chewingly brilliant as the villain. Indeed, it made me think that he doesn't get enough credit for his work in GoldenEye, in which he gives a similarly good performance.
Dracula AD 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula.
Hammer's last-gasp Dracula films, both modern day, both scripted by Don Houghton (whoever that is) and directed by Alan Gibson (ditto) yet both wildly different tales. '72 is a pretty straight forward vamp/revenge story (Drac is back and out to get the Van Helsings), not unlike a lot of late 60s Hammer Drac flicks except set in swinging early 70s England - and fans seem to dump on it cuz of that, guess the rub is the Gothic/modern blend doesn't work. But for my money it's a better film than any Hammer Drac post-Prince of Darkness (my fav, that one is): nicely atmospheric, great ritual scene, and I actually like them groovy meddlesome kids. Plus there's Lee AND Cushing AND Caroline Munro ( ;% ). Plus the awesome soundtrack with the Marc Bolan-wannabes singing a couple songs at the beginning, it's all too too fun AND scary even.
Rites while a better idea for a modern Drac tale is on and off with the follow-through. Evil mods are cool but the itty bitty budget doesn't quite support the big bad plot. Close, and there are some great moments to be had along the way, but not quite a cigar in the end, just feels like it bites off a bit more than it can chew (
For some reason I'm really surprised you liked this movie...yes the premise was good, and sufficiently different from Logan's Run, but for me, the first half, (which was definitely the best....) was completely let down by the second.
I think for me the
I suppose this is what got me feeling really let down, it is set up as a psychological thriller, and then makes a comedy of the whole thing. I guess I always feel cheated if it "doesn't do what it says it does on the tin"!
I suppose I didn't get that redemption enough. I just feel slightly let down, by a good strong cast, and a very interesting scenario. But each to their own!
The Island also borrows liberally from a 60's sci-fi film call The Clonus Horror. I also enjoyed The Island quite a bit; it had some very interesting production design and very good, if typically Baysian, action sequences.
As for my last film...The Hunt for Red October
A really fun cold-war action thriller with a great story and first rate cast that really play well off one another.
Sean Connery (who I recently discovered was a last minute replacement for Klaus Maria Brandauer) and Alec Baldwin are great as Captain Ramius and Jack Ryan, but I really loved the supporting cast: Scott Glenn, Sam Neill and especially the late Richard Jordan as Chief of Staff Jeffrey Pelt.
I treated myself to the new BluRay edition of the movie and the added visual clarity and bump in color really improves the experience. In particular, the underwater scenes are much improved and no longer plagued by the murkiness of the old transfer. The sound upgrade is equally satisfying as the ambient sounds of the ships and various whooshes of torpedoes really bounce around the room.
Red October was my favorite Tom Clancy adaptation and its a shame that future films abandoned the US/USSR cold war plots.
This is a belated comedy spoof in which the older actors, Adam West and Burt Ward, are reunited at a car convention, where the Batmobile is mysteriously nicked. The two fellows gamely try to hunt it down via a trail of clues, taking on their Batman and Robin personas as they do. (Only their personas though, you never see them don the costumes except in the flashbacks, probably for legal reasons.) It's amiable enough but there's no snap to the comedy and the jokes are all rather laboured. The most embarrassing bit is when Julie Newmar (the original Catwoman) shows up and dances with Adam West. Actually West does have some presence, and reminded me of Jon Voight.
But holy flashback, Batman, what's this? It's intercut with scenes of how they got into the Batman TV series, played by younger, decent actors who are well cast, with some high production values and an almost poignant script. It doesn't shy away from sexual revelations either, as Adam West awakes in bed with two gorgeous Batman groupies after a night togehter. These 'flashbacks' recur throughout the film, and you resent going back to the present to deal with the lazy spoofery of the modern-day actors. They seem to be two different films and they don't really match.
All rather rubbish really but in a way not as bad as Connery in Never Say Never Again or Ford in Crystal Skulls in terms of expectations dashed - I had none for this.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Heh heh, good stuff, first 20 mins the most entertaining of any superhero film I've seen, plus you get some raunchy sex too... I mean on the screen, the Prince Charles usherette doesn't creep up in the dark with her torch...
I suppose it's unusual that the real-life alter ego is all fun and loud, usually there's a dual personality thing where he'll be a nerd like Clark Kent or Peter Parker.
Lovely cinematography makes this a joy to look at, something I'm always partial too. And great unexpected appearances - I'd forgot Gwyneth is in this and a relief to see her as just a secretary rather than some 'equal' for PC purposes. Terrific pithy dialogue too.
It threatens to get a bit worthy in the Afghanistan sections where he's captured and of course there's the problem that such superheroes are analogue in a digital age. I don't really believe an iron suit can withstand all that punishment, or Tony Stark's frequent falls from great heights. I'm not a kid and I think you really have to be to believe this stuff, there's no going back.
Of course, ultimately it seems Stark isn't against weapons at all, just the effective use of them. After all, the Iron Man suit is a weapon isn't it. The film sort of touches on this a bit, to be fair.
I never realised who the actor was playing Stark's partner on the board of Stark Enterprises, wow he's great. Downey is very good too though he is a bit similar to Clooney but Clooney had his shot with the woeful Batman and Robin.
Anyway, great fun. I reckon a remake of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang could learn from this, though if it's set in the present you couldn't really have a car looking like that.
I'll paste this into the Iron Man thread too so you can respond rather than turning this thread into Iron matter...
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Classic 1970 made-for-TV film, starring Dennis Weaver, directed by an ambitious young punk named Steven Spielberg. The premise is simplicity itself: a businessman on a day trip in the American southwest happens into a mysterious 18-wheeler, driven by a man whose face we never see. It begins as simple road rage, and escalates into a battle for survival: A Plymouth Valiant vs. a greasy, grim old Peterbilt big rig.
Spielberg shot this film in 12 days (!), and then edited it in 3 1/2 weeks to make its air date, where it got HUGE numbers and put him on the map. In an extra bit on the DVD, he talks about how the film was released theatrically in Europe, and was thought to have a lot of intended subtext---i.e., class warfare and the like---when in reality it was a simple, straightforward action-suspense piece. A fascinating aspect of this film is that it has no score at all until 25 minutes in...and when it does, it's all basically African percussion instruments. Very effective stuff.
The film's screenplay was written by none other than the incomparable Richard Matheson (one of my idols), adapting his own short story/novella. Highly recommended B-)
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Fun updating of the cult tv show. Carrell is a passable Maxwell Smart and there are some decent moments, the highlight for me is a Smart pulling some moves on the dancefloor with a big-boned debutante.
and
Hellboy II:The Golden Army
Wondrous sequel from Guillermo Del Toro that has more imagination than a single frame of The Dreary knight. And it's funny. If there's a finer moment than this all year I look forward to seeing it.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9jWZqr1xIQo
Roger Moore 1927-2017