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  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    John Drake wrote:
    Dan Same wrote:

    Barry, I'm glad you enjoyed it, although I was personally very bored. I found it to be the most disappointing film I've seen within the past year, due to my high expectations (it has long been one of the big films for me too see) but also because I found it to be very emotionally distant, Benjamin to be too passive and Blanchett (whom I usualy adore) to be extremely annoying. :# I will be seeing Doubt very soon, however, which I very much am looking forward to. :D

    That must mean I'll love it then Dan. :D
    Considering you described the superb Gone Baby Gone as "widely over-praised," yes, :v I think you'll love it. :))
    "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
  • HardyboyHardyboy Posts: 5,904Chief of Staff
    Thanks to a fallow period in my Netflix queue I ended up watching two of the worst-reviewed films of 2008 back-to-back: Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Hancock. SW:TCW wasn't as bad as I'd feared, but I'm glad I saw it on DVD and didn't pay eight bucks to see it in the theater. It's basically a squib of a story, but at least it has some humor in it--something sadly missing in the pompous prequel trilogy--and the animation of the creatures and machines is good. Still, the characters in terms of animation and personality are sheer cardboard--they look like throwbacks to the crude computer animation from that old Dire Straits video. And is it just me, or does Count Dookoo look like an Easter Island head?

    As for Hancock--well, this is what happens when a good concept goes bad. What starts out as a fun comedy turns dour, serious, and all up its own you-know-what. Watching the "making-of" feature I discovered the original spec script was dark and nihilistic, but it was revised to make the characters "more approachable" (i.e., more Will Smith-friendly). Being neither one thing nor another, Hancock ends up being nothing. Yet it made a ton of money and a sequel is in the works. Go figure.
    Vox clamantis in deserto
  • LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
    "Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl"

    Another Christmas gift: A 1982 concert at the MK Bowl, from Queen's Hot Space tour (in support of possibly their worst overall album!), with Freddie in excellent voice and Roger, Brian and John at the top of their form as well.

    My boys were disappointed that the theme from "Flash Gordon" was wasted on the band's introduction, :)) but the show was excellent. Queen have put out a handful of these vintage concerts on remastered DVD; I'll have to pick more of them up.

    BTW...anybody familiar with anything Queen have done with Paul Rodgers? I know they've just put a new CD out, and have also released a concert featuring the former Free/Bad Company frontman as their vocalist. Seems an odd fit to me?
    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
  • John DrakeJohn Drake On assignmentPosts: 2,564MI6 Agent
    The Duchess

    The definition of a good period drama is that it makes me care about posh people suffering. This didn't. Kiera Knightley sulks. Ralph Fiennes scowls. I yawn.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,825Chief of Staff
    BTW...anybody familiar with anything Queen have done with Paul Rodgers? I know they've just put a new CD out, and have also released a concert featuring the former Free/Bad Company frontman as their vocalist. Seems an odd fit to me?

    IMO it works just fine. I've got their "Return Of The Champions" live album and seen the DVD, and enjoyed most of it (some of the songs work great with Rodgers and some don't, just as you'd expect). Rodgers obviously and sensibly doesn't make any attempt to sound like anyone but himself, and May & Taylor are as enjoyable as ever. The new "Cosmos" album I'm still getting used to.
  • LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
    Barbel wrote:
    BTW...anybody familiar with anything Queen have done with Paul Rodgers? I know they've just put a new CD out, and have also released a concert featuring the former Free/Bad Company frontman as their vocalist. Seems an odd fit to me?

    IMO it works just fine. I've got their "Return Of The Champions" live album and seen the DVD, and enjoyed most of it (some of the songs work great with Rodgers and some don't, just as you'd expect). Rodgers obviously and sensibly doesn't make any attempt to sound like anyone but himself, and May & Taylor are as enjoyable as ever. The new "Cosmos" album I'm still getting used to.

    Thanks, that's great to hear! Taylor, May and Deacon are fine musicians, and it's good to see them carry on. I've always liked Paul Rodgers as well, but have been intrigued by the match-up.

    I'll look into it...
    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
  • AlexAlex The Eastern SeaboardPosts: 2,694MI6 Agent
    John Drake wrote:
    The Duchess

    The definition of a good period drama is that it makes me care about posh people suffering. This didn't. Kiera Knightley sulks. Ralph Fiennes scowls. I yawn.
    :)) Best review yet.
  • LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
    edited January 2009
    "Starman"

    From 1984...very likely the most restrained, gentle and thoughtful film of director John Carpenter's career. Showed this one to the boys tonight; they didn't know what to expect, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

    Jeff Bridges plays an alien who crash-lands in Wisconsin, and constructs a body for himself using DNA strands from the hair of Jenny Hayden's (the ever-delightful Karen Allen) dead husband. The film is really about this alien's road-trip to the crater site in Winslow, Arizona,* where he must rendezvous with his 'mother ship' (for lack of a better term! ;% )...or die. Charles Martin Smith (the accountant from The Untouchables), plays the kind-hearted SETI scientist who struggles against the Evil Government's (personified by the always-great Richard Jaekel) desire to strap the alien to an examination table :o ;)

    This one is often forgotten because of its heavyweight (read: Spielberg) competition in this genre---namely Close Encounters and E.T.---but it really is an emotionally satisfying couple of hours, with some very funny moments. The performances are all first-rate (especially Bridges and Allen)...and the final shot in the film, of Karen Allen's lovely freckled face---with its wide-set blue eyes, and intoxicatingly alluring expression of forlorn wonderment---is the very reason film was created, IMRO.

    Good show.

    * I dated a girl from Winslow, Arizona, about the time they would have been filming this movie, as I was stationed at Luke Air Force Base (outside Phoenix) at the time. Memories...
    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
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,825Chief of Staff
    Taylor, May and Deacon are fine musicians, and it's good to see them carry on.

    Sadly, but for his own perfectly good reasons, John Deacon has retired and hasn't been with Queen for about ten years. If memory serves (I'm not a Queen expert, just an interested bassman), the last time he worked with them was the "No-One But You" single.

    The live stuff I mentioned above features the bass player from Blue Oyster Cult (can't recall his name), while on the new studio album May and Rodgers take turns on bass.
  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    edited January 2009
    Barbel wrote:
    Sadly, but for his own perfectly good reasons, John Deacon has retired and hasn't been with Queen for about ten years. If memory serves (I'm not a Queen expert, just an interested bassman), the last time he worked with them was the "No-One But You" single.
    That's correct. {[]

    This is bizarre. I am a massive Queen fan, they are my all-time favourite musical artist by a long way, and lately I've been spending alot of time on Queen fan sites. I was just looking at a thread on a Queen site which I recently joined, when I thought I would venture back here, and lo and behold, you're talking about Queen. :o :))

    Anyway The Cosmos Rocks doesn't really interest me. While I have no specific philosophical opposition to Queen continuing on without Freddie (and John), nothing I've heard of the new stuff particularly impresses me. Brian is an absolutely brilliant guitarist and Roger is a very good drummer, but listening to Paul Rodgers only serves to remind me just how much of a god Freddie really was. :D I don't often make big statements about music (which I'm not an expert on) as opposed to cinema, which is really my expertise, but I will make an exception here: okay, here goes, :v Freddie was the greatest male vocalist of all time. :v :D
    "Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl"

    Another Christmas gift: A 1982 concert at the MK Bowl, from Queen's Hot Space tour (in support of possibly their worst overall album!), with Freddie in excellent voice and Roger, Brian and John at the top of their form as well.
    HS is often identified as their worst studio album, however interestingly enough I'm quite fond of it. ;) IMO Queen's worst studio album (excluding of course The Cosmos Rocks) is The Miracle. That said, it still IMO has one terrific song, 'I Want It All.'
    My boys were disappointed that the theme from "Flash Gordon" was wasted on the band's introduction, :)) but the show was excellent. Queen have put out a handful of these vintage concerts on remastered DVD; I'll have to pick more of them up.
    You should; although I don't believe that my concert dvds are remastered (I'm not sure as I bought them whilst travelling overseas), they are nonetheless superb.

    Queen rocks! {[]
    "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
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,462MI6 Agent
    Queen may, as you say Mr Same, rock, but not at 8am on a Saturday morning when the builders next door have started up and you have to listen to their Greatest Hits when you're trying to sleep in.:v
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    Queen may, as you say Mr Same, rock, but not at 8am on a Saturday morning when the builders next door have started up and you have to listen to their Greatest Hits when you're trying to sleep in.:v
    True. :# :))
    "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
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,462MI6 Agent
    Though I did think it would be fun to hire a Freddie lookalike circa Live Aid and have him hop over the fence and strut around amongst the mud and rubble to Radio Ga Ga, worth it just to see the bemused workman's expressions. :))
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    Though I did think it would be fun to hire a Freddie lookalike circa Live Aid and have him hop over the fence and strut around amongst the mud and rubble to Radio Ga Ga, worth it just to see the bemused workman's expressions. :))
    :)) I can imagine that would have been quite a sight. :D
    "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
  • LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
    Barbel wrote:
    Taylor, May and Deacon are fine musicians, and it's good to see them carry on.

    Sadly, but for his own perfectly good reasons, John Deacon has retired and hasn't been with Queen for about ten years. If memory serves (I'm not a Queen expert, just an interested bassman), the last time he worked with them was the "No-One But You" single.

    The live stuff I mentioned above features the bass player from Blue Oyster Cult (can't recall his name), while on the new studio album May and Rodgers take turns on bass.

    I appreciate the correction; although a big fan, I've admittedly been out of touch with anything Queen have done since the Freddie Mercury tribute concert ;% As a bass player myself (though absolutely a mediocre to poor one at best!), I always appreciated Deacon's skill.

    The bass player for Blue Oyster Cult (another of my favourite groups) is Joe Bouchard, I believe...
    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
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,825Chief of Staff
    As a bass player myself (though absolutely a mediocre to poor one at best!)

    I never knew you were in my camp, Loeff! Last year I graduated to fretless, and am having the time of my life with it. Next step- the upright...
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,462MI6 Agent
    Ahem! Back on subject. :)

    Senso

    Some months back I rented Tinto Brass' Senso 45 aka Dark Angel, in which a Venetian countess embarks on an adulterous affair with a German soldier during the dying months of World War II.

    I was intrigued to learn it was a saucy remake of a 1954 film, Senso. This film follows much the same plot, except 1) There is no full blown sex orgy in which a conga line is led by a woman in stockings and suspenders and Nazi uniform carrying a large golden dildo and 2) It's not set during the same era but during the time of the Italian unification; 1866, Garibaldi and all that. So the Italians are fighting to oust the Austrian empire from the northern states and secure independence.

    The countess has a cousin fighting for the Italian cause, so her adultery is a double betrayal.

    Watchable stuff and interesting to compare with the Brass effort, which although a load of cobblers did have some lovely cinematography and shots of Venice in it.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    edited January 2009
    Ahem! Back on subject. :)

    Senso
    I remember this film. I saw it a few years ago, and what I remember most was that the person who persuaded me to see it talked up its perversity, yet I didn't find it particularly perverse. :# :))
    "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
  • PendragonPendragon ColoradoPosts: 2,640MI6 Agent
    watched THE DARK KNIGHT last night. Loved it in theater's love it now! pure brilliance...

    ~Pendragon -{
    Hey! Observer! You trying to get yourself Killed?

    mountainburdphotography.wordpress.com
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,462MI6 Agent
    Dan Same wrote:
    Ahem! Back on subject. :)

    Senso
    I remember this film. I saw it a few years ago, and what I remember most was that the person who persuaded me to see it talked up its perversity, yet I didn't find it particularly perverse. :# :))

    It failed the bad taste test! ;) Hang on, was it the Tinto Brass one you saw? The original isn't racy at all really. You get to see her in bed, with her blanket around her chest. The Brass one is only racy in the orgy, though that may have been cut for telly. It wouldn't have had Jenna Jameson looking over her shoulder though...

    (Bet you had a vision of JJ looking over her shoulderi in another context there... :)) )
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    edited January 2009
    Dan Same wrote:
    Ahem! Back on subject. :)

    Senso
    I remember this film. I saw it a few years ago, and what I remember most was that the person who persuaded me to see it talked up its perversity, yet I didn't find it particularly perverse. :# :))

    It failed the bad taste test! ;) Hang on, was it the Tinto Brass one you saw? The original isn't racy at all really. You get to see her in bed, with her blanket around her chest. The Brass one is only racy in the orgy, though that may have been cut for telly. It wouldn't have had Jenna Jameson looking over her shoulder though...

    (Bet you had a vision of JJ looking over her shoulderi in another context there... :)) )
    :)) No, I saw this one; the Italian film directed by Visconti. It wasn't really that it failed the bad taste test; rather I was convinced to see it as my friend claimed it to be a masterpiece which was among the most perverse films ever created. Well, although I love Visconti (The Leopard is one of my favourite films), I don't really regard Senso as a masterpiece; and as for perversity, give me Blue Velvet, Vertigo or Dead Ringers anytime over this film. I wasn't very impressed. ;)
    "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
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,462MI6 Agent
    8-) Of course, that's right! (Don't worry, I'm rolling my eyes at myself...) I thought it was all very similar to The Leopard at the time. A fine companion piece.

    Not very perverse, save the cruel denoucement which is played out more than in the remake. Maybe it was harsh for the time? The Wicked Lady that was perverse, especially
    when she suffocates the old man who is wise to her secret, with a pillow behind the bed curtains with his loving family on the other side, astonishingly evil
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Dan SameDan Same Victoria, AustraliaPosts: 6,054MI6 Agent
    8-) Of course, that's right! (Don't worry, I'm rolling my eyes at myself...) I thought it was all very similar to The Leopard at the time. A fine companion piece.
    Interesting that you say that, as I've found that these two films often get grouped together; certainly I've attended lectured and read essays discussing both films.
    Not very perverse, save the cruel denoucement which is played out more than in the remake.
    I did like the denouncement. :)) But then again, I think
    her so-called lover deserved nothing less for what he did to her and that was probably the first time in the entire film that I found her interesting.
    "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
  • RogueAgentRogueAgent Speeding in the Tumbler...Posts: 3,676MI6 Agent
    I was in a western feel last night so I watched:

    ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST

    Still IMO, Leone's best of the lot. TGTBATU is a superb western but OUATITW just edges it with its memorable score by Morricone. I read somewhere that he didn't even get an Oscar nod for it? Pity. It's truly beautiful the more you hear it.

    I find myself always humming the piano and banjo tune that plays during certain parts of it.

    The cast is superb, the cinematography beautiful and it drags at a turtle's pace but the story is well-developed.
    Please do yourself a favor and give it a try, as Bronson's Harmonica just may be an even bigger bad a$$ than the Man With No Name. ;)

    HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER

    An ambiguous ghost story from the way I interpet it; although there are several theories out there as to what or who the main character was...I prefer a wraith.
    Clint Eastwood would've made a perfect Jonah Hex back in the day if someone at Warner had had the gumption to go with the idea for a franchise.

    I hear that there is talk of someone trying to remake this gem; God, I hope not. :#
    Mrs. Man Face: "You wouldn't hit a lady? Would you?"

    Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
    -Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,462MI6 Agent
    Wow! That's a lot of dust in one evenimg!

    Diner

    High school graduates in Baltimore 1959 (though it could be anywhere) with 50s soundtrack.

    With Mickey Rourke making a five-star comeback in The Wrestler, fortuitously this film leapfrogged up my DVD rental list. Mickey certainly looks beautiful in this film, but in a 'he's fit and he knows it' sort of way. And his Damon Runyam style of patter I found a bit much because (Jack Lemon impersonation) Nobody talks like that! :D

    Not bad stuff but not as much fun as American Graffiti, and I found the dialogue a little hard to hear, think that's the flatshare's plasma/DVD combo. The dialogue is a bit stylised and it's not too realistic, in particular the footie fan setting up a test for his fiance, if she loses the wedding's off. No one, not even the adults, say, mate you're a clot. 8-) It's sort of meant to be funny, then again maybe things were a bit like that back then.

    Probably best to find yourself watching it at 11pm not expecting too much, then it's all a bonus. I didn't relate to too many of the guys, it's mainly about high-school graduates finding themselves pressurised into getting married.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • Barry NelsonBarry Nelson ChicagoPosts: 1,508MI6 Agent
    edited January 2009
    Gran Torino

    A marvelous movie with Clint Eastwood playing a Korean War veteran living in a neighborhood where he is the last remaining white guy among Hmong neighbors. Despite his low regard for all minorities and uttering every racial epitat you can think of, he befriends the Hmong family that lives next door to him. Attempting to keep the teenage Hmong boy away from a Hmong gang that is trying to recruit him, he becomes particulary close to the boy. The movie builds to a surprising climax with Clint in typical Clint fashion going off for a showdown with the gang.

    This is the most politically incorrect movie you could imagine with racial slurs being uttered every few minutes. Eastwood is amazing in a very unflattering role. Eastwood also directed the picture and I believes he uses a lot of Hmong non-actors in supprting roles. The film is at times funny and at times sad. I will be honest and tell you I had a tear in my eye near the end of the film. Highly recommend, Clint is the MAN.
  • AlexAlex The Eastern SeaboardPosts: 2,694MI6 Agent
    Gran Torino

    A marvelous movie with Clint Eastwood playing a Koean War veteran living in a neighborhood where he is the last remaining white guy among Hmong neighbors. Despite his low regard for all minorities and uttering every racial epitat you can think of, he befriends the Hmong family that lives next door to him. Attempting to keep the teenage Hmong boy away from a Hmong gang that is trying to recruit him, he becomes particulary close to the boy. The movie builds to a surprising climax with Clint in typical Clint fashion going off for a showdown with the gang.

    This is the most politically incorrect movie you could imagine with racial slurs being uttered every few minutes. Eastwood is amazing in a very unflattering role. Eastwood also directed the picture and I believes he uses a lot of Hmong non-actors in supprting roles. The film is at times funny and at times sad. I will be honest and tell you I had a tear in my eye near the end of the film. Highly recommend, Clint is the MAN.
    HELL YEAH!
  • another way to dieanother way to die Posts: 111MI6 Agent
    Die Another Day

    ...and...

    the world is not enough


    i liked TWINE

    DAD not as much -AWTD,any one for a -{ :))
  • another way to dieanother way to die Posts: 111MI6 Agent
    Die Another Day

    ...and...

    the world is not enough


    i liked TWINE

    DAD not as much -AWTD,any one for a -{ :))


    by the way its my first time watching them-AWTD
  • bondaholic007bondaholic007 LondonPosts: 878MI6 Agent
    Pulp Fiction :p

    Great film.

    9.2 / 10
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