DVD Rental Day (2004 - 2010)

[EdgarDiazRocks]

Got the 'ole DVD fixed and got a little caught up with things I had been missing.

 

Rented both Battle Royale films and watched 'em through. Disapointed a bit, since I thought Series 7 did a better job of making the same point, but Royale was far more cinematic (then again Series 7 was supposed to look like a TV show)

 

The second film was just a sad waste. why when something makes money, do you have to make a sequel?

 

Interested in what you Rami desiples thought of the films since the comic violence isn't really my bag and here I think it devalues the message that's being attempted.

 

Also rented the first two seasons of The Office, and have to wonder again why the British are having all the good ideas for TV and we keep getting watered down retreads of their shows. The american version debuts this fall!! Get excited!!

[JoeHova]

Don't forget to check out the In Living Color DVDs. i just bought 'em the other day and the show is just as hilarious as I remembered. Can't wait til the next season comes out!

[thebruce44]

The Cooler. William Macy is another actor that I don't think I've ever seen give a bad performance.

 

Air Force One

 

Worst Movie Ever

[RobertR]

We'll see if this topic gets straightened out.

 

A few recent DVDs.

 

The commentary track of Sideways.

There are three basic types of commentary tracks, the scholarly informative ones of which The Seven Samurai includes an excellent track, the performance ones, see This is Spinal Tap, and the "two guys just shooting the breeze" variety of which Sideways is an excellent example of. Pretty funny stuff, with some information tossed in occassionally, from Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church. I'm going to have to add "bejugged" to my vocabulary as a result.

 

The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

Decent enough but nowhere near as funny as it should have been focussing too much on the romance elements. Practically all the lines are there, but they're not given space to breathe and feel rushed over. Colin Firth is also totally wrong for his part, IMO. A Jason Alexander type would have been much better. I hear the older one is much better and it's a standby in live theater, so I'd recommend those options before this movie.

 

Meet the Fockers.

I don't use this phrase often but "meh" seems to be entirely appropriate. Hoffman and Streisand, who I don't believe I've ever seen so stereotypically Jewish, have some energy and pretty much all of the good parts and at least keep it watchable. The rest is just a tired rehash of the first movie and DeNiro looks bored.

 

F For Fake.

Now this movie got me excited. It's a documentary/essay on hoaxes featuring footage about an art forger, El Myr, and the journalist that exposed him and then turned around and created his own hoax with a faked autobiography of Howard Hughes. Orson Welles inserts himself into the story, runs off on some trains of thought, talks about his experience with War of the Worlds, and then, in a deft display of editing and filmmaking, pulls off his own hoax like a skilled magician. Also, despite his promise to "not lie for an hour" he certainly does some, boldly enlisting Joseph Cotten to claim that Citizen Kane was originally going to be based on Howard Hughes and pulling out every sort of editing trick in the book. Peter Bogdanovich's introduction provides some good background to set the context. Also, some nice gratuitous nudity.

 

Team America: World Police

It's not anything great, but I laughed. I think it's most successful as a parody of emptyheaded Jerry Bruckheimer action films. They have that formula down to a science. As a political commentary, I think it's mostly a miss, with the "xx location is xx miles from America" probably being the commentary with the most teeth. Michael Moore is fat really isn't much better than a school yard taunt and the jibes at other celebrities aren't a whole lot more sophisticated, even if they deserve it. I did like the songs quite a bit though.

 

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Produced for British television and shown on PBS and, I believe, still occasionally showing up on A&E. Starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes, these are probably the definitive adaptations of Conan Doyle's stories. Extremely faithful with Brett playing the part with a ton of nervous energy and a sharp tongue. Brett's portrayal is my favorite. Well worth seeing if you have the chance.

 

Robert

[ja002h]

Watched The Woodsman the other day. Not a perfect film, but I thought Kevin Bacon was great. If you're one of those people who thinks of him as "that scary looking guy," you'll understand how he was the absolute perfect guy for this role

[dadofandrew]

Team America is very funny if you think the Hollywood left deserves to be mocked. The idea many were very upset (Sean Penn wrote a letter!) makes it even funnier.

[ja002h]

Sean Penn wrote a letter!

 

His Oscar moment was the greatest moment of unintentional comedy ever. The resulting SNL skit was pretty funny too.

[pogokat]

Enduring Love Grabbed this movie at random off the shelf at movie gallery and had a playful/distubring hickock-esque romp through London and the countryside around Oxford. The suspense in the movie was very real, and the whole thing was just plain interesting...In terms of movies about hot air balloon accidents, i'd say this is the best

 

Crash A very interesting flick, but i'm not sure if it was anti racist enough...it was very painful at times..and so absurd that it was humourous at times...it was though provoking...but sorta hollow once you get past the "everyone's racist, but they don't mean to be jerks"---part. Not a rental yet, but destined to be one for most...

[homer]

City of God I highly recommend this picture. It's the story of a gang of Brazillian criminals as they rise from youngsters growing up in the projects to ruling the slums of Rio. Excellent cinematography and some really stunning moments even more impressive given the group of amateur actors used in the movie.

[wiscrules99]

I saw Team America as well and loved it, but hey I even liked Baseketball. The songs were the greatest part but the destruction of Paris in the beginning and the arab disguise process (tan face and add lots of hair anywhere) were classic too. I agree the left bashing was kinda weak and way to over the top to be biting. They've done much better work on South Park, the Rob Reiner one being my favorite. And it seems Al missed the whole point of the movie. Oh well, at least he found it funny.

[homer]

I think there were several points to Team America and as usual the South Park guys were pretty even handed in dissing both liberals and conservatives. The soundtrack alone is one big slam on machismo minded righties- America, **** Yeah! is hilarious. And most of the slams on Hollywood were well deserved.

 

 

Not to mention the sex scene which had me rolling for about ten minutes. Yes, I'm depraved.

[Katuluu]

The Woodsman

One of the most disturbing, disgusting, hopeful and beautiful movies I have ever seen. Bacon really outdoes himself. I've rarely felt so conflicted for a character before, and it's all do to his fantastic performance. Incredibly complex and challenging theme that most people probably won't be able to make it thru. If not for that I'd classify it a must see.

[dadofandrew]

A co-worker of mine watched Saw and said it was outstanding. Great film with a totally unexpected twist near the end, he said.

[pogokat]

not to bash your co worker, but i thought saw was ********...i can't believe how terrible carey elwes is...

[brettac1]

Yeah, it seemed like standard Hollywood horror fare to me as well.

[GPieters]

Yeah, I also though "Saw" sucked donkey...

 

However, my wife bought me the special edition of "Man on Fire"...if you like to see the protagonist relish the "badass" role (I do), I definately suggest this.

[danzig6767]

I watched Sleepers a few days ago

 

Decent movie starring Jason Patrick,Brad Pitt,Kevin Bacon,and Dustin Hoffman.It's about four young kids who do something stupid and get sent to a boys home for a year.Kevin Bacon and other guards at the home abuse the fours kids in a horrible fashion.

 

About 13 years later after the kids are grown and free,two of then run into Kevin Bacon and as you can guess,they let him know that the time in the boys home wasn't forgotton.

 

The courtroom part of the movie i didnt find all that believable and it's a long DVD,about 2 1/2 hours.Was worth watching though,i never was to the point where i was thinking man they are really dragging out this flick.I'd give it 3 stars on a 5 star scale.

[MattFlair]

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Produced for British television and shown on PBS and, I believe, still occasionally showing up on A&E. Starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes, these are probably the definitive adaptations of Conan Doyle's stories. Extremely faithful with Brett playing the part with a ton of nervous energy and a sharp tongue. Brett's portrayal is my favorite. Well worth seeing if you have the chance.

 

I also enjoy Brett. I own most of the dvds.

[RobertR]

Bumping this up.

 

Ocean's Twelve

This is a mess. I think that's part of the point and I'm sure they had a lot of fun filming it, but considering I didn't get to spend the Summer partying in Europe while shooting a movie, I expect something a little more. Like a plot that makes sense. It's well shot, the settings are interesting, and there are some fun bits, but it doesn't add up to anything.

 

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

If you liked Rushmore and The Royal Tennebaums, you should get something out of this. If you didn't you definitely won't like this one. The Life Aquatic is even more introverted than those two films and without some of the spark. OTOH, it's also more idiosyncratic sometimes playing like Buckaroo Banzai going through a mid-life crisis and full of clever little character bits. Willem Defoe, Bud Cort, and Jeff Goldblum all shine in smaller parts and Bill Murray is perhaps at his most deadpan. I also loved the gunfight that they tossed in for the "Rescuing the Bond Company Stooge" portion as being so absurd in its intended amateurishness. Mixed bag, but something I'd recommend, although I'm sure some will hate it.

 

The Age of Innocence

O.k., I only watched it on TCM. I'm convinced that it's Scorsese's most underrated film. Well, this or After Hours. Scorsese was obviously partly inspired by Barry Lyndon, but the story brings out a different side of him. One who has purposefully slowed down and concentrated on the setting and acting. I think the shot of Pfeiffer on the wharf with the sailboat and lighthouse is one of my favorites of all time. Of course, it helps that I have a thing for Michelle Pfeiffer and Winona Ryder.

 

National Treasure

In many ways this is simply not a good picture. The plot is dopey and filled with holes, the characters are underwritten, and the dialogue is forgettable at best. So, why did I watch the thing with a big smile on my face? Let's go to the premise. Nice guy historian (modern day Indiana Jones) follows clues to historic treasure by visiting handsomely photographed historical landmarks while dodging bad guys. They had me at hello.

 

This simply isn't a good movie. But, it is a likable movie. The action isn't too over the top, it's not edited for those who need Ritalin, the good guys are likable, the bad guys aren't, and it doesn't take itself too seriously. It's been compared to The Da Vinci Code and I'll lay a small wager that National Treasue will end up being a lot more fun than the inevitable movie version.

 

Closer

Intellectually this is a good movie. It's well acted by the whole cast, even Julia Roberts is decent although she is the weak link, it's consistent in tone, it has good dialogue, it has some interesting ideas, and it's well photographed. So why didn't I care for it? Probably because it's simply not a film first but a filmed play.

 

Even if I didn't know it going in, you can obviously tell it's based on a play based on how dialogue heavy it is and how it is structured. Put these people on a bare stage and have them interact for 2 hours and you have an intimate struggle. Put them in gorgeous locales that they barely interact with and shoot them from multiple camera angles and the claustrophobic focus is gone. The title is "closer" after all.

 

Robert

[molitor fan]

No reviews here, just wanted to tell Robert how much I enjoy his synopsized reviews.

[ja002h]

National Treasure

This simply isn't a good movie. But, it is a likable movie.

 

Exactly. I saw it in the theater and had a blast. Some parts are genuinely fun, others are great because of how over the top and ridiculous it is. Either way, a great time.

 

Meet the Fockers

Hated it. (And I love Meet the Parents.)

 

Crash

I'd probably have to see it again to form a full opinion, but it was definitely interesting, even a few laugh out loud moments with the 2 young black men. Obviously a powerful theme.

 

Ocean's Twelve

This is a mess. ... It's well shot, the settings are interesting, and there are some fun bits, but it doesn't add up to anything.

I agree that the plot's a little lacking and it flirts with being one giant wink wink to the audience, but I definitely enjoy a lot of it. I thought Matt Damon's character was a lot of fun.

 

House of Flying Daggers

I was curious to see how this compared to Hero, and I think I liked it better. Not quite the vivid use of color, but more of a story, and a couple unexpected twists.

Of course, both still inferior to Crouching Tiger.

[RobertR]

Thanks for the compliment. I enjoy writing these little reviews.

 

Too bad we lost practically the whole thread.

 

Robert

[nBo Baseball]

I have spilt days off with a weekend day for the family and a weekday for me, (I write the scheduke now and don't want anyone else to get stuck with split days). On the weekdays I'll either go to a movie: Star Wars Sith, Batman Begins and coming up War of the Worlds and The Fantastic Four.

But when my body is letting me down I'll watch a DVD. Here's what I've been watching:

Garden State: Cathy and I both saw and liked it.

Hitch: Prodictable but Kevin James makes it fun.

Mean Creek: Well done, good acting. If you want to be depressed watch this.

Sideways: Funny, worth watching. The best part SPOILER when "Lowell" from Wings get's his nose broke by the asian girl. Also when the other guy goes back for "Lowell's" wallet.

Napoleon Dynomtie: Ok, I fell for this one too. I might even buy it.

The Five Star Wars Movies on DVD: When I'm bored at home I watch my favorite scenes.

Old School: After "Mean Creek" depresses you, Frank the Tank will cheer you up. Just watched this yesturday. The funniest movie I own.

[ja002h]

The Aviator

 

Forgot to include this one before. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of biopics, but this one was pretty good, and Leo absolutely blew me away. It's too bad that he and Jamie were nominated in the same year. I haven't seen $mil baby yet, but it's probably pretty safe to say that Scorsese got jobbed.

[heresrobin]

Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space (at least I think that's what it is) is on channel 7 right now. Definitely a movie that can be described as awesomely bad. I'm loving it. I've only heard about this movie and read some reviews but never thought I'd get the chance to see it. Anybody else ever see any of Ed Wood's stuff? I've heard Glen or Glenda is "worth" seeing too.