The Video Rental Thread

Started by Gold Trumpet, April 06, 2003, 10:56:11 AM

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Slick Shoes

Manhattan (second viewing.) I forgot about the scene in the planetarium.

grand theft sparrow

Quote from: Weak2ndActTEARS OF THE SUN: No character, no setup, just absolute garbage.  Proof that Fuqua really just stumbled ass-backwards into 'Training Day' and really is the hack-extraordinaire everyone thought he was before that film took off.

You make it sound like Training Day wasn't adequate proof that Antoine Fuqua was a hack.

Ernie

Just rented "Parenthood", I think it was a best picture winner back in '89. I guess I liked it, I'm not really sure, I can't decide. There were certainly things that annoyed me. Like I hated the whole thing with Rick Moranis as the controlling father, that seemed like it was something being played for a joke that should be played for a joke. I didn't really see the humor in the girl being used like that. But other than that, I think I really liked it. Keanu Reeves was pretty funny. Robards was brilliant as always. That guy from Animal House was fucking hilarious, he really stole every scene he was in pretty much. Anyway, I don't know what else to say I guess. Some scenes were so brilliant that they outshined others. Like the part where the girl threw up, that was amazing. That totally startled me, I wasn't expecting that to happen at all. And the way she cried afterwards was so so so REAL. It reminded me of the way my sister use to cry after throwing up in the past. I guess all I can say is it's definitely my favorite Ron Howard film.

I also rented "A Pickup on South Street" which as I figured, I should have just blind bought. It was just total movie-cool, total slickness. I loved it. It didn't seem forced or over the top despite it's coolness either, that I also liked. I wanna see more Sam Fuller after seeing his cameo in "Pierrot le Fou", that quote of his is fucking great....."film is a battleground...." and that whole thing.....I love that quote. He seems like a real maverick. This is a real classic, this film of his. I can't wait to buy it.

Pubrick

Quote from: ebeamanJust rented "Parenthood", I think it was a best picture winner back in '89.
it wasn't.
under the paving stones.

Weak2ndAct

Quote from: hacksparrow
Quote from: Weak2ndActTEARS OF THE SUN: No character, no setup, just absolute garbage.  Proof that Fuqua really just stumbled ass-backwards into 'Training Day' and really is the hack-extraordinaire everyone thought he was before that film took off.

You make it sound like Training Day wasn't adequate proof that Antoine Fuqua was a hack.
Let me guess, you think the movie is crap?  

Well, I like the movie, as do many others.  Fuqua was just another video/commercial director w/ crappy features under his belt (Replacement Killers and Bait).  Training Day put his career back on track and it showed that he might have learned from his previous mistakes.  Tears of the Sun shows that was just a fluke.  We could argue if TD is good/bad, but there's no denying that it did well and garnered 2 Oscar noms for the leads.

grand theft sparrow

Quote from: Weak2ndAct
Quote from: hacksparrow
Quote from: Weak2ndActTEARS OF THE SUN: No character, no setup, just absolute garbage.  Proof that Fuqua really just stumbled ass-backwards into 'Training Day' and really is the hack-extraordinaire everyone thought he was before that film took off.

You make it sound like Training Day wasn't adequate proof that Antoine Fuqua was a hack.
Let me guess, you think the movie is crap?  

Well, I like the movie, as do many others.  Fuqua was just another video/commercial director w/ crappy features under his belt (Replacement Killers and Bait).  Training Day put his career back on track and it showed that he might have learned from his previous mistakes.  Tears of the Sun shows that was just a fluke.  We could argue if TD is good/bad, but there's no denying that it did well and garnered 2 Oscar noms for the leads.

I wouldn't say I thought it was crap.  It was grossly overrated, though.   Denzel was great as usual, though giving him the Oscar for that and not Malcolm X is an atrocity.  Hell, Denzel was better in He Got Game and he didn't even get a nod for that.  

Denzel was great in Training Day, but Ethan Hawke?  Come on.  Not that  he was bad, he was fine, but he didn't deserve an Oscar nod.  That's like if Mel Gibson had been nominated for Lethal Weapon 2.  Hawke was good but that nomination will baffle me as much as My Big Fat Greek Wedding getting a nod for Best Original Screenplay.

I thought Training Day was worth the price of admission but I'm just saying the hype was a bit much for what it delivered. If it was Samuel L. Jackson and Mark Wahlberg in that movie, it would been BLASTED by just about everyone.

RegularKarate

Hacksparrow speaks much truth

bonanzataz

Quote from: hacksparrowI thought Training Day was worth the price of admission but I'm just saying the hype was a bit much for what it delivered. If it was Samuel L. Jackson and Mark Wahlberg in that movie, it would been BLASTED by just about everyone.

yes, but it WASN'T sam jackson and marky mark, it was denzel and ethan. part of being a good director is good casting and knowing who is right for the part. i didn't think that the movie was all that great, but i hate arguments like that. it's like saying that 21 grams would have sucked if you cast carrot top in sean penn's part.
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

SoNowThen

Quote from: taz.it's like saying that 21 grams would have sucked if you cast carrot top in sean penn's part.

:lol:
Those who say that the totalitarian state of the Soviet Union was not "real" Marxism also cannot admit that one simple feature of Marxism makes totalitarianism necessary:  the rejection of civil society. Since civil society is the sphere of private activity, its abolition and replacement by political society means that nothing private remains. That is already the essence of totalitarianism; and the moralistic practice of the trendy Left, which regards everything as political and sometimes reveals its hostility to free speech, does nothing to contradict this implication.

When those who hated capital and consumption (and Jews) in the 20th century murdered some hundred million people, and the poster children for the struggle against international capitalism and America are now fanatical Islamic terrorists, this puts recent enthusiasts in an awkward position. Most of them are too dense and shameless to appreciate it, and far too many are taken in by the moralistic and paternalistic rhetoric of the Left.

grand theft sparrow

Quote from: taz.it's like saying that 21 grams would have sucked if you cast carrot top in sean penn's part.

Not quite.  The point is that a great actor can help a bad script be a good movie.  A great director can help a bad script become a good movie.  But Training Day is not a great movie but it has great actors so either the director did something wrong or the script was the antichrist of screenplays. I personally don't think the script was awful; it was adequate.

And I stand by my statement that if Sam and Marky Mark were in Training Day, we'd all be talking about how bad it was right now.

bonanzataz

you make my brian hurt... shut up.
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

grand theft sparrow

Quote from: taz.you make my brian hurt... shut up.

"If my answers frighten you, Vincent, you should cease asking scary questions.  Mmm-mmm, bitch!"


bonanzataz

SEE! you even made me say brain wrong.


commere, big guy...
The corpses all hang headless and limp bodies with no surprises and the blood drains down like devil's rain we'll bathe tonight I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls Demon I am and face I peel to see your skin turned inside out, 'cause gotta have you on my wall gotta have you on my wall, 'cause I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls collect the heads of little girls and put 'em on my wall hack the heads off little girls and put 'em on my wall I want your skulls I need your skulls I want your skulls I need your skulls

Weak2ndAct

New stuff and re-watches:

21 GRAMS: *Insert the same questions that everyone's mentioned about the merits/problems with the film's structure, yet qualified by saying that the actors are all great here* Also, um, wasn't the Watts/Penn plot an R-rated version of 'Return to Me'?  Benicio's story was my fave.
THE HUNTED: What a strange strange movie.  So underwritten and simple that I actually found myself searching for *some* messages and meaning, disbelieving that the story couldn't be this threadbare, that Friedkin had another agenda.  My conclusion?  Nothing.  But the knife fight was amazing.  Connie Nielson needs to stop being 'the chick' in the action movie.  
THE MISSING: Almost as threadbare as The Hunted (I'm beginning to see connections between the films I got here), and ultimately even more pointless.  And what an awful, stupid ending.  Ron Howard is the prime hack-extraordinaire... only this asswipe could find a way to under/mis-use Cate Blanchett.  Ugh.
THE SHAPE OF THINGS: Hadn't seen it since release, and loved it even more than the first viewing.  When the two birds come on screen, I want to applaud.
RUNAWAY JURY: A friend summed this up as 'good as a really great episode of 'The Practice'.  Sadly, I hate The Practice, and all tired-legal-hogwash thrillers.  It's a shame that Hackman and Hoffman finally got together not to act, but to get paychecks.
ED WOOD (the new dvd): Hadn't seen it in years, and now is definitely my favorite Burton film.  Why wasn't the world jumping all over Depp's jock when this came out?  The dvd is great too, a lot of nice features, here's hoping the mouse house don't screw the pooch on the eventual release.
NORTHFORK: Sure, it's pretty to look at, but I got as much from this movie as I would have if I spent an hour staring at some Ansel Adams.  Someone call the Coen Brothers and tell them that the Polish boys are going through their garbage.
PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT: This film's message is more important and poignant than ever.  Watch it again.  Now.
MAN ON THE MOON: I still don't like it.  After watching this and 'Flynt,' I actually thought, "man, they really underused Courtney Love."  And she's a crack-ho!  Also, if I want to see Kaufman's works, I'll watch the originals, not 2 hours of re-creations.
POOTIE TANG: Okay, some friends rave about this movie (of course qualified with the admission that is awful), and the Onion recently ran a piece about Louis C.K. and what happened to the flick since release.  So my curiousty was piqued.  At 82 minutes and at times non-sensical, this movie is a studio abortion.  But... that being said, I know for a fact that there's SOMETHING going on... a film hiding somewhere behind the tacked on VO and mis-mash editing.  There are some amazingly inspired moments, and I can't help but believe that (dare I say) the director's cut of this flick would be really terrific.  It's now my goal to find the original version of Pootie.

EDIT: forgot to mention the 'Tang.

modage



wow, that was good.  i just watched Sweet Smell of Success and it was really good.  these two characters were so despicable it was hard to watch.  and yet, felt totally realistic.  some of the subject matter, i'm shocked that they even got away with in the 50's.  it seemed way ahead of its time, very dark and cynical. has anyone else seen this?
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.