The Movie Thread

[mshray]

Mick LaSalle alert!

this morning Renee did another of her series of man-on-the-street interviews of folks who had just seen Pirates of the Caribbean 3.  The reactions were favorable but not raves.  In the segment wrap-up Irish Greg quoted our 'beloved' Chron movie critic as having written that PotC "is the worst movie series ever."  Nobody bit on that, and they then talked about a couple of docus that Dave & Renee had seen & went to commercial.

So I called in & we had the following conversation:

Me - Do you guys ever have Mick LaSalle on the Morning Show?
Greg - We always let the fogheads review the movies.
Dave - [something along the same lines]
Me - Well, I only ask that as preface, because I think he's a total idiot...but I wouldn't necessarily say that if he was a friend of yours. [followed by a couple examples of LaSalle being an idiot]
Dave - He's a total idiot.  That's why we don't have him on the show.
Me - [1 more example of LaSalle being an idiot, e.g. his opinion on Ronnie Spector]
Dave - [resigned, what-can-ya-do? tone of voice] I suppose he must get paid to have controversial opinions like that.

Did this exchange make it on the air?  Flash burn!

No, I called a few minutes before 9, so after they came back from commercial they went into the Pop Quiz.  I would never have expected them to air my comment, much less Dave's concurrence.

[RGMike]

OK it's official: Knocked Up, the new comedy from the creator of 40 Year-Old Virgin is getting ecstatic reviews and is apparently Just. Freakin. HILARIOUS.

Seth Rogen, one of the supporting players in 40YOV, stars. I just read that he improvised that whole "You know how I know you're gay?" shtick in 40YOV, and they left it in.  I cannot wait to see KU.

[Gazoo]

Check out the trailer for this film that my friend Chuck produced:
http://www.popstarpi.com/

Davy Jones sings the theme song (in small part because of me) and will be at the opening screening here in NYC Monday the 18th.  I hope I can make it.

[princessofcairo]

Check out the trailer for this film that my friend Chuck produced:
http://www.popstarpi.com/

Davy Jones sings the theme song (in small part because of me) and will be at the opening screening here in NYC Monday the 18th.  I hope I can make it.

how strange! can't wait to hear the theme song, though. what do you mane you HOPE you can make it?!?!? it's davy jones! sigh...he's so dreamy.

[RGMike]

OK it's official: Knocked Up, the new comedy from the creator of 40 Year-Old Virgin is getting ecstatic reviews and is apparently Just. Freakin. HILARIOUS.

Seth Rogen, one of the supporting players in 40YOV, stars. I just read that he improvised that whole "You know how I know you're gay?" shtick in 40YOV, and they left it in.  I cannot wait to see KU.

I just came from seeing this, it is indeed VERY funny. Highly recommended.

"You look like Babe Ruth's gay brother -- Gaybe Ruth."

[mshray]

I saw Mr. Brooks the other day & it is quite good, assuming you aren't turned off by mass murder generally.  Kevin Costner has always been a star more than an actor in my book, but has some serious chops here, as does Demi Moore (no, seriously).

Lot's of really good twists (but none of the deus ex machina variety), several of which I have seen spoiled in print reviews, so if you're at all thinking of seeing it, just take my word for it and go, don't read any other reviews.  Or at least queue it up on your Netflix as soon as the DVD comes out.

[RGMike]

I saw Mr. Brooks the other day & it is quite good

Well, this intrigues me, since it's been called things like "monumentally terrible" and "deeply loathsome" by other critics.  (But Mick LaSalle liked it  :wink:  )  I may have to check it out.

[mshray]

I saw Mr. Brooks the other day & it is quite good

Well, this intrigues me, since it's been called things like "monumentally terrible" and "deeply loathsome" by other critics.  (But Mick LaSalle liked it  :wink:  )  I may have to check it out.

Well I suppose some critics simply can't give a 'thumbs up' to a movie that makes you root for (at least) one character who is a cold-blooded murderer.  But I suspect that many, many critics have said so many bad things about Costner & Moore over the past decade or so that they couldn't possibly give this movie a positive review.  Which is one of those things about professional critics that I just can't stand...when they base most of their disapproval on whatever else the artist may have done or left undone before.  I'm definitely of the school of thought that says judge each object individually on it's own merits*.  So give Mick LaSalle credit for at least one thing, he's not afraid to contradict himself.  

That being said, I almost shudder to think how many of LaSalle's points I agreed with (thankfully I didn't read his review until after-the-fact, because he stupidly gave away one of the great early plot twists), but in fact I based my attendance on the strong review it got from Peter Travers at Rolling Stone, who is one of my benchmark critics.  

In my memory, he & Ebert are the only critics who have been willing to re-review a movie and admit that they missed something the first time...unlike Mick LaS. who contradicts himself all the time without actually owning up to it!

*to pick one example that happened to be on my mind recently...I really like Hole's 1999 album Celebrity Skin, which only gets about 2 stars from most critics, incl AMG, because it wasn't what they expected a collaboration between Courtney Love & Bill Corgan to be.  I say, "Who the f*** cares about Love & Corgan!...I think that album has at least 5 songs that are really cool, why doesn't that make it a pretty great album?"  

ok, done venting.

[RGMike]

[I based my attendance on the strong review it got from Peter Travers at Rolling Stone, who is one of my benchmark critics.  

In my memory, he & Ebert are the only critics who have been willing to re-review a movie and admit that they missed something the first time...unlike Mick LaS. who contradicts himself all the time without actually owning up to it!

A few weeks ago LaSalle posted something about how people criticize him for being wildly contrarian, and he used the RottenTomatoes.com scores of several films to "prove" that he is actually well within the mainstream of most critics. To which I replied in the comments section that he shouldn't use RT as an example because they include reviews from every idiot who has a website in their averages -- better he should look at metacritic.com, which limits itself to "real" critics (so to speak).

Then the other day he made a post disparaging Rotten Tomatoes and basically saying what I had already said!

[mshray]

[I based my attendance on the strong review it got from Peter Travers at Rolling Stone, who is one of my benchmark critics.  

In my memory, he & Ebert are the only critics who have been willing to re-review a movie and admit that they missed something the first time...unlike Mick LaS. who contradicts himself all the time without actually owning up to it!

A few weeks ago LaSalle posted something about how people criticize him for being wildly contrarian, and he used the RottenTomatoes.com scores of several films to "prove" that he is actually well within the mainstream of most critics. To which I replied in the comments section that he shouldn't use RT as an example because they include reviews from every idiot who has a website in their averages -- better he should look at metacritic.com, which limits itself to "real" critics (so to speak).

Then the other day he made a post disparaging Rotten Tomatoes and basically saying what I had already said!

ROTFL!  That's perfect vintage LaSalle!  (but please post links to the posts you refer to, I wanna see for myself)

Just between you & me...as we seem to be the only seriously snarky film buffs in this group...if LaSalle didn't exist, we'd have to create him!

[RGMike]

here's the original LaSalle post (my comment is 4 down from the top):

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/mlasalle/detail?blogid=38&entry_id=16202#comments

and here's the more recent post:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/mlasalle/detail?blogid=38&entry_id=17074#comments

[mshray]

here's the original LaSalle post (my comment is 4 down from the top):

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/mlasalle/detail?blogid=38&entry_id=16202#comments

and here's the more recent post:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/mlasalle/detail?blogid=38&entry_id=17074#comments

damn, so on top of being an idiot, he's a plagiarist.  who knew? but then again, anyone surprised?

[RGMike]

Leah Garchik points out in today's Chron that starting Friday, the Balboa Twin will have these 2 titles on it's marquee:

 "The Rape of Europa" and "Knocked Up."

Supply your own comment.

[Gazoo]

The American Film Institute's top 100 films of all time.  I've seen more of them than you might think.  

1. "Citizen Kane," 1941.
2. "The Godfather," 1972.
3. "Casablanca," 1942.
4. "Raging Bull," 1980.
5. "Singin' in the Rain," 1952.
6. "Gone With the Wind," 1939.
7. "Lawrence of Arabia," 1962.
8. "Schindler's List," 1993.
9. "Vertigo," 1958.
10. "The Wizard of Oz," 1939.
11. "City Lights," 1931.
12. "The Searchers," 1956.
13. "Star Wars," 1977.
14. "Psycho," 1960.
15. "2001: A Space Odyssey," 1968.
16. "Sunset Blvd.", 1950.
17. "The Graduate," 1967.
18. "The General," 1927.
19. "On the Waterfront," 1954.
20. "It's a Wonderful Life," 1946.
21. "Chinatown," 1974.
22. "Some Like It Hot," 1959.
23. "The Grapes of Wrath," 1940.
24. "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," 1982.
25. "To Kill a Mockingbird," 1962.
26. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," 1939.
27. "High Noon," 1952.
28. "All About Eve," 1950.
29. "Double Indemnity," 1944.
30. "Apocalypse Now," 1979.
31. "The Maltese Falcon," 1941.
32. "The Godfather Part II," 1974.
33. "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," 1975.
34. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," 1937.
35. "Annie Hall," 1977.
36. "The Bridge on the River Kwai," 1957.
37. "The Best Years of Our Lives," 1946.
38. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre," 1948.
39. "Dr. Strangelove," 1964.
40. "The Sound of Music," 1965.
41. "King Kong," 1933.
42. "Bonnie and Clyde," 1967.
43. "Midnight Cowboy," 1969.
44. "The Philadelphia Story," 1940.
45. "Shane," 1953.
46. "It Happened One Night," 1934.
47. "A Streetcar Named Desire," 1951.
48. "Rear Window," 1954.
49. "Intolerance," 1916.
50. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," 2001.
51. "West Side Story," 1961.
52. "Taxi Driver," 1976.
53. "The Deer Hunter," 1978.
54. "M-A-S-H," 1970.
55. "North by Northwest," 1959.
56. "Jaws," 1975.
57. "Rocky," 1976.
58. "The Gold Rush," 1925.
59. "Nashville," 1975.
60. "Duck Soup," 1933.
61. "Sullivan's Travels," 1941.
62. "American Graffiti," 1973.
63. "Cabaret," 1972.
64. "Network," 1976.
65. "The African Queen," 1951.
66. "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1981.
67. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", 1966.
68. "Unforgiven," 1992.
69. "Tootsie," 1982.
70. "A Clockwork Orange," 1971.
71. "Saving Private Ryan," 1998.
72. "The Shawshank Redemption," 1994.
73. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," 1969.
74. "The Silence of the Lambs," 1991.
75. "In the Heat of the Night," 1967.
76. "Forrest Gump," 1994.
77. "All the President's Men," 1976.
78. "Modern Times," 1936.
79. "The Wild Bunch," 1969.
80. "The Apartment, 1960.
81. "Spartacus," 1960.
82. "Sunrise," 1927.
83. "Titanic," 1997.
84. "Easy Rider," 1969.
85. "A Night at the Opera," 1935.
86. "Platoon," 1986.
87. "12 Angry Men," 1957.
88. "Bringing Up Baby," 1938.
89. "The Sixth Sense," 1999.
90. "Swing Time," 1936.
91. "Sophie's Choice," 1982.
92. "Goodfellas," 1990.
93. "The French Connection," 1971.
94. "Pulp Fiction," 1994.
95. "The Last Picture Show," 1971.
96. "Do the Right Thing," 1989.
97. "Blade Runner," 1982.
98. "Yankee Doodle Dandy," 1942.
99. "Toy Story," 1995.
100. "Ben-Hur," 1959.

[mshray]

The American Film Institute's top 100 films of all time.  I've seen more of them than you might think.  

does this mean you were watching the CBS special last night too?

I did a quick count, I think I own 34 of those titles, and have seen more than 2/3 of them.