The Movie Thread

[RGMike]

My only movie of the year was I Am Legend[/i

that is the saddest sentence I've read in ages.

[Gazoo]

My only movie of the year was I Am Legend

that is the saddest sentence I've read in ages.

OTOH, I did receive a few movies on DVD as gifts (Help!, Zodiac, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle), and the other night I watched To Sir With Love on the on-demands.  T'was splendid, and I hadn't known Michael Des Barres was in it.

[RGMike]

My only movie of the year was I Am Legend

that is the saddest sentence I've read in ages.

OTOH, I did receive a few movies on DVD as gifts (Help!, Zodiac, Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle), and the other night I watched To Sir With Love on the on-demands.  T'was splendid, and I hadn't known Michael Des Barres was in it.

Zodiac is great, IMHO (one of my 10 best of '07 for sure) and you'll love the whole SF-in-the'70s vibe.  Great sndtk, and you'll never hear "Hurdy Gurdy Man" the same way again.

I remember going to see To Sir... in late '67 with my mom. Day after Thanksgiving matinee in a local theater full of rowdy teens (I was a not-so-rowdy 12).

[mshray]

I saw Golden Compass & it wasn't that bad, kids liked it well enough & I sure couldn't agree with reviews that it was difficult to follow the plot.  If anything it had way too much exposition.

Much better was Charlie Wilson's War, Hanks seems effortlessly good in a tricky role, Hoffman is awesome as always & Roberts is also very good (in a role that is much smaller than her billing would suggest).  Nichols does one of his best directing jobs in many years, I mean there are some absolutley hysterical scenes in this, and he manages to get the laughs without veering into farce or parody.

[ggould]

I saw Golden Compass & it wasn't that bad, kids liked it well enough & I sure couldn't agree with reviews that it was difficult to follow the plot.  If anything it had way too much exposition.

Much better was Charlie Wilson's War, Hanks seems effortlessly good in a tricky role, Hoffman is awesome as always & Roberts is also very good (in a role that is much smaller than her billing would suggest).  Nichols does one of his best directing jobs in many years, I mean there are some absolutley hysterical scenes in this, and he manages to get the laughs without veering into farce or parody.

I really like Tom Hanks, but after reading the synopsis, I wonder if there's any irony in the movie.  Certainly it's hard to fault an indigenous revolt to the Soviet invasion, but this is the nexus of Bin Laden, the Taliban, etc.  Is that angle ignored?

[RGMike]

I saw Golden Compass & it wasn't that bad, kids liked it well enough & I sure couldn't agree with reviews that it was difficult to follow the plot.  If anything it had way too much exposition.

Much better was Charlie Wilson's War, Hanks seems effortlessly good in a tricky role, Hoffman is awesome as always & Roberts is also very good (in a role that is much smaller than her billing would suggest).  Nichols does one of his best directing jobs in many years, I mean there are some absolutley hysterical scenes in this, and he manages to get the laughs without veering into farce or parody.

I really like Tom Hanks, but after reading the synopsis, I wonder if there's any irony in the movie.  Certainly it's hard to fault an indigenous revolt to the Soviet invasion, but this is the nexus of Bin Laden, the Taliban, etc.  Is that angle ignored?

I liked CWW but I wish that angle had been played up more. It's an enjoyable, comic take on an interesting story, but it could've dealt more with that whole "blowback" question. Of course, that would've made for a downer of an ending -- indeed, the book it's based on ends with the 9/11 attacks.

[Alicat]

I caught both Alvin and Juno yesterday.

Kids enjoyed Alvin and I had a few chuckles as well.

I enjoyed Juno but not raving about it.

Kind of a simple love story. I thought there was going to be a twist at the end with Juno riding off to meet the about to be divorced, almost adoptive dad of her newborn but it ended much more simply.

[RGMike]

It was mostly a weekend of eat-your-vegetables movies: Great Debaters, Kite Runner. But I caught up with (on cable) Music & Lyrics, the Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore rom-com from early '07. And it was actually pretty good, mainly because the songs were so clever -- pitch-perfect parodies of both '80s pop and current stuff, written by (among others) Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne.  Grant plays an '80s has-been who was once part of a Wham!-like duo called Pop! -- there's a music video parody that's an absolute scream -- and he gets hired to write a new song for a Britney/Christina/Shakira wannabe. One of the Pop! songs is a "Careless Whisper" send-up called "Meaningless Kiss" (because, of course, "Foolish Beat" was already taken).

[Lightnin' Rod]

On vacation all last week and only made it to one "new" movie, but it was the terrific "No Country For Old Men."  Very fine work, if a bit depressing.  Okay, a lot depressing.

On video, finally rented The Bourne Ultimatum," very enjoyable for what it is.  But Spidey 3 and Pirates 3 were wastes of both money and time.  Kind of enjoyed Tarantino's DeathProof: Grindhouse thing.  Haven't seen the other one yet.

[Gazoo]

a "Careless Whisper" send-up called "Meaningless Kiss" (because, of course, "Foolish Beat" was already taken).

I remember, when the Debbie Gibson song came out, being disappointed that more people didn't make the CW-FB connection.

[RGMike]

a "Careless Whisper" send-up called "Meaningless Kiss" (because, of course, "Foolish Beat" was already taken).

I remember, when the Debbie Gibson song came out, being disappointed that more people didn't make the CW-FB connection.

just 'cause i know you'll never see the movie, here's the video-within-the-film for "Pop Goes My Heart":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0A7dtdc-nU

And here's "Meaningless Kiss":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbeW94nfPKc

[princessofcairo]

a "Careless Whisper" send-up called "Meaningless Kiss" (because, of course, "Foolish Beat" was already taken).

I remember, when the Debbie Gibson song came out, being disappointed that more people didn't make the CW-FB connection.

just 'cause i know you'll never see the movie, here's the video-within-the-film for "Pop Goes My Heart":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0A7dtdc-nU

And here's "Meaningless Kiss":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbeW94nfPKc

wow. quite enjoyable. and i'd completely forgotten about the debbie gibson song!

[Gazoo]

I just came from seeing Walk Hard  -- it is very VERY funny. With a level of craft that's light-years ahead of all those Scary/Epic/Date Movie cheezeball parodies. The orig songs are terrific. And it's apparently the surprise flop of the season -- it'll barely make $5M this weekend (compare that to Nat'l Treasure 2's $54M). So see it ASAP, you will not be sorry.

I went on a date this weekend (!) and we saw this.  Was truly hilarious -- especially given my feelings about the interchangeability of Ray and Walk the Line -- and reassuringly, the theater was totally full, so word of mouth must be helping it.

[RGMike]

I just came from seeing Walk Hard  -- it is very VERY funny. With a level of craft that's light-years ahead of all those Scary/Epic/Date Movie cheezeball parodies. The orig songs are terrific. And it's apparently the surprise flop of the season -- it'll barely make $5M this weekend (compare that to Nat'l Treasure 2's $54M). So see it ASAP, you will not be sorry.

I went on a date this weekend (!) and we saw this.  Was truly hilarious -- especially given my feelings about the interchangeability of Ray and Walk the Line -- and reassuringly, the theater was totally full, so word of mouth must be helping it.

Glad ya liked it. Even gladder you had a date!

[Lightnin' Rod]

It was mostly a weekend of eat-your-vegetables movies: Great Debaters, Kite Runner. But I caught up with (on cable) Music & Lyrics, the Hugh Grant/Drew Barrymore rom-com from early '07. And it was actually pretty good, mainly because the songs were so clever -- pitch-perfect parodies of both '80s pop and current stuff, written by (among others) Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne.  Grant plays an '80s has-been who was once part of a Wham!-like duo called Pop! -- there's a music video parody that's an absolute scream -- and he gets hired to write a new song for a Britney/Christina/Shakira wannabe. One of the Pop! songs is a "Careless Whisper" send-up called "Meaningless Kiss" (because, of course, "Foolish Beat" was already taken).

I saw this (again) over the weekend, and have run into it a couple times surfing since.  I woke up this morning with "A Way Into Love" (the song they write for the Shakira wannabe) stuck in my head.  The other day I had "Pop! (Goes My Heart)" stuck in my head.

"I want to show you the roof.  It's upstairs!"