What was the last movie you watched?

[poopoopeepee]

Inglourious Basterds - Tarantino's 2nd best made movie.  My 6th personal fave of his though...

What do you mean?

That he recognizes the high quality of Basterds but prefers other movies in Tarantino's canon to it anyway?

Well, poopoopeepee, RD is right.  Basterds is excellently crafted with tension, execution, etc.  But for my movie-going pleasure, I prefer more of the extreme silly stuff like "Kill Bill Vol. 1" and "Death Proof".  Basterds comes off far more reserved.  That's not a bad thing.  Just different.  So my personal taste puts Basterds at #6, even though it's technically a better crafted movie (esp compared to something like "Death Proof" which I find more fun).

Makes sense to me.  I kind of want to see Basterds again before I rank my favs, but it's definately top 3 for me after one viewing.  Brad Pitt may annoy me more the second time.

[THE QUEEN!!!]

CARS---Not Pixar's best, but still I love it. I took a lot of road trips so it touches me "deep down in my icky stuff", as Space Ghost would say. I love Guido and Luigi the most. But my problem with it is that Cars have only been around for about 100 years, or in their world 3 generations, so it freaks me out. All the other movies "could be true", but this one suffers from that.

I know exactly what you mean.  That's the reason why I can't totally fall in love with "Ratatouille" and "Up".  The moment Remy controls the chef by his hair is the moment it became gimmicky (and try to argue that it's not!), and it felt like it tried to elicit deep emotions while still remaining in such a cartoony world.  And with "Up", I didn't know how I felt about talking dogs, then I was def uncomfortable with the chipmunk-voiced Doberman (cheap gag, guys), and as soon as I saw dogs flying bi-planes with bones for steering wheels, I just had to throw my hands up in the air.  Even if dogs did have talking devices, it wouldn't change their behavior too (know any dogs that wait for the other to bark?).  I think it's very telling that nobody ever praises the hour and a half that follows the first ten minutes.  It goes from heart-felt reality to cartoony sci-fi to Wile E. Coyote fantasy-world.  In short, the internal logic of "Up" is in a constant shift, and, to use your words Queen, "could [not] be true".   

I've heard people make those same arguments about both those films, mostly from my brother, and I have no response to them other than "You're absolutely right, but I love the movies anyway". They are flaws of the movies, and it's too bad they aren't as well thought out as, say, Monsters Inc. The Ratatouille thing truly is gimicky, but how else could he cook with the other guy's body? I can't think of another way, because "telling" him just isn't the same--trust me, I'm a cook, and a lot of it is way too hard to explain. So I understand but it still makes me a little sad. They make it work the best way they can, considering, but saying "that's strangely voluntary!" It is a flaw, and it makes me sad because otherwise I love that film.

My other response is that I DO know a lot of dogs that "wait" for each other to bark, i.e. they understand each other, so in that case, it works for me. I think that Alpha's voice is the funniest thing in the movie and Dug is adorable, so I don't care. But otherwise I do agree. THe amazing thing with Pixar is they have these flaws but the movie still succeeds. What a rare thing for ANY director let alone a whole studio.

And all I meant by "the others could be true" is simply that they are based in reality, THEN it departs, rather than not even starting in reality (which is what Cars is--it's never the world we know). They're ALL fantasies, but they're based in the world we know first. Does that make sense?

ANYWAY......... last movie I watched was Harry Potter 2 with RT----terrible movie, hilarious trax. "It's the Tort of Damocles!"

[ScottH]

I love all of 'UP', I like the fact it starts serious and heart-felt (there's even blood) and then spirals into fantasy as it goes.

Dug is awesome "cone of shame"

[THE QUEEN!!!]

I love all of 'UP', I like the fact it starts serious and heart-felt (there's even blood) and then spirals into fantasy as it goes.

Dug is awesome "cone of shame"

I loved it all, too--I meant to say I can't argue with the story problems. Really, though, the opening montage is worth the whole film and even on its own it's the best picture of the year.

[Imrahil]

I mostly hate cars because it's a redneck fantasy world, complete with Larry the Cable Guy.

[mrbasehart]

I mostly hate cars because it's a redneck fantasy world, complete with Larry the Cable Guy.

And Mater's going to be the star of the sequel.

[stansimpson]

CARS---Not Pixar's best, but still I love it. I took a lot of road trips so it touches me "deep down in my icky stuff", as Space Ghost would say. I love Guido and Luigi the most. But my problem with it is that Cars have only been around for about 100 years, or in their world 3 generations, so it freaks me out. All the other movies "could be true", but this one suffers from that.

I know exactly what you mean.  That's the reason why I can't totally fall in love with "Ratatouille" and "Up".  The moment Remy controls the chef by his hair is the moment it became gimmicky (and try to argue that it's not!), and it felt like it tried to elicit deep emotions while still remaining in such a cartoony world.  And with "Up", I didn't know how I felt about talking dogs, then I was def uncomfortable with the chipmunk-voiced Doberman (cheap gag, guys), and as soon as I saw dogs flying bi-planes with bones for steering wheels, I just had to throw my hands up in the air.  Even if dogs did have talking devices, it wouldn't change their behavior too (know any dogs that wait for the other to bark?).  I think it's very telling that nobody ever praises the hour and a half that follows the first ten minutes.  It goes from heart-felt reality to cartoony sci-fi to Wile E. Coyote fantasy-world.  In short, the internal logic of "Up" is in a constant shift, and, to use your words Queen, "could [not] be true".   

I've heard people make those same arguments about both those films, mostly from my brother, and I have no response to them other than "You're absolutely right, but I love the movies anyway".

Indeed.  I should've mentioned that's how I feel about "Cars".  Flawed?  Indeed.  But it's still my 3rd fave Pixar movie.  And I love every minute of it, which is made even more amazing cuz I can't stand Larry the Cable Guy.  Maybe cuz it's so integral to the story that they need the biggest hick to be a character and I can separate Mater from Larry the Cable Guy.

The Ratatouille thing truly is gimicky, but how else could he cook with the other guy's body? I can't think of another way

Three words:  "Ben & Me".

And all I meant by "the others could be true" is simply that they are based in reality, THEN it departs, rather than not even starting in reality (which is what Cars is--it's never the world we know). They're ALL fantasies, but they're based in the world we know first. Does that make sense?

Gotcha. 

Last movie I watched was... hmm... still "The Chase".  I've been on a "Forensic Files" marathon.  Didn't really care about the show until I caught a couple eps.  Now I'm hooked.  Plan to watch some French New Wave stuff to absolve my bad movie watching of late.

[Darth Geek]

Gremlins - Damn, I love this movie! Joe Dante makes the best fun movies! A ggofy puppet movie that still has interesting characters and some creepy scenes, everything about it is so effective. And the most badass mother defending her home scene. Why didn't Billy take his mother with him when he went after the gremlins? She did a far better job than anybody else dealing with them at that point. I always think of this movie whenever I hear "Do you Hear What I Hear".

[dalem]

Baby's First Blu Ray:  Star Trek.

So a few weeks ago my giant Sony projection screen (57") starts noticeably dying.  Fading picture, green tinting strong and getting stronger.  Fiddled with stuff, no fix.  I debated, searched, and surprisingly didn't have a heart attack when I looked at plasma prices.  So I aimed at a 58" panasonic plasma.  They threw in a blu-ray player.  I laid back and counted ceiling tiles until it was over.  They delivered.

I bought my first bluray yesterday - Star Trek, which I'd not yet seen.  So here's my review:

BD experience: Holy Moley Mama Jamoley.  That is some pure-arsed picture quality there.  Almost too pure.

Trekkie experience: Meh.  Like I figured back b4 release - a fun action scifi, pretty as all get-out, and crappy Star Trek.  I found most of the character fills okay.  Didn't really see much Shatner in Kirk, liked the McCoy guy, thought Uhura was abysmal.  As I expected, I hate every aspect of the new Enterprise, exterior and interior.  A huge miss there.  I'm not going to pick on the plot because although it had holes, they were certainly no bigger than holes in other Trek movies.

My biggest complaint/observation has to do with...

Distance, time, and drama.

Like Lucas in Star Wars, Abrams decided to slay the drama dragon by making planets hours apart instead of days or weeks.  No distance, no time, no drama.  That is baby-handshake weak storytelling, especially someone messing around in a "Horatio Hornblower in space" sandbox.  Bad Abrams, no biscuit!

So, like I thought, it's pretty and fun but not Trek.  In other words, utterly harmless.

-dale

[Imrahil]

Dale, once again we are very sympatico, my friend.

Welcome to the world of Blu-ray, by the bye. We have a whole thread on it, stop by and join the fun.

[dalem]

Dale, once again we are very sympatico, my friend.

Cool.  I prefer when our man-thing is on.  And truth be told I'd love to discuss the movie, but the threads currently active scare me.  And that's coming from a dyed-in-the-wool geek who has spent far too much time arguing with people on the internet. I laughed very very hard at myself when I heard the Pirates of the Caribbean riff on that when the black pirate dude got killed.

Welcome to the world of Blu-ray, by the bye. We have a whole thread on it, stop by and join the fun.

I'm still a little dazed.  It's so bright.  And so shiny.

-dale

[ScottH]

Big Trouble in Little China


one of my favourite movies of all time.

[Imrahil]

Leatherheads on BD.

I really like this movie. I'm sad it didn't do well. It's goofy, and at a couple of points doesn't know how to present itself, but it's insanely fun to watch, and beautiful to boot.  Like all good movies involving sports, this one is not at all about sports.  I'm not quite sure what it IS about (creating heroes when we need them? Transfer of the old guard to the new? The loss of the individual in the face of the corporate?), but I enjoy it anyway.

Of particular note with this movie is that there's a couple of brilliant neckties.  Now I don't like wearing ties. Hate it, in fact. But one of these was so damn dapper I bought the nearest equivalent I could find and wore it for my wedding.  The clothes in general really pop on blu ray--the textures of the wool sportcoats, the houndstooth, etc.  And there's a nice bit of sepia here and there; not as strong as in The Aviator, but still there.

Oh, and this movie's music is also great. And to my shock, it's by Randy "I ruined the Monk theme song" Newman.   Perhaps it's because his ugly voice doesn't show up anywhere to ruin the whole production?

And I love the cast;  Clooney, Krasinski (who I like here if for no other reason than he does the goofy exaggerated olde-tyme run when he has the ball), but also Jonathan Pryce, Zellwegger (I don't think I've not liked her when I've seen her in a movie, in fact), and Stephen Root.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

I'm still a little dazed.  It's so bright.  And so shiny.

If you like Wall-E, be sure to get that on Blu-Ray, your eyes will melt (in a good way)  ....

Or any Imax movie, the large format film transfers amazingly over to BD, and they fill the whole screen...

After listening to the original radio show CDs for the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, had to watch the movie again tonight.  Picked up a few bits I had forgotten.  Still find it the least funny version of the guide, but liked the Arthur-Trillian connection.  

Edit: now I have to go watch the TV series, just to compare and contrast....

Edit 2:

 Funny how the best parts of the TV series were also the best parts of the movie, the graphics showing the guide entries, both done by little independant animation studios, over 20 years apart, each brilliant in their own ways....   Guess that might be a good reason to get the movie on blu-ray, to freeze frame those guide entries to read all the fine print.  I wonder if the origional 16 or 35mm film of the TV show animations has survived and could be released in hi-def?

I think I'm Hitchhikered out, spent the week listening to all 5 radio shows, the movie, and the TV series...   Maybe this winter it will be time to read the books again.

[ScottH]

The Goblet of Fire.

Harry Potter and Edward Cullen vs. Doctor Who and Schutzstaffel!