[Melanie68]

Ratatouille

The story - wonderful. I was getting weepy on more than one occasion but it was also so incredibly funny (I think the physical actions of the characters were the funniest. I don't think they were going for a lot of funny lines necessarily). It also could have been very cliched and shallow and it definitely wasn't. I loved that the story revolved around cooking. They consulted with chefs at The French Laundry.

The characters - incredible. They had some well known actors doing the voices but you wouldn't have known it. Very well done characterization (and again, no cliches).

The setting - gorgeous. There was such incredible attention to detail not only in the kitchen but the views of Paris were breathtaking. I know squat about camera shots but it seems that directors of animation can get views of things that would be very difficult in real life.

Spoiler:

I love how Remy washed his hands before he cooked.

The rats were so cute.

Originally Posted by SoccerDude28

I just watched today Ratatouille. Best Pixar movie ever?

I'm bad at comparing movies with different story lines but it was incredible! Wait, did I say I loved Ratatouille? The DVD is definitely getting purchased when it comes out. It was directed by Brad Bird, the same guy who did The Iron Giant and The Incredbles.

[Panthera]

Hmm.. Maybe I should see Ratatouille at the cinema. I planned watching it (I watch almost all the animation movies that come out each year) but I'd put it more in the "see later" pile. The story and trailers didn't really appeal that much to me, but all the rave reviews are starting to turn me around..

Just saw A Beautiful Mind.
Was a interesting movie, that had a lot of stupid errors, and I didn't really understand why they changed the story of his life. I really liked how they portrayed the schizophrenia though.

[After a brisk nap]

I also watched Ratatouille. It was a good movie and all, but I had some reservations.

The film never quite managed to convince me to suspend disbelief and accept the notion of a rat chef. I think that's because the nature of the rats was somewhat awkwardly defined. They're somewhere between the rabbits of Watership Down, who are intelligent and have personalities, but still behave like animals, and the fully anthropomorphic mouse of Stuart Little, who wears clothes and generally behaves like a human. It kept highlighting that Remy isn't just a chef in rat form, he's a "real" rat, and that reminded me of how silly the premise is.

I could also have done with a little less slapstick and a somewhat more meaty story. Finally, there's one black character in the movie, and he has one single line: "This is some bad juju!" That just makes me cringe.

On the positive side, there's a moment of true beauty near the end of the film which literally had me in tears:

Spoiler:

When Anton Ego tastes the ratatouille.

[jedicri]

Die Hard 4 (I know that's not the title but it's too long to type out, lol).

Highly entertaining for a summer blockbuster --- leave your troubles behind the doors and just enjoy!

Humour, action, and more action.... I love McClane's reaction when he has his butt handed to him by Maggie Q's character.... got a few chuckles from the audience, including myself.

Now I'm stoked to re-watch the first 3 Die Hard in the coming weeks......

[Lucien21]

It's called Die Hard 4.0 in the UK.

[Jelena]

Mr J and I recently watched Jackie Brown. It's not a favourite but I actually found it better this second time I saw it. (Something I can't say about Pulp Fiction for instance) I really like the coolness of Pam Grier's character. Samuel L Jackson is of course always cool.

[Kolzig]

Today during the morning I watched Tulitikkutehtaan tyttö (Match Factory Girl), an old movie from Aki Kaurismäki.

Very touching and dramatic movie. It's not that long movie, only about 69 minutes. It was made in 1990.

Iris has a dead-end job in a match-factory, lives with her dour and forbidding parents, and her social life is a disaster. But when she is made pregnant after a one-night stand by a man who thought she was a prostitute, she decides that enough is enough and plans her revenge...

[Melanie68]

Originally Posted by After a brisk nap

I also watched Ratatouille. It was a good movie and all, but I had some reservations.

The film never quite managed to convince me to suspend disbelief and accept the notion of a rat chef. I think that's because the nature of the rats was somewhat awkwardly defined. They're somewhere between the rabbits of Watership Down, who are intelligent and have personalities, but still behave like animals, and the fully anthropomorphic mouse of Stuart Little, who wears clothes and generally behaves like a human. It kept highlighting that Remy isn't just a chef in rat form, he's a "real" rat, and that reminded me of how silly the premise is.

It managed to work for me personally (I'm not criticizing the fact that it didn't work for you by the way ). I happen to like rats (they are quite intelligent for a rodent and can be very sociable with humans) so that probably helped as I tend to anthropomorphize animals I like much more easily.

I could also have done with a little less slapstick and a somewhat more meaty story. Finally, there's one black character in the movie, and he has one single line: "This is some bad juju!" That just makes me cringe.

The slapstick really fit the character that they used it for most often - Linguini.

On the positive side, there's a moment of true beauty near the end of the film which literally had me in tears:

Spoiler:

When Anton Ego tastes the ratatouille.

Agreed! That was a truly wonderful moment and it really

Spoiler:

speaks to emotional power of food.

[samIamsad]

Starring Roger Moore as... Roger Moore! Totally soft spot for outright silly movies.. and.. Need I say more?

Originally Posted by Jelena

Jackie Brown..

Ah... awesome Bobby Womack tune!

[Aj_]

Girl, Interrupted

Great movie, Winona Ryder, Clea DuVall, and Brittany Murphy are great as usual. Surprisingly the two best performances are Angelina Jolie and Whoopi Goldberg who are usually in movies I don't like. An interesting tale of a short period in someone's life, with interesting realistic characters, played expertly and subtly, that reflects true life with flaws, but is absolutely not depressing, even in the dark moments.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Originally Posted by Jelena

Mr J and I recently watched Jackie Brown. It's not a favourite but I actually found it better this second time I saw it. (Something I can't say about Pulp Fiction for instance) I really like the coolness of Pam Grier's character. Samule L Jackson is of course always cool.

That film is in my permanent library, not just because I've lived in all of those locales, but because it's so well directed, filmed, and edited. I'm not a Tarantino fanboy, I just find this to be excellent filmology.

[tabacco]

I also just got to see Ratatouille and loved it. I put it pretty high up y list of Pixar movies actually. Below the Toy Stories and Monsters Inc., but above The Incredibles and Cars (which, although I did enjoy it, remains at the bottom). I'll agree with everyone about the

Spoiler:

tasting of the ratatouille

... amazingly well done. Some other strong plusses for me:

- Another awesome score by Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Lost, etc.). The 'Paper Chase' track sounds a bit A-Team by the way
- Peter O'Toole -- Always extremely great, in my opinion
- Brad Bird - I love all of his movies, basically.
- 'Lifted' -- this year's Pixar short. I liked it a little less than Geri's Game, my reigning favorite, but it's still pretty high up there for me.
- Will Arnett -- Because he is G.O.B.

For those who follow such Pixar oddities... this film's obligatory John Ratzenberger cameo was:

Spoiler:

the Waiter

[jacog]

Funny - I found Monsters Inc. to be loud, pointless, and stupid... and definitely rate The Incredibles higher... perhaps it's just because I identify witht he social statements it makes about mediocrity. In fact, I think Monsters is at the bottom of my Pixar list.

[aries323]

hmmm

I just watched Grandma's Boy and Date Movie. While Grandma's Boy was somewhat funny and had some sort of ending? to it, Date Movie was just plain stupid and should get the for taking everything bad from the last 10 years date movies and slapped all this bad-ness (and I do mean 'bad' in bad way ) into one really, really horrible movie. The girl playing the lead role was the best part, though

[Bobske]

Originally Posted by jedicri

Die Hard 4 (I know that's not the title but it's too long to type out, lol).

Highly entertaining for a summer blockbuster --- leave your troubles behind the doors and just enjoy!

Humour, action, and more action.... I love McClane's reaction when he has his butt handed to him by Maggie Q's character.... got a few chuckles from the audience, including myself.

Now I'm stoked to re-watch the first 3 Die Hard in the coming weeks......

Also saw Die Hard 4 and absolutely loved it. Great over the top hard hitting action sequences (helicopter meets car sequence), lots of one-liners and a hot asskicking chick

Not so much fun but pretty impressive to watch: When The Leeves Broke by Spike Lee

Pretty amazing 4 hour documentary about hurricane Katrina and the way the American government and FEMA work.

Man, I felt really depressed after seeing the first 2 parts...

[Spiwak]

Pixar Rankings:

The Incredibles
Monster's Inc.
*Ratatouille
Toy Story
Finding Nemo
Toy Story 2
A Bug's Life
Cars

[Kolzig]

I haven't yet experienced Toy Story or it's sequel, or Finding Nemo or Bug's Life.

Ratatouille isn't yet in Finland as far as I know and when it does come, they will only bring the butchered dubbed version to Vaasa...

The only ones I've seen so far are The Incredibles, Monsters Inc and Cars.

Monsters Inc is clearly the best out of those three.

[Endosanity]

Watched:

13 Tzameti
Red Dwarf: Justice

[Melanie68]

One other interesting note about Ratatouille: My mom took my two nieces to see it (17 years and 6 years) and the 6 year old got bored part way through it. She seen some other Pixar movies (Cars e.g.) and those held her interest but this one didn't completely. The story was definitely aimed more at adults.

Side note: I finally got DSL at home. I don't know what to do with myself, everything loads so quickly.

[jacog]

Mel. Perhaps it's time to discover the wonder that is YouTube. A strange experiment in pop culture that is.