[Crunchy in milk]

Well I just watched Equilibrium. I guess its good I didn't go to the cinema to watch it (I'm assuming it was shown in a cinema, although I'm not 100% certain of it after seeing it). I was chuckling throughout the entire movie. I can't wait to see Ultraviolet now. Especially after reading an aint-it-cool review of it. Apparently the action is ramped up, but the real draw card for me is the hammy story reeks to high heaven... with a super model - super soldier defending a bunch of vampires (including her boyfriend) from society... It's gonna be awesome for laughs.

[Kolzig]

I just saw the movie 1984.

I really should read the book again, it's been far too long since the first time I read it. Same goes for A Brave New World.

[Lucien21]

Went to see "Walk The Line"

Biopic feature about Johnny Cash starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reece Witherspoon.

I'm kinda conflicted about this film.

On the one hand the performances in the film are first rate especially the two main stars. They really keep you interested in the story. The songs were all performed very well and the voice likeness as far as I can tell from the two stars is pretty good.

I must admit to enjoying the film while I watched it.

However,

On the other hand I could help but listen to the nagging voice that was saying it is as a made by the numbers biopic that's designed to follow "Ray" to Oscar glory. It's too close a story although I accept that rock and roll lives are probably similar to a certain extent.

From a poor background......Check
Guilt over the death of a brother....Check
Gets married before fame sets in....Check
Becomes a big hit and spends all the time on the road.....Check
Fame goes to head and has a girl at every gig....check
Falls for a woman who is part of the entourage....Check
Drugs...Check
Fall from grace and arrested....Check
Goes through rehab and comes back a bigger star.....Check
Get your main star to actually sing the songs in a spooky resemblance to the real thing..Check

I couldn't help but see there were too many similarities.

[UPtimist]

Hmm... I just almost totally (I'll finish it later) saw Where's Marlowe? That was an interesting movie, about making a documentary, about making a documentary about being a Private Investigator, and the documentarists would also end up being PIs... The whole thing gets really interesting. It's a really great, quite funny (not a comedy per se, but has some comedic features, or then it is a subtle comedy), and very well done movie. And it really is shot like a documentary, where the main characters follow around with a camera...

And, it even had Mos Def. I'll get beck to this when I finish it.

[Melanie68]

@Lucien: I think it helped that I didn't see Ray. That never entered my head. I can totally see the similarities but did the makers of Walk the Line have 'Oscar potential' in their heads and purposely want to make a movie to mimic Ray? One of the producers of Walk the Line was John Carter Cash (the only child Johnny and June Carter had together). Speculating - maybe he saw the success of Ray and thought hmmmm. I don't know specific production dates to test that theory.

I'm just being a devil's advocate

Also - Just tell that nagging voice to kiss your a** (problem solved).

Mel

[RLacey]

Originally Posted by Melanie68

Quite .

[pinkgothic]

The last 'movie' I watched was the new Battlestar Galactica pilot/mini/whatevur...

I've no idea how to rate it, because I need to rate it off-scale somewhere. I don't think I've ever enjoyed something I was a sceptic about at first, and which dwelves in a realm where my brain is saturated in already (sci-fi shows), so darn much.

I remember the debates about fantasy/sci-fi now and how 'Space Odyssee' would be "the only real sci-fi" looking at movies and so on. I'm starting to understand these people a bit, because Battlestar Galactica kind of woke me a bit... it feels sci-fi, whereas, for example, Star Trek: Voyager (which I love to pieces) would never feel that way.

I realise this new Battlestar Galactica has been torn to shreds (mostly by fans of the original, by the looks of things, but that aside) by reviews on places like IMDB. One main gripe was that Battlestar Galactica were too boring, involved too little action. Well, that's where I find it's entire strength lies... the entire time is spent more feeling emotional tension, rather than indulging in excess space fights.

What I also very much enjoy, though that seems to be Battlestar Galactica in general (I've never seen the original), is that what one sees is defensive space skirmishes - this is about losing, not about winning.

It does have the occasional flaw (not to mention the occasional discontinuity goof), and I suppose that might ruin it for one or the other person... I found them to be too sparse to bother me... if I hadn't read about the goofs, I would not have noticed them (even in knowing, I didn't pick up on some I possibly should have).

Mood - awesome.
Camera - awesome.
Acting - decent to awesome, depending on whom you watch.
Plot - awesome.
Realism - feels a ton more real than any sci-fi show I've seen so far, even though the rules of physics are occasionally slaughtered (missile trails in space, for example).

Reviews on IMDB that would best describe my opinion:
Some of the anti-BSG2003 complaints are just crazy, 12 October 2004
Some People Just Do Not Understand, 14 December 2003
An unbias review, 21 April 2003

Notably, I would not agree with the titles of the first two in that I think if people don't like it, I may not understand them... but maybe they're just looking for something else.

[jjacob]

Recently saw Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Excellent movie, pretty funny acting by Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer and a decent load of film noir suspense. Plus I loved the Hollywood self-criticism.

And yesterday I rented Dune (1984). I couldn't even finish it, I had to stop half way due to the extreme and utter boredom I was experiencing The first 10 minutes was like hearing an audiobook introduction of the novel, after which it got even worse and started becoming more and more like an intergalactic soap opera of feuding kingdoms/houses/whatever. At that point I just gave up and decided this was one Laurentiis production that had totally failed in nearly all aspects.

[Kolzig]

The new BSG is excellent, Olmos is the driving force behind that series and I just love his acting.

I tried watching the original old series once when a tv channel here aired it, but it was really horrible, couldn't even watch the whole pilot. Even though the effects guys are doing the exact same tricks as they did with Firefly/Serenity, they fit BSG also really well.

[seebaruk]

Gotta see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang some time, looks like a good film. Saw Edukators and Life of David Gale yesterday, both good films despite featuring annoying female characters in lead roles.

[jjacob]

Originally Posted by seebaruk

Gotta see Kiss Kiss Bang Bang some time, looks like a good film. Saw Edukators and Life of David Gale yesterday, both good films despite featuring annoying female characters in lead roles.

It is pretty funny from start to finish, wih excellent comic acting from both the lead roles. I've yet to see Edukators but I heard it was well worth watching. Are you talking about Kate Winslet? I think she did a pretty decent job in Life of David Gale, or do you just hate the actress? (In which case, go see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind if you haven't already, where she totally made up for her role in Titanic).

[AFGNCAAP]

I agree with absolutely everything in the above post.

Since I was involved in a discussion about Pulp Fiction lately, I'd also like to add that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang succeeded much better at what PF is famous for, in my opinion. The dialogues were funnier, the pastiche of the mystery stories more substantial, and the characters actually likeable. I was pretty disappointed that neither Shane Black's screenplay nor Robert Downey's role were appreciated with the Oscar noms, in fact.

[jjacob]

I suspect Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is the sleeper hit of the year 2005, atleast over here in the Netherlands. I haven't seen any commercial/trailer for it, and it's only in cinemas one day a week. In fact, if it hadn't been for imdb.com I probably never would've seen it. Then again, most cinemas over here are owned by Pathe, and they're doing a piss poor job frankly (aside from gradually raising ticket prices, showing only very mainstream films and cutting out the intermissions alltogether, they have the nerve to blame their dropping profits all on internet piracy).

Saw King Kong yesterday, and I must I was pretty surprised! Although being way too long, it had pretty good pacing and suspense. The acting wasn't all that good (save for perhaps Naomi Watts), but I can imagine it must be hard for an actor to give it 100% in front of a big green screen. Nevertheless I actually got pretty damn emotional towards the end..

Spoiler:

I might've even shed a bucketloadcouple of tears when Kong plumeted to his death

Also saw MirrorMask recently, what a bizarre film! (in a good way though). It took a while for me to get used to the weird style and effects, but it was definately worth it. On top of surprisingly good acting the film avoided any known "fantasy" road, very refreshing! If you get a chance to see this, don't hesitate!

[Ninth]

Originally Posted by AFGNCAAP

I agree with absolutely everything in the above post.

Since I was involved in a discussion about Pulp Fiction lately, I'd also like to add that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang succeeded much better at what PF is famous for, in my opinion. The dialogues were funnier, the pastiche of the mystery stories more substantial, and the characters actually likeable. I was pretty disappointed that neither Shane Black's screenplay nor Robert Downey's role were appreciated with the Oscar noms, in fact.

As much as I liked KKBB, I disagree. I though its tone was for closer from a straightforward (and hilarious) comedy than Pulp Fiction's.

[natalia]

Finally saw Wedding Crashers, which was OK, I guess. It wasn't as funny as 40-Year Old Virgin to me. Mostly because I'm getting tired of Owen Wilson and I think Steve Carell (sp?) is hilarious.

Before that, I'd watched The Constant Gardener, which I really liked. I thought Rachel Weisz did a terrific job and finally Ralph Fiennes didn't manage to creep me out in a romantic lead role.

[jjacob]

OK? OK? Wedding Crashers is one of the worst "comedies" ever. It doesn't even compare to 40-Year Old Virgin! I can't remember finding anything in that film even remotely funny in any way

I'm sorry if that sounded harsh, it's just, I HATE that film

[natalia]

Originally Posted by jjacob

OK? OK? Wedding Crashers is one of the worst "comedies" ever. It doesn't even compare to 40-Year Old Virgin! I can't remember finding anything in that film even remotely funny in any way

I'm sorry if that sounded harsh, it's just, I HATE that film

Ha, no worries about soundsing harsh. I definitely didn't hate Wedding Crashers, though. I found Vince Vaughn's character funny at times, and I thought Rachel McAdams was terrific in the movie. But mostly I found it to be rather dull, hence my ok rating.

Comedies are kinda funny that way. It's hard to say what's going to amuse someone. I just watched The Jerk, which I found to be painfully unfunny. My hubby, on the other hand, was laughing nonstop. Go figure.

[RLacey]

I hate all "comedies" that just consist of fart gags and sex jokes. Which, from what I've seen of Wedding Crashers clips, seems to be the whole film ...

[natalia]

Originally Posted by RLacey

I hate all "comedies" that just consist of fart gags and sex jokes. Which, from what I've seen of Wedding Crashers clips, seems to be the whole film ...

I hear ya (although, me, I don't mind a really funny sex comedy -- which is why I thought 40-year old virgin was hilarious). Although admittedly, Wedding Crashers didn't have many (if any, I don't think) fart jokes. It seemed pretty tame compared to other more raunchy comedies. It just seemed like a let down to me, since it stayed atop the box office for a while and a lot of people seemed to like it.

[Dasilva]

At least you see bouncy tits. if you're into that.