What-cha-what-cha-what-cha Watched?

[prplchknz]

The Graduate-One of my favorite movies

 

[Aerithria]

Lucky Star.

 

[findthejake]

Dr Horribles Sing Along Blog
Dr. Horrible
C'mon it's a 3 Act musical and each act is about 10 minutes long. Absolutely amazing.

 

[Aerithria]

Dr Horribles Sing Along Blog
Dr. Horrible
C'mon it's a 3 Act musical and each act is about 10 minutes long. Absolutely amazing.

Neil Patrick Harris + Nathan Fillion = win.

 

[prplchknz]

willy wonka

though I think they changed the ending of the original one cuz I swear as a kid they got on the elevator and it never stopped going. Then I watched it again a few weeks ago and the ending was different. I'm talking about the 70s version with Gene Wilder btw. Still this is another favorite movie of mine.

 

[booyalab]

I just saw the IMAX version of The Dark Knight. After also seeing it in a normal theater, I have to say the IMAX version is definitely superior. Maybe not enough to justify the difference in cost but it was cool. The director did a great job choosing which scenes to film with which camera.

 

[The Ü™]

While it's not the first time I saw it, I watched Superman Returns for the first time on Blu-Ray a few nights ago. I was amazed at how shitty the CGI sequences were in hi-def which didn't bother me in standard DVD. They were perhaps even worse than the first Spider-Man. I enjoyed the movie, though.

 

[pure_mercury]

I don't know, I think Crystal Skull was a lot better than Temple of Doom. It still had the Indiana Jones spirit that Temple of Doom lacked.

I actually thought A.I. was one of Spielberg's best movies. War of the Worlds wasn't that bad, either. Not his best, but certainly not his worst. Although I never understood why everyone thought Dakota Fanning was such a great actress in that movie, considering all she ever did was scream -- she reminded me of the little girl in Aliens.

The Lost World was probably one of Spielberg's worst movies. I thought it was awful and hardly Spielberg quality.

Saving Private Ryan was just relentlessly boring, and it was nowhere near as gory as I had imagined, so I was sort of let down. Munich was also boring, overall.

I also find Saving Private Ryan to be horrendously overrated. The Thin Red Line was the superior WWII film of 1998. It was much better-looking than SPR, too, and that is usually a latter-day Spielberg strong point.

 

[Mondo]

Haha!
I did not see it.. but a lot of my friends saw it and they all loved it.
It couldn't have been as bad as the five year old drawing known as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Right?

 

[pure_mercury]

I think the motorcycle chase in Crystal Skull is the equal of pretty much any action sequence in any of the first three films. The difference is, again, that the first three have had time to become iconic in people's minds, and so the contest is rigged. It's just like how people reminisce about the "good old days", even if they're better off now.

I never cared much for Lucas, I always thought he was a hack that got lucky once with the first Star Wars film. But Spielberg (and by extension, Kahn) has made some exceptional films in recent years and I see no reason to put him out to pasture because there have been a few clunkers. It's only because he's trying to live up to "70s and 80s Spielberg" that the current Spielberg suffers by comparison. Anyone else who had Spielberg's 90s and 00s filmography would be roundly praised.

Just as an experient, let's look at his recent work. I'm going to arbitrarily pick the last 15 years of his career, since I think Jurassic Park is what a lot of people see as his last great action movie.

Schindler's List
The Lost World
Amistad
Saving Private Ryan
AI: Artificial Intelligence
Minority Report
Catch Me If You Can
The Terminal
War Of The Worlds
Munich
Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull

In that list are a Best Picture winner (Schindler's List) and two other Best Picture nominees (Saving Private Ryan and Munich). Note that the nomination of Munich was as recent as 2005. I'd say that all on the list are at the least above average, and all but three (Lost World, AI, The Terminal) were widely praised upon their release.

Again, any other director with this filmography would be considered among the best. A director that might be past his peak can still make some amazing films, and Spielberg has. Just cause he's not batting a thousand anymore doesn't mean he's done.

Edited to expand my film nerd rant

I was disappointed by Saving Private Ryan, War of the Worlds, and The Crystal Skull. I actually find Spielberg's 1985-1992 period to be lesser than the '90s and early-'00s stuff, at least when you keep it strictly to movies he directed himself. 2002, in particular, was a great year for Spielberg. The most negative trend of the more recent stuff has been excessive length and extended dull-as-dirt passges. I hope he bounces back after what was the fourth-best Indiana Jones.

 

[Zergling]

Over the past few weeks I have seen Walk Hard and the Bank Job.

Walk hard was pretty funny, to me it was funny in a similar way to a toned down airplane/naked gun (Though obviously with music.) I hadn't seen any oif the recent music biopics, so may have missed a bit of humor (though some of it I could figure out.)

The Bank Job I liked also, had the suspense, lots of guys bumping into each other, double crossing thing working pretty well.

 

[EffEmDoubleyou]

I also find Saving Private Ryan to be horrendously overrated. The Thin Red Line was the superior WWII film of 1998. It was much better-looking than SPR, too, and that is usually a latter-day Spielberg strong point.

It's so interesting that you say this. I thought Saving Private Ryan was by far the best film of 1998, and I always use The Thin Red Line or Mulholland Drive as my examples when I want to make the point that respected directors can get rave reviews for dreck based on reputation and the positivity effect.

It just goes to show that taste is a very personal thing with a lot of variance, even among experts in a particular discipline.

 

[The Ü™]

It's so interesting that you say this. I thought Saving Private Ryan was by far the best film of 1998, and I always use The Thin Red Line or Mulholland Drive as my examples when I want to make the point that respected directors can get rave reviews for dreck based on reputation and the positivity effect.

It just goes to show that taste is a very personal thing with a lot of variance, even among experts in a particular discipline.

If you remember 1998 as much as I do, there weren't very many good movies to come out that year. Along with 2000, 1998 was probably one of the worst years for movies in my lifetime. I have to agree with pure_mercury. I also thought Saving Private Ryan was very overrated. Although I didn't see The Thin Red Line.

 

[booyalab]

I can think of a decent number of good 1998 movies: Pi, Dark City, American History X, The Big Lebowski, As Good as it Gets, The Last Days of Disco, Rushmore, Jackie Brown

Maybe I'm the only one who likes those, and they may not be favorites, but it seems about average for a given year.

 

[pure_mercury]

I can think of a decent number of good 1998 movies: Pi, Dark City, American History X, The Big Lebowski, As Good as it Gets, The Last Days of Disco, Rushmore, Jackie Brown

Maybe I'm the only one who likes those, and they may not be favorites, but it seems about average for a given year.

Decently deep year in 1998. Shakespeare in Love was a non-deserving (but enjoyable) Best Picture winner. Rushmore is definitely my favorite movie of that year, and, to this day, the best Wes Anderson film. As Good as It Gets was actually released in December 1997, in order to get Oscar consideration. Affliction, A Bug's Life, Central Station, The Truman Show, There's Something About Mary, Happiness, Pleasantville, and Elizabeth were all good movies, too. Oh, and personal favorite Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, although it didn't make it over to the States until 1999.

 

[pure_mercury]

It's so interesting that you say this. I thought Saving Private Ryan was by far the best film of 1998, and I always use The Thin Red Line or Mulholland Drive as my examples when I want to make the point that respected directors can get rave reviews for dreck based on reputation and the positivity effect.

It just goes to show that taste is a very personal thing with a lot of variance, even among experts in a particular discipline.

I like both of your overrated examples a lot. I am not a huge Lynch fan (I think Eraserhead is completely silly, for example), but I can get down with Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, and Mulholland Drive. I am very big on Terrence Malick, though.

 

[The Ü™]

I got back from seeing The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. I actually thought it was pretty good. Surprisingly, it was not a typical Rob Cohen film in that it wasn't overly serious in tone. It was just a fun movie to sit back and enjoy. Returning characters continue to seem to enjoy playing their parts, much like the first two. Although the film takes place in 1946, and I am puzzled how Brendan Fraser has remained looking so youthful over the years. But I suppose that's merely a technicality, since the movies aren't meant to be taken seriously. It also seems that there may be another film, as this one was kept open for one.

 

[Sling]

Saw Spiderman 3. It was ok. I didn't like the mushy parts, which was most of the movie. Peter was actually tolerable when he binded with the symbiote and stopped acting like a total pussy. The effects were nice. The casting sucks. The only guys that were really fit to their part were MJ, Jonah Jameson, and Sandman.

emm..As far as positive comments on the movie..Venom is a badass.

 

[Sniffles]

I hardly watch movies nowadays. I spend much of my free-time reading.

So I haven't seen the latest Indiana Jones movies. I used to be a fan of the earlier ones, particularly how it oddly tied into the actual history involved. The Nazis did actually send archeological expeditions around Europe and other parts of the world trying to discover lost civilizations and artifacts(including the Holy Grail in southern France).

A good source to read about this is Himmler's Crusade: The Nazi Expedition to Find the Origins of the Aryan Race by Christopher Hale.

I have heard that this time Jones is fighting the Soviets as opposed to the Nazis. Again, this oddly ties into the actual history; since during the 1950's Soviet archeologists were at the forefront in research concerning the Mayan civilization. This is especially true with the work of Yuri Knorozov.

 

[prplchknz]

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