What Movie Did You Just Watch? - Shh! It's Starting!

[Goliath]

Paradise Now (2005)

Heavy film about two young Palestinian friends who have decided to blow themselves up in a suïcide attack against Israeli soldiers. The movie follows them on their last day. Then something goes wrong and they get seperated. One of them starts to doubt...

[Cordy_Biddle]

54 and Star 80.

I'm on a seventies disco/biography kick at the moment. "Star 80" is the true story of murdered Playboy centerfold Dorothy Stratten. Chilling but recommended.

[Escapay]

The film drags on and on and on, with a very confusing beginning, 3 minutes of zooming into stars while dramatic music plays (and no title either!)

That's the overture. They're usually played in the theatre with the curtains closed and the lights up, but on DVD they usually just include it either as a blank screen, a still title card that says "Overture", or in Star Trek's case, against stars.

5 minutes of Kirk and Scotty in a space transport looking at the beauty of the Enterprise

That was intentional and more of a fan service than anything else. "Star Trek" had been very successful in syndication, so the ability to see the newly-refit Enterprise on a huge silver screen was more or less a visual orgasm rather than something necessary for the film. It's slow paced with some very majestic music, as it gives Kirk a chance to see the ship he hadn't commanded in awhile, while also letting fans pore over as many details of the new ship model as they can. But yeah, it does get overlong.

Shave maybe, 35 minutes off this, it could be a better movie.

The movie essentially came from the 90-minute script for the two-part series opener "In Thy Image" (for the aborted "Star Trek: Phase II"), before it was redone as a theatrical film. That's one of the reasons why it feels very padded and long, as they turned a 90-minute story into a 132-minute one (and the 1983 television version runs an additional 11 minutes!).

There's almost no character development,

I'd have to slightly disagree with that, but also agree. As a standalone movie, there's pretty much no character development at all. But when you factor in the entire "Star Trek" canon, there is a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle development among some (but unfortunately not all) the characters. They're essentially the same people from the tv series, but naturally a bit older and wiser. Kirk in 60s Trek vs. Kirk in Movies Trek has quite a journey that begins in TMP. He's getting older and he still wants to go out and play. It's touched upon a lot more in The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country, but the seeds are essentially "planted" in The Motion Picture as he - an admiral with a desk job - convinces Starfleet to go out on what should be one last adventure, but in the end, he sticks around (at least that's what's assumed for the interim between Star Trek I and Star Trek II). Unfortunately, beyond Kirk, Spock, and to an extent Decker, no one else really develops beyond what was already known about them.

It's a very confusing movie in general.

It is, indeed. I often flipflop between this and Star Trek: Generations for which one is my least favorite. It's certainly not the worst Trek film, but it is always among the lower-ranked.

albert

[Margos]

Hercules - I can't get over how clever and snappy the writing was for this film! And, I can't believe I totally forgot that two moments in it should have belonged on my list in that "Sad Disney moments" thread, whatever it was called. Meg's death ("People do crazy things... when they're in love") and Hercules giving up his god-hood to spend a mortal life with Meg.

[SmartAleck25]

Remember the Titans- 7.5/10
A very moving movie, with just some mild unnecessary parts. I really enjoyed the characters and their bonding.

[Scarred4life]

My 9 year old sister just had her birthday party, we watched Sleepover. Right now, I convinced everyone to watch Sleeping Beauty.

[Cordy_Biddle]

Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame.

I seriously think this movie gets better with age. When it was first released back in 1996, I never really "got it". Last night was the first time in years I'd seriously sat down to view it, and, I gotta say, I was completely enthralled. Was bawling like a baby at the end. The cast is superb, particularly Tom Hulce who is perfect for Quasi, giving him an innocent man/child vibe, and Demi Moore as the spunky Esmeralda.

[PeterPanfan]

Tooth Fairy - Well... Based on the other "Rock" films, this one is better. Probably because of Julie Andrews. Still, it's recommended for the appropriate age crowd, and I was surprised at some of the very adult jokes thrown in.

[PeterPanfan]

Table for Three - This was a very funny and odd movie. Brandon Routh starred as a single guy looking for one roomate. When a seemingly nice couple show up, played very convincingly by Jesse Bradford and Sophia Bush, he asks them both to move in. He quickly learns that this couple is psychotic. They try to ruin his relationship with his new girlfriend simply for their own enjoyment. Recommended very much!

[PatrickvD]

Tron: I totally forgot how silly and awesome this film was. And it actually makes you think as well. I can't wait for the sequel.

[ajmrowland]

My 9 year old sister just had her birthday party, we watched Sleepover. Right now, I convinced everyone to watch Sleeping Beauty.

So how did everyone think of SB?

[Goliath]

The Ten Commandments (1956)

As epic a disappointment as the film itself and its reputation. I appreciate and admire the sheer grandeur of the movie; the sets; the thousands of extras; the mass scènes; the costumes; the effects etc. But they don't hold my interest for nearly 4 hours. This film is almost 2 hours too long and the acting is horrible (especially Heston and Brunner).

[KennethE]

I just watched "Billy Budd," starring Peter Ustinov (and directed by him too.) A very good movie, but I don't recommend it if you're looking for something with a happy ending.

[Lazario]

Still a near-masterpiece after all these years, time hasn't touched it a bit.

Just kidding (time has savaged these fashion choices, though I actually like 'em), but you know what I mean. The fact that this underdog of a teen flick (yeah, a teen flick- not a kiddie "havoc" movie like the advertising would have you believe) is smarter, more fun, and more adult for the "kids without parents" subgenre of comedy is a sign all on its' own that this movie was destined for better things. Basically, it's every kind of comedy rolled into one. There are kids who get in trouble, no parents, it's a romantic-comedy, a workplace comedy (sort of like Big, where the teenager has to get a job doing something they have no idea how to do), an office comedy, a kind of mainstream-oriented satire/lampoon. Best of all, again is how smart the writing is. How adult Christina Applegate is and the things she gives up to not only get a career but also save the company she works at because she cares about the people who work there (she even saves the jobs of the lousy people there who make trouble for her - and also, she never really fights with or complains about them, a sign of her maturity), how grown up the eldest brother becomes. After that, the other brothers and sister don't have much going on, but that's one of the only/few flaws of the movie. Most of all, the film captures very well a time in the early 90's before things got so cynical and analytical and there was still a little 80's flavor left in cinema. It's money-grubbing but puts forth a believable enough story, with great acting and writing. Great tone and soundtrack as well. Smart conflicts. And, hey even the babysitter is kind of fun. Though, quite regrettable is how little they use Danielle Harris while she was in her toughgirl phase (after her "sad little girl" Halloween films and before her "slutty" role in Roseanne).

[blackcauldron85]

The Other Boleyn Girl- I liked it. The deleted/extended scenes and the documentaries all helped me understand it more, since I didn't know anything about the history beforehand. It wasn't the greatest film, and some of the extended and deleted scenes should've been included in the film for more clairty, but it was enjoyable enough. B+ ?

[Margos]

The Rescuers Down Under - Among one of the best Disney movies ever? Absolutely not. Underrated? Rather. Here's the thing, I like this movie about equally to the original. I think that it tends to be more humorous, if somewhat less emotional. Either way, they're both entertaining films with completely different stories to tell. I actually like the fact that Bernard and Bianca's romance actually comes up more in this one, than in the original. I just really, really wish that they would explain how Cody became the Australian version of "Go, Diego, Go!" in the first place. But, the main thing I think of when I see this movie is how impressive the animation of Marahute is. She may be one of the most realistic animal characters ever created by Disney, and I especially love how her eyelids are transparent, like a real bird's. She's not "cute-ified" or humanized in the least. But she's beautiful, and you can still see the emotion in her body movements. If only she had had more screen time....

[PeterPanfan]

The Other Boleyn Girl- I liked it. The deleted/extended scenes and the documentaries all helped me understand it more, since I didn't know anything about the history beforehand. It wasn't the greatest film, and some of the extended and deleted scenes should've been included in the film for more clairty, but it was enjoyable enough. B+ ?

The Other Boleyn Girl, while a good film, does not NEARLY touch upon enough base of the Tudor history as it could have. The Tudors are my favorite British Monarch family, and it was also my favorite time in history, judging on the actual history.

[blackcauldron85]

The Other Boleyn Girl, while a good film, does not NEARLY touch upon enough base of the Tudor history as it could have.

In one of the documentaries, Natalie Portman mentioned something about how there was a lot of info to fit into a 2-hour movie, and apparently the book may have taken some creative liberties.

[jpanimation]

The Ten Commandments (1956)

As epic a disappointment as the film itself and its reputation. I appreciate and admire the sheer grandeur of the movie; the sets; the thousands of extras; the mass scènes; the costumes; the effects etc. But they don't hold my interest for nearly 4 hours. This film is almost 2 hours too long and the acting is horrible (especially Heston and Brunner).

I couldn't agree more. I kept asking myself why it needed to be as long as it was and why all the talent was so bad. Really nice sets and costumes, some pretty good effects, but it actually bored me. I have to say Dreamworks Animation did a better job telling this story.

Anyways, I finally got a chance to watch a movie:

Moon (2009) 7.5/10 - surprising film. It advertised itself as the next 2001 on the DVD case, so I was worried it was going to be boring, but it was actually very entertaining (nothing like 2001). Usually when movies I've never heard of are highly praised, I don't like them, but this one surprised me. This is a modern-day completely original sci-fi movie that came out of nowhere and is as equally good as District 9, the other original sci-fi film we were blessed with this year. Anyways, it's a mystery/drama set in space about a lone astronaut who mines energy on the moon and sends it back to Earth. He soon discovers something that changes him (if I give away anything, it'll ruin the movie). After about the first 25 minutes you'll probably pick up on whats going on (well, I did) and just a little further in, you'll know how its going to end. Even with the story being pretty predictable, its told in a refreshing and entertaining way. One thing I really appreciated is his robot companion GERTY (a HAL rip-off) was not the cliché cold and calculating robot that turns on his master (even though his voice, Kevin Spacey, may lead you to think that way). I have to recommend you check out this film if you can find it.

[PeterPanfan]

The Object of My Affection - I've never seen this, surprisingly. Jennifer Anistan played her typical role, albeit it was a little deeper than usual. I actually found her character, Nina, annoying a lot of the time. Paul Rudd's character however, George, was my favorite character. The side characters, aside from Allison Janney's, were annoying as well, and I thought the movie was overrated as a whole. The beginning was good, and I absolutely LOVED the ending though, so that made up for the whole uneasy middle.