DVDizzy Forum

dvdjunkie wrote:Just check your brain at the door before watching and let it entertain you. That's what movies are supposed to do.

Not to get into a big debate, but... no, they're not. Movies are made for all kinds of purposes. A lot of times it's just entertainment, but it can also communicate an important message, transfer information (documentary), provoke debate or provide new insights.

To kill a mockingbird (1962)

This film has quite a reputation, so maybe my expectations were a bit too high. It was not the masterpiece I hoped it was, but it was still a good film. At first, I was annoyed with the children and was hoping to see more of Gregory Peck, but I soon understood that the children *were* what the film was about. The kids' performances were very strong, which surprised me, since it's very hard to pull of a good performance from child actors. Peck's character was a bit too stiff. All in all I liked the atmosphere the best; it definitly had its own 'feeling' that made it enjoyable.

Look up the definition of "Entertainment"......Everything you said is true, but that is what entertainment is all about.

Every movie, documentary, cartoon, whatever, is made for entertainment purposes. And when you are entertained by this movie you discuss it with your friends. Everyone sees something different in a movie, so that is what makes for good conversation.

I just object to people who read into certain movies certain messages that don't exist. They are trying to hide their own insecurities when a movie makes them think about their own personal situation and then they go off ticked off because they take it personal.

If we all went to movies for their entertainment value, and what topic of conversation we can make, we would be a whole lot better off.

Movies are supposed to be entertainment first, and then conversation pieces second.

I hope you understand what I am saying about this.

Different movies for different purposes.

dvdjunkie wrote:I just object to people who read into certain movies certain messages that don't exist. They are trying to hide their own insecurities when a movie makes them think about their own personal situation and then they go off ticked off because they take it personal.

I wasn't talking about that at all. I was talking about movies that communicate a message. But I must also object to your idea that there's such a thing as "certain messages that don't exist". That's not so easily to decide. It has been theorised by a whole school of film scholars that every person 'reads' a movie in a different way, and that everybody takes a different 'message' from a movie. And there's a lot of sense to that. How else could you explain that one movie can get so many different interpretations? UD itself is a prime example of this.

dvdjunkie wrote:If we all went to movies for their entertainment value, and what topic of conversation we can make, we would be a whole lot better off.

As opposed to... what? You're arguing that it would be better not to study, analyse and theorise films anymore? That it would be better to turn off your brain with every movie you see?

dvdjunkie wrote:Movies are supposed to be entertainment first, and then conversation pieces second.

That's nonsense. You're not the judge of what movies are 'supposed' to be. If you want it to have it as simplistic as that, that's fine. Good for you. But that's not good enough for a lot of people.

Gosford Park (2001)

BOOOOOOOOOOORING!!!!!!!!

Turned it off after almost an hour. Kept staring at the clock.

Dunya & Desie -the movie (2007)

Dutch film, based on a famous tv-series about two girls from different ethnic backgrounds. So why would a 24 year old man want to watch a chick flick aimed at teenage girls? Because of Maryam Hassouni:

Momento-In true Chris Nolan fashion, the movie's a total mindfuck. Yet, not entirely confusing. The performances are good, but I'm too tired to list them all. The editing is backwards-literally. The film starts at the end and ends at the beginning, with some sort of expositional segments throughout that arent quite explained until the end.

7/10

Superman II (1980) - Not really as enjoyable as the first film, but still kind of fun to watch. The plot was an interesting idea, though, and Christopher Reeve was good as Superman.

3.5/5

The American.

Where do I start? You know, George Clooney is a good actor, but why did he had to waste his talent on this movie? Seriously, this movie was boring, despite the good acting.

The wife and I watched The Replacement Killers on Blu-ray tonight. Good investment in a movie that has a lot of action and entertainment.

Next on the watching schedule tonight will be The Prestige on Blu-ray.

Last night I was in a Disney mood (which I normally am anyway, but sometimes I don't get around to watching any films) and I decided to watch Enchanted and Beauty and the Beast. For some reason, I hadn't watched either of these films in awhile (especially the former). I forgot how great the music was (Menken/Schwartz always equals awesome) and Amy Adams was wonderful, as well. BatB is just always amazing and I can't wait to get it on Blu-ray.

Hot Tub Time Time Machine - 7.6/10

Youth in Revolt - 7/10

Machete.

Awesome movie!

Two VERY different movies; almost polar opposites as far as storytelling and acting...

The Road (2009) 7.5 - Now this is the post-apocalyptic wasteland that I thought The Book of Eli was going to give us (you know, human drama, instead of a stylized religious action movie). It's the story of an unnamed man and his son, wandering this wasteland brought on by an unspecified disaster, and the events that occur to them as they try to hold onto their humanity. The acting throughout is Oscar worthy and the characters felt real. The story was emotionally gripping and kept me entertained. My biggest grip was the ending, which just didn't seem to fit the movie. Still, up to that point it was really good.

The Spy Next Door (2010) 6/10 - The only reason I'm rating this as high as I am was because of the sheer amount of entertainment I found in it's awfulness. It's your worn out 'action guy having trouble doing basic babysitting things while trying to win over the kids' scenario. The whole thing is written specifically for a VERY young demographic and just felt like a live action version one of those pre-school cartoons that you would find on Playhouse Disney or Nick Jr. (i.e. the story telling is very literal in how it presents things). There is also not a single piece of intelligent dialogue or decent acting to be found in the entire movie. Hopefully this movie gets some recognition for what has to be intentional heaps of bad acting. I found myself laughing quite a bit in this movie at just how clichéd the scenes are and how stereotyped the characters were. Even though I knew what was going to happen next, it still surprised me by going the extra mile to make it laughably clichéd. I guess the only thing it lacked was CGI talking/dancing animals.

I love The Road the book, but haven't had the time to see the movie yet. I really want to, and need to find time to soon.

I finally got around to watching BOLT. It was much better than I expected it to be. Even though I loathe Miley Cyrus she didn't annoy me, although I could have done without her caterwauling the closing credits song with Travolta. Mittens & Rhino were pretty funny and the sentimental ending kinda got to me. I enjoyed it much more than Chicken Little and Meet The Robinsons.

Something about the Halloween season (which for me definitely starts in September) really lends itself to bunching a pack of cool, fun, spooky clips from fantasy films together. Some people would probably rather watch the movies- but this is a stellar packaging job. Unlike A Disney Christmas Gift, the original song they did for this special is actually amazing and a serious hummer, whistler, toe-tapper number. You know what I mean. I haven't been able to get it out of my head for days now.







Good job of selecting clips. The seasonal feeling is beautiful and warm... Once the clips finally start. This is ruined several times by the incredible shitty song they did for this. A theme, you could say. They stick it in front of all the clips but 1. Oh- and they also have the singers of the new song SING over every single clip (except for the last one). They actually have the gall to sing over the famous scene where Arthur pulls the magic sword in The Sword in the Stone. I seriously couldn't stop wishing someone would shoot these bastard singers!







It doesn't get any more simple-minded and insultingly stupid than this awful dose of infantile sentimentality. It's all moral and no brains. I only gave it a star because the colors are vibrant and the people behind the camera try to see how many characters you'll recognize from previous Disney films (I didn't see Bill from Alice in Wonderland - that's the lizard with a ladder - but I did find a bunch of characters from Robin Hood, Fun and Fancy Free - one of my personal favorites, and The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad, as well as quite a few others that you'll know right away). Aside from that, it's absolute trash. They play Donald as a completely sympathetic character with none of his trademark cantankerous crabbiness. And Mickey is so stupid, how could anyone feel sorry for him when the film turns up the "pity the poor guy" cliches? Furthermore, it has no Christmas spirit (just a really crappy theme song), no classic Disney magic, or any of the wacked antics of the Duck Tales television series that made the character playing this Carol's Scrooge.







Mostly unsuccessful blend of Euro art film (the director-writer-producer one-man-everything is French and some scenes even descend into all-French dialogue with no subtitles), teen comedy (several lines lifted directly from Clueless), and softcore sex drama. Ultra cheap, yes. Sleazy, yes. And plays incredibly long. Despite all this however, I was almost never bored. The film's lack of any serious or coherent story coupled with the fact that it refuses to go hardcore in the sex scenes makes it at times strangely compelling (at least for anyone who thinks Troma are always a little smarter than they let on or get credit for outside their fanbase). Nobody on Earth ever sat down to watch this expecting a serious movie, but truth be told, its' music video style and surprising range of fantasies covered (I still want to know where they filmed that limo scene) makes it more ambitious than the American parade of bikini beach films (though who could forget Jeff Conaway's creepy, strange forray into said genre, Bikini Summer II). And, though it's bound to be an irritant for anyone else- I might have a hell of a time getting the theme song out of my head (time will tell).

Is it safe to say i watched a TV series? Or Cartoon Show? Oh well, here goes..



Watership Down.. No, not the movie with Rabbits and blood and gore. Im talking about the TV Series which has rabbits anyways, just not as much blood and gore.. For three days i've been watching the Watership Down TV Series on YouTube and just finished watching them today..

I liked it! I think i liked it more then the movie version! Of course, i've never read the novel so.. But hey, i would watch the TV Series again!



Blame the Horned King-err, John Hurt.. I watched the movie version a few months ago to see what he sounded like. Same case goes for the TV series as well.. Voices Hazel in the movie version and voices General Woundwort in the TV Series (What a deep voice as Woundwort.. ) Sure enough, General Woundwort was my least favorite character in the movie. But in the TV Series he's probably my favoritest character(Is it because of the Horned King? Who knows.. )



I give the TV Series 4 stars out of 5

If you want to mention the individual episode, go here:

http://www.dvdizzy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16681

If you want to talk about the season or series, go here:

http://www.dvdizzy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9332

Storm in a Teacup (1937)
A fun movie even though you dislike the father in the movie, you can not but feel for the plight of the dog in the movie. Rex Harrison in his younger years definitely reminds me of Leslie Howard.

I got the strange urge to suddenly watch two particular Disney Classics, and I felt I had to watch them in Dutch, which has been a long time since I've seen them that way. But I enjoyed them, even though it meant I had to miss Betty Lou Gerson and Vincent Price...

One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)

This film has always been one of my favorite Disney Classics, but after this last viewing, I appreciate it even more. Because I was used to see it on a worn out copied VHS when I was little, I never got to pick up on the fantastic animation --I 'just' loved it for its story and characters. But now, with the DVD, I can enjoy the film on a 'higher' level as a piece of art. It's hard to imagine that Walt Disney himself didn't like the look of the movie. It's totally different from what Disney used to make, and that's what makes it so refreshing. Dalmatians has its own style that is unique and has never been copied. Add to that the perfect balance between lighthearted fun and suspense, top-notch characterizations (I'm thinking especially about the scene where the pups are watching tv here), and beautiful music and you have one of Disney's best films.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

This is a film that I like less for its animation and more for its characters and musical score. The animation isn't all that good. The character animation for leading characters is well done, but all else looks a little cheap, when compared to most other Disney Classics. The side characters almost look all the same (Ratigan's henchmen and the mice in the bar, for example), and in the bar scene all background characters aren't moving. Only Basil and Dawson are moving while the mice behind them are only sitting there like cardboard cut-outs. Not something you will see in other Disney films, and it cheapens the look of the film, making it seem more like a saturday morning cartoon.

Making up for this, as mentioned, good characters and a story full of suspense. For once, not a lovestory or a musical and the main character is not all that goody-goody, too. He's arrogant, condescending and kind of a snob, but he changes very gradually throughout the film --a bit. Just enough to have an emotional goodbye at the end. But no big drama, nobody bursting out in tears, no grand gestures. That's what I like about the film: it keeps everything small and simple --even though Ratigan is very theatrical and is a delight to watch.