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

[PixarFan2006]

Misery (1990)

I thought this was a pretty good adaptation of Stephen King's novel (which I read in 9th grade). Kathy Bates was creepy as the obsessed "number one fan".

[jpanimation]

The Princess and the Frog (2009) 7.5/10 - I won't give it a full review as I think already did that in one of these threads. I read this review and it pretty much sums up how I feel about the film. Pros: Great voice casting (except Ray), Tiana is a great role model (not only for women, but hard working people everywhere), Tiana's beautiful voice, Dr. Facilier is one of the greatest villains in all of Disney (he steals the show every time he's on screens, as Keith David has an amazing voice, and he's the best animated character in the film), Prince Naveen is funny, Charlotte is an amazing character (nice girl, and what a firecracker, provided some great animation), and the lighting, color palette and New Orleans setting is breathtaking. Cons: The story is still a little messy, the character of Louise (while a nice concept) is completely pointless, Ray's (while endearing) voice is just a little overdone for my liking, Dr. Facilier needed a little more development, every song except "Dig a Little Deeper" is completely forgettable, the Frog Hunters slapstick sequence (while nicely done) is pointless, and showing Ray after he had already been crushed, felt melodramatic and ruined the impact of his death.

I rented the Blu-ray and while it looked great, I'm glad I didn't buy it. It was basically a tricked out barebones release and I'll wait for a more substantial 2-Disc release. The 20min documentary, deleted scenes, and art galleries were nice but everything else was worthless promotional material from their website. The documentary skipped over way to many people and aspects of the film to make it worth while (Randy Newman barely got to talk about the music, none of the animators really got to talk about their inspiration for their characters, and Ron and John didn't really talk about how they came up with this movie [probably want to avoid talking about the controversial original take on the film]). It also lacked no-brainer features, like the original theatrical teaser, promotional material like posters, and the funny Drawing Naveen feature Disney posted on YouTube. It maybe a while, good thing this isn't one of my favorites, but I'll wait for the more substantial 2-Disc release.

[Goliath]

Funny, I liked all the songs in Princess and the Frog except 'Dig a little deeper'. I thought it was too obvious and generic.

[pap64]

Funny, I liked all the songs in Princess and the Frog except 'Dig a little deeper'. I thought it was too obvious and generic.

Same here. I grew to love all of the songs except "Dig a little Deeper". I think the chorus was really great and so did the melody. But the actual singing felt a tad flat. Maybe its because we got used to really, really strong vocal performances that the character lacked that "oomph" in her performance.

I still love Louis regardless if he is useful to the story or not. He's too much like me and I am too much like him in order for me to care about his usefulness .

[PeterPanfan]

Saw this Friday:

The Last Song - Pretty predictable Sparks movie, and a lot more enjoyable than Dear John. Miley shows a different side as she casually mutters the word "bitch" and makes out with a boy laying down on a beach, has a nose piercing, etc. That doesn't, however, mean her acting has improved. The saving graces were led by a touching performance from Greg Kinnear and Kelly Preston.

[jpanimation]

Funny, I liked all the songs in Princess and the Frog except 'Dig a little deeper'. I thought it was too obvious and generic.

Same here. I grew to love all of the songs except "Dig a little Deeper". I think the chorus was really great and so did the melody. But the actual singing felt a tad flat. Maybe its because we got used to really, really strong vocal performances that the character lacked that "oomph" in her performance.

I still love Louis regardless if he is useful to the story or not. He's too much like me and I am too much like him in order for me to care about his usefulness .

I really don't want to hijack this thread, I get carried away sometimes, so I responded in the appropriate thread (HERE).

[Avaitor]

Each Saturday I've been recording TCM's essentials, when they air a movie that Robert Osborne and Alec Baldwin personally recommend to air, and also give us a little bit of commentary on it. I find this to be a good learning experience, and I get to see classic films that I've always wanted to see or haven't been familiar with beforehand.

This week's movie was The Blue Dahlia and I quite enjoyed it. Maybe it isn't the best noir flick from the era, but the story is written well enough to distinguish it a little, and the acting is overall solid.

Next week's is going to see the 1939 adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. All I've seen of the book's adaptations is the Disney version, which I really like, so I'm hoping that this is a more faithful take on the story than that was.

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Funny Girl - Wow. Barbara was really spectacular in this film, and the songs weren't half bad either! I really loved Don't Rain On My Parade (thanks to Glee), People and Funny Girl. Definitely one of the best musical-film adaptations I've seen (and considering that it was released in 1968, that's pretty good). I might check out Hello, Dolly sometime soon just to see what else Barbara can do. Definite recommendation!

[ajmrowland]

THe Lovely Bones-This movie is really growing on me. 3rd times the charm, I guess. I'll keep it to show someone in a couple weeks before finally sending it back to Netflix.

Maybe Ill watch the Chipmunks one last time tomorrow early afternoon and send it back via post office.

[dvdjunkie]

Extraordinary Measures starring Brendan Fraser, Harrison Ford and Keri Russell, came out this week on DVD and Blu-ray and we watched this wonderful movie again Tuesday evening after "Idol".

What a great story about the Crowley family, and John Crowley who gave up a lucrative position to fight for his children't lives, as they were victim's of Pompe Disease.

As part of the Blu-ray presentation, there is a wonderful Featurette on the real Crowley family, and it is amazing how real this people are. Harrison Ford was Executive Producer of this film, so you can see how much they touched his life and why he had to get this story to the screen.

If you haven't seen "Extraordinary Measures" I urge you to do so, as it will change your life, also.

[Lazario]

Was fast on its' way to outdoing Duvall-Theater's version of Little Red Riding Hood. The first 20 minutes are a non-stop laugh riot, jam-packed full of howler lines (Fairy Godmother: "Solving your own problems is part of growing up, I just show up for special occasions" - Cinderella: "It's just that I wish you would've been there when my stepsisters tied me to the bannister and..." - Godmother: "Look here! Do you want to go to the ball?"). Grease's Eve Arden (the school principal, you know her: "if you can't be an athlete, be an athletic supporter") is a camp comedy dream as the nasty Stepmother and the dialogue between her and Beals' Cinderella is brilliant. It's so good, I have to quote.

Cinderella: "Stepmother, may I ask a question? I must know why you and my stepsisters treat me with such contempt. You know, I try to be kind and forgiving but the nicer I am, the worse you treat me."

Stepmother: "The answer is very simple, my dear. You see, nature has been very kind to you. You've been blessed with incredible beauty, a sweet disposition, and a loving heart. These are qualities that are totally absent from myself and my daughters. Therefore, in order to balance the scales of nature, which have been unfairly tipped in your favor, it is only right that we should treat you like dirt."

Carrie's Edie McClurg and Jane Alden are also hilarious as the stepsisters. The actors clearly know this is a spoof and so McClurg hams it up like it's the last thing she'll ever be seen in (you may also remember her as the sassy receptionist at the rental car place in Trains, Planes, and Automobiles... or the sassy secretary in Curly Sue). The characters are outrageous. At one point the almost robotic Beals intentionally whines like a spoiled child ("I wanted... I wanna go...to- the- baaaalll!"), and later on after the Godmother shows up, she actually begins to get greedy. In subtle, shocking outbursts. It makes sense when you consider the abuse she suffered but it's still shocking.

However, this falls short of Little Red Riding Hood quality. All in the Family's Jean Stapleton slows everything up as a brassy, down home-style Fairy Godmother when the character's sense of humor could probably use more energy and less- "hey, I know her from somewhere, don't I?" comfort-casting (knowing how everyone were duty bound to like her put-upon Edith Bunker). Then, Matthew Broderick, who is surprisingly too intense in the role to make any of the humor designed for his character work. He turns the whole thing much too serious, which then rubs off on Beals and she gets too serious. Finally, James Noble as the King. Where every word out of his mouth comes off as dull. Near Dark's Tim Thomerson does a much better job and is a great deal more entertaining as Broderick's royal adviser. He should have been the king.

<center> </center>

[jpanimation]

OK, so I decided to watch a few Best Picture Winners/Nominee that I haven't seen yet:

L.A. Confidential (1997) 8/10 - a modern day film noir, set in the classic 50's, and a surprisingly good one. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was, it reminded me of when I first saw The Usual Suspects, only the ending wasn't as good. It's a well crafted and well acted film with a great cast. Although, I couldn't remember where I recognized Guy Pearce from until I looked it up on IMDB (it was Memento and The Count of Monte Cristo, silly me). It was a gripping film and it was nice to see a detective not insult my intelligence for once. This movie definitely should've won best picture over Titanic, although unlike most people, I still like Titanic more the Good Will Hunting.

A Beautiful Mind (2001) 6.5/10 - disappointing to say the least. It was just a little too slow for my tastes and really didn't get interesting until the crazy stuff started happening. The acting was fine throughout and the direction wasn't bad. I just think the story wasn't that engaging and the characters weren't anyone I could really connect with. As far a Ron Howard movies go (can't say I'm a fan), I like Apollo 13 more, but then maybe I'm just not sophisticated enough for this movie (I also enjoyed both Cinderella Man and Frost/Nixon). I just don't think there is any reason for this movie to have won Best Picture over The Lord of the Rings.

Moulin Rouge! (2001) 7/10 - unlike any musical I've ever seen. There were scenes at the beginning verging into 'acid trip' territory and moments that felt ripped right out of a cartoon. The lineup of music is just not what you'd expect for the time period and setting. The whole production is soo stylized that it really sets itself apart and this is where it succeeds the most. The story was there, nothing really special, but it was just a little too common. I thought the casting was good, with some goofy characters, but I'm starting to get tired of seeing Ewan McGregor in everything nowadays. I guess I was just surprised by it all, very different.

[Lazario]

If you haven't seen "Extraordinary Measures" I urge you to do so, as it will change your life, also.

Who's wearing the rose-colored glasses now, 'junkie?




As for A Beautiful Mind, a very wise critic once wrote about it:

"It's difficult to pinpoint what aspect of A Beautiful Mind is more lacerating: Russell Crowe's notion of crazy (picture John Goodman doing a David Helfgott impersonation while chewing on Marlon Brando's Godfather tissue paper), the loveless direction, the egregious abuse of numerical signifiers, or the disturbing manner in which schizophrenia is transformed into Sixth Sense-style entertainment for the masses. This is pre-fabricated Oscar dribble at its worst, condescendingly rewriting a life struggle as an easy-to-digest Lifetime movie of the week."

I think that pretty much says it all right there.

[jpanimation]

As for A Beautiful Mind, a very wise critic once wrote about it:

"It's difficult to pinpoint what aspect of A Beautiful Mind is more lacerating: Russell Crowe's notion of crazy (picture John Goodman doing a David Helfgott impersonation while chewing on Marlon Brando's Godfather tissue paper), the loveless direction, the egregious abuse of numerical signifiers, or the disturbing manner in which schizophrenia is transformed into Sixth Sense-style entertainment for the masses. This is pre-fabricated Oscar dribble at its worst, condescendingly rewriting a life struggle as an easy-to-digest Lifetime movie of the week."

I think that pretty much says it all right there.

Wow Laz, that's hilarious! I just looked up the full review, and it's spot on.

[Goliath]

Well, that's the dumbest review I've ever read --not just about A Beautiful Mind, just the worst review ever. Because, what has the reviewer really *said*? What did he pinpoint, what did he point out, what did he challenge about the movie? Nothing! It's just a whole buch of exaggerations and big words thrown together in order to look tough or cool. "Look at me! I'm trashing the Oscar winner! How brave am I?" like hyperboles, you all know that, but this guy has gone way overboard.

I'm at loss how he could describe the direction as "loveless" and say the film reduced Nash's struggle. The direction and the film as a whole (thorugh the stellar performance of Russell Crowe) take the viewe both into Dr. Nash's mind and worldview and that of the people surrounding them, constantly alternating between them. This way Howard makes sure the viewer gets the full picture. He never ridicules Nash or portrays him as a nutcase, as the reviewer seems to imply. He makes Nash's struggle believable to the outsider, the viewer. It's very hard to grasp such a complex issue in images, and Howard succeeds brilliantly.

The last film I watched was National Treasure. Sometimes I just feel like watching a good old popcorn movie. I was entertained once again.

[Margos]

Funny Girl - Wow. Barbara was really spectacular in this film, and the songs weren't half bad either! I really loved Don't Rain On My Parade (thanks to Glee), People and Funny Girl. Definitely one of the best musical-film adaptations I've seen (and considering that it was released in 1968, that's pretty good). I might check out Hello, Dolly sometime soon just to see what else Barbara can do. Definite recommendation!

I just saw this one, too! Just... depressing. I dunno, but the last half hour was just.... depressing. That's about all I can say. Oh, except Barbara's really pretty in this, which is odd, since they make disparaging comments about her looks... anway....

Panama Hattie - This little WWII era movie-musical, is just.... just crap. Really, I dunno how to describe it. There was a plot, but it kept getting buried in the stupid antics of three dumb sailors, and at one point, an interesting plot point was skipped over in favor of a very pointless and laughable musical number. And the final message: "Buy war bonds," has absolutely nothing to do with anything. Really, just a terrible, terrible film. The songs are crap, Hattie's friend (whose name I can't remember) is a horrible actress and creepy to boot. I would recommend watching this at, like, 3am when you are sleep deprived and anything is funny. It's pretty funny then. But any other time.... Just don't do it.

[jpanimation]

Transsiberian (2008) 6/10 - can't say I was disappointed as I expected it to be underwhelming. What is essentially a re-imagining of Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes just lacks the suspense and characters that made the original soo great. The acting isn't bad, Ben Kingsley is fantastic, but the characters just aren't very interesting. There are points where it's hard to see who the "bad guy" really is, with the protagonist having some questionable morals. Good idea but not well executed. Part of it is the story's fault and part of it is the director's fault for not building the suspense as much as he could. Can't really recommend it.

[Escapay]

Well, that's the dumbest review I've ever read --not just about A Beautiful Mind, just the worst review ever. Because, what has the reviewer really *said*?

A lot more than what Lazario quoted...

• It's difficult to pinpoint what aspect of A Beautiful Mind is more lacerating: Russell Crowe's notion of crazy (picture John Goodman doing a David Helfgott impersonation while chewing on Marlon Brando's Godfather tissue paper), the loveless direction, the egregious abuse of numerical signifiers, or the disturbing manner in which schizophrenia is transformed into Sixth Sense-style entertainment for the masses. Yeah, that's right: Ron Howard's Rain Man perseverance saga comes readymade with a midpoint rhetorical shift that tries to excuse the schmaltz of John Nash's (Crowe) fabricated existenz. Nash is of the K-Paxian kind, his scribbling of complex algorithms upon Princeton windowpanes accompanied by a tinkly James Horner score. This is pre-fabricated Oscar dribble at its worst, condescendingly rewriting a life struggle as an easy-to-digest Lifetime movie of the week.
  
  If Hanna-Barbera wanted to render a cartoon character's lengthy day travels, the cartoonists might have cut from a shot of Huckleberry Hound walking before the Eiffel Tower to a shot of the dog prancing before Big Ben. Back in film school, we were instructed to stray from exactly these kinds of simpleminded techniques. A young Nash sits at his desk while special effects morph the exterior of a Princeton dorm to accentuate the changing seasons (leaves drop, snow gathers and melt, birds chirp). Howard gets the job done (the spectator assumes a school year has passed) but there must be a less reductive method of signifying the passage of time. This kind of lifeless direction is far from challenging, so bland and ordinary it could be packaged and sold with an accompanying cookie cutter.
  
  If at all possible, there are even less subtle abuses at work here: Howard's camera spins to no end whenever Nash walks into a virgin room (you know, the kind someone has never been inside) while the fall of game pieces comes replete with accompanying thumps courtesy of overzealous sound designers. As written by Akiva Goldsman (A Time to Kill, Batman & Robin), A Beautiful Mind affords little room for the frequent errors of human communication. Every pronoun and adjective is as pitch-perfectly calibrated as the careful placement of horrified witnesses to Nash's frequent flights of lunacy. There's nothing organic about Goldsman's script, which condescendingly transforms Nash into a mere child annoyed by imaginary characters. For one's easily digestible pleasure, Gumpian taglines are readily available. Most nauseating: "This is all I am." Not impressed? There's always: "They were wrong, John. No one wins."
  
  The danger of Howard and Goldsman's bio-flick is that it sacrifices authenticity (gone are Nash's real-life experiences with aliens and the same sex) by implicating the spectator in a circus-act (in effect, the audience is tricked into believing in his world). Mind's first hour is a bona fide thriller (ripe with car chases and top-secret document drop-offs). Howard takes his time convincing the spectator that Nash is a Pentagon operative; in the end, Nash may have a corner office but his number-crunching is entirely self-serving. Mind is less concerned with Nash (the man, the scientist, the genius) than it is with promoting a ridiculous litmus test: you too can be crazy, but only for two hours! Okay, so Howard has fashioned the first half of Mind as a view-askew from Nash's own mind. This is interesting enough (more so in retrospect) but think of the fascinating, unending possibilities of having simply shown Nash talking to dead air for the duration of the film. This would have been a braver, more authentic approach (certainly more ethical), replete with tragedy and remorse from the start. Moral qualms aside, the narrative is still quintessentially cornball: is the first hour of Mind supposed to be the world as seen by a master mathematician gone crazy or a Midwest yokel who's watched Dead Poet's Society a hundred times and still thinks emotionally-frayed characters slide down the sides of doors once they've locked their lovers out?
  
  There is one mitigating factor: a gorgeous Jennifer Connelly, as grieving wife Alicia, successfully stifles nausea with each line-delivery. Nash's courting ritual is worthy of Danielle Steele (is that an equation for love written on Nash's chalkboard?); he motions to the sky, finding an umbrella amid the starry sky. If Connelly glows, Crowe creeps. In effect, it becomes particularly difficult to gauge Crowe's performance when his romantic gaze becomes less loving and more like a stifled need to chew or spit on Connelly's naked back. Forget Nash's beautiful mind, Alicia reminds Computer Brain that freedom lies in one's beautiful heart. Nash is liberated: a group of pen-loving elders bestow their approval via a ludicrous Princeton tea party, a new kid on the block conjures images from A Beautiful Mind: The Next Generation and Nash courts the Nobel Prize (you'll never know why he wins the award but Crowe and Connelly happily distract with age make-up left over from For the Boys). A Beautiful Mind is like a brick to the head to anyone who ever winced at the utterance of "infinity plus one."

albert

[ajmrowland]

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus-lovely film. lighthearted and well-spirited, but never afraid to throw drama into the mix. While not as exciting as 10 months of watching a trailer leads one to believe, it's still very good. Incorporating Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Collin Farrel into the blue screen scenes was a great idea. Well-done performances by Verne troyer, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Waits(as The Devil-with a bowler hat) and an all-around nice movie.

3.5/5

[Lazario]

As for A Beautiful Mind, a very wise critic once wrote about it:

"It's difficult to pinpoint what aspect of A Beautiful Mind is more lacerating: Russell Crowe's notion of crazy (picture John Goodman doing a David Helfgott impersonation while chewing on Marlon Brando's Godfather tissue paper), the loveless direction, the egregious abuse of numerical signifiers, or the disturbing manner in which schizophrenia is transformed into Sixth Sense-style entertainment for the masses. This is pre-fabricated Oscar dribble at its worst, condescendingly rewriting a life struggle as an easy-to-digest Lifetime movie of the week."

I think that pretty much says it all right there.

Wow Laz, that's hilarious! I just looked up the full review, and it's spot on.

Isn't it?

Of course, in quoting that critic, I didn't mean to suggest Lifetime movies-of-the-week can't be valid in their own way. They just are so very seldomly.

A Beautiful Mind is yet another case of Oscar politics. If they don't continue to show bloated (no accounting for taste) love to Ron Howard and Russell Crowe with their ass-kissing awards, they know their constituants would not be happy.