DVDizzy Forum

Waiting for Guffman. One of my fave Christoper Guest films. Working in community theatre myself, it's amazing how closely the film manages to capture the exact vibe. Love, love luuurve Parker Posey ("This is the day of the show, y'all!" ); and the bizarre "Midnight at the Oasis" audition piece with Catherine O'Hara and Fred Willard.

A masterpiece.

I just watch movie saw1-5 and i just also watch GI joe and I also watch 300 on TV< not bad,but good movie to see in saturday weeekend

Seinfeld The Complete Series

Dead Alive Yes, it was gory and even gross at a few moments, but it was an amusing movie overall.

Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1942) - An okay movie, but it's kind of boring and not really as good as the first film.

3/5

I watched Pocahontas last night. I love that movie!

I watched Beetlejuice last night. Always great to watch around this time of year.

^^ I too treated myself to a Tim Burton night... kinda. I had a Batman marathon.

Batman – If you had asked me two years ago what I thought of this film, I would have called it a convulted mess with the most overhyped character actor's performance. Today I eat my words. This is a masterpiece. Yes, the Joker is pretty much still Jack Nicholson in a purple suit, and though I prefer Heath Ledger's take on the character, there's something grim yet likeable in the way Nicholson brings the Joker to life. Michael Keaton is Batman. His Bruce Wayne is a tragic character, but still retains his playful if slightly goofy playboy personality. I have some issues with the story dynamics, but they're irrelevant compared to everything else. Beautiful cinematography, luscious sets and the score are pluses too.

Batman Returns – From the very first scene this film feels radically different from the previous one. While "Batman" seems soaked up in realism (I know it's strange bringing up realism when talking about Batman movies of the '90s), "Batman Returns" plays out like a straight-up fantasy movie even though they were both directed by Tim Burton. It's not a bad thing at all; on the contrary, it's a testament to Burton's talent to make two films in the same series stand out from each other, something other directors have yet to learn (I'm looking at you, Chris Columbus). Keaton continues to play Batman/Bruce Wayne with utmost confidence. However, the real star here is Michelle Pfeiffer. Selina Kyle's breakdown is simply chill-inducing and practically every subsequent Catwoman scene is one of this film's highlights. Keaton and Pfeiffer have an amazing chemistry, which is best reflected in the final confrontation and the ballroom dance preceding it. Shadows also play an important part. More than a few dashes of sex, innuendos and memorable music round up this film for a fantastic cinematic experience.

Batman Forever – I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it after not seeing it for about 6 or 7 years. It sort of combined the best aspects of Burton's films with the more colorful/child-friendly approach to Batman mythos. Did it work? Not always. Is it campy? Yes, but so were "Batman" and "Batman Returns", though in a different, less-obvious way. There's still an aura of darkness around the characters, which helps this movie a lot. And if Michael Keaton was the best Batman, Val Kilmer was most certainly the best Bruce Wayne. However, one major drawback are the villains: manic personas of these two just don't compliment each other (and weren't aided by Jim Carrey playing Cable Guy playing Ace Ventura). I would have preferred one of them to be cold-blooded, silent, menacing type, but instead of that we got not one, but two Joker-clones.

Batman & Robin – The best way to describe it: neon overload and utter ridiculousness. I'm trying to find positive things to say about this movie. Well, Chris O'Donnell was good, Uma Thurman was okay when she wasn't overacting, and even Arnold Schwarzenegger was okay when he wasn't trying to be funny or menacing (which was like for a total of two minutes). Some of the fights were well-choreographed. Now for the bad things: George Clooney was completely miscast (Val Kilmer, what happened to you?). Character lines were either cheesy or contained not-so-funny puns. Gotham City's skyline changed for the worst (what's with those huge statues?). The blue/silver costumes of the trio weren't eye-pleasing. Not to mention bat-skates, bat-credit card and other bat-nonsense. If you're looking for a good Batman/Mr. Freeze movie watch "SubZero" instead.

Catwoman – I count this movie as part of Burton/Schumacher universe (for one, it started off as a a "Batman Returns" spin-off. That, and an image of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman is seen in one of the scenes). That said, five years after its release, I still don't understand the practically universal hate for this movie. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but it's enjoyable from start to finish. It also has a fantastic musical score (portions of which were later used for "TMNT"), decent story and the cast's not half-bad. So she's not the Catwoman. Big deal. How many versions of Supergirl, Green Lantern, Robin, and now Batman, are there in the comics? Exactly. Just think of this movie as some sort of a stand-alone story.

Next up: "Superman" series.

PixarFan2006 wrote:I watched Beetlejuice last night. Always great to watch around this time of year.

I actually just saw "Beetlejuice" for the first time EVER a few weeks ago when I bought the Blu-ray. Being an 80's kid it's still really curious to me why I'd never been exposed to it before (and it has two of my favourite actors, Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder!); but better late than never, huh?

I really enjoyed it.

Wow, that IS weird that you've never seen it before. Classic!

I watched Young Frankenstein last night. Like Beetlejuice it's always fun to watch around this time of year. Let's hope they do not remake it musical style (Like they did with The Producers, which was okay but inferior to the original).

PixarFan2006 wrote:I watched Young Frankenstein last night. Like Beetlejuice it's always fun to watch around this time of year. Let's hope they do not remake it musical style (Like they did with The Producers, which was okay but inferior to the original).

...

Ratatouille (2007)

Up until this week, I had never seen this Pixar-film and boy, do I regret not having watched it earlier! I still haven't seen Wall-E, Up or Cars (and I'm not planning on seeing the latter), but out of all the other Pixar-films, Ratatouille is definitly the best! Original, hilariously funny (an army of rats running a kitchen), great voice cast, marvelous animation (especially the shots over Paris), and the best characters. The human characters are cartoonish while still being believable; something I felt had lacked from previous Pixar-films. The best scene has to be when Ego is eating the ratatouille and he gets that same feeling he had when he was a little kid. That was perfect.

Angels with dirty faces (1938)

Another masterpiece from classic Hollywood. I got goosebumps during the 'dead man walking' scène. Overall, the direction by Michael Curtiz was flawless. He made the whole film so rich in visual pleasure (especially the opening shot of the neighbourhood where Rocky grew up, and the very last scène when the father leads the boys out of the basement, up the stairs, 'into the light') and he got the best out of James Cagney; an outstanding performance!

La vita è bella (1997)

Also known as 'Life is beautiful'. It succeeds at being a hilarious comedy and a powerful drama at the same time. It's one of the most special films I've ever seen, and this second watching made it make me appreciate it even more. My only beef is with lead actor Roberto Benigni. I'm not saying he's overacting, but calming down once in a while wouldn't have hurt the film. But this is a minor detail, as the film is an amazing experience overall.

Inglorious Basterds (2009)

Saw this one yesterday in the theater and was, well, a but disappointed. It's not a bad film, but I was expecting more of Tarantino, especially after having read one raving review after another. The films drags at certain points, with the pacing being a bit too slow. Unlike in earlier QT-movies, this film features no memorable dialogue or one-liners. Most of the dialogue was quite stale. And I couldn't find a character in the film with whom to identify with/root for/ care for. Yes, there are a lot of unique characters, but there are so many of them and they get too little screentime each. The strongpoints are naturally the absurd humor and the outstanding performances of Brad Pitt, Christopher Walz (Hans Lada) and Sylvester Groth (Joseph Goebbels).

Goliath wrote:I still haven't seen Wall-E, Up or Cars

See the first two NOW! Wall-E completely redefines the standard for animation, and Up follows up nicely to those standards. Cars? Yeah skip it... Really makes me wonder why of all movies Pixar is bothering with a sequel for this mediocre affair.

Anyway, I also finished watching Ratatouille the other day. While not my top Pixar movie, it's definitely one of their better movies. Great lead characters, great script, and the music is awesome! Michael Giachinno should be doing many more motion pictures than he currently is.

The Emperor's New Groove - I say this every time I finish watching the movie: If Looney Tunes were still done right, this is how they'd be done. The movie had me in stitches throughout, and not just because of Kronk. Yzma, the Emperor, everyone... Standout comedic performances and not the ones you'd usually expect to find in a Disney classic. 9/10

The Stepfather - This was actually a decent film. Suspenseful, though not "scary by any means. A very enjoyable movie.

PeterPanfan wrote:

PixarFan2006 wrote:I watched Young Frankenstein last night. Like Beetlejuice it's always fun to watch around this time of year. Let's hope they do not remake it musical style (Like they did with The Producers, which was okay but inferior to the original).

...

I meant i hope they do not turn the broadway musical into a movie.

Edward Scissorhands

Oh, Wow! The airing on ABC Family was only my first viewing(and the music sounded like I'd listened to it 50 times) and it is such a beautiful movie! With my Autism, I find it very easy to relate to the title character, and the first 15 minutes is one of the best openings I've seen in a long time.

I watched the first three Child's Play movies today. I was going to watch the fourth one, but I'll probably fall asleep! I like how there were some scary parts, but there were also the funny moments. I'm way behind on my Halloween Horror movie viewings this year, so this hasn't even made a dent in what I have/would like to watch!

The Addams Family - Pretty fun film. I liked Lloyd's performance of Fester.
Psycho (1960) - Classic Hitchcock film. It is a bit slow at the beginning.

Finally watched Up last Thursday in cinema. I liked all the characters in the movie including the villain (sorry, can't remember his name now, but he looked like a cartoony version of Kirk Douglas).
Another great addition to Pixar animation!

Watched a few movies yesterday:

Portrait in Black - frothy 1960s murder mystery with Lana Turner, Anthony Quinn & Sandra Dee.

High School Musical - first time I'd played the Blu-ray, and I hadn't seen the movie for a while. I still think it's the best of the three.

Mean Girls - had been wanting to watch it again for a long time and it helped dissolve the "sugar attack" from HSM.

Life-Size - this just arrived in the mail. Love Barbie so this movie was especially fun for me. Tyra Banks is adorable in it.