RealityChuck

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Loved it. That bus ride Joe Buck takes from the midwest, through the rust belt, the bible belt and into New York City is a classic. A friend of mine was one of the passengers on the bus.

Far too heavyhanded and obvious plot- and character-wise. Hoffman is great; Voight less so, but there's not much there.

The Golden Globes is given out by too small a group to be representative of anything. There are probably no more than 50 people who vote on them, and they all lean toward Hollywood blockbusters. In any case, Black Moon is probably the most analogous film to this one, though there is also a lot of influence from Days of Heaven (Linda Manz's role as narrator is similar to Hushpuppy's, though Manz is more observer than protagonist). European films (or, more accurately, non-Hollywood-influenced films) lean toward character and incident, and are not driven by plot.

Liked the film a lot. Quvenzhan� Wallis was just an amazing performer and I like seeing this sort of film from time to time -- a series of emotionally strong incidents that don't need a lot of plot to be fascinating (It reminded me in many ways of Louis Malle's brilliant Black Moon). Very European in sensibility, actually, instead of the typical America plot-driven story.

I really liked the fact that they didn't overeplain. Their method of tracking down runners, for instance, is shown without explanation and they trust the audience to understand what's going on.

The best time travel film* since 12 Monkeys and maybe best SF films since then. Nice handling of the time paradox issues and, for a change, a film that required some thought to appreciate. I put it on my Nebula Ballot, and will probably give it my vote if it comes up. *Safety Not Guaranteed is a close second.

The stepmother here is among Disney's best villains for her nasty passive-aggressive manipulation. "You're useless -- just teasing!"

I like the movie a lot. You have to understand where it's coming from -- it's all in a stylized dreamlike setting (note how often Anderson used the same shot of a character in the precise center of the screen looking right at you). The characters were quirky and I loved how it had it's own internal logic. It wasn't a comedy, in the sense that there was much there to make you laugh out loud. But it did make me smile a lot and the more I think about it, the more I like it. Extra half point for the use of Benjamin Britten's music (which was an interesting choice, given Britten's history*). *Britten was in love with my father and dedicated a song to him. Britten had a strong attraction to preteen boys, though he was strictly "imagine but don't touch."

It grew tiresome toward the middle, but then picked up and overall was a very good film. The twist on the zombies made it all work.

Excellent film; quirky without going overboard. I gave it a Nebula vote.

Blonde Zooey. What was the point of that? At least they let her sing. But I wish the film had followed up on the cleverness of the North Pole scenes instead of going for the obvious.

Same ground, perhaps, but they did it well, and all Christmas movies cover the same ground, don't they? Elf started out excellently, but the second he left the North Pole, it turned to utter mediocre crap.

Only From Russia with Love and Goldfinger are memorable in any way (or, rather, in any good way*). Russia is better, though Goldfinger is fun. The Daniel Craig Casino Royale wins for most boring Bond film; it made the David Niven version actually seem good. *There are memorably stupid moments in many, like the underwater battle in Thunderball, the spaceship eater in Moonraker and Yaphet Kotto's really bizarre performance in Live and Let Die

Edgy MD wrote: I'm getting that "Arthur Christmas" is a weak pun on "Father Christmas" --- Santa Claus's more popular British title. Tell me please that the film has a higher standard for jocularity than is indicated by this title.Definitely a very funny film. I had to pay close attention to avoid missing the jokes. And like most Aardman films*, the humor comes from the characterization, not from any single line. Here's the trailer: 7tk-WZSqIGQ *Chicken Run Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit (and the Wallace and Gromit short subjects) Flushed Away Pirates! Band of Misfits!

For my money, the best Christmas movie since A Christmas Story. Great story, with plenty of humor and some real heart. Nice voice cast, too: Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy (who seems to appear in every film made in the UK these days -- and has yet to make a bad one), Imelda Staunton and Ramona Marquez (shown below). This was another hit for Aardman Animation, whose track record is at least as good as Pixar's as far as quality is concerned. Better because they never did anything as mediocre as Cars. 52RPLfJFFP8

From the list: The Ten Commandments (1956) Doctor Zhivago (1965) The Exorcist (1973) Avatar (2009) The Jungle Book (1967) Love Story (1970) Beverly Hills Cop (1984) Airport (1970) The Robe (1953) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) The Towering Inferno (1974) The Passion of the Christ (2004) The Sixth Sense (1999) The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Smokey and the Bandit (1977) Lawrence of Arabia (1962) The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) The Poseidon Adventure (1972) Twister (1996) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) Duel in the Sun (1946) House of Wax (1953) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Edgy DC wrote: Is there a fully realized John Sayles movie? Folks praise virtually everything he does, but there's usually a "but" in there (though not for Chuck, above).For Sayles, Lone Star, The Secret of Roan Innish, and Men With Guns (his best) fit the criteria. Silver City is his weakest. It's too political and strident, even for someone like me who disliked George W. Bush.

OK. Here are my comments on the ones I've seen: 48. Ed Wood (1994) -- nice film for anyone who loves movies, along with fine performances by Depp and Landau 47. Starship Troopers (1997) -- Stupid, stupid, stupid film. And, no, it's not satire. 44. Metropolitan (1990) -- Likable entertainment. Quirky without going overboard with it. 40. Trainspotting (1996) -- Harrowing drama. 37. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) -- nice adaptation. The Alec Baldwin part was added for the movie, and gets the most notice, but Jack Lemmon is terrific. 36. L.A. Confidential (1997) -- Nice noirish mystery, much like Chinatown. 33. The Matrix (1999) -- Second-rate remake of Dark City (shot on the same sets and using the same idea to lesser effect). The effects are great, but can't hide the fact that the movie is puerile and about as deep as a wading pool 28. Election (1999) -- OK film, but not a great one. 27. Short Cuts (1993) -- One of Atman's best. Few do interweaving stories better. 24. Crumb (1994) -- First-class bio. 21. Fargo (1995) -- would be second on my list. Good story, memorable characters. 20. Red (1994) -- most overrated film of the decade. The weakest of the trilogy -- and the other two were no great shakes, either. 16. The Big Lebowski (1998) -- decent, but not one of the Coens' best. Rambles too much 15. Groundhog Day (1993) -- Possibly the best romantic comedy of the decade. 13. Boogie Nights (1997) -- Good, but there were many better. 10. Being John Malkovich (1999) -- a great film. This would be my number three. 9. Rushmore (1998) -- Meh. At least it started giving Bill Murray some good roles. 7. Reservoir Dogs (1992) -- Excellent filmmaking. 6. Out Of Sight (1998) -- Most underrated film of the decade. A terrific story, great performances. 4. Dazed And Confused (1993) -- mildly interesting. 3. Toy Story 2 (1999) -- One of the best animated films, though The Iron Giant is #1 for the decade 2. Pulp Fiction (1994) -- Best film of the decade.

Excellent film with a no-name cast (though David Straitharn and Gordon Clapp carved out careers). Sayles was always one of the best writers of the writer/directors and even in his first film, he keeps things interesting, with some fine characters. BTW, the Schenectady magnet school for the arts is named for Sayles, since he grew up here.

Edgy DC wrote: What a disappointing decade.I disagree. There were plenty of great movies on that list and it was still a time when adults drove Hollywood (thought that was fading). Things are far worse now, as Hollywood has decided only to pander to teenage boys. The music, OTOH. . .

A mix of obvious choices (Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Being John Malkovich, Reservoir Dogs, Glengarry Glenn Ross), some very astute ones (Out of Sight, Short Cuts, Metropolitan) and some overrated critical/popular darlings (Red, The Matrix), and the inexplicable (Starship Troopers). In other words, typical of a list like this.

Workmanlike superhero film; Downey was fine, the rest adequate. I would have expected something better from Joss Whedon, though -- his usual touch was completely missing (other than the introduction to the Black Widow).

The actual movie wasn't all that bad. It was sunk by several factors: Poor marketing. The early ads didn't show anything to get people excited. Poor title. It's meaningless to most people. Those who knew who John Carter was are far too few. Familiarity. The tropes of the film have been far too familiar. They should have indicated how this was the book that influenced Star Wars and other films, not an imitation of them. Issues with the special effects for the ads. John Carter leaping just looks fake. Stick with the space battles, or the fight with the white ape. The costuming, especially Dejah Thoris. If she had worn what she wore in the books, the movie would have been a hit. (See below)

I tend to like these more realistic spy stories (if you've never seen Sandbaggers, you owe it to yourself to rent it), and I didn't find this particularly hard to follow (though I had seen the Alec Guinness version years ago, but remembered very little of it). Oldman was too young to play Smiley, though.

I'm always surprised that Vertigo is so well regarded: Hitchcock made far better films. It's good, but not like Psycho, North by Northwest, Strangers on a Train or Rear Window. The same with The Searchers; Ford was far better with She Wore a Yellow Ribon, Fort Apache, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. And 2001 is hardly Kubrick's best, either. It suffers because Kubrick painted himself into a corner, then gave up, using a flashy psychedelic light show instead of resolving their problem. It was the triumph of bright, shiny objects over plot and characterizations and is ultimately responsible for all the empty films that are special effects and nothing else.