Movies

[whiskeypriest]

I see whiskey has The Double Life of Veronique as his avatar.  Criterion has recently come out with a very nicely packaged box set of Kieslowski's beautiful film:

http://www.amazon.com/Double-Life-Veronique-Criterion-Collection/dp/B000I2J75O/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-5791205-4542015?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1182956922&sr=1-1

There goes another 40 bucks.

A foreign movie I watched a couple times lately is Au hasard Balthazar, from Robert Bresson.  I think the operative word is "austere."  I love it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060138/

[whiskeypriest]

I was glad to see If...

http://www.amazon.com/If-Criterion-Collection-Malcolm-McDowell/dp/B000OPPAEW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-1948969-6965627?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1182969201&sr=1-1

finally released on DVD.

Also newly released on Criterion, Billy Wilder's realistic, understated, whimsical look at humanity, Ace in the Hole.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043338/

[chauncey.g]

Warden is great in "Shampoo," and if it was a generational film the script wouldn't have taken such a charitable liking to him, he's not a stick-figure for Nixonian conservatism and capitalism, and neither is Beatty a emblem for free love and not gathering his own nut.

Just watched "Heaven Can Wait" again and can see what I hadn't before as to the anti-capitalist undercurrent of this one. I was quite the Marxist myself (actually apolitical is a better description) back then. Kinda cool to see things in a very different light.

[Dzimas]

Maddy, hard to imagine hating Faraway, So Close! I suppose if you were looking for something in the same vein as Wings of Desire, it could have been disappointing.  But, it was such a harmless film, with a wonderful sense of humor, that I didn't know Wenders had.

Yea, whiskey, I couldn't resist Veronique either.  Criterion has a way of doing that to you.

[Dzimas]

Hard for me to imagine Die Hard doing less than 60 mil, even if they've stretched this series one too many movies already.  But Willis seems to take it all with a sense of humor.

Counting down the days to The Simpsons movie.

[Dzimas]

Heaven Can Wait was OK.  I remember that Beatty took a pretty hard hit when that movie garnered so many Oscar nominations.  For some reason, the acting community took exception to it.  Heaven knows why?  It seemed like such a harmless, empty-headed sort of film, a pleasant update of the Ernst Lubitsch film, without the bite.   Warden was good as the coach.

[Dzimas]

What was truly awful, maddie, was the remake of Wings of Desire with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120632/

[Dzimas]

I don't understand why Percy Adlon's Sugarbaby hasn't yet been released on DVD,

http://www.amazon.com/Sugarbaby-Zuckerbaby-Marianne-S%C3%A4gebrecht/dp/6301651707/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-5791205-4542015?ie=UTF8&s=video&qid=1183020237&sr=1-2

Great film!

[chauncey.g]

Heaven Can Wait was OK.  I remember that Beatty took a pretty hard hit when that movie garnered so many Oscar nominations.  For some reason, the acting community took exception to it.  Heaven knows why?  It seemed like such a harmless, empty-headed sort of film, a pleasant update of the Ernst Lubitsch film, without the bite.   Warden was good as the coach.

My list of faves consists of lots of films that I admit have no reason to be considered as great or worthy of recognition by The Academy. Sometimes a thing is just what it is. A pleasant story, an amusing tale, a personal experience. Take "The Gods Must Be Crazy" for example. The only award I'd give it is "Most Fun Flick to Watch When I'm Watching It".

[chauncey.g]

What was truly awful, maddie, was the remake of Wings of Desire with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120632/

Truly awful, yes. I agree there.

[whiskeypriest]

Heaven Can Wait was OK.  I remember that Beatty took a pretty hard hit when that movie garnered so many Oscar nominations.  For some reason, the acting community took exception to it.  Heaven knows why?  It seemed like such a harmless, empty-headed sort of film, a pleasant update of the Ernst Lubitsch film, without the bite.   Warden was good as the coach.

My list of faves consists of lots of films that I admit have no reason to be considered as great or worthy of recognition by The Academy. Sometimes a thing is just what it is. A pleasant story, an amusing tale, a personal experience. Take "The Gods Must Be Crazy" for example. The only award I'd give it is "Most Fun Flick to Watch When I'm Watching It".

I was actually very disappointed in The Gods Must Be Crazy the first time I watched it.  Maybe one of those "Too bad I heard so much about it that I was expecting more" movies.  Like Little Miss Sunshine, a pleasant enough movie but nothing special, that just got hyped out of all proportion by the time I saw it.  "This?"  I thought while watching it, "All that hype for a movie that rips most of its predictable plot from the first Vacation movie and confuses character quirks with characters?"  Maybe if I had just been able to watch it with no expectations I wouldn't disdain it as I do.

[whiskeypriest]

What was truly awful, maddie, was the remake of Wings of Desire with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120632/

Truly awful, yes. I agree there.

Not even my all too intense fondness for the perky Ms. Ryan could get me to watch that thing again.

[chauncey.g]

I was actually very disappointed in The Gods Must Be Crazy the first time I watched it.  Maybe one of those "Too bad I heard so much about it that I was expecting more" movies.  Like Little Miss Sunshine, a pleasant enough movie but nothing special, that just got hyped out of all proportion by the time I saw it.  "This?"  I thought while watching it, "All that hype for a movie that rips most of its predictable plot from the first Vacation movie and confuses character quirks with characters?"  Maybe if I had just been able to watch it with no expectations I wouldn't disdain it as I do.

Ban the hypers!

[Dzimas]

One of the advantages of living in Lithuania is that I miss much of the hype, so Little Miss Sunshine came as a pleasant surprise to me.  Not that it was anything special, but I thought it was well done for what it was.  The first Gods Must be Crazy film was a lot of fun.  The second one a miserable mess.  I think they even tried a third movie along the same lines, but enough was enough.

On another note, my wife has become a big fan of Lynch after watching two seasons of Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive on DVD.  Lynch has been hit and miss as far as I'm concerned.  Curious what persons think of Inland Empire, which is soon to be released on DVD.

[whiskeypriest]

TGMBC was not really hyped; it had tremendous word of mouth more than anything.

Lynch makes movies for people other than me.  Except for Blue Velvet, which I only kind of like primarily for Dennis Hopper's performance, and the first few episodes of Twin Peaks, I dislike to hate all of his movies.