Some Movies I've Watched....

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

Here are a few flicks I've seen int he last month.  I don't go to movies that much due to the cost BUT I invested ina  bog screen and a surround sound system so its not missed much.  The only flick I cared to pay oput the $9.00 to see was 300 in the three months.

The Good Shepard.  Spy thriller supposedly based on the "actual" account of the formation of the CIA told from the point of view of a "fictional" character.  Right.

Robert Deniro (Director and supporting role in movie) seems to have control (somewhat) of his medium but this movie suffers from "plot muddle" and credibility. 

What the movie tries to do is make you feel uncomfortable  ..  the CIA is made to look like the brainchild of the "ruling elite" of Anglo Saxon protestants who attend Yale and Harvard and are pretty ,much a bunch "bigots"... "the rest of you are just visiting" says Wilson when asked what he thinks of blacks, Jews, Catholics, etc…

Stupido stuff...  For example I can hardly believe the CIA dumped a bunch of locusts to destroy some countries crops right in broad daylight with a whole mess of witnesses.  Another situation has the young Wilson putting on his dad's (who is an admiral) navy jacket and the jacket is actually that of a Captain.

Mystery...The actress that gets thrown out of a plane is unaccredited even though she is a major plot device.  Sayyy  maybe this is a snuff movie!!

Miscast... Angelina Jolie is totally ravishing as Wilson's wife.  It's hard to believe that this guy preferred much uglier women over her.  Totally unbelievable. Also the part where Wilson meets with his chief and most deadly soviet rival during a family event...like you would ever have this kind of guy around your family?

The theme...  Country vs Family ...  (but we don't see it fully developed until later in the movie).

Overall:  Flawed but interesting.

HollywoodLand.  The death of George Reeve (Superman inthe 1950's) as told from the point of view of a private dectitive.

The movie uncovers three theories...  Suicide,  accident with his bitchy/slutty girlfirend, and the most freakish is perhaps a murder instigated by Eddie Mannix, the thuglike "producer" of a major studio because Reeves dumped his wife to marry some slutty

The big mystery isn what happned to George Reeve.  Based on what we know Reeve was a fading alcoholic dissatisfied with his own life.  There is far more evidence for suicide than there is for anything else in the movie.  The big mystery then is Why are we interested in this fictional dectives life?  Perhaps had he been a real person the parallelisms made between him and Reeves ,might have had some impact.   

Overall:  Like The Good Shephard the movie attempts to handle historical events through the eyes of a fictional character, probably a composite made up of a number of real life people.  This device is getting old and just breaks down in this movie. 

300:  The battle of as seen through the eyes of comic book artist Frank Miller, one of the great comic book artist/writers.  Good performances by a good cast.  Excellent movie making but historical rubbish.  Xerxes was no seven foot androgynous bald guy. The Persians themselves look like some of the folks taken out of Mel Gibsons "passion", demonic and utterly evil.   Also I do not think the Spartans or Greeks ever made any use of the testudo formation seen at the end of the movie.  This was a Roman invention based off the Legion and used on the attack as a siege device.  Somewhat annoying though was the glorification of the Spartans at the end of the movie which sees them taking on Xerxes army with a full Spartan force.  As we all know the Persians were actually beaten by the Athenian at sea; it was the Athenian fleet that finally stopped and destroyed xerxes army when he made a mistake very similar to the one Mark Anthony would later make. In a force of some 360+ ships Sparta only contributed 16 and the Spartan commander nearly ruined the whole thing with his constant bickering.  Themistocles the Athenian is usually credited with the real victory there.

300 can be seen as a continuation of the film nior techniques seen in Sin City.  While not strikingly original from that stance it still expands on the visual range for technique.  I couldn't help imagining how good a Robert E Howard adaptation might be uisng this kind of cinematography. I'm hoping as I would rather see it used in a fantasy setting rather than a historical one, the film still worked as entertainment for me.
 
The Departed.  All Star Cast about an under cover cop who infiltrates a local mobsters gang and crosses swords with a cop who the gang has corrupted to infiltrate the police.  Really good performances and perhaps Jack Nicholson's last "major" serious or acclaimed role.  He is scheduled to appear in something called The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman, a "black/white" buddy movie (another theme starting to get old) produced by Meathead (Rob Reiner) fresh off of two bombs at the box office.
 
I would rate this movie rather high and recommend a look see.

Borat.  Well I finally saw it.  It had some genuine humor in it but some stuff was so weird and bizarre that you have to wonder why it made any money at all.  Borat is a dark comedy about some dude from one of the new ex-Soviet Republics that comes to America to see if our wonderful high class country can rub off on him.  The movie was not suitable to kids which I learned the hard way … maybe I need to read those ratings in the future.  One scene that looks like suggestive incest and a number of very strong homo-erotic (gross more like it) scenes peppered in the movie.  Sacha Cohen uses a scam journalist technique to fool some of his victims into believing they are participating in a serious interview.  Some people didn’t like it. Even though they signed some release form stating they could use their images for the movie, hence all (or most) of the legal problems the movie has received.

This movie is probably better seen when your drunk or high… or both. 

Children of Men.  SciFi …near future “end of the world” flick.  With some indirect social commentary on “illegal aliens” thrown in.

Actually not too bad a flick.  All women become infertile and mankind only has another 50 or so years before extinction, the youngest person being 18 or 19 years old and of course by then there won’t be anyone to man up the old age homes so the life expectancy of  75 years won’t fly.

In the decade or so since the crisis began chaos has ensued and civilization has broken down except for jolly old England, which has become an oppressive Dystopia fueled by a rigid useless government and lots of “hate” groups directed at “illegal immigrants”.   Lo and behold though an apple falls from the tree and we find ONE woman has indeed become pregnant.  The movie starts slow and picks up steam where the director films some pretty neat sequences.  As you might expect when one rather helpless person has something no else in the world has there is an opportunity to further explore the oft used theme of Man’s Inhumanity To Man.

Perhaps had this movie been done forty years ago it might be more believable and timely.  But since then it is hard to believe that with all the advances in genetics, in vitro fertilization, cloning, that this little problem would actually signal the end of man kind it collapses somewhat.  In many ways this movie is “anti-science fiction” and anti scientific.  There is nothing new here even though I rather feel there could have been a whole lot new here had they just embraced a slightly more creative set of circumstances.

Still worth a look on DVD.

======

For example lets just say the scientists can't find a way to make people fertile...so instead they start cloning people.  Who gets cloned? Who doesn't?  How many generation deep can someopne go and be cloned?  What if a number of clones start becoming defective or mutaing into hostile forms?  That's just a number of interesting ways this material could have been handled.  Instead humkans are pretty much left helpless by the problem with almost NO answer other than some modern day Nativity scene.

[Javora]

I saw The Good Shepard the other day, and I thought it was boring.  One thing I will say is that if I had choose between a woman that is hot or a woman that I can relate to I would pick the woman that I can relate to any day of the week.  So I had no problem with the story line between the two women in the movie.

I loved The Departed.  It was definitely worth watching.  I haven't seen any of the others so I can't comment.

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

I saw The Good Shepard the other day, and I thought it was boring.  One thing I will say is that if I had choose between a woman that is hot or a woman that I can relate to I would pick the woman that I can relate to any day of the week.  So I had no problem with the story line between the two women in the movie.

I loved The Departed.  It was definitely worth watching.  I haven't seen any of the others so I can't comment.

I suppose your right per se. Kind of like the "Archie Comic Book Syndrome" if you ever read those things.  But the two women he "relates" to are either spys or agents controlled by spys (although its not explicitly laid out the ex-girlfriend of his youth must have been working as an agent... or very skillfully placed).  But...maybe thats why he relates to them so well, he's a spy too.

But PLEASE I would love to be raped be Ms. Jolie and then forced into a marriage  ...  I know it sounds bad.  ahhhhhhh 

Ooopss....

I almost forgot...

Rocky Balboa.   Hopefully the final episode int he Rocky series unless we get to watch him arm wrestle in an old folks home.  What can I say...junk.  Rent it at a discount if you must.

 and

Casino Royale.  Daniel Caig as the new James Bond because Pierce Brosnan is supposed to be too old.  (He's 54 born in 1953).  Craig (39 or so) IMHO is still too old and I think they should have found someone yet younger since this is 007's first adventure.  Also his hair isn't dark enough.

However Craig is truly a physical specimen to be sure.

Other than that not a bad flick.  Craig does a pretty passable job despite all that.  I'd recommend it for sure.  The villians were pretty good too and there sure are a lot of them when you think about it.  Bond is pretty much surrounded by unfriendlies.





Ian Fleminig's vision of James Bond.

[Javora]

IMHO I thought Casino Royale sucked and that Daniel Caig is the worst Bond ever.  I hope they find someone else for the next Bond movie as I might not watch it if Daniel Caig is in it.

[Dash Jones]

I loved Rocky Balboa.  Thought it was one of the best Rocky's made.

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

IMHO I thought Casino Royale sucked and that Daniel Caig is the worst Bond ever.  I hope they find someone else for the next Bond movie as I might not watch it if Daniel Caig is in it.

Ummm...I'd rate him below Connery and Brosman.  I hated Roger Moore and to this day havent even watched his version of Bond but Moonraker which I was forced to watch.

George Lazenby (1969)  No.  I saw that flick.  Not dashing enough. 
Timothy Dalton (1987–1989)   Did a good job but something was missing.  He looked Too evil for one.  Can't put my finger on the rest of it.

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

I loved Rocky Balboa.  Thought it was one of the best Rocky's made.

What did you like about it?

[Sirgod]

I loved Rocky Balboa.  Thought it was one of the best Rocky's made.

What did you like about it?

He was kinda down on his luck (sure he had the resteraunt), but he kept trying to do the right thing for that Gal and steps. The dynamics of his son growing up in his shadow. To me the fight was so ancillary to just a good story.

Stephen

[Commander La'ra]

I personally feel that Craig portrayed Bond closer to the Fleming version than any other actor (possible exception of Timothy Dalton).  He had that killer intensity he had in the novels, whatever color his hair was.  And while I appreciate that some people are attached to the preening metrosexual version of Bond, I liked having him be convincingly male, for once.

I was buzzed when I walked out of CR.  Probably my favorite Bond.

[KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.]

I've only seen Casino Royale once, and I missed most of it because of my idiot friends who like to constantly yap during a movie. However, what I did see didn't really impress me. I didn't think he had the Bond 'look', and he didn't really seem any more intense than Pierce Brosnan. Who, by the way, is definitely the best Bond, past, present, or future. At least in my opinion.

[Iceman]

I really liked Craig as Bond. Then again, I'm not big Bond fan by any stretch, though I do like the concept.

I found the story/pacing to be much more realistic than previous films I've seen (Die Another Day, Tomorrow Never Dies, and maybe 2 before that).

[Dash Jones]

On Rocky, I liked...well...just about everything about the movie.

Just like the First one it's about a guy who's a little on the low side of life...who's surviving (except in this case instead of finances low, it's more like family not being around as much with his wife dead and son trying to sever ties), who turns it all around, makes a comeback, and stands up for the little guy (or in this case, the older guy).

The story is actually inspired by George Foreman's boxing...who is now still boxing pro (though no longer for the heavy weight title) at nigh 50 years of age.  Which is wild to think about.

It's everything about the Rocky Movies come back once again for another one, two, knock em out fight.

It's everything that Rocky 5 was not.

I agree about Roger Moore...I've seen his movies of yesteryear as Bond and haven't really been too impressed with him.

Connery was the best, followed by Brosnan.  And yes, Dalton did look evil.  I think almost every other movie I've seen him in he plays the bad guy.

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

I loved Rocky Balboa.  Thought it was one of the best Rocky's made.

What did you like about it?

He was kinda down on his luck (sure he had the resteraunt), but he kept trying to do the right thing for that Gal and steps. The dynamics of his son growing up in his shadow. To me the fight was so ancillary to just a good story.

Stephen

Hmmm...maybe its worth another look.  Both you and Dash have made some good points.   

I think what it was missing is that the first one had a great protagonist, Apollo Creed.   The second one was a reprise I guess.  The third had another excellent protagonist, Clubber Lang; a black guy so obnoxious even Apollo Creed hated him.  Then the fourth one was interesting  ...  the Russian Golem  (which we now actually see in true life with the rise of this 7' heavyweight Nikolai Valuev; who by the way just lost his crown to a fighter from Uzbekistan (Borat would be proud) on April 14).  He teamed up with Brigitte Nielsen to form a composit protagonist....

Ludmilla: You call him a killer. He's a professional fighter, not a killer. You have this belief that you are better than us. You have this belief that this country is so very good and we are so very bad. You have this belief that you are so fair and we are so very cruel.
Nicoli Koloff: It's all lies and false propaganda to support this antagonistic and violent government.
Paulie: Whoa. Violent? Hey, we don't keep our people behind a wall with machine guns.
Nicoli Koloff: Who are you?
Paulie: Who am I? I'm the unsilent majority, bigmouth.

Drago: My name is Drago. I'm a boxing fighter. I've came from Soviet Union. Soon I'll fight with Rocky Balboa and I'll beat him. Soon all the world will know my name.

anyway...

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

 

I thought David Daniel Craig was an excellent James Bond...  Far less comic-booky and far more 'human' than any of them since Sean turned in his License to Kill...  Casino Royale was hands-down the best Bond movie in 25 years, even with the weak ending.  The chase and fight scenes just felt real - no "one quick judo chop and the bad guy hits the ground".

I'm a bit of a Pierce Brosnan fan, but I never liked him as Bond, and I though Dalton was awful.  'Could be that I just didn't think that the movies those guys did were all that, too.

I did like Lazenby, and I know that I'm in a bit of a minority with that...

[Commander Maxillius]

I believe that you two are the only two people IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE that actually LIKED Timothy Dalton's Bond.


Although, if we're going for realism, how in the hell could Roger Moore have pulled it off is beyond me, but he's still my favorite.



Behind Pierce Brosnan of course.

[The_Joker]

Actually, I wasn't completely against Timothy Dalton's Bond.  The Living Daylights was pretty good, IMO.  What screwed Dalton was that God-awful storyline in License to Kill. 

The plotline for that movie was so un-Bond-like it was ridiculous.

[AcePylut]

I'm not so sure I liked Craig as bond.  Yeah, he is definitely a physical specimen, but he just didn't seem to have that "something" that one gets from Connery and Brosnan.  Both of them gave Bond a far more "polished gentleman" type of acting that Craig didn't have.  Can't really place a finger on it, but Craig doesn't "look" like the type that would be sitting there at a 15million dollar private poker game.  I liked the moive though.  Dalton sucked because he's a sucky wooden actor.  It seemed like he had to force everything.  George Lazenbry (sp) I didn't like either.  Roger Moore was ok.

My favorite bond movie is a toss-up between Live and Let Die and You Only Live Twice.

[AcePylut]

Lets see, my 2 sentence review of some movies Ive seen.

300 - liked the movie, because I went in "not expecting history brought to life".  Definitely worth the money to see it at the theater.

Good Shepart - boring.  I almost fell asleep watching it.  The movie really limited Damon's acting talent.  But I guess playing a wooden stiff was the role.

Departed - good movie, not great, but good.  Not Scorcese's best work by a long shot, but even his "bad" work is still good.

GhostRider - waste of money.  Quickly forgotten, unless you spent money on it.

[The Bar-Abbas Anomaly]

I'm not so sure I liked Craig as bond.  Yeah, he is definitely a physical specimen, but he just didn't seem to have that "something" that one gets from Connery and Brosnan.  Both of them gave Bond a far more "polished gentleman" type of acting that Craig didn't have.  Can't really place a finger on it, but Craig doesn't "look" like the type that would be sitting there at a 15million dollar private poker game.  I liked the moive though.  Dalton sucked because he's a sucky wooden actor.  It seemed like he had to force everything.  George Lazenbry (sp) I didn't like either.  Roger Moore was ok.

My favorite bond movie is a toss-up between Live and Let Die and You Only Live Twice.

I agree that Craig wasn't as 'polished' as Connery or Brosnan (or any of the others, for that matter...) but in context this movie was set 'early' in Bond's career, despite it's modern setting.  Craig's Bond was supposed to be growing into the later Bond - He was supposed to have more rough edges than the others.

And I really liked You Only Live Twice, too...  Really dumb plot, but awsome scenery, great music throughout, good individual scenes and Japanese girls!

[Sirgod]

I forget who told me of this link... http://www.tv-links.co.uk/

Stephen

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

Ok well now for another round... they'll just keep coming I'm afaraid...

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints Not everyones cup of tea but being an ex-New Yorker like myself helps.  In the "tradition" of Martin Scorsese's Mean Street and Deniro's  A Bronx Tale, this is a fine effort by a first time director.  It also generated a fairly amusing one line "put down review" on the net...

"Shia LaBeouf plays a kid who grows up to be Robert Downey, Jr. Isn't that every boy's dream?"

LMFAO!!!

I live for stuff like that.

Anyway Downey does a pretty good job.  He appears to working hard (so far) to erase a bad rep and an equally bad type cast as a seriously disturbed flake or villian.  He's normal in this movie.   

Teen rivalry (small gang style) and some violence.  The usual nudity etc...(duh).  Darn where were these girls when I was growing up?  I might have stayed.

 Seen on Pay per view... recommended for those from New York (epecially guys like me born in Queens) or folks that like this kind of movie.   The urge to "escape from New York" runs deep in me which is one reason why I joined the Navy and took off. 

Rent -  a rarity... a musical.    Follows a year from 1989 to 1990 when the AIDs epidemic began to impact the rather "front line" lifestyles of the artsy types living in what looked like the East Village of NY (or perhaps SOHO).  Interesting performances by all and I got to see a very good performance by an up and coming actress I have been tracking, Rosario Dawson.  Very talented lady she is.




And not bad to look at either.  Sorry folks another "New York" flick and not recommended for those that don't like to watch a few scenes of gays smooching, although the movie appears to center somewhat around a heterosexual relationship.  For what thats worth.

Recommended for those with urbane tastes.  I liked it but then I kinda like watching this actress do her thing.  She played a stripper in this one.  Highly versatile performer.  She also played a single mom in the last movie...as the "girl left behind"by Robert Downey...   well THAT explains it cause there would be NO WAY I would be leaving her behind.     

Rented CD.

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

Meet The Robinsons (Disney).  Saw it with my kid at the theater.  Computer animation.  Looked a lot like the Incredibles.  Good "bring the kid to a movie" flick.  You know...matineee and it STILL managed to gouge me for bucks.  Not bad.

[Javora]

I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last week.  *Sigh*  Unless you have little kids like I do, you can skip this movie...      

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last week.  *Sigh*  Unless you have little kids like I do, you can skip this movie...      

My 10 year old passed on it.  Thank GOD!  I got a pass on that one. 

I don't mind taking kids to the movies.  The better kids movies try to put enough "adult" humor (not dirty just sophistitcated) to prevent you from nodding off. 

Blood Diamond -  starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou.  A movie about the senseless killing in the Sierra Leone Civil War.  Leonardo plays a "Rick" type of character , gun smuggler, etc.  He does a fine job actually.    Djimon Hounsou does another good solid support job...but this movie seems to tell me that he will forever be second fiddle, he seems to have only a few notes even though he plays them well.

This seems to be one of those "Oh the Horror" of it all flicks.   These rebels appear to have maxed out the phrase rebels without a cause; young boys driving around shooting their weapons in the air, smilng, jeering while being lead by older psychopaths.  Most people don't know, or WANT to know, the recent history of Africa and its eternal strife.  Due to that the movie is moved mostly by its plot that centers around one very large gemstone and seems nothing more than a sadistic romp with a little unconvincing love interest thrown in for good measure.   Without Capria and Hounsou putting in some good work this movie would be a good B movie basically.

The National Board of Review ranked this movie as the number 3 movie of 2006 which tells me 2006 was a bad year for movies or that the NBR is full of poop. 

No recommendation.  See it or don't but you won't be missing anything unless you are a Leonardo DiCaprio fan.  I liked the Departed much better.

 

[S'Raek]

Has anyone seen Hot Fuzz?  That looks like it could be pretty funny.

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

Has anyone seen Hot Fuzz?  That looks like it could be pretty funny.

Not yet.

[KBF MalaK]

Sin City- absolutely loved it !!
The Departed- Umm not sure I liked it but worth a look just for Jack Nicholson (this film should be the prequel to the original Batman)
V for Vendetta- Most excellent film I've seen this year.

Am still looking forward to seeing Children of man and the 300.

...And I thought Timothy Dalton was the best Bond since Connery but as stated the scripts killed him.

[_Rondo_GE The OutLaw]

SpiderMan III out this coming weekend.

[Electric Eye]

Here are a few flicks I've seen int he last month.  I don't go to movies that much due to the cost BUT I invested ina  bog screen and a surround sound system so its not missed much.  The only flick I cared to pay oput the $9.00 to see was 300 in the three months.

********************************************************************************************************

300 rocked! There were a few details missing though. In front of the council Theron accused the queen of adultery, which the Spartans had no concept of at the time.

Women, being more independent than in other Greek societies, were able to negotiate with their husbands to bring their lovers into their homes. According to Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus, men both al