movies

[ghostrunner]

I didn't watch the trailer, but this still makes Simon Pegg look like the least convincing assassin ever. Or maybe it's Halloween at the local gay bar.

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/traile ... egg-debuts

Reminds me of the Quantum of Solace posters.

[JL21]

I didn't watch the trailer, but this still makes Simon Pegg look like the least convincing assassin ever. Or maybe it's Halloween at the local gay bar.

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/traile ... egg-debuts

I completely agree with your assessment, but the trailer makes it look much better. I'm still not sure I'll see it.

That photo makes me think of Zardoz.

[MrCrowesGarden]

Had an argument with some friends about Christmas movies, and in particular, Elf. A few of them hated it because they didn't enjoy seeing Will Ferrell act like a man-child for two hours.

These are guys that enjoy Will Ferrell movies.

Last I checked, every Will Ferrell movie is him acting like a man-child for two hours. Seemed a little inconsistent to me.

[Vidor]

That photo makes me think of Zardoz.

Some things, once they are seen, cannot be unseen.

[Vidor]

In honor of "Gigi", I will now make an unscientific list, in chronological order, of the worst Best Picture winners ever. Criteria are 1) how objectively bad the movie is, and 2) the presence of obviously better movies that should have won.

"Rocky" does not make my list because I think that, on its own terms, "Rocky" is a damn good movie. It's just that it never should have beaten "Taxi Driver".

1927-28: "Wings". Impressive aerial combat scenes but otherwise pretty trite and dull. We're asked to believe that two dudes in a town that has Clara Bow would actually be paying attention to another girl instead of Clara Bow.

Should have won: "7th Heaven", with Janet Gaynor. Or "The Circus" by Charlie Chaplin, which got a special award. Or "Steamboat Bill, Jr. with Buster Keaton, not nominated.

[Vidor]

1932-33: "Cavalcade". Super-boring account of a British family's travails from 1900 to 1933. The best part is when two newlyweds on a ship on April 14, 1912 talk about how life just can't get any better.

What makes this one even worse is all the far better films that were out there. "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang". "42nd Street". "King Kong", not even nominated.

[Vidor]

1936: "The Great Ziegfeld". Way too long, and some spectacularly bad acting from Luise Rainer, who somehow also won for Best Actress. Of course, none of the other films there are jumping out at me, although the best pick was probably "Dodsworth". The actual best pick was "Modern Times", not nominated. Or "My Man Godfrey", one of the great screwball comedies, also not nominated.

[Vidor]

1944: "Going My Way", which I guess is a pretty harmless comedy with Bing Crosby playing a priest.

Should have won: "Double Indemnity", which kicks ass. "Gaslight", which has a tremendous performance from Ingrid Bergman, and did you know Angela Lansbury was really sexy when she was young? "Hail the Conquering Hero", Preston Sturges, pretty daring to satirize mindless worship of the military during World War II, not nominated. "Laura", "Lifeboat", "Murder My Sweet", not nominated. "The Woman in the Window", not nominated. Oscar did badly that year.

[Vidor]

1952: "The Greatest Show on Earth", about a circus. I've never seen it but it's usually on short lists of worst winners. Somehow beat out "High Noon", which is goddamn perfect, and "The Quiet Man", which somehow makes all of those Irish cliches work and actually gets John Wayne to act.

[Vidor]

1956: "Around the World in 80 Days", which I watched once, and it was pretty fun, if you could get past Shirley Maclaine playing an Indian princess. But it certainly didn't deserve an Oscar and sure didn't deserve one in the year that "The Searchers" came out.