movies

[maddash]

Borgnine is awesome in Bad Day at Black Rock.

Little bit of trivia - the door in this scene was supposed to swing open when Borgnine went through, but someone locked it. Borgnine just took the door out, frame and all, and kept the scene going.

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[omaha_red]

Watched this movie last night:


Bad Day at Blackrock

its worthy of a watch. a western, set in post War 1945. Great setting and actors- Spencer Tracy, Lee Marvin, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine...

this flick is one that was considered a bit controversial in its time.

[SHOW]

Storyline revolves around a local injustice with a Japanese American in the war. 1954 - the time of the movie was made wasn't too far removed from 1945

but the stance of the hero wouldn't be considered controversial anymore. I haven't seen Spencer Tracy in movies much, so now I know why he's considered a good actor. Even though he was nominated for an Oscar for this movie, I felt he was a bit miscast (too old) to play his character believably in this movie though. And Lee Marvin's skills were greatly underutilized.
I like the way they let the movie unfold slowly and ratchet up tension

[SHOW]

so the conclusion was a bit of a let down - a shoot out with Spencer Tracy crafting a McGyver-like firebomb to foil the guy with the gun

but all in all a worthy movie to watch. I'd give it a 7 out of 10.

i've been doing some spencer tracy lately.. i just did "adam's rib" and "boys town"..
i'm not a huge fan of his.. but he is growing on me.. not literally of course..
i have yet to see "bad day" but will soon.. i always got the title mixed up with
"blackboard jungle" for some reason.. another great glenn ford movie..

[omaha_red]

I think there's a reason No Country won best picture over Blood. But I did enjoy them both.

Yeah, I liken it to the year that both Chinatown and Godfather II were nominated. Sometimes, you get those awesome years where you have two very worthy candidates (IMO, anyway). And other years, [expletive] Crash wins.

What kills me is that I know ppl who still claim Crash was worthy.

If people want to say that they like Crash or enjoyed Crash, that's cool. But as far as it being Oscar-worthy, that argument is way beyond me.

Yeah, but the Oscars are the Gold Gloves of movies... just look at the list:
American Beauty
Gladiator
Titanic
Forrest Gump

American Beauty absolutely does not belong on that list.

A lot of people, including myself, thought it was pretentious and full of tortured metaphors. One of those movies where you feel smarter after viewing it because you "got" the abstract ideas contained within. You feel good about yourself because you figured out the puzzle, but in the end it's all just a facade with no real applicable meaning to it. Even the meaning is flawed, I think. All it does is replace fake suburban romanticism with another kind of romanticism, which is just as fake. That and the "middle aged guy discovers his life is unfulfilled" storyline is overplayed.

But that's just me.

i'm so glad i don't look at movies like that.. seriously.. i just like what i like and
do i miss all of the "tortured metaphors" and hidden symbolism and politics? probably..
but that's fine with me.. when i watch a japanese movie from the 50's i'm not thinking
how it was a play on post-war japan.. i just like the story and enjoy what i see..

[lukethedrifter]

i'm so glad i don't look at movies like that.. seriously.. i just like what i like and
do i miss all of the "tortured metaphors" and hidden symbolism and politics? probably..
but that's fine with me.. when i watch a japanese movie from the 50's i'm not thinking
how it was a play on post-war japan.. i just like the story and enjoy what i see..

you're sort of a movie elitist populist. i think.

[clement]

I'm not really a fan of American Beauty either. It's a movie that I kinda liked when I walked out of the theatre, and then liked less and less the more time passed and the more I thought about it.

Have you ever seen Todd Solondz' "Storytelling"? There's a really funny spoof of American Beauty in it where Paul Giamatti plays a documentary film-maker and he shoots a scene of a plastic grocery bag blowing in the wind. Storytelling is an interesting movie starring a young Jocephus playing a high school student named Scooby.

[Fat_Bulldog]

I watched this movie last night. Discuss.

[JL21]

I watched this movie last night. Discuss.

I watched about 1/2 of it when I was hungover and didn't feel like chewing, much less reaching for the remote to change the channel.

[Freed Roger]

Borgnine is awesome in Bad Day at Black Rock.

Little bit of trivia - the door in this scene was supposed to swing open when Borgnine went through, but someone locked it. Borgnine just took the door out, frame and all, and kept the scene going.

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Yes but

[SHOW]

at 3:30 check out how an old man with one hand - Spencer Tracy role gives the little karate chop to the back that supposedly sends Borgnine (Coley) flying through the door. I'm not usually on "realism patrol" when watching such a pic, but cmon. earlier in the pic, they made a point to show Tracy was quick and agile with his hand, one guy comments when Tracy catch a bottle that rolled of a table "your pretty quick for crip". So you knew it was coming. To me the movie relied too much on Tracy's flatout ass-kicking ability to resolve the conflicts. maybe if he had a secret strength - a quick draw or good with a knife etc, but winning fist fight no. Tracy's not going to kick Lee Marvin and Borgnine's arse with one arm any day of the week.

[omaha_red]

i'm so glad i don't look at movies like that.. seriously.. i just like what i like and
do i miss all of the "tortured metaphors" and hidden symbolism and politics? probably..
but that's fine with me.. when i watch a japanese movie from the 50's i'm not thinking
how it was a play on post-war japan.. i just like the story and enjoy what i see..

you're sort of a movie elitist populist. i think.

i don't even know what that means.. but that's okay

[maddash]

i'm so glad i don't look at movies like that.. seriously.. i just like what i like and
do i miss all of the "tortured metaphors" and hidden symbolism and politics? probably..
but that's fine with me.. when i watch a japanese movie from the 50's i'm not thinking
how it was a play on post-war japan.. i just like the story and enjoy what i see..

That's cool. Art can be viewed on many different levels, and there's just as much to watch in the pretext as there is in the meaning behind it. Personally I try to (but don't always) view art on both levels, as I find it to be much more fulfilling - it allows me to better relate what I just saw to the world around me. And I don't want to even say that one experience is "better" than the other, simply that an artist took the time to craft something that can be experienced on many levels - I would never feel "glad" in favoring one level over the other.