movies

[lukethedrifter]

The only thing I'll add is that I prefer to first look, and then learn more, and not the other way around. I want to take it in with an unbiased, independent eye. I don't even like to see previews and in a perfect world I prefer to know absolutely nothing about a movie before I watch it.

I agree. It's unbelievable how many people I know that don't appreciate this. Even the ones that sort of do, still don't quite get it. "I'm not going to say anything that might ruin the movie, I was just saying how heartbreaking the story is."

It drives me nuts when I find a film I definitely want to see and my gf has to go read as much as possible about it. Heck, I wish she'd drag me off to cool movies w/o telling me the whole story.

[Richie Allen]

I think that's why we often stumble across movies we knew nothing about and end up enjoying them, possibly, even more than if we'd heard them hyped beforehand.

I was a big fan of Seven Samurai and Rashomon but hadn't seen any other Kurosawa films when a movie called Yojimbo came on at 1 o'clock in the morning. I later found out it was one of his most beloved films but I loved that I was able to experience it without any preconceived notions. I love it when this happens.

[omaha_red]

Just caught The Burmese Harp (Biruma no tategoto) on TMC. Excellent and riveting movie. I was familiar with Ichikawa's work from Tokyo Olympiad, and he didn't disappoint here.

[SHOW]

Being a bit of a WWII buff, I couldn't help but feel that there was some "revisionist history" going on - at least in the vibe. Ichikawa certainly touches on the fanatical aspect of the Japanese Army, but considering the atrocities committed in Burma, it almost seems like he made the unit in focus overtly friendly and sing-songy (literally) to compensate. Still, the use of song as an interplay between characters was all worth it. An anti-war movie set in WWII with Buddhism intertwined? Doesn't get much better than that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049012/

I've always wanted to see that.

i DVR'd it so i'll try to watch it this weekend

[Popeye_Card]

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.

This. When I first saw it, I liked it a lot, and then the more I thought about it I felt it was manipulative. You're conned into rooting for Kevin Spacey's character, who'd be a lot happier if he could just ditch his insane wife and go back to acting like a college student again. The ending was a cop out - realistically there's no way to keep his feel good story going - he'd have to pay some emotional price for all this fun he's been having and make some sort of compromise. So they have a closeted homosexual who hates himself come over and shoot him. Not to mention Annette Bening's character is a crude stereotype. I'd almost say misogynist, though I think that term gets overused.

The paper bag thing gets made fun of a lot, but I find it genuinely moving. I've had a lot of great small moments in my life like that.

If we're going to be this critical of movies, then we should probably cancel the Best Picture award most years.

As for others on the list, I didn't care for Gladiator. I don't personally like Titanic, but I can see why it won Best Picture--it was a huge sweeping epic of a movie--if you go back through the history of the Oscars, these types of movies win.

I personally love Forrest Gump. I'm not afraid to say it. I'm also not ashamed to say that I like it much better than Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction--the two other nominees that people get all huffy about being beat by Tom Hanks playing a village idiot.

[Blitzer]

So I rented This Is Spinal Tap because I have heard its hilarious and it seems like my kind of movie. Ill probably watch it tonight after work. Is it really that good?


Blitzer

[clevername]

I hate overhyping things, but I think Spinal Tap lives up to it.

[Blitzer]

Im just cautious cuz people told me Raising Arizona was hilarious and Im pretty sure I didnt laugh more than once. Spinal Tap does seem like it will be good though.


Blitzer

[Leroy]

So I rented This Is Spinal Tap because I have heard its hilarious and it seems like my kind of movie. Ill probably watch it tonight after work. Is it really that good?


Blitzer

If I hear something is awesome I usually don't like it. I didn't really know what Spinal Tap was about, but I really liked it. I think part of it for me though was having some band background. But you have to be into documentaries...or rockumentories if you will.

[Blitzer]

So I rented This Is Spinal Tap because I have heard its hilarious and it seems like my kind of movie. Ill probably watch it tonight after work. Is it really that good?


Blitzer

If I hear something is awesome I usually don't like it. I didn't really know what Spinal Tap was about, but I really liked it. I think part of it for me though was having some band background. But you have to be into documentaries...or rockumentories if you will.

Ive seen clips of it on TV and Youtube and stuff and I thought it was pretty funny, thats part of why I rented it. Now, if I can only convince the lady to watch it... I have a feeling she wont.


Blitzer

[Leroy]

The wife didn't enjoy it at first, but has warmed up to it.