What's the last movie you've seen?

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4. The Living Daylights

Finally! Someone besides me thinks The Living Daylights was amazing!

It's commonly recognized among the hardcore Bond fans as one of the best.

It's good to know that we have company

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Blades of Glory.

It was...glorious. Will Ferrell redeemed himself after the mess that was Talladega Nights. The only downside was the fact that the Napoleon Dynamite loser had more than five minutes of screen time.

Also, seeing Will Arnett on the big screen just made me want an Arrested Development movie so much more.

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The Prestige

A great film that's even better the second time around. Is some of the fun taken away if you already know the twists? Absolutely not since the second time around you devote your time to locating the hints that Nolan and company has spread throughout the film and you can just sit back and enjoy the great performances that are given by the whole cast.

Nolan continues to become my favorite director. If you're looking for a modern day Hitchcock, he may have been found.

The fact that this film was completely overlooked during the Oscars is upsetting. Bale or Jackman should have been contenders for Best Actor and Caine would be much more deserving of a Best Supporting Actor nomination than Wahlberg.

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Casablanca

Still one of my favorite films of all time; it's flawless and contains perhaps the best dialogue of all time. The amount of cool that Bogart possesses is astounding.

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The best part about The Good German was how it was filmed to look like a 1940s detective thriller. As to the rest, I can't say as I slept through the first 45 minutes.

I didn't see it but from the clips I've seen it looks like it really wanted to be Casablanca; they even used the same font/poster design.

I'll just stick with the classic.

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The Elephant Man

I can't believe I hadn't seen this until now; a true classic and undeniably heartbreaking.

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The Simpsons Movie
I really liked the opening half hour or so - but I thought the latter parts of the film suffered because of the need for plot development which weighed it down a little. Worth seeing though - much better than most of the Simpsons output in recent years.

Did they show a trailer for "The Dark Knight" beforehand?

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The Simpsons Movie
I really liked the opening half hour or so - but I thought the latter parts of the film suffered because of the need for plot development which weighed it down a little. Worth seeing though - much better than most of the Simpsons output in recent years.

Did they show a trailer for "The Dark Knight" beforehand?

Heard anything of note about that movie lately, Andrew (casting, plot, etc..)?   

What do you want to know?

A teaser trailer (and I mean REALLY a teaser in every sense of the word; no footage from the film: just dialogue over a logo) is being released to select showings of "The Simpsons". A bootleg version surfaced on YouTube but was taken down by WB. It was pretty cool in the sense that it gets one excited for the film but wasn't anything special (besides hearing the Joker talk).

Some set photos have also come out of Ledger as the Joker. A photo of the new Batsuit was also released...


The suit gives more mobility to Bale.

Anything else I say may go into spoiler territory but it's entirely possible that this one may be the best one yet.

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Starship Troopers.

Wow. What a horrible, horrible movie. And I even like science fiction and sex.

Wow, you suck.

It's not his fault the movie blows.

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My father and I just finished watching "The Deer Hunter" with Robert DeNiro, Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep...I didn't care for it...and my father disliked it.

The fact that you prefer films like "Armageddon" to "The Deer Hunter" just explains so much.

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He was AWFUL in DH4.

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I usually like when someone shows signs of a pulse when they're acting.

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Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd


A beautifully tragic tale of a man who becomes consumed by seeking revenge, Sweeney Todd has become my favorite musical-to-film adaption. Tim Burton and company all excel in their respective parts and put together a film that should be remembered for years to come and looked to when other filmmakers adapt musicals.

Burton is not afraid to make cuts and changes to make Stephen Sondheim's original stage show (which already is available on DVD for those who are curious)  a more cinematic experience. Sondheim's stage show is somewhat of a dark comedy while Burton's film is just dark. Burton is also no afraid to show gore, as he's shown before, and doesn't just show massive amounts of blood but also shows corpses falling on their heads and a character being burned alive. One of my favorite parts of the film is the contrast between the beautiful music and the somewhat disturbing gore on screen.

Johnny Depp is nothing but awesome in his portrayal of Todd and shows why he's known as the "demon barber of Fleet Street" as he portrays a man who has completely lost his soul in search of revenge against those who have wronged him (which he discovers is the whole world). Depp downplays the role (compared to those on stage at least), which really adds to the element of a man who is haunted by his past, emotionally hollow and poisoned by revenge. He truly shines in the "Epiphany", "Johanna" reprise, and final sequences. While he isn't a professional singer, his voice isn't anything to complain about and he handles the material competently; his vocals actually remind me somewhat of David Bowie.

The rest of the cast is phenomenal as well, especially Sacha Baron Cohen who is quite frightening and shows that he isn't just Ali G or Borat and Alan Rickman is fantastic as always.

I definitely recommend this one and can't wait to see it again. Even though I know the story by heart, I couldn't help but find myself on the edge of my seat at certain scenes.

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Burton is not afraid to make cuts and changes to make Stephen Sondheim's original stage show (which already is available on DVD for those who are curious)  a more cinematic experience.

Be that as it may, I had actually seen the musical prior to seeing the movie and I was actually surprised how faithful it was.  I was expecting some form of artistic license to be taken and have bits and pieces of the story altered slightly, but surprisingly it was all essentially intact, from the beginning right up to the conclusion.

Oh, it's incredibly faithful but a good amount of material has been cut out, mainly the "Ballad of Sweeney Todd" scenes that serve somewhat as the Greek chorus and bookends of the show and a few scenes between Anthony and Johanna. They also cut a few bits out of the remaining songs for pacing reasons I suppose. Other minor sequences have been cut as well, mostly in the second half, but the story still remains intact and is stronger from these cuts. Still though, it is incredibly faithful and essentially intact, as you said.

The one thing I also find interesting about the story is that it's apparently supposed to be a allegory for the Industrial Revolution (which can be seen more in the original stage production which features a factory whistle every time Sweeney takes a victim). I suppose I can see where that allegory comes from; the class warfare element and the idea of humans being sacrificed for commercial purposes. There's even a line in one of the ballads from the original stage show that refers to Sweeney becoming more machine than man, dedicated to the job at hand (which just so happens to be killing people). This site discussing this element (and many others) here...
http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/Sondheim/sweeneytodd.htm

I definitely recommend picking up the original stage production on DVD, if you don't own it...
http://www.amazon.com/Sweeney-Todd-Demon-Barber-Street/dp/B00005JL6V/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1198544878&sr=1-1

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To Catch a Thief

Classic Hitchcock.

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No Country for Old Men

Javier Bardem > You.

What? That's exactly the type of movie you'd rail against. The epitome of nihilistic violence.

Uh.. No.

Then what the hell was it? I didn't see it as much different from Sin City or whatever.

The difference is that No Country... is an actual film, while Sin City is not.

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ew, james bond movie makes first misstep with its title: "Quantum of Solace"

http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/24/movies.bondfilm.ap/index.html

It's a great title from an Ian Fleming short story. "Quantum of Solace" pretty much means one having a certain degree of comfort, which connects to Bond's emotional state and closure after his relationship with Vesper.

It's no more odd than "Thunderball" or "Octopussy" or longwinded as "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" or "The World is Not Enough."

It doesn't matter much anyway; most people will just call it "the new Bond movie."

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I obviously haven't seen it yet but I'm counting down the days until Vantage Point comes out. It looks cool. Plus, Matthew Fox (Jack from LOST) is in it.

Wow, you're quite the fanboy. I'm surprised you haven't raved about Cloverfield.

Wow, you're quite the asshole.

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Let's see what have I seen recently.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Very enjoyable. I had never sat down and watched the whole thing but it was great.

O_O What?! I've seen it like 7 times already.

I agree with what you said about The Temple of Doom. Jeez Louise, that movie sucked.

The Last Crusade was awesome. I don't think they could have found a better actor than Sean Connery to play Indy's dad.

My brother and I both saw Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the day it came out. We both really enjoyed the film. We still can't figure out why some deride the movie so much. O_o

[IndyNerd]
The way I rank the series has RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK as the best of the bunch by far. That film may just be the perfect adventure film. TEMPLE OF DOOM and THE LAST CRUSADE are tied in my book. They're both strong entries in my opinion. I think that TEMPLE OF DOOM gets a lot of flack simply because it's different. The first half hour of that film is fantastic and while it goes a bit downhill after that it's not by much. I appreciate the low-key take on it, when compared to the other entries in the series. I'll never understand that hatred that some have for it.

KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, on the other hand, gets all the flack that it deserves in my opinion. With this one they basically took what worked with the original trilogy and threw it out the window, keeping the negative elements. The original films all had a fantastical element but they were still grounded in reality; I could believe in the story, as out of this world as it may be. In KotCS, I really didn't feel involved in the story and couldn't believe in it, largely due to the CGI and the out-there stunts (mainly Indy surviving a nuclear explosion, the waterfall segment, and pretty much any action involving Louis Stev...I mean Shia LeBouf).

I still had fun watching KotCS just because it was Indy. I think Harrison was fine and still showed that Indy charm (my favorite part was when Marion asked what happened with the other girls and that classic Ford smirk comes on his face and he replies "None of them were you, honey"...now THAT was the Indy I know and love!). Overall though, compared to the other Indy films it's a long way off in my view and dead last in the rankings. It's a shame really because I really think that it did have potential.

There's rumors that they're gonna make more but I pray that they don't. If they do I hope they leave his family at home, along with George Lucas.

It seems these days that George Lucas is King Midas in reverse as everything he touches turns to sh**t.

[/IndyNerd]

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THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS

A great, epic film with a fantastic score and great battle scenes. It's always been one of my favorites.

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REAR WINDOW

One of Hitchcock's best and most thrilling films. To have a film take place in one apartment and still be able to hold the interest of the viewer just shows how great of a filmmaker Hitchcock was. Great performances from both Stewart and Grace Kelly.

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REAR WINDOW

One of Hitchcock's best and most thrilling films. To have a film take place in one apartment and still be able to hold the interest of the viewer just shows how great of a filmmaker Hitchcock was. Great performances from both Stewart and Grace Kelly.

ooh, can we even try to rank the Hitch we've seen?  I need to compile a list.  fun activity for work!

but, already done.  I just did a top 10, because most of the others i didn't really have a good recollection of.

1   Vertigo
2   North by Northwest
3   The Man Who Knew Too Much (1955)
4   Psycho
5   Strangers on a Train
6   Rear Window
7   Shadow of a Doubt
8   Spellbound
9   Rebecca
10   Rope

I haven't seen nearly as much Hitchcock as I should have but your list looks pretty damn good to me; although I would definitely include TO CATCH A THEIF and NOTORIOUS.

I think it would be a hard argument to state that VERTIGO is not Hitchcock's best.

You prefer the 1955 THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH to the earlier version? I think it's the other way around for most people; I haven't seen the earlier one yet ( I might watch it now since I TiVO'd it) so I cannot comment on the matter.

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Just watched the 1934 version of THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. I prefer it to the 1956 version. While the 1956 version is a better crafted film, I enjoyed the simplicity of the earlier version, which carries a noir-ish atmosphere with it. I think that the fact that the '34 version just cuts to the chase helps the story immensely. Also, Peter Lorre is fantastic as the villain. I also prefer the shootout that ends the '34 version better than the climax of the '56 version.

Overall, both films are terrific but the low key, film noir quality of the '34 version makes me prefer it to the later version.

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THE THIRD MAN

A true classic mystery film with a brilliant performance from Orson Welles. This should be required viewing for anyone who seeks to make a film in the noir style or a mystery/thriller/suspense/whatever. Actually it should just be required viewing for anyone that wants to see a great film.

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THERE WILL BE BLOOD

Ok, I loved NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN but how did it beat this epic masterpiece for Best Picture?