Dave does a fine job of crapping on movies, and some do a fine job themselves.

G3 and I have recently been to some movies, I've rented a few others during the bad weather, and here they are:

1. The Dilemma - awful on all levels. It isn't a comedy. It isn't a drama. It's not poorly written - it's not even written at all. It's a slow moving slog through the mud of a guy's problem of whether or not to tell his buddy that his wife is cheating on him. The previews made it look like something else entirely. Not worth the rental, even. Avoid at all costs.

2. The Green Hornet 3D - So it looks like it has depth. The 3D test pattern before the movie was cooler; nothing 'came out' of the screen at you in the movie. The story is slow, and so very comic-booky. Let's not even mention the acting, or lack thereof. Didn't even appeal to a 12 year old boy. First 3D movie I've ever seen. I was not impressed. Don't bother.

3. Let Me In - I found it well written and directed, and the filming was great. It was disturbing on many levels, in that the classic vampire mythos involves kids this time. Quite bloody for the gore gang, and just trippy enough for everyone else who likes the genre. "Twilight" it's not, you squee'ing little fangirls. Fans of the book may prefer the older, Euro version.

4. Falling Down - one from the vaults - an older movie with a nerdy Michael Douglas. A working stiff loses his job, his family, and freaks out. Believable, scary as that is. Lots of swearing and violence. Frighteningly easy to identify with the "hero".

5. Harry Potter 7(1) - well done, true to the book, but easily forgettable. The characters are as flat and 'cutout' as they've ever been, and they're certainly not cuddly little kids carrying dangerous weapons anymore. Part 2 won't be out until July, when we'll be wondering, "Do I remember Part 1?" Then it's over. I hope.

6. Country Remedy - hard to find DVD in the family section. A big city doctor and his young son are relocated to a hick town in the hills to do an internship. Dead boring. All attempts at drama and father/son bonding fail. Cheesy near-death scene for the boy, witless love interests for both, and an utter fail.

7. Astro Boy - remade yet again. The darling little boy robot just keeps getting reincarnated. This time, Dr. Tenma isn't really the bad guy, only that he builds a robot who thinks that it IS his dead son, then rejects him. This is where all connection to the anime episodes goes out the window. It's "OK" if you're a fan, but die-hard Astro Boy fans will hate it. Freddie Highmore and Nicholas Cage do voices. Overall, not bad, despite the pedophilic undertones of Astro in general.

So, these are the last 7 movies I've seen. I can't say that I'm anxious to see any of them again, however.

Paolo wrote: Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:33 pm 5. Harry Potter 7(1) - well done, true to the book, but easily forgettable. The characters are as flat and 'cutout' as they've ever been, and they're certainly not cuddly little kids carrying dangerous weapons anymore. Part 2 won't be out until July, when we'll be wondering, "Do I remember Part 1?" Then it's over. I hope.

In seventh book, Harry Potter saved so many, and had his ass kicked so many times, that in film he will be definitely played by..... Bruce Willis.

http://bash.org.ru/comics/20091202

PS. I have seen HP 7(1). Haven't read the book by that time (and had not enough patience to read it later. I had enough after 4 first books and even that was too much.)

I have not seen HP7.1 I am waiting for 7.2 to come out then I am going to rent 7.1 then watch 7.2 that is the only way I will be able to put it all together. Of course they could wait until after 7.2 is done in the theaters before releasing 7.1 on DVD in which case I will wait tell both are out. I have read the book, and know how it ends.

River

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Mon Feb 14, 2011 7:32 am I have not seen HP7.1 I am waiting for 7.2 to come out then I am going to rent 7.1 then watch 7.2 that is the only way I will be able to put it all together. Of course they could wait until after 7.2 is done in the theaters before releasing 7.1 on DVD in which case I will wait tell both are out. I have read the book, and know how it ends.

River

Harry and the Deathly Hallows part one DVD hits the stores April 15th. But it's just the movie that was on the screen... The Blu Ray is a 3 disc set and a special edition (like I care beyond a bucket of spit).

I intend to watch Part 1 several times the week before I see part two. That's the best way.

...

Paolo wrote: Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:33 pm 2. The Green Hornet 3D - So it looks like it has depth. The 3D test pattern before the movie was cooler; nothing 'came out' of the screen at you in the movie. The story is slow, and so very comic-booky. Let's not even mention the acting, or lack thereof. Didn't even appeal to a 12 year old boy. First 3D movie I've ever seen. I was not impressed. Don't bother.

...

As soon as I heard Seth Rogen was doing GREEN HORNET, I lost all interest. Rogen isn't a good filmmaker. His movies all lack tension.

By the way, the word is that technically, the filmmakers that did the best job with 3D was JACKASS. That's a real travesty if it is true but I'll tell you Johnny Knoxville puts better plots together and understands entertaining his audience better than Seth Rogen.

Paolo wrote: Sun Feb 13, 2011 11:33 pm 4. Falling Down - one from the vaults - an older movie with a nerdy Michael Douglas. A working stiff loses his job, his family, and freaks out. Believable, scary as that is. Lots of swearing and violence. Frighteningly easy to identify with the "hero".

I own a copy of Falling Down, and rewatch it periodically. I agree that it's far, far too easy to identify with the lead character, even though they went out of their way to show that he was unstable and potentially dangerous even prior to the events of that day.

Despite that, it's a powerful story about one man who one day has just had enough, and wants to go home. He doesn't start out freaking out, though. He just makes one seemingly small decision, and events cause it to snowball.

You have to admit, as sick as D-FENS is, some parts earn a well-justified "Fuck yeah!" shout of endorsement. It's a most underrated movie, in my opinion, and very well done.

The movie 'Falling Down' was at the time that I had just been downsized from my secure retirement corporate job. It was also the last secure retirement corporate job I have had. I had worked for one of the groups that was one of the most successful worldwide at what we did. A group of fifty of us had four world class successes in the twelve years. The company was taken over by one of those British business genii (geniuses?) who had figured out that you could take a successful group, get rid of the people who made it happen and, stripped of expenses, sell the products of their success for more than you paid for the company.

It was a very difficult transition for me. It was the end of 'security,' an income that let me indulge in flying which was very pleasurable to me and it was the end of belonging to a successful group (which was one of the subtle but most painful things). Another really difficult part was that I had my personal identity tied to what I did and the company name that I worked for. It also was during a time that my ex- became a compulsive gambler and, most painfully, my dog died.

All of that was taken away by things that was totally out of my control. Did I identify with the character? Absolutely.

The funny thing is that now I can look back at it as being a very painful and uncomfortable experience, but so is birth. A lot of people in my profession have gone thru the same. Some came out the other end being thankful for the forced change and with an identity based on who they are and not on where they worked. Some did not adapt so good.

'Falling Down' brought up very deep and difficult emotions for me. It also showed how NOT to handle life.

On the subject of truly under-rated movies...

I would like to say that "Good Fences" is a really good movie, starring Danny Glover and Whoopie Goldberg. It is a "black" movie, but I liked it very much, actually it is a LOT better than "The Color Purple," but unlike that film, "Good Fences" hardly got noticed by the vaunted film critics.

Another incredibly good movie that I never heard or read anything about was "The Night Listener," it is based on actual events and stars Robin Williams. It is another really good movie, but I guess because Robin Williams offers a realistic portrayal of a gay man, (not an AIDS spreading homicidal maniac nor a histrionic hairdresser) the critics just could not accept that there might actually exist some man who was gay and was not a hairdresser or interior decorator.

"The Illusionist" is another movie that got overlooked, I think mostly because at about the same time as it's release, another really mediocre film called "The Prestige" was released. DON'T CONFUSE the two flicks, The Illusionist is a really GOOD movie, and The Prestige is a LOUSY movie in spite of Michael Caine's best efforts to make it worth watching. The Illusionist is a movie you WANT to watch three times and then again another time just so you can catch every clue, and come to each of the realizations, and it is a GOOD love story that ends happily... The Prestige is HORRIBLE, you HAVE to watch if five or six times just to figure out who is who and what is what and it ends on a SICK note, just rotten.

I absolutely love foreign films. Almost anything done by Pedro AlModovar is great (e.g. Matador, Volver, All About My Mother, etc). Anything done with the French actress Audrey Tatou is great (except for possibly Coco Before Channel). It is really worth the trouble of reading the subtitles if you don't understand French, really, rent the movie "Amelie" and you will be hooked, then get "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not," or "Priceless," you won't be disappointed. "A Very Long Engagement" is a very long movie, but it is done well and it is very touching, besides, you get to see Jodie Foster in that movie... bet you didn't know she could speak French.

I could go on and on and on, I really like good movies.

i have never really been a fan of the potter movies (and i have seen them all). having never read the books i had high hopes going in, and am told they follow the books well enough, but i had expected a grander portrayal of magic and wizardry and was disappointed by what i got. it all felt like a cop out to me if that makes any sense? that said i did enjoy the much darker tone of the last film and am actually looking forward to the series conclusion (in more ways than one). as for falling down, i couldn't have been more than 14 the first time i saw it. and still love it to this day 16 years later

I ahve watched other movies:

THE A TEAM - gee that was fun and formulaic. All action. No brains. But fun for the eyes and boom-boom on the ears.

DESPICABLE ME -- ok, the secret is out. I'm a sucker for kiddie movies and I thought this was overly sentimental. Still I liked the yellow minions and I thought it was well done cuteness and sugar and adorable.

JULIE AND JULIA - I'm in love with Julia Child. She's one of my heroes in life and Meryl Streep is amazing as Julia. IT's all about cooking and I"m almost always about food. A nice movie but not an action movie. Tender and loving and sweet and good to eat.

HOWL -- no this is not a horror or sci-fi flick. It is a movie devoted to one poem HOWL by Allan Ginsburg. If you ignore the sections where they try to put pictures to the poem, it's lots of fun and HOWL (the poem) is groundbreaking stuff. Culturally my generation of rebels. (I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix)

IRON MAN 2 -- I think that I can say lots of bad things about this but as an action movie with explosions, weird characters, backtalking smart-assed hero and did I mention lots of explosions. IT's fun for the eyeballs and easy to vegetate to on a couch.

SECRETARIAT -- Sadly, while this is a nice movie, I wanted some pulse pounding suspense in the racing sequences. I saw these races and they were exciting. This movie forgets that fact. This is the greatest horse that ever raced. That's exciting.

SORCERER's APPRENTICE -- I could watch it more than the once I did but I will be reading a book in the middle of it or writing a short story under it and that's what it is good for. Still not bad. An entertainment at least.

Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN -- I really like this film. It's such a neat lesson on life and love. Two young men (not virgins but children, nonetheless) take a road trip with an older woman and in the process become men. Really excellent. with subtitles.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO -- (a second time) - In Swedish and an excellent story. I hope the American version is this good.