Past Movies: Part Deux

[PrinceCor004]

Recently I have been checking out a number of DVD's from the library. The following our my two latest views:

In Country (1989)
A family drama centering around the after effects of the Vietnam War, this one was not nearly as good as I hoped it would be. The only actor that I really liked was Bruce Willis as a traumatized veteran trying to come to terms with his war experience. The rest of the cast was meh at best and no one (outside of Willis's character) was all that likable. Also, the "Southern hick" styled accent annoyed me to no end...

The final sequence at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington was touching, but that was about it. Very skippable... unless you want to track down the score by James Horner (which is pretty good). 1 1/2 out of 5

Platoon (1986)
Finally bit the bullet and watched this one. Surprisingly not as traumatic an experience as I was expecting, but definitely numbing.

The film follows the story of a young recruit in Vietnam (Charlie Sheen) and his tenure in the war... including all the experiences he has, both good and bad. Everything about this film is high grade, though there's something about Sheen's character that leaves me feeling a bit aloof and not really connecting to him as much as I'm suppose to (had the same feeling with Blade Runner and Dark City).

Definitely not a movie for everyone and especially anyone under 18 or so as Platoon is very graphic in both images and language. Still, if you are up for it, it's a film that should be viewed at least once. 4 out of 5

Cutthroat Island (1995)
One of the classic film blunders and still the Guinness Book of World Records holder as biggest movie bomb, Cutthroat Island lives down to its reputation... kindof. Geena Davis is obviously bored out of her mind with being in this flick and with a character like hers, the obvious boredom really hurts the overall mood. There's plenty of obvious production issues with the movie including some jarringly abrupt cuts and ill fated comedic moments.

Unfortunately neither John Debney's overbearing score nor some rather impressive fight scenes at the end can save this mess. The worst part of the whole thing is that it's obvious with different actors and a better director, this could have been a fun little mindless romp. As is, Cuthroat Island is better left for dead, marooned on a little spit of land alongside Pirates of the Caribbean 4. 1 1/2 out of 5


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Currently working on Master & Commander with Russell Crowe. Will review it when I'm done.

[IloveFauns]

I will do my proper list of favourite films.(In no real order)

A nightmare before Christmas
A film with me in it
Shaun of the dead
Hot fuzz
The kings speech

[SnowAngel]

We big kids watch all three of The Scarlet Pimpernel movies during the last week. I really enjoyed them, part from the few things we had to skip. I would watch them again sometime.

We got Lawrence of Arabia from the library last week, planning to renew it and watch it over the weekend. We have never seen it before and my older brother wants to watch it, so that is the plan for this weekend.

We girls are hoping to North & South sometime soon, it has been more than a year since we last watched it. Haven't seen it since before we moved last spring. It is hard to find a time when the guys won't be around or will be doing something else, so we can watch it.

SnowAngel

[Shadowlander]

I've read The Scarlet Pimpernel but I've never seen the film. I recall there was one version with David Niven in the starring role. I think. And Cutthroat Island is on my list of Bad Movies To Watch. And what's wrong with Pirates 4, PC, other than the fact that it's fairly awful? Each movie that comes out in that series is just a bit worse than its predecessor, and yet they keep spilling out of the Pandora's Box that is Hollywood. *sigh*

[PrinceCor004]

It's awful and a waste of actors, special effects, locations, etc. Also it's existence is completely pointless. Even though they should have ended it with the first one (or at least Disney should have been patient for a better script), the two sequels at least summed up the characters plotlines... semi-decently.

Pirates 4 is completely and utterly pointless. Also, its just not any fun. You know somethings wrong when even Johnny Depp doesn't look like he's having a good time.

[SnowAngel]

I've read The Scarlet Pimpernel but I've never seen the film. I recall there was one version with David Niven in the starring role. I think.

Yes, there is a version with David Niven, but I haven't seen it. Since you have read the book, you really should watch the Leslie Howard version. It is the best. Speaking of the book, after watching the movies, I bought a copy of the book. My brother kept asking questions about it and it had been long enough since I had last read it that I did not remember most of what he asked about.

My brother, sister, and I started Lawrence of Arabia last night, we only watched about 50 minutes since my brother had to work today. I don't know yet what I think of it, since it was less than hour that we watched and the movie is nearly 4 hours.

SnowAngel

[IloveFauns]

I watched the decoy Bride because I heard Dylan Moran was in it. He was hardly in it which was disappointing. It wasn't a terrible movie but not my type of movie.

[AslansChild]

I watched the decoy Bride...

Oo! I've been wanting to see that for awhile ILF. Why wasn't it exactly your type? Do you happen to know if its available om YouTube?

***

I've been watching alot of YouTube fims lately. I just saw this last night:


Thomas Kinkade's The Christmas Lodge. A Hallmark-esque film, to be sure , but one of the better-not-so-B-rated films. A bit of a tear-jerker though.
Nothing objectionable in it, highly recommend it. One I'll be watching again.

[stargazer]

I watched Oz The Great and Powerful with friends last evening. On the whole we gave it a thumbs up as an enjoyable movie. I'm not as familiar with the Oz canon as others, but it was fun to see other characters from the books, such as the China Girl (who got universal 'awwws' from our crowd for cuteness).

There were a number of nods both to the books and to the original classic movie; this one ends up setting itself up as a sort of prequel to that one.

Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) directs; as in many of his other movies his brother Ted (Joxer from Xena) makes a cameo appearance early in the movie.

[IloveFauns]

I watched the decoy Bride...

Oo! I've been wanting to see that for awhile ILF. Why wasn't it exactly your type? Do you happen to know if its available om YouTube?

***

[quote]

sorry for such a late reply, I didn't hate it. Wedding movies generally are not my cup of tea. Anyway I think I watched it on project free tv.

[SnowAngel]

On Friday, we went to the library and I got The Adventures of TinTin. I had tried to get it before, but it was always checked either the day I went or like the day before. Anyway, a couple of my sisters and I are planning to watch it tonight after the kiddos are in bed.

Several months ago, I post that my Dad had bought The Bourne Legacy and I hoped to watch it soon. It has been over 4 months I believe since he purchased the DVD, so Saturday night we (my older brother, one sister, and myself) finally watched it. (It has been hard to find time to watch "big kid" movies since my brother has a job and classes both right now.) We liked it, three of us agreed we couldn't decided if The Bourne Legacy was just okay or great. I think it is one of those movies you have to watch a second time to decided how good it was.

SnowAngel

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Is there any reason your siblings aren't allowed to watch the movie? It's quite appropriate for children (at least those 8 or 10 years and older).

[SnowAngel]

I'm curious to hear your thoughts on The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Is there any reason your siblings aren't allowed to watch the movie? It's quite appropriate for children (at least those 8 or 10 years and older).

Mostly the younger kids didn't get to watch this time, because I want to be able to hear and follow the movie. I have three younger sisters who giggle a lot when they watch movies and I mean a lot and loudly. I love those girls, but sometimes it is hard to watch TV with them.

The other reason is that we hadn't seen it before and most of the time if one of the younger kids watches something, then they all do. I would definitely let the older two of three girls watch it the next time.

I liked TinTin a lot. It was very enjoyable. I have never read any of the books, but I have heard good things about them and not just here on NarniaWeb. If my library has any of the books I will definitely get one next time I go. I think my sisters enjoyed it as well. I liked the action, the story was intriguing. I will be watching the price on the DVD, I would like to buy it (don't tell my brother though, he thinks I love and want every movie I watch. That is not true BTW about the wanting every movie, I don't.).

I hope that all makes sense, work didn't go well today and I am a little tired and disappointed with my nearly finished project.

SnowAngel

[Aslanisthebest]

Finally got around to seeing The Avengers. I enjoyed it! I watched it mostly because I heard lots of good things about it. My first watching, I enjoyed it, but I also found it a tad underwhelming. However, it took a second watching for me to appreciate it more. I liked it, overall. The only thing I definitely didn't like about it was the language here and there, but apart from that... it was good. The story was not as exciting as I was expecting, but it was still enjoyable. I liked that it was character driven - though the story did not lend itself to deep psychological musing, the characters' relevance to the story and their interactions with one another did. I enjoyed the part where they reached the peak of disagreement, and each found something that bugged them about the whole venture... but then soon assembled. The humor was good, too, and the film is very quotable.
I don't really "do" superhero flicks, and I'm really not accustomed to sci-fi (at least not the way I am with fantasy), so it took some adjustment while watching. I know barely anything about the superheros, but I feel like the movie did a very good job of communicating character development to unfamiliar audiences like myself.
My favourite characters were Black Widow, Captain America, and Dr. Banner/the Hulk.
The fight sequences - I think Black Widow and Hawkeye's was the one that had me most on edge. However, I feel like some were a bit too long - specifically, the one between Iron Man and Thor and then the final battle. The final one had a bit too many sequences, IMO.

But, anyways, very interesting film! I might be checking out the other Marvel ones.

[waggawerewolf27]

I watched Oz The Great and Powerful with friends last evening. On the whole we gave it a thumbs up as an enjoyable movie. I'm not as familiar with the Oz canon as others, but it was fun to see other characters from the books, such as the China Girl (who got universal 'awwws' from our crowd for cuteness).

There were a number of nods both to the books and to the original classic movie; this one ends up setting itself up as a sort of prequel to that one.

Oddly we, also, watched Oz the Great and Powerful on the weekend. I'd agree it is a reasonable movie with a few unexpected twists to it. I don't know how it would compare with the other two movies. We have a copy of Return to Oz, which I always rather enjoyed. But the girl who plays Dorothy is obviously younger in age than Judy Garland who played Dorothy in the original 1939 Wizard of Oz.

We also saw an old movie, Crimes of the Heart, which we saw earlier this year performed as a play by a local theatre group, who, now we have seen the original movie, we think did quite a good job. I think that I might go and see more performances like that one. I'm surprised just how many old movies end up as musicals and plays.

[ValiantArcher]

Bella, I saw The Avengers fairly recently (last month) too. I had a similar reaction to you; I was a bit underwhelmed with the plot, but was very happy about the character moments. To be fair, I was also half-asleep, there's only so much you can do with the save-the-world plot, and a large part of what made me decide to watch it wasn't everyone raving about how great it was, but the character bits I'd heard about. It's grown on me, and the plot made more sense after a second viewing, though I'm still far more interested in the characters than the plot.
I agree with the favourite characters list, though I'd add Hawkeye on there too; was there a reason he wasn't on your list? I really like Thor and Iron Man as well, but they come across more arrogant that they could've/should've in the beginning, especially if you don't have their backstories. You'll have to let me know what you think of the other movies if you see them; I've liked all of them I've seen, though some more than others, and mostly still for the characters.