[kenberg]

mike777, on Dec 31 2009, 02:35 PM, said:

Just saw Up in the Air, it was decent on par with Holmes.


Agree with Pulp Fiction a truly great movie.

Kill Bill is very good but I am fan of Uma.

Thought I.B. was about average on par with Public Enemies.


For lovers of great old old movies....tonight TCM is running all of the "Thin Man' movies. I will be watching.

If we ever dump our wives and get married, we will each need our own tv.

[mike777]

Lobowolf, on Dec 31 2009, 06:29 PM, said:

Blind Side was a good book, too.  As I've come to expect from Michael Lewis.

Yes I read the book long before the movie.....good movie...great book.

I also have enjoyed Michael Lewis books.

Again Pulp Fiction is not a recent movie per thread...but a truly great movie...see it over and over again.

Seeing the new Streep movie friday.


I dare any redblooded MAN to watch Myrna Loy and not fall in love....watching her now. Smart...Sassy and great looking.



http://images.google.com/images?q=myrna+lo...ved=0CCUQsAQwAw

[jillybean]

AVATAR http://www.avatarmovie.com/index.html

I wasn’t over the moon when my husband suggested we go see the new Sci-Fi flick for New Years Eve but to keep the peace and for future leverage I went along.

I laughed, I was shocked and touched and at the end I cried, this movie is fantastic. For 2hrs45mins I was entertained, as was my 9 year old daughter, the special effects and scenery is superb and there is enough action and violence to keep the guys awake.

Get there early to get a decent seat!

[kenberg]

OK, Avatar it is. Jilly's comments were particularly convincing.

I will also follow the advice of Lobo, Mike and others and try Pulp Fiction. This may have to wait for a bit.

I'm OK with Myrna Loy but I lack Mike's enthusiasm for her or for the Thin Man series. For actresses of that era I particularly like Barbara Stanwyck. Some of her antics in The Lady Eve with Henry Fonda were a real kick, eg thanking the honorable Fonda as he straightens her skirt to cover her knees. As to falling in love with an actress, I think that would be Simone Signoret in Room at the Top when I was twenty or so. Rita Hayworth as Salome when I was thirteen or so wasn't so bad either, but I am pretty sure love had nothing to do with it. Rene Russo in the Thomas Crown Affair gets my vote among the current crop.


But back to the present, Avatar it is. Maybe I'll take the ten year old. A male bonding experience.


But I will not be trying vol 2 of KB to see if I was mistaken. Some things have to be considered settled, right or wrong.

[Winstonm]

Is Avatar sci-fi or fantasy?

[y66]

kenberg, on Jan 1 2010, 08:41 AM, said:

OK, Avatar it is. Jilly's comments were particularly convincing.

I will also follow the advice of Lobo, Mike and others and try Pulp Fiction. This may have to wait for a bit.

I'm OK with Myrna Loy but I lack Mike's enthusiasm for her or for the Thin Man series. For actresses of that era I particularly like Barbara Stanwyck. Some of her antics in The Lady Eve with Henry Fonda were a real kick, eg thanking the honorable Fonda as he straightens her skirt to cover her knees. As to falling in love with an actress, I think that would be Simone Signoret in Room at the Top when I was twenty or so. Rita Hayworth as Salome when I was thirteen or so wasn't so bad either, but I am pretty sure love had nothing to do with it. Rene Russo in the Thomas Crown Affair gets my vote among the current crop.


But back to the present, Avatar it is. Maybe I'll take the ten year old. A male bonding experience.


But I will not be trying vol 2 of KB to see if I was mistaken. Some things have to be considered settled, right or wrong.

The Lady Eve? Barbara Stanwyck was so good in that. I'll bet even Uma Thurman and the Dude have crushes on Barbara Stanwyck. I watched the first 2 years of The Big Valley after seeing her in that.

[jillybean]

Winstonm, on Jan 1 2010, 07:06 AM, said:

Is Avatar sci-fi or fantasy?

Sci-fi

Ken, take your 10 year old I'd be surprised if he didnt love it. It is rated 14A but I was happy with my 9 year old seeing it and you know what a prude I am.

[kenberg]

jillybean, on Jan 1 2010, 10:45 AM, said:

Winstonm, on Jan 1 2010, 07:06 AM, said:

Is Avatar sci-fi or fantasy?

Sci-fi

Ken, take your 10 year old I'd be surprised if he didnt love it. It is rated 14A but I was happy with my 9 year old seeing it and you know what a prude I am.

Right. but he's a grandkid. I will explain to his parents that a seemingly sane forumer took her 9 year old. All in all, I at least understand and I probably approve of caution since there really is a lot of trash out there. But I always worried more about the corrosive effects of too much Barney.

[luke warm]

kenberg, on Jan 1 2010, 08:41 AM, said:

But back to the present, Avatar it is. Maybe I'll take the ten year old. A male bonding experience.

my wife and i took our 9 (and a half ) grandson when we saw avatar, and we all enjoyed it... as for kbI and II, i loved them both, along w/ pulp fiction... has anyone seen 'ink'? i watched it today and need to think more on it before i can say if i loved it or merely liked it... very strange movie, it's hard to come up with a metaphor for it, so many might apply (some of which are contradictory)

[jonottawa]

Finally got around to watching the Cove (rented it a couple of days ago.) It's awesome. Even if you don't agree with the principle of not torturing dolphins to death, you have to admire the people who made this movie. I was left with the impression that if these folks put this much effort into finding Bin Laden, they would be successful.

The South Park episode on the subject is absolutely hilarious.

[kenberg]

Well, my grandson (10 years) already saw Avatar and of course he loved it. As did the granddaughter (17). So the talk turned to movies. My son-in-law claims that Kill Bill is an artistic masterpiece. But he was not surprised to learn I didn't like it. Such things used to shock him, but he has learned. My daughter said Pulp Fiction is really good but it was sickening and she had to leave the room during some of it. I'm still working on interpreting that. Son-in-law wants to see Sherlock, wife asserts that she has never seen a portrayal of Sherlock that she has enjoyed. We didn't get around to Myrna Loy.

[Mbodell]

Kill Bill is an artistic master piece of homages to genres. Volume 1 is an homage to samurai/Hong Kong films and Volume 2 is more an homage to the Spaghetti Westerns. that stylized homage/borrowing is a huge part of Tarantino's style (combined with his pattern of dialogue, and focus on violent revenge). Pulp Fiction is likewise an homage to the noir films.

That style of film is definitely not for everyone. If you don't like violence, don't see his movies. And if you are OK with violence, but not great with it, you should pick and choose or know that there will be scenes in his movies that you will not want to watch.

2009 in movies has been an interesting year in that there have been a reasonably large number of decent or good movies without really many stand out excellent movies. They are expanding to 10 movies the number of best picture nominees, but I'm not sure any of the movies I've seen in 2009 would really deserve a "top 5" slot in a typical year.

Inglorious Bastards is one such movie, IMO. It was a good movie that I enjoyed but I wouldn't put it in a typical "best picture nominee" class. Likewise Avatar or Up In The Air or many others. Maybe Invictus would make it for me, but I think most years it would be honorable mention just outside the top 5.

I haven't seen Precious or The Hurt Locker, so maybe they deserve it, but I'm not sure 2009 was a good "best picture" year.

[Lobowolf]

Just got back from Sherlock Holmes. The girlfriend and I both liked it a lot. Good role for Downey.

[y66]

kenberg, on Jan 1 2010, 06:14 PM, said:

My daughter said Pulp Fiction is really good but it was sickening and she had to leave the room during some of it. I'm still working on interpreting that.

Yeah, that's a tough one. Seamus Heaney (poet) talked about the difficulty of reconciling the incredible beauty and murderousness of the world in his Nobel acceptance speech and how, eventually he was able to make a place for both in his reckoning. My wife hated Pulp Fiction initially but then she somehow got past her revulsion of the violence and was able to appreciate the incredible humor and human feeling in so many of those scenes, like the one at the end of Vince and Mia's incredible evening. Last year I got to use one of many favorite lines from that movie when our garlic press broke. My wife didn't recognize the new gizmo I brought home. "It's a chopper baby".

Will check out Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and Up In The Air this month. We're bringing a pup home at the end of the month so we probably won't be going out to the movies much after that.

Saw The Class last night on Netflix. Kind of a French version of Stand And Deliver for our time, with an edge.

[mike777]

Just saw It's Complicated.


A wonderful movie, easily my favorite of the Holiday Season.


Very Cute, Very Funny, Great Music.


As for Netflix last night I rewatched Sex, Lies and Videotape(adult themes) a movie from 1989. Very good. I agree the Class was a good movie.

[Winstonm]

Quote

I also just rented Shawshank again....and again I am befuddled by all the praise I see here in this forum about this movie...it is ok but great...no......

I felt the same about Forest Gump - grossly over-praised.

[kenberg]

Winstonm, on Jan 2 2010, 06:24 PM, said:

Quote

I also just rented Shawshank again....and again I am befuddled by all the praise I see here in this forum about this movie...it is ok but great...no......

I felt the same about Forest Gump - grossly over-praised.

Shawshank I saw on tv just because it was on. I found it interesting. Not great, but satisfying enough for a pick-up movie. If I read Mike right, this is about his view of it also.

I actually saw Forrest Gump in a movie theater. I cannot imagine why. Maybe whatever I wanted to see was sold out. It met my expectations, that should not be interpreted as praise.

By the way, when I said that I really liked Up In The Air, that should also not be interpreted as saying it deserves an academy award or anything like that. I just enjoyed it. The young woman who Clooney was breaking in I found particularly enjoyable, both her role and her performance. And the meeting between Clooney and his soon to be paramour I found hilarious.

[kenberg]

y66, on Jan 2 2010, 11:30 AM, said:

kenberg, on Jan 1 2010, 06:14 PM, said:

My daughter said Pulp Fiction is really good but it was sickening and she had to leave the room during some of it. I'm still working on interpreting that.

Yeah, that's a tough one. Seamus Heaney (poet) talked about the difficulty of reconciling the incredible beauty and murderousness of the world in his Nobel acceptance speech and how, eventually he was able to make a place for both in his reckoning. My wife hated Pulp Fiction initially but then she somehow got past her revulsion of the violence and was able to appreciate the incredible humor and human feeling in so many of those scenes, like the one at the end of Vince and Mia's incredible evening. Last year I got to use one of many favorite lines from that movie when our garlic press broke. My wife didn't recognize the new gizmo I brought home. "It's a chopper baby".

Will check out Avatar, Sherlock Holmes and Up In The Air this month. We're bringing a pup home at the end of the month so we probably won't be going out to the movies much after that.

Saw The Class last night on Netflix. Kind of a French version of Stand And Deliver for our time, with an edge.

I am now looking forward to giving Pulp Fiction a try.

Myself, when it comes to difficulty in watching, I distinguish between violence and decadence. Violence (fictional) sort of rolls off me. I might get bored (the beginning of The Wild Bunch is an example) but I don't get queasy. Decadence can grab me and it always has. I saw Lost Weekend when I was 8 or so and the scene with the hero, I think it was Ray Millland, desperately climbing for the whiskey he had hidden from himself upset me. I saw Key Largo around the same time and enjoyed it with no problem. Being older, it takes more to upset me but the distinction between violence and decadence remains. Maybe decadence is not exactly the right word, but close enough.

Anyway, I'll see Pulp Fiction. No doubt I should do this while my wife is otherwise involved. There isn't a chance in hell she would watch it.


But of course PF does not qualify as new. Forgive me.

[jdonn]

I think Shawshank is one of the greatest movies of all time, in the top 5 on my personal list. It's not just some personal opinion of mine either, almost everyone I have ever talked to about it in person agrees. I think someone who otherwise tends to like movies would have to be going into it with a really bad attitude not to think it's a classic!

Forest Gump was also great, just a level below Shawshank, though I think over time people have really cooled off to it. The effects (ping pong, meeting presidents) were really really cool at the time, and Tom Hanks is perfect in every role he gets no matter what the level of the movie is.

[mike777]

Wow hard to think of shawshank being in the top 5 out of almost 100 years of movie making, movies from around the world.


I wonder what their top 5 movies of all time look like.

I mean better than what Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, Chinatown, My gal Friday, Wizard of Oz, 2001 Space Oddessy, The Graduate, The Godfather, Maltese Falcon or the numerous great movies of the last 40 years etc etc....not too mention many silent movies etc etc....


I do think Pulp Fiction is a true classic, not top 5 but really an all time classic movie. A very important movie that affected movie making even today.

I really liked Forest Gump.