What Movies Have You Seen Recently?, Old and new

:lol

Satan: Sonny, I've got a whole theme park full of red delights for you.

You might enjoy Red Eye if you like Cillian Murphy (he's the lad with the a-mazing blue eyes and faintly evil good looks that played the psychiatrist in the Batman movie that came out this summer). Good story, fast and creepy. Absolutely prime ending for anyone who's ever done customer service too -- our fantasy of fantasies.
The critics came down hard on The Brothers Grimm, but being a die-hard Gilliam fan I saw it and I loved it -- in fact I'm going to go see it again. It does suffer from divided production opinions and whatever was hanging it up so badly from coming out (real Bavarian curses, maybe), but it's visually Gilliam all the way (an acquired taste) and funny.

I've never heard of the Brothers Grimm. I watched the Dukes of Hazzard. I never watched the series (in fact, I had never heard of the series until after I had watched the film!), so I might be unfair when I say I thought it was awful. I did not enjoy it. A whole group of us went and only two of us disliked it. She turned to me and said, "Don't worry, we can sit here and think about our superiority!". I replied, "I don't need to pay to think about my own superiority, though!!!".

I did buy Housesitter on DVD recently and that film I can NOT stop watching! Nearly every night before going to bed. I love it, love it, love it.

I seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I liked it. My husband said that is based on the book. More than Willie Wonka was. I just like the ompa lumpa's.


I have not seen the Dukes Of Hazzard Movie. But my son has. He said that it is not as good as the Series. I use to watch it all the time. It was a good TV show.

I saw In Good Company with Dennis Quad- I liked it.. I also saw collateral with Tom Cruise, it was ok...


Slainte

I want to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but Gene Wilder criticised it so I am a little anxious. It also appears to me that Tom Cruise films are going a bit down hill!!!

I watched Bringing Down The House with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah last night. Amazing film. I love both Martin and Latifah. One of my best friends is a lot like Charlene (Latifah's character). I love that sort of "Don't-go-there-girlfriend" attitude.

You know, this is a real minority opinion, but I'll throw it out anyway.

I did not like it, though it seems to have made a real hit. (I did not see the earlier film with Wilder, so I can't compare them.) I do compare it with the book, and there is something added that I think takes away from the magic. Children's literature has these fantasy figures that are magical, and their origins are a little mysterious. This leaves the child room to project what he wants to on this figure, for his own developmental needs of the moment. The Willy Wonka figure in the book is nutty, whimsical, a rule breaker, terribly honest, and very magical. And mysterious.

This Tim Burton version puts in a whole subplot that the book does not have at all, that I found really intrusive. This is the attempt to explain what made Willy Wonka the way he is -- an overly controlling dentist father (played by Christopher Lee, wonderfully, so it's too bad it hurts the film so much) who hates candy and won't let his son have any (the boy Willy is all tied up in a really bizarre torture device that's supposed to straighten his teeth). Worse yet, the father and son have a reconciliation at the end of the film, and Willy Wonka ends up becoming a somewhat infantilized honorary son of the Bucket family, like the poor maladjusted weirdo the father-hangup suggests he must be. Incredible shrink-ological overkill - what WERE they thinking? And the critics all burbling about how DARK it is, just like Roald Dahl . . . it was dark, all right, but more because it was muddy with unnecessary issues.

Poor Johnny Depp did his best with it. They all did -- the Hightower kid is brilliant, and he played brilliantly with Depp in Finding Neverland, so the chemistry should have been there except for the screwed-up internal hostility Depp had to try and project -- and the CG is very intriguing and all, it's beautiful to look at. But this intrusion on the fantasy of the story robs the whole thing blind. Willy Wonka is a chocolate good fairy godfather who tests all the children to find the worthy one, like the three trials in a classic fairy tale. This is a fantasy figure, an archetype. Exploring the origins of his candy obsession (I mean, really. . . ) completely takes all the magic out and hamstrings the power.

Well -- IMHO, as they say.

Just finished watching "Gods & Generals"....at Fredricksburg, behind the stone wall, they showed (and named in the caption) Tom Cobb's Georgia Legion...somehere along that line under that Georgia flag was the Clarke County Rifles...and somewhere among them, my great great grandfather...it was (and still is) a very, very strange feeling.

I finally sit down and watched The Phantom of the Opera. I bought the DVD when it first came out and hadn't taken the time to watch it. It was great and of course at the end I cried! Poor Phantom! Poor Phantom that was played by Gerard Butler! He is yummy!

maggiemahone1

The last film I saw was "Entre ses mains" (Between his hands), by Anne Fontaine.

I loved this film that explored the thin frontier between love and fear in a romantic thriller. Having dreamed of a dance career, 30-year-old Claire is dissatisfied with her life as a mother, wife, and insurance agent in the quiet town of Lille, France. All that changes when she meets Laurent?veterinarian by day, womanizer and possible lady killer by night. While most women in town are living in fear due to a man who has been seducing and killing women, Claire has never felt so alive. Faced with the reality that her dark side can no longer stay hidden, Claire soon sees there is no turning back (I borrowed this very good synopsis, couldn't have said better, on the official site of the 41th Chicago International Film Festival ).

I have been watching several movies lately.......all of them old by now:

Cheaper By the Dozen........nice family and cute movie

Envy..........Ben Stiller and Jack Black.........hilarious

Starsky and Hutch...............funny too

Once Upon a Time in Mexico...........dumb, with the exception of Johnny Depp! Yummy!

Sideways..........my favorite.. very good and hilarious!

The Accidental Tourist...............sad but good movie.

The last movie my wife and I saw was Serenity. It was a very well written film. It is not that often you get good science fiction in the media. On the DVD scene, we found Rob Roy and Final Countdown for $9 each.

Just bought the DVD of Kingdom of Heaven.

Me too! Haven't had a chance to see it. I am sure there's lots I don't remember..I also heard today on the radio- Good fellas is the #1 movie of all time. I never saw it..what did all of you thing of it..?


Slainte

" The Kingdom of Heaven" is excellent . A great cast of characters. Particularly the actor who played the part of Saladin . I will add that one to the my favorite flicks .