Movies Anyone?

[webmaster]

Rented "Terry Jones: Medieval Lives" and found it informative and funny. Good stuff. In it he explodes common perceptions of what it was like to live during medieaval times.

Rented a flick produced by Sony, which wants to crack the Indian market. So it's not really a bollywood flick, per se. It's called Saawariya. Lots of magical moments interspersed with a few head scratching cultural disconnects. Overall charming and if you're adventurous about what you watch and don't mind reading subtitles, this is an interesting choice.

Watched Sleeping Beauty for the first time and I have to say I think it's Disney's finest in terms of being able to stand the test of time. Snow White and Pinocchio, as charming as they are, are still too scary for some kids and have too many disturbing and inappropriate images for children (Snow White menaced by a dagger/children smoking cigarettes, etc.). No such problem with Sleeping Beauty.

[JennyC]

Interesting the things we see in children's movies as adults that we don't see as children. I remember being most disturbed as a child by the dragon scene in Sleeping Beauty; the huntsman with the dagger in Snow White didn't distub me then, though now it's surely creepy. Do you think the smoking in Pinocchio is a problem? It was an example of him being bad, and he got donkey ears for it, right? Vague memories here; I probably haven't seen that movie since the 70s.

What do you think of the original Fantasia? And Cinderella?

(I can talk old movies with the best of them, but I don't see new ones at all.)

[webmaster]

I enjoyed Fantasia as a child. Found it alternately disturbing and boring as an adult. The whole Sorcerer's apprentice scene where Mickey is homocidally chasing the broom around and they show the broom's head getting split by the ax is way beyond what any child should be exposed to, imo.

Cinderella is pretty benign. As I recall, there weren't any truly scary scenes and the most violent it became was the king menacing the duke with his sword. My daughter is a big fan of Cinderella and it seems pretty gentle. The songs are outstanding, too.

My three (now going on four) year old daughter enjoys National Velvet, Wizard of Oz, musicals with memorable songs- she flipped when she first saw parts of the The Music Man.

Speaking of old movies, The Black Legion was recently released on DVD so I rented it off NetFlix. It's a fine movie, powerful, especially if you enjoy watching Humphrey Bogart. He's pretty young in this flick, not yet famous, I think.

[opabinia51]

Speaking of children's movies, I really enjoyed watching the Incredibles with a little friend of mine a few years ago. It's amazing the things that adults pick up from movies that children miss.

[Chris McN]

I could never watch Bambi....

Cinderella was my girl when I was a kid, but 101 Dalmatians is my all time favorite children's movie (animated version, although I think Glenn Close's Cruella is a hoot)

When my oldest daughter (now on the cusp of 19) was growing up we were hooked on all of the Disney "princesses." I made all of her halloween costumes--Ariel, Jasmine, Esmerelda, Pocahontas. During the "Jasimine" phase, Kristen would wear the costume and the wig every day. I got so used to seeing her in the black wig that she started to look downright unnatural in her natural blonde hair!

I just came across this interesting website:
http://animatedheroines.com/
I'd forgotten about some of these great Disney female characters...

I recently saw ENCHANTED--Amy Adams is THE perfect princess!

[wingdesigner]

Movie reveiws--oh dear. There is a serious popcorn jones in this house and you may just have unleashed a monster. Saturday night is date night (when the spousal unit isn't working), are you up for weekly (almost) reviews? Or is this thread for oldies, like I've seen already?

[webmaster]

Weekly reviews would be great.

I'm in the middle of watching a new Jet Li/Andy Lau flick called Warlords. Jet Li won best actor award for this movie at the HK Film Awards last April. It's not out in the U.S. yet I think, so I had to buy it off eBay from an HK seller.

It's a war movie set in China a few centuries ago, chronicling the rise to power of three men and how their relationship changes as it grows more complex. So far so good.

[JPlovesflowers]

This doesn't fit the style already mentioned, but we just saw "August Rush" and it was wonderful. If you are a musician, you must watch it without your "musician's eyes". If not, it will drive you crazy...the most delightful film I've seen in many years.
JP

[Irie]

August Rush was an absolutely wonderful movie - I had to watch it twice! We watch a lot of movies and it is always great to see one that leaves you feeling good.

[Charlie MV]

nice guy.

[wingdesigner]

I must admit, when the first installment came out, I went with some trepidation. I had heard that C.S. Lewis was opposed to a movie being made of any of his works, because the animation and technology was so primitive and he didn't want a cartoon made of them. I think he would have been pleased with the first one, especially. I came away pleased with the script and jaw-dropping FX. Casting Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, and the voice casting of Liam Neeson as Aslan, along with the voice casting of some of the other characters was spot-on. It's been a while since I've read the Chronicles, and of course I can't find my copies now, but the sequel didn't seem to measure up. The FX were still astounding, the water looked like water, etc., but the storyline--well, it didn't seem to have the continuity of the first. It seemed rushed. That's not to say it wasn't worth the popcorn and admission prices; it was good entertainment. Just not exactly what I hoped for/expected. If they pick up the third book, I hope they do better with the screenplay/script.

[wingdesigner]

Storyline sooo ripped off from a Stargate SG-1 episode! If one is a huge Indy fan and doesn't care for content, then the movie is a rollicking good time. It was fun to see Karen Allen and Harrison Ford's chemistry kick in; for this writer it was the best part of the movie. Shia LeBeouf didn't do it for me--I miss River Phoenix. He had the young Indy down pat and would have been perfect in the part as his son. There were some good wisecracks and sfx, but the directing was uneven as was the storyline, editing and continuity choppy with some things left dangling. The final scene visual efx were disappointing for a director who has the entire universe of ILM at his disposal. The camera work for the stunts and miniatures were, however, quite convincing. One wonders why Cate Blanchett agreed to this role, however. Guess I was hoping for better.

[wingdesigner]

First half was slow, lots of sight gags. Second half really tackled some touchy issues, carefully over-farced (I made that up) to avoid offense. But, we were impressed with the subject matter and that Adam Sandler had the courage to tackle it. Noticed in the pre-release interviews he and the interviewer carefully avoided any mention that there was a serious topic involved in this movie. Hmm. We're not a big fan of teen boy locker room sight gags, and much preferred his performance in "Click", but overall, we appreciated the underlying message. That's all we can say w/out spoiling.

[collegechic]

Disney movies... Perhaps it's because I live in Orlando, grew up right next to the "magic" of Disney, aka Tourists, traffic, over priced areas. That I am now so disenfranchised by it. However I think the movies are alright for entertainment value, but they're nothing special. Almost all of Disney's "classic" movies were originally from the Grimm's collection of Fairy Tales. Which, incidentally, aren't original to the brothers even. They were a collection of folklore as to not lose the German culture during the crusades and the advent of Christianity, as well as when towns were becoming more distant. As far as Disney's portrayal, well I have an issue with that too. The stories at the time had to deal with teaching lessons to the family. Snow White for example, and others, taught about being good to your kids. In a time where it wasn't completely abnormal for parents to go out into the woods and leave their children due to hassle. But in the original Grimm version Snow White is less than innocent, you'll see at the end. The prince is kind of, creepy. And the evil lady is not a step-mother, but a mother. The disney movies weren't originally even marketed to children, but to adults, at least the really old movies. Not to mention the underling themes of witches are evil, step-mothers are bad, beauty is everything, it is okay to kill the evil or those less than human, and the emphasis on gender roles, the movies can create an interesting topic for discussion on their emphasis on a child's development. (Says the girl who watched them growing up. )

But, now that I've made myself out to be a wordy, hippie, liberal, feminist I do think the disney movies were a triumph for animation in America, and do have a fun entertainment value.

Onto other, more recent, movie reviews for everyone:

Don't mess with the Zohan - It's okay, a little long but some good laugh out loud moments. I wouldn't recommend paying 20 bucks for popcorn, you and your sweeties tickets, but when it comes out on DVD it'd be a good mindless movie to rent.

Kung Fu Panda - Very funny, and a great movie, I'd see it twice. Fun for the whole family.

The Happening - I haven't seen it, because I've heard it's a total waste of your life. Everyone walking out of the theatre was saying "I told you we should have seen something else." Has anyone here seen it and has an opinion? My boyfriend really wanted to see it, but we're holding off in light of reviews.

Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Okay, so I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone who has yet to see it, but it's not your typical Indiana - a bit more sci-fi. But that's Lucas and Speilburg for you. It's a good movie, won't make you all warm and fuzzy inside like the old ones do, but I'd still recommend seeing it.

Iron man - Amazing, a very good and worthwhile movie. I went in expecting to be disappointed and was entertained and pleasantly impressed.


And that's all the movies I've seen. It's a lazy Sunday morning, and all I want to do is putz around on this forum

[wingdesigner]

Forgettable. Script was weak, casting looked like second choice except for the title character and supporting female lead. Full frontal male nudity--definitely earned it's R rating. Gratuituous (sp) use of ex-gang member, lots of unexplained bits, and oh yeah, several scenes where one can actually SEE the boom mike! Hellow! Looked like they wanted Will Ferrell and Hal Sparks or that guy from Kids in the Hall, but got some lookalikes instead because the first choices probably rejected the script. Well, it was at the cheapie movie house w/the great popcorn, and we were able to salvage date night this weekend, so all was not lost. There were some cute moments, a few laughs; but the Hawaiian sunrises and sunsets stole the show. Brought back some great memories.