A thread for random thoughts about movies

[MeridianFC]

With a tip of the hat to the music thread. Let's throw down.

My first thought is someone owes me back 2 hours of my life for "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".

[Crimen y Castigo]

Charlton Heston in brownface playing a Mexican in Orson Welle's "Touch of Evil" has to be one of the most surreal casting decisions on film.

[La China Poblana]

Charlton Heston in brownface playing a Mexican in Orson Welle's "Touch of Evil" has to be one of the most surreal casting decisions on film.

Right next to Joel Grey being cast as a Korean in "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins"?

[KDdidit]

My first thought is someone owes me back 2 hours of my life for "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".Liked the graphic novel thingie of it, but the movie...hard to say which was a bigger waste of time, that or Van Helsing. I'll give it to LEG merely because I paid $8 to see it and only paid $2 for Van Helsing.

[nicodemus]

I thought Monster sucked and that Charlize Theron's performance was ludicrously overrated.

[MeridianFC]

Sometimes the blazing lines of three point lighting really works.

[Danks81]

I hope Clive Owen is the next Bond.

[Crimen y Castigo]

Just really wanted to share this:

From the Manohla Dargis' NYT's review of the new boffo expenditure known as "The Polar Express": (http://movies2.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/movies/10pola.html)

"...It's likely, I imagine, that most moviegoers will be more concerned by the eerie listlessness of those characters' faces and the grim vision of Santa Claus's North Pole compound, with interiors that look like a munitions factory and facades that seem conceived along the same oppressive lines as Coketown, the red-brick town of "machinery and tall chimneys" in Dickens's "Hard Times." Tots surely won't recognize that Santa's big entrance in front of the throngs of frenzied elves and awe-struck children directly evokes, however unconsciously, one of Hitler's Nuremberg rally entrances in Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will." But their parents may marvel that when Santa's big red sack of toys is hoisted from factory floor to sleigh it resembles nothing so much as an airborne scrotum...."



Ouch.

Merry Christmas!

[chad]

I still get angry when people tell me the ending of American Beauty wasn't complete garbage.

[Brainodo]

Right next to Joel Grey being cast as a Korean in "Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins"?

Or Olivier's Othello?

Or my personal fave, Ricardo Montalban in 'Cheyenne Autumn'. For some reason, I burst out laughing when I saw it. It just seemed incongruous with the bloke from Fantasy Island.
Sort of like seeing Leslie Nielsen in Forbidden Planet when you've only ever known him as Drebin or Dr. Rumack.

[CHICO13]

How is it no one recognizes "PeeWee's Big Adventure" for the Masterpiece it really is?

[Crimen y Castigo]

How is it no one recognizes "PeeWee's Big Adventure" for the Masterpiece it really is?

Who you callin 'Noone', Fool?

I pity the fool that don't recognize Pee Wee as a cinematic genius.
And kids: Don't Do Drugs and Stay in School! No jibba jabba!

[Claymore]

What ever happened to Bill Forsyth? Sure, "Being Human" sucked, but that didn't slow Robin Williams down at all.

[GringoTex]

I still get angry when people tell me the ending of American Beauty wasn't complete garbage.How about when people tell you the whole thing was garbage?

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[GringoTex]

What ever happened to Bill Forsyth? Sure, "Being Human" sucked, but that didn't slow Robin Williams down at all.


Devil's Rejects, The (2005) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395584/) .... Sheriff John Wydell

L.A. Riot Spectacular, The (2004) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388193/) .... George Holliday
Larva (2004) (TV) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393421/) .... Jacob
Last Letter, The (2004) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407937/) .... Mr. Griffith
Librarians, The (2003) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362820/) .... Agent Simon
Technical Writer, The (2003) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328515/) .... Joe
Destiny (2002/I) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319278/) .... Steel
"John Doe" (2002) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320038/) TV Series .... Digger
John Doe (2002) (TV) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332663/) .... Digger
City by the Sea (2002) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0269095/) .... Spyder
... aka Suspect, The (2003) (Philippines: English title)
Buying the Cow (2002) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218864/) (uncredited) .... Guy in bar
Run for the Money (2002) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248640/) .... Bo Young
... aka Hard Cash (2002) (USA: video title)
Coastlines (2002) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284971/) .... Fred Vance
Outlaw (2001) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0260261/)
"UC: Undercover" (2001) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280344/) TV Series .... Sonny Walker
Blue Hill Avenue (2001) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283952/) .... Det. Torrance
Camouflage (2001/I) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0150021/) .... Alton Owens
G-Men from Hell (2000) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221197/) .... Dean Crept
Luck of the Draw (2000) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207036/) .... Max Fenton
Civility (2000) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159396/) .... Andrew
... aka Malicious Intent (2000/II) (USA: video title)
18 Shades of Dust (1999) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119028/) .... Tommy Cucci
... aka Hitman's Journal (1999) (USA)
... aka Sicilian Code, The (1999) (USA: TV title)
Paradise Lost (1999) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180897/) .... Mike Stark
Last Marshal, The (1999) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168035/) .... DeClerc
Blue Streak (1999) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181316/) .... Hardcastle
... aka Diamanten-Cop, Der (1999) (Germany)
Four Days (1999) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0168805/) .... Milt
Big City Blues (1999/I) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165107/) .... Hudson

[DoctorJones24]

Noone has EVER missed the point of a movie more than the Pentagon brass did when they decided to show "Battle of Algiers" at the Pentagon as research for how they were going to "win" the Iraq occupation.

[Brainodo]

Is Ebert really that stupid/myopic/attention-deficient that he *really* thought Peter turned down Mary-Jane at the end of Spider-Man because he was gay?

[obie]

Sideways is "wine porn". Sadly, I didn't come with that line, the wine editor of Slate did. But it's true nonetheless.

[La China Poblana]

How is it no one recognizes "PeeWee's Big Adventure" for the Masterpiece it really is?
I second the "recognition" sentiment.

[GringoTex]

Noone has EVER missed the point of a movie more than the Pentagon brass did when they decided to show "Battle of Algiers" at the Pentagon as research for how they were going to "win" the Iraq occupation.
http://www.criterionco.com/content/images/full_boxshot/249_box_348x490.jpg

SPECIAL EDITION THREE-DISC SET FEATURES:

DISC 1: THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS

New high-definition digital transfer, enhanced for widescreen televisions
Production gallery
Theatrical and re-release trailers
New and improved English subtitle translation
DISC 2: PONTECORVO AND THE FILM

Gillo Pontecorvo: The Dictatorship of Truth (1992): a 37-minute documentary, narrated by literary critic Edward Said
Exclusive 51-minute documentary on the making of The Battle of Algiers, featuring new interviews with the director, cinematographer, composer, editor, actors, and film historians
Five Directors (17 mins., 2004): Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Julian Schnabel, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone on the film’s influence, style, and importance
DISC 3: THE FILM AND HISTORY


Remembering History (69 mins., 2004): an exclusive documentary that reconstructs the Algerian experience of the battle for independence, featuring interviews with historians and revolutionaries, including military leader Saadi Yacef
“États d’armes” (2002): a 28-minute documentary excerpt featuring senior French military officers recalling the use of torture and execution to combat the rebellion
The Battle of Algiers: A Case Study (25 mins., 2004): Richard A. Clarke, former national counterterrorism coordinator and author of Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror, discusses the film’s relevance with Michael A. Sheehan, former State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, in a conversation moderated by Christopher E. Isham, chief of investigative projects for ABC News
Gillo Pontecorvo’s Return to Algiers (58 mins., 1992): the filmmaker revisits the Algerian people after three decades of independence
PLUS: a 56-page book featuring excerpts from Saadi Yacef’s original account of his arrest, a reprinted excerpt from the film’s screenplay, a reprinted interview with co-writer Franco Solinas, a new essay by film scholar Peter Matthews, and biographical sketches on key figures in the French-Algerian War
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