Last Movie You Watched

[Brian]

Dhoom: 3, new and now playing in a Bollywood movie theatre near you - and the highest-grossing Bollywood movie of all time.

Dhoom: 3 was probably the worst movie I've seen in the past year, but it's also by far my favorite. I haven't had so much fun in a theatre since a midnight screening of Black Dynamite. Here's my full write-up on the movie and here's an excerpt:

"If you are shameless, that means you know you could have been ashamed, potentially. Dhoom: 3 does not even know shame exists. It is a weird sort of innocent: it wants to be entertaining and fun and thrilling, and as long as it is, who cares about everything else?

"That sincerity is one thing that makes the movie so fun. Another great thing is the desire to have every possible entertainment on the screen, from a bank robber running down the facade of the bank building in slow-motion to our hero getting tied to railroad tracks at an amusement park. There is a transformer that can change from a motorcycle to a jet-ski. There are bank heists. There's a guy looking out a penthouse apartment window over an entire city, plotting revenge. There's a beautiful woman auditioning for a dancing role by stripping. If you don't have fun watching Dhoom: 3, I'm not sure I can trust you."



---

In a half hour I'm going to go see the new film Her.

[Bogey]

Dhoom: 3, new and now playing in a Bollywood movie theatre near you - and the highest-grossing Bollywood movie of all time.

Dhoom: 3 was probably the worst movie I've seen in the past year, but it's also by far my favorite. I haven't had so much fun in a theatre since a midnight screening of Black Dynamite. Here's my full write-up on the movie and here's an excerpt:

"If you are shameless, that means you know you could have been ashamed, potentially. Dhoom: 3 does not even know shame exists. It is a weird sort of innocent: it wants to be entertaining and fun and thrilling, and as long as it is, who cares about everything else?

"That sincerity is one thing that makes the movie so fun. Another great thing is the desire to have every possible entertainment on the screen, from a bank robber running down the facade of the bank building in slow-motion to our hero getting tied to railroad tracks at an amusement park. There is a transformer that can change from a motorcycle to a jet-ski. There are bank heists. There's a guy looking out a penthouse apartment window over an entire city, plotting revenge. There's a beautiful woman auditioning for a dancing role by stripping. If you don't have fun watching Dhoom: 3, I'm not sure I can trust you."



---

In a half hour I'm going to go see the new film Her.

Long live Edward D. Wood Jr!

[Brian]

Long live Edward D. Wood Jr!

Yes! Imagine if Edward D. Wood Jr had a huge budget, and imagine that he was able to secure professional-level acting and camera work, but with the same marvelous bad taste in stories, action, etc.

As it happens, watching Dhoom: 3 and Her back-to-back was edifying not just because they are complete opposites, but because they are my two favorite movies of 2013.

[George]

Been watching this DVD set this weekend:

[asin]B002KQ6UDS[/asin]

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

As it happens, watching Dhoom: 3 and Her back-to-back was edifying not just because they are complete opposites, but because they are my two favorite movies of 2013.

I've gotta see Dhoom: 3. The idea of a Chicago apartment with a view of a mountain range is too funny to miss!

[bhodges]

Have heard from others about Dhoom: 3 and sounds like a lot of over-the-top fun. And speaking of over-the-top fun, I saw this again:

Aliens (1986, dir. James Cameron) - Still one of the most entertaining action thrillers ever. Though I'm more aware of some of the film's flaws now, it holds up remarkably well. Lately I'm very conscious of films done before the Internet, or pre-cellphones and other recent technology, and it's quite remarkable that here you often don't notice, and that the 1980s tech aspects hold up as well as they do.

I like James Horner's score most of the time - a lot - except when the obvious military snare drum motifs pound away. The cast is quite good, including Sigourney Weaver as the female-warrior-to-end-all-female-warriors (she received a Best Actress nomination, which I'd forgotten - unusual for this type of film), and I like Lance Henriksen as a highly sophisticated robot. And as the little girl Newt, Carrie Henn isn't nearly as annoying as say, Dakota Fanning in Spielberg's remake of War of the Worlds (2005). 

The film won two well-deserved Oscars, for sound editing and visual effects. I would give it an award for "Most Ratcheted-Up Tension" - it's a real nail-biter.

[asin]B00000ILDE[/asin]

--Bruce

[Cato]

I've gotta see Dhoom: 3. The idea of a Chicago apartment with a view of a mountain range is too funny to miss!

In Jackie Chan's epic of silliness Rumble in the Bronx one can see (occasionally) the Cascade Mountains... because the movie was shot in Vancouver, not the Bronx!   

[lisa needs braces]

I saw The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp in 2008 and was quite stunned by it. There were two things going in it -- the war message, i.e, Britian is dealing with an especially nasty enemy and is forced to fight fire with fire -- and the story of Blimp's long military career, which is tied to the former point as Blimp ages into someone who can't understand the ruthelessness of the Nazis. The film opens and comes back to a military drill set in the present (i.e, 1942) that drives home the point that Britian needs to fight nasty. But beyond the war message, the film is funny, very engaging, and touching (especially friendship between Blimp and the Anton Walbrook character.)

The scope of the film is stunning as is the writing and performances from the three principal actors.

That blu-ray looks great.

[lisa needs braces]

These images are great:






I'm not sure if the first image is a still from the film or merely a photograph of the Anton Walbrook character.

[SonicMan46]

Well, Susan is reviewing my 'burned' DVD collection (about 700 discs) - all from the TCM channel over a half dozen years at least - last night:

Bad & the Beautiful (1952) w/ Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, and many others.

The Blue Dahlia (1946) w/ Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake - Dave

 

[North Star]

DIE HARD: WITH A VENGEANCE
Directed by John McTiernan

Bruce Willis                ...    John McClane
Jeremy Irons             ...    Simon Gruber, brother of Hans, the villain of the first DH movie, played by Alan Rickman
Samuel L. Jackson     ...    Zeus Carver
Graham Greene         ...    Joe Lambert
Larry Bryggman         ...    Insp. Walter Cobb
Sam Phillips               ...    Katya

Stellar acting, especially from Irons & Jackson, and excellent visuals (the music isn't bad, either), the ending could have been better, but this is good fun.

[lisa needs braces]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Game of Thrones season 4 trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZY43QSx3Fk

""They have a choice: they can live in my new world or they can die in their old one."

Good use of a song as always.

[Karl Henning]

For but the second time: Marnie. I think this an excellent movie, and a gripping story. Furthermore, 'Tippi' Hedren here has a role which gives her scope for genuine acting (unlike The Birds, in which she is little more than a potential victim for 90 minutes). And obviously, the character of Mark Rutland is an actually dramatic role; it isn't that James Bond demanded nothing of Connery, but that role's demands are much narrower.

[Bogey]

First three seasons....loved it!

[Jaakko Keskinen]

the ending could have been better, but this is good fun.

If you are referring to how unclimactic was the way how Simon was disposed of in the end, the original ending was quite different but it was removed because they thought McClane was acting too cold-blooded in that scene. It also helps that Simon is easily the most humane and likable Die Hard villain (you can argue Hans is more likable although probably not as humane). Die hard with vengeance is my favorite Die Hard movie, even better than the original.

[Todd]

Finished up season three of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.  A couple episodes were kind of weak, but most were outstanding, and all produced at least a half dozen guffaws.  The dance contest season closer was hilarious.  This show was meant for binge watching.

[Bogey]

Taking in a little Saturday Afternoon cinema.  The ONLY Mighty Joe Young from 1949:



and the one and ONLY Ray Harryhausen:

[SonicMan46]

Taking in a little Saturday Afternoon cinema.  The ONLY Mighty Joe Young from 1949:

 

Hi Bill - well I own both versions on DVD - just watched the Disney one from 1998 w/ Paxton & Theron; kind of like their chemistry together and also some of the humor in the second one (which had to be there to hold one's interest) - BUT for me the original King Kong (1933) is still my 'to go to' BIG APE movie; plus, I just bought the Blu-ray release - superbly redone w/ a few reservations; excellent review HERE, if interested.  Dave

[Bogey]

Hi Bill - well I own both versions on DVD - just watched the Disney one from 1998 w/ Paxton & Theron; kind of like their chemistry together and also some of the humor in the second one (which had to be there to hold one's interest) - BUT for me the original King Kong (1933) is still my 'to go to' BIG APE movie; plus, I just bought the Blu-ray release - superbly redone w/ a few reservations; excellent review HERE, if interested.  Dave

I was about to upgrade my copy of Kong, Dave.  What are your reservations?

[Karl Henning]

Last night, and this time with the missus: Marnie.  And she likes it, too.