Movies

[juju]

Well, I absolutely loved Sixth Sense, just about as much as I loved Vanilla Sky. And for the same reason, too -- I love movies that fuck with your head. I love movies that aren't afraid to change genre mid-film, just for the hell of it (a la Psycho). I love movies where the character realizes his own reality and everything he thought was real was all a lie. I love movies where when you walk out of the theater, you say to yourself, "What in the <i>hell</i> just happened to me?"

But that's just me. :]

Hmm...perhaps I should now think of a movie I don't like. Anyway, I say, "more movies that fuck with your head, please."

[Whit]

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I liked the Sixth Sense, and it never even occured to me that Willis was alive. I knew the movie was about a kid who saw dead people and made the assumption in the beginning. The movie was good anyway. The story was far more important than the surprise, and only partialy connected. Willis's redemption was the same living or dead.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The matrix... Um, I liked it the first time, have no intention of ever watching it again. It doesn't hold up in my memory, I can't imagine it'll hold up in reality. Enjoy at the moment and move on. That's all it was to me. By the by, the best fight scene in the movie was the first one, with the chic. Good stuff.

Originally posted by sycamore


But you're skittish of movies featuring Tom Cruise b/c of the Scientology thing?

Allow me to clarify:

I would rather not spend money to see a movie that Tom Cruise is in, because he always gets a cut of the gross, percentage wise. Some of this money goes to Scientology, which is a cult, most definitely not a religion. I would rather that my money not fund that cult, so I try not to purchase his movies or pay to see them. If it's on HBO, word. I'll watch it. If someone else buys it, I'll watch it. Know what? I'll probably enjoy it. But I don't want my dollar going to Scientology.

P.S. - I avoid Travolta movies too, but for a different reason - I find him to be an awful actor, and he irritates the fucking hell out of me on-screen. I, of course, avoid paying money to see them (the whole Scientology thing), but I try not to watch them on HBO or anything either. So there are two good reasons to stay away from Travolta movies.

(Notable exception: Pulp Fiction - when he's pushed hard enough, he can less-than-suck)

[juju]

Off-topic, but speaking of cults...

Christianity branwashes you just as much as Scientology does. Both religions are full of freaking wackos. In addition, my life experience has brought me to believe that a number of corporations use the exact same brainwashing techniques. I found out that there is a book called "Corporate Cults". I really need to read it, I think... to put into words what I already vaguely sense.

Believing in anything to the degree that many Christians, Jews, Muslims, Scientologists and other cults do is not only self-limiting, but dangerous. One really needs to keep an open mind, and devout religion almost always forces it closed.

[russotto]

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings and its two sequels were all shot at once. Anyone not going to see it on principle because of that?

[warch]

I'll go see it, and actually I like that the trilogy is all shot, on principle- there is a wholistic quality- rather than using the popular response/reaction to dictate the content of the sequel- such as which breakout character will the action surround...

[Chewbaccus]

Originally posted by dhamsaic
At least give the movie a chance and watch the entire thing.

You know what, you're right. I did. A friend rented it (against my advice), and asked me to come over. Well, never one to resist the opportunity to laugh, point, and yell "I Told You So!", I went. I stayed awake through the entire movie and here are the following conclusions I reached:

1) If the role doesn't involve some sort of violence or explosion (or best possible, a violent explosion), Willis is lost as an actor.

2) The kid getting an Oscar nod made me doubt my faith in God. (ooh, a rhyme)

3) I was completely justified in sitting on my friend's head until he reimbursed me for the gas I burned going over to his house.

So ends the saga.

~mike

[vsp]

Big Trouble in Little China: I bought the DVD a month or two ago. Classic cheese.

Empire Strikes Back: Sorry if I pissed in someone's teakettle by not immediately recognizing this movie's genius, but that's because I haven't personally seen the movie (or any other Star Wars movie beyond the first). I know it's critically acclaimed as the best of the series, if that's any consolation.

From my (then-around-eleven-years-old) perspective, ESB appeared to be an excuse to crank out dozens and dozens of action figures and other paraphrenalia, and I didn't get why so many people were buying into it. Twenty years of perspective since then have allowed for the possibility that ESB was a good film on its own merits, but RotJ and CERTAINLY the new flicks are strictly merchandising vehicles. ESB just doesn't interest me, that's all, much less inspire me to go out and change my religion to "Jedi".

LotR: First off, I'm likely avoiding the movie on principle strictly because I enjoyed the books too much and I know I'd pick the movie apart. From what I've heard, it's a surprisingly faithful rendition, but it also gave Liv Tyler a big role and that's death in my book. ;) (If a zeppelin crashed into the Tyler household and took out the whole clan, I wouldn't weep. Aerosmith was a good band... in 1978... and I have yet to find evidence that anything beyond Liv's surname qualifies her for acting.)

The reason Tolkien's works were so great is the level of detail he used in creating his fantasy world, and large amounts of that will be inevitably lost in the translation to the big screen. Same thing happened with Herbert's Dune.

As for the sequels... part of me does like the idea that it's being thought of as a three-part project, but part of me does recoil at the "We know part 1 will be a hit, so we'll automatically crank out 2 and 3" mentality. The idea that they'd base the design of the sequels on "breakout characters" in the first film doesn't really apply here, IMHO -- it's based on a static work that's over 50 years old, not we'll-make-it-up-as-we-go-along like the Star Wars movies. They only have so much leeway to change things before the fanboys revolt.

Sixth Sense: Didn't impress me much, especially near the end. Unbreakable was crap, PARTICULARLY at the end. If M. Night didn't have to put endings on his movies, he'd be a helluva filmmaker. ;)

Religion: has its good points. Organized religion has its extremely bad points. Devotion to the latter (rather than the former) has destroyed more lives than anything else over the last two millennia. Scientology and organized Christianity have a lot more in common than most Christians want to admit -- largely because the two "religions" have more in common than the average practicing Christian's beliefs have with either of them.

Travolta: boring actor, had one solid role in a movie (PF) that cranked his career back into high gear, has generally gone back to sucking every since.

Willis: See Travolta, though I'll give him Die Hard as well (though that was more a creature of pacing and suspense than of acting skill).

Movies that fuck with your mind: I'll take Terry Gilliam's trilogy (Time Bandits, Brazil, Baron Munchausen) for $100, Alex.

Great stupid movie: Anything Troma has ever put out.

jeff. That oughta hold me for a while...

[juju]

Well, I just got back from watching "A Beautiful Mind'. Wow... what a ride. It's a trip.


**SPOILER**


I imagine many of you will find this movie boring. But, like I said before, I love movies that mess with your mind. Movies that make you question reality itself and your own perceptions are just freakin' cool.

So, anyway, this movie is about John Nash. He's this brilliant Mathematican who gets Schizophrenia. The way that this movie delivers on that is unique, so I won't go into the details of the movie so as not to spoil that part too much.

Can you imagine what it must be like to suddently realize that half the people you've known for like 10 years were all just in your head? Your best friend.. your boss.. your friend's daughter. Nope -- i'm sorry, you're a freakin' nutjob. These people don't exist, even though they're standing right there in front of you.
Your job never existed -- i'm sorry that was all in your head. We all look upon you with pity now -- because your senses lie to you.


I used to be heavy into witchcraft, many years ago. I have since then taken on a very logical approch to life and become agnostic. I believe in the scientific method now. I like to think that I now have high standards of proof.

But, because of that history of trying to actively exercise my mind, i am very good at imagining things. If I try, i can literally see anything I want to see, just by imagining it. I can tell it's not real, because I can see through it. But it's real enough to pick out the details.

Sometimes I involuntarily find myself imagining giant wasps or bees. It's really freaky, because they're as big as me. But I know i'm only imagining it so i just ignore it.

I would never be fooled by my imagination, because it doesn't look real. But it's still creepy.

Also, I think that I have a fairly good auditory memory. Sometimes, in order to remember a sequence of numbers, I will say them out-loud to myself. It's easier to remember the sound of me saying the numbers than it is to just remember the thought of the numbers. So, I just play back that audio of my voice over and over again. I can only hold it in my head for so long before it goes away, though.

But anyway, my point is that I could really see myself hearing voices. Now don't get me wrong, I don't. But i can imagine what someone's voice sounds like, and play back the audio in my head of them saying certain things and listen to it.

So, given something wrong going in in the brain, I could very easily see Schizophrenia happening. I can already hear and see things if i actively try..although it's definitely only pseudo-real and only if i'm trying. I imagine it only takes something very small going wrong in the brain for this to happen.

Anyway...heheh... now that you're all sure i'm certifiably crazy, let me just say i've never done any drugs. I don't even smoke cigarretes or drink alcohol. I have a strong belief in having control over ones own mind, and these things undermine my control. Most people don't understand that, but that's just how I feel.


So, I really identified with this movie. I'm pretty sure i'm not crazy, but I totally could see myself hearing voices and seeing things. It could happen.

[hertz]

Finally saw Amelie from Montmartre last night. More than an hour on the train because none of the multiplex cinemas will be showing it for a few weeks yet. <sigh>

This was a romantic movie. Not the schmaltzy "Meg Ryan / Tom Hanks" variety, though. It was exciting and tender and fun. Better than anything else I've seen these holidays.

Including FOTR. Yes, really. Don't get me wrong, Fellowship was an epic, and I'll be going again. But Amelie is just the kind of quirky, eccentric flick that I hang out for.

[jaguar]

Is a seriously fucking warped film, walked out of that felling really disturbed. good.

[Chewbaccus]

If anyone caught it last night, the American Film Institute was giving out its awards, and the Best Picture of 2001 went to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

If any of you have not seen this movie, do so urgently. This is one of those rare occurrences where a fantasy story is made into a movie and is not turned into a cheesy form of science-fiction. There is a lot of CGI, but it by no means takes over the the film, rather, it supports a fantastic cast. If it doesn't make a strong showing in the Oscars, I will have to hunt down the Academy.

~mike

[warch]

Amelie

I saw it this weekend and catch it if you can. Visually wonderful. It uses color and camera technique to express emotional states. very cool.
Very intimate. Follow with a bottle of red wine.