Movie Talk

DaveSchmidt said:

I’ll take Buster.

 That one's not good either.

drummerboy said:

Does anyone else need to watch Planes, Trains and Automobiles every time it's on?

 Yes and if I catch it in the middle I immediately look for the next showing.  I love John Candy. People get upset when a favorite musician dies, for me, it's the comics.

more lists for you list lovers - the top ten in various genres

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_10_Top_10

I'm currently watching The Hustler, number 6 in the sports movie genre.

I've seen this a few times in the last few months - I never really appreciated it before.  Much more complex than I originally thought.

more, more lists

Esquire's top 100 movies.

Looks like it's not in order, which is good.

Also, I can't find Boyhood on it, so that's already a plus.

However, Roma is.

Oh well.

https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/g226/best-movies-ever-0609

Interesting.  Some weird choices.  Is The Warriors really an all time great movie?  It's silly trashy fun in a midnight movie kind of way.  The acting is terrible.  

yeah, I can think of another 100 movies better than Warriors.

Or Roma.

There are a number of good movies on there that are not within a stones throw of top 100, which is a pretty small number for "best of all time".  I don't think even the best of the superhero movies, say Black Panther, comes close to top 100 consideration.  There are probably 20 or 30 comedies I'd list before I got to Mean Girls or Caddyshack.  

On the other hand, was happy to see some of my favorites that that are not among the usual suspects on these lists.  Glory may be my favorite war movie ever.   That it manages to be rousing in a conventional war movie way while being a pretty unflinching look at the brutal racism of the time makes it especially worthy and ripe for viewing now if you haven't seen it.

I think The Warriors is one of those films that isn’t good by itself but inspired many to want to make movies. It’s super quotable, has a instantly recognizable cinematography mise-en-scene, and it withstands repeat viewings. On top of that the set up and plot is so simple. It’s story boiled down to a paste.

But, you know, YMMV

The Warriors is fun, cult-worthy in a way.  A good friend and I quote it or make references to it occasionally. Yet its not in the top 500 let alone top 100 movies of all time.  It is one of those movies that I tend to stick with when I stumble on it while channel surfing but I do so as much for the filmed on location gritty 70s NY aspect of it - cruddy menacing subway stations, Coney Island at its decrepit worst - than for the true quality of the movie.

ridski said:

I think The Warriors is one of those films that isn’t good by itself but inspired many to want to make movies. It’s super quotable, has a instantly recognizable cinematography mise-en-scene, and it withstands repeat viewings. On top of that the set up and plot is so simple. It’s story boiled down to a paste.

But, you know, YMMV

I agree with all of that. And it definitely deserves mentions when talking about the history of cinema.

Whether that makes it a "best" or not is another story. I mean, you gotta have some standards.

ETA: I'd put First Blood, which is also on the list, in that same category,

drummerboy said:

I agree with all of that. And it definitely deserves mentions when talking about the history of cinema.

Whether that makes it a "best" or not is another story. I mean, you gotta have some standards.

ETA: I'd put First Blood, which is also on the list, in that same category,

 Agreed. Except for the standards part. 

1917 is OnDemand with ShowTime at the moment.  Great movie!  

The American President (Michael Douglas, Annette Bening) is like a prequel to The West Wing.

ETA: what I suspected. Aaron Sorkin - Writer.

Sneakers is the best movie with the worst title.

Watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind tonight with my kids. It was a bit sad but pretty clever and interesting. 

ETA: we watched The Lobster last week. Sheesh. Some weirdness there. 

Hoe many times can they air My Cousin Vinny and Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

I mean, I love both, but this is a bit much.

drummerboy said:

Hoe many times can they air My Cousin Vinny and Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

I mean, I love both, but this is a bit much.

 I feel the same way about "Sweet Home Alabama", "Overboard", and "Failure to Launch".  Is there anyone who wants to see these movies who hasn't seen them 10 times already???

We need a list of "Most Aired Movies" 

Shawshank Redemption has been on 1,000.000 times. I still watch parts of it.

A Few Good Men - Watch it every time.

Overboard (Goldie Hawn version) is a fav of mine too, as is AFGM and TSR. Will watch all or part when they're on.

We're the Millers is one I've come to like which is aired often.

Apart from being popular, maybe these movies have cheap syndication deals? (syndication? whatever.)

I came across this article the other day:

https://www.purewow.com/entertainment/triple-9-netflix

And I gave it a shot and really enjoyed the ride!  Great cast.

To summarize, Triple 9 follows a gang of criminals and corrupt cops as they plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet. Winslet plays ruthless gangster Irina Vlaslov, who, after realizing she’s unhappy with her men’s first attempt at a bank heist, sends them to pull off a much tougher job. The official synopsis reads, “A group of dirty Atlanta cops blackmailed by the Russian mob plan a seemingly impossible heist that sets off an explosive chain reaction of violence.” And we’d say explosive is the perfect word to describe this movie.

Aside from Winslet, the drama-thriller also stars Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Woody Harrelson (Zombieland), Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave), Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) and Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies).

This morning was the first sighting of It's a Wonderful Life. USA network. Ugh. Probably has commercials. Lots of them.

Good interview with Coppola

drummerboy said:

This morning was the first sighting of It's a Wonderful Life. USA network. Ugh. Probably has commercials. Lots of them.

 Saw a glimpse of it the other day. Thought you would appreciate this meme.

now, this looks cool. Can't wait!

The BeeGees documentary on HBO is pretty good.

yeah, I saw that and liked it a lot too. Big fan of the Bee Gees. So much more influential then they're given credit for.

watching Rocky for, I guess, the 78th time.

I have to say that the final fight is really exceptional among sports movie climaxes. And Stallone does such a good job of boxing like an unsophisticated, ungainly club fighter. Half the time he looks like he's gonna trip over his own feet.

And the sound editor (or whoever it was) deserves special kudos for the chiming bell at the end of the 3rd round indicating this would be a long fight. Just perfect.

Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (on Netflix) is exceptional.  August Wilson wrote the play based upon the real Ma Rainey, who is called the "Mother of the Blues."  Viola Davis put on a lot of weight to play the role (she got to 200 lbs. -the real Ma Rainey was 300 lbs.) and she will definitely get an Oscar. This was Chadwick Boseman's last movie and it was tough watching it knowing that he knew he had cancer while he was making it. He will get an Oscar too. We're big fans of August Wilson and the screen adaptation was done by Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who has directed several of August Wilson's plays at Two Rivers Theater in Red Bank. 

Last night watched “The Nest” on Prime. ($3.99). With Jude Law. Excellent. ***

If you have a Brit in your life, add a star. If you’ve taken horse-riding lessons, add a star.

Saw Wonder Woman 1984 - so lame.  The new Clooney one, The Midnight Sky, was pretty bad also.