What are you watching now? - Page 59

Cell · January 29th 09, 17:04

A small batch this time, very small in fact,

My Darling Clementine (1946)
http://billsmovieemporium.wordpress....ementine-1946/

Solid Western, I loved it's small and insular tone. The showdown was a letdown however, and I wish the two women weren't such shallow caricatures. But, stellar performance from Fonda along with two very good turns by Victor Mature and Walter Brennan. Like any Ford Western this also looked great and sounded excellent. I wouldn't put this in the same league as Fort Apache, but it's only a few shades below Stagecoach.

Gaslight (1944)
http://billsmovieemporium.wordpress....gaslight-1944/

This had the tremendous look and atmosphere that noirs are known for, along with some choice acting from Angela Lansbury and Charles Boyer. That all added up to a fun movie, but Ingrid Bergman went too far into "ACTING" mode, the film came across a little too Hollywood for my tastes and the story was painfully weak and didn't make much sense when you stopped to think about it for longer than a second.

Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (1966)
http://billsmovieemporium.wordpress....-cattivo-1966/

Hey, hey, hey, it's time for my 100th review and my faithful, possibly narcoleptic, readers have spoken, and Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo (The good, The Bad And The Ugly) it is. This was my first exposure to the Spaghetti Western, and what an exposure it was. As simple of a movie as you will find, but easily the greatest Western Spaghetti or otherwise, I have ever seen. A score for the ages, Clint being Clint, a final showdown that movies dream of, awesome visuals, etc., etc.. Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo had everything that anyone could ever want in a movie, great stuff all around and thanks to anyone who voted for it. I do plan on getting to all the pictures that were in the final poll but lost as well, at some point.

GKarsEye · January 29th 09, 17:46

My single favorite movie of all time.

Alluveal · January 29th 09, 19:19

Oh yeah, I've seen the movie Dune, but I thought that was er... DeLaurentis? I know the director took his name off the film and it's one of those Alan Smithee deals.

Dune was ok for what it was. It's just not a story to tell in a movie (which is what they're trying to do again.) Probably jumping on the agenda bandwagon in order to get anti-iraq war propaganda out there for the masses to eat up and say, "Oooooo, this is just like IRAQ!"

Sindatur · January 29th 09, 19:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alluveal

Oh yeah, I've seen the movie Dune, but I thought that was er... DeLaurentis? I know the director took his name off the film and it's one of those Alan Smithee deals.

Dune was ok for what it was. It's just not a story to tell in a movie (which is what they're trying to do again.) Probably jumping on the agenda bandwagon in order to get anti-iraq war propaganda out there for the masses to eat up and say, "Oooooo, this is just like IRAQ!"

Disclaimer: I haven't read any of the Dune Books

I actually didn't enjoy the Kyle McLachlan Version of Dune at all, but, I really liked the SciFi Channel Remake Mini-series

Alluveal · January 29th 09, 19:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sindatur

Disclaimer: I haven't read any of the Dune Books

I actually didn't enjoy the Kyle McLachlan Version of Dune at all, but, I really liked the SciFi Channel Remake Mini-series

I liked the miniseries far far far better, even with the high school-play quality props and backdrops! =D

The story/characterizations were far better, imho, and they had a lot of time in which to let the story unfold.

I also liked the actor who played Muad'Dib in the miniseries (as well as the actress who played Chani.)

I'm so not a fan of Sean Young.

Jade Jaguar · February 1st 09, 03:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alluveal

Oh yeah, I've seen the movie Dune, but I thought that was er... DeLaurentis? I know the director took his name off the film and it's one of those Alan Smithee deals.

The "Alan Smithee" version of Dune is an awful piece of crap that has lots of stuff Lynch had nothing to do with added to make it longer. No one should ever watch it. It should be eliminated from the face of the Earth! Really!

Lynch left his name on his version, which surely must be available on DVD. If at some point in the future, you manage to banish that garbage version from your head, you might want to watch the original Lynch version. I think there is much to like about it, even though it is far from perfect. I liked Kyle, and Sting, among many others. It's biggest problem is the big battle scenes. If Lynch had had the good sense to employ a second unit director with the skills at such things that Lynch lacked, his version of Dune would probably have a much better reputation.

I have seen the miniseries. It's not bad. It doesn't have some of the imperfections of the Lynch version, and had plenty of time to tell the story. But it lacks the visceral impact, and the other-worldliness of the Lynch version. Sort of quality milk toast, versus Lynch's flawed gem.

Alluveal · February 2nd 09, 06:14

Eh. I have seen the longer version and it plodded at best, imho. I didn't feel that it stayed true enough to the Fremen, for one. I like Kyle too, and he was good in the role. The miniseries just had more beef, imho. I also liked Children of Dune in all its fantastic cheese (and there were some pretty great moments.)

Too bad God Emperor would never translate to film or mini-series. They'd be better off going right to Heretics and giving us the important parts of God Emperor in flashbacks or historical monologue/etc.

Jade Jaguar · February 2nd 09, 06:45

The Alan Smithee TV version is the longer version, at 190 minutes. Lynch's original release is 137m, so it plods quite a bit less. Both are available on DVD. Lynch shot 5 hours of film, because he wanted to make a 3+ hour film, but he never made such a cut. The TV version has lots of still paintings with V.O.s, and some scenes of Fremen with no blue eye color, because those scenes were cut before the FX were done. Again, the TV/longer version is excrement...

Alluveal · February 2nd 09, 06:49

Haha, well I didn't really get into either. I mean, for what it was, it was pretty damn impressive in a sense. I seriously can't get over the chop job they did with Chani, though. Sean Young freaks me out. I think I'm too biased against her (though I did like her in Bladerunner.)

Jade Jaguar · February 2nd 09, 07:11

Well, I didn't read the book, but one could tell much was glossed over quickly. Unavoidable in a single film, I suppose. Yeah, Sean IS pretty freaky, but that works in some roles, like a replicant.