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3:10 To Yuma (2007), directed by James Mangold, starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale. I haven't seen the original 1957 film - at least I don't remember seeing it - but this one had me internally grinning from very early on until the end. A thoroughly enjoyable modern Western, and the central dynamic of the main characters was fascinating.
It was also clear (from the relaxed, fun atmosphere in their interviews together) that the two actors had really enjoyed working together, and I hope they'll get to do it again.
Harsh Times (2005), written and directed by David Ayer, starring Christian Bale. I just finished watching this. I didn't expect to like it necessarily, but I sort of had to watch it because of David Ayer, and I wanted to watch it because of Bale. And bloody hell... I liked it a lot... more than Training Day (which sure wasn't bad, either).
Rhys Ifans, what a dedicated method actor! Imagine cutting off your right arm for a Spiderman movie! Bravo!
While i didn't like Beetlejuice, i actually thought that this Tim Burton movie was pretty good 7/10
Favourite. It looks fantastic on bluray.
Edit: silly me, I see they're onto X-Men Apocalypse...
I'm Not There - Ok, this one is weird. I assume that interest in and knowledge of Bob Dylan's life, career and music (none of which I have) would have been useful when watching this. Obviously with Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale and Heath Ledger in the cast I was interested in watching it at some point, and it was sorta interesting at times, but I found it hard to keep concentration and interest going all the way through, and at times I was just "wtf?"
The Heath tribute in the extras was lovely - short and sweet, not a word written or spoken, just Heath... said it all, really. I was in tears in about 30 seconds.
Batman And Robin - I only remembered it was bad, but... ugh. I admit I was tempted to get the damned disc out of the dvd player after the first embarrassingly awful 10 minutes or so, but I resisted the urge. I also held my finger off the forward button. I don't think I've watched anything this bad in years - maybe not since I saw this in theatre. I'll need to watch something decent later today, that's for sure.
I'm going to do the unenviable thing of defending Batman And Robin - in so far as humanly possible. ;-)
When I first watched B&R, I flat out rejected the movie like a pig's turd. Seeing my beloved characters from the Animated Series, especially the hot Ivy, so mishandled by the laughably bad script, I wanted to unzip, whip it out and go indecent on the video tape. (Yes, I'm that old.)
So for years I listed B&R as even a worse movie than the 1992 German horror film Zipperface, which had already traumatized me because of its pure badness. Then I re-discovered something I had watched as a kid: the Adam West series. I mainly re-watched that series and its feature film because of Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether, but also because of Cesar Romero and Burgess Meredith. I had such great fun with it, I actually learned to appreciate the campy Batman a little more. Reading close to a hundred Batman comics from the 50s, I got into the all-fun-no-darkness Batman still more. Thus, when the time came to watch B&R again - I'm a completist so I will watch Burton's Batman and sit down for the sequels too - I suddenly recognised the mission statement of Batman & Robin...
... You see, this film is not even intended as a sequel to the Burton Batman, at least not in tone, but as a tribute of sorts to the 60s Batman. People spit on Arnold but I applaud the man for getting the joke. Even Clooney made it obvious in the media that he had helped to make the most insulting thing since the MacMuffin. Granted, the fact that it goes back to the one era in Batman's history that most people prefer to forget, doesn't mean it's a quality product, but it had some cojones for doing it. And while I still think Uma wasn't by far hot enough as Ivy and Bane was an assault on the wonderful comic book arc of KnightFall, I can at least appreciate their guts to go for the monkey suit when everybody else envisioned Batman as a dark, brooding, menacing thing.
Lest I do a poor job explaining my feelings about the film; Batman And Robin stinks like a rotten egg. But there are times when it's okay to plug it in and relive the 60s Batman. They currently have a Batman 66 comic going and I'm quite fond of it, though obviously because it too is so deliciously campy. But just like I can dig Casino Royale '67 when my mind asks for two hours of unpaid vacation, Batman And Robin can get me to laugh, sometimes with the movie, often at the movie, but it makes me laugh a lot more than Batman Forever. Now there's a film I have a lot more trouble defending...
Great post :) I like B&R It's a great comedy .
I watch some people's work even when I think I may not like it - in a "this is maybe not not for me, but because so and so is involved, I will watch it" sort of way... and sometimes get surprised and like them (most recently Harsh Times, wow... absolutely loved it, and I'm still thinking about it). I'm a completist, too, and that's why I now watched Schumacher's films as well, even though I remembered I really, really didn't like them when I first saw them.
I know that seeing something when in the wrong mood for it or whatever doesn't really work, just like not any music suits any mood or situation, even if it's music I love. With movies I sometimes find myself thinking "I'll just need to watch this again some other time". (Btw, American Psycho is waiting... I saw it was funny the last time, it just didn't make me laugh then... saw some clips from it on YT recently when watching other stuff, and found them totally hilarious.) And good stuff just gets better when you see it more (similar situation with music again).
Sometimes - like with the Schumacher Batmans - I don't see any potential for me, personally, to enjoy a movie at a later date, either, but still re-watch for some reason. In this case after a considerable amount of time. I felt like I needed to see them because I didn't remember them at all, really, and felt like I needed to... not sure why I felt that was necessary, but I did. I'm not completist enough, though, to feel the need to familiarize with anything Batman-related just because it's Batman (the same with Bond etc.) So I guess I'm more compelled to watch any work by someone whose work I generally enjoy, than to watch anything involving a certain character.
I have no opinion about Uma being hot enough or not, I really wouldn't know. I do have opinions about the hotness (or lack of) of various Batmans, but ultimately that's not really an essential aspect in the movie (the same with Bonds, btw). I mean hotness is a nice bonus, but doesn't save a film, and lack of hotness won't destroy a film, either. Well, not unless it's something like Fifty Shades Of Grey, I suppose, which surely should have hotness to work at all, but apparently has none whatsoever judging by the trailer that I've been subjected to when going to see other films. Everything in Batman and Robin was completely fake to me (acting, humor, excitement), so if hotness was as well, that's to be expected.
I didn't find either Schumacher Batman funny at all, in any sense (absolutely no laughing from me, just cringing and wishing it would be all over soon), but for me Batman Forever wasn't quite so much hard work to even sit through. They certainly made me remember, very vividly, my pleasure and relief when first seeing Batman Begins. And the Batman and Robin Bane made me miss Tom Hardy like crazy. Clearly I'll need to watch that trio again, soon, damn... :))
I highly recommend this film. The charisma and star quality just oozes out of the screen in this Spike Lee joint.
Superb acting by all concerned, including the always brilliant Denzel Washington (why has he not been a Bond villain?), Clive Owen (could easily have been Bond imo), a superbly ambitious bitchy Jodie Foster, Chiwetel Ejiofor (also a Bond potential) and of course the incomparable Christopher Plummer (if there is a man who could still be a Bond villain it's him).
I won't spoil it for you, but it's a bank heist with a twist. The movie is all about character's and characterizations, and is impressive for the fact that Owen does most of his acting behind a mask and with glasses on. Featuring a great Terence Blanchard score, it's truly a great little film (for those who like things like Get Shorty or Out of Sight - this is for you).
F***in' brilliance!
=))
I came across this gem. The 'Hey Baby' REMIX!!!
I don't usually laugh out loud at these sort of things, but when rave lights came on I lost it! It has a catchy tune too!!
It was a long flight, so followed that up with some more traditional in-flight popcorn. Defenders of the Galaxy was highly entertaining twaddle. I wanted to check out Bautista as well, who is actually pretty good in it. He plays it for laughs here, so I am hoping they up the menace a lot for Spectre.
Then saw Expendables 3, which does exactly what it says on the tin. Okay for what it is. What a shame Mel Gibson has basically made himself a bit of a lepper in Hollywood - he's a great movie star and sorely missed.
Agree on Mel. A+ star quality. Surely he pissed off the wrong crowd with his rant. Hell hath no fury it seems.
I just think Gibson is a really good old-school movie star - charisma, charm and screen presence in abundance. Russell Crowe is similar IMO and perhaps an even better actor.
Gibson is a good director as well. Though Apocalypto was excellent. Who else would have done something like that? He's a genuine talent.
have you seen "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" ? Odd title but actually very entertaining. Mel's on fine form.
I just think he shouldn't have to pay for this for the rest of his life. He did apologize, but as I said, he surely pissed off the wrong crowd. So much for free speech in that respect.
I mean look at the Ched Evans case recently. He's a convicted rapist because the woman (who was an adult, unlike the girl Polanski raped) was deemed to drunk for it to have counted as consensual. He went to prison, did his time and people are questioning whether he should be allowed to play football again. Roman Polanski got off scot free, he raped a 13 year old and ran off rather than face the consequences, and yet he's still allowed to win fucking Oscars. At least Chad Evans accepted his punishment. Roman Polanski ran off, continued to make millions and win Oscars and then 30 odd years later he finally apologises. Never mind a petition to allow him to go to film festivals, there should be a petition launched to finally get him sent to prison.
The Dark Knight.
It's easily one of the best films of the decade. I did wonder for a while whether Rises had topped it but after watching this one again I've decided no it didn't.
What I really like about this one is how un-superhero-y it is, which may sound weird. Unlike Begins or Rises, which were both fantasy superhero films, TDK was a crime epic more than anything else, completely grounded in the real world, which I really liked. Heath Ledger is brilliant as The Joker, the Nolan Joker is one of the best villains of all time. He's a terrifying mysterious psychopath and Ledger did a fantastic job. The score is fantastic, the cinematography is awe inspiring, the whole film is brilliantly acted, etc. I hadn't seen this for a few years and I'm glad because in a lot of ways it felt like I was watching it for the first time all over again.
It's the best Batman film and the best superhero film (if you can even count it as one) ever made imo and one of the greatest films of all time.
There's no way Snyder and co will be able to top this.
1) The Dark Knight
2) The Dark Knight Rises
3) Batman Begins
TDKR. ?
I understand what Polanski did. It was wrong. He also lost his wife, Sharon Tate, to the Mansons' brutal killings. In that respect I sympathise with him. But no matter what he did or what happened to him, I think he made some very good films and for example Rosemary's Baby is one I tend to revisit often.
Danny Trojo spent many years in prison, and he himself admits it was justified. Yet now many of us are quite fond of him. And who knows what Michael Jackson did or didn't; I still swing to Billie Jean.
In showbizz, people deliver a product. I think it's okay to enjoy the product while distancing oneself from the deliverer's personal background. I watch Leni Riefenstahl's films too when I get a chance... I even watch NSNA though it is claimed that Fleming's deteriorating health was partially induced by McClory's endless court humping.
Polanski made a mistake. Many filmmakers, actors, producers, ... make mistakes. That girl was traumatised by Polanski; Linda Blair and Ellen Burstyn have suffered back trouble for life from Friedkin's extreme methods on set; Sinatra was accused of links with the mob... Let's not even begin to discuss the abuse of child actors by certain people - you ought to read Corey Feldman's great biography "the Coreyography", which is hardly as funny as the title suggests but instead dead serious.
So in the end, I don't think it's wrong to put oneself on moral high-ground and refuse to touch anything made by this or that person - on the other hand I don't feel bad for liking Polanski as a filmmaker. To even include Brosnan in this, who starred in a Polanski film post-Bond along with McGreggor may be going a trifle too far? ;-) Remember the first rule of showbizz: the show must go on.