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MOVIES: What are you watching?

winetarelliwinetarelliMember
quote:
Originally posted by TPEwinedrinker:
quote:
Originally posted by wine+art:
Tonight, Ms. W+A and I are planning on a Hitchcock marathon. Cool

Favorite Hitchcock film? For me, I gotta say Rear Window- Grace Kelly is a big reason why. But I also love North by Northwest and obviously, Psycho. Oops, I almost forgot Spellbound... Another classic.

In descending order:

Rear Window - Even beyond the fact that this features arguably the most beautiful woman ever at her very prime, it is still his best, imo.
To Catch a Thief
North by Northwest
The Lady Vanishes

There are so many great ones, it is hard to list, and I think his thrilling ones that focus more on intrigue such as the ones I mentioned above are better than his more -- for lack of a better term -- "overt" ones. I will, however, admit that during Sunday movie night when I was 10 and my brother 7, my parents showed us Rope. Scarred. That could color my judgement Wink
winetarelliwinetarelliMember
Twilight: Eclipse

I hate virtually everything about this franchise, but I am fascinated by pop culture, so when I saw it was on Showtime...

I must say, this is the least unintentionally campy Twilight movie thus far. And by that I mean, it seems to have been written by a 15 year old as opposed to a 13 year old. The self-importance of these movies combined with the lack of knowledge that anything in life follows teen angst is what is most frustrating -- and this is what puzzles me so much as to why these movies / stories are popular with anyone who has hit or past puberty... Just as an example, this movie, which has absolutely nothing to do with any massive evil plots, the true nature of humanity, or any end-of-the-world scenarios of any kind, opens with "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost and iirc later there is a "The Hollow Men" reference. Now, I bet most of us can think of another movie where famously there is a "The Hollow Men" reference. Guess which movie is better. Roll Eyes

Of course, the chances that 90% of this movie's audience knew "Fire and Ice" going in or would have the slightest knowledge of T.S. Eliot or Apocalypse Now or Heart of Darkness are slim to none.

This is the most watchable of the three movies in this series thus far and, to be fair, I was mildly entertained for the entire 2 hours of my life spent watching this. However, were it not for my fascination with pop culture, I would have better things to do with my time than watch angsty self-involved chaste vampires interact with mediocre special effects and buff teenage boys who appear without shirts half the movie for the sole purpose of selling sex to 14 year old girls.
T tpewinedrinkerMember
quote:
Originally posted by winetarelli:
Twilight: Eclipse

I hate virtually everything about this franchise, but I am fascinated by pop culture, so when I saw it was on Showtime...

I must say, this is the least unintentionally campy Twilight movie thus far. And by that I mean, it seems to have been written by a 15 year old as opposed to a 13 year old. The self-importance of these movies combined with the lack of knowledge that anything in life follows teen angst is what is most frustrating -- and this is what puzzles me so much as to why these movies / stories are popular with anyone who has hit or past puberty... Just as an example, this movie, which has absolutely nothing to do with any massive evil plots, the true nature of humanity, or any end-of-the-world scenarios of any kind, opens with "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost and iirc later there is a "The Hollow Men" reference. Now, I bet most of us can think of another movie where famously there is a "The Hollow Men" reference. Guess which movie is better. Roll Eyes

Of course, the chances that 90% of this movie's audience knew "Fire and Ice" going in or would have the slightest knowledge of T.S. Eliot or Apocalypse Now or Heart of Darkness are slim to none.

This is the most watchable of the three movies in this series thus far and, to be fair, I was mildly entertained for the entire 2 hours of my life spent watching this. However, were it not for my fascination with pop culture, I would have better things to do with my time than watch angsty self-involved chaste vampires interact with mediocre special effects and buff teenage boys who appear without shirts half the movie for the sole purpose of selling sex to 14 year old girls.

Saw this was on, but we ended up going with Salt instead... Which we are currently watching... Pretty good so far. We saw the first twilight, and I thought it was entertaining... The second one bored me to death, so I decided to skip out on the third altogether. After reading your comment, i might watch it next time it's on.
winetarelliwinetarelliMember
quote:
Originally posted by wine+art:
quote:
Originally posted by winetarelli:


but I am fascinated by pop culture,



Big Grin

Are you also fascinated with pop culture art?

Well... I think that is a more difficult question. In as much as I am fascinated by pop culture, generally, yes.

But as art, it really depends. By definition, pop art is tied to a time and place and ethos. So, for example, you mentioned more than once that I was born in the wrong era. Perhaps true. But being that I am on the older side of the "Millennial Generation" (they used to call us "Generation Y") I simply cannot relate to Andy Warhol in the way that I imagine you or my parents or other Baby Boomers can. By definition it is not about me or anything that I have experienced or lived through. On the other hand, though, I have a strong (and positive) response to Roy Lichtenstein. While I would certainly classify his art as "pop", I think it taps into something that still exists or that I have lived through or it cuts a much broader swath in the world of pop culture. I'm not saying this to critique either artist, just to point out that enjoyment of specific works of pop art is fueled more by one's own experiences than I feel that enjoyment of specific works of other genres is.

So... it depends.

(Linking this back to movies, a slightly off but somewhat relevant analogy would be: the first time I saw Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb I was 18 and liked it. I knew who Werner Von Braun was and had as much of a handle on WWII and Cold War history as you would expect a well educated college freshman to have. The second time I saw it was about 4 years later after I had taken about 25 classes related to WWII, political philosophy, the Cold War, and the History of 20th Century foreign policy and comparative governments... and additionally had spent all of my college weekends not going to frat parties, but instead traveling across the country engaging in formal debates about these topics. So, even though I "got" it the first time I saw it, it meant SO much more to me the second time.)
Last edited by winetarelli
M mrcabernetMember
quote:
Originally posted by wine+art:
Tonight, Ms. W+A and I are planning on a Hitchcock marathon. Cool

We watched every Hitchcock film in order over a period of a few months. This included his English silent movies. The first non-lost Hitchcock silent is The Pleasure Garden. A number of these I had to obtain from Korean and Chinese sources.

I believe there is no question that Vertigo is Hitchcock's greatest film. There are many great, and important, Hitchcock movies, but this is a true work of art.

We are now working through every available Ingmar Bergman movie which has also required getting DVD's from other countries.
Last edited by mrcabernet
M mrcabernetMember
quote:
Originally posted by winetarelli:
(Linking this back to movies, a slightly off but somewhat relevant analogy would be: the first time I saw Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb I was 18 and liked it. I knew who Werner Von Braun was and had as much of a handle on WWII and Cold War history as you would expect a well educated college freshman to have.

It is interesting to note that Strangelove is a mix of a number of people, but the two key ones are Von Braun and Edward Teller. Von Braun for his Nazi past and Teller for his true love of "the Bomb."
winetarelliwinetarelliMember
quote:
Originally posted by Jcocktosten:
quote:
Originally posted by eyesintime:
Over the last week

Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Pt. 1 -- I think the worst of the HP movies that I've seen.


Disagree - 2 and 4 were significantly worse in my opinion. I think it about the 3rd best or so

We really do have to meet. 2 and 4 were, by far, the worst, imo. SO looking forward to DH pt. 2, but also so sad it is coming to an end. Also a bit shocked by Radcliffe's recent comments about alcohol but happy for him that he found a way to deal with it, even if it means cutting it out entirely.

FWIW:

3
1

6
7 pt. 1
5

2
4

(The spaces indicate large gaps in quality, imo.)

2 is limited by source material, but not necessarily bad direction given the ages of the children. (And this pre-dates Cuarón's decision to take the series into an obviously adult one.) 4 is limited both by source material and by absolutely terrible direction.
J jcocktostenMember
quote:
Originally posted by winetarelli:
quote:
Originally posted by Jcocktosten:
quote:
Originally posted by eyesintime:
Over the last week

Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Pt. 1 -- I think the worst of the HP movies that I've seen.


Disagree - 2 and 4 were significantly worse in my opinion. I think it about the 3rd best or so

We really do have to meet. 2 and 4 were, by far, the worst, imo. SO looking forward to DH pt. 2, but also so sad it is coming to an end. Also a bit shocked by Radcliffe's recent comments about alcohol but happy for him that he found a way to deal with it, even if it means cutting it out entirely.

FWIW:

3
1

6
7 pt. 1
5

2
4

(The spaces indicate large gaps in quality, imo.)

2 is limited by source material, but not necessarily bad direction given the ages of the children. (And this pre-dates Cuarón's decision to take the series into an obviously adult one.) 4 is limited both by source material and by absolutely terrible direction.


Bascially the same order I would put them in. I enjoyed 6 but would probably put 7 pt. 1 ahead because I felt they cut out the Riddle story too much that diminished its effectiveness and also felt that having Ginny there when he hid the book did not make any sense at all given what happens in 7. I thought not including the Marvolo/Morphin flashback was a big mistake as well. But it had lots of Snape so that's always good. WIth that said, I have seen 6 countless times and 7 only once so maybe with more viewings I would feel differently. I will also say that while I still thing 2 is next to last, I have enjoyed it slightly more with later viewings.
winetarelliwinetarelliMember
quote:
also felt that having Ginny there when he hid the book did not make any sense at all


*Spoiler*

Oh, the Harry/Ginny stuff was ridiculous. Rowling more-or-less forced their relationship in the books so that Harry would have a family, but Kloves made it cringe-worthy. Kloves' inability to separate his feelings about female empowerment from what makes a good story was evident from the beginning.
E eyesintimeMember
quote:
Originally posted by Jcocktosten:
quote:
Originally posted by eyesintime:
Over the last week

Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Pt. 1 -- I think the worst of the HP movies that I've seen.


Disagree - 2 and 4 were significantly worse in my opinion. I think it about the 3rd best or so


I don't think I've seen all of them and couldn't tell you which one was which. But of the ones I've seen, most had held my interest for the most part, but for Pt. 1 I was just kind of ehhhhh. There just seemed to be holes in the story line/logic. I've never read any of the books, so maybe some of those perceived holes were because I didn't have the book as backup
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