RA Movie Thread (Read 5918 times)

 Eh, I'm probably what you'd call "religious folk," and I liked it.  My biggest beef was with some of the buzz surrounding it, the fawning over how "true to the original text" he was.  But it's mentioned several times in the OT version that Noah, his wife, their sons, and their wives boarded the ark.  And as you mentioned, that's one of the main plot points.  But, I also understand he drew from other sources, so maybe that wasn't the case in those.

Depending on your feelings on conception, technically he remained true to this part of the text, as Hermionie was already pregnant with twins when they boarded.  Of course, then you could get into what the definition of "is" is, since they weren't "wives" yet.  But I think at least the English language supports the temporal ambiguity.

Across 110th Street (1972)

Barry Shear's 1972 crime drama, Across 110th Street, hits the ground running with footage of Harlem street life set to the tune of Bobby Womack's song of the same title before exploding into gunfire and bloodied bodies when a theft of Mafia money goes wrong. The gritty immediacy of the film's opening sequence does not lose a beat as an investigation of the murders by a mismatched team of policemen, played by Anthony Quinn (Lawrence of Arabia, Blowing Wild) and Yaphet Kotto (Alien, Live and Let Die), proceeds simultaneously with a hunt for the thieves led by a brutal Mob figure played by Anthony Franciosa (A Face in the Crowd).

Across 110th Street is violent and disturbing even by today's standards, and, as a white-knuckle police story, it has a lot in common with Dirty Harry (1971), The French Connection (1971), Fort Apache the Bronx (1981), Sharky's Machine (1981), and other such films that do not pull any punches with their depictions of the sordid underbelly of city life. Moments of somber tragedy, namely a scene where Quinn and Kotto inform a woman of her husband's death in front of her children and a late scene where Quinn's character exposes his alcohol-soaked weariness, are interspersed with hair-raising chases and uncompromisingly violent altercations. One particular scene with a man on fire jumping out of a burning vehicle compelled me to push the rewind button to marvel at how this could have been filmed before the age of computers.

Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, and Anthony Franciosa are all incredible in their portrayals of characters that have no boundaries in a setting volatile with racial tension, but my favorite role of Across 110th Street belongs to Paul Benjamin, who also starred in one of my all-time favorite films, Escape from Alcatraz. Benjamin, who plays one of the thieves, has an impressive character arc as a person who gave me the chills during the opening scene only to elicit my genuine sympathy later in the story.

Big (1988)

Some high school friends and I saw this movie at the theater on the night of release, and I always enjoy that trip down memory lane whenever I've stumbled across it on television in the decades since then. I felt the same way when I watched it last night.

It's a real trip these days to go back and see Tom Hanks in his first truly poignant role. When I saw Big at the theater all those years ago, I was surprised at how "serious" Tom Hanks was in the film, because he had always been so goofy in Dragnet, Bachelor Party, and the rest of the early films.

Big elicits quite a few mixed emotions now as I watch it at the age of 42. I chuckled during several scenes last night, because I actually do have times when I feel as though I'm still a kid, and that I'm really "faking it" at being an adult, making important job decisions, paying the bills, and such. As adults, most of us are making everything up as we go along, and I'm sure that others feel the same way at times. I go through times when I'd sell my soul to be 13 years old again, but I also believe in a way that I'm even happier now than I was back then. The idea of being able to go back in time to the age of 13 and know then what I know right now is definitely food for thought, though.

The Lunchbox (2013) - Indian film that was in complete danger of being way to schmatlzy and saccharine turned out to be a damn good love story.  A neglected wife tries her best to win her husband's attention by stepping up her cooking for his lunchbox.  Turns out the lunchbox goes to the wrong guy, a retiree.  They start writing little notes  back and forth.  Man, even the annoying new-guy in the film is good in this. (5/5)

The Rover (2014) - Australian film with Guy Pierce.  I'll give anything with Guy Pierce a shot.  He doesn't always hit, but he always tries something different. This film is set 10 years after some unknown event that ends civil order.  Three criminal steel his car.  He wants it back.  And he goes through great lengths and some serious moral depths to do so.  Why?  See it through to the end.  (4/5)

Friday the 13th: The Complete Collection

 

I revisited all 12 of the Friday the 13th movies during the last half of October, seeing a few of them only for the second time since first watching them at the theater or on cable television back in the day.  These range from awesome to not-entirely-awesome, but even the bad ones are pretty good...sort of like pizza, I guess.  Even the most ridiculous of the 1980s films hit that sweet spot when it comes to my teenage nostalgia.

 

Instead of reviewing each and every one, I'll simply rank the 12 movies in order of preference from best to worst.

 

1. Friday the 13th: Part 2 (1981)
2. Friday the 13th (1980)
3. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
4. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988)
5. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986)
6. Friday the 13th: Part 3 (1982)
7. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985)
8. Friday the 13th (2009)
9. Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)
10. Freddy vs. Jason (2003)
11. Jason X (2001)
12. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

 

The first two movies are the best, and they're pretty interchangeable, although I prefer Part 2 by a slight margin.  In my opinion, the Friday the 13th movies ceased to be "horror movies" when Jason started wearing the hockey mask (in the third film) and became the iconic figure that people cheered for instead of being scared for the characters.  The first two movies have that horror flick vibe about them because the identity and look of the killer in each is up in the air for first time viewers, but the subsequent movies with the hockey mask Jason became all about body count...even if they're fun flicks in a rollercoaster ride sort of way.

 

It's pretty funny that the first movie was not intended to generate sequels, and that Jason Voorhees was never intended to be a villain.  The first movie was made as a reverse play on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho with the mother, Pamela Voorhees, killing camp counselors after the drowning of her son, instead of Norman Bates killing after the death of his mother.  The movie was supposed to end after Mrs. Voorhees was killed, but the filmmakers, influenced by the nightmare sequence ending of Carrie (1976) when Carrie's hand comes out of the grave, decided to insert a dream sequence of Jason rising up out of the water and pulling the final girl out of the boat.

 

Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013)

 

Crystal Lake Memories is a seven-hour documentary that covers all 12 of the films by including present-day interviews, unused footage, etc.  This is a lot more fun than I expected, and it's great to see that a lot of the actresses, even from the older movies, look just as beautiful today as they did back then.  Corey Feldman, who played Tommy Jarvis in The Final Chapter and in the intro of A New Beginning, narrates this documentary.

This is fantastically weird and great that you did this. I will have to revisit those first two (no way I can sit through all of them) and the documentary is right up my alley... I think.

I revisited Green Card courtesy of the DVR last night.  I've been on a movie watching hiatus for about a month because I really haven't been enthralled by anything at the theater or even the Redbox.

Anyways, Green Card starring Andie McDowell and Gerard Depardieu tells the story of 2 unlikely and completely different people getting married for their individually own reasons.  I remember seeing this movie when it first came out and I was engaged by it.  My first impression of the movie was "Pretty Women" but with a more realistic ending instead of the fairy tale.  On rewatching it still holds its weight.  The actors seems perfect for their roles; I mean literally made their roles.  The supporting actors are great too and everyone seems literally made for their parts. The greenhouse apartment is simply stunning.  The dialogue between characters is good and it only left me cringing once.  The story is engaging and plausible.  The comedy is low-key but evident.  Nothing ever seems overdone which is as it should be.  I view this movie as a rom-com that was made before everyone wanted to make rom-coms.

8/10 Socks

Just finished watching Snowpiercer (2014).

WOW.

Just finished watching Snowpiercer (2014).

 

WOW.

I caught this on netflix last week.

I enjoyed it, but I'll leave a detailed review to the professionals.

It didn't start or finish the way I thought it would.