Topic: Eric's DVD watching.

[Touti]

It seems that every time I want to do a watching marathon something happens that prevent me from doing it.  I've decided to give myself a chance with my new "Whateva !" marathon.

The rules are simple, I'm gonna watch whatever I can, whenever I can and talk about that.

First in list.

Godsend


When I started watching it I realized that I had seen it before although I though I hadn't when I "Blind bought" it.  It's an interesting movie.  I thought I would start remembering and get bored but I didn't which is good.  It means the movie is well written and nothing is obvious and foreseeable before it happens.

Without selling the punch, it's a thriller movie involving parents and their son.  I find interesting that they chose the father to be the one who finds there's something wrong going on and starts digging to find out.  It would have been easy to do like most movies and put everything on woman intuition while making the father a dumbass who things everything goes well but they didn't.  That's an approach to should be taken more often.

Overall score: 3.9/5

[addicted2dvd]

I watched this one a few months back or so... and I enjoyed it... pretty much agree with what you said above. I remember thinking the movie was well done. Will have to pull this one out again sometime before too long.

[Touti]

Trauma - First time seen




I don't really know what to say about this movie.  I was completely lost during the whole movie.  I think the british accent of the main character may have something to do with it.  Coling Firth speaks fast and not very clearly, with the accent I couldn't understand half of what he was saying and this DVD doesn't have subtitles.

It wasn't until the end that I understood what the story, maybe it's because it's well done and that has nothing to do with the accent after all.

Overall I enjoyed it, I don't regret buying it.

Score: 3.5/5

Could someone use the spoiler tag and tell me what's with the ants

[Touti]

The Fog - Remake
First time seen



I always find it difficult to review horror and thriller movies.  Since they're only meant to be watched and enoyed without asking yourself too many questions there isn't much to say after.

That's a good movie, I enjoyed watching it and it kept my attention all along.  It's gonna be interesting to compare with the original when I get it.

4/5

[Najemikon]

Coling Firth speaks fast and not very clearly, with the accent I couldn't understand half of what he was saying and this DVD doesn't have subtitles.

Colin Firth? Doesn't speak "clearly"? And what's this rubbish about an "accent"? He's English! He doesn't have a sodding accent! How very dare you. It's come to something when a Canadian (who thinks he's French) claims the Mother-tongue is difficult to understand. Kettle? Pot? 




 

****Lovemunkey. Come in Lovemunkey. Backup required. I think I just did something very silly. Fellow Brit in hostile environment. Help? Richie? Anyone with a proper flag? Erm.... oh.****

[Touti]

Colin Firth? Doesn't speak "clearly"? And what's this rubbish about an "accent"? He's English! He doesn't have a sodding accent! How very dare you. It's come to something when a Canadian (who thinks he's French) claims the Mother-tongue is difficult to understand. Kettle? Pot? 
 

****Lovemunkey. Come in Lovemunkey. Backup required. I think I just did something very silly. Fellow Brit in hostile environment. Help? Richie? Anyone with a proper flag? Erm.... oh.****

   How dare you,  calling me Canadian   Who thinks he's french .    I am Québécois moi Monsieur, I am from the pays of the "poutine" and "des oreilles de crisse".  As our great Monsieur de Montcalm said to your little Mr. Wolfe, (please note that I'm having the courtesy to translate it for you.......and that I am writing it with no accent  ), "Mister I will answer you through the mouths of my canons".

Allright so Montcalm lost the battle and died but I think that is irrelevant.

I will be waiting for you at dawn Mister,  at "La porte du Nord" to settle our difference (and eat a big mac).  Your weapon will be mine :gently_slap_in_fhe_face_with_a_glove_smiley:

And for the record, Colin Firth does mumble

[Najemikon]

 

And that, Sir, is why you shall always lose. For I shall now produce a weapon that history has proved to be the most effective of British contributions to the art of gentlemanly warfare. Feared throughout the world!

Snooker ball in a sock.

Don't bother to run! You'll only die tired. Cannons, my arse. 

[Touti]

We, Monsieur, have acquireth our combat skills and defense art from the aboriginal inhabitants of the great land of the new world.  We, Monsieur, are not frighteneth nor impresseth or scareth by your primitive weaponry.  We, Monsieur, will face you in battle with humanity's first and, as of yet, most lethal weapon......we, Monsieur, will be awaiting for you with rocks.

Note: The sponsors of this event would like to take this opportunity to remind children that throwing rocks or using their socks for anything else than cover their feet is very very very very so very bad. We now return to our regular broadcast

We, Monsieur, will now leave you to spend your last hours with your loved ones.

Our supply of small and portable rocks being very low at the moment, we would greatly appreciate it if you, Monsieur, would courteously agreed to change our field of battle to something closer to our supply of heavier rocks.

[Touti]

Today I've decided it's time I watched some of my "Fox Studio Classics" collection.  I had only watched "Sunrise" since I started buying them.  There's 40 movies in that collection, Sunrise was a special limited edition, the collection starts at number 1 with

All about Eve
First time seen


It's been a while since I watched one of these old movies.  I had forgotten how "Over dramatic" actors tried to be at the time, not very natural.  It took me some time to get into the movie because of that but in the end I enjoyed it although I found it a little long (2:18).

I had not checked the cast before and was a bit surprise when I saw Marylin Monroe in a supporting role with only 2 short appearances.  A good movie to watch when you're in the mood for some drama from the 50's

[Touti]

Gentleman's Agreement
First time seen



Now that was a very interesting movie.  Filmed in 1947, only 2 years after the 2nd war, it talks about antisemitism.  It's the story of a reporter who's asked to write on the subject but as the editor wants something from an angle that was never used before, the reporter decides to pretend he's a Jew for a while and see how they are really treated.

The movie brings an interesting POV about people who say they are not antisemite, that they despise it but still let go along.  One very interesting thing is that you would expect the movie to have references to the war and the nazis but it actually doesn't.  There's a military who's a Jew and a friend of the reporter but the war is hardly ever mentioned and the holocaust is not mentioned at all.

It is strange that a movie filmed only 2 years after the war and les than a year after the end of the Nuremburg trials would ignore it completely.  Was this an attempt to educate the american people, maybe most Americans in 1947 weren't aware of antisemitism and Zionism and the intended purpose of the movie was to try to change that ?

I really don't know but it surely is interesting to see things haven't changed in 60 years because what's showed in that movie still happens today.

[Touti]

How Green Was my Valley
First time seen



Boring, Boring and Boring.  

[Touti]

Tonight's the night, I'll be watching

Get Carter


I didn't watch it all last night because I was very tired and I couldn't really concentrate.  I went to bed and finished watching it today because I wanted to give it all the attention that (I thought) it deserves.

I know I'm not gonna make any new friends in the british community with my review but if it lacks the admiration that some of you show, it will at least be honnest.

First, I want to say it's a good movie, not a great movie but a good movie.  I remember when I watched the Sylvester Strap-Ons version that I was all confused because it starts with a guy showing up somewhere and who starts investigating something by being violent with people.  I found it completely stupid at the time (I would probably still) but I didn't know it was a remake, I didn't know it was from a apparently well known movie and book and that I was expected to already know the synopsis.

I was pleased with Caine's performance but then I always am.  I think he's one of the (if not the) best british actor.  The only time I've seen him in a bad performance was in Jaws 3 and I've always felt the movie was to blame for it.

The plot of the movie is interesting but not extraordinary either, typical for the genre in early 70's.  In all honesty, if Get Carter really is one of the best british thriller ever then I really hope I'll never have to watch the worst one.

I will soon be on my way to change my name, move into a new country and adopt a "low profile" life style and try never to be found by Najemikon.

[Najemikon]

I regret to inform you, that you are wrong. 

You're right that it is typical of the 70s, but I would stick my neck out and say that this film was so influential, it was early enough to be the first of its kind.
You have to take a step back from a film like this and try and forget all the pretenders that have repeated it endlessly. You also have to realise the sort of films that were coming out of Britain at the end of the 1960s; this was a dose of grim reality that no-one had seen before. It's brutal and unforgiving, nothing is sugarcoated or resolved neatly. It was all new and fresh for cinema then, but nostalgia aside, nothing has come up to its high standard since, bar The Long Good Friday.

I think perhaps you ruined it for yourself by watching Sly's version first? I don't know. Maybe you just don't like British thrillers. I'm interested to know if you've seen any others, like The Long Good Friday, or even Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, which simply wouldn't exist without either of these films.

Simply because they put it better than I, check out Empire's review: Empire Essay

I'm not trying to get you to like it, because that was always a possibility, but it will never be a film that can be simply dismissed as just another 70s thriller. It is THE 70s thriller... 

[Touti]

I really don't think I've ruined it by watching the remake first because it was long ago and I hardly remember it.  I have to admit that I am not very knowledgeable in British movies, even less when it comes to the "old times".  I was born in 64 in North America so obviously I've been more "exposed" to american movies.

Although, as I already said, I don't remember much of the Stallone remake, I think I was expecting something quite different from it, maybe because you called it "best thriller" which, by my definition of it, this movie is not.  I consider it more of an Action movie than a Thriller so I guess I expected more "Suspense".

It is also possible and even probable that I had high expectations after you've spoken so highly of it.  I am not a big fan of the 70's, wether it'd be movies, musics or anything else.  I think it's a period in which societies and people weren't really themselves.  It was the sex revolution, a new era for music, movies and arts in general, it was also a period where people would do drugs and start over analyzing everything and tried to do different things not because they were inspired by anything but only because they wanted to be different. 

Artists and young people wanted a straight cut with the old ways, the religion, the authorites and the government and they were trying to be as "bad" as they could to make sure they were completely opposite to what was generally considered acceptable.

This, in my opinion, has "fathered" many movies that are considered today to be "best ever" and I still fail to see why.  If you re-read my review of "Taxi Driver" you'll see that I wasn't much impressed either and I still don't understand what's the big fuss about it.  Maybe I should just refrain from watching movies from the 70's.

[Najemikon]

I see your point (although you don't strictly need suspense in a thriller! And there wasn't enough action for it to be action... ), but I have always somehow understood and accepted what movies like this were trying to say. You sound cynical about the about 70s films and music. They did have that darker edge, a selfish introspective viewpoint maybe, but it was relevant. Times were grim. Apparently. What do I know? I was born in 75!

I can't claim any first hand experience, but I think people entered the 70s like they were having a hangover and realised there were consequences to the swinging carefree 60s. That's what Get Carter says to me. It was certainly going downhill here in the UK. By the end of the 70s I believe we were in a bit of a state. Everybody going on strike, no-one had any money. It's very fashionable to make fun and say how awful Maggie Thatcher was and how shallow times were under her as PM, but the fact is she pulled this country back together at the end of the decade and this new forward thinking, "everyone can be a winner" Britain is what forms the backdrop to The Long Good Friday.

That's why both films are so potent even now. They evoke a realism that everything since can't identify with. Even young 'uns like me can see it and from my point of view the 70s were great (Space Hoppers! Lego!) and the 80s weren't bad either (Transformers! Zoids!).

In America, I think it was a similar situation plus the added joy of Vietnam as a slap in the face. That's where Taxi Driver comes from. Again, I was 1 when it came out, I'm not American, and everything about Vietnam I learned from Tom Cruise and Oliver Stone, so what do I know! But that movie works and shows me an America rundown and in torment.