Topic: Eric's DVD watching.

[Najemikon]

Thank goodness you found 13 better than 12! I was getting worried...

Have you ever seen the original Ocean's Eleven (note the spelling ) with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and the rest of the Rat Pack? I'd say the new version is the better film, but the Rat Pack were great fun with cracking dialogue and, if so inclined, great music too. And there's at least a nice twist at the end.

[Touti]

True Confessions




Summary: Detective Tom Spellacy (Duvall) and Catholic Monsignor Desmond Spellacy (De Niro) find their worlds colliding amidst a flurry of political finger-pointing and public outcries over a scandalous, headline-making murder. As Tom hunts down the elusive killer, his investigation threatens to expose secrets that could ruin his brother... and rock the foundation of his beloved church!

My Thoughts: Interesting movie.  One can almost feel the discomfort between the cop and the priests concerning the death of this girl.  It brings an interesting theory about the possible killer (the real murder was never solved).  The movie also raises the never ending conflicts of interest the church is constantly involved in.

My score:

[Touti]

September Dawn



Summary: Academy Award® winner Jon Voight (Best Actor, 'Coming Home', 1978), Terence Stamp and Trent Ford star in this film based on the true story of the Mountain meadows Massacre -- the brutal murder of 120 men, women and children on September 11, 1857, as their wagon train passed through Utah on its way to California. The question of whether the attack was carried out by local Paiute Indians or by a renegade sect of the Mormon church remains unresolved to this day.

Set against the breathtaking beauty of the Utah mountains, 'September Dawn' explores what might have happened when the ill-fated settlers stopped near Cedar City to rest before completing the last leg of their journey. Local Mormon Bishop Jacob Samuelson (Vought) is suspicious of the group, so he dispatches his eldest son Jonathan (Ford) to spy on them. Jonathan soon falls in love with an angelic member of the wagon train, the minister's daughter Emily (Tamara Hope), and is horrified when he discovers that his father thinks the settlers are enemies of the church and is planning an attack on them.

While Jonathan makes plans to escape with Emily, his father sets in motion a chain of events, fueled by revenge and fanaticism, which culminates in a violent and tragic ambush.

My Thoughts: This is truly a wonderful movie.  Because it tells the massacre of 120 people one would expect it to be done in Hollywood's way with lots of blood and "show off" special effects but the director in this case did a beautiful job at being moderate and making it look realistic.  Every battle of killing scene was done in a way that made it look like that's it would have happened.  Jon Voight's performance is extremly good and he makes is character truly credible.  Filmography is also beautiful and the massacre scene it just unbelievable with a mix of normal speed ans slow motion, some parts of it with no sounds but music, others with full sounds.  The music in that scene is also very beautiful and plays a huge part in making that scene beautiful.  Anyone who liked movies like "The Last of the Mohicans" (Although this is much less violent) or "Open Range" will really enjoy "September Dawn".  I defenitely recommend it.

My Score:

[Touti]

The Invasion




Summary: Something terrifying has come to Earth, something that attacks us while we sleep and turns us into soulless replicants. The clock is ticking as Washington, DC psychiatrist Carol Bennell (Nicole Kidman) and her colleague Ben Driscoll (Daniel Craig) embark on a heart-stopping journey into a nightmarish world where the only way to stay alive is to stay awake. No one can be trusted. No one is safe in producer Joel Silver's bold new take on Jack Finney's classic novel 'The Body Snatchers'.

Don't fall asleep! 'The Invasion' is here.

My Thoughts:   It's a good thriller with a good level of action and rebounds.  The special effects are well done.  The 5.1 mix is also well done, I'm usually not a big fan of 5.1 which I find distracting but in this case they didn't overuse use it or made the rear channels too loud so it doesn't interfere.  I'm glad I bought this movie and I will certainly watch it again one day.

I'm probably gonna get copies of the previous versions soon to watch and compare them.

My Score:

[Touti]

Excalibur




Summary:The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table receives its most impressive screen treatment in 'Excalibur', from visionary moviemaker John Boorman (‘Deliverance’, ‘The General’).

All the elements of Sir Thomas Malory's classic 'Le Morte Darthur' are here: Arthur (Nigel Terry) removing the sword Excalibur from the stone; the Round Table's noble birth and tragic decline; the heroic attempts to recover the Holy Grail; and the shifting balance of power between wily wizard Merlin (Nicol Williamson) and evil sorceress Morgana (Helen Mirren). With Patrick Stewart, Gabriel Byrne and Liam Neeson in notable early screen roles, Excalibur serves up, 'The New Yorker's' Pauline Kael wrote, "one lush, enraptured scene after another."

My Thoughts: To my defense for what I'm about to write I must remind everyone that I am not a fan of fantasy movies.  I do enjoy true masterpieces like LOTR but it's not a genre I am particularly fond of.  I totally hated the first 20 minutes of that movie, to me it was preposterous and I actually laughed a few times at what I thought was gonna be 2.5 hours of complete ridicule.

The first battle scene however caught my interest.  There you see men fighting with swords in their armors but unlike what we're used to in movies they're not all gracious and impressive in their movements.  On the contrary they are slow to move and react, they are always out of balance and falling after hitting an adversary because the weight of their armors and weapons pull them forward.  I really liked that because it look real, in the 13th century these armors were probably extremely heavy and knights must have had limited movements because of them.  From that point on I stopped lauging at it and decided to give it a chance.

Although I would probably not watch this again I have to say that I liked it, I found some parts of it pretty annoying and long but other parts totally kept my attention.  Especially when Helen Mirren comes into the picture.  The movie is made in a style that resembles a theater piece but I found most (if not all) the other actors and actresses to be poor at it.  Mirren however does a great performance and her character is credible, most of her scenes made me feel like I was watching a play.  She does exactly as it's supposed to be done, with this "lyrical" way of saying things that you would expect from a Shakespeare play.

As I have never read any writings about Arthur I cannot say whether this movie is close to the actual legend or not but it covers all I know of it including the sword in the stone, the query for the grail, Merlin and Morgana (Mirren) and the final battle with his own son.

I must however question the choice of some of the scores.  It it mostly well suited but in most of the scenes where you see Arthur and the Knights riding their horses on their way to battle they chose Carl Orf's Carmina Burana.  That really bothered me as I find it totally out of place both geographically and in its significance.

Carmina Burana are mostly drinking and dancing songs written in German, French, Latin and some English by the Goliards, a group of clergy, in protest to the growing contradictions in the church like the failures of the crusades and the financial abuses.  In my mind there is absolutely no relation whatsoever between those songs and an army of Knights riding to battle to defend their King which they believe was made such by God.

My score: , I'm sure most people who like the Fantasy genre would give it a

[Najemikon]

The movie is made in a style that resembles a theater piece but I found most (if not all) the other actors and actresses to be poor at it.  Mirren however does a great performance and her character is credible, most of her scenes made me feel like I was watching a play.  She does exactly as it's supposed to be done, with this "lyrical" way of saying things that you would expect from a Shakespeare play.

As I have never read any writings about Arthur I cannot say whether this movie is close to the actual legend or not but it covers all I know of it including the sword in the stone, the query for the grail, Merlin and Morgana (Mirren) and the final battle with his own son.

As the synopsis says, it is based on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur and that is the legend. He was the one who introduced all the fantastic elements that are featured here. I think your description of the style is right. As I was saying in the other [hijacked!] thread, much as I love the story, I could never get on with this version and you're right, it such a theatrical style. You either love it or hate it. And with the OTT score as you also mentioned, I'm definitely in the second camp...

[Touti]

Donnie Brasco




Summary: Posing as hardboiled jewel broker Donnie Brasco, FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone (Johnny Depp) gains entry into the brutal mob family of fading hit man Lefty Ruggiero (Al Pacino), who treats Donnie like a son. As their association deepens, Pistone's life begins to spiral downward, placing everything that's meaningful to him - his marriage, his career and his life - in jeopardy. From acclaimed director Mike Newell ('Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire') and with a spectacular supporting cast, including Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby, James Russo, and Anne Heche, DONNIE BRASCO is "a first-class Mafia thriller!" (Mick LaSalle, 'San Francisco Chronicle').

My Thoughts: I don't know what to say about it except that I loved every minute of it.  Depp's and Pacino's performance are just great.  I just can't come up with anything to say that would do it justice.

My score: , 5/5, 10/10, 5 stars and whatever else you can think of.  If you have never seen that movie you've got to watch it.

[Kathy]

This was based on a true story (and we know how much you love history!). Pistone wrote a book you might be interested in "The Way of the Wiseguy".

[Touti]

I knew it was a true story but I was surprised to see Pistone in the featurettes of this DVD.  "Donnie Brasco" was first realeased on DVD in 1998, the one I own is the 2007 extended cut.  I'm assuming that the features weren't the same 10 years ago and that he wasn't there.

But even now, 23 years after the even, I find it surprising that he would come out and do this.  I thought that Mob's contracts on someone were for life and that he would be living under protection and a different identity for the rest of his life.

After "sleeping" on it and thinking about the movie, I wish they had gone a few steps further, either in the film or at least in the extras of this DVD and gave us some details of what happened after Pistone was pulled out.  With all the recordings that they had and what he could tell them, the FBI must have had enough to hit Sonny Black's gang and arrest them all.  Although I understand that the movie is about Donnie Brasco and not the fight against the mafia, I would like to know if his "sacrifice" led to any results, after all he was undercover with those guys for 6 years.

[Najemikon]

Wikipedia is your friend.

[Touti]

Frances




Summary: Jessica Lange delivers the performance of her career as Frances Farmer, the notorious 1930's movie star whose impassioned opinions and outspoken behavior created scandal throughout the industry. But when she was betrayed by the studio system and committed to an insane asylum by her domineering mother, Frances descended into a madness that revealed the most horrific abuses of mental illness and exposed the cruelest consequences of Hollywood fame.

Kim Stanley and Sam Shepherd co-star in this tragic true story that shocked the world. FRANCES is now presented in a stunning new transfer from original film materials and is packed with startling new bonus features exclusive to this edition.

My Thoughts: This is the typical story of a woman who was born in a time where she couldn't settle for what society allowed her to be.  Truly beautiful, intelligent, opiniated and strong minded, she became an actress in a Hollywood who wanted nothing else from women than be beautiful and do as they were told.  Unfortunately for her, Frances was not of that type and she lived a life full of frustrations and deceptions.  Child of a controlling mother, probably schizophrenic, who wanted to live through her daughter the life that she never had, the only place where Frances could ever seek refuge ended up to be the most damaging to her.  Unable to control her emotions, she often had outbursts of rage which got her labeled as mentally sick and institutionalized.  After receiving monstrous treatments that were common in her time she had a lobotomy and was released from the institution.  She worked in television and died in 1970.

That is a very good movie, for me it was one of those blind buys that turn out to be such a nice choice.  Jessica Lange and Kim Stanley both give extremely good performances.  Some of their scenes together are shockingly good.  I really really liked that movie and very strongly recommend it.

My Score: 10/10, I want use my regular scoring system because this movie is worth much more than just a stupid smiley with a thumb up (But that comment is worth a stupid smiley with an eye closed).


A featurette on the DVD shows pictures of Frances Farmer, the film doesn't when painting her a very beautiful woman, see for yourself.

[Touti]

Driving Miss Daisy



Summary: Hoke Colburn sits in the front seat with his hands on the steering wheel, but the driver's seat is behind him. That's where Miss Daisy sits. She doesn't want a chauffeur and she won't give in. Neither will Hoke.

Alfred Uhry's moving Pulitzer Prize-winning play became 1989's Academy Award®-winning Best Picture. 'Driving Miss Daisy' tells of genteel but strong-willed Atlanta matron Daisy (Best Actress Oscar® winner Jessica Tandy) and her patient but equally determined chauffeur Hoke (Morgan Freeman). For two so different, they have a lot in common. And the bumpy road they travel leads to the friendship of a lifetime. From the film's nine Oscar® nominations, it drove off with two more awards: Best Adaption Screenplay (Uhry) and Makeup.

My Thoughts:   Very nice movie, no wonder it won the best picture Oscar in a time where they were still giving it to the best one and not to the most different or innovative....good or bad.  Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman both gave very good performances but that alone doesn't make the movie what it is.  There is more to it than just acting, the tone, the colors were there to make you feel the story.  The only down side is Dan Aykroyd as Tandy's son, I always found him to be an average actor and his performace in that movie didn't change my mind, in my opinion the man simply can't play any dramtic role, I don't find him credible, to me all his dramatic characters seem like caricatures.  Fortunately he doesn't have have a big part in the movie so it wasn't much of an annoyance.

The final scene where

(click to show/hide)

Morgan's character feeds the old lady

is one of the most touching I have seen in a while. 

(click to show/hide)

To see that old and stubborn woman accepting to be fed, accepting for the first time in her life to depend on someone was a great reminder of what's ahead for all of us.

My Score:   or 9/10

[Touti]

Fur: An imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus




Summary: Diane Arbus is an American Photographer whose influence is considerable.  She contributed in imposing the idea of Photography as Art.  The movie is a completely invented tale of what could have been the life of Diane Arbus during a period of her life of which we know nothing.

My Thoughts: It's a very beautiful and artistic movie which I also find poetic in certain ways.  Through a dialogue which is simple only in appearance and nice photography we are invited to live through the process of a series of changes in someone's life that lead to her becoming the artist she was meant to be.  I highly recommend it.

My score:

[Touti]

Black Book


Click the picture for details

Some time ago, when SailorRipley still liked us (trying to guilt him into posting if he reads this), he wrote an interesting article on dvd's he wanted to buy and for what reason.  Black Book which I had never heard of was one of them and since I considered SailorRipley a "connaisseur", if figured if he has an interest in it then it can't be a very bad movie to anyone.  It was however quite expensive so I waited until recently to get it and watched it last week-end.

I have to say I was not disapointed.  I had the chance in my life to be close to someone (a romanian jew) who's been a prisoner in a nazi concentration camp.  I consider it a chance because such a person can make a teenager aware of the world, the different cultures and society.  He had quite an influence on my life and because of him and the amazing things he did and lived through, I've always had a great interest in the resistance movements in different countries of Europe during the WWII.

Black Book is the story of a young Dutch woman who works as a spy for the Resistance in Netherlands.  It is not a true story but the director claims that many of the events are true.  If you like that kind of movies I highly recommend it, I enjoyed every second of it.

Rating:

[Touti]

Bridges of Madison County


Click the pic for details

I've once heard an actress from Québec (Mahée Paiement) say on TV that this was her favorite movie.  Although she is quite pretty and sexy and I wouldn't describe her as the brightest star in the sky so knowing this his her favorite movie led me to having preconceived ideas about it being real chicky and therefore totally unworthy of my watching time.

Then sometime later while at my sister we were talking about movies and actors with her husband and while somebody mentioned Clint Eastwood and that movie came out again and was said to be very good.  Since Eastwood isn't a bad actor and Meryl Streep is a very good one, I figured maybe it was worth watching even if it's only to enjoy the performance of these two.

It is an interesting movie although not a great one in my opinion.  As I expected it is chicky and it's not something I would rewatch because I'm a real man but I wasn't disapointed by Streep's performance.  If you like romance, Eastwood and/or Streep, it's a good movie to watch, especially for M. Streep performance, she's as good as ever.

Rating: