Actually, there are two "goods", one "not so bad, not so good", and one "ugly":
The Goods
I finally saw the classic of all westerns, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - hence the idea for the title of this thread... . I loved it! Guns, humor, cool music, you name it! I mean, of course I knew it was said to be "teh awesome", but still - or because of that - I wondered if it's not going to disappoint me. Nope, not a chance. In fact, it makes me want to see more westerns! Hi-Yo, Silver! Away!
The second good of today's topic is... Kill Bill, vol.1. I have heard it's a bloody movie. In fact, that there is blood everywhere. Mindless fights, and, oh, yeah, almost forgot, BLOOD! Mmmkay... There's blood, I can't deny that, but nowhere near the bloodbath I expected, and everything is done with real style. I hated the long fight scenes from Matrix 2 & 3 (I loved those movies on the whole, though) but these were much better. Why? Because they didn't seem so repetitive and pointless as in Matrix. Were they "credible"? Nope, but I didn't care. The Hero-like atmosphere, the incredible music made all the change in the world. I've also seen Sin City when it premiered in France, and I must say for me it's nowhere near as artful as Kill Bill in the display of rage and desire for vengeance. In this one I could *really* feel the sentiments that kept her going, helped her overcome anything that was thrown against her.
These are the goods, now...
The Bad
Ok, so it's not that it was bad, but it was far from what I expected... :puts on body armor: I'm talking about Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Granted, at the time it came out it was probably something different, that poked humor at a lot of stereotypical movies/stories, but after a while the humor began to really wear off. I still had the occasional laugh, but I'll give it a "meh".
The Ugly
And I mean it. I managed to make someone interested in The Shape of Things and that was *not* my intention, so I wonder if I should really go on with this... But, what the heck... It's one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. It's probably on par only with the first part of American Beauty... I almost quit watching that one 4 or 5 times until it really caught me - needless to say, I liked it and I understand why it was made like that in the beginning. Anyway, I won't say much about the story, only that a "geeky" guy meets a very outgoing girl and the relationship is going to change him a lot.
SPOILERS BELOW . . . . . . . He turns out to be her "art project", a "how to manipulate people into something everyone says is better, but really it's not". She takes advantage of every weakness he has, and does this while pretending to love him. I hated it. To pieces...
END OF SPOILERS . . . . . . . . So, this is my (uncalled for ) opinion on some of the movies I've seen recently. Hit me with yours! Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
*tumbleweed*
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
Well, here's a good: I finally got into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I remember hearing snippets of hype when it was on, but I never saw it. I've tried watching the odd rerun since it's been in syndication, and I always felt a bit out of the loop. But some nice person got me Firefly for the Christmas before last and I've loved it so dearly that I wanted more. There's not yet any more Firefly, but there's more Joss Whedon in the world, so I decided to go get season 1 of Buffy. It was good. Not as good as Firefly, but quite good enough to get me hooked. So I finished it and got season 2. It was even better. So good, in fact, that I have ordered the rest of the seasons from Amazon already, and I may have to check out Angel when I'm done with that.
It's not a movie, but it's close enough, I suppose, and it's very good. Enough to satisfy my Joss jones until Serenity comes out.
By the way, I love The Good The Bad and The Ugly as well. I remember thinking that westerns sucked until someone showed me that movie in high school. Never have I done a quicker 180. Still one of my favorite movies.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Extending rules to include series too. Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
The Unforgiven is an excellent, excellent, excellent film.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
Isn't it just Unforgiven, SS? If you're referring to the Eastwood, Freeman, Hackman film?
If so, I totally agree.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
Indeed.
Posted by calaban (Member # 2516) on :
Anything with Clint please. A Fist Full of Dollars, A Few Dollars More, High Plains Drifter, Josey Wales. Ooo and Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis is A Few Dollars More remade. I think an Eastwood Marathon is the order of the night. "So what you have to ask yourself... "
Posted by Storm Saxon (Member # 3101) on :
Yep. Pardon. Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
quote:Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis is A Few Dollars More remade
Actually, it's a remake of A Fistful of Dollars. And they're both remakes of Yojimbo, which is probably still my favorite version of the story.
Posted by calaban (Member # 2516) on :
I always did get those mixed up and I'll rent Yojimbo tonight if I can find it.
Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
My favorite all time song is the theme song from "The Good the Bad and the Ugly"
(It's hard to represent the "lyrics" but, trust me, it works when I sing it.)
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
I get a lot of the classic Clint westerns confused, but reading Tante's description I completely recognize that theme music. Works for me.
--Enigmatic
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Anything with Clint please.
How about Paint Your Wagon? Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Originally posted by Speed:
quote:Last Man Standing with Bruce Willis is A Few Dollars More remade
Actually, it's a remake of A Fistful of Dollars. And they're both remakes of Yojimbo, which is probably still my favorite version of the story.
Really? I've never seen A Fistful of Dollars. I thought that it was just a remake of Yojimbo.
Now I have to go watch it.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hmm, nobody has busted me yet for my opinion on Monty Python. Weird... o_O
Oh, and thanks for all the westerns suggestions! I actually saw Last Man Standing on TV ones and while it was good I don't remember it much.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
OK, if you insist...
*busts Corwin*
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
*busted* Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
quote:The Unforgiven is an excellent, excellent, excellent film.
The Unforgiven is a terrible, terrible, terrible film. Hated it. I wanted to like it. Hated it. Not a single good guy in the movie. Terrible movie.
You don't like Monty Python and the Holy Grail? You know, it does kind of grow on you. You need to watch it about 20 more times and make sure you are friends with people who can recite the entire movie from memory. Not that this totally works, but at least you have an appreciation for it and it's easier to "fit in" or you at least have enough knowledge to make fun of the geeks that know every line.
My mother has friends who are flew to New York to see Spamalot. These women are 50-60 years old! They wanted to make sure they saw it when -get this- David Hyde Pierce was still in it. Granted, I love David Hyde Pierce and would want to see him in it too, but I'd want to make sure that Tim Curry and Hank Azaria were in it, too. (Currently Hank Azaria is not in it, but will be back in November, but I believe DHP will be gone in December). Damn, I miss having money sometimes.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Hmm... Well, if I ever get to a Hatrack meeting I'm sure to find some of those geeky-know-all-the-lines dudes and dudettes, right? Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
Good Lord, yes.
Posted by Kayla (Member # 2403) on :
And most of them know every line of The Princess Bride, too.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Did I mention that I didn't like The Princess Bride either? Seemed way too childish for me... I think I did mention it... :dons double-thickness body armor: Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
The Good AND Ugly
Miracle Wow, I never thought they can make Kurt Russell look THAT ugly! Nice movie though, even if parts of it stroke me as overly patriotic - had quite some fun during those parts... The interesting part is that it's apparently quite historically accurate, with only a few Hollywoodian additions. It makes for a really powerful story, I must tell you. And the movie gets better the further you go into it, so don't dismiss it if you think the beginning isn't that good.
The Cool
Not an initial category, but since I'm the creator of this thread, I can add anything I want, right? Be Cool is one of those easy comedies that you'll enjoy despite all the clichés, just because they know how to even those clichés well enough to get you hooked. Travolta's *all knowing*, *wise-guy* character is the soul of the movie, but the duet formed by Vince Vaughn and The Rock, or the "black brothers" were also quite entertaining. So if you're looking for a mindless good laugh this is definitely the way to go.
Until next time, be cool! Posted by Crotalus (Member # 7339) on :
Why Unforgiven is so good:
SPOILERS! (with apologies to Corwin)
You come to realize over time that 'unforgiven'is how the protagonist (Clint) feels about himself. He keeps asserting, "I'm not like that anymore." He also doesn't drink anymore. And yet he recruits Freeman to do one more job with him. Freeman gets killed by Hackman and then Clint comes to take revenge.
Best scene: when Clint confronts Hackman in the saloon, when he picks up the shot glass and takes a drink, that's when you know: it's on!
Best lines: Hackman "I'm building a house. I don't deserve to die like this"
Eastwood "Deserve's got nothing to do with it."
Gist of the movie: Because Clint's character could never forgive himself, he never truly changed. Could be a commentary on why you do actually need to forgive yourself in order to move on.
Of course, this is all just my opinion.
[ July 19, 2005, 09:21 AM: Message edited by: Crotalus ]
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Ok, now I *have* to see Unforgiven, if only to be able to read your whole post, Crotalus! Posted by Crotalus (Member # 7339) on :
Uh, Sorry. SPoilers, spoilers, spoilers!
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
I kinda liked The Shape Of Things.
I really like Paul Rudd and Gretchen Mol. I was pissed at the ending, but it was a good kind of pissed.
The thing that I thought was cool about it was that it was a play which they decided to film. That's why the actors made everything so big. They gave the same performance they gave on stage, but it was hugely overacted for a movie. I think they filmed it in like two weeks, fresh from doing the show's run (in NYC, London?). Anyway, it led to an interesting movie.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
quote: The Unforgiven is a terrible, terrible, terrible film. Hated it. I wanted to like it. Hated it. Not a single good guy in the movie. Terrible movie.
That's actually one of the reasons I love that movie so much. They made a movie without heroes. You can empathize with nearly every character in the film without actually liking them or approving of what they do. There are so many movies that have people doing unspeakably horrible things in a heroic way, or in an utterly villanous way. This movie takes out the heroism and the villainy and leaves the humanity. It's brilliant.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
. I loved it! Guns, humor, cool music, you name it! I mean, of course I knew it was said to be "teh awesome", but still - or because of that - I wondered if it's not going to disappoint me. Nope, not a chance. In fact, it makes me want to see more westerns! Hi-Yo, Silver! Away! ![[Hat]](graemlins/hat.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
) opinion on some of the movies I've seen recently. Hit me with yours! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)