What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

I have been on a documentary spree, all of 'em about astonishing stuff happening in the US (just coincidence by the way, although this country has a propensity for the preposterous :). It either gets me sad, pissed off or plain flabbergasted.

"Who killed the electric car": how GM actually makes electric cars and then does their best to discourage people using them. In the end they get all called back and destroyed while being in perfect condition. It's a damn shame.....and waste. Back to the oil addiction I guess....

"When the Levees broke". The documentary/requiem by Spike Lee about the Katrina Hurricane that left New Orleans totally devastated. This made me cry several times. It's a shock to see third world footage actually coming from an American city. People were (and still are!) utterly neglected. I mean, the damn Canadian Mounties were there to help in two days while official help from the government arrives after 5 days! The Bush family is completely out of touch with reality and their own people. Barbara Bush said on national television that people who got "shelter" at the Superdome actually improved on their former living conditions. It's beyond sad and hilarious at the same time. Then she continued to speak and said that she hoped that all those people would stay put and not come to Texas, because "they was all criminal and stuff". Dumb ignorant b**tch (sorry for cussin' but that made me mad!). They should put people in jail for not building floodproof levees, not coming to the rescue of the people in time, not providing shelter to homeless fellow Americans, not paying insurance, scattering families all over the States, not providing money to rebuild. The best way to judge a government is to look at how they treat their own (disadvantaged) people.

"Sicko" by Michael Moore. Although a bit populist at times and confusing anecdote with established pattern, there is too much proof that the health care system in the States is utterly flawed and beyond redemption. It's totally absurd if one looks from the outside in and discovers that the system is essentialy driven by profit! Insurance companies will stop at nothing to try to deny medical procedures to people who actually pay taxes and are insured. The pharmaceutical companies are mobsters also in Europe but boy do they go to extremes in the States. Canadians actually take extra insurance when they come to the US in case they get sick over there and have to pay hospital bills they can't afford. And what's with the fear for "socialized" medicine? It's a total crap story that was invented to ensure the continuing profit of large health care companies.

Well, enough ranting for tonight, I had to get this off my chest.....
 
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After The Thin Man (1936)

The husband-and-wife-detectives movies are always fun, this is the second time Ive seen this one. Jimmy Stewart's in this one too, it's cool to watch him totally flip out in the end!
 
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I just saw some Kubrick movies.
A Clockwork Orange
The Shining
Barry Lyndon.

Good movies, but I think only The Shining survived the changes since being made.
Barry Lyndon has a very nice story, but I think it was much too long for what it was, the music in the film was perfect and the actors were good too.
A Clockwork Orange is nice, but nothing spectacular.
The Shining was great. Good actors, good music, good atmosphere...
 
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I agree about Clockwork Orange. People seem to generally think that it's really great, but I just dont feel the magic myself. It's a cult film, so like any other of them, it has it's devoted fanbase. I think it's the alternate vernacular used in the film that people really latch onto, people that I know that are into the film tend to try and talk like the narrator.
 
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A different, made up slang or language than what is commonly used. I'm just trying to sound smart I guess.
 
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@slam23- be careful about taking any of those films as unbiased documentary. Each of the three "targets" certainly deserves a good spanking, but there's blame to be shared in all 3 cases. For example, it is illegal for the President to send federal troops into a state until the Governor of the state requests them. It was several days before the Gov of Louisiana got around to giving that permission. Of course, Dubya and crew bungled things pretty badly after they got the permission, but the picture gets a little skewed when that little detail is left out.
 
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A different, made up slang or language than what is commonly used. I'm just trying to sound smart I guess.

No, I just have a bad vocabulary and grammar in every language that I know :p

I think I'll see V for Vendetta tonight.
I also want to see Kontroll which is the movie which won at the Cannes Film Festival this year. I'll see that another time.
 
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@dteowner: thanx for the heads-up, I didn't know about that rule. I guess watching three such documentary's in a row kind of messed with my head that evening. But now I get why the governor got such flak for her behaviour. Isn't there an option for the pres to declare something a "national crisis" which supersedes the federal system and bypasses a governor? Dubya can sure get away with something like that if it concerns national security.....that influence even extends to europe, flying terror suspects in and out CIA-bases through sovereign airspace for example.
 
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Just curious, did that documentary talk about the Mayor of New Orleans Ray Nagin at all?

Yeah, that piece of sh*t Nagin didn't help matters either. All he did was point fingers at the goverment and Bush, and somehow the people of New Orleans thought he was some kind of hero or something.

Some people criticized Nagin for not handling evacuation procedures properly and, in particular, for allowing hundreds of New Orleans' buses — which might have been used for evacuating poor or elderly people — to sit idle in parking lots that were part of the first sections of the city flooded.

During his bid for re-election in 2006 that racist mother-f*cker made a speech where he said ...*quote*
"We must rebuild a chocolate New Orleans, I don't care what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be chocolate at the end of the day," he said. "This city will be a majority African-American city. It's the way God wants it to be." *end quote*

Can you imagine if a White man said "We must rebuild a vanilla city"? All hell would break loose. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be there so fast that there'd be smoke pouring out their asses!

The sad thing is he actually got re-elected.
 
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Yes, reverse racism is still racism!! Did he mention 'milk' chocolate by any chance? :)
 
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Nagin is one of the prominent central "characters" in the documentary. He gets it from both sides, positive and negative. The thing about the buses is not mentioned but he gets flak for first consulting the companies and corporations that operate in the New Orleans area (the most influential part of his constituency probably) about how to proceed and only thinking about his citizens second. Also he gets criticised for shifting blame on governor Blanco and the federal governement/Bush for stuff he could have done himself (like JDR13 said). The fact that he ultimately openly voiced frustration towards the governement while jeopardizing his own career (he actually thought the CIA or FBI were going to silence him, a scary thought if you realise that a mayor is seemingly scared shitless by his own government) makes him a hero in some eyes but it doesn't get blown out of proportions in the doc. His remarks about a chocolate city make more sense (although still being racist in tone) if you watch the doc I guess because the Bush administration at least has appearances against it when it comes to the fact that they have done nothing to facilitate the return of people to New Orleans and the population is predominantly black. In the mean time a lot of (white) investers are seizing the opportunity to buy (seize?) land and properties at bargain prices. But this whole discussion is probably more complicated than can be distilled from the doc. As an outsider to this all my view of Nagin by watching the doc would be of a moderately vain career man who wanted to do good but who got confronted by a major disaster in which he was completely out of his league. He probably was taking a career risk when he openly voiced his frustration but that shouldn't even remotely compare to the fate of his people who lost their lives, their properties, their families and their future. I think it was his duty by way of his elected position in office at that time. In hindsight he may have taken some bad decisions but I don't think it was out of malice. I would recommend viewing the doc, I think Spike Lee has done a good job of portraying the human side to the disaster and all the major policy makers that were willing to participate get fair screen time. Indirectly he does take a quite clear and strong moral stance on the issue (being failing/neglectful government) by his editing, but that is to be expected with a Spike Lee production.
 
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dont pollute my movie thread w/ your political BS!

Take it to religion/politics forum plz ='.'=

Just watched Plunder the Sun

Old crime drama 'bout the search for treasure among the ruins of old Mayan temples. Makes me want to go to Mexico and check them out myself!
 
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Now Sammy, it's a natural discussion of the movies he watched. Good clean fun.

Harry Potter 3 last night, Harry Potter 4 tonight. I've seen them before, but we're getting the Wild Dogs caught up so we can take them to HP5 this weekend.
 
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I agree about Clockwork Orange. People seem to generally think that it's really great, but I just dont feel the magic myself. It's a cult film, so like any other of them, it has it's devoted fanbase. I think it's the alternate vernacular used in the film that people really latch onto, people that I know that are into the film tend to try and talk like the narrator.
How is the language in the original version? In German the whole movie is artsy. New words were created, even young men speak in a completely weird way. They stick to it consequently throughout the whole movie.


Last week digitally remastered Kubricks were announced. Most of his major works. So if you consider buying them better wait for Christmas.
 
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Ok, point taken, guess it got a bit political after all... :) . Saw Zodiac last night, always good to see Downey jr. hammin' it up. Also nice role by Jake Gyllenhaal. I would grade the movie a B for the storytelling and pacing but an A for the research part. On the whole it's a nice snack between proper meals. The director as I understand it had a ball in recreating all kinds of stuff from the case, right up to the grisly details of the murders. Funny how the end of the movie feels like a payoff while not havin' a real payoff. Next up is "the good shepherd" with Jason Bourne, oops I mean Matt Damon. At the movie theatre I'll definitly check out Ratatouille.
 
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Watched Mitchell last night... this movie is so truly bad that it is a pleasure to watch (I know that sounds like an oxymoron)...

It has:
Joe Don Baker as Mitchell - oh my goodness
John Saxon as one of the main bad guys - of course
Merlin Olson as a bodyguard - hehe
Linda Evans as a woman paid to get Mitchell to leave the bad guys alone by using sex as a tool... but of course she falls in love with him - yuck - gotta feel sorry for her

Check our more info here
 
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Last week I watched 3 mainstream movies I had missed:

Mission Impossible 3:
Average. Couple of nice ideas, the rest is unremarkable. Cruise wanted to compete with the latest Bond and lost in every imaginable way.

Mr & Mrs Smith:
A nice and enjoyable popcorn movie. Not brilliant but funny, sexy and entertaining. Recommended if you want light family entertainment without thinking.

Ong Bak:
Yes, that Eastern re-cut and distributed by Luc Besson in the rest of the world.
Story, acting, suspense? Not much.
More funny than brutal.
The fight scenes? Undeblievable! A mix between slapstick and acrobatic stuff. The camera uses spectacular angles but is rather static. As opposed to most martial arts movies these "actors" really know what they´re doing. They don´t need wires and fast cuts to disguise their own incompetence. It´s absolutely amzing how much control over their body these guys have.
The flow of the fight scenes is very similar to this new French sports "parcours" in which you just run straight through the city and climb and jump over everything. Fluent and almost like a dance.
Definitely a movie you have to see at least once.
 
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Gorath : In a Clockwork Orange, most of the people speak in their slang, I wouldn't have understood anything without subtitles.


About other movies seen.
I watched the Transformers, which in itself isn't that great but I have to say it's quite funny and the special effects are spectacular, really spectacular.

I also saw This Thing of Ours with some of the actors from The Sopranos, well... most of the acting was great except for the two agents, but the story really s*cked #@= . One of the worst movies all-time.

I also saw The Simpsons : The Movie, which I found to be very funny, the only problem was that the story was 'over'. It was too much even for The Simpsons. All the characters however fitted perfectly in that story which is amazing.



I've been doubting about Harry Potter for a while now, it never really attracted me so I haven't seen any one of the movies, but since so many people like it I'm willing to give it a shot, but I'd like to hear people's opinion here... Anyone ?
 
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I've been doubting about Harry Potter for a while now, it never really attracted me so I haven't seen any one of the movies, but since so many people like it I'm willing to give it a shot, but I'd like to hear people's opinion here... Anyone ?
Surprisingly serious, increasingly darker fantasy movies with some teenie elements mixed in. Very expensive, high production values. The guy playing Potter is a very mediocre actor. Most of the other kids are quite talented though and get better with every movie. The supporting cast has to be seen to be believed. Ralph Fiennes, Gary Oldman, Richard Harris, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Kenneth Branagh, Robbie Coltrane and the other half I have forgotten. The directors are of similar calibre.

The movies build onto each other to a certain degree. They follow Harry´s fight against "He who must not be named", accompanied by one additional story per movie.
Apparently the books are packed full with details, so don´t expect to get logical explanations for everything in the movies. 2 - 2.5 hours is not enough to losslessly convert 700+ pages of a novel, even though they tried.
The Potter movies have a relatively unhurried pace. They don´t follow the old "one action scene every 8 minutes" rule. All technical aspects are top notch, the atmosphere is convincing. Some of the action seems slapped on and the solutions random and trivial though.
I´m not a huge fan of the Potter movies, but I have to say that they are carefully made, watchable and certainly quality products. Especially the later ones are not really suitable for younger children. Even the earlier ones have critical elements like Harry fighting a giant snake.
There isn´t much to worry. Just get the first one and watch it. Or better read the book. I know half a dozen people who confirm the books are superb and so entertaining that people get addicted to them.
My favourites are the first two movies. The first for the atmosphere and the one with the snake for the suspense. Surprisingly the critics prefer the later ones.
 
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