What's spinning in your DVD PLAYER? eh? eh? General Movie Discussion

[bernardos70]

Law Abiding Citizen was quite entertaining.

[Murphy3]

If you have read the first Percy Jackson book, then you would probably think the movie was absolutely terrible.

[GermanDunk]

Can anyone confirm that Paranormal activity is available with an alternative ending ?

[Windmill360]

It is and it's better than the original ending IMO.

[GermanDunk]

OK, depends on which ending was shown in the US - i go with the creepier one.

[bernardos70]

That's a great movie BTW.

[GermanDunk]

I watched Nord ( North? ) recently. It´s a fun movie about a divorced man who wants to visit his son in the very northern part of Norway.
Accidently he lights the valley-station of the ski piste where he works. With no money and truckloads of problems he starts travelling through the picturesque landscape of Norway on his snowmobil. The main problem is that he has only got one can of schnaps ( 0:55 original trailer ) available...

[ShaggyDirk]

Shutter Island this weekend at some point.

[CadBane]

Shutter Island was great.

[Just211]

Law abiding citizen is good...

And if you like some crude humor, and just plain some funny guy sh!t, watch 'I hope they serve beer in hell' good stuff

[bernardos70]

Shutter Island was a bore until 3/4 of the way til the end. But the end (almost) redeemed the movie.

I started but haven't finished watching (due to time constraints) The Invention of Lying, and so far, it is very good.

[MavsX]

Originally Posted by Just211

Law abiding citizen is good...

And if you like some crude humor, and just plain some funny guy sh!t, watch 'I hope they serve beer in hell' good stuff

i read that book a few years ago. awesome books. i never laughed so much during that week when i read it.

[sike]

kiss, kiss, bang, bang. VERY funny. Especially if you like Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer...

very dark, very R rated, very confusing. But pretty good.

[ShaggyDirk]

I have contemplated starting a thread for this but like The Wire, you appreciate it in the confines of your home and let the chips fall where they may...Anyway, "here... we... go"

March 15

The Pacific

First Reveiw

Bottom Line: As sensitive and realistic a portrait of American combat in the Pacific as you ever will see.
Having created "Band of Brothers," the masterful 2001 miniseries that followed Easy Company from its training in Georgia through the D-Day invasion and until the end of the war, exec producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg decided to balance the equation with a mini set in the Pacific theater.

The result is "The Pacific," also 10 parts but in some ways as different in its approach to the material as the jungle warfare of the Pacific was from the more conventional fighting in Europe. Both miniseries are infused with raw, powerful stories of personal triumph and adversity, but "Pacific" feels more random and more contained. Each episode is so completely built on discreet incidents that a strong case can be made for calling this a limited series.

But call it what you will, it is a gem of a production and would be a highlight of any TV season. "Pacific," in its totality, conveys a sense of the combat experience that is as complete and realistic as any work of film could be. From the harrowing nighttime battles with a deadly but invisible enemy to the sheer misery of the punishing jungle climate to the macho posturing of the young American fighters, "Pacific" omits nothing.

Where "Band of Brothers" adapted Stephen Ambrose's saga of a single unit, "Pacific" melds the memories of three authors: Robert Leckie, Eugene B. Sledge and Chuck Tatum. Leckie and Sledge become two of the three principal characters; the third is John Basilone. During the course of the war, the paths of these three Marines cross, but each has his own circle of friends and unique set of circumstances.

Leckie (James Badge Dale), an aspiring journalist, is the most introspective of the bunch. Sledge (Joe Mazzello), initially kept out of the Marines by a heart murmur, enlists later and soon is plunged into combat unlike anything he could have imagined. Basilone's instant act of bravery gets him recast as public hero and a spokesman for the sale of war bonds.

His collision with celebrity and glamour gives some relief from the constant hell of fighting and preparing for battle. However, it also stands out as perhaps the only contrived element in a work of otherwise unflinching honesty.

In an opening scene, a Marine officer lectures his new enlistees: "Whenever this war is over, when we have swept upon the main islands of Japan and destroyed every scrap of that empire, the strategy will have been that of others, but the victory will have been won by you." That speech, and the occasional use of maps to toggle between acts, is as close as "Pacific" gets to a comprehensive overview of the fighting. This is intentional. The idea is to present the war from the vantage point of the Marines who deployed where they were told, rested when they could and then fought somewhere else.

In that confined space, writer Bruce C. McKenna finds a world of drama, including the Marines' anxiety about the unknown, their tugs of instant passion, their acceptance of barbaric warfare and, above all else, their painful and unexpected confrontations with their own mortality.

Praiseworthy performances are so abundant that it might be unfair to single out any one actor. That said, it would be hard not to take special note of Dale's work as Leckie, perhaps the most pivotal role because of the insight the character brings to so many situations. Not once does Dale falter.

Special effects are outstanding and convincing. Watch for "Pacific" to dominate every Emmy category for which it is eligible. Better still, just watch it.

Airdate: 9-10 p.m. Sundays, March 14-May 16 (HBO)
Production: A Playtone and DreamWorks Production in association with HBO Miniseries
Cast: James Badge Dale, Joe Mazzello, Jon Seda, Jon Bernthal, Joshua Bitton, Tom Budge, Linda Cropper, Caroline Dhavernas, Josh Helman, Ashton Holmes, Toby Leonard Moore, Keith Nobbs, Jacob Pitts
Executive producers: Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, Gary Goetzman
Co-executive producers: Tony To, Graham Yost, Eugene Kelly, Bruce C. McKenna
Producers: Cherylanne Martin, Todd London, Steven Shareshian
Supervising producer/director: Tim Van Patten
Co-producers: Robert Schenkkan, George Pelecanos, Miura Kite, Kirk Saduski
Writer: Bruce C. McKenna
Director of photography: Remi Adefarasin
Production designer: Anthony Pratt
Editor: Edward A. Warschilka
Music: Hans Zimmer, Blake Neely, Geoff Zanelli
Costumes: Penny Rose
Casting: Meg Liberman, Cami Patton, Christine King

[MavsX]

hurt locker was pretty good...

[Five-ofan]

Ive been watching jericho season 1 on dvd. had never seen it before but picked it up because it was $4 at blockbuster(5 for 20 deal). Very enjoyable series so far, im through 16 episodes.

[Flacolaco]

I'd like to speak for people with extreme right (or left) eye dominance all over when I say: Thank god a movie released in 3D didn't win best picture.

I've never really heard of the movie that did win, but I'm just glad on principal that the movie I can't go see because the 3D doesn't work for my messed up eyes didn't win. The 3D phenomenon is off putting.

[jthig32]

Avatar was completely enjoyable in non-3D.

However, The Hurt Locker was VERY deserving. Extremely good movie.

[Flacolaco]

See....I've had people tell me not even bother seeing it in 2D.

Bleah. I feel like I have a disability now that mainstream movies (not just "kid" movies) are being presented in 3d. It just doesn't work for me.

[jthig32]

I'd love to hear those people's reasoning. People do realize that all the technologies the movie pioneered are not limited to 3D technology, right? I actually thought the 3D took away a bit from the amazing motion capture, and from the overall color of the movie.

[Big Boy Laroux]

i was wondering what was up with this moment:

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/m...udence_burkett

[GermanDunk]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

See....I've had people tell me not even bother seeing it in 2D.

Bleah. I feel like I have a disability now that mainstream movies (not just "kid" movies) are being presented in 3d. It just doesn't work for me.

I was astonished the 3D effects are working for me as a guy seeing nearly nothing on one side. But this is useless, because Avatar itself is pretty boring actually due to its poor plot. Just nicely animated pictures and decent effects kept me from leaving the theater.
On the other hand i was very sorry that i had to leave Final Destination Pt. 34.
The story is absolute crap, but the 3D effects are amazing.

[MavsX]

over the weekend i watched.

state of play - surprisingly good movie, slow in the beginning..but well worth it, i'd recommend this to people
smoking aces - really good movie, i saw this for the 2nd time..
funny people - not that funny...kinda sad with some one liners thrown in
four christmases - okay; I kinda felt like it was trying to be "meet the parents" too much

[rmacomic]

Did anyone else catch Sam L. Jackson rolling his eyes at Monique's acceptance speech?

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by rmacomic

Did anyone else the oscars?

Fixed.

And no.

[MavsX]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

Fixed.

And no.

shouldn't you have fixed it to say...

Did anyone else watch the oscars?

[Flacolaco]

Uhhh...no.

Because...





Shutup.

[ShaggyDirk]

Richard B. Frank's "Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire" review of The Pacific

"Millions of viewers will approach The Pacific with one urgent question: How does it compare—indeed can it compare—with Band of Brothers? At one level the parallels seem obvious. Both view the war through the eyes of men in one unit. Band of Brothers followed the paratroopers of E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The Pacific follows three main figures each serving in a separate infantry regiment of the 1st Marine Division: Robert Leckie (1st Marine Regiment), Eugene Sledge (5th Marines), and John Basilone (7th Marines).

What is counterintuitive about this chasm between a company and a division as the "unit" is that the average viewer will more swiftly bond with the Marines in The Pacific. Even fervent admirers of Band of Brothers confess that it takes multiple viewings to sort out all the individuals from part one to part ten. The Pacific immediately introduces the three central Marines and locates the key secondary characters as satellites to each main character. The viewer quickly recognizes "Runner," "Hoosier," and "Chuckler" with Leckie; J. P. Morgan and "Manny" Rodriguez with Basilone; and R. V. Burgin, Bill Leyden, and Merriel "Snafu" Shelton with Sledge. The key exception to this pattern is Sid Phillips, who links Leckie (Sid's one of his buddies) and Sledge (Sid's childhood friend from Mobile, Alabama). The structure translates directly into rapid and intense emotional investment with the characters. Added to that is the high tension the series produces by demonstrating early that there's no guarantee any particular Marine will survive.

The Pacific displays the same meticulous attention to technical detail and special-effects wizardry that characterized Band of Brothers. As with the earlier miniseries, fanatics will find the rare misstep along the way, but uniforms and equipment, language and weapons' effects overwhelmingly meet the extraordinary detailed standards set by Band of Brothers. The action sequences are, in my opinion, even more riveting for two reasons. The first is that action in the jungles or Pacific islands compelled combat at extremely close range. The second is that, unlike the Germans, the Japanese chose to fight predominantely at night. While their predilection for nocturnal combat rested on tactical considerations, psychologically it also recruited man's most primitive fears. The depiction of the struggles in darkness presents a far tougher cinematic challenge that the production brilliantly surmounts.

The Pacific also excels in another key dimension. Few would suggest that the Japanese were a more menacing battlefield foe than the Germans or that fighting in Europe lacked daunting physical challenges. But virtually all World War II veterans agreed that the physical rigors of fighting in dense, damp, and terrifying jungles in the Pacific and the absence of any trappings of civilization set apart combat against the Japanese. Thus, one of the triumphs of The Pacific is the graphic re-creation of that incredibly alien and depressing environment.

Viewers of The Pacific will note that it's even more relentless than Band of Brothers in maintaining the perspective of front-line infantry. This does, however, produce some regrettable but inevitable consequences. Absent is much context of the larger picture, like strategy, the campaigns fought by the U.S. Army and Australians, or even air and sea battles fought in conjunction with the Marines' struggles ashore. Moreover, some will argue that the Japanese appear stripped of all humanity. It's true that there's no extended treatment of any individual Japanese—nor could there be under the terms of the fighting dictated by Japan. But even within those limits, the sophisticated script harbors a telling collective picture more nuanced than simply a collage of targets or tormentors. And the wrenching sequences on Okinawa, where large numbers of civilians are horrifically caught in the middle of the battle, refute any argument that only the Marines earn sympathy.

The Pacific will be a cultural event on the level with Band of Brothers. It can and should provoke thought and controversy. But even as a committed admirer of Band of Brothers, my ultimate verdict must be that The Pacific is grimmer and greater.

[Nash13]

Brooklyn's Finest was excellent. It was literally training day meets the departed. I think people on this board will love it.

[bernardos70]

Did the Pacific start yet? I need to DVR that badly.

And I'm watching Brooklyn's Finest sometime this week.

[ShaggyDirk]

Starts Sunday

[bernardos70]

Originally Posted by ShaggyDirk

Starts Sunday

Thanks for the heads up. BoB was my favorite series ever.

[sike]

Avatar gets an A+ as a visual experience

and a C+/B- as a film.

[sike]

District 9: a little boring after you get the idea (B)

Law Abiding Citizen: bleak and surprisingly more violent than I expected. (B-)

[Five-ofan]

Watched Sugar and Mickey in the last couple of days. Really liked both. Probably not worth watching if you dont like baseball but very enjoyable if you do. Mickey is the 2004 movie with harry connick jr.

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by ShaggyDirk

Richard B. Frank's "Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire" review of The Pacific

I really didn't have much problem sorting through the main characters in Band of Brothers.. not at all.

[nashtymavsfan13]

I liked Law Abiding Citizen a lot, awesome plot and good action. Brooklyn's Finest was ok, but not great. I'd say it's worth seeing, but it definitely didn't blow me away.

Finally watched Deja Vu this week, and really liked it.

[sike]

watching HBO's series Band of Brothers right now...so far so great.

[LonghornDub]

I thought Law Abiding Citizen was cool, but it peaked too early for me.

[ShaggyDirk]

Originally Posted by sike

watching HBO's series Band of Brothers right now...so far so great.

Is this your first viewing?