Past Movies: The First Reel

[stargazer]

Hey, movie buffs! Have you just discovered a classic film that you really like? Or perhaps you've just watched an old favorite for the 42nd time and discovered something new.

In any case, from Hitchcock to Capra, from Gone with the Wind to the movies released this week on DVD, this is the place to rave about your favorite past movies, or just update us on others you've seen.

Please note that there may be spoilers in this thread for those classics you may not have seen, but use of the actual spoiler feature probably isn't required unless you're revealing something significant about a new release or movie that has only recently left the cinema.

Also note that if a movie title contains a vulgar word (one that would go against our standards here on NarniaWeb), we ask that you use asterisks in its place.

Please remember the forum guidelines, and enjoy the discussion!

[Valiant_Lucy]

...First post!! *couldn't resist*

So I recently saw Son of Rambow and The Changling.

Son of Rambow was really good. It was a lot different then I thought it would be though. I was expecting something almost like a comedy, and while it certainly had some humerous moments it was more thought-provoking then funny. I'd never seen Will Poulter act before either, this completely has me convinced that he's going to be AMAZING as Eustace.


The Changling was also different then I was expecting...better, I think. It took me a while to get used to Angelina Jole's acting, but by the end of the movie I could understand why she got the Oscar nomination. I wouldn't recomend the movie to more "sensative" viewers--there one subplot involving some murdered children that I even found a bit disturbing (as well as another scene that wasn't really necessary). Anyways, I liked it. IT's so sad though to think it was based on a true story. The ending was a bit unexpected, but good.

EDIT:

Oh, another movie I saw recently was The Curious Case of Benjamen Button. I wasn't really sure what to expect with this one. It was a bit depressing...but in a good way, if you know what I mean. I loved Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton. Brad Pitt, who I'm normally not a huge fan of, was excellent in his part. The plot was very, very, strange...but it actually worked. It left me feeling slightly bittersweet. Anyone else seen it/have thoughts?

[-queenSUSAN-]

I just watched "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" for the very first time. I LOVED it!!! Leo DiCaprio was incredible. And of course, Johnny Depp was sublime.

I could really identify with Gilbert...just the feeling of being stuck because your family depends upon you so much. Unfortunately I can't burn my house down and go live on the road like a gypsy.

~~

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Last night I watched Hancock. What a disappointment! The premise was decent enough and there were several good scenes but they were few and far between. The camera work was shifty (but not in the purposeful way), the CGI was over-the-top and glaringly obvious and the script was a mess.
I don't know. It just seemed to be really confused, like it didn't know whether it was a comedy, romance, cartoon, drama or sci-fi movie. Yeah, not good.
It had a reasonable amount of language too, just because.
I did enjoy Will Smith's delivery of the line 'good job', the scene where he rescues the woman in a politically correct manner and the ending scene. I think the guy from Arrested Development was the highlight of the whole thing. 5.5/10

[Shadowlander]

Last night I watched Hancock. What a disappointment! The premise was decent enough and there were several good scenes but they were few and far between. The camera work was shifty (but not in the purposeful way), the CGI was over-the-top and glaringly obvious and the script was a mess.
I don't know. It just seemed to be really confused, like it didn't know whether it was a comedy, romance, cartoon, drama or sci-fi movie. Yeah, not good.
It had a reasonable amount of language too, just because.
I did enjoy Will Smith's delivery of the line 'good job', the scene where he rescues the woman in a politically correct manner and the ending scene. I think the guy from Arrested Development was the highlight of the whole thing. 5.5/10

My wife and I watched that a few months ago and I wholeheartedly agree. The movie was marketed heavily as a comedy, but there's really not as much comedy in it as you'd think. Hancock kind of struck me as being a movie that didn't know what it really wanted to be at any given time.

[wisewoman]

I ditto the thoughts on Hancock. And I could have done without some of the woman's outfits. I remember all the trouble I had with someone who kept posting pictures of her here during the filming. Ugh.

Oh, another movie I saw recently was The Curious Case of Benjamen Button.

We watched about half of that and then I gave up. It was going nowhere, the plot (or lack thereof) was not working for me, and I really didn't care about the characters. I thought it was tremendously overhyped.

We recently watched Roman Holiday for the first time. It was delightful, so much fun! I loved Audrey Hepburn in it.

Though the ending was definitely sad. Great that they did their duty, but sad they could not be together.

We also watched Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal. Has anyone here seen that? You could see how influenced it was by Tolkien's Middle-earth. I wasn't a big fan of the New Agey themes though (good and evil merging, etc.). The score was pretty good too.

[Shadowlander]

The Dark Crystal...wow. I haven't seen that one since 4th grade, way back in 82 or 83. Good grief...has it been that long? I remember liking the Dark Crystal but beyond that I cannot recall anything else about it.

[wisewoman]

I guess it was very daring for its time; the trailer on the DVD said, in tones of awe, that no human being would be seen onscreen in the final version

It was a childhood favorite of my husband. I had never seen it. Some of that stuff was really creepy for little kids!

[Rising_Star]

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is one of my all-time favorite movies. I was rendered speechless after watching DiCaprio's performance as the mentally-handicapped Artie. It took me a couple watches to really get what the story was about, and then I loved it even more. Johnny Depp was amazing as well.

What really struck me was that I had no idea DiCaprio could act like that. I saw it soon after I saw The Man in the Iron Mask so I knew he was pretty good, but I never thought he would be that good.

I really liked Son of Rambow too, Val. And I agree that it wasn't really a comedy, even though it was portrayed that way in the summaries and the trailer. It was after seeing that that I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Will Poulter would be a perfect Eustace.

What I thought was really interesting is how

SHOW SPOILER

the French boy (name escapes me now) made himself out to be really important and instantly became incredibly popular, when really he was an outcast in his school and not well-liked by any of his fellow students. Up until then I did not really like him (I thought him a show-off and rather stuck-up), but then I realized that that was *why* he acted stuck-up and showed off.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

[briofthesilversea]

I just watched "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" for the very first time. I LOVED it!!! Leo DiCaprio was incredible. And of course, Johnny Depp was sublime.

I could really identify with Gilbert...just the feeling of being stuck because your family depends upon you so much. Unfortunately I can't burn my house down and go live on the road like a gypsy.

~~

I loved it too! It was hard to feel bad 100% for any of the characters, though, because you could see it from all ways around. Like him

SHOW SPOILER

having to take care of his brother, and he ends up smacking him. It's horrible that he had to deal with him ALL of the time, yet his brother depended on him so much

Needless to say, it was a good movie.

And I know what you guys mean about Hancock. I saw it without knowing what was in store...I still didn't know what to think after leaving the theatre. It had too much language, and everything happend TOO FAST! But I guess it was ok in the long run.

[lysander]

from Hitchcock to Capra

Somebody's been hanging around me too long.

I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind[/i] with some friends last night. It's not for everyone. Along with the general weirdness, there's quite a bit of content - there's a reason it was rated R. I do wish this had been toned down a bit, especially all the sexual material, and I don't like the assumption that if one is in love, one must obviously be living with that person outside of wedlock, BUT I did really love the realistic, unromanticized, and forgiveness-based ending.
When the Carey and Winslet characters get back together at the end, they recognize each others' faults but are going to work through them.

Joel: I can't see anything that I don't like about you.
Clementine: But you will! But you will. You know, you will think of things. And I'll get bored with you and feel trapped because that's what happens with me.
Joel: Okay.
Clementine: [pauses] Okay.
Jim Carey was unexpectedly good in the lead role, and Kate Winslet was brilliant as always. Good performance from Kirsten Dunst as well, although until the ending it was hard to like her. Along with beautiful cinematography, a few great lines (when not containing excessive swearing), and a plot that makes you think, I give it a 6/10: good, but bizarre.

[Queen Susan]

Last night I watched Hancock. What a disappointment!

Eh, that's what my brothers said after they watched it in the theaters...

I'm not sure if this is "Present" or "Past"... I don't think it's in the theaters anymore, so... Past? Anyway, I'm looking forward to watching "Up" on DVD with the family. Only half of us have seen it.

If it hasn't come out on DVD yet, does anyone know when it will in the US?

[briofthesilversea]

I believe it releases onto DVD on November 10th. Unless I'm wrong. But I think that's when it is

[Kate]

ww: Oh, I love Roman Holiday. There's not a lot of plot--mostly they traipse about Rome--but it's lovely and charming.

ly: I found Eternal Sunshine to be bizarre and depressing. But it was very clever.

My family watched the 1996 Kate Beckinsdale Emma for the first time last night. Since the other 1996 adaptation (the one with Gwyneth Paltrow) is a favorite of my family's, it was impossible to watch this one without comparing it in some ways. I very much liked Beckinsdale as Emma and I thought that the actress who played Jane Fairfax was excellent, far better than the other one. This film concentrated much more on the flirtatious relationship between Churchill and Emma than the other film and while I appreciated that this important aspect of the film was better explored, it required that they sacrifice other parts of the story, like the relationships between Elton and Miss Smith, and Knightley and Emma. This, unfortunately, led to some weak scenes due to the fact that we hadn't sufficiently seen anything to make us believe that Elton liked Harriet other than Emma's word and the fact that Knightly hardly said anything cheerful to Emma the entire film. Overall, I prefer the Paltrow version, but was glad to see this adaptation for it's many strengths.

[-queenSUSAN-]

Roman Holiday is one of my top-five favorite movies. Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck? Perfection! And it's quite romantic, in a very sweet way. I love the bittersweet-ness.

I've never seen DiCaprio in anything other than Titanic, so needless to say, I was amazed. No, flabbergasted. I had absolutely no idea he could act like that!

Has anyone seen "The Unforgiven" (1960)? I really liked that film.

~~

[lysander]

*wonders why his spoiler box looks different from some other people's*

Roman Holiday always makes me feel sort of empty at the end, and I still think they "fall in love too easily" (or, rather, quickly), to quote a Jule Styne song. But otherwise, it's a good movie - Audrey Hepburn is adorable and her Edith Head costumes are too. I must say that I prefer It Happened One Night, which is also a highborn-lady-falls-for-reporter story, but has a very different ending.

It's been a long time since I've seen either version of Emma - or read the book, for that matter - but as far as I recall they both had their strengths and weaknesses in reiterating the various themes, subplots, and characters of the book. Of course, I think I liked them both better than the book as well. KB has always been my favorite, though. You're right that her version certainly does best with the Frank Churchill and Jane Fairfax plot lines, and while I like Ewan MacGregor and Polly Walker, Olivia Williams and Raymond Coulthard definitely triumph there. As for Mr. Knightley, I honestly think it's the GP version that changes his character. He's not that nice in the book, as I recall. And I find Beckinsale more sympathetic than Paltrow, but both are great. Of course, GP has some fabulous actors of its own as well - Greta Scaachi, Alan Cumming, Sophie Thompson, Phyllida Law, etc. The choice between Thompson and KB's Prunella Scales is too much for me: both are hilarious as Miss Bates! One of my favorite scenes from the KB Emma is, I must admit, the bit where Mrs. Elton confesses that gathering strawberries makes her feel like a shepherdess, and Miss Bates exclaims, "Oh, do you like sheep, Mrs. Elton?"