Serious Movie Discussion

[Bullitt68]

Originally Posted by YeahBee

nr2 is just petty

No, it's not. If someone called Martin Scorsese the most overrated filmmaker to ever live and the only film of his that they'd seen was After Hours, then their claim would mean jack shit since it'd be based on a tremendous amount of ignorance.

If, however, someone called him that after having watched Mean Streets, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, and The Departed, then, while they may not have seen every one of his films, they will have still seen a substantial amount of his filmography and their claim would have more merit.

[sodapopinski]

^Agreed. For instance, I've seen a few Bernardo Bertolucci films and didn't like any of them. However, I rented The Last Emperor from the library last week and plan on watching it. I don't know of one director not named Kurosawa who hasn't made at least one movie that I haven't liked (and I haven't seen Kurosawa's entire catalog).

So I posted a few pages back about an HBO movie called Path to Paradise, a film about the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. This film was probably made on a very small budget, but I enjoyed the film. Too many people have forgotten about that terrorist attack. This movie is just as good (if not better) as The Siege, and one of the best movies I've seen dealing with terrorism. This film is very hard to get your hands on, but if you can, I highly recommend it. Like I said, I bought my copy at Big Lots for $3. 8.5/10.

[sodapopinski]

Oh and IMO, Rodriguez > Tarantino. I'm not meaning to hate on Tarantino... I mean, he's produced some movies that I've enjoyed, but he's not super great.

[edco76]

Originally Posted by sodapopinski

Oh and IMO, Rodriguez > Tarantino. I'm not meaning to hate on Tarantino... I mean, he's produced some movies that I've enjoyed, but he's not super great.

Until Tarantino puts out something comparable to Spy Kids 3D I will have to disagree.

[sodapopinski]

A couple of more things about the low budget Path to Paradise...

Some decent-known stars in the film include:
Peter Gallagher (from the television show The OC)
Marcia Gay-Harden (lots of movies, most recently as the ultra-religious villain in The Mist)
Mike Starr (the hitman from Dumb & Dumber)
Art Malik (from True Lies)
And a guy from the X-Files movie (Fight the Future)

Maybe I shouldn't be building up so much hype for this movie, but I saw it on HBO right before 9/11, and not long after I watched (in horror) as the two towers collapsed, I immediately thought of the very last line in this film, which turned out to be prophetic.

[sodapopinski]

Originally Posted by edco76

Until Tarantino puts out something comparable to Spy Kids 3D I will have to disagree.

Understandable, but I still stand by what I said. The difference between the two movies in Grindhouse was huge; Planet Terror was pretty good, while Death Proof was nothing more than a glorified Sex and the City episode with one decent scene (the car wreck).

[StillinKansas**]

Originally Posted by Feb 2007

Here is a short list of my favorite movies.
12 Angry Men

I just watched my library's copy of this. It is at #87 on AFI's most current list. Its #2 on the Courtroom drama list--I would put Judgment at Nuremberg (#10) above it.

I enjoyed it but was not greatly moved by it.

In 1957 movies were still plagued by what I call "stage melodrama".

The dialogue and acting were somewhat melodramatic. Not all of the actors mind you--Henry Fonda was his usual good self. E. G. Marshall was good as well.

Interesting that there was 50 years between Lumet directing this and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead!

One thing that bothered me as they re-looked at the evidence:

***SPOILER*** (for a 50-yr old movie...)

They said that the killer wiped the prints off of the blade but yet the testimony also stated that the killer (the boy) ran off right away and returned later--after the police got there. When could he have wiped the prints clean from the knife?

[sodapopinski]

I have a question (or questions) for those who frequently post in this thread.

How do you feel about John Landis and Roman Polanski?

Landis was filming a Twilight Zone movie that ended up putting his performers at serious risk, and ended up killing Vic Morrow (the father of Jennifer Jason-Leigh) and two child actors. He was sued for his part in their deaths.

Roman Polanski plead guilty for unlawful sex with a minor. He started by taking pictures of a 13 year old girl, but then drugged her with quaaludes and had sex (including oral and anal) with her against her will. He served 42 days, then fled to France before he could be sentenced.

I honestly don't care much for Landis. He's directed a few movies that I've liked (Kentucky Fried Movie, Coming to America). However, Polanski is a different case. I love Rosemary's Baby and The Ninth Gate, and I remember liking Chinatown as well. I feel strongly that he should have served time for his crime.

[HH]

The Siege is crap.

[StillinKansas**]

John Landis had a good three-year stretch:

Animal House 1978
The Blues Brothers 1980
An American Werewolf In London 1981 (his best, IMO)

...the rest of his career has been shit

I don't remember the details clearly enough about Vic Morrow...that was a negligence issue, right? That is different than sexing a 13-year old...

Roman Polanski is simply overrated, IMO:

Rosemary's Baby 1968
Chinatown 1974 (I'm in the huge minority that didn't care for this)
The Pianist 2002

As for his statutory rape: what does French law say about this? They wouldn't extradite him at the time to face his charge (?) here. However, I do feel for him because of Sharon Tate's murder by the Manson clan.