Movies

[Lefty]

Myself, I loved Natural Born Killers.

 

But then again, I smoke weed 

 

Especially loved the prison warden role played by Tommy Lee Jones.

 

I think the worst, most disgusting piece of trash ever made by Ollie Stone was "JFK", a piece of pure fiction which was presented as fact and which millions of people believed. He will never live that one down and I am sure he is now embarrassed by it.

Since you adamantly support the govt line that LHO acted alone, I am not surprised you think this too. 

[JaiDee]

Let's see what the head of the Motion Picture of America said to The Times upon its release;

 

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/02/movies/valenti-calls-jfk-hoax-and-smear.html

 

''In a highly unusual and angry statement, Jack Valenti denounced the film "J. F. K." today as a "hoax," a "smear" and "pure fiction" that rivaled the Nazi propaganda films of Leni Reifenstahl.

In the seven-page statement, Mr. Valenti said Mr. Stone's film was "a monstrous charade" based on "the hallucinatory bleatings of an author named Jim Garrison, a discredited former district attorney in New Orleans."

 

Sounds about right.  Garrison was the discredited DA from New Orleans who had nothing; Stone dredged all that nothing up into a fictional movie and tricked millions of people into believing it was true with some slick editing and movie-making slight of hand. To sell tickets. Because that's what movie-makers do.

 

The movie was entertaining to be sure, but simply a work of fiction and he didn't make that clear enough.

[Morrolan]

That seems like simplistic logic to me.

 

That was neither a comment on Billy Bob Thornton's acting ability or the brilliance of Sling Blade. It was just a lame attempt at a joke in reference to the film Tropic Thunder where Robert Downey Jr's character talks about going retard to win an oscar.

 

Regarding my comment about the last ten years maybe I should have said quiet rather then bad. As you and others have mentioned be had such a run of good movies through the late 90's and early 2000's  - Sling Blade, U Turn, The Man Who Wasn't There, Monsters Ball etc that my expectations are high.

[Lefty]

That was neither a comment on Billy Bob Thornton's acting ability or the brilliance of Sling Blade. It was just a lame attempt at a joke in reference to the film Tropic Thunder where Robert Downey Jr's character talks about going retard to win an oscar.

 

Regarding my comment about the last ten years maybe I should have said quiet rather then bad. As you and others have mentioned be had such a run of good movies through the late 90's and early 2000's  - Sling Blade, U Turn, The Man Who Wasn't There, Monsters Ball etc that my expectations are high.

Also, check him out in Intolerable Cruelty. Hilarious. 

[JaiDee]

Also, check him out in Intolerable Cruelty. Hilarious. 

 That is a GREAT movie!

 

No "mature" woman was ever hotter than Catherine Zeta-Jones in that, either.  Worth watching.

[seven]

I hope thaibound would read this thread as Ive watched Birdman now. He didn't want to spoil the  unexpected end, but i'd be damned if i can understand what he meant. I watched it on the flight back home, so the circumstances could've been better.

 

One of my favorit directors but this is probably my least favorite movie by him. Not too crazy about Michael Keaton. You can tell its a great directors movie,  just not my cuppa.

[SiamSam]

Never liked Michael Keaton except for Beetlejuice. 

[seven]

Never liked Michael Keaton except for Beetlejuice. 

Yup, theres something annoying about him.

[JaiDee]

He was pretty good in a small role as Jennifer Lopez' boyfriend in Out of Sight.

 

Never saw BeetleJuice or his Batman nonsense, but he played a really good role in Clean and Sober from 1988.

 

Very believable as a drug addict/drunk spiraling out of control.

[Kahuna]

I like him...I thought he was extraordinary in Birdman.........A great film.........

 

He was also pretty good in a supporting role in Jackie Brown as I recall.............Quentin the career reviver.....

[JaiDee]

He did very good in Birdman, although I thought the movie overall was so-so at best.

 

 Ed Norton and Emma Stone played fantastic roles as well.

 

  I remembered before;  one of Keaton's well-done early roles was in Tequila Sunrise.

[Kahuna]

 

 

  I remembered before;  one of Keaton's well-done early roles was in Tequila Sunrise.

 

Wrong flick JaiDee...As I recall Tequila Sunrise featured Mel Gibson and Kurt Russell and Raul Julia.....I know that because I saw it several times....In those days I lusted after Michelle Big Lips And Skinny Ass Pfeiffer....

[JaiDee]

Oh yeah, sorry!

 

It was actually called Pacific Heights; he played the role of a psychopathic tenant renting an apartment from Melanie Griffiths, not a bad movie and he played a very good role. 

 

It was made 2 years after Clean and Sober, which IMO was his best movie ever.

 

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100318/

[Kahuna]

I forgot about that film....He is very good as the crazy tenant................

[Lefty]

He was pretty good in a small role as Jennifer Lopez' boyfriend in Out of Sight.

 

Never saw BeetleJuice or his Batman nonsense, but he played a really good role in Clean and Sober from 1988.

 

Very believable as a drug addict/drunk spiraling out of control.

Keaton played the same character in Jackie Brown. Both movies based on Elmore Leonard novels. 

[Kahuna]

I recently picked up a copy on the cheap of a film titled Gosford Park.......A British period-piece murder mystery..........

 

There is a young lady in the film whose face looked so familiar but I couldn't place her........

 

Finally I gave in and turned to Google....

 

Seems her name is Kelly McDonald - no relation to Ronald -  Born and raised in Glasgow - A proper Scottish lass

 

I recognized her because of her magnificent  performance as Josh Brolin's wife in No Country For Old Men.......In

which she has the most perfect Texas drawl, "Your mother's dead, Llewelyn."  

 

Some years ago I was shocked to learn that the star of the TV show House - Hugh Laurie - was a Brit...And more

recently I came out of my cave long enough to learn that Gary Oldman is also British....Both actors capable of perfect  Yank accents....

 

I am sure there are many many more and some day I will venture out of my cave to discover their names.........

 

So how come all you Brits haven't shared your abilities with your Yank brothers and sisters.........

 

Every time I hear a Yank try and imitate a Brit it sounds to my ear so very fake.........

 

So do these Brits sound real live Yankish or fake Yankish to you................

[dixon cox]

 

 

So do these Brits sound real live Yankish or fake Yankish to you................

 

My favourite all-time TV show is The Wire. I've watched all 5 seasons twice and will watch again in the future.

 

I was actually stunned at the time when I discovered two of the actors were not American but were English.

 

Idris Elba and Dominic West. Brilliant American accents as far as this fellow Englishman is concerned.

 

 

[redrock]

I'm sure I saw Al Pacino do a very passable Cockney once.  And Johnny Depp's managed it pretty well.  Fucking top class actors the both of them.

[JaiDee]

Here's Kevin Spacey doing a great Al Pacino

 

"Shut Up, Dave"

 

[Pdoggg]

My favourite all-time TV show is The Wire. I've watched all 5 seasons twice and will watch again in the future.

 

I was actually stunned at the time when I discovered two of the actors were not American but were English.

 

Idris Elba and Dominic West. Brilliant American accents as far as this fellow Englishman is concerned.

 

 

My two favorite characters on the Wire, String and McNulty.

 

Had no idea they were Brits either.

 

I've seen seasons 1-4, liked them all, but thought Season 2 mostly dealing with the dock workers was relatively weak.

[JaiDee]

My two favorite characters on the Wire, String and McNulty.

 

Had no idea they were Brits either.

 

 

 

  Kilome first told me that, I also had no clue.  Same as DC I watched that series twice through - the only other time I've done that is for Breaking Bad - and same as PD I didn't care for the dock workers season.

 

Idris Elba played a very good role as Mumbles in RockNRolla, a movie well worth seeing and set in London so he could speak in his usual accent.  Gerald Butler has the lead.

 

Thandie Newton makes it even more worth watching, highly recommended.

[Kahuna]

So it appears that the Brits really do have a much better ear for Yank accents than we have for theirs....

 

Brad Pitt does make a very believable pikey in Snatch.....Although I really don't know what a real pikey sounds like......

[dixon cox]

.. but thought Season 2 mostly dealing with the dock workers was relatively weak.

 

I concur.  On first viewing I was disappointed with the direction I thought the second season was taking, but it all came together in the end.  It is certainly the more difficult of the 5 seasons to re-watch.

 

Being a Brit I knew Hugh Laurie for decades prior to his success with House.  I loved House, some seasons far more than others, but his American accent always impressed me immensely. I did chuckle when I heard at one of his first award winnings for House people (Americans) were wondering why he was talking funny.

 

I suppose only poor attempts at another accent tend to get noticed, whereas excellent attempts at accents go by unnoticed, unless you happen to know.

 

I'm not just saying this but I cannot recall ever hearing an American do an even half decent English accent on-screen. It seems whenever they do it's a pompous style of British accent, rather than an every day people's accent. Regional accents are great, I wish I could do a decent Geordie 

 

Among all these sensible TV shows, is it OK to mention The Big Bang Theory?  ~ An enjoyable way to spend a very entertaining 22 minutes from time to time. Simon Helberg (Howard Wolowitz) is my favourite, he does some great impressions too.

[xyzzy]

Since this movie thread is running amuck with TV stuff I watched all three seasons of Luther before I saw any of The Wire. So I saw Idris Elba in an English series first. Luther is a good series and a bit strange for us Americans to see a cop mostly without a gun.

 

The Wire is great. Only slightly annoying is the excessive "high tech" modem sounds.

[dixon cox]

Yep, it's sliding off-topic, c'est la vie  

 

Although I enjoy movies immensely I've shifted more towards downloadable TV shows over the last few years. They're nothing like they used to be many years ago when I was a nipper, more like movie marathons in more manageable sizes these days and they're easy availability is ideal.

 

More often than not finding the time to invest 2 or 3 hours of any given day to a single movie has become a bit much. Whereas watching a 50 minute (or one hour) episode from a good TV series is far more acceptable, even if I then choose to immediately watch the next episode straight after, then the next. Perhaps it's something about committing that length of time in one chunk with all the other media and online distractions available which are close at hand.