Just thought I would re-create this original thread too.
Cheers,
JS
I have Tai Chi Master rented and sitting at home...
For good movies, I can't remember mentioning it or not, but everyone should see "Layer Cake". It stars the dude that will be the new James Bond. Had I not seen this movie, I'd have been indifferent or worse about his choice as Bond... Now I am excited.
Tai Chi Master is so good. And if you get interested in taking Taijiquan, great teacher named Dan Robertson, lives in Naperville, teaches all over, I've studied with him in Downer's Grove on Tuesday evenings, and believe me, if I didn't have to work on Tuesdays, or we didn't fence on Wednesday, I'd be there.
Last movie I saw was Jarhead. Not even close to being as good as the book, which by itself I'd rate as just 'ok'.
Before that, saw "kiss kiss bang bang' which was a lot better than I expected, the dialog is pretty sharp for a hollywood pic (think of the pacing and crackle of the older West Wing episodes) I'd highly recommend it.
I am absolutely interested in the Tai chi dude...
I am actually in the process of moving my son from a park-district run Shotokan class to a Hapkido class that is local but more importantly stresses discipline a lot more. I am unhappy with the "teacher is friend" approach of the Shotokan instructor and want my son to get discipline from ALL angles.
I'd be interested in hearing more about the Tai Chi specifics as I am personally interested as well... regarding my son, do you know what age they would be willing to start?
Also, somewhat related, I have searched for JuiJitsu for a while and I also am looking for Hung Gar Kung fu.... Know ANY kung fu schools in the area? City is all I ever find...
Can you reply in a new thread dedicated to this?
Stayed up late watching Batman Begins last night. I liked this version of the Batman story a lot better. This movie's focus and main attraction is the Batman, no doubts about it and the Gotham in Batman Begins was much more believable of a city, perhaps not as dark as TBs version but a lot less comic book looking too imo. The script was a lot tighter in general I thought and the open ending was very well done...closure yet the possibility of a future (well known to fans) threat. Sweet. I think I will tear through it again sometime this weekend.
I also just watched Spirited Away...amazing animation film. If you haven't seen it, it is worth a rental and pick up Nausica too...same writer/director I believe. I just saw a advert somewhere that Castle in the Sky is coming out soon on DVD...same guy did that as well and I am looking forward to seeing that too.
Anyone seeing Aeon Flux this weekend? If so, let me know if it is worth the price. I am really on the fence about the movie. I want it to be good because I really liked the MTV shorts but I don't know if it can be pulled off as live action.
I never heard of the last 3 you mentioned. I will say I wish Disney was doing as good of films on their own...I believe they are the distributor in the US for most of these right? I will have to check them out. And yah, your right I did confuse the two although I haven't yet seen either of them.
Later for now,
I just saw TCON:TLTWATW (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe). I went with my 9 year old daughter. We both enjoyed it immensely although it is way more of a kid movie.
On DVD I Just saw:
Sahara:This is a good popcorn flick. The characters are rather sterotypical but they are fun. Kind of a James Bond meets Indiana Jones. The story is pretty straight forward but the excellent action sequences makes up for the lack of suspense to a great degree. This is one of those movies you can watch over and over on cable whenever you happen to turn it on. Kind of like Buckaroo Bonzai... :)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith:It had its moments but I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I was hoping.
I just saw King Kong last night with a friend. Kinda long but still a great movie in my oppinion.
Patrick, have you ever seen the 1933 original? If not, you should try to track it down. Of course the realism isn't really there but the movie is excellent in its own right anyway.
Dave B. Comparing the two films 1933 vs PJs, which did you think was the better story? I know there are essential differences that make the stories different but I guess I am asking which story, in your opinion, do you think worked better overall?
that is tough.
There is definitely a scene I would cut from the new one, and I would add a second, but I don't want to post spoilers.
In some ways, I think the original had a bit more consistency in some characters. The actor in particular.
I sort of dug the 2-sided relationship of the new movie between kong and darrow, rather than the one-sided. But, I could also sort of dig the idea of the one-sided in relation to the final moral of the story, "Beauty killed the beast". Its quite a different concept.
In the original, "beauty killed the beast" is closer to true because "beauty" didn't return the affections, so it was all one-sided. In the NEW movie, its almost more like unrequited love. They clearly have feelings for each oter that can never be explored, so its more like "Love killed the beast" because its not just about her looks. He was certainly interested in her blond hair, but it was her affection for him that sealed the deal in his feelings.
The original's message is colder...
Its a toss up for me from a plot perspective.
I just saw *shudder* "Herbie Fully Loaded" and "Serenity" over the weekend.
I wish I could have left my fond memories of "The Love Bug" tucked neatly in the deep recesses of my brain and not had them brought out and trampled by the new Herbie movie. I felt like I was run over and then backed up on repeatedly even after the movie ended but Serenity more than made up for it!
I still don't understand the second death in Serenity though. I guess maybe the character just wanted out in case there was another movie or maybe Joss had some longer term story arc in mind? Don't know but even though I knew about the second death I had purposely not read anything about the movie because I didn't want to know who it was or how it happened. Talk about sudden. Wham! I didn't see it coming even though I knew it had to be coming up because of the running time display on the DVD player. ACK! I was so shocked I spaced out for a few moments right after that scene. I must have been trying to rationalize the death scene so intently that I got lost in thought for a few minutes because I had to rewind the movie and rewatch that whole couple of minutes.
Tell the truth just saw it on AMC like a week or 2 ago but came in like middleish and im more of the high tech stunning affects and such, but i have to say it wasnt bad (for the year it was made that is )