Are there any new movies coming out that you plan on seeing?

Pat

I also watched "Bus 174". A documentary about a bus being taken hostage in Rio de Janeiro. A little slow and disturbing; liked it better the next day.

At the theater, I saw "Thank You For Smoking". There were many laughs in the theater, but not many from me. Even my friend fell asleep. I heard every concept in the movie a thousand times before and turning the concepts into one big boring satire didn't make listening to it any easier. I thought Aaron Eckhart acted well; I haven't seen him in many things. Oh, and here's a shocker: Maria Bello kept her clothes on for the whole movie! Hope I didn't say too much.

All and all, I probably liked the gay porn movie the best - go figure.

Pat

We watched 'Funny Bones' last night, a 1995 film that didn't get anywhere near the attention it deserved. Very very funny, but also very dark in places. Beautiful cinematography, great use of music. Highly recommended.Has anyone here seen it? I would love to discuss it a bit, but suspect nobody knows it.

Pat

Finally saw "Junebug" which was marvelous. I'm a big fan of Nivola and Embeth, Amy Adams was adorable too and the whole cast was stellar but I was most impressed by the subtle, meticulous work of the guy who played the brother. I wondered where they found such a gem and then my roommate told me this kid stars on "The O.C.". I
could hardly believe it!

Re-watched Bergman's acclaimed "Wild Strawberries" again since several years have passed, but I still don't agree that it's one of his best films (Woody Allen's brilliant and criminally underseen homage to it "Another Woman" by contrast never fails to deeply move me) give me "Fanny and Alexander", "Persona" or "The Seventh Seal" instead any day of the week.

Watched the charming Witherspoon/Ruffalo RomCom "Just Like Heaven" which unlike most in the genre was also truly and frequently funny. Thanks to some gracefully executed physical stuff from Mark in the "All of Me" vein and the film stealing, absolutely priceless actress who was Tracy Montrose Blair on 'Six Feet Under' playing Reese's sister. Having Donal Logue, Ben Shenkman and Napoleon Dynamite in your cast certainly doesn't hurt either. Definitely a cut above.

Also saw "Into the Blue". Good acting and truly breathtaking scenery (and not just Alba's arse either- at least half of the film is shot gorgeously under the ocean) but unfortunately the plot is as predicable and therefore as forgettable as can be.

"Capote" is rented and waiting in my DVD player, which I'll probably see this weekend.

The only question I have is what did Ennis say at the very end? I listened to it multiple times and don't have a clue. Maybe I should post this question in the thread on the movie but I don't know if anyone would read it after all this time.

The tears in his eyes get me every time.

Why, oh why won't The Powers That Be let us edit our own posts?

frances, there would be no problem in pulling up the thread on Brokeback Mtn. for yourself others to add their comments.

not bad for a TV movie

Pat

Also saw Pride & Prejudice and yes it was good, but not as good as Sense and Sensibility, imho. Someone should really do a movie about Jane Austen's life. I read she never married and died at age 41.

Let me put it this way, the film was made by Southerners and they took special care to give all of the characters a soul. So, although yes, there were elments of lampoon it was done gently and with love.

Then again, I'm hardly an expert on the South like some here are, I'm a duhty Yankee who's only been here a year and a half, my first 30 years were spent in Cleveland.

CB, I'm glad you agree with me on Ledger! I love PSH but although technically masterful he doesn't even give the
best performance in the film, IMO. Clifton Collins Jr. who plays Perry is absolute perfection, and I'm appalled that he didn't get nominated for best supporting actor.

OK so this was an incredible week:

Fever Pitch- absolutely impossible not to love this movie. Baseball fan, sports fan or none of the above, the Red Sox miracle of last year is one of the most magical real life events imaginable and a perfect setting for a heartwarming love story.

Continuing my re-watching the greatest foreign classics on DVD I revisited Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" and I think it's arguably the definitive statement on 20th century life. The downside (and why I was mainly watching again for the extras) was the commentary. I could hardly believe how ironic it was that Richard Schickle was calling a lot of the film's characters pseudo-intellectuals since his commentary was so surface and missed all but the most obvious points. Alas, this film isn't on Criterion whose commentary is always remarkably insightful. Get what you pay for, I s'pose.

"In Her Shoes"- I was once lucky enough to be in a film ("Wonder Boys") directed by Curtis Hanson and he's one of our best filmmakers. This is easily one of the best films of last year and since almost no one saw it that's a tragedy. I can't recommend it strongly enough. See this movie! It's funny and poignant and surprising. It's one of those rare Hollywood movies that could actually change your entire outlook on life.

Pat

I just watched about half of "Fun With Dick and Jane" before stopping to surf online for a while, and I never interrupt a movie. Yes, it's that bad. I really don't want to watch the rest of it.

Last night was PBS and Under The Greenwood Tree which was not quite as good as I had hope, the lead female Keeley ? was too old for the part IMO...

Pat

My DH has been on a kick buying I-MAX DVD's to watch on our new TV-the other night we watched Cosmic Universe narrated by Morgan Freeman and another called StarGazeII which had no narration but which was beautiful to watch-all taken from the Hubble. I am the 'sci-fi' nut and he is fascinated with Astronomy!

Pat

I agree with you on the female lead being too old. To be honest, I preferred the younger woman who had the hots for the carrier character (the one who eventually ended up with the teacher). I thought she (the younger woman) was more attractive than the teacher.

Anyway, the other beef I had with the production was the seeming "Hollywood" ending. I've never read the book but the ending seemed too pat and too nice where everything went perfectly -- the bad guy (the parson) got what he deserved, the lead characters got together, and even the rich guy found someone else.

By the way, I saw "Oldboy" a few weeks ago and was impressed so much that I went out and bought the DVD. I don't know if anyone's seen the movie but it's a Korean production that, apparently, lost the Best Picture award at Cannes to "Farenheit 9/11" by one vote. I should warn you -- the movie's not for everyone. It's violent, it's disturbing, and quite twisted.

Steve Martin was good, but why, with his nose, can I only think of "Cyrano?"