What have you watched lately?

[Tom Foolery]

Gladiator 2. There wasn’t anything bad about it. Performances were decent. Action scenes were epic and bloody. But the entire thing was utterly forgettable. None of the characters were fleshed out enough to care about them. None of the villains were vile enough to despise.
Just rewatch the first one.

[anarky]

A few I've seen in the last few days, all winners in their own way:

The Warriors. Surprisingly, I'd never seen this. I'd heard enough about it that I felt like I knew it, but figured since it was dropping off Prime and who knows when it would be available again, I'd rectify that. This was a very good one, despite it reeking of a writer who's only ever heard mention of street gangs in passing, and thought New York was a fuckton worse than it ever actually was. Seriously, I wondered a couple of times if it was supposed to be set in a dystopian near-future, but I never saw anything to indicate it wasn't in the late 70s. The gangs are just fucking silly on the surface with their ridiculous matching costumes, civilians only exist rarely and as little more than props, and the plot is about as simplistic as you can get. But every aspect was put together so well, it, well, it worked. This was one of those films where, whether it was realistic or not, the city of New York really was a character in a way. I was actually surprised to see that only one actor actually did anything of note after (Ajax played Raiden in the shitty Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and has done some voice work, including Zeta Prime in Transformers One, who I don't remember even talking).

Body Double. Another oldie, watched right after The Warriors. Mrs A and the kids were out of town for the day, and I wanted to watch movies I wouldn't watch with the kids. Wasn't sure of the content in The Warriors, and afterwards wanted to see the sort of seedy crime drama with lots of sex that mostly only existed in the 80s. (Not to jack off, because I don't want to have to clean the couch, but some of those movies are great and you just don't watch them with teenagers.) It was actually a bit like The Warriors in that, in less capable hands, it would have been a pile of shit. The story was a heavy-handed Hitchcock homage (that at times felt like full-on parody) and there were plot holes you could easily hide the entire fucking Death Star in. But it was a fucking gorgeous movie to look at, and not only for Melanie Griffith's boobies. Just exceptionally well shot. Again, pretty much every aspect of the filmmaking made up for a script that could've resulted in a shit movie no one remembers. This movie was crushed in the box office by an obscure movie about a cyborg from the future that opened the same day. (Curiously, it looks like Linda Hamilton was originally considered for the role of Holly Body but decided to go with Sarah Connor. And it turns out that, whichever new R-rated movie someone picked on October 26, 1984, they were in for some nice future A-list Hollywood actress titties.)

My Cousin Vinny. Kids had never seen this one. What is there to say about it that hasn't been said? It holds up. It really holds up well. It's even better than I remember it being. Watch it again yourself, and remind yourself of how great this film is. If you've never seen it, fix that immediately or go back to fucking parrots or whatever depraved shit you're doing instead.

[Tom Foolery]

I bought My Cousin Vinny on Blu-ray last year. I watch it often.

[jjreason]

Two Utes.

[anarky]

My son made an agreement with my daughter wherein she watched Hundreds of Beavers, and he had to watch two "girlie" movies of her choosing.

10 Things I Hate About You. This is fucking Shakespeare. No, really, as I'm sure you already know. I've seen it before, and it's excellent. Definitely the best Shakespeare adaptation in a modern high school ever made. (Is there any competition.?) Great acting all around, and a kick ass soundtrack, too.

Mean Girls. I'd never seen this one. I'd assumed for years it was a shitty generic teenie movie, and it's been on my list since I realized the comedic talent (Fey and Poehler? That's enough for me) involved several months ago. Fucking ludicrous movie. I loved it, though I'm mildly disappointed in Wet Leg to learn they didn't coin the phrase "Is your muffin buttered? Would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?" (And now that song is stuck in my head.)

[Diabolical]

10 Things I Hate About You. This is fucking Shakespeare. No, really, as I'm sure you already know. I've seen it before, and it's excellent. Definitely the best Shakespeare adaptation in a modern high school ever made. (Is there any competition.?) Great acting all around, and a kick ass soundtrack, too.

Letters to Cleo

[anarky]

Letters to Cleo

I'd totally forgotten they did so much of the music until the credits rolled. "Who did these songs? They sound sorta like Letters to Cleo."

[Tom Foolery]

Whiteout. I started watching this not knowing a single thing about it, apart from the name of the movie. After it was over, I checked and saw it was based on a Greg Rucka comic. But the premise is ‘serial killer in the coldest place on Earth; the Antarctic research station at the south pole’. Which I can totally see getting pitched to a movie studio. The movie starts off with a completely unnecessary shower scene with Kate Beckinsale (unnecessary, but delightful). Another famous actor shows up almost immediately, and I joked to my wife they were the bad guy when the plot twist happens. And guess what?
Also, there was a plot point with some canisters that are presumed to have something valuable/sinister in them. It’s implied to be plutonium, but I guessed diamonds. My wife guessed jellybeans. When they opened the canisters…it was jellybeans. I shit you not. We had to pause the movie because we were laughing for a solid ten minutes. Also, she had just taken an edible to help with her migraine, so she thought somehow I was fucking with her and had made the movie make them jellybeans to fuck with her. Which added to the comedy.
Anyway, not a terrible movie.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I’ve only seen this once before when it came out. Had completely forgotten Alan Rickman was Marvin.

Waterworld. Remember all the shit this got when it came out for being the most expensive movie ever made? It’s a unique premise that’s never been duplicated and its still a solid action flick. And Jeanne Tripplehorn’s body double’s bare ass.

[jjreason]

I'm watching a fan edited, tidied up & lengthened version of David Lynch's dune. It's still god awful. I don't understand how a movie made post rotj can look so much worse than 2001, which is 6 years older. So, so bad.

[anarky]

6 years?

Wasn't 2001 closer to 16 years older than Doon?

[Ran]

I'm watching a fan edited, tidied up & lengthened version of David Lynch's dune. It's still god awful. I don't understand how a movie made post rotj can look so much worse than 2001, which is 6 years older. So, so bad.

In high school, I rented Dune several times because I kept falling asleep during the previous attempt. (I worked at a video store and didn't have to pay for rental on old movies if I brought them back the next day.) I did try to watch the new Dune, but lost interest almost immediately.

Dune came out in 1984. 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1968. 16 years.

[jjreason]

16. Bad math was bad. Makes dune even stinkier by comparison.

[anarky]

Okay, wasn't trying to be an ass. I figured it was a typo, but also had that doubt in my mind "Is Dune older than I thought." Also was too damned lazy to Google.

[Tom Foolery]

Wicked. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[jjreason]

The whale. Hoo boy. Lotta crying. Lotttttta crying.