What have you watched lately?

[anarky]

Thinking back, I'm not sure "artsy" is exactly the word I was looking for. Something about it seemed like I was getting a small fraction of the actual artwork of the comic. I can't be sure, not having read it, though.

And this Caligula is the R-rated one. You think a library carries the X-rated version? (I've heard the movie's so bad that it really doesn't matter which you watch; it's a train wreck either way.) And an "R" in 1980 (or thereabouts) was a lot less strict than an "R" today. (Even a couple of f-bombs can get a movie an "R.")

[Rollo Tomassi]

Oh, and I saw Your Highness last night. Pretty funny, and although I'm not the biggest Danny McBride fan, he was pretty good. Franco is good as (almost) always and Portman is crazy hot in it. And her thonged ass is worth the price of admission (even though you can see that sweet ass online for free).

Too bad the film only made like $10 million in a fairly disappointing weekend at the box office, which is a separate rant I'll save for tomorrow.

Danny McBride annoys the shit out of me.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I rewatched The Thin Red Line again tonight, and now I wanna see Malick's original cut even more because I'm watching the credits and there's an extended laundry list of actors the producers want to 'thank' meaning their scenes got cut entirely from the film. Just a few of the more recognizable ones include Lukas Haas, Donal Logue, Viggo Mortensen, Jason Patric, Bill Pullman, Mickey Rourke, Martin Sheen, and Billy Bob Thornton. From what I read, Malick had all those guys over there filming for a very VERY long time. And then not show up in the film at all. Geez.

[Ran]

I saw The Thin Red Line when it first came on video. It has been so long since I saw it, I don't remember any details about it other than the fact that I was really bored and almost shut it off.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I saw The Thin Red Line when it first came on video. It has been so long since I saw it, I don't remember any details about it other than the fact that I was really bored and almost shut it off.

It does tend to meander with lots of random shots of animals and monotonous voiceovers that are indistinguishable from one another. But there are good performances by Sean Penn, Elias Koteas, Jim Caviezel, and Nick Nolte. Its funny that a young Adrien Brody is one of the top billed actors in it, and he's barely in the film.

[anarky]

Ghost World was excellent.

Isn't it odd that Thora Birch always plays the "ugly friend" in these quirky movies, but is hotter than the "pretty" one (ScarJo and Mena Suvari, neither of whom are slouches by any means)? And I'm looking over her filmography, and it's not that I've missed her in other movies; she just ain't been in anything that anyone's seen since 2001. That is rather sad. I've seen both movies she was in that were worth a shit, and she was stellar in them.

Didn't know both her parents were porn stars. Very interesting. Okay, not really, but it would come in handy at a cocktail party if people actually spouted trivia at cocktail parties.

[Ran]

MacGruber. It had some funny parts, but overall it was kind of meh.

[vynsane]

Ghost World was excellent.

truth.

Didn't know both her parents were porn stars. Very interesting. Okay, not really, but it would come in handy at a cocktail party if people actually spouted trivia at cocktail parties.

it would be interesting if she was conceived 'on the set'. a lot of people have videos of births, don't know how many people (who aren't celebrities) have videos of conceptions.

[Diabolical]

Also, Thora Birch was only 16 when she showed her awesome tits in American Beauty.

[anarky]

I wasn't going to bring that up; it skirts the fine line between "holy goddamn, those titties are awesome!" and "I'm watching a sixteen-year-old take off her top."

The only things that were wonky about Ghost World all had to do with the art class. To prove I'm overly critical of even movies I like, here were the things that bugged me, but they were so minor they didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie at all:

1) She finds out after the graduation ceremony that she has to take a remedial art class in summer school. Summer school doesn't come as a surprise at the commencement.
2) Remedial art class? Really?
3) All the kids seemed rather talented to have to be repeating art. I can't see any of them, even Enid "I Don't Give a Shit" Coleslaw, failing any high school art class, where showing up usually gets you an A.
4) A full scholarship to one student in a remedial art class?
5) The district makes the teacher fail Enid because her poster was offensive at an off-campus event? And the teacher, after defending the work to the students and trying to defend it at the show, simply rolled over and failed her? Truth is, this was the only one that came close to being a real issue, since it would've been easy to simply say, "Your grade depends on showing up to this show, and you didn't. Sorry."

[Diabolical]

I saw most of those issues in my (many) viewings, but didn't give it too much thought since I liked the rest of the film so much...and everyone in the class (minus Enid) was an idiot.

3) All the kids seemed rather talented to have to be repeating art.

Yeah...not so much.

A wiki look up says:

Enid's diploma is awarded on the condition that she attend a remedial art class, even though she is a talented artist, because her art teacher, Roberta (Douglas), believes art must be socially meaningful and dismisses Enid's high-quality sketches as "light entertainment".

In class, she presents the poster as a social comment about racism, and Roberta is so impressed with the concept that she later offers Enid a scholarship to an art college.

When Enid's poster is displayed in an art show, school officials find it so offensive they force Roberta to give her a failing grade.

So it seems the remedial part was just a class, rather than one specific class Enid needed to graduate. And I don't think the teacher had a choice but to fail her.

The Zwigoff/Clowes follow-up, Art School Confidential wasn't well received at all, but as an art student, I loved it. Part comedy, part murder mystery and part love story where none of the parts ever truly add up in a satisfying way.
There are a ton of art student in-jokes (the school is named Strathmore, like the art supply companny) and every art class stereotype is in here; the weird guy, the ass-kisser, the failed artist teacher, the obviously untalented guy everyone raves over, the obviously talented guy nobody raves over, etc.

[anarky]

Every high school art class I've ever seen consists of "show up, and, if you can draw a stick figure, you pass." Everyone (except the twit with the hangers) was able to do at least that.

Also, I may also be mistaken, but I got the impression the remedial teacher was not the same one she'd had before.

[Rollo Tomassi]

As part of my recent WWII Mania, I've been watching Victory At Sea. It's a 26 episode long documentary that originally aired on NBC in the early 50s using a lot of actual filmed footage of combat accrued from not only Allied fimmakers, but Japanese, German and Italia footage as well. Considering how soon after the War it was put together, it obviously has a less than objective slant, but many of the half hour episodes delve into less known aspects of the war, like US ships getting into Murmansk to resupply the Soviets. Or one episode focusing on our allies in Brazil stopping Axis Uboats in the South Atlantic. Or American troops staving off Japanese invasion in the Aleutian Islands, having firefights in snowstorms. I'm only halfway through the series. As the name suggests, it mostly focuses on Naval Warfare, but many of the major land battles are noted, like the North African Tank battles between Rommel, Montgomery, and Patton, because there were naval aspects to them (Like the British kicking Italy's Navy's ass and fucking up Rommel's supply chain, which is ultimately what caused the Axis to lose Africa.) But there is some footage in there that's just...wow. There is one part where they are showing US Ships shooting at incoming Jap fighters, and there is so much fucking steel flying through the air, a fucking sparrow couldn't get through, let alone an airplane. It is awesome. And I don't mean in the surfer kind of way, I mean the terrifying kind of way. And this is crappy b/w footage from 70 years ago. To have actually been present wouldve made me pee and faint. I mean, tracer rounds are just whizzing into frame from every single angle imaginable, and its everywhere. And tracers are just the ones you can see.

I also rewatched L.A. Confidential again. Hollywood needs to make more noirish films. Actually, Rockstar Games (they who made Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption) have a game coming out next month that should satiate my need for that.

[Diabolical]

I've got Victory at Sea but never watched it.
Wal-Mart used to have that shitty $1 DVD section and they had the series split into 4 volumes, which is where I got it, but I've seen the collected set in the $5 bin and other various places over the past few years.

Although 99% of the general selection wasn't even worth the buck, I got a few other WWII DVDs from that $1 section.

[vynsane]

I also rewatched L.A. Confidential again.

I need to acquire that on DVD. i had it on VHS, don't know if i got rid of it or if it's just holed up somewhere in the attic...

Hollywood needs to make more noirish films.

i had a similar reaction to 'pulp heroes' after watching Last Crusade, Sky Captain, and a bit of Raiders yesterday. i want more 'pulp hero' movies (speaking of which, i've still not seen it, but can't wait to add 'suckerpunch' to my collection)!