Dave's DVD Review Column

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 7:10 am

So is it going to get to the point where the Coen Brothers are going to make a movie that is one big in-joke? In the sort of way that people who hadn't seen any of Kevin Smith's other movies wouldn't get half of the humour in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 7:15 am

Morlock and HLD, have you seen "The Man Who Wasn't There" yet?

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 8:46 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep:
Morlock and HLD, have you seen "The Man Who Wasn't There" yet?

Nope. It probably won't come to West Virginia. I'll have to wait for it to come out on video/DVD.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Fri Jan 18, 2002 8:52 am

Originally posted by HighLordDave:
Nope. It probably won't come to West Virginia. I'll have to wait for it to come out on video/DVD.

Well i was surprised to see it on myself, the sad thing was that there were about 10 people in the cinema

The great thing was there was no noise from anyone, just the film, no little brats making noises all the way through a good film

It is obstensibly a Coen Brothers Film, i think many of the more action or comedy orientated viewers would find it boring, but i was wrapt, a true work of art and very different from any other films this and last year. It really was brilliant. One of the best films i have ever seen

I wont go on too much because that will just make it worse for those who haven't seen it

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 10:14 am

Originally posted by Mr Sleep:
Morlock and HLD, have you seen "The Man Who Wasn't There" yet?

I havn't seen it either. Is that the one with Billy Bob Thornton? if it is I think he is nominated for the Golden Globe for it. what is it about?

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Sat Jan 19, 2002 10:43 am

The Goonies

My son picked this up in the sale bin at Wal-Mart and when we sat down to watch it, I thought it would be a lot cheesier than it was. I was 12 or so when The Goonies was released in theaters, and I remember how cool (and funny) the movie was then. I was sure that when I watched it again, 16 years later, I would think, "I can't believe I liked this crap" (it's the same feeling you get when you watch Star Trek (TOS) or re-runs of The A-Team on TVLand).

I was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable the movie still is. It's kind of like Ghostbusters in that it doesn't matter what year it is, but kids (and many adults) will like it. I had forgotten until the opening credits began to roll that Sean "I don't have to fake an accent for this movie" Astin was the lead and that my uncle's goddaughter (Martha Plimpton) was in it.

The good news is that the movie is vintage mid-80s Speilberg. That is to say, it's an excellent family flick. The bad news is that the DVD was disappointing in that there's not much by way of bonus material that you wouldn't get off the VHS or from watching it again on TV. Still, for less than ten bucks, it was a good buy and got us some "quality time."

Movie Rating: 7.5 out of 10
DVD Rating: 6 out of 10

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sun Jan 20, 2002 12:13 am

Originally posted by HighLordDave:
 The good news is that the movie is vintage mid-80s Speilberg. That is to say, it's an excellent family flick. The bad news is that the DVD was disappointing in that there's not much by way of bonus material that you wouldn't get off the VHS or from watching it again on TV.

First of all Speilberg was Producer or Exec. Producer, so I don't know how much of an influence he had on the movie.
Also, a lot of the Speilberg DVD's don't have tuns of info in them. (Saving private Ryan,Hook) Although a couple, like Jurrasic park and Close encounters of the third kind have a lot of it. I wish he gave commentary to some of his movies - it would be insightful to see what such a genius thought about his own movies. As far as I can see none of them have his commentary.

Anyway, I loved The Goonies, especialy when I was younger, but now it is still fun to watch every once in a while. Until last year I never noticed that one of the Brothers was Robert Davi! (Bad brothers -I think the name was Fertelli?) and the other was from the fugitive, and a few other movies.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Sun Jan 20, 2002 7:44 am

Originally posted by Morlock:
and the other was from the fugitive, and a few other movies.

Joe Pantoliano. He shaved his head and was Cypher in The Matrix. I had forgotten that he was in The Goonies until I saw him, and even then it took me a minute to place him.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sun Jan 20, 2002 8:18 am

Originally posted by HighLordDave:
In the sort of way that people who hadn't seen any of Kevin Smith's other movies wouldn't get half of the humour in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

I agree, but as a Kevin Smith fan who has seen all of his movies, I don't care if other people didn't get the movie.I loved it.

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Jan 21, 2002 5:25 am

Originally posted by Morlock:
I havn't seen it either. Is that the one with Billy Bob Thornton? if it is I think he is nominated for the Golden Globe for it. what is it about?

Well it is kind of difficult to explain, it basically revolves around Billy Bob Thornton's character called Sam who is a hair Dresser and a scheme involving Dry Cleaning, after that is kind of spirals into your standard Coen Brothers strangness, excellent

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Mon Jan 21, 2002 5:39 am

Originally posted by HighLordDave:
The Goonies

It is also a film most memorable for the large cast who went on to make so few films when they were expected to do a lot.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Tue Jan 22, 2002 4:06 am

I have just seen Blood simple (BSI)- and it was a great movie- definetly the Coen's best. Any way I have compiled a most probably incomplete list of similarities in their movies.

First of all, acters:
1.John Goodman- Oh Brother where art thow (I will call it OBWAT), Big Libowsky (BL) Raising Arizona (RA) and the Hudsucker proxy(HP).

2.Holly Hunter- OBWAT, RA and I am pretty sure it was her voice on Moris's aswering machine in BSI.

3.Frances Mcdormand- BSI, RA, Fargo and the man who wasn't there.

4.John Torturo- OBWAT, Barton Fink.

5.M. Emmet Walsh- the private Eye in BSI and RA.
A incomplete list- some of these acters were probably in their other movies too.(I havn't seen BL or HP in a while)
Other similarities:
1.Hair Gel in RA and OBWAT.

2.The song "She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes"- RA and HP.

3.A imbodiment of Satan- OBWAT and RA.

In RA I loved the last scene the best- when the PI tries to shoot her through the wall- it was great. And the music was fantastic, the main theme on the piano.

Ned Flanders · Post by **Ned Flanders** » Tue Jan 22, 2002 12:14 pm

John Tuturro also played 'jesus' in the big lebowski. His performance there cannot be forgotten.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu Feb 07, 2002 11:22 pm

Originally posted by HighLordDave:
I loved Shrek. It is the best animated film since Toy Story.

I have to disagree, Toy Story 2 is the best animated film since Toy Story, and I don't think Shrek topped it. (Incidentally, neither did Monsters Inc.)

Originally posted by Morlock:
Anyway, I loved The Goonies, especialy when I was younger, but now it is still fun to watch every once in a while.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I was younger I was really scared by this movie!!!

I saw it again fairly recently, and it's more fun now

Didn't realise Joe Pantoliano was in it though. It took long enough for me to realise who he was when I saw Bound...

@Morlock what about Steve Buscemi - Big Lebowski, Fargo, Hudsucker Proxy, Barton Fink, Miller's Crossing...

To get back to DVDs... If you like very techical arty type director's commentary, then you might be interested in American Beauty... If you like the kind of commentary that is the director/star(s) talking about what happened in the outtakes, try Fight Club. If you like features on special effects, The Matrix DVD is good - though you have to watch the movie in order to access them.

THE JAKER · Post by **THE JAKER** » Thu Feb 07, 2002 11:46 pm

Fight Club

I just finally saw this last night on cable. I knew I would watch it eventually but I never before got a chance. I liked the movie more than I thought I would - the leads were all well performed, and there was a lot more to the movie than the ads and previews gave away (which is HIGHLY unusual these days). I thought the "twist" was well done and surprising.

The ending shots of buildings collapsing takes on a new and unfortunate resonance given the events of Sept 11

-Maybe the intellectual's dream of a liberating anarchy is not so attractive when it really happens.

I was pretty much expecting the repressed homoeroticism inherent in the notion of men finding themselves through sweaty, strenuous brawls - you sort of want to yell at the screen "just kiss him - you know you want to!", and when they instituted the "no shirts" rule, well, that was just more of the same.

Best line in the movie: "you're too old, fat man...and your boobs are too big". Helena Bones'em Harder was good as always.

Georgi · Post by **Georgi** » Thu Feb 07, 2002 11:57 pm

Re: Fight Club

Originally posted by THE JAKER
I liked the movie more than I thought I would - the leads were all well performed, and there was a lot more to the movie than the ads and previews gave away (which is HIGHLY unusual these days). I thought the "twist" was well done and surprising.

I actually didn't like the movie much. Although the performances were good and the whole "Fight Club" idea was interesting, I thought it lost it right where the "twist" came in.

Possibly it deserves another viewing though, I haven't seen it for ages. I know I'm in a minority, everyone else seems to think it's a good film - so my comments were more on the DVD features, rather than the movie itself.

Best line: (from the doctor to the insomniac) "You just need to get some sleep."

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Fri Feb 08, 2002 8:02 am

Cast Away

Cast Away

I really like Tom Hanks. I really liked this movie, although not as much as it was hyped. Part of the movie's problem is that for about half the movie, it's all about Chuck Nolan, and I think that Hanks is much stronger as the leader of an ensamble cast than starring in a one-man show. There are many good things about the movie; the plane crash is a fantastic action sequence, as is watching Chuck go from a guy driven by modern technology and time to someone merely surviving on an island.

Aside from the questions about our daily lives the movie brings up, I thought the dynamic between Chuck (Hanks) and fiancee Kelly (Helen Hunt) was great; Hunt doesn't get a lot of screen time, but when she's on, she shines. I didn't like the ending, but I do recommend this movie.

I didn't get much into the DVD features, although it does come in a two-DVD set, so I would guess that there's a lot of stuff there (like the Shrek DVD), but I'm not really qualifed to evaluate its features.

Movie Rating: 8 out of 10
DVD Rating: n/a

McBane · Post by **McBane** » Fri Feb 08, 2002 8:29 am

Star Wars Episode 1

Having just recently acquired a dvd player, I picked this up. I'm sure somewhere the reviews of the film have been discussed somewhere....btw, I did like the movie, despite JJ Binks.

I really liked the 2nd disc. There was a mini documentary of some of the production, and I thought it was very cool. One part showed one of the final casting calls for Anaken Skywalker, with 3 kids reading lines.

I guess for a rating, 8 of 10. (I really didn't like JJ, but I believe that was Brian Blessed as the big boss gungan, and any movie with Brian has to be good.

I am planning to buy "I Claudius" next......(I will go on a limb with a pre rating of 10 of 10)

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Sat Feb 09, 2002 11:08 am

@HLD: I loved Tom Hanks in Forest Gump (another time) and in Saving Private Ryan, but I thought Castaway was long, boring and very tedious.

@Mcbane:I agree that the second CD was realy good, but I was disapointed by the commentary. It was too much about the tachnical aspects of the movie, not enough about the story.

BTW I saw a preview of the LoTR and Harry Potter DVD's and they both look pretty impresive.
LoTR has an hour and a quorter deleted scenes - HP has about the same.
Both have commentary.
Both have extensive behind the scenes.
Both have interviews with the director and actors.
LoTR has outtakes- that I've gotta see.

Morlock · Post by **Morlock** » Mon Feb 11, 2002 3:23 pm

Lawrence of Arabia

I just last week got this on DVD and saw it for the first time. It is very long for a movie- 3hrs 38min, but still it filled the time.
It has a couple of the most amazing scenes I have ever seen:
The famous mirage scene, where Omar Sharif rides through the desert to Lawrence and his guide.
and perhaps the best cinematography work ever anyware was the capturing of Aquaba- hundreds of horsemen riding, in one shot, from one end of the city to the beach on the oposite side with the shot ending at the gun pointed out to sea. It is simply an amazing cinematic expirience.

Alright onto the DVD- the DVD had one major and a few minor behind the scenes- the major one was very good and the minors okay. The thing I liked most was a ten minute conversation with Steven Speilberg about the movie.

Movie:8/10
DVD:7/10