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| tirebiter |
 Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:37 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4011
Location: not far away
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| Harry Palmer cannot be the anti-Bond. The position is filled. George Smiley is the anti-Bond. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:03 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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| Good point about the early Bonds and also the misfire approach of the Austin Powers movies. Another problem with them (and Get Smart): they parody movies that already intentionally parodied themselves. That might be the saddest thing about the Bond franchise: from the start it was self-consciously defensive of its own improbability. |
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| yambu |
| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:11 pm |
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Joined: 23 May 2004
Posts: 6441
Location: SF Bay Area
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tirebiter wrote: Harry Palmer cannot be the anti-Bond. The position is filled. George Smiley is the anti-Bond. |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:42 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4011
Location: not far away
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| I have a special place in my heart (the superior vena cava) for Our Man Flint. It (and not the sequel-- the sequel sucks) was, pound for pound, the best Bond pastiche ever. And Derek Flint was probably the best agent Z.O.W.I.E. ever had. |
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| Trish |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:53 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2438
Location: Massachusetts
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| Saw two crappy films last night - The Incredible Hulk (which was even worse than Ang Lee's Hulk - despite Edward Norton's impressive chest) and Sleepwalking which strangely didn't get to me at all despite its theme of parental abandonment and childhood abuse - I didn't like the child-actor's performance |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:08 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| Realizing yet again that spy stories are among my least favorite genres, right down there with Westerns. Even the good ones I tend to dislike, so that when I really love one (like Goldfinger) it's an anomaly. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 10:16 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Revisited Consenting Adults (1992) again last night. It's a truly awful movie, and a disappointing disaster as well, because it has a great director, Alan J. (All the President's Men) Pakula, and great actors (Kevin Kline, Kevin Spacey, Forest Whitaker, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio)--which are the reasons I wanted to see it again. It starts out compelling and descends into simply ridiculous. Spacey talks Kline, his next-door neighbor, into a bit of wife-swapping. But (with nods to Strangers on a Train and Vertigo, among others) things don't work out so easily. It grabs you (and Spacey and Rebecca Miller--she's become a director now--as his wife are aces). But then it lets you fall and fall and fall. What claptrap!
But if you're into just watching actors do their thing, you could do worse. |
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| Nancy |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:26 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 4607
Location: Norman, OK
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Trish wrote: Saw two crappy films last night - The Incredible Hulk (which was even worse than Ang Lee's Hulk - despite Edward Norton's impressive chest) and Sleepwalking which strangely didn't get to me at all despite its theme of parental abandonment and childhood abuse - I didn't like the child-actor's performance
I saw The Incredible Hulk, and was disappointed. Fortunately, I saw it at at the dollar theater on 50-cent Tuesday, so it didn't cost me very much. |
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"All in all, it's just another feather in the fan."
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| Befade |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:58 am |
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Location: AZ
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Quote: Revisited Consenting Adults
I've revisited that one more than once. I think it's one of those movies that have a great beginning and then dissemble. Actually I like to watch just the beginning of Psycho, too.
Kevin Spacey used to give some very juicy hot performances......I caught a few glimpses of American Beauty the other night. He used to be one of my favorites. |
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Lost in my own private I dunno. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:24 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| The Incredible Hulk is a good example of how action scenes can make a movie boring. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:01 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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Befade wrote: Quote: Revisited Consenting Adults
I've revisited that one more than once. I think it's one of those movies that have a great beginning and then dissemble. Actually I like to watch just the beginning of Psycho, too.
Kevin Spacey used to give some very juicy hot performances......I caught a few glimpses of American Beauty the other night. He used to be one of my favorites.
I know what you mean about Psycho, but though it gets a little less great, it never goes bad. Consenting Adults descends from compulsively watchable to throw-things-at-the-screen horrid.
It does, however, feature one of Spacey's best perfs, and that's saying something. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:29 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| And, techinically, you can't call Janet Leigh's stay at the Bates Motel quite the beginning of the movie. Personally, I think the second half is just as good, even if no one other than Perkins can hold a candle to Leigh's screen chemistry (boy, did she have it!). |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:40 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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billyweeds wrote:
I know what you mean about Psycho, but though it gets a little less great, it never goes bad.
Yes it does, when you have the psychiatrist's speech near the end. |
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I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
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| tirebiter |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:53 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: not far away
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| True aficionados cut Simon Oakland's part out of Psycho, making it a perfect film. You didn't know that? |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2008 2:53 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Syd wrote: billyweeds wrote:
I know what you mean about Psycho, but though it gets a little less great, it never goes bad.
Yes it does, when you have the psychiatrist's speech near the end.
Well, okay.
Joe--Leigh was great, and even greater was her chemistry with Perkins in their one long scene together. ("Sometimes we all go a little crazy....")
I would submit that Martin Balsam fills a lot of the gaps after Leigh's departure. Of course, he doesn't stick around too long, either, does he? |
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