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| lady wakasa |
 Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2009 7:15 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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gromit wrote: How come no one told me there was a new Wallace & Gromit?
A Matter of Loaf and Death is a 30 minute Nick park short with all of the trademark wit, goofy puns, great characters, silly story and mvoie homages (mostly to Alien and Hitchcock). Seems this was released last Christmas on British TV.
What? Where ? |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:22 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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lady wakasa wrote: gromit wrote: How come no one told me there was a new Wallace & Gromit --A Matter of Loaf and Death?
What? Where ?
Twas my reaction too.
I picked up the Dvd and raised my brows in a questioning manner. Then furrowed them to display suspicion. When I saw that it was from 2008 and 30 minutes long, with stills of bread-related highjinks on the back cover, I bought it -- still wondering if it might be some Chinese knock-off made in a factory late at night using the plastic W&G toys they churn out by day.
But it's a bona fide addition to the W&G catalogue, the fourth 30-minute W&G short -- that somehow nobody has heard of! The Dvd also has a 20 minute Making Of extra, plus a commentary track by Nick Park and another human.
One of the more amusing aspects is that Park actually acts out the characters' movements and reactions and then they use that video as a template to mold the behavior of Wallace, Gromit and others. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:36 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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| I liked Juno a lot. It went in some unexpected directions, had warmth and charm, along with some great acting. It was over-written at points (the opening made me cringe) and some lines clanged. It almost made me want to knock up some young girl. |
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| ehle64 |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:45 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 7149
Location: NYC; US&A
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 3:35 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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Kids who talk like the kids in Juno aggravate ths crap out of me. Is it true or false? I think that's less the question than that those kinds of kids have to be pretty alienated from their own experiences to be such glib smart assess about everything. But, yes, I supposed there are kids so narcissistic that having the right witty rejoinder to their pregnancies (or the pregnancies they caused) mean more than dealing with the situation.
There are other elements than the dialogue that felt false to me. Are we really to believe she and Cera's character had sex like that? It was that cold, that formal, and yet she still didn't take the time for precaution? And a kid at his age still sleeping in a car bed isn't whimsical. He's mentally challenged. She seemed to love him mainly because he was unintimidating and she could basically treat him however she wanted without fear that he'd stand up to her on anything, but I don't envy their future together when he figures that out. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:36 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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Marc--The dialogue between the two teen girls was the kind I referred to from the first fifteen minutes of the movie that very nearly succeeded in turning me off. The story switched gears right about the time Juno told her parents about the pregnancy and from that point on never looked back; it became warm, funny, charming, enchanting, supply any adjective you want that negates and counteracts the arch, coy, off-putting first half hour.
You have to give any movie props that can recover from a single line as absolutely horrible as:
(cover your ears and/or hide your eyes)
"Honest to blog?" |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:13 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9010
Location: Shanghai
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Last 50 movies I've watched.
(Watched Dvd's get piled next to my player and put away infrequently, such as now)
Ones in bold were the best
The Heiress - William Wyler w/ Monty Clift
Watchmen
Wanda - Barbara Loden (Vagabond meets Cassavettes)
The Man with the Golden Arm - this time I was less impressed with Frank and more impressed with the way Otto and the score brought along the film.
The Hurt Locker - did the small screen hurt its impact?
Body Double - BDP
My Dinner with Andre
Sara - Iranian film, a little too low-budgetish
Northwest Frontier - enjoyable epic
Heroes of Telemark - somewhat enjoyable epic
The World of Suzie Wong
Body and Soul - Robert Rossen w/ John Garfield
Mussolini - George C as Il Duce (not bad)
Dressed to Kill - BDP
The Thin Blue Line
Toy Story & TS2 - new to me, quite good stuff, liked 1 better.
The Fury - BDP
Taste of Cherry - a bit dreary Iranian film
The Long Day Closes - magical Brit nostalgia, but it was too similar to Davies previous film which I'd watched a month or so before (uh, the one with a lot of singing) Edit: Distant Voices, Still Lives. Worth seeing at least one Terence Davies. (where the hell is Jeremy?)
The Second Circle - Sokurov
Scarface - BDP
Pee Wee's Big Adventure - I was a PW virgin
The Street with No Name - starts off as one of those FBI exposes of the underworld and then turns into a fun gripping crime film.
Force of Evil - John Garfield fan here. Good film on the numbers racket, despite its cliches and some sloppiness.
The Inn of Sixth Happiness - Ingrid as a missionary in China. Somewhat risible.
The Indian Tomb & The Tiger of Eschnapeur - A late Fritz Lang Indian serial. Shows budget and acting limits, but some nice touches, nice sets and a wicked dance.
The Royal Tenenbaums -- occasionally I re-watch a favorite. I remembered the characters but had forgotten the structure. Good stuff.
Coup de Torchon - I've been trying to get to the handful of Tavernier I have. I think I liked what he was trying to do more than the actual execution here. A languid neo-noir set in the French colonies. Anomie and death.
Obsession - BDP
Bound - BDP-ish lesbian thriller
Pigs and Battleships - Love the way that Imamura comes out swinging (and taking pokes at goofily imagined American soldiers) .
Bab' Aziz - The film The Fall wanted to be. Magical, philosophical beautiful, desert scenes.
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun -- a brave film with a creaky Rashomon/Citizen Kane structure.
Il Grido - my favorite Antonioni. Strong stuff.
Good Morning - Pleasant low-key Ozu with fart jokes.
The Kaiser's Lackey - fantastic early post-War East German film about toadies and
lackeys. From the Heinrich Mann novel. A little slow in the trial scene.
Intentions of Murder - Imamura is pretty damned unrelenting.
The Girlfriend Experience - Soulless Soderbergh.
Therese Raquin - I'm a sucker for these Carne melodramas
The Hit
El Norte
Wise Blood
The Friends of Eddie Coyle
The Man from London - atmospheric Tarr that didn't add up to much
Saturday Night Fever - another good old friend.
I don't re-watch much. This held up well.
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - a black chick flick (no wonder it got buried)
Well, there's another dozen or more, so I'll just single out:
Three Crowns of the Sailor - Raoul Ruiz
The cover blurb says, "Orson Welles meets Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allen Poe." I'll let that stand. If you like haunted, twisting, weirdness. I'm pretty sure we met Borges in there too. I think he was just dressed as EA Poe. |
Last edited by gromit on Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:50 am; edited 1 time in total
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:15 am |
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Interesting list Gromit. Thanks. I did like Toy Story II more than the first one, though.
Il Grido really hit me when I saw it. I will have to see it again. It's been 46 years. 
Garfield is also a favourite of mine, Body and Soul was one of my favourites. It also had the best boxing sequences at the time and for years to come. It's sad that Garfield died so young. He was one of the signature actors who you love to watch no matter what movie he's in, like Bogart, Cagney, E.G. Robinson, Brando (except when he was just goofy and doing it for the scratch) etc. but he was cut down to early. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:28 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| I think, if anyone watches Juno fifteen years from now they will find the dialogue painful - like one of those pseudo-hip 60's films - and the acting superb. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:38 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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The consensus seems to be that Toy Story 2 is better. Maybe I shouldn't have watched them on back to back nights (actually I think there were 2 days and one other film in between). Anyway, they are both very good and I shouldn't have put them off as long as I did.
I hit a pretty big 50's film groove for a while there in June/July. Maybe next time I'm putting away a ton of watched Dvd's, I'll track down that last post and know how long it took to watch the dozens I'm putting away.
I also liked Garfield in Under my Skin, where he plays a crooked jockey with a son, in Europe. Based on a Hemingway short story.
I've been meaning to re-watch the Double Ringing Mail Carrier.
Any other Garfield recs would be appreciated.
(Garfield always makes me think of Peter Falk, with maybe a touch of Robert Blake thrown in ... or is it the other way around?) |
Last edited by gromit on Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:28 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:05 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| The two Toy Stories are about even. I had Toy Story 2 as #80 on my top 100 list and Toy Story at #82, bracketing Say Anything.... Jessie's song makes the difference. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:26 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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| Re-watched The Best Years of Our Lives last night. As ever, it made me cry. |
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| Marj |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 1:39 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 10497
Location: Manhattan
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| It always does that to me, Inla. Every single time. Btw, thanks for the reminder, I need to rent it for my next review. |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:18 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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Marj, but of course. It's long been one of my favorite movies.
whiskeypriest wrote: I think, if anyone watches Juno fifteen years from now they will find the dialogue painful - like one of those pseudo-hip 60's films - and the acting superb.
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:25 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12921
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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This event on campus on October 3 has me intrigued:
Quote: Sutton Artist Series: Organ Gala - Metropolis, silent film with organ accomaniment, 8:00 p.m., Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall in Catlett Music Center.
This is the 10th Anniversary of the big organ on campus. (The musical type, that is, for those with dirty minds) They're having three days of organ music and I've never seen Metropolis.
EDIT: Come to think of it, it's odd they're having it in the Sharp Concert Hall. The Organ is in the Kerr Gothic Hall, and I really doubt they're going to move it. |
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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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