What Are You Watching? Special Deluxe Edition Box Set

[tucco]

Hawaii Five-0 seasons one thru three........awesome. Wo Fat rules.
Rick
Iron Maiden Live After Death
I REwatched The Score, I love that flick.

[B5Erik]

Iron Maiden Live After Death

Scream for me tucco - SCREAM FOR ME TUCCO!!!

I saw one of the San Diego shows on that tour (a few days before or after the Long Beach shows), and the San Diego show was even better than the Live After Death show. It was a phenomenal tour - and they have never dropped off live. They've always been great.

That's one heck of a 2 disc set there...

[Andrew Forbes]

Godzilla (1998). Big, dumb, loud, dumb, loud. Dumb.

Big.

[B5Erik]

A Lady Takes a Chance - I liked Jean Arthur in everything I've seen her in up to this point (well, ok - 3 movies), and since I like John Wayne I gave this lighthearted romanitc western comedy a shot. It's a good movie. Real lightweight fluff, but it's funny and has a charm that doesn't find its way into movies that much anymore. And I still like Jean Arthur in everything I've seen her in.

[Boba Fett]

The Bourne Identity- I hadn't seen since its initial DVD release and this time around, coming off of seeing #2 and #3 recently, I enjoyed it much more. It's plot is slightly more complicated than it should be.

Children of Men- I seem to recall being moderately impressed by the film in its theatrical run, but after buying it just because of Clive Owen, I rewatched it and saw where the Blade Runner comparisons are a bit fitting. It's different and really doesn't take a political stance; I think in a decade or so, people will view it more fondly because of its simplistic but meaningful message.

[molly1216]

A Lady Takes a Chance - I liked Jean Arthur in everything I've seen her in up to this point (well, ok - 3 movies), and since I like John Wayne I gave this lighthearted romanitc western comedy a shot. It's a good movie. Real lightweight fluff, but it's funny and has a charm that doesn't find its way into movies that much anymore. And I still like Jean Arthur in everything I've seen her in.

One of my secret favorites. It's is just a 'nice' goofy romance with a great meet cute. They had to post date to before the war, because bus tours around the west during the war were suspended, and most of the rodeo crowd would have been drafted. I did think the sceen with him in a frilly apron was just gratuitous. Check out Arizona with Jean Arthur, the toughest pie lady you will ever see.

[Gabriel Girard]

License To Kill - Man this is one thight,thrilling,brutal James Bond movie. I loved the fact that Q had a bigger part and that Carey Lowell disn't let herself be pushed around. And Tim Dalton is the man! Too bad the main title song sucked.

[B5Erik]

A Lady Takes a Chance - I liked Jean Arthur in everything I've seen her in up to this point (well, ok - 3 movies), and since I like John Wayne I gave this lighthearted romantic western comedy a shot. It's a good movie. Real lightweight fluff, but it's funny and has a charm that doesn't find its way into movies that much anymore. And I still like Jean Arthur in everything I've seen her in.

One of my secret favorites. It's is just a 'nice' goofy romance with a great meet cute. They had to post date to before the war, because bus tours around the west during the war were suspended, and most of the rodeo crowd would have been drafted. I did think the sceen with him in a frilly apron was just gratuitous. Check out Arizona with Jean Arthur, the toughest pie lady you will ever see.

I've got Arizona - GREAT Western. And even though she was about 16 or so years older than William Holden they had great chemistry. I've also got The Plainsman with Jean Arthur. She is GREAT in that one, too!

License To Kill - Man this is one thight,thrilling,brutal James Bond movie. I loved the fact that Q had a bigger part and that Carey Lowell disn't let herself be pushed around. And Tim Dalton is the man! Too bad the main title song sucked.

That's my favorite Bond movie. That one and Dr. No. Timothy Dalton is my favorite Bond. He nailed what Fleming was going for in the character. I love Connery, but Dalton just has something that works better as a paid assassin, which is, essentially, what Bond is. Licence to Kill could almost be seen as the template for Casino Royale. With Royale they just updated it stylistically with some Bourne-esque stuff, but the core of Casino Royale is the style that they tried with LTK (and gave up on for the most part during the Brosnan era).

[B5Erik]

I just finished Lucky Number Slevin - Good movie. The first hour or so was a tad dull for a movie dealing with a mobsters, hit men, and murder, but the last 30-40 minutes were pure gold. I kind of saw the twist coming, but then again, it was carried out differently that I imagined it would be. I loved the ending. It took the movie from being mediocre to pretty darned good. It still isn't a great movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed that last 40 or so minutes. And the cast? Fantastic in terms of who was in it, unfortunately there was a certain amount of phoning it in going on. (Bruce Willis - I'm looking at you, and Morgan Freeman, well, you're on cruise control playing Morgan Freeman - but at least you put a little more effort into it than Bruce did.)

[J.M. Vargas]

Sixteen years ago I rented a VHS cassette with the first three episodes of Ranma 1/2, an anime series (based on a Rumiko Takahashi manga that I've actually read) about a 16-year old martial art expert that changes into a girl when splashed with water (only hot water can get him back to normal). Same thing with his father, except he turns into a giant panda bear (don't ask). Anyway, back in '92 I saw the first three episodes, ejected the rental VHS and decided to quit watching right there because I knew if I kept watching more episodes I'd become addicted. Cut to last Saturday night, when I decided to finally watch those same three episodes I saw 16 years ago from a Season 1 Box Set I got cheap on Ebay a couple of years ago that I never bothered opening. 14 episodes later (nine on Saturday, five more during the Academy Awards) the addiction to "Ranma" is complete and irresistible (damn it). Like a never-ending Jackie Chan movie, this is the theater of the absurd taken to its most amusing, gender-bending extreme without crossing the line into perverted or obscene 'hentai' territory. Ryoga has got to be the most one-dimensional, one-joke characters in the history of anime and yet his persistence and determination to 'get' Ranma is almost admirable. Plus I can't get the damn theme song off my head (Yappa-paa-paa Yappa-paa-paa, indeed! )! Looks like more Box Sets of "Ranma 1/2" are in my future!

[Andrew Forbes]

Casualties of War. Aside from a couple of script issues and a way over-the-top performance by Sean Penn (channeling the very worst excesses of Robert De Niro and adding some of his own, to boot), this is a really strong movie. Michael J. Fox deserves more respect as a serious actor. He doesn't have a lot of range but, within that range, he is extremely good. In the supplemental interviews, he comes across very intelligent and articulate.

[Boba Fett]

Zodiac- I'll have to update my Top 10 of 2007 now, since this turned out to be another film I liked a lot more on DVD than in the theater. Fincher and a great cast manage to make, what on paper looks like something terribly boring, gripping, tense and highly interesting.

[Gabriel Girard]

Die Another Day - I have to be the voice of dissenting opinion and say i quite liked one this one. I thought it was pretty fun and Rosamund Pike was hot, Pierce was at his best. Sure the CGI wave sucks, but for some reason I didn't mind the invisible car. The villains could have been better and the title song way better. I'd put it above most of Moore. movies.

[Jim_Thomas]

Die Another Day - I have to be the voice of dissenting opinion and say i quite liked one this one. I thought it was pretty fun and Rosamund Pike was hot, Pierce was at his best. Sure the CGI wave sucks, but for some reason I didn't mind the invisible car. The villains could have been better and the title song way better. I'd put it above most of Moore. movies.

And here is our textbook example of "damning with faint praise"...

But I do agree that Rosamund Pike was hot.

[Mark Van Hook]

The Darjeeling Limited - When I caught this in the theater, I thought it might just be Wes Anderson's best film since Rushmore. Now that I've seen it again on DVD, I'm convinced of it.

[Belmondo]

The Darjeeling Limited - When I caught this in the theater, I thought it might just be Wes Anderson's best film since Rushmore. Now that I've seen it again on DVD, I'm convinced of it.

Just finished watching it and loved it too; but I still think "Royal Tannenbaums" was his best so far, even though I can't get anyone to agree with me.

[Boba Fett]

Sweeney Todd: Very enjoyable. I had listened to the original cast recording with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury recently and was impressed with Depp, but Helena Bonham Carter was absolutely dreadful and the blame for that lies soley on Burton's shoulders. The biggest surprise though was Sacha Baron Cohen; the man has true talent.

No Country for Old Men: My mother wanted to see it, so I went along and saw it for a second time. Really negative theater experience due to managment. There was no sound for the first five minutes. I told the front desk and when it came back on, someone came into theater to make sure it was working right. Literally the entire theater screamed at them to restart the film, but they just gave an odd look and walked out. It was a locally run theater, so I just got done sending an email to the general manager (who was not present). It was one of the few times I wished I was at a big chain, because the last time something like that happened at one, the audience was offered a refund and allowed to finish watching the film. As far as the film goes, it's a different animal the second time around. The tension is completely gone but the little things you notice breathe a lot of life into the film. The ending now is even more brilliant since I paid close attention to all of Tommy Lee Jones' scenes. Still, one mouthbreather screamed "WHAT IS THAT IT?!" at the end.

[Steve T Power]

Sweeney Todd: Very enjoyable. I had listened to the original cast recording with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury recently and was impressed with Depp, but Helena Bonham Carter was absolutely dreadful and the blame for that lies soley on Burton's shoulders. The biggest surprise though was Sacha Baron Cohen; the man has true talent.

No Country for Old Men: My mother wanted to see it, so I went along and saw it for a second time. Really negative theater experience due to managment. There was no sound for the first five minutes. I told the front desk and when it came back on, someone came into theater to make sure it was working right. Literally the entire theater screamed at them to restart the film, but they just gave an odd look and walked out. It was a locally run theater, so I just got done sending an email to the general manager (who was not present). It was one of the few times I wished I was at a big chain, because the last time something like that happened at one, the audience was offered a refund and allowed to finish watching the film. As far as the film goes, it's a different animal the second time around. The tension is completely gone but the little things you notice breathe a lot of life into the film. The ending now is even more brilliant since I paid close attention to all of Tommy Lee Jones' scenes. Still, one mouthbreather screamed "WHAT IS THAT IT?!" at the end.

I've seen the film twice now, and i can't say as i blame him. It's not "There Will Be Blood" head-scratching, as it actually makes sense and all, but it's one of those PRIME effing examples that novels should not always be 100 percent faithfully adapted to the screen. A novel's climax and closing moments plays out drastically different from a film's. I know most of these idiots want a Kung Fu or knife fight between Tommy Lee and Javier, and no, that just wouldn't work, but i think the Coens, literary geniuses tha tthey are, could have strayed a little and made a more satisfying final act. Their best is still Miller's Crossing/Fargo/O, Brother Where Art Thou? in my book.

[Bryan Pope]

Sweeney Todd: Very enjoyable. I had listened to the original cast recording with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury recently and was impressed with Depp, but Helena Bonham Carter was absolutely dreadful and the blame for that lies soley on Burton's shoulders. The biggest surprise though was Sacha Baron Cohen; the man has true talent.

HBC's performance really has split audiences into two camps. I'm in the camp that thought she was phenomenal. "Worst Pies in London" sort of tanked, but after that I thought she dusted herself off and delivered. An unexpectedly bittersweet portrayal and a sly, nuanced performance. As good as Depp was, HBC's performance is the one that will captivate me the most when the DVD arrives April 1.

[Andrew Forbes]

30 Days of Night. A mixed bag. Great atmosphere and creep factor, and solid performances from Hartnett and much of the supporting cast, but a few annoyances kept it from becoming a truly great horror flick. The scene with the little girl in the general store is beyond cheesy, and robs the film of much of its grit. I found the behaviour of the vampires borrowed a little too heavily from the creatures in Blade II. Pacing is a real problem, as is editing in general. Characters suddenly appear in different parts of the town, sections that seem like they take place in the space of hours are actually meant to span days, and there is no real sense of how quickly the vampires sweep through the town, or how many townspeople remain at any given time. Still, it's stylish, gory and consistently entertaining.

[Andrew Forbes]

Oh, and I should also mention that 30 Days of Night was obviously not produced by anyone who's ever lived anywhere near a northern climate.

[Shiver] "It must be ten below out here!"

It's the middle of winter in northern Alaska, and somebody who's always lived there finds -23 C worthy of note? Uh... huh...

[BenShultz]

The Darjeeling Limited - When I caught this in the theater, I thought it might just be Wes Anderson's best film since Rushmore. Now that I've seen it again on DVD, I'm convinced of it.

Just finished watching it and loved it too; but I still think "Royal Tannenbaums" was his best so far, even though I can't get anyone to agree with me.

For what it's worth, I'm with you there.

[Dan Mancini]

The Darjeeling Limited - When I caught this in the theater, I thought it might just be Wes Anderson's best film since Rushmore. Now that I've seen it again on DVD, I'm convinced of it.

Just finished watching it and loved it too; but I still think "Royal Tannenbaums" was his best so far, even though I can't get anyone to agree with me.

For what it's worth, I'm with you there.

I like Tenenbaums more than Rushmore, too. I haven't seen Darjeeling yet, so I can't rank it; but, heck, I enjoyed The Life Aquatic, if only because I used to watch those Jacques Cousteau specials religiously when I was a kid and Aquatic perfectly captures the stilted, pretense-of-reality vibe those shows had (and which has now become ubiquitous on reality TV).

[Dunnyman]

A Lady Takes a Chance - I liked Jean Arthur in everything I've seen her in up to this point (well, ok - 3 movies), and since I like John Wayne I gave this lighthearted romanitc western comedy a shot. It's a good movie. Real lightweight fluff, but it's funny and has a charm that doesn't find its way into movies that much anymore. And I still like Jean Arthur in everything I've seen her in.

Have you seen The Talk Of The Town? She matches up extremely well with Cary Grant in the comedy department, why no one ever paired them again is beyond me.
Just finished The Whitest Kids You Know-S1, and I haven't laughed like that for ages. Trevor Moore may be the most underrated genius of comedy working today. I'd love to see him in a full length movie. "Get a New Daddy" is simply genius.

[Ptolemy]

Go see 'In Bruges' if you get the chance. I did and I loved every minute of it. IMO it earned the 4 stars Mr. Ebert gave it.

[Belmondo]

LUST,CAUTION - well, that was certainly ... long. Insufficient lust, too much caution.
DEATH AT A FUNERAL - didn't care for it. When you watch a supposedly hilarious comedy and nothing remotely funny happens, then you must be in the land of (Frank) Oz where the joke is on you.
THE APARTMENT - good commentary track on the new SE. I always found the young Shirley MacLaine very appealing, and Jack Lemmon is tops.

[molly1216]

Death at a Funeral for the 3rd time and I liked it tremendously, however whomever said it was hilarious was watching a different film.
The film was a farce, and it was apparently supposed to an Ealing type comedy and if you ask me it succeeded. It starts slow and builds, by the time you get to the end it's spinning wildly out of control. besides any movie that has peter dinklage, nevermind casting him as the bad guy is allright in my book. the jury is still out on (Underdog)

[molly1216]

Picked up Forbidden Hollywood Vol 2.
popped in the Divorceé with Norma Shearer, and by chance put on the commentary by Jeffery Vance and Tony Maietta and this is suddenly one of my FAVORITE commentary tracks. these guys are goofy, a little like a kevin Smith Scott Mosier or MST3K. I hope the do more.

[Andrew Forbes]

A Perfect World. I love this movie.

[barnaclelapse]

I'm on:

Frasier: Season Seven
Cheers: Season Five
24: Season One
And the usual assortment of films...last night, for example, I finally saw Eastern Promises. Very, very good. I really can't think of a single time Cronenberg(sp) didn't knock me on my ass.

[J.M. Vargas]

Finished watching Ranma 1/2 Season 1 (insanely fun!) and then tested my brand-new HD-DVD player with the only two HD-DVD titles I own that wouldn't play on my XBox 360 HD-DVD add-on: The Host and The Sopranos Season 6 Part 2. "The Host" doesn't get better with repeat viewing but it's still an enjoyable romp through monster movie cliches turned upside down. The Final 9 of "The Sopranos" hold much better in repeat viewing than I expected but will probably only be enjoyable for diehard fans of the show because its a ton of little things (a look here, a mention there, a close-up, etc.) that don't add-up to anything unless you're versed in "Sopranos" lore. Was so enamored with the high-def look of the show that I even re-watched the four episodes that had commentary tracks with actors (no writers or directors and no David Chase commentary for the series finale... WTF??!! ) and enjoyed just how bad and meaningless their rantings were. Robert 'AJ' Idler, in particular, really grates on the nerves since he hasn't seen the episode he's commenting on! Thanks a lot HBO.

[Dan Mancini]

Checked out Beowulf and American Gangster yesterday, and genuinely enjoyed both. I liked Beowulf a lot more than I thought I would (I think Ebert's point about it being a satire of sorts is dead-on). And I liked AG probably a little less than I'd hoped I would. In the end, Frank Lucas's story is the same old rise-and-fall arc in almost all gangster flicks. Richie Roberts's story is more interesting, but was underdeveloped. Still, I loved the whole '70s vibe and how Sir Rid went after the gritty look of flicks like French Connection and Superfly (plus, you gotta love a movie with a major turn of plot initiated by a chinchilla coat). I'm looking forward to checking out the extended version.

[Tinderbox]

This Is England...Shane Meadows' film about growing up in the skinhead culture of early 1980s Britain is a stunner. Creepy, scary, and funny. It is one of those movies that is able to comment both on the past and the present we now live in. Strongly recommended.

Sounds like a good candidate for a double feature with Alan Clarke's Made in Britain (1982).

[Tinderbox]

Children of Men...It's different and really doesn't take a political stance....

Apart from the "Get Out of Iraq" stickers on the mirror in the first shot, and the "Homeland Security" buses transporting illegal aliens as if they were Jews on the way to Aushwitz, and the recreation of the Abu Ghraib "torture" victim icons, etc etc. Other than that, it had no political stance at all.

I was as impressed as anyone with that movie, though on hindsight I think the director got carried away with the directorial pyrotechnics at the expense of a focus on his actors. One thing I never understood though (and I don't think this is a spoiler), was if the country or the human race was dying off because women could no longer bear children, then why would there be a governmental crackdown on illegal immigration?? Wouldn't immigrants be welcomed with open arms, as many as they could get to immigrate? I've only seen the movie once so perhaps my memory is faulty.

[Gabriel Girard]

Lady Snowblood - Very impressive revenge movie.Beautifully shot with lots of style.Although everyone makes the link with Kill Bill it feels more in line with Chan-wook Park's Lady Vengeance.

[Future Man]

Working through Alias S4 out of a sense of obligation since I bought it. Sadly it's a dismal, lifeless shadow of the wonderful first two seasons.

[stypee]

Die Hard 4 [i]The Unrated Version[/i], yeah that's right, the unrated version.. what are you gonna' do about it?

I liked it, pretty mindless action movie, I do have a few complaints, the first being the whole "we have your daughter" bullshit, it's getting old, they really need to come up with something new. The second complaint, it was a bit too long, I would of cut about 30 minutes out of it, ran a bit long in my opinion.

I am curious to know what the difference is between the PG-13 rated version and Unrated Versions, I've never seen the theatrical cut, is it longer? Are there more naughty words? What's the deal? I couldn't really see what all the fuss is about to trim it down to a PG-13 the way it was and I hate PG-13 flicks like these!

[B5Erik]

Gladiator - Extended Edition - I liked this movie a lot more the 2nd time. The additional footage really does flesh out characters and motivations a little better, making for a stronger movie. I'm in the camp that says that the ending is a bit of a letdown, but it's not a deal breaker by any stretch. A really good movie.

[Boba Fett]

Die Hard 4 [i]The Unrated Version[/i], yeah that's right, the unrated version.. what are you gonna' do about it?

I liked it, pretty mindless action movie, I do have a few complaints, the first being the whole "we have your daughter" bullshit, it's getting old, they really need to come up with something new. The second complaint, it was a bit too long, I would of cut about 30 minutes out of it, ran a bit long in my opinion.

I am curious to know what the difference is between the PG-13 rated version and Unrated Versions, I've never seen the theatrical cut, is it longer? Are there more naughty words? What's the deal? I couldn't really see what all the fuss is about to trim it down to a PG-13 the way it was and I hate PG-13 flicks like these!

The PG-13 cut was filled with bad ADR, there was little blood (except on McClane), and some of the more violent scenes had small cuts.

[mavrach]

Across the Universe - My fiancee loved it, I didn't like it. It was a by-the-numbers typical "how to make a movie about the 60's" movie. You get students frolicking in college, the war hits and people get carted off to Vietnam, the rest stay home and protest. Characters get major introductions, only to get forgotten later. Entire plot threads are created just for the sake of using a song or two Prudence is only there so we can get to hear "Dear Prudence" later, then she's gone for the rest of the movie. The only suprise for me was that there was a character named Sadie, yet we didn't hear "Sexy Sadie."

And the first scene was just stolen from Mulan Rouge - The sad main character singing after the fact that "this is a story about a girl....," then the movie flashes back to the start of the story. And in Across the Universe, that scene didn't go anywhere.



Elizabeth: Golden Age - I didn't think it was as terrible as everybody's been saying. While it wasn't great, it came close to the first. My real complaint though is that the advertising for the movie was very misleading. It portrayed the movie as being about war, whereas the battles only were the last part of the film. The trailers focused on the battles, and the DVD cover is of Elizabeth in armor.

SPOILERS:

The battle was very difficult to follow. We see Elizabeth geared up at land with an army ready to fight, but that never happened. It also wasn't clear that the naval assault was the final plan, until afterwards when they said it was all over. I just took it as that they were sacrificing a couple of their ships to win a minor victory in that battle. I didn't realize they were winning the whole thing.

Also, Walsignham's death scene was completely forced and tacked on. There was no indication of him being sick anywhere, then all of a sudden we see him on his death bed.

[HGervais]

Cranford...Judi Dench...Michael Gambon....BBC costume drama/comedy at its best.
Justice League: The New Frontier....man if all live-action superhero movies were half as good as this...well, we would all be better off. Just terrific.

[Future Man]

Checked out Beowulf and American Gangster yesterday, and genuinely enjoyed both. I liked Beowulf a lot more than I thought I would (I think Ebert's point about it being a satire of sorts is dead-on). And I liked AG probably a little less than I'd hoped I would. In the end, Frank Lucas's story is the same old rise-and-fall arc in almost all gangster flicks. Richie Roberts's story is more interesting, but was underdeveloped. Still, I loved the whole '70s vibe and how Sir Rid went after the gritty look of flicks like French Connection and Superfly (plus, you gotta love a movie with a major turn of plot initiated by a chinchilla coat). I'm looking forward to checking out the extended version.

As to AG, I may watch at least the alternate ending on the extended version, because for me the original ending really left a lot to be desired dramatically, and sort of misread where I think the audience's focus was. I understand that it was "based on a true story" but nonetheless Scott made some odd choices in the manner in which he presented things in the last 10 minutes or so.

[Dan Mancini]

Checked out Beowulf and American Gangster yesterday, and genuinely enjoyed both. I liked Beowulf a lot more than I thought I would (I think Ebert's point about it being a satire of sorts is dead-on). And I liked AG probably a little less than I'd hoped I would. In the end, Frank Lucas's story is the same old rise-and-fall arc in almost all gangster flicks. Richie Roberts's story is more interesting, but was underdeveloped. Still, I loved the whole '70s vibe and how Sir Rid went after the gritty look of flicks like French Connection and Superfly (plus, you gotta love a movie with a major turn of plot initiated by a chinchilla coat). I'm looking forward to checking out the extended version.

As to AG, I may watch at least the alternate ending on the extended version, because for me the original ending really left a lot to be desired dramatically, and sort of misread where I think the audience's focus was. I understand that it was "based on a true story" but nonetheless Scott made some odd choices in the manner in which he presented things in the last 10 minutes or so.

A lot of that has to do with how poorly Roberts's story is handled. The problem with the movie's ending is that it's really an ending to Roberts's story even though he's basically a tertiary character. The Lucas half of the movie is great. But Roberts doesn't get enough screen time, and too many of the wrong parts of his story are told. I'm loath to complain about having to look at Carla Gugino, but I couldn't care less about Roberts's divorce or him giving punks in a park a hard time. It would've been nice to see his professional development, though, so his transition from cop to prosecutor wasn't so jarring and odd (despite the few law school scenes that were supposed to provide setup).

[Future Man]

Checked out Beowulf and American Gangster yesterday, and genuinely enjoyed both. I liked Beowulf a lot more than I thought I would (I think Ebert's point about it being a satire of sorts is dead-on). And I liked AG probably a little less than I'd hoped I would. In the end, Frank Lucas's story is the same old rise-and-fall arc in almost all gangster flicks. Richie Roberts's story is more interesting, but was underdeveloped. Still, I loved the whole '70s vibe and how Sir Rid went after the gritty look of flicks like French Connection and Superfly (plus, you gotta love a movie with a major turn of plot initiated by a chinchilla coat). I'm looking forward to checking out the extended version.

As to AG, I may watch at least the alternate ending on the extended version, because for me the original ending really left a lot to be desired dramatically, and sort of misread where I think the audience's focus was. I understand that it was "based on a true story" but nonetheless Scott made some odd choices in the manner in which he presented things in the last 10 minutes or so.

A lot of that has to do with how poorly Roberts's story is handled. The problem with the movie's ending is that it's really an ending to Roberts's story even though he's basically a tertiary character. The Lucas half of the movie is great. But Roberts doesn't get enough screen time, and too many of the wrong parts of his story are told. I'm loath to complain about having to look at Carla Gugino, but I couldn't care less about Roberts's divorce or him giving punks in a park a hard time. It would've been nice to see his professional development, though, so his transition from cop to prosecutor wasn't so jarring and odd (despite the few law school scenes that were supposed to provide setup).

What I was thinking was [spoilers]
all of a sudden the focus shifts to the crooked cops as if that's who we really wanted to see go down. It's as if we were thrust into the end of Serpico all of a sudden. The shot of Lucas and Roberts exchanging broad grins was especially grating. As to Roberts' cop-to-prosecutor shift, I found it odd that the state's chief investigatory witness would also act as the prosecutor. That trial would have been interesting to watch--what did he do, jump back and forth between the prosecutor's table and the witness stand during his own testimony?

[J.M. Vargas]

Die Hard 4 [i]The Unrated Version[/i], yeah that's right, the unrated version.. what are you gonna' do about it?

I am curious to know what the difference is between the PG-13 rated version and Unrated Versions, I've never seen the theatrical cut, is it longer? Are there more naughty words? What's the deal? I couldn't really see what all the fuss is about to trim it down to a PG-13 the way it was and I hate PG-13 flicks like these!

Fox commissioned an Unrated version of "Live Free and Die Hard" without the director's involvement. The studio added swear words, digital (i.e. phony looking) blood splatters and the snippets of violence removed from the PG-13 version. Both movies are a mess but I'll stick with the PG-13 version because at least its the version with an involvement by the original director.

Anywho, caught Larry Cohen's It's Alive and It Lives Again ("It's Alive 2" in the actual credits) on MojoHD, both for the first time. Holy crap, how the hell did the original movie got away with a PG rating? The sequel is rated 'R' but both feature about the same level of violence/blood. The hospital massacre at the start shocked the hell out of me, and I'm 35. Both flicks are 'B horror' to their very core but the amount of jump-cuts and jarring ADR dubbed lines is as tough to watch as all the characters buying the premise of a mutant killer baby without hesitation (a little more doubt from the police would have been welcomed). The first film works in a "Twilight Zone"-meets-"The Outer Limit" kind-of metaphor with a message, but the sequel goes completely off the rails with an "X-Files"-type conspiracy that cheapens its predecessor (although I loved seeing John Marley playing it so straight I almost bought his real reasons for chasing/killing the mutant babies). Fun two-fer, and seeing it in high-definition was a cool plus.

[B5Erik]

Dakota - John Wayne, Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, and Mike Mazurki. Mediocre script and direction (the pacing never wavers - the movie never catches it's breath, and as a result the tension in the film isn't as tense as it could be), but the cast is great and the movie is entertaining despite the script and direction flaws.

[molly1216]

Good Night and Good Luck, that TIME magazine gover maked me go weak in the knees - It's too bad that movies take so long to gestate, in the past an A list actor like Clooney would have given us many more pictures a year and, better chances of making more GREAT films.

I just wrote a wikipedia bio of Clara Beranger and it drove me to pulling out the 1920 Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde that she wrote. It still kicks ass.

I'm looking forward to Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, the 1938 book is awesome.

[Future Man]

All about Eve
Great, great literate movie. How could I have considered myself a movie buff without this under my belt?
My only quibble: why the rear projection for a scene involving a simple stroll down the street?

[stypee]

So I tried to sit through EXORCIST III, upon a few recommendations around these parts.. I still have about 30 minutes left to go, what a boring and dull horror movie. Oh man, I started watching it last night and was just so freaking bored, I purposely but the Exorcist Box Set because it had part III in it. Now I'm selling off my original Exorcist DVD'S because I figured I had the box-set. Man, I really hope I can get through the rest of this flick... YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID IT "FLICK!"...

Anyway, I know the history behind the whole movie, how it's really not an Exorcist sequel per-say and how it's really part of a novel called "The Legion" and the fact that Fox (now mysteriously under the warner bros. franchise for DVD release) dropped "Legion" from the Exorcist title. I remember all the stuff I read in Fangoria about it back when the flick YEAH THAT'S RIGHT.. "FLICK"! was released.

This is also my second viewing, I first saw it 18 years ago.

Anywho..

I also caught SOUTH PARK, BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT again... Trey Parker and Matt Stone goodness!

[B5Erik]

Fire Down Below (1957) - Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon, and Rita Hayworth. Co-Produced by Cubby Broccoli. You can see a lot of Dr. No in this one. Broccoli clearly loved the Caribbean, and it's clear that he remembered much of the location work from this film and found that it would be a perfect match for the Caribbean settings for Dr. No. The look of the film isn't all that dissimilar to Dr. No, and future Bond actor Bernard Lee plays a significant role in the last third of the movie. The movie is a little schizophrenic as some reviews have stated (the last third takes a left turn, but it makes a bit of sense), and the character deveopment often jumps from "A" to "C" with just a barely implied "B" in between (sometimes implied after the fact). But despite the film's flaws it is still damned entertaining and with stars like Mitchum, Lemmon, and Hayworth (and a great Caribbean setting), how can you go wrong? You can't.