Kevin's Watch

In that case, Big Red One and Kelly's Heroes are my favorite war films, and I suggest you watch them first.

And whatever you do, make sure you watch the new Restoration of Big Red One.

Cail wrote:Apocalypse Now is a good film, but completely overrated.

I would put that in the massively overrated category. Along with the rest of Coppola's films.

So Cail, what do you think of:
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon
Hamburger Hill
The Great Escape
and Stalag 17?

I like the MacClean films that, probably have no historical accuracy, but they're fun:
Guns of Navarone
Where Eagles Dare
Force Ten from Navarone

Stalag 17 is one of my all-time favorites. Billy Wilder is not overrated.

I love The Great Escape, too.

Cail wrote:And whatever you do, make sure you watch the new Restoration of Big Red One.

I didn't know there was a restoration, what's new about it?

dlbpharmd wrote:

Cail wrote:And whatever you do, make sure you watch the new Restoration of Big Red One.

I didn't know there was a restoration, what's new about it?

What, did they sew it back in? That had to hurt.

Anything written or directed by Kevin Smith.

Any Adam Sandler movie.

Neither are funny.

danlo wrote:So Cail, what do you think of:
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon
Hamburger Hill
The Great Escape
and Stalag 17?

Excellent, so-so, so-so, outstanding, outstanding.

The Big Red One Restoration has about another 40 minutes put back into the film. Makes it more of a piece, and the DVD transfer is far better than the original release.

Brokeback Mountain is massively overrated. Earnest social commentary should not be an excuse for pedestrian storytelling.

The Godfather. Gushed over by fans of gangster cinema, yes. Important to American movie history, yes. But I've personally never cared for it, and probably never will.

Driving Miss Daisy. Possibly the most unrelentingly boring Best Picture Oscar winner.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. While not actually as boring as Driving Miss Daisy (very few films are), this martial arts epic should still be retitled as Sleeping Tiger, Comatose Dragon.

Magnolia. I can't begin to describe the hostility this movie provokes in me. Pointless. Inane. Overbearing, sanctimonious s**t. And there's a singing sequence. Yes, a movie featuring Tom Cruise SINGING. You know, as a paying moviegoer I think I deserved better treatment than to be aurally assaulted by Tom Cruise's singing.

Moulin Rouge. Maybe Magnolia is the only movie I despise more than this one. There's diotic singing in Moulin Rouge, and pointless tripe for a story. (Wait, what story?) Two different movies, same manure. Moulin Rouge's critical and popular acclaim completely baffles me.

Batman and Batman Returns. Sheer incompetence.

Mrs. Doubtfire. How the hell did this heap of mediocrity end up being the biggest box office draw behind Jurassic Park in '93?

Spider-Man. Yes, Tobey Maguire IS Peter Parker. But the movie was just okay. A modern "classic" it is not. (To put it mildly.)

Superman Returns. Yes, whats-his-name is fine as Supes. However, like my friend said: But sir, I came to see Superman Returns, not Lois Lane Returns.

Gangs of New York. Scorsese went off the deep end with this overblown mess. U2 also laid an egg with the completely uninspired "Hands That Built America" tie-in song.

Casino Royale. Yes, the new Bond movie. Everyone else may be worshipping it as one of the best Bond movies ever, but I just saw it last week and it did not impress me. I did not see it as anything special, whether as a Bond movie or as an action movie in general. Daniel Craig is fine as 007, but Casino Royale is far from being one of the best Bond films. What I find funny is how, with the arrival of each new actor, the Bond producers go out of their way to say how much better the new chap is than the previous one. Craig is fine, but "better" than Brosnan? NO.

Cail wrote:

danlo wrote:So Cail, what do you think of:
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon
Hamburger Hill
The Great Escape
and Stalag 17?

Excellent, so-so, so-so, outstanding, outstanding.

The Big Red One Restoration has about another 40 minutes put back into the film. Makes it more of a piece, and the DVD transfer is far better than the original release.

Thanks for the info, I'll look for it.

And, I agree with your appraisals of the above films, except I would give Hamburger Hill an outstanding.

I haven't seen Hamburger Hill since college (so it's been a really long time), I'll give it another go.

MM, totally agree with everything on your list except for The Godfather.

Matrixman wrote:The Godfather. Gushed over by fans of gangster cinema, yes. Important to American movie history, yes. But I've personally never cared for it, and probably never will.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. While not actually as boring as Driving Miss Daisy (very few films are), this martial arts epic should still be retitled as Sleeping Tiger, Comatose Dragon.

Spider-Man. Yes, Tobey Maguire IS Peter Parker. But the movie was just okay. A modern "classic" it is not. (To put it mildly.)

Casino Royale. Yes, the new Bond movie. Everyone else may be worshipping it as one of the best Bond movies ever, but I just saw it last week and it did not impress me. I did not see it as anything special, whether as a Bond movie or as an action movie in general. Daniel Craig is fine as 007, but Casino Royale is far from being one of the best Bond films. What I find funny is how, with the arrival of each new actor, the Bond producers go out of their way to say how much better the new chap is than the previous one. Craig is fine, but "better" than Brosnan? NO.

Ok, let's see.

The Godfather: Yes, overrated. I quite enjoyed it, but it bored me a little, and it could have done with being (or at least feeling, heh) an hour shorter. Slightly clumsy filmmaking there, I think; it should have been tighter.

Crouching Tiger: There are three films I group together here: Crouching Tiger, Hero and House of Flying Daggers. That seems to be roughly the order in which critics rate them, but I watched them in reverse and each film seemed inferior to the last. My pick of the bunch is Flying Daggers, followed by the interesting but flawed Hero, then the unengaging Crouching Tiger. Crouching Tiger is definitely overrated, IMO.

Spider-Man: I enjoy it, but the sequel is far superior. I don't really know what public/critical perception of these films is, so I can't really say if one or both might be overrated.

Casino Royale: I'm one of the ones who loved it. Craig is way, way better than Brosnan. Not quite up to Connery, but certainly among the top Bonds as far as I'm concerned. Likewise, I consider this the best Bond film in at least twenty years, probably longer.

Agree with CJr about Casino Royale. And I agree (mostly) with MM about everything in his list except The Godfather (which I consider my favorite movie of all time) and Driving Miss Daisy. Yes, DMD is slow and there's no action, but there's a great deal of humor and it's a beautiful story.

Wow, people. At the risk of confirming Lucimay's observations about total subjectivity, I must say that a lot of you suck at movie picking.

With the exceptions of SPR and Braveheart, Cail, I haven't seen a single one of the war movies you mentioned. I consider myself a huge fan of movies in general, but I can't seem to muster a tiny damn about war movies. I enjoyed Braveheart because it was period (fictional or not). SPR was one of those movies that had me walking out of it thinking 1) that was a really well-made gritty war movie and 2) I never ever want to see it or hear about it again.

The thorough dismissal of all movies Burton I find dismaying. One of my favorite Burton movies is Edward Scissorhands. I can see why many people would disagree, but it just clicked for me the first time I saw it, and I relish picking out little nuances each new time that I see it.

The entire Godfather trilogy could be iced, in my opinion. And though I am a moderate fan of sci-fi, I have never been able to [yawn] sit through all of 2001, and never bothered to attempt 2010.

Lost in Translation I thought was a good film, but not a good movie. I enjoyed watching it, but understand why people would be dissapointed with the unbalanced amount of hype that it received. To me, the difference between a good film and a good movie is what I expect to get out of it. Good films edify me, whereas good movies entertain me. Some flicks manage to do neither, like Titanic, Troy, The Aviator, and any movie featuring Hugh Grant.

Which brings me to the one minor point I want to make. Let's not confuse overrated with overhyped. Both Pirates movies have been overhyped, but they serve as passable popcorn eaters in my opinion, and I don't think they have been overrated.

DW

Farm Ur-Ted wrote:Stalag 17 is one of my all-time favorites.

Definitely a great movie!

DukkhaWaynhim wrote:Wow, people. At the risk of confirming Lucimay's observations about total subjectivity, I must say that a lot of you suck at movie picking.

Amazing observation, especially considering you admit you've not seen most of the movies mentioned.

DukkhaWaynhim wrote:And though I am a moderate fan of sci-fi, I have never been able to [yawn] sit through all of 2001, and never bothered to attempt 2010.

2010 is a completely different movie than 2001, in every way imaginable.

Matrixman wrote:Brokeback Mountain is massively overrated. Earnest social commentary should not be an excuse for pedestrian storytelling.

The Godfather. Gushed over by fans of gangster cinema, yes. Important to American movie history, yes. But I've personally never cared for it, and probably never will.

Driving Miss Daisy. Possibly the most unrelentingly boring Best Picture Oscar winner.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. While not actually as boring as Driving Miss Daisy (very few films are), this martial arts epic should still be retitled as Sleeping Tiger, Comatose Dragon.

Magnolia. I can't begin to describe the hostility this movie provokes in me. Pointless. Inane. Overbearing, sanctimonious s**t. And there's a singing sequence. Yes, a movie featuring Tom Cruise SINGING. You know, as a paying moviegoer I think I deserved better treatment than to be aurally assaulted by Tom Cruise's singing.

Moulin Rouge. Maybe Magnolia is the only movie I despise more than this one. There's diotic singing in Moulin Rouge, and pointless tripe for a story. (Wait, what story?) Two different movies, same manure. Moulin Rouge's critical and popular acclaim completely baffles me.

Batman and Batman Returns. Sheer incompetence.

Mrs. Doubtfire. How the hell did this heap of mediocrity end up being the biggest box office draw behind Jurassic Park in '93?

Spider-Man. Yes, Tobey Maguire IS Peter Parker. But the movie was just okay. A modern "classic" it is not. (To put it mildly.)

Superman Returns. Yes, whats-his-name is fine as Supes. However, like my friend said: But sir, I came to see Superman Returns, not Lois Lane Returns.

Gangs of New York. Scorsese went off the deep end with this overblown mess. U2 also laid an egg with the completely uninspired "Hands That Built America" tie-in song.

Casino Royale. Yes, the new Bond movie. Everyone else may be worshipping it as one of the best Bond movies ever, but I just saw it last week and it did not impress me. I did not see it as anything special, whether as a Bond movie or as an action movie in general. Daniel Craig is fine as 007, but Casino Royale is far from being one of the best Bond films. What I find funny is how, with the arrival of each new actor, the Bond producers go out of their way to say how much better the new chap is than the previous one. Craig is fine, but "better" than Brosnan? NO.

MM, I agree with all excpet for Gangs of New York and Spiderman. Both Spidey flicks are simply the #1 and #2 movies of their genre, bar none (though Batman begins is a close third)!! These movies remember the 2 rules. 1) that the movie needs to be about the man behind the mask, and 2) that a "flick" is only as good as the villan(s) that fight the good guy. This is why the Superman movie was kind of a yawn. Kevin Spacey is a great actor, but the Lex as written was not a manevolent threat of the scope needed to counter balance Superman.

Also, gangs of new York... I thought the tenor and storytelling in this movie was frickin' awesome. Pitch perfect. The song was terrible, but that (to me) deos not impact the sight, sound, and story of the film.

I agree on Superman Returns. The worst of the Christopher Reeve movies was still better than this newest one.
And I'm even a sucker for comic book movies - heck, I thought DareDevil didn't deserve most of the trashing it got.
Superman Returns was ruined not because of Spacey or the guy who played Supes, but because of Kate Bosworth. Although none come to mind at the moment, I'm sure I've seen her in other roles that I didn't hate her (or maybe that was Brian Bosworth). She never mustered the presence to convince me she was Lois Lane. And they gave her so much screen time, she held the whole movie hostage. I wish they'd cut Cyclops loose to go back to X-Men III instead of wasting his time trying to pretend Kate Bosworth was worth romantic triangling over.

DW

Excellent points about Kate Bosworth. I rented Superman Returns this week since my wife hadn't seen it. After the machine gun/bullet to the eye scene, I turned to her and said "OK, you've seen the best part of the movie."