17 comments

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  Joe

  10 months ago

  For the "Old Movies" category, how about "The City of Lost Children". I don't remember the original French title, but the movie starred Ron Perlman. Beautiful movie, seemingly interesting, but when you break it down, utter crap. It has its moments, but not to the same greatness as Amelie (same director).
  
  As far as the "Actors Everyone Likes But Can't Name", I nominate Stephen Root. Brilliant, versatile actor that everyone still remembers as Milton from Office Space. He was in the show Talk Radio, the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and has had lots of supporting, hilarious roles.
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  kiley

  10 months ago

  OMG, stephen root! i heart him, he's sooo funny!
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  Phil

  10 months ago

  R. Lee Ermy
  
  James Cromwell
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  Phil

  10 months ago

  Oh, wow -
  
  I just saw a commercial for "Zaxbys" (you must live in the US, & more particularly, the South, to be familiar w/ Zaxbys (chicken fingers)) - they have a series of commercials that uses celebrity athletes and some low grade actors (one commercial featured Shayne Llamas)...
  
  Anyway, this commercial had an actor....and I was wracking my brain to figure out who he was...he was very recognizable to me....and of course at the end he says "I'm ______ ________, and I'm an actor". I can't even remember what his name was and I just saw it....then it hit me - it was "Tackleberry" from "Police Academy".
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  Jenny

  10 months ago

  Ha, I was going to mention City of Lost Children, so 10 points for beating me. Also, I'm not sure a film looking better than its content is necessarily a bad thing. If we enjoy visual art and photography and good use of color and form, why not enjoy a movie that does these better than anything else? I'll add Hero and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to this category.
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  Phil

  10 months ago

  I might propose "Heat" (Michael Mann).
  
  Great director (visually), great cast - I just never did care much for this movie, and I sense I may be one of the only person who feels this way.
  
  I thought there were some great scenes in this one, but for whatever reason I thought the script had no real 'bite' - that, coupled with the fact that it's 3 hrs long...I don't know.
  
  I actually own this movie, but I never, ever pull it out to re-watch it, unlike others.
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  Tom

  10 months ago

  I'm a complete sucker for great visuals and can often forgive an average film just for looking good.
  
  I suppose that a great number of Ridley Scott's films would fall into this category, although he is one of my favourite directors. Does his work qualify as old?
  
  Phil - I agree with you about Heat. For me it falls into that catergory known as 'overated guys films' which has at the top of its list Goodfellas.
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  TimHeaney

  10 months ago

  I was with right til the end there Tom. I too have always wondered a little why people seem to rave about Heat and and actually gave my copy of it away.
  But Goodfellas "overated" - WHAT!
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  Tom

  10 months ago

  Ha Ha - thought I'd put the cat amongst the pigeons with that one Tim!
  
  I saw it twice just to be sure I wasn't missing something, but my opinion wasn't changed. It's not that I don't think that Goodfellas is well performed and well crafted film - it is, but it never grabbed me on any level. Essentially for me it's a film about unpleasant people doing unpleasant things to each other - or any poor soul who happens to get it their way. And ok, not every film has to be upbeat, but I could never include films like this on my highly rated, repeat viewing list.
  
  To further fan the flames, I find that this theme of unpleasant people doing unpleasant things is what puts me off most of Scorsese's work (Gangs of New York is another prime example). His best in my opinion? After Hours.
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  TimHeaney

  10 months ago

  It seems to me that what you're saying is that you don't like Goodfellas (which is perfectly understandable) rather than it's a bad film. That doesn't make it overated however - just a film that doesn't appeal to all tastes. As it happens I do like Scorcese's style and rank several of his films as personal favourites. I do understand what you mean however - e.g. I admire 'Raging Bull' more than I actually like it. As I write this it occurs to me that 'The Departed' is a good film but I could be persuaded that it's overated.
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  Phil

  10 months ago

  Tom is officially insane... ;)
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  Tom

  10 months ago

  Phil - I agree with you completely.
  
  Tim - Yer, I think you've said it better than I did regarding Scorsese. I was half asleep - still am..
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  Jett Loe

  10 months ago

  Sunshine
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  Jenny

  10 months ago

  Not a fan of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's style then? I thought Amelie was excellent, but you could certainly argue it was weaker on story than on style and visuals.
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  TimHeaney

  10 months ago

  Don't agree about sunshine, looks great but also has a deeper theme - and Gareth agrees with me so I must be right! http://godisnotelsewhere.blogspot.com/2007/04/l...
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  Tom

  10 months ago

  Sunshine does deal with deep issues, but the science aspect is completely ridiculous! Maybe that's what you were refering to Jett? It's funny how we can go along with it to a certain degree because it's made to look very realistic.
  
  If we're allowed to add newer films to this list - how about The Matrix sequels? Reloaded in particular has some spectacular visuals/sequences, but that's about all you can credit it with.
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  Jett Loe

  10 months ago

  Why Sunshine doesn't work
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