What'dya rent?


Movies


This last weekend we rented Hidalgo and the Girl Next Door. They were both really good. I'm not too sure most other women would be comfortable with Girl Next Door, but it was well done.


Just watched HERO. Questionable use of the effects, but a great story if you can stand reading it! If I had known it was subtitled, I would have passed on that one.


Airsucker wrote:
This last weekend we rented Hidalgo and the Girl Next Door. They were both really good. I'm not too sure most other women would be comfortable with Girl Next Door, but it was well done.

Did you see Roger Ebert's adorable review of Hidalgo?

Jenny


Bonetipper wrote:
Just watched HERO. Questionable use of the effects, but a great story if you can stand reading it! If I had known it was subtitled, I would have passed on that one.

We have a review of Hero by Amazing reviewer Ray Winninger in our next issue.

Anyone see House of Flying Daggers yet?

Jenny

Dark Archive Contributor

Jenny Scott wrote:


Anyone see House of Flying Daggers yet?
Jenny

Yes, and it was good. It's every bit as operatic as Hero, which I think is a better film, but its story is smaller and its characters a bit messier. The artificiality of the settings is perhaps even more extreme than in Hero, which might turn off casual audiences, but those who loved Yimou's previous film will have a great time.

The action scenes are crazier in some ways: those flying daggers seem to have minds of their own, but if, like me, you think of these as superhero movies, you should have no suspension-of-disbelief problems. It's just all so pretty and fun!

I'm showing it to some friends this week, and soon we'll do a Hero/Daggers double-feature. I hope Yimou does another of these wuxia operas before turning to another style, as seems to be his habit.


Airsucker wrote:
This last weekend we rented Hidalgo and the Girl Next Door. They were both really good. I'm not too sure most other women would be comfortable with Girl Next Door, but it was well done.

I really like Hildago and I want to see Girl Next Door. Maybe I will rent that this weekend. This weekend I saw Dodge Ball, which is one of the funniest movies of 2004.


I don't pay a lot of attention to reviewers.

Hero was ok and Dodgeball was awesome.

Last weekend we got the Ladykillers, which clever and amusing and Matchstick Men, which was decent. If it wasn't the holiday season, I'd probably have laughed more.

Did anyone see I Robot? The commercials I've seen don't look like the book I read and I know some people didn't go see it because the Asimov approved script by Ellison wasn't used.


I am a longtime fan of Asimov's entire Robot/Empire/Foundation universe (and I believe that "Nemesis" fits in as part of the back-story for the mentally-powered people in, if memory serves, "Foundation's Edge"). After reading the hype behind the "I, Robot" movie, I was ready to deplore the film as heretical to the established Asimov creation.

I finally went to see the film when it hit the cheap theater. It was actually a lot better than I had dreaded. The bizarre behavior of the robots may not have been based directly on anything Asimov wrote in the original story collection, but to a real Asimov fan like myself, it still rang true. It was obvious that the screenwriter had done at least some homework based on the source material, because the rationale for the plot was based on developments in the 3 Laws of Robotics that Asimov postulated in "Robots and Empire" (where he added a superseding "Zeroth Law" to protect humanity as a whole). So to a casual Asimov reader, the movie may have seemed blasphemous. To a die-hard Asimov fan, there were elements that seemed to make it work within the parameters as modified by Asimov in his later years.

The film still works best if you prepare yourself to enjoy it as simply an action/adventure film, but it isn't all that bad as an Asimov film, either.

-> Ray.

P.S. "The views, opinions, and judgments expressed in this message are solely those of the author. The message content has not been reviewed or approved by Thomson or its affiliates."


Maybe I'll rent it sooner rather than later, then.


Rob Stewart wrote:
Airsucker wrote:
This last weekend we rented Hidalgo and the Girl Next Door. They were both really good. I'm not too sure most other women would be comfortable with Girl Next Door, but it was well done.
I really like Hildago and I want to see Girl Next Door. Maybe I will rent that this weekend. This weekend I saw Dodge Ball, which is one of the funniest movies of 2004.

I saw Girl Next Door this weekend and it was a good movie, better then I expected.


Rob Stewart wrote:
Rob Stewart wrote:
Airsucker wrote:
This last weekend we rented Hidalgo and the Girl Next Door. They were both really good. I'm not too sure most other women would be comfortable with Girl Next Door, but it was well done.
I really like Hildago and I want to see Girl Next Door. Maybe I will rent that this weekend. This weekend I saw Dodge Ball, which is one of the funniest movies of 2004.
I saw Girl Next Door this weekend and it was a good movie, better then I expected.

I think the reason I liked it more than the usual teen comedy, was because it wasn't about being picked on, or about the popular kids. I think it was rather refreshing in its ideas.


I bought "King Arthur" and "Kingdom of Heaven."
Enjoyed them both. They also have great soundtracks.
Worth checking out.

Sovereign Court

rented the following during this weekend:
1.Doom
2.transporter 2
3. the brothers grimm
only the last two were any good. not even the rock and the entire WWF could save this garbage.
Sigh,another two hours of my life i can't get back.


I got a load:

Firefly vol. 3 (Awesome!)

Undead (Worst crap imaginable--unwatchable despite my love of zombie flicks and the decent trailer. Reminded me of Dead Alive with better FX...*sigh*)

The Warrior (Not done yet, though so far it's wonderful--very much in the vein of House of Flying Daggers or Warriors of Heaven and Earth with Mongol Hordes and Koreans. Not too wire fuey either so far for those who object to that sorta' thing)

The Sting (Yet to watch it, but anxious to. Great film from all accounts.)

Clan of the Cave Bear (always been curious about this one, and recently played Earthdawn--which perports to take place on earth around 8000 BC despite feeling very D&D in terms of gear and whatnot--so I got the film to see what 8000 BC might have actually been like. Yeah, I'm weird like that. Haven't gotten to it yet though.)


I hired "Crash" yesterday- what a great film. Another I'd recommend is "American History X"


Four Brothers.

(Such fun! I love the dynamics of the eponymous brothers.)


am gonna check out something called Ultraviolet tomorrow as my freinds come over for movie night; seems interesting but know nothing about it.

Paizo Employee Director of Sales

Valegrim wrote:
am gonna check out something called Ultraviolet tomorrow as my freinds come over for movie night; seems interesting but know nothing about it.

*ahem*

It's crap.

You might find some entertainment value in how immeasurably, impossibly BAD it is.

Or, if you can overlook shoddy physics, mind-numbing "dialog," a nonexistent plot, and characters that would offend cardboard by comparison, you might like it.

The design of the movie might have been some redemption, if they hadn't chosen to digitize the whole film in some sort of CGI color-fixing mask. i imagine it was intended to give it that slick, "video-gamey" look. it just has the net result that the whole thing just looks... smudged.

Milla Jovovich is pretty hot, though.

Liberty's Edge

I heard Ultraviolet was ultrasucky too, but having not seen it I don't know. But the Cosmeister seems to have it going on.
Off the top of my head,...The Matador was pretty freakin' funny.
It's funny to see Pierce Brosnan, Mr. James Slicker than Goat *bleep* Bond, as a burned out shell of a man.

Scarab Sages

I rented two that I would recommend last week...

1) Lord of War: Nicholas Cage as a gun-runner. Cynical, discordian, funny, depressing, but nicely done...especially the 'Life of a Bullet' intro.

2) Everything is Illuminated: Frodo, I mean Elija Wood as Jonathan Froer, a young Jewish man who is obsessed with finding the woman who helped get his grandfather out of the Ukraine before the Nazi's invaded. He is aided in his quest by young Ukranian clubster ("Many girls want to be carnal with me... because I'm such a premium dancer"), his grandfather (the driver), and his grandfather's 'Seeing-eye b&#!~' named Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. It was a really neat movie, uplifting at some parts bitterly sad at others. But I really liked it.

Liberty's Edge

Yeah. Lord of War was really good.


I recently watched "Inside Man". It was a nice, smart, police/crime movie.

I'd recommend it.


I just saw Man on Fire with Denzel Washington; liked it; not a chick flick for sure, movie about someone acting out vengance when all us dweebs have to roll over and take it all the time is a stress reliever. I really liked the ending, probably because after all the evil and bloodshed he seemed to repent and gave what he could. Lol, actually I guess I am conflicted about the movie and I like that. Kinda like the movie Falling Down; am very conflicted about that movie too.

Saw War of the Worlds with Tom Cruise; not very good; not bad though; most of my friends appreciated that he was just a regular guy with no special training and had to muddle through best he could; not like the first movie where the guys was a super assassin artist type. Guess I can see their point, but some of Tom's characters actions just seemed to tactically unsound to me, but then I have special training so cant really judge I suppose. Aliens were well done.

Well, I did see Ultraviolet finally, I am not a big fan of beautiful, skinny girls trying to put on a tuff act; most of them can't really sell it and I can only stretch my disbelief so far; guess it helps if you think of it as a superhero/villan flick and her having super vampire powers The story wasnt bad, the time limit was nice, but if they all have the same super powers, I have to ask myself what makes her so special or tuff; they dont even elude to any any storyline inthe movie to answer this question. Just poor writing or editing imho. I can't say I disagree with Cosmo, course, I watched it cause of M.J star power :)

Watched I Robot also, saw it twice; and I like it; good story; not just effects; can't really say I have disliked anything I have seen with Will Smith and I look forward to his movies.

Hildago was a pleasant surprize, I saw it blind with no expectations with a group of my friends; the semi historical twist is very nice too; if you like semi westerns; definately check this one out. Not the typical shoot them up movie we often get; more personality and character interplay with just enough a several types of action.


Silent Hill- Probably one of the best horror movies out there and definitely finding a place in my special sanctuary of favorite films ever. Not scary in the lasting trauma sense that The Ring was, but more evokative, disturbing and dreadful. There is awfulness in that movie like I have never seen before wrapped around a storyline that is, in the end, deliciously satisfying.


I just watched Get Shorty; good character development; some likable and unlikable characters as appropriate; good story; nice twists; flowed well; liked it a lot.

Grand Lodge

Just watched Inside Man, and I'll second Evilturnip; excellent heist movie, with good plot and dialogue. I'd recommend it to just about anyone.


Lucky Number Slevin and Chinatown.


Grimcleaver wrote:
Silent Hill- Probably one of the best horror movies out there and definitely finding a place in my special sanctuary of favorite films ever. Not scary in the lasting trauma sense that The Ring was, but more evokative, disturbing and dreadful. There is awfulness in that movie like I have never seen before wrapped around a storyline that is, in the end, deliciously satisfying.

I liked Silent Hill until the last half hour of monologuing. The monologues at the end of horror movies ruin them. It's like in some of Lovecraft's stories, you can tell he's being payed by the word because he tacks a paragraph on after he's revealed the big twist. Similar thing here. I think the '70s era teen horror movie "Sleepaway Camp" actually has a perfect ending sequence, one of the few I've seen in horror films.

The woman that played the cop in Silent Hill, however, is probably one of, in my mind, the most gorgeous women I've seen in a movie. The air raid sirens were a really good idea in this movie, too, as were the guys in mining outfits. I always thought those were cool.

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