Weekend Open Thread
The horrible attacks in Mumbai continue to dominate the news. On a more cheerful note, there will be a close conjunction
between the moon, Jupiter, and Venus on Monday.
I hope everyone had a nice week. I've been enjoying seeing family and friends over Thanksgiving and will get back into town sometime late Monday. Open thread for weekend chatting -- what's on your mind?
Submitted by Brendan on Fri, 2008-11-28 22:00
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I watched the TCM airing of West Side Story as planned.
The other night, I watched the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Channel airing of West Side Story as I'd planned to do, loving and enjoying every minute of it as always. Last summer, I got to watch an airing of West Side Story on the same TCM Channel and invited my brother and sister-in-law's two young kids, to watch it with me. It didn't really work, because neither one of them took a particular interest in this film, but after I watched WSS the other night, one thing came to my mind: West Side Story is supposedly a t een movie, but, as somebody who was still a teen when I first saw the movie, I've come to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, that West Side Story is a movie/classic for both teens and adults alike. I've been a big fan of this great of this great, golden oldie-but-goody classic for 40 years, yet I'd come to love the music well before that, having been introduced t o the music back in the summer of 1962, prior to entering the sixth grade, while attending day camp out west. A girl in the group that I was in, who'd just received a copy of the LP Album of the original Broadway stage version of West Side Story for her birthday, brought the album in to play for the rest of the group, and my immediate love for the music in WSS took off from there, especially since every body in camp sang all the WSS songs on the buses to and from camp every day.
So, as I'm sometimes wont to do after watching any latest airing of West Side Story, be it on TV, or in a real movie theatre, with the lights down low, I asked myself why I continue to love and watch a film that is supposedly for teens, and have reached the following conclusion: West Side Story is an exuberant classic that combines various emotions, a great story, fabulously choreographed dancing, richly-colored costumes and photography, an equally fabulous Leonard Bernstein musical score, and wonderful Sondheim lyrics all into one dynamic package that appeals to the youthful exuberance in people of virtually all ages and from all walks of life. When I've attended screenings of WSS on great big, wide screens, in real movie theatres, both in my home state and in neighborning states, the screenings I've gone to have been well-attended by kids, teens and adults alike. It 's like a coming together of the various generations who, while often being at odds with each other on many things, are at least united in one respect: T he love of a great, golden oldie-but-goody classic. West Side Story is timeless and spans across generations. The MGM adage "Unlike other classics, West Side Story grows younger", imho, couldn't be more true.
Can someone explain
why news networks feel obliged to aid the terrorists, by giving them 24/7 coverage, of free advertising for their message of terror. Yes the incident is important in world events, but it irritates me no end, that much worse atrocities are happening in Africa, that get almost zero coverage.
More coverage equals more attacks. Is it possible that the extremists can use this 'gift' of free media coverage to ramp it up for greater impact.
I'm only half stupid
In honor of IM's
passion for west side story I recommend we list off some of our favorite movies.
Rollerball (the original James Caan not the vapid recent remake). Rollerball is a very nice slightly futuristic tale in which governments have been entirely replaced by a handful of monopolistic companies. James Caan is the best player of a sport meant to reinforce certain social mores, but his very ability threatenes the lesons the game is meant to convey. The movie doesn't feel the need to lead you by the nose, the bad guys are understandable and human, and there's a gut wrenching scene that highlights the casual evil of people in which a bunch of drunk partygoers use a powerful handgun to blow up trees for entertainment.
www.youtube.com/watch
Wrath of Khan. Amazingly enough you can make a good Star Trek movie, in fact you can make a damn near perfect Star Trek movie. Khan had the perfect balance of action, humor, graphics, and probably the very best on screen villain of all time (the way Ricardo Montalbon makes the word "grow" sound utterly evil is a treat).
www.youtube.com/watch
Shakes the Clown. Shakes the Clown is the story of a town of vulgar, drug abusing, alcoholic clowns. It's a surreal film in which there's a strict heirarchy in which rodeo clowns are tougher than party clowns who beat up on mimes. It's a tale of revenge and dealing with addiction but again surreal since it is all set in a world of foul mouthed clowns. BobCat Goldthwait plays the eponymous hero, and there's a great cameo by Robin Williams as the head mime. It makes a very good combination with Bad Santa or the Big Lebowski. Whenever I'm depressed i find Shakes to be a great pick me up.
www.youtube.com/watch
Clue and Murder by Death. I love these films together. Both are ensemble casts in parodies of murder mysteries. Murder by Death has a little more subtle british humor whereas Clue uses more physical humor (done well). Clue is based on the board game while Murder by Death parodies specific murder mystery characters (Charlie Chan, Miss Marples, Hercule Poirot, Sam Spade, etc). Both casts are fantastic including Truman Capote in MbD.
www.youtube.com/watch
Rosencrantz and Guldenstern are Dead. I hate Tom Stoppard. He pisses me off because his dialogue is so damn witty that it embarresses my own writing badly. The story focuses on two minor characters from Hamlet and follows what they did during all the time they aren't on stage during the normal play. The characters areplayed by Tim Roth and Gary Oldman, both of whom I am fond of. The story is again sort of surreal with an implication that the characters are already dead and reliving these elements over and over in part because they are merely characters and not real people. As if by the act of writing them they become trapped in the author's machinations.
www.youtube.com/watch
The Professional. The Professional is proof that you can have an ation movie that is not vapid. In fact quite the opposite. The Professional features beautiful acting, a decent plot, good writing, and cool action. Natalie Portman is hypnotic as a 12 year old girl taken in by a hitman after her family is brutally murdered. She was a fantastic child actress and her budding sexuality in the role adds a fascinating and disturbing elment to her relationship with Leon. Gary Oldman plays a freaky bad guy and it has Danny Aiello.
www.youtube.com/watch
That's probably enough for now. Maybe later I'll post "flawed movies that still have somethng special about them."
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Hey, thanks, Tialoc.
I've never seen or heard of many of the above-mentioned movies before, but they sound interesting. Thanks for the post in my honor. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
No problem man
You just seem to really love that movie :)
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Yup.
I do love West Side Story. It's my alltime favorite.
Used Cars
Funniest movie ever.
qui tacet consentire
Interesting
I hadn't heard of that one but I've added it to the netflix queue. I tend to like Kurt Russel.
Oh should have mentioned the Thing. The old 1951 TheThing from another World is rather enjoyable too (maybe as a double feature with my second film below) but Carpenter's remake is one of the best horror movies of all time. The movie is bleak and beautiful, fitting given the austere majesty of the arctic setting. Great cast, good dialogue, and Carpenter's typically interesting and unusual soundtrack. Plus the storyline leaves plenty juicy details open to interpretation for endless post (or during) movie debate. The direction capably blends suspense, horror, and sci-fi.
www.youtube.com/watch
Forbidden Planet is the seminal classic of science fiction. Pretty much all of Star Trek and most other sci-fi series of the last half of the 20th century derive from ideas developed in this 1956 movie. The effects for the time are unbelievable and some of them still look cool today (some less so but hey it's FIFTY years later). Not only that but you get to see a very young Lesley Nielsen in a dramatic role! If you have any fondness for Sci-fi films then seeing this movie is like a holy pilgrimage it's the first appearance of Robbie the Robot
for pete's sake.
(watch this opening narration crawl and see if it doesn't remind you of a certain something)
www.youtube.com/watch
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Kurt Russell you say
What about Death Proof?
In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
Overall not my favorite,
of the two grindhouse films I prefered Planet Terror. That said I could see what Tarrantino was going for and the movie has its moments, I just thought it dragged in parts. Tarrantino tends to like the sound of his own "voice" a little too much. :)
(I am a big fan of Resevoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Kill Bill vl 1. Less so for Jackie Brown, KB2, and Death Proof)
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Forbidden Planet:
Never saw it. I was much too young--but I've heard/read good things about it.
I'm way too young
to have seen it when it first came out but I've seen it several times on cable.
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
What cable channel?
Just curious, Tlaloc, because although I get cable, I don't get every single channel that cable offers.
It's been a while
I think I saw it last on TNT or AMC.
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Shor list of some of my favorite movies
With very brief reason why. [videos might be NSFW]
Pulp Fiction From the Bonnie Situation to the dialogue about foot messages before Jules and Vince get a taste of Big Kahuna Burger, to searching for a little black medical book. I don't think there isn't a scene in the whole movie that isn't great by itself.
Aliens A James Cameron script, space Marines, Aliens, Bill Paxton, Micheal Biehn...Sigourney Weaver. Lucky this movie was made back before CG, as it might have killed some of the suspense by focusing too much on showing the aliens.
Alien 1979 special effects and Ridley Scott along with miners versus a relentless alien in the middle of nowhere.
Death Proof I'm just a Quentin Tarantino fanboy. I love the soundtracks he uses and it features on of the best car chases I've seen in a movie. And there's also that dialogue that I love. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9_TNV23HR8
American Beauty Kevin Spacey just doesn't give a.... Mena Suvari...WASP.
American Psycho A faux-serial killer reviewing 80's pop music before doing the deed. Yuppies pride haning on the prestige of their business cards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBlopUCP8xc
Apocalypse Now Charlie Don't Surf. Choosing to cross at a certain part of a delta because it has good surf. Trying to kill an officer becuase the officer is fighting without the directions of a nation state.
Gattaca An outcast without genetic engineering outperforms the "superior" humans that surround him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWw9tboDtrg
The Prestige Somehow a period piece about Magicians is made interesting. Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine, Scarlet Johanson, Ziggy Stardust. Obession and revenge ruin the lifes of 3 magicians.
Children of Men The dangers of xenophobia and immigration barriers in times of extreme crisis. A rebel group bent on using military to overthrow the government slowly become more important than the original cause, and the rebels because just as bad as their oppressors.
Heat Natalie Portman, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Danny Trejo, and the best shoot out in a movie.
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy "A pharmaceutical scientist creates a pill that makes people remember their happiest memory, and although it's successful, it has unfortunate side effects. " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JLIFZFvRmw
In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
Aha.
Pulp Fiction is one of the voted-in Oscar winning movies that'll be coming to Coolidge Corner Theatre next year as part of the 75th Anniversary series.
I've seen both the first "Apocalypse Now", and the "Apocalypse Now--Redux". They were both very good. Sheen's a wonderful actor in that, too.
Love Apocalypse Now
but really didn't like redux. That whole segment with the frenh soldiers was long and pointless and really disrupted the flow of the movie (not to mention that apocalypse was already a long movie at 2.5 hours, redux made it nearly 3.5).
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
Gump edged out Pulp, somehow
I've only watched the Redux version of AN, its kind of the Bohemian Rhapsody of war movies, with the trek to find Kurtz [Brando] and then what happens after the meeting. Warhawks should hate the movie even though the Ride Of The Valkyries
is so popular with some in that crowd [not unlike The Police song "Every Breath You Take" and weddings.]
I love Pulp Fiction more than you love WSS [odd initials, maybe the movie is evil Nazi propaganda].
Brain Candy
has never gotten enough love.
In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
Ha ha ha!!
My Top 8, in
My Top 8, in order:
The Graduate
The rest of my top 25, in alphabetical order:
This one goes up to 11
I love Dr. Stranglove, This is Spinal Tap....
Wasn't a big fan of 25th Hour, it was ok, at least Barry Pepper didn't play a WWII soldier in that. Never watched Clockers [you must love Spike].
I haven't seen 3 of your top eight, probably should considering I've loved Last of the Mohicans, There Will be Blood, and Gangs of New York.
Glengary Glen Ross has a lot of big names for a movie I've never heard of.
Forrest Gump, really good, but not near Pulp Fiction in my pretentious movie critic opinion.
In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
I do like several Spike Lee
I do like several Spike Lee films very much, even though I don't like the guy due to his views on race.
Below are the next 75 that round out my top 100, in ALPHABETICAL order. It didn't take as much time to compile as it may seem. I cheated a bit. I copied a couple of top 100 lists and Best Picture nominees onto Excel, added a bunch of my own, selected and sorted, then scanned a couple of top 1000 lists for any others. Did it all in between plays as I watched my Vikings kick the Bears' asses last night.
Shriley everyone loves Airplane.
Cider House Rules as one of your top 100, incest and abortion? Reminds me that I'd put the 1st Austin Powers in my top 100 [maybe all of them] Caine was in the last one as the Dutch hating absentee father.
I love Airplane, and Airplane II for as a matter of fact.
Other movies on that list likely in my top 100
and so much more, "...about a size 13..."
A Clockwork Orange
Gangs of New York
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
The Silence of the Lambs, [I love the song being played when Buffalo Bill takes a picture of himself
All the Naked Gun movies
The Departed
Others maybe in the top 100
Kill Bill 1 and 2
Shrek 2
I don't remember seeing any Woody Allen movies.
I would put Young Frankenstein on the list... Terri Garr....
Jurassic Park would be in the top 100
Unforgiven
Glory
I remember liking the cover of To Die For as a kid
In our society, people are rewarded for pretending to be certain about things they're clearly not certain about. -- Sam Harris,
This place needs
a livening up.
There's tons of stuff going on and no one has any thoughts or opinions?
Nice!
Swords Crossed where people don't come to debate.
Okay fine.
New blood, looking for new voices here. I always see guests online, peering in. Please come join us and help make this a place for some lively discussion!
//
I'm only half stupid
It's thanksgiving weekend
after a gruelling election. I think you gotta expect people to take a bit of a break. The other political sites i read have been slow this week too.
I came. I saw. I posted.
Veni, Vidi, Bitchy.
True
Still, it's a whiney excuse! After all there is a country to run, a world to restore, we need opinions to save the world. (----.l kidding l.----)
I found this comment amusing.
Since no one is reading, and the many guests refuse to pitch in, a bit a levity to end the holiday.
This was funny, too:
is just another way for collectivists to manifest their primary personality disorder ... fear of being alone. Given a choice between the peace and solitude of a private vehicle or the cramped, smelly quarters of a train, the collectivists will choose to be with other people, ANY people. So instead of them seeking psychiatric help, we all have to pitch in and buy them a train. Stupid.
posted by jollyroger on Nov. 30, 08 at 12:32 PM |
// Ha Ha Ha.
This so typifies the conservative mindset. All liberals are mentally ill, collectivists, because the sicko's want mass transit.
I'm only half stupid
Oh, come on.
This country won't go to hell in a basket any faster if we forget about it for afew days. Better still, why arent YOU out running the country, if that's how you feel? LOL. Truthfully, misslliberties, I've never been one to take responsibility for this country's, or the world's ills. It's not in my framework.
Hey look, missliberties.
People have the right to post what they want here, even if it's not necesarily and always politics. Quite frankly, I think there's more to life than politics. Maybe I don't want my entire life to revolve around politics. Not in my framework.
I see 21 guests viewing the site..
at this time.
Don't be shy...... create an account and log on!
You can't possibly say anything stupider than I have. :-)
I'm only half stupid
Do everybody here a favor, missliberties:
DON'T try to tell everybody what they can or can't post here. Relax, will ya! Thanks, honeybabe.
----
000I wasn't aware that a good natured invitation was considered telling people what they can and can't post. That's an interesting opinion, as you give me orders! The irony.
I'm only half stupid
Really?!?
Given your overall acerbic, often bitter posts here, it certainly can't be construed as a "good-natured" invitation. Bear in mind that this is an open thread, sweetie. The world can wait for a bit. Maybe not everyone's interested in constantly eating, sleeping and dreaming about the world 's problems and politics. It's good to get away from reality for a bit sometimes.
Yes.....
but despite my overall acerbic, bitter, partisan posts, during this time of experiencing American history while living, I also love cheese. You forgot about my loving to eat cheese.
For supper I had garlic pork chops with finely chopped jalapenos, onions, a light sprinkling of craisins, smothered with melted swiss and cheddar cheese, with a side dish of black beans and cheese! Delicious.
I also think it would be fun if some of the peering guests (I have seen the number rise to a big 21) stopped in to say hello. I can't imagine why you find that so offensive, said the honeybabe, sweetie, feeling somewhat bewildered.
I'm only half stupid
Biiiiiig deal!!
What I'm saying here is that history and politics isn't everything there is to life, and, quite frankly, I don't give a rat's ass what you had for dinner or whatever. Unlike you, I'm not interested in just eating, sleeping and dreaming history and politics every day. If you don't like what's going on in a post, just move on. That's what most people do. I do find you a rather embittered human being, without knowing you personally, and, btw, you're not even the next thing to sweet. Glad you're bewildered, though. (hehehe)
Lord have mercy
// I have been 'cured'.
You can take my place and show me the way. I look forward to your teachings with your future constructive comments and contributions to Swords Crossed.
~all the best
I'm only half stupid
:=)
n/m