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Harry's DVD Picks & Peeks - 3rd wk of Aug: Hannah Montana, teen murder/rape, Simpsons, Toho, Xur & more!!!
Hey folks, Harry here with a new week of releases for you. You will find a few things of interest here – and as always you can purchase them by clicking on the images or title links which take you to Amazon, where you can learn more on each title… but if you buy it through the link, this column will see a small percentage of that purchase price, which would help keep it going. Hope you like!
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009
HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE
Ok – yes, I really did watch this. I actually watched it after a very disturbing film. Which made this happy, lighter than air film feel like sunshine. This isn’t a bad film, it has a real director with Peter Chelsom helming. That’s the man behind HEAR MY SONG, the amazingly great FUNNY BONES, the tender bittersweetness of THE MIGHTY, the better than its rep TOWN & COUNTRY and SHALL WE DANCE, which I enjoyed as well. Now – of all his films – this is the lightest. But it was designed as such. The film is essentially an ANDY HARDY movie. Young Hannah/Miley goes back home, where something needs to be saved, so she breaks out with a show to raise the money to protect the town. As we all know, if there’s ever a problem, “Let’s throw a show!” Now – it isn’t nearly as good as those, but it kinda feels like a redneck one of those. And I couldn’t help but wonder… does Billy Ray Cyrus really have musician relatives – and do they sit around playing songs? This is just such a weird little film. There’s almost zero sexuality… but there is a boy character that you know… two weeks after these events… he’ll be shacked up in a hay loft with this girl and it’ll get hot. But… at this point, it’s just ‘looks’ and ‘interests’.
THE SIMPSONS: The Complete Twelfth Season
As with all the Simpsons’ season boxes – this is loaded with extras. Click over to Amazon to see an exhaustive listing. This is of course the best looking box of any set yet. Really cool. Plus it has the Worst Episode Ever. Really. How can you miss that?
ICONS OF SCI-FI: TOHO COLLECTION ( THE H-MAN, BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE & MOTHRA)
3 outstanding films – released in full wide-screen, each with its own disc (making 3 dvds in total). Just about all of us know how awesome MOTHRA is – and the Mothra girls and the Mothra song! Yet fewer still know that BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE is a crazy ass awesome bit of Ishiro Honda insanity. If you’re a fan of TOHO’s outer space work from the Godzilla series – you wouldn’t believe how insane the effects work is here. Then there’s THE H-MAN which is a nice low-key film noir-esque flick that suddenly turns into something quite a bit more. This is the jewel of the set in many ways that I’ll let you discover.
LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (2009)
Ok – so the disturbing film I watched before HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE? This. The remake is rough, but in no way, beyond production quality, is it superior to the original. The thing about the original LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was that it felt real. Here, it is always a movie first. It is a good movie though. One that isn’t pleasant to watch, the acts in the film are repulsive, but if you know the original, you know what I’m talking about. I liked it more than I was expecting.
THE LAST STARFIGHTER (Blu Ray)
Personally a cover that just shows Alex playing the game… well that would have been my pick for a cover. But we don’t typically buy this stuff based on the cover art, do we? It is kind of crazy to think that 25 years have gone by since the fucking LAST STARFIGHTER, but it is true. I love this movie. LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie. The transfer is an improvement on the HD-DVD, but that’s only because there seems to be a new transfer here. There’s nice extras – my fave being Ron Cobb and Nick Castle chatting about the film. It’s neat to hear Ron Cobb talking about his work. There’s also a look back from today. This is well worth it.
KAGEMUSHA – Criterion (Blu Ray)
One of my favorite Akira Kurosawa films. Stunning transfer. There’s a part of me that would have loved it had Lucas and Coppola, the executive producers of the film, had done a feature length commentary to celebrate and pass on their memories of the film. But alas. That was not to be. We do get a nearly 20 minute interview with both of them about KAGEMUSHA and Kurosawa. We also get a 41 minute doc about the making of the film. There’s also a 44 minute video made up of Kurosawa’s painting and sketches which tells the story of KAGEMUSHA – and is my favorite extra by far! There is a commentary by a Kurosawa expert. But as is typical of Criterion – they really do do it better than everyone else – and this is a great disc for showing that.
TYSON
Completely separate from the recent tragedy that hit Iron Mike’s life – James Toback’s documentary is incredibly revealing about a man that many of us wrote off as just being a Cartoon character. He is, in reality, much more complicated than that. He really delivered in THE HANGOVER earlier this year, but this is a truly great performance, sure it is a documentary, but in being himself he gave us more than we expected.
HUSBANDS (Extended Cut)
If you love Cassavetes work as a director, this will not change a thing – you’ll still love him. The 3 principle actors of the film, Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara and Peter Falk are all outstanding here. But a warning for those of you that may not be familiar with Cassavetes, he was a very improvisational actor and director. Allowing himself and his actors to riff and go off on tangents. Sometimes it is fucking gold. Sometimes, not quite. But it is always at the very least interesting. A wonderful film.
PLAYTIME – Criterion (Blu Ray)
Bored the hell out of me. If you choose to watch this – you have to do nothing but watch this. It is a comedy of observations… in otherwords you have to watch to find the jokes, because they’re not really verbally delivered. Tati is an acquired taste that I haven’t quite acquired. The look of this film is gorgeous. The production design, shot selection – all of it is quite compelling to look at. I just don’t know if I’ll watch it again. The visual detail is lovely. It is a film that I respect, but don’t really appreciate. To each their own.
DONALD IN MATHMAGIC LAND
If you have WALT DISNEY TREASURES Vol. 4, you already have this. If you do not, then… here you go. This is a great film to have – especially if you have young children and want them to playfully get a grasp about math. Not nearly as brilliant as LOOK AROUND YOU’s MATHS… but then that would probably confuse your children to no end. Disney great, Hamilton Luske does a wonderful job of making the film anything but boring. Really great educational entertainment. Something we don’t get much of these days.
PETE’S DRAGON
I fully expect Disney to remake this with a CG dragon… and while that might make sense to a suit, it is absolutely unnecessary. There’s something magic about that damn dragon being a cartoon instead of anything else. It automatically makes him not scary. The traditional animation makes him cute as can be. The film is quite a bit of fun. There’s a good deal of extras – including how the effects were done, a deleted sequence in storyboard form, a song that isn’t in the film, demo recordings and much more. Quint is getting this one I bet! He really loves this film!
HARDBODIES Collection
Important serious work that no cineaste would be without! Where’s Criterion now?
THE 5 DEADLY VENOMS
I’d press that button in THE BOX 5 times to get this on Blu Ray! God damn I fucking love this film. Nice transfer – but seriously… as great as these DVD releases are – somebody better be fucking doing some high quality transfers for the eventual High Def releases. There’s many release version of this film. Only get this if you don’t have it and like me, you have no faith that it is coming to Blu Ray anytime in the near future. Easily one of the greatest martial arts films ever made. Pure joy!
GO (Blu Ray)
I remember not liking this film, but upon watching the Blu Ray – I found myself liking the hell out of the movie. Don’t you love that when it happens. When a film pleasantly surprises you when you thought you didn’t like it? Love the sound that came out of my speakers on this one. Such a great soundtrack. Pre-pod-person Katie!!!! God I miss her.
INGLORIOUS BASTARDS 2: HELL HEROES
Total fucking bullshit – do not waste your money!
That’s it for this week, next week we’ll be looking at DUPLICITY, ADVENTURELAND, SUNSHINE CLEANING, FIGHTING, The Complete BILLY JACK collection, THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO Criterion, CHILDREN OF THE CORN (Blu), BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD Vol 1, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD: THE COMPLETE SERIES, MY WEAKNESS IS STRONG, HOW BRUCE LEE CHANGED THE WORLD, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: THE ANIMATED SERIES, Nikkatsu Noir – Criterion, HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS, SCREWBALLS, STUNT ROCK, TEENAGE MOTHER, The Gorehouse Greats Collection, SUPERMAN Cartoons Collectable Tin and more! See you next Tuesday!
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...the same week? Hot damn!
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Next...
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wow...
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I'm pretty sure that's one of the kung fu flicks I used to always watch way back when on channel twenty, Saturday afternoons.
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...but it turns out that PITFALL wasn't a secret testing/training device from another galaxy...there was no interstellar threat from rogue pits that required interplanetary recruitment of twelve year old boys. Damn.
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wow. USA Up All Night introduced this gem to the world.
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Now that's a combination that will land you in jail...
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...is awesome in The Last Starfighter. Robert Preston was the man.
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It's The Last Starfighter.
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Harry you heathen! Watch Mon Oncle and say that Tati isn't for you again! Dare ya!
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is a sequel to "The Mysterians." Also the Toho Collections has both US and Japanese versions.
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Not many filmfans have the integrity to say that a film from one of those untouchable directors like Bergmann, Kurosawa, Fassbinder or Tati bored the shit out of them. Most people behave almost like in Emperor's New Clothes.
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When little Johnny leaves the house, does he re-buckle his knickerbockers BELOW THE KNEE?!?!?! Does he waste his time reading CAP'N BILLY's WHIZ BANG?!?! Oh we've got trouble! With a capital T!!!
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But you write a mini-review for Hannah Montanna? It's your site Harry but wow, what the fuck?
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Tarantino?! Rodriguez?! Truly is one of the best of the Saturday afternoon UHF Kung Fu theater movies. And it has a great plot to boot with some sick ass assassinations. Harry's right about this one. I'm holding out for the Blu-Ray though as unlike Harry I don't get these things sent to me for free.
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Cyrus was the girl.
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It's one of my all time favorites and is like a future update of old silent films... but with sound. Great Fucking film. Definitely not for everyone.
and lastly KAGEMUSHA!!!!! NO can't wait till the rest roll out. -
the damn theater. I'm not too old, but shit... maybe I am? I haven't seen it since then, but I remember loving that film and that awesome spaceship.
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Aug 18, 2009 9:04:16 AM CDT
"If you choose to watch this – you have to do nothing but"...
by flickapoo
...watch this" Is there any other way to watch a movie?
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you have been recruited by the star league to defend the fronteir against Xur and the Kodan Armada!
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Was a pretty awesome movie? What happened to Lee Evans? Did Robin Williams eat him?
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was one of the first movies released on sell-thru here in the UK. £9.99 got me hours of entertainment, used to watch it 2 or 3 times a week. Simpler times.
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Here is your site. Only $60, scroll down. There are some pretty cool posters on the site also. http://tinyurl.com/pvxalc
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Harry, how could you miss season 3 of one of the best, most entertaining shows on television? Dexter is all kinds of awesome, and you skipped it? I demand a rewrite!
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This is why I watch movies by myself as much as possible. There's only a few people in my life who I can tolerate watching a movie with. These are the people who actually sit silently, watching and listening, trying to keep distractions to a minimum. Everyone else spends half the movie texting or taking calls, or dealing with pets (pets probably piss me off more than anything WRT taking attention away from a movie). My biggest pet peeve is people who start a conversation after we've pressed play. More than once I have flipped a mental switch and put someone in the "Moron, do not be friends with anymore" column because they have started a conversation while the studio logos were playing.
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My #1 pet peeve that keeps me from watching movies with people, are people who fucking ask a question about the movie while the movie is playing. To me, that's a clear signal that you're either retarded, or socially retarded. Because honestly, every movie ever made has all the answers you could need while watching it. All you need to do is watch and listen. If a question comes up in your mind, KEEP WATCHING, it will probably be answered shortly.
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It's just that I've noticed people who ask one question about the plot will have another question shortly thereafter. Anyone can lose track of the plot of a character here and there, even me (and I am perfect at least as far as being an audience member goes).
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Ahhhh back when Gore used to make fun movies. Well that movie was still not as good as it looked.
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...I've tried to convince people that someone put a lot of thought into how the opening is designed...trying to set a certain mood...get your head out of taking out the recycling and into wherever it's supposed to be for the movie...is it slow? Jittery? Black screen? White screen? Hell, someone agonized over the font choice for days......I've had very little luck.
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The shit that they've been putting out lately.
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William Fichtner's hilarious "nude" scene is worth sitting through the entire movie alone.
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So yes, of course, this is the same thing I'm talking about. The opening titles are usually when my stomach is sinking as I realize I'm watching a movie with a moron. I consider watching the titles to be as important as watching the first scene. Totally crucial for setting mood, tone, etc. and I lose my mind when I'm screening a movie and someone acts like the opening titles are some kind of commercial break to be ignored.
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get off your high horse.
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Couldn't agree more. The movie has to be considered as a whole, even the "boring" titles sequences. I'm a filmmaker, though, so I suppose I'm biased a bit.
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Anyone see the Werewolf complete series set! Cheesy goodness. Plus a suitable release of Farscape is nice to see.
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The first time I ever see any movie with her in a starring role, there has to be boobies showing.
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and started posting mostly kiddyshit. Does Yoko got a dumpling in the wok?
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Is when we are watching like a fucking retarded movie, like GI Joe and someone asks me about the plot. I'm like really? Just fucking watch they'll spoon feed you the answer. Whats annoying though is when your watching a movie you love and you can tell the person you are watching it with just is not into it. Lets face it, probably 99% of us are into movies WAY more then the people around us. Like I could watch a movie a day, but my wife gets bored and wants to watch other shit. So i usually have to wait for her to fall asleep or not be home to watch movies.
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Awards was beyond in poor taste. Call me an old prude, but thank god I'm not raising young girls in this culture. I pity anyone who is. It must be tough trying to raise them so they don't grow up to be strippers or end up taking a ride in the back of the BangBus.
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I pay attention to the movie. I guess I'm like Harry in that respect.
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He skipped the second season release, too. I sense a boycott. It's unfortunate, Dexter's 10 hours is probably more entertaining than all these films combined.
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all the way thru. I don't think she could watch anything longer than a half hour sitcom. And my friend is like me and loves movies. Needless to say the relationship didn't last long. ADD is a bitch.
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Just so depressing.
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I stopped buying the DVD sets after season 9...that is when the magic started to fade
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Will totally make someone pay attention to the movie and not cause any social awkwardness or anything!
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...but there is a sub-category of movie for which "watching for real" means getting drunk. It is perfectly acceptable to polish off two bottles of red and talk over THE VAMPIRE LOVERS if the night ends in sex...
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Its really odd with my Wife and I. These movies that get hyped on this site for like years before normal everyday people get to see them. Recent examples being Pans Lybrinth and Nightwatch, both of wich I heard of like two years before any movie theater near me got them. I liked but I didn't fall in love with, my wife fucking loved. She had never heard of them until I forced her to see it with me. But we saw GI Joe this weekend, we both liked it, but I had to keep explaing shit to her. I was like, shut the fuck up! After the movie she accused me of reading too much about the movie so I already knew stuff. When really all I knew that she didn't was the Gordon Levett was a bad guy. And I knew that because I saw heard he was playing Combra Commander, which anyone who knows anything about GI Joe knows thats the bad guy. She's not a terrible movie watcher, just when she doesn't care about something its obvious. I rented The Fall, I saw it in theaters and though well she liked Pans Lybrinth so much she would like this. No she fucking hated it. It took us 3 nights to watch it. That sort of thing.
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But you appreciate the Hannah Montana movie. What. The. Fuck?
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with the trailer park sign in the background and the ENDLESS text about Alex and his dreams, and the visitor about to change his life and blah, blah, blah. I actually prefer the DVD box art for a change.But love Robert Preston in this role about videogames, and that starts with V and that rhymes with P and that stands for POOL....sorry, couldn't help it.
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I've heard that walking pronounced and slowly out of the room and then returning and then placing a handgun in the popcorn bowl usually silences all talkers and pretty much deflects any sense of awkwardness from that point forward.Me, however, is a Kung Fu Grandmaster so usually a quick 2 finger deathpunch to the larynx keeps all chatty-cathys busy for at least a half hour.You could also dowse them with a mayonnaise gun. They usually catch on with all the plastic laying around to protect your fabric. And my mayonnaise gun is one of those 50cal jobs and you can't sneak it under your trenchcoat or under your fedora. It's a cannon, really.
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Most women can get bored with movies very easily if it doesn't interest them. And the constantly asking obvious questions thing is usually an indication of said boredom. But, honestly when you have to sit through a chick flick like Bride Wars don't you get bored and wish you were doing something else. Now, you and I both know The Fall is a thousand times better than Bride Whores. At least she likes some cool shit.
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In my memory it's always playing in a double feature with Master of the Flying Guillotine.
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This column is about movies, not TV shows. There is a similar article that's only about TV on DVD/Blu-Ray in the "Coaxial" section on the right. That one is discussing Dexter Season 3 and Sons of Anarchy.
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Harry obviously doesn't mind mentioning TV shows (i.e. the Simpsons), so I don't think that really flies.
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I'm lucky in the fact that my wife lets me pick out all the movies we watch. She hates shit like Bride Wars, so I'm not stuck seeing every romantic comedy. We saw Ghost Of Girlfriends Past on a plane recently and we spent the whole time talking about how stupid it was.
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Not having an interest in this flick I'm just wondering if I'm missing a joke or something.
Stabby: You raise girls in this current society by teaching them to smash boys in the nuts if they are physically bothering her, and to respect herself. My daughter is 9, and I like to tease her with promises of Hannah Montana shopping sprees. She HATES Hannah Montana. So I must be doing something right. She watched "17 Again" at her grandparents this weekend and reviewed it as, "It was pretty bad." Then expressed annoyance we saw "District 9" without her. She's a cool chick. -
Starring Gordon Liu and the RZA, among others. Seriously, look it up. Should at least be interesting...
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I don't understand why Harry wouldn't like it.
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I won't accept anything less. If this gets the Machine Girl (and I like MG) treatment I will be pissed and it will be pointless.
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1.Harry writes about season boxes. See The Simpsons.
2.hercs columns are almost as shitty as his taste. You can't even call that a column 'cause he mostly just posts links to amazon. The few comments he adds are just copied and pasted out of his old pilot reviews. -
they say thet because you get the blu-ray, the dvd and a digital copy all in one. i guess if you were to add the total using the SRP price it might be acurate but lord knows you could buy both seperately for much less considering stores never sell for the SRP. its just a gimmick to make people think they're saving money. sorta like amazon and their "30 PERCENT OFF" labels. makes you think you're saving but they dont sell any cheaper than in stores. well unless you're canadian then yes its cheaper. :P
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What the fuck happened to Doug, he was a cool film maker.
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Serious Harry, Dexter is the fucking poop, take a big whiff.
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Which I found kinda "meh", especially after he did The Bourne Identity.
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And Jumper, which I liked but it wasn't good. Boring and Mr/Mrs Smith both sucked.
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"... in a hay loft with this girl and it’ll get hot."Egads, Harry! no one wants to read your imagined alternate ending. What, if the movie's not jerk-worthy you add your own spankable scenes?
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Aug 18, 2009 11:15:10 AM CDT
Season 12: when The Simpsons went very, very wrong
by nasty in the pasty
Isn't that the season where Homer got raped by a panda?
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Always a sucker for overlapping time frame movies, and this has an actually menacing Tim Olyphant, along with a Las Vegas section thats better than The Hangover, so whats not to like..?
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It was NOTHING like Showgirls. Don't waste your time.
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Herc, on the other hand, mentions both Sons of Anarchy and Dexter. However, because he has once again failed to unlock the TB on Tuesday, the only place to comment on today's DVD releases is in Harry's column. So what I've been doing is reading Herc's column and posting any remarks I might have about it here. The Office box set, seasons 1-5 - really? Will there be a box set for seasons 6 - 10 (or however many seasons if it doesn't make it to 10)? It's this sort of thing that makes me more and more determined to never buy TV DVDs until the series is off the air. That way I'll have my pick of the individual sets, the "Complete Series" box set, or these multiple-season sets that don't encompass the entire series.
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don't be afrais of the dark and razorback come out today
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Now I HAVE to see Inglorious Basterds2 just to see how bad it is. A few more words about why it was awful would have saved me this torture. ;)
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Harry has put TV seasons in his DVD column many times. Herc is about the worst "reviewer" on this site, never unlocks his release column, and has about the poorest taste of anyone at this site. He has more posts about reality shows and the WB than anyone over 13 should, and tends to completely ignore some of the best shows and writing on television while going on about long since dead crap like Heroes and Entourage. Nope, Herc's a joke that most tend to ignore. And if Harry still hasn't watched Dexter yet, well the put Hannah Montana down and get to it, man!
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And your bloody region locked BluRays.
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Aug 18, 2009 12:03:08 PM CDT
HANDS DOWN: The Five Deadly Venom is the pick of the litter!!!!
by samuraiyao
Goddamn, what an ass kick of a film, gonna go to Best Buy right now after they sort out the traffic here on 59 southbound, apparently there was a robbery at the Wachovia bank here in Sugarland,Tx... The cops shot one suspected robber dead...
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Saw it in the theater when it came out.
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But if I hadn't been directed here because of that, I wouldn't of noticed The Last Starfigher making it's Bluray debut. Hells yeah.
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Aug 18, 2009 12:25:10 PM CDT
I don't get the "locked coaxial columns" thing at all
by nasty in the pasty
Why keep the "TV on DVD" talkback locked until two fucking days later?
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Only a sequel should be considered for The Last Starfighter (The Next Starfighter?). And it MUST be in the spirit of the original. I don't want a shitty rock/rap soundtracked flick showing some racist potty mouthed XBL player getting selected to save the universe. Not unless Alex staightens the little bastard out.
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Thank you USA for ensuring my heterosexuality throughout those formative years. They just don't make em like that anymore.
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The only thing I can think of is he has to reload it to open the TB, putting the article at the top of the list, thereby keeping it on the main page for another day or two longer. Sure, it's stupid and, on a slow week when there are no new stories later Tuesday or Wednesday, makes little to no difference on the articles final placement. But, with the absence of any comment from Herc, or anyone else in charge around here, it's the only thing I can think of that makes a modicum of sense. More time on the front page = more clicks on the links = more money from Amazon.Of course, this theory could fall apart if one were to compare the increase in Amazon revenue against the loss of repeat clicks or TB posts, but maybe that sort of thing no longer matters around here. Maybe the Amazon deal requires the links to be on the front page for X number of days. But, like I said, without any other explanation being offered by those running the site, it's the best theory I can come up with.
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I just had to write their names, if nothing more, seeing as several dozen of posts in, no one else had seemingly felt compelled to do so.
As you were. -
Aug 18, 2009 1:28:40 PM CDT
Cassavetes directing = extreme test of viewer's stamina and pati
by lanemyersclassic
In other words: fail!
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laststarfighter. brilliant movie. NO love for tyson? i definitely want to see this movie
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Saying that "Playtime" bored you in the same column you give "Hannah Montana" a pass is a tragedy.
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Come back, Katie, come back! Escape from your prison!If Husbands is finally out, then maybe a reissue of Minnie & Moskowitz is not far behind.
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Just seems to be a volatile combo. Have been interested in Toback since he wrote The Gambler, but he's been very up and down. And I'll mention John Cassavettes, just for 'sploding at the end of DePalma's The Fury. And yes, I know he took roles like that to finance his own stuff.
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Harry, if you haven't seen Dexter you should really give it a go. It's terrific.
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As others have mentioned no one here is interested in the movie in any way shape or form. The people who frequent this site are a totally different demographic. This is why you don't see any ads for Hannah Montana anywhere else on AICN. Harry knows all this. I just think he likes to mess with the minds of people who come here. I think he gets off on it. This would also explain the frequent stories about Twilight.
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Or as close as you can get with a narrative film, but you've got to admit, they're about as watchable as someone you don't knows home movies.
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This guy did reality better than reality. Cassavetes' works just look like unfinished, unpolished drafts - like home movies - well said. Great actors (including Cassavetes himself), but no reason to sit through his messes, even for slight morsels of character study.
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Actually I prefer Crippled Avangers, the fighting was much much faster. Also in Invincible Shaolin, Avenging warriors of Shaolin, Rebel Intruders and Masked Avengers
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Aug 18, 2009 2:15:24 PM CDT
Harry, any movies you liked at first that you now dislike?
by mr. waturi
Just wondering if you've given second thought to the many glowing reviews you've given to turds (like "Attack of the Clones").
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UGH!
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..on purpose? Sorry for the unnecessary email then, Herc. But what's the deal? Anybody? Why are they locked? I'm totally lost on this one as I thought all posters wanted talkback posts. ???
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All contributors want talkback posts. Geeeeeeez. I should maybe proofread beFORE I hit Post.
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Prophecies of Nostradamus owns Roland Emmerich's 2012 any day!
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With geometry! (I never knew what those white diamonds on a pool table were for, before seeing Donald in Mathmagic Land.) Also, I just watched Inglorious Bastards on DVD last night: It was okay, but man, did they botch the ending. So abrupt and anti-climactic. It could have been a real cult gem...
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The "Peanut" chicks from Mothra were HOT! Humba-Humba!
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He posts the article Tuesday morning, then unlocks the TB sometime later, Wednesday morning or even Thursday. You will know when it is unlocked because the text will be red.I too thought contributors cared about talkback posts but, apparently, Herc doesn't (at least not for that one). The TV DVD column used to get dozens every week. Now he's lucky to get as many as 12. These days it seems, people read it, can't comment (or, like me, comment here) at that time, and never go back to it. It's the TBs that make people revisit a thread; without it, it's a one-look, that's all there is, on to the next thread type article.p.s. he's already reloaded it once today - it was originally just above the Lost Room article, but lo and behold, there is a new story sitting between it at the top of the article list and the Lost Room thread.
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He was an innovator, he always embraced new technology. Hell, he invented half the shit. He used traditional animation cause its all he had at the time to tell the story he wanted. I doubt he would have made some gritty, realistic looking dragon like you probably think would be done though. with the advanced cell-shaded CGI work being done for games and anime I could see Walt doing this CGI with all the "cuteness" intact.Its kind of annoying when people go on about directors/sFX people/Makeup people etc from the past saying all this new tech can't come close to the old tech and what not and point to those people as proof when they simply had no other choice. They didn't have the tech back then they have today and if they did would most certainly have used them.Disney used a version of Motion capture and rotoscoping all the time. The people in Sleeping beauty dancing were drawn from life, watching real people do it. the Horns of the deer in Bambi were meticulously drawn from footage of real deer. Alot of CGI animators use a DID (Digital Input Device (though it was originally called a Dinosaur Input Device cause it was made for Jurassic Park)) which is a simply a wired-up stop motion puppet that can be moved either bit by bit or in real time to animated movement. New versions of old tech, its all it is.
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Last Starfighter is a guilty pleasure - I played the DVD version for my wife and kids and the kids loved it. My wife's eyes never stopped rolling but she said nothing since he boys were enjoying it - it is pure cornball, but I love it.
BTW, Hardbodies needed to be first experienced on HBO along with H.O.T.S. and The Beach Girls. jiggle jiggle bounce -
is a "banned" film in Japan. Maybe we could get the US edited for TV cut, but I doubt Toho would let the international version be released. Too bad, it's a crazy film. Oh well, I'm hoping for an ESPY release down the road.
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cool story bro!
cgi elliot would still suck ass of course. -
man.... i saw that movie in 70mm on a huge screen a few years ago and it remains the best movie experience i've ever had
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Was anybody else hoping these were both in the same movie?
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I always thought Sheree Wilson (from Dallas) was in Spring Break, but it seems I was wrong (she did Fraternity Vacation, but I don't think I've seen that one). Weird.
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The Doc Terminus number "Every Little Piece" is worth price of the disc alone. One of the best live action Disney villians ever.
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http://tinyurl.com/lf2ov6
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GO is a fucking amazing film, it does the fractured time line soooooooooooo much better than pulp fiction.
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Fuck I loved that movie. Totally going to pick it up. Really cool assortment of characters with surprisingly good story arcs. Good guys go bad, bad guys go good, major characters die throughout and new ones introduced. Cool ass film. Great story, great action, about the only knock you could have against it, even comparing to a modern, major action flick, would be the acting. Totally buying this one.
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You will never look at Peter Falk, asian teenagers or Coke-a-Cola the same again.
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You wrote, "The thing about the original LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT was that it felt real." My question is have you ever seen the original LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT? And if so which party felt "real" to you? Was it the moronic Keystone cops? The terrible acting?
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I still to this day don't know if I liked her in Dawn of the Dead.
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Aug 18, 2009 6:43:59 PM CDT
Every year I can look forward to a LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
by lockesbrokenleg
remake.
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Really? The third season was the best yet. If you include the Simpsons, why on earth wouldn't you nod towards Dexter?
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Crap
Good
Shit
Amazing
At no point does Harry every say why. Less picks more just a list. I love the idea bit the execution is so annoying. -
Aug 18, 2009 7:26:33 PM CDT
PLAYTIME = ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
by mullah omar
One of only a handful of films that has ever made me fall asleep. I don't even remember being tired when I started watching it.
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It's always been one of my comfort movies and underrated IMO. A lot of people have never heard of it so it's fun to show them. The Vegas scene is hilarious! And Olyphant as the drug dealer - it was my first time ever seeing him and still my favorite role of his! "The fucking Family Circus"
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...one of the best "novella" size movies ever. I love love love that whole 15 minute sequence. It's one of those sequences where you wish you could've seen even more of it, but the beauty lies within its short and satisfied feeling. The Ronna character remains a very nice and tragic figure. Damned when she tries to do things right, damned when she doesn't. If the movie would've had the balls to simply end it with her dying in that creek, rather than putting in the happy ending of her recuperating and being able to pay her rent, that would've made even that much more of an impact. I totally fell in love with Sarah Polley after that movie btw.
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You WILL become a better pool player.
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In fact, it's on sale this week at Best Buy for $12.99 (along with "Hellraiser", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and "Road House"). Why this site and The Digital Bits are under the impression that it comes out next week is a mystery. Doesn't really matter, though. I have no interest in that piece of shit.
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i already baught one that came with character postcards featuring the red head with tits bigger than a highschool globe. best cartoon ever.
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Simpson's episode you talk about
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Harry is NOT kidding about the all the wonderful 'crazy-ass' stuff in this....the aliens(seen only in space suits) are apparently extra large mice with
space helmets contoured to their rodent faces...and obviously being played by children. At the riotous conclusion, Alien Mothership hovers over Tokyo and hits it with their last resort, a massive anti-gravity ray that sends the whole city and people flying UPWARD! And 'H-Man' is even crazier...gangsters! showgirls! radioactive water-blob people who dissolve and/or melt half the cast! (And like 'Godzilla', the film takes major inspiration from the true
'Lucky Dragon' boat incident during the Pacific atomic testing)
....and on the discs, you should choose the Japanese versions, if only for that wonderful "Toho-Scope" logo at each film's start. -
Aug 19, 2009 12:36:55 AM CDT
Enjoyed Last House remake. Glad to see Goldwyn get some work.
by juansanchez
He's so underrated. Should be a star.
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I try my best to ignore these shit horror remakes they keep pumping out- especially ones that try to redo a "masters" work, such as Wes Craven.
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To know this film is to love it. I'm envious of themagus who got the rare chance to see this classic in its 70mm widescreen glory. All you get with the Criterion disc is a trimmed 35mm version, though I understand, cause a 70mm letterboxed film would be nearly imperceptable on a TV set.
One important theme of "Playtime" that Mr. Knowles may have overlooked is the idea that modern society tries to organize itself like a machine, but in the end, it falls apart, because basically we are all human. The one "human" who doesn't fall into this post-modern machinist ideal is the Msr. Hulot character, who bumbles through this sterile corporate world of "Playtime" like an innocent country bumkin. The movement and choreography of the film in the beginning is very staged and deliberate, like a machine. But in the end, in the nightime restaurant scene, this order and sterility gives way to jazz, disorder, and human chaos. Of course, this is a great idea, but it's also wonderfully executed by the great Jacques Tati. A classic entertaining comedic film about the conundrum of human society in the midst of post-war 50's modernization. -
Hardbodies. Yes, I recall seeing those as a youngster on late night HBO [or Showtime or Cinemax]. Can anyone confirm a sex scene in an airplane restroom? With a chick whose head was buzzed/shaved? Weird, right? Might've been a dream sequence. Might've been Hardbodies 2. I very well may wind up buying these. But I don't want Amazon recommending cheesy 80's softcore cable movies to me everytime I visit the website.
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Aug 19, 2009 5:35:29 AM CDT
I'd buy the "You could believe original Last House could happen.
by jackrabbitslim
except when they played that fucking retarded song ... a talentless tune which had to make anyone with half a brain sneer with derision. Admittedly, it was. what, in first five minutes of the movie, but that stupid song totally took me out of the experience for the first half hour - 45 minutes.
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Aug 19, 2009 5:43:55 AM CDT
Can we admit Sarah Polleys career has been underwhelming?
by jackrabbitslim
Yes - quality actress - but she was hyped for a while there as yet another "next big thing" who ... never was. She was, truth be told, the next Parker Posey - arty flick chick who couldnt break out of that dreaded Art House Ghetto typecasting. Or maybe its just me.
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Aug 19, 2009 6:15:06 AM CDT
I think it's funny that Harry doesn't watch a lot of TV shows.
by knuckleduster
When you consider that TV is going through the same creative high this decade that film experienced during the 70's. Most of the truly great stories and characters are on TV shows. The Wire, Mad Men, The Sopranos, Dexter, Deadwood, Battlestar Galactica. There's more cinematic value in these shows than most of the shit Hollywood delivers these days.
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She received a lot of acclaim for directing that movie about the guy dealing with his wife's alzheimer's
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Saw it in the theater years ago. Greatest. 80's. T&A. Flick. Ever.
(Probably didn't hurt that the lead actress, Teal Roberts looked a helluva lot like a girl I knew).
no bald chick-airplane sex scene that I remember, must have been in Hardbodies 2, which shit all over the original, and for some inexplicable reason, is the only one I ever see pop up on satellite.
Glad to finally have this on DVD. It even featured All-Girl Hair Metal band Vixen! -
Tysons movie wasn't made like a year or two from now. It would be a MUCH different movie.
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Heard she was supposed to be teaching a Film class at the university I go to up here in Ontario. Would've been pretty sweet. I guess after Away From Her won success she decided against it. Shame.
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Because I have a six year-old girl. Harry watching it is just plain creepy.
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WTF are you talking about Harry? Tyson was awful in the Hangover and completely unnecessary. His performance was so strained and wooden and unfunny it almost ruined the movie. And I for one have no interest in seeing a documentary about this loser. I put him in the same category with other a-hole athletes I don't want to ever have to see again along with OJ, TO, Kobe Bryant and Michael Vick.
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I haven't seen it. But I've added it to my "check it out" list based on the fact that some people here love it and some hate it. I much prefer seeing older films with an equal amount of plus/negative to those that are considered absolute classics. I often feel let down by films that get heaped into the "greatest of all time" category.
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She's only thirty and her next film, Splice, stars Adrien and looks pretty interesting.
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...Adrein Brody. lol I give up. I having typing karma this week.
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Like a younger Uma Thurman.
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There is actually an episode with the name 'Worst Episode Ever'. Don't remember it specifically, but it was Comic Book Guy related, I think he had Bart and Milhouse run his store for awhile for whatever reason.
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There are some movies that I do not want to watch on BluRay. I don't care if they are eventually released on BluRay, I'll have no problem with that. I just don't want to watch them. For me, 5 Deadly Venoms is one of those films that can only be watched one way: on a crappy, dubbed VHS transfer.
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He was my film professor in college, and did a lot of commentaries for Kurosawa films. Very smart guy. Wonder if he's on this one?
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I've never seen it. As for the rest, I'll just echo everyone else and say, "Hannah Montanna? Really Harry?". Between some of the garbage movies that have no business on this site, the good movies that get snubbed, the absolute SHIT that gets talkbacks in the Coaxial section, and the great shows that get snubbed there... this site should swap the first two words of its title.
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Aug 19, 2009 5:11:08 PM CDT
Sarah Polley directed Away With Her in 2006
by ihaveseeneveryepisodeofprisonbreak
It was a great film that nobody saw. One of the few films I ever shed a tear during! The subject mattter hit home a bit. Seriously, if you are up for a very good serious drama, give it a rent. It is fantastic
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Aug 19, 2009 7:02:50 PM CDT
FAT and STUPID is no way to go thru life Harry! PLAYTIME!!!
by alfie boy
Tati's masterpiece PLAYTIME, is the optimist's delight! Watch it and see how you can understand that no matter what your surroundings are, or no matter what has happened around you to those surroundings, there is still joy and beauty to be found.
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This site runs fast when you block all the ads on it.
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Why didn't Harry get it the first time? Speaks volumes about his taste in film. Well, at least he caught up with the rest of us. Go was released in that post-Pulp Fiction period where every Tom, Dick and Harry was trying to release clever crime films. Only a few succeeded (Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead was a notable highlight). and I'd have to say Go was the best of them all. Funny, smart and exciting. Great flick.
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That's actually already how I go through life, recognized the message instantly and was simply BORED WITH IT.
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Aug 20, 2009 2:04:10 AM CDT
The Last Starfighter stole my childhood....
by jamescameronatemyhamsterwithhotsauce
Honestly i watched that movie more than any other as a kid I still have the Vhs copy. I havent watched it in years though so looking forward to this Blu Ray
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Love that name. Just spamming here. But yeah Love that name. Oh does anyone know if they will ever make another Big Trouble In Little China. That movie should have 12 sequels by now.
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...never die. His voice and performances are beyond memorable. "Rehearsal for Murder" is the greatest tv movie.
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Netflix is shipping it to me today. If it's not and I have to agree with Harry there's going to be hell to pay.
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Aug 20, 2009 11:06:03 PM CDT
Oh, Headgeek, finding joy should never be boring. Even if it's
by alfie boy
...reminded of it vicariously through a character onscreen.
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Aug 20, 2009 11:06:48 PM CDT
Oh, Headgeek, finding joy should never be boring. Even if it's
by alfie boy
...just being reminded of it vicariously through a character onscreen.
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He is in a state of arrested development. Saw a 70mm print in Manhattan. Best film experience I've ever had. No point in debating it though. It's like explaining that a turd sandwich tastes bad to someone happily munching away on it.
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I love 80's sex comedies
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Aug 22, 2009 3:36:19 PM CDT
Harry, if You're Going to Dismiss a Masterpiece like Playtime...
by grungies
Please supply actual criticism, as opposed to writing it off as boring without a shred of justification.
Isn't having to "watch" the gags one of the reasons it is a great film? Isn't film a visual medium? Is this not a shining example of the potentials of this great medium, and a standard to which few if any have and shall ever compete?
Is this not one of the most entertaining, warm, and delightful films about the humanity that can be found even in the cold, technological world of today?
Is this not the greatest French film of all time?
Tati is a greater director than Godard. -
It's a fucking joke. If it had not been made in the 70's and been so controversial no one would have cared. There's nothing solid about it. The remake is better in every way.
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Its about time!!!
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Inoshiro would be proud
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Seriously, he's thrown all the heavy lifting for this sire Merrick's way. All Harry does anymore is a few movie reviews a month, MAYBE, and this column which he fails to do weekly. Harry, you have the easiest job in the world, try doing it. You get all these free DVD's because the studios know you write this column. You suck up all your free shit and still don;t write the column. That's not just lazy, it's unethical.
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Considering how complex and wild gaming has become since this film came out, one could make a rerally interesting update of The last Starfighter. Recently I was plaing Chronicles of Riddick and marvelling at how tough, stealthy and downright cool I was... then I realized I wasn't. Me playing the game was.
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is cooooo you gaze!
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