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Henry Plainview View Drop Down
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The problem I had with Goodfellas is that it was difficult for me to connect with such an unrepentant anti-hero, especially when it's a real person who in real life has repented. Some people complain about not being able to enjoy certain comedies because they hate all the characters, which I think is massively retarded, but it's similar to the problem I have. Am I supposed to be upset Jimmy got shot? I can't tell. There's also a problem with me sometimes with a bunch of characters who are so obviously amoral: the vicious sadism of Anton Chigurh taps into the darker side of me and is like playing evil in an RPG*, but I can't care about characters who don't even care about what they're doing. And, to be fair to the writing, the soundtrack really annoyed me because I hate popular music...I had the same problem with Apocalypse Now's asinine emotion as expressed through The Doors.

I saw 12 Angry Men. It was a pretty great movie: a little overwrought at times, which is to be expected from a movie from 1957, but I really enjoyed the contrasts in the camera work. It was impressive how they managed to keep it interesting even though the whole movie takes place in one room and most of the characters are essentially stereotypes.

*I don't know why people are always complaining they always have to be Mother Theresa or Hitler in RPGs, I enjoy coming along for the ride of these extreme personalities. If I wanted to be a normal person I would go outside...


Edited by Henry Plainview - February 06 2010 at 17:44
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Originally posted by harmonium.ro harmonium.ro wrote:

Originally posted by J-Man J-Man wrote:

Watched Alien last night. Really great movie!




One of my favourites. If you have the DVD, there's also a lot of super-interesting stuff, don't miss it!


I have the DVD, but never checked any special features out. I might do that tomorrow Smile

I'm watching this with my parents tonight:



I'll let you guys know my thoughts later tonight.Wink

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Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

The problem I had with Goodfellas is that it was difficult for me to connect with such an unrepentant anti-hero, especially when it's a real person who in real life has repented. Some people complain about not being able to enjoy certain comedies because they hate all the characters, which I think is massively retarded, but it's similar to the problem I have. Am I supposed to be upset Jimmy got shot? I can't tell.

I assume you mean Pesci's character Tommy ..no I don't think you're supposed to care or feel sympathy, in fact it's closer to a cautionary tale than anything .. the only mildly sympathetic character is Ray Liotta's and that's cause he's the only one that shows a trace of remorse, plus it's nice to see him stick it to the people that had essentially used him from a child to do they're dirty work 

Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

There's also a problem with me sometimes with a bunch of characters who are so obviously amoral: the vicious sadism of Anton Chigurh taps into the darker side of me and is like playing evil in an RPG*, but I can't care about characters who don't even care about what they're doing. And, to be fair to the writing, the soundtrack really annoyed me because I hate popular music...

yeah I'll never forgive Scorsese for associating such ugly images with such great classic rock

Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

I saw 12 Angry Men. It was a pretty great movie: a little overwrought at times, which is to be expected from a movie from 1957, but I really enjoyed the contrasts in the camera work. It was impressive how they managed to keep it interesting even though the whole movie takes place in one room and most of the characters are essentially stereotypes.

one of my favorites, painfully dated but still a great one
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Henry Plainview View Drop Down
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Gah, yes, I meant Tommy, I knew I would f**k the names up!
And my problem with the music was not the negative associations, but that I find classic rock annoying 90% of the time and would much rather have a "traditional" movie soundtrack, even if that's cliche these days. ;-)


Edited by Henry Plainview - February 06 2010 at 20:13
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I really don't care about 99% of gangster movies. Goodfellas was ok, nothing more. The whole rising in the ranks of your criminal organization and falling down from the top should never ever be done again. It's even worse when it's not even applied to different genres. Ooh Chicago! Ooh New York! Uh oh, watch out! They moved it to LA this time...it'll be a bright and sunny kind of mafia.

I've never seen more than glimpses of any of the Godfather movies, and don't care.
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Originally posted by J-Man J-Man wrote:

Originally posted by harmonium.ro harmonium.ro wrote:

Originally posted by J-Man J-Man wrote:

Watched Alien last night. Really great movie!




One of my favourites. If you have the DVD, there's also a lot of super-interesting stuff, don't miss it!


I have the DVD, but never checked any special features out. I might do that tomorrow Smile

I'm watching this with my parents tonight:



I'll let you guys know my thoughts later tonight.Wink


Benjamin Button was good, but not outstanding. I thought it had some really good moments, and a very original story. I'd give it a 7.5/10.

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Henry Plainview View Drop Down
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Originally posted by stonebeard stonebeard wrote:

I've never seen more than glimpses of any of the Godfather movies, and don't care.
You have no soul.
if you own a sodastream i hate you
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What I enjoyed most about Goodfellas was that it is one of the few gangster movies I've seen which does justice to its subject matter i.e. it portrays barely literate violent white trash criminal scumbags without any trace of sentimentality for a repugnant organisation that still stubbornly provides a vicarious thrill for most movie goers. (Tarantino's Law - Ain't gangsters you never want to meet dead sexy ?)

Scorcese deserves great credit for this movie as the social milieu he grew up in was not that far removed from the one portrayed in Goodfellas.
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^ there you have it
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I too loved Goodfellas when I saw it.

Just watched In Bruges for the third time. Amazing film, amazing location and funny as hell.
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Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

Originally posted by stonebeard stonebeard wrote:

I've never seen more than glimpses of any of the Godfather movies, and don't care.
You have no soul.


I've got soul but I'm not a soldier.
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Originally posted by J-Man J-Man wrote:

Originally posted by harmonium.ro harmonium.ro wrote:

Originally posted by J-Man J-Man wrote:

Watched Alien last night. Really great movie!




One of my favourites. If you have the DVD, there's also a lot of super-interesting stuff, don't miss it!


I have the DVD, but never checked any special features out. I might do that tomorrow Smile



Well, the director's commentary is the best I've heard so far. Unlike pseudo-directors who talk about their "art" and their artistic "intentions", he actually gives a lot of technical details "how it's done", which is captivating. The greatest artists always consider themselves craftsmen not "artists".

Then there's a photo gallery with a huge amount of pre-production storyboards, including a vast majority of Scott's own drawings, which are all very interesting.

Then there's something really amazing. You can watch the whole film without any production and post-production sounds (like people talking, the sound of people moving, breathing, hitting things, alien sounds, etc.), but only the musical score. This is genius. And Jerry Goldsmith's score is amazing in the way it gives a lot of the film's character. Opposite to this, you can again see the whole film without the musical score and the post-production sounds, and this reveals you what can actually be heard on the set when filming. It's fascinating.

Plus many more, including deleted scenes (one of which is very important).

The Alien Quadrilogy DVD set was with good reason voted the best re-release ever. Clap
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Old Dogs 3.5/10 - Pretty much what has been done before. Man discovers that he has children from a one night stand. He doesn't know how to relate to them or how to be a father but in the end he passes up on the big contract that can set him up for life to be with the woman he loves and her children.  Has some laughs. Travolta and Williams mailed it in for the easy payday.
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Originally posted by ExittheLemming ExittheLemming wrote:

What I enjoyed most about Goodfellas was that it is one of the few gangster movies I've seen which does justice to its subject matter i.e. it portrays barely literate violent white trash criminal scumbags without any trace of sentimentality for a repugnant organisation that still stubbornly provides a vicarious thrill for most movie goers. (Tarantino's Law - Ain't gangsters you never want to meet dead sexy ?)

Scorcese deserves great credit for this movie as the social milieu he grew up in was not that far removed from the one portrayed in Goodfellas.
I think you're not being entirely fair to them. Besides that Tommy has no impulse control, the heists they pulled off would have required an immense amount of intelligence and planning. It's not romanticized to the degree of The Godfather, or even The Wire, but there's still a degree of respect there for the intelligence and drive to be that way. At least that was how I interpreted it.
Originally posted by stonebeard stonebeard wrote:

Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

Originally posted by stonebeard stonebeard wrote:

I've never seen more than glimpses of any of the Godfather movies, and don't care.
You have no soul.

I've got soul but I'm not a soldier.
Bill Bailey!
if you own a sodastream i hate you
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Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

the heists they pulled off would have required an immense amount of intelligence and planning. It's not romanticized to the degree of The Godfather, or even The Wire, but there's still a degree of respect there for the intelligence and drive to be that way. At least that was how I interpreted it.


agreed, and good point [especially since that heist actually happened]; much light is thrown on how well they did their job


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Contact-excellent movie-Jodie Foster is  inspiring
Helter Skelter-disturbing(of course) but well done
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didn't much like Contact, it starts ok but seemed to get really sentimental in the middle of a serious movie, not to mention that goofy subplot about space/time travel and then she ends up on some shimmering alien non-world where all beautiful people...  yeah, could've been better
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Contact is an adaptation of a book from Carl Sagan... and it's incredebly well made... the tricks of the camera are very detailed and you never knew you were seeing somethings that never were there... I think the adaptation is great... they have to change many things... the novel was too long for a regular movie but the message and the escence of the idea is there... Zemeckis was a great director with great achievements in arrow back then: What Lies Beneath, Cast Away and this one... brilliant movies... but you know... I'm a 90's movie lover so...
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Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

Originally posted by ExittheLemming ExittheLemming wrote:

What I enjoyed most about Goodfellas was that it is one of the few gangster movies I've seen which does justice to its subject matter i.e. it portrays barely literate violent white trash criminal scumbags without any trace of sentimentality for a repugnant organisation that still stubbornly provides a vicarious thrill for most movie goers. (Tarantino's Law - Ain't gangsters you never want to meet dead sexy ?)

Scorcese deserves great credit for this movie as the social milieu he grew up in was not that far removed from the one portrayed in Goodfellas.
I think you're not being entirely fair to them. Besides that Tommy has no impulse control, the heists they pulled off would have required an immense amount of intelligence and planning. It's not romanticized to the degree of The Godfather, or even The Wire, but there's still a degree of respect there for the intelligence and drive to be that way. At least that was how I interpreted it.
Originally posted by stonebeard stonebeard wrote:

Originally posted by Henry Plainview Henry Plainview wrote:

Originally posted by stonebeard stonebeard wrote:

I've never seen more than glimpses of any of the Godfather movies, and don't care.
You have no soul.

I've got soul but I'm not a soldier.
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I said barely literate, that's got squat to do with the cognitive intelligence required to plan a successful robbery, heist etc (no-one's calling them dumb)


Edited by ExittheLemming - February 08 2010 at 00:21
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Henry Plainview View Drop Down
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Synecdoche, New York--I really enjoyed the first half because I'm emo enough to empathize with these characters, and the questions about what was and was not real didn't bother me. It was sort of like Magnolia, which I also loved parts of, but without the terrible music. But then about halfway through I realized I had no idea what I was watching. And I already knew what the word synecdoche meant! I don't know if this means if I'm dumber than Roger Ebert, or if Ebert is just a pretentious ass, or what. But I was left with a sense of despair and disappointment, so 8/10, rounded up for ambition. Much better than Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, even if it made much less sense, because Eternal Sunshine could have been boiled down to half its length at the very least.

One thing that really bothered me was that Olive's diary was in English, but then she could only speak German on her deathbed...? And I don't remember what they called her, but they definitely called her something other than Olive towards the beginning when they were talking about her as the first child with a full body tattoo.


Edited by Henry Plainview - February 08 2010 at 00:28
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