After all these years.
After all these viewings.
It still reigns. Not as the best of its own franchise, not as the best film of the genre. But as something that will never fade.
May 052013
May 052013
Nothing compares to Rare Exports. It’s domestic all the way.
Santa Claus is part of a whole another mythos.
The elves are not so nice.
And you really have to do everything yourself.
May 052013
In addition to sporting some of the greatest sci-fi scenery in ages, Fifth Element excels in its costumes. Over the top and very varied.
Movie Monday #84: An outfit to kill for
May 052013
Jessica Rabbit, sadly, is not part of the group.
Compared to her, the selection is pale and thin indeed.
Movie Monday #83:Disney Pricesses.
Apr 202013
In treading through the old Movie Monday assignments, I draw a complete blank in trying to recall any truly annoying title sequences.
Movie Monday #82: Annoying Title Sequence.
Apr 182013
Hollywood is so stuck to tradition that something revolutionary along the lines of best viral advertising campaign would be dead weight.
Hence I would settle for “best individual scene”. Where a good candidate for the lifetime achievement award would be the Walken / Hopper meeting in True Romance.
Movie Monday #81: New Oscar category.
Apr 162013
Chuck Palahniuk’s novel behind Fight Club was interesting enough to seek out the original.
Which happened to be an autographed copy available in a bookstore in his then-hometown.
Movie Monday #80: Now for the book.
Feb 172013
This week’s movie monday challenge is about death, a shocking death scene in a film.
For me nothing beats Boromir’s fall in the Fellowship of the Ring.
But I still vote for the utterly surprising death scene in William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in L.A..
Boromir’s fate was sealed in the book, but the twist in the Los Angeles tale in was a shock indeed.
Movie Monday #79: Death
Feb 172013
Middle-Earth, without a doubt. Preferably after the fall of Sauron, or with a couple of dunedain in the crew to take care of restless natives.
Movie Monday #78: Holiday destination.
(OK, I seem to have answered this challenge twice – the Las Vegas one was a better pick, but I won’t delete this entry either.)
Feb 112013
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Even if nothing but Fear and Loathing happen.
Been there once, but the action didn’t reach the lofty heights of what Raoul Duke and his lawyer achieved.
Jan 292013
The more I think about the fourth Indiana Jones film, the more convinced I am that I originally rated it far too high, and that the movie would have been better left unmade.
Even though it retains a lot of old magic and injects new elements into the saga, there’s so many things wrong with the film, that it clearly is a severe lapse in Spielberg’s judgment to let this through.
The worst offense is ridiculous jungle chase towards the end of the film. And whoever OK’d it clearly has so significant issues with old Tarzan movies that he should have been recused from the creative team.
Jan 212013
This week’s Movie Monday challenges us to nominate the worst of the bad remakes.
My nomination is Shawn Levy’s atrocious Pink Panther from 2006 that lost to the Blake Edwards original on pretty much every feasible scale. Its sequel is even worse, but I do not considered it a remake.
While Steve Martin is not completely terrible as Clouseau 2.0, Kevin Kline’s take on inspector Dreyfus is just a pale imitation of Herbert Lom’s original. Martin’s take on Clouseau is a lot meaner than Sellers’ – while the detective from sixties was a bumbling and slow-witted policeman with very limited skills, the new one is a vain idiot with no redeeming features whatsoever.
The age of Blake Edwards’ movie is most visible in its pacing – it’s at times slow and meandering, whereas this baby ticks along with ADHD speed. Here the jokes vary wildly in quality, but very few of them cross the threshold of laughter.
Movie Monday #76: Better left un-re-made.
Jan 192013
This week’s Movie Monday is a tough challenge: “have you ever been attracted to an actor or a movie character of the inappropriate sex”.
Can’t say that I have.
Either I’m so deep in the closet that I need a transcontinental expedition to find my way out, or I just don’t swing that way.
Based on the 40+ years worth of evidence, my bet is on the latter option.
Movie Monday #75: Baby, it’s you.
Jan 192013
I’m not much for deriving power from specific movies, but there are a couple that clearly resonate with me.
One of them is Tim Burton’s Big Fish. The intertwining impossible stories, a complicated state of family affairs and a surrealistic tumble through the vast hidden America just hit all the necessary spots for me.
Burton’s fantasy-machine and film-making in general at their very best.
Movie Monday #74: My personal power movie.
Jan 072013
With the quick nomination of Blade Runner, I’m finally up to speed with the Movie Monday challenges.
After all, the film combines a great story, marvellous visuals and an entirely approppriate soundtrack into a coherent whole.
Movie Monday #73: The Best of the Best.
Jan 032013
Such a thing does not exist what Movie Monday tells us to seek.
There may be slightly less annoying songs, but none qualfies as “best”.
Movie Monday #72: Best Disney Song.
Jan 022013
For the task of finding a lovable character behind an unorthodox exterior I once again turn to Princess Bride.
André the Giant‘s take on Fezzik the giant henchman is one great buddy movie moment from its first moments. The fact that he’s clever enough to tell off Vizzini makes his character even more likable.
Movie Monday #71: Lovably misshapen.
Jan 022013
Back in the late eighties when I first saw the original Terminator, I was just blown away.
James Cameron put up a visual and storytelling masterpiece, and Linda Hamilton’s growth as the heroine was awesome, too.
So, while the likes of Lisbeth Salander and Ellen Ripley indeed are magnificent characters on the big screen, the first Terminator film damaged me permanently.
She survived a terrible hairdo and an attack by Skynet’s right fist. Too bad the series took such a nosedive after the sequel.
Movie Monday #70: Get away from her you bitch.
Jan 022013
Nope, not much of a fan of the zombies that seem to be all the rage in movies and games for the foreseeable future as well.
Movie Monday #69: Living Dead.
Jan 012013
For the team I pick the Avengers. After all, Samuel L. Jackson spent years collecting the team in the prequels before Joss Whedon let the whole gang loose.
And considering that this is just phase one, I expect to see Nick Fury in many more stingers before the crew is complete. I was, indeed, kind of miffed that he didn’t appear at the end of Hobbit to offer Bilbo a spot in the Marvel team.
Movie Monday #68: The team.
Jan 012013
For an existing trinity of excellence I turn to the team of Scorsese / DeNiro | Di Caprio / Schoonmaker – after all, it’s the director and editor that realize the movie.
For an imaginary one, I’d go for Shane Black (for both script & direction) / Robert Downey Jr / Noomi Rapace.
Movie Monday #67: My Holy Trinity.
Jan 012013
Gary Stu, a wish-fulfillment character for males (following up on Mary Sue a while back).
There’s a couple of good contenders: Ferris Bueller, most characters played by Jackie Chan, Westley from Princess Bride… But no-one comes close to Han Solo in coolness, scope of achievement and just being gray on the traditionally quite white-black scale of characters.
Movie Monday #66: Gary Stu.
Jan 012013
I thought this was Things to do in Denver when you’re dead, but apparently I misremember terribly:
- From nineties (or a tad earlier).
- Urban crime.
- Contains an apartment heist where the protagonists have to walk through a holding cage at the front door.
- There’s a lot of swearing in it.
Movie Monday #65: Not so total recall.
Dec 042012
Apart from the sheep dogs in Babe, I don’t really have much of a recollection of any post-Lassie canines in films. And being a cat person isn’t the reason, it’s a convenient excuse.
Movie Monday #64: Man’s best friend.
Dec 042012
I don’t mix up actors or actresses, I just plain don’t know them instead.
(Yeah, seriously behind on the movie monday entries, will work on these.)
Movie Monday #63: Mix-up.