JohnT's random thoughts about the movies thread...

[Japher]

Yaaay! Monkey!!!

[GePap]

How come no one has mentioned the Baby geniuses of our time, Catwoman? Or, Baby Geniuses 2 ? (WHY! WHY OH WHY!?! )

[JohnT]

Did the sequel, Any Which Way You Can, have Clyde in it as well?

[Japher]

I think so...

[Boris Godunov]

Yes, but I don't think it was the same orangutan, though.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Welcome to strip mall America. Individuals need not apply.

small town video stores as a point of nostalgia. God, do i feel old.

Question - didnt strip malls antedate video stores, considerably?

[Japher]

Link

Eastwood plays trucker Philo Beddoe, a revered brawler who lives in a shack with his best pal's feisty, elderly mother (Ruth Gordon) and an orangutan, Clyde,who sips beer and thumbs his nose at authority. Philo is preparing for a bout against the wishes of his mother and his new love interest (Sandra Locke). If clashing with the women in his life weren't enough, he has to deal with his cocky opponent, gamblers, and a chopper gang who constantly harrass him. Fortunately, he does have Clyde backing him up as well as his trusty companion Orville Boggs (regular Eastwood collaborator Geoffrey Lewis). This bizarre hick comedy was a surprise hit and spawned a sequel featuring many in the original cast. The country soundtrack combines the talents of Steve Dorff and Snuff Garrett and boasts a hit single by Eddie Rabbit. Sadly, Clyde the orangutan died a few months after filming Any Which Way You Can in 1980.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by lord of the mark


small town video stores as a point of nostalgia. God, do i feel old.

Question - didnt strip malls antedate video stores, considerably?

Yes.

[Agathon]

I don't understand what the H&K deal is...it's really a mediocre film. I can't think of one joke in it that hasn't been done somewhere else.

Well, the wife and I saw it and thought it was funny. Stupid, but funny. I haven't seen the other movies where the same jokes were done, so I guess I am not an aficionado like Boris.

On the other hand, I don't think I've ever heard a heavy metal mix of Wilson Phillips before. It has to be heard to be believed.

The rest of the soundtrack was pretty cool too.

[JohnT]

Am I about to actually say this?

Thanks, Sava! I went to Blockbuster last night and got the movie pass thing (only $14.99 the first month, $24.99/month thereafter). While it only allows for 2 rentals at a time, that's not that big of a deal as I rarely watch more than 2 movies in a day. Got Hidalgo and Big Fish.

[JohnT]

Saw Hidalgo last night. A nice-enough film, with an irritating digression from the main storyline about halfway into it, a digression that eats up a good 20 minutes of the film. The ending is a bit hokey... akin to my thoughts during POTC, I was thinking "there's no way you can endure all that and still run flat out like this"... but, in real life, Hopkins did win the race and we all know that Hollywood likes to take liberties with the truth for dramatic purposes. (In the movie it was a mad sprint to the finish line, in real life Hopkins beat the #2 horse by 33 hours).

I went into it blind, not knowing what to expect (I was thinking it was a Western set in Mexico for some reason), and that was probably best. I recommend it highly for anybody who likes Westerns, horses, or good-looking films shot in the desert (the cinematography was easily the best thing about this film, especially when they got to Arabia. It looked amazing.)

However, it did highlight one frustration I have about a lot of films. 90% into the movie I'm thinking "I bet Sophie would love this film." It had little (or no) swearing, lots of horses and exotic people doing exotic things, a rousing soundtrack, the sort of thing that would make a good introduction to the Western. But then the horse gets injured in a particularly nasty way, and then the hero had to perform a bit of emergency surgery on the animal, a scene way too intense for a two year old. I complained about this to Laura, saying that they probably put that scene in there to avoid the dreaded G rating, and she suggested that all we had to do was fast-forward through the scene. To which I replied "All 27 times that she'll see it over the next few weeks?" Anyway, the frustration is that it's a bit difficult to find intelligent films nowadays that are completely suitable for young children but also appeal to adults. Shrek is one such movie, and there are some others, but they are few and far between.

Oh, well...

[Boris Godunov]

Watched Spellbound last night, the documentary about the spelling bee... really good! And cute kids.

[JohnT]

I saw that one a couple of months ago. It was a good lesson on how to raise some really messed-up, type-A kids.

[Kuciwalker]

Right. When I watched, I was like, "these kids and/or their parents are ****ing idiots"

[JohnT]

Especially the Indian parents.

Oh, not all of them were hyper-pushing, but enough were so that I came away thinking "I don't think it'd be a good thing to put Sophie through all this."