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Ive got a lot of things to say. First off Nico Master and Commander one of your all time faves please that movie put me to sleep everything about it was just a snooze. Peter Jackson's King Kong remake was god awful 3 hours of pretty much nothing and by the time the action happened i was bored out of my mind. Even though i am young i appreciate films that most teenagers have never heard of/not be interested in. This week alone i rewatched The Green Mile and Amercian History X. Those are two of the most compelling,tought-provking films of the past 10 years and two of all time favorites. Also you what i cant believe how Edward Norton didn't win best actor for Amercian History X i mean come on he transformed himself into this monster and came out a changed man that was tour-de force acting he gave in that film. I dont know if that film had the same impact on everyone else that it had on me but i have seen that film 3 times and it gets better and better each viewing. Lastly i think i am going to the movies this weekend any recomendatons?

Shryke, I'm pretty sure that was Kyle Chandler as the movie-hero-within-the-movie in "King Kong", not Bruce Campbell. And in a related, but totally non-cinematic, aside (heck, this entire thread is already a non-Iron Man aside), Chandler is just absolutely perfect in the grossly underappreciated "Friday Night Lights". I just discovered this tv gem last week and I am FLOORED by how amazing this show is.

transformers2, go for Good Luck Chuck.

Bless you Michael Bay. Armageddon is a masterpiece.

dranscht wrote:

transformers2, go for Good Luck Chuck.

I might dranscht have you seen it?

I have indeed. Dane Cook gets a little annoying for a bit in the middle, but other than that, he's alright. And the other doctor? Better choice to have him in a supporting role, not starring like in Balls of Fury.

I'm ready to see it. How did alba do playing something other than a prude.

Gaahhhhh... Uggggg... I spent Saturday night with two dozen screaming seven- and eight-year-olds in a private gym, holding Endurance-style team competitions, attempting to keep control over a coed slumber party (a little like pushing a herd of cats through Jell-o...uphill) and very nearly experiencing a heart attack after braving the world's hardest obstacle course. (Seriously -- even Navy S.E.A.L.s, Impossible Mission Force operatives and Sector 7 agents, even those in their very own monogrammed Sector 7 Underoos, don't have to swim their way out of pits filled with Nerf cubes! I felt like I was in a Doctor Who nightmare, filled with spongily-soft Autons...) It was, in a word, my daughter's eighth birthday party, complete with cake, ice cream, balloons and a killer water tug-o-war match. And, last night, I had all sorts of research to do... The bottom line being, I have slept exactly 4 hours 53 minutes since dawn Saturday... Pray for me.

On the other hand, last night I got to see my nearly beloved Cowboys whip up on Da Bearses' starting quarterback, Rex (rhymes with, "ex-", HA ha!) Grossman, 34-10, and the kiddos had a grand ol' time Saturday, so, all is right with the world. At least, until my alarm clock beckons me to 24 Hr. Fitness at 5:00 tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

However, I digress.

Point is, sorry for the late responses. Here ya go...

Shrykester: You know, it's not that I felt King Kong wasn't worthy, or deserving, or in need of a remake. Yeah, the original's still impressive, but I thought it a prime candidate for an episode of Extreme Makeover: Film Edition. (Especially if Kong had messily devoured Ty Pennington.) And, again, I loved some of Peter Jackson's ideas... It's just that, in the end, I feel they were far, far better as ideas, than they were as a final, albeit inconsistent, integrated product. My hat's off to him for trying, anyway. Sometimes, when you shoot for the stars, you end up hitting your own ass, is all.

I thought Naomi Watts was, as you say, perfectly cast (though, honestly, this is the sort of role Nicole Kidman would have nailed ten years ago, or Meg Ryan ten years before that)... It's just her role and dialogue that sucked. It's not her fault; it happens to the best of 'em. You can load up an entire movie with A-list stars, exceptional (or, at least, competent) talents, all, and still end up with f@%#ing Alexander.

I love Kyle Chandler (would Bruce Campbell be his "evil," or his "good," twin?), but I didn't like him in King Kong. Ten years ago Kevin Kline would have ROCKED this character. Today... I dunno, Robert Downey, Jr.? Brendan Fraser? Ethan Hawke, even? Chandler, normally an undeniable talent that sucks up attention like a black hole does photons -- or, Madonna does orphaned kiddos -- was a nonentity for me in this film.

Adrien Brody... Dude, I simply COULD NOT agree with you more. I love Brody, too, particularly his work in The Thin Red Line, Summer of Sam and The Village (haven't, and won't see him in The Pianist, ever, though I understand he was very fine in that film also... I just simply refuse to add validation to that paederast Polanski's career, I don't give a damn if half the newspapers in America called his Oscar for that 2002 World War II film "progressive"...) -- but, to me, King Kong would have been a far more interesting film if he and Jack Black had switched roles. Black, one of my current favorite character actors (has been ever since The Jackal remake: "Mmmm! Speed test."), disappointed me terribly in King Kong, in that he was EXACTLY. AS. ADVERTISED. Open-mouthed reaction shots and snarkily hypocritical preening are well down the ladder of Jack Black's potential acting talents. He displayed far, far more range in High Fidelity (not to mention, as you correctly pointed out, Shallow Hal, an otherwise puerile and noxious waste of celluloid). To me, King Kong was the beginning of several nigh-Affleckian steps backwards for Mr. Black. I hope he gets his stuff together, soon, and begins to gather momentum again in Be Kind Rewind and Tropic Thunder... and that the potential speed bumps of Walk Hard and Kung Fu Panda don't sabotage him too terribly. (Not to mention, the very nearly unforgiveable Nacho Libre and Tenacious D: The Pick of Density.)

Buscemi would have been a FANTASTIC choice, btw. I also think two very different Kevins, Pollack or -- on the exact opposite side -- Bacon, would have been excellent as the effortlessly smooth, yet repellent Dunham.

I think I'd give King Kong 4 out of 10, 5 at best -- and that, mainly for the obviously huge efforts Sir Jackson expended. Sorry, for me it's at best a C-. This remake already needs a remake. (Kong on skates? Sorry, been watching way too much Robot Chicken.)

I actually have very pleasant memories of the Rankin-Bass Hobbit... But, then, I have rather fond recollections of Thundarr the Barbarian, too. (There was, in fact, a time when I thought Ookla the Mok was very nearly as cool as Chewbacca.) I still suspect that the majority of the abysmal 2002 Time Machine's third act was lifted straight out of Thundarr's opening sequence, btw. The difference is, the animated version was far, far less gratuitously stupid.

Fine, you be Thorin Oakenshield, and I'll be Bruenor Battlehammer. (And Chien can be... Hervé Villechaize? "Eh, boss?") God, this conversation is straight out of Dork Tower.

I actually HAVE a toe on my left hand. That's what I get for skinny-dipping in Lake Springfield. No wonder I'm a "righty."

lillylovelost: Yeah, sorry 'bout that. However, skate at your own risk. [Grin]

transformers2: 'S'okay. Nobody's perfect. [Grin]

I liked the film version of The Green Mile a lot, but honestly it reminded me just a bit too much of one of my very favorite films, The Shawshank Redemption, by way of, erm, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Plus, I thought Tom Hanks was totally, off-the-charts miscast... I mean, a high-society lawyer, sure. An unintentional spy, a ridiculously embiggened child, a stand-up comic, naturally. An Apollo mission commander, even, fine. And he was phenomenal in Saving Private Ryan, as a small-town, mild-mannered English teacher-turned-soldier. But I just could not make the leap of faith required to accept him as a Depression-Era death row watch commander... ESPECIALLY in the South. I mean, he's Tom Hanks, not Clancy Brown. Gary Sinise would have been a far, far better choice in my opinion... He can do menacing (Ransom), and he can do dignified (Apollo 13), and he can do gentle, too (Of Mice and Men)... he is one of the modern age's most versatile, unappreciated, poorly-utilized actors, by my lights. (Plus -- and this is, really, incredibly superficial and stupid, but... On The Green Mile poster, Hanks's face was shinier than a brand-new Woody doll. Creepy. it's like something out of Puppet Master, or Team America: World Police, or any of a dozen shows broadcast daily on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.)

There was a LOT of politics behind the lack of industry recognition for American History X, an exceptionally courageous film that dared to humanize, even, some would say, glamorize neo-Nazis and their twisted view of the world... and their place in it. It wasn't perfect, but the film definitely was thought-provoking, and it deserved far, far better (so, on the other side of that coin, did Spike Lee's breathtaking Malcolm X, one of the very best biopics I've ever seen along with Amadeus, Gandhi, Oliver Stone's flawed but beautiful Nixon, and two films starring Russell Crowe, The Insider and Cinderella Man). I suspect that the promising career of first-time helmer Tony Kaye (who's also behind the lens of the upcoming abortion documentary Lake of Fire) was permanently damaged by his association with American History X, and that really, really, really pisses me off, frankly. (Mini-rant: You know, even though it makes it easier on some level to accept the world when you can reduce its villians to cartoonish images or blow them up into supernatural bogeymen, to me the qualities that make the most evil human beings so damned scary, so real, so accessible, is the fact that they are, by definition, human beings. We shouldn't shy away from showing the man within the monster -- it's far too convenient to deny that, say, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shares DNA with you, and me, and President Bush, and to make him our to be some sort of one-dimensional, unrecognizeable, alien creature. What unnerves me so much about the truly diabolical is how very, very human they are -- this is what made Bruno Ganz's out-of-the-park superlative performance in Downfall so incredible. Yeah, Hitler is responsible for the deaths of dozens of millions of people across the world, but he loved his (of course) German shepherd, Blondie, and was capable of generosity, even compassion, to those he cared about. As Laura Linney said of Chris Cooper's turncoat FBI agent in Breach, a man who caused the deaths of intelligence assets, compromised his own homeland's security, lied, stole, prostituted his intellect and even pimped his wife in explicit sex tapes: "He does love his grandchildren. That I can't argue." Evil is far more... EVIL... when it stops being a caricature and starts eyeballing you, when it stops being abstract and starts existing in YOUR world, YOUR life... When it stops being Jack Nicholson's Joker, an over-the-top, instantly recognizeable, buffoonish psychopath, and starts being John Wayne Gacy, a prominent and respected community member who earned the Secret Service's highest civilian decoration. When it stops living in a shed in rural unincorporated Montana and starts living next door -- on Arlington Road. YOUR road.) However, I digress, again. American History X is, like Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers and Steven Soderbergh's Traffic, pretty much required viewing for anyone who doesn't want to go through modern life with blinders on, in my humble opinion.

Vive, I couldn't agree with you more. Chandler is note-perfect in FNL. (But, then, they all are... A family friend is on the show, and from what he tells me, his character, at least, is going to get some very interesting stuff to do, very "juicy," in the upcoming season...) I'm very glad you finally caught up with broadcast network television's best (remaining) show -- with the possible exception of Heroes.

tuan, you wrote:

...[T]hat's exactly what I loved about King Kong, it was simply ultra-overkill... [J]just skip to when they get to the island then watch orgasmatron in it's cinematic awesomeness.

I understand where you're coming from, I do... This is how I'm able to experience the only forty minutes of Pearl Harbor worth watching, over and over again.

A bit long, sorry, sports fans, but I had quite a bit of ground to cover. Tomorrow I'll be posting my early Oscar picks (something I've been working on since the middle of last week), just to get the conversation going... it's time. Meanwhile, I remain, as always...

Nico.

Nico, if you're as much an FNL freak as I am, I must point you to the Season 2 premiere that's up on Yahoo TV right now . It's the entire episode, in case you can't wait until October 5th.
I freakin' love this show and devoured the entire first season off of NBC's website in about a span of 4 days last week. Does your family friend happen to be a red-headed math geek with a crush on a semi-reformed bad girl? Because I'm really not thrilled with the potentially "juicy" storyline that the premiere sets up for these two...

Vive: Seen it.

Nope, I don't know Jesse Plemons (Landry). Ummmm... I'll say this: he's one of the grown-ups on the show, and he got hisself in a bunch of trouble last season, but sort of redeemed himself in the finale. More than that, I'd be unwilling to say publicly... But what I've divulged is more than enough for, as V would term it, "a clever man."

I'm really not thrilled with the potentially "juicy" storyline that the premiere sets up for these two...

[Nodding] Yeah, the 90210-style stuff rankles me, and it looks like there'll be more of it in Season 2, but I was referring to "juicy" as in, like a steak -- there'll be more meat to his role, more flavor, more thick, zesty goodness. (Damn, I wish I had a Sizzler near my house.) Stay tuned!

I remain, as always...

Nico.

Bless you Michael Bay. Armageddon is a masterpiece.

Ah Nico your so wise and i am glad someone agrees with me on Amercian History X.

P.S still angry about the Bears losing

even though i from Massachusetts born and raised i love the Bears grrrrrrrrrrrr

Rex Grossman is a plant by white supremacists to make sure Lovie Smith never wins a Super Bowl.

tuan:

...[M]uch better than watching something like CSI or SCI or ICS or CIS.

[Snicker, chuckle, snort] A-men, brohim! I just hope that franchise dies before we're burdened with CSI: Waterbury or something... starring Mickey Rourke, Corey Feldman, William Baldwin and Nancy McKeon.

That season 1 finale was simply lame. Lame, lame, lame.

You're channeling Syndrome. [Grin] I actually liked the S1 finale of Heroes. *But nowhere near as much as the mind-f@%# ending of BSG, with that galaxy-spanning pullback straight out of the "Godfellas" episode of Futurama...

Bring on Heroes: Origins with Kevin Smith and Eli Roth. Yum yum!

[Nodding] That should be AWESOME, but, tuan, I swear, if you ever use the words, "Kevin Smith" and "Yum yum!" in the same breath again, I... shall... have many, many nightmares from which I shall never recover without thousands of hours of therapy. And then I'll go sit in a corner with my arms wrapped around my legs and sob like Zoidberg denied of food.

transformers2:

Ah Nico your so wise and i am glad someone agrees with me on Amercian History X.

Why... yes. Yes, I am, and I do. [Grin] Hey, modesty is all well and fine -- I'm a big fan of it, especially in others -- but when you're right, you're right. American History X isn't perfect, but it's exceptional. Entertainment ought not merely provide warm, safe and snuggly environs for us to feel comfortable within... It ought to push us, provoke us, even piss us off on occasion. This is why I support federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, in spite of Mapplethorpe and "performance art" of nuns peeing on crucifixes and video monitors filled with false-color snapshots of Britney's private parts. Art that ceases to be controversial isn't "art," it's pablum, packing peanuts, a test pattern. And anyone who disagrees needs to go see Mona Lisa Smile. (And, yes, that is the only acceptable reason for EVER seeing that film!)

[S]till angry about the Bears losing even though i from Massachusetts born and raised i love the Bears grrrrrrrrrrrr

¿¿¿WTF??? You're from Mass., and you love Da Bears??? Mother McCree would be ashamed of you. Don't you remember, they crucified New England, 46-10 in Super Bowl XX??? What the Hell's the matter with you??? [Grin]

Rex Grossman is a plant by white supremacists to make sure Lovie Smith never wins a Super Bowl.

dranscht: ROTFL!!! Call Oliver Stone, David Duke's infiltrated the NFL! Oh, man, that was beautiful. Wow, Chien is probably so wishing he was reading another thread right about now. Well done, gentlemen. [Grin]

I remain, as always...

Nico.

P.S. Troy -- I mean, Tony Romo for MVP!!!

Yeah Nico i wasnt alive when the Da Bears cruisfied the patriots. and yes dranscht Rex Grossman aka Sexy Rexy is terrible and the KKK didnt plant him there lol and proably is going to be benched this week they need to have Griese or Orton start.

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