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movies, movies and football

movies, movies (and football) (this post has nothing to do with September 11)

We finally sat down and relaxed yesterday. The past two weeks have been a blur of running around, wedding stuff, school stuff, just general craziness. Yesterday, we took a break from everything and stayed in the house all day, watching tv and talking. Things we watched:

Heist. Wow. That was probably the worst dialogue I've seen in a movie since Attack of the Clones. Every sentence was a cliche, every word uttered was laughable. The acting left a lot to be desired, and the plot was ridiculously strained. I would like that two hours back, please.

Rat Race. We sat through this...I don't know why. It wasn't stupid in the Dude, Where's My Car sense, but it was stupid enough that I hated myself for actually laughing at a few parts. It's interesting - I waver between thinking Seth Green is the cutest thing alive to thinking he's a slightly retarded imp.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail DVD: The extras on this DVD are worth the price alone. The commentary is hilarious. The English to Japanese back to Enlgish translation of some scenes had me rolling on the floor. Well worth the overpiced $30 we paid for it at Suncoast.

Blade II: I thought it was fantastic. The first time we saw it, it was on a shitty DiVx copy. It was so much better when you can actually see the action without squinting or straining your eyes.

Dusk Till Dawn DVD: If you like this movie, you must watch it with the commentary. The first time I saw DTD, I had no idea that it was a vampire movie, so I was stunned when that whole scene at the Titty Twister took place. I never get tired of this flick, ever. The commentary made it even better. (This holds true for most movies we have listened to the commentary on, with the exception of Donnie Darko, which ruined the whole mystique of the movie for me).

Willy Wonka: It was on tv, and I get suckered into watching it every time it's on. It was especially interesting to watch this time, after reading the essay at the Banned Books Project about the book/movie. (Yes, that was a hint for you to go read it)

So, we have somewhere around 180 channels on our digital cable. Most of them are movie channels. I've begun to notice something; there are some movies that are just always on. Every day, every single day of the week, you can, at some point, find Mr. Mom, Funny Farm or Firestorm. I always had this thing for Howie Long, but Firestorm tries even my patience.

Besides the movies that are on continuously, there are several actors who will appear on at least one movie channel at any given time of the day: Steven Seagal, Michael Madsen and Eric Roberts. Has Michael Madsen ever made a movie that didn't go straight to video or cable? Has he ever made a decent movie?

I am still looking for decent horror movies to purchase. I can't decide whether it's worth it or not to buy Last House on the Left. I'm sure my memory of the movie (which I saw at a double feature one Halloween with Texas Chainsaw Massacre) is a lot better than the movie actually is. Actually, all I can remember is the weener biting scene. We decided against owning I Spit on Your Grave, but we will be collecting all the Day of..Dawn of..Return of...the dead movies. Brains, anyone?

The NFL season goes into full swing today. If you need me, I'll be in front of the tv, switching between the Jets and the Packers games and most likely cursing and screaming.

Posted by on September 8, 2002 07:05 AM |

Comments

You didn't like Heist? I thought it was okay, but I guess that's because I really like Gene Hackman. Holy Grail rocks! Just watched Blade II last night and thought it was great, but I really was hoping that Whistler would have bought the farm. I just noticed the Day of... Dawn of etc were out on DVD... must look into adding them to my collection... and need to get the Evil Dead trilogy on DVD as well. Good luck on the hunt for good horror... there isn't really much out there that falls into that catagory ;)

Posted by: Mercy | September 8, 2002 11:14 AM

Be careful when purchasing the DVDs the ED trilogy. There are like a zillion different version of each.

Of course, we have them all.

Posted by: michele | September 8, 2002 11:50 AM

Re: Michael Madsen... Did you not like "Reservoir Dogs"?

Posted by: John | September 8, 2002 12:43 PM

These people are, IMHO, idiots. Not the movie people, but the ones who see problems such as racism with the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I read that book in 1974 (age 9) and adored it. It never once occurred to me that black people should be condescended to, or that the Oompa-Loompas were anything but exceedingly happy after Willie Wonka saved them from a diet of mashed caterpillars and made the factory into their personal kingdom. They were people who were rescued from a terrible life and paid in that which they loved most while having extremely good care taken care of them. Why would they want money instead of cacao beans? Why is it racism if they're black, but not if they're orange? Don't these people think?

As for Charlie not having any positive characteristics of his own, that's part of the point (though I disagree that politeness and humility show an absence of character; it takes far more character to be polite during tough times than it does to be a holy terror). It's just like Harry Potter in that any child who feels downtrodden or unable to speak for himself can still have wonderful things happen. Charlie and Harry were both decent people despite their adverse circumstances, and I think that's an extremely important part of the message in both books.

I'm glad I didn't watch the movie. I'm torqued enough after reading that essay. I get tired of the babble mouthed by the Committee to Stamp Out Fun.

Posted by: Laura the torqued | September 8, 2002 01:23 PM

I almost watched Heist yesterday. Now that I read this, I'm glad I trusted my instincts and passed it by.

Willie Wonka is one of my all time favorite movies because it's so cheesy. I even own the DVD, a birthday present last year.

Posted by: Christine | September 8, 2002 02:05 PM

what about bad taste? or brain dead?

Posted by: g | September 8, 2002 02:20 PM

Resevoir Dogs is the exception to the Madsen rule.

And G, I own both those movies. (Brain Dead aka Dead Alive).

Posted by: michele | September 8, 2002 02:39 PM

Resevoir Dogs is the exception to the Madsen rule.

And G, I own both those movies. (Brain Dead aka Dead Alive).

Posted by: michele | September 8, 2002 02:39 PM

Doh. Too lazy to fix my own double post.

Posted by: michele | September 8, 2002 02:39 PM

I, too, was totally slammed by the Titty Twister episode in Dusk til Dawn. My surprise equalled that during the movie, "Parents," when what I thought was a comedy, turned out to be about a kid whose parents are cannibals (Steve Martin's Parenthood came out around the same time). We bought Dusk til Dawn and loaned it to a friend, who never to this day seems to remember borrowing it, and always says, "Oh, I'll look for it..." We finally gave in, and bought it again...

Posted by: Vex | September 10, 2002 11:51 AM