TV/Movies Megathread

[Ideologue]

The Conversation (1974).  This movie is unafraid to try your patience in the first thirty minutes, but it will reward you.  It's probably a spoiler to say it has a twist.  Well, it came out forty-two years ago.  Gene Hackman is a surveillance expert who becomes embroiled--personally, emotionally, ethically--in one of his cases.  Will he solve the mystery in time?  Nope.  It must have been a slow year for Gene Siskel to call this the 4th best movie of 1974, and Ebert the 10th, but it is good. B  P.S. Good Lord, was Gene Hackman born an old, balding man with a mustache?

It's the best thriller of the 70s.  Why do I read these reviews?

Was there a mention of Bactria that I missed or something?

It really only gets going with its last act.  It's a great last act, but rarely does a great last act a great movie make.  The first thirty of The Conversation is pretty damned dull.

I also found Caul to be a real asshole to his girlfriend, for no good reason, and that bothered me.

[Ed Anger]

Polar Express (2004).  Nice little kids' Christmas movie with some decent visuals.  I loved some of Tom Hanks' reads in this movie.  "Christmas might not be important to SOOOOME people!"  The Jews? B

Ide? Fuck you. This movie is an abomination.

[Ideologue]

QQ: Also, I find it interesting that you get mad when I say I liked a movie, but not enough.   You've literally never gotten upset with me over a negative review, just insufficiently positive ones.

[Eddie Teach]

It's just a sign that they were all basically good, except for two which weren't, and one of which was pretty awesome.  Warrior's on Netflix Instant.

Ok, then your bell curve is too pronounced. Any movie that can be described as "pretty awesome" should merit an A. Movies that just aren't good should get Ds or Fs.

[Ideologue]

Polar Express (2004).  Nice little kids' Christmas movie with some decent visuals.  I loved some of Tom Hanks' reads in this movie.  "Christmas might not be important to SOOOOME people!"  The Jews? B

Ide? Fuck you. This movie is an abomination.

I thought it was sweet, and I like it when trains get into trouble (The General, Silver Streak, the monorail episode of The Simpsons, the forty minutes of Lone Ranger that didn't suck).

[Ideologue]

It's just a sign that they were all basically good, except for two which weren't, and one of which was pretty awesome.  Warrior's on Netflix Instant.

Ok, then your bell curve is too pronounced. Any movie that can be described as "pretty awesome" should merit an A. Movies that just aren't good should get Ds or Fs.

I had a 3.0 in law school.  I think that explains everything.

[Ed Anger]

Polar Express (2004).  Nice little kids' Christmas movie with some decent visuals.  I loved some of Tom Hanks' reads in this movie.  "Christmas might not be important to SOOOOME people!"  The Jews? B

Ide? Fuck you. This movie is an abomination.

I thought it was sweet, and I like it when trains get into trouble (The General, Silver Streak, the monorail episode of The Simpsons, the forty minutes of Lone Ranger that didn't suck).

There is nothing sweet about that pile of garbage.

[Queequeg]

The Conversation (1974).  This movie is unafraid to try your patience in the first thirty minutes, but it will reward you.  It's probably a spoiler to say it has a twist.  Well, it came out forty-two years ago.  Gene Hackman is a surveillance expert who becomes embroiled--personally, emotionally, ethically--in one of his cases.  Will he solve the mystery in time?  Nope.  It must have been a slow year for Gene Siskel to call this the 4th best movie of 1974, and Ebert the 10th, but it is good. B  P.S. Good Lord, was Gene Hackman born an old, balding man with a mustache?

It's the best thriller of the 70s.  Why do I read these reviews?

Was there a mention of Bactria that I missed or something?

It really only gets going with its last act.  It's a great last act, but rarely does a great last act a great movie make.  The first thirty of The Conversation is pretty damned dull.

I also found Caul to be a real asshole to his girlfriend, for no good reason, and that bothered me.

Your inability to appreciate atmosphere and tension is duly noted.

[Eddie Teach]

I found The Conversation kinda dull too. Once Upon a Time in the West, though, deserves an A or A-.

[Ideologue]

There is nothing sweet about that pile of garbage.

Sweet and brittle and occasionally annoying, like a Butterfinger.  I'm hungry.

Also, Psellus: there you go, Silver Streak was a better thriller than The Conversation, even though it was a comedy.  And, speaking of Ned Beatty, so is fucking Deliverance.  You're nuts.

So is Chinatown.  And Dirty Harry.  And The Taking of Pelham 123.  And Jaws.  And Assault on Precinct 13.  And Marathon Man.  And Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  And The Seven-Ups.  And Duel.  FUCKING DUEL.

(And, on information and belief, The French Connection, Telefon and Straw Dogs.  They're on my list.)

If they count (Wikipedia lists 'em, but I disagree they're "thrillers"), Carrie and Vanishing Point.

"Best thriller of the 1970s," my ass.

[Ideologue]

I found The Conversation kinda dull too. Once Upon a Time in the West, though, deserves an A or A-.

I dunno.  I think it's my least favorite Sergio Leone film so far.  But it is by no means bad.

[Queequeg]

So is Chinatown.  And Dirty Harry.  And The Taking of Pelham 123.  And Jaws.  And Assault on Precinct 13.  And Marathon Man.  And Invasion of the Body Snatchers.  And The Seven-Ups.  And Duel.  FUCKING DUEL.

I think one or two of these are actual thrillers, though it's probably best to say that The Conversation is the best example of the paranoid 70s thriller.

[Ideologue]

I'll begrudgingly accept Jaws and Body Snatchers being removed based on their supernatural (or hypernatural) elements.

The others you're just gonna have to live with, since they're about guys confronting mysteries and feeling oppressed and shit.

Duel is totally a thriller.  It's also a car chase film, and it's still probably my favorite non-Death Proof car chase film (it might be my favorite Spielberg film, oddly enough), but you must admit that Dennis Weaver gets pretty paranoid.

Oh, and as soon as Netflix can scare up a copy of Hardcore, I'll see if it's better too.

I do take back The Seven-Ups.  It's not as good as The Conversation.

[The Larch]

Polar Express and Beowulf? Are you having a Zemeckis themed marathon of animation movies with characters with eerily expresionless faces?

[CountDeMoney]

Oh, and as soon as Netflix can scare up a copy of Hardcore, I'll see if it's better too.

Not a thriller.  Drama?  Yes.  But not a "thriller".