TV/Movies Megathread

[Ed Anger]

Yuck.

[Ideologue]

I like nuclear weapons.

[Ed Anger]

And boy, is Broken Arrow weapons grade shit.

[Ideologue]

So harsh.  Everyone hates John Woo's American stuff.

[Eddie Teach]

Haven't seen that one but it does seem Travolta has had a lot of duds in his second act, since Pulp Fiction.  Like all of them.

His first act was worse. Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Moment by Moment, Urban Cowboy...

[mongers]

Haven't seen that one but it does seem Travolta has had a lot of duds in his second act, since Pulp Fiction.  Like all of them.

You should watch it, and like me take solace in knowing it'll drive Serbians and fellow balkanotards nuts when they see it. 

[CountDeMoney]

And boy, is Broken Arrow weapons grade shit.

And what a steamer it is.   Somebody needs to revoke John Woo's visa and deport his ass, so his shitfests can just poison the Far East.

[CountDeMoney]

So harsh.  Everyone hates John Woo's American stuff.

And rightfully so.  I never rooted for the Japanese so much in a war movie than I did in Windtalkers.  I'm just grateful the Duke wasn't alive to see it.

[Ideologue]

Wow.  So much Woo hate.

Apparently there's a $13 BD edition of the 75th anniversary reissue of Gone with the Wind just for proles, available exclusively through Wal-Mart.  The short version is "score."  Indeed, it is actually superior, in that it doesn't come with a giant eyesore of a box that announces "I am either a racist or, at best, I devalue human life and liberty in favor of Technicolor splendor."  While the second part is certainly true, it is not necessarily something I want to broadcast to guests.

[Ideologue]

Oh, and the tally for the Vincent Price films so far is:

The Fall of the House of Usher (1960).  But, seriously, depression is horrifying.  It's the best Price performance I've seen so far.  My impression is that he has always been legitimately good, but Roderick Usher is legitimately great, so pathetic that you feel sorry for him even when he... well, you know.  Plus Daniel Haller's production design is exquisite.  A

Pit and the Pendulum  (1961).  Individual scenes exceed House of Usher, of which it is a naked remake, except it ends with a pit and a pendulum instead of a fire and structural collapse.  Most notable of these individual scenes is when Don Medina discovers his [spoiler]wife's (?) body[/spoiler]; aside from the grotesquely effective prop, the subsequent howling of "True!" is my current favorite Price moment, over-the-top as hell whilst simultaneously remaining extraordinarily emotionally affecting.  Unfortunately, the last twist kind of threw me, though I infer this is a personal failing.

On a filmmaking level, I found it a highly (surprisingly?) accomplished visually, given Corman's undeserved reputation as king of crap.  After having seen a half dozen of the pictures he helmed personally, I surmise that this reputation is fairer viz. Corman the Producer than it is Corman the Director.  As in Usher, the camera is alive and restless, constantly probing around Haller's gorgeously decayed standing sets (appointed differently enough here that you only really notice that they're same as in Usher once or twice, even watching both films in a row).  The real quantum leap in Pendulum is in its editing.  While he never completely abandons it, Corman largely overcomes the sometimes random-feeling B-camera cutting that was a distraction in Usher.  The climactic sequence itself is a tremendous piece of montage, where the pendulum is married to the music in a most excellent way.  A very high B+

Haunted Palace (1963).  (I know--The Raven and Comedy of Terrors are each in the next volume of the collection, not out till next week and way too expensive anyway.  I'd also like to see Premature Burial, but of course that is Ray Milland and not Price, so... bummer.)  This one's still good, but is my least favorite so far.  Actually a Lovecraft adaptation, a spirit of an ancestor possesses Good Vincent Price and turns him into Evil Vincent Price when he and his ridiculously hot wife move into the redressed sets from Usher and Pendulum.  I was rather hoping for more of a struggle between Good Price and Evil Price, as represented by the actor himself on screen and a voice that seems to emanate from a creepy painting of his lookalike forebear.  Sadly, this is not the case, and aside from one exchange, they just kind of alternate, and Good Price is barely in the film after the first half hour.  Also, although the prospect of forcing young women into transdimensional rape in order to gain ever-vaster dark knowledge is a surprisingly gnarly motivation for a villain in 1963, the Elder God himself looks a little silly.  (Also, why was it impossible to make-up Lon Chaney Jr.'s neck?)  B

[celedhring]

Yeah, Haunted Palace is one of the weakest. Usher and Pendulum are comfortably the best, but Masque of Red Death has some arresting sequences and features rich greedy people dying of pestilence, a theme that always endears me. Ligeia's also good.

Going with the John Woo/Travolta theme, Face/Off must be one of the most laughable films I've ever watched. Nicholas Cage at his overacting worst, too.

Also, I believe that if you played all slo-mo sequences at regular speed, that film wouldn't reach 60 minutes in length.

[Viking]

So harsh.  Everyone hates John Woo's American stuff.

I respectfully disagree. I think both Broken Arrow and Face/Off are awesome movies. They are straight up good vs bad action movies. I always enjoy watching both of them.

[Eddie Teach]

Awesome may be a bit much, but they're fun. I'd take Face/Off, Broken Arrow, Get Shorty, or even Swordfish over seeing Grease again. 

[Ideologue]

So harsh.  Everyone hates John Woo's American stuff.

I respectfully disagree. I think both Broken Arrow and Face/Off are awesome movies. They are straight up good vs bad action movies. I always enjoy watching both of them.

Awesome may be a bit much, but they're fun. I'd take Face/Off, Broken Arrow, Get Shorty, or even Swordfish over seeing Grease again. 

[Eddie Teach]

I hope that face is a joke, you should know by now I dislike most musicals.