Movies you've recently watched

[Oexmelin]

again to be fair, while I don't think I ever would have recommended the movie to Oex, if what you're expecting is a summer popcorn thriller with a thin veneer of history on top it's pretty good.

I see I have a reputation as a movie snob 

But I can enjoy a good action / popcorn thriller if it is well done. Here, the scenario is terrible and artificial, the directing is uninspired («let's walk so that I can explain scholarly stuff while the camera is moving» ; «oh no! copying two lines of text takes too long, let's rip that page out!»), Tom Hanks acts as well as a frying pan, his co-star is a non-entity...

Plus, as a historian there is no well in hell the Vatican archives would let anyone in with their coats and purses ! 

[BuddhaRhubarb]

Watched "Forbidden Planet" which I hadn't seen in ages. Holds up very well. I think I'm developing an interest in Walter Pidgeon films. Great Star Trek-y template of a "villain". This movie is the basic plot of 1/2 the episodes of TOS ST.

Gorgeously shot. Ann Francis and Leslie Nielsen (who I now realize was likely a "Young Vincent Price" to many in that era... as he reminds me of Price in the 40's noirs he did) have a real decent chemistry. Very deep story, great futuristic civilization. I may have to buy my own copy.

9.75 Geniuses who augment their Int rolls but not their Wis outta 10

[Sheilbh]

Tom Hanks is second only to Nicholas Cage in my Pantheon of Hollywood Hate.  So I imagine I won't see Angels and Demons.

I think L'Ossevatore Romano's review should have been on the posters:

[the film] certainly doesn't deserve the seal of good culture; it's more of a gigantic, clever commercial operation.

modest

rather innocuous

must face two hours of harmless entertainment that has little to do with the genius and mystery of Christianity, without getting beyond the usual stereotypes.

Positively glowing

[Berkut]

OMG! A film as a commercial operation!

The travesty! I might faint!

[Barrister]

again to be fair, while I don't think I ever would have recommended the movie to Oex, if what you're expecting is a summer popcorn thriller with a thin veneer of history on top it's pretty good.

I see I have a reputation as a movie snob 

But I can enjoy a good action / popcorn thriller if it is well done. Here, the scenario is terrible and artificial, the directing is uninspired («let's walk so that I can explain scholarly stuff while the camera is moving» ; «oh no! copying two lines of text takes too long, let's rip that page out!»), Tom Hanks acts as well as a frying pan, his co-star is a non-entity...

Plus, as a historian there is no well in hell the Vatican archives would let anyone in with their coats and purses ! 

Nah - you have a reputation for being a history snob. :p

And why the Tom Hanks hate Sheilbh?  He's been in some good flicks.  I'm not so much a fan of his 80s comedies, but Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Green Mile, Forrest Gump, Toy Story...  I wouldn't put him in the same category as Nicholas Cage (who I also can't stand) at all.

[Berkut]

Tom Hanks is excellent, and deserved the back to back Best Actor Oscars he won for Philadelphia and Forrest Gump.

[Sheilbh]

And why the Tom Hanks hate Sheilbh?  He's been in some good flicks.  I'm not so much a fan of his 80s comedies, but Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Green Mile, Forrest Gump, Toy Story...  I wouldn't put him in the same category as Nicholas Cage (who I also can't stand) at all.

I don't know.  There's something about his films that just makes me want to shrivel up into the foetal position until they're over.  Even when I was a kid, when Forrest Gump first came out, I hated it and him.

Toy Story I give you.  It's magnificent.

[Josquius]

How can anyone hate Big?

[Sophie Scholl]

How can anyone hate Big?

Oh noes, I actually agree with you!   He is right though, how can anyone hate that movie?

[Sheilbh]

I think Big and the Toy Story films are Tom Hanks' only impressive movies.  The rest is a very large trough.

[vinraith]

You're forgetting Apollo 13. That movie, along with Big and the Toy Story movies, is more than sufficient to justify the man's career.

[Neil]

I think Big and the Toy Story films are Tom Hanks' only impressive movies.  The rest is a very large trough.

Private Ryan was a good war movie, a genre we don't see much of anymore.

I'm just weirded out to see Hanks acting these days.  You don't see much of him these days, whereas ten years ago he was the #1 celebrity on the planet, and frequently mentioned as a candidate for greatest actor of his generation.

I have to give it up to Hanks.  He's done a lot of films and has been pretty good in them.

[Sheilbh]

Private Ryan was a good war movie, a genre we don't see much of anymore.

I don't really like it.

I also don't like Apollo 13.  Even Big and Toy Story are good enough for me to forgive the years of crying in the foetal position.

[Neil]

Private Ryan was a good war movie, a genre we don't see much of anymore.

I don't really like it.

I also don't like Apollo 13.  Even Big and Toy Story are good enough for me to forgive the years of crying in the foetal position.

Is there anything rational about it, or do they just rub you the wrong way?

[Grey Fox]

What's Big? Can't seem to remember it.