What movies did you see today?

[josebach]

No offense josebach, but I completely disagree with your characterization of the film. I don't want to give away any of the events that happen, but the movie portrays a far more complicated picture than "be yourself no matter what or you'll regret it," mostly because of social complexities involved in the film. That's the message of the film for 3/4 of it, but events add quite a bit of irony to this take. I'll say no more for those actually still interested in seeing it.

I also disagree on the aging of the actors point. I think that its hard to make Jake Gyllenhal look old, but his character has a youthful spirit about him, and I thought they did an exceptional job with Heath Ledger. And Heath Ledger's performance was pretty incredible. I never knew he had that range as an actor.

For me, Brokeback Mountain was a 9/10 and the clear front-runner for the Oscar.

This movie is a Greek tragedy. Regret and missed opportunity are exactly what the movie was about. My comments were a generalization, not an in depth analysis. I'm a little curious as to how you would characterize it.

As far as being a "clear front-runner for the Oscar", both "Walk the Line" and "Munich" were not only better movies, but better acted. Don't get me wrong, Brokeback Mountain was a solid, very important movie and it certainly demands some of the attention it's been getting, but to reward it with best picture is a pretty big stretch. Heath Ledger did a good job, but he also does a decent job in almost everything he does. I say this because I'm a little curious as to how he can be touted as a horrible actor by critics for practically every movie he's ever made, and all of a sudden he's worthy of a Golden Globe or Oscar because he plays a homosexual? Not only that, but Jake Gyllenhall has had better performances THIS YEAR in Jarhead, yet he's going to get nominated for Brokeback?

It just seems to me like everybody either over or under compensated their judgement on it based on their personal beliefs or political correctness. I could be wrong, but after having seen the movie it's the only conclusion I can come too. All I see are A+'s and F's in the user ratings, and this movie isn't close to either.

[The_Dude]

No offense josebach, but I completely disagree with your characterization of the film. I don't want to give away any of the events that happen, but the movie portrays a far more complicated picture than "be yourself no matter what or you'll regret it," mostly because of social complexities involved in the film. That's the message of the film for 3/4 of it, but events add quite a bit of irony to this take. I'll say no more for those actually still interested in seeing it.

I also disagree on the aging of the actors point. I think that its hard to make Jake Gyllenhal look old, but his character has a youthful spirit about him, and I thought they did an exceptional job with Heath Ledger. And Heath Ledger's performance was pretty incredible. I never knew he had that range as an actor.

For me, Brokeback Mountain was a 9/10 and the clear front-runner for the Oscar.

This movie is a Greek tragedy. Regret and missed opportunity are exactly what the movie was about. My comments were a generalization, not an in depth analysis. I'm a little curious as to how you would characterize it.

As far as being a "clear front-runner for the Oscar", both "Walk the Line" and "Munich" were not only better movies, but better acted. Don't get me wrong, Brokeback Mountain was a solid, very important movie and it certainly demands some of the attention it's been getting, but to reward it with best picture is a pretty big stretch. Heath Ledger did a good job, but he also does a decent job in almost everything he does. I say this because I'm a little curious as to how he can be touted as a horrible actor by critics for practically every movie he's ever made, and all of a sudden he's worthy of a Golden Globe or Oscar because he plays a homosexual? Not only that, but Jake Gyllenhall has had better performances THIS YEAR in Jarhead, yet he's going to get nominated for Brokeback?

It just seems to me like everybody either over or under compensated their judgement on it based on their personal beliefs or political correctness. I could be wrong, but after having seen the movie it's the only conclusion I can come too. All I see are A+'s and F's in the user ratings, and this movie isn't close to either.

I'll send a PM about the film so as not to discuss plot occurences too much. Let me also say that I didn't just like the film because I sympathized with the presentation of gay characters. I won't hide my political beliefs, but compare the film to another film which has empathetic gay characters in love out this year - Rent - and there's no comparison. Rent didnt' translate all that well onto the big screen and came off as downright campy in instances. That film, more than this film, deals with themes of a love story between two homosexual characters (actually multiple relationships).

A couple of points. I don't think Jake G. will be nominated for anything, nor should he be. His character was less demanding/complex. And, Ledger's performance, in my opinion is not be commended because he's playing a gay character, but rather for hitting all the right subtleties. That said, I think he should be nominated, but I doubt he'll win given Phillip Seymour Hoffman's performance in Capote.

I've yet to see Walk the Line, but I'm sure I'll feel about it as I've felt about every other biopic that's come out in the last two years - somewhat lukewarm on the film as a storytelling experience, but overwhelmed by the performances. But, I'm willing to reserve judgements until I see all the films (Constant Gardener is on the way from Netflix and the wife and I are going to see Walk the Line next weekend).

Dude

[Canacuna]

Not to worry, I have seen some classics lately.

The Magnificent Seven: This is a transposed version of a Kurosawa samurai movie in a western setting. You take Eli Wallach, Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, and Charles Bronson and put them in a great plot and add memorable theme music. I approve. James Coburn is the one who steals the show for me. The best scene in the movie is when he proves the old saying wrong by taking a knife to a gun fight and winning. Why the movie fails to live up to Kurosawa's is because Toshiro Mifune is vastly superior to the German actor who played his part in this one.
9/10

I haven't seen this movie before, but I'm definitely checkin' it out. Sounds fantabulous.

Hustle & Flow was surpisingly decent. I dug it.

I finally caught The Magnificent Seven tonight. I definitely dug it... and I usually don't dig westerns. The knife-fight was definitely the best scene in the show.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my Hustle & Flow thing... that one girl... Taryn Manning... I was wondering why they didn't have her sing anything in the movie. She sings in that band with her brother... Boomkat...

...just wonderin'.

I also watched The Rock. I dug it.

[Goatwhacker]

Rachel McAdams is a hottie

I was kind of partial to Isla Fisher. Watched it (again) on DVD with my wife - she thought it was just OK, I thought it was great.

[Lushcrush]

...I rented Slap Shot instead.

Without a doubt one of my alltime favorites

[Alkaholik]

...I rented Slap Shot instead.

Without a doubt one of my alltime favorites

Classic movie....love it

[The_Dude]

...I rented Slap Shot instead.

Without a doubt one of my alltime favorites

Classic movie....love it

The_Dude puts on the foil every time he plays hockey.

[Flockers]

I saw Wedding Crashers and The 40 Year Old Virgin. I thought they were both hilarious. The chick that hooks up with Vince Vaughn looks like a girl in my Spanish class, so I thought that was pretty cool. TFYOV was a hilarious movie from beginning to end. There were a lot of funny ass lines in that movie.

My favorite part was when they were at the sex clinic and the little Jewish kid was trying to sound like he was cool and his dad was shooting him down.

"We went to Temple on Friday night."
"Shut up Seth, do you think you're cool with your little Jew 'fro?"
"Seth - you have a tiny penis."

Wedding Crashers: 7.5/10
The 40 Year Old Virgin: 9.5/10

[Homeless]

Lord of War

Hmmm decent movie. If I had to pick a major hole in it I would have to say the baby brother. No way the main character would need him or take him on any kind of business trip.
Also there's a weak attempt to tie the movie into the fact that the US, UK, Russia China and france are the worlds biggest arms dealers and happen to be the 5 permanent members of the UN security council. Whoa, tell us something we don’t know.

6.5/10

[onnestabe]

I saw The Matador Saturday. I thought it was very funny - kinda dark since it is about an aging assassin (AKA, facilitator of fatalities). I thought that Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear were both very good in their characters, and the plot, while predictable at times, still had enough twists and turns to make it interesting.

I would recommend it to people who like dark comedies, but perhaps not to the general population.

7/10