Movies & TV Last movie you watched?

Remove this Banner Ad

crosby123 said:
Where Eagles Dare would just about have to be my favourite action movie ever. However, I love it as much for Richard Burton as Clint. Cool as a cucumber at all times.

I liked it better than Guns of Navarone, which lacked the polish, I thought. Plus, the Richard Burton + Clint Eastwood combo is superior to that of Gregory Peck + Anthony Quinn. Also, no cable cars over incredible chasms in Guns of Navarone.

Seen Force 10 from Navarone, the sequel? If not, don't. It is awful. This is despite featuring Edward Fox, star of The Day of the Jackal (another superlative film).
Click to expand...
I've never seen the films of the Navarone books, only read them; but they really didn't rate for me in print either, unlike Eagles which IMO is one of the best thrillers ever written. Depsite its fantastic plot, the basic premise of Eagles is very believable: the Allies had staked the farm on the 'Second Front', keeping its secrets hidden was the most important objective. Navarone's different: in order to save a couple of battalions of troops, the British sacrifice even more men and irreplacable ships to try and get them out. Which also begs the question of why the Germans would have bothered installing such uber-powerful cannon in the remote backwater of the Aegean in the first place.
 
thejester said:
I dunno man, Al could go over the top at times - though I just read on wikipedia that Eagles was Clint's highest body count, so I suppose you're right; but the big Greek guy in the Navarone books pulled some pretty outrageous moves, if memory serves correctly.
Click to expand...
Like straightening a poker iron without twitching an eyebrow? After not sleeping for X number of hours, where X = some number greater than 96? You need to work out more.

Andrea always sniped from behind rocks. He never leapt into the middle of a Nazi-jammed corridor, body-language screaming "Come and get me, big boys." Um...except in Mallory's tale of Andrea avenging his family's murder.

Ice Station Zebra was the last movie my mother saw at a drive-through. According to her version, the weather was stormy and the film too dark to properly ascertain what was happening on screen. To protect my sanity I try to believe that. :thumbsu:

crosby123 said:
I liked it better than Guns of Navarone, which lacked the polish, I thought. Plus, the Richard Burton + Clint Eastwood combo is superior to that of Gregory Peck + Anthony Quinn. Also, no cable cars over incredible chasms in Guns of Navarone.

Seen Force 10 from Navarone, the sequel? If not, don't. It is awful. This is despite featuring Edward Fox, star of The Day of the Jackal (another superlative film).
Click to expand...
Unfair comparison, Crosby. Guns used a trio, you're excluding David Niven whose bleeding heart stole the movie IMO. But WED's certainly the superior action film. Guns focuses heavily on the psychological stress of leadership and strained relationships for your standard blockbuster war flick; there's as much drama as action. And never mention Force 10 again. Please. Weaver?? And Harrison Ford as who??? I'm trying to erase it from memory.

Yes, Day of The Jackal's superb. Freddy Forsyth's long been one of my favourite authors. Picked up the Odessa File about 6 months ago, with Jon Voight as Peter Miller, but I'm yet to watch it.
The Fourth Protocol was fairly mundane. What made the book interesting could never be translated to film -at least not in a way that would satisfy their target audience- leaving looong boring stake-out sequences. Yet to see The Dogs Of War.

thejester said:
I've never seen the films of the Navarone books, only read them; but they really didn't rate for me in print either, unlike Eagles which IMO is one of the best thrillers ever written. Depsite its fantastic plot, the basic premise of Eagles is very believable: the Allies had staked the farm on the 'Second Front', keeping its secrets hidden was the most important objective. Navarone's different: in order to save a couple of battalions of troops, the British sacrifice even more men and irreplacable ships to try and get them out. Which also begs the question of why the Germans would have bothered installing such uber-powerful cannon in the remote backwater of the Aegean in the first place.
Click to expand...
I thought the ships were supposed to turn back if the guns hadn't been destroyed? (And can you remember why the men weren't airlifted out?)
There were political implications too, in Guns the battle for the Aegean was partly a dick-measuring contest to persuade Turkey to side with the Allies and not the Axis.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Stripey PJs said:
Unfair comparison, Crosby. Guns used a trio, you're excluding David Niven whose bleeding heart stole the movie IMO. But WED's certainly the superior action film. Guns focuses heavily on the psychological stress of leadership and strained relationships for your standard blockbuster war flick; there's as much drama as action. And never mention Force 10 again. Please. Weaver?? And Harrison Ford as who??? I'm trying to erase it from memory.
Click to expand...
I remembered Niven, but considering my comparison was for action films, I didn't think his role too important. I see your point about the emotion and drama though. Richard Burton and Clint are hardly at their most demonstrative in WED, even by their standards.

Stripey PJs said:
I thought the ships were supposed to turn back if the guns hadn't been destroyed? (And can you remember why the men weren't airlifted out?)
There were political implications too, in Guns the battle for the Aegean was partly a dick-measuring contest to persuade Turkey to side with the Allies and not the Axis.
Click to expand...
That was my understanding. Only Alistair MacLean book I've read, actually, though that was a long time ago.
 
Stripey PJs said:
Like straightening a poker iron without twitching an eyebrow? After not sleeping for X number of hours, where X = some number greater than 96? You need to work out more.

Andrea always sniped from behind rocks. He never leapt into the middle of a Nazi-jammed corridor, body-language screaming "Come and get me, big boys." Um...except in Mallory's tale of Andrea avenging his family's murder.
Click to expand...

In Force 10 didn't he take a knife in the arm from a Chetnik without twitching, killed him, then mere hours (minutes?) later used said arm to cling to the ladder in the gorge?

I thought the ships were supposed to turn back if the guns hadn't been destroyed? (And can you remember why the men weren't airlifted out?)
There were political implications too, in Guns the battle for the Aegean was partly a dick-measuring contest to persuade Turkey to side with the Allies and not the Axis.
Click to expand...

You're thinking of the destroyers sent to get the men out. In the premable where Mallory et al are getting told why they have to execute this uber-secret mission, the generic intelligence officer tells him that these two guns have sunk a list of ships which would appear to make up half the Royal Navy - I can't remember if he throws in a few battleships, but he definitely says a cruisers have gone down. Given how utterly precious every ship was to the RN, even at this late point of the war, it already strikes the wrong note - especially as even trying to get Turkey involved pales in comparison to the invasion of Italy (and eventually France). I dunno, maybe I'm just too much of a nerd.

crosby123 said:
I remembered Niven, but considering my comparison was for action films, I didn't think his role too important. I see your point about the emotion and drama though. Richard Burton and Clint are hardly at their most demonstrative in WED, even by their standards.
Click to expand...

Clint doesn't need to be demonstrative; he just narrows his eyes and his opponents are pwned. But Burton badly showed his age in it.
 
crosby123 said:
That was my understanding. Only Alistair MacLean book I've read, actually, though that was a long time ago.
Click to expand...
Really? I was raised on this stuff as a kid...though I don't ever remember completing Puppet On a Chain. Like a number of authors, his early works are his best. I can recommend Fear is the Key.
I'm not sure I'd enjoy his writing as much today, I attempted re-reading HMS Ulysses a few years back and found it so emotionally manipulative that I started rolling my eyes.

(And no Miller = no badda-bing-badda-BOOM :D)

thejester said:
In Force 10 didn't he take a knife in the arm from a Chetnik without twitching, killed him, then mere hours (minutes?) later used said arm to cling to the ladder in the gorge?
Click to expand...
Ah, yes, that's stirring memories. Whilst shielding another man against said ladder as both receive a shower from umpteen tonnes of brick-strewn dam water?

Great points in your second paragraph.
 
Even though I'm slightly embarrassed to admit it but, "Bring it On" and "Life as a House".

And if any is interested Target is having a MASSIVE sale on DVDs. I got the above mentioned dvds, as well as "Extras" (the BBC series, with Ricky Gervais) and "Borat" for just $15 each. Others for like $5. I had a stack of seven dvd titles, before i had to force myself to just walk away.
:thumbsu::D
 
*punt*

American Gangster - 7.5/10

It's probably fair to say American Gangster is the thinking man's gangster movie. Save for the climatic fight scene at the end, the violence is sparse in the film, and heavily tilted toward brutality and shock rather than awesome. At first glance a formulaic rise-and-fall movie, it is heavy with overtones of the upheavels of the '60s - race, Vietnam, the denigration of American society - but also the deeper themes of what motivates the two main characters to do what they do.

Denzel Washington plays Frank Lucas, driver, bodyguard and enforcer for a Harlem gangster. When the gangster dies in 1968, Frank takes his chance - hearing of mounting drug problems with US forces in Vietnam, he gets on the line to his cousin in Thailand and starts importing heroin direct from the source, directly undercutting the competition. He christens his new product - sold uncut for half the price of the competitors - 'Blue Magic'.

Crowe is Richie Roberts, the only straight cop in a bent police force who, depsite his morals at work, routinely cheats on his wife and plays the absent father as well. After finding his ex-partner turned junkie dead from an overdose and with a Blue Magic package in his pocket, Richie jumps at the chance to head a new federal narcotics bureau in New York.

It's pretty simple, in the end. Lucas builds empire, Roberts brings it down. Over the top are issues of family - Roberts is straight laced but can't keep his together, Lucas pulls his out of the rural slums of North Carolina but at the prices of getting their hands dirty, with tragic results. You get the impression in trying to develop this the writers and Ridley Scott were torn between their desire to stick to the true story - Lucas and Roberts were real people - and give the film some depth. In the final analysis, the film is good but feel slightly rushed; it clocks in at 157 minutes but there's still some pretty big holes, especially in the development of the relationship between Lucas and Roberts. Go see it, but don't have your hopes too high (save for the wicked raid scene at the end).
 
Shell said:
A documentary entitled: "The Corporation".

Basically looks at Corporations, how they take over the world and brain wash people.

HAHAHA, and I noticed the name of the guy who wrote the script was "Bart Simpson". :D
Click to expand...
I've seen that, pretty good.. Have you seen Enron : The Smartest Guys in the Room

I have recently seen Lords of Dogtown, Transformers, Into the Wild, Alpha Dog.
All are good movies.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

I rewatched North by Northwest last night. Still totally awesome.
 
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" at the flicks on Friday.

Lavish spectacle, superb costumes and set design and top acting, Cate Blanchett front and center for most of he film and she delivers a knockout performance, matched by the amazingly talented Samantha Morton as Mary Queen of Scots in a small but pivotal role.

Clive Owen in the role of Sir Walter Raleigh is the films one slight weakness, not an actor with much substance IMO, fails to bring gravitas to the role and also seems to contemporary for the era.

Recommended ........ 7/10.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Movies & TV Last movie you watched?

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top