Last movie you watched?

[Mr. Marshmallow]

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Yes, I saw it and I am most pleased to contribute to this discussion about this film by saying it kicked [BLEEPING] ASS!!!

Seriously though, this is without a doubt one of the greatest series films I have ever seen and probably the best trilogy finale film I have ever seen. I have seen lots of trilogies and none have ever accumulated such an astounding, incredible, and masterpiece quality of acting, visuals, story, and down right overall goodness.

This blows both pirates films out of the water and manages to handle an incredibly large cast and wide variety of characters with conclusions and twists and turns that never cease to fail or surprise. You'll be shocked at how many surprises pop into this film and Jack Sparrow is easily at his finest hour in this film.

He's never been as great as he has been now, and his wit and charm play off Barbossa beautifully. Their chemistry on screen is classic and hysterical, those who loved how the 2 played off each other so well in the first film we'll be pleased to see they are a classic couple and Rush and Depp never fail to deliver the comedic goods.

Chow yun Fat is especially incredible as Tao Fang, word of mouth spread around about the quality of his performance and everything they say is true: he does a freaking awesome job. The music here is also amazing, I was really touched with certain scenes orchestra and I really felt this music is crucial to the film's magnificence.

The stunning fights and action sequences are not only well crafted, but relentless. There's never a dull moment, even the critics praised at how constant the action is. But the best thing about the movie, the best thing that I felt Pirates has done that surpasses all blockbusters this summer (Spider man 3 included).

Was the epicness of the film. Pirates has now ascended into the great film trilogies like Indiana Jones, The Matrix, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings. Like Star wars and Matrix, Pirates has created it's own little universe with countless possible characters, locations, nations, tribes, and creatures.

This movie feels larger then life and because everything is so big and eye popping, I think the fact a simple Disney ride has escalated into such a grand cinematic universe is truly inspiring. I cannot say anything that will not eventually be said by others, this movie is awesome. 5 stars baby! I loved it!

P.S.

Stay after the credits for a special extra scene, trust me, you will NOT want to miss this one.

[jekylljuice]

The Network

Really stirring stuff. It?s been residing on my online rental list forever, and yesterday they finally sent it out to me. It got me wondering if prompting everyone to go to their windows and start screaming out their dissatisfaction at the world might indeed be the first viable step toward solving a lot of our problems.

I will, of course, be seeing POTC 3 as soon as I can get myself down to my nearest multiplex, and I?ve still yet to see Spider-Man 3. However, I think I can rest very easily this summer without seeing Shrek the Third.

[AerostarMonk]

Still, don't get it. I must say this sliced bread syndrome is really getting to me.

[koosie]

Originally Posted by jekylljuice

The Network

Really stirring stuff. It?s been residing on my online rental list forever, and yesterday they finally sent it out to me. It got me wondering if prompting everyone to go to their windows and start screaming out their dissatisfaction at the world might indeed be the first viable step toward solving a lot of our problems.

I will, of course, be seeing POTC 3 as soon as I can get myself down to my nearest multiplex, and I?ve still yet to see Spider-Man 3. However, I think I can rest very easily this summer without seeing Shrek the Third.

Of those 3, Shrek 3 is the one I'd be most likely to see. Shrek 2 was pretty poor but there's likely to be the odd laugh and a nice big lady dragon. I hope they don't do another UK version like last time, most of the people on this forum wouldn't be aware of that guffing thing.

Now Network is fantastic. I can't remember seeing Peter Finch in anything else but he must have been a great actor judging by his performance in this movie. What were the revolutionarys called? Was it the ecumenical liberation alliance or something? I love the bit where they're discussing contracts with the TV executives. Definately an important movie.

[some guy you dont know]

who framed roger rabbit

great movie. a classic, and origional twist of cartoons. loved it all the way through. to this day im still suprised that the villan (i forget his name) was actually a toon. great stuff

[Mr. Marshmallow]

Originally Posted by some guy you dont know

to this day im still suprised that the villan (i forget his name) was actually a toon. great stuff

The villain's name was Judge Doom, played by Christopher Loyd. That movie is also one of the extremely few crossover movies ever created.

Thanks to gay copyrights these days crossovers are all but impossible except for Kingdom Hearts.

[AerostarMonk]

Has anyone read the book, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? I love that book. It was quite a fun read. Though it was so far away from the movie I was wondering where exactly they drew their inspiration.

Anyway, both the book and the movie are great on their own.

[jekylljuice]

Originally Posted by koosie

Of those 3, Shrek 3 is the one I'd be most likely to see. Shrek 2 was pretty poor but there's likely to be the odd laugh and a nice big lady dragon. I hope they don't do another UK version like last time, most of the people on this forum wouldn't be aware of that guffing thing.

Now Network is fantastic. I can't remember seeing Peter Finch in anything else but he must have been a great actor judging by his performance in this movie. What were the revolutionarys called? Was it the ecumenical liberation alliance or something? I love the bit where they're discussing contracts with the TV executives. Definately an important movie.

Fortunately I was in Australia during Shrek 2's release, so I got to hear the Ugly Sister and Joan Rivers with their original voices intact (they didn't feel the need to patronise the Aussies as they did us Brits). I did later end up seeing it again that autumn when they played it at my campus cinema, and I was...stupified. I mean, why even bother dubbing Kate Thornton's voice over Joan Rivers' in the role of...Joan Rivers?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! It makes no sense to me at all. ???

The name of the revolutionarys was the Ecumenical Liberation Army...though Alliance is a much more beautiful word, don't you think?

Here's an interesting Network observation (major spoilers therein):

Spoiler Below

I really hope I'm not the only one who thought that the assassin who shot Howard Beale (one of them anyway), was the spitting image of Jacob Singer from Jacob's Ladder. For a few brief moments I even thought it was him. But then I remembered that this film was made in the mid-70s, when Tim Robbins would still have been a teenager, and yet to launch his acting career. But still, the resemblence is uncanny.

[Ditchy McAbandonpants]

Ooh...lots I want to comment on.

Aerostar: I think that the real genius of the Pirates franchise, the thing that's made it so beloved and ubiquitous, is just how wide its appeal is; as far as I'm concerned, there are hundreds of better films than Pirates, but I honestly struggle to think of many with its all-encompassing reach. Just think about it; you've got fantastical adventure and knockabout comedy for the kids, special effects and lavish action for the teenagers, and an simple old-fashioned throwback appeal for older viewers. For the guys there's Keira Knightley kicking butt, for girls, there's Orlando and Johnny, and for older viewers there's old hands like Geoffrey Rush and Bill Nighy. It's unpretentious and innocent enough to delight escapists, but tongue-in-cheek and self-aware enough to please more cynical viewers too. Most of all, it's shamelessly entertaining, clearly trying so hard to give you a good time that even though the films are flawed (and they are certainly flawed films), it's very difficult not to like them on some level anyway, leading to the "sliced bread" syndrome that you referred to. Having said that, I do believe that this mostly applies to the first film; the second and (from the looks of it) third movies don't manage that balancing act quite so well, going a lot further down the "Fantasy/Special Effects Epic" path, and in doing so narrowing their appeal a little, hence the decreased appreciation from critics and older viewers...

I would also be quite curious to hear Silvestri's score...he's a decent composer, and one I would have thought would be quite suited to a lighthearted pirate romp. As it was, he was dropped with only weeks left before release, which is why they turned to Hans Zimmer's Media Ventures group, which is about the closest you're going to get to a factory production line for music scores. I mean, the Pirates score has gotten pretty famous now, but I think that's largely due to its exposure; it's stirring enough (and nowhere near as bad as its harshest critics would have you believe), but compositionally it could have come from any one of a hundred action blockbusters like The Rock, without a great deal sounding that piratey about it. That the relative lightweight Klaus Badelt led the project (with Zimmer acting as "Overproducer") kind of seems to confirm that it wasn't a score that received that much TLC...the score on the second obviously had a little more care taken over it, with big bossman Zimmer taking the reins, but it still didn't do anything that interesting, possibly because a slightly bland musical identity had already been enshrined by the first film. I'll be interested to see how the third one fares...

koosie: Ugh. Ugh, ugh, ugh, do NOT get me started on the "UK version" debacle that hovers like a plague over every animated film that crosses the Atlantic. I know that the likes of Shrek 2 and Shark Tale aren't taking themselves that seriously, but for goodness sakes, I would like to maintain some level of immersion in the movie's world and atmosphere, and I absolutely cannot do that when Fiona Philips, Kate Thorton or Jonathan Ross turns up for a jarring and utterly obtrusive cameo in the middle of an American movie. The Kate Thornton cameo was the most ludicrous; the character was modelled on Joan Rivers, had Joan Rivers' personality, and was actually CALLED "Joan Rivers" in the credits. How can you overdub her with Kate Bloody Thornton!? (EDIT: Ah, jekylljuice beat me to it. )

The most heartbreaking occrurence of this horrible trend was in Pixar's Cars, however. Yes, Harv the agent was a small role, but damn it, Pixar are an supposed to be an artistic studio, who cast voices to fit characters as opposed to doing it for cheap celebrity appeal. Jeremy Piven is a well-known actor, but he was still just an actor playing a part; sticking somebody as ostentatious as Jeremy Clarkson in there instead is a massive betrayal of that ethos, and a big sellout on Pixar's part. Don't ever do that again, guys.

Also: Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a magnificent movie. Everyone rightly remembers it for its groundbreaking and still-astonishing special effects, and for fans of animation it's gold dust, naturally; I love Daffy and Donald Duck's piano duel, love the interplay between Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse (Disney and WB stipulated in their agreement that neither should get more screentime than the other, which is why they're always seen together), and I find Betty Boop's little cameo actually quite poignant. What a lot of people forget, however, is that it's also a fantastically atmospheric film noir homage, an evocative recreation of seedy old Hollywood, and an involving mystery story with a genuinely terrifying villain in Judge Doom; I honestly can't believe that's the same lovable old Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future, because he's just so sinister here, with his transformartion into a psychopathic toon, and particularly the hideous sequence where he 'dips" the poor little squeaky shoe, proving really quite upsetting to me as a kid. It's still a wonderful film, though, a must-see for any cartoon fan...

[AerostarMonk]

I still believe that the comparisons to both Indiana Jones and Star Wars are some of the most ludicrous overstatments of modern cinema. I even find them fun, and I'm as cynical as they come. But the hype for them really kills the fun for me on second viewings. To me, it seems like the people of the 00's are trying to hard to assign a franchise to the Great Pantheon because all the others failed to deliver the goods. I remove LOTR from the Great Pantheon because it's nowhere near as accessible as Jones or Wars or even the recent Pirates.

I dunno, one thing that also bothers me about Pirates is that despite the fun it lacks the heart of many blockbusters. The sad thing is Verbinski is fully capable of heart. See The Weather Man, with Nicolas Cage, which is way more than the American Beauty rip-off it's purported to be.

To me it just seems like the franchise is Sommers' Mummy series with better actors, more money and longer running time. The Mummy had all the hallmarks of Pirates though it failed to produce the same love. Which is sorta confusing to me.

Anyway, I'm starting to tire of the whole franchise movie disease that keeps on spreading about. It would be really nice to see a movie again that just tries to convey the magic of cinema rather than try to spawn a sequel. All the best movies that ended up having sequels put the magic first. At least before this decade.

As for Roger Rabbit, there are rumors spreading around about the possible revitalization of the characters. Zemeckis is now back in with Disney, although he's working on other projects. Though certain insiders say he's open to the possibility of more Roger Rabbit in the future. Oh, I hope so. If only to hear Bob Hoskins attempt an American accent once more. There are only two funnier, Mark Addy trying to be a Chicagoan in Still Standing, a cancelled CBS sitcom, and Jude Law's pathetic attempt to be a Clevelander in I Heart Huckabees.

Makes Hoffman's slipping Etonian accent in Hook seem great by comparison.