Read the new "The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly"

[MattSinger]

[url]http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/gbu/20.html

Your comments and suggestions (especially for movies to review) are always appreciated. Also, I forgot to link to my message board this week, so if you want to check that out, click this: http://www.slushfactory.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=36

Thanks for reading, and it's nice to see the message boards back.

[JK]

Great column- Today is payday and if I can find a copy of "Peeping Tom", I'll fire it up (after paying the light bill, of course...) One of my favorite movies that seems to fall through the cracks is "Dark City". Most people I know have never even heard of it. Of course, where I live "Roadhouse" is considered the finest cinema ever produced... "Pain don't hurt" but watching Swayze does...

[Crystal]

Booyah...hey. Did you ever get around to watching Mumford?

I would have put 'The Avengers' in the Ugly category because it was watchable the first time I saw it (for free on the big screen). I agree the the teddy bears don't make sense but I just loved seeing those things fall down dead for some reason. It was so cute. Kinda like that Ikea commercial where that chick knocks the cow creamer dish onto the floor and it breaks and you wanna cry.

'What Women Want', however should go in the Bad section along with 'Dr. G and the Women'. Yech. Two movies that claim feministic intentions but end up being so condescending I wanna puke. If I ever meet Richard Gere I'm going to have to try really hard not to punch him in the face for letting the line: "...and if women are crazy it's because men made them that way" come out of his mouth. Seriously. Give us SOME credit for our own sanity, thanks.

Anyway, I sent you a little e-mail when I first discovered your column and I'm still a fan so keep up the good work. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

Oh, one more thing. I really liked 'Mommy Dearest' when I first saw it...eh, maybe I phrased that wrong. I had just never seen a realistic portrayal of evil. Most people thing of "bad guys" as super-villains or actual monsters, but that was the first movie I ever saw that had someone who was respected in public be a complete creep in their private life. Of course, I was 9 when I saw it...I can't watch it now. Besides, I can't really blame Christina for writing such a bitter portrayal. Can you imagine how many times she was approached with the words, "Oh, I love your mother! How lucky you are to be her daughter!" ?

[MattSinger]

>>Booyah...hey. Did you ever get around to watching Mumford?

Er...oops. I'm going to go add it to my Netflix list right now.

Regarding the Avengers, I must admit I did laugh at Sean Connery in a giant teddy bear costume, but really, there is so much garbage that you have to sit through to get to one amusing scene that I could not in good conscience recommend this film to others.

>>Anyway, I sent you a little e-mail when I first discovered your column and I'm still a fan so keep up the good work.

You rock. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

>>Oh, one more thing. I really liked 'Mommy Dearest' when I first saw it...eh, maybe I phrased that wrong. I had just never seen a realistic portrayal of evil. Most people thing of "bad guys" as super-villains or actual monsters, but that was the first movie I ever saw that had someone who was respected in public be a complete creep in their private life. Of course, I was 9 when I saw it...I can't watch it now. Besides, I can't really blame Christina for writing such a bitter portrayal. Can you imagine how many times she was approached with the words, "Oh, I love your mother! How lucky you are to be her daughter!" ?

In about twenty years, she'll be best friends with Michael Jackson's children.

[Outer1]

Mumford? Well it has Jason Lee going for it I guess lol.

Here are some real nuggets that I'd love to see you sort into your tidy bins of justice lol.

Saving Grace, which has to be one of the best British indie flicks of all time.

Natural Born Killers - The biggest pile of cinematic diherrea ever unleased on the public.

[MattSinger]

>>Here are some real nuggets that I'd love to see you sort into your tidy bins of justice

My "tiny bins of justice"? What am I, The Tick? Heh, that is a great description of my column.

[Badger]

Some suggestions:
Battle Royale
La Haine
Tilsammans
Taxi and Taxi 2
Loads more to follow when my boss isn't nearby /forums/images/icons/blush.gif

[MattSinger]

I haven't heard of any of those films except Battle Royale. Why doncha tell me a little bit about them?

[Badger]

Hello...
Sorry about the delay, I was off work for a while:

La Haine: 1995, dir: Mathieu Kassovitz. It's a French film, but don't let that put you off. It was fairly popular in a cult way after scooping some awards, and it's a gritty, black and white flick.
In the cheaper part of town, a group of French immigrants are hanging out. One of their friends is almost killed during a police interrogation, and that night riots break out. It follows their responses to what's going on around them, and it's a good, well-crafted look at a response to racial tensions etc....
Sorry if this isn't particularly detailed, but my copy burnt itself out a couple of years ago, and it's only recently I realised I needed to get anothe copy.

Tillsammans (Together): 2000. Dir: Lukas Moodyson
It's a comedy/drama set in a hippy commune in 1970's Sweden. I watched it because my girlfriend is swedish, but found myself drawn into the lives, loves and problems of the hippy group which come together in one house in the Swedish suburbs.
Goran, a leading member of the hippy collective, brings his sister Elisabeth and her children to stay when Elisabeth leaves her abusive husband. There's plenty of wry humour in the city types adjusting to the hippy lifestyle, and there's a great relationship between Elisabeth's daughter Eva, and the son of an uptight middle class family living across the street.
There's a wry sense of humour throughout, which pokes a little fun, but with obvious affection for the characters. The plot unfolds slowly, but it's an enjoyably gentle ride throught the tensions...

Taxi: 1998 (dir: gerard pires. written: Luc Besson)
A French action comedy. Kinda the same mood as a slapstick jackie chan film but with incredible car action replacing martial arts. Daniel is a pizza delivery boy who drives a turboed Peugeot incredibly fast, collecting speeding tickets which eventually land him with an inept policeman as a way of escaping a driving ban...
It's a fast-paced fun movie, but the best parts always come from the car action. Fast paced car chases, crazy stunts, comedy set-pieces, such as a pregnant mother being rushed to hospital....... How to make a driving film fun, as opposed to road movies like vanishing point etc....



Other recommendations:
Jackie Chan:
Good: Police Story (one of the best and an early look at a young, athletic chan doing crazy stunts without chris tucker or hollywood restrictions and effects)
Bad: Battle Creek Brawl: Chan's first USA movie, and one to avoid. Crap fight scenes make the whole film pointless really.
Ugly: too many to choose from: Cannonball Run perhaps?


Or Christian Slater:

Good: Heathers
Bad: Kuffs
Ugly: Pump Up The Volume.

Driving films:
Good: Taxi
Bad: almost any recent film excepting the fast and the furious
Ugly: Vanishing Point


I'll try to think of some more if u want.....

[Zens_7s]

Great column Matt!

>> Today I saw a cross-promotional commercial for a product advertising its placement in THE MATRIX. From an advertiser’s standpoint, you want to be in the most anticipated movie of the year, but does anyone else find it illogical? “Folks, don’t trust your reality, question what you see, and enjoy the refreshing taste of Mountain Dew!”>>

In the trailer section of a movie I just saw, Agent Smith was sitting at a table talking about a green sports drink (forgetting the name). I suppose this is the time that we get to be inundated with Matrix related branding. Call me naive, but when this movie is released I will be so tired of the hype it cannot help but be a disappointment.


>>It’s expected that film buffs will love silent movies, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that, generally speaking, I don’t care for them.>>

I especially enjoyed your comments on Sherlock, Jr. I will fully admit I have not enjoyed silent films before, and have been accused of not being a real film fan. Often, the accusers are the type of people who will say they like anything they are "supposed" to like.
The details you provided about the train scene are making me want to rent it right now. I think it may be hard to find around here, so I had better start looking.

And lastly, Head. The name alone makes me giggle. Monkeys, Head. I am still giggling. Why I have never heard of this...I do not know. But thanks for giving me fair warning in case it comes up in polite conversation someday!

[Razorback]

Great column, as always.

I think that THE AVENGERS could easily make any "Worst of..." list.

RB

[MattSinger]

>>I especially enjoyed your comments on Sherlock, Jr. I will fully admit I have not enjoyed silent films before, and have been accused of not being a real film fan. Often, the accusers are the type of people who will say they like anything they are "supposed" to like.

Don't you hate that? They are entitled to like silent movies just as we're entitled not to like them so much, but it's that whole mentality that certain things are automatically good and certain things are automatically bad. Hopefully my column does a little to dispell some of that stuff.

>>The details you provided about the train scene are making me want to rent it right now. I think it may be hard to find around here, so I had better start looking.

A good video store should have it. A crummy one *coughBlockbustercough* won't. I got my copy off of Netflix, but I have seen it in a couple of stores.

>>And lastly, Head. The name alone makes me giggle. Monkeys, Head. I am still giggling. Why I have never heard of this...I do not know.

Because the people involved have tried very hard to ensure no one ever sees it. You would too if you'd made the thing.

[MattSinger]

>>I think that THE AVENGERS could easily make any "Worst of..." list.

It made mine on YMDb. The link is somewhere on one of these threads...

[MattSinger]

The power of Jeebus compels you!

http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/gbu/22.html

Good: Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Bad: Johnny Mnemonic
Ugly: Troll 2

[Robbo_the_Hood]

I remember my friends being so excited for Johnny Mnemonic to be a good movie. We rented it, and sullied my parents VCR with that movie. I fell asleep because it was just boring. I guess maybe I missed out on the explannation on why Dolph was crucifying people. So, I was pretty scared when Matrix came out because it looked like Johnny Mnemonic 2: Keanu's Revenge. And I bet in 10 years people are going to watch the Matrix and say, "Why again did we flock to the theaters for that movie?"

[Dave]

But i don't believe in Jeebus. /forums/images/icons/frown.gif

[Razorback]

I'm asking that question already.

RB

[Robbo_the_Hood]

Oh, an addendum to my post. I was checking out the trades today at work and it looks like Troll and Troll 2 are set for a double feature DVD release on August 26th I beleive.