The Cauldron

Valecynos wrote:

I cannot remember what thread we were talking about Reign of Fire in, but I saw it. Okay, so it wasn't great, and it wasn't terribly believable, but I did like the acting alright. I realized that I prefer to see Matthew McConaughey playing more serious roles, as opposed to the "romantic comedy"

Yes, but this is the first Matthew McConaughey movie where there was a semi-plausible reason for him to be shirtless for inexplicable amounts of onscreen time.  LOL.

And IMO this movie also comes up with the most ridiciously complicated way to try and catch a dragon ever.  LOL.

LMAO! I know, right? What the heck was up with all of that? I mean for Pete's sake, you don't think a missile would have taken one of those babies down? And the dragons hibernated for thousands and thousands of years? All I can say to the the person that came up with this story is: yeah, okay buddy. Whatever you say.

I have Dragon Sword, Dragon Storm, and Dungeons & Dragons TiVo'd. I'll be sure to post what I think of them here.

But tell me something, really. Why is it that if a movie has anything to do with a dragon, it seems to have to be awful? I mean, can someone please explain how D-R-A-G-O-N spells "crappy movie"? I did like Dragonheart, and while I know several people here didn't like Eragon, I did, but damn it! It pretty well seems that if a movie title has anything to do with a large mythical reptile-like creature, you can assume that it will be terrible. Hollywood, it's time to do right by the Wyrm.

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Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it. ~ The Blues Brothers (1980)

Aw...don't say that, Val.  Disney's Pete's Dragon, (though dated) was a very cute story in its time!  

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"No, they're not real, but thanks for noticing"! WoW Dwarf Female /silly
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Maybe we can hope that Peter Jackson will do better with The Hobbit.  It'll be interesting to see how WETA handles Smaug.

I'm of two minds on the different versions of P&P.  I watched the BBC/A&E one when it first aired, and have watched it so many times that my VHS tapes are messed up.  (I got them when the DVD copy of the movie was still $100.)  I love Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, and I think Lydia and Mrs. Bennet are hysterical in it.  The humor seemed to be spot on with the book.

But...

The first time I watched the new P&P, I scoffed that it would never be a match to the A&E one.  And then I watched the original P&P movie with Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier.  Olivier is one outstanding man specimen and all that...but the movie was HORRIBLE!  I hated the liberties they took with the story, especially with Lady Catherine de Burgh.  And Olivier's Darcy was such a wiener!  I had to erase it completely from my head, so I jammed the new P&P into the DVD player.  And after the second viewing, I have a lot more respect for it.  I truly love the settings much better for the new one, and Knightley's depiction of Elizabeth seems more human.  Jennifer Ehle's Elizabeth is a lot more mature and refined and subtle, but Knightley's seems more likely to have existed at some point in time.  I have a 17 year old sister and a 20 year old sister, and both of them act much more in keeping with Knightley's Bennet family.  Plus I liked the Jane in the new one much better than the old one.  (I'm sorry, but the Jane Bennet in the A&E version has always struck me as a little bovine.)  But I still loved Lydia and Lady de Burgh better in the old one.

It's kind of like comparing a really great candy bar and a slice of decadent, dark chocolate cake.  Sometimes you don't want a lot, you want something satisfying and sweet that you won't have to devote a lot of time to.  And then, sometimes, you want to sit down and indulge your cravings for something really good that will linger on your tongue for hours afterwards.

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"Love is like an hourglass, with the heart filling up as the brain empties." -- Jules Renard

I saw 'Elizabeth, the Golden Age' last night and really liked it. Cate Blanchet gives another great performance and Clive Owen was very easy on the eye as Raliegh; very much the sexy Elizabethan pirate. As with the first movie (it was released in 1998 - where did the time go?) it's visually lush and beautifully filmed. My god, those dresses are works of art in their own right.

Samantha Morton gives a decent performance of Mary Queen of Scots (who I would have liked to have seen more of) but I was annoyed they gave her a Scots accent - she would have had a French one if anything. One of my favourite scenes was Elizabeth taking to the field in shining armor and giving the troops a rousing speech; I'm itching to do a poser version.

Anyway if you like period dramas and ensemble casts; this is a great movie. Being a bit of Tudor / Elizabethan history buff it made me very happy. Much happier than 'The Other Boleyn Girl' looks to make me, I'm avoiding that one for now.

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I actually just watched the first one a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed it myself. I cannot wait to see the new one.

I just watched Zathura last night. Clearly, I am behind the times. However, I enjoyed it. It was entertaining and cute. The older sister annoyed me, though.

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Avie pic by me.
Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it. ~ The Blues Brothers (1980)

Duchess wrote:

I saw 'Elizabeth, the Golden Age' last night and really liked it. Cate Blanchet gives another great performance and Clive Owen was very easy on the eye as Raliegh; very much the sexy Elizabethan pirate. As with the first movie (it was released in 1998 - where did the time go?) it's visually lush and beautifully filmed. My god, those dresses are works of art in their own right.

Oh man, I REALLY want to see this movie; I saw the first one and thought it was great.  I just loved it when she said, "I'm not your Elizabeth; I'm no man's Elizabeth."  I was all like, "You go girl!!!"  LOL.  Plus, this one looks like it has more action sequences in it (unlike the first one which was more politics).

Valecynos wrote:

I just watched Zathura last night. Clearly, I am behind the times. However, I enjoyed it. It was entertaining and cute. The older sister annoyed me, though.

Ooo...  I just watched that on TBS (or TNT) a few weeks ago and I liked it very much too (though it really reminded me of Jumanji).  But what?  You found the older sister annoying?  LOL.  No way; the little brother was the most annoying little brother ever!!!  I mean no little brother is that much trouble.  LOL.  Not even a little SIA was that annoying to his older brothers way back when---no way.  LOL.  Well, probably not.  LOL.


Wow, I just watched Cool Hand Luke for the first time last week and it was an immensely entertaining move.  Man, talk about movie star, a young Paul Newman was as cool as you can get.  He was just so handsome, but in that naturally mischievous kind of way, and I swear, every time he smiled a little smile there was a twinkle in his eye that made restless spirits the world over howl with a giddy delight.  LOL.

I used to think that a young Marlon Brando was the coolest person ever, but I change my vote; Paul Newman was the personification of cool.

Well...duh! It's Paul Newman we're talking about here. Everybody knows that Paul Newman means "totally awesome." I love Cool Hand Luke, too. "What we have here is a failure to communicate." "Whatever you say...boss." Great film. George Kennedy is great in that movie too, but then George was great in whatever movie he was in.

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"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
~Edgar Allan Poe
"Darest thou now O Soul, Walk out with me toward the unknown region, Where neither ground is for feet Nor any path to follow."
~Walt Whitman
~Avatar made by Me, madhatter.

Why am I thinking Paul Newman and microwave popcorn in the same thought? lol

Seriously, though, my earliest memory of a movie is the cliff scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...and the song, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.

Thinking about it, Paul Newman and his famous blue eyes might be a good casting choice for our Fantasy SoA Movie Thread. 

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"No, they're not real, but thanks for noticing"! WoW Dwarf Female /silly
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I saw Iron Man at the cinema tonight; it was actually pretty decent. It wasn't dark in the way Batman Begins was, but it's not cheesy either; it has a nice balance between the 2 styles. There were some funny moments, particularly with Stark's first tests of his new suit. There was a nice subtle chemistry between Paltrow and Downey and I also enjoyed Terrence Howard's performance as Stark's long suffering friend; I've been a huge fan of his since the Brave One.

I think there's enough to keep most people occupied - and failing that ... 2 hours of looking at Robert Downey Jnr's lovely brown eyes works too!

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We finally saw Cloverfield. Holy crap was it good. Because of the perspective of the camcorder, you actually felt, emotionally, that you were there. It was way too realistic in a good way. I liked that they didn't leave you guessing as to what it was.

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Avi is my family crest.

Alright, so most of you that have been here for any length of time know that I am 1) behind the times in most cases when it comes to movies, and 2) a chicken when it comes to scary movies. Well, I have recently been recording a lot of movies on my TiVo, so I've been trying to catch up a little bit. Not much, but hey, what can I say.

We just watched several movies that we really liked. Sleepers, with Kevin Bacon, Robert Di Niro, Dustin Hoffman, and Minnie Driver, was really really good. The story was very compelling and well told. I want to read the book now really bad.

Saw was suitably scary without leaving me completely creeped out; so much so that we watched Saw II right after it. Again, the story lines were good. My only complaint was that some of the parts were just a little too drawn out. We spent a lot of the movie saying "Okay, come on already, we get it. Move it along!" While it was a bit gory, It wasn't more than I could handle. I figured that it being on the SciFi channel also helped edit out some of the really awful stuff, perhaps. I wanted to see these movies for a long time, and some of you may remember me trepidation about it when the first one came out.

We also really liked The Longest Yard. Some of Adam Sandler's movies are too goofy for me, but this one was funny and pretty darn entertaining.

A movie that we saw and thought was alright was Blind Horizon, with Val Kilmer. It wasn't great, but it was okay.

I also re-watched The Silence of the Lambs. Anthony Hopkins is so incredibly creepy in that character. Yet he still gives Hannibal something compelling, as if you are disgusted by him, but cannot wait to see him at the same time. Man, he is such a phenomenal actor!! I have Hannibal and Hannibal Rising on my Wishlist now. We saw Red Dragon not too long ago, but I am re-recording that one, because I have all the books now except The Silence of the Lambs. I want to read them then watch the movies again. Ralp Fiennes and Edward Norton were also unbelievably good in Red Dragon, as was Jodie Foster in TSotL.

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Avie pic by me.
Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it. ~ The Blues Brothers (1980)

I recently got to watch an amazing film called Pan’s Labyrinth. It was really awesome, although parts of it were absolutely disturbing and painful to watch, the majority of it was very sad and very dark. But its a movie worth seeing. The only problem at the time was that I had to watch it in Spanish, which it is originally recorded in. But it wasn't that bad reading the subtitles. The acting in it was just beautiful. I highly recommend this film if you can find it, I want to find it in English now to add it to my fantasy collection.

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"Fire-child, star-child, what is kel? Sword-bearers, song-weavers, that is kel."
-The Faded Sun trilogy by C.J.Cherryh.
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*Keeper of The Dictionary of All Symphony of Ages Knowledge & The Ven Polypheme Dictionary Guide.*

The Dark Knight! Heath Ledger was so incredible as the Joker, so much so that it makes you feel the tragedy of his death all over again. And the rest of the cast, the acting, and the plot were phenomenal. I can't wait for the next one!

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"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
~Edgar Allan Poe
"Darest thou now O Soul, Walk out with me toward the unknown region, Where neither ground is for feet Nor any path to follow."
~Walt Whitman
~Avatar made by Me, madhatter.

I really loved Pan's Labyrinth too, MN! It was wonderfully done. The cinematography on it was just breathtaking, and the story really kept you pulled in. The acting was amazing too, IMO.

I can't wait to see Dark Knight (although at the rate I go Heath Ledgers daughter will likely be grown). I have heard so many good reviews about it. Glad to know you enjoyed it. We often seem to have similar taste.

I forgot about another movie that we just watched, Mystic River. It was very well done. Starred Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon (that makes three movies that I have watched recently that co-starred Kevin Bacon), plus some other really amazing actors. You really, really felt for these characters so much. The ending was disturbing to me, as it wasn't a nice, tidy, happy ending where Justice is served for all, and all the Good Guys come out on top still being Good Guys, but life is often like that, so it was a somewhat believable ending, at least. The ending fit within the story, to me, anyway.

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Avie pic by me.
Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it. ~ The Blues Brothers (1980)

Mystic River is a very good film, it's no soft story though, you're right there. One of those movies that makes you sad about the human race.

We watched Hancock the other week, it was a pretty fun and diverse look at a Superhero movie, there were some funny moments and the plot was enjoyable enough. I preffered Iron Man more though, there's something quite charming about Robert Downey Jnr.

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Oh my gosh! I saw The Dark Knight in IMAX and when the opening scene came on, everyone in the theatre gasped becasue it was so overwhelming!! Heath Ledger was an AMAZING Joker. It was truly wonderful to watch. The movie was so dark and I almost was dreading finding out what happened in the end....but not saying that in a bad way but just commenting on how real the Bad Guys were. Everyone in the movie did great and I would definitely recommend others to go see the film. I am sure that there will be a sequel, but there will definitely be a hole in the casting because no other actor can portray The Joker as Mr. Ledger did.

My family is planning on taking me to see The Dark Knight, can't wait!

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"Fire-child, star-child, what is kel? Sword-bearers, song-weavers, that is kel."
-The Faded Sun trilogy by C.J.Cherryh.
My Avatar is my cat, Niun.
*Keeper of The Dictionary of All Symphony of Ages Knowledge & The Ven Polypheme Dictionary Guide.*

I loved Pan’s Labyrinth as well. It was such a beautiful movie. I went and saw Hell Boy 2 knowing it was done by the same director. I enjoyed it more than the first one, especially all the wonderful creatures.

I also really enjoyed the Dark Knight. The Joker was so dark and disturbing. I thought it was even betther than Batman Begins and I cannot wait for the next movie.

I also saw Hellboy 2 and thought it was much better than the first one in many ways. I also enjoyed the creatures although there are some fairy tale creatures in there that I would not have made so disturbing I think...but that is the director's way, and it gives a great insight into how another views the fairy tale world. Along those lines I liked how he put all those characters  together.. like the Forest elemental. cool cool.

I also liked Pan's Labyrinth, but every time I watch it I cry lol.

Oh and wanted to ask you Duchess if you ever saw The Other Boleyn Girl??