Posts by Richard Hernandez13

Jose Chase2 said:p.s. - does "masterpiece" get written as one word or two?😬

Write Heavenly Creatures kicks ass.

p.s. - should I write "kicks ass" (referring to the movie) or "kick ass" (referring to the creatures)?😬

Jose Chase2 said:@Richard Hernandez13 - man, you really need better moderation skills if you're going to title a thread after the one single movie that barely even got brought up in the discussion.

Go ahead, bring him up then.
Honestly, your posting style is just a little sad.

->Ethan Perez97
The Frighteners is actually coming out on DVD any day now.
The extended cut, naturally.

Well, that's mainly because we're all sitting here debating those early films by Steven Spielberg.

An interview with Gaghan over at AINTC:

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=21859

I thought I'd share this interesting little flick with you all.



Official site here

Inspired by a non-fiction book written by former CIA operative (and now a pretty vocal critic of the agency) Robert Baer, See no Evil, Syriana is really a deep dive into money, power, corruption, and... well, oil. Specifically, Middle Eastern oil.
The director is Stephen Gaghan, the same guy who penned the script for Traffic a few years back. Syriana uses a very similar narrative structure—we follow these tangled, overlapping storylines involving an American intelligence officer, a young oil broker, a prince from some unnamed Gulf state, and a suicide bomber. It’s pretty clear someone realized that the situation in that part of the world is just way too messy and complicated to fit into a standard, linear movie. 😁
To be honest, I was a little nervous about this one; I know Hollywood doesn't always have the best track record when it comes to handling morally gray, complex themes. But looking at the early buzz from critics who caught it at promotional screenings, I think I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Leading the charge, of course, is George Clooney, who isn't just acting but producing as well—which has turned him into one of the most intriguing, if somewhat predictable, critics of the Bush administration. Man, thinking back to how much we used to tease him back when he was playing on ER and winning over everyone's hearts!
My deepest apologies, Mr. Clooney. 😁

...
All in all, it's just another one in a recent string of surprisingly political and socially relevant high-profile films (think The Constant Gardener, Good Night and Good Luck, or even Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones 😛).

northerncrane4 said:Come on now, I feel like everyone here seems to have a pretty clear idea of exactly who I am.

Branka Šeparović?

I actually had Inoslav Bešker "quote" me once. 😁
I was honestly so swept up in the pride of it all that I completely lost track of things for a few days.

Is this some kind of French analysis?

If it is, then I’m definitely taking it with a massive grain of salt. 😬

I mean, it doesn't really matter, since the guy actually managed to film Tideland in the meantime.
It was definitely a low-budget project, but you get so much more creative freedom that way—though, honestly, that doesn't mean much to me personally. 😬

Nicole Vaughn said:Movie tickets aren't actually any more expensive compared to what people earn than they were ten years ago (or even longer).

Looking back about ten years—maybe even more—a ticket at my local AMC Theatres was only $2.50. Nowadays, it’s 20 bucks (though just a little while back, it had actually spiked to 25).

Nicole Vaughn said:...and if you compare those prices to tickets in major, central hubs like New York City, they're honestly laughably cheap.

I think that's a bit of an unfair comparison.
The real issue is that movie tickets in our theaters feel quite pricey when you weigh them against the average income of an American citizen.

Nicole Vaughn said:People are visiting theaters less and less everywhere, whether it's in New York City or right here in Washington, D.C.

Actually, the drop in attendance in the United Kingdom this year has been incredibly minimal—only about 1%—especially when you look at how much other countries have slumped, which most folks interpret as a sign of really strong domestic film offerings.

A Miramax executive basically left that movie gathering dust on a shelf for two years, only finally releasing it in theaters after they split from Disney, mostly just to squeeze a little more profit out of the parent company. Honestly, good riddance to that breakup.

Plus, Gilliam was intentionally aiming for something a bit less ambitious this time around—just trying to rebuild his reputation and fix those ratings after all those previous financial flops.

Haha, honestly...

I actually have a cousin who spent most of his high school years getting into scraps with all those "legendary" local garage bands around town ... and from what he tells me, he had pretty much the exact same experience when it came to having a woman in the lineup.

Exactly! If This Is Spinal Tap were actually distributed normally across America, you wouldn't have every amateur garage band in the suburbs claiming their single greatest achievement is being "the loudest band in the States." 😁

There are basically two ways to watch it:
- You've got the Criterion Collection release, which is your standard high-quality edition packed with all those great supplemental features and director commentaries
- And then there's the special MGM edition where you can actually hear the guys from Spinal Tap themselves doing the audio commentary 🤣

Back in 2002, this movie was officially recognized as being 'culturally significant' and added to the National Film Registry. 🤣

Honestly, ever since I first watched This Is Spinal Tap, I can't watch just about any hard rock or metal band without bursting out laughing.

Did Steve Carell ever mention later on that his decision to actually go through with hair removal was one of the absolute dumbest moves he's ever made?

Lisa Campbell17 said:but honestly, I was absolutely dying laughing when he was getting waxed!!! I don't think I've ever heard him swear quite that much in my entire life.

👋

Oh, and just so we're clear, that hair removal scene wasn't some cheap trick—it was totally real, filmed continuously with four different cameras.

Sean Nguyen4 said:"Just remember, all you really have to do is keep asking questions." 😂

Honestly, I have to hand it to him—his little strategy actually worked out. 🤣

It’s such a shame you didn't get that on video.
I mean, you’ve got Carpenter going, Carpenter goes, Carpenter goes... and then suddenly, boom, a hard cut to a news bulletin announcing the death of the President.

That would have been a clip worthy of Andy Warhol. 😁

My bad, I totally missed these emojis in my previous post: 😁😁😁

I actually wanted to ask you—did you say that Body Bags was airing right at the exact moment the news broke about DrFT's passing? I honestly had no idea, so I'm a little out of the loop on that one.

Did Carpenter commemorate Tuđman's passing? 🤔

Is that really what you're getting at?