Posts by redowl90

1. Chicago
2. Mystic River
3. The Pianist
4. About Schmidt (just caught this one at the local video rental shop)
5. Far From Heaven

I honestly find it wild how people are expecting something massive from Avary just because he was in Pulp Fiction...

It’s even weirder to me when folks try to hunt for some "deep" subtext in a movie that’s clearly just meant to be pure entertainment... I guess if you're looking for that, you might as well try to find profound meaning in Armageddon or Pearl Harbor...

Personally, I thought the movie was a pretty easy watch. It’s solidly directed, doesn't overstay its welcome with a heavy message, and avoids a messy script. While the ending felt a bit underwhelming, the acting was great, there were a few scenes that easily rank among the best of the year, and it actually had a good sense of humor...

Anyway, it was definitely one of the more fun watches this year...

Larry Fox5 said:Props to anyone who thinks Ronin is a good movie. I'd actually love to hear what specifically clicked for them.

The opening sequence is pure genius... You have no idea what's happening, yet the action just flows... That's exactly my kind of thing...

Plenty of high-speed car chases, which I'm also a fan of...

That moment when the skater dies, right when everything feels like she's actually going to make it...

The ending, where we realize De Niro isn't quite the Ronin he thought he was...

The soundtrack...

Anything else? 😉

Don't get me wrong, it's not some untouchable masterpiece... But if you compare it to other action flicks from that year, Ronin is easily at the top of the list...

Larry Fox5 said:When De Niro gives a mediocre performance in a movie where the script only gives him five lines to work with.

See, I actually think that's one of De Niro's best roles from the nineties, and easily the best Tarantino film out there...

That look on his face when Jackson shoots him in the gut inside that van is just unforgettable... 🙂

analogrider15 said:I think the whole potato thing is a bit of a stretch—like being afraid of furniture from the Louis XIV era. It’s really just a quirky, fictional detail for future biographers to play with.

Haha, fair enough. Given where I read that, your theory actually holds some water...

Larry Fox5 said:(just to play it safe like most critics who lean on biased or mindless takes) Heat is definitely a solid movie. It might not reach the heights of Casino or The Godfather, but it’s certainly not as bad as Jackie Brown.)

Wait, what makes Jackie Brown a bad movie?

Joseph Williams3 said:He also plays a mentally challenged character there, which in my opinion is his best and most effortless role yet.

Why? Because he's playing someone with a disability? Well, that performance practically screams, "GIVE ME AN OSCAR!" And honestly, they did... though that was more for the screenplay. 🙂 Just kidding—I actually think the movie is excellent and his acting is top-notch! 😉

That said, his standout role for me was definitely in last year's Monster's Ball... an incredible film (easily one of the top five from last year).

Since I caught three of his movies in theaters last year (alongside Monster's Ball, there were The Man Who Wasn't There and Bandits), the guy has become one of my absolute favorites. Every single role in those three films was completely different, yet the quality was consistently great.

I read somewhere that back when he was still a nobody, while he was busy writing screenplays, he lived on nothing but potatoes for two months just to scrape together enough rent money. He ended up in the ER with some digestive issues because of it (I mean, what else would you expect after two months of nothing but potatoes?). 🙂

And man, talk about grit... Sorry, let's say talk about determination. Based on everything I've heard, the guy is one of the luckiest people alive (aside from that hospital visit).

Watched last night:

Driver - 👎 (though, honestly, I only watched it to kill some time because I was bored)

closet - 👍 (some scenes in that movie were actually 😲 - in a good way, obviously)

Jack Harris3 said:Gone with the Wind 😁 😁 😁

Wait, what???😲 😲

Gone with the Wind is an absolute slog!!!

Unless, of course, those emojis mean you're just kidding! 🙂

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot...

Aside from The Hunter, this is the first and only Michael Cimino movie that actually holds up...

The ending is kind of a letdown, but the rest is pretty 👍

Just a solid Action Comedy for when you want to unwind...

Blue Eyes said:>
What kind of movies are you guys actually watching if Malick's "Days of Heaven" feels boring and uninteresting to you? 😕 🙄

I mean, honestly, I just can't wrap my head around how someone could find The Thin Red Line boring, especially since it's by the same director. (Not calling you out personally, obviously—just speaking generally)...

I’ve seen it twice and I actually own a copy (referring to Days of Heaven), but the whole thing is just way too slow for me, even though it's only about ninety minutes long. You have to admit, the movie isn't exactly bursting with tension, right?

In that sense, Badlands is much more engaging and moves at a better pace...

Yeah, you mentioned Days of Heaven... Honestly, it’s one of the most tedious movies I've ever sat through, but man, the cinematography is easily top five of all time. Just something to chew on...

For me, though, the best camerawork in any of his films is actually in The Thin Red Line...

And the shots in Plains of Vuk, Titanic, and JFK aren't far behind at all...

I should also add that The Insider has had some pretty "interesting" camera work lately, too... 🙂

Hold on a second... I think you might be missing the point here. You can't really compare movies that felt incredible when you were just a kid to how they actually hold up now, mostly because back then, you didn't truly know what makes a movie good. To be honest, I watched Tango & Cash a million times in the early nineties and thought it was absolute perfection. But I rewatched it about a month ago, and yeah, I’m convinced it’s pretty much total garbage.

Take a look at the discussions over on the Blade Runner Forum: you probably won't get into Blade Runner if you're still a kid. Sure, there are always those "special" kids who think movies like this are the greatest thing ever when they're only ten, but for most, it’s just going to be a drag. Most kids around fourteen are really just looking for tension, action, or a good laugh. I'm not saying Blade Runner lacks those things, but anyone who's actually seen it knows exactly what I mean. To be honest, I still find the movie pretty slow even today.

I’d single out two movies specifically: Donnie Brasco and The Truman Show. To be honest, I was on some pretty heavy stuff at the time, but when I saw those two in theaters, I actually wanted my money back—I thought they were absolute garbage. Then, I watched them again on video, and both turned out to be much better than that first viewing. Well, with one exception: Donnie still has a stupid ending.

Walter Alvarez76 said:Since redowl90 didn't care for it, I’m pretty sure I will. 😁

👍

I'm listening... What's your take on it? You've probably seen it by now...

Wow, I honestly don't know what you all were expecting from the sequel, but for me, it was a massive letdown...

I watched the first one a while back and just remember it being way better than I anticipated, but this second one is genuinely bad.

The first hour is somewhat tolerable, but after that, everything just falls apart. By the end, the whole movie is bursting at the seams—kind of like that dam in the film! (haha, I could probably sell that line to a serious critic 🙂)

Anyway, a seriously HUGE disappointment...

Walter Alvarez76 said:I found Phone Booth to be pretty dull.

Man, since you brought that up: I just saw the trailer and was totally let down. Maybe I just expected the movie to take a different direction, or maybe the teaser itself was just poorly made, but now I'm seriously debating whether it's even worth going to the theater to see it.

A little interesting, a bit funny, and at times, a tad slow...

The trio...

Mark Nelson17 said:I don't know why, but I just didn't feel the urge to rewatch it endlessly like I do with Casino.

Yeah, I felt the exact same way about that one... 😉

As for Heat—it’s a big mistake (okay, maybe not a mistake, just a bit negative) to listen to all those critics hyping the movie up to the heavens before you actually see it. There's a real chance you'll just end up disappointed.

That's how it went for me with Lars von Trier and Breaking the Wave.

pravilo igra (Jean Renoir): 👍
Ubiti Mockingjay: 👍
Les Patriotes: 🙂
A Brief Encounter (David Lean): 🙂

Mark Nelson17 said:
To be honest, the movie has plenty of strong points. The tension leading up to the De Niro – Al Pacino face-off was engaging, but it’s still nowhere near the level of something like Casino.

Man, I have to admit, that last sentence really caught me off guard, mostly because Casino is a phenomenal movie to me. This might shock some people, but I actually think it holds up better than Goodfellas—mostly thanks to Sharon Stone, who gave the performance of her life before her career took a sharp turn downward. Then there’s those brilliant few minutes near the end where De Niro and Joe Pesci narrate what happened to the supporting cast while "House of the Rising Sun" plays softly in the background. Not to mention any scene featuring James Woods, or the moment De Niro and Stone argue as the car starts rolling downhill, or just the sheer character of Nicky Santoro played by Joe Pesci...

We could spend all day debating that famous street fight in Los Angeles, but we won't get anywhere since you hated it and I thought it was one of the most intense things I've ever seen. Honestly, you're probably the first person I know who has voiced such a negative opinion about that scene. I get the argument that it feels a bit naive and that half those guys would likely have been killed in real life, but I think Michael Mann included it just to ramp up the tension rather than for its actual importance to the plot (though Val Kilmer getting wounded does help him escape the city at the end). It seems he did it for exactly the reason you pointed out: just so everyone could walk away saying, "Wow, did you see that scene??"