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Beautiful poster!
A great movie with an outstanding performance by Clint Eastwood – basically its Grumpy Old Men meets Heartbreak Ridge, or an un-official sequel to Heartbreak Ridge.
Gran Torino IMDB
Lot’s of snarling in this picture with a great look from Tom Stern (a skip-bleach, light blue tint). This movie is cheap, cheap, cheap I tell yah, literally one location. And, besides Clint, we have a lot of first time actors here, or bad actors, vice-versa I guess (natural actors maybe).
The story of a retired veteran who becomes a widower, who is an outright racist, and lives next to Hmong family in the ghetto (which was probably an all-white neighborhood in Detroit way back in the fifties). Clint’s boys are users, his Priest is like 12 years old, and his prize possession, his Gran Torino automobile. The neighbor’s kid tries to steal the car to impress a Hmong gang and the relationship begins.
This movie is all Eastwood. He commands every scene and in the end, is all we really care about, and of course who we paid to see anyway. There are real poignant moments in this film. When Clint teaches the Hmong boy how to become a man is absolutely classic. A great touching film, and I would be shocked if Clint doesn’t get an Oscar nomination for which could be his LAST performance, ever…
I worked for the production company that made this film back during the writers strike. From what I learned later, after I left, the film saved their careers. The producer literally took the script to Clint during the Changeling shoot, Clint read it, and he was in.
The more I hear stories about how movies are made the more I realize how special movies are because this movie should’ve NEVER had this fortune; a script that was turned down by every studio. It was a decent script, tenacity, fear of unemployment and LUCK that made this picture. We really take movies like this for granted.
We should stop!
Pixar is God!
I am convinced that PIXAR is the best thing America has to offer when it comes to filmmaking. Their animated movies get better and better, and it will only be a matter of time before they decide to make movies with real people (actually Fred Willard plays himself in the film, so I believe it’s not that far).
WALL-E imdb link
Wall-e is a triumph of animation and filmmaking. The first 20 minutes alone has more emotion then the last 10 years of American filmmaking, pure genius. The influence of Chaplin, Keaton and Jacque Tati is acknowledgeable, plus one hundred years of Disney animation.
The mixture of music and visuals in the first act is heart-warming, cinematic brilliance. I have never been a fan of “Hello Dolly” but it works here, it works for Wall-e.
The apocalyptic themes and images are quite astonishing, especially for a G rated movie, I got a bit of a “Silent Running” influence.
The second half of the film is a critique on humanity and its dependence on technology, and its destruction of the environment. The fat humans riding around on hovercrafts, only speaking to one another via computers is beautiful and gutsy – and shocking.
I’ll be watching all the 2008 Oscar pics this month, so, for now, I am quite sure Wall-e is the best film of 2008.
So what does that say, bad year, possibly? Maybe PIXAR just knows what they are doing, and are a force to be reckoned with. They are the kings of animation in my book...
Disney and DreamWorks have to step their game up!
Shut up! I'm trying to watch Benjamin Button!
Thank you James. Can I call you James? You handsome man... Because of your action, you have inspired me to arm myself at the movies as well...
Jesus. Just last week I was watching "Twilight" (which I actually enjoyed) and these fucking teenagers just wouldn't shut the fuck up. They talked through the entire movie. "Oh my god, he is so HOT in this scene!" Blah! Blah! Blah! They talked and talked and talked...
You sir, James the warrior... You took a stand. Yes. You took a stand and shot the man talking, and almost shot his son too...
Read about James the Warrior Knight of the Multiplex
So next time I go to the movies, maybe to see "Star Trek" or "Transformers 2" and I happen to go to a multiplex, full of wonderful tweens and teens (the generation of great dancers), I will bring a Tec-9, Glock, or fuck it, sawed-off 12 Gauge... And when those motor mouths start yapping about the most vapid shit imaginable... I will stand up, and blow the motherfuckers away, I'll blow the motherfuckers heads clear off, I'll eat the brains straight from the skull cavity, and I will laugh...
Thank you James, you are my hero... Have fun in prison psycho...
Santa Rocks!
If you have ever wondered, where does the myth of Santa come from, or have speculated, and come to your own conclusions, the link below could help...
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You Don't...Zohan Poster (2008)
Got a great story behind this flick... I used to work at Warner Brothers in development -- read scripts and shit on them basically... So, when I was working this film was shooting, on the lot, taking my parking... Instead of parking in front of my building, I had to park in the garage and walk through the Sarah Chronicles set every morning
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Pont Blank (1967) Movie Poster
Okay -- got a story first before I go into this, I used to work at an incredible video store, watched a lot of movies, especially old Hollywood. There was this GUY who owned the place, he would constantly hype this film, "Ohh you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor
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There are some movies I like more than others -- I generally have such wide taste that I can't really narrow it down, but I'm going to try, but first some things about me...
I used to break dance and skateboard -- I'm a filmmaker, musician, writer, and I worked at a joint called "I Love Video Pizza" -- I used to deliver pizza's and Faces of Death on a regular basis -- I worked at one of the largest video stores in the universe so
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When you read something you believe it true -- when you watch something then you really believe it -- I'm not a sucker, but maybe you are -- oh wait, I am a sucker, a sucker for movies and music, and killing cops on GTA4. Now listen, for all those not familiar with Grand Theft Auto, its this violent and beautiful game I usually play while unwinding on the couch. But see, I get board really easily -- so I just start the game up, listen to the intro, watch the graphics -- BOOM, I'm in my apartment... I wake up, get out of bed, maybe look around, watch some TV (yes, watching TV in the game while playing the game on TV) then walk out, I look sharp in my black suit and pants, I have white tennis shoes so I look cool, sunglasses on, step outside and look left and right, find any person within range -- man, woman, grandmother, and beat them to death -- okay I'm fair, I box them, or just kick them in the groin until they finally just cough up their coin and die on the streets. I then pull a hip-hop guy out of an Escalade, and fight him, toe-to-toe, boxing style, the whole neighborhood wants to fight me now, they have knives, they have their fists, their determination -- so I pull out my Tec-9 and BRAAP! BRAAP!
I'm not a violent person at all, but movie violence just excites me, I mean don't you agree? It's the same with like an american football game, but my goal is not just to comment on movie violence or movies in general, just to comment on everything I feel excited about in the year 2008 of our space god and beyond -- what exactly is this decade called? This modern culture is running out of ideas which is not a good sign. Anyways, I plan to write about my expereince with film, filmmaking, writing, crtiques, sometimes games, sometimes music, art, once again my expereinces. I have some stories to tell, but listen I will come back to purpose and myself later
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Comment by The Sorcerer
on RETROSPECT: KOYAANISQATSI (1982)