Seen any good DVD movies recently?

[Owyn]

I tend to watch movies in spurts and often in cycles. I am cheap so I usually get them from my library which has an online reservation system. Either that or from my son. He collects the darn things. Sometimes even before they are formally released.I love music. Several great music DVDs I have seen recently include:Lilith FairBueno Vista Social ClubRay Charles: Live at the Montreaux Jazz FestivalIn terms of cycles I recently watched several featuring Tommy Lee Jones.The Fugitive (Probably my favourite. Listen to the alternate audio with comments.)The ClientMen In Black 1 (great)Men in Black 2 (so so. Probably because it felt like a replay of MIB 1 and TLJ is definitely looking older).Also went through some Pierce Brosnan moviesThe Thomas Crown Affair (Good. Love the casting of Faye Dunaway as the psychiatrist. Great remake.)and that made me watch the original with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Still a great movie with amazing effects for its time. Very visual experience.Tailor of Panama (He is a perfect sociopath. Very good adaptation of the book.)

[ibe98765]

Well, I took the recommendation above and saw Equilibrium. It was interesting and worth seeing but IMO, was no way as good as The Matrix. Lots of gun play and blood at the expense of plot. Saw 2 Fast and 2 Furious last night. Not too bad for the type of eye candy movie that it was intended to be. And much better than the first movie with Vin Diesel. In current release, Lost In Translation. I found it to be a very enjoyable and well done movie. Bill Murray deserves an Oscar nomination for his part. Costar Scarlett Johanssen was also very good but I felt there was some weakness in the script around her part. I don't think that what she was feeling got communicated quite as well as it could have. Still, I'd highly recommend this one for people looking for a "thinking" movie. (note: there are no car chases or explosions or any of the other usual tricks that too many current movies employ to keep the average person with ADD engaged. If this is what you look for in a movie, then you'll be bored by this one).

[Prelude76]

saw a couple of good flicks lately"The Italian Job".. never saw the original, but this one is action packed and pretty decent plot. great casting too. angelie jolie as a blonde! ~drool~ "Pirates of Carribbean" ... great and amazing flick! my only complain is that is was a bit too long. action movies that push or pass the 2hr mark are not my style. still, Johnny Depp's performance is stellar. and the special FX with the ghost that appear as skeletons in moon light, dang.. that must've taken a lot of work, especially in the fighting sequences. pretty nice how they blended in a fair amount of jokes into the movie too. a bit horror, a lot action, a bit drama, and a bit comedy."Phonebooth"... i was very skeptical about how a movie taking place entirely in a phone booth for the whole 90minutes could work, but it had me at the edge of my seat the whole time. great suspense thriller. and a movie to avoid at all costs..........................................Charlies Angels - Full Throttleack! gag! ralf! what a waste of movie dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i had to stop watching and go get my money back after the intro scene where the cast 'dodge' a tank blast, fall off a dam, a helicopter unfolds and expands out of the back of truck, and all 4 people one by one jump onto the helicopter, two of them holding on the outside of the chopper, while it falls yet manages to go airborne and turns just before they hit waterwhat a brainless worthless joke of a movie! i feel like i wasted 15 minutes of my life by seeing that first part.

[ibe98765]

Down With Love - I enjoyed this stylish, big fun comedy. It brought back memories of the old days of innocent movies where everything worked out in the end. It was refreshing not to have anyone get shot and nothing blown up! I love Renee Zellweger and she can also sing a pretty good tune. The Matrix Reloaded - I also liked this 2nd movie in the trilogy. Not quite as good as the first one but still very watchable. There were a few segments that were too long and a bit over the top (both of Neo's major fight scenes and the highway chase scene). How can a car get riddled with hundreds of bullets from machine guns and no one inside gets hit??? Oh well, I guess the main movie going audience has come to expect non-sequiturs like this. Looking forward to the final installment, due out November 5th!

[Prelude76]

actually, i've been meaning to get Down With Love. thanks for the recommendation.Two great flicks I enjoyed, I SPY with Eddie Murphy and Owen Nilson. I was in stitches the whole way thru. If you loved movies like Beverly Hills Cops or Shanghai Noon or Rush Hour, you'll love this one. Great comedy. Eddie Murphy is back at his prime comic style with this one.Johnny English. Not many enjoyed this flick, because they were expecting Mr. Bean, but the actor, Rowan Atkinson is more similar to his "Black Adder" comic style, so if you understand the humor of that obsure british comedy, you'll enjoy this flick. althought it's not the funniest flick around, it has its moments and a good one time watch at the least.i personally didnt enjoy "Matrix Reloaded". i had to stop and check to make sure i didnt rent a "Star Treck" movie accidentally. what's all that crap about ships, and commanders, and giving 'orders' to Morpheus? in first part, Morpheus seemed like the leader, now he's just a ship captiain going boldly where no one has gone before. The only good scene (but you're right, its way too long) is the car scene. the rest of the scenes are slow-mow charlie's angels like fighting thats more stupid than cool. but everyone else loves it, so i'll just zip it now.

[Martini Lover]

Chicago ChicagoWatched it last night, watched all the extras and then watched it again. Great Music, and as close to watching a stage show as you can get, from your living room.

[Gus K]

wait until November to buy the director's cut.

I usually don't like Director's cuts. It's usually pretty evident why certain scenes were scrapped.I just saw "Identity" and liked it. From a couple years back "Frailty" and "Ravenous" were pretty cool.Being a Hong Kong fan I'm waiting for "Shaolin Soccer" to hit the states. I saw an import DVD and was most impressed.

[Guest LilBambi]

We recently watched Sean Connery's film "Finding Forrester." I found it a very compelling movie and enjoyed it very much. I can see why Sean Connery himself enjoyed the film.We also saw John Cusak's movie "HiFi" and found it to be a fun and silly movie. I liked the old detective show type dialog with the audience throughout the movie.

[Guest genaldar]

I saw and liked both of those LilBambi. Especially Finding Forrester. Plust BustaRhymes told a great story about taht movie on Conan back when it came out.If you're a fan of the Lord of the Rings books the directors cuts are a must. They're much close to the books in feel (well the first one was, we'll see how PJ explains ruining Faromir in the Two Towers).Matrix Reloaded was so bad I had to see it twice just to make sure it was as chitty as I thought. Yep, it was. But sadly I'm such a fanboy I bought it on dvd anyway (so I can have all 3, at least thats the plan if 3 doesn't suck).For everyone who liked the Matrix rent Dark City. Semi-similar themes but I thought it was a better story and didn't rely so much on effects. It was also much gritier (the matrix was definetly holywood grity). But then again I liked Underworld with Kate Beckinsale, so what do I know?

[ibe98765]

28 Days LaterThis was a good movie. It's about the aftermath of a biological disaster. There are elements of "Night of the living dead" here, which is a bit overstated at times, but the movie does make you think about this issue and what life might be like if an infectious microbe did get loose and decimated the world. The Man Without A PastThis is a Finnish film by Finland's greatest film director, so it has subtitles. I found it poignant, sparse and very interesting. It's a story of poor people on the edge of society, surviving and making do with the hands they were dealt with. The action is in the characters. The write ups allude to it being "funny". IMO, it wasn't particularly funny but you might find humor in it if viewed as a satire. The Italian JobInteresting but fairly typical of the genre. Convoluted, excessive planning of a couple of heists and loads of technology, unlike anything that might or could happen in real life. Little emotion of any kind from the "actors'. The In-LawsA cute, mindless, lightweight of a movie. Worth seeing if you have nothing better to do that night. The original with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk was much better.

[Guest LilBambi]

genalder, I will look into the those ... thanks!ibe98765, I love those movies! The only one I have yet to see is The Italian Job.Just saw another cool old black and white SciFi movie recently, and I am sure you will remember this one: Red Planet Mars with typical 50s flair (made in 1952) with a very young and promising Peter Graves, Andrea King, Herbert Berghof. The one liner for the movie is: "Is there Life on Mars...or is this a cruel joke?"

[Prelude76]

um... i've seen 2 Fast 2 Furious recently. ummmm.. one question... WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING????

[Guest LilBambi]

Well, I haven't watched this one yet on DVD, but I am going to rent it!We just watched it on UPN ... The Edge with Sir Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, Elle Macpherson and written by David Mamet (1947-Present), Author, Playwright, and Director.The movie was fascinating and very engaging. The only problem I had with it? It was on commercial TV and hence the commercial breaks ... always at the worst possible time!I will rent this one or maybe just buy it at Amazon! (There is a pretty detailed review there as well.)I have seen many of David Mamet's works before such as The Untouchables, The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, About Last Night ..., and several more, but I had never put the screenplay writer's name together on them. Now I will be watching for his next one ... and he has two coming out ... one in 2004 and one in 2005.

[Guest ThunderRiver]

The Italian Job is very original and enjoyable movie.Seabiscuit is another good one too though I got the DVD Screener, not actual DVD yet.American Wedding is another nice DVD you should get.Finding Nemo DVD oh yes!Lion Kings Special DVD yes! but I am very unhappy that they didn't include Lion King 2. I have seen the sequal, but I can't find it on the DVD!Pirates of Caribbean is another DVD you should get! Very nice graphics rendernig with the skeletons under the moon :)Back to the Future DVD set is awesome! I have watched it many many times. Very well connected. Very well worth the moneyHoles DVD by Disney is an interesting movie. It makes you wonder why they dig holes, and as you watch the movie, all the little tiny facts will fill up your mind with better understanding of what's going on. Nice movieTaken series DVD box set is another nice choice, but so far I have only seen first 5 episodes. So far so good.DVDs that you should never get:The Hulk = worst movie. Not much detail. If you like hero movie, you might as well get SpidermanCabin Fever = I hvae seen the DVD screener, and boy, it is the worst movie ever! It is like the movie "Wrong Turn" portraying people from West Virgina as barbarians.. It also makes you think that tap water is contaminated with disease.. very bad movie indeed. All the non-sense killing.. and virus spreading.. DVD that you may want to getIndiana Jones DVD set... maybe a good one, but then again, I have never seen the movie, so I don't know.Matrix DVD set - I will get all three for sure!Lord of the Ring - Yum ;)Terminator 3 Rise of Machine - mm I watched the DVD screener. Very nice indeed. If you don't like the movie, you should still be impressed with the special effects.

[Guest LilBambi]

Indiana Jones 4 DVD set ... definitely a must have in my library!I have seen all three of these great Harrison Ford movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusader (w/Sean Connery).Can't rave enough!

[Guest ThunderRiver]

Funny thing is that I didn't even know Indiana Jones is played by Harrison Ford until recently when I read the news about making the 4th seqeul.

[Guest LilBambi]

LOL! Don't feel bad, Raiders of the Lost Ark was done in 1981, but I never saw it till 1986 on Showtime. We love all of the Indiana Jones movies.Raiders was a Steven Spielberg / George Lucas collaboration. Best of the three but all very good IMHO.

[Prelude76]

thunderriver: shame on you! go watch all three Indy movies now! p.s. - actually, skip Temple of Doom. it was a farce, IMHO. Raiders is in top 10 best movies ever in my books. Last Crusade isn't top10 material, but its a blast and great fun to watch.if you like animal bestiality humor, and penis humor, and "oh my god, we accidentally walked into a gay bar!" humor, by all means, go rent American Wedding. But if you prefer real comedy as opposed to grade-9 humor, i'd say "I Spy" would be more of a comedy to rent.

[Guest ThunderRiver]

thunderriver:  shame on you!  go watch all three Indy movies now!      p.s. - actually, skip Temple of Doom.  it was a farce, IMHO.  Raiders is in top 10 best movies ever in my books.  Last Crusade isn't top10 material, but its a blast and great fun to watch.if you like animal bestiality humor, and penis humor, and "oh my god, we accidentally walked into a gay bar!" humor, by all means, go rent American Wedding.  But if you prefer real comedy as opposed to grade-9 humor, i'd say "I Spy" would be more of a comedy to rent. 

No. the point of American Wedding is not about gay bar or so on. It is all about the taboo they do in the movie, which is against the ethics in American society. I like American Wedding the same way I like South Park. They break rules and go beyond the traditional view of life. It is not only about comedy.

[Prelude76]

No. the point of American Wedding is not about gay bar or so on. It is all about the taboo they do in the movie, which is against the ethics in American society. I like American Wedding the same way I like South Park. They break rules and go beyond the traditional view of life. It is not only about comedy.

woah, normally i agree with you on many points, but you should stop trying to read into this movie. american wedding was a pathetic example of trying to milk the cow that's already been severely milked in American Pie 2. the humor is targeted to people that think "Jackass" is the best movie ever made. Oh funny! he walks into gay bar and hits on a transvestite. the ironic thing is he thinks she's a girl! oh! hahaha! sorry, humor like that flies right by me and lands in the trashcan.the only people laughing were the producers. laughing all the way to the bank!for the record, i loved the original American Pie. but the 2 sequels have way too much regurgitated humor.

[Guest ThunderRiver]

No. the point of American Wedding is not about gay bar or so on. It is all about the taboo they do in the movie, which is against the ethics in American society. I like American Wedding the same way I like South Park. They break rules and go beyond the traditional view of life. It is not only about comedy.

woah, normally i agree with you on many points, but you should stop trying to read into this movie. american wedding was a pathetic example of trying to milk the cow that's already been severely milked in American Pie 2. the humor is targeted to people that think "Jackass" is the best movie ever made. Oh funny! he walks into gay bar and hits on a transvestite. the ironic thing is he thinks she's a girl! oh! hahaha! sorry, humor like that flies right by me and lands in the trashcan.the only people laughing were the producers. laughing all the way to the bank!for the record, i loved the original American Pie. but the 2 sequels have way too much regurgitated humor.

Not really, the gay bar part is only the tiny part of the whole movie. The movie symbolizes a new beginning, not an end. It tells you that true love is about compromise and making sacrifices, not just a buncha boning from sunrise to sunset. It is a learning experience from high school (AP 1), to college (AP 2), and to marriage (AP 3). To me, I think all 3 movies are well connected. However, from your opinion, I can see why E! Online never gave American Pie 1, 2, and 3 any grating higher than a C or so.

[Prelude76]

ok AP1, AP2 and AW *could* someone be viewed in that way. however, there's probably a thousand other 'love story' movies and dramas that deal with topic of high school, college and marriage, WITHOUT the annoying animal bestiality jokes. a good one is "Down with Love". deals very well with men and women needing to compromise. plus its hilarious. David Hyde Pierce shines in it.

[ibe98765]

Latest movies viewed: "6" Hulk - It was better than I expected. I wished I had ignored the reviews and seen it on the big screen. My only previous exposure to the Hulk was the TV show that aired some years ago. I did expect to find Dr. David Banner following the same path as on the TV show - eluding police, moving from one place to another continuously, keeping a low profile, trying to find a cure. But the movie was different. The animation was very realistic! But was it true to the comic version? Was the Hulk in the comics able to make miles long leaps like in the movie? I would have liked to see a little more angst and introspection from this Banner in the movie. His character just did not meld well with his alternate Hulk character. They were like two completely different entities. We'll have to see how things work out in the sequel. "7.5" Nowhere In Africa - This movie was the 2002 Academy Award winner of the Best Foreign Language film (in German with English subtitles). "A love story spanning two continents, Nowhere in Africa is the extraordinary true tale of a Jewish family who flees the Nazi regime in 1938 for a remote farm in Kenya". I enjoyed this film. It's a powerful story with all the necessary ingredients for an engrossing film - acting, story, plot, a sense of history and scenery. It does get a little glossy and melodramatic occasionally. I didn't like the ending. But then, this is a true story, so the ending is real, sigh.

[ibe98765]

It's been pretty dry for any good DVD movies lately. Watched one tonight though. "10" Man on the Train - Just a terrific, thoughtful movie and a superb character study.From the back of the Blockbuster box:"When the poet and the thief meet, they realize that they each desire a life more like the the one the other man is living."Note: In French with English subtitles. Reviews "6" Winged Migration - Some of the most beautiful bird photography that you will ever see. It's somewhat slow and by the end of this 85 minute movie, I was losing interest...

[littlebone]

I just saw an older anime DVD that was really moving. It was "Grave of the Fireflies". This is a pretty sad story of two young children in Japan at the end of WWII, scrounging for existence during the US firebombing of Japan. The animation is quite good and the characters and scenes are fairly realistic. But this is not a story for children. It is also not a movie to watch if you want to be left in a good mood. Still, I recommend it.

[ibe98765]

"8" Gangs Of New York - This was a movie that I didn't partake of when it first came out on DVD as I thought it couldn't be very good. Wrong! Excellent movie and good storytelling. Martin Scorsese did a good job on the film. The only real negative to me was the sets and color seemed a little too clean and vibrant for the period re-creation. Leonardo DiCaprio is coming along as an actor. Daniel Day-Lewis, well, what more could be said about him that hasn't already been said? How someone can manage to immerse themselves in a part like him is beyond me. And Cameron Diaz is not only pretty, but played her character very well. I didn't realize New York City had such a sordid past. The history alone was fascinating. Watch the special feature on the history that the movie was built upon.Note: ample blood & physical violence...

[Martini Lover]

Anger Management. Loved it. Laughed until I cried and coulcn't hardly breath.

[brucekrymow]

Now why is it I am still getting reply notices from this thread from over 4 months ago, but yet I cannot get any reply notices from current thread posts???

[Owyn]

Watching PBS's "Thomas Jefferson: A Film by Ken Burns". Think of it as a 3 hour Biography without commercials.Beautiful photography, quiet period instrument soundtrack, and a balanced view of a complex man in a seminal period.

[Jeber]

Terminator 3 Rise of Machine...just watched this 2 nights ago. I'd only give it a 5 or more if the dialog my roomy and I came up with was used. And now I've seen my governor naked twice. But the special effects were...well...special.