General Movie Thread

[yesno]

I mentioned Into Great Silence in the Best of the 2000s thread and I mean it!  It's about 3 hours of footage of some Carthusian monks.  I love it.  It's up there with Fog of War, recent documentary-wise.  You might hate it, though.

I should say that it's not so much the footage so much as the ambient sounds that really make it great.  Wood creaking, robes rustling around, raindrops.

[jbissell]

I mentioned Into Great Silence in the Best of the 2000s thread and I mean it!  It's about 3 hours of footage of some Carthusian monks.  I love it.  It's up there with Fog of War, recent documentary-wise.  You might hate it, though.

I should say that it's not so much the footage so much as the ambient sounds that really make it great.  Wood creaking, robes rustling around, raindrops.

I've had a copy of this for a while now but am never in the proper mood to actually watch it.

[dave from knoxville]

I enjoyed that too, when I saw it 12-15 years ago. Marvin's usually fun in an Eeyore way, but Borgnine's completely over-the-top sadistically crazy; his character's thoroughly SCUMM-Force enabled.

[Wes]

Just watched Robert Aldrich's Emperor of the North (Pole) and if the premise alone doesn't prompt a rental there's probably no hope for you.   Lee Marvin plays "A-No. 1" the king of the hobos during the Great Depression and most likely an American hero to a young Dick Whitman.  He's determined to do the impossible and hop the train of the sadistic Shack (Ernest Borgnine), who likes nothing more than to kill hobos with a hammer... or chain... or other trainhold objects, rather than give them a free ride.  Keith Carradine tags along as Marvin's unwanted sidekick, following a first meeting where Marvin whacks him with a live chicken (sorry, masterofsparks).  The final Marvin/Borgnine brawl is immortal.  Probably soon to be remade with the guy from Twilight and a Jonas Brother to be named later

That descriptions sounds so good I fear that watching it executed can only disappoint me. I hope that's not the case.

Except for some harmless schlockiness it pretty much delivers, especially the very rough and mean fight at the end.  I think Sam Peckinpah wrote the original script but took his name off the film when he didn't like the final result.  It's not the most in-depth portrait of the depression and you could see how it could've been as surreal as something like Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, but oh well.  It's entertaining, it's got Lee Marvin as a hobo and the testosterone is at Murder Ape-levels.

I've never seen this, and I'm almost ashamed at how much your recommendation and descriptions make me want to see it now. Almost.

Gleaned from IMDb alone:
Tagline - Lee Marvin & Ernest Borgnine meet in the fight of the century.

Memorable quotes:
-[Shack laughs as the hobo falls over the cupola of the caboose]

-[Steadying his sledge-hammer] Shack: But now I'm going to show you what happens to people who ride on my train without a ticket.

-Shack: There's only one 'bo that's got the stuff to try me, and you ain't even on the list.

-A no. 1: You got a chance to be a good bum. You can be a meat eater, kid. I mean people, not their garbage.

And the posters!

That second one looks like it should be the cover of a "You Are A Hobo Killer" Choose Your Own Adventure book, but it works. There's something about how the train looks like it has a smiling clown face that somehow makes it more terrifying. And these aren't even as insane as foreign posters for the movie look.

I may leave work right now to go watch this somewhere.

[B_Buster]

Emperor of the North is what inspired me to pick up the hammer.

[buffcoat]

Ol' Gil is going to close those leads!

[yesno]

So District 9 is awesome.

[jbissell]

So District 9 is awesome.

I haven't been that impressed by effects in a long time.  There wasn't one moment that didn't feel totally real.

[cutout]

The Hurt Locker has some of the best suspense scenes I've seen in a long time.

You aren't kidding. Wow that was intense 

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I just caught To Catch A Thief at BAM and realized that it was actually the first time I'd seen a Hitchcock movie in an actual theater.  Holy moley, was it great.  Watching them on TV doesn't compare at all.

[masterofsparks]

I just caught To Catch A Thief at BAM and realized that it was actually the first time I'd seen a Hitchcock movie in an actual theater.  Holy moley, was it great.  Watching them on TV doesn't compare at all.

I saw Rear Window when they re-released it to theaters several years ago (in connection with a restoration, if I recall correctly) and, I agree, it's a completely different experience.

[masterofsparks]

Oh, and I plan to watch Dillinger today (with Warren Oates playing John Dillinger!). I don't know if the movie will be any good, but as far as I'm concerned, any time watching a movie with Warren Oates on-screen is time well-spent.

[Martin]

Dillinger is pretty good! Also it's written-directed by crazy John Milius.

[dnk]

Anybody see FUNNY PEOPLE?

It's been getting really mixed reviews, but I loved it. It was one of those movies I just connected with because of where I'm at in my life right now and things I'm thinking about.

The complaints about it being too long aren't too far off the mark, it's definitely long, but being that I enjoyed it, I didn't mind. Other people's mileage might vary.

As long as you go in knowing it's not a slapstick, laugh-a-minute comedy, but just treat it like you would any other movie, I think people would really enjoy it.

A lot of my favorite parts were the things that had viral marketing, like Aziz Ansari's RAAAAAAAANDY! character and Jason Schwartzman's crappy teen sitcom, YO TEACH!

[JonFromMaplewood]

I just caught To Catch A Thief at BAM and realized that it was actually the first time I'd seen a Hitchcock movie in an actual theater.  Holy moley, was it great.  Watching them on TV doesn't compare at all.

I saw Rear Window when they re-released it to theaters several years ago (in connection with a restoration, if I recall correctly) and, I agree, it's a completely different experience.

One of the classiest moments of my life was seeing "Notorious" in a theater in Paris.  It was fantastic, but my brain was way too busy saying "You're watching Notorious in a theater in Paris" to really appreciate it.