Good (or bad) Movies

[LennG]

The other day we watched, "Book of Eli" with Denzel Washington.

We had seen this movie when it first came out and wrote a review about it then. After seeing it again, I still feel the same way. It is a decent enough movie, though I just never get over the fact that they make Denzel a sort of Rambo, terminator etc all rolled up into one. It is a very bleak type of movie, and if I remember my original review I called it 'brutal'.

Still, I enjoyed it, as I do like movies like this. There was some humor and some good action moments. There were several parts that still do not make any sense. Like in the opening scenes, you see Denzel shoot an animal with a bow and arrow. He wanders around for about another hour WITHOUT said bow and arrows, but later on, viola, there he is shooting people with it. Where in hell was it for the other hour. He sure wasn't carrying it, yet when he needs it, miraculously, he has it. Only in Hollywood.

But, besides those minor points, I still liked the movie. Not great but good enough to watch on a hot afternoon or evening.

PS Definitely not for the kiddies.

[babywhales]

FYI - If you were not aware the American Movie Classics is now showing certain movies with extremely limited interuptions and some movies with no interuptions.  the other night the magnificent seven was on.

[jimv]

FYI, TCM runs ALL movies without interruption and in Widescreen when they WS movies.  I gave up on AMC when they started the ads & stopped showing WS movies in WS.

[LennG]

 I gave up on AMC when they started cutting out all the 'good' parts.

[babywhales]

 I gave up on AMC when they started cutting out all the 'good' parts.

for this promotion the movies are in the entirety......

But I understand as I hate AMC for no other reason than the commercials......

[LennG]

 Now that my wife is finished with school, we can hit the movie theaters on Tuesdays (free movie day) and try and see some of the summer movies.
 We figured we would start out with an older one, Shrek Forever After.
We have seen all the other Shrek movies,and they all went downhill after the original, with Shrek 3, being almost unwatchable. So now, they need2 to capitalize on the 3-D craze and make a new Shrek. To be honest, we didn't want to pay the extra $7 to see it in 3-D, so we saw a normal version of it. To my great surprise, this one wasn't bad at all. It still cannot compare with Shrek 1, but it had a new take on things, and the other characters are still funny, and this time Shrek was fine.
 Now going to watch it in 3-D with a family at regular prices, could be very expensive for a movie that is good, but not great. If you want to see it without 3-D, it is probably worth it, or else wait for the DVD. It was not a bad way to spend a hot afternoon.

[Sam56]

"FYI, TCM runs ALL movies without interruption and in Widescreen when they WS movies.  I gave up on AMC when they started the ads & stopped showing WS movies in WS."

Jim,

What you wrote, I have said this many many times. TCM has always been one of my favorite channels. Used to watch AMC, until they screwed it up. I haven't watched it in a very long, long time.

Thank you TCM, and please Mr. Turner, don't screw up your wonderful channel like AMC did.

Sam

[katkavage]

Guys,
It's pretty much impossible, and really unnecessary to ever watch a movie on a commercial station when there are commercial interruptions. With Netflix, TCM, IFC, HBO, Movies on Demand, etc, there's no reason to destroy the continuity of a movie with blunt commercial breaks.

[jimv]

kat, you make an excellent point.  But, except for TCM, I'm not sure the rest show WS movies in WS.  I know IFC doesn't alsways do that.  None of the Encore channels do it.  I don't have HBO & don't use Movies on Demand but I'm not sure they do.

[LennG]

 What better movie to watch on the 4th of July than 'Yankee Doodle Dandy'

Probably Cagneys best role, and just a pleasure to watch over and over and over again.

He did that tap dance down the White House steps himself in one take.

[NYSPORTS]

Really looking forward to seeing "The Retireees" in August.  Oh wait, I mean "The Expendables"

Check out this rookie class:

Sylvester Stallone
Jason Statham
Jet Li
Bruce Willis
Dolph Lundgren
Eric Roberts
Steve Austin
Mickey Rourke
Arnold Schwarzenegger

and other spring chickens

[LennG]

 What better way to spend a steamy afternoon, then in a nice cool movie theater. Sure brings back memories of my youth when we used to spend all afternoon in the theater and never saw the same thing twice.
 Problem here was that the theater was on the second level and the AC just wasn't strong enough to really cool that theater, so half the enjoyment was lost right there.

 On to the movie. We saw 'Knight and Day' with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. Ms Diaz is always a pleasure to look at and Mr Cruise is, well, Tom Cruise. If you like him, this was typical Cruise, if not, don't even bother showing up.
 The movie itself was suppose to be a sort of light buddy movie, with many, many things getting blown up, and crashes all over the place. It WAS light, and really had the potential to be a very good movie, but it missed the mark. Now, it wasn't terrible and, as I said, if you are looking for a very light movie to escape the heat, this could be it, but for two stars of this magnitude, it could have, should have, been much better.
 They try to make Cruise a light version of Jason Bourne, and he handles light comedy fairly well, but there were just so many holes in the script, that if you cannot overlook them, don't bother going.
 Again, this movie wasn't terrible and it might be a good escapism from the heat of a dog day afternoon.

[katkavage]

Lenn,

I hope you got in on a senior special for that one. My money is too precious to be wasted on that tired formula regardless of the stars. Still, if you enjoyed it and got in on half price or less, that's all that matters.

[LennG]

Kat

Even better,  FREE

We have this Optimum triple play and with that you are allowed to go to any Clearview Cinema Theater for free on Tuesdays. We have two within earshot of home, and since the Mrs is off during the summer months, that is usually our routine.

 Nothing to lose but time.

[LennG]

 This month on TCM, the star of the month is Gregory Peck, one of my favorite actors. Yes, we all know about his great role in 'To Kill a Mockingbird' but he made many, many classic movies from Roman Holiday, Guns of Navarone, The Big Country, Twelve O'Clock High, Spellbound, Gentleman's Agreement and one of MY favorites was 'The Gunfighter'. Of course he made many many more.
 Today I watched one of his classics, 'Moby Dick'. While this wasn't a great movie, it was a solid version of the Melville classic, and Peck was in rare form as Captain Ahab.
 Just a treat to watch Gregory Peck do his craft. Tune in all month long for some of his great movies.