I shall make Jonsey's day - nay, his motherfucking LIFE - by logging in this time.
First, my words for
Jonsey:
1) Last word on Starship Troopers: The beauty is that the movie functions perfectly well as an action and monster movie even if you completely ignore its parody aspects. Apart from every idiot who thinks they're clever by saying "gee, all they needed was a big can of Raid, aha ha ha!" That you continue to harp on Doogie being in it specifically shows that you Do. Not. Get. It. Such kids being in it is the
point.
2) Listen, Garrison Keiller, tales of your youth don't make Mallrats a better movie. Brodie Bruce may be your hero, but come on, even if you
do think he's that great (which no one else does), the rest of the movie is steamy horse shit.
3) I'm glad to see that no one debates that Kevin Smith is a bit of a shameless whore. J&SB action figures? DVDs of him blathering for hours? View Askew t-shirts? Bleh.
4) Even if you do love comic books, "Signs" rather sucked.
Now for
Pinback:
1) I have to agree with Jonsey on the 5-star scheme. You can't say that 4 stars is the best, then arbitarily adding up to one more full star, any more than you can turn your stereo up to "11" during a particularly rockin' song. If you're doing that, then your system is skewed and faulty, and must be re-evaluated.
2) Obviously, your general take on movies is a bit, err, "off", to be propping up Magnolia like this. On IMDB's top 250 movies, Mag is way down in 155th place (with a 7.9/10 rating), just below Gladiator, which is just below Back to the Future. Other movies rated higher:
148 - Die Hard, 143 - Being John Malkovich, 126 - Return of the Jedi, 91 - Run Lola Run, 88 - Donnie Darko, 73 - Jaws, 55- Se7en, 53 - MP & the Holy Grail, 33 - The Matrix, 24 - Silence of the Lambs, etc, etc, etc.
Of course, that list is hardly a reliable reference for the "best movies ever" - hell, Godfather is #1, Godfather 2 is #3, and doesn't everyone agree that the sequel is better? And Shawshank Redemption rating higher than Citizen Kane - two good movies, but is SR really better? Certainly, on historical significance alone, CK belongs at or near the top of almost any list.
They do correctly put LOTR 1 over LOTR 2. Heh. Heh. Heh. More interesting, though, is the
bottom 100 list.
Lastly,
looper:
1) Probably good points, but I wanted to go to extremes to make the point. Saying that "Two Weeks Notice" is not exactly a groundbreaking, challenging movie probably doesn't make the point as effectively as studios consistently throwing staggering amounts of money into movies that they fully expect to be bad, and, of course, moviegoers are often happy to see bad movies, so that there is no challenge. "Good" movies rarely do well on the first weekend, but make their money over a long span - like The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, and I suppose Greek Wedding (not having seen it.) Those are successful because the people have heard enough positive word of mouth to build up their courage to see something that is different from the usual. (Well, not so much for The Matrix, but definitely for the other two.)
2) That's a hell of a multiplex to show The Pricess and the Warrior. I don't believe it was in any theaters here in Rochester - maybe in the local art theater for a couple weeks.
3) re: Mothman - I admit that I didn't sit and watch the whole thing, but the wife did, and I caught moments here and there. She was sucked it though freely admitting that it was junky. The end scene at the bridge was appalling inept, I thought. As for "own", that's a typo - "owl" is what I meant. Folks saw a particularly large variety of owl flying around and concocted mothman stories to explain it, and they made a movie about it, "based on true events!!!"... even sillier than the concept of making a movie about crop circles when even the most credulous of people, the ones who rub crystals, call Miss Cleo, consult astrology charts, and take homeopathic medicine - even
they know that crop circles are total hoaxes.
4) "
The Eye" is a Thai horror movie about a blind girl who gets a cornea transplant and, imagine this, can see ghosts. She even sees the spectre of death come and take them away. OK, it sounds derivitive as hell - but it's really not; it's extremely well-made, well-acted, beautifully lensed, and holy fucking
shit is it scary as hell. Not surprisingly, it was the fastest Asian movie ever to have the rights bought for a US remake - by frickin' Tom Cruise, unfortunately.
Ignore the wanker who left the most recent comments on IMDB (unless they've scrolled off by the time you see it) - he's wrong, and not only about it being Japanese. He also trashes Ringu and Audition, both quality Japanese horror movies. Anyways, The Eye will be released in theaters in NY/LA soon. I wouldn't be surprised to see it get released countrywide, as it absolutely kicks ass, and is far more effective IMHO than the overrated Sixth Sense. (Oh, there's a full review on my site, but to avoid upsetting Jonsey's delicate consitution, I shan't link directly to it.)