What was the last movie you've seen?

[Stark]

Electro is a black Keith Apicary.

Nathan should seek legal action.

So he's a nerd, but what functional reason would he have to wear his glasses this way? I assume he's not an idiot?

And it's possible those photos are from the middle of a shot that involves him getting roughed up and not having the wherewithal to fix his glasses.

Ah, I could see that.

[REPO Man]

Rewatched this last night:


One of my Oz films, and one of my fave '80s-fantasy films (the other two are Labyrinth and Dark Crystal).

For those who don't know, this is NOT a direct sequel to the 1939 MGM classic. It's actually a loose adaptation/mashup of the second and third books in the OZ series, The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz, though some elements from the other movie (i.e. the Ruby Slippers are used in lieu of their original novel counterpart The Silver Shoes) and even a few from other Oz books (i.e. the financial woes of Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, as seen in The Emerald City of Oz).

It's also much more true to the books than almost any other adaptation. For one, this film's version of Dorothy Gale (played by Fairuza Balk in her first film role) is more of the tomboyish prairie girl from the books, as opposed to the damsel-often-in-distress version played by Judy Garland (whose Dorothy probably broke down crying more in the 1939 film than in the whole of the Baum-written Oz novels combined). Now, there are some obvious differences, like the character of Princess Mombi being a composite of the old witch Mombi from "Land of Oz" and Princess Langwidere from "Ozma of Oz", or virtually no mention of Oz's nearby neighbor The Land of Ev (where Tik-Tok is really from and is the Royal Army of). I won't give away any more, but I'll tell you that the Baum-written Oz novels are public domain.

The DVD I own is the Disney release, not the older and more rare (not to mention 4:3 Pan and Scan) Anchor Bay release, though the former is not much for special features (there's some TV spots taken from old transfers, a film trailer, and a feature with Fairuza Balk, who also does a brief intro to the film) or even well-done menus (really just static screengrabs as background with WordArt titles).

But until we get the kind of DVD (and eventually Blu-Ray) release of this film, with the same standards as other Disney releases, the current release is more than enough.

But watch this before you let your kids watch it, because some scenes really do rationalize the film's PG rating, which was more PG-13 by '80s standards. Don't believe me?


WATCH THIS SCENE AND THEN ASK ME AGAIN IF YOU BELIEVE ME

[BurningDoom]

^ I recall liking that movie a lot as a kid. But I've seen it so freaking long ago, but now it would be like an entirely new movie for me.

What does stand out to me, is I remember the pumpkinhead guy's head falling off a lot, and the wind-up robot guy.

[Retrodude]

Yeah, that one's probably my favorite Oz movie, although "Oz The Great And Powerful" is a close second due to the visuals and the fact that James Franco was entirely convincing as the Wizard.

[Pulsar_t]

Quintessential 80s actioner, right down to the credits song.

[TheSSNintendo]

Last evening I was flipping channels, and settled on watching the rest of Cinderella (post-Ball), and then watched some of Men In Black before switching over to the NHL Network's playoff schedule show.

[Mendoza]

Finally had a chance to see Django Unchained. I thought it was a great movie.

Loved the cameo by Franco Nero.

[REPO Man]

Rewatched this last night:



It's a very powerful drama that's as distinctively Arakian but also distinctive from Gregg Araki's other films, if that makes sense.

Based on the Scott Heim book of the same name, the film follows two young men, Neil (played by Joseph Gordon Levitt) and Brian (played by Brady Corbett, from such films as "Funny Games" and "Melancholia"). Both were victims of sexual abuse by their baseball coach (played by Bill Sage, whose other film credits include "American Psycho"). The boys grow up to become two completely different individuals. Neil, who was shown as having homosexual proclivities at an early age and thus saw his abuse as his first real sexual relationship, grows up to be sexually compulsive and leaves home to be a male prostitute in New York City and lives with his childhood friend Wendy (played by Michelle Trachtenberg, whose varied credits include "Harriet the Spy" and the "Black Christmas" remake and "Gossip Girl"'s Georgina Sparks, to name a few). Brian, however, grows up thinking what happened to him was his abduction by aliens, naturally as a way of dealing with the abuse. He also becomes introverted and asexual, and later seeks out "the other boy" from his abduction-dreams (who is Neil), and even becomes friends with one of Neil's other friends, a young gay man named Eric (played by Jeff Licon, who you may remember from "The Brothers Garcia", and possibly from "Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror"). But soon, fate brings Neil and Brian back together to ultimately face their shared abuse.

This marks one of Araki's more powerful films, described by the late Roger Ebert as "at once the most harrowing and, strangely, the most touching film I have seen about child abuse". It's also one his more serious films, though ironically was made between his polyamorous-themed cornball rom-com "Splendor" (with his then-girlfriend/only-girlfriend Kathleen Robertson and Jonathan Schaech, who he worked with in "Nowhere" and "The Doom Generation", respectively) and his stoner comedy of errors "Smiley Face", the latter of which features Richard Riehl who previously appeared as one of Neil's tricks in "Mysterious Skin".

[Retrodude]

The Simpsons Movie

I hadn't watched it in a couple years and looking at it now, while it is a fun and enjoyable film, I can see why they had so much trouble coming up with a suitable story over the years and why it took eight or nine people to write it. Instead of feeling like a proper big screen movie, it feels more like an hour-long TV special forcibly stretched to 90 minutes. That said, I hope they have the opportunity to do another one so they can use this experience to make the sequel better.

[Jrecee]

The Simpsons Movie

I hadn't watched it in a couple years and looking at it now, while it is a fun and enjoyable film, I can see why they had so much trouble coming up with a suitable story over the years and why it took eight or nine people to write it. Instead of feeling like a proper big screen movie, it feels more like an hour-long TV special forcibly stretched to 90 minutes. That said, I hope they have the opportunity to do another one so they can use this experience to make the sequel better.

And it wasn't even a full 90 minutes.