Topic: Trap's Movie Thread

[Libertas]

Shooter

The Stephen Hunter books are good, buy 'em all and read 'em.  He's got a third generation ass-kicker started up now to move on from Bob Lee Swagger...but the whole Swagger series is a fun read.

 

[trapeze]

The Long Kiss Goodnight

Geena Davis
Samuel L. Jackson

Directed by Renny Harlin



The Long Kiss Goodnight is an absolutely terrific movie...the perfect mixture of action and comedy.

Samantha Caine, suburban homemaker, is the ideal mom to her 8 year old daughter Caitlin. She lives in Honesdale, PA, has a job teaching school and makes the best Rice Krispie treats in town. But when she receives a bump on her head, she begins to remember small parts of her previous life as a lethal, top-secret agent. Her old chums in the Chapter are now out to kill her so she enlists the help of a cheap detective named Mitch. As Samantha remembers more and more of her previous life, she becomes deadlier and more resourceful. Both Mitch and Charly proceed to do the killing thing, the bleeding thing and the shooting thing.

This is one of those movies that I can watch multiple times and continue to be entertained. The chemistry between Davis and Jackson (and briefly with Brian Cox) is an unexpected pleasure...great script writing helps, too.

I really liked this one a lot. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

[trapeze]

And while I'm at it...another similar movie with great action and comedy (although it is an ensemble rather than a buddy film) is RED.

Frank (Bruce Willis) is retired, bored and lonely living off his government pension in a nondescript suburb in an equally nondescript house. The only joy in Frank's life are his calls to the government pension processing center when he gets to talk to his case worker Sarah (Mary-Louis Parker). Sarah is as bored and lonely as Frank and marks her conversations with the unknown Frank and her spy novels as the only things fun in her life. When something in Frank's past forces Frank back into his old line of work and puts an unwitting Sarah in the middle of the intrigue, Frank and Sarah begin a journey into Franks past and the people he used to work with. Like Frank they are all RED ... Retired Extremely Dangerous.

This is another one that I can watch multiple times and not get tired of. Bruce Willis one liners. Old guys versus young guys. Ex-gov versus government. Corrupt vice president gets shot at the end. What's not to love?

[Pandora]

The Long Kiss Goodnight

Geena Davis
Samuel L. Jackson

Directed by Renny Harlin



The Long Kiss Goodnight is an absolutely terrific movie...the perfect mixture of action and comedy.

Samantha Caine, suburban homemaker, is the ideal mom to her 8 year old daughter Caitlin. She lives in Honesdale, PA, has a job teaching school and makes the best Rice Krispie treats in town. But when she receives a bump on her head, she begins to remember small parts of her previous life as a lethal, top-secret agent. Her old chums in the Chapter are now out to kill her so she enlists the help of a cheap detective named Mitch. As Samantha remembers more and more of her previous life, she becomes deadlier and more resourceful. Both Mitch and Charly proceed to do the killing thing, the bleeding thing and the shooting thing.

This is one of those movies that I can watch multiple times and continue to be entertained. The chemistry between Davis and Jackson (and briefly with Brian Cox) is an unexpected pleasure...great script writing helps, too.

I really liked this one a lot. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

I watched this just last night and I agree.  Good movie.

I agree on RED as well.

[Miltrainer]

I can't wait for RED II to come out.  I think it is this month. 

[Libertas]

Long Kiss Goodnight is entertaining, like RED much better, and John Malkovich playing his usual goofball self  is always good for snorts & giggles, the whole ensamble was good though.  Didn't know another is in the works, will have to check that out.

[Miltrainer]

RED 2 will be released in Aug of this year.

[benb61]

RED was on Showtime last night and even though I've seen it a few times I had to watch again, it is that good.

[trapeze]

Watched (for the second time) "End of the Spear" which dramatizes the true story of American missionaries trying to reach the Ecuadoran savages in the late 1940's and early 1950's. The mission was, of course, to bring salvation to the savages but to also end the perpetual tribal revenge mass murdering, putting and "end to the spear" killings. The missionaries knew that the chances of success, of surviving their first encounters with the natives were very slim and yet they went anyway. Being willing to actually die for your beliefs is a concept which is utterly foreign to our popular culture today.



It's a hard movie to watch, especially at the beginning where you know that the male missionaries are going to be killed and the narrator is going to be left fatherless. Nevertheless, it is worth it because it is a good (and true) story, it is well told and the ending is especially gripping and satisfying.

There is another film that documents the story (an actual documentary) called, "Beyond the Gates of Splendor" which I will be watching soon. Both films can be found on the Netflix streaming service.

[trapeze]

Also watched "The Way" with Martin Sheen plus a bunch of other actors who I've never heard of.

"The Way" is a powerful and inspirational story about family, friends, and the challenges we face while navigating this ever-changing and complicated world. Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son (played by Emilio Estevez), killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking the Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. Rather than return home, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage to honor his son's desire to finish the journey. What Tom doesn't plan on is the profound impact the journey will have on him and his "California Bubble Life". Inexperienced as a trekker, Tom soon discovers that he will not be alone on this journey. On his journey, Tom meets other pilgrims from around the world, each with their own issues and looking for greater meaning in their lives: a Dutchman (Yorick van Wageningen), a Canadian (Deborah Kara Unger) and an Irish writer ('James Nesbitt')

So it ends up being a buddy film where there is hiking instead of driving. Martin Sheen plays a bitter asshole throughout most of the movie waiting until the final 20 or so minutes to finally warm up to his companions. One of the things I found (certainly unintentionally) funny is the scene where Sheen gets drunk in public and the local cops drag him off to jail. It was funny for me because I thought that Sheen has had plenty of practice with this behavior in real life so it was almost like not acting at all.

(mrs. trapeze made me watch this one.)

But it wasn't awful. Just predictable and kind of ordinary in its writing and drama. What is it? It's semi-religious, spiritual wannabeism for California and European atheists agnostics.

[trapeze]

Shamelessly lifted from AoS because, well, it's KickAss Part 2 and it might, just might revive the failing career of ultra lib asshole Jim Carrey. This also looks like it might be that ever so rare occurrence: a respectable sequel.

They have a red band trailer which you can watch here. There is a lot of bad language in it and that, of course, is why it is a red band trailer so don't say you weren't warned.

[trapeze]

I'm not big on musicals, as a rule. They usually suck. But every once in a while one comes along that just works for me. Such is the case with...

Little Shop of Horrors

Who knew that Rick Moranis could sing? Ridiculous story but great cast, great musical numbers, wonderful sets and a killer plant from outer space. What's not to love?

Minor parts cast to Steve Martin, Christopher Guest, John Candy, Jim Belushi & Bill Murray. The song, "Dentist" performed by Steve Martin is worth the price of admission all by itself.

[charlesoakwood]

"He's a professional"

[IronDioPriest]

Les Miserables

Aside from films that rely on CGI, it's been many years since I've been as surprised by film-making brilliance in every regard as I was by this film. (To me, the advancement of CGI places CGI films in their own category.)

I watched "Les Miz" with my sons last night, and I want to see it again, right away. It was that good from top-to-bottom, beginning-to-end.

Career best performances by brilliant actors: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, and Amanda Seyfried. Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron Cohen were also excellent in their less prominent roles. Every extra was awesome, child and adult. Every line of the movie was sung. The few instances when a line was spoken, it was within the context of dramatic effect inside a song.

Biggest surprise: Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, and Amanda Seyfried are all world-class vocalists. Second biggest surprise: Although Russell Crowe is not, it didn't matter a bit. His performance was breathtaking - but they all were, with special recognition for Jackman, Crowe, and Hathaway.

I was in constant amazement at the fact that having every line sung did not detract or distract from the acting one iota. If anything, it enhanced it. I usually despise musicals. I almost forgot this even was a musical, it so fully enveloped me in the story.

It is a sad tale. Nothing uplifting about it whatsoever; hence the title. But damn, what an excellent movie.

ETA: I found it beneficial to watch with the subtitles on. Hearing every word being sung is difficult, at least for me, especially with the European accents. Subtitles ensured that I didn't miss a thing.

[Weisshaupt]

The most cinematic cat video you will ever see

?NOTHING CAN RIVAL THE JUMPING CAT!

[charlesoakwood]

77.16+ inches, good for us he's little.

[Libertas]

Young and springy, little bugger can launch pretty good.  I like the down-angle shots where he's coming at you, the look of determination and the swat of the paw, pretty cool! 

[Pandora]

Who sez ya can't train a cat, hmmm?

[Weisshaupt]

Les Miserables

Aside from films that rely on CGI, it's been many years since I've been as surprised by film-making brilliance in every regard as I was by this film. (To me, the advancement of CGI places CGI films in their own category.)

I watched "Les Miz" with my sons last night, and I want to see it again, right away. It was that good from top-to-bottom, beginning-to-end.

Wow you are glutton for punishment aren't you?  Just watched it tonight with Michelle. Yes, the film making and performances are excellent, and its a wonderfully made movie. However,  I liked it no more than I did seeing it on Broadway 20 years ago.  Pathetic characters struggling through their pathetic lives, striving to find nobility in the most mundane moral quandaries, and still, for the most part failing. I love this man, but I would deny him the love of another?  Do I let another man take the rap for me, or condemn the hunderds in my care to poverty?  Do I, as a rich man, give up the revolution and pursue a woman instead?  Do I let this man break parole because I owe him or should I kill myself because.. i don't know, just because. ? Nothing uplifting about it? That's an understatement.  But I guess nothing about the French revolution was uplifting either. Put me in the place of any of those people and I would be on a boat as an indentured servant to America within a fortnight. Or to England. Italy? Spain? South America?  Anywhere but there.  Perhaps that is why I dislike it so.. that most  of the characters just accept their lot, and just won't fight for their lives or freedom , and that includes the revolutionaries. They don't act to fix anything - I can only guess because they enjoy feeling like a victim and wallowing in  misery. You could just get on a boat and be free, but no, stay there and get  killed over a pile of chairs, hunted over stolen bread and parole violations, or commit suicide because you just can't stand the thought of mercy in a minor "criminal"  

Yes, I might die on a barricade in the near future ( a thought that hadn't occurred to me 20 years ago)  but that is because there ISN'T a place to run to.  When I am on that barricade, its because there is no longer a way to carve out a peaceful place in my life, and I am no longer able to protect those I love in any other way.
  

 Honest Trailers - Les Miserables

[RickZ]

Who sez ya can't train a cat, hmmm?

I think you're missing the point.  The cat wanted a workout and had its human servants keep tying the string and mouse higher (a dangerous stepstool endeavor), as well as measuring the height of the 'obstacle' for posterity's record books.  Who's training whom?