Was the Last Decade of Movies THAT Bad?

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[Caipirabob]

Is this all a decade of movies is worth?

According to the American Film Institute's new list of the 100 greatest films, the last 10 years have produced only four great ones: "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (No. 50), "Saving Private Ryan" (No. 71), "Titanic" (No. 83) and "The Sixth Sense" (No. 89).

I get bloated just typing those titles. Granted, the last 10 years have been a historically weak period for films. They can't touch Hollywood's golden era of the '40s, or the heralded '70s, when maverick directors roamed the studios.

[MarkL]

I agree with some of your comments... And please go back and re-read my comment that it was an OK movie, though it seemed as if it were written by someone other than RAH. Other than some names and situations, the movie had nothing to do with the book.

I was also disturbed by the NAZI style insignia on the uniforms, as well as the way the "propaganda" was presented.

I especially agree with you on Denise Richards and Dina Meyer. I've never really thought too much of Denise Richards, but I've always thought that Dina Meyer was a babe! BTW, she was in "Johnny Mnemonic" and "Dragonheart" too.

Mark

[Yardstick]

Agreed about Private Ryan. The intensity and realism of the beach landing is just incredible. Spielberg went well beyond what had been done previously in war movies. That scene is a testament to his skill.

Platoon -- yes, shameless lefty agitprop, and not a very good movie. Interesting statements about it in this thread's article by some Marine Corps officers, btw. On the other hand, I think Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now are excellent war movies despite the leftward political bent.

An excellent recent film is Pan's Labyrinth. Again, more lefty politics -- it basically takes the side of the communists during the Spanish civil war -- but wow, what a beautiful story and what an interesting film to look at. It has visual effects of a quality that make you wish the film could be paused for second so you don't miss any details (the scene with the gluttonous child eater at his table is unforgettable). I almost cried at the ending.

Another good one is Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. A long movie but action packed and interesting. Its sheer novelty holds your attention. And its politics are correct. When you see the Spanish gallions at the end, they look like salvation. After two hours of crazy Aztec blood violence, the arrival of Western Civilization makes you want to stand up and applaud.

[rlmorel]

I like “Full Metal Jacket” for what IT is...it portrays a particular aspect of Marine life I have been told is, to a degree for that day and age, pretty accurate.

I admit...I like “Apocalypse Now”, but as a cartoon and a fanstasy, not as anything approaching reality. The problem with that movie, is that some people (like John Kerry) seem to be unable to divorce fantasy from reality.

For a war related thing that approaches what must have been closer to reality, I look to “Band of Brothers” and “Blackhawk Down”.

BTW...would you recommend “Pan’s Labyrinth” even with the Lefty tilt?

[Bender2]

Considering what Teddy Sturgeon supposedly uttered (Not his revelation, you see...), I cannot help but initially agree with up to 90% of what you say until my gray matter is fully in gear.

However, it may be me just awaking and the cobwebs still present, but might I ask if your opinions are all set upon the shaky foundation of the post hoc fallacy?

BTW for someone who won state awards as Peter in Albee’s “Zoo Story” as an amateur, why have you not created an FR Homepage since 2000?

Now, I will break the fast for myself with some cottage cheese and lots of Trappey's Louisiana Original Recipe Hot Sauce!

No, it is not the taste, it is the beguiling shades of hot pink swirls that excites my palate...

BTW Duce... As an aside to the aforementioned current crop of idiot film-goers who FR Mailed me defending their slow wits: Your palate is your sense of taste... A pallet is flat platform onto which is piled a high mound of Chinese crap destine not for glory but for Big Lots!

[Oztrich Boy]

Kate Winslets magnificent rack couldn't save this fecesfest of a movie. I couldn't wait for the damn thing to sink so all the main characters would die. The best scene besides the ship sinking was that pretty boy sinking (whatever his name is). I cheered at that one. Really, this movie sucked in ways yet unimagined. So, to summarize, I didn't like Titanic. :-)

Did you get permission to use my brain? I don't think so!

[Oztrich Boy]

Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”, a formarly rare example of taking a novel back to comic books.

That's "Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers", and the catergory is Film Adaptations Made by a Director Who Didn't Finish Reading the Book and by Scriptwriters Who Never Read It.

I suspect that they only optioned the book ro prevent James Cameron suing them for copying Aliens

[Hugin]

Sometimes people did survive multiple gunshot wounds back then though. I remember reading that Cole Younger was shot something like 19 times during his lifetime, including 8 times in the Northfield MN raid. He survived, served a prison sentence, and liveed to a ripe old age before dying in the early 1900s.

[Yardstick]

I like “Full Metal Jacket” for what IT is...it portrays a particular aspect of Marine life I have been told is, to a degree for that day and age, pretty accurate.

Yep, my father was in the Marines then and he said it was accurate.

I admit...I like “Apocalypse Now”, but as a cartoon and a fanstasy, not as anything approaching reality.

Same here. I like watching it because it's just such a trip. The director's cut is really cool if you ever get the chance. One extra scene is of the boat coming upon an orchid plantation out in the middle of nowhere. The captain gets off and has a twilight meal with the French family that lives there. It's strange in the same way as the briefing scene in the trailer (the one with Harrison Ford) is strange. Same oddball realism, hard to describe. It's a cool scene.

For a war related thing that approaches what must have been closer to reality, I look to “Band of Brothers” and “Blackhawk Down”.

I haven't seen either one. Are they good? Which is the better of the two?

BTW...would you recommend “Pan’s Labyrinth” even with the Lefty tilt?

Yes, definitely. It does have subtitles -- but as you probably know, after ten minutes your mind forgets that you're reading and not hearing. In fact, as think back on it now, the characters spoke Spanish but I'm remembering the dialog spoken in English. Interesting how that works.

[Shooter 2.5]

I tried to find it on the web and only found that it was released a couple of years ago in Greece. The next thing I know it’s on the shelves over at Blockbuster because it finally went straight to DVD a couple of weeks ago.

Milla’s performance during the abuse scene is remarkable. She’s even better when she’s explaining how she’s getting revenge. A problem occurs when someone thinks she’s the heroine of the story. Don’t make that mistake.

[Shooter 2.5]

What’s left? I think you named just about everything she’s been in. I didn’t see the Joan of Arc movie because I heard it ends badly.

[Shooter 2.5]

But a sixshooter is still a sixshooter.

I suspect Cole Younger might have been hit with a shotgun to account for those many wounds since infection should have killed him off with something that would have had more penetrating power.

I would love to start counting the times bullet fragments have bounced off of me without leaving any real damage. The last time was just under the left nostril. Ouch.

[proudpapa]

no Fight Club?

[Shooter 2.5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD4OnHCRd_4

[MarkL]

Sometimes people did survive multiple gunshot wounds back then though. I remember reading that Cole Younger was shot something like 19 times during his lifetime, including 8 times in the Northfield MN raid. He survived, served a prison sentence, and liveed to a ripe old age before dying in the early 1900s.

And until just recently, there was even a city "holiday" named after him! Yup, "Cole Younger Days" was celebrated in Lee's Summit, MO every year, up until just a few years ago when somebody in the city decided that maybe the city shouldn't celebrate a murderous bank robber! Of course, there's still a street named after him!

Mark

[MarkL]

I believe that she’s been in a couple of TV series as well.

One of which where I believe that she played Batgirl, but was in a wheelchair.

Mark

[Shooter 2.5]

http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000170/

It doesn’t look like it. I know the series you are thinking about. It was three women and the series name had something to do with birds. I can’t recall the name at all.

[GATOR NAVY]

Ha! Thanks for the link. Did you see this one a few down? Brokeback Titanic

[MarkL]

Sorry, my bad. I thought we were talking about a different actress there. I was talking about Dina Meyer, from a different response, not Mila. Yes, you're right about Mila... The first thing I ever saw her in was "Dazed and Confused."

Mark

[grey_whiskers]

I remember reading that Cole Younger was shot something like 19 times during his lifetime, including 8 times in the Northfield MN raid.

They still have an annual celebration in Northfield, including a metric century bicycle ride. Great fun.

Full Disclosure: Fram, Fram, St. Olaf, Fram, Fram, Free!

Cheers!

[dfwgator]

Two of my favorite films that were made after 1990, turned out to be foreign films, and I think they both blow away anything Hollywood has done in that same period. “Life Is Beautiful” and “Goodbye Lenin!” Those movies made me laugh at loud at parts, and had me teary-eyed in others. That’s the definition of a great film, one that can make you laugh and cry.