Tragically I think we're going to be here for a couple more days, and Greenspun threads are really fucking annoying when they get to be too long. So let's split these up.

We watched Ocean's Eleven last night. We didn't see it in the theater because it struck me as moronic, but actually it was more or less the perfect Beth & Jeremy movie, except for the unfortunate presence of Julia Roberts. Kind of silly but lots of fun if you like caper movies. And pretty, pretty men. (When George Clooney and Brad Pitt were onscreen together, I found myself trying to imagine another time in the last thirty years or so when a movie screen has been filled by so much prettiness all at once.)

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Answers

I thought they were about the only good things about that movie. I really didn't care much for it. My daughter, however, loved it so much I bought it for her when I was in San Diego in May. To each his own I guess.

We watched "I Am Sam" last night. That was good. I thought Sean Penn did a very good job in his role.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Beth,

If you're watching the DVD of Ocean's Eleven, I really really love the commentary. Both the director/writer commentary and the actor commentary are great.

I just compiled a list of all my DVDs (not counting the ones I've loaned to my parents) and it comes to a little over 140. With what I've loaned my parents, it's probably nearer to 170. Scary.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Sarah Bunting said in one of her recent Tomato Nation entries that everyone in Ocean's Eleven seemed to be having a great time, and that's why it was so much fun to watch. Plus, hot boys in great suits. I finally give in on the Brad Pitt issue: yes, he's cute.

I finally saw The Portrait of a Lady, the 1996 Jane Campion-directed version, with Nicole Kidman. It was fairly faithful to the book, but it just seemed lacking in some way. And the opening montage was just weird.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

A co-worker and I are going to see Stanley Tucci and Edie Falco on Broadway in "Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune" in two weeks. Naked Stanley Tucci...woohoo! I'm sure the play will be good, too.

Actually, I did a scene from that play in acting class a million years ago, so I know that it's a good play. Since I lurve Stanley Tucci, the nudity will be an added bonus. Hee!

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I watched "Last Night" yesterday, and if my love of Canadian cinema weren't already cemented, that probably would have done it. That's the way a movie about the last day of life on earth should be done, not the monstrosity that was "Armageddon." Probably doesn't hurt that I adore Sandra Oh, Don McKellar, and Sarah Polley, either.

Tonight, either "Real Genius" or "The Godfather." Yeah, I know, opposite ends of the cinematic spectrum much?

Also, Big Brother. But I'll go talk about that in the appropriate thread

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

stacey, i just got last night on DVD for my birthday. such a great movie. i only wish that they had put it out in widescreen format.

When George Clooney and Brad Pitt were onscreen together, I found myself trying to imagine another time in the last thirty years or so when a movie screen has been filled by so much prettiness all at once.

two words: fight club. well, at least the parts where brad pitt and edward norton aren't all smashed up and bloody.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

What I am currently downloading to watch soon: The pilot of "Firefly." Of course, it's the original pilot that the network hated and made Joss rewrite, so I fully expect it to suck. But I'm sitll quite curious.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

We watched a pretty darned good episode of Star Trek The Next Generation on DVD last night. It was another "there's a conspiracy and we have to get to the bottom of it!" episode, but this show did it well. Well, other than the horrific special effects at the end.
And because I don't want to start a new topic for it, they announced the newest Survivor cast today. I'm going to state right here and now that "Robb" can take his hair and his extra b and head right off the island because I can already tell I won't like him.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I want to be Kathleen Turner when I grow up. I just saw The Graduate on Broadway yesterday, boss got us comps. Um, wow, yes? Great play, I'm told it's differnt from the movie but I havne't seen the movie so I have no basis for comparison. Turner looks absolutely amazing, and what an actress, I love her. Im not sure if I'd see the play again regardless of cast but if I could be guaranteed that she'd be in I'd definitely go back (this is, of course, with the comps). I thought it was a great production and it was very well cast, except for Alicia Silverstone, although I just odn't like her in general, I thought she was particularly awful in this production. So yeah, thats what I just watched. Next Wednsday its The Full Monty viewing number 4, the mandatory "one more time before it closes" viewing. Beforehand, my friend Christine and I are going to be the big Chorus Line dorks that we are, and take a cab to Park and 73rd (um, there's a lyric in one of the songs, "Grab a cab, c'mon/See the wizard on Park and 73rd". so we're going there. she's been before but has told me that there is no wizard. Im greatly disappointed). At home, Kate and Leopold, as I said in the other thread, and I am going to marry Hugh Jackman.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

esk,

Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Jared Leto (okay... not his most attractive part, but still he's pretty yummy).

I don't think George Clooney is attractive. I think he's very good at playing natural leaders, but I don't understand what makes him good looking.

I need to get new DVDs. Simpsons Season II. Last Orders (I heart Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins). V: The Final Battle. Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy. Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. Clash of the Titans (if it has good extras). I need to rent Resident Evil and Storytelling and The Business of Strangers to see if any of those are any good to own.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Does anyone know where you can get the whole V series? Mr. Aristoph bought the miniseries, thinking it was the whole series, and he's terribly disappointed that it only goes through like the first 4 hours or something.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Right now you can only get two V things on VHS/DVD: V: the mini series and V: The Final Battle. Alas.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I just saw (for the first time) "Touch of Evil". Maybe Charlton Heston was easier to believe as a Mexican back in 1958, but it just doesn't work these days. That said, however, I did enjoy it. And Orson Welles played an absolutely terrific heavy. No pun intended. Well, okay, maybe it was. A little. But he was still a fabulous bad guy.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

Iko, I just watched Business of Strangers a couple of nights ago. It was quite good, but in my book it was rent-worthy, not really buying-worthy. Especially with no extras. I'd definitely rent it first to see how you like it.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

For those of you who, like me, never got into the series 24 because you felt like you'd probably missed important stuff in the first few episodes, FX is showing a marathon of all 24 episodes over Labor Day weekend. Woo.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I saw that. I am excited. Oh, and according to my TiVo, new Trading Spaces start next week!

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

I just watched Run Lola Run with director and actress commentary. Very cool.

Mike is now watching Thirteen Days. I will probably join him later. I also bought Simpsons Season II and Speed Special Edition.

Oh, and tomorrow I'm going to be going to a "television pilot screening". I'll report what I see.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

New Trading Spaces start next week? Excellent! I heard that they're premiering two episodes every Saturday night. Woo!

My husband had netflix send us V and he was really bummed when it was just the first mini-series. He tracked down the rest of the series (I thought...) and ordered it, although now I'm not sure if it was just the final miniseries or if he bought bootleg tapes off ebay or what. And either way, I don't think we've gotten it yet. I'll let you know when I find out.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2002

New Trading Spaces right when I'm not going to have cable. That sucks ass.

I saw The Good Girl last night--the new movie with Jennifer Aniston. It was excellent; I highly recomend it. Not as much of a comedy as was advertised, however. Jennifer Aniston kick ass in it. Her "friends" should take a page from her book in picking their movie roles (Serving Sara...)

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

We saw Signs last night for the second time. Awesome movie. I badgered my mom into goign with us because I knew she would like it (since the main theme is about faith. That whole alien invasion stuff is just a sub-plot), and she loved it.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

I just re-watched Big Night on cable last night. That movie makes me so hungry. Anyway, it occurred to me that, if Stockard Channing were not such a perfect LyndaB-double, Allison Janney would do in a pinch to play her in the TUS movie. Yes, I actually thought this while watching the movie. Also, I love Campbell Scott's voice.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Oh don't I wish - I've always Allison Janney thought that was totally viv, though! (Fortunately I love Stockard Channing and will gladly keep her.)

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

You've always "Allison Janney thought" that, huh? Maybe Allison Janney can hang out as an alternate, because I recall viv seemed pretty happy with Bonnie Hunt.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Dear Beth:

Hurry up with those blowjobs for Jeremy so I can get editing abilities back again. Thanks in advance!

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

CNN actually likes Possession! Link at http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/15/ca.s02.review.possession/ index.html

(I don't know how to make links in html, sorry!)

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Watched Titus last night. Why the hell didn't I see it in a theater?

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Ebert liked Possession, too.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

You know, that's a weird review. OK, I only skimmed it, but Ebert objects to Eckhart's casting as Roland, because, with his pumped-up physique and lack of apparent interest in Maud, he would be read by most contemporary viewers as gay. Um, oookay.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Yeah, it's a weird review. I think he thought Roland should have been more geeky looking, I guess.

We have The Pledge here on DVD. I guess we'll watch it this weekend.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

All the talk here about Ocean's 11 made me rent it last night. We didn't finish until 11:30, so we only had time to listen to the first 15 minutes of the actors' commentary before we passed out. But Matt Damon was obviously keeping his mouth shut and letting the Big Actors do the talking. Smart lad.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Actually, I thought that Brad Pitt was pretty quiet for the commentary. More talkative than the Fight Club one, but he seems to be a man of few works. Matt Damon and Andy Garcia seem to have fun on that commentary track.

I'm not sure how to feel about the director/writer track. At some points, they seem to be irritating each other. "Don't interrupt me again" says the writer to Soderbergh. It felt weird. But, I do love how Soderbergh talks about his ideas for transitions and edits. Very cool.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

I hadn't thought of paralleling Possession with French Lieutenant's Woman. I haven't seen the movie of the latter but I have never understood how the point of the book (authorial intrusion) could be filmed plus I don't like Meryl Streep (so all this comparing Jennifer Ehle to her is painful).

On topic, I'm up to "Choices" in the third season of Buffy. I haven't watched anything else interesting lately. Also, Ocean's Eleven? Yummy. Pretty. For me, Julia Roberts is not a detraction but only more Pretty.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

Yeah, but Julia Roberts just looks kind of...wrong in [i]Ocean's Eleven[/i]...and she's supposed to be drop-dead gorgeous so it's weird. I feel really catty now, but I usually think she's pretty. just not in that movie.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

I channel-surfed, or Belinda did, past The Mexican last night. How can they be so pretty in Ocean's Eleven and so repugnant in three seconds of relationship talk in this? Oh, I know. Because Ocean's Eleven dialog was all superfast and clever and this was Relationship Talk. Mleah.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

The Secret Diaries of Cassandra Claire, featuring the various characters from The Lord of the Ring has been one of the funniest things I've seen all day. I think I'm tired and should go to bed.

The tv screening was terrible. Ugh. I'll talk more later.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2002

We watched Lord of the Rings last night (yes I know we're slow). I really did not like it. I thought it was confusing and slow. I fell asleep before it ended. My husband didn't really like it either and I thought he would for sure.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2002

We watched The Fifth Element last night. Or rather, Jeremy watched it; I went to bed and read White Teeth because I couldn't stand looking at Milla Jovovich any longer. I've only seen her in this and The Messenger, but the impression I'm left with is that she is actually developmentally disabled. Is it legal to make beautiful retarded girls take their clothes off in your movies, even if you were married to them at the time?

I have really enjoyed some of Luc Besson's movies, but I think the man has emotional problems.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2002

We're watching The Fellowship of the Rings a few scenes at a time, every night--after watching it straight through first. I have to say, I didn't think it woudl transfer this nicely from the theatre to our TV when it cam eout on DVD. And I finally watched The Two Towers trailer last night. Also (similar to some other confessors in this thread) I have finally admitted, after several years of denial, that I do finde Brad Pitt attractive, given that I pretty much own every movie of his on tape or DVD. In the last month I've watchd Spy Games, Seven, Sleepers, Snatch, and Seven Years in Tibet. (dude, what's with all the "S's"? I just realized that!)Oh, and Legends of the Fall on TV. My husband have seet myself up for a lifetime of merciless teasing.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2002

We just got back from seeing Signs with Mel Gibbson. It was different. I wasn't sure what to expect from it. There were some pretty funny scenes in it too which I wasn't expecting at all.

-- Anonymous, August 17, 2002

Well, this morning I was going to watch The Virgin Suicides, but when I pulled out the dvd, Netflix had sent me the wrong disk. But on the plus side, they sent me Ocean's Eleven, which I wanted to see anyway. I loved it. (Though I agree that Julia Roberts didn't look so good- there was one particular cut from someone talking about her looking good, to her looking kind of gaunt and ill.) I was already on the Brad Pitt bandwagon, but I didn't get the George Clooney thing until I watched Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?. I don't find him attractive so much, but the man has charisma. And Casey Affleck is adorable.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2002

Two movies today--the first was "Blue Crush", and I don't want to hear anyone talking trash about it. I mean, there's plenty of trash to talk about the movie, sure. But I don't want to hear it.

Then tonight I rented "The Business of Strangers", which I've been wanting to see for forever, and... and it was very very good, and I'm not quite done processing it yet. I might need to watch it again.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2002

Blue Crush was trash -- but it was very beautiful trash. I laughed (at parts that weren't supposed to be funny, true, but still) and I cried and I sat down and cheered. Four stars. I'm gonna be a surfer when I grow up, please.

Last night, kind of dizzy from martinis, I watched the first season of Mr Show, and couldn't shake the feeling that this was the American Monty Python. The humor is totally American, but it very much had the Python sensibility, and the story threads as well as the recurring jokes and characters through the episodes were all very, very Python. Sort of disconcerting. Not sure it's going to stand up like Python does. But pretty funny.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2002

Today, I watched two movies at my parents' house: Emma and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

I watched Emma with Kate Beckinsdale as the lead. I think Gwyneth was a far better Emma (Kate does better in supporting female roles, as in Much Ado About Nothing) and Jeremy Northam is a far better Mr. Knightly. I did enjoy seeing Samantha Morton as Harriet.

The Scarlet Pimpernel with Richard E. Grant in the lead was rather good. Then again, I really really like Richard E. Grant. I thought him absolutely delicious as Anais Nin's husband in Henry and June and thought him hilarious as Withnail.

We watched about 15 minutes of Requiem for a Dream (which I've seen before) until my mom wanted something "lighthearted".

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2002

Devil In a Blue Dress... a mediocre to good noir until Don Cheadle (as "Mouse") shows up... his performance is so good that it transforms the whole into an excellent film.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002

We rented two films over the weekend - Bandits, and Enemy at the Gates.

We both really liked Bandits. It was quirky, and the three leads were excellent. But I'm biased because I like those three all the time (except for Cate Blanchett's unfortunate Charlotte Grey moment earlier in the year).

Enemy at the Gates was total crap though, and even Jude Law's cuteness couldn't save it. It wasn't the worst film I've ever seen, but it ranks amongst the top 5. Every line uttered sounded wooden, every character was inexpertly developed. It was dreadful.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002

Jen, Susan....I don't know what to say. I was so excited for Blue Crush; I thought it would be Bring it On Redux. But I thought it was awful, and not in an enjoyable way at all. Sigh. Maybe I needed to loosen up? But the thing is, I didn't think it was trashy, just boring. Who knew surfing was the same damn thing, over and over? Also, the dude who played the lead character's ex-boyfriend is the worst. actor. ever.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002

I tried watching Monster's Ball this weekend. It was very dry and very bad acting in my opinion. I didn't even finish watching it. I also started watching Gosford Park - also a flop. I couldn't understand most of what was being said but it was pretty slow.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002

I watched a borrowed DVD of AI. I should have turned it off in the first scene, because it had William Hurt in it and if he's done a good movie since Kiss of the Spider Woman I'm unaware of it. It was all kinds of bad and I watched the whole thing. I'm not proud.

Also I watched "The Way We Were," because it was supposed to be so romantic and a good movie. Yawnfest. Sarah Jessica Parker just mentioned it in "Sex and the City" and I noticed that her character has a lot of Streisand's mannerisms. (It was like seeing a Marx Brothers movie well after being indoctrinated in the cult of MASH. I was unreasonably annoyed that Groucho was aping Hawkeye.)

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002

Watched several movies this weekend.
The Nightmare Before Christmas with director's commentary.
The "Citizen Kane of alcoholic clown movies," Shakes the Clown.
Flying Deuces, Laurel & Hardy.
Superman cartoons from the Fleischer studios.
and Shrek with commentary.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002

And I'm seeing Possession tonight. Wish me luck.

-- Anonymous, August 19, 2002