Movies that hold up vs. those that don't

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Ope3 said:
I saw E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in a theater yesterday. I knew I liked it as a kid, and even when I saw it several years ago for what I think was the 20th Anniversary. Seeing it again after such a long time, it's even better than I recalled.

The restored 40th Anniversary cut looks fantastic. Like it was filmed yesterday.

Going back to the original Siskel & Ebert review, they nailed it. The movie works despite or because it's really a simple story as Siskel pointed out. Ebert astutely recognized that it would be revered for generations to come, just like the Wizard of Oz.

Interesting they just vote "YES" not "Thumbs Up!"
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Watched E.T. with my kids a while back. Now that I'm older, I catch the Elvis Costello references in the movie. :love:
 

JimmyJamesMD said:
Do you think its age appropriate for an 8 or 10 year old? Its been a long time since ive seen it and remember there being a little bit of language, but nothing more than that.
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Yes I would say it's fine for kids 8-10. I think there was just a couple of curse words. Might be a little tense when Elliot and ET are sick, but I think they could handle it.

This was a fictional review, but Roger Ebert had no qualms about showing it to 4 & 7 year olds.

www.rogerebert.com

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial movie review (2002) | Roger Ebert

Dear Raven and Emil:
www.rogerebert.com www.rogerebert.com
 

Nokomis said:
Watched E.T. with my kids a while back. Now that I'm older, I catch the Elvis Costello references in the movie. :love:
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Funny, I picked up the EC lyrics as well, which I had not previously.

The other thing I am not sure I was aware, it was told completely from the perspective of a kid. It's at least 2/3rds through the movie before they show an adult's face, other than Elliot's mom.
 


Nokomis said:
Watched E.T. with my kids a while back. Now that I'm older, I catch the Elvis Costello references in the movi
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I had to look that up as I never caught it before. Is there more than one (Accidents will Happen)?
 


tikited said:
I had to look that up as I never caught it before. Is there more than one (Accidents will Happen)?
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There's at least two I remember: the older brother is singing Accidents Will Happen in the kitchen and he has an E.C. poster in his room.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Ope3: I think "Ordinary People" is a good example of the type of movies that just aren't being made today - or if they are, they're going direct to streaming. 'smaller,' personal movies without a lot of action, and (gasp) plots that make the audience think. It's sad to think that so many great movies, the "The Conservation" with Gene Hackman would never get made today, or would wind up going to Netflix or Hulu instead of a theatrical run.

Hollywood would rather just churn out the 9th sequel to a series where people fight and crash cars into each other.

BTW, speaking of Timothy Hutton, he did a movie called "The Falcon and the Snowman" with Sean Penn, as a pair of buddies who get caught up in a scheme to sell US secrets to the Russians. A really good movie with great performances.
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I finally did revisit The Falcon and the Snowman, and with the theme of this thread it does hold up. Great performances all around. Quick takeaways:

- Interesting to watch currently, with Snowden as a reference.
- Timothy Hutton has me feeling way better about my golf game. Utterly horrible swing as he is knocking golf balls into the ocean.
- Watching in my youth, I didn't get the now obvious reference why the Sean Penn's character's code name was "Snowman".
- Lori Singer. Wow.

Looking on wiki, did not know the Hutton character (Chris Boyce) escaped from prison, went on a bank robbing rampage and was eventually caught again. Actually spent 10 years of his time in Minnesota. He was released in 2002. The Penn character (Andrew Daulton Lee) was paroled in 1998.
 



Based on the "Best Song Played In a Movie Thread" and a notification that "Say Anything..." was leaving HBO MAX on Nov 1, I re-watched the film for the first time in a long time, 20+ years perhaps.

I still think it's fabulous. It got 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. The 2% outlier(s) are completely whack in my opinion.

This was Cameron Crowe's first go around as a Director, and it was such a high bar I would not have been surprised if he had never surpassed it. He has, twice with "Jerry Maguire" & "Almost Famous." The latter is in my All Time Top 10.

He also helmed Pearl Jam Twenty. While I was a fan prior, I had only seen them twice both in St Paul. 10 years later I have now seen them 9 times and have road tripped to Chicago, Seattle, Orange County and Nashville to see them. Not a coincidence after seeing the documentary. Being exposed to more of their live performances on SiriusXM about the same time, also had a huge impact.

Connection to "Say Anything..." is that Stone Gossard was cast as a cab driver, but the scene was cut.

Other thoughts & notes:

- John Mahoney as Diane's father was also in "Eight Men Out" with Cusack the year before. Turns out he also spurred Cusack to take on the project, by pushing the script to him. Can't remember the source. Probably indiewire.
- Bebe Neuwirth has a small part as guidance counselor, and would be later featured with Mahoney as a recurring role in Frasier.
- The Replacements song Within Your Reach is actually played twice.
- When Diane (Ione Skye) appears for their first date/grad party, in her white dress...wowza.
- 63 songs about Joe. Perhaps Joe Lies could have been an indie hit.
- Pamela Adlon played one of Lloyd's friends, listed as Pamela Segall. Did not realize that was her.
- Jeremy Piven is in the movie, including as one of the Gas N Sip dudes. Also would have a small role in Cusack's "Grosse Point Blank", again as a HS classmate.
 

Ope3 said:
Based on the "Best Song Played In a Movie Thread" and a notification that "Say Anything..." was leaving HBO MAX on Nov 1, I re-watched the film for the first time in a long time, 20+ years perhaps.

I still think it's fabulous. It got 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. The 2% outlier(s) are completely whack in my opinion.

This was Cameron Crowe's first go around as a Director, and it was such a high bar I would not have been surprised if he had never surpassed it. He has, twice with "Jerry Maguire" & "Almost Famous." The latter is in my All Time Top 10.

He also helmed Pearl Jam Twenty. While I was a fan prior, I had only seen them twice both in St Paul. 10 years later I have now seen them 9 times and have road tripped to Chicago, Seattle, Orange County and Nashville to see them. Not a coincidence after seeing the documentary. Being exposed to more of their live performances on SiriusXM about the same time, also had a huge impact.

Connection to "Say Anything..." is that Stone Gossard was cast as a cab driver, but the scene was cut.

Other thoughts & notes:

- John Mahoney as Diane's father was also in "Eight Men Out" with Cusack the year before. Turns out he also spurred Cusack to take on the project, by pushing the script to him. Can't remember the source. Probably indiewire.
- Bebe Neuwirth has a small part as guidance counselor, and would be later featured with Mahoney as a recurring role in Frasier.
- The Replacements song Within Your Reach is actually played twice.
- When Diane (Ione Skye) appears for their first date/grad party, in her white dress...wowza.
- 63 songs about Joe. Perhaps Joe Lies could have been an indie hit.
- Pamela Adlon played one of Lloyd's friends, listed as Pamela Segall. Did not realize that was her.
- Jeremy Piven is in the movie, including as one of the Gas N Sip dudes. Also would have a small role in Cusack's "Grosse Point Blank", again as a HS classmate.
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JimmyJamesMD said:
This is either going to be really good, or awful

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A reason for optimism is Peter Billingsley's work as a Producer/Director, often with Jon Favreau. He has had some solid output, including a Co-Producer on Elf. I'm always skeptical of a movie "based on characters created by..." but if anyone is capable, I would guess Ralphie himself is best suited.

A fond memory of the original A Christmas Story it that my dad dragged me and my brother to the theater on Opening Night. I was a young teenager, and honestly the trailers made it look kind of hokey in my mind. Dad however was a huge Jean Shepherd fan in every form (books, records, radio shows, movies...) so this was a big deal to him since this was based on one of his favorite books. Shepherd was also the narrator and played the Dept Store Santa.

Somehow he coaxed us into going, I am guessing with extra snacks or a dinner out. Turned out to be a good move. Love it, even now on the TBS loop.
 

Just finished the original "Scream". First time since the late 90's. Totally held up. Not sure how many sequels there are, but I will give those a go next. I don't remember the 2nd one at all.
 

Ope3 said:
A reason for optimism is Peter Billingsley's work as a Producer/Director, often with Jon Favreau. He has had some solid output, including a Co-Producer on Elf. I'm always skeptical of a movie "based on characters created by..." but if anyone is capable, I would guess Ralphie himself is best suited.

A fond memory of the original A Christmas Story it that my dad dragged me and my brother to the theater on Opening Night. I was a young teenager, and honestly the trailers made it look kind of hokey in my mind. Dad however was a huge Jean Shepherd fan in every form (books, records, radio shows, movies...) so this was a big deal to him since this was based on one of his favorite books. Shepherd was also the narrator and played the Dept Store Santa.

Somehow he coaxed us into going, I am guessing with extra snacks or a dinner out. Turned out to be a good move. Love it, even now on the TBS loop.
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Opening night cred! Well done.
 

Ope3 said:
A reason for optimism is Peter Billingsley's work as a Producer/Director, often with Jon Favreau. He has had some solid output, including a Co-Producer on Elf. I'm always skeptical of a movie "based on characters created by..." but if anyone is capable, I would guess Ralphie himself is best suited.

A fond memory of the original A Christmas Story it that my dad dragged me and my brother to the theater on Opening Night. I was a young teenager, and honestly the trailers made it look kind of hokey in my mind. Dad however was a huge Jean Shepherd fan in every form (books, records, radio shows, movies...) so this was a big deal to him since this was based on one of his favorite books. Shepherd was also the narrator and played the Dept Store Santa.

Somehow he coaxed us into going, I am guessing with extra snacks or a dinner out. Turned out to be a good move. Love it, even now on the TBS loop.
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Good on you and your dad. My mom just introduced her book club to Shephard and they loved it.
Shepard was a jazz nut as well. Here he is narrating a Charles Mingus tune they wrote together. Apparently Shepard had to talk Mingus out of the clown killing himself because it was too dark.

 

Frink said:
Good on you and your dad. My mom just introduced her book club to Shephard and they loved it.
Shepard was a jazz nut as well. Here he is narrating a Charles Mingus tune they wrote together. Apparently Shepard had to talk Mingus out of the clown killing himself because it was too dark.
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I need to revisit In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash & Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters.
 

Ope3 said:
I need to revisit In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash & Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories: And Other Disasters.
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Poor Wanda. Still smitten even as he hurls up the triple bourbon...

Can't remember the name but I loved the one where the kid ends up fleeing his date with the Polish girl to avoid marriage.

And this is the video I meant to post.

 

Finished The Sting the other day. Hadn't seen it since the 80's I'm guessing. Still holds up. A bit dated with the sets, etc., but the acting is great as to be expected (Redford and Newman). Brought me back to Shakey's Pizza days of old with the theme song:
 

Happy Ned Ryerson Day.


The line "Did you turn pro with that belly button thing?" is sneaky funny.
 

Finished the Dear Hunter the other day. Man...I forgot how dark and depressing it really is. I remembered the Russian Roulette scenes, but the whole movie made me never want to visit Pennsylvania. With that said... a powerful movie that should be viewed if you haven't.

Trivia: The dear hunting scenes were filmed in Washington, not Pennsylvania. Don't expect snow capped mountains and huge waterfalls near Pittsburgh in other words.
 

tikited said:
Finished the Dear Hunter the other day. Man...I forgot how dark and depressing it really is. I remembered the Russian Roulette scenes, but the whole movie made me never want to visit Pennsylvania. With that said... a powerful movie that should be viewed if you haven't.

Trivia: The dear hunting scenes were filmed in Washington, not Pennsylvania. Don't expect snow capped mountains and huge waterfalls near Pittsburgh in other words.
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still one of the oddest stories in cinema. Michael Cimino wins Best Director and "Deer Hunter" wins Best Picture, and Cimino is hailed as one of the best young filmmakers in the world.

and then he did "Heaven's Gate" and for all practical purposes, his career was over. (BTW - I sat through the long version of Heaven's Gate in a theatre. But I'm a glutton for punishment - I also sat through the long version of Bob Dylan's disaster "Reynaldo & Clara.")
 

tikited said:
Finished The Sting the other day. Hadn't seen it since the 80's I'm guessing. Still holds up. A bit dated with the sets, etc., but the acting is great as to be expected (Redford and Newman). Brought me back to Shakey's Pizza days of old with the theme song:
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The Sting! One of my all-time favorite older movies, another one that reminds me of watching it with my Dad. Stalag 17 is another one like that. Great, great movies
 

So a few months ago I set the DVR to record Heat, in order to see if the classic De Niro/Pacino cat & mouse thriller holds up. I get ready to watch it only to find out User Error, it recorded the Bullock/McCarthy comedy. Both great comedic talents, but hard pass on that flick.

Eventually I got it right and viewed the Michael Mann vehicle last night. First time in a while start to finish, though it's one if I ever happen to land on while channel surfing, I stick with it for a bit.

I still think it's great. Only things I don't buy are Val Kilmer's ponytail, and why did they need Waingro in the crew to begin with? Sometimes I guess you just have to service the plot.

Neil. Hubris.
 
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I'm 2 hours into the original Avatar and wondering if it will ever get "good".
 


tikited said:
Best sports movie ever.
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As a pure straight up comedy, sure Slap Shot could be considered #1. Major League essentially ripped off the entire plot.

I would have a hard time saying it's a better "sports movie" though than say Hoosiers or Jerry Maguire.
 

Ope3 said:
As a pure straight up comedy, sure Slap Shot could be considered #1. Major League essentially ripped off the entire plot.

I would have a hard time saying it's a better "sports movie" though than say Hoosiers or Jerry Maguire.
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I'm in the minority I know, but I never felt the need to watch Hoosiers more than twice. It was fine. The whole love angle seemed forced to me.

It has been a very long time since I saw Jerry Maguire. I know it didn't have the Hanson brothers...
 

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