tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post5853129212206792193..comments2023-11-03T06:02:02.128-07:00Comments on By Ken Levine: the Levine movie rating systemBy Ken Levinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17305293821975250420noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-3027906026572988742012-02-26T16:58:34.206-08:002012-02-26T16:58:34.206-08:00LSMFT.LSMFT.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-481492181473053402012-02-26T03:22:03.970-08:002012-02-26T03:22:03.970-08:00Let's see if we can''t get our chat in...Let's see if we can''t get our chat into all initials.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85918042772333517092012-02-25T23:27:32.527-08:002012-02-25T23:27:32.527-08:00D.: Neither; I'm MS. And I'll certainly gi...D.: Neither; I'm MS. And I'll certainly give LB your best.cadavranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-36546888354612402732012-02-25T12:30:44.815-08:002012-02-25T12:30:44.815-08:00I Know she's a Dame, Like Dame Edna, but why i...I <i>Know</i> she's a Dame, Like Dame Edna, but why isn't she Sir Maggie yet, like Sir Judi? Heck, they ought to make her Queen.<br /><br />(Saw Maggie onstage in Noel Coward's <i>Private Lives</i> back in 1974. My Dog, she was magnificent!)Tallulah Moreheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07416330735326405496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-60422184397707242352012-02-25T11:44:44.970-08:002012-02-25T11:44:44.970-08:00Maggie Smith is also a Dame.Maggie Smith is also a Dame.jbryantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-45977374495620373972012-02-25T05:14:33.677-08:002012-02-25T05:14:33.677-08:00Paul darling, I've never been able to see Sir ...Paul darling, I've never been able to see Sir Judi Dench myself either. Honestly, she plays a man in the James Bond movies. After all, she's not likely to have seen the error. <br /><br />And anyway, all those British chicks, Dame Helen, Maggie Smith (Why hasn't she been knighted?), Sir Judi, Lady Plowright-Olivier (who has worked with Ken), they're all women you go see onstage in London only if Dame Edna isn't appearing anywhere.Tallulah Moreheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07416330735326405496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-53047462326551519602012-02-25T05:11:20.120-08:002012-02-25T05:11:20.120-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Tallulah Moreheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07416330735326405496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-89894717113520724852012-02-25T01:49:50.374-08:002012-02-25T01:49:50.374-08:00Doug...tell Tallulah thanks for correcting me abou...Doug...tell Tallulah thanks for correcting me about Judi Dench. There may be nothing like a Dame, but sometimes you just confuse them.Paul Ducanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-79615402623174833742012-02-24T20:20:28.418-08:002012-02-24T20:20:28.418-08:00D.: Of course you're right -- I shouldn't ...D.: Of course you're right -- I shouldn't have said "arguments" when I meant "discussions." But since I was playing off of that "inarguably" in my previous sentence, I guess I couldn't resist the symmetry.jbryantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-26831433015246726842012-02-24T18:19:10.984-08:002012-02-24T18:19:10.984-08:00PS. Cadavra, Please do tell Larry that I said he w...PS. Cadavra, Please do tell Larry that I said he was a better actor than John Wayne.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-45922507318338455972012-02-24T18:16:09.894-08:002012-02-24T18:16:09.894-08:00"jbryant said...
That usually just leads to, ...<i>"jbryant said...<br />That usually just leads to, you know, arguments."</i><br /><br />Well, let's say "discussions," rather than arguments. We all stayed civil and I hope friendly on this. Arguments are what I'm having with "Anonymous" in the thread from the day before this thread. <br /><br />Heck, I "discussed" for over 40 years the merits of Nelson Eddy's "talents" with my mother, who had found him the dreamiest, sexiest, greatest movie star ever from the day she saw <i>Naughty Marietta</i> on its original release when she was 14. Now that she's long dead, on my hall wall in a frame hangs her autographed picture of Nelson Eddy, signed in person the one time she met him (When she was over 40 and still swooning for him), and the handwritten letter he sent her in 1959, when she was one of his few surviving and still-rabidly-hot-for-him fans. (He thanks her for her fan longevity)<br /><br />I have that up not because I find Nelson Eddy to be anything other than torture, but because I miss sparring with my Mother, and it was her most-prized possession. She had, and I now have, an autograph from the incredibly great Jane Addams, to whom Mom was introduced in her early teens by her grandmother, who was a friend and colleague of Addams's, but that meant far less to her than Nelson Eddy.<br /><br />Cadavra, sorry for my understandable miss-identification. So you're either LP or FMV? You guys have your relatioship worked out, and it is truly none of my business, but if I ever catch my editor or publisher from <i>My Lush Life</i> posting online as "Tallulah Morehead", there will be blood. Besides, Tallulah's sequel book, coming out <i>very</i> shortly, has a different editor and publisher.<br /><br />(BTW, Mother and I were in perfect agreement about John Wayne's acting ability, and Mother was a Republcian. We didn't agree on much, but we agreed on that.)D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-91385745450558439382012-02-24T13:08:52.400-08:002012-02-24T13:08:52.400-08:00cadavra: Yes, arguing with D. about the Duke is a ...cadavra: Yes, arguing with D. about the Duke is a fool's errand, because for some reason he thinks he's objectively right about what is clearly a subjective matter. But I always chime in with a dissenting opinion, because, let's face it, none of us likes to be told his subjective opinion on something is inarguably WRONG. That usually just leads to, you know, arguments.jbryantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-85122155655512621312012-02-24T10:33:00.686-08:002012-02-24T10:33:00.686-08:00D.: Fair enough. I think we're both of a like ...D.: Fair enough. I think we're both of a like mind, and as I said, I would never dismiss a person's work because of what they did "after five." I'd have missed an awful lot of wonderful film and TV if I did. So I will concede this debate, and leave you to your Duke-less world. :-)<br /><br />BTW, Disney was in fact anti-Semitic. David Swift confirmed this to me over breakfast one day. Ironically, Walt gave David shit because he thought he was Jewish--but he wasn't!<br /><br />(And no, I'm not Larry Blamire, just his semi-competent producer.)cadavranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-78351170754363958522012-02-24T05:05:28.776-08:002012-02-24T05:05:28.776-08:00You forgot AMZ for Amazon's instant watch. Fo...You forgot AMZ for Amazon's instant watch. For movies you'll only watch if you can rent them for $2 over the internet.Bryan Damnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-75841194910065762122012-02-24T04:08:54.464-08:002012-02-24T04:08:54.464-08:00To Landro:
I've never seen "The Sixth S...To Landro: <br /><br />I've never seen "The Sixth Sense" a second time. That could be because I figured out what was going on about five minutes after Bruce Willis was shot. When you spot the twist ending that early, you spend most of the movie just noticing the clever ways they hide it until the end rather than getting caught up in the story. BTW, I knew my wife would think I was lying about figuring out what was going on, so I took a pen and a piece of paper out of my pocket, scribbled the plot twist down, then put it back. That way, I could pull it out afterward, a la Penn & Teller, and say, "Is THIS your plot twist?!" <br /><br />Here's another category of movie that I can't recall if anyone's mentioned: movies that everyone agrees are terrible, and you sort of agree, too, but still are compelled to watch them every time you happen across them. For me, "Casino Royale" is one that I've probably seen 30 or 40 times since I was a kid. I don't mean the Daniel Craig one, I mean the Peter Sellers/David Niven one. Maybe it's Woody Allen's hilarious, almost cameo role; maybe it's that swingin' Herb Alpert score; maybe it's a naked Dahlia Lavi strapped down on a lab table; but for some reason, I just can't look away. Go ahead, try it yourself: <br /><br />http://www.007collector.com/bond/wp-content/uploads/1952/12/CR67-Daliah-Lavi.jpgPat Reederhttp://www.comedy-wire.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-15933349596925662872012-02-24T01:30:38.139-08:002012-02-24T01:30:38.139-08:00D.: Cadavra is not LB, but I get the confusion. I...D.: Cadavra is not LB, but I get the confusion. I'll leave it to him to sort it out with you though.jbryantnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-52291066146970950492012-02-24T00:43:23.152-08:002012-02-24T00:43:23.152-08:00"Lladro@Lladro Figurines said...
How about mo...<i>"Lladro@Lladro Figurines said...<br />How about movies you saw once and they were so good or moving you never wanted to see it a second time."</i><br /><br />Interesting idea. For myself, I can't think of one. If I intensely love a movie, a not-uncommon experience, I will watch it again and again.<br /><br />But there have been TV shows I watched and loved, caught every episode of, yet when they were over, I was through with them, and have never sought out another viewing of any episode. <br /><br />Not <i>Lost</i>, which I keep finding myself rewatching all the way through about every 8 months. Not <i>Doctor Who</i>, which I also rewatch the DVDs of a lot.<br /><br />But like <i>Northern Exposure</i>, I saw the entire series, enjoyed the heck out of it, except for the least season, when it was falling apart. But since it ended its orginal run, I've not been remotely tempted to take a a trip back to it. Same with <i>Picket Fences.</i> Loved it. Saw every episode, and then let it go forever. In fact, that's pretty common in me with David E. Kelley series; I have no interest in rewatching <i>The Practise, Chicago Hope</i>, or <i>Boston Legal</i> either, though I never missed them while they were on first-run.<br /><br /><i>Roseanne</i> is another, but there, there is no mystery. It was a great show, a really great show, except for the horrific last season. She has since become such a nightmarish turn-off, I'd really like never to see or hear her again.<br /><br />(A gift for her "presidential" opponents: use this slogan in your attack ads on her: "Do you really want a president who thought the last season of <i>Roseanne</i> was a good idea?" But beware; she attacks back worse than even I do.)<br /><br />I understand what you mean. I'm sure there must be folks who feel that way about some film-gong experiences. (Though it seems a uniquely feminine response, but that doesn't mean it would only happen to women, just more common in women, <i>I think</i>. Obviously I could be wrong on that.) I just can't think of a movie experience like that for me.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-27161152990356369432012-02-23T22:03:38.812-08:002012-02-23T22:03:38.812-08:00How about movies you saw once and they were so goo...How about movies you saw once and they were so good or moving you never wanted to see it a second time.<br /><br />I offer Sixth Sense, The Hurt Locker, and a new movie I saw the screening of titled Act of Valor.<br /><br />All these are so moving and intense I will never see them a second time. This coming from someone who saw Captain Ron 26 times on DVD and Casino Royal 13 times in the theater.<br /><br />LladroLladro@Lladro Figurineshttp://www.aboutfigurines.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-92166556956422404872012-02-23T21:03:43.305-08:002012-02-23T21:03:43.305-08:00Cadavra,
I have no idea why I typed your initials...Cadavra,<br /><br />I have no idea why I typed your initials as "LM" when I <i>KNOW></i> they're "LB." It wasn't a typo. Must have been a brain fart. I need to turn this machine off for a while and eat.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-82254291919195844792012-02-23T20:44:54.449-08:002012-02-23T20:44:54.449-08:00Sorry. One more. How could I forget to mention Cha...Sorry. One more. How could I forget to mention Charleton Heston? His politics were odious, he was a terrible excuse for an actor (Another undeserved Oscar), but I've seen many of his movies, and have many of them on my shelves. Of course, he did a lot of historical epics and sci-fi movies, two genres I generally enjoy.<br /><br />On the other hand, the only movie I have a DVD of with John Wayne in it is <i>How the West Was Won</i>, and if My Uncle Mack hadn't worked on it, I might never have seen it. And if Wayne had a larger role in it, I might not have bought it.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-29463200689696054382012-02-23T20:35:47.110-08:002012-02-23T20:35:47.110-08:00(to finish)
The list of right-wing actors whose w...(to finish)<br /><br />The list of right-wing actors whose work I nonetheless enjoy is a long one. (Kelsey Grammar anyone?) Whether their politics makes it difficult or impossible for me to enjoy their work I take on a case-by-case basis. Some get a pass, others don't. (Patricia Heaton anyone?) But my disdain for John Wayne's "acting" predates my loating of him.<br /><br />My favorite director is Hitchcock. The more I learn about what a sexual freak he was, and the way he treated some of his leading ladies, and his streak of Sadism, the more creepy-crawly troubling he becomes, yet I can not imagine I will ever stop loving his best films, nor forget how nice he was to me the one time I met him. Charlie Chaplin liked to have sex with girls who were barely past puberty. On some levels, he was more than a bit disgusting, but he was still Charlie Chaplin, and I spent 72 minutes just last night watching his <i>The Circus</i>.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-86621188445922435192012-02-23T20:34:51.668-08:002012-02-23T20:34:51.668-08:00Cadav,
First, please understand we're having ...Cadav,<br /><br />First, please understand we're having a nice converation. I get testy on this board (as the previous post's "Anonymous" has learned), but you are someone I have respect for, since I know your work, <i>LM</i>. So please don't misinterpret my tone with you. I like you. In fact, I think you are a better actor than John Wayne. (Don't go nuts: When he wants to pretend he's starving beside a half-full food dish, my cat is a better actor than John Wayne also.)<br /><br />Even as a kid, long before I even had politics, I thought Wayne was a terrible actor. Like I said, I put him right down there on a level with Bela Lugosi, though their acting flaws were highly different, and Lugosi is enjoyably bad, while Wayne sets my teeth on edge. It wasn't until my mid-to-late teens that I started despising Wayne as a person. I <i>always</i> thought he was a crap actor.<br /><br />I read <i>The Quiet One</i>. Good story. I've skipped the movie because it starred John Wayne. I will continue to skip it. <i>Sands of Iwo Jima</i> is just not my sort of movie. I'd avoid it even if it starred WC Fields. Hard-hitting WWII dramas have their place, and can be excellent films, but I seldom want to see them. Not never, but seldom. You'd be surprised how few war movies I've seen.<br /><br /><i>Hatari</i> and <i>Reap the Wild Winds</i> are two movies I have always been tempted to watch. They always sound like great fun right up until I get to the words "Starring John Wayne," and then it's a pass. If they had starred someone else, I would see them.<br /><br />To the left of topic but: DeMille has no business on a list with Walsh, Hawks and Ford. He's not one half the director any of them were. Yes, he is a true film pioneer, and deserves credit for that, but his movies are pretty much dreadful pieces of kitsch.<br /><br />"{Wayne] was beyond question a splendid actor."<br /><br />Untrue on the face of it or we wouldn't be having this discussion. It's also an insult to all genuinely slendid actors. <br /><br />James Stewart was pretty far right, but he was also a <i>magnificent</i> actor. Love his work. Merian C. Cooper was somewhat to the right of Attila the Hun, but a stack of his movies stuff my DVD shelves. Yup, Hawks was a big Jew-hater (How can one be so? Jack Benny. The Marx Brothers. How can one hate them? How can one not love them?), but his brilliance <i>is</i> beyond question. <br /><br />We should talk away from Ken's threads sometime. A good friend of mine is the son of Harold Jack Bloom who co-wrote Hawk's <i>Land of the Pharoahs</i> with Wiliam Faulkner, generally considered Hawks's worst film. (Though Harold was a good writer. Oscar-nominated) Charlie told me a story or two his dad told him about that film, and especially about the hell of working with Faulkner, or rather, <i>trying</i> to work with Faulkner. One word: alcohol. I met Harold a couple times at Charlie's parties.<br /><br />Walt Disney is often believed to have been an anti-Semite. He wasn't, but Ben Sharpsteen, who was one of the most-powerful men at Disney in its glory years was, and would not knowingly hire Jews, and the label washed up onto Disney. But Walt's politics and tastes have resulted in my having a lifelong, complex, love-hate relationship with all things Disney. It hasn't stopped me from being a big Disneyland freak all my life.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-49623767547195754652012-02-23T17:41:28.714-08:002012-02-23T17:41:28.714-08:00D.: Forgetting stuff is something we all do......W...D.: Forgetting stuff is something we all do......Where was I? Oh, yes...But you made a very specific point about THE SHOOTIST and then justified it with a scene that doesn't exist. That's what I called you on.<br /><br />Okay, you want non-westerns? Fine. (For now, we'll overlook your preference for red-hot needles in your eyes over two of the most universally acclaimed and beloved pictures of all time.) How about THE QUIET MAN, a rowdy yet charming romantic comedy set in Ireland? Or SANDS OF IWO JIMA, a tough-as-nails WW2 thriller, which earned Wayne his first and only other Oscar nomination? Or HATARI!, a rollicking adventure about big-game trappers in Africa? Or REAP THE WILD WIND, a lusty swashbuckler with the Duke battling pirates? None of 'em westerns, all tremendous films by legendary directors (Ford, Walsh, Hawks, DeMille).<br /><br />I still believe you're blending Wayne The Man with Wayne The Artist. Hate on the former all you want (I'll even toast with you on that one), but he was beyond question a splendid actor. The evidence is there in abundance.<br /><br />BTW, my favorite director is Hawks, and he was a <i>huge</i> anti-Semite. You think it's easy getting beyond THAT?cadavranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-90706759050108154852012-02-23T13:59:40.255-08:002012-02-23T13:59:40.255-08:00" jbryant said...
CAT BALLOU is pretty bad. I...<i>" jbryant said...<br />CAT BALLOU is pretty bad. I have observed this. :)"</i><br /><br />I didn't say it was good. I said I enjoy it. That can sometimes be a rather large difference. It may have something to do with the age I was when it came out, and a lot to do with Nat King Cole, and a teensy bit to do with how cute I always found Michael Callan. Also a factor, that it so blatently parodies <i>Shane</i>, only without the great cinematography. I tried reading the book it was based on back right after it came out, and didn't get very far into it. I rewatched it about a year ago, and I still enjoyed it.D. McEwannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19336675.post-64948801077752434732012-02-23T12:28:51.702-08:002012-02-23T12:28:51.702-08:00CLRKS- Its indy! Its edgy! And then you see it,...<b>CLRKS-</b> Its indy! Its edgy! And then you see it, and its... its just kinda unwatchable. You watch it the entire time wondering why people were boasting about it when the acting feels like it was done in one take, and the script feels like it was written by your 16 y.o. younger brother.<br /><br /><b>ROOM</b> You hate bad movies with a passion... but someone convinces you to see this film anyway.<br />Then you keep watching this film again and again. Because it feels <i>so</i> clueless that you literally feel like you're learning something about film making by watching all of their mistakes.<br /><br />Its almost as if you are in film-school, and the director has put the film together as the final. He tells you ahead of time: "This film has 150 mistakes. Find all of them."<br />Your pen is moving within the first 20 seconds and doesn't stop until ten minutes after the film ends.<br /><br /><b>NUD</b> You would have absolutely no interest in seeing this film. -And you are completely ashamed to admit it... but you heard that (insanely hot actress that you have crush on) is in it, partially nude, a lot of the time.ChicagoJohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16131860666607333363noreply@blogger.com