The Quiet Earth" & "The Far Side of the Moon": Movie Reviews

[rcgldr]

memento

I watched it, but it wasn't very memorable. It was too inconsistent

The guy was suffering from short term memory and the movie was filmed to give the audience the sense of disconnection that the character suffered.

I didn't mind the movie in reverse concept, but the main character's memory loss timing kept varying during the movie just to make the script work. Sometimes he'd lose track of things in a short period of time, yet at other moments, he'd be able to focus on a single task for a very long period of time: he was able to drive fairly long distances without losing track of where he was going, including what he would do after arriving at his destination (the "ending" sequence was way too long compared to the other sequences where he lost track of things). Then there's the obvious, why didn't his "partner" simply steal the photos and/or replace them? The main character would have forgotten this happened.

The problem I have with movies like Memento, and Sixth Sense is that the main premise is weak or unsupportable, and it takes an incredible series of coincidences, and/or inconsistencies, and/or outright violations of the main premise itself in order to make such a movie. These movies rank right up there with Star Trek (in terms of inconsistencies).

 

[Evo]

I didn't mind the movie in reverse concept, but the main character's memory loss timing kept varying during the movie just to make the script work. Sometimes he'd lose track of things in a short period of time, yet at other moments, he'd be able to focus on a single task for a very long period of time: he was able to drive fairly long distances without losing track of where he was going, including what he would do after arriving at his destination (the "ending" sequence was way too long compared to the other sequences where he lost track of things). Then there's the obvious, why didn't his "partner" simply steal the photos and/or replace them? The main character would have forgotten this happened.

The problem I have with movies like Memento, and Sixth Sense is that the main premise is weak or unsupportable, and it takes an incredible series of coincidences, and/or inconsistencies, and/or outright violations of the main premise itself in order to make such a movie. These movies rank right up there with Star Trek (in terms of inconsistencies).

Geeze, I'm not going to any movies with you.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

From the short film "Our Time is Up" ~

Patient: We use soap to remove bacteria from things, but what removes the bacteria from the soap?

Doctor: So that's why you wash the soap with soap?

Patient: Yes, and I wash the soap that washes the soap...but what cleans the bacteria from the soap that washes the soap, that washes the soap?

 

[turbo]

Some movies have "grown on me" to the point that I have watched them many times. These include:

Crossroads - I love Steve Vai's demonic guitar playing contrasted with that of Ry Cooder (Ralph Macchio's "playing")

Young Frankenstein

Blazing Saddles

My Cousin Vinny

Contact

Braveheart

Rob Roy

 

[JamesU]

Turbo, Most of your list is good, but please tell me it's not THIS crossroads...

 

[rcgldr]

memento

too inconsistent ... rant ...

Geeze ...

I like most movies, it's just the ones that attempt to be just a bit too "clever" end up with a series of coincidences or inconsistencies. If you ever watched the DVD of "Memento" with the directors comments enabled, you get the idea that the director thinks he made a masterpiece. Ditto with the Sixth Sense, too much of a re-hash of old Twilight Zone episodes, where the main character was always a mannequin or toy ...

I do like a lot of movies though. As previously mentioned, Three Days of the Condor was a great movie. I also liked The Matrix, which was clever in that since that most of the movie is in an imaginary world, the characters can develop what appear to be super human powers.

The range of movies I liked include chicks movies like "As good as it gets" to Arnold Schwarzenegger violence mixed with humor movies like Total Recall, Predator, or the Terminator series.

 

[turbo]

Turbo, Most of your list is good, but please tell me it's not THIS crossroads...

No way, Jose. It's THIS one. It's got great messages about integrity, maturity, personal goals, loyalty, and it's got some GREAT music. When I pick up a guitar, I play mostly blues. I hosted open-mike blues jams for a few years and have seen some young fellows develop into very credible blues players, so I relate to Ralph's character in the movie, too. If you haven't seen it, rent it.

 

[JamesU]

okay, good...you would have to be banned if it was the other one

 

[marlon]

Hey, let's be fair, Cruise was good in that movie.

That's not being a liar, that's being ridiculous

marlon

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I didnt say Brokeback Mountain!

Oh, I get it now. "A few good men" is a movie.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Arnold movies?

Oh well...a different universe I guess.

 

[Cyrus]

Oh, I get it now. "A few good men" is a movie.

You've never seen A few good men?

You must go watch it!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

You've never seen A few good men?

You must go watch it!

Okay, I see that I will have to explain this. You see, you said that Fred should go out and rent a few good men. I said that he's not into that sort of thing but to check with Arildno.

Do you really think I haven't heard of the movie?

It was a joke!

You know, I never realized for the longest time that people often don't get my jokes...until something around ten years ago. When I think back on all the things that I've said while assuming that surely no one would take me seriously...

 

[rcgldr]

Arnold movies?

Yes, don't all "real men" enjoy Arnold movies? They will never win any oscars, but they are still entertaining. At least I don't find them annoying since no one takes them seriously.

Personally, the movie that impressed me the most was the first Star Wars. I went to see it before there was any hype. The initial release was relatively low key. I was expecting another "B" sci-fi movie like Buck Rogers in the 21st century, but from the opening scene, I immediately realized that the state of the art for special effects had just been raised significantly.

Regarding movies and tv shows, it is just entertainment, not science. Some of the stories told in movies are good, but all too often the "clever" ones are full of plot faults, which are usually too blatant for me to just ignore. I can watch Terminator or The Matrix occasionally, and still enjoy them. If I watch the Sixth Sense, or Memento, I just get annoyed at the inconsistencies and contrived situations it took in an effort to support a bad premise.

 

[rcgldr]

you said that Fred should go out and rent a few good men.

... and don't forget, women rent Fred Garvin.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yes, don't all "real men" enjoy Arnold movies?

Again, I think that would be a different universe than mine. I think I left that one behind somewhere around the 10th grade.

If I watch the Sixth Sense, or Memento, I just get annoyed at the inconsistencies and contrived situations it took in an effort to support a bad premise.

Well, the fact that you feel the premises were flawed suggests that you were predisposed to dislike the movies.

 

[rcgldr]

Yes, don't all "real men" enjoy Arnold movies?

I think I left that one behind somewhere around the 10th grade.

And yet you watch Sci-Fi movies? So I guess this means that Al Bundy is not your hero? Ok, enough kidding. Life doesn't always have to be serious, especially entertainment. Not that Arnold movies are my favorites, but they are entertaining to me. After reading newspapers, and watching the news, real life in general, I like to take a fun break from this stuff, and this includes watching some less than brilliant movies that just have a fun factor, or good special effects. I rarely go to the movies, most of what we (wife and I) watch are rental DVD's, but we do go see some movies, mostly where the big screen contributes to the movie.

As previously mentioned, I've always like Three Days of the Condor, it was well written, and for once a really smart character was likeable. If you've never seen this one it's definitely worth it. If you like Sci-Fi, Capricorn One is an OK movie with a bit of a twist, some of the scenes are a bit over the top, but the cast includes some of the top actors of the time, and over all it's a descent movie.

I've watched and enjoyed many of the movies in that top 250 list, although my list would be significantly different.

If I watch the Sixth Sense, or Memento, I just get annoyed at the inconsistencies and contrived situations it took in an effort to support a bad premise.

Well, the fact that you feel the premises were flawed suggests that you were predisposed to dislike the movies.

I didn't feel the premises were flawed until after watching the movies. Perhaps with better and more consistent screenplay, the premises could have been made more believable, but as is, there were too many flaws and/or coincidences.

In Memento, the main characters memory retention kept adjusting so that it fit the script, which was annoying to me. One thing is the main character is able to drive from the cave into town and later back again, even though he'd never been there before. In other cases, like when the girl fights with him, leaves and returns in a few minutes, his memory retention is very short, in spite of his efforts to prevent it.

In the Sixth Sense, the premise is introduced by the child, that ghosts don't know they're dead, can't see other ghosts, and only see what they want to see (until some problem is resolved). However the ghost / grandmother is aware she is dead and just wants to stay with the family. The 3 ghosts in the courthouse scene all appear at the same time, which seems very unlikely if they aren't aware of each other. Not obvious from the movie itself, but from the directors comments is the fact that everything "bad" or a "conflict" is red. The doorknob to the basement has a red tint, OK, but the mother of the dead child wears flourescent red to a funeral, which was beyond believable. Then there are the scenes meant to throw off the audience. The main character just happens to be in the kids house with the mom, waiting for the kid to come home. Later, the mom seem oblivious when the kid talks to the main character. In the diner scene, the chair just happens to be already pulled out when the main character sits down, and the wife grabs the check just before he does. Another thing never explained is how do the ghosts recognize who can see and hear them out of the millions of people in a city? How do they find this kid? Anyway, enough ranting about this one movie. I only watched it twice on DVD, first without and then with the directors comments. The second time was to trying to figure out what the director had in mind, but even he makes it clear that some scenes were just meant to throw off the audience, and the "red" thing just seemed uneeded. For that matter the main character didn't need a special twist for the movie to be good.

 

[rcgldr]

Movies not on the 250 list that should get at least an honorable mention:

Three Days of the Condor
The Shining
Coma
Capricorn One
Basic Instinct

There are more, but these are all I can think of right now.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Three Days of the Condor is absolutely a favorite.

Metropolis
The Tramp
2001

I find new movies less and less entertaining. With all due respect to a certain special effects artist who could be reading - I would love to do special effects btw - they have gone too far with the effects. For example, I thought the Matrix was boring: Okay, now he runs up the wall and fires in slo-mo, yadda yadda yadda - BORING! It's great to have good effects as part of the movie, but now the special effects often ARE the movie, and that loses me completely.

I tend to be extra forgiving of Sci-Fi movies because I'm always anxious to see what new ideas might be used. Note that The Matrix was first done by Descartes. But IMO there are very few good sci-fi movies made. 2001 was great; too much with the monkeys but okay after that. Star Wars is a classic but part of the allure was the new age of special effects. Like most people, when that first scene played, and the ship kept going on and on, I was blown away! WOW! We had never seen anything like this before and it was immediately obvious. Still, it was a great story of good and evil and worthy as a classic. I don't think I would say the same for any of the sequels.

I like the Star Trek movies but only one or two was actually very good. I wouldn't say that any were great.

Sidebar: Did anyone here see Tom Stoppard's play, Arcadia? That was fun.

 

[JamesU]

Nobody mentioned Contact?

 

[turbo]

Posts 26 and 34, but that was SOOOO long ago, and your attention span might be a bit stressed. Go bug penquino.

 

[larkspur]

Turbo, Most of your list is good, but please tell me it's not THIS crossroads...

I doubt it!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Jacob's Ladder
The Ninth Configuration
The Wizard of Oz

 

[rocketboy]

Nobody has mentioned Scarface or the Godfather series? They were both before my time but I still really enjoyed them. For sci-fi I really liked The Island. Hmm, Derailed wasn't bad, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind was interesting... Then there's the animated comedy's... Over the Hedge was brilliant. Somebody mentioned Gladiator, that is probably in my top 5 overall. For pure entertainment there's always the James Bond movies... can't complain about plenty of action and hot women.. .kinda like Arnold movies in that sense.

I like space movies too, like Red Planet and Mission to Mars, although the top would definitely have to be Apollo 13 and October Sky fits into that category too I guess.

What's contact about?

 

[Cyrus]

Hey Ivan, if you want a really cool, different movie, go rent "eat drink man woman"

It is a chinese movie I saw on tv late night. It has subtitles, but man it was a greatttt movie!

Watch it with Tsu, I promise you will both enjoy it!

 

[PRodQuanta]

Nobody has mentioned Scarface or the Godfather series? They were both before my time but I still really enjoyed them. For sci-fi I really liked The Island. Hmm, Derailed wasn't bad, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind was interesting... Then there's the animated comedy's... Over the Hedge was brilliant. Somebody mentioned Gladiator, that is probably in my top 5 overall. For pure entertainment there's always the James Bond movies... can't complain about plenty of action and hot women.. .kinda like Arnold movies in that sense.

I agree, the Island was good. I don't know about legendary good, but a good watch nonetheless. I'm going to have to see Over the Hedge. I've heard good reviews.

What's contact about?

It's about extraterrestrial life (there is a deeper meaning, but I'm not getting into right now). If you are at all into science/astronomy (as I assume you are from your name) Contact is a MUST SEE. Go, right now, to the nearest movie rental establishment and do yourself a favor.

Paden Roder

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Hey Ivan, if you want a really cool, different movie, go rent "eat drink man woman"

It is a chinese movie I saw on tv late night. It has subtitles, but man it was a greatttt movie!

Watch it with Tsu, I promise you will both enjoy it!

...Who said foreign films can't be fun? Ang Lee's followup to his internationally successful The Wedding Banquet is a delicious examination of the relationship between aging Chinese master chef Tao Chu (Sihung Lung) and his three daughters. The oldest, Jia-Jen (Kuei-Mei-Yang), is an unmarried school teacher in her late twenties. The middle daughter, Jia-Chen (Chien-Lien Wu), is a thriving corporate airline executive whose career comes before all else. The youngest, Jia-Ning (Yu-Wen Wang), is a twenty year old romantic who works at a Wendy's fast food joint.

Eat Drink Man Woman is a more accomplished motion picture than its predecessor - and The Wedding Banquet was good enough in its own right. The comedy is spontaneous and relaxed, the drama is finely-tuned, and the plot is seasoned with unexpected little twists. The script delights in occasional forays just beyond the typical bounds of a screenplay...

http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/e/eat_drink.html

Thanks, I will. I plan to watch Ali as well. I grew up watching him fight while in his prime. And then there was the drama between Ali and Cosell... lordy, I haven't thought of all that in ages.

 

[Mickey]

I didn't mind the movie in reverse concept, but the main character's memory loss timing kept varying during the movie just to make the script work. Sometimes he'd lose track of things in a short period of time, yet at other moments, he'd be able to focus on a single task for a very long period of time: he was able to drive fairly long distances without losing track of where he was going,

Actually, this sounds very organic to me. Memory doesn't work like clockwork.

The part that bothered me was that he had a driver's license! Or did he have to steal one? It's been a while since I've seen it.I agree that the Sixth Sense was pretty weak. I knew something was strange throughout the whole movie because no way are children that young allowed to associate with a grown man alone, even if he is a child psychologist. Everywhere there was a child in this movie, he or she seemed to actually exercise independence and the right to self-determination.

That's probably the worst part about Sixth Sense, the way it takes advantage of the alienation of children. It adopts something similar to the "Indigo Children" movement, and makes a story out of it. Indigo children are select souls who are here to solve problems and help us along our spiritual paths or something. It only alienates children more by ascribing them powers that don't exist.

 

[eveseh]

]b]dark man.
get rich or die trying
in her shoes[/b]

 

[JamesU]

Get Rich or Die Tryin' was terrible