I am not...I am not the damsel in distress. I am not some case. I have to work this. I've lived in a cave for 5 years in a world where they killed my kind like cattle. I am not going to be cut down by some monster flu. I am better than that. What a wonder...how very scared I am.

Fred ,'A Hole in the World'


Buffista Movies 6: lies and videotape  

A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.


Topic!Cindy - May 27, 2008 6:24:22 am PDT #5980 of 10000
What is even happening?

( continues...)

slight story, but it's hugely entertaining, the thing looks incredible, and I really like the actors they chose (although why they didn't just go ahead and get Tim Curry for the villain is beyond me, because they may as well have). The kid and the chimp were a touch over cute, but even they had redeeming moments. Susan Sarandon and John Goodman have both had what I must consider two of the strangest careers in Hollywood.

Do they have the TV show's theme song? This is really the only part I care about. If they'd used the song in the promos, the movie wouldn't have tanked. Not to go all bottle of A-1 sauce on y'all, but Yeah. It's that important.

Um, Batman Begins? Nope. American Psycho? Nope. Newsies? Nope. Empire of the Sun? Nope. And then I get the brilliant thought that she knows of Equilibrium (did I just break a secret code of cool for saying it's name out loud?!) and me and my brother start ragging on how awful and ridiculous it was and how much we absolutely loved it, and she's still all Nope and not interested in our squee. My next brilliant thought is that she's a dog lover, so I tell her he rescues a puppy. She jumped right on board!

Tell her CB played Laurie in Little Women (the version with Winona Ryder as Jo and Claire Danes as Beth). Other than Empire of the Sun, that might be the only film of his I've seen, too.

Jesus Camp. It's been written about elsewhere at length, but you'd think that a scene in which pre-scandal Ted Haggard leans into the camera and makes a joke about how he knows what you did last night, well, you'd think that scene would be the creepiest moment in any given documentary movie. But it's not even in the top ten.

It's not in the 10 ten? I have studiously avoided that film for the sake of my blood pressure. I keep meaning to see Saved, though.

God, I love Viggo: >[link]

I love him too, but I found some of it disturbing. I'd just beaten my brain into only reading the following as wholesome and endearing (which my intellectual side knows it's meant to be):

In Erie, while Kodi’s father was away for a bit, Mr. Mortensen, who has a grown son of his own, moved from his suite to Kodi’s room, a double, where they jumped on the beds together. During filming Mr. Mortensen, protective of Kodi, worried, for example, about yanking or dragging him too hard, but also treated him as an equal, a fellow professional who happened to have a very different way of working.

...when I read this:

We’re kind of like an old married couple. That’s what our relationship is.”

I don't...like it. Viggo my love, you should have stopped at friend. I hope I don't have to say this here, but just in case, I'd feel the same were the child actor a girl. It makes me think of a pedophile grooming prey. I don't want to think about that when I think about Viggo.

So Indy. It was a lot slower than I had prepared myself for.

What's the violence like? Is it just cinematic fun or could it be disturbing for the average kid from 8 to 12? Is there gore? Are the sexual situations inappropriate for kids from ages 8 to 12? Scott and I want to introduce our kids to the franchise, but we're wondering if they aren't too young still. It's been a long time since I've seen any of the films.


Jesse - May 27, 2008 6:30:05 am PDT #5981 of 10000
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

I have studiously avoided that film for the sake of my blood pressure. I keep meaning to see Saved, though.

Saved! is a good time, but I kept telling non-Christian friends that what they were showing was pretty normal, not the freaky Christian camp stuff. Saved! was pretty close to my summer camp experience, at least some of the time, and I went to a New England American Baptist summer camp, not exactly filled with holy rollers. Jesus Camp is terrifying.


Jessica - May 27, 2008 6:34:04 am PDT #5982 of 10000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

There's no gore or sex in Indy, but there were a few kids (probably closer to 6 years old than 8) at the screening I saw who asked to leave because it was too scary for them.

The scene I had to cover my eyes for involved a fist-fight that culminated in the loser being eaten alive by ants but I have pretty major bug issues.

It's not in the 10 ten? I have studiously avoided that film for the sake of my blood pressure.

Seeing as there were no sobbing children in that scene...no. Not even close.


Sparky1 - May 27, 2008 6:36:15 am PDT #5983 of 10000
Librarian Warlord

What's the violence like? Is it just cinematic fun or could it be disturbing for the average kid from 8 to 12? Is there gore? Are the sexual situations inappropriate for kids from ages 8 to 12?

The violence is non-bloody, although there is death by ants attacking and carrying a body away, so creepy, and the usual blow-dart deaths. As for sex there isn't any, only kissing.

My 9 year old niece sat on her Dad's lap for some of it, but seemed to enjoy herself. She'd seen the first one and liked it.

eta: change spoiler font


sj - May 27, 2008 6:47:19 am PDT #5984 of 10000
"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

It's funny, because I liked the movie while I was watching it, but I've felt this vague, mild feeling of discontent ever since the end credits rolled. I don't think it succeeded in taking me to Narnia, if you know what I mean (and if you haven't read the books, you maybe can't). I may just be feeling a little let down too, because a friend saw it before me, and he thought it was much better than TLTW&TW. Maybe it was, but TLTW&TW film managed to take me to Narnia, whereas the closest Prince Caspian got me was to a lookout tower from which I could see Narnia. I couldn't feel it. I couldn't taste it. I think at best, I caught a whiff of it on the breeze.

It is action packed. There are lots of battles but there isn't any gore (which is a plus for a children's film). It's solid enough, but I can't help but think it could and should have been more. And it's not the length at fault. I'm pretty sure the film clocked in around 2 hours and 20 minutes.

Very well put, Cindy. I saw it yesterday, and I feel pretty much the same way. The first movie just brought back all of the memories of reading the book as a child, but this one didn't feel the same way. Maybe it's because I have probably re-read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe more often than the other books.


Glamcookie - May 27, 2008 6:51:52 am PDT #5985 of 10000
I know my own heart and understand my fellow man. But I am made unlike anyone I have ever met. I dare to say I am like no one in the whole world. - Anne Lister

Re: cougars. I had lunch with a college friend I haven't seen in forever and she is dating a 23 year old (she's almost 38). She said people were calling her a cougar but she's like 38 going on 21 (in looks and actions). I wouldn't consider her to be a cougar.


Hayden - May 27, 2008 7:17:40 am PDT #5986 of 10000
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."

It's not in the 10 ten?

Oh, no. In a movie where the main character, a Pentecostal children's minister, talks about "using" them (her words!) and exposes them to seriously creepy adults (although most of their parents seem to fall into this category) every other scene, Ted Haggard's queeniness - which I don't know if I would have caught pre-scandal, although it seems pretty clear on the screen - is barely a blip. He mostly comes across as a condescending asshole for the way he talks to one of the protagonist kids.

I have studiously avoided that film for the sake of my blood pressure.

Probably a good policy. I think it's interesting that they confuse the terms "evangelical" and "Dominionist". I mean, the first evangelical President, at least in the modern use of the word, was Jimmy Carter, right?


§ ita § - May 27, 2008 7:56:51 am PDT #5987 of 10000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Sparky, if you longhandedly spoilerfont with t span class="spoiler" instead of t font color="white" it means that people who've customised their stylesheets will still be protected--but on the offchance anyone's changed their wallpaper to navy and their own normal font to white, your spoiler will show right through.

Just a heads up--don't want to be a CSS nanny. Of course, why you weird people don't quickedit is beyond me. Isn't laziness where nirvana lives? Have I been doing this all wrong?


Atropa - May 27, 2008 7:57:32 am PDT #5988 of 10000
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

So, Jilli, on that note, have you seen Fido

I LOVED Fido. I need my own copy of it. I found it utterly charming.


Sparky1 - May 27, 2008 8:07:08 am PDT #5989 of 10000
Librarian Warlord

Just a heads up--don't want to be a CSS nanny.

I changed it. My lazy is pure because you gave me the fix and I didn't have to think out how to make it right.