poehler-bear

that's unfortunate to say the least. So far, I think the biggest debate has been French vs. Brazilian film so I don't think action flicks will be a problem

oh kids. But at least your taste developed pretty well.
I was highly impressed by how well he captured 1930s Hollywood. However, I shouldn't have been surprised, it's Woody Allen after all. But the audio and the cinematography were so spot on! And all the stock of characters
On the same vibe (bless that part of the 70s/80s), I watched both Pennies From Heaven and Silent Movie (guess why?) and I was very pleased. Silent Movie had more unforgivable flaws, but it was still a funny experimentation/homage. I should probably look more into these kind of movies.

I'd like to forget that, please.

No, the Iranian movie. If you haven't watched it yet, do it asap! It's a beautiful story about the power of art and the cinema in particular. The colors

Gelfling

yeah I think you're good as long as you stay away from Luc Besson and his peeps.

Like actual taste, movie taste can only develop when exposed to various things, new things, and with the proper context. Did you know you need to give a new food at least 3 times to a baby to find out if he/she likes it or not? The first two times are just introducing the taste to the new palate and brain.
As it turns out, it seems to be the same for movies
(My kids will be exposed to soooo much movies and food, it's going to be epic )

heh it really feels like you're stepping into a classic movie, which is a treat and no small feat to accomplish.

it wouldn't have anything to do with a multi-talented lady you got recently acquainted with, would it?

It's always pretty much the same with Mel Brooks. He really gave it all. Sometimes it didn't work but most of the time, when it worked, it was pretty awesome.
High Anxiety is not too bad when it comes to parodying Hitchcock but Young Frankenstein is the one you want to see. It captures the 30ies horror genre brilliantly. And of course The Producers.

I won't fight you on this.

oh I thought you were talking about the other one. I have read about it but it hasn't crossed my path yet. I heard so many good things about the cinematography, and the story that I'm rather intrigued. I'll add it to my list and will try to watch asap so we can discuss it

poehler-bear

I didn't know that! Interesting. It really does seem that way. About a lot of taste things, movies, music, paintings...

yes! I just really wanna get my hands on a child (this sounds wrong) and expose her or him to great movies. Pity I'm the eldest so probably (hopefully) nobody will have a kid soon.

Hmmmm

I've been meaning to watch Young Frankenstein forever! They have it on netflix so I'll try to watch it this weekend.

I hope you like it! It's up there with Sunday for favorite things about art (I think I'm forgetting a very important fave in this category...)

Gelfling

I was about to say that

yeah I know the feeling. I was working for a while with an organization that was trying to expose kids from projects to movies that might be interesting to them, help them see things from a different perspective. It was a pretty good project and the kids reacted well to it. Unfortunately the equipment was vandalized (not by the kids obviously) and it was very hard to convince anyone to lend us anything after that.

I mean... good books can do that too but it's harder to convince kids who have a hard time in school to pick up a book and read cover to cover. A movie from another French speaking country or another time was an easier way to ease them into foreign movies with subs.


it's ok, there's a good reason for everything, right?

Oh have you? It's so funny! I was really surprised when I watched it the first time because I was expecting a lot of cheese, and it's campy in parts for sure but there's a lot of symbolism and dark humor. It's a good parody.

you can't forget it for long if it influences you

poehler-bear

That's an amazing project! I'm so sorry to hear about the awful humans who spoiled such a great thing. It's always amazing to me to see how low people go, and in this case, for absolutely no gain other then maybe temporary fun??
I actually wanted to get involved in something like that. Maybe this next year.
I agree about the books. And nowadays I think movies are much more accessible. It seems to me that very often a kid will associate a book with school, because it's not such a strong and common force of entertainment as it used to be. Anyway, my point was, I don't think movies are necessarily more accessible by nature (unless you're a very passive viewer, you can't be a true passive reader), but I think people are more open to them. However, I wonder how new generations will do with movies. I remember a girl at school once told me she didn't watch movies because she didn't have patience to sit for 2 hours. And now people don't even have patience for 5 min youtube videos... (not attempting to be judgmental, just curious where things are going).

But i still don't think that was a good enough reason for 6, 8 (?) episodes of Smash

Not yet. I decided to start Jane the Virgin because I needed some silly thing yesterday. And it turned out to be the perfect choice. More about that on the TV thread. But that's great to hear!
That reminds me of A Little Shop of Horrors. Did I mention I watched it? I had a lot of fun! I miss musical movies. I should look for more. Any obscure (or just lesser known) musical recs?

Gelfling

There's a lot of bitterness in those places. Older kids thinking anything that's not gloom and doom is just delusion. I guess.
It was good while it lasted though. Kids are more open minded than I first believed they'd be.

nothing quite as fun as sharing the love. Provided you have the time to do it ofc.

exactly. Show them a movie and it's like "fun". Show them a book and it's "homework"

oh boy! I was thinking about that just last week. The generational short attention span is getting chronic! Unfortunately this is going to be reflected in studio movies more and more. I hope indies hold fast.
I'm worried about movies outside the US though. There is still a lot of money in movies in the US, even in indies. Budgets are already hard to scrape in some countries, if the audiences dwindle, I don't know how it's going to be.

I grant that.

it's so much fun! Did you see the alternate ending or the happy ending?

I'm scratching my head but I'll look at my lists

Alwayshappy

The Hobbit releases this week in the Netherlands, going next friday. Cannot wait to see it. Loved the first two parts

Gelfling

I was pleasantly surprised by the first part... and then totally disappointed by the second part. I fell asleep, that's how bored I was and I really didn't like the "love triangle" they tried to force through. That's really not what I was hoping for the Evangeline Lily character but I'm not decided on skipping the last one yet.

Oh I'm going to see It's a Wonderful Life on the big screen next Tuesday. For some reason the blockbuster movie theatre in my neighborhood has a screening. I mean, it's a perfect Christmas movie but it's... old
I wonder if they know it's in black and white

Alwayshappy

Nice! Have fun

I enjoyed part 2, but I agree that the love triangle didn't really fit in. Positive about the third one though. Hope I won't be dissapointed.

Gelfling

It was like they were trying to be Twilight or something but that was only a minor complaint really.

Tell me when you see the last one, I'll welcome your opinion.

Alwayshappy

Ofcourse

Alwayshappy

I totally forgot to give you my opinion about the Hobbit! The third part was quite awesome. I actually prefered the other 2 parts I think, but I still consider it one of the best movies in 2014. It was a good ending, which still provided enough open story-lines that would continue in Lord of the Rings. There was more action than the first 2 films and there was too little focus on the Hobbit himself, but more on the Dwarf leader.

In other news...we saw Frozen yesterday, for the first time ever. Saw it on 3D Blu ray at home. WOW. Looked stunning. Beatiful effects. Gotta love 3D. It's a gimmick in some movies, but this one handled it perfectly. The music was great aswell and we loved the story. One of my new personal favorites.

Gelfling

yeah that's a problem with the whole trilogy, I guess. They made Thorin into the Aragorn of the movies and he's an interesting character (more than Bilbo at this point) but it seems off to focus so much on him

They did really good with the 3D. You can tell Pixar was working hard.

Gelfling

Has anyone seen any of/all the Oscar nominated movies? What are you thinking?

Aga_darkside

I've seen most of them at this point, from the main category I've seen everything besides Selma, American Sniper and Foxcatcher.

I loved Birdman (probably my favourite), Whiplash and GBH. I expected more from Boyhood, the concept was great but the execution less so. When it comes to biopics The Theory of Everything is just a banal snoozefest and has nothing besides Eddie Redmayne's part. I liked The Imitation Game much better, but it's still another run-of-the-mill biopic.

I've also seen 4 out of 5 foreign pictures and from the patriotic point of view I'm rooting for Ida, but I'm bummed about Force Majeure being left out, I saw it before the Oscar noms and it's really great. Leviathan is good, but Zvyagintsev's The Return was much better imho. But all in all the category is strong this year, I really enjoyed Wild Tales and Tangerines. I think that Leviathan will win, but I'm secretly hoping for Ida because it was also nominated for Cinematography.

About The Hobbit, I must say that the 3rd movie was a huge disappointment, I really enjoyed the 1st one and the 2nd was also quite good apart from that ridiculous love triangle between characters that don't exist in Tolkien's universe or aren't in the book And my major complaint about the 3rd movie is that those additional storylines took over the movie! I didn't mind the addition of Azog earlier, but turns out all this additional stuff changed everything. None of the dwarves die in the way they do in the book And I agree that they made Thorin the main character, I don't mind much because I love Richard Armitage and Bilbo is pretty boring and Martin Freeman (whom I used to really like) seems just to play the same part in everything, so... Still, the movie is titled The Hobbit and not Thorin They should've done two movies and it would make a lot more sense.