Plus, ACE VENTURA is this wet fantasy for Dolphins fans where Marino actually WINS the Super Bowl.

Same fantasy where Eagles were good enough to NOT get stomped by Dallas or Redskins.

I don't believe they showed them winning...so we didn't even get that satisfaction.

BLACK CANDLES 1/2
(First Viewing)

A young woman travels with her partner to England on the unexpected death of her brother. Staying with her sister-in-law, she finds her companion soon drawn into a satanic cult based in the house whose rites seem to centre somewhat on large-scale sexual congress.

I finally understand why some of these grindhouse movies were banned. Not that I'm complaining mind you, but every 2 or 3 scenes was a sex scene (sometimes between the same people). The dubbing job wasn't bad and I don't think it took away from the film. There was even a bestiality scene

Have you ever seen any of these films Capo, svsg or Blibble? They're interesting and I'm enjoying them but some are very strange.

Irish, the only ones that I watched are in my "movies that went all the way" thread. A few of them in that are of "woman in peril" type which is mainly for the purpose of nudity. Off topic, watch out for my review of "August Underground's Mordum", another aparently sick movie

I just re-watched CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981) for the first time in many years. Although I found it entertaining, I still feel it was overrated. I will admit, the scenery was just beautiful, especially the shots of Cambridge.

Capo, being our resident English movie reviewer, would you care to review it for us?

I think mine goes:

1.) Taxi Driver
2.) Raging Bull
3.) Mean Streets
4.) Goodfellas
5.) Casino
6.) The Last Temptation of Christ
7.) The Kind of Comedy
8.) The Color of Money
9.) Gangs of New York
10.) Cape Fear
11.) New York, New York
12.) The Aviator
13.) The Departed

I feel like I'm leaving something out.

Wow, THE DEPARTED as his worst work?

On the larger scale of things I probably wouldn't put it up with his best work either.

Yeah, I agree with you pizzaboy....

Especially when TWO flims deserved that Best Picture Oscar much more: Steven Spielberg's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and Warren Beatty's REDS.

Hell, DePalma's BLOW OUT is better.

I still have a few films of his to see, but yes. I can honestly say it's the worst of what I've seen. Not that I disliked it, it just seemed really bland and mediocre compared to the other films he's made.

More and more LLC....you might be onto something.

EVIL EYE
(First Viewing)

People around Peter Crane begin dying in mysterious fashion. How is Playboy Peter involved in this? He begins having nightmares dealing with murder...His psychiatrist has no idea of what Peter is suffering from. Even the police are in danger as they start investigating the case. What is the secret of the "Magic Circle"?

For some reason one of the movies of the double-feature has to suck and the other one has to enjoyable. Guess which one this is. Yeah, the one that sucked. Oh well, I still enjoy cheesy grindhouse films!

I agree completely. I talked about this before when he won his Oscar for this movie. I felt it was a political award and he won it because he deserved it for movies he made in the past, not for The Departed.

The only thing I liked about The Departed was Mark Wahlberg's character, and I'm not even a fan of his. I liked the character a lot. That's not to say the other actors performances were bad, but they just didn't leave an impression the way other great movies do.

I thought THE DEPARTED was his best work since CASINO, maybe even GOODFELLAS. I think some of the Oscar was given to Marty based on his past accomplishments but also because last year's competition was weak. As a result, he easily won hands down but it was definitely his best since CASINO (i.e. better than KUNDUN, BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, GANGS OF NEW YORK, and THE AVIATOR).

Last year was weak?

What about Paul Greengrass for UNITED 93?
What about Alfonso Cuaron for CHILDREN OF MEN?
What about Guillermo Del Toro for PAN'S LABYRINTH?
What about Darren "Fuck You" Arronofsky over THE FOUNTAIN?

Weak? Bullshit!

You won't reply Irish, but you know I'm damn right about this.

P.S. - THE DEPARTED is like CAPE FEAR was for Marty. A rare outright commercial hit for him, but nothing more.

I may be wrong, but wasn't Little Miss Sunshine up for best picture as well? I know lighthearted comedies don't usually win awards, but that movie was my favorite from last year. Followed by Apocalypto (no nominations right?) and Pan's Labyrinth.

I think Irish was referring to the nominations, not the year's films.

Me? I think The Departed was a brilliant film. I think it's his best effort since The King of Comedy (1983), and would rank it behind that, Raging Bull, Mean Streets, GoodFellas and Taxi Driver. I need to revisit Cape Fear, though; that film may just be his most grippingly sustained work.

I last revised rankings for Scorsese's work on May 29th this year. Though I still need to see Kundun, Age of Innocence, Last Temptation and Boxcar Bertha, you can view how I currently rank his work here.

I've not seen it. I rarely get excited by triumph-over-adversity biopics. Especially sporting ones.

Okay, fair enough. It won BECAUSE it was a triumph over adversity film, and as Ronnie pointed out, REDS and RAIDERS...were both superior films. It didn't hurt that there were religious overtones, either. The Academy just loves that shit.

Yes thank you Capo, that's what I was referring to





Any plans on watching THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST soon? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the picture.

My 2 cents on Departed: I really really liked DiCaprio's acting. I didn't know who Mark Whalberg was before the oscar hype. Jack Nicholson was in his usual mode, reminding us he is Jack Nicholson all the time. All the other characters (except Damon who was bland) were okay, nothing great. I liked the background music. But I don't think I will remember the plot or revisit the movie after 5 years. Nowhere near as great as Raging Bull or Taxi Driver, Scorcese's best movies IMO

I have that and Kundun ready to go. But then again, I've had them "ready to go" for at least two years.

KUNDUN surprised me. I enjoyed it quite a bit

CHARIOTS won really because of the split-ticket situation.

In other words, Many in the Academy wanted to vote for RAIDERS, but more didn't because it wasn't serious enough to win the prize.

REDS got feverent support from critics, but many others thought it was too controversial* (commie-story released in the Reagan Decade!) and a few others thought it was too much of a DOCTOR ZHIVAGO rip-off.

Then some people liked ON GOLDEN POND.

Those 3 basically cancelled each other out, and CHARIOTS won as a result.

Look at the 2002 awards when people expected Marshall (CHICAGO) or Scorsese (GANGS OF NEW YORK) to win the Best Director Oscar that year, but because Marshall's work didn't impress that many people, and people felt giving it to Scorsese for a movie not good enough is a sham...

So instead, the dark horse Roman Polanski won for THE PIANIST, and in retrospect, it was the right call.

*=Whats funny is, Beatty showed REDS to President Reagan in 1981, and he quite liked it, except the ending (Reagan was a sucker for happy endings.)

I actually thought Marky Mark, and all the cops for that matter, were really stereotypical "hollywood" cops, and it sort of turned me off for brief periods.

He did give a great performance. I include this as one of three films (that I know off the top of my head) that Marky Mark does well in, and are actually worth a damn. I enjoyed this, Boogie Nights and I Heart Huckabees, but I can't think of any other films of his that didn't really suck. Am I forgetting one?

By the way, did you see The Fountain? It was fucking amazing. I think you'd really enjoy it. I think it was my favorite film of 2006, followed by Pan's Labyrinth and A Scanner Darkly.

Yes it was amazing, and I'm now honored that I actually saw it in theatres.

Yes, I'll use that over the younger kids 10 years from now.

I meant Blibble.

But, yeah, you're a lucky bastard for seeing it in a theatre. Definitely a film that would be enhanced on the big screen.