Movies

[J.]

We watched The Natural tonight. THe fiance had never seen it, so she wanted to see what all the hoopla was about. She liked it, though that's no surprise since it's the best baseball movie ever made, and one of the finest sports movies in existence.

[NAD is still special.]

Baseball people get bat-sized boners at that movie. I'm not a baseball person but it's still pretty kickass.

I watched the TV version of Total Recall tonight, "get yourself to Mars," haha.

[J.]

Originally Posted by NAD

Baseball people get bat-sized boners at that movie. I'm not a baseball person but it's still pretty kickass.

Because it's true to the game, and because the "hero" chooses loyalty, honor, and "the game" over everyone's favorite thing in life, money. That last game is just pure classic art, especially the homerun. And Robert Redford always kicks ass.

That's not to say I don't like the goofy baseball movies. I mean, it's hard not to like Major League. "Are you saying Jesus Christ can't hit a curve ball?"

Field of Dreams is another awesome baseball movie, as is the underrated For Love of the Game, both with Costner.

Best basketball movie - Hoosiers

Best football movie - this is a tough one, but I'm leaning toward Any Given Sunday. A lot of people didn't like it, but I'm a sucker for that old school mentality vs the commercialism of sports. The Program is worth a mention though.

[NAD is still special.]

Any Given Sunday KICKS FUCKING ASS. I don't know how Oliver Stone can pull off those wacky handheld camera angles and not make me want to punch him, but he does. Lawrence Taylor rules.

[J.]

Damn, it's good to see someone else liking that movie. I'm not a fan of Jamie Foxx (though that may change when his Ray Charles movie comes out), but his character was awesome. I love the transformation from cocky, brash, money-greedy superstar of the new school to finally realizing that it's about your team, not what kind of car you drive.

Al Pacino is simply inspiring in that movie. His locker-room speech before that last game was brilliantly written.

[Russell]

I just watched Boiling Point for the first time (the Japanese one, not the one with Wesley Snipes ). Definitely not Takeshi Kitano's best, but an interesting early stage in his evolution

[JayKeeley]

I went to see the latest Harry Potter this afternoon. Saw it at an IMAX. Definitely the best of the three.

[NAD is still special.]

Couldn't disagree more, the latest Harry Potter was my least favorite movie.

Although it was the first time I read the book before seeing the movie, and it also is my favorite book in the series, so that could be why. It still rules though.

[JayKeeley]

I've never read a Harry Potter book so I don't know how to compare. The film, however, was dark, it had an edge to it. The ringwraith like creatures were great, the time travelling piece was cool, the twisted tree was a mean bastard, and the griffin bird would make a cool pet. Even at the end when he appears like a giant stag in the woods by the lake, it all reminded me of an Agalloch song, heh.

They underused Gary Oldman I thought, surely one of the greatest (and yet underrated) actors of our time.

[NAD is still special.]

Gary Oldman is one of the best, no doubt. That seems to be the consensus, if you read the book the movie wasn't terribly impressive, but if you didn't then it's your favorite. One thing is they left quite a bit out for the movie, but this book was the first really involved one, not just kidstuff like the first two. One thing I found brilliant in the movie was showing the change of seasons, the Whomping Willow rules.

[JayKeeley]

Didn't Gary Oldman play Beethoven at some point? I've yet to see that movie. I thought his best were The Professional aka Leon and of course, The Contender. How he never won an oscar for that performance is just criminal.