ghost1986

I can't get past the main character in that show.  That guy makes William Shatner look like Daniel Day-Lewis.  Such a terrible actor.

Eh acting shmacting. My taste in movies and shows is different than most. Besides Daniel Day-Lewis ruined the name of Abraham Lincoln. I'll take the guy from Abe Lincoln Vampire Hunter over DDL any day of the week. Everybody hyped that movie up so much and it covered a fraction of the guy's life. Should've been named 13th Amendment. But the director is probably more to blame for that because DDL was great in Last of the Mohicans. One TV show I'd like to get into is Eastbound and Down. Looks hilareei.

Waiting for Burn Notice to come back on. Really not sure how much further they can go with it after the last season finale. I'm hoping the writers know when to stop and can do so on a high note because it's getting out of control with all the twists now.

I too enjoy North America. Especially after my hikes in the Shenandoah recently.

Back on topic: I watched Tora Tora Tora earlier.

I watched Heartbreak Ridge today. Green Berets was on after it, but I already have that on BR. Might watch Act of Valor or the newest Rambo. Think I'll go with Rambo since I watched AoV already for my war class not long ago.

I pulled out Enemy at the Gates and watched it with my Dad. Been a while. Main two things I don't like: Most of the Russians have British accents and there's a love interest. And Ed Harris, the main German, just keeps his American accent.

Watched The Last Stand with my Dad last night. I figured it would be good, but it was even better than I expected. A lot of good cheesy one-liners from Arnold. There were quite a few implausible moments, but the action scenes and one-liners more than made up for it. I'll probably buy it in the future.

We also watched Platoon since it's Memorial Day weekend.

Still never finished Wedding Crashers. I've seen it plenty, but the night I started watching it this week, I had to be up early the next day to go to Virginia for hiking and last night I just got back from Virginia and dinner with family friends so I was wiped out. Probably watch some war movies since it's memorial day weekend.

Bout to watch Step Brothers, Wedding Crashers or Role Models. I really need to just buy Talladega Nights. My favorite Ferrell movie.

Oh how about Salute Your Shorts? One of my all-time faves. Budnick and Donkey Lips. Just watched a special called The Ghost Army about a military unit to use camo, recorded sounds and fake radio messages to deceive the Germans in WW2. A lot of the guys in the camouflage unit were very good artists, often drawing the scenes they saw around them in war.

Just finished the Paradise Lost trilogy.  Highly, highly recommend them. 

 

Paradise Lost:  Child Murders at Robin Hood (1996)

Paradise Lost 2:  Revelations (2000)

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011)

 

It is a documentary series about the West Memphis Three.   Its amazing to watch the progression of the case between the long filming intervals.  Metallica allowed their music (for the first time in a movie) to be used in the documentaries because they believed in the innocence of the convicted.  Johnny Depp and Pearl Jam also make appearances in the convicted's defense.  

 

Next up is the 2012 separate documentary on the subject West of Memphis  and I hear that later this year they are releasing a film depicting the case  starring Reese Witherspoon & Colin Firth called The Devil's Knot.

Oh yeah I remember seeing one of those late one night.  I honestly was in disbelief. I think someone messed up on that. Watched Body of Lies with my friend today. It was his first time seeing it. He also enjoyed it. Next up is Deuce Bigalow European Gigalow

I think my favorite Leo movie would have to be Blood Diamond, i was extremely impressed

That was also good. After Titanic, I was iffy about him, but he has definitely made a believer out of me with his recent films. I still wanna see Gatsby.

Two great choices, im sure you have seen them already.  Leo is such a great actor, one of my favs.

Yeah I know a lot of people are big on him in Departed, Gjango Unchained and Gatsby, but I really liked him in Body of Lies. Mark Strong played a good Jordanian. And Kingdom was something different. I do own both of them. I remember talking about Kingdom in my first Arabic class at Anne Arundel Community College. My classmates and I remember hearing the word "sayaara" for car. I can pick up quite a bit of Arabic in both of em now. Moving on to the advanced level courses in the Summer.

Also, since we were talking about movies being so bad they were good, I decided to check out another Thom Matthews movie on YouTube called Bloodmatch.. It had Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, but it was bad. One of the best lines: "I'd be glad to come up there and beat the crap out of your head" Only he didn't say crap. I wouldn't even recommend it for a watch.

Those are called 'so bad its good' movies.  The most famous one would be Troll 2 (1990).

 

Even had a documentary covering it in Best Worst Movie (2009).  Which is actually really good.....the documentary.  80s movies are particular known for those type of films.

Another good one is Return of the Living Dead 2. "Brenda!!! But Brenda your brains smell so good and rich and...and spicy." I'll never forget the time I saw that on Comedy Central. Gonna go watch either Body of Lies or The Kingdom since they have Arabic. My streak of a B or higher in college-level language courses is still strong. Another B in Arabic 205 this semester.

I haven't seen a new Tom Hanks movie in what feels like forever. Kinda pumped for that!

Are you guys talking about that Cloud Atlas? Looked muy interesante.

I gotta add DEA to the list. One of the best narrators ever.

For what class?

Every class. We met in orientation and have the same major so we decided to take all the same classes together.

Glad I could pique your interest in Roman history!

Well I do have Rome and Spartacus Blood and Sand and Gods of the Arena.. Always been interested in that culture. And my study partner's Sicilian.

You didn't see Caligula?

Nah, but I just checked it out on that there IMDb. Looks pretty swell. Worth a queue.

clock work orange anyone?

Whoo! That movie blew my mind. Saw it a few years ago and I still can't believe that's Malcolm McDowell. I love the language of it. "Welly welly welly welly well." Good movie!

Also watched Resident Evil: Damnation the animated movie. Not too bad. Lot of cheesy lines, but that's to be expected. I have Deuce Bigalow: European Gigalow up next on netflix. I can't stop laughing at all of the names of the sick stuff they drop in that movie. Probably gonna watch Dazed and Confused sometime soon since I just finished the semester. I always watch it for summer break. Great soundtrack too.

Also,  talking about Bigelow's pre-war movies.  The horror movie she made early in her career with Bill Paxton is pretty damn good,  Near Dark (1987).  Her futuristic 1995 movie Strange Days was pretty good too.

Yeah Near Dark wasn't bad. Never seen Strange Days though. I think ZDT could've been better if she waited longer to make it in order to get the facts straight and if she hadn't casted Jessica Chastain as the lead. Chris Pratt, Mark Strong and Jason Clarke were my favorite actors in that. Jason Clarke's character was probably my favorite.

Which one do you hate more?

 

Gyllenhaal in Jarhead or Katheryn Bigelow in general

I'd have to say the hate is about equal. Like I said I never read the book Jarhead. I usually read books on military history that have battles in 'em. But when it comes to war films, that's on my list of least favorites. And Bigelow was pretty awful with Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, but she did direct Point Break. Who doesn't like Keanu Reeves laying on his back, yelling while firing a pistol into the air after a bad guy just escaped? I could go days about these movies, but I have a 10-page paper to write on the construction of "the other" aka the enemy in war films. I just watched We Were Soldiers. I'm gonna be discussing that, Apocalypse Now, Black Hawk Down and Green Zone. And then I'll be done with that class.

If you think its the 2nd best movie ever, then you should also watch the original source material, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009 - "Män som hatar kvinnor").  Sweden's highest grossing movie.  

 

But Fincher is a wonderful director and his take on the film is crisp.  

How's the new version of that movie? Looked interesting, but I still haven't got around to seeing it.

You've just entered a world of hurt my friend.  Ghost can go on about Gyllenhal & Jarhead for days.

Well Charles could go on just as much since he was in the Marines. My friend was in 2/8 Fox Company in al-Anbar in 2006 and then in Ramadi in 2008. He hated Jarhead, saying it was way too Hollywood and I completely agree. In my opinion, he was trying way too hard to fit in among his peers. This could be how the actual Marine acted, but I wouldn't know because I haven't read the book. Best examples are the part where he wants to watch the cheating wife again, the media scene and the part where he holds the gun to the other Marine's head. My friend said the last two scenes I mentioned would be grounds for a court martial and the first and 2nd scenes I mentioned are just him acting like the odd man out. When I see those scenes, the first word that comes to mind is d-bag.  I get it's trying to chronicle the down time during war, which my friend encountered in his second tour, but it was just way too long. They could've cut a good half hour to an hour out of it and it may have been better. As for End of Watch, I think it's worth a rental, but I really think Gyllenhaal's best movie is Donnie Darko.

Just watched End of Watch...smh. Thought I saw someone on here say the soundtrack was good. Didn't find it too appealing. Also, like Jarhead, Gyllenhal seemed to be on a mission to ruin the image of another profession. Generation Kill and Pacific probably had the best depictions of Marines. Gyllenhal's in Jarhead was awful. I liked the interactions with the people on the street when they made arrests, but even those seemed unrealistic. I'm no prude, but they could've cut down on the language more. And Michael Pena fighting the one guy...smh. Also didn't like how they didn't search further or look more alert after they found something still hot on the stove in the one house. Just way too many discrepancies in this movie. I have a family member in law enforcement and he acts nothing like this.  Also with their accuracy (they hit almost everything they shot at and when they hit it, it was always a kill shot.), why weren't they in SWAT?  I can't tell you how many times I've watched cops and they fire dozens of rounds and don't hit anything.  I have no disrespect for law enforcement, but this movie is a disgrace to it. I could go on and on, but it would just turn into a ten-page essay.