Recently in dvd Category

I was catching up on Rudi's recent activites and decided to give it a try: Seeing how many of the "100 greatest films of the past 25 years" I had personally seen.....

(Films I've seen in bold)
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)

11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)

20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler's List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1988)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)

41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)

51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There's Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996)

61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)

71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)

81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mamá También (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
100. South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)

I think some of those movies are odd choices, but I won't question others - "Evil Dead II" is a great movie, and very fairly deserves it's place on the list. I won't go into others (cough)"Titanic"(cough).

Of the 100, I've seen 54 (might have mis-counted), but I think thats respectable. More than a couple have been on my "to watch" list, but the details of getting a movie on that list - and by that I mean all the things that need to go right on the checklist of life - are too much to go into right now. Suffice it to say, there are plans to extend that list.

Actually, this brings to mind a project I'm trying to figure out how to do: cataloging every movie I've ever watched. EVER. More recent movies are easier to check off or catalog, but how am I supposed to remember if I saw "Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo" or not? Let's face it, there were more than a few break-dancing movies back then, so who knows which one it was?

I guess that without actually going back and watching every movie I might have watched over again, I'll just have to guess somehow and hope that's enough. Since it's my project, it'll have to be. Some movies - like "Timerider" - really stand out for some reason. Others, like the afore-mentioned break dancing movie, blend together. I'll just have to do my best with it. I think I'm going to work out some kind of multi-media web based list - make it more visual. Perhaps a separate blog - that way I can add my comments to them.

Waste of time? Maybe. Duplicated elsewhere? Probably. But it will probably be more than a little fun (for me, anyway) to go through them and try to make an accurate list. And movies are probably easier to remember than all the books I've read.... Not sure why that is though. Stay tuned, I'll probably figure out a way to do this instead of "paying" work anyway......

Have you seen the trailer for "Star Trek" yet? Go watch it. Now. I'll wait.

Watched it? Good. It doesn't tell you much, sure. But it leaves so very much to the imagination. And it also makes you want to see it - right? I mean, there's people in that movie you've heard of, but you can't really imagine them as, for example, a young Kirk, right? And who could ever be Scotty? Oh, wait - that's right, it's Simon Pegg. You might know him from Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz. If you haven't seen them, go check them out - "Shaun of the Dead" is a great sendup of zombie type movies, and "Hot Fuzz" is a brilliant homage of just about every single police movie ever made. And then some.

And, in case you forgot about where "Star Trek" started (a young man named William Shatner... ah, memories!), you can check all of the series and movies on DVD.

Ironic Sans: The Google Maps Guide to Ghostbusters

Take Google Maps, add in the info about Ghostbusters (along with screen captures), and you have the Ghostbusting Google Map Mashup (which, by the way, is a mouthful!).

This dovetails nicely with something I've been meaning to write about - Ghostbusters. The kids LOVE it.

Sure, there's a few parts that are a little scary, and some language that they shouldn't hear - but to be honest, while I'm no longshoreman, I can't always refrain from swearing, no matter how much I try. But the idea of the movie is appealing to the youngsters, what with the ghosts and the sliming and let's not forget the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. Mmmmm.

On "Stargate: SG-1" tonight, there was some discussion about what movie to watch for their "movie night". Teal'c was thinking of choosing "Old School," but at the end of the show, Cam suggested "Starship Troopers."
Teal'c: "Is it funny?"
Cam: "You betcha!"

Considering they'd just dealt with "bugs" of another sort during the episode, and considering the campiness of "Troopers"... Yeah, it's funny. This episode was a nice change, in some ways, from the more "we have to fight these people" episodes of late, mostly because they tried to tie in some of the political infighting that they've been bringing more to the fore of late. It was a nice plot device, and added some relief to the overwhelming-ness of the "Ori" story line - at least when the System Lords were the main bad guys, they'd switch things up every now and then and try to keep it interesting with some new villan of the week, on occasion. Or bring up the Asgard and their Replicator problems - little changes to bring on some variety.

"Stargate: Atlantis" was... well, not funny in that way. It was, however, funny in another way - I saw this episode about 2 weeks ago, when I got it on a CD from a friend who got it online. I guess the UK version of the show is airing ahead of the US version again, so he must have got it online. That internet thing is cool - I should check it out sometime. I hear Al Gore invented it....

"Battlestar Galactica" was frakking good, as usual. I must say that I appreciate any show that introduces a new "swear" word into my vocabulary. There was "frell" in Farscape, and now "frak" in BSG. Can't go wrong, I always say - especially since it gives me a word to say in front of the kids when I'd would really rather use some slightly more choice words... Anyway, I have been enjoying this season, but I have to say that some of the major plot points I saw coming a mile away:
Pegasus jumping into a trap? Yeah, of course.
Roslyn appeasing her largest voting block? Yeah.
Lee Adama getting command of Pegasus (aka The Beast)? Saw that two miles away.
Baltar flipping on Roslyn so he could try to become President himself? Well, that's been coming for a while.

All in all, I'd say that SciFi has a good thing going with their SciFi Friday lineup - SG-1 is the old hand, drawing in the regular fans. Atlantis keeps them around, since it's similar to SG-1 in some ways, but wildly different in others. And BSG is getting rave reviews from all over the place, and it's become quite a hot little item. As long as they don't frak it up, like they did by cancelling some of their best works (aka "Invisible Man" or "Farscape"), or they don't jump the shark in some way, we should be enjoying these shows for at least a couple of years.

The kids wanted to watch 101 Dalmations last night while at my folks, so I let them. Was that a bad move?

Glenn Close is absolutley evil. Well, actually, I guess she's more like De Vil. Cruella De Vil. Fashion queen Cruella has the lovely Anita (Joely Richardson) in her employ. Anita owns a Dalmation (Perdita), which is where she draws her inspiration. Cruella, of course, loves her designs. The fact that she also loves wearing animals (and has a rare Siberian Tiger killed and skinned so she can wear it) is a little disturbing at first, but don't worry - it gets worse.

Roger (Jeff Daniels) is a happy go lucker video game designer, who also owns a Dalmation (Pongo). His is trained to get him up in the morning, as well as start the shower, fetch the paper, and turn on his computer.

Anita and Roger both ride their bikes and take their dogs with them to the park. One day, Pongo gets a look (or is it a whiff?) of Perdita and starts dragging Roger through the park, the a shopping mall, through traffic, and into a pond, trying to get his way to Perdita and her master. Once he meets Anita and Perdita and gets Pongo back, they part ways - until Perdita pulls the same stunt and Roger and Anita end up warming up by the fire in Rogers home. They get married, of course.

Anyway, Pongo and Perdita end up having puppies, and Cruella wants them. Badly. When she is refused the chance to buy the puppies, she goes crazy with rage, and hires two bumbling idiots to dognap them. Then you have the ensuing chase scenes to get them back.

What really stood out in this movie was Glenn Close as the insance Cruella. She cackles easily, dresses the part, and has just a hint of that insane gleam in her eye through the whole movie. If she had never appeared in any other movie, I'd probably come away from this movie wondering about her sanity - actress or not, she obviously put a lot of work into this role.

A little scary for younger kids, there is mostly just comedic violence, but the undertones for the scarier stuff are there, and some pretty bad stuff is just implied - meaning that it might be worth watching WITH your older kids, to make sure they understand it all in the right context.

A Beautiful Mind is the story of John Nash, mathmatician, husband, father and paranoid schizophrenic.

Jennifer Connelly does a good job as Nash's wife; Ed Harris, given his typical small role, really did a great job with his part, as did the others. But Russell Crowe does a pretty damn good job as John Nash. His West Virginian accent was realistic throught the movie, and he really put himself into the role - one wonders if he had trouble stopping being Nash when the movie was done shooting.

Definately worth watching.

For Christmas, my brother bought the whole family The Wizard of Oz gift set. It comes in a nice box, with some movie stills and a reproduction of the script. There's a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff on the DVD too - but I haven't seen any of that yet. :emma:, :noah: and I are watching it for the 3rd of 4th time. It's not quite as popular as some of the other movies in the house, but it's getting there...

Ok, so it's not technically a TV review....

This was an AMAZING CGI (computer generated imaging) based cartoon. Well known actors doing voices, great animation, strong story lines... only to be screwed up by Sony and their affiliates. Random time slots, changing time slots, warring affiliates... all bad. Fortunately Sony realized that they have a good thing - they've slowly been releasing the episodes in 5 story "arcs" on DVD and VHS. Some great stories based on a great book. Well worth checking out.