posted
Just watched this again tonight, this movie is defiantly in my top ten movies. James Woods works great with everyone in the film, Oliver Platt always hilarious, Louis Gossit Jr. always likable, as Bruce Dern is unlikable, well I guess I should say you like to dislike him. Every time I watch this film, it makes me want to make a film of its caliber, it is inspiring. If you've never seen it I highly recommend it.
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aTomiK
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posted
This movie got me into James Woods films. After this film I watched "Cop" great movie, "True Believer" another good one, "Cat's Eye" love that one too. "Videodrome" though strange and hard to follow, there is somthing about it I like.
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posted
You named a whole bunch of really great James Woods movies. I also recommend two fairly obscure but completely different performances by Woods from 1982: "Fast-Walking," where he plays a corrupt prison guard and "Split Image," a really sharp little film with Woods as a deprogrammer trying to deprogram Michael O'Keefe from the clutches of a cult.
"Cop," by the way, has one of the best last lines in any movie ever. Posts: 2008 | From: Dixieland | Registered: Oct 2008 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
i really liked the end of this movie, its a great story too, and i agree about the performances.
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It's a shame that Woods and writer/director James B. Harris didn't do any more of James Ellroy's Lloyd Hopkins books. That character is terrific. (I love the scene in "Cop" where Woods tells his little daughter the bedtime story: "So Daddy got the drop on those scumbags...") "Cop" is so cool because Woods is such a jerk especially when he's muttering sexist trash about Leslie Ann Warren, who I think is terrific here in a fairly poorly written part.
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
posted
James Woods is one of the best. Still don´t own/haven´t seen Fast Walking but i have most of his 80s movies. I think i´m gonna watch In Love and War (1987) tonight.
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posted
I am not going to condemn Woods in this thread. I do actually like him for his raw quality but does anyone think that he chronically overacts?
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aTomiK
.... has green eyes as well....
Member # 6575
posted
No. I think we may differ only in our interpretation of the definition of overacting, BL. Woods is always intense and very aggressive in his performances, but he doesn't overact. He's always appropriate to the nut-job characters he usually portrays. You want to see overacting? The example that comes to mind for me is Dennis Quaid in "Great Balls of Fire." Man, does he chew scenery in that one. I'll give you that Jerry Lee Lewis was flamboyant and over-the-top, but Quaid just has way too much fun with the part. That's why I've never really cared for "Great..."--Quaid's performance is too much. When I saw it, I noticed that his overacting, seemingly like a virus loose in the wild, caused Winona Ryder to overact in certain scenes. Watching a young Winona Ryder shamelessly mug for the camera was sad...
"Fast-Walking," which was also written and directed by James B. Harris, is really hard to find, my friend, but well worth checking out. (In additon to the usually manic Woods, Kay Lenz looks really nice here and has some very alluring nude scenes too.)
[ 18. November 2011, 12:44: Message edited by: Crash ]
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posted
I have never seen Great Balls of Fire so I can't comment there. I don't mind Dennis Quaid but have never really seen him in anything that was what I consider to be a great movie.
Hmmm, I dunno how to explain Woods's acting. I agree that he is intense and agressive but to me it's too much. I think acting should appear effortless, not in the means that the actor should have no drive or anything, but that the performance should come across naturally as if it were a real life character. I just don't see anybody acting like that in real life. Just my two cents. The reason why I like him though us that he is unique in certain respects and he usually has some great derogetory dialogue ready for someone. I won't argue the point any further, just wanted to see others views Posts: 2586 | From: Defrauding the company from abroad | Registered: Jan 2010 | Site Updates: 24
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posted
I wanna check this movie out though. When I saw the title Diggstown, I was like, I've never heard of it but I have heard of Midnight Sting. I guess here in OZ we get the European titles too.
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posted
What's weird is, I like Dennis Quaid, and he doesn't generally overact. It might have been the fault of director, Jim McBride, who also did the remake of "Breathless" where Richard Gere gave a really over-the-top performance. (It was more fun than Quaid's though.)
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posted
Bernie, I just watched "Not Quite Hollywood," the terrific documentary about Australian exploitation films. So many of those films from the 1970s and 80s are unheard of on these shores. (I do love the ones I've seen, though. )
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Crash, I have not seen the doco but I will check it out.
Did they mention any specific titles?
I am not gonna say it simply cos I am Australian, but if you guys are unawre of this, we have some truly great movies. The thing I love about Aussie films is that they are usually very down to earth, so have a very real quality. No special effects and all that Transformers kind of garabage.
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Helen_S
Hiding behind the shower curtain.....
Member # 5804
quote:Originally posted by Bernie_Lomax: I am not going to condemn Woods in this thread. I do actually like him for his raw quality but does anyone think that he chronically overacts?
Now you're on my ignore list LOL
Everytime I see a Dennis Quaid film I just have this urge to jump in the screen and pull his cheeks Posts: 4056 | From: uk | Registered: May 2007 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
It's an amazing documentary! Clips were from the usual good stuff like "Mad Max," "Road Games," "Turkey Shoot," and "Patrick" to "Barry McKenzie," "Eliza Fraser," "Mad Dog Morgan," and "Lady Stay Dead" (What the heck is that? An Aussie film that to this day has never been released in the U.S.) And a lot of crazy porn!
Aussies do great art films (Peter Weir's early stuff, in particular, is superb by me), and the exploitation films are unique. Quentin Tarantino makes an outstanding observation in the film that NOBODY films cars like Aussies. I never noticed it before, but he's right. The angles, the editing--perfect. The shots of vehicles flying along in the Mad Max films are not CGI. They are real, and when you see a car do six barrel rolls, you gasp, "My gosh, how many stuntmen did they kill for that shot?" ROFL
[ 18. November 2011, 13:15: Message edited by: Crash ]
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Halloween 3 and Jingle All The Way are starting to grow on me Posts: 2586 | From: Defrauding the company from abroad | Registered: Jan 2010 | Site Updates: 24
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quote:Originally posted by Crash: It's an amazing documentary! Clips were from the usual good stuff like "Mad Max," "Road Games," "Turkey Shoot," and "Patrick" to "Barry MacKenzie," "Eliza Fraser," "Mad Dog Morgan," and "Lady Stay Dead" (what the heck is that?) And a lot of crazy porn!
Aussies do great art films (Peter Weir's early stuff, in particular, is superb by me), and the exploitation films are unique. Quentin Tarantino makes an outstanding observation in the film that NOBODY films cars like Aussies. I never noticed it before, but he's right. The angles, the editing--perfect. The shots of vehicles flying along in the Mad Max films are not CGI. They are real, and when you see a car do six barrel rolls, you gasp, "My gosh, how many stuntmen did they kill for that shot?" ROFL
I'm gonna watch it for sure. For all those out there who are getting a bit stale in their movie collecting please look to some great Aussi films. I believe myself and Lover With Cassie and probably Oneeyewilly will be able to poit you in the right direction.
I agree about the cars but I think that the original gone in 60 seconds done extremely well. That chase goes for like half the movie. It's awesome.
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Romper Stomper Malcolm Gallipoli Two Hands Shine Mad Max Picnic at hanging rock Chopper Snowtown Storm Boy Last Wave Phar Lap Rabbit Proof Fence Blue Murder - 2 part mini series
There's a few great aussie flicks for anyone who's interested.
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Those are some great, great films, Bernie. I saw Rabbit-Proof Fence at its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival with director Philip Noyce standing right next to me. He was very nervous about the film's reception (he didn't have to be; it's outstanding) and was pacing the aisles. (I think "The Last Wave" is my favorite on your list.)
The original "Gone in 60 Seconds" has the great car chase. The Nic Cage remake was so boring because nothing really happens, even at the climax. This was a case where the cheaper original wins out.
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Helen_S
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posted
My faves are Razorback, Picnic At Hanging Rock, A Cry In The Dark, Walkabout, Mad Max, The Proposition and Japanese Story. I wanna see a really goofy one I seen in the pictures in the 90's again, The Castle.
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Helen_S
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There are many more. I don't understand why Australia does not have a bigger film industry. Money I guess. I mean when they do it right they make some unbelievably good films.
I have never been to a film festival but it sounds like it would be fun.
The original gone in 60 seconds for me wins hands down for best car chase scene ever.
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Ah, we got ourselves a heckler ey Posts: 2586 | From: Defrauding the company from abroad | Registered: Jan 2010 | Site Updates: 24
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