Criticker.com Forums

Re: What is your earliest movie memory?

Rafter242 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:47:13 +0000

At the theater, my earliest would be Star Wars. That same year at the drive-in was Empire of the Ants. I am assuming that I saw Star Wars 1st, but I cannot be sure. It would make sense to see Star Wars before "Empire".

On television, in 1976, I remember being scared to death of The Blob. Although Trilogy of Terror (1975) freaked me out for years, I don't exactly remember when I saw it.

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

Stewball — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:15:09 +0000

[quote="Melvin Smif"][quote="Stewball"]

I'm afraid she's being type-cast in period pieces.

She is good at period pieces. I'm sort of getting tired of period pieces in general though.

S'what happens with type-casting. You can be good at playing Superman, but there's only so many roles for playing Superman before people grow weary.

Personal stat suggestion: # of most-starred mini-reviews

djross — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:44:51 +0000

This is a suggestion that may be a good "sponsor-only" feature, as it is the kind of thing that will only really appeal to dedicated users, and may lure users to become sponsors. As it is something that will change a little over time, it may also help to keep users happy to contribute in this way.

The suggestion is to have a stat for # of most-starred mini-reviews, that is, the number of mini-reviews by the user which have received more stars than any other mini-reviews for that particular film. So, for example, twelve of my mini-reviews might have received more stars for that film than anybody else's mini-review. Then my # of most-starred mini-reviews would be twelve.

Additionally, there should be a list of users with the greatest number of most-starred mini-reviews, so the user can see where they fit into this list. So it might be, user X: 28 most-starred mini-reviews; user Y: 27 most-starred mini-reviews, etc.

Hopefully that all makes sense.

P.S. The "Reverse TCIs" feature really needs fixing: as it is, it is useless, containing users with 1 film in common.

Re: Favorite/Least Favorite Holiday Films

Melvin Smif — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:30:06 +0000

[quote="Bojangles"]
Christmas with the Kranks is unwatchable and not worth talking about any further.

Oh God! I forgot about that wretched piece of crap. Tim Allen....groan, Jaime Lee Curtis...blow my head off with a shotgun please. Thank the heavens I never watched it.

Re: Eytan Fox's 'The Bubble'

td888 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:00:44 +0000

I just watched it, but switched it off after half an hour. It was too boring for me. I couldn't care less about the characters and the story. Mabybe also because I honestly don't know very much about Israel and Palestina, what's going there is incomprehensible for me. From my viewpoint it all looks rather pointless what's happening there, but that's a totally different discussion

Re: Freaky Accidental Husband poster

Pickpocket — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:20:47 +0000

SOMETIMES LOVE HAPPENS BY ACCIDENT

Re: Favorite/Least Favorite Holiday Films

Hopscotch — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:02:09 +0000

Favorites:It's a Wonderful LifeAll Mine To GiveThe Polar ExpressA Christmas Carol (with George C. Scott)Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReindeerA Christmas StoryPlanes, Trains, and AutomobilesThe Santa ClauseLeast Favorite:The Great Rupert (it's okay)Grandma Got Run Over By a ReindeerScroogedGremlins

Re: Favorite/Least Favorite Holiday Films

Bojangles — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:40:34 +0000

Christmas Vacation is the best, and actually one of the better 'descent into madness' films I've seen. "Hallelujah, and holy shit! Where's the tylenol?"

Christmas with the Kranks is unwatchable and not worth talking about any further.

Favorite/Least Favorite Holiday Films

Melvin Smif — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:11:16 +0000

The holidays never fail to add a slew of new films to world of cinema, and whether you celebrate any of those holidays or not you've likely seen at least some of the many movies they inspire. As they will soon be upon many of us I just wanted to strike up a conversation to see what films struck a chord with you one way or the other.

Some of my favorite:
-"A Muppet Christmas Carol" - Maybe it’s the kid in me but this remains my favorite rendition of Dickens’s tale that I've ever seen.
-"National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"- Remember when the words "National Lampoon's" inspired at least a passing interest or in the case of this film actual interest? This movie reminds me so much of the interactions of my own family that I can't help loving it.
-"Die Hard"- Whether or not you think the Die Hard films have "nuked the fridge" with the fourth installment, I would have to say I love the original.
-"A Christmas Story"- Reminds me of a lot of my own childhood experiences.

Honorable mentions:
“Love Actually”
“Gremlins”
“Planes Trains and Automobiles”

Some of my hated:
-"A Charlie Brown Christmas"- I know this will leave many scratching their collective heads and I catch a lot of flak for it but I just don't like it. It always seemed to me like everyone had to bend over backwards just to make Charlie Brown happy, even at the expense of their own Christmas fun sometimes. Although Vince Guaraldi's musicianship on this film is not something to be downplayed.
-”Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas”- What was Ron Howard thinking?! I mean I rarely enjoy his work but this was just awful. He actually made the Who’s look like jerks, and Jim Carrey was just painful.

I may add more later, but those are just a few to get the ball rolling. I realize this webpage is a global community which I find is part of the reason I love it ( wouldn’t have seen many of the foreign films I love had I not joined) so please don’t feel you need to limit this discussion to American holidays. Enjoy!

*also I wasn’t able to find this topic in the forums but I may have missed it I’ll gladly erase it if the topic has been started before.

Re: Freaky Accidental Husband poster

Melvin Smif — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:08:24 +0000

[quote="Bojangles"]Even when under hypnosis, Uma Thurman is still hot.

Meh I don't go for blonds.

Re: Druids 2: Dragonball Evolution Anticipation Station

Melvin Smif — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:06:15 +0000

[quote="AFlickering"][quote="Melvin Smif"]Probably the one thing this movie has going for it is James Marsters as Piccolo.

rofl, when i heard about this i was like jesus christ he's moved up in the world

And he ended up being just as terrible as the rest of 'em.

Tv series

MockHamill — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:56:17 +0000

I spend more time watching tv-series then movies, so it would really great if tv-series could be included as well. If not, does anyone know of a site similar to Criticker.com that specializes in tv-series?

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

Melvin Smif — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:21:39 +0000

[quote="Stewball"]

I'm afraid she's being type-cast in period pieces
.

She is good at period pieces. I'm sort of getting tired of period pieces in general though.

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

Stewball — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:46:03 +0000

But I will try to be more careful in the future.

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

Stewball — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:38:45 +0000

[quote="whatismyname"]Offtopic:
Stewball, you do a shitload of double posts

I think shitload is something of an overstatement.

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

Stewball — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:38:30 +0000

[quote="whatismyname"]Offtopic:
Stewball, you do a shitload of double posts

I think shitload is something of an overstatement.

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

whatismyname — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:38:56 +0000

Offtopic:
Stewball, you do a shitload of double posts

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

Stewball — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:01:20 +0000

[quote="LordofDance"]I like Keira Knightley in period costumes

I liked Keira Knightley in woad.

I'm afraid she's being type-cast in period pieces
.

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

Stewball — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:00:02 +0000

[quote="LordofDance"]I like Keira Knightley in period costumes, BBC style. I might have been able to like Domino if it wasn't an MTV apocalypse.

I liked Keira Knightly in woad.

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

LordofDance — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:05:54 +0000

[quote="Stewball"]Hey, I liked Domino, and King Arthur (there's a connection there......movies I liked that most others didn't....Keira Knightly?.....or something).

I like Keira Knightley in period costumes, BBC style. I might have been able to like Domino if it wasn't an MTV apocalypse.

Re: Eytan Fox's 'The Bubble'

KGB — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:24:47 +0000

[quote="td888"]I didn't read your complete post, it looks like there are some 'spoilers' in there

You're right, I forgot to mention that. Sorry about that.

[quote="Stewball"]Like a lot of those late 60's, early 70's films; good character development but where pointless violence and stupidity go round and round.

Actually, I think you're right. I guess that if I see the film I will see that I was a bit harsh since there is some interesting character development along the film, before the unbearable ending. Actually, the opening scene I described, even though abnoxious and unnecesarily manipulative, is well directed all-in-all.
Eytan Fox has only made three important films, which were quite popular around the cinema festivals in Europe. These are, 'Yossi & Jagger', 'Walk on Water' and 'The Bubble'. Those of you who saw in know precisely that they share the middle-eastern conflict as a background, but even more precisely (this is only a spoiler as far as 'Walk on Water' is concerned) the three have homosexual protagonist and homosexuality is one of the main themes of the film. This is, in my opinion, only a cheap gimmick for Eytan Fox to suck it up to european crowds. But opinions may differ.
I haven't seen 'Yossi & Jagger' but I did see 'Walk on Water'; it was all in all a good film, but pretty pointless: it mentioned a lot of issues such as antisemitism, homophobia, racism, and the middle-eastern conflic, but didn't go as far as to treat these subjects and give a statement. Instead Fox chooses to throw certain scenes to make the film look deeper. But besides these annoying details, 'Walk on Water' presents a story well told.
The Thing with 'The Bubble' is that Eytan Fox chose this time to go all the way and criticize the whole thing but of course Eytan Fox is a tendencious bitch with no skills whatsoever as far as presenting social issues goes, and instead of making a smart film criticizing the palestinian conflict through the eyes of an interracial homosexual couple, he focuses on the couple's character development and presents an half-baked, manipulative statement with the logic and depth of a mexican soap opera.

Again, this is an opinion based on about 20% of the film, only some key scenes. I will see it entirely soon and give a complete opinion.

Re: Eytan Fox's 'The Bubble'

td888 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:25:35 +0000

I didn't read your complete post, it looks like there are some 'spoilers' in there But I put it on my list to watch it, you made me curious.

Also, it looks like it'll fit in my society collection.

Re: Eytan Fox's 'The Bubble'

Stewball — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 13:11:40 +0000

I dunno, if you've made an accurate representation, it does sound fucked up. Like a lot of those late 60's, early 70's films; good character development but where pointless violence and stupidity go round and round--i.e. , , Peckinpaw's stuff etc.

Re: Boondock Saints (1).

Stewball — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:44:16 +0000

Hey, I liked , and (there's a connection there......movies I liked that most others didn't....Keira Knightly?.....or something).

Re: Generating TCIs

PeaceAnarchy — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:38:07 +0000

Hmm, I can set it down to 3% as well, it seems that maybe that's triggered by having rated a certain number of films.

[quote="pablodtp"]
If 30 films in common is good when you have rated 300 films, it should still be good when you rank 1000.

The problem isn't so much that 30 isn't good enough to give recommendations, but rather that if you've ranked 1000 films and only have 30 in common with someone it's probably because they've only ranked 30-100 films. Setting the number so low limits your recommendations to coming mostly from people who haven't seen anything even remotely obscure leaving you with a lot of films without PSIs. The idea is that the more films you've ranked the more likely others have seen some of those films, so with 300 having only 30 in common isn't too bad but with 1000 at least some of those extra 700 films should be ones seen by these other people as well.