Recommend a new or newish film you've seen fairly recently.

Different experiences entirely.

It's a very journalistic bio (by Randy Shilts...I loved his "And the Band Played On"...damn I just looked up something in relation to him, and he's dead....)

Little stuff about childhood and stuff.

Also little about his life before his politicisation.

Entirely about his time in politics, then?

I was pleasantly suprised by Valkyrie. Wasn't expecting much since Cruise has seemed like such an oddball lately, and since I knew how the story ends. But was interesting from beginning to end.

I just have to catch up on all the incredible HD documentaries but, not, I'm not giving up on movies. Well, damn, I just got the Blu-Ray of 2001 and it was like watching it for the first time. Our big screen is just the right size for sitting on the back of the sectional but on the other wing, it's really too close (about the 10th row of a movie theater where I never sit). It's a remastering from the original Panavision and because the film is primarily visual, the detail in the pre-CGI models are awesome. Now you can see every hair on the primates in the beginning, but Kubrick and the artists who created them made them look totally real -- even in the eyes. How'd he do that? How'd he do that finale with not computers?

"And the Band Played On" and "Angels in America" were HBO movies/mini-series but the year they were released, the could have deserved the Oscar if in theaters.

Perhaps it was me at the time. I have watched movies more than once and come away with a different interpretation often enough. I watched 2001, just the once, in a theater. I only enjoyed segments of it and was not blown away by the climactic scenes. Maybe if I get a copy on DVD - -

No....but I am only on page 54, and he is in his forties, already in SF in the Castro, has become a hippy, and seems, after having very much embraced the notion of staying in the closet, to be beginning to come out.

Stonewall has just happened in NY.

That's a bit of a gallop!!

I missed Band (but, having read the book, have I misseed much?) but Angels!!!!!


I got it on DVD a little while ago to watch it again.

Oh my!!!!!!

RELIGULOUS with Bill MAher. The word juvenalia comes to mind. Trite and, like Expelled, with Ben STein, one should beat all paths away from this movie

The religious folk Maher was aiming at were trite. That was the point.

Another story if you consider Bill's humor trite. I don't.

I consistently get a laugh or a thought provoked out of Bill Maher's "Real" type of humor, but I also have no use for it when he is just simply being mean toward all things religious. Just me. If Religulous does it for you - more power to you.

I saw The secret Life of Bees last night. Very heartwarming and original story. I never would have guessed how they came up with the title, but it made sense, after seeing the movie.The performances by all the actors were impressive. Dakota fanning suprised me by no longer being the irritatingly precocious child I remember. She is gonna be really some kind of actor(already is, but serious potential). I also liked Alicia Keyes and Queen Latifah's performances, which is something I generally can't say about them. Jennifer Hudson was wonderful.

Actually, the movie is a comedy and isn't anti-religious at the core. Bill usually only addresses "the belief in the talking snake," or those who are still mentally bound to the ridiculous in the Old Testament. I don't recall him ever using the Jesus or his teachings as humor, but he has made fun of the freaky zealots who don't even understand what Jesus was all about.

I read the book of "Secret Life of Bees" but haven't seen the movie. It's that good, eh? I guess I will see it then....

Well a big phew to that, LW!

All that technical stuff escapes me, I'm sorry. I'm just doing what I've always done with my old TV (though with a newish dvd/VCR player & a digital box top) that I've done for something like the past 20 years!

I don't know about And the Band Played On, but Angels in America was brilliant! I was so excited by it I started an A2K thread at the time it was showing on Oz TV!

Angels in America:
http://able2know.org/topic/26344-1

If the CGI loaded movies are written and acted well, considering we can not always depend on great production design, I can endorse a film wholeheartedly. "Watchman" is getting very mixed reviews, A plus for production design and special effects, but for writing and acting a C minus to a D. So it's one big Hollywood superhero extravaganza I wouldn't rush out to the cineplex to see. It's obviously made for the fans of the illustrated novel, but unlike "The Lord of the Rings," it doesn't draw in critical acclaim as it looks like it just ignores actually trying to make an excellent movie. Peter Jackson is not just a maker of big blockbusters, he loves making movies for the joy of producing a product with integrity. The Batman resurgence franchise has also put the standard high.

Golly, they're practically giving big screens away right now. Even a 32" LCD can be picked up for a super low price. I'm not telling you how to spend you money, but your vision is taking a beating with a worn out cathode ray tube.

I was at Borders bookstore the other day and saw a huge display on Watchman. I think the promos far exceeds the value of the movie.

Yeah, LW, I know, I know .....

Something to do with energy consumption concerns & and an extremely tiny "loungeroom" ....
I tend to wait till any appliance is "dead" before I replace it, too .... but that's just me. Obviously.

Electrical goods are way more expensive here.

Finally got around to Milk last evening, at a local community college with a short Q &A after. Suffice it to say that Sean Penn deserved every inch of that Oscar (no double entendre intended).