Summertime!

So, blockbuster season is upon us. What's the movie you want to see most this summer?
Live Free or Die Hard?
Spider-Man 3?
Pirates of the Caribbean?

What's the one you've been waiting for?

I think for me, I'm looking forward to The Bourne Ultimatum. I greatly enjoyed the first two films and Greengrass is back (poor sod's United 93 got shafted at the Oscars). Both he and Damon seem to have a good fix on Bourne, so this will hopefully continue their good fortune with the franchise.

sean (...even without the franchise tie-ins... where's my McBourne Burger?...)

You mean which big sequel are we looking forward to most? :)

For me, it's only the next "Potter," I'm afraid, and maybe the next "Oceans" (is it "13" now?).

I've been watching the trailers for summer movies for the last six months. A couple that caught my interest were "Mr. Brooks," "Bug," and, yes, "Bourne." But I'm more looking forward to the fall releases of "American Gangster" and "The Golden Compass." We'll see.

John

this summer blows.

spider-man 3
shrek 3
pirates 3
ocean's 13 (a part 3)
rush hour 3
harry potter 5
die hard 4
jason bourne 3

where is the originality? with all these numbers, transformers is the "most original" of the bunch. bah.

(to be honest, i do have high hopes for jason bourne 3, and maybe ocean's 13 will be enjoyable, too. matt damon is american cinema's savior at this point.)

Eddie,

Certainly it's a rehash season to be sure, but I agree with you on Damon. He seems to be one of the best actors Hollywood has to offer right now.

I'm hoping with you guys that Ocean's 13 will be good. Wasn't too impressed with Ocean's 12.

sean (...now if we're talkin' Billy Ocean...)

I hope the disappointing "Spider-Man 3" isn't an indication of where this summer is headed.

Looking forward to the new Bourne, "Ratatouille", and "The Simpsons Movie." I'll see Pirates 3 just because Chow Yun-Fat and the unkillable Keith Richards are in it. "Ocean's 12" was pretty much Clooney & Co. amusing themselves. Hopefully, with "13" they'll go back to making an actual movie.

I do want to see "Live Free or Die Hard", lots of explosions and Maggie Q make me a happy man. Being a recent Harry Potter convert, I'll definitely see "Order of the Phoenix." I'll probably wind up seeing a few others like "Transformers" even though I'll probably be screaming, "Michael Bay raped my childhood!" the whole time.

-Will

[Post edited by Gangrel00X on May 11, 2007]

will,

chow yun-fat is a dick now. did you hear about how he gave his old friend john woo the middle finger with regards to "battle of red cliff"?

i've put chow on my "don't see" list next to tom cruise and mel gibson.

eddie

I, for one, am astonished you guys are actually talking about "movies". After all, the tag under the DVDTOWN logo says "WHERE MOVIES MATTER", and I was thinking that was a joke for some time now. Perhaps it is because I'm sure one of you will come in here to point out how excited you'll be as to which summer film gets the Blu-ray or HD-DVD release. Nevertheless, I have to agree with Eddie as I see a dull summer coming on. And please, let's talk about the films and not whether which ones get the high-def treatment in the future.

Thanks.
Tim (=

I'm looking forward to seeing Oceans 13, Die Hard, Bourne 3, and of course The Transformers. I'm sure I'll see Harry Potter and such with the kids those are my top four. Actually Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer looks good too. Hopefully it's better than the first one.

Ummmm anyone hear about Brad Pitt being courted for a He-man movie? Seriously the guy is good and all but he's 47 years old.

"...the guy is good and all but he's 47 years old."

Hey! :(

John

LOL sorry John, I'm a fan of Brad's, I think he's entertaining to watch and is remarkably talented also. One of the more underrated actors in my opinion. There's nothing wrong with being 47 years old! It's just that He-Man should be in his early thirties. Imagine if Brad took on the role and the movie did well, by the time they make a sequel he will be a 50+ year old He-Man. I guess I'm used to the old cartoons and thinking of him as if he was in his thirties.

[Post edited by Falcon01 on May 12, 2007]

That's sad that Hollywood has run out of any fresh ideas and has to resort in making movies based on lame cartoons.

And Transformers! Have you people forgotten it's a Micheal Bay movie? Just because Spielburg produced it does not make it gold, and judging from Bay's track record, the only thing to look forward to is lots of noise and special effects.

Tim,

I do have a script in the pipes I'm hoping someone will pick up. It's called "Cynic: The Tim Raynor Story." Tee-hee...
I kid because I love.

I don't know. Transformers is Transformers, so I think that for me the nostalgia plays into it. Will I see it in the theater? More than likely not. If I do, it'll be a miracle, but I will see it at some point, Michael Bay or no.

So many sequels, but generally good franchises. Of course, I thought that last summer with Superman Returns and X-Men 3. Shows what I know...

sean (...which as we all know is not much...)

You guys are disgusting. You make it seem like the only thing hitting the multiplexes this summer are sequels. Hardly. Waitress, The Ex, The TV Set, No End in Sight, Sicko, Bug, A Mighty Heart, Day Watch, Martin Child, 1408, Rescue Dawn, The Strangers, Fat Girls, The Ten...if you care to look and stop bitching, you'll find something new.

JJ79,

I don't think anyone is saying that there aren't alternatives. I think the comments have been regarding the fact that most of the high-profile films this summer are unoriginal sequels. Like you I look forward to many of the lower-profile films. Martian Child, Sicko, and Fay Grim come to mind.

I know I personally have had many a discussion about lesser-known films here at DVDTown, and I know that most people willing to post here are well-versed in film and film history. But alas, since Jaws debuted in 1975, summer has become recognized for its high-octane, expensive Hollywood offerings which is exactly what I alluded to when I began this thread. Which summer blockbusters are people looking forward to and which ones do they think will be a bust? Certainly the theaters carry films of both the thinking and popcorn varieties, so as far as I'm concerned everything is up for discussion, especially those tent-pole films the studios stake their livings on.

Sorry if your judgment of our discussion deems us "disgusting" in your mind.

sean (...disgusting? well, i know that burrito earlier didn't do me any favors, but...)

[Post edited by skspence on May 12, 2007]

jason,

none of the movies that you mentioned are of any interest to me, and i was aware of about 75% of them before you listed them.

it is a lousy time for cinema in general anyway. look at zhang yimou and chen kaige. the directors of movies like "raise the red lantern" and "farewell my concubine" now make bloated martial-arts duds. it's all ang lee's fault, really.

eddie

Eddie, Jason, Tim, uh hello? - ever hear of KNOCKED UP!

...by the guy who brought us the funny/goofy "40-Year Old Virgin" (among others).

The buzz sounds very good on this one.

And what is with these dumb ads on dvdtown? No "exploring" by me there.

-Love Hendrix!

"the 40-year-old virgin" was a terrible movie, so i have zero interest in "knocked up".

Well Eddie, you could just go and watch THE ADVENTURES OF JOE DIRT ...for the umpteenth time :-))

Seriously, I just checked KNOCKED UP at imdb . com, and the running time is 129 minutes(!), usually not a good sign for a comedy... well, except for the Peter Sellers brilliant BEING THERE masterpiece.

Will wait for more reviews, but I'm still going to go see it.

-Love Hendrix!

Eddie...my only point in listing those movies is to show summer (and this one is particular) has more than the usual sequels if you care to look for them. Everyone wines there isn't an original idea in Hollywood--I do too. But open your eyes and look past the big releases.

Knocked Up? Seriously? I'd put that on par with Super Bad or Pirates 3...no thanks. :)

jason,

not meaning to sound rude, but i'm not one of those blowhards (like loverboy) who are only aware of mainstream fodder. however, i live in austin, which doesn't get a lot of good indies until they hit dvd. the indies they do show in theatres cater either to the college crowd or to the faux-indie crowd (like those small-budget movies with jennifer aniston). i hate those kinds of indies (pretentious pieces of putrid puke).

eddie

loverboy,

if i don't like "the 40-year-old virgin", then what makes you think that i'd like "joe dirt"? instead of putting words in my mouth, why don't you ask me what i like in terms of summer movies or comedies?

wait, i know...asking would be something too civil for an asshole right-winger to do.

eddie

Eddie, the Gas-Ass left-wing liberal from Austin again bellowed... "but i'm not one of those blowhards (like loverboy) who are only aware of mainstream fodder."

Again, you reveal ignorance in "hyper-drive" strength! And have no idea of my various cinematic favorites.

JIM JARMUSCH, ORSON WELLES, WIM WENDERS, COSTA-GAVRAS etc... not exactly "mainstream fodder" huh Eddie, and I've enjoyed many of their movies, goofus!

-Love Hendrix!

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on May 15, 2007]

loverboy,

the names that you just mentioned are about as mainstream as one can get.

you can bet your ass that i'm a liberal. this means that i'll leave you alone instead of supporting legislation that tries to dictate the way that you live.

eddie

[Post edited by posters5 on May 15, 2007]

Eddie said - "the names that you just mentioned are about as mainstream as one can get."

WoW - jawdropper! Everyone here read this?

Eddie, you must be living in a "twilight zone", to have made such a foolish statement. Or maybe you got bit from one of those bats (living under that highway in Austin).

I can only assume that your ignorance on show here, was because I mentioned the big name, ORSON WELLES. Why don't you check out his career after the early radio years and Citizen Kane... the guy spent the rest of his life out of the mainstream!

-Love Hendrix!

loverboy,

the fact that orson welles's movies are shown repeatedly in many places in the world as works of a master automatically makes him very much a part of the mainstream. the guy is in no way an unknown.

eddie

Loverboy,

You do realize you're arguing with a guy that has a masters in film & cinema? If I were you I wouldn't pursue an irrational fight with Eddie because his common knowledge of film alone will kick you to the curb.

And yes, my comments were directed at "Summer Blockbusters" and high dollar films lacking originality. I also am very aware of Indi films but it doesn't mean they're better. In fact, Indi films have the same problems as big Hollywood films in that most of them suck. However, I do find it entertaining how Indi people act so high-brow and snobbish just because they think their taste in film exceeds the average audience member. Kind of like how MAC people actually think they have a better computer than everyone else, yet MACs are only 4% of the computer market.

Sorry but I'm with Eddie on this summer's venue. There's no originality and nothing that stands out to capture my interest not even the Indi offerings. It's not to wine it's just a simple fact.


[Post edited by Tim Raynor on May 16, 2007]

I am looking forward to --
Sansho the Blailiff
Army of Shadows, El Topo, Holy Mountain, Naked City and many more. Right now for me DVD holds better viewing options than the new stuff in theaters.

ranjan: have you seen the elements trilogy? the last one, "water", got an oscar nomination for foreign-language film. it's probably ten times better than all those summer sequels combined.

tim: it's okay...john gave loverboy the smackdown last night. :-D (Y) (Y) (Y) (Y) (Y)

eddie

Tim said about Eddie - "You do realize you're arguing with a guy that has a masters in film & cinema?"

again, all I can say is WoW! That's so hard to believe considering his very obvious ignorance as shown above, and from other times I've read his posts here. He either had some sympathetic teachers in college, or has FORGOTTEN much of what he learned.

Like his understanding about the words "mainstream" and "unknown". If I take his logic... PARIS HILTON, known the world over, and has at least a dozen film credits (+ 1 porn, and also a popular TV shown on Fox, with repeats on the E! channel), so well Eddie must now consider her a "mainstream" actress based on how well "known" she is!

Based on the extreme fascination of her by the media and public (print, film, video, Carl's Jr commercials etc), I would think that more people the last 5 years or so have seen something featuring Paris Hilton compared to all of the people who've ever seen an Orson Welles project (worldwide).

But hey Eddie... Hollywood studios must be wanting her for their next "summer blockbuster" yes? ......yeah... right :-))

If Eddie has a film education, then he surely knows about Orson Welles' film career, and after RKO wrecked his second masterpiece, that Welles retreated almost entirely from the Hollywood "mainstream", and even self-financed much of his future work.

The only "mainstream" work Welles ever did was those wine commercials ["sell no wine before it's time" - Paul Masson?], and his occasional TV appearances, such as on the Dean Martin Roasts, Muppet Show etc, also the Tonight Show and other talk shows.

Eddie, here's a brief and SIMPLE education for you, historically comparing various entertainment subjects (etc) of MAINSTREAM and NON-MAINSTREAM. Enjoy!

MAINSTREAM: Cannes Film Festiveal [worldwide attendance]
NON-MAINSTREAM: Sundance Film Festiveal [mainly N.American attendance]

MAINSTREAM: Clint Eastwood
NON-MAINSTREAM: John Waters [well, so now he appears briefly in a new TV show on CourtTV]

MAINSTREAM: Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST -and- THE ROAD WARRIOR
NON-MAINSTREAM: Mel Gibson's APOCALYPTO -and- MAD MAX

MAINSTREAM: Star Wars (film)
NON-MAINSTREAM: Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (film)

MAINSTREAM: James Bond as played by SEAN CONNERY -and- ROGER MOORE
NON-MAINSTREAM: James Bond as played by GEORGE LAZENBY -and- DAVID NIVEN

MAINSTREAM: VHS, DVD, LPs, Cassettes, and now Ipod [growing]
NON-MAINSTREAM: Reel-to-Reel tape, 8-track, D-VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, PSP movies [even HD-DVD and Blu-ray at present]

MAINSTREAM: Blockbuster, Netflix, Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video (movie rentals)
NON-MAINSTREAM: ANY of the online download services for movie rentals

MAINSTREAM: Windows [smaller alternates: Mac and Linux]
NON-MAINSTREAM: Unix

MAINSTREAM: Rush Limbaugh [Larry King etc, even Howard Stern perhaps]
NON-MAINSTREAM: Art Bell, Phil Hendrie Show

MAINSTREAM: AVS FORUM message board
NON-MAINSTREAM: DVD Town message board

MAINSTREAM: The Blair Witch Project [crap film - major attendance]
NON-MAINSTREAM: The Bare Wench Project [hot girls in crap film - barely seen]

MAINSTREAM: The Bible, Koran
NON-MAINSTREAM: Book of Mormon, Bhavagad-vida, Scientology+Dianetics

MAINSTREAM: Webster's Dictionary, Harry Potter books
NON-MAINSTREAM: Shorthand dictionary, millions of barely known books

MAINSTREAM: Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble
NON-MAINSTREAM: Half-Priced Books (the chain)

MAINSTREAM: Printed (bound) books
NON-MAINSTREAM: Books-on-Tape (or CD), Electronic Media Readers etc

MAINSTREAM: Kroger, Wal-Mart/Sam's Club, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack
NON-MAINSTREAM: Whole Foods Market, BJ's Wholesale, Tweeter, Micro Center, Fry's, CompUSA, Home Theater Store, Vann's Electronics (and others similar etc) - even Costco although it's growing so fast that it's borderline mainstream

MAINSTREAM: Letters, Email, Phone/Fax calls, Text messages
NON-MAINSTREAM: Telegrams, Messengers, Conference calls

MAINSTREAM: various foods - Chinese, Mexican, Italian, seafood, fast food (McDonalds etc)
NON-MAINSTREAM: various foods - Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, vegetarian, fast food (In-and-Out Burger, Whataburger etc)

In conclusion...

MAINSTREAM #1: warm common-sense posts usually to everyone [well, except now to Eddie] by "Love Hendrix!" (me)

MAINSTREAM #2: mostly arrogant, bitter/rude insulting posts to many people here (in time, ongoing) by "posters5" (Eddie) - for many years now perhaps?

I predict we'll see yet another one from Eddie soon following....

-Love Hendrix!

[Post edited by Love Hendrix! on May 17, 2007]

tim,

i remember you once wrote that "the 40-year-old virgin" was not believable because the guy looks like your average "good-looking" fellow who would've "gotten some" in real life. i'm sure that steve carell would thank you for your kind words, but you have a point. the guy sure does make "unbelievable" movies. apparently, "evan almighty" cost a lot of money. i saw "bruce almighty", which aside from jim carrey's salary, could not have cost a lot of money. what are they buying for "evan almighty" that costs more than $200 mil? did they get god himself to appear? lol.

eddie

Another potentially pleasant discussion devolves again. I'm beginning to dread starting this thread.

So, my question is, "what are you looking forward to," not "you're an uneducated idiot that can't appreciate the amorphous reasons I wish to argue over trivial issues of taste." I usually don't call out people individually, and I think many here can attest to the fact that I try very hard to be diplomatic and civil, but Loverboy, you strike me as simply trying to be contrary. Not in general, simply to what Eddie posts. You certainly do call him out specifically in many of your posts, so I can only assume that you have some personal grudge against him.

Your argument is one of semantics, an argument you cannot win because the criteria of the argument is highly subjective. Eddie doesn't agree with you. Give it up. He's not going to agree with you. And knowing Eddie somewhat, I am pretty sure that your combative nature simply goads him into continued posts more out of recreation than anything else. He's going to egg you on because of your seemingly irrational need to argue minutiae and taste. You've fallen into his trap again.

This is a public forum. I would think that even though we can't see each other we would act with a modicum of decorum. Loverboy, if we were all standing in the same room together, would you still be as bombastic as you are here, or is the anonymity of the Internet emboldening you?

What's wrong with enjoyable discourse? If someone doesn't agree with you, then who cares? If someone is wrong in your eyes, let them go on being deluded. That's their choice.

There's enough room that we can all play in the sandbox together, but time and again all I see are people kicking sand.

sean (...certainly not ass...)

sean,

did you like matt damon in "the departed"? i thought that he (and mark wahlberg) were both better than dicaprio. i thought that dicaprio was buried by the acting chops that everyone else had.

anyway, i've yet to see "the good shepherd"...maybe i'll catch it on tv one lazy saturday afternoon...

eddie

eddie --
"The Departed" is non-commercial cinema and so is Orson Welles ! LOL.

ranjan,

dude, orson welles did "transformers". :-)

eddie

Orson Welles did wine commercials, for cryin' out loud.

John

Welles also did those frozen peas commercials. Greatly parodied in "The Critic" show.

Full of country goodness and green peaness...wait that doesn't sound right.

I think we should all pass the hat and buy Tim an HD player. :)

Actually, I can understand the confusion someone might have, looking at the "Latest Posts" column and not realizing which ones of them were originally posted in the "HD" category.

I also realize how frustrating it might be to some readers at the site that other readers are so interested in something they are not. But it's sort of like my own review posts of late. The last four or five have been HD-DVD reviews, not necessarily of choice but because that is what the studios send me.

As for some of our site readers being rude, I would take exception. I think we're all reasonably civilized here, despite some minor annoyances with one another. I remember ten years ago when I first started that we had to delete any number of Message Board posts because people were using such foul names for one another. I think we've made considerable improvement over the years in decency and tolerance of one another's views.

John

[Post edited by John J. Puccio on May 17, 2007]

Eddie,
I thought Damon was quite good in "The Departed," and Wahlberg truly lucked out with his part. It's somewhat of an actor's dream. You get to be honest and an ass without being the bad guy. That's a beautiful thing for an actor.

However, I thought DiCaprio did a fine job in "The Departed." I wouldn't go to a movie just because he's in it (like I would Damon for example), but I feel he's really trying to elevate his talent, and I think he's doing a good job of that. I feel like he's holding his own better than I thought he would.

The person who really seems to have gone unnoticed for his performance in "The Departed" was Alec Baldwin. This guy's been turning in great work, even on network TV.

As for "The Good Shepherd," I greatly enjoyed it. My wife and I watched it later in the evening one night and couldn't turn it off. It is almost 3 hours long, but we were pretty well into it. I know some others have had issue with its length and pacing, but it felt very deliberate in its storytelling to me and Damon and Baldwin again give some great performances.

John,
I agree that the boards remain civil. I recall a couple of rude incidents over my years here, but they have been brief and well-handled. It's just funny to me when folks get so wrapped up in a personality dispute like this. It's one of those things the Internet has fostered. The anonymity it brings tends to drop our inhibitions, so arguments that we might have looked to settle differently in a face to face confrontation take on a whole other aspect on the web. I'm still getting used to it, but I always come back to how I would treat someone if I were face to face with them rather than staring into this lifeless monitor as I spew my vomited thoughts for the public to scrutinize.

I am vomiting words again, right?...

sean (...orson welles is my wine-guzzling, pea shilling, transforming dad...)

[Post edited by skspence on May 17, 2007]

sean,

your review of certain actors' acting reminds me that i'd still like to see you review dvds for a website if you have the free time. even one review a month would be nice. remember when tim and i praised your review of "hulk"? (Y)

it's nice to hear from you again. your comments don't have any gas. :-D

eddie

Eddie,

Ah yes, back in the days of yon... I would like to review sometimes, but I don't ever feel I have the time. I always feel too busy, but that strikes me as an excuse. Perhaps I should just put the spurs to the horse and take on the challenge. But where to begin?

sean (...why, at the beginning of course!...)

[Post edited by skspence on May 17, 2007]

Eddie,

You know, I’ve seen the previews of that new “Evan Almighty” and it looks ridiculous to me. Now “Bruce Almighty” I could tolerate because it was Jim Carry and it was obvious what to expect. However, I just don’t think Carell has the experience and respect of other actors, as of yet. Personally, I don’t find the guys humor all that funny. I did hear about the price tag on that film and find it unbelievable it could be that high for such a mediocre looking comedy. I mean, it’s just another sequel that will probably have nothing for originality and it seems insane that it cost over 200mill to make. What was Hollywood thinking? I think the answer would be that Hollywood is run by the Career Builder Monkeys!

Tim (=

tim,

actually, hollywood is run by loverboy. after all, he does need to keep feeding his hd-dvd player "expensive-looking" blockbusters.

eddie

Tim,

The Career Builder Monkeys? How can you say such a thing?

sean (...them monkeys is lots briter than them hollywood boys...)