Movies you want to see?

CoyoteChris · Jan 17, 2012

Theatres havent been doing well....when I go, I hardly see anyone in the seats....part of that was crappy movies and part is people doing other things and streaming at home.
Well, we shall see what we shall see.....my generation was very much in tune with WWII and the heros involved, but I think many younger people believe it is as distant as the Civil
war or Vietnam. I will still go to see Redtails, Tinker taylor and maybe another movie this year. But lots of movies I pick up the DVDs for a song on the web and watch them at home.
Chris getting ready for nats and 4 conts.

Olympia · Jan 17, 2012

It's out Friday. We're counting on you for a review if you go, Chris! Hope the film passes muster.

CoyoteChris · Jan 17, 2012

Olympia, watch this! See how sharp these Tus. airmen are even today......
http://liveairshowtv.com/video.php?vid=61

Olympia · Jan 17, 2012

Thanks so much, Chris! That was wonderful. I love that one Airman who tells young men to stay in school and "pull their pants up."

My research unearthed a wonderful young man named Barrington Irving, who became the first African American and the youngest person to fly solo around the world. He was inspired by the Tuskegee Airmen. I wonder whether he's ever visited the Reno air show.

http://www.experienceaviation.org/index.php?p=BARRINGTON

CoyoteChris · Jan 18, 2012

I didnt see him at Reno but he was at Oshkosh in 2007, I think....

Olympia · Jan 18, 2012

I read his account of flying across the Pacific from Japan to an air base in Alaska. The thought of being in that little plane, completely alone, being thrown around in a storm system in freezing temperatures, calculating whether he had enough fuel to climb above the system, always moves me. I think he had to fly a more northerly route because his plane couldn't safely carry enough fuel to get him across a wider part of the ocean farther south.

I was just looking around on some news sites, and I read that next week, the DVD of a restored version of Wings is being released. This was the only silent movie to win a Best Picture Oscar (the first year the award was given), and it was filmed with breathtaking scenes of aerial combat. Director William Wellman, a fighter pilot who served in World War I, filmed the flight sequences by mounting cameras on airplanes flown by his flyboy buddies. I can't wait to see it in its restored state! They've even restored some of the color tinting of several scenes, a common practice in the silent era.

CoyoteChris · Jan 18, 2012

Let me hear if you see a copy of "Wings" available. Have you seen the aviaition movie, "Always" by Spielberg? It was filmed around here....good flick.
I dont like to put down any of my fellow pilots that take big chances flying alone long distances over water with one engine, but I think even Lindbergh was a bit looney.
He was brilliant if you read his autobiography and his wartime diaries, but what did he really proove and why? Aviation was progressing so fast at that time that
large, multi-engined aircaft that could fly the Atlantic easily were just a handful of years away. I wonder how many figure skaters are pilots?????

Chris hoping the weather improves in Spokane so he can get to nats!

Lilli · Jan 18, 2012

Always is one of my favourite movies. It was Audrey Hepburn's last movie role. Too bad it came out at the same time as Ghost. I think more people would have appreciated it had it been released at a different time.

Olympia · Jan 18, 2012

Lilli said:
Always is one of my favourite movies. It was Audrey Hepburn's last movie role. Too bad it came out at the same time as Ghost. I think more people would have appreciated it had it been released at a different time.

That's an interesting thought, Lilli. I did love Always also, and the little moment where Audrey Hepburn appeared was one of my favorite parts of it. I am fond of all three of the leads, Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, and John Goodman, and the new (at that time) actor Brad Johnson was very appealing.

Chris, I do think fliers who do things like fly around the world or across the Atlantic are a bit odd, but in a good way. They inspire other people to dream big, and who knows whether we would indeed progress in that direction if everyone were cautious and prudent. Look at all the people who want to give up the U.S. space program completely because we're strapped for cash, and besides, what good does it do. (Needless to say, I disagree.)

In any case, I've given up trying to explain daredevils. I don't even understand why people play ice hockey or skate pairs. But the need to do rash, glorious things seems an indelible part of the human spirit, if not necessarily of every human being.

Has anyone seen the original movie that Always was a remake of, A Guy Called Joe (or something similar)? It had I think Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne, and Van Johnson. I'll check when I get home. For once, I actually prefer the remake. Spielberg did such a great job creating an atmosphere and casting the thing, and his was less sentimental than the original as well.

CoyoteChris · Jan 20, 2012

Off to SJ, I hope....8 inches of white stuff here. certain risky aircraft and space ventures have very real world returns.....and of course I am grateful for race pilots even though I think they are crazy. But for me to risk my life flying aorund the world in a single engine plane at this point in aviation developement just to say that I am the first 6'2" 160 lb Pilot/aircraft mechanic/mortorcyclist/canoeist/homebrewer who loves Mirai and Alissa to have done it wouldnt be doing anything for aviation. But if some one wants to do that, that is fine.....Yes, I am cautious and prudent. That is how I lived to be 63 flying planes and riding motorcycles and doing wildnerness canoe trips. :laugh:

Chris who refuses to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with a parachute.
(Never saw a Guy named Joe but I bet it might be worth watching)

Olympia · Jan 20, 2012

You have the right title, and I missed it: A Guy Named Joe. At least I got the stars' names right. It was made during World War II, so it romanticized fliers largely to lift up morale.

I watched it out of curiosity after seeing Always, but I preferred the remake to the original. After all, if anyone can do fantasy and make it believable, it's Spielberg. Though the original director had some significant experience with fantasy films: it was Victor Fleming, who directed The Wizard of Oz. You might find it especially interesting, Chris, for the view of aviation of the time.

I'm glad you're cautious!

Tonichelle · Jan 20, 2012

Olympia said:
Thanks, Toni!

I love movie trivia. But I think you have me beat on actual movie attendance. You sound very well-informed, which leaves me in the dust where recently released films are concerned. I love things like old movies, even silents, and I have books about actors and suchlike. (This is why I so enjoyed Hugo.) I have a vague recollection that the first X-rated movie was Midnight Cowboy, which might just qualify for an R these days. But PG-13...nothing comes to mind. When are you going to divulge the answer?

well, my dream at one time was to be the Female Alaskan Spielberg lol... I love his movies... except for 1941... love the music from that film, not so much the actual movie... I'm not nearly as up to date on film as I was in college, but that's because it was required to follow that stuff in class lol

anyway, first film to get a PG-13 rating was another Spielberg classic Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It was going to get an R rating because of it's occult/darkness, but Spielberg didn't think it was deserving of that rating, so he petitioned for something in between and we get PG-13 (he felt teens would and cound handle the subject matter). The movie scares the crap out of me in parts, and there is violence towards children, but over all I agree with the PG-13 rating.

ETA - Wikipedia has a slightly different version of history than my textbook, but I'm not surprised... either way it was Temple of Doom/Spielberg that caused the change - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pg-13#Adoption_of_PG-13_rating

Olympia · Jan 20, 2012

Toni, I was totally unprepared for the information that it was an Indiana Jones movie that scored the first PG-13. What a surprise! I guess it makes sense, though: whom would the Powers That Be most likely accommodate with an entirely new designation if not a national treasure like Spielberg? It's like the skating authority devising the short program for Janet Lynn. And, like the skating short program, everyone else in the field also benefited from the new PG-13 category, not just the one for whom it was conceived, so it wasn't really favoritism. (In fact, poor Janet did not completely benefit from the short program, because she seized up in 1973 and placed behind Magnussen on the podium—which is the same order of placement as in the 1972 Olympics, missing only Trixi Schuba above them both.)

By the way (alas), the movie review of Red Tails that I've seen thus far says it only sparkles in the flight scenes. Rats! I was so looking forward to being wowed by this. By coincidence, yesterday I listened to James Horner's music from an earlier film largely about African Americans (and Africans) made by a white filmmaker—the gorgeous Glory. So it can be done; it just takes a lot of thought and elasticity of mind. Being an "outsider" doesn't necessarily prevent a filmmaker from understanding and giving a good picture of a group or culture. Another example is Witness, the riveting and perceptive film about the Amish made by a man who wasn't just non-Amish, he was Australian.

Tonichelle · Jan 22, 2012

That's why I like Spielberg, he can even humanize the nazi's/WW1 Germans... sure there were some really disgustingly bad guys... but they had human struggles too... and I mean, not to run a stereotype, but it's not secret that Spielberg is Jewish (American/modern all the way but still)... so he had every right to make them as evil and inhuman as possible - many were just that - but he did so much more with the characters...

which being a "German-American" who can't even begin to fake a german accent or speak the dang language, I still like - I've shared the story of the psycho teacher in high school who didn't like my name or the fact that I was not a German-Jew so I was automatically a "bad german"... - anyway I still like the fact that he does show that some weren't as bad as they could be even in their biggotry...

Olympia · Jan 22, 2012

Toni, I wonder if you've come across the White Rose, a group of German college students who tried to take a stand against Hitler.

http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/revolt/whiterose.html

I think an obscure movie was once made about them (can't recall if it was dramatized or a documentary), but it wasn't an American film, I think, or if it was, it was very obscure.

I agree that Spielberg is able to shade characters wonderfully (though he effectively recreated the empty soul of Amon Goeth--what a great name for a villain). Oskar Schindler is a fascinating choice for a protagonist because his heroism is almost impossible to explain by what is otherwise known of his character. He was a war profiteer and I think actually a member of the Nazi party, and after the war he resumed his spendthrift ways and all but abandoned his wife, and yet he rose to the occasion at the moment when it most mattered, and saved hundreds of people at great risk to himself.

To me it proves that you don't have to be a saint or a hero or Dudley Do-Right to do good, and it thereby it serves notice that none of us can ever be off the hook. "Oh, let some great, noble person solve that problem/stick his neck out/speak up/act. I'm just a schmoe; you can't expect anything from me"....baloney. Look at the jerk Oskar Schindler was, and yet he took a stand. Most of us, who maybe haven't read the original book about Schindler, owe our contemplation of that idea to Spielberg. That's what a great film made by a perceptive filmmaker can do.

Tonichelle · Jan 22, 2012

I think the history books now have Schindler as a "Nazi Sympathizer" but he was a Nazi Patriot according to the movie - which I guess is a biopic (done before biopics were all the rage). He was "commissioned" to make bullets for the war effort... which is what the Jews he "saved" were doing. He kept them apart from the rest of the Jews at first not because he thought the ghettos and killings were wrong but because he needed healthy-ish workers. According to the film it was his Jewish book keeper that started the whole "saving" thing by hiring those that were sure to be headed to the death camps. Schindler -again in the film, I've actually never studied his actual history/participation - catches wind of what's going on, but by then his eyes were openned to the horrors of what was going on in teh ghettos (which is depicted by the girl in the red coat in the movie, and we're all haunted by "The Theme from Schindler's List" because of it). I really should go to the library and get some books on the subject, I'd like to know just where the tables turned for Schindler and why...

the most powerful scene, for me, though is not the girl in the red coat, but when Schindler at the end breaks down. Whether or not he really did that I don't know, but it gets to me... even though I really don't like him... he was at best a womanizer and worst a rapist. Most of the Nazi big names were perverts/sexual deviants in more than one way.

Olympia · Jan 24, 2012

That scene is amazing to me too. Another scene that has great power for me is the finale, where the survivors and their families escort Mrs. Schindler to Oskar's grave, and Ben Kingsley holds her hand as she steps up to the tombstone. The realization that Schindler saved not just the hundreds of Jews but their descendants is electric.

On a movie-related subject, the Oscar nominations are going to be announced today!

skateluvr · Feb 1, 2012

Haven't read the thread thru but saw "Moneyball." The best movies are always the true ones. Also saw "The Edge" and liked it too, as it seems an accurate portrayal of political campaigning, sadly.

Tonichelle · Feb 1, 2012

Moneyball was well done, but not the best of the 2011-2012 season. War Horse and The Help were better.

gdane · Feb 2, 2012

I am really excited to see The Avengers, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Hunger Games.

It has been a long standing tradition in the family to see Marvel movies at the same time and having been a fan of Black Widow, I just can't wait when they finally team up together in this movie.

Movies you want to see?

CoyoteChris

Olympia

CoyoteChris

Olympia

CoyoteChris

Olympia

CoyoteChris

Lilli

Olympia

CoyoteChris

Olympia

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Olympia

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Olympia

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

Olympia

skateluvr

Tonichelle

Idita-Rock-n-Roll

gdane

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