Be well Jenna (and Takashi)

After reading many past threads, i gotta say Screen Jam is my preferred reading to DT.

Anyways, can i get some or atleast 1 feedback on some of my favorite movies. (not including the obvious, but ones NOT on others' fav list) hows is this for a fav list?

History of Violence
Weather Man
Predator 1(its the background music)
Frailty
Shine
Requiem for a Dream
The Beach

A total OT - Larry David is getting divorced, I wonder how much he is going to have pay his wife in support, 14 years of marriage would put the beginning of their marriage around the the 3rd/4th year of Seinfeld.

2 I'd guess that you hadn't seen much prior to 1997 by that list. I know you're trying to list less-obvious favorites, but there are some good older movies that fit the bill.

I love Predator and think it's the best action thriller ever made. It's shot with great style and tension. And you're right, the soundtrack and cues are top-notch. I'm not surprised that it was directed by John McTiernan of Die Hard fame.

The "Predator" was originally played by Jean-Claude Van Damme, but he quit very early in the shoot. Also, the Predator costume shown in the film is not original design, which looked something like the cheesy Gorn suit from the original Star Trek series.

Two actors from Predator because US Governors (Schwartzenegger and Ventura) and a third, Sonny Landham, ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Kentucky.

And Larry David seems like such an easy guy to get along with...

2 - I am not a big fan of Frailty, The Weather Man or Predator, but A History of Violence is great. I need to see it again.

This is a spoiler so look away, but Bobby's death in this week's "Sopranos" is the coolest death sequence in the show's history.

PS The "Larry Sanders Show" is phenomenal.

7 I actually laughed out loud when they cut to the train shot because it seemed, to me, to be a very hacky move. I thought it was a sort of silly editing technique that didn't seem to be a good fit in an otherwise strongly edited show. If the footage of the train was somehow an homage or quotation from some classic film and I just don't get the reference, then it might make more sense.

It's interesting that you and I could see the same sequence and have completely opposite reactions.

I hear Jenna has a new tattoo of a broken heart on her bicep and has remorsefully promised her castmates that she will stop carousing in New York nightclubs.

7, 8 I thought the train worked. As far as I know it was not a homage to anything, just a comment on Bobby's loss of innocence. As was the whole toy train storyline over the years.

Savage Steve Holland is making another movie for the first time in 18 years.

Hooray!

Is Weather Man the movie with Nick Cage where he carries a bow and arrow with him? I really, really, really hate Nick Cage. I don't know if it is his eyes or his voice that I hate more, but I can neither watch nor listen to any of his work.

12 - "Adaptation" was amazing, but it seems like a bizarre aberration from form. For some reason I saw "Ghost Rider" and it served as a punctuation mark on Nick Cage for me.

12. There are many movies that I would have liked if not for Mr. Cage, "Adaptation" and "Raising Arizona" being the two most prominent. I can see the quality in those films, but derive absolutely no enjoyment from watching them entirely because of Mr. Cage.

Over at DT, people were ripping Nomar and The Sixth Sense last night.

I thought The Sixth Sense was a finely crafted film. Not only that, it (surprisingly) held up in repeated viewings. I'm bringing the topic here because clearly baseball guys don't know much about quality entertainment. ;)

Thou shalt not diss any element of Raising Arizona.

Didn't like the Sixth Sense - mainly because I guessed what the twist was and couldn't understand how Willis couldn't figure it out. Just thought it was a strange movie.

New post up top.

I didn't know there was a twist so I didn't see it coming at all and that clearly had a large impact on my enjoyment of the film. When I saw it again, seeing all the signs I missed was as enjoyable. I think the anniversary dinner scene was expertly shot.

I didn't know there was a twist, either - I just knew something was up and no one seemed to be noticing it.

I'm definitely in the minority, though. Most people liked the film, so you shouldn't feel much worry about defending it.

Someone spoiled the movie before I saw it (to be fair, I watched it in 2004 or something like that, so the cat was generally out of the bag at that point) so I kind of mistrust my opinion of the movie. Especially since I didn't like it very much. The rest of M. Night's work has been so miserable that I have grown comfortable in my dismissal of the movie as a one trick pony.