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The Long Goodbye, a review by goodguy

The Long Goodbye (1973) Written by: Leigh Brackett, based on Raymond Chandler's novel Directed by: Robert Altman Starring: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden DVD: R1-US MGM (2002) My rating: +

Cover blurb: Elliott Gould "gives one of his best performances" (Esquire) as a quirky, mischievous Philip Marlowe in Robert Altman's "fascinating and original" (Newsweek) send-up of Raymond Chandler's classic detective story. Co-starring Nina Van Pallandt and Sterling Hayden and written by Leigh Brackett (The Big Sleep), The Long Goodbye is "a gloriously inspired tribute to Hollywood" (The Hollywood Reporter) with an ending that's "as controversial as it is provocative." (Los Angeles Times)!

Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe (Gould) faces the most bizarre case of his life, when a friend's apparent suicide turns into a double murder involving a sexy blonde, a disturbed gangster and a suitcase full of drug money. But as Marlowe stumbles toward the truth, he soon finds himself lost in a maze of sex and deceit - only to discover that in L.A., if love is dangerous... friendship is murder.

Now that is more like it. Sorry Jon, but Altman's take on film noir is so much more interesting than the Coen's misguided attempt at, erm, uri-noir. It's also funnier. Just consider the opening sequence with Marlowe and the cat.

There are certainly parallels between the two movies. Both have protagonists that stumble quite clueless through the plot, but put the pieces together in the end. But the Dude is defined as a somewhat slow and clueless character right from the beginning, so it's not suprising that he doesn't get what's going on. Gould's Marlowe on the other hand looks like a cool and smart detective straight from a '40s noir, but doesn't quite act like it. That's irritating, but in a good way.

And the '40s hero, chainsmoking, with white shirt and wrinkled dark suit, is quite lost in the '70s world he has to navigate. He constantly talks to himself, and mumbles "That's okay with me" however strange his encounters with that world's inhabitants seem to him.

The entire movie has a dream-like quality, it is much more a mood piece than a crime story, which makes the occasional burst of violence all the more shocking.

And what a great ending. And I don't mean Marlowe's action itself, but the final shot afterwards.


(From goodguy's Watch Log on October 12th, 2008)

Stardust, a review by Tom

 
Title: Stardust
Year: 2007
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Rating: PG-13
Length: 128 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1 , French: Dolby Digital 5.1 , Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Charlie Cox
Claire Danes
Robert De Niro
Michelle Pfeiffer

Plot:
"Scheming princes, wicked witches, flying pirates, celestial love, a pure-hearted hero, all in a magical land. What more do you want?" raves 'Today's' Gene Shalit for 'Stardust', an epic adventure starring Claire Danes with Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert De Niro.

In hopes of wooing a beautiful girl (Sienna Miller), Tristan (Charlie Cox) promises to bring her a falling star. But he's in for the adventure of his life when he discovers the star is actually a celestial beauty named Yvaine (Danes).

When an old witch Lamia (Pfeiffer) attempts to steal Yvaine’s youth, Tristan must protect her at all costs. This magical fairytale like no other will make you laugh out loud and believe in love again.

Extras:
Closed Captioned
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes
Scene Access
Trailers

It was time for a film I know I like to save this marathon. I saw this at the cinema and I really liked it.
I first came to attention of this film when I saw the trailer and saw that Claire Danes is in it. She stars as a star . A role she plays really well.
What I liked about this movie: Though it walks a fine line to being a cheesy fairy tell/fantasy movie, it never crosses the line to it. Most times saved by some wise cracking ghosts

This movie also includes a hilarious supporting role for Robert De Niro and also Rick Gervais has a nice cameo.

If you like Princess Bride, I really recommend to check out this movie.

Rating:

(From Two-Weeks Movie Marathon: Unwatched Movies on August 17th, 2008)

Angel Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

11. Damage
Original Air Date: 1/28/2004
When Angel and Spike try to help a young woman who escaped from an asylum, they discover she's actually a potential slayer empowered by the spell Willow cast back at the Hellmouth in Sunnydale.

Guest Stars:
Tom Lenk
Navi Rawat
Jasmine Di Angelo

My Thoughts:
Andrew from Buffy the Vampire Slayer was in this episode. I swear he always aggravated me on that show!  Is a good episode that I enjoyed quite a bit. I like how they continued a storyline from the last season of Buffy... updating us on some of the main characters of that series a little.

My Rating:

(From Angel Marathon on March 24th, 2010)