Changing Lanes

[Jedi Master Carr]

Changing Lanes was #1 this weekend taking in 17.6, Panic Room was second with around 13 million and The Sweatest Thing was thrid with 10 million. Actually the best movie that opened this weekend, to me looks like Frality but it got so little ad time that I think nobody knew anything about it.

[JonathanLB]

What are you talking about?! Have you seen the movies? Frailty was absolutely horrible. It is definitely one of the worst movies of the year, but fortunately for it The Sweetest Thing was so much worse that Frailty almost looked good by comparison. Ok that's a stretch, it still sucked, but this weekend was quite painful.

On one hand, Changing Lanes was definitely one of the best 3 films of the year, but on the other hand, The Sweetest Thing was much much worse than even Crossroads and without a doubt the worst film of the year, possibly a top ten worst of all time candidate. Then Frailty was horrible too with a first plot twist you could see coming from 15 minutes in, and a second plot twist that was unpredictable but inappropriate and thrust the film even further into the schlock bin.

I just hate Frailty. It's a pretentious film, but I can't even say exactly why its message is so bad without ruining the plot, so I won't.

Then the main character, same situation. I cannot say his name in my review, because if I do, well I can't say why I can't say his name either. If a critic says what his name is, it ruins the plot, and if a critic says, "I can't tell you because..." they just ruined the plot too. Heck of a situation.

Anyway, Ebert was right, Changing Lanes was unbelievably good. It was just an incredible film and he's right, it could have gone another way and been a standard type of revenge movie that really added nothing new, yet instead the director was just absolutely brilliant in his execution of the film. I was smiling the whole way, it was just one of those movies that is so pleasing to see because you know the person has such great control of their craft that they know exactly where to go. I feel sorry for the people who didn't understand Changing Lanes, because they just missed one of the year's best films.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well Ebert actually gave Fraility 4 stars too interesting enough and most critcs thought it was good. I thought the movie looked good because of the preview that I saw, I doubt I would go to the theater to see I would just wait for something like that on Video, its so hard with horror movies for me, most of them don't scare me (like 13 ghosts) or others are just too corny (13 Ghosts again or any of the Jason movies or most slasher flicks today) so I just rather wait for video for something like that. I am not surprsed by the Sweetest thing, I like Cameron Diaz but it just looked very dumb from the trailer.

[ReturnOfTheCB]

Jon, thanks, I'd wondered whether Changing Lanes was worth seeing in theaters or not...I'll have to make it out to see it now...maybe this weekend...

[JonathanLB]

Well Ebert is handing out the fours like candy on Halloween isn't he?

Frailty was not a horror movie at all, don't know what would give anyone that impression. Thirteen Ghosts may have sucked, but it was still an attempt at a horror movie, no matter how bad.

Frailty was not. It was a drama type of thriller basically. Not a horror movie by any means. Any critic who classifies it there is just wrong, plain and simple. Wrong. It's not a horror film. It doesn't try to be a horror film. It never could have been a horror film.

Is Se7en horror? No. Is Frailty horror? Of course not.

Anyway, the movie was horrible. That just made me lose my respect for Ebert again. He is so erratic. Frailty truly did suck. It was just a horrid film and the message it presents is unacceptable to anyone who is religious at all, and I'm not religious yet I still found it very offensive.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well I see them as horror films, and I think the general opinion is that horror includes films like Silence of the Lambs, Fraility, Joy Ride, etc that have a lot of supsense in them and deal with killers, etc. I think it is really the expansion of the horror genre and maybe the genre should be renamed suspense films since half the film classified as horror films are films of suspense.

[JonathanLB]

You will never convince me of that, nor will you convince most people of that. Joy Ride is a great movie, but it's not horror. It's a thriller. It's a very good thriller too, but it's not a horror movie.

Horror is a more narrow genre and is basically the Halloween type of films. I mean, you know what they are when you see them, let's put it that way.

Hannibal isn't horror, that's for sure, and neither is its first film. Of course they are weird movies, yes, but horror? For a 5-year-old maybe, lol.

Frailty is not at all scary, just disturbing. Then again, I don't find movies scary. What's really scary is that a guy like Bin Laden is a hero to many people, that is scary. What's really scary is that Titanic is the highest grossing film in the world and it's not even one of the 1,000 best movies ever made (and I actually like the film, but it's still not close). What's scary is that Wendy's actually thinks it's cool to make square hamburgers. It's scary that a guy like Dennis Rodman could be with a girl like Carmen Electra. That is all scary stuff. Frailty is not scary.

[Jedi Master Carr]

But Silence of the Lambs is very Scary, probably scarier than half the horror films that have ever made and is considered by critcs the second scariest film ever made after the Exceroist. I am no expert on the genre maybe CMJ could clarify it he did study film he would be the best to ask.

[JonathanLB]

I study film too, and I wouldn't classify that as a horror movie, even if it is scary.

I personally found Crossroads extremely frightening. The idea that an entire cast of actors and actresses could be such pathetic performers was scary as hell, but still it's not a horror movie. :)

Anyway, critics are stupid. Exorcist isn't scary at all. I've seen comedies scarier than Exorcist. Do you really think that's a scary movie, just out of curiosity? I gave it 3.5 stars because I enjoyed the movie a lot, but I enjoyed it for what it was, which was a paranormal type of X-Files story almost, although most episodes of The X-Files are way scarier than that. I was laughing throughout a lot of The Exorcist and so was most of the audience. If that is supposed to be scary, you people who saw it back in 1973 were total wussies. TOTAL wussies. No wonder why such awful films did well in theaters, lol, people simply had no clue what was scary. I mean in 1939, those people were so stupid they thought it was a big deal to say "damn" in a movie. You can get away with that even in PG movies. I wonder what they'd think of the scene in The Sweetest Thing where Selma Blair's mouth is caught on a guy's dick because he has a piercing. It would probably just about kill them (even I found it painful).

Only a very very sheltered individual could find The Exorcist scary whatsoever.

Night of the Living Dead, now that's a scary movie.

[ReturnOfTheCB]

Anyone dumb enough to get their penis peirced deserves that...call it natural selection...or more appropriately sexual selection...

[CMJ]

Jonathan oh Jonathan....once again it's all about opinions. :)

One person's suspense is another's horror film. You don't think "Exorcist" is scary? I'm sure you could find many people who'd agree with you, but I could find just as many who disagreed.

As far as the fact that in the ole' days films was a commission to watch what was said and done in films...it came into being in the 20's as a way of policing the industry from immorality or some such nonsense. I'm sure you learned this in school but I just thought I'd bring it up.

" I mean in 1939, those people were so stupid they thought it was a big deal to say "damn" in a movie. "

The producers FOUGHT like hell for that to be included in GWTW! If that commission had not been in place I believe films would have gotten far edgier much sooner than they did. The fact that organization was around till the late 50's(I think...it's been awhile since Intro to Film for me, I apologize if the dates are off) stunted edgy material. In a way I believe we're lucky..what would of happened if that commission had lasted longer.....then where the hell would we be?

[JonathanLB]

lol, they shouldn't have ever interferred with an art form. Let film develop as it will and people will decide for themselves where the limits exist.

For me, the limit was crossed with The Sweetest Thing. Although, I am a critic so I may as well be tied to a chair and forced to see it all, because I don't have a choice. If I'm seeing all new releases, I see movies like that. But if it were my choice, I'd avoid such movies at all costs.

I don't think there should be censoring obviously, but someone needs to warn moviegoers when the marketing department sells a movie like that as a "sweet" chick flick and it ends up being this DISGUSTING, PERVERTED, embarrassing excuse of a film that made me want to vommit. I never thought in a million tries a film would come along this year that was worse than Crossroads. I really was about to name Crossroads the year's worst movie and I didn't even need to see anything else, but The Sweetest Thing just stole the crown with amazing ease.

I am positive my bottom 10 movies of the year list is going to be filled with such utter trash that I'll cry when I have to write it and realize I wasted 25 hours of my time seeing the movies and reviewing them. Oh well, can't appreciate the good stuff unless you see the bad stuff.

Speaking of which, I'm off to see Black Knight. Haha, j/k. I'll see it later tonight :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

I agree with CMJ its all opinion, to me SOTL is the scariest film ever and that is the definition of a Horror film (to scary someone) Hannible Lectar is a monster in the same sense that Jason, Freddy, Michael Myers are also monsters, its the same as JoyRide where you have another deranged lunatic after someone. Now sure Fraility might be different I would have to see it to understand, I read in Ebert's review something about it looking at religious fantasism so it might not be a scary movie at all. But movies with a psycho killer are horror films because otherwise what would be a horror film just movies that have a lot of gore in it? Than in that case such films as The Wolf Man, Dracula, etc would not be horror films because they are not gory at all, at least not for today's standard.
That is another thing you have to look at how the movie's intended audience. I'm sure Dracula, and The wolf man were very scary back in the 30's and 40's, because that was as horrible as a creature you saw, today people wouldn't be scared by it. So really its complicated and it has a lot to do with opinions.

[JonathanLB]

Whatever you say, but some films are clearly not classified horror. Nobody would call Joy Ride horror. Look it up. THRILLER. Thirteen Ghosts is horror. Lousy horror, fine, but horror.

Anyway, here are the reviews of the films that opened this week, although technically 2 are from 2001... (this is getting annoying that they keep releasing old movies in a totally different year)

http://www.jlbmovies.com/ChangingLanes.shtml

http://www.jlbmovies.com/Frailty.shtml

http://www.jlbmovies.com/SweetestThing.shtml

http://www.jlbmovies.com/OtherSideOfHeaven.shtml

8 stars between 4 films. Not so good of a week really, lol. The weekend before was 8.5 among 3 films I guess.

Last week on DVD was 8 among 4 films also. Hitting pretty close to 2 to 2.5 star averages, hehe.

It's a topic for another thread, but The Man Who Wasn't There... WTF? That was not a good movie. It wasn't bad either, but it sure was overrated. Ho-hum, another critically acclaimed film that as one critic put it is "glacial" in its pace, i.e. slower than a glacier forming. It's just boring most of the time. Plus it shouldn't have been black and white. That worked in Pleasantville wonderfully, for many scenes, didn't work in The Man Who Wasn't There.

[CMJ]

I loved "Man Who Wasn't There"...but the Coen brother films are an aquired tatse...some ppl just don't like their stuff.

[JonathanLB]

Well maybe I will like their other stuff. I didn't dislike the film, but it wasn't what I could consider a good movie at all.

I do like that girl from Ghost World, Scarlett Johansson, lol. She's pretty hot, even though she is 17. She's a good actress too in both films...

But that one scene where she crashes the car, uhh, lol, is totally random! It makes no sense at all and is just super inappropriate. I can't believe that. Really stupid.

[CMJ]

Jonathan...the Coen brother's films include among others.....

Blood Simple
The Man Who Wasn't There
Raising Arizona
The Hudsucker Proxy
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
O' Brother Where Art Thou?
Barton Fink

[JonathanLB]

Yeah, I don't think I like them at all. I hate The Big Lebowski. That must be one of the most overrated films of all time. Everyone is like, "WHAT?! That is a GREAT movie! How could you not like it?" Maybe because it's not funny at all, it's stupid, it's pointless, and it's poorly done. It's trash.

I have heard O Brother Where Art Thou is really good, though, so I'd like to see that. I thought Fargo was on the AFI top 100... so I know I'll be seeing that then.

[Admiral Lebron]

Fargo is great. Its really a good movie with nice acting. I saw it when I was a kid so I was a little confused with somethings in it. It's a bit Riskay.

[JonathanLB]

Even my mom liked Fargo, so I am pretty sure I will too. I never know, though. I heard there are some disturbing scenes, but my mom still said it is very well done...

I rented Donnie Darko today, 8.4/10 rating on the IMDb, been trying to get it for one month and one day now, LOL. One stupid DVD copy at Blockbuster and I FINALLY GOT IT. YAY! :)

It honestly does look good, so here is hoping. I really, really need this movie to be good, haha, I'm just getting a bit bummed at seeing bad films. It was almost all down hill after Changing Lanes early Friday, except actually The Other Side of Heaven was quite good.

That is a movie the critics really bashed hard, most of them, and yet it has an 8.4/10 on the IMDb too last time I checked. That's an extremely high rating because a 9.0 is pretty much max. Anything in the 7 range is good, like most of the Oscar films are there. Monster's Ball I think, Gosford Park, I don't know specifically but I remember noticing that most of them are upper 7's so an 8.4 rating is excellent. Obviously the film is like another Patch Adams, haha, audiences love it, critics hate it.

[CMJ]

The Coen's have a style all there own...I instantly recognize it's a Coen film from practically the opening frame. "Lebowski" is not overrated, IMHO, because alot of people have never seen it. It made like 7 bucks at the BO and though it has found a following on video, it's more of a cult classic that anything(and I personally LOVE that movie).

IMHO "Fargo" is one of the Coen's weaker efforts, though it is probably their most highly praised works.

[CMJ]

I finally say this baby today at the discount theatre...and I am in almost total agreement with Jonathan. It is without a doubt one of the best films I've seen this year.

Props must go first and foremost to the writer who fashioned this GREAT morality play...on both sides. The acting was spot on and the film moved at a good clip. It always had me guessing(how each of them was gonna screw the other one more) and the film seemed destined towards a resolution on at least 3 occasions, only to pull the rug out and leave you there.

I am like Jonathan...I sat there with a grin on my face for nearly the entire film. The ending conversation between Affleck and his boss/father-in-law is worth the price of admission by itself.

[Mu Satach]

LOL

I completely forgot about this movie. I loved it as well. :)

AND

Speaking of Coen movies... have you seen
The Man Who Wasn't There?

Keep hunting for that one but haven't found it at the rental place yet.


"You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it... hell! I can get you a toe by 3 o'clock this afternoon.... WITH nail polish."

[JonathanLB]

What is this toe quote anyhow?! lol. Can you get me a toe? Haha, j/k. Is this from a movie?

I saw The Man Who Wasn't There and I didn't think much of it at all. Just a boring film that never should have been shot in black and white either. A really stupid move that served no purpose but to make it even harder to watch than it already was. Don't bother.

[Mu Satach]

TOO LATE!

Found it at the rental store the other night, am going to see watch it either tonight or tomorrow night.

And the "toe" quote is from the Big Lebowski. :D

[CMJ]

I loved it Mu...hopefully you do as well. :)

On another note...the Bowling Alley that was used in "Lebowski" is pretty close to where I live, but they're gonna tear it down to build a school soon.

[Mu Satach]

NO WAY!!!

Go grab pics!!! :D

;)

I remember the first night I watched the Big Lebowski... as the credits rolled me and my friends were silent with our jaws hanging open... then we turned and looked at each other and died laughing!

"I'm the Dude!"

[CMJ]

"Lebowski" is one of my all-time favorite comedies.

"Shut the F**k up Donnie." ;)

[Mu Satach]

I lose it when they put the weasles in the tub with him. :D

"Is this your homework?"

[CMJ]

I could quote the entire movie. ;)

"Nihilists! F**k me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."

[Mu Satach]

:lol :lol :lol

I need to watch it again.

[CMJ]

"Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not "Mr. Lebowski." You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing."

;)

[Mu Satach]

"God Bertie! NO!"

:lol

oh God... I need to rewatch the Man Who wasn't there.

[CMJ]

So you liked it? GOD I love the Coens!

"He told them to look not at the facts, but at the meaning of the facts. Then he said the facts had no meaning."

[Mu Satach]

When I grow up I want to be a Coen Brother. :D

The first film of there's I ever saw was Miller's Crossing and I absolutely love that flick. "You handin me da high hat?"


But I think my favorite is the Hudsucker Proxy, "You... A MUNCY girl!" :lol

Oh and then there's Barton Fink, "I want that Barton Fink feeling!" "We'll be hearing from him again, and I don't mean just a postcard!"

[CMJ]

For my money their best film is "Blood Simple", even though it's the least 'Coenesque'. It's a helluva thriller though.

"If you point a gun at someone, you'd better make sure you shoot him, and if you shoot him you'd better make sure he's dead, because if he isn't then he's gonna get up and try to kill you."

[Mu Satach]

My favorite part in that one is when he drives clear the hell out into the middle of nowhere... then after the sun comes up he's just a few hundred yards from a Ranch house.

And the ending is just intense. I love that one.

The only Coen film now that I've never seen is Crimewave, which sounds like it's disowned by everyone who worked on it. I heard Bruce Campbell said, "That film wasn't released, it escaped!" In his book he said that the studio intervention was just awful.

I can't wait until Intolerable Cruelty comes out next year.

[CMJ]

Oh yeah...the last 20 minutes or so I could hardly breathe.

The funniest thing I thought was that damn dead end street everyone had to deal with. :)

[Mu Satach]

Oh yeah! I had forgotten about that! Everyone would roar off in the wrong direction only to have them go roaring off in the other direction. :lol

[CMJ]

Back to "Lebowski".

"What do you do for recreation?"

"Oh, the usual. Bowl, drive around. The occasional acid flashback."

LOL!!!

[Mu Satach]

Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax-- YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I'M LIVING IN THE F***ING PAST!

[CMJ]

Geez I'm in love...a chick that digs SW & the Coen brothers...simply a dream come true. ;)

"This is what happens when you F*&K A STRANGER IN THE @SS!"

[Mu Satach]

Unfortunately in RL I'm surrounded by those who fail to see the merits of that particular combination. ;)

"Does this place look like I'm f**king married? The toilet seat's up, man!"

[CMJ]

It's their loss...truly. ;)

"Saturday, Donny, is shabbas, the Jewish day of rest. That means I don't work, I don't drive a car, I don't f******g ride in a car, I don't handle money, I don't turn on the oven, and I sure as s##t don't f*****g roll!"

[Mu Satach]

"They were Nazis, Dude?"

"Oh, come on Donny, they were threatening castration!"

[CMJ]

This thread is hijacked beyond recognition. :)

"Let me tell you something pendejo, you pull any of your crazy s**t with us, you flash your piece out on the lanes, I'll take it away from you and stick it up your @ss and pull the f**k**g trigger 'till it goes click."

"Jesus."

"You said it man. Nobody f**ks with the Jesus."

[Mu Satach]

hehehehehe.... >=}

I wish I knew where that Hijacked image was stored. :D

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh. I sure hope he makes the finals."

[CMJ]

"F**k sympathy! I don't need your f**kin' sympathy, man, I need my f**king Johnson!!"

"What do you need that for, Dude?"

[Mu Satach]

"Fortunately, I'm adhering to a pretty strict, uh, drug, uh, regimen to keep my mind, you know, uh, limber."

[CMJ]

"You're entering a world of pain."

[Mu Satach]

"Did you ever hear of the Seattle Seven?"
"mmm"
"That was me....
.
.
.
and six other guys."

[CMJ]

"And, you know, he's got emotional problems, man."

"You mean... beyond pacifism?"

[Mu Satach]

"He lives in North Hollywood on Radford, near the In-and-Out Burger"

"The In-and-Out Burger is on Camrose."

"*Near* the In-and-Out Burger."

"Those are good burgers, Walter."

"Shut the f**k up, Donny."

[CMJ]

Damn Mu...I think we ARE gonna do the whole movie. :)

By the way...will you marry me? ;) LOL!
*********************

"F**kin' Quintana... that creep can roll, man."

"Yeah, but he's a pervert, Dude."

"Yeah yeah."

"No, he's a sex offender. With a record. He served 6 months in Chino for exposing himself to an eight year old."

"Oh!"

"When he moved to Hollywood he had to go door to door to tell everyone he was a peder@ss."

"What's a... peder@ss, Walter?"

"Shut the f**k up, Donny."

[Mu Satach]

:: adds another notch on computer keyboard.::

Dear God, I've lost count how many times guys have asked me to marry them! :lol

"That's a great plan, Walter. That's f**kin' ingenious, if I understand it correctly. It's a Swiss f**kin' watch!"

[CMJ]

Oh well, I figured I'd try. :)

"This is not Nam. This is bowling. There are rules."

[Mu Satach]

Hey, it boosts my ego and keeps me from turning into a cynical old battleax. :D

"Those rich f**ks! This whole f**king thing... I did not watch my buddies die face down in the muck so that this f**king strumpet..."

"I don't see any connection to Vietnam, Walter."

"Well, there isn't a literal connection, Dude."

"Walter, face it, there isn't any connection!"

[CMJ]

"Do you have to use so many cuss words?"

"What the f**k are you talking about?"

[Mu Satach]

"This could be a lot more uh, uh, uh, complex, I mean it just might, it might not be such a simple, uh, you know?"

[CMJ]

My favorite thing I can't even quote. When the Dude realizes he's being followed, drops the joint in his lap, tries to put it out with his beer, and THEN crashes his car into a dumpster.

I think that is the funniest thing I've ever seen on film. I laughed so hard I cried the first time I saw that sequence. :)

[Mu Satach]

For me it's the tub scene, I had tears running from my eyes and couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard.

[CMJ]

I also really dig the first time we see Jesus and he licks his bowling ball...and then proceeds to dance. Very funny stuff. :)

[Mu Satach]

Maude in her painting gear.

[CMJ]

Those guys polishing their bowling balls....you know the shot.

:)