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  1. Vic Pardo

    Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

    Sorry, the film brought out the worst in me. I just needed to vent. (Besides, the remark was meant as a not-so-subtle reference to Rodriguez's extramarital affair with his star, Rose McGowan, on the set of PLANET TERROR.)
  2. Vic Pardo

    Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

    Banal dialogue, dull characters, terrible acting, miscasting across the board, where do I begin? The two leads give the worst line-readings I’ve heard in a movie since THE PHANTOM MENACE and ATTACK OF THE CLONES. And what’s with all these 21st century teenage hipsters in the 26th century? You...
  3. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    Just for the record, I find JQuintana's positions to be quite valid, just as I find Tino's positions to be equally valid. (And Edwin-S. And Jake...And Josh and...) I like reading this debate. You can all be right. That's the beauty of this topic. JQ represents one faction of viewers, Tino...
  4. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    The film industry reporter for The New York Times questioned 20 anonymous Academy voters about their choices for Best Picture. I don't know that one can draw any conclusions from these comments, but they're interesting nonetheless...
  5. Vic Pardo

    Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

    Did they give you a refund at least?
  6. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    It was ABC that called the meeting, that's why I blame them. If they hadn't called the meeting in the first place and just left their reservations to themselves, none of this would have happened--at least not this year. The time to bring it all up is right after the broadcast, a full year ahead...
  7. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    Sounds like ABC is at fault. They should have just kept their mouths shut. I think ABC can clean up the whole mess by letting the four chosen awards categories play out in full in real time in the live commercial over-the-air broadcast, from reading the nominees to the winner's speech, and make...
  8. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    I think you need a stopwatch when you watch the Oscars this year. Most speeches by winners at the Oscars are under a minute. Every so often, someone high-profile or historic runs over a minute or two. (I'm thinking Halle Berry when she won.) There may have been a rare instance or two where it...
  9. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/steven-soderbergh-high-flying-bird-oscars-netflix-interview/582547/?fbclid=IwAR0hlNvDM69Gh3TXNdFP72CAoNs8CFsWfJRsGqspLSMysRRpwlduUxVTb_4 Steven Soderbergh makes several interesting comments about the Oscar broadcast in this interview.
  10. Vic Pardo

    Recommendations wanted for a vintage half hour western

    I saw it as a kid, but never thought of it as a western. More of a swashbuckler. Fox's big-budget THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940), with Tyrone Power, is definitely always classified as a swashbuckler. However, in retrospect, I'm guessing the Disney show probably followed the template of the western...
  11. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    I've said this before and I'll say it again: no need for the short categories--documentaries, live-action, animated--at all. They were only there because once upon a time the studios regularly produced documentaries and short subjects, both live and animated. Check the nominees in the 1930s...
  12. Vic Pardo

    Recommendations wanted for a vintage half hour western

    "Have Gun Will Travel" had a great Season 2 episode, "The Moor's Revenge," with Vincent Price as a Shakespearean actor stopping in San Diego, where Paladin happens to be. Patricia Morison (who died last year at the age of 103!), a Broadway star and B-movie actress, played Price's wife and acting...
  13. Vic Pardo

    Recommendations wanted for a vintage half hour western

    I mentioned The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp in Post #4.
  14. Vic Pardo

    Recommendations wanted for a vintage half hour western

    I'm a big fan of westerns and I agree with the previous suggestions, esp. "Stories of the Century," an excellent show with great guest stars (Lee Van Cleef as Jesse James, Richard Jaeckel as Billy the Kid, Marie Windsor as Belle Starr, Slim Pickens as the Sundance Kid, etc.) and ample use of...
  15. Vic Pardo

    The Greatest Show on Earth

    Agreed...definitely a great year for cinema. In my piece on the best films of 1956 two years ago (60th anniversary), the only Best Picture nominee I included was THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. https://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2016/12/18/the-best-films-of-1956/
  16. Vic Pardo

    The Greatest Show on Earth

    You left out Vincent Price and Red Buttons (whose centennial was four days ago).
  17. Vic Pardo

    The Greatest Show on Earth

    THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH was the worst Best Picture Oscar winner of the 20th century. (The 21st century has had worse.) If they were gonna honor DeMille, they should have given THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) Best Picture. It was certainly better than the other nominees that year and much, much...
  18. Vic Pardo

    Mystery & Crime Series 30's & 40's

    I've never eaten at a Shake Shack. The lines at the ones in Manhattan are always too long. I can't imagine the food at a glorified hamburger stand is good enough to deserve such long lines. Trendiness is a poor substitute for good food.
  19. Vic Pardo

    The Absolute Best Movie Titles (And Why)

    I've seen MOONLIGHT AND PRETZELS also--it was at one of William K. Everson's screenings at the New School in 1982.
  20. Vic Pardo

    Dick Miller, ‘Gremlins’ and ‘Terminator’ Actor, Dies at 90

    The New York Times finally did an obit: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/obituaries/dick-miller-dead.html
  21. Vic Pardo

    The Alfred Hitchcock Filmography - A Chronological viewing

    Has anyone here seen the 2015 documentary, HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT by Kent Jones? It uses segments of the audio recordings from the famous interview sessions and then adds lots of film excerpts, plus interviews with various directors influenced by or fans of Hitchcock: Martin Scorsese, Peter...
  22. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    I remember when John Wayne won for TRUE GRIT at the 1970 Oscar ceremony, the story was that Dustin Hoffman (nominated for MIDNIGHT COWBOY in the same category) had a hissy fit and stormed out right afterwards. The feeling was that Wayne got the award as a nod by the Academy to Old Hollywood...
  23. Vic Pardo

    Movies better than the book, and vice versa

    Both versions of CAPE FEAR (1962 and 1991) were better than the novel by John D. MacDonald.
  24. Vic Pardo

    The Absolute Best Movie Titles (And Why)

    I love these titles in the Sartana series of Italian westerns: SARTANA'S HERE, TRADE YOUR PISTOL FOR A COFFIN IF YOU MEET SARTANA, PRAY FOR YOUR DEATH HAVE A GOOD FUNERAL, MY FRIEND…SARTANA WILL PAY
  25. Vic Pardo

    The Alfred Hitchcock Filmography - A Chronological viewing

    The only Hollywood films of Hitchcock's I still haven't seen are UNDER CAPRICORN (1949) and I CONFESS (1953). I finally caught up with STAGE FRIGHT for the first time when it played on TCM a couple of years ago and it was just terrible, a real chore to sit through. No wonder it took me so long...
  26. Vic Pardo

    Speed Racer: The Complete Series (Blu-ray) Available for Preorder

    Dammit! I didn't know the version with the Japanese originals had come out. I bought the Funimation Blu-ray set back in 2017 when it was announced as having the Japanese version with English subs., but it was only the English dub. (They claimed it was an error.) I'm eager to see the Japanese...
  27. Vic Pardo

    Movies better than the book, and vice versa

    Agreed. I watched both movies in 2010 and then read the book and I discovered that both screenplays made the unfortunate choice of taking Mattie's words from her narration of the past, written as an adult, and putting them in as dialogue for 14-year-old Mattie to speak. I'm sorry, but as...
  28. Vic Pardo

    The Official 2019 Oscars Nomination Announcements Discussions & Predictions Thread

    But think how much better (and shorter) it would have been if they'd mercifully cut out Franco and Hathaway as well.
  29. Vic Pardo

    The end of an era -- Blockbuster is really closed

    I stopped renting from my local Blockbuster (now long gone) sometime in the '90s when some genius manager decided to drop the "Anime" section and interfile all the anime titles alphabetically with every other title in stock, so you had to peruse through rack after rack to find anything. I...
  30. Vic Pardo

    Movies better than the book, and vice versa

    Agreed. Daniel Mainwaring, the author of the novel (under his pseudonym Geoffrey Homes), is credited with the screenplay, but I've read that Frank Fenton is responsible for all the clever dialogue in OUT OF THE PAST. And IMDB says James M. Cain worked on the screenplay also. I wonder who's...
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