Ursus At The Movies

[Ursus]

I spent my day off watching sci-fi/action movies. It was enjoyable. Here are my reviews.

 

 

Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Volumes 1 and 2.

 

Here were the cartoon shorts that aired on the Cartoon channel and were intended to tell the story between Episode II and Episode III. I liked it! In fact, I liked it better than the actual prequel movies themselves. There was near constant action, unlike Episode II which was one insufferable bore. The cartoon violence of the prequel movies also works a lot better when it is actually moved to a cartoon format. The cartoon characters and their voice over artists also seemed to be able to act better than the real live actors in the movies.

 

If the movies had been this good I wouldn

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

I like the all the movies too, with the exception of Tom Cruise and his fiance. Nevertheless, Star Wars is always the best.

[Zeke]

I like Starwars and War of the Worlds, havn't seen Batman because it didn't look to good in my mind. Never been a Batman fanatic.

 

Zeke

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

I think you should see Batman Begin Zeke, its much more darker with a better plot/storyline than those previous lame Batman movies. I really liked Batman Begins.

[Tobias]

I'm a fan of Star Wars, but i haven't actually seen the cartoon versions yet, so i don't know what they're like. I certainly agree that Episode II could have done with a little more action and plot instead of focusing almost entirely on only a few things.

 

War of the Worlds; absolutely brilliant.

 

Batman begins; I'm not too much of a fan of Batman, although i have seen the early 60's and 70's "Zap" "Pow" batman series, and Batman Begins was far better then that, which is a good indication

[Virgil61]

I'm a fan of Star Wars, but i haven't actually seen the cartoon versions yet, so i don't know what they're like. I certainly agree that Episode II could have done with a little more action and plot instead of focusing almost entirely on only a few things.

 

War of the Worlds; absolutely brilliant.

 

Batman begins; I'm not too much of a fan of Batman, although i have seen the early 60's and 70's "Zap" "Pow" batman series, and Batman Begins was far better then that, which is a good indication

 

WotWorlds was much better than expected and Batman begins was good enough for a once through. I haven't seen the Star Wars cartoons, but I'll look for them.

 

Has anyone seen "The Aristocrats"?

[Valerius]

I'm afraid I've never been a fan of Batman - I prefer Superman. Star Wars - yes good solid entertainment. I love the way he rips off scenes from other films. Your estimation of War of the Worlds is spot on. It was a good rendition of the original book, but you're absolutely right about Tom Cruise. Who would you have put in the part?

[M. Porcius Cato]

The Aristocrats was great--great premise (different comics tell same joke), great subject (the Forbidden joke), great backstory (Gilbert Gottfried right after 9/11), and great jokes.

[Virgil61]

The Aristocrats was great--great premise (different comics tell same joke), great subject (the Forbidden joke), great backstory (Gilbert Gottfried right after 9/11), and great jokes.

 

The Sarah Silverman and Mime versions were hilarious. GG's rendition at the friar's club almost had me on the floor, too bad the editing kept cutting back to analytical descriptions of the joke, in the middle of it being told. I went with a Russian friend who's been here about seven years. Sometimes comedy doesn't travel well but he thinks it was pure genius.

 

Highly recommended.

[M. Porcius Cato]

It's interesting--"low" comedy seems to be appreciated universally. I wonder if that's why Vaudeville and the vaudevillian elements in Plautus were so successful in their environments of immigrants and international travellers.

 

When I was in Moscow (as a 13-year-old American delegate to the Young Communist League--if you can believe it ), I didn't detect any particular penchant for "low" comedy at all--quite the contrary. So my guess is that you, me, and your Russian friend were simply having our universal human natures tickled.

 

Maybe I've just a penchant for over-analysis, but it seems to me that comedy should be treated more seriously as an interesting cultural contribution. Where would I start a thread on Roman comedy?

[Valens]

Am I the only one who though Christian Bale was utterly insipid in Batman Begins? Anyway though, I thought the was on the overall fairly good. I'm also pleased to see the Joker will make his return in the next installment, but like you, Ursus, I can't imagine who could play him properly.