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Originally posted by JackietheBlade: Did you see Elephant?

Questions: Mark, Jimmy Stewart is my favorite actor and I am trying to see all of his films, but of course it's taking a while since he made so many. Besides the well known greats, what are some of his lesser known films that you would recommend?

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First off, I thought "Elephant" was better than "Gerry" (almost all films are), if only because it's shorter and something happens, no matter how horrific. That also had excellent cinematography. No, I don't believe "Elephant" is worth watching, unless you want to study the logistics of steadicam photography. Van Sant seems to have turned his films into stylistic exercises almost devoid of content. Hopefully, he'll find a story that intrigues film watchers soon.

Yes, my trying to discuss James Stewart films, without actually knowing what you have seen, is a daunting task, but I'll take the first step.

I'll assume that you have seen "Harvey", "Rear Window", "Vertigo", "The Philadelphia Story", "You Can't Take It With You", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Rope", "Anatomy of a Murder", and "The Greatest Show on Earth." If not, there's a start.

Others you may have seen, but I'll recommend, would include:
Pre-1946: "The Murder Man" (his first film, and it's good-he plays a reporter named Shorty); "Destry Rides Again" (classic western which somewhat inspired 'Blazing Saddles'); "The Shop Around the Corner" (wonderful romantic comedy); "The Mortal Storm" (powerful film about Nazi Germany); "Of Human Hearts" (sentimental family drama); and "It's a Wonderful World" (insane screwball comedy.)

Middle: By all means, watch the ones you listed. Stewart hooked up with director Anthony Mann for several western/action films (my fave being 'The Naked Spur'), as well as "The Glenn Miller Story." You've got to watch the Hitchcock/Stewart. I also would include "Broken Arrow" (exciting, humanistic western), "The Spirit of St. Louis" (Lindbergh's flight), "Bell, Book and Candle" (a romantic comedy made the same year as 'Vertigo', but this time Kim Novak is a witch.)

Post-1962: The best are "Shenandoah" (great performance in a rousing, touching Civil War story) and "The Flight of the Phoenix" (the remake comes out later this year, so try to watch this first.) Both "Cheyenne Autumn" and "The Cheyenne Social Club' are worth a peek, and although he's only in it briefly, you should watch "The Shootist" (John Wayne's last film- Stewart gets to tell the Duke that he's got cancer.)

OK. First step completed.

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Originally posted by JackietheBlade:
Ok...my recent view (again, I seem to be the only person watching movies around here) is _Dogville_
I was caught completely off guard with this film. It was an amazing transformation as far as viewing goes. If you've seen the movie, you know what I mean when I say I thought they were kidding with the set. That aspect alone was making me bored with the movie and I was getting a little restless. Then, as the film progressed, I realized that, because of the minimalist nature of the set, I found myself engrossed evermore deeper into the characters and their lives. Great performances by all involved. Those that have seen Dogville, what did you think?

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I saw Dogville in the theater when it came out and (oddly) didn't find it as shocking as the reviews had made it sound; I have a high tolerance, I guess. The ending seemed like more of a punch line. Anyway, I LOVED the set! I thought they made it seem more like a "fairy tale," similarly as the titles between segments did in Breaking the Waves (which I liked better).

As far as recommendations go:

The Great Escape
The Manchurian Candidate (original)
An Evening With Kevin Smith
Band Of Brothers
City Of God

I bet almost everyone has seen these, but those are my reco's damnit!

Ok, my recent views:

I, Robot Great FX. Just a fun time at the movies.

Vanity Fair I realize this is a story about Becky Sharp's life, but I found myself waiting for and wanting something to happen. I wanted more of a concrete plot. Reese was good but not necessarily oscar caliber, in my opinion.

Cellular Again, a fantastically fun time at the movies. Much better than what you might expect. Keeps you laughing out of sheer unbelievability as well as great humor.

Ok folks, I'm posting this here because I didn't want to make two separate posts on two other forums. I have two films to recommend that I saw this weekend:

The Clearing This is a quiet little film that didn't get much publicity, but I ask you to watch it. Redford gives a very good performance. It is not "Oscar" calliber or maybe even great, but it works, and you believe him. Helen Mirren is good as always and you can't help but love Willem Dafoe. Once again, he pulls of a quiet but stellar performance with ease. He has that way of making you care, even though you want to dispise his character. The most captivating suspense film I've seen in a while. Definately worth a watch.

National Treasure People, if you want to have a good time at the movies, go see National Treasure. But I beg you, just go ahead and turn off that ever-present continual inner critic that all of us here at Metacritic have. You won't enjoy the film if you leave it on. I went in wanting to take the film for whatever it was, and I can honestly say it's the most fun I've had at a movie in a long while.

I've never noticed this thread. Oh well, I recommend:

The Usual Suspects-Kevin Spacey's best performance.
The Incredibles-if you haven't seen it, you still have a chance to catch it in theaters.

And in case you feel like renting a couple new releases, I recommned:
Spiderman 2-not a great movie, but the best of the Spiderman movies and one of the best comic-book movies to date
Elf-The plot is predictable, but it is a great, fun, christmas movie.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: St. Mike,

Elf....crap
Spider-Man 2....bearable,but disappointing.How is it any different to "Spider-Man"?
Bad Lt....stomach churningly awful.
Alien 3....absolutely abysmal. Fincher high-jacks the concept, and leads it down a dead end.
Alien:resurection....as the title suggests, an attempt to get the story back on track.
Predator 2....better than Predator.
Anyone got an opinion on "House of 1000 corpses"? I see this on my vid library shelf, and I like Rob Zombie, but it looks cheesy.
Donnie Darko....A must see for anyone who doesn't mind being challenged by a movie(a-la Momento).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: burning man,

Burning Man, "House of 1,000 Corpses" isn't that great. Rob Zombie couldn't get enough funding to make the movie what it could have been. It is one of the strangest and darkest movies that I have ever watched, it has a lot of dark humor in it, and the plot isn't that great. None the less, it is still worth seeing once.

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Spider-Man 2....bearable,but disappointing.How is it any different to "Spider-Man"?

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I thought that it was better due the the excellent plot and the character developement. It isn't perfect by any means, but still very good.

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A must see for anyone who doesn't mind being challenged by a movie(a-la Momento).

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Burning man, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I just noticed that you spelled the movie "Memento" M-O-mento in two different posts of yours. Being a huge fan of this great movie, I wanted to let you know how it's actually spelled. A few other people have actually made the same mistake.

So, I just wanted to clear that up, and welcome to the Metacritic forums, it seems like you have a lot of good ideas to contribute.

Why, thank you sir. Spelink aint me long suit (I wish thees forearms kaym wit spelll cheque).

Ok, when I type in an actor on search, if I put their full name, nothing comes up. If I put part of their name, first or last, all their movies come up. This happends with a lot of different actors. Also, if I am looking up a director or movie, sometimes movies come up that have no relation to what you typed in what-so-ever. Also, sometimes movies only come up if you put the director and not if you put the name of the movie. Im not sure if this is just with me, I just wanted to let you know.

First off, E, are you referring to imdb.com? If so, I rarely use that site for searching actors, directors etc. I always use www.allmovie.com I just like the layout a lot better. Moving on. The recent views:

Oceans 12 Enjoyable, but maybe a little too smart for its own good. This film, in some ways, takes itself too seriously as a heist movie, and in doing so forgets to bring the audience along for the ride. Soderberg is good, but in Oceans 12, he seems to be trying to do too many things at once. In adding so many layers, he seemed to be trying to confuse the audience intentionally in hopes that in the end, they would just say "WOW, THAT WAS COOL!" That being said, it is still recommended if for no other reason than the fact that it's Soderbergh (with a great cast) and a heist movie.

Elf I'm sure most of you have seen this one. Nothing but fun here. You gotta love Will Farrell, and all I have to say is, Zooey Deschanel has the voice of an angel. Yes, in case you didn't wait for that part of the credits, that really is her singing. It was so beautiful. Highly recommended

Stepford Wives The only reason I would ever recommend this film is because of the few small, but funny jokes throughout the movie. Some of the "one-liners" and name-brands/companies they poke fun at are entertaining, but the movie as a whole was pretty sad (and by sad, I mean not good).

Hero This film was an absolute work of art in every way. Not only did this movie contain some of the best sword fighting/choreography I've EVER seen, the acting was good as well. That is hard to come by. There were some aspects of Hero that seemed to be "borrowed" from Crouching Tiger, but after you see only a few seconds of those scenes in Hero, you completely forget about that other movie. Sorry for being vague, but I don't want to give ANYTHING away...you MUST see this film.

Good movies now in theaters:

Blade 3: Trinity-if you want to catch an entertaining, mindless, and funny action movie this would be the best choice at the moment. Ryan Reynolds was a great cast addition.

Good renatals:

Collateral-It comes out tomorrow and I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to add this here. Not Cruise's best performance and the plot is incredibly predictable, but still a good movie. Worth checking out.

A few recent views on my end:

Lemony Snicket A good time at the movies. One of those films where you can get lost in imagination and just have a good time.

After the Sunset Basically just another vehicle for Brosnan to play a thief. Nothing original but somewhat entertaining none-the-less.

The Aviator Very well done film. Everyone involved did an excellent job and I think this is Scorsese's best in a while. It was a little strange for my wife since she is a relative of Howard Hughes (no, the money was long gone by the time the line gets down to her family). Highly Recommended.

Meet the Fockers-not nearly as good as the first, but still funny. If you have nothing better to do, and feel the need for a good comedy, look no further than this one.

A couple of good rentals are: "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Open Water."

Can anyone comment on "Harold and Kumar," I am extremely interested.

I forgot to mention Anchorman, it isn't a great movie, in fact it is quite dumb, but it is still very funny and those of you who enjoyed Elf will most likely enjoy this.

I have seen Harold and Kumar go to White Castle, it was done by the same folks who brought you Dude, Where's My Car, and you can tell. The difference is in Dude the studio cut every reference to marijuana and them getting stoned right out of the movie, and in this one they didn't. It is a typical teen stoner movie, with elements you will recognize from any other comedy marketed to teens and stoners. If you liked Dude, Where's My Car? or even thought that it showed promise, you'll probably enjoy Harold and Kumar.

Ok guys...one of the best movies I've seen in a long time...

The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi One of those great samurai flicks that will make you laugh and then totally own you! Beat Takeshi is awesome as the Blind Swordsman. This is not Hero-type beautiful swordplay. This is, "I am going to kill you and all your buddies in under 2 seconds" swordplay. If you like samurai flicks, do yourself a favor and check this out.

A few other recent views...

Million Dollar Baby As I mentioned in another post, simply a great film. Well made and expertly acted from start to finish. Frankly, not sure how Eastwood will top this one for a while.

Ray Even if you're not a fan of Ray Charles or his music, this film is worth seeing. Jamie Foxx is uncanny as the late great musical genius and the rest of the cast holds their own right along side.

Mr. 3000 Don't bother. I spose the ending is not as predictable as would be expected, but still. Just ask someone who has seen it to fill you in.

AS I mentioned in the Classics forum, I recently watched A Bridge Too Far. If you like war movies, you really need to see this film. I was completely blown away. Chock full of great actors and stunning action and battle scenes, this film is must-see for any war movie buff.

Constantine-It was decent. Although I generally dislike Reeves (Except for his role in "The Matrix" series) he does a fair job of ignoring the plot holes in the movie. What I mean by plot holes is, they put something in the movie, but don't bother to explain why it is there. It isn't a big problem because they only do this on very small details, but it still pissed me off. The special effects are really cool...Overall it is a good movie. My Score:1/2

Okay guys, I need someone to help me make a decision. I am going to go to the movies sometime in the near future but there are three movies that I want to see:

"Star Wars: Episode III"
"Madagascar"
"The Longest Yard"

Which one am I going to see?