Have you guys seen the little flick known as Unthinkable? A friend showed it to me last and I absolutely loved it...and yet hated it at the same time...it's kinda intense like that. Anyways, it would make one hell of a DiF, I can just picture it now, epic chats about torture and American political bullshit, it would be a grand ol time.

Anyways, if you don't wanna DiF it, at least check it out, definitely worth a watch.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

A very long, very funny movie.

Found this list and noticed that Cloverfield is conspicuously absent. The eyebrows of interest are piqued and concerned.

I'm amused that since that list was put together none of them have made the cut yet

Wait, I just saw Truman show on there. So much for the above comment!

Can't remember if anyone brought it up 500 posts ago or not, but Excalibur really should be in your to do pile. Live action fantasy for whatever reason rarely works well, maybe because it just tends to look stupid, and pre Lord of the Rings Excalibur was really the only good one.

Last edited by Invid (2010-08-22 03:52:28)

In my totally unsolicited, not-worth-a-good-goddamn opinion, the best Down in Front episodes fall into two categories: There are the ones where the movie evokes some kind of really strong emotional reaction in the panel — positive or negative — and, well, "The Abyss." I've got that one off in a category by itself cause I can't think of another example like it, but I'm talking about the whole I-was-there-here's-how-it-was thing.

The episodes I find least entertaining — which is like talking about what kind of water I find least wet — are the ones where it all boils down to that old Chris Farley character: "Remember that movie? Yeah, that was awesome."

Just to pick a couple names at random off the above-reprinted list: I don't really know what anybody could say about "Top Gun" or "Iron Man." Both are very good movies, neither great-in-the-sense-of-historically-great. I don't think either is especially special, if you know what I mean.

I really enjoyed y'all's "Ghostbusters 2" ep, because of the "put right what went wrong" angle. You've done this before, I think, though I don't remember any other examples off the top of my head. But the way you guys workshopped a movie that by all reasonable accounts was not particularly successful was really fun to listen to.

All of this is to say that, with much love to Kyle, I can't think of a bigger waste of time than for you guys to do "The Room." I haven't watched the whole thing, just edited highlights. But seriously. What's there to say about that movie other than "Boy, this is really terrible?"

My platonic ideal of the best of all possible DiF episodes is one that ends with me thinking, "Wow, I never knew that/thought about that/saw it that way before." If we can laugh and learn and live and love! along the way, so much the better, but for me personally, "That was really neat" trumps "That was pretty funny" every time.

(Live events are conspicuously excepted from that rule. Only few times have I laughed so hard as when Dorkman leapt back over the couch to the mic during the "The Core" party.)

(Oh, and something I just thought of: What Steve brought up and you guys subsequently talked about regarding framing and camera angles in "The Fountain" is a perfect example of what I meant by "I never thought about that." I'd seen that movie over and over again, but I'd never consciously noticed the camera work, so I really dug that. Just a data point.)

Last edited by Jeffery Harrell (2010-08-22 13:54:47)

That said, recording their first viewing would make for a Very Special Down in Front

Very interesting stuff, sir.  For your money, what are a few good examples of the ones you're most and least interested in, aside from the ones you mention.  When I guest on DiF I try to be very cognizant of what I discuss and if its something our listeners would be into.

Hmm. From the list above, there are a few that I'm just personally not interested in because I have no interest in the movies in question: "The Patriot," the "Kill Bill" movies, "Bicentennial Man." Seen 'em, didn't care for 'em, not looking for an excuse to see 'em again. If I were running Down in Front — and I think we all get down on our knees every night and say a prayer of Thanksgiving to almighty-god-whose-name-we-do-not-know that I'm not — they wouldn't be on my short list.

"Moon," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "The Dark Knight" all have something in common: They were stunning successes (artistically I mean, though at least the last two also made bank) that kind of weren't supposed to be. "Raiders" was a pulp serial pastiche, "Dark Knight" was a damn comic-book movie and "Moon" was an indie from a first-time director and those tend to go bad far more often than not. I like Down in Fronts about unlikely successes and just how and why they managed to get it so right.

"Primer," "Synecdoche" and "A.I." (sort of) are puzzles. They're all three open to interpretation, and I think I'd enjoy hearing y'all's interpretations. Maybe "Memento" as well, but from my understanding (I only saw the movie once) that one's actually very straightforward, just told out of sequence. I think I remember reading that there's an option on the DVD to watch the film in chronological order, which turns it into a pretty conventional story. Not sure, though.

But really, though, I'll listen to nearly anything as long as you guys give a damn. Like if it were me — see above, re: prayers of thanksgiving — I'd do "Network" in a heartbeat, 'cause I both admire and adore that movie, and I think I could talk about it non-stop all by myself. If you guys feel that strongly about "Office Space" or whatever, go for it. I'll tune in.

Empire is happening.

I welcome anybody who wants to make a poll and post it on this board. We don't have poll-style threads on this boardsystem, though.

I luuurrrv Heat.  Get Shorty is gerat and The Rock is hysterical for me.  I worked a bit in Chemical Weapons in the Army and anytime the VX gas comes out its a riot.

I'm still waiting for you guys to do Serenity.

Can I throw "The Right Stuff" onto the pile? (Though at three and a quarter hours, it might be a stretch.)