A couple of recent viewings

[ulthar]

HAPPY ENDINGS (2005)

Since I was so surprised how much I liked it, I mentioned in its own thread.

THE ENEMY BELOW (1967)

This one is part of my romp into submarine movies (that has included RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP, GRAY LADY DOWN and DAS BOOT).  Here we have Robert Mitchum as the US destroyer commander and Curd Jurgens as the German sub commander in a WWII game of cat and mouse.  Excellent WWII fare with the seriousness of the 'game' ever-present.  I saw shades of DAS BOOT foreshadowing.

THE SENTINEL (2006)

Who has heard of this 2006 movie and seen it?  I never heard of it, but saw it on Netflix to get for my wife.  I enjoyed it quite a bit even though I was prepared to think it was garbage (I'm skeptical of most contemporary action movies as being too "FAST AND FURIOUS" - that is, mind numbingly stupid).

Michael Douglas is a Secret Service agent who, in the process of trying to find the person/group threatening the President becomes the target of a frame-up.  I thought the premise of a "mole" within the Secret Service was an interesting one.  Kiefer Southerland did a good counterpoint to Douglas and provided a good "moral" compass to the film.

I gave it 4/5

THX-1138

What an interesting society Lucas created with this one.  I was mesmerized by visual styling, solid acting and yes, dare I say it (this IS George Lucas after all), the story, but found the pacing very, very slow.  I dozed off during both the original watching and the commentary!

Imagine a world where people don't have names, they have designations.  They don't have emotions because they are drugged all the time, and failure to take your drugs is a crime.  They buy useless stuff just to throw it away - pure consumerism is a compulsion.  Imagine being watched constantly and every aspect of your life is under the control of a beauracracy that neither wants nor is able to properly care for you.

That's the world of THX-1138.  But wait...it sounds familiar somewhere else as well.

[Him]

THX-1138 is an interesting movie. It's amazing what Lucas was able to do with such a small budget. But then again, the DVD contains CGI effects shots that weren't in the original release. The slow pacing is due to it being filmed a few years after 2001: A Space Oddyssey]/i]. Many 70s sci-fi movies were slow paced.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Just wanted to correct a typo. The date for "The Enemy Below" is 1957 and not 1967, but other than that, ulthar is correct. "The Enemy Below" is an excellent film, and probably one of the best films ever made about the submarine or U-boat.

[ulthar]

Just wanted to correct a typo. The date for "The Enemy Below" is 1957 and not 1967, but other than that, ulthar is correct. "The Enemy Below" is an excellent film, and probably one of the best films ever made about the submarine or U-boat.

Ooops, thanks for that.  Totally thick fingers on wee little keyboard.   

[clockworkcanary]

I like THX-1138 - got it when it was released (re-released) a couple years ago.  I discovered something rather interestng while watching it.  While 1138 is watching TV (or hologram thing) there is one channel that has a robotic cob beating the tar outta the guy and I thought "boy that sounds very familiar"

low and behold it was a sampled bit at the very beginning of Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral album.  Apparently Trent sampled this exact beating sound and placed it in the beginning of "Mr. Self Destruct" where it just gets faster and faster.  Listen to both and see if you agree.

[trekgeezer]

THX-1138 was based on Lucas's student film, Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB, for which he won several awards. I saw it once on a short film series that the SciFi channel ran a few years ago.

I always liked the way the quit chasing 1138 after it became too expensive.

[Scott]

The sound effects of the chase in the tunnel towards the end of THX-1138 are the same sounds you hear in STAR WARS.

[Amanda]

I have always wanted to see THX-1138, but can never find it around where I live.  Nowadays, I always forget to look for it.  I assume it's on Netflix?  Maybe I'll add it to my queue.  My husband is completely Star Wars obsessed, so for awhile I was boycotting all things Lucas just to be a butt....

[ulthar]

I have always wanted to see THX-1138 ...  I assume it's on Netflix?  Maybe I'll add it to my queue. 

Yes, they have it on Netflix. I rented it from there.

You'll see a lot of influences on STAR WARS in there, especially the sound effects (the tunnel scene mentioned above, as well as the background voice effects).  On the commentary, Lucas described the basic premise as being one of "escape" and went on to say that it is the same basic story he told again in AMERICAN GRAFFITI and in the entire STAR WARS universe.

So, he basically admitted that he has spent his career making the same movie over and over.  THX-1138 is one of the better iterations of the Lucas "vision," imo.