So the holiday movies are upon us. Which ones have you seen? Which ones are you dying to see? Which ones would you not see on a bet?

I don't have time to go to movies, but I'd still like to see Sleepy Hollow and Boys Don't Cry.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

Answers

"Anna and the King" and "Toy Story 2" are the only ones that leap to mind for this holiday season.

It's next year I'm looking forward to: The first of the new "Lord of the Rings" films is still tentatively to be released next Christmas. I can hardly wait.

I still want to see "Being John Malkovich" and "Anywhere But Here" from the last crop of films.

And I can't decide if I want to see "Magnolia" or not.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

I have to defend The Green Mile slightly, even though I haven't seen it. Everything I've read says the film adheres as well as possible to the book, which is Good. The trailer appears to be from another planet, possibly the same film on another planet, but geared to the Chick Flick/Heartwarming Holiday Film factor, and there's some stuff in there that's going to mess some people up if that's all they're expecting. There's a SBU (Shit Blows Up) moment in the film that, if all reports I'm hearing are true, will stick with people for a long, long time.

It's a good story. I'm hoping it will be a good film as well.

I'm still waiting on a too-busy boyperson to have time to catch up and see Dogma, Being John Malkovich, and Toy Story II. Saw Sleepy Hollow. I fell asleep (this is a moviegoing first for me) during the climax of the film. I liked End of Days better.

I know Boys Don't Cry is the Buzz Movie of the moment, but I'm not sure I want to see it. I find the story so sad and painful.

I really want to see Stuart Little, but I'm a little embarrassed to admit that.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

Okay, let's go see Sleepy Holler. How about tonight? Huh?

I also want to see Toy Story 2. I heard it was better than the first Toy Story, and I thought that movie was pretty cool.

I kind of also want to see that new movie with Leo DiCaprio where the film crew bulldozed a beach on a Thailand island designated as a world heritage site (or something similar). All because the palm trees weren't camera friendly. Salon had a really funny travel piece about that issue last Summer where the writer was trying to sneak onto the set for no good reason. It was very James Bond. I'll try to find the link.

Oh, here: IT IS

The movie is called "The Beach".

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

Sleepy Hollow is excellent. Go! Go now! Drag that silly brother of mine with you, regardless of his views on Ms. Ricci! (Unless he hates Tim Burton's stuff, of course...)

I need to see a whole bunch of movies... I am also looking forward with great anticipation and trepidation to the Lord Of the Rings films...

And Tom Hanks goes on my list with Robin Williams, as people who have completely lost their appeal. I mean, I can't be the only one who hated Forest Gump, can I? I think I might want to see the Green Mile, because it sounds like it might (maybe) be good enough to get over Mr. Hanks' acting and image problems...

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

"Boys Don't Cry" finally showed up at a local theater and I have only this to say... Go. Now. Even though it's getting great critical buzz, I have a feeling this movie won't be around in theaters long. Obviously it's a depressing film, though it really touched me and I still haven't shaked it from my head 3 days after seeing it. Incredible performances from the cast, especially the two lead actresses.

Also, I finally saw "The Iron Giant" on DVD recently and... w o w. Great story, wonderful animation, and although I rarely cry at movies, this one had me sobbing. Definitely heavy subject matter for some ages, but a must for us adults. It's a shame it didn't do better when it was released theatrically... I'm sure it'll make up for it in rentals.

I have to agree with Beth on "The Green Mile" ... blech. No thank you.

"Man on the Moon" ??? Tired of hearing about it already... I have one thing to say to Jim Carrey, "I think you've gone to the well one too many times." Courtney Love? Egads. Don't get me started.

Oh, almost forgot to mention "Being John Malkovich" as a must see fi

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

Sleepy Hollow is good, especially if you are a Depp-a-holic (which I am). I rented The Last Broascast and like it wayyyyy better than Blair Witch (which was one of the worst films I've ever seen).

Also rented Tea With Mussolini and liked it more than I was expecting to. And Midsummer Night's Dream was quite entertaining, even though that awful Calista Flockhart is in it (she creeps me out).

And Toy Story 2 was even better than the forst one - go see it!

I still like Robin Williams and hope his new movie is a good one.

Not sure about The Green Mile - have no idea what it's about exactly, and I never read Stephen King books, though some of the films made from his books have been good (and some have been real stinkers).

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

Darnit, darnit, darnit. Slow, plodding me waited a week to see Breakfast of Champions at the Crest. Obviously, I thought, everyone on the PLANET must want to see this movie as much as I do, because everybody is a Kurt Vonnegut fan, everybody saw Mother Night and loved it, and everybody has impeccable taste in movies. Then I looked at the listings for today. Gone. Poof. The dumb ol' Crest went and showed one of the movies I've been wanting to see for months and months during FINALS WEEK, and didn't have the courtesy to keep showing it long enough for me to see it. Maybe it's in San Francisco.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

See: Being John Malkovich--absolutely brilliant Sleepy Hollow--Burton's best use of sets and effects yet Toy Story 2--yes, better than the first Iron Giant--best animated film since Little Mermaid

Worth seeing, but not great: Dogma--too much crammed in to peoples' mouths

Do not see unless you're into self-torture: End of Days--lurches from one contrivance to the next

I'm looking forward to Green Mile, though I have no expectations. End of the Affair looks wonderful and seems to have been overlooked. And I can't wait for Angela's Ashes!

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

I'm desperate to see Toy Story 2 for the same reasons as everyone else. We have the first one and it always cracks me up.

Also want to see Sleepy Hollow because I'm a Tim Burton fan. I wish he would do something like the Nightmare Before Christmas. I thought that was great.

Also want to see the new James Bond...I'm not ashamed of this! I can't help it, sometimes I just want to see a fun movie. Is that such a bad thing? Also want to see Anna & the King and will probably settle in for a few hours and watch The Green Mile. I really liked Tom Hanks in Apollo 13..I haven't given up on him yet.

I'm going to rent Tea with Mussolini and give it a shot. I've heard great stuff about it and think its time to see for myself.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

duh. girl, interrupted, even though it SO isn't based on kaysen's book. loosely. maybe. if they're lucky.

even so, it looks like a gorgeous film.

and i second sleepy hollow, even though it seriously lacked a plot.

-- Anonymous, December 10, 1999

Well, even though I've been sick ALL week (Must.get.better.for.gathering.tomorrow.) and despite the fact that I picked Jake up from work EIGHT MINUTES before the movie started, I couldn't stay away from The Green Mile on opening night.

This is the first movie we've seen in theatres in a long long time. The last one was..... Sixth Sense for the both of us, and Story of Us and American Beauty for me.

The Green Mile was *very* true to the book. They changed some stuff, of course, but I thought they did an excellent job. It was very good. Of course, Tom Hanks hasn't lost his appeal with me. I loved Forrest Gump, and only got sick of it because of all the public spotlighting/ridicule on it. Tom Hanks is my absolute favorite, and he does an excellent job in this film. Everyone did.

Everything else mentioned, pretty much, is stuff that I want to see. Sleepy Hollow, Being John Malkovich, Toy Story 2... Don't really want to see End of Days (I'm not a big Salcha;kdhGER fan) and I am bummed that I completely missed Bringing Out The Dead. Girl, Interrupted looks pretty good, and I was on Dark Horizon yesterday and saw two previews that I have not previously heard of.

Hanging Up. Total chic flick. Diane Keaton, Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow (I can overlook that since Meg is in it) and The Cradle Will Rock which I am hoping hoping hoping comes out soon! Even on a lil' bitty picture on a computer it looks REALLY intense and it has JOHN CUSAK in it! I really love him.

I, too, am somewhat conflicted on whether or not I want to see Magnolia. Tom Cruise really creeps ME out. And he's SO greasy looking in this film. Ick.

Okay, enough. Must go to work.



-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

Oh yeah, Girl, iterrupted is definitely on my list.. I loved the book, but the style was so fractured I know they'd _have_ to change and add some stuff for a film, so I'm flexible. And all the previews look great. (BTW, if you want the book, Borders has is shelved in the general psychology section...)

Oh, and Vic I'm sorry about Breakfast. (I wanted to see it too... darned Crest) The same thing happened to me when Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead was playing... Of course, at that point I didn't have a car, so I was dependent on other people's schedules to get there...

Now look what you guys did? I want to go see a movie now. Maybe I can go up to Birdcage, since I'm feeling cheap.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

The last movie I saw was Princess Mononoke. If you can find a theatre that's playing it (and if you're patient enough - the movie is more than two and a half hours long) I highly recommend it.

Other than that, I'm just waiting for Dogma and Sleepy Hollow to show up at the $1 theatre downtown. I'm cheap like that.

she's actual size

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

Sleepy Hollow was mostly bad. I liked Depp's performance but he can usually do no wrong. The one thought that kept comming to mind while I was watching the movie was when Shaggy and Scoobie and the Gang were going to show up and solve the crimes. Probably just my TV upbringing causing that. Jason.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

Erk -- I forgot to say which movies I _liked_ that I've seen recently.

*grin*

Dogma was great. Laughed my buttinski off through most of it, but it made me _think_ too. It had a lot to say and did it in a very original and funny way.

Loved Sleepy Hollow too, but I saw that a while ago now and saw it in a double header with The World is Not Enough which was a satisfying Bond flick, nothing earth-shaking there except for Sophie Marceau.

And I've still got American Beauty tucked away into a corner of my brain. The other day I was watching some leaves blowing around and that image of the bag blowing around with the leaves popped into my head ...

On video/dvd: American History X and 200 Cigarettes. American History X totally blew me away. Edward Norton was amazing in that film.

200 Cigarettes was vaguely amusing -- but if you don't like Christina Ricci or Courtney Love, then you're out of luck.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

hmm, what am I doing here on this forum?

Sleepy Hollow, I enjoyed it just like I thought would.

American Beauty, I found inspiring (its creative aspect) in ways surpassing any other recent movie I can think of.

I enjoyed Being John M. but it won't stick long with me--a minor amusement.

Now, I just saw Fantasia is being released in an IMAX version. I won't miss that.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

Oh, the disappointment when I read that you think Christina Ricci is a terrible actress! I think she's aces! Loved her in the Adam's Family, and was completely hooked after seeing her in Pecker. I think she's great, and super sexy to boot! And wasn't she in Buffalo 66? Another great film.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

Anyone seen "Run Lola Run"? An outrageously great movie. It's German, so unfortunately there's subtitles. I saw it one day, and I liked it so much I had to take a friend to it the next day.

It is a movie unlike I have ever seen before. I think that could be because it is from another country. The overall look and style of it is odd and different, yet that's what makes it so interesting. Plus you get caught up in the pace of it, so much you can't take your eyes off the screen.

So run people run to where ever you can view this movie. I had to write that last line. (I wonder if any legitimate movie reviewers used it.) I think I saw the movie pretty late in its release, so it may be coming to video shortly, if it hasn't already.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

Oh, dear god. I think that I'm going to cry. Did I just hear someone say that they think that Christina Ricci is a terrible actress? ::gasp::

That's not sarcasm, folks! Starting way the hell back at The Adams Family and right up through Sleepy Hollow (more on that later...), she's incredible! Have you looked at the scope of her characters? I don't know. I think that she's wonderfully versatile. But that's just me. (And, as a note to Ricci fans, if you haven't seen Sleepy Hollow or The Opposite of Sex, you need to see them. Now. I mean it.)

Okay, back to the topic. Movies that I've seen and liked. Right. Recently saw Sleepy Hollow, and, quite honestly, I Think that it was among the best films that I've seen recently. The use of the sets to evoke the barrenness and desolation of the town was incredible. Coming from someone who believes that sets are frequently the most mis-used "props" in movies, that's high praise. There were a few too many beheadings for my taste, but you have to admit, that there were some CREATIVE beheadings, you know? Like that head that rotated a few times on it's axis before falling?

Anyhow. Great movie. Highly reccomend it.

-Meghan

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

Run Lola Run was one of the nest movies I saw all year - lots of fun. Went to see it twice at a theatre and will rent it when it comes out on video.

Also Being John Malkovich was *great*.

-- Anonymous, December 11, 1999

Beth, are you POSITIVE about the skull having unfiled teeth? The way I remember it, they were still filed, but because they didn't have to work with an actor's teeth like in some other scenes, the teeth meshed together like a zipper. At least that's what I thought was going on. And Jason, I think you're right on about the Scooby Doo dialogue.... I loved the stilted Sherlock Holmes / Scooby Doo feel of it. Tim Burton is a man who knows how to work with cliches and culture as it is. So is Tom Stoppard. Couldn't really say about Andrew Kevin Walker; I've only seen one film of his (Seven) and it's certainly the best of its genre, whatever genre that is, that I've seen.

Ron Lola Run was a really fun movie. It ran in just the right kind of fractured way to leave me wondering whether German people watch a lot of The Simpsons. It's playing just across the park in San Francisco, in a double bill with Double Jeopardy. Which is tempting.

The most attractive double feature is in town right now, though, at the discount theatre: Superstar with Bringing Out the Dead.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 1999

stoppard isn't listed on the IMDB credits under writing anymore. i'd like to know if he really did "ghost write" for sleepy hollow, because i'm a huge stoppard fan and i think that had he actually had a (bigger) hand in the movie, it should have had better dialogue. some of it was good, and funny, and what i expect of tom. other parts ... oy, veh. how miserable.

so someone clear that up for me. did he or didn't he?

-- Anonymous, December 12, 1999

Fantasia 2000 is not the same movie, and I am really eager to see it in IMAX, too. (So we have to see the Mysteries of Egypt here before it goes away at the IMAX theater!)

I loved loved LOVED Toy Story 2. I can't believe they were going to release it straight to video. There were really funny bits in it.

I want to see Anna and the King, and I'll be taking my CASA kid to Stuart Little (yay! an excuse!) and I hate to admit it, but I want to see Bicentennial Man, as well.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 1999

I read about Stoppard's involvement in Sleepy Hollow in the very respectable British newspaper the Guardian, so I am inclined to believe it.

IMDb pages are increasingly carrying WGA -- offical, that is -- credits. The deal seems to be that the WGA supplies writing credit information in return for having uncredited writers excluded.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 1999

ah. thank you, david.

yay for tom! (of course, now that i know that, i'm even more disappointed in some of the abysmal dialogue. doh.)

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999

We're such big slugs, we never go to the movies. I'd like to see Toy Story 2 but we never even saw Toy Story, so we have to catch up on video.

We just got cable, though, and have been watching lots of movies there: In Cold Blood (terrific), Diamonds Are Forever (fun), The Conversation (guy picture, bored me, he loved it), The Opposite of Sex (amusing), I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (dopey), Gia (dopey but with nudity, woo hoo).

We tried to watch The Blair Witch Project on pay per view on Saturday but the cable company was having problems so no go. I was quite dissapointed.

Count me as one who adores Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci and now is totally bored by Tom Hanks. The Green Mile does not look like my kind of picture, to say the least.

The movie I absolutely do not want to see (which means it will be showing on the next plane trip I take) is Bicentennial Man - the one with Robin Williams as a robot who wants to be human and the little girl from the Pepsi ads.

-- Anonymous, December 13, 1999

I absolutely have to see Toy Story 2 this weekend. I don't care if nobody gets their cookies or Christmas gifts on time, I'm seeing that movie.

Dave and I love to go to movies, but it's been quite a while since we've seen one. That's all going to change this weekend.

And I want to see the Stuart Little movie too!

-- Anonymous, December 17, 1999

Sleepy Hollow, Being John Malkovich, 10 Things I Hate About You, Stuart Little, American Beauty, 8MM.

Some of those I know will be good. Some I will watch to just watch.

I just saw 'Election' with Reese Witherspoon. It was NOT what I was expecting.

-- Anonymous, December 17, 1999