tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19216099.post7196544926231344585..comments2024-02-16T06:03:12.489-06:00Comments on BrummellBlog: The Conqueror of the OrientTheBrummellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08973380652057861796noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19216099.post-42754989241569038232008-03-03T09:27:00.000-06:002008-03-03T09:27:00.000-06:00I definitely agree on Bullit. Absolutely nothing ...I definitely agree on Bullit. Absolutely nothing happened. I didn't even think the car chase was that good, just ok. You're probably right about it just being a car chase with a "plot" thrown in around it.King Aardvarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02785457928646226831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19216099.post-73948301032354244442008-03-02T00:19:00.000-06:002008-03-02T00:19:00.000-06:00The Plot Keywords for King Solomon's Mines include...The Plot Keywords for <I>King Solomon's Mines</I> include "Indiana Jones Spoof" and "Giant Spider". <BR/><BR/>These 50 Warriors movies are not intentionally comedic (actually, the few jokes that show up are really lame. The "comic relief" in Spartacus and the 10 Gladiators was one of the gladiators occassionally accidentally fondling a very old woman... urgh).<BR/><BR/><I>The French Connection</I> was probably about a 3. I saw it years ago, after hearing much about this "classic" film. The key scene, with the subway, actually has very little dramatic tension. It's about a 3 or so.<BR/><BR/><I>Bullit</I>, the Steve McQueen "classic", also probably qualifies as a 3. Not much happens in it, except for the big car-chase scene (in which the car manages to lose 5 hubcaps, and dodge past a surprising number of green VW beetles). I got the distinct impression the entire movie (plot, characters, theme) was bolted on to a previously-filmed car chase looking for a movie to appear in. Did Steve McQueen just frickin' go out one day with a camera crew, <I>then</I> pitch a movie to a studio?TheBrummellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973380652057861796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19216099.post-68199188965095231162008-03-01T22:46:00.000-06:002008-03-01T22:46:00.000-06:00Remember the little gem "King Solomon's Mines"?Whi...Remember the little gem "<A HREF="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089421/" REL="nofollow" TARGE="_blank">King Solomon's Mines</A>"?<BR/><BR/>While perhaps not as old of a film as you require for "calibration", I'd personally rank it somewhere around a 3.5. This piece of cinematic gold has been on my mind lately, and I tossed out the VCR during the last moving trip. I need to hunt this one down again...Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11647785619431189331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19216099.post-52810801192080389852008-03-01T22:41:00.000-06:002008-03-01T22:41:00.000-06:00This comment has been removed by the author.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11647785619431189331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19216099.post-59022322207358622752008-02-29T13:08:00.000-06:002008-02-29T13:08:00.000-06:00Hmmm... calibration is definately a problem. I ne...Hmmm... calibration is definately a problem. I need a known standard to compare to...<BR/><BR/>On that note, the fact I recently watched (in a 3-hour straight through fest) <I>A Bridge Too Far</I>. I thought I'd already seen that movie, but I had not, and I really enjoyed it. So that movie is five stars, calibrating the upper end of the scale. The potential for non-linearity (or exponential linearity, or logarithmic, or...) means I need calibration points at 3 stars and 1 star, too. Suggestions? Calibration points from other people would be best: can you recommend a clearly-three-stars (out of five) movie? The older the better, too, to help control for noise variables like quality-of-filmstock and sound and special effects budgets etc.TheBrummellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973380652057861796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19216099.post-42444355471973584692008-02-29T12:50:00.000-06:002008-02-29T12:50:00.000-06:00Your descriptions of these presumably awful movies...Your descriptions of these presumably awful movies make them sound like the plot of arcade games circa-1987 (I wonder against what standard you are calibrating your review scale?). Perhaps this allows us to calibrate the state of narrative in different media - It would appear that video games are about 25 years behind cinema in terms of storytelling excellence... Wow.Carlohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00153076425887492166noreply@blogger.com