GBGoodies 2015 Movie Logbook

Yeah, but most of that rating is for the nostalgia.

That's my main movie watching criteria

Das Boot (1981) - I watched this movie for the 6th Hall of Fame. I vaguely remember seeing the trailer for this movie way back when it was in the theaters, and it looked good, but I never saw it, so I was happy to see it was nominated in the HoF. However at the time, I did not know that the movie is about 3-1/2 hours long, and in German with English subtitles.

This movie felt like the longest 3-1/2 hours of my life. It seemed to keep going on and on and on. However, it was a great 3-1/2 hours. This movie is one of the most tension-filled movies that I've ever seen. It has some short lulls at times, but for the most part, it's 3-1/2 hours of 'edge-of-your-seat' suspense. It's also the most claustrophobic movie that I've ever seen. Almost the entire movie takes place inside the submarine.

This is a very powerful movie with excellent acting from every member of the cast, especially Jürgen Prochnow as the Captain of the submarine. They make you feel like you're right there with them as everything happens.

I've only seen a few submarine movies, but I think it's safe to say that this is probably the ultimate submarine movie.

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Oh, it is ridiculous, but it's a summer popcorn film. It's almost a prerequisite isn't it? How often do you see an action film which isn't ridiculous? My only regret is that the film was made so close to The Matrix, so it has wire-fu.

Das Boot is brilliant, though. I have it on my 100. I'd recommend seeing The Cruel Sea, too.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

I've never heard of The Cruel Sea, but I'll look for it. Thanks.

Love Has Many Faces (1965) - I watched this movie for the upcoming 1960s movies list. I had high hopes for this movie because of the great cast, especially Cliff Robertson, but this movie left a lot to be desired.

The movie starts with a dead body that washed up on a beach, and it looks like it's going to be about figuring out which of the suspects could be the murderer, but it strays away from the murder investigation throughout most of the movie. The movie is more about love, marriage, adultery, Lana Turner's wardrobe, and Hugh O'Brian's skimpy swimsuits.

This movie is pretty good, but it's not great. The scenery is beautiful, the acting is good, but the story is kind of slow at times, and a bit predictable. The bullfighting scene is exciting, but the mystery of the dead body seems to be forgotten, as we never find out anything about what happened to the deceased. The movie also features an appearance by Carlos Montalbán, who sounds almost exactly like his brother, Ricardo Montalbán.

This movie is worth watching for the scenery and the acting, but don't expect too much from the story itself.

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Masquerade (1965) - I watched this movie for the upcoming 1960s movies list. This was another movie that I was looking forward to seeing because it starred Cliff Robertson.

This is a good movie that's a fun adventure combined with an exciting spy movie. It's a James Bond spoof with lots of twist and turns. It starts off slow, but it picks up pretty quickly. It takes you to some great locations and builds up to a thrilling ending.

The acting is great, and the movie is exciting. If you like James Bond type of spy movies, I recommend this movie, especially if you're a fan of either Jack Hawkins or Cliff Robertson.

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Marriage on the Rocks (1965) - I watched this movie for the upcoming 1960s movies list.

Dan and Valerie Edwards, (Frank Sinatra and Deborah Kerr), are a married couple whose marriage is on the rocks. They go to Mexico for a second honeymoon, but they accidentally get a divorce instead. When Dan's business partner Ernie Brewer, (Dean Martin), shows up and accidentally marries Valerie, things get even more complicated.

This movie is a comedy starring Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, so I was hoping for some great music in the movie, but sadly, neither of these two great singers sings in the movie. The movie has some laughs, but it's doesn't have any standout funny scenes. It's more of a cute movie than a funny movie.

There's little chemistry between Frank Sinatra and Deborah Kerr, but Dean Martin is great as the single bachelor. Cesar Romero is very good as the jack-of-all-trades in Mexico, but it's Hermione Baddeley as Sinatra's mother-in-law who really steals the movie.

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2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - I watched this movie for the upcoming 1960s movies list. I've seen this movie before, so this was a re-watch, but I doubt that I'll ever fully understand this movie.

This movie is beautiful to watch, but I can understand why some people don't like this movie. It's a long movie that's very slow and boring at times, it can be confusing and hard to understand, and it has very little dialogue. We don't learn much about most of the characters, so we don't care about what happens to them. The only character that we really get to know enough about is Dr. David Bowman, (Keir Dullea), and a lot of what happens to him is confusing.

I don't really like the first part of the movie with the animals, but the movie picks up pretty quickly after that part. The monolith isn't really explained, but if I understand correctly, it seems to have something to do with guiding our evolution. The best parts of the movie are the scenes with the HAL-9000 computer. The ending didn't make much sense, except maybe to leave the movie open for a sequel many years later.

This movie is worth watching for the visuals and the music, but be prepared to spend more time trying to understand the movie than actually watching it.

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2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) - I watched this movie because it aired on Turner Classic Movies right after 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I was hoping that the sequel might answer some questions from the original movie.

This movie picks up nine years after the events of the first movie. Although tensions are rising between the United States and the Soviet Union, they agree to a joint mission to try to find out what caused the problems in the first mission, and what happened to the original crew.

I think I liked this movie more than the first movie. It has an actual story that can be followed, characters that we care about, great visuals, and a satisfying ending. This movie is filled with tense moments, and it answers some questions that were left open in the first movie. This movie gives us some more beautiful scenes, and some great acting.

If you like 2001: A Space Odyssey, I would recommend giving this sequel a try.

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) - I watched this movie because it aired on Turner Classic Movies, and it's one of my all-time favorite movies, so I wanted to watch it again.

This is an amazing movie that is exciting from start to finish. From the minute that Roy Neary, (Richard Dreyfuss), has his first encounter with the unknown, we experience everything right along with him while he tries to understand what he saw, and what's happening to him. This movie is exciting and suspenseful all the way to the incredible ending. It's also one of the few alien encounter movies that doesn't portray the aliens as vicious killers from outer space.

The acting is superb, especially Richard Dreyfuss who gives a standout performance. Teri Garr is great as Roy's wife, who can't understand her husband's sudden crazy obsession. Dreyfuss and Melinda Dillon have great chemistry together as they try to find answers to their questions. And little Cary Guffey is adorable as Melinda Dillon's young son who tries to follow the aliens.

The movie is beautiful to watch, and the music is fantastic. I highly recommend this amazing movie.

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I watched 2001 a few days ago. Seventh attempt to watch this film, but only the second successful one. There's a fairly dull, but watchable film in 2001. Sadly it's trapped between the first fifty (near interminable) minutes and the last twenty or so. I did find two new things in this viewing though. Firstly, this film now manages to annoy me aurally, too. With the exception of the first use of The Blue Danube and Thus Spake Zarathustra, this is a horrible sounding film. Not just the other music, but the beeps and hisses, too and it's all made worse with the length of the takes.

Secondly, the way it's shot in relation to zero gravity is pretty annoying.

Also, I don't know if I noticed this before, but HAL is the most human thing in this film, which I suppose is appropriate for a Kubrick film.

In other words, I still really don't like this film and it's still incredibly boring.

Yeah, I've tried unsuccessfully watching it a bunch of times too, but if I can get past the first part, I can usually make it through the whole movie.

I agree about HAL being the most human thing in the movie. HAL is also the best thing in the movie.

I hope somebody nominates 2001 for the sci-fi HoF, it's been decades since I've seen it.

Ten (2002) - I watched this movie for the 6th Hall of Fame.

This movie has an interesting concept of the whole movie taking place in a car with conversation between the driver and various passengers, but unfortunately it is filled with boring conversations. There's nothing interesting about any of these people.

The kid is a terrible actor, and the most annoying kid ever. He's arguing with his mother, and he's supposed to be complaining, but most of the time, he looks like he's smirking and laughing. In addition, the conversations between the driver and the kid sound more like conversations that might take place between a husband and a wife, rather than between a mother and her son. It's hard to believe that he talks to his mother like that, and she lets him get away with it.

In addition to the bad acting, some of the passengers made no sense. I understand about her son and her sister, but some of the passengers just seemed to be unknown people on the streets. It's bad enough that some of the passengers seem to be complete strangers, but why would she pick up a prostitute??? That made absolutely no sense at all. At one point, she tells another driver that it's a one-way street, but she appears to be the one going the wrong way. If you watch out her window, all the traffic is coming towards her, and driving in the other direction.

I liked the concept of the movie, and the idea of many different people having different conversations throughout the movie, but I just didn't think this was very well written, or thought out. It might have been better if the driver was a taxi driver, and the conversations were all the different passengers. These people were way too boring.

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Sonatine (1993) - I watched this movie for the 6th Hall of Fame.

I kind of have mixed feelings about this movie. It's supposed to be a gangster movie, but while the beginning and the end of the movie make it a gangster movie, the whole middle of the movie doesn't feel like a gangster movie. And the parts of the movie that I liked best were in the middle of the movie.

The middle of the movie is really the heart of the movie. That's where we really meet the characters. We get to know them as real people, not as killers in a gang. It's a bit slow, but that's the part of the movie that's worth watching. The rest of the movie is just about who's killing who, and who's going to make it out of each gunfight alive.

The ending is interesting but I don't want to say much about it here because it would be too much of a spoiler, but I'll add more thoughts about the ending in the movie's HoF thread.

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Fail Safe (1964) - I watched this movie for the 6th Hall of Fame. I've seen this movie before, so it was a re-watch, but it's a great movie, and I'm glad that it was nominated for the Hall of Fame.

This is a fantastic movie that seems to have gotten lost behind Dr. Strangelove, but in my opinion, this is the better of the two movies. This is a realistic thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. It will make you wonder about how safe we really are from a nuclear war, and if it's possible that something like this could actually happen in real life.

This movie features an outstanding cast, including several actors who later became known for comedy, (Walter Matthau, Dom DeLuise and Larry Hagman), but they showed here that they could have been great dramatic actors as well. Henry Fonda is superb as the president, who has an unimaginable decision to make.

The movie may feel a little bit dated, but you have to remember that this movie was filmed in the 1960s, and they didn't have the same technology that we have now. If you can keep that in mind while watching this movie, you'll get the most out of it, but don't miss seeing this great movie.

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I doubt 2001: A Space Odyssey would get nominated for a HoF because there are as many people who hate it as there are who love it, but it's possible.

But you know, you are allowed to watch movies just for your own enjoyment. They don't have to be nominated in a HoF.

Ha! I know but I have such a full slate of films to watch now, that I need it nominated I'm also hoping Encounters of the Third Kind gets nominated as I haven't seen it since the 80s.

I'm glad to hear you liked 2010, I thought the way it explained HAL was great. John Lithgow was a hoot too.

John Lithgow and Roy Scheider are two actors who are among my favorites, so I'll watch just about any movie that they're in.

I spent a lot of the movie trying to figure out why I recognized Bob Balaban, then I finally realized that he was the translator in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Maybe I should have watched CE3K before I watched 2010? He was also Phoebe's father on Friends.