The Taking of Pelham One Two Three on HULU

Hulu.com has The Taking of Pelham One Two Three for any that want to watch it. I guess this is where Tarantino got is Mr. Color schick for Reservoir Dogs. It’s a good film though and modern films tend to lack the throw away characterization that’s present here. It’s too bad because it adds a lot of texture to the work.

I’m A Newlywed, Not A Divorcee
And Everything I Do Is Funky Like Lee Dorsey
Well, It’s The Taking of Pelham, One, Two, Three
If You Want A Doodoo Rhyme Then Come See Me

Really excellent flick.

Yeah, there’s a weird blurb at the end that stipulates that even though many scenes took place on transit property, they had no input on the story, nor did they render technical advice or assistance. The former makes sense, but I don’t know how they could have done the film without the latter.

“…If you want a doodoo rhyme then come see me!”

One of my favorite films.

Nooooooo: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1111422/

Walter Matthau > Denzel Washington
Robert Shaw > John Travolta

I love this movie so much; I considered it as my pick when we were starting to think of movies for the weekly club. I remember when I was small seeing this hbo or something and thinking how very adult this movie looked. It’s funny to think now, but when I was younger so many of those movies from the '70s just looked to me like grown ups confronting each other and talking with very serious looks on their faces. Even now that’s the first thing I think of when I hear about adult movies, I have to reconsider that ‘oh yeah, they mean porn.’

Yeah, that was back when they actually made movies for adults. Now it’s all comic-book superhero crap made for the kids (and those of us who never matured) or tired tv remakes.

Here’s a list of the top 400 money-makers. Other than “The Passion of the Christ”, It’s not until #30: “The Sixth Sense” that an actual adult movie makes the charts.

It’s kind of sad.

Chuck, I want you to reread everything you just said and think about it for a while.

Chuck, um, what the hell are you talking about? What’s sad?

Slow moving talky movies aimed at adults do not do incredible box office(beyond that many people don’t like them, they are often rated R). That’s always been true and always will be. A quick glance at last year’s Oscar nominations should reveal that Hollywood is still making plenty of serious adult films.

Also, I disagree with your categorization of Titanic, The Dark Knight(while a hated super-hero comic book movie, an incredibly dark and serious take on that material), Forrest Gump, and probably several others but I tire of listing them.

Incredibly dark and serious? I think it fits in a few nods to “serious” subjects, but given the scope of the film (and being an summer blockbuster), it’s very much a film with cliff-note characterizations of the people and themes.

If the Dark Knight is now “incredibly dark and serious” cinema, we have regressed as a nation.

I don’t know what superhero movies you’ve been watching, Mord, but it’s hardly a stretch to call Dark Knight an “incredibly dark and serious take on a [superhero comic book movie]”.

And even if you do ignore the bolded part, as you did, Dark Knight is indeed dark and serious.

-Tom

Well, to limply defend my oversight… if you only compare it to comic book and similar action movies, sure, but in the context of cinema (or trends in modern cinema versus past cinema), it really isn’t evidence that the ratio of cinema aimed at adults to teens hasn’t shifted significantly toward the latter. The janitor in Unbreakable is far more chilling than the Joker, even given Ledger’s superlative performance.

The Joker is far more fun, though. And that’s important for a summer blockbuster.

And even if you do ignore the bolded part, as you did, Dark Knight is indeed dark and serious.

-Tom

Personally, it was very difficult to take it seriously (no matter its intent) because its pacing was so friggin frantic. The film could have really used an additional 15 minutes. If it wasn’t for such credible actors adding gravitas to their dialogue (like Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Michael Caine), it could have slipped into trite territory very easily (like it did in the final showdown between the Joker and Batman).

So after my big but, you are right, I just conveniently passed over his qualification. My apologies to Hudson.

And thanks for pointing it out. :)

Kelly Wand had this to say in her excellent review:

Finally, there are some who complain that the movie, while good, is still too long. The truth is, it’s actually more like ten hours too short.

-Tom

Oooh. Thanks for pointing me to her review. I’ll stop derailing the thread now. Heh.

The who? Oh, right, he was the killer. Yeah, way more chilling, that janitor guy.

I took that chart, used the Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator and converted them to 2008 dollars, which was easier than trying to figure out which year would be best as a baseline.

Box Office Adjusted for Inflation in 2008 Dollars

The Top 20:
[ul]
[li]Rank Title USA Box Office in 2008 Dollars
[/li][li]1 Gone with the Wind (1939) $3,126,834,076
[/li][li]2 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) $2,810,867,372
[/li][li]3 Star Wars (1977) $1,663,977,751
[/li][li]4 Bambi (1942) $1,379,537,753
[/li][li]5 The Sound of Music (1965) $1,134,339,288
[/li][li]6 One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) $1,119,960,000
[/li][li]7 Jaws (1975) $1,058,200,000
[/li][li]8 The Exorcist (1973) $1,008,505,450
[/li][li]9 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $987,335,272
[/li][li]10 The Jungle Book (1967) $929,075,659
[/li][li]11 Titanic (1997) $817,060,561
[/li][li]12 The Sting (1973) $786,828,000
[/li][li]13 Doctor Zhivago (1965) $776,467,900
[/li][li]14 Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) $771,822,278
[/li][li]15 Mary Poppins (1964) $722,238,000
[/li][li]16 The Godfather (1972) $705,118,809
[/li][li]17 The Graduate (1967) $683,801,018
[/li][li]18 Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) $680,075,900
[/li][li]19 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) $609,761,044
[/li][li]20 Grease (1978) $609,369,600
[/li][/ul]

Disney wins!

.xls spreadsheet if you care to play with them yourself. I was tempted to factor in the years since release, because the figure include theatrical re-releases, which there have been several of for some of the top titles. Or grouping them by year (a lot of the 70s classics took in about half a billion).

Like I said, he’s less fun than the Joker. Personifications of philosophical concepts don’t scare me, but crazy janitors that kill people seemingly at random (other than he likes their house, ie family.)–only to spit alcohol on them, do. You know, guys like this.

first thing i thought of too

love this film, but Hulu’s advertisements in the middle of movies ticks me off to no end

What’s so serious about it? Everyone looks grim? Bale’s Harvey Fierstein impersonation when he puts on the bat suit? I’ll grant you that it’s serious in tone in the way that Sin City is serious in tone, but it still comes across as a comic book movie and not anything that offers any real insight. It titillates but never illuminates.

I like how immediately after the opening paragraph in Kelly Wand’s review . . .

. . . there’s an ad for Scorpion King 2 (own it 8/19 on DVD and Blu-Ray hi def!).

BoxOfficeMojo has all your inflation adjustment needs.