Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/the-english-patient-and-forrest-gump

Comment #1845

2008-02-26T00:26:33Z

Sorry about that. My keyboard suddenly died, so I thought I should just click send to save what I had already written.

...(can't remember the title of the one I'm thinking of) and since our "zero tolerance" policy, we have turned off several movies in the middle.

There, now I'm done.

Comment #1844

2008-02-26T00:14:56Z

You already know what I think about movies, for the most part. But I did want to chime in about Lord of the Flies. I do remember being sickened and scarred by reading it and do not recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it, cultural references or not.

There have been movies I wish I had walked out of (can

Comment #1843

2008-02-25T17:40:50Z

Braveheart was tough to take at the end. Here is our little story about Braveheart.

We got the movie out for my family to watch while they were here for Easter one year. They are not as good as your family at keeping themselves busy with games, so we figured they could watch a movie while we were preparing dinner. (This was before any of us had kids).

My dad kept wandering out to see what was going on in the kitchen. I couldn't understand why. We didn't watch the movie until they had all left. Then we understood. My father is on the squeemish side, so he would just leave the movie during parts that made him uncomfortable.

I can take most of the movie, but I have no desire to see the end.

Related to this, I have a book called "The Scottish Chiefs" by Jane Porter. I have tried to read it a couple of times, but I feel I am getting near to the part where Wallace's wife is killed and I find it too sad to read. I actually don't know if this is going to happen in the book, but in the movie it does.

Comment #1842

2008-02-25T16:45:31Z

Visual images stick with me for a remarkable amount of time. I therefor have to be very careful about what I watch. Add that to a general lack of enthusiasm for movies and see what you get. Thanks to Andy Bonner for feeling me out well enough to recommend movies I've enjoyed and found worth my time and imagination. I've walked out of two movies that I can remember. First, while at a friend's house watching "Montey Python and the Meaning of Life" I retreated to a room by myself, and second, I went to the bathroom during the torture scene of Braveheart.

Comment #1841

2008-02-25T14:46:14Z

I am like Stephan in that I have a poor movie memory. I have seen both The English Patient and Forrest Gump. I really don't remember anything from The English Patient other than people raved about it (maybe that was the media though, not people I knew). I tend to stay away from movies that generate a lot of publicity and if I do watch them, it is years later. I don't remember being wowed by it, but I don't really remember being disturbed by it either. I really don't remember it.

Forrest Gump I remember a little better. It entertained me. What I liked about that one was that someone who was good, honest and loyal would triumph in the end.

Generally, I watch a movie to be entertained and it either does that or not. I don't tend to analyze. I've been trying to think of a movie that I really enjoyed and want to watch again, but my movie memory fails me.

Speaking of scenery. I want to move to Scotland. We have been watching a BBC TV Series called "Monarch of the Glen". Absolutely stunning scenery! See if your local library has it!

Comment #1840

2008-02-25T14:04:48Z

Thank you! I feel better knowing someone else was as disturbed by the Christmas scene as I was. I won't go into details and bring them back to your mind (and mine), but if I had walked out of the movie, it would have been there. (Well, that and the torture room scene.) Less obviously offensive than other parts of the movie by the usual sex-profanity-and-violence standards, it was downright creepy in its obscenity. I have a friend who actually did walk out on a movie (I don't remember which it was), pausing to vomit into the trash can on her way out. I've never been that affected by a movie scene, but this one gave me an inkling of what caused her reaction.

Comment #1839

2008-02-25T06:25:12Z

I went through the same questioning when after its 9 Oscars I came to the English Patient with rather high expectations. The Christmas scene was where I came closest ever in my life to walking out of a movie. The answer I kept getting when asking people what was so great about the movie was: "The beautiful pictures."

Yes, the movie contains a number of impressive panorama and landscape shots, and if I remember correctly, the Indian fellow was a nice guy. Beyond that I don't remember anything commendable, but fortunately most of the movie has fallen into the cracks of vague obscurity, as do all movies. I remember the Christmas scene as a synopsis, not a sequence of visual images. I remember wondering how anyone could appreciate such self-indulgent characters against the backdrop of something as serious and tragic as WWII, but I don't remember specifics of their poor behavior. I am blessed with poor movie memory and I don't mind.