What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)

[Disco Stu 15,495]

4 hours ago, Sally Spectra said:

Now, Voyager

 

For 1942, this was a bold condemnation of the status quo stigma attached to mental illness and being a 'spinster'.

 

Although Bette Davis effortlessly reminds you that she was probably the most talented Hollywood actress of her day, the script is a frustrating disappointment how it skips some of the most compelling elements. We're introduced to Bette as an uglified recluse who's had a nervous breakdown as a result of the persistent emotional abuse from her controlling wench of a mother... then two scenes later, she's a beautiful, confident glamour woman (in a shot that probably inspired Rose's introductory shot in Titanic)! Oh come, the film robs us of the best concept - witnessing the process of Bette's transformation, which would have added weight to her later role in the film as mentor. You don't just get over shit like that. Then she's romancing Paul Henreid, growing a spine to defy her old hag, hosting parties, etc.

 

But finally, it delivers on its promise for more intimate emotional intrigue when everything comes full circle.

 

Great film with a great, drippy Steiner score to boot.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Has the score ever been released in full or are the Gerhardt suites all we have?

 

According to a doco included on the Baby Jane DVD, Davis wielded unprecedented control over the production of Now, Voyager, which led to significant friction with the director. Had she been born 50-60 years later, I reckon she would have been allowed to sit in the director's chair with ease.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

I have a feeling that the Gerhardt is all we have, but at least it's in Dolby Surround 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Yeah not even old Stromberg has ever done a full re-recording of the score.

 

And hey, we also have the great Williams/Perlman recording!

 

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It's overdue for a full re-recording. It's an Oscar winner!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Shall we just have a cigarrete on it?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Up In The Air

 

I guess what I learned from this entertaining flick is that people shouldn't necessarily be defined or judged by their jobs or their deceptive facades. A complex set of characters who aren't necessarily all that they seem. Some have a soul, and others show that they don't in some very cruel ways.

[Fancyarcher 350]

A Knights Tale - 7 / 10

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

9 hours ago, Richard said:

Oh, Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars.

 

The moon's an egg. Where to, miss? To the stars.

 

Anyway.

 

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (copyright The Walt Disney Company--please don't sue me or shut down my post, I love The Haunted Mansion)

 

Fuck, this one got just about everything wrong didn't it? I realize I'm the last person to see it. I never even intended to, but my old man asked if I'd seen it and pulled it up on Netflix, so I figured what the hell. It's pretty much bad right from the start. The movie tries so hard to be Star Wars while also trying to be a gritter Star Wars and therefore differentiate itself. The end result is just bizarre, but too boring to matter. The Star Wars references seem wildly out of place. It's a boring pointless hunk of junk with embarrassing fanboy winks such as obvious recycled footage from the old movie, the drunk guy that picked a fight with Luke in the bar with Walrus Man in a scene that somehow feels grittier than this movie could ever hope to be and battle scenes that literally ripped off the Rogue Squadron series of video games.

 

The biggest problem with this flick is its lack of good characters and chemistry. I'm the last to gush about Star Wars these days or even put down the prequels I love dearly, but the issue with all the later movies is that they don't have the characters from the old movies doing their thing. Even TFA fucked everything up by bringing old tired nearly-dead versions of the old characters back and trying to recreate that...magic. Yes, there's the word I also never use. By TFA, they didn't have it in them anymore and it was like an SNL skit, or when Alf went to Gilligan's Island. Shit, even Jedi got it wrong. The cast are all bored. You can't just recreate that sort of success. You can wink and nudge all you want. You can't do these Star Wars movies without Luke, Han, the robots and Darth doing their thing, not in weird cameos and with digitally smoothed faces and stories that are completely un-compelling.

 

It seemed to me like they wanted to go more gritty, but the film was re-edited to be more winky and nudgey to make it more Star Warsy. That doesn't excuse the shittiness of the gritty scenes. And they are shitty. Is Forrest Whitaker the most hammy actor of all time? He would have been great in the prequels. Okay, we're just sort of rambling at this point but you get the idea.

 

I forgot the mention how embarrassed I was watching it when the main title came up with the Giacchino music.

[Jay 37,287]

I basically agree with everything you say here Justin!

[Romão 2,274]

So do I, although I still think TFA is a far superior film

[Jay 37,287]

Oh definitely

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

TFA at least kept my attention, but that's because I wanted to see Luke. Talk about not being disappointed yet simultaneously massively disappointed. This one had nothing to really keep you watching.

[Romão 2,274]

And don't get me started on that Vader scene...

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Rogue One

 

It was alright. Didn't mind the chick with the chipmonk teeth. She ever show her tits in a movie?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I watched TFA and thought to myself, "That's an instant movie star." about Daisy Ridley.  I saw Rogue One and I'd get bored just listening to Felicity Whatsherface talk.  No charisma at all.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

1 hour ago, BloodBoal said:

 

Great film. Really liked it (particularly the ending).

The film's teaser is one of my favorite pieces of movie marketing ever. Damn perfect. 

I literally stole the dialogue and concept for a small creative writing assignment years ago and was mortified when it was picked by the professor to be read aloud to the class. Thankfully no one in there was a movie buff. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

29 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I watched TFA and thought to myself, "That's an instant movie star." about Daisy Ridley.  I saw Rogue One and I'd get bored just listening to Felicity Whatsherface talk.  No charisma at all.

 

She's very lean, that Daisy. Muscles that could pulverise steel.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Suicide Squad

 

What?

They just don't make good movies anymore, do they? I've been sayin' it. I've been sayin' it for 10 damn years. Ain't I been saying it, Miguel? Huh? I've been sayin' it.

 

Can someone tell me how after decades of beloved successful Jokers in film and TV, DC was okay with Jared Leto? It's not like he just slipped through the cracks. It's the fucking Joker in the latest DC universe movie. This is the Joker in the Batman v Superman universe with Ben Affleck. THIS guy? All that screen time devoted to his girlfriend (admittedly, quite good, especially when she's being beaten and electrocuted) and that's the fucking Joker? We're just supposed to accept that? Jared Leto as The Joker made Hayden Christensen in Attack of the Clones look like Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II.

 

It's another stupid ass flick with a ridiculous Zuul villain that I couldn't even believe was real. I suppose it can best be experienced as a 15 minute supercut of Harley Quinn scenes. It's otherwise a POS with way too many snippets of pop songs (I hate it when films do this--remember, Warner and DC when you got this right with Prince in the 1989 Batman?) that seemed to have convinced Will Smith and Harley Quinn lady they were in something good.

[Romão 2,274]

It's an atrocious movie. Nothing at all redeems it

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Yeah it's easily the worst film I've seen in a long time. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

It's not as bad as Independence Day: Resurgence or Female Ghostbusters.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Thankfully I've never seen those and never will. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is on. This is a movie where you know why it was made (to continue to cash in on the Harry Potter series), yet you still question why it was even made. Another boring blockbuster type flick. There is a really cute girl with nice ass hair and small tits that I like, but her inclusion doesn't improve anything. Was she the fantastic beast? Even when the official Harry Potter films got boring, they were still entertaining. Hell, the best scenes in any of those movies were when they were camping in the woods. I guess that's what happens when you have a good storyline with characters you give a crap about. Also, the main actor's hair in this was terrible. What an awful look. It seemed it was designed to draw attention and the camera was always pointed at the hair instead of the actor's face.

[Wojo 2,453]

We watched that this past Sunday. I enjoyed it reasonably well, though its special effects shots inside the TARDIS zoo lasted too long. It was annoying how the main character never looked directly at the people he was talking to. It got old fast. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I think he was directed to look down so they could focus on his hair.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Most of these movies I'm saving for cable TV.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

So you can have commercial breaks?

[A24 4,326]

8 hours ago, Romão said:

So do I, although I still think TFA is a far superior film

 

What you should say is: "TFA is the least worst".

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

3 hours ago, Evil-Lyn said:

So you can have commercial breaks?

 

They don't have commercial breaks on the movie channels.

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

9 hours ago, Evil-Lyn said:

Suicide Squad

 

What?

They just don't make good movies anymore, do they? I've been sayin' it. I've been sayin' it for 10 damn years. Ain't I been saying it, Miguel? Huh? I've been sayin' it.

 

Can someone tell me how after decades of beloved successful Jokers in film and TV, DC was okay with Jared Leto? It's not like he just slipped through the cracks. It's the fucking Joker in the latest DC universe movie. This is the Joker in the Batman v Superman universe with Ben Affleck. THIS guy? All that screen time devoted to his girlfriend (admittedly, quite good, especially when she's being beaten and electrocuted) and that's the fucking Joker? We're just supposed to accept that? Jared Leto as The Joker made Hayden Christensen in Attack of the Clones look like Robert De Niro in The Godfather Part II.

 

It's another stupid ass flick with a ridiculous Zuul villain that I couldn't even believe was real. I suppose it can best be experienced as a 15 minute supercut of Harley Quinn scenes. It's otherwise a POS with way too many snippets of pop songs (I hate it when films do this--remember, Warner and DC when you got this right with Prince in the 1989 Batman?) that seemed to have convinced Will Smith and Harley Quinn lady they were in something good.

There's been a story in the last couple of days about how Scorsese is going to be the producer of a forthcoming 'gritty' Joker flick. Intended as more of a crime drama than a superhero-type deal, apparently. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

A "gritty Joker flick"? He's a murderous psychopath. How much more "gritty" can you get?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Not much more than the 1989 version or The Dark Knight. Any more and you end up with that awful cartoon version where he rapes Batgirl and has a naked Commissioner Gordon held prisoner by a trio of creepy little guys. Nobody wants to see that.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

Really?!

Geez. The world is, truly, going to Hell in a hand-cart.

[Quintus 5,399]

Mark Hamil in the Arkham games is THE Joker, no fucker else gets close!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Last of the Mohicans

 

I only watched this because Madeleine Stowe keeps my eyes glued to the screen. Besides that, it was a good flick. Some brutal battle scenes and lots of mesmerising photography - they just don't light movies like this anymore, instead they have this muted look to them. But not here. In LOTM, actors' faces are beautifully illuminated in artful ways.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

Michael Mann always photographs his films, well: HEAT, COLLATERAL, etc.

[A24 4,326]

I remember switching off that one really fast.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

2 hours ago, Richard said:

Michael Mann always photographs his films, well: HEAT, COLLATERAL, etc.

Hell no. His films are ugly. 

[A24 4,326]

Collateral was early digital, was it not?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Last Of The Mohicans looks great

[Naïve Old Fart 9,498]

13 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

Collateral was early digital, was it not?

 

Yes.

 

13 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Hell no. His films are ugly. 

 

There's a certain beauty in ugliness. You need to look with better eyes.

 

5 hours ago, Stefancos said:

Last Of The Mohicans looks great

 

Indeed.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Not of fan at all of the look of Last Of The Mohicans. I generally love films that use mostly natural lighting, but here, I thought it just didn't look good for some reason (the picture looks too.. I don't know, "muddy"?).  And the night scenes are so poorly lit, it's hard to tell what's going on in them most of the time.

 

You crazy bunch.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

That "muddiness" might be attributed to the anamorphic lenses, which generally aren't as sharp as standard spherical lenses.

[A24 4,326]

That would mean every movie shot anamorphically is muddy.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

35 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

That would mean every movie shot anamorphically is muddy.

 

Not necessarily. Not all anamophic lenses are created equal, but it's just a general rule of thumb that they're not as sharp as spherical.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So did Mann chose low quality lenses on purpose?

[Quintus 5,399]

I always thought Manhunt looked visually boring. The majority of the movie is like hospital waiting room colours. In another way though, I suppose it adds to the weirdness of it. A certain unease.