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

[A24 4,329]

28 minutes ago, Sharky said:

Fincher should've stuck to music videos. That was his true calling.

 

 

 

Music videos are dead.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Doesn't Spotify have them?

[A24 4,329]

Oh, I'm pretty sure they still make 'm, but the art is dead

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

 

2 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Oh, I'm pretty sure they still make 'm, but the art is dead

 

Really?

 

 

[A24 4,329]

Yes, really ...

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

This clip is recieving critical acclaim...hmmmm.

[Quintus 5,399]

1 hour ago, Margo Channing said:

Dirty Dancing

 

Evil youngin defies her honourable father by uniting with a hooligan who teaches her ungodly dancing to sinful music! Fun movie, really! Funny how distintly 80s music creeps into movie set in 1963.

 

I've still never seen it. Roadhouse is good though.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Its a classic!

[A24 4,329]

2 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

This clip is recieving critical acclaim...hmmmm.

 

Doesn't mean a thing.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So you don't think its been imaginatively done? Hmmm...

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Good music videos are still being made. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I wonder why Alex doesn't think so? Hmmm...

[A24 4,329]

Nobody cares, that's why. I guess you youngsters weren't around when music videos were king. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

You do realize youngsters today spend hours and hours on YouTube, right?  Music videos are incredibly popular.  I’d venture to say the most popular videos now are watched more than any at the height of MTV’s popularity

[Koray Savas 2,251]

With videos reaching billions of views, I’d say that’s a certainty. Alex is just being his ol’ out of touch self. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Alex only uses YouTube for ASMR.

[A24 4,329]

7 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

You do realize youngsters today spend hours and hours on YouTube, right? 

 

They spend hours and hours on youtube, not to watch music videos, but famous youtubers. Get with the times, disco. Or you can read the gazillion articles on the web about how dead music videos are.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So thats what your kid is doing?

[A24 4,329]

He watches:

 

 

No really, it's brilliant!

[Quintus 5,399]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

You do realize youngsters today spend hours and hours on YouTube, right?  Music videos are incredibly popular.  I’d venture to say the most popular videos now are watched more than any at the height of MTV’s popularity

 

Grandpa Creamers is out of touch with how the young 'uns consume media, particularly music these days. They basically live on YouTube and consume all their music there. I believe Vevo is one of the biggest channels on the site. And the stars themselves, the Taylor Swifts, the Little Mixxes and the Bruno Marses, they all try to out do one another with the latest in glossy overproduced videos for dem precious Likes. Some though are really quite good, I've noticed.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I'll see if Belinda Carlisle has a channel...

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

 The Cell

 

Okay serial killer thriller with neurotech as it's gimmick resulting in stunningly surreal imagery resembling a Clive Barker film. But all that visual pizazz merely disguises how conventional it is. Howard Shore's score is noticebly effective and ominous - some real LOTRish moments in there.

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

Wings of Desire

 

Fucking precious film. Bruno Ganz is excellent of course but Peter Falk absolutely steals the picture. Goddamn what a ride.

 

 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

mother!

 

Bizarre, twisted, and horrifying. Just like Christianity! I’d slide it in as my third favorite Aronofsky, behind The Fountain and Black Swan. 

[Nick Parker 3,040]

14 hours ago, Sharky said:

Fincher should've stuck to music videos. That was his true calling.

 

 

 

(On the subject of Iggy Pop videos)

[crocodile 7,998]

Watched The Revenant last night. It was one of the UHD discs that I picked up as it's supposed to be a good looking one. The film itself is good, not great. It's certainly well made and nice to look at but ultimately doesn't really go anywhere or say much. Still, it manages to transport you into this amazing, yet completely real, world and that's something only good filmmakers are able to do. So yeah, I enjoyed watching it but didn't enjoy it as much, if that makes sense. But that's the problem with every Iñárritu film I've ever watched.

 

Karol

[A24 4,329]

Same for me. Film lacked what is known as 'the human element'. 

[Quintus 5,399]

8 hours ago, Muad'Dib said:

Wings of Desire

 

Fucking precious film. Bruno Ganz is excellent of course but Peter Falk absolutely steals the picture. Goddamn what a ride.

 

 

 

I'm going to watch this.

[mrbellamy 6,275]

15 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

They spend hours and hours on youtube, not to watch music videos, but famous youtubers. Get with the times, disco. Or you can read the gazillion articles on the web about how dead music videos are.

1

 

94 out of the 100 most viewed YouTube videos of all-time are music videos...

[A24 4,329]

And you only have to look at the number one to realize that music videos and music are dead..

 

 

BTW, people check it for the wobbling ass. The rest is bought views!

[crocodile 7,998]

1 hour ago, Alexcremers said:

Same for me. Film lacked what is known as 'the human element'. 

It wants to be a (good) Terrence Malick but ends up being Apocalypto.

 

Karol

[Chen G. 3,948]

Hey! Apocalypto is aces!

 

Not a five-star film by any means, but aces nonetheless.

[crocodile 7,998]

Did I say it wasn't?

Karol

[Chen G. 3,948]

I just don't think Apocalypto misses the human element.

 

I mean, its certainly more of a straight-forward action film than it is a drama, but the characters are fine. I certainly didn't want them to have their hearts ripped out! And, on the flipside, despicable villians (which those in Apocalypto most certainly are) are just as important as sympathetic heroes, so that we are invested in their downfall.

 

I also find it amazing for a filmmaker to make a film so clearly outside of his established visual style: the transition from the steady, very-composed Braveheart and Passion of the Christ to the hand and body-held cameras and extreme close-ups of Apocalypto is the inverse of the Friedkin's transition from The French Connection to The Exorcist; which is to say nothing of the spectacular use of digital cameras: one of the first big productions to have do so.

 

Its also the first film Gibson actually co-wrote. As such, its Gibson's most "visionary" work (as Martin Scorcese called it), even if it isn't his most dramatic.

[crocodile 7,998]

No one said Apocalypto is missing a human element. I was replying to Alex's post, making a general comment about the film. Not specifically replying to his point.

 

Karol

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Dirty Harry

 

Clint Eastwood's face grimaces when his superiors use terms like "miranda" and "bill of rights" in a well-honed police thriller that doesn't shy away from making Police brutality and vigilantism a viable way to keep the streets safe from child-killing scum.

 

One of the first films of its type to show people taking the law into their own hands when the law fails them.

 

The film was controversial in 1971 and remains so today, mainly because the effectiveness of Don Siegel's direction and Eastwood's still classic portrayal of Harry Callaghan. 

 

Filmed mostly in and around San Francisco with impressive panoramic shots in anamorphic wide screen, Dirty Harry remains a landmark "cop" film, referenced, followed upon and imitated countless times, but never really bettered.

 

Lalo's eclectic but restrained score is equally influential.

 

***1/3 out of ****

 

[James 119]

Princess Mononoke (1997)

 

There some demons and gods. I like it.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

And Magnum Force has such a cool title. You just know you're watching a macho movie.

[A24 4,329]

Which are basically uncool like Chuck Norris.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Not when Don Siegel is directing!

[publicist 4,643]

Since Harry's portrayal features traits of a sociopath and leaves conclusions about this to the audience (for instance when Harry rejects the bill of rights when it doesn't fit his agenda in the commander's office) i never found this movie disagreeable like, i. e., 'Death Wish'.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

When you have an evil homicidal maniac on the loose and the law just ignores it, what do you expect Harry to do?

[A24 4,329]

I expect him to arrest the troubled individual so he can receive the proper treatment.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Sissy.

[publicist 4,643]

It is my staunch belief that ambiguity, even if the usual braindeads do not recognize it, should be applauded.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

37 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

I expect him to arrest the troubled individual so he can receive the proper treatment.

 

Does it invalidate a movie if you disagree with it's morality, Alex?

[publicist 4,643]

Its main character's, rather.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

5 hours ago, crocodile said:

No one said Apocalypto is missing a human element. I was replying to Alex's post, making a general comment about the film. Not specifically replying to his point.

 

Karol

You mentioned a Mel Gibson film, so he had to come out full force to prove you wrong. 

[Chen G. 3,948]

Not at all. I don't care for The Passion of the Christ, for instance.

 

But he is a filmmaker whose work I very much appreciated. Who knew this actor would be such a good director?

[Nick Parker 3,040]

5 hours ago, Stefancos said:

Dirty Harry

 

Clint Eastwood's face grimaces when his superiors use terms like "miranda" and "bill of rights" in a well-honed police thriller that doesn't shy away from making Police brutality and vigilantism a viable way to keep the streets safe from child-killing scum.

 

One of the first films of its type to show people taking the law into their own hands when the law fails them.

 

The film was controversial in 1971 and remains so today, mainly because the effectiveness of Don Siegel's direction and Eastwood's still classic portrayal of Harry Callaghan. 

 

Filmed mostly in and around San Francisco with impressive panoramic shots in anamorphic wide screen, Dirty Harry remains a landmark "cop" film, referenced, followed upon and imitated countless times, but never really bettered.

 

Lalo's eclectic but restrained score is equally influential.

 

***1/3 out of ****

 

 

I said this satirically about Starship Troopers earlier, but Dirty Harry is one of my absolute favorites. The sequels are cute, but rarely have the edge and earnestness of this one. Lalo Schifrin's score is one of my absolute favorites: while I think Schifrin is a much better composer than film composer, this is one of the few projects where his sensibilities and the film's intertwine beautifully. 

 

As far as the morality angle that you guys are referring to, I don't remember much in the way of counterarguing Callahan's beliefs. As you mention, his superiors constantly deride and reprimand him for his off the rails conduct, but I seem to remember Harry still being painted more or less as the "hero". If there's any ambiguity, it'd be in that the film is pretty objective in depicting Harry's actions, it doesn't celebrate them. Am I recalling this accurately?

 

Overall, a film that, as you mention, remains relevant 40+ years later.