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

[Jurassic Shark 12,071]

Haven't seen Fallout yet through, but I'm rectifying that this weekend.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I have seen Fallout.  Rogue Nation remains my favorite, film and score.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I still need to see Ghost Protocol and Rogue Nation, but I plan on watching those over the next few days so I can catch Fallout in theaters.

 

To me, the first film establishes a great franchise but is hardly intelligent, with its by the books plot twist. These are action vehicles. Of the three that I’ve seen, none of them have great scripts. I like that each director is able to make it their own and not compromise their style to fit an established mold. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Do the newer ones address Ethan's age and that he might be getting too old for all these crazy stunts?

[Hurmm 91]

My ranking. 

 

1. Mission Impossible - most stylish, with a European flair to it, with the best balance of action and spy intrigue. 

 

2. Ghost Protocol - most outright, direct fun. The Kremlin and Dubai sequences are just the two most fun set pieces in the series, and the end man-to-man duel on a moving carpark is surprisingly entertaining too. 

 

3. Fallout - my seat was a little too close to the screen, so I should give this another go. But I don't quite think it's as good as people say it is. It's the most ruminative of the bunch, with a more mature approach to the action  set pieces. But the the double and triple crosses and masks are straight up delicious. Imagine the fun of the action set pieces in Ghost Protocol, but applied to masks. 

 

4. M:I:III - the most propulsive one, with heaving momentum almost throughout. Also possibly the best villain. And I think the best Tom Cruise run ever in the crowded alleys of Shanghai. 

 

5. Rogue Nation - the most elegant of the series in terms of storytelling and styling, but tastes a little too vanilla. 

 

All 5 above are good movies in their own right. And then we have...

 

6. M:I:2 - fucking dogshit. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Hmmm my ranking right now.  Which might change with a Fallout rewatch.

 

1. Rogue Nation - GREAT!

2. Ghost Protocol - Great!

3. 1 - Great!

4. Fallout - Really good

5. 3 - Good

6. 2 - Zzzz

[Matt C 453]

Maleficent

 

All style and not much substance. Linda Woolverton had the unenviable task of marrying a live-action Sleeping Beauty remake with the recent Disney trend of "make the villain sympathetic" -- her script's plotting doesn't mesh well. Either go all in on the latter or stick with a remake, don't half-ass it by trying to have both. And why make the three good fairies all CGI? Their faces are fucking creepy.

 

The film is buoyed by Angelina Jolie, James Newton Howard's amazing score, and Robert Stromberg's stylish direction. Even though the film is four years old, the visuals hold up nicely. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 minutes ago, Matt C said:

Even though the film is four years old, the visuals hold up nicely. 

 

[A24 4,331]

Didn't you know? Movies get better with each year!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

3 hours ago, Hurmm said:

My ranking.

6. M:I:2 - fucking dogshit. 

 

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

6. 2 - Zzzz

 

   

[Matt C 453]

11 hours ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

 

 

Oh, come on. There are VFX-heavy films that come out and they don't hold up well after a year or two.

[Jurassic Shark 12,071]

Still, few films look as good as the original Jurassic Park.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

9 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

Still, few films look as good as the original Jurassic Park.

 

Many films look better. Dean Cundy isnt my favourite DP.

[A24 4,331]

 

Apparently, when people talk about "visuals", they refer to SFX or CGI. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

3 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Apparently, when people talk about "visuals", they refer to SFX or CGI. 

 

Really? Isnt that weird?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

In general, do you think digital color grading has been good for movies as a visual artform, or bad?

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

I can't remember anything about MI:2, which like all these movies I saw once, except something about flamenco and of course Cruise on a motorcycle.  And thinking that Thandie Newton was hot.

 

What do people hate it so much?

[Jurassic Shark 12,071]

Because of the score?

 

And Cruise's hippie hairstyle?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Priest

 

What a lame disappointment that was. Never trust anything from Screen Gems. Its logo should be enough to put you off.

[A24 4,331]

3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

In general, do you think digital color grading has been good for movies as a visual artform, or bad?

 

It's fantastic! Filmmakers can finally achieve the result they envision.  Except for maybe Tarantino and PTA, you'll be hard-pressed to find a director who is against digital color grading.

[Holko 9,525]

Eh. For anyone with enough vision, it's a poweful tool to execute it, but for anyone else, it's a cheap tool to exploit. See Orange-and-Teal-O-Mania and the destruction of classics via needless regrading. Though on the other hand, it simplifies proper restorations of faded strips immensely. So it's a fantastic tool in the right hands, terrible in the wrong ones.

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

Yeah. I'm not so concerned with digital grading for cinema releases...it's how much they f*ck them up (most with teal) when they hit Blu Ray that annoys me.

 

The green tint Fellowship of the Ring EE BD being among the worst offenders.  

[Disco Stu 15,495]

3 minutes ago, Holko said:

Eh. For anyone with enough vision, it's a poweful tool to execute it, but for anyone else, it's a cheap tool to exploit. See Orange-and-Teal-O-Mania and the destruction of classics via needless regrading. Though on the other hand, it simplifies proper restorations of faded strips immensely. So it's a fantastic tool in the right hands, terrible in the wrong ones.

 

I agree.  It can be very off-putting.  Makes some movies have a very eerie sense of "un-reality" in an unintended way.

 

Related, I watched the old Sidney Lumet film The Verdict not all that long ago and loved the visual look of it.  Something about the washed out, drained of color look of realistic dramas of that time that just gels with me. 

[Quintus 5,399]

Colour grading or no; a disciplined filmmaker is still a disciplined filmmaker. Any hack can go mad with the tools though.

[A24 4,331]

5 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

Yeah. I'm not so concerned with digital grading for cinema releases...it's how much they f*ck them up (most with teal) when they hit Blu Ray that annoys me.

 

The green tint Fellowship of the Ring EE BD being among the worst offenders.  

 

So with Peter Jackson it's in the wrong hands?  

 

1 minute ago, Quintus said:

Colour grading or no; a disciplined filmmaker is still a disciplined filmmaker. Any hack can go mad with the tools though.

 

Peter Jackson, the hack?

[Holko 9,525]

1 minute ago, Alexcremers said:

So with Peter Jackson it's in the wrong hands?  

 

Look at the Hobbit. Yes.

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

7 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

So with Peter Jackson it's in the wrong hands?  

 

 

No, Jackson's fine. The grading in the EE DVD and TE BD was fine. But the FOTR EE BD is widely rumoured to be a mastering screw up.

 

The original Matrix BD was a teal disaster as well, but that was intentional (though it's been mostly corrected with the recent 4K release).

[Quintus 5,399]

Jackson was a like a kid in a colour grading sweet shop, he went absolutely berserk with it. The look of The Hobbit movies is one of the main reasons I can't stomach that trilogy.

[Holko 9,525]

Compared to the gorgeous Fellowship... 

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

25 minutes ago, Quintus said:

Jackson was a like a kid in a colour grading sweet shop, he went absolutely berserk with it. The look of The Hobbit movies is one of the main reasons I can't stomach that trilogy.

 

Well the Hobbit is another story, yes. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

[A24 4,331]

32 minutes ago, Nick1066 said:

 

No, Jackson's fine. The grading in the EE DVD and TE BD was fine. But the FOTR EE BD is widely rumoured to be a mastering screw up.

 

The original Matrix BD was a teal disaster as well, but that was intentional (though it's been mostly corrected with the recent 4K release).

 

Blade Runner The Final Cut has also been 'tealed'. Why is nobody complaining about that?

[Jurassic Shark 12,071]

4 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

That's the most famous painting by a Norwegian painter.

[Nick1Ø66 4,714]

5 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Blade Runner The Final Cut has also been 'tealed'. Why is nobody complaining about that?

 

Well isn't that your job?

[Holko 9,525]

22 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Blade Runner The Final Cut has also been 'tealed'. Why is nobody complaining about that?

 

There's too many to list. T2, Aliens, Titanic... Goddamn you Cameron, you got too enamored with Na'vi palettes!

 

Fun fact: In the Fellowship credits, the creators of the digital grading software are listed, and they're all Hungarian.

[A24 4,331]

1 hour ago, Nick1066 said:

 

Well isn't that your job?

 

There's plenty of other cuts to choose from.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I like the one where Harrison is doing the talking over the moovey

[A24 4,331]

Me too. That was the only version of the movie we knew and grew to love in the '80s. It's also the version 'sans unicorn'.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

There's a version of Blade Runner for everyone!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Like Star Wars!

[Holko 9,525]

Tried watching 1941, then after 20 minutes and a bit of skipping I decided I'm better off just listening to the March.

[bollemanneke 3,344]

Toy Story.

 

This was another movie that I had to watch, according to some people. I liked it, though Tom Hanks wasn't as good as usual and that final bus-lorry pursuit sequence lasted just a little bit too long and the ending was really way too abrupt. Other than that, pretty good, although it makes Inside Out less original and I really liked that one.

And this was my first orchestral Randy Newman score. I didn't like the suspenseful side of this score, but the happy music was the best I've heard in a very long time, although the sad music didn't always work. Buzz Lightyear's theme, however, was excellent.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,520]

1 hour ago, Holko said:

Tried watching 1941, then after 20 minutes and a bit of skipping I decided I'm better off just listening to the March.

Wha'?! It's a brilliant, rough-diamond of a film.

[Matt C 453]

8 hours ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

Priest

 

What a lame disappointment that was. Never trust anything from Screen Gems. Its logo should be enough to put you off.

 

 

B-movie schlock like Resident Evil is mainly what they release, but there are a few jewels like Easy A. And then hysterically funny bad movies like Burlesque.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

12 hours ago, Stefancos said:

 

Many films look better. Dean Cundy isnt my favourite DP.

Very few films relying on CGI look better than JP. Of course JP has very little CGI comparatively (6 min).

[Disco Stu 15,495]

My Darling Clementine

 

Hot dang that’s a great movie.  Mature and Fonda are perfect!  My favorite Ford is Stagecoach but this one sure is a classic too.

[Wojo 2,453]

12 hours ago, Nick1066 said:

I can't remember anything about MI:2, which like all these movies I saw once, except something about flamenco and of course Cruise on a motorcycle.  And thinking that Thandie Newton was hot.

 

What do people hate it so much?

 

Because Metallica's cover of a Pink Floyd kicked off their crusade against Napster. 

[A24 4,331]

The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)

 

 

Found this on Netflix. Never watched it before. Streisand and Bridges start a relationship that excludes having sex. Barbra Streisand reminds me of Woody Allen in this one. The first two acts (when Streisand plays the so-called ugly duckling) are pretty good and often funny. After that you'll get exactly what you've predicted. 7/10

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Rupture

 

Stylish sci-fi laboratory thriller. Didn't mind it but could have been better. Noomi Repace has great muscles that gleam nicely when she's all nice and wet.

[bollemanneke 3,344]

Apollo 13.

 

I was really looking forward to this one. Fooled by Rotten Tomatoes' 100% rating, I thought this just couldn't be a bad movie. And it certainly wasn't bad, but I'm not sure whether I'd even give it a 70% approval rating. First, I thought we didn't spend enough time with Tom Hanks' family and what this whole trip meant for them, though the regular Marilyn scenes sort of made up for that. But my biggest problem was the endless back-and-forthing. I understand we need that communication with NASA, but in the end, I didn't even understand what they were doing and why anymore. I can't connect to or feel for people when you keep talking about SCS and CMP all the time. I only really felt sorry for them when no one was watching their TV show. And the fact that I had recently read an interview with James Horner in which he sort of gave the ending of the story away didn't help either.

Speaking of James Horner, I had read a tremendous amount of praise about this score and was therefore expecting the impossible. There wasn't enough music in this movie (not his fault, of course), and even though some moments were truly great, especially the finale, the chord progressions during the launch sequence sounded rather weird to me and... I just didn't hear anything that deserved the positive feedback I had read, though I am enjoying the fact that I'm getting better at recognising all his self-referencing.