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

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

He's a very serious person. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I'm always serious.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

7 hours ago, Steve McQueen said:

Talking 'bout Zappa, right?  That one transcends novelty.  

 

 

VALLEY GIRL isn't quite as good as DANCIN' FOOL, but it's alright.

[A24 4,326]

12 hours ago, Steve McQueen said:

1. American Graffiti was good

 

 

I saw a few minutes of that a few days ago on TV but it was another terrible 'cropped' version (zoomed in so the black bars disappear). Unwatchable. 

 

14 minutes ago, publicist said:

It's to balance you clowns.

 

Very smart, but that is to be expected from pubs.

 

14 minutes ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

He's a very serious person. 

 

Not so smart, but that is to be expected from Drax.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Anyone else get bored by "Smart Cities" conferences?

[Holko 9,499]

Empire of the Sun

 

Really liked it. The score, too. Now to see whether 20 minutes of alternates are worth a 30€ pricetag.

[A24 4,326]

20 minutes ago, Holko said:

Empire of the Sun

 

Really liked it. The score, too.

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

An important and undervalued work of both the director and composer, and still Bale's best film.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

Agreed, on all counts.

[SteveMc 2,674]

Bale was indeed impressive in that one.

Maybe Spielberg's most underrated film.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

"There may be hope for JWFan yet!" - @Alexcremers

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

9 minutes ago, Steve McQueen said:

Bale was indeed impressive in that one.

Maybe Spielberg's most underrated film.

Not by me. I've loved it since it was released in the UK, in 1988.

[SteveMc 2,674]

I watched for the first time on HBO here in the States a few years back.  Immediately thought it was something quite special.  Real high level stuff.  Rewatched it a few times after.

[A24 4,326]

People think "Oh, it's so sentimental, the pilot even waves his hand at Bale! Jeez!" But does he really? Or is it what Jamie makes of it?  A whole movie seen through kids' eyes makes everything what you see more figurative than literal. You can watch this movie 10 times and still discover something symbolic or metaphorical. Spielberg's masterpiece!

[Holko 9,499]

Dr. Strangelove

 

Good? Absolutely.

Funny? At times, certainly.

Very good? I think so, yes.

Great masterpiece? Ummm, I don't think I got it well enough on this first watch to definitely say that. Or maybe it's just not the all-out black comedy I was built up to expect it to be.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I think maybe because the Cold War is long over, it can be hard to understand just how incredibly dark and cynical the humor of that film would have played in the early 60s.  Its portrayal of the ineptitude of the authority figures who could kill everyone on earth especially.

[Chen G. 3,944]

True, its very much of its time and therefore harder to appreciate for audiences who didn't live through the cold war.

 

And its a comedy, so no matter how well the jokes are set-up and delivered, if you don't find it funny, you won't find it funny.

[Holko 9,499]

That's possible. Reading and hearing about it certainly won't ever be as effective as having lived through at least part of it.

 

There's plenty of humour in it, just not really always the laugh-out-loud kind. "No fighting here, this is the War Room!" got a "that's pretty clever" kind of chuckle out of me and I like it, but it's more amusingly witty than really funny to me. Strangelove's nazi right side trying to kill himself and the phone conversation with Dimitri were absurd enough to get me laughing.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

...its portrayal of the ineptitude of the authority figures who could kill everyone on earth especially.

Nothing's changed, except that the "authority figures" are doing it, themselves.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

8 minutes ago, Richard said:

Nothing's changed, except that the "authority figures" are doing it, themselves.

 

Pretty much.  People were so much more trusting 55 years ago.

[Chen G. 3,944]

Dr Strangelove also "robbed" us of the scripted ending to "A Space Odssey" in which the Übermensch baby activates the nuclear devices (there's a reason for the match cut between the bone, a weapon, and the spaceship - its supposed to be armed with nuclear weapons) and destroyes the inferior humanity.

 

Kubrick felt it would be too much like Strangelove. He was probably right, too: it would have make the film too much of a downer.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

8 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Pretty much.  People were so much more trusting 55 years ago.

Ignorance is strength.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

5 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Dr Strangelove also "robbed" us of the scripted ending to "A Space Odssey" in which the Übermensch baby activates the nuclear devices (there's a reason for the match cut between the bone, a weapon, and the spaceship - its supposed to be armed with nuclear weapons) and destroyes the inferior humanity.

 

Kubrick felt it would be too much like Strangelove.

 

Uhhhhh I prefer the ending we got.  My relationship with that film is a bit different in that I read Clarke's concurrent novel before I saw the film.  It actually made the film much less cryptic than it is for some.

[Chen G. 3,944]

Yeah. Its actually quite straight-forward.

 

Kubrick just ran out of money (it happens when you do so many takes for every shot in 2:40-minute movie) to actually show the aliens.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

3 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

Uhhhhh I prefer the ending we got.  My relationship with that film is a bit different in that I read Clarke's concurrent novel before I saw the film.  It actually made the film much less cryptic than it is for some.

 

Stu, have you read 2010, 2061 and 3001?

 

 

 

2 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Yeah. Its actually quite straight-forward.

 

Kubrick just ran out of money (it happens when you do so many takes for every shot in 2:40-minute movie) to actually show the aliens.

It wasn't 2.40:1, it was more like 2.20:1.

[Chen G. 3,944]

It was twenty minutes longer in the premiere. Kubrick cut some footage out during the initial run. Happened with other films of his, as well.

 

Retrofitting films is not a new thing for Hollywood.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

30 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Yeah. Its actually quite straight-forward.

 

Kubrick just ran out of money (it happens when you do so many takes for every shot in 2:40-minute movie) to actually show the aliens.

 

Nope.  He and Clarke decided not to show them on the advice of Carl Sagan. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Now I'm getting all nostalgic for when I read the novel.  This was the exact edition I checked out of my local library when I was 12 or 13.

 

[John 2,032]

Man, I absolutely love 2001, and I still haven't gotten around to reading the novel.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

destroyes the inferior humanity.

 

 

This is also inaccurate.  Clarke made it clear that the weapons' destruction did not to do any harm to humanity. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I thought the general consensus was that EOTS starts out good and gets bad when they're at the camp.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

5 hours ago, Chen G. said:

Dr Strangelove also "robbed" us of the scripted ending to "A Space Odssey" in which the Übermensch baby activates the nuclear devices (there's a reason for the match cut between the bone, a weapon, and the spaceship - its supposed to be armed with nuclear weapons) and destroyes the inferior humanity.

 

Kubrick felt it would be too much like Strangelove. He was probably right, too: it would have make the film too much of a downer.

 

Please don't use the term Übermensch when referring to Dave Bowman.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Sounds like a biscuit.

[Chen G. 3,944]

26 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Please don't use the term Übermensch when referring to Dave Bowman.

 

That’s what Kubrick was after...

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Racism!

[A24 4,326]

 

1 hour ago, Stefancos said:

 

Please don't use the term Übermensch when referring to Dave Bowman.

 

Why not? 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I find such terms, disconcerting. They should not enter back into the common vernacular.

[A24 4,326]

What's the alternative?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You tell me?

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

How about Star Child?  Just came up with that one. 

[A24 4,326]

Nice avatar, TGP.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

19 minutes ago, TGP said:

How about Star Child?  Just came up with that one. 

 

Great!

[A24 4,326]

But that's just a name without interpretation. Chen named it Übermensch to make a specific point.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Isn't it just German for "Superman"?

[A24 4,326]

'Beyond-man' (as in 'the next step in evolution') is more accurate, I think.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

So "Uber Jason" in Jason X would be translated as "Beyond Jason"?

[Holko 9,499]

Started watching War Horse and just wanted to throw this out before I forgot: Kaminski has quite a talent for making location shooting look like studio lighting before a greenscreen.

 

 

[A24 4,326]

6 minutes ago, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

So "Uber Jason" in Jason X would be translated as "Beyond Jason"?

 

If the makers of that movie meant that Über-Jason is the next step in the evolution of the Jason race, then yes. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

3 hours ago, Holko said:

Started watching War Horse and just wanted to throw this out before I forgot: Kaminski has quite a talent for making location shooting look like studio lighting before a greenscreen.

 

 

 

Lovely shot

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Nice horse.