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

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Agreed.

[A24 4,333]

1 hour ago, Koray Savas said:

Ex Machina

 

Not terrible, but I don’t understand why this film got hyped with so much praise. It does nothing new and is fairly predictable.  I liked the art direction, tone, and pacing, but otherwise pretty forgettable. 

 

One of the reasons why it was perhaps (over)appreciated by the critics is probably because most SciFi movies are big FX driven action movies that cause damage to the brain cells. Ex Machina is more like a cerebral, small-scale sci-fi thriller that puts theme, characters and sharp dialogue in the centre of the stage. Even though it doesn't exactly break new grounds, I certainly didn't find it dull. 7/10

[Brundlefly 2,385]

3 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Ex Machina

 

Not terrible, but I don’t understand why this film got hyped with so much praise. It does nothing new and is fairly predictable.  I liked the art direction, tone, and pacing, but otherwise pretty forgettable. 

Yes, it does.

6 hours ago, Romão said:

It hasn't aged well, I think. In my view is clearly the worst of the trilogy. Gotham feels quite small. The scene that really irks me is Thomas Wayne exposition while riding the train. And Nolan did the death of Bruce's parents much more impressively

It seems like it makes an effort not to exceed the dimension of a generic superhero film. There are some nice approaches, but the genre cage must not be left. The Dark Knight however...

[Chen G. 3,949]

4 hours ago, dougie said:

Batman Begins and Casino Royale were the beginning of the post-9/11 realistic/relatable/dark/disturbing craze.

 

Nope, it started earlier. 

 

Its a natural process of maturation of the art-form.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

4 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

Nope, it started earlier. 

 

Its a natural process of maturation of the art-form.

 

This gal makes a compelling point that "9/11 ruined everything" in film by using ID4 and War of the Worlds as contrasting examples.

 

 

[Chen G. 3,949]

I’d sooner tear my ear off than watch another of Lindsay’s “web essays.”

 

As an example, Titanic was pre-9/11 and it was a huge tentpole in which many people, including families, one of the leads and a toddler (!) find their death in a freezing watery grave.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

9/11 taught the people in America that the stuff they put in the movies isnt all cool and awesome.

 

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

45 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

I’d sooner tear my ear off than watch another of Lindsay’s “web essays.”

 

As an example, Titanic was pre-9/11 and it was a huge tentpole in which many people, including families, one of the leads and a toddler (!) find their death in a freezing watery grave.

 

Titantic had some uncomfortable imagery, but "dark and disturbing" didn't become a trendy trope until a few years after 9/11.

[Quintus 5,399]

Emmerich's 2012 seemed to revel just fine in post 9/11 gleeful destruction. Everyone slates it, but I had a blast at the cinema with it. 

 

I miss big daft Hollywood disaster movies.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Reminds me of the opening to Filmtracks' review of GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

23 minutes ago, Quintus said:

 

I miss big daft Hollywood disaster movies.

 

Did you see San Andreas?

[Quintus 5,399]

I didn't. Haven't heard of it. I'll look.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

The Rock and that hot actress who played Silk Spectre I in Watchmen, and Alexandra Daddario, one of the two distractingly gorgeous mistresses Woody Harelson has in True Detectiveml.

 

[Quintus 5,399]

Hhnnnnnnnnnnggg

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Kickass Torrents! Now!

[Brundlefly 2,385]

6 hours ago, dougie said:

This gal makes a compelling point that "9/11 ruined everything" in film by using ID4 and War of the Worlds as contrasting examples.

 

 

9/11 ruined two buildings and 3000 people's lives, but if it's also responsible for the change from movies like Independence Day to movies like War of the Worlds I'll at least forgive the destruction of the towers itself.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

ID4 at least has a superior score to WotW.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

2 minutes ago, dougie said:

ID4 at least has a superior score to WotW.

No.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

Horses for courses.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

35 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

No.

 

Yes!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Some people only like WotW more because it was written by John Williams. ID4 and Mars Attacks! are far more exciting, but they choose to ignore this inconvenience.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

WOTW didn't have any remotely endearing characters like ID4 and it was very ugly and bleak anyway, so it didn't inspire any reaction from me when the aliens started frying everyone.

 

ID4 doesn't revel in the destruction of our civilization, it unites all these great characters with a common cause to whoop E.T.'s ass.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

15 minutes ago, Ghostbusters II said:

ID4 doesn't revel in the destruction of our civilization, it unites all these great characters with a common cause to whoop E.T.'s ass.

 

See that's just not realistic or relatable enough for sophisticated millennials.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Yeah? I'm one of them. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

The film War of the Worlds has flaws, but the film Independence Day is pure shit! It's worse than Godzilla!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I love X-Files too. I hope you get to see it.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

What the hell is going on?! My God in heaven!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I haven't spoken to God since your mother died.

[Quintus 5,399]

The score is one of the better aspects of Spielberg's annoying War of the Worlds movie, but even that doesn't get anywhere near close to the sheer thrill and blockbuster opulence of Arnold's ID4.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

They're two completely different kinda films!

 WOTW was part of Spielberg's post 9/11 dark phase.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

12 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Yes, it does.

How?

[Chen G. 3,949]

28 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

 WOTW was part of Spielberg's post 9/11 dark phase.

 

For Spielberg, it was more of a post-Schindler's List dark phase.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

SPR is quite optimistic though.

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

I didn't like War of the Worlds- the film. The basement scenes are classic Spielberg, but hey. The score is much better than the film.

[SteveMc 2,674]

2 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

The film War of the Worlds has flaws, but the film Independence Day is pure shit! It's worse than Godzilla!

War of the Worlds is merely okay.  Independence Day is pure fun!  No one is giving it the Palme D'Or, but hey, there is a place for this sort of thing.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

"Classic Spielberg" is not how I'd choose to describe anything in War of the Worlds.

 

[Bayesian 1,363]

I don’t see how anyone could compare ID4 to WotW — in terms of score or anything else. They’re in completely different styles. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

6 minutes ago, Ghostbusters II said:

"Classic Spielberg" is not how I'd choose to describe anything in War of the Worlds.

 

Really?

Dysfunctional family? Teenagers? Parents split or divorced? Forced relocation? Unseen/hidden terrors? Emerging strong father character?

Strong family unit? "Ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances"?

It's fucking textbook Spielberg. It's one of the most "Spielbergarian" films ever made.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

50 minutes ago, Richard said:

Really?

Dysfunctional family? Teenagers? Parents split or divorced? Forced relocation? Unseen/hidden terrors? Emerging strong father character?

Strong family unit? "Ordinary people under extraordinary circumstances"?

It's fucking textbook Spielberg. It's one of the most "Spielbergarian" films ever made.

So you would say that it feels like E.T.?

53 minutes ago, Iron_Giant said:

I don’t see how anyone could compare ID4 to WotW — in terms of score or anything else. They’re in completely different styles. 

And in completely different quality.

[Fabulin 3,512]

.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

5 hours ago, Iron_Giant said:

I don’t see how anyone could compare ID4 to WotW — in terms of score or anything else. They’re in completely different styles. 

 

They're alien invasion movies. And there actually aren't that many in that genre.

[Chen G. 3,949]

Yes, but the tone of choice is to different that it supercedes the shared genre, in my mind, to the point of making comparison moot.

 

6 hours ago, Richard said:

Dysfunctional family? Teenagers? Parents split or divorced? Forced relocation? Unseen/hidden terrors? Emerging strong father character?

 

That's not classic Spielberg. That's just Spielberg.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

He repeats those tropes in so many movies, I was sick of it by the time of WotW. I wanted to see some alien attack action dammit! Not some boring family melodrama. I extend a similar complaint to the 2014 Godzilla.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Showgirls

 

 

It's such glorious vulgar trash. I don't know why everyone hates it. It's a rare type of flick that leaves you incredulous every scene and it has Kyle Maclachlan with a great hairstyle.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

2 hours ago, dougie said:

He repeats those tropes in so many movies, I was sick of it by the time of WotW. I wanted to see some alien attack action dammit! Not some boring family melodrama.

That's Spielberg for you, Jerry. He doesn't do "big", he does "small". He's always done "small", but on a large canvas. In this regard, he's very much like Lean.

[A24 4,333]

1 hour ago, Ghostbusters II said:

Showgirls

 

 

It's such glorious vulgar trash. I don't know why everyone hates it. 

 

I don't hate it (I don't hate anything by Verhoeven) but it doesn't give me much satisfaction either, not even on a trashy level.

[Chen G. 3,949]

13 minutes ago, Richard said:

He's always done "small", but on a large canvas. In this regard, he's very much like Lean.

 

Well, he is a student of Sir David in that regard. And he does it both better and worse than Lean.

 

Few and far between are the things I hate more than the classification of films as "so-and-so intimate story being told against the big canvas of so-and-so". To my mind, if you want to make a big epic, by all means do so in such a way that the predicament of the main character is integrated into the larger events taking place. E.g. Lawrence of Arabia, where Lawrence is a driving force behind the large events which are taking place around him, and his mental stability is key to the success of those endeavors. But, if you don't want to make a big epic, don't bother too much with the huge canvas - it'll just be a distraction. e.g. Doctor Zhivago.

 

Steven Spielberg manages to get away with it, because I don't recall a Spielberg film where one's attention was being drawn to the "canvas" - its just there. He's not a filmmaker who is awfully preoccupied with impressing upon his audience the "bigness" of his film. I don't think of Spielberg films as genuine epics. Really, Spielberg as a piooneer of the blockbuster, made a name for himself as making films which were the antithesis of epics: small, fast-paced and short adventure films. 

[A24 4,333]

10 hours ago, The Illustrious Jerry said:

I didn't like War of the Worlds- the film. The basement scenes are classic Spielberg, but hey.

 

To me, WOTW has the tone of an early Shyamalan movie, albeit bigger in scope. It's probably the main reason why I don't like it. That being said, I do like the first 5 minutes, before all hell breaks loose.

[Chen G. 3,949]

I think War of the Worlds is a perfectly servicable-to-good film. But vintage M. Night Shyamalan is hard to beat, in my book.

[A24 4,333]

The family in WOTW feels more Shyamalan dysfunctional, which to me comes across as 'forced' dysfunctional (and, yes, I like Unbreakable). Even more Shyamalan is the moment in the basement when Tom Cruise is going 'to take care' of that man, out of sight of the children. It's handled with an almost religious tone full of misplaced self-importance. Hated it! 

 

But again, I liked the atmosphere before the apocalypse (Tom watching the doomy clouds, etc.) Somehow the anticipating is stronger than seeing it all happen.