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

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

1 hour ago, Nick Parker said:

That's one I really wish Goldsmith scored, though Edelman did well enough.

 

It's always been a strong contender for best non-Goldsmith Trek score for me. I guess ultimately TWOK wins out because there's just more to it; Eidelman's score is mostly moody underscore, which becomes apparent when you compare the complete release to the OST and realise that there's hardly anything new of importance in it. But it's handful of highlights are just as classic as Horner's, and really capture the final farewell spirit of the last TOS movie. And I like what he did with the Courage theme.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

27 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

 

It's always been a strong contender for best non-Goldsmith Trek score for me. I guess ultimately TWOK wins out because there's just more to it; Eidelman's score is mostly moody underscore, which becomes apparent when you compare the complete release to the OST and realise that there's hardly anything new of importance in it. But it's handful of highlights are just as classic as Horner's, and really capture the final farewell spirit of the last TOS movie. And I like what he did with the Courage theme.

 

I guess I only remember that moody underscore you're referring to, with the Firebird thing and all that. But with such a juicy concept, involving the Klingons of all people...oh man, what Goldsmith would've have done....

[Marian Schedenig 8,191]

31 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

I guess I only remember that moody underscore you're referring to, with the Firebird thing and all that. But with such a juicy concept, involving the Klingons of all people...oh man, what Goldsmith would've have done....

 

I love the march, and it's quite distinct from all the other scores in the series. And his Spock theme is nice, too.

 

 

[publicist 4,643]

It's too derivative. Not bad, but after V it should have really been JG's gig.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I love it.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Me too.

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

Watched a few in recent weeks, some of the latest being Bond's -FRWL, YOLT, LALD, TSWLM, Moonraker, FYEO, VTAK, Living Daylights, Licence to Kill. Over a few weeks as I say...

 

...and some slightly older classics, Sink the Bismarck, Went the Day Well and Fish Called Wanda.

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

DUEL

I saw this a little while back, mostly because it caught my eye and it was, well, pre-JAWS Spielberg. I thought it to be a curious but fun little flick about a man who is repeatedly terrorized by a truck on a stretch of interstate. He goes from driving to an appointment to driving for his life. The many ways that the truck, whose driver's identity is never revealed, is able to assault him and his vehicle are quite startling, ranging from trailing ridiculously close to him, to ramming down a telephone booth he's in. It's like JAWS but in the desert and with vehicles. I thought it to be quite fun sometimes. It's a pretty low stakes venture even though it's a matter of life and death, essentially. The finale is quite charming in it's execution, and the almost endless suspense works. 

 

The idea that fear is the driving force is perfect nutshell tagline for this film. 

 

Wasn't incredibly crazy about Goldenberg's score; it's few and far between.

 

RATING: *** out of *****

CONSENSUAL STATEMENT: "Low riding thriller is good for a bucket of popcorn and good fun." -Jerry

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The X-Files: Fight the Future

 

Part of my big marathon. You know, for something that had been meticulously planned for three previous seasons of the show, this turned out okay but somewhat infuriatingly disappointing.

 

You can tell the showrunners'/filmmakers' resources were strained when the Well-Manicured Man warns Mulder he only has 36 hours to administer the vaccine on Scully, but he gets to her in Antarctica 48 hours later, injects her with the vaccine and she's okay! You really can't trust those Department of Mysteries dudes! Speaking of, a big missed opportunity was Mulder never has a confrontation with the Smoking Man, which always miffed me. Oh and that bomb plot - supposedly the federal building in Dallas was bombed to destroy the virus-infected bodies, but when Mulder and Scully examine them in Maryland, the bodies look intact and unsinged - wtf?! I know I'm nitpicking here, but they seemed careful not to let this sort of shit slip through on the TV show, but they're all over the place in this movie.

 

It's well scored and photographed, but 4:3 and 16:9 versions reveal a fair few boom mikes here and there, so the 2.35:1 version is essential.

 

Frustratingly, some of the familiar classic X-Files iconography is absent here, like Mulder's office, Skinner's office and other tidbits like actual X-Files! - yeah CSM torched his office in the Season 5 finale, but still.

 

Oh and if you thought that bee was a cockblocker, at least he gives her mouth-to-mouth when she passes out in Antarctica - sly boy! And about Scully, she seems to display a change of heart from all the crucial development she experienced in this film when Season 6 resumes, so she's all bitchy sceptic again, because TV show reset button or something.

 

All in all, this movie always reminded me a bit of Star Trek: Generations - in their effort to make everything bigger and more expensive looking, because it was a movie, they had to get fancy, but the other side of the coin is it all feels a bit rushed and flimsy, and certainly far less than it could have been. I'll talk more about the show in the tele thread later.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

That's the one with the Oklahoma City Bombing and the bees?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Another dumb bit in the movie is when Mulder's reading a newspaper at the end, but because this movie sucks, the prop master forgot to print content on every page that'd be visible on screen. So Mulder hands Scully a newspaper that has all these visibly blank pages. Why did they put that in ther--?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

49 minutes ago, dougie said:

All in all, this movie always reminded me a bit of Star Trek: Generations - in their effort to make everything bigger and more expensive looking, because it was a movie, they had to get fancy, but the other side of the coin is it all feels a bit rushed and flimsy, and certainly far less than it could have been. I'll talk more about the show in the tele thread later.

 

Good comparison.

Fight The Future also suffers plot wise in that, at the end of it, the status quo has to be more or less restored, because there's still more seasons of the show to be made. Actually this is a problem that maybe of the big mythology eps of the show also have. At the end Mulder and Scully are sorta left empty handed.

 

The movie does work though, it's well shot, well acted, the story doesnt make a lot of sense but it's all rather engrossing.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Really I reckon the movie should have been a classic Monster-of-the-Week spookie, just on a bigger scale. The PS2 game The X-Files: Resist or Serve did this really well by introducing Mulder and Scully to a small town with a zombie outbreak, but the zombification turns out to be related to the alien virus, so it somewhat successfully mixed the two elements, despite its clunky gameplay issues.

 

Or maybe even something like the Season 5 ep Folie a Deux, which was one of my favourite eps ever.

[Wojo 2,453]

18 hours ago, publicist said:

It's too derivative. Not bad, but after V it should have really been JG's gig.

 

JG had the first right of refusal after V tanked at the box office. Should Nick Meyer have gotten on his knees and begged? Maybe he did, we weren't there. 

[publicist 4,643]

Meyer wrote the budget was slashed and he couldn't afford an A-lister.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze

 

TMNT II has one of the best openings of any movie I can remember from my childhood. It sets the bar very high for the rest of the movie and as it turns out, it blows its load in those first 15 minutes. It still feels worthy, but aside from some great music and improved Turtle robotics (They look the best they ever have in anything here), it's never on the level of the first movie.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The second one is okay but I miss Judith Hoag and Elias Coates, and the ending's a bit of a copout, like they ran out of budget. Still pisses all over the third film though.

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Jaws 2.

 

Jaws never needed a sequel. It was a one-movie story and it takes a very small amount of intelligence to understand that. God, I'm bored. 'SHARK! SHARK! OH MY GOD, HELP! PLEASE! SHUT UP!' The only person who was consistently good in this 'disaster movie' was Lorraine Gary.

The score wasn't great either. Sure, the seafaring music, shark theme and end titles were enjoyable, but other than that, everything was way too loud.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Its Jaws written by the composer of Star Wars!

[Jay 37,336]

I've never seen Jaws 2 but the score makes a great album of music!

[publicist 4,643]

It's forgettable but handsomely made. And music and image make for a rollicking blockbuster-worthy finale:

 

 

[bollemanneke 3,342]

YEAH! COME ON! COME ON!!!!

[publicist 4,643]

Open wide was their big catchphrase this time.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Say A!

[Wojo 2,453]

6 hours ago, Jay said:

I've never seen Jaws 2 but the score makes a great album of music!

 

All you need to see is in the clip that publicist shared. 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I liked Jaws 2 but I've only seen it twice in my lifetime. I remember when the shark takes out the helicopter and lots of luscious locks.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I saw Jaws 2 before Jaws 1.

[A24 4,331]

Luckily for me, I can completely disconnect the music from the film. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Sometimes. Not all the time, but a few times. Sometimes.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Manhattan Murder Mystery was on TCM last night and I got sucked in like I always do.  It's one of his best comedies and the suspense scenes are surprisingly well-done.  Some seriously squirmy moments.

[Glóin the Dark 1,220]

Almost made it onto my list of the top ten films of the 90s. For the scene in the lift, I still have a vivid memory of being in agony from uncontrollable laughter the first time I saw it. The part where they go to Mr. House's apartment to try to recover the lost glasses is another highlight...

[Disco Stu 15,495]

37 minutes ago, Glóin the Dark said:

Almost made it onto my list of the top ten films of the 90s. For the scene in the lift, I still have a vivid memory of being in agony from uncontrollable laughter the first time I saw it. The part where they go to Mr. House's apartment to try to recover the lost glasses is another highlight...

 

So many great lines.

 

"We could be living next to a murderer, Larry"

"New York is a melting pot!"

 

I'd probably rate Bullets Over Broadway more highly, but they're both fantastic.

[Glóin the Dark 1,220]

"I think she's dead!"

"Try giving her the present..."

 

"Yeah, but you're not worried about that...?"

"Um...either that or I've just developed Parkinson's."

 

"I can't listen to that much Wagner. I start to get the urge to conquer Poland."

[A24 4,331]

Prospect (2018)

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes wants you to believe that we're dealing here with the sci-fi gem of 2018, and even though watchable, I only saw a 6/10 movie.

 

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Kin. Young boy finds space rifle. Tattooed James Franco is psychotic Detroit gang leader. Michael Jordan is brother to young boy. Not good.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I've never watched Jawses 3 or 4.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Come and get me you sonofabitch.

[bollemanneke 3,342]

Freedom writers.

 

This is like the seventh time I saw this movie listed in the TV guide and I finally decided not to ignore it. I also decided to turn it off after 20 minutes. Something was just off: it's either Hilary Swank or the directing. Probably both.

One score cue was very nice.

[Quintus 5,399]

Just watched Independence Day with my two kids. Makes me proud to be American.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

How old are they again?

[Quintus 5,399]

6 and 8. It was fine. They already saw Jaws, remember.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

And Jurassic Park? 

 

So video nasties soon?

[Quintus 5,399]

We watched Jurassic Park about a year ago. I remember feeling a bit dicey with that during the T-rex attack. 

 

I hadn't seen ID4 for around a decade. It's fantastic fun!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Yes it is!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I essentially became an American in the cinema in 1996.

[Quintus 5,399]

Bar a couple of particularly bad moments in the dialogue (I don't want to die a virgin  ), I think this much maligned movie actually has a really good blockbustery script on it, loaded with memorable lines. Goldblum's dad in particular nabs around 80% of the best ones though. The scenes where he's constantly impressed by his surroundings are very amusing.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Agree!

 

Sequel is rubbish though.

[Quintus 5,399]

ID4 is the epitome of corny Hollywood disaster movie excess and 90s Bruckheimer veneer (actually before it would be realised by that producer proper, in Armageddon), and well for me that's exactly why I like it. The thing that separates ID4 from those later trashy movies of that era though, is its big uncynical heart and a fabulous leitmotif driven score, which has no qualms whatsoever about milking the thrills and the melodramatic high stakes.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Its big, dumb fun. With a bit of heart.

 

Rousing score!

[Quintus 5,399]

Jam packed with big setpiece cues, to the point that it feels like a lost relic of a long forgotten scoring style. It occurred to me that bar Phantom Menace, ID4 is possibly the last really good sci-fi soundtrack in the neo-romantic style. Has there been anything like it since that is better?