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

[mstrox 6,651]

For such a small film, it's really been built into a modern classic.  I watched it in my film class in college, so ~12 years ago.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

3 hours ago, Corellian2019 said:

 

Isn't it weird how that's the first of Fincher's films to get a 4K release?

Yes, but I don’t mind since it’s the longest overdue 😛

[Jay 37,352]

It's kind of like how The Abyss and True Lies will go right to 4K, skipping over 1080P like Panic Room did too

[Corellian2019 386]

I think only The Abyss is being prepped for 4K, but I could be wrong

[Jay 37,352]

I mean True Lies has to come out eventually right?

[Corellian2019 386]

As soon as Cameron and Fox get their act together!

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

I still hope that 4K will finally give us HD transfers of old classics that never made the leap to Blu-ray, like Captain Blood, The Sea Hawk and Arsenic and Old Lace.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Total Recall remake

 

Aw man I was waiting for the bit when they'd fall down the hill and their faces turned all funny but it didn't happen. What a rip off.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Always have the original!

 

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

If you want, you can tie me up!

[A24 4,331]

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

Total Recall remake

 

Aw man I was waiting for the bit when they'd fall down the hill and their faces turned all funny but it didn't happen. What a rip off.

 

It totally lacked Verhoeven this remake.

 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

And Rob Bottin!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

1 minute ago, Stefancos said:

And Rob Bottin!

 

Paul Verhoeven always sounds like he's saying "Robo team" when he says his name.

[Sweeping Strings 2,357]

Would much rather have Arnie and the 18/R-pushing ultraviolence of the Verhoeven original. 

See also (without Arnie, obviously) Robocop.  

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Of those remakes of 90s sci-fi action movies I keep hearing that the Dredd movie with Karl Urban is surprisingly good.  I'll check it out....some day.

[Sweeping Strings 2,357]

It's not really a remake. It is, however, far closer in spirit to the 2000AD comic strip than the Stallone movie. 

[A24 4,331]

In the case of Dredd, the new one is much better than the old one. I hope that one day Garland gets to make some kind of sequel. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

The Third Man

 

Much better actually than I seemed to remember it from some 20 years ago. Not that I thought it was bad, it just wasn't really up to "classic" status in memory, which turned out to be wrong. It's in fact excellent. Good script and cast, Welles steals the scenes he's in, and it looks amazing. The film excels at authentically depicting Vienna and it's people (better than many local films, in fact), something that few foreign films fully succeed at (it reminds me of how convincing I found the various different language segments of Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds). The final chase is a bit unexciting from today's point of view, but it still gives us some excellent shots, and it's all wrapped up very well.

 

The one aspect that actually doesn't convince me is the score. The famous zither theme is perfect in placing the film firmly in post WW2 Vienna, but it's not enough to carry the film. There's much more to the script, and at times the music even seems to mock the story's darker points. It might also be why the final chase isn't very engaging. It's absolutely the right score for parts of the film, but it doesn't do the full film justice.

 

Also, having grown up and lived in Vienna for 39 years, it's of course fascinating to see so much of post war Vienna, and mostly presented quite coherently (there are a few sudden jumps from one corner of the city to another, but not many). Some locations are entirely familiar, while others have changed so much that they are hard to place. Side note: The area including the manhole that leads to the final chase (where today you can take guided tours to the film locations) is the same where 24 years later Scorpio would stage a lengthy chase across the construction site of Vienna's first subway).

[Koray Savas 2,251]

One of my favorite films, that one. The Criterion release is a prized part of my collection.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

The old landlady is my favorite character

[SteveMc 2,674]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

The final chase is a bit unexciting from today's point of view

Utterly excellent film.  I actually found the chase quite exciting, but I guess that's because I'm readily excited!

Superb cinematography.  I agree that the music never impressed me too much, but I don't think the film needed a golden age string fest for the suspenseful moments.

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I like the use of the music, fits with the ironic, cynical tone of the setting and film.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Agreed. 

[publicist 4,643]

6 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Also, having grown up and lived in Vienna for 39 years, it's of course fascinating to see so much of post war Vienna, and mostly presented quite coherently (there are a few sudden jumps from one corner of the city to another, but not many).

 

I had the same experience when watching Billy Wilder's 'A Foreign Affair', shot in a bombed Berlin of 1948. That they were able (dared?) to make a great comedy out of this is gives me hope for WWIII.

 

 

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I'm actually hoping for WWIII so I'll get a quick death to end my tinnitus.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

20 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

 

It totally lacked Verhoeven this remake.

 

Is that Lawrence Fishburn?

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

12 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

I like the use of the music, fits with the ironic, cynical tone of the setting and film.

 

Hm. There's plenty of cynicism in the film, by the characters. That's why it fits the setting well. But I don't think the film itself presents its darker points in a cynical way, and that's where I think the score falls short.

 

7 hours ago, publicist said:

I had the same experience when watching Billy Wilder's 'A Foreign Affair', shot in a bombed Berlin of 1948. That they were able (dared?) to make a great comedy out of this is gives me hope for WWIII.

 

 

I haven't seen that yet, but last week I watched One, Two, Three, another film I hadn't seen in 20 years or so. Quite hilarious; about two thirds in it seems like it's nearly over, but that's only just before the film (and Cagney especially) switch to high energy mode and sustain that for an impressively long time.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 minutes ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Hm. There's plenty of cynicism in the film, by the characters. That's why it fits the setting well. But I don't think the film itself presents its darker points in a cynical way, and that's where I think the score falls short.

 

I guess I can see your point while not agreeing.  The film certainly has no moral gray area when it comes to Lime's crimes (heh, "Lime's crimes").  And definitely part of the pleasure of the film is watching Holly Martins' character almost  completely drop his jaded, cynical facade.  But he doesn't quite, not really IMO.  In fact, the events of the film probably only serve to make him more jaded and kind of pathetic.

 

I dunno, the music just worked for me.

 

Either way, it's a goddamn classic film with the richness of a great novel!

 

Enjoy this novelty version of the theme from Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass!!

 

 

[publicist 4,643]

5 hours ago, Marian Schedenig said:

I haven't seen that yet, but last week I watched One, Two, Three, another film I hadn't seen in 20 years or so. Quite hilarious; about two thirds in it seems like it's nearly over, but that's only just before the film (and Cagney especially) switch to high energy mode and sustain that for an impressively long time.

 

And shot in Munich, complete with a replica of the Brandenburg Gate. Cagney interacting with his german flunky is for the ages: 

C.R. MacNamara: Just between us, Schlemmer, what did you do during the war?
Schlemmer: I was in der Untergrund: the underground.
C.R. MacNamara: Resistance fighter?
Schlemmer: No, motorman. In the underground, you know, the subway.
C.R. MacNamara: Of course you were anti-Nazi and you never liked Adolf.
Schlemmer: Adolf who?

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

If there's one thing that bothered me about it is that it frequently sets up a joke, then visually presents the punchline (e.g. the polka dot dress), but a minute later very deliberately points it out in the dialogue. The one instance where it doesn't do that is in a late scene when a squadron of men looking for a woman with "Russki go home" written on her breasts can be seen standing around in the background, each staring down the blouse of a different woman at Cagney's company, and it's all the funnier for it.

[publicist 4,643]

Wilder was often afraid that the audience wouldn't get stuff. Charles Brackett, his collaborator up to 'Sunset Boulevard' often reigned him in, later co-authors not so much. You should really watch 'A Foreign Affair'. There are several scenes, i. e. in the file cabinet, that are about as perfectly written as a a movie scene can be. And of course the sardonic wisecracks are also present ('Give a hungry man a loaf of bread, that's democracy, if you leave the wrapper on, that's imperialism.').

[Quintus 5,399]

Is Foreign Affair more palatable than His Girl Friday?

[publicist 4,643]

Completely different animals. It's much more in line with (Wilder's own) 'Stalag 13' or 'The Third Man' (post WW2 locations), and of course Marlene Dietrich is the movie's femme fatale:

 

[Quintus 5,399]

No I know it's apples and oranges, but with His Girl Friday I expected something very different to what it was, and it wasn't the most enjoyable thing to get through.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I didn't mind it. All that fast talking was fun to watch.

[publicist 4,643]

I vouch for every Wilder film between 'Five Graves to Cairo' and 'Sabrina' (except for 'The Emperor Waltz' which was wretched...it was done as splashy Technicolor  therapy measure after Wilder came back from the death mills in Dachau).

[Quintus 5,399]

I love the oldies so I'll definitely be having a look at A Foreign Affair.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I quite like Ace in the Hole.  No wonder it didn't review well at the time though, the film didn't have a high opinion of journalists.

[Marian Schedenig 8,192]

7 hours ago, publicist said:

You should really watch 'A Foreign Affair'.

 

 

I'm not sure I was even aware of it until now (the title seems familiar, but I didn't associate it with Wilder). I want to see every Wilder film at least once, so it's definitely going on the list.

 

Also still searching for an affordable Blu-ray copy of Witness for the Prosecution. Another one I haven't seen in 20 years.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I've been thinking about re-watching Anatomy of a Murder recently.  I haven't seen it in years but I remember absolutely loving it.  Post WWII Jimmy Stewart is basically my favorite era for any actor ever.  Plus Duke Ellington's score gives the film a pretty unique tone.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

That is a fine film!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

@publicist,

I think that's STALAG 17.

 

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

I quite like Ace in the Hole.  No wonder it didn't review well at the time though, the film didn't have a high opinion of journalists.

ACE IN THE HOLE, is pure acid, and it's bloody brilliant.

 

 

 

47 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

I've been thinking about re-watching Anatomy of a Murder recently.  I haven't seen it in years but I remember absolutely loving it.  Post WWII Jimmy Stewart is basically my favorite era for any actor ever.  Plus Duke Ellington's score gives the film a pretty unique tone.

"Panties".

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Wet...panties?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

Apparently, it is the first film to include the word "panties".

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I want to sniff your panties...

[publicist 4,643]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

I quite like Ace in the Hole.  No wonder it didn't review well at the time though, the film didn't have a high opinion of journalists.

 

It  didn't have high opinion of people. Wilder reckoned later that he alienated audiences by a) a lack of 'heroes' and b) held too big a mirror before them, with all the gloaters feasting on the emergency.

1 minute ago, Richard said:

Apparently, it is the first film to include the word "panties".

 

And "sperm".

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

.

[Holko 9,525]

Total Recall (I hope I don't have to specify this, but 1990)

 

I'm not yet quite sure what I just witnessed but it was awesome.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

1 minute ago, publicist said:

... held too big a mirror before them, with all the gloaters feasting on the emergency.

 

Nothing's changed.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Bell Book and Candle

 

Nice movie. And didn't Kim Novak have such a sexy stare on her? The cat was the star.