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

[Holko 9,526]

So, War Horse. As far as sugarcoated historical fiction goes, this one's pretty good. I do have a soft spot for the romanticised WWI era, that may have helped. The barbed wire scenes were much more emotional than the dragged out shoot-dont shoot, reunification and washdown which was obvious from a mile away.

[Jay 37,364]

4 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.

 

 

 

Hey that's the dude from Westworld!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Peter Mullan is one of the greatest character actors working today.

 

I highly, highly recommend people see a rare lead turn from him in the great film Tyrannosaur which costarred two other great character actors, Olivia Colman and Eddie Marsan.

 

[Quintus 5,399]

Mullan was pretty good in Top of the Lake I recall. His Magdalene Sisters film is also noteworthy.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

16 minutes ago, Quintus said:

Mullan was pretty good in Top of the Lake I recall. 

 

He was!  He kind of has string of roles that are basically "suuuuper fucked up, super intense dad."  It's his type, Westworld included.  He's good at it.

 

I couldn't even make it through Sunset Song, where he plays an abusive father.  Too depressing.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

Peter Mullan is one of the greatest character actors working today.

 

I highly, highly recommend people see a rare lead turn from him in the great film Tyrannosaur which costarred two other great character actors, Olivia Colman and Eddie Marsan.

 

 

Whoa man, this looks exciting!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Just now, Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya said:

 

Whoa man, this looks exciting!

 

Heh.  The dinosaur is metaphorical I'm afraid.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

False advertising!

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

 

Hey that's the dude from Westworld!

The horse?

[Fancyarcher 350]

Love Simon - Really enjoyed this. Couldn't relate to the main characters sexuality problem, but I did like him and his arc. Good stuff. - 7.5 / 10 

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Minority Report - maybe the best Phillip K Dick adap after Blade Runner and Total Recall? Hadn't seen this for years, and enjoyed it muchly ... I guess if War Of The Worlds following 3 years later is anything to go by, so did Cruise and Spielberg.  

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Minority Report - maybe the best Phillip K Dick adap after Blade Runner and Total Recall? Hadn't seen this for years, and enjoyed it muchly ... I guess if War Of The Worlds following 3 years later is anything to go by, so did Cruise and Spielberg.  

 

It's one of my favorite Spielberg movies.

 

The moment when Agatha pivots from her "future that could've been" monologue about Sean to screaming "RUUUUUUUUN!" is one of the most thrilling and unnerving moments in his entire filmography.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Noticed the bleached-out and grainy look really adding to the 'otherwordly' futuristic feel of it this time round. Absolutely top-drawer action, too.     

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Here it is.  My god, every creative person involved in this scene is firing on all cylinders.  Spielberg, the actors, Kaminski, Gary Rydstrom and the sound team, and Williams.  Those crazy trumpets when it cuts to the ships closing in.  Goosebumps!

 

 

[Nick Parker 3,040]

18 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

It's one of my favorite Spielberg movies.

 

It's one of my favorite movies! I miss legit scifi movies being released in theaters. As dumb as Ridley Scott's latest are, it's nice to at least be able to watch that sort of full-blown scifi film on the big screen.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1 minute ago, Nick Parker said:

 

It's one of my favorite movies! I miss legit scifi movies being released in theaters. As dumb as Ridley Scott's latest are, it's nice to at least be able to watch that sort of full-blown scifi film on the big screen.

 

I bet you didn't go see Annihilation in the theater!  Hypocrite!

[Nick Parker 3,040]

Just now, Disco Stu said:

 

I bet you didn't go see Annihilation in the theater!  Hypocrite!

 

I don't watch practically any film in theaters, or at home...I just like knowing they're out there. 

 

(I do have my eyes on Garland after Ex Machina, though. Did the Portishead dude do Annihilation? )

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Just now, Nick Parker said:

(I do have my eyes on Garland after Ex Machina, though. Did the Portishead dude do Annihilation? )

 

Yes.  The squelchy synth sound from the trailer (and used in the final score) got a weird amount of attention earlier this year.  There was even an article about that specific sound https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/annihilation-co-composer-ben-salisbury-explains-the-musical-cue-from-the-alien.html

 

 

[Quintus 5,399]

Bar a couple of sequences I was really rather non plussed about Minority Report when I saw it, at the cinema. I haven't seen it since, but I've considered giving it another look from time to time. Coincidentally I was thinking it only today, after listening to the cue on the BPO collaboration album in the car. Nice music, lush like I don't remember it being in the movie.

[Jay 37,364]

It's the end credits

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

20 hours ago, TGP said:

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

 

Who then reused the ending in Contact and did show (in a way) the alien...

1 hour ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Minority Report - maybe the best Phillip K Dick adap after Blade Runner and Total Recall? Hadn't seen this for years, and enjoyed it muchly ... I guess if War Of The Worlds following 3 years later is anything to go by, so did Cruise and Spielberg.  

 

Every time I watch it, it's better than I remembered it. There's a certain De Palma like touch in some of its scenes.

[Holko 9,526]

2001: A Space Odyssey

 

It's tiring to think of magnitudes, so I'll just kind of throw up my own interpretation and what the movie says to me. I know, C. Clarke, original script, cut 20 minutes, aliens, human zoo, blah blah... irrelevant, Kubrick purposefully made the final wide release ambiguous so we could interpret it any way we liked. So from now on, imagine "i think" or "to me" into every sentence.

 

The film is about the drive of humanity to change, grow, be better. The monolyths represent important cornerstones in this evolution. 

In The Dawn of Man, Moonwatcher uses the first tool, the first step in creating technology, which will differentiate man from animal. The seed of the idea is represented by a simple but unnatural object that stands out tall from nature.

In the next and longest section we see the Humanity we know, but at the peak of what we (or more precisely a man of the '60s) could imagine it to be. Orbital nuclear missile platforms, space shuttles, permanent moon bases, videophones and antigravity toilets. The Moon Monolyth urges us to leave the orbit of our planet and explore the Solar System further, which is not that great of a step. Aboard the Discovery One, we see other aspects of this peak form: portable viewscreens, hybernated spacetravel, machine-like emotionless pilots, and we have created artificial life that has the instinct of self-preservation and can turn on us. But then once Bowman deactivates HAL and leaves the surrounding technology in a little pod, he finds the Jupiter Monolyth: the drive to go beyond the known and transcend. He is given overwhelming ang incomprehensible information, and goes into a trance-like state slowly making sense of it: streaks of colour turn into galaxies and nebulas, then strange landscapes and geometric shapes, finally his own eye and a clean, calm room of beauty with only utilities, no technology. In his vision, he sees himself in various stages of life looking forward or backward, but only in the final state where he abandoned everything and rests acceptingly does he see the final monolyth, which shows him a future state of evolution: the Starchild returning to an Earth with no weapons platforms or space wheels, which are not needed anymore. (I don't much like the story that an individual is actually granted a massive evolutionary leap out of a reward for doing nothing for decades, nor do I think he could withstand it.) So we thought the Bowman era was the peak of human evolution, but is the Starchild actually it? No, because he's just a fetus and could grow into anything, it's a great choice.

 

Well that became a mess while thinking about it any typing it out through half a day. So, the vastness of space and evolution are both massive concepts that can be overwhelming to think about for our little brain, but that does not make them any less awe-inspiring.

 

I'm not making any sense, am I? Well I'm not gonna delete all this now. Gotta dial it back a bit... Let's see... Sci-fi classic that's celebrating its 50th anniversary... Why does that ring a bell?...    Oh, I know!

 

 

 

 

Planet of the Apes

 

Though a bit more dated than the aforementioned masterpiece, especially in production design, it's an intriguing idea executed entertainingly and engagingly. Too bad the final twist was spoiled by literally everything ever, including official DVD covers. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Oh I fuckin hated those covers. Who designed them? Maybe it was Fred Fucks.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

The one that spoils the ending of the movie?

[Jay 37,364]

1 hour ago, Holko said:

Too bad the final twist was spoiled by literally everything ever, including official DVD covers. 

 

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

Oh I fuckin hated those covers. Who designed them?

 

47 minutes ago, Horner's Dynamic Range said:

The one that spoils the ending of the movie?

 

 

...

[Naïve Old Fart 9,533]

@Holko, the knowledge that The Monolith gives Moonwatcher, is the knowledge, and desire to, kill, and, thus, to dominate.

All through the film, is the fear if death: from the missiles orbiting the Earth, and the "plague" on Clavius, to Discovery One being controlled by a "psychotic" computer. 

I like to think of the Starchild (the very last shot, is tear-inducingly moving, beyond words!) as rebooting the universe.

 

 

PLANET OF THE APES: that fucking score!!!!!!!!!

[Holko 9,526]

I KNEW I left something out! I did mean to include that the first thing Moonwatcher does with a tool is destroy and kill.

 

I like to think of the Starchild scene, as I wrote, as a vision of a future to work towards, when we can finally step beyond those weapons, instead of Bowman literally being transformed into the saviour of the universe and first specimen of a new race because he dared to go beyond and get his mind nearly (?) zapped.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,533]

Do you want a vision of the future, Holko? Imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever.

[Holko 9,526]

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,533]

My favourite ever MP sketch, is the one where everybody turns into Scotchmen.

Funny as.

[Holko 9,526]

Poor Blancmanges only wanted to win Wimbledon!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,533]

SALAD DAYS, directed by Sam Peckinpah.

[_deleted_ 203]

War of the Worlds

 

2005 John Williams doing a disaster-scifi film score = awesome!!!

 

BTW The Ferry Scene have a strong Soundings vibe to it 😂 

 

Which is great because I like Soundings 🙂

[Quintus 5,399]

The score is way better than the movie deserved.

[Nick Parker 3,040]

10 minutes ago, Quintus said:

The score is way better than the movie deserved.

 

I definitely agree overall, though there are some true classic, keeper scenes throughout.

[Quintus 5,399]

The initial appearance of the invaders is vintage Spielberg staging, yes.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

All the basement stuff is decently suspenseful.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

[Naïve Old Fart 9,533]

The basement scene is, probably, the most important scene in the film.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Zzzzzzzzzzz...

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

9 hours ago, Richard said:

My favourite ever MP sketch, is the one where everybody turns into Scotchmen.

 

Several interesting things about it. I wonder if "Harold Potter" is related to Harry Potter, considering that Rowling made some other allusions to Flying Circus in the books (e.g. Cockroach Cluster). Also, John Cleese's opening narration prominently mentions "a billion billions", years before Carl Sagan did Cosmos.

 

By the way, this YouTube video describes it nearly exactly as you did in the description text.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

On 8/21/2018 at 6:52 AM, Holko said:

So, War Horse. As far as sugarcoated historical fiction goes, this one's pretty good. I do have a soft spot for the romanticised WWI era, that may have helped. The barbed wire scenes were much more emotional than the dragged out shoot-dont shoot, reunification and washdown which was obvious from a mile away.

Did you get verklempt when Loki reneged on his promise?

[Chen G. 3,949]

On 8/22/2018 at 3:31 PM, Holko said:

irrelevant, Kubrick purposefully made the final wide release ambiguous so we could interpret it any way we liked. So from now on, imagine "i think" or "to me" into every sentence.

 

Its a straight-forward, alien encouter film, just filmed in a none-straight-forward (read: Kubrick-y) way.

 

Its about a transcendant alien race which assisted mankind's evolution (and is supposedly the origin of mankind's religious beliefs) and left behind a series of beacons at growing distances, such that once manking has the means and boldness to trace them and reach the furthest beacon (which requires the ability of space travel), they'd be granted a trip around the universe, as well as audience with the aliens and subsequentally be transformed into a higher state of being, as well.

 

Essentially, the movie is about glorifying human space travel (which was just about to start in real-life history) as if it were a stepping stone towards the next stage in human evolution. Simple as that.

 

 

Also this: https://touringinstability.wordpress.com/2013/10/18/the-aliens-that-almost-appeared-in-kubricks-2001/

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

21 hours ago, A Ghost From Highwood said:

War of the Worlds

God, I didn't like that movie. Not appealing to me. I stuck around for some good score bits though.

19 hours ago, Quintus said:

The score is way better than the movie deserved.

Agreed.

18 hours ago, TGP said:

All the basement stuff is decently suspenseful.

I suppose that may have been the highlight.

 

I remember when (what's his name?) Tom Cruise gets taken into the scout walker-I mean invader robot- and the girl turns around and scream her head off. There are some excellent brass trills in there that are vintage Williams and capture that Star Wars, outer space phenomena feel. Other than that I wasn't overly impressed by this Spielberg-Williams collaboration. A few good film moments and almost too good a score for the movie itself.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

War of the Worlds is pretty good.  Not a great final act, though.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Wasn't it a bit of a rushjob? I remember it's announcement was really tight in relation to its release date.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

That bit where Tom Cruise gets home after the initial attack is a great scene.  Trying to project calm for his kids, shaking the dust of disintegrated bodies out of his hair.  Very memorable.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,533]

 

 

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

Wasn't it a bit of a rushjob? I remember it's announcement was really tight in relation to its release date.

Yes it was a rushed production: something like nine months from pre, to release.

In 2005, I hated WOTW, but I've grown to both appreciate, and like it, very much.

[mstrox 6,651]

War of the Worlds has some all-time classic Spielberg setpieces (the original attack, the attempt to board the boats), and some great scenes - one of which Stu mentioned above.  Fanning gave a really great performance in this.  It was very anticlimactic, and the reappearance of the son seems a bit weak.  I caught that original attack on TV recently for the first time since theaters, and it was really something.  This is one I think I'm ready to revisit.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It suffers from the same problem as the 2014 Godzilla, it hides what people paid to see. There weren't enough alien attack scenes, and most of it focuses on friggin kitchen sink domestic problems I don't give a shit about. It should have been more about scientists, the government, the military, and given us more of an insight into how authorities responded to the attack.