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What is the last film you watched?


MrScratch

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No, Neil, I never said you said Masterpiece, that is Alex's term.

I prefer Aliens by far to Alien, and I also prefer Carpenter's the Thing, to Alien. But I prefer Nyby's the Thing to either of them. Aliens is one of my favorite films of all time, I don't see how the dialogue dates it at all.

As for the original Thing, I really believe that it along with the Day the Earth Stood Still, are the two finest b&w scifi films of all time, and both are top 10 of all time period.

Joe, who won first place at the B&N costume party tonight, good for $25.00. I went as Jacob Marly, in keeping with the theme, Scare the Dickens out of them.

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I watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo Hu Cang Long) this morning. I loved it. I liked how everyone had this supernatural grace. The way they skimmed over the rooftops and everything. Great stuff. The fights were really fast, and very good. It's nice that this movie had a story too, and wasn't just about fighting. Good film.

- Marc

:angry: Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

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Just watched Star Trek: Generations for the first time on TV. It had a very 'meh' feeling about it. It didn't seem any better to me than the average TV-episode. Oh well, can't have it all. At least I've now seen 7 out of 10 ST films. :angry:

- Marc, very glad to finally having reached an average of 1.00 posts per day. :)

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I've always considered Alien a masterpiece....and I don't throw that word around lightly, either. ;-)

I never could really get into Carpenter's The Thing. It was all schlock & shock, doing its best to both gross the audience out and fascinate them with the effects (which, I have to admit, were pretty dang nifty). Maybe it was the beginning that soured the rest for me; any movie that needs a comic-book voiceover to set the scene and introduce the characters is taking the lazy way out, never a good sign.

But you're right about something else, Joe: the original Nyby The Thing is absolutely one of the best B&W sci-fi films of all time--one of the best B&W's of any genre, really. Years before Spielberg perfected the art of having multiple conversations taking place at once in a scene, Nyby made it look easy. That film has fantastic dialogue (and corollary performances) for a piece that came from a period replete with drama that was too scripted and wooden.

- Uni

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I watched S.W.A.T here last night in Thailand. Typical action film. Little though inducing story, but a superb adrenaline pumping film. Highly recommended for fun. The music was pretty good too. Outisde of the film, less so though i think.

And the night before caught a film half way through with Brad Pitt and Robert Redford, set in Beirut. I dont know what the film was called. They were both CIA operatives there during the troubles. Redford was superb as a cool calm and collected agent. I wished i'd watched it from the start. Very good story.

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Marc, you should have seen Generations in digital sound in a THX certified theater.  That crash scene was unbelievable!

Neil

Yes, I noticed a lot of loud scenes and explosions that really didn't sound well on TV stereo. Bit of a shame. Seems like there was a lot of low end missing from the 2.0 mix.

- Marc

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And the night before caught a film half way through with Brad Pitt and Robert Redford, set in Beirut. I dont know what the film was called. They were both CIA operatives there during the troubles. Redford was superb as a cool calm and collected agent. I wished i'd watched it from the start. Very good story.

Spy Game, directed by Tony Scott. It came out in 2001.

Neil

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Spy Game, directed by Tony Scott.  It came out in 2001.

Cheers. It was wierd. I picked up a copy of Time magazine here in Bangkok and realized it was from 2002. Imagine my suprise when there was an article about Redford and mentioning that film and it's name. I thought "Hang on, that sounds familiar". 8O

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The Shining by Kubrick. This was the first time I've ever seen it and I thought it was a little too much in a few places. The Bathroom scene is room 237 for example. 8O Although the suspense was unbelivable and Nicholson's performance was superb. The death of the black dude seemed very stupid, why did we bother wasting 30 minutes of the movie following him around if he dies right as soon as he gets there? Seemed more Monty Pythony then Kubricky... ;)

Justin -Who also didn't like Torrence's wife. :P

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Shymalan's next film The Woods(now renamed to the Village i believe) looks to be a good follow up to Signs.

The one thing that I think people misinterpreted about Signs was that they went there expecting Independence Day.

Max

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The Shining by Kubrick.

The kid riding his bike in the hotel hallways are my favorite scenes. Very Kubricky.

It was one of the first times a Steadycam was used. The film's climax (in the maze) is completely shot with the Steadycam. Damn, that camera moves smooth! In fact, those sets were designed with the Steadycam in mind.

-----------------

Alex Cremers

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Saving Private Ryan. There's a strange pumping sound on the DVD whenever dialoque and music are together. The layering pause was plain ugly. Somewhere in the second half there was a drop out in image and sound. Now I know why there's newer version. I want DVD to be perfect. This clearly is not.

The war scenes remain powerful despite having seen Band of Brothers.

----------------

Alex Cremers

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The Matrix Revolutions :mrgreen:

Damn, this flick kicked ass! It has a slow start, but once the machines get into Zion, things get hot. This is one of the most impressive action sequences I've seen in a long time. This kick's TTT's butt (in terms of action, that is). The Freeway Chase from Reloaded is peanuts compared to this.

One scene, a death scene (if you've seen the film you'll know which one I mean) seemed to go on for quite a while, and seemed a bit inane. The victim is pierced by half a dozen metal spikes, yet still has time to chat up with a loved one about the ol' days. Whatever.

Because of this film, I have decided to hold out on Shore's RotK soundtrack, until after I've seen the film (which'll of course be within the first week of release). It was pretty cool when Neodämmerung kicked in, knowing that what was going to follow would be pretty sweet. And it was. I loved Smith's victorious poses as he was hanging in the air. Very anime.

But when Spirit of the Universe started, I was sad that the film was nearing its ending (yes, I was sad - did I mention I liked this film?). The same thing happened with TTT last year, but then I knew that there was still over three hours to go next year. The plan is; I'll go see RotK in a big-ass theatre, with a CD-store across the street. I'll go early, pick up the OST before the movie, spend 3-and-a-half hour watching the film (Hoo yeah!), and listen to the album on the way home. With the Matrix trilogy behind me, it now all comes down to the last haul towards Return of the King.

All in all, the original Matrix is still the best, probably because it's smaller. Bigger is not always better. There was an intimacy about the first film, that the sequels (especially Reloaded) lacked. I can see how these films took so long to finish, as they are very complex, and there is some sweet eye candy. The sentinels swerm around the Zion dock like locus (sp?). Shame there had to be this guy from New Zealand bringing back old-fashioned adventure filmmaking, otherwise, I would have cared a little bit more.

Just over three years ago, The Matrix was hot. It had kicked George Lucas' ass, and created a small revolution in filmmaking. Now Peter Jackson has brought back old-fashioned movie adventure, and The Matrix seems yesterday's news.

Does this make the new movies worse? No. Does this mean PJ has ruined the filmmaking industry? What the hell? Of course not. It's just a shame these movies had to fight so hard to be noticed among the Middle-earth violence. Sure, there is a strong fanbase, and I think many people would have seen it anyway, but it seems WB thought it necessary to overblow the hype to get attention. Of course, if LotR hadn't been made, there would have been a media-circus as well. It just seems to me like they were crying very loud for attention.

Or maybe I'm just rambling and have really turned into a LotR fanboy now. :mrgreen:

- Marc, who was really annoyed by the placement of the intermission, but at least he got to see the end credits this time. :roll:

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I watched "Gangs of New York" yetsreday. The score (Howard Shore) is akin to that of Lord of the Rings (melodically, above all else), especially in the string writing (the solo violin part reminded me a bit of Legends of the Fall) and when heavy dramatic parts are scored. Seems Shore has matured already. ;)

Roman.-)

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Phillip Kaufman's Invasion of the Body Snatchers Allright now this film, I must admit, was rented with the sole purpose of seeing Leonard Nimoy in a non-spock role. And I must admit I enjoyed his screen time. But overall the movie sucked. Strange Pig People From Space should have been the title. As soon as the long boring sleeping scene with Sutherland is over the movie falls to a series of slow chases by the 2 main characters and the snatched pig like zombie folk until finally at the end he gets snatched to. The credits follow with complete silence. (perhaps mourning the loss of this sad excuse for some kind of movie) A message movie? Heck I dunno. Never trust evil whisps of white hair I suppose.

To relieve the burning sensation in my brain, I watched Finding Nemo. Great great flick. Loved it. ;)

Justin -Ready for The Incredibles.

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You're going to have to wait awhile for The Incredibles.

I saw a film the other night called Terror in the Night. It was a Grade Z film noit from 1947. It was also DeForrest Kelley's first film.

Neil

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I agree - Ellen Degeneres' character was one of the highlights of what I found was a generally enjoyable though overly scary and emotionally intense film :music: .

I haven't been watching too many movies lately, though I'm not quite sure why... Too much television / comics / books maybe? Last thing I saw was Laurel Canyon with Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale and Alessandro Nivola. Enjoyable, great cast and diverting enough, but that's about all I'll give it.

CYPHER

PS - Adam I think your new avatar is great! :)

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This year has been terrible for movies.  It doesn't look like it's going to get any better, either.

You always say that. ;)

Road to Perdition  

Music was good, ending sucked

What was wrong with the music? Thomas Newman's score is amazing! The ending is just as good.

Justin -Who watched the "Visual Commentary" on Finding Nemo this afternoon and quite enjoyed it. :devil:

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Oh yeah I FINALLY got around to watching ToD on DVD and I'm kicking myself I didn't do it earlyier. :devil:

Justin -Who thinks ToD has some of, if not the, best action sequences of all the Indy movies.

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Indysolo wrote:

This year has been terrible for movies. It doesn't look like it's going to get any better, either.

You always say that.  

Quote:

Road to Perdition  

Music was good, ending sucked

What was wrong with the music? Thomas Newman's score is amazing! The ending is just as good.  

Justin -Who watched the "Visual Commentary" on Finding Nemo this afternoon and quite enjoyed it.  

I said the Road to Perdition film score was good, I'm underexaggerating, it was very well done, sorry for misconception, The ending however could have been better.

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EdTV. A comedy. Not many laughs, but what I really liked about this film is that it spoofs greedy networks, and has a lot of things to say, but doesn't rub it in our face. Unusually subtle on that front.

- Marc

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Just finished the Temple of Doom for the first time on the DVD set.

Overall the movie was pretty good, it was darker but not that much as I have heard.

My favorite part is near the end when Indiana breaks free of that mental possession and then goes off to free the children. That one scene when the camera pans up to reveal the silhouette of Indy is just priceless.

Also, Short Round was a magnificent character, his hitting of the various guards along with saying "You're dead! I kill you!" is also great along with the poker scene with Indy. "Dr. Jones you I very small, You cheat very big! You make me poor!"

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Indysolo wrote:

This year has been terrible for movies. It doesn't look like it's going to get any better, either.

You always say that.  

and he is always right.

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