What Is The Last Film You Watched?

[A24 4,346]

He surely directed that old polish ad.

Wow, amazing! Thanks for that, Neimoidian!

I started, naturally, with Alien. The entire opening sequence, with no dialogue, was absolutely mesmerizing. Everything feels real, used up, truly industrial. And once the characters start talking, again the feeling is of great realism and naturality. I wouldn't say there's a great deal of character development per se, but more important than that, the characters feel, talk and act like real people. It's not so much what you know about the characters that makes you care for them, but they are so convicing and grounded you actually feel these are real people in this uncanny situation. This is obviosly not the case with Aliens, where all the characters, except maybe for Ripley, are pretty cardboard, stereotypical and most of their dialogue contributes absolutely nothing to the storytelling. Most of them could have no dialogue at all and the movie would suffer nothing from it. Still, Aliens is quite entertaning as a action flick, and when it gets going it really gets going, but I can only remember one memorable shot from it: Ripley's face dissolving into Earth, where as in Alien, the entire section on the spaceship wreck is a work of art, with some of the most stunning atmosphere and visual flare I have ever seen. Design and look wise, in Alien, I dare say the only element that looks dated are the light panels inside Mother. It trully feels timeless. Everything screams 80's in Aliens, and I would say the only interesting design addition was the Alien Queen, of which, btw, we were shown a bit too much.

In Aliens, as usual with Cameron movies, we have our fair share of clunky dialog, the reveal of the powerloader being the worst offender ("get away from her you bitch", preceded by a a sort of arrival of the heroine shot, trully awful and cringy stuff) and the menace of the creature is totally diluted by their sheer numbers. They don't seem intellingent at all, they just keep on dying by the hundreds because they can afford to. And concerning stupidity, how come in a planet that is only 1200 km in diameter (as stated in Alien), colonized for 20 years, no one discovered that huge spaceship wreck before? And was there any good reason to make Bishop a android?

Good observations, Merkel. I would add that, even though it feels realistic and natural, it's also very much staged as an Metal Hurlant comics story. Plus, as in all Scott's early movies, the spirit of Kubrick is never far away.

Alex

[Koray Savas 2,251]

He surely directed that old polish ad.

Wow, amazing! Thanks for that, Neimoidian!

Are you serious? Is he serious?

[Neimoidian 14]

Are you serious? Is he serious?

Dead serious. This commercial is called "General's party" and - according to Wikipedia - it won Snyder some kind of award.

[A24 4,346]

Can you provide me with a link to that? I can't find it on Wiki.

[Neimoidian 14]

Can you provide me with a link to that? I can't find it on Wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zack_Snyder

Awards

Snyder's body of work has earned him a number of awards, including two Clio Awards and a Gold Lion Award for his Jeep "Frisbee" commercial. He also won an award for his humorous commercial "General's Party".

and here is another link to that commercial (alternate version of it, actually)

[A24 4,346]

Great! Thanks, Neimoidian!

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Are you serious? Is he serious?

Dead serious. This commercial is called "General's party" and - according to Wikipedia - it won Snyder some kind of award.

I wasn't questioning that Snyder directed, I was questioning Alex praising a mediocre commercial as another worthy entry in his filmography. OMG SLOW MOTION ORGASM GIVE HIM AN OSCAR!

[Neimoidian 14]

The commercial is not bad at all. Quite the contrary. Question is, can you make a good whole-length motion picture like this?

[Taikomochi 1,136]

Source Code

It was pretty good. Better than I expected. It kinda jumps the shark a couple times, but I didn't mind it too much. I thought the score was pretty effective in the film, despite never having heard of Chris Bacon.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

He's James Newton Howard's protege. Worked on a few of his scores. He used to go by Chris P. Bacon, no joke.

[Taikomochi 1,136]

That's really interesting, actually. Before the credit for Bacon in the opening credits, I wondered if Howard was the composer from what it sounded like. Guess I wasn't too far off.

[Datameister 2,044]

I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 with one of my roommates today - most of it, at least. This was my second viewing, and I must say, I really do like the direction that the last few films ended up taking. The music, of course, isn't Williams caliber, sadly, but I think the films themselves are quite well done. I'm looking forward to seeing Part 2 when the time comes, and I have a feeling it's going to be similarly satisfying. The actors are so much more mature in the last few films, there are moments that are genuinely funny, and they just have a certain...believability. It's hard to put into words, but it's easier to look at these events as really happening. Easier to suspend disbelief. And I think a big part of that is the fact that the three "kids" really grew into their roles toward the end of this decade-long process. Maybe not Rupert Grint so much, but Dan Radcliffe and especially Emma Watson. It's just easier to buy into what they're doing. And Ms. Watson, of course, became more and more stunning with each film, which helps. (As I've noted in the past, I'm only a year older than her, so there shall be no allegations of perversion here! )

My thoughts on the series as a whole so far:

SS: Charming innocence, bolstered by Williams' last truly iconic theme.

COS: An offensive mess of sequelitis that manages to feel exactly like SS and yet a thousand times worse.

POA: By far the most stylistically interesting of the lot, although beyond that and the similarly unique score, the film isn't too special.

GOF: The biggest disappointment, since I loved the book, and just didn't enjoy the film very much. The score is a mixed bag.

OOTP: Uncomfortably un-funny at times. Not much to enjoy here, either. Also a mixed bag score-wise.

HBP: A most pleasant surprise, though not perfect.

DH1: Very much in line with HBP, but with fewer flaws.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

That's really interesting, actually. Before the credit for Bacon in the opening credits, I wondered if Howard was the composer from what it sounded like. Guess I wasn't too far off.

Yeah it sounds very much like Howard, Signs in particular. Speaking of it all, I just got home from seeing Source Code.

A great sci-fi thriller. I thought it was handled very well. Gyllenhaal is tough to take seriously, and he brought a lot of charm and comedy to the role and situation. It also never gets dull, Jones figured out how to continuously retell an 8 minute scene and keep it fresh and interesting. This is something that Vantage Point failed to do, and my goodness did it fail.

I'm still trying to piece together the big picture.

Some of the editing at the end was a bit sloppy, in my opinion. Did he change the present? Was each visit to the source code a different reality? The little bit of dialogue he had with Goodwin about alternate realities leads me to believe this. The confusion comes in with the order of what happened between both worlds. I also didn't like how they continued so much after that gorgeous freeze frame shot. I would have taken out the twist about the realities, and have that non-existant world be his life. A bit like Inception, beautiful in its tragedy.

[A24 4,346]

I was questioning Alex praising a mediocre commercial as another worthy entry in his filmography.

Are you serious?!

Knight And Day: Corny humor and tenseless action scenes. After 30 minutes (the best part of the film), I was trying not to fall asleep. Boring and dull. How Morlock is able to praise this standard Hollywood fair is simply incomprehensible. BTW, Cameron Diaz looks creepier with each passing year.

I actually was going to rent Scott Pilgrim vs. The World but they only had one copy (!) and it was rented out, of course.

Alex

[Trent Hoyt 13]

I watched Carrie after having recently read the book. The movie did a good job with the book and it hit all the major scenes. The book was better though.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Design and look wise, in Alien, I dare say the only element that looks dated are the light panels inside Mother.

I think that technologically, Alien is dated in all the best ways. Obviously, it's a late 70s interpretation of future technology, and it's better for it. If it were made nowadays, you'd probably see a lot of flashy hologram things and overuse of CGI, or everything would just look like it was designed by Apple. So, basically, a sort of enhanced version of things we already have, just kind of flashier and likely impractical or pointless. Nothing that would ever exist because it's actually really stupid. Alien is so perfectly restrained in its portrayal of future technology. The Nostromo is very realistic.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Machete

Finally got around to the Blu. Love every minute of this flick. I'm all for Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again, but first Rodriguez, ditch the Spy Kids and do Sin City 2.

[Matt C 455]

Machete

Finally got around to the Blu. Love every minute of this flick. I'm all for Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again, but first Rodriguez, ditch the Spy Kids and do Sin City 2.

I think the Weinsteins keep putting Sin City 2 on the backburner. I don't know why, the first film was cheap to make, marketed well and it did make a profit.

[A24 4,346]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: I have the impression that the film is like the little drumming girl. If you like her, then chances are you'll like the whole movie. I didn't like her at all.

[publicist 4,643]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: I have the impression that the film is like the little drumming girl. If you like her, then chances are you'll like the whole movie. I didn't like her at all.

But the midi version of Goldsmith's Universal fanfare reigns...

[A24 4,346]

But the midi version of Goldsmith's Universal fanfare reigns...

I agee! The Nintendo 8-bit console version was ace!

[Brónach 1,302]

I thought Scott Pilgrim was hilarious. Ok, it's a bit weird, it makes no sense, but still.

[crocodile 8,020]

It's a film for kids, Alex. What did you expect?

Karol

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I re-watched the old Planet of the Apes in HD. Now I desire the Blu-ray. I think I've gotten the Tim Burton version almost totally erased from my mind now. Awesome.

City of Angels last night. Seemed like a standard late 90s lovey drama. It never got too deep, it seemed they were trying too hard to make it overly dramatic and emotional (even if it kinda wasn't), there were too many pop songs and you knew everything that was going to happen after the first 40 minutes. On a slightly side note, I'm a bit sick of: 1.) being able to accurately predict a movie's storyline, and 2.) being able to accurately predict a movie's plot twist, or at least figuring that there will BE a twist, even if I'm unsure of the exact conditions. So what am I to do at this point? Anyway, it wasn't bad. It was very "Hollywood" and nothing special. Probably more or less why it seems to have been unsympathetically left behind in its decade aside from that Goo Goo Dolls song. You don't really take anything from it.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I re-watched the old Planet of the Apes in HD. Now I desire the Blu-ray. I think I've gotten the Tim Burton version almost totally erased from my mind now. Awesome.

Well get ready for Rise Of The Apes this August.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I don't intend to see it. I don't like the Apes series outside of the original movie, and that's really all you need.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

I re-watched the old Planet of the Apes in HD. Now I desire the Blu-ray. I think I've gotten the Tim Burton version almost totally erased from my mind now. Awesome.

Well get ready for Rise Of The Apes this August.

Fingers crossed for this one.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

It has very little chance of being good.

Though it does have a decent cast and it's nice to see Doyle get some work.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Why does it have "very little chance of being good"?

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Because it's going to be a CGI crapfest and like Justin said, none of the Apes movies are very good aside from the first two. The director is an unknown with little under his belt. Not usually a good thing for summer blockbusters.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Not usually a good thing for summer blockbusters.

Steven Spielberg, 1975, Jaws!

[Neimoidian 14]

Not usually a good thing for summer blockbusters.

Steven Spielberg, 1975, Jaws!

It's like saying that Justin Bieber can be the next Frank Sinatra.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

The second Apes movie is one of the worst, just after 'Battle'.

[crocodile 8,020]

Not usually a good thing for summer blockbusters.

Steven Spielberg, 1975, Jaws!

It's like saying that Justin Bieber can be the next Frank Sinatra.

Isn't he?

Karol - who thinks Sinatra is vastly overrated

[Romão 2,274]

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: I have the impression that the film is like the little drumming girl. If you like her, then chances are you'll like the whole movie. I didn't like her at all.

The novelty of the film wears off very, very quickly. After that it just becomes a chore to watch

[publicist 4,643]

Karol - who thinks Sinatra is vastly overrated

I'm deeply shocked...to say the least.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

The "problem" with Scott Pilgrim is that it has a very, very niche audience. I adore that Wright (who we now find out was the actually properly talented one out of the Pegg/Frost/Wright trio) was able to get a solid wad of cash from Universal for a movie aimed squarely at video game slackers.

If you don't enjoy games, and particularly the Nintendo era, you won't like it, unfortunately. I loved it.

[A24 4,346]

It's a film for kids, Alex. What did you expect?

Yes, a film for the awakening teenager, so I'm not the target audience.

[Romão 2,274]

Sunset Boulevard

How come did I never watch this before? A great script, great performances all around, great cinematography and an absolutely stunning score. All the characters in this thing are deeply, deeply, flawed, but the whole thing remains so intriguing. Gloria Swanson was still a very beautiful lady in her 50's (Norma Desmond should probably look more decadent or aged), with a surprisingly alluring voice for someone who was mainly a silent movie star.

And the opening stands right next to Star Wars as one of the great, in your face, starting with a bang, film music overtures of all time.

[A24 4,346]

The novelty of the film wears off very, very quickly. After that it just becomes a chore to watch

Do you mean the post production animation embellishments?

[Romão 2,274]

Well, yes, that and the whole evil exes thing, which after the second one became an incredibly boring thing.

[A24 4,346]

Ah yes, the world of the teenager that becomes a computer game. You know, the fights reminded me of The Matrix and apparently, it's the same fella.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 with one of my roommates today - most of it, at least. This was my second viewing, and I must say, I really do like the direction that the last few films ended up taking. The music, of course, isn't Williams caliber, sadly, but I think the films themselves are quite well done. I'm looking forward to seeing Part 2 when the time comes, and I have a feeling it's going to be similarly satisfying. The actors are so much more mature in the last few films, there are moments that are genuinely funny, and they just have a certain...believability. It's hard to put into words, but it's easier to look at these events as really happening. Easier to suspend disbelief. And I think a big part of that is the fact that the three "kids" really grew into their roles toward the end of this decade-long process. Maybe not Rupert Grint so much, but Dan Radcliffe and especially Emma Watson. It's just easier to buy into what they're doing. And Ms. Watson, of course, became more and more stunning with each film, which helps. (As I've noted in the past, I'm only a year older than her, so there shall be no allegations of perversion here! )

My thoughts on the series as a whole so far:

SS: Charming innocence, bolstered by Williams' last truly iconic theme.

COS: An offensive mess of sequelitis that manages to feel exactly like SS and yet a thousand times worse.

POA: By far the most stylistically interesting of the lot, although beyond that and the similarly unique score, the film isn't too special.

GOF: The biggest disappointment, since I loved the book, and just didn't enjoy the film very much. The score is a mixed bag.

OOTP: Uncomfortably un-funny at times. Not much to enjoy here, either. Also a mixed bag score-wise.

HBP: A most pleasant surprise, though not perfect.

DH1: Very much in line with HBP, but with fewer flaws.

I just watched DH1 myself yesterday for the first time. I thought it was quite a good movie and the best since Azkaban. However, its been a while since I read the books and it definitely felt like some important elements were glossed over making some crucial points seem contrived. Definitely much better than the (good looking) mess that was HBP.

[Neimoidian 14]

Not usually a good thing for summer blockbusters.

Steven Spielberg, 1975, Jaws!

It's like saying that Justin Bieber can be the next Frank Sinatra.

Isn't he?

Karol - who thinks Sinatra is vastly overrated

Some say the same about Spielberg, so it makes sense.

[Romão 2,274]

Ah yes, the world of the teenager that becomes a computer game. You know, the fights reminded me of The Matrix and apparently, it's the same fella.

The things, as the years go by, I start to think action sequences are normally the most boring sequences of any movie. And the more recent the movie, the more this trend accentuates. Such was the case with Scott Pilgrim.

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Ah yes, the world of the teenager that becomes a computer game. You know, the fights reminded me of The Matrix and apparently, it's the same fella.

The things, as the years go by, I start to think action sequences are normally the most boring sequences of any movie. And the more recent the movie, the more this trend accentuates. Such was the case with Scott Pilgrim.

I'm the same, and have been for a few years, unfortunately.

[crocodile 8,020]

Karol - who thinks Sinatra is vastly overrated

I'm deeply shocked...to say the least.

Some say the same about Spielberg, so it makes sense.

I just find nothing interesting his voice and/or repertoire. It's an elevator music for me. Not my kind of thing.

Karol

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

Ah yes, the world of the teenager that becomes a computer game. You know, the fights reminded me of The Matrix and apparently, it's the same fella.

The things, as the years go by, I start to think action sequences are normally the most boring sequences of any movie. And the more recent the movie, the more this trend accentuates. Such was the case with Scott Pilgrim.

I loved the fight scenes in Scott Pilgrim. They just oozed so much glee and energy

[Richard Penna 3,695]

Watched Goodfellas yesterday and Source Code today. Outstanding in their respective ways.

[Brónach 1,302]

The "problem" with Scott Pilgrim is that it has a very, very niche audience. I adore that Wright (who we now find out was the actually properly talented one out of the Pegg/Frost/Wright trio) was able to get a solid wad of cash from Universal for a movie aimed squarely at video game slackers.

If you don't enjoy games, and particularly the Nintendo era, you won't like it, unfortunately. I loved it.

I hardly ever played games from the Nintendo era, or games in genera, an I still loved it.