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

[A24 4,345]

1 minute ago, Stefancos said:

Are both of you dyslexic? 

 

We're old.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,550]

Peaks orf elfsoury!

[bollemanneke 3,349]

To Walk Invisible. Not bad. It was nice to watch this after just having started reading Wuthering Heights. I liked the Northern accents of the three sisters too. The score is functional, but nothing more. It was clearly written aimlessly and it's utterly unmemorable, but it works.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

On 5/23/2017 at 3:55 PM, bollemanneke said:

But Star Wars did have better music. I knew the Star Trek theme already, but was rather surprised that it was performed in such a fast-paced way. It was clearly inspired on the Star Wars fanfare, but it worked all the same. The rest was uneventful underscore.

Not a huge fan of TMP to be honest - a bit too cerebral. I prefer Goldsmith's other Star Trek scores, even Star Trek Insurrection. 

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

I think I've said this before, but while I admire TMP's highlights, man does it have some longueurs. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Idiots!

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

On 5/24/2017 at 10:39 AM, Richard said:

STAR WARS, GONE WITH THE WIND, PSYCHO, LAWERENCE OF ARABIA, and BEN-HUR.

 

 

3, or maybe even all, of these don't have enough landmark mastery about them to qualify for any greatest achievement awards.  A good tune or two does not a legendary score make, but I know most people will think that's dumb.

[Fancyarcher 350]

Exodus (1960) - 7.5 / 10 Classic "epic", but not exactly a film I can say interested me all the way through. Gold's score (though it's surprisingly used a bit sparingly, then again it is a 3 hour film), and the production design are the best things about it. Good performances as well. 

[mrbellamy 6,287]

50 minutes ago, TheGreyPilgrim said:

3, or maybe even all, of these don't have enough landmark mastery about them to qualify for any greatest achievement awards.  A good tune or two does not a legendary score make, but I know most people will think that's dumb.

 

I mean, this by itself merely reads like a drive-by of hot air but if you actually feel that strongly I'd be interested in elaboration? Which 3 do you have in mind? Why are the others maybes?

 

I don't have any particular personal obsession with any of those scores (I know SW best, of course) but I don't spend much time considering "greatest achievements" either beyond the shit I like so I've never had much beef with the status quo. Those scores resonate, anyway.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

I don't really consider "greatest achievements" much beyond one or two things either, but if someone else mentions it I feel free to comment that I agree or disagree based on what my own standards would be in such a case.  

 

Those standards are more cinematic than musical I think, which is probably why I come out on these issues differently than a lot of people.  What I had in mind for these examples in particular has to do with how novelly these scores function dramatically, that is, how far they deviate from the operatic/balletic roots of film music, which is simply what I find most interesting - when things move away from that into pure film music.  

 

Really, the age of these scores alone puts them at a handicap here, since it's only relatively recently that these kinds of evolutions are taking place, at least beyond isolated examples.  Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, and Gone With The Wind, for all their fine melody, craft, and cultural acclaim, are very "square" to me in that they don't function uniquely as cinematic music.  Psycho and Ben-Hur begin to push the boundaries, a bit, in part because the films do too, and the former does this more than the latter, but they're still a bit trapped into those models of opera, ballet, incidental music....

[mrbellamy 6,287]

I'm always a bit of two minds on that subject, whether it's fair to continually judge past works by fluid, ever-changing modern standards -- I suppose expecting that true innovation, timeless relevance, or aesthetic beauty will persevere while the rest diminish? -- or if any work should be primarily evaluated in its own cultural context. 

 

Or on form, whether a piece that challenges the conventions of its medium is inherently more valuable than one that "perfectly" or somehow sublimely uses previously existing methods without subversion. Is it counterintuitive in 2017 to make a film/score unironically in the style of Gone with the Wind (or rather derived from similar models)? Could it ever hope to be more than stale pastiche, or could it potentially represent a culmination?

[bollemanneke 3,349]

Mary Poppins.

 

I didn't expect it, but I'm not feeling supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at all. Just decided to watch this one because I was enchanted by the music of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and becuase it's an important slice of culture, but this one was quite disappointing.

 

First, the children. Why do they need a nann? They don't misbehave! They only get annoying after Mary Poppins arrives. Their dad could raise them after work and their mother's a suffragette. If she can

throw eggs at the Prime Minister, surely she can manage two children who only occasionally act up. Also, has there ever been a more absurd portrayal of any suffragette in any film? Mr Banks only has to

say her name and she becomes the most docile wife he could ever dream of. That's not a woman who's going to smash windows, let alone fight for political equality. Later, it is explained that the nanny is supposed to be more like a governess and teach them things, but at 1:52 into the story, Mary still doesn't quite seem to have understood that and she's possibly the most disruptive and useless nanny to have walked the streets of London because the children didn't learn anything. At least Nanny McPhee gives them lessons. And Uncle Albert might love to laugh, but at that point I dearly would have liked to turn it off. Speaking of Albert, there's something terribly wrong with that scene too: Mary is called in to sort him out, but all she does is pout and reproach, while any sensible, clear-headed woman would have gagged him, or at the very least, investigated the nursing home/asylum possibilities. The 'It's a Jolly Holiday' sequence is way too long, just like the chimney sequence. The ending is quite stupid too. In short, everything gets boring the moment Poppins arrives.

 

Now, the music and sound. The score is nice, but badly needs more violins and harp and less brass. Why did they think that trumpets and trombones could do everything in the 60s? Also, why does everyone sound like they've got a bad cold? Julie Andrews, on the other hand, was a joy to listen to: how I love her prrroper English. Mr Banks' songs are consistenly bad and Mrs Banks has a truly horrible voice. In the Simpsons parody episode, Bart and Lisa sing way better than these children. There are far too many songs in this movie as well. They totally worked in Hunchback, but this amount was just over the top.

 

It seems as though my Disney adventure isn't going well at all, spoonsful of sugar or not. Spit-spot.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

[Quintus 5,399]

I watched Office Space, somehow hadn't seen it before. Decent little movie, the funniest part of which was when one of the embezzling chaps, trying to figure out the mess they were in, looked up money laundering in the dictionary. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Isnt it somekind of classic?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

At this point, yeah.  I'd say it's considered a classic comedy.

[Bilbo 3,709]

15 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Mary Poppins.

 

I didn't expect it, but I'm not feeling supercalifragilisticexpialidocious at all. Just decided to watch this one because I was enchanted by the music of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and becuase it's an important slice of culture, but this one was quite disappointing.

 

First, the children. Why do they need a nann? They don't misbehave! They only get annoying after Mary Poppins arrives. Their dad could raise them after work and their mother's a suffragette. If she can

throw eggs at the Prime Minister, surely she can manage two children who only occasionally act up. Also, has there ever been a more absurd portrayal of any suffragette in any film? Mr Banks only has to

say her name and she becomes the most docile wife he could ever dream of. That's not a woman who's going to smash windows, let alone fight for political equality. Later, it is explained that the nanny is supposed to be more like a governess and teach them things, but at 1:52 into the story, Mary still doesn't quite seem to have understood that and she's possibly the most disruptive and useless nanny to have walked the streets of London because the children didn't learn anything. At least Nanny McPhee gives them lessons. And Uncle Albert might love to laugh, but at that point I dearly would have liked to turn it off. Speaking of Albert, there's something terribly wrong with that scene too: Mary is called in to sort him out, but all she does is pout and reproach, while any sensible, clear-headed woman would have gagged him, or at the very least, investigated the nursing home/asylum possibilities. The 'It's a Jolly Holiday' sequence is way too long, just like the chimney sequence. The ending is quite stupid too. In short, everything gets boring the moment Poppins arrives.

 

Now, the music and sound. The score is nice, but badly needs more violins and harp and less brass. Why did they think that trumpets and trombones could do everything in the 60s? Also, why does everyone sound like they've got a bad cold? Julie Andrews, on the other hand, was a joy to listen to: how I love her prrroper English. Mr Banks' songs are consistenly bad and Mrs Banks has a truly horrible voice. In the Simpsons parody episode, Bart and Lisa sing way better than these children. There are far too many songs in this movie as well. They totally worked in Hunchback, but this amount was just over the top.

 

It seems as though my Disney adventure isn't going well at all, spoonsful of sugar or not. Spit-spot.

 

You didn't mention the worst part; Dick Van Dyke 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

He's the best part

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Who knew?

[Bilbo 3,709]

17 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

He's the best part

 

 

*shudders*

 

its a film I've hated since childhood.

 

 

The Simpsons' parody is better.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Mary Poppins> the Star Wars Prequels> Prometheus

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Empire > Star Wars > Mary Poppins > TFA > ROTJ > the shit ones

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Quintus 5,399]

Jaws >

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Mad Max Fury Road > Empire = LOTR > Star Wars > TFA > Dude, Where's My Car? > Marry Poppins > Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo > Alien: Covenant > The Room > Plan 9 From Outer Space > the Zapruder film > the Star Wars prequels

[Quintus 5,399]

Let's Go Fly a Kite is one of the most joyous songs ever. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Perhaps Bolleke has never seen a kite?

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 minutes ago, Quintus said:

Let's Fly a Kite is one of the most joyous songs ever. 

 

I totally get criticism of the Shermans being too cheesy and saccharine in some films, but their music for Poppins is pure joy.  "Feed the Birds" can make me cry to this day.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,550]

You're all damn fools. MARY POPPINS is better than everything!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It's alright.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,550]

Good song!

[Quintus 5,399]

 

Never had you down as an East 17 fan, Richard. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

They were better than Take That!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,550]

Not that IT'S ALRIGHT,

the Pet Shop Boys' ITS ALRIGHT !

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I prefer Go West!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,550]

They're good, too, especially before the late, great, and sorely-missed Alan Murphy jumped ship, and, along with Gary Husband, reinvigorated Level 42.

[Quintus 5,399]

West End Girls and It's a Sin are where it's always been at with them. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,550]

They're good, by try 2÷0, LOVE COMES QUICKLY, KING'S CROSS, BEING BORING, SO HARD, and I'M WITH STUPID, to name just a few.

[bollemanneke 3,349]

The songs are mostly great, but that's all. Nanny McPhee is way better.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Maybe you'll like the sequel they're making now with Jessica Blunt as Poppins

[Quintus 5,399]

22 minutes ago, Richard said:

They're good, by try 2÷0, LOVE COMES QUICKLY, KING'S CROSS, BEING BORING, SO HARD, and I'M WITH STUPID, to name just a few.

 

Have you heard the recent albums? It's a dire state of affairs. 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Just now, Quintus said:

 

Have you heard the recent albums? It's a dire state of affairs. 

 

It's a shame!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,550]

I have to agree with you, Lee. There are some good songs, but, overall they're probably past their sell-by date.

 

 

1 minute ago, Stefancos said:

 

It's a shame!

 

It's a sin! 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

3 hours ago, BloodBoal said:

Mad Max Fury Road > Empire = LOTR > Star Wars > TFA > Dude, Where's My Car? > Marry Poppins > Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo > Alien: Covenant

Hey don't diss Deuce Bigalow!

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Hey, at least it's better than Alien: Covenant!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Alien: Covenant was better than any LOTR movie.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I'm not saying the LOTR movies are terrible. Maybe they're a bit long, drawn out, pretentious and self-important for my taste. But Alien: Covenant is more thrilling and appeals to my Friday the 13th sensibilities as a film goer.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

OK.