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


Mr. Breathmask

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It's like when I put up my harmless thoughts on Barry Lyndon, it provokes a stream of replies that are thinly veiled calls for disciplinary action by the moderators as if I was being abusive or something. This forum has been bitchier than normal lately.

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

It's like when I put up my harmless thoughts on Barry Lyndon, it provokes a stream of replies that are thinly veiled calls for disciplinary action by the moderators as if I was being abusive or something. This forum has been bitchier than normal lately.

 

Fuck 'em, Jerry, it's only a movie.

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So, as the joint finale of my Spielberg and Kubrick marathons:

 

A.I. or Do Mechas Dream of Electric Bears?

 

A bit confused, but not bad. The end is quite poetically bittersweet - the fake replica who was created to keep humans happy now gets a fake replica to be happy himself.

That score! I'll need a listen or two to the whole thing on its own, but what I remember was wonderful. Soulful and beautiful without being overly sappy or boringly meandering.

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Watched a few in the past month, recent forays include- Rollerball, Air Force One, Bridge of Spies, the '58 Dunkirk and culminating with Das Boot. The lattermost on Blu-ray. Far cry from when I had a VHS of it and the opening shot of the submarine approaching the camera was so murky (like my old Red October VHS) you were nonethewiser really if there was a sub there. 

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47 minutes ago, Holko said:

So, as the joint finale of my Spielberg and Kubrick marathons:

 

A.I. or Do Mechas Dream of Electric Bears?

 

A bit confused, but not bad. The end is quite poetically bittersweet - the fake replica who was created to keep humans happy now gets a fake replica to be happy himself.

That score! I'll need a listen or two to the whole thing on its own, but what I remember was wonderful. Soulful and beautiful without being overly sappy or boringly meandering.

 

Bittersweet?  I think the ending is horrifically dark.  I mean, a masterpiece, but hoo boy that's a dark ending masquerading as (at least slightly) happy.

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4 minutes ago, Nick Parker said:

 

In what way?

 

If you're thinking about the symbolic meaning, that humans in our search for meaning prefer coddling fantasies of eternity spent with an idealized, non-existent "parent" to reality.  Don't forget that version of his mother is a complete fabrication, not what the actual woman was like at all.  Our insistence on projecting parental titles onto deities comes to mind...

 

Anyway, that movie is like a rich supper of possible interpretations.  Lots to dig into.

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9 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

 

Sorry, but then you're an idiot as well.

 

Well, let me rephrase that, only an idiot would think that I took  "Did you watch it from behind the tele?" literally.

 

The reason why my reply was longer than usual is because of the posts that followed and that suggested that I don't understand Kubrick's movies and must therefore watch them more than once. I wanted to make clear that my 'multiple viewing and changing my opinion on them' has nothing to do with 'getting' what the 2001: ASO or Eyes Wide Shut are about. I might even change my opinion and still don't know what they are mean. I love that (some) movies are prone to interpretation. In fact, I don't need answers. Whether we're talking movies or music, giving meaning and making things clear-cut are never a priority for me. I will always prefer 'ambiguity'.

 

Storm in a tea cup anyway. But if it makes you feel any better, I'm currently on my hols with the family and last night I was taking some respite away from their noise by sitting in the lounge bar (the only place I can get some WiFi), and by the time I ventured onto JWFAN I was already pretty much hammered.

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Surely you haven't forgotten the old bickerings and arguings about who killed who here? The golden era of JWFan, long before your Disco Stus, your Jurassic Sharks and even your BloodBoals.

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30 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

If you're thinking about the symbolic meaning, that humans in our search for meaning prefer coddling fantasies of eternity spent with an idealized, non-existent "parent" to reality.  Don't forget that version of his mother is a complete fabrication, not what the actual woman was like at all.  Our insistence on projecting parental titles onto deities comes to mind...

 

Anyway, that movie is like a rich supper of possible interpretations.  Lots to dig into.

 

I see whachu mean and agree, but I prefer to see the ending more intimately, in scope. Williams doesn't talk too much on the themes of the films he scores, but his interpretation of the ending is beautiful.

 

If I remember correctly, David has the only dignified, dare I say "human", death in the film.

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42 minutes ago, Quintus said:

Surely you haven't forgotten the old bickerings and arguings about who killed who here? The golden era of JWFan, long before your Disco Stus, your Jurassic Sharks and even your BloodBoals.

 

Infidel! There's only one Jurassic Shark. Not two, nor zero, nor many. Only one.

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6 hours ago, Richard said:

...that's the 1975 ROLLERBALL, I sincerely hope?

 

It is yes. I've not watched the remake nor likely to. Any film with Shane Rimmer and Buck Rogers' Pamela Hensley isn't entirely bad. 

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Death on the nile 1978.

 

Quite good, overall. My favourite actors were Mia Farrow, I.S. Johar and of course Angela Lansbury. She was just amazing, though Farrow in angry mode was great as well. I daresay I prefer Peter Ustinov to David Suchet and my suspicions regarding the identity of the killer turned out to be true, though I couldn't possibly have guessed how complicated the entire case turned out to be. The final twist is quite anti-climactic as well.

This was my first Nino Rota score, though I already knew his gorgeous love theme from The Godfather. The score was mostly okay, if a little too bombastic, but he relied on the main theme too much and lots of scary moments weren't scored at all.

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59 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Solid, but doesn't hold a candle to Lumet's Orient Express.

 

Right, @Richard?

Right, @Stefancos!

MOTOE is - pardon the pun - absolutely first class.

From Richard Rodney Bennett's score, to Geoffrey Unsworth's lush cinematography, the film is a pure delight.

I know that DOTN has its fans, and I'll be interested to see what our Ken does with it, but MOTOE is the dogs bollocks!

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8 hours ago, Richard said:

Right, @Stefancos!

MOTOE is - pardon the pun - absolutely first class.

From Richard Rodney Bennett's score, to Geoffrey Unsworth's lush cinematography, the film is a pure delight.

I know that DOTN has its fans, and I'll be interested to see what our Ken does with it, but MOTOE is the dogs bollocks!

 

Right!

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I find both expansive, entertaining larks that do not differ from each other all too much (i prefer Rota's main theme, tbh). After that, the series fell on hard times. 'Evil under the Sun' is acceptable-if-threadbare, the later ones piss-poor. 

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Bram Stoker's Dracula

 

Finally got to check this beast out. Coppola throws a lot on the senses, delivering a dreamy phantasmagoria of blood, sex, and monsters.  It would be easy to dismiss the film for its messy storytelling, hammy performances and Keanu Reeves, but the film feigns a certain method to its madness. It's like the most vivid of nightmares, the kind that stays well with you after you've woken up. Shadows dance behind characters, Oldman's eyes haunt the skies from vast distances, lights shift from extreme ends of the spectrum against matte backdrops and miniatures, all within the same frame. Every trick in the book is pulled here. And no one could pretend this is subtle stuff, this is impressive, sincere old-school film-making. I think the last film that tried something of this scope on a production level was The Fellowship of the Ring.

 

It's a glorious, over-the-top mess, that you can't tear your eyes away from!

 

And I can't stress how vital Kilar's score is the whole thing. Screaming choirs, low double-octave piano tankering, eastern European fiddling, dreaming string cadences galore; it oozes the gothic eroticism that Coppola was trying to go for, and without the music, the film would not have been nearly half as effective. 

 

Oh, and Winona Ryder was quite the beauty, in her heyday. That is all.

 

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I think she robbed the store in New York City. Rascal! She needs to be locked up and shackled for her crimes. Around the time that shoplifting occurred, she was blacklisted and replaced by the first clone, Natalie Portman, who spawned Kiera Knightly and Rose Byrne.

 

 

Always (1989)

 

Directed by some guy I used to really admire. I still revisit his older stuff and return E.T. to the Green Planet for him even though he's turned to the dark side. This is a great film. It may be my favorite of his.

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16 hours ago, KK said:

Bram Stoker's Dracula

 

It's a glorious, over-the-top mess, that you can't tear your eyes away from!

 

And I can't stress how vital Kilar's score is the whole thing. Screaming choirs, low double-octave piano tankering, eastern European fiddling, dreaming string cadences galore; it oozes the gothic eroticism that Coppola was trying to go for, and without the music, the film would not have been nearly half as effective. 

 

I know i will be stoned for this but, Tony Manero hairdo and all, i absolutely prefer the Badham/Langella/Williams reading. It has flashes of gaudiness as well, but the whole scenery has the necessary british reserve - and great matte work - , the score is sublimely over the top romantic (ESB drew heavily from it) and compared to the skimpy Hammer sets it looks ravishing. Coppola is artistically more bold, but that's not necessarily a recommendation. The movie lost me when Reeves arrived in Transylvania and suddenly the whole thing turned Mel Brooks, with excessive wolf howls and all. It's kind of fun to watch, but doesn't get me in a Dracula mood at all.

 

dracula4.jpg

 

dracula-1979-dracula-20671869-1200-819.j

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