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

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

I can see the difference, but I'm still entertained by both. Just like I enjoy both the 1989 Batman and Batman & Robin.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

52 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

If you can’t see the quality difference between GoldenEye and Die Another Day, I don’t know what else to say. 

 

GoldenEye and Die Another Day and my two favourite Brosnan Bond films.

[Jurassic Shark 12,130]

I can understand the former, but... Die Another Day?!?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Yes!

[mstrox 6,654]

At the time, I remember liking Die Another Day and considering it top-tier Brosnan Bond along with Tomorrow Never Dies.  I haven't watched any of them since then, so I guess I still feel that way!  For me, super-silliness in James Bond is a feature, not a bug.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

[Naïve Old Fart 9,611]

Filthy habit.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

This cartoon Oz sequel from the early 70s is rather unjustly forgotten I think.  I loved it when I was a kid.  Liza Minnelli voices Dorothy, Ethel Merman as Mombi the Witch, Paul Lynne as Pumpkinhead, Mickey Rooney as Scarecrow.  The songs are really good too, written by the famous songwriting team of Sammy Cahn and Jimmy van Heusen.

 

It’s all a tad cheap and of its time, but really fun.

 

Journey Back to Oz

 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The Mule

 

Didn't turn out quite as suspenseful as I was hoping, but it's a decent yarn anyway. A bit disturbing seeing an elderly Clint getting laid by whores - too much detail! Plot seems like a faint facsimile of Breaking Bad in some ways.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

6 hours ago, mstrox said:

At the time, I remember liking Die Another Day and considering it top-tier Brosnan Bond along with Tomorrow Never Dies.  I haven't watched any of them since then, so I guess I still feel that way!  For me, super-silliness in James Bond is a feature, not a bug.

I like silly Bond as well, but Die Another Day took it to another level. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,611]

I've grown to like DIE ANOTHER DAY, over the years. It's cheesy, but there's a lot to entertain the viewer. In terms of mood, I'd place it on a par with A VIEW TO A KILL. It's nothing special, but if you want a distraction, for an hour or two, you could do worse.

Best line: "I know all about the UN embargo. I studied at Oxford, and Harvard; majored in Western hypocrisy". That always makes me chuckle 

 

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

It's not dark and disturbing enough.

[Quintus 5,399]

 

Anyone else heard of this? Amazon streaming put it in front of me and when I noticed Ralph Bakshi's name on it I hit play out of curiosity, just to take a peek. 

 

The animation is creepy and weird AF, I couldn't get past ten minutes of it (the absurdly long opening credits were five minutes of that).

 

 

 

 

[Jurassic Shark 12,130]

A prequel to GoT?

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Da Thawthank Redumpthun

 

Wasn't bad. Not sure it's "Number One of All Time" or anything, but it is good. Maybe a bit unrealistic though, with the things that the main guy did in the story, but it makes folks go "wowww". It's not bad.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

It's basically a perfect movie.  No matter how many times I've seen it, the story and characters always draw me in.  Still one of T. Newman's best scores too.

[Edmilson 7,508]

16 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

Still one of T. Newman's best scores too.

 

It's probably his best indeed. Although I love The Horse Whisperer, Green Mile and Meet Joe Black, if I had to choose one score to be Thomas' masterpiece, it would be Shawshank.

[Sweeping Strings 2,384]

18 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

Bond sucks on a fat Cuban. Oo-er missus. 

[A24 4,356]

2 hours ago, Thekthithm said:

Da Thawthank Redumpthun

 

Wasn't bad. Not sure it's "Number One of All Time" or anything, but it is good. Maybe a bit unrealistic though, with the things that the main guy did in the story, but it makes folks go "wowww". It's not bad.

 

It divides the audience into worshippers and haters. Especially seasoned cinephiles seem to hate it for its warm and fuzzy feelings. I seem to be somewhere in the middle. Darabont is a fine storyteller (just like Eastwood). I wish he didn't retire.

[Chen G. 3,981]

6 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Especially seasoned cinephiles seem to hate it for its warm and fuzzy feelings.

 

There's nothing wrong with "warm and fuzzy feelings" if they're only achieved through a prolonged wading through misery, failure and loss. Its basically what drama is.

 

2 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

It's basically a perfect movie.  No matter how many times I've seen it, the story and characters always draw me in. 

 

True, and yet as @Thekthithm said, I'm not sure it's "Number One of All Time" for me.

 

A film can be imperfect and still be impassioned, moving and powerful; it can also be technically perfect but fail to be those things.

 

There are films that make me feel more things, with greater intensity and frequency, than Shawshank Redemption, and that - to me - matters more than how "perfect" or not they are. When a film elicits a strong emotional response in me, particularly in its climax, whatever small snags were encountered on the way there are irrelevant.

 

But like I said, it more than gets the job done.

[A24 4,356]

9 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

 

There's nothing wrong with "warm and fuzzy feelings" if they're only achieved through a prolonged wading through misery, failure and loss. Its basically what drama is.

 

 

Drama doesn't need warm & fuzzy feelings, Chen. Schindler's List would have been perfect without the artificial "I could have done more" scene.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So moving!

 

The crux of the film, surely?

[Chen G. 3,981]

Even without it, the film does contain the triumph of Schindler having delivered all those Jews from harm.

[A24 4,356]

2 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

So moving!

 

The crux of the film, surely?

 

Yes, for those who need enlargements and embellishments before they can feel anything, but for the seasoned cinephiles it stuck out as a sore thumb. 

 

[Chen G. 3,981]

"Seasoned Cinephiles" in this regard strikes me as a nickname for the emotionally-inert.

[A24 4,356]

Who's the more emotionally inept? Those who need melodrama or those who prefer subtlety? 

[Chen G. 3,981]

If it works, then to hell with subtlety.

 

So many of the all-time great films and all-time great filmmakers have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

[A24 4,356]

4 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

If it works, then to hell with subtlety.

 

So many of the all-time great films have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

 

But that's the thing, Chen, Schindler's List was surprisingly restraint up to that point. Spielberg didn't need to pull all the stops to evoke an emotion. He could have done more by doing less. I think it would have been more effective. At least it would have silenced the seasoned cinephiles. They would have had nothing to whine about.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Cremers is going on about Schindler again?  *rolls eyes*

 

It works perfectly within the film.  We see the dramatization of the events, and then we see the faces of the people he actually saved.  "I'm not gonna debate you, Jerry.  I'm not gonna sit here and debate."

[Chen G. 3,981]

6 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

But that's the thing, Chen, Schindler's List was surprisingly restraint up to that point. Spielberg didn't need to pull all the stops to evoke an emotion. He could have done more by doing less. At least it would have silenced the seasoned cinephiles.

 

I have my own (alltogether minor) issues with the ending of Schindler's List, so I won't press that particular point.

 

I don't think the film is really all that subtle. If it was, it'd have about half the on-screen brutality, if any.

[A24 4,356]

4 minutes ago, Disco Stu said:

 

 

It works perfectly within the film.  

 

It would, if the whole film was like that, but that's not the case here. Spielberg didn't trust the audience and relied on cheap emotional manipulation, which seem to work for some, but not for everyone.

[SteveMc 2,674]

Schindler's List is not "subtle."  Spielberg just lets it speak for itself.  I do think the "I Could Have Done More" sequence feels a little too on the nose.  Just having him say that line once or twice would have been enough.  But, I don't think it's really too much of an issue.  It does not feel like manipulation to me.

[A24 4,356]

 

5 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

Schindler's List is not "subtle."  

 

Well, it's Spielberg at his most restraint. I remember I was very pleasantly surprised by that, and if you wish, I can copy past some review excerpts where the critics praised it as well. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I was mis-remembering the part Cremers didn't like as being the very, very end.  The "I could've done more" scene, that's right, that's the part he doesn't like.

 

It's been a while since I watched it all the way through, but as I remember it, it felt like a much needed release to me.  Spielberg knew just when the audience would want that.  I agree it's manipulative, but that's not a bad thing by definition.  It's certainly not melodramatic.

[Chen G. 3,981]

I love the statement of the film's theme: "One more person. A person, Stern."

 

Never fails to get me going. Hell, if I was directing it, I'd probably try and see if pushing-in on his face works for that moment.

 

Neeson literally falling over Sir Ben's shoulders is the one beat I don't care for.

[SteveMc 2,674]

Restrained it is,no doubt.  But subtle it is not.  Everything hits you right in the face.  And the themes are all right there.  I mean, the girl in red is not exactly subtle, is it?

The ending is not less subtle than the rest of the film.  It just feels more filmic.  

[Chen G. 3,981]

I'm pretty sure the choice to shoot it black-and-white doesn't count as being subtle, either.

 

Does it work? Hell yeah.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Watch Lanzmann's Shoah documentary if you want the reality shorn of sentiment.  Spielberg was making a Hollywood drama.

[A24 4,356]

9 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

  I mean, the girl in red is not exactly subtle, is it?

 

 

Actually, that's the other thing that stuck out and where Spielberg went a bit overboard. It's not as bad as the "I could have done more scene" though.

 

7 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

I'm pretty sure the choice to shoot it black-and-white doesn't count as being subtle, either.

 

 

You think the choice of shooting it in B&W is melodramatic? 

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Its a beautiful looking film, no one can deny that.

[A24 4,356]

22 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

 

The ending is not less subtle than the rest of the film.  It just feels more filmic.  

 

 Schindler's List is very filmic and dramatic from A to Z. However, that scene is sheer over-the-top melodrama, hence the complaints. It's not in accordance to the restrained nature of the rest of the film. If Schindler didn't cry and fall on his knees, it would have worked better. 'Less' can work very powerful. I was literally shocked by the sudden melodrama and felt it was a small blemish on an overall perfect film.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Its quite stylised, yes.

[A24 4,356]

Now let's talk about the Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedom scene in Braveheart!

[Chen G. 3,981]

Drama at its absolute very best.

 

Who knew such a gruesome death scene could be so life-reaffirming and triumphant!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Glorious, actually! An emotionally cathartic experience.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,489]

The ending of Schindler's List isn't dark and disturbing enough. Too melodramatic.

[Chen G. 3,981]

20 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

Glorious, actually! An emotionally cathartic experience.

 

Not to mention the scene that immediately follows. "You have bled with Wallace - now bleed with me!"

 

Fuck yeah!!

[A24 4,356]

Just now, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

The ending of Schindler's List isn't dark and disturbing enough. 

 

Talking about dark & disturbing, Spielberg didn't want to go too far in showing Nazi cruelty and brutality, otherwise people would simply not believe it. 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

1 hour ago, Alexcremers said:

 

It divides the audience into worshippers and haters. Especially seasoned cinephiles seem to hate it for its warm and fuzzy feelings. I seem to be somewhere in the middle. Darabont is a fine storyteller (just like Eastwood). I wish he didn't retire.

Darabont retired??

[A24 4,356]

Semi-retirement maybe? I dunno, it feels like he has disappeared from Hollywood. The last thing I've heard of Frank Darabont was his involvement in the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, which is ages ago. Is he back? Maybe he needs to makes movies for Netflix.