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


Mr. Breathmask

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5 hours ago, Brundlefly said:

Every Haneke movie is a very hard watch. He is one of the all-time-greatest.

 

His masterpiece, Das weiße Band, was easy for me to watch. A few days ago, I was looking through my DVDs for Time Of The Wolf (I was in the mood for a post-apocalyptic movie), but I could not find it. 

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19 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Rough night.

 

Meh, entertaining enough. Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell and Demi Moore were great. Only the last 15 minutes were too much.

Music is nice.

 

 

Every time I see Jillian Bell in something she makes me laugh.  Check out 22 Jump Street, The Night Before, Office Christmas Party, and Brittany Runs A Marathon

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15 hours ago, Alexcremers said:

 

That is one of the most grim movies that I've ever seen. It's all yin and no yang which is always a hard thing for me to swallow. 

 

Grim, yes. Unflinching, yes. But even in it's difficult reality, there are moments of levity and "beauty" to lighten the load (in the student character, and the portrayal of the upper class conservatory culture), before it all comes tumbling down as these tragedies ultimately must. 

 

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Caché

 

It's very well made, but it's a little...empty, isn't it? Something about its central questions seem compromised, as if bound by the genre (thriller) it must serve. Haneke says he wanted to explore the crimes of French colonialism against the Algerians, but as an idea, it's kind of just thrown at the audience in a one-off expository line, like a used napkin. The film wants to explore childhood guilt and trauma, but even that comes off more as suspense thriller paranoia with interceding flashbacks. The whole thing comes off as a trite exercise in juggling a couple of ideas on the French upper-class. With that said, Haneke handles the idea of surveillance brilliantly and there is a consistent sense of dread throughout the whole thing. Binoche is also great in this. But I just wasn't affected by this like I was with The Piano Teacher.

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59 minutes ago, KK said:

It's very well made, but it's a little...empty, isn't it?

 

I don't think so at all! I find it to be one of the most potent and resonant films of the century so far. The fact that it doesn't spoon-feed the viewer in the matter of the thematic connection to French-Algerian history is a virtue rather than a failing. I also remember that, the first time I saw it, I felt there was a genuine possibility that the tension might give me a heart-attack.

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It wasn't about spoon-feeding for me. I mean, I could care less about the whodunit itself. It's just that I know Haneke likes to paint this as some sort or high-brow requiem to the "hidden" crimes of French colonialism...but I don't really buy it, because it doesn't do all that stuff very well. For instance, there's a scene where Binoche and Auteuil are arguing, and the news on TV in the background is dialled way up...when the film attempts to get political, it's either heavy handed or done through vapid gestures.

 

I agree that as a thriller, it works very well. It has all the tension of a Villeneuve film with far more subtlety. But I wish it would own up to that, because it's hardly as lofty minded as it thinks it is, or as Haneke would have you believe.

 

4 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

Isn't it a thriller/guilt trip drama?

 

It works best as a thriller, but I know Haneke dislikes people labelling it as such.

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3 minutes ago, KK said:

I could care less about the whodunit itself.

 

Same here (except that we use the phrase "couldn't care less" to mean the same thing).

 

4 minutes ago, KK said:

...it's hardly as lofty minded as it thinks it is...

 

Is there something in the actual film that indicates an aspiration to a loftier level than is achieved?

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11 hours ago, KK said:

It works best as a thriller, but I know Haneke dislikes people labelling it as such.

 

Haneke once said that his films are never about what people think it's about. So maybe you are just not digging deep enough, KK. ;)

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The Crush

 

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One of the classic erotic thrillers of the 90s. There's plenty of double denim in this one. From the moment Cary Elwes drives into the movie with a rocking tune playing and denim shirt sleeves rolled up, you know it's going to be good. I suppose it's best known for kickstarting Alicia Silverstone's movie career, whatever that amounted to. She's quite good here as a psychopathic alluring sexual youngling. So is Cary as a weirdly believable and likeable writer for some magazine that seems to have scored the perfect guest house. There are some memorable scenes of tension and a gradually intensified desire from the viewer to want to see Cary get out of this mess. It has my recommendation and also happens to be streaming on Prime during these quarantinian times.

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Twister

 

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Pretty much anything featuring Bill Paxton is good and a flick where he's a guy actually named Bill engaged to a charming beautiful southern belle played by the chick from The Lost Boys, wearing denim, driving a big red Dodge Ram chasing after tornadoes and constantly cursing sounds like a recipe for success. It was a big hit, of course. I've always liked it, even after they replaced the Ghostbusters show at Universal Studios with a reenactment of the scene where a twister rips apart a drive-in movie.

 

It does capture not only that perfect 90s era when we were all happier with plenty of denim, plaid and alternative music, but also the feel of driving around the midwest/south which I have a fondness for. Helen Hunt is a bit Jodie Foster here. Cary Elwes nails the southern accent and is completely believable as the "villain" despite the fact that they both share the same goal of releasing the sensors into a tornado. The entire cast is great. The state-of-the-art twisters are animated by ILM with sophisticated computer technology and look better than real ones. There is also a huge amount of practical effects and stunts. Cars and large objects being flung around and blown up. It's pretty epic at many points. Soundtrack by Mark Mancina, Lisa Loeb and others.

 

Produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy.

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8 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I've not watched STEPMOM for a long time, but, from what I remember, it had an "autumnal" look to it.

I've never seen it, but based on the cover of the soundtrack which I've never listened to, yes, it does!

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It has that typical Chris Columbus look. If you're familiar with the Home Alones, it looks along those lines. Gotta make those pale upper class white people look all warm and cozy in their enormous houses.

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Interstellar (2014)

 

I still like it a lot. Above average sci-fi film elevated by its score and visuals, with some great performances. It has ambition and some neat ideas, even if some aren’t quite as developed as they could’ve been. 
 

**** out of *****

 

Isle of Dogs (2018)

 

Still great! It’s one of those movies that improves upon rewatches; there’s so much artistry in every frame and the humor is so wonderfully droll, it’s hard not to notice something new every time I revisit this film. Very playful, unique score by Desplat, really adds to the film’s tone and personality. 
 

**** and 1/2 out of *****

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Licence to kill.

 

Not the best Bond movie. The acting during the prologue was terrible, but Priscilla Barnes and Robert Brown are great. David Hedison is unconvincing and I also just can’t warm up to Timothy Dalton, the serious tone of his movies or the fact that Bond is totally out of character in this one. Oh no, now he’s arguing with Bouvier? And now they’re kissing? That didn’t take long. The girls aren’t interesting either and for God’s sake, how many times is he going to tell Pam to leave him alone?

My first Michael Kamen score. I didn’t like the opening cue: the variation on the Bond theme was really raw and bad, but the opening song grew on me and I loved the guitar, the casino music and the finale, but other than that, it’s not really interesting.

 

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Traveller (1997)

 

Another 90s Bill Paxton flick. In this one, he plays a conman in an Irish American gang. It's a weird flick, watchable in that Saturday afternoon TV movie you flipped to on a local channel while laying on the couch like a lazy fuck kind of way. Mark Wahlberg is also in it, but I'm not exactly a fan of the guy. He literally plays the same asshole with a horrible New England accent in everything. Looks like the movie was well enough received and I didn't dislike it. But by far my favorite part was Julianna Margulies as a rural country chick single mom. She is the epitome of the type of white woman I find most attractive and boy is she an epic fox in this.

 

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Ooh! I'm in love!

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The jungle book, 2016.

 

I wanted to watch this one because I never saw any adaptation as a child and only have vague memories of being exposed to the stories. The talented voice cast is mostly okay, but could have been a lot better, with a few exceptions: Ben Kingsley is great and Scarlett Johansson is absolutely fantastic, but people like Lupita Nyong'o and Christopher Walken didn’t make much of an impression. The movie never quite recovers once the monkey sequence starts, but it was certainly enjoyable enough.

And this has to be the best John Debney score I’ve heard so far. I was counting on a serviceable effort, but he really exceeded my expectations this time.

 

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The Draughtman's Contract

 

A cheeky little whodunnit designed by man with an apparent fondness for classical painting and framing. The pieces are always moving in this puzzle, and its characters are always preaching but underneath the elegant opulence of its imagery is its sheer absurdity driving the whole thing. Who needs Knives Out when you've got this! Nyman's score does its job well, though as was common with high concept scores of the time, it's often mishandled.

 

 

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The Dark Knight (2008)

 

I was 15 when this movie came out. I vividly remember the monstrous marketing campaign that made sure this was the most anticipated movie of all time. Everyone was talking about it, box office records were breaking*, critics were falling in love with it...

 

Then, I of course watched it on theaters and I remember liking it. However, since then I have been pondering how much I actually liked it and how much was just people saying that it was the best and biggest movie of all time, things like that. Of course, these days the movie is more of a meme, with its insanely quotable lines. Amongst us of the film music fans community, there's a lot of dislike towards the score, because every producer since then fell in love with TDK on the temp track.

 

So, I decided to watch the movie with fresh eyes, more maturity and an open mind, without all this baggage. And you know what? The movie really holds up even over a decade since its release!

 

First of all, the notion that the movie initiated a "dark and disturbing" tendency in Hollywood was more due to moronic producers failing to understand what made it work in first place. Yeah, there's some pretty violent material involving the Joker, but it's not like Nolan was trying to make the darkest super-hero movie of all time. There's levity to it, color, jokes, friendly banter between our heroes. Even Batman does some jokes here and there (like the infamous line "Then you're gonna love me").

 

I believe in Nolan's mind he was making just a PG-13 super-hero blockbuster, not trying to disturb anyone. It was Snyder that gave us a murderous, violent and cruel Batman in first place, exactly what a section of the fandom wanted.

 

Anyway, Nolan's Batman is more of a James Bond type of hero, with cool gadgets and a lot of focus on Bruce Wayne as a rich playboy. It reflects Nolan's upbringing, which I believe was more about Bond adventures in the theater than Batman comics. His heroes on movies such as TDK trilogy and Inception (and now, apparently, Tenet) are playboys that drink the finest wine, drive expensive cars, wear only the finest suits and use an expensive set of gadgets.

 

Ledger's performance at Joker is legendary, and the movie has some powerful scenes, such as the chase on the tunnels, Joker's interrogation on GCPD, the hospital scene and the climax. But what surprised me the most is how good Aaron Eckhart is in this movie. He's a perfect Harvey Dent and an excellent Two Face, the definitive version of this Bat-villain on the big screen. Bale's pretty charismatic as well as a playboy hero, more Tony Stark and James Bond than the brooding, depressed, gothic hero people most associate Batman with.

 

Zimmer's score is adequate to Nolan's version, and I really like his Joker theme: the reflection of a mind we can't fully understand in a logical level. JNH, on the other hand, contributed with a beautiful Harvey Dent theme, but I wished he could develop it more besides some patriotic performances here and there and some tracked dramatic music from Batman Begins.

 

Anyway, a movie on which all the hype was justified. I think I'll go in a Nolan marathon this quaratine and try Inception next to see how it holds up ten years (!) after its release.

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46 minutes ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

The Phantom Menace was the most anticipated movie of all time. 

 

Yeah, but I was 6 when it came out, so I really don't remember.

 

TDK, on the other hand, was one of the first mega-movies "you have to see this blockbuster right now on theaters!" that I ever experienced, alongside Avatar on the following year.

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Batman Forever

 

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Delivering big once again on the spectacle after a comparatively lowkey return of Batman in the previous flick, which was apparently too weird for Warner Brothers. That didn't stop them from slapping the guy onto practically all conceivable paraphernalia in '92. This time around, it's still weird, but it's far more marketable with a hip all-star cast whose big names fly all around the screen during the opening credits, a diverse tie-in soundtrack album with something for everybody, a friendly circus that doesn't kidnap and murder children and less women being brutally shot. We swapped our plastic McDonald's tumblers for glass mugs. Sounds like a recipe for success.

 

For being the biggest movie of '95, it holds up as an entertaining enough funny book flick. There are some real wild visuals in this one, a lot more fun, even human conversation accessible for the straights. The blondie female lead in this one (Nicole Kidman has never looked better) isn't oppressed, pushed out of a window by her boss and/or having a psychotic episode. She's the most normal one! She has a thing for Bats and Val Kilmer suits up, only occasionally looking badass in the suit. Hey, Joel. Can you tell him to scowl once in a while? Look remotely intimidating? Keaton was better.

 

Jim Carrey is a convincing psychopath. He steals every scene, of course. Tommy Lee Jones' performance is bookended by his best scenes. Most of it is comprised of yelling, laughing and making weird noises. I think he's great casting, to be honest. Who else is in this? Oh, that's right. The kid from the Disney Three Musketeers is Robin. I like the scene where he goes on an adventure in the Giger-inspired Batmobile with fins that flap around, tries to pick up hookers and then rescues a 90s babe in double denim from a neon street gang. It's unrelated to Riddler and Two Face and it's just kinda cool to see the streets of Gotham overrun by these punkers who scatter once Batman arrives. Audiences would do the same for the following entry in the series.

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1917

 

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The interchangeable music was for me the most pitiful element of the film. It's a bit of a shame because this movie would have benefited greatly from a more unconventional soundtrack. I suspect this was an artistic concession. An unusual 'one-shot' approach with an idiosyncratic score on top might have been too much for the general public. At least, this was the impression I got. 

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11 minutes ago, Alexcremers said:

An unusual 'one-shot' approach

 

Is it really that unusual, though? Its the go-to "look at how artsy my film is!" approach.

 

Reeks of Oscar-bait, especially since Sir Sam Mendes knew he wanted to shoot the thing like this before he even decided upon a story.

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