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

[Edmilson 7,393]

What a mess.

[SteveMc 2,674]

 

The Spitfire Grill

I gave this one a go mainly to hear Horner's magnificent score in its natural habitat.  The rather poor reviews led me to expect this movie to be your typical rather amateur level cliched faith-based picture that ends up being more message than movie.  It's Sundance win and the Horner's efforts gave me a sneaking suspicion that it might be more than that.

Well, it's no forgotten masterpiece, but this story of a young woman trying to leave her past behind in a very small Maine town is still well worth watching on its own merits.

 

I'm not sure what all the fuss was about back in '96 about this being a movie financed by Catholic priests.  It's certainly not drowning in Catholic or even broadly Christian moralizing.  It's just a movie.  There is a kind of a message here if you squint, with the protagonist being a sort of Christ-figure,  but it seems at least on first impression to have more in common with the kind of transcendentalism you find in Emerson or Thoreau, which is appropriate considering the New England setting.

This setting helps make this a very pretty movie.  Pastoral landscapes, lush forests, and cozy interiors are all filmed in a way that brings out beauty and color without sacrificing realism.

The same can be said about the movie's performances, which mostly feel rather grounded and unforced.  The dialogue is that type of folksy that you usually encounter in movies and on TV, but I suppose there are people who speak like this out there.  The script itself has some structural issues, with highs and lows feeling a bit rushed together, preventing the build up to the conclusion from having the impact that I think writer/director Lee David Zlotoff (of MacGyver fame) intended.  Still, he certainly foreshadows things well. 

As for cliches, well this is neither a case of throwing together a string of cliches and calling it a movie and nor is it a work that takes cliches and creates something new out of them.  It just seems quietly comfortable with taking the path of least resistance much of the time.  And I guess that sort of thing has its place.

But, it does somewhat transcend that at times.  For much of the movie, the secondary characters and the audience are led to believe that this is indeed a typical type of story where the protagonist, Percy, fresh out of prison, needs to find redemption.  But, as it turns out, she does not need redemption, she needs healing. Ironically,  the town of Gilead can't quite give this to her.  In a cliched movie she would find this in the reliable trinity of friendship, nature, and romance.  But Percy's wounds are too deep for romance, misunderstandings can be fatal to friendship, and heeding the siren call of nature can lead to a hard kind of healing. 

Spoiler

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I think previous lines in the movie make Percy's death in the rapids during the climax feel a bit suicidal.

 As well, the movie manages to say something important, albeit rather subtly, about how victims of sexual abuse are treated in society.

At any rate, I enjoyed the movie and am not surprised Horner found himself drawn to it.

3/4

 

 

[Sweeping Strings 2,346]

The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974) - cracking thriller in which an NY subway train is hijacked and a ransom of a million dollars is demanded with an hour for delivery, otherwise the hijackers will start killing passengers. The shortness of the ransom delivery 'window' lends this a nice urgency, and it's shot through with that fantastically sardonic 'Noo Yoik' humour.

With Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Hector Elizondo, Martin Balsam and Jerry Stiller.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

Its a superb film.

Sweep, don't forget David Shire's jazzy, yet dissonant, score 

[Sweeping Strings 2,346]

Ah yes, enjoyed that too. I don't really mention scores enough around here, somewhat embarrassingly. lol. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,030]

This is not the place to brag about your scores.

[A24 4,326]

No politics, no scores, no weather, ... what is left?

[Glóin the Dark 1,219]

Toilet movie titles.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

That's a shit subject.

[bollemanneke 3,338]

Star Trek: Generations.

 

Rather slow and more convoluted than it needed to be at first. It took the entire first half before I knew what it was going to be about and how many more movies do we need with Klingons wanting their empire back in them? There’s too much tech talk (for the uninitiated) and this was the first time the IMDB summary contained major spoilers too. Patrick Stewart is as fantastic as always, however, Gates McFadden is boring and Malcolm McDowell is excellent. Data is nice and Marina Sirtis is great too, as were the Klingon sisters. The sequence in the nexus was really moving, but why did Soran launch multiple probes when the ribbon was already going to envelop him? I will remember, though, that what we leave behind is less important than how we live.

The score contains some absolutely amazing cues, making the more dissonant passages all the more jarring. I also don’t like unscored action scenes.

 

[Marian Schedenig 8,174]

12 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Its a superb film.

Sweep, don't forget David Shire's jazzy, yet dissonant, score 

 

Not just dissonant, but 12 tone.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

No love for the Tony Scott remake?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

None. Whatsoever.

[KK 3,307]

 

Amores Perros

 

Hands down Iñarritu's best film, with maybe Birdman as its competitor. The film buzzes with raw energy that he loses in the more formal and schematic works that came from his success. This is a film with personality and fully-fleshed out characters unlike the cardboard stand-ins and drab morosity of Babel and The Revenant. Maybe he needs to go back to his native place, like Cuaron did.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

19 minutes ago, KK said:

 

Amores Perros

 

Hands down Iñarritu's best film, with maybe Birdman as its competitor. The film buzzes with raw energy that he loses in the more formal and schematic works that came from his success. This is a film with personality and fully-fleshed out characters unlike the cardboard stand-ins and drab morosity of Babel and The Revenant. Maybe he needs to go back to his native place, like Cuaron did.

I’d be interested in a full ranking from you. Have you seen them all?

[KK 3,307]

I have yet still see 21 Grams and Biutiful. But they seem like real bummers...

 

So far, a ranking would probably look like this:

 

1. Amores Perros

2. Birdman

3. The Revenant

4. Babel

[Koray Savas 2,251]

3 minutes ago, KK said:

I have to still see 21 Grams and Biutiful. But they seem like real bummers...

And Amores Perros and Babel weren’t?!

 

Biutiful is an incredibly depressing film, but a very powerful experience, I thought. 

[KK 3,307]

Amores might be a downer story, yes, but it's got spunk and character. The dog stuck in the floorboards, the Octavio character and the local dogfighting "industry" are all moments of personality and the film just has rich, complex characters. Whereas Babel feels like the writer just needed to develop sad scenarios and fill them with melodramatic clichés to fill the running time, no matter how effective they might be (the Mexican nanny is the best storyline).

 

I fear 21 Grams, just by the summary alone, fits in with the latter. But I'm curious about Biutiful.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Well Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel are part of a “trilogy of death.” Arriaga and Iñárritu intended them to coexist. 21 Grams is definitely more like Babel. 

[bollemanneke 3,338]

Where the wild things are.

 

Decided to watch this one following the advice of one of the podcast hosts of The Franchise. Catherine Keener sounds a lot like Scarlett Johansson and Catherine O’Hara is awesome, but woefully underused. Also, I never thought I’d be saying this, but there’s an imbalance between male and female Wild Things and it could have been really great had it been a little less childish, had the kid been two years older. In the end, Max doesn’t seem to have learned that much, or rather, the finale doesn’t reflect the serious nature of the situation. Too much is left unsaid and even though I could fill in all the blanks myself, it left me unsatisfied..

The score is touching, curious and peculiar, but isn’t performed very well. For some reason, most of it is heavily focused on the left channel, which is really odd since the voices were mixed so well.

 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Independence Day

4K HDR

 

Felt like turning my brain off after a stressful week, and the timing was too good to pass up. Do I bother with the sequel?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

2 minutes ago, Koray Savas said:

Independence Day

4K HDR

 

Felt like turning my brain off after a stressful week, and the timing was too good to pass up. Do I bother with the sequel?

 

Absolutely not!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Joker

 

What the fuck? Terrible movie masquerading as an arthouse flick to make geeks feel smart, acknowledged and validated. Not one fun moment whatsoever, just a bleak, oppressive trek into realistic and relatable and dark and disturbing. How the hell did this turd make so much money?!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for chainsmoking and acting like a retard for 2 hours. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

People are having themselves on by declaring it a "masterpiece".

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I did think it was very funny when he was dating the girl down the hall and having a successful standup comedy career, which was entirely unbelievable and clearly internalized delusions. It was fucken' ridiculous seeing a creepy 50 year old A-1 nut boy with a hot young black chick.

 

I really don't get why people want to make Joker's backstory about him being a failed standup comic. So lame.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

He should be a baddie again. Instead it looks like they're setting up Bruce as an antagonist who got what he deserved during the riot because of his privilege.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

And in their failed DC Universe, Batman The Impaler wants to kill Superman with a spear and brands people.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

They neutered him in JL by making him more goodie two shoes.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Uh oh. He don't look happy. He's been usin' Brand Xssssssss...

[bollemanneke 3,338]

7 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Independence Day

4K HDR

 

Felt like turning my brain off after a stressful week, and the timing was too good to pass up. Do I bother with the sequel?

NO.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Another titbit about Joker than annoyed me was the cinematography. It seems some of the worst still photography trends from the last 15 years have seeped into Hollywood cinematography, which is extreme shallow depth of field. Really what's with these ridiculous levels of bokeh where only the tip of the actor's nose is in focus? Something between f5.6 and f8 gets fairly good results, but some shots in this movie looked like they were going for that shitty f1.2 look. I mean come on.

[A24 4,326]

7 hours ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

 Not one fun moment whatsoever, just a bleak, oppressive trek into realistic and relatable and dark and disturbing. How the hell did this turd make so much money?!

 

It's no wonder you and Gruesome hate it. The movie is about inequality in the US. It even has become a symbol for protesters worldwide. Anyway, we no longer can talk about Joker because it's too political for JWFan.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

What are they even protesting about? Why don't they just go out and get a job?

[A24 4,326]

6 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

And in their failed DC Universe, Batman The Impaler wants to kill Superman with a spear and brands people.

 

Batman only does it to safeguard the world from intergalactic supervillains coming to Earth to challenge Superman and all the massive destruction that goes with it.

[Sweeping Strings 2,346]

Masters Of The Universe is on in the background ... on, erm, Comedy Central.  

To quote a-pointing-at-Lundgren Sly Stallone on a set visit (according to the Cannon docu Electric Boogaloo) ... 'You gave that guy LINES?'    

[Chen G. 3,944]

42 minutes ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

Really what's with these ridiculous levels of bokeh where only the tip of the actor's nose is in focus? Something between f5.6 and f8 gets fairly good results, but some shots in this movie looked like they were going for that shitty f1.2 look. I mean come on.

It’s to show the character’s isolation. It may get a bit extreme, but it gets the job done.

 

I liked Joker. Not the second coming of comic-book movies by any means, but it’s good.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

34 minutes ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

What are they even protesting about? Why don't they just go out and get a job?

"Huh?"

"Get a job"

"What for?"

"I'm tryn' to think"

 

In case you're wondering, it's

Spoiler

B-52's

 

[Bespin 8,480]

"Get a job?"

 

Can we add "hand ", "blow" or "feet" at least?

[Edmilson 7,393]

10 hours ago, Gruesome Son of a Bitch said:

I really don't get why people want to make Joker's backstory about him being a failed standup comic. So lame.

 

This is from Alan Moore's graphic novel The Killing Joke, on which we get to see parts of his past. He was a failed comedian with a pregnant wife that ended up falling on acid and losing everything. It's the Joker's most famous origin story, and the movie takes heavy inspiration on that comic.

[SteveMc 2,674]

4 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

"Huh?"

"Get a job"

"What for?"

"I'm tryn' to think"

 

In case you're wondering, it's

  Reveal hidden contents

B-52's

 

My second favorite B-52s song.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

5 hours ago, Chen G. said:

It’s to show the character’s isolation. It may get a bit extreme, but it gets the job done.

 

You make up excuses for every piece of poor workmanship!

[KK 3,307]

Drax and Justin aren't wrong though. Phoenix is great in it, and the whole thing is watchable, but it's definitely overrated. The style doesn't successfully mask its convoluted storytelling, and whenever it tries to get political, it's unbearably on the nose.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

 

This is from Alan Moore's graphic novel The Killing Joke, on which we get to see parts of his past. He was a failed comedian with a pregnant wife that ended up falling on acid and losing everything. It's the Joker's most famous origin story, and the movie takes heavy inspiration on that comic.

 

I read that comic and it sucked.

[crocodile 7,984]

I have no idea how it made so much money. The film is "fine" but there's absolutely nothing remarkable about it. Can't say it made me think about anything much at all. I suppose the film falls into this "issue topic cinema" that Academy and critics love so much. You know, the ones that tell you to think about something important or topical but then do all that work for you anyway. Because, of course, while the cause is topical and important the film doesn't have enough faith in its target audience so it will spell everything out. Which makes it even more condescending. Great writing or filmmaking it certainly isn't. It's "fine".

 

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

1 hour ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

 

I read that comic and it sucked.

 

Stefancos is profoundly affected by Moore's writing.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

The Killing Joke is pure shit.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

The only backhanded praise I can offer the 2019 Joker is it renewed my appreciation for the Nolan Batman films. They're not perfect by any means, and Batman Begins is overall a bit boring. But Phoenix's Joker makes Ledger's Joker look like traditional Joker by comparison, a fearsome and challenging adversary to Gotham's crimefighters. I can't imagine Jokewin's Joker achieving that level of intelligence and cunning. And at least Nolan's trilogy offers some hope and optimism behind all the superficial gloom.

[crocodile 7,984]

"Hope", "optimism" and "Nolan" in one sentence. Wow!

 

Karol

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

In a weird way, and in comparison to this latest monstrosity, they do. Defeating criminality is viewed as a virtue, law enforcement is heroic, and Batman even gets a statue at the end!