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

[bollemanneke 3,348]

Girl, interrupted.

 

Pretty good, though they lost me during the last 15 minutes. Didn’t always like Winona Ryder, but Jeffrey Tambor’s voice is quite something and Vanessa Redgrave’s scene was incredible.

The score is great. Never thought Mychael Danna could write stuff like this.

 

[KK 3,307]

 

Tenet

 

Sigh. Too much, Nolan. Too much.

[A24 4,333]

Even Pattinson looks like Nolan.

[KK 3,307]

He's got two lines at the end where he sounds like he might have been a likeable character... way too little, too late though.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Chrizzzzzzzzzzztopher Nolan

[Quintus 5,399]

Actually, I'd say dull is how I think of movies, at least the ones I've actually seen. 

 

Batman Begins <---my favourite of his 

The Dark Knight. It was okay at the cinema. 

Inception. No. 

Interstellar. I really want to like it but it's too messy. 

Dunkirk. No. 

[Edmilson 7,448]

The Prestige is still his best movie. 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

They all have that nice, warm filmy look.

[Quintus 5,399]

Do you really like his look? It's certainly distinctive, but again it reminds me of iPhones. 

[A24 4,333]

31 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

The Prestige is still his best movie. 

 

And not because of the story or the science behind it, but because we learn something about human traits, with 'obsession' being the main theme here. The Prestige is the closest Nolan ever got to making a movie about characters.

 

24 minutes ago, PuhgreÞiviÞm said:

They all have that nice, warm filmy look.

 

He's one of the few still shooting on film.

[KK 3,307]

1 hour ago, Quintus said:

Do you really like his look? It's certainly distinctive, but again it reminds me of iPhones. 

 

The Wally Pfister films are gorgeously photographed. With Hoytema, there's a bit of a "Instagram filter" look, particularly with Tenet and Dunkirk, despite them being shot well.

[bollemanneke 3,348]

Star Trek: First Contact.

 

Not bad at all, but Lily and her relationship with Picard is annoying, though Alice Krige and James Cromwell are great. Patrick Stewart is fantastic (when furious and emotional). It’s really nice that these movies aren’t incomprehensible to people who haven’t watched the TV series too.

Some parts of the score are really good, especially the opening and closing cues. And the sound! You’d think this really was recorded in the 24th century. Jerry Goldsmith is growing on me.

[Chen G. 3,949]

7 hours ago, AC1 said:

He's one of the few still shooting on film.

 

Back in 2007 when he started shooting on large-format there was a benefit to doing this. Nowadays its purely an afectation: the nostalgic traditionalist in Nolan that compells him to limit his palette. I've seen IMAX footage compared to top-end digital cameras down to a forensic level, and you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference. That people here are comparing his work to "Instagram" and "iPhones" is pretty damning.

 

For the record, I've enjoyed Nolan's films greatly until about Interstellar - which I still find more than a little bit tedious - and Dunkirk which as far I was concerned was completely devoid of character and entirely reliant on the huge screen for it to work. I think his Batman films, for instance, had more than enough character and were even quite moving at times.

 

 

[KK 3,307]

To clarify, the Instagram comment refers to how he chooses to colour his films, which have become increasingly monochromatic. But make no mistake, the film is very impressive to look at in 70mm. Nolan definitely knows how to capitalize the scope and size of film as a medium.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

IMAX ' 65mm fifteen perf- is the best there is.

That's why Nolan shoots on film.

All the other formats are relatively equal.

We had this discussion before.

 

[Chen G. 3,949]

1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

IMAX ' 65mm twelve perf - is the best there is. That's why Nolan shoots on film.

 

IMAX is 15-perf...

 

I've seen Alexa 65 footage outmatch IMAX photography (scanned off the negative) quite consistently, with a RED Dragon being around on-par with the IMAX footage, as well; and we're shooting in even bigger formats nowadays.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

1 hour ago, Chen G. said:

 

IMAX is 15-perf...

 

I've seen Alexa 65 footage outmatch IMAX photography (scanned off the negative) quite consistently, with a RED Dragon being around on-par with the IMAX footage, as well; and we're shooting in even bigger formats nowadays.

 Not familiar with Alexa 65.

Info?

3 hours ago, bollemanneke said:

Star Trek: First Contact.

 

Not bad at all, but Lily and her relationship with Picard is annoying, though Alice Krige and James Cromwell are great. Patrick Stewart is fantastic (when furious and emotional). It’s really nice that these movies aren’t incomprehensible to people who haven’t watched the TV series too.

Some parts of the score are really good, especially the opening and closing cues. And the sound! You’d think this really was recorded in the 24th century. Jerry Goldsmith is growing on me.

I saw the film but didn't realize how good the music was until I heard it on CD- years later.

The Borg stories were the only ones I cared for.

[Chen G. 3,949]

On 8/30/2020 at 4:38 AM, bruce marshall said:

 Not familiar with Alexa 65.

Info?

A 6.5K Bayer-pattern digital camera with a 65mm-sized sensor and optics. Should resolve around 5K. It was consistently sharper, cleaner and more resolute than the IMAX footage I’ve seen.

 

The Dragon, which resolves even less and uses a significantly smaller sensor, also seemed to slightly outresolve IMAX on certain shots:

 

 

In the shots below, the IMAX seems to (only slightly) outresolve the RED, before you take a closer look and realize that its not actually more resolute, just grainier. The RED has more picture information, and the Alexa has even more. You could argue that its the general impression of sharpness on the IMAX frame (especially when its moving) that counts, but you could easily replicate that with a grain filter, and you'd still get better results than actually shooting on IMAX.

 

 

If one wants to shoot on film, more power to him. But the way Nolan props it up and makes a point out of it, its just an affectation. Heck, the effects work on Nolan's own films is done at ~5.4K, which sits with the level of fine detail these examples point towards, rather than towards the monsterous figures usually quoted for IMAX.

 

And this is straight off of the negative, too. Nolan's films are contact printed.

[Sweeping Strings 2,359]

Posts about Tenet in the 'Older Films' thread ... wow, life really DOES go at a faster pace nowadays  . 

Stardust - sequel to That'll Be The Day in which Jim MacLaine (David Essex) achieves international rock stardom, but the trappings of success turn sour and the movie ends up as somewhat of a cautionary tale. Fairly familiar story, but told entertainingly enough.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

A-ha! Sweep, you finally got around to seeing it.

I'll stick my neck out by saying that I prefer this to THAT'LL BE THE DAY, but it lost a lot by having Ringo replaced by Adam Faith.

It's a good film in it's own right, and it's a good companion-piece, to its predecessor.

[KK 3,307]

6 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Posts about Tenet in the 'Older Films' thread ... wow, life really DOES go at a faster pace nowadays  . 

 

Yea, I definitely mixed up the threads when I posted that. Oops.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

5 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

A-ha! Sweep, you finally got around to seeing it.

I'll stick my neck out by saying that I prefer this to THAT'LL BE THE DAY, but it lost a lot by having Ringo replaced by Adam Faith.

It's a good film in it's own right, and it's a good companion-piece, to its predecessor.

I thought it was a poor follow up.

Rewatched TWBTD after.

It didn't play as well as I remembered it.

[Sweeping Strings 2,359]

22 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

A-ha! Sweep, you finally got around to seeing it.

I'll stick my neck out by saying that I prefer this to THAT'LL BE THE DAY, but it lost a lot by having Ringo replaced by Adam Faith.

It's a good film in it's own right, and it's a good companion-piece, to its predecessor.

Yeah ... I had hoped that having shown TBTD a while back, Talking Pictures TV would in time show the sequel. And so it proved!

Apparently Ringo turned down Stardust because having 'lived it' for real, he'd no desire to revisit it fictionally. 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

I had to order a PAL DVD because it was never released in USA!

[Sweeping Strings 2,359]

Cliffhanger - 'Die Hard On A Mountain' sums up this early 90s Stallone actioner. Genuinely impressive stunts and location filming sit a little uneasily alongside quite obviously 'in-studio' mountain ledges, tops etc. Fun enough, with Michael Rooker, Janine Turner (whatever happened to ... ?) and John Lithgow as lead 'big bad', complete with wandering English accent.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

Did you watch it last night, Sweep? I caught that.

I can't get used to John Lithgow being a villain.

[Quintus 5,399]

He's great in it. As in he's terrible. 

[publicist 4,643]

Ah, the old Rod Steiger problem.

 

[Quintus 5,399]

Sweaty forehead rage 

[A24 4,333]

3 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I can't get used to John Lithgow being a villain.

 

I agree but didn't he also play a villain in a Brian De Palma movie?

[Glóin the Dark 1,221]

Certainly in Blow Out.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't love Lithgow!

😁

[Quintus 5,399]

Check out these guys who haven't seen Lithgow be a quality dastardly villain in Santa Claus: The Movie.

[KK 3,307]

 

The Revenant

 

I don't know. It feels emptier than I remembered. I don't mind a barebones revenge thread sculpted by the enigmatic forces of nature...but it's too dramatically inert, so none of the beats really manage to say anything. At some point, all the pretty images begin to lose their lustre. Innaritu is clearly no Malick when it comes to tying the natural world to conditions of human consciousness.

 

The score could have actually done a lot in this department. It's like the team was deliberately asked to stay mute for the film. I don't know why Inarritu didn't just blast the already "cerebral" main theme over the many vast water gorges, buffalo herds and mystical avalanches. The puzzling Messaien quotation (buried under sound effects, no less) near the end betrayed the fact that Inarritu was probably after a vague sonic aesthetic rather than thoughtful musical choices.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

5 hours ago, AC1 said:

I agree but didn't he also play a villain in a Brian De Palma movie?

 

One? I count two.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Blue Velvet

 

Surprisingly straight forward noir from Lynch. Great music from Badalamenti; and an absolutely psychotic performance from Dennis Hopper. Film starts rough, but eventually settles in nicely and finishes strong. 53-minutes of cut footage on the Criterion blu!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

MOMMMMYYYYYY

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

I just didn't care for it. I feel like Lynchian movies just aren't for me. However, he did do one with Bill Pullman and with the exception of ID:R, which didn't even really exist, he's never been in a bad movie, so we'll see.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Lost Highway is trippy shit.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I’ve got Eraserhead, Wild At Heart, and Lost Highway lined up next. 

[Quintus 5,399]

The Straight Story is his most conventional, and it's very nice. Blue Velvet has its moments, but I don't think it's the legendary flick people like to say it is (to impress others). 

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

I loved The Straight Story!

[publicist 4,643]

34 minutes ago, Quintus said:

The Straight Story is his most conventional, and it's very nice. Blue Velvet has its moments, but I don't think it's the legendary flick people like to say it is (to impress others). 

 

It's funny how many movies play perfectly normal for you until you read about their legendary status. Blue Velvet ran back in the early 90's on cable stations and without any reference I found it engrossing, but after that they played a Cannon episode I and sure was as entertained by that.

[Sweeping Strings 2,359]

On 9/2/2020 at 12:00 PM, Naïve Old Fart said:

Did you watch it last night, Sweep? I caught that.

I can't get used to John Lithgow being a villain.

Yep, on ITV4. I nearly watched American Ultra last night on Film 4, then remembered I thought the last 'stoner action comedy' I'd seen (Pineapple Express) was fucking appalling. So I didn't.

The other bad-guy Lithgow performance for De Palma is Raising Cain, as far as I know (haven't seen it or Blow Out). 

The Empire Strikes Back - 40th anniversary Odeon screening (even though it was the '97 Special Edition cut).

An absolute pleasure to get to see the best movie from the original SW trilogy on the big screen again.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

Yes. One can forgive cinemas for screening the S.E., as it's still so damned good.

 

For me, Lithgow will always be Roberta Muldoon.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

2 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

The other bad-guy Lithgow performance for De Palma is Raising Cain, as far as I know (haven't seen it or Blow Out). 

 

Oh right, there's THREE. Nobody has mentioned Obsession yet!

[A24 4,333]

So at one time he must've been known as 'that villain'. 

[Koray Savas 2,251]

6 hours ago, Quintus said:

The Straight Story is his most conventional, and it's very nice. Blue Velvet has its moments, but I don't think it's the legendary flick people like to say it is (to impress others). 

It’s on Disney+, so I’ll give that a shot too. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Rewatched Mission: Impossible - Fallout.  Balfe's score is *so* distractingly awful in the climactic chopper chase, and even worse in the mountaintop fight, I really have to work at ignoring it to enjoy the amazing setpiece.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

It was okay.