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

[LSH 968]

THE SIXTH SENSE

 

Been a while since I last watched this but it holds up pretty well I think... compared to M. Night's recent output.

 

It's a film that you wouldn't think has much re-watch value, given how all the clues to Malcolm's situation become so obvious after your first viewing.

 

Toni Colette steals the show here... her acting is incredible. 

 

James Newton Howard's score has always been an understated favourite of mine. Yes, there's a couple of jumpy scaries here and there but it's an overall very understated score. Building tension mostly, and then a lovely finale cue which is quite beautiful.

[Edmilson 7,392]

57 minutes ago, LSH said:

James Newton Howard's score has always been an understated favourite of mine. Yes, there's a couple of jumpy scaries here and there but it's an overall very understated score. Building tension mostly, and then a lovely finale cue which is quite beautiful.

Agreed, JNH's Sixth Sense score is pretty underrated. Malcolm is Dead is a wonderful cue.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,497]

7 hours ago, LSH said:

Toni Colette steals the show here... her acting is incredible.

She is great, isn't she?

She's not drop-dead gorgeous, but there's something very sexy, about Toni Collette.

 

 

6 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Malcolm is Dead is a wonderful cue.

He's what?????!!!!!

Damnit! Spoilers, please!

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

On the Rocks, written and directed by Sofia Coppola, starring Rashida Jones and Bill Murray.

 

I'm a big fan of Lost In Translation, and this one feels a bit like a spiritual successor to that in many ways, playing off the generational dynamics and themes of isolation in that film but in a more familial setting. Murray is his usual exquisitely charismatic self; he brightens up the movie in every scene he's in and he has excellent chemistry with Jones, who I've always found very likeable. Unfortunately most of the film just feels a bit damp and shallow.

 

The story is quite straightforward; a frazzled mother suspects her workaholic husband is being unfaithful and reluctantly accepts the help of her eccentric, womanising father to investigate. But the film never really takes off, relying far too much on the charms of its leads to paint over a fairly thin script. There's none of the brilliant non-sequiturs of Lost in Translation here, nor does the New York setting come to life in the way Tokyo did in that film. A few moments shine, like a funny late-night stakeout resulting in an amusing interaction with some beat cops; or glimpses of decrepit, Old New York Wealth and extravagance. The whole thing feels very old-fashioned and reverent to a bygone era, and ironically far less modern than the nearly 20-year old Translation. Without spoiling too much I feel that it's far too generous to its very flawed male characters while squaring all of the emotional labor on Jones' character, a choice that feels very out of touch.

 

I don't regret watching it, as Coppola still knows how to stage her scenes well and the actors really do their best with what they're given. But it's inessential viewing, and left me wanting so much more.

[A24 4,326]

I completely agree, Docteur Qui. I already forgot that I watched it. It shows you can't fabricate another Lost In Translation just by snapping your fingers. Coppola's previous movie The Beguiled was a lot better.

[Chen G. 3,943]

On 18/11/2021 at 2:05 AM, LSH said:

It's a film that you wouldn't think has much re-watch value, given how all the clues to Malcolm's situation become so obvious after your first viewing.

 

It has all the rewatch value of a great human story. The twist is of course mighty clever, but its main value is that only through it do Malcolm and Cole achieve catharsis.

 

Nevertheless, its easy to miss the forest for the trees and remember the film for its twist and not for its stirring drama. For me, the moment that sticks in my mind is not the twist, it is directly afterwards:

 

Quote

I just needed to do a couple of things. I needed to help someone: I think I did. And I needed to tell you something: You were never second. Ever.

 

Just typing it down I almost swoon.

[Tallguy 3,370]

4 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

It has all the rewatch value of a great human story. The twist is of course mighty clever, but its main value is that only through it do Malcolm and Cole achieve catharsis.

 

Nevertheless, its easy to miss the forest for the trees and remember the film for its twist and not for its stirring drama. For me, the moment that sticks in my mind is not the twist, it is directly afterwards:

 

 

Just typing it down I almost swoon.

 

One of the great joys of seeing The Sixth Sense was not KNOWING there was going to be a twist. I remember being so frustrated with people who saw it after the hype started when they would smugly tell me "I saw the twist coming a mile a way."

 

The great secret of TSS is: It's a really good movie that happens to have a twist. Pity about the way the rest of Shyamalan's career has gone.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I dunno, I'm still on board with Shyamalan through The Village, which I like quite a bit.  After that he lost me (and now I just don't care either way).

[Edmilson 7,392]

I think The Village is pretty decent, and it has a great JNH score (unfortunately misrepresented by its woeful OST). After that, Shyamalan's movies were mostly crap, including abysmal stuff like Last Airbender and Glass.

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

Split has a great performance by James McAvoy, but it reveals that it's a sort-of sequel to Unbreakable far too late. By then, you've become mightily pissed off at what appears to be the ridiculous suggestion that Multiple Personality Disorder gives you superpowers and the movie's ruined (well, that's how it was for me anyway).     

[A24 4,326]

The Vlilage was crap too but you guys are just a bit slow on the uptake. 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

6 minutes ago, AC1 said:

The Vlilage was crap too but you guys are just a bit slow on the uptake. 

 

I liked the visual and music elements enough that the not great story and characters weren't a big issue.  You surely understand that as a Ridley Scott fan?

[A24 4,326]

Me? A Ridley Scott Fan?! 

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Miss you already. 

At the very beginning, I thought that the two husbands sounded distractingly alike, but I’m very happy I kept watching. Toni Collette is amazing. Unbelievable this is the woman from Muriel’s Wedding. Frances de la Tour is terrible, however, and I found that Millie’s health declined just a little too quickly near the ending too, but other than that, pretty good.

The score is surprisingly subtle and proved yet again that my heartstrings can be pulled by more (or less) than just melodramatic high strings. The sound mix is immensely satisfying and the song in the taxi worked quite well too.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

On 19/11/2021 at 7:43 AM, AC1 said:

The Vlilage was crap too but you guys are just a bit slow on the uptake. 

I guessed the ' surprise' ending just from the plot summary!😄

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

The Eiger Sanction - thriller with Clint Eastwood both directing and leading the cast as retired assassin turned art lecturer Jonathon Hemlock who is lured back for 'one last job', to be carried out during a climbing expedition up the north face of the titular mountain. Clint exudes his usual laconic cool as Hemlock, there are some pleasingly odd touches and the 'hehehe, that wouldn't fly nowadays' element amuses as it often does with older films. But if I'm honest, thriller plots in which everybody's double-crossing everybody else tend to make me lose track of same (I was a little tired too, which didn't help) and then my attention wanders.
 

[Positivatee 327]

Outlander 2009

Pretty enjoyable sci-fi action movie with Vikings. John Hurt is enjoyable as ever, even if he seems a little disinterested in the plot. Some of the editing is poor, especially in the very end when both lead characters are holding the last monster in individual closeup shots, but are never seen in the same shot together.

 

At the very end, the daughter of the dead king gives the royal amulet to the titular outlander (an alien) to make him king. That doesn't hold up to modern scrutiny - - she should've kept it and become queen. But alas, the movie was made by boys for boys, so feminism wasn't a thing. 

[Jay 37,287]

 

Sword of Trust

 

This is a really fun, charming, and unique indie film, directed by someone I wasn't familiar with - Lynn Shelton, who sadly passed away about a year after it came out.

 

Marc Maron runs a pawn shop with a very funny Jon Bass (Miracle Workers) as his slacker coworker.  One day a couple (Michaela Watkins and Jillian Bell) come in with a civil war era sword and some connected paperwork, which purportedly proves the confederates actually won the civil war.  Eventually Maron and Bass realize there are conspiracy nuts who will pay 10s of thousands of dollars for such artifacts, and things go from there as these 4 guys go on quite an adventure trying to sell the sword.  The conspiracy guy is played hilariously by Dan Bakkedahl, and Toby Huss shows up as well.  There's also a sad and poignant storyline involving an ex-girlfriend of Maron's, that gives the film weight and balances out the comedy perfectly.

Nice little film!  It's on Netflix

[Jay 37,287]

 

The Box

 

I'd been mildly curious about this film since it came out - it's the third film from Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales), starring Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella, James Rebhorn, and a pre-Community Gillian Jacobs.

 

Diaz and Marsden are a couple with a kid in private school in Virgina in the mid 70s - Marsden works for NASA, and one day Frank Langells shows up on their doorstop with a box and a hundred dollar bill, telling them 2 things will happen if they press the button in it: A person they do not know will die, and they will receive $1,000,000.  What starts out as an interesting philosophical quandary about your morals and the value of life, slowly becomes this big Steven King - esque reveal that ties in Marsden's NASA job, Diaz's deformed foot, the previous recipient of the box, the next recipient of the box, and just a bunch of sci-fi mumbo jumbo.

 

I'll give it to Kelly for having me pretty engaged for the first half or so of the movie, but boy does he bungle the large and overly complicated explanation for everything.  By the time he circles back to the beginning at the end of things, it's too little, too late.

 

It's on Kanopy

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Terrible film. 

[Jay 37,287]

Aye, twas pretty bad!

[Positivatee 327]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

free on Netflix

 

[A24 4,326]

Can't believe it's the same director of Donnie Darko. And with Southland Tales, he even made a worse movie than The Box.

[Tallguy 3,370]

That was an episode of The Twilight Zone. Button Button. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,497]

From what I've read, it sounds like THE BOX is Milgram writ large.

 

Ps, Wha' there's actually a film called HUMPDAY?!

[Jay 37,287]

 

Gattaca

 

I've loved this film since I first saw it in college in the 90s, and hadn't seen it for 20 years or so before we watched it this fall.  I thought it held up really well!  Some of the tech is dated (it takes place in the future, yet it's all low res graphics on CRT monitors and paper printouts, instead of HD flatscreen and smarphones), but the themes and storytelling have aged very well.  It settles you into the world very well, and immediately makes you simultaneous root for Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, Uma Thurman, and Alan Arkin, even though they are often at odds with what the others want.

They really don't make many movies like this one, a good sci-fi story that isn't full of action and explosions, yet is very compelling and never boring, and thought-provoking.

 

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, whatever happened to him?  I saw his next three films - Simone which was forgettable, Lord of War which I liked, and In Time which was a cool idea executed poorly... then never saw anything he's done since (The Host, Good Kill, and Anon).  Oh well

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

I've loved this film since I first saw it in college in the 90s, and hadn't seen it for 20 years or so before we watched it this fall.  I thought it held up really well!  Some of the tech is dated (it takes place in the future, yet it's all low res graphics on CRT monitors and paper printouts, instead of HD flatscreen and smarphones), but the themes and storytelling have aged very well.

 

It's not *that* old. The tech was dated back then, too. Deliberate creative decision.

 

4 minutes ago, Jay said:

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, whatever happened to him?  I saw his next three films - Simone which was forgettable, Lord of War which I liked), and In Time which was a cool idea executed poorly, then never saw anything he's done since (The Host, Good Kill, and Anon).  Oh well

 

He also wrote Spielberg's The Terminal.

 

And you didn't mention Xander Berkeley!

 

[Jay 37,287]

Xander Berkeley is SO GOOD in this film!  I loved all his scenes.  His character was so essential too, there's no way their plan would have worked without him, and the reveal at the end that he knew all along and lets him go through is so awesome

[Edmilson 7,392]

38 minutes ago, Jay said:

Written and directed by Andrew Niccol, whatever happened to him?  I saw his next three films - Simone which was forgettable, Lord of War which I liked, and In Time which was a cool idea executed poorly... then never saw anything he's done since (The Host, Good Kill, and Anon).  Oh well

You're lucky for not having seen The Host. It's simply atrocious. The script is horrible. 

 

But I think not even Niccol could make a good movie based on a book by the author of Twilight.

[Jay 37,287]

 

The Long Goodbye

 

I finally saw this Williams-scored movie, for the first time ever!

 

It's... an incredibly bizarre movie!  I mean Images was too, but this is bizarre in a completely different way.  I really kind of dig what Altman was doing in both movies, going against the norm, trying to tell a story in a different way.... but I guess he ultimately wasn't very successful with either attempt, as neither compelled me to want to revisit them, nor do I see any other filmmakers taking any inpiration from them (unless I'm not watching the right movies).

 

The underlying story here is actually a decent and interesting one, but the execution of it is so mired is so much ephemera there's so little momentum pushing the main story forward.  Elliot Gold is fairly amusing throughout as a perpetually unamused, chain smoking Philip Marlowe, who does some good detective work.  But a lot of the side characters are just uncompelling, and many scenes with them go on for far too long.

 

Williams' score wasn't particularly interesting either; The idea of having all the music in the film be the same melody is an interesting one, but I didn't like the execution of it.  It was fine at first, when two different vocal versions of the song are heard by 2 different characters in the opening scenes, and then some other characters comment on the song, etc.  But I think they should have reigned it in and not literally made EVERY score cue reference it, only sometimes, with a traditional score used at times as well.

 

So much like Images, it's kind of an interesting mess, that I'm glad I saw, but probably won't catch again for a long time. 

 

It's on Kanopy.

[publicist 4,643]

On 24/11/2021 at 3:22 PM, Jay said:

 (unless I'm not watching the right movies).

 

It's certainly that. 

 

[Jay 37,287]

Ok, then tell me what movies are inspired by what Altman did in Images and The Long Goodbye, please.

[publicist 4,643]

The Big Lebowski, Inherent Vice, just to cite two (three) influential filmmakers. But there were tons of guys like Barbet Schroeder (Barfly) etc..

[Jay 37,287]

I haven't seen Inherent Vice or Barfly, but have seen The Big Lebowski - although not in 23 years now.  I should watch it again and see if anything in it reminds me of The Long Goodbye...

[publicist 4,643]

I don't know if you seeing things (or not) is a decisive factor here. The Coens have acknowledged the Altman influence, as have several others who commented on the hip 70's updating of Chandler. It is very obvious that it's not just another Columbo episode.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,497]

In the mid-'80s, there was a TV show called MARLOWE, starring Powers Boothe. It's different, in style, from THE LONG GOODBYE, but it's worth checking out.

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

13 minutes ago, Jay said:

but have seen The Big Lebowski - although not in 23 years now.

 

Lebowski should be watched annually.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

THE BIG LEBOWSKI is based on THE BIG SLEEP.

 

THE LONG GOODBYE is Chandler's greatest novel.

Read it and forget the movie

[Jay 37,287]

 

Sleepy Hollow

 

We watched this back in October around Halloween time; Hadn't seen it in a while.  It holds up pretty well I think.  At the time, I think it didn't do as much for me, thinking it lacked a special something that I enjoyed from all of Tim Burton's prior films.  But now in retrospect I can enjoy it more, maybe because I know Burton would only get even less special after this   Some of that could be due to his increasingly obvious use of CGI as his career goes on; while used here for sure, isn't as obvious as his later films and there's some nice practical effects too.  The cast is entertaining, and I appreciate the whole score on a new level so that's nice too.  

Not a great movie, but an entertaining one!

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

French Connection 2 - if I'm honest, I dug the 'fish-out-of-water' beginning and the action-y end to this more than the 'Doyle captured, shot full of heroin and then enduring cold turkey' middle. Hackman is great throughout, though.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,497]

Agreed, Sweep.

Maybe it's me, but I always thought that the "heroin" sequence was a bit of a narrative cul-de-sac. He gets pumped, he gets high, he comes down, he carries on.

Other than that, it's a good, and typically muscular, Frankeheimer film.

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

By the time he's tearfully discussing baseball players with his French counterpart, my patience was wearing a bit thin. 

Also it might just have the most abrupt ending to a movie I've ever seen - 

Spoiler

The SECOND after Doyle shoots the drug ring's head honcho dead, we're into the end credits. 

 
I know it's 46 years old, but still prefer to avoid spoilers.  
 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

19 hours ago, publicist said:

The Big Lebowski, Inherent Vice

Two of the probably five best comedic films ever!

 

17 hours ago, Jay said:

At the time, I think it didn't do as much for me, thinking it lacked a special something that I enjoyed from all of Tim Burton's prior films.

It is more a Hammer production than a Tim Burton movie, that is probably why you missed the director's special something.

[A24 4,326]

Inherent Vice is funny?! 

 

 

Who are you people?!!

[Glóin the Dark 1,218]

Inherent Vice is frequently hilarilous (unlike The BIg Lebowski, which is entirely hilarious).

[Naïve Old Fart 9,497]

44 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Inherent Vice is funny?! 

Who are you people?!!

Agreed. I found nothing remotely funny, in INHERENT VICE. To me, it was just one step up from all those "stoner" movies, going around. I also know that a lot of people like it, so, hey ho.

[Edmilson 7,392]

People who find Inherent Vice funny probably watched it while high on marijuana 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,497]

Perhaps it's meant to be watched while you're high?

[Edmilson 7,392]

That's what I thought too.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,497]

If that's true, then I'd rather get high while watching a Cheech and Chong movie.