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

[Bespin 8,483]

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

THE MISSOURI BREAKS.

Bizarre, in places, but entertaining, nonetheless.

[Bespin 8,483]

On 09/09/2023 at 10:22 AM, Naïve Old Fart said:

THE MISSOURI BREAKS.

Bizarre, in places, but entertaining, nonetheless.

 

Absolutely!

[A24 4,339]

Midsommar (2019)

 

 

Like the previous time, I still think the first 15 minutes are the only good part of the movie. Once they arrive in Sweden, the movie doesn't really work for me. I don't know what director Ari Aster is trying to convey or achieve.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

Get John Nettles in there. He'll sort it out.

 

[A24 4,339]

Never watched one episode of Midsomer Murders. 

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

43 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Get John Nettles in there. He'll sort it out.

 

 

31 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Never watched one episode of Midsomer Murders. 

Nah, he meant Bergerac ;-)

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

He was in both! 

[Bespin 8,483]

Initiating myself to the music of Laurence Rosenthal...

 

[filmmusic 1,836]

 

When I was a teen and first saw the Three Colors Trilogy, I loved it.

I didn't fully understand it, but it was so beautiful to look at and had masterful music too

I still don't fully grasp it, but it still moves the senses..

 

I just watched the UHD from the beautiful Curzon set.

If you want the trilogy in UHD, this is the set to buy and not the Criterion one, as it has inferior encoding.

[A24 4,339]

17 hours ago, filmmusic said:

 

 

That set looks great!

 

 

Nocturne (2020)

 

 

Not really good, sorta second-rate, yet watchable. You want to know where it goes.

[filmmusic 1,836]

33 minutes ago, AC1 said:

That set looks great!

Yeah. Unfortunately my objection to these kind of sets is that, if something happens (something breaks or tears), you can't substitute it unless you buy the same set again.

While in the regular blu-ray cases, you can buy new ones if they break.

[Bespin 8,483]

19 hours ago, filmmusic said:

 

When I was a teen and first saw the Three Colors Trilogy, I loved it.

I didn't fully understand it, but it was so beautiful to look at and had masterful music too

I still don't fully grasp it, but it still moves the senses..

 

I just watched the UHD from the beautiful Curzon set.

If you want the trilogy in UHD, this is the set to buy and not the Criterion one, as it has inferior encoding.

 

I had wanted to watch this trilogy, but I stopped in the middle of the first movie, thinking that life was too short to watch something like that! 

[Jurassic Shark 12,079]

19 hours ago, filmmusic said:

I still don't fully grasp it, but it still moves the senses..

 

A wonderful performance by Juliette Binoche combined with gripping music makes it an engrossing film, although the story is depressing.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

20 hours ago, filmmusic said:

I still don't fully grasp it, but it still moves the senses..

 

Maybe you're not meant to.

Perhaps it speaks to your heart, rather than your head.

[A24 4,339]

12 hours ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

A wonderful performance by Juliette Binoche combined with gripping music makes it an engrossing film, although the story is depressing.

 

I remember liking the least depressing one but I forgot what colour it is.

[filmmusic 1,836]

3 hours ago, AC1 said:

 

I remember liking the least depressing one but I forgot what colour it is.

Blanc (White)

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

White was maybe the least depressing one, but I didn't find it as funny as I think it's supposed to be, more… emotionally confusing? In fact, it felt more depressing to me than it was apparently meant to be. It's the one I liked the least.

 

My favourite is Red. Perhaps because it's more accessible than the others, but also because it has a warmth to it. I think I found it less depressing than White, or at least despite some depressing parts it ultimately feels optimistic. And it looks gorgeous.

[bollemanneke 3,349]

BTFF2 again. "Don't worry, she's not essential to my plan." This evening is gonna be great.

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

I'm 1/3 of the way through 1974's Murder on the Orient Express. Will watch the rest tonight. A star-studded cast with Albert Finney as Hercule Poirot.

 

Good fun so far. And every time Anthony Perkins is on-screen I can't help but think of Andrew Garfield. If they ever make a Perkins biopic, Garfield's the guy.

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

10 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Good fun so far. And every time Anthony Perkins is on-screen I can't help but think of Andrew Garfield. If they ever make a Perkins biopic, Garfield's the guy.

 

I can see it as well. Hahahah

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974), is - no pun intended - first class entertainment.

Everything about it - the cast, led by a great performance by Finney; Richard Rodney Bennett's score; Geoffrey Unsworth's gorgeous cinematography (the shots of Istanbul are worth the price of admission, alone) - is just fantastic.

Best lines:

"I often enjoyed relations with Mr. Hubbard".

"With the lights out?".

"It helped".

 

[KK 3,307]

On 14/09/2023 at 4:48 PM, filmmusic said:

 

When I was a teen and first saw the Three Colors Trilogy, I loved it.

I didn't fully understand it, but it was so beautiful to look at and had masterful music too

I still don't fully grasp it, but it still moves the senses..

 

I just watched the UHD from the beautiful Curzon set.

If you want the trilogy in UHD, this is the set to buy and not the Criterion one, as it has inferior encoding.

 

Blue is easily the worst of the trilogy. And it's depiction of the music world is laughable.

 

White is my favourite. But Red is good too.

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

54 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Best lines:

"I often enjoyed relations with Mr. Hubbard".

"With the lights out?".

"It helped".

With brilliant deadpan delivery from the great Lauren Bacall.

May have to watch Kenneth Branagh's version after this one, if only to compare.

 

[JNHFan2000 2,966]

It's very different. More slowburn and a lot more serious.

 

But I really enjoyed it. And Patrick Doyle's score is brilliant!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

13 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

May have to watch Kenneth Branagh's version after this one, if only to compare.

 

Don't bother. Watch the David Suchet version.

[Tallguy 3,398]

1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

 

Don't bother. Watch the David Suchet version.

 

Do both. They're both enjoyable. The biggest problem with Suchet's version is it feels like the only one where they were competing with the other versions. So it feels like not only a departure from the other versions but even from Suchet's own Poitrot series.

[filmmusic 1,836]

 

Second time I watched this.

Very suspenseful crime thriller, that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

Gesundheit.

[Mr. Hooper 1,793]

2 hours ago, filmmusic said:

 

Second time I watched this.

Very suspenseful crime thriller, that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I need to give this a chance, even if it was directed by the same man who gave us 'Jaws: The Revenge.'

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

Pelham is a very good film with a great Walter Matthau and a fantastic David Shire score.

[Tallguy 3,398]

1 hour ago, Marian Schedenig said:

Gesundheit.

 

So when I was a kid (11 or 12 ish?) my Dad was watching Taking of Pelham 123 on TV. I kind of wandered in and out until towards the end. I watched the last 20 minutes or so with him. Promptly forgot about the film. Probably never knew the name.

 

Nearly 20 years later I rented the DVD from Netflix. Probably because FSM had done a disc of it. I'm about, what? 30 minutes in?

 

Spoiler

The first time the guy sneezes and Matthau responds:

 

Dammit. I know the end of this movie!

 

Fantastic film.

[Holko 9,529]

Superman: The Movie (Theatrical)

I'm glad to say that on this second watch after a few years, it rose from a "didn't like" to at least an "OK". I guess I accepted all the cheese better, loved how much fun Hackman is clearly having. I think probably my main problem is things move a bit too quick in the middle, with the movie being too preoccupied with showing big stuff over what the characters are feeling - Lois is just a prop after the flying scene until the very end, and we barely see the real Kal-El, Clark is just a put-on persona but so is Superman. The strongest moments post-Fortress are where he shines through, catching the bullet, parts of the interview/flying scene, losing his nerve, reacting to Luthor's message, and everything relating to Lois at the end. I was surprised how good the sound design was and how the score had relatively little presence, I wrote it off as me being used to JW being the sole factor after having worked on the iso score for a week, which is certainly a factor, as is a lot of the music being dropped, but then I found out I watched the supposedly infamous new mix with the altered sound. Whoops. Bleh.

 

Superman II (Theatrical)

A very mixed bag. The villains are flat, Zod had more presence, personality and depth in the what, maybe one minute he gets in 1. Some of the levity is really stupid and really misplaced, in the Metropolis battle especially. The hero losing his power segment is very rushed, he decides on a whim, then he already regrets it in what feels like 10 minutes in-movie time and immediately has to go back. No, it's not just that I was thinking of how much better Spiderman 2 did it. I hated the diner callback at the end, Superman's not a vengeful prick. Also didn't like the date rape kiss, even if the scene was otherwise great. And there's the shift, I like a lot of the Lois/Clark/Supes/Kal-El stuff! Finally getting more into the characters and relationships. Didn't like the score much, at least 3/4 of it felt like the worst of the CoS copypasting, but also performed and recorded worse.

 

Superman: The Movie (Extended)

Well, I wasn't expecting sudden greatness, and this is more of a subject for filmmaking studies - how to trim your shit and pace it better. The only true worthwile addition is the scene of Kal-El talking to Jor-El after becoming Superman, that's exactly what I wanted more of! Lex's traps are neat I guess. Some of the tiny extra beats like with the cheerleader are not bad at all, some are horrible like the Lex/Otis/Tessmacher "why are you repeating me" stuff, but most of it is absolutely unnoticeable or pointless padding that adds up. Also really made me wonder just what kind of goddamn cut JW actually scored (yes I know it changed between the multiple sessions), since as I learned already while doing the iso score, some cues are already cut down in this Extended TV cut while others are looped and looped to cover extra footage.

 

Superman II (The Donner Cut)

Well, with this one I was expecting a bigger change, but I can't say it's much better or worse. Didn't fix the villains (apparently only Lester shot their "invasion" stuff so all they could do was cut the stupid shit out), didn't fix the losing his powers bit, even if the discussion before it is better, made the stupid diner ending even more prominent by making it the actual ending. It actually made the ending in general worse! The Theatrical's Lois scene actually motivated the memory wipe, I didn't see anything here to motivate undoing the entire movie. Actually it's a mess, the destruction of the fortress and parting with a teary Lois is a good scene in this and would lead well into her breakdown the next day in the Theatrical, where it seems she's fine one day and a mess the other. I liked a lot of the Lois/Clark/Supes/Kal-El stuff a lot more in the Theatrical, they let it grow and breathe a lot more and a lot better! In general the pacing of this cut is really weird, very slow to start without the Paris setpiece, very weird to immediately start on Lois discovering him, and then the middle section is all random too quick intercutting between two threads, neither of them really heading anywhere particularly obviously, with none of the scenes really breathing or unfolding. Things just happen. Then something happens in the other thread. Then nothing really happens in this thread. Then nothing really happens in that thread either. I did like that they removed some of the really stupid shit, and I loved everything with Brando, but overall a bit of a disappointment. If I had to choose between the two, I'd pick a third that's a mixed cut of both. But ideally it'd of course be a completed 79 Donner version with polish reshoots. Oh also the music's a fucking mess, if the Theatrical's the worst of CoS' copypasting then this is the worst of AotC's and RotS' tracking, with the same bits used over and over and some horrific edits.

 

Overall: the best way to experience the Supermen is still just to sit back and listen to the LLL of the first score, slightly fixed up (with Kryptonquake joined to Destruction of Krypton as intended etc.).

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

Over the last few nights I have Tivo-recorded the original Death Race 2000 and Hammer's Dr Jekyll And Sister Hyde, and on Friday night I'm also going to record the bonkers mid-80s sci-fi horror Lifeforce. One way or another, I'm gonna have me a cult/B-movie/schlocky double-bill on Saturday night. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

Paul Bartel's original DR2K is great.

If you see LIFEFORCE, make sure you watch the Mancini version.

DJSH stars Ralph Bates, who was in the TV show SECOND CHANCE, which had a theme tune by Steve Hackett.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

It'll be whichever version Talking Pictures TV is showing (as it's billed from 9:05 - 11:25, am guessing it's the near 2-hour cut). 

Red Rock West - early 90s noirish thriller in which Nic Cage's drifter is mistaken by JT Walsh's bar owner for the hitman he's hired to kill his wife ... and then things REALLY get complicated. Enjoyably twisty stuff, also starring Lara Flynn Boyle and Dennis Hopper.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

3 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

It'll be whichever version Talking Pictures TV is showing (as it's billed from 9:05 - 11:25, am guessing it's the near 2-hour cut).

 

That's the Mancini version.

 

Ps, J.T. Walsh always gives (gave ) good performances.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

That he did. Gone too soon. 

[A24 4,339]

 

 

Completely forgot Joaquin Phoenix is in this movie. I'll give it a 6/10 this time, which is probably more than what I gave it the first time. 

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

 

[Jay 37,369]

Probably a good candidate for the General Movie chitchat thread then.

[Marian Schedenig 8,200]

48 minutes ago, Jay said:

Probably a good candidate for the General Movie chitchat thread then.

 

Huh. Somehow I'd completely missed that thread until now.

[Sweeping Strings 2,363]

A B-movie/exploitation/schlock double-bill last night.

Death Race 2000 (1975) - sort of like a live-action Wacky Races (with added gore, tits 'n' ass and satire), this is about a cross-country road race (happening during the titular year) during which (in order to sate a violence-loving public) the drivers score points by running down pedestrians. Too OTT to take seriously at all, starring David Carradine and a pre-Rocky Sly Stallone.

Lifeforce - NAKED ENERGY VAMPIRES FROM SPACE! With Tobe Hooper in the director's chair, John Dykstra on SFX duties and Henry Mancini scoring this mid-80s sci-fi horror certainly had potential ... but what it also has is a VERY silly script with which the likes of Peter Firth, Michael Gothard, Frank Finlay and Patrick Stewart gamely do battle. The extremely attractive actress Mathilde May spends the vast majority of her appearance in this starkers, which certainly helps when you're watching hokum.

[A24 4,339]

23 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

The extremely attractive actress Mathilde May spends the vast majority of her appearance in this starkers, which certainly helps when you're watching hokum.

 

She underwent plastic surgery just for that part. Now that's what I call dedication! 

 

 

The Well-Digger's Daughter (2011)

 

 

Daniel Auteuil's adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's The Well-Digger's Daughter (his directorial debut) is not on par with Jean de Florette/Manon des Sources (Claude Berri) or La Gloire de mon Père/Le Château de ma Mère (Yves Robert) but it's quite enjoyable with Auteuil being of course the highlight of the movie. As a director, Auteuil did two more Pagnol adaptations (Fanny (2013) and Marius (2013), and he's working on yet another one) but the Blu-rays that you can buy over here only have French subs. IMDb gives La Fille du Puisatier a 7/10 and that sounds about right to me.

 

 

 

[iamleyeti 114]

My partner was like "let's watch something dumb" so we ended up with Fast and Furious 9.

First of all, Justin Lin knows how to direct. It's very very placed filmed and blocked and edited. He left on a high note and came back on a high note as well. Perfect. The overall story and writing is so hilarious, it's like watching kids playing, I love it. There are a few highlights and great pacing. Loved it even if it's very very high low culture

 

The score is… the score is probably there. Couldn't hear it.

[JTN 2,030]

Maestro Jerry Goldsmith’s heroic score always gets me. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

2 hours ago, AC1 said:

 

 

 

 

It looks like an advert for Cadbury's Flake 

[A24 4,339]

That's the Provence for you, Richard. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,544]

I've never been to Provence, and I wouldn't know the young lady in the picture, from Adam, but looks very pretty.

[A24 4,339]

3 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

I've never been to Provence, and I wouldn't know the young lady in the picture, from Adam, but looks very pretty.

 

The Well-Digger's Daughter [DVD]: Amazon.co.uk: Daniel Auteuil, Kad Merad, Sabine Azéma, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Daniel Auteuil, Daniel Auteuil, Kad Merad: DVD & Blu-ray