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

[Sweeping Strings 2,364]

Blind Fury - Rutger Hauer stars as a sightless swordsman on the trail of his old military buddy who's gotten himself into a tight spot with a crooked Reno casino owner. Tongue-in-cheek action fun, coming in at a trim 86 minutes. Also starring Terry O'Quinn.  

[Naïve Old Fart 9,554]

Terry O'Quinn?

I'm in! 

[Sweeping Strings 2,364]

Indeed ... wouldn't mind seeing The Stepfather again sometime, he was great in that. Hadn't seen Blind Fury since renting the VHS 30+ years ago ... saw it listed as being on Legend last Sat night, and promptly set the Tivo to record (also did same with Backdraft recently, haven't seen that in years either). 

[Jay 37,374]

 

Dredd

 

Holy shit, this movie was AWESOME! I CANNOT believe that it took me 12 years to see this; It was always a movie I wanted to see that I figured I would like, but just never got around too.  Boy, I've been missing out! If I had seen it when it first came out, I probably would have already re-watched it once or twice since then.

 

I love how it does excellent world-building throughout so effortlessly while telling the story of one day on the job for two cops.  The veteran/rookie dynamic was done really well and honestly, Olivia Thirlby was maybe the best part of the whole movie; She was so good, I couldn't believe that this wasn't a break-out, star-making turn for her.  I looked her up after and she's done nothing after this movie that I've seen at all (except for Oppenheimer, and I couldn't even tell you who she was in that movie).

 

I love that it was largely a gritty, r-rated action flick, but with just enough little sci-fi boosts to it like the fancy bullets he can make from his gone, and that Thirlby is a bit of a mind-reader. And the slow-mo drug too I guess.  So many good action scenes, excellent r-rated blood and gore, just a super fun movie that breezes by in a scant 90 minutes. 

 

SO glad I finally saw this, and bummed that it never got a sequel or more good work for Thirlby.

 

It's on Netflix

 

[Jay 37,374]

 

Collateral

 

Wow!  I hadn't seen this movie since it was in theaters; I liked it then and really liked this rewatch as well!  Tom Cruise was so good her as the villain; I wish he did more of these kinds of roles!  I haven't liked Jamie Foxx in everything I've seen him in, but he was good here as the innocent cab driver force to drive hitman Tom Cruise around LA as he assassinates people who will testify against his client.  The movie has a bunch of good story beats and turns, though the final sequence with Jada Pinkett Smith being involved was a little contrived; Not a major annoyance though.  This Michael Mann guy, he sure knows how to make a movie, the visuals, sound mix, and pacing are all a total delight.  Hopefully I won't go 20 years before watching this again.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,554]

L.A. never looked so beautiful than in this film, in digital HD.

[Sweeping Strings 2,364]

Cats - a 'let's lol at the terribleness' screening as part of a local arts festival. I'd heard it was bad of course, but nothing quite prepares you ... it's as well the venue has a bar in the room. It's like something made by shoddily programmed AI, yet was made by actual people.

I wanted to look away, but couldn't. It's MESMERISINGLY shit.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,554]

@Sweeping Strings

Sweep, check out Ricky Gervais at the 2020 Golden Globes.

What he says about CATS, and Corden, is priceless 

[bollemanneke 3,352]

Deep impact. And it did not leave one at all.

 

The main incentive to pick this movie was obviously James Horner and there’s nothing quite like the feeling of looking forward to getting to know another of his scores, as derivative or predictable as it might be. It’s great music. And I loved the uses of minor and major keys, or sometimes no key at all to leave you wondering whether an action was going to to out good or bad. Not sure about the bells at the end.

 

What is it with Horner scoring movies in which everybody dies? The end is just stupid. Waves destroy shit without score, we get a lot of details about which parts of America are destroyed but nothing about Europe or Africa, ‘cause Murica is the only thing that matters I guess. Everybody, literally everybody, I ‘cared’ about died, and the two people I would have gladly given up made it. Elijah Wood and Téa Leoni aren’t my favourite actors anyway, so… Yeah. Let us begin with the score.

 

[Groovygoth666 672]

Goldfinger (1964)

 

Forgot to talk about this last week. I can see what @Sweeping Stringsmeant by the Bond formula kicking in with this one. Staples like Q branch, the Aston Martin, gimmicky head henchman and opening song with the title of the film among others start here. As for the film itself, so far this is easily my favourite. It feels like the best elements from the previous two are combined in a way that makes it feel a natural progression while being a stand alone mission that has no connection to SPECTRE.

 

This film is really refreshing in terms of its villain. With both No and FRWL the mastermind is either cloaked in shadow/hidden for a majority of the film, No himself only having one scene with Bond before their final confrontation, while Grant being a SPECTRE agent acting on Blofields orders is sort of the main villain also gets little screentime with Bond prior to their final fight, but still has a presence throughout the film. Goldfinger is present for much of the runtime here and with many of his scenes with Bond, both playing a game of cat and mouse against the other it was a joy watching these two collide. The story starts off pretty simple, Bond needs to find out how Goldfinger moves his gold around while avoiding the authorities. Which has a surprising reveal. Something I really loved about this film is Goldfingers masterplan. The film goes to great lengths to show his lust for wealth, especially for gold, knowing his final target sets up an obvious payoff but his masterplan subverts both the audience and Bonds thinking and makes for a fantastic revelation.

 

For me the biggest problem was Felix being at Fort Knox, why and how I don't think were covered, unless I missed something? 

 

 

Thunderball (1965)

 

SPECTRE is back and has enacted an elaborate plan to steal two nuclear bombs and hold the world ransom. 

 

This was throughly enjoyable, but doesn't quite beat Goldfinger for me. 

 

Bond is in a race against time to find two stolen nukes, but the film seemingly relies on two big contrivances. Firstly his being at the same resort at exactly the same time SPECTRE plans to do their identity swap with a pilot that is flying on a training exercise with the nukes they're after. And that the pilots sister Domino is romantically involved with SPECTRE Number 2. Who Bond asks to investigate, but she isn't knowingly apart of SPECTRE or it's plans so his going after her and how much it pays off is incredibly convenient. 

 

The underwater fight at the end was really great and something a bit different, even if both sides had people respawning for a bit. 

 

Then there's the final fight between Bond and Number 2 which didn't end the way I thought it would and was a great surprise. 

 

[filmmusic 1,843]

 

I've read a comment somewhere that this is the best Batman movie that has ever been created.

Well, I don't agree of course, but it was quite good.

The music score was - I think - more operatic than needed, but whatever...

Also, I didn't like that the end credits included only a song. I would expect there the operatic music to take over!

[JTN 2,047]

Fantastic modern classic animated movie, with the usual, great Dario Marianelli score. 
 

 

 

 

4 hours ago, filmmusic said:

 

I've read a comment somewhere that this is the best Batman movie that has ever been created.

Well, I don't agree of course, but it was quite good.

The music score was - I think - more operatic than needed, but whatever...

Also, I didn't like that the end credits included only a song. I would expect there the operatic music to take over!

One of the best, yes. 

The opening titles with Shirley Walker‘s gothic masterpiece makes half the film, it’s amazing. The animation is great, and the story, while parts of it a bit childish, is excellent, thanks to the voice cast. I really wish traditional handdrawn animation style like this would make a comeback for DC animated movies like Batman, because BTAS, STAS, JLTAS and BBTAS are the gold standard, along with the Fleischer Superman cartoons which still look better than 99% of the stuff made today.

Anyway, MotP is one of the all-time classic Batman movies. 

[Tallguy 3,402]

6 hours ago, Groovygoth666 said:

For me the biggest problem was Felix being at Fort Knox, why and how I don't think were covered, unless I missed something? 

 

Bond had a tracker. It was disposed of along with Mr. Solo (and his car) in the trash masher.

[JTN 2,047]

 

A feel-good movie with the always adorable and sexy Diane Lane.

[Sweeping Strings 2,364]

On 27/01/2024 at 12:12 PM, Naïve Old Fart said:

@Sweeping Strings

Sweep, check out Ricky Gervais at the 2020 Golden Globes.

What he says about CATS, and Corden, is priceless 

I remember something about a 'fat pussy'. Hehehe. 

[JTN 2,047]

Jeff Bridges thinks he can play the piano, Michelle Pfeiffer thinks she can sing. Both of them drink a lot and smoke hundreds of cigarettes while hating on the world. A movie about burnt out people who desperately try to find some meaning in life. And it’s somehow worth watching. Can they find love at least? Well, watch the damn film and you’ll find out. 
ps: Oh yeah, Pfeiffer is drop dead gorgeous in this one.

[Holko 9,532]

Watched Waterworld, the Ulysses Cut. Movie's still damn fun, maybe not the most engaging characterwise, and even though he's great at chewing the scenery something just doesn't click for me about Dennis Hopper here, but the production design, worldbuilding, setpieces and practical effects are phenomenal, every penny of the out of control budget is up on the screen. I've not properly watched the theatrical many times, and not in a while, so apart from a few standout scenes I didn't really notice much different, it's just generally richer in worldbuilding and character moments all over. I watched it over 2 nights splitting at the "intermission" fade to black in the middle so I'm not sure exactly how it impacts the pacing overall. The footage is integrated impeccably, apart from a few faded SD upscale composite shots near the end you absolutely cannot tell any difference visually, maybe sometimes in audio where they had to use the on-set recording and there was no ADR to clean it up, but it's not bad. I loved that they owned up to it and satisifed the maybe limited but definitely existing demand.

 

However.

 

Having just done the iso score, what I did notice was, well, the score. Of course it was expected that cues would be copypasted for new establishing shots or looped for extended scenes, but holy fuck the music for the atoll battle is completely utterly mangled. A lot of little shots are put in and some are reordered, but instead of looping or slightly recutting the music, they tore it all down and rebuilt it butchered from scratch, in Recycled / Smokers Sighted / Battle / The Balloon, even the parts that are the same as the theatrical for a longer time have all their lovely sync points and structure all fucked up. After seeing how well the music syncs up to and supports the theatrical, this shit was almost physically uncomfortable, why the hell would you do that???

[JTN 2,047]

Adam Sandler can act. Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the show as always. Crazy (good) love story. 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

7 minutes ago, JTW said:

Adam Sandler can act. Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the show as always. Crazy (good) love story. 

Have you seen Uncut Gems?

[JTN 2,047]

No.

[A24 4,346]

11 hours ago, JTW said:

Adam Sandler can act. Philip Seymour Hoffman steals the show as always. Crazy (good) love story. 

 

Probably my favorite PTA movie.

[Sweeping Strings 2,364]

On 28/01/2024 at 1:34 PM, Tallguy said:

 

Bond had a tracker. It was disposed of along with Mr. Solo (and his car) in the trash masher.

'Allowing one to stop off for a quick one en route'. 

'It has NOT been developed after months of patient research for that purpose, 007'. 
 

[Tallguy 3,402]

38 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

'Allowing one to stop off for a quick one en route'. 

'It has NOT been developed after months of patient research for that purpose, 007'. 
 

 

The definitive Q scene.

 

I think this also introduces the "Bond is an expert on everything" trope with the scene with the brandy. (Featuring the amazing Richard Vernon. Not only the original Slartibartfast from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - original radio play AND television show) but the single funniest character from Yes, Minister, a notable feat in a very very funny show.)

[Sweeping Strings 2,364]

Occasionally that trope's allowed to 'slip', though - in YOLT, Bond rejects Moneypenny's offer of a Japanese phrasebook with 'You forget, I took a First in Oriental Languages at Cambridge'. 30 years later ... 'On second thoughts, you type!' to Wai Lin when confronted with the Chinese computer keyboard in TND.  

[Tallguy 3,402]

54 minutes ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Occasionally that trope's allowed to 'slip', though - in YOLT, Bond rejects Moneypenny's offer of a Japanese phrasebook with 'You forget, I took a First in Oriental Languages at Cambridge'. 30 years later ... 'On second thoughts, you type!' to Wai Lin when confronted with the Chinese computer keyboard in TND.  

 

Yeah, I'm not sure how much it was used in the Dalton era onward. (There's a lot I don't remember about Living Daylights and License to Kill.)

[filmmusic 1,843]

 

Just watched this from my newly purchased magnificent 4k steelbook!

Quite enjoyable and I cannot believe how Renny Harlin was nominated for a Razzie award for worst director!

[Tallguy 3,402]

1 hour ago, filmmusic said:

I cannot believe how Renny Harlin was nominated for a Razzie award for worst director!

 

Hmmmm. I haven't seen it in almost 30 years. But I can.

[Tom 4,673]

On 29/01/2024 at 3:36 AM, JTW said:

Jeff Bridges thinks he can play the piano, Michelle Pfeiffer thinks she can sing. Both of them drink a lot and smoke hundreds of cigarettes while hating on the world. A movie about burnt out people who desperately try to find some meaning in life. And it’s somehow worth watching. Can they find love at least? Well, watch the damn film and you’ll find out. 
ps: Oh yeah, Pfeiffer is drop dead gorgeous in this one.

I like the first two leads, but I find Beau Bridges to be unwatchable in everything.   

[JTN 2,047]

I enjoyed it. I only had a hard time believing that all the men found this woman gorgeous. They could’ve found an actress who is a little prettier. 
 

[Sweeping Strings 2,364]

Jaws 2 - undoubtedly the best of the 3 sequels, albeit with shark attacks that just aren't the match of those in the classic original. The reappearances of Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary and Murray Hamilton (and Mr Williams) do help quite a bit.

[bollemanneke 3,352]

London Fields. Not nearly as bad as people claim it is. Maybe a bit weird at times, but certainly rewatchable. And I've finally seen Amber Heard in something.

[filmmusic 1,843]

 

Heartwarming story, nice score by Howard Shore, a film that has a certain appeal to me..

Watched from my newly purchased 4k disc.

[filmmusic 1,843]

 

Watched this in memory of Carl Weathers, but it was just a mediocre b-movie. I saw the imdb ratings, but somehow I expected something more.

[bollemanneke 3,352]

Peter Pan, 2003. First half okay, second half almost done and I really don’t care anymore. Stupid children. Isaacs is better than Hofman, Julia Roberts is better than this Tinker Bell. Score is not better than Hook, contains outstanding moments, but sometimes leaves you wanting more and also lacks reverb. Apparently I write like Intrada now. I want to live with fairies.

[crocodile 8,020]

Watched The Dark Knight after a very long time. It holds up really well 15 years while. There are some inexplicable leaps in logic and convenient, true, and some of the exposition can be really clunky (wordy). It's so packed with plot, themes that you don't really notice how fast the times go by. Some minor faults aside, it is really well thought out and still quite a ride. Love or hate Nolan but there's nothing else quite like it in this genre. It is also the only of the three where Zimmer's score feels at home.

 

Karol

[Tom Guernsey 2,287]

Having intended to watch The Creator, I ended up having a nostalgic evening watching Willow. It still holds up fairly well as a mashup of various other existing fantasy stories - bits of LOTR, Star Wars, Krull, Dragonslayer and probably a load more I'm not aware of. Acting is mainly decent, although after a slightly unconvincing start, Warwick Davis as Willow gets better as the film progresses, although the rest of the cast largely steal the film from him, notably Jean Marsh chewing scenery ahead of an immediate scenery famine (albeit genuinely scary by the end) and Val Kilmer doing a fine turn as Madmartigan (an odd choice of name given the character; it would have made more sense to call him "Mad" Martigan).

 

The FX are peak late 80s ILM, which is to say some great miniature work, gorgeous matte paintings, impressively convincing miniaturisation FX for the brownies (tiny little characters, not baked goods) which predates their work turning Julia Roberts into Tink in Hook, and barely less effective, and an effective go-motion two headed dragon (an impressive upgrade to the Rancor from Jedi). Only the limits of removing matte lines pre-computers give a few effects away. It still shows that mixing great practical and visual effects, with well chosen and spectacular location shooting, really can beat out endless CGI. Sometimes FX don't have to be fully realistic to be wonderfully artistic. 

 

Of course James Horner's score is a classic. I'll never know how he managed to mix Schumann, Prokofiev, a Hungarian lullaby (apparently) and, of course, the danger motif, into a score that still sounds entirely like James Horner. I did wonder whether JW was every in contention to score this as a George Lucas project, but I don't imagine he'd had done anything better. Although it's even more noticeable in the film that what is called Willow's theme is really much more for Madmartigan, but it doesn't matter and works like gangbusters. Sorry Robert, James Horner rewrote the first movement of your third symphony and made it better.

[Holko 9,532]

43 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

and an effective go-motion two headed dragon (an impressive upgrade to the Rancor from Jedi)

I think the rancor was mostly a puppet shot at high speed and slowed back down, go-motion was used for the tauntauns and AT-ST walkers in SW.

[Chen G. 3,950]

Its a lovely film, although the quest takes a wee bit too long to get on its feet, and in the context of Lucas' filmography the story can feel a little overly recycled, both from his previous films (especially the original Star Wars) and some their antecedents, namely The Hobbit and Hidden Fortress. The quite carefree tone doesn't help sell the stakes of a story surrounding the intended sacrifice of a toddler, and I don't care for Jean Marsch's performance. Ron Howard is his usual workman-like self but captures a pretty nice tableaux, although the final confrontation is kind of a sham. Splendid score by Horner.

 

On the whole, a perfectly pleasant motion picture. Whether calling it one of the better fantasy films of the 80s is a testament to its own merit to the subgenre's limitations is still an open question.

[Jay 37,374]

 

Sneakers

 

We watched this shortly after the LLL expansion was announced. I had seen it before, once, when I first got Netflix in the early 2000s.  I basically didn't remember any details from it any more, so this was practically like a first watch.  I loved it!  It's just a super fun movie in a style that isn't really made any more.  PG-rated but not in a kiddie way, just a cool heist plot that manages to be thrilling and engaging without resorting to violence and quick cutting and other tropes.  It sort of reminded me of The Sting in that way. 

 

The entire cast is really good, I especially appreciated seeing River Phoenix in something else (and being so different from Young Indy).  Robert Redford really plays the leader of the crew very well, and Aykroyd, Poitier, and Strathairn fill out the crew so well you can't imagine it any other way.  Mary McDonnell and her scenes with Needle-Nose Ned Stephen Tobolowsky leading to her getting too involved in the whole affair was good.  Ben Kingsley was good as the villain I guess; His part was a little underdeveloped and he doesn't have that many scenes, but I guess that doesn't really matter much in the end.  The final scene with James Earl Jones was really fun.  Just a fun movie all around!  I definitely won't go 20 years before my next rewatch!

[Marian Schedenig 8,211]

I love Kinglsey in that role. He's quite compelling as the tragic villain who believes his actions to be fully justified and necessary - all done in a rather lighthearted manner, of course, in keeping with the rest of the film.

 

Also, that bench he's sitting on together with Marty when he tries to convince him to join him - that's a Cray. That's what supercomputers looked like in the 90s.

 

The "too many secrets" scene is one of my all time favourites. A perfect combination of writing, direction, camera, acting, and scoring.

[Jay 37,374]

Man, I can't believe I forgot to mention the score.  After 20 years of listening to the score as just music, not remembering any specifics about what scenes any of it went with (or even the general tone of the movie), it was SOO fascinating to see the context for all the cues.  It was so funny to me that, to your example, the "Too Many Secrets" scene is just like, guys watching computer screens, and yet the music is hugely dramatic, delivering all the weight of what they are discovering.  Or later during the break-in with that huge crashing piano part just scoring Marty walking slowly across a room.  LOL

And yet, it ALL works, and honestly the score elevates the film to an higher level that it would have been with a less interesting score.  It played a part in making scenes so utterly engaging.  This is one of those movies where everyone brought their A game and it all gelled together perfectly.

[JTN 2,047]

Rewatched it yesterday. It’s an incredibly well made film that still holds up great. And Mark Mancina’s score is excellent.

[A. A. Ron 1,742]

The FX take me out of it every time, but I love the atmosphere and the idea of a move that just follows storm chasers around. The score is also a favorite of mine and I’m delighted I was able to get a signed copy when the LLL/Matessino edition came out.

[Nick1Ø66 4,722]

LOVE Twister.  Bad SFX (and I don't think Twister's is bad anyway) in a movie seldom bothers me, especially if the movie's good. And Twister is great. The greatest storm-chaser movie featuring flying cows and a young Philip Seymour Hoffman calling gravy its own food group of all time.

 

They're doing a remake/reboot which I'd say will suck except Joseph Kosinski's directing it which is gives me some semblance of hope. Tom Cruise as a storm chaser, running away from tornadoes, would be too much to hope for.

[JTN 2,047]

Another completely unnecessary remake. I think the vfx of Twister still looks great, and the sound design makes it even more realistic and scary. And the cast is what makes it such a fun movie. Not even the best CGI will make a new film good or better than the original, that had the late great Bill Paxton in it.

[filmmusic 1,843]

 

I love courtroom dramas and this was exceptional!

With an Oscar nominated performance by Lange, and a gripping script by Eszterhas.

[Nick1Ø66 4,722]

 

On 4/2/2024 at 7:14 AM, Tom Guernsey said:

I did wonder whether JW was every in contention to score this as a George Lucas project, but I don't imagine he'd had done anything better.

 

Sadly, one of the things we'll likely never get to hear is what JW would have done with a straight-up fantasy film (Harry Potter notwithstanding), or better yet, a series of them.  I can't believe he escaped the 80's without doing at least one.

 

I mean, would it have killed him to do Ladyhawke?

[Sweeping Strings 2,364]

Piranha (1978) - is it sacrilege to say that I think I preferred the 2010 remake? I mean if we're measuring by the B-movie yardsticks of gore, chuckles and tits it has more of all of them.

Still quite fun, though. Piranha attacks are pretty well done, and the turns by Paul Bartel and Dante stalwart Dick Miller are quite amusing.  

 

[Tom Guernsey 2,287]

8 hours ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

 

 

Sadly, one of the things we'll likely never get to hear is what JW would have done with a straight-up fantasy film (Harry Potter notwithstanding), or better yet, a series of them.  I can't believe he escaped the 80's without doing at least one.

 

I mean, would it have killed him to do Ladyhawke?

Well quite... slacker.

 

One thing that I forgot to mention in my original comments about Willow is that the folksy Nelwyn music at the end of the film (halfway through the track Willow the Sorcerer on disc) is actually the start of end credits and not, as I had originally assumed, semi-diegetic music for a post victory celebration at the Nelwyn Village (a la Ewok Celebration from Jedi - George trying to save the planet by recycling ideas). It does cover a shot pulling away from the Nelwyn village but with credits over the top and it's not done in a way that suggests it's meant to be diegetic. Maybe it's just because I pictured it differently does it seem a bit strange that the credits don't begin with that run into Willow's theme.

[Tallguy 3,402]

1 hour ago, Tom Guernsey said:

One thing that I forgot to mention in my original comments about Willow is that the folksy Nelwyn music at the end of the film (halfway through the track Willow the Sorcerer on disc) is actually the start of end credits and not, as I had originally assumed, semi-diegetic music for a post victory celebration at the Nelwyn Village (a la Ewok Celebration from Jedi - George trying to save the planet by recycling ideas). It does cover a shot pulling away from the Nelwyn village but with credits over the top and it's not done in a way that suggests it's meant to be diegetic. Maybe it's just because I pictured it differently does it seem a bit strange that the credits don't begin with that run into Willow's theme.

 

Good heavens. I've always assumed exactly the same thing. I haven't seen Willow since opening night in 1988.