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

[Disco Stu 15,495]

On 7/8/2018 at 9:03 AM, Disco Stu said:

The Love Parade (1929; Ernst Lubitsch)

 

A wonderful, charming early talkie musical-comedy.  Maurice Chevalier was a great movie star, his suave, sarcastic comedic persona is very entertaining.  The actors who played the servants were hilarious. The gender issues are pretty outdated, but it's part of the old charm of it, I guess.  Anyway, the point is glitzy production design, the silly comedy, the risque jokes, and the pretty melodies.  Lubitsch Touch in full effect!

 

@Cherry Pie That'll Kill Ya would love it.  The main thrust of the plot is a womanizing man who is emasculated by marrying a powerful woman who can boss him around, and the story is resolved by her letting him take charge.

 

I watched this classic again tonight and…  Still wonderful!  Still charming!  
 

Lubitsch is one of three golden age directors for whom I collect every single new re-release.

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

19 hours ago, HunterTech said:

 

In fairness, series creator Clive Barker did actually make the character female in a series of comics he did once (plus is supposed to be more ambiguous in the original novella), so he certainly doesn't think there's an issue with that idea being a thing.

 

Besides, outside of The Ring, can you really think of a particularly iconic female horror villain? I suppose the Conjuring series has a few, but those are a bit too new to say for sure yet. I'm also unsure if Carrie really counts as well.

Just feels like another one of those changes purely for the sake of it. But hey, whatcha gonna do? 

I remember going to a 30th anniversary Hallowe'en screening of the original 5 years ago ... struck me how well the Cenobite make-up/prosthetics held up. The attempts to convince us that events were unfolding in the States (due to late-in-the-day studio interference, if memory serves) ... not so much. 

[Jay 37,287]

 

L.A. Confidential

 

I saw this film when it came out - which is somehow 25 YEARS ago - but remembered nothing, so this might as well have been a first watch!  The stacked cast - Russel Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, Kim Basinger, David Strathairn, Danny Devito - navigate police corruption, organized crime, high class prostitution, the press, legacy, ambition, and lots more in 1950s Los Angeles set to a nice assortment of period songs and a cracking (Oscar nominated!) score by Jerry Goldsmith.

 

What struck me most about this viewing was that this is not the kind of film anyone makes today in a specific way: It demands your attention to follow its winding plot, and characters learn something about another character they mention by name that might have not been on screen for a large while.  There's actually twice where director Curtis Hanson (what happened to him?) actually insets a character's face when he in mentioned so you get it, but by and large this is not the case.  I can only imagine millenials and gen z on their phones while watching and ending up with just no clue what happened and switching it off!  But if you pay attention, it's pretty rewarding, even though some of the twists are on the predicable side.

 

The setting is re-created flawlessly, and all the actors are good; It's funny to realize Russel Crowe and Guy Pearce weren't even really known when this came out!  Jerry's score is perfectly spotted and really enhances the scenes it appears in; it didn't seem like it would be too compelling outside the film until I got to the end and heard some really good stuff I would enjoy outside the film.  Time to finally track down that score album I never picked up back in the day!

[Tallguy 3,376]

32 minutes ago, Jay said:

It's funny to realize Russel Crowe and Guy Pearce weren't even really known when this came out!

 

This was the breakout film for both of them.

[Jay 37,287]

Yea, it makes sense in retrospect, but I just didn't remember things in that way.  I guess when I watched this 25 years ago, I didn't really know who they were!

 

Great casting, they both did a great job.  I really liked how the dynamics of the film change when Pearce and Spacey partner up, and then again when Pearce and Crowe partner up.  

 

The movie does a good job of evolving and not keeping you on your tows as new clues about what's going on keep turning up and the different plot threads start all coming together.

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

44 minutes ago, Jay said:

director Curtis Hanson (what happened to him?)

 

Sadly, he died.

 

I also recently rewatched it after a first TV viewing ages ago. I liked how the plot is unrolled from the perspectives of three very different main characters that all have very different agendas and moral compasses. The spotting is indeed excellent; the whole score in context is much more reminiscent of Basic Instinct than I was aware of before.

[Jay 37,287]

Interesting!  Outside of the pounding drums that were also used for some action material in Basic Instinct, I didn't pick up on any other similarities, certainly there's nothing like the slinky and sultry main theme to that score in this score, is there?  Either way, I'm curious to check it out outside the film

 

Sorry, what I meant about Curtis Hanson was after all the Oscar love this film got I thought he'd have a great career, but then he goes on to make Wonder Boys, 8 Mile, In Her Shoes, Lucky You, and Chasing Mavericks... which...yea....

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Interesting!  Outside of the pounding drums that were also used for some action material in Basic Instinct, I didn't pick up on any other similarities, certainly there's nothing like the slinky and sultry main theme to that score in this score, is there?  Either way, I'm curious to check it out outside the film

 

Without the sex element, of course. The pounding drums are more reminiscent of City Hall (and ultimately Bernstein's On the Waterfront). But the economic spotting and suspense of the underscore reminded me of BI.

 

7 minutes ago, Jay said:

Sorry, what I meant about Curtis Hanson was after all the Oscar love this film got I thought he'd have a great career, but then he goes on to make Wonder Boys, 8 Mile, In Her Shoes, Lucky You, and Chasing Mavericks... which...yea....

 

I love Wonder Boys (although I haven't seen that in over a decade either). The only other film of his that I've seen is The River Wild, the main attraction of which is the Goldsmith score, which says a lot (I was very surprised by the gripping but rejected Jarre score when the expansion was released).

 

…I just realised that I'm always mixing up Curtis Hanson and Cameron Crowe, to whom I would likewise apply your question - he followed up Almost Famous with the rubbish Vanilla Sky (I'm still trying to find Amenabar's original on Blu for an affordable price) and then never made anything else I've seen.

[Jay 37,287]

Right, Hanson had other good films before L.A. Confidential, but afterwards not so much.  

 

Wonder Boys may be good, but I haven't seen it so can't comment.

 

8 Mile was fine for what it was, I guess.

 

In Her Shoes, Lucky You, and Chasing Mavericks I never saw but all have terrible reviews.

 

I just meant it's a bummer he couldn't parlay his Oscar love in 1997 to a more interesting and successful career afterwards.

 

 

I don't see anything in common in the output of Cameron Crowe vs Curtis Hanson, they make very different films!

 

From Crowe, I saw and liked Say Anything, Singles, Jerry Maguire, Almost Famous, and Vanilla Sky, saw Elizabethtown but don't remember a thing about it, and then never bothered to see We Bought A Zoo or Aloha.

 

And come to think of it, I haven't seen all those old films of his in over 20 years, and don't remember much specific about them; I might not even like some of them were I to rewatch them!

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

14 minutes ago, Jay said:

I don't see anything in common in the output of Cameron Crowe vs Curtis Hanson, they make very different films!

 

Mostly the C in their names, I suppose. But both having made only a few films, most of which I haven't seen, there's really not much for me to have a distinct impression of either that would help me tell them apart.

[rough cut 1,714]

I thought this was a good list.

 

Cinemablend: The 35 Best Sci-Fi Movies Of All Time, Ranked

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Do people classify Star Wars as sci-fi and not fantasy?

[A24 4,326]

6 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

Do people classify Star Wars as sci-fi and not fantasy?

 

Most do, yes. To the random bloke, Sci-Fi looks futuristic and has things like spaceships and laserguns. Fantasy looks medieval and has things like swords, dwarfs and dragons.

 

 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

16 hours ago, Jay said:

Time to finally track down that score album I never picked up back in the day!

Maybe, you should wait for a Deluxe Edition of this score which seems imminent, given the fact that this is one of the last essential Goldsmith scores from the 90s that isn't expanded yet.

 

And by the way, this is one of the best films of all time and it makes me happy that Goldsmith was on board such a great cinematic project in his late career. He absolutely deserved it!

[publicist 4,643]

22 minutes ago, Brundlefly said:

Maybe, you should wait for a Deluxe Edition of this score which seems imminent, given the fact that this is one of the last essential Goldsmith scores from the 90s that isn't expanded yet.

 

It's not really essential, it was just a good workmanlike piece of craftmanship and for a taut Oscar-nominated thriller, for a change. The arbitrary main theme in particular fails to nail the piece - the first thing that came to my mind after watching it in the cinema back then was that a hardboiled old-fashioned tune like he did for Sinatra's 'The Detective' would have been perfect for the mid-50's LA setting. 

[rough cut 1,714]

[A24 4,326]

You really wanted that on 4K?

[Jay 37,287]

That's a bad movie. 

[Bespin 8,480]

That explains the drink!

[A24 4,326]

Could be apple juice.

[Bespin 8,480]

Yes, it could be. You know, I'm watching Halloween movies now, and this is water.

 

[rough cut 1,714]

It’s not apple juice. 😉

 

And I love this movie! What’s not to like?

[Andy 4,085]

Salem's Lot (1979)

For people who are now about 50 and saw this on television when it first aired, it screwed us up really bad.  It was a different world in 1979, with different stimuli for our brains.  Kids were much more sheltered and scary imagery was not as prevalent.  There were no specialty Halloween stores with over the top scary masks or costumes.  And kids just didn't get killed on TV, replete with morgue and funeral imagery.   Salem's Lot destroyed me.  If therapy for children was more of a thing then, I probably could have benefitted.  I know I slept at least a year with my back to my window, and I lost a lot of sleep.  I love this movie.  It's dated as hell, and modern audiences will be bored, but those light reflective contact lenses still go right through me.

 

The Devil's Rain (1975) 

William Shatner, Tom Skerrit, and Ernest Borgnine would all have major Sci-Fi motion pictures only 4 years later.  This is goofy fun, and yet still somehow just creepy enough to sort of get under your skin.  The film almost delivers what the crazy poster offers.  This was my second viewing.  Head of the Satanic Church Anton LaVey gets a cameo and credit as the Technical Advisor.  Don't let that bother you.  It's pretty goofy by today's standards.

 

The Blob (1988)

My first viewing.  Yeah!  This was a lot of fun.  Moves along briskly, and I like the plot twist.

 

Ghoulies II (1980 something)

The synopsis of the Ghoulies invading a carnival make it sound more fun that it is.  I think I have to come to terms with the fact that I really don't like the Ghoulies movies.

 

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Dynamite!  Hey, all three Prequel Sith Lords are in this (Sidious, Tyranus, Maul).  This is so coldly atmospheric.  Burton out-Bava's Mario Bava with his landscape of dead trees.  The violence is over the top fun, Depp is terrific in the role, and I never mind the liberties taken with Crane's character.   What I find tedious is the conspiracy story in the script.  It just isn't satisfying enough to make me care.  I've seen this movie many times, and I never care to fully understand what each participant has to gain by their participation.  Watch this for the feels and good natured chills, not the story.

 

Satanic Panic (2019)

Letterboxd is waaaay too nice to this film.  It think's it's more funny and clever than it is.  First and last time watch.

 

The Vampire Doll (1970)

First in the Bloodthirsty Trilogy, Toho does Hammer.  Or so they say.  While there are some Hammer influences, this is far less vampiric and gothic than I expected.  It is contemporary and more science horror than I was led to anticipate.  Not bad, but I wasn't chilled by the weirdness or blown away by the photography.  I'm hoping the next entries are more eye candy and gothic scares.

[filmmusic 1,823]

Love Salem's Lot and The Blob.

Haven't seen the others except for Sleepy Hollow.

Darn it! My home cinema speakers are away for repairing (I was hearing a strange noise, 4 days after I've purchased them), and now I can't have my Halloween month of movies.

Despite this, I'm using my monitor's small speakers and I managed to watch Sisters (1972).

Meh.. Didn't like it.

 

 

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I read the book before I watched the Salem's Lot film and unfortunately I didn't like some of the adaptation choices, especially the decision to make the main vampire, Barlow, a Nosferatu-esque creature.  Reading the book I kept picturing an 80s era Martin Landau in the role, and I just wish I could see that performance outside of my head!

[Jay 37,287]

35 minutes ago, Andy said:

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Dynamite!  Hey, all three Prequel Sith Lords are in this (Sidious, Tyranus, Maul)

 

[crocodile 7,984]

Watched Man of Steel for the first time since it's theatrical release. The core idea behind the movie is sound but the whole thing is so dour that it took me 4-5 sittings to finish it. Snyder did better in subsequent DCEU films. It might be the lack his regular DP actually.

 

Karol

[GerateWohl 4,337]

21 minutes ago, crocodile said:

Watched Man of Steel for the first time since it's theatrical release. The core idea behind the movie is sound but the whole thing is so dour that it took me 4-5 sittings to finish it. Snyder did better in subsequent DCEU films. It might be the lack his regular DP actually.

 

Karol

I think the problem with Superman is, that he is simply the most boring superhero character there is.

That guy has no humor, no irony, no other flaw except being too trustful and naiv at times. 

[A24 4,326]

Nolan's Batman doesn't have humor either and everybody thinks he's swell. Because of the succes of Nolan's Batman movies, DC wanted a dour Supes and a dour supes they got. 

 

And even though Snyder did his best to makes a gloomy movie, he did put a few subtle jokes (or amusing references) in it.

[Tallguy 3,376]

On 15/10/2022 at 6:18 PM, Koray Savas said:

Do people classify Star Wars as sci-fi and not fantasy?

 

Damn skippy. I think anytime people (including Lucas) want to say it's science fantasy they do it because they want to be lazy. Do they think that if it isn't 2001 it has to be fantasy?

 

What is more fantasy about Star Wars than, well, Star Trek? Or Foundation? Or Starship Troopers?

[rough cut 1,714]

 

On 14/10/2022 at 7:55 AM, AC1 said:

Did you compare it to the older Blu-ray (which I think looks fantastic)?

 

Sorry, I missed your question. No, I didn’t do a comparison even though I own the BD as well.

 

The picture quality is good, maybe a bit softer than other 4K transfers I’ve seen (of movies of the same age), but it feels like a step up from the BD.

 

The ships look good. I don’t really have that “miniature bit of plastic”-feeling.

[publicist 4,643]

 

This 2019 docu - a wide-spanning look at the rise and fall of disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein featuring interviews with former colleagues and those who accused him of sexual misconduct - is on ARTE due to current events

 

But the end result is not so much a revolting, damning portrait of a monstrous lecher (it is, too), but rather a complex portrait of a man who gave in to his inner demons with impunity for far too long and of the system which enabled him for far too long. It says a lot about the hierarchies within the entertainment industry, and also about incredible cowardice and abuse of power.

 

You know what you're in for at the beginning: a woman of no fame, who has not talked about the abuse for 40+ years, details how she joined Weinstein at the tender age of 19 on a business trip when he still was a music promoter. A matter-of-fact rape in a hotel room includes sex, threats and sweet promises thereafter. The whole system worked like this for over 40 years with little change . 

 

Director Ursula Macfarlane shows why the blackmail and abuse system worked for such a long time. Women who dared to take action against Weinstein were silenced with settlements and silence clauses. But many, especially young and insecure women, were completely intimidated.

 

But it's really hard to take in a single watch - not just because of the insulated fates of the countless victims, but what it tells us about the morally dubious behaviour of many of our favourite artists.

[Koray Savas 2,251]

9 hours ago, Tallguy said:

Damn skippy. I think anytime people (including Lucas) want to say it's science fantasy they do it because they want to be lazy. Do they think that if it isn't 2001 it has to be fantasy?

 

What is more fantasy about Star Wars than, well, Star Trek? Or Foundation? Or Starship Troopers?

At least for me, sci-fi has science integral to the plot or characters. There’s nothing particularly scientific about Star Wars other than the fact that it has space travel. 

[Andy 4,085]

 

The Gate (1986)

 

Now this is the definition of a gem. A little movie that swings big.   Saw this when I was an adolescent, and hadn’t revisited it in years. Some of the practical effects making the minions appear small use forced perspective to incredible effect. 
 

Without a doubt, this is a Stranger Things influence.   If you want a family friendly, kid centered 80s horror that is simultaneously good-natured but surprisingly dark, you could do a lot worse than The Gate.

 

Love this little movie.  

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

Little Shop Of Horrors.

 

It was fun.

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Crazy, stupid, love.

 

My 800th film review, yay!

I liked Steve Carell much more in this one. Julianne Moore was hardly recognisable, probably because of the PAL speed-up, but as good as always. As was Emma Stone, of course. It took me about half an hour to really get into it, though, because I found the beginning rather… unreal? Some characters were set up too quickly too and I could definitely have done without Kate and the kids, but then I found myself a bit exasperated because of the predictable misunderstandings while simultaneously cracking up because of them. It was also very nice how they kept up the surprises regarding who was who until the end.

Score and music are nice. I sure hope this Bumble adventure will go somewhere soon.
 

[filmmusic 1,823]

Road Games (1981)

1 hour and 40 minutes wasted!

[bollemanneke 3,337]

Charlotte's web. 

 

I’m so glad I picked this one as a back-up. At first its childishness kind of bothered me a little bit, but then the score took over. It’s definitely one of the best, if not THE best, Elfman efforts I’ve heard so far. It’s definitely up there with Edward Scissorhands. At last he abandons the usual manic ‘everybody’s happily smiling like idiots on crack’ music and goes for real emotion. He moved me several times and the score had some touching moments that didn’t even need touching music.

The voice cast is mostly great too, but I do think Julia Roberts could have been a little better. Thomas Haden Church sounds very familiar and Kathy Bates never disappoints either.

[rough cut 1,714]

[Tallguy 3,376]

Was it decent?

[rough cut 1,714]

The decentest.

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

3 hours ago, rough cut said:

 

I've got that lined up for Monday in a double feature with Halloween with some friends who've never seen either.

[rough cut 1,714]

Cool!

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

Took a notion for the '82 Thing last night ... still a claustrophobic paranoid classic, with surely some of the gnarliest practical gore effects ever filmed.

[GerateWohl 4,337]

4 hours ago, Sweeping Strings said:

Took a notion for the '82 Thing last night ... still a claustrophobic paranoid classic, with surely some of the gnarliest practical gore effects ever filmed.

At watching it again after more than 20 years I still understood, what I liked about it the First time, but I found, it is one of those movies that lose a lot, when you know what is going to happen every next moment. Then some scenes seem a little long.

16 hours ago, rough cut said:

Apart from some brillant asian horror movies probably the best horror movie of the early 2000s.

[Marian Schedenig 8,173]

I highly recommend watching it, and I even highlier recommend watching it without knowing anything about it.

Spoiler

I first saw The Descent with a couple of friends rather soon after it came out on DVD. Some disliked it, some were ambivalent, one friend loved it, and so did I. I'm not generally a fan of splatter - or rather, I'm generally not a fan of splatter - but while this has splatter elements, I wouldn't consider that the main genre. Rather, it's a means to gradually increase the tension in what is primarily psychological horror. When I first watched it, I went in completely unspoiled, and was thoroughly unsettled by all the claustrophobic elements and tension between the characters in the first half hour or so, before we even glimpse the first of the Gollums. By that point, it was already one of the most effective horror films I've seen, and it was only just getting started.

 

[A24 4,326]

4 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

At watching it again after more than 20 years I still understood, what I liked about it the First time, but I found, it is one of those movies that lose a lot, when you know what is going to happen every next moment. Then some scenes seem a little long.

 

 

It's not Alien which is a movie you can watch solely for the art of moviemaking itself.

[Sweeping Strings 2,344]

John Carpenter said that out of the responses to all his movies the hardest to take was The Thing's mostly negative critical reception and mediocre box-office, although he conceded that E.T. was evidence that what the audience in '82 wanted were benign alien visitors.    

[A24 4,326]

Both The Thing and Blade Runner were deemed too dark and grim for 1982. The Seventies were over, people of the '80s wanted fun, fun, fun.

[Tallguy 3,376]

13 minutes ago, AC1 said:

Both The Thing and Blade Runner were deemed too dark and grim for 1982. The Seventies were over, people of the '80s wanted fun, fun, fun.

 

Which is why Poltergeist also tanked?