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

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

It's more like a Bond videogame than a Bond film, Al.

[A24 4,348]

Bond-esque operation?

Mind you, I did like Skyfall and Casino Royale, but I'm not what you would call a fan. In fact, my favorite bond is Live And Let Die, the most hated Bond film among Bond fans.

When you were young and your heart was an open book

You used to say live and let live

(you know you did, you know you did you know you did)

But if this ever changing world in which we're living

Makes you give in and cry

Say live and let die

Live and let die

Live and let die

Live and let die

[Quintus 5,399]

I think I said at the time that that snow scene felt like it had been inspired by a typically bombastic Call of Duty mission.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Mind you, I did like Skyfall and Casino Royale, but I'm not what you would call a fan. In fact, my favorite bond is Live And Let Die, the most hated Bond film among Bond fans.

Nah, that would be DIE ANOTHER DAY. LIVE AND LET DIE tends to be a middle-of-the-pack film.

[Quintus 5,399]

When I was a kid Live and Let Die was my favourite one but seeing parts of it recently time hasn't been kind to it, or most of the Moore entries at all. Jane Seymour was still gorgeous, though.

[A24 4,348]

Mind you, I did like Skyfall and Casino Royale, but I'm not what you would call a fan. In fact, my favorite bond is Live And Let Die, the most hated Bond film among Bond fans.

Nah, that would be DIE ANOTHER DAY. LIVE AND LET DIE tends to be a middle-of-the-pack film.

Let me put it this way, it's the most hated of the '60s and '70s ones. If you don't believe me, look at this list!

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/the-best-and-worst-james-bond-movies-a-ranked-list

Look at it!

time hasn't been kind to it

Not sure if I agree, today its vibe is almost Tarantino-esque.

Alex

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

When I was a kid Live and Let Die was my favourite one but seeing parts of it recently time hasn't been kind to it, or most of the Moore entries at all. Jane Seymour was still gorgeous, though.

It's not a film you can ever show to your black girlfriend and confess that you like it.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Mind you, I did like Skyfall and Casino Royale, but I'm not what you would call a fan. In fact, my favorite bond is Live And Let Die, the most hated Bond film among Bond fans.

Nah, that would be DIE ANOTHER DAY. LIVE AND LET DIE tends to be a middle-of-the-pack film.

Let me put it this way, it's the most hated of the '60s and '70s ones. If you don't believe me, look at this list!

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/film/the-best-and-worst-james-bond-movies-a-ranked-list

Look at it!

Three reviewers? That's a pretty unorthodox list for Bond fans, with TLD so low and YOLT so high.

[Jay 37,379]

What about this list?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Neil likes Moonraker, making that whole list a travesty!

[A24 4,348]

Three reviewers? That's a pretty unorthodox list for Bond fans ...

It considers Die Another Day to be the worst so I thought you would accept it blindly. I've seen Live And Let Die at the bottom of lists too many times to call it middle of the pack.

[Jay 37,379]

He met his wife at the event shown there though, so that's cool

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I know. Still no excuse for loving Moonraker, Jason...

[Jay 37,379]

Never seen it.

[Matt C 455]

The Phantom Menace (Rifftrax)

Can't watch it any other way now. The MST3K crew absolutely rip it to shreds, and I love it.

[Quintus 5,399]

Trailer?

[Sweeping Strings 2,365]

Pretty solid top 5 on that 'Bondathon' there.

[Faleel 5,365]

The Phantom Menace (Rifftrax)

Can't watch it any other way now. The MST3K crew absolutely rip it to shreds, and I love it.

You might like the Ridiculous version.

[Quintus 5,399]

Avatar 5 years on: http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/avatar/30276/james-camerons-avatar-five-years-on

Worth a read.

I still haven't returned to the movie since seeing it twice at the cinema. Absolutely loved the ride on the big screen, but haven't the bottle to give it a try at home. Definitely enjoy watching Cameron's action choreography in anything he does, though, so maybe it could still be worth a go regardless.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I saw it on TV last year. Even in 2D, Cameron's action staging is still absolutely second to none.

[Jay 37,379]

It's not so much that the events didn't really happen, but they are seen through the lens of memory and childhood remembrance. Kinda like a book you looked at constantly in your childhood up to when you were 6, and when you revisit the book in your adulthood, after years of absence, it's familiar and wonderfully nostalgic, but it's not 100% how you pictured it in your memories.

Summing it up, I agree that what the movie shows actually happened and is not ambiguous at all. However, it is heavily filtered and distorted, mostly visually, by the constraints of memory, childhood ingenuity and trauma. Everthing's seen from Jamie's distorted and idealized perspective. That's why the music and cinematography are so crucial in depicting this "childhood lens" through all the events in the movie are presented.

I don't think the film shows anything "through the lens of memory and childhood remembrance", I think it just shows you what happened. However, I will say the music does give some scenes a different tone than the footage alone (or with different music) might carry. Such as the spritely music for Jim running through the POW camp, or the glorious music for the Cadillac of the Skies sequence.

I said it a week before, i gladly repeat it: the film's narrative gains nothing by pulling broad stunts on its audience. The comic book resembles Basie, and? It's just a nice touch but if you take all these vignettes (i. e. the pictures of the japanese guy etc.) and construct some metaphoric half-world out of it where nothing really IS, what is the point?

Spielberg, like his idol David Lean, knows very well that you have to have a base to hang your 2,5 hours epics onto and that an unreliable narrator all the way through just will weaken the plot. To connect certain dots by little visual allegories etc. is OK but this is not MULHOLLAND DRIVE or LOST HIGHWAY.

Agreed. There's nothing wrong with films that pull the rug out from under the audience or wink at them, but I don't see any of that going on here.

The film needed a 4th act to show how he is changed from everything he went through before, during, and right after his time in the internment camp.

As it stands, it was a well made film for sure, but not something I will watch over and over again like so many of Spielberg's films. I can see why it isn't discussed as most of his other films. Maybe the film will improve for me with time and subsequent viewings, but that remains to be seen.

The film ends so beautifully and you think it just stops and that there is no point to the movie? All I can say is: Spielberg's most misunderstood movie? Focusing solely on the story, I think you missed a lot, Jason, but then again, many did when they first saw the film, including me. You question if you ever want to see EOTS again, while to me, it's the only Spielberg movie that I keep enjoying during reviewing. So it actually makes perfect sense.

Woah, I never questioned if I would ever want to see it again - there is no doubt that I will! I simply meant that it won't enter the same rotation that the Indiana Jones films, or Jaws or ET or Hook will - those I will watch over again more frequently than I will re-watch EOTS. I also never said there was no point to the film - I said that, for me, I was left wondering how Jim re-adapts to society now that his traumatic experience is over, because the film doesn't show it. I originally brought that up as defect in the film, but now I am starting to like the ambiguity of it, that we don't know what Jim's return to society will be like. We can only create our own version in our head, and each viewer might have a different idea.

Lee, what I am really stating is that Jim's experiences are seen through rose tinted glasses. I don't really doubt that the events in the film never really happened to him (the hallucination or dream state stuff is more in reference to Ballards own memories of the War, some of he he wasnt sure really happened), but the film does provide plenty of clues that Jim was romanticizing, embellishing etc. Which is what many kids do in bad experiences. I know I did.

Rubbish, the film provides no such clues.

[Quintus 5,399]

The salute moment and fighter pilot wave are (with John's music) are possible clues. I'm personally undecided on those two moments, though. I need to view the film again and see what I think. It's been ten years. Still have the blu here, in its wrapper.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Rubbish, the film provides no such clues.

Jason, you even mentioned one in your review.

[Jay 37,379]

I disagree.

[Quintus 5,399]

The comic book one is either full proof of broad strokes; or a deliberate acknowledgement of exactly why Jim trusts and even idolises Malcovich's character. I suspect it's the latter.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Jim has a very clear case of hero worship for Basie.

[Quintus 5,399]

Which supports the non-imagined scenario.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Non-imagined?

[Quintus 5,399]

As in, the connection with the comic book and Malcovich is a literal one - he literally looked like that.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

But did he?

[Quintus 5,399]

Yes, he did. You're over thinking it, seriously.

He was just a guy in a baseball cap, a fella trying to be a survivor of conflict. It's not as if Jim imagined him to look like fucking Biggles.

[Jay 37,379]

I agree with Lee. Stefan us analyzing this film too deeply. Sometimes things are just what they are.

The film is still great without needing another layer of an onion. It's great as it is.

[Mr. Brown 91]

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

I enjoy it. I think MANHUNTER is the best Lecter film, but Demme does pretty well with this story. I just don't think there's enough character development and I think the film moves along too quickly. Sure, Hannibal's witty and intimidating, but in the end I don't think you really give a sh*t about whether he's on the loose or gets caught. Crawford and Clarice's friend played by Kasi Lemmons were more like filler characters. Buffalo Bill was interesting, but I wasn't getting a sense of urgency or suspense while the FBI was searching for him.

Ted Levine made the film.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I agree with Lee. Stefan us analyzing this film too deeply. Sometimes things are just what they are.

The film is still great without needing another layer of an onion. It's great as it is.

But you dont agree with Lee, since Lee largely agrees with me!

[A24 4,348]

But did he?

We don't know. What we do know is that Jamie unconsciously projects his imagination and desires onto the world around him. It's what the film is about. Empire Of The Sun isn't a realistic war movie but a subjective view, an interpretation of a child. It's what drew Spielberg to the project.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I agree.

[A24 4,348]

I also never said there was no point to the film - I said that, for me, I was left wondering how Jim re-adapts to society now that his traumatic experience is over, because the film doesn't show it.

The war is over, and with it, Jamie's innocent childhood. The end.

For a film that celebrates childhood innocence, I couldn't dream of a more perfect ending. When they embrace, Jim (no longer Jamie) doesn't know who his parents are, but for the parents, the child they knew is gone too. Showing 'more' would be completely unnecessary. Also, it's something we can easily fill in for ourselves. In fact, it's the chapter we are living in now.

Alex

[publicist 4,643]

The ending to me seems incredibly poignant. I think it signifies the end of Jim's childhood and maturing into something Spielberg rightly is very wary of. It's interesting that about the same time John Boorman's HOPE AND GLORY was made - up to this point two very rare instances of war seen through a child's eye.Both films are underrated.

[A24 4,348]

I need to see Hope And Glory again. It's been ages ago. I don't remember a thing.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

I enjoy it. I think MANHUNTER is the best Lecter film, but Demme does pretty well with this story. I just don't think there's enough character development and I think the film moves along too quickly. Sure, Hannibal's witty and intimidating, but in the end I don't think you really give a sh*t about whether he's on the loose or gets caught. Crawford and Clarice's friend played by Kasi Lemmons were more like filler characters. Buffalo Bill was interesting, but I wasn't getting a sense of urgency or suspense while the FBI was searching for him.

Ted Levine made the film.

Loved it the first time, but since then, the film never seems to hold up to that first experience. That's my problem with rewatching thrillers, once you know 'who is who' and 'what is what', most of their appeal is gone.

Alex

[Matt C 455]

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Far from amazing, and not even that good overall. Most movies written by the hack duo Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman tend to be mediocre or awful, and the script falls somewhere in the middle. For people criticizing Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, like the overstuffed plot and too many villains, this suffers from the exact same problems. Some plot threads are inverted from Raimi's trilogy, either on accident or for the sake of expediency. Paul Giamatti (in his four minutes of screen time) is cringeworthy, while Jamie Foxx is simply wasted as Max/Electro. Foxx isn't that funny or menacing -- replace him with a cheaper actor and the results would still be the same.

But as much crap as I give this movie, the last 15-20 minutes are a complete 180 from the first 115-120 in terms of quality. There's genuine emotional impact and it ends well... almost enough to redeem it. And Zimmer and co's score is completely different than what he churned out for the Nolan Batman movies and Man of Steel. In fact, if I hadn't seen Zimmer's name on the score, I could've sworn someone else did it.

Overall I wouldn't recommend this movie. Even as a mindless summer blockbuster, I didn't think most of the action sequences were that exciting and Marc Webb seems too obsessed with the slo-mo 'Spidey-sense' bits this time. Only see it if you have a free ticket or something, or wait until home video.

[A24 4,348]

Didn't you see the trailer?!

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Written by the Transformers/Star Trek 2009 duo. Guaranteed awful script.

[nightscape94 965]

Thankfully they're nowhere near the Star Wars script.

[Matt C 455]

Didn't you see the trailer?!

I did. Most of the action (including the final scene) was already shown in the trailers. But the best scene in the movie is mostly intact.

[filmmusic 1,843]

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (1995)

Masterpiece..

A simple powerful love story..

Great performances by Eastwood and Streep, great cinematography and score..

[Quintus 5,399]

Never did see that, but it was always a love story I actually did quite like the look of. Like the beautiful The Remains of the Day. I think I find romance between old coots more bearable than the latest cheesy romcoms.

Well, apart from the classic that is Pretty Woman, I mean. Ahem.

[crocodile 8,020]

Blue Ruin. It was actually quite a good thriller.

Karol

[nightscape94 965]

Like the beautiful The Remains of the Day.

I adore this movie, really such a wonderful little jewel. Such aching sadness.

[Jay 37,379]

Dances With Wolves

My first time seeing this in a long time, since the 90s maybe. I still loved it. It's a very good story that is well acted and shot. We watched the longer 4 hour version (it's the only cut on the blu ray I have), which I had seen before, and found no problems with it. There were no parts at all that ever felt like "oh, this was probably cut for the theatrical version" - the entire movie was paced perfectly fine. I love movies where you get absorbed into a world and this film is great at that. I doubt I'll ever watch the short version again. You need to go in knowing you are setting aside you entire evening+ to watch one movie, but it's worth it. The ending of the film is still so sad, but it's the only ending that makes sense for everything that came before it. Great film from start to finish.

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah, I only ever saw the theatrical cut, must be twenty years ago or whatever it is. John Barry makes it a deeply affecting journeyman film. Been meaning to watch it again for ages, but I wouldn't want to see that 4hr version.