What is the Last Film You Watched? - Part II

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Saw Sin City on Sunday, and was thoroughly impressed. Not only does it have an incredible visual style, but also a wonderful noirish feeling, what with all the naration. It certainly has a few lengths, and the various stories don't really tie together much, but I found it very good nonetheless.

Oh, and as much as I like Alexis Bledel, she wasn't really much more than Rory in a hooker's outfit here. I couldn't help imagining the other end of her phone conversations with her mother. LOL

Marian - who will order the DVD.

As You Like It - Suite (William Walton)

[QMM 4]

Be sure to wait for the second set coming out after the barebones release, it has tons more footage for each story arc it was based on.

Max-Who has read 2 of the arcs

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Thanks for the warning!

Marian - who just read the same in a review and decided to wait for the later release.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Oh, and by the way... I knew that Mickey Rourke was in this, but I kept wondering which actor played that guy for 30 minutes until I realised it was Rourke.

To my relief, a friend of mine kept waiting for Elijah Wood to appear for over two thirds of the movie.

Marian - LOL

[Orson 1]

Speaking of Mickey Rourke, I just finished my first ever viewing of Body Heat. This is the second movie along with Basic Instinct that to me really looks, feels and sounds like a true classic Hitchcock. I think I'll be getting that John Barry score very soon.

[Lurker 5]

Body Heat is great. The recording on Varese with Joel McNeely and the LSO is wonderful.

I enjoy Basic Instinct, but I can only imagine what it could have been had Brian DePalma directed it. Killer Goldsmith score though.

I saw The Aristocrats last night. Filthy, filthy, filthy movie. I loved every moment of it.

Neil

[fommes 153]

Newbie here jumping on the bandwagon. Watched The Lady From Shanghai yesterday. A little slow in the beginning, but the last half hour was great... the Funhouse scene in particular.

That's a great film. I don't know why, but I'm very fond of that shot on the boat where the camera itself situates all the characters during a conversation, instead of relying on montage.

[Willy 0]

perhaps Ray, as I find it a much more satisfying film to watch than POA, and its a shame because with about 6 to 10 minutes of additional material the 3rd film would be much improved, though I don't see how it could fix the worst problem of POA, that it's just a series of scenes, rather than a cohesive film.

Beg your pardon? I agree that POA would have been even better with the deleted scenes in it, but why do you feel it's not a cohesive movie? Because of the long black pauses between scenes? That's part of the special visual style of the movie, perhaps giving it a 30's look or something. It makes it rather special, but without really 'cutting' it into spare parts. I've seen the movie quite often lately, and to me it runs like clockwork.

That cannot be said of COS. I love the soundtrack, but I think the movie's quite boring, save for a couple of scenes. Many people stated they fell asleep while watching it, and I can't say I blame them.

[Willy 0]

Saw a bunch of movies. Among them:

 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, second viewing.

 I don't know what did it, but I actually liked this movie a whole lot more the second time around. If on my original viewing I was not sure if I'd give it 2 1/2 or 3 stars, now I'm concidering giving it 3 1/2 stars. This film is so filled with imagination and creativity. It has that classic slightely gothic Burton feel, yet, not being a huge fan of Burton's films until Ed Wood, I think here he is putting his style to the best use. The film looks and feels fantastic, the stuff classic childhood fantasies are made of.

 My favortie part of the movie is the first half hour or so, before they enter the factory. I think that's just perfect in every way. The Main Titles are delicious. The depiction of Charlie and his family is great, a real classic feel to it. The build up of hte tickets is really handeled well, from the posters, to the montage of the tickets being found, introducing the deisgusting kids.

Considering my avatar it won't be a suprise to anyone that I've also seen this movie twice by now. I adore it, pretty much for the same reasons as stated by Morlock - the only difference being that my favourite part of the movie is the first two hours! I've been a Burton-fan from Batman ('89), but I think Charlie is his best movie to date. If you like imaginative movies with some dark and weird humour to it: go see it.

And no, it's not a childish movie.

[A24 4,336]

I enjoy Basic Instinct, but I can only imagine what it could have been had Brian DePalma directed it.

It would've been a cold film with less sarcasm to it. Not a good idea.

[Morlock 11]

The Aviator. The film exhibits some technically very nifty scenes (Beverly Hills crash - Air Battle) but is as hollow as a Hallmark Entertainment movie. 7/10

It offers an insight into Howard Hughes. I don't know what else it it was doing. Either way, Robert Richardson, Dante Ferretti and Howard Shore pretty much guarentee that no matter how hollow you think the movie is, you'll have a good time watching it.

[A24 4,336]

The Aviator. The film exhibits some technically very nifty scenes (Beverly Hills crash - Air Battle) but is as hollow as a Hallmark Entertainment movie. 7/10

It offers an insight into Howard Hughes. I don't know what else it it was doing. Either way, Robert Richardson, Dante Ferretti and Howard Shore pretty much guarentee that no matter how hollow you think the movie is, you'll have a good time watching it.

Hallmark movies can also provide insight.

I had a much better time watching:

The Incredibles. Just seen it for the first time. Pixar's finest effort.

[Morlock 11]

I disagree. I didn't like the villain and it got too enamored with the Bond spoofing at points. The finale just fell totaly flat. It's a very good movie, creates a genuinely touching family, has a great score, a lot of great humor, but hits a wrong note with the genre it's trying to spoof. ***1/2/****, but I was very dissapointed at the several parts of the movie that just didnt work. It's star rating is as high as any Pixar movie in my book, but it could have been a real classic, and fell short of it.

Morlock- wondering what the hell took Alex so long to get to a movie that he seemed to eagerly looking forward to months before it came out

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

And along the same lines, I'm wondering why I still haven't seen it.

Marian -

[QMM 4]

The Aviator. The film exhibits some technically very nifty scenes (Beverly Hills crash - Air Battle) but is as hollow as a Hallmark Entertainment movie. 7/10

It offers an insight into Howard Hughes. I don't know what else it it was doing. Either way, Robert Richardson, Dante Ferretti and Howard Shore pretty much guarentee that no matter how hollow you think the movie is, you'll have a good time watching it.

I keep coming back to Shore's score over and over again, especially Icarus and The Hercules.

[Morlock 11]

Saw A Simple Plan for the second time. This movie is just one of my favorite movies. Amazing, powerful, a unique motion picture. I think both Paxton and Thornton give two of the greatest performances ever. Thornton's last scene is as powerful as the craft ever gets. One of the great overlooked films of the 90's.

'Van Den Budenmayer' from Zbigniew Preizner's The Double Life of Veronique

[A24 4,336]

Saw A Simple Plan for the second time. This movie is just one of my favorite movies. Amazing, powerful, a unique motion picture.

Unique? It's no secret that Raimi borrowed from the Coen brothers, asking them many times for advice. What ever it was, it was not unique.

----------------

Alex Cremers - who's sure many a critic will agree with him (except for that Ebert fella, of course)

[Hitch 57]

Saw George C. Scott's Oscar-winning performance in

MAN GETTING HIT BY FOOTBALL. A knock-out movie!

Classic line: "Oh....my groin!!!"

[TheRuleOfThirds 0]

Did you get the Season 6 set too, Hitch?

[Morlock 11]

You disagree about what exactly? I know that you love the Dreamworks cartoon factory and that you have nothing but contempt for Pixar*,

More than slightely exaggerated, that comment is. I simply don't think a Pixar movie is automatically a classic just because it's a Pixar movie.

It seems to me you like to disagree just for the sake of it. And what wrong note does The Incredibles hit? I don't get it.

What wrong note? it forgets to be entertaining at times. It's just so enamored with the Bond stuff, that isn't funny, and isn't particulaly interesting.

You drool over Shark Tale and piss on Pixar and you always change your mind. Who are you?  

I don't drool over Shark Tale, it is not as good movie, I don't piss on Pixar, I do tend to change my mind often, and I am Morlock.

The villain in The Incredibles was great! Who did you expect? Another Darth Vader clone? Lex Luthor? Nah, I love it that he's that goofy kid that wanted to be a superhero.  

I love the concept, but that doesn't change the fact that this villain is not nearly as interesting a character as he should be. That is what I say about Pixar films- I am simply not bought by the great concept of something, if it does not work for me in the picture. People think it's sacriliege to say anything bad against Pixar, and if I try to present why to me the film is not another perfect, fully formed piece of art delivered by god himself through Pixar, people start saying stupid, baseless, nonsensical stuff, like you just did. If I have problems with Finding Nemo or The Incredibles, it's because I'm too shallow to 'get' the families the films create, or the good natured-ness of them. I just think the movies are not as entertaining as their tone suggests. I'm willing to go into a movie theater to a new Pixar movie knowing that I'm gonna like it, and require the film to make a consistant effort for me to more than like it, instead of knowing this is gonna be the most briliant piece of animation yet.

And, as you said, I did give the movie 3 1/2 stars, which is a very high score. I think the movie is a 4 star movie slightely hampered. For comparison, I give the same to Shrek 2, but that is a 3 star movie made better than it could have been, which is why you'll hear me complaing about that one a lot less. Pixar has great concepts, the final product has to be very consistant to live up to the greatness of the concept. Dreamworks has generaly concepts that range from terrible to not half bad to good, and thus have a lower bar set. I'm just as likely to like each studio's next movie. I am just not going to automatically love it because it's a Pixar film, only because it's well made.

Unique? It's no secret that Raimi borrowed from the Coen brothers, asking them many times for advice. What ever it was, it was not unique.

What on earth are you talking about? Raimi asked for the Coen brothers advice on how to film in the snow, as they did it (very well) in Fargo. The fact that a movie takes place in a snowy area stops it from being unique?

It is unique. I've never seen this side of human nature on film, and I've never seen it so well done, and I've never seen a movie with such a simple sounding concept turn into such an emotional, important movie.

You need to broaden your view Alex. Stop being a man who loves Pixar for Pixar. Start loving Pixar for making great films. Then you might also realize that me criticising is only because I love the movie so much I want it to be as good as it can be.

[A24 4,336]

You disagree about what exactly? I know that you love the Dreamworks cartoon factory and that you have nothing but contempt for Pixar*,

More than slightely exaggerated, that comment is. I simply don't think a Pixar movie is automatically a classic just because it's a Pixar movie.

You speak as if you have no history.

It seems to me you like to disagree just for the sake of it. And what wrong note does The Incredibles hit? I don't get it.

What wrong note? it forgets to be entertaining at times. It's just so enamored with the Bond stuff, that isn't funny, and isn't particulaly interesting.

I thought it was extremely entertaining (more so than any Bond) and I also thought it was funny too. One doesn't have to be the other. "Entertaining" isn't always about laughter.

[Morlock 11]

You speak as if you have no history.

You speak as if you haven't been listening. I know I did bad mouth Pixar, totaly unjustifiably, for Monsters Inc. Aside from that, I've always expressed love for Pixar, just not unequivocal love.

I thought it was extremely entertaining (more so than any Bond) and I also thought it was funny too. One doesn't have to be the other. "Entertaining" isn't always about laughter.

I know it is not. I couldn't think of a better word. I do think it had relatively long stretches with no laughter when it could have helped. I think the movie's humor is a gem, very nuanced and often subtle. I think it abandons it at certain times when it gets too Bondian. Still, stuff like the 100 mile Dash are inspired. It's when Mr. Incredible is fighting the robot, or when he's held prisoner, or the final showdown at the end, what made the movie so special was put on the back burner.

[A24 4,336]

 

Unique? It's no secret that Raimi borrowed from the Coen brothers, asking them many times for advice. What ever it was, it was not unique.

What on earth are you talking about? Raimi asked for the Coen brothers advice on how to film in the snow, as they did it (very well) in Fargo. The fact that a movie takes place in a snowy area stops it from being unique?

Amazing that you didn't get the Coen's Brothers influence. It's not a bad thing, you know! You could do far worse than the Coen Brothers. And yet, instead of admitting to that, you refuse to see what everybody else does and you unbridledly idolize a flawed film like A Simple Plan.

And along the same lines, I'm wondering why I still haven't seen it.

Marian -

I'm not the Pixar lover as some folks would have you believe.

----------------

Alex Cremers

[Morlock 11]

Amazing that you didn't get the Coen's Brothers influence. It's not a bad thing, you know! You could do far worse than the Coen Brothers. And yet, instead of admitting to that, you refuse to see what everybody else does and you unbridledly idolize a flawed film like A Simple Plan.

I'd be happy to admit to it, but unfortunately, I don't see the Coen Bros influence, save for the fact that Raimi has a style not unlike theirs.

As for the flaws, I guess your right. I'm sure the film has flaws, but I think they are immaterial as to the point of me not noticing them.

[Hitch 57]

A Simple Plan was just that. Simple!

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

A Perfect World. Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood to the max!

[Hitch 57]

Did you get the Season 6 set too, Hitch?

I have all 7 Seasons. Wait a minute, that's my ST: Voyager set.

Hitch LOL at his own demented humor

[Morlock 11]

The Wild Bunch (1969). D. Sam Peckinpah.

This movie has many great things about it, but I think that this movie's greatest asset, more than any other movie I've seen, is it has great faces. Edmund O'Brien, Ben Johnson, Warren Oates, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, and William Holden, who happens to be my all-time favorite actor. Great, iconic actors, who bring a real weight and history to the characters.

Along with The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, my favorite western.

[Lurker 5]

I saw Four Brothers last night. Very entertaining movie with a good David Arnold score, though several times I heard some Bond influences. I've heard complaints about the car chase in this, but I had not problems with it, following what was going on, and there were some great stunts, including a long shot of a car spinning out of control moving across the screen.

This may not be as good as Singleton's updating of Shaft (the villain isn't as good) but it's a good gritty tough film.

Neil

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

High Fidelity

Enjoyed it very much. Tim Robbins getting the shit kicked out of him had me in stitches.

Jack Black's a funny guy. I look forward to seeing School of Rock one of thehse days.

[Lurker 5]

I saw The 40 Year Old Virgin. It wasn't as funny as I expected and it was probably too long. It was merely alright. This week I saw Wedding Crashers and The Aristocrats in theaters, which were far funnier and better movies than this one. I don't understand the "2 thumbs way up" review from Ebert and Roeper and I'm sorry this one wasn't better. I was looking forward to it.

Neil

[Orson 1]

I saw The 40 Year Old Virgin.  It wasn't as funny as I expected and it was probably too long.  It was merely alright.

Neil

When I first saw the trailer for this I thought it would be hilarious, but the more footage I see from previews and advertisements I get the feeling I have already seen all the good stuff.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

America's Sweethearts. Meh. It was okay until it seriously derailed at the end with the old "decleration of love before an audience"

Hank Azaria's a hoot, though. Pussy boy go splat!

[Morlock 11]

Terribley acted movie.

Saw The Incredibles again. Best made computor animated film to date, by about a mile and a half. I think the villain is alcking and that some of the action sequences go on too long, but this is one excellent film. The 100 Mile Dash is a brilliant, brilliant scene. I love and appreciate the score more and more each time I see the movie.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

 

Unique? It's no secret that Raimi borrowed from the Coen brothers, asking them many times for advice. What ever it was, it was not unique.

What on earth are you talking about? Raimi asked for the Coen brothers advice on how to film in the snow, as they did it (very well) in Fargo. The fact that a movie takes place in a snowy area stops it from being unique?

Amazing that you didn't get the Coen's Brothers influence. It's not a bad thing, you know! You could do far worse than the Coen Brothers. And yet, instead of admitting to that, you refuse to see what everybody else does and you unbridledly idolize a flawed film like A Simple Plan.

And along the same lines, I'm wondering why I still haven't seen it.

Marian -

I'm not the Pixar lover as some folks would have you believe.

----------------

Alex Cremers

there are few filmmakers who continue to work that I find no reason to moreso than the Coen Brothers.

I have yet to enjoy one film by them. And all Pixar films are overrated as well, can't think of a single one that I would want to see again.

[Morlock 11]

Ray of sunshine, you are.

Morlock- who totaly disagrees on both counts

[A24 4,336]

I don't see how The Incredibles is overrated but I know I'm on the right track when JoeinAr speaks negative about something. I don't have to read reviews anymore. I just listen to what Joe has to say and do the opposite. The result is the same but my Joe-method works much faster!

----------------

Alex Cremers

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Funny, I do the exact same thing.

Only I call it the Cremers-Reverse theorem.

[A24 4,336]

Funny, I do the exact same thing.

Only I call it the Cremers-Reverse theorem.

Please, try to be less predictable, Stefancos. I knew it was just a matter of minutes before you would come to your friend's aid and with exactly this line. You really need to refresh yourself once in a while, Stefancos, otherwise you're no challenge.

----------------

Alex Cremers

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You really need to refresh yourself once in a while, Stefancos

----------------

Alex Cremers

[Hitch 57]

Now I can't touch my chicken curry and chips. Damn you, Steef!!!!

[Trumpeteer 302]

Last night I watched a fantastic film called "The 24th Day." It's based on a play of the same name. And it feels like a filmed version of a play. Pretty much all of it takes place in an apartment, where Scott Speedman holds James Marsden hostage because Soctt thinks James gave him the HIV virus during their one night together. So you're sitting there wondering or hoping that James is negative, but there's so much going on otherwise.

It's a gripping morality tale that has you guessing right up to the end. Personally, it's a shame Scott and James don't do the nasty, but I forgot about that 20 minutes in.

Rent it now.

[Orson 1]

Just finished watching Coma and was pleasantly surprised. Was even more surprised when I read in the beginning credits that Goldsmith did the score which was very good. Great movie, but on the downside it had a bit of a bs ending.

[Lurker 5]

Awesome 1978 Jerry Goldsmith score on that one. Did you notice beyond the opening titles, that no music is heard during the first hour?

Neil

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I seen to remember the music starting one the Geneviève Bujold noticed she was being followed.

BTW, is the CD complete?

[Lurker 5]

BTW, is the CD complete?

I don't think the CD is complete.

Neil

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I don't think

Neil

Typical

[Lurker 5]

Neil

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Just finished watching Coma and was pleasanlty surprised. Was even more surprised when I read in the beginning credits that Goldsmith did the score which was very good.  Great movie, but on the downside it had a bit of a bs ending.

It's been years since I've seen Coma, but I loved it. Neil already mentioned the excellent spotting. And I'd assume the CD is complete. There can't be much more score than this in half the movie.

Marian - who wants to see it again.

[Justin 2]

Stealth. A decent action film. Much of the story seemed very far fetched, but it had some snazzy visuals and Jessica Biel crawling through a puddle in tight fitting trousers. I also noticed several homages to 2001 in terms of how the AI aboard the ship goes haywire.

Blade Runner. Not a bad film the biggest problem is that it's really weird. I saw th director's cut the ending was kind of neat I thought although I'm still not sure what it was about. Did the end suggest that Deckard was a replicant or that the girl was a replicant? A well made film. Not something that I would call overly enjoyable, though.

Shaun of The Dead. Wow. This film is spectacular. I never thought I'd laugh so hard as such a scary film. Simply outstanding.

Justin