What is the Last Film You Watched? - Part II

[Morlock 11]

Cruise is excellent in the film.

Morlock- a big, big fan of the film (IMO the best film of 1999, a wonderful year for movies)

Jones score is for the most part very dull on album. But it has some wonderful highlights.

It sounds like that kind of score. I was thinking of buying it after seeing the film for the first time a few years ago, but never got around to it. Upon seeing it again, I felt the score added tons to the terrific atmosphere of the film, but there's very little of it that I'd want to hear on an album.

Saw a few Simpsons episodes from the 9th and 10th seasons (in which the show was still good) which I hadn't seen in a while. I had a wonderful time watching Das Bus, Wild Barts can't be Broken (despite the musical number, generally a low point of a Simpsons episode), Beyond Blunderdome, and Lisa The Simpson.

I followed it up by trying to watch one of the 17th season episodes. Oy, how the great have fallen.

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Those episodes were definetly still good, Morlock, but they showed the path things would take... so wrongly.

[nightscape94 965]

Beyond Blunderdome is classic. I love the New York episode too.

Tim

[HPFAN_2 0]

King Kong

I can't watch this movie without noticing the glaring technical flaws. Two T-Rexes fighting over a woman. One T-Rex even drops a 30 foot lizard it had in its mouth, the blood dripping down its throught, to go for the girl! That makes no sence, I mean if you're eating a huge turkey would you drop it if someone rolled a vienna sausage under your feet? Also let's mention the Lizard the lizard is quietly eating then stops and chases the girl! For what! Animals don't kill for fun. He had a good enough meal why would he chase her. Another thing, everything on the island is suppsed to be big right? Then why aren't the T-Rexes big? How convenient Kong's biggest opponent is just his size. And then there's that scene where Kong first takes the girl he runs with her and is flopping her around like a damn doll. Yet her neck or spine doesn't break. Yeah right! That kinda crap ruins movies for me.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Wild Barts can't be Broken (despite the musical number, generally a low point of a Simpsons episode)

Always felt the opposite here; at least "We Put the Spring in Springfield" and "The Monorail Song" are the peaks of their respective episodes, not to mention the Shary Bobbins ep.

[Morlock 11]

The original songs are usually good, but when they use or redo old songs, it usually sucks. I also saw Krusty Gets Kancelled, another good episode.

Four Brothers. Friends saw it, I tried to sleep through it, unsuccessfully. This movie does not deserve to be seen once, and twice it is just painful. *1/2 out of ****.

Green Street Hooligans. Good film showing a world I didn't know very much about. Good, powerful perfromances, especially by Charlie Hunam. Elijah Wood's problems in the US seemed a bit out of place, and detract from the film. Ignoring the very begining and end of the film, I'd give it ***1/2 out of ****.

Adaptation. Third time seeing it, I feel like I finally really get it. And now that I get it, I absolutely love it. This and Being John Malkovich touch upon some of the same topics, but I think this is a far superior film. **** out of ****.

[Ollie 1,059]

King Kong

I Also let's mention the Lizard the lizard is quietly eating then stops and chases the girl! For what! Animals don't kill for fun. He had a good enough meal why would he chase her.

There are two of them, one is eating and the other one chases her. When the V-Rex picks up the one you can see the second one fleeing in the background.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

Another thing, everything on the island is suppsed to be big right? Then why aren't the T-Rexes big? How convenient Kong's biggest opponent is just his size. And then there's that scene where Kong first takes the girl he runs with her and is flopping her around like a damn doll. Yet her neck or spine doesn't break. Yeah right! That kinda crap ruins movies for me.

Aren't you a little late to criticise the logic in a 70 year old movie?

Marian - :?

[Morlock 11]

Saw V for Vendetta. F*&%in' fantastic. I was excited when I saw the trailers, than was a bit put out by some of the word of mouth, but I just loved it, almost every minute of it. Weaving was absolutely perfect, not once did I think of Smith or Elrond. It was a great that they gave him a couple of big dialogue moments near the begining of the movie (his introduction, with practically every word starting with V, and his address to the people), it made him much more colorful than I had expected. Portman was fine, looking better than ever. Creeky accent, but, as they say, you can't win 'em all. John Hurt was a joy to watch. I thought I knew what to expect, and he was that, just so much better. It was nice seeing Stephen Rea getting some serious screen time. I loved the actor playing Creedy. Oh, and the inclusion of Stephen Fry was great, as it alwasy is.

Film looked terrific in every way. Fantastic action sequences, this must be one of my favorite action movies ever. There was not a single action sequence I didn't really like.

I loved the story and the delevopment of the plot, it was much more interesting than I had expected. Some of the twists were just plain delicious, like (highlight to read) V poisoning Creedy against Sutler. Some of the scenes with Evey and V went on a bit too long for me, the faces in the crowd at the end I could have done without, and I think it was a terrible choice to end the film with a song. It kind of erased the mood of the film before I left the theater. Some of the holocaust references were a bit extreme for my tastes, as well.

But those are all nitpickings. I loved the film, had a great time in the theater. ***1/2 out of ****.

Oh, the score worked, but, I'm sorry to say, the music I liked most in the film were the selections from Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. But there were a couple of memorable cues. Well, note worthy cues. I can't say I remember anything from the score.

Morlock- who is in the midst of watching The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons learned from the life of Robert S. McNamara

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers

Wonderfull clay mation short from Aardvark.

A pinguin dressed as a chicking, hilious!

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

They're called Aardman.

But The Wrong Trousers is amazing. One of the best things to ever come out of Aardman (along with the original Creature Comforts).

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

It's the best W&G feature to date.

Marian - who now thinks their next movie should be about an aardvark.

[nightscape94 965]

Their Chicken Run was good too.

[Morlock 11]

Dark City. Yup, great movie. One of the best sci-fi films I've seen. The atmosphere is as palpable and as fantastic as any film, including Blade Runner. And seeing as I liked this film every step of the way, I was far more immersed in this city than I was in that LA. Great story, wonderfully developed. Rufus Sewell, Richard O'Brien, William Hurt, Ian Richardson, Kiefer Sutharland- all inspired casting choices, and all did excellent work. Jennifer Connelly's character needed a bit more fleshing out I think, but she still did fine work. Trevor Jones' score is extremely helpful to the film.

The set design, cinematography, and special effects are all superb, I find these SFX to be much more awesome than The Matrix's generally gimmicky use of SFX. In general, I think The Matrix pales in comparison to this film in almost every way. It aimed higher and wider, but it crashed and burned.

Everything a great sci-fi movie should be, just better. **** out of ****.

[nightscape94 965]

(The Matrix) aimed higher and wider, but it crashed and burned.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. I never found anything in The Matrix to be any bigger in scope then Dark City. To me, DC took bigger risks of the imagination and had a wider sense of story and importance. The characters are sketched better and the city creates more atmosphere, especially given the fact that it takes place entirely at night and the setting doesn't change all that much, with the exception of the underground scenes. But the characters draw us in deeper and involve us. The Matrix, although I do like the film, has more cardboard-style people running around. DC aimed higher, in my opinion, because they weren't creating an action picture. Proyas was doing something much more delicate and chancy.

Tim

P.S. Don't forget that they're releasing a Director's Cut this year!!!

[Morlock 11]

I hadn't heard about the DC- do you have a link with more info?

You are right that the Matrix does have a more cardboard style feel to it. But it was going for a slicker, more modern feel. I still like The Matrix, but as a solid action pic with some philosophy tossed in for good measure.

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

A DC DC? That might be interesting.

Marian - who wants to know more.

[Morlock 11]

After a brief search, I've found a few rumors of Proyas saying he's got a DC coming some time in 2006, plus a petition for a SE treatment.

[nightscape94 965]

I asked Alex a question in February about it here

Tim

[A24 4,331]

Dark City has an unappealing lead character, uninteresting bad guys, a typical cheesy and gimmicky Nazi doctor (Sutherland) and an el cheapo, silly-looking, hokus pocus duel at the end. The plot also explains itself as it goes along. There are no real outstanding moments. There's not one scene that will go into the history books of cinema. All in all, an interesting but ultimately flat experience.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

And that's the way it is folks!

[Morlock 11]

Dark City has an unappealing lead character

Wrong.

uninteresting bad guys

Dead wrong- the badguys are terrifically interesting and engaging (though not Agent Smith, I'l certainly grant you that)

a typical cheesy and gimmicky Nazi doctor (Sutherland)

Yes, except he's not that.

and an el cheapo, silly-looking, hokus pocus duel at the end.

Yes, it is silly looking. But the duel needed to be there.

The plot also explains itself as it goes along.

That is not as a rule a bad thing. I'm sure you're going to respond with a big speech, no doubt naming me a pleb in several different forms, but this is a mystery in a sci-fi setting, with one great big moral. While I love films that present ideas and questions leaving the answers for you to figure out and/or interpert, this story and concept is not built for that. Except for the final duel which is too much, the movie never ever gets bogged down by anything, never is destracted, is direct and to the point. Compare that to The Matrix, which generally emphasizes style over content, gets repeatedly too caught up in it's own visual brilliance to do anything but explode into a long action scene, and when it does finally try and answer some of the ideas it's thrown out, does it in a dumb and unsatisfying way.

There's not one scene that will go into the history books of cinema.

That is only because nobody saw it. The reveal of the planet is one of the most awe inspiring things I've seen on film.

All in all, an interesting but ultimately flat experience.

Well, I find it to be an engaging, interesting, and thrilling experience.

[Trent B 337]

For the record I love all 3 Matrix films, I think they're great films. They never disappointed me probably because I understood what was going on while watching the film. I let my mind do some thinking while there was talking going on between the main characters. I didn't need a whole film spelt out for me like a lot of people do these days to enjoy it.

If you don't like the Matrix Trilogy simply because you really didn't understand it then that's your problem and your loss.

[Morlock 11]

Well, you're one of the few. I thought I understood them, if I was wrong, I'd be happy to learn otherwise. Care to sum up what they're about?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I let my mind do some thinking while there was talking going on between the main characters.  

[Elmo Lewis 6]

I've just watched the second (and final) season of the british The Office. It's never a bad time for clever, perfectly-tuned comedy in the form of a mockumentary. And I caught myself drawn to the unspoken romance plot, which is unsual for me, but I couldn't help it since it got Martin Freeman more screentime.

I don't know how this show can succeed in conventional American sitcom format, with twenty-something episodes each season and without the English expressions. I know Gervais truly admires American comedy, but I can't fathom maintaining the spirit of the original masterpiece with the changes they'd need to make.

[Justin 2]

The american office is very funny the biggest tragedy is that the bosses character (now called Michael Scott) is basically one dimensional.

Have you seen the christmas specials?

Justin

[Morlock 11]

Saw Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore for the first time. Lovely, lovely movie. Too romanticized at times, but it also has several moments of stark reality. Ellen Burstein gives one of the best performances I've seen. The kid playing the kid comes off as very natural. Their relationship is wonderful. Kristofferson seems to be playing himself, but he does a very good job of it. Keitel is good. Everyone is good. The film is a bit unfocused, and the over the top comedy scenes in the diner didn't fit in at all, but this is one of the more heart-warming films I've seen. Those scenes between Alice and Tommy are just so blissful.

***1/2 out of ****.

[A24 4,331]

I've just watched the second (and final) season of the british The Office.

Hey, I just bought the DVDs (BBC). After the second season they come back with two special episodes. It's called The Office, The Christmas Specials.

Alex

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

I'm sure the British version of The Office is terrific, from what I've heard about it. I've just seen the American version, which is gut-wrenchingly hilarious in such perfectly subtle ways. Plus, it has a nice touch of real heart with the Jim/Pam storyline. I'm genuinely curious, does/did the British show have anything besides straight comedy?

Ray Barnsbury

EDIT:

And I caught myself drawn to the unspoken romance plot

Never mind, I guess the British version does have that little dramatic aspect too.

Ray Barnsbury

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

The Christmas Specials are excellent. They wrap up everything very nicely.

The Comic Relief episode remains the best. David Brent dancing!

[Justin 2]

I'm sure the British version of The Office is terrific, from what I've heard about it.  I've just seen the American version, which is gut-wrenchingly hilarious in such perfectly subtle ways.  Plus, it has a nice touch of real heart with the Jim/Pam storyline.  I'm genuinely curious, does/did the British show have anything besides straight comedy?

Ray Barnsbury

EDIT:

And I caught myself drawn to the unspoken romance plot

Never mind, I guess the British version does have that little dramatic aspect too.

Ray Barnsbury

The Brittish versions have far more underlying drama to them than the American version, that I have seen. The main bosses character also has a wonderful arc.

Justin

[Elmo Lewis 6]

The american office is very funny the biggest tragedy is that the bosses character (now called Michael Scott) is basically one dimensional.

Yes, I am aware it's, quite possibly, a very funny show on its own. What I find harder to believe is that it's a very funny show in the same vein as the British version.

Have you seen the christmas specials?

No, I'm letting some time pass before I watch them. Sort of increasing the "so what happened to" factor.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

I love the New York episode too.

my absolute favorite.

[Morlock 11]

Saw The Lost World: Jurassic Park 2 for the second time. I had seen this through once before, and remembered hating it. So imagine my shock when I found myself actually enjoying a great deal of it this time around! A dumb action film with a sense of humor that works.

The bulk of the credit for that goes to two men: Pete Postlethwaite and John Williams. An unusually physical role for him, Postelthwaite just hit this one out of the park, and makes the film. He is just pitch perfect. So much fun to watch. We'll get to Williams later.

Goldblum is good when he's in the sarcastic comment zone. Peter Stormare was fun to watch. Richard Schiff was good, as was Vince Vaughn (irrelevent of the stupid role). Arliss Howard was wonderfully slimy as the main human villain, did a great job on the accent.

Taken at face value, David Koepp's screenplay is ass-wipe, but if you're ready for a campy ride, it can be pretty entertaining garbage. The only totally terrible part in the movie that fails in every way is the sequence in the communication center on the island. Even the finale, which I remembered as being one of the worst things ever, does have a manic, ridicules feel to it that made me think of 1941 (and I mean that in a good sense). And what Spielberg does with cars in that sequence is fantastic, seeing the Spielberg who showed such perfect showmanship with the cars in Sugarland Express coming back to that 23 years later.

I love the gleeful fun the movie takes in the death scenes, Stormare's in particular.

Now, about the score. This is the kind of score that really makes me marvel at JW. While it is a better score than Chamber of Secrets, I get the same energy of both scores- that JW was having the time of his life writing these scores, and had no time to second guess himself. Some of the score sounds like something out of West Side Story! JW has so much fun with the score- it's like that fantastic bit of unreleased T-Rex music from JP1, the four notes with the dancing strings- just giddy fun. Except for the begining of the score, there's almost no big, noble, self important scoring here. Pure fun and energy. The music takes as much pleasure in the killings of the bad guys as Spielberg does.

The score has some excellent action cues (i.e. 'The Raptor's Appear', 'Rescuing Sarah', 'Visitor in San Diego', 'Ludlow's Demise', and the legendary 'The Hunt'), but, of course, the main attraction of the score is that brilliant main theme. I kept on hearing it in my head when watchign the new King Kong. It is just such a phenominal theme, and sounds all the better for all the other themes it brings to mind (Namely Lawrence of Arabia, Capricorn One, Steiner's King Kong and even a bit of The Ghost and The Darkness). Probably my favorite moment of the score is when JW brings in the Main theme in all it's glory for Howard's death. And then finishing it all off with the Journey to The Island theme for the ridicules shot of the dinos living a beautiful bucolic life without the humans.

A B-movie to a T, but a good B movie at that. But still, while I'd love to give it *** or ***1/2, I must honestly say that it's a **1/2 out of ****, with a comment that if you go to watch it with the right attitude, you could have one hell of a good time.

Also saw The Weatherman. I forgot almsot everything about it the second the credits rolled. What was the point of this movie? I recall the actors being good.

Oh, and I was pretty pissed off about the score. A whole bunch of Zimmer-haters have gone on record as liking this score, 'the rare Zimmer score that I liked'. It was totally unremarkable. Those people should try something like Black Hawk Down, or An Everlasting Piece, or Driving Miss Daisy, or Spanglish, if they're looking for a Zimmer score for people who don't like Zimmer.

[nightscape94 965]

Stay, with Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling. I really have to say that this was a great film. The style of the film is great, incorporating numerous scene segues with interesting hidden cuts, like one character exiting a subway train and then we suddenly notice that we're watching a different character entering an appartment door. It's subtle, but very interesting. Once everything is said and done we realize that these cuts mean something. Nothing really deep or significant, but it's not like the director is doing it gratuitously. There is a reason, a method behind the madness. The film is by Marc Forster, who did Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland, and this film is completely different. It's like Hitchcock on crack, or something out of David Lynch's book. The story is increasingly hard to follow, because it's not about story. Matter of fact, when the movie is over, the story is useless. It's about experience and atmosphere, mood and flow. It's an absorbing film, thanks to the actors and the style. A lot of thought went into making it, and I'm glad they took the time to make it work correctly. When the credits roll, you might not comment on the originality of the story, but you might appreciate the way it was handled.

Tim

[Ollie 1,059]

My wife bought Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Had to convince my two teenage kids it wasn't a porn film and an actual Disney title.

[nightscape94 965]

Had to convince my two teenage kids it wasn't a porn film and an actual Disney title.

Why, do you normally bring home porn? Maybe they've come to expect it by now.

Tim

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Porn starring Angela Lansbury?

[IrishCal24 0]

Good lord, please let the horror of that mental image not be carved into my brain for eternity!

Ray, you probably shouldn't watch the orignal British series if you'd like to continue enoying the Amercan version. I've only watched a few episodes of the show and it just comes across as extremely watered down and tame when compared to the original.

You have far more patience than I do Ender.It was agonizing to wait several months for the Christmas Specials to be released on DVD in the US after watching the first two series on BBC America.

[Ollie 1,059]

Had to convince my two teenage kids it wasn't a porn film and an actual Disney title.

Why, do you normally bring home porn? Maybe they've come to expect it by now.

Tim

Yeah me being the poor parent that I am. I have it scattered all over the house....

[nightscape94 965]

Had to convince my two teenage kids it wasn't a porn film and an actual Disney title.

Why, do you normally bring home porn? Maybe they've come to expect it by now.

Tim

Yeah me being the poor parent that I am. I have it scattered all over the house....

Mark "I can't take a joke" Olivarez

Tim

[Romão 2,274]

I've never watched the American version of The Office, but I just can't see how it could be better than the original. That role was made for Gervais. And when it comes to humor, it's very hard to beat the british.

[Ollie 1,059]

Mark "I can't take a joke" Olivarez    

Tim

I can take a joke but for God's sake man use a smiley when a subject like that is brought up, there are others who might take you seriously.

[Morlock 11]

Saw Strangers on a Train for the first time. Fantastic Hitchcock film, one of the finest thrillers I've seen. You can tell this was written by Highsmith, This could have easily been a Ripley movie (I mean, Robert Walker is very Ripley-ish). Great, troubling concept.

I have never seen either Robert Walker or Farley Granger in a film before, but both are fantastic. Granger is as good a straightman as Hitchcock has had. When you're watching Cary Grant, you never believe the badguys are gonna beat him, because, hey, it's Cary Grant! But with Granger, I was never sure how it would be resolved. And Walker is one of the most unsettling villains I've seen. Norman Bates had this one huge problem. Bruno Anthony is seeped in mental instability, from the very begining, through all the implied homosexuality, the oedipal complex. He's not a guy who flips and commits murder. He's a guy who has a code of ethics that call for this person to be murdered, something that is underlined when he helps the blind man cross the street. He isn't lacking morals, he just has a sick and twisted view of things. That classic shot of the crowd turning their heads to watch the tennis ball with Walker staring straight at Granger is brilliantly simple.

Tiomkin's score is excellent, nice main titles, but his score for the last 20 minutes is really fantastic. I'm gonna look for the CD now- the cue that begins during the last set of the game and continues as the cops chase Granger to Penn Station has become an instant favorite.

An excellent, excellent Hitchcock film, one of the best I've seen. **** out of ****.

[gkgyver 1,645]

Aren't you a little late to criticise the logic in a 70 year old movie?  

That's the downside of remaking a classic; you bring a movie that deserved it into today's world, and somehow a bunch of deadbeats thinks other rules should be applied.

No one who's not comfortable with the slightly over-the-top action in Bond films would seriously criticise these parts of the films because the over-the-top stuff is part of the series and expected to be there.

Somehow people seem to forget that King Kong, no matter who's making it or in which era we are, is first and above all an adventure and monster film.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Aren't you a little late to criticise the logic in a 70 year old movie?  

That's the downside of remaking a classic; you bring a movie that deserved it into today's world, and somehow a bunch of deadbeats thinks other rules should be applied.

No one who's not comfortable with the slightly over-the-top action in Bond films would seriously criticise these parts of the films because the over-the-top stuff is part of the series and expected to be there.

Somehow people seem to forget that King Kong, no matter who's making it or in which era we are, is first and above all an adventure and monster film.

I can live with Bond outrunning explosions, but the CG waveride in DAD was utter rubbish (mainly sunken by its shoddy effects work).

[gkgyver 1,645]

True.

But thank god that DAD was an experiment that won't grace our screens a second time.

It's really tragic in a way. Movies in which CGI, action and effects actually make sense get lost in between all the films that use them just for the heck of it.

[nightscape94 965]

I can live with Bond outrunning explosions, but the CG waveride in DAD was utter rubbish (mainly sunken by its shoddy effects work).

That's about when I turned it off. A friend of mine let me borrow it, saying that it was good, despite my apprehension and indifference towards most Bond films. I gave it a shot, hating almost every minute of it, and finally, when the waveride scene came on, I couldn't take anymore and shut if off. I never finished watching it, and frankly, I don't even remember much about it.

Tim

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

I can live with Bond outrunning explosions, but the CG waveride in DAD was utter rubbish (mainly sunken by its shoddy effects work).

A friend of mine let me borrow it, saying that it was good,

He lied.