What is the Last Film You Watched? - Part II

[Morlock 11]

V for Vendetta. It must be at least the 6th time I've seen the film (and it only came out just over a year ago), and it still works for me. The weak parts are still weak, but the strong parts just make a deeper and deeper impression each time. Marianelli's score also gets better and better, though 'Evey Reborn' is still the most impressive cue (although there's an ugly cut in the film that almost jolts you out of it).

[A24 4,331]

Once Upon A Time In America: It's certainly a good film but it's not that mega good. Somehow I like Morricone's music better when I hear it in westerns. I don't understand why the pan flute (an instrument that strongly associates with South America) had such a crucial role in the soundtrack. I guess it must have been a popular sound at the time the movie was made.

Alex

[robthehand 3]

I find OUATIA to be a bit like Scarface (the remake) in that it's long and drawn out, and has many flaws, but as an overall experience is very impressive.

[Docteur Qui 1,544]

Tomorrow Never Dies. I forgot it's quite a good film. Not up to par with Goldeneye or The World is Not Enough, but miles ahead of Die Another Day, and a helluva lot of fun.

To quote Carver:

Delicious.

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

There's a lot that's miles ahead of Die Another Day, but you're still right - Tomorrow Never Dies is a lot of fun.

[A24 4,331]

Today Marc watches Alien3

Good luck, you'll need it.

[Ollie 1,059]

With the exception of the music I still think Goldeneye is the best Brosnan film.

[robthehand 3]

I don't find the music spoils my enjoyment of GoldenEye. It's mixed very quietly, which helps enormously.

[Ollie 1,059]

Thankfully the music isn't mixed too loud and actually works in the film.

[A24 4,331]

Please don't spoil Morlock's thread with too much Bond.

Thank you.

Alex

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

V for Vendetta. It must be at least the 6th time I've seen the film (and it only came out just over a year ago), and it still works for me. The weak parts are still weak, but the strong parts just make a deeper and deeper impression each time. Marianelli's score also gets better and better, though 'Evey Reborn' is still the most impressive cue (although there's an ugly cut in the film that almost jolts you out of it).

I like it, but the very end is really lame.

[Morlock 11]

I think Alex has been exceptionally wise with his last post in particular, and I think it is appropriate to respect his wishes, for his sake, if not for mine.

V for Vendetta. It must be at least the 6th time I've seen the film (and it only came out just over a year ago), and it still works for me. The weak parts are still weak, but the strong parts just make a deeper and deeper impression each time. Marianelli's score also gets better and better, though 'Evey Reborn' is still the most impressive cue (although there's an ugly cut in the film that almost jolts you out of it).

I like it, but the very end is really lame.

Which part of the end? The closing voice-over by Portman is horrible. But the explosion is good.

I saw Baz Luhrman's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Julliet. I don't know, I really like it. It is a bit too gimmicky in the begining, but I think once it hits it's stride it, well, hits it's stride. I think it is a very good film version of the play, with more energy and enthusiasm than any other R&J film I've seen. Performances are very good, the two leads are very earnest and very likable, Harold Perrineau is terrific, as is John Leguizamo, and, as usual, Pete Postlethwaite steals every scene he's in. I like most of the music in the film. The Orff knock-off (one of the better ones, and one that works exceptionally well with Postlethwaite's narration), the string arrangments and expansion of 'Kissing You', Mercutio's Death and a few others cues.

I don't think that this is an MTV style film, or a punk version of the play...I think it is a very, very, earnest film that tells the story beautifully.

***1/2/****.

[Red 75]

I really liked Romeo + Juliet. Some have called it shallow, but I think that it was a stroke of brilliance on Luhrman's part to re-tell the story in the way he did. Other people have tried to follow suit with other Shakespeare lore, but none have done it as well as Baz. It is maybe my favorite film of his.

[Morlock 11]

Well, it's definately in my top three.

[Red 75]

Naturally.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Which part of the end? The closing voice-over by Portman is horrible. But the explosion is good.

The explosion was good, but showing all those dead people being alive was weird and lame.

[Morlock 11]

I think it might have worked with a different voice-over, possibly an epitaph from V himself.

Breakfast at Tiffany's. Never seen this before. Didn't like it at all. Didn't care about any of the characters. I liked Pappard and Hepburn (how can you not?), but I just never gave a diddly squat about them. The Mickey Roony character is just as laughable as it sounds. No, only things I liked about the film was looking at Hepburn in her most iconic role, and hearing 'Moon River'. The tune has been severaly dulled be being a regular in the muzak scene, but it is still one heck of a pretty theme.

**/****.

Zwartboek. An odd film. I wasn't thrilled with it. It is not a bad movie, nor is it ever less than interesting....but it's got a pretty patchy and unimpressive script. I didn't feel the film flowed, a bit too episodic for a three act film (In effect, the 140 minute film has at least 4 acts, where the tradiotional middle act is only about 25 minutes long). Carice van Houten is terrific and shapely, even in her least plausible moments. It's a good role. I wish it had a better script to be coupled with. Sebastian Koch is rather boring. The character has no depth, is quite implausible, and is just...boring. Thom Hoffman was very good, particularly in the earlier scenes.

Movie looks terrific.

Score is quite unimpressive. That's what happens when you go from Goldsmith and Poledouris to the only person who ever won an oscar for Bill Conti's Rocky.

The movie has so many plot points, so many twists....far too many, in my opinion. And the twist at the end ws so predictable, unsatisfying, badly done, and dramatically lacking.

The movie was a very watchable mess. Verhoven, being Verhoven, apparantly thinks that cutting edge mean excessive nudity (I'm not saying there was no room for it, but it was excessive) in a WWII movie. An interesting, if far, far, FAR from perfect filmmaker.

**1/2/****.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I didn't just have it with the finale. I thought Bait for E.T. was a lot bigger than the scene it was playing over as well.

The gentle material, however, is gorgeous, and says so much about the story and the characters.

Perhaps the score for E.T. is a tad to big for the film at times. But I vastly prefer that to the more current Spielberg/Williams collaborations, were the score seem to function only subliminaly most of the time.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Me too.

Ray Barnsbury - whose favorite Williams finale is E.T.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

ET and its score are perfectly matched, neither is bigger or smaller than it needs.

Its Spielberg's and Williams greatest work.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Gotta agree with that too.

Ray Barnsbury - who doubts this will ever change

[Mr. Breathmask 555]

Go watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

- Marc, who doubts that will ever change.

[Red 75]

I'm going to have to go ahead and agree with Marc on this. If E.T. (score) has any flaws at all, its that it is sometimes too big.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Idiot!

[Trent B 337]

I watched The Empire Strikes Back last night, special edition of course. Still a damn fine film in my opinion.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Go watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

- Marc, who doubts that will ever change.

I watch Close Encounters the other night, and its not the complete film that ET is and the score isn't as good, but the finale is equal, I will give you that, it might even be better as you say, not sure.

Just got home from 28 Weeks Later, a very fine film, superior in many respects to 28 Days Later, very nihilistic.

[Red 75]

28 Weeks Later is getting very good reviews, especially for a Summer blockbuster. In fact, many are calling it better than the original in every way, which almost never happens.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Go watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

- Marc, who doubts that will ever change.

Seen it. Nice flick, and amazing musical finale, but neither the film nor score are on E.T.'s level.

Ray Barnsbury - who thinks it's almost an apple and oranges situation

[Ollie 1,059]

Agreed. Apples & Oranges.

[Ray Barnsbury 8]

Anyway, just saw Spider-Man 3. It's a really bad film.

Ray Barnsbury

[Marian Schedenig 8,193]

How is this related to 28 Days Later?

Marian - who's never heard of Weeks before and still hasn't seen Days.

[Red 75]

Weeks is the sequel to Days.

[Ollie 1,059]

I didn't even realize 28 Days was good enough or made the money to warrant a sequel.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

the sequel to me is superior, Im anxious to see what Roald thought.

I finished watching Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest. Loved the ending, the movie as a whole was too silly with endless sight gags, but the basic premise isn't bad, as I really like the characters.

Hanz Zimmer's music, and I use the term music reluctantly is dreadful. I know that many here hated POTC COTBP's score but this is so much worse, not engaging, and the rock and roll effect as the Davy Jones minions attacked ranks right up there as some of the 21st century's work music, right up there with some of John's work for AOTC(the guitar part). They are crimes against humanity.

[A24 4,331]

the sequel to me is superior ...

Thanks for the warning.

[Red 75]

I didn't even realize 28 Days was good enough or made the money to warrant a sequel.

It was something of a cult hit.

[robthehand 3]

I didn't even realize 28 Days was good enough or made the money to warrant a sequel.

I don't know how much money it made, but it's a very good film.

- Rob, who can't decide whether to watch The Adventures of Robin Hood (again) or The Fury (again) tonight...

[robthehand 3]

Well, I picked Robin Hood, and loved every second of it. A perfect adventure film. ****/****

[Morlock 11]

Hanz Zimmer's music, and I use the term music reluctantly is dreadful. I know that many here hated POTC COTBP's score but this is so much worse, not engaging, and the rock and roll effect as the Davy Jones minions attacked ranks right up there as some of the 21st century's work music, right up there with some of John's work for AOTC(the guitar part). They are crimes against humanity.

Yeah...I loved it too.

- Rob, who can't decide whether to watch The Adventures of Robin Hood (again) or The Fury (again) tonight...

Well, I picked Robin Hood, and loved every second of it. A perfect adventure film. ****/****

You made the right choice. The Fury is a rather stupid film.

I saw Fracture. I thought it was quite an entertaining film. It was constantly engaging, and surprising enough to keep one easily satisfied. Loved the performances. Ryan Gosling was good as he always is. Hopkins was pleasantly surprising- am meaty, very entertaining fellow who is not exactly Hannibal Lecter. David Strathain, Bob Gunton and Xandar Berkley add some solid supporting work (as per usual). It was nice to see Fionola Sweeny in a film that is not among the worst ever. Rosamund Pike, while not having much of a part, I find to be rather electrifying here. Score by the Danna Brothers was nothing special. Film looked good, with a few terrific shots.

I liked the ending. I mean- obviously it's not pitched at the same level as the rest of the film, but it could have been so much worse (and, indeed, for a few minutes, looked like it was going to be). The premise of the last plot developtment is a bit uncharactaristic....but, it could have been so much worse.

A Suprisingly good script to this one. The story is engaging without being too implausible, and there's a bunch of very entertaining wordplay.

***/****.

And I am at this very moment watching Oklahoma. It is hard to believe people used to think the saccharine, artificial rubbish constituted a good musical.

[A24 4,331]

Hollywoodland. Loved it. lAllen Coulter lays bare the innards of the last days of the old studio system. Great atmosphere and Ben Affleck, of all people, gives one heck of a memorable performance.

Alex

[Morlock 11]

Loved it? Really? I thought that aside from the Hallmarkish look to the film, it made a lot of mistakes with the Adrian Brody character. I didn't care about him, I wasn't interested by him...I was only interesting in Reeves. And also there, I felt the plotting of it was a bit heavy-handed, as was the ending.....I don't know, a whole lot of it didn't work for me.

[A24 4,331]

Well, it's a cynical, downbeat view on Hollywood, totally bereft of lovable personalities ... of course it didn't work for you, Morlock! The look (the production design) is actually very realistic but if you're referring to the cinematography, yes, it isn't that artistically amazing. Ah well, I don't always need overly stilistic settings filled with hip and MTV-ish camera movements. And I don't know about a heavy-handed ending but it is certainly anti-climactic ... but so is perhaps the truth: There's no murder, no intrigue, no big twist at the end ... just disappointment.

Alex

[Morlock 11]

Alex, oh dear Alex, you're helpless. My main problem with the film was the Adrian Brody character, not the Reeves cahracter. The Brody character was the fake part- trying to give us a 'human interest' story, trying to make him a bit likable...that's what I DIDN'T like. I thought most of what was happening around Affleck and his character was good.

And I loved the idea of the film, and the idea of the end...wonderfully depressing and affecting. I just felt like the progression of every scene involving Reeves death were not handled very well, and thus they robbed the ending of it's power. And it was problematic that by the end they were shifting the story more and more to Brody.

You'll have to get used to the fact that I'm not as limited in my taste as you'd like to think I am. This was a film with a good premise, a script that strayed away from the heart of it too much, and a terrific TV director who is not used to working in film. Oh, and a very poignant performance by Affleck. Most of the rest of the cast was not particularly interesting....not even Bob Hoskins.

[A24 4,331]

Alex, oh dear Alex, you're helpless. My main problem with the film was the Adrian Brody character, not the Reeves cahracter. The Brody character was the fake part- trying to give us a 'human interest' story, trying to make him a bit likable...that's what I DIDN'T like. I thought most of what was happening around Affleck and his character was good.

And I loved the idea of the film, and the idea of the end...wonderfully depressing and affecting. I just felt like the progression of every scene involving Reeves death were not handled very well, and thus they robbed the ending of it's power. And it was problematic that by the end they were shifting the story more and more to Brody.

You'll have to get used to the fact that I'm not as limited in my taste as you'd like to think I am. This was a film with a good premise, a script that strayed away from the heart of it too much, and a terrific TV director who is not used to working in film. Oh, and a very poignant performance by Affleck. Most of the rest of the cast was not particularly interesting....not even Bob Hoskins.

No, you missed the essence of the film, Morlock. Brody didn't play the human interest part at all, he's the same as Affleck ... they both want to make a name for themselves. In fact, of these two parasites, Brody was the worst. Affleck represented the most human of the two. And even though Affleck's performance was the most noticable (his part obviously was the most interesting), the rest of the cast was flawless and very interesting to me.

Alex

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

So Alex, whaty did you think of DareDevil, Jersey Girl and Pearl Harbour?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Murder On The Orient Express (1974)

The Agatha Christie murder mystery starring Albert Finney; Lauren Bacall ; Martin Balsam ; Ingrid Bergman ; Jacqueline Bisset ; Sean Connery ; John Gielgud ; Anthony Perkins ; Vanessa Redgrave and Michael York.

Perfect and intelligent entertainment, with Finney unreconizable as Hercule Poirot, delivering a spirited performance. (perhaps David Suchet was the better Poirot overall, but Finney grasps the essence of the character better then the late Sir Peter Ustinov did.

He is supported by an all star cast.

The choice of Finney for Poirot might have been a gamble, but director Sidney Lumet makes a wise choice for the rest of the cast.

Since each of the actors has a very limited time to create a character in this film they cast the actors to type.

So the insecure edgy assistand with a mother-complex is played by Antony Perkins.

You need only to look as Sir John Gielgud in a suit to accept him as the English butler.

If you need an fussy "American middle aged lady abroad", then Bacall is who you turn too...

And Ingrid Bergman's 5 minute scene (a continuous take) is so good that it won her an Oscar.

Sidney Lumet handles the material with elegance and with the help of the cinematography of the late Geoffrey Unsworth (2001, Superman) he turns this into a lavish production, even though most of the film takes place in the cramped compartments of an Orient Express wagon.

Richard Rodney Bennet's score, both waltzy for the train and mysterious for the darker material rounds this production of beautifully. (though I gather Bernard Herrmann was very much opposed to the direction Bennet took with his score)

A timeless piece af great entertainment

My only real beef is with McQueen, the Antony Perkins character, who seems to have a light obsession with Mrs. armstrong, that goes back to his relationship with his Mother. This was not in the book and might have been added to increase the characters motivations, but it's to distractingly similar to Psycho.

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

[Elmo Lewis 6]

Perhaps "timeless" is too strong a word for Orient Express, Steef. The first half hour dates it very much - it's actually a very bad half hour to start such a movie with. But, just as the train quite literally roars to life, the real fun begins (as you can read in the rather lame review I wrote about the film last summer).

[A24 4,331]

So Alex, whaty did you think of DareDevil, Jersey Girl and Pearl Harbour?

Yes, they all have Affleck in them but I can't figure out why you would ask me such a question.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

I value your opinion, obviously....

[A24 4,331]

In that case:

Daredevil: Seen it, but except for that Alias chick and the big Green Mile dude, I hardly remember anything of it. I guess it was very mediocre. I once read the DC is much better though.

Jersey Girl: Never seen it and I probably never will. Is it a romantic comedy?

Pearl Harbor: Only saw bits and parts of this movie. It's very difficult for me to watch this type of trash.

Alex