What was the last movie you've seen?

[Luke]

I wouldn't say "poorly paced", but yeah, lots of stuff goes on.

Oh, and WAKING LIFE is superb.

[prfsnl_gmr]

On Friday, my wife and I ordered take out from our favorite <ahem!> "inexpensive" Chinese restaurant - the gloriously named Ho Ho Cherry House - and watched 7 Grandmasters. A delightful public domain kung fu film. (I watched it on Hulu+, but you can watch the entire film on youtube.)

Everything, from the Pu Pu Platter to the amazingly choreographed fight scene at the 42:06 mark, was glorious! (Seriously...that fight scene is so good. The directors of modern, big-budget action films could learn a lot about how to properly shoot fight scenes by watching more films like this.)

[catnip]

I watched Fargo last night. I didn't really understand why it was so significant, but I thought it was pretty entertaining. I feel like it's a movie that's well-suited for a rewatch.

[samsonlonghair]

I caught a Sunday matinée of Guardians of the Galaxy. I'm a big Marvel fan, but I have never read a single Guardians comic. This is kind of nice, actually, to be able to watch a movie without comparing it to the comic in my head the whole time. Suffice to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie.

[Czernobog]

I wouldn't say "poorly paced", but yeah, lots of stuff goes on.

Oh, and WAKING LIFE is superb.

Yes! I rented that movie back when I was in High School and a keyholder at Hollywood Video (obviously a while ago) and it just struck such a chord with me.

Have you given A Scanner Darker a viewing? I had read the book first, and enjoyed it a lot, so when I found out the movie was also done by Richard Linklater and uses rotoscoping I was pretty psyched to check it out.

[Luke]

Have you given A Scanner Darker a viewing?

I haven't. Should I? Sounds like I should.

WAKING LIFE is so well written and totally holds up to this day. The emotions and at times intensity make is so easy to relate to to so many different people.


...off to check Ebert's review of it.


Ebert gave it four out of four.

I also love the Midnight, Sunset, and Sunrise series. Who would think that nearly six hours of two people talking to each other could be so edge of the seat entertaining?

[Czernobog]

Have you given A Scanner Darker a viewing?

I haven't. Should I? Sounds like I should.

WAKING LIFE is so well written and totally holds up to this day. The emotions and at times intensity make is so easy to relate to to so many different people.


...off to check Ebert's review of it.

Whoops, that should say A Scanner Darkly. Typo, but yeah, I'd say it's worth the watch. I have a hard time comparing it to Waking Life since it's subject matter is quite different. It's based on a novel by Phillip K. Dick and explores drug addiction in some interesting ways.

[samsonlonghair]

I love the bicycle scene in Scanner Darkly. That still sticks with me as a perfect representation of drug-induced paranoia.

[Ack]

I've seen a lot of movies since the last time I posted here, but these two I saw most recently:



The Big Parade is excellent, both one of the best silent films I've ever seen and one of the best war movies I've ever seen. It's also heartbreaking, both for its plot and the standout performances of its cast, as well as the fates that would eventually befall much of the cast as the silent film fell out of favor. The lead, John Gilbert, failed to make the transition to talkies and died of a heart attack in 1936 related to his ensuing alcoholism. Karl Dane, who played Gilbert's friend 'Slim,' committed suicide in 1934 after being dropped from film due to his heavy accent and being left penniless and unable to find work. Renée Adorée suffered from tuberculosis and died in 1933.



Now that is an impressive piece of acting, both for Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson. Both give incredible performances, Douglas losing himself entirely in the biographical role of one of the most famous musicians of the 20th century, while Damon moves from youthful innocence to jilted, drug-addicted lover. The film ends on a high note and isn't entirely accurate(such as showing Liberace's mother alive in 1981; she died in 1980), and it is unknown how much Thorson actually made up and how much was changed further for the film, but it's a phenomenal piece of work from the two leads. Also, I hardly recognized Scott Bakula.

[Hobie-wan]

So was it just me, or did it look like Mel Brooks in a cameo as a prisoner when first doing the shots during the group's arrival in the 'yard'? There are 3 guys looking down from a railing and the middle older one looked like him. Hmm, or maybe it was Lloyd Kaufman in a cameo.

*google*

Ok yes, it was Lloyd.