What was the last movie you've seen?

Post by **TSTR** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 11:57 am

HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

Hayul yeah. Some Satan, some bloodiness, tons of 80's style (16mm stock even). Definitely a slow burn for the first like 2/3 of it, but once it amps up it gets pretty nuts pretty quick. Also hella cool choices in casting Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov.

Post by **marurun** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 2:11 pm

samsonlonghair wrote:
Into the Woods
...
There's great talent here in terms of acting, wardrobe, set design, and cinematography, but none of that can overcome a musical with bad music.

Utterly and completely disagree. I love the songs. I find myself singing or humming along whenever I hear them. Sondheim sometimes skirts traditional song structure, but what he does is pretty commonplace in musicals, though his content is darker and a little more interesting. I love how the music always comes back to similar musical and content themes. His songs and lyrics are heavy with themes.

I am sorry this one doesn't sit with you. I hope your opinion is an anomaly. I know the musical has done well on Broadway and elsewhere and the movie stuck pretty close to it, so I'm hopeful it's just you.

Website · Post by **BogusMeatFactory** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 2:27 pm

Also, Into the Woods was a Broadway musical originally, with music done by Sondheim. I found the music to be catchy as well. My wife and I sing bits and pieces regularly.

I have not seen the film, but I can understand if it doesn't sit well. A lot of film interpretations of Broadway musicals end up being pretty, "meh."

I do want to see it still at some point in time and judge it from there.

Post by **J T** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 2:34 pm

Venus in Fur

If you like a lot of smart to go with your sexy, then this is the movie for you. It's about a mysterious woman who auditions for the play Venus in Fur, which she argues is more S&M porn than literary masterpiece, though the director disagrees. Barbed-tongue wordplay and subtle power moves follow from there, with a few good not-so-subtle power moves along the way. It becomes hard to tell what's the play and what's real life; who's directing and who's acting.

As you might imagine, this movie can spin your head around. This a movie based on a play about a play based on a book that is an homage to the Greek myth. Add to that the fact that the director (Roman Polanski) is married in real life to the lead actress, Emmanuelle Seigner. I love the image above of Polanski directing his wife and the lead actor. Knowing that his wife is playing such a sexual role that he is directing just adds to the whole head fuck that is this movie. One must wonder what things happen at the Polanski house, having seen her play incredibly sexual roles in a few of his movies (see Bitter Moon). Emmanuelle Seigner is looking surprisingly ravishing at 48 and adds not only physical sexiness, but a sly performance of the cunning S&M mistress, Vonda. This was a very enjoyable movie for its cleverly written dialogue, it's sexual power plays and manipulations, and it's gradual slow build in intensity right up until the grand finale.

Post by **MrPopo** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 3:07 pm

BogusMeatFactory wrote:Also, Into the Woods was a Broadway musical originally, with music done by Sondheim. I found the music to be catchy as well. My wife and I sing bits and pieces regularly.

So a Sondheim musical sounds Sondheimy when adapted to film.

I have not seen the film, but I can understand if it doesn't sit well. A lot of film interpretations of Broadway musicals end up being pretty, "meh."

Did you see the recent adaptation of Les Mis?

Website · Post by **BogusMeatFactory** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 3:18 pm

MrPopo wrote:Did you see the recent adaptation of Les Mis?

I did and I very much enjoyed it. I would say that more film adaptations of musicals are below average than they are extraordinary. I just don't think the stage easily carries over. It is possible and it can be magical, but it is a very lofty task.

Post by **samsonlonghair** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 3:29 pm

MrPopo wrote:
BogusMeatFactory wrote:Also, Into the Woods was a Broadway musical originally, with music done by Sondheim. I found the music to be catchy as well. My wife and I sing bits and pieces regularly.

So a Sondheim musical sounds Sondheimy when adapted to film.

I have not seen the film, but I can understand if it doesn't sit well. A lot of film interpretations of Broadway musicals end up being pretty, "meh."

I make no effort to conceal my dislike for the music of Sondheim, and I stand by my review. I know he writes broadway musicals. I saw an off-broadway production of Putting it Together in 2012. I didn't like that either. I feel like Sondheim could write good dialogue, but insists on writing the lyrics to terrible songs instead.

marurun wrote:Utterly and completely disagree. I love the songs. I find myself singing or humming along whenever I hear them. Sondheim sometimes skirts traditional song structure, but what he does is pretty commonplace in musicals, though his content is darker and a little more interesting. I love how the music always comes back to similar musical and content themes. His songs and lyrics are heavy with themes.

I am sorry this one doesn't sit with you. I hope your opinion is an anomaly. I know the musical has done well on Broadway and elsewhere and the movie stuck pretty close to it, so I'm hopeful it's just you.

Song structure exists for a reason though. That's how one writes a good song. Sondheim seems to write his songs bass-akwards by starting with clever lyrics and phoning in the composition of the song after the fact. Then he forces his singers to sing very challenging songs that just don't sound very good.

I replaced the hotlinked image in my post with an image hosted by imgur, but I didn't change a word that I wrote. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. Of course, you have the right to disagree with me, and I don't mean to insult your taste in music. I just call 'em like I hear 'em.

Post by **Forlorn Drifter** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 3:58 pm

Got to watch Bubble Boy again, still like it even if I always get told it is crap.

Post by **CRTGAMER** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 8:05 pm

The Angriest Man In Brooklyn
Robin Williams last film. The movie brings up an intriguing question what would you do if you only have 90 minutes to live? Comedy Drama well done, the scene with James Earl Jones had me laughing with a sore belly. :lol:

Robin Williams - James Earl Jones Fuji Camera

Post by **marurun** » Sat Jan 03, 2015 11:25 pm

samsonlonghair wrote:Song structure exists for a reason though. That's how one writes a good song. Sondheim seems to write his songs bass-akwards by starting with clever lyrics and phoning in the composition of the song after the fact. Then he forces his singers to sing very challenging songs that just don't sound very good.

I have no beef with your opinions. I know a guy who hates anything Christopher Nolan does. I'm not Nolan's biggest fan, but I thought Memento, at least, was pretty awesome.

I do have a minor beef with your analysis, however. Sondheim won the Tony in 1988 for the original score for Into the Woods, and he was up against Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. That's hardly phoning in the composition.

What was the last movie you've seen?

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