What was the last movie you've seen?

[dsheinem]

There Will Be Blood is probably in my top five movies of the past decade. I adore everything about it.

[Ziggy]

dsh, I KNEW you would like that movie. I should have called it in my post! Simply because of the things you said in the Breaking Bad thread about the finale. When I got done watching There Will Be Blood, I was thinking of you!







Oh, I forgot I watched a movie this morning...



Overall, it was pretty "meh." But, it was exactly what I was expecting it to be. Entertaining. No amazing story, no amazing acting, etc. Just entertaining enough for me to watch the whole thing. What's wrong with that? Nothing.

[dsheinem]

dsh, I KNEW you would like that movie. I should have called it in my post! Simply because of the things you said in the Breaking Bad thread about the finale. When I got done watching There Will Be Blood, I was thinking of you!

Awesome. Here was a review I wrote about it some years ago on a rewatch:

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 05#p281905

[Sload Soap]

I've been in a movie mood recently, what with the temperatures taking a major drop around these parts. I'm trying to see as many of the Oscar nominated films as I can while they're still on (except Theory of Everything, which I have no interest in). So with that in mind I watched Birdman and Whiplash, both films focusing on men trying to etch themselves into the history books, both featuring outstanding lead and support performances, both have satisfyingly ambiguous endings and both moving to the pulsating beat of jazz drums.



Overall I preferred Birdman. It's a relatively simple story but it is so well told through it's acting and cinematography it just reels you in and doesn't let you go. Ed Norton is great, Emma Stone kills it, even Zack Galifanakis turns out a good, if shouty, performance.

The film is Keaton's though and the director knows it. It's quite meta and a bit full of itself but it earns the right to be on the strength of it's direction and the seriously, staggeringly good cinematography. Some pretty effective use of CGI and some funny digs at superhero films and culture. Gotta recommend it to everyone really. Just pure cinema.


Whiplash is a more contained, less manic but still very effective drama. Miles Teller is a bit unlucky to miss an oscar nod as he literally puts blood, sweat and tears into the lead role as a jazz drummer who wants to be the best. J.K Simmons, an actor I always like to see on screen, steals it though as Terence Fletcher a jazz band conducter-cum-drill sargeant. This short skinny man enters the room and everyone shuts the fuck up. He is basically the pack leader.

I really mean it when I say there are parts of the film that feel more like Full Metal Jacket or Raging Bull than Shine and it's riveting, compelling stuff. It also brings up a lot of slightly unsettling questions about whether you can indeed bully someone into being better at something, whether some men are born to follow and not to lead and whether it truly is worth sacrificing everything for your art. The film is smart enough to leave you to come to your own conclusions.



I also watched You're Next as so many people on this board were enthusiastic about it. All I know is, while it wears its influences on its sleeve and is a bit obvious, when it finished I had the dumbest grin on my face from all the brutal excess. Kind of like Cabin in the Woods in that regard. Like that movie it also has great ass kicking leading lady.



Finally, I gave Metropolis my first watch since college, although this time I watched the Giorgio Moroder cut, with the Pat Benatar and the Freddie Mercury. I think it goes without saying that Metropolis is one of the most influential films of all time and basically defined the future-city aesthetic we still see today.

However a lot of the film is missing (literally) and this truncated edit is sorely light on story while the 80's synth-rock soundtrack paradoxically furhter ages an already ancient film. I feel it would have been better suited with a more conventional film soundtrack, something akin to Moroder's own sublime work on Blade Runner fer'instance. As it is, the cut kind of ends up playing out like you've got the film on mute and VH1 playing in the background.

However, that's not to detract from the obvious qualities that still shine through and it's with massive credit to Fritz Lang that even in this cobbled together state the film is more than watchable and full of the sort of haunting imagery that German expressionist films provide. I still get a shiver when the Maria-bot stands up. And a tip of the hat to Moroder for whom this was obviously a labor of love. Still, those images and Blade Runner's soundtrack, now that'd be something.

[Hobie-wan]

Moroder's own sublime work on Blade Runner fer'instance.

Pardon? You mean Vangelis?

[Sano]

Star Trek (2009)

[Sload Soap]

Moroder's own sublime work on Blade Runner fer'instance.

Pardon? You mean Vangelis?

Oh yeah. D'oh.

[Luke]

Just knocked off two movies that have been on my list for a while...





I love Daniel Day-Lewis. I thought There Will Be Blood was a great movie... but it really was a sad movie.

Spoiler alert

Probably less than halfway through the movie I was thinking that maybe Plainview would be dead by the end. Maybe he dies of natural causes, or maybe he's murdered by one of the people he's wronged. Like the competitor guy that he threatened to kill, then reminded him again about it later in the movie. Or Eli Sunday, which maybe you wouldn't see coming because he's a man of God but finally got pushed too far by Plainview. In fact, during the last scene of the movie, I was thinking maybe I was right. Maybe Eli kills Plainview. But then, no. Plainview kills Eli. And why? Well, sort of just because.

Plainview tells his son that he was an orphan, that he was only a face to make his various deals, and basically tells him to go fuck off. But then there's some flashbacks of HW as a kid with his father. So whether or not he actually was an orphan, it's clear that Plainview did in fact love him, which makes the character of Plainview all the more sad. Then the movie ends with Plainview killing Eli, who was probably the last person in the movie that deserved to die, and you're left feeling just kind of awful. At least, I was.

The Wolf of Wall Street wasn't nearly as sad.

Possible spoilers?

I think this was one of those movies that I put off watching long enough to have too many people tell me how fucking awesome it is. So the expectations go up, and you end up being let down. I'm not saying it was a bad movie. It was a good movie. But I didn't find it to be super terrific insane best thing I've seen in a LONG time kind of movie.

I feel like it was all things I've seen before. A guy goes from nothing to riches/fame/drugs/women/good times then back to a modest life, the end. Did I just describe Good Fellas or Wolf of Wall Street?

That all might sound like I'm bashing both movies, but I don't mean to. I thought they were both great movies, definitely worth watching at least once.

Funny. When I reviewed WOLF I said something close to "It's GOODFELLAS" but not as good.

[Ziggy]

Awesome. Here was a review I wrote about it some years ago on a rewatch: My father in law didn’t like that the “bad guy” “won” in the end and decided that I have odd taste in recent “western” films.

Yeah, I don't even know if that's a valid opinion since the movie didn't really have a traditional bad guy and good guy that we're use to seeing. You're opinion of Plainview might be that he's a bad person but he doesn't really "win" in the end. Sure, he's alive and the "good guy" is dead. But he certainly didn't win, he very much lost. That's why it's such a sad movie. You should feel pity for Palinview.

Haha, that last line in the movie was so funny. Only Day-Lewis could deliver it so perfectly.

[Ack]

Moroder's own sublime work on Blade Runner fer'instance.

Pardon? You mean Vangelis?

I love Vangelis' work on the Blade Runner soundtrack. I listen to it daily.