What was the last movie you've seen?
Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Pixels, I liked. People sometimes are so negative.
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Gunstar Green
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
TOO MANY MARTYS, TOO MANY! Won't anyone think of the time-space continuum?!Luke wrote:TheSSNintendo wrote:Back to the Future. The Alamo here in town had a special 30th Anniversary screening.
This one?
This place was PACKED with A-List dudes. And when I say "A-List", I mean in both acumen, character, and presence in Hollywood. It's a pretty huge deal, and I'm glad you were able to attend.
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TheSSNintendo
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Ha ha. No way, man. Nothing that big. Just some little "Film Club" that goes on here in Winchester at the Alamo Drafthouse.Luke wrote:TheSSNintendo wrote:Back to the Future. The Alamo here in town had a special 30th Anniversary screening.
This one?
This place was PACKED with A-List dudes. And when I say "A-List", I mean in both acumen, character, and presence in Hollywood. It's a pretty huge deal, and I'm glad you were able to attend.
Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Probably my 4th viewing. This movie is of good quality, worth watching every now and then, even if it does fall prey to Hollywood Logic™.
Thy ban hammer shalt strike 
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Exhuminator
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
The Two Jakes (1990)
Being a fan of Chinatown, I've been meaning to see its sequel The Two Jakes for a long time now. I'd put it off because I'd read this sequel is inferior to its predecessor. And well, yeah, it is inferior. It's not a bad film noir by any means though. The key issue here is one of editing, bad editing that is. The central plot and acting is all there, it's a well written and acted story. But the editing was apparently done by a goddamn drunken butcher. I'd recommend this film if you love Chinatown, but it was the last film Nicholson directed for a reason. Also I got a chuckle out of seeing Jack Nicholson playing golf in this movie for the irony of it.
The Great Silence (1968)
Here's a western Ack told me to watch and said "you can thank me later". Well THANK YOU ACK because this was a GREAT western film. This one is famous for its dramatic ending that didn't sit well with its audiences. Basically the way this movie ends is the total opposite of The Hollywood Happy Ending Machine™ route any other film would have taken. I honestly think the ending made perfect sense and would have been what actually would have happened in real life. I adored Klaus Kinski in his bounty hunter role and it reminded me once again why he's my favorite actor of all time. Also the desolate frozen atmosphere of this movie was unique for a western and I loved it. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to film in that environment, and it's amazing the people involved pulled it off so well. This was SUCH a fantastic western, easily in my top 5 of all time now. (I also got a kick out of seeing the Mauser C96 in action.)
PLAY KING'S FIELD.
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fastbilly1
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Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Last night my wife and I sat down and watched a film I have anticipated coming for the last decade:
Yes, Astérix - Le Domaine des Dieux or better known internationally as Land/Mansion of the Gods. As an American fan of the Asterix series, I have seen all of the originals in English and French. I have actually made many French friends because of the mutual love of the Gauls, so when one of those buddy's mailed me a bluray I thought it was going to be one of the new remasters. However I was blown away that it was the film that I thought came out this October (in researching this, I found out the English dub comes out this October and the Bluray came out late last month).
This film is a technical marvel. The 3d animation is simply majestic, easily the best I have seen in a feature, and the story is very close to the original comic. Pretty much this is a perfect family film for a 7+ age group. It has action, adventure, a badguy that is easy to hate (Caesar), good guys that are easy to cheer for, and tons of solid laughs that do not drop the comedy down to a banal level. There were some awesome references I was not expecting too. Sadly the official dvd has one of the worst subtitle tracks I have seen in a long time.
As a big Asterix fan, I would say this is easily in the top three of films of the series. With Asterix vs Caesar and Twelve Task being in the same three. My wife, as a none Asterix fan, said it was more enjoyable than the Lego movie (her favorite animated film of the last few years).
Just take two minutes and watch the trailer:
Yes, Astérix - Le Domaine des Dieux or better known internationally as Land/Mansion of the Gods. As an American fan of the Asterix series, I have seen all of the originals in English and French. I have actually made many French friends because of the mutual love of the Gauls, so when one of those buddy's mailed me a bluray I thought it was going to be one of the new remasters. However I was blown away that it was the film that I thought came out this October (in researching this, I found out the English dub comes out this October and the Bluray came out late last month).
This film is a technical marvel. The 3d animation is simply majestic, easily the best I have seen in a feature, and the story is very close to the original comic. Pretty much this is a perfect family film for a 7+ age group. It has action, adventure, a badguy that is easy to hate (Caesar), good guys that are easy to cheer for, and tons of solid laughs that do not drop the comedy down to a banal level. There were some awesome references I was not expecting too. Sadly the official dvd has one of the worst subtitle tracks I have seen in a long time.
As a big Asterix fan, I would say this is easily in the top three of films of the series. With Asterix vs Caesar and Twelve Task being in the same three. My wife, as a none Asterix fan, said it was more enjoyable than the Lego movie (her favorite animated film of the last few years).
Just take two minutes and watch the trailer:
Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Well folks, over the weekend I also watched a variety of movies. I'll try to keep this relatively short, as several of these are classics, and I don't feel it necessary to heap further accolades on them(they're excellent, but they're also on the AFI lists).
The Band Wagon
This is considered one of the finest MGM musicals ever made, along with the likes of Singin' in the Rain. Fred Astaire plays an aging musical star who hasn't had a hit in years and has largely been forgotten. But a pair of writer friends team with a director to make a musical for him. Unfortunately the director turns it into a disastrous representation of Faust, and Astaire finds himself at odds with his female lead, a prima ballerina recruited to the stage.
The film version of The Band Wagon contains a mix of original songs as well as previous work written for the 1931 Broadway show of the same name and a couple of songs lifted from other Broadway revues. These songs are added in at various points, particularly during a roadshow pseudo-montage sequence, and at times they can feel a little strange, sudden, and disjointed, but Astaire is always such a joy to watch that it works out in his favor.
This film was also hugely influential on a young Michael Jackson, and fans of his music will easily spot the scenes he referenced, particularly during a reworked hardboiled detective sequence in the show. I joked upon watching this with my girlfriend that Jackson's entire career was based on this movie, but the truth is he made specific references to it in three of his albums...
Yankee Doodle Dandy
I love James Cagney, but I didn't know he could dance. He's a joy to watch, particularly because of his enthusiasm and charming smile during every one of his numbers, and as a result this film easily brought a smile to my face. Cagney has a goofy style with how he hunches forward for his dance numbers, but he grins from ear to ear as he throws himself into it. Now there is a man who is happy to dance.
Yankee Doodle Dandy is the story of George M. Cohan, actor, composer, playwright, entertainer, director, and one of the most important people to have ever graced the American stage. This film is a mythic portrayal more interested in capturing his spirit than the truth of his life, though it does focus on key moments such as the presenting of the Congressional Gold Medal for certain patriotic songs he wrote around World War I. This is also a film about the mythos of America, where a young and largely poor son of Irish immigrants is born on the 4th of July and rises to become a rich and artistic man with a deep love of country. Here American idealism is presented as largely flamboyant, innocent, energetic, and joyous. It's a patriotic movie about the American character, at least from the standpoint of how we wish we were. I absolutely loved it.
J. Edgar
As Leonardo DiCaprio ages, I find the work he takes to grow steadily more interesting. J. Edgar is a Clint Eastwood film staring DiCaprio in the titular role in a movie that is jarring in its constant switches between time and the fantasy of J. Edgar Hoover's legacy within his own mind. As he reaches the end of his career, Hoover reflects on his history with the FBI to an array of young FBI agents who record, discuss, and question his legacy, all while he continues to attack and pursue the internal Communist threat(real or imagined) and deals with his own strange relationship to both his organization and his protege, Clyde Tolson.
There are a few problems that I had with the film; the old person make up at first is jarring on DiCaprio, though by the end of the film I had come to terms with it. But Armie Hammer never looks believable. It's a minor complaint, but it did take me out of the movie several times. But the bigger issue is just how confusing the switch between the film's present and the past can be, and both take place over a period of years(the past ranging from around 1919 to 1940, while the present ranging through the 1960s through to 1972). While time moves reliably forward, the cuts are sometimes sudden and unexpected, particularly at the beginning of the film. Again, this was something I was eventually able to come to terms with, but it made for a difficult start.
Beyond that, I found I liked the movie, and I particularly liked DiCaprio. He lost himself in the role, and eventually I was able to see Hoover and not the actor behind the cosmetics. By the end of the film it is revealed that much of what Hoover has presented as truth is fiction, though he may not be able to tell the difference. But just the opposite happened with me, where the fiction of the film eventually became it's truth through the strength of DiCaprio's performance.
Let the Right One In
This is a Swedish romance between a young boy named Oscar dealing with bullies, a broken home, and a lack of acceptance by others and a transgender vampire named Eli who appears to be a 12-year-old girl. This starts innocently enough, with Eli and her handler moving into Oscar's apartment complex, and the two eventually forming a bond as outsiders dealing with their issues. They become friends and eventually innocent lovers. Eli tells Oscar how to respond to the bullies, while Oscar slowly takes over the role of Eli's aging handler, who repeatedly fails in his attempts to provide for Eli. This is life on the fringe.
This is a quiet movie. The most terrible acts are handled from afar, often in near silence, or even in mute surroundings underwater as violent action occurs just above the water's surface. It's a movie with subtlety, with black night contrasted against white snow, where authority figures fail to understand and appear only rarely to help the protagonist and hardly attempt to understand, or are too wrapped up in other events to do so. Where the only real exposure of Eli's status is in a brief glimpse of her scars, her half-forgotten memories of her past, and in her repeated statements that she is not a girl. She is not a girl, she's a vampire, but she is not some kind of monster any moreso than the people who surround Oscar and do not listen.
I liked this film. I wouldn't recommend it to everybody, but I really enjoyed it.
Manos: The Hands of Fate
Now this is just awful.
An insurance salesman made a bet that making a horror movie was easy. He produced a picture for $19,000 and promptly won the bet, but the film that he created is poorly edited, horribly dubbed, and features awkward special effects such as Torgo's backwards knees.
It's like somebody with less skill copied Ed Wood.
But it's still not the worst thing I've ever seen.
The Band Wagon
This is considered one of the finest MGM musicals ever made, along with the likes of Singin' in the Rain. Fred Astaire plays an aging musical star who hasn't had a hit in years and has largely been forgotten. But a pair of writer friends team with a director to make a musical for him. Unfortunately the director turns it into a disastrous representation of Faust, and Astaire finds himself at odds with his female lead, a prima ballerina recruited to the stage.
The film version of The Band Wagon contains a mix of original songs as well as previous work written for the 1931 Broadway show of the same name and a couple of songs lifted from other Broadway revues. These songs are added in at various points, particularly during a roadshow pseudo-montage sequence, and at times they can feel a little strange, sudden, and disjointed, but Astaire is always such a joy to watch that it works out in his favor.
This film was also hugely influential on a young Michael Jackson, and fans of his music will easily spot the scenes he referenced, particularly during a reworked hardboiled detective sequence in the show. I joked upon watching this with my girlfriend that Jackson's entire career was based on this movie, but the truth is he made specific references to it in three of his albums...
Yankee Doodle Dandy
I love James Cagney, but I didn't know he could dance. He's a joy to watch, particularly because of his enthusiasm and charming smile during every one of his numbers, and as a result this film easily brought a smile to my face. Cagney has a goofy style with how he hunches forward for his dance numbers, but he grins from ear to ear as he throws himself into it. Now there is a man who is happy to dance.
Yankee Doodle Dandy is the story of George M. Cohan, actor, composer, playwright, entertainer, director, and one of the most important people to have ever graced the American stage. This film is a mythic portrayal more interested in capturing his spirit than the truth of his life, though it does focus on key moments such as the presenting of the Congressional Gold Medal for certain patriotic songs he wrote around World War I. This is also a film about the mythos of America, where a young and largely poor son of Irish immigrants is born on the 4th of July and rises to become a rich and artistic man with a deep love of country. Here American idealism is presented as largely flamboyant, innocent, energetic, and joyous. It's a patriotic movie about the American character, at least from the standpoint of how we wish we were. I absolutely loved it.
J. Edgar
As Leonardo DiCaprio ages, I find the work he takes to grow steadily more interesting. J. Edgar is a Clint Eastwood film staring DiCaprio in the titular role in a movie that is jarring in its constant switches between time and the fantasy of J. Edgar Hoover's legacy within his own mind. As he reaches the end of his career, Hoover reflects on his history with the FBI to an array of young FBI agents who record, discuss, and question his legacy, all while he continues to attack and pursue the internal Communist threat(real or imagined) and deals with his own strange relationship to both his organization and his protege, Clyde Tolson.
There are a few problems that I had with the film; the old person make up at first is jarring on DiCaprio, though by the end of the film I had come to terms with it. But Armie Hammer never looks believable. It's a minor complaint, but it did take me out of the movie several times. But the bigger issue is just how confusing the switch between the film's present and the past can be, and both take place over a period of years(the past ranging from around 1919 to 1940, while the present ranging through the 1960s through to 1972). While time moves reliably forward, the cuts are sometimes sudden and unexpected, particularly at the beginning of the film. Again, this was something I was eventually able to come to terms with, but it made for a difficult start.
Beyond that, I found I liked the movie, and I particularly liked DiCaprio. He lost himself in the role, and eventually I was able to see Hoover and not the actor behind the cosmetics. By the end of the film it is revealed that much of what Hoover has presented as truth is fiction, though he may not be able to tell the difference. But just the opposite happened with me, where the fiction of the film eventually became it's truth through the strength of DiCaprio's performance.
Let the Right One In
This is a Swedish romance between a young boy named Oscar dealing with bullies, a broken home, and a lack of acceptance by others and a transgender vampire named Eli who appears to be a 12-year-old girl. This starts innocently enough, with Eli and her handler moving into Oscar's apartment complex, and the two eventually forming a bond as outsiders dealing with their issues. They become friends and eventually innocent lovers. Eli tells Oscar how to respond to the bullies, while Oscar slowly takes over the role of Eli's aging handler, who repeatedly fails in his attempts to provide for Eli. This is life on the fringe.
This is a quiet movie. The most terrible acts are handled from afar, often in near silence, or even in mute surroundings underwater as violent action occurs just above the water's surface. It's a movie with subtlety, with black night contrasted against white snow, where authority figures fail to understand and appear only rarely to help the protagonist and hardly attempt to understand, or are too wrapped up in other events to do so. Where the only real exposure of Eli's status is in a brief glimpse of her scars, her half-forgotten memories of her past, and in her repeated statements that she is not a girl. She is not a girl, she's a vampire, but she is not some kind of monster any moreso than the people who surround Oscar and do not listen.
I liked this film. I wouldn't recommend it to everybody, but I really enjoyed it.
Manos: The Hands of Fate
Now this is just awful.
An insurance salesman made a bet that making a horror movie was easy. He produced a picture for $19,000 and promptly won the bet, but the film that he created is poorly edited, horribly dubbed, and features awkward special effects such as Torgo's backwards knees.
It's like somebody with less skill copied Ed Wood.
But it's still not the worst thing I've ever seen.
Re: What was the last movie you've seen?
Took my girlfriend to see Pixels.
Despite the massive amount of hate I see this movie getting from critics and random ranters on the internet, it really wasn't that bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. A lot of the jokes fell flat, but I didn't go in expecting a laugh riot. There were some parts that got a laugh out of me but other jokes where the writing just wasn't well done. The effects and action sequences were creative and really fun. Most of the cameos were not in-your-face either. There were lots of characters that made quick appearances or were in the background that weren't blatantly pointed out. Mostly it's worth watching for the action sequences. I really enjoyed seeing the pixel effects on the big screen in 3D.
Let me put it this way, if I made a list of the worst movies I've seen this year, this wouldn't even be considered for the list, but it wouldn't be considered for the best either. I should note that my girlfriend really enjoyed the film and thought it was a lot of fun. She didn't know most of the references or cameos but she enjoys most of the Adam Sandler movies (I consider some of the Happy Madison movies decent but some really bad). Anyway, it's not nearly as terrible as many would have you believe, but you could easily see something better at the theater. I would say it's worth a rental.
Despite the massive amount of hate I see this movie getting from critics and random ranters on the internet, it really wasn't that bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. A lot of the jokes fell flat, but I didn't go in expecting a laugh riot. There were some parts that got a laugh out of me but other jokes where the writing just wasn't well done. The effects and action sequences were creative and really fun. Most of the cameos were not in-your-face either. There were lots of characters that made quick appearances or were in the background that weren't blatantly pointed out. Mostly it's worth watching for the action sequences. I really enjoyed seeing the pixel effects on the big screen in 3D.
Let me put it this way, if I made a list of the worst movies I've seen this year, this wouldn't even be considered for the list, but it wouldn't be considered for the best either. I should note that my girlfriend really enjoyed the film and thought it was a lot of fun. She didn't know most of the references or cameos but she enjoys most of the Adam Sandler movies (I consider some of the Happy Madison movies decent but some really bad). Anyway, it's not nearly as terrible as many would have you believe, but you could easily see something better at the theater. I would say it's worth a rental.