What is the last movie you saw? and rate it. [Archive] - Page 28

Ecurb

03-24-2015, 01:47 PM

I saw Gabe Polsky's documentary "Red Army" last night. It's about the Soviet hockey teams of the 70s and 80s, and concentrates on the career of Slava Fetisov, one of the all-time great defensemen. Fetisov is now the Minister of Sport for Russia, and he's clearly a charismatic character, in a phlegmatic, Russian manner. The movie contrasts the methods and style of legendary Soviet coach Anatoly Tarasov (whose, daughter, by the way, is the world's most famous figure skating coach) and his successor, the KGB-man Viktor Tikhonov.

The viewer revisits the Cold War, attempts by Russian players to get high-paying NHL jobs, and the nationalism that was a part of the sport. Fetisov and his famous "Russian 5" line mates dazzle the North Americans with their fluid play, and move on to success in the NHL. I'm about the same age as they are, played and coached college hockey, and idolized the Soviet style of play, so I liked the movie. So did my girlfriend, who hates watching sports in general, though.

Pompey Bum

03-26-2015, 09:32 AM

I saw "Ghost World" last night. Two high school graduates have to transition into a larger reality. One makes it OK. The other finds a bus.

Score: 8/10

It's interesting to me, Y/N, that we had opposite interpretations of the end of this film. I haven't seen it for many years, but my memory is that the girl you say "makes it OK" failed to leave the "ghost world" of their petty and insipid little town, and that the one who got on the bus was the one who made it okay.

YesNo

03-26-2015, 09:54 AM

Pompey Bum

03-26-2015, 10:17 AM

I think you are right about the author's intent in Ghost World, Pompey Bum, although I have not read the graphic novel.

However, it could also be viewed the other way. The girl who followed the old man on the bus vanished into the ghost world like the old man did. She scorned the petty and insipid world and caused personal damage to those around her. That she caused damage to others makes me think that her view of reality was wrong, or "ghost"-like.

My disagreement with your perspective (which I respect, by the way) is that a kind of harm also befell the girl who stayed. Her free spirit and potential were crunched into the cheap and controlling needs of the town (didn't she become a popcorn vendor at a local cinema or something?) The girl who left, however, remains free in a world where big girls and big boys have to deal with a little hurt sometimes. But I guess the title could be taken either way--or even as an indictment of both ways.

Helga

04-01-2015, 03:54 PM

The Goonies, every now and then I try to show my son some classics from my youth and we both enjoyed the Goonies last night. good fun

Clopin

04-02-2015, 11:58 AM

Saw Home at a special showing for toddlers in the daycare circuit. I enjoyed being there instead of managing kids in a playroom or whatever, but the movie really sucked.

0/10, I didn't find any redeeming qualities.

Also is there a worse animation studio than Dreamworks? I really don't know how they manage to put out such crappy movies so consistently.

YesNo

04-02-2015, 11:00 PM

I liked the first Shrek movie which was by Dreamworks. Also The Croods and Kung Fu Panda were pretty entertaining, but I am easy to please.

Here is the list of Dreamworks movies. I don't recall seeing the others: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DreamWorks_Animation

Clopin

04-03-2015, 12:43 AM

The first Shrek was quite good actually, definitely their high point Prince of Egypt, Chicken Run and Antz are tolerable, though Antz is hindered by some really bad animation. Kung Fu Panda sort of epitomizes everything lame about Dreamworks. Take a lame story, lame jokes, get a lame, recognizable, celebrity, voice actor for pizzaz and just lame your audience out, they're kids anyway.

YesNo

04-03-2015, 07:55 AM

I agree that Kung Fu Panda was lame. I wouldn't want to see it again. I think I saw Antz when my daughters were young, now that you mention it, but if I can't remember much about it, it probably wasn't very good.

Clopin

04-03-2015, 09:17 AM

It's the one where Woody Allen is an ant, dealing with the psychological issues of being a drone in a colony. It's not horrible, but like I said, the animation is bad. A Bug's Life is about a jillion times better anyway.

YesNo

04-03-2015, 08:26 PM

I think it was "A Bug's Life" that I saw with my daughters. I remember watching a 3-D animation related to that movie at Disneyland. My youngest was small and she wanted to sit on my lap. I wasn't sure how much she was understanding or even seeing with the 3-D glasses on until I felt her startle when one of those locusts (or whatever the bad bugs were called) burst out at us.

I think I might have seen Antz now that you mention Woody Allen. I remember he wanted someone to step on him to put him out of his misery. That part was amusing.

bounty

05-02-2015, 09:17 AM

my most recent movie was (apart from bits and pieces of the avengers on television) was "dawn of the planet of the apes."

I found it absolutely enthralling and intense. id watch it again. I love how current technology can take old classics and remake them with better visuals. the movie raises all sort of questions about human nature and the human condition too.

YesNo

06-14-2015, 07:53 AM

I saw "Accidental Love" last night: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/accidental_love/

This is a mockery of romantic comedies. And politicians. And the medical profession. And police on motorcycles. And Indiana small town eateries. And girl scouts. And health insurance. And lobbyists.

I loved it. Score: 10/10

YesNo

06-25-2015, 09:14 AM

I saw "Chappie" a couple of nights ago: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chappie/

This is a story about reincarnation through artificial intelligence. AI supposedly solves the problem of death by "saving" individual consciousnesses onto some digital medium and then loading it back into a body. The problem with all this is if AI can move an individual's consciousness from one body to another, consciousness is not an epiphenomenon of a person's body. This undermines a materialistic notion of consciousness which AI seems to also promote.

One of the things I didn't like about the movie was that the bad guys were portrayed as "spiritual". Two of them crossed themselves before going into battle for selfish reasons. This attempt to create a stereotype of a bad, religious opponent of AI spoiled the entertainment value this movie might have had.

There was also another idea of taking the next "evolutionary step". I suspect this implies letting AI machines become the next species replacing us. I like the idea that evolution has a cultural component. It is not selfish genes replicating. However, I suspect we are the new species, the next evolutionary step, not some machines. We have only begun modifying the environment by our cultural activity.

The movie seemed to be visually well-done, but the dialogue left me questioning. The movie should have made me forget my questioning and enjoy the film as any well-done fantasy would, but I couldn't forget that the underlying message was nonsense.

Score 3/10

YesNo

06-27-2015, 02:49 AM

I finished "Interstellar" about an hour ago: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/interstellar_2014/

It is the near future and the Earth is done for. Space missions are being sent through a wormhole to find another planet to inhabit. Who put the wormhole there? Who is the ghost bothering Murph?

I found it amusing that right at the beginning there was mention that the Apollo missions were faked for political reasons.

There is a lot in this movie that doesn't make sense, such as going through the black hole and going back in time, but unlike Chappie, I didn't mind for some reason. I think because the going back into time stuff was just there to hold the story together until it finished. It was not critical to believe in it to be entertained. Ultimately this movie was a rom-com at heart.

Score: 8/10

Emil Miller

06-28-2015, 04:32 AM

This is the first full-length film that I have watched for some time . It falls under the category of 'ripping yarns' insofar as it's about a group of disaffected ex-submariners who following WWII attempt to find a hidden cache of diamonds on board a ship that was wrecked on the African coast during the war. Starring Richard Johnson, Jeremy Kemp and Peter Vaughan as a very unlikely German, the female interest is provided by Honor Blackman who is totally superfluous to requirements and an embarrassment to boot. Ninety-nine per cent of adventure films require the suspension of belief and this is no exception.

5/10

YesNo

06-29-2015, 10:01 PM

We went to see "Spy" last night: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spy_2015/

I don't think my scores count for much since before the previews were finished, that is, before I actually saw the movie, I knew this one was going to be a 10.

This is a movie about how one overweight female and another rather tall one team up to kick butt, retrieve the missing nuclear weapon and save something or other.

Score: 10/10

Clopin

07-02-2015, 08:04 AM

Ping Pong: The Animation

Eleven episode anime series which tracks the progress of four major characters over a two year period of competition in the Japanese high school ping pong national championship. This series has been recommended to me quite a few times and since it's freely available on youtube I decided to check it out, and it's definitely worth a watch. The series features animation which is heavily stylized to a degree that some people, like myself, may find slightly jarring or unsettling. Ultimately I didn't end up overly disliking or appreciating the animation style, but I can see how it might possibly pose a challenge to some viewers. The show starts out strong from the first episode and only gets better; by the end I was very committed to the overall story line, and by the time every plot point converged into the very satisfactory, but open ended, conclusion I was quite moved.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcSuAhbtIFg

9/10

YesNo

07-02-2015, 11:18 AM

Just Before I Go: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/just_before_i_go/

This is romantic comedy where the main character decides to commit suicide but first he wants to confront the people in his past whom he thought caused all his problems. He discovers after contacting them again that they have problems of their own. Some of their problems are a bit odd such as his sister-in-law pretending to be sleep-walking. The people he was going to beat up, he turns out befriending. A female whom he viewed as a friend, he turns out damaging.

Predictably he meets a cute girl and that is one of the two problems with this movie: too much is predictable. The other problem is when you get to a part that is not predictable, such as his sister-in-law pretending to sleep-walk into his room at night, it is weird and you wonder just why is someone doing that?

Score: 5/10

TRIGGERSIDEWYS

07-02-2015, 03:46 PM

Real Genius 1985

This was a futuristic comedy but very outdated. Was expecting a classic but it's a 5/10

Its about students getting into Pacific Technical University to figure out things about a laser. It couldn't be done any worse because the whole movie is a party until the very ending.

YesNo

07-05-2015, 10:06 AM

"The Voices": http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_voices/

Jerry is a young man with issues from his childhood. He lands a job where he falls in love with one of the accountants. She doesn't like him, but her co-worker likes him and another coworker wouldn't mind being his girlfriend either. He also has a female psychologist who sort of likes him, but not in a romantic way.

He has a dog, who is his good angel, and a cat, who is his not-so-good angel. They talk to him when he is not taking his meds giving him advice, some good, some not-so-good.

The three accountants each end up in his--well, I don't want to spoil the story, but they start giving him advice as well as if he were married to all three of them. Finally he captures his psychologist and insists she explain to him why God made him like this. She gives a pretty good answer which I forget at the moment.

Things don't go well for Jerry since the police have him trapped, but everything works out in the end.

The whole movie is weird, but entertaining.

Score: 8/10

Helga

07-06-2015, 05:51 PM

Just saw Jurassic World, like the rest of the world apparently. Liked it for what it is, a few weird moments in it but ok. I like raptors and they have a kinda of a wolf-like relationship with Owen. Very predictable and pretty easy to see beforehand who wouldn't make it through to the end, but that is often the thing with action of this kind.

Entertaining and my son loved it.

I can only rate it against the other 3 and I would say it's second or third best... 1,4,2,3, I think or 1,2,4,3, three is crap

Pompey Bum

07-06-2015, 05:56 PM

Just saw Jurassic World, like the rest of the world apparently.

Really? Weren't there at least dinosaurs running around?

Emil Miller

07-08-2015, 05:33 PM

Being a connoisseur of the 1950's, the last decade before TOTAL conformity finally triumphed under the guise of phony non-conformity, I watched the British film Venetian Bird that's set in post-war Venice and starring a range of stock English actors as Italians. In the capable hands of director Guy Green, this adventure yarn about a plot to assassinate a leading politician is well worth its You Tube presentation. 7/10

Emil Miller

07-14-2015, 11:44 AM

Robert Mitchum plays the part of an assistant to a very rich man the origin of whose wealth is a closely guarded secret. When the man dies of a heart attack, Mitchum sets off on a search for the truth about the money. This takes him to various European countries where he discovers that his employer's fortune has been derived from blackmailing important people. Unutterably dull, if not entirely pointless, the film turns out to be one of Mitchum's rare duds.
Written, directed and produced by the same man, Sheldon Reynolds, this quest to uncover a secret bears a very slight resemblance to Citizen Kane but Reynolds is no Orson Welles and there all similarity ends.

2/10

tonywalt

07-14-2015, 12:09 PM

I saw 'to kill a Mocking bird' with Gregory Peck. I'd give it a 6. Some of the acting was over the top (stage acting on a movie) and focuses on the message rather than the plot.

Emil Miller

07-16-2015, 01:56 PM

This is a fine example of the post-war films that Britain excelled in before the great dumbing down.
John Mills, one of Britain's finest actors, plays an engineer who suffers a brain injury in a bus crash and who spends a long time in hospital before being signed-off as fully recovered.
He returns to work for a company in a town where he is living in a residential hotel and where shortly afterwards a young woman resident is murdered in a nearby park.
Circumstantial evidence and his former mental condition point to his being the killer but even when he finds out the real murderer the police refuse to believe him and he goes on the run to get proof of the man's guilt.
Reminiscent of Hitchcock's better work, this is a first class film with top notch direction, acting and atmospheric photography.
They really don't make 'em like this any more.

10/10

Emil Miller

07-25-2015, 02:16 PM

Alighting on this title whilst surfing the web, I imagined that it was another piece of American rubbish along the lines of 'I Was a Teenage Werewolf' and other hyperbolic screenings. I was wrong, because it's a piece of British rubbish along the lines of 'The Trollenberg Terror': both of which found it necessary to have an American actor in the leading part.
Supposedly set in a northern English village, it was in fact set in Shere, a village in southern England that I have often walked through. The village pub, which, unsurprisingly, I am also familiar with, is a hotel in a film that concerns a supposed invasion by robots that kill the citizens and resurrects them as zombies. Why they do this isn't explained but suffice it to say that although the film was directed by Terence Fisher, a kind of ersatz Roger Corman, and lasts for only 1 hour and two minutes, it was too long by 62 minutes.

Emil Miller

07-27-2015, 03:12 PM

A guitar strumming hick is visited in prison by a radio station presenter looking for the 'authentic American music' and is later taken up by television and elevated to the position of the nation's homespun philosopher and voice of the common man. From there he is championed by politicians seeking to use his manufactured popularity to ensure the people's vote but he turns on his manipulators and tries to get power for himself.
A less manic performance by the leading player (Andy Griffith) and tauter direction might have created a genuinely interesting film about the gullibility of the average Joe but it manages to be both glum and rampant at the same time and at 2 hours+ it long outstays its welcome.

5/10

Emil Miller

07-28-2015, 01:17 PM

Frenzy was the penultimate film that Hitchcock directed and it's a good one.
Set in London and using an all English cast of stalwarts, the story concerns a number of women being found strangled and still wearing the killer's necktie around their necks. The prime suspect is the former husband of one of the victims who has a personality disorder that leads him to be violent when mildly provoked. Eventually the police track him down and arrest him with the help of the real killer, whom he thought was his friend, and is sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the police inspector in charge of the case decides to follow up on the convicted man's assertion who the real killer is and discovers the truth.
While not for the squeamish, the murders are convincing in their presentation, and the crude dialogue of some of the characters is realistic but not gratuitously so as is the case nowadays.
Some unlikely happenings and a pointless subplot about the police inspector being subjected to his wife's unpalatable cooking detracts from the story but it still gets 8/10.

YesNo

07-29-2015, 09:53 AM

The village pub, which, unsurprisingly, I am also familiar with, is a hotel in a film that concerns a supposed invasion by robots that kill the citizens and resurrects them as zombies. Why they do this isn't explained but suffice it to say that although the film was directed by Terence Fisher, a kind of ersatz Roger Corman, and lasts for only 1 hour and two minutes, it was too long by 62 minutes.

:)

The title of that film might have been a warning. I'll make sure I don't watch it.

------------------------

We recently saw Train Wreck: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/trainwreck/

Parts of this movie could be funnier. Other parts probably shouldn't get funnier.

There is a delightful scene with Amy and her sister listening to their father trying to explain to them as children that monogamy was an unrealistic social construction. Another scene to look out for is Amy running her mouth in a movie theater while her boyfriend holds off another couple (actually the male half of that couple) telling them to shut up.

It is sort of a feel-good rom-com except Amy is too strange for stereotypes. She goes all out to finally get the man she loves, but her low faithfulness factor, thanks to her father, makes me wonder if we will not get a sequel to this one.

Score 8/10

tonywalt

07-29-2015, 01:54 PM

CAKE - 2014

At first, this film certainly promises something difficult and challenging. But having struck variously angry or black-comic notes in its opening section, it morphs into a piece of indie-sentimental awards-bait for its producer-star Jennifer Aniston. She plays Claire, a Percocet addict who is in chronic pain, given to angry outbursts at her support group and left depressed and conflicted after the suicide of her counsellor, Nina (Anna Kendrick). Claire is drawn into a friendship with Nina’s widow, Roy (Sam Worthington), and remains impossibly difficult with her long-suffering maid and carer, Silvana (Adriana Barraza). Inevitably, the explanation for her condition is left for the third-act reveal, which we reach via the mandatory grieving, healing and self-forgiveness. The relationships and plot transitions feel forced, and the trope of the ironic hallucinatory ghost is glib and cliched (David Cronenberg carried it off more successfully in Maps to the Stars). As for Aniston, she gives an honest, well-intentioned performance, but it is marooned in an unsatisfying script whose emotional effects are unearned.

Emil Miller

07-29-2015, 02:23 PM

:)

The title of that film might have been a warning. I'll make sure I don't watch it.

Sometimes I run across a title that's so silly that the film almost demands to be watched.
In this instance the reason for the title completely escaped me as it has nothing to do with the story which is filmed entirely in the village except for some indoor parts on set.
On those occasions when I visited the village, I don't recall seeing any robots or zombies but then I wasn't really looking for them.

Emil Miller

07-31-2015, 05:05 PM

Sometimes I run across a title that's so silly that the film almost demands to be watched.
In this instance the reason for the title completely escaped me as it has nothing to do with the story which is filmed entirely in the village except for some indoor parts on set.
On those occasions when I visited the village, I don't recall seeing any robots or zombies but then I wasn't really looking for them.

*****

Sorry, but I'm having trouble getting around a new browser.

Emil Miller

07-31-2015, 05:23 PM

[QUOTE=Emil Miller;1301751] /QUOTE] The Spy in Black (1938).

Possibly issued as a propaganda film for the coming war, this WW1 story has been critically acclaimed for its accuracy in portraying an attempted espionage plot to sink a major part of the British fleet by submarines.
It's very well done and convincing in its no-nonsense approach to the story. 8/10

Emil Miller

08-09-2015, 02:49 PM

Given the state of Britain today the title might be considered a contradiction in terms but this American produced film concerns a German spy ring that has infiltrated top-level political circles during WW1.
The master spy is played by Boris Karloff as a sinister crippled ( why are they always crippled?) butler serving in the house of a senior politician and who is planning the bombing of the entire British cabinet by zeppelins in an attack on London.
Unbeknownst to Boris however, the female lead, posing as a German, is in fact a British counter agent who eventually foils the assassination attempt.
This film is a real curiosity with the British police running around firing guns that would make your average Englishman wet his knickers at the thought that police would be so ungentlemanly as to use those nasty firearms in the fight against any criminals, let alone enemy agents.
The American accents are thankfully kept at a low pitch which gives the film an air of authenticity but the creepy Boris Karloff figure is over-the-top and tends to undermine the plausibility of the story.

6/10

Methinks

08-13-2015, 03:30 PM

Nightcrawler 3/5. Great acting, but only a serviceable borderline satirical plot.

Birdman 4/5. A brilliant mess.

YesNo

08-13-2015, 06:14 PM

The DUFF: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_duff/

A duff is a Designated Ugly Fat Friend whose use value is to make her friends look good in comparison to her (or him). This is a story about a teenage duff who finally realizes what she is. There's a mean girl to get even with. There are the duff's two friends who tolerate her because she is worse than they are. There are two guys. One is her attractive neighbor who is the mean girl's boyfriend when those two are not fighting. The other is the guy the duff is infatuated with.

Without giving away too much of the plot, the duff realizes she is a duff and deals with it and gets the guy. Which of the two guys she gets, I'll leave to your imagination. Although it shouldn't be too hard to guess.

It was a charming teenage rom-com with some goofy adults who were as entertaining as the teenagers.

Score: 9/10

YesNo

08-15-2015, 09:52 AM

Hot Tub Time Machine 2: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hot_tub_time_machine_2/

As you'll note from the low ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, if you want to enjoy this movie you will have to be in a special mood. If you find that happy place, this might be worth your time, but there would also be better things to do.

The idea behind the movie is that if you pour in the right chemical concoction, invented in the future, into the hot tub and drink enough alcohol, you can go backwards or forwards through time. You may even get into another parallel universe. This allows you to save or destroy things by monkeying with your past or future.

There are, however, some humorous and touching moments which justify the higher Rotten Tomatoes score than the following movie received:

Paul Blart Mall Cop 2: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paul_blart_mall_cop_2/?search=paul%20Blart%20mall%20c

The main thing I learned from this movie is that "stupid" and "funny" are not synonymous although they often go together.

In this story we see Paul Blart acting as the overprotective parent and accidentally saving the day in Las Vegas.

I was looking for something funny in this movie and almost stopped watching it. I can't believe I saw the whole thing. As far as comedy entertainment goes, it is right up there with The Merchant of Venice.

YesNo

08-16-2015, 10:36 AM

The Wedding Ringer: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wedding_ringer/

I must have been in that happy place last night because I thought this movie was way better than Rotten Tomatoes scored it.

This is the story about a rich groom who does not have a best man and he is due to marry a woman in a fancy (aka expensive) wedding in a couple of weeks. (Now you might think this is unusual, but I recall picking out the best man from the guests who showed up at our wedding, but it wasn't fancy: Total cost was about $300 which was a lot for graduate students in those days.)

Anyway, the bride clearly doesn't love the groom and the same goes for the groom's appreciation of the bride, but they think having the perfect wedding will remedy that problem. Unfortunately, the groom doesn't have a best man to tell him he is making a mistake and the bride's girlfriends are too dumb to see there might be a problem here. So the groom hires a best man and they all try to fake it.

Everybody gets what they deserve which is why this is a comedy and there were plenty of laughs (regardless of what Rotten Tomatoes' critics think) to justify watching it.

Score: 8/10

YesNo

09-01-2015, 12:40 AM

Love, Rosie: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_rosie/

One misunderstanding leads to another and keeps a couple apart for years. The experts at Rotten Tomatoes apparently didn't have a good time.

Here's my score: 10/10

Edit: To add a bit more to this. The initial misunderstanding involves each of the couple thinking the other doesn't want to be with them and so they push the other one away out of self-sacrificing generosity and then come the comical coincidences that give them over and over again opportunities to get back together only to keep them apart. It seems they can't do anything right and so they give up trying. But don't worry. This is a fairy-tale rom-com. Whatever fairy godmothers were keeping them apart get off their butts and the ending is happily ever after.

YesNo

09-02-2015, 11:39 AM

Burying the Ex: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burying_the_ex_2015/

Here's another rom-com, zombie flick that deserves a better rating than Rotten Tomatoes gave it.

Max had a wonderful girlfriend, Evelyn, who wouldn't let him eat meat and didn't like his brother bringing girls to their apartment for sleepovers, but when she folded his collector-quality horror posters that was the last straw. She had to go. It turned out she died accidentally before he could give her the bad news. Unfortunately, he also promised to be with her forever in front of a Satan bobblehead who was going to make sure he kept that promise. After a short period of depression, he got over her and found another girl. About this time Evelyn figured a way to dig herself out of the grave to claim Max forever as he promised. His brother tried to save him but Evelyn, who was by now some sort of zombie, was almost too much for him to deal with but not quite. In the end they did get her buried again so Max and his new girlfriend could live happily ever after.

Going over the plot, I can sort of see why the rating was so low, but it was entertaining especially in how the plot went from "burying the ex" to "berrying the ex", but that's too difficult to explain.

Anyway, I had a good time.

Score 10/10

Clopin

09-05-2015, 11:19 AM

Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick

Loved it the whole way through. It made me want to read a big George Elliot novel (or I suppose a Thackeray novel but since I've never read him it wasn't considered). Beautifully shot, and I loved the costumes and clothing. I hated Barry and wanted him to die (and his son too as punishment), but I was happy when he fired into the ground during the final duel so he redeemed himself a little in my mind.

9/10

Eyes Wide Shut - Stanley Kubrick

Interesting movie. I read afterwards about all the detail put into Cruz and Kidman's roles and all of the 'real psychological tension' they were facing during the shooting which surprised me because I felt they both gave horrendous performances. The scenes where it was just the two of them on screen were actually just bad... (especially the scenes where one or both of them had to act either drunk or high)

I'll still give it an 8/10 though.

Lykren

09-05-2015, 01:05 PM

Barry Lyndon is objectively the best Kubrick film. I know this because it is my favorite and everything I like is good.

Also, 2001 sucks.

Clopin

09-05-2015, 09:28 PM

2001 is good. Dr. Strangelove sucks.

Your move.

HCabret

09-05-2015, 10:20 PM

2001 is good. Dr. Strangelove sucks.

Your move.
What's wrong with Dr. Strangelove?

Clopin

09-05-2015, 11:04 PM

I actually don't know, I just remember watching it a few years ago and not being too impressed. My opinion might be different now.

YesNo

09-05-2015, 11:12 PM

I think I remember Dr. Strangelove. Is that the one where the guy is riding the nuclear missile like a horse. For some reason I think he forgot to stay in the plane.

HCabret

09-05-2015, 11:57 PM

I actually don't know, I just remember watching it a few years ago and not being too impressed. My opinion might be different now.Dr. Stranglove has a 99% critic approval rating and a 94% audience scoreon Rotten Tomatoes. What about didn't impress you? Maybe you should watch it again as a reevaluation.

I think I remember Dr. Strangelove. Is that the one where the guy is riding the nuclear missile like a horse. For some reason I think he forgot to stay in the plane.Dr. Strangelove is an excellent satire of conservative foriegn policies and the jingoism/xenophobia prevelent in the American populace. It made fun of rampant militarism and the race to build ever more destructive weapons. The movie also satirizes the tying of masculinity to who has the biggest gun; in the case of this movie, that is a literal metaphor. The guy riding the missile like horse has an extremely large penis.

Clopin

09-06-2015, 03:31 AM

I don't really think it sucks I was just bantering with Lykren :(

YesNo

09-06-2015, 06:47 AM

Dr. Strangelove is an excellent satire of conservative foriegn policies and the jingoism/xenophobia prevelent in the American populace. It made fun of rampant militarism and the race to build ever more destructive weapons. The movie also satirizes the tying of masculinity to who has the biggest gun; in the case of this movie, that is a literal metaphor. The guy riding the missile like horse has an extremely large penis.

Come to think of it it could have been a large penis although he did wave that hat like he was riding some animal in a rodeo. I saw the movie too long ago to have an opinion on it.

Emil Miller

09-07-2015, 08:29 AM

This one's a real weirdo and concerns two scientists in love with the same woman. After they invent a method for replicating inanimate objects, the woman marries one of them: much to the disappointment of the other who, after successfully experimenting with animals, gets the brilliant idea of replicating the woman so that he can marry the replica.
Needless to say, things do not go according to plan and the story ends sadly.

Directed by Terence Fisher, whose downward spiral later included The Earth Dies Screaming, one wonders why he so obviously hit the skids after the excellent So Long at the Fair.

4/10

Emil Miller

09-11-2015, 02:44 PM

This has James Cagney doing his usual tough guy act as a reporter for an American newspaper based in Tokyo before Japan and the USA were at war. The story revolves around a secret, albeit unlikely, Japanese plan for world domination that falls into the hands of Cagney through an agent working against the Japanese.
Cagney prints the story in his newspaper and starts a series of events that leads to him smuggling the plan to the outside world after the usual roughhouse scenes that were a hallmark of Cagney's films.
Although the film is obviously a propaganda piece, the settings are convincing with real Japanese actors speaking in their own language to add authenticity to the story.

7/10

Sancho

09-17-2015, 12:02 AM

A Walk In The Woods

I had high hopes for this movie because I loved the book and I admire the actors.

However the movie is only loosely based on the book. I think if you take Bill Bryson's book and then superimpose Robert Redford's age and sensibilities on it, you get this movie.

I still enjoyed it.

I rate it, 2 worn-out hiking boots and a half-finished trail.

Diem My Bui

09-17-2015, 05:28 AM

the lastest one I watch is "A beautiful Mind". Well, it's awesome we know it.
Love how he overcame his paranoid schizophrenia and pursued his passion.
of course an 9 for the wonderful movie!

Number 34

09-30-2015, 08:27 PM

Dumb and Dumber To was the last film I watched.

Not bad, although not as good as the first one. Took a bit of time to warm to it. Perhaps due to a twenty year gap between films.

YesNo

10-01-2015, 06:54 AM

I loved the Dumb and Dumber films.

Number 34

10-01-2015, 08:25 AM

Did you see the prequel one they did? If so, is it any good?

Scheherazade

10-01-2015, 09:01 AM

Hey, Emil. They continued to make movies after 1960s as well! :D

Papaya and I watched "Dreamgirls" last Saturday and it has been a major disappointment. The storyline was so-so, songs were nothing to write home about... Great acting but to no particular end.

I am quite surprised that it's got so many award and such critical acclaim.

YesNo

10-01-2015, 09:40 AM

Did you see the prequel one they did? If so, is it any good?

I only saw two of them, the original Dumb and Dumber (1994) and the more recent Dumb and Dumber To (2014). I didn't know there was a prequel. Whether they are "good" or not would depend on who you are talking to. My wife, for example, refused to watch them after seeing the trailers. I could see them again.

Ecurb

10-01-2015, 11:47 AM

I saw "Meru" and "Everest" recently. Both are mountaineering films: Meru is a documentary about the ascent of a legendary face on the titular peak; Everest is a dramatization of "Into Thin Air", Jon Krakauer's best-selling book about a tragic Everest expedition.

Both movies are duplicitous. Meru features climbing star Konrad Anker, and co-stars all the equipment of his sponsor, North Face. After one failed expedition to the unclimbed face on Meru, the team returns and succeeds. But the movie fails to mention that the face had been bagged (on a slightly different route) by a Russian expedition a couple of weeks earlier. The movie recounts some of Anker's climbing history: his two most famous partners were Mugs Stump and Alex Lowe. Mugs was a famous "dirt-bag" climber. He was one of America's greatest climbers, but was never sponsored, and never had a guide's license (although he sometimes picked up cash guiding illegally). Alex Lowe was one of America's early professional climbers -- heavily sponsored and sent off on expeditions funded by clothing and equipment lines. Both Lowe and Stump died in the mountains -- Stump in a crevasse fall on Denali and Lowe in an avalanche in the Tibetan Himalaya. Anker, it seems, has chosen Lowe's route over Stump's (personally, Stump is one of my climbing idols).

A documentary like this succeeds on the basis of scenery and the personalities of the climbers. The scenery was good; the climbing scenes and the personalities dull.

Everest was an Imax, 3D production. It felt tricked up, to me. In some over-dramatic scenes on the Khumbu ice fall, crevasses spanned by bridges made from ladders appeared to be bottomless, which, I think, is not a feature of the ice fall. Worse, the story-telling was amateurish. What exactly happened to the group that hunkered on the South Col during the storm, unable to find the tents? If you want to know, read the book. The movie fails to tell the story.

The dramatic center of the story is Rob Hall's phone conversation with Keira Knightley (who plays his pregnant wife, back in New Zealand). Hall is stuck near the top of Everest, dying, unable to come down. It's dramatic, but Keira Knightly? Come on.

A couple of minor quibbles: First, the movie talks about how Everest had been climbed only by "professionals" prior to the guided trips, which began a few years before the events of the movie. Huh? The English expeditions -- all the early Everest expeditions and the first ascent in 1952 -- involved no professional climbers, except the Sherpas. The Brits were experts, but amateurs to a man. European expeditions did include Alpine guides, who were professional, but English expeditions did not. Second, the movie has some of the clients talking about climbing Mt. McKinley. Barack Obama has now changed the highest North American peak's name to "Denali", but no climbers would have called it "McKinley" in the 1990s, when the film takes place. The name "Denali" was already firmly established.

I enjoyed both movies, but I would not recommend them to anyone less interested in climbing than I am.

Emil Miller

10-01-2015, 04:30 PM

Hey, Emil. They continued to make movies after 1960s as well! :D

Yes but by then they were just going through the motions.

Number 34

10-01-2015, 08:19 PM

I only saw two of them, the original Dumb and Dumber (1994) and the more recent Dumb and Dumber To (2014). I didn't know there was a prequel. Whether they are "good" or not would depend on who you are talking to. My wife, for example, refused to watch them after seeing the trailers. I could see them again.

The prequel was called Dumb and Dumberer. Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels and the Farrelly brothers weren't involved with it.

YesNo

10-01-2015, 11:06 PM

I'll look for it! Thanks, Number_34!

I just finished watching "Matinee". Rotten Tomatoes thought it was pretty good and so did I: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1041870-matinee/

After seeing "Burying the Ex" and hearing from Rotten Tomatoes that Joe Dante directed better movies, I had to look for some. "Matinee" is one of his comedies.

The story is situated in Key West throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis. People were reasonably afraid that nuclear war was about to start. Undeterred by the fear of disaster a nearly ruined movie maker was going to try to scare the audience at the local theater with radioactive man-ant (mant) mutants hoping the real crisis would drive people to the theater to watch his fabricated one and save his career.

There are two and a half high school couples to provide the love interest. The "half" is a jealous ex boyfriend who was released early from juvenile detention because someone liked his poetry. He wasn't pleased to find that his ex-girlfriend moved on. The other couple is a mix between the son of a career military man and the daughter of parents who would likely be anti-military.

Yeah, it's complicated, but entertaining.

Score: 10/10

byquist

10-12-2015, 09:03 PM

Helga

10-13-2015, 05:39 AM

Watched Wit a tv movie based on a play with the same name. Emma Thompson stars and is brilliant as usual. It's a very gripping movie about cancer and the treatment for it. My professor in my literature and medicine class told me that it is shown to any students studying to be a doctor to show them the importance of empathy and bedside manners.

YesNo

10-13-2015, 04:39 PM

"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" (1962) http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/man_who_shot_liberty_valance/

This was number 45 on the BBC list of the 100 best American films. It was directed by John Ford. http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150720-the-100-greatest-american-films

There are at least two other John Ford movies on the list ("The Searchers" and "Stagecoach") which makes me suspect the list as much as seeing Citizen Kane being number one. Suspect it of what? Of being artsy-fartsy? Pseudo-cultural? Well, the library display is hard to miss and I figured I could use some culture. I suspect it of generating enough desire in me to watch something I probably would not waste my time on were it made more recently.

The movie is a rom-com situated in the wild, wild west where ranchers want an open range and immigrant settlers want their fences.

The main theme is who will Hallie, a young, illiterate, but cute woman pick for her husband? She could pick Ransom Stoddard, a lawyer who comes to town to bring law and order but who can't shoot a gun, or she could pick Tom Doniphon, a rude, but decent guy who can shoot a gun and more importantly can shoot better than Liberty Valance. For some reason Doniphon has not shot Liberty Valance yet although Valance has done enough to have justified a shooting. I suppose Hallie could consider Valance as a possible beau, but Valance is more useful as the bad guy who makes the differences between Doniphon and Stoddard stand out. Eventually Valance goes over the top one too many times and Stoddard challenges him to a duel and, just as the title promises, someone shoots Liberty Valance out of love for Hallie.

I admit I enjoyed the movie although it would not make my top 100 list. One hundred is a very small number. I think it was more interesting than Citizen Kane.

Score: 8/10

Edit: The movie was based on a short story by Dorothy M. Johnson which I just finished. The story was more realistic than the movie which exaggerated the characters making Stoddard too genteel and Doniphon stand out too much in the town. There was no political theme in the story between ranchers and settlers. The marshal was competent and generally ignored. He was not the buffoon the movie turned him into. But the movie got the romance underlying the story correct.

Score for the story: 10/10

kev67

10-13-2015, 05:11 PM

The last movie I saw at the cinema was Inside Out. Some of the small children were a bit upset, which did not surprise me. It was very good, but my favourite Pixar film of those I have seen is Wall-E.

Ecurb

10-16-2015, 12:01 PM

Phoenix, German film. Praised by critics. A little slow in the beginning. Some say it's like Hitch's Vertigo, well, not exactly. Must see again to fully appreciate. Excellent acting. Don't think there is a moment of humor. Sad about her woman friend, seemed unbelievable a little -- why did she do what she did? No reason. Film for Film Studies class, that good.

I saw "Phoenix", too. It was overrated, in accordance with the principle that all holocaust films must be given 4 stars by critics, lest the critics be drummed out of the club.

byquist

10-18-2015, 03:11 PM

Would have to put "Liberty Valance" in top 100 -- super-evil vs. innocence and courage, courage to the point of foolhardiness. But, he risked his life. Plus the Duke controlling events so smoothly. Great story. Stewart showing his specialness.

YesNo

10-18-2015, 10:36 PM

John Ford's "Liberty Valance" movie was good enough to lead me to reading Dorothy Johnson's short story. There was also a hit song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David that Gene Pitney sang based on the movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDN4L7cAQf0

My problem with the movie is that after reading the story, the movie seemed shallow and sentimental. I remember having a similar experience watching "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" after reading the novel by Anita Loos: The novel was great; The movie was mediocre in comparison.

What made the movie disappointing was precisely the super-evil vs innocence theme. John Wayne was a poor choice for Bert Barricune (Tom Doniphon in the movie). Bert was a drunkard and a cattle thief, not the John Wayne anti-bully who could stand up to Liberty Valance when no one else could. Bert could shoot, but so could others in the town including the marshal. Valance had a reward on his head and did not come into town lightly. Ranse Foster (Ransom Stoddard in the movie) was not a nice James Stewart sort of guy who came to the wild west with a law book in his hands. He was educated enough to be able to read Plato in Greek. However, he was also a lazy drifter who scorned those who tried to help him. He spent his time wasting his life preparing to kill Valance because Valance humiliated him earlier.

What made the story memorable was Bert's love for Hallie to the point that he risked a murder sentence by killing Valance so that his rival could marry her and then pushed Ranse to get some basic ambition so Hallie would be happy. Johnson pulled this story off with surprising economy. It was a perfect example of "show, don't tell" writing.

Emil Miller

11-03-2015, 08:10 AM

Behind boisterous student high-jinks in an English university town lies a world of existential angst with a dramatis personae of fairly stock characters.
There is the frigid professor whose frustrated wife seeks solace with the working-class student with a chip on his shoulder.The token black African student overplaying his hand as he tries to be more like the English than they actually are. The shy student whose diffidence makes it hard for him to fit in and is killed in an attempt to do so.
Despite the paucity of plot, the acting is good: especially Paul Rogers as the professor who discovers the truth about his wife which leads to her student lover being sent down.

7/10

YesNo

11-03-2015, 01:33 PM

"Bridge of Spies": http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bridge_of_spies/

There's nothing wrong with the movie. My wife thought this would be a better bet than my choice of "Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse": http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scouts_guide_to_the_zombie_apocalypse/?search=zombie She was probably right.

The movie is about heroism which is an ambiguous state since just about everyone who did something in the movie could be viewed as heroic from some perspective, even the ones shooting into Donovan's home. They all acted selflessly and for some higher end and took risks although some of that selflessness is now viewed as self-righteousness.

There was one scene where Power's insisted that he told his captors nothing and Donovan replied that Powers knew what he did and didn't do and it didn't matter what anyone else thought. That seems to me to be the key challenge that any hero has to face: rejection by the community he is serving.

Score: 9/10

kev67

11-07-2015, 08:46 PM

Just watched the Coen Brothers' adaption of True Grit. There is an odd mid film sag in it, yet it is still a masterpiece imo. I loved the intelligence of Reuben Cogburn, Mattie Ross, La Boeuf, and in particular Ned Pepper. What I loved above all, was the way the vengeful nature of Mattie Ross became apparent. She was at least as intelligent as the others, much more so probably, but the others had a wisdom she lacked. She paid a heavy price.

Also, Domhnall Gleeson: small part but one of the best actors of the world. Jeff Bridges is still one of the best.

YesNo

11-08-2015, 01:18 AM

Spectre: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/spectre_2015/

There are bad guys who have infiltrated the government and are controlling all the data in the world. They are going to do something bad with it. The main bad guy is the son of the man who raised Bond. My wife wanted me to explain the movie to her after it was over. I couldn't, but things blow up and the good guys win and the bad guys lose and Bond gets the girl. And the car.

Score: 8/10

Helga

11-08-2015, 03:14 PM

I know it's not a movie but I went to a movie theatre here on the ice yesterday and saw live stream from London, Hamlet to be accurate and enjoyed it a lot. The stage looked great, Claudius was great, Ophelia was kinda crazy and Hamlet was great too. Clearly a lot more money in the theatre in London then here on the ice, not saying it isn't great here, it's just, everything is bigger. Filming a play is very tricky business and I think we could learn a lot from whoever it was that managed the filming.

Emil Miller

11-09-2015, 06:32 AM

Set in docklands, this British film has a hard row to hoe in that it's audience needs to believe in the central character being a part-time hangman who marries a much younger woman without apprising her of the fact: he is able to do this because he has another name and a job as a hairdresser that protects him from vengeful relatives of those he has hanged.
When he inherits a number of barges from a river transport company that his father owned,he gives up the barber's business and takes up semi-retirement whilst carrying on as a hangman.
His wife agrees to live on one of the barges but a young longshoreman her husband employs begins forcing himself on her which eventually leads to both men fighting. The husband falls into the river and is believed drowned; at which point the woman commits suicide.
Now it gets really weird because the hangman secretly survives and turns up at the prison to execute his employee who has been found guilty of his murder.

5/10

Emil Miller

11-09-2015, 01:30 PM

Back in the 1950s you got a better dressed class of criminal in British adventure films, albeit that they were usually swarthy individuals of foreign extraction and whose nefarious schemes were upset by clean-cut Englishmen.
In the above example, a group of Spanish and French smugglers are being sought by an English chap whose brother has been murdered by the gang.
Set in Barcelona, the plot involves jewel thefts and the export of stolen gold items painted too look like cheap metal copies which are then transported to England for resale as gold.
With the help of a Spanish nightclub singer and a British customs officer, the hero eventually tracks down the gang leader and marries the singer.

Tiresome nonsense typical of the period and instantly forgettable.

4/10

YesNo

11-10-2015, 06:13 PM

Atlas Shrugged (Part 1): http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_part_i/
Atlas Shrugged (Part 2): http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_part_ii/
Atlas Shrugged (Part 3): http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/atlas_shrugged_who_is_john_galt/

Although I heard of Ayn Rand's book, I have never read it. I was kind of hoping to watch these movies as a form of speed reading. Of the three movies the first was the best. The actors changed in the second and in the third. This was disorienting since I watched them one after the other.

It is the near future, 2016 and following, and there is a depression caused by inflation. The Taggert family owns a railroad which is now the chief surviving means of transportation. There are two heirs to the Taggert family, an incompetent male and his sister Dagny who keeps things running in spite of her brother. There is also a sequence of prominent people who voluntarily disappear and the mysterious phrase "Who is John Galt?" keeps coming up.

Dagny and a steel producer lay a new line of tracks and they have an affair. Although these two enjoy some successes the politicians gain too much power and eventually civil liberties collapse as well as their efforts to keep society running.

Dagny finds John Galt who lives in what looks like a high-tech, survivalist Shangri-La using gold coins as money hidden behind a technological illusion of mountains that Galt probably designed. Galt is on a sort of strike against society. In addition to striking he and some of the others have also vowed to bring society down. They sabotage efforts to get the country out of the depression and they ultimately succeed in shutting down the US with its incompetent government. Dagny and Galt have an affair.

Those in the commune have to swear the following oath:

I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man nor use another to live for mine.

There is a final scene where the government captures Galt and straps him against a wall with his arms stretched out as if he is being crucified. Then they give him electric shocks. He seems to temporarily die but Dagny and others save him at the last minute. He resurrects and he lays in her arms in the helicopter like Jesus in Mary's arms in the Pieta statue except Galt is not dead and they are going back to the commune where they will live happily ever after.

As I see it, especially considering the sabotage incidents, Osama bin Ladin would have been proud of them.

Score: 2/10

YesNo

11-11-2015, 07:14 AM

People Places Things: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/people_places_things/

Will is a graphic artist and teacher. During their twin daughter's fifth birthday party he finds (I assume) his wife upstairs having sex with one of the party guests. This destroys their relationship but it takes about a year for the dust to settle and for both of them to move on. The kids are charming and the two fight scenes these guys have are more realistic than any I've seen in any movie. Don't worry. It's a comedy. Will finds someone better.

This was written and directed by James C. Strouse and it was done so well I plan to look for more of his movies.

Score: 10/10

YesNo

11-12-2015, 05:02 PM

Grace Is Gone: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/grace_is_gone/

This is another movie written and directed by James C. Strouse.

Like "People Places Things" this is a story about a father and two young daughters and a problem with the mother. In this movie Stanley's wife is killed in Iraq and he doesn't know how to tell his daughters what happened. Instead he takes them on a road trip first to visit his mother where he finds his brother and then on to an amusement park in Florida. The oldest daughter, about 13, suspects something is wrong, but the youngest, under 10, is still innocent until the end. It is only after they had a day at the amusement park that he parks by a beach. They sit on the sand and Stanley tells his daughters what happened to their mother.

Score: 10/10

bounty

11-15-2015, 11:41 AM

last night I watched the maze runner. if I can get by without giving it a number rating---the movie was utterly riveting. the mystery of "what/why/who/how" grabs you from the very beginning and takes you to the very end, where, since its a part of a series, gives you just a little insight, but then leaves you hanging and wanting to come back for more.

if you like dystopian type stuff (a group of youths living in a glade inside a gigantic maze), I cannot recommend this movie enough. I loved it!

Emil Miller

11-26-2015, 07:06 AM

Peter van Eyck, the one time archetypal villain of British films runs true to form in this story set in a sumptuous mansion on the Italian riviera. He is the husband of a wealthy woman who plans to murder his wife for her money and devises a clever scheme which will make it look like suicide.
Having drugged her, he seals and locks the door before turning on all the gas lamps in the room; protecting himself by wearing a snorkel before disappearing through a concealed trapdoor leading to a cellar.
The police are convinced that the woman took her own life but her daughter by her first marriage arrives from England for the school holidays and, due to the fact that she witnessed him kill her father in what was made to look like an accident, suspects that her stepfather has done the deed.
The rest of the story concerns how she works out how it was done and the eventual comeuppance of the killer.
Apart from the usual plot holes, it's an enjoyably unpretentious little film in b/w minus the swearing and unnecessary sex and violence that characterises present-day rubbish.

7/10

YesNo

11-26-2015, 10:37 AM

Clueless: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/clueless

This is a sweet fairy tale rom-com written and directed by Amy Heckerling. It was on display because it was selected as one of the 100 best comedies by some writers group. I keep trying to get cultured and so I am a sucker for such displays.

Anyway, I realized I saw this before, but the memories were positive. Apparently this is based on Austen's novel "Emma". It is the story of how Cher (Alicia Silverstone), a sixteen year old rich and popular girl, helps her classmates get better grades by getting the two toughest grading teachers to fall in love and how she plays matchmaker for a new girl in school. She mother-hens her lawyer father as well. Between shopping and taking care of people she barely has time for school. She needs a boyfriend, but high school boys are beneath her sense of social status until she met a new student who dressed as well as she did and she gave it her best shot unaware that he was gay. Fortunately, there is a college age male (Paul Rudd) who is the son of a woman her father divorced after her mother died whom she scorns as a brother, but since he isn't biologically her brother, well, this is a rom-com and someone is going to be her boyfriend.

I'm usually critical of what pops up in the 100 best of anything lists, but in this case, they got it right.

Score: 10/10

Emil Miller

11-27-2015, 04:00 PM

This BBC television adaptation of one of M.R.James's ghost stories is very atmospheric in the way that only the English can be. No in your face effects but truly eerie in their presentation.
I imagine that the author took Barchester from Trollope's novels and the ecclesiastical setting is perfectly captured.
Told in flashback by a scholarly librarian who is cataloguing the cathedral's library. He is reading about a former arch deacon who
came into the office having waited years from his predecessor to die and it's hinted that the new man was complicit in the older man's death : something that has very unnerving consequences for the younger man.

!0/10

https://youtu.be/dcZu1SzPwCE

qimissung

11-28-2015, 06:13 PM

Haha, was it well-acted, yesno? I read that in college, but as it was a number of years ago I have absolutely no memory of the plot. I remember Dagny's name, and I remember she had a coming out party at the beginning and she became very disillusioned with people and society by the end of it, if I remember correctly.

The play sounds really good, Helga. There's a movie based on "MacBeth" coming out soon that I'd love to see.

I went to see "Spotlight" which is the story of the journalists who shone the "spotlight" on the Catholic priests who were sexually abusing children. The name of the movie comes from the name of the group who worked at The Boston Globe doing deep research on various stories over a long period of time. The movie was excellent, told in a very understated way, focusing on the research and the determination of the journalists to tell the story well and to expose the systemic cover-up of the abuse, which stretched from local churches up to the Vatican itself. 9/10

YesNo

11-29-2015, 09:42 AM

Haha, was it well-acted, yesno? I read that in college, but as it was a number of years ago I have absolutely no memory of the plot. I remember Dagny's name, and I remember she had a coming out party at the beginning and she became very disillusioned with people and society by the end of it, if I remember correctly.

I can't remember Emma either. The acting in Clueless was so realistically unreal that I knew it was a fantasy and at the same time I could identify with the characters.

Some of the comedies I have seen lately are so unreal I don't know what to think. For example, there's "The Night Before" (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_night_before_2015/). My favorite character was the girl (Ilana Glazer) who called herself Rebecca Grinch. (Score 5/10)

Gilliatt Gurgle

11-29-2015, 11:40 AM

Jurassic World
The son was home for the Thanksgiving break.
With nothing planned on a rainy Saturday night, the three of us watched JW, this is what compromise gets you.
It turned out the only version available was in 3-d leaving us with a dual or split screen format, so I found a piece of board to cover half the TV screen.
Anyhow, the acting was a predictable, 10 pound block of processed cheddar.
The action parts may have been worthwhile on a theater screen, but watching on half of a 33 inch TV screen...meh.

4/10 - I like the concept of trained velociraptors.

byquist

11-30-2015, 12:32 AM

Suffragette -- superb film!
Brooklyn -- fine film.
t.v. Miss Fisher (private detective in Australia) on Netflix -- spunky.

Tyrion Cheddar

12-04-2015, 05:15 PM

The Transporter: Refueled

As a fan of the original, Jason Statham Transporter movies, I thought I'd give this latest version a try, suspecting though I did, from watching the trailer, that it would be sliced excrement. Well, the trailer turns out to have been well-made. Mind you, rectal though the film was, I did sit through it, which is more than I can say for most movies nowadays. I guess a little mindless action, combined with long-legged beautiful women and fast cars speeding down the roads of Morocco is balm for the soul. Or something.

YesNo

12-04-2015, 09:58 PM

Wrongfully Accused: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Wrongfully_Accused/

I've seen worse.

Score 6/10

Emil Miller

12-05-2015, 09:51 AM

Back in the 1950s, Hollywood discovered the teenager, hence: Teenagers from Outer Space.
Although somewhat older than teenagers, the alien visitors are bent on trouble with the intention of using the Earth as a breeding ground for monsters: a specimen of which they have brought with them.
Equipped with an appalling script, they also have a ray gun that reduces vertebrates to skeletons ....." You are not familiar with the focusing disintigrator ray?" and with equally risible performances it gets a 2/10 because the cast managed their lines without laughing.

Tyrion Cheddar

12-05-2015, 02:11 PM

Calidore

12-05-2015, 02:28 PM

Re. The aliens being "somewhat older than teenagers": Traditionally, the actors were as well.

Gilliatt Gurgle

12-05-2015, 03:08 PM

Emil Miller

12-06-2015, 08:24 AM

Emil, I enjoyed that review and got a chortle out of it. Next time I see some risible movie involving teenagers and the paranormal listed in iTunes (this time tomorrow, very likely), I'll remember they were making such fecal matter as far back as 1959.

The first teenage exploitation film ( I was a Teenage Werewolf ) predates Teenagers from Outer Space by two years.
Not forgetting 'I was a Teenage Frankenstein' made in the same year as the werewolf epic and completely ignoring the fact that Frankenstein was the name of the mad scientist and not that of the monster.

Thank you Emil, you just made my weekend, this is right up my alley.
I'll mark it as one to watch.

Well Gilliatt, it's always gratifying to know that cinematic masterpieces are respected by members of the forum.

amelie88

12-06-2015, 04:15 PM

Last movie for me was Never Let Me Go. Beautiful film with excellent actors (I am a huge Keira Knightley fan). I will give it 7/10 only because it was extremely sad and depressing from beginning to end! My own fault, though, I knew what I was getting into!

YesNo

12-07-2015, 01:20 AM

Another Year: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/another_year_2010/

I realized I saw this some years ago. It was painful to watch again. Perhaps one needs pain every now and then.

This is the story of Mary (Leslie Manville) and her unhappiness due to her sense of inadequacy with her work, the few men around her and her car especially when she compares herself with her friend, Gerri (Ruth Sheen). Her unhappiness doesn't get resolved even though this has been shelved with the comedies in the library. You might as well shelve "Titus Andronicus" with the comedies.

It was written and directed by Mike Leigh and I mention that because I am trying to remember who these writers are. I'll see if I can find more of his work. Although it depressed me, it still deserved a high score.

Score: 10/10

YesNo

12-09-2015, 01:17 AM

Aloha: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/aloha_2015/

A private businessman is planning to sneak weapons on a satellite, but he has to get by the conscience of a contractor and a female fighter pilot. There is also an old girlfriend who now has two children the contractor needs to deal with and he does that as well as he handled that businessman. Written and directed by Cameron Crowe.

Rotten tomatoes, both the critics and the regular people, didn't like it, but I had a good time. The plot didn't make a lot of sense, like why is a businessman trying to put nukes on a satellite, but those are irrelevant details.

Score: 10/10

Calidore

12-09-2015, 08:39 AM

It was written and directed by Mike Leigh and I mention that because I am trying to remember who these writers are. I'll see if I can find more of his work.

I can highly recommend Life Is Sweet.

YesNo

12-09-2015, 11:13 AM

Thanks, Calidore. I have Leigh's "All or Nothing" that I plan to watch tonight. I'll see if I can find "Life is Sweet" in the library.

YesNo

12-16-2015, 08:10 AM

I got sidetracked from the Mike Leigh movies perhaps because of the holidays and watched three animation films:

Betty Boop The Essential Collection volume 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boop

I didn't know that Max Fleischer did both Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye) although Popeye originated with Elzie Crisier Segar. Betty Boop and Olive Oyl are two entertaining female characters. These 1930 decade cartoons are somewhat tedious to watch especially the transformations that added the surprise.

Score: 3/10, but worth watching to get a feeling for how far we have come since the 1930s.

Minions: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/minions/

Now this is how cartoons should be made. The basic plot is how the minions found a bad buy bad enough for them to serve and not accidentally kill in the process.

Score: 10/10

Inside Out: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inside_out_2015/

The theme is that Joy and Sadness have to work together and sometimes Joy being too bubbly and optimistic takes control and has to learn to share.

Score: 10/10

Emil Miller

12-21-2015, 04:51 PM

From one of the most striking openings in cinematic history, Fellini leads on to a critique of Rome's café society of the 1950s via the restless search for a gossip writer's escape to a life of genuine literary endeavour.
Escaping from his glitzy fast-moving existence proves too much for the leading character who eventually gets swallowed up by the superficial world from which he earns his living as he disintegrates into a drunken lout who embodies the irony of the film's title.
At three hours, this morality tale is perhaps a little too long but such is Fellini's innovative direction and shot with brilliant black and white camerawork , it commands attention to the end.

https://youtu.be/uo84caBoToQ

10/10

Helga

12-23-2015, 05:16 AM

Well I am a fantasy and sci-fi nerd in more ways than you know so, the last movie I saw was Star Wars the Force Awakens. I loved it. really did, no spoilers, apparently you get death threats if you spoil. I think they used a bit too much of New Hope references but it was ok. Probably one of the best women in the galaxy was finally found, Leia was awesome in the old trilogy but Rey is a better fighter and I liked her. Kylo Ren, brilliant as Adam Driver is.

Liked it a lot, I was a bit nervous because I don't like what JJ did to Star Trek but SW is field apparently.

Emil Miller

12-24-2015, 07:07 AM

It's 1913 and Robert Donat is sent to Russia by the government to infiltrate the burgeoning revolutionary movement and to gain information on it's potential threat to British interests. Implicated in a plot to assassinate a high ranking officer, he is arrested by the Czarist police and sent to Siberia where he languishes until freed by revolutionary forces when the revolution breaks out some years later.
On his return to Moscow, he falls for a Countess, played by Marlene Dietrich, who is going to be tried as an aristocrat and probably executed but, using his position as a trusted revolutionary, he manages to smuggle her out of the country to the safety of Romania after a series of hair raising escapades.
Produced by the great Alexander Korda, the production values are remarkable and give a real feel to what it must have been like in Russia at that time but it's a pity that throughout the vicissitudes of revolution and flight,Marlene Dietrich's make-up remains firmly in place: did they have false eyelashes in Russia in 1917?

9/10

Emil Miller

01-02-2016, 04:07 PM

James Hadley Chase's pulp fiction novel becomes a pulp fiction film in this British 1940's shocker supposedly set in New York but actually filmed at Twickenham studios London with an entire English cast; except for Jack LaRue who specialised in American small time gangster parts.
The story involves a kidnapped heiress to a great fortune who falls in love with her gang boss kidnapper.
The gratuitous violence led to the film being denounced from pulpits and watch committees throughout the land and established the film as a cult classic that has now been reissued among 'The Best of British Collection'.
Despite such criticisms as, 'A most most vicious display of sadism, brutality and suggestiveness', it is pretty tame by today's OTT blood letting and isn't as penny-pinched as one might imagine. The villain's nightclub is quite a lavish affair with a couple of good numbers from the resident girl singer who is spurned by the broodingly charismatic Jack LaRue in favour of the classy Miss Blandish.

7/10

https://youtu.be/MeducJKJNbM

YesNo

01-03-2016, 08:40 AM

Ecurb

01-08-2016, 11:07 AM

We saw this recently. It reminded me of the original Star Wars movie. Is Rey the daughter of someone important in the story?

Well, yes, it reminded me of the original Star Wars movie, too. That's because the plot was an exact copy of the original Star Wars. The Force Awakens wasn't horrible, but it was dull, derivative and lacking in originality. The dramatic entrances of Han, Leia and Luke were good for a bit of nostalgia, but that was about it.

The new Darth Vader character (I forget his name) was pathetic. Darth Vader was one of the great movie villains. His descendant isn't scary, isn't tough, and isn't worth watching. He doesn't even have his own theme music (the Darth Vader theme being a classic).

I assume Rey is the daughter of either Han and Leia or Luke -- but we don't know yet. All will be revealed in time, if we shell out the money to sit through another sequel. I'll grant that she's a decent enough character, as is the new droid, but the hero pilot, the reformed storm trooper (Fin?) and the new Darth Vader are worthless.

YesNo

01-08-2016, 07:45 PM

The new Darth Vader didn't seem bad enough even when he went on his rampages with the light saber. I think Rey is Luke's daughter. Leia or Han would have recognized her.

What happened to Yoda? He reminded me of Dobby in Harry Potter or Dobby reminded me of him.

Emil Miller

01-09-2016, 12:09 PM

This YouTube documentary bills itself a 'conspiracy shocker'; if you believe it's a conspiracy you are unlikely to be shocked: otherwise you certainly will be. According to the video's assembled witnesses, Bill Clinton was a cocaine addict who, while governor of Arkansas, was involved in smuggling large amounts of cocaine into the USA: his brother Roger was charged with possession of the drug.
Moreover, two young boys who witnessed the unloading of the drug at a secluded airstrip, were found dead on a railway line on which Governor Clinton's medical examiner said they had fallen asleep.
A number of people investigating his administration were said to have committed suicide and at least one woman claims that he had sexually assaulted her.
Now whether it is true or simply a scurrilous attempt to blunt Hilary Clinton's shot at the White House, is something the audience will have to decide individually but, interestingly, nothing is mentioned about President Clinton ignoring flagrant breaches of the Glass-Steagall Act and finally annulling it at the behest of the banking lobby; all of which led to the near collapse of the banking system in 2007/8.

Perhaps somebody should have told him........'It's the economy, stupid'.

8/10

YesNo

01-10-2016, 09:50 AM

...at least one woman claims that he had sexually assaulted her.....

Anything with Bill Clinton and sex in it seems plausible to me after recalling his denial of involvement with Monica Lewinski. It is even more embarrassing since I voted for him. Were I more politically motivated, I would watch this. You did pick out a good documentary earlier on the Apollo missions. I'll never be the same after watching that one.

Emil Miller

01-10-2016, 11:01 AM

Anything with Bill Clinton and sex in it seems plausible to me after recalling his denial of involvement with Monica Lewinski. It is even more embarrassing since I voted for him. Were I more politically motivated, I would watch this. You did pick out a good documentary earlier on the Apollo missions. I'll never be the same after watching that one.

The problem with YouTube videos is that one needs to be circumspect in choosing what to watch. Many of them are obviously silly and posted by cranks but some are quite professionally done and worth watching. I imagine some are posted as disinformation by those who want to discredit all YouTube videos as the work of conspiracy theorists and thus discourage others from investigating cases of abuse by those agencies called into question.

I would think that quite a lot of people were disconcerted by the Apollo documentary. That take-off from the Moon's surface was pure Legoland regardless of whether men had walked on the Moon or not.

papayahed

01-10-2016, 11:10 AM

Star Wars: The Force Awakens. 8/10.

Emil Miller

01-11-2016, 05:03 PM

This BBC documentary corresponds pretty much to my own experience of a disastrous decade when infantile exhibitionism and political and economic irresponsibility led to the collapse of 1976.
It ushered in the age of charlatanry when millions were taken to the cleaners by singers who couldn't sing, politicians who couldn't govern and architects who couldn't design...... as witness the very gratifying last few minutes of this cautionary tale.

9/10

https://youtu.be/VJM-xA8PcQ8

swathisharan

01-13-2016, 04:01 AM

If it is in theater then minions

YesNo

01-13-2016, 08:59 AM

I thought Minions was pretty good. Those happy little guys kept accidentally killing off the bad guy whom they wanted to help, but that didn't discourage them from trying again.

qimissung

01-15-2016, 11:04 PM

Room with Brie Larsen and Jacob Tremblay. This was an excellent movie about a very difficult subject, beautifully and delicately handled.

YesNo

01-16-2016, 02:33 PM

Irrational Man by Woody Allen: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/irrational_man/

This is the story of a famous, but burnt-out philosophy professor (the irrational man) who goes to a new school where one of the married female faculty members and one of his attached female students (the irrational women) try to get this dark, plump, life-defying, mystery man in bed with them in spite of their current relationships. He is able to avoid their attempts until he finds a reason for living.

If you like the Woody Allen style of trashing deep existential intellectuals, as I do, you should like this movie. It also should appeal to the crowd who are a little too mature for a rom-com, but like to watch men and women make life entertaining for their neighbors.

Those at Rotten Tomatoes didn't think much of the movie and admittedly the general anti-intellectualist plot did seem to have been done many times before. But I'm not as picky as most and I had a good time.

Score: 10/10

Emil Miller

01-17-2016, 04:46 PM

A rare excursion into post-studio system films for me, this didn't particularly impress and was more or less what I expected.
The body count was reminiscent of a minor war and much of the the dialogue was mumbled and almost required sub-titles.
The format was similar to that of 'The Terminator' with a practically indestructible villain who kills about 15-20 people while on the trail of a man who has stolen $2 million dollars of drug money.
Eventually he is involved in a car crash which apparently kills the other driver and leaves the villain badly damaged but, as with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he still continues staggering on in pursuit of the money: I actually laughed when he climbed out of the wrecked car and walked around like Frankenstein's monster.

Definitely a movie for (very) young men but no film for an older generation.

6/10

qimissung

01-18-2016, 01:38 PM

The Martian. Fun movie. 8/10

Anomalisa. Brilliant movie. 9/10

Emil Miller

01-22-2016, 04:19 PM

Directed by Robert Aldrich this is a remake of No Orchids for Miss Blandish that I reviewed recently.
Unlike the British version, Aldrich sets the action in the 1920s rather than the 1940s, so the film has a very different ambiance even though it adheres broadly to the original story.
Whereas the British film was a pastiche of the American gangster films of the period, the US version is a satire on the gangster films of the twenties with everyone killing everyone else and a Keystone cops motorcycle chase at the end.

Searching through some correspondence yesterday I came upon this missive that has some bearing on the British film:

Dear Emil,

The other day, as is my wont, I was sitting in the bath contemplating one of life's little absurdities ( No
not that one! ) concerning the unlikely prospect of seeing certain films again: one of which was that
outstanding example of cinematic crumminess 'No Orchids for Miss Blandish.'
You can imagine my surprise when, a few days later, I received the NFT programme for April which
showed that it will be screened on Friday, April 2nd at 8.30 pm.
As an aficionado of the genre, you might care to see it. If not, a glance at the following critique from
Halliwell's Film Guide may change your mind.

An heiress is kidnapped by gangsters and falls for their psychopathic leader.
Hilariously awful gangster movie from a bestselling shocker.
Everyone concerned is all at sea, and the result is one of the worst films ever made.

There, you can't say fairer than that!

Of course, it's not quite the same as seeing it in 1948, because one misses the effect of leaving the
cinema with popcorn and choc-ice all down the front of one's suit, but for £2.00 it's still a
bargain for all practising sado-masochists.
Should you be interested, please call me on 703 0911 ext.211, 9 am-6 pm and I will try to get a
couple of tickets with a gangway seat.

à bientôt

Willi

Ecurb

01-28-2016, 07:43 PM

I saw "The Revenant" yesterday. This film has been nominated for a dozen Academy Awards, and Leo DiCaprio is the favorite to win "best actor", presumably due to his ability to groan as if in pain. He performs this feat for perhaps an hour of the 2 hour + movie, and, although he does it well, it began to bore this member of the audience.

The movie is based on a novel which is based on a legend which is based on (perhaps) a true story. It involves Hugh Glass, a mountain man in the 1820s. He gets attacked by Indians, mauled by a grizzly, and abandoned by his compatriots. I read an earlier version of the story, maybe 30 years ago, and the movie appears to spruce up the tale in predictable ways: the Indians are more noble (they are searching for one of their stolen women, even though she was stolen by a different group of white men than those that they massacre.). Glass is given a half-breed son whom the villain of the piece murders (in the book Glass is motivated by revenge for being abandoned, but it's unclear whether the abandonment was a reasonable triage, so his desire for revenge is not completely justified).

"Revenant is directed by Alejandro Inarratu, who took home some Oscars for "Birdman" last year. It is spectacularly pretty (Emmanuel Lubezki is the cinematographer). But Glass's test of endurance in crawling back to civilization while badly injured becomes a test of endurance for the audience. It reminded me of "Gravity", another movie about a solo survival. Gravity was also pretty -- but movies are essentially "dramatic" -- that is, as in dramas, characters are best elucidated through dialog. DiCaprio relies on grunting and moaning in pain instead of talking to further his (apparently considerable) Oscar hopes.

In addition, Inarratu seems to enjoy shock for shock's sake. The grizzly mauling continues endlessly; at one point, Glass eviscerates a dead horse and crawls inside it (eeewww, gross!) for no better reason than to keep warm (whats wrong with his buffalo pelt?). When Glass catches a fish, he stands in the icy water eating it raw (shouldn't the master survivalist, however hungry, worry about freezing his feet off?).

Inarratu employs some magical realism (as he did in Birdman), but it seems a mere flourish, and is not essential to the movie. I skipped "The Martian" earlier this year, because I though that, like Gravity or Castaway, movies about people surviving on their own tend to be dull. They lack interpersonal drama. I'm not sorry I saw "The Revenant" -- but it's not a great candidate for the Best Picture Oscar.

YesNo

01-28-2016, 09:41 PM

I agree with you about Gravity. I'll postpone seeing The Martian as well.

Ecurb

01-28-2016, 10:22 PM

I was thinking a bit more about my preference for dialog in delineating character. I'm not a big Cormac McCarthy fan (for example) possibly because he prefers description and action to dialog. IN the last five years we've seen critically acclaimed, award winning movies like "Silent Movie", "Gravity". "The Martian (which I haven't seen) and now "The Revenant". Are modern "auteur" directors trying to eliminate "competition" from screen writers and playwrights for the "auteur" title? Thinking further, I'm a big Terrence Malick fan -- so I like SOME visually exciting movies lacking good dialog. I don't get Leonardo DiCaprio as a favorite for "best actor", though.

Ecurb

02-18-2016, 07:01 PM

I saw "Creed" the other night. It's the seventh (I think) Rocky film -- I didn't see 5 or 6, but enjoyed the others, especially the original. In addition, "Creed" has been mentioned as one reason to boycott the Oscars for racism, because Michael Jordan (no, not the shoe salesman) wasn't nominated for best actor (despite, supposedly, being deserving). Sly Stallone gave a decent performance as Rocky, redolent of nostalgia, but the movie didn't quite cut it. Why root for a millionaire who takes up boxing? It lacks the "underdog" panache of the original "Rocky". There was no reason to nominate Jordan for best actor -- the role is slight. Save your money.

YesNo

02-25-2016, 11:16 AM

Whatever Works: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/whatever_works/

This is a delightful Woody Allen movie. The main character is an anti-social, depressed, negatively spun quantum physicist and the three women in his life. Although he is supposedly brilliant, an almost Nobel Prize winner, the easiest way he can think of to leave a woman is by jumping out the window. That would work, but his suicide attempts are never successful. He always falls onto something that breaks his fall right at the bottom sort of like the universe sparing him for his next ordeal or wife. Of course he doesn't believe the universe cares enough about him to waste its time plotting against him, or that it could care at all, but for someone who doesn't believe in the significance of coincidences, his life is full of them pairing him with women whose views of reality oppose his own.

Score: 10/10

Lokasenna

02-25-2016, 12:08 PM

Went to see Deadpool, pandering to my love of all things spandex-clad.

I felt rather let down by it actually, having expected to enjoy it. Though stylish, it was nowhere near as clever as it thought it was, the plot was non-existent, and it rapidly fell into the tired narrative tropes that it had initially set out to mock. For all its big Holywood budget, it somehow felt cheap and nasty.

Danik 2016

02-25-2016, 05:06 PM

"Mustang"
A film about 5 girls (sisters)that live in Turkey and what they do to escape repression.
Lovely, sad and revolting. Rate:8,5

bounty

02-26-2016, 02:36 PM

...pandering to my love of all things spandex-clad....

lokasenna, have you seen kick-***?

its overly vulgar, ridiculously violent, and tremendously absurd, but I found in spite of that, I still liked it...

that's funny---the forum software's editing out "mass" minus the "m."

Lokasenna

02-26-2016, 03:13 PM

lokasenna, have you seen kick-***?

its overly vulgar, ridiculously violent, and tremendously absurd, but I found in spite of that, I still liked it...

that's funny---the forum software's editing out "mass" minus the "m."

Yes, I've seen Kick-(m)*** - I really enjoyed it, thinking it a clever riff on superhero films. The second film, though, was utterly awful.

bounty

02-26-2016, 10:42 PM

i agree, and given how much i liked the original, i soooo wanted it to be good. i enjoyed snippets, but on the whole boy it was a movie that probably shouldn't have been made.

YesNo

02-27-2016, 10:34 AM

We were planning to see Deadpool, but when we had the opportunity the weather kept us home.

I've seen a couple of the Marvel movies: Ant-Man and The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Ant-Man was the best of the two, because the underlying conflict in the human relationships seemed better done. They both deserved an 8 out of 10.

Tyrion Cheddar

02-27-2016, 06:15 PM

I saw Victor Frankenstein, the new take on the old story with Daniel Radcliffe and James McAvoy. McAvoy, of whom I am generally a fan, overacted his way through this evening constitutional as the the title character. Daniel Radcliffe was impressive enough, I've come to discover he's actually rather good in his post-Potter life (see Horns if you haven't.) Jessica Brown Findley is loveliness itself, and Andrew Scott was his characteristic self. Not all bad, but ultimately leading nowhere and tedious. Too little of Jessica and too much of James McAvoy vying for Ham of the Year.

Helga

02-29-2016, 12:33 PM

Deadpool, I enjoyed it a lot

qimissung

03-07-2016, 02:08 AM

The Clouds of Sils Maria. Very meta, I gather. I loved it, being a fan of Kristen Stewart (who won a Cesar for her trouble) and Juliette Binoche.

Tyrion Cheddar

03-07-2016, 03:38 PM

Went to see Deadpool, pandering to my love of all things spandex-clad.

Meant to ask you if this includes Scarlett Johansson's rear end?

Snowqueen

04-01-2016, 10:59 AM

Watched Solace last week and liked it. Anthony Hopkins was great and so was Colin Farrel. 7/10

YesNo

04-05-2016, 06:22 PM

Harry and the Hendersons: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/harry_and_the_hendersons/

This is an old movie from the 20th century, but entertaining. It was the best Bigfoot movie I've ever seen as well as the only Bigfoot movie I've ever seen unless those Messing with Sasquatch ads count as movies. I know Rotten Tomatoes thought it was rotten.

Score: 9/10

Danik 2016

04-06-2016, 12:18 AM

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macadam_Stories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ZimujeJzk
I enjoyed it very much.
Score: 9/10

YesNo

05-07-2016, 04:54 PM

The trailer looked interesting. I'll see if I can find Macadam Stores / Asphalte in the library.

I've been having a hard time trying to find a movie I can tolerate finishing. This is unusual for me since I can sit through most anything. However, one movie I was able to finish, "Not Another Teen Movie": http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/not_another_teen_movie/

Rotten Tomatoes thought it stunk, but what do they know? I give it a 10/10. Get the uncensored director's cut.

My wife sent me a YouTube clip of Rudolph Nurejev in Swan Lake. If you like ballet, and especially if you don't, this might be worth three minutes of your time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHbGqJ_MonU

I give that a score of 10/10.

Danik 2016

05-07-2016, 08:19 PM

LOL The "pig" dances wonderfully! 10/10 for the pig and 10/10 for Nurejev.
I hope you find and enjoy Asphalte. End of times relationships with drama and humour.

Helga

05-08-2016, 12:34 PM

I saw Captain America: Civil War, probably the best Avengers movie, if Loki had been there it would have been perfect...

Black Panther was brilliant, easily the best part of the movie

Emil Miller

05-10-2016, 01:05 PM

Taken from a celebrated stage play, this British film concerns the poisoning of the wealthy wife of a village school teacher in Victorian England and the quest by a Scotland Yard police inspector to uncover which of three suspects, who all stood to gain from the deceased's will, administered the poison. The director skillfully keeps one guessing by showing that each suspect was equally likely to have been the murderer only to subsequently sow doubt in the viewer's mind.
The ending has a twist that shows not only who killed the victim but why, and it has nothing to do with money.

9/10

Snowqueen

05-13-2016, 01:56 PM

I have started watching Sherlock ( TV Series). It's quite good.

Also watched X-Men: Days of Future Past and liked it. I really enjoyed the scene where Quickslive shows off his powers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NnyVc8r2SM

Emil Miller

05-14-2016, 11:44 AM

Jennifer Jones, who must surely have been one of the most beautiful women ever, gives a good performance as a gypsy girl in 19th century England.
The famed partnership of Powell and Pressburger, who produced a number of outstanding films, should have avoided this one however, for the wild gypsy girl is pursued by a rampant Squire: the very stuff of Victorian melodrama and reminiscent of a Barbara Cartland bodice ripper.
The camerawork and scenery are outstanding but the plot leaves much to be desired.

http://i.imgur.com/CaEVgId.jpg

Emil Miller

05-18-2016, 07:22 AM

At 71 minutes duration this film has been made by the vote to leave the European Union side of the forthcoming UK referendum.
It's a compelling series of grounds for getting out of what is a ragbag of internationalist wishful thinking, working principally for an axis of power centered on Berlin and Brussels.
The film shows how EU restrictive trade practices keeps Europe from acting in its best interest, but perhaps the biggest eye-opener is the sheer size of the bureaucracy and the salaries that are paid to those running it. According to the film, 10,000 EU personnel earn more than the UK Prime Minister, with all kinds of additional perks added to their salaries. This massive bureaucracy has impoverished large parts of southern Europe to the benefit of the north: principally Germany.
The film also gives the lie to the idea that the UK would lose trade by leaving. The UK already does far more trade with the rest of the world than with the EU and imports more from Europe than it exports.
UKIP notwithstanding, it defies belief how anyone, who wasn't in on this costly racket, would vote to remain after seeing this film.

10/10

YesNo

05-18-2016, 07:18 PM

I just saw Brexit the Movie. I didn't realize that Switzerland was not part of the EU. This was very informative overall. Score 10/10.

Dreamwoven

05-19-2016, 01:20 AM

I just saw Brexit the Movie. I didn't realize that Switzerland was not part of the EU. This was very informative overall. Score 10/10.

Switzerland with its cantons and decentralised (and German-speaking) was the refuge of ordoliberals fleeing from Nazi Germany, several got chairs in Swiss Universities, gave them many ideas that were new at the time. Nor is Norway in the EU, nor is Iceland. Nor are any of the Balkan countries, though they are applying. Nor is Turkey, nor Israel.

Dreamwoven

05-19-2016, 01:23 AM

I would add Russia to the countries not in the EU, and Belarus.

YesNo

05-19-2016, 07:56 AM

RalphX3

05-19-2016, 08:06 AM

I would add Russia to the countries not in the EU, and Belarus.

I would be surprised about Belarus. Why some would want two incompetent tyrannies is beyond me.

Dreamwoven

05-19-2016, 09:44 AM

I don't think the Eurocrats want them, but my point was that Russia west of the Urals is larger than the rest of Europe put together. There is a website called "the other side of Europe": http://www.oseweb.org/. Let us also remember that Ukraine isn't part of the EU either, it will be interesting to see if they are accepted once they apply in 2020: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine%E2%80%93European_Union_relations.

Emil Miller

05-19-2016, 12:39 PM

The US and China aren't there either, but since Switzerland is in the middle of what I imagine Europe to be I assumed it would have been swallowed up by the EU by default. I thought Norway was in the EU, come to think of it. Turkey and Israel seem a little far from Europe in my naive map of that part of reality and Iceland is in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

The movie did present an interesting idea that if Britain were not in the EU it would be prosperous because it wouldn't have a self-serving bureaucracy manipulating it. That may be true for all I know and it is as good a reason to leave the EU as the justification the US made to leave Britain a couple centuries ago. And doesn't Scotland keep trying to leave Britain? Maybe social mood today favors decentralization?

Switzerland isn't in the EU because constitutionally it is neutral, a fact that kept it out of European and two World Wars. So while others were squandering their wealth fighting each other, Switzerland prospered. Even if Germany had wanted to incorporate it into the 3rd Reich, strategically it would have been too costly because Switzerland is surrounded by mountains and easily defended.
It is probably the only true democracy in the world because the government cannot pass major legislation without a referendum; this gives the public a whip hand over their elected representatives: would that we had such a system in the UK.
Scotland has only recently been in a position to seek withdrawal from the UK since the Scottish Nationalists' became the governing party in Scotland.
Social mood does favour decentralisation but, because there is no Swiss referendum system to defend it, governments have carte blanche to impose globalisation on their citizens.

YesNo

05-19-2016, 01:57 PM

I forgot about those mountains. That makes their country a natural castle.

I don't know much about Brexit, but it seems like a general problem. The benefits derived from having a bureaucracy babysit you so you don't hurt yourself have to out-weight the joy of not having a back-seat driver telling you every turn to take. It's a tough choice. Generally I favor making my own mistakes.

Dreamwoven

05-20-2016, 12:19 AM

Switzerland isn't in the EU because constitutionally it is neutral, a fact that kept it out of European and two World Wars. So while others were squandering their wealth fighting each other, Switzerland prospered. Even if Germany had wanted to incorporate it into the 3rd Reich, strategically it would have been too costly because Switzerland is surrounded by mountains and easily defended.
It is probably the only true democracy in the world because the government cannot pass major legislation without a referendum; this gives the public a whip hand over their elected representatives: would that we had such a system in the UK.
Scotland has only recently been in a position to seek withdrawal from the UK since the Scottish Nationalists' became the governing party in Scotland.
Social mood does favour decentralisation but, because there is no Swiss referendum system to defend it, governments have carte blanche to impose globalisation on their citizens.

This sums up the situation beautifully.

YesNo

05-20-2016, 12:43 AM

I saw "Art School Confidential": http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/art_school_confidential/

Again Rotten Tomatoes and I do not agree, but I can see why they trashed this.

The story is about a young man, Jerome, who goes to art school because he falls in love with the nude model in the school's brochure and he wants to be the Picasso of the 21st century. He meets the model, but she doesn't like his realistic drawings of her. Instead she falls for a taller, perhaps more handsome (but I have no clue what goes through a female mind when it comes to male beauty) and dangerous looking student whose work is more primitive. Everyone likes this guy's work because their inept teacher who spent 25 years learning how to draw triangles liked it.

There's a serial killer in the area and ultimately the incompetent police catch someone. They get the wrong guy, but that doesn't really bother anyone in the end.

Jerome has two roommates. One of them is gay and the other is a moron. Typical, but uninteresting, things happen to these two characters. There are a lot of goofy art students in his classes to help pass the time.

The more I try to describe this movie the more my rating of it drops so I better stop here.

Score: 6/10

Dreamwoven

05-20-2016, 01:26 AM

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Redoubt_(Switzerland)

Emil Miller

05-20-2016, 11:28 AM

Here's an Australian view that agrees with BREXIT the Movie.

https://youtu.be/8f6v7ZwKw_s

Emil Miller

05-20-2016, 11:29 AM

Duplicated post.

YesNo

05-20-2016, 10:59 PM

How is it that Britain retained the pound? Shouldn't you be using the euro if you are in the EU? It looks like you are half out of the EU already.

Emil Miller

05-21-2016, 08:58 AM

How is it that Britain retained the pound? Shouldn't you be using the euro if you are in the EU? It looks like you are half out of the EU already.

The Euro is fundamentally a German currency i.e. A revamped Deutsche mark foisted on to the European populace without it having a vote on the matter; even the German public were against it but Helmut Kohl, in cahoots with Brussels, brought it in anyway. The UK obtained an opt out and retained the pound.

Dreamwoven

05-21-2016, 09:33 AM

YesNo

05-21-2016, 09:58 AM

Emil Miller

05-21-2016, 10:12 AM

I didn't know that about the origins of the Euro. Very interesting, Emil.

If you go to this link - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_and_the_euro you will see that Sweden opted out of joining the Euro (along with the other countries on the map in the above link coloured in yellow). I am also a member of the Nej till EU (https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folkr%C3%B6relsen_Nej_till_EU) Movement. Unfortunately Wikipedia only has this in Swedish. Converting to the Euro was rejected in a referendum held in 2003.

Well it's a bogus Deutsche mark by default because Germany is easily the most economically powerful country in the EU and in seeking to extend its power, it was able to use its industrial muscle to bring other states within range of its economic hegemony: something that's been going on since Bismark unified Germany in 1871.
In some respects Germany is a victim of its location because, being at the heart of the continent and technically superior to its neighbours, it automatically seeks to extend its power beyond its natural borders: hence two World Wars and the EU.

Danik 2016

05-21-2016, 10:58 AM

Emil Miller

05-21-2016, 03:01 PM

I was able to click something in Google that translated the page. The map is interesting. Apparently there are a lot of complex relationships.

If Britain is not part of the Euro although in the EU, what is its obligation to countries such as Greece that are having financial difficulties? The US has a similar problem with Puerto Rico at the moment. I suppose this inability to pay debt will just get worse.

I don't know. Bailouts of failing EU economies are made by the IMF and European Central Bank in accordance with the European Commission but I should think that the UK wouldn't be expected to contribute to casualties of the Euro zone.

YesNo

05-21-2016, 07:48 PM

Well it's a bogus Deutsche mark by default because Germany is easily the most economically powerful country in the EU and in seeking to extend its power, it was able to use its industrial muscle to bring other states within range of its economic hegemony: something that's been going on since Bismark unified Germany in 1871.
In some respects Germany is a victim of its location because, being at the heart of the continent and technically superior to its neighbours, it automatically seeks to extend its power beyond its natural borders: hence two World Wars and the EU.

I didn't realize the central role of Germany and that it went back to the late 19th century, but the EU didn't occur in a vacuum, so it shouldn't have surprised me. I can see why people would want to exit the EU. It gives them a chance for more autonomy.

YesNo

05-21-2016, 08:05 PM

This account of the film is probably funnier than the film itself.

Thanks! I did watch the movie all the way through. It generated a few grins.

The movie I saw last night with my daughter was "Burying the Ex": http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/burying_the_ex_2015/.

I've seen it before. Rotten Tomatoes thought it was rotten, about 1.5 stars out of 5. What is worse, even the normal viewers on Rotten Tomatoes thought it was rotton. I gave it 5 stars (since I saw it twice and enjoyed it both times) which would convert to a 10/10 score here. What made me start questioning my sanity was my daughter thought it was stupid as well.

The movie is about a young man, his half-brother and his girlfriend. The half-brother wants to use his brother's apartment to bring girls for overnighters but the girlfriend doesn't like him. She is very sweet, but there is some (mild) social dysfunction going on and the young man at his half-brother's urging agrees to break off their relationship. Unfortunately she dies in an accident before he can tell her the bad news. She is buried, but unfortunately he promised before a bobble-head Satan doll while she was still alive that he would be with her "forever" and so the girl dug herself out of the grave to make him keep his promise on the forever part.

The mystery is how can one make an entertaining movie out of a plot like that? I think they succeeded, but apparently I'm in the minority.

Danik 2016

05-21-2016, 09:59 PM

Sorry, Yes/No. After watching the trailer I side with your daughter and the rest of the crowd. This ex looks like a milder version of Carrie.:D
But there seems to be a kind of dark humour in it. Maybe that´s what you liked about it.

YesNo

05-22-2016, 01:21 AM

It is dark, but in a stupid way.

I just finished another movie, "Bewitched": http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bewitched/ This one scored even worse than "Burying the Ex", but I liked it more.

This is a story about a witch (Nicole Kidman) who wants to live a normal life and so she lands in Hollywood and becomes an actress in a TV series called "Bewitched" which is a remake of an old TV series. She knows she can snap her fingers and get whatever she wants, but she wants a particular guy (Will Ferrell), the male actor in the TV series, to want her of his own free will. Since he is rather self-centered she doesn't know how to do this and so she gives up trying and then the magic starts.

I'd rate this 10/10.

Dreamwoven

05-22-2016, 03:31 AM

I didn't realize the central role of Germany and that it went back to the late 19th century, but the EU didn't occur in a vacuum, so it shouldn't have surprised me. I can see why people would want to exit the EU. It gives them a chance for more autonomy.

Not just general autonomy but crucially over control of the economy. The euro is a failed currency and I can't see that changing. Perhaps the range of economies is too wide too make a single currency viable.

YesNo

05-22-2016, 09:49 AM

Not just general autonomy but crucially over control of the economy. The euro is a failed currency and I can't see that changing. Perhaps the range of economies is too wide too make a single currency viable.

I suppose the euro is useful for tourists who don't have to exchange currency when they travel. The US uses a single currency over all of its states and I suspect that is what the EU wants to do with the euro.

I don't know what failure would mean for a currency. I do think the dollar will strengthen, the euro and other currencies will weaken, commodities will get flushed right down the toilet and the global stock markets crash. I'm a bear expecting a multi-decade long period of deflation caused by debt. That is the main reason I would think it is a good idea not to be in the EU when that crash occurs. Should such a crash occur the EU might not survive anyway. There will also be problems with US debt. The state I live in is heavily indebted.

If the crash doesn't occur, there are other benefits from autonomy that "Brexit the Movie" emphasized. In general people like to be, and should be, as autonomous as they are able to be. My children don't want me taking care of them forever. Older people don't want to be babysat by their children so they don't hurt themselves either. On the other hand we all need help at times.

qimissung

05-24-2016, 02:18 AM

Love and Friendship. Hilarious and very good.

YesNo

05-24-2016, 10:18 AM

The trailer on Rotten Tomatoes looked pretty good for "Love and Friendship": http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_and_friendship/ They even gave it high ratings.

In going through some movies I saw many years ago in search of something funny I found "White Chicks", a Wayans team film: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/white_chicks/ The Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a 15% although the hoi polloi rated it at 55%. I gave it 5 stars just because. (My daughter also thought it stunk. My wife looked at the cover and refused to even consider checking out the trailer.)

When thinking about these old comedies, "White Chicks" and "Bewitched" have some similarities besides the irrelevant one that Rotten Tomatoes thought they were both rotten. "White Chicks" was written by men (Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Michael Anthony Snowden, Marlon Wayans, Andy McElfresh). "Bewitched" was written by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, females. There are many touching moments in "Bewitched". In "White Chicks" those sweet moments probably lasted under two minutes accompanied by mushy soundtrack so you wouldn't miss them, but quality is better than quantity. "Bewitched" makes men look stupid, but endearing. "White Chicks" makes women look stupid, but irresistible. And so far I can't think of any similarities except that I gave them both 10/10.

qimissung

05-25-2016, 12:25 PM

I see your ratings are about as meaningful as mine, YesNo, since I give almost everything a 7 or above, lol. Also love your comparison of "White Chicks" and "Bewitched," two rather lame comedies. I did enjoy your breakdown of the male/female perspective of the two movies.

Calidore

05-26-2016, 08:22 AM

"White Chicks" was written by men (Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Michael Anthony Snowden, Marlon Wayans, Andy McElfresh). "Bewitched" was written by Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron, females.

Another important difference:. In 'White Chicks", the leading women were played by men, whereas in Bewitched, they are played by women. :)

YesNo

05-26-2016, 08:35 AM

Yeah, in "White Chicks" those FBI agents had to go deep undercover. They are both lame comedies. That is probably why I enjoyed them.

I'm thinking of re-watching "Scary Movie 3".

Helga

05-27-2016, 08:35 AM

I never really got White Chicks... One Wayan movie I did love as a kid was a Damon Wayans film, Major Payne. I still advise people to break a finger when I am tired of listening to them complain about some ache or another. The Major Payne way.

Talking about re-watching movies, I have been watching movies I loved as a kid and hoping my son will love them too. Look who's talking movies and just last weekend I watched Turner and Hooch, I love dog movies.

I watch John Hughes teen movies every now and then, Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and 16 Candles, Ducky is one of my favourite Hughes character.

YesNo

05-29-2016, 09:06 AM

I think John Hughes did "Home Alone" also. That was pretty good and it is the one I remember. My daughters went to the high school featured in "The Breakfast Club". I can't remember what that film was about. I'll have to watch it again.

Helga

05-30-2016, 05:06 AM

Yeah he did "Home alone" and the first "Beethoven", at least maybe more, both very good family movies. I think he also did "Ferris Bueller's day off". I read an interesting review of that movie once where it was speculated that the whole movie was Ferris' friend Camerons imagination.

YesNo

06-10-2016, 04:00 PM

Pride + Prejudice + Zombies: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/pride_and_prejudice_and_zombies/

This is another one that Rotten Tomatoes thought was rotten, but I was able to finish it. Admittedly it didn't make a lot of sense.

Score: 6/10

Danik 2016

06-19-2016, 10:24 PM

A Tale of Love and Darkness- Moving and poetic account of the childhood of Amos Oz based on the memories of the writer! Nathalie Portman´s debut as director.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WOwnykhrAI
Score:10/10

Dreamwoven

06-20-2016, 12:17 AM

What language is this in - Yiddish?

Danik 2016

06-20-2016, 04:31 PM

Clopin

06-20-2016, 05:32 PM

Bergman - Autumn Sonata

Pretty devastating, I found it better than Cries and Whispers but that's an unconventional ranking I think.

9/10

Pompey Bum

06-20-2016, 09:21 PM

YesNo

06-20-2016, 09:50 PM

Mr. Right: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mr_right_2016/reviews/

I especially loved how Anna Kendrick delivered her lines in this movie. This is an action-romcom. It is right up there with "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", "Spy", and "Knight and Day".

Score: 10/10

Dreamwoven

06-21-2016, 12:22 AM

I suspect it to be modern Hebrew, DW.
The written signs that appear are similar to these ones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Hebrew
I don´t think it is Yiddish because Yiddish is a bit similar to German.
I managed to identify just three words:
Adam= man
Eden= paradise
Ima= mama

You are right about that, Danik.

I looked up Yiddish in Wikipedia, and was surprised to learn that in the far-east of Russia is an oblast that has Yiddish as its main language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiddish#Jewish_Autonomous_Oblast

Dreamwoven

06-21-2016, 01:11 AM

I remember seeing Cries and Whispers, a very depressing film: but a good one for all that.

Clopin

06-21-2016, 02:25 AM

Yeah, they are both pretty devastating. Cries and Whispers is more meaningful to me, probably because of a cancer death I was close to when I was younger, but I don't see how you could rank them except on that sort of subjective basis.

Yes, when I looked up reviews for Autumn Sonata (I like to read reviews immediately after I've seen a movie) most of the reviewers were comparing it negatively to Cries and Whispers, which I gather he made in the same period, and the subject is obviously pretty similar.

I actually avoided Autumn Sonata because it seems to be one of his more B-side movies and I don't really like the look of the ones where the characters all wear... 70's style pants suits and other Abba looking clothes, but the movie spoke for itself in about five minutes.

Fellini - 8 1/2

5/10 - Didn't really like it honestly.

Pompey Bum

06-21-2016, 09:14 AM

I'm not much of a Fellini fan either. La Dolce Vita maybe for nostalgia's sake, but I think his films in general are dated in a way that Begman's are not. I mean, Bergman's detractors will say his are, too, but there's always been a group that's not comfortable with movies like that. Fellini's films are dated (in my opinion) because they deal with form rather than substance. It's the same pit postmodernists fall into today (again in my opinion) with their Warholian icons uber alles. But today's eternal icons turn soon into tomorrow's worthless Soviet bric-a-brac. Or maybe--nostalgia at best.

The Abba pants suit remark had me laughing so hard I had to pee. Yes, I guess those films were from that era. Cries and Whispers (which obviously isn't set in the 70s) came out when I was in Middle School and Autumn Sonota when I was in college. Those color Bergman movies are a little jarring. In the black and white ones, the tones (and usually the music) are soothing even when the story becomes horrific (or sometimes there is no music, which intensifies the horror). But in the later movies, the color itself can be oppressive. I haven't seen Cries and Whispers for a long time, but I still remember those bone-white women who lived in this blood-crimson universe. The colors themselves were unnerving (even if the music could still soothe).

Hey Clopin, did you ever see Jean-Luc Godard's A Bout de Souffle (also known as Breathless, but never never never never confuse it with the godawful Richard Gere remake)? I think you might like it.

Clopin

06-21-2016, 09:46 AM

Fellini's films are dated (in my opinion) because they deal with form rather than substance. It's the same pit postmodernists fall into today

Somewhere Lykren's nose just twitched. But yeh the only other Fellini movie I've seen is Satyricon and I was lukewarm on that one as well. 8 1/2 seemed pretty self indulgent but maybe I'm just sensitive to movies or storylines which star the artist struggling to be the artist and it's all created by an artist. I think these types of movies walk a fine line between profound and annoying. If you've seen Adaptation that's an example of this sort of trope that I actually enjoyed.

I saw a couple other movies lately since I've had trouble sleeping and they aren't really helping but:

Bela Tarr - The Turin Horse - 8/10

I've heard horror stories about this being a three hour meditation on potatoes and I think I spent about five minutes skipping around trying to find a spoken word to test if my subtitles were working (they were) so I was prepared for that kind of thing. I usually don't find movies boring if I have pretty pictures to look at and this was... not really boring, despite being about three hours long. I liked it but I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants stuff to happen in their movies. And it was quite pretty in a very stark kind of way.

Tarkovsky - Stalker, Nostalghia - Don't feel like rating/10

Aside from Andrei Rublev (which I loved) I dunno how to judge these Tarkovsky movies. I think I'm biased towards them because I like Russia so much, but they are very beautiful even if I don't always understand the significance of what I'm being shown. I had seen Stalker before around the time I first started getting into "art" films and found it pretty dull but I enjoyed it a lot this time, probably now my expectations are different. I think when I first started watching these movies (and reading 'literature' for that matter) I was sort of expecting big philosophical monologues and dissertations on life and meaning, etc and of course that's not really what you get from most artists in any genre... though funnily enough the first author I really liked was Dostoyevsky and the first filmmaker was Ingmar Bergman.

Oh and yes, I've seen Breathless, the only Godard film I've seen. I enjoyed it but didn't love it or anything.

Pompey Bum

06-21-2016, 11:00 AM

Somewhere Lykren's nose just twitched.

Ah, I miss Lykren. Such a nice guy in such a wicked world.

8 1/2 seemed pretty self indulgent

Yeah, trust me, if you don't do self indulgent you don't do Fellini.

I spent about five minutes skipping around trying to find a spoken word to test if my subtitles were working (they were)

:lol: You're killing me today.

Tyrion Cheddar

06-23-2016, 01:21 AM

I guess I should contribute to this thread. The most recent film I saw was last night, entitled Sexy Young Girl does Anal with her Friend's Dad. I'll admit I didn't understand it. I'd heard art films could be a little hard to decipher. Some of the metaphors, for example. What does 'schoolgirl's wrists and ankles bound behind her back with older man's necktie' mean, for instance? Then there were extended sections of the film where the girl enjoyed lying on the bed with her head hanging over the edge, mouth open. What's the import there? Is it a statement about women's liberation?

I learned later, too, that the film is part of a trilogy that includes Young Rebellious Girl does Anal with Therapist and My Friends Tag Teamed my Sister. The second film, apparently, attracted great interest at Cannes. I personally don't get it. Maybe art films just aren't for me.

Dreamwoven

06-23-2016, 01:57 AM

I agree, Tyrion. I abandoned them myself, decades ago.

Clopin

06-23-2016, 11:19 AM

The most recent film I saw was last night, entitled Sexy Young Girl does Anal with her Friend's Dad.

I didn't realize we were rating such films in this thread. What a waste of potential, I should have several hundred more entries by now.

Tyrion Cheddar

06-23-2016, 02:09 PM

I didn't realize we were rating such films in this thread. What a waste of potential, I should have several hundred more entries by now.

There are always several hundred entries in films like that.

Clopin

06-23-2016, 03:26 PM

hahahaha

Helga

07-06-2016, 03:31 PM

Calidore

07-06-2016, 07:34 PM

'9 to 5', an 80's comedy about women in the workplace. Dolly Parton and other women who are tired of working in a man's world. Very entertaining and some great scenes about the treatment of women in some places and by some people.

I remember seeing that when it first came out. Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda are a heck of a team, and Dabney Coleman was a perfect foil. Great fun at the time, though I have no idea how it's aged.

Tyrion Cheddar

07-06-2016, 10:25 PM

OK, so moments ago I finished watching 10 Cloverfield Lane. I have to say I feel I got my money's worth. It was a good thriller, definitely worth the rental. Good performances all around. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

YesNo

07-06-2016, 11:30 PM

I saw a few days The Film Crew's mocking commentary during the 1958 movie "The Wild Women of Wongo". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpoOKWhJFNo

I am still trying to figure out if I am glad I watched it or not. If you have absolutely nothing better to do, you might try this.

Score: 1/10

Dreamwoven

07-07-2016, 01:18 AM

My wife and I watched the film "Suffragette" and throughly enjoyed it. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette_(film)

Helga

07-07-2016, 04:34 AM

I remember seeing that when it first came out. Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, and Jane Fonda are a heck of a team, and Dabney Coleman was a perfect foil. Great fun at the time, though I have no idea how it's aged.

I think it is surprising how many things in it still apply, even though it is a comedy and should be seen as such, women are still getting harassed (by some people not all of course) and one point was made when one of them didn't get a promotion it was because 'people trust men better when it comes to numbers' , I think similar situations happen every now and then still today over 30 years after the movie was released...

Danik 2016

07-21-2016, 04:07 PM

I watched "Florence" three weeks ago. Interestig theme, grand performance by Merril Streep.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HszfdNS0JSc
8,5/10

Danik 2016

07-24-2016, 10:41 PM

Watched Julieta today. Good argument (based on three stories by Alice Munro), good acting, beautiful scenery. But where is Almodovar?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julieta_(film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH5_4osOZK8

8,0/10,0

Dreamwoven

07-25-2016, 12:12 AM

Danik, Almodovar is a place in both Spain and Portugal: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almodovar

Danik 2016

07-25-2016, 07:39 AM

Thanks, Dreamwoven. I didn´t know there were places called Almodovar too.
But what I mean is that Julieta is not a typical Almodovar film.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Almod%C3%B3var
I have watched almost all the films of this formerly very irreverent director.

Dreamwoven

07-25-2016, 08:23 AM

Danik, you didn't know Almodovar was a place, but I didn't know it was the name of film director.

Danik 2016

07-25-2016, 09:18 AM

Here is another sample, this time a typical one. If my memory doesn´t fail me this is the film that brought him international fame:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol9GFw_gthQ

Helga

07-25-2016, 02:33 PM

this weekend was a Star Trek weekend for me and my son, a Kelvin timeline weekend. We re-watched 1 and 2 and yesterday went to see the third instalment in the ST Kelvin verse.

Being a huge ST nerd I could write an article about this new movie but I will just say, the best one of the three. Simon Pegg didn't let me down and as usual when it comes to him a good story.

My biggest issue comes down to direction, I am not a fan of fast moving and short shots in fight scenes, I prefer a steady cam and big picture cause these scenes can be amazing when it comes to actor/stunt-peoples movement and responses.

Still the best of three so I am happy and my son was thrilled, he was the youngest audience member.

Danik 2016

07-26-2016, 12:18 PM

A gem of the Chinese Cinema filched from the Chinese thread:
Red Sorghum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVTrnFSHfvI

desiresjab

08-05-2016, 07:52 PM

C.H.U.DS. Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. Yum.

Gilliatt Gurgle

08-06-2016, 10:29 PM

Pompey Bum

08-07-2016, 07:02 AM

A few years back the really bad movies thread was all the rage for a spell. Somewhere along the way, a member offered up Night of the Lepus as a must see. After seeing the trailer at the time, it was immediately added to my must see list. It took a few years, but I finally made the leap and watched it last night.
5/10
It couldn't get the image of Pompey Bum out of my head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yww2x3bm9k

EDIT

actually this video is much better

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NPvXMoVCV8

I saw it years ago, GG. No matter how much mayhem the giant bunnies wrought, they never stopped looking cute. It's hard feel blind panic at a monster that's wiggling its nose.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GmrvH3PYnEc

Tyrion Cheddar

08-07-2016, 02:49 PM

Started watching High-Rise a couple of nights ago, because Tom Hiddleston (much to his chagrin, I should think) is in it and the description sounded semi-interesting. Suffice it to say, run, and I mean run screaming, from this abortion of a flick. Seventeen minutes into it, convinced this film was proof of the long-prophesied End Times, I turned it off, grabbed a bimbo and my trusty M-16, and headed for the bunker.

YesNo

08-07-2016, 04:35 PM

The Brothers Grimsby: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_brothers_grimsby/

This is one of those parody movies about spies and assassins and since there are so many of these today that to be different they had to go over the top which they did, especially at the end with the way these brothers saved the world, or rather that part of the world who enjoy soccer.

Score: 7/10 (maybe 5/10?)

Danik 2016

09-03-2016, 10:48 PM

Cafe Society
http://www.cafesocietymovie.com/
1930 Film Era
Somewhat to modern, with the hard cynicism of our days.
But anyway, the nostalgia of some one who has seen the Golden Days of the American Film Industry.

7/10

Danik 2016

09-03-2016, 10:54 PM

Aquarius
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5221584/

Symbolic of the country it represents. A good film, but a bit too long and a bit too slow.

8,5/10

Ecurb

10-03-2016, 12:23 PM

I saw "Hell or High Water" and "Kubo and the Two Strings" last week. Both are excellent.

"Hell or High Water" is a modern Western. Two brothers start robbing the banks that are going to repossess the family farm of their recently deceased mother. The movie is full of dry humor, Western tropes, and beautiful shots of West Texas. For example, after the brothers rob one bank, they are chased by gun-toting West Texans who just happened to be armed while transacting business at the bank during the robbery (and have probably dreamed of forming a posse for most of their lives). Jeff Bridges plays a crusty Texas ranger, and Brit David McKenzie directs. It's very well done.

"Kubo" is an animated film from the Oregon-based studio Laika. It is set in a mythical Japan, and Kubo is the grandson of the Moon King, who has taken one of his eyes and wants the remaining one. Kubo is a story teller, accompanying his stories on his lyre, and he tells his audience, "If you blink, do it now." Otherwise, you might miss something. Don't blink during this movie, or you might miss one of hundreds of stunning shots, replete with beauty and emotional resonance. Don't wait for it to be on TV -- animated movies on TV are like the prints of great paintings reproduced in books. There are a few fight scenes that pander to kids, and go on a little to long, but the rest of the movie is so gorgeous that complaints are trivial.

Helga

10-05-2016, 06:09 AM

'One more time with a feeling' the documentary about Nick Cave and his latest album and how he has dealt with the loss of his son. Very good and intense at times.

The album is brilliant too

Emil Miller

10-23-2016, 12:53 PM

A model/call girl is found murdered in her London apartment; a detective and his sidekick try to discover who among her acquaintances is the killer but are unable to pin it on any one of several suspects.
Ian Hendry plays the cynical detective who uncovers the drugs ring behind the murder and finally reveals the person responsible.

Pretty boring due to slack direction and predictable plot but at least it was in black and white.

Danik 2016

10-23-2016, 07:10 PM

I am a fan of the Iranian cinema, they know how to make much out of little. Usually their films are political, This one is a
situational comedy. Hilarious!

http://www.iranarthousefilm.net/movies/maat-by-saba-kazemi/#trailer

10/10

YesNo

11-04-2016, 09:04 AM

I mainly enjoy comedy. I will see if I can find Maat.

Yesterday I watched "I am Wrath", an action movie rather than a comedy although since the good guys win and the bad guys get killed this might be considered a sort of comedy. https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/i_am_wrath/

The plot was something I tend to expect. There are good guys who have superpowers, such as, having experience with "black ops", who have to act against the government to bring justice back to civilization. Once they have been wronged which motivates them to act they start killing everyone in their way until they kill the top bad guy, the governor of a state.

It was an acceptable vengeance movie, but the plot bothered me not because it has been done so many times before but because it was done at all. Usually the bad guys are foreigners trying to get nukes to blow up the world and the good guys with superpowers kill them along with a few rogue agents. It is usually safe watching foreigners getting their butts kicked especially if they are portrayed as terrorists going to blow up the world. In this case the bad guy was the governor of a state. Not a foreigner. Not exactly a terrorist. Just someone minding his own political business fabricating reality to keep his power intact and having people killed who get in his way.

That such a movie would be found acceptable enough to risk marketing it is a sign of very negative social mood. But then Rotten Tomatoes, both the normal folk and those who supposedly know better (aka critics) thought it stunk.

Score 4/10

Danik 2016

11-04-2016, 01:16 PM

I think you will enjoy this one, though it is not a vengeance movie. On the contrary it is an example of Iranian resilience. I just don´t know if it and where it is available. It was selected for our yearly Film Festival and it won a price. But as it was made on a very limited budget, the director paid for it out of his own pocket, I don´t know if it will have a good distribution in spite of two awards (it won the audience award too and was applauded.)
http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/408000/Iran-s-Maat-wins-Abbas-Kiarostami-Special-Award-at-Mostra-film
As to the film you saw:
"It is usually safe watching foreigners getting their butts kicked..."- Thank you very much Yes/No, I really appreciate that!!:shocked:
"In this case the bad guy was the governor of a state.Not a foreigner. Not exactly a terrorist. Just someone minding his own political business fabricating reality to keep his power intact and having people killed who get in his way."Although it seems to be a commonplace movie,"I am Wrath" is an significant choice if you reflect what day we have today. Your unconscious mode seems to be wide awaken.

YesNo

11-05-2016, 08:25 PM

I wasn't able to find Maat but the trailer looked more realistic than the kinds of films I have been watching recently.

About those foreigners, you're right that it was the governor who was the bad guy, and he was not a foreigner. The good guys broke into the governor's mansion, killed all of his guard and then killed the governor as well. Normally, I don't expect to see such a plot although there are anti-government films being made. So I am thinking it might have to do with a decentralist, "negative" social mood perspective.

I saw another action movie last night almost the opposite of "I am Wrath". This one was "Criminal". In this one the foreign, anti-government forces where going to blow up the world and the US government was trying to stop them. I would label that one a centrist, "positive" social mood perspective. The problem with Criminal is that it was too unrealistic although it had some nice moments.

Danik 2016

11-05-2016, 09:01 PM

It seems that Maat is not running officialy yet. Even in Iran it will only start on Nov, 16. I´ll wait a bit more for, of course, the director will now try to sell copies of the fill to other countries. In Brazil the interest in Iranian films used to be good. But now with the crisis they are importing only blockbusters. I´ve no idea about the US market.
If I find it in the net later on I´ll post it.

YesNo

11-06-2016, 10:09 AM

Danik 2016

11-06-2016, 11:53 AM

The cast looks fine. I´ll look for it in the internet later on.
We had an opportunity to meet the director of Maat for a short talk. Guy around 30 years, and this was his first international event, I guess. The film was shoot in two days, shouldn´t wonder if the location belonged to him or to someone of his family/friends. It is based on a real story.

Emil Miller

11-06-2016, 06:02 PM

Most of the blockbusters I have seen recently I have not been able to finish. I started watching the action movies only recently.

The library showed an old movie (1958) about a month ago written by John Gay and Terence Rattigan that I thought was pretty good: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1018587-separate_tables/ I'd give it a 10/10.

I reviewed Separate Tables on this thread a while ago and agree that it's better than any 'Blockbuster'.

Separate Tables (1958)

This black and white rendition of the celebrated play by Terence Rattigan has a tremendous cast including David Niven, Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller, Gladys Cooper and Felix Aylmer.
An English seaside hotel has a number of residents, some of whom have the inevitable skeleton in the cupboard and the resultant exposure makes for the dramatic tension between them.
The main problem with the film is that it’s set-bound and the entrances and exits betray its stage origin all too obviously but, despite Deborah Kerr’s overplaying the repressed daughter of an overbearing mother, there are some excellent performances from Wendy Hiller, David Niven and Burt Lancaster. Lancaster was in my view one of the most natural actors to come out of Hollywood and turns in a very watchable performance as an American writer trying to come to terms with the failure of his marriage to Rita Hayworth, who turns up at the hotel having tracked him down through his agent.
The main thrust of the film comes from the fact that the resident British army major, played by David Niven, is in reality a confidence trickster who is arrested for molesting women in a cinema.

David Niven and Wendy Hiller won academy awards for their performances.

8/10

YesNo

11-07-2016, 09:30 AM

I reviewed Separate Tables on this thread a while ago and agree that it's better than any 'Blockbuster'.

Separate Tables (1958)

This black and white rendition of the celebrated play by Terence Rattigan has a tremendous cast including David Niven, Burt Lancaster, Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Wendy Hiller, Gladys Cooper and Felix Aylmer.
An English seaside hotel has a number of residents, some of whom have the inevitable skeleton in the cupboard and the resultant exposure makes for the dramatic tension between them.
The main problem with the film is that it’s set-bound and the entrances and exits betray its stage origin all too obviously but, despite Deborah Kerr’s overplaying the repressed daughter of an overbearing mother, there are some excellent performances from Wendy Hiller, David Niven and Burt Lancaster. Lancaster was in my view one of the most natural actors to come out of Hollywood and turns in a very watchable performance as an American writer trying to come to terms with the failure of his marriage to Rita Hayworth, who turns up at the hotel having tracked him down through his agent.
The main thrust of the film comes from the fact that the resident British army major, played by David Niven, is in reality a confidence trickster who is arrested for molesting women in a cinema.

David Niven and Wendy Hiller won academy awards for their performances.

8/10

I thought this movie was probably one you would have seen, if not already reviewed here. I initially went to see it because (1) it is an easy walk to the library, (2) they have a nice theater, (3) it was "free" (but then I do pay taxes supporting these showings), and (4) maybe some culture would rub off on me. It turned out I enjoyed the movie more than I expected.

Of all the people in the story, I enjoyed the hotel hostess the best or maybe I empathized with her character more. It did seem like it was "set-bound" as you mentioned. The movie was shown as part of a four-part series featuring Deborah Kerr. Of the four movies, I was able to also see "The Innocents" which was a retelling of Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw".

YesNo

11-10-2016, 01:04 PM

"The Bad Seed": http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048977/ (I think you can find this on YouTube.)

This is another old movie (1956) the local library displayed. Director: Mervyn LeRoy, Writers: John Lee Mahin. It was based on a play by Maxwell Anderson and a novel by William March. I'm listing all of this information since I have never heard of these people and I am trying to get cultured.

There is a question whether someone can be bad because of their heredity or whether the environment causes them to be bad. Evil can be reduced to either (1) heredity or (2) environment. There is a third alternative: they just choose to be bad, but that assumes they can choose at all.

In this case the bad guy is an eight year old girl who is outwardly too perfect, but she is killing off people so she can get stuff. It turns out her mother, who is normal, finds out that she herself is the daughter of a serial killer and she was adopted by her parents when the serial killer abandoned her. So her daughter is bad because her mother was bad.

All throughout this movie there is a lot of jarring music which tries to set the mood but is more annoying than it needs to be.

Although the movie seems to promote option (1), heredity, the credits at the end are humorous. Like one would expect in a play, the actors are introduced one by one at the end. Finally the actresses playing the eight year old girl and her mother appear. After they take their bows, the actress playing the mother grabs the actress playing the girl and gives her a good paddling. As I see it the message changes sharply at this point and the third option is affirmed with a little help from option (2), the environmental paddling.

For a score, I'd have to deduct for the music, but the story kept my interest right through the credits. And so, I'd give it an 8/10.

Danik 2016

11-15-2016, 07:09 AM

Saw the last Oliver Stone film yesterday.

Whatever ones position about the issues, its a rare opportunity to watch a chapter of contemporaneous history.

Some romanticising of characters.

9,5 /10

YesNo

12-09-2016, 01:12 AM

Hunt for the Wilderpeople: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hunt_for_the_wilderpeople/

Directed by Taika Waititi. This is a story about a boy who is threatened with juvenile detention if he doesn't get along with his new foster family. This new family is far from civilization living on the edge of the New Zealand bush. This makes it hard for him to run away, but there comes a point early on in the story where he has to run and then things get complicated, and funny.

For a change, the Rotten Tomatoes' critics gave this a reasonably correct rating of 98% "Fresh". Even the hoi polloi got it more or less right, giving it 91%. The correct score was 10/10.

Danik 2016

12-09-2016, 07:16 AM

lol! Looks like a parody of action films. See if I can find it on the net. The director has an interesting background.

YesNo

12-09-2016, 09:27 AM

I am going to see if I can find more films by him.

Danik 2016

12-09-2016, 09:19 PM

Sorry, I forgot to post the link about the director:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taika_Waititi

YesNo

12-10-2016, 12:11 AM

Yes, he does seem unusual. I finished "Eagle vs Shark" today: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/eagle_vs_shark/

This is a story about two characters who are not very likable and so I can see how it could annoy the audience, but if you follow it through to the end, there's a charm in these characters that comes through. There's one scene where the shark who is in love with the eagle throws a heart-shaped stone into the ocean symbolically killing her love for the eagle, who said he was dumping her anyway. The stone hits a seagull and kills it. That's the kind of weird but memorable stuff that happens in this movie.

Score: 8/10