What is the last movie you saw? and rate it.

[Ecurb]

Visually superb movies are still far better in the theater than on TV, despite the improvements in high definition TVs.

[Emil Miller]

Infidelity is a theme that runs through Louis Malle's films like a thread, so it's no surprise that Damage , unusually filmed as an English story, concerns a Member of Parliament with a wealthy wife and two children who falls for his son's girlfriend. This initiates a passionate affair giving Malle a chance to show Jeremy Irons and Juliet Binoche thrashing around in the sack while his wife and son remain completely unaware of the affair. Given the athleticism of the guilty parties coupling, not to mention the frequency, it's a wonder nobody noticed the bruises. It would have been much improved if it had been cut from its two-and-a-half hours to 90 minutes but it comes across as another example of self-indulgent film making that palls about half-way through.

5/10

[YesNo]

Visually superb movies are still far better in the theater than on TV, despite the improvements in high definition TVs.

I dont see much difference between a theater and what we have for a tv. I tend to get hypnotzed by the story even if I view it on my phone, providing it is done well.

Regarding the movie "Damage", I think I saw it but can't remember enough about it to suggest a score, not that my scores mean much.

[Emil Miller]

I dont see much difference between a theater and what we have for a tv. I tend to get hypnotzed by the story even if I view it on my phone, providing it is done well.

Regarding the movie "Damage", I think I saw it but can't remember enough about it to suggest a score, not that my scores mean much.

Well film scores are fairly arbitrary anyway and the fact that you don't remember much about it is a good indication of its lack of impact.
Repetitious sex scenes are no substitute for imaginative film making although, in this instance, the storyline wasn't that impressive either.

[Ecurb]

I saw "Into the Woods" last night. I love musicals -- both stage musicals and movie musicals. However, I haven't liked most of the big hit movie musicals in recent years. Les Miz -- which I loved on the stage -- was horrid. How Anne Hathaway won an Oscar for her embarrassing performance as Fantine is beyond me. Chicago -- which won best movie, I think -- was terrible. Richard Gere's attempts at dancing reminded my of how difficult it is. Instead of showing professional dancing, the camera swirled around the actors in an attempt to create an illusion of graceful movement. It didn't work.

So it was with trepidation that I went to "Into the Woods", the fine Stephen Sondheim musical that I'd seen 3 times on various stages. Like other lousy musicals of recent years, it starred some non-singers and non-dancers -- like Meryl Streep as the witch and Johnny Depp as the Big Bad Wolf.

Not to fear! The movie was very good! True: Streep's big numbers ("It's the Last Midnight") were talked rather than sang -- but she has sufficient talent to pull it off, and played her role with a sense of humor. The filming was appropriately mystical; the princes appropriately conceited; the baker and his wife appropriately cute. The best numbers -- Into the Woods, You are Not Alone, Children will Listen -- were well done.

Careful the wish you make
Wishes are children
Careful the path they take
Wishes come true.....

[Helga]

The Hobbit Battle of the five armies (or something like that). Well I had to remind myself constantly that this is just a movie and as such I enjoyed it. A lot of new stuff was added and I felt the whimsical part of the Hobbit book was a bit lost. I liked Thranduil character, but maybe that is because I love Lee Pace.

It's a good movie if you try not to compare it to the book, but if you do then it's no good....

good entertainment but no masterpiece.

[Emil Miller]

This film conforms generally to my recollection of E.M.Forster's novel that I read many years ago. The story is set in the fictional hill town of Monteriano in Italy in 1903 and relates the consternation of a widow's family and her inlaws when she decides to marry the unemployed son of an Italian dentist. Her first husband's son is sent to Italy to persuade the Italian to renounce the marriage by offering him money but is laughed at and told that the wedding has already taken place .
Having failed in their attempt to salvage what they perceive as their damaged reputation, they are further disconcerted by the news that the errant relative has died in childbirth; leaving the child in the charge of her husband.
Both families decide separately to 'rescue' the child from a life of semi-poverty and have him brought up in England as a gentleman, but their plans go awry and end in tragedy.
The culture clash is deftly handled by the director, and the Tuscan scenery shown to advantage while the cast manage to convey the stiffness of middle class Englishness with the free and easy lifestyle of the Italians. 9/10

It's surprising that, given the interest shown in English writers, that E.M. Forster, one of its foremost practitioners, is hardly mentioned on LitNet

[Snowqueen]

I saw BBC documentary One Life last night and it was very entertaining. It is a collection of different scenes shot in exotic locations. And I loved the scenery. Some parts of the film were really awe-inspiring, like Komodo Dragon stalking a water buffalo. I also liked the music and Daniel Craig's narration.

Thanks for recommendation, Nikolai. It was great.


Watched Wag the Dog last week. It's a great political satire with biting humour. Very thoughtful film and it shows how the general public is easily fooled by politicians who are habitual liars. Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman were excellent throughout the film. Woody Harrelson (Old Shoe) was really funny.

Thanks for recommending it, Hawk. I enjoyed it.

[readspider]

Saw ANNIE with the wife and kids. Loved it.

Modern take on an old movie and done very well.

Jamie Fox played a great part but fame did not matter as all parts were owned by the actors/actresses (Cameron Diaz great) despite their tenure or status.

I recommend it.

[Ecurb]

I made the mistake of seeing "Wild" last night. I'd been warned. One of my backpacking buddies had already seen it, and warned me about it. However, I knew that he just disliked the movie because he couldn't handle the sheer incompetence at his favorite pastime on the part of the heroine. So I figured it might still be a good movie, and parts of it were filmed on sections of the Pacific Coast Trail on which my own boots had trodden (or something like that).

So I went. It's a chick flick -- not horrible, but self-obsessed and self-absorbed. Cheryl Strayed hikes the PCT to change her life, which has spiraled into heroin addiction and random sex (horrors!) after the early death of her mother. It works! She muddles through, failing to COMPLETELY kick the random sex habit on her adventure. I'll even grant that it probably WAS a life-changing experience for her -- nothing like 4 months of strenuous exercise with no access to heroin dealers to help ANY pretty young addict.

What annoyed me is the self-absorption -- her motive is to look within herself and find herself. But (as I wrote in another thread recently) it seems to me that we find ourselves by looking for something else. Of course Strayed does find something else -- a beautiful country, some interesting people -- but she's always looking within, surprisingly, given what's passing by without.

I love mountaineering and adventure literature. Perhaps the greatest polar adventure book is "The Worst Journey in the World" by Apsley Cherry-Gerrard. It tells the story of the ill-fated Scott expedition to the South Pole. However, the titular "worst journey" takes place in the winter prior to Scott's dash for the pole. Gerrard and one companion trek in search of the roosting grounds of the Emperor Penguin -- never before seen by humans. They journey is "only" 150 miles or so, but the weather is far worse than it is in the summer -- -80F, intense winds, etc. Anyway -- it's a great story.

Gerrard concludes his book with this famous paragraph, In which his attitude compares with Strayed's.

“And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge and the power to give it physical expression, go out and explore.

If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards have need to prove their bravery. Some will tell you that you are mad, and nearly all will say, “What is the use?” for we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper will look at research which does not promise him a financial return within a year.

And so you will sledge nearly alone, but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers: that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you want is a penguin’s egg.”

[Sarabande]

I've completed a review on another thread of "The Rum Diary". Here's a snippet of director Bruce Robinson's 1987 cult classic, "Withnail and I". Both films have much in common:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0DytHBjGTQ

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcm50m82oi4

Hilarious!

[YesNo]

Grandma's Boy: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456554/

This came in a rated and unrated version. Since I don't want to miss anything, I always pick the unrated version.

It is about a brilliant but nerdy and dishonest video game creator, a set of video game testers who don't like him, their new age boss and a beautiful female project manager who comes in to make sure the next game release occurs on time. Considering how everyone is behaving this project manager is definitely needed, but being a beautiful female with everyone else being male virgins focused on video games the context for the conflict is set up. Additionally, the lead tester, in his thirties, is living with his grandmother and two other elderly women.

The crucial problem is who will get the girl, the nerdy but dishonest genius or the likable head tester. It is a comedy so you know who wins, but how he actually wins her is what makes this worth a score of 10/10.

[Emil Miller]

Joseph Losey is a director I can take or leave. An escapee from the Un American Activities Committee, he made most of his films in Europe and specifically England. His off-beat approach to directing lead to some very patchy films but The Intimate Stranger isn't one of them.
Staring the reliable Richard Basehart as the lead in the role of an American expat film producer who has married the daughter of the head of a major British studio, he starts receiving letters from a woman claiming a romantic liaison with him although he has never heard of her.
Because he had to leave Hollywood over a sex scandal, he has great difficulty convincing his wife and her father that he isn't lying but the mysterious woman is convincing and knows things about him that only a close confidant could know.
This leads to his wife leaving him and her father taking him off a big production he Is working on.
Although everything looks stacked against him, a stroke of luck reveals that he isn't going mad, as he had begun to think, but is the victim of a plot get him removed from the studio by another executive who wants to step into his shoes.


8/10

[Clopin]

The Tale of Princess Kaguya - Isao Takahata

Beautiful animation and story... 8.5/10

[YesNo]

We're in season four of "Breaking Bad". It seems there is another scene with Walter White in his underwear. We stopped for the evening with Skylar telling Walter that she gave the money to Ted.

So far, I like Saul and Gus the best. Walter is getting on my nerves. Skylar has been on my nerves for some time. Jesse is starting to show promise. Mike is showing he can get shot and Ted is getting a taste of the real Skylar.

Score: 5/10