Last Movie you Watched?

Not enough drugs in the world for that to ever happen.

I am your drug, though you need a prescription my beauty.

I wish I was over the counter.

Love that Eric Serra score (though not crazy about "Ladies First"), EON should have kept him on board instead of listening to the fan bitching that score got. He brought in a fresh sound for the series.

Yeah, I don't much care for "Ladies First," or his version of the "Pleasant Drive Through St. Petersburg," but I do appreciate many of the other cues in the score. "The GoldenEye Overture" is rockin'.

Big Leaguer (1953) Dir. Robert Aldrich

Starngely enough, on the heels of my Eddie G watches over the weekend, it was his birthday earlier this week and TCM obliged by having a day of Eddie G films. I recored this 'un, along with THE LAST GANGSTER, which apparently features Jimmy Stewart and the worst moustache in history.

This film is slight, and notable only for being the debut of Robert Aldrich (whose nifty style works well in a normal world, as well as the Aldrichian worlds he later created), but its wholesome good fun, set in Melbourne, Florida, and its a loving tribute to the great American game.

Baseball.

Eddie G's an old baseball pro, a third baseman, who these days runs a training camp for eager young rookies seeking a spot on the roster of the New York Giants. And every year they come, these kids, and 1953's no different, bringing in as many stereotypes as a war film: the son of a great (Bill Crandall), the Cuban who doesnt speak-a no English (Lalo Rios), the upstart New Yooorker (William Campbell), the arrogant tall poppy whos talented but a dick (Richard Jaeckel) and finally the unassuming good guy, the best of them all, but he's only here because he ran out of college, against the best wishes of his father, for the love of the game. And he's played winningly by Jeff Richards. Such a likeable chap.

Vera-Ellen's thrown in as Eddie G's niece, a wisened up gal who works for the Giants during the season, but cant help falling in love with Richards too, just for some more wholesomeness. She completes the package by further convincing Richards to stay when he has pangs of guilt, and then goes even further by getting his father to see him in the big game, which convinces him Richards will be better off in baseball after all. How lovely.

Just a nice film.

FourDot wrote:

I think FS is getting at the fact that Scarface... is a Paul Muni film, first and foremost. ;)

I picked up on that. ;)

The Last Gangster (1937) Dir. Edward Ludwig

Eddie G at MGM? In the 30s?

A less explosive, more tragic type of gangster film, Eddie G is Joe Krozac, big honcho of the gang wars in that fabulous year of 1927. He's just returned from overseas with a new blushing Italian bride, who's also pregnant, much to his joy. Much to his displeasure however, is his business, some enemies have moved into his territory, and they're dealt with the only way he knows how - with brute force. Sure, he gets off for the rap, but as he leaves the courtroom, some Feds turn up, leading to this classic exchange:

"Have a cigar?"
"Have a warrant."

Turns out the Feds want him for income tax evasion, a crime for which he's sent for Alcatraz for 10 long years, which of course doesnt mirror any real life events. In the meantime, his wife finds out his mysterious past - hence she leaves him and takes the baby to a quiet life in Boston, with new hubby James Stewart (yes, James Stewart). 10 years pass, and Eddie G's free with a vengeance. But thats not where it ends.

Solidly made in the MGM fashion, it's got a great performance by Eddie G, a welcome tragic tone to it, but my ending was ruined when in the space of 5 minutes the recording had a glitch and i got 2 phone calls. I hate when that happens. :x

NORWEGIAN WOOD. It doesn't match the beauty or power of the source novel, but this is about as good an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's classic as could have been expected, although it probably won't win many converts. Many will find this film too flimsy and melodramatic, and just so much TWILIGHTish adolescent angst stretched over 130 minutes (and Jonny Greenwood's usubtle dirge of a score doesn't help matters), but it is, at the very least, well-acted and stupendously well-shot (with that great rarity in modern cinema, a truly masterful use of the 2.35:1 frame). Probably Tran Anh Hung's best work to date (and certainly an absolute masterpiece compared to its immediate predecessor, the unbelievably dire I COME WITH THE RAIN).

Mission: Impossible 2

M:I-2 is not a movie. It's a vague collection of cool moments. On that level, it works. You get pumped by the action sequences, get wowed by the slow motion, and rock out to Metallica when the credits arrive. The writing stinks, the acting is swerves between boring and hilarious, and comprehending the plot relies on massive leaps in logic. On the other hand, motorcycle jousting.

1) Mission: Impossible
2) Mission: Impossible 2

M:I-2 is essentially Cruise's Bond film, more so than the other films.

From the thread in Multiplex ...

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -- GHOST PROTOCOL (2011)

"M:I-GP" (Christ) is everything a popcorn action film should be. It's action-packed and big in scale but never as blatantly retarded as a Michael Bay film.

It's also truly great to see an action film that doesn't look like Michael J. Fox was the cinematographer. Also nice to see a full palette of color, as well, and the IMAX, especially in the Dubai bits, was expertly done. Probably the best use of it I've seen yet.

Best part is that it doesn't take itself seriously. I found myself thinking at some points that it was a better Bond film than "Quantum of Solace."

B+

Super 8 (2011)

Didn't really get me hooked in theaters, thought I'd give it another shot. Nope. Besides Elle Fanning, none of the cast is particularly engaging. The Joe Lamb character is just a boring kid who stares off a lot. I don't feel any sympathy for the alien after it starts killing townsfolk. So what, once it touches Joe the alien suddenly realizes "ya know, you're right. I'll stop going on a massacre!"? The ending plays the take off as if it's majestic with the kids looking up smiling with that "sense of wonder" look on their faces while I'm just baffled.

Overall, it just makes me wanna pop in CLOSE ENCOUNTERS or GOONIES. Or EXPLORERS. Or PAUL. This just feels J.J. Abrams mixing in Spielberg stuff he liked but not really making it coherent. It's kinda like that film project the kids were working on, but given a multi-million dollar budget. Still, it's better shot than his last couple of flicks, especially NUTREK. But he's gotta drop the lens flares.

At least in Super 8 the flare is used purposely. It only shows up in scenes that where the alien or his shenanigans are present.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

At least in Super 8 the flare is used purposely. It only shows up in scenes that where the alien or his shenanigans are present.

True, and it's not blinding like NUTREK was (hell there were a couple of frames that were just pure white) Still, there were times it happened without the alien too. Like when the kids show up at the train stop there's lens flares everywhere in a couple of shots.

Ah, but y'see, there it's signalling the shift in the movie where that train's a-comin', as it were.

But yes, I agree with your critique that the sudden shift where the alien goes from monster to friend is, well, ludicrous.

Water For Elephants (2011) Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz

Rather a long drawn out yawn of a film, but the circus animals were lots of fun and the little dog too.

Sparkle boy can play macho. Who knew? Waltz is a real bad dude. Witherspoon looks real good on top of the elephant.

tiffanywint wrote:

Sparkle boy can play macho. Who knew?

Well, he was Cedric Diggory. 8)

Which gives me hope for the fella once he gets to wash and cut his hair, bide his time for a few years and come back with something else. That said, I've seen nothing of him since the Diggory days.

colly wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

Sparkle boy can play macho. Who knew?

Well, he was Cedric Diggory. 8)

Which gives me hope for the fella once he gets to wash and cut his hair, bide his time for a few years and come back with something else. That said, I've seen nothing of him since the Diggory days.

There may be hope for him, post Twilight. Great elephant work in this film. Maybe the best I've seen. Even better than DAF.

Saw that in theaters (got dragged into it by chicks, thankfully I did not pay), and I remember thinking "hey this is pretty good" and then Reese Witherspoon jumped off the train with Sparkle Boy and the film lost me. I never believed in their romance and that is when it all fell apart for me. From then on it was a disaster, and I don't mean just the lions going loose and mauling families at the circus.

We Bought a Zoo (2011)
Dir. Cameron Crowe

The best thing about it is that it's not Elizabethtown.

I didnt mind the trailer for that - looked like an ideal date/feel good movie, not as good as JERRY MAGUIRE maybe, but a decent watch...



Gun For A Coward (1957) Dir. Abner Bieberman

Only available in the states via the Universal Archive series, here its been released under the new Universal Gold label - which at the half the price for a fantastic print, is A-OK by me. :)

Solid, family themed western. MacMurray, Jeffrey Hunter and Dean Stockwell are three bros who run a smallish cattle ranch thats soon to hit the big time - MacMurray's the old pro who took over ranchin' and fatherin' the other 2 when their pa died, Stockwell's the young hothead who's unafraid of any scrap, but Hunter's the misfit. Initially he's the mamma's boy, under the thumb of mamma Josephine Hutchison, who has plans to take him back to St. Louis. He rejects, and she promptly dies. Leaving him to try and make his own way as a man. Sure, he's a bit of a coward, but he's a sensible man - he doesnt believe in defending ones honour in every bar, and it all comes to a head in a few confrontations on their big cattle drive, mostly spurred by Stockwell and John Larch, who plays S.O.B.s so very well.

tiffanywint wrote:

Witherspoon looks real good on top of the elephant.

As good as Pattinson would look flattened underneath it?

colly wrote:

I didnt mind the trailer for that - looked like an ideal date/feel good movie, not as good as JERRY MAGUIRE maybe, but a decent watch...

Midnight in Paris is still playing, I think. I'd see that... several times before I paid for We Bought a Zoo.

I'm just saying.

Oliver Twist (1948)

something special by David Lean, looks quite special in the scenery and the way it adds mood right down to the final scene with Sikes' death. Four stars and thusly onto Diner (1982). Ah, Steve Guttenberg before it all went...

Hilly wrote:

Oliver Twist (1948)

something special by David Lean, looks quite special in the scenery and the way it adds mood right down to the final scene with Sikes' death. Four stars and thusly onto Diner (1982). Ah, Steve Guttenberg before it all went...

heh....Guttenberg's most iconic work was in the first 4 Police Academy films. Comic genius. Those movies sealed his legacy. :)

Blunt Instrument wrote:

tiffanywint wrote:

Witherspoon looks real good on top of the elephant.

As good as Pattinson would look flattened underneath it?

Pattinson did some good work in this film, especially with the elephant. He's more than just sparkle boy.

I'd rank the elephant work here ahead of both the Bond elephant films, OP and DAF.

I think DAF was Bond's best elephant film. The casino elephant's enthusiasm at winning slots was far more dramatic than the more docile beasts we saw harnessed for Kamal Khan's safari. Then, there was the OP's circus elephant. Tough call.