Last Movie You Watched? 6.0

I love the boat set part.

When MOONRISE KINGDOM comes out on Netlfix, I'll do an Anderson run. It's been a while. Sometimes his films feel "snobbish" to me, but I enjoy them for being something different from the pack and because Anderson is geniunely gifted at comedic filmmaking.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

When MOONRISE KINGDOM comes out on Netlfix, I'll do an Anderson run. It's been a while. Sometimes his films feel "snobbish" to me, but I enjoy them for being something different from the pack and because Anderson is geniunely gifted at comedic filmmaking.

I think at his worst, Wes Anderson can be a bit smug (ROYAL TENENBAUMS certainly comes off that way in places), and at other times, he can be irritatingly precious (the worst bits in the otherwise wonderful MOONRISE KINGDOM suffer from this, too). Of all his films, THE LIFE AQUATIC and MOONRISE KINGDOM are especially characterized by their tenderness, and it is why they stay with me in a way the others don't.

What ultimately elevates LIFE AQUATIC above MOONRISE is AQUATIC's grand climactic moment, which is a masterstroke from Anderson, and the summation of everything his cinema represents. MOONRISE carries itself beautifully up until its too-cluttered, too-cute resolution.

Harmsway wrote:

and at other times, he can be irritatingly precious (the worst bits in the otherwise wonderful MOONRISE KINGDOM suffer from this, too).

What would you say are those?

"Smug" is the word I was looking for. Sometimes there's a touch of that. At the same time I like how whimsical his films can be.

FTW, LIFE AQUATIC is probably my favorite as well. But it's been a couple years since I've seen any.

I'm still looking for that cover of "Hey Jude" from the beginning of TENENBAUMS.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Harmsway wrote:

and at other times, he can be irritatingly precious (the worst bits in the otherwise wonderful MOONRISE KINGDOM suffer from this, too).

What would you say are those?

Most of the bits with Ed Norton and the khaki scouts.

Irritatingly precious, nice. I had read that as "pretentious" at first.

And look what Google found.



I wish Gene Hackman had been in more of Anderson's movies.

Life Aquatic is a surefire Murray movie, in the two before that he's a part to it but Life Aquatic it feels solidly his. Some of the lines are fantastically funny, "Don't point that gun at him he's an unpaid intern!" Not to mention the liberating the broker guy portion...it grows on each viewing.

THE AMAZING MANSPIDER (2012)

Amazingly mediocre. Really terrible writing in places. It's the same movie as the one from '02 except Peter Parker has hairspray now.

SPIDERBOY, SON OF POKEMAN

Sounds like a rental, but I already knew that. It's very hard to get me to a theater these days.

CJB wrote:

THE AMAZING MANSPIDER (2012)

Amazingly mediocre. Really terrible writing in places. It's the same movie as the one from '02 except Peter Parker has hairspray now.

Tubes wrote:

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

For all it's good points, I can't bring myself to recommend it. All the main actors are better than their predecessors and several of the moments it shared with Raimi's original were handled better here. However, everything else about THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN felt bland. The photography was pedestrian, I didn't care much for Horner's score, and the film's climax was horrible. Even though it's a part of the Spider-Man comics, I hate how every Spider-Man film has a sympathetic villain. We get Goblin (who had roid rage issues), Doc Ock (who was controlled by his tentacles), Sandman (who didn't want to hurt anyone), and now The Lizard (who just wants a right arm). It always seems to me that every Spider-Man film has the villain turn good when the chips are down and it's getting ridiculous.

I saw it too and that pretty much sums it up. Andrew Garfield is better than Tobey Maguire though but apart from that it felt quite redundant. Horner's score is terribly awful and the ending is unremarkable to say the least.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

Well made, well cast, but dull and pointless. Complete lack of understanding of the character.

The Sugarland Express (1974)

Well... I loved the first half, and I loved the humor, but by the end I was less than enthusiastic. Hawn is terrific, though.

I dunno. I'm not sure how to word my thoughts here, but basically I didn't feel of the weight of this story when the time came to feel it in the second half. But the first half is really good.

Grand Prix (1966)

Yes, it's a soap opera on wheels, but such a soap opera, and what wheels! It's been said that GP is the greatest film ever made about auto racing and I believe it. The racing footage is stupendous, and at times movingly poetic. Yves Montand and Eva Marie Saint are terrific, while James Garner and Brian Bedford also acquit themselves nicely. And Jessica Walter is one sexy dish. Would that she had been cast as Andrea Anders instead of Maud Adams.

GP also has Bond tie-ins. Adolfo Celi--sans eyepatch--appears as Il Commendatore (basically Enzo Ferrari), and there are two shots clearly influenced by Goldfinger. The first shows people on a winding mountain road, and it looks exactly like the scene in GF where Tilly muffs her assassination attempt of Auric. The second shows a plane trailing a Welcome to the Netherlands sign followed by a shot of the Dutch beach near Zandvoort. This is a close facsimile of the Welcome to Miami intro in GF, sans blistering saxophone.

I'm interested in GRAND PRIX as a Frankenheimer fan. I just expect to see good technical merits.

You might check out 1964's THE TRAIN by the same director if you haven't seen it. A really first-rate WWII action movie starring Burt Lancaster doing his own stunt work (not sure if it's all him, but he does some great stuff) and the excellent Paul Scofield as a Nazi.

My cinematographer is obsessed with GRAND PRIX. We shot our film, THE RACER, as a kind've low budget 5D homage.

It's great if you can watch it on a really big screen and let the CINERAMA really flow over you.

Grand Prix on an IMAX would be overwhelming. Those with sensitive stomachs would need a blast of dramamine.

And I'll keep an eye out for The Train, Tuxinator.

I"d been reading Mike Piller's unpublishedf book about the writing of STAR TREK INSURRECTION, so I decided to try watching the movie again.

Boy, a lot of bad calls in that flick. Even the things you want to see are just presented in a desultory fashion - only the last minute reshoot has somewhat memorable pyrotechnics, but the rest is just so ... inert.

Figured something deliberately dumb would be a good followup, so I gave ESCAPE FROM LA a chance, its first since the film opened theatrically. Well, the vfx are at least as bad as I remembered. The ending is wonderful -- and everything else is totally unmemorable. Most of the goodwill engendered from CHARLY on the part of Cliff Robertson is squandered here, and I wish Michelle Forbes had played Zhora Plissken or something to that effect.

Not a good double-bill -- am just glad I saw a few BIG BANG THEORY eps in between the flicks.

PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948) -- I still don't really know what to think about this film.

JULIE (1956) -- It has its virtues.

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER -- Stunning images during the river sequence. The addition of Lillian Gish was the icing on the cake for this film.

ON THE WATERFRONT -- Classic Kazan.

A FACE IN THE CROWD -- Andy Griffith's best film role and Kazan's best film, in my opinion. Amazing movie that's relevant today, more than ever.

I'd say ON THE WATERFRONT is my favorite Kazan, but A FACE IN THE CROWD is the one that impressed me for it's filmmaking merits.

Now if I could get the score to THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER.

Don't know if I ever asked you, but have you read that NIGHT OF THE HUNTER retrospective volume Preston Jones put out awhile back? Heard good things about it, and was also interested because this is the guy with the 1600 (yeah, sixteen HUNDRED) page unpublished manuscript about the making of STAR TREK TMP.

A Streetcar Named Desire is my favourite Kazan. Though that may change after we focus on On The Waterfront next term at school in English. But I doubt it - it's a fantastic film but a Marlon Brando/Vivien Leigh combo is difficult to beat.

trevanian wrote:

Don't know if I ever asked you, but have you read that NIGHT OF THE HUNTER retrospective volume Preston Jones put out awhile back? Heard good things about it, and was also interested because this is the guy with the 1600 (yeah, sixteen HUNDRED) page unpublished manuscript about the making of STAR TREK TMP.

Nope. Reminds me, I've never looked at the outtakes on my HUNTER Cirterion.

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)

Quality entertainment and a solid finish to the series. Couldn't really ask for more. It's probably the only one with a plot that makes a lick of sense. As with 3 it doesn't have the pure energy of the first two, and it even feels a little flatter than 3 in some ways, but it's better paced and Jet Li is a great baddie. The final show down is tops with these three just beating the shit out of each other for about five minutes. The freeway chase is excellent too.

Just a good franchise movie. It's like a reunion with old friends, with the usual blend of comedy hijinks and wanton violence* and destruction mixed with the occasional sax solo. It pretty much ties up all the threads and it leaves the series on a nice note. Loved the end titles with the pictures. Nicely done.

The Riggs/Murtaugh Saga

LETHAL WEAPON 2
LETHAL WEAPON
LETHAL WEAPON 4
LETHAL WEAPON 3



*There should have been a "wonton violence" joke.

EDIT ADDON: Love that they get married by a rabbi at the end.