Last Movie You Watched? 7.0

To hell with Ebert & Roeper, I wanna see Maltin & White.

Space Cowboys

the real joy is to be found in the actors therein -Eastwood, Garner, Lee Jones, Sutherland and even William Devane who seems to revel in this can't give a damn attitude. The interplay is good and everything else just sorts of follows. Toby Stephens even bears some resemblance to a young Eastwood in the films early portion. Film even features Jon Hamm.
Film could've done with John Barry's Flight into Space for Daedalus' journey to the ICON satellite. Even had that lens fare trick beyond the Earth's curvature against the shuttle that Moonraker had.

Hands of the Ripper (1971, dir. Peter Sasdy)

I love Hammers' carefully built sets, they are pretty lovely. This film looks splendid in parts, and its story is quite interesting for a horror film. The film takes itself seriously and handles its subject matter and characters with love and care. A recommendable horror film that finely evokes emotions in the viewer.


Stroszek (1977, dir. Werner Herzog)

Simply fantastic. One of the most realistic and sincere films I've seen, in that respect tops the film I've written about below (and comparable fare, even though that kind of film is pretty decent, too). Most striking is Bruno S.'s performance - he so perfectly embodies Stroszek, his performance is purely naturalistic, it's puzzling. Particularly his unique idiosyncratic parlance is great (though sadly will never work in a dubbed version). A very tragic, but also hilarious movie about the fortune of a naive ex-convict, an old muddler friend of his, and a prostitute who is, along with Stroszek himself, constantly being humiliated by a gang of pimps back in Germany; some day they decide to move to the USA - but will their luck change to the better there? I'm pretty sure the set of characters makes the answer superfluous.
Herzog also does not forget to insert beautiful shots of American landscapes (and sunset glow!) into the film. It's a pretty subtle and emotionally affecting film. The allegorical ending repeats the simultaneously tragic and funny sentiment of the film and gets to the essence of the whole movie. Probably my favourite Herzog so far. Excellent director.


21 Grams (2003, dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu)

A mostly convincing film with good performances (Del Toro in particular); psychology is convincing and not flat, and the jumping between different timelines is very effective. Bits of it may feel slightly put-on, like the ending with the whole 21 grams stuff, but it is a sincere and barely melodramatic film. It's no surprise however, that the self-absorbing film snobs around White loathe Iñárritu; I haven't seen any of his other films, but on the forums (including old MI6), I've only read bad things about BABEL (and apparently BIUTIFUL, too). I'd still like to see a couple of his other films.

Quote :

It's no surprise however, that the self-absorbing film snobs around White loathe Iñárritu;

Self-absorbed film snobs who dig SCARFACE, defend the merits of commonly dismissed "low art" and rail against the "smart about movies" crowd? Yeah right.

Iñárritu's films are self-indulgent, button pushing, offensive, pretentious, politically correct, joyless, and in exceedingly bad taste. Unintentional comedies.

He's the Mexican Paul Haggis.

Tried to watch HAYWIRE. Got about 36 minutes in and finally had to just shut it off. What a complete oblivion this movie is. But I liked seeing Fassbender. Wish he'd be cast as Bond. Gina Carano was okay in her role. I wouldn't mind seeing her naked, though. Anyway. Is Soderbergh still gonna retire? I sure hope so. He should devote his life to making educational films or something. Or writing math textbooks. Something to match his humanity.

Watched some of Wilder's SABRINA, which I adored. I ordered the DVD, and I'll just see the whole thing over when that comes in the post. Bogart is too old in this, but I can't imagine a better actor for the role. This movie might even make me somewhat a fan of Hepburn, which I've never really been.

Loved the garage attempted suicide sequence. Few directors could pull that off, and make it funny while keeping the characters sympathetic.

You should really see Fassbender in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, that's where it really struck me that he should be Bond.

Python wrote:

You should really see Fassbender in INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, that's where it really struck me that he should be Bond.

I'll get around to it.

Death Wish 2 (1982)

Still haven't seen the sequels.

Hilly wrote:

Space Cowboys

the real joy is to be found in the actors therein -Eastwood, Garner, Lee Jones, Sutherland and even William Devane who seems to revel in this can't give a damn attitude. The interplay is good and everything else just sorts of follows. Toby Stephens even bears some resemblance to a young Eastwood in the films early portion. Film even features Jon Hamm.
Film could've done with John Barry's Flight into Space for Daedalus' journey to the ICON satellite. Even had that lens fare trick beyond the Earth's curvature against the shuttle that Moonraker had.

The character stuff is enjoyable,but for me it is just eye candy deluxe in the last act. VFX are about 85% miniature-based, and that stuff is almost as well-shot here as in EVENT HORIZON (motion control miniature photography had about reached its zenith at the exact moment everybody stopped using it, which is why I find a lot of late 90s VFX movies much more rewatchable than the ones that have followed.) The CG is not perfectly integrated with the modelwork, but it's close a lot of the time. Did a really good job of delineating what space looks like in terms of contrast, which is what bugs me about most other space pictures.

Last shot I find immensely ambitious and utterly problematic ... I usually just turn the picture down to black instead and listen to Sinatra.

It does fall a bit once they're in space. The Cromwell/Russian aspect seemed pointless in some ways, almost forgotten though I don't suppose it needed much expanding. The effects were neither here nor there. Doubt you could land a shuttle like they did anyway :)

Hilly wrote:

Space Cowboys

the real joy is to be found in the actors therein -Eastwood, Garner, Lee Jones, Sutherland and even William Devane who seems to revel in this can't give a damn attitude. The interplay is good and everything else just sorts of follows. Toby Stephens even bears some resemblance to a young Eastwood in the films early portion. Film even features Jon Hamm.
Film could've done with John Barry's Flight into Space for Daedalus' journey to the ICON satellite. Even had that lens fare trick beyond the Earth's curvature against the shuttle that Moonraker had.

MISSION TO MARS is a far better film.

I find M2M an utter and complete embarrassment. Rare that I loathe a Morricone score, but there you are.When you're flinching at Gary Sinise's eyeliner instead of being involved with his character, it's time (for someone) to go.

I think this is like BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES in at least one way - the best shots in the film are the work of 2nd Unit director Eric Schwab (the spacwalk would have been much cooler if somebody at the last second hadn't decided they had to keep most of it on a straight boring line instead of playing with all the inherent velocities and attitudes possible.

I read what I think was the 32nd draft, which was very painful, but better than what they wound up with (potentially good stuff involving getting down from REMO to the ground.)

To me this makes CONTACT look groundbreaking and RED PLANET downright watchable.. I'd view QUATERMASS & THE PIT a thousand times (and I've already seen that at least a dozen times) before looking at this twice.

But I will give you M2M actually IS a science fiction film, instead of just a movie with space as a setting, which is the cases with SPACE COWBOYS.

Hilly wrote:

It does fall a bit once they're in space. The Cromwell/Russian aspect seemed pointless in some ways, almost forgotten though I don't suppose it needed much expanding. The effects were neither here nor there. Doubt you could land a shuttle like they did anyway :)

I'm talking about the space shots, not the shuttle landing. The spacecraft in orbit stuff is fucking phenomenal looking by any standard I can think to apply in terms of visual credibility.

trevanian wrote:

I find M2M an utter and complete embarrassment. Rare that I loathe a Morricone score, but there you are.

That's the orthodox view, but one I can never understand. I love Morricone's score too. Breathtaking stuff.



I believe Manhunter's one of the few defenders of the film here, apart from me.

trevanian wrote:

Hilly wrote:

It does fall a bit once they're in space. The Cromwell/Russian aspect seemed pointless in some ways, almost forgotten though I don't suppose it needed much expanding. The effects were neither here nor there. Doubt you could land a shuttle like they did anyway :)

I'm talking about the space shots, not the shuttle landing. The spacecraft in orbit stuff is fucking phenomenal looking by any standard I can think to apply in terms of visual credibility.

I know you meant the space shots, I just threw the landing in there for my bit.

MISSION TO MARS is the only De Palma film I have seen in theaters so far, and from memory it seemed pretty decent but nothing exceptional for the sci-fi genre. Felt more like De Palma dipping his toes in the water just to see what it's like. Of course this is how I remembered it 12 years ago. I'll definitely see it again soon as I progress through my own De Palma run (PHANTOM OF PARADISE is up next).

Python wrote:

MISSION TO MARS is the only De Palma film I have seen in theaters so far, and from memory it seemed pretty decent but nothing exceptional for the sci-fi genre. Felt more like De Palma dipping his toes in the water just to see what it's like. Of course this is how I remembered it 12 years ago. I'll definitely see it again soon as I progress through my own De Palma run (PHANTOM OF PARADISE is up next).

I've only seen that and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.

Harmsway wrote:

I've never seen THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, though I had another friend passionately recommend it not too long ago. I'm assuming I should check it out.

As a lifelong Holmes enthusiast and stickler for accuracy, I went absolutely gaga for this-even in it's butchered form. One of Wilder's best (and that's saying a lot.) and for my money the best Holmes film ever. (Followed by Hammer's Hound which has my all time favorite Sherlock Peter Cushing.)

Ride Lonesome (1959)

Another fine Scott/Boetticher Western.

Death Wish 3 and Death Wish 4.

The Mark Of Zorro
in which Douglas Fairbanks invents parkour
the level of sword fighting is technicaly childlike, but the athleticism more than compensates

Seve wrote:

The Mark Of Zorro
in which Douglas Fairbanks invents parkour
the level of sword fighting is technicaly childlike, but the athleticism more than compensates

I've tried to watch it a couple times.

Would you recommend DON Q, SON OF ZORRO?

Good lord, no.

@WhiteTuxedo The title alone makes me wanna laugh.

GOODFELLAS. Scorsese really made an all-timer here. I love the fuck out of this film. Always baffled me how Liotta didn't have much of a career after this, I thought he was great.