Last Movie You Watched? 7.0

MacArthur

film always looks like a TV movie and not helped by the restrictive locations (all US bound) and budget. This being said it's helped by a Jerry Goldsmith score (a certain almost haunting use of the theme as MacArthur waits for the Manilla bombardment to begin) and Gregory Peck himself.
Tommy Lee Jones is playing MacArthur in a film out soon/near future and I'd imagine it'd be good but as good as Peck? Well...
Between MacArthur and Patton must've been the mother of all ego's.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

And of course Fassbender is fantastic. I'm not sure how I feel about how his character is written in terms of his actions, but he plays everything so well. He made the film mildly watchable to me. I love the part where he's watching LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and trying to be Peter O'Toole. I'd have rather seen a version of this movie where Fassbender kills a mountain of aliens while doing a two-hour Peter O'Toole impression.

It bothered me that the three most interesting characters in the movie (Pierce, Fassbender and Theron) were woefully underutilized, underdeveloped, and turned into one-dimensional villains in the third act for no reason, with even their "villainous" acts being completely rational and understandable. Theron, for example, just wants to leave the planet and warn Earth before they are all killed rather than sacrifice herself for no reason, and for some reason this makes her "heartless corporate bitch".

Largo's Shark wrote:

Seve wrote:

except Momento and Insomnia (at a bare miminum)
:bounce:

Just INSOMNIA.

no way, Momento is genius
8)

Dredd 3D
Old School
Best one liners since Arnie became the Govenator? (or at least since Expenables 2)
Nastiest graphic violence since Steven Segal made Killswitch? (or at least since the last Roberto Rodriguez / Quentin Tarantino movie?)
However I didn’t find the 3D added much to it, maybe 3D is only good in Imax?

Seve wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

Seve wrote:

except Momento and Insomnia (at a bare miminum)
:bounce:

Just INSOMNIA.

no way, Momento is genius
8)

Gimmicky trash.

EYES WIDE SHUT (1999, dir. Stanley Kubrick)

Damn, those first forty minutes are just incredible.

Indiscreet (1958)

so-so, were it not for Grant and even Bergman I might not have stuck it out. The perk is Cecil Parker, though doing his usual schtick, is on the ball more than ever.

"There is no sincerity, like a woman telling a lie."

HJackson wrote:

Seve wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

Seve wrote:

except Momento and Insomnia (at a bare miminum)
:bounce:

Just INSOMNIA.

no way, Momento is genius
8)

Gimmicky trash.

I guess it was a bit to deep for you huh?

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

And of course Fassbender is fantastic. I'm not sure how I feel about how his character is written in terms of his actions, but he plays everything so well. He made the film mildly watchable to me. I love the part where he's watching LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and trying to be Peter O'Toole. I'd have rather seen a version of this movie where Fassbender kills a mountain of aliens while doing a two-hour Peter O'Toole impression.

It bothered me that the three most interesting characters in the movie (Pierce, Fassbender and Theron) were woefully underutilized, underdeveloped, and turned into one-dimensional villains in the third act for no reason, with even their "villainous" acts being completely rational and understandable. Theron, for example, just wants to leave the planet and warn Earth before they are all killed rather than sacrifice herself for no reason, and for some reason this makes her "heartless corporate bitch".

I was literally facepalming during that. The great Idris Elba is saying, "We're gonna commit suicide even though we don't know if this will work. But it's what should happen to set up the sequel."

What an attrocity this movie is. nuTrek level attrocity? Well, it's not quite as retarded on a script/character level, and it actually looks good.

Hilly wrote:

[b]Indiscreet (A
so-so, were it not for Grant and even Bergman I might not have stuck it out. The perk is Cecil Parker, though doing his usual schtick, is on the ball more than ever.

"There is no sincerity, like a woman telling a lie."

If you're a Grant fan, I recommend checking out these two if you haven't already done so, of course:



and



They're among my favorite Grant films that don't get as much attention as some of his others.

Also, Miss Bergman later made a comedy with a very similar plot to Indiscreet:

Prince Kamal Khan wrote:

Hilly wrote:

[b]Indiscreet (A
so-so, were it not for Grant and even Bergman I might not have stuck it out. The perk is Cecil Parker, though doing his usual schtick, is on the ball more than ever.

"There is no sincerity, like a woman telling a lie."

If you're a Grant fan, I recommend checking out these two if you haven't already done so, of course:



and



They're among my favorite Grant films that don't get as much attention as some of his others.

Also, Miss Bergman later made a comedy with a very similar plot to Indiscreet:

I'll be sure to check them out. Only Angels Have Wings was meant to be on the TV last year but the Queen's Tennis Final cancelled it.

Guess I'm a bit of a Grant fan, early adventures were North by Northwest and Operation Petticoat.

I love ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS. Desert island flick for me.

Fathom
this light weight 60s spy-spoof-come-heist artifact is more enjoyable than most, without being as amusing or exciting as it aspires to be, but mainly never loses sight of it's primary function, which is to show off Rachel Welch's magnificant physique to best advantage
(reminisent of the way that "Boy On A Dolphin" performed a similar function for Sophia Loren in the previous decade)
the combination of sunny Mediteranean scenery and ravishing Raquel, wearing a different colourful day glo costume in every scene, is very easy on the eye
drag the sun lounger in from the deck, mix the cocktail of your choice, lie back, switch off and let it roll over you
"yeah baby, yeah, positively Shagadelic!"
8)

THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963, dir. Roger Corman)

Not really one of the Poe pictures (though it was advertised as such against Corman's wishes), but it's still very entertaining, even if it's not quite as rewarding as the best of Corman's Poe adaptations.

Harmsway wrote:

THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963, dir. Roger Corman)

Not really one of the Poe pictures (though it was advertised as such against Corman's wishes), but it's still very entertaining, even if it's not quite as rewarding as the best of Corman's Poe adaptations.

It's one of the films I'll be watching when I watch a lot of those flicks pretty soon.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

It's one of the films I'll be watching when I watch a lot of those flicks pretty soon.

I'd save it for the end. It's not really of a piece with the other Poe flicks.

I always get the hankering to revisit the Corman Poe flicks in October. They're perfect Halloween fare. It's my wish that one day Criterion will round 'em up and give them the loving treatment they deserve.

Harmsway wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

It's one of the films I'll be watching when I watch a lot of those flicks pretty soon.

I'd save it for the end. It's not really of a piece with the other Poe flicks.

I always get the hankering to revisit the Corman Poe flicks in October. They're perfect Halloween fare. It's my wish that one day Criterion will round 'em up and give them the loving treatment they deserve.

I was thinking of the Criterion treatment as well! I've been obtaining copies from someone I know who has the old Midnight Movies DVD's that are mostly out of print. A couple have Corman commentaries, which sounds great. Ive seen bits and pieces over the years, but never any of them all the way through properly.

HORRIBLE BOSSES. It's official, Jennifer Aniston is sexy again.

The plot's messy, but the chemistry between the cast more than makes up for that. Entertaining stuff.

Bobby (2006, dir. Emilio Estevez)

Apart from the utterly unfunny Hippie/drugs crap, a fairly passable film, but there is nothing special about it. Best part is the whole assassination sequence and its aftermath, shown to what seems to be an original Bobby quote, which itself is the best part of the film. Estevez is no Altman.


12 Angry Men (1957, dir. Sidney Lumet)

Probably Lumet's best film.


10 Rillington Place (1971, dir. Richard Fleischer)

To my surprise it was shown on TV, which meant I was able to watch it dubbed. A really good film. Turned out I don't need the dubbed version, which is what I had expected.


Trust (2010, dir. David Schwimmer)

Surprisingly good, subtle and mostly convincing. No cheap Hollywood pseudo-drama.


Gran Torino (2008, dir. Clint Eastwood)

Utterly unconvincing and phoney. Unbelievable characters, mechanistic plot, lame dialogue, it seems to be derived from a handbook for hoary PC clichés.
(Initially I had misspelled the director's name as "Clit").


Five Easy Pieces (1970, dir. Bob Rafelson)

Really fine character study with some nice pics, from a time when Nicholson still tried to act, and was fairly successful at it. Fun to watch, a really convincing portrayal of an unusual, at least not ordinary character.

Manhunter wrote:

Five Easy Pieces (1970, dir. Bob Rafelson)

Really fine character study with some nice pics, from a time when Nicholson still tried to act, and was fairly successful at it. Fun to watch, a really convincing portrayal of an unusual, at least not ordinary character.

I think Jack is still mostly good. Hey, at this point he's doing better than Pacino and De Niro, who have made careers out of impersonating themselves in comedies.

De Palmathon...

The Fury (1978)

If nothing else, I find it damned entertaining. Seriously, I am never less than completely and totally entertained by this film. I think the problem is that it tries to do too much in two hours. I want to see this remade as an AMC series. This movie could be expanded into an entire 13-episode season IMHO. In the film, we never see Robin go from innocent teen to psycho Sith Lord. He just does in scenes we never see.

Wish Fiona Lewis were in more movies.

Love the score, of course.

I love the score, but find the film boring to no end. The film should have just been Kurt and that senile old mother.

The first TERMINATOR, aka the only good one. A police procedural with Winfield and Henriksen's characters would have been a scream -- better than any of the crappy sequels.

1. THE TERMINATOR (8.5/10)
2. TERMINATOR SALVATION (7/10)
3. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (6.5/10)
4. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (4/10)

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

The first TERMINATOR, aka the only good one. A police procedural with Winfield and Henriksen's characters would have been a scream -- better than any of the crappy sequels.

1. THE TERMINATOR (8.5/10)
2. TERMINATOR SALVATION (7/10)
3. TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES (6.5/10)
4. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY (4/10)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQhiZpLJtcg#t=3s

I never made it through SALVATION myself.

T4, while admittedly not great, at least tells the only story I want to see after the first movie -- John Connor fighting the machine war. The effects are great and so is the cast. The only stuff that doesnt work is Sam Worthington's storyline, which is unfortunately the focus.

T3 is a bad movie saved by a very, very good ending. If your movie ends well, I can forgive a lot.

Meanwhile there is really not much at all about T2 that I like. The story is awful, sacrificing making any kind of sense in favour of absolutely saccharine bullshit. It feels like the worst kind of sequel -- a big budget Hollywood rehash of the original but more family friendly. All the more amazing it was made by the same guy.
And its too fucking long. Like all of Cameron's post-ALIENS output, its a fat, bloated movie. For some reason the man always needs around 3 hours to tell the simplest stories.

Maybe I'll try again on T4. Ugh, but Worthlesston. I hate watching him.

I wish we had a really right John Connor. Furlong I don't mind. Stahl is a huge WTF? And Bale.... As an actor I simply have never really found him interesting at all in the slightest. He's okay in TDKR from what I recall, but he bores the utter crap out of me in everything else.

My favorite is Michael Edwards in T2. I'm trying to think of an actor who would be really good for Connor. Maybe if Mark Harmon were younger.

The one actor I liked from T3 was David Andrews.