Last Movie You Watched? 7.0

The A-Team

meh, meh and mehmeh. It's alright but nothing special, the cast get on dandily together and a sequel might iron things out. The way me crazy brain works is that you could've had what's left of the original cast, trying to get old glory back together and throw in some crazy plan and villain (Davi's always a good bet).
Half a point for Benedict/Schultz cameos.

Manhunter wrote:

Quatermass and the Pit (1967, dir. Roy Ward Baker)

Rarely well-thought-out horror film.

Surprised to read that you think that. I'd argue that Quatermass and the Pit has more depth than any other social SF film I've seen.

I'm on a bit of a B-movie kick.

Watched Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome a few days ago. Has been ages since I've last seen it. Still one of my favorite of the Tracy films. Although I always felt the 40's pictures never captured the fun of the serials.

Last night: Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise. Nothing to write home about. A decent mystery, nothing too great.

I've always wanted to watch the Chan series, just realized most of them are up on Youtube, so I might give another one a go this evening.

Manhunter wrote:

Quatermass and the Pit (1967, dir. Roy Ward Baker)

Rarely well-thought-out horror film. Has a suspenseful horror story with questions about the evil that is lurking inside humanity, combined with stunning visuals. Julian Glover is in it, for the nerds who need Bond connections ;) .
Also, the end titles music is magnificent.

Except for the views of life on Mars, I find pretty much all of it to be magnificent. Saw this in a revival house with FORBIDDEN PLANET and the original BODY SNATCHERS around 77 or so and it easily won the night.

Most recent for me was ORLANDO and SKYFALL. Former had Tilda Swinton shining amidst some really interesting concepts and the latter had Ben Whishaw and Javier Bardem.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Manhunter wrote:

Quatermass and the Pit (1967, dir. Roy Ward Baker)

Rarely well-thought-out horror film.

Surprised to read that you think that. I'd argue that Quatermass and the Pit has more depth than any other social SF film I've seen.

I agree Nigel Kneale is one of the unsung greats imo...tbh in this case I suspect the 'rarely' is in fact a miss-correction of the word 'Really' as Manhunter seems otherwise very positive on the film.

lachesis wrote:

I suspect the 'rarely' is in fact a miss-correction of the word 'Really' as Manhunter seems otherwise very positive on the film.

Ah, I believe you're right. In truth, I didn't read on beyond that first sentence.

Un secret (2007, dir. Claude Miller)

Not fabulous, but fairly decent. Cécile de France delivers a fine performance of sexual arousal.
Amalric is in the movie as well (he doesn't cause the sexual arousal, obviously).

The Night of the Generals

the draw, ages ago, was Christopher Plummer (as Rommel of all people) and as it turns out he is in a cameo role (so brief, so pointless). The cast is quite something: O'Toole, Sharif, Charles Gray, John Gregson, Donald Pleasance, Nigel Stock and Gordon Jackson among a fair few. O'Toole is one of the better aspects of the film, almost like his Lawrence portrayal but coldly so. Sharif plays with some lightness, a determination to get his man who has been butchering whores in Warsaw and Paris. Tom Courtenay, undecided -quite similar to Operation Crossbow. So delighted to see Gregson in action, even if the years look a little unkind. Joanna Pettet sounds like Michelle Carey and half looks like her. Striking to the end.

Looks good for a film of its year, O'Toole's drivethrough Warsaw early on is a key example...feels 'epic' or at least with scope to breathe.

And finally, Maurice Jarre...appears to encapsulates O'Toole's inner madness well.

(having seen Valkyrie this week, the depiction of the July 20 plot appears amateurish in attention to detail but a small worry)

I remember seeing Night of the Generals many years ago, Hilly. Be interesting to see it again. I remember the scene where O'Toole orders the Panzers to open fire on the houses.

Erica Ambler wrote:

I remember seeing Night of the Generals many years ago, Hilly. Be interesting to see it again. I remember the scene where O'Toole orders the Panzers to open fire on the houses.

that Panzer firing scene was quite something, more so when the resistance opens fire on the Germans and hardly anyone flinches. For what it's worth the film's on the Beeb iplayer until Sunday morning I think it is. .

Great, I'll check it out. Any news on Spiral?

Erica Ambler wrote:

Great, I'll check it out. Any news on Spiral?

not a sausage I fear. Judging by the latest Killing starting (or has started last Saturday) I doubt we'll see it before New Year. Tends to occupy the same spot on BBC4 as Killing/Inspector Montalbano/current foreign drama of the week. If I spoke French I might have better luck.

Just watching it now. Love Robert Brownjohn's title sequence. Far more talented man than Mauirce Binder, if you ask me.

THE EEL (1997, directed by Shohei Imamura). An eccentric, whimsical, self-indulgent blend of romantic drama, black comedy and psychological thriller that's tiresome and charming in roughly equal measure, Imamura's second (after 1983's THE BALLAD OF NARAYAMA) and final Palme d'Or winner (and almost his final film) is held together mostly by his directorial flair and by charismatic performances from Koji Yakusho and Misa Shimizu.

GRAND ILLUSION (1937)

I watched this on the big screen this morning. I was told that Renoir had planned an alternate ending. Apparently, the soldiers had vowed to meet each other on a particular date at a restaurant in Sweden(?) following the war. However, at the end of the film, when one of the soldiers enters the restaurant, he finds no one there. That would have been really interesting to see.

THE DEVILS (Uncut) (1971/2004, dir. Ken Russell)

Saw it at the Southbank BFI this evening. Astounding.

The Machinist (2004) dir by Brad Anderson, starring Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason-Leigh.

I've been avoiding this film for years. It just looked too depressing. Finally picked it up and was riveted. What a great little story. It all neatly comes together at the end. A smart little study in madness. Bale dropped to about 120 lbs for this film. Unbelievable. He said he simply didn't eat. Or no more than the bare minimum I guess.

^ Got that free with a newspaper a while back (it was a 'full' release version, too ... special features, trailers, the whole shebang). :) Bale is extraordinary in it.

Largo's Shark wrote:

THE DEVILS (Uncut) (1971/2004, dir. Ken Russell)

Saw it at the Southbank BFI this evening. Astounding.

I wanna see it.

Brave with my youngest, and too be honest those Pixar movies never fail to amuse.

Or I had to go with my oldest to the last of the Twilight movies. I left that to the missus, and she enjoyed it.

Besides that Pixar is always solid entertainment.

The Adventures Of Tartu
I love this film
made in 1943, it's a proto James Bond scenario with Robert Donat as a secret agent sent to infiltrate and destroy a secret German gas factory hidden inside a mountain located in the Czech Republic
the pace is brisk, the plot is well constructed and the proto Ken Adam sets of the inside of the factory / "villians lair" are wonderfully monumental
I guess the story has a hint of Moonraker about it
great fun

In Time
the idea has lots of potential, the first half is very good, the second half is complete pants, leaving this viewer feeling cheated and disappointed
in the second half things just start happening which lack credibility, the happy couple start robbing time banks (the same one 6 times?) and no one can stop them
the time keepers have a fancy control room and lots of retro cars, but they can't anticipate or catch the happy couple?
banks security is powerless to stop robbers who have no plan other than walking in the front door armed with a couple of pistols?
a plan they repeat over and over again? how could a distopian society this flimsy ever come to exist in the first place?
the gangster villian has the hero cold and decides to have an arm wrestle with him for all the marbles?
the time keeper, who moments before asked for a time top up, forgets to access it before getting out of the car?
the big bosses security entourage is infiltrated by the hero how?
the big boss has 20 security guys around him who all look the same way at once? no-one on the perimeter?
key stone cops level stuff that would pass in a comedy, but not in a movie that appeared to have some pretentions to being taken seriously

Bridge at Remagen

not too bad though lags towards theend. Got a good opening shot with the US tanks exchanging shots across the Rhine (Danube) with German emplacements followed by the main theme over shots over what is meant to be Remagen. First film I saw with George Segal, left a favourable impression as a war wearied soldier and has a good turn. Ditto Ben Gazzara, the 'couldn't give a shit' GI thieving from dead Germans and killing Hitler Youth. Robert Vaughn does alright.
Elmer Bernstein's score is good for the most part though with heavy shades of Magnificent Seven and Great Escape.

Blithe Spirit

zips along at a desperate, Noel Coward driven pace. Witty, sparkling dialogue and energetic peformance by Rutherfurd (Dame) rise to the fore. Kay Hammond is bewitching as the off-green Elvira and Rex Harrison classic Coward actor.

As for all this, as Coward remarked to Fleming after the line Dr No about Honey's backside: "My dear boy, what were you thinking when you wrote that?"

STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986, dir. Leonard Nimoy)

Just awful.

Harmsway wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

THE DEVILS (Uncut) (1971/2004, dir. Ken Russell)

Saw it at the Southbank BFI this evening. Astounding.

I wanna see it.

I reckon you'd love it.

Wasn't one of the best experiences I've had at the cinema. Bought a box of chili nachos on one of the embankment Christmas stalls for £5.50, then had to throw it in a bin when I couldn't take it into the screening (forgot there was a no food policy). Got in about 5 minutes into the film (no ads), and had to sit at the side. It was also one of the worst audiences I've ever been with. Laughing at all the wrong moments, endless trips to the toilet and nattering.

Harmsway wrote:

STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME (1986, dir. Leonard Nimoy)

Just awful.

You've been watching these? What is compelling you to do so?