Last Movie You Watched? 7.0

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Pretty decent war movie.

The Constant Gardner (2005)

Damn good thriller. Not crazy about the filming technique but the story and acting elevate it enough to make this engaging. Guess you can add this to the Bond connection thread too with Fiennes, Weisz and Caine.

THE LION IN WINTER (1968, dir. Anthony Harvey)

Just a terrific motion picture.

I've always found the direction lacking.

Largo's Shark wrote:

I've always found the direction lacking.

Yeah, Harvey's no great stylist (to put it mildly). Harvey does seem to be a fine actor's director; I've not seen much else of his work, but here, at least, he brings wonderful things out of the cast. Indeed, the script, the cast, and the score are all so great that Harvey's shortcomings as a director scarcely register.

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964, dir. by Roger Corman)

Wonderful high camp. Wasn't crazy about David Lee's (who?) score, though.

Largo's Shark wrote:

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964, dir. by Roger Corman)

Wonderful high camp. Wasn't crazy about David Lee's (who?) score, though.

Yeah, when I watched it last, I didn't love Lee's score, either. There are better scores as far as the Corman Poe films go.

Speaking of, I've been having trouble finding releases of the scores.

Kritzerland released Les Baxter's THE RAVEN, La La Land did a double release of TALES OF TERROR with THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, and Intrada did HOUSE OF USHER. Sadly, Baxter's masterwork, the PIT AND THE PENDULUM is believed to be lost - both the written score and the tapes. Also like Kenneth V. Jones's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA, but that's also sadly unreleased.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Kritzerland released Les Baxter's THE RAVEN, La La Land did a double release of TALES OF TERROR with THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, and Intrada did HOUSE OF USHER. Sadly, Baxter's masterwork, the PIT AND THE PENDULUM is believed to be lost - both the written score and the tapes. Also like Kenneth V. Jones's THE TOMB OF LIGEIA, but that's also sadly unreleased.

Shame. PIT AND THE PENDULUM and LIGEIA were the scores I really wanted.

Hellfighters

beyond John Wayne, a striking Katherine Ross and outside of DAF Bruce Cabot just taps along without much in between fires. Sort of like a Thunderbirds episode on repeat.

Accepted

it had Diora Baird in it.

RAMBO III

After some consideration and deep thought, I have concluded that RAMBO III is the most masculine movie ever made. It's a cinematic buffet of manliness. It's absolutely stupid, but entirely entertaining all the same. How can you have a movie where Sly breaks necks, ambushes soldiers in sewer water, cauterizes his own wound with gun powder, takes down a Soviet helicopter with his patented explosive arrows, overkills the Big Bad's lead henchman with some rope, a chasm and grenades, and decides to take on the entire Russian army when cornered with only his former commander as support. Oh, and he rams a Hind with a tank.

THE EXPENDABLES 2

Better than the first one on nearly every front. Lighter in tone, sounder in plot, and with a real menace of a villain played by Van Damme. Not quite as manly as RAMBO 3, probably because of the lack of bared chests. Then again, that's plus considering how Arnold's looking these days. Amazing that Norris is the oldest of the bunch, yet still is the deadliest in real life.

Tubes wrote:

THE EXPENDABLES 2

Better than the first one on nearly every front.

Haven't seen it yet but I'll be getting the Blu-ray next week.

Last film I watched was NO WAY OUT. Overly talky and more than a little silly, it's still very entertaining, thanks largely to engaging performances by Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman.

The Dark Knight Rises

I actually liked it better on this second viewing. I even liked the ending, oddly enough. I'm on the fence as to whether or not I think Bruce Wayne should have died. I like Alfred getting his wish, but I also like the idea of the hero giving literally everything.

Hathaway impressed me more on this round, and JGL impressed me a lot more. He's turned into a seriously fine actor after 3RD ROCK. He actually gives one of my favorite performances in the film, if not my favorite. He seemed to me to have a more real, understated quality that good actors generally get past 40. Like he's not pushing his performance, it's just there under the skin, living in him. But that's just me.

I like the feeling, tone, and pace of the movie a lot more than BB and TDK. BB has always felt stitled to me. TDK goes like a machine gun, with 20-second scenes. This one has many scenes where things get to play out more naturally and we have shots that last longer to .85 seconds. And the women are better to look at, too.

It's my favorite of the three. I genuinely enjoyed seeing it tonight, and really just rolled with it. Of course, I'm one for stories about older characters, or over-the-hill or end-of-the-road types. I liked the dour mood. It works for something like Batman, but it's a pity so many other movies are trying to ape it.

FACE/OFF (1997, dir. John Woo)

The explosions per minute (EPM) rating for FACE/OFF would have to be pretty darn high.

I find this movie really, really fun.

Harmsway wrote:

FACE/OFF (1997, dir. John Woo)

The explosions per minute (EPM) rating for FACE/OFF would have to be pretty darn high.

I find this movie really, really fun.

The most obvious (to me, anyway) stunt doubles I'd seen outside of late-period Moore Bond kinda screwed this one for me, I'm afraid.

Harmsway wrote:

FACE/OFF (1997, dir. John Woo)

The explosions per minute (EPM) rating for FACE/OFF would have to be pretty darn high.

I find this movie really, really fun.

Same here.

Face/Off is pure, imbecile shit.

That's why I love it.

John Woo is just damn good at turning a seemingly brain-dead actioner into a cinematic opera. Opera with lots of guns and ham. It does what TOMORROW NEVER DIES tried to do and utterly failed at.

This is the classic Face-Off; the great hockey/rock epic from 1971. A tragic love story for the ages! Must see!







Also starring Goldfinger's Austin Willis.

Paddy Chayefsky is a hack.

I'm a big fan of NETWORK, and a big detractor of MARTY.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Paddy Chayefsky is a hack.

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THE HOSPITAL and especially NETWORK are fucking masterpieces compared to damned near any comedy made since. The fact he uses the same structure of characters -- disillusioned viewpoint character, crazed guy responsible for everything happenening, plus girl who serves as an odd link between the two -- for each doesn't detract in the slightest, because it is a framework that supports what he is doing and most importantly, how he is doing it.

I won't swear by AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY because I haven't seen it in forever, and MARTY doesn't work for me at all, but before ALTERED STATES about killed him (and he really bears a lot of responsibility for how it went wrong), he was the writer I was most interested in re: films.

trevanian wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

Paddy Chayefsky is a hack.

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THE HOSPITAL and especially NETWORK are fucking masterpieces

NETWORK is an bloated piece of shit. A tedious, pompous, rant of a film. Not as nearly clever as it thinks it is.

Best Holden performance ever, and if you take it in tandem with DEATHWATCH, you have the most prophetic movies about TV ever (and yet that is entirely secondary to what makes them great.)

Wrong Turn 5

Cannibal hillbillies.....