Last Movie You Watched? the 8th

Junior Bonner (1972)

For what ever reason it didn't really click with me. I'll have to give it another try. I probably should like this movie.

La morte negli occhi del gatto (1973, dir. Antonio Margheriti)

It may seem a bit daft to our beloved sophisticated audience - it certainly isn't brilliantly scripted - but it's a fun little horror film that is visually interesting, as you would expect from Italian films of that period.








Forbidden Planet (1956, dir. Fred M. Wilcox)

Funny sci-fi film with some astonishing special effects and a bit of Freudian psychology (not going too deep, though). Lovely robot (and female lead, but she's only second LOL ). Can't make caps coz it's a Blu (I got three other Blus for Christmas; I had the feeling DR NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE were feeling a little bit lonely there on the shelf).

Batman : Year One - because the graphic novel was one of the story sources for Batman Begins, it felt a little like watching a cut-short animated version of that movie. But still pretty entertaining, with the likes of Bryan Cranston voicing Gordon and Eliza Dushku voicing Selina Kyle/ Catwoman.

Zombie Flesh Eaters on blu-ray. The buggers at Arrow allowed a bloody awful jump cut at the beginning, from the titles to the boat coming into New York. Even the soundtrack skips. It might only be a few seconds missing, but that's not the point - this is meant to be uncut and complete.

Apparently, Arrow are now agreeing to replace the defective copies free of charge, instead of the £8 they were going to charge people for the privilege of getting the film they'd paid for in the first place.

Two Mules For Sister Sara (1970, dir. Don Siegel)

Not Siegel's finest hour, but a fairly entertaining film up until the shooting at the end begins (but to be fair, I was very tired at that point and hardly watching for a couple of minutes). A bit better than DJANGO (which it seems to reference during the sequence I've just mentioned). Sara is such a likeable character

Spoiler:

All in all, rather on the good side of films.

Manhunter wrote:

Two Mules For Sister Sara (1970, dir. Don Siegel)

Not Siegel's finest hour, but a fairly entertaining film up until the shooting at the end begins (but to be fair, I was very tired at that point and hardly watching for a couple of minutes). A bit better than DJANGO (which it seems to reference during the sequence I've just mentioned). Sara is such a likeable character

Spoiler:

All in all, rather on the good side of films.

I really liked Clint and Shirley together. Terrific score, too.

TED :4*:
I didn't know that OCTOPUSSY was an integral plot point to this movie. Going in I knew that there were a lot of homages to the 1980 film FLASH GORDON, but I hadn't heard about OP. Turns out, it was the movie Mark Wahlberg took Mila Kunis to on their first date (I assume he meant they watched it on DVD, seeing as how it was 2008 they met, not 1983). Later, Wahlberg's character sings ALL TIME HIGH in order to woo Kunis' character back after she dumps him. I wonder if MGM refused to let the producers use video from OCTOPUSSY, fearing that this film would somehow be bad publicity? Just the opposite. It's been something of a resurrection for FLASH GORDON.

TOTAL RECALL (2012) :2*:
Started off surprisingly interesting, then eventually fell into predictability. Oddly enough, Farrell's character is seen reading a Penguin 2005(?) edition of THE SPY WHO LOVED ME on his way to work (clearly something of an in-joke, seeing as how his "wife" is about to betray him).

Might be a little bit behind the times here, but just saw a wonderful movie. Many thanks to Sharky for convincing me to go see it, albeit a month ago.

Skyfall - gut reaction is it's the best Bond film (having not seen Quantum of Solace). If I was really cautious, I'd say it's up there with Thunderball and GoldenEye as one of the best. Regardless, I loved every moment of it. Wish I had gone to see it when it was still playing the big screen at the Arts Picturehouse. Instead I had to sit in a tiny screen at the Vue, watching it through the comb-over of the old bloke in front of me because the stupid seating wasn't sloped. It's going to be a hard film for EON to top, that's for sure. By far the most visually remarkable film in the series' fifty year history, and excellently paced. The epilogue was joyous, even if it was obvious as soon as they stepped into the office.

Fave films of 2012, updated:

1. Amour (Haneke) / The Hunt (Vinterberg)
3. Laurence Anyways (Dolan)
4. Rust and Bone (Audiard)
5. Skyfall (Mendes)
6. Argo (Affleck)
7. Barbara (Petzold) / Looper (Johnson)
9. The Master (Anderson)

Glad you liked it Harry. Thankfully the Blu-ray's out next month.

Inception, I just wish somebody went into my dreams and advised against watching this pretentious drivel, albeit sometimes with beautifull visuals.

The Dark Knight Rises

Very disappointing. Waste of Batman and Selena Kyle. Plot holes you can drive a Batmobile through. Seriously unhappy.

Magic Town

Jimmy Stewart seals it for me and Kent Smith in what he has here. Like Shenandoah last week Stewart just seems to carry it.

State of Play

probably should've seen the Beeb series beforehand. Shades of[ i]All the President's Men[/i]Not bad though without Russell Crowe I might not have cared much. Helped to have early on the redhead Maria Thayer and late on the old Saab 900 Turbo.

Small things

Ravenstone wrote:

The Dark Knight Rises

Very disappointing. Waste of Batman and Selena Kyle. Plot holes you can drive a Batmobile through. Seriously unhappy.

At one point I began to wonder when would Batman actually show up in costume...

I liked the beginning with the hijacking of the plane...

Finally saw Django Unchained. Loved it. Realized how much I missed Tarantino. His flair and panache, if you will. Great movie. Realizing of course that saying so makes me persona non grata round some parts here. But damn, it's a good time.

Tarantin-o-meter:

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
DJANGO UNCHAINED
JACKIE BROWN
KILL BILL (the whole thing)
PULP FICTION
RESERVOIR DOGS
DEATH PROOF

Glad I'm not the only one who adores Inglourious Bastards so much that it's my favourite Tarantino flick - yes more so than Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs...Need to check out his other stuff, and waiting for Django to arrive down under!

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

I liked the beginning with the hijacking of the plane...

Yeah, pity they stole from Licence to Kill.

Ravenstone wrote:

The Dark Knight Rises

Very disappointing. Waste of Batman and Selena Kyle. Plot holes you can drive a Batmobile through. Seriously unhappy.

I have the Screener DVD for 2 1/2+ months now.

I can't bring myself to watch it.

I've just watched:

Fritz Lang's The Woman in the Window (1944)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037469/

Tense film noir about blackmail and murder, well executed, until the ending which felt forced!

Instead of a 8/10, I will have to drop it to 5/10 because of the ending.

They Flew Alone

1942 biopic of Amy Johnson a mere year after she died bailing into the Thames Estuary. Anna Neagle the most striking actress that there likely was portraying Johnson and not doing too bad a job of it. Robert Newton almost playing himself as the alcohol fuelled, womanising Jim Mollison whom Amy married and divorced in the 30s. It was quite a fun film in its way even if the very end with its propaganda monologue and fading image of Johnson in her ATS uniform felt a bit much. William Hartnell seen briefly as a mechanic, credited as he was as Billy Hartnell.

Seraphim Falls

not too bad but I suspect without Messrs Neeson and Brosnan it'd be not all that. From the off Brosnan is one tough cookie and it seems somehow only fitting it'd be he who buries himself in a horse's belly to wait for Neeson. Brosnan isn't terrible, though the accent he has for the flashback scene seems different to the rest of the film and in that same flashback scene a certain twitch of the head (as he realises that Neeson's wife and child is still in the house) harked me back to Bond (GE as Boris dicks with the pen, TND as he sits by Paris' body etc).
Neeson appropiately Ahabesque in his hunting and just before all those Unknown/Taken type nonsense he did after.

I actually watched the first hour of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES rather randomly tonight. I think I'm gonna watch TDK and TDKR back-to-back this Sunday.

I still really enjoy it a lot. I dunno, it just clicks with me. I find it more compelling and engaging.

Lifeforce (1985, dir. Tobe Hooper)

Visually pretty admirable, it's always entertaining, but not very sophisticated (to put it mildly).
Had to get it from England, because where I live there is only a 14 mins. shorter version available (though the film is pretty harmless - or maybe I am dumbed-down already). Mancini was still fairly good at that time.

Tobe Hooper > Tom Hooper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5lu2igzyzk#t=35m25s

CLERKS. (1994, directed by Kevin Smith). An endearingly quirky little gem of a microbudget comedy-drama (shrewdly filmed in grainy, moody black and white), Smith's debut is somewhat sluggishly paced in places and rather too short on plot even for its relatively trim running time of 92 minutes. However, its shortcomings are more than made up for by plenty of charm and freshness, not to mention many hilarious moments.

The Duchess (Saul Dibb)

I like Keira in this, but it's probably one of her weaker performances. The film has a melancholic feel, with the moody lighting, and emphasised with the performances, notably that of Ralph Fiennes. They are great performances, but at times, you disconnect from them because of the sombre mood. That ultimately detracts from it somewhat. This happens more with Fiennes and Atwell, than with Knightley. It works, but it could have been more engaging had they smiled a little more. Score is great too!

Still, this was the first Fiennes film I watched back in '08, and since then, I had wanted him in a Bond film. Skyfall made me happy. Now, just to get Keira in one of them...

Keira-o-meter (2013):

The Duchess

An Education (Lone Schefrig)

A perfect film, rather. Conservatism versus liberation is essentially what the film deals with. And the straightforward ending actually leaves the audience with a sense of ambiguity, and it's up to us to decide what politics the film favours - it doesn't answer it for us. Is the conservative nature of schooling the better form of education? Or is the "university of life" something that teaches us more? And if you're somewhere in between, you still take what you want from it. Personally, having been able to relate very closely to what Jenny goes through (and in a way, I'm still going through it), I find that the "university of life" is seemingly more compelling education than institutionalised education, despite my inclination towards conservative politics. That said, the film indirectly explores the time period in which we live in - so the film is essentially timeless, even though it was set in the 1960s, when opportunities fewer for women, but equal between sexes in present time. So, what type of education is suited for the viewer? It's a personal question, with no right or wrong answer. So does the film deal with the politics of it all?

The performances are perfect. The script is perfect. The music, cinematography, art direction - all perfect. The characters are people - they aren't characters. It makes you feel - cry, laugh, think - and you imagine yourself in the circumstances, or even other people in the circumstances (and by that, I don't mean other actors playing the role, but what people in your world saying those things to you). It's flawless.

I recommend that everybody buy/rent a copy of the film if they haven't seen it. More films like this need to be made. I don't want to talk it up too much in case expectations are raised ridiculously high... Maybe I like it so much because of how I relate to it, but regardless, I feel it's a tremendous film.

FLASH GORDON (1980) :5*:

I was 9 when this film came out. I can still remember coming out of the theater and being so pumped and excited. Far more interesting to me than EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Sadly, there would be no FLASH GORDON 2.

And though I still love the film, I can see some of the flaws 32 years later that I could not see as a child. Sam Jones is kind of.....meh. The dialogue can be clunky and wooden at times. The f/x are dated (not even sure if they were cutting edge back in 1980). The acting is a bit over the top in places, but I think some of that comes from trained English actors, or foreign actors, having a hard time "getting" the script.

On the plus side, the visuals are still amazing, the soundtrack is fantastic, the female leads are beautiful (why did Ornella Muti not play the role of Melina Havelock? Would've been perfect, but I guess by the time FLASH was released filming had already wrapped on FYEO), the set and costumes are wild....pity the film didn't do better.

But it does have some of the most quotable dialogue around:

Klytus: Most effective, Your Majesty. Will you destroy this Earth?
The Emperor Ming: Later. I like to play with things a while before annihilation.

Princess Aura: Look! Water is leaking from her eyes.
The Emperor Ming: It's what they call tears, it's a sign of their weakness. (not sure if this line makes any sense; didn't Aura cry during her torture scene?)

Princess Aura: Fly back to your kingdom. You may see me sooner than you think.
Prince Barin: Lying bitch.

Shadow of a Doubt

Joseph Cotten fantastically creepy and on form. Seems odd to see him away from Welles having only ever really seen him in those films. Great to see Hume Cronyn in action.