Last Movie You Watched? the 8th

eXistenZ (1999, dir. David Cronenberg)

Several interesting thoughts on the humanity, virtual reality, and conversion and merge of humans and technologies issues. An entertaining sci-fi horror film that gives some food for thought, but emotionally compelling Cronenberg's films do not seem to be. Not sure if all the yukky stuff is really necessary. The twist in the end seems deeper and better done than the one in SCANNERS, but I may well have missed something on the latter, because I was tired when watching it. So, all in all, worth a watch and some pondering.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011, dir. Tomas Alfredson)

I am pretty impressed. I wasn't expecting the film to be so heavily reliant on implied content. Many of the details in each scene play an important role as clues to the mystery. The film looks fantastic and makes good use of the visual possibilities of filmmaking. I am also very happy with most of the performances, surprised to see that Cumbertw*t can deliver a decent performance, even more surprised how *good* Hardy is (f**k off, Nolan), and Oldman (playing an old man) is sublime.
The "gay revelation" came a bit out of the blue, but the scenes in the end were quite compelling. Though I cannot help but get the feeling that with less use of implied content, more conventional story-telling and a focus on a couple of greatly dramatic moments for which that technique was used, the film could have been much more emotionally rewarding. But I have to say, Alfredson knows how to handle implied content (watch out, Mr. Forster!). Also, I insist, the film should have been considerably *slower* in order to be more emotionally satisfying. I mean it. For my liking, Hinds is used too often for such a kind of film, and I'm also disinclined towards Firth, and if you read the cast, you can almost single-handedly guess who is the mole.
Still, there was a lot that I enjoyed, and I need to watch it again very soon, in order to hopefully understand and appreciate it even more.
PS: Just saw that le Carré had a role in the film, and an actress with the name of Fairbank-Hynes.

The Birds - on the big screen (hadn't seen it before), local arthouse cinema is having a short run of 'Hitchcock Sundays'. 50 years on, it still has the power to unsettle and disturb.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The Birds - on the big screen (hadn't seen it before), local arthouse cinema is having a short run of 'Hitchcock Sundays'. 50 years on, it still has the power to unsettle and disturb.

It sure does and then Tippi Hedren turns up batty as a bird, in Hitchcock's next film, Marnie, with Sean Connery.

Yep ... Hitch signed her to an 'exclusivity' contract, which was a great help when it came to ruining her career out of spite when she wouldn't sleep with him. Or so the story goes,anyway.

Dances With Wolves

the favoured scene might just be the buffalo hunt, it's quite something to look at and heavily bettered by the music. Barry's score at times fills the landscape, those wide sweeping shots of South Dakota/Wyoming...of all the soundtracks this one just feels part of the landscape the film shows, touches the very fabric and soul of a film be it Two Socks, the death of Dunbar's horse, the falling in love with Stands With A Fist and so on.
As films go, it's not too bad.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Yep ... Hitch signed her to an 'exclusivity' contract, which was a great help when it came to ruining her career out of spite when she wouldn't sleep with him. Or so the story goes,anyway.

Who was Hitch kidding? Delusional much. He's hardly Gods' gift to women, looks wise.

Very true.

Welcome To The Punch - decent enough Brit cops-n-robbers action thriller with James McAvoy, Mark Strong and David Morrissey.

Mark Strong's in everything these days. Not a bad thing neccesarily.

Currently watching the Blu-Ray of William Friedkin's The French Connection.

I forgot how GREAT this movie is!

The 70's sure had a ton of great thrillers and crime movies.

Hilly wrote:

Mark Strong's in everything these days. Not a bad thing neccesarily.

He's good, but he may be in danger of playing too many wrong 'uns.

Bullitt (1968, dir. Peter Yates)

Pretty clever cop thriller with admirable direction. McQueen is cool, he displays more variance in his play than Craig, and does not need too muscle up (that is actually one of the reasons why Craig appears gay, and Steve doesn't). The chase at the airport may have been an inspiration for the finale of HEAT, though that one is different and has more interesting characters, and more emotional weight. When his girlfriend confronts Bullitt with his seeming cold, bluntened personality, I got the feeling Craigbond from CR was modelled around Bullitt to a certain degree. Needless to say, the makers of BULLITT did it much more convincingly. The film was a pleasure to watch, I couldn't remember anything, must have seen it in the late 80s perhaps. It was actually quite fantastic.


La femme d'à côté (1981, dir. François Truffaut)

Very believable film, and probably the Truffaut film that affected me the most. It may very well be the most convincing film about an amour fou that I've seen yet. Tragical, but also with a kind of humour in many scenes that I couldn't describe. Truffaut was still top-notch in the 80s, believe it or not.


Transsiberian (2008, dir. Brad Anderson)

A convincing, well-directed modern thriller. The story held some clichés, but all of the film was handled well enough so they did not really diminish the film's quality. Making the "heroine" have a shady past (including drugs and fornicating) isn't new, but lends to the film some very important moral complications that always work in the movie's favour. King Bensley and Woody H star in it. And why is the film of a somewhat higher-than-average quality than today's standard? It isn't Hollywood, but a British/Spanish/German/Lithuanian co-production. Still, not the same league as the two other films I've watched (or many of those I was able to see over the last years).

I dunno why, but I've always felt BULLITT was a bit dry. I do admire it a lot.

La règle du jeu (1939, dir. Jean Renoir)

Funny and complicated film about love affairs in the aristocratic realm, "common people" are involved too. The film displays a range of interesting characters, all of which are either ridiculously frivolous and immoral, or have their fair share of unlkeable character traits (like our aviator hero). The latter is the tragical figure, though, and probably the rule breaker. What the film has to say about dishonesty and betrayal, as well as romantic obsessions, and more issues, can't be put down by me after one viewing. Camera work is also very important to the storytelling. It's a funny, almost screwball-esque film, but at the same time makes a lot of comments on the French society of the 30s. I really need to see it again soon. There is still a lot to figure out.

Robin Hood

The sh**e one with Russell Crowe.

I think Russell Brand would have been better. It's bloody awful. I know it's 'only a film, not a documentary' but still. And Crowd was more wooden than the bloody arrows.

Utter crap.

Ravenstone wrote:

Robin Hood

The sh**e one with Russell Crowe.

I think Russell Brand would have been better. It's bloody awful. I know it's 'only a film, not a documentary' but still. And Crowd was more wooden than the bloody arrows.

Utter crap.

I tend to agree, even Ridley Scott's usual trick of making every scene look stunning was absent, it was a flat and uninspired piece, miscast and with a disappointingly off-centre story that laboured all the wrong elements imo. tbh I'd have been much happier with the originally muted idea that Hood was actually the alter ego of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Crowe was to play both roles), his way of supporting the poor and needy against the demands of the king etc.

Not watching anything right now but I was looking at some of the titles in my DVD collection and I noticed something:

Is it just my imagination or do

Gone Baby Gone http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452623/ and Mystic River http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327056/ feel like the same movie?

lachesis wrote:

tbh I'd have been much happier with the originally muted idea that Hood was actually the alter ego of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Crowe was to play both roles), his way of supporting the poor and needy against the demands of the king etc.

It would have been a bit of a twist. Instead, I was fed up of everyone wearing chain maille, wearing 14/15th century helmets, 19th century saddles, and some dodgy beach in Wales trying to look like Dungeness and failing miserably.

Even Cate Blanchette didn't look very attractive in it at all, I thought. Brunette is not a good look on her.

And Russell Crowe is just not a handsome man. He's not good looking at all. No redeeming features, and acting as wooden as a peg. I can't stand him.

Apparently, Ridley Scott said that the only Robin Hood film he ever liked was Men In Tights. Well, I think the Disney animated Robin Hood with the foxes and lions was more accurate than his version.

It didn't seem like a Robin Hood film at all.

Ironclad was better. At least they had a short arsed ugly runt playing John. And they got the peaches reference in.

Rave, as a fan of Dr Who I would expect you to appreciate the time-travelling landing craft.

On a point of order, surely short-arsed is hyphenated? Really, a birthday is no excuse for such tardiness. Knickers down, please.

Erica Ambler wrote:

On a point of order, surely short-arsed is hyphenated? Really, a birthday is no excuse for such tardiness. Knickers down, please.

Schooling Rave on punctuation. She's one of our very literate members. Got any links to some good simple punctuation sites, Ambler? I struggle with the hyphens and the colons and the semis.

Big Miracle (2012) starring Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski, plus Kristen Bell for Veronica Mars fans, and Ted Danson for Cheers fans. Directred by Ken Kwapis.

Best movie of 2012. I'm still balling my eyes out. The global community comes together to save a family of gray whales trapped under the arctic ice. Mommy and daddy whales fight valiantly to save baby whale, who is weak and having a rough go of it. The Greenpeace chick, (Barrymore), Big Oil boss, (Danson), television reporters, local Eskimoes and townsfolk, along with President Reagan, the National Guard, and even the Soviets, who chip in with an ice-breaker, all race against the clock to save the struggling whale family.
A triumph of both the human and whale spirit. This movie is almost as good as Born Free.
Heartwarming Mr. Kidd! Inspiring Mr. Wint!
Little dashes of humour too. Reagan phones Gorbachev about the ice-breaker. "Gorby, it's Ronnie" Heh heh.
When I retire, I thought I was going to move to Africa to help rescue orphaned lion cubs (Born Free). Now I want to make some time for helping stricken marine life too. :flower:
==

Hell Is For Heroes (1962)

on DVD

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056062/



I've seen this before.

I don't remember when and where.

Maybe it was on late night TV here in the U.S. or on TV in Italy.

I think this is only the 2nd time I can remember Steve McQueen dying in a movie.

Great World War II film from Director Don Siegel (later of Dirty Harry directing fame);

starring James Coburn, Bob Newhart (one of the few times I've seen him in a non comedy role and this film was his movie debut by the way) and Harry Guardino (who later starred in two Dirty Harry films)

4.75/5

Erica Ambler wrote:

Rave, as a fan of Dr Who I would expect you to appreciate the time-travelling landing craft.

And them. I would have mentioned it but feared spending too long condemning a film that didn't deserve spending too much time on ;-)

Quote :

On a point of order, surely short-arsed is hyphenated? Really, a birthday is no excuse for such tardiness. Knickers down, please.

Any excuse.

I blame my new tablet. It has a weird notion of predictive text. That and just because I hate being predictable.

tiffanywint wrote:

Schooling Rave on punctuation. She's one of our very literate members.

How very kind of you to say so! I do try.

I am currently watching Sands of Iwo Jima

John Wayne as Sgt. Stryker says:

"When we got ashore there were still a lot of those lemon colored Japs waiting for us"

If this movie was remade today with that line intact, people will be up in arms over that line and crying racism left and right!

:roll:

Plein Soleil (1960, dir. René Clément)

Finally I've seen the original! I'd seen the Damon vehicle twice. This here is more convincing and enjoyable overall, the scenes on the sea are much better and more tense than in the remake, and the ending is quite ironic and pleases one's sense of justice (though I think they tried to make it "deeper" in the remake, giving Ripley some things to work on, but I actually only have a faint memory of it; I should rewatch that ending alone somewhere). I found Law as Greenleaf considerably more despicable than the guy who plays him here, but Delon humiliates Damon in every department. PLEIN SOLEIL is a very fine thriller.

Manhunter wrote:

Plein Soleil (1960, dir. René Clément)

Finally I've seen the original! I'd seen the Damon vehicle twice. This here is more convincing and enjoyable overall, the scenes on the sea are much better and more tense than in the remake, and the ending is quite ironic and pleases one's sense of justice (though I think they tried to make it "deeper" in the remake, giving Ripley some things to work on, but I actually only have a faint memory of it; I should rewatch that ending alone somewhere). I found Law as Greenleaf considerably more despicable than the guy who plays him here, but Delon humiliates Damon in every department. PLEIN SOLEIL is a very fine thriller.

I want to check out the Highsmith books. I've seen two Ripley films, TALENTED and RIPLEY'S GAME. TALENTED was an okay studio film. The other I quite enjoy. But I'd like to see the Delon and Hopper films.