Last Movie You Watched? the 8th

THE LAST STAND

Bit of a romp. I loved the car, and the exploding people. Especially when body parts rain down on bystanders. Good fun.

Control wrote:

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS

Sort of a mess. Interesting, over-the-top Goldsmith score, though.

God knows where we'll go for Jack Ryan

Is it wrong if my favourite Clancy movie is CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER?

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Is it wrong if my favourite Clancy movie is CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER?

Certainly not, it's my personal favorite as well.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Is it wrong if my favourite Clancy movie is CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER?

I can get that. It actually was for me for a long time. Now I'm more partial to RED OCTOBER.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Haven't watched this for many years. I'd still consider it one of my favorite war movies. Maybe not top five, but ten. The best WWII related film for me is THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. I've been interested in seeing SANDS OF IWO JIMA, not that it's supposed to be one of the best but it sounds pretty solid enough that I've been wanting to check it out.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Is it wrong if my favourite Clancy movie is CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER?

No. Very good film next to Red October. Makes a good fist with the book's plot. I always imagine Defoe as Clark when reading the books. Looks more like how I imagine him than Liev Schrieber (sp.)

SNAKE EYES (1998, dir. Brian De Palma)

Criminally underrated.

As is, the film is excellent, but let's hope we one day get a release of the original cut, with the "storm" ending.

Harmsway wrote:

SNAKE EYES (1998, dir. Brian De Palma)

Criminally underrated.

As is, the film is excellent, but let's hope we one day get a release of the original cut, with the "storm" ending.

Hey, another person who likes it. :)  I really enjoyed it when I saw it last year.

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978, dir. by Alan Parker)

Painful watch, though I'm not sure how much I learnt from it. Standout performance from Brad Davis, shame that AIDS cut his life so short

Largo's Shark wrote:

MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978, dir. by Alan Parker)

Painful watch, though I'm not sure how much I learnt from it. 

Try lube next time. Also sneezing.

Not had much time for films or forums recently, but I bought the Alien Anthology bluray from amazon for six quid last week. :shock: Only rewatched Aliens so far and, as usual, that struck me as workmanlike, but nothing more.

NIXON (1995, directed by Oliver Stone). Rivalling THE GODFATHER PART II in scope, scale and all-round cinematic and thespian excellence, this is one of the most ambitious - and one of the best - American films of the 1990s. Subtle it ain't, but with a towering lead performance by Anthony Hopkins and Stone seemingly directing in same the way that Hendrix played guitar, well, who needs subtlety? Magnificent cinematography by Robert Richardson, a fine score by John Williams, and a terrific supporting cast.

Glad we can finally agree on something, Loomis. For me NIXON is Stone at his best.

I'm completely on board. NIXON is spectacular cinema.

Loomis, did you watch the Director's Cut or the Theatrical Cut?

What more does the DC have beyond this scene?

I'm not sure. That's the major addition, but there's another ten minutes of footage added beyond that, and I'm not sure what those ten minutes consist of.

EDIT:

Aside from the CIA scene, it's all minor stuff:

Quote :

A scene where the President's car is beset by angry protestors on the way to the CIA for the meeting with Helms.

A scene where Nixon storms into a Cabinet meeting and declares that there will be no more leaks.

A scene between Hoover and Nixon in the President's office before Tricia's wedding, where Hoover suggests that Nixon record all his office conversations.

Harmsway wrote:

I'm completely on board. NIXON is spectacular cinema.

Loomis, did you watch the Director's Cut or the Theatrical Cut?

The theatrical cut (190 minutes). I'm aware that there's a director's cut running some 218 minutes, although I'm not sure that any version of NIXON other than the theatrical cut is available in this country. Indeed, I don't think NIXON's even out on Blu-ray over here - I saw it on good old-fashioned DVD.

Loomis wrote:

Harmsway wrote:

I'm completely on board. NIXON is spectacular cinema.

Loomis, did you watch the Director's Cut or the Theatrical Cut?

The theatrical cut (190 minutes). I'm aware that there's a director's cut running some 218 minutes, although I'm not sure that any version of NIXON other than the theatrical cut is available in this country. Indeed, I don't think NIXON's even out on Blu-ray over here - I saw it on good old-fashioned DVD.

It looks like you can order the Director's Cut as a region-free Blu-Ray import via Amazon.

I prefer the Director's Cut, personally, but it's not going to seriously alter your attitude toward the film one way or another.

Harmsway wrote:

It looks like you can order the Director's Cut as a region-free Blu-Ray import via Amazon.

That's what I did. I think it was released to tie in with the 2008 US elections.

Violent Saturday (1955)

I've wanted to see this.  Terrific crime film/50's melodrama with Victor Mature better than usual and Lee Marvin more odd than usual.  Looks great.  I had no idea Bisbee, Arizona was so photogenic.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

A great slice of 50's paranoia the message may be simple but imo it still resonates today. The performances are very good given much of the cast are B movie stallwarts but it is Wise's direction and Hermann's scoring that really elevates the film imbuing everything with that air of mystery and tension yet keeping it all down to earth and personal...... even if the title should really read 'The 30 minutes the Earth stood mostly still'.

8/10

Yeah, the message can be debated.  But as a piece of SF filmmaking it's first rate in my book.  One of my favorite sci-fi films from the 50's.  Top 5 in no order would be...

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
INVADERS FROM MARS
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
FORBIDDEN PLANET
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

I enjoyed THEM! as well.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Yeah, the message can be debated.  But as a piece of SF filmmaking it's first rate in my book.  One of my favorite sci-fi films from the 50's.  Top 5 in no order would be...

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
INVADERS FROM MARS
THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
FORBIDDEN PLANET
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

I enjoyed THEM! as well.

Yeah all great movies....I'd probably drop 'The War of the Worlds' which didn't really do it for me but The Thing and the two Quatermass films (particularly 2) are also worthy of consideration imho.

Going to go see MAN OF STEEL tomorrow, and all I had to do today was upload secure screeners and fill out forms for film festival submissions, so I marathoned through the theatrically released live-action Superman films.

Turns out that they more or less get worse as they go, and that none of them are really ideal. Which, y'know, everyone already knew.

1. SUPERMAN (1978) -
I prefer the director's cut to the theatrical because I like the additional moments with Jor-El and so on. But Lex is so misused here. I mean, it kind've works when you consider Superman I and II as one long movie, as Donner did, where Lex is sort've a lesser threat to set you up for Zod who's the greater threat, but still - this isn't Lex Luthor. I mean, dude was a brilliant criminal mad scientist in the comics of the time, and here he's a goofy small-time crook with a retinue of a fat dude and arm candy with a real estate scheme that doesn't make sense. That being said, the cast is amazing and has yet to be beaten as the live-action versions of these characters, and the Krypton/Smallville scenes are near perfect, as are the Daily Planet scenes. Reeves is amazing, obviously. Some of the stuff like Clark spending 12 years in the Fortress going on an acid trip with Dad makes you scratch your head like "huh?" but overall the movie is quite well executed.

2. SUPERMAN II The Richard Donner Cut (2006)
It's so, so, so, much better than the theatrically released version. That said, the seams do show quite heavily in the restoration, but you can't fault them too much for that. However, while I see what the filmmakers where going for, the entire "give up my powers for Lois, then come back and beg for them back from Dad" thing doesn't really work as well as they wanted it too, even with Brando back and the plotholes filled up. The ending is a mess, due to the unfinished nature of the thing, although I adore the final two scenes between Superman and Lois, which are beautiful. I dunno, it's a mess due to it's production, but it's a better mess than the released mess.

3. SUPERMAN II (1980)
This thing is just an affront. It makes no sense, it's goofy in all the wrong places (never make your villain your comic relief -- I only gave the first movie a pass on that because the Phantom Zone guys were supposed to be the real heavies) and the whole thing just smacks of Richard Lester's zaniness, which is fine but clashes too heavily with the story this thing is trying to tell.  It's just kind've awful.

4. SUPERMAN III (1983)
I know Tux likes this one, and I kinda get his reasoning. At least the tone is consistent - it's all Lester all the time here instead of the weird mix of II. But Richard Pryor's character is just stupid, the villains are unoriginal and bland (being no-name versions of Lex and his crew), and the Smallville/Lana Lang subplot is underdeveloped because what really would've made it work (a love triangle with Lois) was nixed because Margot Kidder didn't wanna really come back. The best element of the movie is Reeve's triple performance now with Dick Superman added, but even that is lacking in relevance, context, and satisfying pay-off. It all feels cheap.

5. SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987)
Speaking of cheap. Reeves' intentions were good, but DC Comics got it right in the 1940s when they avoided having Superman stop WWII all on his own -- it's just awkward from a storytelling standpoint to be having him go around and solve real-world problems, even if it is something he would indeed do. It's sort've insulting to the real-world complexity of those issues. Meanwhile this story is a mess, basically playing as a cheap rerun version of several scenes from the Donner movies only devoid of context (sorta like Superman Returns!). And why make up Nuclear Man as an imperfect clone of Superman when there's already Bizarro in the comics??

6. SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MEN (1951)
Yeah the TV show that resulted from this has its fans, but on its own this movie is dreadfully dull. It's cheap and dull. Why is this a job for Superman? Does anyone care about what's happening in this movie? It's the plot of "Devil in the Dark" from Star Trek with midgets instead of monsters and stretched to feature length... somehow.

7. SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006)
There are good moments here. The flashback to Clark's first leaps in the cornfield. The airplane rescue. Kevin Spacey's performance (if not the writing for his character). The rest of this movie is absolutely awful, and to sum it up in a word I'd say misguided. Singer's so busy homaging the Donner films out of context that he forgets to tell any kind of real story. Luthor, while well played, has yet another dumb real estate scheme that makes no sense (who's gonna buy land on the black radioactive crystal continent where nothing grows after you've killed everyone?), and the entire Lois/Richard/The Kid/Clark storyline is kind've awful for the way that it makes Superman a creepy stalker deadbeat dad trying to steal his ex away from her genuinely heroic and nice fianceé. Also the movie is way too freaking long, too overloaded with Christ imagery, lacking in anything interesting for Superman to do, and drab. Like I said, there are moments where it succeeds, but it's entire view of the character is so wrongheaded that I can't give it the time of day.

Honestly the first movie comes closest but there has yet to be a live-action Superman feature film that I can put my support behind fully without any caveats, so here's hoping for MAN OF STEEL.

Anyone else not able to quote a post?  I can't write outside the yellow box.

RE: 50's sci-fi.  I liked THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD pretty well, but I haven't seen the Quartermass ones. :oops:

RE: SUPERMAN III.  Oh, I know it's a dud.  I just love it because I can hook into it's wavelength.  It just sorta appeals to my sense of humor, but not really in the way the film intends.  It's the same with another 1983 masterpiece of cheese, STROKER ACE.

What I do like about Superman III is the kind've Silver Age 1960s goofiness of it, but I feel that it veers way too far into the comedy, past camp and into slapstick. I mean, the thing about these big action movies, and I feel the same about the new Star Treks, is that if I can't believe the world they are in, if I can't believe the threat, then I can't find it exciting or thrilling. If I know the writers are just making it up as they go, then I know they can make up whatever bullshit they want to save the heroes and it doesn't matter. I mean in order for a Superman movie to work the guy has to have a conflict worthy of who he is. That can be a physical conflict or it can be an emotinal or personal one.

The real problem with the Superman movies is that they have yet to delve into the character's history and bring out any villains other than the two Donner used. I mean, sure, Lex is the main villain, but so far on the big screen we've never seen the real Lex Luthor. Kevin Spacey came close, but he was saddled with essentially playing the character Hackman played. And then there's Zod, who is a great concept and all but I'm almost glad MAN OF STEEL has gotten him over and done with.

Because there's Metallo (a cyborg powered by Kryptonite), Parasite (a man who absorbs people's life energy when he touches them), Bizarro, Brainiac (an artificial intelligence which seeks to absorb all knowledge in the universe and then destroy it), Darkseid (who isn't really a Superman villain per se and could hold his own franchise quite well, but has become increasingly associated with Superman in recent years), Mr. Mxyzptlk (if you wanna go goofier), Toyman (who can be reinvented in so many ways), and the Ultra-Humanite (the original Superman mad scientist villain). They all test him in different, interesting ways. Meanwhile on screen we've gotten Superman vs. nuclear missiles, Superman vs. super-computers, Superman vs. WWF stars, and Superman vs. radioactive land masses.