Last Movie You Watched? Mark 9

Hooper


second time I've seen it and it remains a silly film. That's the idea of course. One of those films fun to watch and with nothing too serious about it. Burt Reynolds, a young foxy Sally Field, Brian Keith is was a legend of legends, Jan Michael Vincent, James Best...and yes, Adam West. Not enough West. Satisfying end, Reynolds' look to camera before laying out the director.

ALIENS

The first 15 to 20 minutes are relative quality, but once the marines are introduced, the film takes a nosedive into an abyss of walking cardboard cutouts (am I only the only who roots for the 'xenomorphs' when they massacre the marines in the cooling tower?), dated special fx (there's some awful optical printing and back projection - plus the laughable APC model looks like something Gerry Anderson would've rejected), bland dialogue, military hardware porn, bland high-key cinematography (never been a fan of Adrian Biddle), and as the icing on the cake: James Horner's rushed, bludgeoning, autopilot score. Should have gone with Brad Fiedel.

Paul Reiser was miscast. They film needed an actor with more bite and wit. Someone like Charles Grodin, Dan Akryod or Earl Boen.

The strongest points are the editing, the relationship between Ripley and Newt (the only other human character in the film), facehugger attack, and the finale with the queen.

**/*****

Brad Fiedel is a pretty good goalkeeper for such a mediocre composer.

Don't know if this is the right thread (this film section is chaotic, lots of films that don't need or deserve threads of their own), but has anyone seen Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man yet? Only just out in the UK, but I think it's been out elsewhere for a while.

Expendables 3 is the last one I remember seeing.

Was monumentally shit.

A Bridge Too Far

both through the coming 70th anniversary of the actual event and with Lord Attenborough's passing comes the seemingly annual viewing of this, an epic in the old sense. Recently debated by such luminaries as Dan Snow and Al Murray as perhaps the greatest British war film, it remains a classic in this reporters book.
The key roles for me remain Sean Connery, Hardy Kruger, Anthony Hopkins and Gene Hackman. Connery gets to play someone for whom his accent doesn't matter or would be noticed (Untouchables, Red October etc), Major General Roy Urquhart. Urquhart seemed pleased with the job Connery did remarking on his build (Urquhart was no shorty put it one way) and indeed, to me, Connery was quite good -especially in moments as the battle turns but assuredly versus Browning at the end looking somewhat jaded and shattered (Urquhart's post-battle trauma was deep and prolonged).
Hardy Kruger purely for seemingly quite cool and unattached based upon SS General Harzer who was determined to blow Nijmegen even if Model wouldn't. The key moment is when of course XXX Corps blaze across and he watches stunned.
Anthony Hopkins as Frost is quietly remarkable, Frost was no pushover it must be said Hopkins' portrayal perhaps lesser than the actual man but no less good. Frost's men held for five-six days to the two-three they were expected. A force of around 700 whittled down to less than half.
And Gene Hackman, perhaps the best performance in the film as Sosabowski who'd been used as a scapegoat afterwards amongst others. Mocked by Murray for his accent, Hackman does the job and then so conveying the cynicism and disbelief in Market-Garden ("The Germans, General, the Germans!"/ "God bless Field Marshal Mont-gom-ery!"), the expression on his face when the messenger comes to get the Poles over the river and then after the massacre of his men. "One day men said, let's play a war game."
If they had done around the same time a film based on Sosabowski's memoirs, Hackman would surely have done well.
Can only wonder what Hackman thought of the film. Michael Caine for example appears...uninterested like in Battle of Britain probably a film to plug the gaps and build the house. True of many of the cast members (only perhaps Connery and Hopkins appear for the majority) like Caan and Redford who are mere cameos.

Dickie Attenborough did a good job. Brave perhaps to do a film where for the Allies it goes balls up. Where effectively, the Germans win (Allied casualties double that of D-Day). Yet can't help but wonder what if there had been seperate directors for the respective nations like in the Longest Day or Tora Tora Tora. Or a different composer. John Addison's score I quite like and always have done but sometimes depending on my mood it doesn't feel right for certain scenes or scenes go without music that perhaps a touch of music would do.

Anyway, gang, it's a fine film with some flaws yes but fine film all the same.

Here's to Dickie.

forgive the double post (Mod, heal thyself) but checked out last night and later (a malfunctioning DVR switched me to iplayer) the French war film French Agents

for us Bond fans the draw is Sophie Marceau. Shove jokes about the French in WWII, winning in general and it's a fantastic little film methinks. Marceau leads a SOE team to rescue a British geologist who is key to the D-Day landings. Naturally things go belly-up. Rather trivially there's something stirring about seeing Marceau blaze away but her acting is top notch and the story tends to end on a bum note really involving one of her team captured by the Gestapo at the mission's climax.
The film is helped by having Germans cast as Germans. A silly statement perhaps but some foreign language films like "In Darkness" tend to cast a non-German or maybe one who only speaks the language of the films maker. Of course here, Moritz Bleibreu (who I had only seen in Baader-Meinhof Complex prior and brilliantly so) also speaks French as the bastardly SS officer Hendrich.
Unintentional laughs came in the Gestapo men in the latter half of the film. Well known joke even then that they wore the same thing -leather overcoats, the brimmed hats etc- and seen here the joke remains.
Still...I'm alone in that :)

For us Britisher's it remains on iplayer until next Sunday morning.

Does anyone think Lucy will have a sequel? Director Luc Besson is hesitant to commit given the premise...but it's gone past US$350m worldwide, or almost 9 times its budget which was only 40m.

Decent action flick, I like Scarlet and will getting this on blu-ray

I don't think it needs a sequel. It stands well on its own. If Besson does come up with a way to make a worthy follow up, I assume we'll get it.

Lucy was just too silly for me, even given that it was sci-fi ... by the time she'd morphed into a shape-shifting next-gen supercomputer seemingly made of black jelly, I was struggling to keep from bursting out laughing.

Battle of Britain.

September 15th being Battle of Britain Day and all. The real stars are likely the aircraft, gathered together from all over to refight the Battle. Naturally such an event is not easy to condense but for 1969 it is done well. Beyond seeing such early stars as Kenny More and Nigel Patrick in action, it made me an early fan of Plummer and to a point, Michael Caine.
Lord Olivier is understated as Air Chief Marshall Dowding, Trevor Howard on form as Air Vice Marshal Park ("Get them up! Get them up!" or after the bombing of Hawkinge, "That should damn well never have happened") who were both, somewhat unfairly perhaps, sacked after the Battle.

A few Bond names involved besides Curt Jurgens: Guy Hamilton, Freddie Young, Harry Saltzman, Nikki Van der Zyl and Maurice Binder. A little beyond this, Ken Adam was a fighter pilot in the RAF (one of three Germans in the RAF)

Though I like the movie by and large, the best scene might just be the September 15th scene shot against William Walton's Battle in the Air and featuring little dialogue. The music drives it on relentlessly, none more so when a pilot bails and his chute fails to open.

The mainstream feature (well sort of) I enjoyed the most was "Snowpiercer".
A nice blend of Asian and Western cinematic traditions and an entertaining movie in its own right.
Albeit with a slightly disappointing climax. But the journey was the point of the story, not its destination.

Robocop failed to meet my very modest expectations. An utterly pointless movie made more so by its very meager quality.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Hmmm, the usual confusion here. I thought this thread was for films released in 2014.   Forgot about 'wolf of wall street' though. Top totty and dark humour, but it didn't stand up to a second viewing. Also saw American Hustle. All right, but the sort of thing Don Siegel could knock out in his sleep.

I thought American Hustle was rather poor.
I agree with your appraisal of Wolf, quite entertaining but probably not meant for repeated viewings.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Yeah, Under the Skin should be retitled Under the Radar. It may be the only great film I've seen for a while - occasionally something artistic and adult comes along and you realise everything else you've seen is childish shit. I'd love to know what Nic Roeg thought of Under the Skin. Strong 'Man Who Fell to Earth' influence.

I thought it was incredibly weird and unsettling. It was the most effective use of Scarlett Johansson to date though.
I believe there is always a certain level of detachment about her performances, but this feature uses that trait to its advantage, and then some.

Salomé wrote:

The mainstream feature (well sort of) I enjoyed the most was "Snowpiercer".
A nice blend of Asian and Western cinematic traditions and an entertaining movie in its own right.
Albeit with a slightly disappointing climax. But the journey was the point of the story, not its destination.

Hmmm. Have a feeling that Ambler would hate this one. Very polarised reactions from what I've seen.

Largo's Shark wrote:

Salomé wrote:

The mainstream feature (well sort of) I enjoyed the most was "Snowpiercer".
A nice blend of Asian and Western cinematic traditions and an entertaining movie in its own right.
Albeit with a slightly disappointing climax. But the journey was the point of the story, not its destination.

Hmmm. Have a feeling that Ambler would hate this one. Very polarised reactions from what I've seen.

Yeah, not sure if it's the kind of movie Ambler would enjoy.

Battle of Britain's main achievement was to reboot Britain's aircraft preservation scene. Although they did blow up half of Duxford in the process.

Kiss kiss, bang bang

I saw this about eight or nine years ago and thought it was quite good.  Watched it again last night and thought it was great.  Don't know if that says more about my declining standards or Hollywood's.

I had drunk a lot, mind you.

Still a sore point in some circles about Duxford's main hangar going up in smoke. It was the film company's to do as they pleased but now look at Duxford.

And yes, helped a lot otherwise. Something like 106 Spitfires had been found for the film.

Sad thing is, drunk I am not.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Battle of Britain's main achievement was to reboot Britain's aircraft preservation scene. Although they did blow up half of Duxford in the process.

Kiss kiss, bang bang

I saw this about eight or nine years ago and thought it was quite good. Watched it again last night and thought it was great. Don't know if that says more about my declining standards or Hollywood's.

I had drunk a lot, mind you.

It was probably that collaboration that earned Shane Black the Iron Man 3 gig.

Salomé wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Under the Skin.

I thought it was incredibly weird and unsettling. It was the most effective use of Scarlett Johansson to date though.
I believe there is always a certain level of detachment about her performances, but this feature uses that trait to its advantage, and then some.

Yes, never had much interest in Scarlett Johansson, but Her and Under the Skin used that detachment well. Funny, because I rewatched Ghost World recently, and she just seems sullen in that. Mind you, she was much younger then, which makes me think she might have been good in Black Dahlia is only she had waited another 10 years.

Other 2014 releases I don't entirely regret seeing:
Calvary
Night Moves
The Grand Budapest Hotel (only the second Wes Anderson flick I somewhat enjoyed).
3 Days to Kill (grotesquely over the top, but that was the point of it)
Haunter (in spite of the poor climax)

Most of the good 'new' (as in new to me) movies I saw this year were once again old features, I'm afraid.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Don't know if this is the right thread (this film section is chaotic, lots of films that don't need or deserve threads of their own), but has anyone seen Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man yet? Only just out in the UK, but I think it's been out elsewhere for a while.

Not yet, but it is on my list of movies I want to see.

GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL seems to be the Wes Anderson film for people who don't like Wes Anderson films. Needless to say I weren't a fan. Too self-indulgent.

Largo's Shark wrote:

GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL seems to be the Wes Anderson film for people who don't like Wes Anderson films. Needless to say I weren't a fan. Too self-indulgent.

I liked Moonrise Kingdom too. More so than GBH.

Finally watched Enders Game. It's Starship Troopers without tits, humour or violence so only five percent as good.

Casting is interesting though. The teen brats aren't as objectionable as usual and Ben Kingsley plays a heroic Maori. This must mean the kiwis lack a decent Race Machine as such casting would've caused a riot in any other small country. In Scotland it would have led to a grudge lasting 300 years. And counting.