Last Movie You Watched.

Also in Lone Star (good but terribly peesea), and Jacob's Ladder, one of the scariest films ever made.

The Fellowship of the Ring

Perhaps you've heard of this film? My first time seeing it, believe it or not. Mind-blowing. They don't come much better than Peter Jackson (I realized this after seeing Heavenly Creatures, BTW). This movie is by turns very charming and very heavy. I think there's a misconception that fantasy is lightweight kid's stuff. This film will disabuse anybody who thinks that. I very much look forward to seeing the next two and then taking up Tolkien afresh.

Minority Report - perhaps the best Phillip K Dick adap after Blade Runner and Total Recall? Hadn't seen this for years, enjoyed the hell out of it ... clearly Cruise and Spielberg did too, what with War Of The Worlds following 3 years later.

The Festival - pretty funny comedy from the makers of The Inbetweeners. If you enjoyed that, you'll likely enjoy this.

The Equalizer 2 - Denzel Washington (in his first-ever sequel) again gives Liam Neeson a run for his money in the 'sixtysomehing action hero with a certain set of skills' stakes. One wonders what Edward Woodward would have made of it all.

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Gorky Park

Revisiting this was odd. It made little impression on me 35 years ago but now it seems one of the most perfectly cast films I’ve seen.

Michael Apted's direction is accomplished, albeit visually uninteresting, and makes one wonder how many Bond films have been destroyed by Vic Armstrong. A superb script by the late Dennis Potter is a sobering reminder of how he has been erased from history. His crime? He understood women rather too well.

Speaking of casting, pretty darned good in TFoTR. Our mutual friend Christopher Lee absolutely crushes it as Sauroman, and Hugo Weaving is terrific as Elrond, as are Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Sean Bean as Boromir and John Rhys-Davies as Gimli. Not too sure about Viggo Mortensen as Strider, however. Viggo was maybe a bit young for the role, and just doesn't look tough enough. Sam Neill would have been ideal.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

The Fellowship of the Ring

Perhaps you've heard of this film? My first time seeing it, believe it or not. Mind-blowing. They don't come much better than Peter Jackson (I realized this after seeing Heavenly Creatures, BTW). This movie is by turns very charming and very heavy. I think there's a misconception that fantasy is lightweight kid's stuff. This film will disabuse anybody who thinks that. I very much look forward to seeing the next two and then taking up Tolkien afresh.

Better late than never! To my mind Fellowship is a damn near perfect piece of cinema.

Erica Ambler wrote:

The concluding The Return of the King tapped into a lot of political undercurrents in England 15 years ago that have never gone away.

Denethor is Tony Blair with a better haircut?

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Gorky Park

Revisiting this was odd. It made little impression on me 35 years ago but now it seems one of the most perfectly cast films I’ve seen.

Michael Apted's direction is accomplished, albeit visually uninteresting, and makes one wonder how many Bond films have been destroyed by Vic Armstrong. A superb script by the late Dennis Potter is a sobering reminder of how he has been erased from history. His crime? He understood women rather too well.

Speaking of casting, pretty darned good in TFoTR. Our mutual friend Christopher Lee absolutely crushes it as Sauroman, and Hugo Weaving is terrific as Elrond, as are Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Sean Bean as Boromir and John Rhys-Davies as Gimli. Not too sure about Viggo Mortensen as Strider, however. Viggo was maybe a bit young for the role, and just doesn't look tough enough. Sam Neill would have been ideal.

Viggo Mortensen was 43 years old when the first movie was released. Hardly a spring chicken.

As for the trilogy, I enjoyed the first movie but found the rest of the series an exercise in diminishing returns.

Though admittedly I have not seen any of them since their original theatrical run.

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Salomé wrote:

As for the trilogy, I enjoyed the first movie but found the rest of the series an exercise in diminishing returns.

I'd rate the first above the other two, but they're still tremendously-made and captivating films.

And Khanners, do yourself a favour, avoid The Hobbit trilogy. They were made in about a tenth of the time of LOTR without about a hundredth of the care and about a thousandth of the respect for the source material. They were less Tolkien as adapted by Jackson and more of a rush job by some Weinstein/Putzstein/Schmuckstein Hollywood studio types holding Jackson to ransom.

CJB wrote:

Salomé wrote:

As for the trilogy, I enjoyed the first movie but found the rest of the series an exercise in diminishing returns.

I'd rate the first above the other two, but they're still tremendously-made and captivating films.

And Khanners, do yourself a favour, avoid The Hobbit trilogy. They were made in about a tenth of the time of LOTR without about a hundredth of the care and about a thousandth of the respect for the source material. They were less Tolkien as adapted by Jackson and more of a rush job by some Weinstein/Putzstein/Schmuckstein Hollywood studio types holding Jackson to ransom.

Will do, CJB.

Hereditary

A bit overrated. It's 2018's version of "Rosemary's Baby". Very nicely shot and definitely well-acted by the principals.
Toni Collette should get Oscar recognition for her performance here but the Academy has shunned horror movies in the past and early indications suggest that they will do so again to deny the Australian what would be a well-deserved nomination.

Salomé wrote:

Hereditary

A bit overrated. It's 2018's version of "Rosemary's Baby". Very nicely shot and definitely well-acted by the principals.
Toni Collette should get Oscar recognition for her performance here but the Academy has shunned horror movies in the past and early indications suggest that they will do so again to deny the Australian what would be a well-deserved nomination.

It sounds very good indeed, and is on my Watch List.

The Two Towers

Very good, but doesn't quite pack the emotional wallop of TFotR.Then again, TFotR is a mighty tough act to follow.

Interesting to see Brad Dourif as Saruman's agent in Rohan. He's really quite an actor. Check out Exorcist III for testament to that fact. A chilling performance in that one.

Crazy Rich Asians.

Went for Wai Lin, but it's actually a very good romantic comedy, and refreshingly apolitical for a film made today.

21 years after TND, Brosnan features in the critically acclaimed Mamma Mia sequel, Oscar buzz surrounds Pryce for The Wife, and Michelle Yeoh is receiving praise for her turn in the lauded Crazy Rich Asians.

in the independent film Free Enterprise, a precocious boy is given an education in what a sci-fi film is ("To you, science fiction started in 1999...") begins the education. At the mention of Logan's Run he blurts out: "Sounds like a dumb sports movie!"

"Sports movie!? ROLLERBALL is a sports movie!"

And yes, Rollerball. I've not seen in a while despite having it on DVD. It's a film so cheery that Logan's Run is a Carry On film in comparison. It doesn't seem to know whether to be just that, a sports movie, or some commentary on corporations. Funnily, it's set in 2018. The German locations add to it but acting wise it sort of bubbles along. It has Shane Rimmer, it has Maud Adams and it even has a pre-Buck Rogers Pamela Hemsley (an Eric Forman 'yes, yes') and Quincy's Robert Ito.


But yes

Perilagu Khan wrote:

The Two Towers

Very good, but doesn't quite pack the emotional wallop of TFotR.Then again, TFotR is a mighty tough act to follow.

Some of that punch is lost by the inescapable reality that the film had to intertwine multiple story lines.

Don't worry, ROTK will have you reaching for a man-hanky by the end.

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CJB wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

The Two Towers

Very good, but doesn't quite pack the emotional wallop of TFotR.Then again, TFotR is a mighty tough act to follow.

Some of that punch is lost by the inescapable reality that the film had to intertwine multiple story lines.

Don't worry, ROTK will have you reaching for a man-hanky by the end.

A manky, one might say...

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Moonrise

Essentially a tragedy about predestination, or at least the delusion of it.
With an excellent performance by Dane Clark as a man whose extreme anger has crystallized as hard shards on his soul. Beautiful black and white photography. I haven't seen much of Frank Borzage's work but this has certainly made me more curious.

Also have this week off work, and therefore watched a Horror Channel double-bill last night -

The People Under The Stairs - hadn't seen this Wes Craven-directed slice of horror/social commentary/offbeat comedy for years. Great fun.

Grabbers - sci-fi comedy horror about a small Irish island being invaded by bloodsucking aliens, to whom alcohol is fatal ... so all the island's inhabitants have to do is stay drunk. A hoot.

Upgrade - neat 'near-future' sci-fi revenge flick, with an enjoyable streak of humour.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Upgrade - neat 'near-future' sci-fi revenge flick, with an enjoyable streak of humour.

A bit of a "Robocop" clone, but without Verhoeven's darker, sardonic personality traits to make it more interesting.

But far from terrible.

I especially liked the dodging of any sort of Hollywood ending.

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