Last Movie you Watched?

Aliens special ed.- Everytime I see this movie it moves me to the edge of my chair for the whole 2 hours and 37 minutes. Camerons movies were always better in the longer version than the original release. This is one of the best actioners of all time, it invests in the various characters and thus makes the story more personal. After the sheer brilliance of Alien JC made one of the best sequels ever.

Alien3 - Supposedly to be the last of the Ripley tales, very different from the earlier movies. Low tech, no sympathetic characters around and still some very spectacular setpieces makes this a very welcom addition to the franchise.

Alien Ressurection - It essentially ends the Ripley tales in a spectacular way. Ripley 2.0 is her good self with some Alienesque extra's thrown in. Sigourney Weaver oozes danger the whole movie through. The ragtag crew of the Betty make an interesting investment to our sympaties but they are in the end Alienfodder. The direction chosen with the Alien this time is interesting. The creature could have used some re-designing but in the end it is what the cooperation and the military were looking for a hybrid. Only as ever the Alien does not want to play ball. AN excellent closing of the series that left an opening with an enhanced Ripley.

The four Alien movies are in my estimate a far better scifi franchise than any. It has weaker movies but they are still vastly superiour to the prequels of SW or the antics of the ST franchise. All four movies are beuatifull and have a visual identity of themselves. The directors were given quite some space to vreate their own vision. Sadly only Scott & Cameron got away with it mostly and the later two directors got somewhat compromised by boards of folks who wanted imput and got their way. A3 perhaps suffered the most, but is still hauntingly impressive.

I don't know if I can make it through another Harry Potter movie.

Yojimbo

It reminded me a little bit of FISTFUL. :o
Hadn't seen that one coming. :)
I am fully pleased with this film and already looking forward to the other Samurai films.
The music was noticeably cool.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I don't know if I can make it through another Harry Potter movie.

Emma Watson is calling for you. She wants your broomstick.

Bloody hell, you lot like 'em young. :roll:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Bloody hell, you lot like 'em young. :roll:

Feeling disenfranchised?

Oppers is my idea of young and she's 37.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Bloody hell, you lot like 'em young. :roll:

They now can legally admit liking her and offering her a ride on their broomsticks. ;)

Colombiana.

There's a DVD quality leak with korean subs whenever they talk, which is but a slight distraction.

I like older too. She's a bit too young in those Potter flicks.

Assault on Precinct 13

I like it, it is compact and really pretty tense. They've made the best out of the premise, that includes doing without too many big action set pieces. It is a very low-key film with a great synth score by the master. One of the bits I liked best was drawing suspense out of not showing if the one of two police officers on the beat managed to convince his partner to go check the deserted police station. Some really clever ways of creating tension.
I don't think it's perfect if you analyze it by following conventional screenwriting guides, but it is pleasing as a film experience.
I can imagine the same people who complain about the inclusion of the serial killer character in HEAT will not have a problem with

Spoiler:

Though the writing in HEAT is more plausible and believable than here.
Just a side note. :)
That comment notwithstanding, a fine thriller.

A PASSAGE TO INDIA. David Lean's final film seems more televisual than filmic (albeit top-drawer television - it seems a natural companion piece to the classic TV series THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN, which also came out in 1984), indeed rumour has it that Lean eschewed the 2.35:1 frame because one of the film's chief backers, HBO, wanted an image more friendly to TV screens.

There's definitely a sense of missed opportunity insofar as PASSAGE is not the stunningly-photographed widescreen epic that might have been expected, but make no mistake: it's still a very good-looking film, and also a grabber from start to finish - a dark comedy of manners with a hint of PICNIC AT HANGING ROCK, set against an authentic-seeming backdrop of the British Raj in decline. The performances are superb across the board, even that of the much-maligned Alec Guinness, "blacked up" as Professor Godbole. This controversial bit of casting works because the holy man Godbole is, I believe, intended as a strange and otherworldly character, as distinct from his fellow Indians as he is from the British, and casting Guinness works in this regard. In any case, though (perhaps Lean just wanted to give his pal Guinness a job), count me among those not interested in protesting his role in this film.

Anyway, A PASSAGE TO INDIA is splendid stuff, a wonderful finale from a master director, and one of the best films of the 1980s.

Lean and Guinness always had a very fractured relationship. Guinness didn't want to play Godbole, and thought he'd look like an an idiot, but Lean egged him on. In the end, both were disappointed with the end result.

Manhunter wrote:

Assault on Precinct 13

Spoiler:

That's still about the most shocking scene I've seen in a film. I can't think of another where such random violence is meted out to a child.

The 1970s must be Hollywood's most brutal period.

Erica Ambler wrote:

That's still about the most shocking scene I've seen in a film. I can't think of another where such random violence is meted out to a child.

Soldier Blue...a little apache girl is beheaded by white soldiers...unforgivably vile. Candice Bergen guest-stars.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Manhunter wrote:

Assault on Precinct 13

Spoiler:

That's still about the most shocking scene I've seen in a film. I can't think of another where such random violence is meted out to a child.

The 1970s must be Hollywood's most brutal period.

More shocking than the killing of the hitwoman in Munich? ;)

Salomé wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

Manhunter wrote:

Assault on Precinct 13

Spoiler:

That's still about the most shocking scene I've seen in a film. I can't think of another where such random violence is meted out to a child.

The 1970s must be Hollywood's most brutal period.

More shocking than the killing of the hitwoman in Munich? ;)

Are you comparing women to children? The thought-police will be coming for you sooner than you think.

The hitwoman wasn't quite as innocent as the little girl, either. ;)

Legally Blonde

this movie should be called Legally Stupid

I won't be rushing to watch the 2nd one on DVD

[quote="Manhunter"]The hitwoman wasn't quite as innocent as the little girl, either. ;) [/quote

The little girl was graduating from THE MACLEAN STEVENSON SHOW around the time of PRECINCT and going on to TUFF TURF shortly thereafter, but is now probably scarier than any hitwoman, since my wife tells me she is one of those reality show Beverly Hills housewives. Guess she should have stayed in Witch Mountain.

Mrs Aural Sects wrote:

Erica Ambler wrote:

That's still about the most shocking scene I've seen in a film. I can't think of another where such random violence is meted out to a child.

Soldier Blue...a little apache girl is beheaded by white soldiers...unforgivably vile. Candice Bergen guest-stars.

That's a good one. Partly jarring because it's in the last reel or two of the film, and nothing beforehand really prepares you for it.

SOLIDER BLUE is simply incompetent. It tries to ape Peckinpah, but fails badly.

The Cassandra Crossing

for a movie involving a train travelling virtually non-stop it doesn't seem to get anywhere spectaculary fast or with any attraction. Richard Harris does what he can looking vaguely bemused at times, Sophia Loren seems surprised by what's happening and Burt Lancaster seems bored rigid (if he hated AIrport one can only assume what he thought of this). Then you have OJ Simpson and Martin Sheen, Ava Gardner and God knows who else. The conclusion is both a little shocking but little laughable, shocking in that a fair few still die in the crash but laughable that the model work is painful and various camera angles on the victims wouldn't be out of place in a Monty Python sketch.
Plaudits to Jerry Goldsmith of course and that opening shot coming in from the clouds down into Geneva



up to 2.30 if so inclined.

Footloose

Yet another film that didn't need a remake.

Ravenstone wrote:

Footloose

Yet another film that didn't need a remake.

still think that they only did the remake to use that tagline over the title: "There comes a time to cut loose" [short pan down].....'.FOOTLOOSE'."