Last Movie You Watched? 6.0

Charlie Wilson's War

nor here, nor there. Charlie Wilson himself was far more interesting, at least his personal life. Not nearly enough of Blunters.

Manhunter wrote:

The Conversation

A very silent, carefully filmed thriller. Caul's seemingly paranoid fits and his beginning moral qualms gradually get his life off the tracks. A good study of a peculiar character in which pictures and actions do the telling much more so than words. It's a different film from the others by Coppola that I've seen, and really successful.

Got the Blu-ray new at Best Buy for 6 or 7 dollars. Need to give it a spin.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark ... couldn't pass up the chance to see this on the big screen for the first time since '81 (hurrah for Belfast's 'arthouse' cinema and their cult movie screenings).

Action/adventure nirvana, and still fantastic entertainment :) .

The Admirable Crichton

Lewis Gilbert directed, Peter Hunt edited, etc

A moderate film in many ways that even Kenneth More confirmed got bad notices (though for him, he was rescued by doing publicity abroad for Reach for the Sky and then went straight into A Night to Remember). It's not strictly bad and has its moments. Typical KM performance on top of the role reversals that happen once the wrecked toffs stay on the island for some time. More's love interest (key love interest) is the late ex-Mrs Connery, Diane Cilento who saved More from drowning during filming. Sally Ann Howes a.k.a Truly Scrumptious is a knockout.
And finally, Cecil Parker is on fine form.

It's enough to pass a rainy afternoon

Avengers Assemble ... apart from a little bit of 'sagging' in the middle, this is spectacular and funny blockbuster entertainment. Although there are 6 Avengers, the movie doesn't shortchange any of them in terms of screentime and 'contribution'. And it was nice to see Nick Fury finally get to do some 'action hero' stuff.

The scene where Clouseau interrogates the staff is far and away the funniest in this series entry IMHO.

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - GHOST PROTOCOL. A film that somehow manages to be simultaneously energetic and lethargic, simultaneously enthralling and tedious. The campiest of the four Ethan Hunt outings, GHOST PROTOCOL brims with charm and wit as it delivers some terrific action setpieces, and it's generally a visually pleasing affair.... yet it's also awash with dull expository dialogue and while Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner have plenty of charisma they're all too often reduced to human tape recorders required to narrate the plot. There's a surprising amount of telling rather than showing, and director Brad Bird seems out of his element in the film's excursions into talky melodrama - by contrast, he shines in cleverly-crafted yet often beautifully simple action or suspense scenes with little or no dialogue, notably the Bucharest ambush and the tower ascent and sandstorm chase in Dubai. GHOST PROTOCOL's biggest flaw, though, is that it's impossible to give a damn about any of the characters - ultimately, this is just another soulless popcorn blockbuster that offers no real emotional engagement. The MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE franchise is ticking over fairly nicely, but - unlike Bond, Bourne and the Nolan Batman series - it's yet to come up with an entry that truly knocks it outta the park.

THE DOORS. Oliver Stone's Jim Morrison biopic (despite the film's title, it maintains an unswerving focus on the band's frontman) has a pretty dull first half but perks up somewhat in its second, which blends impressive period detail, archive footage and enjoyably OTT melodrama into a heady brew that anticipates Stone's slightly later (and vastly superior) NIXON. The main problem - and boy is it a big one - is that Morrison simply comes across as a total prick who fails to garner the viewer's sympathy on any level. It is, of course, possible to make compelling films about people who weren't exactly saints, but unpleasant protagonists still need to be in some way engaging, and they also need to have an interesting story told about them - in Morrison's case THE DOORS ain't it. We never see him do anything other than write some pretty decent songs (the film's soundtrack, at least, is terrific), get loaded and get his rocks off as the film trundles along to its foregone conclusion. Stone does not appear to offer any particularly profound insights into the era (I mean, it hardly comes as a surprise that Morrison and co. shocked a number of conservative-minded folk), and neither does he make a case for The Doors as musical or artistic pioneers (if anything, they come over as careerist and cynical bandwagon-jumpers). Stone clearly has a strong feeling of personal nostalgia for the period, but in this particular instance there's no real sense of a story he was burning to tell.

THE AVENGERS

The last act is really something to behold. Tremendous mix of well-handled action and humor, though I longed for more Hulk.

Best Marvel film to date, I'd say.

Spiderman

Hadn't seen this in a while and it was a pleasant surprise to find it much imporved with age, yes the cgi is dodgy at times with a very bendy Spiderman in the long shots and yes Dunst is pretty .... err well not pretty, but Maguire seemed much more natural and engaging than my memory led me to believe, the supporting cast are all excellent, JK simmons is a riot as JJJ, the visuals seem fresh and the importance of the 'power responsibility' theme with Uncle Ben as a 'real' father figure was nicely to the fore..... the parent/destiny angle of the reboot is really a sad development for this fleeting but pivotal character and has a tough origin to follow in the shape of Raimi's original.

7/10

Miami Vice (2006)

Good Lord. I can't imagine Mann has ever made a worse movie. This was so dull that I can't even put it into words. It's like I was abducted by aliens and am experiencing lost time.

Naomie Harris is very attractive, though. I'd prefer her with her natural accent, as opposed to whatever thing she was doing here.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Miami Vice (2006)

Good Lord. I can't imagine Mann has ever made a worse movie. This was so dull that I can't even put it into words. It's like I was abducted by aliens and am experiencing lost time.

Naomie Harris is very attractive, though. I'd prefer her with her natural accent, as opposed to whatever thing she was doing here.

Picked up the Blu before I went back to Cambridge so I'll watch it over the summer. I'm certainly interested in seeing it, and a number of people I've encountered have said it works much better on a second viewing. I love the TV series, but the film doesn't seem to bear much of a resemblance.

Edwards skillfully blends the best qualities of the first 2 Clouseau films with Hitchcock's To Catch A Thief. Of course, the lovely Catherine Schell(Nancy from OHMSS) is always a welcome addition.

HJackson wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Miami Vice (2006)

Good Lord. I can't imagine Mann has ever made a worse movie. This was so dull that I can't even put it into words. It's like I was abducted by aliens and am experiencing lost time.

Naomie Harris is very attractive, though. I'd prefer her with her natural accent, as opposed to whatever thing she was doing here.

Picked up the Blu before I went back to Cambridge so I'll watch it over the summer. I'm certainly interested in seeing it, and a number of people I've encountered have said it works much better on a second viewing. I love the TV series, but the film doesn't seem to bear much of a resemblance.

Doesn't even have the music. Granted, I've never paid much attention to the series.

Lifeboat

part of my joy in the film is how the relatively static location doesn't pose much of a problem in terms of pacing or some such. The characters and how people turn on each other, the German and poor ol' Gus are enough. And a neat way for Hitch to get his cameo in of course.

That's a question to ask of the talent of any GREAT director: Can they make a film set in one location and keep it interesting?

The White Tuxedo wrote:

That's a question to ask of the talent of any GREAT director: Can they make a film set in one location and keep it interesting?

It's a given Abrams couldn't without jumpy camera work, lens flare or some such

Hilly wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

That's a question to ask of the talent of any GREAT director: Can they make a film set in one location and keep it interesting?

It's a given Abrams couldn't without jumpy camera work, lens flare or some such

It's a given Abrams couldn't.

FIFY

Fright Night (2011)

As a big fan of the 80's Original I approached this with trepedation but all things considered its one of the best vampire flicks of recent years, and a joy to see the return of the Vampire as a threat rather than an analogy for teen angst. A couple of stupid plot additions and a disspointingly written 'Peter Vincent' undermine the latter portion of the film sadly but it could have been so much worse.

6/10

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Doesn't even have the music. Granted, I've never paid much attention to the series.

I do recall watching the trailer and being quite disturbed by the choice of music. Mann usually soundtracks his films quite well, but Linkin Park...seriously?

Watched Carol Reed's ODD MAN OUT today. Much preferred it to both THE FALLEN IDOL and the much-praised THE THIRD MAN. More gripping for me, largely because it centres on James Mason's wonderful lead performance, which runs throughout the picture, rather than the occassional appearance of Orson Welles. Begins with the prep and exectution of a heist which manages to be thrilling without being even vaguely spectacular or extravagant, then just follows an injured Paddy hobbling around a town in Northern Ireland for 90 minutes and remains interesting throughout. Even manages to surpass THE THIRD MAN visually, which is quite a feat. Not sure why it isn't talked about as much as that film, but it certainly deserves to be.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

That's a question to ask of the talent of any GREAT director: Can they make a film set in one location and keep it interesting?

Wasn't Polanski's Carnage like that? Still haven't seen it yet...

And Cat On A Hot Tin Roof was too. That was fantastic.

I haven't seen CARNAGE yet either.

WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? for hipsters.

Repulsion

On my second viewing, I liked it even more than the first time, it is a truly excellent film in every respect. The way Polanski (and Brach) portray the young woman and her intensifying paranoia (for which there are good reasons) is brilliant. Acting, dialogue, actions by the personae, the use of the apartment and its furnishing and features, the music, the use of camera - all the elements blend so well. It's an engaging, fascinating film from beginning to end. The visual means by which Poanski tells (or gradually reveals) everything we need to know about Carol, are excellent. The last zooming shot on the photo which shows Carol as a girl, and which focuses on the expression of her eyes is so subtley alluding to the origin of her mental disease, it is simply marvelous. You cannot do it better than this.


The 39 Steps

Another second viewing, and another (much) improved one. While the plot is outrageous, it is excellently filmed, a great, entertaining espionage flick with some doses of Hitchcockian humour. Very recommendable.


Re: MIAMI VICE: The first time I watched it I found it dull, but the second time was a blast. The third and fourth time the cycle of disliking and liking started again. You have to be in the right mood to watch it. First I thought it was a film that wanted to portray its main characters in a forceful way as being "cool", but then I realized it is a very serious, convincing portrayal of the drug suad's work. The first twenty minutes and the last 50 (!), the last act, are undisputably very good, the middle part less engaging than it could have been, but still decent and convincing. Its straight face and realism put it above most other thrillers of the past decade. The choice of music is very good and fitting. It fits the scenes perfectly, particularly Auto Rock and New World in my View work marvelously.

Can somebody please get back MOO7RE? He's a connoisseur. :D