Last Movie You Watched? 7.0

Python wrote:

Largo's Shark wrote:

BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.

Came off rather hammy on that one I think.

Not at all. I was very impressed when I re-visited the film about three months ago. There's a vulnerability to Cruise's performance there that one doesn't see in a lot of his later films.

I hate everything about RAIN MAN.

https://youtu.be/IEBL-k_vF0E?t=13s

http://tiny.cc/10tsjw

He's pretty great in COLLATERAL, as well.

dr. strangelove wrote:

I'm a huge fan of MAGNOLIA (I have the falling frogs teaser poster framed in my apartment). Although, I can certainly understand why some would absolutely hate it. I do agree that Anderson's pacing tests your patience at times and that it probably is a bit too long for it's own good.

Well, I certainly don't hate MAGNOLIA. On the whole, I like it, although, yes, it certainly tests my patience at times. At the very least it's, well, different.

Ultimately, it's a compilation of great scenes that to my mind don't entirely add up to a satisfying film - a unified whole, as it were. But that's not to say that they're not great scenes.

I'm on a bit of an Anderson kick right now as the release of THE MASTER draws closer. Next up: THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

Re: MAGNOLIA, Cruise is certainly the best part of that movie.

Even though I'm generally an advocate for Paul Thomas Anderson, MAGNOLIA's ungainliness has worn on me. I've grown to prefer the little-seen THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING. Altogether THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS is a pretty modest, minor work--if you're looking for bravura filmmaking, look elsewhere--but thematically, it hangs together better than most "ensemble narrative" films.

Stagecoach (1939, dir. John Ford)

A fine adventure film with careful creation of characters and great cinematography. I loved the main tune, which I was missing in the second half. You can't blame Ford for being too conservative, he clearly is partial to the socially marginalized. A film with a heart and a soul. Wayne and Ford are underappreciated.

STAGECOACH is a very fine film. Irritating that I'm lumbered with the crappy R2 DVD, which looks like it was sourced from a poorly-drawn flipbook, until I can justify splashing on the Criterion blu.

Breaking up my Minnelli marathon (past LUST FOR LIFE now) by re-visiting some works by America's greatest screen comedian.

THE PATSY

This is a top ten picture for me. It's not the funniest film you're ever likely to see (my money would be on DUCK SOUP), but it's the most fully formed and human comedy I know of. There are moments of utter hilarity (Jerry's entrance with the dropped ice, Scatman Crothers polishing Jerry's bare foot, the entire singing lesson scene), but it's the tender and sad (but hopeful) moments that stick out, like that magnificent prom scene. Visually it is just stunning, and I'm glad Paramount released such good DVDs of his work. If any American filmmaker rivals Minnelli's sense of colour, it's Jerry Lewis. Every scene is perfectly designed and perfectly rendered, and it's fortunate that a talent like Lewis found such success as an on-camera act before turning to direction that he essentially had free reign at Paramount - you can see the bitterness and resentment dripping off of Orson Welles when he talks about Lewis on Dick Cavett's talk show, mocking him for discussing the artistic autonomy Welles was denied but probably would have enjoyed.

Saw PRETTY POISON for the first time in about 25 years. Maybe should have waited another 25 ... very much eclipsed by lots of stuff that has followed in its wake (this seems kind of like David Lynch in grade school in a lot of ways.)

The Last Run (1971)

I love the score, and I even posted it to YouTube. That's one of the reasons I saw this. I went in knowing the movie isn't any great shakes. It's an okay movie. Not great, but watchable. The good points include the palpable atmosphere of melancholy, a script by Alan Sharp, the Spanish setting, and George C. Scott being an iron-tough MF to Jerry Goldsmith music. I've listened to the score so many times it was weird to hear in the context of the film. Another good point is that Trish Van Devere was a babe back in the day in a non-glamourous sorta way. Kinda like Jennifer Warren in the Alan Sharp-scripted NIGHT MOVES. Van Devere was in a movie called HARRY IN YOUR POCKET, and I gotta see if my rental place has that too.



The big problem with the film is that John Huston left as director and we got Richard Fleischer. I really love one movie he did in the 50's, THE NARROW MARGIN. It's the perfect B-movie. But this is hack work. The direction is flat, and the action sequences and car chases are inert. Also, the actor Tony Musante totally sucks in the movie.

Haven't seen that, but I love THE NARROW MARGIN.

Control wrote:

Haven't seen that, but I love THE NARROW MARGIN.

All you need is the score.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hukomrE1B1c

But I think it's a film that could have been great with a better director and some cast changes. It fits in that late 60's/early 70's gritty tough guy action genre that I love, but it's a subpar entry. Still an interesting movie, though.

I also rented THE OUTFIT. Looking forward to that.

I guess there are variations on this. I love it.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Control wrote:

Haven't seen that, but I love THE NARROW MARGIN.

All you need is the score.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hukomrE1B1c

I think that just sold out on Varese Sarabande's site, actually.

Someone must do "George C. Scott watches QUANTUM OF SOLACE".

The Outfit (1973)

Nothing special or memorable about it, but it's solid enterainment if you like this genre. Came out the same month as CHARLEY VARRICK and has both Joe Don Baker and Sheree North from that film. I like 1970's MILF North more than 1950's failed starlet North.

The Watch - there's an actually funny comedy starring Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn ... it's called Dodgeball. It sure as hell isn't this strains-to-be-even-amusing pile of crap. Don't bother.

Steven Seagal fix...Born to raise hell.

Rage (1972)

Potent little 70's thriller directed by and starring George C. Scott. I was skeptical about how well this would be directed, but Scott does a good enough job. It's sorta D.O.A. meets DEATH WISH with Scott.

Favorite part: Scott shoots a cat.

Nice score by Lalo. Downloaded a copy from a blog, but it's not great quality.

http://themastercylinder.blogspot.com/2008/03/rage-lalo-schifrin-1972.html

Danny Boyle's SUNSHINE.

Was warned to stay away from this when it was in theaters, but have always enjoyed it (with a certain number of qualifications.)

This time out I noticed a ton of subliminals (don't know how I didn't see them the other times) and overall seemed more receptive to taking the film's vagueness as simply unexplainable in a Lynch kind of way.

As soon as I sort of let go on that, all sorts of things started suggesting themselves to me, from the notion that the sun itself wasn't interested in being put on life support (which is kind of interesting, since I've always liked the idea of stellar bodies having a kind of consciousness) and interfered with the psyches of those aboard ship, enticing them and ultimately seducing them (there's a strong hint of that with the ship's shrink/doc, who might have been on his way to being like the captain of the other ship.) My wife likes the idea that the lead character possesses a point of view in direct opposition to that of the other ship's captain - he is fine with dying to achieve his purpose of saving earth, while the other captain seems to be intent on living long enough to ensure everybody dies.

I dunno, just checked my blood sugar and it was 426, so that could be messing with my head too. But still I enjoyed hell out of it.

The Split (1968)

Another Parker movie, after seeing THE OUTFIT yesterday. This one is a pretty oddball heist movie with a pretty good first hour and a really good last half hour. It's got a great cast, and Jim Brown actually makes a great lead.

Parker flicks:

1. POINT BLANK
2. THE OUTFIT
3. THE SPLIT

Body Double (1984, dir. Brian De Palma)

This was basically made to fool the audience by making it believe things that aren't what they seem to be. The characters of the film we watch are actually only body doubles - just like the ugly woman that stands in for the cute blonde as a tits double in the end - assets of her that are actually pretty striking. This film is so sleazy, the only thing Brian (or: Brain) De Palma could have done to get away with it was to make the whole thing a Dennis Franz Production. For it being a spin on Rear Window and Vertigo, it is pretty cheap. A well conceived scheme played on the main character, and also on us viewers, but it's a sleazy film with a monster-like fake Indian who gets a hard-on from using a drill. But all the nonsense makes sense in the end, I just don't think I can go through all of this one more time some day. Holly Body is one of the most unappealing characters I've seen, but De Palma makes good use of her irritating features. I mean, if the film had ended on a serious note, the whole sleaziness would have been unbearable. The scheme in the movie-within-a-movie is just as well thought out as what De Palma does with the viewer. It's just not really enjoyable, and I am sure it loses a lot of its (already not too great) appeal on further viewings. The trick only works one time.

CARRIE
BLOW OUT
OBSESSION
CARLITO'S WAY
MISSION TO MARS
PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE
THE FURY
THE BLACK DAHLIA
RAISING CAIN
SISTERS
BODY DOUBLE
FEMME FATALE
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
THE UNTOUCHABLES
SCARFACE
CASUALTIES OF WAR

Whenever I'm unsure of what to watch, I pop BODY DOUBLE into my DVD player.

You're right about it being sleazy, Manhunter. It's probably one of the sleaziest non-porno films you could own. I've always enjoyed it. Most of it is ridiculous, but it has some great camera work, music, and an enjoyable (and at times, hilarious) plot.

Didn't DePalma want Annette Haven for the Melanie Griffith role? I remember a book called DOUBLE DEPALMA (unfortunately the subtitle was not 2 MUCH OF A GOOD THING) on the making of and I think the studio flat-out refused to make a film with a real and still-active porn actress in it.