Last Movie You Watched.

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What about "The Innocents"?

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Erica Ambler wrote:

Salomé wrote:

What about "The Innocents"?

Sigh. There's probably a hundred others.

That was the first omission from your list that came to my mind, is all.

Drive (2011)

A feast for the eyes and ears. I can see why people who thought it would be something like those movies with Vin Diesel driving up on jumbo jets would be disappointed, but hey. There was something oddly soothing about Gosling's nameless aspie character when he wasn't kicking in skulls.

Given things you've said eleswhere round here, I'd imagine its bursts of bloody ultraviolence don't sit that well with you CJB.

I don't have an issue with it in "grown up" films. Some movies will naturally have moments of graphic violence.

I just think there's an oversaturation of it these days. Almost like every new movie or Netlfix needs to find a cheap way to prove its quality by featuring gallons of strawberry jam.

Bad Santa

One of the best American comedies I've seen. Can't believe it's taken me this long to get around to it. Billy Bob Thornton is perfect, as is The Kid (playing Thurman Merman, no less), but I read that Jack Nicholson wanted the role but had already signed up for Something's Gotta Give. Part of me wishes that version exists, too.

Kingsman the Golden Circle

meh, I don't know folks. I didn't care much for the first movie and watched the second with my brothers. The Piz Gloria type place made me think I'd rather watch OHMSS and when you root for Elton John you know it's time for goodnight, Gracie. Even getting Bruce Greenwood in it (I have a vague Ebert like thing with Greenwood in a film like Ebert did M. Emmet Walsh...vague) didn't sway me.

We also watched something called The Overnight which was just weird. As Christmases go now, alcohol helps.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

An overlong toy advert, populated by one dimensional characters and subplots that lead nowhere.

Dern and Del Toro are frankly embarrassing, the latter taking on the kind of ridiculous "quirky" role that Jonhny Depp seems to always play now, whilst Dern's character seems to exist simply because nobody had the balls to write her part as Leia.

Driver is a semi-interesting villain when he's not having temper tantrums.

Oddly, I didn't mind what has been done with Luke's character, or even the force and the whole Star Wars mythos. Perhaps I should care, but no.

I honestly thought I would enjoy this movie. Force Awakens was just about ok and I had fun with Rogue One. Again, no. What passes for charm and humour in this is a "your mum" joke.

Johnson tries his best to subvert Star Wars in a committee-led movie, absent of artistry. It's barely a film, as evidenced by the fact that it ends with no hook or cliff-hanger to bring the audience back for part 3 of the trilogy. Of course the brand is enough to get arses back on cinema seats. And that's all Star Wars truly is now, or perhaps has almost always been.

I haven't even mentioned Finn, Rey or Poe. Because they're non-entities.

"It's time for the Jedi to die." On the basis of this mess, it's time for Star Wars to die too. And Disney.

Agree entirely, G Section.

Dern and her purple perm is a hideously pointless character (she could've just told Budget Han what her plans were) and seemingly existed entirely for that Girl Power/Mohamed Atta moment.

Del Toro and that whole Space UNICEF/Space Snowden subplot added zilch to an already drawn-out crapfest.

Good to see around G. Agree mostly. Saw Jedi yesterday and left faintly miffed. Found myself more bummed out by Luke's death than anything in the film. Though oddly, found myself quite moved by John Williams' re-use of Leia's theme (with her in space) and Luke & Leia. Kind of wished Luke came to save the day but figured it'd be too neat an end.

G section wrote:

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

An overlong toy advert, populated by one dimensional characters and subplots that lead nowhere.

Dern and Del Toro are frankly embarrassing, the latter taking on the kind of ridiculous "quirky" role that Jonhny Depp seems to always play now, whilst Dern's character seems to exist simply because nobody had the balls to write her part as Leia.

I was quite surprised that Del Toro's character ended the way it did. What was the point of bring him into this movie or having him play this role? It was a character to nowhere. I thought an actor of his caliber would surely have signed on for an important role, but instead he plays a character so pointless and meaningless that it could just as well have been played by the studio janitor or have been cut from the film altogether and never even missed.

What's more, was this even the person Finn and Rose were looking for? If I followed it correctly, they just sort of accidentally lucked into finding this guy.

Dern...again, why was she brought on? It seemed like all of her lines could have been delivered by Leia. I know Fisher's death had nothing to do with the creation of this character so I'm at a loss to explain why this character was created then killed off all in the same film.

G Section wrote:

Driver is a semi-interesting villain when he's not having temper tantrums.

Driver is by far the best thing the sequel trilogy has going for it. Without him I don't know if I could have been bothered to see this movie.

I don't even mind that his character is essentially a second-chance at telling the fall and rise of Anakin Skywalker. This is the way Anakin *should* have been handled in the prequel trilogy.

G Section wrote:

Oddly, I didn't mind what has been done with Luke's character, or even the force and the whole Star Wars mythos. Perhaps I should care, but no.

Eh...I'm not thrilled with it. When Obi-Wan was introduced to Luke, Obi Wan wasted no time in trying to train Luke...to introduce him to a different world...to think differently...to rise above his circumstances. Faced with the same opportunity with Rey, Luke takes the cowards way out, even though Luke's trajectory at this point in his life similarly mirrors Obi-Wan's. Alec Guinness brought a sense of honor, nobility and dignity to the role. Hamill does what he's told in this movie, but I still don't like it. It's as if the Luke Skywalker he once played is dead. Hard to believe that this is what became of Luke Skywalker.

G Section wrote:

What passes for charm and humour in this is a "your mum" joke.

Probably best joke was Chewbacca having guilt for eating a Porg; no words spoken. Sometimes the best humor is the kind that is subtle or requires no dialogue. But yeah, other than that there isn't much to choose from. No "Into the chute, Flyboy!" or "I don't care what you smell" or "Will somebody get this walking carpet out of my way?!?".

G Section wrote:

Johnson tries his best to subvert Star Wars in a committee-led movie, absent of artistry. It's barely a film, as evidenced by the fact that it ends with no hook or cliff-hanger to bring the audience back for part 3 of the trilogy. Of course the brand is enough to get arses back on cinema seats. And that's all Star Wars truly is now, or perhaps has almost always been.

I haven't even mentioned Finn, Rey or Poe. Because they're non-entities.

Someone on the radio said that the movie plays like a United Colors of Benetton ad and I agree. The movie is too enthralled with its "diverse" casting and hipster social messaging to be even remotely interesting. The movie delves into class warfare, animal abuse and gender equality none of which the original trilogy had to resort to in order to entertain. It's almost as if these people never saw the original trilogy. "JarJar Rose" is not nearly as bad as I was led to believe going into the film, and yet I can't say Kelly Marie Tran brings anything unique or special to the film. She's a diversity hire first and foremost and, I think, to give Finn an acceptable love-interest for a studio that may be too scared, reticent or afraid to say that maybe they are having second thoughts about pairing him up with Rey. Her role could have been played by just about anyone which may be the point of color-blind casting or color-blind writing, but it doesn't make her hiring any more acceptable. She's just...meh. She also delivers the absolute worst part of the movie when she intercepts Finn from sacrificing himself so that she can have him all to herself.

I didn't care for Finn or John Boyega in TFA, but in this movie he comes off a bit better. Too bad his character arc is undercut somewhat by Rose's stunt near the end. Bogie and Bacall these two are not.

I'll say this for the film: it's never as bad as the prequel trilogy in the sense that my intelligence was never insulted. It's an adult film professionally made, but I disagree with so many of the creative decisions made on a very profound level.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

What's more, was this even the person Finn and Rose were looking for? If I followed it correctly, they just sort of accidentally lucked into finding this guy.

No it wasn't the right guy. The guy they were after was shown at the gambling table. But before Finn and Rose could get to him, they were interrupted by a recurring gag about parking tickets or something.


I have a soft-spot for Rose's character, but the entire Casino subplot was redundant. And saving Finn from his suicide by laser-anus was laughable.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Though oddly, found myself quite moved by John Williams' re-use of Leia's theme (with her in space)

In all the absurdity of that scene, I don't think I noticed the score!

I fear I did notice the score. I'm a sucker for themes and Leia's Theme of late has taken on a new level. I wouldn't be surprised to hear down the line, that had she of course lived, Carrie Fisher would've been playing a Leia in Episode IX who had become a Jedi or had greater Force powers.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

I fear I did notice the score. I'm a sucker for themes and Leia's Theme of late has taken on a new level. I wouldn't be surprised to hear down the line, that had she of course lived, Carrie Fisher would've been playing a Leia in Episode IX who had become a Jedi or had greater Force powers.

Liked the piano rendition in the end credits, but, damn, it was a hacked-up medley.

I blame Johnson's bullshit temp-track approach to Williams scoring his film. Absolute absurdity. Let the man run free with his fucking music.

Exactly, I heard this in a podcast about how he gave the temp score to Williams. Surely, the man who is A) one if not the greatest living composer and B) the one who not only crafted the sound of the saga but also composed seven prior films, can make his own choices, decisions etc. Johnson says in this podcast that sometimes Williams followed the temp but sometimes strayed and went his own way.

Can only hope that Episode IX's score is not as constrained. Indeed, I read that Abrams aims to link the previous two trilogies into this film (somehow).

Hilly KCMG wrote:

Can only hope that Episode IX's score is not as constrained. Indeed, I read that Abrams aims to link the previous two trilogies into this film (somehow).

With Abrams on board, Williams will be free to do whatever he wants. Which is excellent.

According to insiders, Abrams pretty much camped out at the studio while Williams worked on recording the score. In video clips, the two got along well and the music indicated that.

Must be interesting working with your idol, as I'm sure I read Abrams say something about listening to the scores as a kid. Williams I'm sure takes it in his stride but there you are getting John Williams scoring your movie, Star Wars or not.

Vaguely reminded of hearing Costner talking about Barry for Dances With Wolves. You're working with a living legend. I'll buy Episode VIII's score after payday. I could listen to it on YouTube but personally I dig the new CD experience.

The Eagle Has Landed - enjoyable WW2 adventure from the Jack Higgins novel with Michael Caine, Donalds Sutherland and Pleasance and Robert Duvall about a Nazi plot to snatch Winston Churchill from an English country house where he's staying before a planned visit to an airfield.

It was free to view on the iPlayer after being on Beeb 2 on Boxing Day :) .

HANGOVER SQUARE (John Brahm, 1945)

Watched the Kino Blu-Ray. They're finally putting subtitles on their releases, which is great. Excellent film with a brilliant, under-heard score by Bernard Herrmann.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The Eagle Has Landed - enjoyable WW2 adventure from the Jack Higgins novel with Michael Caine, Donalds Sutherland and Pleasance and Robert Duvall about a Nazi plot to snatch Winston Churchill from an English country house where he's staying before a planned visit to an airfield.

It was free to view on the iPlayer after being on Beeb 2 on Boxing Day :) .

Sounds great! Need to look out for it!

G section wrote:

And saving Finn from his suicide by laser-anus was laughable.

Only Star Wars could make such a sentence possible.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The Eagle Has Landed - enjoyable WW2 adventure from the Jack Higgins novel with Michael Caine, Donalds Sutherland and Pleasance and Robert Duvall about a Nazi plot to snatch Winston Churchill from an English country house where he's staying before a planned visit to an airfield.

It was free to view on the iPlayer after being on Beeb 2 on Boxing Day :) .

I've got the special edition DVD which restores small scenes which I think make it a bit more special. Good film though tickles how Caine's accent changes depending on the mood. There was something about the uselessness of his situation and him telling Treat Williams "We'll give it a try". Words to that effect. Duvall captures Radl perfectly from the book. Sutherland is quite entertaining ("Can't you tell, colonel? I'm the last of the world's great adventurers"), the action sequences riveting and the humour sprinkled here and there ("Remember, they drive on the wrong side of the road, Ernst")
Changes it about a little, like the team parachutes into Britain with a traitor in their ranks -a Britisher who's joined the so-called British Free Corps within the SS. Fields, I'd recommend the special edition (2-disc) DVD and the book...

Properly lolled at the scene where Sutherland gets himself thrown through a pub window after pissing off the regulars. And Larry Hagman (in the days before Dallas made him a household name) is a hoot as a frustrated, gung-ho US Army commanding officer.