Last Movie You Watched.

[quote="Somerset"]

Sarai wrote:

I'm pretty sure they will be rediscovered years from now and looked at as the masterpieces they really are. much like OHMSS but on much larger scale

Maybe they already are, to some extent — but not nearly enough. Certainly more so than at the time, when they were caught in alienation between impossible expectations and being fairly experimental simply as movies.  I think the reappraisal might’ve started when Lucas sold but certainly once the Mickey Mouse Muck was unleashed.

trevanian wrote:

but basically haven't dug any SW movie after EMPIRE, which led me to the decision that unless Gary Kurtz produces and Paul Hirsch edits, then you're not going to get a great SW movie.)

Fair enough. I am possibly very strange in that I like the original SW but don’t like ESB or ROTJ as much as the three prequels.


No, I would put the three prequels above them as well because there is just so much more intellectual substance in them. It's just incredible how well Lucas understands human nature, psychology, religion,politics, empires, Zen Buddhism, history and how it always repeats or better yet rhymes...
it's almost the history of the world as it's been from the beginning and always will be
for lack of better words he just 'gets it'
then to be able to wrap it all up and tell the story with those visuals, that big of an adventure...it's quite amazing really

Nobody - Bob Odenkirk gives Liam Neeson a run for his money in the 'fiftysomething with 'a certain set of skills' brings the pain to scumbags half his age' action sub-genre ... this knows it's a bit daft, which makes it all the more fun. Done and dusted in a trim 88 minutes, too.

The Invisible Man (extended edition) - HG Wells' sci-fi/horror classic given an intriguing abusive partner/stalker twist, this is often effectively creepy. Elizabeth Moss is excellent as the traumatised heroine.

Sarai wrote:

No, I would put the three prequels above them as well because there is just so much more intellectual substance in them. It's just incredible how well Lucas understands human nature, psychology, religion,politics, empires, Zen Buddhism, history and how it always repeats or better yet rhymes...
it's almost the history of the world as it's been from the beginning and always will be
for lack of better words he just 'gets it'
then to be able to wrap it all up and tell the story with those visuals, that big of an adventure...it's quite amazing really

Wholeheartedly with you, Sarai. The kinetic artwork, the sound design, costuming, score, scope — just grand filmmaking. One of the most illustrative things I ever heard Lucas say was that his filmmaking was no longer photography it was painting. I think that neatly sums up what he was doing in the prequels.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The Invisible Man (extended edition) - HG Wells' sci-fi/horror classic given an intriguing abusive partner/stalker twist, this is often effectively creepy. Elizabeth Moss is excellent as the traumatised heroine.

Might check this out, had no idea they did a recent one.

Verhoeven’s Hollow Man is probably my favorite take on the idea I’ve seen.

Hollow Man is probably an underrated Verhoeven at this point. Not his finest work, but entertaining in a schlocky way that is obviously conscious.
One thing I am wondering is how the rape scene would be received in 2021! Not very good based on how Benedetta is being accused of all sorts of silly stuff.

*edit* On that note, I had no idea that the rape scene had been cut from the DVD version. Pathetic but not surprising I guess. It was definitely included in the theatrical cut I saw at the time of its release.

'After fighting, everything else in your life got the volume turned down, you could deal with anything.'


a delusion inside a man's mind in a work of fiction and might be the sanest person I've ever heard

Salomé wrote:

Hollow Man is probably an underrated Verhoeven at this point. Not his finest work, but entertaining in a schlocky way that is obviously conscious.

I agree, it’s definitely the one of his I see the least discussion around — even though there’s probably a case to be made that it’s the most Verhoeven Verhoeven film, i.e. maybe the film of his that checks most of the boxes that everyone talks up his other films for having/doing.

And it is thoroughly entertaining, as usual, which I guess is the point. And as usual to a disturbing degree, in the sense that Kevin Bacon finds himself watching other people who can’t watch him back (i.e. in a movie) so that’s becomes as fun for us to watch as the actual movie as it is for him in the movie, even as some of the story’s most basic ideas (e.g. guy has to walk around totally naked in order to be totally invisible) get followed to their ends, wherever they lead.

Salome wrote:

One thing I am wondering is how the rape scene would be received in 2021! Not very good based on how Benedetta is being accused of all sorts of silly stuff.

I can’t wait to see Benedetta. Verhoeven is probably one of only three or maybe four active directors that I can still look forward to seeing what they do next.

Salome wrote:

*edit* On that note, I had no idea that the rape scene had been cut from the DVD version. Pathetic but not surprising I guess. It was definitely included in the theatrical cut I saw at the time of its release.

Was it? I rented it from Netflix years ago and it was there, then. Unless the version I saw was cut down or something.

Somerset wrote:

Was it? I rented it from Netflix years ago and it was there, then. Unless the version I saw was cut down or something.

The rape scene as it remains in the DVD cut is apparently a cleaned up version that got rid of much of the footage of us (the audience) in Bacon's character's perspective during the rape.

Oh right then definitely don’t remember that. Apparently the only version on blu-ray is the director’s cut, which I imagine must restore that.

Very funny movie. The Dude abides.

Spider-Man : No Way Home - this employs 'multiverse' shenanigans in order to have the Maguire and Garfield Peter Parkers/Spideys team up with Tom Holland's to battle the adversaries from the Maguire and Garfield movies (pleasingly all played again by the actors who did so in same).

This is a little overlong and I know there are those who regard the Marvel stuff as the seventh circle of Hell, but I had fun. A touch of escapism is very welcome in the January/continuing pandemic bleakness.

I'm a major fan of the Coens but could not stand TBL. One of only a handful of movies I actually walked out on in the middle--the others were The Hunger, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen, The Last Boy Scout, Tango and Cash, and Roadhouse.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

I'm a major fan of the Coens but could not stand TBL. One of only a handful of movies I actually walked out on in the middle--the others were The Hunger, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen, The Last Boy Scout, Tango and Cash, and Roadhouse.

I've never laughed so hard in my life. We all know those characters.
Oh and as soon as the movie started and I saw the dude in his robe and pajamas's in the store my first thought really was 'oh PK isn't going to like this one bit"

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Very funny movie. The Dude abides.

Spider-Man : No Way Home - this employs 'multiverse' shenanigans in order to have the Maguire and Garfield Peter Parkers/Spideys team up with Tom Holland's to battle the adversaries from the Maguire and Garfield movies (pleasingly all played again by the actors who did so in same).

This is a little overlong and I know there are those who regard the Marvel stuff as the seventh circle of Hell, but I had fun. A touch of escapism is very welcome in the January/continuing pandemic bleakness.    

not a huge fan myself but totally with you on the escapism

Perilagu Khan wrote:

I'm a major fan of the Coens but could not stand TBL. One of only a handful of movies I actually walked out on in the middle--the others were The Hunger, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen, The Last Boy Scout, Tango and Cash, and Roadhouse.

Now I am trying to think of popular movies that most seemed to like but I didn't.

Off the top of my head,

Pulp Fiction
The Godfather
The Shawshank Redemption
Dances With Wolves
Indiana Jones
just about anything by Spielberg

Popular movies I didn't like.

TITANIC - only saw about 20 minutes, including the ending, and I assume I wasn't supposed to be laughing.

AVATAR - sat through the whole thing, and feel like I should have gotten a silver star for enduring that much pain.

THE FIRM - walked out of theater halfway through, preferring to wait in 105 degree heat till my ride came out an hour later. Have never even stopped on it when scrolling channels. (I don't like most Tom Cruise movies - the first M:I, THE COLOR OF MONEY and TAPS are the only exceptions outside of EYES WIDE SHUT, which i enjoy in spite of him.)

ET - I felt like Alex in CLOCKWORK, like I was being commanded or controlled to cry based on the film's soundtrack. Did watch it once more on TV, had to skip to get through it.

CASINO R and SKYFALL - have covered those here once or twice now, I think.

BOURNE ID - geezus, where to start? Except for Clive Owen (who I didn't know from Adam at that point), I didn't like anything in the whole movie. Looked like crap, action was apparently not even choreographed since everything was cut-cut-cut, even him climbing the wall. It was like the anti-MATRIX (first one onlyu!), a pic where you could actually see and appreciate the action.



HEAT - I keep trying to watch it every few years, but have never made it past the first hour (four times thus far.)

I used to have TRUE LIES on this mental list, but I tried watching it again about 10 years ago and I was indifferent rather than annoyed. (basically Cameron only works for me if it is over 30 years old.)

I find the Coens a very mixed batch; I loved THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE and MILLER's CROSSING, found NO COUNTRY solid (but haven't ever rewatched it) and couldn't finish BLOOD SIMPLE. I dozed on RAISING ARIZONA, but felt most of O BROTHER was okay. I only saw LEBOWSKI a couple years back, and I watched the whole thing, but felt like I wasn't in on the joke.

Fail Safe - sweaty-palmed Cold War nuclear tension as a defence computer malfunction sends American bombers to nuke Moscow. Can the pilots be convinced in time that it was a mistake? Can the Russian Premier be convinced of the same and not to retaliate if the pilots can't be reached? Classy thrills from Sidney Lumet with Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau and Larry Hagman.

The Girl In The Spider's Web - the continuing adventures of Steig Larssen's heroic hacker Lisbeth Salander, now played by Claire Foy. Decent enough action thriller (admittedly I've only previously seen the US remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Fail Safe - sweaty-palmed Cold War nuclear tension as a defence computer malfunction sends American bombers to nuke Moscow. Can the pilots be convinced in time that it was a mistake? Can the Russian Premier be convinced of the same and not to retaliate if the pilots can't be reached? Classy thrills from Sidney Lumet with Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau and Larry Hagman.

The Girl In The Spider's Web - the continuing adventures of Steig Larssen's heroic hacker Lisbeth Salander, now played by Claire Foy. Decent enough action thriller (admittedly I've only previously seen the US remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).    

Does Foy have a, 'this never happened to the other damsel' moment? (my wife loved the original and hated the Fincher version, but I don't think she was even aware of this one, will have to let her know.)

Every time an actor gets replaced, I always seem to be hyperfocused on their introduction, especially in a continuation film. It's a minority view, but I really like the actress who replaced Kirstie Alley in STAR TREK III. I found her first scene, which is pretty much just exposition, as it most of her part, very well done, even though it was already evident Nimoy was (mis)directing her to play full Vulcan as opposed to the half-Vulcan/half-Romulan in the previous film (a detail dropped by the producer when he trimmed down the director's cut for release, but which goes a ways toward explaining some of Alley's eccentricities, like swearing and suddenly sounding like a nervous high school cheerleader when announcing 'prepare for warp speed.) Robin Curtis is saddled with some of the worst dialogue in the whole film series, including the virtually unplayable, 'Admiral, David is dead,' but to me she has a gravitas that Alley never remotely approached. If it is true that Kim Cattrall read for Saavik back in 81, I'm thinking she might have been able to deliver the fun as well as the gravitas, but then again, she perhaps hadn't developed enough as an actress as she had nearly a decade later for TREK VI.

When I was typing the damsel line about GIRL, I suddenly flashed on how I wish the next Bond movie ended its PTS, with the new 007 looking at the camera and quipping something like, "Time to have some fun with this again." (assuming they do indeed adopt an old-school approach, which is by no means guaranteed.)

Sarai wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

I'm a major fan of the Coens but could not stand TBL. One of only a handful of movies I actually walked out on in the middle--the others were The Hunger, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen, The Last Boy Scout, Tango and Cash, and Roadhouse.

I've never laughed so hard in my life. We all know those characters.
Oh and as soon as the movie started and I saw the dude in his robe and pajamas's in the store my first thought really was 'oh PK isn't going to like this one bit"

Much like Q after Renard's helicopter goons sawed Bond's Beemer in half.

Sarai wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

I'm a major fan of the Coens but could not stand TBL. One of only a handful of movies I actually walked out on in the middle--the others were The Hunger, The Man Who Fell to Earth, The Adventures of Baron von Munchausen, The Last Boy Scout, Tango and Cash, and Roadhouse.

Now I am trying to think of popular movies that most seemed to like but I didn't.

Off the top of my head,

Pulp Fiction
The Godfather
The Shawshank Redemption
Dances With Wolves
Indiana Jones
just about anything by Spielberg  

I loathe Tarantino. Add Dawn to Dusk (or is it Dusk to Dawn?) to the movies I walked out on.

Not sure I've seen The Godfather start to finish.

Shawshank was good, but I don't have any desire to see it a second time.

Never saw DWW.

Been decades since I saw Indiana Jones. I wouldn't mind seeing it agains for olde tymes sake.

Spielberg is the video track of my youth. Duel, Jaws, and Close Encounters are among my most beloved films, and I watched the latter last night, coincidentally. War of the Worlds is also great.

Trev, to the best of my knowledge Spider's Web is taken from a continuation novel due to Steig Larssen not writing any more Salander after the Millennium Trilogy (or indeed much of anything else at all, given that he's no longer with us).

I don't understand the people who think the Rooney Mara performance in the Fincher adaptation is the definitive interpretation within the cinematic realm, when Noomi Rapace's Lisbeth Salander is superior in every conceivable way.

I will say that Craig is very good as Blomkvist, so much so that it's now probably a somewhat underrated role of his.

The Magnificent Seven

from Bernstein's thundering theme to the end, a rollicking good ride. You forget sometimes that Coburn had something like eleven lines and that on the quiet, the main cast don't have all that many lines between them and it thus adds together well. As always good to see the like of Whit Bissell, one of those actors I grew up with seeing in films and tv my parents watched. Between the action is as good as in the action. The funeral scene is great ("If he could sit up and talk, he'd second the motion!", plus the McQueen/Brynner pairing).
"You elected?
Nah, but I got nominated real good."

The climatic shootout is great for all sorts of reasons, chiefly the men coming back and also how it's staged.

Hard to fathom somehow that it's over sixty years old now.

KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park

horrible copy on youtube looks like it was recorded off TV 50 years ago but pure awesomeness

well for one, KISS are in it
superpowers...lasers shooting out of eyes and hands, dragon breath
fake KISS
those white monkey creatures in battle
best movie ever? maybe

as for it's technical wizardry best leave that for the likes of Trev who can appreciate it's brilliance on that level

High Plains Drifter


There was Hell to pay.

Horror flick first, western second?

Sarai wrote:

KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park

horrible copy on youtube looks like it was recorded off TV 50 years ago but pure awesomeness

well for one, KISS are in it
superpowers...lasers shooting out of eyes and hands, dragon breath
fake KISS
those white monkey creatures in battle
best movie ever? maybe

as for it's technical wizardry best leave that for the likes of Trev who can appreciate it's brilliance on that level

I'm not going to touch that one with a ten-foot tongue.

Some company would probably clean up by making available a dvd or better release, as even the old VHS goes for between 10 and 30 bucks when it shows up at Goodwill. (I do remember the ads when it first played on TV, mainly because Anthony Zerbe was in it, so slight Bond tie-in.)