Last Movie You Watched.

First heard of this when I saw an advert on a bus driving past me couple days ago. Check it out one day I'm sure.

Salomé wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Watched Amadeus last night. Like Mozart's music, it is sublime perfection. I doubt a better film has ever been or ever will be made.

It also made 90 million at the worldwide box office. Which adjusted for inflation would be around 240 million in today's money.
The movie industry has changed so much that it's almost absurd to think that the same film would make even a fraction of that in 2022.
The infantilization of the movie-going public has truly gone too far.
We now live in an age where even something like The Northman is described as an arthouse film.
Basically if it does not have a guy in a cape who can fly then it's "arthouse".

You're probably right, Sabine. And frankly, I cannot imagine Amadeus even being considered for production today. The film manifests too many inconvenient truths.

were you guys talking about Sergio Leone awhile back? he's such a huge name but I don't find these movies all that great
the films look good but not great, not enough for the run time
Fellini can take as long as he likes ...but this?

It could be that I was trying to watch Once Upon A Time in America and was just so sick of it by the hour mark. does it get better? not even sure if I care

The Good The Bad and the Ugly I wore out unfortunately and I think for good.

have you guys seen Billy Jack? I know it's more of a cult film but I don't know if it's one the ones nobody has heard of or everyone knows.

but if you have seen it, how can something be that stupid but awesome at the same time?
ICP don't even come close

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness - fairly entertaining Marvel fare, with Sam Raimi's presence in the director's chair bringing a touch more surrealism and horror than usual (pius a pleasing Bruce Campbell cameo).

Sarai wrote:

were you guys talking about Sergio Leone awhile back? he's such a huge name but I don't find these movies all that great
the films look good but not great, not enough for the run time
Fellini can take as long as he likes ...but this?

It could be that I was trying to watch Once Upon A Time in America and was just so sick of it by the hour mark. does it get better? not even sure if I care

The Good The Bad and the Ugly I wore out unfortunately and I think for good.

TGTBATU is a masterpiece, but last time I watched Once Upon a Time I found it disappointingly dull. Can't remember why though.

CJB wrote:

Sarai wrote:

were you guys talking about Sergio Leone awhile back? he's such a huge name but I don't find these movies all that great
the films look good but not great, not enough for the run time
Fellini can take as long as he likes ...but this?

It could be that I was trying to watch Once Upon A Time in America and was just so sick of it by the hour mark. does it get better? not even sure if I care

The Good The Bad and the Ugly I wore out unfortunately and I think for good.

TGTBATU is a masterpiece, but last time I watched Once Upon a Time I found it disappointingly dull. Can't remember why though.

Once Upon a Time takes the grandiose, operatic quality that was already present in much of the Man With No Name trilogy and dials it up to eleven.
I love the film, but I will say that my favorite is still The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. As well as the fact that For a Few Dollars More is the most underrated, featuring perhaps the finest Lee Van Cleef performance.

CJB wrote:

Sarai wrote:

were you guys talking about Sergio Leone awhile back? he's such a huge name but I don't find these movies all that great
the films look good but not great, not enough for the run time
Fellini can take as long as he likes ...but this?

It could be that I was trying to watch Once Upon A Time in America and was just so sick of it by the hour mark. does it get better? not even sure if I care

The Good The Bad and the Ugly I wore out unfortunately and I think for good.

TGTBATU is a masterpiece, but last time I watched Once Upon a Time I found it disappointingly dull. Can't remember why though.

It's a real bitch when even typing out the initials of a film is a major pain in the general rectal area.

Watched Escape to Witch Mountain on Saturday night. A Disney blast from my childhood that features Donald Pleasance.

Firefox (1982)

Salomé wrote:

Once Upon a Time takes the grandiose, operatic quality that was already present in much of the Man With No Name trilogy and dials it up to eleven.

That's true. Perhaps it works better in the Dollars Trilogy as the setting feels other-worldly.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

It's a real bitch when even typing out the initials of a film is a major pain in the general rectal area.

To paraphrase Clint in another of his franchises, an acronym's gotta know its limitations.

CJB wrote:

Salomé wrote:

Once Upon a Time takes the grandiose, operatic quality that was already present in much of the Man With No Name trilogy and dials it up to eleven.

That's true. Perhaps it works better in the Dollars Trilogy as the setting feels other-worldly.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

It's a real bitch when even typing out the initials of a film is a major pain in the general rectal area.

To paraphrase Clint in another of his franchises, an acronym's gotta know its limitations.

When Eight Bells Toll - Alastair Maclean-scripted (from his own novel) Bond-ish number with Anthony Hopkins as Treasury agent Philip Calvert tasked with investigating the disappearance of cargo ships carrying gold bullion. A pacy and pretty entertaining 90 minutes, with regular bursts of action and an amusingly bumptious performance from Robert Morley as Calvert's boss.

Apparently the plan was for a series of films with Calvert as a kind of more down-to-Earth Bond, but the failure of this at the US box office scuppered that. Bond alums Bob Simmons, Peter Lamont and Anthony Waye were all involved in the production.

Afraid Of The Dark - 90s British thriller in which blind women in an area of London are being slashed by a man wielding a cut-throat razor. A young boy with his own sight problems investigates, but reality and fantasy begin to merge.

Decent enough, albeit never really that suspenseful. With James Fox, Fanny Ardant, Paul McGann and David Thewlis.

The Northman

Fun and entertaining historical epic with some hints of the supernatural in its depiction of Nordic myth.
The easiest film made by Robert Eggers to date, with the broadest appeal.
It's a very basic revenge narrative. Occasionally brutal but this aspect of it was somewhat exaggerated by many of the reviewers.
Very well-acted, right down to the smallest supporting characters.
But most importantly, I felt like I was watching grown-up cinema, which is a nice change from much of what is otherwise on offer. And it makes up for its minor flaws.

REMO WILLIAMS ... except for how the movie borrows most of it score from THE LAST STARFIGHTER, have always really enjoyed this weird b.o. failure. Think that Fred Ward tries very hard but experienced here what happened with Tommy Lee Jones earlier on in his career, getting stuck in movies that weren't quite worth the effort put (with the latter, I'd say NATE&HAYES and BLACK MOON RISING are prime examples -- I enjoy them, but they're not good.)

The whole movie rises on the relationship between him and the Korean martial arts master played by Joel Grey, so there's the whole suspension of disbelief and scorn aspect to work through, but I've always been able to buy into it. And any movie with Charles Cioffi and Michael Pataki as bad guys is going to be at least somewhat watchable. Best performances by attack dogs in any film I can remember, too (and that's from somebody who remembers THEY ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS and all the TV ads that ran for THE DOBERMAN GANG and THE DARING DOBERMANS.)

All in all, probably exactly what you'd expect given Guy Hamilton and Christopher Wood's track records on Bond.

Salomé wrote:

The Northman

Fun and entertaining historical epic with some hints of the supernatural in its depiction of Nordic myth.
The easiest film made by Robert Eggers to date, with the broadest appeal.
It's a very basic revenge narrative. Occasionally brutal but this aspect of it was somewhat exaggerated by many of the reviewers.
Very well-acted, right down to the smallest supporting characters.
But most importantly, I felt like I was watching grown-up cinema, which is a nice change from much of what is otherwise on offer. And it makes up for its minor flaws.

Wasn’t really feeling this from the teasers I’d seen but I’m slowly coming around to giving it a shot.

Surprised Eggers has another movie out already. Felt like a while between The Witch and The Lighthouse and thought he might be a “maybe two films” per decade sort of guy like Lynch.

Just got the new blu-ray of EXTREME PREJUDICE last night. Was wonderful to actually see a decent version of the movie, since the laserdisc and DVD were fullscreen, with the latter seemingly done at VHS level quality. New version is still somewhat soft at times, but it looks like a movie, with real color.

Anyway, more fun than ever now that I can see what is going on again, first time since theatrical that has been the case. The movie is the result of two separate screenplays being combined (I think by Milius), and it does show the seams at times, but that has never stopped my enjoyment, as Walter Hill packed the movie with a great cast.

Movie goes all WILD BUNCH at the end, but has other good shootouts and the scenes with Powers Boothe and Nolte are terrific (always liked Boothe, but this, more than Jim Jones or other noteworthy parts, is what I always remember him for -- it is like he is the 80s version of Harry Lime or something, just totally fascinating, and I spend time thinking about his character even when he is not onscreen.)

Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside do solid work, and they both have new long interviews on the disk too (Ironside fell prey to his family's predilection for massive weight gain, but both he and Brown are refreshingly honest about the film, especially about being nervous working for Hill -- Brown apparently tried out for numerous Hill films, but this was the only one that clicked.)

Hill is also interviewed, but I haven't gotten to that yet.

And they have some isolated score by Goldsmith on it, but just watching the movie was enough to get me to order the 2disk CD remaster -- I lost my single CD over a decade ago, though I don't know how it disappeared from my top left desk drawer, so I've been just listening to it via youtube, and have been jonesing to hear it in my car, so that is at least going to be taken care of.) This is Goldsmith when he is going heavy on electronics, but I don't find it objectionable in this instance.

trevanian wrote:

REMO WILLIAMS ... except for how the movie borrows most of it score from THE LAST STARFIGHTER, have always really enjoyed this weird b.o. failure. Think that Fred Ward tries very hard but experienced here what happened with Tommy Lee Jones earlier on in his career, getting stuck in movies that weren't quite worth the effort put (with the latter, I'd say NATE&HAYES and BLACK MOON RISING are prime examples -- I enjoy them, but they're not good.)

The whole movie rises on the relationship between him and the Korean martial arts master played by Joel Grey, so there's the whole suspension of disbelief and scorn aspect to work through, but I've always been able to buy into it. And any movie with Charles Cioffi and Michael Pataki as bad guys is going to be at least somewhat watchable. Best performances by attack dogs in any film I can remember, too (and that's from somebody who remembers THEY ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS and all the TV ads that ran for THE DOBERMAN GANG and THE DARING DOBERMANS.)

All in all, probably exactly what you'd expect given Guy Hamilton and Christopher Wood's track records on Bond.

Am assuming it was the news of Ward's passing that led you to the rewatch, trev? It's been on my mind too ... seemed to remember getting a kick out of it at the time (at Belfast's New Vic cinema, now long gone), it never seems to crop up on TV and I'm not a streaming subscriber kinda guy ... next thing I know I'm on eBay, spot an extras-stuffed BluRay for £11 including postage and well, it's now on its way .

Drag Me To Hell - strikes me that Sam Raimi made this gleefully gross 90 minute tongue-in-cheek horror flick as a 'palate cleanser' after the financially successful but clunky Spider-Man 3.

My wife has instituted the video equivalent of 'pouring one out' when a favored actor dies, so we've had a few such celebrations since Connery's death. We've embarked on a Ward week, with THE RIGHT STUFF up next. ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ happened to be streaming, and that was the first time I'd seen it since theatrical in the 70s. Last act is a little sluggish, but other than that very solid Siegel, though as a teen I was disappointed with it.

Am suddenly really wishing I had a copy of Ward's TIME RIDER, but apparently it is massively scarce on physical media, and I think amazon only has an SD stream of it.

Am trying to think of films where he was a bad guy, and can only recall SOUTHERN COMFORT and OFF LIMITS. Always heard good things about UFORIA, but I've already rewatched THE CONVERSATION this year and think one Cindy Williams movie per year is about my limit.

Top Gun - yeah yeah yeah, movie as extended music video or whatever. But when it's this escapist-enjoyable, who damn well cares? Tom Cruise secures his place in the 'firmament', there's a hit soundtrack and the pre-CGI aerial manoeuvres/combat stuff still holds up.

Remo Williams : The Adventure Begins - as the title suggests, an intended franchise that the box-office failure of this put paid to. Christopher Wood's screenplay could do with tightening up, the pace feels a little too leisurely at times for an action flick - perhaps a runtime of around 105 minutes as opposed to 121 would've been better? Still, the action is decent (particularly a setpiece on the under-renovation Statue Of Liberty, with some vertigo-inducing stuntwork) and there's a nicely tongue-in-cheek streak, which is no surprise with Guy Hamilton at the helm. Agree with Trev about the doggos.

All the Old Knives

Not completely disastrous in concept but fairly awful in execution. Trying too hard and the 'atmospheric' music was distracting.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Top Gun - yeah yeah yeah, movie as extended music video or whatever. But when it's this escapist-enjoyable, who damn well cares? Tom Cruise secures his place in the 'firmament', there's a hit soundtrack and the pre-CGI aerial manoeuvres/combat stuff still holds up.
 

Western civilisation peaked in the 80's.

Hope to watch the sequel when it's out.

EDIT: Shame Brown's not around to post those Tom Cruise laughing pics.

The Blood On Satan's Claw - diabolic doings in 16th century England ... well, they had to make their own fun in those days you know. Quite entertaining slice of Seventies folk-horror.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Remo Williams : The Adventure Begins -  Still, the action is decent (particularly a setpiece on the under-renovation Statue Of Liberty, with some vertigo-inducing stuntwork) and there's a nicely tongue-in-cheek streak, which is no surprise with Guy Hamilton at the helm. Agree with Trev about the doggos.  

Tidbit: Only a handful of shots were done up high on the real Statue, most of it was done with a dupe built in Mexico.

I just saw a little demo on youtube about how TOP GUN MAV is playing in some theaters in ScreenX, which is like the Barco process (seen in about a dozen theaters for TREK BEYOND) from a few years back. About half the movie expanded to extreme wide three screen viewing, sort of the opposite direction from Imax. I have little interest in the movie, but have to admit that the way the screen grows in the flying shots is very impressive, and can see why the director said he was so high on providing this alternative format for the film. (they had six cameras inside each cockpit, so that is how they can stitch together wider views without 'cheating.')

Saw THE PAPER CHASE for the first time in years last night. Was much more impressed with the scripting and performances than ever before -- realize Bottoms was a good actor underneath all that hair. Also figure I'm going to have to find as much of the series on DVD or streaming as possible. James Naughton also does very good work, surprising given I only know him from that PLANET OF THE APES tv series.

On something of a John Houseman streak, since we just watched SEVEN DAYS IN MAY and are about on schedule to rewatch THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR ... just wish I could find BRASS TARGET, where he is a more malevolent and less-appealing version of his CONDOR assassin.

INCREDIBLE tidbit: one of Bottoms/Hart's study mates -- that 'Ford the Third' guy with the bowtie and mop of hair -- is played by an actor who decades later was Dick Stenslund in LA CONFIDENTIAL. I don't see any resemblance whatsoever, but it just goes to show how some people change in the most amazing ways.