Last Movie You Watched.

Watched the first Meg on New Year's Day while my NYE hangover was clearing, it made for perfect viewing for that sort of thing.

Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol - maybe not QUITE as enjoyable as the third, this nonetheless does have a fun 'breaking into the Kremlin' sequence, truly dizzying stuntwork on the Burj Khalifa and a finale in a high-tech platformed car park that reminded me of certain video games. Oh, and there's a fight between Paula Patton and Lea Seydoux that I found most ... stimulating.

Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation - this series entry boasts the addition of Rebecca Ferguson's sexy-as-hell British agent Ilsa Faust and Sean Harris' rodent-like ex-British agent (not sexy-as-hell) villain Solomon Lane, along with the usual array of how-the-hell-did-they-do-THAT? stunts/action sequences.

A Quiet Place Part 2 - effective survival-horror/sci-fi sequel, which sees Cillian Murphy join the cast. it pulls off a decent amount of suspense and jump-scares.

Mission Impossible : Fallout - enter Henry Cavill as a bad guy, and the series ups the ante yet again with action/stunts including a dizzying HALO jump over Paris, a hell-for-leather foot-chase across London at both ground and rooftop level and a climactic 'copter chase with Tom Cruise again going further than any other star in stuntwork participation than I can remember (with the exception of Jackie Chan).

Mission Impossible : Dead Reckoning Part One - the first in the franchise's 2-part finale is (like No Time To Die) a 2 hr 43 minute spy action-thriller ... but frankly, I enjoyed this more. Hayley Atwell joins the cast as an expert thief as the IMF team pursue the 2 halves of a cruciform key (which has something to do with unleashing a malevolent AI entity) across the globe.

Blimey. How many MIs are there?

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Blimey. How many MIs are there?

Seven so far.

PREY FOR THE DEVIL

Colin Salmon of Robinson fame has a part in this, as an exorcist. It has some good bits, but also lots of daftness and used up cliches.

Watched the first M:I again. Find it to be a slick and effective piece of filmmaking despite Cruise's omnipresence. Have often wondered what the original ending was supposed to be, as the whole train sequence was apparently cobbled together by Robert Towne while the film was in production. Really find it to be well-shot and edited, and the CIA Langely ripoff features some stunning art direction that seems utterly lifted from 2001, but I'm not giving DePalma grief here, not on this one (can save that for MISSION TO MARS, which practically makes RED PLANET look good by comparison.)

Think I'm right in saying that successful TV-to-film transfers is a pretty small group, but whatever else one might think of Cruise he's certainly managed it. And then some.

CAPTAIN AMERICA
The 1979 version is pretty daft, but fun to see. I am sure less critical kids must have loved it.

BEAST
The film is beautiful to look at, performances are good and the special effects relaistic.

No Country for Old Men. This, along with Failsafe and Deliverance are my three favorite films, and I'm not sure I could say which is first, which second, and which third.

Have never seen Deliverance, although I know of its most (in)famous scene.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

No Country for Old Men.

One of the more fascinating and thoughtful movies of the last 15-20 years.

CJB wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

No Country for Old Men.

One of the more fascinating and thoughtful movies of the last 15-20 years.

Probably my favourite Coens movie.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

No Country for Old Men. This, along with Failsafe and Deliverance are my three favorite films, and I'm not sure I could say which is first, which second, and which third.

Belay that. One of my top four films. Add Amadeus to form up the most worthy quartet.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Have never seen Deliverance, although I know of its most (in)famous scene.

You really should see it. That infamous scene has come to overshadow what is a truly tremendous film, start to finish. Incidentally, watching Burt Reynolds in Deliverance, you can almost see why he was once under consideration to play Bond.

CJB wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

No Country for Old Men.

One of the more fascinating and thoughtful movies of the last 15-20 years.

No doubt. The final act of this film is deep and dark. There's nothing lightweight about it.

Phantom Commander wrote:

CJB wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

No Country for Old Men.

One of the more fascinating and thoughtful movies of the last 15-20 years.

Probably my favourite Coens movie.

I'll tell you this, PC, as a native West Texan, I can assure you that the speech idioms, inflections and accents are authentic and accurate, with the exception of Scotsgirl Kelly MacDonald, whose native accent occasionally intrudes. It is little short of remarkable that a pair of Minnesota Jews and a Rhode Island Yankee (Cormac McCarthy) nailed West Texas speech so well. Those fellas certainly did their research and they took great pains about their work. Resistols off to them.

Phantom Commander wrote:

CJB wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

No Country for Old Men.

One of the more fascinating and thoughtful movies of the last 15-20 years.

Probably my favourite Coens movie.

THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE for me, with MILLER'S CROSSING placing second. I'm not a huge fan of theirs, but those two just fire on all thrusters for me, and the screening where I saw MAN projected was one of the four or five best projection experiences of my life (CAVEMAN'S VALENTINE was another studio screening under ideal conditions, while 2001, PATTON and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS first-run were other spectaculars that are seared into my psyche.)

Even though we just watched it recently, we watched AFTER HOURS again, having just gotten the new Criterion of it. My God, I just couldn't believe how terrific the image looks. Could watch this thing with the sound off and still enjoy hell out of it.

For A Few Dollars More/Hang 'Em High - Clint double-bill last night, first-time watches for me with both of them. Enjoyed them both, but moreso the former - hard to beat the likes of Leone's direction, Eastwood and Van Cleef's combined badassery, the quirkiness of Klaus Kinski in there as a hunchback, and Morricone's fantastic score.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

For A Few Dollars More/Hang 'Em High - Clint double-bill last night, first-time watches for me with both of them. Enjoyed them both, but moreso the former - hard to beat the likes of Leone's direction, Eastwood and Van Cleef's combined badassery, the quirkiness of Klaus Kinski in there as a hunchback, and Morricone's fantastic score.

The cinematography is also awesome. I love the whole trilogy.

FOR A FEW is my fave in the trilogy, mainly for that mid-film standoff between Clint and Lee.

Saw MARNIE again last night, and still find it to be quite watchable despite the inconsistent production values. Am always amazed at how difficult it must have been for Hedren to do some of the scenes credibly -- and that's not even taking into account all the trouble Hitch was making for her. I read that Hitchcock would have much preferred Olivier to Connery, but I don't see that myself (though one has to wonder about seeing Connery doing rapey stuff back-to-back with this and GF.)

Also, my wife and I nearly always find Diane Baker adorable, and wish she had done more work (and not stuff like 9 HOURS TO RAMA, where she is in Hindi-face with Horst Bucholz!)

Blunt Instrument wrote:

For A Few Dollars More/Hang 'Em High - Clint double-bill last night, first-time watches for me with both of them. Enjoyed them both, but moreso the former - hard to beat the likes of Leone's direction, Eastwood and Van Cleef's combined badassery, the quirkiness of Klaus Kinski in there as a hunchback, and Morricone's fantastic score.

The two saloon scenes with Kinski and Van Cleef are among my favorites in all of Westerndom.

"I generally prefer to smoke after I eat. Come back in a few minutes."

"In a few minutes you'll be smokin' in Hell!"

Never seen Hang 'Em High.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

For A Few Dollars More/Hang 'Em High - Clint double-bill last night, first-time watches for me with both of them. Enjoyed them both, but moreso the former - hard to beat the likes of Leone's direction, Eastwood and Van Cleef's combined badassery, the quirkiness of Klaus Kinski in there as a hunchback, and Morricone's fantastic score.

The two saloon scenes with Kinski and Van Cleef are among my favorites in all of Westerndom.

"I generally prefer to smoke after I eat. Come back in a few minutes."

"In a few minutes you'll be smokin' in Hell!"

Never seen Hang 'Em High.

It is worth seeing just for the solid supporting cast and Inger Stevens, but there is a bit of a TV-movie look to the thing, very clean and antiseptic.

trevanian wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

For A Few Dollars More/Hang 'Em High - Clint double-bill last night, first-time watches for me with both of them. Enjoyed them both, but moreso the former - hard to beat the likes of Leone's direction, Eastwood and Van Cleef's combined badassery, the quirkiness of Klaus Kinski in there as a hunchback, and Morricone's fantastic score.

The two saloon scenes with Kinski and Van Cleef are among my favorites in all of Westerndom.

"I generally prefer to smoke after I eat. Come back in a few minutes."

"In a few minutes you'll be smokin' in Hell!"

Never seen Hang 'Em High.

It is worth seeing just for the solid supporting cast and Inger Stevens, but there is a bit of a TV-movie look to the thing, very clean and antiseptic.

Clean and antiseptic are not adjectives I ordinarily associate with Westerns. Seems like the way to go is rough-and-ready without being too artificial about it.

Of all the Eastwood movies I've seen - Western or otherwise - I think Hang 'Em High may be the most forgettable of the lot. Not a patch on the Dollars Trilogy or Unforgiven et al.