Last Movie you Watched?

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Makeshift Python wrote:

All dvds have the logo added. However the 2001 release altered it by having the music start over the logo which pisses a lot of hardcore fans, while the RESTORATION properly has the music start after the logo fades to black.

But to answer the original question, the Coppola Restoration has the new 2002 logo with the CGI flying stars and so on -- and tinted all gold to boot. That annoys me. If you HAVE to open the movie with a logo, at least use the one from the period the film is from. Warner DVDs always have period appropriate logos, whereas F***IN' MGM always has the modern one -- I mean, it's just wrong to be watching THE LAST WALTZ and have it open on an MGM/UA pair of logos with links to websites at the bottom of them.

I get that. Would have been proper if they used either the one from the 70s or if they wanted to have fun use the logo from the era the film is set like how it was done for CHINATOWN.

Oh, and I saw Super 8.

It was merely okay. An average flick. The child actors were pretty good, I say that's the film's strong point. Otherwise it's no different than your typical sci-fi flick but aping Spielberg. The hype for this was absurd, it wasn't even that mysterious or shocking as the marketing tried convincing you.

3/5

SUPER 8 (2011)

Absolutely adored it.

Movies like this just don't come around much these days. Granted, I'm not the biggest Spielberg fan, but that sense of wonder is what really makes "Super 8" work. Sometimes it's nice to get a breather from the gritty realism and cynicism in a lot of today's cinema.

A wonderful, refreshing course in sci-fi, if I do say so myself. Then again, I'm a sucker for sci-fi and sentimentality, so I was destined to love "Super 8."

Biggest complaints: FUCKING LENS FLARE. Also wanted to see a little more of the alien, but a nice moment with it toward the end made it OK.

4.5/5

And everything went exactly as expected.

Le Solitaire
Jean Paul Belmondo takes his "Dirty Harry" persona deep into the heart of eighties fashion
putting off a planned early retirement to the Carribean in order to track down the man who killed his partner
only in France could a Police Superintendant get away with wearing the bright yellow sports jacket Belmondo wears here (or could he?)
and his detective team are even worse, looking like sartorial escapees from a bad episode of Miami Vice
outside the office Belmondo still favours the black leather jacket though, and the action is still pretty gritty, but backs off a bit from the dizzy heights of Le Marginal
and this time Belmondo does it by the book in the end, bringing the murderer to justice and resisting the urge to blow him away, despite being presented with the opportunity (excuse?) of favourable circumstances in which to do so with a clear concience
perhaps the attitude was toned down to mitigate criticism from the liberal press of his vigilante stance in that earlier movie, rather like when the original "Harry" made some adjustments in his second outing in order demonstrate that he wasn't a complete red neck
however a Pug is no substitute for an armour plated Mustang

The Longest Day

belated anniversary viewing. sprawling in scope, epic in feel and other useless phrases. Does an admirable job depicting the landings than most films since, this before the days of CGI landing craft and armadas. Sure it's not fixedly accurate but few films can be. Like the other Cornelius Ryan adapation it does as best as it can and with a cast that provokes much 'Hey, it's whatshisname'. From the Hollywood bigwigs like Mitchum, Wayne and Fonda right down to the not so big British bigwigs Kenneth More, Leslie Phillips and Michael Medwin. Indeed More's beachmaster cameo has a funny moment where the US Press Officer drops as soon as this shell goes off whereas KM remains standing seemingly bemused by the press man. Well, to each their own, Kenny does become the subject of some ribbing by little known Sean Connery and Norman Rossington.
From all sides fine, fine. The film that is.

"The trouble with the few, is that they keep getting...fewer."

Once Upon A Time In The West (1968; dir Sergio Leone)

My first film in Blu-ray. It remains cinematic nirvana to me. I don't claim it's the best film ever made- I don't care about that. It's just that this film has put the zap on my head like no other. I watch it, and it's literally a transcendent, almost spiritual experience for me.

Boy it looks good on a bigger screen than I'm used to. All these details jumped out at me, and the TV is only 720p. I saw Charles Bronson's nose hair. Just one of which has more tensile strength than Chuck Norris' entire body.

Ball of Fire (1941) Dir. Howard Hawks

I've lost 2 writeups for this film owing to my internet connection so I'll say just this: great fun, and full of talent like you would not believe.

50s western double this evening.



Saddle The Wind (1958) Dir. Robert Parrish

I bought this a while back mainly on the knowledge of its script by Rod Serling - it boasts a familar story of a gunfighter having left his past behind (thats played by Robert Taylor), but his younger brother has grown into a gun-happy young man (played by John Cassavetes). They're cattle-ranchers in a great valley thats owned by benevolent baron Donald Crisp and coming back from a deal, Cassavetes has brought back a lady - saloon singer Julie London who's going to have trouble fitting in. Thats all pretty familiar stuff.

Where it gets a bit more interesting is the arrival of a gunfighter from the past - played by a pretty badass Charles McGraw. Spoiling for a fight with Taylor, instead young hot-head Cassavetes plugs him full of lead. So now he's a killer. Not only is the personal happiness gone, but the love of the ranching too - the valley is settled by squatters, who turn out to be rightful claimants of the land; and they dont want to cattle ranch, they want to farm. And they'll put up barbed wire to do it. And thats where Cassavetes loses it all.

Its a decetnly made film that mixes beautiful location photography (in the oddly green and lavender hills of Colorado) and some rather average greenscreen effects for close-ups, the score by Elmer Bernstein is good and the performances are mostly solid, even if Cassavetes feels out of place in the west. Its a decent watch.



Rocky Mountain (1950) Dir. William Keighley

Conversely, I first read about this from the fantastic blog post at the 50s western blog - and I didnt think it was available in region 4. However, I was wrong, and when it was just 8 dollars at Target, I had to buy. The transfer's not as good as most Warners products they release, but its still watchable.

I'd seen 2 Flynn Westerns prior to this (DODGE CITY, SANTA FE TRAIL, and 3 if you count THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON), this was his last - and the ones in between (stuff like SAN ANTONIO) are quite famous for their super-saturated colour, dames like Alexis Smith (who I have so far found incredibly dull even for a Warners 40s lass) and even music in a rather jovial atmosphere. This turns the tables. The colour's out. The big-budgets are out. The sets and saloons are out - this is a Western shot completely on location. Its short, sharp, dark and tough. And its a hidden gem.

Flynn this time plays a Confed captain, heading out west with 7 other men - its the last stages of the war and their the last hope for victory; heading west to possibly stir up an army of rebel sympathizers. They're to meet a man called Cole Smith at "The Rock". As luck would have it, whilst they wait they rescue a stagecoach from the clutches of Indians. And with it, a woman (Patrice Wymore, who married Flynn off-set and joins the list of dull Warners dames), whos also the fiancee of the top Yankee Lieutenant at the nearest fort. And sure enough, they come looking, and sure enough they're taken prisoner.But thats not their only problem.

The area's crawling with Indians.

A real good 'un.

Chinatown (1974; dir. Roman Polanski)

Continuing with my favorite films. If I could wish for one thing with CHINATOWN it would be to do with the cinematography. I like the approach. Didn't they have another DP before Alonzo? Was it Fraker? Some scenes have this gorgeous technicolor palette. Like in the city council meeting, or at the orange grove. But it mostly looks a little more 70's. I think it's maybe the lighting. I heard there was another DP who was "taking too long".

I like that mid-70s look. THE LONG GOODBYE, THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY and DAY OF THE LOCUST have got it too.

The highlight cinematography-wise is definitely the bathroom scene, with Dunaway's brilliant performance, the wide scope lens right in her face, and Jerry Goldsmith's harp chords..

Here's Alonzo on CHINATOWN:

Quote :

"The first cameraman hired was Stanley Cortez. And Roman hired Stanley because he had shot 'The Magnificent Ambersons'. They had a big artistic difference, the two of them. Cortez did not want to photograph Faye Dunaway without diffusion and without the proper lighting, and Roman didn't want that. He wanted to put on film a sort of natural but somber kind of look. And Dick Sylbert had his act together; those sets were brilliant. And he had indulged the cameraman, given him places to put giant lights and all of that. It was just a big difference of opinion and so they fired Cortez. And I was called in immediately, like overnight. [...] I said [to Roman Polanski], "In the anamorphic aspect ratio, there's a workhorse lens called the 40mm lens. To me the 40mm lens is the best reproduction of what the human being perceives as correct perspective. If we shoot the picture, as much as possible, with a 40mm lens, we'll have really a reproduction of the sets the way they are."'

In Which We Serve

This is the story of a ship..., much more than that it's the story of its crew. Very British in places, quite full of propaganda (more so at the end with the Island Race stuff) but I'd say it's a solid enough film. Though it shows the officers lives the most interesting is John Mills and Bernard Miles' respective lives that become intwined as Mills' Seaman Blake marries Miles' niece, Freda. That scene on the train is both funny, as Blake quips with this woman and touching as Blake and Freda exchange introductions and get to know each other (seem to recall a portion was used in a Virgin Rail ad'). Dialogue wise, away from the stiff upper it's quick and witty (if a tad dated) such as the Blake family's Christmas dinner.
It passed an afternoon which I'm sure would have gone down like a brick with Lean.

Gremlins (1984)



A strange blend of horror and comedy. Absurd but a lot of fun. Too bad Judge Reinhold got a lot of his scenes cut, he's very good at playing an asshole. Phoebe Cates is the gal you wanna date, probably frak (just looked at a recent photo of her, not bad).



I wish Jerry Goldsmith's full score of this flick was available.

Her kid goes to my school. I'd like to shake his hand for being born to such a MILF.

Due Date

Meh. It was a giggle.

Hangover 2 - OK, so it's pretty much a retread of the first film with a change of setting from Vegas to Bangkok. Still pretty funny, though.

True Grit (2010; dirs. Joel and Ethan Coen)

Five or six years ago, in their dry spell after THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE, I would have held up NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TRUE GRIT as the kinds of films I want to see the Coens make. Ah, fuck it, I'm too tired to make this anything but brief.

I liked it. I liked it better than NO COUNTRY. Maybe I need another viewing to digest it. But... I dunno.

I will say that, as in NO COUNTRY, the Coen's penchant for black comedy should perhaps be dialled down a little in their more serious films. I think these guys could deliver a really, truly powerful, dark, rich film. But I can always hear them snickering behind the camera. There are some really great moments in this film. The whole last ten minutes, with the ride at night and the epilogue. That last shot is great. That stuff is really moving, I think. It has a quality that don't think many filmmakers can hope to bring to the screen. When Joel and Ethan stop fucking around and stop laughing, they can really hit the nail on the head.

I like Bridges pretty well in this. I dunno. Damon was okay. Brolin sounded like Kermit the Frog. The Hailie Seinfeld or whatever girl was very good. Nice to see Barry Pepper. I liked the yellow, gnarley teeth.

The film looks incredible. The Coens are technical wizards, perhaps unmatched by any current American directors (well, where is Lynch these days?).

Maybe I'll have more to say tomorrow. I like what Carter Burwell did. They used "Leaning" a lot, yet not the word "Jesus". The score has some of the somber tone of MILLER'S CROSSING.

Mr. Brown wrote:

Her kid goes to my school. I'd like to shake his hand for being born to such a MILF.

Christ man, give him this forum's address FFS, tell him to get his mother to come on here. Actually, I'd better rephrase that, I'm excited enough as it is.

Phoebe Cates though, what a coup that would be..... even though anyone under 30 on here won't have a clue who the hell she is.

I still haven't seen Fast Times at Ridgemont High, so ever since childhood I have always associated Phoebe Cates with the two Gremlins flicks. It's funny, she plays a very sweet adorable girl in the two flicks, the cute town girl. But Fast Times seems to portray her as the opposite.

Oh yeah, on Gremlins one thing always amazes me: The elaborate puppetry. All done in front of a camera. No CGI. Today a film like this would have them all done in CGI. Although I think Rick Baker's work in Gremlins 2: The New Batch is far more impressive work.

I wouldn't want a mother who would be a MILF. That would be weird.

It'd be like having a hot sister.

And having your dad cut your hand off.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I wouldn't want a mother who would be a MILF. That would be weird.

As master thespian Keanu Reeves said "IT'S YOUR MOM, DUDE!"

Makeshift Python wrote:

Oh yeah, on Gremlins one thing always amazes me: The elaborate puppetry. All done in front of a camera. No CGI. Today a film like this would have them all done in CGI. Although I think Rick Baker's work in Gremlins 2: The New Batch is far more impressive work.

There's rumored to be a third Gremlins film in the works, with Joe Dante involved (not sure if he's at the helm), so it would be interesting to see if CGI really would be used or not. I think Baker's work on An American Werewolf in London is where it's at, but Rob Bottin's special effects work for Dante's The Howling is equally impressive. So if Dante decides not to use CGI, would he use Baker or Bottin? Providing both are available, it's a tough decision.

Lazenby. wrote:

Mr. Brown wrote:

Her kid goes to my school. I'd like to shake his hand for being born to such a MILF.

Christ man, give him this forum's address FFS, tell him to get his mother to come on here. Actually, I'd better rephrase that, I'm excited enough as it is.

Phoebe Cates though, what a coup that would be..... even though anyone under 30 on here won't have a clue who the hell she is.

I'm sure Kevin Kline wouldn't mind if she took on a side job at Baker Street.

What husband wouldn't be proud of that?

Just HAVE to post a link now to a still from THAT scene in Fast Times At Ridgemont High -

http://m.blog.hu/ce/celebvids/image/Phoebe_Cates-Fast_Times_at_Ridgemont_High-3.jpg

:D

Yeah, I'd feel really uncomfortable if that were my mom...