Last Movie you Watched?

Arkadin wrote:

ambler wrote:

Elton John, George Michael, Heinrich Himmler, Harmsway, God, Mummy.

That's some consensus.

And one fascinating cocktail party.

It's not a show I'd want to miss. See if you can get Toulouse-Lautrec as well.

EDIT: and Senor Chigawa.

Chigawa wrote:

Actually I've always got the impression Moulin Rouge was pretty well received.

It was, though, to be fair, there were plenty of critics who were less than enthusiastic, too. Which, I think, one would expect with a film like MOULIN ROUGE!, which is bound to strike a great many individuals as terribly annoying (especially if they're not fans of the musical genre, which is already a kind of love-it-or-hate-it thing). It's hard to gauge quite where it sits in critical estimation now, how many years after its release.

That said, don't mistake me for a Luhrmann fan. I loathe his ROMEO + JULIET and AUSTRALIA is one of the worst films of the last ten years. I'm dreading his new, 3-D adaptation of THE GREAT GATSBY (why on earth would THE GREAT GATSBY--of all things--need to be in 3-D?).

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

The last time I saw this, nearly a decade ago, I was bored out of my mind. I found it a lot more entertaining and beautiful this time around. The story isn't that strong though.

Wow, feels like old times (well, about a week ago).

LA BÊTE HUMAINE Jean Renoir, 1938

A very powerful drama. Almost a proto-noir. And a vastly more effective rendering of the story than Fritz Lang's Human Desire (a film I enjoyed a great deal). Having seen Lang's film, the twists and turns of the plot were more or less lost on me, but luckily this isn't intended as a film just about the story beats. I'm glad I watched this after the Lang film, since some of the more spenseful sequences of that film would have been ruined otherwise. This is a film about characters. They're expertly played, and their interactions, their passions and their deciets are masterfully captured by Renoir. There's just something about the way Renoir shoots scenes. The slight movements of the camera as a pair embrace can be utterly electrifying.

Renoir-O-Meter:

1. Toni
2. La grande illusion
3. La bête humaine
4. Swamp Water
5. La règle du jeu

Really need to rewatch La règle du jeu. Can't wait for Boudu Saved from Drowning to hit Blu-ray in April.

Take a gander at The Lower Depths as well. The Criterion has the Renoir and Kurosawa versions if you can get it over there - both worth watching.

RE: Luhrmann, the only film of his I'd ever, ever revisit is Strictly Ballroom. And even then...

The White Tuxedo wrote:

I wanna see PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM.

One of my best in-cinema experiences, to be sure. An actual 'falling out of seat laughing" moment ... something that only ever occurred one other time (during IT'S ALIVE, but that's another story.) Made me receptive to the notion of seeing Allen directed by somebody else, which got me to see THE FRONT a couple years later. Cinematography is a little weak (might be the only less than great job by Owen Roizman in his heyday, he was my fave DP for much of the 70s and early 80s.)

For me, on Allen-directed films, HANNAH is at the top -- kind of liked seeing him resolve his traditional screen neuroses -- followed by INTERIORS, which just got me in that 'I'm too impressed to articulate' way that flummoxes me on occasion. I actually don't like any post-Hannah Allen, though to be honest I just plain gave up on him by the mid 90s.

I remember THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION being particularly awful.

The Adjustment Bureau

Good little romantic sci-fi thriller thing. Ending could use some work.

THE APARTMENT (1960)



I'm fatigued so it's a bit difficult to articulate my thoughts on the flick beyond I liking it, liking Lemmon, liking Shirley and hating McMurray. Overall I dug it. Oh and great cinematography. Love that rare rich black and white panavision, was used to the fullest for the genre.

Anyway, I'm about to sleep. Or maybe pull off insomnia again. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWNNNNNNNNN.

Fiddler on the Roof

It's the musical you can enjoy without being called a faygelleh.

I still maintain that Lazar Volf --> Laser Wolf is a bodgy yet hilarious attempt at Anglicisation.

How To Steal The World (1969)
Dir. Sutton Roley

Say what you like about The Man From U.N.C.L.E, but one thing that has always kept the series fresh, appealing and enjoyable is its villains. The Karate Killers had a badass Curt Jürgens and Telly Savalas, One Spy Too Many had Rip Torn, The Helicopter Spies had John Dehner and this film kept up the tradition with a charismatic Barry Sullivan, Peter Mark Richman as the head of T.H.R.U.S.H and Leslie Nielsen. Refreshingly, this film, the last in the series, is far lessy campy and silly but actually provides some genuine laughs - Richman and Eleanor Parker seemingly having sex at every opportunity. There's plenty of action and espionage too, helicopters, gunfights and Bond-esque locations (a precoursor to Sanchez's meditation retreat in Licence To Kill keeps things interesting). Unfortunately, the film is let down by a bored-looking Solo and Kuryakin (David McCallum looks especially fed up) but there's still plenty to enjoy. One of the better entries in the film series - I've now seen them all.

3/5

No Love For Johnnie (1961) Dir. Ralph Thomas

I'd been wanting to revisit this ever since I bought it on DVD - my original copy was one i bought off ebay from a Greek newspaper and while it did the job, it was fullscreen and a tad fuzzy, and seemingly tinged with a bit of green. this, I think the first time its gotten a proper DVD release (thanks to those matinee classics packages) provides it in its full cinemascope ratio (of all the films Rank couldve made in the format, this was hardly the most obvious) and a decently watchable picture quality - though usually the matinee people provide better transfers for their 4:3 stuff and if it ever gets a good release in Regions 1 or 2, I'll be upgrading again methinks.

As for the film itself, its based off a controversial British novel of the late 50s and while its seemingly acknowledged the film doesnt go anywhere as deep as the book, its a fun political satire/character study. Its one of the more meatier roles Peter Finch ever took on and it won him his second consecutive BAFTA for Best Actor and 3rd in 5 years, following A TOWN LIKE ALICE (my personal Finch fave) in 1956 and THE TRIALS OF OSCAR WILDE in 1960. He's in fine form, and the support does mostly fine work - the lovely Billie Whitelaw, Mary Peach (who soon after appeared in A GATHERING OF EAGLES), a delightfully sinister Donald Pleasance, Geoffrey Keen as the PM and Stanley Holloway as the old stalwart of Westminster. Plus theres that tiny Oliver Reed cameo, if you can spot him.

In addition, its got one of the most sizzlingly cynical endings of all time. Just makes you chuckle.

Makeshift Python wrote:

THE APARTMENT (1960)



I'm fatigued so it's a bit difficult to articulate my thoughts on the flick beyond I liking it, liking Lemmon, liking Shirley and hating McMurray. Overall I dug it. Oh and great cinematography. Love that rare rich black and white panavision, was used to the fullest for the genre.

Anyway, I'm about to sleep. Or maybe pull off insomnia again. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWNNNNNNNNN.

Hating MacMurray? Shirley you mean loving to hate MacMurray.

FourDot wrote:

Take a gander at The Lower Depths as well. The Criterion has the Renoir and Kurosawa versions if you can get it over there - both worth watching.

Thanks for the rec, it looks good. I need to watch more Kurosawa anyway. I'll probably start getting Criterions once I have a proper look at this import duty nonsense - the Sternberg set they released a few months back looks tasty.

THE PATSY Jerry Lewis, 1964



Probably my favourite Jerry Lewis movie. Not as many laughs as The Nutty Professor or The Ladies Man, but it has a lot more heart than either. That's not to say it's not funny - Stanley's introduction, for example, is absolutely hysterical, and Jerry Lewis is still more or less at his peak as a physical performer - but the gags take a back seat. There are a number of moments here that I find really quite moving. That confessional, heartbreaking silent prom scene is one. Another is the powerful image of Stanley surrounded by microphones in the recording studio. He looks so lost, and Lewis arranges the image perfectly. I know lots of you find Jerry Lewis flat-out annoying, fair play, but I wager it would be very hard for anyone to sincerely say he doesn't know how to compose an image. On a purely technical level, I consider Jerry Lewis the equal of Orson Welles or Alfred Hitchcock.

A highly immature comedy which deals with its subject matter in a very mature way. If that makes any sense.

Lewis-O-Meter:

1. The Patsy
2. The Nutty Professor
3. The Ladies Man
4. The Errand Boy
5. Which Way to the Front?
6. The Family Jewels
7. The Bellboy

Iron Man 2. Not my choice. Was a bag of $#¥T€ !!!

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Makeshift Python wrote:

THE APARTMENT (1960)



I'm fatigued so it's a bit difficult to articulate my thoughts on the flick beyond I liking it, liking Lemmon, liking Shirley and hating McMurray. Overall I dug it. Oh and great cinematography. Love that rare rich black and white panavision, was used to the fullest for the genre.

Anyway, I'm about to sleep. Or maybe pull off insomnia again. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWNNNNNNNNN.

Hating MacMurray? Shirley you mean loving to hate MacMurray.

MacMurray was so good at playing devlish heels. 8)

As opposed to when he played righteous arseholes, like he did for most of the time in DIVE BOMBER.

GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995, dir. Mamoru Oshii) and GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE (2004, dir. Mamoru Oshii)

This is the first time I have seen these two works together, and boy oh boy, was I floored. Despite the place the first installment holds in pop-culture history as a kind of classic, a place it has certainly earned, it is the second of these films, INNOCENCE, that impresses me the most, building on the foundation the original laid and taking things to dizzying extremes. Tremendous stuff.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Makeshift Python wrote:

THE APARTMENT (1960)



I'm fatigued so it's a bit difficult to articulate my thoughts on the flick beyond I liking it, liking Lemmon, liking Shirley and hating McMurray. Overall I dug it. Oh and great cinematography. Love that rare rich black and white panavision, was used to the fullest for the genre.

Anyway, I'm about to sleep. Or maybe pull off insomnia again. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWNNNNNNNNN.

Hating MacMurray? Shirley you mean loving to hate MacMurray.

That's what I meant. He's great at playing a scumbag.

Arkadin wrote:

GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995, dir. Mamoru Oshii) and GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE (2004, dir. Mamoru Oshii)

This is the first time I have seen these two works together, and boy oh boy, was I floored. Despite the place the first installment holds in pop-culture history as a kind of classic, a place it has certainly earned, it is the second of these films, INNOCENCE, that impresses me the most, building on the foundation the original laid and taking things to dizzying extremes. Tremendous stuff.

I haven't seen the original in a decade, but I remember it being quite exceptional. Never saw second though, but your kind thoughts of them have me interested in revisiting the first and seeing the second.

BRAZIL dir. Terry Gilliam

Definitely the Terry Gilliam masterpiece in my book, just as relevant and entertaining now as it was when it was made. One of the best endings of all time, too. I call it Orwell meets Kafka meets Python.

Brazil The Love Conquers All Version

Never seen it before today. Frakkin' HILARIOUS! Even more destructive than the "US theatrical cut" version of Blade Runner. An absolute hackjob.

Tubes wrote:

Bullitt

I had to watch it in two parts because I was too tired to finish it yesterday. Ended on the car chase yesterday and started with the car chase today. Oh, those poor, poor cars. That's something that is missing in today's chases. You can tell that those cars went through the grinder for those shots.

As far as the rest of the movie, the first half was too slow for my tastes, but the second really takes off. McQueen dominates the screen. One of my favorite looking "flat" films, in terms of composition. I have a feeling I'll like Bullitt better the more viewings I get in.

It does, Tubes. The first time I saw McQueen's 1968 policeman epic, I was a little underwhelmed but in retrospect, it was probably due to the fact that countless numbers of cop movies and TV shows have copied Bullitt in the years since its initial release. It risen in my rankings of McQueen films to being one of my top 2 favorites, the other being The Great Escape of course.

As for me, the last film I watched was one of my favorite Disney classics:



I wish Disney would release on home video their colorized version of it. Normally, I don't care for colorization but they did a good job on The Absent Minded Professor so I would like for them to do the same for its sequel.

Body Double
"I thought you were a bartender, not a priest."



Always enjoyable. It's shoddy in some areas, I'll admit, but also has its virtues. The greatest piece of camera work is the continuous shot when Gloria, Jake, and the "Indian" are in the parking area. Wish I could find a Youtube link to it. I think Pino Donaggio did a great job with the score, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVYkLUPsvuc#t=3m04s

ROBOCOP (1987)



Too awesome.

Best line in the movie: "Bitches leave!"

https://www.youtube.com/v/QdZqKVcI9m8

Conan the Barbarian (1982)



Screw LOTR, this is real epic for real men. Not the very best Ahnuld flicks, but it shows well what's coming. And James Earl Jones is f*cking badass.

8/10




Boogie Nights (1997)



Was expecting this to be a mediocre softcore porn, but it was actually pretty good. Burt Reynolds still has the mojo. :afro:

8.5/10


Paul Thomas Anderson Countdown:
1. There Will Be Blood (2007)
2. Boogie Nights (1997)

Watching ROBOCOP 2.

Very boring. I'm only in the middle of it and the story is going nowhere. Was THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK really just a fluke for Irvin Kershner?

The best parts are the ads and John Glover was in one of them and that's all we ever see of him. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! How does one waste his talent? They should have had him as the villain, he would have made a great successor to Kurtwood Smith's assholery. Instead we get some punk kid and a dorky child molester.