Last Movie you Watched?

ambler wrote:

colly wrote:

And as for the film - hated it.

It seems to me that filmic violence is fine for comic effect or to advance a storyline, but when it serves neither purpose it's just sadistic. For me, Basterds fell into the latter category and, as such, I despise it.

But then shouldn't you hate most of Tarantino's oeuvre?

The Raid (1954) Dir. Hugo Fregonese

Terrifically intense and surprisingly enjoyable Civil War western, a dramatization of the real life St Albans raid. Van Heflin leads a gang of confeds who escape a Union prison to Canada - from there they plot their next move: rounding up a small battallion and garnering funds by ransacking the town of St Albans in Vermont. Needing reconnesaince, Heflin enters the town as a Canadian businessman, shacking up at the hotel of Anne Bancroft. Inadvertantly, he becomes a hero to her son (Tommy Rettig), fancied by her, garners the respect of the Union soldier about town (an excellent Richard Boone) and indeed becomes a town hero once he's forced to shoot one of his own men in public. Which makes it all the more difficult as his men begin the enter the town - will Heflin give in? In a rare case for a Civil War film - the South wins and Heflin and co proceed to ransack the town, escaping in time, leaving Heflin and Bancroft on opposite sides, ruminating on how war has destroyed what people couldve held together.

Also featuring quality early roles for Lee Marvin and Peter Graves, its a terrific little film.

Gunman's Walk (1958) Dir. Phil Karlson

An absolute corker.

A 50s western in every sense, it tackles themes of youth, fathers, race, equality and justice - starring a masterfully against-type Van Heflin (playing the complete opposite of his Joe Starrett persona from SHANE; actually he's playing a Riker role), with Tab Hunter and James Darren terrific as his sons. Completing the cast are familiar faces Kathryn Grant, Mickey Shaughnessey, Will Wright, Robert Simon and Ed Platt - and they're all terrific.

My onl;y qualm was that I had to see this on a really crappy ioffer quality - much worse than the usual one I get from there. Now the Columbia archive is getting into full swing, I hope they release this soon.

Salomé wrote:

ambler wrote:

colly wrote:

And as for the film - hated it.

It seems to me that filmic violence is fine for comic effect or to advance a storyline, but when it serves neither purpose it's just sadistic. For me, Basterds fell into the latter category and, as such, I despise it.

But then shouldn't you hate most of Tarantino's oeuvre?

Hopefully he does.

Road to Morocco (1942)

still a blast from start to finish. Personally this is my favourite 'Road To...' movie. The banter between Hope and Crosby feels 'real', as in unscripted such is the delivery. Even the song is brilliant -

The men eat fire, sleep on nails and saw their wives in half
It seems to me there should be easier ways to get a laugh

one such snappy piece of dialogue is when discussing Hope's Aunt Lucy (who of course bears more than a resemblance to Bob)

Crosby: Once they're dead, they're dead.
Hope: Not Aunt Lucy, she was a republican.

Plot doesn't matter. We've got the beautiful Dorothy Lamour, we've got Anthony Quinn and hijinks aplenty.

(I wanna make a joke of some sort)

Some Came Running (1958; dir. Vincent Minnelli)

I wasn't really as moved by it, but it looks great has an epic cast of Sinatra, Martin, MacLaine, and Kennedy. That young Shirley MacLaine is hot.

I dig all the small town stuff. And it's cool to see the Ohio River in the background of a lot of shots. Grew up a stone's throw from it. But I didn't care for how the film was staged. And I thought parts of it were overscored. Good acting, though. Nicely written. The sequence at the fair is pretty good.

It was a'ight.

Probably unsurprising, but to me - that film was all about the Kennedy. Absolute domination in that film.

Then he gets to hook up with his superhot secretary. boo-yah.

Those Kennedys got all the action.

Sinatra was a fine actor, though. Martin too, but I liked him more in RIO BRAVO.

I found Martin a tad odd in it, I always assumed he had some sinister motive behind becoming friends with Sinatra so easily. Turned out he was just a new age beatnik who ends up with diabetes.

Still, better here than he was in THE YOUNG LIONS, in which his and Clift's half of the plot nearly derailed the film from its much more interesting Brando/Schell half.

colly wrote:

I found Martin a tad odd in it, I always assumed he had some sinister motive behind becoming friends with Sinatra so easily. Turned out he was just a new age beatnik who ends up with diabetes.

I know.

The Naughty Flirt (1931) Dir. Edward F. Cline

Early pre-code romantic comedy thats a ball of silly fun - mostly a battle of the sexes between society girl Alice White and straight-laced Paul Page, who she takes a fancy to. Throw in a scheming Myrna Loy, some hilariously politically incorrect title cards (like the one above) - and youve got a fun 55 minutes. Oh, it might also be the first example of the romantic hero making a late dash to stop his love marrying someone else at the end of the picture. Just if you wanted someone to blame for all those kind of endings. ;)

Employees' Entrance (1933) Dir. Roy Del Ruth

That was one awesome piece of pre-code awesomeness. Warren William complete dominates as the manager of a big NY department store - he's cold blooded, totally ruthless and domineering, completely committed to the job, and completely successful in contrast to his superiors, who are shown in typical depression era fashion as stupid fogeys. What he wants he gets, and what he wants currently is the directors off his back (mission accomplished) and a young bird by the name of Loretta Young, who's actually showing some good star quality here. Problem is, shes married to William's protege in a young Wallace Ford. But thats not going to stop the William train of awesomeness. Not quite.

An absolutely sparkling piece, its also got Alice White, Ruth Donnelly and Allen Jenkins. Top stuff.

Employees' Entrance? Is it through the back?

Some of the last few flicks I've seen:

The Book of Eli (2010) - Simple, bland, and ultimately nothing special. The decent cast (Denzel, Oldman, Kunis) doesn't save it. 6/10

The Sun (2005) - Russian-directed film about Japanese Emperor Hirohito in the days of his surrender and negotiations with General MacArthur. Initially bleak and slow as a tortoise, the film builds up to be a fascinating character study depicting the emperor as a detached, childish and weird man, but ultimately poignant and conscious of reality. 8/10

Katyn (2007) - This controversial Polish film about the Soviet massacre of Poland's military elite was recently screened on Russian federal television. It may be a socially-important piece of cinema, but poorly-paced, poorly-edited, and not very focused in the second half following the tense beginning. 7/10

Hereafter (2010) - Sure, it's nowhere near Clint's best (even among his recent works). but it's still more engaging, humanist, and thoughtful than 95% of the rest of Hollywood's output these days. The last five minutes are cheesy, but don't ruin the film's impact. 8/10

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) - I thought I'd hate this and gave it a chance only because of a few friends who were extras in it, but it turned out to be damn entertaining. I love making fun of all those trendy hipsterisms, so I had a ball with this movie. Plus, it's always cool to see Toronto play itself once in a while. 7/10

Burn after reading

Everyone in Coen Bros films speaks with the same voice. Drives me mad.

Sharky wrote:

Salomé wrote:

ambler wrote:

colly wrote:

And as for the film - hated it.

It seems to me that filmic violence is fine for comic effect or to advance a storyline, but when it serves neither purpose it's just sadistic. For me, Basterds fell into the latter category and, as such, I despise it.

But then shouldn't you hate most of Tarantino's oeuvre?

Hopefully he does.

Correct.

That's why I like JACKIE BROWN best from his films.

JACKIE BROWN is absolutely the best of Tarantino's career.

Arkadin wrote:

JACKIE BROWN is absolutely the best of Tarantino's career.

I can't get into any of his other films. DOGS is a'ight. Though I've not watched it since 2005. JACKIE BROWN had a nice sympathy for it's characters. I'll get around to seeing BASTERDS. But the idea of people running around WWII with baseball bats... I dunno. It just doesn't interest me.

And KILL BILL bores me to tears.

Anyone else not find Uma Thurman attractive? At all.

............................I do like QT's music selections...

I'd give 'er a go.

I didn't mind part 2. But the first one was boring.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

But the idea of people running around WWII with baseball bats... I dunno. It just doesn't interest me.

Well, the Basterds are supporting characters in the film. If that helps.

Arkadin wrote:

The White Tuxedo wrote:

But the idea of people running around WWII with baseball bats... I dunno. It just doesn't interest me.

Well, the Basterds are supporting characters in the film. If that helps.

That's right. Thankfully Diane Kruger and Melanie Laurent get good screentime.

God's Gun with Lee Van Cleef and Jack Palance. A nice little story and I really enjoyed the brother arc of it. The score was quite good too.

Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

A fantastic depiction of the victory of rationality and calm intellect under fire in a tense, life threatening situation.

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

A fantastic depiction of the victory of rationality and calm intellect under fire in a tense, life threatening situation.

Let me guess, after they escaped all the passengers thanked Jesus.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Flight of the Phoenix (1965)

A fantastic depiction of the victory of rationality and calm intellect under fire in a tense, life threatening situation.

Let me guess, after they escaped all the passengers thanked Jesus.

Nope. Actually, all of the lazy, religious, selfless or military men die.