Author Topic: What's the Last Movie You Watched?  (Read 948520 times)

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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2730 on: September 07, 2018, 09:50:35 AM »

Offline ederson

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The quality index in this thread is pretty so I feel a bit bad for posting this but yesterday I watched Baywatch.....

It is not too late to post to write anything meaningfull but there wasn't anything to talk about  in the movie... 😂😂😂

Haha.  I enjoyed it.  It didn't take itself seriously, and a lot of the comedy hit.

I thought Baywatch was a blast. I never base a movie on what film critics think, especially since they seem to be out of touch with reality most of the time.


I don't care about critics too... But the movie was bad... The acting the story... It had some fun moments and you know.... it's baywatch.. Like Joey and Chandler used to say 'let them run' 😂😂😂


Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2731 on: September 08, 2018, 02:18:12 AM »

Offline greece66

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For Whom the Bell Tolls (USA, 1943) [contains spoilers]

An American on a mission to blow up a bridge in the Spanish Civil War falls in love with a young girl, who had been abused by the Nationalists. Based on the eponymous Hemingway novel and starring Ingrid Bergman and Gary Cooper, this technicolor this romantic drama was the highest grossing film of 1943. It was also nominated for nine Oscars.

Still, it is largely forgotten today -   and here are some of the viewers' criticisms in IMdb: too long (170 mins), out of date script ("machismo escapism"), bad casting (Bergman doesn't look exactly like Spanish guerrilla and there is no chemistry between her and Cooper). I would add to these a concealed racism as Bergman is contrasted to a group of dark skinned Spaniards who are patently violent, vulgar and stupid.

There is something to all these criticisms, and they are indeed familiar vices of studio system Hollywood - a system that allowed little creativity to the director but focused more on following a box office recipe. Having said this, I felt watching the movie that the film was masterfully controlled by the producers and director: if there are weaknesses, they are not the result of sloppy work or lack of  artistry but because they were not seen as such back then.

This movie can still be watched and enjoyed as long as you see it as what it is (a romantic drama not a war film) and don't expect much in terms of thoughtful commentary on the Spanish Civil War (this was a surprise given Hemingway's involvement in said war, but otherwise, this is in every respect a typical Hemingway story: impossible love and the male protagonist's looming death are prominent themes). Moreover,  I cannot stress enough that although Bergman at times looks like a Snow White surrounded by dirty Spanish dwarfs, her looks are more than sufficient compensation for the awkward casting.

And for the end, a bit of unashamed nationalism. Katina Paxinou has easily the best performance in the movie and she won a well deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actresses. She is considered to this day one of the best theatre actresses Greece ever had, but given that I don't give a [dang] about Stone Age cinema, I wish she had stayed in Hollywood instead of making a comeback to Greek theatre.


Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2732 on: September 09, 2018, 06:10:46 AM »

Offline greece66

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The Needle (USSR, 1988) [contains spoilers]

Crime film about a young man who helps his ex overcome her drug addiction. Set in Alma-Ata, this is arguably the best known product of Kazakhfilm (unlike most Soviet film companies, Kazakhfilm continues to exist to this day). The film's reputation relies mostly in starring Viktor Tsoi, the quintessential rock star of the Soviet Union.

The Needle is characteristic of the turbulent times in the late 80s and early 90s. Films started experimenting with topics that were forbidden until then (petty criminality of the everyday man, drugs, rock music, disaffected youth, Russian identity outside communism, unconventional aesthetics). Bakenbardy (1990) is easily the best film of this bunch - and (although as a Tsoi fan it hurts me to say that) much superior to The Needle.

The main difference between the two movies is the script. The Needle's script is a total mess. Unlike Hollywood films, Soviet films did not use a narrator's voice to make things easier for the viewer, and this means that with a bad script things can go downhill very easily.

After I finished watching,  I had to go to Wikipedia to make sure I understood the film correctly. Why does Spartak owe money to Tsoi? What is Tsoi's relationship with the girl? Why is she taking drugs and what kind of drugs is it? (I originally thought it was heroin, but it turns out it probably is morphine from the hospital she worked at). A multitude of unanswered questions is a sign of poor direction and script.

I still found the film a worthwhile watch, as a source of Soviet people's attitude's near the dissolution of the USSR. For instance, at the very start of the film Tsoi shows the middle finger (an American gesture) to a female employee of the Russian Railways.There are several other scenes that depict a society that has lost its moral compass and is in search of an identity. Watching this film you can't help but think that it shows a morally bankrupt country.

But the main delight of the film is Tsoi who seizes the opportunity to celebrate his stardom: walking around half naked in his jeans (another reference to American culture, another guilty pleasure for Tsoi), showing off his martial arts skills, and above all adding imagery to some of his best known songs.

Due to Russian copyright laws, the film is freely available on YouTube.


« Last Edit: September 09, 2018, 10:26:19 AM by greece666 »

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2733 on: September 09, 2018, 07:30:56 AM »

Offline LilRip

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Crazy Rich Asians

An absolutely on point and entertaining movie. I highly recommend it!!! I haven’t backread so sorry if I’m repeating lol
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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2734 on: September 09, 2018, 10:38:44 AM »

Offline Cman

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Disney's Frozen, for like the billionth time, is playing right next to me as I type....
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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2735 on: September 10, 2018, 01:00:59 PM »

Offline greece66

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In the Heat of the Night (USA, 1967)

Mystery drama about a black police detective who investigates a murder in a racist Southern town . It won five Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Rod Steiger (who is perfectly convincing as a redneck police officer).

Cinematography, direction and acting are all top notch. It remains a very worthwhile watch today both as a mystery drama (with cop buddy comedy undertones) and an attestation of everyday racism in the South in the not so distant past.

I found this review particularly well written.

TP to tazz for the recommendation.



Merry Christmas, Mr Lawerence (UK/Japan/New Zealand, 1983)

The life of soldiers who fought for the UK in WWII in Japanese PoW camps. Based on autobiographical works by Laurens van der Post. Since Post spoke Japanese he was in the privileged position of acting as intermediary between the Japanese PoW camp authorities and the prisoners. Unfortunately, the film does not deal with the work he did to improve the prisoner's welfare (he organized a "camp university" as well as a farm to help with the prisoners nutritional needs). By the way, in the film he is shown to speak  Japanese fluently, but in reality his grasp of the language was just basic - this is one of several misleading details, I will return to that shortly.

This is a weird film at many levels. To begin with it stars two musicians (David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto). Although they both do a fine job acting, none is convincing in their respective roles. Why have Bowie play an upper middle class officer of impeccable patriotism? This goes against the grain of everything we know about him. What is more, as Ebert astutely pointed out, the British and Japanese have very different approaches to acting: the Japanese being more dramatic and using grimaces and screaming a lot more. This incompatibility of the acting styles produces unequal results: sometimes it seems comic, other times it makes for an interesting reflection on cultural differences.

My main problem however is with the focus of the film on cultural conflict. The film seems to suggest that violence in PoW camps is at least partially the result of a lack of cultural understanding. The Japanese do not understand that for the British captivity is the continuation of war with different means, and the British do not understand the Japanese code of honour.

This culminates in the final scene of the film when Post absolves a Japanese sergeant who is about to be executed for war crimes, on the basis that it is all a big cultural misunderstanding and of people on both sides being too sure they are right. I would have understood it if the moral pardon was given on a humanitarian basis. But cultural misunderstanding? Hell no. 25% of British PoWs died (actually in many cases they were outright murdered). For comparison, 3.5% of the British PoWs in German camps died; clearly, something went terribly wrong with Japanese camps.

The film does indeed explain that Japan openly rejected international laws on the treatment of PoWs and it depicts several acts of wanton sadism against the prisoners. What is missing however is an understanding of the scale of the deaths. It's not like you were safe unless a mean Japanese officer singled you out.

These are major weaknesses in a film that deals with a significant historical topic, but they can be partially excused in the spirit of a desirable postwar reconciliation. Besides, not everything in the film is bad. The contrast between the calm British and the irritable Japanese makes for some memorable scenes; the same is true for the thinly veiled homosexual attraction between Bowie and Sakamoto.


Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2736 on: September 10, 2018, 02:20:54 PM »

Offline bdm860

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Watched the Hannibal Lecter trilogy this weekend:  Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal/Red Dragon.

Looking for something to watch on Saturday night, couldn't find anything on Netflix so I dug through a box of DVDs as the wife cleaned out a lot of video stores as they were going out of business 8-10 years ago and we have a bunch of DVDs we've never watched, picked out Red Dragon (which evidently was available on Netflix anyway, oh well).

So Red Dragon is a prequel to Silence of the Lambs, but the last movie in the trilogy to come out (2002, 68% Rotten Tomatoes).  I thought it was really good.  Typical police thriller, but I really enjoyed it.  Enjoyed seeing Hannibal Lecter before he was captured and how he got brought down and then how he was manipulating things from prison.  Made him really seem like a genius who was pure evil.

Both the wife and I enjoyed it so much that we immediately wanted to try Silence of the Lambs (1991) afterwards.  First movie produced in the trilogy, but second in the timeline.  I thought it was just okay, didn't at all live up to expectations (95% Rotten Tomatoes, swept the Big 5 at the '92 Academy Awards, and tons of critical acclaim).  I remember being a pre-teen when this came out and thinking both the name and poster were so creepy and that it must be one of the creepiest/scariest movies ever.  I personally thought Hannibal Lecter was scarier/creepier in Red Dragon, where you saw him living a normal life at first, and trying to screw with Edward Norton's character from prison.  I was expecting Lecter to play some serious mind games with Jodie Foster, really get in her head, but it just didn't happen.  Maybe I've been desensitized from where movies have gone in the 27 years since this came out, but Lecter came off as more of a anti-hero than a villain (sure he killed a couple of cops, but he helped the cops with Buffalo Bill, didn't go after Jodie Foster, went after the jerk prison doctor at the end).  I thought Red Dragon was the better movie, Lecter was scarier in Red Dragon, Red Dragon was the better story, and Edward Norton's character was better than Jodie Foster's, though Buffalo Bill was a better serial killer than the Tooth Fairy, so Silence of the Lambs did have that going for it.

Then Sunday I watched Hannibal (2002, 39% Rotten Tomatoes).  Wasn't expecting much as it got poor reviews.  And ya, it sucked.  It seemed like Hannibal Lecter went from being an evil genius to a bumbling idiot (like when he went back to the US and got captured by goons).  Again more anti-hero than villain here (but I believe this time that was the actual intent).  Plot was stupid.  Though the ending airplane scene was kind of cool and brought the creepy evil back to Lecter.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2018, 04:16:14 PM by bdm860 »

After 18 months with their Bigs, the Littles were: 46% less likely to use illegal drugs, 27% less likely to use alcohol, 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip a class

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2737 on: September 11, 2018, 04:14:15 PM »

Offline greece66

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Watched the Hannibal Lecter trilogy this weekend:  Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal/Red Dragon.

Looking for something to watch on Saturday night, couldn't find anything on Netflix so I dug through a box of DVDs as the wife cleaned out a lot of video stores as they were going out of business 8-10 years ago and we have a bunch of DVDs we've never watched, picked out Red Dragon (which evidently was available on Netflix anyway, oh well).

So Red Dragon is a prequel to Silence of the Lambs, but the last movie in the trilogy to come out (2002, 68% Rotten Tomatoes).  I thought it was really good.  Typical police thriller, but I really enjoyed it.  Enjoyed seeing Hannibal Lecter before he was captured and how he got brought down and then how he was manipulating things from prison.  Made him really seem like a genius who was pure evil.

Both the wife and I enjoyed it so much that we immediately wanted to try Silence of the Lambs (1991) afterwards.  First movie produced in the trilogy, but second in the timeline.  I thought it was just okay, didn't at all live up to expectations (95% Rotten Tomatoes, swept the Big 5 at the '92 Academy Awards, and tons of critical acclaim).  I remember being a pre-teen when this came out and thinking both the name and poster were so creepy and that it must be one of the creepiest/scariest movies ever.  I personally thought Hannibal Lecter was scarier/creepier in Red Dragon, where you saw him living a normal life at first, and trying to screw with Edward Norton's character from prison.  I was expecting Lecter to play some serious mind games with Jodie Foster, really get in her head, but it just didn't happen.  Maybe I've been desensitized from where movies have gone in the 27 years since this came out, but Lecter came off as more of a anti-hero than a villain (sure he killed a couple of cops, but he helped the cops with Buffalo Bill, didn't go after Jodie Foster, went after the jerk prison doctor at the end).  I thought Red Dragon was the better movie, Lecter was scarier in Red Dragon, Red Dragon was the better story, and Edward Norton's character was better than Jodie Foster's, though Buffalo Bill was a better serial killer than the Tooth Fairy, so Silence of the Lambs did have that going for it.

Then Sunday I watched Hannibal (2002, 39% Rotten Tomatoes).  Wasn't expecting much as it got poor reviews.  And ya, it sucked.  It seemed like Hannibal Lecter went from being an evil genius to a bumbling idiot (like when he went back to the US and got captured by goons).  Again more anti-hero than villain here (but I believe this time that was the actual intent).  Plot was stupid.  Though the ending airplane scene was kind of cool and brought the creepy evil back to Lecter.

That was an interesting read bdm860. Although I think highly of the Silence of the Lambs, I agree that it is not a particularly scary movie, at least not by contemporary standards. Cinema goers become desensitised with time - this is p evident if you consider that a film like Cat People was considered as a horror film back in the 1940s, same goes with most Hitchcock movies too. Today we might watch them for their artistic value, but back then they were considered genuinely scary stuff. (Personally, I'm p happy with that, I'm not exactly big on scary films, to the point of often closing my eyes or even leaving the cinema once).


Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2738 on: September 11, 2018, 04:59:42 PM »

Offline johnnygreen

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IMDB classifies The Silence of the Lambs as Crime, Drama, and Thriller. I have always loved the movie and consider it in my top 10 movies of all time. I have never thought or felt that it was any type of horror movie. It may have elements at times, but that is the Thriller part of the movie to me.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2739 on: September 11, 2018, 05:35:13 PM »

Offline bdm860

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IMDB classifies The Silence of the Lambs as Crime, Drama, and Thriller. I have always loved the movie and consider it in my top 10 movies of all time. I have never thought or felt that it was any type of horror movie. It may have elements at times, but that is the Thriller part of the movie to me.

Oh, having actually watched it now, I absolutely agree.  But going into it I was expecting more horror/thriller.

And the wikipedia entry (I know, I know) has "horror" mentioned all over it.
Quote
[Rotten Tomatoes's] critical consensus reads: "Director Jonathan Demme's smart, taut thriller teeters on the edge between psychological study and all-out horror...

Quote
Roger Ebert, of Chicago Sun-Times, specifically mentioned the "terrifying qualities" of Hannibal Lecter.[41] Ebert later added the film to his list of The Great Movies, recognizing the film as a "horror masterpiece"

Quote
The film was awarded Best Horror Film of the Year during the 2nd Horror Hall of Fame telecast

Quote
The Silence of the Lambs placed seventh on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments for Lecter's escape scene.

So reading reviews like those, and that creepy poster, I was expecting more psychological horror.
« Last Edit: September 12, 2018, 10:54:35 AM by bdm860 »

After 18 months with their Bigs, the Littles were: 46% less likely to use illegal drugs, 27% less likely to use alcohol, 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip a class

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2740 on: September 11, 2018, 05:39:14 PM »

Offline Amonkey

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Just for fun I saw Requiem for a Dream for the 50th time. Great movie. Everything about it is just amazing. The soundtrack, visual, acting, story... My son is 4 now but when he is old enough, that is definitely a movie we'll watch as an anti-drug movie (although the last scene might get awkward).

I saw Baby Driver and I must admit, I keep going back to the driving action scenes since. Not the greatest movie but I thought the director did a great job syncing the action with the music. Really well done and fun movie to watch.
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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2741 on: September 11, 2018, 07:37:48 PM »

Offline greece66

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IMDB classifies The Silence of the Lambs as Crime, Drama, and Thriller. I have always loved the movie and consider it in my top 10 movies of all time. I have never thought or felt that it was any type of horror movie. It may have elements at times, but that is the Thriller part of the movie to me.

Oh, having actually watched it now, I absolutely agree.  But going into it I was expecting more horror/thriller.

And the wikipedia entry (I know, I know) has "horror" mentioned all over it.
Quote
[Rotten Tomatoes's] critical consensus reads: "Director Jonathan Demme's smart, taut thriller teeters on the edge between psychological study and all-out horror...

Quote
Roger Ebert, of Chicago Sun-Times, specifically mentioned the "terrifying qualities" of Hannibal Lecter.[41] Ebert later added the film to his list of The Great Movies, recognizing the film as a "horror masterpiece"

Quote
The film was awarded Best Horror Film of the Year during the 2nd Horror Hall of Fame telecast

Quote
The Silence of the Lambs placed seventh on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments for Lecter's escape scene.

So reading reviews like those, and that creepy poster, I was expecting more physiological horror.

The idea that the difference between horror and thriller is the amount of gore/violence is a recent one. Horror was a very popular genre in the in the interwar and the 1950s, and yet you won't find any graphic violence in these movies.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2742 on: September 11, 2018, 07:54:51 PM »

Offline greece66

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New Babylon (USSR, 1929)

Silent propaganda film about the Paris Commune. The story is set around the frustrated love story between a young woman who supports the Commune and a peasant soldier who sides with the army of Thiers and MacMahon.

The film has an impressive concentration of talent: Kozintsev and Trauberg as directors, a talented protagonist in Yelena Kuzmina, as well as a musical score by Shostakovich. It's worth watching today not only as a piece of history, but also as really good cinema.


Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2743 on: September 11, 2018, 08:12:19 PM »

Offline tazzmaniac

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IMDB classifies The Silence of the Lambs as Crime, Drama, and Thriller. I have always loved the movie and consider it in my top 10 movies of all time. I have never thought or felt that it was any type of horror movie. It may have elements at times, but that is the Thriller part of the movie to me.

Oh, having actually watched it now, I absolutely agree.  But going into it I was expecting more horror/thriller.

And the wikipedia entry (I know, I know) has "horror" mentioned all over it.
Quote
[Rotten Tomatoes's] critical consensus reads: "Director Jonathan Demme's smart, taut thriller teeters on the edge between psychological study and all-out horror...

Quote
Roger Ebert, of Chicago Sun-Times, specifically mentioned the "terrifying qualities" of Hannibal Lecter.[41] Ebert later added the film to his list of The Great Movies, recognizing the film as a "horror masterpiece"

Quote
The film was awarded Best Horror Film of the Year during the 2nd Horror Hall of Fame telecast

Quote
The Silence of the Lambs placed seventh on Bravo's The 100 Scariest Movie Moments for Lecter's escape scene.

So reading reviews like those, and that creepy poster, I was expecting more physiological horror.
Wikipedia calls Silence of the Lambs a psychological horror thriller film but it calls Jaws a thriller film.  I'd consider Jaws to be more horror film of the two. 

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2744 on: September 11, 2018, 11:15:17 PM »

Offline bdm860

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Just for fun I saw Requiem for a Dream for the 50th time. Great movie. Everything about it is just amazing. The soundtrack, visual, acting, story... My son is 4 now but when he is old enough, that is definitely a movie we'll watch as an anti-drug movie (although the last scene might get awkward).

This guy watches Requiem for a Dream for fun  :o  After that, do you watch Schindler's List for laughs?

A powerful film that pulls you in and holds your attention, and a great watch, don't think I'd ever call it fun though.  (Just giving you a hard time ;))

I remember being really impressed with Marlon Wayans acting here, as I only knew him for his comedy roles and his most recent big roles had all been centered around physical comedy (Senseless, The 6th Man), so I was like wow, that dude can really act.

His character's story line annoyed me the most though.  Like he's going to survive that gang attack while in the backseat of the car?  Then he got arrested but was able to bail out of that?  A huge gang shooting involving drug dealers just happened, there was likely multiple deaths, I don't think that's the kind of thing he would be able to bond out on.

Then on the drive to Florida when they stop at the hospital.  You can see he's uncomfortable and you get the impression they're in conservative hick country.  I feel like he would wait out in the car or down the street or something, not right there in the hospital (though this was pre-everyone-has-a-cell-phone era, and in a unfamiliar, likely racist town, so maybe he would have just stayed in the waiting room).  And what exactly were they arrested for?  Being junkies?  I guess you have to assume they had drugs on them too, or it's just a corrupt, racist town that doesn't like northerners and blacks, so they lock them up on trumped up charges, but any way you reason it just seems like such a stretch to me.

And what happened to the mom's TV show invitation? Did it get lost in the mail.  They told her she was going to be on the show, so why did the invitation never come?

Lol, these are the questions I always have after I watch that movie.

After 18 months with their Bigs, the Littles were: 46% less likely to use illegal drugs, 27% less likely to use alcohol, 52% less likely to skip school, 37% less likely to skip a class