Author Topic: What's the Last Movie You Watched?  (Read 945499 times)

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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2610 on: July 14, 2018, 11:50:17 PM »

Offline jpotter33

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Watched Captain America:The First Avenger last night and Captain America: The Winter Soldier tonight. These were the final two of the Marvel movie series that my wife and I have went through the last several months, as we didn’t think that we’d enjoy them as much as the others.

Happy to be disappointed. Thoroughly enjoyed both, but Winter Soldier was better.

The Ezekiel 25:17 Pulp Fiction reference on Fury’s gravestone at the end of Winter Soldier had me cracking up. Pulp Fiction is an all-time great and very quotable movie, and the Ezekiel 25:17 scenes are some of the best.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2611 on: July 15, 2018, 12:41:43 AM »

Offline kraidstar

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Watched Captain America:The First Avenger last night and Captain America: The Winter Soldier tonight. These were the final two of the Marvel movie series that my wife and I have went through the last several months, as we didn’t think that we’d enjoy them as much as the others.

Happy to be disappointed. Thoroughly enjoyed both, but Winter Soldier was better.

The Ezekiel 25:17 Pulp Fiction reference on Fury’s gravestone at the end of Winter Soldier had me cracking up. Pulp Fiction is an all-time great and very quotable movie, and the Ezekiel 25:17 scenes are some of the best.

Yeah, Winter Soldier was very good.

Just saw Sicario 2 and Antman and the Wasp.

Sicario was good, though not quite as good or as intense as the original. Benicio del Toro is fantastic.

Antman 2 was very mediocre. Typical witty humor with solid acting, but zero tension. Nothing ever feels at stake. IMO a lot of Marvel movies suffer from this but they keep getting great reviews so nothing will change.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2612 on: July 16, 2018, 03:29:20 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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Justice League. Actually liked it a fair amount
I liked it as well - more than the critics did apparently
Hate the whole "wow your mom is named Martha too....well never mind all this hate, let's be buddies" end of the movie, but really enjoyed it otherwise.

Going to see Ant-Man and the Wasp tomorrow. I'll be happy if its as good as the first Ant-Man.
I'm pretty sure that Martha quote was the Batman vs Superman movie.  Thought that connection was a bit of a stretch.  movie had a lot of stretching of the imagination but served a couple of positive functions --> intro to Wonder Woman and the Justice League movies.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2613 on: July 16, 2018, 03:55:32 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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Justice League. Actually liked it a fair amount
I liked it as well - more than the critics did apparently
Hate the whole "wow your mom is named Martha too....well never mind all this hate, let's be buddies" end of the movie, but really enjoyed it otherwise.

Going to see Ant-Man and the Wasp tomorrow. I'll be happy if its as good as the first Ant-Man.
I'm pretty sure that Martha quote was the Batman vs Superman movie.  Thought that connection was a bit of a stretch.  movie had a lot of stretching of the imagination but served a couple of positive functions --> intro to Wonder Woman and the Justice League movies.
You are correct...mixed up my DC movies.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2614 on: July 16, 2018, 05:10:28 PM »

Offline Roy H.

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Quote
Sicario was good, though not quite as good or as intense as the original. Benicio del Toro is fantastic.

Antman 2 was very mediocre.

Agreed on both. The Antman 2 trailer was much better than the movie.


I'M THE SILVERBACK GORILLA IN THIS MOTHER——— AND DON'T NONE OF YA'LL EVER FORGET IT!@ 34 minutes

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2615 on: July 16, 2018, 07:05:34 PM »

Offline greece66

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The death of Stalin

It's a good farce, but it's also p easy to see why it got banned in several post-soviet countries.

Some historians (eg Richard Overy) complained about the inaccuracies, but it's p easy to see the movie was well researched and the inaccuracies were intentional, either for comic effect or to speed up the plot.

What interested me more on the historical part was the extent to which they were influenced by Montefiore's books. My impression is that they were quite a bit, but I couldn't find any source confirming this.

The casting was really good: Michael Palin, Steve Buscemi. Also the actor who played Beria (Simon Russell Beale) - he mostly played in TV productions before that one, which is a pity, given how good he is here.

One thing I personally did not like was having the pianist acting as the continuation of the Russian nation despite it all and the way she was contrasted with the masses. And surprise surprise she (Olga Kurylenko) was also the only Russian to get a major part in the film.

The thing these narratives have to struggle with is Stalin's popularity to his death (actually to this day) in his country. In the end, they unavoidably fall for the "the average man is weak and stupid" explanation.





« Last Edit: July 16, 2018, 07:22:07 PM by greece666 »

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2616 on: July 18, 2018, 11:48:41 AM »

Offline greece66

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Taras Bulba (Russia, 2009; US title: "The conqueror")

A faithful adaptation of Gogol's novella, to the point of reproducing whole passages verbatim. Deviations from the text were done either to make the Cossacks more likeable for a modern audience  or to bring the love story closer to a fairy tale.

Things I didn't like included the black and white flashbacks, the 70s feel of the love scenes, and the music which was more suitable for a TV series. Actually, there is a TV movie feel to the whole Taras Bulba.Finally, the Russian dubbing of foreign dialogues is unbearable, unfortunately this is a problem with Russian cinema in general.

I liked that the director (Vladimir Bortko) chose to make a faithful and down to earth adaptation of Gogol's work. Bortko made a good job of showing you can follow a classic faithfully and still get a movie with enough action to sustain the interest of a modern audience. This is not  about being faithful to the text alone: for instance, the actor who played Taras Bulba was purposefully stocky and middle aged (it can't get any further than Yul Brunner as Bulba in the 1962 film). The movie was filmed in the actual location where Gogol's novella takes place  (Zaporizhia) and the costumes showed attention to detail. The reference to Ilya Repin's painting "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks" was a treat.






Edit: forgot to mention the battle scenes are top-notch. Not as spectacular as Hollywood productions one, but still nicely choreographed and with attention to historical detail.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2018, 12:53:33 AM by greece666 »

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2617 on: July 19, 2018, 07:03:07 PM »

Offline greece66

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The Cranes Are Flying (USSR, 1957)

My expectations were high. This film won the Palme d'Or in Cannes, the protagonist (Tatyana Samoilova) was hailed as the Soviet answer to Brigitte Bardot, and the director is among the best of his times (Mikhail Kalazotov, I Am Cuba, 1964).

To be clear, this is a good movie indeed. Acting and photography are top-notch. And it is one of the few Soviet moviet war movies that is not seen through the eyes of a soldier, but rather of people on the domestic front. It contains lots of interesting info about everyday life in unoccupied Soviet cities: air raids and shelters, hospitals, civilians waiting news from the front, these are the type of themes that take center stage here.

The problem is more that neorealist melodrama is a genre that does not age well. When you focus on addressing directly the experiences and feelings of your audience here and now, it's no surprise that audiences in the distant future might feel removed from the film. (edit: language)

« Last Edit: July 20, 2018, 06:25:41 AM by greece666 »

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2618 on: July 19, 2018, 07:07:37 PM »

Offline Birdman

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Rampage with The Rock was great!.  Special effects awesome
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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2619 on: July 19, 2018, 07:14:41 PM »

Offline JHTruth

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Wind River is a great movie.

Now there is a Netflix Gem you have to watch. Renner is fantastic and the ending is epic..

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2620 on: July 21, 2018, 08:14:04 AM »

Offline greece66

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Der letzte Mann (English title The last laugh [sic], silent, 1924). The German title could be a reference to a 1915 war propaganda painting by Hans Bohrdt.

Hitchcock, who often went to Berlin back then and knew Murnau personally, called it "an almost perfect film". Today, it's universally seen as a classic.

The story is rather simple: an old hotel doorman, who is evidently proud of his job (and the uniform that comes with it) gets demoted to a washroom attendant. The doorman feels awfully ashamed and tries to keep the secret from his social circle by stealing his uniform and keep wearing it. But his neighbours soon discover the secret and the old man gets isolated and desperate.

Murnau focused on character psychology here: the conflict between the old man and his cruel social circle (as well as the immense threatening city). To do this, he used a moving ("unchained") camera: Murnau used this new technique to revolve the camera around his character and to film from difficult angles in his set.

Although this was probably very impressive back then, the movie won't get much admiration on this front today. What I enjoyed more was the depiction of Weimar Germany: you actually get to see Berlin's streets at night, how ppl were dressed in cafes, and what working class neighbourhoods looked like.

Arguably more importantly, this film gives you an early warning of the political disaster that is about to unfold. The film records the poverty and desolation of the working classes, but does not offer any concrete solution. After all, the average man is mean, and similarly to the doorman's neighbours, will take advantage of his fellow's misfortune: a social and political dead end. One starts thinking that only a charismatic leadership could put things in some order.



Social Decay (Greece, 1932, silent)

Social drama about a university student who turns to drugs after he encounters unrequited love. But when he hits rock bottom, he is saved but a group of tobacco workers who help him discover a new life as a worker and syndicalist.

This is an amateur and very low budget movie. What saves it is the obvious enthusiasm of the young participants and the priceless shots of various locations in Athens.

Unfortunately, the Greek Film Archive has allowed only for a very low quality version to be available on the internet, although the film has been recently restored (thanks to money from Germany btw-  nothing to do with our glorious Film Archive).


Dinos, the protagonist, is about to discover drugs

Winnie-the-Pooh (USSR, 1969)

Very different style than the Disney series (or the original book illustrations), but similarly visually pleasant.

« Last Edit: July 21, 2018, 09:15:27 AM by greece666 »

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2621 on: July 21, 2018, 03:37:31 PM »

Online Big333223

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Three Identical Strangers

It's a documentary about 3 identical twin brothers who were separated at birth and then found each other in college, in the 80's. And then the movie starts getting into how it was that these twins were separated and it gets crazy. A very compelling story and a pretty good doc.
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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2622 on: July 21, 2018, 03:41:19 PM »

Offline greece66

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Three Identical Strangers

It's a documentary about 3 identical twin brothers who were separated at birth and then found each other in college, in the 80's. And then the movie starts getting into how it was that these twins were separated and it gets crazy. A very compelling story and a pretty good doc.


" adopted by three separate families, with the adopting families not being informed that each child had brothers, and with the separations being done as part of a scientific experiment to track the development of triplets raised in differing circumstances. "

"The three brothers were born to a single mother in 1961, and were separated at the direction of psychologist Peter B. Neubauer, and intentionally placed in homes with different economic classes, one blue collar, one middle class, and one upper class. "

That's uuuuh disturbing

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2623 on: July 21, 2018, 04:03:23 PM »

Online Big333223

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Three Identical Strangers

It's a documentary about 3 identical twin brothers who were separated at birth and then found each other in college, in the 80's. And then the movie starts getting into how it was that these twins were separated and it gets crazy. A very compelling story and a pretty good doc.


" adopted by three separate families, with the adopting families not being informed that each child had brothers, and with the separations being done as part of a scientific experiment to track the development of triplets raised in differing circumstances. "

"The three brothers were born to a single mother in 1961, and were separated at the direction of psychologist Peter B. Neubauer, and intentionally placed in homes with different economic classes, one blue collar, one middle class, and one upper class. "

That's uuuuh disturbing

Very. The doc plays like a king of mystery unraveling. I had 2 jaw-dropping moments watching it.
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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2624 on: July 22, 2018, 12:00:38 AM »

Offline greece66

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Assa (USSR, 1987)

An erotic triangle among a middleaged criminal and fraudster, a young musician, and (ofc) a beautiful young woman. The film has aquired cult status as it showcased performances by some of the best bands of the Soviet rock underground scene.

Other than that it mostly explores the rebelious attitude of Soviet adolescents in the eighties: western clothes, listening to Nick Cave, using English words and constructing imaginary worlds. Anything to escape from the gloomy reality that surrounds them, and the death of social collectivities in the USSR.

 This could have been a fascinating movie but the director is not up to the task. The final result feels like an accumulation of interesting but unrelated episodes.

The scene I enjoyed the most was the final one, when Viktor Tsoi  sings Changes in front of a large crowd - a song that defined the late USSR.

Just beware, although Tsoi appears in the credits among the main participants of the film, he only plays in that final singing scene.




The Deluge (Poland, 1974)

Historical drama about Poland's war with Sweden in the 1560s.

Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, based on a 19th cent. novel (by Henryk Sienkiewicz, who also wrote Quo Vadis),27 million viewers in Poland alone, a very expensive production that was recently lavishly remastered.

Sounds good but the result is mediocre.

Firstly, the director chose to stay as close to the original as possible. There is little reason to do that when your material is a popular but not particularly artistic historical novel. As a result the movie  had too many characters and historical events, and endless dialogues where nothing happens. What's worse is its length: the original version is 315 mins long, while the remastered one  is a merciful three hours.

And despite all that, the viewer gets very little sense of the social and economic conditions in Poland at the time - some historians argue that the 1560s were as destructive for Poland as World War II, yet very little of that human  misery makes it to The Deluge. The action is focused on the love of the protagonist for a beautiful noble woman, and the endless intrigues of the Polish nobility, peppered with swordfighting scenes.

Secondly, the choice of the protagonist. Daniel Olbrychski is one of the most prolific Polish actors, but here he looks as if he played in a comedy even in the most dramatic moments of the film. His blonde moustache is not helping.

What makes the movie still worth watching today is the lavish battle scenes, the careful reconstruction of the era - especially the costumes, although interiors worth a mention too- and finally, the sheer fact that it shaped modern Polish cinema.

« Last Edit: July 22, 2018, 12:06:07 AM by greece666 »