Author Topic: What's the Last Movie You Watched?  (Read 945368 times)

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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2625 on: July 22, 2018, 09:15:39 AM »

Offline Chief

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ssshhhh...

Best movie that I've seen this year. The use of sound was amazing.  My subwoofer was going crazy.
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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2626 on: July 22, 2018, 10:24:25 PM »

Offline greece66

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Spirited Away (Japan, 2001)

Coming of age animation. A 10 yo girl gets lost into a fantasy world but has to persevere to save her parents. If you are familiar with Miyazaki, you know what to expect: focus on young but dynamic female characters, environmental concerns, anti-capitalist rhetoric. The scenario is well thought and original, but personally I found it cheesy at times.

Whatever the script's faults, the film easily by compensates by its handmade animation. It's hard to believe how much work the creators put into this. That alone makes it well worth watching.



Scarface (USA, 1932)

Gangster film, loosely based on the rise and fall of Al Capone. Both the script and direction are good, but what makes the movie stand out is Paul Muni's performance as Tony Camonte. Pacino said about the remake that "all he had to do was immitate Muni" (the quote is on Wikipedia).

I also liked the subplot of Camonte's excessive love for his sister, added depth to the character and made the end more dramatic.




Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2627 on: July 22, 2018, 10:30:44 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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Blade Runner 2049 -- didn't care for it.  waaaaaaaay tooooooooo sloooooooow.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2628 on: July 22, 2018, 10:33:30 PM »

Offline liam

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You Were Never Really Here- I loved it. It had maybe the best sound design of any movie I've ever seen...

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2629 on: July 22, 2018, 10:44:15 PM »

Offline Ilikesports17

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You Were Never Really Here- I loved it. It had maybe the best sound design of any movie I've ever seen...
Yeah the sound track was really great. Went back and listened to a lot of Radiohead after that movie
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Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2630 on: July 22, 2018, 10:47:18 PM »

Offline liam

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You Were Never Really Here- I loved it. It had maybe the best sound design of any movie I've ever seen...
Yeah the sound track was really great. Went back and listened to a lot of Radiohead after that movie

Love me some Radiohead. I'm listening to Hail to the Thief right now.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2631 on: July 24, 2018, 01:03:20 PM »

Offline greece66

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The Raven (France, 1943)

Crime film about anonymous and libellous letters in a provincial town. Was remade by Fox in 1951 as The Thirteenth Letter. Smart dialogues and convincing acting IMHO. The protagonist (a middle aged gynaecologist) is a man of duty and a tad dull, but this is made by up the colourful characters who surround him: a pithy psychiatrist, corrupt provincial officers and ofc women who fall for the doctor's allure.

The movie was originally surrounded by controversy, as it was made in Occupied France by a German production company. Moreover, the Resistance accused the director (Henri Georges Clouzot) of vilifying the French people. The film was banned and Clouzot was not allowed to work again (both prohibitions were lifted in 1947).

Although making movie with the money of an occupying force is murky business indeed, watching the movie today you don't feel it had propaganda as its intent. Just the opposite, the producers had (I suspect purposefully) removed any possible reference to war and international diplomacy. The movie could have easily been set in any part of interwar Europe and you would not have not noticed the difference.

There might be something to the accusation of vilifying French people as everyday people are portrayed as mean and with a herd mentality; a theme that resonated well with fascism. Still, although it's good to keep these precautions at the back of your mind, this remains a well made and entertaining movie, certainly worth seeing.



Paths of Glory (USA, 1957)

Antiwar film by Stanley Kubrick. France, WWI, three soldiers are accused of cowardice by a corrupt military establishment, and an idealistic colonel (Kirk Douglas) takes up the task of defending them. Kubrick's script was based on a true story about four French soldiers who were exonerated in 1934.

Kubrick's anti-militarism is evident as he depicts the officers partying while the soldiers struggle to survive in the trenches. Unsurprisingly, the film was not welcomed in France where it was banned until 1975. The movie was similarly banned in Spain, Switzerland and American military bases in Europe. If Kubrick wanted to p--- off the military establishment, that was spot on.

Leaving aside the movie's anti-militarist message, the theme of the powerless but idealistic individual against higher powers is beautifully depicted here.

As a side note, I enjoyed the performance of Timothy Carey as one of the accused soldiers. Looking him up in Wikipedia, I came across this gem:

"Carey was reportedly disruptive and tried to draw more attention to his character. Due to this behavior, a scene in which Carey and the other actors were served a duck dinner as a final meal before execution took 57 takes to complete. Carey then faked his own kidnapping to generate personal publicity, which prompted Kubrick and producer James B. Harris to fire him. As a result, the film does not depict the three condemned soldiers during the battle scene, and a double was used during a scene in which a priest hears Carey's character's confession." Quite a character.



« Last Edit: August 10, 2018, 10:29:05 AM by greece666 »

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2632 on: July 24, 2018, 01:36:35 PM »

Online johnnygreen

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Hopefully my copy of Ready Player One will arrive on time when I get home. Can't wait to see that again. I'm a huge Spielberg fan and I thought the movie was great in the theater.

I'm taking my son to see Mission Impossible: Fallout this Thursday in IMAX. Tom Cruise=Box office. I love the fact that he puts everything he has into making a movie, and always delivers with a solid movie. Really looking forward to seeing Fallout.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2633 on: July 24, 2018, 09:14:06 PM »

Offline greece66

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Dangal (India, 2016)

Sports drama about a former wrestler who trains his daughters to become champions.
This is the biggest commercial success in the history of Indian cinema, and it is a very entertaining movie indeed.  Based on the story of Phogat sisters.

The first half of the film deals with the obstacles the dad-trainer has to overcome: wrestling clubs won't let his daughters train there, his neighbours laugh behind his back, and even his family become rebellious as they find the idea of female wrestlers absurd. The girls initially hate the idea of serious training, and the film exploits this for comic effect.

The second half deals with the girls in their adolescence as they start competing in freestyle wrestling events. Although this part is equally well made you start suspecting that the ego of the real dad is quite big: the film focuses on his conflict with the national coach and how the girls' success vindicates their father. I felt the coach is depicted in an unconvincing way, and the climax at the end was both unnecessary and over-dramatic, but still a well made film that raises interesting questions about feminism in modern India.



My Neighbour Totoro (Japan, 1988)

Fantasy animation by Miyazaki. Two young girls spend time with a friendly monster in postwar Japan. Despite the lightness of the topic, Miyazaki makes some interesting commentary on family relations, childhood and his country's past: at times I felt like watching Italian neo-realism from the forties. I wanted to see some beautiful animation and I wasn't disappointed.



Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2634 on: July 24, 2018, 10:13:38 PM »

Offline slamtheking

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ssshhhh...

Best movie that I've seen this year. The use of sound was amazing.  My subwoofer was going crazy.
just watched it.  excellent movie. 

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2635 on: July 25, 2018, 06:17:11 PM »

Offline greece66

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Hoop Dreams (USA, 1994)

Documentary about two teenagers who want to become pro basketball players. It does not only offer you lots of information about high school and college bball, race, and the American society, but it also gives you complete potraits of the characters and makes you empathize with them. I rarely felt in a documentary that I could tell whether someone was a phony (Richard's father obv is one), a good guy etc just by the way they talked at the camera.

There was some controversy when this film and Crumb were not nominated in the Best Documentary category. Apparently they subsequently changed the voting system due to the pressure they received.


Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2636 on: July 25, 2018, 06:30:30 PM »

Online Roy H.

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The First Purge. About as expected. The first half was decent, the second half (the part with most of the action) was boring, I thought.


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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2637 on: July 25, 2018, 08:46:33 PM »

Offline gouki88

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Seven Samurai (1954). Been a while since I watched anything by Kurosawa, and now I remember why I love his films so much.

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Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2638 on: July 25, 2018, 09:16:41 PM »

Offline greece66

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Seven Samurai (1954). Been a while since I watched anything by Kurosawa, and now I remember why I love his films so much.



Love this film. Was also one of my paternal grandfather's favourites.

Re: What's the Last Movie You Watched?
« Reply #2639 on: July 25, 2018, 09:17:35 PM »

Offline tarheelsxxiii

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Rudy.  It pretty much always comes back to Rudy.  Life throwing you curveballs? Challenges on the horizon? Enjoying a recent success? Rudy is always there to embrace it with you. 

I listen to 'film scores' radio often when I'm work working.  And when the Rudy theme comes on, the work truly starts taking care of itself.  Highly recommend anyone to try it.

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