Last Movie You Watched

[NikF]

The BD that I pictured contains both the 1945 & 1946 versions - I watched the latter last night.  Dave

1945 and 1946 - how cool. Thanks for the info.

[Todd]

Sex Tape.  Ninety minute, largely unfunny (quasi-) naughty comedy that ends up being an advertisement for Apple and YouPorn.  Rob Lowe is the only good thing in the film.  Director Jake Kasdan demonstrates that talent can skip a generation.

[SonicMan46]

Yesterday, my small (just 4) Criterion 'Half Price Sale' order arrived - watched the two BDs below last night:

The Night of the Hunter (1955) w/ Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, & Lillian Gish; Charles Laughton, director - spooky as ever - this was always a beautiful B&W film but the blu-ray restoration is just spectacular - if you enjoy this movie, then the BD is a must consideration - comes w/ a 30 page booklet and two discs - the first contains the film + an excellent documentary which I watched; have not viewed the second disc, which has two features, one a 2 1/2 hr trove of outtakes and behind the scenes footage.

The Killers (1945) w/ Burt Lancaster & Ava Gardner in their youth; the BD also contains a second film by the same name made in 1964 in color w/ Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, & John Cassavetes - don't believe that I've ever seen that one or if so has been a while.  Dave

   

[listener]

Russ Meyer would have enjoyed this
A CHINESE TORTURE CHAMBER STORY  H.K. 1994   dir. Bosco Lam, prod. Wong Jing
with Yvonne Yung, Lawrence Ng, Elvis Tsui, Kenny Wong, Julie Lee
over-the-top violence and nudity, to be seen as humour.   

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I have said this often enough but my favorite Bogart flick has to be Treasure of Sierra Madre.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Great film, including one of the finest ad lib-moments ever by Joe Pesci.

[Fëanor]

Great film, including one of the finest ad lib-moments ever by Joe Pesci.

Yeah, great flick.  Pesci is never better than when playing a really bad guy.  One is quite content with his ultimate fate in this film.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

BTW, doesn't Pesci almost always play a criminal?

Leo Getz from Lethal Weapon series = money laundering half a billion bucks
Tommy from Goodfellas = where to start?!
Harry from Home Alone = burglar.
Frankie from Once upon a time in America = mobster.

[Bogey]

Great film, including one of the finest ad lib-moments ever by Joe Pesci.

One of the few films that I enjoy where I do not have any character that I am rooting for.  Also, one of the very few Scorcese films that I return to.

[NikF]

L'artiste et son modèle/The Artist and the Model (2012) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artist_and_the_Model

You're with a beautiful woman and you make love to her every single way you can think of. It's warm and primal and life-affirming and perhaps even poetic. But after that, what is there to *do?

Photography courtesy of Daniel Vilar, who shows how outside of film noir that black can have a role other than that of only negative space. Lovely.
Question: in the fourth screencap below, do you recognise the actress occupying left of the frame? Sadly, I didn't. But perhaps that's because I'm more inclined to think of her in white as she almost glides across the screen (and that's a scene you should see projected the big screen at least once). Oh yeah.












*you rest, consider in repose, and then you do it all over again, of course.

[James]

[Drasko]

Question: in the fourth screencap below, do you recognise the actress occupying left of the frame?

Claudia Cardinale, if i'm not mistaken.

Thanks for mentioning the film, I'll put it on my 'to watch' list. I've lost sight of Trueba recently. He won an oscar ages ago with very charming Belle Epoque, had couple of misses afterwards and dissapeared entirely from my radar.

Of films with artist & model theme my favorite is La Belle Noiseuse. Worth seeing if you haven't.

[James]

BTW, doesn't Pesci almost always play a criminal?

Leo Getz from Lethal Weapon series = money laundering half a billion bucks
Tommy from Goodfellas = where to start?!
Harry from Home Alone = burglar.
Frankie from Once upon a time in America = mobster.

He does a great job in Raging Bull & Casino. 2 other great Scorsese pictures.

[NikF]

Claudia Cardinale, if i'm not mistaken.

Thanks for mentioning the film, I'll put it on my 'to watch' list. I've lost sight of Trueba recently. He won an oscar ages ago with very charming Belle Epoque, had couple of misses afterwards and dissapeared entirely from my radar.

Of films with artist & model theme my favorite is La Belle Noiseuse. Worth seeing if you haven't.

You're welcome. As a film it doesn't challenge or break new ground, however I believe the photography, the pace, and the casting of Jean Rochefort make it worthwhile to watch.
And yes, you're correct, it's Claudia Cardinale.


I haven't seen Belle Epoque (yet) and I haven't seen much of Fernando Trueba at all.
I've seen La Belle Noiseuse and yes, it's fine indeed. But it must have been almost 25 years ago and so I should rewatch as I'm sure I'll take more from it now. But thanks for the suggestion - and do feel free to put forward any other titles you can recommend. Much like the various 'What are you listening to now?' threads this one is a good source of new things for me.

[SonicMan46]

One of my absolute favorites. I must get the 4K 25th Anniversary Edition.
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/GoodFellas-Blu-ray/122386/

James - I've not bought into a BD version of Goodfellas at least not yet - but was perusing the Amazon offerings, and the first one shown below is stated to be the 25th Anniversary edition HERE and at $10, a great deal, but there are only 2 user's reviews w/ average video & audio ratings of 4/5 & 4.5/5.

Now your link is to the second offering below (two images of front & back) which is the 4K scan - the ratings for video & audio are 4.5/5 & 4.0/5 (HERE), but includes many more discs and a much higher price, i.e. $26.  The back of the 'cheaper' single disc offering also indicates use of the 4K scan - SO, assume if one just wants the single disc, then the price is as stated - thanks for any comments.  Dave

   

[Abuelo Igor]

I'm sorry to prove Truffaut wrong, but Naked Island is not a documentary, but a fiction film, and its director, Kaneto Shindo, showed plenty of imagination in his work. I'm kind of going off on a tangent, but it always bothers me when a sacred cow mixes up its facts.

[James]

I'm sorry to prove Truffaut wrong, but Naked Island is not a documentary, but a fiction film, and its director, Kaneto Shindo, showed plenty of imagination in his work. I'm kind of going off on a tangent, but it always bothers me when a sacred cow mixes up its facts.

I posted that for the Hitchcock statement .. not the other guy.

[Bogey]

Oscar Picks
My ranking out of the eight, with Ethan (our son) and Linda's opinions mixed in:

#1 Bridges of Spies: I wish Spielberg would do more time period movies like this.  This one had subtle cleverness throughout (if you viewed, think Hank's train rides) and did not feel the need to add a car chase or fist fight scene at the end of the film.  Linda also had a high opinion of this film which came in at a very close third to her second favorite nominee.

#2 Brooklyn: The acting in this was superb and this is another, like the above, that I want to see again sooner rather than later.  Some might call it a "chick-flick", which is total nonsense. I still scratch my head over the term.  Add to the well-crafted love story a wonderfully sweeping vista of the time period of 1952 and supporting characters that are multi-dimensional, and you truly have one heck of a movie.  This was Linda's favorite out of the eight nominees and she is very pleased we now own it for future viewings.

#3 The Big Short: Decent twists and turns in explaining the crash of '07.   I never lost interest during the two plus hours, but Linda slept through more than half of it.  Ethan thought it decent, but no more than that.  To each their own on this one for sure.

#4 Spotlight:  I enjoy movies where the press (especially newspapers) are the backdrop.  All the President's Men, Ace in the Hole and State of Play are three of my favorites.  This one also did a decent job of telling this terribly sad and tragic story.  It was Ethan's favorite out of the nominees, and Linda's second favorite. It is cool to see our son appreciating excellent film making.

#5 The Martian: Ethan liked the book more so, but said the movie did a decent job of capturing it.  We all enjoyed this space adventure and hey, Matt Damon is becoming a fast favorite in this house.

#6 Room: The Hours, In the Bedroom, and Down the Rabbit Hole.  Now we have Room to add to the quadrilateral of well-acted, depression laden films.  Linda and Ethan passed on this one.  I just made it through over a two day period.  The kiddo in the film was terrific and probably should have been recognized by The Academy for his effort.

#7 The Reverent: Leonardo DiCaprio walks, breaths heavily, falls down, breaths heavily, lays there, and breaths heavily.  Next scene: Leonardo DiCaprio walks, breaths heavily, falls down, breaths heavily, lays there, and breaths heavily.  Next scene: Leonardo DiCaprio walks, breaths heavily, falls down, breaths heavily, lays there, and breaths heavily.  Next scene: Leonardo DiCaprio walks, breaths heavily, falls down, breaths heavily, lays there, and breaths heavily.

And I do not buy into the idea that if a film was difficult to shoot because of the elements then it should get an Oscar nod.  Here's an idea.  Get a movie set.  For the record, Ethan wants two and half hours of his life back after sitting through this one. 

#8 Mad Max (Reboot): Two plus hours of mind numbing noise, scenes that are difficult to differentiate, and a plot (was there one?) that seems to unravel throughout.  Ethan enjoyed it to an extent, but also was exhausted after the viewing.  Linda was the wise one and skipped it in the first place.

[James]

Oscar Picks
My ranking out of the eight, with Ethan (our son) and Linda's opinions mixed in:

#1 Bridges of Spies: I wish Spielberg would do more time period movies like this.  This one had subtle cleverness throughout (if you viewed, think Hank's train rides) and did not feel the need to add a car chase or fist fight scene at the end of the film.  Linda also had a high opinion of this film which came in at a very close third to her second favorite nominee.

#2 Brooklyn: The acting in this was superb and this is another, like the above, that I want to see again sooner rather than later.  Some might call it a "chick-flick", which is total nonsense. I still scratch my head over the term.  Add to the well-crafted love story a wonderfully sweeping vista of the time period of 1952 and supporting characters that are multi-dimensional, and you truly have one heck of a movie.  This was Linda's favorite out of the eight nominees and she is very pleased we now own it for future viewings.

#3 The Big Short: Decent twists and turns in explaining the crash of '07.   I never lost interest during the two plus hours, but Linda slept through more than half of it.  Ethan thought it decent, but no more than that.  To each their own on this one for sure.

#4 Spotlight:  I enjoy movies where the press (especially newspapers) are the backdrop.  All the President's Men, Ace in the Hole and State of Play are three of my favorites.  This one also did a decent job of telling this terribly sad and tragic story.  It was Ethan's favorite out of the nominees, and Linda's second favorite. It is cool to see our son appreciating excellent film making.

#5 The Martian: Ethan liked the book more so, but said the movie did a decent job of capturing it.  We all enjoyed this space adventure and hey, Matt Damon is becoming a fast favorite in this house.

#6 Room: The Hours, In the Bedroom, and Down the Rabbit Hole.  Now we have Room to add to the quadrilateral of well-acted, depression laden films.  Linda and Ethan passed on this one.  I just made it through over a two day period.  The kiddo in the film was terrific and probably should have been recognized by The Academy for his effort.

#7 The Reverent: Leonardo DiCaprio walks, breaths heavily, falls down, breaths heavily, lays there, and breaths heavily.  Next scene: Leonardo DiCaprio walks, breaths heavily, falls down, breaths heavily, lays there, and breaths heavily.  Next scene: Leonardo DiCaprio walks, breaths heavily, falls down, breaths heavily, lays there, and breaths heavily.  Next scene: Leonardo DiCaprio walks, breaths heavily, falls down, breaths heavily, lays there, and breaths heavily.

And I do not buy into the idea that if a film was difficult to shoot because of the elements then it should get an Oscar nod.  Here's an idea.  Get a movie set.  For the record, Ethan wants two and half hours of his life back after sitting through this one. 

#8 Mad Max (Reboot): Two plus hours of mind numbing noise, scenes that are difficult to differentiate, and a plot (was there one?) that seems to unravel throughout.  Ethan enjoyed it to an extent, but also was exhausted after the viewing.  Linda was the wise one and skipped it in the first place.

Never cared for the Oscars .. and I haven't seen most of these. I loved Fury Road & The Revenant .. the only 2 I've seen from the list - of those I'd go with the Mad Max film which was incredible and one of the best movies I have ever experienced. Another film I saw last year that should be on the list is Crimson Peak. Loved that. I do want to see The Martian (Ridley Scott) .. and perhaps Bridge of Spies (Spielberg) too. I don't find the others on the list too intriguing, so I really won't go out of my way to see them.

[George]

You're welcome. As a film it doesn't challenge or break new ground, however I believe the photography, the pace, and the casting of Jean Rochefort make it worthwhile to watch.
And yes, you're correct, it's Claudia Cardinale.