Last Movie You Watched

[SimonNZ]

Anyway...apologies for derailing the thread.

watched recently:



Liked the way it recreated the mood and look of an 80s era cold war thriller. The very dark, even jet black, view of gender relations became oppressively cynical, though, and ultimately a little heavy-handed.

[Draško]

In 2002 Michael Mann produced and directed several episodes of a series starring Tom Sizemore titled "Robbery Homicide Division" that was very stylistically Michael-Mann. I think it only lasted 12 episodes but one of the episodes basically featured the same plot as his Miami Vice remake. Mann just took that episode and expanded it to a feature length movie. The series is worth checking out if you like Michael Mann's style.

I have to admit never heard of the series, upon checking not all that surprising given that even the first and only  season was never completely aired and it seems there was/is no DVD release of any sort. Thanks for mentioning it, Mann produced procedural is definitely worth checking out. I'll try to see it if I can find it in any form. 

[aligreto]

The Dinner





A moral dilemma needs to be resolved over a meal in a very exclusive restaurant. As the dinner progresses the nature of the dilemma is fully revealed as is the stand taken by the four protagonists.

[MN Dave]

Batman Ninja
Beautiful anime. Story too anime. 

[Madiel]

Just watched: Hud



It's been sitting on my PVR for six years, I think it must have been recommended somewhere. Winner of several Academy Awards, and it's the acting that is the real strength.

Not a happy film, and Wikipedia tells me the studio executives were rather unhappy with it. Hud is a bad character. Your leading man isn't supposed to be a bad character. Given its critical and commercial success, just goes to show what idiots studio executives can be.  Mind you, it appears that audiences also really liked the character of Hud, which also goes to show that audiences can miss the point too.

[Karl Henning]

Studio suits can be a dull lot;  for there are ample instances of your leading man being a bad (or, badly tainted) character: Bogart in either The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or In a Lonely Place springs to mind.  But the bland tradition had force, hence the studio muscling Hitchcock into saving Cary Grant's character at the end of Suspicion.

[Ken B]

Studio suits can be a dull lot;  for there are ample instances of your leading man being a bad (or, badly tainted) character: Bogart in either The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or In a Lonely Place springs to mind.  But the bland tradition had force, hence the studio muscling Hitchcock into saving Cary Grant's character at the end of Suspicion.

A prime example. To be fair to the suits at RKO, they made Citizen Kane the same year, another bad person lead ...

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Studio suits can be a dull lot;  for there are ample instances of your leading man being a bad (or, badly tainted) character: Bogart in either The Treasure of the Sierra Madre or In a Lonely Place springs to mind.  But the bland tradition had force, hence the studio muscling Hitchcock into saving Cary Grant's character at the end of Suspicion.

Ah the Hays Code! Speaking of Hitchcock, since Karma Houdini's (the villain getting no comeuppance) were also frowned upon (although there were exceptions such as Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life), they had to insert in Vertigo the radio broadcast of the fact that the murderer did, in fact, get caught. Hitchcock was not happy with this insertion.

[Ken B]

Ah the Hays Code! Speaking of Hitchcock, since Karma Houdini's (the villain getting no comeuppance) were also frowned upon (although there were exceptions such as Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life), they had to insert in Vertigo the radio broadcast of the fact that the murderer did, in fact, get caught. Hitchcock was not happy with this insertion.

In Hitchcock's preferred ending, which as I recall is the book's ending, he murders her, but she confides her fears in a letter. Cary Grant makes sure she is dead, notices her outgoing mail, picks it up, and — cut— we see him post it. That would satisfy the Hays code, but as Karl notes the real problem was making CG a murderer.
Francis Iles, who wrote the book, hated the movie because of the change, which vitiates the whole story.

[George]

Second time watching this. Really enjoyed it. 

[mc ukrneal]

Just saw Whiplash again. G** D*** what a movie!! Superb movie with phenomenal ending. Acting is great all the way through. If you ever played an instrument in a group, you've got to see this. And yet, it's really about much more than that. Seriously kick a** film!! And seriously good music!!

[asin]B00PT3AUYO[/asin]

[Madiel]

Just saw Whiplash again. G** D*** what a movie!! Superb movie with phenomenal ending. Acting is great all the way through. If you ever played an instrument in a group, you've got to see this. And yet, it's really about much more than that. Seriously kick a** film!! And seriously good music!!

[asin]B00PT3AUYO[/asin]

This is definitely on my list of things to see, just haven't got around to it yet.

[aligreto]

Just saw Whiplash again. G** D*** what a movie!! Superb movie with phenomenal ending. Acting is great all the way through. If you ever played an instrument in a group, you've got to see this. And yet, it's really about much more than that. Seriously kick a** film!! And seriously good music!!

[asin]B00PT3AUYO[/asin]

Yes, I have seen that one and it is indeed excellent. Very well driven.

[milk]

This 1995 version caught me off guard in a way. I didn't expect to like it so much. It has a very "new wave" feeling as to the direction, photography and cinematography. Even if you don't like Austen or period dramas, I still recommend this. What I liked was how drab and grungy it seemed and how it sort of lacked a story. I tend to like stuff where the plot is submerged. I don't remember the book much now and I assume it was more about Anne; the movie does well focusing on the place and time and general stuffiness and selfishness of the people. There is a lot of atmosphere here and it gives you the feeling of the lifestyle of the upper and barely-not-upper classes.

[aligreto]

Green Room





A travelling Punk Band gets caught up in a situation at a venue, are confined to the Green Room and the usual mayhem ensues.

[SimonNZ]

This 1995 version caught me off guard in a way. I didn't expect to like it so much. It has a very "new wave" feeling as to the direction, photography and cinematography. Even if you don't like Austen or period dramas, I still recommend this. What I liked was how drab and grungy it seemed and how it sort of lacked a story. I tend to like stuff where the plot is submerged. I don't remember the book much now and I assume it was more about Anne; the movie does well focusing on the place and time and general stuffiness and selfishness of the people. There is a lot of atmosphere here and it gives you the feeling of the lifestyle of the upper and barely-not-upper classes.

The '95 Persuasion is probably my favorite adaptation of an Austen novel.

yesterday:



2004 documentary on the building of the Israel/Palestine border wall, interviewing construction workers, contractors, officials and locals on both sides as the building progresses. Recommended.



trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/v/YOQUo_fMTIE

[George]

Yes, I have seen that one and it is indeed excellent. Very well driven.

Except the main character's driving. 

[hpowders]

THE LEISURE SEEKER

Helen Mirren, Donald Sutherland.

An elderly couple on their final road trip by Winnebego from Boston to Key West.

Brilliant and devastating.

[Cato]

Yesterday we saw Crazy Rich Asians, which was advertised as a comedy, but was nothing of the sort, rather a drama with a few comedic interludes.  As a drama, it was okay.

Today we watched Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Don Gordon, and Simon Oakland in...



Oh!  And Jacqueline Bissett stands around in very very short dresses...or a man's shirt. 

[Karl Henning]

Over two viewings this weekend, I re-watched Diamonds Are Forever.  It sounds so much more interesting in the interviews of the featurette.  Okay, half-joking there.  But the bits which are arguably merely routine/Bond-formulaic do not IMO age well.  Still, that's why we have the fast-forward button.  The best bits are wonderful, and there is less tedium for me in this than (though it nearly pains me to say it) in Thunderball, and certainly less than in You Only Live Twice.  I love the story of Connery's negotiating an improbably high contract, and the money going to establish a foundation for Scottish artists.