Last Movie You Watched

[SonicMan46]

The American President (1995) - short synopsis below and another film we love to watch together (have gone from VHS > DVD > BD) - the American Film Institute has a bunch of film rankings, and in their 'America's Greatest Love Stories', this was down the list at No. 75, upstaged by the original King Kong starring Fay Wray and Kong which came in at No. 24 (check HERE, if interested) -    Dave

The American President is an American romantic comedy-drama film directed and produced by Rob Reiner and written by Aaron Sorkin. The film stars Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Richard Dreyfuss. In the film, President Andrew Shepherd (Douglas) is a widower who pursues a relationship with environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Bening) – who has just moved to Washington, D.C. – while at the same time attempting to win the passage of a crime control bill during a re-election year. The American Film Institute ranked The American President No. 75 on its list of America's Greatest Love Stories.(Source)

 

[VonStupp]

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christiansen, Natalie Portman
Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson

Yuck! Mostly for the uncomfortable, lasciviously leering love story.

Saw Phantom Menace in the theatre. Not this one!

VS

[VonStupp]

The American President (1995) - short synopsis below and another film we love to watch together [...]

Such a fun one to revisit! 

VS

[Karl Henning]

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002)
Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christiansen, Natalie Portman
Christopher Lee, Samuel L. Jackson

Yuck! Mostly for the uncomfortable, lasciviously leering love story.

Saw Phantom Menace in the theatre. Not this one!

VS

Is this the one Roger Ebert meant when he said it was about as exciting as watching Congressional hearings on C-SPAN?

[VonStupp]

Is this the one Roger Ebert meant when he said it was about as exciting as watching Congressional hearings on C-SPAN?

I am thinking that is probably the first one Phantom Menace (1999). Endless chats about a trade delegation and their embargo, straight from rubber mouths that barely move. 

VS

[Karl Henning]

I am thinking that is probably the first one Phantom Menace (1999). Endless chats about a trade delegation and their embargo, straight from rubber mouths that barely move. 

VS

And you were in the theatre for that. Oof!

[VonStupp]

And you were in the theatre for that. Oof!

I never went back to the theatre for a Star Wars movie again. As I remember, the 3rd movie made some amends.

VS

[SonicMan46]

Such a fun one to revisit! 

VS

+1 - Hi VS - well, the 'companion' for us is Dave which will soon be another re-watch - those two presidential comedy-dramas just seem to be made for our tastes -    Dave

[Karl Henning]

MN Dave got me curious, so I watched Wes Craven's Deadly Blessing. A noisy mix. That said, Jas Horner's score is nice. Good jump-scare courtesy of some chickens.  Ernest Borgnine, by gum!

[Justice Roberts]

It's cultural imperialism; some of their Japanese subjects would become loyal to the Pope.

That's not what the book implies in the least. Most Japanese Christians were externely poor, downtrodden peasants whose only desire was to be left alone to worship at their improvised altars. They had no idea about a far away Pope and when martyrized died singing about the afterlife not crying "Long live the Pope!" They posed no threat to the power of warlords.

If the movie implies otherwise then it's a betrayal of the book's letter and spirit.

I partly see the way Steve suggests, but a majority of readers and the original author don't see that way.
The story is about a 17th century Jesuit missionary's quest for truth in Japan, where Christianity was strictly prohibited.
He faces a dillemma-  unless he publicly renounces Christianity, his followers would be executed by the government.
J govt was so cruel that it won't execute him so he would be agonized with guilt for many years.
The original author intends to say that 1) Japanese lack ethics 2) because they are not Christians. I am fine with 1) but skeptical with 2).
Imo, the protagonist has a messianic illusion- he thinks he has a "kindness" to convert the people who believe in "wrong" religion to a right religion of a true God.
To me that's a gigantic arrogance and blindness grounded upon cultural centralism. But again, the author's intention is different.
Anyway it's a good movie/book with multilayered dilemmas. Still I am a little worried that some Christian (fundamentalist) viewers may see the movie in terms of simplistic good vs evil picture without observing nuances, depth, dilemmas, paradoxes, etc.

Disclosure: I am an atheist and the author is Christian. I admire this movie and the original book as well as other works written by him.

[JBS]

Unfortunately what you referred to as a "messianic illusion" is widely shared among Christians even now, and basic to the European outlook for over a thousand years.

I didn't realize the novelist was a Christian.

[aligreto]

See For Me:





A young blind woman earns her money by house sitting for clients. She has a backstory and her character is not based upon the highest of moral standards as far as honesty is concerned. On her latest job there is a break in. Initially she seeks help via a phone app which allows an operator to see through her phone camera. She forms a relationship with this operator. However, she subsequently engages with the intruders, negotiating a cut from their heist. What develops makes for interesting and entertaining viewing.

[geralmar]

1973

Robert Blake plays a small town Arizona motorcycle cop who dreams of transfer to homicide.  He gets his wish but is quickly disillusioned.  Meandering, self-indulgent and empty "counter culture" film making very much "of its time" and now badly dated.  Luscious Conrad Hall cinematography constantly blocked by actors and plot.  Electra Glide was a Harley-Davidson motorcycle favored by the police.  "Blue" refers to the police.  Three decades later Blake was acquitted of murdering his wife, which casts an additional if unfair pall on the movie.

[VonStupp]

+1 - Hi VS - well, the 'companion' for us is Dave which will soon be another re-watch - those two presidential comedy-dramas just seem to be made for our tastes -    Dave

Hey Dave, they are both lots of fun. Your namesake movie is quite funny, but as I have mentioned sometime before, any pop-up role by Charles Grodin gets an A+ plus in my book. Although, there are a handful of great character-actors in there too. I remember the first time I saw it and Sir Ben Kingsley shows up out of nowhere; a great moment.

Have fun with them! 

VS

[TheGSMoeller]

A few new films released this year...


After Yang: Written(adapted screenplay) and Directed by Kogonada
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8633464/

Crimes of the Future: Written and Directed by David Cronenberg
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14549466/

[SimonNZ]

One of the worst adapted screenplays, and at 2 hours far too short for any adaptation.

"(Terrible food!" "And such small portions!")

[geralmar]

1956

Loose remake of The Most Dangerous Game (1932); but this time set in the Mexican jungle and the pursuers fugitive Nazis.  I liked all the principal actors, particularly Jane Greer, who was "a woman of a particular age" (32) when she made the movie.  Still lovely she was refreshingly not another squeaky clean early twenties ingenue.  The only negatives (small) is the annoying bandage Widmark wears on his forehead most of the movie-- it's even in the poster-- and (large-- and spoiler alert) Widmark's failure to pick up his antagonist's rifle after felling him.  He winds up having to use a spinning airplane propeller to eliminate the final villain.

[Iota]

Not quite sure what I thought of this overall. The only things that are certain are that I found it interesting but not that involving, Jason Clarke was (as ever) compelling, while everyone else seemed rather underpowered. The family legacy of Joe Kennedy Sr. comes across as a very ambivalent one.

[SonicMan46]

   
1956

Loose remake of The Most Dangerous Game (1932); but this time set in the Mexican jungle and the pursuers fugitive Nazis.  I liked all the principal actors, particularly Jane Greer, who was "a woman of a particular age" (32) when she made the movie.  Still lovely she was refreshingly not another squeaky clean early twenties ingenue.  The only negatives (small) is the annoying bandage Widmark wears on his forehead most of the movie-- it's even in the poster-- and (large-- and spoiler alert) Widmark's failure to pick up his antagonist's rifle after felling him.  He winds up having to use a spinning airplane propeller to eliminate the final villain.

Well, I've never seen that Widmark film but love the alluring Jane Greer (1924-2001) - one of my favorites is the film noir from 1947 Out of the Past w/ Robert Mitchum and a host of other stars.  Dave

[VonStupp]

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christiansen, Natalie Portman
Ian McDiarmid, Jimmy Smits, Samuel L. Jackson

After two movies of trade talks (Phantom Menace) and unsettling romance (Attack of the Clones), the third follows up with a 25-minute opener of space battles and face offs, plus more later on. Just what the doctor ordered.

Ewan McGregor must have studied the speech pattern of Alec Guinness, for you can sense similarities, without mere aping.

VS