Last Movie You Watched

[Karl Henning]

@Sergeant Rock 

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Stealing Home, Jodie Foster, Mark Harmon, et al.

[drogulus]

    This afternoon I saw Killers of the Flower Moon.

    It was pretty good.

   

   
     

[LKB]

This afternoon I saw Killers of the Flower Moon.

    It was pretty good.

   

   
   

Do they catch the killers? And how does one kill a moon, anyway? 

( Please excuse the above silliness, dealing with work stress atm and such nonsense helps me maintain a useful perspective. )

[Karl Henning]

And how does one kill a moon, anyway?

I suppose one eats up all the cheese.

[pjme]

Very impressive, almost frightening.  Leonie Benesch is excellent!

This German film is a compelling school class drama, in which director İlker Çatak shows a moral struggle over borders and justice that takes on thriller-like proportions.

When there appears to be theft at a secondary school, the management takes drastic measures to find the perpetrator. Teacher Carla Novak (Leonie Benesch) has recently started working as a teacher at the school and questions this approach. When she discovers who the alleged perpetrator is, she sets something in motion that also has major consequences for herself.

[Madiel]

Blind Chance



The Kieslowski movie that led to Sliding Doors and Run Lola Run. A man runs to catch a train, and 3 markedly different versions of his life after that moment unfold. In the first he just catches the train, in the second he just misses it, and in the third he misses it by a little bit more.

I have mixed feelings about it. I don't know how much it's due to slightly wobbly subtitles, but I found the first parts of the movie quite difficult to follow. Some of the stuff before the train sequence jumps abrumptly. Eventually it becomes apparent that you're being shown little snippets of his life that will be relevant in each of the 3 scenarios, but it's quite disconnected when you're first seeing it. And then in the first sequence, there was a major character where I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to know who the hell he was. From reading afterwards it just seems that they meet on the train, which... really doesn't make much sense to me. More jumps, so that you miss the part where they go from strangers to behaving like they've known each other a long time.

Against that, the film has an interesting philosophical bent (and definitely has some things in common with Kieslowski's later films The Double Life of Veronique and Red). And major props for the basic idea as it seems to have been very original in 1981. But I don't think Kieslowski has really nailed what he's doing yet. Having now seen a lot of his work, I'm not sure anything before Dekalog has the same level. Perhaps the issue is that he doesn't yet have his later writing partner, Krzysztof Piesiewicz. There are things here that feel a bit awkward. Including the endings.

Not terrible by any means. But it's not going to replace Three Colours in my affections.

[relm1]

There has been a Dirty Harry marathon on tv this weekend.  I've never seen the films before but they are quite good.  Did this start the crusty loner cop genre?  For example, Lethal Weapon, maybe even Die Hard owe a lot to this character. Way over the top but good fun with his one liner's and perpetually bad mood.

[DavidW]

I rewatched Constantine and Daybreakers which I had not seen in a long time.  Pretty fun movies if you want something Halloweeny but not scary.  Interesting premises for both.

[ando]

Just recently I learned that there's a RSC version released last year, put together during covid without an audience, I believe. Seven hours total running time, which is not bad.  Have you seen that one? I'll be ordering it soon.

No, I haven't. Hard to find online, too. I'd want a viewing before a purchase. I'll keep watching for an appearance on the web. Thanks!

[Karl Henning]

Really tickled about how they don't like some movies I do. Also, how sharply the two of them differed on Escape From LA.

[relm1]

Yesterday, I watched Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935) for the first time.  I could imagine Frankenstein must have been quite scary to the original audience, but the sequel was silly.  The seeds of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" are in place.  Interestingly, Frankenstein (1931) has no score.  Movies at this time didn't have dramatic underscore.  It wasn't till 1933's King Kong, that film scores were born.  Max Steiner's epic score helped elevate the story and was a thrilling synthesis of Wagnerian opera, Stravinskian dissonance and Viennese romanticism that convinced audiences that Kong was both terrifying and ultimately tragic. By 1935, this operatic approach to scoring was everywhere and featured in Bride of Frankenstein (Franz Waxman).

[Fëanor]

Really tickled about how they don't like some movies I do. Also, how sharply the two of them differed on Escape From LA.

I tended strongly to go with Siskel's take when they disagreed.

[Karl Henning]

My recent enjoyment of a couple of reaction videos to the movie set me to thinking it was probably time to watch David Cronenberg's The Fly again, myself. And now, because it is not something the wife of my bosom will want to see.

[Karl Henning]

Watching The Longest Day with commentary by a historian

[LKB]

Watching The Longest Day with commentary by a historian

Good stuff, and probably the first b&w movie that l became fond of.

[Madiel]

Today.



I don't have much experience with concert films, but I was pretty satisfied. It's possibly too long as an experience for sitting in a seat (there's actually about 5 songs cut from the live show, plus transitions are edited down) but it's the best seat in the house and production values are impeccable. And we're talking one of the biggest concert extravaganzas ever staged with a crowd of over 50,000. It felt epic.

[relm1]

Yesterday, I watched two classic horror films for the first time.  Hitchcock's, The Birds (1963) and Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973).  It was very interesting how different these two are though only 10 years apart chronologically. 

The Birds felt very much out of the 1950's in style and design.  Overall good performances and lacking a soundtrack which I think was an interesting choice. 


Exorcist felt much more contemporary and features one of my favorite actors, Max von Sydow.  It's a very demented performance by Linda Blair who was excellent in being both cute and absolutely terrifying.  I liked how the story included a priest of science who lost his faith and a very convincing von Sydow.  He's maybe in the film for 10 minutes or so but very convincing persona. 

Overall, both films are good but worlds apart. I learned both these films were brutal on the cast to make.  I saw in the documentary that played after The Exorcist that the filming was very difficult including many injuries like Ellen Burstyn breaking part of her spine filming the slapping scene and Linda Blair having to endure weeks of being bounced around very physically still she too suffered bone injuries.  Similarly, Tippy Hendrick endured great emotional abuse and physical stress in what was her first film. 

[Karl Henning]

Good stuff, and probably the first b&w movie that l became fond of.

It's not all that long since I watched it for the first time, yet the film is so vivid, I'd forgotten that it's b&w. Of course, I'm a great fan of b&w.

[Karl Henning]

Yesterday, I watched two classic horror films for the first time.  Hitchcock's, The Birds (1963) and Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973).  It was very interesting how different these two are though only 10 years apart chronologically. 

The Birds felt very much out of the 1950's in style and design.  Overall good performances and lacking a soundtrack which I think was an interesting choice. 


Exorcist felt much more contemporary and features one of my favorite actors, Max von Sydow.  It's a very demented performance by Linda Blair who was excellent in being both cute and absolutely terrifying.  I liked how the story included a priest of science who lost his faith and a very convincing von Sydow.  He's maybe in the film for 10 minutes or so but very convincing persona. 

Overall, both films are good but worlds apart. I learned both these films were brutal on the cast to make.  I saw in the documentary that played after The Exorcist that the filming was very difficult including many injuries like Ellen Burstyn breaking part of her spine filming the slapping scene and Linda Blair having to endure weeks of being bounced around very physically still she too suffered bone injuries.  Similarly, Tippy Hendrick endured great emotional abuse and physical stress in what was her first film. 

Both great. And The Birds is perhaps the most understated apocalyptic movie ever made.