Last Movie You Watched

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

Now there is a debate!  Maybe time for a poll! 

Toy Story III would top my list.  Up! would also be a candidate.  Cars would be at the bottom...very far down!   0:)

Finding Nemo? Wall-E???

Toy Story 3 is great, but it doesn't explore too much new territory as a sequel. Out of any Pixar sequel, Monsters University is my favourite (well, maybe it should be called a prequel).

I would probably consider Up a favourite as well (same as Ratatouille I think). I haven't seen the most recent two, so I have no opinions on them, although I have heard that Coco was extremely good.


Also, just finished Ant-Man last night and thought it was quite fun. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the soundtrack!

[TheGSMoeller]

If we are going with favorite Pixar film I would have to go with Inside Out.
I moved from Texas to New Jersey when I was around 11 years old, it was tough. This movie explored similar emotions and it really moved me. I also loved the message that it's not wrong to feel sadness, and it's alright to express your emotions, even as a young kid. 

[stingo]

I think the first 11 minutes of Up is some of the greatest moviemaking ever. (The rest of the film is good too.)

[ComposerOfAvantGarde]

I think the first 11 minutes of Up is some of the greatest moviemaking ever. (The rest of the film is good too.)

I agree. The first 11 minutes of Up are better than the rest of the movie, I reckon. It's a wonderful film regardless.

Last night I watched Captain America: Civil War for the first time.

[TheGSMoeller]

Your Name (2016) written and directed by Makoto Shinkai.

Your Name is beautiful, both in its visuals and storytelling. I would also recommend Shinkai's amazing short film Voices of a Distant Star from 2002. Voices was my introduction to Shinkai, and is another tale that explores a bond that defies time and distance.

[aligreto]

Ondine





A magical tale set on the magical coastline of south west Ireland.

[Draško]

a classic.

[Cato]

18 months ago in an interview a Russian official of Mosfilm said that they were working on restoring Sergei Bondarchuk's great movie version of War and Peace.

Wondering about that today, I searched for information on any progress, and really found nothing (my Russian, however, is less than rudimentary) obvious.  Until I went to YouTube to the Mosfilm "channel" and discovered that in late May they had uploaded all four films! 

Certainly the excerpts I saw seem restored...but who knows?  I went to the Mosfilm website (Russian version) but could not find any news about the re-release of the movie (4 parts) in a restored version.

Go to 15:00 to see - and hear! - the incredible Waltz sequence with Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's music:

https://www.youtube.com/v/Tqqs7DpTZKY

[Karl Henning]

18 months ago in an interview a Russian official of Mosfilm said that they were working on restoring Sergei Bondarchuk's great movie version of War and Peace.

Wondering about that today, I searched for information on any progress, and really found nothing (my Russian, however, is less than rudimentary) obvious.  Until I went to YouTube to the Mosfilm "channel" and discovered that in late May they had uploaded all four films! 

Certainly the excerpts I saw seem restored...but who knows?  I went to the Mosfilm website (Russian version) but could not find any news about the re-release of the movie (4 parts) in a restored version.

Go to 15:00 to see - and hear! - the incredible Waltz sequence with Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov's music:

https://www.youtube.com/v/Tqqs7DpTZKY

Очень хорошо

[Cato]

Cпасибо 

If she has time or interest, perhaps Maria Bablyak can find some information?  0:)

I suspect that the company simply has not yet updated their website: possibly the movie is not yet ready for DVD/Blu-Ray distribution.  The lack of subtitles on the YouTube offerings would seem to indicate that.

[aligreto]

Death at a Funeral





Wonderfully quirky, amusing and entertaining.

[Cato]

As excellent as ever, a practically perfect movie!

[asin]B009L147EE[/asin]

[Ken B]

As excellent as ever, a practically perfect movie!

[asin]B009L147EE[/asin]

I dunno Cato. No superheroes, no orcs, no bare butts, no "f*ck", no montage to old pop songs, no explosions. I doubt you could even get that made today.

[Karl Henning]

As excellent as ever, a practically perfect movie!

Thanks for the reminder . . . peculiarly (perhaps) I have yet to see it.

Last night:  Rebecca with the commentary.  The commentary was good, it was informative, it illumined a number of elements I had failed to notice earlier (some which I would not have noticed in the "lo-fi" TV broadcasts which were the bulk of my previous viewing).  Call it a matter of my coming late to the Hitchcock party, but the tensions between Hitch and Selznick were news to me.  As was the fact that Joan Fontaine was hired (and stayed on) mostly on the director's insistence, as he wanted to demonstrate that he could "build" a performance from the apparently unpromising young actress.  Which also means that Hitch had both vision, and chops.

No great surprise to learn that Selznick was constantly on uppers.

[Cato]

I dunno Cato. No superheroes, no orcs, no bare butts, no "f*ck", no montage to old pop songs, no explosions. I doubt you could even get that made today.

  It is a sad commentary, is it not?!

Hoagy Carmichael plays a few ancient standards at the piano (he is the uncle of the double amputee character (played by non-actor Harold Russell, who undoubtedly drew upon his own experiences for his marvelous performance)), but the music is integrated into the scenes.  The score by Hugo Friedlander is excellent: of interest is a cue (used two or three times) which is reminiscent of a part of the third movement of Mahler's Tenth Symphony, which Friedlander could not have known in 1946 of course!

Anyway...

The most shocking scene takes place in a bedroom, where the amputee shows his fiance'...his stumps, bandaged to be sure, but still!  And then...she tucks him into bed and leaves!!! 

It resonated deeply with America c. 70

]Call it a matter of my coming late to the Hitchcock party, but the tensions between Hitch and Selznick were news to me.  [/b]

No great surprise to learn that Selznick was constantly on uppers.

Somewhere, in a documentary on Selznick from the 1970's (maybe from PBS?), there was an interview with Alfred Hitchcock, who was sitting at his desk.  He commented (basically): "Ah, David Selznick!  He sent me a memo in 1943 and was wanting to know if I thought the proposal in the memo  would make a good movie."

(Deep breath and pause)

"I have finally finished reading the memo this morning, and yes, I think it would make an excellent movie!"  (Twinkle in the eye with his impish smile) 

[LKB]

Incredibles 2, at a local multiplex yesterday afternoon.

Slightly repetitive, more than slightly predictable... and a lot of fun. I'm happy to recommend it.

Animated,

LKB

[SonicMan46]

Seems like I'm watching more TV series lately - have not been out for a film in a few weeks nor have we done much Amazon streaming, although I did rent the Black Panther and was not thrilled despite the smash box office returns, so no posting.

BUT last night, I was in the mood for an adventure film and watched the 2015 Jurassic World w/ Chris Pratt & Bryce Dallas Howard (Opie's daughter) - find her a joy to look at in this film -   For those into this Jurassic Series, now in the theaters (same main actors) is Jurassic World - Fallen Kingdom (4th pic below) - looking forward to seeing the film; when it comes to dinosaurs, I still feel like a kid!  In fact, just bought the 2018 book shown below (last image) - received an excellent review in the Sunday NYTimes.  Dave

 

 

[Karl Henning]

I hardly think that fencing at all adequate.

[SonicMan46]

I hardly think that fencing at all adequate.

Hi Karl - that was a dramatic scene and agree - like the orcas of old at Sea World!  Dave

[Cato]

Today for Father's Day, my youngest son took me to a showing on the big screen (not Cinerama, but a 70mm fairly wide screen)...



Thanks to SonicMan for showing me how to handle the new Google Image copy-and-paste method!

A marvelous experience to see it again on the big screen!

One thing which struck me now - which I could not have known 50 years ago - was that HAL singing "Daisy" during his lobotomy was a reference to the first lobotomy surgeons, who had their victims sing a song during the destruction of their brains, and when the singing stopped, they knew that enough brain tissue had been destroyed.  One of the earliest and most famous (later) victims was Rosemary Kennedy, (sister of the president and the senators), whose monstrous father insisted on the operation to prevent embarrassment to the family.  She was supposedly of low I.Q. and had outbursts occasionally, although she looked physically normal, and according to one source, had a Fourth-Grade reading level.

The other thing I noticed: although Dave the Astronaut at the end, in the time-warp room, attempts to touch the monolith in the fashion of the hominids and Dr. Floyd, he cannot touch it.  And yet the desire to touch it seems good enough to the monolith, as Dave's reincarnation starts immediately.