Last Movie You Watched

[SimonNZ]

Mirror is my favorite Tarkovsky film. In what way is it a homage?

[aligreto]

Yes Man





I am not a huge Carey fan but I did like this one. I found it quite amusing with not too much face pulling.

[Christo]

Mirror is my favorite Tarkovsky film. In what way is it a homage?

Great to learn The Mirror - Serkalo - is your favourite Tarkovsky! It is mine too, saw it again last December after a long interval and was completely convinced again. For me the 'ultimate' movie.
I saw Cold War only half, in between other things to do, but was totally impressed. In the final scene 'the' couple takes a seat somewhere along a foothpath in the fields. A breeze stirring the corn - just as it does in The Mirror, a couple of times even. I was/am totally convinced it is a quotation, homage, whatever. There's more in Cold War that reminds of Tarkovsky, though there's much more dynamic in it and it's certainly not derivative (as are some films by Sokurov - seen him?).

Dot you happen to know all Tarkovsky's films? 

[SimonNZ]

Dot you happen to know all Tarkovsky's films? 

Oh yes. In fact I was lucky enough in the early 90s to see locally a festival of all his films in new 35mm prints, including his film school graduation work The Steamroller And The Violin. I have a blockmounted poster of that festival which is one of the handful of things I'd try to rescue in the event of a fire.

But I'd seen them before that in the days of poorly available and poor quality VHS when my friends and I would take turns buying tapes from a place called Facets in Chicago and then make copies for each of us. My first exposure to Andrei Rublev was a two tape set taken from a source film so bad that it had white-on-white subtitling right throughout and we had no earthly idea what was being said.

I'll try and check out Cold War. Thanks.

[Christo]

Oh yes. In fact I was lucky enough in the early 90s to see locally a festival of all his films in new 35mm prints, including his film school graduation work The Steamroller And The Violin. I have a blockmounted poster of that festival which is one of the handful of things I'd try to rescue in the event of a fire.

But I'd seen them before that in the days of poorly available and poor quality VHS when my friends and I would take turns buying tapes from a place called Facets in Chicago and then make copies for each of us. My first exposure to Andrei Rublev was a two tape set taken from a source film so bad that it had white-on-white subtitling right throughout and we had no earthly idea what was being said.

I'll try and check out Cold War. Thanks.

Definitely. And: great story! Speaking for myself: I saw Offret (The Sacrifice) at its release back in 1986 in my student days, was hooked - and the rest is history. Amsterdam - the Eye Complex - did a complete Tarkovsky festival last autumn and I was able to pick a few. My favourites were, and are, The Mirror and Offret, Stalker and Solaris and Andrei Rublev not far behind, as indeed all.  Yes, saw The Steamroller &c. once too. The only one I only saw once, purely by lack of time, is Nostalghia, which I found a bit of a disappointment then. When in Florence a couple of Summers ago, I walked across Tarkovsky's apartment by chance and decided to give his Italian movie another chance, which will happen in short time. Great to see some love for the master, here! 

[SimonNZ]

Have you read Roadside Picnic - the book which Stalker is adapted from? I finally got around to it last year, and was hugely impressed even though its different to the film in many ways.

I tried reading Tarkovsky's book Sculpting In Time in my 20s and found it very heady stuff, even by his standards. Must give it another go sometime soon.

[aligreto]

Den of Thieves





This is a hard hitting action packed thriller with a bit of a twist. Worth watching.

[Madiel]

Sunshine Cleaning



Any movie starring Amy Adams and Emily Blunt immediately scores points with me.

It's good. Not amazing, but entertaining and well done.

[Christo]

Have you read Roadside Picnic - the book which Stalker is adapted from? I finally got around to it last year, and was hugely impressed even though its different to the film in many ways.

I tried reading Tarkovsky's book Sculpting In Time in my 20s and found it very heady stuff, even by his standards. Must give it another go sometime soon.

Sorry, no, I haven't. Yes, I own and read some in Sculpting in Time, but the essence is there before your very eyes and I don't feel the need to read about it. In other words: Tarkovsky's films are self-evident in my eyes.

What I find even more intriguing: in both The Mirror and Offret everything happens real time, though simultaneously at different moments (even decade in the case of The Mirror). Yet the feeling is very sur-real, caused by the layers he interweaves. I find it superb, 'mysticism' created with no other means than daily realities - and happily devoid of all psychology. 

[Todd]

Joker.  Commodus loses his shit.  Zzzz.

[Christo]

Joker.  Commodus loses his shit.  Zzzz.

Aha, still busy with under age 8 films. 

[Karl Henning]

The Thing From Another World (1951)

First I ever watched it. Cool.

Neighbors (1981)

The first I've seen it since it opened in the cinema;  I under-appreciated it then.

[André]

The Thing From Another World (1951)

First I ever watched it. Cool.

I saw that on the telly when I was little. I was scared witless  . It's actually an excellent film. Saw it again as an adult, still gave me the creeps. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin.

[Karl Henning]

I saw that on the telly when I was little. I was scared witless  . It's actually an excellent film. Saw it again as an adult, still gave me the creeps. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin.

Aye, between my having become a fan of the John Carpenter remake, and the Tiomkin score, it was high time I watched it!

[Karl Henning]

And, because I find it a great way to hit Life's Pause Button for four hours:

Dances With Wolves

[SonicMan46]

And, because I find it a great way to hit Life's Pause Button for four hours:

Dances With Wolves

Hi Karl - a fav of mine!   Own the 20th Anniversary BD below - BUT, for those interested in Native American history, I can strongly recommend the documentary narrated by Kevin Costner '500 Nations' - 4 DVDs w/ 8 episodes + a CD-ROM - the CGI recreations of the Native civilizations going back to the Aztecs are just superb.  Dave

 

[Karl Henning]

Hi Karl - a fav of mine!   Own the 20th Anniversary BD below - BUT, for those interested in Native American history, I can strongly recommend the documentary narrated by Kevin Costner '500 Nations' - 4 DVDs w/ 8 episodes + a CD-ROM - the CGI recreations of the Native civilizations going back to the Aztecs are just superb.  Dave

 

Cheers, Dave!

[greg]

And, because I find it a great way to hit Life's Pause Button for four hours:

Dances With Wolves

Seriously, that one took like 3 or 4 days to finish in one of my high school history classes.

[Karl Henning]

Seriously, that one took like 3 or 4 days to finish in one of my high school history classes.

Not how I would suggest viewing it.  Kinda sounds like a lazy teacher, too.

[ritter]

Luigi Zampa's 1954 film adaptation of Alberto Moravia's La Romana, starting a very young Gina Lollobrigida.