Last Movie You Watched

Started by Drasko, April 06, 2007, 07:51:03 AM

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aligreto

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 03, 2021, 08:36:06 PM
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, even though my mother is no hamster.

What a coincidence! I have recently watched it too.





Run away! Run away!

DavidW

I watched the 70s King Kong and The News of the World.  Both were very good, thanks for the rec!

Brahmsian

Quote from: DavidW on April 05, 2021, 07:30:48 AM
I watched the 70s King Kong and The News of the World.  Both were very good, thanks for the rec!

Glad you enjoyed King Kong '77 David!  :)

SonicMan46

Togo (2019) w/ Willem Dafoe, Julianne Nicholson, Christopher Heyerdah, et al - story below about a remarkable Alaskan sled dog named Togo and his trainer Leonhard Seppala - won't go into the 'Balto Controversy', more HERE, if interested - recommended.  Dave :)

QuoteTogo is a 2019 American drama adventure film directed by Ericson Core. The film centers on the greatest achievement of Togo's life in 1925, when he led Leonhard Seppala's team on the legendary serum run that saved the town of Nome in Alaska. (An outbreak of diphtheria was raging through the town. No other form of transportation could get through at the time, as the weather was too bad.) Through blizzards and across breaking ice on the Norton Sound, the small husky skillfully covered 250 miles of ground. He was 12 years old. Most sled dogs are long retired by that age. (Source)

   

Karl Henning

Quote from: aligreto on April 05, 2021, 02:58:35 AM
What a coincidence! I have recently watched it too.





Run away! Run away!

That rabbit's dynamite!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

milk

Quote from: Todd on March 12, 2021, 05:46:08 AM



Nomadland.  Frances McDormand and David Straitharn work with mostly unprofessional actors in this film depicting the life of homeless people living out west in vans and RVs.  Set a few years after the financial crash, McDormand's character lost her job when the company town she lived in died, and her husband died as well, so she wanders.  She runs into Straitharn's character, who is a bit less better drawn (on purpose), and both veterans deliver the dramatic goods.  The film gives a lot of sympathetic screen time to real people, though, so one gets an insight into why they live the way they do.  The film is simply magnificent, and its magnificence comes from its simplicity.  No special effects.  No grand visual flourishes.  And, thankfully, no soundtrack most of the time.  When music is used, it is as spare as the film.  Director Chloé Zhao and her production team scouted some striking locations, including an extended segment set in the Badlands, where one gets to take in the view one sees driving in from the west, though no images, still or moving, can capture the impact of seeing it in person.  The world needs more movies like this.
Indeed this is a wonderful movie.

SimonNZ


aligreto

The Green Book





I know that a lot of you have already watched this one. However, for those of you who have not it is based on a true story of a white nightclub bouncer who is hired by a black musician to be the driver and bodyguard for a concert tour of the deep southern states of America in 1962. The mutual relationship which develops is interesting. The prejudice and racial separation of the time is depicted but not in an overly aggressive way. It is worth a watch.

SonicMan46

King Kong (1976) w/ Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodon, and Jessica Lange (her debut movie role!) - well after posting on other Kong films and stating that the 1976 version below was in last place, I was encouraged to watch the film (which was available on our HBOMax subscription service, and seen by me only once 40+ years ago!) - NOW, the story is different (see quote below - the hero is a primate palenontogist and the building climbed was the now gone World Trade Center.  Reviews indeed were mixed: 5.9/10, IMDB; 51% RottenTomatoes; BUT 4.5/5 on Amazon.

Well, the film was enjoyable as an 'alternate' remake of the story - Bridges and Lange were so great looking in their youth, AND I must say that Lange is the sexiest of all of the 'King Kong' babes - I would probably give a mixed rating on Amazon, say 3 1/2 to 4 of 5 stars; plus, I would watch again if the mood strikes me over my other Kong films.  Worth seeing - Dave :)

QuoteThe film was released on December 17, 1976, to mixed reviews from film critics, but was a box office success. Of the three King Kong main films, it is the only one to feature the World Trade Center instead of the Empire State Building.  In the 1970s, Fred Wilson, an executive of the Petrox Oil Company, forms an expedition based on infrared imagery which reveals a previously undiscovered Indian Ocean island hidden by a permanent cloud bank. Wilson believes the island has a huge deposit of oil. Jack Prescott, a primate paleontologist, sneaks onto the expedition's vessel and attempts to warn the team against traveling to the island, citing an ominous final message about "the roar of the greatest beast" from previous doomed explorers. Source

 

milk

#31069

My wife had never seen it. I feel like Tootsie is a technical triumph in many ways and I wonder how many movies do so many things this well. Most obvious is Hoffman's masterful performance here, which is confusingly good. When he's Dorsey playing Dorothy, you totally believe Dorothy is real and you forget the role is really Dorsey. When he's Dorsey, he's also typically believable. Sometimes, often, he pulls this incredible trick of showing you Dorsey in Dorothy. Then, not only is he somehow two different people in one, he's also the great actor being played by the invisible great actor underneath it all.
Now, name me any other actors who could have done this? I've never seen Mrs. Doubtfire so I've no idea if Williams was this good, or meant to be this good in this way.

Then there's the script (written by a crack team including the great Larry Gelbart, the great Elaine May, the great Barry Levinson) to this which is, again, a technical masterpiece of Hollywood. I'm sure this used to be in textbooks as, well, a textbook example of a nearly-flawless conventional 3 act script. It manages to juggle all these balls in the air, setting up these great scenes of suspenseful comedy whith almost too-many-to-believe character connections and points of drama. Everything comes together effortlessly in this script. It really is mesmerizing.

Finally, there's the directing by Sydney Pollack, who also plays Dorsey's agent. Pollack is in complete control of this material and he really is a whiz at making all these pieces work together. It's not an easy feat to depict a show within a show, as well as the behind-the-scenes workings of a show, that seems convincing. Pollack does it. How does he manage to bring it to life with verisimilitude AND gut-aching laughter? He gets all the timing right.

Having said all this about Tootsie, one can't fail to notice upon watching this movie that there is little chance it could be made today and that this movie probably falls into the "cancelled" category that takes up so much space in today's cultural landscape. Tootsie likely goes into the town dump of political correctness and social media.
Should it? Should I even have been laughing along with this? I think the twitterverse would likely say "no." It's worth it to ponder the question of why and what's so wrong with this movie in today's context. Leaving aside Hoffman's own #metoo canceling, maybe today's zoomers would just find the whole premise of Tootsie offensive as well as several of the plot lines?   

Daverz

Cold War



A beautiful film, but don't watch if you're feeling down.

aligreto

Secret Window





This is an adaptation of a Stephen King novella. I have not read the novella but the script and the storyline here are both lame. Depp did his best with what he had, I think.

André

Quote from: milk on April 09, 2021, 04:55:50 AM

My wife had never seen it. I feel like Tootsie is a technical triumph in many ways and I wonder how many movies do so many things this well. Most obvious is Hoffman's masterful performance here, which is confusingly good. When he's Dorsey playing Dorothy, you totally believe Dorothy is real and you forget the role is really Dorsey. When he's Dorsey, he's also typically believable. Sometimes, often, he pulls this incredible trick of showing you Dorsey in Dorothy. Then, not only is he somehow two different people in one, he's also the great actor being played by trhe invisible great actor underneath it all.
Now, name me any other actors who could have done this? I've never seen Mrs. Doubtfire so I've no idea if Williams was this good, or meant to be this good in this way.

Then there's the script (written by a crack team including the great Larry Gelbart, the great Elaine May, the great Barry Levinson) to this which is, again, a technical masterpiece of Hollywood. I'm sure this used to be in textbooks as, well, a textbook example of a nearly-flawless conventional 3 act script. It manages to juggle all these balls in the air, setting up these great scenes of suspenseful comedy which almost too-many-to-believe character connections and points of drama. Everything comes together effortlessly in this script. It really is mesmerizing.

Finally, there's the directing by Sydney Pollack, who also plays Dorsey's agent. Pollack is in complete control of this material and he really is a whiz at making all these pieces work together. It's not an easy feat to depict a show within a show, as well as the behind-the-scenes workings of a show, that seems convincing. Pollack does it. How does he manage to bring it to life with verisimilitude AND gut-aching laughter? He gets all the timing right.

Having said all this about Tootsie, one can't fail to notice upon watching this movie that there is little chance it could be made today and that this movie probably falls into the "cancelled" category that takes up so much space in today's cultural landscape. Tootsie likely goes into the town dump of political correctness and social media.
Should it? Should I even have been laughing along with this? I think the twitterverse would likely say "no." It's worth it to ponder the question of why and what's so wrong with this movie in today's context. Leaving aside Hoffman's own #metoo canceling, maybe today's zoomers would just find the whole premise of Tootsie offensive as well as several of the plot lines?   

Good points, worth pondering.

milk


DavidW

I rewatched The Terminal with Tom Hanks.  The true story it is based on is very bizarre, but I like this movie.  They rarely make such feel good movies anymore like this.

SonicMan46

The Ten Commandments (1956) w/ Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, John Derek and many others; Cecil B. DeMille, director.  One of the classic Hollywood epics from yesteryear - now in 4K/UHD/HDR - description of the restoration quoted below; aspect ratio is 1.78, so fills my new Sony 4K HDTV. Outstanding review HERE - LONG film, so watched over 2 nights (the film comes on 2 discs, split at the intermission).  Dave :)

QuoteParamount states the following concerning its UHD release of The Ten Commandments: As part of the restoration done in 2010, the film was scanned in 6K and those files were the basis for this brand new Dolby Vision version, which shows off the full beauty of the original VistaVision negative. The VistaVision format used special cameras to feed 35mm film into the camera horizontally in order to capture a wider image spread over two 35mm film frames, giving VistaVision twice the resolution of regular 35mm film. In addition, Paramount spent well over 150 hours doing new color work and clean-up on the scan. The move to Dolby Vision created the opportunity to further improve the look of the film: blacks are enhanced and improvements were made to smooth out special effects mattes to create the most vibrant and pristine image possible. (Source)

 

Pohjolas Daughter

1917, an excellent movie by Sam Mendes.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

SimonNZ



continuing my unbroken experience of being heavily disappointed by a Hou Hsiao-Hsien film and failing to understand my he is so critically lauded

Karl Henning

First time I ever saw the opening credits: The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 11, 2021, 04:57:35 PM
First time I ever saw the opening credits: The Wizard of Oz (1939)

I've been hoping the Blu-Ray would have this as an extra ... not sure it does, though:

https://www.youtube.com/v/NX76RCN_8hk
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot