Last Movie You Watched

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

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milk


This is great cinema and ambitious, in a way. I also wonder if it was shocking at the time? I think this film survives on the charm of Michael Caine. Despite it being impressive on many levels, the main character is such an ass that almost any other actor might have sunk the whole thing. Anyway, it's an interesting movie, sort of funny and brutal at the same time.

aligreto

The Company You Keep





This is a case of spotting the old actor. The plot is fine as is the direction [Redford] but the casting of Redford as the main role was misdirected as far as I am concerned [and I am a fan]. He was too old at this stage and his performance was far from credible. It is, as a film however, still worth a watch.

SimonNZ


vers la flamme

The Aviator. Now I want to watch some of the old movies referenced in the film, Hell's Angels, Scarface, etc.

Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

George

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on April 17, 2021, 04:39:51 AM
High Fidelity



One of my very favorite movies!

Another favorite, I watched yesterday:

"I can't live without music, because music is life." - Yvonne Lefébure

SonicMan46

Nomadland (2020) w/ Frances McDormand and others - up for a half dozen Oscars soon, including Best Picture and Actress - synopsis below from opening of its Wiki article; bought from Amazon Prime Video as a 4K UHD streamer (no rental options at the moment) for $14 USD; ratings: 7.5/10, IMDB; 94%, Rotten Tomatoes;  3.7/5, Amazon w/ a lot of poor ratings (boredom often the term used).  As for us, we enjoyed the film, Susan more than me; the western US vistas were beautifully filmed and McDormand excellent as usual - I'd probably do a 4/5 if reviewing on Amazon - recommended, especially to those who like to see several or all of the Oscar-nominated films, as we do - but a weird COVID altered experience to come, I'm sure?

The Five Pennies (1959) w/ Danny Kaye, Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, et al - short summary below second quote - jazz biopic about the cornet player and band leader, Red Nichols - marvelous performance by Kaye and guest appearance by Armstrong just memorable; I've owned the DVD for years - wife watched this time and enjoyed - recommended - now, Nichols is on CD but I have only the recording shown below w/ about a half dozen of his recordings from the 1920s.  Dave :)

QuoteNomadland is a 2020 American drama film written, edited, produced, and directed by Chloé Zhao. It stars Frances McDormand as a woman who leaves her hometown of Empire, Nevada, after her husband dies and the sole industry closes down, to be "houseless" and travel around the United States. It also features David Strathairn in a supporting role, as well as real-life nomads Linda May, Swankie, and Bob Wells as fictionalized versions of themselves. The film is based on the 2017 non-fiction book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder. (Source)

QuoteThe Five Pennies is a semi-biographical 1959 film starring Danny Kaye as jazz cornet player and bandleader Loring Red Nichols. Other cast members include Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Harry Guardino, Bob Crosby, Bobby Troup, Susan Gordon, and Tuesday Weld. The film received four Oscar nominations: Best Musical Scoring (Leith Stevens), Best Original Song (Sylvia Fine—Danny Kaye's wife), Best Cinematography (Daniel L. Fapp), and Best Costumes (Edith Head). The real Red Nichols recorded all of Kaye's cornet playing for the film soundtrack. The other musicians in Red's band were not asked to provide their musical contributions, and the sound of his band was supplied by session players. (Source)

   

aligreto

Quote from: SonicMan46 on April 17, 2021, 08:36:12 AM
Nomadland (2020) w/ Frances McDormand and others - up for a half dozen Oscars soon, including Best Picture and Actress - synopsis below from opening of its Wiki article; bought from Amazon Prime Video as a 4K UHD streamer (no rental options at the moment) for $14 USD; ratings: 7.5/10, IMDB; 94%, Rotten Tomatoes;  3.7/5, Amazon w/ a lot of poor ratings (boredom often the term used).  As for us, we enjoyed the film, Susan more than me; the western US vistas were beautifully filmed and McDormand excellent as usual - I'd probably do a 4/5 if reviewing on Amazon - recommended, especially to those who like to see several or all of the Oscar-nominated films, as we do - but a weird COVID altered experience to come, I'm sure?

 

Cheers Dave. That is a film that I will certainly watch sometime in the future. I like what I have heard about it so far.

vers la flamme

#31108
Still thinking about The Aviator. Man, Scorcese's a genius! I'm not sure how he's been able to pull off all these sprawling epics about such varied subjects. He made a film out of the book I'm reading, Silence, by Shusaku Endo, and I reckon I'll be watching that after I finish the book.

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on April 17, 2021, 04:39:51 AM
High Fidelity



A favorite of mine. Haven't seen it in years however. I just got the book recently and ought to read it soon.

milk

Modern Romance - Albert Brooks this movie didn't work for me. I got the feeling that Brooks thought the pathologically narcissist character he played here was cute. Not only does the character go too far in the way he treats his love interest - in a way that is alarming rather than cute - but Brooks the director doesn't give the female protagonist necessary development either. Perhaps it would have worked if he wrote a woman who was drawn into repetition compulsion and dependency because of her own trauma and issues. Instead, we see a pretty together person who reasonably pushes back against a stifling creep until she just gives in at the very last. It's hard to make a comedy about a stalker. Some might say it's a satire of narcissism. I'm not sure I buy it. Brooks just doesn't realize how leaving a teddy bear on a woman's door and then proceeding to drive around her house all night could be construed as threatening behavior warranting a restraining order. He seems to think of it more as pathetic in a kind of comic way. Times have changed, haven't they? Usually, I tend to push back against all the canceling going on today and the oversensitivity of today's generation. But here's an example where I just don't think the man making this picture understood how women normally feel about this sort of thing. I don't think women found it any cuter back in 1981 though it does seem to have played to audiences differently.

SonicMan46

Cotton Club (Encore) (1984/2019) w/ Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee, and so many others; FF Coppola, director - saw this film on release so many years ago; Coppola re-edited the film (taking out 13 mins and adding 24 mins) a few years ago; Susan wanted to see the movie, so bought on Amazon Prime in 4K/UHD for $10 (rental was $5) - kind of a 1920/30s gangster musical focusing on the historic Cotton Club in Harlem, NYC.  On release in the 80s, the film had mixed reviews and not well received - Coppola's restoration has changed the whole mood for me w/ much more emphasis on the black characters and the musical scenes, especially the fabulous tap dancing of the late Gregory Hines. Diane Lane and Lonette McKee (from Round Midnight) are also excellent; and Richard Gere played his own cornet scenes in the film.  Some reviews: Vanity Fair, Hi-Def Digest, Roger Ebert

The reviews above are all good to excellent for the 'new version' of Cotton Club - could have been even better but for myself, an improved production that I'll be watching again - if rating on Amazon, I would have given 3* for the 1984 release and now would up to 4* - recommended.  Dave :)

 

Karl Henning

Quote from: SonicMan46 on April 18, 2021, 08:36:12 AM
Cotton Club (Encore) (1984/2019) w/ Richard Gere, Gregory Hines, Diane Lane, Lonette McKee, and so many others; FF Coppola, director - saw this film on release so many years ago; Coppola re-edited the film (taking out 13 mins and adding 24 mins) a few years ago; Susan wanted to see the movie, so bought on Amazon Prime in 4K/UHD for $10 (rental was $5) - kind of a 1920/30s gangster musical focusing on the historic Cotton Club in Harlem, NYC.  On release in the 80s, the film had mixed reviews and not well received - Coppola's restoration has changed the whole mood for me w/ much more emphasis on the black characters and the musical scenes, especially the fabulous tap dancing of the late Gregory Hines. Diane Lane and Lonette McKee (from Round Midnight) are also excellent; and Richard Gere played his own cornet scenes in the film.  Some reviews: Vanity Fair, Hi-Def Digest, Roger Ebert

The reviews above are all good to excellent for the 'new version' of Cotton Club - could have been even better but for myself, an improved production that I'll be watching again - if rating on Amazon, I would have given 3* for the 1984 release and now would up to 4* - recommended.  Dave :)

 

Thanks for the "alert," Dave!
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

SonicMan46

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on April 18, 2021, 03:54:37 PM
Thanks for the "alert," Dave!

Thanks Karl - still some Coppola gangster mystique ala the Godfather films, but much more musical - so if the changed restoration is of interest, then try to view - Dave :)

Karl Henning

Quote from: SonicMan46 on April 18, 2021, 04:04:07 PM
Thanks Karl - still some Coppola gangster mystique ala the Godfather films, but much more musical - so if the changed restoration is of interest, then try to view - Dave :)

Will do, thanks!
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

drogulus

#31114
Quote from: milk on April 18, 2021, 07:37:33 AM
I got the feeling that Brooks thought the pathologically narcissist character he played here was cute.

     I've always thought Brooks knew exactly how his characters would be perceived. Did you ever see his "Marcel Marceau", the mime who doesn't shut up? It's the comedy of maximum annoyance. I think you're supposed to hate him a little.
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listener

#31115
Robert Morley and Margaret Rutherford with Kay Kendall in a backstage comedy about a repertory theatre company with the usual director - author  and cast problems.  CURTAIN UP  (1952)    I had a little bit of experience with a local amateur group so it had some interest for me.  THe music score is by Malcolm Arnold, that may make this of interest to someone.
"Keep your hand on the throttle and your eye on the rail as you walk through life's pathway."

George



Bob Odenkirk as John Wick. Loads of fun.
"I can't live without music, because music is life." - Yvonne Lefébure

bhodges

Klute (1971, dir. Alan J. Pakula, with Donald Sutherland, Roy Scheider, Charles Cioffi, and Jane Fonda) - Still powerful after all these years, thanks to Pakula's calm yet unnerving direction.

Film-grab.com has great stills, below:
https://film-grab.com/2014/06/19/klute/

--Bruce

aligreto

Who You Think I am





This is a quintessential French Film for me. The theme, the mood, the acting and the presentation are all very appealing, I find.

vandermolen

Ammonite - VG - recommended:
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).