Last Movie You Watched

[71 dB]

A word regarding James Horner.

I wish l could respect him more. He did solid work on some highly regarded films, Apollo 13 and Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan among them. But he had definite plagerist tendencies, and l keep running into reminders of that unfortunate fact.

A couple nights ago l happened upon a reference to the 1988 animated feature The Land Before Time, which l remembered seeing bits and pieces of over thirty years ago. I remembered liking some of the music, and Googled the soundtrack. The inevitable YouTube choices appeared, as did Horner's name.

I wanted to be fair, and thought, " This is a film for children, fairly well thought of before The Lion King came along and devoured its target audience. Maybe l won't hear anything suspicious, maybe it's really all Horner. "

I picked a track at random called, " The Migration. "

I heard Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliette.

Movie composers are not supposed to come up with the most original music unless asked to do so. They are supposed to come up with music that evokes the feelings the director wants. The director probably asked James Horner to write music that is very similar to Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliette and he delivered.

[George]

Corrently watching this very funny special.

[Karl Henning]

I guess I'm gearing up to re-watch A Clockwork Orange.

[Karl Henning]

So, yes, I've put A Clockwork Orange in the tray. Scheherazade was certainly an interesting musical choice for the scourging of the Christ.
Oh! I had forgotten that there's some Elgar, too, whose use is much more apposite than the Rimsky-Korsakov (at first)

[LKB]

So, yes, I've put A Clockwork Orange in the tray. Scheherazade was certainly an interesting musical choice for the scourging of the Christ.
Oh! I had forgotten that there's some Elgar, too, whose use is much more apposite than the Rimsky-Korsakov (at first)

Along with Rossini, Singing in the Rain and, of course, Ludwig Van, both synthesized and traditional.

It's a Helluva film, still hard to watch in a few scenes. I should find a good reaction to post in that thread...

[Karl Henning]

Along with Rossini, Singing in the Rain and, of course, Ludwig Van, both synthesized and traditional.

It's a Helluva film, still hard to watch in a few scenes. I should find a good reaction to post in that thread...

Aye. I cringe a bit during the scene where Malcom McDowell's head is restrained, knowing the torture (and injury) it caused him. Similarly, Knowing how Kubrick tormented Shelley Duvall makes The Shining something of an uncomfortable watch, too ....

[George]

Great flick!

[SimonNZ]

Great flick!

Yes! Deserves to be much better known.

Probably my favorite Spike Lee. Certainly my most watched at perhaps six times now.

[SonicMan46]

Oscar Nominations for Best Film - any interest? 

We've not gone out to a theater since 2019, but have streamed a few on the 2023 Oscar list below - boy, 10 films listed (Source) along w/ their producers.

The ones watched so far are The Banshees... (turned off); The Fabelmans (last night on Apple TV - enjoyed but not up to 'Best Movie' standards); All Quiet Western Front (also enjoyed - but the Ayres 1930 film still a favorite); and Tár (Cate Blanchett as a female conductor - we got bored and turned off - others in the forum may like?).

We plan to stream a few more of the remaining available ones - Top Gun & Avatar are on my list (but wife won't watch) - maybe Elvis?  Thoughts - Dave

Top Gun: Maverick - Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer, Christopher McQuarrie, ...
Women Talking - Frances McDormand, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
Everything Everywhere All at Once - Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang
The Banshees of Inisherin - Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin
Triangle of Sadness - Erik Hemmendorff, Philippe Bober
The Fabelmans - Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, Kristie Macosko Krieger
All Quiet on the Western Front - Malte Grunert
Avatar: The Way of Water - James Cameron, Jon Landau
Elvis - Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, ...
Tár - Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert

[relm1]

I am not Jewish but I loved The Chosen (1981) which was on tv yesterday.  Such a moving film with beautiful performances.  Young kids Danny (Robby Benson) and Reuven (Barry Miller) become good friends, even though they are from different branches of Judaism. Danny, a Hasidic Jew, meets Reuven, a Zionist, while playing softball. Although they have differences, their friendship grows strong. When they reach college, outspoken support by Reuven's professor father (Maximilian Schell) for a national Jewish state causes conflicts with Danny's conservative father (Rod Steiger), leading to tension for the friends.  The cast is so amazing and it's just a beautiful story, well told with excellent acting.  This film isn't just a coming of age film which was popular at the time "Breaking Away", "Saturday Night Fever", etc., but is much more than that.  It's about changing times too and reaching out to those you don't understand to fine they aren't that different than you.  This is way more than a film about two friends from different sects.  It's about times are changing and adapting to those changes as best you can.  A beautiful and universal film and I highly recommend it.   I loved it!

[71 dB]

Oscar Nominations for Best Film - any interest? 

I have come to the conclusion that awarding art is pointless. What is the point of awarding something that is very subjective? My favourite movies include big Oscar winners and movies that didn't get a single Oscar nomination. Most movies that have won many Oscars don't interest me at all or have been mediocre movies for me. I have my taste and it dictates what movies I like the best. Oscar winners are chosen by people with vastly different taste from my taste. I stopped caring about Oscars in the 90's. For me it only matters what I think about a movie myself.

Stop awarding things! It doesn't make sense! Instead give people chance to find their OWN favourites and admit any movie has value to people who enjoy them. I am sick and tired of the need to divide everything into winners and losers.

The only Oscars that make any sense are those in technical categories like special effects/sound/etc. Those things are somewhat objective, but what is the point awarding best special effects? Didn't everyone see with their own eyes Jurassic Park had the best effects in 1993?

Of the list of best movie nominees I am VERY interested of The Fabelmans because I am a Spielberg fan and I expect to enjoy the movie a lot (premier in Finland Feb. 17).  I have heard tons of praise for Everything Everywhere All at Once. I may check it out at some point. The other movies on the list do not interest me. I am interested of Insidious 5 that comes out in the summer, a movie that could never get Oscar nominations, but something I enjoy a liot.

I wouldn't object  The Fabelmans winning the Oscar, but I think  Everything Everywhere All at Once will win. It is clearly the "chosen one" this time around.

[Christo]

[Todd]

For the first time since before the pandemic, I made it a point to watch a movie on opening night.  Of course, You People is on Netflix, so that was easy enough.  Kenya Barris, who produced the TV shows Black-ish and #blackAF, sticks to similar themes here, where Jonah Hill's character falls in love with and gets engaged to Eddie Murphy's character's daughter.  The draw was to see the great Mr Murphy do full-on comedy again, and though restrained, some of his bits are top notch.  Jonah Hill does good work, never more than when he is responding to the inappropriate words and actions of his parents.  And those parents are David Duchovny and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.  Indeed, while the younger cast is good, it's the old hands that bring the biggest chuckles.  Hell, even Richard Benjamin gets a laugh.  The scenes with Murphy and Louis-Dreyfus are the best, and they are equally matched.  The family dinner scene, where the parents argue about which was worse, slavery or the Holocaust, is gold.  It's a by-the-numbers movie, but the best stuff makes it worth watching.

[Karl Henning]

A friend lent me Elf, which somehow I hadn't seen.

[SonicMan46]

Left the post below from yesterday regarding the current 'Best Movie' Oscar nominations (in bold the ones I've now seen).

Last night, watched Top Gun: Maverick and Elvis -  I really enjoyed Top Gun - good story, excellent specials (although an impossible mission -  ), and Cruise still in form although looking older (as he should in the film) - own the original and liked this one more - did a rental but could watch again - outstanding showing on Rotten Tomatoes (96% Critics; 99% Audience) - P.S. wife wasn't interested so listened on headphones and heard an exciting 'surround sound' experience - highly recommended for fans of the first movie!

Elvis - told from Colonel Parker's dying remembrances, so a twist on the story and an excellent performance by Austin Butler; good to very good reception (77% Rotten Tomatoes; 7.2, IMDB; and 'thumbs up' by recently deceased daughter, Lisa Marie) - more HERE - wife (not an Elvis fan at all) lost interest half way through and we turned the movie off - sorry, BUT if a fan, then likely a recommended watch.  Dave

Oscar Nominations for Best Film - any interest? ....  10 films listed (Source) along w/ their producers.....

The ones watched so far are The Banshees... (turned off); The Fabelmans (last night on Apple TV - enjoyed but not up to 'Best Movie' standards); All Quiet Western Front (also enjoyed - but the Ayres 1930 film still a favorite); and Tár (Cate Blanchett as a female conductor - we got bored and turned off - others in the forum may like?)..............

Top Gun: Maverick - Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer, Christopher McQuarrie, ...
Women Talking - Frances McDormand, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner
Everything Everywhere All at Once* - Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang
The Banshees of Inisherin - Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Peter Czernin
Triangle of Sadness - Erik Hemmendorff, Philippe Bober
The Fabelmans - Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner, Kristie Macosko Krieger
All Quiet on the Western Front - Malte Grunert
Avatar: The Way of Water - James Cameron, Jon Landau
Elvis - Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Gail Berman, ...
Tár - Todd Field, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Lambert

[ritter]

A gem from 1950's Italian cinema...



Mario Monicelli's I soliti ignoti ("Big Deal on Madonna Street" or "Persons Unknown"), from 1958, is a choral comedy with many distinguished actors (Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroiani, Claudia Cardinale, Totó) about a group of forlorn inhabitants of Rome who plan an overambitious and ill-fated robbery. It mixes the funny with the sentimental and the absurd. Great fun!

[SimonNZ]

On tv last night:



Seen this a couple of times before, but its lots of fun so got hooked again.

[George]

On tv last night:



Seen this a couple of times before, but its lots of fun so got hooked again.

I must see that again!

[Madiel]

I have come to the conclusion that awarding art is pointless. What is the point of awarding something that is very subjective? My favourite movies include big Oscar winners and movies that didn't get a single Oscar nomination. Most movies that have won many Oscars don't interest me at all or have been mediocre movies for me. I have my taste and it dictates what movies I like the best. Oscar winners are chosen by people with vastly different taste from my taste. I stopped caring about Oscars in the 90's. For me it only matters what I think about a movie myself.

Stop awarding things! It doesn't make sense! Instead give people chance to find their OWN favourites and admit any movie has value to people who enjoy them. I am sick and tired of the need to divide everything into winners and losers.

The only Oscars that make any sense are those in technical categories like special effects/sound/etc. Those things are somewhat objective, but what is the point awarding best special effects? Didn't everyone see with their own eyes Jurassic Park had the best effects in 1993?

Of the list of best movie nominees I am VERY interested of The Fabelmans because I am a Spielberg fan and I expect to enjoy the movie a lot (premier in Finland Feb. 17).  I have heard tons of praise for Everything Everywhere All at Once. I may check it out at some point. The other movies on the list do not interest me. I am interested of Insidious 5 that comes out in the summer, a movie that could never get Oscar nominations, but something I enjoy a liot.

I wouldn't object  The Fabelmans winning the Oscar, but I think  Everything Everywhere All at Once will win. It is clearly the "chosen one" this time around.

How do you propose people find their own favourites?

Because how do people find out about films and choose to watch them? If you prevent human beings telling you which films they think are good, you're just going to leave it to algorithms.

Either that or alphabetic listings and every damn film is going to have a title starting with aardvark.

I'll be seeing Banshees of Inisherin tomorrow. Why? Well in large part because other people keep communicating positive information about it. Including nominating it for awards. How dare they.

People often cite the fact that art is subjective, but then make the error of thinking this means the probability of different people liking or disliking the same art is completely random.

[71 dB]

How do you propose people find their own favourites?

I don't think I have found any of my favourites by looking how many Oscars they won. I have found my favourites in various ways such as just watching TV and realizing I like what I see. The more movies I see, the more I learn about my own taste and I can better "predict" if I would like a movie or not. I recognise "patterns": Directors, actors, genres, time period, countries of origin etc. I don't think how you do it, but this is how I do it.

Because how do people find out about films and choose to watch them? If you prevent human beings telling you which films they think are good, you're just going to leave it to algorithms.

People telling other people what they think about a movie is completely ok. What I am against are these "institutions" telling us the word of God what is good or bad as nearly objective truth.

Leave it to algorithms? What algorithms?

Either that or alphabetic listings and every damn film is going to have a title starting with aardvark.

I don't use listings, but whatever.

I'll be seeing Banshees of Inisherin tomorrow. Why? Well in large part because other people keep communicating positive information about it. Including nominating it for awards. How dare they.

As I said, normal people talking about movies is totally ok. Even "nominations" are somewhat ok. They are like saying "this is good". Oscars and other prizes are what I am against. Year after year one movie sweeps the "important" Oscars and becomes "superior" to all other movies. Oscars would make more sense if movies typically won say 3 Oscars at most (this movie had best music, but that movie had best directing and this third one had best actor in leading part, but the fourh movie had best supporting actress...)

That said, hope you enjoy the movie tomorrow. 

People often cite the fact that art is subjective, but then make the error of thinking this means the probability of different people liking or disliking the same art is completely random.

People's taste overlap more or less. If I like things ABCD in movies and you like CDEF, we both will probably like movies with CD, but we probably disagree about movies having EF or AB etc.