Last Movie You Watched

[Antoine Marchand]

These crazy Japs are fantastic... 

[Conor71]

Good actioner - I was pleasantly suprised, pretty entertaining! .

[MN Dave]

BATMAN: Under the Red Hood
Not a bad animated adventure flick. 

[George]

Very, very funny. Also touching, clever, real and ultimately very enjoyable. I am surprised I didn't hear more about this one.

Oh and did I mention that Julianna Margulies is in this one? 

[Philoctetes]

This actually looks like it may be worth watching:

http://www.youtube.com/v/8stNUjGXBXM

[karlhenning]

Last night:

The Zeffirelli/Gibson Hamlet.  First time Maria has seen it! (I had watched it with Irina some little time ago.)

Funny Face.  Although this was one of the DVDs on offer at the Exhibition Shop a few years ago when there was a Fashion Show exhibit at the MFA's Gund Gallery, I only saw odd clips of it . . . so this was actually the first I have seen the whole thing. Maria and Irina didn't know that Audrey Hepburn & Fred Astaire had ever made a movie together. A little silly, a little syrupy, but watchable.

[DavidW]

I watched Chloe.  This exists in a strange world.  First of all college profs don't usually dress up, but all of the ones in this movie are dressed sharply as if they actually cared about their appearance.

Also in the middle of a neighbor of traditional colonial style houses is this avant-garde chic glass house monstrosity that doesn't fit with the rest of the neighborhood, is well outside what a college prof even married to a gynecologist could afford, and offers no privacy.  I mean their son is having sex in his room twice in the movie but doesn't care that his window is the entire wall and looks out on the street?  I mean shit, don't you want some privacy there?

Oh yeah the movie is also too obvious, you can figure out everything that happens in the first 5-10 minutes.  Ah well it did have some nice eye candy.

2/5

[George]

Oh yeah the movie is also too obvious, you can figure out everything that happens in the first 5-10 minutes.  Ah well it did have some nice eye candy.

I agree on all counts David. 

[Todd]

I decided to try a movie related to classical music, in this case the international box office sensation Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.  The "big" star here is Mads Mikkelsen as the titular composer.  Otherwise the film is stuffed with actors and actresses I don't recall ever having seen before.  First things first: This film is gorgeous.  The sets, the costumes, the scenery, the photography – all are top notch.  And at the beginning of the movie there is an abbreviated take on the first performance of The Rite of Spring, with all major players included – Diaghilev, Nijinsky, and even Monteux are all on screen.  The performance is tame-ish by modern standards, and the dancing is not especially shocking, either, though by 1913 standards, it's easy to see why it caused something of a ruckus.

Everything else is a bit less compelling.  What's the point of the affair between these two, and where is the passion?  I don't know too much about the two main characters' personal lives, mostly because I couldn't care less about such things, so I don't know how accurate the portrayals are, not that that matters in any way in a film.  Mikkelsen renders Stravinsky a bit wimpier than I would have thought appropriate, and Anna Mouglalis actress who plays Chanel makes her a cold, manipulative, and assertive woman.  Both are good as far as it goes, and Ms Mouglalis strikes me as a talented, attractive amalgam of Cate Blanchet and Madeleine Stowe, with a hypnotic, giraffe-like neck thrown in for good measure.  I do wish the movie made less use of The Rite throughout the movie, most of which is set in 1920, and that there was more to latch onto.  Still, it was enjoyable enough for one viewing.

[Drasko]

Fine film, great performances from Brooks and Beery, picture quality leaves a lot to be desired though.

http://www.examiner.com/classic-movies-in-new-york/louise-brooks-stars-william-wellman-s-beggars-of-life-1928

[DavidRoss]

Terrific movie, by Sam Mendes, of all people.  It's a warm, honest tale of two thirty-somethings in love and on a quest to grow up and make a home for themselves and the first-born child they're expecting.

It's hard to believe that the same guy who directed the viciously passive-aggressive movie filled with hateful bigotry toward America, American Beauty, made this lovely, touching, and very sweet film.  I guess Mendes has grown up a lot himself in the past ten years.  Marriage and children tend to do that to us.

[Antoine Marchand]

Terrific movie, by Sam Mendes, of all people.  It's a warm, honest tale of two thirty-somethings in love and on a quest to grow up and make a home for themselves and the first-born child they're expecting.

It's hard to believe that the same guy who directed the viciously passive-aggressive movie filled with hateful bigotry toward America, American Beauty, made this lovely, touching, and very sweet film.  I guess Mendes has grown up a lot himself in the past ten years.  Marriage and children tend to do that to us.

I loved American Beauty when I saw it ten years ago. I was 29 years old and I went out of the cinema totally destroyed. Probably, I was (am) so immature like Sam Mendes was then... 

[George]

I loved American Beauty when I saw it ten years ago. I was 29 years old and I went out of the cinema totally destroyed. Probably, I was (am) so immature like Sam Mendes was then... 

I loved both films, so I wonder where that puts me?

[Antoine Marchand]

I loved both films, so I wonder where that puts me?

Maybe some Psychological Assessment would help to you with the answer. 

[George]

Maybe some Psychological Assessment would help to you with the answer. 

[Philoctetes]

I loved both films, so I wonder where that puts me?

As well you should, Mendes makes gorgeous films. And American Beauty has Chris Carter who was fucking brilliant in his role, and Spacey was actually watchable, which was shocking to me (I rank him and Cage on a similar level).

[Antoine Marchand]

As well you should, Mendes makes gorgeous films. And American Beauty has Chris Carter who was fucking brilliant in his role, and Spacey was actually watchable, which was shocking to me (I rank him and Cage on a similar level).

Cage? Nicholas Cage? Impossible, Kevin Spacey is a great actor. Cage is a damn actor overacted.

[DavidRoss]

I hated American Beauty.  Fine craftsmanship in the service of dreck. 

[SonicMan46]

A number of years ago I started to 'burn' DVDs off the TCM (Turner Classic Movie) channel - I now have hundreds of these discs and not sure how many I want to keep, so I've decided to go from 'A to Z' - will simply list the films that I think are worthwhile (IMO) - these will all be older movies, most in B&W - will start with the beginning of the alphabet - 

Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940) w/ Massey & Gordon - a must SEE for early Lincoln - Massey excellent!

Across the Pacific (1942) w/ Bogart, Astor, & Greenstreet - enjoyable Bogie but not the greatest!

Alice Adams (1935) w/ Hepburn & MacMurray - Hepburn at this age just beautiful & vulnerable!

All the King's Men (1949) w/ Crawford & Dru - Oscar for Crawford; 4* ratings only - a MUST!

Anna Karenina (1935) w/ Garbo & March - one of her best, but how is one to judge Garbo?

Asphalt Jungle, The (1950) w/ Hayden & Calhern - another classic from this era.

Now there are many more films that I have kept but will stick to just a half dozen (or less depending on the letter) for the remainder - obviously, my personal selection of these older films; keep in mind that these are DVDs burned from the TCM channel; I have a lot of others on purchased DVDs - let me know if these listings will be of interest - if not, then I'll stop making them - thanks all and enjoy - Dave 

[Antoine Marchand]

I hated American Beauty.  Fine craftsmanship in the service of dreck.

These lines would save even a bad movie, which American Beauty is not:


http://www.youtube.com/v/xu8_8TJC9E8


Ricky Fitts: "It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. And this bag was, like, dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. And that's the day I knew there was this entire life behind things, and... this incredibly benevolent force, that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video's a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember... and I need to remember... Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in".

P.S.: Well... the video is not complete, the audio is out of sync and the transcription is not exact... But, the idea is clear, I suppose.