Last Movie You Watched

[mahler10th]

Insanely good! The acting is solid, the direction is sharp and the cinematography is at times polished and rough. The plot takes some unexpected turns that contribute to a thrilling end result. It's difficult to write without giving away too many plot points, but I will say that the trailers only offers about 35% of the story. My expectations were met and exceded multiple times over, I'm anxious for a second viewing.
3.5 - 4 stars

Excellent.  I must see that, based solely on your excitement about it.   

[Sergeant Rock]

The Fifth Element is on for the billionth time. WTF is this movie about? I've never seen the entirety, and tonight I have to have the sound off,...
Someone please help me out here.

Try this: watch it from beginning to end, in that order, all the way through. And have the sound on    That should help enormously.

Sarge

[George]

Try this: watch it from beginning to end, in that order, all the way through. And have the sound on    That should help enormously.

Sarge

Know your audience, Sarge. 

[DavidRoss]

Oh. My. (Good thing I don't have a heart condition!)

Looper Insanely good! The acting is solid, the direction is sharp and the cinematography is at times polished and rough. The plot takes some unexpected turns that contribute to a thrilling end result. It's difficult to write without giving away too many plot points, but I will say that the trailers only offers about 35% of the story. My expectations were met and exceded multiple times over, I'm anxious for a second viewing.

You piqued my interest. And it features Emily Blunt.

Try this: watch it from beginning to end, in that order, all the way through. And have the sound on    That should help enormously.

Except when Chris Tucker speaks. Then the mute switch is a godsend.

My wife and I have begun watching the latest season of Doc Martin. Our cheeks ache from grinning.

[mahler10th]

My wife and I have begun watching the latest season of Doc Martin. Our cheeks ache from grinning.

I didn't know Doc Martin was networked in America.  It is a nice wee comedy so it is.  Happy viewing!

[TheGSMoeller]

Oh. My. (Good thing I don't have a heart condition!)
You piqued my interest. And it features Emily Blunt.
Except when Chris Tucker speaks. Then the mute switch is a godsend.

Blunt is a good actress, not sure what I've seen from her before, but very good in Looper (and easy on the eyes)

And yes about Tucker and The Fifth Element, he comes awfully close to ruining the whole film.

[CriticalI]

Except when Chris Tucker speaks. Then the mute switch is a godsend.

But that was the best bit! 


I'm suspicious of all the praise Looper has garnered. Can a mainstream hit be all that great? In my experience, no.

(But I'd like to be proved wrong.)

[George]

But that was the best bit! 


I'm suspicious of all the praise Looper has garnered. Can a mainstream hit be all that great? In my experience, no.

I'd tend to agree, but there are some exceptions - Fight Club, Dark Knight, the first Matrix.

[DavidRoss]

I'm suspicious of all the praise Looper has garnered. Can a mainstream hit be all that great? In my experience, no.

(But I'd like to be proved wrong.)

Then you could broaden your experience by viewing award winning mainstream hits over the past 5 or 6 decades.... There are dozens of examples from Australian cinema alone.

[CriticalI]

Then you could broaden your experience by viewing award winning mainstream hits over the past 5 or 6 decades....

Everyone knows the Oscars are won by the best films

[George]

Everyone knows the Oscars are won by the best films

[TheGSMoeller]

I'm suspicious of all the praise Looper has garnered. Can a mainstream hit be all that great? In my experience, no.

(But I'd like to be proved wrong.)

It's hardly a mainstream hit, I think it could be considered an independent film (four different companies get credit, none of the bigger Hollywood names listed), in fact it's budget was only $30 mill according to IMDB.com.

Everyone knows the Oscars are won by the best films

The most popular films at that time is more like it, or which films offer the best marketing campaign around Oscar season.

[Lilas Pastia]

Just for the Record, I think some of my favs are:


Blow Up
The Ninth Configuration
Vampyr (eh)

The Carl Dreyer classic?

Re: Fifth Element: a sci-fi spoof that has attained cult status. I always flip when Diva Plavalaguna sings her version of Lucia's Mad Scene. The monks in the pyramid is a good scene too.

It's true that listening to the end with the sound on is a good idea.

[CaughtintheGaze]

Would have been a really enjoyable watching experience, if it wasn't that damn enhanced edition (Greedo didn't shoot first). I did love watching Sir Alec's contempt throughout, which did help rescue my enjoyment.

[asin]B000FQJAIW[/asin]

I don't know what it is about Stephen King's miniseries, but I adore them all. I think it might be because I genuinely believe that he wants to create something good and that something is just lost in translation. This is my personal favorite, as I like the setting, and I think all of the actors did a fine job (plus some early work of Bones).

[asin]B000063US5[/asin]

[snyprrr]

The Carl Dreyer classic?

of course Perfect for a rainy afternoon.

[DavidRoss]

Everyone knows the Oscars are won by the best films

False. (Yes, I know you're being smugly sarcastic, in keeping with the ill-founded sense of superiority that underlies many of your comments -- and which, not coincidentally, makes it unnecessarily difficult for you to learn.)

There is no necessary relationship between the artistic virtue of a film and receipt of an Oscar--except that Oscar-winning films generally have excellent production values. Sometimes great movies win Oscars. Sometimes beautifully manufactured crap wins Oscars.

Note also that there is no necessary relationship between movies being, as you said, "mainstream hits," and movies that win Oscars. Sometimes hits win Oscars, but I most mainstream hits don't even get nominated for Oscars, let alone win them (though these days many of them make a good showing in the special effects categories).

A good way to start correcting your mistaken belief that "mainstream hits" cannot be "great" is by checking out the films on the AFI's greatest films lists (here, for instance: http://www.filmsite.org/afi400films.html ) or the BFI's similar lists (i.e. http://www.bfi.org.uk/news/50-greatest-films-all-time ). Most likely you will find that such lists include a number of movies widely recognized as great that were also mainstream hits.

Another approach would be to check lists like the Australian Film Institutes list of movies with the greatest number of admissions: http://www.afi.org.au/AM/ContentManagerNet/HTMLDisplay.aspx?ContentID=10128&Section=Australian_Films_All_Time_Domestic_Admissions_Top_100 .  Many of the movies on this list of unarguably mainstream hits are also "great" films, are they not?

[mc ukrneal]

There is no necessary relationship between the artistic virtue of a film and receipt of an Oscar--except that Oscar-winning films generally have excellent production values. Sometimes great movies win Oscars. Sometimes beautifully manufactured crap wins Oscars.

hmmm.I am not so sure about the last statement. I cannot really think of a film that was that bad and won. Of course, all of this is subjective, so we may just differ on our preference. Did you have a film in mind when you wrote this?

[Todd]

I cannot really think of a film that was that bad and won.

How about Titanic or The Greatest Show on Earth.

[DavidRoss]

How about Titanic or The Greatest Show on Earth.

Both awful.

hmmm.I am not so sure about the last statement. I cannot really think of a film that was that bad and won. Of course, all of this is subjective, so we may just differ on our preference. Did you have a film in mind when you wrote this?

I had Titanic in mind. Beautifully made but sheer, unadulterated dreck.

[mc ukrneal]

How about Titanic or The Greatest Show on Earth.

Well I refuse to watch Titanic (spolier: the ship sinks) and I must say that I don't remember the other very well. I never can watch the fall and turn it off before that. I just hate that scene.

Both awful.
I had Titanic in mind. Beautifully made but sheer, unadulterated dreck.

Ok. Titanic is one of the few I have not scene (did I mention that the ship sinks? ).