Last Movie You Watched

[kishnevi]

I didn't know there was a remake,  although I remember seeing ads for sequels to the original.
And trying to produce an appropriate title...Omen II. The Second Coming.

[lisa needs braces]

Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole is one of the most scathing indictments of American culture ever produced by a Hollywood filmmaker. Kirk Douglas gives the fiercest performance of his career as Chuck Tatum, an amoral newspaper reporter who washes up in dead-end Albuquerque, happens upon the scoop of a lifetime, and will do anything to keep getting the lurid headlines. Wilder's follow-up to Sunset Boulevard is an even darker vision, a no-holds-barred expos, of the American media's appetite for sensation that has gotten only more relevant with time.

[asin]B00IGK6T9W[/asin]

James, please stop spamming the thread with these type of posts. They're lazy and clog up the thread. Share your thoughts instead. Even if your opinion is wrong and bad it would be more interesting than the tiresome Amazon accolades you keep posting.

[Ken B]

James, please stop spamming the thread with these type of posts. They're lazy and clog up the thread. Share your thoughts instead. Even if your opinion is wrong and bad it would be more interesting than the tiresome Amazon accolades you keep posting.

James is an agent for the Stockhausen/Criterion Industrial Complex.

[SonicMan46]

James, please stop spamming the thread with these type of posts. They're lazy and clog up the thread. Share your thoughts instead. Even if your opinion is wrong and bad it would be more interesting than the tiresome Amazon accolades you keep posting.

OH, my fingers are pretty nimble on the trackpad when needed - Dave  

[SonicMan46]

Amazing Spider-Man 2, The (2014) w/ Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx (as Electro), & Dane DeHann (as the Green Goblin) - streamed last night off Amazon - basically disappointed (I enjoyed Garfield as Peter Parker in the re-boot of this series in the first film - had a more interesting personality than Toby M., for me).  The Amazonians were mixed, i.e. 3.3/5* overall, but w/ nearly 20% of the votes being only 1 or 2 stars; IMDB, 7.1/10; Rotten Tomatoes, 53% (i.e. rotten) from the critics, but 69% from the audience.

Now, I'm a big fan of these types of films and will at least stream most releases, but rarely purchase these days - this film is in the latter category - my rating would be no more than 3* on Amazon, but probably 2 1/2* if possible.  The younger crowd into overwhelming CGI graphics w/ a lot of noise would be more receptive.  Recommendation - see at your own risk - Dave

[Karl Henning]

James is an agent for the Stockhausen/Criterion Industrial Complex.

We should also have to consider whether we really want to know any actual opinion he would express.

The answer may not be the obvious one . . . .

[Ken B]

We should also have to consider whether we really want to know any actual opinion he would express.

The answer may not be the obvious one . . . .

Joking aside I do. I agree with James on quite a lot actually (not all!). Neither of us are nihilists who believe art is a delusion.

[Karl Henning]

I don't think I could create art, and think it's a delusion.  But perhaps I delude myself . . . .

[George]

About to watch the first episode(s) of the 5 hour original TV series.

[SonicMan46]

Shame (I still want to see it though, and I'll probably buy it when the price lowers over time) .. the best Spiderman film is still Part 2 of the Raimi series, so well executed & performed, great action, visuals ..  AND with that conflicted emotional center that was so well played & touching. I thought the re-boot was good too, really captured the spirit of the actual comic-book (which was one of my favorites going up!) .. I'm a sucker for all the film adaptions of comics too, as comics were a big part of my childhood .. so it's part nostalgia, part how well they are actually doing them these days ..

Hi James - well, I did buy the first one w/ Garfield on BD, but not this one and I'm sure this 'new series' will be at least a trilogy from the ending (won't be a spoiler) - I'm not going to hold my breath though - probably just more continual fabulous CGI and a LOT of noise - sorry.  Dave

[Brian]

Boyhood.  Possibly the apogee of naturalistic filmmaking.  There's not really a narrative plot, and there doesn't need to be one.   The movie is long and slow, but never boring.  The main cast is superb, with Ellar Coltrane doing exceptionally fine work for such a young actor.  But the movie belongs to Patricia Arquette, who gives a truly great performance.  If she doesn't win a boatload of awards, including an Oscar, there is no justice in Hollywood.

Just saw it. Wow, what a movie. I have never seen a film that so perfectly captures what it means to be a kid - especially a kid of my generation, ish. The main characters are 5 years younger than I am and way more addicted to video games, but those aren't the important details; the thing they get so right is the mind of being a kid, how you see the world. And then they do it perfectly again for teenagerhood, and the laughable bullshit profundity of college students on shrooms. And at the same time that those two miracles are going on, there's the ongoing third miracle, the story of the parents, and what it's like being a mom, being a dad, having step-children you suddenly are obliged to care for.

I feel lucky to have seen a movie so wise, so empathetic. And yes, Hawke is superb, Coltrane is destined to be a memorable character actor, Richard Linklater's real-life daughter steals several of the early scenes, and Patricia Arquette...oh boy. You're right; her final scene better have clinched an Oscar. Not a nomination, an Oscar.

[Bogey]

Shame (I still want to see it though, and I'll probably buy it when the price lowers over time) .. the best Spiderman film is still Part 2 of the Raimi series, so well executed & performed, great action, visuals ..  AND with that conflicted emotional center that was so well played & touching. I thought the re-boot was good too, really captured the spirit of the actual comic-book (which was one of my favorites going up!) .. I'm a sucker for all the film adaptions of comics too, as comics were a big part of my childhood .. so it's part nostalgia, part how well they are actually doing them these days ..

One of the BEST out there in this genre....or even under the broader umbrella of ACTION movie.

[lisa needs braces]

Games of Thrones, Season 2



I completed viewing the ten episodes of the second season and loved every bit of it. Lots of heart break, action and involving storytelling. The acting and production values are compelling (I especially liked wintry  scenes filmed "Beyond the Wall." It must not have been easy to film that.) I watched the plot unfold with fascination and dread.

Much has been said about the performances of the various actors but I didn't hear much about the guy who plays Stannis Barathon.



The character is absolutely ruthless but I sort of rooted for him because he wasn't as clownish as his brothers and had the most regal presence since Ned Stark.

[lisa needs braces]

Dune is one of my favorite novels, and I did see the David Lynch version and the Sci-Fi miniseries from fourteen years ago. I didn't know though there was an attempt at an adaptation which preceded Lynch's version and had a fair amount of pre-production done but never got off the ground. They recently made a documentary about this never-made Dune film. Looks compelling!!

Orson Wells as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen! Oh, what a film it would have been (there's a great joke in the trailer about how the director convinced a reluctant Wells to agree to the role.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg4OCeSTL08

[Bogey]

My 16 year old lad and I watched this last night.  He thought it was brilliant.  Needless to say, I agreed with and was most pleased with his assessment.  So many layers of greatness here with regard to film making by Lumet and crew.  Angles, lens choice, lighting....on and on and on.  On a fun note, and with the exception of a couple, this is one of the best films for saying, "What else have I seen him in?" 

[Karl Henning]

My 16 year old lad and I watched this last night.  He thought it was brilliant.  Needless to say, I agreed with and was most pleased with his assessment.  So many layers of greatness here with regard to film making by Lumet and crew.  Angles, lens choice, lighting....on and on and on.  On a fun note, and with the exception of a couple, this is one of the best films for saying, "What else have I seen him in?" 

Whatever else is done with the camera and the film idiom, there's simply no substitute for a script which is excellent theatre.

Thread Duty:  Last night, in my ongoing stroll through the Night Gallery, "The Last Rites of a Dead Druid."  I admit that because of my teenage TV viewing, I have pretty much type-cast Bill Bixby in his role in The Courtship of Eddie's Father (and, for my own reasons, I never cared for his Hulk project);  so it was very enjoyable to see him in a role which demanded a different range.  Another aspect of good fun was Ned Glass as the shop owner, and the delicate touch of his character being "Mr Bernstein," since one of my earliest sights of the actor was as Doc in West Side Story.

[Bogey]

Whatever else is done with the camera and the film idiom, there's simply no substitute for a script which is excellent theatre.

Truth. 

It is nice when all of them come together.

[Karl Henning]

Truth. 

It is nice when all of them come together.

Absolutely!  I do not at all mind watching the occasional film which is "only" the video record of a fine performance of an excellent play;  but the possibilities of the medium are greater than mere stenography.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

A gripping documentary about the "Toynbee Tiles" - I found several in the street myself, investigated and discovered this film that resolves much of their mystery and is well-worth the viewing.  Deserved broader attn. than it rec'd; really, two stories in one: the mystery itself and the story of one man's obsession with it.  Remarkable story remarkably told.

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[Jaakko Keskinen]

A fine movie though the ending goes on for a bit too long and the character of Forrest is a bit awkward (yes, I know it was intentionally so but I think the awkwardness should (and could) be still portrayed somewhat more interestingly) The best character, to me, is not Forrest but lieutenant Dan. Gary Sinise nails it. And the score is hard-core.