Last Movie You Watched

[Karl Henning]

Well, I'll be a ringwraith's nephew!

[North Star]

This one is for you, Karl..

Wonderful. 

[Karl Henning]

Just read this, quite touching.

[North Star]

Just read this, quite touching.

I'm not familiar with Ebert's writings, but the legendary Finnish film historian and director Peter von Bagh's death was just announced today.

[Karl Henning]

Curious timing!

[North Star]

Curious timing!

Indeed!

[Wakefield]

I think in a documentation about the making of "Fitzcarraldo" Herzog claimed that the Natives they worked with offered him to kill Kinski because they witnessed Kinski's tantrums and verbal abuse and even physical attacks against Herzog. (Some of these tantrums are also on the docu.) Herzog apparently was seriously tempted by the offer...

As a person Kinski was a misery: a true SOB and reportedly a child abuser, so it could have been a symbolic and fair end to him. 

[Mookalafalas]

Herzog made a doc about Kinsky, too, called "My Best Fiend".  Quite a character.

[Wakefield]

Just read this, quite touching.

I arrived late to Ebert's reviews and never experienced his figure as the sort of Tsar that he was for many people in America. So, I think I'm quite objective if I say he is one of the very few cinema critics that I consider not only a guy with superior insight and analytic powers, but also a great writer. His blog is a true trove of great reviews. IMO, Ebert and the Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante are two of the greatest cinema critics that the world has seen. 

[TheGSMoeller]

As a person Kinski was a misery: a true SOB and reportedly a child abuser, so it could have been a symbolic and fair end to him.

I read his autobiography, it's disturbingly amusing. But I was such a fan of work in Herzog films I just had to give it a go. The man was definitely a talent, but lived a very graphic lifestyle.

[lisa needs braces]

I arrived late to Ebert's reviews and never experienced his figure as the sort of Tsar that he was for many people in America. So, I think I'm quite objective if I say he is one of the very few cinema critics that I consider not only a guy with superior insight and analytic powers, but also a great writer. His blog is a true trove of great reviews. IMO, Ebert and the Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante are two of the greatest cinema critics that the world has seen. 

I remember one of the first things I started doing when I got access to the internet was searching for movie reviews, and behold, Ebert had an incisive and entertaining opinion on most films. And then later on he started doing an essay series called Great Movies that was a great guide for any budding cinephile. His death hit me hard as his was a voice I came to know, respect and rely on. In fact, from the years of 1999 to 2006, the first thing I would do every Friday morning would be to read Ebert's new reviews at his Chicago Sun Times website. 

[Wakefield]

I remember one of the first things I started doing when I got access to the internet was searching for movie reviews, and behold, Ebert had an incisive and entertaining opinion on most films. And then later on he started doing an essay series called Great Movies that was a great guide for any budding cinephile. His death hit me hard as his was a voice I came to know, respect and rely on. In fact, from the years of 1999 to 2006, the first thing I would do every Friday morning would be to read Ebert's new reviews at his Chicago Sun Times website. 

Nice memories, abe.

Thanks for sharing! 

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I liked Thor well enough first time I saw it, as camp as it was, but I think the movie was bit too short, so characters were not developed enough. Or maybe the reason I think the movie is too short is because when I think of Branagh his 4 hour-Hamlet film springs to mind first.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Belle is beautifully costumed and acted but so great are the liberties taken with history ("based on the inspiring true story") reads the poster - holy frijoles!, is that movie hyperbole or what? - and the story so self-consciously contrived as to render it embarrassing to watch.  "You're pulling my legs" (as an Ethiopian student assistant once exclaimed to me - his English was very good but those idiomatic expressions are tricksy); still, the plural seems to apply in this case.

[asin]B00KRGJ030[/asin]

[Brian]

It was a first viewing for me, and it won't be the last I can assure you. It was like a page right out of William Shakespeare. A Citizen Kane of a different kind.

You mean Branagh's Hamlet, right?

[Karl Henning]

I thought he meant Thor.

[Brian]

I thought he meant Thor.

I was desperately hoping he didn't mean Thor, because that would bring up the question of whether he was being witty or nutty.

[North Star]

I was desperately hoping he didn't mean Thor, because that would bring up the question of whether he was being witty or nutty.

It's James you're talking about, is the answer unambiguous? 

[George]

It's James you're talking about, is the answer unambiguous? 

The answer will be written by an online reviewer and posted years later by a Bach fan on this very site.

[Linus]

Maleficent (2014)



PROS:

- The idea ain't bad (theme: how to deal with hatred)
- Jolie is quite good and humorous at times
- There's this one very clever scene that surprised me

CONS:

- Aesthetically reminds me of early 90s websites: too much of everything (*bling, bling*)
- Why not make Maleficent more like the Joker of The Dark Night? Missed opportunity

Easily my favourite Disney villain, had to see it.

Grade: **---