Last Movie You Watched

[Wanderer]

Films I saw during the summer in jasmin-scented open-air cinemas: The Burnt Orange Heresy (very much recommended; excellent acting, beautiful locations, some good dialogue about art), The Producers (the 1967 one, a great favourite), Deux moi (French), Pain and Glory (typical Almodóvar, one of his better efforts).

I also recently saw Tenet at a local movie theatre in what could only be described as a private screening (six people in the audience, including myself). It was (predictably, reviews were mostly scathing) a stylized disaster of a film. The script was mostly laughable, the main premise threadbare beyond redemption. Worse, directing was needlessly opaque and deliberately confusing, obviously wanting the audience to sit through another screening to sort things out. Fat chance, Christopher. Cinematography, special effects and acting at a very high level. At least the film wasn't boring, the action sequences are shrewdly very close to one another so one doesn't need to linger too much in the script's expositional ridiculousness (and one can tell that, even though the film lasts for almost 2,5 hours, editing has been ruthless). What it ultimately felt like: a good-looking, forgettable, self-important piece of action cinema. See it in a movie theatre (you know, if you can), because its only redeeming qualities demand a big screen, but do not expect anything deep or meaningful.

[SonicMan46]

Some more BD replacements for DVDs in my collection:

Picnic (1955) w/ William Holden, Kim Novak, Rosalind Russell, Arthur O'Connell, Cliff Robertson, & a teenage Susan Strasberg - short synopsis below; Holden and Novak are just so appealing in this film w/ Kim's red hair!  A favorite film of mine for decades - highly recommended.

Sergeant York (1941) w/ Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie, and others. Edited synopsis below - nominated for 11 Oscars, won 2 including Cooper as 'Best Actor'; lost to 'How Green Was My Valley' for 'Best Picture' - stiff competition for that award at the 1942 Oscars event (see table below) - again, highly recommended.  Dave

Picnic is a 1955 romantic comedy-drama film filmed in Cinemascope. It was adapted for the screen by Daniel Taradash from William Inge's 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. Joshua Logan, director of the original Broadway stage production, directed the film version, which stars William Holden, Kim Novak, and Rosalind Russell, with Susan Strasberg and Cliff Robertson in supporting roles. Picnic was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won two. The film dramatizes 24 hours in the life of a small Kansas town in the mid-20th century. It revolves around the Labor Day holiday. It is the story of an outsider whose appearance disrupts and rearranges the lives of those with whom he comes into contact. (Source)

Sergeant York is a 1941 American biographical film about the life of Alvin C. York, one of the most-decorated American soldiers of World War I, and was directed by Howard Hawks. The film was based on the diary of Sergeant Alvin York. York refused, several times, to authorize a film version of his life story, but finally yielded. The story that York insisted on Gary Cooper for the title role derives from the fact that producer Jesse L. Lasky recruited Cooper by writing a plea that he accept the role and then signed York's name to the telegram. Cooper went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal. The film also won for Best Film Editing and was nominated in nine other categories, including Best Picture, Director (Hawks), Supporting Actor (Walter Brennan), and Supporting Actress (Margaret Wycherly). The American Film Institute ranked the film 57th in the its 100 most inspirational American movies. It also rated Alvin York 35th in its list of the top 50 heroes in American cinema. (Source)

 

[LKB]

Moon

I remember seeing Moon in the theater and being impressed by Duncan Jones' first feature, a rare mix of hard sci-fi and speculative paranoia.

Source Code was entertaining as well, though I'd say the concept wore out its welcome somewhat along the way.

LKB

[Karl Henning]

The Big Lebowski

[T. D.]

The Big Lebowski

Big thumbs up to that one! Missed it when released even though I like Jeff Bridges and the Coens; maybe I doubted the Bros. could direct comedy. Only discovered it 10+ years later via DVD.  Can't forget the great scene in which the nude Julianne Moore splatters paint onto a canvas while flying through the air on a trapeze!

Watched this:

Got good reviews, and I considered seeing it in a cinema (remember those?) when released. But I found it rather predictable and formulaic.

[71 dB]

The Big Lebowski

I saw this on TV for the first time half a year ago. It's okay I guess? The movies of the Coen Brothers have never been my cup of tea... 

[71 dB]

I watched that too yesterday and my opinions are largely the same as yours.

Cool. 

[George]

The Big Lebowski

Rollin' on Shabbos, eh? 

[Karl Henning]

I remember seeing Moon in the theater and being impressed by Duncan Jones' first feature, a rare mix of hard sci-fi and speculative paranoia.

Source Code was entertaining as well, though I'd say the concept wore out its welcome somewhat along the way.

LKB

I very much enjoy Moon, but haven't (yet?) felt an urge to see more of his work.

[Madiel]

Missed it when released even though I like Jeff Bridges and the Coens; maybe I doubted the Bros. could direct comedy.

Whaaat? Had Raising Arizona passed you by?

Also The Hudsucker Proxy, though that had passed a lot of people by. I love that one.

[Daverz]

Whaaat? Had Raising Arizona passed you by?

Also The Hudsucker Proxy, though that had passed a lot of people by. I love that one.

Loved those films, but not a big fan of some of their other "comedies", e.g. Burn After Reading and the ill-considered remake of The Ladykillers.  (Not all remakes are bad; their "remake" of True Grit was brilliant, since they followed the book closely.)

[Madiel]

Loved those films, but not a big fan of some of their other "comedies", e.g. Burn After Reading and the ill-considered remake of The Ladykillers.  (Not all remakes are bad; their "remake" of True Grit was brilliant, since they followed the book closely.)

I've seen Burn After Reading but not the other ones you mentioned. I did still quite like it, but not as much as many of their other films.

[Karl Henning]

Indiscreet by Stanley Donen.

[Karl Henning]

Escape From New York & Jacob's Ladder

[drogulus]

I watched Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960) on TV. I found it quite good, but the plot was maybe too simple and predictable. It's amazing how good these old obscure movies look in HD. Very sharp picture. Amazing vibrant colors. I really liked how this movie looked visually and in these older movies the camerawork is good and there is not too fast cutting which I hate with modern movies. I also think modern movies have often really bad color pallettes. I prefer the vivid colors of older movies (early color movies). 

     I just watched an old Hammer film that had beautiful color, though not quite Powell level. I'm heartily sick of all the blue tinted movies made today.

Moon

     That's a good one.

[71 dB]

I'm heartily sick of all the blue tinted movies made today.

Yeah. If it was one or two movies here and there. but it's almost everywhere. The "Orange and Teal" colors just work, but it makes movies boring color-wise. Comedy and drama movies use more natural colors.

[71 dB]

Parasite (Bong Joon Ho, 2019)

This was the last movie I watched in the movie theatre just before the Covid-19 thing escalated in my country late March. Now I watched it again on Blu-ray (Nordic release with Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish subtitles and no extra material). In the movie theatre something was wrong in my opinion with the picture. Some kind of resolution error. As if the movie had different resolution than the projector and the resolution change caused some artifacts to the picture. I remember how the first few minutes of the movie were about noticing this "pixel-error". This movie has insanely sharp picture which perhaps explaines the problem. The Blu-ray has very good picture. It might be my "sharpest" Blu-ray. The problems I had in the movie theatre are not on the Blu-ray, but I also noticed this movie really benefits from BIG picture. This movie uses a lot of wide shots together with still camera were the actors are far away from the camera and small. On my small 32" TV this movie looked like watching ants inside a terrarium. 

I don't know if it is my Covid-19 depression or what, but this movie wasn't as funny as it was in the movie theatre. Maybe it's the loss of suprise factor: Now I knew what's going to happen next. This movie surprises anyone watching it for the first time, but when you know the plot, things become logical rather than surprising. Anyway, this is a very good versatile (comedy, drama and thriller) movie. Great to have it on Blu-ray.

[Todd]

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.  Sacha Baron Cohen apparently hoped lightning would strike twice, but it does not.  The film has good bits - the plastic surgeon bit is the best, the rally, and of course the much ballyhooed but not as juicy as hoped for Rudy Giuliani bit - but it also has clearly staged bits, and too many of the people are more aware of what's happening.  The timing of the release is purposeful (vote!), and parts of the production are just too hasty.  Looks like Cohen was really just a noughtie boy, and his comedic talent has withered, which may be why he is turning more to drama.

[Karl Henning]

Last night's thumb's-up/thumb's-down exercise: The Omen (2006)

Conclusion: thumb's down

Discussion: I first watched the opening five minutes of this by accident.  I had checked out what I expected to be the original from the library, popped the disc in the tray, and when I saw images of the WTC attack, of course I knew it was the wrong movie.  Same problem, tangentially, when I tried Nightmare on Elm Street. The '06 Omen is in not even the least way value added to the original, to whose storyboards it hews without deviation. I agree with the premise that the original screenplay was not to be "improved upon," but when the final credits roll there is not the shade of an answer to the q.: Just why in the world did they bother?

[milk]

Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.  Sacha Baron Cohen apparently hoped lightning would strike twice, but it does not.  The film has good bits - the plastic surgeon bit is the best, the rally, and of course the much ballyhooed but not as juicy as hoped for Rudy Giuliani bit - but it also has clearly staged bits, and too many of the people are more aware of what's happening.  The timing of the release is purposeful (vote!), and parts of the production are just too hasty.  Looks like Cohen was really just a noughtie boy, and his comedic talent has withered, which may be why he is turning more to drama.

I'm not watching this although I'm wondering about the Giuliani scene. But not enough to see it. I'm surprised that anyone can get away with parodying a specific country (OK, maybe it it never was about Kazakhstan really - but he could have made up a country) without being cancelled. Though he's clearly talented, I don't really like the concept of trying to find ordinary people to embarrass. There's a little Andy Kauffman in this but Kauffman was so much more of a genius.