Last Movie You Watched

[AnotherSpin]

I've watched until the middle so far, will probably finish on another day. Poor Things, recent film from the same director grabbed me right away and was more accessible.

[Todd]

Dune: Part Two.  I watched part one of everyone's favorite or at least top two hundred choice of a sci fi treatment of colonialism and exploitation shortly after it came out.  It was overly long but visually impressive.  The same thing applies here.  The characters do stuff.  They talk.  There are big sandworms and laser beams and swordfights and so on.  There are multiple shots of Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya together so the viewer can try to determine who looks prettier.   Religious themes and thumping low frequencies pervade.  There's Christopher Walken.  I've never read Frank Herbert's work and still have not entirely unfond memories of David Lynch's trainwreck of a film – dude, it's got Sting! – and I've just never really been a fanboy of this work.  But, I can and do try again, like a (non-Starship) trooper. I split viewing into three sessions due to the length. 

I watched for two reasons.  First, the film was partially shot using IronGlass rehousings of old Soviet manufactured knock offs of even older German lens designs, so I just had to see how they got used. Among the lenses used were the Helios 44 and the Jupiter 9.  Scenes with Christopher Walken at his Italianate palace certainly look like a Helios 44 was used to generate its famed swirly bokeh of foliage background.  A few of the closeups and even midrange shots seem to have the swift focus fall off of the Jupiter against non-detailed backgrounds, as well.  The tightness of some framing lends an almost claustrophobic feel to a film set in wide open desert lands.  Many shots lack maximum contemporary resolution – a nice touch – and some of the shots clearly have overexposed, washed out highlights.  It's possible with editing software to replicate these effects digitally, so I don't know how much is due to lens use and how much to editing, but some images are very striking indeed.  Villenueve has delivered another visually impressive movie.

Second, and more important, this film offers the viewer a chance to see a knife fight between Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan.  You know you always wanted to see that.  It might be worth it for this scene alone. 

[ShineyMcShineShine]

I came here to talk about Dune 2 and I find Todd talking about Dune 2. Weird. Anyway, the other day I started watching Lawrence of Arabia and it got me thinking again about how it was so obviously the inspiration for Herbert's Dune, and how Villenueve would have done well to watch Lean's film (not to mention read Herbert's novel). So I started watching Dune 2 and boy, the contrast could not be starker: Lean really makes you feel you're in the desert; Villenueve makes you feel you're in a CGI movie. Even Lean's Arabs are better Fremen than Villenueve's Fremen. 



Edit: I just noticed that José Ferrer was in Lawrence of Arabia and Lynch's Dune. Coincidence?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I came here to talk about Dune 2 and I find Todd talking about Dune 2. Weird. Anyway, the other day I started watching Lawrence of Arabia and it got me thinking again about how it was so obviously the inspiration for Herbert's Dune, and how Villenueve would have done well to watch Lean's film (not to mention read Herbert's novel). So I started watching Dune 2 and boy, the contrast could not be starker: Lean really makes you feel you're in the desert; Villenueve makes you feel you're in a CGI movie. Even Lean's Arabs are better Fremen than Villenueve's Fremen. 

You know, I've always come in part way through that movie [Lawrence].  I should really borrow it and watch it from start to finish.

A gazillion years ago, I read Dune--at least most of it--I remember growing tired of it with maybe something like 50-75+ pages to go.  Normally, I wouldn't quit that late into a book, but there you go!

PD

[DavidW]

You know, I've always come in part way through that movie [Lawrence].  I should really borrow it and watch it from start to finish.

You should! It was one of the greatest movies ever made, and it is so beautifully shot. I don't think I've seen such a gorgeous movie in my life. In beautiful 70 mm.

A gazillion years ago, I read Dune--at least most of it--I remember growing tired of it with maybe something like 50-75+ pages to go.  Normally, I wouldn't quit that late into a book, but there you go!

PD

It is never too late to DNF a book. However, I will admit that I never got that close to finishing a novel and stopped.

[Karl Henning]

You know, I've always come in part way through that movie [Lawrence].  I should really borrow it and watch it from start to finish.

A gazillion years ago, I read Dune--at least most of it--I remember growing tired of it with maybe something like 50-75+ pages to go.  Normally, I wouldn't quit that late into a book, but there you go!

PD

As @DavidW says, Lawrence is gorgeously filmed.

[ShineyMcShineShine]

It was one of the greatest movies ever made, and it is so beautifully shot. I don't think I've seen such a gorgeous movie in my life. In beautiful 70 mm.

It even looks good on my laptop screen.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Alright guys!  I get it!  But it's going to have to wait a bit as I have a short pile of other things to work my way through first. 

PD

[Karl Henning]

Alright guys!  I get it!  But it's going to have to wait a bit as I have a short pile of other things to work my way through first. 

PD

Ho capito!

[Karl Henning]

On the Waterfront. Dang, this is good!

Just re-watched it with commentary which was very good. Could have been excellent if they hadn't waited until the final five minutes to make any mention at all of Bernstein's score. 

[DavidW]

Fun movie, with the screenplay done by Ray Bradbury himself. Strange change: the witch is supposed to be an old, blind hag, but in the film, she is played by Pam Grier!

This is a good one for fall IMO, the orange colors leap off the screen. It is not available to stream (it is back in Disney's vault), and I bought the DVD off of eBay.

[Iota]

A bleak tale of a young woman returning home to rumbling, repressed family tensions on her father's failing farm, shortly after her brother has committed suicide leaving everybody traumatised.
A pervasively damp and foreboding landscape plays a large part in the film, as does the run-down farm, reflecting and influencing the emotional world of the characters. Dialogue is terse, interactions evasive, and goodwill threadbare. An oppressive, dour tone from the start that builds slowly as fragments of explanation gradually emerge, leading ultimately to a very powerful climax.
Involving, excellently acted and a very impressive debut for writer/director Hope Dickson Leach.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Fun movie, with the screenplay done by Ray Bradbury himself. Strange change: the witch is supposed to be an old, blind hag, but in the film, she is played by Pam Grier!

This is a good one for fall IMO, the orange colors leap off the screen. It is not available to stream (it is back in Disney's vault), and I bought the DVD off of eBay.

Oh, neat! I've enjoyed a number of Ray Bradbury's books...first one read was Fahrenheit 451.

I bought this one a number of years ago; I keep it on the bedside table in my guest room.





PD

[Karl Henning]

Fun movie, with the screenplay done by Ray Bradbury himself. Strange change: the witch is supposed to be an old, blind hag, but in the film, she is played by Pam Grier!

This is a good one for fall IMO, the orange colors leap off the screen. It is not available to stream (it is back in Disney's vault), and I bought the DVD off of eBay.

Wonder if it's available on Hoopla.....

[Todd]

Civil War.  Before this movie came out earlier this year, not a few American right-wingers got themselves all lathered up about the lefty vision of a movie they hadn't seen.  After the movie came out, a goodly number of American lefty critics 'n' commentators were peeved that Alex Garland didn't really take a side – meaning, of course, their side.  As per usual with such folks.  One got the sense that Garland was a mugwump auteur, but as a non-American, it seems silly for him to strongly take a side in politics he doesn't actually understand.  He was at least wiser than many other non-Americans who offer up ill-informed opinions.  I waited to watch the movie until it came to a streaming service I subscribe to because I have no interest in going to a theater or paying even one nickel more than my streaming service fees to watch any movie ever again.  I also waited because neither Ex Machina nor Annihilation are particularly good movies, demonstrating directorial weakness in Garland's output.  Too, President Ron Swanson is a joke, no matter how presented. 

The film is a road trip movie following the misadventures of journalists from the Big Apple down to the swamp, via a circuitous route that takes them through western Pennsylvania.  (Prescient?)  Along the way, they run into rednecks running a gas station and unidentified soldiers taking on an unidentified sniper.  Then Jesse Plemons pops up, revisiting and updating his inner Todd, as an AR-15 toting Real American.  Shenanigans naturally ensue.  As with any good journey, the core group of travelers finally arrive at their destination, here the contemporary Constantinople, and they observe the fate of the corrupt emperor. 

The movie is the very definition of a mixed bag.  First the good.  The husband and wife power couple of Kirsten Dunst and Plemmons both do good work.  Dunst, especially, plays jaded and numbed well.  Wagner Moura, having trimmed down and pivoted away from his fantastic Escobarian excesses, plays an ambitious journalist well.  Young Cailee Spaeny, evidently something of an it girl, plays the young idealist well.  Mr Garland borrows from one of the greatest of all movies, Come and See, in making the youngster age more than the chronology of the film would suggest.  Visually, the movie is excellent.  The tightly shot combat scenes blend physical sets and CGI nicely.  Some of the military hardware CGI is kind of hokey (eg, the fleet of helicopters), but it's better than some bigger budget fare.  The use of Georgia locations is nice, like the abandoned stadium.  (If film makers want shot to shit location shoots, they can always come to Stumptown and shoot post-cleanup stretches of I84, the Gordon's building, the old Ross Island drymix plant after hazmat crews clean it, and so many other dumps.)  There is one scene where all involved are driving through a fire and the use of digitally replicated spherical aberrations is borderline brilliant. 

Now the bad.  The underlying plot is preposterous.  As mentioned previously, the choice of CIC is terrible.  Without giving anything away, the imagined main rebel alliance is silly.  The comparative lack of resistance east of the Mississippi is sillier yet.  There's nary one mention of how logistics would work in the imagined scenario.  For artistic reasons, there's no real exploration of the politics involved, and that's fine, but the film doesn't even have any establishing scenes where the journalists review detailed maps of troop movements to ensure a safe journey.  The understandable hatred of the press by certain folks is underplayed, as well, though I suspect that the filmmakers thought it was overdone.  The entire premise is just detached from reality.  Come on, there would be no civil war in the US in the sense of equally armed and equipped professional armies clashing.  If widespread, organized political violence erupted, it would take the form of local and regional insurrections proper, which the professional military would put down.  The current sitting president himself has even mentioned what would happen.  People can look it up.

For me, there's another small but fatal flaw in the story: camera gear usage.  The young, aspiring photojournalist extols the virtues of her Nikon FE2s, which she dutifully totes throughout her journey.  They are her father's cameras.  What hogwash.  Photojournalists devoted to film would, without question, choose a Nikon FM2 or FM3A over an FE2 every day of the week and twice on Sundays.  Either that or said photojournalist would go the tried-and-true Leica M route, meaning probably the M6.  Anyone who knows even one thing about film cameras knows why.  Also, the grizzled veteran photojournalist uses Sony mirrorless cameras, but she favors, inexplicably, an A7 IV.  Allowing for the fact that the movie was made before the A9 III was released, such a photog would rely on either an A9 II or an A1.  Sheesh.  As another camera related gripe, even current gen mirrorless models with pre-capture would not be able to grab some of the images the young photojournalist snaps with her manual winding, 80s vintage SLR.  Such script flaws are inexcusable. 

So, Alex Garland is zero for three as a director for me. 

[Karl Henning]

Independence Day: Resurgence
Enjoyable, albeit inessential. Some nice follow-through, Dr Okun emerges from a coma, e.g.
One of the high points is Brent Spiner's final line.

[DavidW]

Independence Day: Resurgence
Enjoyable, albeit inessential.

It's an incredibly accurate review in only three words! It was fun to watch but not memorable and didn't need to exist.

[Karl Henning]

It's an incredibly accurate review in only three words! It was fun to watch but not memorable and didn't need to exist.

I just pulled it off the shelf at the Library out of curiosity. I would probably have resented it to some degree, if I had gone to the cinema to see it.

[DavidW]

I just pulled it off the shelf at the Library out of curiosity. I would probably have resented it to some degree, if I had gone to the cinema to see it.

I think I rented it from Redbox. Or did I stream it on Netflix? I don't remember but it was cheap and at home.

[Karl Henning]

I think I rented it from Redbox. Or did I stream it on Netflix? I don't remember but it was cheap and at home.

Ideal.