Last Movie You Watched

[Karl Henning]

Which one? The original or the re-make?

The original, although I like the re-make very well, too.

Love the Christopher Guest troupe.

And I blush to admit that I did not realize until to-day that 'tis he plays Count Rugen in The Princess Bride. The man is a chameleon!

[TheGSMoeller]

And I blush to admit that I did not realize until to-day that 'tis he plays Count Rugen in The Princess Bride. The man is a chameleon!

Compare that to his character Corky St. Clair from Waiting for Guffman, the man has talent.

[mc ukrneal]

The original, although I like the re-make very well, too.

Oh I like them both too - a bit different, which is good. But the first one never fails to crack me up. Serpentine...

[Karl Henning]

Oh I like them both too - a bit different, which is good. But the first one never fails to crack me up. Serpentine...

"That's it?! The dentist thing?! I'm a dead man!"

[Cato]

We saw this yesterday and recommend it very much

[asin]B007PSH7R4[/asin]

Great soundtrack: Alexandre Desplat is helped by Benjamin Britten.  (Or maybe vice versa!)

[Todd]

A well made, well acted Aussie crime film.  The lead bad guys are most interesting.

[Drasko]

Alfonso Cuaron's debut. Enjoyable farcical romantic comedy with lots of visual flair. Could be described as Amodovar-lite, or maybe Jeunet with pinch of Almodovar.

[Zizekian]

Just watched a pretty good documentary about Woody Allen:

[Rinaldo]

I've never seen the third one before - all the negative backlash made me steer clear of it. But I'm rewatching the whole quadrilogy and thought I'd give the so-called "assembly cut" (restoring 30+ minutes, but without Fincher's input - he declined to participate) a chance.

And wow.

The first half or so is tremendous, just tremendous. The character interaction is pitch perfect and I especially loved the doctor played by Charles Dance. What a performance! Sadly, it starts to fall apart once the creature is loose. The ending is great (although overwrought) but what leads up to it.. not so much. Still a solid, underappreciated movie in my eyes (but I also have a huge, fluffy soft spot for Alien: Resurrection so take my words with a spoonful of salt).

[Bogey]

I was not sure about this one going in, because I did not see the point of a reboot for a film that had just been made, and made well IMO.  So, I was at least hoping for different.  Well, that I got.  My 13 year-old son and I took it in with his uncle on opening night.  When the credits started to roll, his uncle said, "So, when is the story going to start?"  So many flaws with this one story wise.  I stopped counting how many times he tore off his mask or let someone know his identity.  The highlight was the SWAT team holding high powered weapons turning into lizards and then....well....still waiting....nothing.  Many moments like this one that went nowhere.  And the Rocky like scene of Spidey faltering as he goes forth for the big, already done a thousand times, movie ending action scene. (reallly?)....they even managed to ruin the origin lead ups.   Anything that was close to coherent was simply lifted from the other films.  Sally Field as Aunt May.....who cast that?!  Sam Rami's legacy on the other films is not in danger here.  If they were trying to catch the Twilight crowd with this one, I am guessing they missed their mark.  Except for the first Hulk, this has to be at the bottom of our Marvel list.


PS My Ben Cooper costume as a kid was a better design than the one I saw on the screen.

[Bogey]

We saw this yesterday and recommend it very much
Great soundtrack: Alexandre Desplat is helped by Benjamin Britten.  (Or maybe vice versa!)

Loved his effort on Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close....the movie I believe you and I saw eye to eye on with the story problems, but the soundtrack was exceptional, IMO.

[snyprrr]

Lee Van Cleef!!,... ahhh, when men were men! You must also see 'Barquero', with Warren Oates,... two for one! So much manliness as to make one gag, haha!

[George]

Lee Van Cleef!!,... ahhh, when men were men! You must also see 'Barquero', with Warren Oates,... two for one! So much manliness as to make one gag, haha!

If anyone's mind is as dirty as mine, they are probably laughing along with me. The rest of you, please don't judge.

[snyprrr]

If anyone's mind is as dirty as mine, they are probably laughing along with me. The rest of you, please don't judge.

Pun NOT intended, but 'inserted' anyway! I never said I was my own best Editor!

[Karl Henning]

... I never said I was my own best Editor!

We grant you that.

[Zizekian]

A very interesting look at contemporary Russia through the eyes of regular Russians:

[George]

We grant you that.

[Lilas Pastia]

Intouchables (The Untouchables), a french film from 2011. Winner of many awards, including the Cesar for best actor (Omar Sy). Based on the real life story of Pommery champagne heir, the duke of Pozzo di Borgo, who became quadriplegic following a paragliding injury.

The most viewed film in France ever, it is a sly, intelligent, witty feel good movie. Sometimes corny, sometimes crudely underlined, it managed to hold my interest throughout.

Like most french language films, it holds at leat 75% of its charm and effectiveness to its acting team. French film storylines are often so thin or plain simple that a lot rests on the shoulders of the actors. Re: La femme d'à côté (The Woman Next Door), Le huitième jour (The Eight Day), Le dîner de cons (The Dinner Game). Or Jean de Florette, Manon des sources, The Artist - the list could go on.

[Zizekian]

Hulu Plus recently added this in their Criterion section, so I'm going to check it out this morning. Has anyone seen it?

[SonicMan46]

An hour documentary recently made by a local professional pianist, Pam Howland (who I've known for years; her husband was one of my radiology residents) - we made a small contribution for its production and just received our complimentary copy.  Pam has a Polish background and combines a mixture of historic information, scenes from Poland/Paris, many interviews, and a lot of interaction w/ Rosemary Harris (who played George Sand in a BBC production back in the 1970s) - intermixed are performances by Pam.  For those interested, an attached text file provides a lot more information (including a piece by our local newspaper art critic); also, check out Pam's Website -