Last Movie You Watched

[George]

Fun, silly, stupid movie.

[lisa needs braces]

My wife and I agreed that somehow we found the movie better, even much better, than we recalled it:

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A theme of outer ugliness/inner beauty, as well as inner ugliness/outer beauty, and other variations run throughout the movie.

Also:

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"When will you make an end of it, Buonarroti?"
"When I am finished!!!"

Cato, have you seen Game of Thrones? I saw the first five episodes of the 1st season over the past few days. I found it pretty stellar. I see why people are hooked. Having read the first two installments and half of the third, the series so far is pretty faithful to the books. I still found myself drawn in despite knowing what was going to happen.

The opening credits and theme are excellent, as is most often the case with these premium cable shows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7L2PVdrb_8

[Bogey]

Annual viewing:

[lisa needs braces]

The director and his son were killed by a drunk driver some years back. 

[Bogey]

Agreed, James.  Our copy looked as if it were pulled from a video, as in VHS, recorded at home from a television broadcast using ....well, rabbit ears.

On another note, we seem to find something new we appreciate each time we watch it.  The lengths that they went to to pull off the department store background shots and even the parade were outstanding.

[Bogey]

Thread duty:



They got this one right.

[Wakefield]

Annual viewing:

I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!

Wonderful movie! 

[Wakefield]

Thread duty:



They got this one right.

Chinatown, right? Some of the best Nicholson. Actually, I think that IS Nicholson. 

[Bogey]

Chinatown, right? Some of the best Nicholson. Actually, I think that IS Nicholson. 

Unmistakably.  Even in dark glasses. 

[stingo]

The Descendants - I'm not sure I was the target demographic for this film. Some moving scenes yes, but the whole seemed more like an upscale soap opera with correspondingly higher production values.

[Karl Henning]

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.  Saw it on the biggest possible screen with all the amenities - 3D, 48 fps 4K projection, Dolby Atmos - which is how this really should be seen.  I'm guessing purists will not like it, or at least take exception with some things, and it is a bit too long in places, but when Smaug hits the screen, it's pretty impressive.  A fine popcorn flick. 

Objectionable but impressive, that's the grain of salt I take that 'un with

[Cato]

Cato, have you seen Game of Thrones? I saw the first five episodes of the 1st season over the past few days. I found it pretty stellar. I see why people are hooked. Having read the first two installments and half of the third, the series so far is pretty faithful to the books. I still found myself drawn in despite knowing what was going to happen.

The opening credits and theme are excellent, as is most often the case with these premium cable shows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7L2PVdrb_8

No, but my wife and I have been wondering if we should see what all the fuss is about!  So I will check to see if our library has a copy!

We did the same thing with Mad Men last year, but just were not "grabbed" by the series.

[kishnevi]

Objectionable but impressive, that's the grain of salt I take that 'un with

One should differentiate, at least, between inserting female love interests and inserting Legolas.  Inserting Legolas into the The Hobbit can be derived directly from the text of LOTR:  he introduces himself at Rivendell as the son of the King of the Elves of Mirkwood, and therefore either he was absent from Mirkwood at the time of the events narrated in The Hobbit, or he and Bilbo saw each other even if they never actually met and interacted.   The wonder, in fact, is not that Jackson makes the connection explicit, but that John Ronald Ruel did not take account of it by referring to such a past meeting or inserting a side comment to explain Legolas's absence.   But in the lack of such a explanation,  Jackson is free to include him.

Of course, not having seen even Hobbit I, much less Hobbit II,  I have no idea of what use Jackson makes of Legolas here, and how badly he misused the freedom accorded by authorial silence.

[Karl Henning]

Oh, we could make a drinking game out of the Rivendell scene in Hobbit I, alone . . . .

[kishnevi]

Oh, we could make a drinking game out of the Rivendell scene in Hobbit I, alone . . . .

You know, the more I hear about these movies,  the more persuaded I am to not view them until Target is selling the whole threesome for $9.99 the set.  (Which is exactly how I got the LOTR films!)

[Karl Henning]

Je-je-je-je!

[Bogey]

You know, the more I hear about these movies,  the more persuaded I am to not view them until Target is selling the whole threesome for $9.99 the set.  (Which is exactly how I got the LOTR films!)

Yes, but what else did you end up buying that was not on the list when you grabbed the set.  We go into Target for some hangers and leave with three bags that always breaks the $75 mark.  I guess you might write it off as very expensive popcorn.

[Bogey]

Martin Scorsese's 1990 masterpiece GoodFellas immortalizes the hilarious, horrifying life of actual gangster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), from his teen years on the streets of New York to his anonymous exile under the Witness Protection Program. The director's kinetic style is perfect for recounting Hill's ruthless rise to power in the 1950s as well as his drugged-out fall in the late 1970s; in fact, no one has ever rendered the mental dislocation of cocaine better than Scorsese. Scorsese uses period music perfectly, not just to summon a particular time but to set a precise mood. GoodFellas is at least as good as The Godfather without being in the least derivative of it. Joe Pesci's psycho improvisation of Mobster Tommy DeVito ignited Pesci as a star, Lorraine Bracco scores the performance of her life as the love of Hill's life, and every supporting role, from Paul Sorvino to Robert De Niro, is a miracle.

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I liked Good Fellas.  Was never enamored with it like many of my friends that are movie buffs.  On the other hand, The Aviator is a heck of a wonderful film.

[Wakefield]

No, but my wife and I have been wondering if we should see what all the fuss is about!  So I will check to see if our library has a copy!

We did the same thing with Mad Men last year, but just were not "grabbed" by the series.

I'm avidly waiting for its next season.

The same for:

"House of Cards" (Netflix)

"Orange is the New Black" (Netflix)

"Sherlock" (BBC)

Attack on Titan (進撃の巨人 Shingeki no Kyojin

[Sammy]

Aviator is good .. but Goodfellas is a masterpiece, one of the best films ever made imo.

Exactly my sentiments.