Last Movie You Watched

[Brahmsian]

Excellent acting, drama & visuals
LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (Broken Embraces)
Written & Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar

Penélope Cruz    
Lluís Homar    
Blanca Portillo
José Luis Gómez    
Rubén Ochandiano
Tamar Novas

Thanks for making me aware of this movie, Karlo.  I love Penelepe Cruz's acting, and you mention the visuals.  The visuals look stunning, almost Kubrick-esque! 

[ibanezmonster]

Entertaining but really overdid it with being unexpectedly saved by a third party at the last moment scenarios... not sure if these things would all be considered Deus ex Machinas or not...

[North Star]

Thanks for making me aware of this movie, Karlo.  I love Penelepe Cruz's acting, and you mention the visuals.  The visuals look stunning, almost Kubrick-esque! 

You're welcome, Ray!
I need to see more Kubrick. (I've seen Spartacus, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket.)

[George]

Third time seeing this gem.

[AndyD.]

2001

I hadn't seen this in decades, so it was super cool to just revel in Kubrick's idiosyncratic skills. To me, this is where his style was just starting to become more expressive and shedding of influences (a progression into originality that went right into Clockwork and perhaps peaked with the Shining). It's all in evidence here: the peculiar sense of deadpan and scenic claustrophobia, the sense of time suspended, etc.

[Cato]

You're welcome, Ray!
I need to see more Kubrick. (I've seen Spartacus, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket.)

Probably Kubrick's best and least mannered movie is Paths of Glory: watch for the old actor Adolphe Menjou!  He steals the movie from everyone whenever he is on screen.

[Brahmsian]

Probably Kubrick's best and least mannered movie is Paths of Glory: watch for the old actor Adolphe Menjou!  He steals the movie from everyone whenever he is on screen.

It is a masterpiece! 

[Karl Henning]

2001

I hadn't seen this in decades, so it was super cool to just revel in Kubrick's idiosyncratic skills. To me, this is where his style was just starting to become more expressive and shedding of influences (a progression into originality that went right into Clockwork and perhaps peaked with the Shining). It's all in evidence here: the peculiar sense of deadpan and scenic claustrophobia, the sense of time suspended, etc.

I hadn't seen it in about as long a time.  Just a wonderful film to become immersed in.

"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do . . . ."

Thread duty, last night: Star Trek, "The Man-Trap" (again, and even hokier the second time) & "The Naked Time" (whoever wrote that one really got away with a couple of somethings . . . .)

[Brahmsian]

You're welcome, Ray!
I need to see more Kubrick. (I've seen Spartacus, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket.)

All great ones, Karlo!

2001:  A Space Odyssey, Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut are all great.  The Killing is also very good.  I'm not too keen on Lolita, but it is considered by most as another great Kubrick masterpiece.

[Cato]

If you could have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey on a Cinerama screen, you would have been more than impressed, enchanted, or overwhelmed!   

According to this website, only 3 Cinerama theaters are in operation: one in Seattle.

http://seattlecinerama.com/the-experience/

Click on the Cinerama screen in the picture.

My hometown of Dayton had a theater in the 1990's which revived the Cinerama screen, but it could not sustain the effort.

[AndyD.]

If you could have seen 2001: A Space Odyssey on a Cinerama screen, you would have been more than impressed, enchanted, or overwhelmed!   

According to this website, only 3 Cinerama theaters are in operation: one in Seattle.

http://seattlecinerama.com/the-experience/

Click on the Cinerama screen in the picture.

My hometown of Dayton had a theater in the 1990's which revived the Cinerama screen, but it could not sustain the effort.

Sounds awesome, neighbor (Springfield is my hometown).

[Cato]

Sounds awesome, neighbor (Springfield is my hometown).

My wife taught in a Catholic school in Springfield well before you were born!   

Ask your parents if they ever went to the Dabel Theater in Dayton on Smithville Road!  It had the Cinerama screen, and showed all (or at least most) of the Cinerama movies: Windjammer, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, How the West Was Won, Circus World, Grand Prix, etc.

[AndyD.]

My wife taught in a Catholic school in Springfield well before you were born!   

Ask your parents if they ever went to the Dabel Theater in Dayton on Smithville Road!  It had the Cinerama screen, and showed all (or at least most) of the Cinerama movies: Windjammer, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, How the West Was Won, Circus World, Grand Prix, etc.

My father probably went to that Catholic school. I will ask, and I love a couple of those movies listed.

[SonicMan46]

Probably Kubrick's best and least mannered movie is Paths of Glory: watch for the old actor Adolphe Menjou!  He steals the movie from everyone whenever he is on screen.

One of my favorite war films and one of Douglas's best roles (for me at least) - earlier this year, I replaced my DVD version w/ a Blu-ray transformation - just spectacular B&W video and CD quality audio - for those interested, detailed review HERE - Dave

[SonicMan46]

........ Inevitably, any viewing of the film on a smaller screen diminishes it a little, but the remastered Blu-ray release does its utmost to compensate. This has clearly been a labour of love, and the film looks as good as you can ever imagine it could on a smaller screen. The level of detail is astonishing. Also, one further beneficiary of the high definition transfer is Maurice Jarre's exquisite score. The Blu-ray set is packed with supplements, too. There's an involving making-of documentary, that has several stories to tell. You'll also find a new interview with Peter O'Toole, alongside diverting archive promotional material, and a collection of added featurettes. It's a rich, quality release that's given a genuinely superb film the kind of release it warrants. Whether a long-time fan or new convert, Lawrence Of Arabia remains very special indeed. --Jon Foster

1+ on the above comments for LofA - beautiful restoration that I own - 5/5 ratings for both video & audio HERE - Dave

[SonicMan46]

Book of Mormon - not a movie but a live musical that we saw in Charlotte yesterday - certainly DO not attend if you are indeed a Mormon - 

[George]

Pretty good.

[SonicMan46]

Well a few more new Blu-ray discs:

Call of the Wild (1935) w/ Clark Gable & Lorreta Young - 4.0 V & 3.5 A (from Bluraydotcom) - excellent B&W video restoration for nearly an 80 year old movie!  Of course, Clark made a little deposit in Loretta that produced their 'love child', Judy Lewis who just passed away.

From Here to Eternity (1953) w/ Lancaster, Kerr, Cliff, Sinatra, Reed, et al - WHAT a cast! 4.7 V & 4.7 A (same site as above) - this film is just beautifully restored on this Blu-ray presentation and the audio is spectacular - this just cannot be improved - both outstanding releases - Dave

 

[kishnevi]

My wife taught in a Catholic school in Springfield well before you were born!   

Ask your parents if they ever went to the Dabel Theater in Dayton on Smithville Road!  It had the Cinerama screen, and showed all (or at least most) of the Cinerama movies: Windjammer, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, How the West Was Won, Circus World, Grand Prix, etc.

I remember my parents taking me to see It's A Mad...... The most vivid memory I have of the film is near the beginning,  when Spencer Tracy kicks the bucket, both literally and figuratively.

More serious--perhaps a bit of context for Wolf of Wall Street, if you haven't seen this
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/27/an-open-letter-to-the-mak_0_n_4508786.html

[drogulus]

     I'm watching Battle of the River Plate on YT, one of the weaker Powell-Pressburger flicks, yet interesting to me for the subject. I had a model of the Graf Spee when I was a boy, and I still recall my indignant reaction to the use of an American heavy cruiser (the one shown below) to impersonate a German warship. The British ships by contrast were as authentic as can be, played by real WWII era British cruisers. The warships of the respective combatants "all look alike", hence my disappointment. Anyway the film isn't good really, but you'll never see anything like it again.

     USS Salem in 1952., featuring a typical American steamlined futurist look.

     

     HMS Exeter before the war. British warships were decidedly unglamorous. They were designed to fight, not look pretty.

     

     German ships, planes and tanks were both functionally superb and designed to scare the shit out of you. Here's the real Graf Spee.

     

     See what I mean? It still bugs me.