What's the last movie you've seen? (2nd thread)

[DemPGH]

I actually just recently watched The Machinist with Christian Bale and was really pleasantly surprised. I was not expecting that. It was a very fine psych drama whereas I was expecting something closer to a horror movie.

[DemPGH]

Lincoln was superb - D.D. Lewis is a great actor. I thought his work in There Will be Blood was among the best performances I've ever seen. Everybody involved with Lincoln was great, and it deserves awards.

Anybody see Savages? I've been able to gather that it's basically a combination of Pulp Fiction and Scarface, so maybe, but if it's just shock value I'll skip it.

I recommend basically anything by Martin Scorsese, IMO the best. They're all superb. All of them. I even greatly enjoyed Hugo.

A few reactions:
The recent Batman movies, IMO, are vastly over-rated. Over-long and been-there-done-it.
Barry Lyndon was outstanding - saw it years ago. Although he has his moments of literary pretentiousness, Kubrick was a perfectionist who generally made superior films.

[DemPGH]

Anybody see Savages? I've been able to gather that it's basically a combination of Pulp Fiction and Scarface, so maybe, but if it's just shock value I'll skip it.

It's not exactly just shock value, it's a thriller in a sort of style that has been mostly forgotten since the 90s (that Stone used earlier with Natural Born Killers and was also in movies like The Doom Generation.) It has a lot more character development and plot twists than you'd expect from a movie of that style, however be warned before you see it that the ending pisses off a lot of people. It probably won't bug you as much if you are aware of that beforehand.

Thanks - I'll likely catch it here at some point. Yeah, I've heard the end is bizarre. I think you can like or dislike Stone, but to me he doesn't make garbage. He's held a pretty high standard, and in fact I think he's a superb casting director, which was a strong suit for W. Most of those actors nailed the people they portray down to body language and posture. Bush had a way of standing almost with his arms out a bit from his body, and there are a few scenes where Brolin can been seen even doing that.

[DemPGH]

I thought There Will Be Blood was simply amazing visually as well as in terms of the acting and the development of the story. Unbelievably good.

So I've been curious about The Master. Is that basically about a guy who has post-war issues and as a result gets caught up in a new age type cult? If so, that could be interesting, because I liked how Anderson handled the issue in There Will Be Blood. I'm actually surprised there wasn't more outrage over that. But as a slow-moving, methodical drama, maybe it wasn't as mainstream as it would have been 15 years prior (in the USA).

[DemPGH]

Saw Flight last night. Powerhouse drama, amazing writing and acting. Saw the end coming, but I thought it would be different circumstances. Denzel should give D-D Lewis a run for his money. Not that he will, but he should.

Oh, John Goodman has a couple brief appearances as comic relief - same character, basically, as he played in The Big Lebowski as the Dude's buddy.

Edit: BRTD, thanks for the description of The Master. I probably won't go out of my way to see it, then.

[DemPGH]

Anybody else a big fan of Roman Polanski? Love his dark, creepy, heady stuff. I saw a number of years ago The Nine Gates with Johnny Depp in which Depp plays a book dealer who gets sucked into a cult run by bored wealthy people. Really superb, one of his best films. A heady, creepy mystery.

Well, someone recommended to me Polanski's version of Macbeth from the early 1970s. I watched it and have to say that from the perspective of someone in the States it's one of the finest Medieval themed movies I have ever seen. I will watch it again. Really great. Dark and hyper realistic from the standpoint of locale and sets (filmed in Wales, I read). All the illusions Macbeth has and ghosts  that he sees and so forth are clearly a product of his mind, he clearly makes happen the prophecies, and best of all, it could easily be a 1940s Chicago or New York Godfather kind of deal. Really well done. The coronation scene of Macbeth looks a lot like stuff you see in artwork from the time, and there are places where the movie is really trippy. A+

[DemPGH]

Anybody else a big fan of Roman Polanski? Love his dark, creepy, heady stuff. I saw a number of years ago The Nine Gates with Johnny Depp in which Depp plays a book dealer who gets sucked into a cult run by bored wealthy people. Really superb, one of his best films. A heady, creepy mystery.

Well, someone recommended to me Polanski's version of Macbeth from the early 1970s. I watched it and have to say that from the perspective of someone in the States it's one of the finest Medieval themed movies I have ever seen. I will watch it again. Really great. Dark and hyper realistic from the standpoint of locale and sets (filmed in Wales, I read). All the illusions Macbeth has and ghosts  that he sees and so forth are clearly a product of his mind, he clearly makes happen the prophecies, and best of all, it could easily be a 1940s Chicago or New York Godfather kind of deal. Really well done. The coronation scene of Macbeth looks a lot like stuff you see in artwork from the time, and there are places where the movie is really trippy. A+

The problem is that Polanski is too terrible of a person for that to be easily separated from his work. He is an extremely vile and disgusting individual.

. . . Huh?

[DemPGH]

Yeah, the sex abuse case is ancient news. There's a lot to it, no one approves of it, but there is a book coming out soon, if it's not already out, by the lady who it concerned. She has asked on many occasions after the civil suit was filed in the middle '80s that it be tossed. Old news, and certainly nothing to connect to his work. His work his superb.

Yes, Chinatown was very well done.

[DemPGH]

Star Trek Into Darkness

OK, I guess.  Would have been better if there weren't so many plot holes.

I've heard that. I have not seen it, and I never watched the one from 2009. IMO, it went down hill after The Next Generation. Then really plummeted toward the end of Voyager, most of which I did did not watch. It's just general sci-fi action now.

By which, to get in before any random attempt at misrepresentation is made, I mean lines such as 'the sex abuse case is ancient news' and so on and so forth. I don't mean that people that like Polanski's work are automatically absolutely and utterly despicable, even if I would reject the idea that you can ever entirely separate someone's work from them themselves. Anyway, I suspect the poster in question would take a very different line if Polanski were a bishop or something.

Well wait, now hold on. I know you'll have an easy time finding fault with what I say, but let me try to explain. Of course I would never justify what Polanski did, and moreover no one else is either. Rather, people say it's time to end it and get beyond it because it was so long ago. To your point. . . One is, there's a difference between being at Jack Nicholson's house to wine-and-dine, where Hugh Hefner went to party, and being at choir practice. Would you at least grant me that? If not, I understand.

Two is, the lady in question settled many years after the fact out of court with Polanski and has repeatedly asked the government to drop its case against him. That all goes a long way for me, and in no way connects to his work. As an American who watches a lot of American films, Scorsese is probably my favorite. I put Polanski at or near Scorsese's level. Just an artistic opinion.

[DemPGH]

Just watched Lincoln last night and the night before with my mom after receiving it on DVD for my birthday. Fantastic film! I WANT PREQUELS!!! If Spielberg has that gigantic binder that Kushner or whatever his name made for him, he has enough material for two or three movies.

That would be consistent with him and Lucas and so on! Don't make one movie, make three or four and milk them with multiple releases and editions. Unfortunately, it won't be like the two movies done so far about Elizabeth spaced about 10 years apart - I think there is a third tentatively planned to show her late career / life.

But yeah, I finally saw Lincoln on DVD actually maybe three weeks or so ago, and it was really superb for its sharp focus on Amendment XIII. A larger scope would have helped the movie have broader appeal, I think.

Just watched the new Star Trek film... I don't know what to say. What a ****king disaster.

I find it generally unconscionable that they call this garbage Star Trek. But times change. It really wasn't all that long ago that it still had quite a bit to do with Gene's ideas. That said, it's not like they can't take it in new directions, but what passes for Star Trek now is really awful.

I find the original series quaint, retro, and funky, but The Next Generation, IMO, is top drawer.

[DemPGH]

Yes, Coppola is consistently top drawer like Polanski and Scorsese, IMO. The Conversation was very good. When I find someone's work who I really like, because I'm not a genre fan, I try to see as much of what they do as I can. I still have not seen his Youth Without Youth, but I have heard that it is a really beautiful movie. Will catch it sometime.

I thought Coppola's Dracula from the early '90s was superb - one of the last true blockbusters yet emotionally resonating films made. Purists complained about this scene or that scene, but I loved it. The "Elizabeta" part fit the mood very well.

And what can I say about Apocalypse Now? One of my top five faves all time.

[DemPGH]

I only read this page and half of the one before it, but has anyone seen The Great Gatsby? It's normally not my kind of material, but it looks reasonably intelligent, and at this point in America cinema, I'll take, when in the mood, almost anything intelligent.

I have had for a while on DVD Love Ranch with Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren but have not watched it yet - wow, what an odd pairing. It might actually work, though, because odd pairings certainly happen in real life. I've read reviews of the movie that differ a great, vast deal, so when I get two hours I'll watch it. I guess Pesci is his normal self while Mirren is his wife who keeps track of the books and starts a romance with a boxer Pesci recruits. That should be interesting.

Incidentally, I guess there was supposed to be a Mob movie called The Irishman or something with Pesci, but the plug got pulled on it. Too bad.

[DemPGH]

Eyes Wide Shut. Again. Really an interesting, intoxicating movie - and I'm guessing a bit of a middle finger to Hollywood.

I don't think Zigler or whatever was Red Cloak, although a lot of folks seem to think so. Red Cloak was not the guy at the beginning either dancing with Alice, although there were certainly connections.

[DemPGH]

Coming April 2014 - NFL Network just had a preview.

Draft Day - Kevin Costner and Denis Leary, it's about a guy who takes on the Cleveland Browns as a building project (the Browns have been the sad losers of the league since the 1990s). Looks good. There's every chance I'll go watch it.

[DemPGH]

Casino - still cool after all these years. I noticed it was kind of right-wing though. The subtext is that this brutal, violent union run criminal organization is replaced by benevolent corporations financed by "junk bonds" in the 1980s.

Really, really like that movie, although it's pretty hardcore. Goodfellas I think is his best one. Between Mean Streets, Goodfellas, and Casino you can trace the development of DeNiro's character from wanna-be street punk to serious self-made gangster to uptight mastermind.

One of Pesci's best lines in Casino was when he was at the blackjack table and said, "If you had any heart you'd be out stealing."

As to the end, I didn't read it as right wing. I read it more as a polished, smooth corruption was taking the place of a rough, in-your-face corruption.

[DemPGH]

Finally watched Argo all the way through last night. Loved it. Great movie - love "drama thrillers." It opens with the old WB logo to boot.

The cast was superb, particularly the supporting cast. The house-guests were spot on. The ladies especially conveyed the body language of terrified, nervous, etc. Affleck was great, and Goodman and Arkin were hams as usual, but they didn't overdo it. "Ar-go eff yourself." Haha. I'm going to be going around saying that and people are going to say, "Huh?"

[DemPGH]

As per a recommendation from Al a while back I watched an Italian movie called Il Divo. It's about a corrupt Italian politician (Andreotti) with ties to the Mafia. The director wants you to see him as the Italian Nixon, only instead of breaking into buildings and spying on people, those who oppose him wind up offed. Andreotti goes out of his way to put forward a very pious exterior and persona meanwhile he's privately calculating and dark. A great line goes, "You fight the battle with the troops available." Yeah. Sounds better in italian, tough. And Machiavelli is around every corner.

Polanski movie called The Nine Gates with Johnny Depp, Lena Olin, and Frank Langella. It's about bored rich people in some vaguely defined Satanic cult who seek a book that will raise the Devil, I guess. Very, very good and again wonderfully photographed with a sleepy, threatening atmosphere all the way through. More of a mystery story than anything else.

[DemPGH]

A movie from 2008 or so called In Bruges. It's about the . . . well, darkly weird misadventures of a couple of Irish hit men who get out of town for a spell to Bruges. They encounter various stereotypes and crack jokes about their boss, who goes out of his way to swear (Joe Pesci does that best of all, but this guy was mildly humorous). And there's of course violence.

It was a good movie that had its moments, but honestly the kind of humor in the movie really doesn't do a lot for me. I'd recommend it, but there's a lot of random stuff and smart-alecky tongue-in-cheek humor that had me thinking, "Was that supposed to be funny? Oh, I guess. Ha!"

[DemPGH]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

It think it says something profound about my personality about seeing this for the second time that I find it completely and utterly hilarious. It's not a profound film but what's wrong with that? Certainly one of the most realistic films ever released by Hollywood.

Love that! Terry Gilliam really is great. There was a history of screenplay problems with that, and when it finally fell in Gilliam's lap he just basically filmed the book. Which is what should be done with that, because it's Thompson! You don't "adapt" Thompson.

A movie from 2008 or so called In Bruges. It's about the . . . well, darkly weird misadventures of a couple of Irish hit men who get out of town for a spell to Bruges. They encounter various stereotypes and crack jokes about their boss, who goes out of his way to swear (Joe Pesci does that best of all, but this guy was mildly humorous). And there's of course violence.

It was a good movie that had its moments, but honestly the kind of humor in the movie really doesn't do a lot for me. I'd recommend it, but there's a lot of random stuff and smart-alecky tongue-in-cheek humor that had me thinking, "Was that supposed to be funny? Oh, I guess. Ha!"

It's a postmodern anti-violence film.

Uh, makes sense! Wasn't necessarily expecting that.

[DemPGH]

1966 film called Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which was also a stage play.

A burnt out Richard Burton and a been-there-done-it Liz Taylor get liquored up and rip on each other for two hours with a younger couple in tow. There are many reasons, though, and the tension very much rubs off on the younger couple as everyone gets drunker and the night wears on, which is what is so great. I love it. Watching it is like enjoying a rich dessert. Too bad it is in black and white!

[DemPGH]

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams from 1990.

Very surprised that I liked it, and liked it a lot. It's a series of episodes that are not at all related, except that I think you can put them together under an "innocence to experience" trajectory. There are two childhood stories (imagination and wonder), three or four adult episodes (survival), and one or two elderly stories (peace, wisdom, and tranquility).