What's the last movie you've seen?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I saw a trailer for that and my first thought was how awkward the title was and how weird it'd be to buy tickets to. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue and there's no short hand like how most people just bought tickets to "Harry Potter" instead of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2". I suppose you could just ask for tickets to "Tinker Tailor" but it's not a blockbuster so would the clerk know off hand? Might be a fun movie to observe as someone whose job is to work the ticket booth.

Didn't know it was out in the UK yet either, isn't opening here until December.

[Paul Kemp]

I saw a trailer for that and my first thought was how awkward the title was and how weird it'd be to buy tickets to. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue and there's no short hand like how most people just bought tickets to "Harry Potter" instead of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2". I suppose you could just ask for tickets to "Tinker Tailor" but it's not a blockbuster so would the clerk know off hand? Might be a fun movie to observe as someone whose job is to work the ticket booth.

Didn't know it was out in the UK yet either, isn't opening here until December.

How dare they not rename John Le Carre's classic novel!

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Never heard of the novel or the original BBC miniseries until I saw the trailer.

97% on Rotten Tomatoes, eh? I'll probably see it.

[Holmes]

Drive. It was gross.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Independence Day on TV... sigh

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Never heard of the novel or the original BBC miniseries until I saw the trailer.

Really?

[Paul Kemp]

Never heard of the novel or the original BBC miniseries until I saw the trailer.

Really?

Refer back to who you just quoted.

[angus]

I watched "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" this morning.

Talk about melancholy.  In case the title isn't clear enough, the boy in the striped pajamas is of the Yiddish-speaking variety, complete with shaved heat and bad teeth, that you might find in a death camp in Silesia circa 1944.  And his striped pajamas are a bit ratty and state-issued. 

The protagonist is Bruno, an inquisitive, sheltered, innocent eight-year-old child from Berlin, whose father is apparently old-money Teutonic aristocrat with military training, but who somehow got mixed up in with a rough crowd, back in the day.  The father has taken a promotion and a spiffy new black uniform, but his job requires him to move out to "the country."  The amazingly well-done central conceit is that it's all told from the point of view of this eight-year-old, and that can't be easy to do.  A bit of the dialogue involves the boy asking his father what he does at work all day.  The father's new job, you see, is Kommandant of an extermination camp, and he has been sworn to secrecy regarding the day-to-day activities of the camp.  At some point, the boy can't help asking his father about the smoke and horrible smells emanating from the "farm" next door.  Man, I've had some tough conversations with my son--"Daddy, how does the seed get inside the egg?  That's the part I don't understand"--But I can't imagine how to skate delicately around that question.

Anyway, it was evocative, powerful, and, in my opinion, very well done.  But--not to spoil it--things don't end well for Bruno and his family.  (In case you stayed under a rock for most of the 20th century and wondered how it all turns out, things don't end so well for the boy in the striped Pajamas either.  But I don't want to give too much away.)   It isn't necessarily something I'd watch with a small child, even though Bruno, as well as the boy in the striped pajamas, are both young boys.

Check it out. 

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Every bit as good as I'd hoped it would be and in the sort of way I wanted as well; a genuinely fresh (and also very well done) adaptation rather than an expensive and ill-judged remake of the television adaptation. Much of the acting was outstanding (to be expected with a cast like that, but, still) and many of the shots were really quite beautiful. Perfectly paced as well.

I wanna see this, though I've only seen the trailer. I didn't know it had been originally been a book (I'm guessing it's a book).

[Paul Kemp]

TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME

Definitely more David Lynch than the show. It provides some interesting background but pales in comparison to the show. Not enough Dale Cooper, who really carried the show, either.

I'm thinking about giving VIDEODROME a viewing later to continue the weirdness.

[Gustaf]

I'll be the odd one out and say that while I have of course read several Le Carre novels I had no idea there was a movie coming out...

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'll be the odd one out and say that while I have of course read several Le Carre novels I had no idea there was a movie coming out...

He has a slightly surreal cameo as a drunk at a Christmas party. Which also featured a Father Christmas (it's Britain in the 1970s, so no Santa's) with a Lenin face mask.

[Gustaf]

I'll be the odd one out and say that while I have of course read several Le Carre novels I had no idea there was a movie coming out...

He has a slightly surreal cameo as a drunk at a Christmas party. Which also featured a Father Christmas (it's Britain in the 1970s, so no Santa's) with a Lenin face mask.

I don't suppose the universe can be so good so as to bless us with a link to this?

I have seen The Constant Gardener. It was pretty good.

[Eraserhead]

Watched a lot of stuff on netflix recently including:

Full Metal Jacket

Carnal Knowledge

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie

The Human Centipede: First Sequence

Paranoid Park

Blade Runner

Lady Jane

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Sleepers - After a solid (albeit clearly fictionalized) first half, it descends into unwatchable nonsense.

[I Am Feeblepizza.]

George Wallace, the made-for-TV movie directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Gary Sinise. I loved the monologue he gave in the last scene. I wonder if that really happened, or if it was just a composite scene made to symbolize the real apologies that Wallace made?

[angus]

Before the Rain.

It's a joint UK/France/Macedonia venture set during the Albanian/Macedonian ethnic conflicts of the 90s.  A bit hard to follow, but the violence is realistic and well portrayed. 

[Eraserhead]

Oldboy

It had a very interesting and rather taboo story-line (not something you can really watch casually and follow properly either, I had to rewind a couple of times because I was multitasking) and some wonderful fight scenes (particularly an extended one that takes place through a lengthy hallway). I kind of wish the version I saw had subtitles rather than goofy dubbing though. That kind of thing just isn't that enjoyable outside of Godzilla/B-movies.

[Insula Dei]

The Bubble

For a movie about a Tel Aviv homosexual having a relationship with a Palestinian, i thought it was a lot better than I would have expected. The ending still was pretty cringeworthy though.

[Phony Moderate]

I just watched Paulie. A good kids movie.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Machine Gun Preacher

Could've used some better pacing. Still a pretty interesting story, worth a rental at least.

[Gustaf]

Planet of the Apes Revolutions or whatever it's called. Decent, but a bit of a letdown.

[King]

Planet of the Apes Revolutions or whatever it's called. Decent, but a bit of a letdown.

You mean the new one?


I will be seeing Ides of March, 50/50, and Moneyball over the weekend.  Hopefully none disappoint.

[Gustaf]

Planet of the Apes Revolutions or whatever it's called. Decent, but a bit of a letdown.

You mean the new one?


I will be seeing Ides of March, 50/50, and Moneyball over the weekend.  Hopefully none disappoint.

Yeah, yeah the new one.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

The Life of Brian