Last movie you saw?

[Podaar]

The Woman in Gold

...because, Helen Mirren, duh!

No, actually I really enjoyed it and thought Ryan Reynolds was excellent in a straight role. Funny people often are. I'm not sure why this movie was panned so hard by the critics. Interesting subject, easy to follow legalese, good acting, and Helen Mirren!!

[Stadler]

Double feature last night:

Stand By Me and Casablanca

I have seen the former, not the latter, so for me, Casablanca was the winner.   It's so hard to watch movies from that era (it was made in 1942) without accounting for context.  The whole final act - basically Bogart acting in front of a smoke screen - took some effort to not judge in the context of 2020 and the effects that can be accomplished, but the story was good and after you got into the rhythm of Bogart, it was a well acted film.  (Both Bogart and Bergman though the film crap before and while they were making it). 

I watched Casablanca for the first time not too long ago and loved it. I liked Bogie as a really cool, really tough guy haunted by a ton of baggage leftover from the girl. Since I watch a ton of old movies the style didn't bother me at all. Like I said in some other thread, I'm really in it for a good story made believable, and you don't need 80 million dollars to make a movie believable.

I wouldn't say it was "bothersome", but at the very start when they're panning over the city of Morocco, and the bulk of the scenery is so obviously a matte painting, it forced a conscious re-focusing on the story.  There was no "immersion" in the setting, like there was in, say, Blade Runner.   The film has really lingered with me over the past couple days, though, and I find myself thinking about that film far more than I have about The Matrix or SBM.   I'm likely going to watch it again at some point, because I'm sure there was a depth to the plot that I missed the first time (same with The Matrix). 

[MirrorMask]

They should make a remake faithful to the original story, but with modern technology. Well, it's not that they "should", classics are untouchable, but since it's a period drama anyway, it wouldn't take too much to re-do it.

Just for fun speculation who of the current actors you'd all see in the role of the charming and sulky Bogart?

[a51502112]

Honey Boy. I thought it was very good, and also, I believe Shia Labeouf is a great actor.

[Volante99]

Dead Ringers - better than I remembered it to be; good twisted Cronenberg.

I love Cronenberg and think he’s some kind of mad genius. But man, oh man, everything I’ve read on him seems to come off that he thinks he’s a genius too.
Refn seems to come off the same as well; believing their own hype.

[Chino]

I thought I'd give Indiana Jones ROTLA a chance over the weekend. Man, I just couldn't get into it. I turned it off like an hour and fifteen in.

[gmillerdrake]

Watched the 'new' Lion King last night. That CGI was simply incredible. Still liked the story....but was in constant amazement over how far this technology has come.

[El Barto]

I thought I'd give Indiana Jones ROTLA a chance over the weekend. Man, I just couldn't get into it. I turned it off like an hour and fifteen in.

It certainly didn't age very well. It was a movie made for a very specific period in time. Coming on the heels Star Wars, it was the same sort of classic adventure movie. It worked great at that role. I thought quite highly of it at the time, but last time I saw it I thought it was pretty weak.

[Cool Chris]

I thought I'd give Indiana Jones ROTLA a chance over the weekend. Man, I just couldn't get into it. I turned it off like an hour and fifteen in.

I nearly had to look that up. I have never seen it abbreviated before. What was it that wasn't working for you?

[lordxizor]

Raiders is fantastic. I just watched it a few weeks ago.

[Stadler]

I thought I'd give Indiana Jones ROTLA a chance over the weekend. Man, I just couldn't get into it. I turned it off like an hour and fifteen in.

It certainly didn't age very well. It was a movie made for a very specific period in time. Coming on the heels Star Wars, it was the same sort of classic adventure movie. It worked great at that role. I thought quite highly of it at the time, but last time I saw it I thought it was pretty weak.

I'm with you; I watched it with my daughter, and we found ourselves laughing AT it as much as laughing WITH it.  Maybe more. 

[hefdaddy42]

Bullitt (1968) - Hell yeah, motherfucker.  Steve McQueen, the car chase, and all the cool you can handle.

You might check out To Live and Die in LA. I thought it was similar in style, good cops being pushed further and further beyond the pale, but far more intense and the car chase might actually be better. William Friedkin told his stunt coordinator that he could only do a car chase unless it was better than his own in The French Connection, and he certainly pulled it off. The downside is that the soundtrack is by Wang Chung (definitely an 80s film), but it's got more than enough cool to make up for it.

That said, when the bad guy in Bullitt looked at his partner, and then casually put on his driving gloves to give chase is an absolute classic.

I have seen To Live and Die in LA, but it was many moons ago.  A rewatch is certainly warranted.

Didn't U2 do the theme song?  Or am I thinking of some other LA-based film?

[hefdaddy42]

I thought I'd give Indiana Jones ROTLA a chance over the weekend. Man, I just couldn't get into it. I turned it off like an hour and fifteen in.

It certainly didn't age very well. It was a movie made for a very specific period in time. Coming on the heels Star Wars, it was the same sort of classic adventure movie. It worked great at that role. I thought quite highly of it at the time, but last time I saw it I thought it was pretty weak.

I'm with you; I watched it with my daughter, and we found ourselves laughing AT it as much as laughing WITH it.  Maybe more.

I am crying that you guys think that about this film.

[El Barto]

Bullitt (1968) - Hell yeah, motherfucker.  Steve McQueen, the car chase, and all the cool you can handle.

You might check out To Live and Die in LA. I thought it was similar in style, good cops being pushed further and further beyond the pale, but far more intense and the car chase might actually be better. William Friedkin told his stunt coordinator that he could only do a car chase unless it was better than his own in The French Connection, and he certainly pulled it off. The downside is that the soundtrack is by Wang Chung (definitely an 80s film), but it's got more than enough cool to make up for it.

That said, when the bad guy in Bullitt looked at his partner, and then casually put on his driving gloves to give chase is an absolute classic.

I have seen To Live and Die in LA, but it was many moons ago.  A rewatch is certainly warranted.

Didn't U2 do the theme song?  Or am I thinking of some other LA-based film?

Dude, it's Wang Chung! Nobody ever confuses them for another band. 

[Chino]

I thought I'd give Indiana Jones ROTLA a chance over the weekend. Man, I just couldn't get into it. I turned it off like an hour and fifteen in.

I nearly had to look that up. I have never seen it abbreviated before. What was it that wasn't working for you?

I was just bored. It's weird. I genuinely loved the first half hour of the movie or so, but it just never hooked me. By the time Jones and the girl were climbing out of the side of the pyramid or whatever that was, I found myself thinking "I really don't care how this movie ends".

[Orbert]

I thought I'd give Indiana Jones ROTLA a chance over the weekend. Man, I just couldn't get into it. I turned it off like an hour and fifteen in.

I nearly had to look that up. I have never seen it abbreviated before. What was it that wasn't working for you?

"Revenge of the...?" -- Oh! -- "Raiders of the Lost Ark".  Yeah, that one took me a few.

It doesn't help that they semi-officially renamed the movie to be "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" which is ridiculous and cumbersome, and apparently only done so that all of the Indiana Jones movies start with "Indiana Jones and the..."

[hefdaddy42]

I thought I'd give Indiana Jones ROTLA a chance over the weekend. Man, I just couldn't get into it. I turned it off like an hour and fifteen in.

I nearly had to look that up. I have never seen it abbreviated before. What was it that wasn't working for you?

"Revenge of the...?" -- Oh! -- "Raiders of the Lost Ark".  Yeah, that one took me a few.

It doesn't help that they semi-officially renamed the movie to be "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark" which is ridiculous and cumbersome, and apparently only done so that all of the Indiana Jones movies start with "Indiana Jones and the..."

Another George Lucas great idea, like making "upgrades" to the Star Wars films.

[Orbert]

Well, he had to do something.  He was trying to figure out a way to have this guy shoot first:

[hefdaddy42]

 

[Cool Chris]

Everyone probably knows this but that was originally a more elaborate scene, but Ford wasn't feeling well - as was everyone else on the cast and crew not accustomed to the heat and cuisine of Tunisia - and thought "It's 206 degrees and I have dysentery, can't I just shoot this bastard?"

[Orbert]

In the movie, Indy gets this look on his face that says exactly what we're all (including Harrison Ford) thinking.  "Seriously?  I think I'll just shoot him."  I love that story because when I heard it later, it made perfect sense.  Sometimes actors suggest changes to the script according to what they'd feel more comfortable with and/or what they think better fits the character.  This is perfect because it's both.

[King Postwhore]

He had a fever in the 100's that day. 


Funny how it worked for that scene. 

[Cool Chris]

I was speaking off the cuff, but on one of the DVD mini-docs they discuss how pretty much everyone got really sick. Spielberg said he was one of the only ones who didn't, subsisting solely on cans of Spaghetti-Os.

[Dream Team]

The Harder They Fall (1956)

Bogart's last film before the cancer took him, and it was fantastic. One of the best films ever about the seedy, corrupt underbelly of the "sport" of boxing. Some great supporting performances.

Also it featured two real-life champs, Max Baer and Jersey Joe Wolcott.

[ChuckSteak]

Life Is Sweet (1990): 7/10

Mike Leigh is truly a great director.

[MirrorMask]

Gladiator, for the first time. Only 20 years later, I took my time 

Well, it was good after all. Not "OMG what have I missed for two decades" good, but it was quite ok. I fought it was a totally dumb move from Commodius to fight against Maximus at the end, even after injuring him - I sure as hell wouldn't want a box match with a stabbed Mike Tyson  but overall it was ok.

[KevShmev]

Gladiator, for the first time. Only 20 years later, I took my time 

Well, it was good after all. Not "OMG what have I missed for two decades" good, but it was quite ok. I fought it was a totally dumb move from Commodius to fight against Maximus at the end, even after injuring him - I sure as hell wouldn't want a box match with a stabbed Mike Tyson  but overall it was ok.

I thought that was a major WTF the first time I saw it as well, but I have re-watched it enough to now be okay with it.   Commodus was desperate for the love of the people and knew that killing Maximus himself in battle in the great arena was the only way he could ever truly win the crowd, so he tilted the advantage as much as he could in his favor before the battle. 

[MirrorMask]

My "catching up with famous old movies" brought me, almost on a "well, why not?" whim, to The Last Emperor. Bernardo Bertolucci's uber long retelling of the life of the last emperore of China, filmed on location in the Forbidden City.

I watched it mainly for the court scenes, for old China and its traditions and costumes. The last emperor, Pu-Yi, became emperor as a toddler, I thought it was an unbelieavable and forced dramatization to show the Empress Dowager dying one day after the previous Emperor but I checked and no, it actually happened, they both croaked within 24 hours.

if you have 3 hours and a half to waste away and you're interested in "ancient" China, I'd say go for it.

[Stadler]

Two classics this weekend:

2001: A Space Odyssey

Jaws


I had seen the first 30 minutes or so of 2001, but not the whole film, though I read the book.   The book - written contemporaneously with the movie - has been described as "Clarke-Kubrick", whereas the movie was described as "Kubrick-Clarke", and that is REALLY apt.   I don't know; the wife HATED it, rated it a negative number, and my daughter said it was about a 3.  She got the allegory, and respected the filmmaking, but just thought that there was too much of the latter, and not enough of the former.   "I shouldn't watch a three hour movie and have not even a little more clue than when I started".    I thought it was better than that, but I also thought it was the "Yngwie Malmsteen" of filmmaking; why do 10 when 11 will suffice just fine?   Or maybe it's the "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" of filmmaking; why explain in five minutes what you can explain in 18?

I love Jaws.  I know it has flaws, but that last 45 minutes or so, starting from when Quint is loading the Orca, through to the point where Quint... engages with the shark (spoiler alert!) is so compelling.   It's the real strength of Spielberg as a filmmaker - he can be captivating in that way - although the last three minutes, with the climax and denoument are not worthy of the rest of the film.  I can watch the "Indianapolis" scene on repeat over and over.   For all his other foibles (when drunk - which was often - he was brutal to the cast and Dreyfuss in particular) I can't help but think it was worth it for that scene alone.  I'm not a fan of Scheider much, and Dreyfuss is a confounding actor; I love his intensity when he's talking with passion about his love for sharks, but his tendency to overact - the scars scene - can push buttons with me.   Always worth watching, and the Spielberg/Dreyfuss team has be really wanting to revisit Close Encounters soon. 

[lordxizor]

Uncut Gems

Nice performance by Adam Sandler. Pretty good movie all around.

[MirrorMask]

"I shouldn't watch a three hour movie and have not even a little more clue than when I started".    I thought it was better than that, but I also thought it was the "Yngwie Malmsteen" of filmmaking; why do 10 when 11 will suffice just fine?   Or maybe it's the "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" of filmmaking; why explain in five minutes what you can explain in 18?

Same here. I watched it out of curiosity, but I found it very boring. There's no deying that it's a milestone and a landmark in filming technology, it basically invented the sci-fi genre, it's influential as the Beatles were in music. But the story itself didn't really grab me.

[Cool Chris]

Jaws is amazing, even more so when you consider Spielberg's inexperience behind the camera at that point in his career, and the difficulties inherent in filming much of your movie on a boat. Earlier in this thread Barto had a great point about how he brilliantly filmed that Indianapolis conversation, and how today's directors would never allow that scene to play out as well as it did.

Thinking about Richard Dreyfuss for a minute, I can only think of 3 movies I've seen him in off the top of my head (4 if counting Stand By Me). And I would still maintain his best performance is in American Graffiti.

[KevShmev]

Mr. Holland's Opus is my favorite Dreyfuss film by a wide margin, and probably one of my favorites ever.  Huge fan of that one.

[pg1067]

Mr. Holland's Opus is my favorite Dreyfuss film by a wide margin, and probably one of my favorites ever.  Huge fan of that one.

I'll second that!  Very underappreciated movie.

[Orbert]

I knew Richard Dreyfuss by name, but never saw "Jaws" and didn't see "Close Encounters" until years after it came out.  My introduction to him was "Whose Life Is It Anyway?" back when I was young and impressionable, and I thought he was brilliant.  Then over the years, I saw Dreyfuss in different things, and it always felt like the same character, like he was just playing Ken Harrison over and over.  Eventually I realized that he was just playing Richard Dreyfuss over and over.  He always acts and sounds exactly the same to me.

Then I saw "Mr. Holland's Opus" and he was brilliant again.  But that's because it's the same character again, but this time in a good story.  So I guess Richard Dreyfuss is one of those guys who's great at a very specific type of character, one that can only be played by Richard Dreyfuss.