Author Topic: Write about the last movie you watched (2006-2010)  (Read 5998575 times)

Bill Thompson

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32460 on: June 13, 2010, 09:49:30 PM »
1) Bourne Ultimatum
2) Die Hard
3) The Matrix
4) The Dark Knight
5) Bourne Identity
One of those is great. The rest are just good. I'll give you a hint, it's the one not made in the past 13 years.  :P

Of the three of those I've seen, two are very good bordering on great while the other is pretty bad and none of the three come close to the awesomeness that is T2.

Which one haven't you seen? Bourne 3?

I haven't seen either of the Bourne films.

michael x

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32461 on: June 13, 2010, 09:57:24 PM »
Though "distant" of course should never be pointed out as a flaw of the film since the movie is absolutely supposed to be distant. This could turn people off, but I think it makes it haunting.

"of course"? I think it depends on how you're judging the film.

I personally think it's bad criticism to criticize a film for what is deliberate, as if it were a mistake. Unless of course, the intention sucks to begin with.

I definitely understand that approach, but I don't think it's necessarily the best way to evaluate a film. It can slip into the idea that no one associated with a film ever makes a bad decision, because any intentional decision made is, by definition, good. And that seems clearly incorrect to me.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32462 on: June 13, 2010, 10:29:01 PM »
Though "distant" of course should never be pointed out as a flaw of the film since the movie is absolutely supposed to be distant. This could turn people off, but I think it makes it haunting.
I think the film is certainly from her perspective so there is a bit of distance to the drama of the three adults, but I still find it pretty involving and engrossing.

This reminds me that I should write more about Days of Heaven.

Corndog

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32463 on: June 14, 2010, 12:05:03 AM »
"Time is the speed at which the past decays."

ferris

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32464 on: June 14, 2010, 12:15:07 AM »
Ferris' Essential Vitamins & Minerals Marathon
Film #10 of 20



Days of Heaven (1978,  Terrence Malick)


...This might finally be the film that gets me to buy a Blu-Ray player  (more...)




"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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jdc

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32465 on: June 14, 2010, 12:35:04 AM »

Days of Heaven (1978,  Terrence Malick)


...This might finally be the film that gets me to buy a Blu-Ray player  (more...)

[/center]




I think this is the kind of film that blu-ray is made for.  I have only watched it on DVD but I thought the quality was quite poor, I plan to watch it again on Blu-ray, but not this year. 
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ferris

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32466 on: June 14, 2010, 12:36:47 AM »
Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, 1982)

This movie was responsible for many of my childhood terrors, so it was very interesting to go back to it after probably 14 years since I saw it. It was strange to see what I remembered from it and what I mis-remembered, or built up in my head. Needless to say it didn't quite hold up to my recollection. It's a very well made movie, for the most part, but at 22 it's just not the same as at 8. :D

A lot of the special effects don't quite hold up, but I really enjoy the craftsmanship of them. A lot of the best stuff is the simplest stuff, and there's a lot of really great ingenuity and fun ideas on display.

The story was a bit more hit and miss than I had expected. The premise is strong in its simplicity, but it actually kind of muddles through some of the plot points. It felt at times like the story was constructed around the idea of cool scenes rather than the other way around.

In all, still a neat spectacle and some admirably spooky filmmaking.

I watched it in the theater 7 times the summer it came out and it remains in my Top 100 to this day.  That said, it has been awhile since my last rewatch - I might be better off holding on to my childhood nostalgia on this one then watching it again to be sure!
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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ferris

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32467 on: June 14, 2010, 12:41:56 AM »
Days of Heaven

Paris, Texas

Awesome! I'm glad you said you'll watch both again because I had the same issues you had with both these films initially, but revising them, I find more and more I love about them and find them more and more emotional and effective.

Great reviews, Steve.  It was an honor and privalege to get a chance to watch these with you.  I think I came out pretty close to you on both, but I'll save further comment for my marathon thread...

I agree with you Sam, that both of these films seem ripe with rewards during a rewatch
"And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" - Exodus 8:2 KJV
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oldkid

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32468 on: June 14, 2010, 01:05:21 AM »
Though "distant" of course should never be pointed out as a flaw of the film since the movie is absolutely supposed to be distant. This could turn people off, but I think it makes it haunting.
I think the film is certainly from her perspective so there is a bit of distance to the drama of the three adults, but I still find it pretty involving and engrossing.

This reminds me that I should write more about Days of Heaven.

I didn't point out "distant" as an objective flaw of the film, but a subjective.  It was the one think keeping me from giving it a 5/5.  If I am going to give a movie 5/5 there must, for me, be some emotional resonance.  If a director wants to make a distant film, no problem.  It will just never make my coveted top 100.

However, as I said in my review, I am willing to be emotionally connected to this film because there's so much potential there.  I'll see how I feel about it after re-watching it later.
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flieger

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #32469 on: June 14, 2010, 03:45:32 AM »

Daisy Miller (Peter Bogdanovich, 1974)

I'm not sure she's capable of thought at all. I certainly see no evidence of it.

Much maligned, miscast, and the apparent end of Bogdanovich's hot streak, poor old Daisy Miller is little seen, and usually not loved. Complaints centre around the dialogue - its Hawksian patois infringing on the delicacy of James' ironies and social critique - and the performance of Shepherd.
For me, the film has a wonderful beauty, the cool elegance of Bogdanovich's camera gives the images an unforced naturalism reminiscent of what Kubrick was going for in Barry Lyndon, released the same year. This elegance seems at odds with the rapid-fire dialogue - especially Shepherd's - and is probably the root cause of discombobulation. For me, it was not such a worry. Shepherd's Daisy Miller is intelligent, a little coarse, possibly too flirty, but very American. She has this perhaps too-pleased look on her face, and a barely repressed smile, all signs of an American's native innocence, contrasting with the refinement, social elaborateness and archaicness of Europe. Her enchantment of Frederick Winterbourne (Barry Brown), a man forlornly enmeshed in the European ways, is well backed-up by players like Eileen Brennan, Cloris Leachman, and Mildred Natwick creating a sort-of milieu that is a little Henry James, and a little Hawks or Ford. That's the way Bogdanovich liked it, and it's easy enough to agree.   

 

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