Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched (Jan 2011 - Nov 2013)  (Read 2531831 times)

oneaprilday

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7450 on: September 19, 2011, 12:45:03 PM »
T.S. Eliot is still the greatest critic ever.

Thanks for the poem.
He is, and you're welcome.  The Four Quartets is brilliant!


Trishna - Michael Winterbottom
Tess of the d'Urbervilles set in modern day India. At 2 hours long it's in no hurry to go anywhere, but still manages to tell the whole story while keeping a steady pace. Beautiful cinematography and soundtrack (Freida Pinto isn't bad herself). Not riveting or overly emotional, but the kind of movie (Wuthering Heights did this too) that once I synchronize to its rhythm I can keep watching it for hours on end. 8/10
This sounds intriguing.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7451 on: September 19, 2011, 12:53:43 PM »
Bigger Than Life

Bigger than Life is a gripping early look at a deconstruction of American society. While it’s easy to look back at the naivety of American media in the ‘50s, it takes strong vision and great skill to call out such a conformist society, especially when working within the very system that perpetuates and reinforces the values and ideas of the culture at large. That’s what makes Bigger than Life stand ten feet tall among ‘50s American Cinema.

jbissell

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7452 on: September 19, 2011, 12:56:32 PM »
Just remember sam, God was wrong.

oneaprilday

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7453 on: September 19, 2011, 01:02:13 PM »
@oneaprilday- not to ruin the feisty nature of this page, but , what if I just send you my reviews, then you rewrite them to say what I really meant? That might save me some time.
Ha, I just quoted you and added my impression of what the movie sounds like. :)  I'm happy the connection to the poem made some sense to you (especially since I haven't seen the film yet!).


This from MP's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy review;
Quote
Previous familiarity with le Carré's plot prevents my commenting on how navigable the film makes it. But the problem, I think, isn't its story; some details have changed but the basic premise has been retained and the most significant incidents and episodes of the espionage elements are intact and in the right place. It's demanding, true, but it's not indecipherable.

The trouble is (to elude would-be charges of purism) that in condensing the plot, Straughan and O'Connor have made perhaps unavoidable shifts in emphasis that don't quite give the story its double urgency. Too much has been reduced to subtext, and as a result, the film feels like a strained interpretation of compelling material. Reducing the four main suspects to secondary roles means that the final revelation - of whom Karla's mole is - lacks the double-edged oomph that imbued a sense of triumph and loss in the novel.

I copied this across because if you read MP's (great) review and then mine, you might get the two differing attitudes that prevail with this film; dependant on having a kind view on the adaptation or otherwise. If you have never read or seen the originals then it won't colour your opinion of this version. If you have then this is one occasion where putting that opinion aside may be very difficult to do; whether because the original story was so compelling or a performance like Guinness's was too BIG not to have in mind.

I took the 'kind' attitude that Alfredson & his writers made assumptions that the viewer did know the story already, so the conclusion is understated/ underplayed, in a way that suggests that there is no surprise to the revelation. Hence my feeling was that it wouldn't be spoiling the enjoyment of this film by watching the TV series first. An example of this underplayed style (which does suit the tone Alfredson goes for & the general tone of the acting throughout) is in the Peter Guillam character's reaction to the revelation. On tv he reacted very violently but here he just looked stunned as he walked away. A complete shift in emphasis that suits the fatalism and pessimistic feel of the Cold War being viewed from afar, as if to say these men weren't fighting for anything of any importance but were prepared to kill for it. The four main suspects are very much reduced in size, and you are left with actors like Firth and Toby Jones being asked to fill the roles with part of their own persona, because the screen time isn't available.

Whenever I see this use of a familiar face to add character to a role it reminds me of a discussion of Bridge On The River Kwai from a while back. Another reviewer had a problem with the lack of character development, especially with William Holden's role. I agreed that a lot of the parts in the film are sparsely drawn and Holden seems to be reprising his Sefton persona from Stalag 17 to fill out the part. A lot of the Roger Thornhill personality in North by Northwest is pure Cary Grant to make up for the breakneck pace. Both are films driven by plot. In TTSS Gary Oldman's Smiley is drawn as a perpetual peripheral figure, a watcher from the shadows and a lot of the joy of the film is watching what Oldman ISN'T doing, shrinking into the background whilst remaining a major presence on screen, fascinating.

It isn't, for me, a criticism of Alfredson's version that TTSS (2011) is a triumph of style over substance. I think that was its intention. Kubrick's mantra was that he wanted to make a film based on his initial impression of the books they were adapted from, not a literal version but his VERSION of the author's VISION. Alfredson does a similar job here and in doing so relieves the film of the burden of comparison with the originals.
I'm very interested in the criticism from MP that the film has been reduced to too much subtext - I can't imagine not loving a film like that. :) 

I've not read the book or seen the Guiness tv version - should I?  Even if you think Alfredson is assuming the viewer knows the story, I rather like the idea of going in knowing nothing and then seeing how it plays for me. 

This conversation about an actor's persona takes me back to our discussion of In a Lonely Place - but there's that dilemma with most films: we know the actors from other roles, and we import our knowledge into a new film, consciously or subconsciously.  I suppose it can make experiencing a film either more interesting or more frustrating, depending on the film, on your perspective, etc.

Anyway, I'm all the more eager to see this film - when it gets here!

smirnoff

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7454 on: September 19, 2011, 01:56:28 PM »
I'm late to the pow-wow but let me just say this, Bondo's reviews are extremely valuable if you've determined where your tastes overlap and if you feel that you and he share a similar approach to watching movies. I have and I do. As such I'm quite comfortable taking cues from him on what's good and what was just a chore. It saves me having to slog through the same (subjective) junk.

He puts the onus on the film and he doesn't fiddle about trying to force his tastes to change when he comes across a "great" film that he doesn't fancy. He also doesn't polish turds just to show how much cleverer he is than everyone else (Jonathan Rosenbaum).

Also when he hates a film and turns it off I always picture him taking the disc out and throwing it across the room in disgust (which is pretty much what I do, or feel like doing). It makes me laugh to see someone have the same reaction. ;D To heck with the movies you dislike, let 'em have it! Save your understanding side for film discussion, keep your reactions honest.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2011, 02:02:17 PM by smirnoff »

zarodinu

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7455 on: September 19, 2011, 02:02:28 PM »
Contagion

Steven Soderbergh is some kind of sociopath, or maybe a robot.  His movies are soulless and the characters always lack humanity, like if you asked some super computer to describe a person and it would map out every wrinkle and nervous tick but totally miss the humanity.  The best example of this kind of film making is Che, a movie that is unbearably long and full of minute biographical details, but that utterly fails or perhaps never even tries to tell you a single thing about the person you are watching for four hours.

The good news about Contagion, is that it is a perfect match of film and director, its basically a procedural of a deadly epidemic that sweeps the globe, with doctors, politicians, and ordinary Americans struggling to find a cure.  There is no human story beyond small snippets of the lives of the characters involved in fighting the plague, the result is a collage that feels more like an extended documentary than a movie, Soderbergh is right at home with this material.  The result is a fun roller coaster ride, I was always into epidemic movies, and this tops Outbreak for the best of the genre.  Its serious and doesn't fall for the various trapping of Hollywood cliches, heroes are forgotten, villains walk free, and just because somebody is important, doesn't mean they cannot die.  I thought this was cool.  Still without any real characters to care about (there is one great performance despite very limited screen time) its more of a ride than a movie, and I do not see why anyone would watch this twice, though by all means see it once.

7/10
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Bondo

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7456 on: September 19, 2011, 02:44:38 PM »
Also when he hates a film and turns it off I always picture him taking the disc out and throwing it across the room in disgust (which is pretty much what I do, or feel like doing).

I've just got a pile of broken DVDs against the wall like mouse skeletons by an owl nest.

Just kidding, I use them for skeet. Netflix hates me. I consider it a public service. ;D

Bill Cunningham New York Pt. 2
Yep. See, the topic isn't inherently important (a preponderance of political/social issue docs tend to win out on my lists) and the style isn't notably distinct (such as it is with Exit Through The Gift Shop). I really do think it comes down to emotional connection with the man or intellectual connection with what he does. I don't have the later and the former is always a struggle.

One fun scene, watching Bill speed load a roll of film during a fashion show. I'd probably be a philistine to ask why he doesn't just use digital.

I didn't get nothing from this, if I did I would have given it a 1/5. But I wouldn't particularly say I enjoyed it, a few nice moments aside and thus can't give it the recommendation that my 3/5 implies. It is what it is, and what it is is probably more of an hour TV doc than a theatrical documentary.

2/5

Junior

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7457 on: September 19, 2011, 02:48:11 PM »
Did that one scene do anything for you?
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Bondo

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7458 on: September 19, 2011, 03:03:23 PM »
The response to the first question was...cute. The second didn't really resonate. It was one of the better scenes in that it got a bit more intimate rather than capturing the flurry of activity.

Junior

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #7459 on: September 19, 2011, 03:04:21 PM »
Yeah. Well, I'm glad you watched the rest, even if it didn't work for you as it did for me.
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