Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched (Jan 2011 - Nov 2013)  (Read 2532519 times)

Bondo

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6970 on: August 31, 2011, 08:27:12 AM »
Elsker deg for evigt (2002) This was a very good one, highly recommended. Danish dogma. I'm not sure if it's been translated.

It's on Netflix, added it to the queue. The other natural one to see is Brothers, though seeing the American remake first will tend to at least dampen the effect.

jdc

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6971 on: August 31, 2011, 08:59:37 AM »
Protégé

What HK seems to do best, undercover police film.  Not sure if better then Infernal Affairs since it has been a while since I have seen it but still pretty solid.

The Limits of Control

I am not sure why I sat on this for so long before watching, I suppose since I have really enjoyed JJ before but not sure I wanted to be disappointed.    Overall, it was just ok, Dead Man still my favorite.
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smirnoff

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6972 on: August 31, 2011, 09:08:59 AM »
Protégé

What HK seems to do best, undercover police film.  Not sure if better then Infernal Affairs since it has been a while since I have seen it but still pretty solid.

I would like to see that one. I'm glad to hear something positive about it first.

jdc

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6973 on: August 31, 2011, 09:12:08 AM »
Vegetarian

A Korean cross between Safe and Tattoo.  After a dream, a housewife becomes sicked by the site and smell of meat that she turns to Vegetarian and later develops a sexual fetish with body painting and gives up food altogether.  I suppose this not all quite right and an over simplification of somebody's self destruction.  Overall, a pretty good for first time film maker  Lim Woo-Seong which keeps showing why Korea is one of the most interesting places making movies today.

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Lobby

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6974 on: August 31, 2011, 12:25:46 PM »
Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, US, 1958)

What do you do when you recognize someone in a movie but can’t remember from where and it’s starting to itch like a mosquito bite?

Can you manage to suppress the thought, telling yourself that you’ll get back to it after the movie? Or will you give up, put the player on “pause” and consult IMDB to get the distraction out of the way so you can focus properly on the movie?

I had one of those bug bite experiences as I watched Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. It was the character Midge (sic!) who grabbed me, the down-to-Earth friend of the ex-policeman Scottie, who we meet early on in the story, before his interest for the mystical woman Madeleine takes over and she’s dismissed without as much as a bye.

“Who is that woman with the intelligent squirrel eyes and the gentle smile? I’ve seen her somewhere! And why is it that I get the weird idea to wish she was my grandmother?”

I knew I liked her, and not just because of the unknown association. I liked her because she was way more likable than the other characters of the movie.

You know, there is something about guys, who are ruled by their genitals, and helpless women, who can’t play any other role than as the object of men’s desire, that puts me off. I wasn’t all that much into either Scottie or Madeleine, as handsome as they were as a couple. Midge wore glasses and as long as she didn’t take them off and let out her hair I knew she wouldn’t stand a chance. Not in a 1958 movie. And I couldn't help feeling sorry for her.

My thoughts about Vertigo
But let’s leave Midge aside for a while and look at the rest of Vertigo. What did I think? Did I fancy it?

I'll disregard of all the way it has contributed to film history and inspired other film makers (I'm sure you can get that from other, more educated film writers.) When I write about movies, it's always about what they mean to me and not to everyone else.

I also have the ambition not get too judgemental about older movies regarding outdated views on for instance gender, sexuality and race. They are what they are: children of their time and it would be rather unfair and pointless to let it destroy my enjoyment of movies that have other qualities.

As of Vertigo, it was the first time I watched it and I was fortunate enough not to know anything about the plot or the twists and turns the story takes. How I've managed to stay innocent and unknowing is a bit of a mystery considering its position as one of the Big Classics, but nevertheless it added a lot to my enjoyment. Hitchcock could easily manipulate me and play all tricks he wanted to; I was intrigued by the movie all the way and I never anticipated what would come next. Working as intended you could say. As much as it was a crime story, it was a psychological study, which in spite of a quite slow pace still pulled me in and engaged me.

I thought it looked pretty. The costumes are pretty, the use of colors is pretty, the setting is pretty and the people are pretty. I suppose the careful restoration they did of the movie in the mid 90s has helped a bit too. As far as I understand it, the score is considered to be brilliant as well, and while this may be true, I must admit that I felt it a little bit too invasive at times for my taste. It was so loud that I couldn't hear what it tried to tell me.

All in all it was a good movie, and while I don't feel comfortable to give it the almost mandatory 5/5 rating quite yet, I have the feeling that I might do it at some point in the future. I imagine that it's the kind of movie that you can watch several times and that will grow each time and finally become like a good old friend.

The itch
Finally: the itch. I have to get back to that before this review is complete.

I resisted the urge to scratch this time. After I had finished watching, I proceeded with the documentary "Obsessed with Vertigo", which mainly is about the restoration project (quite interesting by the way, well worth to see.) And there she was wrinkled as I'm used to see her, but with the same sparkling eyes and the kind smile: Barbara Bel Geddes. Miss Ellie! Of course! The matriarch of Southfork, Dallas! I should have known.

It was great to see her again. Kim Novak may have been the sexiest one. I can't tell, I'm not a man. But Barbara Bel Geddes won my heart.

My rating: 4/5
« Last Edit: August 31, 2011, 12:31:36 PM by Lobby »
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MartinTeller

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6975 on: August 31, 2011, 01:01:31 PM »
I love BBG, especially in Vertigo.  I, too, would have fallen for her before Kim Novak.

If you want some more early Babs, I recommend 14 Hours and Panic in the Streets.

verbALs

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6976 on: August 31, 2011, 01:02:07 PM »
For a film you said you knew nothing about, you refer to other people's opinions of it a lot. I got the impression you didn't like it. Given that it gets quite misogynistic at times (bullying a woman into changing her appearance) I can't see why you wouldn't like it. You did allude to it being dated, and that obsessive 'women as objects' subtext would make it feel that way. I don't think that's the times, I'm pretty sure that's Hitchcock twisting the knife probably to a greater extent than in the majority of his films. His main characters really suffer through this; it makes Rear Window positively cuddly. I never understood why so many people love Vertigo; perhaps for the art of it, as you suggest; but I understand why I love it...because I am sick and twisted and I like watching people turn themselves inside out.
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sdedalus

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6977 on: August 31, 2011, 01:09:32 PM »
I, too, would have fallen for her before Kim Novak.

I am a member of this club as well.

And yes verbALs, we all love it because we're sick and twisted.  Vertigo is a film that is steeped in misogyny but is nonetheless not misogynous itself.  Hitchcock exposes, but doesn't condone or justify.
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roricb

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6978 on: August 31, 2011, 01:10:32 PM »
Films Watched in August

All stars are out of five

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides  2011  **
Winter in Wartime  2011  ****
Twin Peaks:Fire Walk With Me   1992   *****
Hunger   2008   ****
The Thin Blue Line  1981   ***
Heartbeats  2011   **
Midnight in Paris   2011  ***   (re-watch)
Le Cercle Rouge  1970   *****
30 Minutes or Less  2011   ***
The Elephant Man  1980  ***
The Music Never Stopped  2011   ****
The Killing   1956   *****
Stakeland   2011   ***
Hoop Dreams  1994   *****   (re-watch)
Videodrome  1983   ****
Friday Night Lights  2004   ***   (re-watch)
Another Earth  2011   ****   (re-watch)
The Fly  1984   ****
The Red Shoes   1948   ***
Chasing Amy  1997   *****
In A Better World  2011  ****

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Re: Write about the last movie you watched
« Reply #6979 on: August 31, 2011, 02:49:40 PM »
I never understood why so many people love Vertigo; perhaps for the art of it, as you suggest; but I understand why I love it...because I am sick and twisted and I like watching people turn themselves inside out.

You and me both, brother.  8)

What's there to say about TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (James L. Brooks, 1983)? Not much, nope, not much at all (but I'll probably say more than I need to, haha). Actors act through painful situations, dialogue snaps and sometimes breaks under its own somewhat wittiness (personally, I feel like the monologue to the son at the end not very emotionally involved as I thought it should be given the circumstances, but perhaps that was more because of the delivery), things happen and then fade out/fade in 3 YEARS LATER... It was enjoyable at the time of watching it, but afterwards? It didn't affect me much. It's almost forgettable. Jack Nicholson essentially plays himself. Shirley Maclaine is very much LOOK AT ME I'M ACTING throughout. prime exampLe? "SHE NEEDS THE MEDECINE GIVE MY DAUGHTER THE MEDICINE!" There's no context to this scene, it just happens and while you feel the desperation in her voice, all I heard was, "GIVE ME AN OSCAR! GIVE ME AN OSCAR!" Debra Winger's character gives the attention to the sharp dialogue that pops up occasionally. At times, it feels like her character development is playing second fiddle to the dialogue; I felt her character, while strong at the start, didn't evolve as much as Maclaine's character or even Daniels' or Nicholson's. Speaking of Jeff Daniels, I thought he was the best in the cast. He doesn't have a lot of screentime but he delivers on every line and makes the role more memorable than it could have been. The reputation the film has as a weepy is kind of justified. I was wondering around every corner what the big tragedy was going to be and when I found out what it was, I kind of rolled my eyes. It seems like a staple that all family dramas has SPOILERS death END SPOILERS as its main "dramatic trigger". If you're watching a movie and someone says, SPOILERS"Oh, well I found two tumors, but it's probably nothing" IT'S MOST LIKELY SOMETHING. END SPOILERS. Rounding out the cast is John Lithgow in a small role. It's almost one dimensional, but his screen presence is so strong that I can't help but enjoy it somewhat. Overall, TERMS OF ENDEARMENT is a pretty solid movie, but it's definitely not something that stirred me or something that's deserving of too much praise or awards. There has to be better lead actress performances in 1983.