Author Topic: Respond to the last movie you watched (Jan 2011 - Nov 2013)  (Read 2531913 times)

Totoro

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15290 on: September 23, 2012, 11:45:04 PM »
Because I thought I was too harsh on it.

All of my non filmspotting cinephile fans loved the shit out of it. Also, it's Scorsese.

Lobby

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15291 on: September 24, 2012, 12:33:16 AM »
I may be a softie, but for me Hugo worked very well (even though I too preferred The Artist between the two self celebrating movies.)

” My friends, I address you all tonight as you truly are; wizards, mermaids, travellers, adventurers, magicians… Come and dream with me.”

With lines like that it pulled all the emotional strings it should pull and I ended up wishing that 3D glasses came with wipers.

Also: this must be the first and last time someone is allowed to make a film about a topic such as film restoration!
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Junior

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15292 on: September 24, 2012, 08:12:13 AM »
Man, I find more heart in a minute of Hugo than I did in the entirety of The Artist. Hugo is by far the better movie for me. Just that scene watching the old movie in the apartment is super great.
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15293 on: September 24, 2012, 09:25:41 AM »
Hugo, one of last year's best. The Artist, one of last year's worst. I wrote about this somewhere on the forums, I reckon. A beautiful example of 3-D film-making as well. That central relationship between the kids, so touching. The movie making sequence, breath-taking. In a year dominated by nostalgia (Hugo and The Muppets being the two most notable examples), it's the only one that even begins to 'work' when appealing to these feelings.

Sandy

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15294 on: September 24, 2012, 09:52:57 AM »
Man, I find more heart in a minute of Hugo than I did in the entirety of The Artist. Hugo is by far the better movie for me. Just that scene watching the old movie in the apartment is super great.

That is a wonderful scene. I should have clarified my statement earlier--lots of heart, but felt smothered. And, I would still rather watch it over The Artist, if I had to pick from the two.

Lobby

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15295 on: September 24, 2012, 05:00:04 PM »
Red Desert (Il deserto rosso, Michelangelo Antonioni, IT, 1964)

A perfect setting for wedding dress trashing

A film buff once accused me of caring too much about the plot in movies. "There's so much more to it!" he argued. "Look at the cinematography, the score, the acting. The story is the least interesting in a film."

Perhaps he was right. Thinking back at the movies I've watched and reviewed the last year, it seems to me as if I have a much harder time to embrace a movie if it's unclear what it's really about.

I can appreciate and admire films that are pieces of art that you're supposed to hold up and contemplate. But when I can't engage with a film at an emotional level, I have a very hard time to stay awake as I watch it. To keep my interest I need to get something to hold on to and something that stirs a reaction - such as fear, joy, surprise, sadness or fear. Something. Campfire storytellers know how to do it.

But Red Desert - my first encounter with Michelangelo Antonioni - doesn't offer any story, at least not that I notice. It's a case of an artifact, which you admire but don't consume.

Colors and melancholy
For being a film that depictures an industrial landscape that looks like something made up in a five year plan in the former Soviet Union, Red Desert is strangely pretty. There's something about the way that Antonioni uses the colors that attracts me.

The woman in a green coat looks like a plant. The factory behind her spits out some kind of poisonous yellow smoke in the background. The sense of melancholy and meaninglessness is intense.

I have no idea of what's going on. The woman appears to be unhappy. Is she mentally ill or just frustrated with her marriage? She starts a relationship with some guy who isn't her husband, but it doesn't seem to lead anywhere. I look at the sea. I look at a house with intensely red walls. It probably represents something, but what?

My thoughts start to wander. I think about the new wedding tradition I read about recently where brides look out gritty environments where they have their picture taken while brutally trashing the wedding dresses.

The setting in Red Desert would be perfect for wedding photography. Contrasted with the ugly background, all women look gorgeous.

And that's all I have to say. Give me a couple of weeks and I'll have forgotten it completely. Only the green coat and the red wall and the yellow smoke will remain. But to me, that's not enough. I want more than this from a movie.

My rating: 2,5/5
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Bondo

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15296 on: September 24, 2012, 06:27:01 PM »
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

As much as I might bemoan a certain paranoia in modern society, the small-town world of Shadow of a Doubt is creepily trusting. When rich and mysterious Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) comes to visit his sister's family, the family is suddenly contacted to take part in a survey. Not only does Emma (Patricia Collinge) quickly volunteer to have the men question and photograph the family, when the man posing as the surveyor requests someone to show him around town, she volunteers her pre-teen daughter. I can't imagine someone volunteering a young daughter to spend time with a virtual stranger in the present day.

The sense of tension in the film is good, even though it often feels like a Leave It To Beaver slice of domestic drama. In addition to the strangers poking around, Uncle Charlie's secret faces scrutiny from his niece (Teresa Wright), also named Charlie, who has a certain intuitive bond with her Uncle, and his brother-in-law Joe (Henry Travers) and his fellow mystery novel obsessed friend Herbie (Hume Cronyn). Even the younger children, Ann and Roger are shown as being precocious and liable to cause trouble for him.

If I had to classify this film, it would be almost as a romantic drama, not a thriller. The film ultimately isn't about doubt of guilt but the disappointment of Young Charlie's idealized image of her uncle. There are distinct incestuous undertones in their interactions and Young Charlie's response is not unlike a spurned lover. This is an interesting angle but not one that really grabbed me. There are a couple moments where it does try to play up the thriller angle but it isn't top tier Hitchcock. Still, after being underwhelmed by many of the Hitchcock films I've watched recently, this is a turn toward the positive.

3/5

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15297 on: September 24, 2012, 08:09:28 PM »
Thornton Wilder, perhaps one of America's greatest minds. The recurrence of the bells drips of his theatrical styling.

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15298 on: September 24, 2012, 10:21:28 PM »

Undertow - Tony Reagan (Scott Brady) is an ex-syndicate man gone straight after a stint in the military.  He makes plans to marry his sweetheart Sally (Dorothy Hart), but her uncle is a big syndicate boss and doesn't want her getting involved with anyone in the racket.  Tony intends to smooth things with "Big Jim"... but instead finds himself framed for his murder.  With only Sally and a newfound acquaintance (Peggy Dow) to aid him, he's got to find the real killer before the police find him.

No one's ever going to mistake this for a noir classic.  It's a pretty standard "clearing his name" scenario without much flair.  It lacks the odd stylization of Castle's earlier Betrayed.  The plot is a bit hard to follow at times as well... an issue that often isn't a concern with noir, but only when the film has some atmosphere to make up for it.  But there's a couple of fine sequences, including a terrific chase in the middle.  In general it hangs together well and delivers a tight, if not especially memorable, experience.  The performances by the no-name cast are surprisingly good.  Brady has a strong leading man presence, and Hart and Dow play into their good girl/femme fatale roles (I won't tell you which is which) nicely.  Also notable for the first appearance by Rock Hudson in a tiny part, although I forgot to keep an eye out for him.

A couple more notes.  The film makes some good use of Chicago locations, including Buckingham Fountain and the museum area around Lake Shore Drive.  And the ending involves something that either exploits the white man's fear of the black man or casts the black man in a righteous light.  Or heck, maybe both.

A decent enough fix for a noir junkie, but it could use more zip.  Rating: Fair (69)

Sandy

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Re: Respond to the last movie you watched
« Reply #15299 on: September 24, 2012, 11:30:14 PM »
verbALs, she has sparkles in her eyes. And, there's Miles Davis. Elevator er, Lift to the Scaffold now added to my list. :)




Wings of Desire



Nice work if you can get it



It's great to live only by the spirit, to testify day by day for eternity only to the spiritual side of people... But sometimes I get fed up with my spiritual existence. Instead of forever hovering above I'd like to feel a weight grow in me to end the infinity and to tie me to earth.


Just imagine someone

An angel's passing by


Sighin' sigh after sigh

Time heals all, but what if time itself is the disease? Sometimes its' like you have to bend to go on living. All the people I've met who'll live on in my head... I waited an eternity for someone to say a loving word to me... Someone who'd say "I love you so much today." That would be so wonderful. I look and the world emerges before my eyes and fills my heart. As a child, I wanted to live on an island. A woman alone, gloriously alone... Empty. Incompatible. Emptiness, fear, fear, fear, like a little animal lost in the woods. Who are you? I don't know anymore... Don't cry! No way! Crying is out of the question. These things happen. It's just how it is. Things don't always turn out the way you'd like. So empty... Don't think about anything. Just be. This evening frightens me. It's silly... How should I live? Maybe that's not the question. How should I think? I know so little. Maybe because I'm too curious. Often my thoughts are all wrong because it's like I'm talking to someone else at the same time... Longing... longing for a wave of love to swell up in me. That's what makes me clumsy; the lack of pleasure. A desire for love... The desire to love!


And you can get it if you try

I've been on the outside long enough, absent long enough. I've stood outside the world long enough.



Who could ask for anything more?

 

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