Last Movie Watched.... The Xenforo Edition

Discussion in 'Movies, TV and Music' started by Val1, May 4, 2012.

  1. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
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    This holiday week has been a big movie viewing week for me. And of the films we've watched, the one most worth a review is Mel Gibson in "Payback."

    [​IMG]

    Gibson plays Porter (no first name), a thief who pulls off a successful job in the opening act, only to be double crossed by his wife and partner - who shoot him and leave him for dead. Fast forward some unknown amount of time, when Porter is recovered and out not really for revenge, but just to get his $70,000 back. In so doing, he runs afoul of several groups: an Asian crime gang, a couple of very crooked cops, another guy and his driver, "The Syndicate," and his old partner.

    How do you guys manage to do it? I've been working on this review for an hour. I can't finish it. Great film though.
     
  2. Ceres

    Ceres Member+

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    #6602 Ceres, Dec 29, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2017

    This film was nominated for an Oscar as best foreign movie of 2017, though it lost to an Iranian movie for religious and political (Trump) reeasons ...

    The Danish sergeant played by Roland Møller who also won the 'Best Actor' award in Denmark is actually a former homeless criminal who has served time in jail several times. Actually 10 sentences for violent crimes and had served 4½ years imprisonment before he finally changed "career" and quit doing crime in 2002 ....

    In fact in 2010 he was originally involved as a consultant for the film "R" set in Horsens State Prison, where he had served time, but the co-director offered him an acting role in the film and so he got his acting debut ...

    The 'Land of Mine' investors were not too keen on letting a former criminal with no lead role experience play the sergeant, but director Martin Zandvliet put his foot down and demanded that Roland should get the lead role, but Roland was actually still homeless during filming ... The young German soldiers are all played by Germans ... and they said they were scared shitless by Roland during filming, because it all seemed so real... you could postulate that Roland is proof that the "American dream" is still alive, because he was able to turn his life around from being a homeless criminal but now is getting jobs in Hollywood :
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Møller

    As a twist to the story, Roland was in Brussels in 2016 to promote the movie during the airport terror bomb attack ... he was suppose to be at the airport at the time it got hit, but because he had a bit too much to drink after the movie gala premiere the night before, he overslept so they missed the cab that were suppose to take them to the airport ... and so he fortunately also missed the terror attack by 3 minutes...

    Danish movies like this are very hard to find in the USA, unless you got Netflix ... or do a youtube search ...

    Land of Mine - Main Theme - Official Soundtrack

     
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  3. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    #6603 Belgian guy, Dec 29, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 29, 2017
    This is basically a remake of "Point Blank". Though I'm not sure if this was ever properly acknowledged or not.

    *edit* I now see that both movies merely based themselves on the same book. Still, I always found John Boorman's take on the story far superior. You should check it out (if you haven't already).



    Side note, but I suspect that the famous night club scene in "Point Blank" was actually inspired (in its editing and use of close-ups) by a similar scene in a jazz club in "Phantom Lady".
     
  4. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Little Women (2017)
    Dir. Vanessa Caswill

    [​IMG]

    Four teenaged sisters living in civil war era Massachusets have to cope with the absence of their father around Christmas, as he is off to the war, in which he serves as a Pastor in the Union Army. The four girls and their mother survive through work (as a governess and a lady companion in the case of the two older sisters) and the generosity of their more affluent neighbors, the Laurences. As the years progress, the childhood dreams of a future they each independently dreamt of meet with reality and occasionally clash.

    The same way I am a sucker for any "Emma" adaptation, I will always try to watch any "Little Women" adaptation. My introduction to the source material was perhaps somewhat unusual. I was introduced to the characters as a child through the Japanese animated show "Tales of Little Women", which was then broadcast in a dubbed version (in French) on TF1. I only learned many years later that the inspiration of those was a series of books.

    I thought this was a well-cast and more than decent treatment of the work. Emily Watson is terrific as Marmee, Angela Lansbury (now 92 years old!) is appropriately fierce as Aunt March and all four of the March sisters are excellently cast. A special mention to Maya Thurman-Hawke as Jo (who apart from good genes also seems to have inherited a strong screen presence from her parents) and Kathryn Newton as Amy (who does a great job at inhabiting the character's impish, self-centered capriciousness).
     
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  5. NER_MCFC

    NER_MCFC Member

    May 23, 2001
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    Well, I do tend to be cleverest when I'm not really paying attention.
     
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  6. mwulf67

    mwulf67 Member+

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    I watched last night, and did so knowing it has been almost universally panned by critics and audience alike…although the audience score on RT does seem to be trending upward (88% as of this post),,,

    I expected to hate it…I didn’t…

    It was mostly a fun and enjoyable watch, which was all I was hoping for…

    Hardly perfect or an Oscar worthy film, but I can’t help but feels some critics are projecting a whole lot more on this movie, then what is actually happening on the screen…
     
  7. Val1

    Val1 Member+

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    It is interesting that you just reviewed this. My daughter gave us tickets to see Little Women -- The Musical at a regional theater in Rochester. And you know me, the source material matters. I'd never read the book, so it was a good opportunity to do so, and I have to say, I found the book tedious. Very tedious. I wish I had known before I started reading it that what is marketed to Americans as Little Women, is actually two books, Little Women and Little Wives.

    I was kind of embarrassed to finding myself unimpressed with Alcott's work. I possess something of a woman's sensibility when it comes to books and TV. I am well aware of the historical import of Little Women, and all of my most literate, well read, female friends love Little Women. I, on the other hand, just kept thinking that Sidney Taylor did the subject matter better in All of a Kind Family.

    The musical suffers from, or in your case, benefits from, the same characteristics of the book. Apparently, the musical was written for Sutten Foster, she of Shrek, The Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes, fame. And I have to tell you, the role of Jo March in the musical is one of the great modern roles for women on the stage. And I saw a simply dy-no-mite actress named Cassidy Thompson own that role. She just graduated from Eastman School of Music ( a fairly prestigious performance arts school) and I will be following her career over the next several years.
     
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  8. spejic

    spejic Cautionary example

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    #6608 spejic, Dec 31, 2017
    Last edited: Dec 31, 2017
    As demanded by all three of my fans.

    Van Dammethon 44

    [​IMG]

    Kickboxer: Vengeance (2016)

    A remake of the 1989 cinematic masterpiece, Kurt Slone is out to avenge the death of his brother Eric, killed in an illegal Muay Thai fight. He goes to the compound of the killer, Master Tong Po, knowing enough fighting to pretend to be a new disciple. He tries to shoot Po in the middle of the night but lacking the killer instinct he fails. He is arrested, but shakes the cops during his attempted repatriation. The only way to get Tong Po is in the ring, and he needs training to have a chance. What he needs is a master of kickboxing. I hear Jean-Claude Van Damme might know a little about such things.

    Van Damme is brilliant, of course, and injects a needed bit of levity and style to a movie that takes itself very, very seriously. He is also the star of the movie's best fight scene, where he uses incredible economy of movement to counter all of Kurt's attacks during Slone's interview contest. The final confrontation has a few of Van Damme's signature moves in it, so I applaud the fight choreographer. I wasn't as big a fan of the choppy hand-held camera, or the sword fighting scene. I know enough about swords to know a sword fight is very short. Outside of the fights... well... I mean the acting and directing were all fine - you never feel this was cheap or poorly constructed. But the police woman and the fight arranger characters (the only non-Muay Thaists) both went nowhere and were left hanging. They could have shortened the final fight to give them their due. Maybe the sequel coming out next month (Vengeance is the first in a planned trilogy) will deal with them properly.

    Stay for the end credits, because they have an ode to the infamous dance scene in the original movie. Astonishing is the only word for it.
     
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  9. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

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    #6609 Ismitje, Dec 31, 2017
    Last edited: Jan 1, 2018
    Here's a line or two on all of the other films we've watched this holiday week:

    "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" from Guy Ritchie and starring Charlie Hunnam, which is about what I should have expected: frenetic, loud, muddled, and completely uninspiring.

    "Pride and Prejudice" - the version with Keira Knightley - is terrific. Perfectly cast, really, which I did not expect when Knightley was the headliner. I've watched it before with my wife and/or daughters many times. And I will happily watch it again.

    "The Last Jedi" was totally adequate. I thought there was a great hour and forty-five minute movie in there somewhere.

    "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" was new to all of us. I found it quite odd how closely they hewed to the story until the very end. The Bennett sisters were pretty well cast, but Darcy and Bingsley were not.

    "Moana" is chock-full of good songs, great visuals, a compelling heroine, and an empowering story. We don't watch these as readily as we once did with our daughters older but we probably should, as we still enjoy them.

    "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" was still fun (for those of us who found the first one fun), though I wish it, too, had been shorter by 15-20 minutes or so. Maybe less time spent yelling at each other would have done the trick. I did like the resolution to who Qwill's father is. (Both of them.)

    "An American Werewolf in London" remains one of my favorites, 35 years since I first saw it. Still funny, and still scary.

    "Die Hard" on Christmas Eve, first time we showed our daughters (who are now 18 and 21). And it was as fun to show them as I hoped it would be.
     
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  10. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    @Ismitje So your daughters had never seen "Die Hard" before? Was there any reason why they had yet to see that film?
     
  11. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

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    No reason. I bought the DVD last year but we didn't have time to watch.
     
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  12. riverplate

    riverplate Member+

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    I'm not saying this is the case here, but...

    Die Hard was released in 1988. I'm sure there are plenty of 20-year-olds who would consider it an "old" movie and therefore not worth their time. I'm never surprised to hear young people dismiss movies (or music or whatever) made before they were born. Sad, but often true.
     
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  13. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Het Tweede Gelaat (2017)
    Dir. Jan Verheyen

    [​IMG]

    Inspectors Vincke and Verstuyft get their new case in the form of a serial killer's dumping ground being found in the Kalmthoutse Heide. Several decapitated female victims are found in close proximity to each other, the bodies in various states of decomposition. Vincke decides to bring in a profiler from Interpol to help with the case, whilst Verstuyft believes this to be a waste of time and that the real solution will come from old-fashioned detective work.

    The third movie in the Vincke/Verstuyft trilogy (all three films based on the novels of Jef Geeraerts) and unfortunately the weakest of the three. The first one had a great villain on an existential mission and the unlikely similarities between him and the lead detective as a hook. Which earned the feature praise from the late Roger Ebert, among others. The second film (Dossier K.) had an equally compelling villain on a similarly compelling personal mission. This third film is primarily about Freddy Verstuyft, the junior of the series' detective pair. As much as I like the character, he might be too meager a basis to support an entire feature. The chemistry between Koen De Bouw and Werner De Smedt still works, but there is too little else going on to put this on par with the two previous films. Sofie Hoflack is quite good in a supporting role and I hope this might get her some international recognition.
     
  14. Ceres

    Ceres Member+

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    #6614 Ceres, Jan 4, 2018
    Last edited: Jan 4, 2018

    Sounds a bit like the very dark and intriguing Nordic noir and by far most popular Danish crime trilogy the past few years, Department Q , based on the novels by Jussi Adler-Olsen ... Dept. Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes (Kvinden i Buret), Dept. Q: The Absent One (Fasandræberne) and A Conspiracy of Faith (Flaskepost fra P), all starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas ( the Illuminati assasin Tom Hanks was trying to keep up with in Angels & Demons) .. it has a kind of X-files vibe to it, with two outcast cops tucked away in department Q, trying to solve the most strange unsolvable crimes ... here is the IFC trilogy trailer ... :



    And the English trailer for the first film Dept. Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes (Kvinden i Buret) .

     
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  15. StiltonFC

    StiltonFC He said to only look up -- Guster

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    Twenty Gelati? Can there be that many flavors???
     
  16. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Literally translated: "The Second Face".
     
  17. StiltonFC

    StiltonFC He said to only look up -- Guster

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    yeah. i looked it up. but i thought a poster with that image and 20 Gelati would be vaguely humorous...

    ooops
     
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  18. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
    Dir. Denis Villeneuve

    [​IMG]

    K is a Blade Runner tasked with finding and eliminating the last remnants of the old replicant models. He himself is one of the new models, which are supposedly more reliable, even though he and his kind still carry the stigma of his predecessors' violent past. One day, during a routine mission in which he eliminates another one of his marks, he uncovers a strange reality that has the potential to change everything for both humans and replicants. To find out more about it, he has to dig into the past and hope to find a former Blade Runner who likely has at least a portion of the answers he is looking for.

    A visually stunning sequel to the original classic film that ultimately felt like a bit of a letdown. The failure is not really in the direction, cinematography (gorgeous as stated before) or any of the performances (though I'm not a huge fan of Jared Leto to say the least). The writing does not live up to the rest of the quality of this production. It was always going to be hard to find a satisfying story worthy of bringing this back.

    Some plot spoilers whilst discussing my issues with the screenplay (open)
    My issues with the screenplay are two-fold. Firstly, it all feels too paint by the numbers and too straight-forward for this universe. Secondly, from a philosophical point of view, I think the existence of the child jars with the reality of the original film. Perhaps it is a sign of our times that this film felt the need to center the story on a special individual which stands above all others. The original film deals with the nature of humanity and finding the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary. This left me feeling like the screenwriters' interpretation of the original material was far different than mine.


    I did like the cast and was pleasantly surprised by Ana de Armas, who genuinely gives my favorite performances out of all of the supporting cast. This is definitely worth seeing, but if you see it, try to do so in the theater, because the fact that Villeneuve and Deakins have made this a true cinematic experience is 90% of the film's appeal.
     
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  19. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Happy Death Day (2017)
    Dir. Christopher Landon

    [​IMG]

    A shallow sorority girl wakes up on her birthday in the dorm room of a guy she barely knows. She navigates through her day, displaying the general lack of regard she has for the feelings of the people in her life. Her day ends with her brutal murder... only, she does not die, but instead wakes up again on the morning of the very same day she just lived through. She is caught in a time loop with a murderous end and believes her only way to break the loop is by surviving the day and eluding the killer, a masked individual who seems intent on murdering her whichever course of action she chooses during the day.

    The concept, mixing "Groundhog Day" with a self-conscious slasher à la "Scream", is not bad. The execution does not quite live up to the concept, mostly due to an unsatisfying third act. But there is a significant amount of fun to be found in the first act and the majority of the second act. A lot of the ideas from "Groundhog Day" are stolen, chief of which is that in a universe that resets every 24 hours, none of your actions have any real, lasting impact. Jessica Rothe is a good lead for this and Israel Broussard a charming foil. This is another Blumhouse Productions movie that made a ridiculous amount of money against a small production budget (4.8 million turned into 115 million at the box office).
     
  20. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

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    [​IMG]

    The Opera House a documentary about the building of the "new" Metropolitan Opera building at Lincoln Center in 1966. Really from the late 50s until 1966. Well, really they were trying to get a new building from the late 20s. Some huge egos involved (none comparable to Robert Moses) as well as great stories by a couple of people who were displaced by the urban renewal project. The show is stolen by legendary soprano Leontyne Price, who, at 90, is still sharp and in possession of a still pretty good voice.
     
  21. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

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    There aren't many movies I see these days that I wish I had seen in the theater, but here's one: "Arrival." I loved it, and wished I had the sound and large screen from a good theater. Of course, we don't really have a good theater here in town, but it would have been a nice experience.

    [​IMG]
     
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  22. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    November Criminals (2017)
    Dir. Sacha Gervasi

    [​IMG]

    Shortly after losing his mother, a high school senior loses one of his friends in a shooting at a coffee shop which seemed to be targeting the victim specifically. He cannot let the crime go unsolved and when he perceives the police as following the wrong lead - treating it like a gang-related murder - he decides to investigate the crime on his own and recruits the help of his very reluctant-to-assist girlfriend in the process.

    This is like a poor man's "Brick" in which Ansel Elgort seems to be channeling the kind of protagonist that John Cusack played in the 1980s, right down to his sartorial choices. Decent performances and a soundtrack chockfull of David Bowie cannot elevate this film beyond mediocrity.
     
  23. Dr. Wankler

    Dr. Wankler Member+

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    It was indeed. The second time we saw it. The first time the sound system was way out of balance with the bass pumped up significantly beyond what it should've been, which made some scenes unpleasant. The dickweed weekend night manager tried to tell me that's the way it was supposed to be. I called the theater the next day to speak with a grown up and he acknowledged that that particular theater had been messed up, and he gave us a code so that we could see the next movie free. When I recited the code at the ticket window, the girl got up left, and came back with an envelope with our name on it. Ten free passes to any regular movie in one of the regular theaters.

    I'll concede and call it even, though it's me being generous: the sound was just that ********ed up.
     
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  24. spejic

    spejic Cautionary example

    Mar 1, 1999
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    [​IMG]

    A New Leaf (1971)

    Playboy Henry Graham has devoted his life and trust fund to living the high class life. But his Ferrari 275 GTB, custom P-51 aircraft, polo club membership, and standing reservations for a table-of-one in the finest New York restaurants proved too much for his bank account, and he is now broke. He talks his rich but hated uncle into a deal - fund him for the next 6 weeks so he can marry into wealth and he will repay the uncle plus interest. If he fails, Henry will turn over all his worldly possessions. But Henry hates humanity. What kind of woman could he possibly bear to be near? And how can he kill her while making it look like an accident?

    An uneven film with a couple of gut-busting laughs but a few cringe-inducing moments as well. Matthou's curmudgeonliness is great directed at humanity, but mean when directed at humans. 1971 produced some fine examples of timeless film, but this felt very... 1970.
     
  25. Belgian guy

    Belgian guy Member+

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    Someone should really write a piece on the weird genre of "wife assassination" movies from that era. Matthau's great friend Jack Lemmon also starred in one "How to Murder your Wife".
     
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