What Is The Last Film You Watched?

Colombiana

Everything you'd expect from a movie released in the 3rd week of August

Why on Earth would you go and see it?

Karol

Finally saw Deathly Hallows part 2. Had to take my mom (I've taken her to each once since Azkaban as a tradition). It was very good. Overall, reading the books was a much more enjoyable experience, as it normally is with adaptations. It's hard for me to approach it from the perspective of someone who has just seen the films.

Tim

crocodile's skeleton wrote:Why on Earth would you go and see it?

Karol

it was either that or Conan

Spirit of King Mark wrote:

crocodile's skeleton wrote:Why on Earth would you go and see it?

Karol

it was either that or Conan

How 'bout not going to the movies?

Superman the Movie.

original sound.

skruggs is happy.

The Godfather Part II

Arguably an even more brilliant film then the first one.
This one follows both the rise of Don Vito Corleone and the downfall of his son Michael.
Copolla famously had a lot of trouble on the first film. Paramount tried to have him replaced several times, argumemnts with the prodfucers etc...etc...

For this one he had almost total control, and a bigger budget, and it shows. Particularly in the Vito scenes, in New York, lots of crowds, lots of beautifully composed shots (once again the camerawork is breathtaking).

The first film made Pacino a star, and a respected actor. This time he has to carry much of the film.
His acting is brilliant, because you can;t put your finger on why it's so brilliant. Michael lives with a pokerface, keeping his cards close to his vest, revealing little about his emotions or plans, yet somehow Pacino manages to very subtly convey a man who is losing his humanity. His brother Fredo (the magnificent John Cazale) betrays him, something he can not forgive. Eventually Michael does the most ungodly thing, and if left a shell of a man. But none of this is telegraphed to the audience, we dont get characters explaining their motivations, or how they feel, the viewer is sort of left to his own devices, and I like that.

This is a long film, longer then the first one. The pacing is possibly even more deliberate. There are a lot of scenes of characters just walking around, little dialogue, not a whole lot of close up camera work. This is not how movies are made any more.

The plot is rather complicated. You need to see the movie a few times to take it all in. But the plot isn't really the appeal of the film. It's the environment, the characters.
Robert Deniro playes the younger version of a role made famous by Marlon Brando. He wisely chooses to tone down Brando's famous mannerisms.
The similarities between Vito and Michael become more apparent in this film. But the father could live with himself, and retain some sort of moral compass while the son, at the end of the film could not.

The music by Nino Rota is once again magnificent. The new Immigrant theme has a dramatic pathos, and the music for the scene were Vito creeps over the rooftops is fantastic.

A brilliant, thoughtful, timeless piece of cinema.

The best film Roger Corman has ever had a cameo in...

**** out of ****

rise of the apes. Not bad. entertaining

the cgi screams a little sometimes, but you cant make real apes to act like that so it is needed.

(much beter than a man in a suit-animatronic ape like in other movies)

The Duchess (2008)

Keira Knightley,Ralph Fiennes,Hayley Atwell,Charlotte Rampling,Dominic Cooper.

Based on true events of the late 18th century in the life of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (played by Keira Knightley) and her marriage to the 5th Duke of Devonshire (played by Ralph Feinnes).

Engrossing film. Tragic events, and great acting by everyone involved to portray the story. Ralph Feinnes was superb as the older Duke,a man lodged in robotic tradition to securing a wife only to gain a male heir to carry on the line. Shifting from aloof indifference and depression, to that intense threatening silent intimidation that Feinnes can pull off so well,his unpredictability is there throughout. On the surface, a villian but one that also gives 2nd/3rd chances and mops up when things go wrong. Keira Knightley plays the Duchess, a woman who's eyes had been on the young and dashing Charles Grey,2nd Earl Grey (yes, of Tea fame) who has fiery political ambitions that the Duchess admires greatly in the midst of a marriage of 'duty'.

Essentially, the film is about the clash of ideals and generations. Feinnes,the traditionalist and Knightley,the 'new' woman that is also akin to a "Celeb" of the 18th century. Along with resiliance in the face of the unchangable.

A week or so after seeing the film, I saw trailers for it on YouTube, once of which was trying to portray a similarity to the life of Lady Diana Spencer and her marriage to the older Charles, Prince of Wales. It didn't consciously come to mind when watching the film, but yes there certainly are many similarities there in the life story and circumstances. The most striking of which, is that before marriage to the Duke, Georgina was Georgina Cavendish Spencer (daughter of the 1st Earl of Spencer, the same line as Diana's family).

Here is the trailer.



And a longer trailer.



And a taste of the soundtrack by Rachael Portman.

Rango. Surprisingly witty and beautifully animated (especially for a CGI film). And Zimmer did a good job too (yeah, I know, most of it is a parody anyway).

Fast Five. So bad I had a great time.

Karol

there is nothing bad about fast five. It's a solid movie all the way around. unexpected perhaps but it's solid entertainment.

The Matrix. Never was a fan of it. But I rewatched it after 8-9 years (maybe even 10) and it's surprisingly good film. Archetypical in its story and well told at that. It's the Star Wars of the 90's. And, unlike most of "cool" movies, it's got an ambitious, original and, yes, iconic score (all three are really good). Not quite a game-changer but a great popcorn romp.

Karol

Hmm I dunno, I think it was seriously influential and very much the "game-changer" it was made out to be.

Just pretend the sequels don't exist and it becomes clearer.

I meant that it isn't a game changer for me. Never was.

But I do enjoy it more now than in 1999. Probably because everybody told me that I should back then. And I wasn't really into cyberpunk, video games and such. When you take all that hysteria away, it turns out it is a very enjoyable film actually. Didn't expect that.

Karol

I'm not getting the video games link?

Well, the whole virtual reality, kung fu fights and all that. Matrix is essentially a video game, isn't it?

Karol

It's a simulation of life. It wasn't designed for entertainment purposes, but as a method of enslavement and energy production.

Sure, but the film seems to be designed to appeal to people with dreadful social lives who spend all their life in front of their computers. Wouldn't you agree?

Or am I Cremer-izing here?

Karol

No, alex adores The Matrix.

crocodile's skeleton wrote:Sure, but the film seems to be designed to appeal to people with dreadful social lives who spend all their life in front of their computers. Wouldn't you agree?


Karol

No. I just think you brought your own preconceptions and baggage to the movie.

I'll tell you exactly what I thought when I saw it: "It's an okay film, but why on earth do they need to fight kung fu? It's not like they have to". Anyway, that was unnecessary for me. Especially in a s-f film.

Stefan's Ghoest wrote:No, alex adores The Matrix.

That's not what I meant.

Karol

The classic "Duck Soup" by the Marx Brothers. Still makes me chuckle to this day.

crocodile's skeleton wrote:I'll tell you exactly what I thought when I saw it: "It's an okay film, but why on earth do they need to fight kung fu? It's not like they have to". Anyway, that was unnecessary for me. Especially in a s-f film.

Stefan's Ghoest wrote:No, alex adores The Matrix.

That's not what I meant.

Karol

The whole point of those simulations was to override Neo's preconceptions of the law of physics, gravity, and overall what is humanly possible. He was living in The Matrix, and even when they took him out of it, he still believed the laws of that preconceived universe. So the kung fu fights, the skyscraper jump, etc. were all a means to show him what is truly real/possible.

I watched all of the films on Blu during the outage (or did I post before we went down?), but Reloaded is a worthy sequel with Revolutions sinking the series. I read back when Avatar came out that the Wachowski brothers were thinking of returning to the franchise in 3D. I'd pay to see that if they revolutionize the medium like they did with good ol' CGI.

Oh, and the films are heavily inspired by anime and comic books rather than video games. This time around, I saw that to be much more clear with how they framed certain shots, etc.

By inspired you mean plagiarised.

I never saw the fuss. It's ok, but the bullet-time bores the shit out me, and, well, Keanu is Keanu. I like the dojo scene because it actually feels real, even if it has a case of overchoreography (like the prequels lightsaber fights).

I watched HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN the other day, it made me happy. Way more authentic grindhouse than RR and QT can do, and probably more fun than any of their movies.

I'm not really trying to imply Wachowski brothers were inspired by video games. But their film has some elements in it that recall them. And it's not my type of thing. That's all.

Well I can see why the dojo scene is over-choreographed. Because it has actually a function within the story. Which can't be said about lightsabre duels.

Anyway, did anyone notice the monitors from the Architect room make their first appearance in the first film? Never noticed that before.

Karol