What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

"Funny Face" 1957 with Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn

• Another movie supporting the view that Fred Astaire movies were the Elvis movies of his generation - generic, unimportant plots that exist only to allow Fred and his gorgeous co-star(s) to sing and dance up a storm

• This one rises above many of the others because Hepburn's effortless grace, glowing beauty and contagious joy lift off the screen amidst the backdrop of gorgeous (but not yet spit-shined after WWII) Paris

• I'd go so far as to say that Hepburn all but steals this one from Astaire - she owns every scene she's in from bookstore mouse to supermodel, with her dancing in the iconic black leotard outfit defining the movie (and showing that simple beats elaborate every time, i.e., she looks better in that leotard with her hair in a pony tail and light makeup than in her couture outfit with catwalk-quantities of makeup and highly constructed hairdos)

• Fred seemed a little too old for this one - his dancing has hardly lost a step (which means it's still ridiculously fluid and elegant), but being more than twice Hepburn's age made the romance between him and Hepburn feel forced

• Watch it for Fred, for dancing, for singing, for Paris and, even more so, for Hepburn's glow

A question for our deep-level-movie knowledge members: is Hepburn's hotel in this movie the same set just re-designed as her above-the-garage apartment in "Sabrina?"

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Watched the next movie on the list of Christmas movies we have to watch or we'll plummet into grinchiness, A Christmas Story.

 

[AmateisGal]

My annual Christmas viewing of Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan. It never gets old.

 

[Doctor Damage]

"Secret of the Incas" Charlton Heston and Robert Young. Made in 1954. Great story Heston's outfit makes it like an early Indiana Jones movie.

Someone's got that movie up on youtube and I watched it yesterday at the office. I thought it was really good, especially the first half when Heston is hustling tourists and the femme fatale. As many have pointed out, Lucas borrowed tons of ideas for Raiders!

 

[Doctor Damage]

Snowpiercer - I have mixed feelings about this one. Very well done - outstanding production design, well acted by a fine cast (Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Jamie Bell, Ed Harris, etc.), continually surprising, and with a good deal of intelligence behind it... but man, it's really depressing. And, like all the recent future-dystopia films (Hunger Games, Maze Runner, The Giver, Divergent, Mad Max, etc.), I didn't believe the basic setup for a second. It took me a boatload of suspension of disbelief about things like how world-encircling train tracks could be used for years in ice age conditions without any track maintenance.

The big problem with all dystopian films is what to do with the people. I totally get that we're (if current trends continue) headed for worldwide Brazilification with a vast underclass, but at some point the elites will just fire up the ovens and... well you know, reduce those overhead costs. No film ever goes there, it's just assumed that the elites will keep billions of redundant people around for no stated reasons other than to throw up the occasional spunky youth to act as the film's hero. It's also assumed that a few million elites people will be able to fend off 7, 8, 10, 15? billion desperate starving people with nothing left to lose... how many killer robots will that require? Anyways, I agree with your review 100%, it's a well crafted and acted film, but a big suspension of disbelief is required.

That said, I liked it much better than the utterly brainless Mad Max: Fury Road. That that nearly plotless, characterless, intelligence-free action movie has been loaded with Oscar noms and topped ten-best lists just utterly mystifies me.

I agree with this review 100%. I actually found the "behind the scenes" docs on the dvd more interesting than the film, since a lot of serious stunts and technical stuff was involved. But yeah, that story... we just turn around and go back? And no desert is 160 days wide, so they should have kept going forward.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Those of us where already 28 years old in 1983 and were bitterly disappointed in Jedi. I walked out of the film on opening day going, "Wait a minute: they had unlimited time and resources to make a film even better than Empire... and all they could come up with for grand finale was destroying the Death Star AGAIN?!?"

It was a partial disappointment for me although it did have some great elements in it.

Come to think of it, I said the exact same thing a few weeks ago after seeing The Force Awakens!

I finally got around to watching this latest movie and I agree with you. Meh. Another Death Star? Well, okay, a Death Planet. But seriously. And another Cantina. And no good story reason for Han to die, other than they probably couldn't afford to pay Ford for two more movies. But they should have opened up their wallets since he was the best thing in the film and could have carried a stand-alone film in my opinion.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Wow, that was a while ago. You know, I have liked Snowpiercer even more on subsequent viewings. Sure, it's TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE, but its metaphor of position on the train being your place in the society pecking order is just fascinating. Teacher leading class: "If the Engine stops... We all freeze and die!"

Have you also seen the director's follow-up film Okja? It tries to do too many things and doesn't succeed at all of them, but like Snowpiercer, it's unique, interesting, and (very) disturbing.

And re The Force Awakens, it does a very good job of replicating plot points from the original trilogy with minor changes (Luke's a girl this time!) and honestly, it's pretty good considering how much I hate JJ Abrams other works. The forthcoming film is supposed to be even better, it's getting rave reviews. We'll see. (OTOH, Rogue One got great reviews, and it did absolutely nothing for me. A couple of months later, I barely recall its plot or characters at all.)

 

[Benny Holiday]

Went to the midnight screening of The Last Jedi in Sydney and had a lot of fun with the guys from the Star wars fan club Starwalking. Movie was pretty good, the director took a few risks and it's quite different. I didn't enjoy it as much as Rogue One or The Force Awakens. Might take a second viewing to take in the huge broad canvas of the movie and everything that happens in it. probably didn't help that I got home at 3:30am, woke up at 7:30 the next morning (yesterday) with a dozen things to do only to walk straight into a 107 degree day.

 

[MondoFW]

Last movie I watched was A Night at the Opera, my first Marx Brothers film. It was lovely, it's really aged well, compared to a lot of old films. Needless to say, I'll definitely move on to some of their other titles, like Duck Soup and Horse Feathers.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I finally got around to watching this latest movie and I agree with you. Meh. Another Death Star? Well, okay, a Death Planet. But seriously. And another Cantina. And no good story reason for Han to die, other than they probably couldn't afford to pay Ford for two more movies. But they should have opened up their wallets since he was the best thing in the film and could have carried a stand-alone film in my opinion.

Harrison Ford has never been shy about expressing his desire to see Han Solo die, and though it has never been officially or unofficially confirmed I'm convinced that was part of his agreement to appear in The Force Awakens--"I'll do it, but only if Solo dies." I'd rather the character had a more "heroic" death, but no one consulted me.

Last movie I watched was A Night at the Opera, my first Marx Brothers film. It was lovely, it's really aged well, compared to a lot of old films. Needless to say, I'll definitely move on to some of their other titles, like Duck Soup and Horse Feathers.

Not that you necessarily need to as there are no plot continuations between the movies, but if you can I'd recommend you watch them in the order in which they were released, i.e. start with the Paramount movies (The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup) then move on to the MGM/RKO/United Artists movies (A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Store, A Night in Casablanca). The Paramount movies are arguably the best, if for no other reason than The Suits at Paramount were wise enough to let them do their thing. Once they signed with MGM, Irving Thalberg (MGM's head of production) insisted they do things his way, and the results were...well, I don't want to affect your opinions before you've seen the movies; we can talk more after you've seen them.

 

[Harp]

My annual Christmas viewing of Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan. It never gets old.

My annual Christmas viewing of The Bishop's Wife with Loretta Young, David Niven, and Cary Grant.
Cash n' Cary steals the show.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Not that you necessarily need to as there are no plot continuations between the movies, but if you can I'd recommend you watch them in the order in which they were released, i.e. start with the Paramount movies (The Cocoanuts, Animal Crackers, Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup) then move on to the MGM/RKO/United Artists movies (A Night at the Opera, A Day at the Races, Room Service, At the Circus, Go West, The Big Store, A Night in Casablanca). The Paramount movies are arguably the best, if for no other reason than The Suits at Paramount were wise enough to let them do their thing. Once they signed with MGM, Irving Thalberg (MGM's head of production) insisted they do things his way, and the results were...well, I don't want to affect your opinions before you've seen the movies; we can talk more after you've seen them.

If I had to pick one Marx feature, I'd take "Horse Feathers" as their most essentially perfect film. It's also a chance to understand what the point of Zeppo was -- he was a perfect parody of the cheesy musical-comedy juvenile. His performance of "Everyone Says I Love You" is the essence of the sleazy, insincere crooner in action. It makes me laugh out loud every time -- he sounds exactly like Fran Frey on any number of George Olsen records.

 

[Fading Fast]

My annual Christmas viewing of The Bishop's Wife with Loretta Young, David Niven, and Cary Grant.
Cash n' Cary steals the show.

Yes he does (although, Young is outstanding as is Monty Woolley) - but it is Grant's movie. Love, absolutely love, the scenes were he decorates the tree and the one where he tells the Lord is my Shepard story.

(sorry the voice and video are off - this was the best one I could find)

And a partial clip of the tree decorating scene

 

[AmateisGal]

My annual Christmas viewing of The Bishop's Wife with Loretta Young, David Niven, and Cary Grant.
Cash n' Cary steals the show.

This is probably in the top five of my favorite Christmas movies. Absolutely love it.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Home with this rotten flu, so I watched A Family Affair, the first in the Hardy family series, and Casino Royale. Further house cleaning for the dvd.

 

[Zombie_61]

If I had to pick one Marx feature, I'd take "Horse Feathers" as their most essentially perfect film. It's also a chance to understand what the point of Zeppo was -- he was a perfect parody of the cheesy musical-comedy juvenile. His performance of "Everyone Says I Love You" is the essence of the sleazy, insincere crooner in action. It makes me laugh out loud every time -- he sounds exactly like Fran Frey on any number of George Olsen records.

I can't disagree, but my favorite is Monkey Business for the simple reason that it's the only Marx Brothers' movie in which the four brothers' characters are acting as a team. In every other movie Groucho is at odds with Chico (and as a result Harpo) and that usually serves the stories well, but it's interesting to me to see them working together as allies rather than adversaries for a change.

I saw Star Wars: The Last Jedi this afternoon. I liked it, but...well, I'm a "no spoilers" kind of guy, so for now I'll just say they could have trimmed it down to two hours and made it a tighter movie.

 

[Fading Fast]

Home with this rotten flu, so I watched A Family Affair, the first in the Hardy family series, and Casino Royale. Further house cleaning for the dvd.

I love "Holiday Affair," am meh on "A Family Affair" and thought "Casino Royale" was the best Bond movie since "Goldfinger."

Hope you feel better quickly.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We're running "Novitiate," the ponderous story of a troubled young woman in the early 1960s who flees an abusive home life to become a nun, only to find the contemplative life more difficult than she expected. Her story is predictable, but the real reason to see this picture is Melissa Leo's absolutely searing Oscar-bait performance as the Reverend Mother, a soft-spoken, terrifying drill sergeant in a habit who is compelled to readjust her thinking in the wake of Vatican II despite her personal rejection of its reforms.

 

[Fading Fast]

We're running "Novitiate," the ponderous story of a troubled young woman in the early 1960s who flees an abusive home life to become a nun, only to find the contemplative life more difficult than she expected. Her story is predictable, but the real reason to see this picture is Melissa Leo's absolutely searing Oscar-bait performance as the Reverend Mother, a soft-spoken, terrifying drill sergeant in a habit who is compelled to readjust her thinking in the wake of Vatican II despite her personal rejection of its reforms.

"Ponderous" is not an adjective that usually gets me excited to see a movie, but your review is intriguing. Especially, as it appears to reflect a balanced or at least not pressing-down-hard thumb-on-the-scale anti-religious view, or does it?

And it's not that I'm religious, I've been a devout agnostic my entire life, but I am just worn out from seeing so many aggressively anti-Christian movies (other religions get a more balanced and nuanced treatment from Hollywood, hmm) with an obnoxiously and amateurish bias screaming out from almost every scene.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's hard to describe -- the Mother is very difficult to sympathize with on one level, coming across as a cold-blooded reactionary refusing to accept that the Church is moving with the times but on the other hand you get a sense of her as a woman whose marriage is falling apart thru factors beyond her control -- only instead of being married to a person, she's married to her beliefs.

The story of the young nun really seemed secondary to this -- it's your usual "vow in haste, repent at leisure" convent story where she finds that her own inner urges are more powerful than the forces that drove her into the cloistered life, blah blah blah sex scene blah blah blah, and I found that story far less interesting than the Mother's storyline. She does not accept the Vatican II reforms at all because that's not the Church she signed up for -- but at the same time she's obligated by her position to accept and teach those reforms whether she wants to accept them or not. It's not a question of pro-or-anti Christianity (and I consider Christianity and religion to be two separate things) as it is the personal dilemma of just how much you owe to a high-control belief system when it begins to teach things that contradict what you consider the basic tenets of that system. This sort of thing could happen, and does happen, in any kind of belief system, whether religious or secular.

This could be a really heavy-handed story with a lesser actress in the role, but Melissa Leo is one of the best in the business right now, and she absolutely nails the undertones required to make it work.

As far as the treatment of Christianity in films goes, what bugs me is the conflation of "Christianity" with hard-line evangelical fundamentalism, not just in films but in all popular culture. There are many, many Christians in the world who reject hard-line Bible-thumping fundamentalist beliefs, but you rarely see them anywhere in pop culture. Just once I'd like to see a movie featuring left-wing Social Creed-teaching grape-juice Methodists. At least the Catholics get represented once in a while.