What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Trenchfriend]

Das Boot - uncut TV series

Because it's Whitsun and I don't want to go out, where all these idiots hiking around.

 

[Worf]

"The Battle of the Bulge" - Probably for the hundredth time. Shoddy history I know, filmed in Spain, wrong units, wrong tanks, fictional tank battles.. you name it. But man is it fun to watch. Robert Shaw playing a Nazi Tank Commander, Charles Bronson doing a better John Wayne than even the Duke could've done and last but not least Telly Savalas playing the mother of all Black Marketeers!!!! All What a hoot!

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

Some Kind of Wonderful from 1987

If John Hughes had something meaningful to say as a writer-director in the '80s, he said it in The Breakfast Club, as most of his other movies just, less effectively, replayed themes of high school angst / cliques / alienation / insecurity / etc.

Some Kind of Wonderful should be lumped right in with the rest of his by-the-numbers movies, but for some reason - despite having many (and I mean many) cringe worthy / cliched moments - writer Hughes and director Howard Deutch bring enough humanity to the three main characters to keep you engaged.

Keith (Eric Stoltz) is that high school kid who preternaturally sees the silliness and hypocrisy of everything around him, but still succumbs to the allure of the "unreachable" pretty girl. You get it; you know he gets it, but like many teenage boys, it doesn't matter as this smart, observant kid, still, just simply wants the pretty girl.

The pretty girl (Lea Thompson) has it all until we (and she) realize she doesn't have much of anything but a fragile existence supported by the need to keep up an image, which she slowly realizes she doesn't want anymore. Showing real growth, she comes to see that she, not only doesn't like her popular friends, doesn't like whom she's become.

Completing the movie's love triangle is Watts (Mary Stuart Masterson), the rebel, outcast girl (who's too pretty for the role, but heck, Hollywood does what Hollywood does) who doesn't become a cliche because she keeps her rebel anger in check while slowly rolling out a performance of unrequited love that hits you in the gut just as it hits her.

I almost hate that I like this movie as much of it is bad, formulaic and predictable, but just when I'm ready to give up, Hughes and Deutch produce a poignant moment of humanity and I'm back in.


N.B., The movie, in a very effective montage, uses an early Rolling Stone's song, "Amanda Jones," which is a nice change from the usual "big hit" Stones' songs that pop up in most mainstream movies. Since the Stones' song was written in the early '60s, I assume Hughes named his female lead after the song's titular character.

 

[belfastboy]

Watched "The Nelson Affair" 1973 or thereabouts, Peter Finch as Lord Nelson and Glenda Jackson as his mistress Lady Hamilton. Want a wonderful movie. Finch and Jackson gave a master class performance in a story full of passion and poignancy. The dialogue was great. One of the better movies I have seen recently.

 

[steve u]

Goyokin-1969
Directed and screenplay by Hideo Gosha
One of the greatest Samurai (pulp fiction) movies
A who's who cast.

 

[ChazfromCali]

Logan (2017)

Have you heard of (director) James Mangold? The guy is good. Very good. He recently did Ford vs. Ferrari. Among other films he's done Leopold and Kate, Copland, 3:10 to Yuma, and Walk the Line the Johnny Cash movie. He's a multi-talented director, those are all quite different types of films.

Personally I hate the Marvel comics / DC superhero movies. In my opinion they're dreck, but it's popular dreck ($$) for comix nerds. I recently saw in an interview that Mangold did Logan in 2017. I had no idea. Three years after it came out I finally paid some attention, (out of sheer boredom) lol.

I was puzzled. Mangold has an aesthetic that resonates with me, why on Earth would he do a comix superhero movie? Short answer: He tries a wide range of film genres and tries to not be pigeon-holed into one type of movie. I think he suceeds.

I DL'd it and watched. He turned a dumb genre film into dare I say, if not a work of art, an excellent film about a father / daughter relationship that was secondarily about a guy / mutant with fading super powerz. I'd never heard of Dafne Keen, she's 12 in this movie (2017) Dafne Keen - IMDb) I guess she inherited some acting genes from her father and mother, British actor Will Keen and Spanish actress / author / theater director Maria Fernandez.

The scene where she finally speaks to Logan in the truck and erupts in a non-stop blur of fast Spanish is so funny. Hugh Jackman as Logan plays it perfectly. The timing, the surprise, it's classic. And she's got a great "don't mess with me" mean face ;-)

The scene where Logan dies and his daughter calls him Daddy is a tear-jerker. I mean that in the best possible way. I cried. A f*ck*ng Marvel comics superhero movie and I was actually crying! Ms. Keen has some acting skills, it was very well done. The scenes with Patrick Stewart as Logan's ailing Father are also perfect. If you've ever dealt with an ailing parent it's heart wrenching to watch those scenes.

It's not a spoiler that Logan dies, everyone knew this was Jackman's last go 'round as Wolverine in these comix spinoff movies.

Mangold did it right, this is a film that's way more than what it's advertised as. The hardcore comix nerds got their movie but people who like human interest stories also got a movie too. Which I think is why it was so incredibly popular.

This is a director who if I hear he's done a movie, I'll go see it just based on that. I think he's that good.

Chaz sez: HIGHLY recommended!


Here's some interviews:
‘Be Inspired to Try Things, Miracles Happen When Someone Takes a Chance': A Conversation with James Mangold • Cinephilia & Beyond

‘Walk the Line’: How James Mangold Uncovered the Emotional History of Johnny Cash • Cinephilia & Beyond

You’re Gonna Be Redeemed: The Jersey Noir and Western Fable of James Mangold’s ‘Cop Land’ • Cinephilia & Beyond

 

[Fading Fast]

Sabotage from 1936

I like these early efforts from Hitchcock. Yes, they can be a bit clunky and the small budgets show, but you also get Hitchcock in quick, short, digestible bites. Unfortunately, this one needs restoration (at least the TCM copy does, which, I assume, means there isn't a better copy out there) as the picture is dark and hazy.

Despite that, the story engages even though this is not, what would become, a typical Hitchcock movie. Here, the plot and the event at its center - an attempt to terrorize London by setting off a bomb in its underground - is not a macguffin, but something audiences, then and today, can understand and fear.

Also, this is not about an innocent person falsely accused; instead, this is more of a traditional spy drama where the foreign spy (terrorist from England's perspective) is on the police's watch list, but still might be able to carry out his plan. It sounds unpleasantly familiar to our post-9/11 world.

The spy/terrorist is a nondescript married man who, with his wife and her adolescent brother, run a movie theater that they live above. Watching them is an undercover inspector posing as a grocery clerk in the store adjacent to the theater. Centered between the inspector and spy is the spy's pretty young wife (unaware of her husband's activities), whom the inspector befriends to get closer to her husband.

From that set up, the movie plays out pretty much by the numbers: inspector gets closer, spy finalizes plans, innocent wife becomes suspicious of husband and young boy accidentally reveals details about his stepfather to the inspector. Then, the inspector is exposed, the plan advances to the execution stage, the wife becomes more suspicious, the young boy becomes an unwitting accomplice and the clock ticks down, excruciatingly, to the detonation hour.

The rest would give too much away, but, back in the '30s, it was probably dramatic and it is still quite impactful today. And while, as noted, it's more detective drama than usual Hitchcock film, several Hitchcock elements are here: pretty birds in a cage used to hide true intent, regular people (wife, young brother) put in an extraordinary situation and a plot ticking down to terror all while two innocents fall in love (the wife and the undercover inspector).

A fine movie on its own enhanced simply by being an early example of Hitchcock's work.

 

[Edward]

This is really out there: Airheads, with Brendan Fraser, back when he was a thing, an almost unrecognizable Steve Buscemi, Adam Sandler looking twenty, Michael Mckean and others in a throw away metal band heist thing that was funny as all hell.

I need to own it just for Buscemi with metal hair.

THE LONE RANGERS!

Great film. Definitely an odd one for Buscemi, but then even Mr Blonde did Free Willy, so every 'Dog has his unusual career choices.

Buscmei is a master actor. He was also wonderful, in avery different way, in Ghost World. I'd love to see him take on a musical.

Logan (2017)

I do like a lot of the comic book stuff, but Logan was outstanding, head and shoulders above all others. I would put money on it having been seen by the DC suits who cleared Joker for production. Between those, Watchmen and Dredd (*not* the Stallone version! Karl Urban.), it's been nice to see some real effort and quality go into an adult comic book film, a genre that has been treated with a lot of lazy contempt for years. The joy of Logan - its sheer quality aside - is that they didn't set out to make a comic book film, just a great film with a solid plot, great dialgoue, well acted and reliant on the strengtyh of plot, dialogue and performance as opposed to cinematic sfx spectacle. The effects were well done, but they didn't drive the picture. The ending was particularly poignant - Johnny Cash and no 'end credit' sequence, the latter really drawing a line under it all. Outstanding performances all round, not least Patrick Stewart's depiction of what can happen when a mind so powerful is hit with dementia. In itsown way, as devastating and real a portrayal of the condition as Julianne Moore in Still Alice.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Eh, I didn't get what was so special about Logan. I'm not saying it's bad, just that I didn't find it some great leap forward, or all that emotionally powerful.

It's more serious, sure, but the X-film series is all over the map. It's definitely one of the better ones, along with James Mangold's earlier entry, The Wolverine. I admire Logan for doing something different... but it somehow just didn't grab me like you guys.

Of course, as stated here many times, I am tough room!

 

[Zombie_61]

THE LONE RANGERS!

"Well, there's three of you. You're not exactly 'lone'."

 

[Edward]

Eh, I didn't get what was so special about Logan. I'm not saying it's bad, just that I didn't find it some great leap forward, or all that emotionally powerful.

It's more serious, sure, but the X-film series is all over the map. It's definitely one of the better ones, along with James Mangold's earlier entry, The Wolverine. I admire Logan for doing something different... but it somehow just didn't grab me like you guys.

Of course, as stated here many times, I am tough room!

I found it vastly superior to The Wolverine, though I've still not forgiven anyone them for what they did to Deadpool on his first outing!

 

[MisterCairo]

I found it vastly superior to The Wolverine, though I've still not forgiven anyone them for what they did to Deadpool on his first outing!

Deadpool is ART! Take that back!

 

[Bushman]

Deadpool is ART! Take that back!

I think he's referring to Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I've still not forgiven anyone them for what they did to Deadpool on his first outing!

I think he's referring to Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

That was a definite misstep for the Marvel movie universe, and I really couldn't care less about Deadpool. But I do think they made up for it with the 2016 movie.

 

[Edward]

Deadpool is ART! Take that back!

Deadpool is, I agree.... but didn't you see what they did to the character in his first cinematic outing in X Men Origins? Yeesh. I mean, I know they make a lot of changes to these things under the "Yellow Spandex Rule", but taking a character whosedefining characteristic is his potty mouth and making him a mute!? It's like giving Spiderman six limbs, making him look like an overweight, middle-aged man dressed as a fly, and still claiming he's Spiderman.

 

[Edward]

That was a definite misstep for the Marvel movie universe, and I really couldn't care less about Deadpool. But I do think they made up for it with the 2016 movie.

On the otherhand, I woner if it did have the effect of saving the character. Alone, they could do him properly. If he'd been absorbed into the MMU..... Yessh. Coulda been worse than Stallone-Dredd....

 

[Fading Fast]

On TCM (on mute in the background) right now, 1932's "Animal Kingdom." Smart progressive movie about love and marriage and societal conventions. Pre-code at its best, if a bit "high brow." Also, ridiculously young and slim Myrna Loy and Ann Harding - both beautiful slips of women at this early stage in their careers.

 

[steve u]

Toyoko Story (1953) The Criterion Collection
Director-Yasujiro Ozu
Story about a typical post WWII Japanese Family.
Very subtle movie.
Unusual camera angles

 

[Bushman]

Deadpool is, I agree.... but didn't you see what they did to the character in his first cinematic outing in X Men Origins? Yeesh. I mean, I know they make a lot of changes to these things under the "Yellow Spandex Rule", but taking a character whosedefining characteristic is his potty mouth and making him a mute!? It's like giving Spiderman six limbs, making him look like an overweight, middle-aged man dressed as a fly, and still claiming he's Spiderman.

Fun fact, they did do that in the comics once. Peter, in an attempt to get rid of his spider powers, creates a formula that backfires and slowly turns him into a spider.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Coulda been worse than Stallone-Dredd....

And yet, still not Stallone's worst movie.