What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Worf]

Belle - Very well done historical drama with a host of great familiar Brit actors: Tom Wilkinson, Matthew Goode, Penelope Wilton, Miranda Richardson, etc. Reminiscent of Jane Austen in its depiction of late-1700s class/marriage issues.

However, I found it hard to feel much sympathy for the mixed-race heroine, who is raised as a near-equal on a sumptuous estate and experiences relatively little, and relatively benign, prejudice. Sure, it's not fair that she's not treated as fully equal for her color, and her influencing of her great-uncle (Wilkinson) to strike a blow for abolition in the court case he's ruling on provides interesting drama. But she lives as a lady of enormous privilege, better off than ninety-something percent of the British populace, is loved and treated respectfully by her noble relations, and ends up with a good man... making it a bit hard to feel that she's been ill-treated.

Every movie doesn't have to be "!2 Years a Slave". I found her backstory fascinating. And just because they didn't show it in the film doesn't mean she didn't experience worse, I have only to look at what I've experienced in my lifetime to know that they didn't show it all. The English, while possibly not as bloodthirsty as their American cousins were slave holders as well. They just had the decency to end it without enduring a civil war. I suggest you see "Amazing Grace" if you haven't already seen it for a bit more context.

Worf

 

[Wally_Hood]

"Kronos" - I remember seeing this old Sci-Fi chestnut as a kid over 45 years ago. Never saw the whole thing back then and desperately hoped it would come out on DVD. Felt the same way about "The Crawling Eye". Finally they put it out on DVD but I didn't want to buy it. Waited about 3 years for the DVD to come available on Netflix. Watched it last night. What WAS I thinking, this movie was/is awuful but I think the science and the special effects, particularly the hand drawn movements of the walking EverReady Battree were pretty cool.

Worf

Wow it's deja vu all over again~ Worf, that was my experience to a "t"! I had watched it on local (LA) tv years and years age and had been really frightened by the gigantic Pez dispenser of destruction. I finally tracked it down on disc a couple of years ago and watched with the same "Whaaaat?" as you.

 

[dh66]

 

[Doctor Strange]

Worf... I saw Amazing Grace when it came out a decade ago. Good flick.

And I didn't say that I didn't like Belle, it was interesting and well done. All I said was that she led an extremely privileged life, and so it didn't exactly play - to me, anyway - as a case where she was suffering under brutal prejudice. Aside from Draco Malfoy's standard-issue snob - the weakest aspect of the film - she wasn't especially ill treated. Unlike her cousin, she wasn't even penniless and faced with the usual Austen-esque matrimonial stakes, which put her a more privileged position than most unmarried women of the time, regardless of race.

The interesting thing about the story were the difficulties she faced even with all her privileges. (A little research shows that the real Belle probably had it worse than shown in the film.) Anyway, I liked the film a lot... I'd just expected it to engage my sympathy a bit more.

Every movie doesn't have to be "!2 Years a Slave". I found her backstory fascinating. And just because they didn't show it in the film doesn't mean she didn't experience worse, I have only to look at what I've experienced in my lifetime to know that they didn't show it all. The English, while possibly not as bloodthirsty as their American cousins were slave holders as well. They just had the decency to end it without enduring a civil war. I suggest you see "Amazing Grace" if you haven't already seen it for a bit more context.

Worf

 

[Stormy]

"A Tale of Two Cities" - Ronald Coleman at his best. Great production values, stirring story. Oppression, revenge, redemption... damn Dickens could write! And one of the finest last lines ever set to paper. My only question is how could one live... happily, knowing that all the joy and sweetness you experience was at the cost of another mans life? It drives some people, survivors and vets, to drink or worse. But I guess this is a question for another time and place.

Worf

Very well said, my good man, very well indeed :eusa_clap

 

[jamespowers]

I saw that one. I have friends who lived it.

 

[Bushman]

Finally got around to watching "The Judge". Very good movie.

 

[1mach1]

Tarantula (1955)

 

[dh66]

Tarantula (1955)

View attachment 24118

Yeah!!!!
That's a good one!

 

[1mach1]

Yeah!!!!
That's a good one!

 

[Zombie_61]

Tarantula (1955)

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Did you happen to spot Clint Eastwood's "cameo" as the jet squadron leader:

lol

 

[1mach1]

Did you happen to spot Clint Eastwood's "cameo" as the jet squadron leader:

lol

His break out role! lol

 

[cw3pa]

"Gran Torino" (2008) last night.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"The Lights of New York" (1928). The first all-talking Vitaphone picture, and the prototype for all talkie-era gangster pictures. "Take him -- for a ride!"

It's not art, but it's also not as bad as modern critics like to claim it was. And if all a modern viewer has to go by is "Singin In The Rain," they'd be pleasantly surprised by how well-recorded and well-organized the sound actually was.

 

[hatguy1]

"Gran Torino" (2008) last night.

I hadn't laughed that hard (during the first part of the flick) since Tom Hanks and "A League of Their Own." Nobody can do a disgusted sneer and snide remark like old man Eastwood.

The ending I sorta saw coming but not exactly the way it played out. Excellent screenwriting and acting on all parts IMHO.

 

[Hat Dandy]

The kids wanted to see "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" on Netflix yesterday. It was really bad. Ugh! I wanted to have a cleverly worded critical comment but 'ugh' is the best I could come up with.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Gran Torino," "The Changeling" (under-rated movie), the two Iwo Jima movies and "Million Dollar Baby" - Eastwood was on a tear.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I find that every third or so Eastman film is weak, but in general, he's having a great run. He's in a dead heat with Woody Allen for which American geezer director can keep cranking out, on average, a picture a year since 1970 (*) and maintain a higher quality percentage!

(* Yes, I know Woody started a few years earlier, but they're both insanely prolific. Of course, Woody writes all his screenplays too. But Clint takes more producer credits.)

 

[cw3pa]

I hadn't laughed that hard (during the first part of the flick) since Tom Hanks and "A League of Their Own." Nobody can do a disgusted sneer and snide remark like old man Eastwood.

The ending I sorta saw coming but not exactly the way it played out. Excellent screenwriting and acting on all parts IMHO.

Of course with a family like his, and his world turned upside down he had plenty to be snide & sneer at. I liked the way he took Toad under his wing. I figured the ending would be some sort of last stand against the odds. Laying himself out in the shape of a cross after the shooting was a bit over the top.

 

[hatguy1]

I figured the ending would be some sort of last stand against the odds. Laying himself out in the shape of a cross after the shooting was a bit over the top.

That's what I expected too. Hadn't noticed the cross pose. Figured they had to splay his arm out so to show the lighter in his hand which was all he was reaching for. If anything was over the top, I thought it to be how the gang bangers apparently just hung around waiting for the cops to come arrest them.