What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Fading Fast]

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.)

He definitely has some weak ones out there - neither "Trouble with the Curve" (surprisingly obvious and two-dimensional for an Eastwood movie) nor "J. Edgar" (I know the story and still found it confusing to follow and boring) were good movies.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Agreed on "J. Edgar", and I didn't think much of "Hereafter" either. (I kind of liked "Trouble With the Curve" because I'll watch Amy Adams anytime in anything.) Even with his occasional loser, there are quite a few solid pictures in his resume.

 

[LizzieMaine]

J. Edgar lost me the moment old-age-makeup Tolson appeared on screen. "Hey look!" I immediately thought. "Pruneface!"

 

[Harp]

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.

I meant to see this after reading a New York Times review, thanks for a reminder.

 

[Widebrim]

Backfire (Warners, 1950), with Gordon MacRae, the ubiquitous Edmund O'Brien, and the poor man's John Garfield, Dane Clark. Two Army veterans, one of them just checking out of a VA hospital after three years of spinal procedures, get involved with a third vet who goes on a murder rampage, fueled by jealousy and a desire to avoid income taxes...Actually a pretty good B+ film.

 

[1mach1]

Deathrace 2000

 

[jamespowers]

Deathrace 2000

Roll the people out of the rest home to get more points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6LahtrxVhg

 

[dh66]

Deathrace 2000

It's like 'The Hunger Games' for grown folks.

 

[hatguy1]

Ensign Pulver: "Mr. Roberts is dead!"

Haha! "Mr. Roberts" is a great book and a great movie. Did you ever see the one with Howard Hesseman (played Doc) if I recall?

Anyway, I loved the palm tree experiment: throw the one over and 2 appeared. So throw the 2 over and see if you get 3 (arithmetic) or 4 (geometric) to appear.

 

[Worf]

"The Edge of Tomorrow" - Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Funny as hell, and I think they meant it to be. Generic aliens from fill in the blank but that's a small quibble. "Groundhog Day" with plenty of guns explosions and violence. The idea of a human reset button was cool, but I think the physics were pure fantasy. Still to see Tom Cruise (that CAN'T be his real name) killed over and over again in gruesome and gory ways was fun as hell. I also loved the way he screamed like a little girl while getting squashed, mangled, beaten, shot to the head (over and over) and otherwise "blowed up real good". It was a hoot!!

Worf

 

[Bushman]

"Boyhood" - I actually ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would.

 

[jamespowers]

It's like 'The Hunger Games' for grown folks.

Better.

 

[dh66]

Better.

That's a given.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Kid Millions" (1934), the fifth in the series of Eddie Cantor musical extravaganzas produced by Samuel Goldwyn. I'm a sucker for these pictures, even though most of them have exactly the same plot: Cantor is a well-meaning but impoverished boob who gets mixed up with con men, gangsters, corrupt politicians, or some combination of all three, and after a series of set pieces and musical numbers manages to come out on top. This one, however, boasts several first-rate songs, and a gorgeous finale that's one of the first uses of three-strip Technicolor in a feature picture. The color design in the sequence fairly screams "Hey look! We can show blue and yellow now!" You'll also see several of the Our Gang kids, including Stymie Beard, Tommy Bond, and Leonard Kibrick, as part of Eddie's waterfront junkyard band.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Still to see Tom Cruise (that CAN'T be his real name)

It's not. At least not all of it.

 

[Stearmen]

The Great Raid! At first I was wondering why they used a Lockheed Hudson bomber for the camp buzz job? Then I found out, on the actual raid, they used a P-61 Blackwidow. So they at least kept it in the family, for the lack of a P-61! Very good movie!

 

[Zombie_61]

"The Edge of Tomorrow" - Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Funny as hell, and I think they meant it to be. Generic aliens from fill in the blank but that's a small quibble. "Groundhog Day" with plenty of guns explosions and violence. The idea of a human reset button was cool, but I think the physics were pure fantasy. Still to see Tom Cruise (that CAN'T be his real name) killed over and over again in gruesome and gory ways was fun as hell. I also loved the way he screamed like a little girl while getting squashed, mangled, beaten, shot to the head (over and over) and otherwise "blowed up real good". It was a hoot!!

Worf

I watched this a couple of nights ago as well. Not great, but not horrible either. Besides, I find Emily Blunt to be very easy on the eyes. :love: By the way, his full name is Thomas Cruise Mapother IV.

Last night it was Sahara (1943) with Humphrey Bogart as tank crew commander Sgt. Joe Gunn and a motley crew of American, British, French, Sudanese, and Italian troops making their way across the Sahara desert in, and on, a battered tank that they can barely manage to keep running. Bogart may have had the "lead" role, but it's really more of an ensemble piece with a cast that includes Bruce Bennett, J. Carrol Naish, and Lloyd Bridges. Good stuff!

 

[O'Sully]

Watched Tombstone last night. May not be historically accurate, but sure is fun to watch.

 

[rocketeer]

The original Paul Muni 'Scarface'

A film which I guess most gangster films, old and modern take a little piece of.
Great car chases and shoot em up scenes by the bucket load.

 

[hatguy1]

Watched Tombstone last night. May not be historically accurate, but sure is fun to watch.

"You're a daisy if ya do."

There were SO many great lines in that flick. Val Kilmer as Holliday and Russell as Earp were awesome!