What was the last movie you saw?

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pyrosis
Learning to Love Green
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by pyrosis »

I just watched Anonymous, a movie directed by Roland Emmerich. Twilight fans might know or be interested in this film because Jamie Campbell Bower and Xavier Samuel both have quite big roles in it.
The movie centres around the theorie that Shakespeare was not the original writer of all the playes, but Edward de Vere. The movie starts in present time but soon goes back to the 16th/17th century and tells a story of twists and intrigues that made William Shakespeare the most famous playwriter ever.
I enjoyed this movie quite a lot because of its authentic looks, the buildings, the streets, the costumes are fantastic, so that I didn't spend much attention on the acting or the general plot, but since nobody seemed completely bad... who I thought was outstanding among the cast was Sebastian Armesto playing Jonson.
All in all I can reccomend this movie, if you love historical movies, with great sets and a twisting story.
You know, Edward, as a brother you are sometimes a dissappointment

Oh, never mind! my less noble side exulted

Then the jokes about the world's only clumsy vampire would start

'Bout time someone scored around here
Tornado
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Tornado »

I saw Inception for the first time last night. It was very good, if a little difficult to follow, owing to the multiple different layers towards the end! I'm not sure exactly where I fall in the general debate about what the ending means, either. I do think it would have been improved if it was made about ten minutes shorter, but it's certainly a very intricate, intriguing story.
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Jestak
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Jestak »

The Big Red One, as students of World War II know, was the nickname of the US Army's 1st Infantry Division, which saw action in most of the major campaigns in the European theater. It's also the title of the film directed by 1st Division veteran Sam Fuller, and based on his own experiences with The Big Red One. We follow the core members of a rifle squad--Griff (Mark Hamill), Vinci (Bobby Di Cicco), Johnson (Kelly Ward), and narrator Zab (Robert Carradine), a sort of stand-in for Fuller himself--and their never-named sergeant (Lee Marvin). They take part in campaigns from the 1942 invasion of North Africa, then to Sicily, to the D-Day landings on Omaha Beach, and across France to Germany itself. This is essentially a private's-eye view of the war. We don't learn much about the grand strategies and the high command, but a lot about the day-to-day struggles of men who are trying to get the job done and win the war, but also to make it home alive. This is one of the best WW2 films I've ever seen.
"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing
Jestak
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Jestak »

I went back to one of my very favorite films of all tonight, His Girl Friday, one of the best movies from my favorite director, Howard Hawks. It's a remake of a stageplay and film called The Front Page, about a newspaper editor who tries to keep his star reporter from retiring from the news business and getting married. Hawks had the inspired idea to make the character of the reporter, Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell), a woman instead of a man as in the original; furthermore, she and her editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) were once married to each other. Now Hildy is about to marry insurance salesman Bruce (Ralph Bellamy), but Walter needs her to cover one last story--and maybe, he wants her back in his life. Hawks produced one of the greatest comedies ever, with Grant in top form, matched by Russell in perhaps her best screen performance, and with brisk pacing achieved in part by having most of the characters speak their dialogue at considerably faster than normal speed. Everyone really needs to see this one at least once.
"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing
Jestak
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Jestak »

Tonight I watched a truly history-making film, Jean-Luc Godard's A Bout de Souffle/Breathless, one of the films that kicked off the French New Wave. The story is simple: petty criminal Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) shoots a policeman, then hides out in Paris with Patricia (Jean Seberg), an American student and would-be writer. However, Godard's technique and style, especially his use of jump cuts, were genuinely revolutionary and enormously influential, and both he and Belmondo put themselves on the world cinema map for good with this film.
"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing
Jestak
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Jestak »

As a fan of Barry Eisler's novels, I had high hopes for the film version of his debut, Rain Fall, and to see Eisler's complex protagonist, Japanese-American assassin John Rain, on the screen. Sadly, the film is nowhere near as good as the books. The story--of how Rain (Kippei Shiina) becomes the protector of the daughter of his latest victim (Kyoko Hasegawa)--has been dumbed down substantially for the screen, but it is still told in a very confusing way. Shiina is a good lead, and I'd love to see him as Rain in a better adaptation; unfortunately, the one big name in the cast, Gary Oldman, gives the worst performance I've ever seen from him (although the way his part is written probably has something to do with that). Not recommended.
"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing
Jestak
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Jestak »

Hellboy ranks as one of the better comic-to-film adaptations I've ever seen. While the story, about a hero of demonic origins who saves the earth from an ancient evil, isn't enormously original, Guillermo del Toro, who directed and co-wrote the script, tells it in a stylish and visually stunning way. Moreover, he and his cast give us a set of characters who often rise above the routine--Selma Blair as the firestarter Liz, Doug Jones as Abe Sapien, and especially Ron Perlman as Hellboy. This one is definitely worth watching.
"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing
Jestak
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Jestak »

Sometimes a classic film is not recognized as such until long after its release; one such was Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, which so shocked people in 1960 that it virtually ended the great director's career. The ostensible subject matter is disturbing enough--a young man named Mark (Karlheinz Böhm, son of the famous conductor Karl Böhm), a production assistant at a film studio, has a warped fascination with human fear, instilled by his abusive father (played by Powell himself in a few flashbacks). He is obsessed with filming women who are terrified of imminent death--and we learn quickly that he not only terrifies the women but kills them. When the tenant who lives downstairs in Mark's home, Helen (Anna Massey), becomes involved with him, he may not be able to restrain his deadly impulses around her.

What's even more distressing to the viewer of Powell's film, however, is the way that Powell entices the audience to sympathize with the main character and share in his voyeurism. This is seen most plainly in a scene where Mark has a deadly tryst with Vivian (Moira Shearer), the stand-in for the lead actress on the film he's working on, in an unused soundstage at the film studio. Even though we know how the evening will end for Vivian, we can't help being enticed by the visual power of the scene.

This is probably Powell's greatest film, and he made a lot of classics. It's not my personal favorite among his films, nor is it one that I see myself adding to my personal collection or watching repeatedly, but I'm glad I watched it once.
"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing
Jestak
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Jestak »

Jackie Chan would seem to be an unlikely candidate to star in anything other than an action comedy, but he is quite good as the lead in Zhong an zu/Crime Story. When a wealthy Hong Kong businessman is kidnapped, Inspector Eddie Chan (Chan) is put on the case, but his efforts are hindered by a mole in the police who is working with the kidnappers. This is much more of a straight crime thriller than Chan's usual fare, more like a John Woo or Ringo Lam film, but it's pretty good.
"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing
Jestak
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Re: What was the last movie you saw?

Post by Jestak »

Tonight I watched El beso del sueno/The Goodnight Kiss, a Spanish romantic thriller. Margot (Maribel Verdu) makes a living and supports her aged father by using her beauty and charm to lure men into trysts. She gets them to take a drugged drink, and relieves them of their valuables. One night, her victim is a currency smuggler carrying a huge load of cash; unknown to her, the courier's boss has assigned Salvatierra (Juan Diego) to play watchdog. Salvatierra is taken with the young woman, and instead of getting his boss's money back, he becomes her protector and lover. But will his romantic streak prove dangerous to him, or to her? This one was a little slow, but I really enjoy Maribel Verdu's work; early in her career in this movie, she's gone on to a fine career (Y Tu Mama Tambien and Pan's Labyrinth are highlights).
"May the hinges of friendship never rust, nor the wings of love lose a feather"--Scottish blessing
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