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What was the last film you watched?

1M views 12K replies 698 participants last post by  Chat Noir 
#1 ·
Just a thread to mention the last film you watched. You may write a little comment about it if you want.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I

I was a bit disappointed and it's my least favourite from the series so far. I can't really say much because I haven't read the book tho.
 
#3,664 ·
Gotta watch out for logic, it'll spoil a movie every time.:lol:

Though I agree with bad press for Nolan's trilogy finale, I do think Rex Reed is a poor man for this job. There's just too much negativity throughout his career. He got known early for his smart-*** commentary, but he never developed much beyond that. I've noticed in some clips old and new, when he's tried to turn off his evil twin, everything becomes pastel. Which kind of suits him, but doesn't do much for the art of criticism.:devil:

Re the Jackson versus Nolan debate, the Oscars yardstick is a powerful tool for such debates. Jackson wins easily.:cool:
 
#3,665 · (Edited)
Gotta watch out for logic, it'll spoil a movie every time.
Heh, well, there's dramatic logic and then there's people's expectations about "how stuff works". Suspension of disbelief is an important concept in the dramatic arts for a good reason. It can be conscious as well as unconscious. I tend to consciously ignore potential annoyances so I can focus on the essential stuff and on what is good in a movie. I don't have much pity for people who don't do this and then complain about stupid things like the telescoping of time when Batman saves Gordon and Robin. Movies in general aren't a representation of reality, they are a dramatic art, chill out.

One supposed flaw of logic in the Dark Knight Rises that I've seen brought up is how Batman defeats Bane by punching him in the mask. These critics of the movie are wondering why Batman didn't do that the first time they battled. In fact, he did, and in fact he defeats Bane by cutting his mask with the blades that protrude from his arm: in the prison pit, he had learned Bane's weakness - that the mask keeps his pain away - and had armed himself with the arm blades so that he could cut the mask. It's kind of poetic isn't it? Batman learns the means of defeating his nemesis in the pit where the latter had imprisoned him in order to torture him. That's as much sense as it has to make. Could it actually happen? Who knows, who cares.

It's also very revealing that these people would complain about this detail - as if their perception and intellect were so keen they can see flaws others can't see. Then it turns out they just didn't notice Batman used his blades not his hands. And so it turns out they are the ones lacking in keenness of perception not the fans of this movie. How ironic.
 
#3,667 ·
Angry that The Interview got cancelled for Christmas. It was the last movie of this year that I wanted to see. Plus The Birdman looks good.
 
#3,668 ·
How To Train Your Dragon 2. If you have not seen the original or this one, I recommend both. The original was a pleasant surprise to me as I really didn't know what to expect and I loved it. I was looking forward to seeing the sequel.
I like the soundtrack music, too!
 
#3,669 ·
Cool beans, I think that my daughter might enjoy the movie for sure :).
 
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#3,676 ·
Feeling depressed over no Michael Haneke movie coming soon.
 
#3,677 · (Edited)
^ Watching a Haneke film would make you feel less depressed?

Finished Season 2 of Hannibal recently, which I thought was even better than the surprisingly good first season.

Started what might be my tenth (seriously) watch of the West Wing integrale. Needed some comforting but intelligent viewing as I finish moving house.
 
#3,678 ·
On Netflix, The Debt, with Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Tom Wilkinson, John Hurt, Ciaran Hinds and Sam Worthington.
Explores the meaning of "truth" as one imagines it and what "debt" the individual--in this case a former Mossad agent--owes to both herself, her country and the truth as it actually occurred. Very insightful--and, as with Munich--raises more difficult moral questions than it answers. Helen Mirren--as always--is a pleasure to watch.
 
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#3,679 ·
Her, where Joaquin Phoenix, living in an LA that looks suspiciously alien (because some of it was shot in China), falls in love with his computer operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

Hmmm, I think I was in the wrong mood for this one...I enjoyed the soundtrack, but not much else.
 
#3,681 · (Edited)
Nose Hair Lip Chin Hairstyle


Eisenstein: Ivan the Terrible I-II (1942-46)

Shown today at the Cinemateket cinemas, a part of the Danish Film Institute here in Copenhagen.

The 187 mins event was advertized as the first ever screening of MosFilms recently restored version of the gigantic work, once praised by Chaplin as "the most fantastic historical movie ever made".

The sound, including the music by Prokofiev, was very good, and some scenes in the 2nd part were even in colour. Strange to think that all this was being produced during WWII and the Stalin regime, and these people directly experiencing all this.

It is an impressive, at times disturbing film, featuring a lot of innovative pictures, as well as very mannered and operatic, slow-motion acting. A lot of close-ups of grotesque or exaggerated faces, shadows on the wall and floors, sublime architectural spaces, etc. etc. The overall effect is that of a masterpiece, with a lot of psychological and symbolic layers, in spite of the kitsch and "biblical" verbal style.

The first part was very patriotic and praises the first all-Russian Tsar, Ivan the Terrible, for his ambitions, his interest in the Russian nation and people, and his fight against traitors and foreign enemies. Obviously this was partly influenced by the WWII situation and the propaganda of the Stalin regime.

The 2nd part however is more ambivalent towards the role of the ruler, and contains a lot of conflicts, that are less simple.
The last two minutes or so try to boost a proclamation of the ruler as "tough but fair", but the foregoing events have presented a lot of problems and dilemmas, that don´t just confirm the statement, IMHO.
Part 2 wasn´t shown to the Soviet public of those days for these reasons.

There were also some almost Bergman-esque scenes of Ivan´s childhood experiences, and the presentation of the ruler as an agent for "national interests" was eerily relevant. Likewise the portrayed, "androgyne decadence" of Ivan´s Polish enemy Sigismund.

The programme notes say that Eisenstein also worked on a Part III, and that a few scenes were done, but the project was then abandoned.

There were more sequences in colour than said in the Wikipedia article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_(film)
 
#3,683 ·
LOACH The angel's share
Ah, yes, this is a very enjoyable film.

Most recent film - I'm afraid it was 'Paddington' with my 22-year old daughter this afternoon, in lieu of an actual child to go with. Still, she's very in touch with her inner 8-year old and planning to train as a Primary School teacher next academic year.

We both enjoyed it very much!
 
#3,685 ·
Just finished watching Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire. A bit slow-paced, meditative and quite romantic story.
 
#3,686 · (Edited)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick)

It's been screening for a few weeks across the UK as part of the BFI's Days of Fear and Wonder classic science fiction season (other films shown include Blade Runner (Ridley Scott) and Silent Running (Douglas Trumbull (who was in charge, insofar as anyone is in charge on a Kubrick film besides Kubrick himself, of 2001's incredible special effects))) and I finally had the time to go and see it with a friend of mine. I don't really have much to say about it, it's been praised beyond reason in the 46 years since its release, other than to say that I love the film. I remain unconvinced of the idea that viewing a film in a cinema is superior to seeing it at home, save for the bone rattling sound of a good cinema system (possibly the best way to hear Ligeti), but I'm very glad I went to see it, it loses none of its impact the second time around.
 
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#3,689 ·
Via a slightly convoluted path (some recent spat between a white Aussi hip-hop singer and a black hip-hop singer about "authenticity" and possible misappropriation of black culture), I arrived at at web viewing of Mississippi Burning (dir. Alan Parker, 1988, starring Gene Hackman and WillemDefoe).
A superb film that chilled me to the bones. Was it really like that back in segregationist America?
 
#3,690 ·
Via a slightly convoluted path (some recent spat between a white Aussi hip-hop singer and a black hip-hop singer about "authenticity" and possible misappropriation of black culture), I arrived at at web viewing of Mississippi Burning (dir. Alan Parker, 1988, starring Gene Hackman and WillemDefoe).
A superb film that chilled me to the bones. Was it really like that back in segregationist America?
Yes, and the atmosphere, I fear, is being rekindled. It's always there, like a scab.

That film was made 26 years ago. If it were made today, unfortunately, it would be even more graphic. I hope there isn't a rebirth.
 
#3,693 · (Edited)


Lucy (Luc Besson, dir.)

In lesser hands this might have been very silly, but was actually a bit of well made fun.

Reminded me of Greg Bear's excellent sf novel Blood Music in a number of places.

Very glad to see they didn't anywhere go down the road of the Limitless film, which would have us believe that with superior intelligence humans would become super-greedy super-hedonists.



Not at all what I was expecting. Very ambitions knot of a story to try to pull off, but largely successful.

Superb performance from Sarah Snook, and its always a relief when Ethan Hawke manages to avoid the man-child role he too often falls back on.
 
#3,695 ·
Huzzah! The Interview is getting released finally... somewhere don't know yet.
 
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