What was the last movie you watched?

Sudacafan said:
Yes, very dangerous. Only brave men like me can live here.
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Imagine Mr Connery, The Bond, hairy chest and all complaining about conditions. And that there was only one tennis court nearby and it was like "the beach at Dunkirk" . And they could not stand the sounds of insects and wildlife and abandoned the location three days before shooting was over.

And this wasn't even in South America, but in Mexico. They imported people from Brazil to act as the indigenous tribes.

Let me transfer the link from my cellphone.

AFI|Catalog

Biochemist Dr. Rae Crane is assigned to work with Dr. Robert Campbell, a wayward botanist who has spent the past three years deep in the Amazonian jungle, and has only recently made his whereabouts known to Aston, the organization that supports him. After an arduous journey, Dr. Crane arrives...
catalog.afi.com catalog.afi.com
 
Sentinel said:
Imagine Mr Connery, The Bond, hairy chest and all complaining about conditions. And that there was only one tennis court nearby and it was like "the beach at Dunkirk" . And they could not stand the sounds of insects and wildlife and abandoned the location three days before shooting was over.

And this wasn't even in South America, but in Mexico. They imported people from Brazil to act as the indigenous tribes.

Let me transfer the link from my cellphone.

AFI|Catalog

Biochemist Dr. Rae Crane is assigned to work with Dr. Robert Campbell, a wayward botanist who has spent the past three years deep in the Amazonian jungle, and has only recently made his whereabouts known to Aston, the organization that supports him. After an arduous journey, Dr. Crane arrives...
catalog.afi.com catalog.afi.com
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South of Rio Grande it’s all the same. People shouldn’t bother in looking for peculiarities.
 
Free Solo (2019)

A documentary of free solo climber Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan, without a rope. An absolutely jaw dropping ride...I hold on to my couch on a few shots. The dude has balls of steel and grips of an orangutan. The director jazzed up the epic climb with a bit of his private life and romance interest, enough to build up the climax while keeping you interested for a good hour and a half.

 
Sudacafan said:
Parasite (2019)
I liked it. A different movie indeed. Never seen something like it before. Interesting plot.
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I watched it two days ago. I like the plot. I don't like the violence. I don't like the toilet scene during the flood. I like the little details and the richness in the story-telling.
 
Tennease said:
I watched it two days ago. I like the plot. I don't like the violence. I don't like the toilet scene during the flood. I like the little details and the richness in the story-telling.
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Agree. The violent scene at the end is strange. I think it does not * belong in this movie.
The toilet scene fits, in my opinion.
 
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Sudacafan said:
Agree. The violent scene at the end is strange. I think it does belong in this movie.
The toilet scene fits, in my opinion.
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SK does have a lot of these hacker/slasher type movies. Saw a bunch ten years back and then decided I was done with that genre. So i was not too surprised when that happened, but yes disappointed.
 
Sentinel said:
SK does have a lot of these hacker/slasher type movies. Saw a bunch ten years back and then decided I was done with that genre. So i was not too surprised when that happened, but yes disappointed.
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I corrected my post above. I meant to say it did NOT belong.
 
Fedinkum said:
Free Solo (2019)

A documentary of free solo climber Alex Honnold climbing El Capitan, without a rope. An absolutely jaw dropping ride...I hold on to my couch on a few shots. The dude has balls of steel and grips of an orangutan. The director jazzed up the epic climb with a bit of his private life and romance interest, enough to build up the climax while keeping you interested for a good hour and a half.
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That climb was an extraordinary accomplishment. I went to a talk given by Jimmy Chin who directed the film (with his wife). It was also extraordinary what it took to film it. Hats off to everyone involved. (y)
 
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Zara said:
Everest. Good movie but could have been better. Based on a true story. Stunning cinematography.
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That‘s like saying “all natural” when selling food. It has no meaning and provides no parameters on the final product.

This post was based on a true story.
 
Run into the end of Rocky II just now. Right at the introduction of the final fight. I've only watched the first movie. The fight was pretty cool and well done! Intense. I might look for the movie and watch the whole thing.
 
Just saw Molly's Game (2017) on ShowTime. Screenplay & directed by Aaron Sorkin. Based on a book by Molly Bloom about remarkable events of her life... Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target. Giving this film an enthusiastic thumbs-up and a solid 8/10.
 
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SystemicAnomaly said:
Just saw Molly's Game (2017) on ShowTime. Screenplay & directed by Aaron Sorkin. Based on a book by Molly Bloom about remarkable events of her life... Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target. Giving this film an enthusiastic thumbs-up and a solid 8/10.
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I was not able to finish this movie. For reason, I didn’t like it or didn’t find it interesting enough.
 
Zara said:
I was not able to finish this movie. For reason, I didn’t like it or didn’t find it interesting enough.
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At 2:21, it was a bit on the long side but, nonetheless, I found it quite engaging & entertaining. Have been a huge fan of Aaron Sorkin's works since the early 90s (A Few Good Men, Sports Night, The West Wing, Entourage, The Social Network, ...).

In Molly's Game, his screenplay and direction gives us one of cinema's great (complex) female characters. Of course, the original material (book) from Molly Bloom and the outstanding performance by Jessica Chastain has a lot to do with this as well.

Seems that you are in the minority in your dislike for this film. The aggregate reviews from Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 82%. On IMDb, only 15% of users gave it less that 7/10 (the mode was actually 8). Winner of 7 awards as well as 50+ nominations (including an Oscar). Not too shabby at all.
 
SystemicAnomaly said:
At 2:21, it was a bit on the long side but, nonetheless, I found it quite engaging & entertaining. Have been a huge fan of Aaron Sorkin's works since the early 90s (A Few Good Men, Sports Night, The West Wing, Entourage, The Social Network, ...).

In Molly's Game, his screenplay and direction gives us one of cinema's great (complex) female characters. Of course, the original material (book) from Molly Bloom and the outstanding performance by Jessica Chastain has a lot to do with this as well.

Seems that you are in the minority in your dislike for this film. The aggregate reviews from Rotten Tomatoes gave it a score of 82%. On IMDb, only 15% of users gave it less that 7/10 (the mode was actually 8). Winner of 7 awards as well as 50+ nominations (including an Oscar). Not too shabby at all.
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I don’t think there’s anything seriously wrong with the movie. I just found it boring and I think that has a lot to with the fact that I didn’t like the subject matter and it didn’t emotionally engage me. I like Jessica btw and perhaps reason why I got into it the first place.

As to ratings, I usually don’t go by those. I have liked many movies that had very low ratings and disliked many movies with high ratings. I’d like to judge for myself and see if it intrigues me and engages me emotionally. I expect the movie to hook me in the first 5 minutes; otherwise it’s a no go for me. I like slow movies a great deal if there’s a good build up to it.
 
Zara said:
I don’t think there’s anything seriously wrong with the movie. I just found it boring and I think that has a lot to with the fact that I didn’t like the subject matter and it didn’t emotionally engage me. I like Jessica btw and perhaps reason why I got into it the first place.

As to ratings, I usually don’t go by those. I have liked many movies that had very low ratings and disliked many movies with high ratings. I’d like to judge for myself and see if it intrigues me and engages me emotionally. I expect the movie to hook me in the first 5 minutes; otherwise it’s a no go for me. I like slow movies a great deal if there’s a good build up to it.
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I usually check IMDb's ratings. If it's close to 8 or above I'll watch it (or I'll add it to my to watch list, more likely lol). If it's below 6 I probably wont have any interest in it. But between 6 and 7-8, it kinda means nothing. Have seen movies I consider great have that rating, and movies I've found just awful...
 
Watched 12 Angry Men the other day. Outstanding movie. Amazing what they do just using dialogue and character development. They manage to keep the movie engaging and entertaining the whole time too.
 
Crisstti said:
Watched 12 Angry Men the other day. Outstanding movie. Amazing what they do just using dialogue and character development. They manage to keep the movie engaging and entertaining the whole time too.
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A classic that doesn't fly in Oregon.

www.oregonlive.com

Opinion: Oregon voters, not courts, should change non-unanimous jury law

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum writes that the Legislature should have referred to voters a constitutional amendment that would have given voters the opportunity to get rid of a longstanding law that allows non-unanimous jury verdicts in non-murder felony cases. Unfortunately, lawmakers...
www.oregonlive.com www.oregonlive.com
 
The Best Offer
(2013).

W O W !!!!!!!

Very powerful!!!!!

Italians know how to make a great movie!!!!!

It sort of went flat at the start.... but when you get to the climax, it hits you like BANG!!! Just like that!!! I was so shocked. I could feel the great sadness, the anger, all the breakdown, the fragility of human beings. Humans are so weak, so helpless, so powerless........ AND SO CRUEL!!!!!


This movie makes Parasite look so cheap and cheesy!!!!! This movie is like 1000000 times better.


ps. if you haven't watched the movie, don't read the plot before you watch it. I didn't know anything about this movie before I watched it and it really hits me.
 
Tennease said:
The Best Offer
(2013).

W O W !!!!!!!

Very powerful!!!!!

Italians know how to make a great movie!!!!!

It sort of went flat at the start.... but when you get to the climax, it hits you like BANG!!! Just like that!!! I was so shocked. I could feel the great sadness, the anger, all the breakdown, the fragility of human beings. Humans are so weak, so helpless, so powerless........ AND SO CRUEL!!!!!


This movie makes Parasite look so cheap and cheesy!!!!! This movie is like 1000000 times better.


ps. if you haven't watched the movie, don't read the plot before you watch it. I didn't know anything about this movie before I watched it and it really hits me.
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Hehe I have seen this one. Awesome plot!
 
Azure said:
Hehe I have seen this one. Awesome plot!
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For so long I did not watch movies. We didn't go to cinemas when we were kids. I only randomly watched movies these last several years to kill time when on the plane or when I get bored with work...

Recently I just randomly choose movies from one of our Aussie TV's free On Demand app and watch them one by one.. Some are great, some are so so. This last one was the best I've seen from the app.
 
After finally seeing the much-lauded and largely excellent Portrait of a Lady on Fire (written and directed) by Céline Sciamma I'm beginning to think gay filmmakers don't generally make the best candidates to portray the LGBTQ experience on the big screen. For a long time I've hesitated to use that "generally" in lieu of "necessarily" for fear of unintentional straightsplaining, and I don't mean to single out this particular experience as something of a last straw, but now it'd be disingenuous of me to deny that I've more or less turned into a full convert.

Before we delve into Sciamma's latest feature, however, perhaps it's better to start off with Almodóvar's Pain and Glory, another recently celebrated film by an even more famous gay director. Some of you may recall I've gone so far as to call the Spanish enfant terrible-cum-(possibly) unsuspecting tax cheat-cum-elder statesman a talented imposter who is at his best when taking an unruly buzzsaw to gender stereotypes and sexual inhibitions, and would not be surprised that I was mostly bored by his latest sterile outing which was carefully designed to bring himself back into good graces with the film-festival crowd following the Panama Papers fiasco. Indeed as The New Yorker's Richard Brody has pointed out, the only time Salvador Mallo, the film's protagonist, feels like Almodóvar's full-blooded stand-in is during one of its flashbacks when his youthful self sees the fully naked body of laborer Eduardo - and presumably of any adult man - for the very first time. Not one of his numerous scenes with his mother both young and old, whose real-life counterpart Almodóvar obviously misses very much, has half the emotional resonance of that fleeting glimpse as a child, nor does his fateful reunion with his former lover Federico (Leonardo Sbaraglia who for my money outdoes Banderas' celebrated performance despite their unbalanced screen time) whom the director retains equally fond memories of.

If you asked me why only 2-3 years earlier I would've said you can thank Almodóvar's sexual hang-ups. Ditto François Ozon's which, as I said less than two years ago, he's been "pass[ing] off [...] as serious explorations of women's sexuality on the basis of his well-known affinity for actresses." But now I don't think it's quite right or fair to dismiss them as "hang-ups" of any sort, unless we're willing to extend the criticism to every other major gay filmmaker of recent vintage.

Let's consider the evidence. Gus Van Sant announced his arrival with Mala Noche, a daring debut whose frank homoeroticism and freewheeling anarchy remain fresh to this day, and followed it up with a string of triumphs (Drugstore Cowboy, My Private Idaho, To Die For) before turning insufferably mainstream (Good Will Hunting, Milk) and/or ponderously hip (Last Days above all) while turning his back on his true calling. Todd Haynes has thankfully yet to sell out quite so brazenly, but Carol, his biggest critical and commercial hit, is for all its allure and accomplishment a relatively domesticated melodrama compared to its proudly in-your-face predecessors. I'm not familiar with Stanley Kwan's later works, but I think it safe to say he is the George Cukor of his generation in terms of their shared preference for strong female heroines struggling to triumph over the patriarchal maze they're forced to navigate. And the late Chantal Akerman famously refused to be pigeonholed, largely avoiding LGBTQ politics in favor of more universal gender and other sociopolitical themes.

What these distinguished gay filmmakers have in common, or what their career trajectories suggest at any rate, is that they tend to be more successful when they become, consciously or not, decidedly less queer. You may counter that this success is more financial than artistic and I can follow up with counterexamples, but here's the flip side of the previous paradox: when they do find success in uncompromising expression and celebration of their sexuality, it tends to come at the expense of other everyday needs shared by the queer community.

Which finally leads us back to Portrait of a Lady on Fire. If all you've seen or heard about the film is its understandable comparisons with Haynes' aforementioned Carol I suggest you check out Sciamma's wonderful interview with Vox's Emily Todd VanDerWerff in which she propounds not only the classic mythology of Orpheus and Eurydice (which propels one of the film's most revealing scenes) but also the queerness of Titanic (any auteur who appreciates the supposedly too-square-for-arthouse blockbuster can't possibly be too bad in my book) and the Gothic splendor of the Brontë sisters. And it's clear that the latter two cultural landmarks wielded more influence than Hayne's superficial counterpart on Sciamma's latest effort, and for that she deserves much of the rapturous reception she's been treated to so far.

But that's not to say the Carol-Portrait link is completely without merit. Sciamma more than Haynes can be forgiven for having her heroine muster up no resistance to the patriarchal forces that render a loveless marriage all but mandatory even for a woman of her social standing, but it's harder to let her off scot-free for relegating the issue of class to, shall we say, second-class status, especially after reading the Vox interview where she hashes out "two levels" of class politics. Turns out a sisterhood of three determined women "can abolish" such quotidian "social hierarchy" as long as they stay in their lanes (euphemized by the director as "a collective, small group with a kind of friendship"). It would be one thing to succumb to this inexorable hierarchy after braving the scorn, ostracism and unforgiving economics of this patriarchy, and that would indeed earn the mythological tragedy of Héloïse and Marianne that Sciamma clearly intended. (Suffice it to say her abrupt but protracted ending - you'll see what I mean when you see it - has nothing on that of Orpheus and Eurydice or for that matter Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights.) For Sciamma to fall back on the sensuous eroticism of lesbian love despite her cognizance of their preordained stratification is the film's weakest point - if it has to say anything about the French Revolution during which it is presumably set, I missed it - though it happens to be its biggest selling point that has made it (and Carol) such a big hit in arthouse circles.

I'm sure many would respond that my take is an unmistakably straight one and ignores the reality that the LGBTQ community especially needs more outlets for release of their sexuality which they're forced to suppress to this day, but that actually reinforces my contention that the best gay filmmakers may not make the best gay films. I find it revealing that much has been made of Portrait's female gaze but not of its even more blatantly queer one, and just as "female gaze" is a shorthand that cannot possibly include all varieties of the female experience the sexuality, race, ethnicity or whatever socioeconomic status of individual filmmakers may not matter as much as their understanding of the world and the people who inhabit it. This may sound like a truism because it is, but one that needs repeating against our current obsession with "representation" which always seems to leave out large segments of its "represented" cohort that don't fit the fashionable profile.

It is that shortchanging of class politics that places Sciamma's otherwise laudable achievement just under Marine Francen's The Sower among my faves of 2019 (though Portrait went wide in the US only a week ago it had two limited screenings at the AFI Silver last December). The latter's female gaze is just as perceptive than that of its better-funded/marketed sibling, and for good measure its cinematography is no less ravishing. At any rate both are well worth your time. See and judge for yourself:

 
Crisstti said:
I usually check IMDb's ratings. If it's close to 8 or above I'll watch it (or I'll add it to my to watch list, more likely lol). If it's below 6 I probably wont have any interest in it. But between 6 and 7-8, it kinda means nothing. Have seen movies I consider great have that rating, and movies I've found just awful...
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I don’t always check the ratings before I watch a movie. I know I am going to watch it anyway. And sometimes, if I like a movie, I like to check the reviews out afterwards. But I especially check out the content where the rating is under 6 and the headings go like, ‘what an absolute tosh’ or ‘don’t bother’ with very low ratings and there are other ratings on the same film, ‘don’t pay attention to the negative reviews. This is a hidden gem’ and I am attracted to those movies right away. Because it’s a mixed ratings where some loved it and some hated it and I know it’s a hit or miss and often times, I find them to be quite the gems. So those ratings thrill me.

Otherwise ratings do not influence me much and definitely not a deciding factor for me as to whether I am going to watch a movie or not.
 
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One more thing before I go:

Azure said:
Dark Waters (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9071322/)

A real life story of how an attorney takes on DuPont company for hiding chemical degradation of the environment. Based on a the New York Times article: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/10/magazine/the-lawyer-who-became-duponts-worst-nightmare.html

I liked the movie very much.
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Late last year I was telling my fellow cinephiles (including Moose) that despite its similarities to Spotlight Haynes' latest feature was unlikely to get an Oscar nom because we're living in the age of Trump and the film refuses to buy into the kind of cheap cynicism that Hollywood has accepted as a profound meditation on America at least since Citizen Kane. Alas my prediction came true, which is a shame because Dark Waters turned out to be more than the Oscar bait I expected it be. (Shoulda known Hayne is too independent an artist to churn out a matter-of-fact docudrama, but I digress.) In fact its rousing "He's still fighting" denouement is probably the most uplifting feel-good moment I've seen in the past year, along with Romney's sole Republican vote to convict Trump in the impeachment trial (yes, really).

It's still a fairly conventional based-on-a-true-story and I could've done without its insistence on rugged American individualism over the rigged system (almost quite literally in the end), but if it's no Far from Heaven or even Carol, not-quite-top-drawer Haynes is still better than 90+% of the films out there and that's what we have in his latest outing:

 
I was very impatient yesterday. Tried to watch Sanctum first (inspired by a true event) and then Aloha but wasn't able to complete either of them.

I really enjoyed the cave in Sanctum (it was not shot inside the cave but just the outlook of it) and realized how amazing some people are. Some call it a claustrophobic drama.

Look at this cave.

sanctum443.jpg
 
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Tshooter said:
A classic that doesn't fly in Oregon.

www.oregonlive.com

Opinion: Oregon voters, not courts, should change non-unanimous jury law

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum writes that the Legislature should have referred to voters a constitutional amendment that would have given voters the opportunity to get rid of a longstanding law that allows non-unanimous jury verdicts in non-murder felony cases. Unfortunately, lawmakers...
www.oregonlive.com www.oregonlive.com
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Interesting read, especially for a lawyer. But it does say it's only in non-murder cases, so in this case the movie plot would apply.
 
NonP said:
It is that shortchanging of class politics that places Sciamma's otherwise laudable achievement just under Marine Francen's The Sower among my faves of 2019
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Thanks! I was waiting for your review on Portrait. I have pencilled this recommendation to watch asap.
NonP said:
cheap cynicism that Hollywood has accepted as a profound meditation
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Can you please elaborate on this? I think Dark Waters was very much like Spotlight but I don't see what exactly you are referring to here that did not bring attention to this movie a lot more than it probably deserved. Perhaps a lot of it is to do with the fact that the results of the tests are still largely unknown? I mean Teflon for example is still not banned. Sure, settlements have been made but there is still no conclusive evidence on a lot of allegations. On the other hand Spotlight has a more open and shut case as a premise for a plot. Both very good movies.
 
I am craving to watch the following movies again:

- 12 Monkeys
- Wings of Desire
- Eyes Wide Shut
- Dead Man
- The Prophecy
- The Dead Zone
- Memento
- Identity
- Gosford Park
- Prisoners
 
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I finally get to watch Parasite on the plane and it sure was boring and over-hyped. It's the same old tired, well-recycled, and cheesy stereotypes and cliche of rich vs poor movie theme that is a dime a dozen in that part of the world. The movie brings nothing new but a make me feel good for the poor. Don't you love it when millionaires and billionaires making movies about social populism like that !
On the other hand Joker is a real and original movie about class conflict with a bold message.
Joker is deep and dark yet meaningful while Parasite is just another cheap commercial social drama for the mass.
 
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I know Harriet has been panned quite a bit, but I found it touching.

And very relevant in the context of what's happening where I live.
 
Depressing action movie about corrupt cops! Very well acted!
After watching this movie, gave me no pleasure, desire to watch any cop TV dramas
like Chicago P.D., NCIS Series, Hawaii 5.0, The Shield, etc... Totally turn off on cop dramas.
 
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