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Last movie watched...

Started by SmallBlueThing, 04 February, 2011, 12:40:44 PM

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dweezil2

Quote from: radiator on 15 August, 2019, 10:45:27 PM
He's talking about your post. Its pretty spoilery if te person reading it can put 2 and 2 together - I'd get a mod to edit it.


Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is not a biographical film, that's made pretty clear by the trailers, for example there was never a Cliff Booth and he never fought Bruce Lee, same with Rick Dalton.
Savalas Seed Bandcamp: https://savalasseed1.bandcamp.com/releases

"He's The Law 45th anniversary music video"
https://youtu.be/qllbagBOIAo

Frank


If Dweezil's comment spoiled Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, then so did every review I've read in every mainstream publication or heard on podcasts.

Any discussion of the movie says it doesn't end as you'd expect and Tarantino's done this before. No offence to the fantastic Matt, but [spoiler]SPOILER[/spoiler] culture does my tits in*


* The end of a movie - any movie - is no more important than any other part of the movie. I've watched The Big Sleep every year for the last two decades, despite knowing Carmen didn't do it.

Funt Solo

Quote from: Frank on 17 August, 2019, 03:01:26 PM
The end of a movie - any movie - is no more important than any other part of the movie.

I'd argue that there's something in the first time viewing that you can't get on repeat viewing (and even more so in certain pieces), and so I disagree with your sentiment.  There's clearly a difference between knowing and not knowing, especially when a particular reveal is like the final piece in a jigsaw that you weren't even fully aware was being put together until that point.

Key examples:

  • Sixth Sense
  • The Usual Suspects
  • Citizen Kane
  • Soylent Green
  • The Third Man
  • Fight Club
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Apestrife

#13353
Just home from watching Once upon a time in Hollywood. Such a lovely film. It's 60's Hollywood felt like it was filmed back then. Amazing attention to detail and a fantastic tribute to films. It gave me the feeling that of reading a Grant Morrison comic book in which the heroes are also reading comic books with it's scenes of the main characters watching movies. So much so it made people walking past the screen in my cinema fit the film, adding to the feeling of watching a movie.

I also liked the driving and listening to music. It managed to add both to the setting as well as each character. Especially Brad's character Cliff. Such a wonderfully complex character. Felt as ugly and charming as Landa in Basterds.

Loved the ending, but at first I wasn't sure what Tarantino wanted said with the film, but it clicked when a friend (who I watched it with) wanted to know more about Charles Manson and Tate's murder. [spoiler]Basically managing to strip Manson & c/o of the fame which was given to them. A bit like how Hateful 8's ending made use of the Lincon letter after the violence came to an end.[/spoiler]

Another thing which hit me [spoiler]while watching what felt like a happy ending, and then realising the gate to Tate and Polanski's house felt it was the one to heaven and the sad music which played... It felt like the dying dream of Rick fucking Dalton's carrier, being invited into heaven by Tate.[/spoiler]

I'm quite likely to watch it again soon. Fantastic film.

I also watched Hail Ceasar this morning. A good movie to watch before Once upon a time in hollywood. Very funny and weird about a "fixer" working for hollywood in the 50-ish's during the commie scare. Delivers a existential story which I really relate to.

von Boom

Avengers: Endgame. Zzzz. Is it over yet?

shaolin_monkey

Quote from: Funt Solo on 17 August, 2019, 07:14:33 PM
Quote from: Frank on 17 August, 2019, 03:01:26 PM
The end of a movie - any movie - is no more important than any other part of the movie.

I'd argue that there's something in the first time viewing that you can't get on repeat viewing (and even more so in certain pieces), and so I disagree with your sentiment.  There's clearly a difference between knowing and not knowing, especially when a particular reveal is like the final piece in a jigsaw that you weren't even fully aware was being put together until that point.

Key examples:

  • Sixth Sense
  • The Usual Suspects
  • Citizen Kane
  • Soylent Green
  • The Third Man
  • Fight Club

The Empire Strikes Back


Anyway, watched Rushmore last night. Creepy 15 year old tries to woo nursery teacher. Funny in places, but he just made me feel a bit queasy. It's akin to Harold and Maude I guess, though that is a much better film.

Anyway, we're doing a comedy film each week, picking from a 'top 100' list (which correctly places Spinal Tap at no1 but incorrectly places Ghostbusters below Trading Places) just to try and keep things light, when all I talk about is the climate crisis and all my partner talks about is abused women and children.

Anyhow... watching The Castle next weekend, an Aussie film which comes highly recommended.

Greg M.

Long Weekend (1978): Aussie eco-horror in which a married couple, their relationship crumbling, go for a camping trip and are punished by nature itself for their casual disrespect for the environment. Much odder than it sounds, and much more suspenseful than your average 'when beasts attack' flick, though there's a bit of that too, courtesy of fierce possums and vengeful eagles. One for the Hawkmumblers of this world, or anyone else that wants to see a dysfunctional couple stalked by a dead dugong.

TordelBack

Always loved Long Weekend, although I think I may have originally seen it a bit too young because it freaked me out quite a bit. Great sound design, genuinely scary. Anyone seen the remake from a few years back?

JOE SOAP

#13358
We probably saw it round the same time Tords, as it freaked me out too, to the point I think I instantly forgot it until seeing a still of it many years later that opened the door of horror again. It's got that peculiar Peter Weir(d) Ozploitation vibe that just gets in on you.

Keef Monkey

Quote from: Radbacker on 17 August, 2019, 04:21:08 AM
Hobbs and Shaw is daft fun but I had a laugh when the girl I work with who watched it said she didn't like it as it was too unbelievable compared to the Fast and Furious movies she absolutely loves!!!  Too unbelievable 😂😂😂😂 compared to Fasat and Furious!!!!

Cu Radbacker

As mad as it might sound I do actually get what she means! I described it to a friend as being more cartoonish than the main F&F films, those are over the top ridiculous fun but they have quite an odd tone that's somewhere between totally self-serious melodrama and knowingly ridiculous machismo superhero fantasy. I don't know if 'grounded' is the right word, but there's definitely something there in those films that Hobbs & Shaw feels like it's cut loose from to go full fantasy superhero movie.

I don't think I'd see it as a reason to dislike it mind you, I thought it was a lot of fun. Or at least, I think it would have been if my screening wasn't absolutely rammed with people talking through the whole thing when they weren't using their phones. Seriously, I had a day off and some films to catch up on so booked 3 films and went home after film number two because I'd had enough of the cinema experience. Went home and watched a blu-ray instead and had a much better time. I'd forgotten they'd shot so much of H&S in Glasgow, I used to walk past all the trashed vehicles in the morning going to work, so it was fun to see that chase through streets I know and being able to see how that bus actually got the big hole in it (I took a photo of that at the time)!

Other film I managed was Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood which I had a weird love/confused reaction to. I always love a Tarantino film and in many ways I thought this was him at his very best, in fact the writing I thought showed a different side to him - much less showboaty monologue-style chunks of dialogue with one eye on quoteability. I (mostly) love that stuff in his other films but while in other Tarantino films every character seems to speak with the same voice (Tarantino's) in this the conversations felt natural in a way I don't think he manages very often. The dialogue was still hugely engrossing, and the great characters and fantastic performances definitely helped, but there was a level of maturity and restraint in the writing which I don't think I'd normally expect from him.

Where it was less successful for me was in actual plot. I went in not really knowing what the film was about, and while I really, really loved all the character stuff [spoiler]whenever the Manson storyline popped up it felt like a diversion or a side story, and I didn't enjoy it as much as the surrounding stuff I kind of saw all those scenes as being a bit of a distraction from what I really wanted to see more of, which was Dicaprio and Pitt tooling about on movie sets and trying to get by. So when in the end that distracting side story turned out to be what it was all building to I was a bit thrown. It seems a bit like Tarantino maybe had that idea and then worked backwards, crafting everything else to get things to that finale, but all the other stuff he crafted was so much richer and more engaging than that (I'm assuming) initial idea.

Also the switch to ultraviolence felt jarring, it was like the movie just flipped into something totally different for 10mins. I love a bit of slapstick gore (I really enjoyed how much Hateful Eight brought to mind Evil Dead and The Thing) but I found the smashing of the girl's head into things too prolonged and mean-spirited to be fun. I did however laugh heartily when the flamethrower came out.

Overall I really liked it and will watch it again and maybe the things I didn't like will work better once I know what I'm getting into, but on a first watch I'm definitely a little disappointed that it takes that swerve into wacky, because the characters and the world they were in was strong enough that it didn't need it at all.[/spoiler]

And the blu-ray I watched was Starman, which I don't think gets talked about much as far as Carpenter films go but I have a real love for. It's really different to the rest of his movies so it's understandable it doesn't get mentioned in the same breath as Halloween/The Thing etc. but it was a repeat rental for me on VHS as a kid and going back to it after many years felt very warm and fuzzy. Some of the effects are very poor but others still look great, and both leads are brilliant in it (and there can't be many more beautiful shots in cinema than [spoiler]that final shot of Karen Allen looking absolutely incredible[/spoiler]), plus Carpenter's direction is as great as ever and shows he has way more than action and horror up his sleeve.

radiator

QuoteI'd argue that there's something in the first time viewing that you can't get on repeat viewing (and even more so in certain pieces), and so I disagree with your sentiment.  There's clearly a difference between knowing and not knowing, especially when a particular reveal is like the final piece in a jigsaw that you weren't even fully aware was being put together until that point.

Key examples:
Sixth Sense
The Usual Suspects
Citizen Kane
Soylent Green
The Third Man
Fight Club

Agreed. If you say [spoiler]'Historical revisionism' [/spoiler]and mention it in the same breath as [spoiler]Inglorious Basterds[/spoiler], you're essentially telegraphing exactly how the film will end, robbing it of much of its tension. I don't consider myself excessively prissy about spoilers, but I'd personally have been a little annoyed if I'd inadvertently read that particular sentence before seeing the film myself.

Apestrife

I really don't want to talk about the ending of Once upon a time in Hollywood, but I'd like tell those who haven't seen it --you have no idea what your in for.

Mind the gap Quite the docu. A kid films his friends skate boarding from young age up to 20ish, and things go from having fun all the time to realising a thing or two what took place behind all the fun, at home. The guy behind the documentary also finds out a thing or two about some of his friends, and some of it is pretty bad. Really made me think about people I grew up with. I don't know what to say besides it's a rough movie which is tough on the viewer, and one I really recommend.

Mattofthespurs

Quote from: radiator on 15 August, 2019, 10:45:27 PM
He's talking about your post. Its pretty spoilery if te person reading it can put 2 and 2 together - I'd get a mod to edit it.

That is exactly what I meant.

Mattofthespurs

Quote from: radiator on 21 August, 2019, 07:01:27 PM
QuoteI'd argue that there's something in the first time viewing that you can't get on repeat viewing (and even more so in certain pieces), and so I disagree with your sentiment.  There's clearly a difference between knowing and not knowing, especially when a particular reveal is like the final piece in a jigsaw that you weren't even fully aware was being put together until that point.

Key examples:
Sixth Sense
The Usual Suspects
Citizen Kane
Soylent Green
The Third Man
Fight Club

Agreed. If you say [spoiler]'Historical revisionism' [/spoiler]and mention it in the same breath as [spoiler]Inglorious Basterds[/spoiler], you're essentially telegraphing exactly how the film will end, robbing it of much of its tension. I don't consider myself excessively prissy about spoilers, but I'd personally have been a little annoyed if I'd inadvertently read that particular sentence before seeing the film myself.

Well, at least one person agrees with me  :lol:

Glad it did not ruin (well, ruin is too strong a word but it's early) anyone elses enjoyment of the movie.

My OP was too harsh in retrospect in it's language but I did not think it was too hard to put 2 and 2 together.

Keef Monkey

Saw Crawl at the weekend and really, really enjoyed it. It's not trying to be anything more than a fun scary monster movie (the monster in this case a massive alligator) and delivers on that in spades.

Also the first film I've seen in 4DX, I've always hated the idea but it was the only morning showing of the movie so reluctantly went for it. Mostly pretty impressed with the experience and pleasantly surprised by how much it added at times. During the hurricane scenes it was genuinely a huge extra layer of immersion, having mist and light rain and some wind blowing it all around during those blustery scenes was really something, and I hadn't expected it to be as elaborate as it was or as absorbing. The seat movement was a bit hit or miss, it seemed to work great when the film was generating unease, having the seat gently drifting around worked weirdly well. Also it was good for maintaining fear after a jump scare (usually an audience will jump and then collect themselves, but with this you were jumping and then remaining rattled for a while, because you were literally being rattled around). Meant I found myself gripping the arm-rests with genuine excitement/panic in a way I don't often get with films these days, but it could be over the top during scenes that really didn't need it (at one point early on the character is driving a car and the seat was bouncing all over the place in a way that was just distracting). Also distracting were the effects that made too much noise, there was a weird air puff thing that happened now and then, didn't seem to add anything and made such a loud guff noise that it pulled me out of every moment it seemed to want to accent.

Similarly, the thing that prods you in the back through the seat just felt weird and distracting and yanked me out of the movie every time it happened. It just feels way too mechanical and the moments it was deployed didn't seem to make any sense or gain anything at all from the distraction. It was just annoying more than immersive.

I would probably do 4DX again at some point depending on the film, this one seemed a good first experience given it's a bit of a fun rollercoaster of a movie anyway so was well suited to the theme park ride vibe. Some effects absolutely added loads to the immersion, and some had the opposite impact, but overall was impressed.

Whatever way you see it though I'd definitely recommend Crawl if you want some good tense breezy horror fun.

Also gave The Silence of The Lambs a rewatch, still brilliant.