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Last movie watched...

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

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Colin YNWA

Well the boys re-watch continues with Revenge of the Sith and well... sigh...

I mean objectively its the best of the first three (second three that is). As Attack of the Clones learns from Phantom Menace, so this learn from Attack of the Clones and from beginning to end can never be decisioned as dull. I mean it opens on an astonishing set piece and then pretty much keeps them going unrelentlessly from there to the end... but to be honest I was getting pretty bored... see thread about finding the origins of obsure Brian Bolland art. It was there all flash bang whollop and quite boring for it. In ways that utterly escape me.

Its biggest problem is how handfisted it delievers any number of its key moments. Is it the dialogue, their delivery or most likely the combination of the two - I've never understood that Tom Stoppard was involved in polishing the script to improve it - really Tom Stoppard, really... maybe that's not true.

So on paper this is the best of the bunch... but I can't give it that as I spent the last hours looking at Brian Bolland art and watching this out the corner of my eye...

So I guess - to my amazement - I go TPM > RotS > AotC... I reserve the right to flip that in seconds. What I will say is at least, unlike Force Awakes they tried to be different and that has to count for something at least!

pictsy

It's kinda funny.  I've been swung around to the opinion that PM was the best of the prequels.  I've always hated RotS and AotC is just forgettable.  RotS was made worse when I watched the prequels with the Clone Wars series inserted in between the second and third film.  It made all the flaws of RotS so much more glaring, especially the characterisation of Anakin.  The dialogue is worse than AotC in places, the acting is worse, the pacing is worse.  I really feel it's a trilogy with steep diminishing returns.

Although trying to figure out what the best prequel movie is an act akin to deciding where the best place to be kicked by a boot with steel toecaps is.

The one thing I can say that is positive is some very talented visual artists created some amazing looking stuff for RotS.  An artbook for the film would no doubt be worth the investment.

TordelBack

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 24 May, 2020, 04:12:59 PM
So I guess - to my amazement - I go TPM > RotS > AotC...

Good, goood.  With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant. It is unavoidable. It is your destiny.

I've also been at the Lucas catalogue, with a very enjoyable viewing of Willow. I've never been a huge fan, apart from the animation on the brazier/font thingie at the end, but this time out it really hit the spot.  I don't know if this is some re-mastered version Disney+ are streaming, but the effects seemed almost flawless - especially the complex blue-screen bits with the brownies, which I remembered as being rather ropey. It's hard to square the lovely landscapes and sharp SFX with the pound-shop Troll costumes.

Part of my usual reservation stems from a deep-seated dislike of the acting stylings of one Val Kilmer, and that did not change this time out, but I was really taken with Warrick's performance - only 17 at the time! - and the no-previous-acting-experience Julie Peters as Willow's wife is terrific too. The sometime Mrs. Kilmer, Joanne Whaley, is convincing too.  James Horner music is good but a bit repetitive, and I thought the story was more solid than I'd remembered it too.

Kept the kids' attention too (one long-time fan, one newbie), which is a metric I find myself applying more and more these days.

Tiplodocus

Quote from: TordelBack on 24 May, 2020, 11:31:11 AM
I dunno, I always read Roy as a completely ordinary person (which perforce includes all kinds of shitty behaviour) being driven mad by the message in his head. The only point at which I question his behaviour is where [spoiler]he abandons his children, potentially forever, to go on a space adventure[/spoiler].

It's a good film, I would - and do - recommend it. But with the caveat that I first saw it in the cinema when I was 7, and history has shown that that can twist a person.

Yeah. I've never checked the chronology but I would be amazed/dismayed I'd Spielberg was married with kids when he wrote CE3K.

Me, personally, I love it. Dreyfuss being a dick is the only sticking point.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Keef Monkey

The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which I don't think I've ever heard anything about at all, good or bad. So going in with no expectations whatsoever I was pretty bowled over by its charms. A really fun film with bags of style, great leads and a lot of thrills and laughs. A shame it didn't make a bigger splash, because if it had become a series I definitely would have been back for more.

broodblik

Finally watched 1917.  It is well directed movie and I enjoyed it. The movie was carried by George MacKay he is unknown actor to me and was supported by few big actors (Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Benedict Cumberbatch) playing smaller roles.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

von Boom

Quote from: Keef Monkey on 25 May, 2020, 12:22:11 PM
The Man From U.N.C.L.E., which I don't think I've ever heard anything about at all, good or bad. So going in with no expectations whatsoever I was pretty bowled over by its charms. A really fun film with bags of style, great leads and a lot of thrills and laughs. A shame it didn't make a bigger splash, because if it had become a series I definitely would have been back for more.
It's one of the few films based on television shows I thought was really well done. I thought I heard that a sequel wasn't out of the question, but that may have changed now.

pictsy

Accepted.  I needed something light and amusing, so I just rewatched this.  There is something about the early to mid 2000's brightly coloured optimism I find comforting in these dark times.  This film also has less of that white American middleclass entitlement that this genre of film inevitable has.  I guess it's due to the underdog nature of the film.  I like the film.

I also liked The Man from U.N.C.L.E when I saw it.  I liked Ritchie's Holmes movies well enough, but this film was a delightful surprise.  I should revisit it sometime soon.

Tiplodocus

GALAXY QUEST
which is pretty good fun for your average civilian and would imagine that there's more in there for you if you follow behind the scenes going on in Trek.

The special effects (practical and CG) still look pretty good.

But it's overall toothless and somewhat has it's cake and eats it.

Despite Sigourney Weaver's character moaning that she literally had nothing to do on the Galaxy Quest show other than repeat commands, that's literally all they give her to do here. And disrobe her as the film progresses. And make her the reward for the "Captain".
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

Apestrife

#14169
Jojo rabbit was a gem. Saw it last night. Gave me a good laugh, broke my heart and then put it together. Listwning to Bowie's "Helden" will never be the same  ;)

Colin YNWA

Legend

It's basically a perfume commerical directed by Terry Gilliam. Which given Ridley Scotts origin story probably shouldn't be a surprise.

I'd not seen this one for years and though I have very fond memories of it have never really been tempted to track it down for another watch and had very few recollections, aside from the obvious Tim Curray (and extensive make-up) turn as the Lord of Darkness. And I can see why it drew such blanks from me. Its as souless as a perfume commercial. For all its potential its pretty dull.

Kinda makes me worry about watching 'Company of Wolves' again as this has always sat next to that in my mind - God knows why. I can only assume it was a VHS double bill of old? Or is it just the fairy tale thing?

Interesting on an utter side note Amazon Prime - through which I watched this seems to mix up its details withn Indian film (I assume of the same name) which has lead to some curious recommendations. Should I watch more Indian cinema its never appealled and the couple I've seen have done nothing to change my view but happy to be persuaded if folks have suggestions?

TordelBack

Watched it again a few years back*, and Company of Wolves hasn't aged terribly well, but it has heart and a lot of sincere weirdness underlying its crazy visuals and disjointed stories. Also, Danielle Dax. Certainly a more rewarding re-watch than Legend, the best thing about which has always been the poster.


*Before my last VCR finally expired, and I was forced to accept that there was a mountain of taped-from-TV stuff that I would never watch again. Which reminds me,  is there a decent copy of Company of Wolves out there somewhere?

M.I.K.

It's certainly available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Company of Wolves has been one of my favourite films since it was first broadcast on Channel 4, (I think), in the 80s, not least because they couldn't have packed more 'genuine' werewolf-lore into it if they'd tried. I consider the disjointedness, artificiality and visual non-sequiturs as points in its favour, because the bulk of it is intended to be a dream and it's very similar in 'feel' to some of the freakier dreams I've had.

Legend, on the other hand, is far more Disneyish in terms of both looks and storyline, (even if Meg Mucklebones was apparently based on Jenny Greenteeth). Liked it well enough when I first saw it on video when younger, but it didn't strike the same chord.

Tjm86

Quote from: Colin YNWA on 25 May, 2020, 10:39:19 PM
Legend

It's basically a perfume commerical directed by Terry Gilliam. Which given Ridley Scotts origin story probably shouldn't be a surprise.

I'd not seen this one for years and though I have very fond memories of it have never really been tempted to track it down for another watch and had very few recollections, aside from the obvious Tim Curray (and extensive make-up) turn as the Lord of Darkness.

I think it also depends on which version you end up watching.  For me this is very much a case of how much the soundtrack makes the film.

So their is either the orchestrated, Goldsmith version or Tangerine Dream's version.  IIRC the first time I saw the film it was with Dream's ST and I didn't realise that this was not the generally distributed version for the UK.  When I saw it on Sky years later i had the WTFIT reaction.

It's still not great but it is certainly more tolerable.

Colin YNWA

When I was a kid starved of cinematic sci-fi I'd lap anything I could get my hands on. So a remake of Magnificent Seven with cool space ships like Battle Beyond the Stars was manna from heaven.

Seeing on Amazon Prime when searching for things to watch all sorts of evocative memories came back. I mean I was pretty sure it was going to be terrible, but it had George Peppard, Robert Vaughn, John Saxon and John Boy the bloke from IT (original) so  it can't be that bad... well of course it is. Its pretty terrible ... but the spaceships were cool and some of the cast was good and...

...well it was a ridiculous blast from the past and I'm glad I watched it... uh what's this up next Beastmaster that's gotta be worth a go too... actually maybe not...