rate the last movie you saw

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mkaroly
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2911 Post by mkaroly »

I watched 14 movies over the last five days...lol...my responsibilities make it so that I end up binge watching a bunch of Blu-Rays I purchase. So for the most part here are some quickie reviews of what I have been watching:

SHERLOCK HOLMES (Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce): THE SCARLET CLAW, THE PEARL OF DEATH, THE HOUSE OF FEAR, THE WOMAN IN GREEN. These are entertaining films, though one thing I have noticed that bothers me is how much of a bumbling idiot Watson is. I prefer the films that take place in old houses or next to a moor somewhere (like THE HOUSE OF FEAR and THE SCARLET CLAW).

CASABLANCA (10/10): Still holds up well, though it is a much darker film (the infidelity, Renault's abuse of his office...especially with the young girl, etc.) than I realized or noticed before. Still, it is "romantic" in its way, and I can see a refining and polishing up of the Rick character's journey in the typical Spielbergian male protagonist.

RADIO DAYS, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (10/10 for both): these are two of my favorite Woody Allen films (CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS is my all-time favorite). Kudos to Twilight Time on the stunning transfers. Both films continue to fascinate and entertain me, I plan on getting BROADWAY DANNY ROSE and LOVE AND DEATH at some point soon.

DR. STRANGELOVE (10/10): Still one of my favorite Stanley Kubrick films - at this point I just sit back and enjoy the performances of Sellers and Scott as well as the dark humor. The Criterion supplemental section is packed and I enjoyed going back through all those documentaries. Packaging is great in this set too.

THE LIFE OF OHARU (6/10): This is not my favorite Mizoguchi film - it is so heavy and depressing that by the end I felt horrible. Lol...maybe that was the point, but my favorite film of his is UGETSU. OHARU is well acted but it would have been nice to have seen some ray of hope in the film.

LINCOLN (9/10): I really like this film - Daniel Day-Lewis is ridiculously hypnotic as Lincoln, and I just thoroughly enjoyed the performances in the film with the exception of Sally Field who so completely overacts as if she is trying to get noticed for an Academy Award. Her performance sticks out like a sore thumb; that is a big negative. Back to a positive and Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, by the end of the film I felt like I was listening to a recording of Lincoln giving that second inaugural address. Williams' music is restrained and moving, and I liked that they did not try to re-enact the shooting of Lincoln at Ford's Theater. For me the film never got slow, though the scene between Lincoln and Mary in the rainstorm in the middle of the film (in which they are arguing about their son) felt very awkward and out of place (kind of like the sex scene in MUNICH). Although this isn't classic Spielberg I still really like it.

IN A LONELY PLACE (10/10): SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!! I am liberal with my 10/10s...lol...but I was really struck about how well made this film was. I had seen it a long time ago but had forgotten a lot of it. Bogart and Graham give stellar performances in this very sad and moving tale of two lonely people who find a second chance at life and love with each other. The ending is so sad and heart wrenching which is a credit to how the film tells the story of these two characters; I felt sympathy for them both and felt both had depth. The filmmakers and actors did an excellent job in building the tension between Bogart, Graham, and the police as the film got to its climax. I noticed in the trailer that an alternate ending was shot (a "happy ending"); a part of me wanted to see that ending, but to be honest I don't think the characters earned that ending. Their choices and actions (for example, Bogart's promise "never to do that again" only to then give in to his paranoia and lack of trust in Graham) could not allow for a happy ending. I am okay with happy endings when the characters "earn" it in some way (for example, Macon Leary and Muriel Pritchett in THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST), but had Nicholas Ray stuck with the ending we see in the trailer it would have been too GILDA-ish (I like the ending of GILDA but have problems believing the characters would go on to work through their issues after all that had transpired...it seemed like an odd ending to me). Anyway, I hope that makes some sense.

I will save the Bond films for the next post.
Last edited by mkaroly on Mon Oct 24, 2016 11:04 pm, edited 2 times in total.

mkaroly
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2912 Post by mkaroly »

TOMORROW NEVER DIES (8/10): This is my favorite Brosnan Bond film. To be honest, although the villain is a bit weak, the idea of media controlling the narrative of what we see, hear, and read is even more relevant today than ever before (yes, that is a jab at the liberal media). I think Michelle Yeoh is a solid Bond girl in that she is in many ways his equal (much, much better than Jinx Jordan who was a laughable joke...why on earth did they want to do a Jinx Jordan movie series when they could have had a Wai Lin series???). Brosnan is strong in this one, I like the humor, and it is his peak as Bond for me. Sheryl Crow's opening track was awful, though not the worst of the series. I would have preferred kd Lang's offering (Surrender) to have opened the film.

THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (6/10): Three big negatives in this film - as I have said in other reviews of this film, I cannot suspend disbelief and buy Denise Richards as a physicist. Her dialogue is awful - she is left to provide little tidbits of exposition that are unnecessary that remind the audience that she is a physicist. Silly. The second negative is Renard - why do you have to have a male villain when the female villain (Elektra) is so much more compelling and evil? The problem is that the film never took time to build up Renard as this scary, evil villain who people would never betray (as in the woman assassin who blew herself up in the balloon rather than betray Renard in the opening sequence of the film). Elektra was nasty evil; Sophie Marceau (very, very hot in this film) had a look in her eye, motive, and a twistedness and icy coldness that Renard never had. Why bring him into the picture? Make him a henchman for Elektra - the idea as well that a bullet had lodged in his brain and was killing him slowly was kind of silly too - his character is never developed in a way to make that work. Elektra is so compelling and complex that it is a shame they couldn't have broken the Bond formula and just made her the villain. The film would have been miles better had Elektra been the main villain. Finally, the final battle between Bond and Reynaud was boring - FRWL train sequence it was not. I liked Garbage's title track - paid homage to classic Bond songs. Q's exit was also moving in its own way

DIE ANOTHER DAY (3/10): Madonna's song is a joke (her presence in the film was dopey) and one of the worst of the series for me (second only to Sam Smith's disgracefully bad song for SPECTRE). I did like the character of Miranda Frost (again, a strong female villain though not as compelling as Elektra) and I thought the sword fighting scene paid great homage to the classics sword fights in film history (THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, etc.). Frost and Graves were an interesting pair that I thought worked well as villains together. That's about all I can say good concerning the film. The Jinx Jordan character was over-hyped, and Hallie Berry's performance was one that tried too hard. I never cared for Berry as an actress, and she did nothing in this film to change my mind about her. Bond was no longer a spy in this movie but a super-hero with a camouflaging car that has more weaponry than the Pentagon. It just seemed to me excessive. When I am pulling for the female villain to beat the Bond girl, something has gone terribly wrong...lol...and DAD for me is the worst Brosnan offering. It is not the worst of the series (sorry Roger Moore...you get that honor from me with A VIEW TO A KILL and THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN) but far from my favorite.
Last edited by mkaroly on Tue Oct 25, 2016 6:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2913 Post by Paul MacLean »

mkaroly wrote: RADIO DAYS, CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (10/10 for both): these are two of my favorite Woody Allen films (CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS is my all-time favorite). Kudos to Twilight Time on the stunning transfers.

I showed Crimes and Misdemeanors to my niece and nephew a few months ago. My nephew is not much of a movie fan, and when he does see a movie it is usually a Marvel superhero flick. But he was completely transfixed by Crimes and Misdemeanors. He is active in church ministry (and I don't think he'd ever seen a film like this) and I think he really responded to the moral and theological questions raised in the film.

Oh, and some trivia -- Judah's father's line that even if there is no God "I'll still have lived a better life" believing that there is, came from a conversation Allen had with Billy Graham decades ago.

mkaroly
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2914 Post by mkaroly »

It is a profound film in many ways, and I feel it best balances Allen's dramatic and comic sensibilites. The stories come together well, and I find Judah's journey fascinating and compelling. I am engaged with CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS every time I watch it. Today I am going to let a co-worker borrow it as she has never seen a Woody Allen movie.

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Paul MacLean
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2915 Post by Paul MacLean »

mkaroly wrote:Today I am going to let a co-worker borrow it as she has never seen a Woody Allen movie.
It's the film I would show to anyone who is unfamiliar with Allen's work.

Well, unless they are in the mood for a comedy, then it's Sleeper!

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AndyDursin
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2916 Post by AndyDursin »

STAR TREK BEYOND
6.5/10

Image

After relaunching “Star Trek” on the big-screen in 2009’s hugely entertaining “reboot,” director J.J. Abrams struck out with the misguided “Wrath of Khan” redux, “Star Trek Into Darkness.” This third entry in the series, “Star Trek Beyond,” tries hard to make amends for the missteps of its predecessor, starting with the addition of a new director, “Fast and the Furious” vet Justin Lin, who at least brings a quicker pace and more optimistic tone than its prior installment.

The script – credited to Simon Pegg and Doug Jung – sends Kirk, Spock and the gang out to the furthest ends of the galaxy, only to meet another nefarious alien (Idris Elba) trying to destroy the universe by assembling a weapon and simultaneously holding the Enterprise crew hostage on a barren planet. There, the gang finds the remnants of an early Federation mission to the outer reaches of the galaxy, one that plays directly into the motives of the towering extraterrestrial bad guy named Krall.

“Beyond” is, if nothing else, a step up from the bombastic and wholly unlikeable “Into Darkness.” Pegg and Jung’s most effective contribution to their script (reportedly worked on by countless other writers) is an understanding of the series’ generally optimistic spirit, something that results in the restoration of humor and a more genial tone than its prior entry. Among the cast, Zachary Quinto’s Spock and Karl Urban’s McCoy continue to mine the most entertainment out of the material – they’re both pitch perfect and fit so comfortably into their roles that you wish we spent more time with them, and less with, well, everyone else, as the “equal opportunity” screen time portioning strains to give all the characters “something to do.”

Lin’s pacing is also less leaden than Abrams’ second affair, but “Beyond” does run into rocky territory after a decent start. Once the film’s premise becomes clear, Lin has nowhere to go but spread out the movie’s various set-pieces in an episodic manner – leading to a tedious final half-hour that once again relies on fisticuffs and explosions instead of actual, character-driven dramatic fireworks. Prior to that, there are also numerous silly moments and some less than special effects, including a motorcycle chase (what is it with Kirk needing to spend time on the ground in this series?) that’s so poorly rendered with inferior CGI that you wonder if the studio just ran out of money.

Ultimately, “Star Trek Beyond” may have the best of intentions in mind, but it’s no more than a passable, and forgettable, ride that underperformed so much at the US box-office that it’s entirely possible we’ve seen the last of the series on the big screen – again – for the forseeable future.

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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2917 Post by AndyDursin »

DOCTOR STRANGE
8/10

Michael Giacchino wrote a theme! I repeat, Michael Giacchino wrote a theme!

In all seriousness, I've decided I like my comic book movies more when it's about 1 super-hero instead of an overcrowded "team up" flick that delegates screen time to an ensemble. Though shackled somewhat by its "origin movie" formula, this is unquestionably one of the most entertaining movies to roll off the Marvel assembly line, buoyed by one of the finest casts: Benedict Cumberbatch is charismatic and fun in the title role; Tilda Swinton is just perfect as "The Ancient One" in an inspired bit of casting; Chiwetel Ejiofor strong as one of Strange's fellow sorcerers; and Rachel McAdams pitch perfect in a limited role that functions both as an audience surrogate and Strange's love interest.

The script by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus), C. Robert Cargill and director Scott Derrickson could have -- in the wrong hands -- become the densest, most convoluted concoction the genre has unspooled yet, as "Doctor Strange" is packed to the brim with exposition and an increasingly fantastic, outlandish story. Yet the movie has a playful energy, the actors embracing the inherent weirdness and Derrickson mixing great special effects with surprising bursts of humor.

The end result isn't "Superman," "Spider-Man" or the best of the Nolan "Bat"-flicks -- and it all rolls into an okay but mostly underwhelming climax -- but it's a cut above most of the Marvel-produced fantasies we've yet seen, concentrating on telling one story and introducing one character instead of planting seeds for future franchises and spin-offs (like the last Captain America film). "Doctor Strange" isn't groundbreaking but as these films go, it's one of the best of its type.

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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2918 Post by jkholm »

AndyDursin wrote:DOCTOR STRANGE
8/10

Michael Giacchino wrote a theme! I repeat, Michael Giacchino wrote a theme!

In all seriousness, I've decided I like my comic book movies more when it's about 1 super-hero instead of an overcrowded "team up" flick that delegates screen time to an ensemble. Though shackled somewhat by its "origin movie" formula, this is unquestionably one of the most entertaining movies to roll off the Marvel assembly line, buoyed by one of the finest casts: Benedict Cumberbatch is charismatic and fun in the title role; Tilda Swinton is just perfect as "The Ancient One" in an inspired bit of casting; Chiwetel Ejiofor strong as one of Strange's fellow sorcerers; and Rachel McAdams pitch perfect in a limited role that functions both as an audience surrogate and Strange's love interest.

The script by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus), C. Robert Cargill and director Scott Derrickson could have -- in the wrong hands -- become the densest, most convoluted concoction the genre has unspooled yet, as "Doctor Strange" is packed to the brim with exposition and an increasingly fantastic, outlandish story. Yet the movie has a playful energy, the actors embracing the inherent weirdness and Derrickson mixing great special effects with surprising bursts of humor.

The end result isn't "Superman," "Spider-Man" or the best of the Nolan "Bat"-flicks -- and it all rolls into an okay but mostly underwhelming climax -- but it's a cut above most of the Marvel-produced fantasies we've yet seen, concentrating on telling one story and introducing one character instead of planting seeds for future franchises and spin-offs (like the last Captain America film). "Doctor Strange" isn't groundbreaking but as these films go, it's one of the best of its type.

Yep, I just got back and agree. Fun movie. I liked the combination of Marvel movie and kung-fu movie with Matrix and Inception-like FX. Sure the climax was a bi underwhelming but had a clever spin on the usual Marvel finale.

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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2919 Post by Paul MacLean »

The Night Digger

Alternately known as The Road Builder in the UK, this is a disturbing, unpleasant, but well-mounted 1971 thriller, with elements reminiscent of Hangover Square, Psycho (and -- curiously -- Frenzy, even though that film was made a year later). Written for the screen by Roald Dahl, The Night Digger is exceptionally well-acted, with superb performances from Patricia Neal, Nichols Clay (best-known for playing Sir Lancelot in Excalibur 10 years later) and Pamela Brown, all aided by nuanced direction from Alistair Reid.

Cinematographer Alex Thomson, best-known for his late-career work in fantasies and lavish period pieces, shows a grittier side here, with harsh, clinical high-key lighting in the decaying manor house where much of the action takes place.

Bernard Herrmann's score isn't among his best, but is very well-done, and really ignites the scenes where it is used. His inimitable, surging string-writing adds incalculable tension, while his theme for Neal's character (and her regrets about life) provides a melancholy air of nostalgia.

All said and done, while The Night Digger is unassailably "well made" it is an almost intolerably depressing film, and not what you'd call "enjoyable". It looks forward to the general tone of early-mid 70s films, and the vogue of dark subjects and downer endings. Another critical problem is the casting of Neal, who is a fine actress, but only nine years younger than Brown who plays her mother. (I also have trouble believing that Clay's character would fall in love with a woman Neal's age. Perhaps their affair was born of a Freudian "mother fixation", but the film never infers this is the case.)

This movie is also depressing on another level, because it should have been Frenzy that Bernard Herrmann scored, not this.


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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2920 Post by AndyDursin »

Thanks for the review Paul.

I saw the movie years ago and can't recall much except I had the same general reaction you did. However, this TCM write-up has some interesting tidbits about a very unhappy shoot, including heavy animosity between Herrmann and Dahl:

http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/2 ... igger.html
The filming of The Road Builder, which was mostly shot at Twickenham Studios and on an estate near Windsor on the Thames, proved to be an unpleasant experience for Neal. According to author Stephen Michael Shearer in his biography of Neal, An Unquiet Life, "...Patricia sensed that the cast and crew were against her. Some actors and the director himself made unkind remarks about Patricia behind her back. "Stroke survivors develop their senses, and I could hear their talk," she would say later. After filming of The Road Builder ended, Patricia told American celebrity writer Rex Reed, "I don't really care about making films now. I was so ambitious once. But I don't really want to work. I would not care a lot if I don't do another film. I'm just pleased I am married to the man who is my husband."

The Road Builder was an equally difficult experience for Dahl, who would completely disassociate himself from the project after its release. His biggest challenge was working with the brilliant but notoriously difficult and temperamental composer Bernard Herrmann whose contributions to the film were deemed as important as Dahl's, if not more, by the producers. The collaboration began on friendly terms but soon deteriorated. According to director Reid (in A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann by Steven C. Smith), "...everything depended on whether Bernard wanted to do the music. When he first walked in to Twickenham, and I saw this big, gruff person with a Brooklyn accent, he immediately reminded me of a gangster from some Hollywood film. We ran the picture, and as the lights came up, Bernard's one comment was, "You'll have to change the ending." "To what?" we asked - and he told us, although I don't remember now how it differed from the film....There was never any money on that film, so even if we had a better ending we couldn't have shot it. But Bernard said we had to go out and film new scenes...The producer and I eased our way out of the viewing theatre and asked ourselves, "Does he mean we've got to change the ending before he'll do it?" We walked back into the theatre - and saw Bernard had had the projectionist rewind the film to the first reel and was already scribbling music down."

The animosity between Herrmann and Dahl continued as the composer succeeded in having Dahl's script pared down in order to emphasize his score. "This is Pat's film!" Dahl told the mild-mannered Reid, a remark that sent Herrmann into paroxysms: "Do you think they're gonna line up outside the box office in the cold and say, 'Can I have two seats please for Pat's film?'" Herrmann's comment proved to be prophetic as The Road Builder, which was released in the U.S. as The Night Digger, was quickly buried by the studio, MGM, in a limited theatrical release and shelved as a tax deduction. Reid later admitted, "Patricia Neal, Roald Dahl, and I were never paid a penny, since we all derred our payments to royalties...and to this day we've never received a penny. The only guy who came out okay was Bernard Herrmann, who insisted on money up front. And he was dead right."

The troubled production behind The Road Builder would seem to indicate that the film was destined to fail and it certainly has its flaws, particularly in trying to establish Billy's sexual dysfunction, depicted in overstated black and white flashbacks. (Ten minutes of scenes with sexual content were cut prior to its release). The romantic relationship that develops between Maura and Billy and their idyllic escape to Cornwall also seems implausible. And when Neal and Dahl saw the completed picture they were disgusted with Neal saying, "It's pornographic." Critics weren't much kinder with Variety proclaiming "The exercise is only moderately successful," and The New York Times critic writing, "As a study of understated tensions, vague psychopathic sexuality and somber moods, the British made The Night Digger...proves to be more polish than persuasive drama." But even a mildly dismissive review by the New York Daily News indicates both its peculiar appeal and why it was poorly received: "a strange tale that builds slowly to a tragic climax...[T]he tale is strictly for those with a taste for the perverse."

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Paul MacLean
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2921 Post by Paul MacLean »

Fascinating! Thanks Andy!

Interestingly Herrmann also told Brian De Palma the ending of Obsession needed to be altered -- but De Palma took his advice and shaved the entire final act from his film.

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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2922 Post by John Johnson »

AndyDursin wrote:DOCTOR STRANGE
8/10

Michael Giacchino wrote a theme! I repeat, Michael Giacchino wrote a theme!


http://screenrant.com/doctor-strange-st ... omparison/
London. Greatest City in the world.

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AndyDursin
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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2923 Post by AndyDursin »

Meh. They cut out one section of his Doctor Strange score that sounded like Star Trek...in his defense, you could do that for every composer and every score they wrote at some point and do the same thing.

I don't think the two themes sound much alike, but at least DOCTOR STRANGE's theme fits the film. Have never liked his approach to STAR TREK.

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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2924 Post by Edmund Kattak »

AndyDursin wrote:Meh. They cut out one section of his Doctor Strange score that sounded like Star Trek...in his defense, you could do that for every composer and every score they wrote at some point and do the same thing.

I don't think the two themes sound much alike, but at least DOCTOR STRANGE's theme fits the film. Have never liked his approach to STAR TREK.

I like that little "baroque" piece he wrote based on the DS theme. This is probably the more engaging score since JOHN CARTER that actually sounds like a structure. Not perfect, but it sounds a step ahead of the recent Marvel efforts.
Indeed,
Ed

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Re: rate the last movie you saw

#2925 Post by AndyDursin »

Edmund Kattak wrote:I like that little "baroque" piece he wrote based on the DS theme. This is probably the more engaging score since JOHN CARTER that actually sounds like a structure. Not perfect, but it sounds a step ahead of the recent Marvel efforts.
Exactly Ed, that's how I felt. It's not enough for me to buy the album, but it worked fine in the film. And JOHN CARTER was the last time I noticed one of Giacchino's scores in a positive sense also!

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