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The last film you watched

Started by wherearethespoons, November 10, 2008, 01:39:45 PM

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wherearethespoons

I thought this might be useful for a mixture of film chat. I did a search and nothing came up and I didn't want to keep talking about stuff I've watched in the new films 2008 thread.

Recently I watched Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye starring Elliott Gould as Phillip Marlowe. I had to turn it off just over half way through because I thought it was complete rubbish. It's set of the time of filming (1970's), rather than the time of Chandler's novels, which in my opinion adds nothing. The time and setting of Chandler's novels are both important to Marlowe as a character as well as the writing, so it really fucked me off to see Gould swaggering around like a complete ball bag.  They even introduce a cat which is supposed to highlight his loneliness - that didn't work for a start. The plot has been stripped and well it just doesn't get close enough to doing the novel justice.  Granted the novel was the longest Chandler wrote but this film takes the piss.  Disappointing because I got excited when I realised Leigh Brackett (who adapted The Big Sleep) had written the script.

That aside, I watched Burn After Reading which was fairly enjoyable. I'm sure I remember somebody on here mentioning Brad Pitt's character falling over a lot - I don't think it actually happens once does it? It's just a fun film that goes along nicely and doesn't require much effort. I guess it was a nice break after they'd made No Country For Old Men. Whilst it's nowhere near their best effort (and I'm sure they know that) it's much better than the majority of comedies released these days. For simple laughs I'd much rather watch something like this than the tripe of Ferrell et al.

What was the last film you watched?

Hank_Kingsley

I really liked The Long Goodbye, always thought it had quite the influence on The Big Lebowski and was similarly irreverent. Funnily enough I found The Big Sleep to be massively disappointing in comparison to other Bogey noirs, or the other Chandler penned ones for that matter. I really like my film noir and I find it strange that The Big Sleep seems to be rated that much higher than something like Out of the Past.

Anyway, I also just saw Burn After Reading and thought it was pretty decent, if nothing spectacular. I liked it's complete lack of morality, nothing worse than having to punish and reward everyone equally.

Back on topic- last film I watched: Manson(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068918/)

Nicked it off some torrent site somewhere, decent quality it was too. The film? Very absorbing documentary with some cracking tunes and truly bizarre footage (the family having a sort of musical split screen freakout with a horse). Me and my lady like trashy 60s psychedelia (Psych Out with Jack Nicholson is a favourite) and this didn't disappoint. Very much of it's time. Quite scary too.

Jemble Fred

I went to the cinema on Saturday with a female friend, and would have loved to have seen Burn After Reading – but was cajoled into seeing Saw V instead, despite never having seen any other Saw films. Still, I sort of got about 80% of what was going on, and it was considerably less shit than Asylum. Should have been straight to DVD though. What is it with the Saw franchise attracting so many female fans? It's a palpable phenomenon, loads of my female friends are hooked on the franchise but I don't know any guys who give a shit. And I can't for the life of me see why this should be.

Anyway, the slightly disappointing thing is that after the cinema I watched Little Shop of Horrors with said lady – she insists that she only watches horror films, and hates musicals – and it didn't hold her attention at all, once Steve Martin was dead. Bizarre gender-swap evening, me trying not to sing along with 'Suddenly Seymour' and her glowering at any hint of another song cropping up. No accounting for taste.

mothman

I watched the re-make of Flight of the Phoenix on TV last night. And actually quite enjoyed it, although it didn't really add anything to the original and will likely remain forever on any list of The Top Ten Most Pointless Remakes Ever.

Slaaaaabs

I really liked Burn After Reading, the Coen brothers really love having a cast full of completely broken but believable characters.

Film I saw before that was "How To Lose Friends & Alienate People" which was a big pile of shit. The main character (Simon Pegg) shifts from 'rebellious journalist' to yes-man and back again and all the time behaves like a massive cunt that deserves no sympathy whatsoever.

sirhenry

Looking for something brainless to blob out to I watched Hancock the other night and was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a generic sports movie - ex-star down on his luck inspired by love interest overcomes obstacle and wins - but with some cgi slapstick. However it had just enough twists on the clichés to be thoughtlessly enjoyable.
Will Smith is still an arsehole though.

jaydee81

Quote from: Slaaaaabs on November 10, 2008, 02:47:57 PM
Film I saw before that was "How To Lose Friends & Alienate People" which was a big pile of shit. The main character (Simon Pegg) shifts from 'rebellious journalist' to yes-man and back again and all the time behaves like a massive cunt that deserves no sympathy whatsoever.

That's quite faithful to his portrayal of Toby Young though, no?

Vitalstatistix

Thought Burn After Reading was right rubbish.

Last film I saw was probably Hunger, which was brilliant, but I made a thread about it so I won't ramble on about it.

Before that, Salaam Bombay, which I found to be highly overrated.

Alberon

Last film I saw was Burn After Reading as well. Despite a great performance from Brad Pitt it was generally rubbish. Far too slight to hold together. Shame really.

wherearethespoons

Quote from: Alberon on November 10, 2008, 04:25:23 PM
Last film I saw was Burn After Reading as well. Despite a great performance from Brad Pitt it was generally rubbish. Far too slight to hold together. Shame really.

A lot of people watching this then. I have to admit to getting pretty bored towards the end. The jokes seemed to dry up. The very first scene is probably my favourite bit.

Spiteface

Saw V.

A lot of people seem to not like this.  I thought it was OK.  More background stuff on Jigsaw and the cop from the last one.  Not as gory as the other ones.

I get the impression that Saw VI will be the last one.  Tobin Bell (Jigsaw) is only contracted for one more, and there's only so much you can do with the franchise before it becomes another "Slasher" series.  After that you may as well do Freddy vs Jigsaw vs Predator.

El Unicornio, mang

I watched Eden Lake on Saturday. It was a good film but incredibly bleak. It oddly reminded me of ET with all the kids riding around the woods on bikes, except with people being horribly tortured instead of a cute alien.

Spoiler alert
The bit where the Indian boy got his head set on fire has to be one of the most disturbing bits I've seen in a film. The scream that accompanied it was horrible. And the ending is up there with The Mist as far as bleakness goes.
[close]

Pierrepoint.

The story of one of England's last hangmen, starring Timothy Spall. Quite good. Lovely period dress (1940s/50s) and locations, dominated by the colour brown. I'm not quite sure if the real Pierrepoint actually had a crisis of conscience at any point late in his career, but I'll overlook that liberty for the sake of a good teleplay.

The Plaque Goblin

The last film I actually sat down and watched was Jarhead which I got through Lovefilm the other day. I remember it getting a lukewarm response when it first came out but I thought it was rather good. The first properly good performance I think I've seen from Jake Gyllenhaal.

Before that I had The Kingdom which I also liked and taught me that Saudis are like normal people too but with more action-packed drama going on nearby.

The Masked Unit

Phone Booth, which I've had sat on my PVR for fucking months. Twas alright I suppose, for what it was.

Stephen Chow's brilliant Kung Fu Hustle.  I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing that film.


Glebe

The Da Vinci Code. Fairly well made and some good bits, but exceptionally cheesy.

Cerys

Pirates of theCaribbean: At World's End.  Took a long time to find the opportunity, despite having bought the DVD last year.  Worth the wait.

Ginyard

Pineapple Express. Had some funny moments, such as a great car chase bit when one of the stoneheads goes to kick the windscreen out and gets his foot caught in it, and a few comical fight scenes. Not as good as it perhaps could have been, but the two leads work well together and help lift the film. It maybe helped that I was in possession of a most magnificent spliff whilst watching it.

Ginyard

Quote from: Cerys on November 10, 2008, 06:19:41 PM
Pirates of theCaribbean: At World's End.  Took a long time to find the opportunity, despite having bought the DVD last year.  Worth the wait.

I've got to admit that that film sent me to sleep. Apart from one scene, when it goes almost avante-garde with Sparrow and the crabs, I thought it was just meandering and rather banal.

ThickAndCreamy

I thought I'd watch a lot of new films yesterday so I did;

Tropic Thunder: Typical over the top Ben Stiller film that was enjoyable and amusing but didn't make me laugh out loud once and did really have a lot of wasted opportunities. It was a good, dumb film just not a great dumb film unlike most of Seth Rogen's.

Wall-E: Pixar is truly wonderful. What an incredibly good idea for a film that actually did make you think unlike virtually all children's movies. The animation was beautiful and almost mindblowing at points and the overall bleakness and tone of the entire film was fantastic for a film aimed at such a young audience. Almost a masterpiece for animation (no exaggeration) except it was somehow lost by it's anti-climatic ending and it's slow, but interesting, start.

I'm watching Step Brothers for the moment which seems like the slightly better than typical Will Ferell style comedy. Overblown acting, over the top emotions and a constant slew of easy, melodramatic jokes. It is a very watchable stupid movie basically that does not attempt to use any part of the viewers intelligence. It is a pretty good frat movie though, not Dumb And Dumb or Anchorman good, but worse than Harold And Kumar and better than Old School if that is any sort of scale.

Good idea for a thread.

Paaaaul

Saw V - the biggest heap of crap I've seen in years.

No twist, fucking dull for large stretches of it's duration, uniformly bad acting, an awful fan-fiction-esque plot , an awful crow-barring into the previous films' plots of an anonymous character who served no purpose in them, dialogue that made me cringe all the way through and that laughably poor "hand reveal" scene near the end.

I loved the first film, and while 2,3 and 4 weren't remotely great, they had at least something going on in their favour with the splatter and twisty stories. Saw V has neither and a whole lot less.A lot of is was like a 90 minute episode of The Bill focussing on a cop-done-bad. The 5.9 score it had on IMDB the last time I looked is jaw-droppingly high.

Spiteface and Jem, I'm very disappointed in you both, and will be speaking to your parents about this.

Jemble Fred

If it helps, I was watching it under mild duress, and have always looked on the franchise with nothing but scorn. It was certainly crap, but still better than Hostel.

I saw Atonement for the first time yesterday and thought it was bloody magnificent.

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: confettiinmyhair on November 10, 2008, 09:12:04 PM
I saw Atonement for the first time yesterday and thought it was bloody magnificent.

I liked that one too. The soundtrack and that fabulous Dunkirk steadycam shot being the highlights for me.

wherearethespoons

Quote from: Jemble Fred on November 10, 2008, 08:07:12 PM
If it helps, I was watching it under mild duress, and have always looked on the franchise with nothing but scorn. It was certainly crap, but still better than Hostel.

Did you also want to get into the girls pants? I don't mean that in a cross dressing situation.

Cerys

Quote from: Ginyard on November 10, 2008, 06:56:17 PM
I've got to admit that that film sent me to sleep. Apart from one scene, when it goes almost avante-garde with Sparrow and the crabs, I thought it was just meandering and rather banal.

But on the other hand I suspect you didn't spend much of the time leching over Johnny Depp and Chow Yun Fat.

non capisco

I watched [REC] for the first time last night, in the dark. There were a few really good scares but what could have been the biggest jump of all was spoilered by it featuring on the bloody menu screen before you watch the bloody thing. This isn't the first film I've seen that's done this either.

Also watched the flyweight George Clooney comedy 'Leatherheads', which is nothing special but mildly diverting. It apes the style of fast-talking 1940s Cary Grant comedies and all the while you're watching it you're thinking how you'd rather be watching one of them.

Emma Raducanu

Gone Baby Gone, which I thought was surprisingly good. Most of the roles were played by people who look genuinely rough and ugly, instead of a middle class imitation and for this, the film felt more authentic and believable. I didn't particularly enjoy that Monaghan and Affleck's characters were completely monochrome, I'd have liked to have seen them watch TV or cooking, just to flesh them out as human beings. The film was bleak for the most part, even though I'd guessed the twist within a short space of time and I hate films with twists too. It also asked the audience a number of 'what do you think? What would you do?' type questions, which felt like they were being spelt out to us rather patronsingly instead of being embedded in characterisation or within the narrative. Fair play to Ben though, I was expecting Gigli.

Blimpkin

I watched a Robert Altman film called The Player.  I thought it was funny and very well observed.  I really like Tin Robbins as a sort of everyman character that also has a hint of the madman in his eyes.  Plus it also has Richard E Grant in it portraying a director who will never give up his artistic vision, only for later to betray his ideals completely with great comic reprocussions.  Plus it also has a veritable who's who of anyone who was in the movies at the time and a great opening tracking shot that goes on forever.