Amph What was the last movie you saw?

Phone Booth, not a bad movie

 

Shaft: The original with Richard Roundtree. Is it sad that the only salvageable thing about this film was Isaac Hayes's soundtrack? I really would have rather seen Hayes as Shaft since that was originally going to happen. It's fairly bland and doesn't really go anywhere. On the other hand, I do love Black Dynamite.

 

Home Alone

 

Back to the Future Part 1

 

Warm Bodies, night before last.

 

The Bride of Frankenstein

 

I watched the cell with a friend. It was good. But having seen it years after it's release it wasn't as original as it might have once been.

 

zero dark thirty. i thought it was a pretty flawed film, and of the eight best picture nominees that i've now seen it's the only one i really didn't enjoy. the biggest problem for me was that the film was built around a really strong and compelling main character, who then has nothing to do with the climactic third act of the movie. i get that it's a document of actual events, and as that it's ok i guess, but as a movie it's not great storytelling. i thought jessica chastain was very good and her best actress nomination was well earned, but the best picture and best screenplay nominations are way off.

 

"Seven Days to Noon", an Oscar-winning and now-obscure British thriller from 1950. One of the first (if not the first) nuclear blackmail movies, with a very early version of a suitcase nuke. Very well-made movie.

 

The Baytown Outlaws, fairly decent

 

Career Opportunities

 

Back to the Future Part 2

 

Sword of the Beast

at the movie theater: The Hobbit

 

I just saw in IMDB that Romeo from "Warm Bodies" played the goofy kid in "About a Boy." I never would have recognized him.

 

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen.

It was a decent flick, though what occupied my thoughts through most of it is that I don't care how old Ewan Mcgregor gets, I will always want to have his babies.

 

Back to the Future Part 3

 

The "peace summit" Tessio (Vigoda's character) arranges between Barzini, Tattalgia, and Michael is actually going to be an attempt at a hit on Mikey. In exchange for getting Michael to attend the "meeting," where he'll be killed, Tessio stood to have the Barzini/Tattalgia axis swoop in on the remnants and put him as the head of a puppet Corleone family. This is why Tom is so surprised that it was him - Tessio has otherwise been a loyal, upstanding member of the family, but at the time the summit was being planned it seemed obvious that Barzini and Tattalgia would win and, like Michael says, "It's the smart move. Tessio was always smarter."

I... don't actually remember how clear they made that in the film versus how clear it's made in the book, the two are essentially inseparable in my mind anymore, even if the book itself is vendor trash whereas the film is one of my all-time favorites (as is Part II). That is the whole of the matter, though.

 

Barzini was the one plotting against the Corleones the whole time; he convinced Tessio (Abe Vigoda) to betray Michael by setting up the meeting where he'd be assassinated, in return for getting control of the Corleone family.

EDIT because Ramza scooped me: the nature of the plan is evident in the movie -- that Michael is being set up to be killed at the meeting. It's not said explicitly what Tessio expects to get, but it's implicit that he's going to be rewarded by Barzini, and control over his own organization is what he's already told Michael and Vito he wants.

 

Remember, Barzini doesn't know that Vito's wise to his bull**** act of pretending to be the neutral party while actually pushing Tattalgia to war with the Corleones. So Vito reasons that the only reason anyone would suggest a meeting with Barzini is if they intended to betray Michael.

As for why it's a hit, well, two reasons: 1. In universe, this is the mob we're talking about ( ) 2. Out of universe, it's meant to sound suspiciously reminiscent of the circumstances where Michael met with Sollozzo.

 

Vito knows how the mafia works, and Michael has learned the same. Barzini is gunning for the Corleones, therefore it's a given that he's going to be trying to suborn one of Michael's subordinates to get at him. It's not that they've uncovered a plot, just that they know that there will inevitably be a plot, and anyone who's carrying messages for Barzini to set up a hit opportunity (Barzini has no idea the Corleones are on to him, so he doesn't know how suspicious the meeting offer is) is the inevitable traitor.

EDIT: RAMZA STOP POSTING BEFORE ME.