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Amph What was the last movie you saw? (Ver. 2)

Discussion in 'Community' started by Violent Violet Menace, Nov 17, 2017.

  1. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    True it's not lower resolution or something... But it's still dumb. They know this is almost entirely getting watched at home. It should be on 16:9 at least if not 2.4 like a normal cinematic presentation.
     
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  2. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    "The Ten Commandments" (1956), a TCM revival showing via Fathom Events. I saw it at the Cinemark in Watchung, NJ, since my usual Fathom venue (the Regal Commerce in North Brunswick) is still closed.
    Yes, it deviates from Scripture in several areas, and it's old-fashioned in it's acting and scripting. But it's still an amazing cinematic achievement, with a literal cast of thousands (and none of them are CGI). It has a great musical score by Elmer Bernstein, and VFX that are still impressive. Charlton Heston is compelling as Moses, and it's to the movie's credit that Yul Brynner plays Ramses as a complex character, and not as a one-note, cartoonish villain. (That was Edward G. Robinson's job as Dathan.) And it was presented in its original "road show" version, with overture, intro from Cecil B. DeMille, entre'act, and exit music.
    If nothing else, this movie is absolute proof that some films demand to be seen in a theater on a big screen, no matter how expensive your home theater set-up is.
     
  3. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    Eh, like I said in the DC thread, I think Snyder is allowed to request his film be shown in the aspect ratio he considers the correct aspect ratio. Mind you, I would also note that it makes no sense to plan it that way because the majority of hypothetical theatrical viewers also would have seen the movie in widescreen, but then, I’m not the bold artistic firebrand who deigned to grace this unworthy, corrupt world with Sucker Punch.

    Incidentally, while 4K is a resolution it’s named after the number of horizontal pixels, so while Todd is right that 4K 4:3 is perfectly fine from conventional usage, it’s actually impossible if you take it literally. Thanks, this has been my pointless quibble. :p
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2021
  4. solojones

    solojones Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 27, 2000
    Every director has the right to insist on playing it at their intended aspect ratio.

    I'm just saying he was stupid to make that his intended aspect ratio for television viewing.
     
  5. Ramza

    Ramza Administrator Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 13, 2008
    We are in complete agreement on that front, then.
     
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  6. PCCViking

    PCCViking Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2014
    [​IMG]
     
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  7. Adam of Nuchtern

    Adam of Nuchtern Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    [​IMG]

    Thief (1981)
    Directed by: Michael Mann

    "I have run out of time. I have lost it all. So I can't work fast enough to catch up. I can't run fast enough to catch up. And the only thing that catches me up is doing my magic act."

    An all-timer of a crime thriller featuring James Caan as a safe cracker who hopes to eventually settle down and go straight. Gorgeously photographed, impeccably acted (that diner sequence alone) and the final shootout is just...*kisses fingers*. King ****.
     
  8. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    [​IMG]

    Pieces of a Woman (2020) – Kornel Mundruczo

    I didn’t see Kornel Mundruczo’s last movie, Jupiter’s Moon, but I saw the one before that, the absolutely harrowing White God, the story of a loving and affectionate stray dog and his abuse-filled journey into becoming a vicious killer. Now we have this one, the story of a woman struggling with grief after the death of her newborn baby. I have to say that Mundruczo is really carving out a niche in the “emotionally punishing” arena of film.

    This movie really is a marvel, if you can take it. Early in the film, there’s a very long single take of the main character and her partner going through their home birth process. It’s an exercise in tension and dread building; unlike the characters, we know things are going to go bad and watching the situation slowly escalate and then seem to get better and then escalate again and so on is absolutely harrowing. This scene could easily be a short film all on its own and it’s really arresting and shocking. The rest of the film is less technically daring, but it’s still a punishing watch. The cast is lead by a magnificent Vanessa Kirby. I was a bit late to the Kirby hype train; I first saw her in the latest Mission Impossible and, while a lot of people said she was a standout element, I thought she was just, you know, kind of okay. But her performance here is a masterwork. The film allows her to pull back from the easy choices. This isn’t a movie where you watch a woman cry for two hours; she’s operating at the level of a kind of dead numbness and, in a take on grief that felt very true to me, when she does feel something or allow an emotion to crack her cold façade, it’s always anger. It’s a bold decision; it’s a performance that could alienate a lot of people, make Martha, her character, be unlikable and unfeeling. And, honestly, she is at times both of those things and I loved that the movie didn’t sanitize her character. She engages in some really cruel behavior at times, obviously because she’s so mentally and emotionally devastated by the tragedy she’s suffered, but the film doesn’t exonerate her based on that or say that what she sometimes does or say is healthy, either for her or the people around her. The supporting cast is also very good. Shia LeBeouf, who seems to be going through yet another backlash at the moment, is raw and desperate as the father of the baby; he’s a tough guy, not entirely comfortable with explicit expressions of love,though, when the movie begins, he certainly does love Martha. But as the grief works its way into his heart, he becomes a more and more toxic character, self-destructive and perpetually on the verge of total collapse. Ellen Burstyn, as Martha’s mother, is excellent as she always is. A word for Molly Parker who plays the midwife in the film’s birth scene. It’s a small part, but it calls for a series of intense emotional shifts and she’s absolutely brilliant. And Sarah Snook as a hard charging lawyer is a pleasure as she always is; she’s also underused as, again, she seems to always be.

    The film has some divisive elements I would imagine. The film kind of marks time by returning again and again to the visual of a bridge being built, tracking the slow progress of its construction as we track Martha’s journey through grief. For some, this will be more on the nose than they’d like. But, ultimately, there’s a bit of a twist near the end where the bridge ends up, at least in my opinion, symbolizing something a little different than I was expecting. It isn’t, after all, a metaphor for Martha rebuilding a connection to her family or to her life; it’s something else, but then that’s only my opinion. And the final scene will also feel a bit like gilding the lily for some people. It’s a case where the movie has a scene that really implies a lot and gave me, at least, the emotional closure I was looking for without being explicit about anything . . . and then it has a scene where it kind of makes all of that explicit. So, that final scene certainly wasn’t something I wanted or needed, but neither did it bother me. And I can understand the desire of the filmmakers to underline their message here which is, end of the day, a message of hope, a message that a person can survive this kind of trauma and grief and emerge on the other side, not necessarily a better or wiser person, but just a person that chooses to live. That’s the kind of message that, after a movie as raw and painful as this one, the filmmakers probably won’t to be absolutely sure comes across. Saying that about the tone of the ending might be kind of a spoiler, but I feel like saying it because I think there are people who will be more apt to give the movie a try if they know that it, at least, doesn’t have a soul-crushing ending. It’s a brutal, hard to watch, often extremely painful journey to get there, but the ending allows us to feel that healing has begun. And that would be a good thing because this a movie that should be seen and experienced. That astounding one take scene at the beginning is reason enough all by itself; likewise, Kirby’s performance, even if the movie was not as well written as it is, would be worth seeing the movie for all by itself. But those aren’t the only reasons. It’s a masterful piece of work top to bottom really, not an easy watch, but a deeply rewarding one. 4 stars.

    tl;dr – Vanessa Kirby leads this harrowing exploration of grief with a powerful, magnificent performance; a gripping, hard-to-watch, but ultimately rewarding masterpiece. 4 stars.
     
  9. anakincol

    anakincol Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 28, 2009
    Less than zero.

    Ultron's hatred of Tony stark started because Tony was habitually late paying for the drugs Ultron was selling him
     
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  10. Count Yubnub

    Count Yubnub Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 1, 2012
    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, dir. Ang Lee)

    I hadn't seen this in a while--not since the DVD days of yore--and watched the 4k version. It looks great on 4k.

    The story is still great and the cinematography is still gorgeous. Though, as a minor point of criticism that I imagine most people won't share; I find that the prolonged desert flashback, gorgeous-looking though it may be, goes on for too long. I found that at the time, and still find this to be case watching it now. But, again, a minor criticism.

    It's noteworthy that our main characters are reasonably complex, as are their relationships, more so than what we usually get in an action movie. Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang are both fine actresses with the ability to have simple glances convey a whole host of hidden and/or not-so-hidden emotions and intentions, and this serves the movie well, considering that's what the movie is about.

    When it eventually comes to a fight scene between their characters, it's a thing of beauty; Yu Shu Lien (Yeoh) is the older, more skilled, more experienced, more disciplined fighter, but Jen (Zhang) is more passionate and driven, and has the superior weapon, the "Green Destiny" sword.



    The score is also remarkable, featuring (among others) solo cello played by Yo-Ya Ma.

    As a final note, the Disney ppl should've watched this film when preparing the sequel trilogy.
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2021
  11. soitscometothis

    soitscometothis Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2003
    Blade of the Immortal (2017)
    Violent hack and slash Samurai fantasy about an immortal swordsman who becomes bodyguard to a revenge-obsessed girl. Kind of reminds me of Besson's Leon, but with swords. Not a lot of character development, but if you want cool-looking carnage, this might well be the movie for you. I liked it, but probably not enough to actively seek it out to watch it again.
     
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  12. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    [​IMG]
    "Safety Last!" (1923), the best-known Harold Lloyd movie. It has a pretty much standard plot, with a small-town guy in the big city trying to convince his girlfriend back home that he's a bigger success than he actually is. But the real attraction is the stunt work, especially during the last twenty or so minutes. Even after knowing they used clever camera angles to make it look like they were higher up then they actually were, it was still a risky shoot and it looks very good. And Lloyd is a very appealing performer, so we're pulling for his character to succeed. Fortunately, in recent years, Lloyd's movies have gotten more attention, after being overshadowed by Chaplin and Keaton for a long time.
     
  13. Lobot's Wig

    Lobot's Wig Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 13, 2020
    Harold Lloyd was a genius. I watched a really good documentary about his life recently.
     
  14. Beef_Sweetener

    Beef_Sweetener Jedi Grand Master star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 25, 2005
    He also did a lot of those incredible stunts with only eight fingers as he blew off his right thumb and index finger with a bomb prop that turned out to be a real bomb a few years earlier.
     
  15. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    Quite true. Hal Roach arranged to have a special, life-like glove made for Lloyd that had five fingers. It's only noticeable if you know what to look for.
     
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  16. Chancellor Yoda

    Chancellor Yoda Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 25, 2014
    Saw

    Shame this movie series became more trashy (not the good kind of horror trash IMO) as it went on, as this first movie is a surprisingly good horror thriller. I have to also mention the fact this film introduced the underrated Tobin Bell as Jigsaw to us, who ended up becoming the only saving grace for some of the later films.
     
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  17. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    This is one of the most suspenseful comedies ever made. I mean, you know he's not gonna fall. But every time, he nearly goes over, I just gasped out loud. One of my major cinematic wishes is to someday get to see this on the big screen, where I can only imagine it plays even better in this way.
     
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  18. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    In NJ, we have a theater organ society that frequently provides music for silent movie revivals in our area. With any luck, there might be independent theaters where you are that do the same thing.
     
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  19. Rogue1-and-a-half

    Rogue1-and-a-half Manager Emeritus who is writing his masterpiece star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Nov 2, 2000
    Yeah, there is a theater locally that does a silent movie with live organ accompaniment once a month. I've seen a few movies there before, but I missed Nosferatu when they did it a couple of years ago and I don't know that they've ever done Safety Last.
     
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  20. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Manhattan Murder Mystery. This is a Woody Allen film that you don’t hear brought up that often, but I think it’s one of Allen’s better works. It features Allen and Diane Keaton as a married couple living out a sort of comedic Rear Window situation. Keaton, with an assist from friends like Ron Rifkin and especially the conspiratorial Alan Alda, becomes absolutely convinced, from trivialities, that a recently dead neighbor was murdered by her husband. This leads to wild investigative antics from Keaton, while Allen gripes hilariously as the voice of reason who just wants to go back to bed. The film is hilarious, with a great cast operating at a top-notch level, and Allen especially is in a groove playing a neurotic straight man. It does a pretty good job of playing out its scenario on both the comic and dramatic levels, and it ends with a riff on the Lady from Shanghai mirror sequence in a room of mirrors where the actual film sequence is being projected across the mirrors in a kind of tongue-in-cheek homage that takes somebody with the talents and charm of Allen to pull off. And Allen really is incredibly talented and charming as both actor and writer-director; it’s a shame he’s a creep.
     
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  21. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    The Last Full Measure (2019)
    Based on the true story of Airman First Class Willian Pitsenbarger, one of the USAF's greatest heroes of the Vietnam War. I watched this one last night, first time since it was in theaters, and it tore me up again. Very powerful story about broken people and how strong and beautiful they can be. All star cast of old actors getting raw and gritty: Samuel Jackson, Christopher Plummer, Henry Fonda, William Hurt, Ed Harris, Diane Ladd, John Savage. Some of the framing story and the characters around Pitsenbarger are Hollywoodized, but they wisely kept to the true facts when it came to Pits himself.
     
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  22. soitscometothis

    soitscometothis Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2003
    Message from the King (2016)
    Revenge thriller along the lines of Get Carter (the 1971 original, not the horrible Stallone remake). A great cast, headed by the late Chadwick Boseman, help make this simple storyline watchable, as visiting South African Jacob King investigates the disappearance of his sister in L.A.

    It seems to have some mixed reviews, but I thought it was good.
     
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  23. Sarge

    Sarge Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Oct 4, 1998
    The Beastmaster (1982)
    It was the early 80's when Marc Singer and Tanya Roberts were at the heights of their thespian accomplishments, and, apparently, cheese was available in bulk at record low prices. Apart from some well-trained animal tricks and Singer's innate likeability, I can't find anything else to recommend.
     
  24. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    I suspect his insistence is partially artistic preference but also him wanting to make sure all of the FX and post work was done for the full-IMAX frame version so that he can have it released in IMAX at some point in the future. Which, I guess if you set out to film an entire film in IMAX, you'd be inclined to try and have it end up being screenable in that format.

    Oh, I've been meaning to check that location out since it first opened before the pandemic. Good to know that it's a Fathom location too- something to work into my local rotation if I can swing the showtimes (other theaters only being open on the weekend has made my 3rd shift schedule difficult to work in screenings). Actually easier for me to get to than North Brunswick as well, since I don't have to deal with the Demonic Nightmare Traffic of 287 & Route 1 during rush hour (or losing sleep to get out to a theater ahead of said Demonic Nightmare Traffic).
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2021
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  25. Kenneth Morgan

    Kenneth Morgan Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    May 27, 1999
    I usually took Rt. 18 past New Brunswick to Rt. 1, or go the back way from Easton Ave. Either way, you're right that the traffic can be awful.