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

No offense, but your brother is right.

 

None taken. We also disagreed over the best anime (or, to our generation, Japanimation) series. He said "Star Blazers", I said "Speed Racer". But it was a friendly disagreement.

 

I can't chime in on that one as I've unfortunately never seen Star Blazers. And my viewing of the original Speed Racer is so far in the distant past that I can't really comment on that one either.

The Wachowskis' live action Speed Racer is pretty fun, though -- even though there are sections with too much talking.

 

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)

Beautiful looking with a fabulous score by John Williams...and not much else. I wouldn't say it's boring, it's never boring. It's just...there.

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)

Luc Besson directed epic starring Milla Jovovich, this movie is bat**** insane. The lead actress is predictably terrible but in the best way possible. The battle scenes are delightfully insane. Limbs flying everywhere, with characters spouting dialogue that I don't think is historically accurate ("Put yourself in my shoes Joan!"). John Malkovich is in this, looking absolutely bewildered and about to fire his agent. Faye Dunaway (?!) is in this wearing a very tight hat. But the most memorable performance in the whole entire film is Dustin Hoffman, is in this as some sort of angel (??!!) that Joan Arc hallucinates when she's imprisoned, and he's not giving one single **** about anything. He's just there to harass. I don't know if I hated this movie or not, it certainly wasn't boring.

 

I’ll agree that the FRWL fight is better, but what makes the They Live fight stand out so much is that it might be the clearest fight in cinema history. Carpenter shoots and edits the fight with incredible clarity. There is no jumping camera, no fast cuts to give a sense of intensity or cover up the stunt work. It’s just an extremely well-choreographed, cleanly-executed fight scene where you can follow every punch and grapple. You’re right there with every thudding punch, understanding exactly what is happening at every moment, in a way that’s rare in action sequences. It’s further complemented by the fact that it’s long, intense, and has a great rhythmic pacing, but the striking clarity is what makes it such a remarkable standout fight.

 

For purely nostalgic reasons I'm partial to Gatchaman. (Check out the original Japanese series -- stay away from the butchered American version, Battle of the Planets.)

But thanks for the suggestion! I'll check out Star Blazers at one point or another.

 

Always
1989

He was there when they needed him...Even after he was gone.

Always is a gentle action romance fantasy starring Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, and Audrey Hepburn in her last film role.
It is a remake of the WWII film about a pilot called A Guy Named Joe which is a favorite of both Dreyfuss and director Steven Spielberg.

Dreyfuss plays an ace aerial firefighter who takes on one too many risky missions in order to save his friend and then must meet up with Hap, played beautifully by Hepburn for one last mission for each of them, as it were.

This was my first viewing and I enjoyed it, especially all of the aerial action sequences. The first half can be a little slow, especially the birthday party scene, but the film really shines in the last half, upping the action stakes, while also getting deeper on a human and spiritual level.
Parts of Always reminded me of Field of Dreams and Ghost, as far as overall vibe is concerned.

Dreyfuss is great and the John Williams score is lovely as always, reminding a bit of some of the gentler movements from later Mahler symphonies. While watching the credits, I noticed that Ben Burtt did the sound efffects, so that is where that Star Wars sounding blaster fire effect came from near the final action plane sequence. Spielberg does love his SW references. And the use of the gorgeous song "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" by The Platters added a lot to the romanctic scences between Dreyfuss and Hunter.

Glad I finally saw this film and would rewatch it again. It is not top tier Spielberg, but it is a very sweet and benign film.

 

I saw a youtube review by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, he said what was missing from First Man was the feeling of joy at exploring space.

 

I agree with your assessment, especially this part. The rest of the film is bland and skippable, but the moon landing part itself was great.

He has stupid eyes though. According to a former partner anyway, and I can't help but agree with her: he has stupid eyes.

 

I'm guessing that my ex only commented on his eyes during a brief moment when she wasn't distracted by the rest of his physique.

 

Every time I think we might eventually get world peace or something, somebody says something like, "Ryan Gosling has no charisma" and I realize that the human race will never agree on anything.

 

The whole purpose of the JCC is to disagree about things of no consequence like Star Wars or whether or not Ryan Gosling has charisma.

 

First Love (2019)
A terminally ill young boxer comes to the aid of a girl forced into prostitution, and consequently gets caught in the middle of a war between the Yakuza and Chinese gangsters in this Takeshi Miike black comedy thriller.

This is violent, colourful, and fun. You see a severed head roll into the street in the first few minutes of the film, and it starts as it means to go on, with the over the top violence contrasting with tender scenes between our boxer protagonist and the poor girl he’s helping. There is a double-crossing weasel of a gangster, another gangster’s vengeful girlfriend, a hit-woman, a one-armed Chinese gangster, a corrupt cop… it’s got a lot of moving parts, but they all work. Miike makes Tokyo at night look great, too.

If you want a madcap action comedy thriller you could do worse.

 

Mute

set in Bladerunner-land.

it starts off quite promising, but **** me this is **** . directed by Duncan Jones. Paul Rudd as a baddie - beyond his range.

 

Rewatched The Sum of All Fears after 12 years, mildly improved from below average to average, mostly from appreciating more the acting of Freeman, Cromwell and Schreiber.