Stickied The Last Film You Saw Thread (& Discussion)

Cross of Iron is fantastic and I can't say I agree it hasn't aged well. Can't think of many anti-war films that come close. Possibly my favourite Peckinpah.

Can't say I'm fond of Peckinpah's stuff, with the possible exception of Major Dundee. His stuff always seemed a bit out of control and wooly, maybe reflecting his personality with all those drink and drug issues he had.

La morte accarezza a mezzanotte (Death Walks at Midnight) (1972)

It was good and that.

8/10

RavenBish said:

went to see La La Land on Friday night and let me tell you kids, it is divine. It's like 2 hours of sitting atop a cloud whilst experiencing the effects of the finest cocaine. Gosling and Stone have sumptuous chemistry, the music is superb - I'm not Carel but in my uneducated opinion the camerawork and cinematography is potentially the best ever exhibited in history. The last 10 minutes are beyond compare and if I were writing for like, Empire, I would call it the CITIZEN KANE OF MUSICALS.

I applaud it and I award it an unprecedented 10/10.

Give it all the Oscars, every single one of them.

Click to expand...

Phenomenal. Goig to see it again, I've never done that for any film again.

Flight (2012)
Another Denzel Washington film. He plays a drunk airline pilot who isn't adverse to snorting coke before boarding the plane. The guy was such a piece of work it was difficult to feel sorry for him after all the chances people gave him. 7.5/10.

mowgli said:

Flight (20012)
Another Denzel Washington film. He plays a drunk airline pilot who isn't adverse to snorting coke before boarding the plane. The guy was such a piece of work it was difficult to feel sorry for him after all the chances people gave him. 7.5/10.

Click to expand...

That guy truly is immortal...

Cheese & Biscuits said:

That guy truly is immortal...

Click to expand...

Sorted.

Tonight I watched Lincoln (2012) about a man born into poverty who went on to guide the United States of America through its darkest hour and in the process bring an end to slavery in the country.

Femina Ridens (The Laughing Woman) (1969)

A sadistic misogynist abducts a journalist and keeps her hostage in his hi-tech home while forcing her to engage in elaborate S&M games.

This one was an absolute feast for the eyes. The director made almost everything white and, for similar reasons as in Death Laid an Egg, I bloody loved how it looked. The house in which most of the film was set was just beautiful. All white, a shrine to to minimalism. Everything is mechanised, shutters fold away to conceal everything but the very barest of essential furniture and fixtures. Just wonderful to look at.

The plot itself was enjoyable too, the shifting power dynamic between the two main characters was very well done. Hints were dropped throughout the film and it ended how I expected it to with one unexpected twist but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Oh, and Dadmar Lassander is a sexy piece of woman. Very.

9/10




Blast of Silence (1961)

A hitman from Cleveland is contracted to kill a New York mob boss. The job doesn't quite go as planned.

I don't know much about the genre so I'm not sure how typical this is but I enjoyed it. Every aspect of the "hit" is broken down and examined in fetishistic detail, with the narrator informing the viewer of the main character's thoughts as we go along.

The director played around a little with some drawn out, one-shot scenes such as the opening shot of a train leaving a tunnel and another of our hitman walking down the street towards the camera from a distance away but it was relatively standard overall, visually speaking.

8/10

Spoiler: Official Stevenc(S)cenes

That's a Saturday night double header! Two of my absolutely fave desert island contender films.

The art design of the Femina Ridens (with a big credit to Niki de St Phalle) is a high point of that kaleidoscopic LSD pop art style that runs thru a vein of 60/70s Italo gubbins. Danger: Diabolik is the only thing that tops it. You could print every other frame for an art gallery but even that wouldn't do justice to whoever came up with the madhead architecture of the sets. Precisely poised between the arthouse and the grindhouse, and probably not satisfying either. Which is my bestest thing evs (Bazzoni passim obv). Who makes films like this now? Or even in the style of it? We've got a bunch of folks chewing conspicuously on vintage Italian cud but nothing that picks up on this baton AFAIK. Nik Winding Refn's last couple the closest thing~?

Blast of Silence I think is absolutely fascinating. It's had a Criterion release so one could hardly call it forgotten, but I really think it's best understood as the stateside A Bout de Souffle plus a soupcon of Cassavetes , but 0.1% as known as either... again the precise fulcrum at which the see-saw tipped from noir to neo-noir, a guerilla document of a long gone epoch in great city, full of the perfect moments that only serendipity can furnish: the whiteout at the end, the swastika queues outside the orphanage (!!). It's the bleakest and most acerbic and misanthropic thing ever committed to celluloid too... Lionel Stander's narration is like pouring boiling acid down your ear holes... YOU WERE BORN IN PAIN, WITH THE HATE AND ANGER BUILT IN... YOU LOOK AT THE PEOPLE WALKIN AROUND ENJOYIN CHRISTMAS AND THEY MAKE YA SICK, YOU WANNA KILL EM ALL.... All in the second person!

And then Allen Baron's great cinematic career that this stone cold 10 quid fucking masterpiece obviously foretold.........? Directing episodes of Charlie's Angels and The Brady Bunch. WTF! Never been able to get hold of a copy of his other film, alas.

thanks

Martino Knockavelli said:

thanks

Click to expand...

I'm getting a hankerin' for another themed list from your good self.

"Films that look nice and are mostly white and that".

If you want a woman, buy one – preferably in the dark so she won't remember your face.

I thought this was terrific.

As an aside, what convinced me to watch this was Carel's comment about 2nd person narration. I have a bit of a geeky obsession with 2nd person narrative, though this is mainly a literary thing, not something I'd even pondered with regards to film. It's incredibly hard to do well; but when done well it creates this compelling sense of immediacy that, for reasons I'm too dense to put my finger on, works particularly well in crime fiction.

Anyhoo, one of the best examples I know is Robert Coover's Noir, which is a kinda pastiche of hard-boiled, noirish crime stories à la Chandler, Hammett and Thompson. I've been meaning to recommend this to Carel for a while, and now seems as good a time as any.

P.S. For me, a pastiche is not a snotty clever dick piss-take; it's something more affectionate.

P.P.S. Thanks for making me aware of the film, Steve.

No problem, glad you enjoyed it!

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Desmond Doss saved 75 men on Okinawa in WWII without carrying a weapon and became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the medal of honor. Sentimental to the point of being sickening and with some Rambo-esque battle scenes it isn't the sombre epic I was hoping for. It is a story worthy of it's own film though and some of the horrifying battle scenes manage to balance out the more gung ho aspects. 6/10.

Craig said:

Tonight I watched Lincoln (2012) about a man born into poverty who went on to guide the United States of America through its darkest hour and in the process bring an end to slavery in the country.

Click to expand...

Who?

Sing

Perfectly acceptable family fluff. Not as good as a Pixar or a Disney, but the sort of level you expect from Ilumination.

Suicide Squad

Dumb action that isn't world building anywhere near as well as Marvel have been doing. Nowhere near as cool as the soundtrack thinks it is.

I think DC panicked at some point during post production after the reception BvS got and tried to make it like Guardians of the Galaxy, because the first Suicide Squad trailer is sombre as fuck.

They were miles away from making it as fun as GotG. I just rewatched the first trailer and it seems all they did was take the same movie and try and go 'cool' with the soundtrack. Which did work to an extent, I suppose. But as you say, clearly influenced by Guardians.

I actually had Batman v Superman on in the background today and that really is a ridiculous film.'MARTHA!!!!'

silkyman said:

Sing

Perfectly acceptable family fluff. Not as good as a Pixar or a Disney, but the sort of level you expect from Ilumination.

Suicide Squad

Dumb action that isn't world building anywhere near as well as Marvel have been doing. Nowhere near as cool as the soundtrack thinks it is.

Click to expand...

Sing is so good. I went with my daughter and ya know she thought it was ok and fine. I thought it was like the best thing I'd ever seen. I mean, I don't want you to think that like I've seen nothing. I've seen England win the ashes, I've seen a grand slam, I've seen the Gas go up like four times. Still, nothing has made me laugh as much as Sing.

silkyman said:

They were miles away from making it as fun as GotG. I just rewatched the first trailer and it seems all they did was take the same movie and try and go 'cool' with the soundtrack. Which did work to an extent, I suppose. But as you say, clearly influenced by Guardians.

Click to expand...

The first content they put out looked like this though:

NorfolkWomble said:

Phenomenal. Goig to see it again, I've never done that for any film again.

Click to expand...

I went to see it last night with my girlfriend.

I very much had a "can't believe I'm going to see a musical" mentality walking into the cinema. My dislike for musicals isn't down to the traditional macho "bit gay isn't it?" stance. I just can't stand the wide eyed, over-acted, "look over yonder" stage school look that nearly all actors employ in the West End.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Visually, its superb. The colours and sets are absolutely brilliant. As is Emma Stone. Gosling was good but his singing wasn't.

Elysium (2013)
Dire sci-fi film with Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, with a cast like that i expected better. 3/10.

shane said:

I went to see it last night with my girlfriend.

I very much had a "can't believe I'm going to see a musical" mentality walking into the cinema. My dislike for musicals isn't down to the traditional macho "bit gay isn't it?" stance. I just can't stand the wide eyed, over-acted, "look over yonder" stage school look that nearly all actors employ in the West End.

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Visually, its superb. The colours and sets are absolutely brilliant. As is Emma Stone. Gosling was good but his singing wasn't.

Click to expand...

I think the singing works. They went for a little bit of a less refined sound which I like. Going to see it again tomorrow.

Blade Runner (1982)

A blade runner (killer of replicants) is tasked with killing four escaped replicants (robots with human appearance, intelligence and superior strength) who are aware of their own impending death and are seeking their creator to stop it.

A curious one. It didn't live up to my expectations. For starters every scene felt like it was about twice as long as it should have been causing the film to really drag along. On a similar note there was a lot of filler. Scenes transition into scenes always via a prolonged cityscape shot - showing the scale of the setting with shadows contrasted against giant neon advertising boards. These visuals were initially impressive but they were overused and their effect diminished rather quickly.

The premise was strong (I haven't read the book but I read that a lot was changed for the film) but not executed particularly well, I thought. Most of the characters were paper thin and again pacing was an issue due to unnecessarily long, drawn-out passages.

In terms of positives I thought Rutger Hauer was impressive as the main replicant. His scene with Deckard on the roof was my favourite of the film.

6/10

Gone Girl

The film is decent but the sound track is absolute quality. Sounded brilliant on the new speakers I have and this was the first thing we watched through them.

8/10

Orange Sunshine

Documentary that tells the story of the "Brotherhood of eternal love" who were supplying a lot of Acid to the world in the 60's & 70's. Quite interesting and also highlighted some of the inconsistencies and over the top sentences that were handed out for Drug offences. For example someone was locked up for 12 years for having $10 of weed on them as a first time offence. Good to see most of the old crew still together and while some of it might be inflated it was still decent and consistent with what I'd read before.

8/10

Captain Scumbag said:

Anyhoo, one of the best examples I know is Robert Coover's Noir, which is a kinda pastiche of hard-boiled, noirish crime stories à la Chandler, Hammett and Thompson. I've been meaning to recommend this to Carel for a while, and now seems as good a time as any.

Click to expand...

Noted, ta.

Stevencc said:

Blade Runner (1982)

A blade runner (killer of replicants) is tasked with killing four escaped replicants (robots with human appearance, intelligence and superior strength) who are aware of their own impending death and are seeking their creator to stop it.

A curious one. It didn't live up to my expectations. For starters every scene felt like it was about twice as long as it should have been causing the film to really drag along. On a similar not there was a lot of filler. Scenes transition into scenes always via a prolonged cityscape shot - showing the scale of the setting with shadows contrasted against giant neon advertising boards. These visuals were initially impressive but they were overused and their effect diminished rather quickly.

The premise was strong (I haven't read the book but I read that a lot was changed for the film) but not executed particularly well, I thought. Most of the characters were paper thin and again pacing was an issue due to unnecessarily long, drawn-out passages.

In terms of positives I thought Rutger Hauer was impressive as the main replicant. His scene with Deckard on the roof was my favourite of the film.

6/10

Spoiler: Official Stevenc(S)cenes

Click to expand...

Blade Runner is one of those films that get better on subsequent viewing.

Agree I didnt appreciate Blade Runner as much as I should have when I first watched it, but after subsequent viewings I gained a lot more admiration for it fantastic film.

On The Waterfront - (1954)

Brando lived up to the reputation he has earned in this film Its a truly fantastic performance throughout a showcase for him . I just loved the dark wet cold setting of the docks in 50's New York,

two scenes stand out head and shoulders above the rest. First is the impassioned speech by Father Barry to the assembled dock workers in the hull of a ship where he tries to garner their support against the mobsters ravaging their lives. Second is the encounter between Terry and Charlie Malloy in the back of a taxi which ends in one brother brandishing a gun at the other and Brando's now legendary "contender speech."

Overall a excellent film well worthy of its universal praise 8/10

Jane Got A Gun (2016)
A slow western that bored me shitless until the last 30 minutes. 5/10.