The Last Movie You Watched?

The Saloon
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[quote=“Stanton, post:12442, topic:1923”]I don’t think that a film which transcends a genre, which is a highly subjective impression anyway, is then somewhere outside the genre, it simply brings the genre to a new level.

2001 is still a SF film, but it made things with the genre nobody had expected before. OUTW had a similar impact on the SW as well as on the western as a whole. But there is more in these films than being innovative to justify the term. Others would call these films highly pretentious, and there is only a small gap between these diametral assessments.

Other Spags for which the term could be used are Il mercenario and Se sei vivo spara.[/quote]

Like I said, I always had the idea that Once Upon … transcends the (sub)genre, but still is a spaghetti western, therefore the term may not be correct in this aspect, trancending means - like ‘the_ugly’ states ‘breaking out’, not simply bring it to a higher level.
Or maybe we have added a new meaning to this term …

It’s of course always a arbitrary whether a movie or another piece of art belongs to a certain ‘genre’. I remember a long and intense discussion in Dutch literary circles about the difference between ‘normal’ fiction and crime fiction, and the question whether novelists like Edgar Allen Poe, Conan Doyle, Sébastien Japrisot, Chandler, Hammett, Wilkie Collins and Dostoievski (to mention only a few) could be labeled as crime authors.
The obvious case (most people agreed on that) of an author transcending the genre (and no longer being part of it) was Dostoievski, while again most people concluded that most others had brought the genre to a higher level, but were still part of it. The Big Sleep is a literary novel, but it’s still crime fiction, Crime & Punishment, in spite of the title, is a philosophical novel, not a crime novel.

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To clarify what I meant, I think OUATITW transcends its genre as it can be discussed in terms of being both a spaghetti western, and a western generally, and even if you remove the “western” aspect it can be discussed in terms of its other elements such as style, storytelling, cinematography etc… so it transcends its genre and holds interest for people in many different areas

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Yes, that’s obviously the way the term is interpreted by most of us here. And i agree with your statement: it’s also one of those westerns that is liked by people who normally don’t like westerns at all.

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[size=10pt]Fair Game [1986][/size]-"They hunted her…terrorized her…and now, they pay the price."

I hadn’t seen this in ages, dug it up for a re-watch. Classic outback nastiness that showed it’s age, but it was still a fun watch and entertaining 80’s flick.
Cassandra Delany does not disappoint both in her performance and nudity. Predictable, yes…but who cares!

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[size=12pt]BLUE MOVIE[/size] (1971, Wim Verstappen)

In 1971 this was the first real ‘sex movie’ to hit Dutch theatres: not real porn yet, but no longer softcore either. The first penis in erection was shown in full color and widescreen and there were lots of stories about actors ‘doing it’ on the set to poke up viewers’ fantasies to dangerous heights: Was it in this scene or that scene? Some people are still guessing. Of course the movie is a milestone in the lives of those Dutch people who were young in the early '70s. That is: 2,3 million Dutchmen saw the movie in cinema, and not all were teenagers, I suppose. I was 15 and the film had an 18 rating, but I somehow managed to get in.

Rewatched today, the movie is a bit of a let-down. The sex scenes are still pretty raunchy, but dialogue, cinematography and acting (in the scenes not involving sexual intercourse) are amateurish. It’s somehow funny to see an actress (Carry Tefsen) in the nude at a young age: thanks to a TV-series she became a very popular comédienne two decades later, one of those actresses everybody in the country is familiar with (Most people call her “Mien Dobbelsteen”, the name of the character in the TV-series). I had forgotten that she was in the movie and also forgotten that she was quite a sexy beast when she was young.

Note the (niet) on the poster. ‘Niet’ means of course ‘not’ and was added - often in blue - because the movie had initially been banned by the board of censors. The Dutch text reads as: A Movie everybody is (not) allowed to see!

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[size=12pt]Ich seh, Ich seh AKA Goodnight Mommy [2014][/size]

Plot summary:-In the heat of the summer, a lonesome house in the countryside, nine-year-old twin brothers are waiting for their mother. When she comes home, bandaged after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before. The children start to doubt that this woman is actually their mother.

Well, this was a very strange and eerie German movie which I found it to be a bit unsettling. Not scary-it’s more a drama/psycho thriller, but with some violent graphic elements. The first two acts succeed in their establishing a taut, tense atmosphere, but it moves slow up until the last half hour which I didn’t mind. All and all I kinda of enjoyed it, the cinematography was very good for this type of movie-the actress was good and the kid actors were hmmm alright, but no more.

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Well, it is actually an Austrian film.

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Made by Dicfish?

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Yes, Austrian filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala.

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[size=10pt]The Escapist - 2008- Rupert Wyatt[/size]

[url]Photobucket | The safer way to store your photos

Didn’t knew about this one, so started watching in TV just by chance intrigued by the great cast, and couldn’t stop watching it till the end
It’s a very good film, with a very interesting narrative mode made in flashbacks. Far from your usual prison break type of film, still we have the usual characters the prison kingpin, the newcomer the prison a rape scene you name it, but like I said it’s a very different type of prison break film a pure deconstruction work if I might say.
Brian Cox an actor we are so familiarized with, has one of his best roles, is the main character but to honest the all acting is top notch, worth the watch just for that, must say that also Damien Lewis as the bad guy is pretty impressive.
The motivation for the escape couldn’t be more relevant and touching, a father’s love for his daughter, apart from that the prison scenes are so real that make you feel that you are there.
The final twist and scenes are so well accomplished; I wasn’t expecting it brings the film to an all new other side… of things.
Clearly a great film about redemption, with a good story told in a singular way with some great actors.
Also the photography work (with most of the film taking part in subways and sewers) and the soundtrack (with a more than ideal for the film Leonard Cohen theme), are pretty good.

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Jess Franco: Erotic Rites of Frankenstein
-One of the best Franco films I’ve seen. Basically just a horror film about the familiar subject but there’s constant weirdness and outlandish feel in the film. Monster itself is silver coloured, there’s blood drinking birdwoman and a cult of zombies. Beautiful looking film with great locations once again.

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[size=12pt]Night and the City - 1950 - Jules Dassin[/size]

Took an incursion into Noir territory with Night and the city. I’ve already seen it at some point in the past, but really didn’t remember how good it was, also keep forgetting that Dassin was an US and not a French director.
The direction work is very good but this a Richard Widmark tour de force, his performance reaches perfection in a very demanding role.

Filmed entirely during the nigh period it brings that unique Noir feeling, also the fact that it was filmed in location on the streets of London, helps to the creation of that feeling.
The film mixes some some of Kubrick precision with the purest noir film environment, every scene is great and some are memorable. The story is complex but never gets to the point where the viewer gets confused.
To be honest I’ve seen other Dassin movies, and was not expecting this one could be so good

Great film highly recommended

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[size=12pt]NON-STOP[/size] (2014, Jaume Collet-Serra)

Non Stop, no nonsense. Liam Neeson’s recent career as the King of Geriatric Action Movies was launched by the first movie in the TAKEN series and confirmed by the two sequels, but one year before Taken, he was cast for a physically very demanding role in the western SERAPHIM FALLS. It was probably his appearance in that movie that gave film makers the idea that he could become a action star in the autumn of his acting career. In Non-Stop a couple of telltale references are made to Neeson’s western adventure.

Neeson is Bill Marks, an aging Air Marshal traveling undercover on an intercontinental flight. After take-off, Marks receives a text message on his phone: a passenger will die every 20 minutes unless $150 million is transferred to a specific bank account. Of course Marks (who has seen better days, both physically and psychologically) is not willing to comply: while trying to keep the person on a string, he starts looking for the maniac who’s threatening to blow up the plane. It soon turns out that his opponent is every bit as clever as he is: looking for help, looking for clues, Marks becomes more and more isolated when all the clues seem to appoint in his own direction …

With Neeson walking down the aisles in the style of Will Kane (but with the hangover of Marshal Rooster Cogburn) we have a barely disguised western in contemporary setting. We even get a shootout in the townstreet (pardon me: the aisles) between hero and villain. The whole thing is mixed with a detective story of the whodunit kind: Who the hell is willing to blow up the plane and how on earth is Marks ever going to stop him? The film is overlong (More than 2 hours!), wastes its supporting cast and comes up with a finale that is way over the top (even within this context), but if you can overlook its flaws, this is a fairly exciting air-western-action-thriller.

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[quote=“scherpschutter, post:12455, topic:1923”] [size=12pt]NON-STOP[/size] (2014, Jaume Collet-Serra)

Liam Neeson’s recent career as the King of Geriatric Action Movies was launched by the first movie in the TAKEN series and confirmed by the two sequels,[/quote]

Maybe He’s looking to get a part in the next The Expendables, who knows

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Jess Franco: Diabolical dr. Z (1966)
-Dr. Z has made a discovery of how to control violent impulses of criminals but he’s being mocked by other scientists and dies of a heart attack. His daughter swears avenge and starts using his father invention to mind control beautiful variety performer called Lady Death to do the killing. One of those early Franco horrors where his films still had a linear and understandable plot. Good looking film with atmospheric black and white cinematography.

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Great review - just needs a few "f*ckbum"s; "spunkfling"s and "bumwipe"s to give it that special touch a la last.caress’s reviews… Oooops, hmmm ??? :wink:

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Come on, it’s bone tomahawk, not boner tomatalk.

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[size=12pt]Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation [2015] by Christopher McQuarrie with Tom Cruise[/size]

I actually enjoyed this, entertaining and quite a good story as well. It was exactly what I was looking for action wise and the two hours did not drag on too long for me. Tom Cruise still has it, he looks good and very believable in his action scenes and actress (Ferguson) she is amazing in this, loved her role and the motorcycle chase is kick ass for sure.
Good cast as usual and the ending was spot on. This was a perfect Sunday afternoon beer and peanuts action flick. :slight_smile:

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[size=12pt]SPECIAL MISSION LADY CHAPLIN [/size](Missione speciale Lady Chaplin - 1966, Alberto De Martino, Sergio Grieco)

I’m not a true fan of Eurospy movies, but every now and then I like to watch one. Most of them are Bond clones, tongue-in-cheek and made on a shoestring, good fun if you’re in a mellow mood. The opening scene in which a nun shoots two armed monks with a machine gun suggests that we’re in a fine piece of spoofy fun, but the rest of the movie is neither as witty nor as funny. While not being dead serious, it’s as far-reaching as the Bond movies were in those days.

Ken Clark is special agent 077 and he’s investigating a case of a sunken atomic American submarine. That’s a good premise for a spy movie and Clark is a convincing action hero (he apparently did his own stunts) but there’s no real development in the story department, everybody seems in a hurry to get from one place to another and the plot simply has Clark fighting off opponents in all possible manners. Actually there’s so much action that the movie almost collapses under the weight of it.

On the plus side we get good locations work all over Europe plus a trio of beautiful women. The Lady Chaplin from the title is played by Daniele Bianchi and the movie also stars Helga Line and Ida Galli.

5/10

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[size=12pt]MAD MAX: FURY ROAD[/size] (2015, George Miller)

Finally watched it, on DVD. What can I say about it what others haven’t said? Well, I had some trouble getting into it. The opening scene in pretty silly (it’s never a good idea to speed up action) and then we get a very long chase scene of about half an hour, without a proper introduction of the characters or the situation. What’s it all about? Okay, we’re in a Mad Max movie and we also know a female road warrior, Furiosa, is trying to escape from a place called the Citadel, dominated by a tyrant called Immortan Joe. Only when the chase is over, we find out why Furiosa is trying to get away: she’s trying to smuggle out a group of young women, kept in the Citadel to be used as broody hens, and bring them to the only green place in the post-apocalypic hell-on-earth: the place where she, Furiosa, was born.

Basically the story of this movie is: first we ride this way, then we ride that way, and in-between we turn the cars. Biggest drawback: Tom Hardy as Max. He has the right face and physique, but the script doesn’t do him any favor, he’s just in a movie named after him that is simply not his movie. Biggest asset: Charlize Theron as Furiosa, a fast, dirty, bald-headed, one-armed, sexy beast from a post-apocalyptic world. It’s her movie and her movie is a beast.

As said, I had some trouble getting into it, and kept experiencing minor troubles en route, but when it was over, I wanted to watch it again. The finale is a bit sudden, almost anti-climactic, but it worked well within this hectic - often overly hectic - context. The main problem is that the movie looks like a Mad Max movie, moves like a Mad Max movie, but never really feels like a Mad Max movie. Furiosa is so dominant, and looks so much like Ripley that I was expecting a voracious alien to break out of the pregnant girl’s belly at every turn. Maybe the movie would’ve worked better independently, that is: without the Mad Max character. But without Max in the title, Miller wouldn’t have been able to make this movie. It’s the marketing, stupid.