The Last Movie You Watched?

I just watched Shane on the TV. Last night I watched An Unsuitable Job For a Woman.

Fargo. Very nice Corbucci-like cinematography.

Just watched THE END with Burt Reynolds, It was enjoyable enough, Dom DeLuise was the best one in it I thought.

Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise? Iā€™ve got to check this one out.

And Reynolds directs aswell.

1 Like

HAYWIRE (2012, Steven Soderbergh)

One of the oddest productions of last years, a combination of a spy thriller and a martial arts movie, directed by Steven Soderbergh, of all people, and also starring Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbinder, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum and Antonio Banderas. In spite of the big-name cast and the international locations, the purpose of the movie seems to be to highlight the fighting skills of mixed martial arts ace Gina Carano, who makes her debut as an actress in a feature film.

A young woman, raised by a foster father, works for an ultra-secret company that may, and may not be governmental and handles so-called 'black operationsā€™. On a mission in Barcelona she is double-crossed and almost killed and now she wants to know who framed her. I lost track of the globe-trotting, labyrinthe plot somewhere halfway between Dublin and New Mexico, but honestly I didnā€™t really care. The film works best in combat mode and there are a few good chase scenes (one on the rooftops of Dublin reminded me of the famous rooftop scene in the Belmondo vehicle Peur sur la Ville), but the story is very standard espionage stuff. Donā€™t miss the abrupt ending in Majorca. You expect a grand finale, but no: somebody says ā€œshitā€ and the show is over.

Soderbergh directs well and Carano fights well, very well actually, but their combined qualities fail to create any synergetic effect. You wonder what audience they had in mind for this production. The director still has a fan base among critics and their reactions were largely positive, but the film didnā€™t do well at the box-office and the general publicā€™s reception was lukewarm. Maybe they should ask Soderbergh to direct a Bond movie.

6+

Heist [2015] Scott Mann
Not the worst way to kill an hour and a half but still, this was pretty painful to watch. Awful acting, laughable plot and piss poor cinematography. DeNiro looked like he phoned this one in, I think he just doesnā€™t give a crap anymore. 4.5, maybe lower I think.

And you want to suggest that they were only positive because they are fans, not because of the film?

Well, at the moment Soderbergh has retired from cinema, and intends only to do TV stuff.

But maybe for Bond he will think it over.

Maybe they they liked the film because they like his style, I donā€™t know. I found it quite remarkable that a film like this was judged more favourably by critics than by the average moviegoer. Iā€™m not the only one who was surprised by this, btw. On the Wiki page of the movie a similar remark is made.

Iā€™m not really a fan of Soderbergh, heā€™s a very competent director, but thereā€™s something in his style of film making that I donā€™t like, but I liked this film better than some of his other movies in recent history. This oneā€™s a well-made and beautifully looking movie, but thereā€™s still thar little something I donā€™t like.

Watching this movie, I think he could be a good director for Bond.

Really? Isnā€™t that something that happens very often if films are a bit different?

Actually, for me it is not easy to detect a real Soderbergh style, his films are always too different for me. I think he is changing his style from film to film, paying respect to the chameleon like change of genres and plots.
Haywire was interesting, but Iā€™m also not exactly sure what I really think about the film.

But I liked it. 7/10 with a fair chance for more

**

The Rover - 2014 - David MichƓd

**

Whereā€™s my car

Another Post Apocalyptical film set in the Australian outback, well yes, but this one of the quiet kind, donā€™t expect a Mad Max here.
The Rover almost has no plot, itā€™s a on the road movie with two main characters and one purpose. Guy Pearce character get his car stolen and he wants it back (in PA set stories thereā€™s no car insurance)
I usually like this type of films, striped to the bone only with the basic elements of a story, but to be honest I think the director took the concept a little bit too far, also itā€™s a very violent and sad film. But not at all a bad movie, for instance instead of a natural event or a nuclear conflict of some kind, this time we got an economic collapse (not very far from reality Iā€™m afraid), that changed our world, so in that sense feels like a very realistic film, actually instead of zombies or radioactive mutants we got a global great depression taken to the extreme. The acting is also good, Robert Pattison really tries to show heā€™s more than, a teen actor and naturally he sometimes overacts, and Pearce is good as usual. Great cinematography.
If the intention was to show some really despair in a doomed world it works fine, but some more background and character development would have been nice, so much minimalist needs more than just despair I guess.

MichĆ“d is a talented director with a great future, but his other film Iā€™ve seen Animal Kingdom is the better one

Jess Franco: Countess Perverse (1974)
-Jess Francoā€™s adaptation of The Most Dangerous Game with nudity and cannibalism. One of my favorite films from Franco and one of the best looking films Iā€™ve ever seen with the weird menacing house, stairs, ocean, islands etc. It is almost like a 3D film, almost every shot of the film is composed with various layers of depth, enhanced by cubical architecture. Hereā€™s few shots (and theyā€™re not the best example, too lazy to take screens my self) to show what I mean:


Rush - Ron Howard

Well, a story which is based on facts, but is the opposite of the truth (according to St. Wiki), and Ron Howard, the master of mediocrity. 3/10

ESCAPE TO VICTORY (Victory! - 1981, John Huston)

The first movie I watched in the new year, was an oldie but not so goodie. A movie about football, a thing you donā€™t see very often. In the most famous examples, like for instance The Damned United or Bend it Like Beckham, the drama and/or comedy is more important than the scenes of the sport. In Escape to Victory, the opposite is the case: even though it was based on historic facts*, the drama isnā€™t anything special (and it loses all credibility towards the end), but the football scenes are quite nice.

The film is set in WWII, in a German POW camp in France. Michael Caine is an ex-pro preparing his fellow POWs for a soccer game against a German selection in Nazi occupied Paris. Sylvester Stallone is his goal keeper but Sly is also busy organizing a great escape (during the game!). John Huston is credited as director, but allegedly the soccer scenes were directed (and luckily also acted) by Pele and Osvaldo Ardiles. Itā€™s said that Sly broke a finger when he wanted to catch a ball fired at him by Pele, at the incredible speed of 90 m/h. Lots of other famous soccer players can be spotted, among them Bobby Moore, John Wark, Paul van Himst (Belgium) and Co Prins (Holland).

During the production, Stallone was coached by Gordon Banks, one of the best goal keepers in the history of the game.

Note:

  • The story is based on a historic game between a German selection and a Ukraine team during the German occupation of the country (then part of the Soviet Union); the Ukraine players were not POWs but factory workers (and in reality most of them had been soccer players before the war for Dynamo Kiev and Lokomotiv Kiev).

At that time Houstonā€™s career was at an all time low point. I did not expect him to come back with a series of decent films thereafter.

Always thought that Caine looked a bit ā€œheavyā€ for a midfielder

Creed.

Yet another Rocky film. Enjoyed it, but offers little new, so its about time the gloves are hung up for this viewer.

Yes, the next year he had his great comeback with ANNIE :wink:

I havenā€™t seen that movie in more than 20 years. I watched it with my daughter once, and thought it was okay, but I donā€™t know if I would say the same if I had watched it in private.

Fernando Di Leo: Milano Calibro 9
-GBU of the italian crime genre. Masterpiece in every aspect. I recently bought Arrowā€™s bluray which has loads of extra material.