The Last Movie You Watched?

I also loaded up this text on facebook and got reactions of a couple of PA-fans. It seems that the movie divides fans of the genre; many think it’s uneven and not so easy to enjoy because of this combination I mentioned. Especially the (rather silly) comedy seems to have annoyed people. I didn’t like that either. Nothing against comedy of course, but this type of humor just didn’t fit the movie. I’m not an expert on comics, by the way. Some other forum members are.

Snowpiercer was more pretentious than intelligent, and suffered also from its uninteresting characters. Some nice ideas, but as a whole it did not work for me.

I enjoyed Snowpiercer whilst simultaneously agreeing with the criticisms put forward by the gentlemen above.

Speaking of enjoying movies whilst appreciating the criticisms aimed at them; I watched the clumsily-titled Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Snyder, 2016) yesterday. I liked it, although I couldn’t really argue against much of what’s been levelled at it thus far, certainly with regard to scenes which make little to no sense either in context or in isolation. Still, I should probably hold off on how I feel until I’ve had a while to ruminate on it; I didn’t like The Wolverine (Mangold, 2013) when it first came out and I thoroughly enjoyed The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan, 2012), and I felt completely differently about both of those within a very short space of time.

Fear dot Com (2002)

This horror-thriller holds a 3% ‘rotten’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is often called one of the worst of its kind (or any kind). It made me curious to find out if it was really that bad.

The film’s premise might suggest that nothing could possibly go wrong. A police detective is investigating a case of murders that suggest that a serial killer called The Doctor has become active again, after a long period of inactivity. He kills his victims ‘live’ before a camera and people can log-in to his site to watch the killings. It turns out that all recent victims died shortly after logging in …

So what did actually go wrong? The seemingly straightforward serial killing premise is blended with a supernatural story in the mould of the Japanese horror movie Ringu (The Ring) and there are also some strong similarities to Tarsem Singh’s The Cell (2000), creating a muddled, natural/supernatural plotline that is further undermined by sloppy editing and scripting. Was the actual running-time of 97 minutes by any chance the result of some pre-release tampering? For most part the movie is virtually incomprehensible and when you finally discover what it’s all about, you notice that it’s pure nonsense.

The subject of watching ‘live’ killings on the Net was treated much better in Untraceable (2008) or the recent Belgian W. Witse (2014). FeardotCom gets 3 out of 10 (instead of 3 out of 100) for a few visually strong moments and a decent performance by Natasha McElhone (as a Department of Health researcher who is intrigued by the case and does of course all the stupid things to get herself in trouble).

Vertigo - This is definitely one of the best Hitchcock films I’ve seen along with one of James Stewart’s best performances. Kim Novak is also terrific in what proves to be both a fragile and chilling role for her.

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Not that active lately, but here’s some of the stuff i’ve seen

Red Dawn - 1984 - John Milius

Now I’ve watched the remake, and at least it wasn’t all that bad as I was expecting, Red Dawn is really one of those unremakable films.
The best thing about Red Dawn is that uses the same parameters of the usual run of the mill teen flick, and then totally deconstructs it.
Milnius script even worries in explaining why a conventional conflict involving the invasion of the US does not turn into a global nuclear confrontation.
One of those films that will stay with you.
**

Child 44 – 2015 - Daniel Espinosa

**
Curious film this one, Burnt by the sun from master Nikita Mikhalkov, is still one of the best films about Stalinism, that’s no wonder it was a Russian film, while this one is a mixed European production in any case an interesting film with a good story even dealing with different subjects in just one plot.
The first things to take notice was the particularly good acting actually Hardy at times seemed just too good, like if he was trying a bit too much, but anyway great performance a very versatile actor, also liked Oldman and the Russian accents weren’t that annoying to me at least.
It’s a good history based in some real events that took place not in Stalin era but much later in the end of the Soviet regime, but that were brought back the late forties after WWII, by the writer of the novel. The leitmotiv was the fact that the regime didn’t need a criminal police, because in a perfect society you don’t have crime.
I liked, a funny (or not so funny) thing about it, seems this was banned in Russian, while Burnt by the sun was created there, how the world has changed in 20 years.
Don’t let the name fool you the director is Swedish

**

Canon for Cordoba -1970- Paul Wendkos

**
Hell long time since I’ve last seen this. Filmed in Spain in the usual SW locations, and with several familiar faces from SW , this US Western his always a treat to any SW affcionado.
Ok nothing special here the usual story on the vein of the Magnificent 7, Dirty Dozen, The Professionals, but professionally made you can’t complain much. What I didn’t remember was how violent the film was, with some scenes that can upgrade the violence rate.
In a sense Peppard looks like the regular SW antihero but he didn’t behave like one, he can’t he always seems so happy. Good score and nice cinematography, and I have a weakness for US westerns made in Almeria

**

The Rewrite -2014- Marc Lawrence

**
Yes I’ve watched (with my wife), a Hugh grant film, and not a wasted hour and half, there was Marisa Tomei. Normally I don’t have patience for romantic comedies, but nevertheless if a film is fun to watch and well-made why not, specially if the wife want’s to see it.
Grant seems very comfortable in his part of a middle-age men that failed, I don’t know if it was a case of art imitating life, but If it was at least the man can laugh of himself which is always good, he and Tomei (always a very appealing actress), have a good interaction together.
I still thing the guy should an action flick, a WWII film or something similar, but OK this one wasn’t that bad, and I did had a good time watching it, much better than the other films from the director with H. Grant.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - George Lazenby’s one and only Bond film. The Jury is out on this one as to whether it’s any good. It has a strange story and it takes a long time to set up the mission and plot. I felt a bit sorry for Lazenby as there’s so many references to Connery’s films that had preceded it. He wasn’t really able to make the role his own.

Fear City (1984)

  • Abel Ferrara -

It starts with opening credits in which Melanie Griffith performs striptease over song called NY Doll sung by David Johansen. OK, I’m bought. What follows is a visually magnificent portrait of a seedy side of 80s NY. Everything’s illuminated in vivid neon red light, smoke rising from the floor, litter everywhere. Like best exploitation movies, this one is subversive. Whether that was original intention of its creators or not, Fear City is pointing at us my friends. We know nothing about a guy that attacks strippers except that he is some kind of Travis Bickle-like psycho that wants to “clean the streets”. So if your are offended because this movie’s protagonists are bisexual strippers, petty gangsters and dope fiends, ask yourself would you also like the streets (movie) to be cleaner, do you also want to punish these women for their immoral behavior, while at the same time you’re attracted to them?

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Coma (1978)

  • Michael Chricton -

First half has a great dialogue with which our protagonists perform battle of sexes dance. Strong feminism is positioned also in more subtle and allegorical way. There is also great sense of rising paranoia, we are not sure who to believe, our common sense or our emotions (again, battle of sexes), do we follow the law or our instincts. In the second half it becomes more predictable standard thriller, but it is spiced up by some horror elements, via magnificent use of chilly modern architecture and fear of the hospitals, so it never becomes boring. After a great start, Douglas’ character is left in a bit of arrested development, but Geneviève Bujold rocks.

Sounds like a typical weekend at my house. :slight_smile:

I like the sound of this one titoli, I’m going to hunt it down, stick it on my “to watch” list. Cheers.

Just do a search on “Kodi” it’s there, just beware of the quality, but it’s watchable.:wink:

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I saw it in the 80s, on VHS maybe, but don’t remember that much about it other than that it was indeed rather provocative. Time for a rewatch then :wink:

It is indeed, on Exodus. Quality looks fine, too.

Won’t be watching it today though; today, it’s all about Star Wars. May the Fourth be with you, and all that.

A Dangerous Method (2011)

  • David Cronenberg -

“There must be more than one motor running this world”, Jung wonders. I don’t know how much sense this makes from female perspective (because, you know, I know nothing about it). From male point of view, it is spot on.

I liked the spanking scenes. :slight_smile:

Mijn Nachten met Susan, Olga, Albert, Julie, Piet en Sandra (1975, Pim de la Parra)

A Dutch movie from the Seventies, presented as a sex and psycho suspense thriller (anything you like), but it’s basically a sex movie. Holland’s most famous sex pot from the period, Willeke van Ammelrooy, plays a thirty something woman - still very attractive, but sexually frigid - who lives in a countryhouse at the sea side with her former husband (now a Peeping Tom) and two young sex-addicted girls who seduce foreign tourists and kill them afterwards. There’s also a feeble-minded neighbour (a woman who smokes cigars) who knows about the killings. The arrival of a mysterious visitor, who drives all women crazy with lust, leads things to an unexpected climax.

De La Parra wanted Rutger Hauer as the stranger/lady killer, but had to settle for an unknown stage actor (of whom haven’t heard a thing ever since). Bad movie, but some of the nudity pleases the eye.

2/5

You’ll go blind, you know.

We all end up blind, mute and dead, enjoying yourself on the way to the exit is what life’s all about

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I drink to that !

De Flat (1994, Ben Verbong)

Another Dutch erotic psycho mystery whatever that wants to be suspenseful but mainly scores with a few steamy sex scenes. This one’s from the Nineties, not the Seventies, so the sex pot of service is Renée Soutendijk, not Willeke van Ammelrooy. She’s a recently divorced doctor now living in an apartment building (=flat), who gets involved in a tale of suspicion, lust & murder when one of the other residents of the building is murdered.

There are some (strong) similarities to Sliver (1993) but if I’m not mistaken the real model was Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct (1992). The thirty something doctor is manipulated by her twenty-something lover, who’s also the main suspect in the murder case. Did he do it or not, that’s the question. Good question, but the screenwriter was no Shakespeare and the director no Verhoeven. But Soutendijk is a good-looking Hitchcock type of blonde and those sex scenes are steamy.

2/5 (again)