Movie Thread

[Archibald]

Re: Re:

People that have only seen films like Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now and Alien on a TV screen don't know what they are missing !

What's wrong with watching these movies on your own TV? (By that I mean DVD or streaming, not the crap you get when you're watching TNT, or other TV channels where you get commercials every 15 minutes.)

Personally, I don't like other people's noise, or their big hair/hats getting in my view, or the surround system just being so damn loud to where you can't understand the dialogue. (I'm rather particular about the dialogue, which I may have mentioned earlier.)

So, I don't like theaters, I prefer watching movies in my own space. Your mileage may vary, of course. And that's okay by me.

EDIT- Also hate people kicking the back of my chair while they're getting all comfy in their chairs - this has got to be the biggest of my pet peeves going to an actual theater.

I saw Bladerunner in the theatre - was one of those niche cinemas that do the older and sometimes more obscure movie showings. The best part is that you get the sort of crowd that is respectful in a cinema as they're there to appreciate the movies shown.
Used to be a brilliant theatre like this in my home town - proper hand-made choctops too. Saw the aforementioned Bladerunner, Akira, several Kurosawa films, the Dark Crystal (although I saw that as a kid in the cinema too), Cinema Paradiso, 2001... even a few 'marathons' - either originals and sequels/directors nights/genre nights etc. Didn't stay for the last crusade when they did the Indiana Jones triology night though...
But did do several Godzilla movies there

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

...several Kurosawa films

You and me should go to some fancier cinemas then, loved Ikiru. (I should probably watch it again.)

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

People that have only seen films like Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now and Alien on a TV screen don't know what they are missing !

What's wrong with watching these movies on your own TV? (By that I mean DVD or streaming, not the crap you get when you're watching TNT, or other TV channels where you get commercials every 15 minutes.)

Personally, I don't like other people's noise, or their big hair/hats getting in my view, or the surround system just being so damn loud to where you can't understand the dialogue. (I'm rather particular about the dialogue, which I may have mentioned earlier.)

So, I don't like theaters, I prefer watching movies in my own space. Your mileage may vary, of course. And that's okay by me.

EDIT- Also hate people kicking the back of my chair while they're getting all comfy in their chairs - this has got to be the biggest of my pet peeves going to an actual theater.

Yeah cinemas can be very irritating. I have a few rules : never go on a Friday or Saturday night and don't see the film in the first week it has been released. I wait a while and the emptier the cinema the better. I watch a lot at home when I am in the mood but for sci fi and the more spectacular movies I prefer the cinema.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

People that have only seen films like Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now and Alien on a TV screen don't know what they are missing !

What's wrong with watching these movies on your own TV? (By that I mean DVD or streaming, not the crap you get when you're watching TNT, or other TV channels where you get commercials every 15 minutes.)

Personally, I don't like other people's noise, or their big hair/hats getting in my view, or the surround system just being so damn loud to where you can't understand the dialogue. (I'm rather particular about the dialogue, which I may have mentioned earlier.)

So, I don't like theaters, I prefer watching movies in my own space. Your mileage may vary, of course. And that's okay by me.

EDIT- Also hate people kicking the back of my chair while they're getting all comfy in their chairs - this has got to be the biggest of my pet peeves going to an actual theater.

I saw Bladerunner in the theatre - was one of those niche cinemas that do the older and sometimes more obscure movie showings. The best part is that you get the sort of crowd that is respectful in a cinema as they're there to appreciate the movies shown.
Used to be a brilliant theatre like this in my home town - proper hand-made choctops too. Saw the aforementioned Bladerunner, Akira, several Kurosawa films, the Dark Crystal (although I saw that as a kid in the cinema too), Cinema Paradiso, 2001... even a few 'marathons' - either originals and sequels/directors nights/genre nights etc. Didn't stay for the last crusade when they did the Indiana Jones triology night though...
But did do several Godzilla movies there

No doubt that independent cinemas usually have a better audience. I used to go to lot of movies at those venues but sadly most of them have become car parks or something else now. Some call it progress ! The multiplex killed off a lot of small operators and DVD and home theatres added to their misery. Sadly some impressive buildings that should have had heritage value also went under. Some countries are much more protective of such places than other countries of course.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

One Vietnam film not mentioned so far that was different than the others, but came out at the same time, and in high praise, is Coming Home. That film has a definite anti-war statement, with Jane Fonda attached, but is really noteworthy for it's realism of average every day people coping with the difficulties of returning from war, which was rarely even mentioned at that time. Terrific, Oscar winning performance by Jon Voight.

If 1978 had both The Deer Hunter and Coming Home, one film not mentioned from that year was Go Tell the Spartans. Done on a smaller budget, with Burt Lacaster, it showed a glimpse into how awful the Vietnam war was.

Agree with most else what Echoes said.

Also agree Casualties of War was quite underrated. It still looks like a DePalma film, it just never seemed like something he would do, and missed the timing I think. Upon release, Vietnam movies were really out of favor. Fox does an okay job, his nerves make you uncomfortable, but I agree Penn is excellent in it. Having seen him in several things before that (and since) it's like you knew he had it in him to be a bully and a jerk in the right role, but never to the degree that he pulled it off.

Yeah Coming Home was good as for Fox I thought his looks and personality worked well against Penn in Casualties of War. Sort of the innocent lost in a nightmare. Very different sort of film for De Palma. I thought Fox was pretty good in the Frighteners and also Mars Attacks and those are the types of roles that usually suit him. Penn just kept getting better and better as an actor and he is effective in most things. Great performances in Mystic River and Dead Man Walking.

 

[Echoes]

Lost Command is very well known but I haven't seen it. However a retired officer in my country's army thought it unrealistic. It's based on the story of General Marcel Bigeard, a very creative though controversial officer during the Algerian War. He was the first to use helicopters as an offensive means and not just to carry the wounded. Yet I cannot comment on that for I've never seen the film nor have any knowledge in military strategy. However when I talked to him about The 317th Platoon by Pierre Schoendoerffer he told me that he liked it very much, they screened it at the army and it reminded him of the exercises that he did himself with his men because at the end you could see how exhausted the characters were, just like his men and him were after an exercise (but without enemy facing him of course).

A French friend of mine lamented about how his fellow countrymen failed to produce any good films about Algeria the way US produced films about Vietnam. Lost Command is American (or British?). La battaglia di Algeri is Italian. I think the reason is the low budget compared to US production since all of this good war films would never get support from the state. Coppola exploited his friendship with Marcos of the Philippines to get helicopters and planes of Apocalypse Now. The Pentagon is known for checking all the scripts (I don't even blame them, it's normal). In Schoendoerffer's A Captain's Honour, the lack of planes really affected the credibility of the film, some argue (I didn't like it anyway). It was obvious that the state under Mitterrand's presidency wouldn't support such films (neither under the De Gaulle rule, even less). Le crabe tambour was more of a political film with the war in the background. Actually it was a film covering 25 years of French history (released long before Forrest Gump, you know ). One of my favourite ever films.

Count me among the Kurosawa fans. Rashomon really impressed me. Of course so did Shichinin no samurai . I also have a soft spot for 醜聞, Shubun (Scandal) about what later came to be known as paparazzis. There are even track cycling scenes in it. And a reference to French cubist painter Maurice De Vlaminck who once raced Paris-Roubaix as a Belgian. That film really shows the talent of Takashi Shimura. He was a very complete actor. Really more so than Toshiro Mifune who still was a great actor and got more succesful but not as complete as Shimura was in my opinion.

In recent years I started to dig into Japanese cinema. I was really fond of Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari (雨月物語): roots to one's land vs ambition. No wonder that French monarchist Erich Rohmer promoted it in France.

Also discovered Yasujirō Ozu's cinema. お早よう Ohayo (Good Morning)! It seems so typically Japanese. I think he was more profound than Kurosawa was, the latter was very much influenced (& influential to) by the West.

 

[movingtarget]

Lost Command is very well known but I haven't seen it. However a retired officer in my country's army thought it unrealistic. It's based on the story of General Marcel Bigeard, a very creative though controversial officer during the Algerian War. He was the first to use helicopters as an offensive means and not just to carry the wounded. Yet I cannot comment on that for I've never seen the film nor have any knowledge in military strategy. However when I talked to him about The 317th Platoon by Pierre Schoendoerffer he told me that he liked it very much, they screened it at the army and it reminded him of the exercises that he did himself with his men because at the end you could see how exhausted the characters were, just like his men and him were after an exercise (but without enemy facing him of course).

A French friend of mine lamented about how his fellow countrymen failed to produce any good films about Algeria the way US produced films about Vietnam. Lost Command is American (or British?). La battaglia di Algeri is Italian. I think the reason is the low budget compared to US production since all of this good war films would never get support from the state. Coppola exploited his friendship with Marcos of the Philippines to get helicopters and planes of Apocalypse Now. The Pentagon is known for checking all the scripts (I don't even blame them, it's normal). In Schoendoerffer's A Captain's Honour, the lack of planes really affected the credibility of the film, some argue (I didn't like it anyway). It was obvious that the state under Mitterrand's presidency wouldn't support such films (neither under the De Gaulle rule, even less). Le crabe tambour was more of a political film with the war in the background. Actually it was a film covering 25 years of French history (released long before Forrest Gump, you know ). One of my favourite ever films.

Count me among the Kurosawa fans. Rashomon really impressed me. Of course so did Shichinin no samurai . I also have a soft spot for 醜聞, Shubun (Scandal) about what later came to be known as paparazzis. There are even track cycling scenes in it. And a reference to French cubist painter Maurice De Vlaminck who once raced Paris-Roubaix as a Belgian. That film really shows the talent of Takashi Shimura. He was a very complete actor. Really more so than Toshiro Mifune who still was a great actor and got more succesful but not as complete as Shimura was in my opinion.

In recent years I started to dig into Japanese cinema. I was really fond of Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Monogatari (雨月物語): roots to one's land vs ambition. No wonder that French monarchist Erich Rohmer promoted it in France.

Also discovered Yasujirō Ozu's cinema. お早よう Ohayo (Good Morning)! It seems so typically Japanese. I think he was more profound than Kurosawa was, the latter was very much influenced (& influential to) by the West.

i have to admit that I don't know much about the history behind Lost Command but I thought the film was interesting enough and well acted. I haven't seen all of Kurosawa's films but I liked Throne of Blood, Ran, the Seven Samurai and Yojimbo. Not sure if I saw Rashomon. Was a little disappointed in Kagemusha. The last Japanese movie I saw was Tokyo Story by Ozu which i thought was very good. Some of the Japanese horror movies like The Ring and also Audition were quite good.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Re: Re:

Yeah cinemas can be very irritating. I have a few rules : never go on a Friday or Saturday night and don't see the film in the first week it has been released. I wait a while and the emptier the cinema the better. I watch a lot at home when I am in the mood but for sci fi and the more spectacular movies I prefer the cinema.

I tend to agree with you there, especially the rule about avoiding opening week, and a Fri and Sat night. I too like to wait a good week or two. I have to admit I am however a bit nostalgic about the experience of going out to the movies. Maybe because of my advanced age.

With today's UHD televisions and surroundsound systems for your home, I can easily see someone building a nice home theater, and never really wanting to leave the comfort of their own couch to watch movies. Some people hesitate to spend $8 to stream an on demand movie, but if you keep in mind that it's one ticket for the entire group watching, plus no cost of gasoline or transportation fare to get anywhere, and you can eat any food you like out of your own kitchen, pause the movie if you have to use the bathroom, etc. etc. etc.

 

[bikestudio]

Many upcoming movies are coming soon
The Shack, Table 19, Kon,skull Island. Beauty and the beast

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Yeah cinemas can be very irritating. I have a few rules : never go on a Friday or Saturday night and don't see the film in the first week it has been released. I wait a while and the emptier the cinema the better. I watch a lot at home when I am in the mood but for sci fi and the more spectacular movies I prefer the cinema.

I tend to agree with you there, especially the rule about avoiding opening week, and a Fri and Sat night. I too like to wait a good week or two. I have to admit I am however a bit nostalgic about the experience of going out to the movies. Maybe because of my advanced age.

With today's UHD televisions and surroundsound systems for your home, I can easily see someone building a nice home theater, and never really wanting to leave the comfort of their own couch to watch movies. Some people hesitate to spend $8 to stream an on demand movie, but if you keep in mind that it's one ticket for the entire group watching, plus no cost of gasoline or transportation fare to get anywhere, and you can eat any food you like out of your own kitchen, pause the movie if you have to use the bathroom, etc. etc. etc.

Sure I understand people preferring to stay home and do their viewing but I still think the cinema experience is worthwhile. Each to their own. I think both are good. At home also gives you the advantage of going back to listen to a missed line of dialogue and replaying scenes as well and pausing what you are watching to get a snack or whatever.

 

[sniper]

Re: Re:

Agreed with all of the above.

People sitting next to me sms-ing and whats-apping during the friggin movie has also become common place in recent years.
How *** up is that.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Re: Re:

Agreed with all of the above.

People sitting next to me sms-ing and whats-apping during the friggin movie has also become common place in recent years.
How **** up is that.

Ah yes, cell phones, smart phones, whatever the kids are calling them these days...

I've got another pet peeve to add to the list (and this actually is true for any public place) - people who wear cologne and perfume like it's about to go out of style. (I'm allergic, I get instant headaches.)

As an anecdote - went to the bank recently, one of the bankers wore so much cologne he stunk up the whole floor. (Reminded me of high school where the boys wore so much stank [Polo, I think was the hot scent at the time] they stunk up the hallways because they had no sense of measure.) Thankfully I didn't have to sit next to this banker for a couple of hours, if it had been in a theater I would have had to just either change seats, or leave outright.

People, people piss me off. I'm getting grumpier with age.

Okay, back to movie talk now.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Agreed with all of the above.

People sitting next to me sms-ing and whats-apping during the friggin movie has also become common place in recent years.
How **** up is that.

Phones have become an issue everywhere : at tennis matches, supermarkets,music concerts, cinemas, in meetings, in cars, on cliff edges when people want to get a nice photo. The misuse of phones has just become another cultural peeve and it is actually killing people in some circumstances especially on roads. Not to mention filming people getting beaten up or whatever or bullied, it's out of control. The amount of idiocy involving phones is off the charts !

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Anybody watching the Oscars tomorrow?

The Oscars... an evening of self-congratulations, and I'm sure some of the Hollywood crowd won't be able to resist getting political. (Though this year it will be somewhat understandable, given the crowd tends to lean left.)

I usually don't watch most of the Oscars, I just end up reading up on the nominated foreign and Indie films that otherwise get very little exposure here in the States. So I suppose that's one good thing the Oscars are good for. (That and some of the horrible fashion choices some of the participants make, those can always be good for a raised eyebrow, or even a chuckle.)

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Anybody watching the Oscars tomorrow?

The Oscars... an evening of self-congratulations, and I'm sure some of the Hollywood crowd won't be able to resist getting political. (Though this year it will be somewhat understandable, given the crowd tends to lean left.)

I usually don't watch most of the Oscars, I just end up reading up on the nominated foreign and Indie films that otherwise get very little exposure here in the States. So I suppose that's one good thing the Oscars are good for. (That and some of the horrible fashion choices some of the participants make, those can always be good for a raised eyebrow, or even a chuckle.)

I haven't watched it for years. I used to watch them all including the Golden Globes and the BAFTA'S even the Emmy's and the Grammy's ! A good host can make it worthwhile like Rickie Gervais making everyone feel uncomfortable but even that has become old. Of course there will be political speeches and cringe inducing moments as usual. Of course there are some memorable moments like when Nick Nolte and some other actors like Ed Harris refused to stand for Elia Kazan when he won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Good to see some people have long memories and principles but not many stayed seated and many people today said that in the same situation they would or might have done the same to save their career. People like Dalton Trumbo had their careers ruined thanks to the testimony of others like Kazan at the 50's House UnAmerican trials. I just check the winners list after the Oscars now, it's quicker and less painful.

 

[Echoes]

I've recently seen Comancheria/Hell or High Water!

I don't know if it's been discussed here yet. In my opinion up there among the best films of the 21st century. Easily. Not the best but among the best. Great to see that there are still great films at Holywood at the moment.

Presented as a contemporary western film, it's rather a detective but in wide open space of Southern Texas. My world! Also the great thing about it is that it's not manicheist at all. All characters have their flaws but some would get our sympathies, despite those flaws, others not.

Exposes the logic of interest loans which destroys the lives of so many cowboys, these days.

There are several scenes I like. At the petrol station, you see the Howard cowboy brothers in their car and then some show-offs, Sagan-type coming in their sports car, noisy tasteless rap/hiphop music very high, threatening Tanner Howard (Ben Foster) with a gun and then got smashed by Toby Howard (Chris Pine). I know whose side I'd be on.

Then you have Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) in a motel room. First Marcus trashes the televangelist while still claiming to be Christian and then he cracked jokes on soccer/football wondering who invented that sport, perhaps the Azteque kick on some skulls. It's just a sport that even 5 year-old kids can do, he says.

And also Toby offering his son a beer. Then talking about the bad things he's done and asking him not to be like him. Finally he asks whether he drinks his beer and the kid replies: "You ask me not to be like you and then you offer me a beer".

It's weird for me to see Jeff Bridges as an old rangers. Oh well I had already seen Crazy Heart before, so I guess I knew that he had aged quite a lot but I'll always see him as the kid Lightfoot in Cimino's Thunderbolt and Lightfoot with Eastwood starring as Thunderbolt. Never seen Big Lebovski, perhaps I need to someday. Jeff really has the face of a cowboy but he's very hard to understand for non English native like me !!!

Crazy Heart was quite disappointing to me. I had to watch it because I'm a country music fan and the music was amazingly great. Even a reference to Waylon Jennings, as "Are you sure Hank done it this way" was on the soundtrack.

Also a Waylon song was on the Hell or High Water soundtrack: You Ask Me To. Made me rediscover it. The song I'm most often listening to at the moment. Tremendous Waylon song. It was just before the petrol station scene. Fits very well in the film.

 

[Bustedknuckle]

Bill Paxton-RIP

Dear me, way to young.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4261440/Titanic-star-Bill-Paxton-dies-age-61.html

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Jeff really has the face of a cowboy but he's very hard to understand for non English native like me !!!

I have a hard time understanding Casey Affleck, the dude just mumbles even during his Oscar acceptance speech. (Haven't seen Manchester by the Sea [or any of the other nominated movies], but if I ever do watch it I'll definitely need subtitles.)

All in all no movies or docs caught my eye watching the Oscars last night (I caved and did actually watch the whole ceremony), except for the animated short Piper, which I've already seen. I think Piper is just darling, I'll probably re-watch it some time.

 

[movingtarget]

Bill Paxton-RIP

Dear me, way to young.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4261440/Titanic-star-Bill-Paxton-dies-age-61.html

Very sad news. Always entertaining even in his small roles. It seems his peers thought highly of him as well.

 

[movingtarget]

Jeff really has the face of a cowboy but he's very hard to understand for non English native like me !!!

I have a hard time understanding Casey Affleck, the dude just mumbles even during his Oscar acceptance speech. (Haven't seen Manchester by the Sea [or any of the other nominated movies], but if I ever do watch it I'll definitely need subtitles.)

All in all no movies or docs caught my eye watching the Oscars last night (I caved and did actually watch the whole ceremony), except for the animated short Piper, which I've already seen. I think Piper is just darling, I'll probably re-watch it some time.

What an incredible error during the Best film award. Beatty seemed a bit out of it and Dunaway didn't even seem to read the card.

 

[movingtarget]

I've recently seen Comancheria/Hell or High Water!

I don't know if it's been discussed here yet. In my opinion up there among the best films of the 21st century. Easily. Not the best but among the best. Great to see that there are still great films at Holywood at the moment.

Presented as a contemporary western film, it's rather a detective but in wide open space of Southern Texas. My world! Also the great thing about it is that it's not manicheist at all. All characters have their flaws but some would get our sympathies, despite those flaws, others not.

Exposes the logic of interest loans which destroys the lives of so many cowboys, these days.

There are several scenes I like. At the petrol station, you see the Howard cowboy brothers in their car and then some show-offs, Sagan-type coming in their sports car, noisy tasteless rap/hiphop music very high, threatening Tanner Howard (Ben Foster) with a gun and then got smashed by Toby Howard (Chris Pine). I know whose side I'd be on.

Then you have Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham) in a motel room. First Marcus trashes the televangelist while still claiming to be Christian and then he cracked jokes on soccer/football wondering who invented that sport, perhaps the Azteque kick on some skulls. It's just a sport that even 5 year-old kids can do, he says.

And also Toby offering his son a beer. Then talking about the bad things he's done and asking him not to be like him. Finally he asks whether he drinks his beer and the kid replies: "You ask me not to be like you and then you offer me a beer".

It's weird for me to see Jeff Bridges as an old rangers. Oh well I had already seen Crazy Heart before, so I guess I knew that he had aged quite a lot but I'll always see him as the kid Lightfoot in Cimino's Thunderbolt and Lightfoot with Eastwood starring as Thunderbolt. Never seen Big Lebovski, perhaps I need to someday. Jeff really has the face of a cowboy but he's very hard to understand for non English native like me !!!

Crazy Heart was quite disappointing to me. I had to watch it because I'm a country music fan and the music was amazingly great. Even a reference to Waylon Jennings, as "Are you sure Hank done it this way" was on the soundtrack.

Also a Waylon song was on the Hell or High Water soundtrack: You Ask Me To. Made me rediscover it. The song I'm most often listening to at the moment. Tremendous Waylon song. It was just before the petrol station scene. Fits very well in the film.

Bridges is in his sixties so the older roles suit him now. I had some trouble understanding some of his lines in True Grit, I don't know whether it's the sound, him or me. Some actors just have weird voices or mumble a lot. If Bridges had a Scottish accent it would be impossible !

 

[Tricycle Rider]

What an incredible error during the Best film award. Beatty seemed a bit out of it and Dunaway didn't even seem to read the card.

Was it an honest mistake, or just a Hollywood illusion?

I'm kinda suspecting the latter.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Agree with that. I didn't even watch though. Seems like a rather blase year for great films. And Moonlight is almost bombing at the box office. Subject matter too dark I think. People don't want to be reminded life is shjt, then most of them are living it. Also a terrible title, Moonlight. Sounds like a Bruce Willis TV show.

As to Bill Paxton, that is very tragic. I wonder what happened? I know it was major surgery, and he had a stroke just after, but it makes me think they didn't give him enough heprin when heading to recovery, or he wasn't taking aspirin before or something like that, which is very common today. But I'm not his doctor, I have no idea what his vitals were before, during, how surgery went, etc. One thing about his career though, as I reflect upon it, while you recognize the guy immediately, he was a much more diverse actor than it seems on the surface as you look at his roles. Very diverse.

 

[Brullnux]

Moonlight apparently is a very good film, or so I've heard

 

[Tricycle Rider]

As to Bill Paxton, that is very tragic. I wonder what happened? I know it was major surgery, and he had a stroke just after, but it makes me think they didn't give him enough heprin when heading to recovery, or he wasn't taking aspirin before or something like that, which is very common today. But I'm not his doctor, I have no idea what his vitals were before, during, how surgery went, etc. One thing about his career though, as I reflect upon it, while you recognize the guy immediately, he was a much more diverse actor than it seems on the surface as you look at his roles. Very diverse.

This is for the autopsy people to find out (providing they do it right, and there is enough money to do it), which could take weeks and weeks.

I've seen Stripes, Aliens, Apollo 13, The Terminator, U-571, Twister, and Titanic. But I couldn't honestly point out which role Bill Paxton was actually playing - I suppose he was just that good, he just disappeared into his rather "small" roles.

Chapeau, and RIP Bill Paxton.