What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Bolero]

"Singin in the Rain"

 

[Touchofevil]

I am a HUGE Snoopy collector, so it was hard to choose between SPECTRE and the Peanuts Movie since they both premiered today, but I chose Bond because it's kind of my tradition to go to Bond movies on the night they open.

So, yes. SPECTRE is terrific. I have to see it a few more times before I really make up my mind about it, but so far, I'd say Skyfall and Casino Royale are slightly better, though not by much.

Glad to hear that SPECTRE is worth the viewing, but I expected that to be so. We will wait until the crowd dies down . Bond films have that quality that makes watching them in the theatre a must. They are an event. I eagerly await!

 

[Fading Fast]

Glad to hear that SPECTRE is worth the viewing, but I expected that to be so. We will wait until the crowd dies down . Bond films have that quality that makes watching them in the theatre a must. They are an event. I eagerly await!

My Dad and I were not close - not distance or fighting, just not buddies that did things together (part of that had to do with his default setting being cranky and part that he had no interest in being buddies with his son, he wasn't from that generation), but we always went to Bond films together (and watched them on TV together).

It is not an exaggeration to say that I saw almost no other movies with him in a movie theater, but we went to almost every Bond filmed that premiered when he was still alive. It was, as you said, an event. I even remember going to see "Octopussy" (a painfully bad one) with him when I was in college and we would go months without talking or seeing each other then (again we weren't fighting, just I had moved out and we didn't get together often). I don't remember how, but we obviously made arrangements to see that movie - says something about those movies being events.

 

[AmateisGal]

My Dad and I were not close - not distance or fighting, just not buddies that did things together (part of that had to do with his default setting being cranky and part that he had no interest in being buddies with his son, he wasn't from that generation), but we always went to Bond films together (and watched them on TV together).

It is not an exaggeration to say that I saw almost no other movies with him in a movie theater, but we went to almost every Bond filmed that premiered when he was still alive. It was, as you said, an event. I even remember going to see "Octopussy" (a painfully bad one) with him when I was in college and we would go months without talking or seeing each other then (again we weren't fighting, just I had moved out and we didn't get together often). I don't remember how, but we obviously made arrangements to see that movie - says something about those movies being events.

Funny - my Dad and I had a similar relationship. He was a distant father (though thankfully, that has changed a LOT in the past 10 years and we are much closer), but the one thing we shared was our love of James Bond movies. We always watched them together on television, and I think he was really the one that got me interested in Bond. We went to go see a few at the theatre, but since I moved quite a distance away 13 years ago, we haven't had a chance to do that. But I will always associate James Bond with my Dad.

 

[AmateisGal]

Glad to hear that SPECTRE is worth the viewing, but I expected that to be so. We will wait until the crowd dies down . Bond films have that quality that makes watching them in the theatre a must. They are an event. I eagerly await!

Oh yes. Seeing them in the theatre is a must! And this one is no exception. I think you'll enjoy it.

 

[Touchofevil]

My dad and I enjoyed Bob Hope and The Marx Brothers movies together when I was a child and shows like The Rockford Files as grew older. They are some of my fondest memories. I especially enjoy the memory of us laughing nonstop while watching It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad (too many?) World and Support Your Local Sheriff.

 

[Babydoll]

" The Peanuts Movie”

My all-time favorite hero !

I wonder if Lucy has a sister in Maine ?

We took Lily to see this today. She was good for the first hour (with popcorn, candy, & lemonade), then she wanted to sit in my lap, play with my watch/bracelet for the next 30 minutes, and the announced she had "to go" with two minutes left of the movie. It was not my best movie experience.

But the film was cute.

 

[MisterCairo]

The 40 Year Old Virgin on the laptop.

Andy - "When should I call her"?

Cal - "When is the next Olympics"?

 

[Touchofevil]

Kansas City Confidential, Chicago Confidential, and some of White Heat on MGMHD and TCMHD.

 

[Touchofevil]

The 40 Year Old Virgin on the laptop.

Andy - "When should I call her"?

Cal - "When is the next Olympics"?

One of the better comedies in recent years.

 

[Fading Fast]

Hey, I just noticed that no one - amidst all our '50s Sci-fi camp fans (Worf does that sound like anyone you know?) - commented on my "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" post. I will raise my hand and acknowledge my amateur status in the genre, but I know we have some real pros here.

 

[Touchofevil]

Skyfall!

 

[Doctor Strange]

"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers"

For mid-'50s Sci-fi camp this one pushes most of the buttons. A good looking young couple - he's a brilliant scientist, she's his adoring wife (it's the '50s and that's the stereotype) - are at the vanguard of the defense of earth. The aliens who want to conquer earth have flying saucers that spin (while making a gyroscopic sort of sound), shoot a kinda juiced-up flame and aren't impacted by conventional weapons. The aliens from the ship that land are kinda clunky and - outside of their force field - can be killed by conventional weapons, but they - like their ship - have a souped-up flame throwing capability.

Things look bleak, the special effects look cool for their time / cheesy by today's standards, and (spoiler alert if you have never, ever seen one of these type of movies) earth is saved by, in this case, some sort of ray gun that our brilliant young scientist invented in the 56 day warning period the aliens were kind enough to give earth before their attempted conquest.

The only thing the movie lacked - the reason it's just camp and a by-the-numbers '50s Sci-fi - is something extra in the story, either a more complex relationship between the aliens and earth or a more three-dimensional response form some on earth to its pending doom - something that breaks the simple good-vs.-evil comic book story and brings a more nuanced philosophical aspect to the narrative. Fun for its predictable camp - but misses at being anything more.

My only complaint with your review is that you didn't point out that the effects were done by stop-motion-animation god Ray Harryhausen, and the saucers are an interesting change from his usual creatures. And sure, it's a low-budg adventure flick with no pretense of making a STATEMENT about our society. This keeps it out of the top rank of fifties SF films - The Thing, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet - and even the cheesier This Island Earth gets points for predicting both Silicon Valley (where its scientist heroes work) and the general-purpose computer (the Interociter they build from the alien component catalog!)

But Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is still a classic of its time, and those of us where were already SF film fans before 2001: A Space Odyssey (much less Star Wars!) venerated it accordingly. And it's got one interesting bit of casting in that Hugh Marlowe is here the hero scientist... whereas back in The Day the Earth Stood Still he had the opposite role, the government flunky antagonist.

(Books have been written about how the SF films of the fifties betray their politics as left/center/right based on the whether their heroes are docs [scientists] or cops [police/military]. In films like The Day the Earth Stood Still, the docs eventually overrule the shoot-the-alien-first cops; in The Thing, the heroes are definitely the military, with the leader of the scientists actually clandestinely helping to breed more killer carrot men from space.)

 

[Fading Fast]

My only complaint with your review is that you didn't point out that the effects were done by stop-motion-animation god Ray Harryhausen, and the saucers are an interesting change from his usual creatures. And sure, it's a low-budg adventure flick with no pretense of making a STATEMENT about our society. This keeps it out of the top rank of fifties SF films - The Thing, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet - and even the cheesier This Island Earth gets points for predicting both Silicon Valley (where its scientist heroes work) and the general-purpose computer (the Interociter they build from the alien component catalog!)

But Earth vs. the Flying Saucers is still a classic of its time, and those of us where were already SF film fans before 2001: A Space Odyssey (much less Star Wars!) venerated it accordingly. And it's got one interesting bit of casting in that Hugh Marlowe is here the hero scientist... whereas back in The Day the Earth Stood Still he had the opposite role, the government flunky antagonist.

(Books have been written about how the SF films of the fifties betray their politics as left/center/right based on the whether their heroes are docs [scientists] or cops [police/military]. In films like The Day the Earth Stood Still, the docs eventually overrule the shoot-the-alien-first cops; in The Thing, the heroes are definitely the military, with the leader of the scientists actually clandestinely helping to breed more killer carrot men from space.)

There you go, now that's what I'm talking about - I knew there was a professional '50s Sci-fi commentary out there versus my "I've seen a few of these kind of movies" pablum. Well done Doctor Strange.

 

[Zombie_61]

Hey, I just noticed that no one - amidst all our '50s Sci-fi camp fans (Worf does that sound like anyone you know?) - commented on my "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" post. I will raise my hand and acknowledge my amateur status in the genre, but I know we have some real pros here.

Oops. I meant to, but got sidetracked by the wife for a while and by the time I got back to my laptop I had forgotten. I don't disagree with anything you wrote, but Doctor Strange did make a comment or two that I'd like to address.

My only complaint with your review is that you didn't point out that the effects were done by stop-motion-animation god Ray Harryhausen, and the saucers are an interesting change from his usual creatures...

Harryhausen allegedly stated in his biography that Earth vs. the Flying Saucers was his least favorite of the movies he'd worked on. I haven't read it, so I don't know if he was referring to his work, the movie in general, or both, but I like the movie a lot so I have to disagree with whatever his reasoning was.

...And sure, it's a low-budg adventure flick with no pretense of making a STATEMENT about our society. This keeps it out of the top rank of fifties SF films - The Thing, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet...

I think one of the reasons I like Earth vs. the Flying Saucers so much is because it doesn't make any such statements. It's a low-budget entertainment movie with no loftier aspirations, and in that regard I believe it succeeds rather well.

 

[1mach1]

Inside Out with the boy.

 

[Touchofevil]

Cold Mountain, because.

 

[AmateisGal]

Cold Mountain, because.

I've only seen that movie once and I don't want to ever watch it again. It hit me so hard that I was depressed for days afterwards. Same with Atonement. Beautiful movies, but just too darn much for my overly-sensitive nature, I guess.

 

[Fading Fast]

I've only seen that movie once and I don't want to ever watch it again. It hit me so hard that I was depressed for days afterwards. Same with Atonement. Beautiful movies, but just too darn much for my overly-sensitive nature, I guess.

both very powerful movies.

 

[MisterCairo]

Prometheus on the laptop with the Padre, but not my usual Padre cabin mate, our backfill Padre, filling in while the original Padre is on leave.

Fairly certain that's the most frequent use of the word Padre in a sentence.

Prometheus is pretty cool, backstory of sorts for the Alien films. And it stars Noomi Rapace.