What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[MisterCairo]

I took the girls to see the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film. Good fun, and we stayed for the teaser scene at the end...

 

[Doctor Strange]

Okja on Netflix.

This is one really strange film: part trenchant social satire, part dizzying action movie, part indictment of factory farming and bottom-line heartlessness... and self-righteous eco-terrorism against it, part beautiful girl-and-her-pig story that's like something from Miyazaki or Disney. There's a lot to unpack in this film - some of it works, some of it doesn't - and it's got so many ideas, viewpoints, settings, and tones going at once that it's confusing.

Honestly, I'm still processing it. All I know is, I - a hardcore carnivore who made peace with my qualms about where meat comes from long ago - was crying by the end.

NOTE: Despite the adorable sequences between the girl and her hippo-sized pig in the first act, this is emphatically NOT a movie for little kids! The second and third acts graphically display incredible cruelty, the stuff of children's nightmares. Emotionally sensitive viewers of any age are likely to find this film difficult and disturbing.

 

[MisterCairo]

No Country For Old Men.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Wonder Woman"

• Visually beautiful movie (marred occasionally by too much CGI, but overall, gorgeous to look at)

• Very good comic book story brought to life, but didn't rise to the deeper philosophical level of the Nolan "Batman" movies

• Music and action sequences were well done and tightly tied together, but they became less, not more effective as the movie progressed - a weariness set in for me

• Gal Gadot might have defined the roll the way Christian Bale did Batman

• Chris Pine struck a perfect balance of not trying to be the star, but also, carving out a meaningfully strong role

• Metal bracelets stopping bullets might be my favorite super-power of them all

• Over-the-top moment that worked: Wonder Woman in no man's land taking the full fire of the Germans (Gadot owns the knee-bent-shield-forward stance)

• Sir Patrick / Ares was a more interesting villain as Sir Patrick mainly using powers of his mind and seemingly warp-speed movement versus when he became a stock villain firing lighting bolts

• And heck, some great Fedora Lounge WWI clothes, cars, architecture eye-candy - loved Diana's incognito outfit.

 

[green papaya]

That Touch of Mink (1962) starring Cary Grant & Doris Day

 

[Stearmen]

Well, now I know for sure, my neighbors Granddaughters do enjoy torturing me! They insisted I watch some Sponge Bob Square Pants movie! Actually, I didn't mind as a whole, but I was very frustrated when the movie would start an old song I actually liked, only to immediately cut it off!

 

[Fading Fast]

That Touch of Mink (1962) starring Cary Grant & Doris Day

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While basically silly-stupid (but enjoyable when you're in the right mood) like all of the "battle of the sexes" late-50's/early-'60s movies that Doris Day made, Cary Grant's presence elevates this one above the Rock Hudson versions.

 

[Doctor Strange]

The Korean film The Handmaiden, set sometime in the early twentieth century.

Beautiful to look at, but I didn't care for it: All the characters - including the protagonists - are amoral con artists/thieves, pornographers, etc., and some very ugly things transpire. There's a lot of buzz on this film for its unusual storytelling, double/triple-cross plot, and lesbian love story, but I can't recommend it.

 

[rocketeer]

The Red Shoes. An old film based around the world of Ballet. Excellent, if like me you admire Ballet.

 

[rocketeer]

"The Battle of Algiers" is one amazing movie... tough to watch but amazing still.

Worf

Yes brilliant, something we youngsters(at the time) knew little or nothing about.
Seen this a couple of times, always in original language with subtitles.
They did not mess about those Frenchies, reminded me of the 3 little pigs. Come out come out or i'll blow your house up!

 

[Doctor Strange]

The Red Shoes. An old film based around the world of Ballet. Excellent, if like me you admire Ballet.

It is a masterpiece by Powell & Pressburger, no matter how you feel about ballet!

 

[MisterCairo]

Just watched Blood Simple by the Coen brothers. Great little film, logical flaws notwithstanding.

 

[Benzadmiral]

"Magnificent Obsession" 1954 with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman

• If the word melodrama hadn't already been created, they'd have needed to create it to describe this movie
  • The melodramatic (there's no other word) story of the arrogant playboy / lovely woman who becomes victim of playboy and loses her sight followed by playboy reforming / going back to medical school / operating on lovely woman - who have now fallen in love - and getting her sight back is really, really hard to take (and I left out a few additional schmaltzy twists and turns)

• Okay, that ⇧ is the painful part - and it is painful - but there are still a few things here playing on in the background that - while they don't quite save the movie - at minimum, keep you engaged at times
  • There's a deep Christian / Christ theme wrapped in a spiritual circle of life and giving philosophy that is enjoyable to see as, IMHO, Hollywood would never put that in a mainstream release anymore (and, for the record, I'm agnostic and have never practiced religion, but respect Western Civilization's Judeo-Christian roots and appreciate the respect it used to receive in our culture)
  • Hudson's acting is good (still a bit cardboard, but good for him) while Wyman brings all her acting prowess to bear to hold together the silliness of the plot
  • Some great mid-'50s "time travel" cars, clothes, architecture, airplanes and boats all in "equal to the melodrama" Technicolor. I'm not a big fan of Technicolor, but this over-the-top movie cries out for its exaggerated brightness

Doubt I'll ever watch it again, but glad I saw it once.

I've tried more than once to read the novel and failed. The same author's The Robe is quite readable if you like Roman history. Not sure about this one.

Oh, and in looking Lloyd C. Douglas up on IMDb, it turns out there was a 1935 version of this movie w/ Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor! That novel is older than I thought!

 

[Fading Fast]

I've tried more than once to read the novel and failed. The same author's The Robe is quite readable if you like Roman history. Not sure about this one.

Oh, and in looking Lloyd C. Douglas up on IMDb, it turns out there was a 1935 version of this movie w/ Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor! That novel is older than I thought!

I'd love to see that version and if they did any better of a job with it. My guess is yes, as the '54 version suffered from the, in-general, IMHO, schmaltzy-ness that many of the movies of that time had and too much Technicolor.

 

[Fading Fast]

"No Marriage Ties"

• Uneven 1933 pre-code that has just enough good stuff to keep you watching

• Female lead Elizabeth Allan is some of the good stuff - young, pretty and with real acting talent (apparently she sued MGM and won, but was black-balled afterwards which is why, IMHO, she didn't become a major star)

• In pre-code fashion, the story zips from one soon-to-be-taboo topic to another
  • The male lead is a functioning alcoholic and isn't punished for it
  • The female lead is smarter than he is and wants her own career
  • Plenty of casual out-of-wedlock sex is implied
  • Both the female and male leads don't want to get married as they want their freedom and it's not just a set-up for them to live happily ever after
  • A striking suicide gets tossed into the mix without all the moralizing it would have engendered once the code was enforced
  • Corrupt advertising executive builds empire and profits from it (Lizzie, your "Boys From Marketing" get lambasted in this one but good)

• A lot of fun period details including a crazy neat Art Deco office and some outrageous "successful women working at real jobs" outfits

• It's a bumpy ride with inconsistent directing and acting but enough good stuff to make it worth it

 

[AmateisGal]

The Best Years of Our Lives.

 

[Worf]

"Frantz" - An interesting tale of love, loss, pain and regret set against post WW1 France and Germany. A young woman who lost her fiancé in the war is surprised find a Frenchman laying flowers at his grave, and the story takes off from there. Well made with great acting and lovers of the between the war period will adore the film. I was amazed at how the film, primarily shot in glorious B&W subtly shifts in to color from time to time. This is done so skillfully it had to be pointed out to me. I recommend it.

Worf

PS and a tip of the hat to Liz and FF for their earlier recommendation.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Frantz" - An interesting tale of love, loss, pain and regret set against post WW1 France and Germany. A young woman who lost her fiancé in the war is surprised find a Frenchman laying flowers at his grave, and the story takes off from there. Well made with great acting and lovers of the between the war period will adore the film. I was amazed at how the film, primarily shot in glorious B&W subtly shifts in to color from time to time. This is done so skillfully it had to be pointed out to me. I recommend it.

Worf

PS and a tip of the hat to Liz and FF for their earlier recommendation.

⇧ Well written summary. I think - although I'd have to go back and check each time - the shift to color was used to show a dream sequence of something that didn't really happen. I, like you, only caught the shift some of the time and was focused on the story, but I think its purpose was to convey that the action in those sequences was not reality. But I could absolutely be wrong - it will take a second viewing to check out my theory.

I wish more movies of this quality and thoughtfulness were made.

 

[green papaya]

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958) starring Ingrid Bergman, Curt Jurgens, Robert Donat

In the film, English housemaid Gladys Aylward (Ingrid Bergman) realizes her childhood dream of becoming a missionary by using her life savings to go to the mountains of China. There, she helps a missionary (played by Athene Seyler) start an inn at a remote mule crossing and saves 100 children during the Sino-Japanese War in 1936.

 

[Stearmen]

The Bamboo Blonde (1946)