What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[ton312]

Avengers Endgame.
If you've been watching the Marvel movies up to this point, you can't go without seeing this one.

Of course if you haven't been watching them, then this one will hold no particular draw, as it doesn't hold up as a standalone movie that someone can just go watch with little knowledge of what came before.

Just came out. Don’t want to give any spoilers but I was satisfied with the outcome for the most part. I felt one character was underserved, but I really enjoyed the film. Most surprising part was that I had to use the bathroom more than my 9 year old daughter.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Last night, Captain Marvel. Well-done, with enough links to the MCU to fit in the story arc. That said, I did not connect with the story or the characters to the degree I have with all the other Marvel movies. Still, lots of laughs, dazzling special effects, and 1995's Fury and Coulson.

 

[The Jackal]

surprising part was that I had to use the bathroom more than my 9 year old daughter.

Yeah, I was about 45 minutes in when I realized I had emphasized everyone use the bathroom before the movie started, but never went myself. And thus began the eternal struggle between man and nature.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

 

[Touchofevil]

Tried to watch Aquaman but could not stick with it. For me, it was just bad all over. Jason Momoa seems like a nice guy, but his acting (as well many others in the film) left a lot to be desired. The dialogue was bad. The story up to the point that I left, was bad. DC struggles to get it done.

 

[Fading Fast]

Crazy Rich Asians

Regardless of who made it or where it was made, the movie feels very "Hollywood" in that slick, by-the-numbers, rom-com-story way where full-budget Hollywood reverse engineers these movies to target audiences calculated to elicit specific emotional responses throughout.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not "above it" at all as it was enjoyable enough as a copy-cat rom-com worth watching from the comfort of your living room. But I bet most felt like we did in that you knew where it was going after the first ten or so minutes and you knew what a scene was going to be about right as it started.

Hollywood has been making iterations of "the rich/poor boy/girl wants to marry the reverse and the rich family objects" story since the '30s (and I'm sure before, but I'm not a silent film guy). Check out this (very common) plot summary from 1932's Shopworn: "A poor woman and a man from an upper-class family fall in love, but his mother will go to any lengths to stop their marriage." Sound familiar?

A better one than Crazy Rich Asians - one that is more thoughtfully done and digs deeper into the meaning, prejudices and social context of the race and class issues only handled in a surface manner in Crazy Rich Asians is Son of the Gods from 1930 (yes, 1930!).


That Hagen Girl 1947 staring Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan and Lois Maxwell (aka the original Miss Moneypenny)

While its story - a small town suspects that an adopted girl is actually the result of a young local couple's out of wedlock affair covered up by an adoption to a "respectable" couple - feels like a 1970's "After School Special," its earnestness, solid acting and short run time (83 minutes) makes it reasonably engaging.

After a quick look at the "untoward" events of her birth, the movie fast forwards to when the, now, late-teenage woman - Shirley Temple - is trying to make a place for herself in the town, but is quietly shunned by "proper" society, which effects both her academic career and prospect of marrying a local boy from a "good" family. Additionally, a middle-aged man - Ronald Reagan - rumored to be her father (from that illicit affair) returns to the town to take up the law practice of his just-deceased mentor.

Throw into the mix a new-to-the-town caring, progressive-thinking teacher (played by an incredibly young and cute Lois Maxwell) willing to take on the school's and town's "betters," and the plot and conflicts - and the movie's message - are all set. There are some additional twists and turns, but the fun is seeing Temple do an acceptable job as the rejected young woman, Reagan carry the lead role in this one better than he usually does and Maxwell proving she was a solid actress and not just Bond's pining secretary.

The message - gossip can be viciously and unfairly harmful and adopted children should not be tainted in anyway - is modern (even if some of the angles and views of the "heroes" of the movie don't align to our very prescriptive and judgmental standards of thinking today). And while the story is all but two dimensional, its, as noted, fast pace, enjoyable acting and self-confidence makes for fun viewing. Plus, it's great time travel to 1947 America.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Yeah, I was about 45 minutes in when I realized I had emphasized everyone use the bathroom before the movie started, but never went myself. And thus began the eternal struggle between man and nature.

This is why I no longer watch movies in the theatre.

 

[Edward]

Tried to watch Aquaman but could not stick with it. For me, it was just bad all over. Jason Momoa seems like a nice guy, but his acting (as well many others in the film) left a lot to be desired. The dialogue was bad. The story up to the point that I left, was bad. DC struggles to get it done.

Unless I'm in a bind for entertainment, I can't imagine ever attempting it after Justice League. TBH, I tink you'red on a loser with Aquaman anyhow: he's simply naff, and while casting That Big Sexy Fella from Game of Thrones may pull in a few of those whose boat he assuredly floats, there's just nothing there to keep that. Not Momoa fault, really. The character was a weak alsoran in Justice League; a solo movie made less sense. Justie League itself was weak and po-faced - though (perhaps ironically) I rather liked Batman v Superman. I loved Wonderwoman, which perhaps shows DC need to be able to do what Marvel did: break out of donig the same, overplayed properties over and over, and pull up something more leftfield (as long as it's not Aquaman, obvs). Granted, Marvel's hand was forced because their better-known properties were licensed elsewhere at the time, but the fact is that the MCU wouldn't be what it is had they simply stuck to doing Spiderman and Hulk over and over.

Crazy Rich Asians

Hollywood has been making iterations of "the rich/poor boy/girl wants to marry the reverse and the rich family objects" story since the '30s (and I'm sure before, but I'm not a silent film guy). Check out this (very common) plot summary from 1932's Shopworn: "A poor woman and a man from an upper-class family fall in love, but his mother will go to any lengths to stop their marriage." Sound familiar?

It's also the plot of 90% of Chinese soaps. Are these Asians SE Asian, where that would chime for at least the ethnically Chinese (also - China is now a huge market for Hollywood, so Chinese characters or cultural themes that are realtable to by the Chinese make huge sense)?

This is why I no longer watch movies in the theatre.

For me, it's more the cost of the cinema these days, combined with the appalling behaviour of other patrons. In our screening last week, there was one guy who answered his phone three times - twice with the other party on loudspeaker - and insisted on reading aloud all the subtitles. (I think he must have been on the spectrum, but even so...). Then there as the specimen of a parent who brought a child that must have been three and let them run up and down and shriek at theback, with only a half-hearted shush every now and then.

I miss the days when you had a cinema staffer in every screening curbing bad behaviour...

 

[Formeruser012523]

Tried to watch Aquaman but could not stick with it. For me, it was just bad all over. Jason Momoa seems like a nice guy, but his acting (as well many others in the film) left a lot to be desired. The dialogue was bad. The story up to the point that I left, was bad. DC struggles to get it done.

Watched this some weeks ago, and have to agree. Was forced to stick it out and from Momoa's first appearance all I could think was (and this is nothing against him) "greasy stripper." I mean, did they go for that look on purpose? Do they think that look is appealing to women? It certainly doesn't appeal to me.

But, anyways, how many meaningful interactions between characters were interrupted by explosions? I lost count. Every time there was a slow scene of exposition. Every time there were two characters that started to bond. And the underwater echo effect on the actors voices made it impossible to understand what the heck was being said.

I ended up just feeling sorry for Willem Defoe. I hope he got paid well for this one.

 

[scottyrocks]

And the underwater echo effect on the actors voices made it impossible to understand what the heck was being said.

Maybe that's a DC thing. I remember watching the last of the Batman trilogy and not being able to make out hardly any of Bane's dialogue.

 

[The Jackal]

Maybe that's a DC thing. I remember watching the last of the Batman trilogy and not being able to make out hardly any of Bane's dialogue.

I think it was supposed to be a muffling effect of the mask he wore. Gotham actually did something similar when they introduced Bane on the show.

Those are actually the worst 2 representations of the character.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Was forced to stick it out and from Momoa's first appearance all I could think was (and this is nothing against him) "greasy stripper." I mean, did they go for that look on purpose? Do they think that look is appealing to women? It certainly doesn't appeal to me.

I first saw Momoa as a back-up character in Stargate Atlantis and thought he was quite good in those episodes when the writers used his character well, but too often the writers didn't do anything with his character and you could see the boredom in his eyes and body language in those episodes. I suspect he's one of those actors who is never going to get an opportunity to really stretch and will always be under-utilitized. This may sound insane, but I consider Bruce Campbell like that too; he was very good in Jack Of All Trades, but seems to be stuck playing a caricature of himself in everything else.

 

[Edward]

I think it was supposed to be a muffling effect of the mask he wore. Gotham actually did something similar when they introduced Bane on the show.

Those are actually the worst 2 representations of the character.

You've not seen Batman&Robin?

I first saw Momoa as a back-up character in Stargate Atlantis and thought he was quite good in those episodes when the writers used his character well, but too often the writers didn't do anything with his character and you could see the boredom in his eyes and body language in those episodes. I suspect he's one of those actors who is never going to get an opportunity to really stretch and will always be under-utilitized. This may sound insane, but I consider Bruce Campbell like that too; he was very good in Jack Of All Trades, but seems to be stuck playing a caricature of himself in everything else.

He may be an actor who will have to age out of his looks to be taken seriously.

 

[Julian Shellhammer]

Tried to watch Aquaman but could not stick with it. For me, it was just bad all over. Jason Momoa seems like a nice guy, but his acting (as well many others in the film) left a lot to be desired. The dialogue was bad. The story up to the point that I left, was bad. DC struggles to get it done.

Youngest Shellhammer and I watched it, and you're right about it's being underwhelming. Even my son, who is quite knowledgeable about DC print and film, thought it did not deliver.

 

[rocketeer]

Just watched Seven Nights in Japan.
Looks like it was a straight rip off of Roman Holiday but set in Japan but did I miss something? How did the Yakuza type assassins get into the story?
On the upside it did show Tokyo and the countryside as it was over 40 years ago

 

[scottyrocks]

I think it was supposed to be a muffling effect of the mask he wore. Gotham actually did something similar when they introduced Bane on the show.

Those are actually the worst 2 representations of the character.

Muffling? Terrific, but if I can't understand the dialogue because of it, then the effect is worthless, at least to me.

I'm no sound technician, but there had to be a way to achieve a muffling effect while making the dialogue clear 'enough.'

Or maybe I'm just deaf. haha

 

[The Jackal]

Muffling? Terrific, but if I can't understand the dialogue because of it, then the effect is worthless, at least to me.

I'm no sound technician, but there had to be a way to achieve a muffling effect while making the dialogue clear 'enough.'

Or maybe I'm just deaf. haha

It also doesn't help that he appeared to be speaking in a "sean connery" imitation instead of his normal speaking voice.

 

[scottyrocks]

I watched Move Over, Darling (1963) with Doris Day and James Garner.

I generally find the early '60s 'bedroom comedies' a bit cloying, but the pairing of Day and Garner was genius, afaic. I felt chemistry there that I didn't sense even when Cary Grant was wooing Day in That Touch of Mink (1962).

Maybe it was Garner, or the character, or the way Garner played the character, or all of it, but the two actors/characters just seemed right for each other. There wasn't a moment that I thought Day was overly sappy, as I had so often felt watching her in other films. Among other bits, the courtroom scene was hilarious, and the ending was perfect, as well.

 

[Zombie_61]

Muffling? Terrific, but if I can't understand the dialogue because of it, then the effect is worthless, at least to me.

I'm no sound technician, but there had to be a way to achieve a muffling effect while making the dialogue clear 'enough.'

Or maybe I'm just deaf. haha

It's not just you. The first time I saw The Dark Knight Rises I had trouble understanding a few of Hardy's/Bane's lines of dialogue, and the friend I saw it with leaned over two or three times and quietly asked, "What did he say?"

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The King of Comedy

 

[Fading Fast]

Woman on the Run from 1950 with Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe (a poor man's William Holden)

Movies like this add an extra oomph to TCM. Highlighted recently in its outstanding "Noir Alley" series, the host took us through the nail-biting search for a believed all-but-lost print of the film, including a found print then being destroyed in a fire (ugh), to another print being found but with sound damage, which was repaired because a not-legal recording had been taken (by the host) from the first-found print, the one that was subsequently burned.

And after all that, we get a beautifully restored - in crisp and striking B&W - minor noir classic that also serves as a time capsule for 1950 San Francisco. The story checks many noir classic features: gangland rubout, man on the run hunted by police (and without his life-saving heart medicine), failing marriage with sardonic wife (Sheridan), tired, cynical police detective that won't stop, helpful newspaper man who might not really be that helpful and trips to a Chinese restaurant, a dive bar, a loud and claustrophobic in-city factory, an Army-Navy store (great FL geek-out moment) and a jutting-over-the-water amusement park on a pier (with a feels out-of-control roller coaster).

It's "go time",from the start of the movie to the end, with only the lack of that perfect character or completely fresh plot scenario - and a few too obvious clues with a couple a questionable twists - keeping this one from being a major noir classic. And one other mistake hurts: Sheridan, as told to us by the TCM host, was a producer and investor in this independent film effort and - wanting to distance herself from her previous image as the "oomph" girl (yeah, I stole that for the first line of this post) - keeps herself tightly wrapped in a heavy overcoat throughout the movie.

Hey, I get it, she wants to be taken seriously as an actress and she should as she has the chops, but here's the other view - life is hard, use everything legal and moral you have to win. Sheridan - who in The Man Who Came to Dinner showed us that she can save money by not buying bras while still standing up tall in a movie - took away the, well, oomph that would have helped bring some needed noir sexuality to Woman on the Run.

Despite the quibbles and minor flaws, this one is a hidden gem and, now, thankful a rescued noir joy.