What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Twitch]

Live Free, Die Hard. Saw it in the theater and again on Netflix. Just give in and escape

 

[Patrick Murtha]

If ever a movie was calculated to make one (well, me) feel good about having withdrawn from the romantic and sexual arena, that movie would be Closer. And a mighty impressive film it is, too, possibly the best film that Mike Nichols has ever directed. The generally embittered (and, I believe, quite realistic) tone about relationships is one which Closer shares with Bad Timing, Short Cuts, Nichols's own Carnal Knowledge, all versions of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, many Bergman films, all Fassbinder films, and (in somewhat disguised form) most Woody Allen films. Closer, adapted by Patrick Marber from his own acclaimed play, is particularly savage and formally rigorous. Although other people are visible in many scenes, and one or two of them get a line to speak, essentially the movie plays out as a series of getting together and/or breaking apart scenes between four individuals in various permutations, played brilliantly by Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, and Clive Owen. (Owen and Portman had more acclaim because their roles are showier, but Law and Roberts are equally good; I don't think Roberts has ever been better.) We never get to see how these four are with other people or during relationships; we can only base our reaction to them on the limited slices of behavior we do see. Of course that is true in a sense of all drama, but Marber doesn't pretend to give you more than he does.

Rather than give more away, I'll just urge you to see this film, if you haven't. It's a very fine movie.

 

[ShooShooBaby]

patrick_murtha, i started watching closer this weekend but was sidetracked by sleep. seems like a good one, though - i'll have to finish it soon!

other than that, it's been all period films this weekend... on friday night the boyfriend and i saw there will be blood, which was good but way too long after a busy day. saturday we watched radio days, which is one of my favorites, and the aviator, which is one of his. what a beautiful movie!

i also bought racing with the moon at the used cd/dvd store and will probably watch it tonight - i haven't seen it in years!

 

[Feraud]

Helvetica, a darling little documentary on that typeface and modern design.

LD

How did you like it? Are you seeing Helvetica all over the place now?

 

[Jovan]

If ever a movie was calculated to make one (well, me) feel good about having withdrawn from the romantic and sexual arena, that movie would be Closer. And a mighty impressive film it is, too, possibly the best film that Mike Nichols has ever directed. The generally embittered (and, I believe, quite realistic) tone about relationships is one which Closer shares with Bad Timing, Short Cuts, Nichols's own Carnal Knowledge, all versions of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, many Bergman films, all Fassbinder films, and (in somewhat disguised form) most Woody Allen films. Closer, adapted by Patrick Marber from his own acclaimed play, is particularly savage and formally rigorous. Although other people are visible in many scenes, and one or two of them get a line to speak, essentially the movie plays out as a series of getting together and/or breaking apart scenes between four individuals in various permutations, played brilliantly by Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, and Clive Owen. (Owen and Portman had more acclaim because their roles are showier, but Law and Roberts are equally good; I don't think Roberts has ever been better.) We never get to see how these four are with other people or during relationships; we can only base our reaction to them on the limited slices of behavior we do see. Of course that is true in a sense of all drama, but Marber doesn't pretend to give you more than he does.

Rather than give more away, I'll just urge you to see this film, if you haven't. It's a very fine movie.

I saw this movie and thought it was dreadfully depressing. Not my cup of tea. [huh]

 

[Patrick Murtha]

I saw this movie and thought it was dreadfully depressing. Not my cup of tea. [huh]

I think, like the other movies I enumerated, it may resonate more with those who have lived through their share of the scenarios depicted. Many things make more sense past the age of 35 or so.

I think that, when you get right down to it, the disappointments of life are the true subject of art. Closer is refreshingly unflinching about those disappointments. So I can't say I found it depressing (rather the opposite, actually) -- but at a younger age I might well have. I remember thinking that Woody Allen's Manhattan was about the most depressing movie I had ever seen when it came out in 1979; I was 21 then. Now it just seems like my own life, not in detail, but in general truth. And that's not depressing, although it can provoke reflection and re-evaluation.

 

[A.R. McVintage]

Down With Love followed by Pillow Talk followed by Lover Come Back followed by Send Me No Flowers. A fun weekend.

 

[Jovan]

Down With Love was a fun movie. Loved the costuming!

 

[TessTrueheart]

I'm about 20 minutes into The Lives of Others, and can't decide to keep going or give up and send it back to netflix. Anyone know if it's worth it?

Oh my god, I LOVED The Lives of Others!

 

[geoff_icp]

Comrade X, The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, and Two Rode Together.

 

[anon`]

I was bored on Saturday, and wound up watching both Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and LA Confidential.

 

[Quigley Brown]

A couple of modern adaptions of classic novels: 'Last of the Mohicans' with Daniel Day-Lewis and 'The Bounty' with Mel Gibson . In one the good guy gets the girl and the other it was the bad guy (my opinion) that gets her.

 

[AmateisGal]

We just got Direct TV this weekend, and of COURSE, I had to watch Turner Classic Movies!

Yesterday I watched The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I think I need to watch it again, though, to really figure out what happened.

 

[anon`]

We just got Direct TV this weekend, and of COURSE, I had to watch Turner Classic Movies!

Yesterday I watched The Big Sleep with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I think I need to watch it again, though, to really figure out what happened.

And again, and again, and again...

That's one of my favourite movies (along with the three or four dozen others I grant that status to!) and I still pick up new things about it every time I watch it. The DVD release that's floating around out there has an earlier, alternate edit that is a bit easier to follow, but I don't think I liked it quite as well as the theatrical edit.

 

[Feraud]

The more I watch The Big Sleep and pick up on storywise the less sense it makes!

 

[zaika]

i had TCM on pretty much all weekend...i was working around the house, and appreciated the stories going.
saturday i watched a couple of the bette davis films...jezebel, dark victory, dangerous...all wonderful.
yesterday i was kind of distracted, but watched a great hitchcock film whose title i don't remember. but i do remember the year. 1942. lol. maybe someone knows the title? it's the one about the uncle who is the merry widow murderer, and he's really close to his niece. she eventually realizes he's the murderer and when he catches on he tries to kill her, too...

anyone have the title?

 

[Feraud]

yesterday i was kind of distracted, but watched a great hitchcock film whose title i don't remember. but i do remember the year. 1942. lol. maybe someone knows the title? it's the one about the uncle who is the merry widow murderer, and he's really close to his niece. she eventually realizes he's the murderer and when he catches on he tries to kill her, too...

anyone have the title?

Shadow of a Doubt.

 

[zaika]

thanks a mil, mister!

 

[Feraud]

You are welcome.
Did you like the movie?

 

[AmateisGal]

Anon and Feraud, your words do not bring me comfort!

Seriously, I will definitely have to watch it again. Plus, I love watching Bogey and Bacall onscreen together.