Last Movie You Watched...

Rhoda Nightingale

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The Dreamers. I feel a need to track down all the classic movies referenced in it now. Also, I've discovered I tend to enjoy romantic/erotic stories more in movies than I do in books. Maybe because the investment of time isn't so much? Or maybe because there's no one trying to convince me that the characters are desirable when the physical descriptions don't necessarily turn me on? Or possibly I'm just nursing a major jones for Michael Pitt right now. I suspect it's D) All of the above.
 

K.B. Parker

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Sanctum. I never got around to seeing it when it was first released, mainly because nobody seemed to like it. Surprisingly, I absolutely loved it. It was a very tense film.
 

Rhoda Nightingale

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The Dreamers is an incredible film -- one of the best.

Have you ever seen The Velvet Goldmine? Also an incredible film.

Velvet Goldmine I've seen twice--the first time in college. I was actually having an internal debate with myself over which one of those has the better soundtrack. It's . . . hard to say.
 

Jess Haines

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Sharknado. I went to the DVD signing at a local indie book/movie store.

Pics here if anyone wants to see. Even got one of me with the shark. :)
 

J.S.F.

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I liked Source Code even though I figured out who the killer was the first time around. (I think most people did). Half the fun is watching Jake G. go through his own journey of self-discovery.

Monolith is an enjoyable B-movie and you get to see John Hurt chew up the scenery.

Tarzan, 1932, was fun. Pre-code, it featured a very young Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan and they made a nice couple. Antique dialogue or no, it was still interesting.
 

bmstanford09

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I saw the Wolverine last weekend. It was okay, a little disappointing. I think I need the other x-men for Logan to play off of; the spares just don't do it for me.
 

katiemac

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In May, my coworkers chipped in and got.me a couple gift cards to the movie theater totally $110.

To date, I've.spent $17. There just aren't any interesting movies coming out.

Some suggestions for the next few weeks:

PRISONERS - September 20 - a thriller by an indie director about the detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) and father (Hugh Jackman) who try to find two missing girls.

GRAVITY - October 4 - Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, suspended in space. This one is made for the big screen.

PARKLAND - October 4 - Drama based on the hours after Kennedy was shot, from the resulting police investigation and the doctor who tries to save him.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS - October 11 - Tom Hanks plays ship captain whose ship is taken hostage by Somali pirates (based on true story).
 
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Calla Lily

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Dead Mine. Rich boy & GF hire mercenaries to get them into an abandoned WW2 mine/bunker/prison on an Indonesian island.

Absolutely nothing new here. A slight twist on the "soldier who doesn't believe WW2 ended". However, the characters made decisions COMPLETELY opposite to their established motives! Plus the end made no sense and left two ginormous unresolved plot holes. :gaah
 

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Star Trek - Into Darkness

While I like the characters, this particular story line was a hackneyed version of Kahn in the original series - and not very well done at that.

I also can't for the life of me, where they came up with the romance between Spock and Uhuru. Do they really need that?

At least the special effects were very good.

On a scale of 5, I would give it a 2.5.
 

Derrick

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RIDDICK

2013
Universal Pictures/Entertainment One
Written and Directed by David Twohy
Produced by Vin Diesel, Ted Field and Samantha Vincent
Based on characters created by Jim Wheat and Ken Wheat


When we pick up on RIDDICK it is five years after the events of “The Chronicles of Riddick” and he has learned what many a king before him has learned: it is easier to seize a crown than hold it. You may remember that at the end of that movie, Riddick slew The Lord Marshall (Colm Feore) and thereby himself ascended to the throne of The Lord Marshall, leading The Necromongers, religious fanatics who either convert or destroy entire planetary populations. “The Chronicles of Riddick” left us on quite a cliffhanger wondering what the most dangerous man in the galaxy would do with his own army.

Turns out not much at all. Riddick is double-crossed by Commander Vaako (Karl Urban) who tricks Riddick into going to a desolate planet that may or may not be Riddick’s homeworld of Furya. Riddick is left to die on that planet. A fate that he himself thinks he deserves because in those five years he allowed himself to get soft, to lose his edge. As this is a hostile planet full of hideously dangerous lifeforms that appear to do nothing but eat anything and everything, Riddick sees this as the perfect opportunity to get back the edge he’s lost, strip away the surface veneer of civilization and return to what he once was: the perfect killing machine.

I can’t help but wonder if after the ambitiously baroque excess of “The Chronicles of Riddick” David Twohy and Vin Diesel sat down to plot out this story and themselves wondered if they had lost their edge as well. Maybe they had taken Riddick too far from the character they had established with such overwhelming success in “Pitch Black.” Maybe they felt they had to pull Riddick back to his roots and for that reason RIDDICK plays out a lot like “Pitch Black 2.0” in the third act.

And for the record, I like “The Chronicles of Riddick” a lot. I approve of an ambitious failure much more than a play-it-safe success. The only problem I have with that movie is that it’s actually two movies in one. Once Riddick leaves Helion Prime and gets to Crematoria it’s an entirely different movie with its own supporting cast of characters that have nothing to do with the cast back on Helion Prime. That’s not to say it’s not exciting stuff to watch and if you haven’t seen “The Chronicles of Riddick” yet then consider that your homework assignment for the weekend. But let’s get back to RIDDICK.

Riddick is enjoying his life on this godforsaken planet, regaining his killing edge but the real test is to come when two separate groups of mercenary bounty hunters show up to capture Riddick dead or alive. One group is led by Boss Johns (Matthew Noble) the father of William Johns (Cole Hauser) from “Pitch Black.” He wants answers from Riddick as to his son’s fate. The other group is led by Santana (Jordi Molla) who simply wants Riddick’s head. The cat-and-mouse game of blood between Riddick and the mercenaries quickly develops into an all-out war for survival when the humans are attacked by a horde of savage monsters and must work together to stay alive long enough to get off the planet.
RIDDICK doesn’t add anything to the mythology of Richard B. Riddick and his universe the way “The Chronicles of Riddick” did and to me it feels like a movie whose only purpose is to re-establish Riddick as the character he was in “Pitch Black” before sending him off on further adventures. I hope so as I’m looking for a proper resolution of the Necromonger storyline in the next Riddick movie as there is still a lot of potential there to be explored.

The acting in RIDDICK is nothing to write home about but neither is it anything to sneer at either. It’s the type of acting that serves the need of the story. No more and no less. Jordi Molla walks off with the acting honors here. Santana is a delightfully goofy character that wouldn’t be out of place in a spaghetti western. Fans of Katee Sackhoff require nothing of her except to stand around looking hot, talk plenty of shit and beat the piss outta guys and so they will be more than satisfied with her performance here.

As for Vin Diesel himself, he slips back into Riddick’s skin with no problem and he again reminds us that when he wants to, Vin Diesel can act really well. I loved the first half hour or so of the movie which shows Riddick on his own, learning how to survive on the planet. I would have loved it more without the voiceovers but I appreciated the reminder that Riddick isn’t a thug or an ignorant killer. He’s actually very intelligent and perceptive with an inner life he shows to nobody.

So should you see RIDDICK? Yes. Even though to me it feels like a placeholder and not a complete movie. It feels to me like a warm-up before Twohy and Diesel tell a Riddick story that they really care about. It’s not a terrific nail-biter like “Pitch Black” or a pulse-pounding planet-hopping space opera like “The Chronicles of Riddick” but it’s an honest and respectably entertaining entry in the series with hopefully more to come. Enjoy.

118 minutes
Rated R
 

J.S.F.

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Lloyd the Conqueror.

My review will not be as long as Derrick's. The movie is quirky, funny in places and dumb in others. The acting is okay, some of the dialogue is very clever and at other times...not.

Worth a watch.
 

lindas

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I saw Riddick too and I absolutely love the idea behind the man and the story but I have to admit that this film left me a little cold much to my own disappointment. At times it reminded me of little more then a replay of Pitch Black. I kept waiting for him to get off the planet and the real story to begin but truth be told it didn't have any other story apart from a vengeful father who learns the truth about his son. (Something that happened in Pitch Black and I can barely recall the character.) The action and combat scenes are as awesome as usual and if you have followed the series you will undoubtedly want to watch this one regardless of lack of story. Vin Diesel has said that he wants to make another two movies to finish off the story but I would be hesitant to think they will make enough money out of this movie to continue. Which is just a darn shame.
 

dianeP

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The last English movie I watched was 27 Dresses. It was cute and funny.
But if anyone wants to try an interesting French movie, Cafe de Flore with Kevin Parent and Vanessa Paradis (yes, Johnny Depp's ex)

It's about a couple who divorce when he falls for another woman, but also a woman in 1960s who is raising a handicapped child... and the connection between the two.

I saw it a few years ago, and watching it again this week, knowing how it ends, knowing what the connection is, it's like a whole other experience.
 

K.B. Parker

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I just rewatched Martha Marcy Mae Marlene. Brilliant, haunting and devastating. That is how you make a movie. They really should have just called the movie 'A Star Is Born' because Elizabeth Olsen is here, and I hope she's around for a long time. Sarah Paulson, as always, gives a hell of a performance as well.
 

N.P. Browning

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The Last Tycoon.

Sort of a Chinese take on a 1915-1930s gangster flick, mixed with political troubles surrounding the war. Chow Yun Fat stars and was great, as usual, and I must say this dude looks great for being 58. I would have guessed him in his early 40s if I didn't know better. The film had great cinematography, and the periodic sets and costumes were very well done.

It'd be tough to say why I did and didn't like this film without spoilers, so I'll just say it's worth a watch, but probably not something I'd watch again.

6.5/10
 

Derrick

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REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE
1967
Warner Bros/Seven Arts
Directed by John Huston
Produced by John Huston and Ray Stark
Written by Gladys Hill and Chapman Mortimer
Based on the novel by Carson McCullers

I never fail to be astonished, amazed and downright gobsmacked by the movies of the 1950’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Those three decades produced movies of such astounding fearlessness and raw frankness in the subject matter they tackled with delirious glee. Subject matters that most major studio filmmakers today either stay away from or sugar coat. It’s been left up to television to give us nuanced characterization and mature exploration of adult subjects and themes. And to think that back in ‘70’s and ‘80’s most television programs were regarded as timewasting garbage.

Take REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE for instance. This is one truly weird movie made in 1967 about the darkest of damaged characters struggling with adultery, repressed homosexuality, self-mutilation, eroticism, voyeurism, suicide, perversion and depression. Try naming a movie made in the last ten years that can beat that for adult subject material. It’s a movie that’s worth seeing just for the performances of Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Brian Keith and Julie Harris alone. As well as for Robert Forster making his major motion picture debut. Forster doesn’t burn up the screen with his performance but he is the character that is the focus of attention for not only us but some of the movie’s main characters as well.

Major Weldon Penderton (Marlon Brando) appears to be the perfect soldier, serving on an unnamed Army base somewhere in Georgia in the 1940’s. A highly decorated soldier with years of distinguished service, he’s a man quietly and slowly going insane due to his near inhuman emotional self-control that will not allow him to display his unhappiness with his life. Not only is he aware of the affair going on between his lusty, hyper-sexual wife Lenore (Elizabeth Taylor) and his friend/commanding officer Lt. Colonel Morris Langdon (Brian Keith) he’s struggling to control his awakening homosexual yearning for Private Williams (Robert Forster)

The effort of keeping all those repressed emotions inside of him is affecting Penderton’s work. He makes excuses for Williams to come over to his house to do busywork and has all his fuses blown when while out horse riding he spies Williams riding bareback and bucky-tail nekkid. Williams appears to have a special bond with all the horses in the stables. Williams also has a special bond with Lenora although it’s a one-sided one. Williams sneaks into the Penderton house at night to watch her sleep and fondle her negligees.

Next door, Langdon has his own problems dealing with his neurotic wife Alison (Julie Harris) who has been drowning in depression for three years since the death of their newborn child. How depressed is she? So depressed that she cut off her nipples with pruning shears.

Yeah, you read that right.

Alison is fully aware of the affair and has banished her husband to the guest bedroom permanently. Her only real friend is her openly and flamboyantly gay Filipino houseboy Anicleto (Zorro David) with whom she shares an elaborate fantasy life which infuriates Langdon to no end. All these characters have their lives intertwined into quite the snake pit and while I can’t say that REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE is a fun movie to watch it is immensely engaging and after about thirty minutes I had to keep watching just to see how this was all going to turn out as I couldn’t possibly imagine any scenario where this story could have a happy ending. And I was right. It doesn’t.

John Huston decided to film the entire bizarre movie in a golden hue as if we are indeed watching the events reflected in a golden eye that I’ve read movie audiences back then hated but certainly gives the movie a distinct look. Elizabeth Taylor flings herself into the character of Lenore with a reckless fearlessness that easily matches her performance in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and “Suddenly, Last Summer” where she also played damaged women whose sexual appetites and the darkness of their souls threaten to consume everybody around them. Marlon Brando does some interesting things with his character that kept me guessing as I was never quite sure at any point of the movie what Penderton was going to do next. Brian Keith does his usual dependable, solid acting and Julie Harris has some really good moments where she gets to explore the desperation of her character.

So should you see REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE? If you’re a fan of John Huston, Elizabeth Taylor and/or Marlon Brando I should certainly say so. This movie is considered to be one of John Huston’s lesser films and I can understand why even if I don’t agree with it. The movie isn’t exactly an enjoyable one to watch but if you want to watch a truly harrowing trip into the collective hearts of darkness of some really miserable, unhappy people acted and directed by real professionals, give REFLECTIONS IN A GOLDEN EYE a viewing.
 

K.B. Parker

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^ I have honestly never heard of that, but it sounds like the kind of movie I love. I'm going to have to try and get my hands on a copy.