NOW CLOSED ; List some movies you've watched recently. Theatre, rental, TV... and give a */10

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Jul 27, 2020
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Some of my favorite films of the era were led by Robert Redford.
I like Redford's movies and generally don't mind old movies. Something was just off about Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Maybe the way it was directed didn't appeal to me. Guess Spielberg was still learning his craft at the time. I also haven't seen E.T. but since it's more geared towards kids, I have a feeling I will like that more.
 

quikah

Diamond Member
Apr 7, 2003
4,068
649
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Super Mario Bros - 7/10 (for nostalgia) / 5/10 as a movie

It is a very safe, paint by the numbers sort of film. Visuals are great. Toad and Bowser are well acted, Mario, Luigi and Peach are fine, Donkey Kong kind of stinks (too much Seth Rogan in the performance). The story is very thin, mostly just used as a vehicle to showcase visuals.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Indiana_Jones.png
 
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A///

Diamond Member
Feb 24, 2017
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I like Redford's movies and generally don't mind old movies. Something was just off about Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Maybe the way it was directed didn't appeal to me. Guess Spielberg was still learning his craft at the time. I also haven't seen E.T. but since it's more geared towards kids, I have a feeling I will like that more.
Possibly! There is a joke in Men in Black 2 where Will Smith's character takes a swipe at Spielberg when they watch a cheesy UFO or alien film in black and white. The cinema room I was in during opening weekend exploded in laughter at that joke.
 
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DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,443
2,083
126
i dont think CE3K was in any way aimed at a younger audience. There is a main part of the film that is Richard Dreyfus's relationship with his wife, who thinks he is losing his mind, and he is the main of .. others, in a similar position ? (havent seen it in 30 years) and those are more relevant to the plot that THE SPACESHIP. The wife leaves him and takes the kids. The famous scene of the mashed potatoes has him crying because he cannot stop himself being paranoid in front of his family. I mean, Francois Fucking Truffaut is in that film, this was not a film for children at all. It was also meant to point the finger at the rather absurd UFO mania that had been raging for 20 years and that people had been taking too seriously.

Robert Redford is a weird choice to say "old films". As far as i can tell off the top of my head, ALL his films are still very much watchable and good - All The Presiden't Men, Three Days Of Condor, Brubaker, maybe Jeremiah Johnson took a bit of effort, it's only recently that he began picking up shit cameos, but his old stuff from almost 50 years past is still great.
 

purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
52,834
5,713
126
Super Mario Bros

I thought it was FANTASTIC. There are so many damn little easter eggs in the movie too. I don't know how one could be a Mario/Nintendo fan and NOT enjoy the movie. Visuals were incredible and it just had so many fun tie ins to the game. My favorite part was the whole Mario Kart part, from the very start with the music to the very end. I feel like the movie never lets up once it starts too. It blew by.

Only thing I didn't like was that it cost me just under $70 for 2 of us in IMAX with a snack and drink. It's ridiculous how much movies cost. I hadn't been to one in like a decade and won't be back for a while either. I could have bought that movie on bluray 3x and watched it in my HT without kids kicking the back of my sons chair.
 

Hulk

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
4,191
1,975
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i dont think CE3K was in any way aimed at a younger audience. There is a main part of the film that is Richard Dreyfus's relationship with his wife, who thinks he is losing his mind, and he is the main of .. others, in a similar position ? (havent seen it in 30 years) and those are more relevant to the plot that THE SPACESHIP. The wife leaves him and takes the kids. The famous scene of the mashed potatoes has him crying because he cannot stop himself being paranoid in front of his family. I mean, Francois Fucking Truffaut is in that film, this was not a film for children at all. It was also meant to point the finger at the rather absurd UFO mania that had been raging for 20 years and that people had been taking too seriously.

Robert Redford is a weird choice to say "old films". As far as i can tell off the top of my head, ALL his films are still very much watchable and good - All The Presiden't Men, Three Days Of Condor, Brubaker, maybe Jeremiah Johnson took a bit of effort, it's only recently that he began picking up shit cameos, but his old stuff from almost 50 years past is still great.
CE3K is an absolute Sci-Fi masterpiece. Up there with Blade Runner and the 1953 War of the Worlds.

The people being "invited" by the aliens, only some put it together and find devils peak, fewer still make it there. The communication using music. And of course the best alien encounter scene ever in a movie. One of the few movies with a great ending. Yeah, nothing gets blown up and no killing, just good storytelling and drams, which of course isn't valued anymore.
 
Jul 27, 2020
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Lost Highway is even worse than Blade Runner.
NO story and only mildly amusing scenery.
5/10.

Wild At Heart had a mediocre story but at least it was there. It also had lots of annoying bullshit.
6/10.

Blue Velvet.
WTF/10
Some people consider these to be masterpieces.

I think they are OK movies. Make you think about what you saw and try to figure stuff out.
 
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DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,443
2,083
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i approve of your politeness, Igor.

To be fair, Lost Highway (and Mulholland Drive) are weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeird films and when i watched them i was puzzled and confused and was not happy.
Maybe i just didint have the mental focus to fully appreciate them.

Blue Velvet, idk, it seems a pretty straightforward film to me. Same for Wild At Heart. WAH had at the time the added bonus that both Nic Cage and Laura Dern were raising stars, which everyone expected to explode to success, which they did - and then kinda fizzled out.

Let me be clear, i think David Lynch is a genius, but, because he did Dune. NOT because of Eraserhead or Elephant Man or anything else. You gotta understand that the first 2 Lynch films i had seen were WAH and Dune, then i watched Blue Velvet which i thought, meh, it's allright, so i was expecting the other Lynch stuff to be on par .. which it's not. I won't say that it's BAD, but it's stuff that i dont understand.
 

Thump553

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
12,649
2,384
126
i dont think CE3K was in any way aimed at a younger audience. There is a main part of the film that is Richard Dreyfus's relationship with his wife, who thinks he is losing his mind, and he is the main of .. others, in a similar position ? (havent seen it in 30 years) and those are more relevant to the plot that THE SPACESHIP. The wife leaves him and takes the kids. The famous scene of the mashed potatoes has him crying because he cannot stop himself being paranoid in front of his family. I mean, Francois Fucking Truffaut is in that film, this was not a film for children at all. It was also meant to point the finger at the rather absurd UFO mania that had been raging for 20 years and that people had been taking too seriously.

Robert Redford is a weird choice to say "old films". As far as i can tell off the top of my head, ALL his films are still very much watchable and good - All The Presiden't Men, Three Days Of Condor, Brubaker, maybe Jeremiah Johnson took a bit of effort, it's only recently that he began picking up shit cameos, but his old stuff from almost 50 years past is still great.
Good analysis. I just watched Paul (went into it with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised) which at several points was sort of an homage to Close Encounters. Heck, they even ended up at Devil's Peak.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
This is usually NOT a good sign.


Capture.JPG


And I agree. The show lost focus and what they do focus on is usually boring or stupid.

We only have one episode left and they cant possibly resolve any major plots in that time, unless its two hours long and magically gets the same quality writing as the first movie.

Season 3 gets a 4/10.
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
82,854
17,365
136
Along those same lines, Ted Lasso is going downhill slowly. The characters are not as interesting as they used to be, nor is their drama.
I dont think they had enough good ideas to fill three whole seasons.
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,443
2,083
126
i watched - after not having watched it in many years - The Empire Strikes Back - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/reference/

You know, that film? The film everyone thinks is better than Star Wars? Yes that one.

Mostly because i wanted to watch the Yoda scene, and wound up watching the whole thing. And, i found something i had missed before; it is in fact The Emperor, who tells Vader that Luke is his son.
About 53 minutes in, when Vader presses for the fleet to scour the asteroid field to find the Millennium Falcon, he is told by a subordinate that the Emperor wants to talk to him. During the following scene, Vader is told that Luke is his son, but, "indirectly". In fact the Emperor calls Luke "the son of Anakin Skywalker" - right to Vader's face.

anyway. great film. 9/10
 
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JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
30,160
3,300
126
i watched - after not having watched it in many years - The Empire Strikes Back - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/reference/

You know, that film? The film everyone thinks is better than Star Wars? Yes that one.

Mostly because i wanted to watch the Yoda scene, and wound up watching the whole thing. And, i found something i had missed before; it is in fact The Emperor, who tells Vader that Luke is his son.
About 53 minutes in, when Vader presses for the fleet to scour the asteroid field to find the Millennium Falcon, he is told by a subordinate that the Emperor wants to talk to him. During the following scene, Vader is told that Luke is his son, but, "indirectly". In fact the Emperor calls Luke "the son of Anakin Skywalker" - right to Vader's face.

anyway. great film. 9/10
Saw the fanedit Despecialized edition as well as Hal9000's edition of Empire Strikes Back.

my quick Review of those 2 here:
 
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IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
68,847
26,621
136
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - in all the years that this movie has been out, no one thought to mention just how awful it is. The plot, the acting, the stunts are unbelievably bad. 0/10
 
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DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,443
2,083
126
So, there's a video of an acceptance speech by Iron Man Robert Downey Jr, saying "i was a junkie etc" but thanks to Mel Gibson (i know, the irony) for casting me in
The Singing Detective (2003) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314676/reference/

and i thought, "i haven't watched this", and so i did.

There is no singing in this film.
Ok there is a little bit of singing. But to mark it as a "musical" is a gross misrepresentation. let's say that there are short and occasional uses of songs in the soundtrack that are introduced by the characters on screen, but the two quickly disjoint. It's no more of a musical than any film that has a song with lyrics in it.

"The Singing Detective" of this film is the alter ego of Pulp writer Dan Black, currently hospitalized for a skin disease, which in turn leads to varying levels of hallucinations. These in turn are the recurring characters which make up the majority of the film.
There is a main, "imaginary" plot about his alter ego investigating the relationship between a man and a prostitute, and two gangsters who kidnap her. Depending on the hallucination, these characters have more serious, or more absurd dialogue.
The hospital plot instead involves Mel Gibson as the doctor who is trying to figure out the Freudian issues that are generating the hallucinations to begin with.

I can see why this film wouldn't be liked by the common audience. It's not quite absurdity as Barton Fink, or some Lynch film, but it's still weird. Fortunately it's weird up to a level that i can still enjoy, the dialogue is good, RDJ is good, Gibson is .. weird .. and Katie Holmes is a babe. There is a waaaaay too long penis-joke scene that is frankly hilarious for how long it's stretched out.

Eh .. it's allright. It's certainly different that whatever other film you watched this week, so, with that in mind,

6.5/10 - better than the current IMDb rating.
 
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