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

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balloonshark

Diamond Member
Jun 5, 2008
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I watched Colossal this week with Anne Hathaway. I thought this was going to be a kids movie but it is not. The movie could fit into a bunch of genres and it's rather unique which was refreshing. It's on HBO Max if you want to give it a watch.

 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,402
8,038
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My Dinner with Andre (Louis Malle, 111 minutes, 1981) 9.5/10

This is extraordinary for an extraordinary movie. Independent, as low budget as it gets, probably shot in 16mm (but available on Blue Ray and DVD via Criterion). Two main characters who play themselves (same names and they wrote the script) have an extensive conversation over dinner that touches on the eternal verities and echoes many of the major psychological and philosophical ideas of modern times. It's deep and quite engaging.

The first sentence of a long essay on the film (named "Long, Strange Trips") by Amy Taubin, in the included booklet in the Criterion release:

Seemingly nonchalant, impeccably crafted, borderline delirious, My Dinner with Andre is the result of an inspired collaboration among its actor-writers, Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory, and its director, Louis Malle.
 
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Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,402
8,038
136
I still havent seen Magnolia.
This was said of it in a thread dedicated to it at Rotten Tomatoes Forums (RIP!!!): "One of the best films ever made. It also has one of the best replay values out of any film."

I saw it one time in 2006. I didn't recall a thing but just read my reaction right after seeing it:

Watched first time last night. How long is this? Yeah, I was wondering way too much. Partly, because there was (for me) a lot of tension in that I was wondering what terrible things might happen, and there were land mines everywhere and they kept going off. Plus, the story lines were plentiful and seemingly unpredictably intersecting and that added greatly to the tension. There were many highly charged dramatic scenes, and that's quite an understatement. So, I was apprehensive, let's say. Anyway, I made it through the movie to discover that it did have a lot going on in the way of redemptive resolutions in spite of the terribly bleak goings-on. I imagine repetitive viewings will give a quite different caste to my take on this film. Paul Anderson, a highly regarded director, lots of premier actors in this.
 
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DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,444
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When i was a kid i thought that giving the protagonist role to a stuntman - you know, someone who can actually fight - was a great idea for a film.

Action U.S.A. - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096757/reference/
proved me wrong.

This horrible, boring, badly written and badly directed 1988 film is just a nonstop showcase for the stunt abilities of SOME GUY, where the stunt scenes are overly long, the plot if feeble, the pacing is fucked, and there are far too few 1980s naked boobs to keep anyone's interest.

my vote: 5/10 - Dont watch unless you yearn for the worst of the VHS rental era.
 

DigDog

Lifer
Jun 3, 2011
13,444
2,084
126
Also, i suffered through

The Insider - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140352/reference/

i'm going to guess that you can't remember this film starring Debi Mazar, Al Pacino, Russel Crowe, Rip Thorn, Michael Gambon, because it's so . boring.

The film starts with a pretty darn good scene of Al Pacino blindfolded, somewhere in Taliban or whatever territory. He wants do a reportage on Hezbollah, and is initially treated as a hostage and threatened, but his balls are hard as steel, and he managed to talk the Sheikh-In-Charge into granting an open interview.

THIS is the main problem with the film. There are a number of well made scenes, in a terribly unengaging plot, heavily diluted, and all in all badly put together.
(FYI: "unengaging" is a real world, Mr Forum)

Russel Crowe is a tobacco executive. He has just been let go, but they gave him the bling blings.
A few days later the ex-bosses call him back and they say, ok, we gave you the blingblings, but now you must retroactively sign this NEW non-disclosure which is waaaaay more restrictive than the previous, OR ELSE.
And Russel thinks, but i was not gonna rat. but now that you told me not to rat, i'm gonna rat. I am gonna rat so hard.

So the execs put in some feeble attempts at suiciding him, and the police put in some feeble attempts at preventing him from being suicided, because OUR HERO MUST GET TO THE TRIAL ALIVE.

...
Do you remember the Clint Eastwood film "The Gauntlet" ?

Yeah, it's the same film, except about 37x more boring.

Let's face it, there never was a good script to being with. The story is just too mundane, too boring, too uneventful. There is a somewhat decent character confrontation at the very end, for those with patience of steel, that would be good if the film was set up to lead to it, but once again no, it's just awful and disjointed. Incidentally, if you can even tell who the protagonist is, Al Pacino's character just fades out during the film.

Not at all a good show from director Michael Mann, who did the otherwise remarkable Last Of The Mohicans, and Heat.

My vote: 5.5/10 - could massively improve with heavy cutting.
 

Charmonium

Diamond Member
May 15, 2015
8,783
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Hulk (2003) 8/10

That's a little handicapped. I mean, despite how it might feel, 20 years is ancient in any tech heavy industry. Imagine you were using your cell from 20 years ago. Shit. Just looked this up. The i(have too much money)Phone didn't come out til naught 7. And you all but have to force yourself to not segway into the middle ages, the black plague, etc.

Nit: They periodically use a pic in pic technique that the 80's would be proud to call their own. Picked.

I sort of liked that they at least try to make the backstory sound plausibly sciencey. It still hurts a little though.

So . . . what else. Jennifer Connolly is quite lovely.
 

Charmonium

Diamond Member
May 15, 2015
8,783
2,297
136
Colosseum, 8 part series, current. 10 of 10

Only the first episode debuted tonight. It's narrated by experts and they don't play any of the bs, reality-show games with you. Mostly.

Tonight's episode revolved around a truly unique description of the headline battle's combatants - on opening day. It's pretty slow but they don't dump a lot on you at one time either. This is what you might expect to find on a history channel.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,856
4,974
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Colosseum, 8 part series, current. 10 of 10

Only the first episode debuted tonight. It's narrated by experts and they don't play any of the bs, reality-show games with you. Mostly.

Tonight's episode revolved around a truly unique description of the headline battle's combatants - on opening day. It's pretty slow but they don't dump a lot on you at one time either. This is what you might expect to find on a history channel.

Oh thanks for the heads up on this one. I like me some documentaries, and anything about Ancient Rome.
 
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Charmonium

Diamond Member
May 15, 2015
8,783
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Oh thanks for the heads up on this one. I like me some documentaries, and anything about Ancient Rome.
Very cool. I live to serve.

Sometimes I feel like the only person on this plane of reality that thinks shit like this is interesting.

But I've got a test for you. There's a new 30 minute show they have that also just debuted. "History's Crazy Rich Ancients." Take another look at that last word since you probably slid right over it.

Yup - Homes and parties of the ancients. This will hopefully be the softest core history you see. But you know, I'm cool with it. I never would have known that Foucault was Louis the 14th's treasurer (or some such - pablum history slowly begins to dissolve). And if it gets the Enquirer readers to tune in, that is just plain fantastic.
 

JujuFish

Lifer
Feb 3, 2005
10,999
733
136
I finally watched No Time to Die last month. I was slightly lost plotwise because it turns out I never saw Spectre. Still enjoyed it, but not as much as Casino Royale or Skyfall.
 
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