What was the last movie you watched?

I guess X-men 2 but I wasn't actually watching it, it was just on for background noise. I needed something to ignore so I could be productive.

The last movie I actually sat down and watched was Starship Troopers.

The Punk Singer. A pretty interesting documentary about Kathleen Hanna.

The Congress

Recommended for the animation. It is NOT CGI.

The last half or so of if.... Starring Malcolm Mc Dowell in his first film role. Classic film.

(Btw, that is the title.)

I just watched Rashomon. Both gorgeous and harrowing, in spite of the worst violence only happening off-screen.

I just watched Rashomon. It was garbage. I don't see why it's so famous.

I just watched Rashomon. It was okay, I guess.

I didn't watch Rashomon. I watched Mystery Science Theater 3000: Bride of the Monster.

Your four responses are either a nod to some MST stuff, your name here on TVT, or some joke I don't get.

It's a joke on how Rashomon has characters giving different accounts of the same story. I've never seen it myself, but I got the joke.

My last-watched was Willow. I found it painfully mediocre. The only things I found interesting were Val Kilmer's character, and an interesting double-subversion of Chekhov's Gun at the end. Other than that, it just felt very, very, very rote and forgettable. And yet it's one of the favorite movies of a friend who keeps recommending stuff for me to watch.

Oh. (facedesks in shame, since he saw the movie)

Office Space, for the first time. Love it.

Somehow you know that the time is right.

So far, that is the only workplace comedy I've gotten any enjoyment out of. I thought it started out kinda dry and Dilbert-y, but once it got past that, it was engaging and funny.

Get Carter. I thought it was good. :)

I smell magic in the air. Or maybe barbecue.

The Nightmare Before Christmas. "This is Halloween, this is Halloween," I don't know the rest of the words!

They play that song at Six Flag Great America's Fright Fest.

I smell magic in the air. Or maybe barbecue.

You should see it. No joke, it's really good. Rashomon didn't become a trope maker by being mediocre.

In other news...

Throne of Blood is beautifully surreal, and Kurosawa's change to the ending is harder-hitting than Shakespeare's original. The Macbeth analogue gets betrayed and killed by his own soldiers, rather than killed by the Macduff analogue. It really drives home just how badly Macbeth screwed up—even more so when you consider how the Japanese value unquestioning obedience to those in authority.

The Incredibles is still the best.

Robot Monster is a surprisingly bleak examination of humanity on the brink of extinction due to alien invaders... completely ruined by the most hilariously awful alien costume in movie history.

Just watched Star War - The Third Gathers: Backstroke Of The West with a friend. Had a fantastic time.

I have to return some videotapes. My Wall

Back to Bataan, starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn in a tale set around the Philippines' fight against the Japanese in WW 2. I liked it.

Stanley Kubrick's Lolita.

It's funny, the video casette I have plays that old "How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?" trailer before it starts. He got to make a fun little movie, but like he remarked himself, he didn't get to make his vision, and it hardly scratches the surface of the book's dark themes.

James Mason is absolutely delightful, and so is Peter Sellers, but their humour creates the wrong kind of unreality, and I find the drama falls flat as a result.

It's hard to compare, but I think the 1997 version hits the tone of the book better, even if it's quite pretentious. Pretentiousness is definitely closer to the mark. Jeremy Irons is so goddamn attractive, you can't help sympathising with the self-pitying creep.

I guess it helps that Jeremy Irons did the audiobook so well, and watching the film with his narration brings me back to that.

I find I don't worship Kubrick as much as movie buffs would seem to deem appropriate. Although I'd love to know what he'd have done with Lolita if he'd been able to make it today. As long as he didn't cast another teenage bombshell as Lolita.

Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.

Have you seen Kurosawa's Dreams? I still need to see most of his films, but Dreams is one of the most emotionally touching cinema experiences I've ever had. The final dream just about takes my breath away.

edited 18th Jan '15 5:32:29 AM by Nymue

Better to light one small candle than to curse the darkness.

Big Hero 6. What is it with these Disney CGI films nowadays where they're marketed as funny and then the first act of the movie is actually really sad?

Somehow you know that the time is right.

Blame the marketing people. Don't forget, these are the same folks who fucked up the marketing for "Brave" to such an extent that almost to a man the "critics" (and they usually were men) who reviewed it said that it was just another Disney princess movie. When it so fucking wasn't. Name another of those where both the princess' parents are still alive, happily if boisterously married and the princess doesn't cop off with the first available prince charming at the end of the film.

I have a really good article I found online that puts the boot into the groin of such lazy bastards, among them Roger Ebert, but that's probably even more off topic than I have already strayed.

@Nymue: No, I haven't, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for it. All I've seen are his Jidaigeki films: the two I already mentioned and Seven Samurai. I also have Yojimbo and Sanjuro on DVD but haven't been able to watch them yet.

edited 18th Jan '15 7:18:39 AM by MetaFour

Bridesmaids. It recently turned up on redbox for some reason, and I hadn't seen it before. I enjoyed it, but there's already a little bit of Seinfeld Is Unfunny for me now: See, part of the reason it was well-received at the time is that it was unusual to see a comedy with both raunchy or grossout humor and all female leads, but now there have been at least a few other movies that fit that description (notably, the main examples I can think of also had Melissa Mc Carthy). Oh, and I was also kind of amused by a minor gag about an auto mechanic named Bill Cozbi not wanting the actor/comedian of almost the same name mentioned in his presence - nowadays that joke lands a little differently. Also: I now have "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips in my head.