What's the last movie you've seen?

[King]

The Paper Chase

Groovy law student gets bummed out by tough professor.  It was decent.

[angus]

it seemed like a poor man's Forrest Gump.

Haven't heard that analysis of Shawshank yet.  I actually liked the movie.  And the ending.  Then again, I'm rather fond of the Zihuatanejo beaches myself. 

We watched Naked Among Wolves (subtitled in English) last night.  Somewhat fictional, somewhat factual, I gather.  I enjoyed it. 

[Eraserhead]

Dead Alive

Probably Peter Jackson's best work.

Oh man, I tried to forget that movie.....the pudding.....*shiver*. That said, Peter Jackson blows in general and you are right by a mile.

Yeah, I didn't think it was a great movie or anything but it did have a certain visual flair to it.

[Eraserhead]

Bananas

Very funny and also quite short (a plus in my book 90% of the time).

[King]

In the Loop

The West Wing meets The Office.  If that interests you, see it.

[Eraserhead]

Videodrome

Extremely weird. Loved it.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Videodrome

Extremely weird. Loved it.

Great, Great movie.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

The Room.

[I Am Feeblepizza.]

Nixon, starring Anthony Hopkins. I don't how much of the plot Stone exaggerated, but it was still a wonderful film and Hopkins was the perfect man to play Richard Nixon.

[Phony Moderate]

Nixon, starring Anthony Hopkins. I don't how much of the plot Stone exaggerated, but it was still a wonderful film and Hopkins was the perfect man to play Richard Nixon.

He uses the "Old Nixon Charm".

[I Am Feeblepizza.]

Nixon, starring Anthony Hopkins. I don't how much of the plot Stone exaggerated, but it was still a wonderful film and Hopkins was the perfect man to play Richard Nixon.

He uses the "Old Nixon Charm".

No one can resist that!

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Devil - meh.  Not great, not terrible.

[opebo]

Temple Grandin - interesting.

[Username MechaRFK]

Temple Grandin - interesting.

Yes it is opebo.


Harold and Kumar escape from Guantanamo Bay-7/10

[Insula Dei]

From Dusk Till Dawn

Decent, but the second half was at times less '1970s B-movie' and more 'Xena, the warrior Princess'

[Gustaf]

Bananas

Very funny and also quite short (a plus in my book 90% of the time).

Woody Allen one? I love this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYp9WtbMo2k

And I concur with Gully on Videodrome.

And, Angus, I liked it - I just didn't find it to be that good.

[angus]

And I concur with Gully on Videodrome.

And, Angus, I liked it - I just didn't find it to be that good.

What?  Videodrome?  I remember watching it a long time ago.  I enjoyed looking at Debbie Harry's breasts.  Not to mention James Woods' ass.  But honestly I thought it was kinda silly.  Breathing cassettes, veins running through tables, and handguns being stuffed into the abdomen.  Silliness.  Maybe it went over my head.

Last night I watched "El Crimen del Padre Amaro."  I liked it very much.  Apparently it was the biggest box-office grossing movie in Mexico ever.  I think the director should have developed Amaro's character more--it's hard to feel that he's falling from grace when you don't think he has many scruples to begin with--and the ending was very predictable.  But it was, overall, dramatic and captivating. 

[Gustaf]

And I concur with Gully on Videodrome.

And, Angus, I liked it - I just didn't find it to be that good.

What?  Videodrome?  I remember watching it a long time ago.  I enjoyed looking at Debbie Harry's breasts.  Not to mention James Woods' ass.  But honestly I thought it was kinda silly.  Breathing cassettes, veins running through tables, and handguns being stuffed into the abdomen.  Silliness.  Maybe it went over my head.

Last night I watched "El Crimen del Padre Amaro."  I liked it very much.  Apparently it was the biggest box-office grossing movie in Mexico ever.  I think the director should have developed Amaro's character more--it's hard to feel that he's falling from grace when you don't think he has many scruples to begin with--and the ending was very predictable.  But it was, overall, dramatic and captivating. 

No, no my comment to you was about Shawshank.

Saw Submarine tonight. Cute little movie. Although you might almost have settled for the trailer - it had most of the best moments.

[Eraserhead]

Yes, I was talking about the Woody Allen one.

[angus]

No, no my comment to you was about Shawshank.

Ah, that makes sense. 

Last night we watched Ladri di biciclette subtitled in English.  Unlike Shawshank, which was at its core a story about hope, Ladri is a classic example of Italian neo-realism, and is set in impoverished, post-war Rome.  There was no killing or bloodshed or gratuitous violence, so it was suitable for family viewing.  The protagonist is Antonio, an underemployed skilled worker who depends upon his bicycle for his job, and the story line is about Antonio and his son chasing down the man who stole his bicycle in the early part of the film.  The deeper story is a social message, I think. 

[Gustaf]

No, no my comment to you was about Shawshank.

Ah, that makes sense. 

Last night we watched Ladri di biciclette subtitled in English.  Unlike Shawshank, which was at its core a story about hope, Ladri is a classic example of Italian neo-realism, and is set in impoverished, post-war Rome.  There was no killing or bloodshed or gratuitous violence, so it was suitable for family viewing.  The protagonist is Antonio, an underemployed skilled worker who depends upon his bicycle for his job, and the story line is about Antonio and his son chasing down the man who stole his bicycle in the early part of the film.  The deeper story is a social message, I think. 

I've seen that. Great film, but quite sad. I wouldn't show it to a kid though. You want to wait till they're grown up before you kill their hopes.

(Although the ending is arguably a bit more positive again)

And I agree with you on the message. It seems to me that the whole premise is a message in itself - getting your bike stolen shouldn't mean starvation in a civilized society.

[angus]

getting your bike stolen shouldn't mean starvation in a civilized society.

Fair enough.  Think of the politics of the time.  UK and US supported the rightist northern Italians (Christian Democrats) over the Communists in postwar Italy, even though both US and UK legislatures were then controlled by center-left parties or coalitions.  The film doesn't come out wearing its politics on its sleeves, and the only references to politics that I can recall were in the opening scene when Antonio's wife makes some comment and later when Antonio is looking for help from his actor friend and he passes through a Communist Party meeting on the way to a theatrical rehearsal. 

But, yes, the messages are clear:  that the poor will steal from the poor when driven to despair, that the the police and the church are inept, and that even though the state can apparently regulate a brothel (and regulate the labor market), it is not very good at reducing poverty.

I think there may also be other sociological messages as well.  Antonio clearly re-examines his priorities when he thinks that the drowning boy may be his son.  Also, Antonio and his wife and son form a nuclear family with no relatives and few friends, so we think he probably isn't a Roman by birth.  (Were there lots of immigrants from Southern Italy in Rome in the late 40s?  I imagine that there were.  The government housing projects were a big part of the set and scenery in the movie.)  And Antonio, the outsider, is clearly unable to break the solidarity of the neighborhood men and women in protecting the thief who stole his bicycle.  There's something in that about human nature.

In the end, I agree, there was a glimmer of hope, about humanity I guess, when the other guy decided not to press charges against Antonio.  The humiliation he suffered in front of his child, as sad as it was, was a better lesson for the child to learn than the alternative.  (What lesson would he have learned if the attempt had been successful?)  That was positive, I think. 

I always want to see more denouement in such movies.  Maybe that's a stereotypical American attitude.  Having the boy and his father walk off, in some uncertainty, as the FINE sign fades in, leaves us with hope, but it also leaves us with unanswered questions.  But a great film overall.  And sad.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Technically the UK government supported Saragat at the time; not that there was much of a difference in practice.

[King]

Contagion

I can see why it has such a big name ensemble cast.  There was no character development and so the emotional hook of who lives/dies had to come from whether or not you care about Gwenyth Paltrow or not.

The whole film was paced like an HBO TV movie about how the CDC operates under epidemic conditions.  Dozens of quick scenes of big name stars entering in as characters, introducing themselves, and then educating us.  If Soderbergh weren't the director, it probably would have gone straight to HBO.

That being said, I enjoyed it.  I don't know if it's worth seeing in theaters, but if you catch on TV/DVD, it definitely is an interesting flick.

The only negative was the casting of Demetri Martin as one of the lab technicians.  I kept expecting him to make some strange joke observation while observing the viral data and could not take anything he was actually saying seriously.

[California8429]

Chicago