What's the last movie you've seen? (2nd thread)

[DemPGH]

Anybody else a big fan of Roman Polanski? Love his dark, creepy, heady stuff. I saw a number of years ago The Nine Gates with Johnny Depp in which Depp plays a book dealer who gets sucked into a cult run by bored wealthy people. Really superb, one of his best films. A heady, creepy mystery.

Well, someone recommended to me Polanski's version of Macbeth from the early 1970s. I watched it and have to say that from the perspective of someone in the States it's one of the finest Medieval themed movies I have ever seen. I will watch it again. Really great. Dark and hyper realistic from the standpoint of locale and sets (filmed in Wales, I read). All the illusions Macbeth has and ghosts  that he sees and so forth are clearly a product of his mind, he clearly makes happen the prophecies, and best of all, it could easily be a 1940s Chicago or New York Godfather kind of deal. Really well done. The coronation scene of Macbeth looks a lot like stuff you see in artwork from the time, and there are places where the movie is really trippy. A+

The problem is that Polanski is too terrible of a person for that to be easily separated from his work. He is an extremely vile and disgusting individual.

. . . Huh?

[Paul Kemp]

Anybody else a big fan of Roman Polanski? Love his dark, creepy, heady stuff. I saw a number of years ago The Nine Gates with Johnny Depp in which Depp plays a book dealer who gets sucked into a cult run by bored wealthy people. Really superb, one of his best films. A heady, creepy mystery.

Well, someone recommended to me Polanski's version of Macbeth from the early 1970s. I watched it and have to say that from the perspective of someone in the States it's one of the finest Medieval themed movies I have ever seen. I will watch it again. Really great. Dark and hyper realistic from the standpoint of locale and sets (filmed in Wales, I read). All the illusions Macbeth has and ghosts  that he sees and so forth are clearly a product of his mind, he clearly makes happen the prophecies, and best of all, it could easily be a 1940s Chicago or New York Godfather kind of deal. Really well done. The coronation scene of Macbeth looks a lot like stuff you see in artwork from the time, and there are places where the movie is really trippy. A+

The problem is that Polanski is too terrible of a person for that to be easily separated from his work. He is an extremely vile and disgusting individual.

. . . Huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_case

...but personally, it's easy for me to separate that from his work. Chinatown is obviously one of the greatest films of all time.

[Mr. Morden]

Star Trek Into Darkness

OK, I guess.  Would have been better if there weren't so many plot holes.

[Beet]

Anybody else a big fan of Roman Polanski? Love his dark, creepy, heady stuff. I saw a number of years ago The Nine Gates with Johnny Depp in which Depp plays a book dealer who gets sucked into a cult run by bored wealthy people. Really superb, one of his best films. A heady, creepy mystery.

Well, someone recommended to me Polanski's version of Macbeth from the early 1970s. I watched it and have to say that from the perspective of someone in the States it's one of the finest Medieval themed movies I have ever seen. I will watch it again. Really great. Dark and hyper realistic from the standpoint of locale and sets (filmed in Wales, I read). All the illusions Macbeth has and ghosts  that he sees and so forth are clearly a product of his mind, he clearly makes happen the prophecies, and best of all, it could easily be a 1940s Chicago or New York Godfather kind of deal. Really well done. The coronation scene of Macbeth looks a lot like stuff you see in artwork from the time, and there are places where the movie is really trippy. A+

The problem is that Polanski is too terrible of a person for that to be easily separated from his work. He is an extremely vile and disgusting individual.

. . . Huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski_sexual_abuse_case

...but personally, it's easy for me to separate that from his work. Chinatown is obviously one of the greatest films of all time.

^^^

Agreed. Chinatown is one of my favorite films. I do find it creepy though that one of the themes is sexual abuse of a child, especially in the context of the ending. What it shows that the line between art and reality isn't always finely drawn.

[DemPGH]

Yeah, the sex abuse case is ancient news. There's a lot to it, no one approves of it, but there is a book coming out soon, if it's not already out, by the lady who it concerned. She has asked on many occasions after the civil suit was filed in the middle '80s that it be tossed. Old news, and certainly nothing to connect to his work. His work his superb.

Yes, Chinatown was very well done.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Life of Pi

It's easy to both see how Ang Lee won Best Director and how the book was considered "unfilmable", though Lee's cinematography and directorial talent are exemplary the story had some issues being translated to screen and got boring in one part, there's only so long you can do "guy is stuck on a boat out in the ocean with a tiger". However worth seeing for the positive aspects and better parts of the story alone.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeah, the sex abuse case is ancient news. There's a lot to it, no one approves of it, but there is a book coming out soon, if it's not already out, by the lady who it concerned. She has asked on many occasions after the civil suit was filed in the middle '80s that it be tossed. Old news, and certainly nothing to connect to his work.

That's an absolutely and utterly despicable attitude.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

By which, to get in before any random attempt at misrepresentation is made, I mean lines such as 'the sex abuse case is ancient news' and so on and so forth. I don't mean that people that like Polanski's work are automatically absolutely and utterly despicable, even if I would reject the idea that you can ever entirely separate someone's work from them themselves. Anyway, I suspect the poster in question would take a very different line if Polanski were a bishop or something.

[Hash]

Yeah, the sex abuse case is ancient news. There's a lot to it, no one approves of it, but there is a book coming out soon, if it's not already out, by the lady who it concerned. She has asked on many occasions after the civil suit was filed in the middle '80s that it be tossed. Old news, and certainly nothing to connect to his work.

That's an absolutely and utterly despicable attitude.

The Atlas Forum is living up to its tradition!

[Antonio the Sixth]

BTW, I only learned the whole thing about Polanski after he was arrested. Kinda like DSK before the NYC case. Ah, the French media...

[Mr. Morden]

Ftr, I like some of Polanski's movies, but obvioiusly find him to be an awful person.  I think the long time that has passed since he first became a fugitive make his actions worse, not better, for reasons I explained three years ago in this post:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=120482.msg2576595#msg2576595

[DemPGH]

Star Trek Into Darkness

OK, I guess.  Would have been better if there weren't so many plot holes.

I've heard that. I have not seen it, and I never watched the one from 2009. IMO, it went down hill after The Next Generation. Then really plummeted toward the end of Voyager, most of which I did did not watch. It's just general sci-fi action now.

By which, to get in before any random attempt at misrepresentation is made, I mean lines such as 'the sex abuse case is ancient news' and so on and so forth. I don't mean that people that like Polanski's work are automatically absolutely and utterly despicable, even if I would reject the idea that you can ever entirely separate someone's work from them themselves. Anyway, I suspect the poster in question would take a very different line if Polanski were a bishop or something.

Well wait, now hold on. I know you'll have an easy time finding fault with what I say, but let me try to explain. Of course I would never justify what Polanski did, and moreover no one else is either. Rather, people say it's time to end it and get beyond it because it was so long ago. To your point. . . One is, there's a difference between being at Jack Nicholson's house to wine-and-dine, where Hugh Hefner went to party, and being at choir practice. Would you at least grant me that? If not, I understand.

Two is, the lady in question settled many years after the fact out of court with Polanski and has repeatedly asked the government to drop its case against him. That all goes a long way for me, and in no way connects to his work. As an American who watches a lot of American films, Scorsese is probably my favorite. I put Polanski at or near Scorsese's level. Just an artistic opinion.

[Mr. Morden]

Rather, people say it's time to end it and get beyond it because it was so long ago.

If he'd served his time, and had been out of jail for some time now, had gotten back to making movies....then fine, his crime was awful, but he paid the price for it, and it's in the past now.

But of course, he didn't pay the price for it.  He became a fugitive, and avoided serving jail time when he should have, when he was in the prime of his life.  Sorry, but no free pass for "it was a long time ago" if you never actually faced the music for your crime.

[King]

Polanski's best film (the mentioned Chinatown) was entirely Robert Towne's unchanged shot-for-shot perfect script, anyway.  So I don't feel bad about calling him a HP because I liked the movie.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Knife in the Water - Polanski's first - is a great movie, one of my favourites and I've liked practically everything of his I've seen.

That doesn't mean he isn't a terrible, terrible human being though. End of.

[Paul Kemp]

That doesn't mean he isn't a terrible, terrible human being though. End of.

Yea exactly. Same here.

I sincerely hope there's no one that believes liking his films is an endorsement of his despicable and horrid actions.

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

So did you guys see Iron Man 3?

I basically thought it sucked.

I didnt like what they did to the mandarin.

[Eraserhead]

So did you guys see Iron Man 3?

I basically thought it sucked.

I didnt like what they did to the mandarin.

Same here. That was... ridiculous.

[Eraserhead]

Star Trek Into Darkness

Awesome. Hopefully people stop going to Iron Man 3 and go to this instead.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Kicking and Screaming, with Will Ferrell, Robert Duvall, and Mike Ditka.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Just watched Lincoln last night and the night before with my mom after receiving it on DVD for my birthday. Fantastic film! I WANT PREQUELS!!! If Spielberg has that gigantic binder that Kushner or whatever his name made for him, he has enough material for two or three movies.

[DemPGH]

Just watched Lincoln last night and the night before with my mom after receiving it on DVD for my birthday. Fantastic film! I WANT PREQUELS!!! If Spielberg has that gigantic binder that Kushner or whatever his name made for him, he has enough material for two or three movies.

That would be consistent with him and Lucas and so on! Don't make one movie, make three or four and milk them with multiple releases and editions. Unfortunately, it won't be like the two movies done so far about Elizabeth spaced about 10 years apart - I think there is a third tentatively planned to show her late career / life.

But yeah, I finally saw Lincoln on DVD actually maybe three weeks or so ago, and it was really superb for its sharp focus on Amendment XIII. A larger scope would have helped the movie have broader appeal, I think.

Just watched the new Star Trek film... I don't know what to say. What a ****king disaster.

I find it generally unconscionable that they call this garbage Star Trek. But times change. It really wasn't all that long ago that it still had quite a bit to do with Gene's ideas. That said, it's not like they can't take it in new directions, but what passes for Star Trek now is really awful.

I find the original series quaint, retro, and funky, but The Next Generation, IMO, is top drawer.

[bore]

The Great Gatsby by Luhrman.

IMO it was godawful. Some parts were laughably over the top (Gatsby's unveiling) and therefore at least entertaining, but for the most it was kind of dull. The worst parts though were the change to the ending, the fact that Nick is now insane and the transformation of some really beautiful bits of dialogue/narrative into something else entirely.

[Хahar 🤔]

I love Polanski's Macbeth.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Just watched Big Miracle.  Good movie, and great acting as always, of course, by John Krasinski.

Now watching Beginners.