What was the last movie you saw?

[HanaBi]

Roman Polanski's "Repulsion" (1965)

A film way ahead of its time; very enjoyable, but equally just as disturbing.

When I watched this in my youth, I was far more interested in lead star, Catherine Deneuve, walking around her apartment in her negligee than her slow mental descent into confusion, revulsion & madness!

Today, the film still packs a great psychological punch, and deserves to be one of Polanksi's best

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Roman Polanski's "Repulsion" (1965)

A film way ahead of its time; very enjoyable, but equally just as disturbing.

When I watched this in my youth, I was far more interested in lead star, Catherine Deneuve, walking around her apartment in her negligee than her slow mental descent into confusion, revulsion & madness!

Today, the film still packs a great psychological punch, and deserves to be one of Polanksi's best

I agree. I would also take a look at his later film The Tenant as an equally fascinating variation on this theme.

 

[HanaBi]

Thanks, Victoria!

I have of course heard of "The Tenant", but just never got round to watching it, despite its excellent reputation.

To my utter shame, have only watched a mere handful of Polanski films: all the usual suspects, "Rosemary's Baby", "Cul de Sac", "Chinatown", "Tess" and of course "Repulsion"

I have to be in a certain "mood" to sit down and watch one of his films: a rare event indeed!

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Your "handful" is pretty much the same as mine.

 

[alchemist]

Avengers 2: Something something: forgettable superhero stuff with plot and themes recycled from the first one.

 

[Remedy]

Babel (2006) - Fantastic. Three vastly different plots and cultures intertwined.

 

[Foxbat]

The Grandmaster Wong Kar Wai's movies are things of beauty and this bio pic of Ip Man (teacher of Bruce Lee) is no exception. The gorgeous visuals are punctuated by some excellent martial arts.

Sublime.

 

[AE35Unit]

Gone through all the Hobbit films, watched part 3 for the first time. Very good.
Then watched the LOTR trilogy again. Brill

 

[Starbeast]

Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf (2014)

Awesome horror film about a blind, Veitnam veteran who moves into a quiet senoir citizen community, and discovers there's a monstrous killer on the loose.

I highly recommend this little gem of a film. Fantastic dark drama.

Digging Up the Marrow (2015)

Excellent nightmarish film that was inspired by Clive Barker's, NIGHTBREED. Disturbingly cool.

 

[Jesse412]

Hombre (1967)

Paul Newman plays a white man raised by Apache in this Martin Ritt film based on the Elmore Leonard novel. There's not a lot of action in the first half but the set up is interesting and there is lots of excellent character work. Newman surprisingly has little dialogue but what lines he does have he delivers superbly. Richard Boone gives a great performance as the film's villain, who robs a stagecoach and hunts the passengers through the desert when they escape with the money. The stand off at the climax is quite tense and the ending tragic.

 

[Droflet]

Rudderless (2014)

Intelligent movies are, sadly, a rarity. This story of loss, grief and redemption could have easily fallen into the maudlin but is elevated by a great script, cast and direction by William H Macey. The story is allowed to tell itself without bludgeoning the viewer in the traditional Hollywood style. Just when you think you have this story all worked out and pigeon-holed into a genre it takes a surprising turn. Not as good as Never Let Me Go but still an intelligent and moving experience.

 

[Jesse412]

Shenandoah (1965)

Jimmy Stewart had some great lines in this. He plays a widower and father from Virginia that refuses to get involved in the Civil War. When his youngest son is mistaken for a Confederate soldier his family goes out searching for him. There are some excellent and suspenseful action scenes throughout as well as some genuinely touching moments. Andrew V. McLaglen's direction in this is superb and he makes some interesting commentary on the effects of war while also showing us that just because someone chooses neutrality during wartime doesn't necessarily mean they will remain unscathed.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Half of Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. I managed to get to the point where our three maverick marine biologists - trying to solve the problem how to contain a thawed out Giant Prehistoric Shark, capable of leaping clean out of the sea and biting chunks out of long-haul passenger jets cruising at several thousand feet - took it in turns to peer down a small microscope for a few seconds. Crap, even by the Asylums's low standards.

 

[Starbeast]

Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf (2014)

Awesome horror film about a blind, Veitnam veteran who moves into a quiet senoir citizen community, and discovers there's a monstrous killer on the loose. I highly recommend this little gem of a film. Fantastic dark drama.

Half of Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. - took it in turns to peer down a small microscope for a few seconds. Crap, even by the Asylums's low standards.

Thanks for warning me about this "CGI-nightmare", JunkMonkey.

See Late Phases: Night of the Lone Wolf, you'll feel better (if you haven't already) my friend.

 

[Jesse412]

The Elephant Man (1980)

I'm a huge fan of David Lynch and I've been meaning to see this one for awhile. I think this film is more straight forward than most of his other movies and that's likely why it's regarded by many as his best work. There are some really powerful and genuinely moving scenes throughout. John Hurt is phenomenal in this beautifully tragic role and the special effects makeup he wears is incredible. Anthony Hopkins also gives a really solid performance as Dr. Treves.

 

[Rodders]

Jakob the Liar.

Not a big fan of Robin Williams, but this was a bitter sweet movie. Nicely done.

 

[J-Sun]

The Elephant Man (1980)
...
I'm a huge fan of David Lynch and I've been meaning to see this one for awhile. I think this film is more straight forward than most of his other movies and that's likely why it's regarded by many as his best work. There are some really powerful and genuinely moving scenes throughout. John Hurt is phenomenal in this beautifully tragic role and the special effects makeup he wears is incredible. Anthony Hopkins also gives a really solid performance as Dr. Treves.

Basically ditto. I'm a big fan of most of Lynch's films and finally got around to seeing this not too long ago. It does only have a couple of touches of definitively Lynchian weirdness (which actually don't work quite perfectly in this film) but it looks great. And, yeah, I'm not a fan of most "emotional" movies but this worked really well for me. Great performances all around - Hurt and Hopkins, of course, but also including Anne Bancroft. Even the "lesser" roles like the main younger and older nurses. And Gielgud! I think there's something to what you say about why it's so well-regarded - I think most Lynch fans would love it but I also think most people who are put off by "Lynch films" would actually really enjoy this one, too. It is basically an "ordinary" film (in structure and presentation) except that it's just so uncommonly good.

 

[Jesse412]

The Killing (1956)

While it's not my favorite Stanley Kubrick movie he absolutely nails the film noir genre here. With him also writing the screenplay the dialogue is very strong and he applies the cliches of the crime drama genre extremely well. There are some excellent performances throughout particularly Elisha Cook, Sterling Hayden and Marie Windsor. The score by Gerald Fried fits the pacing and suspense perfectly. The heist that is planned out in this is pretty interesting and I found the ending to be very satisfying.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Twelve to the Moon (1960) - probably the dullest 'first men on the moon' film I have yet seen, though it does garner a few brownie points for having a mixed ethnicity crew (the non Caucasian members of which actually survive till the end of the film!) and messages about world peace and forgiveness. (The bad guys turns out to be the snarky French member of the crew who is thwarted by the snarky Russian member of the crew and the angry Israeli member of the crew dies in a Nobel act of Self Sacrifice with tortured German member of the crew, who is the son of the Nazi commander responsible for the extermination of the angry Israeli member of the crew's family etc. etc.).

But, by golly, it was a grind getting to the end. There were, as was obligatory in space films of this period, unexpected meteor showers along the way which did nothing to alleviate the boredom. The end (the aforementioned Nobel act of Self Sacrifice) involved our heroes knocking up an atomic bomb out of bits lying about their spaceship and dropping it down the Popocatepetl volcano which will, somehow, by the magic of WTF? 1950's movie science, unfreeze the whole of North America which has been plunged into an instant ice age by moon people.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Starship (aka Lorca and the Outlaws 1984) - six years before making his masterwork, Battlefield Earth, ("This! This is the one I will be remembered for!") director Roger Christian made this flacid, tedious piece of SF poo. I think it was about an evil corporation wanting to massacre all its employees and replace them with robots and the only people who can stop them are three, young, unemployable actors and robot. Leaden paced but with sudden out-of-nowhere bursts of confused, badly-staged action which made the film both boring and baffling at the same time - an interesting combination. The show culminated in a superb piece of Ed Wood like stock footage abuse when a couple of (very) long shots of quarry blasting were meant to stand in for the cataclysmic explosions bringing the down the evil guys base - or something. I was too bored and baffled to be bothered working out what was going on at the end apart from noting that the actor playing our hero couldn't even pull a lever convincingly. Apparently 1980s pop sensations Toyah Wilcox and Peter Gabriel were in it but I must have blinked and missed them.