What was the last movie you saw?

[Cathbad]

Oh man, that Harpy. I thought it was a good movie, not great, but not bad. I also liked the dead man. So now you have an idea what the series is like. Forget about the third installment.......CHECK OUT.....V/H/S 2......it's the best one.

Just watched VHS 2. It was better. Still not great, but steadier. Good if you like gore flicks.

 

[WaylanderToo]

Justice League- wow! Where to start? This really was s

t, and I do have quite some tolerance for poor movies! I quite enjoyed large chunks of Suicide Squad but this....

I really can't see how DC can do reasonably well on the small screen but cock it up so badly on the big screen (IMO Flash was dreadful - quite possibly one of the worst performances I've seen recently).

There are 2 post/mid credits scenes

 

[Boneman]

Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool. If you like romance, bittersweet, and you have lots of tissues, go see this one. Annette Bening is amazing, she simply lights up the screen, and if she don't win an Oscar, there's no Justice in the world, despite the previous poster... Jamie Bell is good, too.

 

[AE35Unit]

Just watched VHS 2...Good if you like gore flicks.

I'll skip on the strength of that

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Frau im Mond (Woman in the Moon, 1929)

Fritz Lang's silent science fiction epic about a lunar voyage. Mixes very accurate science (rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth was an adviser) with pure fantasy (the moon has a breathable atmosphere.) Besides the Destination Moon stuff, there's a love triangle, a villain working for a cabal of business people after the gold on the moon (!) and a preteen stowaway. Quite nicely filmed and entertaining. Multiple versions exist, from an hour and a half to more than three hours; the version I saw was more than two and one-half hours long, and never dragged.

The Wild Wild West Revisited (1979) and More Wild Wild West (1980)

So-so sequels to the cult TV series. Not as bad as the Will Smith version.

 

[clovis-man]

The Blues Brothers (1980)

"It's 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

 

[Vladd67]

The Blues Brothers (1980)

"It's 106 miles to Chicago. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses."

Pity about the second one.

 

[WaylanderToo]

Pity about the second one.

Dunno what you're talking about - there is no 2nd

 

[Vladd67]

My mistake,I must have had a bad dream.

 

[Cli-Fi]

Everest (2015)- Does not live up to the 1998 film, but that might have been because they were going for shock value there, while this film was more run down realistic version of events. I'm not totally sure about that since in both cases, things were added for drama. I liked this one a bit better, since it showed more about the preparation and all that is involved with climbing Mt. Everest. Some cheesy parts, but then again, I'm sure people do just fall to their deaths the minute you aren't looking.

Unbroken (2014)- ‎According to reviews Angelina Jolie makes a mediocre film about the amazing life about Louis Zamperini. But these reviews are bias, they are by people who are apparently obsessed with this guy. I totally get it. The guy is a superhero. On top of being a world-class Olympic athlete Zamperini survived in a raft for 47 days after his bomber crash landed in the ocean during World War II, then was sent to a series of prisoner of war camps. Talk about not catching a break.

This movie however, is not for his fan base. It's for the general public who doesn't know his story and Jolie did a good job summing it up. So, being unaware that someone like Zamperini existed and could withstand all that he did, this movie shook me up. The controversial film has upset Japanese nationalists, and christian evangelicals alike. While Jolie herself found religion while making this movie. I was happy to read that Zamperini did see the final film before he died in July of 2014. I totally recommend this movie! If not just to witness what this guy went through.

 

[Cli-Fi]

Keeping up with my movie-fest this weekend, here are more reviews:

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)- While the movie was good, I feel that it could have been a lot better and was trying to mix in the issue of conscientious objectors with Desmond Doss's story. Throughout the whole movie I ended up thinking more about that topic than Doss himself.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)- This movie is basically Captain Jack Sparrow is drunk, and Depp needs a paycheck. Plus some people fight over a staff. The title is confusing being that in just about every Pirate movie, dead men did tell tales

Blackhat (2015)- Boring hacker movie where the last half ends up being Thor trying to escape authorities using no hacks whatsoever! He's no John Wick either. Despite the blandness of this movie, Blackhat has been heralded as the best movie about hacking in years. Due to it's realism it's not a shiny Hackers film.

Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)- Take everything that Michael Bay has ever done and mash it up into one kickass movie. Seriously, this was the most fun I've had watching Transformers since Megan Fox was a thing. Oh yeah and there's Dinobots, Giant Sky Beams, Spaceships, Knights, Secret Societies, Conspiracies, Government Task Forces, Contamination Zones, NASA, Dragons, King Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin, Anthony Hopkins, and a mini suicide squad movie tied right in it. That's not to mention new Autobots, old Decepticons, Mini-dino babies, a ripoff stranger things group of kids, Stonehenge, the Borg queen, mystery horns, and the enchantress from suicide squad as well! Oh yeah and Mark Wahlberg fights with a robot butler on a submarine which takes us to a plot that's very similar to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales too. So there's like four movies in one here.

Now Transformers gets a lot of flack for not having good stories, but this was a big attempt to push the envelope and expand the world of Transformers a little bit and while most of the things that Bay introduced in this movie have little to no explanation nobody ever said Transformers was deep-thinking sci-fi. Come to see evil Optimus Prime. Oh wait, did I forgot to mention that sub-plot before?...

Automata (2014)- This is by far my favorite movie I watched yesterday. Great robot philosophy movie. I loved Chappie (2015) and this was even better. Answers the question, what would you do if Robots suddenly woke up? Would you help them or would you try to kill them? Would people believe you or would you be hunted for trying to sabotage the robots programming? Antonio Banderas is surprisingly very believable as an insurance agent at the Robotics company, ROC.

 

[Jeffbert]

The last contemporary movie I saw was episode 3 of the new MST3K. I think it was called Time Travelers (1960?). I know it was rather poor, and a sad career end for John Hoyt (though not his last film). The portal through which the Time Travelers pass, is what you might expect from an SNL sketch. So, they are in their lab, viewing the future through a portal intended for viewing only, they are having trouble with their equipment, when some guy says he thinks he can step right through it. He does, and rather than stay where they are, and call to him to return, they all go, & it closes behind them.

I saw something on cable a few weeks ago, with a similar idea, but this was recent, full of great SFX, and such. Cannot recall the name, though; it did involve an explosion, that sent them into the future.

I was never into the original MST3K, but this one seems to work for me.

a much older film was Night and the City (19050) shown last Sunday as one of TCM's NOIR ALLEY films. Richard Widmark portrays a guy who always seeks a way to avoid actual work, & has no end of get rich schemes. The final one, blows up in his face, as he tries to muscle-in on pro wrestling. There is the popular British way, and the classic Greek way. He tries to pit a guy from each, neither wants to fight the other, so he goads them both into it by saying to the one that the other said something insulting about him. I know this is a poor synopsis, but tough!

I much prefer the older films, for the most part.

 

[Toby Frost]

Paddington 2. Excellent. Go and watch it, if only for Hugh Grant as an evil thespian.

 

[HanaBi]

"Steptoe and Son Ride Again" (1973) - Rated "PG" UK/USA

The delightful BBC Tv sitcom ran from 1962 to 1974, and all eight seasons were pure comedy gold, and hugely popular with TV audiences. So it was inevitable the transition to the big screen would happen sooner or later. And sure enough the first film appeared in 1972 and again was very successful at the box office. However, like most things there is a law of diminishing returns, and thus is the case with this film. Not a patch on the first film, and miles behind the TV show in terms of inventive writing and quality acting.

Basically, Harold & Albert have to retire their work horse due to it becoming lame after travelling up the A1 to York from London. Given that the horse is crucial to their rag and bone business, Albert decides to cash in some of his life savings in order to buy a new one. However, Harold insists in doing the buying on his own, but ends up getting drunk and comes home with a blind greyhound purchased from a local gangster for far more than the £80 odd of Albert's life savings. So not only do they have a blind dog and no horse, but they now owe the hood £200. Out of sheer desperation Albert pretends to be dead in order for Harold to claim on his life insurance policy worth about £1000 in order to pay off their debts.

A script that would have worked over a 30 minute TV episode, but soon runs out of steam here. Very little melodrama, and more vulgar & crude pratfalls and jokes, most of which fall flat. A classic case of going through the motions, but remains instantly forgettable.

2/5

 

[HanaBi]

"A Shot in the Dark" (1964) Rated "PG" UK/USA

Incompetent but irresistible Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is back! This time to investigate a murder at the house of rich aristocrat Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders). The evidence (or "facts" as Clouseu reminds everyone) points to the innocent maid Maria (Elke Sommer). However, Clouseau, who is instantly smitten by her elf-like beauty, is not convinced she could have committed such a dastardly crime. But given Clouseau's known incompetence will anybody really believe him?

For me this is my favourite Blake Edwards/Peter Sellers "Panther" film: a delightful comedy filled with gags, smart one-liners, a touch of romance and a whole lot more besides. Sellers is, as usual, in fine form as the bungling policeman, with able support from Herbert Lom as his long-suffering boss.

4/5

 

[Vince W]

Paddington 2. Excellent. Go and watch it, if only for Hugh Grant as an evil thespian.

So he's playing himself in it.

 

[J-Sun]

"A Shot in the Dark" (1964) Rated "PG" UK/USA

Love that one. With the first, they didn't know quite what they had, with Clouseau as just an almost secondary character in a movie about others. It's still a good movie, but I agree with you: "Shot" is by far the best and one of my all-time favorite comedies. (I also like the third one a lot, but don't care for the others.)

 

[Jeffbert]

Is that the one with the nudist colony?

Not recently, but either Sellers or Obi-Wan or maybe both were in a caper film, in which they had stolen gold, & were trying to smuggle it abroad in Eiffel Tower souvenirs.

 

[HanaBi]

Love that one. With the first, they didn't know quite what they had, with Clouseau as just an almost secondary character in a movie about others. It's still a good movie, but I agree with you: "Shot" is by far the best and one of my all-time favorite comedies. (I also like the third one a lot, but don't care for the others.)

I have spent the last couple of days watching the early Panther films, including the original David Niven, right up to "Revenge of...." (1978); and it's a classic case of the law of diminishing returns in action here. But "Shot..." is my favourite, not least because Sellers was in his prime back in the early 60s.

 

[Toby Frost]

So he's playing himself in it.

And obviously enjoying it! Some of the lines are clearly written for adults - not that they're rude, but they're subtle. There's a joke about what's clearly a corrupt MP that make me laugh, as well as Grant's description of his awful-sounding one-man show. It's well worth a look.