Last Movie Watched Thread

Cargo 200 (2007) - Don't know if this Russian Balabanov is on anyone's radar, but holy hell what a darkly comic allegory for Glasnost and the coming dissolution of USSR this film portrays. It's a "based on facts" story, and  I certainly don't doubt the depravity recapitulated; however, how Balabanov manages to let the allegory ride the real events is artistry.

I watched this because my same-aged Polish co-worker suggested it; he emigrated this year after he and his wife won a Green Card Lottery in 2012/2013. It's difficult to chit-chat with him, but considering he's my office mate we do converse a lot.

The Green Slime (1968): It's a long story as to how I ended up watching this, but frankly, the story of this movie being made would probably be way more interesting than the movie. It's actually a collaboration between MGM and Toei Studios - the movie was shot in Japan with an American cast. There's some (maybe) surprising creatives in the cast, with the credited writers including Bill Finger of Batman fame, and the director being Kinji Fukasaku, who would go on to work on more memorable films like the Battles Without Honor and Humanity series, Battle Royale, and about half of Tora! Tora! Tora!.

As it stands, the writing is standard B-movie schlock and the special effects are vintage tokusatsu - though the spae station models end up looking terribly dated when compared to Kubrick's 2001, released a year earlier. It's probably a mark of the movie's quality that it ended up used as part of the original pitch for MST3K.

I am currently, right now, watching The Rock w Nic Cage and Sean Connery for the first time. Everything about it is completely terrible, and yet ....... that first car chase when Connery escapes from the hotel was probably the funniest thing I've seen in a long long time. It helps that I had three hours of sleep and then worked ten straight hours baking 500 loaves of bread and then came home and immediately had a glass of wine on an empty stomach. Nap time soon, I'm not sure what's happening in the movie anymore, but I think maybe it doesn't matter.

I love The Rock.

The movie.  The actor's okay too, but I'm talking about the movie.

We only watched about half of it in class, but LA Plays Itself would be the last movie I watched. I need to finish it as I was really enjoying it. LA seems like such a fascinating place, even though my only exposure to it is through film and TV. It seems so surreal, and this movie didn't really make it seem anymore grounded. The narrator does this thing I've noticed in a lot of video essay type docs like this, where they talk in this monotone, almost sort of ominous voice. Like a bad Werner Herzog or something. I normally find it really annoying but it seemed to suit this movie actually.

2001: A Space Odyssey(1968): Watched it for the first time last night and it has become my favorite Q-Brick film..... and also the only Q-Brick film I have seen. But do I think it is as great as the hype has said? Ehhhhh, maybe? It is probably the most technically proficient film I've ever seen and more than likely will ever see. Just for another space comparison/contrast(even if they aren't at all the same in terms of plot and what they are going for), Gravity looks like a video game when compared to this. The sets and the models are all really there and it really does feel like actual space, where with Gravity and lots of other space CG films I just never did. Q-Brick wanted the audience to feel the vastness of space, to feel like humanity is insignificant to everything out there in the deep black, and he more than succeeds. All the long shots, all the meticulous Discovery scenes were there for a reason. Now with all that out of the way.... I can get why some people think it is just a completely boring slog to get through. None of the characters are particularly interesting, only HAL really. The story is extremely bare bones and it does kinda feel like it has no point. Just on the outlook though, like right after I get digesting the film, it doesn't really feel like Q-Brick was trying to tell a story anyway, he very well could have, it just doesn't feel that way though. It just feels like it is nothing more than just trying to give one the experience of space and the vastness of the universe.

I appreciate this movie a lot, but I don't think I particularly like it that much outside of just looking cool as shit. It is a masterpiece, but one that I will probably not have a yearning to see again that much. Matt review-o matic says it is better than Drive(2011) because of course its.

One other note, the classical music in places(namely the hominid smashing the bones) was hard to take seriously, because of how much the music use has been parodied. When pop culture has seared into your brain spoofing this movie, it is hard to remove oneself from that.

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You need to fix that STAT. I'd recommend Dr. Strangelove or The Killing as good entry points. Or I guess next steps since you've already since 2001.

Earlier today I watched Yip Man, the 2008 one, with my roommate. He got home and wanted to watch something with action, and I put it on to humor him because he hadn't seen it. We ended up watching the whole thing. I don't think I had payed enough attention to it the last time I saw it. It has a lot more action, and was also waaay more nationalistic than I remembered. It got us pretty amped though, definitely didn't help with our noise complaints >_>

Watched the horror Come Back To Me randomly on Netflix. A woman having night terrors and seemingly losing time/hallucinating sets up hidden cameras to figure out what's happening to her. One thing I appreciated is that I did NOT see the explanation for what was happening coming one bit, and it was actually pretty creepy as a concept. Glad I knew absolutely nothing about it going into it. I liked the very last part at the time but now that I think about it futher it stretches the imagination a bit too much. But otherwise I enjoyed it! 

I rewatched Guardians of the Galaxy the other night. Maybe I'm suffering from Marvel exhaustion, but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much, a lot of the humor fell flat and the lazy/derivative plotting was a lot more obvious outside a theater setting (where good VFX can make anything tolerable). I don't know. It just felt joyless.

I hate to break it to you, but that thread got the boot, because apparently a few passive aggressive children were taking it too seriously. I'm bummed too.

Well, I saw The Theory Of Everything this afternoon and hoooooo boy.



Let me briefly say this; there are some extraordinary moments in the film and Eddie Raymane is fantastic. But good Lord is it sloppy and boring. The sole focus of the story is the romance between Stephen Hawking and Jane Hawking, which is unfortunately used as a replacement, not an aspect of, for compelling storytelling. I wish the film focused more on what made Hawking so brilliant, make his interests so riveting that the audience can't help but be as passionate about it as he is. Alas, that's all left on the sidelines for a middling "will-she-won't-she" romance that tremendously wastes Felicity Jones.

Time for the semi-annual sum of trans-oceanic flight movies, in order viewed:

Boyhood - pretty cool concept. I learned that being a parent sucks, alcohol sucks, Texas sucks, and teenagers are lame (I already knew these things).

Edge of Tomorrow - holy shit this is the best Tom Cruise action movie ever. It helps that he starts the movie slightly out of Tom Cruise Character.

Jodorowsky's Dune - perfect for a brief nap mid-flight. The beginning and the end suggest this is one of the wankingest thing ever. Oh and Lynch's Dune sucked? Fuck you, at least he didn't "rape" Frank Herbert's work, your extended in-movie metaphor.

Gonna have to type part 2 in a second post, phone getting laggy.

Part 2
Guardians of the Galaxy - second viewing, still great.

Grand Budapest Hotel - I liked it because of Ralph Fiennes and the kid, but maybe Wes Anderson needs to try something new tonally with some different actors. Like people who know how to do any non-American accent at all for a foreign setting.

Capn America 2 - still great. Only had time for the first half. What? 5.5 movies in 12 hours, I'm only human.