Last Movie Watched Thread

Valentine's Day was yesterday, but this is a long weekend for me, so I took the time today to watch a romantic comedy classic: Zapped! starring Scott Baio. If I had seen this as a kid, it would have been the greatest movie ever.

Horns. Hahahaha, wow, why the fuck did we watch that the day after Valentine's?

The Raid 2. I know a lot of people didn't like it, but its like a Takeshi Kitano Yakuza movie combined with insane action setpieces so it was basically like the movie was made entirely for me, and thus now its easily one of my favorite movies ever.

The Women (1939), the modern feminist in me is fighting with the historical buff in me which in turn makes the feminist even angrier because history has been crappy to women.

Inherent Vice: I really enjoyed it—it wasn’t the sort of broad, riotous comedy promised by the trailer, and I’m glad with that. There’s a constant slow, burning tension which really worked for me, with humor suffused throughout (both obvious funny stuff and deeper, more structural humor). I really, really loved it, to a degree that I think a lot of other people didn’t (though that’s from hanging out at The Dissolve, which is full of contrarians and big fans of Pynchon’s prose, which I’ve never read).

I have that on my list but I haven't watched it yet due to the fact that I really don't like Jack Black at all.  Maybe I'll go ahead and watch it anyway.

Nightcrawler

A beautifully filmed, fantastically acted character study/media satire/nightmare. Gyllenhaal was predictably splendid, but Rene Russo's performance was the real surprise for me (and I'm thrilled she got a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress). A chilling study in psychopathic behavior and the industry that allows it to fester, and I was pleased that it found a great balance between horror and humor. 

Joe. I'm one of those Cage defenders who finds him enjoyable in every damn movie he does, but I absolutely love it when he brings his A game like he did here in Joe.  It is a depressing movie, but the atmosphere and the performances are fantastic.  When he loses it and ends up going on the run to the whore house and so on could of easily been over the top Cage a la THE BEES! but it was so restrained considering how fucked up the situation was.  Hopefully Green and Cage work together again.

Aww, Mulholland Drive is my all-time favorite film. 

I think what really made Heathers stand out is that it ruthlessly made fun of the whole idea of suicide solving all of ones problems (like when Veronica stops Heather McNamara, telling her 'You're throwing your life away to become another statistic in US-fucking A Today'), while not poking fun at those who were suicidal in the film (all the jokes being at the expense of those who were murdered). I personally think it's the best, most honest film when it comes to the topic of teen suicide because it highlights the absurdity, but it never is glib when it comes to how certain feelings really can feel like life or death, especially when you're younger. 

If any of that makes sense. 

Before Sunset(2004) As good as the first one was, I like this one more. It did resonate a bit more with me. The first one was all about building this connection between Jessie and Celine, all romance. This one while it reestablished the connection, it was also about the regret of past choices, which is more suited to my sensibilities. But that didn't mean this was a bleaker film, I actually thought it was more enjoyable watch. In Sunrise the romance is so strong that it can feel a bit saccharine, but isn't that what all relationships are at the start? Here I just prefer this take on the romance more, that Jessie and Celine can poke a little fun at their past selves while also fondly remembering it, and they even muse on more sad or tragic moments in their life since, all while never feeling cynical and keeping the romance alive. Also, the movie is really short, only 81 minutes, and in that time it is able to portray all these emotions and experiences of the characters from the past decade, all through real time conversation for the characters. It is just simply masterful all around, the writing, the acting*, and the directing. Just such a great movie that is totally better than Drive(2011).


*Seriously, the acting is just amazing. It just blows my mind how Delpy didn't get nominated for best actress at the Oscars. The scene in the car, and when she was singing and dancing in the apartment. Simply Amazing. Not to mention just the walk up the staircase to the apartment and how you could see all the emotions and feelings that Celine were going through as she was about to let Jessie in.

I know he's done quite a bit of British TV, but he really needs a bigger career. He was so great in that film. 

After Dark, My Sweet is wonderful. 

I saw Kingsman earlier and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Maybe slightly less juvenile than Kick-Ass. And oh so incredibly British, but in that way that's purposefully designed to be "British" because they know that people will want to watch it because it's "so British". Fun, but silly storyline, solid acting, and I enjoyed the parody. How it was self-aware and mocking old cheesy Bond-esque spy films, while simultaneously being a cheesy, Bond-esque spy film. But it's not like Kick-Ass where it's all "Violence is bad so here's a 13 year old girl killing people." It doesn't have that "weight" behind it, so it's more like a 21 Jump Street kinda parody.

You people are not going to make me feel bad for loving "Kick-Ass", so don't even try.