Last Movie Watched Thread

Yeah, the materials needed for Technicolor film were bought at relative cheap prices by China decades ago, which explains why in between the mid-80s to the mid-90s (roughly), a lot of the films coming from China were being lauded for their lush cinematography. 

Oh, another fun Chinese cinema fact: Despite her reputation as being one of the most popular Chinese actors in the word, Gong Li has actually been criticized in certain film circles in China for being beautiful in a  way that 'pandering to the West.' 

Unrelated, but I also love Gong Li. 

She has just the right kind of poise, beauty, and vulnerability to play Hedren. If she had starred as Hedren after Mulholland Drive, that would have been a dream come true! 

I loved The Girl; Imelda Staunton was PERFECT, and I spent most of the movie thinking I was watching Naomi Watts anyway, so it worked out. (I seriously kept forgetting it was Sienna Miller.) The costumes and production design were sublime, too.

May as well admit here that I've never seen The Birds or Psycho. I KNOW.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl. It's a fun TV film that can be watched again and again, and you're spot on about Imelda Staunton being great. She really should have won an award for his performance. 

And consider doing a double feature of Psycho and The Birds next Halloween! 

Hopefully I can keep most of this short.

Nightcrawler(2014) Watched this one for the 2nd time on saturday, just as good if not better on this go round. Just cant keep my eyes of the performance of Gyllenhaal, he puts everything and then some into that performance. The best part of the viewing though was how disgusted my Sister In Law got over the movie. She doesn't think it is a bad movie, but is just so repulsed at how much of a creep Lou is. The one thing that greatly improved this time around was the score, when I originally saw the film the score seemed off. This time I was able to appreciate it for the mindfuck that it was. It does use what would seem cookie cutter inspirational stuff for when Lou is talking about how he learns things off the internet and coming off like a total fake, or when he first starts messing with crime scenes to get a better shot. Nice touch.

Before Midnight(2013) Great ending to the trilogy, though I do hope they keep making a new film every 9 years. It was likely my least favorite of the three though, mostly because of the dinner scene. Hawke and Delpy are just so good that I wanted to only watch them, plus in a group setting the film did start to show a bit of pretentiousness. Loved the first and third acts though. The way Hawke is so happy that his son had the best summer, but just the crushing feeling of his ex hating him so much that he can't really visit his son, so wonderfully played. Then the fight, it was really heart wrenching, and I liked how there were no real sides, both characters were at their worst, and that was when Hawke and Delpy have been at their best in these films. The movie gave you every reason as to why these two shouldn't be together, but also kept you wanting them to be together, not because we are simply just rooting for them at this point, but because they have grown with each other and it feels as if they should iron it out. Not for the sake of their kids, but because the love is still there, even if other priorities in life has temporarily buried it.

Inherent Vice(2014) It was interesting? I don't know, I did like parts of this movie and I don't really dislike anything about it, but at the end of the day I'm just not that fond of it beyond Joaquin Phoenix being great(I would still rather have River). I just couldn't really care about Shasta and the love story. It feels intentional that she should be this kinda blank slate, but it takes any interest in her character out and made the performance seem wooden. And as far as the plotting went, it didn't feel incoherent to me, but more overwhelming. It just kept adding so many new wrinkles so quickly, I could follow along but instead of getting me sucked into what was going on, I just stopped caring. The thing also felt like a weird drug haze, which once again probably was the point, since Doc was a total stoner who was always high, but I wasn't feeling it. It was a quality made film, but just one that I don't like at the end of the day. Beautiful looking though, but it is PTA, his films will always look great.

Alien(1979) Like my 5th or 6th attempt at watching this in one sitting without falling asleep, mission not accomplished. I had to watch this in three separate chunks, but I was getting all the way through it this time no matter what. Great film! Love the atmosphere, the production design is my favorite of any sci-fi film really, and the acting is top notch. And I figured out that it isn't so much I fall asleep because I'm bored, just the first half the movie puts me at ease, it is a very good slow burn, and while mysterious and a bit scary is also weirdly welcoming to me when they are on the planet. Kinda feels like I'm being hypnotized. One negative I did see this time through, the editing is very choppy. Certain scenes have these quick cuts and it feels like they left a lot on the cutting room floor here, which doesn't surprise me, it is a Ridley Scott film after all.

Aliens(1986) Finally watched this one all the way through! Though I also had to do it in chunks again, I was kinda making it through all the way, but man this is also a slow burn of a film, and an action one at that. I didn't clock it, but it has to be about almost an hour and a half before they start fighting aliens, right? It was nice that we got to spend some time with the marines before they got mowed down, but I did start to get a little impatient. Once things started happening though it was fun. I did like the cast of characters, and the acting was good again. Also, while I don't really like James Cameron, the dude can make movies look cool and knows how to do action. Also a great sequel in that it changes things up in a big way, but still is able to feel like it is the same franchise.

All of these movies are better than Drive(2011)

Up next, probably Alien cubed. No way in hell I'm watching Resurrection or Prometheus again, fuck that.

Raising Arizona - The best Ghost Rider movie you'll ever see

Everything Alien 3 related is depressing.

But, but - Charles Dance!

Whoops, wrong movie.

You should read the book its based on. For my money it's way better, although truthfully it's just an entirely different beast.

Titanic sparked my first sex talk with my parents. We were watching it at home after it came out on VHS and I asked "Why are they naked?" which just led to a lot more horrifying questions.

The Muppet Movie (1979)

"The Holy Mountain: A film for kids."

Love that the underlying thematic pun is: "This business will eat you alive."

Fun story, I avoided this movie for as long as I could since I too can't stand Miles /Teller, but ultimately grew into looking forward to this movie once 1 
A) had the unanimous praise the movie was getting
B) Realized the for most of the movie, Teller would be getting abused on screen and that sounded like a great thing to see. Similar to how a lot of friend's I know saw Edge of Tomorrow since they can't stand Tom Cruise but they wanted to see all of his many elaborate death scenes. 

What was the last horror film you really liked (not The Babadook)? 

I always have a soft spot for films like the 28 Days Later series and The Descent, but it's been a while since I saw a horror film I really loved (excluding the aforementioned Aussie one). 

Edit: Okay, just remembered I need to see Honeymoon, with Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway.