Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Mickey wrote:

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

A strange, yet lovely sci-fi flick. It was fun seeing some of Spielberg's earlier work, but the film still had its dull moments. But, the majority of the acting is really decent. Not perfect, but decent. But, still I must ask: Why all the product placement, Steve? Did you mean to make it a primary part of the plot? Well, they aren't!

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this.

8.5/10

Speilberg always made money on the side with product tie-ins.  Wasn't it GOONIES with the Pepsi  And the most famous of all: ET's Resee's Pieces.

I love CLose Encounters.  There's a "Hardware Wars" parody from that era as well: "Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind".  Very funny.

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"None practice tolerance less frequently than those who most loudly preach it."

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

HoldingOurOwn wrote:

Wasn't it GOONIES with the Pepsi

I didn't catch the Pepsi last time I watched it, but I did notice the Domino's Pizza at the end. I think it was just strange that there were big trucks, with Baskin-Robbins and Coca Cola printed on the sides, driving by, and they had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. Its one thing of a character walks into a supermarket, and there are Sprite bottles and Eggo-brand waffles on the shelves. If it isn't the main focus of the sequence, I see that as "subtle". This isn't subtlety, however...

Have you seen a big-chinned boy?

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Les Miserables (2012)

This movie was amazing. The cast was incredible, aswell as the writing. I loved the Thénardiers. The special effects were beautiful. And the music, oh my god. Overall, great film with few imperfections.

8.7/10

Rise of the Guardians

I loved this movie. Pitch Black was a funny, yet creepy villian who is awesome, and Santa is a total bad-ass. I liked Jack Frost's backstory. The comedy was okay and the music was really good.

7/10

Shrek the Musical

mini/confused Not sure if this counts as a movie but... Anyway, the music for this was incredible, aswell as the acting and the Comedy. I loved how Lord Farquaad's dad was Grumpy for the seven dwarves. I loved the set design and the costumes, I also don't know how Brian d'Arcy James did a backflip in a fat suit, or how Christopher Sieber walked on his knees for most of the show. One of the things I didn't like was how Gingy had a bad ventriloquist.

9/10

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Squid wrote:
Max Butcher wrote:

Anyway, who calls their child Walter in this day and age?

Apparently Walter Benson's parents.

mini/yes

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Re: What was the last movie you watched?

I've seen plenty of movies recently, so I'll try to keep the reviews short.

The Wolf of Wall Street
Magnificent film, and all the crudeness that comes with it. Great writing and acting along with a poignant score make this a great film. Hopefully this wins an Oscar.
9.5/10

Frozen (2013)
Best Disney film since Aladdin. The story was solid, the characters are developed well (Especially Queen Elsa), and the voice acting was tremendous. The songs (All except one) were also well timed and delivered fantastically. It doesn't hurt that the effects are top-notch as well. Hoping that this too wins an Oscar.
9/10

Tangled
The film that can arguably take credit for the start of Disney Animation's nu renaissance, it doesn't disappoint. Good voice acting, great songs, good character design all help deliver a semi cliche tale. Very solid film.
9/10

Wreck-It Ralph
Great movie. The voice acting and effects are all top notch here, along with all the video game references. The film's strength are it's writing and story; usually you only expect something like this to come from a Pixar film, but Disney delivered quite well.
8.5/10

Clash of the Titans
Over the top action, poor script writing, bad acting, everything you can expect from a big budget blockbuster.
4/10

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Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Casablanca (1942)

Pretty good, actually. It was my first time watching this. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a good black-and-white classic, and it makes me wanna check out some of Bogart's other work, like The Maltese Falcon, maybe.

8.6/10

Have you seen a big-chinned boy?

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Princess Mononoke

Weird, sad, grotesque throughout, but undoubtedly a very beautiful movie. Though some elements of the plot weren't terribly clear, this was overall a brilliant film. Also a nice change of pace from Hollywood's idea of 'heartwarming'.

8/10

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"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Hobbit: A Desolation of Smaug (2013)

Okay, let's face it. An Unexpected Journey had a lot of trouble trying to get started. But, The Desolation of Smaug gave it a really good jump-start. I was hesitant about walking into this film. But, I'm glad I finally decided to. Because this film delivered very nicely. Now, I'm positively ready for There and Back Again. mini/yes

If any of you have yet to see this, but you're not sure because you think it'll suck, go see this. It's a heavy improvement on the first. Sure, it still has those bits thrown in there, for the sake of comedy, that detract from the film's seriousness (for example, Bilbo's "guide to roast Dwarf" in An Unexpected Journey). But, you won't be sorry if you decide that this film is worth seeing. Because it is.

CUMBERSMAUG FTW

9.2/10

Last edited by Mickey (January 21, 2014 (07:49am))

Have you seen a big-chinned boy?

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Breathless
Did I say that I watched Breathless? It's the only film worth writing about that I've watched recently. I loved all of it-- except the protagonist. He was a horrible misogynistic coward. But I kind of think that he was supposed to be like it.

Spoiler (click to read)

I was glad when he died. I don't think Godard meant to portray his character in a positive light.

But ok the editing in this is the best and this is basically my #1 role model for filmmaking nowadays. Hell yeah.

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

topitmunkeydog wrote:

Breathless
Did I say that I watched Breathless? It's the only film worth writing about that I've watched recently. I loved all of it-- except the protagonist. He was a horrible misogynistic coward. But I kind of think that he was supposed to be like it.

Spoiler (click to read)

I was glad when he died. I don't think Godard meant to portray his character in a positive light.

But ok the editing in this is the best and this is basically my #1 role model for filmmaking nowadays. Hell yeah.

I remember this from Film Studies. Great film. I actually quite liked watching the protagonist (Michel?) although I couldn't sympathise with him at all. I found his treatment of the consequences of his behaviour funny - he didn't seem to be able to work out that he was constantly shooting himself in the foot, and he spends the whole film thinking he's becoming an American gangster from the movies.

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/ZoefDeHaas/stuff/sig1.png
"Nothing goes down 'less I'm involved. No nuggets. No onion rings. No nothin'. A cheeseburger gets sold in the park, I want in! You got fat while we starved on the streets...now it's my turn!" -Harley Morenstein

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Yeah that part of it was great. In that way I kind of saw it as a parody of not only gangster films (BOGEY) but also that archetype of the 20-30 year old man who fancies himself an intellectual when he's really just pretty useless, kind of like Meursault in L'etranger.

And hopy cheese I love your avatar Jampot! Furty and Sknnet are my new favorite minifigures

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Wolf of Wall Street
Haven't enjoyed a film that much in a long time.

10/10

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Re: What was the last movie you watched?

On The Waterfront (1954)

This is the first Marlon Brando film I've ever seen (Don't judge!) and I really want to see more. The film was pretty entertaining with a really interesting story. The only noticeable thing that bugged me while viewing the film was the occasional misuse of musical score in certain dialogue scenes. There'd be scenes with a musical score that would build, but eventually go nowhere and wouldn't even fit with the dialogue.

EDIT: Did I mention Karl Malden was in it? I love that guy! He's a personal favorite of mine. mini/smile

Last edited by Walter Benson (January 23, 2014 (09:16am))

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Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Hunt For Red October

This was a great film. I really enjoyed it. The cutting is spot on,The sound editing is perfect, the lighting is clever, the cinematography is well done, the acting is great, and the film does a good job of building tension.

Spoiler (click to read)

I did, however, care less about the other protagonists once Sam Niell's character got shot. I think the audience was supposed to be enraged by his death, but it just disappointed me and broke the tension. He was the one I was rooting for the most, and I kind of lost interest in the movie after that. So much for Montana..... ironically that's where he is first seen in the film "Jurassic Park", digging for dinosaur bones in Montana. 

This film is still awesome: 8/10

no more brickfilming *sad face*.

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Call (2013)
This movie was okay... This movie builds up supense, but it ends up failing still.

Spoiler (click to read)

The ending where they leave the evil dude there to die, was stupid.

7/10

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

topitmunkeydog wrote:

but also that archetype of the 20-30 year old man who fancies himself an intellectual when he's really just pretty useless, kind of like Meursault in L'etranger.

I don't know, Mersault never struck me as especially intellectual--he's more the type of guy who just mugs around for most of the time being unemotional, then randomly shoots a guy for no real reason and subsequently gets all miffed when he gets punished for it.  He expects everyone to be all sympathetic and pitying (even though he's not really sympathetic) because he's being treated unfairly because the court is being judgemental--which is partially true, but that still doesn't excuse the fact he murdered someone.... and then blames it on the weather.  I'm surprised anyone actually even wants to support him at the trial, given that he could easily just shoot someone every time the sun's shining...

Retribution (3rd place in BRAWL 2015)

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Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Tree of Life (2011)

Nominated for three Academy Awards in 2012, including Best Picture.

Wow, that was a great film. Pitt and Penn delivered emotional performances, and the kid was hauntingly excellent. The Tree of Life is a colourful, thought-provoking masterpiece.

9.8/10

Have you seen a big-chinned boy?

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Captain Phillips

10/10

I am deeply saddened that this wasn't nominated for more awards. Stupid Oscars, it's just a popularity contest anymore.

A Life? Cool! Where can I download one of those from?

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

FlyingMinifig wrote:
topitmunkeydog wrote:

but also that archetype of the 20-30 year old man who fancies himself an intellectual when he's really just pretty useless, kind of like Meursault in L'etranger.

I don't know, Mersault never struck me as especially intellectual--he's more the type of guy who just mugs around for most of the time being unemotional, then randomly shoots a guy for no real reason and subsequently gets all miffed when he gets punished for it.  He expects everyone to be all sympathetic and pitying (even though he's not really sympathetic) because he's being treated unfairly because the court is being judgemental--which is partially true, but that still doesn't excuse the fact he murdered someone.... and then blames it on the weather.  I'm surprised anyone actually even wants to support him at the trial, given that he could easily just shoot someone every time the sun's shining...

Yeah that makes sense although I read the book in french so i may be gettng adifferent reading of that character. Oh man, what is the example I'm trying to think of? Probably something like Henry Thoreau, who was like an angsty 20 year old who once decided not to pay taxes and had to spend one night in jail before his aunt bailed him out.. and then proceeded to use that incident as a "oh my life is so hard as a young white male in the mid nineteeth century"
And yet I know that's not the exact example I'm trying to remember. They're just those jackass bohemian types who just smoke cigarettes and play guitar and quote philosophers who they haven't even read. "Cultural Teases," as described by Fred Armisen. ok enought about this I watched
EDIT: Yesterday I realized that I was not thinking of Thoreau. I was thinking of Roland from the film Ginger and Rosa although he's pretty similar.

Dial M For Murder
heckie yes this was so cool. Great screenplay.

Spoiler (click to read)

ok this would not stop bothering me but when Grace Kelly stabs the murderer guy with scissors the angle is so weird. Like no you would not have enough torque to do that. look at this crap. look at it.

Last edited by topit (February 1, 2014 (11:45am))

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

topitmunkeydog wrote:

Probably something like Henry Thoreau, who was like an angsty 20 year old who once decided not to pay taxes and had to spend one night in jail before his aunt bailed him out.. and then proceeded to use that incident as a "oh my life is so hard as a young white male in the mid nineteeth century"

You really don't seem to know much about Thoreau at all. You should read about him before declaring him to be some kind of beatnik. He didn't want to pay the taxes in question because he didn't support the way his taxes were being used (see: the Mexican-American War), and he was bailed out of jail after one night because someone paid the taxes without his permission. Thoreau also openly opposed slavery (supported John Brown, wrote abolitionist literature, participated in the underground railroad). He was a guy who thought the individual should have a say in how he lived his life- given the views you've expressed on this forum, I suspect you and Thoreau have some shared philosophy- it'd be a shame if you didn't realize that because you bought into a laughably shallow version of his life.

Anyway, on topic:

K-ON! The Movie

Good stuff. Mostly what you'd expect from anything related to the show- adorable feel-good fluff. The creators made the interesting choice of setting the movie in the week leading up to the final episode of the series, and the last few scenes are taken directly from the show. Surprisingly, this didn't bother me; the show ended on a decent note, but it didn't really resonate with me emotionally. Thanks to the context provided by the film, the final scenes (and the final song, in particular) felt much more meaningful. All in all, it was a fun film and a better ending for the show than the finale was, so certainly worth a watch if you're into that sort of thing.