Which movies have you watched? ' --not an iota of bad movies; but maybe bad taste

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Death Becomes Her (1992).

Even if the special effects are a bit dated, they still do damn well hold… interesting.
 
In fact 2015 looks even more boring and low-tech than most 80s movies :\

(although hotels often have doors opening with cards, not keys-- some few apartment buildings also use cards).
The outer doors to my building have keycards. The laundry room has a kind of electronic combination lock on the door.

No movies lately, unless you count a movie-length YouTube debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham.
 
Just watched Red State. Kevin Smith is one weird dude.
 
These Final Hours (2013) - 6/10

The movie begins minutes after a massive asteroid has impacted the North Atlantic, and the blast wave is wrapping around the globe at the speed of sound. Western Europe and the eastern seaboard of North America are already gone. In Perth, Australia, mankind has about twelve hours to live and our man James decides to head for his friends' party to end all parties. It's very predictable, but I found it very watchable, on the strength of the performances, the cinematography, and the chemistry of the stars.


Link to video.
 
22 Jump Street (2014)

Was fun. Pretty solid. It took itself very lightly, which it needed to do.
 
Terminator. The original one. Impossible not to love. Pure 80s.
 
Nightcrawler (2014)

Eh. It was good but it went too far overboard, so to speak. That detracts from the movie some.

Still I liked it. 6.5/10.
 
Too far overboard? I think the character explained too much about himself, but it was otherwise not a good, and excellent movie.
 
Live die repeat (2014) aka edge of tomorrow

actually really fun. Enjoyed it a lot, and jusssttt a little bit at the end made me a bit upset. It did so well to set a tone of a relatively "grounded" action (e.g. people die, people get hurt, the miniature mechas/suits used in the movie have limitations, etc) throughout most of the movie.

Solid sci-fi action movie. 7.8/10
 
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the last one, I think from 2009, by that Norse director from Let Me In. Music by Alberto Iglesias. Often accused of being hard to follow, I still don't know why.Hoyte Van Hoytema is the cinematographer from Her and Interstellar, and it shows. It is a film that superbly combines every element into its 1970s paranoia atmosphere. It has a good but perhaps leaky script, solid perfomances and superb use of visual elements and music. The final sequence, playing under Julio Iglesia's rendition of Charles Trenet's La Mer at the Olimpia is one of the best closings I have ever seen, and one of the better uses of a song.
 
Ant-Man (2015) - 7/10

Good cast, good action, good humor, good fun. It benefits from not trying to do too much, as other Marvel movies have done. The visualization of the world from the perspective of a tiny hero is much better than other shrinking movies. It's a small thing, but I thought the "de-aging" of Michael Douglas in the prologue was a giant leap from the CGI use on Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy.


The French Connection (1971) - 8/10

If you're into anti-heroes, Gene Hackman's portrayal of a racist, violent thug with a badge seems to have renewed resonance today. I couldn't help but wonder how many cops grew up thinking "Popeye" Doyle was someone to be emulated. Television fans may be reminded of Doyle's descendant, Vic Mackey (although even that's starting to be an old pop culture reference, isn't it? :lol: ). The film holds up, I think, and I enjoyed it more than I did when I was a kid. I'd forgotten Roy Schieder was even in it, which cements my view of the man as chronically under-appreciated. William Friedkin had a brief moment of brilliance there in the early '70s, as he also directed The Exorcist (and I didn't realize until I looked him up just now that he also directed the supremely weird Bug in 2006). The famous car chase with the Brooklyn elevated train is still fun.
 
More on Ant-Man: I really liked the action scenes. I thought the filmmakers did a great job imbuing the character with some imagination about how he might use his powers, and how a super-power that seems kind of ridiculous at first glance could actually be pretty useful.



More on The French Connection: It's interesting to see a movie from back in the day that was filmed in New York. Parts of it were really run down and crappy, and there were whole mini-genres of movies through the 70s and 80s about how rough it was. There were the semi-realistic movies, such as The French Connection; Serpico; Death Wish; Midnight Cowboy; Fort Apache, the Bronx; Mean Streets; Saturday Night Fever; Shaft; Super Fly; Black Caesar. Then there were the pure fantasies/nightmares: The Warriors; C.H.U.D.; Wolfen; Escape from New York. There were also some weirdos, half-fantasy, half-realistic: Taxi Driver; After Hours; The Brother from Another Planet. It might be a nicer place to live today, but man, New York was way more interesting in the 70s & 80s. :lol:
 
Once Upon A Time In America (1984), final film by Sergio Leone. Director's cut: about 4 hours long.

It was long, but it was worth it. There's a scene which instantly reminded me of A Clockwork Orange, with the gang waltzing around a maternity ward and classical music on the background. Golden. The tone and theme of the movie reminded me of Alain Resnais movies, especially Stavinsky. They sure are miles apart, but there's something there. It's definitely a masterpiece on a whole other level than, say, The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, which is my second favourite Western after Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. Perhaps I have a bit of a bias towards the gravely dramatic and the dramatically grave, but it certainly is among the best I've seen.
 
I have recently watched Inside Out. The visuals are fantastic, really up to par with Disney's standards. The movie got to me, because it is a story about growing up ad moving beyond childhood, and coming to terms with new realities. I also really liked Joy, but God was Sadness annoying. A blubbering ball of self wallowing pity. I wished they toned her down a bit, making her introspective and quiet. An interesting idea, with an attention to detail that makes this movie stand out, and great execution. I give it a 9/10.
 
I rewatched Rocky IV a few days ago. Good flick.

I also watched Ghostbusters for the first time two weeks ago (really!) and I was not impressed. Boring and pointless, which sucks. Everyone hypes it up so I was expecting something a little more, well, impressive? Good to have seen it and know what the fuss is all about, though.
 
I watched both Wild (Reese Witherspoon) and Gone Girl. Both were pretty good movies. Just don't think too deep on Gone Girl, plot holes galore on that one.

I still enjoy new drama movies, but new action movies just suck to me. I guess I'm too old to enjoy new action movies. I was very disappointed with Mad Max: Fury Road. And it wasn't because of Charlize, she was the best part of the movie. Tom Hardy was a poor choice for Mad Max, and showing the cool ass car at the beginning, but no chase with it? Mad Max taken prisoner so easily. Lame. 1 star out of 4. I couldn't tell what was happening throughout the entire movie. I never did see what happened to Peopleater. Why introduce a character in such a dramatic way if you aren't going to show what happened to the character. Maybe it did show it, but the action scenes were so quick cut, I couldn't tell what was going on. All action movies are like this now. It's annoying. The purpose of a movie is to tell a story. If the story isn't told very well, then it's a bad movie. I challenge anyone here to give me a scene by scene description of everything that happens in the movie.
 
I rewatched Angelheart yesterday. A great movie by Allan Parker, starring an 80s Mickey Rourke, Lisa Bonet, and Deniro also in a cameo-ish but important role in the plot :)
Sure? I though Louis Cyphre was the funny guy in the movie. To distent a bit the whole situation you know... :dunno:

BTW in a somewhat related note, some days ago i saw "El Día de la Bestia" (The Day of the Beast). A spanish movie. Funny as hell, but cant make sense of the end, even if a try.
 
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