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Spoilers What Movie Are You Watching?

Scepticalscribe said:
To be honest, I never really liked Schindler's List, although I applaud that this subject matter has been brought to the screen in a way designed to appeal to a US audience. Spielberg leans far too hard on the button marked 'sentimental', which I, as a European, find extremely off putting; give me the bitter-sweet integrity of an authentic art form which depicts human nature in all the messy glory of lived life instead.

In any case, there are far better European movies about World War II and the Holocaust, more subtle and understated, and, as a result, a lot more powerful.

Two which I thought - and think - especially excellent and thought provoking, and powerful, precisely because they were so flagrantly attempting to tug at heart strings, - and they are both foreign language movies, which come with complete with sub-titles - were "Au Revoir, Les Enfants", and "The Assault", the former French, and latter Dutch.

Ah, "Psycho". Well, yes, as a thriller and horror story, and indeed, as an example of cinematic story telling, yes, it is shows a cinematic craftsman's utter mastery of his craft. However, and here again, as with Spielberg, I may be in a minority, but I don't much like Hitchcock; above all, I don't care for the nasty note of misogyny that flickers like a beady night-light through much of what Hitchcock made, especially his later (US based) work.




I remember watching that movie years ago, some years after it first came out. This was a labour of love for Richard Attenborough, and features an excellent cast; Ben Kingsley as Gandhi was superb, but the rest of the cast were also very impressive.
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I have heard that Hitchcock always wanted young blonde actresses in his movies, but what specific examples of misogyny do you see in his films? I plan on watching more, but Psycho is the only film of his I've seen so far.

Also, how did you like Gandhi compared to E.T.? I know a lot of people who thought E.T. should have won best picture at the oscars that year. To be honest, I never really liked E.T. and I thought Gandhi was a better cinematic experience overall. In my defense though, I saw E.T. back when I was 7 and I don't remember being particularly interested when I watched it. Back then I viewed movies as pure entertainment and not works of art.
 
impulse462 said:
I have heard that Hitchcock always wanted young blonde actresses in his movies, but what specific examples of misogyny do you see in his films? I plan on watching more, but Psycho is the only film of his I've seen so far.

Also, how did you like Gandhi compared to E.T.? I know a lot of people who thought E.T. should have won best picture at the oscars that year. To be honest, I never really liked E.T. and I thought Gandhi was a better cinematic experience overall. In my defense though, I saw E.T. back when I was 7 and I don't remember being particularly interested when I watched it. Back then I viewed movies as pure entertainment and not works of art.
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Hitchcock always struck me as having a creepy and slightly sinister quality in his portrayal of women; he seems to have derived some sort of strange and sadistic pleasure from placing his young blonde actresses in situations where they were powerless, humiliated and hurt, if not killed in the movies he made.

And there is a cruelty, a lack of heart, in his movies that I dislike.

Granted, this trait was less evident in his earlier - British - movies, where he sometimes worked to someone else's story (such as Daphne du Maurier, whose book, 'Rebecca' inspired an excellent movie directed by Hitchcock, along with a first rate British cast, and whose chilling short story, 'The Birds' he also made into a disturbing movie).

However, I dislike his US oeuvre. 'Rear Window' is a deeply repellant movie to me, the fingerprints of someone with the mindset of a suppressed creepy stalker are all over it.

Re Gandhi and E.T., they are two very different movies, with different audiences in mind, and different stories to tell; in general, I don't much like Spielberg, but I enjoyed E.T. for what it was, a genuinely nice and warm hearted children's movie; Gandhi was more earnest in tone and content. I would deem it worthy, rather than outstanding, but I liked it. However, I liked even more the very fact that it was made in the first place.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
Hitchcock always struck me as having a creepy and slightly sinister quality in his portrayal of women; he seems to have derived some sort of strange pleasure from placing his young blonde actresses in situations where they were powerless, humiliated and hurt, if not killed in the movies he made.
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A friendly disagreement. I'd counter with North by Northwest or even Vertigo. For the former, a strong espionage agent who acted in a manner appropriate for women in the 1950s and for the latter, a woman involved in a plot of murder, who has the bad judgement to fall for the guy whom she manipulated into falling for her while engineering the death of another falling woman. If these women are victims, they are victims of their own choices just as men are. However I do admit he seemed to have a thing for hot blonds. ;)

Granted, his trait was less evident in his earlier - British - movies, where he sometimes worked to someone else's story (such as Daphne du Maurier, whose book, 'Rebecca' inspired an excellent movie directed by Hitchcock, along with a first rate British cast, and whose chilling short story, 'The Birds' he also made into a disturbing movie).

However, I dislike his US oeuvre. 'Rear Window' is a deeply repellant movie to me, the fingerprints of someone with the mindset of a suppressed creepy stalker are all over it.
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For Rear Window it seems like you are projecting the story onto the character of the director. For the setting portrayed, I see nothing creepy with neighbors observing neighbors in an apartment complex like that. I imagine this is human nature although the main character does cross the line into voyeurism with his binoculars. :) For one neighbor, he notices something unusual.

And Psycho is a masterpiece, so unexpected for me the first time I watched it.
 
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The Illusionist (2006)- Excellent period piece starring Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti regarding ill fated love and a master illusionist. My critique of this movie is that the illusions are surprising and you just have to go with the flow that in the late 1800's these could be created.

the-illusionist-2006.jpg
 
Saw Tim's Vermeer documentary last night in the theater with my wife. I really want to see the two parts of Nymphomaniac so badly....

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Someone might find this funny- I turned on the TV to find American Beauty playing, and I was initially "alrighty, great movie", (I'd seen it before), but quickly I remembered what a downer movie this is, or I was not in the right mood, so I flipped the channel and there was Ace Ventura Pet Detective and I was saved! Jim Carrey in his prime. :)

"I'm sorry Mr Ace, I'll have the plumbing checked out right away."
"Be sure that you do. If I had been drinking out of the toilet, I might have been killed!"

"Your gun is digging into my hip!" :p
 
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Huntn said:
so I flipped the channel and there was Ace Ventura Pet Detective and I was saved! Jim Carrey in his prime. :)

"I'm sorry Mr Ace, I'll have the plumbing checked out right away."
"Be sure that you do. If I had been drinking out of the toilet, I might have been killed!"

"Your gun is digging into my hip!" :p
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Brilliant comedy! I love Ace and have both movies memorized. Not sure if that i a good thing or not. :p

Currently I'm watching the cult classic Office Space.
 
Huntn said:
Someone might find this funny- I turned on the TV to find American Beauty playing, and I was initially "alrighty, great movie", (I'd seen it before), but quickly I remembered what a downer movie this is...
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I've really grown to hate American Beauty. I thought the first three quarters was fascinating. I really wanted to see how the Kevin Spacey-Annette Bening relationship would resolve itself. Instead, the movie careened into a really stupid ending.

mt
 
Hard core American Beauty spoiler​

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mysterytramp said:
I've really grown to hate American Beauty. I thought the first three quarters was fascinating. I really wanted to see how the Kevin Spacey-Annette Bening relationship would resolve itself. Instead, the movie careened into a really stupid ending.

mt
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You mean the gay marine murdering Kevin after being rejected, or something else? Yes, i found it fascinating, with terrific performances, and although I won't claim there is no truth there, it's just such an accumulation of dysfunction, negativity, and unhappy people painted into this portrait of humanity, I found it hard to watch a second time.

If I remember it correctly, after he is laying there dead, his daughter and boy friend seems to be fascinated with blood pooling by his head, as in "cool". Keep in mind this was written by Alan Ball, the man behind the destruction of True Blood. ;)
 
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Watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier on opening day (yesterday). Surely the best movie of MCU Phase 2 by far and one of the best Marvel films that have came out. It has a lot of exciting action in it, has character development, and a lot of very shocking twists. It is actually more of a spy and undercover film than a usual superhero film which I liked, and it is pretty funny as well like other MCU films. If you are not a comic book reader I strongly recommend you watch the first Cap film if you haven't already because a lot of elements from that movie is needed to understand this film completely. Overall I definitely recommend everyone to watch this film.
 
took me long enough but...

bought Dredd on a blind buy today: Holy Drokk!

Excellent.

I haven't read much Dredd, but I knew enough to know Urban and co. nailed the character and the universe very well.

The slow-motion effects was an inventive way to show (or in some cases not show) the graphic violence.

One of my better blind buys, a fine action SF film and a great comic book adaptation.
 
I just finished watching 1941 "High Sierra"...not the greatest, but definitely a movie to be seen. It was the film that cemented Bogart's star status. John Huston, who co-wrote the film, when later that year was offered his first Directorial assignment to make "The Maltese Falcon", he demanded Bogart for the lead based in Bogart's performance in "High Sierra".

Solid direction by Raoul Walsh, good cinematography, and nice performances by Bogart, Ida Lupino, and a good supporting cast...which included the ultimate ham - Henry Hull, who is always a riot to watch overact.

I recommend the movie for both it's better than average quality, but also for the historical interest in the progress of Bogart's career.
 
Rented Frozen on the :apple:TV last night. It was definitely good, but didn't live up the the hype for me. I enjoyed Monster's University more, and am glad we didn't go to see it in the theaters.

Also caught The Internship last night and thought it was OK, it also didn't live up to the negative reviews. It wasn't particularly special in any way, but it was an OK watch.

Finally, with all the Alan Ball dissing. I just wanted to say that while True Blood is a bit of a mess, Six Feet Under was great.

B
 
drlunanerd said:
The Lego Movie. For me Unikitty stole every scene :)
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I caught this at a matinee this morning. It was my youngest's second time seeing it. There were maybe 5 other adults in the audience and I was the only one laughing out loud. I'm sure I'll buy it when it comes out on disk.
 
balamw said:
Rented Frozen on the :apple:TV last night. It was definitely good, but didn't live up the the hype for me. I enjoyed Monster's University more, and am glad we didn't go to see it in the theaters.

Also caught The Internship last night and thought it was OK, it also didn't live up to the negative reviews. It wasn't particularly special in any way, but it was an OK watch.

Finally, with all the Alan Ball dissing. I just wanted to say that while True Blood is a bit of a mess, Six Feet Under was great.

B
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I'm probably the only one dissing Mr Ball primarily for the knives he put though True Blood :p, but I will acknowledge that both Six Foot Under and American Beauty were excellent. AB was a bit on the dark side though. :)

Just watched Silver Lining Playbook a second time, a wonderful film. I love it when they walk in and see professional dancers at this dance contest and they all say "Holy ****"! ;)
 
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Huntn said:
I assume better than Judge Dredd.
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Actually, I preferred Sly's version, Judge Dredd, better than the latest version. The first had a little bit more plot to it and this one was more of just a shoot 'em up from start to finish.
 
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