Random film thread...

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  • Random film thread...

    Not sure if this will pan out or step on other threads but it seems like an ok idea. Just to discuss random movies you watched recently but don't think deserve an entire thread.

    This weekend I've watched The Searchers and Ladyhawke. The Searchers was my first John Wayne western and I thought it was great. Probably one of the best westerns I've seen, and it holds up well despite being made in the 50's. Surprisingly funny too. Today people would complain about the Chief's portrayal by a white man because of whitewashing or whatever, but I'll complain because it just looked so ridiculous and out of place. It crapped up the authenticity quite a bit but in any case this was a good film. I especially loved that final image and the accompanying music.

    Ladyhawke was a pretty decent 80's medieval fantasy movie. Good performances by Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, and Michelle Pfeiffer (also the guys who played the Bishop and Imperius the monk). Good sword fight choreography too. My big complaint is the cheesy soundtrack that was so absurdly incongruous with the story and setting. Anyway, I thought this was a good one. I've been on an old fantasy tear lately and this was part of the bunch.

  • #2
    Re: Random film thread...

    I rewatched American Pie because I needed a breather from writing. The directing was so terrible. I had no memory of that. Surprisingly, the writing was okay at places. The biggest flaw is the main character (Jason Biggs) is not interesting at all. Kind of a goof/oaf with no real arc. The best stories are the Chris Klein/Mena Suvari plot and the Tara Reid/unknown actor plot. The dialogue gets a bit on the nose, but I think they're surprisingly decent for that kind of movie. Stifler is also a good character because of Sean William Scott's performance, but it has no arc and goes nowhere.

    I also rewatched Taxi Driver after a long time away. It's an interesting film. It's completely brilliant at moments and completely wasteful at others. I am into characters and subplots that don't go anywhere if it builds on the overall feeling and theme, but there are quite a lot of misdirections in the dialogue that aren't worth much at all. At the same time, the film hits so many sweet spots throughout and has plenty of incredible flashes of brilliance in every way with the writing, directing, acting, cinematography, production design, soundtrack. The ending was a bit unearned in my opinion though. I felt like the Jodie Foster plot was sort of tacked on to the whole thing.

    I tried to rewatch Days of Heaven. Wasn't a big fan of it the first time I saw it but was hoping to be surprised. It still didn't work for me. The cinematography was simply incredible. But I found it a meandering version of Badlands, and I love Badlands.

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    • #3
      Re: Random film thread...

      Haven't seen American Pie but I need to watch Taxi Driver again. Saw it years ago before I'd started writing but I remember enjoying it.

      Anyway, Black Death with Sean Bean last night. Kind of a meh movie. Pretty much a more serious version of Season Of The Witch but maybe not much better.

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      • #4
        Re: Random film thread...

        I watched The Way Back (Affleck) before the Pandemic. You sort of know where it's going, no real surprises. I did like the way his character lied so easily and about virtually everything -- felt real. Highlight for spoiler: the movie's dead kid backstory did it no favors.

        I watched Richard Jewell, about the Olympic bombing's wrongly accused suspect. I'm a fan of Eastwood's directing overall, but the movie felt a bit flat and one- note (government = bad). Olivia Wilde got some flack for her reporter portrayal being inaccurate -- but her role gave a huge heft of life into a dreary subject matter, even if most of her delivery seemed over the top. Sam Rockwell plays... Sam Rockwell. I feel I've seen him give that same performance in everything.

        Watched Spiderman: Homecoming on TV a couple nights ago. Surprised by how much I liked it. Superheroes aren't my thing, but I really thought it was great. Holland is very likable, and it moved well, pacing-wise. I find Superhero set-pieces incredibly boring, but these were okay mostly because I liked his character. Also, Marisa Tomei should be in every movie. She's got great comedic timing.

        I tried to find the script online after, to see how certain scenes were set up on the page, but I couldn't find it.

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        • #5
          Re: Random film thread...

          Nice. Haven't seen those yet. I'm getting tired of the superhero thing myself but I saw the animated Spiderman into the Spiderverse on Netflix recently and thought it was pretty damn good. It had what felt like soul or honesty to it and the action scenes were nuts.

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          • #6
            Re: Random film thread...

            Out of this thread so far I've only seen the two aforementioned Spiderman films. Wasn't into Homecoming, sadly. But hardly any of the Marvel movies have done it for me. Into the Spider-Verse started out wonderfully, but the longer it went on, the less it was for me. It eventually went relentless, and I tuned out. Not a big fan of uncontrolled chaos in films as it happens too much these days.

            Love the first act of that one though.

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            • #7
              Re: Random film thread...

              Last week I watched Empire of the Sun, (1987), on Hulu. Spielberg directs a young 12 or 13-year-old Christian Bale along with John Malkovich, Joe Pantoliano, and a wealth of British character actors. What a great story and young Christian Bale does not disappoint as a dramatic actor even at that young age. It’s an excellent film and holds up well after all this time.

              Not so long ago, pre-pandemic, I watched Nobody’s Fool, (1994), starring Paul Newman in a fine turn on the screen with Melanie Griffith and Bruce Willis. Jessica Tandy also stars in a wonderful character role and it was her last screen performance. The film is well-layered and its action plots intersect beautifully without being predictable.

              Most recently I watched The King, (2005), starring Gael García Bernal, William Hurt, Paul Dano, and Pell James. Bernal gives a disturbing portrayal of a young man named Elvis who searches for and finds his biological father, David Sandow (William Hurt), now a preacher, a man who abandoned baby Elvis and his prostitute mother long before David Sandow found God and took command of a church. Paul Dano is Paul Sandow, son of the preacher and full brother to his father’s daughter Malerie Sandow (Pell James), who confronts Elvis about the sexual relationship with his sister Malerie. The rest is quite unpredictable and equally as disturbing as Requiem for a Dream, (2000), in its own way. The film says a lot about religion, its created perceptions, and its psychological tools. The King is available on Tubi, the only place I could find it these days.

              Next on my Pandemic Watchlist is The Hunt for Red October, (1990), one of the best films I’ve seen and one of Sean Connery’s best, too. If I could also find out where to see The Man Who Would Be King, (1975), that would be on my Pandemic Watchlist, too.

              I’m also going to search for Kundun, (1997), directed by Martin Scorsese—one of my all-time favorite directors—and written by Melissa Mathison, as well as The Last Emperor, (1987). Bernardo Bertolucci wrote and directed the latter, and its haunting silences tell great parts of its excellent story. If I recall correctly, they’re both great films.
              Last edited by Done Deal Pro; 05-06-2020, 04:51 PM. Reason: Fixed coding
              “Nothing is what rocks dream about” ― Aristotle

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              • #8
                Re: Random film thread...

                How The West Was Won [1962] was on telly the other day. I didn't so much watch it as continuously laugh in bemused disbelief at its 'epic' Cinerama effect.
                Know this: I'm a lazy amateur, so trust not a word what I write.
                "The ugly can be beautiful. The pretty, never." ~ Oscar Wilde

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                • #9
                  Re: Random film thread...

                  I recently watched The Wave (2019) starring Justin Long. This film was a trip to say the least. Nicely different. I get so tired of seeing remakes of other older films. It is very refreshing to see someone do something different and this film does not disappoint.

                  I also saw The Hunt for Red October for the first time in my life. (I know) I enjoyed it very much and it was weird to see the well known actors looking all young.

                  I would recommend to all here to try and see The Man from Earth (2007). It is a nice philosophically driven film where a group of friends/colleagues meet to have a goodbye party for a fellow professor and it is basically a single location film. The story is based on a question...what would happen if a prehistoric man could not age or die. What would happen to him over thousands of years. Each professor injects their thoughts based on their specialty.

                  It is not as boring as it sounds and there are some nice surprises in the story. The actors really get into it and it's one of those films that will make you think and have conversations about the subject matter for a while afterward.

                  There are some well known actors in it like Tony Todd and John Billingsley and it was written by Jerome Bixby who wrote for the original star trek and twilight zone shows. Sadly, Jerome died before the film was made.

                  I know it used to be available online for free thru the film's website but not sure if it still is. It is included on amazon prime video for free if you have amazon prime. I do recommend it. I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on it.

                  Stay safe, stay strong, and let's all hope the world goes back to "normal" soon.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Random film thread...

                    Finally got around to watching The Babe (1992) today.

                    It stars John Goodman as Babe Ruth. I thought it was a well done film and mostly went right along with his real story.

                    I have been trying to catch up with "older" popular films that I just never got a chance to see before.

                    So I have now seen this one and The Hunt for Red October. Anyone have any suggestions?

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                    • #11
                      Re: Random film thread...

                      ^Hmm. What genre?

                      Anyway, I just watched Krull (1983) for the first time. Oof. There were some good visuals and music but man was that lame. I think I enjoyed Beastmaster more than this.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Random film thread...

                        Originally posted by Crayon View Post
                        How The West Was Won [1962] was on telly the other day. I didn't so much watch it as continuously laugh in bemused disbelief at its 'epic' Cinerama effect.
                        I saw How the West Was Won in Cinerama, and it was awesome! The film I remember being second fiddle to the format.

                        Originally posted by Darthclaw13 View Post
                        I would recommend to all here to try and see The Man from Earth (2007). It is a nice philosophically driven film where a group of friends/colleagues meet to have a goodbye party for a fellow professor and it is basically a single location film. The story is based on a question...what would happen if a prehistoric man could not age or die. What would happen to him over thousands of years. Each professor injects their thoughts based on their specialty.
                        Haven't seen this one but will keep a lookout. For a single location film, I dug an Egyptian film called Clash.

                        https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5599692

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                        • #13
                          Re: Random film thread...

                          If it ain't freely available on-line, I can't watch it.

                          But this week I found a clean copy of Suspiria (1977), which I'd seen 2-3 times before, and was freshly blown away. The fluorescent colors, the 70s Art Deco sets, and that soundtrack by Goblin, all add about 2 points on the IMDB scale on their own. (Psst: I've even stolen his two scenes of the witch sitting up in bed behind a curtain for one of my stories!)


                          Argento's a giant, for sure, but for me his only other that I remember somewhat fondly is The Stendahl Syndrom. I found it odd that his 20-year-old daughter Asia starred as a seasoned police detective (!?) on a serial murder case. She did a great job though, and has had a good career on her own right (eg. XXX with Vin)

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                          • #14
                            Re: Random film thread...

                            Another freebie!

                            Planet of the Humans (Michael Moore, Exec Prod; 7+ million views already)

                            I couldn't help but post a comment on the site:

                            Three quick comments: (1) TEHTGA (there's enough hypocrisy to go around); (2) everyone who says capitalism is at the core of all evil would love to be at the head of the next big money line, and (3) whether you're Right or Left, and think you have all the answers if only you had all the power, the best solution to most problems is one of the oldest ever thought up by humans - democracy - because that solves the age-old question of "who gets to decide- what to do about things in the one of the fairest ways possible: Everyone with an equal vote.
                            To which I should have added "... but those in #1 and #2 will never let democracy flourish to that extent.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Random film thread...

                              Originally posted by catcon View Post
                              Planet of the Humans (Michael Moore, Exec Prod; 7+ million views already)
                              Hated this "doco" with a ****ing vengeance!
                              I heard the starting gun


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