What was the last movie you saw?

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Seems from your reviews Victoria you are not too impressed with this Great Adaptions collection..

Not really. It's one of those very cheap sets containing a huge number of public domain films/television episodes. An occasional gem here and there, but otherwise you get what you pay for.

 

[AE35Unit]

Black Death 2002
Watched it till near the end when I had to wake myself up. Still not sure what it was about

 

[KGeo777]

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 I have never seen the tv show which I should remedy sometime. I re-watched the first movie recently after several years. This one is from 15 years ago? It doesn't seem that long. I have trouble accepting Tom Cruise as an action hero--I think he was useless in LEGEND and he's too slight of form to be convincing as a lead in these kinds of things--his acting can get kind of "spastic" and distracting. He runs around a lot to compensate and his voice gets shrill.
This movie is entertaining for its non-stop action but it is so stupid. There's so much idiocy in this that you can assume it is meant as comedy yet probably isn't. He's got very little time to destroy the device in his head and he's pausing to give his wife instruction on using a gun and then pauses again telling her he loves her.
The scene in the Vatican washroom--if you think about it--the suspense of the bodyguard coming in there is completely artificial. If they could not have dismissed him with a hand gesture, or mumbled an excuse (is the bodyguard really going to question his voice-and if he suspected something-what could he do about it?), or they could have knocked him out and left him--since they didn't need the bodyguard at all. All those witnesses in the Vatican--assuming they even know who this arms dealer is, how would they know this guy? The car blows up and somehow it means everyone assumes it was all normal? A car blows up outside the Vatican every day?
It is a poorly written movie. The writers (if I deign to give them that respectful label), Orci and Kurtzman, also did the comical the Legend of Zorro--a terrible sequel--and Transformers, which is the nadir of these big budget genre films. I hate that film.
But Simon Pegg-I only know him from this, but he has a lot of screen charisma--you could send him back in time to the 70s or even the 50s in UK comedy film and he would fit in.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is a memorable bad guy as well, but the movie is a fog of stupid. When they are walking away and his wife asks him who he works for and he says "Impossible Mission Force" and she replies "oh shut up."
Would she really be incredulous about the name after what they had been through?

 

[AE35Unit]

I have so far managed to escape seeing any of the mission impossible films

 

[Vladd67]

I remember watching Mission Impossible 2 on TV whilst on a visit to Cape Town. When the Australian actor playing a South African mercenary opened his mouth the entire room just exploded with laughter. I remember being slightly annoyed after the first film because of the way the hero of the tv series was treated, but franchises move on I guess.

 

[pogopossum]

Dark Star.
Student film by John Carpenter. A cult favorite.
I had slept through most of it preveviously at a 30 hour SF film marathon
Deadpan with great humor. Murderous beach ball alien. Talking Planetbuster Bomb!
A few bits were stolen by Carpenter's co-author, Dan O'Bannon, when he wrote Alien.
Minimalist special effects. Those were the days.

 

[hitmouse]

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 I have never seen the tv show which I should remedy sometime. I re-watched the first movie recently after several years. This one is from 15 years ago? It doesn't seem that long. I have trouble accepting Tom Cruise as an action hero--I think he was useless in LEGEND and he's too slight of form to be convincing as a lead in these kinds of things--his acting can get kind of "spastic" and distracting. He runs around a lot to compensate and his voice gets shrill.
This movie is entertaining for its non-stop action but it is so stupid. There's so much idiocy in this that you can assume it is meant as comedy yet probably isn't. He's got very little time to destroy the device in his head and he's pausing to give his wife instruction on using a gun and then pauses again telling her he loves her.
The scene in the Vatican washroom--if you think about it--the suspense of the bodyguard coming in there is completely artificial. If they could not have dismissed him with a hand gesture, or mumbled an excuse (is the bodyguard really going to question his voice-and if he suspected something-what could he do about it?), or they could have knocked him out and left him--since they didn't need the bodyguard at all. All those witnesses in the Vatican--assuming they even know who this arms dealer is, how would they know this guy? The car blows up and somehow it means everyone assumes it was all normal? A car blows up outside the Vatican every day?
It is a poorly written movie. The writers (if I deign to give them that respectful label), Orci and Kurtzman, also did the comical the Legend of Zorro--a terrible sequel--and Transformers, which is the nadir of these big budget genre films. I hate that film.
But Simon Pegg-I only know him from this, but he has a lot of screen charisma--you could send him back in time to the 70s or even the 50s in UK comedy film and he would fit in.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is a memorable bad guy as well, but the movie is a fog of stupid. When they are walking away and his wife asks him who he works for and he says "Impossible Mission Force" and she replies "oh shut up."
Would she really be incredulous about the name after what they had been through?

I am not at all pc, but the word “spastic” as a casual descriptor is increasingly embarrassing, out of favour with mainstream media, and the sort of thing that is likely to shorten the careers of those in the public eye who use it inadvertently.
It is still reasonably acceptable for describing a very precisely defined neurological condition in non-pejorative terms, but I do not think that is the intent here.

 

[KGeo777]

I am not at all pc, but the word “spastic” as a casual descriptor is increasingly embarrassing, out of favour with mainstream media, and the sort of thing that is likely to shorten the careers of those in the public eye who use it inadvertently.
It is still reasonably acceptable for describing a very precisely defined neurological condition in non-pejorative terms, but I do not think that is the intent here.

I don't care what the mainstream media does with their word censorship exercises. It is the word to describe this tendency in his acting--spasmodic, spastic, or spasms of emotion that overtake him.
Until the word spasm is officially banned then I expect there are occasions where it useful, like here.

 

[KGeo777]

I didn't mean to sound annoyed. I was distracted by something.
Originally I used a different expression which was more offensive so I went with that. But I wasn't making any innuendos.
He gets this high-pitched and overly energetic attitude sometimes which I find bad acting. He doesn't always do it.

 

[therapist]

Speaking of Tom Cruise in action films; I recently saw Edge of Tomorrow. Tom Cruise is far from my favorite actor but he was fine in this. I enjoyed this movie, I thought the premise was intriguing—a war vs aliens that can manipulate time. Probably one of the best Groundhog's-day-time-loop movies I have seen.

 

[alexvss]

Canada has a stronger film industry in the 1970s. They avoided making their own content for decades--Hollywood discouraged it to some extent-and some filmmakers went to the US or England instead.
DR. BLOOD'S COFFIN and DEVIL DOLL are examples from the 60s that comes to mind. Canadian directors. Alan Gibson is another--he worked for Hammer Films. James Cameron obviously--he left for Hollywood---he never did any movies in Canada.

There's a film FRANKENSTEIN ON CAMPUS -1970 --not a good movie but the story was interesting--the ending twist especially--but very cheap and completely obscure.

RITUALS which Stephen King really liked was another notable one--a Canadian Gothic horror film--although most of the time the director and writer are not from Canada. It's the quirkiest thing--you can name US or UK films where the director and writer are both from there--but in Canada there are very few examples if the film is well-regarded.

Then in the mid-80s they declared the industry a failure and switched mainly to slice-of-life stuff. Most of the money came from the government itself. There's no independent businesses--though--Uwe Boll moved to Canada because he was able to get funding easier.

The UK situation is sadder because they had a strong film industry for a long time and then it collapsed after the 1970s. Not a failure of talent just opportunity.

If they had to fund Uwe Boll then we're sure that they were a failure

 

[alexvss]

Speaking of Tom Cruise in action films; I recently saw Edge of Tomorrow. Tom Cruise is far from my favorite actor but he was fine in this. I enjoyed this movie, I thought the premise was intriguing—a war vs aliens that can manipulate time. Probably one of the best Groundhog's-day-time-loop movies I have seen.

This one is really great, and underrated. There's a sequel already in the works. I read the source material--both the novel and the manga--and liked them too.

 

[alexvss]

R-Point (2004). 1970s Vietnam. A group of South Korean soldiers is ordered to go look for missing soldiers that keep sending shady radio messages. The group consists of a psychotic lieautenant, and a bunch of soldiers who were diagnosed with STDs while venturing themselves in 'Nam. A real suicide squad.

Korean cinema seldom disappoints. 10 minutes in and you already know you're in for a treat. I also like the trope a lot. In most horror movies, we get to see everyday people getting scared--and it's easy to scare them because they just can't fight back. Seeing trained, armed-to-the-teeth, diagnosed with syphilis soldiers getting spooked is something else. Reminded me of Dog Soldiers and The Hills have Eyes 2 (this last memory was a shame).

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

A Letter to Three Wives (1949)

Old-time Hollywood at its best. The unseen narrator sends the title letter to three of her "friends" telling them that she has run off with one of their husbands. Flashbacks reveal the tensions within each of the three marriages. Fine acting and an excellent screenplay raise this far above the "women's picture" you might expect. Highly recommended.

Three Husbands (1951)

The similar title isn't a coincidence. The same screenwriter pretty much offers the filmgoer a low budget parody of her own movie, the one above. A playboy dies of a heart attack. He leaves letters to three of his "friends," telling each of them that he's been fooling around with their wives. Played entirely for comedy. Not a classic like the movie it's parodying, but not bad.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Stowaway

One of the (seemingly) many Covid-era films with limited casts, limited locations and a limited budget. It shouldn't work, but it does. It's a surprisingly gripping drama based on board a spacecraft, and probably the best movie I have seen that was made in the period 2020/21. As few bits in there that don't make sense, but it keeps you wondering until the end. Good acting, great cinematography.

 

[KGeo777]

CITY BENEATH THE SEA 1971 -- A tv pilot turned into a feature film. It is a little cheap for a feature of the era--but the sets look more impressive for a tv show of the time. Some of the FX of traveling through the sea with giant fish around are visually interesting. The fancy light displays of the underwater city probably looked very hi-tech in 1971--early computer graphic monitors with simplistic light patterns utilized as background decoration. Similar plot to ST-The Motion Picture --an admiral is returning to his command and the guy he had picked to replace him is resentful. They have to contend with a giant meteor from outer space. There's one character--a surgically-altered underwater breather--I can't call him a poor man's Spock because he's totally boring. Oh-except he swins like the Man From Atlantis. If you have seen that show, then this is years earlier-the same kind of wiggly swimming technique. This is an Irwin Allen production--alumni from his other projects appear in brief roles.

 

[AE35Unit]

Paranormal Activity 2007
Thought we'd watch this again, still love it. Was going to watch the sequels but they were pay to rent
Oh I've noticed something odd with this forum. When I press the B button to get bold text, and then hit it again to turn bold off, the text I'd made bold goes back to non bold, and so now I have to use html tags

 

[dask]

Paranormal Activity 2007
Oh I've noticed something odd with this forum. When I press the B button to get bold text, and then hit it again to turn bold off, the text I'd made bold goes back to non bold, and so now I have to use html tags

I noticed this too on my android phone but not the iPad or desktop.

 

[AE35Unit]

I noticed this too on my android phone but not the iPad or desktop.

Yes I'm on my Android phone too, using Chrome

 

[AstroZon]

Tiger Bay (1959) d: J. Lee Thompson, s: Hayley Mills, Horst Buchholz, John Mills

Excellent film about a returning merchant sailor (Horst Buchholz) and a street urchin (Hayley Mills.) Hayley Mills' actual father John Mills stars as the police lieutenant who tries to get the truth out of Hayley.