What was the last movie you saw?

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Crowhaven Farm (1970) -- Made-for-TV scare flick from what, in retrospect, was a minor golden age for them. This one involves a married couple who inherit an old farm in New England. (The role of New England is played by Southern California.) The wife has flashbacks to the bad old days of being crushed under large stones to make her reveal the names of her fellow witches. Add in some mysterious deaths, the fact that the barren wife unexpectedly becomes pregnant, and the arrival of a strange little orphan girl who, through a series of odd circumstances, winds up being adopted by the couple. The film starts slowly but has a pretty effective ending. It's obviously influenced by Rosemary's Baby but the story goes in unexpected directions. Worth a look.

 

[2DaveWixon]

Doctor Strange - Fun adventure with Inception-level world-bending, fantastic humor, and lots of sass. Enjoyed Mads Mikkelson as the baddie, but the plot was a bit light on its feet. This did not detract from the fun I had. See in theatres if possible, as some of the scenes are just so busy that it would be hard to track everything on a tv.

I second the suggestion about seeing it in theatre -- and I'd also recommend being prepared to go back to see it a second time (at least) with a little time between the occasions -- a lot of detail will appear on second viewing, that was missed in the busy first showing...

But I also want to mention something that I suspect everyone who was a fan of the first incarnation of Doctor Strange (i.e., the original, and early, comic books) will second: I thank the powers that this version did not reprise the most awful incantations from those comic books -- exclamations such as "By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth!" (Fan though I was, I cringed with every repetition of that and similar phrases...).

 

[HanaBi]

"Walkabout" (1971)

Still sends quite a powerful message regarding different cultures interacting for good or bad. In this case two white children stranded in the Australian Outback trying to make their way back to civilization; but are later befriended by a teenage Aborigine boy, who tries to help them in their quest; but he also teaches them the raw facts of life and death out in the desert: how to search for water, and how to hunt and kill animals in cold blood!

A powerful story, but with a tragic sting in its tail

Great performances from the young leads, especially Jenny Agutter and David Gulpihil.

The music by John Barry is lush & moody; and the direction by Nicolas Roeg, sublime!

4/5

 

[Droflet]

Haven't seen that movie in ages, but still remember parts of it. Not bad for a 45 year old flick.

 

[J Riff]

Yep. The biggest Grizzly ever shot was shot by a woman, somewhere right 'round these parts. I've seen 'em. Was present at a Mountain Lion attack, oncet. The movie is good and gripping and all, tho I don't bleeves a lot of it. Sure wuz better'n Hateful 8, which I sat thru las' nite.
Worse - we've been watching Walking Dead DVDs... it's vaguely addictive, like a soap opera. Mostly it's about trying to figure out ways to deal with zombies that the dumass cast doesn't think of. Lots of ways. Nevermind. *
Hey - Attack of the Lederhosen Zombies.... it's new, it is indeed Alpine shamblers... a bit of a sendup, and lots of stuff to dispatch zombies with - like ski poles, snowblowers and snowboards... it had laughs, and enough blood to satisfy most gorefans.

 

[J Riff]

Epic 2013, animated... in which tiny, teeny little people live in the forest... . riding on birds, and fighting a war 'twixt life and green growing stuff - and dark mold 'n decay. There's queens and warriors and princesses, and, people from the real giant world that we live in... are in it too.


BTW... the original dialogue, in Dr. Strange comics... was corny Stan Lee at his best... but, on re-examination, we find that 'By the Moons of Munipor' had at least 3 spellings... Muni, muna, Munopoor. So, flawed, yes. * )

 

[Overread]

I saw Epic - it was a fun animated adventure for what was; but I kind of disliked how it presented the concept of decay and rot as evil since within the wild world decay and rot is far from evil; indeed its part of the cornerstone of life. I get why it worked in the film, I just feel that they could have built some kind of human "evil" into the decay to twist it beyond what it was presented as

 

[J Riff]

I agree, but otherwise there's no reason to ride on sparrows and hummingbirds, leaping from tree to tree, to save the Queen and the forest.

 

[SilentRoamer]

I saw Epic - it was a fun animated adventure for what was; but I kind of disliked how it presented the concept of decay and rot as evil since within the wild world decay and rot is far from evil; indeed its part of the cornerstone of life. I get why it worked in the film, I just feel that they could have built some kind of human "evil" into the decay to twist it beyond what it was presented as

I agree, but otherwise there's no reason to ride on sparrows and hummingbirds, leaping from tree to tree, to save the Queen and the forest.

The whole thing is a Fern Gully rip off but Fern Gully did it better - better animation, better voice acting, better story, better bad guys and the evil in the forest was humans and specifically petrol and pollution.

Fern Gully was one of my favorite films as a kid and I highly recommend it for anyone on here with small children.

 

[HanaBi]

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (film) - Wikipedia

Continuing with my voyager into Australian Cinema over the last 40 years or so, had the great pleasure of dusting down this old and rarely seen DVD.

Story concerns how Jimmie Blacksmith (half Aborigine) tries assimilate into the white culture and suffers all sorts of abuse and exploitation.
Even when he finally marries a white woman, the stresses become too much and he finally snaps, leaving a trail of violence and murder behind him.

A tough film to watch, not least because of the familiar abuse we see of a "minority", but also there is no satisfying conclusion; no happy ending, just moral hand ringing.

Am pleased I watched it though. Shame it didn't do all that well on initial release way back in 1979. And is still hard to track down from the usual media outlets and formats.

3/5

 

[Overread]

Fern Gully was one of my favorite films as a kid and I highly recommend it for anyone on here .

Fern Gully is one of those films I'd say is for the family and thus suitable for adults as well as kids.
It's one of the few big animated films that isn't Disney (nor Ghibli) that I think is a masterpiece.

 

[2DaveWixon]

"Walkabout" (1971)

Still sends quite a powerful message regarding different cultures interacting for good or bad. In this case two white children stranded in the Australian Outback trying to make their way back to civilization; but are later befriended by a teenage Aborigine boy, who tries to help them in their quest; but he also teaches them the raw facts of life and death out in the desert: how to search for water, and how to hunt and kill animals in cold blood!

A powerful story, but with a tragic sting in its tail

Great performances from the young leads, especially Jenny Agutter and David Gulpihil.

The music by John Barry is lush & moody; and the direction by Nicolas Roeg, sublime!

4/5

Yes, I saw that in '72 or so. I liked it a lot, and I second everything you said about it.

 

[2DaveWixon]

BTW... the original dialogue, in Dr. Strange comics... was corny Stan Lee at his best... but, on re-examination, we find that 'By the Moons of Munipor' had at least 3 spellings... Muni, muna, Munopoor. So, flawed, yes. * )

Or maybe there were three different planets, with coincidentally similar names, that had moons with mystic power?

 

[2DaveWixon]

I saw Epic - it was a fun animated adventure for what was; but I kind of disliked how it presented the concept of decay and rot as evil since within the wild world decay and rot is far from evil; indeed its part of the cornerstone of life. I get why it worked in the film, I just feel that they could have built some kind of human "evil" into the decay to twist it beyond what it was presented as

@J Riff , in the comment following yours, raises the good point about a need to have some sort of threat in the story.
At the same time, I agree quite a lot with what you said (as quoted above) -- it's just that there only seem to be two alternatives for sources of threat: Nature, or a sentient being...I think the makers of the film were trying to be a little different.
So I came out of the movie thinking that the fight was simply against Death...
Death, after all, is not "evil" as we humans tend to use that term; but we fall into doing so because we're all afraid of death...and we hate what we fear, which creates a need to portray the hated thing as "evil."
It's not good philosophy, no. But it is, after all, how one tells stories.

 

[HanaBi]

Spartacus (film) - Wikipedia

Always a favourite of mine over the years, especially around Christmas time for some odd reason.

A remarkable story with a remarkable cast. Laurence Olivier & Peter Ustinov both stole the show for me; more so Olivier because he played the part of Crassus to a tee (probably had the looks of a Roman general and statesman. Although I did find Kirk Douglas' performance as Spartacus a little wooden & stiff in all honesty.

Sumptuous camerawork, good editing and a tremendous score by Alex North, especially the opening credits - always sends a shiver down my spine!

4.5/5

 

[dekket]

My wife and I took our son this morning to see "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".
We all enjoyed it.

 

[Foxbat]

Somewhere In The Night (1946)
O.K. thriller about an amnesiac ex-marine embroiled in a murder.

 

[J Riff]

Fern Gully good fun; but, Brave Little Toaster.... geee, I had visions of my old blacklight lamp from the 70s... rusting in a dump somewhere and whining in the voice of a six-year old child.... saaaaave me..... masterrrrr...... *

 

[Vince W]

Finally saw The Arrival. The best science fiction (and it needs to be written in full) film I've seen in ages.

 

[HanaBi]

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Perhaps my favourite Zombie film of all. Decent plot, okay acting, great sfx for its time; and a weird and wonderful score from Italian band, Goblin!

For me its Remero's most complete film for its genre. Hours of fun & gore

4/5