What was the last movie you saw?

[Rodders]

I finally got around to seeing Rogue One.

I loved it. Better than The Force Awakens.

 

[J Riff]

That scene at the end of TGTBATU, the 3-way showdown, is absolutely classic.
I watched Eyes Without a Face, w/ subtitles, and it is truly a weird one.
Bridge of Spies - well-done, the story of a prisoner exchange during the cold war. Had no idea it was Spielberg/Disney till the end, very okay movie for all ages.

 

[HanaBi]

"The Warriors" (1979)

Have seen this loads of times over the decades, and never ceases to bore me!

Street-gang violence, mixed with some a relentless musical score, tight editing and pretty decent acting from a largely unknown cast.

Fortunately, director Walter Hill holds it all together very well. There's not much of a story to focus on; just sit back and enjoy the mindless violence.

(That said, a Director's Cut was released in the early 00s, which offered a remastered picture and 5:1 sound. However, for me it was completely ruined by the introduction of comic-book sequences to link certain scenes! An appalling concept that blunted the hard edginess of this film for no apparent gain.)

3/5




The Warriors (film) - Wikipedia

 

[WaylanderToo]

warriors come out to playay... warriors come out to playayeee


looks interesting

 

[Jeffbert]

MONSTERS, INC. followed by Ratatouille; both animated, both very entertaining. M, Inc. has the premise that in the world of closet monsters, children's screams power their electrical system. Ratatouille is about a rat that becomes a chef.

Yesterday, I watched Vertigo; at 58, this was the 1st time for me. The film I mentioned above "Hitchcock [something Trufalt, sorry cannot recall spelling, not going to google it]" covered Vertigo, among others, but I had an expectation of what would occur, but I was pleasantly found wrong. I had no idea! But, I have a bad time remembering women's faces, unless they are well known to me, so, this film had me scratching my head for a while.

 

[HanaBi]

"The Quiet Earth" (1985)

One of those "last man on the planet" films, that follows in the footsteps of "The Omega Man" and "Soylent Green" et al.

A low budget cult classic all the way from New Zealand, and featuring ever-dependable Bruno Laurence as Zak, waking up one morning to find his home, his street, his place of work, his city... and probably the entire planet devoid of humanity due to some botched scientific experiment he was involved with.

Despite the guilt, Zak begins to enjoy being the "king of the world" and being able to do anything he wants. But invariably materialism cannot replace human contact, and he become more depressed because of it.

However, he soon meets two other survivors, and typically a power-struggle between the two Alpha males kicks in for the affection of the woman, who has her own agenda!

The ending is perhaps the highlight of the entire film, and opens up a lot of existential questions, coupled with some quite nice, but dated, sfx.

Spoiler

..following a controlled explosion, Zac is killed and ends up on another planet either in the after-life or a parallel universe, depending on the viewer's opinion

3/5

The Quiet Earth (film) - Wikipedia

 

[Rodders]

That sounds pretty good. I may need to check it out.

 

[clovis-man]

"The Quiet Earth" (1985)

Good movie. Been a while since I've seen it.

 

[J Riff]

Have a remastered version to watch, of The Quiet Earth, a good movie as is Enemy Mine from that vintage.
Watched Escape Plan, in which Arnie and Sylvester have to break out of the world's toughest prison. Guess what...spoiler> They do./ * )

 

[aThenian]

La La Land. Charming and all that, but somehow a little bit underwhelming.

 

[clovis-man]

Have a remastered version to watch, of The Quiet Earth, a good movie as is Enemy Mine from that vintage.

We have a member on the Chrons who hasn't been active lately, (Tangaloomababe) whose avatar is a scene from The Quiet Earth. There are some pretty good Kiwi films out there, starting with Utu (Utu (1984) - IMDb), a story about a Maori uprising. It's almost impossible to get a copy now. More recently, I highly recommend Housebound, a spooky tale filled with New Zealand wit in between moments of abject terror. Housebound (2014) - IMDb Currently on Netflix.

 

[HanaBi]

We have a member on the Chrons who hasn't been active lately, (Tangaloomababe) whose avatar is a scene from The Quiet Earth. There are some pretty good Kiwi films out there, starting with Utu (Utu (1984) - IMDb), a story about a Maori uprising. It's almost impossible to get a copy now. More recently, I highly recommend Housebound, a spooky tale filled with New Zealand wit in between moments of abject terror. Housebound (2014) - IMDb Currently on Netflix.

Another good kiwi film I would certainly recommended is "Once Were Warriors". A very hard hitting (in all contexts) Maori drama. Quite disturbing too. But very very good.

 

[Jeffbert]

I saw Planet of the Vampires a few times, but remember little, other than the fact that I really enjoyed it.
I most enjoyed The Warriors (1979) when watching a certain episode of the Simpsons, in which the film was parodied.

Spoiler

The punk with the bottles on his fingers clanking them together really gave me a laugh!

I think it was a Halloween episode.

 

[Ronald T.]

Warlock, with Henry Fonda and Anthony Quinn. One of the great westerns. I love it every time I see it.

 

[JunkMonkey]

Slightly upset to find I don't know where my copy of The Quiet Earth actually is - I guess I must have lent it to someone. (When will I ever learn?)
Last night Daughter Number One and I continued our exploration of queer cinema (or rather the queer cinema I will let her watch - she is not watching Blue Is the Warmest Colour until she's at LEAST 27! - and then not with me.) We watched Hedwig and the Angry Inch last night and she's been singing the Wig in a Box number all day.

 

[HanaBi]

"The Witchfinder General (The Conqueror Worm)" (1968)

Classic British horror starring Vincent Price and Ian Ogilvy.

Made on a minuscule budget of £100,000, and follows the fictional account of a 17th century English lawyer and self-proclaimed witch hunter, Matthew Hopkins.

A very well received film by critics and audiences alike. But also carried an air of controversy due to the explicit and excessive torture scenes - some of which were subsequently censored by the British Board of Film Classification. (Although the US version remained largely uncut)

Great film, and perhaps one of Prices' finest roles as the sadistic torturer, Hopkins. Perhaps a little on the long side, and the 2nd act does lose direction before coming back into focus for the final, ultra-violent stanza.


3/5


Witchfinder General (film) - Wikipedia

 

[HanaBi]

Set in Nazi-occupied Rome in 1944. it shows the grim tale of resistance fighters being betrayed by those they thought they could trust.

A simple but incredibly dramatic story, as well harrowing and brilliantly portrayed by a largely unknown Italian and German cast.

This is no Hollywood or British Pathe heroic/happy ending; instead this is classic Italian neorealism, with unexpected gut-wrenching scenes throughout, not least the final 5 minutes.

Production values are not great; and the subtitles feel incomplete, out of sync, or just incorrect. But none of that really matters; the essence of the story is easy to follow; and sometimes actions really do speak louder than words.

Outstanding!

5/5


Rome, Open City - Wikipedia

 

[JunkMonkey]

Set in Nazi-occupied Rome in 1944. it shows the grim tale of resistance fighters being betrayed by those they thought they could trust.

A simple but incredibly dramatic story, as well harrowing and brilliantly portrayed by a largely unknown Italian and German cast.

This is no Hollywood or British Pathe heroic/happy ending; instead this is classic Italian neorealism, with unexpected gut-wrenching scenes throughout, not least the final 5 minutes.

Production values are not great; and the subtitles feel incomplete, out of sync, or just incorrect. But none of that really matters; the essence of the story is easy to follow; and sometimes actions really do speak louder than words.

Outstanding!

5/5


Rome, Open City - Wikipedia

I got round to watching this for the first time recently and was less than totally overwhelmed.

Part of what distanced me from appreciating it as the masterpiece it obviously is, (it's an important movie), was the very dated and grotesque stereotyping of the lead villains. They were portrayed as a predatory lesbian and a mincing camp gay while the film went out of its way to show the good guys as, innocents, very heterosexual, or aesthetically asexual.

Left a taste in my mouth.

 

[HanaBi]

"Southern Comfort" (1981)

Set in the early 1970s and features a squad of 9 Louisiana National Guard soldiers on weekend military exercises.

During a patrol the men find their route blocked due to flooding of the bayou swamps. But they come across some boats owned by the local Cajun community. They decide to take three of them without asking first!

However, a handful of Cajun hunters arrive on the scene and kill one of the soldiers, causing panic among the remaining men.

After scrambling ashore and with their leader dead, they are commanded by a sergeant who is literally out of his depth and ends up getting the squad lost in the swamp. While at the same time the Cajuns are still on their tail!

A pretty decent thriller by director Walter Hill, with plot overtones of "Deliverance" and "The Warriors" (also directed by Hill) mixed in to good effect.
Shame it bombed at the box office, but has recovered somewhat via good VCR and DVD sales over the past 20 years to achieve a cult status among its fans.

3/5

Southern Comfort (1981 film) - Wikipedia

 

[WaylanderToo]

I got round to watching this for the first time recently and was less than totally overwhelmed.

Part of what distanced me from appreciating it as the masterpiece it obviously is, (it's an important movie), was the very dated and grotesque stereotyping of the lead villains. They were portrayed as a predatory lesbian and a mincing camp gay while the film went out of its way to show the good guys as, innocents, very heterosexual, or aesthetically asexual.

Left a taste in my mouth.

I would say in its defence that this is likely that it was very much a film of its time and therefore ANYTHING other than vanilla hetro was bad (and even unmarried hetro was bad and dangerous)