The last film that you watched

Please to discuss your thoughts.

Expanded: Provide insight, commentary, kudos, blame, disgust, what-ifs, confusion, accolades, and/or your rating (on a sliding scale, yea or nay, your choice) pertaining to the last film (feature, short or international) you care to commment upon - the easiest being the one you just finished watching.
Share your genuine recommendations, and pan the undeserving hype attached to certain movies.

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It has just been over one hour since entertaining myself with this film.

To put it simply, this is an MMA film - (A) Melodramatic Movie About (A) ...


I can't heap enough praise onto this cinematic experience that has not already been stated by others; and although it begins with a plausible concept that then hops a train into the territory of unlikelihood, I still found myself suspending that disbelief long enough to become entralled by the last half of the film's tournament bouts and adrenaline-fueled dramatics about life decisions, family and affirmation.

I'm not really good with reviews, but I do agree that this was one of last year's best films, it had three great actors (Hardy, Nolte, Edgerton) that deserved due recognition for their performances. A last additional thought I would like to resolve: up until the close-up shot of the 'main baddie' in the film, (Koba) I was debating whether or not the ironic coincidence of casting an Olympic USA Gold Medalist and professional wrestler playing an undefeated MMA Russian Powerhouse was lost on some. (I actually came away from the film thinking that no way could that have been Kurt Angle, trying to measure him up, looking into his eyes, and unfortunately they didn't give the character any speaking parts, but I turned out to be delightedly wrong. He had great expressions and makeup/contacts that fooled me long enough to disorient my familiarity with his celebrity, and it just made me that much more impressed with the film, that little tidbit.)

 

Last film - video last night - They were the Belles, of St Trinians
Watch 'St. Trinian's' Trailer Online - VideoSurf Video Search
I often groan at the remakes - but not this one. The original author - Ronald Searle - would have enjoyed it I think.

 

Ballast - dir. by Lance Hammer (2008)

Have had this film in the "to-watch" queue for over three years now (seems much longer, as I am a subscriber to Kino). I knew at the moment I added it to my wishlist, it was critically-acclaimed, but had no idea how much so (it has won various international awards have come to learn). Watched it earlier this week, and going to re-watch it again with commentary in a short scope. (I rarely re-watch films because there is not much left to expect or extract from a reviewing, at least for me; this film is different).

To be honest, I was completely wrong about what to expect from this film when I originally watched its trailer those same three-plus years ago (I originally thought it was a family drama about a mother trying to cope with the shooting of her son, the frenzy that occurs afterwards because of it, and trying to find out what caused it. This is not what happens at all.)

As I have mentioned before, I am no good at selling praise, so... instead, I found a stand-in:

A double prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival and one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2008, Ballast is a stunningly evocative story of personal catastrophe and communal redemption. In the cold winter light of the Mississippi Delta, three lonely people stumble under the weight of a shared tragedy. Lawrence (Micheal J. Smith, Sr.) is paralyzed with grief after the loss of his twin brother (from an apparent suicide). Twelve-year-old James (Jim Myron Ross) drifts into the perilous orbit of local teenagers while his single mother, Marlee (Tarra Riggs), is too exhausted from her menial job to interpret the clues. When sudden violence forces mother and son to flee their home in the night, they alight desperately on Lawrence s property. Though this provides safe harbor, it rekindles the fury of a bitter, longstanding conflict. Writer-director Lance Hammer and his gifted cast of local, non-professional actors have created an unflinching, profoundly humane story of lost souls forced by circumstance to seek solace in the most unlikely of places.​

-- thank you to Gary Tooze of dvdbeaver for the review.

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I'm not much the sort that utilises ratings, but I wholly recommend if you have the chance, to view this film.

 

"The Gray" Director: Joe Carnahan Just loved Lian Neeson in this movie. The theme was pretty much what wolfs and man are like in certain situations.
Lian was the alpha male in the group of humans, meeting up with the alpha male wolf in the end.
Really enjoyed this movie!

 

Trigger Street Productions presents a Jameson First Shot film:

Envelope, written and directed by Aleksey Nuzhny.
Starring Kevin Spacey , Alanna Ubach, Anthony Skordi, & David Meunier.
Produced by Dana Bruneti, Kevin Spacey & Carter Swan.

real thought-out words (in a sense):
I liked the premise alright, and I was really intrigued by what happened at the apex of the film, but the dénouement of the film felt rushed, didn't expand any further, and I felt let down. It was good, but there was no 'wow' in it overall.
I could say the same for the other short film starring Spacey on the same channel, entitled The Ventriloquist - good, not great, no real ending.

 

"The Help". I thought it was okay but not all that....
Perhaps the book was better in this case. Good showcase for fat & sassy black actors.

I dunno, wasn't moved too far left.

 

The Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price (1964).

I really liked it, up until the end. I had some real hope that the film would turn out to be have a happy ending, but it was not meant to be. As this film ended, I came to learn that it was based upon Matheson's novel, I Am Legend. Matheson even helped to write and adapt the screenplay here, but for some reason he was not pleased with the overall result, he changed his name on the credits, and so, I don't know - the film turned out half-good, instead of feeling liking a fully-formed flick.

The first half of the film is right slow, though; but, with the existential thought, and reforming once you realise he is not all alone, it gets pretty wild nearing the end. I recommend it.


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Improved special effects are the best thing about the remake starring Will Smith. That and him hitting golf balls off the deck of an aircraft carrier, but that is probably because my personal history serving on one of them.
I much prefer the 1964 take on the story. That finale where he knows how to fix things but is not going to have the opportunity is how I would have done it myself. Vincent price is one of my favourite actors on the radio and the big screen; he was great as The Saint during the radio run and has a superb performance here.

 

Meh.

It was entertaining to a certain degree. Not too-too bad, but... ya know, an indulgence... the "philosophy" stuff was somewhat entertaining, but the down moments of reflection were a real downer on an action movie... didn't quite all come together okay in my book... but... an interesting & entertaining watch all the same.

--- merged: Jun 13, 2012 at 9:42 PM ---
Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (came out yesterday, rented on iTunes)...

A mindless indulgence & entertainment for the evening... so entertaining I couldn't help but have my attention focused on The TFP and reading Wikipedia / Slate on my other monitors.

I love movies, and I watch them as relax / wind-down time w/ a bier and food.

 

Baraka - dir. by Ron Fricke (1992)


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take it ne, or leave it be, post-commentary:

I really do not want to add any words to the description / review of the above film, (because the way it conveys its story is an exact embodiment of how I try to approach conversation / ideals by impetus of immersion, instead of sole, colourless speech) but I just have two quick things to add, and then I'll vanish: 1) is it truly possible if some one / some studio is shooting a movie, and through post-processing, they can isolate a single sound/conversation in the midst of all the ambient distractions, pings & noises (with no external microphones/trickery)? - example of what I am explaining HERE; and 2) This was one of the first things I found when I was composing my post - you can watch it, too, now.

-- post-note: gah. The youtube version of the film is actually about x3 better in quality/definition than the double-sided letterbox DVD version I watched last night. Highly-recommended viewing, as it is a scenic / cultural / vicari-corporeal immersion in experimental filmmaking. (my words)

 

I watched the film Bliss depressing topic, good film. I truly enjoyed it and would watch it again.

 

Pulp Fiction was on the other night.
I've seen it before but always up for watching it again.
Excellent production; I like the way the story is broken up and not linear in time.
The filming angles and way the scenes are set up are interesting too.
And to top it off, plenty of senseless violence and an excellent soundtrack.
Oh and did I mention Uma?
Uma.

 

I watched Total Recall last night.

 

Had come to recently view Nuovo Cinema Paradiso once again;
this time, I finally viewed the first 15 minutes, and the last five minutes (which I previously had not seen).

Now that I digest the film once more, I am convinced it will easily creep into my unofficial top 7(-11) favourite feature-length films - it is so engulfing (and representative of my own life's experiences, which colour it nicer, I believe). The only drawback I realised when first starting my re-watching - I thought it might be a longer-type film, maybe nearing 120 minutes in length, but I was not expecting it to be just five minutes shy of a 3-hour block in storytelling. Still, thhrough all the life's transitions, decades in passing, and the montages that connect them through to each other, it was a wholly worthwhile watch.

Recommended.

 

I just -barely- finished Contaigion, by Matt Damon . About 1.25 hours into it, I got up and went back to my life of tinkering and repair. I assume that movies with too many big names; Paltrow, Fishburn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, etc., are used to support a story that cannot hold its own. I was right about this one, and lost interest when most valuable player, Winslet, died off.

I was relieved that I was spared the torture of friend, Ben Affleck. The best move he ever made was becoming a stay-at-home Dad to an A-lister. Thanks for that!

 

I just finished Gran Torino for perhaps the 12th time. I discovered Clint Eastwood as an actor and director after all the uproar about Million Dollar Baby. This was perfect timing as my understanding and appreciation for quality film-making had finally outgrown my fascination with boobs and explosions (but just barely.)

 

Saw a French film Intouchables The Intouchables (2011) - IMDb . It's really funny and is based on real people and events.

 

I thought of this film the other day when the idea for "review a film you have never seen based solely on the trailer" came into my head again.
Might try it still (no doubt not the first person to do so, just not caring enough to find other people's take on the idea), would be interesting on some level I suspect.

The last film I watched was Volcano on Netflix instant streaming. It had been at least 10 years if not the movie theatre last I saw it; great film with cliched characters, a plot just thick enough to hold things together, and best of all Los Angeles being partially destroyed by something other than asteroids/monsters/earthquakes.