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What have you watched this week? (05/07-05/13)

posted 7 years ago by StoneKeeper (22899)
134 replies | jump to latest

Welcome back everyone, hope you had a good week. Here are the movies I watched:

https://moviechat.org/tt0112883/Don-Juan-DeMarco
Don Juan DeMarco (1994 TV): Many times in my life I saw this movie on the video store's shelf and not once I picked it up because the cover, with Johnny Depp, looked too much like a movie for girls to drool on. But it played on TV this week and right after the first 10 minutes I realize it was actually going to be a movie I would like. And I liked it indeed, although the pacing was not always to the rhythm. It's a quirky and romantic comedy, perfect for a rainy afternoon. The story was interesting, I'm always fascinated by the topic of mental illness, and the acting was very good too. I don't know much about Marlon Brando because he's not of my generation but in this one he looked like a fat Robert Redford. And He played his roller very well. He contributed to the success of this movie with his genuine character. 6.5/10

https://moviechat.org/tt0245562/Windtalkers
Windtalkers (2002 Bluray): I had never heard of this one before and when I saw it for three bucks I blind bought it. It's a WWII movie Directed by John Woo, starring Nicolas Cage,Christian Slater and Mark Ruffalo. A strange combination that makes for a strange movie. The overall acting is below average and it's far from being one of Cage's best performance. The best performance was actually the guy who played the Navajo Indian. If you're looking for realism and solid drama, keep on your way, this one is not for you. If you're in for hundreds of explosions, invincible soldiers, violent warfare and 2 hours of action scenes that are pretty well shot, give it a try. I had a good time watching it. 6.5/10
(BTW, John Woo made some of my fav movies:
Red Cliff 9/10
Hardboiled 8/10
Face Off 8/10
Hard Target 7.5/10)

https://moviechat.org/tt1046997/Miracle-at-St-Anna
Miracle at St. Anna (2008 DVD): I seek'd out this movie because it's from Spike Lee, a director I like, and I own most of his movies, but had never heard about this one before. Again, this is a strange movie. This week I watched what must be two of the weirdest war movies I've seen. This one is unbalanced and very long. (2h40) The editing is awkward to a point that it can get annoying, the cinematography is not really impressive, the dialogues are good at times and terrible at others, some scenes were weakly executed, some were pure non-sense, some were good and interesting. Near the two hour mark there is a quite shocking scene of a crowd of civilians and children being executed. From there, the movie suddenly got bloody violent. The cast is full of actors I love but the overall acting is acceptable at best. The story was good, the American-Italian-German mix worked well and there was a religious tone to it all that was a bit cheesy. For example, there is a scene where you see a group of each people making the same prayer at the same time at different places and the effect they hoped for was not powerful enough for us to feel much. In the end, not as bad as Red Hook Summer but, another Spike Lee joint that never come to spark. 5.5/10

https://moviechat.org/tt0084788/Things-Are-Tough-All-Over
Cheech and Chong "Things are tough all over"(1984 DVD): I rewatched the first four Cheech and Chong movies a few weeks ago and realized I was missing this one and I received it in the mail this week. The first half is a bit slow but the second half was better. The new characters were fun and the story was good. A nice comeback after the failure that was "Still smoking". 7/10

https://moviechat.org/tt0489049/Fanboys
Fanboys (2009 DVD): This is a great road trip comedy! I saw all the Star Wars movies and enjoyed them but I'm not a "fan" and yet, I really love this movie. It's funny, entertaining and just makes me feel good. I really don't understand the people that hate it and how it got bad critics. The acting is excellent and there is many wonderful cameos. 7.5/10

https://moviechat.org/tt0276751/About-a-Boy
About a boy(2002): It's written 'best comedy of the year' on my DVD case but to me, its more a drama although there is some good laughs. In a strange way, the movie made me see how I could've ended up if I would've never met my wife, never had my two sons and stayed single. Also, the little kid reminded me a little bit of my nephew. Anyway, very sad movie but very good too. 7/10

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 7 years ago

Movies:
American Pastoral 3/10 I could barely watch the fake stuttering and I did not care about the characters at all. I also didn't understand why the narrator was someone who barely knew the main characters and wasn't even a character in the story. it's like if you narrated a story about your mailman's cousin's wife.

Imperium 6.5/10 Interesting and it had some twists but I wish it would have gone deeper into the lasting psychological effects on the FBI agent. spoilers : [spoiler] I did like that the guy who appeared so mild mannered and vegetarian turned out to be the most dangerous while the hardcore talk radio instigator was just a big poser and didn't believe any of the shit he was spewing. he was just in the movement for the money and fame. And the skinheads were just dumb thugs who wanted to party. Instead of portraying a single generic monolithic white supremacist group, they had all these different factions who had different agendas and sub-cultures. [/spoiler]

Miss Sloane- 6/10 it was okay but the ending was kind of anti-climactic and you never really found out WHY she did what she did.

Manhattan Night 4/10 I was frequently bored and the protagonist was a douchebag.

Hitchcock/Truffaut 9/10 I loved it and now I want to get that book

Genius ( movie about the writer Thomas Wolfe, not the tv series about Einstein)- I am halfway through with this so can't fully rate it yet. So far it's very good. first half 8/10

TV shows:
Fargo (current season)
Better Call Saul (current season)
The Americans (current season)
River Monsters (current season plus reruns of past seasons today)
Naked and Afraid (current season)
Survivor (current season)
finished American Crime season 2 (past season)

[–] db20db (16573) 7 years ago

I'm curious about your take on Genius. I recently rented it, got distracted, lost track of time and had to return it.

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 7 years ago

I edited my post to add some ratings and reviews.

[–] db20db (16573) 7 years ago

I already had a general sense of the movie. Could you add maybe a little detail about why you personally consider it "very good? "

[–] Popcorn Kernel (2368) 7 years ago

Well I tend to like movies that are about creative people and the creative process. Both fictionalized and documentaries. I like movies about artists, writers, musicians. I like seeing how they get inspiration, the creative process, and the effect it has on their life. So I am already biased to prefer that type of movie anyway.
But this one focused on the relationship between the writer and his longtime editor, and that's an interesting side we rarely see in films- we usually see the artist as a solitary figure making their creations all by themself. This is more of a collaborative process and the editor almost seems like a co-author in some parts, if the movie is accurate.
There is a push-pull dynamic, where the writer is always trying to reach further and the editor is kind of trying to reel him back in.

[–] db20db (16573) 7 years ago

One of the most moving, influential books I've ever read was Lust for Life, a biography of Vincent Van Gogh. I was somewhat disappointed in the film adaptation although Kirk Douglas was an idol for me when I was young. Go figure when it comes to how people evolve.

Thanks for providing exactly what I asked for. I'm sure I'll rent it again in the near future. I'm also into writing, I had a personal instructor for awhile, I can relate to the dynamic you mentioned here.

[–] Catbookss (13664) 7 years ago

Comments on your viewing for this week:

While I don't think About A Boy was particularly a comedy, nor should it have been considered "best comedy" or best anything else of the year, I did enjoy it. Hugh Grant has relegated himself to lightweight fare for years, even though some of his films have been fun and enjoyable, and this is no exception.

Haven't heard of Fanboys, but the premise sounds intriguing. I'm not a particularly *avid* fan of the Starwars movies, but did enjoy the first one, and loved The Empire Strikes Back. Wish MC had a wish list, because I'd put this one on mine.

I'd give Don Juan DeMarco the same rating as you. Good, worth watching, not great.

Windtalkers sounds interesting too. I'm a fan of Nicolas Cage, Christian Slater, and Mark Ruffalo, and Face/Off.

[–] db20db (16573) 7 years ago

bump

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

I haven't seen any of yours, except bits of Don Juan DeMarco and About a boy on TV. But those aren't enough to really comment on them.

L'amour avec des si (In the Affirmative, 1964) A man is driving in a car listening to the radio, where news reposts tell a sadist has escaped from prison. He picks up a woman hitchhiker. We follow them around, the police looking for a criminal, and there are some scenes of interviews with people on the streets about sadists, the war in Algeria and things like that. There is a car chase and a nice “bait and switch” in the end with the police. It was an interesting enough film and overall I liked it.
https://moviechat.org/tt0142082/Lamour-avec-des-si

Wind Chill (2007) Boy likes a girl. Boy offers to drive girl home for the holydays over false pretences. They get stuck in the snow on an abandoned road. Ghosts happen. It was a mixed bag. It had Emily Blunt in it and I like her. I didn’t really care much about the character drama between the two characters, but some of the ghost stuff scared me. I wouldn't want to watch it again though.
https://moviechat.org/tt0486051/Wind-Chill

Der Nachtmahr (The Nightmare, 2015) A teenage party girl starts seeing a creature after an accident at a rave party. Her mental state starts to deteriorate as she starts to make contact with the creature. It was really interesting. It towed the line between a teen drama and a weird horror well. I liked it. WARNING: There are flashing lights and those dangerous sound frequencies, so don’t watch if you have epilepsy or some other condition that is affected by those.
https://moviechat.org/tt3141498/Der-Nachtmahr

To be continued...

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

Children of Men (2006) In the world of tomorrow women can’t have children and everything is shit! This film gives me so much anxiety, but I love it so much!
https://moviechat.org/tt0206634/Children-of-Men

Al final del túnel (At the End of the Tunnel, 2016) An isolated man in a wheelchair rents out a room in his house to a young woman with a kid. One day he hears a gang of bank robbers digging a tunnel in the neighboring house. Spying and scheming and violence follow. The plot had some contrivances in my view, but it had a decent amount of tension, and the performances were good. I liked it.
https://moviechat.org/tt5133308/Al-final-del-tunel

Capricorn One (1977) “Fake it, til’ you make it" is apparently the motto for NASA’s new mission to Mars. It’s about a government conspiracy to fake the first Mars landing. And along the way it becomes a “guy wondering around a desert being chased by helicopters” movie. I missed the very beginning of it, but it was an entertaining movie.
https://moviechat.org/tt0077294/Capricorn-One

La La Land (2016) More like Blah Blah Land (I couldn’t help myself). I think we all know what it’s about by now. I didn’t like the musical numbers, which are important for the enjoinment of a Musical. I didn’t care that Stone and Gosling weren’t professional song and dance performers, and I don’t think it would’ve helped much if they were. So the first half of the movie made me roll my eyes a lot. But I liked the second half of it with all the character drama (when the movie forgot it was a musical for a while). The used of colours was nice. Gosling was Gosling, Stone was good (idk if she was Oscar good though). Overall I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would’ve liked, but I didn’t hate it as much as I’d expected.
https://moviechat.org/tt3783958/La-La-Land

[–] actionkamen (23176) 7 years ago

Three cheers for Blah Blah Land! 😂

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

Thank you! I'm here all week lol

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 7 years ago

Children of Men is a great movie... though I never understood how the logistics of that would work until the Zika virus came. Of course it's not exactly the same thing, but the idea that a virus could come that would affect pregnancies on a mass scale is very frightening.

I should rewatch Capricorn One... I saw it when I was a kid and thought it was good but I no longer remember what happened.

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

Honestly I tend not to overthink these things. Rarely is it about the actual hypothetical event, but more about how people react to it. But with Zika and hormones in food messing people up, and the aging population in Europe, it’s not that inconceivable. Though I doubt it would get as extreme as no more babies.

What’s frightening to me is what society had become because of the infertility and how the only government we're shown reacts to the whole situation resulting from it. And with the refugee crisis and Erdogan literally at my door step, some aspects of the film are already becoming somewhat close to reality (though we're not fully there yet).

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 7 years ago

In fact, I thought that was the only weakness of the film. We are shown some vaguely Orwellian fascist government, but they never flesh it out and explain what they are except that they use police state tactics. V for Vendetta had a similar problem... oversimplified almost to the point where the message is freedom is good and authority is bad.

The main problem the West is facing (perhaps more in America than Europe) is that we are rapidly evolving into a post literate environment where people get their information from tweets, FB and IG posts and memes rather than reading books or even professionally edited articles written by true journalists. This allows certain governments to bomb the fuck out of the third world, then claim the refugees from this world are a danger not because of poor foreign policy decisions but because they are inherently evil. An educated public wouldn't fall for this type of rhetoric but idiots raised on television news produced by moneyed interests easily would.

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

I don’t think it was particularly Orwellian and I like that it was contained to the background. For me at least, it doesn’t take much to deduce the basics of what’s happening there. And similar things have happened before, to one degree or another.

The public as a whole has never been very informed on these matters. That’s why every time governments manage to repress or kill whole groups of people, or go into ridiculous wars. Plus, you always need a boogeyman. I think we have a problem where we have too much information, all the time. It’s more than people can handle. You can only hear about so many terrorist attacks or stupid laws being passed before you stop with the news all together.

I’m from EE, and we’re constantly being used as something to scare people in the West with (from my observations at least). We were supposed to overrun the UK a few years back… What I don’t understand is how people could fall for the same fear mongering tactics over here, knowing what it’s like being on the other side of it. It's like people have no perspective or long term memory when it comes to things like that.

Anyway, the way I see the future, it’s more likely that we’ll end up with a blend of Brazil and Fahrenheit 451, than anything Orwell cooked up.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 7 years ago

http://moviebrazil.blogspot.com/2007/11/terry-gilliams-inspiration-george.html
http://www.askmen.com/celebs/interview_200/239_alfonso_cuaron_interview.html

I posted both these links because I found it amusing that Gilliam was inspired by Orwell even though he never read 1984, but Cuaron claims he tried to avoid it. Personally I think he (Cuaron) didn't because regardless of the current state of history... Orwell's theme is universal.

Yes I remember as a child how Russia and Eastern Europe were painted as villains that were going to overrun the world... in the case of Russia this might be true as Stalin killed millions of people but Eastern Europe was simply caught in the middle as the Middle East is right now. Santayana warned us about the importance of remembering history but Israel is doing many of the things to Palestinians that the Nazis did to them and America is doing to Arab Americans what they did to Japanese Americans during the war. I'd like to think it's a lack of memory but I fear its more of an indifference. It's as hard to stay as politically engaged as it is to have a flat stomach... one needs discipline and hard work. It's easy to say Fuck it, roll over and binge watch something new. It takes effort and education to both understand the situation, then actually go do something about it. The internet is the opium of the 21st century... as long as people can binge watch, play video games and watch porn... they won't be bothered with what the government is doing.

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

Interesting reads, thanks for that.

I think Cuaron had a point about the totalitarian state of the 21st century being a democracy. When people refer to 1984, from my observations at least, they're referencing government surveillance, but in the context of a democratic state, not a socialist style one. Not to mention that Orwell was influenced by real things that were happening in the world at the time and by a book by a Russian author critical of the system in the USSR (Yevgeny Zamyatin's We). As is with most works like this, they always have basis in reality, and there are only so many ways a government can oppress it's people. So his book was futurististic only in the "Western" world really, while half of Europe was living in it (to a certain degree).

I like Brazil over 1984 because it highlights the absurdities of such a system. And there were a lot of those, that people were confronted with on a daily basis. There's a lot of humour that's been drawn from that.

I have a feeling like I'm contradicting myself a little bit, but I hope you get my points.

As for the villains that were going to overrun the world, that's pretty much over by this point (and I don't think there was a big risk of that happening in the past either). But I'll say as far as WE attitudes are concerned, we're pretty much in the same position as Mexicans are in the US.

I think it's a mix of selective historic memory, apathy and fear. And to use a couple of cliches: There's nothing new under the Sun, the more things change, the more they stay the same. People are always going to look for things to distract themselves from the struggles of daily life.

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 7 years ago

Good comments Mina, but one thing I have to quickly say is there is no such thing as a democratic American state any more than the USSR was a republic. When our nation was founded we disenfranchised minorities and women... true, an improvement over the British system... but still not a real democracy. Then after the industrial revolution, we slowly evolved into a plutocracy where moneyed interests controlled the elections. 93% of those who spend the most money win elections... therefore to call us a democracy seems absurd. It's true our system's less corrupt and violent than the Russians but still through the gerrymandered electoral college, control of the mass media, and even now the newspapers... it's the wealthy who buy elections, lobby politicians, and ultimately control public policy. It's like comparing a war criminal's crimes to a serial killer's, although recently we've been catching up.

[–] MinaVladimir (4077) 7 years ago

You're still considered more of a democratic state than not. In any case, you're enough of a democracy to fit into the context of my comment :)

[–] Prelude (1443) 7 years ago

I Love About a Boy, didn't care for Don Juan De Marco!

I've just watched Gerry (2002) a Gus Van Sant film starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.
https://moviechat.org/tt0302674/Gerry

Interesting watch and concept which can be take two ways.

[–] XO (24) 7 years ago

Ah it's that time of the week again :)

From your list, I only watched Fanboys. I remember it was pretty awesome.

I am a huge John Woo fan myself, but only of his HK movies (Bullet in the Head, The Killer, Hardboiled etc, all easily 8-9/10 for me).

Haters Back Off! (TV Series 2016) - the most annoying and most hated characters I ever saw in a TV series (Miranda and Jim). It was never mentioned if she is retarded, dumb, or simply "behind", so I have to assume she is just generally a self-centred asshole. Only redeeming episode was the final when she was all alone at the end. I understand it's based off a youtube phenomena, and maybe it should have stayed there. 1/10

Summer Camp (2016) - interesting take on drugs/zombie genre. Short and entertaining 6/10

Galaxy Quest (1999) - can't believe I never came around to watch this until now. Very nice spoof with a gorgeous Weaver 7.5/10

Final Girl (2015) - lacks so much, execution is terrible, mis-cast main lead 3/10

The Late Bloomer (2016) - funny, several laughs throughout (esp between the guys). Half bonus point for boobs 6.5/10

Apart from the above, some documentaries but too many to list here :)

[–] StoneKeeper (22899) 7 years ago

I need to see Galaxy Quest too!!!

I had no expectations for Final Girl and I actually loved the concept, the cinematography was great and the acting was nothing amazing but I had no problem with it. Very cool movie to me. 7/10

[–] Sentient Meat (1509) 7 years ago

Yeah Galaxy Quest is a good one, especially for any fans of science fiction or Comic Con type culture.

[–] Terrygg (544) 7 years ago

I really enjoyed Galaxy Quest. Nice ensemble adventure story, emotionally engaging and decent visual effects. You can actually see the scales on Mathesar's skin moving. Gross! Lol
I liked all the characters and the humor.

Yet I could never figure out why it wasn't received well at the box office. Maybe the reason was the cast weren't that popular.

[–] Terrygg (544) 7 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Terrygg (544) 7 years ago

That looks like a wide variety list of films you have watched this week. I've seen Miracle at St. Anna. It was alright. Not what I expected from Spike Lee. Although I think if he did more films like that one instead of making films about social injustice of black americans, critics would take him more seriously.

This week I only was able to watch three films:

Prometheus
https://moviechat.org/tt1446714/Prometheus
7/10
summary:The crew of Prometheus sets out to a distant planet hoping to find the answers to life on Earth. Instead, they encounter a deadly lifeform.

First I want to acknowledge this film's beautiful photography and location. The story is very well fleshed as well with a true blend of horror and hard science fiction. The plot is the type were you have to use your brain. And a little bit of high school biology and chemistry knowlege helps as well. LOL
Never a dull moment in this film. Every scene contributes to the building on tension until the climax of the film. The acting is good. The characters aren't that dumb either. Prometheus really contributes a lot to the overall story of the origins of the alien species. Great job.

The Fate of the Furious: The Fast and the Furious 8
https://moviechat.org/tt4630562/The-Fate-of-the-Furious
6/10
summary: the crew from the Fast and Furious movies have teamed up to stop a rougue member from doing terrorist activities.

This movie was so far fetched. This movie is an attempt to make another installment featuring these characters. The CIA and FBI wouldn't employ these race car drivers even if one of them was CIA if a member of the crew decided to go rougue and commit terrorist activities. Maybe I am missing some important information from the previous movies. It was an entertaining movie though. I actually liked the characters and the dialog. Some very funny dialog and thrilling action sequences. I was impressed with that part.

[–] Terrygg (544) 7 years ago

Ghost in the Shell
https://moviechat.org/tt1219827/Ghost-in-the-Shell
4/10
Summary: In the distant future, a cyborg police opperative working for District 9 must track down a cybergenetic terrorist who's trying to destroy it.

Complicated plot. Scarlett Johansson is not a very good actress at all. I felt no emotional connection for the characters or the plot. I actually feel asleep during three-fourths of the film.
The controversy with this film was that the anime original version had an all Asian cast of characters. This live action version doesn't. That didn't take away from the film at all, neither hurting or helping it.

[–] StoneKeeper (22899) 7 years ago

Not a fan of Prometheus, not a fan of the genre either I have to say. I give it 6/10 and its near the bottom of my Ridley Scott list. So it's not a bad movie but again, if this is a ''true blend of horror and hard science fiction'', then its really not my type of movies.

[–] Terrygg (544) 7 years ago

Well I wasn't making any recommedations. I'm just listing the movies I saw this week. I usually don't recommend any film I have rated below a 8/10 so...