What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[scottyrocks]

We watched Alice In Wonderland yesterday evening for the first time all the way through. Makes more sense that way.

 

[Doctor Strange]

No it doesn't. Tim Burton's worst film in a decade, and an ugly afront to a literary classic.

 

[Fletch]

Amelia (2009)
Hilary Swank brings just the right physicality to Amelia Earhart - and a ***y vulnerability that doesn't get in the way. But it's easy to overlook that the film is heavily stylized and distant from its characters. The period detail is, if anything, too lush. Only in the aerial sequences, and in the backgrounds among the extras, is there a feeling of realness. Not to be missed if you're a Golden Era junkie, however.

Pirate Radio (2009)
I'm not normally crazy about '60s nostalgia, but it's hard not to like this story of the good ship Radio Rock - and the BBC director (a hilariously uptight Kenneth Branagh)'s frantic campaign to drive her off the air and save Britain from those dirty hippie sounds. Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as the DJ who is the soul and conscience of Radio Rock; there are a lot of characters and subplots, some underscoring the subtle male pecking order among the jocks and how their female groupies enforce it. But there's a spirit of "all's fair" in their anarchic fun, and later on, real drama.

 

[rue]

No it doesn't. Tim Burton's worst film in a decade, and an ugly afront to a literary classic.

AMEN. What was with that goofy dance at the end???

 

[B.J. Hedberg]

Watched “Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the USS Indianapolis” today.

 

[Puzzicato]

Got about 20 minutes into the Da Vinci Code. What a steaming pile of rubbish.

 

[Fletch]

Saw about the last 45 min of A Serious Man. A friend of mine from the Twin Cities said that picture set back the cause of Midwest Jewry about 100 years.

 

[Babydoll]

Swiss Family Robinson. Hadn't seen it all the way through since I was in elementary school when they showed it as an after school movie in the cafeteria. We also have Old Yeller in our queue. I'm sure to bawl like a baby at the end of that one. I did back in elementary school.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Fletch, A Serious Man was my favorite film from last year. Try seeing the first 45 minutes sometime. (Having grown up Jewish in the sixties, I found it hilariously accurate, but I was even more impressed with its mostly serious treatment of legitimate moral/ethical/religious themes.)

Speaking of A S... Man, I watched A Single Man last night. Colin Firth's performance was outstanding, but it was proof positive that nobody should ever let a fashion designer direct a movie.

 

[Lady Day]

No it doesn't. Tim Burton's worst film in a decade, and an ugly afront to a literary classic.

I always respect your opinion, Doctor Strange, so I'm glad I haven't watched it yet...or ever.

LD

 

[Doctor Strange]

LD, I'm hardly the world's biggest fan of the Alice books, and I generally champion adaptations that rework things to better suit the purposes of film... but that movie is a disaster. Half-baked ideas that are just plain wrong (Alice is now a teenage action heroine!), Burton indulging his worst habits, and a distinct lack of the original's charm. Most annoyingly, the social criticism of the original (which admittedly, is a bit obscure to today's POV) is entirely jettisoned.

I gather that the new Gulliver movie with Jack Black does the same thing - totally ignores the original book's purpose as a societal critique, and handles it as just a special-effects comedy. When you consider that even the earlier kiddie versions of Gulliver - the Fleischer cartoon, Harryhausen film, Halmi miniseries, etc. - made real efforts to keep this stuff, it's a sad commentary on the state of film, and filmgoers, today!

 

[Wally_Hood]

Christmas night, It's a Wonderful Life. We (that means, me) have to see it as the capper to the Christmas movie viewing season.

 

[/|\]

Bubba Ho-tep. Bruce Campbell as an aged Elvis Presley (who is in a nursing home after having swapped places with an Elvis impersonator) and Ossie Davis as John F. Kennedy, who team up to battle a mummy in cowboy garb.

 

[Doctor Strange]

That's a fun little flick!

 

[Widebrim]

Bubba Ho-tep. Bruce Campbell as an aged Elvis Presley (who is in a nursing home after having swapped places with an Elvis impersonator) and Ossie Davis as John F. Kennedy, who team up to battle a mummy in cowboy garb.

Ossie Davis as JFK? Battling a mummy, with Elivis, in cowboy garb? I've got to see this...

 

[Widebrim]

I always respect your opinion, Doctor Strange, so I'm glad I haven't watched it yet...or ever.

LD

And Doctor Strange is right on spot regarding Burton's film. I am a "student" of the Alice books, and his film is way off...

 

[Wally_Hood]

Bubba Ho-tep. Bruce Campbell as an aged Elvis Presley (who is in a nursing home after having swapped places with an Elvis impersonator) and Ossie Davis as John F. Kennedy, who team up to battle a mummy in cowboy garb.

...and who said Hollywood has run out of fresh ideas?

 

[charminglane]

I lasted 10 minutes on the new Alice. Rubbish. Pure rubbish.

Last movie watched was Holiday Affair.

 

[Rudie]

"Holiday" by George Cukor with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. Lovely!

 

[HepKitty]

Finally watched Independence Day, well most of it anyway. It was on late and I dozed off. Would be nice to see the whole thing eventually