What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)

[Reno]

John Carter. I was expecting little from this flop anyway, but thought it might pleasantly surprise me. There were a few mildly funny moments, but other than that it was really dull, the action scenes underwhelming. The only characters fleshed out are the Tharks. The set-piece battles including them could've been better. I'm glad I never wasted money on seeing this at the cinema or paying for the DVD. My friend lent me the one belonging to his kid.

I haven't read any of the Barsoom series of books (I'm guessing this film is based solely on A Princess of Mars?), or indeed anything by Edgar Rice Burroughs, so can't comment on its fidelity or otherwise to the original material.

I tried to read one of his books, but the writing was abysmal.

 

[Captain Hurrah]

Ah. I've thinking about giving the Mars ones a go.

 

[Captain Hurrah]

I saw that recently too. Everyone has orange sunbed tans. That's all I remember

There's an ugly but 'cute' creature in it, imputed with the characteristics of a loyal dog. John Carter's best friend.

 

[Orang Utan]

Oh yeah it rushes around a lot

 

[Captain Hurrah]

'Woola,' or something.

Pants, barks, licks Carter's face with a blue tongue, stands by him when in a bit of a pickle, and annoys the fuck out of me.

 

[Mephitic]

Wild Bill ~ Predictable but still pretty good.
Agnes Brown ~ Terrific
The Devils Double ~ It was all-right, I'm hoping that it was more fiction than fact

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

The Messenger: Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster as a military detail assigned to tell next of kin about casualties in Iraq/Afghanistan.

 

[Orang Utan]

The Messenger: Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster as a military detail assigned to tell next of kin about casualties in Iraq/Afghanistan.

And?

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

And?

Oh jesus: Mr. Happy is back.

 

[belboid]

it's a damned good movie

 

[Orang Utan]

Hey, I just wanna know what you thought of it. This is kinda the point of the thread.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Hey, I just wanna know what you thought of it. This is kinda the point of the thread.

The thread says, what movie did you watch last night?

I watched The Messenger.

 

[Orang Utan]

Yes, but there's little point about telling people what film you've seen unless you elaborate further.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Fine, fine.......

It had its moments, but ultimately was a bit unsatisfying. When I told my kid about it she said, 'so, is it an offbeat love story?'. She's sort of like me.

But the moments that it had, some of them are pretty powerful. And it's a refreshing take on the whole war movie scenario.

It also has Steve Buscemi in it. He spits in someone's face.

 

[Orang Utan]

You type fast

 

[The39thStep]

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. I know , but I have a bit of a soft spot for some of these quintessentially English life comedy dramas especially if Bill Nighy is in them. The cast is pretty much vintage veteran and it is semi clichéd sentimentalism about older people in retirement life crisis who move to stay in a hotel in India.All ends well ( which you know it will) and thoroughly watchable. So much so I sipped bloody marys all the way through it.

For most of you on here its a film your a parents would like

 

[DaveCinzano]

You type fast

...for a lawyer. Clearly he is posting on a contingency basis!

 

[belboid]

Mulholland Drive.

It remains a work of genius, and very funny.

 

[Orang Utan]

I love that film. I tried to watch Lost Highway the other day and just couldn't get into it.

INLAND EMPIRE just scares me out of watching it again.
I need to man up.

I watched The Parallax View. Not quite as amazing as Klute but still an incredible film. What struck me about these films is the stark contrast in storytelling to many of today's films. If they made Klute or The Parallax View today, they'd have to show you everything. They wouldn't trust an audience to fill in the gaps. You feel flattered by many of these 70s thrillers as they actually have faith in you and don't spoon feed you all of the details. It's amazing that these were big mainstream blockbusters. They wouldn't even get greenlit now.

 

[Reno]

Klute is one of my favourite films of the 70s and The Parallax View is great too, though I haven't watched it in a while.

You just have to look towards foreign language and independent films to get that type of storytelling now. My favourite thriller of the last decade was Jacques Audiard's Read My Lips. While the characters and situations are very different, like Klute it works as a brilliant character study of its two central characters first.

And while a conspiracy on a smaller scale, the US indie thriller Winter's Bone reminded me at times of The Parallax View, especially in the second half.

 

[Orang Utan]

I like how it's called Klute but it's not about him at all, it's about Bree

 

[Orang Utan]

Winter's Bone is great, though it reminded me more of a film noir from the 40s.

 

[Reno]

I'd say the 70s conspiracy thriller is a close relative and descendant of film noir. Chinatown made those links quite explicit, being both in equal measures.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I'd say the 70s conspiracy thriller is a close relative and descendant of film noir. Chinatown made those links quite explicit, being both in equal measures.

Pakula's three paranoia pictures - Klute, The Parallax View and All The President's Men - all benefit from Gordon Willis' cinematography, often shot in dark, gloomy places, or bringing narrative focus to one person or action within a busy/crowded frame (dioptric lens tricks etc), intensifying a character's alienation or loneliness or isolation. Was it Klute that convinced Coppola to hire him for The Godfather?

 

[Orang Utan]

The Michael Small scores are brilliant too.

 

[billy_bob]

Troll Hunter. My heart sank when I saw it was going to be another 'found footage' type thing, but we ended up laughing most of the way through.

 

[Reno]

Deadly Weapons, starring the incomparable Chesty Morgan, on Blu-ray no less ! Chesty, a ropey looking stripper with the largest breasts in show business, plays a gangster's moll who avenges her fiancees death by suffocating those responsible between her enormous boobs. I saw this once before in my teens and thought it was one of the few "so bad it's good" films that are genuinely funny and entertaining and that's still the case.

 

[DaveCinzano]

My father took my mother to see that as a date movie

 

[DexterTCN]

Last night I finished watching Lexx. All of Lexx is available on youtube and netflix.

I really enjoyed it, it is very dark.

 

[belboid]

Melancholia.

Surprisingly good, quite insightful, and one fuck of a performance from Dunst.