What Movies Have You Watched Recently?

[zasterguava]

Watched Stand by Me for the 3rd time and it is definetly one of my favourite films. River Pheonix is short of amazing in it and Will Wheaton's great too (I had the forutune of him replying to me in the pokerstars chat a few days ago ZOMG!- so even more starstruck whilst watching him on screen!)

[katyseagull]

Little Children







Just watched Little Children this weekend. Interesting film with very nice direction and wonderful photography. Some really great acting by Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson, the outcast Jackie Earl Haley, and the actress who played his mom. I have to say I laughed when Winslet’s character was described as boyish and not that beautiful. Yeah, okay that’s a stretch [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

I found the narrative structure to be bothersome. I just didn’t see that it was necessary at all. I guess I’ve never been a big fan of this device. Anyone else share my dislike for narration?

In the movie Winslet and Wilson give nuanced performances of lonely suburban parents who begin an affair. I thought it was actually quite believable myself although Sarah seemed so unhappy that it was sort of hard to grow fond of her. Even still, I wanted to know what was going to happen next. As I said, I thought that the director did some wonderful stuff with the photography, he left quite an impression in my mind with many of his cool shots (the scenes at the pool, the book club, Sarah and Brad making love, the stroller in the rain, the dinner date with the neighborhood outcast).

I really liked the dining room scene in the second half of the movie where Sarah and her husband are invited over to Brad’s house. I loved how it was framed, with the different conversations going on at the same time and how the camera zooms in on Jennifer Connelly’s face as she is realizing the nature of the relationship between her husband and Sarah. Just very nicely done. I only wish that the spouses had been more developed. They were almost cardboard cut outs and it left me wanting more. The director could have developed Sarah’s husband’s personality a little so that he would be more sympathetic. At times I felt the movie didn’t know what it wanted to do, sometimes painfully realistic and subtle, other times veering towards caricature. The manic Larry and astonishingly creepy outcast made me wonder if there was a certain dishonesty to the film. But I can see how people might like it.

I have to say I did not like the ending at all. Spoiler in white! –
<font color="white">First, I hated what Ronnie did to himself. Holy crap that is so awful. Second, that Larry becomes compassionate, well, it was hard for me to buy. Finally, that the central characters run back to their spouses and find comfort in lives which clearly bored them to tears. How are we supposed to accept this? </font>


Perhaps this is the way the film should end, but if that’s the case I found it really quite depressing. I guess I’m not smart enough to understand what was to be learned from it all.

[rothko]

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How are we supposed to accept this?

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little children

[katyseagull]

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How are we supposed to accept this?

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little children

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Huh. [censored]. I didn't even think about that. I guess I missed the ENTIRE point of the movie. Lol.

[Enrique]

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How are we supposed to accept this?

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little children

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Huh. [censored]. I didn't even think about that. I guess I missed the ENTIRE point of the movie. Lol.

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Not only that they are little children, but this is what I think happens in the world all the time. The lives of people rarely (if ever) the lives they dreamt for themselves when they were young. I felt as if part of the movie's message is about dealing with your life outside of your dreams. Being happy in a conformist way, yet letting you know that being adventurous can be worth it.

[diebitter]

Spiderman 3

eeeeh, it was okay. The action stuff was good, and there were some good sequences, but it suffered badly from lazy writing, silly coincidences and characters not doing things in character in order to keep the story going (like MJ pretending to break up with Peter because she was threatened).

Spiderman 2 was a far better film, IMO. My son like 3 though.

[Five-Star]

Invincible
Disney has the inspirational film down pat. It's great that they feature stories on people like Vince Papale because people from my generation might not have heard about his amazing journey. The story is well written and acted. Apparently everyone who lived in Philly in the 70's was ripped... You do get caught up in the emotional parts, such as when he's going after that fumble and running. I played football for some time and did play on special teams and don''t remember that's the way it looked running down the field but I really liked the way they shot it. An inspirational film to show the family. There is a lot of drinking in the film but never to excess. If you have a free night and aren't sure what to watch, why not give this a shot.

Tombstone
It seems that every time I watch this film there is a new scene that I do not remember in it. Which is odd because I own it on VHS. Such a powerful cast in this film. Val Kilmer is excellent and probably one of his best performances. Great action scenes and a great western.

Animal House
It's odd, I really don't like the American Pie films and any of it's clones. However I love Animal House and Porky's, etc. Basically the same type of film but I just hate the modern versions (see also Old School, which I am reviewing).
It's amazing to look at the film and see all of the people who were no-name actors that made it in the industry. Karen Allen, Tim Matheson (who will always be the Vice President on West Wing to me), Kevin Bacon, etc. This movie is on of the classics that everyone should see. One of the quintessential college films.


Old School
Explaination: The reason I watched this is because one of my Soldiers put it in on the bus ride back from training. Otherwise I would never have seen this movie.

I just don't like these types of modern films. They don't make me laugh. It might be that I just don't find Ferrell that funny in these rolls. I just wasn't impressed. Probably on of the few movies of this genre where the main character and love interest don't even kiss.

[Enrique]

2046
A movie by Wong Kar Wai, the guy from In the Mood for Love. 2046 is in a sense a sequel to "In the Mood for Love".
I love the music selection, I love the images, I love the dialogues, I love the thoughts, it seems like everything is perfect, but for some reason I got bored. It kept faking me making me think it was the end, I got disappointed, then I would get back into the movie and another fake ending would pop up.
The movie is enjoyable mainly because the imagery is just beautiful. I bet if I see it again I would enjoy it much more, because I would know that scene in the movie is not the last one even though it will seem like it is the last one.

I understand why people love this movie, but after watching it only once, I can say, I've had better.

[Marwan]

I really liked Little Children.. The end was a bit confusing.. as I remember, he writes a good-bye note to Jennifer Connelly and is planning on leaving her.. Then he takes the note with him.. does this mean that he had a change of heart at the last minute (when tucking his kid in or something), and was going to meet up with Kate to tell her that it wouldn't work out?

I believe the book version had a bit of a different ending if I remember reading discussions about the movie correctly.

I saw Dog Day Afternoon yesterday, Al Pacino was amazing.. one of the best performances I have seen. I think he should have got the Oscar for best actor, though Jack was good in Cuckoo's Nest, Pacino was better.. So many good, memorable, funny, sad scenes in this movie.. The most famous being "Attica! Attica", Pacino writing his will, Pacino talking on the phone with his two wives.. Not only do you sympathize with the bad guys, you kind of root for them.. Pacino and the person who played Sal are also not your typical bank robbers like in Inside Man or other films, which added a different dynamic.. The stockholm syndrome element was also pretty funny, watching hostages play with Pacino's rifle and talk pretty candidly.. it was obviously a much more terrifying experience in real life, but in the movie you could see that they built a relationship with their captors.

Also saw The Last King of Scotland, which was pretty good.. Different from what I expected, I thought it was a biopic like The Aviator or something like that.. Whitaker was good, though I thought he'd get more screen time, it was sort of a shared leading role with the white guy.

[Blarg]

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and the person who played Sal

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Fredo (John Cazale) was always great.