Last movie seen — Page 169

"Funny Lady" with Barbara Streisand, 1975. 

Very interesting to see this on film.  It was grainy in places, but so much depth in the blacks and really, really beautiful in places.

The Bourne Trilogy, because I'll probably see Legacy at some point. I'm somewhat reminded of my feelings on the Nolan Batmans.

Identity- is a film I still enjoy because it is both simple and refreshing in a way. It doesn't always feel like a big studio movie, and  I think that's why I enjoy it so much. 95% of the book is thrown out, but the characters are allowed to interact with one another to make the film the most engaging of the three. I know it's not perfect, but it still works.

3.5 balls out of 4.

Supremacy shows things starting to go downhill. The book is lost completely, and Bourne becomes a one-note machine designed for plot advancement. It's enjoyable on the extreme surface level, but as soon as you look anywhere past the silly shakycam the extremely obvious underdeveloped writing becomes quickly apparent. A disjointed disappointment.

2.5 balls out of 4.

Ultimatum is a chase movie and nothing more. There are brief attempts to depict the initiation of Bourne into the secret government program etc. but in the end these are not developed enough to really mean much of anything. The production was working against a tight deadline without a script, so it's simple wall to wall action sequences with yet more CIA figureheads having internal power struggles. The story is woven around the end of the last film, and this leads to some overall sloppiness and repetition right down to having another fairly incomprehensible car chase that almost exactly mirrors the one at the end of Supremacy. The ending leaves room for an obvious sequel.

2 balls out of 4.

None of these have any of the complexity of the novels. The first two books are some of the finest espionage novels I've ever read, and immensely plotted. The two film sequels are one-note characterizations of the new version established by the first film. When the original director and longtime pursuer of the film rights, Doug Liman, was thrown off the franchise, the series took an immediate hit because they lost their heart.

"Mondo Hollywood" (1967)

The film presents a series of vignettes of the more extreme aspects of life in Hollywood - and Los Angeles as a whole - of the period.

Very satanic!  

Total Recall (2012)

Simple Formula: Total Recall (1990) + Blade Runner + I Robot = Lots of Confusing Action

They took a bunch of action scenes, lots of special effects, two ass-kicking chicks, and squashed them all together. AND then, just to piss off everyone, they didn't show the one thing... or should I say the three things... everyone wanted to see in their full naked goodness.

At least I didn't have to pay $12 to watch it. Yay to teh interwebz!

Tobar said:

Davnes007 said:

AND then, just to piss off everyone, they didn't show the one thing... or should I say the three things... everyone wanted to see in their full naked goodness.

At least I didn't have to pay $12 to watch it. Yay to teh interwebz!

O_o Uh...all three were there at the midnight premiere.

Then I guess I must have blinked. or something, 'cause I didn't see 'em.

'Ted'.

Absolutely shit.

Not funny.

Best thing about it was the trailer.

Seth McFarlene is a hack.

No balls

The Wrong Man

Essential title, and I forgot just how good this movie is. Basically this is Henry Fonda put through hell in 50's NYC. Hitchcock is playing with location shooting and a more verite style, which was alien to him. The Catholic overtones make it quite apparent why Scorsese references this film consistently. Beautiful cinematography as well. Sets the stage in some ways for Vertigo, and displays what Hitch saw in Vera Miles-and perhaps gives a glimpse of what her Madeline would have been like.

3.5 balls out of 4. Underrated and seldom seen.

Vertigo

The film that has haunted me for nearly 15 years. Though I don't believe in ranking films, one of the few that could justfully usurp Kane. One of the few films where I get genuinely emotional, though I really can never explain why. Deeply personal, from a story written expressly for Hitch by the writers of Diabolique. Masterfully directed, shot, staged, performed, and scored. This is beyond art, it gets at the frailty of the human condition and psyche. It is also the culmination of everything Hitchcock had done up to that point, his favorite themes and ideas revisited and reworked, much like North by Northwest, but with no sense of his trademark humor. Here Jimmy Stewart gives no reference to his famous persona, and finally shakes off the remnants of Jeff Smith, fully channeling the dark moments of George Bailey, and the gritty toughness he displayed in Anthony Mann's westerns. It is also a culmination of his previous three Hitchcock roles, here he is fully cracked open and a truly weak man.

It may not have been fully intentional, but no one else could have played this part like Kim Novak at that point in time. She caries this sort of eternal sadness in nearly all of her roles, but this combined with some sort of internal resistance to Hitch's controlling nature really makes the character seem even more fascinatingly distant. Combine this with the otherworldly looking San Francisco, the razor sharp yet soft VistaVision photography, haunting color through almost a ghostly haze, a story so buried in the memories of frail beings, and Bernard Herrmann's most captivating score and you have this film that damn near traumatized me as an 8 year old.

And the story, oh god, the sheer amount of levels it works on; from the spiritual aspects, to the mystery set up, the creepy tone in places, the reversal of standard plot unfolding, the way everything mirrors itself, the fact that it feels like it's from another world, and the fact that Mr. Jimmy Stewart himself, the most overtly "good" seeming actor ever, is so captivated by his dream image of the dead that he tries with feverous zeal to remake the living into the dead.

There is nothing else like it. Hopefully Robert Harris will be able to fully complete his 1998 restoration with modern tools as he has stated would be ideal. And the 5.1 mix is beyond atrocious. Despite the dropouts and hiss, the 5th gen mono track on the MC DVD is essential. i still feel like the restoration has never been ported to disc quite well as it could, and even RH has admitted they did the best they could with the color but it isn't fully accurate.

One of the movies that holds you in the palm of its hand like an insignificant little grain of sand. It looms over you just like one of the giant sequoias. Unforgettable, and with perhaps the finest ending shot ever shot.

Despite knowing Hitch's darkly funny reasoning behind the scene in the empire hotel where Judy goes into the bathroom and emerges...it is still perhaps the most emotional scene in all of American film. Never before or since has anyone dealt with the living and the dead in such fashion. Just look at Jimmy's face welling with tears and try to not do the same. That goes beyond mere acting. Easily the finest screen performance I've ever seen next to O'Toole in Lawrence.

4 balls of course. Beyond essential to see. I can live with people not liking certain films, but this is one of the few that criticism of is like a knife in the heart.

North by Northwest

The follow-up. One of the great running for cover after a string of relative failures that hitch did, and perhaps his finest. It ironically uses several techniques from Vertigo, with the softer VV photography and the blending of many previous themes and motifs into one script. Here it was the intention to make the ultimate crowd pleasing wrong man film, and it succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Cary Grant wears the indestructible gray suit and does a quasi-throwback to his screwball performances, James Mason is so charming that you don't care if he gets away with it or not, the chase is all important instead of the MacGuffin, and Eva Marie Saint is tantalizing. What's not to love? One of those exceedingly few perfect classics that never ages or tires. Constantly inventive and goes for broke.

That said, I becoming less and less a fan of the new restoration. It has too much darkness and too much of a blue cast. The Blu-ray features some kind of crushing going on, and though possibly accurate to the OCN it isn't what was dis[played in theaters in 1959. All previous editions couldn't utilize the negative due to damage on one of the layers and thus had to use lower generation materials. The previous DVD was a newly struck print that was extremely overscrubbed and overcooked in color by Lowry (of course) and had a pink cast to the film which was not correct. The most accurate to my eyes, and the one I find myself drawn back to is the Criterion laser, despite being a bit washed out. It is print sourced, and like we've reasoned on their Bond transfers likely comes from a studio show print and possibly one that was original or maybe Technicolor. Still need to check out the MGM LD which has a different transfer from an IP.

And the Criterion has the mono! even though the 5.1 new mix has no new effects, it is too artificial sounding with a surround setup, and once you've heard the mono you cannot go back.

4 balls out of 4 stolen Mercedes.

Tenenbaums, Rushmore, Moonrise Kingdom, Bottle Rocket, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Darjeeling Limited, Life Aquatic

Not a bad movie there, but his magnum opus is undoubtedly Tenenbaums.