Last movie seen — Page 278

^Yeah, I figured as much.

X-Men:Days of Future Past

It's no secret that I have had my issues with the X-men films in the past.  I found First Class to just be average and the other movies were too focused on Wolverine flipping out and knifing people, so please bear that in mind.  I didn't even plan on seeing this movie but I got a free rental at Redbox and there was nothing else there so I just got it out so I could rant at a bad movie, the only problem was not only is this not a bad movie, it's really good and may be the best film in the franchise.

I know I am shocked to. Wolverine is the star but for once he feels like a mature character and doesn't highjack the movie.  All the other characters get enough screen time. The story is dramatic and dark while still being a fun superhero tale, it is very well cast and everyone plays their parts well, heck even the guy playing Nixon is pretty good and he isn't treated as a monster or a joke, How often does that happen in a major Hollywood movie?! We didn't even get that in Watchmen for crying out loud.  This really is a character based movie where everything that happens is tied into the personal struggles of the characters and there are not any real villains, everyone thinks that they are either doing the right thing or the only thing they can do.  Even the villain making the killer robots thinks it is his only choices, he is clearly nuts but he isn't the evil monster he could have been.  Also this does a good job of tying together all of the films into a time line, I didn't think that could be done at this point.

After about a decade of sequels and prequels that just didn't pan out the end of this movie feels like the natural end for Fox's X-Men film franchise and I wanted to stand up a cheer at the end.  For a film i was expecting to hate and a franchise I stopped caring about a long time ago that is huge.

I know some people may think I am crazy but I liked this a little better then GOTG, there is something I didn't expect to say about any X-Men film.

10/10.

Dumbo (1941)

Dumbo was never one of my favourite Disney films as a kid, so I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it this time around. I guess the eponymous pachyderm and his mouse friend experiencing a shared hallucination of creepy pink elephants after drinking booze-tainted water had more than a little impact towards shaping my new found affection for it.

8.5/10

Song of the South (1946)

To hell with the politically correct candyasses who brand this movie racist -- they don't know jackshit. If anything, this movie's about blacks and whites opening up to one another by sharing their fokelore, tearing down the bridges that keep them apart in the process.

Should I someday evolve beyond my current antinatalism and somehow find a loving woman to make babies with, I'd definately buy this movie for our children.

8/10

Scrooge (1951)

This is still the definitive film adaptation of A Christmas Carol for me and more than certainly always will be.

8/10

Help! (1965)

It's got style and humour -- and Eleanor Bron is one captivatingly sexy Jewess pretending to be an Indian -- but the pacing is awful. At least a half hour of material could've been shaved off without sacrificing any of the story.

7/10

I Gopher You (1954) -- 7/10

Trick or Tweet (1959)

I think this is one of the very few Sylvester & Tweety shorts I actually like. That the story focuses on the conflict between Sylvester and his dopey-sounding feline rival instead of that stupid hydrocephalic yellow twerp is definately the key as to why.

7/10

Terrier-Stricken (1952) -- 7/10

A Scent of the Matterhorn (1961)

I feel the same why about Pepe Le Pew cartoons as I do about the Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner cartoons -- the characters are good, but the stories are all completely interchangeable; if you've seen one, you've seen them all, and they've all become tedious and boring.

6/10

Sheep Ahoy (1954)

Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog cartoons are also all invariably interchangeably boring, only moreso since Ralph Wolf is just a lame Wile E. Coyote clone, just with a red nose instead of a black one.

6/10

His New Profession (1914)

Here's something I've noticed about Charlie Chaplin's early films with Keystone Studios: they rather suck. It's hard to see how the Tramp ever became a popular character watching these plotless meanderings.

6/10

Garfield on the Town (1983) -- 7/10

Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981) -- 7/10

Suspiria (1977)

I rated this very same film in this thread a year or so back, and I believe I gave it a 5/10. While my opinion of the movie itself hasn't changed all that much, my rating system has; whereas I used to rate a movie soley on how much it entertained me, now I also take its overall quality into consideration. Therefore, I have to give this film a new score of

8/10

Inferno (1980) 

The film spent too much time figuring out who its lead character was, and I couldn't quite figure out why the remaining two mothers were killing off the characters they'd deemed worthy of death in the first place, so I don't think its as good as Suspiria.

Still, it's an incredibly well-crafted, beautifully-filmed movie, and it's definately a worthy follow-up to Suspiria (unlike, say, the dull, dismal, boring piece of crap that was Mother of Tears). 

7.5/10

Wasn't Chaplin one of Atkinson's influences? ;-P

DuracellEnergizer said:

Wasn't Chaplin one of Atkinson's influences? ;-P

 Yeah he was, but the character of Blackadder hated him.

Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

When it comes down to film adaptations of H. P. Lovecraft's stories, I'm not all that concerned with faithfulness to the source material; as long as it manages to tell its own good story, I'm just peachy with the whole thing.

So, needless to say, I was liking the movie -- add Boris Karloff and gothic horror together, and it's bound to please me -- but then the ending happened -- that stupid, tooth-shatteringly painful ending. That was enough to ruin the entire experience for me.

6/10 (and only because I liked everything before the ending)

Phenomena (1985)

If anyone ever asks me why the '80s is my favourite decade of cinema, I'll just tell them to watch this movie. It encapsulates the best of '80s cinematography, music, and atmosphere -- I'm just absolutely transfixed with this film. It's my favourite Dario Argento film and my favourite Jennifer Connelly film.

8.5/10

Tenebre (1982) -- 7/10

Planet of the Vampires (1965)

I wanted to like this film, but the pacing was just too slow and the characters too uninteresting to keep my interest; I ended up thinking about Star Trek uniforms to pass the time while waiting for the plot to progress and something of interest to develop.

Oh, and I wasn't at all impressed with the ending, either; it's like something the Twilight Zone would pull, but done in such a bland way as to make a viewer ask: "What's the point?"

6/10

The Rapture (1991)

As with Frailty, this is another Christian-themed horror film that leaves me with more questions than answers. This movie, though, is far more heartbreaking -- it certainly makes me hope, more than ever, that the Fundies' version of Christianity never turns out to be true.

Oh, and David Duchovny with long hair is indeed a sight to behold.

7/10

Cowards Bend the Knee (2003) -- 7/10

Night Mayor (2009) -- 6.5/10

Oh, I definately appreciated the look of the film and the sequence aboard the alien ship was definately the best part of the movie.

Well I started watching Christmas movie today I kicked it off with Christmas Vacation and followed that up with the greatest Christmas movie of all time...Die Hard.

Dammit, just because a movie occurs during Christmas doesn't make it a Christmas movie!

I only watch Die Hard once a year, at Christmas, so yes it is a Christmas movie.  The film takes place on Christmas eve, it's full of Christmas music, and the events of the night bring a family back together.  It's a Christmas movie.

I only watch The Room on Christmas, ergo it's a Christmas movie.  And it's tons better than Die Hard, btw.

Die hard may be the best paced and structured action movie of all time if you ask me.  I am not saying it is the best but if you want to learn how to set up an action movie so none of the plot points seem like they are coming out of left field and you don't want you movie to drag at all, watch Die Hard because it is a perfect example of how to do those things.  It is also a great example of how to shoot and edit action scenes with energy while still letting the viewers see what is going on. As far as straight forward action movies go it doesn't get much better then Die Hard and I enjoy watching it every year.

DrCrowTStarwars said:

Die hard may be the best paced and structured action movie of all time if you ask me.  I am not saying it is the best but if you want to learn how to set up an action movie so none of the plot points seem like they are coming out of left field and you don't want you movie to drag at all, watch Die Hard because it is a perfect example of how to do those things.  It is also a great example of how to shoot and edit action scenes with energy while still letting the viewers see what is going on. As far as straight forward action movies go it doesn't get much better then Die Hard and I enjoy watching it every year.

 Maybe, but it's no The Room.

ray_afraid said:

Gremlins is my favorite Christmas movie. Gave it the annual viewing tonight.
It was just as silly, awesome, scary, stupid and wonderful as ever.

 Yeah another great one.  it's my little brother's favorite movie ever.

I love that poster.

The Virgin Spring (1960)

This is the third Ingmar Bergman film I've watched, and he hasn't failed to impress me yet. While not as good as The Seventh Seal or Hour of the Wolf, it is still very beautifully shot, with great performances all around and a perfectly powerful ending. Bergman's definately shaping up to become another favourite director of mine.

8/10

Deep Red (1975)

At this point, I think it's safe to assume that Dario Argento's not going to become a favourite director of mine. While I can't say the guy's without talent -- he does, or at least did, have tonnes of the stuff, as Suspiria and Inferno clearly demonstrate -- most of his films simply fail to really engage me on an emotional level. Up 'til now, only Phenomena has really managed to successfully seduce me.

Well, now I can say that there's another Argento film I really like -- this one. Not as rawly beautiful as Phenomena -- there's no Jennifer Connelly in this one, after all -- but it does a pretty good job drawing me into its world.

8/10

Kill, Baby, Kill (1966)

Lord, it's getting tiring watching all these Italian horror films. Not because they're bad, of course, but because it's impossible for me to find a copy that isn't horribly dubbed in English. Once -- just once -- I'd like to find a copy on YouTube or somewheres that has the original Italian dialogue and a set of English subtitles both.

Okay, tirade over. Atrocious dubbing and title aside, this isn't a bad movie at all. Kinda slow in places, but it's got a fair amount of creepy atmosphere which reminds me of Roger Corman's Poe films, and that's in no way a failing at all (hmm ... I wonder if Corman was influenced by Bava).

7/10

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

This is Argento's first film, so of course it's not going to be as visually stunning as his later works. Still, it's got plenty of humourous bits -- plus Reggie Nalder, who I never fail to enjoy seeing pop up in various random roles -- which elevates it above mediocrity.

7/10

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Out of all of De Palma's movies that I've seen, I think this one is his best. Beautiful on all levels -- visually, aurally, and emotionally -- it's an almost perfect film.

Oh, and yes -- Rod Serling's narration in the beginning? It places this film in the Twilight Zone Multiverse, and that is just all shades and hues of awesome.

9/10

Roundhay Garden Scene (1888)

The first film ever made, and it isn't spectacular at all. I think a remake would definately improve on it. ;-P

6/10

Watched my absolute favorite christmas movie: "The Ref".