What movies have you seen recently?

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Have you seen North by Northwest on Blu? It's a beautiful restoration. I'm dying for them to restore more Hitchcock. Rear Window is my favorite, but I love Psycho, The Birds, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder, Vertigo and North by Northwest. I love anything Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart. Oh, and I'm only 19, but I grew up watching old movies with my parents. My kids will grow up the same way.

On a new movie note, I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes last night and 30 Minutes or Less this morning. Planet of the Apes was good, but definitely fit the mold of a summer movie IMO. 30 Minutes or Less was enjoyable but a funny movie nonetheless.

Yeah, I have NXNW on blu along with Psycho. As far as I know that's all the Hitchcock films on blu thus far unless I missed some releases.

I disagree on Planet of the Apes. If anything, it broke the summer movie mold because the action was supported and surrounded with a very tight, very well developed story.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

32 is young. Don't let the people tell you otherwise!

Hah thanks

Look for another movie or two in this thread late night tonight or early tomorrow morning.

[IndianBird]

Final Destination 5. The end is fantastic.

[Blzer]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Went based on everybody's impressions, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The relationship between Will and Caesar was amazing, and the story was well developed. A lot can be told through Caesar's facial expressions, and I certainly thought it was a high point for the film.

Though as expected, I wasn't much thrilled with the CGI on most close-ups, or during any ape tirades. I'm not saying they could have done better, it's just the nature of technology. If and when it can improve, it will only better films of this archetype, because they obviously can't have real primates to do what they need to have them do. In fact, I almost wish this was a 3D feature with some of the shots that they had.

Final Destination 5

Leaving the theater, it definitely makes you forget the atrocity that was The Final Destination. I'm not saying this one "brings back the roots of the first two films," but it definitely aimed much more for practicality and mystery, over T and A... and B. The 3D was used effortlessly, the special effects were very good (again, comparatively to its predecessor), and it was great to see Tony Todd make a return.

If you're going into this film having not seen any of them, I do recommend that you at least see the first film, just to get a gist of what they're all about. People know that you survive only to die later in the order you were meant to, but this one ups the ante in the rules department without going fully into that earlier premise, and accepting it as such.

As IndianBird said, the ending was great. I expect them to make more films, but if they decide to end here, I wouldn't mind it one bit as far as the story goes.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Fort Defiance (1951)

Wow this is a sleeper of a western with a young Peter Graves as the blind brother to one of the characters. Graves does a masterful job of making himself likeable which shows why so many want to protect him. Here's the summary:

It's just after the Civil War and Ben Shelby arrives looking for Johnny Tallon whom he plans to kill. Shelby was the only survivor of a battle due to the cowardice of Tallon. Thinking Tallon dead, another man who lost a brother at the same battle arrives to kill Tallon's blind brother. Tallon arrives to find Shelby and his brother fleeing. Then they are attacked by Indians and Shelby and Tallon must now fight together postponing the inevitable showdown.

The summary conveniently forgets to add that Johnny Talon does indeed come back into the picture wanting to take his brother with him to San Francisco where with the money he's robbed he'll be able to hire a doctor to restore Ned's sight. This movie has a lot of complexities especially in the middle of the film where you find out that everyone is not what they seem even the supposedly villainous (though he does turn true to form) brother Johnny.

This is one of the more complex westerns i've seen in some time especially for the era it was made in. It hasn't aged much at all and I think with a little tweaking would be a fantastic film to do a remake of. I'm being purposefully vague about it because I think it's a flick that you should check out for yourself if you're into classic era westerns.

It's on sale at Amazon for 20 bucks. I don't know about Netflix availability though.

3 1/2 stars


Another Ben Johnson movie I saw was from the next year called Wild Stallion. There's not too much to say about this one but I liked the idea of telling the story from the perspective of Ben Johnson's obsession for his former horse. Here's the summary:

A young boy's parents are murdered by Indians and his white colt disappears. Now grown, he hunts horses for the Army while he still looks for his horse. Eventually he finds and rides it but it escapes. Finding the Army has bought it and seeing it is being mistreated, he rides away on it. Just as he spots an Army troop he thinks is after him, the Indians attack them driving away their horses. Left with the only horse he must try and get to the post for help

The movie is definitely a family type of film though it's hampered by the trappings of the Saturday Matinee action tropes. You know, shootouts with Indians and fights etc etc. I suppose that's par for the course in a movie like this. It really had a lot of sentiment but the heart wasn't quite there. Still this is a solid 2 star flick in my eyes.

[daflyboys]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Get Low

Robert Duvall of course does not disappoint in this early 20th century set drama about a man who became a recluse and developed a reputation as a mean cuss, prompting stories throughout the county. He decides that he wants to arrange for his funeral, but wants to witness it and invite any and all who have a story to tell about him. Great cast, though the surprising performance is by Bill Murray, whose past efforts into more serious film ventures, has, let's face it, left a lot to be desired. Shades of the younger Murray shine through as the undertaker who wishes to help Duvall in his goal for said offbeat wake.

This might be one of the more engrossing stories that I've seen in quite some time. Not to be watched in the background or while doing some other task. Let yourself be enveloped by this masterpiece.

[SPTO]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I won't go into detail but continuing on the Western theme (don't worry my next few movies are NOT westerns)

War Drums (1957): Boring, stupid and characters acting against their best interests. It was just a bad movie all around. It was so bad technically that some of the day for night scenes were brighter than the actual day time scenes!

1 lowly star for this dud.


Cheyenne Autumn (1964): A great John Ford directed western that should be watched by everyone. It tells the story of the Cheyenne tribe making the arduous 1,500 mile journey back to their ancestral land after years of broken treaties by the US government. The story captures their struggles as the cavalry pursues them while the head of the cavalry unit in charge of this sees the "light" and turns around to fight for the Cheyenne's dignity and right to go back home.

This is a nearly flawless movie with only a couple things marring it like the completely out of place "battle of Dodge City" setup and scene. The rest of the movie is almost entirely serious while this 15-20 minute chunk is done in a comedic way with James Stewart of all people in a bit role as Wyatt Earp! This out of place scene alone drops this from a 5 star to a 4 1/2 star flick. Despite that though this is worth seeking out.

[Watson]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Resevoir Dogs.

Spoiler

I saw the standoff coming from when he "revealed" he was a cop


other than that, GREAT film

[TripleCrown9]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Watched Bronson starring Tom Hardy. Very interesting biopic about Charles Bronson, England's most dangerous prisoner.

And, unbeknownced to me, it also somewhat unfortunately features

Spoiler

Tom Hardy's penis for about 3 or 4 minutes

[dickey1331]

Just watched 30 min or less. Hilarious movie. I loved it.


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[coolguy124]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

i saw cowboys and aliens i had low expectations but it wasnt that bad

[Stormyhog]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

I watched Creature From Black Lake (1976) as I have it on dvd. Story is about a couple of college students who go searching for a bigfoot type creature in the Louisianna backwoods. I have always enjoyed this movie growing up and watch it every so often. It's more about the atmosphere and the search than seeing the creature which you do get glimpses of. It stars John david Carson, Dennis Fimple, Jack Elam and Dub Taylor.

[dickey1331]

Just watched Sucker Punch. My wife liked it. I thought it was a little strange.


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[CMH]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Just watched Sucker Punch. My wife liked it. I thought it was a little strange.


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- Do you really care where I sent this from?

Interesting that your wife liked it. I thought it was better than decent. I gave it the 3 stars "I Liked It" on Netflix.


More on my catching up tour: Finally watched Leon: The Professional.

Been wanting to see this since 1999. Just never made it a priority. Loved it. 5 stars for me. I can watch this film all over again and again without hesitation.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: What movies have you seen recently?

Leon is awesome. The three main actors are unbelievable.