Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[moviesceleton]

I have not seen Pina but Prometheus uses 3D just like avatar, doesn't it? Which means very little (even more little with Prometheus I think). It's gets you (a bit) more into the universe, and it improves dramatically every kind of CGI (have you ever seen Avatar flat? all the CGI suck), except, maybe, explosions.

Avatar was also good but it still had stuff thrown at you and things like that. I have not seen it flat and never intend to. The trailer looks awful enough in 2D.

I grant that 3D probably draws you a bit more into the movie (actually, human faces are often the most interesting thing in 3D movies) but the glasses on your nose and the dim image kinda ruin that effect.

Le fond de l'air est rouge / A Grin Without a Cat
Chris Marker's essay film, a fresco, about the socialist movements around the world in the 60s and 70s. I saw the 177 min version assembled in 1993 (the original four-hour cut of the movie premiered in 1977). It's hard to believe but the film really holds you in its grip for the whole three hours. It's not a history lecture or great analysis, but it's a hell of a film. If it even has a message, it has more to do with the concept of history rather than historical events or political left/right. Can't really rate it (roughly 8-9.5/10) but I highly recommend it.   

[cigar joe]

Senso (1954) 6/10

[Groggy]

Dog Day Afternoon - 8/10 - One of the most intense thrillers ever. Lumet wisely focuses on the protagonists, making the robbery and its ludicrous escalation easy to follow. Though this approach undermines Lumet's thematic pretensions re: the media and anti-Establishment backlash, dramatically it's the right play. The ending is a real shocker though I guessed something like it was coming. This is probably Pacino's best performance, and he's surroundeded by an excellent supporting cast: Chris Sarandon, John Cazale, Charles Durning. Keep an eye out for Lance Henriksen.

[stanton]

Only 8 for "One of the most intense thrillers ever" ?

[Groggy]

Yeah.

[drinkanddestroy]

Yeah.

useless fact: I used to pass that area all the time; the bank where this story happened -- the real story, not the filming of the movie --  was at Avenue P and East 3rd street in Brooklyn, a mile from my house, half a mile from where my mom and her parents would have been living at the time. There is a park across the street from the bank, deserted at night, which hosted many a late-nite piss from yours truly during a walk home after a night partying  

maybe I'll take pictures next time I pass that street

[Groggy]

useless fact: I used to pass that area all the time; the bank where this story happened -- the real story, not the filming of the movie --  was at Avenue P and East 3rd street in Brooklyn, a mile from my house, half a mile from where my mom and her parents would have been living at the time. There is a park across the street from the bank, deserted at night, which hosted many a late-nite piss from yours truly during a walk home after a night partying  

maybe I'll take pictures next time I pass that street

Cool, would be interested in seeing them.

[cigar joe]

The Last Gangster (1937) 7/10 pretty good but predictable yarn. Below is an IMDb review:


Unpromising material, but excellent drama, 29 August 2004
Author: mgmax from Chicago
There are a lot of theoretical strikes against this movie-- Robinson playing a Capone lookalike for the zillionth time (right before he switched mainly to playing them for comedy in things like A Slight Case of Murder and Brother Orchid); post-Code MGM instead of pre- Code Warner Bros., which surely means a softer handling of the gangster theme; a no-name director and female co-star, Jimmy Stewart in a thankless good guy role; and, not least, a sort of gangster Sin of Madelon Claudet plot in which Robinson gets to get weepy about not knowing his son while he's in Alcatraz.

And amazingly, it's all handled remarkably freshly-- and toughly, especially from the point where the movie pulls the rug out from under big shot Robinson with a long and realistically bleak prison train sequence. Almost every opportunity to sink into cliche is rethought to find a fresher angle-- instead of the archetypal Warner Bros. tough-guy prison, with the warden acting like a crime boss himself to keep his charges in line, the movie's Alcatraz is a streamlined, impersonal machine for reducing men to numbers, the striking production design as institutionally cold as the manner of the warden. The classic welcome home from the boys (such lovable gangster lugs as Lionel Stander and Edward Brophy) takes a highly unexpected turn-- and keeps turning. Although the scenes where he finally meets his son again are hampered by unrealistic dialogue for the kid, in all this is a strong and thoughtful adult drama which brings emotional realism back to a genre usually riddled with cliches.

[drinkanddestroy]

Cool, would be interested in seeing them.

ok, I will do so next time I'm there.


Wikipedia has this photo of the bank http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LFChaseP1975.jpg

The building is now a Medical Imaging Center http://www.google.com/maps?q=450+avenue+P+brooklyn,+NY&hl=en&ll=40.609119,-73.970483&spn=0.000474,0.000947&sll=40.60843,-73.976634&sspn=0.008047,0.015149&t=h&hnear=450+Avenue+P,+Brooklyn,+Kings,+New+York+11223&z=20&layer=c&cbll=40.609106,-73.970604&panoid=hZKkJtzRZdunfmFC1D33Qg&cbp=12,190.46,,0,3.31


Looks like it is the same structure and the exterior has not been altered, even has the same parking lot

[drinkanddestroy]

actually, I noticed that the Google Street Images that I posted above (taken on Avenue P) are old, and that more recent images are available on East 3rd Street http://www.google.com/maps?q=450+avenue+P+brooklyn,+NY&hl=en&ll=40.609119,-73.970483&spn=0.000474,0.000947&sll=40.60843,-73.976634&sspn=0.008047,0.015149&t=h&hnear=450+Avenue+P,+Brooklyn,+Kings,+New+York+11223&z=20&layer=c&cbll=40.609106,-73.970604&panoid=hZKkJtzRZdunfmFC1D33Qg&cbp=12,190.46,,0,3.31

(I know that the images from East 3rd street at this link  are later than the one from Avenue P I provided in the previous link because in the previous link, you see a huge building under construction diagonally across the street; in these newer images, you can see that that building is already built).

And as you can see from the newer images, only available as a side view, looks like that building is no longer a medical imaging center, but that it is closed up. (Don't let the graffiti or boarded up building fool you -- this is actually in an insanely pricey neighborhood, real estate is incredibly high).

Anyway, screw these Google images. I am just going to head over there myself and take some up to photos  Only thing is I have no clue how to post em here, if you wanna PM me your email address then I can send 'em to you once I take them and you can post them. (That's why cj had to post the photos I took from the OUATIA locations tour; I have no idea how to do that.

Okay, I am heading out the door of my house soon. Sunset is at 8:27 PM so I hope I make it there with some light.

Gonna run now 

[drinkanddestroy]

okay, I went down there and took some pics and vids. I will post them soon. in the meantime, enjoy the Life article on which the movie was based http://books.google.com/books?id=5VYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA66&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=1#v=twopage&q&f=false

[Groggy]

okay, I went down there and took some pics and vids. I will post them soon. in the meantime, enjoy the Life article on which the movie was based http://books.google.com/books?id=5VYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA66&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=1#v=twopage&q&f=false

I'll definitely read that when I get a chance. Thanks Drink.

[drinkanddestroy]

okay I am in middle of uploading the videos to YouTube. It's taking a while cuz my camera uses a ton of memory (4 videos totaling less than 5 and a half minutes, are a combined total of nearly 700 MB -- is that normal?)

If you've finished the Life article and are bored as you are ANXIOUSLY awaiting upload of my videos, in the meantime, you enjoy the 1972 next best thing: original news report from the day after the robbery in 1972, featuring footage from outside the bank on the day of the robbery.

Looking at the photos from Life and the video from this news report, it sure looks like Lumet & Co. nailed the visuals of the action -- looks just like the real thing!

Setup of the real bank and street is a bit different: The real bank is actually a single, detached building on a corner, with a parking lot next to the bank. Across the street from the bank, half of the block is comprised of the typical stores with apartments above it, while the other half is a park.

I went there tonight shortly after sunset. It worked out well: I was able to get some pics and videos in the light, and others when it was darker, so you get the feeling of what it must have been like as it was dark when the group left the bank. The building is not in use; it is boarded up, and a huge sign with an artist's depiction announces that the building will soon be made into a huge shopping center, and it's being offered for sale or lease. Additionally, on the double glass doors that serve as the building's only street entrance, n there is a sign offering the real estate for short term lease (I guess until the big shopping center will be built?) It's kind of interesting that in a neighborhood in which all the streets are lined with stores, and real estate is extremely pricey, the one building that is uncharacteristically boarded up and has graffiti sprayed all over it is the one that housed the bank with one of the most famous attempted robberies of all time!

Alright, by now my YouTube videos should be done loading, and I wouldn't wanna disappoint Groggers with too much "blather," so I'll save the rest for the videos......  Stay tuned

[drinkanddestroy]

Alright, Ladies, Gentleman, and Groggy, the moment you've all been waiting for... the videos are ready!

Vid 1 of 4 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RquhTq_fPc&feature=plcp  

Vid 2 of 4 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpp38oar_Zg&feature=plcp

Vid 3 of 4 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFnuc2fIcSc&feature=plcp

Vid 4 of 4 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqgaGBdZdFc&feature=plcp

(these videos were taken starting shortly after sunset, so you will notice each one a little darker than the one before. The final one is pretty dark, so that you can feel sort of what it was like when the robbers and hostages left the bank into the limo...)



I also have some photos but I have never been able to understand how to post pics here using file-sharing sites,so if anybody wants to see the photos, please send me a PM with your email address and I will email them to you (and if you want to, you can then post them here.

Enjoy!

------------
In one of the videos, you can see a red sign "The Sushi Room" just a few storefronts away from the bank. I went in there after filming and had a couple of salmon rolls -- it was the cheapest sushi I have ever seen in Brooklyn, and damn good!

[rrpower]

Just saw those videos of Once Upon a Time in America tours on your Youtube page...I had no idea people on here actually met each other in real life. DJ and CJ seem more jolly than I imagined!