Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[Groggy]

Seems like crying over spilled milk. Reagan's in the movie for maybe five minutes. I've noticed no comparable outrage over the treatment of LBJ, whose hick boorishness is emphasized in every scene. I'd add Nixon but I doubt too many are eager to stick up for him.

[drinkanddestroy]

Seems like crying over spilled milk. Reagan's in the movie for maybe five minutes. I've noticed no comparable outrage over the treatment of LBJ, whose hick boorishness is emphasized in every scene. I'd add Nixon but I doubt too many are eager to stick up for him.

well this is just one article by Reagan historians; I don't know what (if anything) the LBJ or Nixon historians are saying.

With that being said, if it is indeed the Reagan/race issue that is raising the biggest outcry, I can understand why: In America 2013, there is no worse accusation you can make against someone than saying he is racist. None whatsoever. No matter what the movies says or implies about LBJ and Nixon, a claim of racism would definitely raise the most controversy. It wouldn't make a difference whether it takes up 5 minutes of the movie or 50. And I don't know what you mean by "spilled milk": If the historians think Reagan's reputation is being unfairly tarnished, they are defending him so that viewers shouldn't believe what they see in a movie (yes, many people do believe what they see in a movie as historical fact). I don't see how that is "spilled milk."

[stanton]

The Bling Ring - Sofia Coppola

Entertaining film, but it lacks that special momentum which made Lost in Translation so fascinating. And the characters are not that deeply felt to give the fascinating plot another dimension. Sometimes one might think The Bling Ring is only a filmic equivalent of Paris Hilton. 7/10

[Groggy]

I don't know what you mean by "spilled milk": If the historians think Reagan's reputation is being unfairly tarnished, they are defending him so that viewers shouldn't believe what they see in a movie (yes, many people do believe what they see in a movie as historical fact). I don't see how that is "spilled milk."

Because it's such a minor part of a film that spans 30 years (really 50+ if you count the epilogue) and five presidencies, focusing on that seems ludicrously disproportionate at best. Or whining by ideologues with an axe to grind, more likely.

Trying to argue Reagan was a progressive on racial issues when he opposed the Civil Rights Act and argued against desegregation, at a time when they were a hot button issue rather than a fait accompli, is absurd. At best he was indifferent towards the issue, at worst hostile. One could reasonably view his support of apartheid South Africa as an extension of such.

I don't know, or frankly care, whether or not Reagan was personally racist. Public policy matters. After all, Nixon was a raging old-school bigot, yet enacted Affirmative Action and enforced desegregation of schools. The movie doesn't make Reagan out to be such in any case; he's shown to genuinely like and respect Whittaker's character, even helping him earn a pay raise against a bigoted middle management type.

Of course, Reagan is one of those presidents so beloved, at least by a certain segment of the population, that you can't criticize him without inviting lots of criticism in turn. If the portrayal of Kennedy was marginally less sympathetic, I've no doubt liberals would be screaming about it. Remember the caterwauling about that Kennedys miniseries a few years back?

As for Nixon and Johnson, I suspect you can still say pretty much anything about them and get away with it. Strange in this case, as (whatever their many failings) they did far more to advance Civil Rights than the comparatively beloved Eisenhower or Kennedy.

[dave jenkins]

I'd add Nixon but I doubt too many are eager to stick up for him.

You mean the man who got rid of the draft once and for all? He's my hero.

[dave jenkins]

Manhandled (1949). An ensemble noir that can't decide if its serious or a comedy. Its got Hayden running around in the first half always in a disheveled state, shirt un-tucked, no tie, etc., its got a running gag about the Detective Lt., Art Smith's car having bad brakes, and another sequence where Art having taken sleeping pills appears to look drunk. Duryea is his slimy best but its not enough to save this 6/10.

We agree here (although maybe I'd take my score down to a "5"). Still, CJ, thanks for giving me a chance to see this flick.

[Groggy]

The Browning Version - 8/10 - The Michael Redgrave version.

Also watched most of the BBC show Rev. today on Hulu. Great stuff.

[moviesceleton]

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) - 8/10
Why God has to sacrifice his own son is still beyond me. Other than that I found the film very powerful. The best Jesus film I've seen.

[noodles_leone]

I only watched it once and found it utterly ridiculous. And this comes from one of the biggest Scorsese fan you'll ever meet.
I remember Scorsese taking metaphorical events/actions from the Bible (and I'm talking about events that are explicitly metaphorical, such as the ripped heart part) and shooting them as regular stuff.
The cinematography is also terrible. Scorsese is always less powerful when he stays away from his usual fast paced editing for too long.
The idea to show Judas as the real hero is kind of cool, but also unimpressive ("Remakes Screenwriting 101").

Of course, all this wouldn't be to much of a problem if the film had not bored me to death.

Don't get me wrong, this is known as one of Marty's most personal works and when you go really personal it always mean being ridiculous to many people. I just though it was an honorable failure on most aspects. What did you like? I will certainly give it another shot one of these days, since I own the DVD.

[moviesceleton]

I agree with you on the cinematography (the lighting was cheap or just bad, but I had no problem with the angles, compositions or staging). Also some of the soundtrack choices were too over the top for me.

What made the film for me was that for the first time I actually cared for Jesus as a character. In all the other films he is just the sum of his preachings - here he has a problem I can relate to and he responds to his hardships in a believable way. I relate to his will to live (= to drink, to eat, to dance, to make love, to work, to laugh) and his unwillingness to abandon life. Only a lunatic would die without hesitation. Only a lunatic would follow the voices in his head without second thoughts. Only a lunatic would believe he is the Messiah right away. Only a lunatic wouldn't be afraid. And you can't identify with a lunatic. But Jesus in this film I could identify with.

To me the film isn't as much about religion as it is about what it means to be a human being. What it means to live and what it means to die. What do we live for and what do we die for. In the end it's a story about choosing between your life and your responsibility - and that story never gets old.

I recently read For Whom the Bell Tolls and strangely I feel that that book and this film speak very much about same things. But that's just me.

[cigar joe]

Gambling House (1950) first watch, Director: Ted Tetzlaff, Writers: Marvin Borowsky (screenplay), Allen Rivkin, Erwin Gelsey (screenplay), Stars: Victor Mature, Terry Moore, William Bendix. Small time racketeer Marc Fury agrees to plead self-defense for a murder committed by gang boss Joe Farrow in exchange for Farrow's I.O.U. for $50,000. not bad at all. Outstanding opening and ending sequences, a bit soft core in the middle, Mature is great, on TCM today almost missed it 7/10

[dave jenkins]

Le ciel est à vous (1944) 8/10. Jean Gremillon's portrait of a working-class couple (Charles Vanel and Madeleine Renaud) with a lust to fly. Based on real events, the film doesn't leave out the cost imposed on the children by the parents' obsession. In spite of this--perhaps because of it--the depiction of domestic happiness rings true. The final act is a bit predictable, though. Before that, the plot had me guessing.

[Groggy]

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - 10/10 - 4th viewing.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - 4/10 - Typically bombastic sequel has Holmes and Watson fighting Moriarty's efforts to trigger World War I twenty years early. The original was entertaining popcorn fluff, but this movie really amps up the annoying elements. The gag of stopping to show how Sherlock plans his fight moves grows tiresome here; do we really need a two-minute sidebar on how Holmes rigged a henchman's rifle to misfire? Not to mention the obnoxious slow motion throughout the big action scenes. The movie wastes some good casting, with Noomi Rapace and Jared Harris handling one-note characters respectably and Stephen Fry an ideal Mycroft Holmes. Robert Downey goes from charmingly eccentric to obnoxious; Jude Law's just sort of there. Hans Zimmer's score riffs heavily on Morricone: the main theme sounds more like Farewell to Cheyenne than ever, and there's even a piece resembling the Two Mules for Sister Sara theme. It's a nice blip in a joyless monstrosity.

[dave jenkins]

Vertigo (1958) -11/10. 35mm projection. I've seen Vertigo about 30 times: on TV, VHS, LD, DVD, and Blu-ray. Now at last, after all these years, I've finally seen it on film (I guess I need to see it on DCP to complete my run). The print I watched was apparently struck for the 1996 re-launch; it has the modern Universal logo, the erroneously colored face of the anonymous woman in the credits, the awful restoration Foley. It's also badly beat up in places, and has faded colors in the early reels (well, the print is 17 years old after all). No matter. Even in less-than-ideal form, the work can still move me. It's also a kind of cinematic miracle. Thank you, Bernard Herrmann, for composing the greatest film score on the planet. Thank you, James Stewart, for channeling the High Priest of Kink. And thank you, George Steiner, for publishing in the same year of Vertigo's release--coincidentally?--"The Death of Tragedy," in which you persuasively argue that that ancient Greek dramatic form can't possibly exist in a democratic/post-Romantic age, before supplying us with this most apposite of definitions: "Tragedy is a deliberate advance to the edge of life, where the mind must look on blackness at the risk of vertigo." [italics added] Not only does Vertigo transcend its genre (dramatic film), it partakes of--and  simultaneously regenerates--another genre long dead. Films don't usually do that.

[drinkanddestroy]

In addition to The 7th Seal and Persona, to me at least Wild Strawberries, Through a Glass Darkly, Whispers and Cries, Fanny and Alexander and Scenes from a Marriage are good films. I need to rewatch Winter Light.

I just saw Winter Light (first time I ever saw a Bergman movie). I thought it was well-made for what it was, but the story just didn't interest me at all.