Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

Spiderman: Homecoming (2017) - 8/10. A 15-year-old Spiderman is mentored by Tony Stark to become an Avenger. Meanwhile, Michael Keaton is back as Birdman. Liz Allen is now black, and Flash Thompson has become a person of Indian descent. Aunt May has morphed into Marisa Tomei, and all the older males are hitting on her. There's a pretty good twist that's well set up and executed. Also, issue #33 of The Amazing Spiderman is quoted to good effect. Set pieces are located on the Washington Monument, the Staten Island ferry, and Coney Island. The Ramones (who, like Peter Parker, were from Queens) are featured on the soundtrack. There are lots of laughs.

[stanton]

How's Uncle Ben's death scene this time?

And don't tell me it's a reboot without Uncle Ben's death scene, the most amazing thing in the Marvelverse.

[dave jenkins]

How's Uncle Ben's death scene this time?

And don't tell me it's a reboot without Uncle Ben's death scene, the most amazing thing in the Marvelverse.

It's a reboot without Uncle Ben's death scene. Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that!

This doesn't have an origin story. The new Spidey was introduced in Captain America: Civil War (which I didn't see) and this film continues the web-slinger's story from there. There's actually a video diary of the events of the earlier film ("A Film By Peter Parker") that opens Spiderman: Homecoming which is pretty funny. Uncle Ben is (I guess) already dead, unless maybe he ran off with Mary Jane or Gwen Stacy. Hey, Betty Brant is intro'd in this film. Maybe she's being positioned to become a future love interest?

SPOILER The love interest in this is one is Liz Allen, a character they had to go back to early Ditko for. It doesn't work out. Meanwhile there's a character (played by Zendaya) called Michelle who indicates at the end of the film she wants to be referred to a "MJ." It's obviously she'd got this thing for Peter Parker. So if Liz is the love interest that doesn't work out in Spidey Reboot #2, Part 1, and Betty Brant is the likely love interest for Part 2, "MJ" is the girl he'll probably end up with in Part 3. We'll get the whole "You were right there in front of me the whole time, but I just couldn't see you" speech from Peter (you heard it here first). Man, Parker sure had a lot of girlfriends--who does he think he is, D&D?END SPOILER

[stanton]

It's a reboot without Uncle Ben's death scene. Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that!

Yeah, you ruined it for me. Now I won't watch it, until I watch it.

[dave jenkins]

Unless you swear off commercial air travel for the next 5 years I don't know how you'll be able to avoid it.

[Jill]

Since there is no such thing as enough Julius Caesar (I've been obsessed with this play since I was twelve), I watched two more: 2012 RSC (which was a TV movie but apparently based on their stage porduction) and 2017 RSC. The two couldn't be more different: the 2012 version has an all-black cast and set in a modern African Republic, while the 2017 version is all traditional with togas and gallons of stage blood.

Both are pretty damn excellent.

2012 version's strength lies in the casual, relaxed approach - no pathos, no posturing, the characters just feel like people. This is paired with beautiful delivery, however. There are moments of fun (Cicero's cute umbrella deserves a mention) and some rather grim scenes (the mob vs. Cinna the poet, partically filmed on someone's phone, feels very real). They don't attempt to show actual battle scenes and the scenes between fighting take place in darker and darker spaces, eventually bringing us to a dimly-lit staircase that may as well lead into Hades. The ending gets surprisingly emotional from some small touches - Brutus keeps a flower from the wreath he sent for Cassius, and Strato is replaced by boyservant Lucius - the kid, more like a young man in this cast, gets an actual character arc. The ensemble is strong overall. Definitely worth watching. 8/10


2017 version, first of all, looks beautiful. The sets are elegant (but not cluttered), and the scenes make painting-like tableaus, especially the assassination. I forgive the inaccuracy that puts every senator in a toga praetexta because it looks to damn great to resist. But a traditional setting doesn't mean dated - the characters are very much alive, very flawed, modern people. Cassius in particular stands out to me. I never realized before but he clearly comes off as bipolar, and just thinking about how many times he wants to die even early in the play just drives it home. And the conspirators all have their demons. Antony, on the other hand, is on the rise (or so he thinks, not quite noticing how dangerous that little twat Octavius will be). The battle is done relatively well (stage actors will never learn what to do with shields, though) and poor kid Lucius (here a child who was clearly hired for his beautiful singing voice) meets an unexpected end that had the audience gasp in horror. Also, the Brutus/Cassius ship tease is strong with this one. 8/10



So, yeah - if you want some Bard with a lot of stabbing and intrigue, both these productions are a lot of fun ("fun" meaning "everybody falls on their swords and everything is terrible").

[drinkanddestroy]

GLORY (1989) 7/10
And this story was just in the news
https://www.yahoo.com/news/sword-belonging-commander-black-civil-war-unit-found-155311137.html

[dave jenkins]

Remember My Name (1978) 5/10. This early Alan Rudolph film (what's the difference between an early Rudolph and an early Altman?), which I'd never seen before, played on Turner yesterday. It had a non-psycho Anthony Perkins and a kinda psycho Geraldine Chapman. It wasn't very good, but I was glad for the chance to watch it.

[Jessica Rabbit]

Gambit (1966). Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine. Great fun. There was actually a time when MacLaine was fun to watch and not outright annoying. Caine can do no wrong.

[drinkanddestroy]

1) Tiger Shark (1932) 6/10

Crappy movie, directed by Howard Hawks. Edward G. Robinson plays a fishing-boat skipper with a Greek accent. He's like a cartoonish character, who ends up marrying a young girl; but then Robinson's best friend and his wife fall in love with each other. Blah blah blah. Crappy early sound film, obviously shot on soundstages and in tanks. There is a decent fishing scene.



2) Nazi Agent (1942) 7/10

An identical-twin movie. Though the movie was released in 1942, it obviously must have been filmed before America joined World War II.

A German consul in an unidentified American city is acting a Nazi agent, getting secret information about Canada to relay to Berlin. The consul has an identical-twin brother who has long been living in America, working as a shopkeeper, a proud American and an anti-Nazi; the two haven't spoken for years. The consul at first is able to blackmail the shopkeeper to force him into assisting him as a Nazi agent; eventually, when the shopkeeper tries to alert the authorities, the consul comes to kill him ... but the shopkeeper overpowers and kills the consul. The shopkeeper then takes on the identity of the consul, to find out all he can about the Nazi operations.

Both the consul and the shopkeeper are played by Conrad Veidt. The consul looks like Veidt; the shopkeeper, with a beard, does not. I didn't realize that both characters were played by Veidt until the shopkeeper has to take on the consul's appearance; the shopkeeper shaves his beard and makes himself look like the consul, and only then did I realize that the shopkeeper was also played by Veidt!

Halfway decent movie, crappy ending.


3) Blackwell's Island (1939) 7/10

A gangster movie that is pretty silly – everything is done too comedically – but manages to be decent entertainment.

Blackwell's Island is a narrow strip in the East River between Manhattan and Queens, which had a prison; today the prison is gone and it is called Roosevelt Island. In the movie, the prison authorities are corrupt, a big gangster is basically ruling the place as if he is living in a country club; John Garfield plays a crusading reporter who gets himself sent to the prison so that he can unmask the corruption.

[Jill]

Gambit (1966). Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine. Great fun. There was actually a time when MacLaine was fun to watch and not outright annoying. Caine can do no wrong.

Couldn't help but picture Michael Caine as Gambit from X-Men and just about died.



Also, to not double-post:

I watched the Donmar Warehouse version of Coriolanus. It's really intense and surprisingly relevant. Tom Hiddleston is excellent (as he has already proven as Prince Hal/Henry V) and Mark Gatiss is a delight. A minimalist but very bloody production, and it works really well. This play needs more love and Coriolanus/Aufidius more fanfic. I mean, Aufidius canonically has sexy dreams about him. Will was on a roll.  9/10

[cigar joe]

Chicago Syndicate (1955) Director: Fred F. Sears, Stars: Dennis O'Keefe, Abbe Lane, Paul Stewart, nice final chase in the Chicago Subway, the second film I've seen that used it the first being Union Station (1950)

[dave jenkins]

This play needs more love and Coriolanus/Aufidius more fanfic.

T.S. Eliot was a booster for this.

Years ago, during my Japanese sojourn, Ralph Fiennes came to town and did a double bill of Coriolanus and Richard II. I saw the two performances on a single day in very cramped seats. Since then, these have been my favorite Shakespeares.

[cigar joe]

The Miami Story (1954) crime-czar Tomy Brill (Luther Adler), battles a reformed gangster Mick Flagg (Barry Sullivan) employed by a citizen's committee to break the rackets. Adele Jergens and Beverly Garland play sisters on opposite sides. 6.5/10

It's on youtube.

[XhcnoirX]

Little Red Monkey aka Case of the Red Monkey (1955): Cold war thriller starring Richard Conte as a US official tasked with picking up a defecting Russian nuclear scientist in London, while a group of Russian spies/assassins are killing scientists left and right. Nothing great but competently made, and Conte is always worth watching. 6/10

Watched this on the Network UK DVD, which has great picture quality.