What was the last movie you watched?

[GregMcduck]

Once:  A beautiful and intimate Irish musical drama (yeah, you read that right) about a man and a woman who meet and decide to record some songs together.  That's it for plot, but the real star of the show is the music.  Folksy, sad, and slightly bitter, they give us more information about the characters than any of the spoken dialogue.  The two leads are good, and wrote and performed the music themselves - I think they've released albums and stuff, which I will definitely check out in the near future.

I saw that at a film festival back in March. Really, really good. I double recommend it.

[Variety of Cells]

I watched "Across The Universe", fell asleep, and walked out halfway through the film. First time that's ever happened.

That almost happened to me a month ago just watching an "Across The Universe" trailer.  Do we really need this movie out there?  Can't people just buy a friggin Beatles's album and listen to it at home?

That's like saying 'Can't people just buy The Wall and listen to it at home?'  But yeah, Across the Universe wasn't very good.  I have a strong dislike for most musicals, but every time they stopped singing I wished they would start again.  The dialogue and acting were awful poor during non singing portions.  And the story was so broad that I had trouble caring about anyone.  And to top it off, quite a few situations felt pretty forced so that they would fit the song lyrics.

[RoninFox]

I watched "Across The Universe", fell asleep, and walked out halfway through the film. First time that's ever happened.

That almost happened to me a month ago just watching an "Across The Universe" trailer.  Do we really need this movie out there?  Can't people just buy a friggin Beatles's album and listen to it at home?

That's like saying 'Can't people just buy The Wall and listen to it at home?'  But yeah, Across the Universe wasn't very good.  I have a strong dislike for most musicals, but every time they stopped singing I wished they would start again.  The dialogue and acting were awful poor during non singing portions.  And the story was so broad that I had trouble caring about anyone.  And to top it off, quite a few situations felt pretty forced so that they would fit the song lyrics.

At least the Wall was still the same music, not covers.  Part of my point is I'd rather actually hear the Beatles sing these songs than these actors.

[jewishcarpenter]

I watched Silent Night, Deadly Night Pt.1 & 2 last night and I'm currently downloading a VHS rip of Pt.3. My only excuse for watching these is that I love horrible cinema.

[Junkyard]

Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna

I had heard a while back that Ultraman is basically the reason why Godzilla films sucked so much in the 70's, as a television show that could throw together giant monster fights every week could easily draw kids away from the increasingly pricey theater. So I put a random Ultraman movie on the list to see the face of the enemy.

All in all, I guess it wasn't that bad. The effects were decent, the charicters were interchangable but likable, and it had a strong message that we should never give up, because the power to change the world is within each of us! And if you missed it the first time they made this point, they would repeat it over and over and OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER...

Very much a kids movie, for kids who don't get the point easily.

And who like weird faced heroes.

[mrbasehart]

A couple more:

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?: Bette Davis and Joan Crawford square off in their only appearance together onscreen.  Davis is excellent here, putting in an incredibly brave performance as the disturbed Jane, while Crawford really repeats some of the stuff she'd been doing for the past 30 years.  The people on the commentary called it a cross between Sunset Boulevard and Psycho, and while it's nowhere near as good as either, it has a certain tone that's hard to resist. 

Santa Fe Trail: A western about the first rumblings of the civil war and the trouble in Kansas that started the whole thing.  It's completely unconcerned with historical fact though, and it's a pretty underwhelming piece of tosh.  Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland run through the motions as Jeb Stuart and future wife respectively, and Ronald Regan puts in a truly awful performance as George Custer.

[skenderberg]

Hogfather. 

It's a BBC production that remains meticulously faithful to Pratchett's book.  This, along with mostly decent performances, means that the bulk of Pratchett's genius remains intact.  In the minus column, no one bothers with much in the way of explanations, so if you're not already a Pratchett fan, expect to spend most of the three hour running time bewildered.  It is also dreadfully slow.  Few things are sadder than a poorly paced comedy.

[Kzinistzerg]

"Proof", actually. English class. Great movie.

[Meat Trademark]

On television - The Secret Room (on my parents' TIVO a few months ago)

On my computer - I Heart Huckabees

On VHS - Malicious.

On DVD - 28 Weeks Later.

On Laserdisc - Star Wars (a handful of years ago)

On Videodisc - On Golden Pond (about twenty years ago)

On Betamax - The Company of Wolves (I'm lying about this one, but I do own it on Beta)

At the theater - Eastern Promises. 

I liked all of them, except for the 91 minutes (of 92) where Molly Ringwald had her top on in Malicious. <cough cough>  And I hate Star Wars now.  THANKS GEORGE!

Golly, I hope that was specific enough for you... 

[mrbasehart]

A few more today:

Vixen: I have a soft spot for Russ Meyer, the old pervert.  This one is apparently one of the first movies to gain the 'X' certificate when it was released in '68.  It's thoroughly outrageous, mixing Communism, incest, racism, rapant sex, foreplay with a fish, and Meyer directing with more skill than he really has a right to.

The Last American Virgin: While the above film has a kind of naive spirit about it, which I found quite endearing, this movie is just thoroughly icky.  It's a poor rip-off of the Porky's movies, and an adaptation of the Israeli series 'Lemon Popsicle'.  Featuring a whole bunch of kids who are either unpleasant, selfish, or just plain stupid, it's easy film to hate, though it's ending made me laugh.

Rock Rock Rock!: One of those cheapie musicals made in the mid-50s to capitalize on the massive success of Rock and Roll, this one actually features Alan Freed and a whole bunch of minor acts - barring Frankie Lymon and Chuck Berry - doing their best to impress.  With so much music in the movie, the actual storyline is a joke - something about the girl needing 30 dollars to buy a (strapless!) prom dress, so decides to go into money lending to earn it.

The Russia House: A John le Carre cold war thriller featuring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer.  Connery plays a book publisher who inadvertantly convinces a Russian scientist to give up state secrets to end the arms race.  Michelle Pfeiffer plays a russian office-worker and former lover of the scientist.  A good performance from Connery can't really make up for the mediocrity of the film, which totally whiffs on the whole "thriller" aspect of the movie.

[GalvaTRION]

In theaters the last movie I saw was Shoot Em Up, which would have been great without the "see how awesome guns are?! No, but seriously guns are evil" subplot. Almost like the writer was trying to make sure his movie wouldn't get fingered if another Columbine happened. Crank is far superior.

On video, Heat. The Michael Mann version, not Burt Reynolds. Great effin' movie.

[mrbasehart]

A few more:

Algiers: Perhaps better known as the American remake of the French classic, Pepe Le Moko.  It stars Charles Boyer - who, even with a French accent reminds me of Sean Connery - as Le Moko, a master thief in hiding in the Casbah quarter of Algiers.  He rules the Casbah, but cannot leave because the French and Algerian authorities.  When he meets Lamarr's character - a well to do socialite on the verge of marriage - his carefully constructed palace/prison comes crashing down.  It's pretty good, featuring a good performance from Boyer and some absolutely gorgeous black and white photography from James Wong Howe - who would be one of the cinematographers to help define the look of the Film Noir.

Jamaica Inn: Like Billy Wilder, I only have a few Hitchcock films left - but no classics - but this one was pretty good.  It's about a gang of cut-throats who lure ships onto the rocky coastline at night to steal their cargo.  It's Mauren O Hara's first film, but the movie really belongs to Charles Laughton.  Playing the squire of the region, he's a perfect gentleman, but also a complete and utter bastard.

Sherlock Junior: A classic two-reeler (40 minutes) from the mind of Buster Keaton.  Plot is thin on the ground, but with Keaton, it doesn't matter, as his set-pieces are stunning.  Of particular note in this one is where he jumps into the screen of a movie that's playing, only to encounter huge problems when the scene keeps changing.

Hard Luck: This time, a Keaton short, though this one was reportedly his favourite.  Some genuinely hilarious moments throughout it's 20 minute running time, like the first 5 minutes where realizing he has nothing to live for, he tries to off himself with disastrous and funny results.  It culminates in a pretty good stunt, where, even though I rewatched it three times, I couldn't figure out how he did it.

Mystery of the Leaping Fish:  An utterly bizarre short film from the minds of Douglas Fairbanks and Tod Browning.  Fairbanks plays Coke Ennyday in a (very) loose parody of Sherlock Homes, who must inject himself with "dope" every few moments.  The plot is ramshackle, and the humour is mostly outdated, but when the main protagonist defeats the villains by shooting cocaine into their bodies, it's hard not to like.   

[BathTub]

Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion

Heavenly Creatures.

[graboids]

Singles -  Big fan of Crowe's films, but  I haven't bothered with Elizabethtown.  Should I?

Blade - I love this movie.  I saw Kristofferson in concert last year, and he put on a great show, telling stories about his classic songs.  I love the line when Blade holds the flashlight and says, "Still heavy."  And Whistler says, "But you're so big."

Drop Zone -  One of Circuit City's $4.99 dvds.  Not a great movie by any means, but some good sequences, most of them involving the skydiving and Busey.  Did anybody watch that show 'I'm with Busey'?   What a fucking nut.   Favorite line from Under Siege:

Commander Krill (busey) , remarks of his crewmates who are locked in the forecastle, "They never liked me anyway." One of the other bad guys responds, "Well, I bet they fucking love you now."

[BathTub]

Nachts, wenn der Teufel kam (The Devil Strikes at Night 1957), A very interesting german film based on fact. A policeman uncovers an serial killer during World War II, unfortunately the existance of a such a long run of killings (80 women) by an Aryan has to be supressed by the Gestapo.