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I finally saw Last Tango in Paris. I felt the same way I did with Pulp Fiction: I didn't see it when it was out, and seeing it all these years later, I didn't get what the big deal was.
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Another movie I've seen only in bits and pieces. This time around, I saw the second half, up to the end. Superman III left such a bad taste in my mouth I couldn't bring myself to go see it when it was out, and its own poor reputation did not help.
Watching it, I was appalled by how bad the special effects were. Even considering it was made in (*gulp*) 1987, the effects -- especially the green screen -- were markedly worse than they were in the first Christopher Reeve Superman.
Those movies weren't bad because of bad special effects. They were bad because they were bad movies.
Since last Sunday, Action Lad and I have watched:
Inside Out
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Parts I & II
Jurassic Park
Annie (2014)
If you don't mind Pixar shamelessly tugging at your heartstrings -- I don't -- Inside Out is the best Pixar movie in ages.
Recent views:
Mad Max: Fury Road:
Basically a remake of the Road Warrior although it seems to fall in continuity after Thunderdome. Tom Hardy makes for an awesome Max. This movie is just one big dumb chase/stunt scene but it's extremely efficient and very well done.
The Gunman:
The people behind Taken find another great middle aged actor and convince you that he is a superhuman killing machine. Nothing special but it kept me engaged. I wouldn't be surprised if this leads to a lot more action roles for Sean Penn.
There've been a lot of movies I've seen without noting them here. Among them:
Jason Marconnet (Pint sized mod) said:
I saw Birdman yesterday. I really liked it. It was well filmed and quite funny. I can't remember another time I've seen an entire film's cast have such terrific chemisty as this one.
Richard Willis said:
I just saw it. A very good movie. Whatever you expect you get the unexpected.
Travis Herrick (Modular Mod) said:
Hmm, I saw Birdman a couple of days ago, and I was pretty underwhelmed after all of the hype surrounding it. It was good, but man, no where near all the praise it got.
Detective 445 said:
I agree. I thought it was pretty over rated. And I really like a couple of the director's other films. I think Birdman won so many awards because it was aimed directly at the type of people who vote on those awards. Namely, old white dudes who have worked in the film industry and are worried that they might be has-beens.
We saw Birdman* and fell in the second camp -- the flights of fancy just left us confused because they seemed so out of place, and the stunt casting of Michael Keaton as the almost washed-up actor who once led a superhero franchise, and Ed Norton as the douchebag method actor, works if you know their off-screen reputations, which some of us did not.
* Boyhood was our first choice, but it wasn't available yet.
Certainly anyone who went in to see Birdman expecting an action movie would be disappointed, but I enjoyed it as a psychological drama with surreal and comedic aspects, but to each their own. I saw Jurassic World on June 14, which struck me as a sort of roller coaster ride of a movie. Fun, but entirely lacking in substance. Cardboard characters and clichés abounded, and no genuine surprises. It's making mega-bucks but it's not a movie I'd ever want to see again.
Fred W. Hill said:
Certainly anyone who went in to see Birdman expecting an action movie would be disappointed, but I enjoyed it as a psychological drama with surreal and comedic aspects, but to each their own.
Sure, although none of us were expecting that. The backstage drama was fine, and the comedy was fine, but the surreal stuff struck us as weird and unearned and out of place.
I really enjoyed Birdman, although I went into it knowing absolutely nothing about it. I knew it wouldn't be a super-hero action movie, otherwise all of the comic book sites would have been talking about it about a year ahead of time. I liked it for what it was, and I really like how it can be interpreted in so many ways.
Today I watched Foxcatcher. Anybody else see this yet? I had no idea it was based on a true story until it started, and man, was this ever a chilling story. It's the kind that sticks with you for long after it's over. I haven't been able to keep myself from stopping and researching the real story occasionally throughout the day.
I'm with you on Last Tango. I saw it an art house a decade or so after it had come out, and thought, "so what?" Evidently it broke some rules that don't exist any more.
Pulp Fiction reminded me of every comic book that is told out of order (which is just about all of them these days). The non-linear jump-cutting that had critics hyperventilating was old hat to comics fans. I did think some of the performances were entertaining, and the "gimp" scene was so out of left field that it bears mention as a serious WTF moment.
ClarkKent_DC said:
I finally saw Last Tango in Paris. I felt the same way I did with Pulp Fiction: I didn't see it when it was out, and seeing it all these years later, I didn't get what the big deal was.
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