Last movie you watched?

[koosie]

Chomp, chomp, chomp! I have consumed about another 6 or so hours of your rich human culture. Very nice thank you. However although we generally don't speak of things, sometimes a little air is expelled as a result of the digestive process and here it is:

Some stuff I thought about:

Amelie ( Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain )
Endgame
Coraline

Everyone's heard the story: A garden gnome disappears and then photos of it in front of the Kremlin, the Pyramids etc are posted to its owner. Well that's down to Amelie and that's the least of what she gets up to. Amelie is a charming French waitress and some kind of good-fairy who stealthily interferes in the lives of those around her in a Parisian idyll strangely set around the time of the death of dear old Lady Di. Which got me thinking.... Anyway all is well for Amelie and her top-notch collection of ornaments and knick-knacks until she encounters somebody as stupid as she is and all love breaks loose. Excellent stuff. However wouldn't Nino have remembered Amelie from the Ghost Train? Perhaps it was darker in there than we got to see, if you know what I mean.

Endgame is more home territory for me. Not really a movie I'll admit but a movie-length TV drama with a good cast lead by William Hurt (out of Altered States) that'll surely get a DVD release. It charts the beginning of negotiations between the African National Congress and the white Afrikaner establishment in South Africa in the final years of apartheid. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays chief ANC negotiator Thabo Mbeki and is really excellent as is 'voice of God' actor Timothy West as PW Botha. There's a very tense sequence where you see a bomb assembled, planted and exploded. The scene that follows, back in the negotiations is a splendid if too brief examination of the morality and practicalities of violent liberation struggle that remains starkly relevant especially given, as we are informed at the end, that the ANC are assisting in negotiations to end the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Coraline takes us into another kind of nightmare, one that dances in front of our eyes, then threatens them with needles. I actually found Beldam rather attractive when she revealed herself in her true glory. Her face, supposed to be glistening white cracked bone almost looked like polished quartz, the most beautiful of common stones. The story itself is a little familiar, a classic Brothers Grimm type fairy story perhaps but coloured in with some very likable eccentric characters who are equally likable as button-eyed replicas. My favourite bit was the performing mice, which was quite the spectacle but even the less magical or frightening sequences were made very enjoyable for the sheer range of expression given blue-haired heroine to Coraline. Some nice gardening references too. The free 3D glasses you get to take home are very strange indeed. They don't work for any any of my 3D pictures and do something rather odd if you look at the telly through them the wrong way round. I did stay right to the end btw (good tip TYVM) although everyone else had gone and the staff were clearing up around me.

[HerrimanWasHere]

Speaking of Coraline...does anyone know when it's going to come out on DvD? I was in the hospital while it was in theatures, so I couldn't go see it. But I love Henry Selick, and I love stop-motion animation.

[Howard]

Star Trek- Six of us had dinner and walked over to the theaters to check this movie out. Like I said on another post, I was so geeked out during the movie, I forgot to notice Wynona Ryder played Spock's mother, and the woman who plays Cameron on House, played Kirk's mother.

This movie was WONDERFUL (I think Gene Roddenberry would have been proud)! Near the end, when they started the original theme and Leonard Nimoy says, "Space the final frontier..." I got tears in my eyes. I grew up watching the original series with my mother (my dad did not get into it).

The effects were completely sick! I thought I was actually there. The perspective, and camera angles, what a movie! It was well written. There is even talk of two more! I hope so!

[Lynnie]

The Fifth Element

I first saw this on a date with a guy shortly after it came out on DVD some 8-9 years ago at his apartment. Fist time I saw it, I didn't understand it real well. I've never been real into Sci-Fi movies other than the Star Wars stuff. But I've seen it four or five times now and I'm catching on. I quite enjoy that movie! Chris Tucker makes any character so funny! And I'm a fan of Bruce Willis, too.

[frankie_fan]

Originally Posted by duck2k

Near the end, when they started the original theme and Leonard Nimoy says, "Space the final frontier..." I got tears in my eyes.

Man, you pretty much summed up how I felt when I saw Get Smart. When I saw the doors sequence and heard Trevor Rabin's kick-ass version of the theme, I also had tears in my eyes! It was brilliant!

[jekylljuice]

The Princess Bride

Always a fun experience. True, for the titular character, Buttercup is pretty goshdarn useless - for the entire duration of the film, she doesn't do a whole lot more than whine to her assorted captors about how other people will be coming to rescue her, and stand back looking lost and helpless while her greatly more outgoing boyfriend gets arrested or wrestles with a giant rat. At most, she can stand up to people verbally, but the second they bring their incensed wrath down upon her it's back to looking lost and helpless again. I've seen this movie many, many a time, and on every occasion it never fails to astound me just how totally inept she really is. I wonder if it was like that in the book.

Of course, Buttercup may be the titular character, but the story isn't really her's. It's Westley's, Inigo's and to a lesser extent Fezzik's - in the end, Buttercup is but a foil and a catalyst (which, in itself, is kind of a shame). It's the witty banter from Westley and Inigo that keeps the whole film so wonderfully fresh and lively throughout, along with strong supporting input from a nice selection of character actors, including Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal and Christopher Guest, and the framing device, which puts a gentle, likeable spin upon the whole bedtime storyteller cliche. Oh, and of course Mark Knopfler's fabulously dreamy score.

A really great slice of comedy-fantasy, provided you can put up with Buttercup's ineptitude.

[taranchula]

^ And not to mention, it's got one of the best movie sword fight's ever.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

Angels and Demons

Star Trek

I love double features heh. Angels and Demons was a big surprise because it was much better (at least in terms of pacing and structure) than Da Vinci Code. I'm not one of the many people who outright slams the Dan Vinci code for whatever reason people did for the movie, so i was very pleased to see how much this new one had improved. The story is much more compelling and dramatic.

Lots of very well placed twists and turns, I was so surprised at how well crafted the plot twists were, I thought I had the movie pegged and then all of the sudden BAM knocks you on your butt. I was more then happy to see Star Trek again since I think that movie's a masterpiece of work. My dad saw it for the first time with me and he really enjoyed it, all the little "in jokes" and classic Star trek quotes were weaved in perfectly and he loved it.

As did I .

[Ccook50]

Goldfinger last weekend on TCM. The second James Bond movie and good fun to watch.

[Dmitri Karamazov]

Fiddler on the Roof. For the fourth time. I can't help myself...I love that movie to death for no logical reason. It seems to sharply contrast with the rest of the movies I like, but whatever. I don't care. It's a great movie, anyway.