what movie(s) have you watched lately?

[KDFINE]

A few weeks ago I caught (missed the first half hour or so) "City of Life and Death" on cable. It is about the Rape of Nanking. I'd remembered reading the review when it came out, which I believe was last year. Now I'm looking to catch it from the beginning. I've known about the Rape of Nanking, but didn't KNOW about it.

[bad hammy]

I just got back from seeing " Midnight In Paris" with my wife. I fully expected the worst, thinking it was a "ladies movie", but it was great ! Loved it.

Watched it last night and loved it, making it the first Woody Allen movie I've ever liked.

[jeremyp]

A few weeks ago I caught (missed the first half hour or so) "City of Life and Death" on cable. It is about the Rape of Nanking. I'd remembered reading the review when it came out, which I believe was last year. Now I'm looking to catch it from the beginning. I've known about the Rape of Nanking, but didn't KNOW about it.

There have been a number of good movies about Nanking in the last 2-3 years. "Nanking" (docu drama including interviews of old Japanese soldiers telling their stories) "John Rabe" (about a good nazi!) What makes City of Life and Death is that it is a Chinese movie that dares to show the Japanese side of things without simply demonizing them.

A bad end came to three of the foreign heros of Nanking. John Rabe died a pauper in Germany after the US "nazified" him, although the chinese sent him and his family food packages to help out. Minnie Vautrin the American school teacher committed suicide in 1940 out of guilt at not being able to save more women, and Surgeon Robert Wilson had a mental collapse. All 3 are revered in China, and poorly known outside of that country.

[kuha]

I'm on a roll: two movies this month so far!!!! Latest was "Safe House." This is a deeply thoughtful character study; mostly talk, very little action.

[lonewolf]

Saw "Contraband" tonite.. good entertaining yarn.. confusing geography/logistics/timeline.

[cullman]

Didn't want to watch the Grammys so I flipped channels over to CBC's Family Sunday and watched the Disney movie Enchanted.

Bit of a shocker because Amy Adams who played Mark Wahlberg's potty mouthed, high jumping track star girlfriend in The Fighter did a letter perfect homage/parody of the Disney princess character. Boy, can she act...and throw a punch too.

cman

[Avante]

So we got...Netflix....I couldn't find one movie I wanted to see

[jeremyp]

Didn't want to watch the Grammys so I flipped channels over to CBC's Family Sunday and watched the Disney movie Enchanted.

Bit of a shocker because Amy Adams who played Mark Wahlberg's potty mouthed, high jumping track star girlfriend in The Fighter did a letter perfect homage/parody of the Disney princess character. Boy, can she act...and throw a punch too.

cman

Amy had to do that "The Fighter" role just to wash the saccharin out. Personally I prefer her potty mouth.

[cullman]

Amy had to do that "The Fighter" role just to wash the saccharin out. Personally I prefer her potty mouth.

Me too. Two thumbs up!

cman

[lonewolf]

Latest was "Safe House." This is a deeply thoughtful character study; mostly talk, very little action.

??? No action? Did we see the same movie? I lost track of the body count and crashed cars.
Character study never entered my mind. I thought it was a good movie if that is one's genre. I guess it must be mine.

[Marlow]

Latest was "Safe House." This is a deeply thoughtful character study; mostly talk, very little action.

??? No action? Did we see the same movie? I lost track of the body count and crashed cars.
Character study never entered my mind. I thought it was a good movie if that is one's genre. I guess it must be mine.

The smilies are 'on'.

[jhc68]

I just saw Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Seems to be a cult movie that hardly anyone paid to see at theaters.
It gets old pretty quickly but the first 20 minutes or so, and certain scenes thereafter, are hilarious.
That is, if you like idiotic humor. Sort of like taking any of the rock-a-billy or rock'n'roll bio-pics that people actually took seriously (from the Johnny Cash story to Richie Valens to Jerry Lee Lewis to Ray Charles and on and on) and re-filmiing it with the sensibilities of, say, The Jerk.
Of course me, I find great humor in the idea that the protagonist is shown as a 15 year old at the high school talent show without even the slightest attempt to conceal that the actor is a 45 year old man. My kind of movie...

[DrJay]

So we got...Netflix....I couldn't find one movie I wanted to see

Streaming Netfilx or send-me-the-disc Netflix? I do the latter. Last time I looked at the former (maybe 8 months ago) the offerings were indeed pretty skimpy. I was surprised how skimpy.

[kuha]

Tinker, Tailor..., which I really liked. It is an exquisitely crafted film--really beautifully shot, with great, "compressed" performances. It makes me want to read the book...

[Conor Dary]

Tinker, Tailor..., which I really liked. It is an exquisitely crafted film--really beautifully shot, with great, "compressed" performances. It makes me want to read the book...

I just finished rewatching the brilliant 6 part 1979 BBC TV series. A superb cast with Guinness outstanding. This of course was about the same time he was doing Obi-Wan Kenobi, a part that made him a boatload of money, but not his favorite.

'"What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He went on to say that he "shrivelled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alec_Guinness

[Marlow]

'"What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He went on to say that he "shrivelled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him."

Yeah, I'm sure he voiced those concerns as he deposited his fat check in the bank. That is the height of hypocrisy - he did not HAVE to take the role.

[Daisy]

I just finished rewatching the brilliant 6 part 1979 BBC TV series. A superb cast with Guinness outstanding.

This was my introduction to Le Carré and I was dubious that a much shorter film could pull it off. But I saw the movie last weekend and it was great. The theatre was packed too.

[Marlow]

I just finished rewatching the brilliant 6 part 1979 BBC TV series. A superb cast with Guinness outstanding.

This was my introduction to Le Carré and I was dubious that a much shorter film could pull it off. But I saw the movie last weekend and it was great. The theatre was packed too.

Really! My wife and I had never seen a more somniferous movie. I remember the original being highly suspenseful - this one, the opposite. Oh well.

[Conor Dary]

'"What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo." He went on to say that he "shrivelled up" every time Star Wars was mentioned to him."

Yeah, I'm sure he voiced those concerns as he deposited his fat check in the bank. That is the height of hypocrisy - he did not HAVE to take the role.

That is a bit over the top. Hypocrisy? He simply had enough intuition to know that taking a percentage instead of salary, unlike Donald Sutherland with Animal House was the way to go. Guinness is not the first actor with a long distinguished career, look at Christopher Plummer with the Sound of Music, who disliked being known to a large number of fans for a role they are indifferent about.

Also lots of artists take projects on that they are not excited about, but they do it because it pays well...

The play Red about the painter Mark Rothko is based on this thesis.

[Daisy]

Really! My wife and I had never seen a more somniferous movie. I remember the original being highly suspenseful

I like the slower pace. Probably why I like the bbc drama's that extend over several episodes. Maybe you've been influenced by watching so many fast paced movies, everything else seems too slow to you now?

As to the suspense, I think of at least three points where they did a really great job.** Since I already knew the script I'm not sure that I am a good one to poll on the suspense though.

** (spoiler alert! 1) the sweating waiter in Hungary, everyone watching. 2) finding the wood in his door dislodged, 3) Peter gets called in to see the controller while he is stealing the log)

[Marlow]

Maybe you've been influenced by watching so many fast paced movies, everything else seems too slow to you now?

I don't mind slow or sparse exposition - Inception and Memento spring to mind as excellent cases of both (Christopher Nolan!), but it must at least provide enough dots to be able to connect.
It did little to differentiate the suspects - we knew next to nothing about the actual mole, so we didn't even care WHO it was. And then the climax was completely anticlimactic as there is just Smiley casually conversing with the mole after he figured it out.
I think it was made for the British temperament, which (stereotypically) is much more concerned with 'properness' than confrontation. I want my bad guys to get a big comeuppance and a bad end.

[Daisy]

we knew next to nothing about the actual mole

I think that is the whole point.

I want my bad guys to get a big comeuppance and a bad end.

Did you walk out before the end?

[Marlow]

we knew next to nothing about the actual mole

I think that is the whole point.

We have no emotional investment in him, so when we find out, we shrug our shoulders.

Did you walk out before the end?

Ah yes, that was also anti-climactic. I needed Smilie to confront him, the mole tries to do something, and THEN he is dispatched. Not while he's sipping his tea.

[kuha]

we knew next to nothing about the actual mole

I think that is the whole point.

We have no emotional investment in him, so when we find out, we shrug our shoulders.

Did you walk out before the end?

Ah yes, that was also anti-climactic. I needed Smilie to confront him, the mole tries to do something, and THEN he is dispatched. Not while he's sipping his tea.

You seem to be in favor of one-size-fits-all movie narratives. [Edit: actually your mention of Memento, above, proves me at least partially wrong here.]

I honestly loved the quiet intensity of this whole thing.

[Daisy]

we knew next to nothing about the actual mole

I think that is the whole point.

We have no emotional investment in him, so when we find out, we shrug our shoulders.

That's the real world. I remember when Blunt got caught and while it was big news, not much emotion. The secrets that get passed are often mundane stuff. And that people die is a remote thing, not front line battles. Seems to me that the movie mirrors the real world of spies pretty well.

Did you walk out before the end?

I needed Smilie to confront him, the mole tries to do something, and THEN he is dispatched

That would be the worst ending, too out of character.

[Conor Dary]

If you want a series with a bit more action, but along the same lines, I recommend The Sandbaggers with Roy Marsden as the head of an MI6 group. Made about the same time as T,T,S,S in 1980-2.

And there is also Callen, with Edward Woodward made in the early '70's. Both are well worth checking out.

[bad hammy]

I just finished rewatching the brilliant 6 part 1979 BBC TV series. A superb cast with Guinness outstanding.

This was my introduction to Le Carré and I was dubious that a much shorter film could pull it off. But I saw the movie last weekend and it was great. The theatre was packed too.

Really! My wife and I had never seen a more somniferous movie.

From a Q&A with our local rag's main movie guy:

Q: I can't understand how a terrific film like "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" didn't get a best picture nomination. What happened?

A: Wild guess: People fell asleep while watching it. It's difficult to vote for something while in an irreversible coma. Even if you revive them, people may feel ambivalent about the experience.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1N2864.DTL

On the other hand, this guy was not the one who wrote the actual published of the movie for said rag. One of the non-main movie folks wrote the review, and loved it.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 1MC3KD.DTL

[Daisy]

Conor, Did you ever see Deighton's Game, Set and Match series? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092360/

I read the books (nine in all) and it's a pretty interesting take on the cold war.

The prologue book is an amazing piece of work and well worth the read.
http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Berlin-Fam ... 0345359313

A: Wild guess: People fell asleep while watching it.

I rest my case, the new movie going public are conditioned to non-stop-action.

[Conor Dary]

Conor, Did you ever see Deighton's Game, Set and Match series? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092360/

I read the books (nine in all) and it's a pretty interesting take on the cold war.

The prologue book is an amazing piece of work and well worth the read.
http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Berlin-Fam ... 0345359313

A: Wild guess: People fell asleep while watching it.

I rest my case, the new movie going public are conditioned to non-stop-action.

I read the books, and watched the series with Ian Holm, aka Bilbo. Good stuff.

[Conor Dary]

Speaking of Blunt, the Alan Bennett play A Question of Attribution about Blunt in the 1970's, is an interesting take on frauds in real life and in the art world.

Sort of like this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/arts/ ... ml?_r=2&hp

[Marlow]

We have no emotional investment in him, so when we find out, we shrug our shoulders.

That's the real world. I remember when Blunt got caught and while it was big news, not much emotion. The secrets that get passed are often mundane stuff. And that people die is a remote thing, not front line battles. Seems to me that the movie mirrors the real world of spies pretty well.

"Mundane stuff" is stultifyingly boring to watch in a movie.

[kuha]

"Mundane stuff" is stultifyingly boring to watch in a movie.

Can't agree with that. Mundane WAYS of looking at the world are stultifying--no matter what the subject. Compelling and original ways of looking--regardless of what is looked at--are energizing.

[Daisy]

The secrets that get passed are often mundane stuff.

"Mundane stuff" is stultifyingly boring to watch in a movie.

Except we were not watching a movie about the secrets but the culture surrounding their passage. Was it not Le Carré's intent to have the players a mystery, the spy's flawed? Both reflect the reality of intelligence work.

I think this all comes down to taste. If you want Fleming, Le Carré is not your man.

[jeremyp]

We have no emotional investment in him, so when we find out, we shrug our shoulders.

That's the real world. I remember when Blunt got caught and while it was big news, not much emotion. The secrets that get passed are often mundane stuff. And that people die is a remote thing, not front line battles. Seems to me that the movie mirrors the real world of spies pretty well.

"Mundane stuff" is stultifyingly boring to watch in a movie.

I think you need to add "for me," somewhere in there.

[jeremyp]

The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
The Little Drummer Girl
The Constant Gardner
The Russia House

These are not chopped liver. They stand as among the best espionage movies of the modern age.