last movie you watched

[greystoke]

I saw The Master at the cinema today. Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film, which stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams. The story centres around the relationship between Phoenix's traumatised ex-marine, Freddy, and Hoffman's cult leader, Lancaster Dodd. Freddy comes to Dodd by chance after fleeing a previous job in which he inadvertently poisons an elderly man with his home-made booze. And here, on board a boat where Dodd serves as minister during his son's wedding, is where Dodd and Freddie begin to form their relationship -- one of master and pupil, but, equally, commander and soldier, or master and slave. Dodd recognising something in Freddie and, as he takes his teaching from state-to-state, takes the volatile, juvenile and sexually obsessed Freddie under his wing.

Both Phoenix and Hoffman are sensational here. Phoenix's Freddie is like a twisted spring that still has some coil and a sharp end. Physically, and emotionally, this is one of 2012's best performances, and a career-best from Phoenix, whose intensity, hunched body and deep eyes are engrossing and fascinating in equal measure. Hoffman is more imposing, standing tall, performing without giving a performance, appearing to relish playing this quandary of a man, who can allure and seduce with a gentility that makes his venomous outbursts and an occasionally dropped facade all the more startling. This is also one Hoffman's best performances, and one for the ages, which is punctuated by the calm and resolute nature of his wife, Peggy, who is played splendidly by Amy Adams. Comforting and guiding Dodd, there are shades of a Eleanor Shaw Iselin here, as Peggy plays the prim and proper wife in public, but pulls strings and manipulates in private, her mechanisms turning the wheels of Lancaster's public persona. It's a subtle, very wonderful performance that Adams gives here.

With regards to Anderson, his writing and direction remain consistently of the highest standard. His framing, shot composition and ability to make the camera a living, breathing entity next to his characters, and within the story, establish a true sense of place and time. Furthermore, Mihai Malaimare, Jr.'s cinematography is stellar, creating sumptuous, canvas-like visuals on which Anderson paints under Jonny Greenwood's distinct score. Expect considerable attention come awards season.

[Delboy]

Will certainly be catching 'The Master' greystoke. I'm a huge fan of both Hoffman and Phoenix and this sounds one to watch. Bought tickets to see 5 movies at the 4th annual Doha TriBeCa Film Festival earlier today and will post after each. Robert De Niro is in town to give a talk tomorrow but sold out.

[greystoke]

I hope you enjoy The Master, Delboy. And the Doha Tribeca -- it would have been great to see DeNiro in conversation. Is it there he's discussing 100 years of Universal studios?

[Delboy]

I expect he will. The talk is moderated by Geoff Gilmore; Chief Creative Officer of TriBeCa enterprises so I expect it will focus on TriBeCa and emerging movie markets in the Middle East. De Niro has attended all four festivals to date. I will go anyway as they have opportunities for tickets for no shows. I was hoping to see 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' which is opening the festival but it is also sold out. The director, Mira Nair, is also giving a talk.

[poormadpeter]

Nine years after the event, I finally watched The Day After Tomorrow! I'm really not one for Hollywood blockbusters, which is why I have always passed on such things, but it was on Film Four and so thought I would wallow in relatively mindless Hollywood tosh. Which, it's fair to say, it is. Hugely entertaining though, despite the presence of Dennis Quaid who I'm sure only has two expressions. It's interesting watching the film now and seeing Jake Gyllenhall in one of the key roles of his career, and he more than steals the acting honours from many of the more experienced cast. I was also rather surprised at how well it was put together - the various strands (and there are lots of them) blend together completely seamlessly, which is really quite an achievement...as is keeping my attention for two and half hours including plentiful adverts!

Perhaps I've been missing out on more brain-numbing entertainment that would fill a nice couple of hours. Well, that's what you get for studying and researching film, I guess.

[Delboy]

Just seen 'Town of Runners' at the Doha Festival. A 2012 documentary film by Jerry Rothwell that centres on two young, female runners from the Ethiopian town of Bejoki. A small, isolated town of 16,000 that has produced ome of the worlds greatest middle distance runners. Although the story of young people looking to sport as a way of getting away from surroundings is a well told one this is a touching, well shot film. All of the youth of the town look to either education or running as a means to get out and the film juggles between unstinting dedication and hope and sometime self delusion. The photography is exceptional and as there is no narrative and the characters unfold the story themselves the story moves along well. All the runners in the town are trained by the same guy who's trained olympic champions and who never stops encouraging them. Well worth a look and screened on a rooftop cinema in the old souk made for a pleasant way to spend a Monday evening.

[Rob]

Went and saw Lincoln last night. All I can say is that I was absolutely satisfied with the film. Definitely worth going to see. One of the better films I've seen in a long time.

[Delboy]

Very much looking forward to 'Lincoln' Rob. The reviews have said it's something special and Daniel Day Lewis is amazing in it. Interestingly, when it opened at very limited theatres in the US the same weekend that 'Skyfall' opened country wide, it had almost 3 times the number of ticket sales per screening.

[Delboy]

Second movie at the DTFF was 'Goodbye Morocco'. This Algerian/French movie is the fourth by young director Nadir Mokneche. I wasn't expecting much but the film works largely due to the fine performances. It centres around a couple who dream of escaping Morocco to start a new life with her son who she has lost custody of. They are managing the building of a complex in Morocco using an illegal immigrant workforce when they uncover some ancient Christian ruins. Seeing this as an opportunity to get out they attempt to cash in. The plan goes awry when a worker is accidentally killed on the site. The woman is too far gone and loses all sense of morality in a bid to hold on to the opportunity. The story unfolds in a disjointed form ala 'Pulp Fiction'. It is let down by trying to cram too much into the final 15 minutes as the story has more twists than Chubby Checker. It would be easy to say the story is implausible but it states somewhere on the web that it is based on a true story. We shall see. I should have stuck around for the Q&A. World premiere this one and unbeknownst to me at the time my ticket was collected by the Producer as she, the Director and leads greeted the guests. Nice touch

[Delboy]

Went to see 'White Tiger' at the DTFF. This is a Russian war movie that is the Russian entry for the Academy Awards best foreign language movie award next year. The movie is based on the novel and is set towards the end of the second world war. The White Tiger of the title refers to a mythic, seemingly indestructible German tank that almost takes the life of the Russian tank operator who is the centre of the film. After the attack he becomes obsessed with destroying the tank that almost killed him. Despite suffering 90 deg burns and memory loss he develops an ability to read tank movements. These elements of the story are so implausible you stop taking the movie seriously. There is a flashback scene with Hitler explaining his motives that you can't take seriously because of what precedes it. However, the film's saving grace are the action scenes that are quite frankly spectacular with amazing visuals and sound. Totally worth the price of admission alone. Unfortunately they only take up a far too small portion of the film which is a pity. Would recommend it for the tank war scenes but no cigar at the Oscars methinks.

[rocknroller]

Went to see Here Comes The Boom at the cinema today very funny !!!

[rocknroller]

Went to see Silver Linings Playbook at the cinema today fantastic movie great performances by all the cast !!!

[rocknroller]

Went to see Seven Psychopaths in the cinema yesterday ! its violent,bloody and gory,crazy & funny as hell a must see !!!


http://youtu.be/OOsd5d8IVoA

[rjm]

Miracle On 34th Street. (In the theater, Lincoln.)

rjm

[rocknroller]

Miracle On 34th Street. (In the theater, Lincoln.)

rjm

would love to see this on the big screen !!!

[rocknroller]

Went to see the hobbit in the cinema hated it ! soooooo long and boring the 3d effects were great but that was about it !!!

[Tang Lungs side kick]

40th anniversary this x-mas......watched the german version , funnily the gay guy is less whiny on their version

[rocknroller]

Went to see Quartet at the cinema and enjoyed it very much.scotlands own billy connolly was the stand out for me.


http://youtu.be/wSEnh8Hi62E

[poormadpeter]

I've just bought the Nightmare on Elm Street series on blu-ray and so am working my way through them. The first film has some really quite surprisingly bad acting in it, but stands the test of time remarkably well. I couldn't care less if I never see Halloween or Friday the 13th again, but I don't think I will ever feel that way about Nightmare on Elm Street, which has much more depth than either of those films. Craven's script is surprisingly literate and, intentionally or not, has much to say about American society (not unlike Stephen King books such as "It" which came out at roughly the same time). As it happens, I have to see Halloween again in a month or so as it's part of unit I'm teaching on, but you can't have everything.

Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2 is almost the opposite of the original film, with virtually no depth at all and a seemingly unthought-through series of scenes tied together to make a suitable running length. Most of that running time is actually made up of a nearly naked young man writhing in bed covered in sweat, and his girlfriend shouting "Jess" at every opportunity, a name which seems unintentionally humourous considering the film has been dubbed as the gayest horror film of all time. Even from my point of view that really doesn't make it any better. The best thing about making it through Part 2 is knowing that the truly wonderful Part 3 is next!

[rocknroller]

Even from my point of view that really doesn't make it any better. The best thing about making it through Part 2 is knowing that the truly wonderful Part 3 is next!

i'm the opposite of you i loved the 2nd one hated the 3rd.the 2nd movie had some great scary moments for me like on the school bus scene.i also remember seeing it at the cinema as a teenager so maybe thats why i have fond memories of 1 & 2 !!!

[Tang Lungs side kick]

I think Halloween films are the best.....1 , II & 4 are my favs.

I wish they would've made Krueger more like he was in parts 1 & 2.......Fridays I and II are also good.

Fist of Univorn 2/6 , Unicorn just wasn't star material.....Bruce Lee threatened lawsuit when he found out they'd filmed him candidly during choreography.

Psycho 5/6 , awesome

Out of Africa 4/6 , didn't see the ending but twas all right.

Plunder of the Sun 3/6 , some kinda 50s Indy Jones adventure albeit not nearly as exciting , meh.

Rare exports 4/6 , Finnish black comedy about Santa (who happens to be evil)

Icarus 3/6 , Dolph plays ex-KGB man and they threaten his family......typical Dolph fare but nice to kill time with.

Nell 4/6 , about a woman who's been isolated from the outside world , late Natasha Richardson as the shrink.

Daredevil 4/6 , passable but nothing more

Snakes on a Plane 4/6 , with a title like that you know it's not gonna be deadly serious

Skyhawk 4/6 , classic GH fu

Challenge of Tiger 3/6

Bruce Le (the imitator) and a white guy fights baddies who possess sterility drug (cough Moonraker cough) , one of the evil scientist guys looks like Lennon and this movie came out '80 , spooky. Ninja Strikes Back is more fun though imo. I wish Bolo could've gotten bigger part , he's underused here :/

Bolo : "Im gonna need a bigger bo.....uh I mean a bigger part in the script !"

Invincible Eight 4/6 , classic GH sword movie......Han "Big Boss" Ying Chieh has killed the parents of the 8 heroes and natch they want his head.

Amsterdam Connection 4/6 , 2 rival gangs fight over the drug biz in Europe and 2 of them also fight over the same woman. It's a must see for Bolo-fans and fea old skool Ams (old yellow trams) and Paris as locations.

[Tang Lungs side kick]

I'm planning on making a Deer Hunter display piece :

-de Niro sgd resume (set me back 300 but well worth it , I think it's from ' 71.....de Niro has not sgd thru mail since '82 and his sig is very sought after and heavily forged)
-Walken letter (these are not plenty either , mine's from ' 75)
-Savage sgd contract (from ' 71)
-Cazale sig (since he died so young it fetches around 800-1k)

Only missing Streep now of the main cast

[rocknroller]

I went to see gangster squad the other day at the cinema,great movie true story set in the late 40s LA.

[luckyjackson1]

Just watched "Frankenweenie" on wednesday, I think it was o.k.

Next will be tonight the "Maniac"-Remake from Alexandre Aja starring Elijah Wood.

[Delboy]

Just returned from the cinema having seen Django Unchained. I have to say this is a fantastic return to form for Tarantino. The movie is a visual spectacular with Tarantino at his best. It wasn't at all what I was expecting but in a positive way. Jamie Fox and Leonardo DiCaprio are beyond superb. If you have a few hours to spare you could do a lot worse than see this movie.