Last Movie You Watched

[Deborah]

I'm getting free promotional package of Cinemax and HBO... so I finally watched "Life of Pi." 

 

I just watched that on my promotion too. I got the impression the story without the tiger was the real one but as he said to the writer, which version would you rather remember. Actually reminded me of Big Fish. Pi certainly had some spectacular scenes.

[Garden Girl]

I just watched that on my promotion too. I got the impression the story without the tiger was the real one but as he said to the writer, which version would you rather remember. Actually reminded me of Big Fish. Pi certainly had some spectacular scenes.

Me too... because of his emotion as he told the story without the tiger.  I think I'll watch it again tonight.

 

GG

[Garden Girl]

I just watched a movie that left me sick at heart... on HBO, a documentary narrated bv Lily Tomlin, titled:  An Apology to Elephants.

This is the first time I've actually seen what goes on that the general public doesn't know or really stop to think about... It showed graphically the type of "training" that circus elephants go through to learn all those tricks they perform (I will never attend another circus that uses elephants, but will be  part of the "boycott circuses" crowd until they stop).  It showed how trainers using the special prod/hook beat, jabb in sensitive areas, use chains and ropes, etc to force the elephants into the physical acts that comprise the tricks.  The animals learn pain, and the fear of that pain... so they do what the trainer wants them to... out of fear... just by the trainer raising the prod.

It outlined the physical difficulties elephants go through when they can't move freely about or have to stand on concrete in zoos... terrible things happen to their feet, and arthritis develops because they need the exercise of walking freely like in their native habitats.

One zoo, Oakland CA, has a program that has been hailed as an example of taking proper care (six acres where the elephants have space to walk, which is designed after the wild).

I won't go into all the horrible scenes of poachers going after the ivory... this still goes on today and has decimated parts of East Africa of elephants entirely... the Chinese still use the ivory.  If I'm not mistaken the US still has a ban on ivory sales but rest of the world continues this practice so the ivory trade is booming... one scene showed the tusks lined up...

 

Anyway, at the end the narrator says if they can reach just one person with the film, it will be worth it.  Well, they reached me.  There are organizations that are trying to help the situation, and this one wonderful preserve where they take in elephants from zoos and circuses and let them live out their lives in peace and safety...

 

I feel the same way about dogs/cats and the efforts of vets and shelters to educate the public about the importance of spaying/neutering pets.  I forget how many thousands of kittens/cats/dogs are euthanized every day, month, week... anyway, I'm saddened in my heart for the biggest and gentlest of beasts... the elephant.

 

GG

[bluebell]

Our family has been boycotting circuses for years now.

 

I still love zoos because I feel that accredited organizations truly aspire to be as humane to elephants as possible (while always working on improvements) and I believe that elephants as a species benefit from the relationships they are able to form with the public thru zoos.

 

I think you have to get people to care about elephants before they will be willing to help them, and zoos are a good way to get the public to care, not just about elephants but about a lot of different animals.

[thesometimesaint]

Don't know as this counts as a movie. But my wife and I have just about finished the TV series "The West Wing". It is well worth the watch.

Edited September 9, 2013 by thesometimesaint

[Calm]

For those who want to know the ending without having to watch the movie again....or ever, there is moviepooper.com

 

Here is a link to the Life of Pi:

 

http://www.moviepooper.com/11/5008pi.html

[Ron Beron]

I just watched a movie that left me sick at heart... on HBO, a documentary narrated bv Lily Tomlin, titled:  An Apology to Elephants.

This is the first time I've actually seen what goes on that the general public doesn't know or really stop to think about... It showed graphically the type of "training" that circus elephants go through to learn all those tricks they perform (I will never attend another circus that uses elephants, but will be  part of the "boycott circuses" crowd until they stop).  It showed how trainers using the special prod/hook beat, jabb in sensitive areas, use chains and ropes, etc to force the elephants into the physical acts that comprise the tricks.  The animals learn pain, and the fear of that pain... so they do what the trainer wants them to... out of fear... just by the trainer raising the prod.

It outlined the physical difficulties elephants go through when they can't move freely about or have to stand on concrete in zoos... terrible things happen to their feet, and arthritis develops because they need the exercise of walking freely like in their native habitats.

One zoo, Oakland CA, has a program that has been hailed as an example of taking proper care (six acres where the elephants have space to walk, which is designed after the wild).

I won't go into all the horrible scenes of poachers going after the ivory... this still goes on today and has decimated parts of East Africa of elephants entirely... the Chinese still use the ivory.  If I'm not mistaken the US still has a ban on ivory sales but rest of the world continues this practice so the ivory trade is booming... one scene showed the tusks lined up...

 

Anyway, at the end the narrator says if they can reach just one person with the film, it will be worth it.  Well, they reached me.  There are organizations that are trying to help the situation, and this one wonderful preserve where they take in elephants from zoos and circuses and let them live out their lives in peace and safety...

 

I feel the same way about dogs/cats and the efforts of vets and shelters to educate the public about the importance of spaying/neutering pets.  I forget how many thousands of kittens/cats/dogs are euthanized every day, month, week... anyway, I'm saddened in my heart for the biggest and gentlest of beasts... the elephant.

 

GG

For this reason I shun circus'.  Even zoos bother me to some degree.   The one major exception is the San Diego Zoo and Wildlife Sanctuary.  Even SeaWorld gets me angry.  Orcas don't belong in swimming pools, but in oceans swimming in their pods.

[Tacenda]

The World's End. Lots of strong language, but VERY funny. I laughed out loud several times. I can't remember the last time I laughed that hard and that often in a movie.

I am so sick of R's that I've seen lately. I welcome PG13, but they are few and far between. I hate language in movies but will grindingly sit through if everything else makes up for it. I cannot sit through another film that makes sex nothing. I checked out the trailer for this movie and think it looks very good, and apparently you say it's good. What do you think? Also, need to say, my husband has been critical of my movie choice lately, so trying to get it right this time around.

[Tacenda]

I am so sick of R's that I've seen lately. I welcome PG13, but they are few and far between. I hate language in movies but will grindingly sit through if everything else makes up for it. I cannot sit through another film that makes sex nothing. I checked out the trailer for this movie and think it looks very good, and apparently you say it's good. What do you think? Also, need to say, my husband has been critical of my movie choice lately, so trying to get it right this time around.

Tacenda don't go to this movie, stay away from movies that make you feel weird afterwards. Don't go to movies that make you feel it's the end of the world and everyone you see or talk to are very strange. Don't go to movies recommended by someone who may not like the same things you do. Or that you don't know very well. Don't always believe the "excellent reviews". Just watch the good oldies again or the rare new ones over again. And don't worry about seeing people walk out of the theatre. They were probably much older then you.

[altersteve]

I am so sick of R's that I've seen lately. I welcome PG13, but they are few and far between. I hate language in movies but will grindingly sit through if everything else makes up for it. I cannot sit through another film that makes sex nothing. I checked out the trailer for this movie and think it looks very good, and apparently you say it's good. What do you think? Also, need to say, my husband has been critical of my movie choice lately, so trying to get it right this time around.

I went into more detail about it here:

 

The World's End, after seeing it a second time, is now my favorite film of the year so far. Yes, there's lots of swearing and drinking, but it's also the funniest, smartest, and most utterly heartwarming comedy film I've seen in a very long time, and certainly one of the downright weirdest. And there's more heart and intelligence in this movie than countless non-comedies I've seen.

 

The movie, which stars Simon Pegg (Scotty from Stark Trek) in what may be the best performance of his career, alongside Martin Freeman (Bilbo from The Hobbit) and other wonderful actors, is about a group of childhood friends who reunite and return to their hometown for an epic pub crawl (a quest to drink one pint at each of the 12 pubs in the town), which they initially attempted in high school but failed to finish. There they discover that the town has been overtaken by alien robots and their quest becomes one to save the world. And underneath all that is a surprisingly poignant message about friendship and standing up for yourself. Yes, I know it sounds completely ridiculous, and it is, but that's the point. It's vibrant, touching, completely fearless, gleefully silly, and wonderfully reckless, all with an irresistible sense of joy, and I loved every minute of it. It's magnificent.

 

Seriously, I can't remember the last time a movie knocked me off my feet like this one did. If you're okay with some pretty strong language and fairly constant alcohol use, go see it, stat.

 

[Tacenda]

I went into more detail about it here:

 

You did, and I appreciated it.  I just shouldn't go to some movies with my husband.  And you're right about it having much more heart than most.  But the writing could have done so much more with it.  It felt like they were catering to the darn Zombie crowd.  I love European actors, they are the most real people.  Of course I'm a born and bred Utahn and never get out much, so what do I know?   

[altersteve]

You're right that it COULD have been a bit more and it didn't quite live up to the potential it could have... but everything else about it is so good that I was able to forgive that.

[EllenMaksoud]

Say what you thought about the film, who's in it, what's about, etc., and try to include the rating and the reason for its rating in your review so that the parents here can be informed about whether or not they should take their kids to go see it.

Last movie I saw was Warrior, for the third time. An amazing and intense film starring Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, and Nick Nolte about two brothers who enter a mixed martial arts tournament, both for a good reason, and their strained relationship with each other and with their father. The intense fight scenes and the acting are phenomenal. I strongly suggest watching it, even if you're not a fan of MMA (I'm not, and I still loved it), because the mixed martial arts fighting is not the focus of the film; it's message is about the bonds of family and the power of forgiveness, and if it doesn't make you cry (or at least get a little emotional) or cheer, then you probably don't have a heart. Highly recommended. (It's PG-13 for "sequences of intense mixed martial arts fighting, some language and thematic material," so it's not for young children. The fight scenes are very brutal at times, the themes are mature and emotional, and the language is brief but strong.)

I plan on seeing the new Hugh Jackman film Real Steel tonight. I'm an avid movie watcher and I work at a movie theater, so I get to see movies there for free, so I may be posting here a lot.

 

Say what you thought about the film, who's in it, what's about, etc., and try to include the rating and the reason for its rating in your review so that the parents here can be informed about whether or not they should take their kids to go see it.

Last movie I saw was Warrior, for the third time. An amazing and intense film starring Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, and Nick Nolte about two brothers who enter a mixed martial arts tournament, both for a good reason, and their strained relationship with each other and with their father. The intense fight scenes and the acting are phenomenal. I strongly suggest watching it, even if you're not a fan of MMA (I'm not, and I still loved it), because the mixed martial arts fighting is not the focus of the film; it's message is about the bonds of family and the power of forgiveness, and if it doesn't make you cry (or at least get a little emotional) or cheer, then you probably don't have a heart. Highly recommended. (It's PG-13 for "sequences of intense mixed martial arts fighting, some language and thematic material," so it's not for young children. The fight scenes are very brutal at times, the themes are mature and emotional, and the language is brief but strong.)

I plan on seeing the new Hugh Jackman film Real Steel tonight. I'm an avid movie watcher and I work at a movie theater, so I get to see movies there for free, so I may be posting here a lot.

I just found Space Hunter, Adventures in the forbidden zone.  It's from 1983. Is now a cult classic.

[Calm]

I just found Space Hunter, Adventures in the forbidden zone.  It's from 1983. Is now a cult classic.

I remember that one, though only saw it on TV, not in theatres.  One I did see in theatre, in fact on my honeymoon at this funky theatre that had three types of chairs (IIRC, standard in the middle, big reclining type chairs in the back great for making out in and in the front just backs with the 'seat' being the carpeted floor...think its name was the Dream Theater*****).

 

http://www.johnharrisfilms.com/812_cinema_and_dream_theater

 

The cult classic we saw there....scifi of course, trying to remember the name...had the actor who played John Boy in it....google to the rescue.

 

Here we go:

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080421/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_69

Edited September 16, 2013 by calmoriah

[EllenMaksoud]

I remember that one, though only saw it on TV, not in theatres.  One I did see in theatre, in fact on my honeymoon at this funky theatre that had three types of chairs (IIRC, standard in the middle, big reclining type chairs in the back great for making out in and in the front just backs with the 'seat' being the carpeted floor...think its name was the Dream Theater*****).

 

http://www.johnharrisfilms.com/812_cinema_and_dream_theater

 

The cult classic we saw there....scifi of course, trying to remember the name...had the actor who played John Boy in it....google to the rescue.

I just finished watching it on Youtube "Crackle".  It features Molly Ringwold when she was a teen.  It is cheap sci fi at its best.   It may have been filmed in Utah, or Nevada, or perhaps even Australia?   Not the special effects, blood and raw sex of these times, but entertaining; almost innocent perhaps.

[Ron Beron]

I watched Star Wars on my honeymoon in Carmel.  We were seated behind two guys who necked the whole time.  Something of a downer. 

[EllenMaksoud]

I watched Star Wars on my honeymoon in Carmel.  We were seated behind two guys who necked the whole time.  Something of a downer. 

I don't mean any harm here. I can tolerate two girls being um girls, but two guys snogging, ewwww. Just saying. I mean what ever they do in private ...

[Calm]

I don't mean any harm here. I can tolerate two girls being um girls, but two guys snogging, ewwww. Just saying. I mean what ever they do in private ...

Any snogging is too much for me.  A little cuddling don't care about, but when they seem oblivious to the world around them, I want to be oblivious to them, whatever combination of gender.

[EllenMaksoud]

Any snogging is too much for me.  A little cuddling don't care about, but when they seem oblivious to the world around them, I want to be oblivious to them, whatever combination of gender.

Perhaps life would have been simpler if I had not traveled. In Kenya, it is normal for men to walk, holding hands. It is not a sexual thing, but a friendship thing. I saw a clip this week end where a Mormon biggie wants to engage the GBLT folk in dialogue. What is there to say? 

 

The affection that two people of the same gender exchange needs to be a sexual.

[thesometimesaint]

Any snogging is too much for me.  A little cuddling don't care about, but when they seem oblivious to the world around them, I want to be oblivious to them, whatever combination of gender.

 

I'm too old to go the oblivious route. I tell them to "Get a Room".

Edited September 16, 2013 by thesometimesaint

[EllenMaksoud]

I'm too old to go the oblivious route. I tell them to "Get a Room".

I try to be oblivious, and think that I do it OK until I get home and feel really sad.   

[thesometimesaint]

In my neck of the woods theater tickets are about $10 a pop. I don't pay that amount of good money to watch someone else in a makeout session. Maybe I'm just too old and too cranky to waste my money like that.

[Garden Girl]

Well after listening to talk about Odin and Loki and Ragnar on the "I'm a Baron" thread, I had to watch The Vikings... starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine and Janet Leigh...  always good entertainment...  great theme song but I just knew it would be in my mind for days...

 

GG

Edited September 17, 2013 by Garden Girl

[Calm]

Perhaps life would have been simpler if I had not traveled. In Kenya, it is normal for men to walk, holding hands. It is not a sexual thing, but a friendship thing. I saw a clip this week end where a Mormon biggie wants to engage the GBLT folk in dialogue. What is there to say? 

 

The affection that two people of the same gender exchange needs to be a sexual.

I don't have a problem with guys holding hands or arms around each other.  I grew up in the San Fran area so perhaps that is why, but more likely because I just haven't ever been interested in watching that kind of stuff whether mixed or not.  It is the in your face stuff that gets me because well, it is in my face.  And that goes for anything whether it is sexual or not.  I have a huge personal space, I guess.  

[Calm]

 great theme song but I just knew it would be in my mind for days...

 

GG

Now I understand....