Last Movie You Watched

[altersteve]

In case you haven't heard yet (for some reason), Disney has acquired Lucasfilm and has announced plans to make at least three more Star Wars films, starting with Episode VII to be released in 2015. So I'm having a Star Wars marathon in the midst of my excitement.

[Damien the Leper]

In case you haven't heard yet (for some reason), Disney has acquired Lucasfilm and has announced plans to make at least three more Star Wars films, starting with Episode VII to be released in 2015. So I'm having a Star Wars marathon in the midst of my excitement.

I'm glad Disney stepped up to do this. Maybe I should rethink being an atheist because of this.

[Damien the Leper]

Saw Paranormal Activity 4. It was a great comedy to be enjoyed by families.

[volgadon]

I'm glad Disney stepped up to do this. Maybe I should rethink being an atheist because of this.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

[altersteve]

Saw Paranormal Activity 4. It was a great comedy to be enjoyed by families.

I didn't like it, or think it was at all scary. The third one is still the best imo.

[altersteve]

So I just saw Cloud Atlas. It's a 3-hour movie about six interconnected storylines that all take place in different time periods, each with the same cast. Every actor and actress plays five or six different characters (many of them almost unrecognizable; one of the characters Hugh Grant plays, for example, is this nice-looking fellow). As for my thoughts on the movie, I'll get back to you on that. I'm gonna let it sink in a little first, maybe even see it a second time.

[Tacenda]

Has anyone seen the "The Silent House" yet? It's suppose to be a true story.

[Garden Girl]

Last night I watched "The Next Three Days" starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks... a story of a happy family... mother/father/young son... the wife is wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Just as she is about to start her life sentence she attempts suicide... the husband (Crowe) vows to his wife that "this will not be your life" and sets about a plan to help her escape. He consults with a former con who escaped numerous times (Liam Neeson) and from there develops a meticulous plan, which is based on her diabetic condition and breaking her out of a hospital where she is taken for treatment (he manipulated her blood tests)...

What we have is a fast-paced, believable story about a husband, desperate to save his wife from a wrongful punishment of life behind bars for a crime she didn't commit...

There have been numerous real life attempts of a spouse breaking their husband/wife out of prison, most successful and then later caught..

A "pulse-pounding" film ... "intense and powerful."

It was...

GG

[Tacenda]

Has anyone seen the "The Silent House" yet? It's suppose to be a true story.

Scratch this, it's "The Possession" that's a true story. Edited November 4, 2012 by Tacenda

[Damien the Leper]

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

LOL. Thanks, Volg! Forget the trumpets, forget the bowls, forget Abaddon...I'm bringing my A-game.

[altersteve]

I'm probably going to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower later this week. Anyone else seen it? I'm reading the book and I love it, and I've heard the movie is incredible.

[Damien the Leper]

I'm probably going to see The Perks of Being a Wallflower later this week. Anyone else seen it? I'm reading the book and I love it, and I've heard the movie is incredible.

I don't know anything about it.

[Walden]

Last night, I watched the director's cut version of "Donnie Darko" a movie from 2001 starring Jake Gyllenhaal. I am still trying to wrap my mind around this movie, but as of now, I love it. I was mesmerized, confused, contemplative and questioning throughout the entire movie, and I love those films that don't give you all the answers, but make the viewer work at it (films such as Memento, Mulholland Drive, etc.)

Has anyone else seen this movie? What are your thoughts?

It seems like it is a film that people either love or hate, and it appears that the movie has developed a cult following.

Following is a plot summary from Wiki......

On October 2, 1988, Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal), a troubled teenager living in Middlesex, Virginia, is awakened and led outside by a figure in a monstrous rabbit costume, who introduces himself as "Frank" and tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds. At dawn, Donnie awakens on a golf course and returns home to find a jet engine has crashed into his bedroom. His older sister, Elizabeth (Maggie Gyllenhaal), informs him the FAA investigators don't know where it came from.

Donnie tells his psychotherapist Dr. Thurman (Katharine Ross) about his continuing visits from Frank. Acting under Frank's influence, he floods his school by damaging a water main. He also begins dating new student Gretchen Ross (Jena Malone), who has moved to town with her mother under a new identity to escape her violent stepfather. Conservative gym teacher Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant) blames the flooding on the influence of the short story "The Destructors", assigned by English teacher Karen Pomeroy (Drew Barrymore), and begins teaching attitude lessons taken from motivational speaker Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze). Donnie rebels against these lessons, leading to friction between Kitty and Donnie's mother Rose (Mary McDonnell).

Donnie asks his science teacher Dr. Monnitoff (Noah Wyle) about time travel after Frank brings up the topic, and is given the book The Philosophy of Time Travel, written by Roberta Sparrow (Patience Cleveland), a former science teacher at the school who is now a seemingly senile old woman.

Dr. Thurman tells Donnie's parents that he is detached from reality, and that his visions of Frank are hallucinations, symptomatic of paranoid schizophrenia. Donnie disrupts a speech being given by Jim Cunningham by insulting him in front of the student body, then burns down Cunningham's house on instructions from Frank. When police find evidence of a child pornography operation in the house's remains, Cunningham is arrested. During a hypnotherapy session, Donnie confesses his crimes to Dr. Thurman and says that Frank will soon kill someone.

Rose agrees to replace Kitty as chaperone for her daughter Samantha's (Daveigh Chase) dance troupe in Los Angeles, so Kitty can testify in Cunningham's defense; with her husband Eddie (Holmes Osborne) in New York on business, her older children are home alone.

Donnie and Elizabeth take the opportunity to throw a Halloween party to celebrate her acceptance to Harvard University. Gretchen arrives, distraught that her mother has disappeared. Realizing that only hours remain before Frank's prophesied end of the world, Donnie takes Gretchen and two friends to seek Roberta Sparrow at her house. They are attacked by two school bullies (Alex Greenwald and Seth Rogen) who are attempting to rob Sparrow's house, and the fight spills into the street. An oncoming car swerves to avoid Sparrow but runs over Gretchen, killing her. The driver is Elizabeth's boyfriend Frank (James Duval), wearing the same rabbit costume as the Frank of Donnie's visions. Donnie shoots him with his father's gun.

As a vortex forms in dark clouds above his house, Donnie drives into the hills and watches as an airplane descends above. The plane, carrying Rose and the dance troupe, is wrenched violently as one of its engines detaches and falls into the vortex. Events of the previous 28 days recapitulate in reverse order and action, until Donnie finds himself in bed on the morning of October 2. The jet engine crashes through his room, killing him. Others with whom Donnie had interacted in the 28 days awaken, some looking disturbed. Gretchen rides by Donnie's house and learns of his death from a neighbourhood boy (Scotty Leavenworth), but says she did not know him.

[Mark Beesley]

So I just saw Cloud Atlas. It's a 3-hour movie about six interconnected storylines that all take place in different time periods, each with the same cast. Every actor and actress plays five or six different characters (many of them almost unrecognizable; one of the characters Hugh Grant plays, for example, is this nice-looking fellow). As for my thoughts on the movie, I'll get back to you on that. I'm gonna let it sink in a little first, maybe even see it a second time.

Let me know if seeing it a second time helped. We watched it a couple of weeks ago, it has sunk in, and I still fail to see how anything was interconnected other than the same actor playing the same basic part 5 or 6 times. The FX was great, and there were some good action scenes, but all in all, I think it stretches the limits of being PC to say the movie was anything special.

The last movie we saw in the movie theatre was Flight with Denzel Washington. It has some fairly objectionable material during the first few minutes as Denzel and his girlfriend are getting out of bed, so the R rating is deserved. That is unfortunate because it is an otherwise excellent movie about alcoholism. My wife and sat there thinking, We've been there . . . emphasis on the word "been."

Denzel Washington plays the part of an airline pilot who is an alcoholic, but minimizes it, with the help others by saying he is just a heavy drinker. He encounters a mid-air crisis (not of his making) and miraculously avoids a catastrophic crash. In the ensuing investigation, events unfold which allow Washington to continue shirking responsibility for his drinking. However, he comes to a point where it cost too much to him personally, and the most poignant scene is the very last scene where . . . nah, you'll have to see it.

[altersteve]

I'll let you know how Cloud Atlas was the second time. And I agree, Flight was excellent.

I attended the midnight showing of Skyfall last night, and it was absolutely phenomenal. Easily the best James Bond film I've ever seen and by far one of the best movies of the year. The movie's climax, especially, was ridiculously awesome. Be aware that there are frequent intense action sequences and violence, brief but strong language, some drinking, and a couple non-graphic sex scenes (which are all very brief and within the confines of the film's PG-13 rating), all of which should be expected when watching a James Bond movie.

I need to see it a second time, and possibly a third. It's right up there with Argo as probably my favorite movie I've seen this year.

[Tacenda]

Scratch this, it's "The Possession" that's a true story.

I highly recommend no one rent "The Silent House", IMO it's one of the worst movies I've seen.

[volgadon]

Over the last few weeks I've also seenMission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and War Horse. All of them are PG-13 and I recommend them. I plan on seeing either Man on a Ledge, Red Tails, or Underworld: Awakening tomorrow, but I'm not sure which. Also looking forward to Chronicle this Friday.

Can't stand Tom Cruise, but just found out that Vladimir Mashkov was in it. He played in a Russian mini-series about a Jewish detective in Odessa, great humour and suspense.

[Garden Girl]

The last movie we saw in the movie theatre was Flight with Denzel Washington. It has some fairly objectionable material during the first few minutes as Denzel and his girlfriend are getting out of bed, so the R rating is deserved. That is unfortunate because it is an otherwise excellent movie about alcoholism. My wife and sat there thinking, We've been there . . . emphasis on the word "been."

Denzel Washington plays the part of an airline pilot who is an alcoholic, but minimizes it, with the help others by saying he is just a heavy drinker. He encounters a mid-air crisis (not of his making) and miraculously avoids a catastrophic crash. In the ensuing investigation, events unfold which allow Washington to continue shirking responsibility for his drinking. However, he comes to a point where it cost too much to him personally, and the most poignant scene is the very last scene where . . . nah, you'll have to see it.

I agree this was a powerful movie... but even more than the brief nudity at the beginning, it was the language that bothered me and I thought I was going to have to get up and leave the theatre. But it was a compelling story and I gave in and stuck it out. I don't know why Hollywood thinks they need to have as much coarse language in films. I did walk away from Black Swan which had had all sorts of kudos (Natalie Portman won Best Actress, etc) but I just couldn't take the overall storyline, at least what I did see.

At least Flight had redeeming qualities...

GG

[Tacenda]

I agree this was a powerful movie... but even more than the brief nudity at the beginning, it was the language that bothered me and I thought I was going to have to get up and leave the theatre. But it was a compelling story and I gave in and stuck it out. I don't know why Hollywood thinks they need to have as much coarse language in films. I did walk away from Black Swan which had had all sorts of kudos (Natalie Portman won Best Actress, etc) but I just couldn't take the overall storyline, at least what I did see.

At least Flight had redeeming qualities...

GG

I feel the same way as both of you. I'm glad I stuck it out to the end. But that was the first time I've seen full frontal nudity in a film like it, but glad it stopped at that. My husband gave me grief over it because I was the one that picked the show.

Today I went to see Lincoln. Great movie and I learned so much. There are many well known actors also.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Tacenda

[Gohan]

Saw Wreck-It Ralph yesterday - even had a date for it - it was a pretty good movie, I enjoyed it.

Lincoln is next on my list to see.

[Calm]

Skyfall, good for a Bond, well worth seeing for the action, but the longer it's been since we saw it, the more superficial it seems. Had a ton of stuff in it that they just let go. Am getting tired of the obligatory killing of at least one woman he's made out with per movie especially when it was trivialized as much as it was in this one (sorry for the spoiler if it is for anyone)......though I realize that the Dalton movies tried to change that and were panned for being too PC.

Edited November 18, 2012 by calmoriah

[ERayR]

Skyfall, good for a Bond, well worth seeing for the action, but the longer it's been since we saw it, the more superficial it seems. Had a ton of stuff in it that they just let go. Am getting tired of the obligatory killing of at least one woman he's made out with per movie especially when it was trivialized as much as it was in this one (sorry for the spoiler if it is for anyone)......though I realize that the Dalton movies tried to change that and were panned for being too PC.

I stopped watching Bond movies many years ago. They were just sex and killing.

[Damien the Leper]

In 2007, I swore off the Twilight series both in book and movie formats. My significant other's sister had free tickets to AMC theatres and she chose the final Twilight movie for her, her husband, my s/o and myself to go watch on Friday night.

Holy cow was that awful! I am never going to the movies with that girl again.

Edited November 19, 2012 by Valentinus

[altersteve]

I thought the final fight scene in the new Twilight was actually very good, almost as good as any other action scene I've seen. It's definitely the most enjoyable, entertaining, and well made Twilight movie, that's for sure -- but that's not saying very much.

[treeface]

I recently saw Cloud Atlas. Twice.

Central message of the movie is, our choices are far-reaching and really do matter. If we are on a negative trajectory, we will end up as very negative beings (Hugo Weaving's character is a shocking example). If we are on a positive trajectory (which apparently always requires courage - it is never the path of least resistance), then we will benefit mankind, whether in a small fashion or a large one. And we can change our trajectory, though the effort required to do so can be immense.

Another thing I learned is, there is more to Hugh Grant as an actor than just a perfect face and uber-charming smile.

Watch the online trailer before you see the movie, so you have some idea of what is going on:

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I can't even watch the trailer without it having an effect on me.

Finally, stay and watch the closing credits long enough to see the different characters that the main actors played. That itself is an essential part of the movie, in my opinion.

Edited November 21, 2012 by treeface