Post by darksidebeadle on Oct 15, 2017 4:42:07 GMT
Welcome back to another week of the BEST & WORST edition of 'what movies did you see last week?' thread. For those who haven't been part of it before, basically your hosts (us) posts our weekly movies and you can comment on those and list your movie for the same time frame. We will get back to you on yours and you can talk to other users here about their films. It's a great place to talk about film.
FIRST TIME MOVIE VIEWING
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017, Noah Baumbach)
netflix
Noah Baumbach is kind of like the hip Woody Allen of our times with his wryly funny new York centered dramas. This one sees an estranged family gather together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father (Dustin Hoffman). A lot of great scenes and top notch performances, espceially from Adam Sandler (Punch Drunk Love) that makes you wish he did not make so much garbage between his more serious roles.
7/10
3:10 to Yuma (2007, James Mangold)
tv
This is one of the better westerns from the modern era for sure. Good acting, dialogue, drama and action.
7/10
Fedora (1978, Billy Wilder)
This Latter day Billy Wilder film plays like a quirky companion piece to his own Sunset Boulevard (1950). It follows a down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer played by William Holden (Sunset Boulevard) as he attempts to lure Fedora (Marthe Keller), a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement. The film is quite intriguing until the big reveal is landed half way through and leaves the second half of the film a little limp. Its not like you cannot see the twist coming but it would have been nice for it to go longer and draw more doubt. Still it is a nice looking and interesting film.
6.5/10
Two Weeks in Another Town (1962, Vincente Minnelli)
tv
Ten years after his film 'The Bad & the Beautiful, this director once again teams up with Kirk Douglas for another film looking at the dirty laundry of show business. This one is not as cutesy as the first but this Rome set film the better one.
6.5/10
Allied (2016, Robert Zemeckis)
tv
This old style WW2 espionage picture is set in 1942 where a Canadian intelligence officer (Brad Pitt) in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter (Marion Cotillard) on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war. The film is mostly well enough made but has some cheap digital effects from time to time and lacks the budget for the scope it was going for. The first half of the film is painfully dull and Pitt is not that good here but once they Hit London in the second half it picks up quite a bit and some real tension is achieved.
6/10
Night and the City (1992, Irwin Winkler)
tv
In this remake of the 1950 classic of the same name, Robert De Niro takes Richard Widmark's classic role of Harry Fabian and makes it a more comic tone with shades of his turn as Ruper Pupkin in The King of Comedy a decade earlier. The film is going for a very different tone, even visually where it is drab compared to the electric look of the original. It is not a bad film just a little muddled and underwritten in places.
6/10
Body Double (1984, Brian De Palma)
tv
This quirky thriller follows a young actor's (Craig Wasson) obsession with spying on a beautiful woman leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.
The film has an odd unrealistic tone and some gimmicky parts as well as some bad dialogue with not the strongest performance by the lead actor. However it does have a certain compelling weirdness and titillation that makes it worth watching at least once
6/10
The Bad & the Beautiful (1952, Vincente Minnelli)
tv
This early inside Hollywood picture sees an unscrupulous movie producer who uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success. Kirk Douglas is in the lead and the film has a pretty clever use of flashbacks and structure that ties up nicely.
5.5/10
REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017, Jon Watts)
blu ray
This held up pretty well on 2nd viewing and while it is certainly the best and most accurate rendition of Peter Parker/ Spider-Man it may also be the best Spider-Man film period. I like the smaller scope story, the themes, comedy, characters etc. although it may have dragged on a little in the third act. Michael Keaton is one of the best Marvel villains yet as the Vulture as well as being the best villain in any Spider-Man film period.
6.5-7
Bad Grandpa (2013, Jeff Tremain)
tv
The jackass team being us a movie that is parts practical joke on unsuspecting spectators and part acted story-line that comes together surprisingly well with memorable set pieces and a good amount of laughs.
6/10
WEEKLY MOVIE AWARDS
BEST FILM: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
BEST ACTOR: Russell Crowe - 3:10 to Yuma
BEST ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard - Allied
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Adam Sandler - The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melanie Griffith - Body Double
BEST DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach - The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
10/10 - Perfection (or as close to it as possible)
09/10 - An Excellent film
08/10 - A VERY Good film
07/10 - A Good film
06/10 - A Solid film
05/10 - An Average film
04/10 - Below Average film
03/10 - A mostly bad film
02/10 - A mostly terrible film
01/10 - Awful through and through
00/10 - Not only awful but offensive too
FIRST TIME MOVIE VIEWING
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017, Noah Baumbach)
netflix
Noah Baumbach is kind of like the hip Woody Allen of our times with his wryly funny new York centered dramas. This one sees an estranged family gather together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father (Dustin Hoffman). A lot of great scenes and top notch performances, espceially from Adam Sandler (Punch Drunk Love) that makes you wish he did not make so much garbage between his more serious roles.
7/10
3:10 to Yuma (2007, James Mangold)
tv
This is one of the better westerns from the modern era for sure. Good acting, dialogue, drama and action.
7/10
Fedora (1978, Billy Wilder)
This Latter day Billy Wilder film plays like a quirky companion piece to his own Sunset Boulevard (1950). It follows a down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer played by William Holden (Sunset Boulevard) as he attempts to lure Fedora (Marthe Keller), a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement. The film is quite intriguing until the big reveal is landed half way through and leaves the second half of the film a little limp. Its not like you cannot see the twist coming but it would have been nice for it to go longer and draw more doubt. Still it is a nice looking and interesting film.
6.5/10
Two Weeks in Another Town (1962, Vincente Minnelli)
tv
Ten years after his film 'The Bad & the Beautiful, this director once again teams up with Kirk Douglas for another film looking at the dirty laundry of show business. This one is not as cutesy as the first but this Rome set film the better one.
6.5/10
Allied (2016, Robert Zemeckis)
tv
This old style WW2 espionage picture is set in 1942 where a Canadian intelligence officer (Brad Pitt) in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter (Marion Cotillard) on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war. The film is mostly well enough made but has some cheap digital effects from time to time and lacks the budget for the scope it was going for. The first half of the film is painfully dull and Pitt is not that good here but once they Hit London in the second half it picks up quite a bit and some real tension is achieved.
6/10
Night and the City (1992, Irwin Winkler)
tv
In this remake of the 1950 classic of the same name, Robert De Niro takes Richard Widmark's classic role of Harry Fabian and makes it a more comic tone with shades of his turn as Ruper Pupkin in The King of Comedy a decade earlier. The film is going for a very different tone, even visually where it is drab compared to the electric look of the original. It is not a bad film just a little muddled and underwritten in places.
6/10
Body Double (1984, Brian De Palma)
tv
This quirky thriller follows a young actor's (Craig Wasson) obsession with spying on a beautiful woman leads to a baffling series of events with drastic consequences.
The film has an odd unrealistic tone and some gimmicky parts as well as some bad dialogue with not the strongest performance by the lead actor. However it does have a certain compelling weirdness and titillation that makes it worth watching at least once
6/10
The Bad & the Beautiful (1952, Vincente Minnelli)
tv
This early inside Hollywood picture sees an unscrupulous movie producer who uses an actress, a director and a writer to achieve success. Kirk Douglas is in the lead and the film has a pretty clever use of flashbacks and structure that ties up nicely.
5.5/10
REPEAT MOVIE VIEWING
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017, Jon Watts)
blu ray
This held up pretty well on 2nd viewing and while it is certainly the best and most accurate rendition of Peter Parker/ Spider-Man it may also be the best Spider-Man film period. I like the smaller scope story, the themes, comedy, characters etc. although it may have dragged on a little in the third act. Michael Keaton is one of the best Marvel villains yet as the Vulture as well as being the best villain in any Spider-Man film period.
6.5-7
Bad Grandpa (2013, Jeff Tremain)
tv
The jackass team being us a movie that is parts practical joke on unsuspecting spectators and part acted story-line that comes together surprisingly well with memorable set pieces and a good amount of laughs.
6/10
WEEKLY MOVIE AWARDS
BEST FILM: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
BEST ACTOR: Russell Crowe - 3:10 to Yuma
BEST ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard - Allied
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Adam Sandler - The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melanie Griffith - Body Double
BEST DIRECTOR: Noah Baumbach - The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
10/10 - Perfection (or as close to it as possible)
09/10 - An Excellent film
08/10 - A VERY Good film
07/10 - A Good film
06/10 - A Solid film
05/10 - An Average film
04/10 - Below Average film
03/10 - A mostly bad film
02/10 - A mostly terrible film
01/10 - Awful through and through
00/10 - Not only awful but offensive too