What Was the Last Movie You Watched?

ChiroDoc said:
Yeah, I think Tarantino has a violence fetish. Great director, but his penchant for gore has kept me away from several of his films that I'm sure were very good, but didn't want to fade the gross violence.

I was leery of seeing Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for that reason. But I knew so much about that particular era, having lived in Hollwyood at the time, that I saw it anyway. I was very pleasantly surprised, and very much enjoyed the film. There was almost no gore except at the end, which was treated as comedy.
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I could have written this post as I also lived in H'wood during that era and was leery of Tarantino films. My reaction to the film and the ending mirrored yours.
 
StarSong said:
I could have written this post as I also lived in H'wood during that era and was leery of Tarantino films. My reaction to the film and the ending mirrored yours.
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What a coincidence. I lived in Laurel Canyon at the time, just two canyons over from Benedict Canyon. Everyone was creeped out, not knowing where they might strike again.
Other than that it was a great era.
 
I went to see Springsteen: Deliver me From Nowhere yesterday. It was good not great. Problem was that Jeremy Allen White doesn't have Bruce's charisma. He did well, however, singing and playing.
 
Great film noir, Michael. It's one of Hitchcock's best, and reportedly his favorite film. In real life he liked the central Calif. coast so much that he made 3 movies there (Shadow of a Doubt, Vertigo, and The Birds); and he also bought a home there up in the hills.

I thought Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright had great chemistry, and they made a couple of more films together. Also I think this was Hume Cronyn's first major picture.
 
I asked Gemini to summarize Hithcock's ways of making such suspenseful movies. See iff this isn't a short, to the point, and comprehensive.

Hitchcock made his films dramatic primarily by manipulating audience information to create suspense, a feeling he famously differentiated from mere shock. He used techniques like subjective camera work (point-of-view shots) to immerse the viewer in the character's experience, making the audience complicit.
Key Techniques for Suspense
Hitchcock frequently employed several key cinematic techniques to build tension:
* Information Imbalance (Suspense vs. Surprise): He'd show the audience a threat, like a bomb hidden under a table, while the characters remain unaware, making mundane conversation agonizing.
* Camera Control: He used close-ups to intensify emotion, the dolly zoom (like in Vertigo) to physically convey disorientation, and dynamic movements or low-angle shots to create anxiety or powerlessness.
* Editing: He utilized fast cutting (as in the Psycho shower scene) and cross-cutting (parallel editing) between simultaneous events in different locations to heighten urgency and chaos.
* Suggestion Over Graphic Detail: He often implied violence rather than showing it directly, believing the audience's imagination creates horror more effectively than explicit visuals.
* Sound and Silence: He used sound design, sometimes stripping away dialogue to emphasize music or ambient noise, to amplify tension.
* Humor: He balanced suspense with humor to heighten the dramatic contrast when danger inevitably struck.
 
I just watched Witness for the Prosecution, with Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich. Directed by the great Billy Wilder. Wow. It was most excellent, they don't make em like this anymore. I couldn't give a synopsis even if I wanted to bc so many tropes and turns in the plot. Just when you think you know what's going on, something happens to change it drastically.
 
What a totally depressing movie. I have heard of this movie all of my life. The original 1956 version that is. I always knew what it was about, but I never saw it until today.
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Paco Dennis said:
Our family drove over to Half Moon Bay to see the filming history of the film the Birds. I loved the coast in mid Ca. Too. It changes a lot as you motor south on Hwy 101. :)
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I went to Bodega Bay years back, and was surprised (and delighted) to see that the schoolhouse and, I think, jungle jim was still there. Is it still there now?
 
Captain America: Brave New World (Disney/Hulu). At first I wasn't interested in seeing this movie, but I hadn't watched a superhero movie in awhile, so decided to check it out. The trailer piqued my interest, especially when I saw that Carl Lumbly is in the movie. Almost as soon as I started watching, I liked the "energy" of the main character, played by Anthony Mackie. I understand why he has received so many award nominations for various works. He made the character believable and very likable. The movie, which has some humor, ethical issues and plenty of action, kept me engagedso I finished it much sooner than I usually finish a movie.

 
I’m new here and going to jump right in. Yesterday, as I was quilting, I watched Autumn Leaves with Joan Crawford. I’ve seen it before, but I’d rather watch old movies that I’ve already seen then most new stuff. The blatantly obvious special lighting on Crawford for every close up is pretty funny.

Anyone have Retro Reels? It’s a $3 a month add on to Roku and nothing but old movies.
 
A Husband, A Wife and A Lover A television movie. 1996 1 Hr. 35 Min. Amazon Video.

Starring Judith Light, Jay Thomas & William Russ

A woman leaves her husband after him gambling away all their money. The next day he has a stroke and she comes home to care for him. She falls in love with the local mechanic when he fixes her car. Funny to me, (since my father was a mechanic) that he seems to have a lot of money and can afford to do things for her. He ends up moving in with her and her husband and overcomes her husband's hate for him by caring for him.
 
DHH said:
I’m new here and going to jump right in. Yesterday, as I was quilting, I watched Autumn Leaves with Joan Crawford. I’ve seen it before, but I’d rather watch old movies that I’ve already seen then most new stuff. The blatantly obvious special lighting on Crawford for every close up is pretty funny.

Anyone have Retro Reels? It’s a $3 a month add on to Roku and nothing but old movies.
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Autumn leaves was a real pot boiler about a spinster falling for a younger man who turns out to be a nut-- very shocking for 1956. I saw it in the theater when it came out, and it really impressed me. The scene with Robertson having a paranoid tantrum and throwing the typewriter at Crawford was unforgettable.

Hollywood had really started making tortured dramatic films in the mid ''50s. Another that comes to mind is East of Eden (1955). The actors really got to let out all the stops...:)

They really capitalized on Nat Cole's "Autumn Leaves" hit song, which became associated with the film it named itself after.
 
I rewatched The Faculty, a horror movie. Boy, they really edited the language for T.V. the first time I saw it. I liked the cast and it kept me engaged. Here is the synopsis from the YouTube page.
When some very creepy things start happening around school, the kids at Herrington High make a chilling discovery that confirms their worst suspicions: their teachers really are from another planet. As mind-controlling parasites rapidly begin spreading from the faculty to the students' bodies, it's ultimately up to the few who are left, an unlikely collection of loners, leaders, nerds, and jocks, to save the world from alien domination.

Starring, in alphabetical order: Jordana Brewster, Clea DuVall, Laura Harris II, Josh Hartnett, Shawn Hatosy, Salma Hayek, Famke Janssen, Bebe Neuwirth, Robert Patrick, Usher Raymond, Jon Stewart, Elijah Wood

 
ChiroDoc said:
Autumn leaves was a real pot boiler about a spinster falling for a younger man who turns out to be a nut-- very shocking for 1956. I saw it in the theater when it came out, and it really impressed me. The scene with Robertson having a paranoid tantrum and throwing the typewriter at Crawford was unforgettable.

Hollywood had really started making tortured dramatic films in the mid ''50s. Another that comes to mind is East of Eden (1955). The actors really got to let out all the stops...:)

They really capitalized on Nat Cole's "Autumn Leaves" hit song, which became associated with the film it named itself after.
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Cool! Thanks for the insight. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen East of Eden. I know I’ve heard of it. I’ll check it out.
 
DW and I found it to be off the wall, stupid comedies.

The Naked Gun. 2025

Summary from IMDB:

Reviewers say 'The Naked Gun' reboot is a nostalgic tribute with Liam Neeson's performance and slapstick humor praised. Pamela Anderson's role is well-received, yet the supporting cast and plot garner mixed reviews. While the film attempts to capture the original's spirit, critics note it falls short in humor and cleverness. Jokes are deemed less sharp, and pacing is uneven. The movie relies heavily on nostalgia and doesn’t innovate enough, making it an enjoyable yet imperfect revival of the franchise.
 
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Megalopolis (2024)

I was determined to see Megalopolis --despite its box office failure-- simply because of Francis Ford Coppola’s illustrious career. At its base the story contrasts and compares the fall of the Roman Empire with a major city’s (New Rome) current day degeneration; and the plan by a hugely wealthy architect to make it a futuristic cosmopolitan utopia (Magalopolis). New Rome’s mayor opposes the idea and works to prevent the project.

The picture employed a heavyweight cast including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito (of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul fame), Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, and Dustin Hoffman, among others. It was photographed by Mihai Malamaire, Jr (The Master, Jojo Rabbit). Music score by Osvaldo Golijov.

The chief problem with the film is not its story premise, but with some of its many seemingly unconnected scenes. Characters are sometimes brought in and out without explanation, and some of the dialogue sounds stilted or pretentious. Certain elements are never addressed, for example Adam Driver’s architect’s ability to stop time. Some have described the film as incoherent, but actually it’s simply somewhat confusing. Despite Coppola’s fully worked out script, the actual filming was encumbered by frequent new changes, experimentation, and improvisation. Those likely contributed to the end product feeling eerily haphazard.

The cinematography is lush and bold, and contains some striking visual effects. In fact the production reminds one of Ayn Rand’s novels, Fellini’s La Doce Vita, 8-1/2, or even David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive. Put another way, the film has the feel of a Wagnerian opera.

Coppola has stated that the the risk of box office failure and financial loss was never a consideration; that the important thing was expressing the art. I couldn’t help feeling bad for Coppola. He sunk his personal fortune into an art film that appealed only to a small portion of the public. The same director who gave us the Godfather films, The Conversation, and The Rainmaker, possibly ended his career with a picture he had tried to produce for over 40 years, only to have it be a disappointment.

Doc’s rating: 5/10
 

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