Latest Movie That You Watched!

[Tery]

Timberlake is good at everything he does. Who would have thought it? I am predicting that he'll have one of those shiny gold statues named Oscar on his mantle someday........

Absolutely agree about Timberlake. I'm not a huge fan of his music but he's good at it. I was really blown away by how good an actor he is. Both drama and comedy. See Black Snake Moan. Wow! And I love when he's on SNL.

Last movie... first half of Tropic Thunder. Got interrupted and have yet to continue. Gotta love DVRs

 

[MadamMack]

Watched White Oleander, Saturday night and I thought it was pretty good.

 

[MadamMack]

For my fave from the brothers, I have to give the nod to The Big Lebowski.

I love that movie!

 

[blunthead]

Late last night was a TV showing of Jacob's Ladder. It's a good example of a movie I'll see and find fault with the first time, but on subsequent viewings like more and more.

 

[SusanNorton]

I can't remember the name of it, and we watched it two nights ago! "The Day After Tomorrow" may be the title. Dennis Quaid was a climatologist, and Jake Gylenhaal (?) played his son.

 

[SusanNorton]

Watched White Oleander, Saturday night and I thought it was pretty good.

MM - have you read the book? It's wonderful.

 

[kingricefan]

Late last night was a TV showing of Jacob's Ladder. It's a good example of a movie I'll see and find fault with the first time, but on subsequent viewings like more and more.

It's an awesome movie! Gets better each time you see it, too! So, what was your take on it?

 

[blunthead]

It's an awesome movie! Gets better each time you see it, too! So, what was your take on it?

The first time I saw it I felt that the direction made it too confusing, too difficult to follow. The second time I ignored the direction and enjoyed the weirdness and spookiness, and the shifting from one time and place to another. Last night I liked the direction. But that part might have seemed easier to follow simply due to my knowledge from previous viewings. The important thing is if a movie is enjoyable, if it's entertaining. In some cases a work of art becomes more enjoyable with subsequent appreciation; perhaps in most cases, and perhaps needfully so to qualify as true art. Doesn't one's appreciation for the Mona Lisa or the David improve over time?

 

[kingricefan]

The first time I saw it I felt that the direction made it too confusing, too difficult to follow. The second time I ignored the direction and enjoyed the weirdness and spookiness, and the shifting from one time and place to another. Last night I liked the direction. But that part might have seemed easier to follow simply due to my knowledge from previous viewings. The important thing is if a movie is enjoyable, if it's entertaining. In some cases a work of art becomes more enjoyable with subsequent appreciation; perhaps in most cases, and perhaps needfully so to qualify as true art. Doesn't one's appreciation for the Mona Lisa or the David improve over time?

Spoiler

I don't know how to do the spoilers thing since the new board, so I hope someone will put spoiler marks here:
Is he dead? Is he a zombie but doesn't know it? Does he actually die finally at the end? Did the drugs that he was exposed to in Vietnam kill him and make him a zombie? I saw this movie when it was first released on home video and the one thing that caught my eye was the overhead placards in the subway train. They were of the 'now' time. If he was dead, killed back in Vietnam, and as he lay dying was having 'flashbacks' of his life (your life flashing before your eyes as you die), then how could he 'see' something that wasn't even invented yet in his 'time'? The set director and film director do not put things in their films that they do not want there. So, this leads me to believe that the director deliberately placed these things from the 'now' time to really mess with your head. It really is a strange and powerful film and becomes more enigmatic with each new viewing.

 

[kingricefan]

Thanks DJ!!!!

 

[MadamMack]

MM - have you read the book? It's wonderful.

I've added it to my list because I enjoyed the movie so much, I know the book will be better.

 

[blunthead]

Spoiler

I don't know how to do the spoilers thing since the new board, so I hope someone will put spoiler marks here:
Is he dead? Is he a zombie but doesn't know it? Does he actually die finally at the end? Did the drugs that he was exposed to in Vietnam kill him and make him a zombie? I saw this movie when it was first released on home video and the one thing that caught my eye was the overhead placards in the subway train. They were of the 'now' time. If he was dead, killed back in Vietnam, and as he lay dying was having 'flashbacks' of his life (your life flashing before your eyes as you die), then how could he 'see' something that wasn't even invented yet in his 'time'? The set director and film director do not put things in their films that they do not want there. So, this leads me to believe that the director deliberately placed these things from the 'now' time to really mess with your head. It really is a strange and powerful film and becomes more enigmatic with each new viewing.

Spoiler

What are some examples of future things he saw?

 

[kingricefan]

Spoiler

What are some examples of future things he saw?

There were slogans on the placards in the subway (I want to say that one of them was the Nancy Reagan slogan 'Just Say No', which wasn't created until years after the Vietnam war ended) that weren't used during the Vietnam war but were used years after the war ended. The music that they danced to in the club was also from the present. The cars in the streets were from the present. There's lots of things that I can't think of right now as I haven't seen the film in a while. They (the people making the movie) would not have used this stuff unless they wanted to have it included in the film. If it was all a dream or vision or fantasy that he was having while he lay dying on the operating table in the makeshift hospital in Vietnam, he would have used things from his 'present' (Vietnam war era) time- there's no way he could have made all of those things up, right? I'm not sure but I think the book that his son is reading is also from the present and published after the Vietnam war.

 

[skimom2]

MM - have you read the book? It's wonderful.

If you liked that book, You might like THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS--it reminded me of WHITE OLEANDER.

 

[OldDarth]

300: Rise Of The Empire

Not as good as 300. This one deals more with the rest of Greece. It has the signature look and stylized violence of the first one and Eva Green makes for an inspired baddie but the rest of the cast is instantly forgettable. Plus there is a severe lack of Spartans.

The visuals and some well staged battle sequences make this a worthy 3D theater experience but not one that will remain with you for any length of time.

 

[blunthead]

There were slogans on the placards in the subway (I want to say that one of them was the Nancy Reagan slogan 'Just Say No', which wasn't created until years after the Vietnam war ended) that weren't used during the Vietnam war but were used years after the war ended. The music that they danced to in the club was also from the present. The cars in the streets were from the present. There's lots of things that I can't think of right now as I haven't seen the film in a while. They (the people making the movie) would not have used this stuff unless they wanted to have it included in the film. If it was all a dream or vision or fantasy that he was having while he lay dying on the operating table in the makeshift hospital in Vietnam, he would have used things from his 'present' (Vietnam war era) time- there's no way he could have made all of those things up, right? I'm not sure but I think the book that his son is reading is also from the present and published after the Vietnam war.

Those sound like good examples. I imagine the filmmakers wanted to include mystifying images, and to have the audience thinking and guessing and asking the kind of questions you are asking. My interpretation has always been

Spoiler

...that the main character was killed in Laos or Vietnam (remember when someone told him the experiment his troop had undergone was in Laos; that he'd never been to Vietnam?) when he was bayoneted by his fellow soldier or shortly thereafter, and that subsequent story told about his sort of redemptive purgatory and closure. He had to come to accept the loss of his son, his wife, his girlfriend, his own life. If this scenario is true I see no reconciliation in terms of the points you are making; so, maybe it's not true. Maybe he survived Vietnam, or Laos, and the after effects of the drug he'd been administered were what were causing all of his problems. But if that were the case why did that one character state that he'd never been in Vietnam? And why did certain characters keep telling him he was dead, and why did he keep asking if he were? Of course, other characters told him he was not dead, that he was very much alive, but this can be the case even for someone dead, see? At the end he's obviously dead, yet he climbs the stairs with his son - both alive hereafter. I agree, it's a movie which demands much study, and I like this kind.

 

[MadamMack]

300: Rise Of The Empire

Not as good as 300. This one deals more with the rest of Greece. It has the signature look and stylized violence of the first one and Eva Green makes for an inspired baddie but the rest of the cast is instantly forgettable. Plus there is a severe lack of Spartans.

The visuals and some well staged battle sequences make this a worthy 3D theater experience but not one that will remain with you for any length of time.

Thanks for this . . .Big fan of the first one . . .I'll wait for the DVD.

 

[Lina]

Butter (2011). In a little American town they held a contest of making sculptures of butter, one of the families has been winning the contest for years, but now there comes a little girl who has a real talent and can win the contest... The movie does not really convey any message, but it's fun. Definitely not worth re-watching, but okay to watch it once.

 

[Neil W]

The Zero Theorem - Terry Gilliam misfire: sci-fi drama, looks great, muddled storytelling
The Grand Budapest Hotel - all star cast in wonderful oddball Wes Anderson narrative comedy, with Ralph Fiennes on top form

 

[Stanley Ruiz]

Took Amy to see 'The Monument men' and after bribing her to sit quietly and eat her popcorn(just typed popkin) she sat back and kept asking questions- she loved it, as did i. What a fantastic film.

So I reckoned seen as she was enjoying war movies, i would try her with 'saving Private Ryan' -

oh dear. Maybe not quite ready for that. Not quite the father daughter bonding movie I thought.

So next up, 'A bridge too far'

....