What is The Last Movie You Watched?

[Stavros]

Planet of the Apes (Franklin J Schaffner, 1968 )

This aired on BBC Four the other night, or early morning and I wasn't going to watch it , but did. I saw this when it first came out and it remains a watchable film. The early scenes are however poor -after deep hibernation and in what looks like a hot dry environment, the three surviving astronauts decline a drink of water, and don't seem hungry either. Also, what looks like Utah or the West, doesn't quite match up with the astonishing final scene. That said, it has a tight script, and is filmed in the old, 1930s-40s style. And still better than any of the sequels. And Charlton Heston perpetually arrogant.

[Stavros]

Rolling Stone has this review of the latest film by Ridley Scott, Napoleon.

I have not seen it yet, but from the trailers it seems the Corsican spends most of the time with his hat on, though I think he takes it off when he is in the bedroom. This is what made me laugh out loud, regarding the first sexual encounter between the First Consul of France, and, presumably, a woman called Josephine, as the script has her say this

"Having established Bonaparte’s lust for glory, and introducing the widowed Josephine as both an obscure object of desire and an equally committed striver, the movie begins to turn a punch-drunk eye to their overall lust for each other. She first seduces him by lifting her skirt and telling him that “if you look down, you will see a surprise” ".
‘Napoleon’: Ridley Scott’s Portrait of an Emperor as a Total Douchebag (rollingstone.com)

If only, unless history has deceived us, and she was Joe when born...(not to be taken seriously, like the film?)

[Stavros]

Leave the World Behind (Sam Esmail, 2023).

Get away from the city and its annoying people for a quiet weekend in the country with no email or social media to bother you, then find you need all the gadgets and comms- and people without whom life is barely possible. Right now a lot of my world is on my mobile phone, from my instant contact with relatives to my bookings for hotels, operas, the 49 Euro Deutschland Ticket to my flight home- lose it and I am lost, and though I have some print outs, I have become dependent on my phone to a scary extent, but if the world is going to end anyway I might as well sit back and watch the last episode of Friends, only I have never watched an episode of this bourgeois drivel, so it would be something else.

As for the film, it starts as it means to go on, and doesn’t explore the topics it raises, and has mostly obnoxious people. We need each other to live. Do we need each other to survive? Is it now down to satellites beyond our control?

[Mirgofino]

'Robin Redbreast' from 1970 on DVD. Excellent, early folk horror movie.

[Stavros]

The Killer (David Finchet, 2033).

Michael Fassbender stares out of a window in Paris, a workaday Schopenhauer in search of a purpose that passes him by like his ability to shoot a target, but the killer is the script, with muzak scored by The Smiths, a lethal mixture that has no antidote other than the ‘off’ button on your remote. This tired genre on this evidence does not have one foot in the grave, it is dead and buried. I am sure Fassbender was well paid, at least he got something worthwhile, and at least I didn’t have to contribute to my host’s Netflix sub.

[TSlover6912]

A Fistful of Dynamite 1971

Set during the Mexican Revolution of the 1910s, the film tells the story of Juan Miranda, an amoral Mexican outlaw, and John Mallory, a former member of the Irish Volunteer Army. After they accidentally meet under less-than-friendly circumstances, Juan and John involuntarily become heroes of the Revolution, despite being forced to make heavy sacrifices.

[Stavros]

Rebel Moon, Part One: A Child of Fire (Zack Snyder, 2023).

Seven Samurai fused with Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Dune and much else makes this pastiche an inedible concoction that cannot be saved by its visuals. And to think there is even more to come. That said, it might appeal to the average 13 year old who has never read a book.

[Ben]

It's a Wonderful Life.
I'd never seen if before. It's okay, watchable.

[Stavros]

The Creator (Gareth Edwards, 2023)

2065 and the world is convulsed in a war between Humans and AI Robots. Guess who wins. I had never heard of this film, I guess it was straight to DVD that should have been straight to the bin. I bought it on a whim, but no amount of prayers can save it.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Big Trouble in Little China, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell commentary track.

I saw this movie when it was initially release. I think I saw it opening weekend. Anyway, I enjoyed it then, didn't realize it was a flop, and liked it way before it became a cult hit.

I saw it on the big screen again a few years back, I think for the 30th anniversary. I've had the two-disc DVD set for a few years, but this was the first time I listened to the commentary. Carpenter and Russell commentaries are always a lot of fun. They're great buddies and have a lot of laughs. The commentary is from around 2000, though, so it's amusing to hear them talking when they're both younger than I am now.