What is The Last Movie You Watched?

[Stavros]

I compared the two versions of Solaris -I avoided watching the Steven Soderbergh version of Stanislaw Lem's novel from 2002 because Tarkovsky (1972) is one of my favourite directors even though he wasn't satisfied with the film. Soderbergh has filleted out the key element of Lem's book which fascinated Tarkovsky -what happens if humans are given extraordinary powers? In Solaris the impact of a distant planet on the consciousness can resurrect the dead, or give scientists the power to realise something previously beyond their ability -it drives the scientists on the space station to madness or a non-productive stasis -the psychologist who arrives to decide if the station should be shut down re-encounters a wife dead for ten years; ultimately he dispenses with her, but she re-appears, and at the end it isn't clear if Kelvin ever made it back to Earth...by contrast, Soderbergh is only interested in the love story of a man who re-discovers his wife and can't let her go. A superficial neutering of a story about absolute power. Tarkovsky returned to this theme with greater success in Stalker.

[Stavros]

The Double Life of Veronique (Kiezlowski, 1991)
Superb film-making; Kiezlowski's death was a terrible loss.

[Prospero]

Stavros...Two of my favourite films.... and i agree Soderberg's version of Solaris was a travesty.

[hiten369]

I just watched The Gladiator again last night. God damn I love the first scene!

[Prospero]

"The Best Offer" a new Italian film (in English) directed by Giuseppe Tornatore, best known for "Cinema Paradiso`' It stars Geoffrey Rush as an ageing art dealer who becomes embroiled with a mysterious and reclusive young woman. Quite an original and arresting film, but overlong. Not yet released in the UK.

[Ben]

Another flick I'm curious to see:

[Stavros]

Silver Linings Playbook

Though it may have a conventional Hollywood ending -or does it?- the script is great the acting is great and I enjoyed this more than most of the American films I have seen recently.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5_FhLaaQQ‎

[broncofan]

Not a lot of films that come out of Hollywood are worth watching. Every once in a while there's a good one. I also liked Silver Linings Playbook.

Just saw the Lady From Shanghai by Orson Welles. It held my attention but I didn't like it as much as I should have given the acclaim it's gotten (imdb rating mostly). It seemed to me that Orson Welles' character just sort of sat there in the crosshairs while things happened to him, only to find out what and then not do much about it. I don't think I've ever seen such a fatalistic protagonist in my life.

[Prospero]

Borgman A dutch, Belgian and Danish co-production. This is a deeply chilling portrait of evil - a horror film with no real gore. It probes into deep and almost mythic fears with references to shapeshifters and succubi. I've not seen such a haunting and dark film in a long time.

[Prospero]

"Blue Jasmine", the newest Woody Allen movie with a quite wonderful performance by its leading lady Cate Blanchett. Surely a serious contender for an Oscar. This has to be the first film I've seen by Allen that is not recognisable as a Woody Allen film. There is no character who is Woody by any other name. You forget his directorial style and ticks. But it is scarcely a comedy. It is I suppose, at best, a tragi-comedy about a woman destroyed by mishaps in her life.

Surely inspired by he aftermath of the Bernie Madoff affair and the plight of his wife, (though Woody denies it) this really is a very moving film.