What is The Last Movie You Watched?

[broncofan]

If there is an over-riding theme it might be: Women are smart, devious and dangerous; Men are dumb, honest and useless. .

I read one of Gillian Flynn's books (the author who wrote Gone Girl) called Sharp Objects. This seems to be an overriding theme in her writing, since I started another one and didn't finish it and it also identified very strongly with the clever female protagonist. It's interesting because Patricia Highsmith, who was generally viewed as a misogynist, portrayed men as devious and smart and women as superficial.

It was clear to me in reading Deep Water that Highsmith viewed women as intellectually inferior. Flynn probably doesn't think she's misogynistic (no-one ever does) as it seemed to me she romanticized this complexity of character among women. But yes, her characters are very "gendered"....their traits seem to be a function of their gender.

[iloveTranssexual]

cold in july

[Stavros]

I read one of Gillian Flynn's books (the author who wrote Gone Girl) called Sharp Objects. This seems to be an overriding theme in her writing, since I started another one and didn't finish it and it also identified very strongly with the clever female protagonist. It's interesting because Patricia Highsmith, who was generally viewed as a misogynist, portrayed men as devious and smart and women as superficial.

It was clear to me in reading Deep Water that Highsmith viewed women as intellectually inferior. Flynn probably doesn't think she's misogynistic (no-one ever does) as it seemed to me she romanticized this complexity of character among women. But yes, her characters are very "gendered"....their traits seem to be a function of their gender.

Thanks for this, as I had never heard of Gillian Flynn before, having little interest in crime fiction although I did read The Talented Mr Ripley some years ago, and Sherlock Holmes when I was a teenager. Not sure if you are right about Ms Highsmith.

[broncofan]

Not sure if you are right about Ms Highsmith.

I won't derail the thread....but I noticed after I wrote this that the issue is more complicated that that...as I had only read a single book of Patricia Highsmith (the woman in Deep Water was especially vapid and one-dimensional) and assumed others followed in that vain.

[Yasmin Lee Fan]

I saw Gone Girl today. The biggest problem I had was with the ending. A big let down in my opinion. The woman leaving the hospital with blood all over her didn't make sense to me either. I haven't read the book, so I didn't know what to expect.

[Odelay]

Boyhood (Linkater 2014)
In truth, the movie should probably be listed as 2002 to 2014. If you haven't heard about this movie, Linklater shot a few new scenes, each year during the 12 yr span as the main character grew from 6 to 18 years of age. The audience watches this actor/character and his sister grow up on screen over the course of 2.5 hrs.

It's a pretty clever production and Linklater's writing makes this a very good movie. His best movie, really. Movie reviewers have had a difficult time comparing it to any other movie, but in truth it does have some similarities to Michael Apted's 7up series. Linklater was a little disingenuous in an interview by stating his movie isn't like Apted's series. The key difference is Apted's series show the characters aging in huge 7 year chunks with each new movie release. In contrast, this movie shows one continuous narrative over 12 years.

I've liked many of Linklater's movies through the years, beginning with Slacker in 1992. My expectations were high going in, and I found that I liked it even more than I had expected. I'm guessing this movie will net Linklater his first best director/movie AA nomination.

[Prospero]

"Gosford Park" - essentially an early take on the themes developed in the "Downton Abbey" TV series. Directed by Robert Altman (one of his few truly disappointing films) and written by Julian Fellowes. Tedious, overlong and full of cliches. It came out years ago but I fell asleep first time I watched it. Would have done well to repeat that escape this time around.

[broncofan]

I just saw Inside Llewyn Davis. I did not like it very much. I know it has been reviewed positively, but I had a lot of trouble connecting to the subject matter or the characters. Even though I am not a big folk music person, I would have expected someone who sings folk music at a time when it was not lucrative to be very passionate about it. Yet the main character was a miser, all the way around. Didn't treat his friends well, wasn't passionate about his music. Maybe I missed something. I need some reason to like a movie...it does not have to be a feel good sort of movie but if not then it has to reflect some aspect of life or make me think.

[holzz]

X:Men 2014....i usually hate prequels, but then I take an exception here.

[Prospero]

A very slow and gentle little film called "Still Life" directed by Uberton Pasolini


I also saw in the past 24 hours a film entiled "Finding Fela"