What is The Last Movie You Watched?

"The Hunger Games." Puerile. Pretty girl in the lead.

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Originally Posted by Prospero

"The Hunger Games." Puerile. Pretty girl in the lead.

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i concur. as soon as i saw her the first time, i knew what i had to do

http://i.minus.com/ibiWrxkU3EoES.gif

In the movie theater saw "Warm Bodies" not bad but could have waited for the DVD on redbox.

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Originally Posted by Stavros

The Bill Douglas Trilogy: My Childhood (1972), My Ain Folk (1973), My Way Home (1978). I didn't believe the bleak poverty of these autobiographical films when I first saw them, but a childhood friend in the documentary on the dvd confirms that his childhood really was that bad; and reflects the grim reality of Douglas's childhood in Newcraighall outside Edinburgh in the 1930s -he even managed to film in the old miner's dwellings before they were torn down in the 1970s. It is hard to think of films which concentrate so much on the images you see; with virtually no dialogue this is minimalist cinema-making, yet the accumulative effect is profound: Jamie/Douglas lives a loveless, careless, hungry, apparently hopeless life, even later when in the RAF in Egypt he cannot express himself -yet he wants to be an artist and the final image of the trilogy, of apple trees in bloom is a moment of radiant hope -and the truth is that Douglas did escape the rank poverty of his childhood to become an artist, dying at the shockingly early age of 57. Perhap the greatest tragedy is that both the actors playing Jamie, and his half-brother (in real life his cousin) died in the 1980s as a result of the heroin epidemic that swept Edinburgh in the late 1970s and 1980s. Jamie, played by Steven Archibald, was filmed a few weeks before his death, a melancholy footnote to the trilogy:
Stephen Archibald - From The Heart Part 1 - YouTube

I also saw his film Comrades (1986), about the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the first part of which is superb, the second half less so. Oddly, I don't think he fared well with a large budget.

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I agree with you absolutely about Bill Douglas, Stavros - a unique cinematic and social vision in British and western European cinema as well as an entirely authentic Scottish voice. I first saw the trilogy on a single day at the Glasgow Film Theatre in the 80s and it haunted me for weeks. It didn't reflect my own upbringing, but it resonated so much with childhood visits to relations on my mother's side in the grim and grinding pit communities in Lanarkshire, West Lothian and especially in Fife.

On the same day saw SkyFall and Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 3D.

Over the weekend I watched: Cosmopolis. I think you may, just may have to be a fan of David Cronenberg. He makes some odd albeit interesting films.

Cosmopolis (2012) - Official Trailer [HD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ZmIwteUAY

Finally got my screener for On The Road. This is a book I've read many times over and I have been curious to see just how a director would tackle something deemed 'un-filmable'. It's very possible I cant offer an objective critique because I know so much about the subject matter but I guess, so does most everyone who will see this film so here goes: It reminded me of The Motorcycle Diaries - for good reason. I was glad it wasnt a page by page storyboard, but what I have always considered the most 'visual' parts of the book were left out, making the mistake of starting his journey in Bear Mt. for one as well as his stint as a security guard in San Francisco. What did stand out was the importance the director placed on showing the world through the women in Dean Moriaritys life. In the book they are disposable but the film makes them central figures and if you are one of those Kristen Stewart haters I think she is phenomenal in this. And thus, the problem in my opinion. The book wasnt about the girls and much of the film is and that means a lot of the Neal / Kerouac / Ginsberg dynamic just never shows up on screen. The sexual tension between Ginsberg and Neal is one sided, the Steve Buscemi cameo seems gratuitous and the biggest sin of all - it ends up just being about driving across country a few times without stopping to see whats along the way.

5 stars out of 10

Prospero - Dead on about that stupid Marigold Hotel movie. I got suckered into watching it. Look at us we're soo not willing to grow old! Look at me Im Indian and everything I do is servile and in earnest! Look at me I am closed off and dont want to be in this strange place! Guess which one gets to die first? Fuck you. A shit movie for the one foot in the grave crowd - and they deserve better.

The Ladykillers - a British comedy from the early 1950s with Alec Guinness and a young Peter Sellers. Remarkably I discovered I'd never seen it. Lovely dark comedy.