What is The Last Movie You Watched?

[betts]

charming movie. not my favorite of his works, but it's quality.

[Stavros]

I'm such a procrastinating doper I forgot to see that thing. If Stallone played Hugh Jackman's part and Schwarzenegger played Paul Dano's part would that have made it a better film? How about not only Jean-Claude Van Damme but the entire cast of Bloodsport with the Hacksaw Jim Duggan guy playing the creepy bastard? I've only seen the trailer so I can only be held to those standards for casting. Apologies in advance.

Prospero's point about the ugliness of the people in the film is important, because you will find if you watch it that it doesn't have an 'avenging angel' character using violence as an excuse to solve a problem, which is how it would be handled by Stallion, Schwarzenegger or the tgirl-loving muscles from Brussels (who has been known to walk into a club in Pattaya and walk out with half a dozen beauties)...in fact you can argue in this film that the resort to violence creates more problems than it solves. Jake Gyllenhaal as the detective is in this context against type, he doesn't chew gum or have a cynical attitude to crime, or a drink problem, or guns slapped to his hip. I like Jake Gyllenhaal as an actor and don't think he has made an entirely duff movie.

[broncofan]

I saw Prisoners last night and loved it. It's difficult to discuss its message without giving spoilers. About half-way through I thought the movie was in danger of proselytizing a bit, but things were rounded out nicely. Because the moral of the story is sort of counter to the average person's intuition about violence, I don't mind having it put forth a bit aggressively. It's an insight worth emphasizing.

The acting was very good. The best for me was Hugh Jackman. I found him thoroughly believable. Terence Howard and the rest of the cast were very good too.

[hairyguy]

boyz n the hood. i saw it on youtube.

[Dino Velvet]

Prospero's point about the ugliness of the people in the film is important, because you will find if you watch it that it doesn't have an 'avenging angel' character using violence as an excuse to solve a problem, which is how it would be handled by Stallion, Schwarzenegger or the tgirl-loving muscles from Brussels (who has been known to walk into a club in Pattaya and walk out with half a dozen beauties)...in fact you can argue in this film that the resort to violence creates more problems than it solves. Jake Gyllenhaal as the detective is in this context against type, he doesn't chew gum or have a cynical attitude to crime, or a drink problem, or guns slapped to his hip. I like Jake Gyllenhaal as an actor and don't think he has made an entirely duff movie.

Thanks man. I like your take on Jean Claude Van Damme too. We Knighted him as one of The Expendables here but Wesley Snipes has the same honor so it's been watered down a bit through the sequels.

[Ben]

Blackfish...
It's a difficult documentary to watch.
I mean, SeaWorld is, well, horrible.

How films/documentaries can make a difference --

California Assembly debates SeaWorld legislation inspired by 'Blackfish':

http://www.examiner.com/article/cali...lackfish-video

[maaarc]

A Field in England

[STARTUP999]

Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Besides being a great action movie it make an interesting statement about our government spying on and manipulating us for its own power.

That theme was summed up in the after credits piece where some bad guy refers to "Hydra" the bad guys and "Shield" the good guys as two sides of the same coin.

[bluesoul]

A Field in England

that was mine favorite film of 2013. i played it 3 more times for friends and each time it was a treat. really loved the dialogue. the trailer you linked though really undermined the film imo- see this:

[Stavros]

Knowing (Alex Proyas, 2009)
I watched this movie with rising mirth on Film 4 last night. Nicolas Cage, as wooden as he has ever been, is a Professor of Astrophysics at MIT who, within the space of 24 hours and without question becomes converted to determinism/intelligent design, having raised the question in class as to whether or not Earth's position in the solar system is accidental or part of creative design. That MIT has Professors who, on seeing a 50-year old list of apparently random numbers works out that they have catalogued disasters makes it impossible for him to be sceptical or to even analyse the issues would be problematic in any scenario. His son is called Caleb but maybe should be Adam. To cut a long story short, the end of the world is predicted an duly arrives, but not before Calb/Adam and an Eve (they are both around 10 years old) have been spirited away by angels to a garden of eden complete with flowering tree (but only the one) as pseudo-Wagner plays out the film. More anti-science propaganda, in which intelligent design wins out of evolution. You might want to think again about sending little Johnny to MIT.