We had one of those, but after going through about eight pages of the GD and not finding it, I'm just making another one. Basically, rate and talk about movies you have seen pretty recently.
I've seen three today:
- The Lady from Shanghai (1947) - Orson Welles' fourth movie as director, and probably the best of his five American films. A noir thriller that's very similar to his later and more famous Touch of Evil, it's about a sailor (Welles) who somehow finds himself hired to sail a beautiful woman (Rita Hayworth, his then wife who had to cut her hair and dye it blonde for the movie) and her crippled lawyer husband from New York to San Francicso. It's filled with more plot twists than any other movie (even Hitchcock would get confused), and the ending shootout is like nothing else I've seen.. Also, it's probably the only movie where a lawyer examines himself as a witness to his client's case. 10/10
- F for Fake (1973) - The last of Orson Welles' eleven movies as a director. It's about the difference between reality and imagination, art and forgery, experts and novices, and a whole bunch of other artsy things, but don't let that fool you, it's a total joy to watch. Probably his best. 10/10
- The Princess Bride (1987) - Boring, unfunny, badly acted, dramatically stiff, misogynic. and cinematically uncreative. I have no idea how this has gone down as a classic. 3/10 (Sorry Maggy)
I liked Princess Bride as a little kid, but I recently watched it and hated it. Some goes for Pipi Longstocking(s?) Watched it the other day with my sister. I never again want to hear a little girl sing again. Ever.
As for a movie I've seen recently:
Moon (2009)
A single man's job is to ensure the continued flawless operation of machine's that harness energy inside the moon (stored from the Sun) that powers most of Earth. But when he's saved by a clone of himself after an accident, he soon discovers the scheme set up by Lunar Industries, the company he works for, to keep him and him alone on the moon forever. With Sam Rockwell as Sam Bell and Kevin Spacey as the robot GERDY. Excellent movie, a bit anti-climatic but certainly worth seeing. 8/10
I recently watched Brideshead Revisited.
I know the book and don't think it quite captured how amazing a writer Waugh is, but as a stand alone film I enjoyed it. It was beautifully shot with amazing scenery and I thought the acting was very good, especially Emma Thompson. However I think it sometimes failed to keep the story flowing, if only because its source material was so wonderful and intricate. I also think that even though you might not notice a lot of its failings if you did not know the book already, watching it with no knowledge of the plot and characters may mean a lot of it just goes over your head.