Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +5

[kihei]

I'm curious because I've only seen a couple of Warren Beatty's films, but is he considered a great/respectable actor? Or is he more famous for his off screen stuff?

It's a tough call. I wouldn't put him in the Brando, Nicholson, Hackman, Pacino class, but I wouldn't drop him too far past those guys either. In terms of his contemporaries, a comparable might be Sidney Poitier- a really good actor with presence who creates well-defined characters and possesses more range than one might initially consider. Splendor in the Grass; Mickey One; Bonnie and Clyde; McCabe and Mrs. Miller; Shampoo; Reds; Heaven Can Wait--that's a damn good pedigree.

 

[ORRFForever]

Still got a kick out of Julie Christie's line of what she wanted to do to Beatty's character.

Yes. I tried to find it on line but couldn't. I was going to post it here.

 

[Osprey]

It's a tough call. I wouldn't put him in the Brando, Nicholson, Hackman, Pacino class, but I wouldn't drop him too far past those guys either. In terms of his contemporaries, a comparable might be Sidney Poitier- a really good actor with presence who creates well-defined characters and possesses more range than one might initially consider. Splendor in the Grass; Mickey One; Bonnie and Clyde; McCabe and Mrs. Miller; Shampoo; Reds; Heaven Can Wait--that's a damn good pedigree.

Don't forget Ishtar. You haven't experienced his full range until you've heard him sing.

 

[ORRFForever]

It's a tough call. I wouldn't put him in the Brando, Nicholson, Hackman, Pacino class, but I wouldn't drop him too far past those guys either. In terms of his contemporaries, a comparable might be Sidney Poitier- a really good actor with presence who creates well-defined characters and possesses more range than one might initially consider. Splendor in the Grass; Mickey One; Bonnie and Clyde; McCabe and Mrs. Miller; Shampoo; Reds; Heaven Can Wait--that's a damn good pedigree.

With many of these movies he was the writer / producer and sometimes the director (Reds). His ability to choose high quality projects for almost 3 decades was second to none, but I'm not sure it reflects on his acting ability...



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But I do have to give him credit for his rapping (being sincere)...



Bulworth is a terrific movie and it could have easily been embarrassing.

 

[ORRFForever]

Don't forget Ishtar. You haven't experienced his full range until you've heard him sing.

Underrated film.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

White Boy Rick (Demange, 2018) - Not a very good film, but interesting enough in the position it puts the spectator into - the characters being low life scum, but charismatic enough for you to care at least a little, and it squeezes you between their questionable morals and the FBI's questionable morals. Good actors too, mostly. I'd almost go with 5/10, maybe a hair lower.

 

[The don godfather]

The shining. Simply a masterpiece! Jack Nicholson oscar worthy here. A must watch.

 

[ORRFForever]

White Boy Rick (Demange, 2018) - Not a very good film, but interesting enough in the position it puts the spectator into - the characters being low life scum, but charismatic enough for you to care at least a little, and it squeezes you between their questionable morals and the FBI's questionable morals. Good actors too, mostly. I'd almost go with 5/10, maybe a hair lower.

What about the kid? It was his first role and I'm not sure how I felt about his acting.

 

[ORRFForever]

The shining. Simply a masterpiece! Jack Nicholson oscar worthy here. A must watch.

This is another one of those films that everyone loves but me - put this on the list with Silence Of The Lambs.

 

[kihei]

With many of these movies he was the writer / producer and sometimes the director (Reds). His ability to choose high quality projects for almost 3 decades was second to none, but I'm not sure it reflects on his acting ability...

Well, I haven't heard this argument before: "The guy really chose his projects very carefully, so let's not give him credit for the performances he gave in them." If you have to bend that far over backwards putting him down as an actor, maybe it would have been better not to have bothered.

 

[ORRFForever]

Well, I haven't heard this argument before: "The guy really chose his projects very carefully, so let's not give him credit for the performances he gave in them." If you have to bend that far over backwards putting him down as an actor, maybe it would have been better not to have bothered.

That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is :

Beatty got roles in high quality movies he produced / wrote / directed. It wasn't because of his acting.

But, if you think he's a quality actor, God bless you for it.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

What about the kid? It was his first role and I'm not sure how I felt about his acting.

I liked him. He was 17 and looked 22 when they shot him as a 14 y/o, but that's not on him. I think he did very good (I prefered him over his sister), and his colder stance in most of the later scenes added to the ambivalence regarding the character's proposed mistreatment (very convenient too that when they get the real guy's voice at the end saying how he cried when he got paroled, they fail to mention that he was just transfered to another prison for a crime he commited while incarcerated).

This is another one of those films that everyone loves but me - put this on the list with Silence Of The Lambs.

Oh, I'll agree with you that SotL is highly overrated, but I think you need to watch The Shining again!

 

[ORRFForever]

I liked him. He was 17 and looked 22 when they shot him as a 14 y/o, but that's not on him. I think he did very good (I prefered him over his sister), and his colder stance in most of the later scenes added to the ambivalence regarding the character's proposed mistreatment (very convenient too that when they get the real guy's voice at the end saying how he cried when he got paroled, they fail to mention that he was just transfered to another prison for a crime he commited while incarcerated).



Oh, I'll agree with you that SotL is highly overrated, but I think you need to watch The Shining again!

Fair enough x 2.

 

[Chili]

Yes. I tried to find it on line but couldn't. I was going to post it here.

Probably that's for the best.

 

[ORRFForever]

The Perfect Weapon (2020):

I've seen many documentaries about cyber weaponry but The Perfect Weapon is one of the best. It's informative, well paced and not dumbed-down in the slightest.

The funniest part...

When they discuss who was hit, whether it was Iran's nuclear program, Sheldon Adelson, Seth Rogen, Sony, or "that woman", I found myself rooting for the hackers.

8/10

 

[Spring in Fialta]

White Boy Rick (Demange, 2018) - Not a very good film, but interesting enough in the position it puts the spectator into - the characters being low life scum, but charismatic enough for you to care at least a little, and it squeezes you between their questionable morals and the FBI's questionable morals. Good actors too, mostly. I'd almost go with 5/10, maybe a hair lower.

Felt the exact same way. The performances were quite good.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

The shining. Simply a masterpiece! Jack Nicholson oscar worthy here. A must watch.

I enjoy it but certainly extremely low (i e. Bottom 3) in Kubrick's first-rate filmography. I think that says more about how good a director Kubrick was. He really hit that sweet, perfect spot as an artist where he could get major, mainstream distribution of his films while keeping complete creative control. The trick was that he could turn in a good profit for a relatively low budget.

 

[nameless1]

The Hospital (Hiller, 1971) - Weird little film with a serious director, a serious author (Chayefsky, who wrote Network and Altered States), a serious actor (George C. Scott, great as usual) and pretty serious subject matters (the bureaucratic incompetence of the health system and other social problematics of the late 60s), but with a tone that's all over the place, from comedy to dark social assessment to quasi-horror thriller. The result is intriguing if not always interesting. 6/10
* If you're interested, I can give you a link to get a pretty good copy

I enjoyed The Hospital for its pointed criticism of modern day medicine, but it is a problematic movie for the way its narrative is structured, as the first half is melodramatic nonsense that goes nowhere, while all the social commentary and criticism, basically the whole point of the movie, is all contained in the second half. Personally, if I did not see Network first, I would not have enough faith in Chayefsky, and subsequently the patience to endure the dull first half and get to that great narrative twist in the end. Also, Chayefsky won an Academy Award for Marty, a sappy romantic movie, back in 1955, so in a strange way, this movie can be seen as a real time snapshot of how his career diverged. I have it at a 7/10, but I do agree with your assessment.

There is an interesting tidbit with Chayefsky and this movie near the end of his life. When he became sick with a terminal illness, he cited this movie as the reason he refuses to go to the hospital. He was sure that hospital administers held a grudge towards him, and he believes that they cannot wait to cut him up and make him suffer.

 

[nameless1]

Shampoo (1975) Directed by Hal Ashby 7A

I’d like to know how they pitched this one. Warren Beatty plays George, a heterosexual hair dresser who hops in bed with every woman who ventures in close proximity and who desperately wants to open his own hair salon in LA. Shampoo is about him finding financing for this business venture and about his sexually exhaustive relationships with three women at the same time, played, respectively, by Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn and Lee Grant. George is a terminally shallow man and Beatty plays him with just enough nuance to let us know that there is a struggling human being in there somewhere who just can’t get out of his own way. On Rotten Tomatoes, I am always amazed at how movies that got middling to awful reviews when first released, somehow have become masterpieces with age, all being forgiven through the anaesthesia of time. Shampoo works the other way around. The movie got terrific reviews when it opened but now everybody seems to hate it. The mid ‘70s will do that to you. I guess.

Criterion Channel

Yeah, I never understood the admiration for Shampoo. Some critics wrote that it is a social commentary, but I honestly do not see any depth with it. Perhaps this movie simply has not stood the test of time, and it is not relevant anymore.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I enjoy it but certainly extremely low (i e. Bottom 3) in Kubrick's first-rate filmography. I think that says more about how good a director Kubrick was. He really hit that sweet, perfect spot as an artist where he could get major, mainstream distribution of his films while keeping complete creative control. The trick was that he could turn in a good profit for a relatively low budget.

I've got it top-4 for sure. Eyes Wide Shut first, then you could go with 2001, Strangelove and The Shining in pretty much any order. I know you adore Lolita, but I'd have it at 5 or 6 with Clockwork Orange, and then somewhat of a drop.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I enjoyed The Hospital for its pointed criticism of modern day medicine, but it is a problematic movie for the way its narrative is structured, as the first half is melodramatic nonsense that goes nowhere, while all the social commentary and criticism, basically the whole point of the movie, is all contained in the second half. Personally, if I did not see Network first, I would not have enough faith in Chayefsky, and subsequently the patience to endure the dull first half and get to that great narrative twist in the end. Also, Chayefsky won an Academy Award for Marty, a sappy romantic movie, back in 1955, so in a strange way, this movie can be seen as a real time snapshot of how his career diverged. I have it at a 7/10, but I do agree with your assessment.

There is an interesting tidbit with Chayefsky and this movie near the end of his life. When he became sick with a terminal illness, he cited this movie as the reason he refuses to go to the hospital. He was sure that hospital administers held a grudge towards him, and he believes that they cannot wait to cut him up and make him suffer.

I kind of liked the first half and its more calculated comedy. The "suspense" parts where the weakest for me, with a lot of goofiness. Overall, I agree that it would have been better with a clearer and cleaner direction.

 

[nameless1]

It's a tough call. I wouldn't put him in the Brando, Nicholson, Hackman, Pacino class, but I wouldn't drop him too far past those guys either. In terms of his contemporaries, a comparable might be Sidney Poitier- a really good actor with presence who creates well-defined characters and possesses more range than one might initially consider. Splendor in the Grass; Mickey One; Bonnie and Clyde; McCabe and Mrs. Miller; Shampoo; Reds; Heaven Can Wait--that's a damn good pedigree.

Beatty is a relic of the past for me, to be honest. I started to enjoy movies in the 2000s, long after his star has dimmed, and as I watch some of his works in retrospect, I have more questions than answers. There are good production value, but that is the extent of my praise. Frankly, I do not think he actually helped to elevate any of the works he is in, and I seriously question how he became a star. He is just adequate as an actor, and I do not feel his on-screen presence at all.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Bowling for Columbine - 2002

Michael Moore’s oscar winning documentary about gun violence in the U.S. Sadly, not much has changed in that country in this regard in the nearly twenty years since the film was released. Well made film.

9/10

Match Point - 2005

Woody Allen makes a different kind of movie set in England rather than New York. This is a more mature effort from Allen, and it’s quite good. If I hadn’t known he directed it, I would have been surprised to learn it was one of his movies.

8/10

 

[ORRFForever]

Beatty is a relic of the past for me, to be honest. I started to enjoy movies in the 2000s, long after his star has dimmed, and as I watch some of his works in retrospect, I have more questions than answers. There are good production value, but that is the extent of my praise. Frankly, I do not think he actually helped to elevate any of the works he is in, and I seriously question how he became a star. He is just adequate as an actor, and I do not feel his on-screen presence at all.

He pulled a LOT of string behind the scenes in many high quality films and he inserted himself into those movies. If those films hadn't been classics, he likely would have disappeared - like so many before him. Fortunately for Beatty, Splendor In Grass, Bonnie and Clyde, and McCabe and Mrs Miller propelled him into super stardom.

 

[ORRFForever]

Match Point - 2005

Woody Allen makes a different kind of movie set in England rather than New York. This is a more mature effort from Allen, and it’s quite good. If I hadn’t known he directed it, I would have been surprised to learn it was one of his movies.

8/10

Loved it. Watched it many times.