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

[Spring in Fialta]

Didn't Stephen King hate The Shining?

Kubrick's genius relies on taking a "good story" and adding to its themes with structural/visual or narrative touch ups. He just skipped right to the meat. But I would have loved to have an original screenplay by an old Kubrick.

You're completely right.

And I think Hasford's gripe was about getting iced-out from the process than any stated qualms about the film itself.

 

[McOilers97]

He was also the ultimate perfectionist. He was famous for doing many, many takes. Probably drove people nuts.

I read about how the filming for Eyes Wide Shut took 400 days. Apparently, he had Tom Cruise do 95 takes of walking through a doorway, because he wanted to wear him down to the point where he wasn't even thinking about the cameras.

 

[Langdon Alger]

I read about how the filming for Eyes Wide Shut took 400 days. Apparently, he had Tom Cruise do 95 takes of walking through a doorway, because he wanted to wear him down to the point where he wasn't even thinking about the cameras.

That’s a weird way of doing things.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

That’s a weird way of doing things.

Can't argue with the results.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Can't argue with the results.

No, but I do wonder how people enjoyed working with him. Not just actors, but crew members. Sure, maybe he’s a genius, but it could also be a pain in the ass working with someone like that regardless of how talented they are.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

No, but I do wonder how people enjoyed working with him. Not just actors, but crew members. Sure, maybe he’s a genius, but it could also be a pain in the ass working with someone like that regardless of how talented they are.

I know Cruise and Kidman didn't enjoy it much, Kubrick put their lives on hold for over a year. Pretty sure if you go ask them now, at least Mr. Cruise, they'd tell you it was (one of) their best shooting experience ever.

On the other hand, Kubrick didn't like working with Nicholson much.

 

[Langdon Alger]

On the other hand, Kubrick didn't like working with Nicholson much.

Really? Do you know why?

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Really? Do you know why?

Only thing I can find quickly is this: "The last big name he’d worked with had been Jack Nicholson on The Shining in 1980. The film was eventually hailed a masterpiece. But the shoot had been hell. Kubrick had been particularly unappreciative of Nicholson’s tendency to speak his mind rather than do as instructed. “Stars,” he told Semel, “have too many opinions.”".

I know there was a few other problems, Nicholson leaving the set for different things, not bowing to Kubrick's whims...

 

[Langdon Alger]

Only thing I can find quickly is this: "The last big name he’d worked with had been Jack Nicholson on The Shining in 1980. The film was eventually hailed a masterpiece. But the shoot had been hell. Kubrick had been particularly unappreciative of Nicholson’s tendency to speak his mind rather than do as instructed. “Stars,” he told Semel, “have too many opinions.”".

I know there was a few other problems, Nicholson leaving the set for different things, not bowing to Kubrick's whims...

Hmmm...never knew that. Thank you for sharing that.

 

[Osprey]

Can't argue with the results.

I suspect that the results led to the increasing perfectionism instead of the other way around. I highly doubt that Kubrick demanded 95 takes of Kirk Douglas or took 400 days to shoot Paths of Glory, for example. If he had, he would've been fired. I imagine that his perfectionism (and stubbornness) steadily increased with his fame and carte blanche to the point that it was at a ridiculous level on Eyes Wide Shut.

No, but I do wonder how people enjoyed working with him. Not just actors, but crew members. Sure, maybe he’s a genius, but it could also be a pain in the ass working with someone like that regardless of how talented they are.

That reminds me of something that I read just a few days ago, about how Charles Bronson had long working relationships with two directors, but preferred one over the other because he demanded only 2 takes instead of 3.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I suspect that the results led to the increasing perfectionism instead of the other way around. I highly doubt that Kubrick demanded 95 takes of Kirk Douglas or took 400 days to shoot Paths of Glory, for example. If he had, he would've been fired. I imagine that his steadily increasing fame over the years steadily increased his perfectionism to the point that it was at a ridiculous level on Eyes Wide Shut.



That reminds me of something that I read just a few days ago, about how Charles Bronson had long working relationships with two directors, but preferred one over the other because he demanded only 2 takes instead of 3.

Why take a third? I was bad enough on the second one!

 

[nameless1]

Kubrick tortured Shelley Duval during The Shinning. After I saw some of the production footage that was leaked, the term perfectionist is simply used as an excuse for him to act like a pompous ass. I like his films, but he is a terrible person.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Kubrick tortured Shelley Duval during The Shinning. After I saw some of the production footage that was leaked, the term perfectionist is simply used as an excuse for him to act like a pompous ass. I like his films, but he is a terrible person.

I have no doubt that dudes like that can be total nuts. You have to have some sort of mental trouble if you're doing 95, 125 takes. The perfect take must have been in there before then. Who knows what made Kubrick tick and choose one, but I highly, highly doubt that the perfect one wasn't there beforehand as well. It's manic.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Crazy, Stupid, Love - 2011

Steve Carrell and Julianne Moore play a married couple who are getting divorced after 25 years of marriage. Their son is in love with his babysitter, and Carrell’s character starts hanging out in a bar to drown his sorrows. While there he meets Ryan Gosling’s character, who is a womanizer. He tries to teach Carrell how to approach women. Carrell meets Marisa Tomei, who as it turns out is his son’s teacher at school, although Carrell doesn’t know that when he first meets her. Gosling meets Emma Stone in a pre La La Land world, and they start seeing each other. Man, there’s a lot going on in this movie, and the final 30 minutes give us even more info, including one pretty big surprise.

I felt the movie was pretty good, but I started to lose interest in the middle, before things really got interesting in the final 30 minutes. I can’t say the movie was great, but it has a good cast and there’s some interesting stuff going on here.

7/10

 

[ORRFForever]

The Man Who Saved The World (2013):

"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too" - Rudyard Kipling

An amazing story with so much potential, results in a poorly made documentary.

3.5/10

 

[ORRFForever]

Hollywoodism: Jews, Movies and the American Dream (1998):

7/10

 

[Osprey]

Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020) - 6/10 (Liked it)

Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and a new sidekick (Jon Heder) battle graboids and their offspring on a tropical island after a big game hunter imported and bred them for sport. Basically, the premise of this sixth sequel to the 1990 classic is "what if the giant worms were on a tropical island, like the dinosaurs were in Jurassic Park?" It's silly, but it was also rather easy to forgive when I saw how beautiful the tropical locations are. It's a welcome relief from the desert of most entries in the series. Also a nice change of pace is that Burt has to make do without guns for the first time in the series. Most of the weapons at his disposal are WWII era flamethrowers, machetes and dynamite. Besides Jurassic Park, there are also some visuals similar to Predator, and Jon Heder's character even makes a few references to the movie. Speaking of which, I was worried that Heder would be too much of the goofy sidekick, and he's definitely the film's comic relief, but I was happy to see that he doesn't overdo it. In fact, surprisingly, the whole film is less campy than you might expect from a low budget, sixth sequel to a camp classic. What you probably can expect, especially from the premise, is that plot is not the film's strong suit, nor is logic. For example, you'd imagine that Burt would go and get firearms from the hunters instead of trying to fight monsters with antique weapons. It's more interesting this way, though, even if it doesn't make much sense.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. It's not the worst sequel in the series and may even be one the best, though that may not be saying much. For the record, though, I've become somewhat of a fan of the whole series, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. If you disliked the other sequels, this one probably isn't going to be for you, either, but I think that it's worth seeing if you tend to enjoy them for what they are, as I do. It's available on Netflix, as well as other streaming services.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Amityville: The Awakening (Khalfoun, 2017) - First half lacks on atmospheric buildup and relies on easy scare tactics, but is still kind of efficient for me, mainly on one thing: that damn house. It felt good to be back (I might have only seen one, not sure, but most of the post-1983 sequels don't seem to use it, and the house in the remake was just not the Amityville house). The last 30 or 40 minutes are a complete miss and waste. The film suffers mainly from being teen-oriented and wanting to be somewhat auto-referential and metatextual, with no point or payoff (oh, and in what must be one of the most "I should never have risked it" scene ever, they discuss the previous films - yes, that meta - and say the remake sucked... but wait, the remake made 23M$ on opening weekend, while this new and already forgotten "reboot" made a whooping 742$ on opening weekend in the US... ). It kind of tries to be edgy and polemic, with quite a few references to Amityville II, but it never gets even near to it. The last sequences are still pretty violent for a PG13 film and I guess the film would have been a lot more interesting had it kept the almost 15 minutes that were cut to avoir the R rating. 3.5/10 (with that extra 0.5 just for using a house close enough to the original films)

 

[kihei]

Await Further Instructions (2020) Directed by Jamie Kovarkian 6A

Await Further Instructions is a British horror movie that does some things very, very well and some things rather clumsily. The premise is terrific: at a family Christmas dinner from hell, the two sane members of the clan try to leave early in the morning only to discover that the entire house, including every window, is encased in some impenetrable black substance. No one has any idea what is going on—they can’t phone out and the internet isn’t working. The only clue they have is a printed message on their TV screen which states “Await Further Instructions.” The movie’s clever milieu is derived from a combination of television pervasiveness, blind acceptance of authority, racial prejudice, and toxic masculinity. Await Further Instructions goes pleasingly crazy at the end, complete with a unique approach to a Christmas nativity scene, and possesses a conclusion that fits perfectly. But there is a rather large fly smack dab in the middle of the ointment. The afflicted family is such a collection of one-dimensional stereotypes that they are impossible to take seriously as anything but overdrawn, underdeveloped stock movie characters. I understand that director Jamie Kovarkian wants to make a point, and it is a very good one. He may be overemphasizing to make sure his audience gets it. But why not construct a closer to “normal” British family, bigoted and authoritarian but not to the point of caricature? Await Further Instructions would have been both more emotionally involving and thematically impactful.

Netflix

 

[Chili]

Once Upon a Time in America-1984

Not a typical gangster film. Still plenty of violence including a lot against women. Slow pace and great attention to detail. Rumoured that Sergio Leone turned down making The Godfather because of this film (which was in the works for many years). Best part is Ennio Morricone's score. Partly based on the memoirs of a real gangster. Leaves some interesting unanswered questions at the end . Needed to watch it a couple of times to appreciate it.

 

[ORRFForever]

Now You See Me (2013):

The only thing I could imagine disliking more than a "heist thriller", is a heist thriller that involves "magic", but my favourite waitress (at my favourite restaurant) INSISTED I watch Now You See Me - she even wrote down the title so I wouldn't forget. She's so cute (22, with jet black hair), how could I say no?

After enjoying my takeout, I downloaded the movie, held my nose, and suffered through it. And, just as I suspected, it's AWFUL. Why?

* First, you have to suspend disbelief to the point of absurdity;
* Second, the movie is beyond predictable;
* Last, I dislike a good chunk of the cast.

So, to my fellow critics, I'll rate the movie a 2.5 out of 10. To the waitress with the BIG beautiful dark eyes, I'll tell her it's like her... a 10 !!!!

The things we do for love!!!

2.5/10

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

To the waitress with the pretty dark eyes, I'll tell her it was like her, a 10 !!!!

Please tell us how that line goes.

 

[ORRFForever]

Please tell us how that line goes.

She's too young (22) for me but... she's so cute she makes my molars ache.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

she makes my molars ache.

Maybe choose a better restaurant. ;-)

 

[ORRFForever]

Maybe choose a better restaurant. ;-)

LOL! No can do... She makes my day better.