What Movie Did You Watch This Weekend?

[bubba]

Die Hard 2, the first sequel to Die Hard the Story of Christmas, was on tv this weekend. I love every film in this series! Rough tough chew 'em up and spit 'em out Bruce Willis at his best. I'll have another if BW is up for it... another Christmas is coming!

I knew another one was coming because I heard Cybil Sheppard talking about it on TV the other day.  She said Bruce may put her in the movie, anyway here it is:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606378/


Also there was two more after the second one.  Die Hard with a Vengeance (Bruce and Samuel L Jackson) - that was was really good!  And Live Free and Die Hard.  That was on the other week, we watched it again.   Bruce and Justin Long.

[oilgun]

I saw Hors les murs.  A simple and very sexy gay love story.  Very refreshing if not totally satisfying.  I was really impressed with Guillaume Gouix and his amazing screen presence.

The Montreal Gazette review.  I could only find two in English. I think the other was from the Guardian but it was from a guest critic who didn't impress me at all.:

Hors les murs is a film that grows on you. A couple of days after seeing it, I was feeling a lot more enthused about the Belgian-Canadian-French drama than I had been just after the screening.
I immediately liked it, but the more I thought about it, the more it struck me just how original Belgian writer-director David Lambert’s first feature is. In some ways, it’s just a love story, nothing more, noing less. But what’s intriguing is how Lambert plays with the usual film conventions and yet still manages to craft something with real emotional force.
It’s a love story focused on two men, but Lambert isn’t hung up on the fact it’s a gay romance. They just happen to be two guys rather than a man and a woman, and it’s kind of refreshing to see him take that approach. The depiction of sexuality is equally matter-of-fact.
There are some non-traditional sexual relations showcased here – including a bit of S&M – but once again Lambert doesn’t pass any judgment on what’s on screen nor does he try to titillate.
In the first scene, Paulo (Matila Malliarakis) is drop-dead drunk at a bar in Brussels and the burly, bearded barman Ilir (Guillaume Gouix) carries the young man home to his apartment. They spend the night together, but don’t have sex.
But when Paulo returns home to the apartment he shares with clothes designer Anka (Quebec actress Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin), she hits the roof. She’s freaking out, we later learn, because she already knows he has a thing for guys. Paulo and Ilir – who is a bassist in an alt-rock band, a group played in the film by real-life Montreal band Valleys – start an affair, which, at the start, is pretty idyllic.
Anka quickly realizes Paulo is seeing someone else and she promptly boots him out on the street, with all of his belongings. So he shows up at Ilir’s place to stay, much to the dismay (at least initially) of Ilir, who quite reasonably notes that they’ve only seen each other a couple of times.
Things take a turn for the worse in the surprising second half and their relationship is tested by some mighty trying circumstances.
Both Gouix and Malliarakis are very good, and what’s interesting is how their characters go through such a dramatic transformation over the course of the film. In the early going, Malliarakis’s Paulo is almost like a kid with attention-deficit issues. But he discovers some real inner strength along the way, while Gouix’s Ilir finds himself almost shattered by what happens to him.
Désormeaux-Poulin does all right with the little screen time she has, but it probably would have added to the punch if Lambert had perhaps given her just a little bigger role to play.
But that’s a minor quibble.

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Review+Hors+murs/6784003/story.html#ixzz1yHTzWGzU


EDIT:  Here is a better review from the Montreal Mirror.  Well, I feel it's better because it successfully conveys the tone of the film.

Hors les murs
Every year, there’s one movie that takes critics at Cannes off-guard. David Lambert’s Hors Les Murs won the Grand rail d’or award during Critics’ Week, for best film. Starring Matila Malliarakis (Les Aventures extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec) and Guillaume Gouix (Midnight in Paris), the movie is, at its core, a love story between two men who promise themselves to each other, but who are inevitably drawn apart.
On the eve of his bachelor party, Paulo, a young pianist (Malliarakis), meets Ilir (Gouix), an Albanian bartender and occasional bass player. The two spend the night together, and consequently, Malliarakis’s fiancée (Incendies’ Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) kicks him out of the house. Just as the two begin their passionate plunge into love, Gouix suddenly disappears; about a month later, Malliarakis finds out that he is in prison. Falling out of love becomes a survival instinct for both, and the romance disintegrates almost as quickly as it had begun.
The script isn’t breaking any new ground, and there’s nothing extraordinary about the plot itself, but the emotional play of the cast is what makes the film stand out. Maliarakis and Gouix have unde­niable chemistry and their performances are gut-wrenching. The scenes of Malliarakis’s trips to jail to see Gouix are particularly marking. The writing is both comic and dramatic. In some ways, Hors les Murs is the Belgian version of Blue Valentine; it’s a story that asks “where did the love go?” More than anything, it’s an actors’ movie, and not necessarily a crowd-pleaser. (RP)

http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/2012/06/14/weekly-round-up-61/

[brokebacktom]

Saw "Prometheus" today --> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/

Ridley Scott's prequel to "Aliens" is a mindbender of what-ifs that left me asking more questions than were answered.  The film is a blend of passion, family feuding, space exploration, advanced technology, dark reveals, amazing graphics, good old fashioned revenge, comic relief and some really great "Alien" horrors.    I enjoyed the film as much as I did the original "Alien" that summer of 1979 where it had me jumping in my seat.  This film didn't have quite as many OMG and some of the plot was evident from it being a prequel.  I did not see the 3D version which Ebert said positive things about it being useful 3d so maybe if it makes it to our IMAX, I'll catch a 3D showing.   The film also leaves what is certain a thread or two for the Alien franchise to follow, so it's not over - by a long shot!   This one will really make you wonder where they were going...

I saw it last night. I did enjoy it, but it did not answer questions at all. It left you hanging. So, we (Humans) are connected to the Aliens?

[gattaca]

at least genetically..

[suelyblu]

I saw "Tree of Life" ...last night starring Brad Pitt. Please don't ask me to explain it perhaps someone who is better with words could possibly do that here for me. It was only half way through that I realised which son had died and then grasped the concept of the film. The photography and technology used were mind blowing. I loved it...but I must say....might not be for everybody.

[kittykat]

Isn't that the one that Heath was supposed to be in?

[suelyblu]

Isn't that the one that Heath was supposed to be in?

Yeah....I believed he cried off in the end though. But he wasn't around when they made it anyway 

[bentgyro]

I watched The Brave One on Turner Classics on the weekend.
It was made in 1956 and I cried like I did the first time I saw it.
It's a classic tale about a boy and his bull.
It's shows the inside of a bullring and makes one realize just what a sadistic sport(?) it is for the animals.

[doodler]

Bubba...
Rock of Ages?

[suelyblu]

Have just watched an older film 1998.....words can't describe how brilliant and everything inbetween it is. There are so many stars in it ...too many to mention. Lots of less well known actors....but each and everyone gave an Oscar winning performance.But checking on the internet just .....I was astounded at the lack of awards this film actually got. What film is this?   "The Thin Red Line ".    Wonderful.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

I hate when you like a film and someone immediately comes on and bursts your enthusiasm for it, but I'm afraid THE THIN RED LINE is one of those films that pushes my buttons, so not to diminish your enthusiasm for it, but I have to counter your opinion of it.

Although I personally don't know anyone that likes that film, I do know there are numerous online opinions of those that like it. However, the reviews of this film are the reason I don't trust those compilation scores of sites like Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB.  Many reviews I've read of the film tear it apart from one end to the other but, like a destructive act of nature, the film leads many of these same reviewers to some sort of poetic mesmerizing quality that has them admiring the film for a reason or two and thus giving it a positive notice, when they've spent the entire review damning most of it.  Look up Roger Ebert's review, as an example.

The real reason I turned on this film though was listening to John Travolta on a Charlie Rose installment talk about how Terence Malick filmed it.  It made me realize that Malick is like the fable of The Emperor's New Clothes or the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.  Tree of Life is another example of one of his films that no critic has ever explained why they like it, as though they have to agree how lovely the Emperor's new clothes really are for fear of being the one to point out he really isn't wearing any. Malick really doesn't know what he's doing is the simple and logical explanation. Or he's simply nuts. If Malick had directed Heaven's Gate people would have had it awash in glowing arrays of praise. When it comes to his films there is some dynamic at work that if you don't really understand it, it must be great!

All I need as proof is for people to compare Malick's 165 minute opus with the 99 minute 1964 version of the same novel.  For whatever reason, Malick made two films in the 70's critics, if not audiences, totally loved and embraced, or at least admired--Badlands and Days of Heaven.  I like them, too. Twenty years later every film he's made has practically doubled in running time and suffered tremendously for it. Unless you don't want to annoy the emperor, that is.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

Movies I've seen lately,

MADAGASCAR 3 (frenetic but amusing)
PEOPLE LIKE US (problematic sentimental awfulness)
TO ROME WITH LOVE (it's like a wind-up toy that one can tire of, but has some moments. Rome is pretty.)
BRAVE (a bore--the original title [The Bear Queen] is more interesting than anything in this film)
THE STING (a screening at Universal's 100th Anniversary program at the Hammer museum, it's one of my
favorite films.  It's like throwing puzzle pieces on a table and putting it together and I never tire of it. The
film print was "perfect" and a special guest, Associate Producer Robert L. Crawford, told some tales about
the making of it for 45 minutes afterwards.  A real treat.
 

[suelyblu]

The Thin Red Line.
**************

As stated before ....I really enjoyed this film. There are other films about the same subject such as : Flags of our Father.....Letters from Iwo Jima.....Tora Tora Tora and more that have never got the acclaim that I ( but who am I?) seem to think that they deserve. Yet other films about the Vietnamese war :Apocalypse Now....Deer Hunter ... Full Metal Jacket.. to name just three , were no better or worse ...but got much more acclaim and awards than those mentioned at the beginning of this post. Could it have had anything to do with the casting ??

I am that rare female animal that loves a war film !!!

[Lyle (Mooska)]

I am that rare female animal that loves a war film !!!

You are indeed!

My opinion of the ones you mentioned:

Flags of our Fathers (thumbs down)
Letters from Iwo Jima (excellent)
Tora Tora Tora (tepid)
Apocalypse Now (ho hum)
Deer Hunter (don't get it at all)
Full Metal Jacket (great)

What others do you like?  I like films about the 8th Air Force, films like Twelve O'Clock High
(I've been watcing the series, too) and The War Lover and Memphis Belle.

I like a good submarine film like Run SIlent, Run Deep -- even the comedic Operation Petticoat.

My opinion is that a really great or good film has never been made about the Pearl Harbor
experience. I think Tora Tora Tora is okay, but it's bland in a strange way.  And Michael Bay's
Pearl Harbor is like a video game and hits all the wrong notes. (I could go on for days.)
From Here to Eternity ends with the attack, but the film is really about the hard knock life
of the soldiers and while good, I find it a bit dated now because of the time it was made
and that detracts.  (I mean, the prostitutes are dance hostesses.  Really?)

I like the 1949 film Battleground, about the Battle of the Bulge.  Patton is a fascinating and
entertaining film.  I like Saving Private Ryan although it has a really big flaw in it, to my eyes,
but I still like it.  I also like the film A Midnight Clear.

And a war film dealing with homefront issues that I love is YANKS.

Most of the war films I like are from or about the WWII era.  There's even an odd hybrid
WWII film that fascinates me called Zone Troopers.  It's a WWII/alien UFO type story.

 

[brokebacktom]

Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

I thought it was OK. The visuals were fun and great but the story needed more??? What I don't know. It was fun and all but was relying to much on special effects to tell it. Ether way it did what it was suppose to do. It did entertain. But don't count on it being a history lesson. 3 to 3 1/2 Stars out of 5 for me.