The Last Movie You Saw On DVD or VHS or TV.

Brad Pitt was very good.

I watched "The Host", a Korean monster film (I have a secret place in my heart for monster movies!).


This was a surprise....it was a really interesting film, with lovely explorations of a buggered family in crisis, a FABULOUS monster, sly political comment, and a tone that varied from sort of slapsticky, to black humour, to horror, to emotional delicacy and real sadness.


Oh....and another guilty pleasure.

Quite by accident, I ran across a TV series starring Joanna Lumley and David McCallum ( I love them both) made in the seventies.

It's called "Sapphire and Steel", and is an enigmatic science fictiony sort of thing, made on a wee budget, but surprisingly interesting.


I down-loaded the first two episodes, which played badly on my computer....but I think I will buy the DVDs.

Yeah,It's a bit different from the run of the mill monster film isn't it! I felt a little let down by the poor SFX at the end though.
And talking of being let down,I was very disappointed by yesterdays viewing on DVD of Distant Voices,Still Lives,a slice of family life in 1940's/50's Liverpool.The story is so-so but the acting by all the cast is a big let down.It seems that they're just "walking" through another episode of a soap opera.It's only redeeming feature IMHO is the "look" of the film.All sets have been dressed and photographed extremely well.In future,for this kind of story,I'm gonna stick with Mike Leigh.
For a much better film centering around a violent husband,try Gary Oldman's Nil By Mouth.Ray Winstone is an absolute monster.

The KiteRunner

Wow. Set in Afghanistan pre-, during and post-1979 (Soviets). Beautiful story, lovely cinematography...a little tortured, but aren't they all.

Worth a look.

newyork
Gangs of New York!
It was amazing! (=

House of Death

I don't know why I didn't stop it from the first 15 mins !!

I watched my all time favorite monster movie early this morning, after a fire run (we had a fatality at that house).

It was a movie titled "Them" from the 1950's (56 I think).
It stars James Arness and is about giany ants ion the American southwest.
Good film, fairly good acting, and the ants are great.

Has anyone else tried 4oD yet? Do other TV stations around the world provide this kind of service?
Anyway,tonight's FREE choices include Longford,Wedding Belles and The Mark Of Cain,three cracking films I have posted about here or thereabouts before.Another is one I watched in the early hours of the morning is Britz,a made-for TV two parter,which in some places may be overlong,but gives a great insight into British Muslim life.

P.S. eoe,I can't stand to watch a film on my computer either.I connect it to my 32 inch monitor via HDMI and,without pressing any knobs or buttons,it displays in 720 .

Re: newyork


Hey crispy,welcome to this corner of A2K .

Saw "Ratatouille" last night and was struck by two things. One, why did Chef Linguini speak with an American accent? Was he not French? And two, I found the fact that he was the lovechild of Chef Gusteau rather 'progressive' for a Disney G-rated movie and wondered if young children even got that part of the plot. And it was a big part so, am I being old-fashioned and naive about todays kids or would a 7 or 8 year old understand that without a parental discussion?

Even though I pre-booked a ticket to see Love In The Age,I never got to see it.We had a sudden,heavy downfall of snow,so I turned up the heating,ordered a home-delivery and slapped a DVD into the player instead.I will order it on DVD later.
Have just taken Wristcutters:A Love Story out of the player.I loved it,especially the car on the fork-lift,the black hole under the seat and,of course,Tom Waites.Thanks for the pointer :wink: .

Chef Linguini was voiced by Lou Romano,who has also voiced other Disney characters (Bernie Kropp in The Incredibles and Snotrod in Cars) so I suppose he's on their stock voice list and they didn't ask him to put on an accent.
Over the years,I have been very (some say too) careful what my kids and later,grandchildren,watch under my roof.I would have no hesitation in showing this film in the company of young children.

IMHO kids of all ages know a lot more than we did at their age and more are growing up in a one-parent situation so,some might pick up on your question and for others,it will go straight over their heads.It is a "cartoon" after all and most kids know that it's not real.I've always found that chatting about the film on the way home helps.There's always questions like "Why did they....?","How did that....?" 'ect. But we don't always have the answers,do we? And if we did,at their age,would they understand?

We watched "Chaos" with Jason Statham, Ryan Phillippe and Wesley Snipes last night. I fell asleep.

Saw "Hitman" over the weekend.

Knew the storyline before even seeing or hearing much about the movie and was not expecting to be all that moved by it, but I replayed it several times. It's been a long time since I saw acting with just subtle facial nuances.

Today I finally saw a film I have wanted to see since it came out in 1976, Il Signor Robinson, mostruosa storia d'amore e d'avventure. And that exclusively for the privilege of watching the gorgeous Zeudi Arraya in very skimpy outfits.

It is a comedy about a modern (for 1976) city dweller being shipwrecked and washing up on the island where Robinson Crusoë once spent many years. Ms Arraya plays the role of Friday. The whole film is extremely cheesy; the wild animals and even the coconut palms are obviously fake, but it matters not. The film is amusing anyway. Some of the slapstick moments even had me laughing out loud.

Following on from last Fridays watching of Britz,I've just taken Yasmin out of the player.
It's a story of paranoia,racism and above all,ignorance,centered around a Muslim family living in Bradford,around the time of the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers,and it's effect on a fiesty lass trying to balance her Muslim upbringing and the modern world she sneaks out to and has been accepted by.
Then,the secrets she's kept from her family and friends become public and her world starts to fall apart.The scene is set for a compelling and topical personal drama of what it means to be Asian,Muslim and British in the 21st century.
Another made-for TV-film by good old Channel 4,a production company that's never afraid of "taking the bull by the horns".
This is a Region 0 disc,so will play on any player worldwide.I got mine from Amazon.

Amelie. I saw it a few years ago and loved it! Now I just bought the DVD and saw it last night. Everyone should see this movie!

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back