Last Seen Movie - The Latest Movie You Have Seen; ratings

[Precious Doll]

I loath SLP so much that anything else, even the other nominees I don't care much for (Beasts, Les Miserables, Lincoln) would be preferable winners.

Had I not been so busy at work this past fortnight (and have already thrown out the tickets) I would have contacted the distributor and demanded my money back.

Worst film I've seen at the cinema since Transformers 2. And it's probably going to win an Oscar or 2. It will be in good company though.

Spoke to some friends who have seen SLP and the general response has been lukewarm, with the exception of one who thought the film was 'fantastic'. I'm simply saying to people who intend to see the film that they could not possibly hate it as much as I did and to judge for themselves.

[The Original BJ]

Some years, we seem to be united in hatred of certain Best Picture nominees (i.e. The Blind Side). But this year, everyone seems pretty polarized, with different people finding Silver Linings aggravating, Zero Dark Thirty morally questionable, Lincoln dull, Beasts of the Southern Wild listless, Django overlong and immature, Argo shallow, etc. But at the same time, a lot of people have really liked those as well.

My whipping boy this season is Les Mis, which I think is basically ineptitude, but most people I know are completely over the moon for it.

[Sabin]

Precious Doll wrote
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) David O. Russell 1/10

Weird.

[Precious Doll]

The Imposter (2012) Bart Layton 8/10
The Impossible (2012) Juan Antonio Bayona 2/10
Lincoln (2012) Steven Spielberg 5/10
The Men Next Store (2012) Rob Williams 4/10
Some Guy Who Kills People (2012) Jack Perez 4/10
The Guilt Trip (2012) Anne Fletcher 5/10
Flight (2012) Robert Zemeckis 6/10
3 (2010) Tom Tykwer 2/10
Gayby (2012) Jonathan Lisecki 6/10
Confessions of a Child of the Century (2012) Sylvie Verheyde 2/10
Seven Nights in Japan (1977) Lewis Gilbert 4/10
Samsara (2012) Ron Fricke 6/10

[Big Magilla]

And the same can be said in reverse. It's stretching to have to invent a father that drummed statistics into her head. It also requires a huge suspension of disbelief to believe that the young widow had time to sleep with everyone in her office before meeting Cooper unless it was all of them at once. I could on, but it would require too much energy. Interesting character, good performance, but the screenplay doesn't make the connection.

[OscarGuy]

And who says people can't learn a lot about a game they don't like? What if her father is a major sports nut and constantly hit her with statistics while she was growing up? Or perhaps she has a tendency to pick up useless facts regardless of her appreciation of them. It sounds to me like you're looking for excuses to put down Lawrence's character.

Of course, this entire season sounds like people trying to find lame excuses for hating things just so they can say they didn't like it. I've read so many comments this year on this board that range from irrational to downright hostile when they don't need to be. No offense, Magilla. DWS did the same thing in the SAG predictions thread, looked for excuses for something to lose, dug a jab in at a movie where it didn't seem appropriate.

[rudeboy]

Lawrence and Cooper win a dance contest with moves that should have gotten them thrown off the dance floor

I wasn't a big fan of this movie either (although I DID like Cooper a lot, best thing about it by a mile - I believe this is the first film I've actually seen him in). But, to be fair, they didn't actually WIN the dance contest...

[Big Magilla]

I had pretty much the same reaction, sitting through the whole thing waiting for it to get better.

As for the performances, Jacki Weaver has nothing of consequence to do. Robert De Niro gives his best performance since Awakenings, but that isn't saying much considering he's been pretty much of a nonentity on screen since. Bradley Cooper is no more profound than he is as a drunk in those Hangover movies. Jennifer Lawrence has a presence about her that's hard to deny, but the screenplay has the biggest potholes of any Oscar nominated screenplay in memory.

Chris Tucker kept showing up for comic relief except there is nothing comical about a mental patient constantly escaping the asylum. Lawrence claims to hate football, yet can spout statistics as though she studied the game religiously. Lawrence and Cooper win a dance contest with moves that should have gotten them thrown off the dance floor and the bet, the whole betting thing is a little creepy. But a lot of people like it, so who knows. It's been that kind of year.

As for something to walk out of or turn off on your TV or computer, a thing called End of Watch from the writer of Training Day who is now also a director, received numerous critical kudos but is virtually unwatchable. I sat through the first three scenes, but when the fourth loud, shaky camera scene came on that was it. On the other hand I was pleasantly surprised by The Paperboy which most critics failed to appreciate. If the choice for the fifth supporting actress slot were between Nicole Kidman and Jacki Weaver it should have gone to Kidman who is as much a revelation in this as Ann-Margret was in Carnal Knowledge. And Matthew McConaughey, who I never much cared for before, really comes into his own as an actor with his completely different roles in four 2012 films with this, Killer Joe; Magic Mike and Bernie.

[Precious Doll]

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) David O. Russell 1/10

So... do you think this has a shot at winning the best picture Oscar?

Definitely. Quality isn't a necessity for winning an Oscar, though of course the quality of a film is very subjective.

Having said that Silver Linings Playbook was the most excruciating film I have sat through at the cinema since Transformers 2, which is the last film I walked out of. I would have walked out of this at the one hour mark but stayed solely due to it's Oscar nominations. I felt that I had to stay to the end, that it may get better, but it didn't.

I also apologised to my partner for dragging him too it, and his response was that I wasn't to know that it would be so unbearable. He would have walked out of the film if it wasn't for me.

It's funny I haven't seen so much as a trailer for this film. A couple of stills in the paper and that's it. The cinema we primarily go to have virtually stopped showing trailers the last could of months ,so I'm seeing most things 'blind' so to speak. I very rarely watch trailers on-line.

[rudeboy]

Silver Linings Playbook (2012) David O. Russell 1/10

So... do you think this has a shot at winning the best picture Oscar?

[Precious Doll]

The Last Days of Dolwyn (1949) Emlyn Williams 8/10
Contest Girl (1964) Val Guest 4/10
Los (2001) James Benning 6/10
Sogoli (2002) James Benning 6/10
Zero Dark Thirty (2012) Kathryn Bigelow 6/10
Django Unchained (2012) Quentin Tarantino 6/10
Berberian Sound Studio (2012) Peter Strickland 6/10
Yossi (2012) Eytan Fox 5/10
The Girl (2012) Julian Jarrold 6/10
Compliance (2012) Craig Zobel 7/10
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) David O. Russell 1/10

Repeat viewings

Max mon amour (1986) Nagisa Oshima 6/10
Lifeboat (1944) Alfred Hitchcock 8/10

[bizarre]

The Army (1944, Keisuke Kinoshita) … B
The Angry Street (1950, Mikio Naruse) … C+
Drifting Clouds (1996, Aki Kaurismäki) … B+
Twilight Portrait (2011, Angelina Nikonova) … A
Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970, Frank Perry) … B+
Hour of the Wolf (1968, Ingmar Bergman) … B+
Song of China (1935, Fei Mu & Luo Mingyou) … B
Magdana’s Donkey (1955, Tengiz Abuladze & Reko Chkheidze) … B+
Current (1963, Gaál István) … A-
Autumn Has Already Started (1960, Mikio Naruse) … B+
Leptirica (1973, Đorđan Kadijević) … B

[Reza]

The Bride Wore Boots (Irving Pichel, 1946) 1/10

A rare misfire from Barbara Stanwyck. Extremely silly nonsense about a woman who loves horses at loggerheads with her husband (a Civil War historian) who hates them. Interesting to see a blonde 7 year old Natalie Wood as their precocious daughter.

A Pαssαgε tσ Iηdiα (Waris Hussein, 1965) 8/10

The interesting, rare, television adaptation of the 1962 Santha Rama Rau Broadway production based on Forster's novel. A condensed version, with a memorable Zia Mohyeddin recreating his stage role of Dr Aziz. Also has the great Dame Sybil Thorndike as Mrs Moore, Virginia McKenna as Adela and Cyril Cusack as Fielding. Saeed Jaffrey plays Hamidullah, a role he played again in the big screen version years later. The dialogue, like in David Lean's film, is taken from both Forster's book and Rau's play.

From Russia With Love (Terence Young, 1963) 7/10

Istanbul, Tatiana Romanova, Rosa Klebb, Red Grant, Kerim Bey and Connery make this one of the best Bond outings.

This Love of Ours (William Dieterle, 1945) 6/10

Enjoyable soap about a woman who returns to her family and tries to get re-acquainted with her daughter who thinks her mother had died long ago. Merle Oberon is very good but pity Claude Rains is wasted in a thankless part.

Escape Me Never (Paul Czinner, 1935) 5/10

A waif gets involved with two brothers and another woman. One of Elisabeth Bergner's few attempts in English and the one that brought her an Academy Award nomination.

A Ship Comes In (William K. Howard, 1928) 6/10

A Jewish immigrant family arrives in the ''land of plenty'' and finds happiness until the father is hauled away to prison on false charges while the anguished mother (Louise Dresser) tries to hold the family together. A silent film that is remembered today as the film that brought Dresser an Oscar nomination during the first year of the awards.

[Reza]

Staircase (Stanley Donen, 1969) 5/10

Rex Harrison and Richard Burton play two ageing homosexual hairdressers bickering from start to finish. The only reason for the film appears to be it's stunt casting - Marc Anthony and Julius Caesar as lovers - although it was brave of both stars to play these roles at the time. Fitfully amusing although the mincing about becomes tiresome very quickly. Cathleen Nesbitt is grotesque as Burton's mother.

Salomé (Charles Bryant, 1923) 7/10

Extremely stylized and decadent version of Oscar Wilde's scandalous play about the 14 year old Salomé (played by 43 year of Alla Nazimova) who danced the seven veils for King Herod and asked for John the Baptist's head in return. Flamboyantly designed by Natascha Rambova with great sets and cinematography and acted out by a supporting cast of gay actors and amateurs as a tribute to Wilde. Nazimova's wig has to be seen to be believed and she is mesmerizing in the title role. The actors move as if dancing on stage.

The Crystal Ball (Elliott Nugent, 1943) 6/10

A down on her luck gal (Paulette Goddard) from Texas sets her eyes on a lawyer (Ray Milland) in New York and gets him with the help of a fake fortune teller (Gladys George). Typically silly, if charming, screwball comedy with delightful and very attractive leads and a dependable supporting cast of great character actors (Cecil Kellaway, William Bendix and Sig Arno).

The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1948) 9/10

A poor man who's job depends on having personal transport has his bicycle stolen and he scours the city with his young son in search of it. One of the great films of Italian cinema. Simply told, heartbreaking tale, filmed on atmospheric locations. A great achievement by De Sica and a must see.

Face to Face (Ingmar Bergman, 1976) 7/10

A psychiatrist, outwardly cheerful, suffers a mental breakdown as she faces haunting emotions from her past. Harrowing performance by Liv Ullmann - one of the great female performances captured on film by a director known for making beautiful but intensely gloomy films.

The Other Love (André De Toth, 1947) 7/10

A seriously ill concert pianist (Barbara Stanwyck) is advised by her doctor (David Niven) to rest in a sanatorium but instead she chooses to live it up in a casino with a playboy (Richard Conte). Old fashioned romantic melodrama, very common in the 1940s, which is extremely enjoyable thanks to the great Barbara Stanwyck.

[Bog]

Everything Must Go (2010) Dan Rush 7/10
Tiny Furniture (2010) Lena Dunham 5/10
I Love You, Philip Morris (2009) Ficarra/Requa 6/10
Wreck It Ralph (2012) Rich Moore 6/10
Frankenweenie (2012) Tim Burton 7/10
Compliance (2012) Craig Zobel 7/10
Paranorman (2012) Butler/Fell 4/10
Jeff Who Lives At Home (2011) Jay/Mark Duplass 6/10
Arbitrage (2012) Nicholas Jarecki 4/10
Hanna (2011) Joe Wright 7/10
Seeking a Friend For the End of the World (2012) Lorene Scafaria 8/10