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

[Precious Doll]

Crossing Boundaries (2012) Florian Flicker 4/10
As I Lay Dying (2013) James Franco 3/10
Frankenstein's Army (2013) Richard Raaphorst 2/10
Still Life (2012) Sebastian Meise 6/10
The Great Passage (2013) Yuya Ishii 5/10
The Thick-Walled Room (1956) Masaki Kobayashi 7/10
Bethlehem (2013) Yuval Adler 6/10
Enough Said (2013) Nicole Holofcener 5/10
Sacrifice (2010) Chen Kaige 7/10

Repeat viewing

The Wicker Man (1973) Robin Hardy 10/10

[ksrymy]

Interiors (Woody Allen, 1978) 7/10

Woody Allen's first full-length drama looks at three daughters dealing with their parents' separation and their father's subsequent bringing a new woman home. It's a little odd to think Woody Allen directed this, but you can see his usual elements throughout. Geraldine Page gives one of her best performances as the family's suicidal matriarch. Maureen Stapleton gives a solid performance as well, but everyone else, including Diane Keaton aren't nearly at the tops of their games. Worth a watch if you're an Allen fan.

Rush (Ron Howard) 7/10

Based on the true story of the rivalry between Formula 1 legends James Hunt and Niki Lauda, the movie centers on when Lauda's car flips, crashes, and goes up in flames. Chris Hemsworth is actually quite charming in this role, but the real breakout is obviously Daniel Brühl as Niki Lauda. His authenticity and emotion permeate the screen and leave you with so much sympathy to give by the end. The arc of the film that focus on Hunt aren't nearly as strong, and, at times, they seem very soapy, but the Lauda sections keep the film afloat. And, for any sound nerds, the sound editing and mixing are stellar here.

F for Fake (Orson Welles) 6/10

Orson Welles' last feature is a pseudo-documentary on authenticity focusing on famous art forger Elmyr de Hóry. We're reminded throughout by Welles that the next hour of the film is completely true, yet there are obvious editing errors that give everything away though it tries to be authentic. What really gives the whole film away is that guaranteed hour of authenticity when you know the film is 90 minutes long. Disappointing but worth a view if you're a Welles fan.

A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, 1956) 9/10

Based on the true story of a Frenchman in WWII, the story of one man's escape from a German POW camp. Bresson is, as always, spot-on. His subtlety is gorgeous, and François Leterrier's performance is quietly effective. The editing and cinematography are among the best from Bresson's films. A must-see for French film lovers.

Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler, 2013) 8/10

Based on the true story of Oscar Grant III, a young father who was shot and killed at a train station by a white cop. I was floored by this film - I expected the film to be very racial and preachy, but the film avoids that entirely. It, instead, focuses on Oscar's life - his problems holding a job, caring for his daughter, and going in and out of prison. He is a deeply complex character, and this is largely due to Michael B. Jordan's breakout performance. He's charming, terrifying, and infuriating. The real reason to see the picture is Octavia Spencer's fantastic turn as Grant's mother. Whereas she was annoying, shrewd, and a caricature of her race in The Help, she is reserved, restrained, and deeply moving.

The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013) 6/10

Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but after his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and parties to find a timeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty. This is really a truly gorgeous film to watch - the art direction, colors, costumes, views, and whatnot are breathtaking - I just find the problem is that the film drags on and on. It could be that I don't understand Berlusconi-era Italy enough to appreciate this, but the film takes too long to establish Jep's problem. This could be an easy 90-minute film.

Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951) 9/10

A frequently-fired reporter finds himself in New Mexico where a man becomes trapped in a cave-in - he ruthlessly prolongs the rescue to stay longer on the front pages of the national papers. One of the most biting, scathing commentaries on American news and culture - the mining accident turns into a massive carnival at one point. Kirk Douglas has never been better, and Jan Sterling gives a great performance as the miner's wife. This further cements Wilder as the greatest director of film noir there is.

Thunder on the Hill (Douglas Sirk, 1951) 6/10

An accused murderess finds herself at a nunnery/hospital where an outspoken sister attempts to solve the crime. One of Sirk's duller features, though I largely attribute this to the lack of beautiful color cinematography his mid-'50s work contains. Claudette Colbert might be dull, but Ann Blyth goes completely opposite from her Mildred Pierce work and creates a sympathetic, beautiful character. One of the best female performances of 1951.

The King of Comedy (Martin Scorsese, 1983) 8.5/10

A celebrity stalker kidnaps a nighttime talk show host in order to kickstart his comedy career. Forget Raging Bull, this is Robert De Niro's best performance. He's greasy, unctuous, and obsessive to the point of mania. Jerry Lewis puts in a great late-career turn as the talk show host, and the normally-eye-stabbingly-annoying Sandra Bernhard does excellent as De Niro's partner in crime. A great satire on modern television and humor.

The Uninvited (Lewis Allen, 1944) 9/10

A brother and sister move into a seaside house where entities are at war. This is how a haunted house movie should be done. Recently released on the Criterion label, this film's plot, acting, and dialogue are all superb especially from Ray Milland. The only reason this doesn't get a 10 is the post-production insertions of the ghost - it ruins the whole feel of the film.

The Lost Weekend (Billy Wilder, 1945) 8/10

A man left alone for a weekend goes on a massive bender while destroying all relationships and dignity he has. Ray Milland rightfully won an Oscar for this film - one of the finest portrayals of an alcoholic the screen has ever seen. The shots are all beautiful on Wilder's part. The shadow of the bottle in the light fixture is probably one of the hundred greatest screen moments I've experienced. Very tragic, very moving, very well done.

I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943) 7/10

A caretaker goes to a mysterious island to look over a woman but falls in love with a man and witnesses some bizarre happenings with the local natives. The film lacks any real scares that it tries to make, but the zombified Carre Four and Jessica Holland are startlingly real - none of this gory zombie crap we see nowadays; it's the traditional Haitian voodoo type of zombie we get. The acting isn't great, but Tourneur's direction is impeccable as always.

The Brood (David Cronenberg, 1979) 8.5/10

People who care for a young girl are viciously bludgeoned to death while her mother is in a new psychological test group. I love Cronenberg's work, and this is no exception. This, however, is probably one of the most bizarre films I've ever seen. The acting is decent though Samantha Eggar makes up for it. This film is pretty unsettling throughout until you get to "that scene" in the last ten minutes - no film scene has ever made me want to vomit before until I saw this; you can't look away though.

Spellbound (Alfred Hitchcock, 1945) 6/10

A doctor helps her lover, an amnesiac, try to unlock his past through psychoanalysis. One of the few major Hitchcocks that I haven't seen. It's pretty underwhelming. Ingrid Bergman looks odd as a doctor, and Gregory Peck is pretty lame throughout. The supporting performances of Michael Chekhov and Hitchcock regular Leo G. Carroll are the real reason to see the film. That and Salvador Dalí's dream sequence which is more trippy than anything you see in films today.

[ITALIANO]

Still, Iike Vidal (who kindly helped me for my university dissertation),

Wait..... This I want to hear more about.

This is actually interesting, because it shows how generous Americans can be - and he was, of course, an important intellectual, while I was just a 20-something university student. For my final dissertation in Literature and Philosophy I had decided to write about an American writer - preferably someone who had written for the stage; with the approval of my professor, I had finally chosen Lillian Hellman. I don't remember exactly now why Hellman, whom I considered even back then a good, professional playwright but not a great one - but it certainly had something to do with the fact that my professor had dealt with too many dissertations about O'Neill, Williams and Miller and wanted something more original. Those were the glorious pre-internet days - informations werent as easy to get as they are now, so I flew several times to London to find material and writings by Hellman and on Hellman.
But I also knew that Gore Vidal had known her personally, and Vidal at the time was living in Italy. It was a kind of self-imposed exile - he had always been very critical of American society, and he loved Italy. Italy in turn loved him - it's a country with many flaws but it has always had a soft spot for exiles, political or not. As a novelist his best work was by then decades-old, but he was still an original, never banal thinker. He was often invited on talk-shows (mostly with the help of a translator, because his Italian was very limited). He was respected, and of course his ideas, whch in America were kind-of controversial, were far more acceptable here.
Through friends I knew that his apartment was in a beautiful, old palace in Largo Torre Argentina, a piazza right in the centre of the city. So I went there, but he wasn't home - the janitor told me that he was at his villa in Ravello, south of Naples, and would have stayed there for the whole season. I insisted: I had to talk to him. So the man gave me the Ravello phone number, just asking me not to reveal how I had gotten it.
Back then my English was, well, just not very good. And of course I was younger and shy. I had already met and talked to famous writers and intellectuals - Moravia, Manuel Puig, Kurosawa... - but in this case I had to speak English with someone whose English was REALLY, and famously, good, and that made me unconfortable. Anyway, I called.
The man who answered the phone was very cold, very suspicious. Not rude, but he asked lots of questions. I later knew that he was Howard Austen, Vidal's partner. Finally, Gore Vidal came to the phone. I immediately said that I was sorry for my English, and he very kindly said that I shouldn't worry. I told him that I had some questions about Lillian Hellman - a short pause of silence made me realize that she wasn't his favorite writer ever - and he asked me to call again the day after at a certain time.
Now, this is often a device famouse people use to vanish from sight, so I was truly impressed the day after when I called (not one second before, not one second later than the time he had told me) and Vidal personally answered. The conversation wasn't too long - less than 30 minutes - but again, I was this unknown Italian university student and he was, well, a celebrated American writer. Plus, it was obvious that he wasn't a big fan of the subject of my questions, which made the fact that he devoted this time to me even more admirable. His answers were precise, critical certainly but not superficially malevolent.
At the end of the conversation he told me that in case I had more questions in the future, and needed more exhaustive answers, I could have sent him a fax and he would have promptly replied. (This I didn't do, and now I kind-of regret it, because I'd have a first-person writing from Gore Vidal). I thanked him, congratulated him for The City and the Pillar (which I actually hadnt read yet) and for the Suddenly Last Summer screenplay (he laughed) and that was the end.
I never met him personally, unfortunately - but it's still something that has stayed for me all these years.

[ITALIANO]

Gore Vidal famously said: "Rome is a wonderful place from which to observe the end of the world". It's definitely a decadent city - and decadent for centuries now. Still, Iike Vidal (who kindly helped me for my university dissertation), I lived there and so I know that decadence may be historically dramatic but, for those who live through it, can also be intensely enjoyable. Rome is so gorgeous - I was there two days ago and still, after so many years, I was amazed by its "great beauty" - so lazy, so distracting, so full of wine and food and unexpected sex, that it spoils you - but it can prove fatal too.

My cousin just returned after living in Rome for two years. She says she was shocked how provincial the city is compared to most other European capitals.

Ah, and if your cousin says so, it must be true

It has preserved its identity, this is true - its roots are just too deep. which of course can be a limit, too. It doesnt have Dubai's malls, but its role in history is so unique, its importance even today so evident, its artistic and cultural aspects so objective (oh, but I forgot, for this well-educated board "art is in the eye of the beholder") that well, only someone very provincial can consider it provincial.

[Sonic Youth]

Still, Iike Vidal (who kindly helped me for my university dissertation),

Wait..... This I want to hear more about.

[Reza]

Gore Vidal famously said: "Rome is a wonderful place from which to observe the end of the world". It's definitely a decadent city - and decadent for centuries now. Still, Iike Vidal (who kindly helped me for my university dissertation), I lived there and so I know that decadence may be historically dramatic but, for those who live through it, can also be intensely enjoyable. Rome is so gorgeous - I was there two days ago and still, after so many years, I was amazed by its "great beauty" - so lazy, so distracting, so full of wine and food and unexpected sex, that it spoils you - but it can prove fatal too.

My cousin just returned after living in Rome for two years. She says she was shocked how provincial the city is compared to most other European capitals.

Your cousin should visit Lisbon...

She has

[mlrg]

Gore Vidal famously said: "Rome is a wonderful place from which to observe the end of the world". It's definitely a decadent city - and decadent for centuries now. Still, Iike Vidal (who kindly helped me for my university dissertation), I lived there and so I know that decadence may be historically dramatic but, for those who live through it, can also be intensely enjoyable. Rome is so gorgeous - I was there two days ago and still, after so many years, I was amazed by its "great beauty" - so lazy, so distracting, so full of wine and food and unexpected sex, that it spoils you - but it can prove fatal too.

My cousin just returned after living in Rome for two years. She says she was shocked how provincial the city is compared to most other European capitals.

Your cousin should visit Lisbon...

[Reza]

Gore Vidal famously said: "Rome is a wonderful place from which to observe the end of the world". It's definitely a decadent city - and decadent for centuries now. Still, Iike Vidal (who kindly helped me for my university dissertation), I lived there and so I know that decadence may be historically dramatic but, for those who live through it, can also be intensely enjoyable. Rome is so gorgeous - I was there two days ago and still, after so many years, I was amazed by its "great beauty" - so lazy, so distracting, so full of wine and food and unexpected sex, that it spoils you - but it can prove fatal too.

My cousin just returned after living in Rome for two years. She says she was shocked how provincial the city is compared to most other European capitals.

[ITALIANO]

THE GREAT BEAUTY
The movie is very long, full of characters, and it deals with important issues which are probably universal, or at least shared by those countries which like Italy are going through an economical and cultural crisis - yet it's mostly a movie about Rome. Rome, with its endless, often garish, parties, its beautiful but decadent palaces, its would-be artists and its leftist intellectuals, its impoverished aristocracy and its cardinals, its former movie stars and its criminals, lively and lazy at the same time, and lazily sexual too - this city where anything can happen still never really changes is the real protagonist of this intoxicatingly beautiful movie. At the end the viewer may even be not totally satisfied (it's far from perfect), and probably a bit lost in all the (sometimes unforgettable) images and faces - but this is obviously the work of a major filmmaker.

I just watched "The Great Beauty" and i absolutely loved it. What an ambitious and melancholic film. I hope it gets the international audience it deserves and it better get into the Foreign Film category at the Oscars. I only regret i didn't watch it on the big screen. It opens in Greece next week and i am not going to miss the opportunity to watch it again.

Yes, on the big screen it's certainly an even more impressive experience.

And you are right - it SHOULD be nominated, and most Italians feel that it will (it's a "now-or-never" kind of situation). But I'm more cautious. This is an extremely good movie, true. But it's also, as you said, very ambitious and multi-layered, as the best Italian movies used to be and now only rarely are. It's not minimalistic, it's not humble - and I'm not sure that the Academy will appreciate this. I've read a few American reviews - of course some praise it, but others seem puzzled, unprepared - they mistake the movie's richness of themes for "ramblings" (but then in the past Fellini was accused more or less in the same way), they don't find a clear "third act" and feel lost. The younger critics especially seem confused - this is simply a type of movie that they can't relate to.

I don't know if, as a French friend of mine who lives in Rome has told me recently, only those who know Rome, who have lived there, can fully understand this movie. It's certainly more universal than he thinks. But knowing Rome helps. Gore Vidal famously said: "Rome is a wonderful place from which to observe the end of the world". It's definitely a decadent city - and decadent for centuries now. Still, Iike Vidal (who kindly helped me for my university dissertation), I lived there and so I know that decadence may be historically dramatic but, for those who live through it, can also be intensely enjoyable. Rome is so gorgeous - I was there two days ago and still, after so many years, I was amazed by its "great beauty" - so lazy, so distracting, so full of wine and food and unexpected sex, that it spoils you - but it can prove fatal too. It doesnt necessarily kill you, but, like the movie shows, it can put you in a state of numbness, which is almost tbe same thing. It does it at the rhythm of Euro dance - but it still does it. And I found all this in Sorrentino's movie.

[The Original BJ]

Yes, you have seen a version with the last scenes missing, but a complete print does exist at UCLA.

So do Ann Harding and the kid both die?

Wonder why UCLA archives are being such beasts and not sharing this film with the world?

SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY:

Ann Harding's character does die, but her child does not.

[Reza]

East Lynne (Frank Lloyd, 1931) 6/10

Extremely rare film with the only surviving copy at UCLA (of which I came across a bootleg copy). The film itself is a rather hoary Victorian melodrama with the heroine suffering from start to finish. Ann Harding is superb as a social butterfly who marries a stuffy rich man, quickly gets bored with her staid married life, has fun with an old boyfriend, gets thrown out and divorced by her husband, not allowed to see her son, is ostracised by society, takes up with her old boyfriend who has to leave England in disgrace after a scandal, suffers damage to her eyes in a bomb blast during the Franco-Prussian war, sneaks back home to see her ill son just before she goes blind. The last scenes of the film are missing / lost but apparently the child dies and so does she. Tragedy upon tragedy with the star giving it everything she's got. The film was inexplicably nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

What you apparently "came across" appears to be the same thing I "came across" - a non-professional copy of the film, not a copy of the UCLA print which BJ viewed at the UCLA archives. Per BJ, the UCLA print includes the missing reel which is missing on the bootleg copies. Our discussion can be found in the Best Actor 1932/33 thread.

Yes, you have seen a version with the last scenes missing, but a complete print does exist at UCLA.

So do Ann Harding and the kid both die?

Wonder why UCLA archives are being such beasts and not sharing this film with the world?

[The Original BJ]

East Lynne (Frank Lloyd, 1931) 6/10

Extremely rare film with the only surviving copy at UCLA (of which I came across a bootleg copy). The film itself is a rather hoary Victorian melodrama with the heroine suffering from start to finish. Ann Harding is superb as a social butterfly who marries a stuffy rich man, quickly gets bored with her staid married life, has fun with an old boyfriend, gets thrown out and divorced by her husband, not allowed to see her son, is ostracised by society, takes up with her old boyfriend who has to leave England in disgrace after a scandal, suffers damage to her eyes in a bomb blast during the Franco-Prussian war, sneaks back home to see her ill son just before she goes blind. The last scenes of the film are missing / lost but apparently the child dies and so does she. Tragedy upon tragedy with the star giving it everything she's got. The film was inexplicably nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

What you apparently "came across" appears to be the same thing I "came across" - a non-professional copy of the film, not a copy of the UCLA print which BJ viewed at the UCLA archives. Per BJ, the UCLA print includes the missing reel which is missing on the bootleg copies. Our discussion can be found in the Best Actor 1932/33 thread.

Yes, you have seen a version with the last scenes missing, but a complete print does exist at UCLA.

[Reza]

East Lynne (Frank Lloyd, 1931) 6/10

Extremely rare film with the only surviving copy at UCLA (of which I came across a bootleg copy). The film itself is a rather hoary Victorian melodrama with the heroine suffering from start to finish. Ann Harding is superb as a social butterfly who marries a stuffy rich man, quickly gets bored with her staid married life, has fun with an old boyfriend, gets thrown out and divorced by her husband, not allowed to see her son, is ostracised by society, takes up with her old boyfriend who has to leave England in disgrace after a scandal, suffers damage to her eyes in a bomb blast during the Franco-Prussian war, sneaks back home to see her ill son just before she goes blind. The last scenes of the film are missing / lost but apparently the child dies and so does she. Tragedy upon tragedy with the star giving it everything she's got. The film was inexplicably nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

Now that you've seen East Lynne, what Best Picture nominees are you missing other than Lubitsch's Patriot?

The Way of All Flesh, The Racket (have this on video), Alibi, The Patriot, Skippy, Trader Horn, Bad Girl (have this on video), State Fair, Flirtation Walk and The White Parade.

[Cinemanolis]

THE GREAT BEAUTY
The movie is very long, full of characters, and it deals with important issues which are probably universal, or at least shared by those countries which like Italy are going through an economical and cultural crisis - yet it's mostly a movie about Rome. Rome, with its endless, often garish, parties, its beautiful but decadent palaces, its would-be artists and its leftist intellectuals, its impoverished aristocracy and its cardinals, its former movie stars and its criminals, lively and lazy at the same time, and lazily sexual too - this city where anything can happen still never really changes is the real protagonist of this intoxicatingly beautiful movie. At the end the viewer may even be not totally satisfied (it's far from perfect), and probably a bit lost in all the (sometimes unforgettable) images and faces - but this is obviously the work of a major filmmaker.

I just watched "The Great Beauty" and i absolutely loved it. What an ambitious and melancholic film. I hope it gets the international audience it deserves and it better get into the Foreign Film category at the Oscars. I only regret i didn't watch it on the big screen. It opens in Greece next week and i am not going to miss the opportunity to watch it again.

BEST FILMS OF 2013 SO FAR

9/10
Before Midnight
The Great Beauty
Frances Ha

8/10
The Hunt
Stories We Tell

7,5/10
The Past
Blue Jasmine
Gravity

7/10
Captain Phillips
Child's Pose

[Big Magilla]

East Lynne (Frank Lloyd, 1931) 6/10

Extremely rare film with the only surviving copy at UCLA (of which I came across a bootleg copy). The film itself is a rather hoary Victorian melodrama with the heroine suffering from start to finish. Ann Harding is superb as a social butterfly who marries a stuffy rich man, quickly gets bored with her staid married life, has fun with an old boyfriend, gets thrown out and divorced by her husband, not allowed to see her son, is ostracised by society, takes up with her old boyfriend who has to leave England in disgrace after a scandal, suffers damage to her eyes in a bomb blast during the Franco-Prussian war, sneaks back home to see her ill son just before she goes blind. The last scenes of the film are missing / lost but apparently the child dies and so does she. Tragedy upon tragedy with the star giving it everything she's got. The film was inexplicably nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

What you apparently "came across" appears to be the same thing I "came across" - a non-professional copy of the film, not a copy of the UCLA print which BJ viewed at the UCLA archives. Per BJ, the UCLA print includes the missing reel which is missing on the bootleg copies. Our discussion can be found in the Best Actor 1932/33 thread.