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

[Big Magilla]

Gods and Monsters (Bill Condon, 1998) 8/10

Bill Condon perfectly captures the time and place of the 1950s and the film is anchored by Ian McKellan's superb performance. A pity he lost the Oscar. Brendan Fraser is almost equally as good and should have been nominated as well. Unfortunately I have still not warmed to Lynn Redgrave's broad performance where her character is channelling the ''Bride'' of Elsa Lanchester. And I wonder why a slim actor was chosen to play George Cukor?

I thought Lynn was channeling Una, not Elsa, from Bride of Frankenstein.

Wasn't Cukor thin in the 50s? He famously lost weight along with his hair as he aged.

[Reza]

Gun Crazy (Joseph H Lewis, 1950) 9/10

A great ''small'' film noir, one of the numerous precursors to Bonnie and Clyde. Brilliantly directed, edited and photographed with possibly John Dall and Peggy Cummins in their best roles. A classic.

Gods and Monsters (Bill Condon, 1998) 8/10

Bill Condon perfectly captures the time and place of the 1950s and the film is anchored by Ian McKellan's superb performance. A pity he lost the Oscar. Brendan Fraser is almost equally as good and should have been nominated as well. Unfortunately I have still not warmed to Lynn Redgrave's broad performance where her character is channelling the ''Bride'' of Elsa Lanchester. And I wonder why a slim actor was chosen to play George Cukor?


The Last September (Deborah Warner, 1999) 5/10

Slow film that is beautiful to look at with the Irish countryside on display in all its green splendor. The plot background of the Irish troubles and a way of life coming to an end for the priviledged class was informative. The veteran British cast is superb - Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Jane Birkin and Fiona Shaw.

[Reza]

Mephisto (Istvan Szabo, 1991) 7/10

Klaus Maria Brandeur is mesmerising as an ambitious actor who sells his soul to the Nazis in order to rise in the world of theatre.

Mephisto came out in 1981, not '91.

Thanks.............it was a typo.

[Eric]

As someone who is basically against sex in all forms, I guess I came away from it thinking it was essentially a satire.

[flipp525]

I'm a heterosexual male who's reached late middle age without reproducing. I don't experience Children of Men as a specific rebuke to me. I don't understand why you take it that way.

The film's pronatalism stance is arguable, Tee. It's arguable on the symbolic level, not on a literal one which is what you're looking at. You said it yourself: if there are babies, there is a future. But, if there are no babies, and no future, than those who must answer for that tragedy are the participants in sterile, non-reproductive, narcissistic sex, which is read as posing a danger to the social organization of human life itself. To me, it's a fairly obvious reading of the film's message. If I'm conflating the film with its source material, so be it, but I'm not exactly reaching into the abyss with this one.

Damien is totally right; the film is sentimental slop. It sentimentalizes, in the most obvious way, THE CHILD as a fictive savior of mankind without having the balls to outright identify the group responsible for its destruction.



Edited By flipp525 on 1290547001

[Mister Tee]

I haven't read the book, but would certainly not be surprised if it's full of fundamentalist undertones, since P. D. James comes from that side of the Tory universe.

But I don't see any of that in the movie. What's causing society to break down is not who's putting what organ where, but the fact that, without children being born, there's literally no future to mankind -- a supposition I'd have thought pretty inarguable.

I'm a heterosexual male who's reached late middle age without reproducing. I don't experience Children of Men as a specific rebuke to me. I don't understand why you take it that way.

[Damien]

Mephisto (Istvan Szabo, 1991) 7/10

Klaus Maria Brandeur is mesmerising as an ambitious actor who sells his soul to the Nazis in order to rise in the world of theatre.

Mephisto came out in 1981, not '91.

Children of Men heavily promotes a very pro-reproductive futurity schema that bows down to the alter of the unimpeachable idea of "the Child" in a way I find completely manipulative and annoying. The film is well made, but the message (of not just the film, but the book as well) is very heavy-handed. I know it's like Citizen Kane around these parts, but there's always room for another viewpoint.

From the time I saw Children of Men, I've just considered it to be sentimental slop.

[FilmFan720]

I haven't read the book, but from what I understand the book is fairly heavy into the Christian mythology, isn't it? I even believe that the author promotes herself as a "Christian Writer." The movie, I know, deviates heavily from the book, and doesn't touch on any of this. It seems that whereas the book may have anti-homosexual undertones, the movie is much more obsessed with politics than sex and religion.

[flipp525]

Though, to be fair, it's not like the movie offers up much evidence to the idea that humankind deserves to thrive any longer. What exactly is being saved? If the DVD's bonus features are to be believed, the further decimation of the planet and it's resources ... and one child to clean up the mess.

I couldn’t help but read it as a rather ineffective deification of heterosexual sex. And to what end, really? Does straight sex need to be saved? And from whom?

I guess, when I encountered this in my reading of the book: "sex totally divorced from procreation has become almost meaninglessly acrobatic" it sealed that slant for me. When the narrator claims that one of the things that has brought on this barren-ness of the entire population is the advent of pornography and the ruinous pleasures of non-reproductive sex (as if those two are, naturally, one in the same), the book/film almost must be read as an indictment of libidinous gay fucking by the whore-incarnate fag. Gay male sex is seen as that which has nullified the effectiveness of reproductive sex and has poised the entire population on the brink of extinction.

If you want to look at it that way, the film is extremely conservative.



Edited By flipp525 on 1290542319

[Eric]

Though, to be fair, it's not like the movie offers up much evidence to the idea that humankind deserves to thrive any longer. What exactly is being saved? If the DVD's bonus features are to be believed, the further decimation of the planet and it's resources ... and one child to clean up the mess.

[flipp525]

Mephisto (Istvan Szabo, 1991) 7/10

Klaus Maria Brandeur is mesmerising as an ambitious actor who sells his soul to the Nazis in order to rise in the world of theatre.

Mephisto came out in 1981, not '91.

Children of Men heavily promotes a very pro-reproductive futurity schema that bows down to the alter of the unimpeachable idea of "the Child" in a way I find completely manipulative and annoying. The film is well made, but the message (of not just the film, but the book as well) is very heavy-handed. I know it's like Citizen Kane around these parts, but there's always room for another viewpoint.



Edited By flipp525 on 1290539845

[Reza]

Mephisto (Istvan Szabo, 1981) 7/10

Klaus Maria Brandeur is mesmerising as an ambitious actor who sells his soul to the Nazis in order to rise in the world of theatre.

Departures (Yojiro Takita, 2008) 9/10

Humorous but extremely poignant film about death and the importance of the family unit. There is so much in Japanese culture that is different yet I could see many similarities as well to our culture here in Pakistan. Beautifully shot on location in the countryside and the film has a great classical soundtrack. Deserved the Oscar.

Children of Men (Alfonso Cuaron, 2006) 7/10

Frightening but a very realistic view of what very well may be our future. Brilliant production design and cinematography. The entire cast is superb from the leads - Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine - to the actors in smaller roles.



Edited By Reza on 1290566871

[anonymous1980]

El Norte (Gregory Nava) - 9/10

[Precious Doll]

The Time That Remains (2009) Elia Suleiman 7/10
Winter's Bone (2010) Debra Granik 6/10
Machete (2010) Ethan Maniquin & Robert Rodriguez 6/10
Address Unknown (1944) William Cameron Menzies 4/10
The Sister In-Law (1974) Joseph Ruben 4/10
Porgy and Bess (1959) Otto Preminger 7/10
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010) Werner Herzog 4/10
Murder, He Says (1945) George Marshall 7/10
Finishing School (1934) Wanda Tuchock & George Nicholls Jnr. 4/10
The American (2010) Aton Corbijn 3/10
Sweet and Low-Down (1944) Archie Mayo 3/10

[Hustler]

Precious
I almost agree with you. Having seen Villa Amalia I found it very interesting. 8/10