What was the last film you watched?

[fimm]

Dune. I knew nothing about it other than what I had read on this thread...
It was OK. Quite slow. Mr fimm says that is the director's style. I guess we will go and see part 2.
First time in a cinema since before the pandemic.

[Jakob]

I started watching 'The harder the fall'.

Lasted less than 10 minutes.

All style (well, clothes), gun twirling and no story. No atmosphere, no build.

I got through it. As you said, all style, no substance. (And yeah, it got worse).

[mrcharly-YHT]

I started watching 'The harder the fall'.

Lasted less than 10 minutes.

All style (well, clothes), gun twirling and no story. No atmosphere, no build.

I got through it. As you said, all style, no substance. (And yeah, it got worse).

In my 10 minutes, I just felt that every character was a slightly different version of the same person, trying to show that they were in fact the best dressed version with the best gun twirling skills.

[pcolbeck]

The Battle of the Bulge

What's going on with all these WWII films on TV at the moment? Its like a Sunday afternoon in the mid 70s ?

Anyway I loved this when I saw it as a kid. Re watching it now its absolutely awful. Historically inaccurate to a ludicrous degree. So there is this famous last ditch German offensive that takes place in the forested hilly border between France, Germany and Belgium in the worst winter in years oh and its famously foggy for almost all of it. I have a brilliant idea lets film it in open country in Spain in glorious weather.

Apparently Eisenhower was so incensed he came out of retirement to give a press conference saying exactly how crap he thought the film was.

[mrcharly-YHT]

The tomorrow war

Action popcorn film. Switch your brain off and it's fairly enjoyable, just incredibly predictable.

[T42]

I started watching 'The harder the fall'.

Lasted less than 10 minutes.

All style (well, clothes), gun twirling and no story. No atmosphere, no build.

I got through it. As you said, all style, no substance. (And yeah, it got worse).

In my 10 minutes, I just felt that every character was a slightly different version of the same person, trying to show that they were in fact the best dressed version with the best gun twirling skills.

Also had a go at that. Got through around 45 mins of it in 3 goes, then gave up.

Also tried Warlock on YouTube, having read and enjoyed the book. Again, got through ~45 mins. It's a good story, but Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn and Richard Widmark can't be anyone but Henry Fonda, Anthony Quinn and Richard Widmark, and the1950s makeup makes all the women appear to be carved out of soap.

[sg37409]

Argo - True story of the smuggling of US embassy workers out of Iran. Superb

[Kim]

Dune (1984)

This was barakta's fault.

It's one of those films I'd only seen bits of, and missed the important perspective you gain from seeing the whole thing in one go.  Namely that it's a boring version of the Flash Gordon film, clearly aimed at a gay rubber fetish audience.  These worms have foreskins!

Tragic absence of Brian Blessed as Stilgar.

[citoyen]

Tragic absence of Brian Blessed as Stilgar.

OTOH Sting

[ian]

I honestly quite liked Sting in the original Dune, he pretty much fitted the role. It indeed was all pretty much joyfully high camp rather than the plodding endless lingering scenery-scraping of the new version.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I honestly quite liked Sting in the original Dune, he pretty much fitted the role. It indeed was all pretty much joyfully high camp rather than the plodding endless lingering scenery-scraping of the new version.

Haven't seen the new version, but I agree about Sting.

My big gripe about the 84 version was about them ditching the politics in favour of inventing the 'weirding weapons'. Utterly stupid and completely ruined the storyline.

Not spoilers, but exposition

(click to show/hide)

The emperor had a fanatical army trained to be more efficient and deadlier than any other army (think feudal armies commanded by dukes, etc). Paul's father trained his own small army to be the equal of the emperor's, thus threatening the stability of the power pyramid.
The emperor decided to get rid of Duke Atreides by 'awarding' the rich planet of Arrakis to him, then loaning his own army to a sworn enemy of Atreides (the Harkonnen). The army lands, slaughters the Atreides troops (numbers plus betrayal).

Paul escapes to the desert with his  mother and discovers that the native Arrakeans (Fremen) are also very good fighters. With his tactical knowledge, he forges an army that can equal the emperor's.

The point of all this is that Duke Atreides was such a danger to the emperor, not because of his army, but because by training one, he has shown that the emperor's 'unique unequalled fighting force' is not necessarily unique. Atreides therefore had to be wiped from the face of the universe.

Introducing some weird weapon technology just made no sense.

[Kim]

Tragic absence of Brian Blessed as Stilgar.

OTOH Sting

I can't help feeling that casting decision was made because Bowie was unavailable due to excessive drug consumption.

[Paul]

Tragic absence of Brian Blessed as Stilgar.

OTOH Sting

I can't help feeling that casting decision was made because Bowie was unavailable due to excessive drug consumption.

And I think Timmy Mallet was already signed up for a panto.

[spesh]

Tragic absence of Brian Blessed as Stilgar.

OTOH Sting

I can't help feeling that casting decision was made because Bowie was unavailable due to excessive drug consumption.

Nah, Sting was a better fit for Feyd in the Lynch flick than Bowie - OTOH, ISTR Jean "Mœbius" Giraud's concept art for the Jodorowsky Dune project showed Feyd as being androgynous bordering on feminine, which is where Bowie, given some of his stage personae, might have worked (and it's actually one the least "out there" costume concepts that Mœbius produced).

<tappity tappity>

https://www.sci-fi-o-rama.com/2008/11/13/mobieus-jodorowskys-dune-1/

[rogerzilla]

They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson's WW1 documentary.  Not all that much of it was actually colourised.  The main thing I learnt was that there was a huge sense of anticlimax when the war ended, and soldiers did not enjoy returning  home.  In fact, a lot of them actually seemed to enjoy the whole experience, despite the rats, mud, stench and risk of imminent death.  I suppose life for the proles was grimmer back then.

[citoyen]

Nah, Sting was a better fit for Feyd in the Lynch flick than Bowie

I think I would agree with this. Although, tbh, my perception of the character is based on the film (which I have seen many times) rather than the book (which I read once when I was 14). Anyway, Sting has a suitably deranged air that seems to fit the character.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he's actually pretty good at playing massive bellends - he's also quite good in Quadrophenia (not much acting required for this one, to be fair) and Brimstone & Treacle (not a great date film - DAMHIKT).

[mrcharly-YHT]

They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson's WW1 documentary.  Not all that much of it was actually colourised.  The main thing I learnt was that there was a huge sense of anticlimax when the war ended, and soldiers did not enjoy returning  home.  In fact, a lot of them actually seemed to enjoy the whole experience, despite the rats, mud, stench and risk of imminent death.  I suppose life for the proles was grimmer back then.

It is worth reading Seigfried Sassoon's books.
The impression you get from films is that the troops were mired in stinking mud trenches, eaten alive by rats, starving, for months on end without relief.

Reality; the trenches were foul. Troops were rotated in an out of the trenches at frequent intervals. One of the main duties of officers was ensuring that their troops got fed, washed and cared for away from the trenches. Seigfried felt that he had abandoned this duty, 'his' troops, which was the main motivator for him returning to active duty.

Post WWII, my grandfather was reluctant to leave the Army and only left because his wife insisted. He was a clerk and, although posted to France for years, I don't think he ever fired a gun at someone.

[andrewc]

Nah, Sting was a better fit for Feyd in the Lynch flick than Bowie

I think I would agree with this. Although, tbh, my perception of the character is based on the film (which I have seen many times) rather than the book (which I read once when I was 14). Anyway, Sting has a suitably deranged air that seems to fit the character.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, he's actually pretty good at playing massive bellends - he's also quite good in Quadrophenia (not much acting required for this one, to be fair) and Brimstone & Treacle (not a great date film - DAMHIKT).

He was pretty good in "Stormy Monday" as well, playing a nightclub owner duelling it out with Tommy Lee Jones.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78p2WBZAams

[Peter]

Yes, Andrew, I've been trying to recall the name of that for sometime, though I know the song well enough!  I was wanting to put in a good word for Sting, who was nasty enough in that.  James Cosmo was terrific, too, and portrayed his "change in circumstances" in his brief, violent interview with Sting's character really well, I thought.

[citoyen]

I don't know Stormy Monday but it looks interesting. I'll put it on the list.

Mind you, acting alongside Sean Bean is enough to make anyone look good.

[ian]

I can't say I've ever followed the career of Sting, but why does everyone hate him? What did he do? I'm asking so I don't make the same mistake and dent my unalloyed popularity.

[Kim]

I can't say I've ever followed the career of Sting, but why does everyone hate him? What did he do?

He earned me a B at GCSE German.

A couple of days before the exam, I found myself procrastinating by means of watching a left-on^[1] telly which happened to be showing a documentary about Sting and The Police.  In what can only be described as blind luck, the Reading section of the exam paper consisted of a lengthy interview with Sting, and I discovered that I already knew most of the answers.


_{[1] If you switched off televisions my parents would think you had schizophrenia.}

[ian]

I like to think that somewhere out there's a degree in Applied Stingology.

[citoyen]

I can't say I've ever followed the career of Sting, but why does everyone hate him? What did he do? I'm asking so I don't make the same mistake and dent my unalloyed popularity.

He calls himself Sting. That's only marginally less twattish than calling yourself The Edge.

Seriously though, hate is too strong a word for it. He's just a bit of a twat. I think a lot of that comes from having a very high opinion of himself and not caring what other people think, so he will do self-indulgent rich person things like spend all day practising tantric sex and writing albums of lute music, and then talk about it at length in interviews, as if he's normal.

To be fair, he's actually a pretty talented chap.

[Mr Larrington]

I can't say I've ever followed the career of Sting, but why does everyone hate him? What did he do? I'm asking so I don't make the same mistake and dent my unalloyed popularity.

Played a lute with malice aforethought.

IIRC the name was bestowed on him by the Smalls he taught in his previous job, due to his inordinate fondness for a black'n'yellow stripy jumper