The "last movie I saw" thread

[Jeff Lebowski]

This review of Noah made me laugh:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/churcho...ying-about-it/

One of his gripes is that there were spots in the movie that required suspension of disbelief.

[UVACoug]

This review of Noah made me laugh:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/churcho...ying-about-it/

One of his gripes is that there were spots in the movie that required suspension of disbelief.

Sounds like that guy knows less about the Bible than Aronofsky, an atheist, does.

[CardiacCoug]

Sounds like that guy knows less about the Bible than Aronofsky, an atheist, does.

Such a horrible movie -- Noah is portrayed as getting drunk and naked after the flood.

[Topper]

Such a horrible movie -- Noah is portrayed as getting drunk and naked after the flood.

I doubt his sons covered his nakedness.

[Katy Lied]

Saw Noah. Meh.

Saw The Past on netflix, directed by Iranian phenom director Asghar Fahardi, who also directed A Separation, one of the best movies of 2011. I remember outraging my gospel doctrine class by telling them that A Separation shows Sharia law courts in Iran seemed very much like LDS members taking their petty squabbles and arguments and laying them at the feet of the bishop, and accepting whatever he ruled. I'm not talking about stoning and dismemberment and the freakish exaggeration of sharia law, I'm talking about the 90% of sharia rulings that are done by harried and overworked local clerics. But I digress.

The Past is about an Iranian man (Ahmad) married to a French woman (Marie), who has 2 daughters by a previous marriage. After a few years of marriage, the man abandons his family and flees to Tehran, and the couple has been separated for about 4 years now. Marie asks Ahmad back to France to sign divorce papers because it turns out that she has taken an Arab lover and wants to marry him. When Ahmad gets to France, the woman (Marie) asks him to speak to her 16 year old daughter, Lucie, who has grown very rebellious and hates the Arab fiance. Lucie was always partial to Ahmad when he was her stepfather, and Marie hopes that Ahmad will find out what is bothering Lucie.

In finest Fahardi fashion, he gets amazing performances from his cast, especially the young actress who plays Lucie (more about her later), and he introduces each character to his audience slowly, and just as soon as I've decided who the good guy and who the bad guy is, Fahardi turns the characterization on its head, and portrays the bad guy in sympathetic light and vice versa.

There is no action in this movie, but it is gripping and fraught with tension nonetheless. There is a climatic scene toward the end of the movie that depicts the arab lover talking to his young son Fuad in a Paris metro station that will have you on the edge of your seat. If you're in the mood for a french film, this is a great one.

The young actress who plays 16 year old Lucie looks like a young Marion Cotillard. Here is her photo:

[Commando]

I saw Elysium today on Starz Play. I was pretty blown away by the premise and the setting, but the plot arc was a snooze fest- shame!

[Walter Sobchak]

Veronica Mars. We rented the movie for $6 in HD off M-GO (Actually had free movie credit so it cost nothing. For any of you with a Roku, if you set up an M-Go account you get your first two movie rentals free.) instead of seeing it in the movie theater for $20+.

Surfah, thanks for the heads-up here. I set up our account the other weekend and we rented Saving Mr. Banks. The little on-screen confirmation said it wasn't free, but I figured it would just get credited on the account statement. I was wrong. I looked up the offer details on Roku and it said something like "every movie is free except those that aren't free" (or something to that effect). So I looked up the Saving Mr. Banks title on the Roku again and sure enough, IN CAPITAL LETTERS, it states that this movie isn't eligible for the free offer. It's pretty obvious really, lol. Swear that wasn't there before.

Anyway, we rented an actual free movie tonight, Enough Said. I quite liked it... a charming movie. Strong performances throughout with genuine dialog. Lots of talk about divorce and exes, which seems to get a lot of play around here lately.

Offer expires 3/31 (iirc), not sure what 2nd movie will be... but 12 Years A Slave is on there as well as Nebraska and many others talked about on this thread.

[Topper]

This forum is useful in that a number of your watch a good number of films, and provide useful reviews. Not meaning to leave anybody out, which I am sure I might do, but I am always keenly interested in what PAC, Katy Lied, Creekster, JL, Mark Grace, jay santos and a number of others. Keep up the reviews and recommendations.

[Topper]

Saw Noah. Meh.

Saw The Past on netflix, directed by Iranian phenom director Asghar Fahardi, who also directed A Separation, one of the best movies of 2011. I remember outraging my gospel doctrine class by telling them that A Separation shows Sharia law courts in Iran seemed very much like LDS members taking their petty squabbles and arguments and laying them at the feet of the bishop, and accepting whatever he ruled. I'm not talking about stoning and dismemberment and the freakish exaggeration of sharia law, I'm talking about the 90% of sharia rulings that are done by harried and overworked local clerics. But I digress.

The Past is about an Iranian man (Ahmad) married to a French woman (Marie), who has 2 daughters by a previous marriage. After a few years of marriage, the man abandons his family and flees to Tehran, and the couple has been separated for about 4 years now. Marie asks Ahmad back to France to sign divorce papers because it turns out that she has taken an Arab lover and wants to marry him. When Ahmad gets to France, the woman (Marie) asks him to speak to her 16 year old daughter, Lucie, who has grown very rebellious and hates the Arab fiance. Lucie was always partial to Ahmad when he was her stepfather, and Marie hopes that Ahmad will find out what is bothering Lucie.

In finest Fahardi fashion, he gets amazing performances from his cast, especially the young actress who plays Lucie (more about her later), and he introduces each character to his audience slowly, and just as soon as I've decided who the good guy and who the bad guy is, Fahardi turns the characterization on its head, and portrays the bad guy in sympathetic light and vice versa.

There is no action in this movie, but it is gripping and fraught with tension nonetheless. There is a climatic scene toward the end of the movie that depicts the arab lover talking to his young son Fuad in a Paris metro station that will have you on the edge of your seat. If you're in the mood for a french film, this is a great one.

The young actress who plays 16 year old Lucie looks like a young Marion Cotillard. Here is her photo:

I loved A Separation. In that vein, I also enjoyed though it involved horrible material, The Stoning of Soriya M. Not the same director but still fascinating. We'll make sure to watch and thanks for the heads up.

[LiveCoug]

Finally saw Gravity. I had fun.

[creekster]

Noah is not a good film.

Grand Budapest Hotel was very good.

[Walter Sobchak]

This forum is useful in that a number of your watch a good number of films, and provide useful reviews. Not meaning to leave anybody out, which I am sure I might do, but I am always keenly interested in what PAC, Katy Lied, Creekster, JL, Mark Grace, jay santos and a number of others. Keep up the reviews and recommendations.

Noah is not a good film.

Grand Budapest Hotel was very good.

Creekster brings his A game to this thread.

[creekster]

Creekster brings his A game to this thread.

I aim to please! Glad you were so happy with it

[YOhio]

Seems weird that they would make Noah so soon after Evan Almighty. Seems redundant, but I guess that's Hollywood for ya.

[PaloAltoCougar]

This doesn't even merit a post, but I'll proceed nonetheless. With the missus off to last evening's meeting, I was bored so I took in a viewing of our ex-Governor's new action film, Sabotage. Dreck. A fair amount of action, plenty violent, but rather lifeless and depressing, with nary a redeeming feature. One of the two female leads is supposed to be hot, at least early on, but she looks like a 50-year-old Jessica Chastain on the skids. I was intrigued by her utterly depressing character, and read this about her on IMDB: "Mireille Enos was born to an American father and French mother who met while her father was serving on a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." She attended BYU and is married to Alan Ruck, the guy who played Cameron in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Still not enough to make me like the movie.