The "last movie I saw" thread

[Maximus]

This brings up a question I have had for years that I cannot find an answer to. Perhaps you might know. I've heard that suicide bombers are lauded by their families and villages after they are gone, and that money comes in to their familes, who are made financially secure as a result of their sacrifice. (I've no idea how true this is). If it is, why don't the victims of the suicide bombing sue the family of the bomber for compensation? This would deprive the family of funds and nullify some of the incentives for suicide bombing.

(I am not asking this question in a normative sense; I'm not saying suicide bombing is right or wrong. I am merely asking why Israelis do not pursue this tactic to decrease the incidence of suicide bombing)

I do not know much about that, but I would guess it would have to do with the lack of authority that Israeli families would have to sue non Israeli families, and what proof is there that the family is responsible? If they are paid for their loss, you would have to sue the terrorist organization, not the family.

[Green Lantern]

We saw The American on Friday. This one got mixed reviews but my wife and I found it to be excellently directed, very suspenseful and possessed of a great paranoid tone. We loved it.

[creekster]

This brings up a question I have had for years that I cannot find an answer to. Perhaps you might know. I've heard that suicide bombers are lauded by their families and villages after they are gone, and that money comes in to their familes, who are made financially secure as a result of their sacrifice. (I've no idea how true this is). If it is, why don't the victims of the suicide bombing sue the family of the bomber for compensation? This would deprive the family of funds and nullify some of the incentives for suicide bombing.

(I am not asking this question in a normative sense; I'm not saying suicide bombing is right or wrong. I am merely asking why Israelis do not pursue this tactic to decrease the incidence of suicide bombing)

On what legal theory? You sue the family for what? You could sue the bomber's estate, but the cash didnt go to the bomber, it went to his family. Should we sue the parents of drunk drivers and take their homes becasue their kids killed someone while driving drunk? If you could sue the families why limit it to those families where they received compensation? Why not sue the families of sucide bombers, all of them, as well as rock thorwers and missile launchers and so forth?

[BoylenOver]

We also re-watched Winter's Bone, which just came out on DVD. One of the best films of the year. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the suggestion. Very unique and gritty.

[jay santos]

Thanks for the suggestion. Very unique and gritty.

We watched Winter's Bone last weekend. Very interesting. I was fascinated the first half of the movie. It was on pace to be one of my top three movies of the year. But the plot line and the characters' motivations just tanked for me. Maybe I just couldn't relate to the mentality and it was a great portrayal, but something just felt totally off, even given the backwardness and education level of the characters.

[Green Lantern]

We watched Winter's Bone last weekend. Very interesting. I was fascinated the first half of the movie. It was on pace to be one of my top three movies of the year. But the plot line and the characters' motivations just tanked for me. Maybe I just couldn't relate to the mentality and it was a great portrayal, but something just felt totally off, even given the backwardness and education level of the characters.

That's an interesting critique. Care to elaborate? (You can put it in spoiler tags if you need to.)

[LA Ute]

We saw "RED" on a whim. Not a great film but kind of a fun guilty pleasure with a few LOL moments. John Malkovich plays a nutty ex-CIA agent, and that performance alone was worth the price of admission.

[jay santos]

That's an interesting critique. Care to elaborate? (You can put it in spoiler tags if you need to.)

Spoiler for spoiler:

OK, so they set up a totally fascinating world with these characters and their lives and everything and they had a nice little mystery suspense thing wondering what the dad had gotten himself into. The bad guys didn't seem believable how they were reacting to this girl. All she wanted was to ask where her dad was. They knew the underground world already knew they killed him. Why so secretive? Why so aggressive? What info did the girl's dad have to begin with that the cops would be willing to deal and someone rich paid him off? They never explained. What was the deal with the men surrounding her in that barn? Were they going to rape her? wtf? The logic all the people used, from the girl to the bad guys to the girl's dad to the girl's uncle to the cop, it was all backwards and made no sense. But like I said maybe that was part of the point, to create a world where people used thinking processes that the rest of the world doesn't even understand?

[DapperDan]

Just watched Four Lions. It's about a group of British Muslim terrorists, that happen to be idiots.

Terrorism is an odd subject for a comedy, but I cannot remember the last movie that made me laugh as hard as this. We were literally wiping tears from our eyes.


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[Donuthole]

Saw Reservoir Dogs last week. Pretty awesome. Classic Tarantino storytelling, and Tim Roth was outstanding. Too bad he's relegated to that crappy Fox show, anymore.

I also watched Shaun of the Dead last night. It was fun, and had its share of clever moments, but it didn't provide nearly the number of laugh-out-loud moments I was anticipating. I think I prefer Zombieland for a comedic zombie thriller.

[Green Lantern]

"The Room", starring Tommy Wiseau.

Not sure who recommended it to me, but it's the worst thing I've seen in a long time. I turned it off after ten minutes. It was like watching a porno without the good stuff.

Finally watched this over the weekend with a group of friends. I know we had an entire discussion earlier in this thread about the merits (or lack thereof) of ironic enjoyment, and I agree to some extent with what you were saying, but this was one of the most enjoyable bad movies I have ever seen. We were laughing nonstop throughout the film. I don't know if it would have been as much fun watching it alone but with a group it was gold. I highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of legendarily bad movies. And watch the special features too because there is an interview with the director/writer/star Tommy Wiseau that's as good as anything in the film.

I really want to watch that, but I didn't know where to get it. Where did you rent your copy? What I've seen on YouTube is really entertaining.

We checked it out from Tower Theatre. It's in their "cult classics" section.

[Katy Lied]

Following Green Lantern's advice, I watched Following, the student film by Christopher Nolan filmed for $6,000. It was pretty good, and had a crack convoluted plot.

I noticed something interesting. When they burgle the protagonist's (Bill's) apartment, he has a batman sticker on his door. I wonder if this signalled Nolan's interest in the batman series 8 years prior to getting the director's nod.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I watched The Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de sus ojos) over the weekend--it won Best Foreign Film last year. It's subtitled (the characters speak in some weird moon man language) and the dialogue is often quick so one tends to stay fixed on the bottom part of the screen. The performances ranged from very good to great, but I found the movie a bit confusing as it bounced back and forth between events 25 years apart (the main character sometimes looked older in his "youth" than he did in his dotage). But it was a nice study of how one longs to tie up loose ends after brooding about missteps and hesitations (professionally and personally) one made many years earlier.

[LA Ute]

After reporting on "RED" as the last movie I saw I am starting to feel like a pop culture junkie among all the films commented on here. (A "film," of course, is very different from a mere "movie.")

Last night my wife and I went out on impulse into the frigid Salt Lake air and saw "Morning Glory." It was great. I don't remember the last time I laughed out loud in a movie the way I did last night.

For people who follow The Industry, it was interesting to watch the changing of the guard taking place. This is really Rachel McAdams' movie. She is in almost every frame and does a good job of playing a bubbly-smart-endearing comic lead. Harrison Ford plays a crusty old national news anchor on the edge of being past his prime, and Diane Keaton plays the third or fourth banana in the movie. All three are pretty good at comedy.

Anyway, a somewhat implausible, very funny feel-good story that will be especially hilarious to anyone who knows anything about the TV news business.

[Green Lantern]

I still want to see RED but I'll probably have to wait until a night when my wife is doing something else.

I watched Miracle for the first time last night after a coworker lent it to me. Man, that has instantly jumped into my personal list of Best Sports Movies Ever. Why have I not watched this before now? Kurt Russell is in my personal pantheon of actors. He's fantastic as Herb Brooks.