What Emmanuelle Movie Did You Just Watch?

[Abraham Smashington]

True Romance is Pitt's best performance.

[Matt]

I kinda put ENDER'S GAME in the same category as THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO: Unremarkable yet thoroughly competent films that, for some reason, just hit me in the sweet spot and totally connect with me.

[B_Metal]

True Romance is Pitt's best performance.

I don't know........ I always kind of preferred this one.

FUCK EMBED

[Bobby Bear]

I'm glad you enjoyed Moneyball so much too, Ben! I may be pretty easy on sports movies generally, but I could tell very quickly it was a superior piece of work - one I'm hoping to revisit soon.

I've not seen Romance in such a long time. I was definitely thinking more of Pitt's major/leading roles, though.

[Ben Thomas]

People pile on Sorkin, but whatever his contribution to the Moneyball script (he's co-credited with Steven Zaillian), that's a water-tight, precision-built screenplay right there.

[BMichaelKrol]

People pile on Sorkin, but whatever his contribution to the Moneyball script (he's co-credited with Steven Zaillian), that's a water-tight, precision-built screenplay right there.

I really dug that movie. Like, a lot. The soundtrack is pretty good too.

Now I'm about five minutes into Hellraiser: Revelations and, dear god, is it awful.

[Ben Thomas]

Someone to Watch Over Me

I watched it for the podcast, but I've been meaning to give it another go for years, having only seen it once in my very early teens. I didn't rate it much then, presumably because not much happens that's especially original. What I now realise is how beautifully made this film is and how the interesting aspects of the story are actually centred around the wife character that Lorraine Bracco plays.

Seriously, Ridley can light a set like nobody. This film is gorgeous from start to finish, even on regular DVD (I'd splash for a blu, I reckon) and not only because of all the smoke and low-light - the way Berenger's face is lit actually informs the viewer of the mind-state of his character. Whichever side he is lit from is what he is being pulled toward, starting with his ride into the city on the subway and that flickering light, broken up by one flash of pure light as he starts to enter Claire's world. Stunning stuff. I reckon some of the reason Ridley Scott's forays into green-screen filmmaking have felt visually disconnected, at times, is because it is impossible to artificially recreate what he can do with a physical space.

Unfortunately, Berenger looks the part but doesn't quite nail the dramatic moments, so it's left to Bracco to do the actual acting and she not only has the toughest character moments to sell, she gets to give a proper performance. Bracco makes a real impression with just a handful of scenes and without her, the whole conflict in Berenger's arc falls apart completely. I wouldn't be surprised if she got Goodfellas on the back of this.

There's also some interesting parallels to Blade Runner. Berenger's Mike looks so much like Deckard at times, even down to the bad tie and raincoat - chronologically, he's an earlier prototype of Ford's Deckard, another man out of time, given a glimpse into a different, richer world. Michael Kamen's score even reworks the slow piano queue from Vangelis' score, that undercut Rachel realising her memories are not her own.

All in all, it's no Body Heat - it's probably not even a Fatal Attraction - but it is worth watching to see Scott's 80s take on a 40s noir. I can see why it is relatively well regarded. Not only does it call back to those earlier films in its style and content, those films were often made by European directors at the peak of their creative powers, taking on very American stories and settings and elevating them in the process. That's exactly what Scott is doing here.

[Matt]

I may need to give that one another go. I remember it being a beautiful, terrible film, with Lorraine Bracco and Andreas Katsulas being the only redeeming factors in it. Berenger, as I recall, is absolutely wretched in the lead role (and has a terrible accent iirc), and Mimi Rogers is a wooden board. Their affair is completely unconvincing.

But yeah, I remember Bracco being fantastic and underused.

[Ben Thomas]

It's a mixed bag, but there's enough in there to recommend.

The musical queue I was talking about is called Memories of Green on the Blade Runner soundtrack, by the way. Beautiful.

[Captain Russ]

The Wolverine.

What was a really fun sort of throwback to the leaner, meaner action movies of yesteryear was almost derailed by a really uninspired femme fatale who couldn't talk without chewing her face. The casting director did so well with everyone else though. Seriously, when my only complaint is one goddamn cast member, it's a pretty good show.

I didn't even have a problem with the Silver Samurai.

And I love the Silver Samurai. That dude is ridiculous.

[Ben Thomas]

Lockout

I can see all it's shortcomings, not least the bizarre shift in pacing for the final 15 minutes, but I had a blast with this.

[Abraham Smashington]

IM3. Still really enjoy this flick. Much more than I did originally in the theater.

[IggytheBorg]

Took the boy to see Thor: TDW yesterday. I liked it. He LOVED it. Agreed Hemsworth isn't a great leading man in these, but I sense he has potential. I'd like to see him exploit it a bit more. Hopkins got the tone & even more so the LOOK of Odin down to a fucking science. Hiddleston's Loki was hilarious & droll, as expected. I also wholeheartedly agree w/ Ben that the villain was perfectly adequate but nothing to write home about. Pacing was a bot off, I thought. It felt kind of rushed to me. But I'll add this to the comic geek's superhero movie collection I'm building for sure.

My son had to go the bathroom, so we left after the Collector Easter Egg. Was there another at the end of the credits? If so, what was it?

[BillyG]

IM3. Still really enjoy this flick. Much more than I did originally in the theater.

Still think it's the best thing Abrams has done, and it's not even close.

[Abraham Smashington]

haha, not Mission:Impossible 3 but Iron Man 3.

I do agree that MI3 is pretty sweet.