What I've Been Watching: The Catch-All Film Thread

Watched American History X last night, and wow. I've not seen this since I first watched it in the theatre maybe twenty years ago? Powerful stuff, fine acting from Norton, Brooks, and Keach, heck everyone was good in it. When you aren't cringing, you know you're in the presence of the kind of film we're luck to view. Highly recommend if you've not seen it.

I did say it was better than predator …

Originally Posted by Carnifex
Watched American History X last night, and wow. I've not seen this since I first watched it in the theatre maybe twenty years ago? Powerful stuff, fine acting from Norton, Brooks, and Keach, heck everyone was good in it. When you aren't cringing, you know you're in the presence of the kind of film we're luck to view. Highly recommend if you've not seen it.

@Eye, Thank you, it's not so bad. Rugter is very young but already has that cheeky attitude that suit him so well, even when playing the nice guy.

At first sight it reminded me of this:



Ik ook heb jeugdherinneringen (thanks google trad!)

Originally Posted by Winterfart
@Eye, Thank you, it's not so bad. Rugter is very young but already has that cheeky attitude that suit him so well, even when playing the nice guy.

At first sight it reminded me of this:

Ik ook heb jeugdherinneringen (thanks google trad!)

Ha! Good translation.

Apparently that series of Thierry la Fronde was broadcasted in The Netherlands too, with Dutch subtitles. Later even available on DVD.
Your video is my first acquaintance. I prefer young Rutger to young Jean-Claude Drouot though. Much more sex appeal.

Originally Posted by Eye
I prefer young Rutger to young Jean-Claude Drouot though. Much more sex appeal.

Oh yeah, no contest here. Rugter is ze man.

@Winterfart
Since this thread is about flms and not series, maybe you are interested in ‘Turks Fruit’?
Paul Verhoeven Rutger Hauer, Jan de Bont (director of photography in this film, he was the director of Speed, maybe you know that film):

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070842/

Trivia
[…]
In 1973, it was the most successful Dutch film ever, and with 3 million tickets sold, it's still the most attended Dutch film in the Netherlands.
[…]
According to Paul Verhoeven, the film was submitted to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France, only to be angrily rejected as 'pornographic' by its board of directors. However, Verhoeven noted that the Japanese film Ai no korîda (1976), a French co-production which was even more explicit in its depiction of sexual activities and violence, was accepted into the festival without problems three years later.

If you’d only understand Dutch, you could watch it right now:
https://youtu.be/PFGLveC1CrY
Or
https://youtu.be/dMIV9uFgzA0
Oscar nomination for best non-English production.
Tearjerker - well, I couldn’t do without a tissue at the end.

Yes, thanks again, I know this one. It's called Turkish Delights in France, and I liked it.

One day, I bought a DVD box set with all dutch produced Verhoeven movies (no Robocop, Total Recall or Starship Troopers in it).
Soldier of Orange and Turkish Delights/Turk Fruits are my two favourite. I also liked Katie Tippel but didn't understand Verhoeven's purpose with that story (I think it's his only flaw as a storyteller: being sometime himself a little confuse about why he tells a story).

You were talking about romantic films ealier, and Turk Fruits is a very good exemple of what one can do in that genre with a decent script. No bullshits, only the depiction of how weird, complicated and even lame love can be, while remaining the thing we all fight for.
Very haunting movie.

My favourite scene from Soldier of Orange is the passionate waltz between the two former friends (the nazi collaborator and the resistant) during the nazi orgy. It's a little on the nose but still a nice allegory of the choice people had to make during the occupation period. And it's really well filmed.
Watching this then Black Book his almost like watching a sequel (except for Derek de Lint who has different roles in both movie).

Didn't see his last movie yet, I'm sure it's good.

PS: The french traduction for The Flying Dutch is Le Hollandais Volant.
Since Verhoeven has the reputation of making violent movies (and we love him for that) we affectuously nicknamed him "le Hollandais Violent" (the violent dutch).

I watched Verhoven's last film (?) about the female executive/owner of a french video game company that gets raped & brutalized by a masked "stranger" one night and doesn't report it because she wants to plot her own brand of revenge. It was pretty good, and certainly superior to the last few films of Brian De Palma (who despite his Hitch inspired/ripped-off technical wizardry I always felt rarely had the ability to rise above mediocre scripts, unlike Paul Verhoven who could sometimes achieve that).

Originally Posted by JackOfOwls
I watched Verhoven's last film (?) .

Elle.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3716530/
Great movie.

*sigh* I've completely forgot about it, was excited when I learned it's being made and later somehow it slipped through my attention. Added on top of my to watch list.
Especially thanks to imdb "reviewers" I want to see it asap, some of their "titles":
- If you have any self respect, stay away
- Petty nihilism on parade
- An insult to women and extreme sado-masochism masquerading as art--some
- Worst movie I've seen this year (and I watched Sausage Party)
- A shameful piece of trash
- Severely unfocused and underwhelmingly absurd

Maybe they're right, but truth to be told, usually I find those 1/10 on imdb utterly wrong. Definetly will share thoughts after I see it, hopefully in next few days.

Please, pretty please, bring up some more movies that aren't yet another Transformers or Star Wars spinoff mediocrity. I'm "not getting any younger" and I want to experience all of the unusual stuff before I die.

Originally Posted by joxer
Please, pretty please, bring up some more movies that aren't yet another Transformers or Star Wars spinoff mediocrity. I'm "not getting any younger" and I want to experience all of the unusual stuff before I die.

I watched a tv series of director Martin Koolhoven, in which he talks about movies that have had an influence on him. Last Friday the theme was ‘Erotica’.
In it he showed a scene of a Norwegian movie and said he found the scene disturbing and twisted, alarming and unpleasant to watch, but very well-done and completely believable: every blow is believable, and the blood shown is not too much or too red.
The particular scene was shown and I had to agree. I found it very hard to watch, I turned my head away.
Maybe your cup of tea?:
Naboer
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453383/

Btw Koolhoven is the director of Brimstone (among others):
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1895315/
Really loved that movie.

Originally Posted by vurt
Hereditary. Quite disturbing, and really great performances. Probably the best horror i've seen this decade. Far from perfect but that is rarely the case with horror.

Originally Posted by duerer
After the (IMHO) letdown of Hereditary, I wanted to see a "something different…

Watched the very same Hereditary.
This is supposed to be critically acclaimed horror of the century? Gimme a break, it's plain waste of time boring bullshit. It fails on every single aspect, so bad it can't be enjoyed even if one will try to see it as a comedy. I wish I could call it laughable, just can't, it's not some joke but an insult to any talented movie maker. Some could say style over substance, but it's not, even it's style sucks.

This abomination has 7.3 stars on imdb, 87% on metacritic and 89% on rottentomatoes. I mean wtf. How is that even possible?

One of worst movies I've seen in my life. Skip even if your life depends on it.

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Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Skyscraper - Well I was excited to watch this movie and it didn't disappoint. Though as another member said it's a modern day Die Hard Knock-off. Just with a weaker Hero.

Originally Posted by Caddy
Just watched Skyscraper. I'm assuming they are similar. A movie with an awful plot but that is still a fun way to kill time with some popcorn.

Originally Posted by Ripper
I'd steer clear of Skyscraper. It's like a copy of a copy of Die Hard, with all the personality stripped out and replaced with extreme lameness.

Watched Skyscraper too.
No, it's not Die Hard clone nor is something stripped.
The main is an invalid who turns his lack of leg into an asset/advantage. It's not wife and bunch of civillians, it's wife and two children stuck in a burning building. Certain scenes won't be easy to watch by people suffering from acrophobia.

Decent action flick with some plotholes, awsome choice for a night with friends.

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Not mentioned by anyone - Mile 22.
Action thriller with top notch combat scenes, bad direction and editing hell.
Twists throughout the film are great, but both director and editor should stay away from what's supposed to be a thriller in the future.

Yes, it's a wasted potential of both actors and script but it doesn't mean it's completely ruined, quite the contrary, I promise you'll have fun. Watch now.

Rumor not fully confirmed yet.

Disney's dropped Johnny Depp as Captain Sparrow & rebooting the Pirate franchise. Wait that's not all the new lead of the reboot movies, and her crew might be all female.


Link - https://www.express.co.uk/entertainm…epp-Emma-Stone
Link - https://comicbook.com/movies/2018/11…t-female-lead/

Geezuz. Such intellectual and creative poverty.

Geena Davis tried that and it flopped. Mind you she has some great movies but cutthroat island wasn't one of them.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Rumor not fully confirmed yet.

Disney's dropped Johnny Depp as Captain Sparrow & rebooting the Pirate franchise. Wait that's not all the new lead of the reboot movies, and her crew might be all female.

loading…

Link - https://www.express.co.uk/entertainm…epp-Emma-Stone
Link - https://comicbook.com/movies/2018/11…t-female-lead/

Originally Posted by you
Geena Davis tried that and it flopped. Mind you she has some great movies but cutthroat island wasn't one of them.

I actually remember having that movie on VHS it wasn't bad. Just borderline average.

The Great Wall - not a horrible movie but too much special effects; definitely didn't feel it was whitewashed as some people claimed. As far as I could tell there was only 3 'white' people and all 3 played European.
-
The story was yawn (reminds me of some other movie - maybe starship trooper but the high level plot has been used so many times perhaps some other movie). However, I don't think it was a horrible movie - definitely worth $5 i paid for the bluray.

So Disney got rid of Johnny Depp? Why? Because he's an asshole? I always liked him as an actor but felt neutral about him as a person. Didn't know a single thing about his private life until I saw that home video by his slightly shady wife taping him being drunk and verbally belligerent. Even then I didn't feel anything. "Hey, she puts up with it!" I figured. She wants lots of nice things in life and is willing to eat a lot of shit to get them. Maybe they deserved each other.

I'd been meaning to watch Elle for a quite some time and was recently spurred to do so by the commentary in this thread. Nice to see that Verhoeven hasn't lost his knack for seriously messed up movies

We were talking about jump scares earlier in this topic. Just watched episode 5 of The Haunting of Hill House and there's an excellent jump scare in the scene where Nell (very sad to know what happens to most of these kids when they grow up due to the brilliant use of its truly non-linear, overlapping narrative and dedicated character chapters) is walking down the hotel hallway with "buggy" florescent lights when suddenly- well, just watch it if you haven't. I never jump but I did here. It's a television series but it feels like a good horror film.