The last movie you saw Thread

[Primula Baggins]

I hate it when he does that.

[River]

Orly was always a little too pretty for my tastes.

Saw Machete Kills last night. It was generally stupid, but most of the time the stupid crossed the line into hilarious so I didn't mind that I couldn't quite follow some parts of the plot. Seriously. It was like the production team just sat down, came up with a series of utterly preposterous characters, scenes, and set pieces, and then strung them together into something that, if you tilt your head just so and squint, almost kind of sort of maybe resembles a story. Last night it hit the spot but I'm not sure I'd recommend it on a normal day.

[Túrin Turambar]

I have to admit that, when I first saw Casino Royale, I was slightly wowed by Daniel Craig and I'm a straight man . And like Connery, he bought to the role a veneer of sophistication over a hard and ruthless character, which to me was always one of the defining features of Fleming's Bond and part of his appeal.

[Frelga]

Craig is in my top three favorite bonds. I can't decide if I like Dalton or Brosnan second to Connery.

[yovargas]

I have to admit that, when I first saw Casino Royale, I was slightly wowed by Daniel Craig and I'm a straight man .

Now that's a ringing endorsement if ever there was one!

(I think I had a similar reaction for Scarlett Johansenn's Black Widow. I mean, damn girl....)

[Túrin Turambar]

Craig is in my top three favorite bonds. I can't decide if I like Dalton or Brosnan second to Connery.

Timothy Dalton's James Bond is a fascinating study in book-to-film adaptation. Not only does Dalton physically resemble Fleming's Bond by description, he also carefully studied the books to try and bring the character to life as accurately as possible. I quite like Dalton's Bond and think it's a shame that he was given poor material to work with, but outside the most die-hard Fleming fans I'm yet to find someone who prefers Dalton to Connery's less-faithful but flashier and arguably more entertaining take on character. For the strengths of Dalton's portrayal he comes across to me as a bit drab.

[Lalaith]

I will admit that he plays the part very well.


And I saw another movie yesterday (ladies' night out). Meet the Patels. Has anyone else seen it? I have to run at the moment, but I'll be back to discuss it.

[Teremia]

I keep wanting my task list to ease up so I can finally go see THE MARTIAN!

But reading this thread gives me vicarious pleasure, so there's that.

[Lalaith]

Meet the Patels was very interesting! And funny, as well as poignant (but not in a very sad way). I had no idea Indian culture was this way. (I should say that I didn't know this particular segment of Indian culture was this way.)

[Inanna]

I will look out for it, Lali! But since it will be a long way off - can you elaborate on which pieces of the culture?

[Lalaith]

Yes. I had too much wine last night, and that was as coherent as I could be.

It's a documentary filmed by the sister of the main character. Here's the website:

http://www.meetthepatelsfilm.com/

(No, it's not all animated. I had a moment of panic when it started because I was not prepared for animation.)

Basically, it's about this guy, Ravi, who is almost 30 and not married. He breaks up with his secret girlfriend (a very white redhead ) and allows his parents to try to arrange a match for him. They travel to India for the wedding season, use Biodata matching stuff, online Indian matchmaking sites, a Patel reunion/match-making convention, etc.

I loved his dad (and his mom), but his dad was cute and funny.

It was just very good! I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on it if you ever do see it.

[Inanna]

The setup sounds typical.

[Lalaith]

I just had no idea of the whole system and setup!

[Frelga]

I've never seen Top Gun until today. I remember the tiny crush I had on young Cruise, which seems odd now.

Huh, GI Joe came on. What a strange opening sequence. Oh hey, there's Eccleston.

All right, I'll spare you the liveblogging and go do something productive.

[Lalaith]

But the volleyball scene! That's pretty much all I remember about the movie besides the sad part.

[Inanna]

You'd never seen Top Gun. Gasp.

[Frelga]

But I did see Hot Shots or whatever they called that Charlie Sheen spoof.

I did not watch G. I. Joe, BTW. The first five minutes were like chewing through cardboard.

[Inanna]

That was the funniest spoof ever.

[Lalaith]

I really like spoofs!

Space Balls is a great one!

[River]

I first saw Top Gun when I was in grade school. I liked the dog fights. Later, much later, I got more into the volley ball scene.