What DVDs have you seen recently?

[haha]

Hable Con Ella, Pedro Almodovar. I saw this on screen when it came out, some years ago. Beautiful movie in every way, so I bought it and watch every 3 months or so.

A side benefit is that I can understand Iberian Spanish much better than the American type.

Ha

 

[Nemo2]

Reminded me a lot of how much we loved
Second Hand Lions, another wonderful adventure movie along the same lines.

Watched it 3 years ago on a flight back from South Africa...loved it!

 

[happy2bretired]

I just finished the 4th season of Breaking Bad on Netflix. I have the original series of Upstairs Downstairs in my instant queue now. I've watched the new version but not the old version. I remember my parents watching the original version when I was still living at home, many years ago, thinking that must be a BORING program. Now, I'm as old as they were then and I want to watch it. That must make me boring now.

 

[Meadbh]

Last week I watched The Hunger Games on my iPad. It was OK. I actually thought the book was better.

 

[Moscyn]

The Vow - inspired by true events. A newlywed couple (Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams) recovers from a car accident that puts the wife in a coma. Waking up, she remembers everything except the last 5 years of her life. Her husband has to win her heart again. Some critics call it shallow but what the heck, this is a good romance movie with great acting from all.

 

[Free To Canoe]

The Top 10 Movies thread reminded me of good movies that I have seen recently:
RED Retired Extremely Dangerous
Paul
Book of Eli

Paul was a real surprise. UFO alien hooks up young male UFO believers. Contrary to what is implied, the plot has twists and there is depth and humor in the movie.

 

[Nemo2]

Currently watching the Rake series from Australia......superb!

 

[dtbach]

Just saw Acts of Valor. Some re-enactments of what our Navy SEAL's do in our defense. We are lucky that "rough men do violent acts for us while we sleep"

 

[NW-Bound]

In a recent trip driving down I-5 from SF to LA, I saw many signs put up by farmers protesting the lack of water for irrigation. That reminded me of the movie Chinatown, and I wanted to see it again, as I remembered that the plot was about water rights in Southern CA.

Got it from the local library and watched it this afternoon. I paid more attention to the dialog this time, and enjoyed it more than when I first watched it many years ago.

From Wikipedia,

Chinatown has been frequently cited as one of the greatest films ever made. It holds second place on the American Film Institute list of Best Mystery Films of all time... In 1991, Chinatown was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."​

With classic movies like this on DVD, we have not felt the need to go to the movie theaters in years. And I am sure there are more to last me a very long time.

 

[Livin Large in MT]

We just finished watching The Way, with Martin Sheen playing a 60'ish guy making the pilgrimage from the French Pyrennees through N Spain to the resting place of St James...some 500 k...he is a typical American businessman who chucks it all to reprise the walk his son was attempting when his son died on the trail. Beautiful scenery, made me miss Spain (we spent a grand couple weeks there over Christmas in Barcelona a couple years ago and still agree it was the best vaca ever with our Africa Peace Corps kids rendezvousing with us in an apt just off the Rambla) and made me think that making that trek might be fun.

 

[Moscyn]

Just watched What's Eating Gilbert Grape? Gilbert has to care for his brother Arnie and his obese mother, which gets in the way when love walks into his life. Even if you don't like watching movies about dysfunctional families, you will appreciate Johnny Depp's and Leonardo DiCaprios' fantastic performances.

 

[Sarah in SC]

I finally watched Testament, recommended by REWahoo. Had to get it on VHS (speaking of obsolete things) but I thought it was really good. Didn't hold DH's attention, but I really found it interesting. Filmed in 1983, it reminded me of life in shadow of nuclear threats, which seem to have faded from the collective memory. My millennial friends have no idea what I'm talking about when I mention things from that era.

 

[Lsbcal]

Watched True Grit with DW. She groaned at first ... "a western?". But then she really liked it.

 

[dmdunca44]

We just watched "Most Exotic Marigold Hotel", and really enjoyed it. It veered from the book, but was still good.

 

[NW-Bound]

Watched True Grit with DW. She groaned at first ... "a western?". But then she really liked it.

We recently watch the same, and liked it. Then, I found out that it was a remake of the movie of the same title. The original 1969 movie won John Wayne an Oscar. I don't think it has been released in DVD.

 

[Lsbcal]

Just got done watching Dark Shadows with Johnny Depp. This is uncharacteristic of me and DW could not believe her good luck that I was keen to watch this. I'd describe it as a cool mixture of classical English, Americana circa early 1970's, vampire film and romantic comedy. Should be watched at night since a lot of the scenes are darkish and atmospheric. Great 1970's music.

 

[Sarah in SC]

We got a Netflix free trial to be able to watch the three videos that comprise the entire series of Long Way Round, about a motorcycle trip undertaken in 2004 by two friends from the UK. We quite enjoyed the story and the scenery, as it covered many of the areas we will see next summer.

The two friends in the series are movie actors, though I've never seen their films. One was Ewan MacGregor and the other was Charley Bootman. i also read the book about their trip, which was nice.

I was surprised at how limited the Netflix inventory is, though, with very few documentaries and travel stories. It seems mostly to stock comedy and drama fiction rather than the sorts of things we might want to see.

 

[REWahoo]

I was surprised at how limited the Netflix inventory is, though, with very few documentaries and travel stories. It seems mostly to stock comedy and drama fiction rather than the sorts of things we might want to see.

You're surprised the average John Q Public wants laughs and pulp fiction rather than travel documentaries? I'm surprised...

 

[Lsbcal]

...(snip)...
I was surprised at how limited the Netflix inventory is, though, with very few documentaries and travel stories. It seems mostly to stock comedy and drama fiction rather than the sorts of things we might want to see.

I'm not going to make excuses for Netflix. They have a pretty decent inventory in DVD's but the streaming inventory really sucks. We seem to be stuck with mainstream American preferences.

 

[davemartin88]

We recently watch the same, and liked it. Then, I found out that it was a remake of the movie of the same title. The original 1969 movie won John Wayne an Oscar. I don't think it has been released in DVD.

The original True Grit is available on DVD and Blu-ray on Amazon if you're interested.

We watched "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World" starting Steve Carell and Keira Knightly. We liked it, a bit dark but Carell was better in this role than I expected.

 

[Sarah in SC]

You're surprised the average John Q Public wants laughs and pulp fiction rather than travel documentaries? I'm surprised...

Lol-I do see your point there. Never mind.

 

[MBAustin]

We watched Bernie last weekend on the advice of several friends and thoroughly enjoyed it. Hard to believe that a true murder case could be made into a hilarious movie.

PS It probably helps if you are a Texan as there are some "inside jokes".

 

[Ally]

I just finished the 4th season of Breaking Bad on Netflix. I have the original series of Upstairs Downstairs in my instant queue now. I've watched the new version but not the old version. I remember my parents watching the original version when I was still living at home, many years ago, thinking that must be a BORING program. Now, I'm as old as they were then and I want to watch it. That must make me boring now.

I'm almost to the end of the original series on Netflix and love it. The first two or three episodes were a little odd, but once it hits its stride, it's great.

 

[Nemo2]

Kindly provided by a friend, we're currently watching the 2nd season of Rake........funny, with some tremendous dialogue.

Rake - ABC TV

 

[Sarah in SC]

Bernie was SO good! I really liked it a lot and it helped to know some of the background from folks out there.

Just watched the Art of Travel. What a great travel movie! I'd seen it on a list of inspirational travel movies and thought we'd check it out. Very very good! Highly recommended for those interested in Central and South America, but also a cute coming of age as a backpacker story, too.