Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Clear History - 7/10
If you like "Curb Your Enthusiasm", you'll like this.. I love Chicago, and I like Larry David. I used to see this on HBO when I lived elsewhere, and thought it would be something easy to watch last night, to finish up today, without having to pay attention to every detail.

Interesting Chicago has been a band for 55 years, but all the songs were from the 1970s - just like God meant it to be.


"She blew Chicago"
"The city?"
"The band!"
"25 or 6 to 4 Chicago?" - Tibor

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Petite Maman -

This is a simple, elegant and bittersweet tale about a young lady, Nelly, who loses her grandmother. She stays at her house, which is in a seemingly magical forest, for a few days while her mom and dad clean it out. While exploring, she meets another girl who she bonds with immediately. If it's autumn where you live, I recommend watching it sooner than later because it will enhance the movie's appropriately autumnal vibes. I also don't recommend reading too much about it before going in because there's a moment that's best experienced firsthand. I know that doesn't give you much to chew on, but the movie definitely will, specifically about grief and childhood; i.e. that we sadly don't fully appreciate what's special about it and the connections we have during it until it's over. Fans of My Neighbor Totoro are especially bound to enjoy it.

German film with a typical thriller plot centered around 2 almost identical crimes committed over 20 years apart. But I didn't see it as a typical thriller because there's really no thrills to speak of. There is a lot of intensity but there's a bigger focus on remorse and grief. Definitely recommended and available on Tubi.

I loved this movie when I was younger, watched it several times, but have not seen in in literally 30 years. Been thinking about revisiting it but your fairly low score gives me pause.

Crazy Rich Asians, 2018

Rachel (Constance Wu) is a university economics professor, dating the kind, charismatic Nick (Henry Golding). But it turns out that Nick is more than just a nice guy---he's part of an incredibly wealthy family, something that Rachel discovers when they travel to Singapore for the wedding of Nick's good friend. Nick's family, including his imposing mother Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh) all perceive Rachel as a gold-digger and do their best to drive a wedge between Nick and Rachel.

This was an overall very charming romantic comedy that was absolutely gorgeous to look at. While I felt that it left certain issues unresolved, it made for easy, fun viewing.

Constance Wu has good comedic and dramatic range, and she makes for a very sympathetic protagonist. Rachel is constantly provoked and criticized, even by those characters who are seemingly on her side, and she faces the challenge of being forced to decide whether to reinvent herself to please these people. Wu does a good job of portraying that tricky spot where someone is trying not to let something get to them, but only having moderate success.

Golding is fine, if maybe a bit bland, as Nick. The main flair in the film is delivered by Awkwafina, as family friend Peik Lin Goh. Michelle Yeoh is very strong as the family's icy second-in-command matriarch---the true queen bee is Lisa Lu's Ah Ma--who was once herself not considered worthy of being part of the family.

Fitting well the notion of people who have more money than they know what to do with, the settings and costumes are lush, colorful, and tailored to a T. Everything from the flowers to he furniture to the clothing to the food looks lush and lavish.

While I enjoyed the film overall, I'm not sure that it really resolved the central question that hangs over multiple characters, namely what it means to be an outsider coming up against a very wealthy, very insular group. We see this plot not only with Rachel and with Eleanor's memories, but also in a side plot about Nick's cousin, Astrid (Gemma Chan) and her husband's feelings of inferiority.

The movie sort of hand waves the issues away, but it seems really strange to me that Astrid's husband is seen to be a straighforward bad guy because of his feelings of not being enough. We have seen the way that Rachel is treated (and bullied, and harassed, etc), and I Can imagine that dynamic would put a tremendous strain on a person. Astrid's husband does have an affair, and it seems like that should have been more of the focus of Astrid's anger. And going back to the main pot, dear goodness, why would you want to be part of Nick's family?!

There's also never any kind of reckoning with the fact that the kind of wealth and excess we see in this film is pretty gross from just about any point of view: environmental, human exploitation, etc. The angle the movie takes is that Rachel would be scoring a victory to become one of these people, and I find that kind of a depressing thought.

Good times, but not a lot of depth.

Blind pick off the female director's list. A quick look tells me it's a coming of age drama about a teen's struggle to come out as a lesbian. I love coming of age films, but it's normally because of nostalgia or humor. There wouldn't be any of that for me in this film so I had my doubts. As I get older I increasingly minimize the problems of a younger age. I basically view it as if you have your health, and then youth on top of it, then you have everything. But this movie worked, it was an 86 minute powerhouse. Excellent performances and characters I cared about. Not the kind of film I would have picked out myself and that's a big reason why I find so many great movies on this forum.

Nah Wooley, I'm no Barry Norman. It's a good watch, I was maybe comparing it too harshly against "Scum" which had much more social awareness but they are different films altogether. Both have their attributes.

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Cobra Verde - (1987)

During the slave trade there was a criminal element that, although not particularly racist or white supremacist, took advantage of circumstances and enriched themselves. They belonged on neither side of the debate, but being of criminal minds sunk to the level of the depraved in the whole rotten business. Klaus Kinski plays Cobra Verde (Francisco Manoel da Silva) with wearied debauchery in this, his last collaboration with Werner Herzog. The venom unleashed by him towards his director/nemesis and the entire crew making this film seethes into his performance itself, and while that isn't a bad thing, things had finally gotten to a point where the actor and Herzog would part ways permanently. We rocket through the story, but everything works really well and comes through vividly in this film, set towards the end of the trade in the Americas. This is worthy of a Kinski/Herzog collaboration - based on the novel 'The Viceroy of Ouidah' by Bruce Chatwin.

8/10


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The World According to Garp - (1982)

My feelings towards The World According to Garp change a lot. I first saw it as a kid and loved it, going on to read John Irving's novel in my teenage years and feeling the same way towards that. Perhaps that ruined the film for me - because later viewings had me liking it a lot less. Now, rewatching it after many years, I'm back on the bandwagon - Garp says a lot to me, has a fine screenplay, and a cast that all come through - especially John Lithgow and Glenn Close, who were nominated for Oscars. The film has a cheerful, light surface but underneath is a really black comedy which explores the tribulations of life, love and our place in the world. It's not afraid to be a mainstream film exploring topics based on gender, sexuality and death. It features Amanda Plummer in a small, early role.

8/10


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Ten Canoes - (2006)

Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland have a shared history and culture that goes back some 50,000 years, and survive in one of the harshest environments on the planet. Ten Canoes is an Australian Aboriginal language film and is in colour and black and white - delineating a moral story being told (in colour) and reality (black and white). You really get to know many things you had no idea of, considering the cultural differences and practices of these people. In a super controversial move, the film had a white director. Make of that what you will - but despite that, I still think it's an awesome film - and I recommend it highly. It swept the Australian Film Awards the year it came out, and every aspect of it casts a distinct spell that's not easy to compare to many other films at all. I implore anyone reading this to watch Ten Canoes.

8/10

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I reviewed it a little while back and I agree it is really compelling.

Villain 2020


Surprisingly good for a Craig Fairbrass led vehicle, the British hardman who has made a slew of low rent Brit gangster flicks. Nothing very original, you know the story, a hardened criminal gets out of prison wanting to go straight but is pulled back into the criminal underworld for one last time. It was actually pretty good,simple but satisfying and with two really sinister villains. Good acting all round. I did guess what the ending would be about halfway through when something happened but that didn't really bother, it was pretty alright you know, I can see Fairbrass breaking into Hollywood at some time, possibly.. as a kind of Ray Winston figure

I guess I can call it a work of Art?

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Bloody Moon (1981)

This reminded me of a giallo but is more just a Spanish horror. The acting is ok but the editing could have been better I think. It drags in places and then picks up the pace absurdly but I liked it. Some bits (the version I watched) look like out-takes but I suppose you can only wee with the willie you have.

I think if you go into these films knowing it's low-rent "Lahndahn" gangster stuff then they are a decent watch. You can at least play "he was in Eastenders/Grange Hill"

Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham were in the stage version of Frankie and Johnny...

I'm not one who thinks that animated films are just for kids, but I felt like this was more suited for them. I liked the concept and the animation is great. I don't have anything negative to say at all, but I was never more than amused.

There was a TV series a couple decades back called "Herman's Head" which was a very similar concept - it was a sitcom with 4 additional actors playing different aspects of the main character's personality & emotional make-up.

I enjoyed Inside Out, but thought some of the concepts might be over kids' heads - which wasn't a bad thing as it had enough for kids plus some concepts that adults could appreciate.

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The World According to Garp - (1982)

My feelings towards The World According to Garp change a lot. I first saw it as a kid and loved it, going on to read John Irving's novel in my teenage years and feeling the same way towards that. Perhaps that ruined the film for me - because later viewings had me liking it a lot less. Now, rewatching it after many years, I'm back on the bandwagon - Garp says a lot to me, has a fine screenplay, and a cast that all come through - especially John Lithgow and Glenn Close, who were nominated for Oscars. The film has a cheerful, light surface but underneath is a really black comedy which explores the tribulations of life, love and our place in the world. It's not afraid to be a mainstream film exploring topics based on gender, sexuality and death. It features Amanda Plummer in a small, early role.

8/10

Love this movie...I think it improves with each re-watch. Glad you're back on the bandwagon.

The Platform (2020)


This movie almost made the 'couldnt even finish' list because of how grisly some of the violence and food consumption behavior was, but I wanted to get through the philosophical message it was trying to convey. It really didn't payoff, and I have seen a lot of other people criticize it similarly. The movie was fine, but the themes didn't go as deep as I may have liked them too.

Bridge of Spies, 2015

Lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is asked to act as defense counsel to a man named Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) who has been arrested as a Soviet spy. Donovan goes beyond just the rote defense of his client, and his impressive performance leads to a additional ask: he becomes the chief negotiator in trying to arrange a deal to trade Abel for a captured American pilot named Powers (Austin Stowell) and an American student (Will Rogers) who was arrested in East Berlin. All the while, Donovan's work takes a toll on his family.

This was a solid true-history film with engaging lead performances, though it somehow seemed to lack a compelling momentum.

In some ways, this movie feels like two different stories inside the same film. The first story is about a man defending someone who is supposed to only get a gesture of a real trial. The slow forging of respect between Donovan and Abel is nicely done, especially with the note that Donovan never asks Abel if he is guilty or not.

The second story is that of the tense prisoner exchange, as Donovan tries to triangulate between the German and Russian governments, everyone hypersensitive to whether they are perceived as coming out with the better deal. Donovan's "aw shucks" yet shrewd approach to these negotiations is entertaining as he comes up against much more tight-lipped representatives for the other countries.

With such a prestigious catalog of people working on this film--co-written by the Coen brothers, directed by Spielberg, etc--you expect it to look good and it does. The sets and costumes, especially the snow-covered streets of Germany, look great.

At the same time, the film seems to back off of one of its most interesting themes, namely the difficulty of doing the right thing even in difficult circumstances. When Donovan starts defending Abel, he quickly becomes a target of hatred, including people firing a gun into his home and nearly hitting his daughter. He's seen as being un-American and is criticized by the police who are meant to be protecting him. Donovan is living up to his duty as a lawyer and to the principles of democracy and due process, but a lot of people vilify him as if he is on Abel's side.

But at the end of the film, the hostage exchange complete, he becomes a hero. While this might honestly be true to life, it felt like a bit of a cop-out. Obviously we can respect him for following his values, but it feels overly convenient that he doesn't have to reckon with any difficulty. The films chooses to leave its last moments as Donovan watches children clambering over a fence, causing him to flash back to when he saw some young people gunned down trying to cross the Berlin wall.

While the film is willing to show some parallels between the two sides, it definitely hews toward the Soviets being cruel and the Americans being professional (if grudgingly so). Powers is tortured, Abel is merely questioned. Donovan's harassment is forgotten as strangers on the train now smile at him on their daily commute. It feels like it wraps up a little too neatly and loses some of the nicer nuances from the first half of the film.

A solid film, but not one I would imagine revisiting.