Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[MovieGal]

65659

Flower
(2017)
3.75/5

I found this on my watchlist and I was wondering why I had placed it there, I must have been looking for films with Adam Scott starring in them. That had to the be the only reason. It wasn't a bad movie, actually pretty good. Of course, the same ol' troubled teen movie.

[HollowMan]

I just watched Tropic Thunder (8.5/10) for the second time, I still found it hilarious as I did when it first came out. I think it has some brilliant performances usually not found in absurd comedies, obviously Downey Jr. also Nick Nolte and Jack Black did nice work but I save the hightest praise for Tom Cruise. I have always felt he doesn't get the proper amount of love anymore because he seems a bit off but he's a top notch actor and this is some of my favorite work by him.


Yeah Cruise is hilarious in this. A lot of people like to hate on him because of some of his bizarre antics and Scientology nonsense but from what I've seen of him in interviews he seems like a thoroughly decent guy. He's also a criminally underrated actor, the biggest movie star of the past thirty years and his commitment to his films is legendary and laudable.

[GulfportDoc]

[Leave Her to Heaven] Oh yeah, she's a wickedly good femme fatale in this one...hope you love aqua:)
Man, you and Thunderbolt are playing music to my ears. Two great Tierney's! I'd forgotten that "Heaven" was in color. I think I'd have liked it in B&W better. But I'm not complaining...:cool:

I think Jose Ferrer really jumped into prominence in Whirlpool. Followed it up with "Cyrano". IMO one of his best is The Caine Mutiny (1954).

Have y'all listened to any of those TCM podcasts, The Plot Thickens? The current "season" is about Bogdanovich. You can listen online, or download the podcasts. It's free. Great stuff.

[Takoma11]

Mulholland Drive. (2001)

the story just disintegrates, morphing into a nonsensical tangent where nothing makes sense. Is Naomi Watts meant to be playing another character? Both characters? Is it a dream? A flashback? A flash forward? Who's the chick with the black hair? Very frustrating and disappointing.


I mean who makes a film like this?

This is not meant to sound at all condescending: have you watched a lot of Lynch's films?

Now, on a literal level, I think that you could take the first half as a fantasy in the head of the Watts character. In the first half, "Betty" is this fresh-faced actress who arrives in town and makes a big splash. Then when you get to the second half, the other character played by Watts is not successful and I believe she's betrayed by the other characters. So one way to read the film is that the first half is like a dying hallucination of the "real" actress, and then the second half is us watching her story up until the point she shoots herself.

I feel like any time a movie takes place in Hollywood, the question of "what is real?" hangs over the film. And in this film, Lynch pushes that idea to an extreme.

Often in Lynch's work, though, there are a lot of things that don't make sense. It's disorienting and illogical and I think that's sometimes the power of his films. They are upsetting not because he puts disturbing content on screen (like a graphic murder), but because he constantly frustrates the part of our "audience brain" that wants to wrap stories up in a neat bow and have everything make sense.

[GulfportDoc]

Suicide Commando (1968)
4.5/5

I had the pleasure to watch this film on a VHS, and there's something to be said about that. There are films like The Thin Red Line and Saving Private Ryan that benefit from HD transfers like DVD/Blu-Ray. They are essentially "designed" to look good and have quality audio... but then there's a film like Suicide Commando. It's based off a war novel I've never heard of and I imagine they got this novel at a dime store with it's cover badly damaged, the pages aged and missing, and with perhaps a few coffee stains to boot. Needless to say, a novel such as this and the rights to it were easily obtained. To watch something like this in the quality of VHS... *muah* bliss. I think if I had seen a restoration HD version of this film it may have scored lower. But there is something to be said about tape degradation and low-budget/cinema obscura.

...
Right. IMO it's very similar to preferring the style of old B&W films rather than modern color ones. And the music scores: I don't want to hear a remixed stereophonic update of the music. I enjoy it the old-fashioned way. To me certain music is better in mono-- even hearing snapping and occasional hissing. I like listening to early Jimmie Rodgers blues and yodel songs with the original recording techniques. Sounds more authentic.

~Doc

[Fabulous]

The Green Berets (1968)

1

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/691aKLmln9XRXHI85lMZRK4SnV9.jpg

[HollowMan]

This is not meant to sound at all condescending: have you watched a lot of Lynch's films?

Now, on a literal level, I think that you could take the first half as a fantasy in the head of the Watts character. In the first half, "Betty" is this fresh-faced actress who arrives in town and makes a big splash. Then when you get to the second half, the other character played by Watts is not successful and I believe she's betrayed by the other characters. So one way to read the film is that the first half is like a dying hallucination of the "real" actress, and then the second half is us watching her story up until the point she shoots herself.

I feel like any time a movie takes place in Hollywood, the question of "what is real?" hangs over the film. And in this film, Lynch pushes that idea to an extreme.

Often in Lynch's work, though, there are a lot of things that don't make sense. It's disorienting and illogical and I think that's sometimes the power of his films. They are upsetting not because he puts disturbing content on screen (like a graphic murder), but because he constantly frustrates the part of our "audience brain" that wants to wrap stories up in a neat bow and have everything make sense.


No offence taken. Like I said this film is highly regarded by many so I'm quite open to the possibility that it's just me and my brain that is unable to appreciate it.


It's an interesting theory about the Betty character. My problem was the first half of the film seemed relatively "real", albeit a bit quirky and stylised with some eccentric characters, that's why it felt so jarring and frustrating when it veered away from reality in the second half. It felt like I was being betrayed and exploited.


This is my first David Lynch film and if this is symptomatic of his style then it may well be my last TBH. Not my taste.

[Dog Star Man]

Right. IMO it's very similar to preferring the style of old B&W films rather than modern color ones. And the music scores: I don't want to hear a remixed stereophonic update of the music. I enjoy it the old-fashioned way. To me certain music is better in mono-- even hearing snapping and occasional hissing. I like listening to early Jimmie Rodgers blues and yodel songs with the original recording techniques. Sounds more authentic.

~Doc

Precisely. This is the main reason I'm a transfer junkie. I have a collection of over 1,500+ films. But I own many of them in 2, 3, 4+ duplicates in some cases. It really all depends on what kind of experience I want.

[Takoma11]

This is my first David Lynch film and if this is symptomatic of his style then it may well be my last TBH. Not my taste.

I would say that it's on the weirder side of his stuff. Lynch is a really talented storyteller, and he's much more than just "I'm weird to be EDGY!!!".

If you want a non-weird Lynch, I would highly recommend The Elephant Man. It is marvelously acted and wonderfully directed, and it's actually my favorite film of his. There's no "What is real?!??!" stuff. I haven't yet seen The Straight Story, but it is also a, well, straight story.

Going up the ladder of ones I have seen, Blue Velvet is weird but has an easier to follow central story.

Lost Highway is weird and has some of the not-explained stuff. It's probably my least favorite of his films, but it's not a bad movie.

Eraserhead is WEIRD. But, you know what, it's very clear from an emotional point of view. There's a mutant baby and a small woman who lives in a radiator, and yet I never felt like I wasn't able to "follow" the film.

If you want something where the weirdness nicely intersects with comedy, I can solidly vouch for the first season of Twin Peaks. (Warning: the show will make you hungry for pie.)

[Citizen Rules]

Mulholland Drive. (2001)

This is a weird one. Up until about 30 minutes from the end I thought it was a compelling, sinister, slightly disturbing film noir and I was intrigued to see how all the plot threads fitted together. But then the film just loses the plot... literally. I mean what the actual f**k? They open the empty little blue box and the story just disintegrates, morphing into a nonsensical tangent where nothing makes sense...I seen that for the first time recently. My reaction was similarly to yours. I really enjoyed the movie until the very end when Lynch threw in everything but the kitchen sink. So many directors feel the need to GO BIG at the end, to me less is more. I would rated it at rating_3_5

Man, you and Thunderbolt are playing music to my ears. Two great Tierney's! I'd forgotten that "Heaven" was in color. I think I'd have liked it in B&W better...Oh, oh! not Leave Her to Heaven the entire film is drenched in aqua. Tierney has at least 3 different outifts all in aqua...when we first meet her she's in an all aqua colored train cabin and most of the house has aqua colors. It's really a think of beauty. One would think Vincent Minnelli had a had in set design....But yeah usually I love B&W for old film noir.

I think Jose Ferrer really jumped into prominence in Whirlpool. Followed it up with "Cyrano". IMO one of his best is The Caine Mutiny (1954).That might just be a 5/5 movie for me. So good! I need to check that out again one of these days.

[MovieGal]

https://horrorbuzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/MM-STILLS-19-.jpg

Message Man
(2018)
3.75/5

My kind of action, bloody and violent.

When their heads were exploding like crushed tomatoes from the gunshots.

[Cobra]

An action movie classic. Seagal was never better. Gary Busey improves every film he's in by about 20%. He should be in everything.
Agreed. :yup:

[Fabulous]

On Body and Soul (2017)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/qcLOlWOAeoRVOIBkKCbcWEiLEAt.jpg

[cricket]

Crawl (2019)

2

https://66.media.tumblr.com/a22fd8021f294e45a228985420e8d76a/tumblr_pyut95JfiV1qdhps7o3_500.gifv

Bad weather movies have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Lately it seems filmmakers are adding another hook, like maybe a robbery going on during a storm. This time it's big ass crocodiles. They are fun ideas but they don't seem to be coming together well. This movie was pretty stupid and it seems Barry Pepper must be slumming. Not a bad watch if you just want some cheap thrills.

[AboveTheClouds]

Love Camp 7
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61XAcxC187L._AC_.jpg
rating_3_5


Punk Vacation
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xCgE8UDo6XM/WsbkFOEChYI/AAAAAAACZMQ/aooeD6yK9_o8shl3JjPftYh2rBrkAPmMACLcBGAs/s400/Punk%2BVacation%2B%25281%2529.jpg
rating_3


Nightmare Sisters
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/Nightmare_Sisters_FilmPoster.jpeg
rating_2_5


What I watched today.Yes, I am obviously a man of culture.;)

[this_is_the_ girl]

Ride Lonesome (1959) - 1
The Tall T (1957) - 2
Seven Men From Now (1956) - 1
Decision at Sundown (1957) - 1
Comanche Station (1960) - 1
Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) - 1
Westbound (1959) - 1

https://i.imgur.com/7H3hltS.jpg

Takoma11 inspired me to watch a film by Budd Boetticher, so I watched Ride Lonesome. The film was very good, but I disliked the rushed ending and ended up desiring more, so I thought what the hell, I'll watch more, and watched The Tall T, which turned out to be my favorite of all Budd Boetticher & Scott collaborations. Brutal and very gripping with Henry Silva playing one helluva bastard! I still craved for more, so I decided to watch all 5 remaining films. None of them topped the first two, but all were enjoyable watches. I watched 7 westerns in 2 days. I can't look at a western now! I need a break from the genre!
Hey Mr Minio, I'm confused - if you liked Ride Lonesome and The Tall T, why did you give them such low ratings?:)

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F68.media.tumblr.com%2F928504466c5d9b8bb9af447c9172421d%2Ftumblr_oigs7hJPRI1vmalo9o2 _500.gif&f=1&nofb=1
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
4
Entire trilogy
5
Wow, Bourne hits galactic levels of badass in this one (that Tangiers fight scene :eek: :dizzy:). At some point toward the end I have to admit I had trouble suspending my disbelief ("c'mon this is impossible, this guy is not HUMAN!"), but hey who cares when the story is so damn entertaining.

[Marco]

Dr Alien (1989)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Dr._Alien_FilmPoster.jpeg
Pure late 80s cheese. Lots of plot essential nudity :) Highly enjoyable, the story itself is not that bad but it really is genuinely funny in a number of the scenes. Especially the ones where the "stalk" comes into view ;) Remember renting this at the time....good harmless fun!

2.5

[Fabulous]

Blood Simple (1984)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/zsBknWXdxepgWDC5Uehrgqr0kPK.jpg

[Mr Minio]

if you liked Ride Lonesome and The Tall T, why did you give them such low ratings?:) They were good, but not life-changing, or anything.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F68.media.tumblr.com%2F928504466c5d9b8bb9af447c9172421d%2Ftumblr_oigs7hJPRI1vmalo9o2 _500.gif&f=1&nofb=1
The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
4
Entire trilogy
5
Wow, Bourne hits galactic levels of badass in this one (that Tangiers fight scene :eek: :dizzy:). At some point toward the end I have to admit I had trouble suspending my disbelief ("c'mon this is impossible, this guy is not HUMAN!"), but hey who cares when the story is so damn entertaining.

Yup.

And I think that the series also deserves praise for how well the non-Bourne stuff works. Joan Allen's character and her whole arc is really interesting and has its own suspense. Normally in a film like this you get to those "control room" scenes and I get antsy to get back to the action stuff, but in these films it all weaves together really, really well. The plot work that overlaps between the second and third films is especially well done, IMO.

[this_is_the_ girl]

Yup.

And I think that the series also deserves praise for how well the non-Bourne stuff works. Joan Allen's character and her whole arc is really interesting and has its own suspense. Normally in a film like this you get to those "control room" scenes and I get antsy to get back to the action stuff, but in these films it all weaves together really, really well. The plot work that overlaps between the second and third films is especially well done, IMO.

The way they incorporated the ending of Supremacy in Ultimatum but with an different angle and dimension to it was really clever.

Plus I just liked how dead serious and no-nonsense these films are - no unnecessary facetiousness or romanticism, just pure action.

[Ultraviolence]

https://fanart.tv/fanart/movies/3981/movieposter/what-women-want-533c4fa57c67b.jpg
rating_3

[Fabulous]

Blade of the Immortal (2017)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/6ULWCmKbvLBnc6J3ATW4PxumFnZ.jpg

[Stirchley]

65689

Re-watch of a sweet indie movie.

65690

Not bad. Not a rabid fan of Downton & easily could have lived without this. They should not make another Downton movie IMO. Put it to rest now.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ5MzU3MzgwN15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjM2NDQ3NDE@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,674,1000_AL_.jpg



3.5

[HollowMan]

I would say that it's on the weirder side of his stuff. Lynch is a really talented storyteller, and he's much more than just "I'm weird to be EDGY!!!".

If you want a non-weird Lynch, I would highly recommend The Elephant Man. It is marvelously acted and wonderfully directed, and it's actually my favorite film of his. There's no "What is real?!??!" stuff. I haven't yet seen The Straight Story, but it is also a, well, straight story.

Going up the ladder of ones I have seen, Blue Velvet is weird but has an easier to follow central story.

Lost Highway is weird and has some of the not-explained stuff. It's probably my least favorite of his films, but it's not a bad movie.

Eraserhead is WEIRD. But, you know what, it's very clear from an emotional point of view. There's a mutant baby and a small woman who lives in a radiator, and yet I never felt like I wasn't able to "follow" the film.

If you want something where the weirdness nicely intersects with comedy, I can solidly vouch for the first season of Twin Peaks. (Warning: the show will make you hungry for pie.)


I've always been intrigued by Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet so I might get around to watching them some day. So many films, so little time...

[Fabulous]

The Platform (2019)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/3tkDMNfM2YuIAJlvGO6rfIzAnfG.jpg

[Takoma11]

I've always been intrigued by Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet so I might get around to watching them some day. So many films, so little time...

The first season of Twin Peaks is a blast. It's on Hulu if that's a service you have.

[Cobra]

Halloween (2018):
Good movie with well down effects, not the best cast but Jamie Lee Curtis and Andi Matichak help enhance the film.
7/10

[Fabulous]

The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/crj0IrGt5ifSdzPVZ2VCIIrExUo.jpg

[Gideon58]

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1602/7959/products/Dangerous_When_Wet_Original_Movie_Poster_530x.jpg?v=1481045655



3.5

[MovieGal]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUlCWQxUEAErdV_.jpg

El Hoyo
(2019)
3.5/5

[AboveTheClouds]

https://images.static-bluray.com/products/20/67153_1_large.jpg
The Candy Snatchers (1973)
rating_4

[Fabulous]

Time After Time (1979)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/jzyCMN3Vuo2TeqhnQVF26jamnKY.jpg

[DoubleReel]

FX Murder By Illusion (UK title, think it was just called FX in the US). Hugely nostalgic look back at one of my favourite 80s films growing up. Still holds up, as long as you don't mind the usual movie tropes such as, the direction of films within a film are always long and drawn out complex sequences that would never be done in one take. Bryan Brown (remember him?) plays a special effects genius who is hired to fake an assassination of a mafioso who's about to testify his way into witness protection but has a hit out on him. A criminal conspiracy follows. Good fun, recommended

[Hey Fredrick]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffreakingeek.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F01%2FTheGentlemen-Banniere.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
3.5

Not too bad. If you've seen Ritchies early stuff this fits right in. I thought it started a little slow but continually picked up the pace as the story about a multi-million dollar marijuana operation and it's sale unfolded. Plenty of twists and turns similar to some of Guy's earlier films, however, not as funny as those films. Good looking, interesting storytelling and solid acting across the board with Colin Farrell being a bit of a scene stealer.

[chawhee]

Bad Santa (2003)
https://www.newspapermom.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/bad-santa1.jpeg
4
Another comedy that I love more than most people I suppose, and I think the sequel was actually underappreciated as well (though likely unnecessary). The story actually carries some emotion, but the jokes are obviously the focus of the movie, and the cast all deliver splendidly. Watching some of the behind the scenes stuff mentions the Coen brothers actually did a script version of this movie as well?....

[Tramuzgan]

Doctor Strange (2016) - 82/100


It still has some cringy jokes and dialogue that come with being a Marvel movie, but the plot moves along smoothly, Strange has a solid character arc, and the action scenes are fun and imaginative. They're not just generic punchups, there's manipulation of space and gravity, characters phasing through walls, flipping the scenery upside down, and so on. It's all very trippy, but possible to follow. Overall, it's my new favourite Marvel movie, hands down.

[mojofilter]

https://www.pastposters.com/cw3/assets/product_full/JamieR-AC/blue-chips-cinema-one-sheet-movie-poster-(multi).jpg
BLUE CHIPS
(1994)

First Viewing. Underrated sports comedy drama. Nolte carries the movie and delivers an explosively great, at times funny, and captivating performance. It's a shame he has never won an Oscar.
rating_3_5

[mark f]

Abel (Diego Luna, 2010) 2.5 6/10
Devil's Night: Dawn of the Nain Rouge (Sam Logan Khaleghi, 2020) 1.5 4/10
A Shot in the Dark (William McGann, 1941) 2.5 5/10
Mouchette (Robert Bresson, 1967) 2.5 6/10
https://66.media.tumblr.com/ef424645d66757a127ccaccc3802342f/tumblr_pq309zvMjh1rqsnxoo5_500.gifv
What Moucette (Nadine Nortier) sees is violent and strange.
Rey (Niles Atallah, 2017) 2.5 6/10
Murder Is My Beat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1955) 2+ 5/10
7 Semanas (Constanza Figari, 2016) 2.5 6/10
Zeroville (James Franco, 2019) 2.5- 5.5/10
https://66.media.tumblr.com/e13b85d1b9ebfcdcf07a7c89eb771ee0/2e46e2cd41ad61d2-aa/s1280x1920/aef17963afc92bbe03531e93a6f161c327308a85.png
The naive dreamer James Franco is.
Duvidha (Mani Kaul, 1973) 2 5/10
Bodyguard (Richard Fleischer, 1948) 2.5 6/10
Postmark for Danger (Guy Green, 1955) 2 5/10
Easy Lessons (Dorottya Zurbó 2018) 2.5 6/10
https://cineuropa.org/imgCache/2018/08/20/1534754074744_0620x0435_0x0x0x0_1573329336550.jpg
Teenage Somali refugee Kafiya studies and waits in Hungary to see if she will be accepted into the EU.
They Only Kill Their Masters (James Goldstone, 1972) 2.5 5.5/10
Your Highness (David Gordon Green, 2011) 2 5/10
Mad Holiday (George B. Seitz, 1936) 2.5 5.5/10
Genocide (Arnold Schwartzman, 1982) 3.5 7/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zISm7sHdlEY
The intro to the powerful documentary.
Run with the Hunted (John Swab, 2019) 2 5/10
South of Suez (Lewis Seiler, 1940) 2.5 5.5/10
Let it Burn (Maíra Bühler, 2019 2 5/10
Perdita Durango AKA Dance with the Devil (Álex de la Iglesia, 1997) 2.5 6/10
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDU4YzMwYWMtZDY0OC00YWE0LWJiNTctZmNmYzE0MmEyNGIwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTc5MDI5NjE@._V1_.jpg
Incredibly sick and twisted Rosie Perez and Javier Bardem have too much power over certain people.

[Gideon58]

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5191542.1561647678!/fileImage/httpImage/do-the-right-thing.jpg



4.5

[Takoma11]

https://i.cbc.ca/1.5191542.1561647678!/fileImage/httpImage/do-the-right-thing.jpg



4.5

Something that I love about Do the Right Thing is that one the handful of occasions that I've disagreed with someone about an aspect of the film, it's always been a really good conversation. Solid performances, and also it manages to be general and specific at the same time. I liked many of Lee's films over the years, but Do the Right Thing is probably my favorite of his.

[Gideon58]

As I mentioned in my full review, I've always been hot and cold with Spike Lee...I'll like one film and hate the next, but I think Do the Right Thing is his masterpiece.

[Fabulous]

Us and Them (2018)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/891MRTCJkqnxgkvatKg6ImBRJ8u.jpg

[AboveTheClouds]

https://www.dvddrive-in.com/images/n-s/sectablu.jpg
Secta Siniestra AKA Bloody Sect (1982)
3.5

[Marco]

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Eyes_Wide_Shut_%281999%29.png
Haven't seen this since its original release. As far as I can remember it still has the same effect on me, the performances are good but the story is slight. The idea of the marital couple with unresolved trust issues is very well played by Cruise and Kidman. I also liked his crosstown wandering and encountering of different situations in his role as a doc and disgruntled husband. Late night New York looks quite enticing in this film!

All in all, glad I watched it again and would probably mark this the same as I would have 21 (yikes!!!) years ago:

3

[Iroquois]

Animal Crackers - 3.5

imagine watching this and thinking "I'm going to name a murder clown after the protagonist"

[cat_sidhe]

https://img.reelgood.com/content/movie/601c21c2-85f7-4707-bb31-967b57c37a6d/poster-780.webp
Two Heads Creek

2


Pretty fun. You can tell whatever budget they had was spent on gore, and that they had a lot of fun. It just took a while before said gore happened. And the acting while, not terribly awful, can't carry the movie enough without the bloody bits.

Here's the trailer for those who can't see the poster (it shows for me but no other posters work and for some reason can't upload it either)

https://youtu.be/HAV4POGjtdo

[Takoma11]

https://patrickmccoy.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c6e6853ef01b8d1c40cd2970c-500wi

The Two of Us (1967)

A little boy named Claude lives in Paris with his parents during WW2, but the family is Jewish and his parents are afraid of what will happen to him. Claude is thus sent to stay with the parents of family friends in the countryside. The elderly couple, called Pepe and Meme, do not know that Claude is Jewish and hold some anti-Semitic beliefs.

There are a lot of movies out there about prejudice/bias, and many of them take the same basic structure: two people are forced to work/live together and as they learn more about each other they come to appreciate one another's culture.

This is decidedly not how The Two of Us chooses to approach the topic. Claude is given a crash course in Catholicism before he leaves home, and his hosts never suspect that he is Jewish. The film instead makes its point by demonstrating the gap between the biases that people hold and how they actually come to feel about those people in reality.

The film displays this point in multiple ways. Perhaps the most obvious is the subplot of the rabbits. Pepe is a former soldier and your typical "grumpy old man". Pepe is also . . . a vegetarian. Why? Because he loves the rabbits, he knows the rabbits, and he cannot eat them.

As the film goes on, Claude quietly and attentively listens as Pepe lectures about "the Jews". In perhaps my favorite sequence, Claude freaks out because he "must be a Jew", and then Pepe takes him in front of a mirror and explains to him all the reasons why he cannot be Jewish--the straightness of his nose, the lack of curly hair. Suddenly, a wide-eyed Claude points out that Pepe has a hooked nose and curly hair and runs to tell Meme that Pepe is Jewish. Under Claude's gentle questioning, Pepe's biases repeatedly show that they are illogical.

The movie isn't about Pepe learning a lesson or changing his beliefs. Instead it's about understanding that Pepe's perception of the Jewish people comes from what he hears on the radio and old cultural biases. He has a Jewish person in his household, and unabashedly comes to love and treasure him. Pepe's biases come from ignorance, not hate. At the same time, though, it's easy to see how his biases are harmful. Pepe believes that the War is the fault of the Jews. And when he talks about them as being a "greedy" people, there is an undertone of suggesting that they've brought troubles on themselves. It is possible for someone to be a loving and caring person, and yet to have prejudices that cause harm to others.

On even a third allegorical level, the film devotes a chunk of time to Claude's treatment at the local school. He is routinely picked on by the other students for being different. In a harrowing scene, he is punished by the headmistress by having his head shaved. The response in watching these scenes is "someone should do something!", and Pepe reacts strongly to Claude's despair. As the nation frets about involvement in the war, the film poses the question of what one should do in the face of injustice.

Overall the film is incredibly well-acted, especially Michel Simon as Pepe. The dynamics between the characters are very real feeling, in particular the grumbling-but-loving banter between Pepe and Meme. The film exists in a very specific place and time, but I think that its message about empathy, understanding, and prejudice is universal.

4.5

[Dog Star Man]

Something that I love about Do the Right Thing is that one the handful of occasions that I've disagreed with someone about an aspect of the film, it's always been a really good conversation. Solid performances, and also it manages to be general and specific at the same time. I liked many of Lee's films over the years, but Do the Right Thing is probably my favorite of his.

I agree, Do the Right Thing is amazing. It hits a lot a "grey" areas that leave the viewer open to discussion. And since the film really leaves you at the mercy of your own interpretation, there's a lot of room for dialogue. It's a 5/5 for me last I checked.

[Cobra]

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982):
I watched this film both due to recently buying it and Carl Reiner's passing. I thought it was hilarious and was both a parody/love letter to 40's detective films with a very authentic feel, Don't talk about the cleaning woman though.
9/10

[Stirchley]

Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/Eyes_Wide_Shut_%281999%29.png


Late night New York looks quite enticing in this film!



As someone who lived a decade in Manhattan, I am still amazed that all the New York outdoor scenes were shot on a set.

[Gideon58]

https://technicolordreams70.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/the-stunt-man-us-one-sheet-1980-peter-o-toole-steve-railsback-artwork-by-j-lamb-11223-p.jpg


4

[Gideon58]

As someone who lived a decade in Manhattan, I am still amazed that all the New York outdoor scenes were shot on a set.

Really? I thought all the New York outdoor scenes looked incredibly phony...I expected better from Stanley Kubrick

[Dog Star Man]

Really? I thought all the New York outdoor scenes looked incredibly phony...I expected better from Stanley Kubrick

I think that look was intended. As Martin Scorsese pointed out, (and I'm paraphrasing), "It's New York in a dream..."

[HollowMan]

Psycho (1960)


https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3hmB0tIEh3s/maxresdefault.jpg



I'm a little ashamed to admit I've never seen it before but I was impressed and thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a bold move to kill off the main character halfway through. The shower scene is legendary and rightfully so. Great performances, particularly by Perkins as Bates. Some genuinely creepy moments, especially the reveal of his mother at the end.


An iconic classic.


4/5 Stars.

[Takoma11]

Psycho (1960)


https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3hmB0tIEh3s/maxresdefault.jpg



I'm a little ashamed to admit I've never seen it before but I was impressed and thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a bold move to kill off the main character halfway through. The shower scene is legendary and rightfully so. Great performances, particularly by Perkins as Bates. Some genuinely creepy moments, especially the reveal of his mother at the end.


An iconic classic.


4/5 Stars.

Loooooove Psycho.

I actually find the scariest part to be when Mother runs out and kills the detective and he falls down the stairs. It's just so jarring and unexpected.

[HollowMan]

Loooooove Psycho.

I actually find the scariest part to be when Mother runs out and kills the detective and he falls down the stairs. It's just so jarring and unexpected.


Yeah I agree, that was really well done. The scariest part for me was when the sister finds his mother's corpse in the cellar and Bates comes rushing upon on her with the knife in the wig and dress. Really disturbing and completely s**t me up lol.

[Gideon58]

Psycho (1960)


https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3hmB0tIEh3s/maxresdefault.jpg



I'm a little ashamed to admit I've never seen it before but I was impressed and thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a bold move to kill off the main character halfway through. The shower scene is legendary and rightfully so. Great performances, particularly by Perkins as Bates. Some genuinely creepy moments, especially the reveal of his mother at the end.


An iconic classic.


4/5 Stars.

Nothing t be ashamed of, I saw it for the first time a couple of years ago. It's a great movie.

[Takoma11]

Yeah I agree, that was really well done. The scariest part for me was when the sister finds his mother's corpse in the cellar and Bates comes rushing upon on her with the knife in the wig and dress. Really disturbing and completely s**t me up lol.

Unfortunately, by the time I saw the movie both the shower scene and the scene in the cellar were things I'd seen through other movies/TV shows. But the part with the detective on the stairs wasn't and I didn't see it coming at all.

It's the way that it switches to that overhead shot (obviously to disguise the identity of the attacker) as she rushes out, but then swoops into a close up of the detective falling down the stairs. It's weird--on the one hand you can sort of tell how fake the effect is (ie the actor is like sitting on something and waving his arms and then it's projected onto the shot of the stairs), but I've fallen down the stairs a few times and honestly no other movie scene has ever quite captured the way I feel as it's happening more than Psycho *shrug*

I'm glad you enjoyed the film. I think that Psycho is firmly in the camp of classics that hold up really well even for a more "casual" audience. It even has some elements that feel more modern, like the threatening vibe of the highway patrol officer.

[GulfportDoc]

Psycho (1960)

I'm a little ashamed to admit I've never seen it before but I was impressed and thoroughly enjoyed it. Such a bold move to kill off the main character halfway through. The shower scene is legendary and rightfully so. Great performances, particularly by Perkins as Bates. Some genuinely creepy moments, especially the reveal of his mother at the end.
An iconic classic.
4/5 Stars.
You're right about killing off Janet Leigh early in the film. I think that's the first time that was ever done in American cinema. Hitchcock believed that would add to the audience being even more unsettled. It's also why he wanted theaters to enforce the "no one admitted after the film began" rule. If they came in midway through they'd say, "Where's Janet Leigh?"

[HollowMan]

You're right about killing off Janet Leigh early in the film. I think that's the first time that was ever done in American cinema. Hitchcock believed that would add to the audience being even more unsettled. It's also why he wanted theaters to enforce the "no one admitted after the film began" rule. If they came in midway through they'd say, "Where's Janet Leigh?"


Interesting stuff. It's a really effective move, I mean the entire story is built around her for the first half hour or so, Bates is nowhere to be seen. Obviously the impact of her death was lessened because everyone knows about the shower scene by now but I still felt the loss quite deeply. She's mid way through her journey and then out of the blue she's murdered by a character that's only just been introduced. Unexpected and unsettling. Great film making from Hitchcock.

[Fabulous]

Time Bandits (1981)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/7wLrJJPlSXeIXj1bon0Ymk2QuXm.jpg

[chawhee]

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (2009)
http://gonewiththetwins.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ihopetheyservebeerinhell.jpg
4
It's definitely a low budget feel, but I found most of this to be pretty enjoyable. I've only read a little bit of the actual book it's based on, as the misogynist-like tone certainly reaches uncomfortable levels.

It was fun for me to pick up on which friends in my social group have matching characteristics of those in the film. Most of the jokes land for me, though there are some gags that fall flat, and the movie revisits them multiple times.

[GulfportDoc]

Interesting stuff. It's a really effective move, I mean the entire story is built around her for the first half hour or so, Bates is nowhere to be seen. Obviously the impact of her death was lessened because everyone knows about the shower scene by now but I still felt the loss quite deeply. She's mid way through her journey and then out of the blue she's murdered by a character that's only just been introduced. Unexpected and unsettling. Great film making from Hitchcock.
IMO the shower scene was the single most shocking and horrifying in the history of the cinema. There have been many many more since, of course, but Psycho had to be the first of that magnitude. Did you know that the actor who played Perkins' "mother" during the shower knife murder was a woman? Perkins wasn't even on the set.

Audiences of that day were simply not conditioned for such terror. When it was released I went to see the film at a matinee in a large downtown theater. I recall that there were 3 uniformed sailors sitting in front of us. When the Arbogast scene burst forth, those 3 guys screamed like grade school girls. I'll never forget it.

Hitchcock stated that once that horrific shower scene was established, the audiences were conditioned to be so unsettled and suspense ridden that it only required brief horror scenes after that to have the ultimate effect. When one thinks about it, the Arbogast murder commencing at the top of the stairs, and then the final scene in the cellar, were comparatively very short. It was the build up that was long.

One of the top landmark films.

[Gideon58]

https://s1.r29static.com/bin/entry/243/426x640,85/1451910/image.webp




2

[HollowMan]

IMO the shower scene was the single most shocking and horrifying in the history of the cinema. There have been many many more since, of course, but Psycho had to be the first of that magnitude. Did you know that the actor who played Perkins' "mother" during the shower knife murder was a woman? Perkins wasn't even on the set.

Audiences of that day were simply not conditioned for such terror. When it was released I went to see the film at a matinee in a large downtown theater. I recall that there were 3 uniformed sailors sitting in front of us. When the Arbogast scene burst forth, those 3 guys screamed like grade school girls. I'll never forget it.

Hitchcock stated that once that horrific shower scene was established, the audiences were conditioned to be so unsettled and suspense ridden that it only required brief horror scenes after that to have the ultimate effect. When one thinks about it, the Arbogast murder commencing at the top of the stairs, and then the final scene in the cellar, were comparatively very short. It was the build up that was long.

One of the top landmark films.


You're right, like a lot of great films it's all about the build up, creating the tension and suspense. It uses the shocks sparingly and they're all the more effective for that. A similar technique was used in Jaws and Alien to great effect.


I can only imagine what it must have been like watching it for the first time upon release back in the day; bloody terrifying I imagine. But it still holds up really well sixty years later, despite all the spoilers; that's the mark of a true masterpiece.

[HollowMan]

Room. (2015)


https://occ-0-116-114.1.nflxso.net/art/4fed7/dca5b458018ad34d9034ac252b2270c01aa4fed7.jpg



A rollercoaster ride of emotions; tense, harrowing, uplifting, heartbreaking, inspiring. A testament to the power of the human spirit to endure the most oppressive conditions and a sober reflection on the emotional aftermath of such trauma. It is also a heartwarming tribute to the power and beauty of the almighty bond between mother and child, and the incredible resilience and adaptability of children. It brought a tear to my eyes and a smile to my face without being exploitative or sentimental. I can never be a mother but this film really resonated with me; it demonstrates the power of film to strengthen our connection to the world and each other. Brilliant Oscar winning performance from Bree Larson and amazing work by young Jacob Tremblay.

4/5 Stars.

[Takoma11]

Room. (2015)


https://occ-0-116-114.1.nflxso.net/art/4fed7/dca5b458018ad34d9034ac252b2270c01aa4fed7.jpg



A rollercoaster ride of emotions; tense, harrowing, uplifting, heartbreaking, inspiring. A testament to the power of the human spirit to endure the most oppressive conditions and a sober reflection on the emotional aftermath of such trauma. It is also a heartwarming tribute to the power and beauty of the almighty bond between mother and child, and the incredible resilience and adaptability of children. It brought a tear to my eyes and a smile to my face without being exploitative or sentimental. I can never be a mother but this film really resonated with me; it demonstrates the power of film to strengthen our connection to the world and each other. Brilliant Oscar winning performance from Bree Larson and amazing work by young Jacob Tremblay.

4/5 Stars.


Yeah, I straight up cried during this one at several different points.

And I loved that it committed to not telling the story of the person who victimized them and stayed centered on the victims for the whole narrative.

It's the sign of a good film when during the whole escape sequence I was SO TENSE. And yet, just from the premise of the film, I knew he was going to escape and that his mom would be found. Still I was so on the edge of my seat, I think I even went "RUN!" to the TV at one point.

I thought that it also did a splendid job of giving you insight into all of the characters--her, her parents, the little boy. You could understand everyone's point of view, even when they were in conflict with each other. Larson hands-down deserved her Oscar.

[Takoma11]

https://filmforum.org/do-not-enter-or-modify-or-erase/client-uploads/_1000w/pierrot-le-fou-slide-2.jpg

Pierrot le Fou (1965)

There's the part of me that watches films academically, and another part that watches films emotionally. The academic half of me enjoyed what Goddard did with this film: the colors, the reality/unreality of it all, the overlapping voice over narratives, the in-your-face editing/cuts, etc.

The emotional side of me? Meh. The thing about Goddard and the deliberate deconstruction of a film as an immersive experience is that it always holds you at an arms length. I really struggle with films where I don't connect to the main characters, and this film is a prime example. Were some parts absolutely fun and hilarious? Yes. And the performances are good. But I found the characters tiresome (which, heck, I think they're meant to be), and it was hard to want to spend two full hours with them.

The best sequences, to me, were the bookends. The party that the main character attends where a bunch of middle/upper class people have conversations so dull that they sound like newpaper ads was funny--especially the woman describing her new hairspray, "It brushes out so smoothly it's like it was never there at all!". And the ending where the ill-fated love affair comes to a colorful, absurd conclusion.

Am I glad that I watched this movie? Yes. Would I recommend it? Only if you're wanting to think about film as a medium and enjoy someone artfully breaking a ton of rules.

3

[HollowMan]

Yeah, I straight up cried during this one at several different points.

And I loved that it committed to not telling the story of the person who victimized them and stayed centered on the victims for the whole narrative.

It's the sign of a good film when during the whole escape sequence I was SO TENSE. And yet, just from the premise of the film, I knew he was going to escape and that his mom would be found. Still I was so on the edge of my seat, I think I even went "RUN!" to the TV at one point.

I thought that it also did a splendid job of giving you insight into all of the characters--her, her parents, the little boy. You could understand everyone's point of view, even when they were in conflict with each other. Larson hands-down deserved her Oscar.


Yeah absolutely agree.

[cat_sidhe]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGNmMDYxOTItNWM5Yi00OGIxLWEyNGYtYWYwNzBlZDBkOGRlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODAzMDczOA@@._V1_UY268_CR3,0,182 ,268_AL_.jpg

2


A watchable Austrian slasher that was wasn't anything special at all. Predictable, too. No surprises.

I rated it 2.5 on Letterboxd but I now think that's a tough too high. A 2 it gets.

[Takoma11]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODAwMDFjNjktMWY2Mi00MmVhLWI0MjYtNzg4OTI0NzA5YzBjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTIzOTk5ODM@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182 ,268_AL_.jpg

From Paris with Love (2010)

Oh, man. What a mess. Mild(ish) mannered embassy worker (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) gets partnered with over-the-top American spy (John Travolta) and must work to thwart various nefarious plots.

It can be really fun to watch a thriller. It can be really fun to watch an over-the-top, cartoonish action movie. From Paris With Love never seems to decide which one it is. The plot itself is not bad, and there are some fun twists and turns along the way. But the cliches pile up in a way that's super lazy and it comes off as racist and sexist at the same time. How to identify the bad people in this movie? Are they white men? Good guys. Are they non-white? Are they women? Watch out! And it's not just like, one group. There are the evil Asian characters. Then they travel to a different location and encounter the evil Black characters. Then they get down to the evil Middle Eastern characters. This might seem like an exaggeration, but it is true almost to the letter.

I also didn't fall for Travolta's "lovable rogue" character. You can tell from the way that his character is filmed and the musical cues that his behavior is meant to be charming. But I found his behavior both immoral and obnoxious. Pointing a gun at a woman and then having sex with her while she's still their hostage? Allowing innocent police officers to be killed? Monologuing about profanity at the airport? You can just feel how cool the writer thought these moments are, but for me they landed with a thud. The worst part is Travolta delivering a line about a "Royale with cheese", and he at least has the decency to look embarrassed as he says it.

The "bad boy" secret agent can be a fun trope, but here it's done so lazily that . . .blah. A waste of time. I kept pausing the film to see how many minutes were left.

1.5

[mark f]

Esteros (Papu Curotto, 2016) 2.5 6/10
Warpath (Josh Becker, 2020) 2 5/10
Chèche Lavi AKA Looking for Life (Sam Ellison, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Dry Season (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, 2006) 3 6.5/10
https://www.cinemaclock.com/images/580x326/22/dry_season__2006_4798.jpg
Quietly powerful film about famiiy and responsibility in 2000 Chad.
Out 1 (Jacques Rivette, 1971) 1.5+ 4.5/10 13 hours
Next of Kin (Atom Egoyan, 1984) 2.5 5.5/10
City for Conquest (Anatole Litvak, 1940) 3 6.5/10
Never Hike Alone (Vincente DiSanti, 2017) 2.5+ 6/10
https://66.media.tumblr.com/6dc1a6d2b6d8cda95c992bddb6c6af81/tumblr_p2ep52OtSI1qav174o4_r1_500.gifv
You might run into this guy.
Lenny Cooke (Josh & Benny Safdie, 2013) 2.5 6/10
Welcome to Chechnya (David France, 2020) 3 6.5/10
Viena and the Fantomes (Gerardo Naranjo, 2020) 2- 5/10
Family Viewing (Atom Egoyan, 1987) 3- 6.5/10
https://alchetron.com/cdn/family-viewing-b8133163-ccfe-41e4-b525-aef5c274b64-resize-750.png
Bizarre mystery about a weird family.
Young Ahmed (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Soleil Ô AKA Oh, Sun (Med Hondo, 1967) 2.5 6/10 104 min
Straight Up (James Sweeney, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Tchoupitoulas (Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross, 2012) 3 6.5/10
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/12/07/arts/07TCHOU_SPAN/07TCHOU_SPAN-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale
Impressionistically alive doc of three brothers experiencing New Orleans nightlife.
You Are Not I (Sara Driver, 1981) 2.5 6/10
The Postcard Killings (Danis Tanovici, 2020) 2.5 5.5/10
Ride Like a Girl (Rachel Griffiths, 2019) 2.5 6/10
The Invincibles (Dominik Graf, 1994) 3 6.5/10 147 min
https://assets.mubicdn.net/images/notebook/post_images/30822/images-w1400.jpg?1593554215
Ironic tale of political corruption and kidnapping contains bursts of sex and intense action.

[Cobra]

The Man with Two Brains (1983):
I decided to watch a few more of Carl Reiner’s Movies again. I think this is an underrated comedy with Steve Martin starring and co-writing the film with director Carl Reiner. The film combines the comedy genre with a Science-Fiction Movie and a Horror Movie. Overall a good watch but keep your eye out for Merv Griffin, probably still at large.
8.5/10

[Takoma11]

The Man with Two Brains (1983):
I decided to watch a few more of Carl Reiner’s Movies again. I think this is an underrated comedy with Steve Martin starring and co-writing the film with director Carl Reiner. The film combines the comedy genre with a Science-Fiction Movie and a Horror Movie.

I really like The Man with Two Brains. It's silly, but stays focused enough to keep narrative momentum.

Overall a good watch but keep your eye out for Merv Griffin, probably still at large.
8.5/10

"I don't know. I've always just loved to kill."

That is a top tier cameo right there.

[justyourlocalme]

so before I start my review of Unfriended (2014) I wanna say two things. 1. I am not a pro critic. My reviews are based on if i enjoyed the movie.
2. Just joined the site! Hey guys!
Ok. So im a scaredy cat when it comes to horror movies. I hate jumpscares, but love horror movies. Unfriended really scared the **** out of me. And its only because of the anticipation it gave off. I kept waiting and waiting for a jumpscare and it just ****ing happens, out of nowhere. Like someone will stand still at the camera and BAM hand in blender. Honestly, Its a ****ty movie. Real critics think so. But I have a reputation for liking bad movies. Not cuz they are bad but I enjoy them. I enjoyed unfriended. Unfriended is actually kinda fun to watch the drama unfold, It sucked me in. I usually dont have time for movies so I watch them piece by piece, taking a break every 30 minutes. In the movie, literally everyone is a piece of **** and ends up dying. I am not joking. Now the fact they put real websites in it (liveleak, Youtube, Twitter, etc.) really solidified the feel of a teenager on a laptop. I do the same **** honestly. But the way teens are represented is very unrealistic. We dont go to parties or drink or anything. We sit around and do nothing. Sometimes chat with each other but nothing too dangerous. Honestly I really enjoyed this movie, yes its a very ****ty movie but i liked it. I also recently watched the trailer for the sequel, Unfriended: Dark Web, and it looks like a cringefest, The dark net is already misrepresented in media and this makes it worse. But i havent seen it so i have no right to say how good it is.

[inigowilson]

The last movie i watched was Ocean's 8.

In the movie After serving a prison sentence, Debbie Ocean assembles a special crew of seven women to steal a 150-million-dollar diamond necklace from the Met Gala.

It's imdb rating is 6.2.

I would say it was an entertaining package. You don't usually find movies like this where all lead characters are women and on top of that they are stealing a million dollar necklace without any male characters' help.

Rihanna, Anne Hathaway,Sarah Paulson, Sandra Bullock, Nicki Minaj such great artists form the cast of the movie so you yourself can imagine that movie is a masterpiece.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/The_Grudge_2020_Poster.jpeg

2

I'm a big fan of Andrea Riseborough and was looking forwards to this version of The Grudge but she couldn't even save this film.

From what I can remember of the original Japanese films and the first American remake this new one is nastier and gorier for those interested.


Snooze factor = Z

[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[Stirchley]

But the way teens are represented is very unrealistic. We dont go to parties or drink or anything. We sit around and do nothing. Sometimes chat with each other but nothing too dangerous.

Guessing you’re not American since this is what American teens do.

The last movie i watched was Ocean's 8
... you yourself can imagine that movie is a masterpiece.

Not me. I thought it was atrocious.

I'm a big fan of Andrea Riseborough

Me too.

[Stirchley]

65801

Almost bailed out, but managed to finish. Brad Pitt made this movie for me. Very slow & some very implausible scenes.

65802

Very interesting & absorbing true-life story. Anyone or any corporation that pollutes water should be shot on sight.

[HollowMan]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODAwMDFjNjktMWY2Mi00MmVhLWI0MjYtNzg4OTI0NzA5YzBjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTIzOTk5ODM@._V1_UX182_CR0,0,182 ,268_AL_.jpg

From Paris with Love (2010)

Oh, man. What a mess. Mild(ish) mannered embassy worker (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) gets partnered with over-the-top American spy (John Travolta) and must work to thwart various nefarious plots.

It can be really fun to watch a thriller. It can be really fun to watch an over-the-top, cartoonish action movie. From Paris With Love never seems to decide which one it is. The plot itself is not bad, and there are some fun twists and turns along the way. But the cliches pile up in a way that's super lazy and it comes off as racist and sexist at the same time. How to identify the bad people in this movie? Are they white men? Good guys. Are they non-white? Are they women? Watch out! And it's not just like, one group. There are the evil Asian characters. Then they travel to a different location and encounter the evil Black characters. Then they get down to the evil Middle Eastern characters. This might seem like an exaggeration, but it is true almost to the letter.

I also didn't fall for Travolta's "lovable rogue" character. You can tell from the way that his character is filmed and the musical cues that his behavior is meant to be charming. But I found his behavior both immoral and obnoxious. Pointing a gun at a woman and then having sex with her while she's still their hostage? Allowing innocent police officers to be killed? Monologuing about profanity at the airport? You can just feel how cool the writer thought these moments are, but for me they landed with a thud. The worst part is Travolta delivering a line about a "Royale with cheese", and he at least has the decency to look embarrassed as he says it.

The "bad boy" secret agent can be a fun trope, but here it's done so lazily that . . .blah. A waste of time. I kept pausing the film to see how many minutes were left.

1.5


I enjoyed this film. I haven't seen it in while but it was fun to watch Travolta let loose with such a wild character. I thought the plot was decent and the twist at the end came as a surprise. Then again I'm a fan of action films so I judge them less harshly than most people. As for the whole "all the non-white guys are evil" angle, I honestly never noticed but I as I recall the plot was focused on hunting down Islamic terrorists and they're almost always non-white so I have no issues with it.

[matt72582]

Voyeur - 7.5/10
I was looking for something on Netflix (since most of it is crap, but hey, free trial) and saw "Voyeur". It could have been made better. It started to go downhill towards the end, when a lot of focus was on the write, Gay Talese, and some discrepancies, but it would have been nice if they would have had someone with an interest in voyeurism going into the psychology of it, or maybe the details of observation.
Watching the watcher is now the new role for this voyeur.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Voyeur_film_poster.jpg

[Gideon58]

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0598/2925/products/RBM0yMD.jpg?v=1521328044



4.5

[Fabulous]

Cold War (2018)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/n7vcKtvScHPJREEaLIuRk41mMot.jpg

[Takoma11]

I enjoyed this film. I haven't seen it in while but it was fun to watch Travolta let loose with such a wild character. I thought the plot was decent and the twist at the end came as a surprise. Then again I'm a fan of action films so I judge them less harshly than most people.

I love action movies and I just hold them to a "fun" standard. This one did not deliver. Wax (which also that name is *thumbs down*) felt more like someone *trying* to let loose than a truly spontaneous character.

As for the whole "all the non-white guys are evil" angle, I honestly never noticed but I as I recall the plot was focused on hunting down Islamic terrorists and they're almost always non-white so I have no issues with it.

To me it was a step beyond the typical action thing of "vague Middle East terrorists".

There were three separate groups involved in the drug trade/plot. First, there were the Chinese characters--bad guys. Then there were the Black characters, also bad guys. THEN you got to the Pakistani terrorist characters. There were no good (or, heck, neutral) non-white characters. Around halfway through the movie it started to feel like a bad joke.

Then they introduced Amber Revah's character (really like her from The Punisher) and I was like "Oh, okay, they're balancing things out." Not a minute later Travolta's character shoots her in the head. I actually laughed out loud when the fiance goes "She's Pakistani, that doesn't mean she's a terrorist!". I was like, "Lady, clearly you don't know what movie you're in."

The master planner of it all is a character whose name we barely learn and who has no personality beyond "angry Muslim man".

And I had to laugh when the main character is talking about his FIANCE and he's like "Yeah, I never asked her about her family. I know nothing about her." You got to the point of being engaged to someone and you never asked about her family?! You know "nothing about her"?! We learn that she's converted to Islam but are never given a reason why, or a reason why she is willing to kill herself and many other people.

I spent a lot of the film thinking that the twist was going to be that Travolta's character was actually NOT who he said he was and that he was going to turn out to be the bad guy. He was so unethical and reckless (repeatedly causing death and injury to innocent bystanders, all with zero remorse).

When the film ended with the two character playing chess next to the plane(???????), I was like "How high were the people who wrote this movie?".

I will praise the film for some really good driving stuntwork in the chase scene. That was maybe the only part of the film that I found genuinely gripping.

As a whole, though, I thought it was a cliched mess, even if you lower the bar to account for the genre.

[HollowMan]

I love action movies and I just hold them to a "fun" standard. This one did not deliver. Wax (which also that name is *thumbs down*) felt more like someone *trying* to let loose than a truly spontaneous character.



To me it was a step beyond the typical action thing of "vague Middle East terrorists".

There were three separate groups involved in the drug trade/plot. First, there were the Chinese characters--bad guys. Then there were the Black characters, also bad guys. THEN you got to the Pakistani terrorist characters. There were no good (or, heck, neutral) non-white characters. Around halfway through the movie it started to feel like a bad joke.

Then they introduced Amber Revah's character (really like her from The Punisher) and I was like "Oh, okay, they're balancing things out." Not a minute later Travolta's character shoots her in the head. I actually laughed out loud when the fiance goes "She's Pakistani, that doesn't mean she's a terrorist!". I was like, "Lady, clearly you don't know what movie you're in."

The master planner of it all is a character whose name we barely learn and who has no personality beyond "angry Muslim man".

And I had to laugh when the main character is talking about his FIANCE and he's like "Yeah, I never asked her about her family. I know nothing about her." You got to the point of being engaged to someone and you never asked about her family?! You know "nothing about her"?! We learn that she's converted to Islam but are never given a reason why, or a reason why she is willing to kill herself and many other people.

I spent a lot of the film thinking that the twist was going to be that Travolta's character was actually NOT who he said he was and that he was going to turn out to be the bad guy. He was so unethical and reckless (repeatedly causing death and injury to innocent bystanders, all with zero remorse).

When the film ended with the two character playing chess next to the plane(???????), I was like "How high were the people who wrote this movie?".

I will praise the film for some really good driving stuntwork in the chase scene. That was maybe the only part of the film that I found genuinely gripping.

As a whole, though, I thought it was a cliched mess, even if you lower the bar to account for the genre.


I'm not saying it was a high quality film, just that I enjoyed it for what it was. I know some people are very sensitive to race but it didn't bother me, in fact it's refreshing in today's climate where often the straight white man is either evil or incompetent and the women and ethnic minorities are the smart, strong heroic characters.

[Gideon58]

https://kyozoufs.blob.core.windows.net/filestoragetcdb/Pictures/_37/36065/36064834.jpg



3.5

[Takoma11]

I'm not saying it was a high quality film, just that I enjoyed it for what it was. I know some people are very sensitive to race but it didn't bother me, in fact it's refreshing in today's climate where often the straight white man is either evil or incompetent and the women and ethnic minorities are the smart, strong heroic characters.

From my point of view Middle Eastern terrorists/bad guys are the lazy trope, not a refreshing departure.

The idea of his fiance having played him and used him just to get insight into the details about the summit is a decent twist. But the film totally fails to bridge this betrayal (by a white woman) to the Islamic terrorist plot. Again--this white woman was radicalized how? And when? And why? The main character is said to have done a background check on her, and yet he "knows nothing" about her?

The film develops neither villain--the generic Middle East terrorist man or the fiance--and it means that there's just nothing to grab onto. I didn't find the relationship between the two main characters that compelling, and in the end the film wants us to care about the main character having to kill the fiance. I felt nothing. When it comes to the storytelling rule of "show, don't tell" it fails at showing us critical information about either baddie.

Honestly, though, the lazy racism wasn't even my main problem with the film. I thought that the writing was poor, the tone was inconsistent, it did a poor job of building stakes, and the chemistry between the two leads fell flat. Luc Besson wrote the story, but the actual screenplay was completed by a different writer. And you can feel the film straining for the manic/outlandish tone that marks so much of Besson's work and just failing to achieve it.

Again, Travolta's embarrassed expression as he delivers the "Royale with cheese" line summed it all up for me.

I'm not mad about someone liking this as dumb fun. Like you say, "for what it is". I like a lot of films that are lazy and cliched in their own way. But I set a pretty low bar in my head--I just wanted some dumb fun action for a late night film--and I felt let down. Should have gone with something Scott Adkins.

[FromBeyond]

VFW (2019)

A group of war veterans must defend their local VFW post against a deranged drug dealer and his relentless army of punk mutants

Oh hell that was quality with the most nostalgia inspiring cast I think I have ever seen, bad lighting, really gritty camera, tons of gore (albeit colourless) and a throbbing bassy soundtrack.. Stephen Lang (the blind guy from Don't Breath) is terrific in this.. they all are.. its the dialogue and commadrie between them that overshadows any negatives from the film, genuinely funny and believable.. you even have the kobra kai sensei from the karate kids films as one of the vets, Im so pleased I knew nothing about this going in, it was a joy to behold.

Fred Williamson and William Saddler are in this movie lol

4.5

[Fabulous]

The Report (2019)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/wkuzayGVfX0xWwmfQMzFoeOIxIk.jpg

[Nostromo87]

King Arthur (2004)

Rule your fate. Heyy Keira

Tell Me Now (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kywZr35ZYKo)

http://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpg+ 8.5 / 10

http://i.ibb.co/n3YVfD5/arthurk.jpg

[Nostromo87]

Troy (2004)

What do you want in Troy?

http://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QppYKQM/half-popcorn.jpg+ 7.5 / 10

You're not a Myrmidon yet. Where's Patroclus? (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jhQsJ5DnEnw)

http://i.ibb.co/LNZDtv0/110a1-Achilles-Brad-Pitt.jpg

[Fabulous]

The Night Comes for Us (2018)

2

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/bA3TV18MJ6CIeHsHJKBQXCmkLqO.jpg

[cricket]

The Hunt (2020)

2.5

https://cdn.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/The-Hunt-Official-Trailer-HD-1-3-screenshot-600x306.png

I loved the idea and enjoyed it quite a bit, but it could've and should've been so much better. The action and violence was well done and I liked how it made fun of the differences in stereotypes between liberals and real people. The lead actress was pretty good.

[Marco]

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/Hearts_of_Darkness%2C_A_Filmmaker%27s_Apocalypse_Poster.jpeg
This, for me, was more interesting than the actual film itself (which I've recently watched the "REDUX" version of). It's well known the production difficulties this film had but the background of FFC wanting to make it for the longest time was really enthralling. Think he says that being a director is one of the last jobs you can be a dictator in. Also his sage words drawing parallels between the Vietnam War and his film crew...lost in the jungle with too many gadgets.

I rated Apocalypse now fairly tepidly but their a great look into the artists eye/camera.

3.5

[Marco]

Borg vs McEnroe (2017)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Borg-McEnroe.png
I was huge fan of tennis as a lad and this was the rivalry that whetted the whistle. Different attitudes and different styles (base-liner vs serve and volley). Pleasantly surprised that, as a sports film, it really keeps the narrative tight and both performances are interesting. Shia LaBeouf looks dorky and self-obsessed as "SuperMac" and Sverrir Gudnason does well as the ice cool Swede that superstardom does not sit comfortably with. 2 minor issues, Borg was a V-shape with shoulders that would fit a "zoot-soot" and that was not well portrayed but the acting was great.

2nd issue, I'm not 7 anymore watching these guys go at it :) Still amazes me that Borg really retired at 26...both were great athletes.

3.5

[mojofilter]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/43/f8/8d/43f88d31e195d57a4f1c19d03c142101.jpg
THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE
(1976)

First viewing. A TV movie that stars John Travolta right before he made Saturday Night Fever and becoming a big movie star playing a kid who is quarantined in a bubble due to an immunity disorder he was born with. Watching it in the current era of the coronavirus pandemic didn't make it feel outdated, almost like the movie was ahead of its time. It's a sweet family film, and Travolta delivers a believable and subtle performance.
3.5

[Fabulous]

Hotel Mumbai (2018)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/wHCV3lRhjdAamxKjKIF5rqMRqwu.jpg

[Gideon58]

https://i.cdn.turner.com/v5cache/TCM/Images/Dynamic/i53/gilda_1946_mp_1shta_1200_041320070142.jpg




3.5

[cricket]

Cure (1997)

3.5

https://lwlies.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cure-Kyua-1997-1108x0-c-default.jpg

This is a very good Japanese crime/mystery/psychological horror mix. Police are investigating sudden murders committed by normal citizens after meeting up with a young man who doesn't seem to even know anything about himself. It's a smart, moody, and well paced film. I enjoyed the first 2/3 that featured the what a little more, but the wrap up is pretty satisfying as well. Great rec from Captain Spaulding of a movie that was otherwise unknown to me.

[Takoma11]

Cure (1997)

3.5

https://lwlies.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Cure-Kyua-1997-1108x0-c-default.jpg

This is a very good Japanese crime/mystery/psychological horror mix. Police are investigating sudden murders committed by normal citizens after meeting up with a young man who doesn't seem to even know anything about himself. It's a smart, moody, and well paced film. I enjoyed the first 2/3 that featured the what a little more, but the wrap up is pretty satisfying as well. Great rec from Captain Spaulding of a movie that was otherwise unknown to me.

Cure is pretty great. I feel like it has such an interesting premise, and then it does a wonderful job of balancing telling the audience information and leaving some things a bit vague/ambiguous.

A horror movie friend of mine absolutely swears by another film by Kurosawa called Pulse (aka Kairo). (I've been waiting for it to pop up on a streaming service, but I might just need to suck it up and pay for a rental). I would also recommend a film that he directed called Bright Future--it's more of a drama/sci-fi slow burn, but I thought it had kind of a dreamy horror to it.

[cricket]

Cure is pretty great. I feel like it has such an interesting premise, and then it does a wonderful job of balancing telling the audience information and leaving some things a bit vague/ambiguous.

A horror movie friend of mine absolutely swears by another film by Kurosawa called Pulse (aka Kairo). (I've been waiting for it to pop up on a streaming service, but I might just need to suck it up and pay for a rental). I would also recommend a film that he directed called Bright Future--it's more of a drama/sci-fi slow burn, but I thought it had kind of a dreamy horror to it.

I didn't like Pulse as much as Cure, not for lack of quality but more because of my taste. It's definitely worth seeing.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/60/Birds_of_Prey_%28and_the_Fantabulous_Emancipation_of_one_Harley_Quinn%29.jpg

4


Thought I was going to be disappointed but loved every minute, and the Huntress made me laugh so much, perfect.


http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/43100000/Huntress-and-Black-Canary-in-Birds-Of-Prey-2020-birds-of-prey-2020-43151535-450-200.gif


Snooze factor = Z

[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[Fabulous]

Sophie's Choice (1982)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/cJ4WmOftpiP8ghzskFNYOs2lL0U.jpg

[Dog Star Man]

Sophie's Choice (1982)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/cJ4WmOftpiP8ghzskFNYOs2lL0U.jpg

Agreed. I found Sophie's Choice to be underwhelming myself. Just another film panhandling for an easy "oscar grab."

[Dog Star Man]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSMxUfLRp1A-9n4g-pQUnU_CyJPKHIop1yjZg&usqp=CAU

Brave Archer and His Mate (1982)

3/5

Don't get me wrong, I love me some good kung fu and kung fu action... this was, at it's best, kung fu action and nothing else. Really disappointed. The narrative was boring, odd, and full on non-sequiturs, and not in a "good" bad way. Not my cup of tea.

[mojofilter]

https://66.media.tumblr.com/b56ca90c38008a9b282b2f30446036d3/tumblr_nrijfpYsys1tk4n0bo3_1280.jpg
THE TERMINATOR
(1984)

Re-watch. Terminator 2 might be a superior film, but the original is still a formidable classic sci-fi action thriller.
4.5

[FromBeyond]

Becky 2020

Home invasion type thriller, (un)funny man Kevin James does an incredible u turn in his career playing a cold, calm and calculating white supremist and escaped convict looking for a mysterious key.. he did it so well I thought it was just somebody that looks like Kevin James right until the end credits....

young Becky still grieving the loss of her mother and angry that her father is getting remarried finds the perfect release for her teenage angst against these nefarious brutes.

not bad

3.5

[Marco]

Chinatown (1974)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Chinatownposter1.jpg
Second watch. Stylish and well realised. I think the actual story itself is slight (though not as slight as sequel "The Two Jakes"). The actors are impeccable especially Faye Dunaway who manages to ooze aloofness and vulnerability wonderfully.

Polanski did a great job here.

I still laugh at Jake's joke :) kinda more Jake's telling of the joke but you get my drift :)

4

[rambond]

https://i.ibb.co/dkcmRLG/Smart-Select-20200705-161821-Whats-App.jpg (https://ibb.co/SVxfzdR)
I love how during the 90s we had these erotic thrillers, that have these kinds of posters, with 2 people going at it, and they always knew how to choose the locations to make it as atmospheric as it can be, palm beach is just a dream location to me where sex and murder is interepreted here to the full, i love 90s films
Lorraine bracco is just a dream girl, and nancy travis never looked better, she s as hot as it can be here

[pahaK]

Cure is pretty great. I feel like it has such an interesting premise, and then it does a wonderful job of balancing telling the audience information and leaving some things a bit vague/ambiguous.

A horror movie friend of mine absolutely swears by another film by Kurosawa called Pulse (aka Kairo). (I've been waiting for it to pop up on a streaming service, but I might just need to suck it up and pay for a rental). I would also recommend a film that he directed called Bright Future--it's more of a drama/sci-fi slow burn, but I thought it had kind of a dreamy horror to it.

You have a smart friend :) When we did the top-100 Horror countdown I had Pulse at #4 on my ballot. It's such a melancholic and depressing film. I still haven't seen Cure but it's been on my watchlist for ages.

[HollowMan]

The Raid 2. (2014)


https://fanart.tv/fanart/movies/180299/movieposter/the-raid-2-berandal-557bf46430b25.jpg



The action scenes were just as epic and brutal as in the original but the story was less focussed and streamlined. This film relies more on a conventional story structure that I felt I'd seen a dozen times before in action films (undercover cop on a revenge mission). It was overlong and let down by mediocre performances and poor characterization. It's the fight scenes that made this film good; truly awesome to behold. I'll never look at a hammer the same way again...


3/5 Stars.

[Takoma11]

You have a smart friend :) When we did the top-100 Horror countdown I had Pulse at #4 on my ballot. It's such a melancholic and depressing film. I still haven't seen Cure but it's been on my watchlist for ages.

Yeah, he might know a thing or two.

If you dug that Pulse had a dose of melancholy, you'll probably also enjoy that aspect of Cure.

While I often have a negative reaction to horror movies that are overly pessimistic (ie when it's clear from the first minute that every character you like is going to die, that the evil/bad characters are going to win, etc) and kind of disconnect from them, movies that are melancholy (sad but still tinged with hope) can really draw me in.

[Raven73]

Brewster's Millions
8/10.
A movie I've loved since I was a kid. It's a riot.

I also found out that it's a remake from a 1945 movie and it was based on novel. I'll definitely check those out.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2MyMGJmZGEtOGQzNC00ZGMyLWEwNDYtMGExZjBlYjZlZGNkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDk3NzU2MTQ@._V1_UY1200_CR73,0,6 30,1200_AL_.jpg

[GulfportDoc]

Voyeur - 7.5/10
I was looking for something on Netflix (since most of it is crap, but hey, free trial) and saw "Voyeur". It could have been made better. It started to go downhill towards the end, when a lot of focus was on the write, Gay Talese, and some discrepancies, but it would have been nice if they would have had someone with an interest in voyeurism going into the psychology of it, or maybe the details of observation.
Watching the watcher is now the new role for this voyeur.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Voyeur_film_poster.jpg
I can see where you're coming from. I almost didn't watch it because of the "kink" factor, but being a documentary I anticipated that it would NOT include any graphic stuff-- which it didn't.

Right from the git-go I was directed more toward the relationship between the voyeur, Gerald Foos, and the writer, Gay Talese. I haven't read much of Talese's journalism in NYT or Esquire, but I had read his Honor Thy Father (1971) --about the Bonanno crime family-- and it knocked me out. So I was aware of Talese's talent, and was interested in how he got onto the Foos' Manor House Motel voyeurism set-up.

To me the story really was about the two men, how they related, and what happened with their friendship, especially following Talese's article in The New Yorker, and subsequent book. Gerald Foos was a very unusual guy, but yet strangely moralistic. I was happy the way the thing resolved.

The documentary itself by Miles Kane and Josh Koury was exceptionally well done. IMO the pacing was good, along with the syntax, and they used some rather innovative cinematography. I enjoyed it, and appreciated your heads-up.

[matt72582]

I can see where you're coming from. I almost didn't watch it because of the "kink" factor, but being a documentary I anticipated that it would NOT include any graphic stuff-- which it didn't.

Right from the git-go I was directed more toward the relationship between the voyeur, Gerald Foos, and the writer, Gay Talese. I haven't read much of Talese's journalism in NYT or Esquire, but I had read his Honor Thy Father (1971) --about the Bonanno crime family-- and it knocked me out. So I was aware of Talese's talent, and was interested in how he got onto the Foos' Manor House Motel voyeurism set-up.

To me the story really was about the two men, how they related, and what happened with their friendship, especially following Talese's article in The New Yorker, and subsequent book. Gerald Foos was a very unusual guy, but yet strangely moralistic. I was happy the way the thing resolved.

The documentary itself by Miles Kane and Josh Koury was exceptionally well done. IMO the pacing was good, along with the syntax, and they used some rather innovative cinematography. I enjoyed it, and appreciated your heads-up.


Yeah, it kinda became more about them instead of the "studies".. They both seemed like narcissists. Guy Talese had many pictures of himself in his office, but didn't even check things available to public record. Even when he says "How do I know how much a baseball card is worth" - a simple check on eBay could give him a ballpark estimate, and with his experience, he could easily find someone to appraise it.

I got the book, skimmed a bit. The one good thing about e-books is how I love to CTRL-F to find certain words used in subversive writings (sexual, drugs, or even the word money), as well as "Conclusion" which you could see was Gerald's summation of each event.

[Citizen Rules]

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=65840
Curtiz (2018) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6774588/)

Anybody ever see this? I watched it last night on Netflix. It was OK. The cool part was that most all of the film was set in the Warner Brothers movie studio and was about director Michael Curtiz making Casablanca. The choice of B&W was good and it was fun seeing Casablanca being made, along with seeing it's famous stars....But I'm not sure why an extra sitting at the table at Rick's Cafe had drawings of Mr Spock and the Enterprise from the original Star Trek...what was that all about???

rating_3_5




(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6774588/)

[cricket]

Ready or Not (2019)

2.5

https://cdn.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/READY-OR-NOT-_-Red-Band-Trailer-HD-_-FOX-Searchlight-2-15-screenshot-1.png

I was thinking for a while that I wished the movie would be more serious, but I guess there's really no point with such a silly concept. Accepting it for what it is, it's a reasonably entertaining 90 minutes.

[Dog Star Man]

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=65840
Curtiz (2018) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6774588/)

Anybody ever see this? I watched it last night on Netflix. It was OK. The cool part was that most all of the film was set in the Warner Brothers movie studio and was about director Michael Curtiz making Casablanca. The choice of B&W was good and it was fun seeing Casablanca being made, along with seeing it's famous stars....But I'm not sure why an extra sitting at the table at Rick's Cafe had drawings of Mr Spock and the Enterprise from the original Star Trek...what was that all about???

rating_3_5




(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6774588/)

Remind me, he had broken English since it wasn't his first language and he used to say something like "Bring out the empty horses!" or something to that nature.

[Takoma11]

Ready or Not (2019)

2.5

https://cdn.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/READY-OR-NOT-_-Red-Band-Trailer-HD-_-FOX-Searchlight-2-15-screenshot-1.png

I was thinking for a while that I wished the movie would be more serious, but I guess there's really no point with such a silly concept. Accepting it for what it is, it's a reasonably entertaining 90 minutes.

I may have seen this twice in the theater, and I may have loved it both times. It's a great big screen, crowd laughing/screaming/gasping movie. And the fabulously over the top finale really seals the deal.

[cricket]

I may have seen this twice in the theater, and I may have loved it both times. It's a great big screen, crowd laughing/screaming/gasping movie. And the fabulously over the top finale really seals the deal.

I can understand that and I did like the ending.

[Takoma11]

PSA ya'll: Multiple lovely people have informed me that Pulse/Kairo is on Tubi. So now I/we have no excuses.

No excuses.

[Takoma11]

I can understand that and I did like the ending.

Literally my only complaint on a second viewing was the long exposition sequence (where the dad was telling the family history and the legend of the box thing).

It was a minor annoyance the first time, but the second time I was like "Hurry up old man! Let's get to the killing!! :mad:"

[gbgoodies]

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=65840
Curtiz (2018) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6774588/)

Anybody ever see this? I watched it last night on Netflix. It was OK. The cool part was that most all of the film was set in the Warner Brothers movie studio and was about director Michael Curtiz making Casablanca. The choice of B&W was good and it was fun seeing Casablanca being made, along with seeing it's famous stars....But I'm not sure why an extra sitting at the table at Rick's Cafe had drawings of Mr Spock and the Enterprise from the original Star Trek...what was that all about???

rating_3_5




(https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6774588/)


I've never heard of this, but it sounds interesting. (Let me know if you find out the answer to the Star Trek reference.)

[Achoo42]

Rugrats In Paris: 10/10


This was one of my favorite movies when I was a child and I decided to rewatch it for the nostalgia factor.


And wow. What a bizarre, joyous, and entertaining affair. Despite having not seen the film in over 15 years, every scene was still ingrained in my mind. What I did not expect was the multitude of cultural references and adult gags scattered throughout. One gets the sense that the creators had a blast writing and animating it.


Weird and wonderful.

[skizzerflake]

Tonight's gore fest is Gladiator. Having spent 5 years of my youthful life learning to speak Latin, much of this movie is familiar to me, almost as though I had been there. Yeah, it's a fictionalized story and yeah, they completely got the degraded emperor Commodus wrong as a character. He was not the inadequate, insecure person portrayed by Phoenix, but a raging macho man who fought hobbled opponents in the arena. Marcus was not murdered by Commodus, but died naturally. When he did die, he was completely dispirited (as portrayed in the movie) by all the war he had seen and the Empire began to decline after him. Nevertheless so much of the look and attitude of the movie really works.

Unlike the usual perception, many people who fought in gladiatorial combat were not killed, but submitted. It was too expensive to kill them all. In spite of the dubious history, the look is great, costumes excel, combat scenes are engaging and even the strange types of armor the gladiators use are pretty close to the real thing. The Coliseum in Rome is great recreation, including the sunscreens that were in the movie's digital recreation. The opening battle against the Germani in the Marcommanic War is epic, the best ancient world battle ever staged. Te Morituri Salutamus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVLGwTggO8U

[Citizen Rules]

Remind me, he had broken English since it wasn't his first language and he used to say something like "Bring out the empty horses!" or something to that nature.
Bring on the empty horses
On the set of 'The Charge of the Light Brigade', when, wanting to see stray horses wandering through the battle, Curtiz directed the wranglers to "Bring on the empty horses". When Niven and Flynn cracked up laughing, he responded with:'You people, you think I know **** nothing; I tell you: I know **** all"
That one wasn't in the movie but they did show the famous 'poodle' misunderstanding.

Poodles or puddles Michael Curtiz, director, arranging a scene during Casablanca: "Wery nice, but I vant a poodle.
Prop master: But you never asked for one. We don't have one!
Curtiz: Vell, get one.
Prop master: What color?
Curtiz: Dark, you idiot, we're not shooting in color!
[A few minutes later, Curtiz is called out to see a standard poodle.]
Curtiz: Vat do I vant with this ****** dog!
Prop master: You said you wanted a poodle, Mr. Curtiz.
Curtiz: I vanted a poodle in the street! A poodle. A poodle of water!

[Citizen Rules]

I've never heard of this, but it sounds interesting. (Let me know if you find out the answer to the Star Trek reference.)I looked on the internet but couldn't find anything about it. I want to know too! I thought maybe the extra was suppose to be Gene Rodenberry but the guy who drew the Star Trek sketches was named Lucas. And Rodenberry at the time would've been in the Navy.

[mark f]

Wagon Master (John Ford, 1950) 2.5 5.5/10
The Other Lamb (Malgorzata Szumowska, 2019) 2 5/10
Night Editor (Henry Levin, 1946) 2.5 5.5/10
Hamilton (Thomas Kail, 2020) 3.5 7/10
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2b/48/72/2b48726bce97f3eb0d314fc7548b0fd0.gif
King George III (Jonathan Groff) and Thomas Jefferson (Daveed Diggs) are among those who express dissatisfaction at Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda).
3 Godfathers (John Ford, 1948) 3 .6.5/10(
Paris Belongs to Us (Jacques Rivette, 1961) 2 5/10
Jasper Mall (Bradford Thomason & Brett Whitcomb, 2020) 2.5 6/10
The Outpost (Rod Lurie, 2020) 3 6.5/10
https://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/768x433/2020/05/the_outpost_-_h_-_2020.jpg
The Battle of Kamdesh at Outpost Keating in Afghanistan in 2009 against the Taliban was one of the bloodiest of the war. (Scott Eastwood and Caleb Landry Jones on the right.)
The Sign of the Ram (John Sturges, 1948) 2+ 5/10
Adú (Salvador Calvo, 2020) 2.5 6/10
The Enemy General (George Sherman, 1960) 2+ 5/10
The Truth (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2019) 3- 6.5/10
https://kaist455.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/thetruth03-1.jpg?w=640
Scriptwriter Juliette Binoche and her husband Ethan Hawke visit her old Paris home when her mother, aging French film star Catherine Deneuve, publishes her memoir.
Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997) 2.5 6/10
Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (William Beaudine, 1966) 1.5 4/10
Cut Off AKA Abgeschnitten (Christian Alvart, 2018) 2.5 6/10
No Time for Sergeants (Mervyn LeRoy, 1958) 3 6.5/10
https://66.media.tumblr.com/96d20d13694dce9695f27b8f55561788/tumblr_obzj5csYk71vbkcnyo8_250.gifvhttps://66.media.tumblr.com/bee396646ce68b74917dd7a95ca98673/tumblr_obzj5csYk71vbkcnyo5_250.gifv
1st - The toilet seats stand at attention for inspection by the brass. Far left- Andy Griffith; Far right - Nick Adams. 2nd - Myron McCormick and Don Knotts try to interpret one of Griffith's aptitude tests.
Cousins (Mauro Carvalho & Thiago Cazado, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Desperados (LP, 2020) 2+ 5/10
Ginger's Tale (Konstantin Scherkin, 2020) 2.5 6/10
Family Romance, LLC (Werner Herzog, 2019) 2.5 5.5/10
https://i0.wp.com/www.uclfilmsociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/family-romance-llc-social.png
Yuichi Ishii (right), the founder of Family Romance, visits a robot hotel to see if he can find any more actors to use in his business. The best bet is the robot fish.

[Dog Star Man]

https://renklisheyler.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/brothers-five-1970-five-brothers.jpg?w=917

Brothers Five (1970)

4.5/5

I had a lot of fun with this film. I really dig the whole "finding party members to defeat a boss"-type aesthetic. The film played out quite a bit like a video game in that regard, but that is okay in my book. Definitely a keeper and will return to this again soon.

[robertjlevi77]

Recently, I watched "Greyhound", it is about a: U.S. Navy Cmdr. Ernest Krause is assigned to lead an Allied convoy across the Atlantic during World War II. His convoy, however, is pursued by German U-boats.

Review:

I wish they had used a correct destroyer. As far as I know, no Fletcher destroyers were deployed to the Atlantic, and almost certainly not to the USCG. If they were trying to remake “The Enemy Below, (a kind of true story) they should have used an Edsall class destroyer escort.
3Star out of 5.

[Fabulous]

The Age of Innocence (1993)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/8hlYsMBEqiMBrIBHVHyQwd2NqHu.jpg

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fep01.epimg.net%2Fverne%2Fimagenes%2F2018%2F01%2F26%2Farticulo%2F1516958824_368441_1 516963362_sumario_normal.gif&f=1&nofb=1
Ninotchka (1939, Ernst Lubitsch)
rating_3_5
A typically charming Lubitsch, with a lovely Greta Garbo and some great moments (Garbo bursting out laughing in that restaurant scene, for example, was magical), though I thought Ninotchka's "liberation" and transformation from a grotesquely robotic, emotionless Soviet "cog" into a fun-loving, West-enamored charmer was way too abrupt. Plus, I found Melvyn Douglas' character slightly annoying (35 years old, really?).

[AgrippinaX]

M.F.A. (2017)

0.5

Covers very, very old ground...

[Hey Fredrick]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Fmovie%2Fmovie_poster%2Fthe-perfection-2019%2Flarge_perfection-poster.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
3

Very watchable horror story about two world class cellists, one the "old" prodigy the other, her replacement at the School for Hot, Gifted Musicians. Co stars Steven Weber as the girls "teacher" which probably tells you more about what you getting into than I ever could. Eventually it does go down a road that may be uncomfortable for some (one of the many twists) and has some pretty good fx especially in the second (body horror) and final movement.

[Marco]

Capone (2020)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Capone_2020_poster.jpg

A very weak film that has an awful script and tries to get by with set-pieces. The story itself may have been more engaging with a zippier pace but it just meanders through the last syphilitic years of AC which are uninteresting if they are as portrayed here. Tom Hardy's over-acting is pretty hammy too.

A big disappointment.

1.5.

[Gideon58]

Weekend re-watches:


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/Charlie_and_the_chocolate_factory_poster2.jpg

2nd re-watch...There's a lot of love out there for this movie because people think it's much closer in spirit to Roald Dahl's book than the 1971 film with Gene Wilder. It is a blazing technical achievement featuring extraordinary cinematography, editing, art direction/set direction and visual effects, but this version of the story is so dark and mean spirited and its attempts at exploring Wonka's childhood just bring the film to a dead halt (despite a superb performance from Christopher Lee as Wonka's father). Johnny Depp's performance is definitely a matter of taste, but Burton has to take some of the blame for that. 2.5


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ed/Wonder_boys_ver4.jpg/220px-Wonder_boys_ver4.jpg

1st Re-watch...A flashy performance by Michael Douglas that should have earned him an Oscar nomination makes this bizarre black comedy worth sitting through all by itself. 4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Fmovie%2Fmovie_poster%2Fthe-perfection-2019%2Flarge_perfection-poster.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
3

Very watchable horror story about two world class cellists, one the "old" prodigy the other, her replacement at the School for Hot, Gifted Musicians. Co stars Steven Weber as the girls "teacher" which probably tells you more about what you getting into than I ever could. Eventually it does go down a road that may be uncomfortable for some (one of the many twists) and has some pretty good fx especially in the second (body horror) and final movement.

First of all, at the School for Hot, Gifted Musicians.

LOL.

I had REALLY mixed feelings about The Perfection. I thought that the first half was interesting and different and genuinely really horrifying.

When it hit the second half was where I had my reservations. I had literally thought Wow, it's so nice to have a horror/thriller movie that doesn't just do the old "rape/revenge" thing and then . . . yeah.

The emotional rollercoaster of thinking that she's sabotaging this other girl because she's jealous, then finding out that it was a twisted way of "saving" her was really good and unexpected. The whole journey between the two characters was really compelling and I loved that their relationship shifted several times.

But once it got into the basement of the school it felt like everything was dragged out way too long. Like, we get it. They were being sexually abused. But it feels like the movie dances around this really obvious element. In fact, it went on so long that I started to think, "Wait, is it going to be something other than sexual abuse?" . . . but of course it wasn't. I also felt that the final attack on the one girl (with "is she going to get raped" as the method of suspense) dragged on. I don't know. Did anyone actually think she was going to be betrayed by her new friend?

I think that the idea of a school having this abusive subculture is an interesting context (and it made me think of the Olympic gymnast abuse scandal).

But the first half of the film was so strong and visceral (the bus sequence!!!) and unexpected! I really felt let down when the last third went into very predictable territory and leaned so hard on the whole rape threat as the main tension.

I did think that the performances were really solid. I liked the chemistry between the two leads. I just wish it had held on to the intensity and unexpectedness of the bonkers first act.

[AgrippinaX]

But the first half of the film was so strong and visceral (the bus sequence!!!) and unexpected! I really felt let down when the last third went into very predictable territory and leaned so hard on the whole rape threat as the main tension.

I did think that the performances were really solid. I liked the chemistry between the two leads. I just wish it had held on to the intensity and unexpectedness of the bonkers first act.

I am mixed on this film too. Man... I thought selling the viral outbreak was cheating. It gave me Sixth Sense & Identity vibes, and not in a good way. But I’ve rewatched it three times, which must mean something. Alison Williams has the makings of a scream queen. In terms of the school, it may feel trite, but as someone with professional musicians in the family, I can attest it’s unfortunately quite accurate...

The emotional rollercoaster of thinking that she's sabotaging this other girl because she's jealous, then finding out that it was a twisted way of "saving" her was really good and unexpected I agree, but I didn’t find the ‘saving’ part remotely believable from the perspective of psychology. It felt like Stockholm Syndrome backwards, and equally far-fetched.

[Takoma11]

I am mixed on this film too. Man... I thought selling the viral outbreak was cheating. It gave me Sixth Sense & Identity vibes, and not in a good way. But I’ve rewatched it three times, which must mean something. Alison Williams has the makings of a scream queen. In terms of the school, it may feel trite, but as someone with professional musicians in the family, I can attest it’s unfortunately quite accurate...

It wasn't that the school stuff felt unbelievable. My problem was that it was SO OBVIOUS that there was sexual abuse. I mean, you suspect it from the first 5 minutes of the film, right? So it's not so much about that plot element as it is the fact that the movie seemed to treat it like it was a surprise as opposed to a confirmation for anyone who was even half paying attention.

I agree, but I didn’t find the ‘saving’ part remotely believable from the perspective of psychology. It felt like Stockholm Syndrome backwards, and equally far-fetched.

I think that, realistically, it was probably a mix of two things. I do think that she wants an ally to be on her side against the school.

But I also think that she was jealous. It is a very real phenomenon that someone who suffers abuse can be jealous of another person who takes over being the "main victim", because they lose all of the attention.

If you think for a minute, she only needed the girl to not be able to play the cello. Losing one or two fingers would have easily accomplished this. Heck, just damaging tendons in some of her fingers or her wrist would have taken her out of genius-level ability. Instead she allows her to lose an entire hand.

So I think that the character tells herself that she's "saving" her (and she is), but I also think that her jealousy played a part in how ruthless she was in putting together the whole series of events and how far she let the harm go.

Also, harming a star pupil also harms the school in an indirect way. So the saving motivation is one piece, but I think that jealousy and revenge are also mixed in there.

In that respect, I found the supposed psychological element convincing enough.

[matt72582]

A Short Film About Love - 7/10
It was made in my lifetime, so I'll give it a handicap; an extra point for not being horrible. Good start, but subject and voyeur meet too soon. This movie had a bone, but no meat. Of course, the reviewers over-intellectualize everything, and get swayed by silence and a few minor scale notes on the piano (it seems to work on them every time), and thus, it becomes "so poetic"... "Let's make this movie THREE hours long, they'll call it an EPIC"., Shaky-Cam = AVANT-GARDE.
I should write reviews of reviews...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/A_Short_Film_About_Love_poster.jpg

[Gideon58]

Chinatown (1974)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Chinatownposter1.jpg
Second watch. Stylish and well realised. I think the actual story itself is slight (though not as slight as sequel "The Two Jakes"). The actors are impeccable especially Faye Dunaway who manages to ooze aloofness and vulnerability wonderfully.

Polanski did a great job here.

I still laugh at Jake's joke :) kinda more Jake's telling of the joke but you get my drift :)

4
Totally agree that this film features Faye Dunaway's best performance...as good as she was in Network, I still think the Oscar she won for that film was a partial consolation prize for losing for this film.

[Stirchley]

65853

Definitely my all-time favorite Woody Allen movie. Loads of very amusing cameos & a terrific story line.

[Gideon58]

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/417N0XRFVWL._AC_SY445_.jpg



4

[Gideon58]

65853

Definitely my all-time favorite Woody Allen movie. Loads of very amusing cameos & a terrific story line.

I don't think I liked it as much as you did, but I did enjoy this little-talked about film. BTW, you didn't rate it.

[Stirchley]

⬆️ It was extremely hard to even find this movie. Ended up buying a dvd from someplace. No subtitles rather spoilt it for me as one couldn’t always be sure of the dialogue.

[skizzerflake]

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

Hamilton - At Broadway prices (about $1000 per ticket), I've been putting off seeing it live, but I didn't want to do it unless I could see Lin-Manuel Miranda do the title role, so when this came up, I told my wife that I'd buy a Disney+ subscription and a Roku streaming device (configured for Disney+) for a tenth of the cost of a single real ticket. Broadway is locked anyway so that was easy. I have to preface by saying that I'm never better than 50% on musicals anyway, so this got me off the hook.

I'm sure that fans of musicals can't NOT like this. Costumes, sets, performers, music are all excellent. It was shot with what seems to be a real audience or at least a convincing facsimile of one. It was intended for release next year, but moved up to now as a way to draw subscribers (like me) to Disney+. Miranda, as writer, producer and performer is amazing; it's probably the major work of his life, the story of a New Yorker (Hamilton) done by a guy from Inwood (top of Manhattan), performed on Broadway. It doesn't get more Big Apple than this...a sort of subway show. Being a frequent NYC visitor until a few months ago, it felt good to be there for a few hours without a lockdown, other than Saturday Night Live re-runs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSCKfXpAGHc

[Fabulous]

A Walk on the Moon (1999)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/x7vXdeO3S3pTfwlkhyAOKNQLij5.jpg

[Marco]

A Short Film About Love - 7/10
It was made in my lifetime, so I'll give it a handicap; an extra point for not being horrible. Good start, but subject and voyeur meet too soon. This movie had a bone, but no meat. Of course, the reviewers over-intellectualize everything, and get swayed by silence and a few minor scale notes on the piano (it seems to work on them every time), and thus, it becomes "so poetic"... "Let's make this movie THREE hours long, they'll call it an EPIC"., Shaky-Cam = AVANT-GARDE.
I should write reviews of reviews...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/A_Short_Film_About_Love_poster.jpg

Funniest "review" for a while...FWIW I really liked the film but you howl away!!! :)

[matt72582]

Funniest "review" for a while...FWIW I really liked the film but you howl away!!! :)
I'm the king of the "neo-review" - adding metaphysics and anything else that sounds smart. But seriously, I do like to just brainstorm, sometimes mention things not even related to the movie - things like what's going on in my life, and maybe how it relates to the movie, sometimes going on a rant (positive or negative)... Maybe mention how my day is going, if I got little sleep, the constant flow of drugs (plural) in my system, explaining my explanations to my review . As one fellow MOFO (someone I like a lot) said about my "Grandma" review, "This says more about you than it does the movie". But I ranted on because that movie was such garbage, and condescending to the average viewer, who they hold in contempt. There's no reason for them (writers) to talk down to us. I could never stand the "Well, we understand it, but what about the average person out there?" (as if we grew on farms).

I like how others will include their main score, as well as another kind of score.. Maybe I should score my reviews, too. "dylan, Dylan, DYLAN". I don't even mention where my references come from because I look at everyone as equals, like a good Communist would.

I liked the movie, too. 7/10 is a high score for me, but some of the reviews I read afterwards were too silly, and who better to talk to than my fellow MoFOkers? Very self-congratulatory, elitist, and usually an exercise in poetry, dictionary, and thesaurus skills. And they usually sound like every other review from bigger publications (or IMDB user reviews). I was reading a book a few days ago, and it went on and on about how "My skin was met with a northwest wind..... etc." -- ah, NORTHwind, thanks for the directions!.... Anyway, now I'm just going on and on trying to win an Oscar to receive as many "reps" as possible.

Glad you enjoyed it :D

[GulfportDoc]

Curtiz (2018) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6774588/)

Anybody ever see this? I watched it last night on Netflix. It was OK. The cool part was that most all of the film was set in the Warner Brothers movie studio and was about director Michael Curtiz making Casablanca. The choice of B&W was good and it was fun seeing Casablanca being made, along with seeing it's famous stars....But I'm not sure why an extra sitting at the table at Rick's Cafe had drawings of Mr Spock and the Enterprise from the original Star Trek...what was that all about???

rating_3_5




'Preciate the heads-up. Sounds good, will watch...;)

[Takoma11]

https://cinematicscribblings.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/1.png?w=400&h=303

A Story of Floating Weeds (1934)

A theater troupe lands in a village and the troupe's leader, Kihachi, immediately sets out to find a former girlfriend (mistress? one night stand?) named Otsune, who also happens to be the mother of his illegitimate child. That child, an upstanding and intelligent young man named Shinkichi, is now grown. Kihachi begins to spend a lot of time with Otsune and Shinkichi, and Kihachi's current girlfriend finds out about it and sets out to sabotage the relationship.

The main impression that this film made on me was through its imagery. The image above, in which Kihachi confronts his angry girlfriend as they stand on opposite sides of a street during a rainstorm was perhaps my favorite visual moment. It isn't just pretty to look at--it's a sumptuous visual that also serves as an allegory for the emotional distance and turmoil between the two characters.

The film is full of amazing images and juxtapositions, such as a kettle placed close to the camera, or two characters standing a ways apart from each other on train tracks. The film is also brimming with moments where there are no characters on screen, but merely clues that they have recently been there: an abandoned desk, a still-smoking cigarette, an empty bicycle. There is a feeling of melancholy and "too late" that permeates the whole movie, and every time a character came to see someone only to find an empty chair or an abandoned cup of tea, it hammered home that sad foreboding.

There's a short stretch of the film where it seems as if the point is to villainize the girlfriend, but the film is after more complexity than that. The central characters must all reckon with the effects of their actions, but none more so than Kihachi, whose abandonment of his child and the child's mother (yes, he sends money, but I think we can all agree that parenthood is about more than writing checks) is a reckoning 18 years in the making. Kihachi is a likable character, but there's a selfishness to the way that he does a bunch of "dad" stuff with Shinkichi (he literally take the kid fishing), all while letting the teen think that he's just a friendly uncle. And the film lets you see the hurt in Otsune's face, even as she protests that she doesn't mind basically being a single mother as long as her son is okay. Yes, she loves her son, but she's the one who has had to live a life without romance or sex, and who must maintain the lie to her own son. Kihachi is free to travel and carry on romantic/sexual affairs, to pop in and play dad when he wants and then roll back out of town. Kihachi frequently hits other characters--his girlfriend, another woman from the troupe, even Shinkichi--and it's an anger that seems to be something he is turning from the inside out.

The whole movie is gorgeous and captivating, both visually and from a narrative point of view. Ozu later remade his own film in the 50s, and I look forward to watching the other version.

4.5

[Fabulous]

Sense and Sensibility (1995)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/iJFcRyjRvNLv3mj48aGnFZ3jgLh.jpg

[cricket]

A Bell From Hell (1973)

3

https://mondoexploito.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/abellfromhell2.jpg

This is a European horror dubbed in English that I found on Tubi. I'm surprised that I never heard of it before because it's pretty good. It's a bit gothic, a bit erotic, and pretty unsettling despite the lack of gore. It looks good and the cast does well. I thought it lacked cohesion but that's my only gripe. Definitely worth watching for horror fans. On a side note, the director fell or jumped to his death from the bell tower on the last day of shooting.

[pahaK]

A Bell From Hell (1973)

3

https://mondoexploito.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/abellfromhell2.jpg

This is a European horror dubbed in English that I found on Tubi. I'm surprised that I never heard of it before because it's pretty good. It's a bit gothic, a bit erotic, and pretty unsettling despite the lack of gore. It looks good and the cast does well. I thought it lacked cohesion but that's my only gripe. Definitely worth watching for horror fans. On a side note, the director fell or jumped to his death from the bell tower on the last day of shooting.

This looks potentially interesting. Apparently there's a Spanish release that's over 10 minutes longer than the US version (includes some extra gore too according to IMDb). Now where to find that?

[Takoma11]

A Bell From Hell (1973)

3

https://mondoexploito.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/abellfromhell2.jpg

This is a European horror dubbed in English that I found on Tubi. I'm surprised that I never heard of it before because it's pretty good. It's a bit gothic, a bit erotic, and pretty unsettling despite the lack of gore. It looks good and the cast does well. I thought it lacked cohesion but that's my only gripe. Definitely worth watching for horror fans.

Have you seen Jack Be Nimble (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107242/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_60)? I don't want to get too specific, but it has a similar weirdness, bordering on off-putting, and it's pretty wacky. You . . . will not see the end coming.

[FromBeyond]

Dust Devil - the final cut 1992

4+

[cricket]

This looks potentially interesting. Apparently there's a Spanish release that's over 10 minutes longer than the US version (includes some extra gore too according to IMDb). Now where to find that?

I thought of you while watching it. My guess is that the Spanish version is nowhere to be found. It's also on YouTube but Tubi is free as well.

Have you seen Jack Be Nimble (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107242/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_60)? I don't want to get too specific, but it has a similar weirdness, bordering on off-putting, and it's pretty wacky. You . . . will not see the end coming.

Sounds good, added to watchlist. You've seen A Bell From Hell? You like?

[pahaK]

I thought of you while watching it. My guess is that the Spanish version is nowhere to be found. It's also on YouTube but Tubi is free as well.

Tubi is not available in Europe, sadly.

[cricket]

Tubi is not available in Europe, sadly.

Yea that's too bad because it's a good source.

[MovieGal]

Tubi is not available in Europe, sadly.

Pahak,

Im not sure if this will work in Europe but you can try.

https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/a-bell-from-hell

at least you can try to search for streaming platforms.

[Takoma11]

Dust Devil - the final cut 1992

4+

Yes! This movie is not perfect, but I think it's criminally underseen and underappreciated. The 90s were such a mixed bag in terms of horror, but Dust Devil is a real breath of fresh air.

Sounds good, added to watchlist. You've seen A Bell From Hell? You like?

Okay, try not to judge me too much when I say this:

Every year a group of friends and I do a "Guess the Horror Movie" competition where we are shown 10 still images or gifs each day for all of October. Thus I have watched, with no exaggeration, hundreds and hundreds of films in part on YouTube, sometimes on fast-forwards, sometimes by jumping ahead in spurts of 3-5 minutes.

I have watched probably about half of Bell from Hell, but under the duress of "I NEED TO FIND THIS SCENE IN WHAT I THINK IS A BELL TOWER!!!!!". I have not given it a proper watch. However, I've seen enough of it to get a feel for its vibe. I owe it a decent, non-stressed viewing.

[MovieBuffering]

Patriots Day - 2016

Mixed feelings about movies like this. Isn't it sort of perverse to make a movie about an event so quickly that ruined many people's life? At the same time it can maybe provide some catharsis if done respectful and right. It's a weird space to me. I usually don't really wade into these sort of movies but I thought what the hell a change of pace.

I got to tell you it was a very well crafted retelling of the events. It was also completely refreshing to feel a bit of patriotism for once in forever. The narrative, like it or not, over the last year and change is to be a shame of the flag. The damn thing was all over this movie and it felt good to feel like a united America again even if it was just on a movie.

I mean not much else to say. It's a worthy, compelling retelling of the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. Marky Mark did fine along with the rest of the cast, and I don't know if that cop he played happen to be everywhere but that was the one minor annoying part. Wahlberg was in the thick of everything, of course they going use a big star like that but you could feel the liberty being used during lol. Overall pretty enjoyable.

3

https://www.gstatic.com/tv/thumb/v22vodart/12939920/p12939920_v_v8_ab.jpg

[pahaK]

Yes! This movie is not perfect, but I think it's criminally underseen and underappreciated. The 90s were such a mixed bag in terms of horror, but Dust Devil is a real breath of fresh air.

I rewatched it quite recently too, and I liked it perhaps even more than I did originally. In many ways, it reminded me of Fulci. Very stylish film.

[Olivier Parent]

Jérusalema 3/5
65869

[Takoma11]

I rewatched it quite recently too, and I liked it perhaps even more than I did originally. In many ways, it reminded me of Fulci. Very stylish film.

I wouldn't have thought of Fulci in connection with Dust Devil, but now that you say it I see what you mean. That sense of unreality.

[Fabulous]

Party Girl (1995)

2

https://hollywoodsuite.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/a5lRIMyTi6wq4YUWXHCeHc3rbY4.jpg

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.moriareviews.com%2Frongulator%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2FYou-Should-Have-Left-2020-6.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
You Should Have Left (2020, David Koepp)
rating_1
Imagine patiently enduring this in a theater waiting for something redeeming until the end – in vain – and then seeing the title when the closing credits roll? Yeah, exactly. And what was Kevin Bacon thinking - his acting here is comically bad, as is pretty much everything else about this movie.

[FromBeyond]

Yes! This movie is not perfect, but I think it's criminally underseen and underappreciated. The 90s were such a mixed bag in terms of horror, but Dust Devil is a real breath of fresh air..

it was indeed, its a shame writer/director Richard Stanley has not made more films in his career, he has a really unique vision, I cant say I have seen a film quite like Dust Devil before, pleased I watched the recent colour out of space as on many reviews this was cited as the directors superior work, having also heard it mentioned on here a couple of times I took a midnight viewing last night and so very pleased I did, an intriguing unusual little piece with some great imagery, probably the last horror film I'll watch that takes place in Namibia also!!

[neiba]

The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino, 2015)
(rewatch)

I wanted to celebrate the life of one of my idols, Ennio Morricone, so I spent a good part of my day going through some of his most epic scores and the scenes where they were used. I eventually came across with the opening of The Hateful Eight and realized I haven't watched it since it came out, having hated it by then.

While I still think Tarantino can do better, my opinion improved a lot this time around, perhaps cause I've seen what he did after so this film actually looks good when compared to the aberration that Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood was.

First of all the obvious: at 89 Ennio Morricone was still composing fresh scores with the true western spirit. The man was truly the best soundtrack composer in History and it's beyond criminal this film gave him his first competitive Oscar, unless you assume that every year since the man began writting music, Oscars are given to the second best composer.
The cinematography also looks really good, both outdoors and indoors. I won't get into the editing or the pacing because that wouldn't be a problem if the things I'm going to write next weren't such a big flaw. I am just going to say that the inability he has of looking at unity and the feeling of whole as a necessary attribute to a true work of art is mainly what stops him from being one of the greats.

The acting is as good as you'd expect with such a cast and being a Tarantino film, every actor transforms into a dialogue spitting machine. I used to like this unique trait, it gave every film directed by the man a very specific energy, an unapologetical style over content approach. But then again, he used to do it better.
Not that the dialogue is poorly written or it lacks the usual style, quite on the contrary, this is perhaps the film where that style appears in a more homogenous way. The problem is that the film, and ultimately Tarantino himself, became too self conscious and arrogant.
It's obvious Tarantino loves what he wrote and knows it's good, and it's obvious he felt that during the whole writting process. The result is the feeling that every character is in love with the sound of their own voice and every line is said with the aim of showing how cool each one of them is, instead of that being a natural consequence of the narrative.

Tarantino has a very special personality. You see it on interviews or award ceremonies, that social awkwardness of a guy who grew up inside a cinema or a movie rent store and whose best friends were films used to be quite touching. The thing is: the guy who gave us Pulp Fiction was in love with cinema and his work was a fitting tribute to his passion. He didn't care for building great psychological trips through the mind of his characters, he just wanted to have fun. And that had a beauty that remains unparalleled in the last 30 years.
This guy, however, is in love with himself. His tribute is not to cinema anymore, but to himself and to his own style. When you hear him talk about this film, he repeats one time after the other how good the material is. I wish he didn't know that.

3.5 -

[GulfportDoc]

[Curtiz 2018]



'Preciate the heads-up. Sounds good, will watch...;)
Oh boy, I don't know WHAT they were trying to do with that movie. It could have been a compelling story because of Curtiz's stature, and also the subject matter, but it went way off the rails for me.

Perhaps they were trying to be artistic, but to me it seemed almost like a dark satire, except nothing was funny.

I did like the actor who played Curtiz. He almost put me in mind of someone out of The Third Man. Also the cinematography was absorbing, but was wasted on a semi-incoherent film.

I wanted to like this picture, but I bailed after about 30 minutes. Therefore maybe I missed some of the good stuff.

[chawhee]

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007)
https://www.chuckpee.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Aqua-Teen-Hunger-Force-Colon-Movie-after-credits-large.jpg
3
ATHF the show was very hit or miss for me, and the movie was very much the same. I find some of the characters hysterical, but a lot of them are also annoying and repulsive (which I find typical of most adult swim cartoons). This movie is dumb, and it knows it is, but a few of the gags were worth revisiting since I originally saw this 10+ years ago.

[Marco]

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Disappearance_of_alice_creed_UK_poster.jpg/323px-Disappearance_of_alice_creed_UK_poster.jpg
Spiky little abduction thriller. Well acted, well paced and interesting interactions between the 3 players. Interesting.

3.5

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTVhMDIwOGEtMTY1Zi00YzU1LTk0NTEtMWJhODhmM2EyM2VkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDA4NzMyOA@@._V1_.jpg



3.5

[Takoma11]

I watched the recent colour out of space as on many reviews this was cited as the directors superior work!

Colour Out of Space is definitely on my to-see list. I know that his movie Hardware has some defenders, but I've never been too interested in it.

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2009)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a2/Disappearance_of_alice_creed_UK_poster.jpg/323px-Disappearance_of_alice_creed_UK_poster.jpg
Spiky little abduction thriller. Well acted, well paced and interesting interactions between the 3 players. Interesting.

3.5

It's a film I enjoyed watching one time, and then just couldn't get into it a second time. I think that it has some really well-paced twists and turns. I really like movies with very limited casts, and I happen to quite like all three of the actors.

There's a completely useless garbage German remake called Kidnapping Stella. I put it on one night and was like . . . wait a minute!

Maybe the best thing about Alice Creed is that it introduced me to the song "Holy Moly" which I have enjoyed ever since.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZQYT1MjlO0

[Fabulous]

Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/lenFpoDZMlMvBWml8CF682x9NTQ.jpg

[pahaK]

Un taxi pour Tobrouk (1961)
aka Taxi for Tobruk

A French movie about four French soldiers and one German officer traveling across the Sahara during WW2. For some reason, I kept thinking that Citizen Rules would like this but I personally didn't. I found the journey rather boring and everything felt naive in the wrong way. I didn't exactly hate it, but due to another discussion let's pretend I did :)

1.5

[Fabulous]

Far from Heaven (2002)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/lnZSC9GgRDk0D7a9qY61s89F93N.jpg

[Dog Star Man]

https://musicboxtheatre.com/sites/default/files/styles/movie_stills/public/movie-stills/the-fisher-king/fisherking.jpg?itok=jiQfL4L5

The Fisher King (1991)

5/5

In my own personal life, I'm a hopeless romantic. So The Fisher King is a film I go to once in a while to realize there are people out there who enjoy the same type of sappy romance as I do. But in all seriousness, it is such a beautiful film, and perhaps my go-to when it comes to Gilliam. As a romantic movie it may be my favorite romance movie, but as a rom-com it my be my second next to Annie Hall. I highly recommend this film for people with a soft heart.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2c/The_Lighthouse.jpeg/220px-The_Lighthouse.jpeg

2.5

Snooze factor = Zzz


[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

[Fabulous]

Dogman (2018)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/zquMDqlhGYXdXiteRguQSlVGznx.jpg

[Inmyseat]

Birds Of Prey=one being the lowest-zero!

[Olivier Parent]

65898
nobody knows im here 3/5

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/theoaklandpress.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/22/f22acfba-90b4-5fb9-a770-6adb57fd6879/5e6273c726d96.image.jpg?crop=1800%2C1013%2C0%2C69&resize=1800%2C1013&order=crop%2Cresize
The Way Back (2020, Gavin O'Connor)
rating_2_5
A somewhat decentish but ultimately underwhelming sports drama starring Ben Affleck. Some touching moments here and there (you definitely empathize with Jack Cunningham and cheer for him to succeed in his battle against addiction and as a basketball coach) but the plot is way too generic and predictable to make it stand out in any way. It's a simple and heartfelt story and can easily be enjoyed for what it is but that's about it.

[Fabulous]

The Giant (2017)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/v57y29w9bHFcARUlkIH5R0JHJdZ.jpg

[Stirchley]

https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/theoaklandpress.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/22/f22acfba-90b4-5fb9-a770-6adb57fd6879/5e6273c726d96.image.jpg?crop=1800%2C1013%2C0%2C69&resize=1800%2C1013&order=crop%2Cresize
The Way Back (2020, Gavin O'Connor)
rating_2_5
A somewhat decentish but ultimately underwhelming sports drama starring Ben Affleck. Some touching moments here and there (you definitely empathize with Jack Cunningham and cheer for him to succeed in his battle against addiction and as a basketball coach) but the plot is way too generic and predictable to make it stand out in any way. It's a simple and heartfelt story and can easily be enjoyed for what it is but that's about it.

What I found most interesting was how the role Affleck played reflected so much on his own recent problems & showed his vulnerability. Otherwise, as you say, it was a decent movie.

[Thursday Next]

Days of the Bagnold Summer (2019)

https://cdn.onebauer.media/one/media/5ea8/2274/d851/f19c/32fc/2f2b/days-of-the-bagnold-summer-traielr.jpg?quality=50&width=960&height=540&ratio=16-9&resizeStyle=aspectfill&format=jpg

Enjoyed this a lot. Unassuming, quirky film about a mother and teenage son unexpectedly spending the summer together that has both humour and a quiet bittersweetness, with a lot of truth to their awkward interactions. Both Monica Dolan as the mum and Earl Cave (son of Nick Cave) as the son were spot on.

3.5

[FromBeyond]

The Wave 2019

An insurance lawyer (Justin Long) goes out on the town to celebrate an upcoming promotion with his co-worker, Jeff. But their night takes a bizarre turn when Frank ingests a hallucinogen that completely alters his perception of the world.

90 minutes I wish I could have back. Makes no sense, is not interesting or entertaining in any way. Baffle by how many good reviews it has

0.5

[cricket]

Bliss (2019)

3.5-

https://66.media.tumblr.com/babeb25e577620c95b102ec7fa86612a/e2d3958c66a11bb8-9e/s500x750/886a8c37270caec94527dec5fd69f2076424eaee.gifv

I don't think I could recommend this to many people but I thought it was pretty awesome. There was some kind of epileptic warning before it started as it's frantically loaded with color, music, and lights. It's a fun 75 minutes of drug fueled horror.

[Fabulous]

Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/gFYJ4gz3GZnYcVPOm6nbyKNT7ho.jpg

[pahaK]

The Ruins (2008)

A rewatch of a decent horror film. It has an interesting "monster" and it's quite gruesome at times. There's nothing really wrong with it, but there's nothing to really make it special either. Definitely worth a watch if you're into horror though.

3

[Takoma11]

The Ruins (2008)

A rewatch of a decent horror film. It has an interesting "monster" and it's quite gruesome at times. There's nothing really wrong with it, but there's nothing to really make it special either. Definitely worth a watch if you're into horror though.

3

I haven't seen the film, but I highly recommend the book (of the same name) on which it is based. Genuinely suspenseful and horrifying.

[mark f]

Jailbreak (Nick Grinde, 1936) 2.5 5/10
The Slow Escape (Satvia Peterson, 1998) 3 6.5/10 20 min
I Was Framed (D. Ross Lederman, 1942) 2+ 5/10
Personal Problems (Bill Gunn, 1980) 3- 6.5/10
https://s3.amazonaws.com/sfc-datebook-wordpress/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/03/65027476_DATEBOOK_reppicks0307-ph1.jpg
Everybody involved in this film does indeed have intense personal problems although they express them differently.
Only (Takashi Doscher, 2019) 2+ 5/10
Yummy (Lars Damoiseaux, 2019 2.5 5.5/10
The Girls of Summer (John D. Hancock, 2020) 2+ 5/10
Shadow Animals (Jerry Carlsson, 2017) 3 6.5/10 20 min
https://images1.the-dots.com/2272375/a011-c025-0428sx-0001788.jpeg?p=socialLarge
If I was a kid at this weird party in Sweden, I'd be scared out of my mind.
Breakwater (Cris Lyra, 2019) 2+ 5/10 27 min
Holiday Week AKA Hindle Wakes (Arthur Crabtree, 1952) 2.5+ 6/10
November Criminals (Sacha Gervasi, 2017) 2 5/10
Closure (Alex Goldberg, 2018) 2.5+ 6/10
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYWEzNWYxOGYtZGFjYy00OWUzLTg2ODgtOWU0ODk1ZGZjZDk1XkEyXkFqcGdeQTNwaW5nZXN0._V1_UX477_CR0,0,477,268 _AL_.jpg
A wonan comes to Los Angeles to find her missing sister and is comforted by her roommate
Film Title Poem (Jennifer West, 2016) 2 5/10
Ophelia's Opera (Abiola Abrams, 2001) 2.5 6/10 29 min
Don't Come Back from the Moon (Bruce Thierry Cheung, 2017) 2 5/10
Gumnaam (Raja Nawathe, 1965) 2.5 6/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tyl63XrO47c
Best part, right at the beginning, although when they're not singing and dancing, it's an Indian version of And Then There Were None.
Le coup du berger (Jacques Rivette, 1956) 2.5 5.5/10 28 min
The Pistol Shrimps (Brent Hodge, 2016) 3 6.5/10
nowhere Alaska (Cory Carroll, 2020) 1.5+ 4.5/10
Innocent Sorcerers (Andrzej Wajda, 1960) 3- 6.5/10
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w780/yVywZerF7Blnq4lZcGTl9OtRvEr.jpg
A friendly woman hits it off one night with a bored doctor in his flat.

[mojofilter]

https://fffmovieposters.com/wp-content/uploads/71146.jpg
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE
(1993)

Re-watch. The perfect rom-com. Not sappy. Men and women can both enjoy. Great dialogue. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in top form.
5

[Hey Fredrick]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.flickeringmyth.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F11%2F1917-quad-posters-2-600x450.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
3

I went in expecting to love this movie. Honestly thought a five star was attainable and for the first 30-45 minutes it was on its way and then it lost me. The story, especially the stuff in the bombed out city, was my biggest problem along with some pretty overpowering music at times. Ending was good.

[Ultraviolence]

Days of the Bagnold Summer (2019)

https://cdn.onebauer.media/one/media/5ea8/2274/d851/f19c/32fc/2f2b/days-of-the-bagnold-summer-traielr.jpg?quality=50&width=960&height=540&ratio=16-9&resizeStyle=aspectfill&format=jpg

Enjoyed this a lot. Unassuming, quirky film about a mother and teenage son unexpectedly spending the summer together that has both humour and a quiet bittersweetness, with a lot of truth to their awkward interactions. Both Monica Dolan as the mum and Earl Cave (son of Nick Cave) as the son were spot on.

rating_3_5

Never heard about this one before, but I already want to watch it! :)

[FromBeyond]

I haven't seen the film, but I highly recommend the book (of the same name) on which it is based. Genuinely suspenseful and horrifying.

you got there before me.. great book

[FromBeyond]

Passengers 2016

I enjoyed this again a second time. Don't go in looking for sci fi, its a romance/drama in a sci fi setting and it is quite simple and the action pieces are good too, Pratt and Lawrence have a good chemistry and its a solid and entertaining movie throughout IMO

4

[Marco]

Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Sicario_-_Day_of_the_Soldado.png
2nd time I've seen this. Goes way over the top in the gun/helicopter action stuff but is still an OK film. Alejandro Gillick remains an interesting character, less so Matt Graver this time. The script is pretty stodgy and they should have really left this alone after the first film, this just doesn't have the gravitas or characterization of that one.

2.5

[Fabulous]

Phantom Thread (2017)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/haMu70hm7EeZftX50iM7o7rz8Xt.jpg

[Tequila]

Time Without Pity (1957) 4 A great film starring Michael Redgrave (a favourite of mine) as a man who's son is to be hanged for a murder that he might not have committed.
Forever Female (1953) 3 A comedy film starring Ginger Rogers (another favourite of mine, lol) as an aging actress who is trying to hang on to her youth by playing parts that she is too old for on the stage. A fairly humorous film.

[Citizen Rules]

Time Without Pity (1957) rating_4 A great film starring Michael Redgrave (a favourite of mine) as a man who's son is to be hanged for a murder that he might not have committed.
Forever Female (1953) rating_3 A comedy film starring Ginger Rogers (another favourite of mine, lol) as an aging actress who is trying to hang on to her youth by playing parts that she is too old for on the stage. A fairly humorous film.I'm a huge fan of Ginger Rogers, but I haven't seen Forever Female. Sound interesting and if Ginger is in it, I'll have to see it:)

[Fabulous]

My Darling Clementine (1946)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/zs2SFOo8vPnJWCvYaJ6WMDj0ivq.jpg

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTYyYjc0YWUtZTc2Mi00MzRmLWE4MzItYzM3M2IyNWQzNzQ1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU0NTI0Nw@@._V1_.jpg


2.5

[AgrippinaX]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Emelie_poster.jpg

2

I couldn't seem to see the 'point' of this. Maybe it's me. But this entire film, though reasonably disturbing in the second half, is going absolutely nowhere.

[Thursday Next]

The Goldfinch (2019)

https://trailerlist.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/The-Goldfinch-Movie-Trailer-2019.jpg

I read the book earlier this year and loved it, so the film was an inevitable disappointment. I couldn't understand why they seemed to have made the main character much younger than in the book, it seems a small thing but it affected both his sense of guilt and relationships with other characters (not to mention it being uncomfortable watching kids who look about eleven taking so many drugs). And the tense bus ride from the book was just a few quick shots!

Book aside, the film lacked a sense of pace and narrative, the choice to chop backwards and forwards took the tension away, the editing was shoddy, the ending abrupt and there was never quite the sense of importance of the painting to Theo conveyed.

On the plus side, the music was good and the locations were spot-on.

2.5

[Fabulous]

The Comancheros (1961)

2

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/iiMYo7aOLM3H3O6AUnnkj7bE7bA.jpg

[cricket]

Knives Out (2019)

4+

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/knives-out.jpg

For some reason I wasn't that interested in seeing this. From start to finish it is extremely entertaining and the cast is fantastic.

[matt72582]

The Virgin Spring - 7/10
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Jungfruk%C3%A4llan.jpg

[Marco]

The Virgin Spring - 7/10
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Jungfruk%C3%A4llan.jpg

It's wonderful.

[Iroquois]

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky - 5

a better prison movie than Shawshank

[Marco]

Spring Breakers (2012)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Spring_Breakers_poster.jpg

A lot of this film is annoying. Particularly the Spring Break party scenes and people endlessly going on about Spring Break in quasi-mystical terms. Being from the UK I bet a good Butlins weekend beats it :) The shapeless film then gets it's act together with the introduction of the James Franco character...for this portion of the film it works.

All of a sudden it seems that Korine realises it is a film that requires a storyline (not just a "sensual experience") and tacks on a, frankly, embarrassing conclusion.

2 (1 point up for Franco's performance alone).

[matt72582]

The Silence - 6/10
This is another movie (along with "The Virgin Spring") that I turned off 1/3 of the way. I just read a bit about both movies, and I don't see ANY incest in view or in thought. Some menopausal writer stupidly said ""Again, Ingmar Bergman may have meant the tank rumbling down the street in The Silence as a phallic symbol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallic_symbol). But if he did, it was a foolish thought" -- yeah, maybe a tank is just a tank, moron.
I would have given this a lower score, but the T&A was adequate enough to raise it a point.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Tystnaden_%28the_silence%29%2C_film_poster.jpg

[HollowMan]

Spring Breakers (2012)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Spring_Breakers_poster.jpg

A lot of this film is annoying. Particularly the Spring Break party scenes and people endlessly going on about Spring Break in quasi-mystical terms. Being from the UK I bet a good Butlins weekend beats it :).


Yeah give me a weekend at Blackpool any day of the week. An afternoon at the Pleasure Beach followed by a donkey ride and a stick of rock.

[Harvey Hall]

The Departed

Borderline self parody from Scorsese at times (not a minute in and already Gimmie Shelter is playing in the background), still one of the most entertaining and rewatch-able films of the past 20 years for me. This may come off weird, but I sincerely hope Nicholson stays retired. Don’t see him ever topping his lunacy in this. It’s his final form, practically a Tex Avery cartoon wolf mobster.

And Damon needs to play more bastards.

4

[Stirchley]

Being from the UK I bet a good Butlins weekend beats it :)

Never knew Marco is British. We Brits should all come out of the woodwork & make our own thread. :)

The Silence - 6/10
This is another movie (along with "The Virgin Spring") that I turned off 1/3 of the way.

The Silence is one of my fave Bergman movies.

Yeah give me a weekend at Blackpool any day of the week. An afternoon at the Pleasure Beach followed by a donkey ride and a stick of rock.

Please tell me they don’t still have donkey rides, poor things? And do they still sell that dreadful pink rock?

[Stirchley]

65949

Re-watch of an American classic.

65950

Did anyone else review this? What can I say? Attractively produced, great photography & locations, high production values. But basically a high-end “dirty movie” with some laughable dialogue & excruciating spoken English from some of the foreign actors. The two leads were very attractive (especially the Italian male lead) & they both gave 100%.

Amazed I finished it, but I did.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGU5NDU4ZTctYjE2YS00NTUxLWIzMTAtMTMxNTgxODAzNDI5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTAwMzUyOTc@._V1_.jpg



3.5

[matt72582]

https://www.movieforums.com/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=65949

Re-watch of an American classic.
Great movie.. 9/10

[matt72582]

Through a Glass Darkly - 7/10
I liked it more this time around. I'm surprised I've seen THREE movies today (and its only 4pm). I haven't seen that many in the last month. But because of the kind of movies (psychological), it allows me to think about myself and the movie as its unfolding. I woke up today in a good mood. I don't ever remember that feeling. I did have a dream, kinda recurring dream where I'm with Mort Sahl in the same setting I saw him the last three times. This time, towards the very end of the dream, I want to mention "Harry and Tonto", while also asking him for movie recommendations, which I've done since last seeing him. Unlike the last few days, I didn't wake up dizzy, losing balance, so I avoided taking a pill for high blood pressure that I received from a family member. I think a big reason for my being calmer than usual is the weather. I LOVE cloudy days, and some rain. It's so calming.. Sun is chaotic, and when its out, so are people, and its too much for me. Even when its just cloudy, people don't seem to go outside, and its quiet everywhere, so I'm trying to milk this feeling for as long as I can, and planned to see "Wild Strawberries", but I kinda wanna see a movie by Bergman that I don't remember as much.... Damn, now I'm hearing a dog bark.


Matt's Review of his own Review - 8/10


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/S%C3%A5som_i_en_spegel.jpg

[Stirchley]

⬆️ I love this movie.

[GulfportDoc]

...
Forever Female (1953) rating_3 A comedy film starring Ginger Rogers (another favourite of mine, lol) as an aging actress who is trying to hang on to her youth by playing parts that she is too old for on the stage. A fairly humorous film.
Taking your suggestion, I re-watched FF. It had been years since I'd seen it. It's a cute story with an enjoyable happy ending, which I like. The age facet put me in mind a little of But Not for Me, or even All About Eve.

To me the comedy dialogue writing was a little off. The actors delivered their lines, but it was almost too measured, like "Okay this line fits here, it should be funny". I think the setups were too slow. And G. Rogers seemed preoccupied with something not in the film.

It's interesting that Paramount was so obviously trying to push the young Pat Crowley into stardom, which never really happened. She always did great work, but ended up almost exclusively in TV. Still alive today!

I'd rated it about the same as you did. Enjoyable, but nothing overly impressive.

[Marco]

Yeah give me a weekend at Blackpool any day of the week. An afternoon at the Pleasure Beach followed by a donkey ride and a stick of rock.

The cut-price Madam Tussauds and the Funhouse beats this also.;)

[Marco]

[QUOTE=Stirchley;2107442]Never knew Marco is British. We Brits should all come out of the woodwork & make our own thread. :)

Scottish my friend, saw most of my first eye-opening films at the GFT. MOFOs are universal...that's kinda what I like about it :)

[Marco]

Shame (2011)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Shame2011Poster.jpg
Powerful story about sex-addiction by the same team that made "Hunger" (Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender). The story itself was grim and heading one way but, as a viewer, wished we had more to know about Brandon. Rather than artistic shots and cuts. Just for instance, his job (that he apparently lived for and was so successful at) brushed off compromising their IT security without proper investigation...not in a firm that size he worked for. Carey Mulligan was OK in a part that left little for sympathy.

2.5

[cricket]

Yeah give me a weekend at Blackpool any day of the week. An afternoon at the Pleasure Beach followed by a donkey ride and a stick of rock.

My favorite place in the world as a kid.

[Fabulous]

The Scarlet Empress (1934)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/v1lSv9nNeuAC1rmc5pEdR8keUOJ.jpg

[matt72582]

Wild Strawberries

I gave this movie a 10/10, but after a second viewing (maybe a third?), I don't know if its deserving of that score. Maybe a 9/10, but this happened recently when I saw "Shadows in Paradise" when my brother came over. My laptop kept screwing up, and he constantly had to ask me to pause to check on his phone, or to re-read a subtitle. It was a short movie anyway, and we both were underwhelmed, and I wonder if its a bad idea to re-watch my favorites. I still love this movie, but when you know everything that's going to happen, its not the same experience..... I woke up yesterday to see my DVR recorded "A Virgin Spring", which I did not complete the first time, and after finishing it, I felt and still kinda feel in a Bergman mood. I also think its my way of avoiding the news, other message board discussions, to take a rest from what I usually do.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Wildstrawberriesposter.jpg

[Fabulous]

Piccadilly (1929)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/gTRIzBvxMz1QhIaLisOhzdpRZOo.jpg

[matt72582]

Riten - 7.5/10
Bizarre Bergman, but I love conversations in isolated locations.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/The_Rite_1969_poster.jpg

[Iroquois]

Double Down - ?/10

just what I always wanted to see, the bastard love-child of The Room and Primer

[Takoma11]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTUxMjA1OTYtYjgxMS00YmUxLTliZjgtMDZmNWU1MGQzYTFjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_SX1777_CR0,0,17 77,999_AL_.jpg

Palm Springs (2020)

This was a light, fun, and funny little film and a very successful variation on the Groundhog Day structure.

Nyles and Sarah get stuck in a time loop centered around the wedding of Sarah's little sister. The two work to figure out how to escape the loop while also reckoning with their own personal issues.

Maybe the best thing about this film is the way that it comes at the "living the same day over and over" formula from a fresh angle, and on multiple fronts.

To begin with, the film frequently takes the approach of showing us something outrageous or bizarre and then later helping us to connect the dots. It adds a layer of unpredictability to the plot, and allows for plot twists. There were revelations about the characters up to the final act.

Secondly, the film does a fantastic job of making both characters central to the plot. Sarah isn't just the love interest who is there to fall in love with Nyles. And Nyles isn't just the goofball there to irritate Sarah. Both characters are given ample character development and, especially refreshing, development outside of their romance with each other.

In fact, it's pretty amazing how well-developed many of the characters are. From an irritable fellow wedding guest (played by JK Simmons), to Sarah's sister, to a straight-talking barfly, most of the characters get a lot more than just one-dimension.

It's not the deepest film, but it was a delightful bit of fluff that made me laugh on a lazy summer Saturday. I'm giving it a generous 4 because, man, I needed something upbeat and this really delivered.

4

[AgrippinaX]

Double Down - ?/10

just what I always wanted to see, the bastard love-child of The Room and Primer

Oh boy, that made me want to watch it now. Although I wonder which The Room you mean.

[Takoma11]

Oh boy, that made me want to watch it now. Although I wonder which The Room you mean.

I'm pretty sure the "?" means he's talking about the Wiseau version. :)

Though a combination of Primer and the Brie Larson The Room could also be pretty interesting.

[cricket]

Images (1972)

3.5

https://anotherfilmblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/images2.jpg

I'm not usually a fan of movies featuring nutty characters, but I watched this because I like director Robert Altman. It looks right and sounds right, and Susannah York was just right as hot and crazy. Reality is blurred in these types of movies and that's something that usually frustrates me. In this particular movie the mood worked for me. I liked it much more than Repulsion.

[AgrippinaX]

I'm pretty sure the "?" means he's talking about the Wiseau version. :)

Though a combination of Primer and the Brie Larson The Room could also be pretty interesting.

Good point, but it just felt like such an unlikely combination.... definitely watching that now.

[Tugg]

Palm Springs (2020)
4
Just watched it and liked it a lot, too.

[AgrippinaX]

Her Name Was Christa (2020)

The first two-thirds made a sort of sense in terms of character development, though they felt a bit clichéd. Once you’re in Nekromantik territory, you either turn it off or you don’t. I didn’t, but at no point did this feel like a horror film, more like a sort of bizarro psychodrama. The film doesn’t emphasise the gore/yuck factor, which I thought was original, given the subject matter. That said, no time frame was given between Christa’s death and the moment when Stephen makes love to the body. I interpreted it as being immediately after her overdose, therefore, the amount of blood, marks and bruising on the body didn’t make any sense. The resolution where Stephen has to kill himself feels extremely trite. Also it’s essentially done twice, which is unnecessary. I don’t regret watching this, but I don’t think it quite pulls off what it intended to, or reaches its potential.

2.5/5

[Takoma11]

Just watched it and liked it a lot, too.

Like I said in my review, light and a great summer movie. Glad to hear someone else liked it.

[Fabulous]

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

4

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/loNjs84HrviWIyHNYMNfLKHkon0.jpg

[Marco]

The 39 Steps (1935)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/The_39_Steps_1935_British_poster.jpg
Stumbled across this gem. Tale of intrigue and derring do. Robert Donat is just magnificent as Richard Hannay. I liked the whole cross country aspect of it too...and he is pretty unflappable. The definition of a "romp"...Hitchcock certainly was a master.

4

[Fabulous]

Stars in My Crown (1950)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/qYgKo6vlcFBLFLvHyiFZoV4XrBz.jpg

[Takoma11]

The 39 Steps (1935)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/The_39_Steps_1935_British_poster.jpg
Stumbled across this gem. Tale of intrigue and derring do. Robert Donat is just magnificent as Richard Hannay. I liked the whole cross country aspect of it too...and he is pretty unflappable. The definition of a "romp"...Hitchcock certainly was a master.

4

Yeah, I really like this one.

There's a made-for-TV remake that is . . . not good.

[mark f]

Lavell Crawford: New Look, Same Funny! (Brian Volk-Weiss, 2019) 2.5 6/10
One Girl's Confession (Hugo Haas, 1953) 2+ 5/10
Women's Prison (Lewis Seiler, 1955) 2.5 6/10
The Ghost of Peter Sellers (Peter Medak, 2018) 3 6.5/10
https://1basil1.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/ghost-of-peter-sellar_key-image.jpg?w=500
Peter Sellers, Peter Medak and Spike Milligan during the disastrous filming of Ghost in the Noonday Sun in 1973.
The Killer That Stalked New York (Earl McEvoy, 1950) 2.5 6/10
Blonde Bait AKA Women Without Men (Elmo Williams, 1956) 2 5/10
Pickup (Hugo Haas, 1951) 2.5 6/10
Palm Springs (Max Barbakow, 2020) 3 6.5/10
https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/palm-springs-1.jpg?w=681&h=383&crop=1
Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg try to get away from their time loop at a Palm Springs wedding.
The Beach House (Jeffrey A. Brown 2019) 2.5 6/10
Integration Report I (Madeline Anderson, 1960) 3 6.5/10 21 min
Betrayed Women (Edward L. Cahn, 1955) 2.5 5.5/10
The Old Guard (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2020) 3 6.5/10
https://i1.wp.com/www.thestopbutton.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/The-Old-Guard-2020-tt7556122.jpg?fit=672%2C228&ssl=1
Super human Charlize Theron of the old guard recruits KiKi Layne as some new blood.
Things Behind the Sun (Allison Anders, 2001) 2.5 5.5/10
Murder Made Easy (Dave Palamaro, 2017) 3- 6.5/10
Star of India (Arthur Lubin, 1954) 2.5 6/10
First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019) 2 5/10
https://jojud265nia2bj9sy4ah9b61-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/First-Cow-4-640x360-c-default.jpg
The latest esoteric Reichardt western stars Orion Lee and John Magaro in Oregon.
Destination Murder (Edward L. Cahn, 1950) 2.5 5.5/10
Greyhound (Aaron Schneider, 2020) 3- 6.5/10
Days of the Bagnold Summer (Simon Bird, 2019) 2.5+ 6/10
Dating Amber (David Freyne, 2020) 3- 6.5/10
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTJhMzg4Y2ItYzYyZi00ZDEyLThlMjgtZmY5OTQ2Y2Y3ZmUyXkEyXkFqcGdeQUlNRGJWaWRlb1RodW1ibmFpbFNlcnZpY2U@ ._V1_UX477_CR0,0,477,268_AL_.jpg
Queer Irish teenagers Lola Petticrew and Fionn O'Shea start pretend dating so they can survive school in 1995.

[cricket]

Cash Calls Hell (1966)

3+

https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/a7/a4/002ea4a7.png

I watched this crime film because it stars Tatsuya Nakadai, it has a good IMDb rating (7.5), and because I like Japanese movies from this era. It has a bit of a noir feel and it's really well done. Most of the Japanese movies I love give me a strong taste of their culture. This one felt like an American movie except with Japanese people. I think it's probably better than my rating would indicate, but for me it was just a good movie.

[Fabulous]

The Long Ships (1964)

1.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/udMeUSFqgHJsqPqMEOGQ5pXmyaA.jpg

[Nostromo87]

Witchfinder General (1968)

Tarry here a while, witchfinders they call themselves

http://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpghttp://i.ibb.co/QjnP09b/popcorn1.jpg

Each be tied in a prescribed fashion, (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0uvbyDGlB8E)
& cast into the moat! (http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0uvbyDGlB8E)

http://i.ibb.co/W2LktBs/wfg.jpg

[mojofilter]

http://cinemasterpieces.com/92010a/kidsept10.jpg
THE KARATE KID
(1984)

Re-watch. One of the greatest movies of my lifetime. Pat Morita's performance as the mystical Mr. Miyagi remains to be one of the most captivating, mesmerizing performances of all time.
5

https://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/movie/movie_poster/david-foster-off-the-record-2020/large_foster-poster.jpg
DAVID FOSTER: OFF THE RECORD
(2019)

First viewing. Insightful documentary on the famed Canadian music composer and producer.
3.5