Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[ScarletLion]

'County Lines' (2020)

https://cdn.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/COUNTY_LINES_Quad_5mb-600x444.jpg

Very promising debut feature from writer director Henry Blake. The film focuses on the grooming of youngsters to be drug runners that try and muscle in on territories typically already controlled by other dealers.

This has become a real problem in the UK due to the poverty gap increasing and huge austerity measures put in place (****ing tories) meaning poorer families will do anything for extra income and there are some quite realistic brutal scenes. Blake pulls no punches at times, which is great to see. Look forward to what he does next as this is a film that wouldn't seem out of place on an established Director's resume. Smashing performance from young Conrad Khan too.

7.7/10

[JennyferMc]

Godzilla vs Kong 5/10

It was bad. I expected a lot more from the movie.

[McConnaughay]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Cannibal_Holocaust_movie.jpg/220px-Cannibal_Holocaust_movie.jpghttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/de/Serbian-film-poster-325x460.jpg/220px-Serbian-film-poster-325x460.jpghttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/The_Golden_Glove.jpg
... Yeah. :eek:

I had seen Cannibal Holocaust prior as a young lad, but I knew I needed to watch it again for a review. After seeing it this time, I had a mixed reaction. I liked certain ideas about it, really. I liked what "became" of the main-protagonists, and, for moments, thought there was some semblance of a real emotional significance. Otherwise, it is a decent film. Admirable in its experimentation and no doubt influential. Had a great score. The special-effects were excellent as well. Not a fan of the animal cruelty.

A Serbian Film is one I've been meaning to check off my bucket list for about a decade, and I finally went ahead and got on with it. The film itself wasn't "that" scarring or anything, and, in fact, was tamer than I anticipated. There's only one aspect I am offended by with this film. The main-character gawks at the child pornography and other insinuations because he realizes, "Hey, that's awful!" and he's right. He realizes it's a terrible, terrible thing, and, at no point, does the film advocate it. Milo is firmly the protagonist and is firmly against such abhorrent behavior, and, to me, I think that allows it some leeway to tackle the subject matter. The aspect that offended me was how the small boy was featured in the film. I understand art is art, and I understand it's not real and the parents signed off on it. But, really, I feel like this might be one of those things that a parent, perhaps, shouldn't be able to sign off on? Haha. I feel like a small child shouldn't be able to consent being in this type of a film and they'd have a legitimate gripe if they were mad as an adult. Otherwise, as a film, I felt is was par for the course. The cinematography was average, the acting was, at best, average, and what it had to say felt fairly surface level.

The Golden Glove is the film most of you are least likely to have heard of, and yet, I feel comfortably it is the best of the films in the heap by a sizeable margin. The film offers a perspective of a serial killer that "de-glamorizes" him in most respects. It goes against the trope of the deep-thinking, master of disguise, and manipulative murderer, and offers something I think is likely more appropriate to the real world. The character (who is based on a real murderer) is portrayed as a Quasimodo-esque, socially inept individual, whose alcoholism and sheer enigmatic eccentricities lead him down an unspeakable, disgusting road.

[Hey Fredrick]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yify-torrent.org%2Fpic%2F20191206%2F77501%2Fgodzilla-1954-1080p-cover.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Godzilla - not bad. Enjoyed all the miniature destruction but it felt a little longer than an hour and a half. 3

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fd32qys9a6wm9no.cloudfront.net%2Fimages%2Fmovies%2Fposter%2F98%2F13ac5bca29d37b1614f 573fabe2f9b41_300x442.jpg%3Ft%3D1604454647&f=1&nofb=1

Okay, this was pretty funny. An alien (Psycho Goreman), who is pure evil, is brought back to life on Earth however, is under control of a snotty, annoying little girl because she has the "orb" thing that her and her brother dug up in the back yard. It could have been better but it made me laugh often enough to recommend. Not as gory as expected and what there is is played for comedy. 3.5

[bread]

Rewatched 10 Things I Hate About You - 8/10

Probably should be a 6 or 7 from an objective perspective but idk, something about it just makes me happy :)

[xSookieStackhouse]

Rewatched 10 Things I Hate About You - 8/10

Probably should be a 6 or 7 from an objective perspective but idk, something about it just makes me happy :)
gosh loved 10 things i hate about you one of my favorite 90s movie lol

[Stirchley]

'County Lines' (2020)

https://cdn.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/COUNTY_LINES_Quad_5mb-600x444.jpg

Very promising debut feature from writer director Henry Blake. The film focuses on the grooming of youngsters to be drug runners that try and muscle in on territories typically already controlled by other dealers.


Never heard of this, but I can stream it on BFI Player or buy the dvd from the UK. Def want to see this.

[Stirchley]

76681

Re-watch. Very entertaining. Solid cast.

[Wooley]

I was making a joke...

... I enjoyed my experience with this film too...
... but I don't see need to take it too seriously as the film itself doesn't take itself too seriously...

... we could have a serious discussion on the merits of Friday the 13th Part II and try to come to some objective aesthetic grounds of worth...
... but again I don't think it's worth my time... or yours...
... I think it's better left at "It's a 'campy' movie. Enjoyed myself for what it was, but moving beside that I'm moving on..."

Sorry, didn't pick up on the joke, ya know how it is on forums.
We can discuss it seriously or not, we've picked this movie apart of past forums because there are a number of us who think it is High Slasher and above the camp (though your joke is not lost on me this time) and amateurishness of a lot of the genre, while there are others who don't.
If I wasn't comfortable spending my time discussing movies, I wouldn't be here. ;)

[Wooley]

Dangerous Liaisons (1988) - 8/10

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/69/8b/bc/698bbcf1f19dc913c91ed2fcf20ed42e.jpg
This was one of my favorite movies for years but I haven't seen it since about 1998.
Actually been meaning, recently, to get back to it.
But it's been quite beyond my control.

[Wooley]

Blow Out (1981) - 6/10 - in my opinion, I know better movies of Brian de Palma :cool:

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Blow_Out-254797100-large.jpg

I consider this DePalma's best film and, if anyone were to ever make the case that he had a "masterpiece" (I don't think he does but I like his films, this one most of all), I don't know what film other than this one they could submit.

[Torgo]

It's neck and neck with Carlito's Way and Phantom of the Paradise for my favorite De Palma, and while I need to revisit Blow Out, I'd also give it a much higher rating. It would be a good candidate for a remake since its theme of having to live with injustices of the rich and powerful seems even more relevant these days.

[Wooley]

It's neck and neck with Carlito's Way and Phantom of the Paradise for my favorite De Palma, and while I need to revisit Blow Out, I'd also give it a much higher rating. It would be a good candidate for a remake since its theme of having to live with injustices of the rich and powerful seems even more relevant these days.

Carlito's Way would have been my No.1 before my recent viewing of Blow Out.
I could see a remake but there is no way on Earth anyone today would make this film with the artistry that DePalma put into it and no studio would have the patience for its pace.
I love Phantom Of The Paradise but I feel it has issues (the music, particularly). A film I personally enjoy a great deal but would have trouble getting past about half of my friends.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjZlOWFjZjQtYTgxMy00MDdhLWFlNDMtYzYwNTMzZGE5YTVkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTkxNjUyNQ@@._V1_.jpg


4

[Gideon58]

This was one of my favorite movies for years but I haven't seen it since about 1998.
Actually been meaning, recently, to get back to it.
But it's been quite beyond my control.


LOVED this movie...Glenn Close was breathtaking...should have won the Oscar for this too.

[Thief]

I consider this DePalma's best film and, if anyone were to ever make the case that he had a "masterpiece" (I don't think he does but I like his films, this one most of all), I don't know what film other than this one they could submit.

It's my favorite from him too, followed by Carlito's Way and Casualties of War.

[pahaK]

La orgía de los muertos (1973)
aka The Hanging Woman, The Orgy of the Dead, etc.
2
A pretty weak and weird Spanish murder mystery with zombies, necrophilia, and all the other things commonly associated with whodunnits. Paul Naschy does an interesting role as a completely normal gravedigger. The dubbing is very bad as well. Only for the fans of Eurotrash.

--
Tony Arzenta (Big Guns) (1973)
3
An Italian crime film about a mob assassin who wants to retire. It's heavily influenced by the likes of Le Samourai (it even stars Alain Delon in a trenchcoat) and The Big Heat, but at the same time, it feels surprisingly fresh (maybe because the same plot is still in heavy circulation). Nothing revolutionary but a competent rehash of the same old.

[nidral]

Minari 2020 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10633456/) - 6/10.

[Dog Star Man]

Sorry, didn't pick up on the joke, ya know how it is on forums.
We can discuss it seriously or not, we've picked this movie apart of past forums because there are a number of us who think it is High Slasher and above the camp (though your joke is not lost on me this time) and amateurishness of a lot of the genre, while there are others who don't.
If I wasn't comfortable spending my time discussing movies, I wouldn't be here. ;)

I don't mind discussing it? Would you want me to make a separate thread for this? To be clear I don't think it's high or low. I think it's just decent, and again, "campy." But not on par with the likes of other such films of the genre like Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween. I'm sure we may at least come to that agreement?

[Insane]

This was one of my favorite movies for years but I haven't seen it since about 1998.
Actually been meaning, recently, to get back to it.
But it's been quite beyond my control.


The costumes, sets, and Malkovich are awesome! My only problem is Glenn Close. Her acting is perfect, but she's just not hot enough for the role. She's got that auntie look about her, so her idea of a "prize" is like getting hit on by a bag lady.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fquadcinema.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F10%2Fbeware-1400x713.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Beware of a Holy Whore, 1971

A group of actors and crew slum around a hotel as they wait for both funding and the arrival of the film's director. As they wait, the group sleeps with each other in various combinations, squabbles, and angsts. When the director does arrive, things only go further off the rails.

Is this really a review of this film? Maybe.

Just to be incredibly upfront, about a third of the way into the film I semi tuned out. But this isn't a slam on the film or on myself as a viewer. One of the benefits of watching several films in a row from a director with such a signature vibe is that you find yourself in the rhythm of their approach.

For lack of a better word, I felt more like I was hanging out with the film as opposed to "watching" it.

So what can I say in this pseudo-review, considering I couldn't actually really describe the plot to you or name more than one or two characters?

Well, the usual Fassbinder signatures are on display. Nice compositions, a borderline comic look at fraught love dynamics.

The film-within-a-film conceit is a mixed bag. Inherently you start to overthink what he is trying to say. Now, what I read after was that he said it was just a commentary on the difficulty of working with the same people who are your friends or lovers, which is simpler than what I was trying to tease out of it.

For me, this one lacked a compelling central character. Perhaps on a more attentive rewatch I would find more depth to the characters.

3.5

[StuSmallz]

Old review that I'm re-posting for the MF's pleasure:


Le Samourai (Melville, '67)


https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FhZr1yQ0upohQDoDWMaJ1JigdAcN.jpg&f=1&nofb=1


There is no greater solitude than that of a samurai, unless it is that of the tiger in the jungle...


A man lies on the bed in his shabby, absurdly spartan apartment, smoking listlessly, as the intermittent rush of cars outside, and the incessant chirping of a small bird within are the only noises disturbing the silence. After a while, he gets up, places an undeniably out-of-style, but still incredibly debonair trenchcoat and fedora upon himself, stopping to adjust it perfectly in a mirror before he walks out, exiting to descent down the building's stairs to the rain-soaked streets of a grey, mid-century Paris. Outside, a gendarme patrols amongst the parked vehicles, the man watching him warily, before pulling a ridiculously outsized chain of keys from his pocket, and covertly steals one of the cars, as a strangely carnival-like piece of music begins playing on the soundtrack, as if it's serving to transport us into his world, one that appears to be identical to our own on the surface, but is still an undeniably different reality of its own. Who is this mysterious man in question? His name is Jef Costello, and he serves as the "hero" of Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samourai, a film whose sleek aesthetics and tale of a lone, elite criminal have made it one of those most iconic and influential works of modern crime cinema, but one that still stands apart as a surreal, stylish classic in its own right.


It's a film as sparse and cold as the lifestyle of its titular "samourai" Jef, played in a career-defining turn from Alain Delon, as a Parisian hitman who lives in about as much solitude as a human being possibly can, with nothing to keep him company in his grotesquely underfurnished apartment besides his impeccable retro fashion sense, the ever-present chirping of his pet bird flitting about in its cage, and the occasional outside visit to his lover (and professional alibi) Jane, the only hint of companionship or human warmth in his life. Of course, that's the way he likes things, as it keeps unnecessary entanglements from complicating his line of work, that is, until he accidentally crosses paths with a beautiful pianist in the process of completing an "assignment", a complication that leads to Jef finding himself in the crosshairs of both the police and his murderous employers, even though both of them prove unable to meet the mettle of this modern samurai in the end.


It's a simple plot, granted, but the story is definitely not the star here, and to be honest, there are times where if feels like even Delon isn't the star of the film; rather, the real stand-out here is Melville's style, which somehow feels both incredibly minimal and undeniably vivid at the same time, with its emphasis on long, dialogue-free stretches of near-total silence, camerawork that mixes groundbreaking, guerilla-style handheld work during chase scenes with more subtly active cinematography during calmer moments, and its sleek, stylish, modernistic production design that's often stark and monochrome to the point of slight unreality, as Melville takes the world as we know it and alters it as he sees fit, in order to tailor it to the film as perfectly as Costello's 40's-style trenchcoat.


Speaking of whom, Delon is no slouch here either, as the unshakably calm, placid professionalism of Jef's demeanor is as cold as the constant, icy-blue stare of his eyes from underneath his ever-present hat, and his underlying, personal code of conduct shines through his characterization despite his lack of dialogue here, as he's a man who's defined by actions rather than words, as is almost everyone else in the film for that matter, as characters often operate in complete, no-nonsense silence, and Melville trusts us not to get antsy with a lack of chatter, rather, letting us just observe events and luxriate in his rich sense of aesthetics as we do so, as, while we observe Jef and watch one master at work, we're doing the same for Melville himself. The entire film has this fascinating sense of solitude about it, as, since Jef never talks unnecessarily, we never learn all that much concrete about his personal ethos, rather, Melville leaves that up to our interpretation, giving us just enough clues to hint at a deeper sense of fatalism beneath the facade of the cold-blooded hitman, as Jef lives by a cryptic, but undeniable code of honor, and, at the end of the film, dies with the honor of a true samurai, but not without leaving an indelible mark on the people around him, much like the one Le Samourai has left behind on generations of filmmakers ever since.

[Fabulous]

Monsters (2010)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/rlgzgiy8s0sPvrjKPWLdNuRlvBM.jpg

[Wooley]

I don't mind discussing it? Would you want me to make a separate thread for this? To be clear I don't think it's high or low. I think it's just decent, and again, "campy." But not on par with the likes of other such films of the genre like Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween. I'm sure we may at least come to that agreement?

Sounds fair.

[Wooley]

The costumes, sets, and Malkovich are awesome! My only problem is Glenn Close. Her acting is perfect, but she's just not hot enough for the role. She's got that auntie look about her, so her idea of a "prize" is like getting hit on by a bag lady.

Yeah, I'm not feelin' that, I thought she was perfect all around.

[Wooley]

Old review that I'm re-posting for the MF's pleasure:

Le Samourai (Melville, '67)

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FhZr1yQ0upohQDoDWMaJ1JigdAcN.jpg&f=1&nofb=1


There is no greater solitude than that of a samurai, unless it is that of the tiger in the jungle...



And for mine. One of my favorite movies and a special movie to me as well.

[StuSmallz]

And for mine. One of my favorite movies and a special movie to me as well.I mostly just reposted it because I was reminded by Takoma mentioning it in a review recently, but regardless, I'm glad that you enjoyed me doing so anyway.



:D

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 rewatch
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51eGEDJYcLL._AC_.jpg
4.5
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/819li14AP%2BL._SY445_.jpg

[the samoan lawyer]

[/URL][URL="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2016%2Ffilm%2Fasia%2Fharmonium-cannes-film-review-1201774784%2F&psig=AOvVaw1e8gnrGAZ-cX0rd7V-yCwt&ust=1619169976321000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLDjoqzEkfACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE"]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTw1EY6Qgge12YGWyfguJQ7bKBzL6XZbroR1KiBhSpS29p3hJpMuzc_yU8LlPSDe-Zrs2Q&usqp=CAU (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffilm%2F2017%2Fmay%2F04%2Fharmonium-review-family-drama-koji-fukada&psig=AOvVaw0mOwxrA2a0Sg14V2gOd4vO&ust=1619169689350000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKjLwaPDkfACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAK)
Harmonium (2016) - rating_3


https://www.sensesofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/TheTerrorizers-750x400.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sensesofcinema.com%2F2018%2Fcteq%2Fsmoke-gets-in-your-eyes-the-terrorizers-edward-yang-1986%2F&psig=AOvVaw0pxb1AcJ-KxzybnxG57Wfj&ust=1619169806706000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLDfxtvDkfACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
The Terrorizers (1986) - rating_3_5


https://static.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2011/09/kotoko4_a_p.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com%2Freview%2Fkotoko-venice-film-review-233501&psig=AOvVaw2WtJ_qHk3r4_wgvoqY5y53&ust=1619169883630000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCNC1mYDEkfACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
Kotoko (2011) - rating_3

[ScarletLion]

[/URL][URL="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2016%2Ffilm%2Fasia%2Fharmonium-cannes-film-review-1201774784%2F&psig=AOvVaw1e8gnrGAZ-cX0rd7V-yCwt&ust=1619169976321000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLDjoqzEkfACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE"]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTw1EY6Qgge12YGWyfguJQ7bKBzL6XZbroR1KiBhSpS29p3hJpMuzc_yU8LlPSDe-Zrs2Q&usqp=CAU (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffilm%2F2017%2Fmay%2F04%2Fharmonium-review-family-drama-koji-fukada&psig=AOvVaw0mOwxrA2a0Sg14V2gOd4vO&ust=1619169689350000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKjLwaPDkfACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAK)
Harmonium (2016) - rating_3


https://www.sensesofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/TheTerrorizers-750x400.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sensesofcinema.com%2F2018%2Fcteq%2Fsmoke-gets-in-your-eyes-the-terrorizers-edward-yang-1986%2F&psig=AOvVaw0pxb1AcJ-KxzybnxG57Wfj&ust=1619169806706000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCLDfxtvDkfACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
The Terrorizers (1986) - rating_3_5


https://static.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2011/09/kotoko4_a_p.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com%2Freview%2Fkotoko-venice-film-review-233501&psig=AOvVaw2WtJ_qHk3r4_wgvoqY5y53&ust=1619169883630000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCNC1mYDEkfACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
Kotoko (2011) - rating_3

Both Harmonium and Kotoko are on my watchlist. Both are supposed to be a bit mucked up

[ScarletLion]

'Black Girl' (1966)

https://vhx.imgix.net/criterionchannelchartersu/assets/55d0f301-a255-4dee-8337-e9a23c3af07b-cdb7f310.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=360&q=70&w=640

Important film by Ousmane Sembene. Rich white French family pick up a poor girl from Senegal to work as their maid. Sembene treats the subject with alot of delicate touches then also packs some emotional punch in the last 20 minutes. Also some great cinematography.

7.9/10

4

[the samoan lawyer]

Both Harmonium and Kotoko are on my watchlist. Both are supposed to be a bit mucked up


Yep. I'd go more with unsettling for both. Shaky cam in Kotoko but regardless of whether it works or not, its not that out of place. You'll understand more when you see it. ;)

[the samoan lawyer]

'Black Girl' (1966)

https://vhx.imgix.net/criterionchannelchartersu/assets/55d0f301-a255-4dee-8337-e9a23c3af07b-cdb7f310.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=360&q=70&w=640

Important film by Ousmane Sembene. Rich white French family pick up a poor girl from Senegal to work as their maid. Sembene treats the subject with alot of delicate touches then also packs some emotional punch in the last 20 minutes. Also some great cinematography.

7.9/10

rating_4



Is this streaming anywhere? Been wanting to see it for ages

[ScarletLion]

Is this streaming anywhere? Been wanting to see it for ages

Criterion channel only I think, which we don't get. There's a copy on youtube but poor quality.

[Thief]

Is this streaming anywhere? Been wanting to see it for ages

According to JustWatch.com, it's streaming free on Criterion and HBO Max, and available for rent on Amazon Prime, AppleTV, VUDU, and a couple others.

[ScarletLion]

According to JustWatch.com, it's streaming free on Criterion and HBO Max, and available for rent on Amazon Prime, AppleTV, VUDU, and a couple others.

I think these only apply to North America unfortunately.

[Thief]

I think these only apply to North America unfortunately.

Maybe. Where is samoan?

[ScarletLion]

Maybe. Where is samoan?

Northern Ireland I think.

[pahaK]

End of the Line (2007)
3
Surprisingly good retro-horror resembling (and easily exceeding) Demons. Also, a rare example of a film that gets considerably better after the first 20 minutes or so. It's cheesy in a good way and quite gory too. I wonder why the director hasn't done anything in almost 14 years.

[Thief]

THE WOLF'S CALL
(2019, Baudry)
A film primarily set in a submarine

https://i.imgur.com/X3PLnb8.jpg


"3,000 years of civilization did not bring peace; only deterrence."



The Wolf's Call follows a group of sailors aboard two separate submarines: the Formidable, a nuclear submarine led by Captain Grandchamp (Reda Kateb), and the Titan, led by Captain D'Orsi (Omar Sy), which will escort the Formidable to the sea, where both sides will have to face extremely challenging decisions. But the focus of the story is on Chanteraide (François Civil), a sonar expert who has "golden ears" and specializes in underwater acoustics. His hearing is so acute that he can identify boats, submarines, sea animals, based only on their sounds, which puts the safety of his fellow sailors heavily on his shoulders.

Overall, this film does a lot of good things right. The attention to detail as far as submarine operations and procedures go, seems to be on point, the tension during the attack scenes is effectively executed, and the performances from most of the cast are solid. My main issue is with Chanteraide, who is pushed as the main character. But with a bland performance from Civil and pretty much no character development for a character that frequently behaves more like an annoying and irresponsible whiner instead of a trained soldier, there's not much to hold on to.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2197451#post2197451)

[Wooley]

I mostly just reposted it because I was reminded by Takoma mentioning it in a review recently, but regardless, I'm glad that you enjoyed me doing so anyway.



:D

Yeah, it's one of my "Movies That Made Me Appreciate Cinema" movies.

[Wooley]

'Black Girl' (1966)

https://vhx.imgix.net/criterionchannelchartersu/assets/55d0f301-a255-4dee-8337-e9a23c3af07b-cdb7f310.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=360&q=70&w=640

Important film by Ousmane Sembene. Rich white French family pick up a poor girl from Senegal to work as their maid. Sembene treats the subject with alot of delicate touches then also packs some emotional punch in the last 20 minutes. Also some great cinematography.

7.9/10

4

I watched this in the Fall and I thought it was just really special. Really special film. I've been recommending it to everybody I can ever since.

[Wooley]

End of the Line (2007)
3
Surprisingly good retro-horror resembling (and easily exceeding) Demons. Also, a rare example of a film that gets considerably better after the first 20 minutes or so. It's cheesy in a good way and quite gory too. I wonder why the director hasn't done anything in almost 14 years.
This was a favorite film of an OG Horrorcrammer, MASSIVEminiature. I think he made everyone watch it back in the day.

[Gideon58]

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91Klu3mpItL._SL1500_.jpg



3.5

[nidral]

Aguirre, the Wrath of God 1972. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068182/)
7/10.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91Klu3mpItL._SL1500_.jpg



3.5I really liked this movie. I hope people don't consider it a romcom since it's so much more. JLD and Gandolfini were so good together. :up:

[GulfportDoc]

76723
The Marksman (2021)


Oh, boy. Despite having low expectations for The Marksman, it still managed to disappoint. The anticipation was "How bad could it be? After all it's got Liam Neesom." Unfortunately it came in beneath mediocre.

A woman and her child are attempting to flee Mexico though the border fence with cutthroat cartel members chasing on her heels trying to kill her and the boy. Neesom saves them on his own side of the fence, but the mother is killed, leaving the boy with Neesom's promise to the mother that he would take care of him. Neesom initially decides to turn the boy over to ICE (where coincidentally Neesom's daughter is an agent), but he changes his mind and vows to deliver the boy to relatives in Chicago, chased by the cartel which somehow drives across the border. That's pretty much it.

Along the way we are treated to a small catalog of stale hokey confrontations, situations, reactions, and dialogue. Elements suddenly appear with no development which then stagger on to the next. In some instances it almost seems to be a satire.

The single thing going for this hackneyed picture is Neesom's well honed acting. He seems genuine in each scene despite some laughable dialogue and an achingly trite ending.

The writers need a refresher at script writing school. Director/producer/writer Robert Lorenz has had success as a producer (J. Edgar; American Sniper), but this is his first film with chief writing credit. His talent as a writer is questionable. It seems that more pictures have been harmed by having one individual as director/writer. This film is a prime example.

Doc's rating: 4/10

[Takoma11]

End of the Line (2007)
3
Surprisingly good retro-horror resembling (and easily exceeding) Demons. Also, a rare example of a film that gets considerably better after the first 20 minutes or so. It's cheesy in a good way and quite gory too. I wonder why the director hasn't done anything in almost 14 years.

I really like End of the Line.

The one sour note for me is that the comic relief character was so annoying. And I like the idea behind his character ie a total sadist joins up with these people with genuine religious beliefs because their little "cleanse" is a great excuse for him to commit murder and mayhem. But the writing/performance dragged the film down a bit for me.

[Fabulous]

Cold Mountain (2003)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/n1W7zq2SX5TxxASIglui3DA1pB2.jpg

[ScannerDarkly]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSCodgtfe0o0JCsnvao4bECH0gYwkikTJ4LvwyDIZy8DFjnayzQ

8/10 - Fairly original and at times harrowing






Thanks this is on amazon def gonna watch

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Calm_with_Horses_poster.jpg

8/10 - Another good one. I'm on a roll! Would you believe before I started watching that I thought the movie would be about horses? My dumb subconscious given full reign. A warning - there is savage violence in this movie. Cosmo Jarvis is incredible as "Arm" and Barry Keoghan goes from strength to strength. I was just supposed to rate!! I had to say something about it....

[StuSmallz]

Aguirre, the Wrath of God 1972. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068182/)
7/10.Way too low, (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/aguirre-the-wrath-of-god/) bro!

[xSookieStackhouse]

4.5
https://www.joblo.com/assets/images/joblo/news/2021/03/mortal-kombat-2021-poster-group.jpg

[mark f]

Gyeongju (Zhang Lü, 2014) 2+ 5/10
Flashbacks of a Fool (Baillie Walsh, 2008) 2.5 5.5/10
Forbidden Island (Charles B. Griffith, 1959) 2 5/10
Our Dancing Daughters (Harry Beaumont, 1928) 2.5 5.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/8a89b04afa5049afd16280c0cec3f8d1/tumblr_n34h2s15rV1siddnno1_500.gifv
Joan Crawford is actually a serious flapper.
Honeydew (Devereux Milburn, 2020) 2 5/10
Our Very Own (David Miller, 1950) 2.5 5.5/10
Pacific Liner (Lew Landers, 1939) 2 5/10
Paisan (Roberto Rossellini, 1946) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/2c748b683a108b9bfab237ff6dc69d74/tumblr_oq7ul9Pmjm1tze6m0o2_400.gifv
Multiple stories set at the end of WWII Italy.
Red Moon Tide (Lois Patiño, 2020) 2.5 5.5/10
Beast from Haunted Cave (Monte Hellman, 1959) 1.5 4/10
A Quiet Dream (Zhang Lü, 2016) 2+ 5/10
The Perils of Pauline (George Marshall, 1947) 3 6.5/10
https://i.makeagif.com/media/9-22-2016/WjUpRM.gif
Betty Hutton, as Pearl White, the first movie star, does another of her spectacular one-take stunts.
Ski Troop Attack (Roger Corman, 1960) 2 5/10
Operator 13 (Richard Boleslavsky, 1934) 2.5 5.5/10
A Night for Crime (Alexis Thurn-Taxis, 1945) 2 5/10
The Soul AKA Ji hun (Cheng Wei-hao, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://ic-cdn.flipboard.com/decider.com/f3142b9e43271f35a857cb7898dcff7914b4b1f4/_medium.jpeg
Convoluted sci-fi/horror holds interest despite overlength.
The Tunnel (Pål Øie, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Held (Chris Lofing & Travis Cluff, 2020) 2 5/10
Things (Andrew Jordan, 1989) 1.5+ 4.5/10 WTF Rating 7/10
Icarus XB 1 AKA Voyage to the End of the Universe (Jindrich Polák, 1963) 2.5+ 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/edf1f56ecece83b71b61d5da045dfd0e/tumblr_plfm76Dcet1x65dlgo2_540.gifv
Occasionally amazing sci-fi presages 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Solaris, "Star Trek" and many others.

[nidral]

Way too low, (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/aguirre-the-wrath-of-god/) bro!
For that "era" I'd say it is a fair rating.
If you count that there were not many resources, nor special effects, nor other things which can be found in modern cinema I'd say it is a fair rating.
Otherwise I would have rated the film with a 6.
Maybe in the 70's everyone rated the movie with a high rating....
But German cinematography was not quite Hollywood -meaning less resources.
The story is great but you have to admit the film is far from perfect :) I've seen plenty of films so far so there is room for better.
But for that time, Werner Herzog made a pretty authentic film.
Hence the rating !

[Tramuzgan]

Marmoulak/The Lizard -9/10


I've been hearing for years how Iran has one of the most underrated movie industries around, and I finally got around to watching one. It's a crime comedy with great deadpan delivery, a perfect lead actor, and real snappy dialogue. The last one's jard to judge since I don't speak persian, but the english subtitles were definitely that.

[Captain Terror]

76745

Didn't expect a movie called "Red Beard" to make me cry, but here we are.
4

[nidral]

Vertigo (1958) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/) 9/10
https://iili.io/BdOk21.jpg

[Stirchley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/Calm_with_Horses_poster.jpg

8/10 - Another good one. I'm on a roll! Would you believe before I started watching that I thought the movie would be about horses? My dumb subconscious given full reign. A warning - there is savage violence in this movie. Cosmo Jarvis is incredible as "Arm" and Barry Keoghan goes from strength to strength. I was just supposed to rate!! I had to say something about it....

Never heard of this movie, but I can stream it on Netflix so have put it in my watchlist.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMWVlZDU0NGItMTIyZS00NjQzLWE5NTQtYTFjZmZkYmRhOTQ4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzc5MjA3OA@@._V1_UY1200_CR81,0,6 30,1200_AL_.jpg



4

[Kronos]

Mystery Alaska - 8/10
Inferno - 2016 - 7/10
Eyes Wide Shut - 8/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dead-and-buried-1981-burning-visitor-scene-gasoline-review.jpg


https://www.diomedia.com/imagePreview/01A85GQT?imageId=5467093&imageCode=01A85GQT&contributor=Photos+12+Cinema&siteName=www.diomedia.com&title=&location=&ds=800&newStyle=1&tc=FFFFFF&tbc=333333&qv=95&icc=1&cl=1

Dead and Buried - In an alternate timeline I probably did pluck this off the shelf at Blockbuster and take it home because this sure seems like the kind of movie I would have watched. 1981 horror entry starring James Farentino and Jack Albertson as the sheriff and coroner/mortician of a small fogbound coastal Maine town (although there's not a single New England accent to be found). It does give off a strong The Fog vibe which came out the year before but that's probably just the locale. Weird things are afoot in Potter's Bluff with bodies piling up in "a town the size of a postage stamp". Sheriff Dan Gillis (Farentino) is determined to get to the bottom of it and he enlists the help of William G. Dobbs (Albertson), the eccentric medical examiner. I went into this cold with no inkling as to what was happening onscreen. After some buildup the true cause of the mayhem is gradually revealed starting about halfway through. Some people might find it slow moving but the atmosphere is right and the effects by the great Stan Winston are exemplary. Farentino does a good job as the increasingly agitated Gillis and a frail Jack Albertson gives it his all in his second to last performance. He would succumb to cancer not long after the movies premiere. This is not a "great" movie in the strictest sense but it is a good one. rating_3_5

[Thief]

[CENTER]

Dead and Buried - In an alternate timeline I probably did pluck this off the shelf at Blockbuster and take it home because this sure seems like the kind of movie I would have watched. 1981 horror entry starring James Farentino and Jack Albertson as the sheriff and coroner/mortician of a small fogbound coastal Maine town (although there's not a single New England accent to be found). It does give off a strong The Fog vibe which came out the year before but that's probably just the locale. Weird things are afoot in Potter's Bluff with bodies piling up in "a town the size of a postage stamp". Sheriff Dan Gillis (Farentino) is determined to get to the bottom of it and he enlists the help of William G. Dobbs (Albertson), the eccentric medical examiner. I went into this cold with no inkling as to what was happening onscreen. After some buildup the true cause of the mayhem is gradually revealed starting about halfway through. Some people might find it slow moving but the atmosphere is right and the effects by the great Stan Winston are exemplary. Farentino does a good job as the increasingly agitated Gillis and a frail Jack Albertson gives it his all in his second to last performance. He would succumb to cancer not long after the movies premiere. This is not a "great" movie in the strictest sense but it is a good one. rating_3_5


https://media1.tenor.com/images/eda865b2c0a5edf691329c88d1337f92/tenor.gif

[Fabulous]

Stroszek (1977)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/hhQhvCbyhVt03NA0mhgIMZon8mv.jpg

[wositelec]

I watched yesterday interesting movie Hundra (1983) - in my opinion 9/10. It's really good music of Ennio Morricone and beautiful actress Laurene Landon. :)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMWMwZDk3ODItMGYyZC00NDU0LTgzYzMtMWZiYzlhYzhlODVjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQ2MjQyNDc@._V1_.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media1.tenor.com/images/eda865b2c0a5edf691329c88d1337f92/tenor.gif
Heh. I did actually watch this because of you, Tak, Wooley and Torgo. Thanks for the recommendation guys. :up:

[Wooley]

http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/dead-and-buried-1981-burning-visitor-scene-gasoline-review.jpg


https://www.diomedia.com/imagePreview/01A85GQT?imageId=5467093&imageCode=01A85GQT&contributor=Photos+12+Cinema&siteName=www.diomedia.com&title=&location=&ds=800&newStyle=1&tc=FFFFFF&tbc=333333&qv=95&icc=1&cl=1

Dead and Buried - In an alternate timeline I probably did pluck this off the shelf at Blockbuster and take it home because this sure seems like the kind of movie I would have watched. 1981 horror entry starring James Farentino and Jack Albertson as the sheriff and coroner/mortician of a small fogbound coastal Maine town (although there's not a single New England accent to be found). It does give off a strong The Fog vibe which came out the year before but that's probably just the locale. Weird things are afoot in Potter's Bluff with bodies piling up in "a town the size of a postage stamp". Sheriff Dan Gillis (Farentino) is determined to get to the bottom of it and he enlists the help of William G. Dobbs (Albertson), the eccentric medical examiner. I went into this cold with no inkling as to what was happening onscreen. After some buildup the true cause of the mayhem is gradually revealed starting about halfway through. Some people might find it slow moving but the atmosphere is right and the effects by the great Stan Winston are exemplary. Farentino does a good job as the increasingly agitated Gillis and a frail Jack Albertson gives it his all in his second to last performance. He would succumb to cancer not long after the movies premiere. This is not a "great" movie in the strictest sense but it is a good one. rating_3_5

You are correct, sir.

[StuSmallz]

For that "era" I'd say it is a fair rating.
If you count that there were not many resources, nor special effects, nor other things which can be found in modern cinema I'd say it is a fair rating.
Otherwise I would have rated the film with a 6.
Maybe in the 70's everyone rated the movie with a high rating....
But German cinematography was not quite Hollywood -meaning less resources.
The story is great but you have to admit the film is far from perfect :) I've seen plenty of films so far so there is room for better.
But for that time, Werner Herzog made a pretty authentic film.
Hence the rating !What additional special effects would Aguirre have needed to be a greater film than it already was? Herzog & crew made it by essentially doing everything the expedition they were "portraying" for real themselves, like this scene...

https://i.ibb.co/Yhyypk2/screen-shot-2016-08-23-at-14-08-39.jpg (https://ibb.co/4pYYPTW)

...where there's no visual trickery involved to make it merely look like there's a long, winding caravan of people coming down a mountain, because they actually are coming down a mountain; I mean, isn't that more than enough?

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Going_in_Style_2017_film_poster.jpg

This was the 9th movie out of 10 I loaned from the library. I wasn't exactly peeing myself in excitement about watching it, but I got it for some reason (saw the trailer...good IMDb score) and had to watch it. When I went to put it on the DVD box was empty. I was pretty happy for a few minutes, but when I checked all my players I found it in the lounge room. Obviously I'd meant to put it on before and couldn't go through with it...

This is a remake of a 1979 George Burns film - and, it felt to me, a remake of 2011 Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy film Tower Heist. There were a couple of laughs, and the film was barely passable.

To Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkman : Do you want your Oscars or the money? It doesn't seem fair to have both.

5/10

[PHOENIX74]

Dead and Buried - In an alternate timeline I probably did pluck this off the shelf at Blockbuster and take it home because this sure seems like the kind of movie I would have watched. 1981 horror entry starring James Farentino and Jack Albertson as the sheriff and coroner/mortician of a small fogbound coastal Maine town (although there's not a single New England accent to be found). It does give off a strong The Fog vibe which came out the year before but that's probably just the locale. Weird things are afoot in Potter's Bluff with bodies piling up in "a town the size of a postage stamp". Sheriff Dan Gillis (Farentino) is determined to get to the bottom of it and he enlists the help of William G. Dobbs (Albertson), the eccentric medical examiner. I went into this cold with no inkling as to what was happening onscreen. After some buildup the true cause of the mayhem is gradually revealed starting about halfway through. Some people might find it slow moving but the atmosphere is right and the effects by the great Stan Winston are exemplary. Farentino does a good job as the increasingly agitated Gillis and a frail Jack Albertson gives it his all in his second to last performance. He would succumb to cancer not long after the movies premiere. This is not a "great" movie in the strictest sense but it is a good one. rating_3_5

This is the movie where they burn this poor dude alive, put him in a car to make it look like an accident, and when investigators get there they find he isn't dead yet, isn't it? I'll never forget that scene with his screaming - and his ordeal isn't over. A most unfortunate fellow!

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 rewatch
https://occ-0-2568-2567.1.nflxso.net/art/4e8de/3e6d2d7051a8a720d630df5eb448d29dc074e8de.jpg

[Iroquois]

Mortal Kombat (2021) - 2

oh no

[nidral]

Rear Window (1954) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/) 8/10
https://iili.io/B2X1ft.png

[pahaK]

Mortal Kombat (2021)
2
I wonder where all the great expectations came from, but the film doesn't deliver regardless of that. A combination of poorly made fights, stupid non-sense plot, and dull characters struggles to be even a mediocre game movie. At least the violence was there. That may even be a generous rating.

[Wooley]

Mortal Kombat (2021)
2
I wonder where all the great expectations came from, but the film doesn't deliver regardless of that. A combination of poorly made fights, stupid non-sense plot, and dull characters struggles to be even a mediocre game movie. At least the violence was there. That may even be a generous rating.

There were great expectations?
Never occurred to me that a Mortal Kombat movie could be good, best one could hope for was SBIG.

[Iroquois]

"So bad it's good" is still technically good, though.

Somewhere - 3.5

vibes

[Thief]

What additional special effects would Aguirre have needed to be a greater film than it already was? Herzog & crew made it by essentially doing everything the expedition they were "portraying" for real themselves, like this scene...

https://i.ibb.co/Yhyypk2/screen-shot-2016-08-23-at-14-08-39.jpg (https://ibb.co/4pYYPTW)

...where there's no visual trickery involved to make it merely look like there's a long, winding caravan of people coming down a mountain, because they actually are coming down a mountain; I mean, isn't that more than enough?

That opening scene is... mesmerizing

[Thief]

Mortal Kombat (2021)
2
I wonder where all the great expectations came from, but the film doesn't deliver regardless of that. A combination of poorly made fights, stupid non-sense plot, and dull characters struggles to be even a mediocre game movie. At least the violence was there. That may even be a generous rating.

I saw the first 7 minutes which the studio released and thought it was... OK/good. But most people I know have been either lukewarm/generous like you, or simply trashing it. Anyway I don't have HBO Max, so I guess I'll wait until it's free on another platform and I'm bored enough for it.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Mortal Kombat (2021)

From my letterboxd:

The film is not without its virtues (gore, Taslim, Asano and Sanada predominantly) but it usually undercuts them by under-utilizing them while over-cutting the action and shifting focus to building bland characters and a franchise that may never come to fruition.*

I’m reminded of the episode in the Simpson’s in which Poochie is introduced to the Itchy and Scratchy show. They set up a fun premise (fireworks factory) then proceed to focus on Poochie with everyone asking “when are they getting to the fireworks factory???”

The fireworks factory is the Mortal Kombat tournament, saved for a later film. Cole Young is Poochie.*

The result is a tedious film made by committee and group testing that lacks the slapdash charm of the goofy original or even the hilarious unintentional comedy of Annihilation. Instead, it’s one of the worst things a movie can be: offensively bland.

1.5

[Torgo]

https://i.postimg.cc/8zpnvhcZ/834032.jpg

[ThatDarnMKS]

https://i.postimg.cc/8zpnvhcZ/834032.jpg
Perfect.

[CharlesAoup]

Annihilation, 2018 (A)

Outstanding movie. The plot centers around a team of scientists heading into a shimmering zone that appeared three years prior, and from which no one has ever come out.

From the moment the Shimmer is mentionned, you can't help but think of Stalker. This movie has sort of that vibe, but in a vastly more esotheric fashion. The visuals, and the audio in some parts, saturate the senses in places where Stalker is almost entirely mundane. It's hard to pick up on a theme through all this, just having watched it, but even on a surface level this is just great.

It's slow, but feels shorter than it is. Every scene brings something to the whole.

[WHITBISSELL!]

This is the movie where they burn this poor dude alive, put him in a car to make it look like an accident, and when investigators get there they find he isn't dead yet, isn't it? I'll never forget that scene with his screaming - and his ordeal isn't over. A most unfortunate fellow!That's the one. It caught me off guard too. :D

[Takoma11]

Annihilation, 2018 (A)

Outstanding movie. The plot centers around a team of scientists heading into a shimmering zone that appeared three years prior, and from which no one has ever come out.

From the moment the Shimmer is mentionned, you can't help but think of Stalker. This movie has sort of that vibe, but in a vastly more esotheric fashion. The visuals, and the audio in some parts, saturate the senses in places where Stalker is almost entirely mundane. It's hard to pick up on a theme through all this, just having watched it, but even on a surface level this is just great.

It's slow, but feels shorter than it is. Every scene brings something to the whole.

Yeah, I love Annihilation. The YouTube channel Folding Ideas has a video about it that I really like.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://ocdviewer.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/ralph-richardson.jpg


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/The_Fallen_Idol_1948.jpg
The Fallen Idol - This 1948 erudite mystery thriller has an impressive pedigree with a screenplay by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed. They would reteam a year later on the peerless classic, The Third Man. And yet despite that pedigree I was still surprised by how quickly it pulled me in. The subject matter certainly didn't give any indication with it's unique focus on character study over straight up melodrama.

A young boy, Phillipe (Bobby Henrey), the neglected son of a diplomat and living in the French Embassy in London bonds with the household butler, Mr. Baines (Ralph Richardson). Also in their employ is his wife, the shrewish Mrs. Baines (Sonia Dresdel). It's made clear from the outset that the Baines' marriage is not a happy one and Mr. Baines has sought a modicum of solace elsewhere in the form of Julie (Michèle Morgan), a young typist also employed at the embassy. One day Phillipe follows Baines to a cafe where he is surreptitiously meeting Julie and is inextricably caught up in their "secret". And it's from this agreement between the boy and the man he idolizes that the movie branches out to explore themes of loyalty and betrayal and the prism through which children view the world.

This is one of those movies that can serve as a a reminder as to why you love film. Ralph Richardson turns in such a marvelous and intrinsic performance that it's hard to nail down how he's doing it. It's best just to sit back and enjoy it. And the rest of the cast provide capable support especially young Bobby Henrey in his first role. I don't know if this can be considered a hidden treasure but if you haven't seen it yet you should.

rating_4_5

[Fabulous]

Bugsy Malone (1976)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/4Jt5k4TQMfeu5LqPKyrGyaxtDud.jpg

[GulfportDoc]

76785
The Social Dilemma (2020)

Good Lord almighty! It would be saddening to contemplate that anyone who has seen this revealing shocking documentary would ever return to frequent use (or any use at all) of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, YouTube, and any other widespread social networking platform.

The average user believes that, while these big tech corporations harvest their user's activity so as to more cunningly target them with advertising, they don't see much harm in that, so they put it out of their minds. Many understand that, "If it's for free, then YOU are the product", and all that.

But in fact these nefarious all-seeing, all-knowing, unregulated tech giants are increasingly figuring out and plying brutally efficient ways to influence the user's opinions, and to control their user's thoughts.

10 or 12 high placed former employees of the social media behemoths, along with experts in AI, virtual reality, communications, algorithms, and psychology effectively lay out how the public is being addicted, lead and brainwashed to do the network's bidding. It's going way beyond selling advertising.

The most affected are Gen Z'ers and beyond, but millennials, Boomers, and even seniors are not immune. The more time one spends each day on their Android or I-phone, the more one is completely surreptitiously being controlled. I personally have never used social media because I always believed it to be idiotic and dangerous. But yet every time I've clicked on a YouTube video, or ordered an item through Amazon, it has contributed to a cyber dossier which plots and digests my movements in order to use them in attempts to manipulate me.

I remarked to my wife that this documentary should be shown in every public school so as to reveal to the younger generations what is being foisted upon them. My wife said, "It wouldn't make any difference. They don't care." That's a sad thought, and it's likely true. I came to the sad realization that when people have become accustomed to the surveillance state, when caution is bred out of them, that is likely the last remaining step toward totalitarianism, socialism.

Encouragingly people from both the left and right are starting to ring the alarm bells. The big tech companies have become de facto governments, with no one but themselves to chart their courses. They will never police themselves. Despite my libertarian leanings it seems to me that the only way to stop this secret population control is through governmental fines and regulation both at the state and federal levels. These cyber behemoths must be limited in their attempts to control and profit from the unaware public. Transparent competition should be allowed and encouraged to flourish. Government has broken up far less harmful entities in the past. It's now past time to thoroughly scrutinize the social media giants.

Doc's rating: 9/10

[GulfportDoc]

The Fallen Idol - This 1948 erudite mystery thriller has an impressive pedigree with a screenplay by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed. They would reteam a year later on the peerless classic, The Third Man. And yet despite that pedigree I was still surprised by how quickly it pulled me in. The subject matter certainly didn't give any indication with it's unique focus on character study over straight up melodrama.

A young boy, Phillipe (Bobby Henrey), the neglected son of a diplomat and living in the French Embassy in London bonds with the household butler, Mr. Baines (Ralph Richardson). Also in their employ is his wife, the shrewish Mrs. Baines (Sonia Dresdel). It's made clear from the outset that the Baines' marriage is not a happy one and Mr. Baines has sought a modicum of solace elsewhere in the form of Julie (Michèle Morgan), a young typist also employed at the embassy. One day Phillipe follows Baines to a cafe where he is surreptitiously meeting Julie and is inextricably caught up in their "secret". And it's from this agreement between the boy and the man he idolizes that the movie branches out to explore themes of loyalty and betrayal and the prism through which children view the world.

This is one of those movies that can serve as a a reminder as to why you love film. Ralph Richardson turns in such a marvelous and intrinsic performance that it's hard to nail down how he's doing it. It's best just to sit back and enjoy it. And the rest of the cast provide capable support especially young Bobby Henrey in his first role. I don't know if this can be considered a hidden treasure but if you haven't seen it yet you should.

rating_4_5
I concur with your rating. A great film that shows Reed's eye for night shooting. My only peeve about the film is the overuse of the boy's frequent whining calls for "Mr. Baines". Here's a small commentary from 2 years ago.

The Fallen Idol (1948)
One of Carol Reed's finest, based on a short story by Graham Greene. Released a year before his masterpiece, The Third Man, Reed's penchant for mysterious street scenes and unusual camera angles are on full display in this captivating suspense drama.

There was a fine performance by Ralph Richardson as Mr. Baines, the butler, harassed by his nasty and dominating wife wonderfully acted by Sonia Dresdel. The young boy was played by Bobby Henrey, who was believable and well casted. His dialogue was written with a little too much nattering neediness, but the approach of moving along the plot primarily through his eyes draws the viewer into the drama.

There were excellent supporting roles by Michele Morgan as the mistress and Denis O'Dea as the chief inspector. The film won the BAFTA award that year for best picture.

Doc's rating: 8/10

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshots.filmschoolrejects.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F06%2Fnenette-and-boni.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Nenette and Boni, 1996

After the death of his mother, Boni (Gregoire Colin) lives in her apartment. He spends much of his day fantasizing explicitly about the wife of the couple who employs him. One day, his younger sister Nenette (Alice Houri) arrives. She is pregnant, and as Noni helps her handle her situation, it brings up surprising emotions in both of them.

This was a film that, to me, was more impactful in certain key sequences than taken as a whole narrative. The story itself is clear enough, but it seems to me that the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. Still, some of the elements were very good and I'm glad I watched the film.

The strength of the film, for me, was in the complicated relationship between Nenette and Boni and in Boni's unexpectedly strong feelings about whether or not Nenette keeps her baby (in either sense of the word, as both abortion and adoption are considered).

In terms of the relationship between the two, the film really leverages the uncomfortable intimacy between them--calling attention to the idea that these children are emerging as adults. It is intentionally awkward to watch. From the very first scene, in which Nenette arrives at the apartment to interrupt Boni mid-masturbation, to a sequence later in the film in which a partially-dressed Boni must pull a nude Nenette from a bathtub, the two characters exist in a very discomforting space between siblings and something more akin to a romantic couple. This is echoed in the scenes at the doctor's office, where Boni frequently pretends to be the father of Nenette's baby.

I also liked the way that Boni's emotions were portrayed. While I felt that the film ultimately landed in a place that didn't totally work for me, I did really appreciate the way that his feelings of maternal abandonment and sexual jealousy increasingly get projected onto his sister and her baby. I think that it is very true to life that when we are witness to someone else's experiences, it can sometimes evoke in us emotions that we didn't expect, even if we have never been through their experience. Boni himself doesn't seem to understand the triangle of agitation that he experiences, and as a result he becomes more and more irate.

I do wish that Nenette had been a bit more developed. Her experience of teenage pregnancy is fraught, frightening, and isolating. I felt that her slightly unfocused anger was well-portrayed, but I never felt that I got a window into her deeper self.

I'm debating how I felt about the whole subplot about Boni being infatuated with the baker's wife and the ultimate resolution of that subplot. While on the one hand the erotic obsession doesn't seem out of character (not only because of his age, but also because of the complicated way it intersects with the loss of his mother), it does use a lot of screen time. It does lead to one very funny sequence in which Boni kneads and rolls out pizza dough, all the while talking dirty to it. Something in this element of the film just doesn't seem like it's as strong as it could be.

I was mixed on the ending and the flow of the film overall, but I do think that the performances are strong and that there are several memorable and powerful sequences. I also think that most of the character arc with Boni is really interesting and well-drawn.

4

[Fabulous]

Places in the Heart (1984)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/dAQZyybVXmMMt757ui6503x6flI.jpg

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f9/Going_in_Style_2017_film_poster.jpg

This was the 9th movie out of 10 I loaned from the library. I wasn't exactly peeing myself in excitement about watching it, but I got it for some reason (saw the trailer...good IMDb score) and had to watch it. When I went to put it on the DVD box was empty. I was pretty happy for a few minutes, but when I checked all my players I found it in the lounge room. Obviously I'd meant to put it on before and couldn't go through with it...

This is a remake of a 1979 George Burns film - and, it felt to me, a remake of 2011 Ben Stiller/Eddie Murphy film Tower Heist. There were a couple of laughs, and the film was barely passable.

To Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkman : Do you want your Oscars or the money? It doesn't seem fair to have both.

5/10

Strongly prefer the original.

[Wooley]

76785
The Social Dilemma (2020)

Good Lord almighty! It would be saddening to contemplate that anyone who has seen this revealing shocking documentary would ever return to frequent use (or any use at all) of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, YouTube, and any other widespread social networking platform.

The average user believes that, while these big tech corporations harvest their user's activity so as to more cunningly target them with advertising, they don't see much harm in that, so they put it out of their minds. Many understand that, "If it's for free, then YOU are the product", and all that.

But in fact these nefarious all-seeing, all-knowing, unregulated tech giants are increasingly figuring out and plying brutally efficient ways to influence the user's opinions, and to control their user's thoughts.

10 or 12 high placed former employees of the social media behemoths, along with experts in AI, virtual reality, communications, algorithms, and psychology effectively lay out how the public is being addicted, lead and brainwashed to do the network's bidding. It's going way beyond selling advertising.

The most affected are Gen Z'ers and beyond, but millennials, Boomers, and even seniors are not immune. The more time one spends each day on their Android or I-phone, the more one is completely surreptitiously being controlled. I personally have never used social media because I always believed it to be idiotic and dangerous. But yet every time I've clicked on a YouTube video, or ordered an item through Amazon, it has contributed to a cyber dossier which plots and digests my movements in order to use them in attempts to manipulate me.

I remarked to my wife that this documentary should be shown in every public school so as to reveal to the younger generations what is being foisted upon them. My wife said, "It wouldn't make any difference. They don't care." That's a sad thought, and it's likely true. I came to the sad realization that when people have become accustomed to the surveillance state, when caution is bred out of them, that is likely the last remaining step toward totalitarianism, socialism.

Encouragingly people from both the left and right are starting to ring the alarm bells. The big tech companies have become de facto governments, with no one but themselves to chart their courses. They will never police themselves. Despite my libertarian leanings it seems to me that the only way to stop this secret population control is through governmental fines and regulation both at the state and federal levels. These cyber behemoths must be limited in their attempts to control and profit from the unaware public. Transparent competition should be allowed and encouraged to flourish. Government has broken up far less harmful entities in the past. It's now past time to thoroughly scrutinize the social media giants.

Doc's rating: 9/10

I'm honestly not trying to rub you the wrong way but I'm 48 years old and I'm not sure if I care either.

[Fabulous]

Rocco and His Brothers (1960)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/151ejBAAxIGa6PbGRno7TgEQUMy.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f6/Ballad_of_Narayama_1983.jpg

I definitely want to rewatch this 1983 Shoichi Ozawa film - it's a crazy fast paced 132 minutes, and I wasn't paying full attention. It'd be good to see in a cinema - I saw Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies in a cinema and got to feel it's full brilliance. Anyway - this one was full of clever humour, crass humour and heart-rending meditation on becoming old and dying.

7/10 (maybe 8 or 9 if I sit back, focus and rewatch)

Looking forward to exploring more of Shoichi Ozawa's work

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 rewatch
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Everafterposter.jpg

[cricket]

Three Colors: Blue (1993)

3.5

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4f/58/ce/4f58ceb34f74aece55e4d76e94047c56.jpg

The first I've seen of the trilogy, and I plan on seeing the other two before the countdown. It's a very sad story with a great lead performance. It's beautifully filmed and the music plays a major role. Everything about it is above average but it didn't blow me away emotionally. I found it to be more interesting the way she tries to move on. I wondered if it would have been more relatable and powerful had this been a more average woman rather that a woman of some exceptional means. I don't believe that most people would have the ability to move on the way that she does.

[Marco]

Nobody (2021)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Nobody_2021_Film_Poster.jpeg
This had it's good and bad points, the good points were mainly based around the main characters feelings and frustrations, the bad were around the expendable rent-a-heavy violence. Bob Odenkirk does a good job but I wish the whole thing had been darker to suit the characters past/present feelings.

2.5

[Marco]

This is the movie where they burn this poor dude alive, put him in a car to make it look like an accident, and when investigators get there they find he isn't dead yet, isn't it? I'll never forget that scene with his screaming - and his ordeal isn't over. A most unfortunate fellow!
I liked this and am sure I saw it back in the day also.

[Marco]

Emanuelle in America (1977)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Emanuelle_in_America_DVD_Cover.jpg
This is probably the perfect tipping point between production values and sleaziness. I'll be honest and say some scenes were shocking but then outweighed by the keystone cops acting. Seems like Joe D'Amato wanted to make some globetrotting erotic affair but I really found it stilted and passionless.

One to forget.
1.5

[nidral]

Window to the Sea (2019) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9288850/) 7/10.
http://heretic.gr/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/window-to-the-sea-poster.jpg

[GulfportDoc]

I'm honestly not trying to rub you the wrong way but I'm 48 years old and I'm not sure if I care either.
No rub felt. Welcome to the Brave New World.

[Gmak2442]

I have watch short movies lately. Pretty neat stuff.

[CharlesAoup]

The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor, 2008 (F)

If you ever watched The Mummy 1 and 2 and thought hey, I wish this was weirdly heavy, joyless,too much in every way and just bad overall, this might be up your alley. The tone is largely much darker than the other two movies, even the first one, but all the humor is made for kids. There's magic, yetis, a hydra, shapeshifting, and then there's a retreading of the rest of The Mummy 2's plot points. Betrayal, a curse that makes the guy super powerful if he gets resurrected (why?,) etc.There's also a whole thing about family that brings nothing to anybody.

The final fight is some of the worst use of cameras and slow-mo I've ever seen in a movie, big budget or not.

[ueno_station54]

Oops, forgot to post here for a bit.

Intentions of Murder (Shohei Imamura, 1964) - rating_3_5
The Wicksboro Incident (Richard Lowry, 2003) - rating_3
The Freshman (Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor, 1925) - rating_3_5
Straight to Hell (Alex Cox, 1987) - rating_3
The Phoenix Tapes '97 (Turner Clay, 2016) - rating_2
Mortal Kombat (Simon McQuoid, 2021) - rating_1_5

[bread]

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean (again) last night. Still good fun. 8/10

[Marco]

Michael Inside (2017)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6a/Michael_Inside.jpg
Low key and interesting drama about "the sins of the father" etc. I really liked it and thought the main players characters evolvement worked well. Touching final scenes.

3.5

[nidral]

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean (again) last night. Still good fun. 8/10
I saw Jack Sparrow and Barbossa in my dream last night :)
Just love your avatar bread I just love the smell of fresh bread in the morning .... hope you are gluten free :D:up:

[Tugg]

The Other Guys (2010) 1
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c19aa894-f685-4ed7-bd75-bfbecffdc3ab/ddf67c9-45aa32f5-f64a-4cbb-a130-d562aa3382ce.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjph cHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvYzE5YWE4OTQtZjY4NS00ZWQ3LWJkNzUtYmZiZWNmZmRjM2FiXC9kZGY2N2M5LTQ1 YWEzMmY1LWY2NGEtNGNiYi1hMTMwLWQ1NjJhYTMzODJjZS5wbmcifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9h ZCJdfQ.kr6HTjtVH20o60PZUyMzr8CmX9MHehWbSFUfs2Ye-ig
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) 4
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/i/d8c5e4fb-4b81-416f-8a4b-a48189893053/de56svn-2f7da2c5-d539-4f18-a121-95f213001bed.png
Source Code (2011) 3.5
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/14f797d9-ce55-4dad-a2e3-966ae51122f0/db1ih1z-12a7f14c-9772-4b78-8858-82c3fc9de71e.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjph cHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvMTRmNzk3ZDktY2U1NS00ZGFkLWEyZTMtOTY2YWU1MTEyMmYwXC9kYjFpaDF6LTEy YTdmMTRjLTk3NzItNGI3OC04ODU4LTgyYzNmYzlkZTcxZS5wbmcifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9h ZCJdfQ.2lYYo25MOGZFz6yKQaBhpq1QEhRpk4gJwvhWqZaebUs
Silver Linings Playbook (2012) 2.5
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/e489034d-7ac8-431e-ab8d-174aaea83056/dbfw0ok-d8fae4c9-74f2-419a-b255-8028e4ecaca9.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjph cHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvZTQ4OTAzNGQtN2FjOC00MzFlLWFiOGQtMTc0YWFlYTgzMDU2XC9kYmZ3MG9rLWQ4 ZmFlNGM5LTc0ZjItNDE5YS1iMjU1LTgwMjhlNGVjYWNhOS5wbmcifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9h ZCJdfQ.1RNjSfclHfG6mtOYfqOO2T2jqWY-Pbs9KX4LwGu63Os
50/50 (2011) 3
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c19aa894-f685-4ed7-bd75-bfbecffdc3ab/dd1ee8g-ef325da5-d45e-44bb-8f13-e8e1cf32874a.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjph cHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3sicGF0aCI6IlwvZlwvYzE5YWE4OTQtZjY4NS00ZWQ3LWJkNzUtYmZiZWNmZmRjM2FiXC9kZDFlZThnLWVm MzI1ZGE1LWQ0NWUtNDRiYi04ZjEzLWU4ZTFjZjMyODc0YS5wbmcifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6ZmlsZS5kb3dubG9h ZCJdfQ.WkSgYb0NfNS-LSy2HpnTEvnC5nW00usYYpC-m-T1f34

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/11/Sound_of_Metal_poster.jpeg/220px-Sound_of_Metal_poster.jpeg

3.5

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

[Wooley]

Three Colors: Blue (1993)

3.5

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4f/58/ce/4f58ceb34f74aece55e4d76e94047c56.jpg

The first I've seen of the trilogy, and I plan on seeing the other two before the countdown. It's a very sad story with a great lead performance. It's beautifully filmed and the music plays a major role. Everything about it is above average but it didn't blow me away emotionally. I found it to be more interesting the way she tries to move on. I wondered if it would have been more relatable and powerful had this been a more average woman rather that a woman of some exceptional means. I don't believe that most people would have the ability to move on the way that she does.

It would be hard for me not to put this on my shortest list of favorite films.

[Wooley]

No rub felt. Welcome to the Brave New World.

I feel like we've been in it for a while. I gave up any notion that I have real privacy in this world several years ago and I've been happier for it. People have pulled the strings of human thought since who knows how long, certainly since the advent of newspapers, probably since the public speech before that. I can't be stressed about it. I try to act with kindness, do as well as I can in this life, as much for others as for myself, and that's all that I think can really be asked of me. Worrying about freedom and such feels like a waste of what time I have.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I just finished THE LIFE AHEAD (3 Stars) and completed every single Oscar nominated film.

I compiled a ranked list of all the features on letterboxd.

https://boxd.it/bVtze

[StuSmallz]

That opening scene is... mesmerizingIndeed it is, and I'm glad to see you've warmed up to Aguirre since your initial viewing, Thief!


= )Annihilation, 2018 (A)

Outstanding movie. The plot centers around a team of scientists heading into a shimmering zone that appeared three years prior, and from which no one has ever come out.

From the moment the Shimmer is mentionned, you can't help but think of Stalker. This movie has sort of that vibe, but in a vastly more esotheric fashion. The visuals, and the audio in some parts, saturate the senses in places where Stalker is almost entirely mundane. It's hard to pick up on a theme through all this, just having watched it, but even on a surface level this is just great.

It's slow, but feels shorter than it is. Every scene brings something to the whole.If I was just rating the climax of Annihilation (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/annihilation/), I'd at least give it an A too, probably even an A+, actually; unfortunately, the rest of it didn't quite live up to that high for me, as I felt the first two acts were somewhat overshadowed by what went on inside the lighthouse, and didn't distinguish themselves to the same extent, but despite that, I still felt it was a good movie on the whole.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fworldscinema.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F11%2FSoleil-O-19673.png&f=1&nofb=1

Soleil, O, 1967

A man from Mauritania immigrates to France. The Visitor (Robert Liensol) hopes to find opportunities, but instead encounters discrimination and condescension.

Sometimes you know almost right off the bat that you are going to vibe with a film, and that was how it was for me with this one. A group of Africans go through a ceremony with a priest, in which they pray for God's forgiveness for having spoken the "wrong" language. It is both absurd and an on-point critique, and that's the way the whole film felt.

The film follows the main character through various situations. While he starts out optimistic, we watch as he gets worn down from his various encounters. Maybe the most depressing thing about the film--which is at this point about 50 years old--is how familiar some of the situations are. In one scene, he goes to a nice house in order to apply. "Who are you?! What are you doing here?" demands a white woman from the house next door. When he says he is there to apply for a job that was listed in the paper, she doesn't believe that he could be an accountant, tells him to go back where he came from, and then threatens to call the police. It's barely removed from similar scenes we've all seen recorded on cell phones in the last five or so years.

Despite the fact that the whole film is just watching this guy get more and more disillusioned, there is an energy to the film that keeps it from feeling like a slog. At one point he sleeps with a woman. Asking her if she enjoyed herself, she sighs and says that she only slept with him because "you know what they say about Africans in bed." Then she shrugs and goes, "But . . . ". There's a brutality to the blatant way that he is repeatedly put down, but Liensol does a good job of reacting in a way that balances "this is horrible" with "this is ridiculous."

A big part of the film also has to do with the idea of colonization. This is the part where I feel a little less confident in my interpretations, but I did grasp the idea of the way that Western culture is imposed on other countries--that it is "exported" to other countries, and that people who come to visit France are expected to internalize Western values. There are some more blatant sequences to this effect--such as when the main character sits by while two white men in his office discuss why France should get immigrants from closer and not all the way from Africa--but I also feel that there were nuances I didn't 100% grasp.

Many films that walk the line of absurdity do not know how to end, but I particularly want to call out the final scene and shot of this film, which I felt was perfect. It brings the emotional arc of the main character to a nicely realized conclusion, and it makes a lot of sense.

My only criticism is that there is that issue you sometimes get with low-budget films where something about the pacing feels a little off. But at the same time, that energy that I mentioned in the film keeps it from ever dragging.

I had not heard of Med Hondo before this film (and apparently he very recently passed away). He does not have a long filmography, but I am excited to see more from him. There is an inviting energy, even to this movie which was low-budget and filmed over several years. This film only has about 300 ratings on IMDb. I encourage you to check it out if you get the chance. I was able to watch it on the Criterion Channel.

4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2F1unqK1w1Jd2iy2Zhr3k8c5s995F.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Girl from Nowhere, 2017

A couple heading off for a romantic weekend away picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, Liza (Christia Visser). Katherine (Tamryn Spiers) is more suspicious, while Hugh (Scot Cooper) takes a decided interest in their guest. As the weekend wears on, tensions rise.

So the whole time I was watching this film, I kept thinking, "What the heck? How on Earth did this win the Golden Leopard? It has a lot of issues!".

It didn't.

I watched the wrong film called The Girl from Nowhere.

Yes, I'm mad about it.

Yes, this review is going to be more than a little sassy.

Because I thought this film was an award-winner, I really kept looking for what was good about it. (For reference, the film has a 3.9/10 average rating, so . . . ). There really isn't much, I'm sorry to say. I did think that at points there was something interesting about Katherine's push-pull relationship with Liza--being drawn toward her one moment, and then jealous and annoyed the next.

But that's really the most I can say for it. The acting is bad. Or maybe the acting isn't bad, but the writing doesn't give the actors anything to work with. The characters are in this constant state of mood swings and blow-ups. The direction is unexceptional, except for when it calls attention to itself with weirdly long pans over the bodies of the two actresses or oddly framed action in the last act.

And speaking of the last act, it is stupid. Like, very stupid. (But not fun stupid, none of this film was bad in that enjoyable way).

It this movie was a person, I'd be bopping it on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. Bad movie. Shame on you.

1.5

[xSookieStackhouse]

3.5 rewatch
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2RmZjY1MTItNGM1ZC00NzhlLWI2MjEtYjY1ZjI1M2NiZTg4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Bad_company_poster.jpg

Bad Company (1972) - One from the DVD pile. Jeff Bridges (fresh off an Oscar nominated performance in The Last Picture Show) and the somewhat tragic Barry Brown star in this western where avoiding the civil war draft leads to an even more dangerous life heading west. I really enjoyed this. Seen a lot of the young Jeff Bridges lately in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot along with Cutter's Way - this film was as good as those two. Written and directed by three-time Oscar winner Robert Benton. The film has a kind of Thieves Like Us outlaw feel to it.

7/10

[Fabulous]

Booksmart (2019)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/wcAqndL2MkIjPrCrYeuE794weNE.jpg

[xSookieStackhouse]

4.5
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Niln1vR4L._AC_.jpg

[LChimp]

https://pipocamoderna.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/nobody_xlg.jpg

Part John Wick, part The Equalizer: All fun

[chawhee]

Hangover (2009)
https://movierob.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/the-hangover.jpg?w=709
5
I just booked another trip to Las Vegas so I was in the mood to watch something related. I still remember seeing this opening weekend in the theater, and the humor still hasn't grown old on me. Disregard the sequels, because they are trash.

[James D. Gardiner]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Bad_company_poster.jpg

Bad Company (1972) - One from the DVD pile. Jeff Bridges (fresh off an Oscar nominated performance in The Last Picture Show) and the somewhat tragic Barry Brown star in this western where avoiding the civil war draft leads to an even more dangerous life heading west. I really enjoyed this. Seen a lot of the young Jeff Bridges lately in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot along with Cutter's Way - this film was as good as those two. Written and directed by three-time Oscar winner Robert Benton. The film has a kind of Thieves Like Us outlaw feel to it.

7/10

Like this one. I think it's refreshingly different. It's got a uniqueness that's enjoyable every time I watch it. Bad Company, good movie. :)

[xSookieStackhouse]

Hangover (2009)
https://movierob.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/the-hangover.jpg?w=709
5
I just booked another trip to Las Vegas so I was in the mood to watch something related. I still remember seeing this opening weekend in the theater, and the humor still hasn't grown old on me. Disregard the sequels, because they are trash.

make sure to watch other 2 :D

[Captain Terror]

76818
KEEP AN EYE OUT (2018)

If you've enjoyed the previous films by Quentin Dupieux (I have), then you will likely enjoy this one as well (I did).

The plot, such as it is, consists mostly of one excruciatingly banal interrogation of an obviously-innocent man which is unnecessarily prolonged by various distractions and the incompetence of the interrogator. The only time we leave the interrogation room is for some increasingly surreal flashbacks and as usual things get pretty meta by the end.

Something about Dupieux just hits me where I live, so I laughed often. Highly recommended for fans of his.

4

[Torgo]

Meet the Feebles - 3

If you've ever wondered what happens behind the scenes on a show like The Muppets - well, beyond the sketches that take place there - this is the movie for you. According to Peter Jackson and to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's a "wretched hive of scum and villainy," featuring everything from drug dealing to group sex to porn shoots to (literal) excrement-eating tabloid journalists. Speaking of, the movie features every kind of gag-inducing bodily excretion and sometimes consumption thereof you can possibly imagine. The important question, though, is any of this funny? For the most part, yes. My pet peeve when it comes to movies like this one is that in their pursuit of being as outrageous as possible, they forget to be humorous, and while that happens sometimes, it delivers more than it doesn't. As much as I love the Lord of the Rings movies, my favorite thing about Peter Jackson's direction is his talent for moments where I'm not sure if I should gasp at the outrageousness or laugh my head off. I especially enjoyed Harry the hare's bout with the bunny pox and, well...what happens when poor Heidi the hippo can't take it anymore. This begs another question: does all this grossness and illicitness amount to anything? Definitely. From Heidi the hippo's arc to the toilet-dwelling journalist I mentioned, it reveals that the entertainment industry is apparently one you cannot leave with your morals or self-worth intact. Nonetheless, if Scooter-adjacent Robert the hedgehog's heroics are of any indication, a good person can make a difference. Again, there are moments that are gross without offering any payoff, and even though some of the homophobia directed towards gay fox Sebastian is there to villainize his tormentors, it hasn't aged well overall. With that said, it's still a strong entry in Jackson's filmography, and to quote George Burns by way of Bart Simpson, as fine a demonstration as any that show business is a "hideous bitch goddess."

[Stirchley]

76838

Loved this movie. Matt Dillon & Lili Taylor were so good.

Dillon is such a handsome man. Amazed he’s never been married or has kids.

[Thief]

Meet the Feebles - 3

If you've ever wondered what happens behind the scenes on a show like The Muppets - well, beyond the sketches that take place there - this is the movie for you. According to Peter Jackson and to quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's a "wretched hive of scum and villainy," featuring everything from drug dealing to group sex to porn shoots to (literal) excrement-eating tabloid journalists. Speaking of, the movie features every kind of gag-inducing bodily excretion and sometimes consumption thereof you can possibly imagine. The important question, though, is any of this funny? For the most part, yes. My pet peeve when it comes to movies like this one is that in their pursuit of being as outrageous as possible, they forget to be humorous, and while that happens sometimes, it delivers more than it doesn't. As much as I love The Lord of the Rings movies, my favorite thing about Peter Jackson's direction is his talent for moments where I'm not sure if I should gasp at the outrageousness or laugh my head off. I especially enjoyed Harry the hare's bout with the bunny pox and, well...what happens when poor Heidi the hippo can't take it anymore. This begs another question: does all this grossness and illicitness amount to anything? Definitely. From Heidi the hippo's arc to the toilet-dwelling journalist I mentioned, it reveals that the entertainment industry is apparently one you cannot leave with your morals or self-worth intact. Nonetheless, if Scooter-adjacent Robert the hedgehog's heroics are of any indication, a good person can make a difference. Again, there are moments that are gross without offering any payoff, and even though some of the homophobia directed towards gay fox Sebastian is there to villainize his tormentors, it hasn't aged well overall. With that said, it's still a strong entry in Jackson's filmography, and to quote George Burns by way of Bart Simpson, as fine a demonstration as any that show business is a "hideous bitch goddess."

Been meaning to check that one out. I think it's the only one of Jackson's pre-LOTR films I haven't seen :D

[Torgo]

Been meaning to check that one out. I think it's the only one of Jackson's pre-LOTR films I haven't seen :DI watched it on DVD, but I think it's on Tubi. Just don't eat anything before or during your screening because you will probably lose it.

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2F1unqK1w1Jd2iy2Zhr3k8c5s995F.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Girl from Nowhere, 2017

A couple heading off for a romantic weekend away picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, Liza (Christia Visser). Katherine (Tamryn Spiers) is more suspicious, while Hugh (Scot Cooper) takes a decided interest in their guest. As the weekend wears on, tensions rise.

So the whole time I was watching this film, I kept thinking, "What the heck? How on Earth did this win the Golden Leopard? It has a lot of issues!".

It didn't.

I watched the wrong film called The Girl from Nowhere.

Yes, I'm mad about it.

Yes, this review is going to be more than a little sassy.

1.5

:rotfl:

Seriously, though, good for you for finishing the exercise.
I've actually often wondered if I sometimes feel more positive about some films because I go in with the idea that they're going to be really good or great so I'm quicker to see the positive and more likely to dismiss anything that rubs me the wrong way so I'm glad you went through this and I kinda wish I could.

[Ultraviolence]

https://fanart.tv/fanart/movies/460465/movieposter/mortal-kombat-603016036a094.jpg
1
Where's the tournament?
Where's the good fight scenes?
Oh no...

https://fanart.tv/fanart/movies/9312/movieposter/mortal-kombat-5d44e22e91731.jpg
2
At least this one feels like Mortal Kombat (even without the blood).

[neiba]

Warrior (2011)

Filled with cliches, overdone, and pretty predictable... On the other hand, it's really entertaining and well done. Tom Hardy is a force of nature!

3.5

[Thief]

The Girl from Nowhere, 2017

A couple heading off for a romantic weekend away picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, Liza (Christia Visser). Katherine (Tamryn Spiers) is more suspicious, while Hugh (Scot Cooper) takes a decided interest in their guest. As the weekend wears on, tensions rise.

So the whole time I was watching this film, I kept thinking, "What the heck? How on Earth did this win the Golden Leopard? It has a lot of issues!".

It didn't.

I watched the wrong film called The Girl from Nowhere.

Yes, I'm mad about it.

Yes, this review is going to be more than a little sassy.



LOL, happened to me a couple of years ago when someone recommended me 1948's Daughter of Darkness and I ended up seeing 1990's Daughter of Darkness just by sheer stupidity :laugh:

[nidral]

Citizen Kane (1941) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/) 8/10

https://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/blog_post/primary_image/roger-ebert/a-viewers-companion-to-citizen-kane/EB20040101COMMENTARY401010335AR.jpg

[StuSmallz]

Citizen Kane (1941) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/) 8/10

https://static.rogerebert.com/uploads/blog_post/primary_image/roger-ebert/a-viewers-companion-to-citizen-kane/EB20040101COMMENTARY401010335AR.jpg That's probably what I would give it too...



:o

[nidral]

That's probably what I would give it too...



:o

Now we agree on this one :D
His second wife (the opera singer) really made my day. She reminded me of Meryl Streep playing in Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4136084)

[Thief]

BICYCLE THIEVES
(1948, De Sica)
A film from the 1940s

https://www.bingewidmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/xDnreVBP7DzeI0FhwaffyacTHlorh9_original.jpg


"Anything serious, Captain?"
"Just a bicycle."



Set in post-World War II Italy, Bicycle Thieves follows Antonio, a poor man looking for the bicycle that was stolen from him which he desperately needs to keep his job. Antonio, like many other Italians during this time, is desperate for work to support his young family and this job represents a steady income and ultimately food on the table for him, his wife, and their two young children.

One of the many things this film does magnificently is to show how chaotic the economic situation was after the war. From the crowd of people looking for work or the towering stack of belongings that we see have been pawned at the shop to the push and shove of people trying to get on a bus to get to work. In a country so affected by war, any work is a lifeline, and that lifeline is represented by this bicycle, which is not "just a bicycle".

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2198619#post2198619) and the PR HOF3 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2198620#post2198620)

[Takoma11]

:rotfl:

Seriously, though, good for you for finishing the exercise.
I've actually often wondered if I sometimes feel more positive about some films because I go in with the idea that they're going to be really good or great so I'm quicker to see the positive and more likely to dismiss anything that rubs me the wrong way so I'm glad you went through this and I kinda wish I could.

I felt like I was experiencing gaslighting. I made it an hour and 10 minutes into the film before being like THIS CAN'T BE A THING THAT WON AN AWARD!!!!! IT JUST CANNNNNNN'TTTT.

[Stirchley]

I felt like I was experiencing gaslighting. I made it an hour and 10 minutes into the film before being like THIS CAN'T BE A THING THAT WON AN AWARD!!!!! IT JUST CANNNNNNN'TTTT.

Which movie are you talking about? Curious now.

[LordWhis]

Taxi Driver- 1/10

This movie did not live up to the hype for me at all. I do not guess what the fuss is all about. Martin Scorcese is one of my favourite directors but this movie really reduced my opinion of him.

There is very little I liked about the movie, I guess Jodie Foster's very brief role was excellent and it was an important break for my favourite actress but honestly even her role was a massive disappointment (like the rest of the movie) in its own way, since she only appears in a handful of scenes. Considering how famous a role of hers this was, I was expecting to see a lot more of her.

There were a few occasional funny dialogues and a few likable side characters but most of the movie was listening to De Niro's character's mad, meaningless ravings. The whole premise of the movie seemed very weird to me, and not in a good way. There is nothing interesting about seeing the day to day life of a socially maladjusted taxi driver. At times I wondered whether the intention was that Travis was a person with a disability, but I think it's more likely he was just very poorly, weirdly written.

The last act quickly goes into the utterly absurd, with Travis arming himself like Arnie in Commando (how does he have the money for all this ?) and attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate while sporting a mohawk. This would seem far-fetched in a crappy tv show, let alone a supposedly 'great' movie.

With the exception of Ms. Foster and maybe the bald cab driver I found the acting also to be very meh. De Niro didn't impress me much, but the real shocker was Harvey Keitel. I didn't even recognize him in this movie and his whole character was very dull and unexceptional. Betsy and Tom were also odd and not very good performances, or even well-written characters.

The cinematography too I found very jarring, the action sequence and the scenes that followed it were very poorly shot indeed. I fail to see why anyone would want or need a 2 minute close-up of the road.

The ending also felt completely out of tone for the movie and was downright soap-operatic. Travis becomes a hero and gets the girl ? Really ? I wonder if the last 10 minutes of the movie were tacked on by a studio executive because compared to the rest of the movie they seem like an effect of split-personality disorder.

Above all else I found the character of Travis deeply unlikeable and very unrelatable, I do not understand why anyone would want to make a movie around this dollar-store Mark David Chapman (or I guess Proto-Mark David Chapman since this movie was from 1976) let alone turn him into some sort of hero.

The movie doesn't really have a plot. I think Scorcese thought himself a little too clever in his youth while making this movie and was trying to create something really edgy and artistic to shock his audience's sensibilities, but ended up with a movie that doesn't actually say anything, that doesn't have much deep meaning hidden in its metaphors. It's a film that only has the pretense of greatness, like cheap imitation. It's like something a first-year film student would make. I cannot believe that this is the same Martin Scorcese who has directed so many masterpieces.

Why some people see this as some sort of great movie I will never understand. It is easily one of the worst films I have ever watched. In fact I liked almost nothing about it.

[Takoma11]

Which movie are you talking about? Curious now.

The Girl from Nowhere.

I meant to watch the 2013 film but got the 2017 film instead, and it was no bueno. And since I believed it had won an award (I'm watching Locarno winners for the 2021 Film Challenge) I was very, very confused!

[GulfportDoc]

Now we agree on this one :D
His second wife (the opera singer) really made my day. She reminded me of Meryl Streep playing in Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4136084)
Sadly Dorothy Comingore didn't realize what she was in for. Her portrayal of Kane's ditzy shrill second wife (completely the opposite of Hearst's real mistress, Marion Davies) was Oscar worthy. But of course the wrath of Hearst, his media syndicate, and any other entity that he could enlist, for all intents and purposes ended this talented actress's career. It didn't help that she had communist sympathies. She crawled into the bottle, spent a couple years in an insane asylum, and died at aged 58.

[mark f]

Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942) 3- 6.5/10
Ride or Die (Ryuichi Hiroki, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Flesh and the Spur (Edward L. Cahn, 1956) 2 5/10
Mortal Kombat (Simon McQuoid, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://imgix.kotaku.com.au/content/uploads/sites/3/2021/02/19/guzuqi0pmninjcc4rre8.gif?ar=16%3A9&auto=format&fit=crop&q=65&w=720&nrs=30&fm=gif
Special Forces Major Jax (Mecard Brooks) loses his arms to the icy grip of Subzero (Joe Taslim).
Stolen Hours (Daniel Petrie, 1963) 2.5 6/10
The Last Right (Aoife Crehan, 2019) 3- 6.5/10
Vanquish (George Gallo, 2021) 1.5+ 4.5/10
Stowaway (Joe Penna, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/9521441e7522cb3ef5cfabb6ba26fc16/288939e636d85a5b-69/s540x810/1e71c1c76561d8b966749bf29706a15c5464ef74.gifv
Medical researcher Anna Kendrick trains aboard her spaceship to Mars when an emergency causes a life-or-death situation.
John Van Hamersveld Crazy World Ain't It (Dave Tourjé & Chris Sibley, 2020) 3 6.5/10
The Fisherman's Diary (Enah Johnscott, 2020) 2.5 6/10
The Inheritance (Chad Barager & Kevin Speckmaier, 2020) 2- 5/10
The Comeback Trail (George Gallo, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/1d70994065b423eb210bb81da13603f6/561f55bc05a61434-6e/s400x600/5f728659443e81a8e913bf129bc4bb83d85d766b.gifv
In this broad dark comedy, low-budget film producer Robert De Niro gets suicidal Hollywood legend Tommy Lee Jones out of a Hollywood actors' old age home to star in a movie which he hopes will make him millions.
The Girl from Monterrey (Wallace Fox, 1943) 2 5/10
The French Key (Walter Colmes, 1946) 2.5 5.5/10
The Chinese Bungalow (George King, 1940) 2 5/10
Reefa (Jessica Kavana Dornbusch, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/40f99b710c65fa2873ecdff905d2ec07/c20474da53d97843-37/s540x810/7c10d75fd1e76dffcf0ee6c83f8c2b11d103c4bf.gifv
Miami's Columbian-born Israel 'Reefa' Hernandez Jr. (Tyler Dean Flores, left), a promising street artist, isn't respected by his family and the Miami PD.
The Girl from Nowhere (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2012) 2.5 5.5/10
Jibrill (Henrika Kull, 2018) 2 5/10
The Secret Place (Clive Donner, 1957) 2.5 6/10
Jakob's Wife (Travis Stevens, 2021) 2.5 5.5+/10
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X4PiGTVz4Vc/YF2vVZWGy8I/AAAAAAAARi8/zVVC7S1uN0EI8RKTi8U4rOgt-UeA_CVHgCLcBGAsYHQ/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/jakobs%2Bwife%2Btrailer.jpg
Smalltown minister's wife Barbara Crampton and her husband Larry Fessenden have to dispose of a dead body while a vampire is about and attacking.

[Thief]

Taxi Driver- 1/10

This movie did not live up to the hype for me at all. I do not guess what the fuss is all about. Martin Scorcese is one of my favourite directors but this movie really reduced my opinion of him.

There is very little I liked about the movie, I guess Jodie Foster's very brief role was excellent and it was an important break for my favourite actress but honestly even her role was a massive disappointment (like the rest of the movie) in its own way, since she only appears in a handful of scenes. Considering how famous a role of hers this was, I was expecting to see a lot more of her.

There were a few occasional funny dialogues and a few likable side characters but most of the movie was listening to De Niro's character's mad, meaningless ravings. The whole premise of the movie seemed very weird to me, and not in a good way. There is nothing interesting about seeing the day to day life of a socially maladjusted taxi driver. At times I wondered whether the intention was that Travis was a person with a disability, but I think it's more likely he was just very poorly, weirdly written.

The last act quickly goes into the utterly absurd, with Travis arming himself like Arnie in Commando (how does he have the money for all this ?) and attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate while sporting a mohawk. This would seem far-fetched in a crappy tv show, let alone a supposedly 'great' movie.

With the exception of Ms. Foster and maybe the bald cab driver I found the acting also to be very meh. De Niro didn't impress me much, but the real shocker was Harvey Keitel. I didn't even recognize him in this movie and his whole character was very dull and unexceptional. Betsy and Tom were also odd and not very good performances, or even well-written characters.

The cinematography too I found very jarring, the action sequence and the scenes that followed it were very poorly shot indeed. I fail to see why anyone would want or need a 2 minute close-up of the road.

The ending also felt completely out of tone for the movie and was downright soap-operatic. Travis becomes a hero and gets the girl ? Really ? I wonder if the last 10 minutes of the movie were tacked on by a studio executive because compared to the rest of the movie they seem like an effect of split-personality disorder.

Above all else I found the character of Travis deeply unlikeable and very unrelatable, I do not understand why anyone would want to make a movie around this dollar-store Mark David Chapman (or I guess Proto-Mark David Chapman since this movie was from 1976) let alone turn him into some sort of hero.

The movie doesn't really have a plot. I think Scorcese thought himself a little too clever in his youth while making this movie and was trying to create something really edgy and artistic to shock his audience's sensibilities, but ended up with a movie that doesn't actually say anything, that doesn't have much deep meaning hidden in its metaphors. It's a film that only has the pretense of greatness, like cheap imitation. It's like something a first-year film student would make. I cannot believe that this is the same Martin Scorcese who has directed so many masterpieces.

Why some people see this as some sort of great movie I will never understand. It is easily one of the worst films I have ever watched. In fact I liked almost nothing about it.

I'm not a huge fan of Scorsese, but some things to point out. First, Travis is indeed supposed to be unlikeable and unrelatable. There is no doubt in the film that he is deeply troubled and, well, insane. I don't think a film requires a likable "protagonist", but I do understand that the filmmaker puts a lot of trust in the audience in understanding what he's trying to transmit, which in this case it's more of an exploration of the psyche of an alienated and isolated man. Same can be said about many other films from Scorsese, or PTA (There Will Be Blood, The Master).

Second, Travis doesn't "get the girl". He just drives her home and they have an awkward exchange. After all, they knew each other and had gone on a "date" so I don't see that as too farfetched or out there.

Those are my 2 cents. I will let bigger fans of the film argue on its favor.

[LordWhis]

I'm not a huge fan of Scorsese, but some things to point out. First, Travis is indeed supposed to be unlikeable and unrelatable. There is no doubt in the film that he is deeply troubled and, well, insane. I don't think a film requires a likable "protagonist", but I do understand that the filmmaker puts a lot of trust in the audience in understanding what he's trying to transmit, which in this case it's more of an exploration of the psyche of an alienated and isolated man. Same can be said about many other films from Scorsese, or PTA (There Will Be Blood, The Master).

Second, Travis doesn't "get the girl". He just drives her home and they have an awkward exchange. After all, they knew each other and had gone on a "date" so I don't see that as too farfetched or out there.

Those are my 2 cents. I will let bigger fans of the film argue on its favor.

The difference between Travis and say Daniel Plainview, is that while Plainview is undoubtably a bad person, he has redeeming characteristics (unlike Travis) and you can actually relate to him. Which you can’t really with Travis.

For example, look at the scene with Daniel’s ‘brother’. The viewer really feels for him in that moment. You can really understand how lonely Plainview fails and his extreme disappointment and heartbreak. Travis just feels alien.

Also the life of an unscrupulous robber baron is simply more interesting than that of Taxi Driver. Also TWBB is an epic biography of Plainview’s life not just a snapshot in his day to day life. And you see Plainview’s descent into madness on screen while Travis is already quite mad when we first meet him.

Plainview is an infinitely more fascinating protagonist than Travis. At best Travis’ whole personality revolves around the big joke that everybody thinks he’s a hero when he’s actually not that great a guy, compare that to the complexity of Plainview.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5e/Les-g%C3%A9ants.jpg

The Giants - 2011 - (Belgium)

I can't recommend this enough. Awesome, awesome movie. Stand by Me on crack.

Won two awards at Cannes, and heaps of others elsewhere. I wasn't expecting too much, but by the end I was pretty excited about this film.

9/10

[Fabulous]

The Way (2010)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/xqOcH6cKhGEbzgypAHU6UlUUDrh.jpg

[SpelingError]

The difference between Travis and say Daniel Plainview, is that while Plainview is undoubtably a bad person, he has redeeming characteristics (unlike Travis) and you can actually relate to him. Which you can’t really with Travis.

For example, look at the scene with Daniel’s ‘brother’. The viewer really feels for him in that moment. You can really understand how lonely Plainview fails and his extreme disappointment and heartbreak. Travis just feels alien.

Also the life of an unscrupulous robber baron is simply more interesting than that of Taxi Driver. Also TWBB is an epic biography of Plainview’s life not just a snapshot in his day to day life. And you see Plainview’s descent into madness on screen while Travis is already quite mad when we first meet him.

Plainview is an infinitely more fascinating protagonist than Travis. At best Travis’ whole personality revolves around the big joke that everybody thinks he’s a hero when he’s actually not that great a guy, compare that to the complexity of Plainview.

While Bickle has less redeeming qualities than Plainview, I still found him relatable. Yes, Taxi Driver is more alien than TWBB, but what I got out of this was that Bickle was stuck in a boring, uneventful, and aimless environment where every day yielded the same result for him. Since he was unable to form any meaningful social connections with anyone, he was unable to break out of this state. Resorting to vigilantism anchored him and gave him a purpose. By the end of the film, everyone supported him for his vigilantism and he finally discovered that as a purpose in his life. One which would get people to love him and one which would get him out of his prior aimless state. Therefore, he rejected Betsy's potential advances at the end and chose to continue being a vigilante.

Also, I don't think that everyone supporting Travis's violence is meant to be a joke. Rather, it's a disturbing reminder that vigilantes can be wrongly idolized by the public if they commit the violence towards the right people. A recent example is how Kyle Rittenhouse was called a hero by many people for shooting and killing two people at a BLM riot in Wisconsin.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Speedy_lobby_card_2.jpg/1280px-Speedy_lobby_card_2.jpg


https://i.makeagif.com/media/4-29-2016/89xrqp.gif


Speedy - 1928 Harold Lloyd silent film (his final one before going to sound). He plays Harold "Speedy" Swift, a hapless but still happy-go-lucky New Yorker who can't seem to keep a job. He's dating Jane Dillon, whose grandfather Pop Dillon owns and runs the last horse drawn trolley in the city. Unscrupulous railroad man W.S. Wilton wants to buy him out or, failing that, run him out of business. There are a number of bits focusing on the different jobs Speedy tries and almost immediately loses like soda jerk and taxi driver. There's also an extended segment where he and Jane go to Coney Island and a colossal street brawl involving a bunch of Civil War vets and Lloyd facing off against a gang of Wilton's hired goons. The film makes great use of NYC locations and the taxi segment has a guest appearance by Babe Ruth as Speedy's nervous passenger. The climax features a race against time across the city by Lloyd at the helm of Pop's trolley and includes a hairy crash which turned out to be genuine and was worked into the script. This isn't Lloyd at his height like Safety Last but it's still entertaining and worthy of a watch.

rating_4

[nidral]

This The Comeback Trail (George Gallo, 2021) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5420210/) looks good. Even though I see it doesn't have a huge rating, I'm always eager to see any film with the cinema's "heavy weights" :up:
Don't know how, but never heard of it so far ....




Random Harvest (Mervyn LeRoy, 1942) 3- 6.5/10
Ride or Die (Ryuichi Hiroki, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Flesh and the Spur (Edward L. Cahn, 1956) 2 5/10
Mortal Kombat (Simon McQuoid, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://imgix.kotaku.com.au/content/uploads/sites/3/2021/02/19/guzuqi0pmninjcc4rre8.gif?ar=16%3A9&auto=format&fit=crop&q=65&w=720&nrs=30&fm=gif
Special Forces Major Jax (Mecard Brooks) loses his arms to the icy grip of Subzero (Joe Taslim).
Stolen Hours (Daniel Petrie, 1963) 2.5 6/10
The Last Right (Aoife Crehan, 2019) 3- 6.5/10
Vanquish (George Gallo, 2021) 1.5+ 4.5/10
Stowaway (Joe Penna, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/9521441e7522cb3ef5cfabb6ba26fc16/288939e636d85a5b-69/s540x810/1e71c1c76561d8b966749bf29706a15c5464ef74.gifv
Medical researcher Anna Kendrick trains aboard her spaceship to Mars when an emergency causes a life-or-death situation.
John Van Hamersveld Crazy World Ain't It (Dave Tourjé & Chris Sibley, 2020) 3 6.5/10
The Fisherman's Diary (Enah Johnscott, 2020) 2.5 6/10
The Inheritance (Chad Barager & Kevin Speckmaier, 2020) 2- 5/10
The Comeback Trail (George Gallo, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/1d70994065b423eb210bb81da13603f6/561f55bc05a61434-6e/s400x600/5f728659443e81a8e913bf129bc4bb83d85d766b.gifv
In this broad dark comedy, low-budget film producer Robert De Niro gets suicidal Hollywood legend Tommy Lee Jones out of a Hollywood actors' old age home to star in a movie which he hopes will make him millions.
The Girl from Monterrey (Wallace Fox, 1943) 2 5/10
The French Key (Walter Colmes, 1946) 2.5 5.5/10
The Chinese Bungalow (George King, 1940) 2 5/10
Reefa (Jessica Kavana Dornbusch, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/40f99b710c65fa2873ecdff905d2ec07/c20474da53d97843-37/s540x810/7c10d75fd1e76dffcf0ee6c83f8c2b11d103c4bf.gifv
Miami's Columbian-born Israel 'Reefa' Hernandez Jr. (Tyler Dean Flores, left), a promising street artist, isn't respected by his family and the Miami PD.
The Girl from Nowhere (Jean-Claude Brisseau, 2012) 2.5 5.5/10
Jibrill (Henrika Kull, 2018) 2 5/10
The Secret Place (Clive Donner, 1957) 2.5 6/10
Jakob's Wife (Travis Stevens, 2021) 2.5 5.5+/10
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X4PiGTVz4Vc/YF2vVZWGy8I/AAAAAAAARi8/zVVC7S1uN0EI8RKTi8U4rOgt-UeA_CVHgCLcBGAsYHQ/w1200-h630-p-k-no-nu/jakobs%2Bwife%2Btrailer.jpg
Smalltown minister's wife Barbara Crampton and her husband Larry Fessenden have to dispose of a dead body while a vampire is about and attacking.

[StuSmallz]

Taxi Driver- 1/10

This movie did not live up to the hype for me at all. I do not guess what the fuss is all about. Martin Scorcese is one of my favourite directors but this movie really reduced my opinion of him.

There is very little I liked about the movie, I guess Jodie Foster's very brief role was excellent and it was an important break for my favourite actress but honestly even her role was a massive disappointment (like the rest of the movie) in its own way, since she only appears in a handful of scenes. Considering how famous a role of hers this was, I was expecting to see a lot more of her.

There were a few occasional funny dialogues and a few likable side characters but most of the movie was listening to De Niro's character's mad, meaningless ravings. The whole premise of the movie seemed very weird to me, and not in a good way. There is nothing interesting about seeing the day to day life of a socially maladjusted taxi driver. At times I wondered whether the intention was that Travis was a person with a disability, but I think it's more likely he was just very poorly, weirdly written.

The last act quickly goes into the utterly absurd, with Travis arming himself like Arnie in Commando (how does he have the money for all this ?) and attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate while sporting a mohawk. This would seem far-fetched in a crappy tv show, let alone a supposedly 'great' movie.

With the exception of Ms. Foster and maybe the bald cab driver I found the acting also to be very meh. De Niro didn't impress me much, but the real shocker was Harvey Keitel. I didn't even recognize him in this movie and his whole character was very dull and unexceptional. Betsy and Tom were also odd and not very good performances, or even well-written characters.

The cinematography too I found very jarring, the action sequence and the scenes that followed it were very poorly shot indeed. I fail to see why anyone would want or need a 2 minute close-up of the road.

The ending also felt completely out of tone for the movie and was downright soap-operatic. Travis becomes a hero and gets the girl ? Really ?I'm sorry, but even speaking as someone who's always found Driver to be slightly overrated, I really don't think you got it; Travis only "becomes a hero" by accident, because the police/media mistakenly believe that he shot everyone up in order to save Iris, instead of it being the bloody rampage he'd been planning for some time. That's the whole point of the irony that everyone would've known him as the psycho he really was if his original plan to assasinate Senator Palantine had been successful. At any rate, no, he didn't "get the girl" in the end just because she rode in his taxi and talked to him for a bit, and the point of him glancing sharply at something in his mirror at the end is to suggest that Travis didn't really get anything out his system for good, as the cycle is starting again, and he's likely not going to be viewed as a hero after he snaps again, whenever that is.

[ScannerDarkly]

Taxi Driver- 1/10

There were a few occasional funny dialogues and a few likable side characters but most of the movie was listening to De Niro's character's mad, meaningless ravings. The whole premise of the movie seemed very weird to me.




Every one has there opinion but i have to say the movie wasnt about funny dialogue or likable side characters. Its supposed to be weird you are watching someone lose his grip it does a good job at illustrating his world.


But if u didnt like it you didnt like it ;)

[ScannerDarkly]

https://imgix.kotaku.com.au/content/uploads/sites/3/2021/02/19/guzuqi0pmninjcc4rre8.gif?ar=16%3A9&auto=format&fit=crop&q=65&w=720&nrs=30&fm=gif
Special Forces Major Jax (Mecard Brooks) loses his arms to the icy grip of Subzero (Joe Taslim).





Something seems off about this hes freezing the expanding gasses from the gun? Wouldnt they not expand anymore i dont know just seems weird!!

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 rewatched one of my fav movies <3
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2019/06/22/USAT/91fe7b9d-4af3-498b-9e7c-1f4a084e7729-MSDBODY_EC033.jpg

[mark f]

Something seems off about this hes freezing the expanding gasses from the gun? Wouldnt they not expand anymore i dont know just seems weird!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=195NielH998

[xSookieStackhouse]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=195NielH998

when i saw that scene i was like wtf lol

[LordWhis]

I'm sorry, but even speaking as someone who's always found Driver to be slightly overrated, I really don't think you got it; Travis only "becomes a hero" by accident, because the police/media mistakenly believe that he shot everyone up in order to save Iris, instead of it being the bloody rampage he'd been planning for some time. That's the whole point of the irony that everyone would've known him as the psycho he really was if his original plan to assasinate Senator Palantine had been successful. At any rate, no, he didn't "get the girl" in the end just because she rode in his taxi and talked to him for a bit, and the point of him glancing sharply at something in his mirror at the end is to suggest that Travis didn't really get anything out his system for good, as the cycle is starting again, and he's likely not going to be viewed as a hero after he snaps again, whenever that is.

As I said to thief if the main idea of the movie was the irony in a nutcase being seen as a hero... it just isn't enough of an idea to build an entire 2 hour movie around. That idea could have been communicated in a short film too. Have one scene with Betsy, a brief encounter with Iris, the assassination attempt and then the final killing spree and aftermath. There was really no need to make the viewer sit through 2 hours of Travis' rantings and ravings.

[ScarletLion]

'Sumer of 85' (2020)

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/n8R3vXbwC1w/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEjCPYBEIoBSFryq4qpAxUIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJDeAE=&rs=AOn4CLA84MKijbT9oJ_rlG928HEYukxRSA

Frustrating film. In the mould of Almodovar / Xavier Dolan / Call me by your name type film. Young love and heartbreak etc. I've seen Ozon's 'Frantz' which I thought was great.

So I had large expectations which is maybe why I was left a tiny bit disappointed. There are some beautiful moments but towards the end there are a couple of silly events that are rather cringeworthy and take the viewer out of the moment completely. Wanted to love it but couldn't

3

[LChimp]

https://media.comicbook.com/2021/02/mortal-kombat-movie-scorpion-poster-1257057.jpeg?auto=webp&width=1200&height=1500&crop=1200:1500,smart

I like videogames. A lot. People who made this movie probably don't know what a videogame is.

[the samoan lawyer]

https://lwlies.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/halloween-iii-season-of-the-witch.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Flwlies.com%2Farticles%2Fhalloween-iii-season-of-the-witch-best-in-franchise%2F&psig=AOvVaw3vrk_RksupCdx1mEl4-gDi&ust=1619613083089000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOCYkYa3nvACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)


2.5+


https://so-s.nflximg.net/soa2/954/906653954.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fflixlist.co%2Ftitles%2F60020822&psig=AOvVaw0VTIYV0H45vrbGlRQQ9-UE&ust=1619613191352000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOjd6Lm3nvACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
Jor Ride (2001)


2.5+

[LordWhis]

https://so-s.nflximg.net/soa2/954/906653954.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fflixlist.co%2Ftitles%2F60020822&psig=AOvVaw0VTIYV0H45vrbGlRQQ9-UE&ust=1619613191352000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOjd6Lm3nvACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
Jor Ride (2001)


2.5+

God Paul and Steve look so young in this movie

[cricket]

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)

3.5+

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e6/1c/63/e61c63363184a560355d1117128bb3df.gif

I don't watch many documentaries but figured I'd take a swing with this for the upcoming foreign language countdown. They don't affect me the same way as other movies so I don't generally rate them as high. This was really well made and turned what I thought was an uninteresting subject into a very interesting film. I like to occasionally eat sushi even if I don't like every kind. Part of it is just that I like being able to say hey I had some sushi today. I could have done without seeing some of the fish alive but it is part of the process. The old fart has a good philosophy; find out what you're good at, pursue it, and always strive to improve. Maybe if I had a dad like Jiro I could have been a gigolo instead of a regular loser.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2b/Thunder_Force_2021_movie_poster.jpg/220px-Thunder_Force_2021_movie_poster.jpg

2

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

[matt72582]

Kudos to the previous viewings -- "The Social Dilemma" (I agree with what Doc said, but a proper response would be one of my long-winded political posts), "Bicycle Thief" (De Sica is my favorite), "Rocco And His Brothers" (Visconti is my #2), and "Taxi Driver", although I'll flip it around and say I don't like most Scorsese but I like "Taxi Driver" much, but I attribute this to Paul Schrader and Robert De Niro.


Nomadland - 6/10
This movie was made fifty years too late it seems. Hollywood is usually fifty years behind, though. It's actually based on an article from Harper's fifty years ago. As for the movie, this should have been one of I liked very much, but it had too much DIY (Do-It-Yourself). You'd think the audience for this movie has never left their house to know how to live "on the road". I've had experiences like this, but by backpack, and all over the world, hostel-hopping, farming, sleeping in a park for a week with friends, and it's tough, but also fun, just depending on how you feel at the moment. I never knew or cared about "Bo" - we don't see him in the movie, and it seemed like a way to bring in sentimentality/sadness to a situation that didn't need it, and was probably interrupted. I would have liked to have seen more conversations from Blinkie, Linda, and Bob, who must be non-actors, because they were not only natural, but they reminded me of people I know. I'd think "Cool", and then the 60-second conversation was over. I never liked Jason Statham - he seems to always play a creepy-kinda guy who just has an unlikable face... I would have lied to know more about the main character, and would have probably been better not to re-do the Amazon job scenes, etc... It might have been a good to see the not-so-community oriented "tent cities" all over the country, too. Pretty soon, we'll ALL be working for Amazon in some way, and we ARE the product. Social media isn't free, but some of the nomads found it useful and if that's where the people are at, you don't have much of a choice.

Frances is good as usual, but the movie seemed to take 30 minutes of good movie and make it almost 100 movies. However, I guess I'm glad this won Best Picture, because people should know about struggle, which I'm sure they do, but that it's probably more common than just the undesirables. I liked that Statham's and Frances' character didn't "bang", because it seemed like the way it would have gone. It might have been cool and been expressive if the young man and her had a one-night stand to show a more instinctual nature, and the depravities of the road, and if two people can do something so they can both have one of those free pleasures in life, why not, but I praise on not including any, too. It was good the sister wasn't cliche, supported her, and mentioned how she was emblematic of the pioneers, those who sought a new frontier, when man meets a new idea which is probably impossible staying in one place, which is something I seem to prefer now, but there's too many reasons and not enough space to type this all out.

I give it an extra point for being a movie I actually I didn't turn off like the last handful of movies from my beloved 1930-70s preference, or ever thought about turning it off. I'd say this is a pretty accessible movie; a majority would probably like this, I don't see too many extremes, where people say it's their favorite or the worst movie they saw, but I do like looking at the extremes on the user reviews on IMDB... I also liked it a little more after lighting up a pinner, because the movie is reflective and moderately paced, maybe too slow for a casual viewer.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Nomadland_poster.jpeg

[Thief]

The difference between Travis and say Daniel Plainview, is that while Plainview is undoubtably a bad person, he has redeeming characteristics (unlike Travis) and you can actually relate to him. Which you can’t really with Travis.

For example, look at the scene with Daniel’s ‘brother’. The viewer really feels for him in that moment. You can really understand how lonely Plainview fails and his extreme disappointment and heartbreak. Travis just feels alien.

Also the life of an unscrupulous robber baron is simply more interesting than that of Taxi Driver. Also TWBB is an epic biography of Plainview’s life not just a snapshot in his day to day life. And you see Plainview’s descent into madness on screen while Travis is already quite mad when we first meet him.

Plainview is an infinitely more fascinating protagonist than Travis. At best Travis’ whole personality revolves around the big joke that everybody thinks he’s a hero when he’s actually not that great a guy, compare that to the complexity of Plainview.

I referenced There Will Be Blood just as another example of a film with an unlikable lead character. I wasn't trying to make a side-by-side comparison, but anyway, it boils down the same point about "relatability" since you once again brought up how you "can actually relate to" Plainview but not to Travis. So my initial question remains, is it necessary for us to "relate" to the lead character in order to appreciate or like a film?

As far as which character is more "interesting" or "fascinating", it all depends on how you look at it. So to entertain the comparison a bit, some would argue that the life of an oil baron is more distant and "unrelatable" than that of a mere taxi driver, who despite all the insanity we see in him, is pretty much an "everyday guy". And that's one of the things I find interesting and chilling about Taxi Driver. Everybody I interact with could be Travis Bickle, while not everybody I interact with could be Daniel Plainview. A regular guy like me wouldn't have much control over what a "Daniel Plainview" does from his distant "throne of power", whereas my everyday interactions could really have a positive/negative impact in dozens of "Travis Bickle"s around me.

Which brings me to another important point on the film, which is "control". What control do we have over our lives and reactions? Travis' friend thinks we don't; he says "we're all ****ed up", while Travis himself says later "there never has been a choice for me". And even though I don't think Scorsese fully answers the questions he asks, I don't think he needs to, but I do think it's interesting that he's asking them.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Kudos to the previous viewings -- "The Social Dilemma" (I agree with what Doc said, but a proper response would be one of my long-winded political posts), "Bicycle Thief" (De Sica is my favorite), "Rocco And His Brothers" (Visconti is my #2), and "Taxi Driver", although I'll flip it around and say I don't like most Scorsese but I like "Taxi Driver" much, but I attribute this to Paul Schrader and Robert De Niro.


Nomadland - 6/10
This movie was made fifty years too late it seems. Hollywood is usually fifty years behind, though. It's actually based on an article from Harper's fifty years ago. As for the movie, this should have been one of I liked very much, but it had too much DIY (Do-It-Yourself). You'd think the audience for this movie has never left their house to know how to live "on the road". I've had experiences like this, but by backpack, and all over the world, hostel-hopping, farming, sleeping in a park for a week with friends, and it's tough, but also fun, just depending on how you feel at the moment. I never knew or cared about "Bo" - we don't see him in the movie, and it seemed like a way to bring in sentimentality/sadness to a situation that didn't need it, and was probably interrupted. I would have liked to have seen more conversations from Blinkie, Linda, and Bob, who must be non-actors, because they were not only natural, but they reminded me of people I know. I'd think "Cool", and then the 60-second conversation was over. I never liked Jason Statham - he seems to always play a creepy-kinda guy who just has an unlikable face... I would have lied to know more about the main character, and would have probably been better not to re-do the Amazon job scenes, etc... It might have been a good to see the not-so-community oriented "tent cities" all over the country, too. Pretty soon, we'll ALL be working for Amazon in some way, and we ARE the product. Social media isn't free, but some of the nomads found it useful and if that's where the people are at, you don't have much of a choice.

Frances is good as usual, but the movie seemed to take 30 minutes of good movie and make it almost 100 movies. However, I guess I'm glad this won Best Picture, because people should know about struggle, which I'm sure they do, but that it's probably more common than just the undesirables. I liked that Statham's and Frances' character didn't "bang", because it seemed like the way it would have gone. It might have been cool and been expressive if the young man and her had a one-night stand to show a more instinctual nature, and the depravities of the road, and if two people can do something so they can both have one of those free pleasures in life, why not, but I praise on not including any, too. It was good the sister wasn't cliche, supported her, and mentioned how she was emblematic of the pioneers, those who sought a new frontier, when man meets a new idea which is probably impossible staying in one place, which is something I seem to prefer now, but there's too many reasons and not enough space to type this all out.

I give it an extra point for being a movie I actually I didn't turn off like the last handful of movies from my beloved 1930-70s preference, or ever thought about turning it off. I'd say this is a pretty accessible movie; a majority would probably like this, I don't see too many extremes, where people say it's their favorite or the worst movie they saw, but I do like looking at the extremes on the user reviews on IMDB... I also liked it a little more after lighting up a pinner, because the movie is reflective and moderately paced, maybe too slow for a casual viewer.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Nomadland_poster.jpeg
How can a film be 50 years too late when it was based on a book released in 2017, which was an expansion of a previous article that details events that occurred during the Great Recession, 2007-2009?

[Yoda]

Presumably because the book is exploring a lifestyle that had already been around for 50 years.

[matt72582]

How can a film be 50 years too late when it was based on a book released in 2017, which was an expansion of a previous article that details events that occurred during the Great Recession, 2007-2009?


Don't take my word for it - watch the end of the movie. It said so in the credits.

[Thief]

Nomadland - 6/10
This movie was made fifty years too late it seems. Hollywood is usually fifty years behind, though. It's actually based on an article from Harper's fifty years ago. As for the movie, this should have been one of I liked very much, but it had too much DIY (Do-It-Yourself). You'd think the audience for this movie has never left their house to know how to live "on the road". I've had experiences like this, but by backpack, and all over the world, hostel-hopping, farming, sleeping in a park for a week with friends, and it's tough, but also fun, just depending on how you feel at the moment. I never knew or cared about "Bo" - we don't see him in the movie, and it seemed like a way to bring in sentimentality/sadness to a situation that didn't need it, and was probably interrupted. I would have liked to have seen more conversations from Blinkie, Linda, and Bob, who must be non-actors, because they were not only natural, but they reminded me of people I know. I'd think "Cool", and then the 60-second conversation was over. I never liked Jason Statham - he seems to always play a creepy-kinda guy who just has an unlikable face... I would have lied to know more about the main character, and would have probably been better not to re-do the Amazon job scenes, etc... It might have been a good to see the not-so-community oriented "tent cities" all over the country, too. Pretty soon, we'll ALL be working for Amazon in some way, and we ARE the product. Social media isn't free, but some of the nomads found it useful and if that's where the people are at, you don't have much of a choice.

Frances is good as usual, but the movie seemed to take 30 minutes of good movie and make it almost 100 movies. However, I guess I'm glad this won Best Picture, because people should know about struggle, which I'm sure they do, but that it's probably more common than just the undesirables. I liked that Statham's and Frances' character didn't "bang", because it seemed like the way it would have gone. It might have been cool and been expressive if the young man and her had a one-night stand to show a more instinctual nature, and the depravities of the road, and if two people can do something so they can both have one of those free pleasures in life, why not, but I praise on not including any, too. It was good the sister wasn't cliche, supported her, and mentioned how she was emblematic of the pioneers, those who sought a new frontier, when man meets a new idea which is probably impossible staying in one place, which is something I seem to prefer now, but there's too many reasons and not enough space to type this all out.

I give it an extra point for being a movie I actually I didn't turn off like the last handful of movies from my beloved 1930-70s preference, or ever thought about turning it off. I'd say this is a pretty accessible movie; a majority would probably like this, I don't see too many extremes, where people say it's their favorite or the worst movie they saw, but I do like looking at the extremes on the user reviews on IMDB... I also liked it a little more after lighting up a pinner, because the movie is reflective and moderately paced, maybe too slow for a casual viewer.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Nomadland_poster.jpeg

https://i.imgur.com/ydx9aJw.gif

:shifty:

Seriously, though, regardless of the time this lifestyle started, or the book was written, or whatnot, what I appreciated is what you mentioned about the struggles to get by, which I believe are timeless. I think the film succeeded in showing the impact that it has on Fern.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Don't take my word for it - watch the end of the movie. It said so in the credits.
Or you could google the book and see that it was published in 2017 and the subtitle that was dropped for the movie was “Surviving America in the 21st Century.”

[LordWhis]

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)

3.5+

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e6/1c/63/e61c63363184a560355d1117128bb3df.gif

I don't watch many documentaries but figured I'd take a swing with this for the upcoming foreign language countdown. They don't affect me the same way as other movies so I don't generally rate them as high. This was really well made and turned what I thought was an uninteresting subject into a very interesting film. I like to occasionally eat sushi even if I don't like every kind. Part of it is just that I like being able to say hey I had some sushi today. I could have done without seeing some of the fish alive but it is part of the process. The old fart has a good philosophy; find out what you're good at, pursue it, and always strive to improve. Maybe if I had a dad like Jiro I could have been a gigolo instead of a regular loser.
I've heard this Jiro is a very unpleasant chap, at least to americans.

[LordWhis]

I referenced There Will Be Blood just as another example of a film with an unlikable lead character. I wasn't trying to make a side-by-side comparison, but anyway, it boils down the same point about "relatability" since you once again brought up how you "can actually relate to" Plainview but not to Travis. So my initial question remains, is it necessary for us to "relate" to the lead character in order to appreciate or like a film?

As far as which character is more "interesting" or "fascinating", it all depends on how you look at it. So to entertain the comparison a bit, some would argue that the life of an oil baron is more distant and "unrelatable" than that of a mere taxi driver, who despite all the insanity we see in him, is pretty much an "everyday guy". And that's one of the things I find interesting and chilling about Taxi Driver. Everybody I interact with could be Travis Bickle, while not everybody I interact with could be Daniel Plainview. A regular guy like me wouldn't have much control over what a "Daniel Plainview" does from his distant "throne of power", whereas my everyday interactions could really have a positive/negative impact in dozens of "Travis Bickle"s around me.

Which brings me to another important point on the film, which is "control". What control do we have over our lives and reactions? Travis' friend thinks we don't; he says "we're all ****ed up", while Travis himself says later "there never has been a choice for me". And even though I don't think Scorsese fully answers the questions he asks, I don't think he needs to, but I do think it's interesting that he's asking them.

I personally think that the lead character who a movie is designed around should at least be somewhat relatable.

And while I have no problem with down to earth movies, a movie shouldn't be too dull, it should have some semblance of the fantastic.

[LordWhis]

Kudos to the previous viewings -- "The Social Dilemma" (I agree with what Doc said, but a proper response would be one of my long-winded political posts), "Bicycle Thief" (De Sica is my favorite), "Rocco And His Brothers" (Visconti is my #2), and "Taxi Driver", although I'll flip it around and say I don't like most Scorsese but I like "Taxi Driver" much, but I attribute this to Paul Schrader and Robert De Niro.


Nomadland - 6/10
This movie was made fifty years too late it seems. Hollywood is usually fifty years behind, though. It's actually based on an article from Harper's fifty years ago. As for the movie, this should have been one of I liked very much, but it had too much DIY (Do-It-Yourself). You'd think the audience for this movie has never left their house to know how to live "on the road". I've had experiences like this, but by backpack, and all over the world, hostel-hopping, farming, sleeping in a park for a week with friends, and it's tough, but also fun, just depending on how you feel at the moment. I never knew or cared about "Bo" - we don't see him in the movie, and it seemed like a way to bring in sentimentality/sadness to a situation that didn't need it, and was probably interrupted. I would have liked to have seen more conversations from Blinkie, Linda, and Bob, who must be non-actors, because they were not only natural, but they reminded me of people I know. I'd think "Cool", and then the 60-second conversation was over. I never liked Jason Statham - he seems to always play a creepy-kinda guy who just has an unlikable face... I would have lied to know more about the main character, and would have probably been better not to re-do the Amazon job scenes, etc... It might have been a good to see the not-so-community oriented "tent cities" all over the country, too. Pretty soon, we'll ALL be working for Amazon in some way, and we ARE the product. Social media isn't free, but some of the nomads found it useful and if that's where the people are at, you don't have much of a choice.

Frances is good as usual, but the movie seemed to take 30 minutes of good movie and make it almost 100 movies. However, I guess I'm glad this won Best Picture, because people should know about struggle, which I'm sure they do, but that it's probably more common than just the undesirables. I liked that Statham's and Frances' character didn't "bang", because it seemed like the way it would have gone. It might have been cool and been expressive if the young man and her had a one-night stand to show a more instinctual nature, and the depravities of the road, and if two people can do something so they can both have one of those free pleasures in life, why not, but I praise on not including any, too. It was good the sister wasn't cliche, supported her, and mentioned how she was emblematic of the pioneers, those who sought a new frontier, when man meets a new idea which is probably impossible staying in one place, which is something I seem to prefer now, but there's too many reasons and not enough space to type this all out.

I give it an extra point for being a movie I actually I didn't turn off like the last handful of movies from my beloved 1930-70s preference, or ever thought about turning it off. I'd say this is a pretty accessible movie; a majority would probably like this, I don't see too many extremes, where people say it's their favorite or the worst movie they saw, but I do like looking at the extremes on the user reviews on IMDB... I also liked it a little more after lighting up a pinner, because the movie is reflective and moderately paced, maybe too slow for a casual viewer.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a5/Nomadland_poster.jpeg

Is the movie excessively left-leaning politically ? I sort of got that vibe from the trailer.

[Thief]

I personally think that the lead character who a movie is designed around should at least be somewhat relatable.

And while I have no problem with down to earth movies, a movie shouldn't be too dull, it should have some semblance of the fantastic.

Fair enough. I can struggle a bit with some films with unlikable lead characters, but don't consider it a requirement to enjoy or appreciate a film.

But anyway, if the film wasn't for you, that's ok. Like I said before, I myself am not a huge fan of Scorsese or this film, but I think there's a lot to like/appreciate in it.

[cricket]

I've heard this Jiro is a very unpleasant chap, at least to americans.

Not sure if he's unpleasant or just serious about his sushi. He'll serve someone and stare them down as if to make sure they eat it right. People in the doc said he made them nervous. I'm sure he'd give me the look of death if I asked for a bud to wash it down with.

[matt72582]

Is the movie excessively left-leaning politically ? I sort of got that vibe from the trailer.


I don't know.. The word "left" has lost its meaning. I don't think there really is a left-wing in American politics. A big problem when an adjective (like "liberal") becomes a noun - it has no defense. Sometimes the truth might seem like it bends one way, but its just the way it is. In this case, social security not being enough due to inflation, Employees not being paid a livable wage effects right-wingers, too. Someone could even say it's anti-Democrat.. Fern isn't happy, constantly struggling, while her sister is kind of a hero. She not only supports her emotionally, but supports her financially when Fern's car breaks down. Her sister's family has a steady place to live, very middle-class, but they all seem nice (even the in-law's comment wasn't harsh) and Fern's male friend goes from being hesitant, from a nomad, to then just visiting his grandchild, but ends up staying. Again, the situation, his family seems great, and he seems to indicate he's through with all the moving around. Age effects everyone differently, but sometimes' its others' lives that has influence, such as having a grandchild, or nieces, etc. So in his case, once he saw his grandson, he probably wanted to be there. If his son was to move around, he'd probably follow because he doesn't want to miss out on his only grandchild growing up, so again this example is not about living in one place or being free.



Maybe populist is a better word. But, I didn't find it overly preachy at all. Very little dialogue, and a lot of re-using of scenes - community of nomads drinking together, singing together. If this was released in the early 70s, I think it would have been completely ignored.

[Rockatansky]

Or you could google the book and see that it was published in 2017 and the subtitle that was dropped for the movie was “Surviving America in the 21st Century.”

Maybe it was a cautionary tale, written to be retroactive.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Maybe it was a cautionary tale, written to be retroactive.
You saying Jessica Bruder is a tralfmadorian?

[Rockatansky]

You saying Jessica Bruder is a tralfmadorian?
More likely she was a little slow.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCs-OkicOWw

[Torgo]

Hold on a minute: Jason Statham is in it? Good for him. I'm glad he's branching out into drama because he's dangerously close to becoming the next Steven Seagal.

[mark f]

David Strathairn is in Nomadland. :cool:

[Takoma11]

https://so-s.nflximg.net/soa2/954/906653954.jpg (https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fflixlist.co%2Ftitles%2F60020822&psig=AOvVaw0VTIYV0H45vrbGlRQQ9-UE&ust=1619613191352000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCOjd6Lm3nvACFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE)
Jor Ride (2001)


2.5+

I have really fond feelings toward Joy Ride (an admittedly fun, but just slightly above-average thriller) because when it was released my college roommate and I were at a formal dance. We weren't digging it, and we went the college's theater instead. We were the only two people there (9pm showing on a Saturday night) and so we watched Joy Ride in our fancy dresses and our bare feet up on the seats in front of us and got to enjoy talking to each other during the film in a movie theater without being horrible monsters.

[GulfportDoc]

[The Bodyguard] rating_5 rewatched one of my fav movies <3

I very much enjoyed the film. It's really more of a love story with a thriller thrown in. Houston was dazzling, and I think if was one of Costner's best roles.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.salon.com%2F2013%2F09%2Fmother_of_george1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Mother of George, 2013

A woman named Adenike (Danai Gurira) marries older man Ayodele (Isaach De Bankhole) in Brooklyn, New York. Months later, Adenike has still not become pregnant and family pressure begins to mount on her.

There's an easy narrative theme that could have been had with this story, and it's one that seems like it has been articulated about halfway through the film. "Why is it always the woman?!" Adenike wails in dismay. Her husband will not even agree to go to a fertility doctor, and yet she is the one who is being fed noxious teas and blamed for their lack of conception.

But there's something more nuanced at play here, and that's the way that such cultural structures can do harm to both halves of a relationship. To be sure, Adenike is the one who gets the short end of the stick here. Despite being proactive--going to the doctor, trying to work things out with her husband--she is the one who gets all of the attitude from the family and is blamed for the lack of a baby. Her husband won't even get checked out. And the family is quick--like, really quick--to suggest that she should let her husband attempt to impregnate another woman.

But then another solution presents itself, one that would cover up the family shame if it is Ayodele who cannot conceive. "Only the mother knows the true identity of the father,"--a suggestion that comes from a surprising character. And it is this idea, that maybe Adenike should be unfaithful, that ends up driving the emotions of the story.

What I think the film captures well is the way that a society that is overly obsessed with paternal power and lineage actually can do harm to women AND men. Ayodele is mortified by the idea of being seen by a doctor. He cannot even face up to the idea that he might be the problem--and being about 20 years Adenike's senior, it's more likely that he is. Trying to be manly means that he rejects help and won't meet his wife halfway.

Another strength of the film is simply the amazing range of costuming on display. The film is really beautifully lit, and both the actors and their clothing is gorgeous to look at. It is a bright, and yet deep and rich visual palate and I really loved the look of it.

On the downside, the film does feel a bit overlong. There's a bit of a lull about 2/3 of the way through, though it picks up steam in the very final act. A few of the conversations feel redundant, though at the same time it does reinforce just how often Adenike is hearing these hurtful things.

And, my personal pet peeve, there was what appeared to be an unsimulated killing of an animal. I fast-forwarded this part, but still managed to watch an animal screaming in terror as its throat was cut. (I feel very failed by both the IMDb and DoesTheDogDie!!!).

I liked this film and the story it was telling, but wish it had been just a tad more streamlined.

3

[LordWhis]

I don't know.. The word "left" has lost its meaning. I don't think there really is a left-wing in American politics. A big problem when an adjective (like "liberal") becomes a noun - it has no defense. Sometimes the truth might seem like it bends one way, but its just the way it is. In this case, social security not being enough due to inflation, Employees not being paid a livable wage effects right-wingers, too. Someone could even say it's anti-Democrat.. Fern isn't happy, constantly struggling, while her sister is kind of a hero. She not only supports her emotionally, but supports her financially when Fern's car breaks down. Her sister's family has a steady place to live, very middle-class, but they all seem nice (even the in-law's comment wasn't harsh) and Fern's male friend goes from being hesitant, from a nomad, to then just visiting his grandchild, but ends up staying. Again, the situation, his family seems great, and he seems to indicate he's through with all the moving around. Age effects everyone differently, but sometimes' its others' lives that has influence, such as having a grandchild, or nieces, etc. So in his case, once he saw his grandson, he probably wanted to be there. If his son was to move around, he'd probably follow because he doesn't want to miss out on his only grandchild growing up, so again this example is not about living in one place or being free.



Maybe populist is a better word. But, I didn't find it overly preachy at all. Very little dialogue, and a lot of re-using of scenes - community of nomads drinking together, singing together. If this was released in the early 70s, I think it would have been completely ignored.

Maybe I wil check it out, the 60s and 70s is my 2nd or 3rd favourite era of filmmaking.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGRjYzE3NjQtYjRhMC00MThjLTkzNzEtYTA4Njc2MzA4MDI0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzc5MjA3OA@@._V1_UY1200_CR83,0,6 30,1200_AL_.jpg




3

[Captain Terror]

I have really fond feelings toward Joy Ride (an admittedly fun, but just slightly above-average thriller) because when it was released my college roommate and I were at a formal dance. We weren't digging it, and we went the college's theater instead. We were the only two people there (9pm showing on a Saturday night) and so we watched Joy Ride in our fancy dresses and our bare feet up on the seats in front of us and got to enjoy talking to each other during the film in a movie theater without being horrible monsters.

Joy Ride showed up on my radar because one of the screenwriters was in a band I liked. He has apparently gone on to write zero more films, but the OTHER screenwriter was a guy named JJ Abrams. Didn't know that till just now. (I also did not know that the cute boy was Paul Walker.)

And I agree- fun and slightly-above average

[Takoma11]

Joy Ride showed up on my radar because one of the screenwriters was in a band I liked. He has apparently gone on to write zero more films, but the OTHER screenwriter was a guy named JJ Abrams. Didn't know that till just now. (I also did not know that the cute boy was Paul Walker.)

And I agree- fun and slightly-above average

It truly is the most early-2000s cast: Steve Zahn, Paul Walker, and Leelee Sobieski. Featuring the voice of Ted Levine.

[Wooley]

I felt like I was experiencing gaslighting. I made it an hour and 10 minutes into the film before being like THIS CAN'T BE A THING THAT WON AN AWARD!!!!! IT JUST CANNNNNNN'TTTT.

Honestly, that's pretty damn funny.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/Help_poster.jpg

The Help - (2011)

Rating this movie has brought me up against that old uncomfortable feeling, where I watch a good, well-regarded movie that's simply not my kind of movie. I don't know how to rate them. Am I supposed to glean how good the movie is in general, and rate it highly in spite of my lack of enjoyment?

This is a long film, and I never grew bored or started praying for the film to end. The acting was great. The racial aspect well-meaning but questionable to some critics. But for me, mainly, there was no "greatness" and I left the film without the feeling that I'd found a really fine piece of movie-making that I'd enjoy watching again some day. I couldn't relate to it.

6/10

[Thunderbolt]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/Help_poster.jpg

The Help - (2011)

Rating this movie has brought me up against that old uncomfortable feeling, where I watch a good, well-regarded movie that's simply not my kind of movie. I don't know how to rate them. Am I supposed to glean how good the movie is in general, and rate it highly in spite of my lack of enjoyment?

This is a long film, and I never grew bored or started praying for the film to end. The acting was great. The racial aspect well-meaning but questionable to some critics. But for me, mainly, there was no "greatness" and I left the film without the feeling that I'd found a really fine piece of movie-making that I'd enjoy watching again some day. I couldn't relate to it.

6/10

I would always go with my gut feeling even if everyone raves it’s a classic and I disagreed.

[PHOENIX74]

I would always go with my gut feeling even if everyone raves it’s a classic and I disagreed.

I agree. I'd hate to be somebody who dislikes a film, but heralds it as awesome just because most other people love it.

[Fabulous]

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/cV0FFFDbh5dHBgDuWdDiLDRfsi3.jpg

[xSookieStackhouse]

3.5
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91uS74wouML._SY550_.jpg

[Hey Fredrick]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fpayload197.cargocollective.com%2F1%2F7%2F238117%2F6258298%2FFantastic-Planet-insert-web.jpg%3Fresize%3D420%252C253&f=1&nofb=1

Fantastic Planet

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit dropping acid. On a strange planet, people are wild animals and sometimes pets but there comes a time when they must be destroyed. Apparently, we would not make great pets. Really liked everything about this except the ending. It was over too quick. Loved the animation style and the music was...nice.
4

[Ultraviolence]

https://fanart.tv/fanart/movies/272/movieposter/batman-begins-5515ab9b1180c.jpg
2
Good intro into the Bruce Wayne psyche and the Bat myth. But terrible action and story feels rushed. Mix bag!

[Marco]

Ray and Liz (2018)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d2/Ray_and_Liz_film_poster.jpg
Autobiographical film about growing up in the Thatcher era on a midlands (Black country) estate with 2 feckless parents.

Powerful and well written, some sequences are absolutely abject of hope (phone-box, brother asking whether he can be fostered) but it sticks to it's guns.

3.5

[Thief]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fpayload197.cargocollective.com%2F1%2F7%2F238117%2F6258298%2FFantastic-Planet-insert-web.jpg%3Fresize%3D420%252C253&f=1&nofb=1

Fantastic Planet

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit dropping acid. On a strange planet, people are wild animals and sometimes pets but there comes a time when they must be destroyed. Apparently, we would not make great pets. Really liked everything about this except the ending. It was over too quick. Loved the animation style and the music was...nice.
4

Yep. Pretty much agree with this.

[Stirchley]

Ray and Liz (2018)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d2/Ray_and_Liz_film_poster.jpg
Autobiographical film about growing up in the Thatcher era on a midlands (Black country) estate with 2 feckless parents.

Powerful and well written, some sequences are absolutely abject of hope (phone-box, brother asking whether he can be fostered) but it sticks to it's guns.

3.5

This is exciting. I have never heard of this, but have just put it in my Prime watchlist. Set outside of Birmingham, which just happens to be my hometown. :cool:

[Stirchley]

76914

Re-watch. Very powerful. Surely the best thing Naomi Watts has ever done.

76915

Excellent movie with an original storyline.

[Thief]

BREATHLESS
(1960, Godard)
A film from the Criterion Collection whose number includes the #4 (#408)

https://frenchculture.org/sites/default/files/styles/max/public/a_bout_de_souffle_4.jpg?itok=_i7I8tDX


"Say something nice."
"Like what?"
"I don't know."



Breathless follows Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a small-time but dangerous criminal who is on the run after shooting a cop. Desperate, he seeks refuge with Patricia (Jean Seberg), a former love interest that is an aspiring journalist in Paris. Even though she doesn't know much about Michel, his past, or even that he's on the run, she still spends most of the film resisting his romantic advances or dancing around the idea of being with him, as they wander carefree around Paris.

Overall, I can appreciate Breathless place in film history as well as some of its technical aspects, and it's a good checkbox to tick off my list. But to be honest, if you ask me to say something nice about it, I don't know.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2199373#post2199373) and the PR HOF3 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2199374#post2199374).

[Stirchley]

⬆️ Breathless is a masterpiece of French cinema.

[nidral]

The Virtuoso (2021) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4136456/)
This one was quite a great movie for a Wednesday night. Too bad I can't rate it just after 2 days :D 7/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUw8adePeDY
https://resizing.flixster.com/-E5IOuRU0dXa_1JA8nWpWLVVvKI=/ems.ZW1zLXByZC1hc3NldHMvbW92aWVzLzk0Y2IwYzQxLTk1YzQtNDA4My05ZjczLTg1ZGM5MjAzOTMzNC5qcGc=

[Ultraviolence]

/\ Interesting trailer, gonna check this out next week.

[nidral]

It really was a good movie..... nothing sophisticated, but had a cool story and I felt pleasure watching it :up:

[Marco]

This is exciting. I have never heard of this, but have just put it in my Prime watchlist. Set outside of Birmingham, which just happens to be my hometown. :cool:
I've lived in the West Midlands for years and still don't know what the **** they mean by yam-yams and the Black Country...I am from Glasgow though :)

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media2.giphy.com/media/3o6ZtoN8hx8jItGO1W/giphy.gif

https://crackedrearviewer.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/lit5.jpg


Little Caesar - A rewatch of this 1932 gangster classic starring Edward G. Robinson as Caesar Enrico "Rico" Bandello. Still an essential and commanding performance by Robinson. Still plenty of homoerotic subtext. I thought I was imagining it the first time I watched this but almost every article I've read alludes to it. It doesn't detract from the movie at all of course but it's still injects a bit of WTF? to the proceedings.

This was basically the first of it's kind in that it started a craze for "gangster" films and was largely borrowed from in subsequent movies. The "rise and fall" storyline has also been used to great effect. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. costars as Joe Massara, Rico's partner in crime and maybe other things. He leaves the thug life to pursue his dream of being a dancer. He also takes up with his new dance partner Olga Stasoff (Glenda Farrell). Rico doesn't take it well, calling him a softie and a sissy. Putting aside all that as well as Rico's gleefully fawning henchman Otero (George E. Stone) you still have a concise 79 minutes of OG gold.

rating_4

[Stirchley]

I've lived in the West Midlands for years and still don't know what the **** they mean by yam-yams and the Black Country...I am from Glasgow though :)

I’ve never heard of yam-yams.

Being from the Black Country was considered, I suppose, as being rather low-class. I do know that the people I knew from there had terrifically strong accents. People would hide it & say they lived someplace else.

“The Black Country is an area of the English West Midlands, covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, and only some minor parts of Walsall and Wolverhampton. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised in the Industrial Revolution, with coal mines, coking, iron foundries, glass factories, brickworks and steel mills, producing a high level of air pollution.”

One thing I hope from Ray & Liz is that we all don’t go slumming with these people & caricature them in some negative way. I hope the movie is more than this.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMWZkM2I2NjEtNWM0Mi00MTgwLWJlYTAtYmNkZWYzNmQ1ZTBiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM2NDM2MQ@@._V1_.jpg


2.5

[GulfportDoc]

The Virtuoso (2021) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4136456/)
This one was quite a great movie for a Wednesday night. Too bad I can't rate it just after 2 days :D 7/10
Sounds promising-- especially with A. Hopkins. Will check it out when it's available.

[Torgo]

Mank - 4

First of all, this movie is very much in my wheelhouse. I love anything associated with old Hollywood, Orson Welles and Citizen Kane. Still, a quality of good movies is that they make you invested in their subjects regardless of your interest level before you push play. If the equally impressed reaction of my fellow movie lover wife - who was indifferent to these subjects - is of any indication, it succeeds on that front. With that said, this is not just a making-of dramatization. It's a story, and a well-told one, about how hard it is for artists - even those who have Herman "Mank" Mankiewicz's clout - to convince their higher-ups to mean what they say.

With its clever "funnel" flashback structure, i.e. present and past begin far apart and eventually collide, we learn that Mank's inspiration for the Kane script was not only fueled by his issues with Hearst, but also those he had with MGM and California GOP head Louis B. Mayer. Brilliantly played by Arliss Howard, he's a man who's not beneath reneging on fully compensating his employees or producing fake campaign ads and is thus against everything for which the socialist and truth-loving Mank stands. He's not alone in his battle, though: while sequestered in the famous (and actual) Victorville ranch that was his writing den, Mank is visited by family and acquaintances, most notably brother Joseph and unlikely ally and Hearst mistress Marion Davies (a very good Amanda Seyfried), and each of them entertainingly encourage and remind him what he's up against. Speaking of the ranch, filming at it and other actual locations surely has a lot to do with this, but it's a beautiful movie, especially for how it captures a '30s-'40s look and feel that has just the right blend of romantic and authentic.

The movie is not without its flaws: like Anthony Hopkins in Nixon, Oldman is award-worthy as Mank, but I'm not sure if he was ideal for the role. I couldn't help but side-eye during moments like when he mentions that he's 43 or whenever he's with his wife, who I'm ashamed to have mistook for his daughter. Also, it's barely worth mentioning since it's an issue with nearly every historical drama, but the accuracy is questionable from time to time. While I appreciate what the movie taught me about Mank's involvement with Kane, the movie diminishes Orson Welles' contributions a bit. I still consider this to be one of 2020's best movies, especially for how it reminded me that Citizen Kane is not only a great movie for its story and innovations, but also for how and what it said about those who thankfully failed to quash it. Oh, and for all of you comic book fans out there, with his penchants for seeking the truth, standing up for the common laborer and, well, drinking, was Mank the Spider Jerusalem of his day? Whether he was or not, this may be the closest thing to a Transmetropolitan adaptation we're likely to get.

[Wooley]

BREATHLESS
(1960, Godard)
A film from the Criterion Collection whose number includes the #4 (#408)

https://frenchculture.org/sites/default/files/styles/max/public/a_bout_de_souffle_4.jpg?itok=_i7I8tDX




Breathless follows Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo), a small-time but dangerous criminal who is on the run after shooting a cop. Desperate, he seeks refuge with Patricia (Jean Seberg), a former love interest that is an aspiring journalist in Paris. Even though she doesn't know much about Michel, his past, or even that he's on the run, she still spends most of the film resisting his romantic advances or dancing around the idea of being with him, as they wander carefree around Paris.

Overall, I can appreciate Breathless place in film history as well as some of its technical aspects, and it's a good checkbox to tick off my list. But to be honest, if you ask me to say something nice about it, I don't know.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2199373#post2199373) and the PR HOF3 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2199374#post2199374).

Aw man, I absolutely love Breathless. Another movie that made me feel like film could truly be High Art.
But I am a sucker for French New Wave.

[Thief]

Aw man, I absolutely love Breathless. Another movie that made me feel like film could truly be High Art.
But I am a sucker for French New Wave.

:(

https://media.tenor.com/images/668dc39e6a16dae858972c200093e4a8/tenor.gif

[wositelec]

It's very good comedy film - Fantozzi Succumbs Again (1983) - 8 / 10 ! :D

https://i1.fdbimg.pl/a1/6plywjs1/307x433_n8ly21.jpg

[Fabulous]

Two Lovers (2008)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/zJmSB5hc8nODfENl7IAZMDHgwSH.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

76915

Excellent movie with an original storyline.

Love this one. Rewatched it recently. It really is original, and the film isn't afraid to take you into the dark, painful psyches of it's two antagonists.

[xSookieStackhouse]

5
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjc2MjUxMjI1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTM2MDc4MQ@@._V1_.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/The_Miseducation_of_Cameron_Post.png

The Miseducation of Cameron Post - (2018)

This film, about a gay conversion therapy center, wasn't bad. I only had two gripes, the first being the fact that in 2018 Boy Erased also came out and while the two films are slightly different, they're basically the same. What is it about films arriving in pairs all the time? The other gripe was about Chloë Grace Moretz and her character. She maintains a wall and gets through the abuse and loaded suggestions with a barely audible "okay" delivered with a stone, almost morose, face. Stonewalling's good tactic for getting through this and away, but it makes for a bland protagonist. Anyway, if you feel like watching a film skewer those gay conversion centers, and can't get your hands of Boy Erased, I'd certainly recommend The Miseducation of Cameron Post.

6/10

[nidral]

Sounds promising-- especially with A. Hopkins. Will check it out when it's available.

It was quite a good one. I expected something weaker, since all the great actors accepted to play in all sort of action movies which sometimes are way below their level, but this one was quite acceptable.
A 7 in IMO.

[Hey Fredrick]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FkwGUGdO2tCw%2Fhqdefault.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Two people per room with a hole in the middle. They are assigned to this room for a month. Once a day a table loaded with food drops down. You can eat as much as you want but there are rules you must obey, the biggest being you can't keep any of the food when the table begins to descend to the next floor. After a minute or two the table drops to the next level and down and down it goes. By the time it reaches the bottom the food is long gone so what are the two people on the bottom floors supposed to do? Hmmm? The entire film is a veeerrryyyy subtle dig at capitalism. It was interesting, would have like a little more cannibalism, that's always fun. Ovreall, not bad, it's interesting and moves along pretty good. For whatever reason it reminded me a little bit of Cube. 3

[ScarletLion]

76915

Excellent movie with an original storyline.

Zvyaginstev! Anything by him is worth a watch. Loveless is excellent.

The Return, The Banishment, Leviathan - all fantastic.

[matt72582]

Ship of Fools - 7/10
Movie centers around many people on this ship..Some characters were completely worthless. There's a lot of names, but I don't think they fit. I wonder how this would have been with different stars or better actors. It has propaganda, and a bit too preachy for me (very surfaced, nothing on a gut level), contrived, but that's Stanley Kramer for you. "Trendy Justice Whorior"
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Theshipoffools.jpg

[Marco]

76914

Re-watch. Very powerful. Surely the best thing Naomi Watts has ever done.

76915

Excellent movie with an original storyline.

Yeah, loved 21 Grams,

Loveless now firmly on the list, really rated The Return and Leviathan.

[Marco]

I’ve never heard of yam-yams.

Being from the Black Country was considered, I suppose, as being rather low-class. I do know that the people I knew from there had terrifically strong accents. People would hide it & say they lived someplace else.

“The Black Country is an area of the English West Midlands, covering most of the Metropolitan Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, and only some minor parts of Walsall and Wolverhampton. Dudley and Tipton are generally considered to be the centre. It became industrialised in the Industrial Revolution, with coal mines, coking, iron foundries, glass factories, brickworks and steel mills, producing a high level of air pollution.”

One thing I hope from Ray & Liz is that we all don’t go slumming with these people & caricature them in some negative way. I hope the movie is more than this.

"Yam" = "You are"
From "Yow am" or "Yowm".
This is the origin of "Yam Yams", a term designated by "Brummies" for the people from Wolverhampton who use this expression.

Stirchley, the film is autobiographical and pretty bleak but I don't think there is a piss take on the locals.

[nidral]

The Comeback Trail (2020) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5420210/) 6/10
Since mark f was talking about it at some point, I thought I'll give it a try !
https://wearesecondunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/The-Comeback-750x429-1.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

Zvyaginstev! Anything by him is worth a watch. Loveless is excellent.

The Return, The Banishment, Leviathan - all fantastic.I remember watching The Return years ago and really liking it. I watched the trailers for the other three and I'm like 90% sure I've watched Loveless sometime in the past. Leviathan looks especially awesome.

[SpelingError]

The Travelling Players (1975) - 5

I stopped caring about the story about half an hour into this film and instead focused on the film's style. Angelopoulos seamlessly blends personal and political history in a number of sensually pleasing and inventive ways in just about every single sequence. And this is accomplished despite the film being almost four hours long! Throughout all the long takes in the film, Angelopoulos managed to drop my jaw a number of times. For one, he found all kinds of creative ways for the various political figures and set pieces to creep into the frame and intrude on or interrupt the characters lives. For example, the film sometimes showed the sounds of a patrol of Nazis or a political march in the distance get louder and louder until the characters eventually entered the frame. Also, sometimes when the characters would exit from the frame of a shot, it would linger in that location for a while until a soldier or a military vehicle would enter the frame, often indicating the film is jumping from past to present. This unconventional shooting style gave a sensually pleasing, poetic style to the film which I found quite mesmerizing and poetic. The way violence is shown in this film is also impressive, specifically in regard to which bits are shown onscreen and which are shown offscreen. A recurring aspect to the violence was that, right when a violent bit started, the characters would run away from the frame and the sounds of gunfire, explosions, or screaming could be heard in the distance, creating a strong sense of claustrophobia and (at times) fear of the unknown in the process. The main highlight to the violence is a lengthy sequence in the middle where the actors come across a gunfight between a patrol of Nazis and a group of resistance fighters while sneaking through a town at night. The way the violence and the military units in this sequence are framed (they're only shown through the gaps between various houses and stores), in addition to a dose of surrealism, is nothing short of perfect. This film's runtime is intimidating and will likely keep many people away (which is understandable as I initially thought the film would be a chore to sit through), but I'm glad I watched it. So far, it's my favorite first-time watch of this year.

[Mr Minio]

The Travelling Players (1975) - 5 What if I tell you... Angelopoulos has better films?!

[SpelingError]

What if I tell you... Angelopoulos has better films?!

I've only seen this one and Landscape in the Mist. What would you say are his best films?

[Gideon58]

https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/born-to-dance-1936-retro-movie-poster-r-muirhead-art.jpg



3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F--teiS-FwPmE%2FTuQELjH2Y4I%2FAAAAAAAAA9c%2Fd29Y32BpXtA%2Fs1600%2Fvlcsnap-2011-12-05-20h49m13s46.png&f=1&nofb=1

Night on Earth, 1991

Over the course of a single day, we see five different cabbies (Winona Ryder, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Isaach de Bankhole, Roberto Benigni, Matti Pellonpaa) in five different cities interact with a range of customers, from executives to bishops to factory workers drowning their sorrows.

Despite all of the segments having the same director, Jim Jarmusch, there was a bit more of an anthology feel than I expected. This largely has to do with the different proportions of comedy and drama in the different sections. And as is often the case with films with such chapters, certain sections were more successful than others. Still, I like all of the segments and didn't feel that there were any that really disappointed.

The first segment, with Gena Rowlands as a casting director who becomes charmed by Ryder's plucky taxi driver is fine. The writing feels a bit exaggerated at times, and I wasn't entirely sold on the chemistry between the two characters. Still, I'd watch Rowlands read a phone book, so . . .

The second segment was one I enjoyed quite a bit. Mueller-Stahl plays an immigrant cabbie who picks up Giancarlo Esposito's character, Yo-Yo, a man who can't manage to flag any other taxis. While the theme might seem a little on the nose and cheesy (two people from very different backgrounds discovering that they have a lot in common!), the actors have solid chemistry and the flow of their conversation is solid. I was kind of lukewarm on the part where Yo-Yo grabs and physically forces his girlfriend (Rosie Perez) into the cab. Despite the slapstick trappings, it just felt off to me. I did really like the segment's final note, something right on the line between comedy and melancholy, as a slightly bewildered Helmut tries to navigate the loud, bright streets of New York.

The Paris segment is fine, if a bit unexceptional. De Bankhole's taxi driver ferries around a blind woman (Beatrice Dalle) and engage in a bit of contentious flirtation. While I don't believe that every blind character must be played by a blind actor, there is something a bit hmmm about someone playing a person with a disability who infamously parked in a handicapped parking space and then attacked the person who gave her a ticket for it and I'll just leave it at that.

The Rome segment is probably the most successful, in the sense of uniting the rhythm of the writing with its delivery. Talking mile-a-minute, Benigni whips through the streets of Rome as his unfortunate passenger, a bishop, becomes more and more agitated. While originally trying to be sensitive to the sensibilities of his passenger, Benigni's rambling eventually makes its way to more and more explicit anecdotes as the bishop gropes for his heart medication. The whole thing is over the top and propelled by Benigni's hyper delivery.

The Helsinki segment rounds things out nicely, with humor that is a bit more subdued. The customers begin by bemoaning their situation--and specifically the situation of their friend who has been laid off--but the cabbie's own story of woe soon shifts their feelings toward their friend.

Overall a good series of vignettes. I had hoped that I would like it a bit more.

3.5

[ThatDarnMKS]

The Legend of *redacted to Black* Charley

Fred Williamson can make even the worst attempts at blaxploitation watchable. While this isn’t among the worst, it sort of stumbles and shambles its way through a narrative that deserved a surer hand. The climax is among the clumsiest I’ve seen, reusing footage from a previous, similarly staged sequence making everything in between feel tacked on to reach its already short length.

2.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/00/A_Man_Called_Ove.png

A Man Called Ove - (2015) - Sweden

Ove (Rolf Lassgård) is perpetually infuriated with everyone and everything he comes across, appears to be obsessive compulsive and has just lost his wife to cancer. A great character whose daily suicide attempt never quite succeeds because he can't leave anything unanswered, be it a door, telephone or his new neighbours. A fine movie, which doesn't quite hit enough dramatic high points. Many people thinks it's a little too saccharine - but I don't mind sentimentality if it works.

7/10

This film made it to the nomination stage for the 2017 Academy Awards (Best Foreign Language Film.) When I checked out the nominees for that year I was surprised to find that I'd seen four out of the five films in the offing. The Salesman, from Iran, deservedly won the Oscar that year. The two other great films were Land of Mine from Denmark and Toni Erdmann from Germany. I recommend all of them.

[wositelec]

Super Fantozzi (1986) - 9 / 10

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDRiYjI1ZDctMWQ0MC00NzIzLTk5MTAtMDVjNGM0MGRhZmNiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjA4MDAyNTQ@._V1_.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/Imperium_%282016_film%29.png

Imperium (2016)

This film had a great build-up and then the finale just fizzed like a wet firecracker. That's my opinion anyway. I wasn't expecting World War III, but jeez.... Such a great film for 90% of it's running length.

5/10

[Fabulous]

Blow the Man Down (2019)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/fsM6AB85cptuiG142s6ZQS17mjr.jpg

[xSookieStackhouse]

4.5
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTM5N2ZmZTMtNjlmOS00YzlkLTk3YjEtNTU1ZmQ5OTdhODZhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg

[John-Connor]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F--teiS-FwPmE%2FTuQELjH2Y4I%2FAAAAAAAAA9c%2Fd29Y32BpXtA%2Fs1600%2Fvlcsnap-2011-12-05-20h49m13s46.png&f=1&nofb=1

Night on Earth, 1991

Over the course of a single day, we see five different cabbies (Winona Ryder, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Isaach de Bankhole, Roberto Benigni, Matti Pellonpaa) in five different cities interact with a range of customers, from executives to bishops to factory workers drowning their sorrows.

Despite all of the segments having the same director, Jim Jarmusch, there was a bit more of an anthology feel than I expected. This largely has to do with the different proportions of comedy and drama in the different sections. And as is often the case with films with such chapters, certain sections were more successful than others. Still, I like all of the segments and didn't feel that there were any that really disappointed.

The first segment, with Gena Rowlands as a casting director who becomes charmed by Ryder's plucky taxi driver is fine. The writing feels a bit exaggerated at times, and I wasn't entirely sold on the chemistry between the two characters. Still, I'd watch Rowlands read a phone book, so . . .

The second segment was one I enjoyed quite a bit. Mueller-Stahl plays an immigrant cabbie who picks up Giancarlo Esposito's character, Yo-Yo, a man who can't manage to flag any other taxis. While the theme might seem a little on the nose and cheesy (two people from very different backgrounds discovering that they have a lot in common!), the actors have solid chemistry and the flow of their conversation is solid. I was kind of lukewarm on the part where Yo-Yo grabs and physically forces his girlfriend (Rosie Perez) into the cab. Despite the slapstick trappings, it just felt off to me. I did really like the segment's final note, something right on the line between comedy and melancholy, as a slightly bewildered Helmut tries to navigate the loud, bright streets of New York.

The Paris segment is fine, if a bit unexceptional. De Bankhole's taxi driver ferries around a blind woman (Beatrice Dalle) and engage in a bit of contentious flirtation. While I don't believe that every blind character must be played by a blind actor, there is something a bit hmmm about someone playing a person with a disability who infamously parked in a handicapped parking space and then attacked the person who gave her a ticket for it and I'll just leave it at that.

The Rome segment is probably the most successful, in the sense of uniting the rhythm of the writing with its delivery. Talking mile-a-minute, Benigni whips through the streets of Rome as his unfortunate passenger, a bishop, becomes more and more agitated. While originally trying to be sensitive to the sensibilities of his passenger, Benigni's rambling eventually makes its way to more and more explicit anecdotes as the bishop gropes for his heart medication. The whole thing is over the top and propelled by Benigni's hyper delivery.

The Helsinki segment rounds things out nicely, with humor that is a bit more subdued. The customers begin by bemoaning their situation--and specifically the situation of their friend who has been laid off--but the cabbie's own story of woe soon shifts their feelings toward their friend.

Overall a good series of vignettes. I had hoped that I would like it a bit more.

3.5
Have you seen Jim Jarmusch Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai 1999 ? If not I recommend. 🙂

[bread]

77035

Absolutely love this movie. 8/10

[LChimp]

https://i0.wp.com/www.popsfera.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/AB4BE32E-3E9F-4700-91CB-CD2E36A28E25.jpeg?resize=1025%2C1536&ssl=1

I honestly had 0 expectations, since I hated the theatrical version. It's still bad, but not as bad as said version.

[Mr Minio]

I've only seen this one and Landscape in the Mist. What would you say are his best films? Dust of Time & Eternity and a Day

[SpelingError]

Dust of Time & Eternity and a Day

I'll check them out then. Thanks for the recs!

[mark f]

Parole, Inc. (Alfred Zeisler, 1948) 2 5/10
The Thief (Pavel Chukhray, 1997) 3- 6.5/10
Pungo: A Witch's Tale (Philip J. Cook, 2020) 2+ 5/10
Labyrinth of Cinema (Nobuhiko Ôbayashi, 2019) 3- 6.5/10
https://www.ksat.com/resizer/9Gh26qBTEgV6X76BqHAWoGZsfz8=/fit-in/640x360/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65):fill(FFF)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-gmg.s3.amazonaws.com/public/2RX3JS5YOJFXJFHI7TTT6EBMRM.jpg
Three hours of Japanese "film history" which is mostly created for the film and made with sharp social anti-war commentary.
Affairs of Cappy Ricks (Ralph Staub, 1937) 2 5/10
A Man Vanishes (Shôhei Imamura, 1967) 3 6.5/10
Madonna of the Desert (George Blair, 1948) 2+ 5/10
Star-Crossed Lovers AKA Royal Children (Frank Beyer, 1962) 3 6.5/10
https://d3cyv0xf0ss37v.cloudfront.net/2019/films/720x405/star-crossed-lovers-couple-c-defa-stiftung-waltraut-pathenheimer-3.jpg
Visually-potent tale which shows how three "normal people" are changed by Naziism during WWII. This image contains Annekathrin Bürger and Ulrich Thein - the other is Armin Mueller-Stahl.
Easy Money (Phil Rosen, 1936) 2 5/10
International Crime (Charles Lamont, 1938) 2.5 5.5/10
Redhead (Edward L. Cahn, 1941) 2 5/10
We Are Little Zombies (Makoto Nagahisa, 2019) 3- 6.5/10
https://media.giphy.com/media/9r1qt2J5aUElGIYXWE/giphy.gif
Four orphans make it big as a Japanese pop band even though they are basically against popularity.
Get Outta Town (Charles Davis, 1960) 2.5 5.5/10
Murder With Pictures (Charles Barton, 1936) 2 5/10
The Fate of Lee Khan (King Hu, 1973) 2.5+ 6/10
The Compleat Al (Jay Levey & Robert K. Weiss, 1985) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/66fb1cee37535579da49d511eb044a7e/3042a27e7d1f0bff-90/s1280x1920/8b114ff8c00c689eb049273154c2b60655d9b507.gif
In-depth but BS biography of Weird Al Yankovich which highlights most of his music videos up to that time.
Nasir (Arun Karthick, 2020) 2+ 5/10
Tom Clancy's Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Voyage of the Rock Aliens (James Fargo, 1984) 2 5/10
Point Blank (Fre d Cavayé, 2011) 3 6.5/10
https://img4.bdbphotos.com/images/500x250/3/o/3oypoxlru5eeerx.jpg?skj2io4l
Fast-paced action thriller where the intentional misunderstanding of the plot details works to its advantage.

[Stirchley]

77035

Absolutely love this movie. 8/10

Me too. In fact it’s on its way from Amazon to add to my dvd collection.

[LordWhis]

Nomadland- 6/10, Not really my kind of movie. It seems like it was made at the right point in time to get an oscar.

I Care A Lot- 9/10. I really liked this movie. I think it was unfortunate to be made at the wrong point in time which is why it got a lot of criticism. A movie about a morally questionable but likable billionaire doesn't really fly in 2021.

[Marco]

I'll check them out then. Thanks for the recs!
Great! Read the summaries, looks like another (unknown) rich seam for me to mine👍

[Marco]

Nomadland- 6/10, Not really my kind of movie. It seems like it was made at the right point in time to get an oscar.

I Care A Lot- 9/10. I really liked this movie. I think it was unfortunate to be made at the wrong point in time which is why it got a lot of criticism. A movie about a morally questionable but likable billionaire doesn't really fly in 2021.

I thought "I care a lot" started off OK but then became just......daft. And not particularly good daft.

[Thief]

ON THE BEACH
(1959, Kramer)
A film primarily set in a submarine • A film with Anthony Perkins

https://nostalgiacentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/onthebeach000-640x396.jpg


"Lately, with so little time left, my sense of values seem to have changed."



Set in an alternate reality where World III has devastated half of the planet, On the Beach follows a group of characters that are sheltered in Australia, which has managed to escape the nuclear fallout, but not for so long. As radiation threatens to reach them, the characters scramble for options: from looking for other habitable places to staying where they are and face certain death, from clinging to memories of the past to embracing new love.

Among the main characters, there is Commander Dwight Lionel Towers (Gregory Peck), a stoic military man quietly mourning the loss of his family, until he meets Moira (Ava Gardner). In addition, we have Lt. Commander Peter Holmes (Anthony Perkins), a young man assigned to serve under Towers, while desperately weighing the options for her young wife and baby child. Finally, there's Julian Osborn (Fred Astaire), an aging scientist that seems to be more cynical about the war and the prospects of the future, while also seeming to be more at peace with it.

This is a film where, for most of its duration, I went a bit up and down with it. Maybe it was the excessive melodrama that came up from time to time. But, like most of its characters, as it approached its ending, my feelings changed; I appreciated what it set out to do a bit more. Let's say that my sense of values seem to have changed.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2200132#post2200132)

[Gideon58]

Nomadland- 6/10, Not really my kind of movie. It seems like it was made at the right point in time to get an oscar.

I Care A Lot- 9/10. I really liked this movie. I think it was unfortunate to be made at the wrong point in time which is why it got a lot of criticism. A movie about a morally questionable but likable billionaire doesn't really fly in 2021.


Personally, I LOVED I Care a Lot...that movie had me on the edge of my chair for the whole thing.

[Takoma11]

Have you seen Jim Jarmusch Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai 1999 ? If not I recommend. 🙂

I have and quite enjoyed it, though it's been a while and I probably owe it a rewatch.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-OHRgWb33zN4%2FUx66qtTAfxI%2FAAAAAAAMrSs%2F1AGDbaDMx8Q%2Fs1600%2FChocolat-1988-MSS-06.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Chocolat, 1988

In an extended flashback, we see the childhood of a girl named France (Cecile Ducasse), the daughter of the head of a colonial outpost in French-occupied Cameroon. France's memories revolve primarily around her family's servant, a man named Protee (Isaach De Bankhole). What France is barely able to understand is the destructive attraction between Protee and France's mother, Aimee(Giulia Boschi), something that is pushed to a breaking point when a visitor named Luc (Jean-Claude Adelin) arrives and also feels attraction toward Aimee.

There are so many layers and big heavy themes to this film (racism, colonialism, adolescence, sexism), that the most surprising thing about it is how well it moves along. It isn't a light film by any means, but there is a remarkable deftness to the way that the story progresses.

The best aspect of the film is simply that each character feels very alive and as if they have a point of view. Even characters who are kind of awful--like Luc, who happily abuses his position of power and uses racial epithets against the Cameroon natives--feel fully formed.

Isaach De Bankhole is perfect as Protee, the unwilling center of the storm. To me, De Bankhole is almost like one of those impossibly beautiful people like a Catherine Munroe or something. I think that this beauty makes him ideal as the kind of person that both an adult woman and an adolescent would have a huge crush on. But he also does a great job of portraying someone who understands the precariousness of his position in the white-run household. He exhibits a poker-faced zen as he is ordered around and called "boy". It is not that he secretly hates France or Aimee, but you can see under the surface the wrongness of being treated, at times, more like a pet.

Giula Boschi is solid as the mother, Aimee. Aimee is one of those characters who exists in that mid-tier level of power. Living in rural Cameroon was obviously not her choice. And with her husband away for long stretches of time, she repeatedly leans on Protee for protection and comfort. But what makes it hard to sympathize entirely with her is realizing the danger in which she puts Protee. In one scene, Aimee calls Protee into the bedroom where she is with France because they are afraid of a coyote. Protee stops at the door to the bedroom like a vampire who's just seen a cross. What does it mean for him to go into the bedroom of a white woman with no one else around? What might the consequences be?

I am honestly surprised that this isn't a film I hear about more often. It tackled many complex themes and constantly centered the humanity of its characters. It is neither a dewy-eyed look at a colonial childhood, nor an EVIL COLONIZER film. Claire Denis (who both wrote and directed) has created a nuanced, lovely story that feels like a portrait of a flawed loved one. While I didn't talk much about it, I also thought that the film looked great and made the most of a gorgeous landscape. I didn't have any complaints, aside from maybe wanting a bit more closure in terms of one aspect of the story.

I'm maybe bumping it up about a half star, but I really enjoyed the flow of the film.

4.5