Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[Captain Terror]

The message is colonialism = rape/exploitation.

Right, that part I got. I was just confused as to where my sympathies were supposed to lie. Lots of terrible things happen to our main character, who then goes on to treat the indigenous characters with disdain. Who am I rooting for here?

It's been over a year since I watched it, so that's an oversimplified version of my dilemma, but that was the gist of it I think. It was similar to the film Hounddog, in that whatever payoff there was was not enough to justify the wretched stuff I had to sit through to get there.

[Jinnistan]

Right, that part I got.
I figured. But this is what I mean by the "paper-thin script". There really isn't much more there that I can discern. Very predictable and not very satisfying.


Babadook, on the other hand, dealt with the issue of a mother secretly desiring to kill her special needs childwhich I feel is much darker, more complex and complicated subject matter, and which resulted in a less ambivalent resolution. I think it definitely points to the kinds of films that maybe I prefer.

[Thief]

CASUALTIES OF WAR
(1989, De Palma)

https://i.imgur.com/7CxcJR2.jpg


"First you don't know s-hit, then you don't give a s-hit."



Casualties of War follows a squad led by Sergeant Meserve (Sean Penn) that after an ambush, decide to kidnap and rape a young Vietnamese woman. Although most of his fellow soldiers go along with the plan, Private Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) is against it, which leads to tension, confrontations, and the moral dilemma of whether he should "give a s-hit" and who ultimately "gives a s-hit" in the end.

The primary burden of the film lies in the performances of the two leads. If they can convincingly sell the two attitudes ("giving a s-hit" and "not giving a s-hit"), most of the work is done. Fortunately, although not at 100%, Penn and Fox are both capable enough in their roles. Fox does a pretty good job conveying Eriksson's idealism and naivete. He does feel a bit too naïve and aloof at times, but I guess that's the point. Penn has the showier role and although he does go a bit overboard at times, he's pretty good as the despicable Meserve.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2254856#post2254856)

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51pMZfQET3L.jpg



4.5

[Takoma11]

CASUALTIES OF WAR
(1989, De Palma)

https://i.imgur.com/7CxcJR2.jpg




Casualties of War follows a squad led by Sergeant Meserve (Sean Penn) that after an ambush, decide to kidnap and rape a young Vietnamese woman. Although most of his fellow soldiers go along with the plan, Private Eriksson (Michael J. Fox) is against it, which leads to tension, confrontations, and the moral dilemma of whether he should "give a s-hit" and who ultimately "gives a s-hit" in the end.

The primary burden of the film lies in the performances of the two leads. If they can convincingly sell the two attitudes ("giving a s-hit" and "not giving a s-hit"), most of the work is done. Fortunately, although not at 100%, Penn and Fox are both capable enough in their roles. Fox does a pretty good job conveying Eriksson's idealism and naivete. He does feel a bit too naïve and aloof at times, but I guess that's the point. Penn has the showier role and although he does go a bit overboard at times, he's pretty good as the despicable Meserve.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2254856#post2254856)

Saw this on TV when I was a fair deal too young for its themes and content and it was very upsetting.

It's interesting, because I'm halfway through The Visitors and in that film the lead character talks about how his squad in Vietnam kidnapped a young Vietnamese girl, raped her, and then killed her to cover up their crime.

[Thief]

Saw this on TV when I was a fair deal too young for its themes and content and it was very upsetting.

It's interesting, because I'm halfway through The Visitors and in that film the lead character talks about how his squad in Vietnam kidnapped a young Vietnamese girl, raped her, and then killed her to cover up their crime.

Haven't seen it, but it's the same story. Both are based on Daniel Lang's article about the "Incident on Hill 192".

[Corax]

Babadook, on the other hand, dealt with the issue of a mother secretly desiring to kill her special needs childwhich I feel is much darker, more complex and complicated subject matter, and which resulted in a less ambivalent resolution. I think it definitely points to the kinds of films that maybe I prefer.


This film, on the surface, was not all that terrifying, but when you consider the psychological reading of the terror, wow.

[GulfportDoc]

...
I still long for someone to produce a symphony background for Forbidden Planet instead of that awful incessant Moog! ;)
I know what you mean. But the electronic score for the film was very impressive and distinctive when the picture came out in 1956. The composers used electronic machinery that they constructed themselves. Their score predated the Moog by a number of years.

I loved that film, and it left a lasting impression on me. Some of the set designs and the special effects were galvanizing for their time.

[Allaby]

I went and saw Ghostbusters: Afterlife today. I enjoyed it. This is a fun, charming film that honours the legacy of the original while still doing its own thing. The little Marshmallow Man babies alone are worth the price of admission. My rating is 4

[WHITBISSELL!]

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https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/rev-1-TWWMD-03037r-High-Res-JPEG.jpeg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&h=370&dpr=1.5

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Those Who Wish Me Dead - I don't think it's a stretch to say that Taylor Sheridan writes and sometimes directs (two so far including this one) "guy" movies. He's definitely mining in John Milius territory even though his central characters are usually women. I watched and liked Wind River even though I felt Elizabeth Olson's FBI agent Jane Banner was a little too much like Emily Blunt's Kate Macer in Sicario. The in-over-her-head "greenhorn" getting schooled by the resolute and capable male archetype. This one has another female protagonist in Angelina Jolie's Hannah and she's a bit of a damaged soul, shouldering a lot of the guilt after her smoke-jumper crew is trapped by a forest fire. She also blames herself for three boys losing their lives, a plot detail that, of course, has a direct bearing on the story.

After a failed psych evaluation she's been assigned to a fire lookout tower. It's there where she runs across 12 year old Connor Casserley (Finn Little), whose father Owen (Jake Weber) has just been ambushed and murdered by two ex-soldier types, Jack (Aiden Gillen) and Patrick (Nicholas Hoult). Owen was a forensic accountant working for the District Attorney's office and had uncovered spmething that had gotten his boss killed. Figuring he was next he flees with his son to his brother-in-law's home in Montana. Ethan Sawyer (Jon Bernthal) is a deputy sheriff who also runs a survival school on the side with his very pregnant (and formidably competent) wife Alison (Medina Senghore).

Sheridan is very adept at moving a story along towards what are usually strong denouements and this is no exception. I don't know if Jolie was the right person to cast as Hannah but she does okay because it's the supporting cast who does most of the heavy lifting. Little, Bernthal and especially Senghore are the ones who end up selling this. And at the very least Sheridan is making progress with his female leads. Hannah ultimately takes care of business with no patriarchal figure looking over her shoulder.

80/100

[Captain Steel]

I know what you mean. But the electronic score for the film was very impressive and distinctive when the picture came out in 1956. The composers used electronic machinery that they constructed themselves. Their score predated the Moog by a number of years.

I loved that film, and it left a lasting impression on me. Some of the set designs and the special effects were galvanizing for their time.

Yeah, I'm not saying delete the synthesizer entirely - but the whole soundtrack is synthesizer!
There's not a note of music (outside of Moog-type noise) to set the scenes or enhance the mood.

The movie is so good that a little John Williams style music would really help enhance the tension, romance, humor, tragedy and excitement of various scenes.

The lack of music in the film really makes me realize how important background music is to films.

[Takoma11]

Sheridan is very adept at moving a story along towards what are usually strong denouements and this is no exception. I don't know if Jolie was the right person to cast as Hannah but she does okay because it's the supporting cast who does most of the heavy lifting. Little, Bernthal and especially Senghore are the ones who end up selling this. And at the very least Sheridan is making progress with his female leads. Hannah ultimately takes care of business with no patriarchal figure looking over her shoulder.

80/100

I quite liked it as well. As you say, the supporting cast are really great. I really liked how all of the characters we're rooting for are given a moment to step up in their own way, even if it doesn't always end well for them. I thought that the action flowed really well and, like you said, led up to a strong finish.

[Thief]

Speaking of Sheridan, is Yellowstone any good?

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/89/Charliewilsonwarposter.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13992331

Charlie Wilson's War - (2007)

Gust Avrakotos: There's a little boy and on his 14th birthday he gets a horse... and everybody in the village says, "how wonderful. The boy got a horse" And the Zen master says, "we'll see." Two years later, the boy falls off the horse, breaks his leg, and everyone in the village says, "How terrible." And the Zen master says, "We'll see." Then, a war breaks out and all the young men have to go off and fight... except the boy can't cause his legs all messed up. and everybody in the village says, "How wonderful."

Charlie Wilson: Now the Zen master says, "We'll see."

The United States was just in the "how wonderful" phase of everything. The mujahideen had just ejected the Soviets from Afghanistan - but only after Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) sees the benefit in helping the Afghans do this. He ups the covert budget from $5 million to $1 billion, sends weapons capable of destroying Soviet planes, helicopters and tanks, and basks in the glory of helping America win the Cold War. Of course, later on down the track, the United States would get to the "how terrible" phase of Middle East involvement and history. Philip Seymour Hoffman (I miss him more than any other departed actor) is fantastic as rogue CIA man Gust Avrakotos. I don't know why I'd never gotten around to watching this Mike Nichols film before - but I'm glad I did. It's a top rate movie and I loved it.

8/10

[Raven73]

Ghostbusters: Afterlife
8/10.
That was awesome.
It stayed with the spirit of the original.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMmZiMjdlN2UtYzdiZS00YjgxLTgyZGMtYzE4ZGU5NTlkNjhhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

[StuSmallz]

I know what you mean. But the electronic score for the film was very impressive and distinctive when the picture came out in 1956. The composers used electronic machinery that they constructed themselves. Their score predated the Moog by a number of years.

I loved that film, and it left a lasting impression on me. Some of the set designs and the special effects were galvanizing for their time.Forbidden Planet was a pretty good movie, I just feel that its take on Science-Fiction can't help but feel rather dated, particularly in how much hand-holdy exposition there was; I mean, the sequence where they're exploring the bowels of the planet is literally nothing but fifteen minutes of Dr. Morbius demonstrating and explaining each piece of Krell technology to us, when I think witnessing Nielsen explore it at least a little bit for himself first would've added so much more wonder to that part of the movie.

[pahaK]

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
1.5
I've always disliked the Ouija board as a trope in horror, and the only reason I watched this was Mike Flanagan. It looks and plays like a TV movie, and it's a mess wasting a decent cast. I sort of liked the last scene (not the one after the credits, which was totally unnecessary, but the last real scene of the film) and there's maybe a half-a-star for that alone. Yeah, it's a pretty bad film.

--
Don't Breathe (2016)
1.5
Another crappy horror in a row. For some unknown reason, this one has lots of good reviews, but in reality, it's just another clone of the robbery/home invasion gone wrong. Despite all the efforts to convince the viewer otherwise, I was rooting for the blind man all the way to the end. Surprisingly long 88 minutes.

[Raven73]

Venom Let There Be Carnage
7/10.
I liked this sequel better than the original. The best part is the hilarious banter (and even physicality) between the odd couple of Brock and Venom. I thought Woody Harrelson did a pretty good job as the psychopath Carnage. However, If they do a third movie, I hope they do something other than symbiotes fighting each other.
https://www.thecorrespondent.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Venom-Let-There-Be-Carnage-Marvel-Sony-Tom-Hardy.jpg

[FromBeyond]

Hell Or High Water 2016*

Nice movie, well executed, Chris Pine is beautiful in this... and memorable.. he should rough it up more often. Foster and Bridges are predictably as terrific as ever. Love the scene where Foster takes on the entire townsfolk mob .. hilarious and loved the ending.

[Wooley]

Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016)
1.5
I've always disliked the Ouija board as a trope in horror, and the only reason I watched this was Mike Flanagan. It looks and plays like a TV movie, and it's a mess wasting a decent cast. I sort of liked the last scene (not the one after the credits, which was totally unnecessary, but the last real scene of the film) and there's maybe a half-a-star for that alone. Yeah, it's a pretty bad film.



I didn't necessarily feel like it was "bad" per se but this is the one that everyone told me was actually good in that series and, after watching it, I could not fathom why they would say that. It seemed a by-the-numbers contemporary Creepy-Kid Movie and I found it more dislikable than likable. I don't think it was incompetent or anything just kinda lame.

[Corax]

Wait, the new Ghostbusters doesn't suck?

[ThatDarnMKS]

Wait, the new Ghostbusters doesn't suck?
Nope. Thoroughly charming and heartfelt love letter to the original, Amblin films, Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman.

With the occasional intrusive studio note to force an “I remember that!”

[GulfportDoc]

82909
No Time to Die (2021)

This is an unfortunate semi-sluggish whale of a film, with periods of finger-drumming indifference from the viewer, separated by some impressive chase and special effects scenes. The overall tone of the story felt like an inept requiem for Daniel Craig’s Bond. The picture was overly long, with 30 minutes that could have easily been cut out without any loss to the story.

It can be said that most of the production elements were first rate, with excellent cinematography by Linus Sandgren, keen editing by Tom Cross and Elliot Graham, and a competent music score by Hans Zimmer. As usual, most of the settings were exotic and appealing.

The acting was also good, but for the glaring miscasting of Lashana Lynch as 007’s temporary replacement. Rami Malek added star power to the film, yet his Mr. Robot ogling and cheesy vitiligo face make-up were not enough to exude wanton depravity. Previous Bond villains were far more threatening. Lea Seydoux was workmanlike in her performance, but did not show the allure she exhibited in Spectre. In fact the chemistry between she and Craig was semi superficial and inferior to their attraction in the earlier film.

It was the writing that was shockingly mediocre. It’s a toss up whether it was the story or the melodramatic dialogue which was worse. The story itself wasn’t too far off in style from some of the earlier Bond films, and might have been palatable were it not for the hammy dialogue, especially in the love scenes, which bordered on camp. Some reviewers have rhapsodized about Bond’s scenes of tenderness and introspection, but in my view his occasional histrionics --although well acted-- felt phony, artificial, and self-serving to a script that was designed to build emotion for the inevitable ending.

Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Director Cary Fukunaga were credited as story writers, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge added to the screenplay, writing along with the others. Purvis and Wade have been the writers on the past six Bond films, so they ought to be a reliable team. Whether it was the input from the other two that weakened the writing, or whether it was the case of too many opinions and re-writes involved remains to be seen. Reportedly Danny Boyle was originally hired to direct and co-write but left due to creative differences. One wonders if the script and filming would have been tighter with Boyle at the helm. Evidently Fukunaga was hired quickly in order to meet contractual arrangements. He became the first American director in an Eon Productions Bond film. Sam Mendes did not want to direct a third Bond film.

Since shifting the nature of the 007 films to the more serious and determined Bond of Daniel Craig, most of the high jinx, humor and campiness of the earlier pictures were cast aside to favor more dramatic stories rising above all the razzmatazz, chases, and shoot outs. But once the stories enter the realm of drama, there is a much higher bar in terms of acceptance and believability. In the case of the Bond franchise they’re treading perilously close to being pulled away from their decades highly popular stylish format toward overly wrought boy/girl entanglements, political correctness, and melodramatic sensitivity.

Daniel Craig has been a dynamic force as 007. Yet despite his excellent physical conditioning he has gotten a little long in the tooth, so he was smart to bow out on top. There will certainly be more Bond films. We hope that they’ll right the ship and add more classic quality 007 spy action yarns to the series.

Doc’s rating: 5/10

[doubledenim]

Wait, the new Ghostbusters doesn't suck?

Nope. Thoroughly charming and heartfelt love letter to the original, Amblin films, Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman.

With the occasional intrusive studio note to force an “I remember that!”

🙄

[ThatDarnMKS]

🙄
:blart:

[doubledenim]

:blart:

I’m glad you enjoyed it.

[Rockatansky]

Nope. Thoroughly charming and heartfelt love letter to the original, Amblin films, Harold Ramis and Ivan Reitman.

With the occasional intrusive studio note to force an “I remember that!”


Was one of those moments in reference to


Dan Aykroyd's ghost beej?

[ThatDarnMKS]

Was one of those moments in reference to


Dan Aykroyd's ghost beej?
I said studio notes. Not MKS notes.

[Rockatansky]

I said studio notes. Not MKS notes.


Was there at least a creepy Dan Aykroyd wink when Ray Parker Jr. sings the line "Bustin' makes me feel good"?


You know, for the fans.

[WHITBISSELL!]

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Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) - Second Jean Cocteau film I've watched after Orpheus. He does a surprisingly effective job of interpreting the fantastical aspects of the 1757 fairy tale. Surprising because this was shortly after WWII ended (1946) and there were myriad obstacles to overcome including a scarcity of film stock and frequent power outages. Fabric was in such short supply that when the film crew arrived at the film set each morning they'd often find out that someone had stolen the set's sheets and curtains. But Cocteau not only persevered he also improvised to great effect the Beast's enchanted castle with it's disembodied candelabra and living statuary and carvings.

Belle (Josette Day) lives with her father (Marcel André), her two avaricious sisters, Félicie (Mila Parély) and Adélaïde (Nane Germon) and her well meaning but still-a-lunkhead brother Ludovic (Michel Auclair). Ludovic's wastrel friend Avenant (Jean Marais) hangs around and tries to woo Belle to no great effect. The family fortune has disappeared along with her father's ships, which were lost at sea. One day he receives news that one of his ships has been found and has arrived at the port but unbeknowst to him his son Ludovic has signed a contract with a usurer that allows the moneylender to sue his father for damages if he cannot repay the loan. His father travels to the port but additional creditors have already seized his goods. Before he left he had asked his daughters what he could bring them when he returned and Belle had asked for a single rose.

On the way home the father gets lost in the dark woods but stumbles on the Beast's enchanted castle. The gates and doors open of their own accord and the floating candelabras and fully laden dining table welcome the tired man but the host is nowhere to be found. Upon waking in the morning he flees the castle but, remembering his promise to Belle, he stops to pluck a single rose. The Beast (also played by Jean Marais) appears out of nowhere and informs him that, even though he was welcome to anything in his home, the only things he was forbidden to touch were his roses. And that the penalty for this transgression was death. He tells the man he can go if one of his daughters takes his place, then offers him his white horse Magnificent, telling him to use a special phrase and the horse will take him wherever he wants to go.

After arriving home and relating the fantastical tale Rose blames herself and volunteers to take his place. He won't hear of it so she sneaks away in the middle of the night on Magnificent. Thus begins the the peculiar but effective courtship between the hirsute suitor (hirsuitor?) and the unassuming young woman. And that's how hundreds (if not thousands) of erotic fan fictions came to be. But with two greedy and conniving sisters, a dimbulb brother and a jilted suitor still at home there is of course remaining treachery afoot and it's handled with aplomb by Cocteau and cast. I did however find the recognizable ending strangely unsatisfying and borderline farcical which, as it turns out, was part of Cocteau's plan all along. So for once my intrinsic cynicism was in line with a directors intent.

90/100

[doubledenim]

Was there at least a creepy Dan Aykroyd wink when Ray Parker Jr. sings the line "Bustin' makes me feel good"?


You know, for the fans.

There was a “wink” that furthers an elephant in the room that nobody addresses at anytime in movie. A weird combination of “too much, while being ambiguous”.

[CringeFest]

Outside the Wire 4/5

[PHOENIX74]

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By Promotional Scan, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19336782

Somers Town - (2008)

I enjoyed Shane Meadows' This is England so I thought I'd give his follow-up film, Somers Town a look. Thomas Turgoose from the former is back, this time as 'Tommo', a runaway from Nottingham who finds life on the streets a tough prospect and befriends the son of a Polish immigrant, Marek (Piotr Jagiello). There's something of an innocence to the pair as they get up to mischief and both try to woo the older Parisian Maria (Elisa Lasowski). Shot in black and white, the film has an easy-going Mike Leigh feel about it and harks back to those days of youth where things were a lot less complicated. Friendship and the difficult life of abandoned youth are explored in regards to how the streets of London function - as the boys either exploit, or are exploited by, those around them. Turgoose once again shows his winning sense of humour in what appears to be some improvised dialogue in scenes.

7/10

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By imdb.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33730857

An Englishman in New York - (2009)

I haven't seen 1975 film The Naked Civil Servant but nonetheless felt it was not essential to it's 2009 follow-up where John Hurt reprises the role of Quentin Crisp. It had something of a 'made-for-television' feel and mainly exists as an outlet for many of Crisps 'witty' quotations which I found to be pretentious. A lot of people in his day and age took offense to many things he said, for example when he told and audience on one of his speaking tours that AIDS was "a fad". Not liking Crisp, I found this film to be a little difficult to watch, despite Hurt giving a tremendous performance.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d5/Mayor_of_the_Sunset_Strip.jpg
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Mayor of the Sunset Strip - (2003)

Okay, Rodney Bingenheimer. A strange man, and a difficult person to read. Shy, awkward and quiet, he exists on a level that belies everything he is, rubbing shoulders with the biggest celebrities there have ever been over the last 50 years. Elvis, David Bowie, John Lennon, Paul McCartney you name it - he knows them personally. This documentary followed him for around 6 years and takes a close look at his life and career as probably the greatest groupie in history. At the time he was a DJ for a radio station in Los Angeles that could make or break musicians and bands - before that operating an exclusive disco that the stars would frequent. Despite his status, he's still one of those awkward guys without a girlfriend - which is what makes him a great enigma.

7/10

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The Descent - (2005)

Claustrophobic in the extreme, this film made me squirm and palpitate long before the monsters come along - they make a bad situation worse for the women in this horror film from Neil Marshall. I have to say it's one of the better such films from the 2000s, with a new branch on the evolutionary tree existing in a cave system that you don't want to become stuck in. It's second half isn't as good as it's first, but that's just a quibble - because good horror films are hard to find.

7/10

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The Ballad of Jack & Rose - (2005)

Jack (Daniel Day-Lewis) lives with his daughter Rose (Camilla Belle) on what was once an experimental commune, and is dying. When he introduces a new woman (Katherine - played by Catherine Keener) and her two sons to the mix Rose becomes something of a loose cannon and conflict erupts. Paul Dano plays one of the sons, uniting onscreen with Day-Lewis a couple of years before they'd go head-to-head in There Will Be Blood. Aside from that and some good performances this film didn't hit any stupendous heights.

6/10

[StuSmallz]

Paul Dano plays one of the sons, uniting onscreen with Day-Lewis a couple of years before they'd go head-to-head in There Will Be Blood.Are you a fan of TWBB, by the way?

[PHOENIX74]

Are you a fan of TWBB, by the way?

A huge fan. I wouldn't mind at all if it tops the 2000s Countdown.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimg-assets.drafthouse.com%2Fimages%2Fshows%2Fthe-housemaid-1960%2Fthe-housemaid-hero.jpg%3Fauto%3Dcompress%252Cformat%26crop%3Dfocalpoint%26fit%3Dcrop%26fp-x%3D0.5%26fp-y%3D0.5%26h%3D1080%26q%3D80%26w%3D1920&f=1&nofb=1

The Housemaid, 1960

Mr. Kim (Jin Kyu Kim) is a composer who teaches piano lessons to young women who work at a factory, while his wife, Mrs. Kim (Jeung-nyeo Ju) works as a seamstress. The two have two children and Mrs. Kim is expecting their third. Overwhelmed by the demands of their new, large home, the Kims decide to hire a housemaid. Thus into their lives comes Myung-sook (Eun-Shim Lee), whose first day on the job involves her catching a rat with her bare hands and things only go downhill from there. Seducing Mr. Kim and using whatever leverage she can get over the couple, Myung-sook gradually takes a more and more powerful role in the home.

This film is highly regarded, and that's a good thing, because describing its dynamics and tone seems a bit beyond me at the moment. On one hand, the film is intensely over the top and veers into comedic territory with how overwrought certain sequences are. But on the other hand, the angles used for the different scenes and the intensity of the performances--especially Eun-Shim Lee's spectacularly unhinged turn in the lead role--lend the film a genuine sense of tension and dread. Nothing, to me, sums up this film better than a sequence in which Mrs. Kim goes to confront Myung-sook, who is banging away tonelessly on the house piano. It's funny and scary at the same time, and the whole film walks that line.

The repeated shots of the household's staircase---and the arrangement of who is at the top and who is at the bottom--made me think of Parasite, and this film similarly has some observations about the intersection between power and class. While this film isn't necessarily as interested in the upper-class/lower-class dynamics, it makes some very pointed observations about the relationship between those who are able to hire others to do domestic labor and those who are hired for that work. A frequent refrain from people who hire help, and especially those who hire live-in help, is "Oh, [employee] is just like family!". This film takes that statement and extends it to terrifying extremes.

I suppose the only issue I had with the film is the way that Myung-sook's actions stand so much at the forefront. It's an amazing performance from Lee as she transforms into a lusty, feral creature prowling around the house, alternating between haughty demands and simpering at the feet of her employers. But her behavior--and specifically what feels like mental illness--means that the actions of the Kims seem to pale by comparison. But some of the actions from the Kims, especially what they do when they learn that Myung-sook is pregnant by Mr. Kim, are horrific. It's just that their cruelties are more mannered. But this contrast means that the film can lean into feeling like a "crazy woman" narrative instead of what it seems to be aiming for, which is a story that places blame on both sides of the events.

I was also really torn on the film's epilogue, as in I can't decide if it's perfect or if I hate it.

This one is on the Criterion Channel and I'd highly recommend it.

4.5

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/The_Suicide_Squad_%28film%29_poster.jpg

3.5

SF = 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

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthefilmstage.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F06%2FInfluenza_bong_joon_ho.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Influenza, 2004

In this short film from Bong Joon-ho, an unemployed man embarks on an increasingly brutal series of crimes, with all of the footage of his actions taken from CCTV footage.

There's something really fun about watching a short film that just undoubtedly comes from a certain creator. This film is covered head-to-toe with Bong's signature observations about class, greed, irony, dark humor, startling violence, and clever staging.

The film begins with the man in front of a mirror in a public bathroom, practicing a sales pitch for a miracle glue. He glues two objects together as a demonstration . . . .only to have the objects fall apart. The other men in the bathroom remain disdainfully uninterested in him.

And from there, it's a spiral. At one point the man picks up a woman who acts as his accomplice. As the film continues, their acts of theft becomes more and more brutal. In one of the film's funniest sequences, they rob an elderly woman after she takes money from an ATM. With painstaking delicacy, the man performs a slow-motion leg sweep on the woman, lowering her gently to the ground after he takes her cash. When the accomplice enters, the elderly woman begs for help . . . only for the accomplice to perform the same slow-motion leg sweep and this time steal her ATM card.

But the next time we see the couple, they've upped their game to include weapons, and their attack on a man in a parking garage is brutal.

This was a great little short film and the conceit of the security footage as the "camera" is incredibly well-done. Even after the most savage acts of violence, the camera zooms in and out or pans automatically, indifferent to what it has just witnessed. Highly recommended.

4.5

[Fabulous]

I See You (2019)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/2PUJynpwKguRP4u394L2Vn57Jjo.jpg

[chawhee]

Invisible Man (2020)
https://www.hollywoodsoapbox.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Screen-Shot-2020-07-12-at-4.51.33-PM-e1594587133347.png
4
A rewatch of one of the pleasant surprises of 2020. Great psychological horror that Elisabeth Moss excels in.

[Marco]

Argo (2012)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Argo2012Poster.jpg
This was not bad but a bit stodgy. The historical aspects are good as is the acting but the script is a bit "TV movie".

That said, 3

[matt72582]

The River Of Hope - 8/10
Another excellent Egyptian movie, starring Faten Hamama and Omar Sharif. It's on YouTube with subtitles, and I'll paste it below.



https://youtu.be/aeobF02KPeI (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqkf4DybfLN428Y8SOB7SMw)

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F66.media.tumblr.com%2F623987e8d2947f1424bc29f1a2b9b4d4%2Ftumblr_pk3q1juKmC1stszgqo3 _500.png&f=1&nofb=1

Mirage, 1990

A group of young people meet in the desert for a weekend of hanging out, sex, and stupidity. But unfortunately for them, a mysterious figure in a menacing black truck has his eye on them, and things get very bloody very fast.

I'm not going to give this film a rating of 5. I'm not. But if you could give a rating based on how well a movie fits your needs at a certain time, this one would be near perfect.

This week, as I've alluded to in other posts, has been very challenging, and I often turn to TV or movies to help me feel better. Nothing, however, has really been hitting the spot. I've watched plenty of good, or even great (The Housemaid) films, but none that made me feel better afterward.

Enter Mirage.

This movie is so perfectly stupid, I felt my heart lift as frequently of the shirt of the actress who was clearly hired mainly to do just that.

The pitch-perfect dumb starts right off the bat, as two of the main characters have sex in the bed of a pickup truck that is hurtling through the desert, a toolbox weighing down the accelerator. The seemingly endless desert landscape is beautiful and otherworldly. These main characters are clearly dumb as a bag of rocks.

From there, the good times continue to roll. The characters, and especially one of the guys who kills a rabbit for fun, are just the correct level of unlikable so that their deaths will not move your emotional needle one centimeter. There is a very, very long montage of the characters playing football very poorly.

The gore is surprisingly decent, defying the low-budget feel of most of the rest of the film. The figure in the black pickup is appropriately menacing, at least until he steps out of his vehicle and is just kind of a goober. But maybe an immortal one? One character has cutouts in her pants just below her buttcheeks. For reasons that are not clear, a bow and arrow feature more prominently than you'd think.

Anyway, the way that the villain says "Nice bow" may have cured about 30% of my depression.

https://youtu.be/BudWtpR95t0?t=4002

3.5

[edarsenal]

https://www.k-magazinemx.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-king-and-the-clown-5.jpg
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2006/03/31/world/31korea650.1.jpg

The King and the Clown aka Wang-ui namja (2005) 4.5
While the characters themselves were based on historical figures, this triangular love story between two bawdy clowns and a tyrannical, mentally scarred King during the Chosun Dynasty in Korea was exquisite and hauntingly captivating film experience. It was filled with sensual conflicts and incorporated various story-based skits with two-fold meanings that delved deeper into the characters' psyche than any dialogue could.

When I first sat down to watch this, I wasn't entirely sure what or where this would lead and did not expect the depth of emotion and elaborate spectacle that awaited me, and even after a week since watching this, it still lingers, which says a lot for this exceptional film.

What I find extraordinary is that while I can hint at what this film is about, it can never truly explore and define it appropriately. It still falls short of the subtle layers that draw so profoundly upon us, the viewers, even describing the main story.
Jang-sang and Gong-il are two tightrope acrobatic clowns that perform dirty stories to the delight of their crowds. Upon reaching Seoul, they take a precarious theatrical move by satirizing the King and his Mistress and are quickly sentenced to death.
Taken before the King, they petition to perform the damning piece in an attempt to stay their execution. If the King laughs, they live; if not, they die, on the spot.
But, the King laughs, and they are given, to the chagrin of the Council Members, not only a stay of execution but now must continue to entertain this volatile King that forever dances on the needle's head of his mental scars beyond his infatuation with the androgynous Gong-il.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espaciofilmico.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F05%2FBJH-Incoherence_short.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Incoherence, 1994

In the space of a day, three stories unfold. First, a university professor must scramble to keep a female colleague (student?) from discovering his porn stash. In the second story, a man creates problems for a newspaper delivery man when he frames the man for stealing. Finally, a local district attorney, needing a bathroom, gets into conflicts when he tries to use the bathroom in different public spaces.

This is an early film from Bong Joon-ho, and, like Influenza, the style and structure of the film is very familiar. The stories on their own are interesting, each with their own nice little touches. The film is about hypocrisy and power, and in different ways the segments speak to this.

I appreciated some of the smaller pieces of each segment. For example, while the main action of the first segment is centered on the professor hiding his porn, a much more damning moment for me was when he comes up behind a young woman and pulls down the shoulder of her sweater by way of greeting.

The final act of the short is very predictable, but it still makes its point about the kind of people who claim to be moral authorities, and how they actually behave in their personal lives.

4

[edarsenal]

https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/AOT_20201109_Unit_09062_R-e1632595786405.jpg?crop=0px%2C8px%2C8256px%2C4628px&resize=681%2C383


Army of Thieves (2021) 4 Set as a prequel to the current Army of the Dead on Netflix, delving into an almost Origin storyline of one of them (I think) lesser characters who indeed commands this prequel. Matthias Schweighöfer is a geeky megafan of safecracking. Specifically, three individual safes inspired the mythos of the Germanic legend, Seigried. And surprise, surprise, he gets pulled into a mega-heist of the first two of them.
Full of flash and style and over-the-top premises, Matthias's character, done splendidly by Ludwig Dieter, keeps a grounded, endearing center to this caper film with the usual checked-off list of its genre.

Funny, fast-paced with Dieter supplying a naive wonder that got me fully engaged from the get-go.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia2.fdncms.com%2Fstranger%2Fimager%2Fu%2Flarge%2F44155229%2F1595622969-screen_shot_2020-07-19_at_9.17.48_pm.png&f=1&nofb=1

Beyond All Barriers, 1989

This documentary shows footage from the 1988 Seoul Olympics, with particularly heavy emphasis on the opening ceremonies.

I really enjoy Olympic documentaries, especially ones like White Rock that lend you a sense of the immediacy and experience of the events.

This documentary, for me, was so-so. The opening ceremony was undeniably beautiful and well-choreographed and colorful. The gestures at addressing the historical tragedies and conflicts were done tastefully and with a spirit of reconciliation.

But 50 minutes is a long time for me to watch this type of footage. It mostly exists in long shots--which highlight the scale and symmetry and coordination of the performances--but there is a degree of detachment that was never quite bridged for me.

Then the film transitions into footage of the games themselves. And while many of the shots were beautiful, there was again a lack of intimacy. Aside from one or two faces, I did not recognize most of the athletes. We are shown snippets of different events, often in slow motion, but not given a lot of context.

I'm on track to watch two more Olympic documentaries about the Seoul Olympics this week, and it will be interesting to see how they approach the topic. I'm particularly excited about one called Hand in Hand.

3.5

[matt72582]

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass


This just came out. Available via Prime (free trial) or directly through Showtime.



I would watch "The Jim Garrison Tapes" first, which is available thanks to the producer John Barbour (linked below)



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/61/JFK_Revisited_Through_the_Looking_Glass.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ocfr2VdcpU

[Mr Minio]

I was also really torn on the film's epilogue, as in I can't decide if it's perfect or if I hate it.
It's perfect and you love it, and you love the whole movie, too, as everybody should. Thank you.

[Takoma11]

It's perfect and you love it, and you love the whole movie, too, as everybody should. Thank you.

Since I've come around on the comedy aspect of the film since watching it, I will agree with and endorse this statement.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.movieassets.com%2Fstatic%2Fimages%2Fitems%2Fmovies%2Fbackdrops%2F1080%2F85%2F prisoners-of-the-ghostland-67b906bd485eb023ab8022f90a4debf4.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Prisoners of the Ghostland, 2021

Hero (Nicholas Cage) is a notorious criminal who is captured by Governor (Bill Moseley), strapped into an explosives-filled jumpsuit, and sent off to rescue Governor's adopted granddaughter, Bernice (Sofia Boutella) who, along with two other women, has made a run for it from Governor's harem. But when he arrives in the Ghostland--a wasteland outside of the city--he discovers two strange communities living there, including an old friend-turned-enemy.

What even was this movie? I don't know.

This is the fourth collaboration between Nicholas Cage and the production company that made Mom and Dad, Mandy, and Color Out of Space, and it is easily the weakest out of the three. There are frustrating flashes of a deeply weird, engaging film, but they get lost under a whole lot of "weird for weird's sake" stuff.

Boutella is good in her starring role, but her performance isn't a good fit for Cage, who is in "not taking this seriously" mode. That's not to say he doesn't deliver a few of his lines really well and with the kind of comic timing and intonation that makes him an iconic figure in so many films. The problem is that there's a serious disconnect between the world of the film, the performances within the film, and the general vibe of the whole thing.

The movie also does this waffling thing where it can't commit to Hero being good or evil. We're given a lot of references to a robbery in which Hero and his partner were responsible for the deaths of multiple innocents, including a child. And yet as the film goes on, flashbacks increasingly lessen Hero's role in the killings. This is all a strange contrast to a very "bad guy" moment in which Hero is turned on while looking at the sick and disoriented Bernice. Is he a redeemed bad guy? A bad guy who was never really a bad guy?

I did enjoy a lot of the visual aspects of the film. The makeup used on the women in the Governor's harem is just . . . off in a really smart way. There's also a scene where Hero discovers a field of people who have been sculpted into scraps from mannequins, and the visual is both delightful and disturbing.

This is the kind of film you almost want to recommend, because it's such a strange little beast. I will at least say that for the most part I was not bored.

3.5

[mark f]

Caveat (Damian Mc Carthy, 2020) 2.5 5.5/10
All Too Well: The Short Film (Taylor Swift, 2021) 3 6.5/10
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (Henry Levin, 1962) 2.5+ 6/10
tick, tick...Boom! (Lin-Manuel Miranda, 2021) 3.5 7/10
https://media.flickeringmyth.com/q:intelligent/retina:true/webp:true/w:362/url:https://cdn.flickeringmyth.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Tick-Tick-Boom-3-600x400.jpg
Approaching his 30th birthday, waiter Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) has spent eight years wotking on a musical play but worries that he won't succeed or accomplish anything with his life.
Night Raiders (Danis Goulet, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Tom Thumb (George Pal, 1958) 2.5+ 6/10
Gulliver's Travels (Dave Fleischer, 1939) 3- 6.5/10
King Richard (Reinaldo Marcus Green, 2021) 3.5 7/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/da840c2a0c8d39be2c50c16dd78ed524/0bb2c9d313af836c-24/s540x810/2a31416403fb0946caea2e0dc11fd04428eec75f.gifv
Richard Williams (Will Smith) and his wife Oracene (Aunjanue Ellis) train their daughters Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena (Demi Singleton)at tennis long, hard hours and it pays off.
Hard Luck Love Song (Justin Corsbie, 2020) 2.5 5.5/10
I Declare War (Jason Lapeyre & Robert Wilson, 2012) 2.5 6/10
Silent Hours (Mark Greenstreet, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10 156 m
King of Cool (Tom Donahue, 2021) 3.5 7/10
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/aa/e8/79/aae8799f73a9958fc12c37a541a7d126.jpg
Doc about Dean Martin, his beloved family, his days with Jerry Lewis, the Rat Pack, his records, his popular TV show, his innate coolness, etc. shows in reality a loner of a man.
Berlin Alexanderplatz (Burhan Qurbani, 2020) 2.5 6/10
Mirage (Bill Crain, 1990) 2 5/10
Thy Kingdom Come (Eugene Richards, 2018) 2.5 6/10
The Phantom Tollbooth (Chuck Jones & Abe Levitow), 1970) 3.5- 7/10
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T8tuyrVsqKA/VNC3eiMtbKI/AAAAAAAANvo/bisbrvSlqoY/s1600/toll3.gif
Milo (Butch Patrick) comes home from another boring day at school and he finds a tollbooth in his room which leads him to travel to the enchanted Kingdom of Wisdom in the Lands Beyond and the states of Dictionopolis (Kingdom of Words) and Digitopolis (Kingdom of Mathematics) where he encounters some wise and far-out characters.
Warning Sign (Hal Barwood, 1985) 2.5 6/10
The Amy Fisher Story (Andy Tennant, 1993) 2.5 6/10
Johnny O'Clock (Robert Rossen, 1947) 2.5 6/10
The Professionals (Richard Brooks, 1966) 3.5+ 7.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/e48f980a798b46f0b487e346e209ecba/tumblr_pyvt91cvdJ1u4mt3bo1_500.gifv
Mercenaries (Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan & Woody Strode) are hired to go to Mexico to return Claudia Cardinale to her rich husband, but things aren't what they appear to be in this action-packed homage to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Big Country.

[Takoma11]

Mirage (Bill Crain, 1990) 2 5/10

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2F120jXUxrHF5QJ2%2Fgiphy.gif&f=1&nofb=1

[GulfportDoc]

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass

This just came out. Available via Prime (free trial) or directly through Showtime.

I would watch "The Jim Garrison Tapes" first, which is available thanks to the producer John Barbour (linked below)
...
Wow, I haven't heard of this one. It could be good, based upon the quality of Stone's JFK. Although I must say that narration by Whoopi Goldberg and Donald Sutherland gives me pause...;)

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fm.media-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FM%2FMV5BYTI0ZmU5MTYtMzEwMC00MzNjLThiNWMtMTg4ODQ5NWVhYjRkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUyND k2ODc%40._V1_SX888_CR0%2C0%2C888%2C499_AL_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Axe, 1974

Lisa (Leslie Lee) is a young woman who is a little bit . . . .different. She lives with her blind grandfather (Douglas Powers) on a small farm. Unfortunately for Lisa and her grandfather, three criminals on the run (Jack Canon, Ray Green, and Frederick Friedel who also wrote and directed the film) are looking for a place to hide. Unfortunately for the criminals, Lisa more than knows her way around objects with sharp edges.

This one was a recommendation from Rock (a Rockommendation if you will, thank you, I'll be here all week!). Generally speaking, I enjoyed it. While it is on the list of "video nasties," I thought that for the most part it was not overly violent or upsetting. The most upsetting sequence is probably one toward the beginning of the film where two of the criminals assault and humiliate a random young woman working in a grocery store. But from there forward, you're just waiting for Lisa to get to choppin'.

One really common--and tiresome--dynamic in films like this is that you're just waiting for an attack on the young woman surrounded by amoral creeps. But Lisa is so off in her own world that there's not a lot of vicarious fear to experience. It made me think a bit of the first act of Fascination. The "vulnerable" female should be afraid of the big, bad men. But very early on it's clear that our heroine probably has very little to worry about, and I was able to enjoy the film a lot more with the balance of suspense.

A nice little slasher with some nice subversions of the typical formula.

3.5

[Captain Terror]

Gulliver's Travels (Dave Fleischer, 1939) 3- 6.5/10

82918


Gorgeous film

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ft1.daumcdn.net%2Fcfile%2Ftistory%2F9976EF3C5D3EFE6A16&f=1&nofb=1

Hand in Hand, 1989

This documentary covers the events of the 1989 Olympic games, with special emphasis on some of the more hard-fought events.

Now THIS is more like it, for me. Opening with historical footage of the conflicts that have shaped Korea for the last several decades, the film acknowledges the Olympics as a place where the East and the West can meet peacefully in the spirit of sport. From there, the film zooms in to examine the accomplishments of certain athletes or teams.

One thing that I loved about White Rock was the way that it made us feel the sport. This took the form of host James Coburn trying out the luge and other events. While Hand in Hand doesn't quite go to that ground level, it heightens the sensory details of the competition. We hear the loud splash of swimmers entering the water. We hear the grunts and screams of the men and women throwing javelins and shot puts.

The film also doesn't feel the need to go in for propaganda and make everything all "rah rah". The documentary explicitly calls out the doping that took place among certain athletes. If there are unsavory things that were part of the games, it doesn't feel here like they are being swept under the rug.

But really the exceptional part of this documentary is the way that it seems to have been built specifically to withstand the passing of time. There's no assumption that you'll know who the different people are, or even the political context of the time. I really appreciate the explanation that two of the female sprinters were rivals, but that political pressure on South Africa over apartheid meant that one of them was not able to compete at Seoul. We see flashback footage explaining that the two women had an incident in a previous race that meant people were really looking forward to the rematch that just never came to be.

The narration gets you up to speed on what is at steak for different individuals or groups. We learn that before the USA basketball team lost to Russia in an upset, they gave medical assistance to a Russian player. The USA coach made a remark at the time about how helping him was sabotaging themselves, and he was proved right. These little nuggets of background add weight and interest.

This movie really felt like watching a truly expertly crafted highlight reel. We see certain people set records in various sports. Before Greg Louganis dives, we are shown previous footage of a serious head injury he sustained during the preliminary rounds of the competition. As Louganis prepares his competitive dive, the camera lingers on him for a good long while. It's this mix of giving us an overview and then sometimes slowing down to savor a moment--either before or after an event--that makes the film feel dynamic.

4

[Rockatansky]

a Rockommendation if you will
I'll allow it.

While it is on the list of "video nasties," I thought that for the most part it was not overly violent or upsetting.

Yeah, one of the things I learned as I was diving into that list is how wildly the movies differ in explicitness. Moral hysteria drove the selection more than any remotely objective assessment of the movies' content. Maybe the most egregious example is Dead & Buried, which I remember being almost entirely bloodless. I suspect this ended up on the list based on the name alone, because as you point out, it really isn't that graphic.

[Wooley]

Honestly, as far as I'm concerned, City Lights (1931) can be playing in the background everywhere I go for the rest of my life.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/yd9Vq0Pt/rififi2.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17817425

Rififi - (1955)

Dipped into the never-disappointing trove of films in the Foreign Language Countdown and watched Rififi last night - one I've been looking forward to since becoming aware of it's existence. What can I say that wouldn't be regarded as a spoiler? Rififi is a film that builds continually, reaching greater heights as events unfold and starting by carefully introducing it's various nefarious characters. The jewelry heist - what the film is all about, is far from the end of this film as consequence piles on consequence in a gritty dark French underworld which really gives an impression of impropriety and dirtiness that more modern crime capers can't or won't convey. Definitely want to watch this one again - a gritty, sexy heist film that has a real edge to it with a lot of style and realism. And all I can say besides that is what an ending.

8/10

Foreign Language Countdown films seen : 53/100

https://i.postimg.cc/fLZxpLHM/house-of-flying-daggers.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Sony Pictures Classics., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1036023

House of Flying Daggers - (2004) - China

More style here than substance, but if you're looking for something that looks beautiful with first-rate action, sword fights and stabbing then you'll walk away from House of Flying Daggers happy. It's hard to sum up it's plot in a quick and concise way (though not as hard as my next film) - the House of Flying Daggers is a group of rebels fighting a corrupt government, but soldiers capture Xiao Mei (Ziyi Zhang) and fool her into thinking she's rescued so she'll lead her 'rescuer' back to the group's hideout. But wouldn't you know it - the soldier doing this falls in love with her along the way in the midst of brutal fighting and killing. Nominated for an Oscar for it's breathtaking cinematography, this has to be one of the best films of it's kind because I really like it - and I don't usually like these films.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/Once_Upon_a_Time_in_Mexico.jpg
By Unknown - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53913811

Once Upon a Time in Mexico - (2003)

And so ends the El Mariachi trilogy, not with a bang, but with confusing chaos. I used to think it was just my inattention that made me lose track of the plot when I first saw this years ago - but recently I've found that many others criticize this film for having far too many plot strands and characters to keep up with. This time I've got everything down pat. We have El Presidente who is about to be overthrown by a general that our hero, El Mariachi (Antonio Banderas), was meant to have killed. Behind the general is a cartel boss played by Willem Dafoe. Well, a CIA operative played by Johnny Depp recruits El Mariachi to take out the general after finding out about his existence from Cheech (of Cheech and Chong) - and Depp also recruits a retired FBI agent to take out Dafoe (excuse me if I just use the names of the actors here.) The FBI agent gets a man on the inside (Mickey Rourke) and El Mariachi has Danny Trejo to contend with, despite Trejo being a part of Depp's efforts. Then you have a policewoman edging her way into the action for her own reasons - which will be important later. It all comes together after Dafoe has plastic surgery and the coup launches with all of our characters involved in chaotic conflict. It's not so bad as long as you keep track of what is going on at any given moment - but El Mariachi only seems to be involved here 30% of the time - which is a let-down for an El Mariachi movie. Loads of big stars and action but not quite as good as El Mariachi and Desperado. I still kind of like it though, despite my gripes.

6.5/10

[StuSmallz]

A huge fan. I wouldn't mind at all if it tops the 2000s Countdown.Me neither, so I think I'll take this chance to repost my old review of it now:

https://i.ibb.co/Wz6vnv5/1489720882291-therewillbeblood.png (https://ibb.co/09cyqy2)

I have a competition in me... I want no one else to succeed.

Oil; the precious liquid bubbles away omniously, lurking underground as far as the eye can see across the desolate, turn-of-the-century California landscape, as people are quite literally baptized and buried in it, so pervasive its presence is, driving men mad with a lustful greed, and planting fantasies in their heads of becoming impossibly rich from what is essentially a raping of the rich, virgin land. One of the men driven by this madness (and many, many more) is Daniel Plainview, whose outward mask of benevolent capitalism and civility is revealed to mask a soul that's even darker than the black gold he lusts for, and whose greed and utter contempt for the rest of humanity is the central driving force behind Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood, an absolutely epic, monolithic historical drama that towers over cinema as tall as the derricks looming over the very landscape.

Blood tells the story of Plainview, an avaricious, misanthropic prospector looking to exploit the naive locals caught in the middle of the Southern California oil boom of the early 20th century, using any number of deceiftful machinations he can, along with the friendly facade of running a "family business" with his 10 year-old son H.W. as a prop (who is really the orphan of a worker who died a decade ago on one of Plainview's worksites), all in order to ruthlessly screw people out of their own land. A tip on the location of a fertile new oilfield ripe for the drilling brings Plainview to Little Boston, a small, rural community which is held underneath the sway of Eli Sunday, a fanatical (and scrupleless) local "faith healer", who's looking to, whether in a religious manner, or just an old-fashioned financial sense, profit off of Plainview's presence in his community, just the same as Plainview desires to profit off the community itself. And, as the bitter conflict between the two men and the insitutions they represent grows more and more, and the various personal turmoils he faces keep piling up, Plainview's public mask of a polite, genial local businessman begins to gradually slip, as the true nature of his murderous misanthropy is revealed more and more, resulting in one of the compelling inner journeys I've seen in any film character.

Not that Daniel's arc is great because he fundamentally changes as a human being, as it becomes obvious that he started off as a hateful man and just gets worse as the film unfolds, and there's no real moment here where it seems like he could fully redeem, or even just better himself slightly (sorry, this just isn't that kind of movie). Rather, his personal journey is great to witness here because of the striking, undeniably powerful ways in which it's executed, of course, not least of which comes from Daniel Day-Lewis's iconic, Oscar-winning portrayal of him, with an absolutely commanding performance, to the point where it seems less like acting, and more like Paul Thomas Anderson invented a time machine and brought Plainview straight from 1911 to present day, merely for authenticity's sake. It truly is one of film's all-time greatest feats of acting, an overwhelming tour-de-force of oily, slyly manipulative tones, concealed hatred, and cerebral bore stares that could pierce titanium, and, while I have to admit that Lewis does go just a bit too over-the-top with his unhinged histrionics during the film's epilogue, for the most part he's successful in fully, 100% embodying the role here, and it should come as no surprise that, even as one of most legendary, venerated actors of his generation (if not the most), with so many great, iconic roles to his name, his Plainview has still become one of the most beloved performances of his entire career, if not the most beloved, period.

Of course, the other aspects of Blood are equally important in making it such a good film, especially the overall style of PTA's direction, which fascinates with its emphasis on wide, expansive vistas of the alien California landscapes, which sharply contrast with facial close-ups so intense, you can practically smell the sweat coming off of the performers, along with the subtle, slowly developing tracking shots that manage to impress, while still restraining themselves from being overly showy, with the longer takes allowing Anderson's compelling, richly-written dialogue and the actors sparring with it ample room to breathe. And all of that isn't even mentioning the disconcerting hum of Johnny Greenwood's borderline avant-garde, dissonance-heavy score, which often creates an overall effect here that can only be described as downright hypnotic, and, to this day, it's still one of the great injustices in cinema history that, not only did this score not win the Oscar for Best Score the following year, it wasn't even nominated, which just goes to demonstrate the sort of dull, conservative attitude toward cinema that dominated The Academy at the time (and still does, to a certain extent).

And finally, There Will Be Blood excels through the strong, constant conflict between its central personalities, the clash between the figureheads of Daniel and Eli and the various American institutions they represent, though Anderson often shows the two mortal enemies (and the forces driving them, respectively) to be barely distinguishable, if at all. Plainview is the consumerate American capitalist and then some, increasingly erratic as his personal fortune grows, unabashedly greedy to the point of murder, and only concerned with his own financial success even when his own workers, friends, and even family suffer as a result, while Sunday, instead of spreading the love of the God that he claims to believe in, is only really concerned with personal glory, whether it be using the presence of oil in Little Boston to wring extra money out of Daniel to supposedly use on his church (where he practices his frenzied, hysterical faith healing on the gullible local populace), trying to exploit the opening of the local oil well in order to promote himself first and only, and very readily abandoning his faith and claiming that he is "a false prophet and God is a superstition" when forced to beg for help by Daniel. The entire affair is an epic, sprawling commentary on two iconic institutions of American life, wrapped inside of a ceaselessly fascinating dual-character study that spans decades, and one of the better films of the 2000's at least, if not one of the best, and, since I feel I've written more than enough about this movie by now, I suppose you could say that I'm finished? Yes, I believe I am, so... I'm finished!!!

And go watch TWBB, by the way.

Final Score: 9.25

[Torgo]

Mad God - 5

I hate hype and hyperbole as much as the next guy, but this is the first movie of this young decade that I would call a work of art. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Eraserhead, Tree of Life, etc., it's one of those movies that plant a monolith-like marker in your mind for how it's not like anything you've ever seen before. A 30-year in the making labor of love by Phil Tippett, who designed the visual effects of movies like Return of the Jedi, Willow and Jurassic Park, it's a stop-motion animated tale that has a post-apocalyptic look and feel reminiscent of Tool's videos from the early '90s. So, what's it about? Well, I'd rather not say. I went in cold, only knowing a little about it from seeing it on Kickstarter a few years ago, and I would hate to deprive you of having a similar experience. Besides, I'm not sure I 100% understood it, but I have no shame about considering it excellent. If I had to describe it with one word it would be, well..."everything." Watch a trailer if you must, but like I said, it's one of those movies where it's best to not know much about it first. As such, I'll stop now...but I'll end with mentioning it might gross you out a little.

As far as I know, it's only available to rent via the Hawaii International Film Festival website (https://hiff.org/films/mad-god/) through the end of this month.

[Captain Terror]

Rockommendation

stealing this

[Stirchley]

82930

Re-watch. Successful plays don’t always translate to the screen, but this one pulls it off.

Needless to say, a great cast.

[matt72582]

Wow, I haven't heard of this one. It could be good, based upon the quality of Stone's JFK. Although I must say that narration by Whoopi Goldberg and Donald Sutherland gives me pause...;)


You don't ever see their face, and a few others narrate, such as Oliver Stone. I was real tired when I saw it. I'll have to see it again in the future.

[matt72582]

Where To? - 7/10

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251742/reference


A mix of neo-realism and melodrama. It's on Prime (via Mubi)

[matt72582]

The Professionals (Richard Brooks, 1966) rating_3_5+ 7.5/10

Mercenaries (Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan & Woody Strode) are hired to go to Mexico to return Claudia Cardinale to her rich husband, but things aren't what they appear to be in this action-packed homage to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The Big Country.




A great, underrated movie by an underrated director. A philosophical Western with a simple story and a good line about the self-made bastard. Great writing as always. Fine cast.

[Wooley]

82909
No Time to Die (2021)

This is an unfortunate semi-sluggish whale of a film, with periods of finger-drumming indifference from the viewer, separated by some impressive chase and special effects scenes. The overall tone of the story felt like an inept requiem for Daniel Craig’s Bond. The picture was overly long, with 30 minutes that could have easily been cut out without any loss to the story.

It can be said that most of the production elements were first rate, with excellent cinematography by Linus Sandgren, keen editing by Tom Cross and Elliot Graham, and a competent music score by Hans Zimmer. As usual, most of the settings were exotic and appealing.

The acting was also good, but for the glaring miscasting of Lashana Lynch as 007’s temporary replacement. Rami Malek added star power to the film, yet his Mr. Robot ogling and cheesy vitiligo face make-up were not enough to exude wanton depravity. Previous Bond villains were far more threatening. Lea Seydoux was workmanlike in her performance, but did not show the allure she exhibited in Spectre. In fact the chemistry between she and Craig was semi superficial and inferior to their attraction in the earlier film.

It was the writing that was shockingly mediocre. It’s a toss up whether it was the story or the melodramatic dialogue which was worse. The story itself wasn’t too far off in style from some of the earlier Bond films, and might have been palatable were it not for the hammy dialogue, especially in the love scenes, which bordered on camp. Some reviewers have rhapsodized about Bond’s scenes of tenderness and introspection, but in my view his occasional histrionics --although well acted-- felt phony, artificial, and self-serving to a script that was designed to build emotion for the inevitable ending.

Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Director Cary Fukunaga were credited as story writers, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge added to the screenplay, writing along with the others. Purvis and Wade have been the writers on the past six Bond films, so they ought to be a reliable team. Whether it was the input from the other two that weakened the writing, or whether it was the case of too many opinions and re-writes involved remains to be seen. Reportedly Danny Boyle was originally hired to direct and co-write but left due to creative differences. One wonders if the script and filming would have been tighter with Boyle at the helm. Evidently Fukunaga was hired quickly in order to meet contractual arrangements. He became the first American director in an Eon Productions Bond film. Sam Mendes did not want to direct a third Bond film.

Since shifting the nature of the 007 films to the more serious and determined Bond of Daniel Craig, most of the high jinx, humor and campiness of the earlier pictures were cast aside to favor more dramatic stories rising above all the razzmatazz, chases, and shoot outs. But once the stories enter the realm of drama, there is a much higher bar in terms of acceptance and believability. In the case of the Bond franchise they’re treading perilously close to being pulled away from their decades highly popular stylish format toward overly wrought boy/girl entanglements, political correctness, and melodramatic sensitivity.

Daniel Craig has been a dynamic force as 007. Yet despite his excellent physical conditioning he has gotten a little long in the tooth, so he was smart to bow out on top. There will certainly be more Bond films. We hope that they’ll right the ship and add more classic quality 007 spy action yarns to the series.

Doc’s rating: 5/10

Yeah, I guess I could also go to 5 just because the production elements are all there at the highest level but man, that script. What a dog.

[Wooley]

https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/greeting-card/images/artworkimages/medium/2/josette-day-and-jean-marais-in-beauty-and-the-beast-1946-original-title-la-belle-et-la-beite--album.jpg?&targetx=-3&targety=0&imagewidth=500&imageheight=700&modelwidth=500&modelheight=700&backgroundcolor=D1D1D0&orientation=1

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Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) - Second Jean Cocteau film I've watched after Orpheus. He does a surprisingly effective job of interpreting the fantastical aspects of the 1757 fairy tale. Surprising because this was shortly after WWII ended (1946) and there were myriad obstacles to overcome including a scarcity of film stock and frequent power outages. Fabric was in such short supply that when the film crew arrived at the film set each morning they'd often find out that someone had stolen the set's sheets and curtains. But Cocteau not only persevered he also improvised to great effect the Beast's enchanted castle with it's disembodied candelabra and living statuary and carvings.

Belle (Josette Day) lives with her father (Marcel André), her two avaricious sisters, Félicie (Mila Parély) and Adélaïde (Nane Germon) and her well meaning but still-a-lunkhead brother Ludovic (Michel Auclair). Ludovic's wastrel friend Avenant (Jean Marais) hangs around and tries to woo Belle to no great effect. The family fortune has disappeared along with her father's ships, which were lost at sea. One day he receives news that one of his ships has been found and has arrived at the port but unbeknowst to him his son Ludovic has signed a contract with a usurer that allows the moneylender to sue his father for damages if he cannot repay the loan. His father travels to the port but additional creditors have already seized his goods. Before he left he had asked his daughters what he could bring them when he returned and Belle had asked for a single rose.

On the way home the father gets lost in the dark woods but stumbles on the Beast's enchanted castle. The gates and doors open of their own accord and the floating candelabras and fully laden dining table welcome the tired man but the host is nowhere to be found. Upon waking in the morning he flees the castle but, remembering his promise to Belle, he stops to pluck a single rose. The Beast (also played by Jean Marais) appears out of nowhere and informs him that, even though he was welcome to anything in his home, the only things he was forbidden to touch were his roses. And that the penalty for this transgression was death. He tells the man he can go if one of his daughters takes his place, then offers him his white horse Magnificent, telling him to use a special phrase and the horse will take him wherever he wants to go.

After arriving home and relating the fantastical tale Rose blames herself and volunteers to take his place. He won't hear of it so she sneaks away in the middle of the night on Magnificent. Thus begins the the peculiar but effective courtship between the hirsute suitor (hirsuitor?) and the unassuming young woman. And that's how hundreds (if not thousands) of erotic fan fictions came to be. But with two greedy and conniving sisters, a dimbulb brother and a jilted suitor still at home there is of course remaining treachery afoot and it's handled with aplomb by Cocteau and cast. I did however find the recognizable ending strangely unsatisfying and borderline farcical which, as it turns out, was part of Cocteau's plan all along. So for once my intrinsic cynicism was in line with a directors intent.

90/100

Pretty good one. I got to see this when I was in middle-school back in the mid-80s and even then I understood how a black and white foreign language film could fairly amaze.

[Thief]

11:14
(2003, Marcks)
A film with the number 11 (Eleven, Eleventh, etc.) in its title

https://i.imgur.com/w9gQTOb.png


"I can't f*cking do it! It's the worst idea you ever had!"



Like many so-called Pulp Fiction rip-offs and copycats of the late 90s and early-00s, 11:14 follows a wide array of characters through multiple, separate storylines as they all crash and converge in weird, funny, and unexpected ways at the titular time.

Aside from the convenience store employees, the characters include a slightly drunk driver that crashes onto something and the cop that stops him (Henry Thomas and Clark Gregg), a trio of teenage pranksters (Colin Hanks, Ben Foster, and Stark Sands), and a couple worried about their teenage daughter (Patrick Swayze, Barbara Hershey, Rachael Leigh Cook). The common denominator between them all, aside from the time, is that all of them have the worst ideas in mind about how to get around their night.

I rented this film shortly after its release. Like I said above, it has that same vibe of Pulp Fiction, with a big ensemble cast, a broken narrative, and multiple storylines intersecting at one point. At that time, I had such a blast with it, that I bought it as soon as I could. I've been watching it often since and recommend it often as well. However, I hadn't seen it since 2007, so I was afraid of how it would fare now. But alas, I had as much of a blast as I remember having before.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2255366#post2255366)

[Gideon58]

https://media.senscritique.com/media/000019672789/source_big/Friendsgiving.jpg




2

[Takoma11]

I suspect this ended up on the list based on the name alone, because as you point out, it really isn't that graphic.

It's only not that graphic, it also doesn't contain that much sadistic or upsetting stuff. I was worried after the sequence in the grocery store, but that ended up being the most uncomfortable thing in the film.

[edarsenal]

http://pre-code.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ProfessionalSweetheartGif6.gif
http://pre-code.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/ProfessionalSweetheart25.png


Professional Sweetheart (1933) 4 Pre-Hayes Code Ginger Rogers exposes humor and a zest for life.

Satirizing the living hell out of the marketing game of Hollywood, Ginger Rogers plays the "pure" spokesperson for a washcloth company. Per her contract, she can't smoke, drink, carouse, in short, have ANY kind of naughty fun - period. And she is sick of it. She wants to live, dance, wear sexy underwear, go to jazz clubs in Harlem, and the team of men who use her for advertising are beside themselves on what to do.
So, they compromise. The setup a marketing ploy to find a wholesome boyfriend/impending husband from one of her fans and bring him to New York.

I will not say I was burst out laughing, but I was very amused and continually smiled and chuckled throughout this film. Rogers' comedic timing equals her far more known dancing ability, and she is accompanied by several talents of the time. Including Allen Jenkins, Edgar Kennedy, Gregory Ratoff, Sterling Holloway (THE voice for Winnie the Pooh), Franklin Pangborn, and Theresa Harris (whom I feel never got the recognization she truly deserved from Hollywood) and as her professional sweetheart, Norman Foster.

While it does run the primary gambit of marketing savvy maneuvers and the discovery of love and the simple life outweighing the desire for the spoils of fame, it is still an entertaining, delightfully naughty satire that I had the pleasure of stumbling across.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://i1.wp.com/brightestyoungthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/wild-at-heart.gif?fit=500%2C282&quality=100&ssl=1

https://y.yarn.co/525d3ec9-e30d-4271-8231-9040f0b52d9b_text.gif


Wild at Heart - I don't know if this David Lynch's most problematic creation because I haven't seen either Inland Empire or Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me. But I was surprised to find out that I've watched eight of his films since I don't really consider myself a dyed in the wool fan. He's not what you would call a prolific director since he's only made five films since this came out 31 years ago and only (what I consider his big) four preceded WaH starting with Eraserhead then The Elephant Man, Dune and Blue Velvet. But then I suppose auteur and prolific are mutually exclusive terms.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to like here including the usual patented Lynchian weirdness for weirdness' sake. But you have to sift through some questionable acting choices from Diane Ladd, Laura Dern and Nicolas Cage. Dern and Cage play star crossed lovers Lula Fortune and Sailor Ripley and Dern's real life mother Ladd plays Lula's sociopathic mother Marietta. There's a lot to unpack so I won't attempt a deep dive but suffice it to say that the three take turns chewing the scenery. And I suppose that can be laid directly at Lynch's doorstep until Willem Dafoe puts in an appearance as Bobby Peru and you can sort of recognize the difference between actors overacting and whatever the hell it was Dafoe was doing. Maybe a whole two hours worth of Peru would have been too much and he instead had the luxury of swooping in and stealing the picture. Either way he comes in big and goes out even bigger. Did Lynch mean for this to be so absurd as to be risible? If he did then ... kudos. But if he didn't then ... I don't know what the hell to think.

My fuddy-duddy rating (with an additional 10 Bobby Peru points awarded) : 75/100

[Captain Terror]

Mad God - 5

I hate hype and hyperbole as much as the next guy, but this is the first movie of this young decade that I would call a work of art. Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Eraserhead, Tree of Life, etc., it's one of those movies that plant a monolith-like marker in your mind for how it's not like anything you've ever seen before. A 30-year in the making labor of love by Phil Tippett, who designed the visual effects of movies like Return of the Jedi, Willow and Jurassic Park, it's a stop-motion animated tale that has a post-apocalyptic look and feel reminiscent of Tool's videos from the early '90s. So, what's it about? Well, I'd rather not say. I went in cold, only knowing a little about it from seeing it on Kickstarter a few years ago, and I would hate to deprive you of having a similar experience. Besides, I'm not sure I 100% understood it, but I have no shame about considering it excellent. If I had to describe it with one word it would be, well..."everything." Watch a trailer if you must, but like I said, it's one of those movies where it's best to not know much about it first. As such, I'll stop now...but I'll end with mentioning it might gross you out a little.

As far as I know, it's only available to rent via the Hawaii International Film Festival website (https://hiff.org/films/mad-god/) through the end of this month.
Did you see this at a theater or on the HIFF site? I've been waiting too long for this to have to watch it on my monitor.

[Torgo]

Did you see this at a theater or on the HIFF site? I've been waiting too long for this to have to watch it on my monitor.I watched it at home. There are HIFF apps for Apple, Amazon and Roku TV so you don't have to watch it on a monitor.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fhbomax-images.warnermediacdn.com%2Fimages%2FGXmlSfwgvLSLCHAEAAB9-%2Ftileburnedin%3Fsize%3D1280x720%26format%3Djpeg%26partner%3Dhbomaxcom%26productCode%3Dhbomax%26hos t%3Dartist.api.cdn.hbo.com%26w%3D480&f=1&nofb=1

Seoul 1988, 1989

This documentary traces the action of the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul.

No, you aren't imagining things. This is the third feature-length documentary I've watched on the Seoul 1988 Olympic games in as many days.

Interestingly, this one landed somewhere between Beyond All Barriers and Hand in Hand for me.

On one hand, the film gives a more even-handed account of the games than the more positively spun Beyond All Barriers. It's a longer film, and it has more time to show events, past just a handful of highlights. It's also a bit more thorough in this respect than Hand in Hand.

On the downside, however, much of the intimacy and immediacy of Hand in Hand is missing here. The film traces the emotional ups and downs of the athletes but from a more removed point of view. The narrator expresses almost no emotion, and she announces an athlete's world-record setting run in the same tone that she uses to talk about athletes being disqualified for doping.

On the whole, this is a good overview of the games. It's reserve is not surprising considering its status as the "official" documentary of the games.

3.5

[Captain Terror]

I watched it at home. There are HIFF apps for Apple, Amazon and Roku TV so you don't have to watch it on a monitor.
Found and downloaded! Thank you sir!

[edarsenal]

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https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/the-beat-that-my-heart-skipped-2005/EB20050714REVIEWS50708003AR.jpg


The Beat That My Heart Skipped aka De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (2005) 4++ A remake of Harvey Keitel's Fingers (1978) which I have never heard of and a bit curious regarding it having watched this.

Romain Duris plays a furious, emotionally calloused young man who is a bit of a real sh#t real estate man who beats people/squatters out of possible money-making buildings. With a con artist father and a deceased mother who was once a great pianist with severe mental issues. He is caught between the crashing influences of both as a chance meeting inspires him to, once more, take up the piano. He attempts to become a concert pianist like his mother while walking away from the criminal world that is his life.

This is in NO way one of those feel-good, inspirational flicks about following one's dreams, and everything will be lollipops and rainbows. Far from it. Nor is the pursuit of musical achievement a salve for his turbulent nature, as we discover throughout this edgy, uncompromising film of a conflicted man caught in the dangerous influences of both his father and mother.

A winner of some twenty-odd Awards, this is a finely constructed, dark sojourn and worthwhile cinematic experience.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fkinodozhdj.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F03%2F136.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Call, 2020

Seo-yeon (Park Shin-hye) is visiting her hometown when she ends up finding and answering an old cordless phone. On the other end of the phone is Young-sook (Jeon Jong-seo), a young woman who suffers regular abuse at the hands of her adopted mother. Soon, Seo-yeon realizes that Young-sook is calling her from the same house . . . 20 years in the past. At first, the opportunity to prevent Seo-yeon's tragic loss of her father and to end Young-sook's abuse seems like a blessing for both women. But Young-sook is more damaged than Seo-yeon realizes and in Young-sook's hands, the power to change the future is very, very dangerous.

This film is definitely one that I would recommend to anyone who likes films like Timecrimes or Triangle. It's a time-travel thriller done incredibly well by creating a dynamic of cat-and-mouse across time. Usually in films like this, there's a lot of choreography to keep the identity of certain parties secret. Here, though, we know who everyone is, and we watch as the relationship between Seo-yeon and Young-sook devolves, each woman trying to wield her leverage over the other and the consequences growing ever more serious.

The performances are very solid across the board, but Jeon Jong-seo really stands out as the increasingly unhinged Young-sook. Park Shin-hye's relatively naive Seo-yeon is really no match for the intensity of the disturbed Young-sook, and a lot of tension arises from waiting to see just how far Young-sook will go to assert her dominance over the other woman.

When it comes to horror/thriller tropes, this film is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, the main characters do often act more cleverly than is typical. On the other hand, a lot of secondary characters do a lot of "Huh? What?" when they are in danger, and it was really frustrating at times.

I will also admit that I am docking this film a full half star for not being able to resist one last twist, literally in the closing credits. Not only is it a real downer, it also doesn't make mechanical sense with the rules established in the film. It's the worst kind of indulgence--literally one last twist of the knife--and it soured me on the film in literally the last two minutes. Up to that point, this would have been a film I'd be talking up. As is, I'm now giving that recommendation with a grain of salt. I felt like the emotional investment I had in the film was somewhat wasted just for a chance for the film to be "edgy" in a completely unnecessary way. (Did I use the word "literally" three times in this paragraph? Yes. Yes I did. That's now annoyed I am with the end of the film, it's literally bringing out the 14 year old valley girl that lives in my soul.)

I think that my dislike of the ending is skewing my ability to analyze it. Up until the last two minutes, I was on the edge of my seat and really enjoying it. Recommended, but that ending is WOOF.

3.5

[Takoma11]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTgwNjcwNzU3MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwOTYzNzM3._V1_.jpg
https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/the-beat-that-my-heart-skipped-2005/EB20050714REVIEWS50708003AR.jpg


The Beat That My Heart Skipped aka De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté (2005) 4++ A remake of Harvey Keitel's Fingers (1978) which I have never heard of and a bit curious regarding it having watched this.

Romain Duris plays a furious, emotionally calloused young man who is a bit of a real sh#t real estate man who beats people/squatters out of possible money-making buildings. With a con artist father and a deceased mother who was once a great pianist with severe mental issues. He is caught between the crashing influences of both as a chance meeting inspires him to, once more, take up the piano. He attempts to become a concert pianist like his mother while walking away from the criminal world that is his life.

This is in NO way one of those feel-good, inspirational flicks about following one's dreams, and everything will be lollipops and rainbows. Far from it. Nor is the pursuit of musical achievement a salve for his turbulent nature, as we discover throughout this edgy, uncompromising film of a conflicted man caught in the dangerous influences of both his father and mother.

A winner of some twenty-odd Awards, this is a finely constructed, dark sojourn and worthwhile cinematic experience.

I quite enjoyed this movie, but it was intense enough that I haven't revisited it.

[CringeFest]

Judge Dredd(1995)


3.5

[Fabulous]

Love, Rosie (2014)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/txDX7lBx8bBhF7dRCEfDYmAmdnk.jpg

[Deschain]

I just watched The Salvation, a western starring Mads Mikkelson, Eva Green and Jeffery Dean Morgan. With people’s affinity for these actors I’m surprised I never heard anyone mention this. Because it is dope af. Brutal and stylish without being gross or obnoxious. And it hits credits at just under 90 minutes. Excellent.

[ScarletLion]

'7 Prisoners' (2021)

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Well made little drama focusing on modern slavery in Brazil. A little disturbing in parts. The dog eat dog world of survival is heavily exposed.

7/10

'The Feast' (2021)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FAQGc3_UcAs5LHX.jpg


A film that I've really wanted to see as it's not only from Wales, but it's in Welsh language too! It's a single location horror centred around the hypocrisy of politics and the modern day controversial issues of land drilling / mining. It has some lovely visuals, especially late on, but there are a few moments of weakness (the plot is largely very predictable) and the special effects were not really 1st rate. A fine effort though and so lovely to see films like this coming from Wales.

6/10

'Barking Dogs Never Bite' (2000)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjViMTMxMjgtZWVkYy00Mjc0LWFjYTUtOTIyYmNkMjI1ZGEwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTc5MDI5NjE@._V1_.jpg

Bong Joon Ho really is just a freakish talent. A Man in an unhappy marriage starts to unravel as he tries to find out which dog is barking and and disturbing his life in a high rise apartment block. Before this debut feature Bong made just 3 shorts. Barking Dogs is a clever, very well directed film that has something to say about life choices, fate and monotony. Some of the little match cuts, editing and writing in this film show how Bong can inject so much charisma into his films with just a couple of neat tricks or a snippet of dialogue. It's also very funny in parts.

8.2/10

[Thief]

'Barking Dogs Never Bite' (2000)

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjViMTMxMjgtZWVkYy00Mjc0LWFjYTUtOTIyYmNkMjI1ZGEwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTc5MDI5NjE@._V1_.jpg

Bong Joon Ho really is just a freakish talent. A Man in an unhappy marriage starts to unravel as he tries to find out which dog is barking and and disturbing his life in a high rise apartment block. Before this debut feature Bong made just 3 shorts. Barking Dogs is a clever, very well directed film that has something to say about life choices, fate and monotony. Some of the little match cuts, editing and writing in this film show how Bong can inject so much charisma into his films with just a couple of neat tricks or a snippet of dialogue. It's also very funny in parts.

8.2/10

I really got a kick out of this film. It might even sneak into my Top 2000s films ballot. Who knows.

[Wooley]

https://i1.wp.com/brightestyoungthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/wild-at-heart.gif?fit=500%2C282&quality=100&ssl=1

https://y.yarn.co/525d3ec9-e30d-4271-8231-9040f0b52d9b_text.gif


Wild at Heart ...Did Lynch mean for this to be so absurd as to be risible? If he did then ... kudos. But if he didn't then ... I don't know what the hell to think.


Pretty much what I came away with.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://c.tenor.com/LluSCBY5AoIAAAAC/shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings-marvel-studios.gif

https://c.tenor.com/qy1-TtXUdtgAAAAd/shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings-marvel.gif

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - There's only so many ways you can trot out an origin story and this must have been different enough to satisfy a need. The surprising success of this and especially Black Panther must indicate that a large chunk of the viewing public are tired of the same old same old, white bread entries in the comic book movie universe. I guess some could retort by saying that a good movie is a good movie and will enjoy success no matter what. But that doesn't explain the new crop of Jurassic Park or two Amazing Spiderman films.

I'm not a Marvel fanboy but I thought this was pretty good. Simon Liu does a really good job in his first lead role and I'm admittedly a fan of Awkwafina so no complaints there. I liked the odd couple pairing and the matter of fact way it ended. No frills, no drama. Just two friends ready for whatever comes next. The requisite early fight scenes didn't involve firearms or otherworldly feats of strength and were nicely choreographed. If there are deficiencies they're in the usual places. The gluttonous amounts of CGI. The drawn out and largely predictable final battle.

It's hard to believe that I used to collect this self same comic book back when I was a kid. But it was called The Hands of Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu and his father was supposed to be Fu Manchu. There's very little left of that but it's still a reasonable adaptation and a respectable addition to the Marvel catalogue.

80/100

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://imgix.bustle.com/inverse/3d/97/b8/d4/2d42/4dbf/8bc2/0adadc6d3780.jpeg?w=710&h=473&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress&q=50&dpr=2
https://66.media.tumblr.com/692750fb336a2d1b0100fa6b3e4a91e5/tumblr_pq69hm5ZNI1upazamo4_500.gif

High Life - When I first caught the trailer for this I thought, "Oh wow, Robert Pattinson and a cute little baby in space. This could be an interesting get." But that's only a small part of this dark deliberation on ... I'm gonna be completely honest here and admit I don't know what the fudgsicles this was attempting to put forward. It somehow (or somewhat) works if the ultimate intent was to serve as a treatise on futility and hope. Or maybe it was just meant to show humanity distilled to it's grubbiest essence. I haven't seen any of director Claire Denis' previous films so I don't have any indication as to motivations or meanings.

An interstellar ship full of convicted criminals and death row inmates is traveling at nearly the speed of light towards what is the nearest black hole in our galaxy. The stated purpose is the exploitation of what is purported to be an inexhaustible energy supply. But it ultimately makes no sense given the years long voyage it takes to get there. However, there is a doctor onboard named Dibs (Juliette Binoche) whose aim is to somehow create and maintain life in the hostile void of space. She was also recruited from the prison population on Earth and her crime, which is ultimately revealed, lends an added weight to her work. Pattinson plays Monte, the lone holdout from Dibs' attempts at experimentation and insemination. There's a lot of bodily fluids in this. Blood and especially semen. Lots of semen. And, since all sexual activity is strictly prohibited, there's a booth the crew uses to masturbate that they've dubbed The Box. Which kept reminding me of the Orgasmatron from Woody Allen's Sleeper. It figures heavily in a prolonged (and we're talking prolonged) scene with Juliette Binoche.

And just in case you think I'm being unreasonably hostile to this type of storytelling there was another movie that was much like this one. I thought it largely shared the same narrative structure, cryptic characters and maybe even some of the same themes. It was called Under the Skin and starred Scarlett Johansson and I really enjoyed that one. This one may have had a point it was trying to get across but there was no discernible thread you could latch onto and tug. But I did ultimately enjoy Monte and his little daughter Willow's story arc and by the time the credits rolled I was wholly invested in their fate.

80/100

[Takoma11]

https://imgix.bustle.com/inverse/3d/97/b8/d4/2d42/4dbf/8bc2/0adadc6d3780.jpeg?w=710&h=473&fit=max&auto=format%2Ccompress&q=50&dpr=2
https://66.media.tumblr.com/692750fb336a2d1b0100fa6b3e4a91e5/tumblr_pq69hm5ZNI1upazamo4_500.gif

High Life - When I first caught the trailer for this I thought, "Oh wow, Robert Pattinson and a cute little baby in space. This could be an interesting get." But that's only a small part of this dark deliberation on

I thought that the film struggled a bit in how it balanced the bleak and optimistic elements of its story, but overall I really enjoyed it.

BUT! Oh, my gosh. Pattinson and that baby. It was his friend's child, and you can see it. They have such great chemistry, and it adds this amazing element to the film where in the middle of what is a horrifying situation you also get something genuinely wholesome.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.moviedash.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F04%2FTime-to-Hunt-Review-2.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Time to Hunt, 2020

In a near-future dystopian South Korea, a group of friends get together for a heist with the intention of escaping to better circumstances. The crew manages to successfully rob an illegal casino, but their heist puts them on the radar of a killer named Han (Park Hae-soo) who is hired by the gambling house to track down the men.

On paper, this should have been a slam dunk for me: heist, action sequences, slightly enigmatic hit man, etc.

But I was surprised to find myself both uninterested and unmoved by what was happening on screen. I think that it had to do with the way that the film tries to build its sense of foreboding, often going a step too far for me with the use of sequences that turn out to be nightmares (or flashbacks?). I never really clicked with any of the leads--good or bad--and it felt a lot like watching them all go through the motions.

The action sequences are fine. There's a long stand-off that takes place in a hospital that generates some good tension. I just . . . spent almost the whole two hour run time struggling to care about any of it. And while I will stay very vague, the way that the third act played out didn't do much to raise my opinion.

I find myself with very little to say here, good or bad. Maybe if I'd been in a more attentive mood I'd have gotten more out of this one. As it stands, a very medium and forgettable experience with the occasionally engaging action sequence.

3.5

[mark f]

Incoherence (Bong Joon Ho, 1994) 2.5 5.5/10
The Open Door (Doc Duhame, 2008) 2- 5/10
Influenza (Bong Joon Ho, 2004) 2.5 5.5/10
Jazz on a Summer's Day (Bert Stern, 1959) 3.5 7/10
https://media1.fdncms.com/rochester/imager/u/slideshow/12123965/jazz_teaser.jpg
Precursor to all concert films has a wide range of stars and colorful crowd scenes Chuck Berry has them dancing and Satchmo has them in awe.
The Orator (Tusi Tamasese, 2011) 3 6.5/10
Among the Shadows (Tiago Mesquita, 2019) 1.5 4/10
The Inheritance (Ephraim Asili, 2020) 2.5 6/10
Jallikattu (Lijo Jose Pellissery, 2019) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/f155c654eddf0fad8bb5af09926ef964/5ae06477dea56646-63/s540x810/f355e5a5b45df8f41013f53fa08e22493a46f7bf.gifv
Part Biblical parable, part exotic horror adventure and part homage to Woody Allen's never-made movie What's Up, Friggin' Buffalo.
The Mighty McGurk (John Waters, 1947) 2.5 5.5/10
025 Sunset Red (Laida Lertxundi, 2016) 2 5/10
Just Short of Perfect (Ale McHaddo, 2021) 2.5 6/10
The Red Shoes (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1948) 4- 8/10
https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/The-Red-Shoes-high-on-films.gif
The title ballet is one of the greatest scenes in movie history in this ultimate depiction of what it costs to be an artist.
Autofiction (Laida Lertxundi, 2020) 2 5/10
The Secret Garden (Fred M. Wilcox, 1949) 3 6.5/10
Soulmate(s) (Timothy Armstrong, 2021) 2 5/10
Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) 3.5+ 7.5/10
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/68/e2/9d68e2a0b82657f6d85fc6306726b4fc.gif
Audrey Hepburn seems to be threatened by everybody, including Tex (James Coburn) when her late husband's $150,000 disappears. Witty, romantic and suspenseful.
Up in Smoke (Lou Adler, 1978) 3 6.5/10
Indecent Desires (Louis Silverman [Doris Wishman], 1968) 2 5/10
Tremors II: Aftershocks (S.S. Wilson, 1996) 2.5 6/10
Tremors (Ron Underwood, 1990) 3 6.5/10
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4SBP0kAWnNM/W79Y1e-9l5I/AAAAAAAAk9c/uAnuQ506JVkqkx_dmaOliXYv-25KwcVTACLcBGAs/s1600/tremors-1990-what-the-hell-is-going-on.gif
https://i.imgur.com/l3WUBHo.gif?noredirect
That.

[Deschain]

Love Tremors. One of my favorite movies period. Always gets me in the mood to make movies.

[PHOENIX74]

I have a virus that is really kicking my posterior so I'll be as brief as I can be :

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/29/Startrekposter.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2009/star_trek_xi_ver19.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22151163

Star Trek - (2009)

As with so many reboots, this film spends a great deal of time reintroducing characters and explaining how they came to be the people we know they are. Of course, the neat trick of this film is to have Nero (Eric Bana) come from the future and destroy the old timeline - meaning this is a reboot in every sense of the word. Looks fantastic, and maintains a certain excitement from start to finish - so the only thing we're really missing is a good old fashioned story with morals or a certain philosophical principle. Too much time is given to Kirk and Spock growing up and forging their respective careers and coming to loggerheads on the Enterprise for that. I don't think I've seen any of the subsequent films - but I mean to.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/aa/Poster_of_the_movie_Urbania.jpg
By Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the Film Poster (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30852915

Urbania - (2000)

Low budget, independent film that takes gay issues and infuses a tale full of certain urban legends into the main non-linear story. The first half feels directionless despite it's strong themes, but it really gets going in it's second half - and when it gets going it kind of drops the whole 'urban legends' focus that was so prevalent in the first half. Does well considering it's budget though.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Dreamland2.jpg
By It is believed that the cover art can or could be obtained from the publisher or studio., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28239780

Dreamland - (2006)

Young woman Audrey (Agnes Bruckner) has to choose between looking after her widowed father, her close best friend who has multiple sclerosis or the man she's just fallen madly in love with - and also her dream of going to college and becoming a writer. Some choices are impossible and bring the world crashing down on your head no matter which option you pick. This film was better than I thought it was going to be.

6.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/Aliens_vs_Predator_Requiem_poster.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758730/mediaindex?refine=poster&ref_=ttmi_ref_pos, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19621763

Alien vs Predator Requiem - (2007)

When watching a film it's nice if you can tell what's going on - but AVP-R mostly takes place in the dead of night and many scenes are impossible to decipher. In any case, this film is a kind of mess - a shame, because it does have moments of effective horror. Sometimes it goes too far though - I really don't want to witness the grisly death of a cute 5 year-old boy or see a woman who is going into labor tortured by being from another planet. As it reaches it's predictable climax you'll wonder how rushed this production was, what the editors thought they were doing, and if they used the dim lighting to hide a multitude of sins.

3/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/02/Spider-Man_2_Poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35841198

Spiderman 2 - (2004)

Formulaic fun is to be had in Spiderman 2 - which pretty much sticks to the same old superhero movie tropes. Alfred Molina is much welcome as Doctor Octopus, and there's a multitude a nice little cameos. I'm no big fan of Spiderman, but think these films are just entertaining enough to pass muster. Doesn't aspire to be a work of great cinematic art, but is colourful enough with decent effects, score and heart.

7/10

[Takoma11]

Urbania - (2000)

Low budget, independent film that takes gay issues and infuses a tale full of certain urban legends into the main non-linear story. The first half feels directionless despite it's strong themes, but it really gets going in it's second half - and when it gets going it kind of drops the whole 'urban legends' focus that was so prevalent in the first half. Does well considering it's budget though.

6/10

I'm a fan of this film (though I recognize its limitations). After watching Orlando, I had my eye out for anything with Lothaire Bluteau. It also stars future Middleman Matt Keeslar and "It's that guy from The House of Yes!" Josh Hamilton.

You may be the only other person I've ever heard mention it!

[PHOENIX74]

I'm a fan of this film (though I recognize its limitations). After watching Orlando, I had my eye out for anything with Lothaire Bluteau. It also stars future Middleman Matt Keeslar and "It's that guy from The House of Yes!" Josh Hamilton.

You may be the only other person I've ever heard mention it!

I recognized Josh Hamilton from Alive and Alan Cumming from Goldeneye and a host of other films and shows. For such a low budget film it does pack in a lot of recognizable faces.

[Wooley]

https://c.tenor.com/LluSCBY5AoIAAAAC/shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings-marvel-studios.gif

https://c.tenor.com/qy1-TtXUdtgAAAAd/shang-chi-and-the-legend-of-the-ten-rings-marvel.gif

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - There's only so many ways you can trot out an origin story and this must have been different enough to satisfy a need. The surprising success of this and especially Black Panther must indicate that a large chunk of the viewing public are tired of the same old same old, white bread entries in the comic book movie universe. I guess some could retort by saying that a good movie is a good movie and will enjoy success no matter what. But that doesn't explain the new crop of Jurassic Park or two Amazing Spiderman films.

I'm not a Marvel fanboy but I thought this was pretty good. Simon Liu does a really good job in his first lead role and I'm admittedly a fan of Awkwafina so no complaints there. I liked the odd couple pairing and the matter of fact way it ended. No frills, no drama. Just two friends ready for whatever comes next. The requisite early fight scenes didn't involve firearms or otherworldly feats of strength and were nicely choreographed. If there are deficiencies they're in the usual places. The gluttonous amounts of CGI. The drawn out and largely predictable final battle.

It's hard to believe that I used to collect this self same comic book back when I was a kid. But it was called The Hands of Shang Chi, Master of Kung Fu and his father was supposed to be Fu Manchu. There's very little left of that but it's still a reasonable adaptation and a respectable addition to the Marvel catalogue.

80/100

I gotta wonder if I was just in a bad mood or something when I saw this movie because I AM a Marvel fanboy and I thought this movie proved my theory, in glorious fashion, that Marvel is finished and it will just take them a while to actually die. I thought this movie was terrible far beyond Thor: The Dark World and it made me not want to watch any future Marvel movies except for the Spider-Man films. And frankly, after the most recent trailer for that one I think they may have screwed the pooch there as well. I thought the third act of this movie was almost unbearable to sit through and I've also noticed that Marvel doesn't even seem to care about the quality of their CGI anymore as it was startlingly rough for a tentpole, well below the standard of the franchise. Coming on the heels of the fairly awful Black Widow, the pedestrian and stumbly Captain Marvel, the head-scratchingly disappointing Ant Man and the Wasp, and now my Marvel-loving friends actually walked out of Eternals, I think Marvel is a dead man walking and this comes from someone who has gotten more joy from that franchise over its first decade than anyone probably has any right to.

[Wooley]

Jazz on a Summer's Day (Bert Stern, 1959) 3.5 7/10
https://media1.fdncms.com/rochester/imager/u/slideshow/12123965/jazz_teaser.jpg
Precursor to all concert films has a wide range of stars and colorful crowd scenes Chuck Berry has them dancing and Satchmo has them in awe.



Whoa! I don't know how I never knew about this, but thank you for putting me in the loop, I will be getting to this, with some like-minded friends, post-haste.

[WHITBISSELL!]

I gotta wonder if I was just in a bad mood or something when I saw this movie because I AM a Marvel fanboy and I thought this movie proved my theory, in glorious fashion, that Marvel is finished and it will just take them a while to actually die. I thought this movie was terrible far beyond Thor: The Dark World and it made me not want to watch any future Marvel movies except for the Spider-Man films. And frankly, after the most recent trailer for that one I think they may have screwed the pooch there as well. I thought the third act of this movie was almost unbearable to sit through and I've also noticed that Marvel doesn't even seem to care about the quality of their CGI anymore as it was startlingly rough for a tentpole, well below the standard of the franchise. Coming on the heels of the fairly awful Black Widow, the pedestrian and stumbly Captain Marvel, the head-scratchingly disappointing Ant Man and the Wasp, and now my Marvel-loving friends actually walked out of Eternals, I think Marvel is a dead man walking and this comes from someone who has gotten more joy from that franchise over its first decade than anyone probably has any right to.No, no. Even with the score I gave it I can see where you're coming from. I can watch Black Widow whenever I want but I have no great desire to do so. I thought Captain Marvel was meh. Not really impressed by the two Ant-Man movies although I did enjoy the first one more than the second. I'm not going to bother to watch The Eternals. Maybe it's more a case of comic book movie burnout. But I did just finish Loki on Disney+ and I liked that. So who knows?

[Fabulous]

Breathe In (2013)

3

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

[xSookieStackhouse]

4.5
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjIyNTQ5NjQ1OV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODg1MDU4OA@@._V1_.jpg

[Yomi]

The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
rating_3_5

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTI2NTM5MjQ0Nl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDAxNjAzMQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX375_.jpg


Dune (2021)
rating_4

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BN2FjNmEyNWMtYzM0ZS00NjIyLTg5YzYtYThlMGVjNzE1OGViXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTkxNjUyNQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX375_.jp g

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 love it <3 :love: i know its tv mini series but i love it :love:
https://sportshub.cbsistatic.com/i/2021/11/10/bb8f0fee-624a-4f78-aff1-d82042277cbb/marvel-hawkeye-tv-series-christmas-poster.jpg?auto=webp&width=1080&height=1350&crop=0.8:1,smart

[Torgo]

Scars of Dracula - 4

This is not a well-liked entry in the Hammer Dracula series, but I really enjoyed it for how it mixes the familiar with the unexpected. It's nice to see Dracula at his home base again and with not-so-loyal servants as well as the local tavern and its suspicious patrons. Speaking of our villain, I'm glad it got the whole resurrection bit out of the way early despite the questions it raises. As for the unexpected, the story, which involves a search for a missing ne'er-do-well brother and a would-be love triangle between responsible brother Simon, girlfriend Sarah and wolfish, creepy servant Klove (Patrick Troughton of Doctor Who fame) is not only full of surprises, but also a welcome change of pace from the revenge plots in the last few sequels. Other highlights are that it maintains the ramped-up sexiness also found in Taste the Blood and that it doesn't shirk on the blood and guts. Also, as a lover of movies that know the power of the color red, this movie provides a masterclass in it. While I approve of the hasty resurrection, some questions deserve answers: for starters, why are there so many British families in Romania? As for any use of a fake bat, the less said, the better. I still had a lot of fun and appreciate that the movie seems traditional and forward-thinking at the same time. With that said, a fast forward to 1972 sounds like just what the doctor (Van Helsing? Ha, couldn't resist) ordered.

[ScarletLion]

The Red Shoes (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, 1948) 4- 8/10
https://www.highonfilms.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/The-Red-Shoes-high-on-films.gif
The title ballet is one of the greatest scenes in movie history in this ultimate depiction of what it costs to be an artist.


Yes Mark! Soon to be released as part of Criterion's first ever 4K package! Cracking film.

[Wooley]

No, no. Even with the score I gave it I can see where you're coming from. I can watch Black Widow whenever I want but I have no great desire to do so. I thought Captain Marvel was meh. Not really impressed by the two Ant-Man movies although I did enjoy the first one more than the second. I'm not going to bother to watch The Eternals. Maybe it's more a case of comic book movie burnout. But I did just finish Loki on Disney+ and I liked that. So who knows?
I really don't think it's burnout, at least for me, I was really excited for all of those movies. Like, I was a pretty big fan of The Wasp from the comics going back to when I was a little kid, I was really psyched to see her come to the fore but that movie just had a ****ty script. And Captain Marvel?! I can't tell you how jazzed I was for that (though I had my doubts Larsen was the right actor for it and I remain unconvinced), I bought all the CM comics since that character became CM and read them all... and that movie is just not good. Academy Award-winning actors, indie-darling directors, and just a crappy movie. I watch about 15 minutes of that movie over and over and that's it. Black Widow... I was such a fan of that character from the other films and they just utterly **** the bed in pursuit of launching the new character - and just writing a garbage script. And, no, I'm not dragging my carcass to the theater for almost 3 hours for a movie my friends who like Marvel movies got up and walked out of.
I don't know what the hell happened, for a while I felt like Feige & Co. could do no wrong. Now I honestly feel like they can do no right.

[Wooley]

Scars of Dracula - 4

This is not a well-liked entry in the Hammer Dracula series, but I really enjoyed it for how it mixes the familiar with the unexpected. It's nice to see Dracula at his home base again and with not-so-loyal servants as well as the local tavern and its suspicious patrons. Speaking of our villain, I'm glad it got the whole resurrection bit out of the way early despite the questions it raises. As for the unexpected, the story, which involves a search for a missing ne'er-do-well brother and a would-be love triangle between responsible brother Simon, girlfriend Sarah and wolfish, creepy servant Klove (Patrick Troughton of Doctor Who fame) is not only full of surprises, but also a welcome change of pace from the revenge plots in the last few sequels. Other highlights are that it maintains the ramped-up sexiness also found in Taste the Blood and that it doesn't shirk on the blood and guts. Also, as a lover of movies that know the power of the color red, this movie provides a masterclass in it. While I approve of the hasty resurrection, some questions deserve answers: for starters, why are there so many British families in Romania? As for any use of a fake bat, the less said, the better. I still had a lot of fun and appreciate that the movie seems traditional and forward-thinking at the same time. With that said, a fast forward to 1972 sounds like just what the doctor (Van Helsing? Ha, couldn't resist) ordered.

Ya know, I panned the **** out of this movie two years ago but, as a huge Hammer fan, your review makes me want to re-watch it with a more positive attitude.

[Captain Terror]

Ya know, I panned the **** out of this movie two years ago but, as a huge Hammer fan, your review makes me want to re-watch it with a more positive attitude.

That was one of my favorite reviews of yours. I don't hate it as much as you did then, but I think we can all agree that zero effort went into the poster at least.

82963

Looks like it was designed by the winner of a "Design the next Dracula poster contest" at the local high school.

[Torgo]

Ya know, I panned the **** out of this movie two years ago but, as a huge Hammer fan, your review makes me want to re-watch it with a more positive attitude.I remember you saying it was pretty bad when I went in, so my expectations were low, but I was pleasantly surprised. Do you remember what issues you have with it?

[Wooley]

I remember you saying it was pretty bad when I went in, so my expectations were low, but I was pleasantly surprised. Do you remember what issues you have with it?

Ya know, I don't and I think it's better that way. I can go in with a better attitude.

[Torgo]

That was one of my favorite reviews of yours. I don't hate it as much as you did then, but I think we can all agree that zero effort went into the poster at least.

82963

Looks like it was designed by the winner of a "Design the next Dracula poster contest" at the local high school.Yikes (and not in a good way). Looks like they included the reaction of a Hammer exec after seeing the poster on the bottom.

[Wooley]

Yikes (and not in a good way). Looks like they included the reaction of a Hammer exec after seeing the poster on the bottom.

Hahaha!

[WHITBISSELL!]

Scars of Dracula - rating_4

This is not a well-liked entry in the Hammer Dracula series, but I really enjoyed it for how it mixes the familiar with the unexpected. It's nice to see Dracula at his home base again and with not-so-loyal servants as well as the local tavern and its suspicious patrons. Speaking of our villain, I'm glad it got the whole resurrection bit out of the way early despite the questions it raises. As for the unexpected, the story, which involves a search for a missing ne'er-do-well brother and a would-be love triangle between responsible brother Simon, girlfriend Sarah and wolfish, creepy servant Klove (Patrick Troughton of Doctor Who fame) is not only full of surprises, but also a welcome change of pace from the revenge plots in the last few sequels. Other highlights are that it maintains the ramped-up sexiness also found in Taste the Blood and that it doesn't shirk on the blood and guts. Also, as a lover of movies that know the power of the color red, this movie provides a masterclass in it. While I approve of the hasty resurrection, some questions deserve answers: for starters, why are there so many British families in Romania? As for any use of a fake bat, the less said, the better. I still had a lot of fun and appreciate that the movie seems traditional and forward-thinking at the same time. With that said, a fast forward to 1972 sounds like just what the doctor (Van Helsing? Ha, couldn't resist) ordered.This is the last remaining piece from my Christopher Lee/Hammer Studios/Count Dracula list. I suppose some might also count The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires but I think the Hammer Studios/Peter Cushing components aren't enough to qualify.

[Rockatansky]

Yikes (and not in a good way). Looks like they included the reaction of a Hammer exec after seeing the poster on the bottom.

I like the man in tears in the corner.

[WHITBISSELL!]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LWch1waP04o/VZOAQBNaukI/AAAAAAAAFmQ/JAkeIbWnC0k/s1600/3%252Bhard%252Bway.jpg


https://c.tenor.com/ugwZlhOL4YcAAAAd/three-the-hard-way-jim-kelly.gif

Three the Hard Way - 1974 blaxploitation flick directed by Gordon Parks Jr. and starring Jim Brown, Fred Williamson and Jim Kelly as three friends battling white supremacists and their plan to release a toxin that specifically targets black Americans. The head baddie and financier of the racist group is named Monroe Feather (Jay Robinson) and as soon as I heard the name I had one of those AHA! moments. Chris Kattan's character in one of my favorite spoofs, Undercover Brother, must have been lifted directly from this movie. Feather has hired renegade scientist Dr. Fortrero (Richard Angarola) to bioengineer a chemical that the group plans to introduce into the water supply in Chicago, Washington DC and Detroit.

As the movie opens House, a friend of LA music producer Jimmy Lait (Brown), escapes from the groups compound but not before being shot. At the hospital, militia members sneak in, kill House and kidnap Jimmy's squeeze Wendy Kane (Sheila Frazier). Jimmy's later followed and attacked by more members of the group. He flies to Chicago to get help from his friend Jagger Daniels (Williamson) and they run into more members of the quasi-military group. These guys serve as nothing more than cannon fodder for our two heroes, apparently being trained in marksmanship alongside Imperial Stormtroopers. They die by the dozens before Mister Keyes (Kelly) even puts in an appearance and starts kicking the souls out of peoples bodies. The trio get a chance to strut their stuff with plenty of time left for innumerable wardrobe changes.

To be honest this isn't an especially spectacular movie. A bit dull and slow moving with leaden acting, except for Williamson who's the only one of the three who looks remotely comfortable in front of a camera. The man's a natural actor. The action scenes aren't much better, with hundreds of bullets and shotgun shells flying and not a single reload to show for it. And if there's a vehicle in this film chances are it'll eventually blow up. I wasn't having much fun with it until the red, white and blue dominatrixes showed up and I started appreciating the inherent goofiness of it all. It's one of those films I should have watched a long time ago but somehow never got around to. Stamp and file this under RECTIFIED.

60/100

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FurUCeSz6pDz1cgXwBsfaA2RU6Mk.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Forgotten, 2017

Student Jin-seok (Kang Ha-Neul) has just moved to a house with his parents and his older brother Yoo-seok (Mu-Yeol Kim). Jin-seok is on anti-anxiety medication, and he is disconcerted by nightmares, a locked room in the house, and strange noises that no one else seems to hear. One night, Yoo-seok is kidnapped. When he is finally returned, he seems somehow . . . different. But is it all in Jin-seok's head?

I liked this movie a lot. In fact, it is hard to talk about why I liked this movie because it manages to pull off several twists that I really never saw coming, and it's the way that these plot points are foreshadowed, revealed, and resolved that I enjoyed so much.

The performances are good, and Kang Ha-Neul makes for a sympathetic lead, which is important as the plot continues to shift and turn. This is the kind of film where all of the answers to what is happening are incredibly outlandish and improbable, but because it finds a firm emotional grounding, we can go along for the ride without too much "are you kidding?!?!". Jin-seok is a sensitive and fundamentally gentle character, which lends unexpected weight to the last act of the film.

I will say that around the 70 minute point, the film takes a very distinct turn, changing its tone and borderline changing its genre. For the first two thirds, it's a sort of thriller/mystery film. The last act, however, veers more into drama territory. To be clear, I liked both "incarnations" of the story, but the film definitely heads into a more somber vibe in the final act. Frankly, what started as more of a trifle ended up being a lot more emotionally heavy than I expected.

A solid thriller with more emotional heft than I expected.

4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bttwo.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2020%2F03%2Fb967aa15dee0026bc671ca1931e9e0a9.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Chase, 2017

Sim Deok-soo (Yun-shik Baek) is a locksmith who is also a landlord of several buildings. He grumbles at his various tenants who are behind on their rent. But when one of his tenants is murdered and another, a young woman, is kidnapped, Deok-soo teams up with a former detective named Park (Dong-il Sung). Park tells Deok-soo about a serial killer from over 30 years ago who targeted the elderly and kidnapped a woman, and the two go on a hunt for the killer.

I thought that this film was okay, but not great. Its downfall for me largely had to do with the way that it tries to balance some very dark and disturbing thriller elements with comedy, often to mixed success.

Yun-shik Baek is pretty good in the lead role. He's gruff on the outside, but not a bad guy at heart. As one tenant notes, he fusses them but never actually kicks anyone out for not paying their rent. Probably the best aspect of the comedy element of the film is Deok-soo's indignance at the treatment of the elderly. In one funny sequence, police officers scoff at the idea of the serial killer having returned, noting that he would now be in his 60s. Deok-soo tells them off, remarking that the elderly are very capable . . . the unspoked part being "of murder".

One area of the film that it very hit or miss is its use of violence, which ranges from realistic and graphic to borderline cartoonish. In the same film, a man is painfully stabbed in the abdomen. And yet within 20 minutes of this, someone is hit on the head with a brick and it's played off as if it's no big deal. This goes back to my complaint about the film wanting to lean comedic one moment and serious the next. But it also makes it hard to tell what's happening in a scene. When a character is hit on the head with a piece of cement it's like "So are they getting up in a minute or are they dead?".

Another area where the comedy/thriller blend leads to come uncomfortable dynamics is in the treatment of its female characters. Without giving too much away, some really horrible things happen to women in this film. For various reasons, the women in this movie are denied much of a voice, and they are mainly used as motivators for the male characters. That's not an uncommon dynamic in a film like this, but the comedy/tragedy balance gets especially uncomfortable when you have slapstick and other kinds of humor surrounding the one sequence where a woman does get to express herself, and that involves talking about her abduction and implied sexual assault. It's all just a bit yikes.

Overall, though, this was a diverting film. It does hit some unfortunate notes, but ultimately it holds together okay.

3.5

[Allaby]

I watched 8-Bit Christmas (2021). Directed by Michael Dowse, the film is about a boy in Chicago in the 80s who wants a Nintendo. It doesn't always work, but there is enough nostalgia and cute funny moments to keep viewers entertained. Neil Patrick Harris does a nice job and some of the kids are cute. Also, there are Cabbage Patch Dolls, which is always a bonus. The problem with most films today are there not enough Cabbage Patch Dolls in them. So grab your (Cabbage Patch) kids and enjoy. My rating is a 3.5

[mark f]

I agree it's good and worth watching, as is the just-released A Boy Called Christmas.
.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-C2wnMJErd1Y%2FXUvuVYGIXnI%2FAAAAAAAAGss%2FKhq1WYrS2PgBZQT2mYgZl7w3xY-r7s0WQCLcBGAs%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2FForeign%252BCorrespondent%252Bship.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Foreign Correspondent, 1940

American reporter John Jones (Joel McCrea) is sent to Europe after complaining to his bosses that he's covering boring stories. But once there, he quickly becomes entangled in a complex political plot involving the faked assassination of a diplomat (Albert Bassermann). Along the way he falls for a woman named Carol (Laraine Day) who is involved with a peace organization and gets help from a suave fellow reporter ffoliott (George Sanders).

I liked this film, with its twisty-turny plot and Hitchcock signature sardonic lead character. It made me think a lot of elements that I enjoyed in The 39 Steps.

McCrea is enjoyable in his lead role as the reporter who gets more than he asked for on his new assignment. He has decent chemistry with Day, playing a character who is torn between her attraction to John and the suspicion that he's just using her to chase a story and besmirch her father's reputation. The saving grace for me, character-wise, was Sanders in his role as another reporter. His character feels almost more like a spy than a reporter, but I'm not complaining. He injects the film with some much needed personality.

In terms of the action, the film kind of rolls along between various set-pieces, until the final act where things seem to take a much more intense turn. We are given a sequence where a confused man is ruthlessly manipulated and interrogated in an attempt to get him to reveal secret information. In the film's biggest sequence, an airplane is fired on and subsequently crashes into the ocean where the surviving passengers must weather brutal waves as they cling to a detached plane wing.

On the villain side of things, though, the film is a bit less memorable. I had some really, REALLY mixed feelings about the way that the film talks about Carol's father at the end. There's a lot of wiffly-waffly stuff about him still being a good man and just doing what he thinks is right for his country. Like, um, excuse me. He was complicit in the physical and psychological torture of an elderly man. I know that despicable and amoral things were done on both sides of WW2 to get desired results, but I did not care for the way his character is excused and even sort of celebrated at the end. It made me think a lot of what I hated about the end of The Furies, where a character who has done horrible things is just sort of given a pass.

I would say that this is a pretty middle-of-the-road film in terms of what I've seen from Hitchcock. I liked it, but felt that it missed a spark to be really great. I will admit that the plane sequence alone is probably adding a half star to my rating.

4

[Fabulous]

Greenfingers (2000)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/vn72WsVGQhtp9PobgBoiZRdatqj.jpg

[Deschain]

I watched 8-Bit Christmas (2021). Directed by Michael Dowse, the film is about a boy in Chicago in the 80s who wants a Nintendo. It doesn't always work, but there is enough nostalgia and cute funny moments to keep viewers entertained. Neil Patrick Harris does a nice job and some of the kids are cute. Also, there are Cabbage Patch Dolls, which is always a bonus. The problem with most films today are there not enough Cabbage Patch Dolls in them. So grab your (Cabbage Patch) kids and enjoy. My rating is a 3.5

I just watched this too, expecting it to be mediocre and forgettable. But it was a decent movie. Made me laugh a few times and has a nice little Christmas message.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Rulesofa.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3710159

The Rules of Attraction - (2002)

Disturbing. This film shows humanity in it's most dismal light, and features the most shocking suicide scene I've ever seen - managing to really pierce the psyche of the young woman committing the act. Three young adults hit a real low point at a college party, and this film rewinds time so we follow all three strands and how they ended up at a place they never wanted to be. As sickening as a lot of this was, I felt this Roger Avary film was quite good and wasn't as senseless as I thought it might be going in.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Gladiator_%282000_film_poster%29.png
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59100778

Gladiator - (2000)

It's interesting reading about the Emperor Commodus - his vanity, his endless victories as a Gladiator (it's said all of his opponents were given edgeless swords) and his quick temper (he had one servant thrown into an oven and baked alive for not warming his bath water to the required temperature.) He was assassinated (was there a Roman emperor who wasn't?) on New Year's Eve and his death sparked the tumultuous 'Year of 5 Emperors'.

But anyway, I finally gave Gladiator a relaxed and enjoyable watch from start to finish and was entertained - especially by it's cast as I do love Derek Jacobi, Richard Harris and Oliver Reed. I also really rate Joaquin Phoenix as an actor. Nice visuals and a decent score also help a lot.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/24/The_Polar_Express_%282004%29_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16206998

The Polar Express - (2004)

I put this on after watching The Rules of Attraction thinking it would cleanse me a little after all the date-rape, drug taking, boozing and horror. It's possible a kid might enjoy this film around about Xmas time - but not necessarily because it's a good film. It's the kind of film you'd get if game developers made a kid's Xmas game and then all of the playable content was scrubbed and they released what was left.

6/10

[xSookieStackhouse]

4.5
https://helio.se/app/uploads/2019/09/us.jpg

[Yomi]

The Homesman (2014)
rating_3

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/812uiGF3A9L._SY445_.jpg

[xSookieStackhouse]

5
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjIxMTk3MzY2MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjQ5NzQxNTM@._V1_.jpg

[ScarletLion]

'Brother' (1997)
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51XB417VSKL._AC_SY445_.jpg

I think some MOFO on this site recommended this one a few years back and it's been wobbling about on my watchlist ever since.

Young army man rocks up at his mums with no future, and she tells him to visit his more successful brother in St Petersburg. Turns out his brother isn't all that successful.

I can see why this is a cult classic. It is extremely cool in places (home made silencers for guns), quite tender in others (the main character and his lack of belonging, lack of love etc) and also has references to the socio political relationships of Russia with other countries in Europe.

A smart film.

7.8/10

[FromBeyond]

Exodus: Gods and Kings

Surprised myself by actually watching this as I’m not really a fan anymore of big CGI filled Hollywood movies.. I don’t know what’s happened but they look less real to me than 10 years ago.. Scott’s Gladiator is a better looking film than this, go figure and I’m not necessarily talking about big action sequences but just a view of a landscape/architecture or some ****ing hills.

This followed suit, I feel scenes that should inspire awe inspire nothing but it does improve with the deadly plagues and reaches it high point with the climatic ending of the parting of the Red Sea.. so visually weak but with some stronger moments

Dialogue isn’t strong either but some great actors it does enough to carry the story along

Overall I’m quite pleased I watched it, it was okay but could’ve been so much more

[Thief]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-C2wnMJErd1Y%2FXUvuVYGIXnI%2FAAAAAAAAGss%2FKhq1WYrS2PgBZQT2mYgZl7w3xY-r7s0WQCLcBGAs%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2FForeign%252BCorrespondent%252Bship.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Foreign Correspondent, 1940

American reporter John Jones (Joel McCrea) is sent to Europe after complaining to his bosses that he's covering boring stories. But once there, he quickly becomes entangled in a complex political plot involving the faked assassination of a diplomat (Albert Bassermann). Along the way he falls for a woman named Carol (Laraine Day) who is involved with a peace organization and gets help from a suave fellow reporter ffoliott (George Sanders).

I liked this film, with its twisty-turny plot and Hitchcock signature sardonic lead character. It made me think a lot of elements that I enjoyed in The 39 Steps.

McCrea is enjoyable in his lead role as the reporter who gets more than he asked for on his new assignment. He has decent chemistry with Day, playing a character who is torn between her attraction to John and the suspicion that he's just using her to chase a story and besmirch her father's reputation. The saving grace for me, character-wise, was Sanders in his role as another reporter. His character feels almost more like a spy than a reporter, but I'm not complaining. He injects the film with some much needed personality.

In terms of the action, the film kind of rolls along between various set-pieces, until the final act where things seem to take a much more intense turn. We are given a sequence where a confused man is ruthlessly manipulated and interrogated in an attempt to get him to reveal secret information. In the film's biggest sequence, an airplane is fired on and subsequently crashes into the ocean where the surviving passengers must weather brutal waves as they cling to a detached plane wing.

On the villain side of things, though, the film is a bit less memorable. I had some really, REALLY mixed feelings about the way that the film talks about Carol's father at the end. There's a lot of wiffly-waffly stuff about him still being a good man and just doing what he thinks is right for his country. Like, um, excuse me. He was complicit in the physical and psychological torture of an elderly man. I know that despicable and amoral things were done on both sides of WW2 to get desired results, but I did not care for the way his character is excused and even sort of celebrated at the end. It made me think a lot of what I hated about the end of The Furies, where a character who has done horrible things is just sort of given a pass.

I would say that this is a pretty middle-of-the-road film in terms of what I've seen from Hitchcock. I liked it, but felt that it missed a spark to be really great. I will admit that the plane sequence alone is probably adding a half star to my rating.

4

Love Foreign Correspondent. I think it loses a tiny bit towards the last act, but I seriously adore what precedes it. It barely makes my Hitchcock Top 5.

[Takoma11]

'Brother' (1997)
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51XB417VSKL._AC_SY445_.jpg

I think some MOFO on this site recommended this one a few years back and it's been wobbling about on my watchlist ever since.

Young army man rocks up at his mums with no future, and she tells him to visit his more successful brother in St Petersburg. Turns out his brother isn't all that successful.

I can see why this is a cult classic. It is extremely cool in places (home made silencers for guns), quite tender in others (the main character and his lack of belonging, lack of love etc) and also has references to the socio political relationships of Russia with other countries in Europe.

A smart film.

7.8/10

I watched this after watching Prisoner of the Mountains and learning about Bodrov's untimely death. It is good, and certainly better than the poster might lead you to believe.

Love Foreign Correspondent. I think it loses a tiny bit towards the last act, but I seriously adore what precedes it. It barely makes my Hitchcock Top 5.

The portrayal and attitude toward Carol's dad gave me very mixed feelings. I understand that Hitchcock wanted to make his film politically "neutral" as much as possible, but I thought it gave the film a really unfortunate tilt.

[ScarletLion]

I watched this after watching Prisoner of the Mountains and learning about Bodrov's untimely death. It is good, and certainly better than the poster might lead you to believe.
.

Thought you meant a MOFO poster on this forum then! Yes that's really tragic and makes me want to search out the film he directed called 'Sisters'

[Takoma11]

Thought you meant a MOFO poster on this forum then!

Yikes! No, sorry for the scare!

Yes that's really tragic and makes me want to search out the film he directed called 'Sisters'

I've not seen that one either.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://reelfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/supercops.png

https://64.media.tumblr.com/d62fbb503cd569fb566edc433768101d/fd4dd47c6f48a029-5f/s540x810/07f1afd7a87526b6598782eed0b05d3538401145.gifv

The Super Cops - When I was much younger I was fascinated with anything having to do with real life cops and criminals. I read Peter Maas' The Valachi Papers and his autobiography on Frank Serpico, Robin Moore's The French Connection and Joseph Wambaugh's The Onion Field and Iceberg Slim's Trick Baby. I also remember reading a book about an infamous Chicago gang called The Blackstone Rangers.

The Super Cops was a non fiction story about David Greenberg and Robert Hantz, two probationary NYPD policeman who decide to ignore the status quo and the unwritten rule that all rookie policemen pay their dues by handling menial tasks like clerical and traffic work. Unwilling to wait till they're full fledged officers the pair make arrests in Greenbergs old neighborhood in Coney Island and also in Harlem. Once they're officially assigned to a precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant they start terrorizing local dealers which draws the ire of the three Hayes brothers that control the drug trade in the neighborhood. Their exploits soon earn them the nicknames Batman and Robin.

This was directed by Gordon Parks who was following up the success of his two previous Shaft projects. The movie has a loose and disorganized feel to it. It's more a series of vignettes that don't necessarily follow a chronology. Ron Liebman throws himself into the role (some might consider it overacting) of Greenberg while David Selby plays it more restrained as Hantz and they do a convincing enough job as the two daredevil cops. There's also a number of 70's era character actors like Pat Hingle, Dan Frazer and Joseph Sirola. Watch this if you're partial to that distinctive 70's era grime. It hasn't been successfully replicated since, not even by worthy imitators like A Most Violent Year (which was actually set in 1981 but close enough).

75/100

[Allaby]

I saw King Richard (2021) today. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, the film tells the true story of Richard Williams and his daughters, tennis superstars Venus and Serena Williams. Will Smith is wonderful and is almost certainly going to win an Oscar for his performance. There are other strong performances here too and a very good screenplay. King Richard is a crowdpleaser and an enjoyable movie. My only quibble is that it is a little too long,especially the final tennis match toward the end,which starts to feel anti-climatic. With that being said, I would not be surprised if King Richard is nominated for best picture. I would consider it one of the top 10 films of the year so far. My rating is a 4.5

[GulfportDoc]

Foreign Correspondent, 1940

American reporter John Jones (Joel McCrea) is sent to Europe after complaining to his bosses that he's covering boring stories. But once there, he quickly becomes entangled in a complex political plot involving the faked assassination of a diplomat (Albert Bassermann). Along the way he falls for a woman named Carol (Laraine Day) who is involved with a peace organization and gets help from a suave fellow reporter ffoliott (George Sanders).

I liked this film, with its twisty-turny plot and Hitchcock signature sardonic lead character. It made me think a lot of elements that I enjoyed in The 39 Steps.

McCrea is enjoyable in his lead role as the reporter who gets more than he asked for on his new assignment. He has decent chemistry with Day, playing a character who is torn between her attraction to John and the suspicion that he's just using her to chase a story and besmirch her father's reputation. The saving grace for me, character-wise, was Sanders in his role as another reporter. His character feels almost more like a spy than a reporter, but I'm not complaining. He injects the film with some much needed personality.
...

I too love this film. IMO it's the best of Hitch's second tier pictures. As his second film in Hollywood after Rebecca, he was finally free of David O. Selznik, and he was eager to do a espionage thriller. Hitchcock stated that as soon as the script was finished he took it to Cary Grant. Grant refused to do a thriller, although later he told Hitch that he wished he'd done it. Hitch felt that Joel McCrea was too affable. I personally liked McCrea in the film.

I really like the scenes you mentioned. The important scene for Hitchcock was the entire windmill sequence, which was mesmerizing. I also was amazed at the plane crash scene; and the famous umbrella scene where the assassin is escaping through the bobbling umbrellas has been imitated several times. Great photography!

Oh, and I too love George Sanders. I could listen to him reading the phone book. I liked him in just about everything he did, with the possible exception of The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945). Although it was a good picture directed by the great Robert Siodmak, I thought he wasn't well cast to play that type of role.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media3.giphy.com/media/NdP5D9ykiRay2rAZqj/giphy.gif

https://media4.giphy.com/media/oMjwTlMYSLUytiekiY/giphy.gif


Queenpins - An innocuous enough comedy starring Kirsten Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste as two suburban Phoenix friends. Bell plays Connie Kaminski, trapped in a loveless marriage and unable to conceive she diverts all her energies and frustration into couponing. Howell-Baptiste plays her best friend and next door neighbor JoJo Johnson. JoJo was the victim of identity theft and, with her credit ruined, was forced to move back in with her mother. Connie's husband Rick (Joel McHale) is an IRS agent and prefers to spend most of his time on the road. One day Connie writes to General Mills to complain about stale cereal and when she unexpectedly receives a coupon from them for a free box, inspiration strikes. She starts mailing off complaint letters to various companies and she notices that all of them are being forwarded to one particular business. After some research she discovers that the company handles the bulk of the free coupons that the corporations give out. She talks JoJo into traveling with her into Mexico to the factory where the coupons are both printed and redeemed. There they find a husband and wife who are willing to divert the excess vouchers to them in the States where they will sell them to eager buyers. JoJo, being a natural born entrepreneur, advertises their service on her website and the two are soon swimming in money. This of course draws the attention of their bank which freezes their accounts until they can verify the legitimacy of their business. For help they turn to Tempe Tina (Bebe Rexha), the computer whiz who stole JoJo's identity in the first place. She sets them up with numerous fake identities and advises them to "clean" their money.

While all of this is going on Ken Miller (Paul Walter Hauser), a Loss Prevention Officer for a chain of Southwest grocery stores, is alerted to the pair's scam but can't make any headway as to their true identities. He goes to the FBI but they dismiss him as a kook and bury his file deep in their bureaucracy. Months later a low level drone contacts Ken and, having no luck tracking them via computer, suggests Ken try contacting the US Postal Service. Soon after, Postal Inspector Simon Kilmurry (Vince Vaughn) shows up and the two start backtracking along the Queenpins trail. There's some humor to be had from the odd couple pairing of Ken and Simon and both Hauser and Vaughn make an honest effort but the laughs are so mild that, even though you may find yourself chuckling, real belly laughs aren't to be had. The cast is certainly pleasant enough but "moderately enjoyable" is probably the yardstick you'll be using.

75/100

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c7/Nobody_2021_Film_Poster.jpeg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7888964/mediaviewer/rm2907556609/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66068263

Nobody - (2021)

This film has been getting great reviews here for a while now, and that was enough to tempt me. Writer Derek Kolstad has created something much in the same vein to his John Wick films, with gleefully comic violence, superhero-like indestructible characters and as always the Russian Mafia, with their endless supply of soldiers and weapons. I'm in as soon as Bob Odenkirk and Christopher Lloyd appear - great casting, I love seeing Lloyd (of all people) blasting bad guys and have to admit that nearly brings a tear to my eye. It's something of a choreographed dance of death and destruction that just feels gleeful, comic, macho and colourful.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/HotFuzzUKposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39376870

Hot Fuzz - (2007)

After Shaun of the Dead Edgar Wright and Sean Pegg had a lot to live up to, and Hot Fuzz seems to fit into that category of second efforts that are good but don't quite reach the dizzying heights of an incredible first-up. Watching it for the first time since it came out quite a while ago, I found I could enjoy it a lot more without that terrible weight of expectation. What I enjoy the most are the actors that came aboard here, especially the incomparable Timothy Dalton, along with Paddy Considine, Olivia Colman, Edward Woodward and Jim Broadbent in that exact order. There are around 100 great cameos. This was certainly ambitious, and I like it a great deal - it's almost too much to take in when you first see it - especially considering just how over-the-top things become towards the film's climax. Hot Fuzz has grown on me and I rate it higher the second time around.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Run_fat_boy_run.JPG
By POV - Impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19042950

Run Fatboy Run - (2007)

Funny enough and engaging, but very average - and I'm not saying bad at all. This film exists in that acceptable range where it's worth watching, but not worth going out of your way to watch. A formulaic comedy with Pegg playing his stock role as a loser out to win the heart of the girl who he once had and who is really out of his league. David Schwimmer's first theatrical feature job as director, made around the same time he appeared with Pegg in Big Nothing.

6/10

[xSookieStackhouse]

4.5 https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0024/9803/5810/products/565333-Product-0-I-637734606758722765_1080x.jpg

[Takoma11]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/HotFuzzUKposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39376870

Hot Fuzz - (2007)

After Shaun of the Dead Edgar Wright and Sean Pegg had a lot to live up to, and Hot Fuzz seems to fit into that category of second efforts that are good but don't quite reach the dizzying heights of an incredible first-up. Watching it for the first time since it came out quite a while ago, I found I could enjoy it a lot more without that terrible weight of expectation. What I enjoy the most are the actors that came aboard here, especially the incomparable Timothy Dalton, along with Paddy Considine, Olivia Colman, Edward Woodward and Jim Broadbent in that exact order. There are around 100 great cameos. This was certainly ambitious, and I like it a great deal - it's almost too much to take in when you first see it - especially considering just how over-the-top things become towards the film's climax. Hot Fuzz has grown on me and I rate it higher the second time around.

This is one of my favorite films of all time. I find it hilarious from beginning to end, I could quote it endlessly, and it never fails to put me in a good mood. I also kind of love how the editing calls attention to itself, but is very excellent.

[StuSmallz]

This is one of my favorite films of all time. I find it hilarious from beginning to end, I could quote it endlessly, and it never fails to put me in a good mood. I also kind of love how the editing calls attention to itself, but is very excellent.Well, I was kind of disappointed in Fuzz when I saw it in theaters because I didn't find it as funny as Shaun Of The Dead, but a rewatch a couple of years later at home really helped me appreciate how good its overall craft is, and lead me to decide that it was one of Wright's best movies (just behind Shaun, of course).

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/HotFuzzUKposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39376870

Hot Fuzz - (2007)

After Shaun of the Dead Edgar Wright and Sean Pegg had a lot to live up to, and Hot Fuzz seems to fit into that category of second efforts that are good but don't quite reach the dizzying heights of an incredible first-up. Watching it for the first time since it came out quite a while ago, I found I could enjoy it a lot more without that terrible weight of expectation. What I enjoy the most are the actors that came aboard here, especially the incomparable Timothy Dalton, along with Paddy Considine, Olivia Colman, Edward Woodward and Jim Broadbent in that exact order. There are around 100 great cameos. This was certainly ambitious, and I like it a great deal - it's almost too much to take in when you first see it - especially considering just how over-the-top things become towards the film's climax. Hot Fuzz has grown on me and I rate it higher the second time around.

8/10


I was also underwhelmed after first watching it. But just like you (and Stu) it's really grown on me.

[Fabulous]

The Neon Demon (2016)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/8h7hJtOpZQGQL5zEVqlGWo9UN2H.jpg

[Yomi]

Tank Girl (1995)
rating_3

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzc0NjBmMzgtMTUxMS00YWFjLTk4NTYtNjE4NTJhOTU3ZTYwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTMxMTY0OTQ@._V1_FMjpg_UX375_.jp g

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DentalBrownFrilledlizard.webp

https://www.intofilm.org/intofilm-production/scaledcropped/970x546https%3A/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.cdn.filmclub.org/film__3063-watership-down--hi_res-d91b76eb.jpg/film__3063-watership-down--hi_res-d91b76eb.jpg

Watership Down - I never read Richard Adams' book and given the subject matter I wasn't sure how much of this 1978 adaptation I'd be able to get through. But it surprised me and I ended up getting into it. I liked it's earnest nature. No cutesy Disney anthropomorphism here. It comes at you from a contemplative space and expects a like minded regard in return.

After a brief prologue in which the mythological origins of their species are laid out the film opens with two rabbit brothers Hazel and Fiver. The younger Fiver is an oracle of sorts, blessed and cursed with the ability to foresee coming events. He has had visions of an approaching apocalypse that threatens the existence of their Sandleford warren. He and Hazel seek and are granted an audience with their chieftain and strongly advise him to order an evacuation. They're summarily dismissed and the Chief orders the head of his Owsla police force Captain Holly to shadow them and make sure they don't make trouble. The two brothers quickly attract enough believers to attempt their escape.

The film is a relatively short 90 minutes and moves quickly from one perilous adventure to the next. From predatory hawks, cats and dogs to deadly snares the group encounters all manner of threats. They also meet up with a wayward seagull that helps them out of numerous tight spots. Hazel realizes that without does there is no future for their newly established warren. Their sidequest to recruit these much needed females brings them into contact with a larger and more dangerous warren led by the warlike General Woundwort. The film doesn't shy away from depicting the often cruel and bloody nature of these conflicts. I liked how it was presented so matter of factly. A simple reminder that, despite these creatures being self aware and capable of rational thought, this is the animal kingdom after all.

Haven't checked out the 2018 mini-series that's currently on Netflix. It has a surplus of recognizable British voice talent though. For now this was more than enough. Made me want to read Adams' novel too.

85/100

[Takoma11]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DentalBrownFrilledlizard.webp

https://www.intofilm.org/intofilm-production/scaledcropped/970x546https%3A/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.cdn.filmclub.org/film__3063-watership-down--hi_res-d91b76eb.jpg/film__3063-watership-down--hi_res-d91b76eb.jpg

Watership Down - I never read Richard Adams' book and given the subject matter I wasn't sure how much of this 1978 adaptation I'd be able to get through. But it surprised me and I ended up getting into it. I liked it's earnest nature. No cutesy Disney anthropomorphism here. It comes at you from a contemplative space and expects a like minded regard in return.

.
.
.

Made me want to read Adams' novel too.

85/100

I love this film, even though just thinking about it can make me cry.

And I will heartily endorse the novel. It is a really quick read (existing at a young adult writing level) and fleshes out a lot of the rabbits' mythologies in a neat way, including more of the rabbit language.

[pahaK]

The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)
2
A Spanish adaptation of Le Fanu's Carmilla. It's campy in the wrong way for me, and some scenes are just stupid (like Mircalla being buried in the sand). Even the nudity didn't make it good.

--
Dr. No (1962)
2.5
I've been planning to rewatch all the Bonds, but we'll see how it goes. Considering that I've always thought this to be one of the weaker Bonds, I was pleasantly surprised that the film was quite OK. It doesn't really have the Bond feel to it yet, and it's a bit too slow and campy.

[Wooley]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DentalBrownFrilledlizard.webp

https://www.intofilm.org/intofilm-production/scaledcropped/970x546https%3A/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.cdn.filmclub.org/film__3063-watership-down--hi_res-d91b76eb.jpg/film__3063-watership-down--hi_res-d91b76eb.jpg

Watership Down - I never read Richard Adams' book and given the subject matter I wasn't sure how much of this 1978 adaptation I'd be able to get through. But it surprised me and I ended up getting into it. I liked it's earnest nature. No cutesy Disney anthropomorphism here. It comes at you from a contemplative space and expects a like minded regard in return.

After a brief prologue in which the mythological origins of their species are laid out the film opens with two rabbit brothers Hazel and Fiver. The younger Fiver is an oracle of sorts, blessed and cursed with the ability to foresee coming events. He has had visions of an approaching apocalypse that threatens the existence of their Sandleford warren. He and Hazel seek and are granted an audience with their chieftain and strongly advise him to order an evacuation. They're summarily dismissed and the Chief orders the head of his Owsla police force Captain Holly to shadow them and make sure they don't make trouble. The two brothers quickly attract enough believers to attempt their escape.

The film is a relatively short 90 minutes and moves quickly from one perilous adventure to the next. From predatory hawks, cats and dogs to deadly snares the group encounters all manner of threats. They also meet up with a wayward seagull that helps them out of numerous tight spots. Hazel realizes that without does there is no future for their newly established warren. Their sidequest to recruit these much needed females brings them into contact with a larger and more dangerous warren led by the warlike General Woundwort. The film doesn't shy away from depicting the often cruel and bloody nature of these conflicts. I liked how it was presented so matter of factly. A simple reminder that, despite these creatures being self aware and capable of rational thought, this is the animal kingdom after all.

Haven't checked out the 2018 mini-series that's currently on Netflix. It has a surplus of recognizable British voice talent though. For now this was more than enough. Made me want to read Adams' novel too.

85/100

I love this movie. And the book.

[Allaby]

House of Gucci (2021) I liked it. I thought it was fun for the most part. Sure it is a little campy and a little soapy, but I was entertained. 4

[Corax]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/DentalBrownFrilledlizard.webp

https://www.intofilm.org/intofilm-production/scaledcropped/970x546https%3A/s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.cdn.filmclub.org/film__3063-watership-down--hi_res-d91b76eb.jpg/film__3063-watership-down--hi_res-d91b76eb.jpg

Watership Down - I never read Richard Adams' book and given the subject matter I wasn't sure how much of this 1978 adaptation I'd be able to get through. But it surprised me and I ended up getting into it. I liked it's earnest nature. No cutesy Disney anthropomorphism here. It comes at you from a contemplative space and expects a like minded regard in return.

After a brief prologue in which the mythological origins of their species are laid out the film opens with two rabbit brothers Hazel and Fiver. The younger Fiver is an oracle of sorts, blessed and cursed with the ability to foresee coming events. He has had visions of an approaching apocalypse that threatens the existence of their Sandleford warren. He and Hazel seek and are granted an audience with their chieftain and strongly advise him to order an evacuation. They're summarily dismissed and the Chief orders the head of his Owsla police force Captain Holly to shadow them and make sure they don't make trouble. The two brothers quickly attract enough believers to attempt their escape.

The film is a relatively short 90 minutes and moves quickly from one perilous adventure to the next. From predatory hawks, cats and dogs to deadly snares the group encounters all manner of threats. They also meet up with a wayward seagull that helps them out of numerous tight spots. Hazel realizes that without does there is no future for their newly established warren. Their sidequest to recruit these much needed females brings them into contact with a larger and more dangerous warren led by the warlike General Woundwort. The film doesn't shy away from depicting the often cruel and bloody nature of these conflicts. I liked how it was presented so matter of factly. A simple reminder that, despite these creatures being self aware and capable of rational thought, this is the animal kingdom after all.

Haven't checked out the 2018 mini-series that's currently on Netflix. It has a surplus of recognizable British voice talent though. For now this was more than enough. Made me want to read Adams' novel too.

85/100


This is often cited as the most hard core cartoon, but those who say so typically haven't seen The Plague Dogs which would inspire a track by Skinny Puppy.

[GulfportDoc]

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass

This just came out. Available via Prime (free trial) or directly through Showtime.

I would watch "The Jim Garrison Tapes" first, which is available thanks to the producer John Barbour (linked below)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/61/JFK_Revisited_Through_the_Looking_Glass.jpg

Caught up with this the other night. Oliver Stone has produced a first rate documentary in 2021 about the facts in the JFK assassination, mostly material that big media have steadfastly ignored for years, and continue to do so.

Oliver Stone stuck to the chief revelations: That the assassin was not a "lone nut"; that there was a major conspiracy; that the CIA was heavily involved; and that Lee Harvey Oswald had not fired a shot that day.

His reliance on the buried evidence from the medical personnel who attended JFK, along with pragmatic and compelling testimony by some of the nation's highest forensic medical examiners should be a revelation to any viewer.

Even if one only learns that the JFK Assassination Records Review Board, created by Congress, stated that there had to be an additional gunman, there's the proof that there was a conspiracy.

I was 19 years old when Kennedy was brutally assassinated in Dallas on 11/22/63. The entire country was deeply and fearfully shocked. But then there were only 3 TV channels and newspapers from which to get information. The authorities were able to contain the information and feed whatever they liked to the public, and that was all we knew. The infamous Zapruder film was not shown to the public until 1975, with some frames missing or altered.

Despite the order of release of all JFK assassination documents by presidents and Congress, it is very likely that we'll never know the whole truth about the conspiracy to murder JFK. The CIA will never release certain of their records, and it's likely that many pertinent records have been destroyed.

One has to do a lot of digging, and reading of some of the many books on the subject to understand what really likely happened, and to understand the depth and breadth of it. Oliver Stone's excellent documentary will be a good reference work to add to that enormous amount of material.

[skizzerflake]

Feeling artsy tonight, so it was C'mon C'mon, written and directed by Mike Mills. It stars Joachin Phoenix and Woody Norman (the kid). So, a somewhat edgy mom calls her brother (Phoenix) and asks him to take her son (Mills) for a while because the stresses of dealing with a schizophrenic husband while parenting are not working well. The brother is making some sort of documentary interview movie but it's sporadic work, so he takes temporary responsibility for her son. They travel around, mainly Oakland, LA, New York and New Orleans. The guy also bonds with the kid and they have lots of discussions that are about as weighty as you can have with a 9 year old. Then the mom calls and the guy takes the kid home. That's about it for action. It does have more action than My Dinner With Andre, or at least more locations.

Given that it's quiet, contemplative and shot in very static, close up monochrome, with sketchy sound quality, you know that it's Art, with a capital A. The classical music soundtrack also helps.

Now, I am amenable to movies like this and even thought that, as a discussion of life, it was done pretty well. Fortunately, the kid and his uncle come to no harm and, at the end, he goes home while the uncle goes back to making his documentary film.

I don't know whether to recommend this to anybody, unless you're looking for the next Dinner with Andre. I would have like it more if it had been shot in color and if the sound quality were better. I've seen viewer ratings all over, from 1 to 10 and IMDB is showing it as an 8, but, if you're thinking about seeing it, be forewarned. It's probably better if you know what it is and purposely signed on for that.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mzushAOM88

[skizzerflake]

Caught up with this the other night. Oliver Stone has produced a first rate documentary in 2021 about the facts in the JFK assassination, mostly material that big media have steadfastly ignored for years, and continue to do so.
Despite the order of release of all JFK assassination documents by presidents and Congress, it is very likely that we'll never know the whole truth about the conspiracy to murder JFK. The CIA will never release certain of their records, and it's likely that many pertinent records have been destroyed.....

One has to do a lot of digging, and reading of some of the many books on the subject to understand what really likely happened, and to understand the depth and breadth of it. Oliver Stone's excellent documentary will be a good reference work to add to that enormous amount of material.

Having partaken of a bunch of those assassinology books, I can only think that Stone, on the one hand, has drunk the Koolaid, but on the other knows how he makes a living. One thing is certain is that either we will never know or that we already know but don't believe it. Personally, I choose the latter rather than the former.

I do wish that I could move these flicks into the X Files bin.

[mark f]

Leadbelly (Gordon Parks, 1976) 3 6.5/10
Black Friday (Casey Tebo, 2021) 2 5/10
Kim (Victor Saville, 1950) 3- 6.5/10
To Be or Not to Be (Ernst Lubitsch, 1942) 3.5 7+/10
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/36/da/4a/36da4adb8c013f231d8b5a4a1380878a.gif
Everybody's favorite Warsaw actress (Carole Lombard) and its biggest ham (Jack Benny) help save 1939 Poland [a bit] from NazI attrition.
Bruised (Halle Berry, 2020) 2.5 5.5/10
The Shop Around the Corner (Ernst Lubitsch, 1940) 3.5 7/10
The Trouble with Being Born (Sandra Wollner, 2020) 2.5 5.5/10
A Boy Called Christmas (Gil Kenan, 2021) 3- 6.5/10
https://central.lightcinemas.co.uk/pictures/p/6/1/4/.6140/~iDQmQm4W/ABBC_03.jpg
Young Nikolas (Henry Lawfull) searches for the legendary village of Elfhelm and comes across a magical reindeer in the process.
No Nukes (3 Directors, 1980) 3 6.5/10
Zebra in the Kitchen (Ivan Tors, 1965) 2.5 5.5/10
That Uncertain Feeling (Ernst Lubitsch, 1941) 3 6.5/10
Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright, 2021) 3.5 7/10
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58e45a52ebbd1a24417fdf93/da21c072-3129-4d5c-a5bc-9d1c80f34943/last+night+in+soho.gif
When she moves to London, fashion design student Thomasin McKenzie magically transports back to the '60s at night where she encounters all kinds of strangeness in this giallo homage.
Spencer (Pablo Larraín, 2021) 2.5+ 6/10
The Witches of the Orient (Julien Faraut, 2021) 3 6.5/10
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Andy Serkis, 2021) 2.5 6/10
8-Bit Christmas (Michael Dowse, 2021) 3- 6.5/10
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FFOGFg5WQAEUkIq.jpg
Neil Patrick Harris reminisces about how one Christmas in the '80s when he was a kid (Winslow Fegley), he really wanted a Nintendo and since bis dad (Steve Zahn) didn't seem to care, he would do anything to get one.
The Courtship of Eddie's Father (Vincente Minnelli, 1963) 3 6.5/10
Love Me Instead (Mehmet Ada Öztekin, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Design for Living (Ernst Lubitsch, 1933) 3 6.5/10
The Humans (Stephen Karam, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://www.bostonherald.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/AP21326732992857-1280x837-1.jpg?w=640
A love it/hate it film where Dad Richard Jenkins and Mom Jayne Houdyshell have Thanksgiving dinner with the family at their daughter's Manhattan apartment and family secrets are slowly revealed. Quasi horror film is dark and noisy when it isn't being inaudible.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Stories_We_Tell_poster.jpg
By Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the Film Poster/DVD Cover (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37058191

Stories We Tell - (2012)

And so last night I watched this, which has Sarah Polley interview every member of her family about her late mother, and her mother's relationship with her father. This eventually gets around to Sarah's birth, and the fact she was teased about being fathered by somebody else since she looked kind of different. Turns out she was fathered by someone else, and the film takes a sharp turn as thing become mysterious and finally about how many different 'truths' there are out there and how everyone sees truth through their own narrow vision. It's poignant, especially in relation to Sarah's mother who really is the missing voice amongst all of this - and the voice that could have provided the clearest picture to everything. Downcast a little also is Michael Polley, who discovers Sarah isn't his biological daughter - despite telling us it didn't matter to him, you can hear a sadness in his voice. Michael narrates a lot of this - as he's written about the whole story extensively. Sarah's biological father, meanwhile, seems to want to make the whole film about him. A moving documentary.

7.5/10

[Fabulous]

The Mauritanian (2021)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/uDm8vxlgRN15oyuEcqGmsZugC41.jpg

[pahaK]

Last Night in Soho (Edgar Wright, 2021) 3.5 7/10
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/58e45a52ebbd1a24417fdf93/da21c072-3129-4d5c-a5bc-9d1c80f34943/last+night+in+soho.gif
When she moves to London, fashion design student Anya Taylor-Joy magically transports back to the '60s at night where she encounters all kinds of strangeness in this giallo homage.

Actually, the student is Thomasin McKenzie but glad you liked it. My favorite film of this year.

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Shang-Chi-Fight-Scenes.jpg?fit=1200%2C666

Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings (2021, Destin Daniel Cretton)
2
That bus scene early on was kinda promising but unfortunately it went downhill after that. Some good action scenes but beyond that, a huge letdown.

[GulfportDoc]

83041
Cornered (1945)

Starring Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel
Directed by: Edward Dymytryk; Screenplay by John Paxton & Ben Hecht; story by John Wexley


This is Powell’s second and final film with Dymytryk, and second noir outing following his metamorphosis from a song & dance man to tough guy shamus in Murder My Sweet (1944). Here he plays an unrelenting hard boiled former WWII P.O.W. who is determined to find and exact revenge upon the man who was responsible for the killing of his French wife during their short lived wartime marriage.


Set first in France, then Buenos Aires, Powell is set hot on the track of a “Madame Jarac” who is thought to be complicit in the wife’s murder. In Argentina, Powell is approached by Slezac, who seemingly has knowledge of Jarnac and the conspiracy, and who offers his suspicious help. From that point until a resolution of the story that we might expect, things become more complex and confusing. But in the end things turn out to most everyone’s satisfaction.


Powell’s role is rather a double-down of his still new tough guy image. Throughout the film Powell is relentless and surly to the point of monomania in his quest for lethal satisfaction. He never waivers, never shifts mood, which is a mild detraction to his performance. Along the way he meets some shady characters played by Steven Geray, and Jack La Rue, both reliable shifty bad guys.

This is a slightly unusual classic noir, being set outside of the U.S. But it holds one’s interest, and despite the confusing plot, it’s buoyed by good acting and direction. Available on YouTube.

Doc's rating: 7/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGVkNTkxMDItNWYxZi00NGE2LTk5Y2YtODRhMzcwN2E4YjkyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTEwNDcxNDc@._V1_.jpg


4

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://www.filmink.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/humans-793x463.jpg

The Humans - This was directed by Tony Karam and adapted from his 2016 Tony award winner for best play. I prefer researching a film before watching but this was one of the few movies I went into cold. I did watch the trailer though and was immediately sold by the impressive cast. I'll watch anything with Richard Jenkins and loved Beanie Feldstein in Booksmart. I'm a long time fan of The Walking Dead so I take notice of anything Steven Yeun is in and June Squibb's performances in About Schmidt and Nebraska stuck in my head. But it was Amy Schumer's part in the trailer that sealed the deal. I wasn't expecting that from her. There's a grand total of six actors in the entire film and the only unknown was Jayne Houdyshell. But she turns in a solid performance plus she also won a Best Featured Actress Tony for the same role.

The film opens with Erik (Jenkins) and Deirdre (Houdyshell) Blake showing up at their daughter Brigid (Feldstein) and boyfriend Richard's (Yeun) dilapidated Manhattan Chinatown apartment for Thanksgiving dinner. They bring along Richard's mother Fiona (Squibb), whom the family calls "Momo". She's confined to a wheelchair and is suffering from dementia. Also at the dinner is their other adult daughter Aimee (Schumer). Most oftentimes it's easy to spot a stage adaptation because of how difficult it is to escape the requisite verbosity and static construct. But this wasn't the case here. The dialogue rings natural and sounds like you're eavesdropping on an average American family gathering. Karam does provide plenty of glimpses of something not being right. Of an impending calamity or at the very least an omnipresent sense of unease. When it finally arrives it's both enormous and strangely intimate. And I think that's due to both the talented cast and Karam's directorial debut.

Jenkins just keeps turning in one quality performance after another. Houdyshell will, at the very least, earn a nomination or two and Feldstein is also great. Schumer is yet another comedic talent with a hidden reserve of dramatic chops. And it's good to see Yeun landing all these meaningful roles after getting such a crappy sendoff from The Walking Dead.

I saw Mark F. mention how the sound and visuals were confusing and muddy and a reviewer on IMDb mentioned the exact same thing. I watched it with subtitles and still had to go back a few times. But I think the added effort ultimately paid off. It's true there aren't a lot of "big moments" in this but if you're in the mood for some family oriented stagecraft from a comprehensively talented cast then you should check this out.

80/100

[xSookieStackhouse]

3.5
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZThjMTA5YjgtZmViZi00YjY0LTk5MzQtMjUwMGEzZGVlYzFjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM2NDM2MQ@@._V1_.jpg

[Corax]

https://www.filmink.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/humans-793x463.jpg

The Humans - This was directed by Tony Karam and adapted from his 2016 Tony award winner for best play. I prefer researching a film before watching but this was one of the few movies I went into cold. I did watch the trailer though and was immediately sold by the impressive cast. I'll watch anything with Richard Jenkins and loved Beanie Feldstein in Booksmart. I'm a long time fan of The Walking Dead so I take notice of anything Steven Yeun is in and June Squibb's performances in About Schmidt and Nebraska stuck in my head. But it was Amy Schumer's part in the trailer that sealed the deal. I wasn't expecting that from her. There's a grand total of six actors in the entire film and the only unknown was Jayne Houdyshell. But she turns in a solid performance plus she also won a Best Featured Actress Tony for the same role.

The film opens with Erik (Jenkins) and Deirdre (Houdyshell) Blake showing up at their daughter Brigid (Feldstein) and boyfriend Richard's (Yeun) dilapidated Manhattan Chinatown apartment for Thanksgiving dinner. They bring along Richard's mother Fiona (Squibb), whom the family calls "Momo". She's confined to a wheelchair and is suffering from dementia. Also at the dinner is their other adult daughter Aimee (Schumer). Most oftentimes it's easy to spot a stage adaptation because of how difficult it is to escape the requisite verbosity and static construct. But this wasn't the case here. The dialogue rings natural and sounds like you're eavesdropping on an average American family gathering. Karam does provide plenty of glimpses of something not being right. Of an impending calamity or at the very least an omnipresent sense of unease. When it finally arrives it's both enormous and strangely intimate. And I think that's due to both the talented cast and Karam's directorial debut.

Jenkins just keeps turning in one quality performance after another. Houdyshell will, at the very least, earn a nomination or two and Feldstein is also great. Schumer is yet another comedic talent with a hidden reserve of dramatic chops. And it's good to see Yeun landing all these meaningful roles after getting such a crappy sendoff from The Walking Dead.

I saw Mark F. mention how the sound and visuals were confusing and muddy and a reviewer on IMDb mentioned the exact same thing. I watched it with subtitles and still had to go back a few times. But I think the added effort ultimately paid off. It's true there aren't a lot of "big moments" in this but if you're in the mood for some family oriented stagecraft from a comprehensively talented cast then you should check this out.

80/100


Just saw it. The dialogue rings true. I'd guess the writer was cribbing heavily from real life as it just rang a little too true (that sort of suspicion is a compliment to the dialogue). As a "slice of life" it was very convincing. That stated, I was waiting for some supernatural element to kick in (especially with "Momo") or for there to be a big catharsis or punchline or something. But there isn't.



It is not until the end of the film that it is revealed that we're basically in the anxiety/fear/shame of the patriarch of the family.


Mrs. Corax says, "The only movie Amy Schumer doesn't suck in." And I must admit, she carries her load as well as the rest of the cast.



I guess the cathartic moment is when



after the darkness closes in on him and he feels abandoned that one of his daughter returns to pull him out of his little meltdown. A spark of light in the desperation. His family will stay with him after all -- it's not the end of world.



At any rate, the big moment didn't really land with me, but that's probably because I am a savage who watches too many fantastical films where evil portents have evil payoffs. For a moment I was thinking, "Whoa this is the greatest slow burn for a horror movie ever." Instead, it's the horror of the real, I suppose. Alas, all that weird music and crawling along the walls and strange figures outside had me expecting to go through the looking glass, which in a way I suppose we do.

[Pussy Galore]

I rewatched Big Fish and Lost in Translation for the 2000's countdown. 2 movies I hadn't seen in a long time and that I remember loving.

I still loved Lost in Translation, maybe even more. It's a movie about mood, ambiance not about the plot and it works perfectly. I understood the characters, their motivations, the feelings they felt and I was moved by the fact that their mutual presence in their life for this short amount of time made their respective life more pleasant.

Big Fish was alright, but nothing to write home about. It's toonish, it's a fairy tale. Maybe I'm a grumpy 25 year old man now, but I didn't feel the magic. The life of the father seemed improbable and not that interesting to me.

[Thief]

UNDER THE SKIN
(2013, Glazer)
A film with a title that starts with the letters U or V

https://i.imgur.com/VQBZ73h.jpg


"Do you want to look at me?"



Under the Skin follows an unnamed female character (Scarlett Johansson) as she prowls around the streets of Scotland, looking for men. Why? We don't know, but we can see it's not necessarily for good. In the process, there's a significant amount of sensorial experience as we see her scan her surroundings for potential prey like a Terminator.

When I tweeted that I was watching this, ThatDarnMKS described the film as "a sensory masterpiece", and I think that's an extremely accurate way to put it. Just like the characters' senses are fed through what they see, listen, and feel, we — as the audience — are fed through Glazer's sometimes cold, sometimes bizarre visuals, as well as the masterful work of everyone at the sound department.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2256933#post2256933)

[Takoma11]

[CENTER]UNDER THE SKIN

When I tweeted that I was watching this, ThatDarnMKS described the film as "a sensory masterpiece", and I think that's an extremely accurate way to put it. Just like the characters' senses are fed through what they see, listen, and feel, we — as the audience — are fed through Glazer's sometimes cold, sometimes bizarre visuals, as well as the masterful work of everyone at the sound department.


I like this movie quite a lot, and I think that the extended sequence on the beach is its own masterpiece.

I do think that the film kind of fumbles the ending. It just seemed to get . . . .messy. And while I appreciate that it sort of matches the main character unraveling a bit, parts of it still felt too on-the-nose for me.

Still, very worth watching and I think that the first 3/4 or so are excellent. The scenes in the "other space" make me think of some of my favorite parts of Phantasm

[Thief]

I like this movie quite a lot, and I think that the extended sequence on the beach is its own masterpiece.

I do think that the film kind of fumbles the ending. It just seemed to get . . . .messy. And while I appreciate that it sort of matches the main character unraveling a bit, parts of it still felt too on-the-nose for me.

Still, very worth watching and I think that the first 3/4 or so are excellent. The scenes in the "other space" make me think of some of my favorite parts of Phantasm

Like I just told Speling on my own thread, I feel like I can give it the extra bump and take it to 4.5, but I kinda feel like watching it again soon. Take from that what you may, but that's usually a good/great sign with me.

As for the sequence at the beach, I had a particularly strong reaction to that. I literally started to cry a lot. Really strong scene indeed.

I think the apparent "messiness" of the ending is very much intentional.


Main character is desperate and no longer in control; she's being pursued while her own notion and idea of the world and humanity has been kinda shaken in two opposite directions. First, by her encounter with the guy that receives her in his home, and then by this worker at the forest. I wrote something about her ultimate fate on my own thread, which is me trying to rationalize the symbolisms of what happens.


Overall, I dug it.

As for the scenes you mention, that and other scenes kinda reminded me of Panos Cosmatos' Beyond the Black Rainbow.

[GulfportDoc]

The Humans - This was directed by Tony Karam and adapted from his 2016 Tony award winner for best play. I prefer researching a film before watching but this was one of the few movies I went into cold. I did watch the trailer though and was immediately sold by the impressive cast. I'll watch anything with Richard Jenkins and loved Beanie Feldstein in Booksmart. I'm a long time fan of The Walking Dead so I take notice of anything Steven Yeun is in and June Squibb's performances in About Schmidt and Nebraska stuck in my head. But it was Amy Schumer's part in the trailer that sealed the deal. I wasn't expecting that from her. There's a grand total of six actors in the entire film and the only unknown was Jayne Houdyshell. But she turns in a solid performance plus she also won a Best Featured Actress Tony for the same role.
...
I couldn't agree with you more about the great Richard Jenkins. I feel that he's one of the most convincing character actors who is working today.

[John W Constantine]

High Fidelity - 2000

4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/The_Neon_Demon.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50235396

The Neon Demon - (2016)

I'm kind of unsure where I sit with this Nicolas Winding Refn effort - it's one of those good films that made me feel really bad. There's a dark sickness twisted into it, such as with the whole 'Lolita' bit at the hotel our protagonist Jesse stays at - but I like the weird stuff that might allude to things like the mountain lion which stows away in Jesse's room and the interesting eating habits of the faux-witches late in the piece. I generally have a negative vibe when it comes to modelling - the whole industry built off insecurity and exploiting young girls - but in a horror film with many in-built criticisms of the whole 'trading on your looks' theme this movie should sit very much right with me. I especially like dream-like imagery, and this is definitely one of those films that becomes more abstract and dream-like as it goes. I have a feeling that if I watch this again I might enjoy it more - but for now I'm not jazzed as I was when I saw Only God Forgives. Reminded me a little of Black Swan.

7/10

https://i.postimg.cc/3xq8ZL4V/a-separation.jpg
By CineMaterial, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59130336

A Separation - (2011) - Iran

My second go-around with this, and it's just great. From start to finish A Separation keeps you thinking and questioning yourself and the characters in it. Beautifully scripted with nuances and complexity - yet it's straightforward and filmed to near-perfection. Most films clearly illustrate good people and bad people, but here it's shades of good and bad which point more to the situations the characters find themselves in rather than something intrinsic inside of them. Through it all comes not just the one 'separation' between a husband and wife, but many separations in Iranian society - perhaps alluding to the ultimate philosophical concept that we're really all alone - and connecting with another person is an illusion. A simple and very real story about being wronged - depending on the point of view.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Nikita_france.jpg
By http://membres.lycos.fr/jeanreno/films/nikita.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7816620

Nikita - (1990) - France

I was so tired when I watched this, but I still liked it - the story of a female gang member and hood who is convicted of murder and then turned into an assassin - getting a second chance but living a murderous false life she hates. Throughout the second half of the film you're on her side, but lets not forget she did kill someone without scruples earlier on. Best thing about this film are the missions - all carefully set up, they play out step by step and are exciting, taut and very well shot.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Subway_affiche.jpg
By www.affichescinema.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7816526

Subway - (1985)

Another Luc Besson film, this time set during around 24 hours in a Paris Subway with a thief (Fred - played by Christopher Lambert) making a getaway and coming into contact with a whole underground of petty criminals who live there. It doesn't have much of a plot - mainly characters spend the whole film looking for other characters, and it's the people themselves - their quirks and mannerisms - that make up the movie. Lambert is very charismatic in this, but I felt pretty lost without a story to follow.

6/10

[Takoma11]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/The_Neon_Demon.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50235396

The Neon Demon - (2016)

I'm kind of unsure where I sit with this Nicolas Winding Refn effort - it's one of those good films that made me feel really bad. There's a dark sickness twisted into it, such as with the whole 'Lolita' bit at the hotel our protagonist Jesse stays at - but I like the weird stuff that might allude to things like the mountain lion which stows away in Jesse's room and the interesting eating habits of the faux-witches late in the piece. I generally have a negative vibe when it comes to modelling - the whole industry built off insecurity and exploiting young girls - but in a horror film with many in-built criticisms of the whole 'trading on your looks' theme this movie should sit very much right with me. I especially like dream-like imagery, and this is definitely one of those films that becomes more abstract and dream-like as it goes. I have a feeling that if I watch this again I might enjoy it more - but for now I'm not jazzed as I was when I saw Only God Forgives. Reminded me a little of Black Swan.

7/10

I liked, but did not love, this one. I will say that it plays well a second time around, and I think that it looks amazing. Reeves as the creepy motel owner and in particular that scene where he puts the knife in her mouth made me profoundly uncomfortable in a way that I both appreciated and resented. I like the way that the film both explores and subverts the expectations about how the main character will be a victim of exploitation.

[Wooley]

Yesterday, I saw Dune in the theater on the big screen and Last Night In Soho at someone's house on the TV. And I sincerely wish I could reverse that.

[Rockatansky]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Nikita_france.jpg
By http://membres.lycos.fr/jeanreno/films/nikita.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7816620

Nikita - (1990) - France

I was so tired when I watched this, but I still liked it - the story of a female gang member and hood who is convicted of murder and then turned into an assassin - getting a second chance but living a murderous false life she hates. Throughout the second half of the film you're on her side, but lets not forget she did kill someone without scruples earlier on. Best thing about this film are the missions - all carefully set up, they play out step by step and are exciting, taut and very well shot.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Subway_affiche.jpg
By www.affichescinema.com (http://www.affichescinema.com), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7816526

Subway - (1985)

Another Luc Besson film, this time set during around 24 hours in a Paris Subway with a thief (Fred - played by Christopher Lambert) making a getaway and coming into contact with a whole underground of petty criminals who live there. It doesn't have much of a plot - mainly characters spend the whole film looking for other characters, and it's the people themselves - their quirks and mannerisms - that make up the movie. Lambert is very charismatic in this, but I felt pretty lost without a story to follow.

6/10
If you're digging into Besson, I'd suggest seeing The Last Battle if you haven't already. It's got his quirkier sensibilities but without the slickness of his later works, and with a strong silent comedy streak. Looks great too.


https://64.media.tumblr.com/ee687c162dfd655dca018b4e0b005c11/tumblr_nxkunxjxNm1sb6554o9_1280.png


https://64.media.tumblr.com/4adb53281ead9c79fdaf84d13c8514a2/tumblr_nxkunxjxNm1sb6554o3_1280.png


https://64.media.tumblr.com/5b0f134d5933192081fcfc56481dfa00/tumblr_nxkuf5TZPS1sb6554o1_1280.png


https://64.media.tumblr.com/354fc37d5dd857348bea326f4b1d32c9/tumblr_nxkuf5TZPS1sb6554o2_1280.png

[SpelingError]

https://i.postimg.cc/3xq8ZL4V/a-separation.jpg
By CineMaterial, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59130336

A Separation - (2011) - Iran

My second go-around with this, and it's just great. From start to finish A Separation keeps you thinking and questioning yourself and the characters in it. Beautifully scripted with nuances and complexity - yet it's straightforward and filmed to near-perfection. Most films clearly illustrate good people and bad people, but here it's shades of good and bad which point more to the situations the characters find themselves in rather than something intrinsic inside of them. Through it all comes not just the one 'separation' between a husband and wife, but many separations in Iranian society - perhaps alluding to the ultimate philosophical concept that we're really all alone - and connecting with another person is an illusion. A simple and very real story about being wronged - depending on the point of view.

9/10

I'm a huge fan of A Separation.

[Fabulous]

Out of the Furnace (2013)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/9LjOSjqAKkcCN1dcBzcbLQij3T.jpg

[Yomi]

The Rookie (1990)
rating_3_5

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTQ1NDYwMzUzMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNTU2MzM5._V1_FMjpg_UX250_.jpg


War (2007)
rating_3

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTIwMjE2Mjc1MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNzI0OTI3._V1_FMjpg_UX250_.jpg

[mark f]

Flipper's New Adventure (Leon Benson, 1964) 2.5 5.5/10
Outlaws AKA The Laws of the Border (Daniel Monzón, 2021) 3- 6.5/10
Lust in the Dust (Paul Bartel, 1984) 2.5 6/10
The Meaning of Hitler (Petra Epperlein & Michael Tucker, 2020) 3 6.5/10
https://www.gossipcentral.com/.a/6a00d83453b9ca69e2026bdea3c00e200c-pi
Documentary about how Hitler and fascism rose in the 1930s and is rising again now.
A Bridge Too Far (Richard Attenborough, 1977) 3 6.5/10
The Challenge AKA It Takes a Thief (John Gilling, 1960) 2.5 6/10
Untamed Women (W. Merle Connell, 1952) 1.5 4+/10
The Beatles: Get Back (Peter Jackson, 2021) 3.5 7+/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/d8b06ba6515ae68c825b8b5d0fa8c371/3f5970001181fda0-90/s540x810/9325f2b425aa625b921cc6db2248d728100ebd2f.gifv
Paul McCartney and John Lennon rehearse a song for the Let It Be album and their rooftop concert.
The Long, Long Trailer (Vincente Minnelli, 1954) 2.5 6/10
Wonder Women (Robert Vincent O'Neil, 1973) 2 5/10
The Predator (Shane Black, 2018) 2.5 5.5/10
Lost in America (Albert Brooks, 1985) 3 6.5/10
https://i2.wp.com/streamondemandathome.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/lost-in-america-1985.jpg?fit=625%2C337&ssl=1
Married couple Julie Hagerty and Albert Brooks decide to go Easy RIder and travel around looking for America in a Winnebago.
Urbania (Jon Shear, 2000) 2.5 6/10
David Copperfield (George Cukor, 1935) 3 6.5/10
High School U.S.A. (Rod Amateau, 1983) 2.5 6/10
A House on the Bayou (Alex McAulay, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/e9b6dc5851b5f650d0d9210111891f45/4310e5883d373b2e-99/s540x810/fe23bf3dc59c1916d23ad500e1a17066fef55ead.gifv
Angela Sarafyan goes with her cheating husband and her daughter to vacation at a mansion on the bayou and are visited by a teenager and an old man who seem to have magical powers.
The Devil's Rain (Robert Fuest, 1975) 2 5/10
Spin (Manjari Makijany, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Crime Against Joe (Lee Sholem, 1956) 2+ 5/10
The Day the Earth Stood Still (Robert Wise, 1951) 3.5- 7/10
https://www.wrir.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/gort-gif.gif
Alien spaceship lands in Washington, D.C. and robot policeman Gort shows some intergalactic enforcement against Earth's warlike behavior.

[Gideon58]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/juwanna_mann_7.jpg


1.5

[beelzebubble]

tick..tick..BOOM
I give it a three out of five. The music was good. The lead actor was excellent. But the pacing was frenetic for most of the movie. Even people running out of time take a beat. It is even more important to pay attention to the pacing in a musical than other forms of entertainment. A ballad or two would have gone a long way to evening this flaw out. Of course the lead character who the composer and deceased now couldn't address this problem. I also didn't care for the way the death was handle. It is just flatly stated. And then there is a little addressing of the death but not in a satisfactory way.

[Gideon58]

https://cdns-images.dzcdn.net/images/cover/e6e14be36599f286bc3f91c22902c958/264x264.jpg



4

[StuSmallz]

Yesterday, I saw Dune in the theater on the big screen and Last Night In Soho at someone's house on the TV. And I sincerely wish I could reverse that.What, first you don't like 2049, and now Dune too? For shame Wooley, for shame...

[Thief]

IDA
(2013, Pawlikowski)
A film from Poland

https://i.imgur.com/L0jr4nI.jpg


"What if you go there and discover there is no God?"



Set in 1960s Poland, Ida follows Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), a young, aspiring Catholic nun who is confronted with the reality of her past before taking her vows. Orphaned as an infant during World War II, Anna is sent out to meet her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), her only surviving relative, through which she learns about her Jewish parents. Both women set out on a trip into the Polish countryside to find out what happened to their family.

This is the second film I've seen from Pawlikowski, after Cold War, and as much as I liked that one, I loved this one even more. This film is, and I hope I can stress this enough, *gorgeously shot*. The framing and overall shot composition is superb, while the black and white cinematography conveys the lifelessness of the post-war world in which these women live, as well as the contrast within their mindset.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2257494#post2257494)

[Wooley]

What, first you don't like 2049, and now Dune too? For shame Wooley, for shame...

I liked Dune. I did. To be honest, I liked 2049 up until the third act.
But Soho was a visually striking film with a great soundtrack and a driving arc, it would have been fun to see and hear in the theater.
Dune plays more like a really good, high cinematic cost streaming show. I'm glad I saw it, I enjoyed the story and at least a couple/few of the characters (though the movie is mostly story), but it felt more like I was watching the first couple episodes of HBO's Dune. No arc whatsoever, very story-driven, little character-development outside of Paul, it was just story. And it's a bit drab, visually, not without its treats but very gray and brown and sandy with little other than one or two cool spaceships and a worm to catch the eye. And the soundtrack was mostly that horn sound from all the big CGI-action movie trailers these days.
So, while I definitely enjoyed it, and I did, look forward to the next one, it really felt like I could have watched that at home and hauled my cookies out for Last Night In Soho.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/VsMxq92N/penultimate.jpg

L'avant dernier (The Penultimate) - (1981)

Just thought I'd take a look at this Luc Besson short as it's his first film and precedes Le dernier combat (The Last Battle) - Two 'Knights' of an apocalyptic world come face to face in combat after one (Jean Reno) kills the other's blow-up sex doll. Very stylized, but his feature released two years later would make massive improvements on it. Runs for 11 minutes.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/35/Le_Dernier_Combat.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15895159

Le Dernier Combat (The Last Battle) - (1983)

Full of quirky humour, pathos, imagination and wonderful imagery, this is a great first feature from Luc Besson. Set in the ruins of society after a cataclysmic apocalypse, where humanity has lost the ability to speak, a lone man must find the final components to his self-made plane and then set off in search of what turns out to be a beautiful young woman - one of the few left alive. On his way he comes across 'The Brute' - played by Jean Reno - a violent man trying to force his way into a makeshift hospital to plunder and rape. This is basically a black and white silent film and has a visual style that keeps things interesting from start to finish. Frequent Besson collaborator Eric Serra provides a dream-like ambience for our ears, which mixes well with the other-worldly ruin. Really liked this film.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/64/Under_the_Skin_poster.png
By A24 Films - IMP Awards, Kellerhouse, Inc., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42597010

Under the Skin - (2013)

Had to watch this again - I'm a big fan of Under the Skin - a film that goes way off-novel but provides a lot of freaky imagery in relation to aliens who I'm supposing are inter-dimensional and process humans for their meat - ensnared by attractive women. They seem to have a constant problem though - they develop emotional connections with humanity meaning the 'lures' have a specific use-by date. Scarlett Johansson plays one - she's out for what's under our skin (the meat) but she also takes note of everything she experiences in the human world and finds there's a whole other meaning to the term.

She'll eventually meet the human equivalent of herself though.

From the film's first shot - the artificial construction of a human eye in some bizarre realm - we're treated to another world that I find fascinating. Apart from the deeper meanings behind everything, I can't get enough of bizarre scenes where men are put under a spell, led to a very unnatural submerged liquid zone and undergo their 'processing'. There are other scenes that shock and surprise - and as a whole I find Under the Skin a fascinating and sometimes upsetting film.

9/10

https://i.postimg.cc/pLzQkZKs/atlantis.jpg
By http://i1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc515/hunterlucky1/hunterlucky/399be5dea1f8adc8af4a948f52255e2587038359.jpg~original, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44894416

Atlantis - (1991)

Luc Besson-directed doc with underwater wildlife set to music. Some pretty nice imagery - and if I ever needed a film to sooth me to sleep this would be the one.

6/10

[Nausicaä]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61lXSVzM9dL._AC_SY445_.jpg
Pure As Snow


2.5

SF = 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

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://ilarge.lisimg.com/image/22998069/800full-it%21-the-terror-from-beyond-space-screenshot.jpg

https://78.media.tumblr.com/dfdc6fd4b824f0f5be63523f4e39aa34/tumblr_p6j6hmwXRr1rgmfmpo2_400.gif


It! The Terror from Beyond Space - Low budget 1958 B&W scifi/horror. It stars Marshall Thompson as Col. Edward Carruthers, the commander of Challenge 141, the first manned expedition to Mars. That ship crash landed and a second mission has been sent to look for survivors. Carruthers turns out to be the sole survivor of the 10 man crew. He tells his rescuers that an unidentified creature had killed the rest of his crew during a Martian sandstorm. They don't believe him of course and make plans to get him back to Earth to face a court martial and execution. One of the crew leaves a bay door open long enough while disposing of debris for an unwanted hitchhiker to make it's way aboard.

This is low budget but not egregiously so. The so called "ship" is exclusively shown to be traveling in a vertical position (accompanied by wacky sound effects). That's probably due to how the set was built with each level separated by hatches. Plus I'm sure the budget didn't allow for weightlessness. This ties in directly to the plot though, with the survivors not only having to retreat to sequential levels but also adding to the claustrophobic feel.

It's a short one, clocking in at 69 minutes, but the story doesn't feel rushed. I didn't recognize any of the other cast outside of character actor Dabbs Greer. There are two female scientists on board, one a doctor and the other a geologist. Their first time onscreen however has them serving coffee to the male crew members like intergalactic waitresses. Outside of dated clunkers like that it does a reasonably good job with the thriller aspect of it's story. The remaining survivors throw everything they have at the creature which it mostly shrugs off. You, on the other hand, have to shrug off the fact that many of their attempts would have most assuredly led to hull integrity being compromised followed by catastrophic implosion. But then accuracy should never enter the equation when watching this kind of movie. It's actually not bad.

75/100

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91nk2q2hSGL._SY445_.jpg


3.5

[edarsenal]

https://j.gifs.com/Kjb936.gif
https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/913/172/bc0.gif
https://c.tenor.com/HcmCiwojJLAAAAAd/downfall-grenades.gif


Downfall (2004) 4.5 Say what you will about Hitler, but the man went out with a BANG Ha hahaha ha

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Regardless this is an exceptional film with far more gravitas on a far more expanded field than similar films I have seen on the final days as Russia invaded Berlin.
Starting with the POV/witness and our escort into the doomed Bunker, with actual footage of Hitler's secretary, Traudl Junge, in both the opening and closing of this film. This perspective seemed to open the doors to many occurrences involving lower officers and staff along with Bruno Ganz's impressive multi-layered performance of Adolf Hitler. For all the parody fodder that erupted on youtube, I remained mesmerized by the Humanity and pathos contained throughout the Bunker and its privileged residents and the very streets of Berlin. The citizens, caught in the crosshairs of both Russian invaders and the cold disregard dealt with them by their leaders.

Even if this were not a Historical Piece, it would still be a compelling film with all that occurs within this finely crafted film of a very grim comeuppance and the devoted zealots who went down with the blazing ship.

[edarsenal]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Nikita_france.jpg
By http://membres.lycos.fr/jeanreno/films/nikita.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7816620

Nikita - (1990) - France

I was so tired when I watched this, but I still liked it - the story of a female gang member and hood who is convicted of murder and then turned into an assassin - getting a second chance but living a murderous false life she hates. Throughout the second half of the film you're on her side, but lets not forget she did kill someone without scruples earlier on. Best thing about this film are the missions - all carefully set up, they play out step by step and are exciting, taut and very well shot.

7/10

It has been FAR TOO LONG since I've watched this back in the nineties. This was my introduction to Luc Besson and I REALLY need to revisit this.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/julie-gholson-matthew-burrill-helen-harmon-jan-smithers-stand-in-a-picture-id502854693?s=2048x2048

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/matthew-burrill-helen-harmon-jan-smithers-and-julie-gholson-stand-to-picture-id502854401?s=2048x2048

Where the Lilies Bloom - This is a little known (or simply overlooked) 1974 gem based on the award winning YA novel by Bill and Vera Cleaver with a screenplay by Earl Hamner Jr (creator of The Waltons).

The Luther family live a hardscrabble life in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Patriarch Roy Luther (Rance Howard) has been in bad health since the death of his wife. His oldest daughter Devola (Jan Smithers) has taken on the domestic responsibilities of her mother. Fourteen year old Mary Call (Julie Gholson) is the level headed one and looks after 10 year old Romey (Matthew Buril) and four year old Ima Dean (Helen Harmon). Knowing that his days are numbered Roy Luther takes Mary Call aside and tells her that, because of Devola's head in the clouds nature, she is to be responsible for keeping the family together after he passes. He also makes her promise not to call in a doctor or an undertaker but his most important request is that under no circumstances is she to let Devola marry well to do farmer Kiser Pease (Harry Dean Stanton). Roy Luther blames Kiser for settling an outstanding tax debt which resulted in the family losing their land and being forced to sharecrop.

When Roy Luther succumbs to his illness the family bands together to keep outsiders from finding out. They know this would lead to the authorities splitting them up with the children going into foster care. The children learn from local store owner Mr. Connell that pharmacists in the larger cities will pay money for homeopathic plants and roots. Since their late mother was the leading local expert in "wildcrafting" and left them a homemade journal the kids are able to scrape by while also making sure to show up at school every day. But the responsibilities are a huge weight to Mary Call and despite the back breaking, round the clock work the family continues to walk the razors edge between survival and complete collapse. It's a short film which still manages to tell an affective and endearing tale.

90/100

[FromBeyond]

Deathwish 2018

Bruce Willis tries his hand at acting. Vincent D’Onofrio does acting.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Exit-through-the-gift-shop.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.banksyfilm.com/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27515445

Exit Through the Gift Shop - (2010)

Thierry Guetta is a somewhat obsessive fellow who followed street artists around filming what they did for a long time - and eventually tried his hand at it, lamely copying what they were doing but making a fortune. This documentary follows his path. After Searching for Sugarman I'm wary of being totally fooled by documentaries that bend the truth. Guetta (otherwise known as Mr. Brainwash) may simply be a construct of the artist known as 'Banksy' - but overall this doc shows us that people can be so easily fooled by crap and knock-offs that any artistic appraisal you give to anything should come with questions - always questions. I was on Guetta's side all the way until he decided to mindlessly copy other artists and sell his works for ridiculously large sums of money. When that happened my mind went "ugh".

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/A_Beautiful_Day_in_the_Neighborhood.jpg
By Sony Pictures Releasing - http://www.impawards.com/2019/beautiful_day_in_the_neighborhood.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61900962

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - (2019)

I got two conflicting things out of this film. The first is that Tom Hanks has crossed over into territory where he has the screen presence of a behemoth, and can take real-life characters like Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger or Fred Rogers, inhabit them, then magnify them so they transform ordinary films into noteworthy ones. The other thing is that without Hanks this would be a tired film, relying on well-worn clichés - though I did enjoy the sparkle the Wes Anderson-like toy cities gave it. Is everyone else meant to pale into insignificance next to Hanks as Rogers? Perhaps a little. There could have been something great here, but in the end it was an average film about healing old wounds in a family.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Only_God_Forgives_poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37693847

Only God Forgives - (2013)

I'm going out on a pretty thin limb here, because this film is rated very poorly by many, but I love Only God Forgives. My reasons for doing so are very spoilerish...

It doesn't try to redeem the irredeemable - something I see in most violent gangster films I watch. It teases that it's going to. It makes a point of this. From the moment Ryan Gosling's Julian refuses to shoot his brother's killer on moral grounds to the moment he shoots one of his own co-assassins to save a small girl, it's telling us that what always happens is about to happen. Turn this ugly human being into some kind of "hero" for doing what he's meant to be doing all along. Then it doesn't. Julian is never redeemed. He's a gangster - and ineffectual to boot. The cop who brings him down isn't a hero either - the film explicitly tells us that there are no 'good guys' in this filthy den of drug dealing and prostitution. There are points you go to where redemption shouldn't be the name of the game - because it's no longer possible. Just because you refuse to do the next awful mission does not make you an angel - you have to own what you've done in life.

It's a visually splendid film as well. Merciless. Fearless in travelling in a direction that would obviously upset a certain percentage of an audience right off the bat. I enjoy it's subversions, and enjoy watching Vithaya Pansringarm's inscrutable 'Terminator' Chang - the most unusual arbiter of justice I've seen in a film for a long time. In most other films he'd be the villain - a bad cop for a Mel Gibson or Brad Pitt to take down. In this cesspool he's the hero.

Yeah, I know I'm the only person who likes Only God Forgives.

9/10

[ThatDarnMKS]

I absolutely love Only God Forgives, as well as the vast majority of Refn's output.

[Rockatansky]

Vithaya Pansringarm is also in Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, one of the better DTV action flicks around.

[Fabulous]

The Voyeurs (2021)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/3rwszCm4XyBtIWSjbUbgNwJOidu.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Only_God_Forgives_poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37693847

Only God Forgives - (2013)

I'm going out on a pretty thin limb here, because this film is rated very poorly by many, but I love Only God Forgives. My reasons for doing so are very spoilerish...

It doesn't try to redeem the irredeemable - something I see in most violent gangster films I watch. It teases that it's going to. It makes a point of this. From the moment Ryan Gosling's Julian refuses to shoot his brother's killer on moral grounds to the moment he shoots one of his own co-assassins to save a small girl, it's telling us that what always happens is about to happen. Turn this ugly human being into some kind of "hero" for doing what he's meant to be doing all along. Then it doesn't. Julian is never redeemed. He's a gangster - and ineffectual to boot. The cop who brings him down isn't a hero either - the film explicitly tells us that there are no 'good guys' in this filthy den of drug dealing and prostitution. There are points you go to where redemption shouldn't be the name of the game - because it's no longer possible. Just because you refuse to do the next awful mission does not make you an angel - you have to own what you've done in life.

It's a visually splendid film as well. Merciless. Fearless in travelling in a direction that would obviously upset a certain percentage of an audience right off the bat. I enjoy it's subversions, and enjoy watching Vithaya Pansringarm's inscrutable 'Terminator' Chang - the most unusual arbiter of justice I've seen in a film for a long time. In most other films he'd be the villain - a bad cop for a Mel Gibson or Brad Pitt to take down. In this cesspool he's the hero.

Yeah, I know I'm the only person who likes Only God Forgives.

9/10No. No you're not. I'm also a big fan of Refn's work. You should check out Too Old to Die Young. It's a 10 episode miniseries on Amazon Prime.

[Corax]

The Voyeurs (2021)

rating_2_5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/3rwszCm4XyBtIWSjbUbgNwJOidu.jpg


Could this poster be any more on the nose? Look, here are the voyeurs... ...they're lookin' in 'yer window, watchin' 'ya copulate!



Why is it that voyeur movies are almost always about people having sex? It's either that or someone is getting killed. Or it's both, as in Body Double where the voyeur tunes in for porn with a telescope and gets snuff instead.



Where are the "slice of life" voyeur films that just show us people learning about other people's lives by peeking in? Surely, there is another way to motivate a "peekaboo premise" than to show us the beast with two backs?

[pahaK]

Why is it that voyeur movies are almost always about people having sex?

Maybe because it's the (most) common interpretation of the word? Someone who gets their kicks from watching others have sex. I know it has other meanings too, but I'm pretty sure that's the first thing that comes to mind for the majority of people.

[Corax]

Maybe because it's the (most) common interpretation of the word? Someone who gets their kicks from watching others have sex. I know it has other meanings too, but I'm pretty sure that's the first thing that comes to mind for the majority of people.


That's a fair cop.

[Yomi]

Jurassic World (2015)
rating_3

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDE1NWUxZjItMjU1ZS00NjM1LTgwYWQtNDE3Mjg1MTBkZDQ3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjA3NzQyMA@@._V1_FMjpg_UX250_.jp g

[beelzebubble]

The Voyeurs (2021)

rating_2_5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/3rwszCm4XyBtIWSjbUbgNwJOidu.jpg
I applaud your tenacity I found it too boring to finish.

[beelzebubble]

Zodiac (2007)--enjoyable procedural with some gorgeous film of San Francisco. It really is beautifully filmed.
I give it 4/5 popcorn boxes and a handful of milk duds.

[ScarletLion]

'Funeral Parade of Roses' 1969

https://i.imgur.com/MxyzD75.gif

Close to a masterpiece. Chunks of French new wave. Chunks of Czech New wave. It's a dark, beautiful and graphic foray into the transvestite community in the underbelly of Tokyo's swinging sixties. Some wild editing and photography too.

9.2/10

........................................................................
'Certified Copy' 2010

https://64.media.tumblr.com/712f9c483b41c7d1717278681b867f16/bd0ea8c5072b1d86-4f/s500x750/bc3f6cb6c63bcb563c335faa87b0f6c69f5abb3a.gif

Very intriguing Kiarostami film. Like a Kieslowski melded with Linklaters before/after trilogy.

7.8/10

[mark f]

I applaud your tenacity I found it too boring to finish.
The ending's the whole point for the movie. I gave it the same rating. 5.5/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MYv0u5Al3zk/WV-aixyvNqI/AAAAAAAB0tY/3gcBBz-rqYcmQwHlEHbNBAPZuya9nPK3gCLcBGAs/s1600/tumblr_o9dbskvhz01re3gzzo1_500.gif

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xAQUYdH5VYA/WV-axNtv9OI/AAAAAAAB0ts/QB6TJZc_bqkl9AyfFD9JNEZDy2mhbEkoACLcBGAs/s1600/drphibes.gif


The Abominable Dr. Phibes - This 1971 camp horror classic stars Vincent Price and is directed by Robert Fuest. He not only got his start on the seminal British spy series The Avengers but also directed another of my favorite macabre horror flicks The Devil's Rain. That one however was said to have essentially ended his career. That's how bad that supposedly was.

But this one is a decapitated horse of a different color. Price plays Dr. Anton Phibes, a once renowned concert organist. It's set in the 1920's so I suppose organists were the rock stars of their day. The film also makes full use of the period with beautiful art deco sets and designs. Phibes is believed to have died in a car accident while rushing home after hearing of the death of his beloved wife Victoria during a surgical procedure. But he didn't die. He was instead horrifically disfigured and is now busily at work avenging his wife by methodically killing off the team of surgeons and nurses whom he blames for her death. He's set in motion an elaborate plot based on the The Ten Plagues of Egypt where each victim will die in numerical order. Helping him in his quest for vengeance is his beautiful and mute assistant Vulnavia (Virginia North). Joseph Cotten costars as the head of the surgical team and Phibes' final target Dr. Vesalius. Terry-Thomas also appears as smut aficionado Dr. Longstreet.

This has a lurid sort of pulpy vibe that is different than anything that preceded it. Phibes clockwork orchestra, his (and other) vintage vehicles and the wardrobe choices are all part of an elaborate and elegant production design. There's also a 1972 followup titled Dr. Phibes Rises Again and even though it's worth watching it doesn't hit the heights this one does.

85/100

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjgwZDIwY2MtNGZlNy00NGRlLWFmNTgtOTBkZThjMDUwMGJhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg



4

[Thief]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Exit-through-the-gift-shop.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.banksyfilm.com/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27515445

Exit Through the Gift Shop - (2010)

Thierry Guetta is a somewhat obsessive fellow who followed street artists around filming what they did for a long time - and eventually tried his hand at it, lamely copying what they were doing but making a fortune. This documentary follows his path. After Searching for Sugarman I'm wary of being totally fooled by documentaries that bend the truth. Guetta (otherwise known as Mr. Brainwash) may simply be a construct of the artist known as 'Banksy' - but overall this doc shows us that people can be so easily fooled by crap and knock-offs that any artistic appraisal you give to anything should come with questions - always questions. I was on Guetta's side all the way until he decided to mindlessly copy other artists and sell his works for ridiculously large sums of money. When that happened my mind went "ugh".

8/10



I saw this a couple of months ago and really dug it. It really puts your head in a spin as far as what people call art.

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Only_God_Forgives_poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37693847

Only God Forgives - (2013)

I'm going out on a pretty thin limb here, because this film is rated very poorly by many, but I love Only God Forgives. My reasons for doing so are very spoilerish...

It doesn't try to redeem the irredeemable - something I see in most violent gangster films I watch. It teases that it's going to. It makes a point of this. From the moment Ryan Gosling's Julian refuses to shoot his brother's killer on moral grounds to the moment he shoots one of his own co-assassins to save a small girl, it's telling us that what always happens is about to happen. Turn this ugly human being into some kind of "hero" for doing what he's meant to be doing all along. Then it doesn't. Julian is never redeemed. He's a gangster - and ineffectual to boot. The cop who brings him down isn't a hero either - the film explicitly tells us that there are no 'good guys' in this filthy den of drug dealing and prostitution. There are points you go to where redemption shouldn't be the name of the game - because it's no longer possible. Just because you refuse to do the next awful mission does not make you an angel - you have to own what you've done in life.

It's a visually splendid film as well. Merciless. Fearless in travelling in a direction that would obviously upset a certain percentage of an audience right off the bat. I enjoy it's subversions, and enjoy watching Vithaya Pansringarm's inscrutable 'Terminator' Chang - the most unusual arbiter of justice I've seen in a film for a long time. In most other films he'd be the villain - a bad cop for a Mel Gibson or Brad Pitt to take down. In this cesspool he's the hero.

Yeah, I know I'm the only person who likes Only God Forgives.

9/10

You are not alone, mon frere, I too love OGF and, honestly, I just can never understand the arguments against it. To me, it is clearly great at being exactly what it is and wants to be, while being something I really like. It's like they made this movie for me. And made it well. And now I know they also made it for you. So, cheers.

[Wooley]

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MYv0u5Al3zk/WV-aixyvNqI/AAAAAAAB0tY/3gcBBz-rqYcmQwHlEHbNBAPZuya9nPK3gCLcBGAs/s1600/tumblr_o9dbskvhz01re3gzzo1_500.gif

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xAQUYdH5VYA/WV-axNtv9OI/AAAAAAAB0ts/QB6TJZc_bqkl9AyfFD9JNEZDy2mhbEkoACLcBGAs/s1600/drphibes.gif


The Abominable Dr. Phibes - This 1971 camp horror classic stars Vincent Price and is directed by Robert Fuest. He not only got his start on the seminal British spy series The Avengers but also directed another of my favorite macabre horror flicks The Devil's Rain. That one however was said to have essentially ended his career. That's how bad that supposedly was.

But this one is a decapitated horse of a different color. Price plays Dr. Anton Phibes, a once renowned concert organist. It's set in the 1920's so I suppose organists were the rock stars of their day. The film also makes full use of the period with beautiful art deco sets and designs. Phibes is believed to have died in a car accident while rushing home after hearing of the death of his beloved wife Victoria during a surgical procedure. But he didn't die. He was instead horrifically disfigured and is now busily at work avenging his wife by methodically killing off the team of surgeons and nurses whom he blames for her death. He's set in motion an elaborate plot based on the The Ten Plagues of Egypt where each victim will die in numerical order. Helping him in his quest for vengeance is his beautiful and mute assistant Vulnavia (Virginia North). Joseph Cotten costars as the head of the surgical team and Phibes' final target Dr. Vesalius. Terry-Thomas also appears as smut aficionado Dr. Longstreet.

This has a lurid sort of pulpy vibe that is different than anything that preceded it. Phibes clockwork orchestra, his (and other) vintage vehicles and the wardrobe choices are all part of an elaborate and elegant production design. There's also a 1972 followup titled Dr. Phibes Rises Again and even though it's worth watching it doesn't hit the heights this one does.

85/100

This really has become one of my favorites. And Vulnavia has become one of my favorite Horror Henchpersons, if not my No.1.

[mark f]

Maeve (Pat Murphy, 1981) 2.5 6/10
Hide and Seek (Joel David Moore, 2021) 2 5/10
In Like Flint (Gordon Douglas, 1967) 2.5 6/10
The Terrorists (Casper Wrede, 1974) 3 6.5/10
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/54/c6/29/54c629ab5195da11dc5fb42356bbb701.jpg
Complex cat-and-mouse game between hijacker Ian McShane and national security chief Sean Connery has plenty of twists and excitement.
Double Agent 73 (Doris Wishman, 1974) 1.5 4/10
Broadway Melody of 1936 (Roy Del Ruth, 1936) 3 6.5/10
The White Tower (Ted Tetzlaff, 1950) 2.5 6/10
How to Steal a Million (William Wyler, 1966) 3.5 7+/10
https://68.media.tumblr.com/ceedbb458fb1730fa328131013bd6120/tumblr_o832ti5P5J1so803yo1_500.gif
Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn plot to steal a valuable piece of art in this surprising suspense comedy.
Lured (Douglas Sirk, 1947) 2.5 6/10
Cold War Killers (William Brayne, 1986) 2+ 5/10
Not to Forget (Valerio Zanoli, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Robin Robin (Daniel Ojari & Michael Please, 2021) 3.5 7/10
https://i2.wp.com/soundtracksscoresandmore.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/robin-robin-trailer_600.gif?resize=599%2C297
A robin hatches into a mouse family and gets involved in numerous adventures in this sparkling Aardman short.
A Castle for Christmas (Mary Lambert, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Repeat (Grant Archer & Richard Miller, 2021) 2+ 5/10
Wicked as They Come (Ken Hughes, 1956) 2.5 6/10
Two for the Road (Stanley Donen, 1967) 4 8/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/1a9e0c4302250cbbb5c2119203404d8c/4de0812895785eb1-07/s500x750/78fa758edae2bb3eff18e9b5043df20589e08220.gifv
Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn star in one of the greatest films about marriage ever. Poignant, hilarious and wonderfully acted, written and directed.
Paris 05:59: Théo & Hugo (Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau, 2016) 2.5 6/10
She Played with Fire (Sidney Gilliat, 1957) 3- 6.5/10
The Horror of It All (Terence Fisher, 1964) 2 5/10
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, 2021) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/f5525fe92afa4fb92f6ecd025f805ba7/f653f06c6d5c95fc-79/s540x810/d9f2fb622e05b1a6aa189e831dd0d47673c88de8.gifv
Ominous, slow-moving "horror western" holds one's interest with good acting (especially Benedict Cumberbatch), great photography and a generally unique "plot".

[edarsenal]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/b7a2f0aadd76e5efa733c0ae607d1b92/5189d01597ac9032-2a/s640x960/df44faf036e7e56275038a80b69113d492151dd2.jpg
https://ajanelaencantada.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/picrealismopoeticolesbasfonds.jpg?w=640

Les bas-fonds aka The Lower Depths (1936) 4++ Jean Renoir once more displays his intrinsic comprehension of life, humanity and the squalid dance we all perform.

Using Maxim Gorky's 1902 play, Renoir - apparently, Akira Kurasawa does the same in his 1957 version, albeit with a more somber tone, which I may have to check out at some point.

For now, I sit entrenched in the fluid mixture of the idyllic and the emotionally corrupt that Renoir seems to weave so beautifully (from my limited yet growing experience of his films) when it comes to the "Lower Depths." Set within a slum and its collection of misfits, unfortunates, and those foolish enough to dream of something more. Along with those quite comfortable to slip deeper and deeper into said depths. It is an entertaining sojourn into both their day-to-day squalor as well as their ash-ridden dreams and inability/fear to pursue them.

[Allaby]

So I watched The Power of the Dog on Netflix. My thoughts: The Power of the Dog is beautifully filmed and well acted, but I didn't find it very compelling or interesting. There isn't enough substance here to make an impact for me. I'm sure it will get lots of Oscar nominations and may win a few, but I don't think this is one of the best pictures of the year. My rating is a 3.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Gettysburgposter.jpg
By impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10571243

Gettysburg - (1993)

I've never read much about the American Civil War so what I do know comes from a mixture of sources, television, films and documentaries included. This whopping 254 minute film (which was released theatrically as well as a mini-series on television) tells us what happened fairly succinctly and successfully. It's rare a film this long doesn't wear me down (though I did separate it into two clunks) so it never lost me or had me impatient, and the period costumes and old items were mostly real antiques or provided by enthusiastic recreators. It all made for a very genuine experience. The only thing it doesn't really capture is the terror or war - there's nary a drop of blood, amputation or decapitation throughout the whole film - so it feels fairly painless and we focus mainly on the generals and their decisions. From the lower ranks of those who died we don't see as much, although a few high ranking soldiers did die in the battle. Jeff Daniels is really tested out in an unusual role for him - and Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger and Sam Elliott provide heft. A shame about the terrible fake facial hair though - a failing of films all through the ages. This is supposed to be very much based on fact - so I feel educated.

7/10

[Fabulous]

Ginger Snaps (2000)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/teXE7kLua0REIVFR0Vx8xOcJ3Ii.jpg

[StuSmallz]

Zodiac (2007)--enjoyable procedural with some gorgeous film of San Francisco. It really is beautifully filmed.
I give it 4/5 popcorn boxes and a handful of milk duds.Oh yeah, I love Zodiac (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/zodiac/); it's definitely in my top three of 2007, and considering how great a year that was on the whole for film, that's really saying something.

[MisterJJ]

Malignant (2021) 6/10

Hated it until the reveal. Bring on the sequels!

[xSookieStackhouse]

4.5
https://keeping-it-reel.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/drive_ver51.jpg

[Yomi]

The Silence (2019)
rating_2_5

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMmZlOGZkMjMtZDc4Ny00ZTQ1LWFmYTQtOThlY2JjYjg1NGQyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDg4NjY5OTQ@._V1_FMjpg_UX250_.jp g

[Kathrenn876]

Last Duel
9/10

[ScannerDarkly]

7.7/10 brutal and stoic hits ya weird, got to watch again.


Going to see if i can find on dvd.
https://media.senscritique.com/media/000017376032/source_big/Scum.jpg

[Thief]

GUN CRAZY
(1950, Lewis)
A film noir

https://i.imgur.com/8VlG3bG.jpg


"We go together, Annie. I don't know why. Maybe like guns and ammunition go together."



Gun Crazy follows Bart Tare (John Dall), a young man that has been obsessed with guns since he was a kid. This obsession took him from reform school to the Army, and eventually back to his hometown. When he meets circus sharpshooter Annie Starr (Peggy Cummins) during one of her performances, the two become infatuated with each other. Is it love, or is it that gun obsession again?

Eventually, Bart and Annie embark on a crime spree across the nation. With Annie's ambitions and Bart's obsession, the idea of losing each other is so unbearable that they disregard law and morals in favor of a life on the run. Both Dall and Cummins are fantastic transmitting this attraction in a way that's believable, and both charming and toxic at the same time.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2258361#post2258361)

[edarsenal]

https://images.static-bluray.com/reviews/11623_1.jpg
https://fourstarfilmfan.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/f9677-lesilence1.png
https://i1.wp.com/daredaniel.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/le_silence_de_la_mer1949c10.png


Le Silence de la Mer aka The Silence of the Sea (1949) 4.5 With this, I believe I have fulfilled my exploration as far as a well-rounded sojourn into the cinematic excellence that is, for me, Jean-Pierre Melville.

I have continually stated (for D@MN good reason) that this particular year has been an extraordinary one regarding not only discoveries but a brand new crop of endeared favorites. It is a very far past due exploration of various directors and their craft, from a deeper exploration of Kurosawa to first-time visitations of Fellini and Rossellini and an introduction to Russian cinema. Along with a growing appreciation of Bergman, which I have previously balked at and now no longer. I have also delved deeper into several French directors, including Renoir, Carné, Bresson, Clouzot, Becker, and this gentleman whom I have gorged on a wide selection of films.

Previously, while still highlighting his brilliance of direction, there has been a penchant for the visceral, and here, in his debut, I have witnessed a more cerebral, artistic presentation - a kind of Arthouse essay with philosophical soliloquies and film technique.

It was adapted from a fellow Resistance, Vercors, a clandestine short story written in 1942. At first, without his permission and eventually after seeing the film before distributing the said film.

Through the winter and into the spring during the German occupation of France, without consent, a German Lieutenant has commanded an older man and his niece's cottage. They do not speak or even acknowledge his presence in their home in a kind of silent protest. They treat him like a ghost. He turns out to be a courteous ghost that begins a pattern of changing out of his uniform each night into civilian attire before visiting them for a few minutes of one-sided dialogue before bidding them good night.
Howard Vernon plays Lieutenant Werner von Ebrennac. He is a musician, composer, a learned intellectual with a poetic heart and genuine love of and for France. He waxes philosophical in these short visits before retiring.

Very much a minimalistic film, he is almost the only speaking part except for the Uncle's narration which I assume comes directly from Vercors' story.
I was initially concerned that I would grow bored. Still, much like the Lieutenant's stone silent audience, I began to find a more profound admiration and enjoyment and, finally, a love for this cinematic experience.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Five-Came-Back-1939-1.jpg?1638475528268

https://jnpickens.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/five-came-back-2.jpg

Five Came Back - 1939 adventure starring Chester Morris and Lucille Ball. Nine passengers, two pilots and a steward board a flight in Los Angeles on their way to Panama City. The flight encounters bad weather and the plane is blown off course and is forced to land in the jungle far to the south of where it was headed. You can guess the outcome based on the title.

The passengers include the young and well to do Judson Ellis (Patric Knowles) and his secretary Alice Melhorne (Wendy Barrie), eloping over their respective families objections; older couple Professor Henry Spengler (C. Aubrey Smith) and his wife Martha (Elisabeth Risdon); hard-bitten Peggy Nolan (Ball), a woman with a supposedly checkered past; Tommy Mulvaney (Casey Johnson), the young son of a gangster and Pete (Allen Jenkins), one of his fathers hired guns charged with his protection. The last two are Vasquez (Joseph Calleia), a Central American insurgent charged with the assassination of a high ranking official. He is being escorted by bounty hunter Crimp (John Carradine), who's counting on a big payday once he delivers Vasquez to what will surely be a death sentence. The crew consists of pilot Bill (Chester Morris), co-pilot Joe Brooks (Kent Taylor) and steward Larry (Dick Hogan).

This disparate group of twelve strangers will have to band together in order to survive and clear enough jungle to attempt a takeoff while Bill and Joe try to repair their plane. They also quickly learn that they've landed in headhunter territory and it's only a matter of time before hostiles show up. The cast works well together and the script gives each character a nice arc with each contributing something of value to the plot. There is no dead weight.

Before watching this I had only seen character actor Joseph Calleia playing heavies or Lotharios but he's given a plum role here and makes the most of it. Lucille Ball also displays some of the star power that made her a future household name. This is a quick (75 minutes) and decent little melodrama.

80/100

[Tugg]

Red Notice (2021) 3
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c7268c79-9436-4230-b75e-2814495b25f4/detnt43-fa3578fb-48fe-4cb4-ba62-94b1051294d2.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2M3MjY4Yzc5LTk0MzYtNDIzMC1iNzVlLTI4MTQ0OTViMjVmNFwvZGV0bnQ0My1mYTM1NzhmYi00OGZl LTRjYjQtYmE2Mi05NGIxMDUxMjk0ZDIucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.upz2RlVY 80SA--Q63IbZ8BLVPzTsDvMce6EYtGe12Zg
Last Night in Soho (2021) 3
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c7268c79-9436-4230-b75e-2814495b25f4/detnsb2-01fa7cf2-c1de-44f6-9d5d-43c2c716c50a.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2M3MjY4Yzc5LTk0MzYtNDIzMC1iNzVlLTI4MTQ0OTViMjVmNFwvZGV0bnNiMi0wMWZhN2NmMi1jMWRl LTQ0ZjYtOWQ1ZC00M2MyYzcxNmM1MGEucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.K-EteQV1-hn78NjV7wZck7-P4ZE9rcAq9XqTwiS1Gm4
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) 3
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/i/10b1df17-9b3e-455b-aa27-cd3c6a602a43/deq0n3a-9374465b-9b11-4cec-a98e-bd7f0d96ecb0.png
The Last Duel (2021) 4
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yvfz9jc5FSI/YaZ13ksd56I/AAAAAAAA1jM/16yUtD2NW84LWNOBSH9IeGHifHDrV5jmACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/The%2BLast%2BDuel%2B2021.png
Dune (2021) 2
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c7268c79-9436-4230-b75e-2814495b25f4/denqd56-5eaaa3a4-0795-4236-bba2-81da099d63f9.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2M3MjY4Yzc5LTk0MzYtNDIzMC1iNzVlLTI4MTQ0OTViMjVmNFwvZGVucWQ1Ni01ZWFhYTNhNC0wNzk1 LTQyMzYtYmJhMi04MWRhMDk5ZDYzZjkucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.FaYV3swK Rr-2Pi-8vphlayTHATwipEHAzZcnwgqlEYU

[GulfportDoc]

GUN CRAZY
(1950, Lewis)
A film noir

Gun Crazy follows Bart Tare (John Dall), a young man that has been obsessed with guns since he was a kid. This obsession took him from reform school to the Army, and eventually back to his hometown. When he meets circus sharpshooter Annie Starr (Peggy Cummins) during one of her performances, the two become infatuated with each other. Is it love, or is it that gun obsession again?


Eventually, Bart and Annie embark on a crime spree across the nation. With Annie's ambitions and Bart's obsession, the idea of losing each other is so unbearable that they disregard law and morals in favor of a life on the run. Both Dall and Cummins are fantastic transmitting this attraction in a way that's believable, and both charming and toxic at the same time.

Grade: rating_4
Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2258361#post2258361)
A great film, and one of the greatest noirs. I love that long take sequence while the couple were driving to the bank heist. Very innovative for its day.

And Peggy Cummins was such a sweet Irish lassie to play such a psychopathic femme fatale killer. And the kinky sexual turn-on from guns and murder was pretty suggestive for 1950..:)

I'm sure that the screen writers for Bonnie and Clyde (1967) were strongly influenced by this landmark film.

[Thief]

A great film, and one of the greatest noirs. I love that long take sequence while the couple were driving to the bank heist. Very innovative for its day.


I thought that long take sequence was massively impressive. I was reading some trivia about that scene earlier today and I was even more impressed!


The bank heist sequence was done entirely in one take, with no one outside the principal actors and people inside the bank aware that a movie was being filmed. When John Dall as Bart Tare says, "I hope we find a parking space," he really meant it, as there was no guarantee that there would be one. In addition, at the end of the sequence someone in the background screams that there's been a bank robbery - this was actually a bystander who saw the filming and assumed the worst.


To get the shot entirely from inside the car, the back of it was stripped out and replaced by boards and a jockey's saddle. The boards were greased so the camera could easily slide and change angles. Director Joseph H. Lewis and several crew members were crammed into the back. The only lights they had for the actors were two small key lights operating off batteries. The sound was recorded with microphones hidden in the sun visors. To get the dialogue on the sidewalk when Laurie gets out to distract the cop, Lewis placed two sound men with boom mics on the roof; they were strapped up there the entire time the car drove up to the bank and sped off.

That's resourcefulness at work!


And Peggy Cummins was such a sweet Irish lassie to play such a psychopathic femme fatale killer. And the kinky sexual turn-on from guns and murder was pretty suggestive for 1950..:)

Yeah, there was definitely a lot of suggestive wink, wink on that performance she does at the circus when they meet.

That's another bit of trivia I read that I found quite funny...


In an interview with author Danny Peary (1981), director Joseph H. Lewis described how he instructed lead actors John Dall and Peggy Cummins: "I told John, 'Your cock's never been so hard,' and I told Peggy, 'You're a female dog in heat, and you want him. But don't let him have it in a hurry. Keep him waiting.' That's exactly how I talked to them and I turned them loose. I didn't have to give them more directions."

:laugh:


I'm sure that the screen writers for Bonnie and Clyde (1967) were strongly influenced by this landmark film.

I think that Bart and Annie are obviously inspired in the real-life Bonnie and Clyde, so I suppose things go full circle with the Bonnie and Clyde film being strongly influenced by this one.

[pahaK]

Quite surprisingly, I've kept going on with my James Bond rewatches.

From Russia with Love (1963)
3
A minor upgrade from the first. Still similar to the first film and not a "real" Bond movie. I guess my rating is rounded up to create a wider range for the series.

--
Goldfinger (1964)
3.5
The first "proper" Bond movie. Has one of the best-named female characters of all time. The plots keep getting pulpier (and campier). Again, maybe a slight round-up on the rating, but it's actually quite an entertaining film.

--
Thunderball (1965)
2
The worst of the series thus far. The underwater action scenes are terrible and the speeding boat sequence near the end makes me want to facepalm. And it's quite a bit longer than the previous films, too. I'm hoping this is the low-point of the Connery era.

--
You Only Live Twice
2.5
Not that much better than the previous, really, but the campy representation of Japan (with ninjas and all) makes it a tad more entertaining. Also, has the best opening song this far (possibly because Nancy Sinatra is just awesome).

--
The Whole Truth (2021)
1.5
A break from the Bonds didn't go too well. A Netflix horror from Thailand that is way too long for the weak and predictable story it offers. The 30+ minutes of fluff just underlines the amateurishness of it all. There are maybe one or two decent scenes in the whole film.

[MisterJJ]

Shadow of the Vampire (2000) 8/10

Great companion piece to Nosferatu (1922).

[Wooley]

Quite surprisingly, I've kept going on with my James Bond rewatches.

From Russia with Love (1963)
3
A minor upgrade from the first. Still similar to the first film and not a "real" Bond movie. I guess my rating is rounded up to create a wider range for the series.



This was, by family dogma, the Best James Bond movie according to my family, growing up from the time I was old enough to watch movies. To suggest otherwise, even if you'd just seen Bond fly a kit-helicopter into a volcano-lair or run across the backs of crocodiles, was heresy.
On the one hand, I am pleased that my family had an official Best James Bond Movie. On the other, The Spy Who Loved Me is also pretty good. And despite what you say, I personally love Thunderball.

[Fabulous]

You're Next (2011)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/6rhjmMyuQy865vjeMRr17IWD5rd.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fa/The_Dressmaker_film_poster.jpg
By Universal Pictures, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44093934

The Dressmaker - (2015)

This is normally the kind of movie I'd hate, but for some reason I came out of The Dressmaker liking it a great deal. There's something utterly absurd about it, and I think that was the crucial element for me - I'd be at it all day describing the plot in full, so best to say young woman Myrtle Dunnage (Kate Winslet) comes home to a country town that she was shuttled from after being blamed for the death of a young boy. It's a town full of eccentrics, which includes a cross-dressing policeman (Hugo Weaving), Myrtle's senile mother (Judy Davis) and a bunch of the cruelest vipers on Earth. Myrtle has learned and excelled at dressmaking, and she uses this like a weapon while unearthing what really happened when she was a child and coming to terms with it and the town. Nearly everything that happens from the film's halfway point onward would be the climax of a normal film - but in this is just another plot point. It makes for an interesting explosion of drama and break-neck (plus lop-sided and unusual) pacing. It shouldn't be a good movie - but I give it the score I do because I enjoyed it that much. To top it off Winslet does a pretty decent Aussie accent.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Once_upon_a_Time_in_the_West.jpg
By Heritage Auctions: [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32367362

Once Upon a Time in the West - (1968)

And what can I say about this? This has stayed with me the day after watching it, after initially being worried about not liking it. Whenever I watch a huge movie for the first time it's "What if I don't like it?" It doesn't come any bigger or more grand than this. I must say that Sergio Leone seems to have come to the conclusion that it's all in the eyes. I can still see Bronson's stare, Fonda's expression and Robards sweaty, dirty bearded face. This feels like a biblical story with blood and betrayal - and a story about the birth and death of a murderous kind of capitalism in a lawless land reaching beyond the boundaries of civilization - but it's civilization that's closing in, meaning those who deal in bullets and murder either die or move on. For a family and a bunch of killers, the railroad's progress will be fateful. I certainly enjoyed my first viewing of Once Upon a Time in the West.

9/10

[Yomi]

The Circle (2017)
rating_2

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjY2OTM2Njc3Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNDgzODU3MTI@._V1_FMjpg_UX250_.jpg

[ScannerDarkly]

5/10 Lackluster was expecting something over the top, was sort of bloated.https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjE4NzI4OTQ4MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNDAyMjIzMQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg

[beelzebubble]

The Power of the Dog Beautifully made and tightly constructed slow burn of a movie. Cumberbatch gives you sympathy for a hate filled guy. Kirsten Dunst looks plenty miserable as the new wife of the brother. The character of the kid is as cool as a cucumber.
I give it three popcorns and a whole box of jujubees. It was a litte too slow of a burn and wasn't something I would feel complelled to return to.

[deen224]

The Vanishing (2018) - Gerard Butler acted very well.

Rate - 7/10

I enjoyed this movie. It was a little slow at times (not the 'slow burn' type) but the movie kept me compelled to continue watching. This unique story involves 3 regular Joes who get wrapped in a nasty situation. These fellas are manning a lighthouse on an island off the coast of Great Britain when a dead guy washes ashore with his wrecked little boat and a mysterious chest. Without giving anything away, there is some intrigue surrounding the contents of the locked chest

Gerard Butler will be seen in his upcoming action, thriller movie kandahar

[Marco]

The Last Duel (2021)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e8/The_Last_Duel_poster.jpg
A Ridley Scott-ed up tale of factions in Medieval France (Sires and Renters) that ends up going down a different route with differing versions of the same emotive story. Each was interesting and I thought this very well done, Damon was his best for a while whilst surely Affleck was playing this for laughs??

[rating3[/rating]

[Marco]

The Power of the Dog (2021)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/The_Power_of_the_Dog_%28film%29.jpg
Melodramatic tale of 2 brothers and the wife one marries (and her adopted son). It's got it's moments but, at the same timed dragged like hell, going for "character development". Not bad, mad ending.
2.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Once_upon_a_Time_in_the_West.jpg
By Heritage Auctions: [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32367362

Once Upon a Time in the West - (1968)

And what can I say about this? This has stayed with me the day after watching it, after initially being worried about not liking it. Whenever I watch a huge movie for the first time it's "What if I don't like it?" It doesn't come any bigger or more grand than this. I must say that Sergio Leone seems to have come to the conclusion that it's all in the eyes. I can still see Bronson's stare, Fonda's expression and Robards sweaty, dirty bearded face. This feels like a biblical story with blood and betrayal - and a story about the birth and death of a murderous kind of capitalism in a lawless land reaching beyond the boundaries of civilization - but it's civilization that's closing in, meaning those who deal in bullets and murder either die or move on. For a family and a bunch of killers, the railroad's progress will be fateful. I certainly enjoyed my first viewing of Once Upon a Time in the West.

9/10Oh and the music. Holy crap, that soundtrack. I can't say it's Morricone's best because the man has 526 freakin' composing credits but every time I listen to it it transports me. Great movie, great soundtrack.

[Stirchley]

83215

Classic.

[ScannerDarkly]

5/10 Statement piece but wasnt impressed. Nice camera work though.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71WOMYLjW+L._RI_.jpg

[mark f]

The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher (Wolfgang Schmidt [Ray Dennis Steckler], 1979) 1.5 4/10
Woman in the Window (Luciano Emmer, 1961) 3- 6.5/10
The Count of the Old Town (Edvin Adolphson, 1935) 2.5 6/10
Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas (Steve Cox, 2021) 3.5 7/10
http://www.animationscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Shaun2-460.jpg
Aardman strikes twice in a week in this sight gag-laden adventure which ties a lost sheep into a wonderful Christmas story.
Swedenhielms (Edvin Adolphson, 1935) 2.5 6-/10
Second Coming (Debbie Tucker Green, 2014) 2 5/10
The Second Mother (Anna Muylaert, 2015) 2.5 6-/10
The Last Duel (Ridley Scott, 2021) 3.5 7/10
https://c.tenor.com/OjkwxCEawlMAAAAC/the-last-duel-ridley-scott.gif
Sir Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon) and squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) fight a duel to the death over their honors and that of the former's wife (Jodie Comer) before King Charles VI in 1547 Paris.
Dollar (Gustaf Molander, 1938) 2.5 6-/10
Night Parade (Malcolm St. Clair, 1929) 2- 5/10
AMIA's Archival Screening Night Roadshow Edition 2 (Brittan Dunham, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Belfast (Kenneth Branagh, 2021) 3.5- 7/10
https://c.tenor.com/d91fSMgM_AYAAAAC/belfast-kenneth-branagh.gif
Buddy (Jude Hill) and his family try to get through The Troubles in 1969 Belfast.
Madeleine (David Lean, 1950) 2.5+ 6/10
Masquerade (Shane Dax Taylor, 2021) 1.5+ 4.5/10
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946) 2.5+ 6/10
Azor (Andreas Fontana, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-Xcn1LX0AsYOf4.jpg
Swiss private banker Fabrizio Rongione and his new wife Stéphanie Cléau arrive in Buenos Aires during a "purification" by the current dictatorship.
The Neptune Factor (Daniel Petrie, 1973) 2- 5/10
Heart of Champions (Michael Mailer, 2021) 2.5 6/10
211 (York Alec Shackleton, 2018) 2 5/10
Boiling Point (Philip Barantini, 2021) 2.5+ 6/10
https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/X8YkTePW7NvANIjVPWj.NA--~B/Zmk9ZmlsbDtweW9mZj0wO3c9NjQwO2g9MzYwO3NtPTE7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://s.yimg.com/hd/cp-video-transcode/prod/2021-11/24/619dc702cf09e433d9931684/619dc720eba01c00011ea57a_1920x1080_FES_v1.jpg
Frantic one-shot film about how alcoholic head chef Stephen Graham and his top assistant chef Vinette Robinson argue about who's responsible for all the problems they're having at the restaurant one important night.

[Fabulous]

Emma (1996)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/b8h4vKAHKXe6kDwIq46CfnU65dT.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/Klown.jpg
By Nordisk Film/Drafthouse Films/Zentropa Productions - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1680136/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38834581

Klown - (2010)

So, now I'm interested in the Danish "Curb Your Enthusiasm" that has run for 8 seasons so far called Klovn - chances are I'll never get around to seeing it, but watching Klown last night - the first feature film based on the show - has certainly provided me with the impetus. I'm going to turn around now and not go on about how great this was, because it wasn't brilliant, but it was that kind of edgy "awkward" humour that involves a lot of sex and constant faux pas from it's leads that I kind of like. In it, Frank kidnaps a kid to prove to his wife how capable he is of being a father, and ends up taking him on a canoe trip that involves his sex mad friend. Mortifyingly embarrassing mishaps abound.

Heads up though - there was a moment when things turned down a wrong alley when Frank's friend Casper is chased from a high school camping ground with claims that he attempted to rape one of the girls. Yeah, that's not so funny guys. Most of the rest is, but for just that moment the film lost me in a big way. The rest is hit and miss - but I'm pretty happy for that, because many comedies I watch these days are just miss and miss, and when Klown hits a right note (usually involving something horrifying) it really is kind of charming in a rude kind of way. Frank's seeming innocence just clinches it.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bf/Tatie_Danielle.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39217108

Tatie Danielle - (1990)

Apparently this movie is well known enough (in France perhaps) that an old, miserable and mean relative is known as a "Tatie (Aunty) Danielle". Tatie Danielle is a real bitch - if the Dalai Lama met her, he'd try to kill her. This film spends a little too long establishing that, or at least expecting it to amuse us as she tortures her housemaid (to death) and then her family. She does one horrible thing after another and it's neither making me laugh or advancing the plot. When her family goes on vacation to Greece they hire someone to look after her, Sandrine (played by the wonderful Isabelle Nanty), who proves to be too tough to crack and stands up to her. A relationship of a kind develops, and it took me until then to finally relax and get into the film. Too bad by then it's nearly finished.

Spent the first three-quarters kind of hating it, the last quarter very much enjoying it - I never found it laugh-out-loud funny, despite it being a comedy, but I don't completely dismiss Tantie Danielle. Theres a 4/5 review on letterboxd by Sed. Dine that says a lot about the film I completely agree with. So I agree with a 4/5 review - but personally I have to dock points for making me uncomfortable and miserable for an hour. I've rarely both liked and hated a film to such extremes as this.

6/10

[AgrippinaX]

I don’t really get the woman, except The Piano, but whatever.
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRG1YExkz-5ZSf7gxoWkpGw8B0EzlVK4QQAiYjJv0cGqSl1sndH

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e9/Prisoners_of_the_Ghostland.jpg/220px-Prisoners_of_the_Ghostland.jpg

1.5

SF = Zzzzz

This took forever to get through, what a chore.



[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]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Once_upon_a_Time_in_the_West.jpg
By Heritage Auctions: [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32367362

Once Upon a Time in the West - (1968)

And what can I say about this? This has stayed with me the day after watching it, after initially being worried about not liking it. Whenever I watch a huge movie for the first time it's "What if I don't like it?" It doesn't come any bigger or more grand than this. I must say that Sergio Leone seems to have come to the conclusion that it's all in the eyes. I can still see Bronson's stare, Fonda's expression and Robards sweaty, dirty bearded face. This feels like a biblical story with blood and betrayal - and a story about the birth and death of a murderous kind of capitalism in a lawless land reaching beyond the boundaries of civilization - but it's civilization that's closing in, meaning those who deal in bullets and murder either die or move on. For a family and a bunch of killers, the railroad's progress will be fateful. I certainly enjoyed my first viewing of Once Upon a Time in the West.

9/10

👍

[skizzerflake]

I went in with low expectations on House of Gucci and, yeah, I was right. It is entertaining but really, like who really gives a crap. It's the kind of movie that I'd expect to see as a "made for TV" on the E Channel or USA Network....reasonably well executed by pros, but about as cheesy as it gets. So what do you get? It's the rise of the family business of that name until the murder-for-hire killing of Maurizio, who plots and schemes his way past other family members who want the fashion empire, egged on and advised by his plotting and scheming wife Patrizia. It's a plot line worthy of the Borgias. It was also "ripped from the headlines" and simultaneously castigated by whoever in the family is not either dead or in jail. It's full of sunglasses, heavily made up women and guys with their suit jacket draped over their shoulders. There's always a goon squad in the scene...kinda like The Godfather.

Lady Gaga is Patrizia and Adam Driver is Maurizio. That's about all you need to know about the cast. They read their lines well, but Driver comes across as being completely clueless, even though he's one of the schemers. I guess that's why he's the dead schemer.

You could do worse for an evening's entertainment if you have the right attitude, but you could also do better. It looks good, everything appears very Italian. What I don't get is accents. Given that these people ARE Italian, speaking Italian and that dialog is presented in English in the movie, just WHY do they speak English with an Italian accent? It's a translated script guys, either do it in Italian with subtitles or use standard English. That part makes no sense at all. You also have to look for Jared Leto, who shows up with a fat suit, a bald wig and a really bad accent.

:popcorn::popcorn:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGi3Bgn7U5U

[Tugg]

Mom's spaghetti.

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://subjekt.no/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/De-uskyldige-bilde-1.jpg
The Innocents (2021, Eskil Vogt)
4
A slow-burn mystery thriller about a group of kids who discover supernatural abilities. Very low-key, dark and disturbing at times (the boy creeped me out ngl). You can really feel the suspense build up as you wonder what happens next - will the film take an even darker turn?

Not without flaws but overall a fascinating watch.
Recommended.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51fRciwpS4L.jpg



2.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/07/Klown.jpg
By Nordisk Film/Drafthouse Films/Zentropa Productions - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1680136/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38834581

Klown - (2010)

So, now I'm interested in the Danish "Curb Your Enthusiasm" that has run for 8 seasons so far called Klovn - chances are I'll never get around to seeing it, but watching Klown last night - the first feature film based on the show - has certainly provided me with the impetus. I'm going to turn around now and not go on about how great this was, because it wasn't brilliant, but it was that kind of edgy "awkward" humour that involves a lot of sex and constant faux pas from it's leads that I kind of like. In it, Frank kidnaps a kid to prove to his wife how capable he is of being a father, and ends up taking him on a canoe trip that involves his sex mad friend. Mortifyingly embarrassing mishaps abound.

Heads up though - there was a moment when things turned down a wrong alley when Frank's friend Casper is chased from a high school camping ground with claims that he attempted to rape one of the girls. Yeah, that's not so funny guys. Most of the rest is, but for just that moment the film lost me in a big way. The rest is hit and miss - but I'm pretty happy for that, because many comedies I watch these days are just miss and miss, and when Klown hits a right note (usually involving something horrifying) it really is kind of charming in a rude kind of way. Frank's seeming innocence just clinches it.

7/10I'm not a delver. I don't go looking for movies. Or rather I might go looking but get whatever the delving equivalent is of winded and then give up. I mostly just take them as they come so I don't know how the hell I ran across this. But I watched it at some point in time and I remember really liking it. :up: