Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia1.fdncms.com%2Fsaltlake%2Fimager%2Finherent-vice%2Fu%2Foriginal%2F2652391%2Fcinema_feature2-1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Inherent Vice, 2014

Stoner private eye Doc (Joaquin Phoenix) is contacted by his former flame Shasta (Katherine Waterson), who asks him to help prevent her lover, Mickey (Eric Roberts) from being forced into an insane asylum. Along the way Doc crosses paths with cults, neo-Nazis, an unwilling informant (Owen Wilson), and clashes with frenemy police detective "Bigfoot" (Josh Brolin).

I haven't read Pynchon's novel of the same name on which this film is based. I know that the intention was to stay faithful to the text, which partly takes the form of a voice over (by Joanna Newsom) that is narration from the book. I can't speak to the faithfulness of this adaptation, but there does seem to be a tension in realizing a unique voice and vision.

The plot of this film is complex, with multiple overlapping storylines and characters. Most of the sequences are darkly comic and at times borderline surreal. It seems like a film more suited to be experienced in a non-literal fashion than one in which you're rewarded by keeping track of how the drug cartel is connected to the cult and how they both relate to the eccentric dentist.

Even with trying to just "experience" this film, I felt as if I was left adrift a bit. While individual sequences and moments worked really well for me, as a whole I just never quite got into the flow of it. The movie looks really good. In terms of the performances, the actors really seem to be on the right wavelength with each other. But there was some "it factor" that just never materialized for me.

It's hard to say much more. Anderson's films have always worked well as mood pieces for me, but this one left me cold. Little pops of joy here and there, and the admiration for the craft on display were all positives, but my ultimate experience was one of disconnection. I wouldn't say that I didn't understand this movie, but I definitely didn't get it.

3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ffgmxi4acxur9qbg31y9s3a15-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2018%2F06%2FLEAVE-NO-TRACE_MYAB_05-20_02710-1600x900-c-default.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Leave No Trace, 2018

Will (Ben Foster) lives illegally in a state park with his teenage daughter, Tom (Thomasin McKenzie). When they are discovered by the authorities, they must cope with trying to adapt to a more conventional life. At the same time, both Will and Tom must question what they really want in how to live.

Ugh, this was so good.

I usually try not to read too much about films I intend to watch, but I was aware that both Foster and McKenzie has received much praise for their performances, and that praise is more than earned. The two of them cultivate an excellent dynamic of a family unit with some "us against the world" instincts, but at the same time a dynamic in which Tom is beginning to have a more autonomous view of how she wants to live her life.

What the film does so gracefully is let implications and ambiguities remain as we try to understand what drives these different characters. There are implications that Will is a military veteran, and that his need to move and keep moving, his need for distance is somehow related to some sort of PTSD from his service. In one particularly grueling sequence, Will and Tom are offered a place to stay and work . . . but the work Will must do is cutting down hundreds of trees to ship off to California for Christmas. As the loud buzz of the chainsaws rattles and the trees fall, you can feel some deep part of Will's soul tearing.

Likewise, when Tom is spotted by a jogger and fails to tell Will, it's unclear what she thought or hoped would happen. She claims that she didn't think he really saw her, but this might be a lie. As she begins to experience things that she and her father have always rejected---a house, possessions like a bike, pets--she must reexamine her concept of a good life. Tom has never had friends her own age, must less a crush or romantic partner, and it's through this lens that we really start to feel the way that her time in the woods has been harmful. She has never had the chance to make a choice because she has not been given the opportunity to experience her options.

This is a film full of great sequences, and they add up to an amazing whole with a powerful, powerful conclusion. The photography of the woods is also sumptuous.

Highly recommended.

4.5

[Fabulous]

Dersu Uzala (1975)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/33hRze5MIFzwV2MR3kF5QzPkgjR.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Lolagermanposter.jpg
By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17817741

Lola - (1981)

The year is 1957, and Lola is broken into two worlds, the outer respectable one and the inner one symbolized by the brothel which every member of the elite of Coburg frequents. When a new building commissioner arrives (Von Bohm, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl) his idealism blinds him to the very existence of the brothel, but after falling in love with Lola - one of the prostitutes who works there - he eventually has to either confront or repress the knowledge that the people he works with and the love of his life has such a dark side. Director Fassbinder dealt a lot with Germany's mid-twentieth century susceptibility towards denial and strong female characters who very much take their life into their own hands. Visually, this film has a dark red glow to it, and is surprisingly less sexual than his other films - delving much deeper into psychological and political territory. Barbara Sukowa's Lola is one of the least passive female characters I've ever seen, blazing a trail through the inner and outer worlds of Fassbinder's Coburg that makes her seem very alive and real - as if she's there continuing her life after you switch off. Mueller-Stahl is likewise great.

8/10

[Fabulous]

Chemical Hearts (2020)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/pGTXJcZQIgqzFZlWy6KxlamlTHK.jpg

[Captain Terror]

Leave No Trace, 2018
Highly recommended.
4.5

Agreed! (I was somehow under the impression that you'd seen this)
This was my introduction to McKenzie and I was knocked out. Glad to see her becoming a star.
But yeah, this film gave me feelings.

[Gideon58]

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4

[mrblond]

Cruella (https://www.movieforums.com/movies/337404-cruella.html) (2021)

Colorful, artistic, stylish, entertaining, nice cast, superb Emma Stone...

4.0
85143

[Gideon58]

https://www.gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2021/04/07/3f06357a/ghostbusters_afterlife_mini_pufts.jpg

Ghostbusters:Afterlife (2021)

Ghostbusters (1984) and Ghostbusters (2016) are really two films that are on diametrically opposed spots of my pallet. I can not express my hatred for the reboot that striped away the horror and clever comedy of the original and left us with a misandrist, slapstick bore of a cash in. Ghostbusters(2016) embodied everything I hate about modern films it was a lazy stupid fraud of a film. Ghostbusters II looks brilliant compared to 2016 so could a modern Ghostbusters movie work.

Well Egon dies and his family shows up as his farm house in Oklahoma to take care of his belongings settle his accounts in the hopes of trying to move on. The family features a 12 year old daughter who is a genius, a 15 year old mechanic brother and a single tire mother. In this new town we are introduced to three characters, a summer school science teacher (Paul Rudd) and Lucky and Podcast. I did not know the 19 year old girls name was Lucky I think that's an advantage because she's pretty much the worst part of the film. Podcast feels like a Goonies throwback character however the actor is a strong part of the film. He's one note but it's a good one note.

Ghostbusters:Afterlife attempts to make an 80's movie and it manages to hit more than it misses. Reitman manages to give the film a Spielberg esque quality to it, and while he doesn't get everything right, the pacing effects and character development work really well. The final act is polarizing but I'm on the positive side..it worked I was spoiled going in but I still got hit with the emotions and that's important.

rating_4

Just finished watching and reviewing this...gave it the same rating you did.

[WlackBidow]

The Wrong Missy 6/10


Although it's all over the place, it made me laugh. Lapkus should be in more movies.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2020%2F10%2F10%2Farts%2F07ailey-item1%2F07ailey-item1-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Ailey, 2021

This documentary tells the story of Alvin Ailey, the pioneering dancer and choreographer who put an unabashedly Black point of view into his work and achieved tremendous success.

Of course anyone can watch a documentary on any topic they like, but I think that it helps if you have an interest in the topic on display. I do enjoy dance, and especially modern dance. I have a huge amount of respect for the highly intense intersection of physicality and emotion that goes into creating and performing dance.

The story of Ailey's life is inseparable from the story of class and race struggles in America. Born during the Great Depression and working with his mother either in cotton fields or as domestic servants, Ailey experienced the traumas of poverty, racism, witnessing the sexual assault of his mother at a young age, and a migrant life moving from place to place. Ailey was very outspoken about the importance of seeing Blackness represented in dance, and much of his choreography drew explicitly on his experiences.

The affection and respect for Ailey is palpable in the interviews with his former dancers and collaborators. Ailey had high expectations, but there's no indication that he had a runaway ego. In fact, one of the dancers even says that he preferred not to get to know Ailey that well---he liked to leave Ailey up on a pedestal.

That idea--of Ailey as being above and separate--is something that the film manages to convey, and yet it is also a source of weakness at times in the film. Ailey died of complications from AIDS in 1989, and so we meet him in the film through archived footage of interviews with him. While there are moments of openness in what he discusses, there are certain topics that he may not have been comfortable broaching in the 70s and 80s that he might have felt more free to speak about now. One of his dancers even talks about the way that Ailey deliberately kept his sexuality away from his art.

In the faces of everyone who is interviewed, you can see how much Ailey meant to them. He ran a truly diverse dance troupe, and there is a sense from all of his dancers that they were valued.

Even if you are not a fan of dance, I would still recommend this documentary. Ailey's life was truly remarkable and his artistry undeniable.

4

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6c64vr34t1qabk2xo2_540.gifv

https://www.sensesofcinema.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/quai-des-orfevres.jpg

Quai des Orfevres - I really, really enjoyed this. I knew it was directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot who was responsible for one of my Top 10 favorites, The Wages of Fear and also Diabolique but it still turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise.

This was a comeback of sorts for Clouzot. He was supposedly barred from making films in his native France after his controversial 1943 release Le Corbeau. The movie was made under the auspices of Continental Films, a German company, and after France was liberated numerous cast and crew members were also kept from working in the film industry. Some accounts claim Clouzot was merely suspended along with them while others say he was banned and only allowed to return to directing after widespread protests.

The film stars Suzy Delair as Jenny Lamour, an ambitious music hall performer. She's married to the jealous and perpetually gloomy Maurice Martineau (Bernard Blier). His childhood friend, Dora Monnier (Simone Renant), runs a photography studio downstairs from their apartment and one of her regular clients is successful businessman George Brignon (Charles Dullin). He's a bit of a pervert (by today's standards) and brings numerous young women to the studio to pose for nude photos. It is there that Jenny runs into him and agrees to meet him for dinner. One of his companies is a film studio and the ever ambitious Jenny is hoping for her big break. Dora, who also has unrequited feelings for Jenny, warns her off then tells Maurice who then forbids her from joining Brignon. After quarreling she angrily relents but Maurice finds out she still plans to meet Brignon in a private room at a restaurant. He drives there in a rage and confronts the man behind closed doors but within earshot of several witnesses. Never one to give up, Jenny arranges to meet Brignon at his home for dinner. After Maurice checks on her alibi of being at her sick grandmother's and finds Brignon's address on a scrap of paper he grabs an old pistol and sets out to set up his own alibi. He goes to another music hall and checks his coat and hat then sneaks out the back entrance. When he arrives at the address he finds Brignon dead on the floor and panics, running out only to find a man stealing his car. Unable to hail any cabs he's forced to run and take public transport before arriving back at the music hall after they've closed.

Once the dead man is found the story shifts gears and the murder investigation begins. It turns into more of a police procedural with the introduction of one of the more memorable cinematic characters I've ever encountered. Louis Jouvet plays L'inspecteur adjoint Antoine, a sort of weary and beleaguered detective whose unassuming demeanor belies a steel trap of a mind and a hardwired understanding of people. But it is his innate compassion that sets him apart. A veteran of the French Foreign Legion he is raising a son alone. He calls the boy his treasure and the only good thing to come out of his years of service. There's a lot of cat and mouse between Antoine and Maurice, Dora and Jenny before the whole thing is wrapped up in grand fashion.
Sometimes a movie will surprise and impress with it's sheer brilliance. I remember having the same reaction to Witness for the Prosecution that I had after watching this. There's no telling what will catch your fancy when it comes to movies but quality always seems to trump any and all personal preferences.

90/100

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic01.nyt.com%2Fimages%2F2020%2F10%2F10%2Farts%2F07ailey-item1%2F07ailey-item1-videoSixteenByNine3000.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Ailey, 2021

This documentary tells the story of Alvin Ailey, the pioneering dancer and choreographer who put an unabashedly Black point of view into his work and achieved tremendous success.

Of course anyone can watch a documentary on any topic they like, but I think that it helps if you have an interest in the topic on display. I do enjoy dance, and especially modern dance. I have a huge amount of respect for the highly intense intersection of physicality and emotion that goes into creating and performing dance.

The story of Ailey's life is inseparable from the story of class and race struggles in America. Born during the Great Depression and working with his mother either in cotton fields or as domestic servants, Ailey experienced the traumas of poverty, racism, witnessing the sexual assault of his mother at a young age, and a migrant life moving from place to place. Ailey was very outspoken about the importance of seeing Blackness represented in dance, and much of his choreography drew explicitly on his experiences.

The affection and respect for Ailey is palpable in the interviews with his former dancers and collaborators. Ailey had high expectations, but there's no indication that he had a runaway ego. In fact, one of the dancers even says that he preferred not to get to know Ailey that well---he liked to leave Ailey up on a pedestal.

That idea--of Ailey as being above and separate--is something that the film manages to convey, and yet it is also a source of weakness at times in the film. Ailey died of complications from AIDS in 1989, and so we meet him in the film through archived footage of interviews with him. While there are moments of openness in what he discusses, there are certain topics that he may not have been comfortable broaching in the 70s and 80s that he might have felt more free to speak about now. One of his dancers even talks about the way that Ailey deliberately kept his sexuality away from his art.

In the faces of everyone who is interviewed, you can see how much Ailey meant to them. He ran a truly diverse dance troupe, and there is a sense from all of his dancers that they were valued.

Even if you are not a fan of dance, I would still recommend this documentary. Ailey's life was truly remarkable and his artistry undeniable.

4

This is only tangentially related, but on one trip to New York for a job interview, a friend of mine who was out of town gave me his apartment for the week.
His apartment was across the street from the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater on 55th. The walls of which are glass. I got to watch them rehearse every night. It was awesome.

[chawhee]

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
https://www.game-ost.com/static/covers_soundtracks/3156_317448.jpg
3
Others have mentioned it is one of their favorite Soderbergh movies, so I thought I would give it a watch despite it being a little before my time. It doesn't come close to my love for Ocean's 11, but it is an odd, intriguing movie. I can see how some would love it, however it's not something I can strongly recommend. You have to be in a certain mood to really enjoy the pace and dialogue that carries throughout the movie.

[Takoma11]

This is only tangentially related, but on one trip to New York for a job interview, a friend of mine who was out of town gave me his apartment for the week.
His apartment was across the street from the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater on 55th. The walls of which are glass. I got to watch them rehearse every night. It was awesome.

Part of the film shows the current troupe preparing for a retrospective. It's kind of like the Christina Applegate SNL skit, only with amazingly talented people somehow taking direction to "Uhn, do POW POW da!"

[Siddon]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/MCDFIWA_EC041x-H-2021.jpg

First Wave (2021)

Oscar documentary short list film. Tone deaf at parts (Hi Andrew Cuomo!) but still tragic and traumatizing. Personally I feel like much like Vietnam people should have to watch what Covid does to you. Watching a 35 year old diabetic go gray while his little children try and talk to him over ZOOM it hits you and it hits you hard.

Sadly we only go into the psychology of one of the health care workers and naturally it's about race:rolleyes:. A little bit would have gone a long way and going into the mental issues of all the people who have to take care of all of these dying people would have been a lot stronger.

rating_3

[Captain Steel]

Part of the film shows the current troupe preparing for a retrospective. It's kind of like the Christina Applegate SNL skit, only with amazingly talented people somehow taking direction to "Uhn, do POW POW da!"

Ka-CONK!

[SpelingError]

27th Hall of Fame

Magical Girl (2014) - 3.5

While the direction of this film was too cold and distant to resonate with me as much as it could've, I still enjoyed enough about it to give it a recommendation. For one, I enjoyed Barbara as the emotional core. Most films would have her start off in good health and have her mental health decline more and more throughout the film. In this film though, she was already unstable and Luis's behavior made her go from bad to worse. For instance, after she intentionally cuts her head on a mirror, Javier comments on it being another scar and later in the film when she's asked to disrobe, we see that her body is full of scars. Given those scenes, it's clear she had been suffering long before she encountered Luis. While Luis's control over Barbara is quite apparent though, Javier, her husband, is guilty of this as well. His monitoring of whether she takes her pills starts out as seemingly innocuous. The more he escalates though, the more paranoid he seems (a scene where he feels inside her mouth to make sure she swallowed a pill is super uncomfortable to watch). Another interesting thing about the film is the struggle which several characters face at finding closure or satisfaction. To list examples of this theme would involve spoiling major parts of the film, but that extensions of it pop up in smaller moments, like Luis missing an important radio broadcast from his daughter, or some unexplainable moments, like the final scene, is quite impressive. As mentioned at the start, the coldness of this film kept me from loving it, but while I'm not sure I'll revisit it again, I did enjoy my time with it.

[ScannerDarkly]

Sundown (2021)

6.5/10



https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTAwOWRlMmEtYWVlMi00ZjNiLWFlZWQtY2E2OThiMzI0YTU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTM1MTE1NDMx._V1_.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://offscreen.com/images/made/images/articles/_resized/billy-budd-film-peter-ustinov-1962_1000_420_90_c1.jpg

http://cinesavant.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/5776a.jpg

Billy Budd - 1962 seafaring drama based on Herman Melville's unfinished novella. Co-written, directed and produced by and starring Peter Ustinov as Edwin Fairfax Vere - Post Captain Royal Navy. Terrence Stamp also stars as the title character Billy Budd, a seaman on the merchant ship The Rights of Man who is "impressed into service"with the Royal Navy onboard the HMS Avenger during the Napoleonic Wars.

An easygoing and cheerful sort, Budd hits it off with his crewmates with the exception of the cruel and sadistic Master At Arms John Claggart (Robert Ryan). Claggart sees Budd as a threat and can't begin to fathom the young sailor's optimistic nature. He rules over the crew with an iron hand, doling out punishment in the form of flogging for the merest of offenses. He's openly despised and with news of two recent mutinies on other naval ships the Captain and officers are nervous and well aware of the razors edge between laxity and brutality.

The death of a crewmember after Claggart sends him up into the rigging despite the man's protestations of illness and Billy's promotion to replace him spur Claggart to an even greater acts of vengeance. He brings charges of mutiny against the young sailor and of conspiring to murder him and the other officers. Billy, having a problem with stammering in times of stress, lashes out at Claggart who falls, hits his head and dies.

A military tribunal is held and the officers and Captain Vere conclude that Claggart's death was an unfortunate accident. Even though the other three are ready to acquit Billy Captain Vere convinces them that, according to military code, the mere act of an enlisted man striking a superior during wartime merits execution. And that, given the recent mutinies, the recent and general malaise of the crew and the fact that they're sailing in French waters it is incumbent upon them to restore discipline and show no weakness.

The sentence is carried out the following morning and the crew come close to rioting until an unseen French warship opens fire on The Avenger. The men eventually choose to take their frustrations out on the French ship with the closing shot not really providing much information outside of the possibility that Captain Vere died during the attack.
This a talented cast with solid directing by Ustinov, good production values and well balanced performances from Stamp, Ryan Ustinov, Melvyn Douglas, John Neville and David McCallum. Wasn't sure if it was for me but I gave it a shot and it drew me in.

80/100

[Fabulous]

Hellboy (2004)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/377px2mP8k3XCqhwqMlmIrYqaae.jpg

[ScarletLion]

'Corn Island' (2014)

https://i.imgur.com/Zw6C1YS.gif

Staggeringly beautiful film about identity and awakening. A stunning example of slow cinema. The first word isn't uttered until the 21st minute. An ethnic Georgian and his granddaughter set up a tiny home on one of the many islands created by the shifting silt of a river. They hope to grow crops and make a living, but external forces interrupt them.

It's possibly a parable for a changing Georgian society and there is something very Tarkovsky about the image composition.

8.7/10

4.5

[CringeFest]

Hollow Man (2000)


5

[James D. Gardiner]

Billy Budd - 1962


80/100

Yes I was pleasantly surprised by this also not knowing what to expect going in. Good film. :up:

[mark f]

Woman of the Year (George Stevens, 1942) 2.5+ 6/10
Tomorrow's Promise (Edward Owens, 1967) 1 3/10
Book of Love (Analeine Cal y Mayor, 2022) 2.5 6/10
It Happened One Night (Frank Capra, 1934) 3.5 7+/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/8f945df7c187d0c7cd031ffeb0cd17aa/tumblr_n2eg523nBX1sr1ki0o1_500.gifv
Reporter Clark Gable takes the time to inform rich spoiled brat Claudette Colbert that her father doesn't know a hang about piggyback-riding.
My Grandpa Is an Alien (Drazen Zarkovic & Marina Andree Skop, 2019) 2+ 5/10
Thunder Island (Jack Leewood, 1963) 1.5+ 4.5/10
The Raven (Roger Corman, 1963) 2.5 5.5/10
Bullitt (Peter Yates, 1968) 3.5 7/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/6f4b0ecd964cfbd9d4ebcc5106c2064a/858376cfdf7ea77f-06/s500x750/c57e58edd3c5cf824a5a829280f62d509b475c85.gifv
In a textbook police procedural/mystery-thriller, detective Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) pursues two assassins throughout San Francisco.
The Green Helmet (Michael Forlong, 1961) 2+ 5/10
Borrego (Jesse Harris, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Violent Road (Howard W. Koch, 1958) 2+ 5/10
Corvette Summer (Matthew Robbins, 1978) 2.5+ 6/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W9pmT6JTO4
High school autoshop student Mark Hamill tracks down his greatest creation to Las Vegas and gets some help from youthful entrepreneur Annie Potts.
Nemesis (James Crow, 2021) 2 5/10
Kid Galahad (Michael Curtiz, 1937) 2.5+ 6/10
Valentine (Jamie Blanks, 2021) 2- 5/10
The Omega Man (Boris Sagal, 1971) 2.5 6/10
https://i.imgur.com/LscJS0x.gif?noredirect
In post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, vaxxed-immune scientist Charlton Heston, does battle with "the family", a group of people who survived the nuclear holocaust but were turned zombie-like.
The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (John C. Donkin, 2022) 2+ 5/10
A Guy Named Joe (Victor Fleming, 1943) 3 6.5/10
Please Don't Eat the Daisies (Charles Walters, 1960) 2.5+ 6/10
Red Rocket (Sean Baker, 2021) 3 6.5/10
https://c.tenor.com/raOuQ56TePUAAAAC/red-rocket-sean-baker.gif
Ex-porn star Simon Rex comes home to Texas to take advantage of everybody, but mostly his estranged wife and mother-in-law. He thinks he strikes it rich when he meets 17-year-old donut shop worker Suzanna Son, but it complicates his life even more.

[Thursday Next]

Don't Look Up (2021)

As a satire, it takes broad swipes at a lot of different things - politics, denialists, big data, tech companies, social media, tv news - and broadly hits them. Some of it is a little obvious - anyone used to the sharper, darker Black Mirror might find themselves wanting a bit more, but it's hardly a surprise it stretches itself a bit thin over two hours and 18 minutes. There are a whole range of human responses that might happen to an event like this that aren't really explored, or are glossed over, in favour of pursuing the main joke. At times I wasn't sure whether the very US-centric-ness was part of a parody of disaster films like Independence Day, or a trap the film itself falls into - perhaps a bit of both. Leonardo di Caprio and Jennifer Lawrence are engaging as the lead characters. Cate Blanchett is very good in this - better than her femme fatale in Nightmare Alley. Mark Rylance is a bit too much as the Musk-like inventor/businessman.

3.5 / 4

[WlackBidow]

Just saw House of Gucci. I'd give it a 8/10, but I think it should have gotten more Oscar nominations, like Leto, Gaga, adapted screenplay, come on, there's a lot of substance there...

[Gideon58]

https://img.reelgood.com/content/movie/2cfae2cc-8988-49bf-abbe-de4a9dd8ec4c/poster-780.jpg


2

[Gideon58]

Just saw House of Gucci. I'd give it a 8/10, but I think it should have gotten more Oscar nominations, like Leto, Gaga, adapted screenplay, come on, there's a lot of substance there...

GaGa and Leto deserve nominations, I don't know about the screenplay

[Takoma11]

https://img.reelgood.com/content/movie/2cfae2cc-8988-49bf-abbe-de4a9dd8ec4c/poster-780.jpg


2

My crush on Andre Braugher meant that my teenage self liked this film, but yeah, it's not the best.

[GulfportDoc]

GaGa and Leto deserve nominations, I don't know about the screenplay
Not sure if I lasted 30 minutes. IMO it was pretentious and plodding. The acting was fine, but like you say, couldn't get with the screen play.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fs.movieinsider.com%2Fimages%2Fp%2F575357_m1609553801.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Vault, 2021

A crew of treasure hunters including captain Walter (Liam Cunningham), daring diver James (Sam Riley), slight-of-hand expert Lorraine (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), hacker Klaus (Axel Stein), and reliable Simon (Luis Tosar) have an amazing find grabbed out from under them by the Spanish government. Determined to reclaim their prize before anyone can realize that the small treasure points toward a much bigger one, the group recruits college-aged genius Thom (Freddie Highmore) to help them figure out how to break into an impossible vault.

This is an easy, breazy heist movie that was plenty enjoyable if a bit rote.

There's not much new ground covered here in terms of heist films. You've seen this all before: Lorraine infiltrating the bank to do some recon work and having to think fast to avoid being caught; the crew having to figure out how they'll trick the vault's elaborate security; a heist sequence involving ziplines and collapsable ladders and elevator shafts. But the film does a competent job with these familiar elements, and there is a decent enough degree of momentum to keep things moving along.

The cast is pretty good. I always struggle with Cunningham as a good guy after his turn in Dog Soldiers. Riley is, as always, a solid presence. Highmore is a likable lead as the fresh-faced, optimistic boy genius. Aside from being distracted by some really awful hair/wig choices, Berges-Frisbey is good as the con artist and love interest.

Aside from the familiarity of the elements, I don't really have much to criticize per se. It was a fun watch that cruises along as a decent film without ever really trying to be a great one. The setpieces are all relatively engaging. This movie is a Chipotle burrito. It's not great, but it's fine for what it is.

Recommended if you want something a bit thrilling but with relatively low stakes.

3.5

[Deschain]

There’s like 4 movies on Netflix called The Vault. Is this the one with James Franco?

[ScannerDarkly]

Hollow Man (2000)


rating_5




huh?????


http://gif-free.com/uploads/posts/2017-01/1485866992_chris-rock-huh-face.gif

[7thson]

Ready Player One

85170


I tried not to like this movie because its' foundation was nothing more than "Easter Eggs".

The director (hey S.S.) knew this and went with it.

A bit lazy to me all things considered.

If I ignore all of that:


There is some really great acting in this film.

It is like using alcohol to entice an alcoholic and then giving them more just to see what happens.

I kind of enjoyed this movie.

4

[Wooley]

Ready Player One

85170


I tried not to like this movie because its' foundation was nothing more than "Easter Eggs".

The director (hey S.S.) knew this and went with it.

A bit lazy to me all things considered.

If I ignore all of that:


There is some really great acting in this film.

It is like using alcohol to entice an alcoholic and then giving them more just to see what happens.

I kind of enjoyed this movie.

4

It's funny I had the opposite experience, I went in trying to like it and thought it was one of the worst movies I've seen in years. I definitely agree with your "lazy" sentiment. There's barely a script and what there is is just terrible. I kept asking myself, "Am I really even seeing what it seems I'm seeing?! The villain's password is on a yellow post-it note on his chair?! You can open the cell you're imprisoned in from the inside?! What the hell is going on here?!" That's about as lazy as I can remember ever seeing in a film.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Gangs_of_New_York_Poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards or Miramax Films., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30130367

Gangs of New York - (2002)

It took me a while. Just about 20 years - I guess it's going to be the same with The Wolf of Wall Street - I still haven't seen that. Some Martin Scorsese films just don't grab me, though I do want to see The Irishman (all 3 and a half hours of it.) Anyway, Gangs of New York didn't end up being a huge revelation to me - it was pretty much what I expected, and as expected the best I got out of it was the interesting and palpably violent Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting character. That's after such a promising introduction to the 'almost comic book' world of early New York with it's various criminal gangs and brutal gang wars. The way they start out, I thought they might be friendly contests of strength until everyone started dying and getting hacked to pieces. The absurdity fades in and out - such as the warring fire brigades which end up fighting each other while fires blaze out of control (for the purpose of looting.) Interesting little historical anecdotes get sprinkled into what is your stock standard revenge story - it's just the way you make a film which deals with this kind of curiosity (for Titanic it was your stock standard love triangle.) I was fascinated in every historical fact, but the framework was less interesting. With $100 million at your disposal however, the look and feel of everything is impressive and felt particularly authentic.

7/10

[Fabulous]

Rocks (2019)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/imLqj1YdhxPSCeinP0AKYwC6IZc.jpg

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ae/Gangs_of_New_York_Poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards or Miramax Films., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30130367

Gangs of New York - (2002)

It took me a while. Just about 20 years - I guess it's going to be the same with The Wolf of Wall Street - I still haven't seen that. Some Martin Scorsese films just don't grab me, though I do want to see The Irishman (all 3 and a half hours of it.) Anyway, Gangs of New York didn't end up being a huge revelation to me - it was pretty much what I expected, and as expected the best I got out of it was the interesting and palpably violent Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting character. That's after such a promising introduction to the 'almost comic book' world of early New York with it's various criminal gangs and brutal gang wars. The way they start out, I thought they might be friendly contests of strength until everyone started dying and getting hacked to pieces. The absurdity fades in and out - such as the warring fire brigades which end up fighting each other while fires blaze out of control (for the purpose of looting.) Interesting little historical anecdotes get sprinkled into what is your stock standard revenge story - it's just the way you make a film which deals with this kind of curiosity (for Titanic it was your stock standard love triangle.) I was fascinated in every historical fact, but the framework was less interesting. With $100 million at your disposal however, the look and feel of everything is impressive and felt particularly authentic.

7/10

Yeah, it also took me about 20 years to try this out and I didn't make it. Like you say, it was what I thought it was and, like most of post-80s Scorsese, it just didn't hold my interest at all.

[Stirchley]

Yeah, it also took me about 20 years to try this out and I didn't make it. Like you say, it was what I thought it was and, like most of post-80s Scorsese, it just didn't hold my interest at all.

Hated this movie. Tried a couple of times, but didn’t get very far.

[CringeFest]

The Devils Advocate (1997)


4

[Citizen Rules]

Billy Budd - 1962 seafaring drama based on Herman Melville's unfinished novella. Co-written, directed and produced by and starring Peter Ustinov as Edwin Fairfax Vere - Post Captain Royal Navy. Terrence Stamp also stars as the title character Billy Budd, a seaman on the merchant ship The Rights of Man who is "impressed into service"with the Royal Navy onboard the HMS Avenger during the Napoleonic Wars.

An easygoing and cheerful sort, Budd hits it off with his crewmates with the exception of the cruel and sadistic Master At Arms John Claggart (Robert Ryan). Claggart sees Budd as a threat and can't begin to fathom the young sailor's optimistic nature. He rules over the crew with an iron hand, doling out punishment in the form of flogging for the merest of offenses. He's openly despised and with news of two recent mutinies on other naval ships the Captain and officers are nervous and well aware of the razors edge between laxity and brutality.

The death of a crewmember after Claggart sends him up into the rigging despite the man's protestations of illness and Billy's promotion to replace him spur Claggart to an even greater acts of vengeance. He brings charges of mutiny against the young sailor and of conspiring to murder him and the other officers. Billy, having a problem with stammering in times of stress, lashes out at Claggart who falls, hits his head and dies.

A military tribunal is held and the officers and Captain Vere conclude that Claggart's death was an unfortunate accident. Even though the other three are ready to acquit Billy Captain Vere convinces them that, according to military code, the mere act of an enlisted man striking a superior during wartime merits execution. And that, given the recent mutinies, the recent and general malaise of the crew and the fact that they're sailing in French waters it is incumbent upon them to restore discipline and show no weakness.

The sentence is carried out the following morning and the crew come close to rioting until an unseen French warship opens fire on The Avenger. The men eventually choose to take their frustrations out on the French ship with the closing shot not really providing much information outside of the possibility that Captain Vere died during the attack.
This a talented cast with solid directing by Ustinov, good production values and well balanced performances from Stamp, Ryan Ustinov, Melvyn Douglas, John Neville and David McCallum. Wasn't sure if it was for me but I gave it a shot and it drew me in.

80/100I love old seafaring films, I'd not heard of this before but it looks pretty darn interesting. Thanks for posting about it.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Gangs of New York is one of Scorsese’s many masterpieces. Even aside from the brilliant performances, especially Lewis and Gleeson, the vibrant costumes and set design, or even the technical exuberance, the film stands out due to the way he playfully upends a traditional period piece revenge film with his post modern “death of the grand narrative” musings into something existential and distinctly American.

The characters are so intertwined in this conflict and consumed by it that they seemingly miss out on how America doesn’t care and will passively discard and forget about them.

[Wyldesyde19]

Gangs of New York is one of Scorsese’s many masterpieces. Even aside from the brilliant performances, especially Lewis and Gleeson, the vibrant costumes and set design, or even the technical exuberance, the film stands out due to the way he playfully upends a traditional period piece revenge film with his post modern “death of the grand narrative” musings into something existential and distinctly American.

The characters are so intertwined in this conflict and consumed by it that they seemingly miss out on how America doesn’t care and will passively discard and forget about them.

I actually like Gangs, but it’s a bit of a mess. The script is pretty uneven, as are some scenes, and I recall it had something like 3 or 4 different screenwriters credited. And it shows.

Outside of some standout performances by Neeson, and DDL, it doesn’t come close to a masterpiece. Still, it does have some decent set pieces and a decent score.

[crumbsroom]

Gangs of New York, along with Bringing Out the Dead, is Scorsese overkill. Where his style became tacky and ornamental. I think they are both audacious enough films that they are worth watching, but if it wasn't for him slowly correcting himself through Aviator and Departed, then finding his sealegs again with Shutter Island, I would have thought these two movies would have been his last gasp at doing anything interesting. The beginning of the end.


I haven't seen Boxcar Bertha, Kundun or New York New York, but Dead and Gangs are almost certainly at the bottom of the heap for me.

[Wyldesyde19]

Gangs of New York, along with Bringing Out the Dead, is Scorsese overkill. Where his style became tacky and ornamental. I think they are both audacious enough films that they are worth watching, but if it wasn't for him slowly correcting himself through Aviator and Departed, then finding his sealegs again with Shutter Island, I would have thought these two movies would have been his last gasp at doing anything interesting.


I haven't seen Boxcar Bertha, Kundun or New York New York, but Dead and Gangs are almost certainly at the bottom of the heap for me.

I’m actually a bigger fan of Bringing out the Dead than Gangs, Aviator, and maybe Shutter Island (it’s close).

New York New York is ok. I rate it about the same as, say Cape Fear or The King of Comedy, Which is to say it is strictly middle of the pack.

[SpelingError]

New York New York is ok. I rate it about the same as, say Cape Fear or The King of Comedy, Which is to say it is strictly middle of the pack.

Aw, I love The King of Comedy :(

[Wyldesyde19]

Aw, I love The King of Comedy :(

I definitely need to give it another go, as it’s been years, but I felt let down by it.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I actually like Gangs, but it’s a bit of a mess. The script is pretty uneven, as are some scenes, and I recall it had something like 3 or 4 different screenwriters credited. And it shows.

Outside of some standout performances by Neeson, and DDL, it doesn’t come close to a masterpiece. Still, it does have some decent set pieces and a decent score.
The messiness is the appeal. It’s Mean Streets invading a traditional revenge narrative. The world gets in the way of what our characters define themselves with.

It has 3 or 4 screenwriters because it was a passion project he’d been working on since ‘79. Like virtually every Scorsese project, whether he’s credited or not, he’s the guiding hand that alters the script and molds it to his vision. This one being particularly and fittingly chaotic.

[crumbsroom]

Here we go



1) Mean Streets
2) Taxi Driver
3) Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
4) Goodfellas
4a) The Last Waltz
4b) No Direction Home
5) Raging Bull
6) King of Comedy
7) Wolf of Wall Street
8) Shutter Island
9) After Hours
9b) Rolling Thunder Review

10) The Irishman
11) Who's The Knocking
12) Last Temptation of Christ
13) Casino
14) Age of Innocence
15) The Departed
16) Hugo
17) Cape Fear
18) Color of Money
19) Silence
20) The Aviator
21) Gangs of New York
22) Bringing Out the Dead

[Wyldesyde19]

The messiness is the appeal. It’s Mean Streets invading a traditional revenge narrative. The world gets in the way of what our characters define themselves with.

It has 3 or 4 screenwriters because it was a passion project he’d been working on since ‘79. Like virtually every Scorsese project, whether he’s credited or not, he’s the guiding hand that alters the script and molds it to his vision. This one being particularly and fittingly chaotic.
I doubt they intended it to be that messy. The reason for the amount of screenwriters is irrelevant. It’s still a mish mash of scenes that sometimes don’t work well.
To me, all of the above chaos serves as a disservice to it.

[crumbsroom]

I don't mind the mess of Gangs. I love mess. Usually, the more mess the better. I just don't think Scorsese elevates that much poetry or humanity out of this particular mess.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I doubt they intended it to be that messy. The reason for the amount of screenwriters is irrelevant. It’s still a mish mash of scenes that sometimes don’t work well.
To me, all of the above chaos serves as a disservice to it.
I’m more inclined to believe that Scorsese made the film exactly as chaotic as he intended, given the pervasive thematic and stylistic reinforcement of it. And, ya know, his absolutely deft hand as a filmmaker.

[Wyldesyde19]

I’m more inclined to believe that Scorsese made the film exactly as chaotic as he intended, given the pervasive thematic and stylistic reinforcement of it. And, ya know, his absolutely deft hand as a filmmaker.

It’s true he has a deft hand, but he’s not immune to making a misstep here and there. I mean, he somehow missed the scene where Leo is wiping his wounded neck on the wrong side after all.

Either way, I don’t want to bog this thread down on its flaws. It’s a good film regardless, and one I’ve seen many times. Twice at the theatre.

That opening theme! 🎵

[Captain Terror]

1) Mean Streets

:yup:

[ThatDarnMKS]

Scorsese ranked:

Taxi Driver
Raging Bull
Goodfellas
Italianamerican
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
The Wolf of Wall Street
The Irishman
Mean Streets
The Last Waltz
Silence
The Last Temptation of Christ
The Departed
Bringing Out The Dead
Casino
After Hours
King of Comedy
The Age of Innocence
Hugo
Kundun
American Boy
Shutter Island
Cape Fear
The Aviator
The Color Of Money
New York Stories
The Big Shave
Rolling Thunder Revue
Boxcar Bertha
Pretend It’s A City
Shine a Light
New York, New York
Who’s That Knocking At My Door
It’s Not Just You Murray
Key to Reserva
What’s A Nice Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This

[ThatDarnMKS]

It’s true he has a deft hand, but he’s not immune to making a misstep here and there. I mean, he somehow missed the scene where Leo is wiping his wounded neck on the wrong side after all.

Either way, I don’t want to bog this thread down on its flaws. It’s a good film regardless, and one I’ve seen many times. Twice at the theatre.

That opening theme! 🎵
A technical goof, especially for a director that revels in the energy of a scene coming before continuity, is a very different thing than saying he unintentionally made the film chaotic.

[Wyldesyde19]

Here we go



1) Mean Streets
2) Taxi Driver
3) Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
4) Goodfellas
5) Raging Bull
6) King of Comedy
7) Wolf of Wall Street
8) Shutter Island
9) After Hours
10) The Irishman
11) Who's The Knocking
12) Last Temptation of Christ
13) Casino
14) Age of Innocence
15) The Departed
16) Hugo
17) Cape Fear
18) Color of Money
19) Silence
20) The Aviator
21) Gangs of New York
22) Bringing Out the Dead
Hm. Nice list. I haven’t seen Age of Innocence or Silence yet.

I’d definitely have Casino, After Hours and Color of Money higher than, say, King of Comedy, Wolf of Wall Street, and maybe Shutter Island.
I have a soft spot for Hugo as well.

Still need to see Boxcar Bertha and Kundun as well.*
Overall, pretty sold, however. 👍

[crumbsroom]

Forgot about his music docs. No Direction Home and The Last Waltz would be around the top 5 for me. Rolling Thunder is pretty great as well, but a bit further down. Probably after the best stuff from his Golden Era

[Wyldesyde19]

A technical goof, especially for a director that revels in the energy of a scene coming before continuity, is a very different thing than saying he unintentionally made the film chaotic.

Except my point is he isn’t above making mis steps as a director and a technical goof he should have caught is one of them.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I don't mind the mess of Gangs. I love mess. Usually, the more mess the better. I just don't think Scorsese elevates that much poetry or humanity out of this particular mess.
What is missing?

[ThatDarnMKS]

Except my point is he isn’t above making mis steps as a director and a technical goof he should have caught is one of them.
I’m saying a technical goof is poor evidence for a misstep in conception and execution of a concept. You may disagree with his choice but he’s done nothing to show that it’s a failure of ability to execute that vision since New York, New York.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Forgot about his music docs. No Direction Home and The Last Waltz would be around the top 5 for me. Rolling Thunder is pretty great as well, but a bit further down. Probably after the best stuff from his Golden Era
Forgot to include NDH. It would be about halfway.

[Rockatansky]

Mean Streets is my favourite. The Age of Innocence is my least favourite. Have a bunch of blind spots. Too lazy to rank the rest.

[crumbsroom]

What is missing?


A delicate touch. Scorsese frequently plays with lots of flash and cinematic trickery and usually it feels a part of the film. In this it feels heavy handed and over thought. It's earth bound. It's like when you see someone on the street, dressed to the 9's, but the clothes are wearing them. His normally poetic sense is not living up to his technical talents. It's obviously impressive in a lot of ways, but as a piece of cinema, it feels empty and manipulative.



I don't like it.

[Wyldesyde19]

I’m saying a technical goof is poor evidence for a misstep in conception and execution of a concept. You may disagree with his choice but he’s done nothing to show that it’s a failure of ability to execute that vision since New York, New York.

That seems to be only true to you.*
There are several scenes that I could point to as messy or a failure as to how Gangs was conceived, and filmed, and i am hardly alone in that thinking.
Diaz was poorly cast, and didn’t bring anything to the table. Her scenes were pretty weak, and she’s in many of them.

Citing Scorsese as a deft film maker is hardly evidence of this film not having any flaws.

[Deschain]

I don’t like Gangs either.

[Wyldesyde19]

I used to jam to the soundtrack when I was at the gym. Great soundtrack.

[ThatDarnMKS]

A delicate touch. Scorsese frequently plays with lots of flash and cinematic trickery and usually it feels a part of the film. In this it feels heavy handed and over thought. It's earth bound. It's like when you see someone on the street, dressed to the 9's, but the clothes are wearing them. His normally poetic sense is not living up to his technical talents. It's obviously impressive in a lot of ways, but as a piece of cinema, it feels empty and manipulative.



I don't like it.
Heh. I disagree completely but liked the way you said it.

[ThatDarnMKS]

That seems to be only true to you.*
There are several scenes that I could point to as messy or a failure as to how Gangs was conceived, and filmed, and i am hardly alone in that thinking.
Diaz was poorly cast, and didn’t bring anything to the table. Her scenes were pretty weak, and she’s in many of them.

Citing Scorsese as a deft film maker is hardly evidence of this film not having any flaws.

I’m not saying the film is flawless. I agree about Diaz being poorly cast and she keeps the film out of his upper echelon.

I’m saying that your claim that he didn’t make the film he intended to make lacks evidence. I don’t think he’s at an experience level where he can “oops! I didn’t realize what film I was making!” Which is what you’re implying.

[SpelingError]

My rankings:

1. Taxi Driver
2. Raging Bull
3. Goodfellas
4. The Irishman
5. Silence
6. The King of Comedy
7. The Wolf of Wall Street
8. Shutter Island
9. Hugo
10. The Departed
11. Cape Fear
12. Mean Streets
13. The Big Shave

I should rewatch Mean Streets someday. I wasn't in the right mindset when I first watched it. I also like The Big Shave quite a bit, but I'm not sure how to rank it amongst the other films.

[crumbsroom]

Heh. I disagree completely but liked the way you said it.


It's one of those things that is too ephemeral to be purely right or wrong on. It's an instinctual thing. Like when you can sometimes tell when someone is lying to you. It's hard to quantify, but you just know. Something feels off.

With Gangs, it might be too much to say Scorsese is lying with it, but it definitely feels like he's not quite there. And for an artist, that is kinda a lie, especially when your name is up there at the top of the billboard.

[Wyldesyde19]

I’m not saying the film is flawless. I agree about Diaz being poorly cast and she keeps the film out of his upper echelon.

I’m saying that your claim that he didn’t make the film he intended to make lacks evidence. I don’t think he’s at an experience level where he can “oops! I didn’t realize what film I was making!” Which is what you’re implying.

Quite often a director can see a film one way while making said film, and be surprised by its end result. I feel this happened to Scorsese during the filming on Gangs. Even at his level of experience, he isn’t above such mis steps. He’s not some infallible god, after all.

So yes, I do think it wasn’t what he intended when he first started filming and it somehow became too messy and yet somehow still enjoyable. However, I’d say much of the the blame could also lay with Weinstein, as I’ve read in the past that he interfered with the process, and demanded cuts to trim the run time down.

[crumbsroom]

I should rewatch Mean Streets someday. I wasn't in the right mindset when I first watched it. I also like The Big Shave quite a bit, but I'm not sure how to rank it amongst the other films.


I hated Mean Streets the first three times I saw it.


It was very early in me starting to watch movies that were out of my general wheelhouse. And I just didn't know what to make of it. It just seemed so formless. It annoyed me that someone thought a movie should look and move like this.

Boy, was I wrong. In many ways, it is one of the films I would consider as one of the templates of how I currently think about film. There is probably less than 10 movies I would consider this way, think are this important to what I look for in film, and it is definitely one of them.

[ThatDarnMKS]

It's one of those things that is too ephemeral to be purely right or wrong on. It's an instinctual thing. Like when you can sometimes tell when someone is lying to you. It's hard to quantify, but you just know. Something feels off.

With Gangs, it might be too much to say Scorsese is lying with it, but it definitely feels like he's not quite there. And for an artist, that is kinda a lie, especially when your name is up there at the top of the billboard.
I get what you’re saying, I just don’t think it’s accurate to Gangs.

I also think you have a bias against technical precision in filmmaking, and this was Scorsese getting the chance to make a big budget, technically precise film. There’s a dissonance between that and the narrative of the film, which is pure Scorsese auteurship, but I think that dissonance is what makes it such a sensational and interesting flavor of cinema.

[ThatDarnMKS]

He’s not some infallible god, after all.

I feel like the jury is still out on that one.

[Wyldesyde19]

I feel like the jury is still out on that one.
Lol. That is funny actually.
I’ve heard that there is a DC that runs over 3 hours that’s supposed to be bette, which Weinstein rejected, but will probably never see the light of day.

I wonder how much of a difference that might have made.

[Stirchley]

Mean Streets is my favourite. The Age of Innocence is my least favourite. Have a bunch of blind spots. Too lazy to rank the rest.

This thread is going widely off-topic, but I love The Age of Innocence.

[Takoma11]

There’s like 4 movies on Netflix called The Vault. Is this the one with James Franco?

It is not. It's the one with Freddie Highmore.

[crumbsroom]

I also think you have a bias against technical precision in filmmaking, .

I guess I do to some degree. But I guess it depends on who is being precise and why. My complaint with precision is that it turns an art form into something that can feel mechanical. That is studied. And the more studied and mechanical something is, the more and more instinct we lose. And the instinct is where the humanity is. But there are loads and loads of exceptions. Hitchcock, Cameron, Kubrick, Dreyer, a lot of the better Shaw Bros films, The Raid 2, and even (from this thread) Goodfellas. All there are films or directors I think of being technically precise, but who never become automated by it. Their precision doesn't lead them to lie to me. Force them to do some kind of sleight of hand marvel, that pulls my attention away from noticing whether the person behind the art is actually still present in the film. Because if they aren't there anymore, I probably don't want it.



Maybe Gangs is more technical than a lot of the films that came before. I think Scorsese, as much as he traditionally has given his actors lots of room to breath in filming, and so also has a kind of loseness in his style, is still an extremely technical director. Only a couple of his movies over the years aren't completely screwed down. Only a few of them have been left a little wobbly (Mean Streets, Alice, Knocking). But still, almost all of them are full of life and ideas and poetry.



When I think of Gangs, the word I use (and maybe it's an interchangeable word for most, but not for me) is slick. And slick is definitely something I almost never like. Only the mess of the script gives it any kind of life to me. But I don't even really like it that much either.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Lol. That is funny actually.
I’ve heard that there is a DC that runs over 3 hours that’s supposed to be bette, which Weinstein rejected, but will probably never see the light of day.

I wonder how much of a difference that might have made.

It feels like the only filmmaker Weinstein didn’t screw with was Tarantino.

I’d gladly watch an extended cut of it but I can’t recall Scorsese ever going back to the well for such a thing, unlike his pals Coppola and Lucas.

[StuSmallz]

Out of the ones I've watched...


Goodfellas/Raging Bull
The Irishman/Taxi Driver
The Aviator
Mean Streets


The Departed
Shutter Island

Casino/The Wolf Of Wall Street
Gangs Of New York
Cape Fear/Who's That Knocking At My Door?

[ThatDarnMKS]

Only a few of them have been left a little wobbly (Mean Streets, Alice, Knocking). But still, almost all of them are full of life and ideas and poetry.



When I think of Gangs, the word I use (and maybe it's an interchangeable word for most, but not for me) is slick. And slick is definitely something I almost never like. Only the mess of the script gives it any kind of life to me. But I don't even really like it that much either.

All of which were in the upper half of your list (or even top 5).*

The aversion to “slick” is what I was referring to. I think slickness has artistic merit in and of itself. I also think in the face of it becoming endemic in the studio system that slick has become devalued but in the hands of certain filmmakers (Spielberg, Fincher, Scott, Bay, Wright, etc) they have reached such an upper crust of slickness that it wraps around back to their own auteurism.

While that’s a bit of an aside, I think Scorsese is making a slick film (as he has with other works like Wolf and Shutter Island) but that he’s using that studio style to set up the clashing dichotomy of the film. He constructs meticulously then butchers and edits chaotically.

I mean, just watch the third act. It’s such a ballet of intricate filmmaking depicting chaos, and a narrative that refuses to be nearly as restrained and straightforward.

Given how much Scorsese I see in it beyond that, from his fixation on the New York immigrant story, Catholicism, secret lives, brotherhood, etc. I can’t see losing him for the production value.

[WHITBISSELL!]

I love old seafaring films, I'd not heard of this before but it looks pretty darn interesting. Thanks for posting about it.Sure thing. :up:

[WHITBISSELL!]

Yeah, it also took me about 20 years to try this out and I didn't make it. Like you say, it was what I thought it was and, like most of post-80s Scorsese, it just didn't hold my interest at all.Outside of Daniel Day-Lewis' performance I didn't find all that much interesting about it either.

[Wooley]

My complaint with precision is that it turns an art form into something that can feel mechanical. That is studied. And the more studied and mechanical something is, the more and more instinct we lose. And the instinct is where the humanity is.

When I think of Gangs, the word I use (and maybe it's an interchangeable word for most, but not for me) is slick. And slick is definitely something I almost never like. Only the mess of the script gives it any kind of life to me. But I don't even really like it that much either.

So I'm gonna sorta disagree (although you may read what I say and feel that we're not really disagreeing we just haven't said all the things yet to find the common ground) with the first paragraph and then totally agree with the second.

I'm sort of a musician, and one of the arguments we always have is whether Music Theory is good or bad because so many musicians (who don't want to learn Music Theory) say that Theory makes everything technical and turns an art form into something mechanical and loses the instinct and the humanity. And the same is said of technique.
But then I watch Steve Vai, who was transposing Frank Zappa's music at 18 years old, play one of his newer compositions, at 60 years old, and I don't see any lack of art or instinct or humanity. I see someone whose vocabulary is so immense and technique is so good that he is simply capable of saying whatever he wants to say, of pursuing any instinct he has, and of expressing humanity in a way that is transcendent... but also may in fact just be over the heads of a lot of people in the same way that song lyrics speak to them but poetry is completely lost on them.
And that's not true of everyone, there are virtuosos who have no soul. But there are just tons of people with soul and no virtuosity whatsoever, people who actually have instinct and humanity but lack the technique or vocabulary to express it and I think that's pretty sad too.
So I think there is a point where virtuosity, in any field, is actually a gateway for the truly talented artist to express themselves at the highest possible level. And that technique is never the enemy on its own it is only the enemy when it is not accompanied by soul.

That said, most of Marty's output since maybe The Color Of Money (the last Scorsese film that I actually love), or if I'm being more generous, Goodfellas, has been slick AF and, with some exceptions, has been a lotta technique and not a lotta soul.

[Wooley]

I also think in the face of it becoming endemic in the studio system that slick has become devalued but in the hands of certain filmmakers (Spielberg, Fincher, Scott, Bay, Wright, etc) they have reached such an upper crust of slickness that it wraps around back to their own auteurism.


Yeah, I think these guys (particularly the big three of Spielberg, Scorsese, and Coppola, but really especially Spielberg) kinda invented slick and its their fault that it spread all over like a soulless disease and it's why something like Ready Player One makes me wanna vomit.

[Allaby]

Harold and Lillian: A Hollywood Love Story (2015) Directed by Daniel Rain, this documentary is about Harold and Lillian Michelson, a couple who were married for 60 years and worked in Hollywood. He was a storyboard artist and she was a research assistant. They worked on numerous classic films for some of the greatest directors, including The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, The Graduate, Star Trek and Scarface, just to name a few. This is a lovely and sweet documentary celebrating film and true love. And in case you were wondering, King Harold and Queen Lillian from Shrek 2 are named in honour of Harold and Lillian Michelson. 4

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGNmMzJjMTItODA0OC00ZWM0LWJmMTctMDg3MzM2M2Y5NTIyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM2NDM2MQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.justjared.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fheadlines%2F2021%2F08%2Fbob-ross-new-trailer-for-netflix-1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal, and Greed, 2021

This documentary charts the rise to fame of television painting instructor Bob Ross and then the ugly fallout over the rights to his name and image after his death.

This documentary falls roughly into two halves. The first part really goes into Ross's history and how he became one of the most well-known television personalities of the 1980s.

What comes across in this half is the degree to which Ross really mostly was what you saw on screen: a man who loved nature, who believed that anyone could paint or develop artistic ability, and someone who knew the power of painting to comfort. It is interesting to consider the seeming contradiction between Ross's easy-going, roll-with-the-punches attitude and his strong drive to create and to build a successful career for his son, Steve.

The second half delves into the legal skirmishes that followed Ross's death. The central character here, and main participant in the documentary, is Ross's son, Steve. As the dynamics come to light, it is clear to see why Steve is aggrieved: his father's business partners, a couple named the Kowalskis, seem to have pretty ruthlessly claimed ownership over Bob Ross and everything that was his.

The Kowalskis declined to participate in the documentary, and so it's always hard to make a judgement when you're missing one side of the story. But there are quite a few other voices--acquaintances and also another couple that had a good run as television painting instructors---who make a case for some pretty low and greedy behavior. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Bob Ross meant for his success and assets to be something that benefited his son. The fact that Steve Ross has had no share of his father's wealth or profits is pretty gross, even if you think that Steve himself is financially motivated.

This was an interesting documentary, with plenty of affection for its central figure. It takes a moment at the end to highlight two different fans: one a man who was pulled from a suicidal depression by Ross's show, one a woman who was devastated after having to terminate a pregnancy and took comfort in Ross's show. These testimonials are a good reminder that the real legacy of Ross's work is the joy that he brought to people through his work.

4

[ThatDarnMKS]

Yeah, I think these guys (particularly the big three of Spielberg, Scorsese, and Coppola, but really especially Spielberg) kinda invented slick and its their fault that it spread all over like a soulless disease and it's why something like Ready Player One makes me wanna vomit.

I don’t have the ire for RPO that you do, nor do I think they’re at fault. They pursued their cinematic visions, which was predicated upon taken technical accomplishments to a garish extreme, and they really resonated with audiences. Studios aren’t terribly imaginative places so they just kept churning out whatever sold well. Given that Spielberg is by far the most financially successful of those 3, it’s no mystery why most blockbuster cinema is made in his image.

I do think Spielberg is the closest to doing what Crummy talked about, in losing himself as an artist to the “slickness.” RPO and the RBG were career/artistic lows where his mastery of his craft seemed to fade into something anyone with a large budget could pull off. I feel like West Side Story was a return to form as the master of “slickness.”

Coppola on the other hand, completely rejected this style and has made intimate, auteur-driven, “student films” as he called them. Twixt was a poor note to end on, though I find it very interesting. Tetro beautiful and if not worthy of his 70s output, at least worthy among his 80s.

Scorsese, on the other hand, seems to have maintained a medium of art and commerce. Never seeming to truly sacrifice one for the other and it’s allowed him to hone his craft on a level almost unrivaled. His influence is less among blockbusters and more among the studio driven vanity project. Throw a rock at one and chances are, it’s a riff on the style he created with Goodfellas. Is he to “blame?” Though? Is it his fault that Cruella and Joker are made in his image?

I think that’s giving the studios a pretty easy out.

[chawhee]

Leave No Trace (2018)
https://www.critic.de/images/leave-no-trace-7-f74dc.jpg
4
Had to watch it after seeing the positive reviews of it here, as well as wanting to see some greenery as we head towards the end of winter. It plays a lot like Nomadland in terms of almost feeling like a scripted documentary, and I enjoyed this one considerably more.

[TheUsualSuspect]

Scream (2022)

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/qvASAp0ZKkza023gjK1Tf2iiEos.jpg

3.5

When are they going to stop selling that stupid mask?!?!?!

REVIEW HERE (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=2281316#post2281316)

[TheUsualSuspect]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGNmMzJjMTItODA0OC00ZWM0LWJmMTctMDg3MzM2M2Y5NTIyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM2NDM2MQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4/5

When I quote you, I see what rating you gave it. But it looks like a zero because you put it as 4/5.

[Wooley]

I don’t have the ire for RPO that you do, nor do I think they’re at fault. They pursued their cinematic visions, which was predicated upon taken technical accomplishments to a garish extreme, and they really resonated with audiences. Studios aren’t terribly imaginative places so they just kept churning out whatever sold well. Given that Spielberg is by far the most financially successful of those 3, it’s no mystery why most blockbuster cinema is made in his image.

I do think Spielberg is the closest to doing what Crummy talked about, in losing himself as an artist to the “slickness.” RPO and the RBG were career/artistic lows where his mastery of his craft seemed to fade into something anyone with a large budget could pull off. I feel like West Side Story was a return to form as the master of “slickness.”

Coppola on the other hand, completely rejected this style and has made intimate, auteur-driven, “student films” as he called them. Twixt was a poor note to end on, though I find it very interesting. Tetro beautiful and if not worthy of his 70s output, at least worthy among his 80s.

Scorsese, on the other hand, seems to have maintained a medium of art and commerce. Never seeming to truly sacrifice one for the other and it’s allowed him to hone his craft on a level almost unrivaled. His influence is less among blockbusters and more among the studio driven vanity project. Throw a rock at one and chances are, it’s a riff on the style he created with Goodfellas. Is he to “blame?” Though? Is it his fault that Cruella and Joker are made in his image?

I think that’s giving the studios a pretty easy out.

I'm not exactly gonna address each of your points but just give you my general reaction.
Yes, though to what you say about Spielberg vis a vis being the most egregious offender and the master, for better and worse, of slickness. The difference is I just don't care anymore about anything he has to say if he even does. It seems like it's been so long since he made a movie that made me feel like he was a filmmaker I should care about. I think a lot of filmmakers "graduate" from being artists to being frankly just way to big for their britches and no one can say no to them and no one can rein them in and no one can talk sense to them and no one can really edit them (either in the filmic sense or a more metaphorical sense) and they make Hook and go back and edit all the guns out of E.T. and Spielberg will forever be the picture in the dictionary next to this concept. Doesn't mean he's not capable of making good movies (I certainly thought Bridge Of Spies was a quality film), just not much to get excited about at best and really just an unchecked-ego-driven shit-show at its worst.
When I think of Coppola, I'm really talking about the likes of The Outsiders (really a film that is only bad because the director was so far up his own ass), Tucker, and the absurdly self-indulgent Dracula. I don't really know about any of his more recent work because the aforementioned made him someone I just wasn't gonna sit through.
Scorsese is like the others, if I'm honest, in that enough of his work was so slick that I became unwilling to see anything more that he did. I wasn't impressed with The Departed, I thought it was fine and that if it had anyone else's name on it it wouldn't have gotten nearly the acclaim, although I admit at least it wasn't like Gangs or The Aviator or that whole era of his work I never want to see again. I had totally given up on him by Shutter Island and I found Hugo just painful to watch so I never saw The Wolf Of Wall Street. That said, I went back and watched Shutter Island and I actually thought it was pretty good, though another of his issues, his unnecessary and garish use of CGI, took it down a few notches for me.
I had a point when I started this but I lost my way, sorry.
Something about, basically, auteur filmmakers always seem to lose their way when they reach the status of unrestrained budgets and no one can edit them or tell them no and their films become sad to me. Lucas, of course, can't be left out of this. But unfortunately because they are the kings of Hollywood, what's wrong with them spreads. People stop trying to make Mean Streets and American Graffiti and The Conversation and Taxi Driver and After Hours and even Jaws, and they all wanna make Stand By Me and Gangs Of New York and Star Wars.
And that makes me sad because I love good movies.

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.justjared.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fheadlines%2F2021%2F08%2Fbob-ross-new-trailer-for-netflix-1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal, and Greed, 2021

This documentary charts the rise to fame of television painting instructor Bob Ross and then the ugly fallout over the rights to his name and image after his death.

This documentary falls roughly into two halves. The first part really goes into Ross's history and how he became one of the most well-known television personalities of the 1980s.

What comes across in this half is the degree to which Ross really mostly was what you saw on screen: a man who loved nature, who believed that anyone could paint or develop artistic ability, and someone who knew the power of painting to comfort. It is interesting to consider the seeming contradiction between Ross's easy-going, roll-with-the-punches attitude and his strong drive to create and to build a successful career for his son, Steve.

The second half delves into the legal skirmishes that followed Ross's death. The central character here, and main participant in the documentary, is Ross's son, Steve. As the dynamics come to light, it is clear to see why Steve is aggrieved: his father's business partners, a couple named the Kowalskis, seem to have pretty ruthlessly claimed ownership over Bob Ross and everything that was his.

The Kowalskis declined to participate in the documentary, and so it's always hard to make a judgement when you're missing one side of the story. But there are quite a few other voices--acquaintances and also another couple that had a good run as television painting instructors---who make a case for some pretty low and greedy behavior. In my opinion, there is no doubt that Bob Ross meant for his success and assets to be something that benefited his son. The fact that Steve Ross has had no share of his father's wealth or profits is pretty gross, even if you think that Steve himself is financially motivated.

This was an interesting documentary, with plenty of affection for its central figure. It takes a moment at the end to highlight two different fans: one a man who was pulled from a suicidal depression by Ross's show, one a woman who was devastated after having to terminate a pregnancy and took comfort in Ross's show. These testimonials are a good reminder that the real legacy of Ross's work is the joy that he brought to people through his work.

4

This seems like half a movie I would enjoy and half a movie that would bum me out.

[xSookieStackhouse]

Scream (2022)

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/qvASAp0ZKkza023gjK1Tf2iiEos.jpg

rating_3_5

When are they going to stop selling that stupid mask?!?!?!

REVIEW HERE (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=2281316#post2281316)

heard they gonna make 6th =/ they should stop after 3rd

[Siddon]

https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/images/uploads/reviews/lost-daughter-body1.jpg

The Lost Daughter(2021)

This was a weird one....I'm not sure how to even process this. It's basically a psychological thriller about an aging lit professor on vacation in an Island town. While there she's confronted by a shady and extremely obnoxious family. You keep waiting for the plot to start but it just meanders and builds tension until the climax which is well...three and a half stars films.

rating_3

[Gideon58]

When I quote you, I see what rating you gave it. But it looks like a zero because you put it as 4/5.

I corrected my rating to 4.5

[crumbsroom]

Theory makes everything technical and turns an art form into something mechanical and loses the instinct and the humanity. And the same is said of technique.

I think it is dumb to write off such things as Music Theory, or discount technique. Just like I think it is dumb for those who are proficient at their musical ability (whether it be with an instrument, singing, songwriting, lyric writing) to roll their eyes at the world at those less musically 'sophisticated'. There is always enough dumb to go around.




I see someone whose vocabulary is so immense and technique is so good that he is simply capable of saying whatever he wants to say, of pursuing any instinct he has, and of expressing humanity in a way that is transcendent


I know very little about Vai, and what I've heard, he isn't really my cup of tea. But that aside, I think agree that some artists need more 'words' to articulate what is in their head. But, it also needs to be noted, that some artists only need a handful of poorly fingered chords to say exactly what they have to say. And for them, it's possible learning more will disrupt that purity of expression.



Personally, I don't think one approach is particularly better than the other. I admire Eddie Van Halen and Glenn Gould as much as I do Daniel Johnston and The Raincoats. As unerringly precise those first two technical marvels are in their work, there is no end of their personality in how they play. Just like I don't think the limited musical chops of the other two, in any way limits the brilliance of their compositions. It's up to the artist what road they want to take. And we can judge their success on how well they maximize the tools and talents at their disposal.



As someone who has spent most of my life thinking about what makes writers good or bad, for a long time I believed the secret ingredient for greatness was to be really daring with tricky sentence structures and to always have a kaleidescopic vocabulary on hand. It certainly worked for Dickens, whose brilliance was always how he could make every sentence he wrote this adventure of language, where it is always doing these unexpected things, peppering the reader with all these crystalline details, one after another. It's why he can get away writing an entire page about the types of cutlery a character finds in a drawer. His is about the technical mastery of language and that is where much of the joy comes from when reading him.



But then I came to understand guys like Raymond Carver or Charles Bukowski, who are about the clarity of an image and the simplicity of language. Reducing everything to a blunt yet perfect declaration. Where Dickens requires dictionaries to do what he does, I'm sure someone like Bukowski could have sufficed on about seven words--beer, boils, underwear, shit, sandwich, walls and ceiling. To move outside of those basic building blocks was mostly unneccessary to articulate his world view. But this never makes him less of a writer. Because he understands what type of artist he is, and the power of his approach.


So it all just depends on the artist and how they want to define themselves.





People who actually have instinct and humanity but lack the technique or vocabulary to express it and I think that's pretty sad too.

I'm a romantic in the way that I completely believe if you have the instincts of an artist, and the determination to keep plugging away, no matter how much you may lack in technical talent you will almost always find a way to your voice. Maybe you won't find the audience, but there isn't anything you can really do about that. All an artists can really focus on is a monomaniacal obsession in finding their own way. Whatever way that may be.


So I don't think what you said above is sad at all. For me, it's the people with the virtuosity and not the soul who have more to worry about. Because to me, without those instincts, that soul, talent just ends up as a lot of huffing and puffing. Which, I think, is why some people do end up having a resistance to concepts such as music theory. Because there are a lot of people out there who will hide (sometimes very well) behind their studies. Sometimes, when an artist has absolutely nothing to say, they can't help but mistake proficiency for worth.





So I think there is a point where virtuosity, in any field, is actually a gateway for the truly talented artist to express themselves at the highest possible level. And that technique is never the enemy on its own it is only the enemy when it is not accompanied by soul.


Agree


That said, most of Marty's output since maybe The Color Of Money (the last Scorsese film that I actually love), or if I'm being more generous, Goodfellas, has been slick AF and, with some exceptions, has been a lotta technique and not a lotta soul.


I think I agree that Goodfellas is where he started becoming somewhat of a different filmmaker. It's all still obviously Scorsese, and for me I think most of it is still brilliant, challenging, interesting stuff, but it doesn't have quite the same vitality. With the exception of Wolf of Wall Street, which I think is in contention as the best thing he's done since Raging Bull. Is it 'slick'? I guess, even though I do have issues with that word, as I equate it with 'empty'. But, if we are going to call it slick, it is slick only in the best of ways.

[ThatDarnMKS]

One sentence provocation:

Slickness can be soul.

[crumbsroom]

I can address the slickness debate in my thread later on. Don't want to derail this thread.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I can address the slickness debate in my thread later on. Don't want to derail this thread.
But don’t you like saying slickness? It’s just so… slick.

Speaking of which, I rewatched Whiplash yesterday. First time in 4K. What a perfect picture.

[Thursday Next]

Belfast (2021)

This was really, really good.

It's a very personal film, basically about memories of childhood and home during a turbulent time, which is shot brilliantly with a child's eye view - almost every adult conversation is seen through a window, or doorway or half way up the stairs. The black and white cinematography is excellent and should have been nominated for an Oscar. The actors, including Ciaran Hinds, Judi Dench, Catriona Balfe, Jamie Dornan, Colin Morgan and the young boy, Jude Hill, who plays the main character are all excellent. It does really well at capturing not exactly what life was like, but what it would have felt like to a child.

It evokes many other films - mostly from British film history like Hope and Glory, Distant Voices Still Lives, kitchen sink dramas of the 60s like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, but also the more recent Roma - but it is still very much it's own thing, as every personal story is unique.

I found it to be charming and heartfelt with the just about the right mix of drama, humour and slice of life. And of course, the power of cinema in the scenes where the family visit the pictures and the films are shown in colour. (A second viewing might reveal whether the film references are a little over-egged - I felt at times the film was a bit too soundtrack-heavy, but that's really the only criticism I have.)

It's quite unlike anything Kenneth Branagh has ever directed before and possibly even enough to forgive him for Artemis Fowl.

4.5

[edarsenal]

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/pictures/IHQeHpFt72kHibpQ2tuMHrqk0z0/752x423/2019/04/12/lesenfantsduparadis6recadre0.jpg
https://64.media.tumblr.com/1e944715be3aaa5e73cb13523f4f730d/tumblr_p4xw1liNJQ1v4a8wfo3_500.png
https://64.media.tumblr.com/7906562add4cf009856caf7e07d39e6e/tumblr_pzhem8bius1xepx5vo1_500.gifv


Les enfants du paradis (1945) 5 The crowning jewel of Director Marcel Carné is a flourish of exquisite adoration to the Parisian Theatre District known as the Boulevard du Crime in the 1830s.

Completed just before D-Day and kept hidden till France's liberation, the mere creation of the film is an epic tale all in itself. Recreating the quarter-mile of the road with meticulous care within a studio, Carné intimately introduces us to this cast of actors, con artists, poets, lovers, and murderers. At times, giving historical representations of said characters captured my adoration and devotion to this 3-hour film set in two parts. (Done so to avoid the restrictions of only 90-minute films by the occupying nazis.)

A story of unrequited love and the diverse gentlemen that adore Garance (Arletty) of whom this is my third film featuring Arletty, and I have become quite taken by her world-weary nuance that flows outward with such elegance and grace. She conveyed cold harshness with her previous two, and here there is a warmth that comingles with the familiarity of past tragedies of life.
It inspired me even further to explore more of her films.

As his penchant, Carné paints a vivid and complete landscape of life, death, and the varied stories of all his participants in this grand film, from the leading roles to the smallest of parts without ever, and I do mean EVER, causing an overload of details or convoluting the storytelling. There is balance and flow to it all, and Carné is a true maestro.

[Wooley]

I think it is dumb to write off such things as Music Theory, or discount technique. Just like I think it is dumb for those who are proficient at their musical ability (whether it be with an instrument, singing, songwriting, lyric writing) to roll their eyes at the world at those less musically 'sophisticated'. There is always enough dumb to go around.

I know very little about Vai, and what I've heard, he isn't really my cup of tea. But that aside, I think agree that some artists need more 'words' to articulate what is in their head. But, it also needs to be noted, that some artists only need a handful of poorly fingered chords to say exactly what they have to say. And for them, it's possible learning more will disrupt that purity of expression.

Personally, I don't think one approach is particularly better than the other. I admire Eddie Van Halen and Glenn Gould as much as I do Daniel Johnston and The Raincoats. As unerringly precise those first two technical marvels are in their work, there is no end of their personality in how they play. Just like I don't think the limited musical chops of the other two, in any way limits the brilliance of their compositions. It's up to the artist what road they want to take. And we can judge their success on how well they maximize the tools and talents at their disposal.

As someone who has spent most of my life thinking about what makes writers good or bad, for a long time I believed the secret ingredient for greatness was to be really daring with tricky sentence structures and to always have a kaleidescopic vocabulary on hand. It certainly worked for Dickens, whose brilliance was always how he could make every sentence he wrote this adventure of language, where it is always doing these unexpected things, peppering the reader with all these crystalline details, one after another. It's why he can get away writing an entire page about the types of cutlery a character finds in a drawer. His is about the technical mastery of language and that is where much of the joy comes from when reading him.

But then I came to understand guys like Raymond Carver or Charles Bukowski, who are about the clarity of an image and the simplicity of language. Reducing everything to a blunt yet perfect declaration. Where Dickens requires dictionaries to do what he does, I'm sure someone like Bukowski could have sufficed on about seven words--beer, boils, underwear, shit, sandwich, walls and ceiling. To move outside of those basic building blocks was mostly unneccessary to articulate his world view. But this never makes him less of a writer. Because he understands what type of artist he is, and the power of his approach.

So it all just depends on the artist and how they want to define themselves.

I'm a romantic in the way that I completely believe if you have the instincts of an artist, and the determination to keep plugging away, no matter how much you may lack in technical talent you will almost always find a way to your voice. Maybe you won't find the audience, but there isn't anything you can really do about that. All an artists can really focus on is a monomaniacal obsession in finding their own way. Whatever way that may be.

So I don't think what you said above is sad at all. For me, it's the people with the virtuosity and not the soul who have more to worry about. Because to me, without those instincts, that soul, talent just ends up as a lot of huffing and puffing. Which, I think, is why some people do end up having a resistance to concepts such as music theory. Because there are a lot of people out there who will hide (sometimes very well) behind their studies. Sometimes, when an artist has absolutely nothing to say, they can't help but mistake proficiency for worth.

Agree

I think I agree that Goodfellas is where he started becoming somewhat of a different filmmaker. It's all still obviously Scorsese, and for me I think most of it is still brilliant, challenging, interesting stuff, but it doesn't have quite the same vitality. With the exception of Wolf of Wall Street, which I think is in contention as the best thing he's done since Raging Bull. Is it 'slick'? I guess, even though I do have issues with that word, as I equate it with 'empty'. But, if we are going to call it slick, it is slick only in the best of ways.

I had a feeling we were going to end up mostly agreeing.
And I always preferred Hemingway to Fitzgerald, even though both were wonderful writers.

This is all one of the reasons I love Joni Mitchell so much and why Prince and I agree that she is one of the great musical geniuses of the 20th Century. She is both. She had so much artistic instinct that (due to some other factors like polio as well) she basically had to reinvent music to say what she heard in her head. She had to invent guitar tunings that made sense for the harmonic choices that only made sense to her and advanced Jazz musicians on paper but sounded glorious when heard. Her rhythmic patterns are unlike anyone else. Her piano style is unique enough that you can tell just by listening, even though she wrote the music either way, whether it's her or one of her band playing the piano on any given song. How many people do you know wrote hit songs for dulcimer?! And she did it all by ear. No formal training or study of any kind. And then the lyrics, basically straight poetry with her having written what I consider to be the best song, lyrically, ever written. Hell, she's an amazing painter.
So, to me, that's the ultimate example because technique is actually very important to Joni's music, freakin' dulcimer technique, vocal technique, piano technique, guitar technique (I even spent some time studying Joni's strumming style only to learn that she had already influenced me so much that she was 50% of where my own style came from), but then it's also just all in service to this astonishing creative mind.
And that's what we're all hoping to catch a glimpse of in every medium, right? For us here, film. And I think you and I agree on that.

[Fabulous]

tick, tick…BOOM! (2021)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/eEseQuTxFFlxVc0jCQPieGKM1xw.jpg

[Gideon58]

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Lagauhb5GyY/maxresdefault.jpg

3.5

[Takoma11]

This seems like half a movie I would enjoy and half a movie that would bum me out.

I think that it ends up ultimately being optimistic, at least in terms of where the interview subjects have landed.

[edarsenal]

https://www.altfg.com/film/wp-content/uploads/images/tale-of-two-cities-conway.jpg
http://ndsuspectrum.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/taleoftwocities1935_053120131004.jpg
https://cdn2.highdefdigest.com/media/2021/04/24/660/102044/A-Tale-of-Two-Cities-Blanche-Yurka-Lucille-La-Verne.jpg


A Tale of Two Cities (1935) 4++ Set amidst the French Revolution, Charles Dickens Classic is given an abridged rendition retaining the heart and soul of two Cities and two men of similar appearance.

Ronald Colman is charismatic as the drunken, indifferent lawyer, Sydney Carton, who inevitably discovers that he is capable of a far, far better thing than he has ever done. Giving him a far, far better rest than he has ever known.
The highlights for me are the supporting cast, providing a genuinely deplorable aristo, is Basil Rathbone. The taciturn, scene-stealing Edna May Oliver, and the mastermind mistress, Blanche Yurka, who plots and knits. Along with her associate, Lucille La Verne, who would lend her cackling voice to the Queen/Witch in Walt Disney's Snow White.

Coming in at two hours, we are treated with all the prime keynotes of this Classic. Keeping the pacing well-tuned and moving along with brisk enthusiasm, I remained quite enthralled by the cast and the story that showcased the above actors and some truly excellent scenes in the streets of Paris and an imposing attack of a Parisian mob upon the Bastille.

[Allaby]

Just finished watching Kimi (2022). Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film takes place during the Pandemic and is about a woman who is afraid to leave her apartment. When she discovers evidence of a possible crime, she finds that reporting it is more difficult and more dangerous than anticipated. This is an effective, fast paced tech thriller. Zoe Kravitz looks sexier than ever and gives an engaging performance. Not one of Soderbergh's best films, but certainly not one of his worst. Worth checking out. My rating is a 3.5. Kimi is currently streaming on Crave (in Canada) and HBO Max.

[ApexPredator]

There’s like 4 movies on Netflix called The Vault. Is this the one with James Franco?

No. That one from 2017 was odd, but fairly bad.

The one Takoma was talking about is the one with Freddie Highmore that came out last year.

[chawhee]

Lead Me Home (2021)
4
Documentary short on Netflix that is up for an Oscar. Provides a closer look at homelessness on the West Coast. It wasn't really eye-opening to me based on my knowledge of the situation beforehand, but the storytelling is rather good.

[CringeFest]

SLC Punk: Punk is Dead (2016)


1


the first one was much better.

[7thson]

85247

So this was part of movie night for us. The theme was movies where the characters were playing a game. This was a difficult theme to search for because most recommendations where movies based on games - specifically video games.

Anyway: It was my turn to pick and this was a film that, although cheesy, reminded me of game shows in a movie.

Richard Dawson was cast perfectly for this role. Like him or hate him, he had the charisma and the talent for this character.

I guess he did not kiss too many ladies on his way down that (TV) tube...

It is actually a fun movie if you do not take it too seriously.


Poor Buzz Saw...



85248


3.5

[Fabulous]

Oculus (2013)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/c0kRakyAEoyY82CU4jLQAWPH7XE.jpg

[mark f]

Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, 2021) 3 6.5/10 rewatch
Moon Crash (Noah Luke, 2022) 1.5 4/10
Nuts in May (Mike Leigh, 1976) 2.5+ 6/10
After Love (Aleem Khan, 2020) 3 6.5/10
https://cineuropa.org/imgCache/2020/10/26/1603702348863_0620x0435_292x0x916x643_1603702404577.jpg
Recently-widowed Joanna Scanlan finds her husband had another family across the English Channel. When she goes there, things turn out differently than expected. Unusual, thoughtful and powerful.
Hive (Blerta Basholli, 2021) 3- 6.5/10
Immanence (Kerry Bellessa, 2022) 1.5 4+/10
Thousands Cheer (George Sidney, 1943) 2.5 6/10
Ballad of a White Cow (Behtash Sanaeeha & Maryam Moghadam, 2020) 3 6.5/10
https://media.tehrantimes.com/d/t/2021/12/04/4/3978778.jpg
After her husband is executed for murder, Maryam Moghadam learns that others confessed, and she tries to get satisfaction from the Irani court. She believes a kind stranger (Alireza Sani Fara) turns up to help her and her daughter (Avin Poor Raoufi) when her husband's brother (Pouria Rahimi Sam) tries to make trouble.
Cash AKA For Love or Money (Zoltan Korda, 1933) 2.5 5.5/10
Maat Means Land (Fox Maxy, 2020) 3- 6.5/10
Lovely to Look At (Mervyn LeRoy, 1952) 2+ 5/10
American Underdog (Andrew & Jon Erwin, 2021) 2.5+ 6/10
https://c.tenor.com/ej5kH8n8gEMAAAAC/lets-go-kurt-warner.gif
The dreams of Kurt Warner (Zachary Levi) come true as he rises from non-signed to NFL MVP with the help of his steadfast wife (Anna Paquin) and their Christian faith.
Superhost (Brandon Christensen, 2021) 2.5 6/10
In the Forest (Hector Barron, 2022) 1.5+ 4.5/10
Still/Born (Brandon Christensen, 2017) 2.5 6/10
Kimi (Steven Soderbergh, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/TUbA5g3cizNL1SiNtrbXI4u3oAg/5x111:3840x1691/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2022/02/07/808/n/1922283/7ed40ea3620163bbda99b6.72931048_/i/kimi-zoe-kravitz-directing-future-exclusive-interview.jpg
As part of her job of examining AI device Kimi, agorophobe Zoë Kravitz finds evidence of a violent crime, but when she reports it, things get really weird.
Last Survivors (Drew Mylrea, 2021) 2+ 5/10
Z (Brandon Christensen, 2019) 2.5 6/10
The Night Doctor (Elie Wajeman, 2020) 3 6.5/10
The King's Man (Matthew Vaughn, 2021) 2.5+ 6/10
https://media2.giphy.com/media/dZWWH7Ns4S2nZh9IW6/giphy.gif
Elaborate entertainment in the Kingsman series, this time a prequel set mostly during WWI, following the sometimes tragic story of the Duke of Oxford (Ralph Fiennes). Crammed with historic personalities and the Duke's son (Harris Dickinson) here.

[Wooley]

85247

So this was part of movie night for us. The theme was movies where the characters were playing a game. This was a difficult theme to search for because most recommendations where movies based on games - specifically video games.

Anyway: It was my turn to pick and this was a film that, although cheesy, reminded me of game shows in a movie.

Richard Dawson was cast perfectly for this role. Like him or hate him, he had the charisma and the talent for this character.

I guess he did not kiss too many ladies on his way down that (TV) tube...

It is actually a fun movie if you do not take it too seriously.


Poor Buzz Saw...



85248


3.5

I love Dawson in this.

[CringeFest]

The Straight Story (1999)


4.5

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cinelounge.org%2Fimgfull%2F203997.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
La femme de l'aviateur (1981, Éric Rohmer)
4.5
OK, this film didn't blow me away as much as, say, Claire's Knee or Le Rayon Vert, but that's not saying much, it is still wonderful (btw, Marie Riviere — Delphine from Le Rayon Vert — is here as well, playing a similar role). Loved the investigative element, and, as always with Rohmer, the parabolic nature of the story and the ending. Another interesting stylistic choice was the insertion of random shots of people off the street (non-actors) in certain scenes, adding a half-documentary visual dimension to the film.

It's really hard to put in words the magic of Rohmer and his cinematic vision. I am just endlessly fascinated by his warm, intriguing, deceptively simple but thought-provoking plotlines and playful, mysterious characters (especially female ones). I don't know how he does it but every time I watch a Rohmer film, I don't want it to end - in fact, I wish I could live in it. :)

[Stirchley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cinelounge.org%2Fimgfull%2F203997.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
La femme de l'aviateur (1981, Éric Rohmer)
4.5
OK, this film didn't blow me away as much as, say, Claire's Knee or Le Rayon Vert, but that's not saying much, it is still wonderful (btw, Marie Riviere — Delphine from Le Rayon Vert — is here as well, playing a similar role). Loved the investigative element, and, as always with Rohmer, the parabolic nature of the story and the ending. Another interesting stylistic choice was the insertion of random shots of people off the street (non-actors) in certain scenes, adding a half-documentary visual dimension to the film.

It's really hard to put in words the magic of Rohmer and his cinematic vision. I am just endlessly fascinated by his warm, intriguing, deceptively simple but thought-provoking plotlines and playful, mysterious characters (especially female ones). I don't know how he does it but every time I watch a Rohmer film, I don't want it to end - in fact, I wish I could live in it. :)

La Collectionneuse is my favorite. Seen it a million times.

[EsmagaSapos]

https://i.postimg.cc/668TBf8t/onesheet.jpg

2

Start by saying that Adrien Brody shouldn't play a tough guy, but he's such a class actor we don't mind. A film about a garbage man hunted by a past tragedy. He seeks redemption and finds it in a little girl who reminds him of the child he lost. When that girl well-being is in question, he sees it as a second chance to make things right. The movie is a cliché, a typical story but really not well thought, it's like, let's see what profession the viewers haven't seen yet that we can play a man with murderer skills in hiding, yeah let's make it a garbage collector. This story has holes, they are naive and made to impact the viewers who don't like to think. A plus, it's located in New York City and has cats like RZA in good roles.

[edarsenal]

https://p1.storage.canalblog.com/26/86/650891/69810851.jpg
https://mblogthumb-phinf.pstatic.net/20131016_74/cakelike_1381918399552Qb4YJ_JPEG/Therese.Raquin.1953.DVDRip.XviD.avi_002991800.jpg?type=w2
https://www.cinema.de/sites/default/files/styles/cin_landscape_510/public/sync/cms3.cinema.de/imgdb/import/dreams2/1000/874/4/1000874400.jpg?h=69f2b9d0&itok=kN3HoLZH


Thérèse Raquin aka The Adultress (1953) 4++ Caught in a loveless marriage, Thérèse played by the mesmerizing and undaunting Simone Signoret discovers passion in the arms of a truck driver (Raf Vallone.)

Yes, yes, yes, yet ANOTHER Marcel Carné. . . but, C'MON, how can I NOT? lol.

Adapted from a novel by Émile Zola, we ride the spiraling roller coaster of illicit passion and the plunging depths as it all goes off the rails to the rocky crags beneath.

Once more, Carné illustrates every nuance, traversing the unraveling tightrope when death storms into Passion's Garden. The tension building and building with such sublime measure to an outstanding climax.

[chawhee]

Three Songs for Benazir (2021)
https://www.fullframefest.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/THREE-SONGS-FOR-BENEZIR.jpg
4
Another documentary short up for an Oscar, and I liked this one about as much as the last. Bare, rough story about a young man maturing in Iraq.

[John Dumbear]

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/68a974614119a064e60f0555f7586ca0c1415741/c=0-79-1601-984/local/-/media/2017/12/05/INGroup/Indianapolis/636480754467714989-Breaking.JPG?width=660&height=374&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp


"Breaking Away"


Still the best damn sports movie to this day. I'm allowed to type "damn", because its sports!

[GulfportDoc]

Thérèse Raquin aka The Adultress (1953) rating_4++ Caught in a loveless marriage, Thérèse played by the mesmerizing and undaunting Simone Signoret discovers passion in the arms of a truck driver (Raf Vallone.)
...
No one had the smoldering sensuousness as did Simon Signoret. I think she would have been tough to fade...:cool:

I didn't realize that she was German. Come to think of it she looks rather Germanic.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81Ngr9-gxZL._SY445_.jpg



3rd Re-watch...Perhaps the greatest teen angst movie that works primarily thanks to Tina Fey's brilliant, Oscar-worthy screenplay that captures the bitchy teen female psyche better than any movie I have ever seen. Lindsay Lohan had the best role of her off-again on-again career playing Cady Herron, a teen who has been homeschooled for most her life and as she enters the high school. Cady's pursuit of social acceptance becomes endlessly messy when she betrays her real friends Damian and Janice in order to infiltrate a group of bitchy girls who rule the school called the Plastics, led by the Queen Bitch, Regina George. The film features imaginative camerawork, sharp editing, and a terrific supporting class led by Rachel McAdams, creating the ultimate villain in Regina George, Lizzy Caplan as Janice, Daniel Franzese as Damian, Lacey Chabert as the desperate Gretchen, Tim Meadows as the principal, Amy Poehler as Regina's mother, and a totally scene stealing turn from Rajiv Surendra as Kevin Gnapoor, head of the Mathletes. This movie never got the attention it deserved because it might be a little too smart for its intended demographic. 4

[skizzerflake]

It seemed like a good night for an escapist movie, a remake, Death on the Nile, adapted from Agatha Christie. Like any good old school murder mystery, a relatively small Cast of Characters is more or less trapped until the murder is solved. In this case, it's a cruise ship on the Nile, with pyramids in the background. Well off British passengers and the members of the jazz band that provides entertainment are all suspects. Hercule Poirot is a passenger and finds himself working to solve the crime.

Like any good old school British murder mystery, everybody is suspicious and nobody's alibis are completely believable. More murders happen, apparently to cover up the first. Suspects are questioned.

The cast is quite good, with Kenneth Branagh as the inspector, Gail Gadot and Armie Hammer as two of the suspects. I enjoyed that retro-format of the movie, although I did think that the early part of the movie, setting the stage went on too long and didn't really contribute to the outcome. Once it did get moving, all the finger pointing, suspicions, questioning and the ultimate revelation were quite enjoyable.

Most of the scenery seemed to be digital so liberties with sphinxes and pyramids were OK since they were not touching ancient artifacts, when big stones had to fall off the pyramids. It was great escape from the real world...into the comfort of a silly British murder mystery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZRqB0JLizw

[edarsenal]

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/68a974614119a064e60f0555f7586ca0c1415741/c=0-79-1601-984/local/-/media/2017/12/05/INGroup/Indianapolis/636480754467714989-Breaking.JPG?width=660&height=374&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp


"Breaking Away"


Still the best damn sports movie to this day. I'm allowed to type "damn", because its sports!

F@CK YES!! I can't say f@ck no matter what, but I'm f@ckin saying it -- F to the U to the C and it's K with me. F@ck indeedly doodly doo.

I firmly, wholeheartedly endorse the statement previously posted. :)

[edarsenal]

No one had the smoldering sensuousness as did Simon Signoret. I think she would have been tough to fade...:cool:

I didn't realize that she was German. Come to think of it she looks rather Germanic.
Did NOT know she was born in Germany - had to look it up. VERY COOL.

On the few, I've seen of hers, Jacques Becker's Casque d'or is the current favorite.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTotIsvBUBjeFvdV3nzTCll-5m8Uf61cvdXYkMMlejh5bqL_UmwpfODYRCcmvHYU3C5Qj8&usqp=CAU
I have Diaboliques primed to go on my present delight traversing Marcel Carné, which I have EVERY confidence I will adore both her and the film itself. With an additional bonus glee for seeing Paul Meurisse as the husband -- YAY

But, yes, the lady is an intoxication to behold and witness.

[edarsenal]

It seemed like a good night for an escapist movie, a remake, Death on the Nile, adapted from Agatha Christie. Like any good old school murder mystery, a relatively small Cast of Characters is more or less trapped until the murder is solved. In this case, it's a cruise ship on the Nile, with pyramids in the background. Well off British passengers and the members of the jazz band that provides entertainment are all suspects. Hercule Poirot is a passenger and finds himself working to solve the crime.

Like any good old school British murder mystery, everybody is suspicious and nobody's alibis are completely believable. More murders happen, apparently to cover up the first. Suspects are questioned.

The cast is quite good, with Kenneth Branagh as the inspector, Gail Gadot and Armie Hammer as two of the suspects. I enjoyed that retro-format of the movie, although I did think that the early part of the movie, setting the stage went on too long and didn't really contribute to the outcome. Once it did get moving, all the finger pointing, suspicions, questioning and the ultimate revelation were quite enjoyable.

Most of the scenery seemed to be digital so liberties with sphinxes and pyramids were OK since they were not touching ancient artifacts, when big stones had to fall off the pyramids. It was great escape from the real world...into the comfort of a silly British murder mystery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZRqB0JLizw
I quite enjoyed Branagh as Inspector Poirot in Orient Express so I have been quite curious regarding this next venture and I truly need to place it on my watchlist.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F--v3LCLzGctI%2FXm_erywulkI%2FAAAAAAADswI%2FkBfVGwd6KBoEY6JbRWZxJwLKQghrkxZtQCLcBGAsYHQ%2Fs1600%2Fsales man-1969-image-5.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Salesman, 1969

This documentary follows four door-to-door bible salesmen as they attempt to sell pricey holy books to working-class households.

Outside of content involving victimization of someone, is there anything worse than watching someone sell something?

Seriously, anything?

The interactions in this film are the kind of thing that make my skin crawl. A series of soft-spoken housewives trying to politely say no, as the salesmen use any means necessary to sway them toward an expensive purchase: questioning their faith, questioning how they are raising their children. When they try to sell to couples or to men, the alpha male behaviors kick up a notch, at times becoming overtly hostile. The nicknames that the salesmen give themselves--the bull, the rabbit, the badget, the gipper--also kind of made me cringe.

There are some obvious tensions when money and religious faith are intertwined. The film presents us with some predictable moments, such as the salesmen engaging in gambling, using profanity, or speaking with contempt of some of their potential customers. But for me the most insidious part was the way they'd get people to open the door by announcing that they are "from the church."

The most memorable thing for me was simply the exhaustion on the faces of many of the women who clearly operate as the household's bookkeeper. The barely masked disgust and distress on the face of one woman as she's told that their family is being assessed a penalty for not paying on time (I think?) speaks volumes.

On a lighter note, the sequence where a husband passive-aggressively begins to BLAST music as his wife drops a ton of money on one of the expensive bibles was a hoot. "This isn't interfering in what you're doing is it?" he asks, barely trying to make the question sound sincere.

Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

4

[Siddon]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRBfwEvYJvIAjdJorXYM4kzRJ5T3-fCC6NwDg&usqp=CAU


Parallel Mothers (2021)

You always know what you are getting with a Pedro Almodovar film. He has a simple formula where he takes a concept and puts a soap opera plot around said concept and we the viewers are supposed to get sucked in. It's been a while since I saw an Almodovar film that really sucked me in...it's been like 10 years since The Skin I lived In(which was my favorite film of that year)...well Parallel Mothers is on that level.

The plot centers around a pregnant photographer in her late thirties sharing a hospital room with a teenager. They both have their babies and go off on their lives. The story then takes dozens of twists and turns, has multiple time jumps (that are handled very well) and concludes at someplace that's very different from where it starts. Cruz and Smit are incredible in this, both giving performances of restraint and vulnerability. Milena Smit really should have gotten an Oscar nomination because she's a revelation in this. She manages to go through a massive character journey that is believable and sincere.

The film is book-ended with the Spanish Civil War and recovering the bodies of a bunch of dead men. It should be just a throwaway part of a story but it ends up being one of the more profound aspects. The last shots in this film are haunting and moving. Highly recommend it.

rating_4_5

[edarsenal]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BY2QyMjIzMDgtOTIzZC00MjM0LWIzYzctZjg0OWZmYjk0NGNiXkEyXkFqcGdeQVRoaXJkUGFydHlJbmdlc3Rpb25Xb3JrZmxv dw@@._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,47,500,281_.jpg
https://assets.dmagstatic.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/caesar.jpg
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk4MDAwMzE1Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMDM0MzM1MjI@._V1_.jpg


Julius Caesar (1953) 4++ I do not come to bury this film but to praise it.

Leading the bill of said praise is Marlon Brando as Mark Anthony. At the pinnacle of stardom amongst some of his most iconic roles of the early fifties, Brando, to me, rises above the serious theatrical giants sharing the screen of this Shakespearian play. Following Caesar's assassination, his pivotal speech before the masses is an astounding and gripping performance, as is his performance throughout.

Surprisingly, Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz shot this in only 35 days. With an ensemble cast that included James Mason as a still-watered Brutus, John Gielgud as a thoroughly malicious Cassius, an arrogant Caesar, Louis Calhern. The only two relatively small female roles are made memorable by Deborah Kerr as Brutus' wife, Portia, and the rightfully worried Calpurnia by Greer Garson.
The remainder of the cast grips the drama of conspiracy, murder, and pursuit of those guilty of killing Caesar in the Senate beautifully.

[Gideon58]

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Clean-259612472-large.jpg



2.5

[Thief]

HAIL, CAESAR!
(2016, Coen)

https://i.imgur.com/5NEnDMQ.jpg


"But there is a new wind, blowing from the east, from the dusty streets of Bethlehem, that will soon challenge the vast house of Caesar, that edifice wrought of brick and blood which now seems so secure!"



Hail, Caesar! mostly follows Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a "fixer" for Capitol Pictures whose job is to make sure everything runs smoothly at the studio. From covering up scandals to streamlining production, his job is mostly to sell an image, a lie: that Western star Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich) can be a dramatic thespian, or that actress DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johansson) isn't having a child out of wedlock, or that veteran actor Baird Whitlock (George Clooney), star of that film-within-a-film, isn't "out on a bender".

The truth is that Whitlock has been kidnapped by a group of blacklisted Communist screenwriters. Again, winds of change from the east, threatening a long-standing institution. Meanwhile, Mannix is struggling with his own crisis of faith, both in religion and in his job, i.e. the studio system. How much does he believe in both? Can these long-standing institutions sustain the winds of change?

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2281964#post2281964)

[Allaby]

Just finished watching The Sky is Everywhere. Directed by Josephine Decker, the film is about a teen musician (Grace Kaufman) grieving the death of her sister and torn between her feelings towards her sister's boyfriend and the cute new boy at school. Grace Kaufman is wonderful in this beautiful and powerful meditation on grief and love. Jason Segel and Cherry Jones are also very good in supporting roles. For me, this is Josephine Decker's best film. Highly recommended. My rating is 4.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwocentspluschange.files.wordpress.com%2F2022%2F01%2Fbrazen.jpg%3Fw%3D1200&f=1&nofb=1

Brazen, 2022

Grace (Alyssa Milano) is a successful crime writer who goes to stay with her sister, Kathleen (Emilie Ullerup), a high school teacher who is in the process of trying to win custody back from her very powerful, connected husband. Unbeknownst to Grace, Kathleen is moonlighting as a virtual dominatrix to raise funds for her legal battles. One night, as Grace is out on a date with Kathleen's neighbor, Ed (Sam Page), Kathleen is killed in her home. Grace is determined to find her sister's killer.

There's good junk, and there's bad junk. This, my friends, was good junk. The kind of movie you can put on, get half-invested in, roll your eyes at, and eat half a pint of ice cream. (And then the other half of the pint. It's been a long week, okay?).

Here are the things going against this film:
1) The plot is very silly: A person who is not at all law enforcement AND is the sister of the murder victim is hired as a consultant for the murder investigation.
2) The story is riddled with absurd coincidences: The murder victim lives next to a hot-shot police detective. This is the kind of film where a killer gets a cut on his arm and then all of a sudden everyone seems to have a cut on their arm!
3) The writing is, um, yeah. See above.
4) The plot centers partly on kinky sex work, and so the film has to try to show that without being actually sexy or showing any nudity.

Any or all of these things are hallmarks of crappy, made-for-TV movies. But this one also has several things going for it that make it not only tolerable, but honestly quite enjoyable.

For starters, I do like Alyssa Milano. I had no strong feelings toward her for a long time, but she did a stint as the host of Project Runway, including one season while she was heavily pregnant, and I just really loved the way that she talked to people, talked about fashion, and talked about the importance of everyone feeling good in their clothing.

The rest of the cast acquits themselves well enough, including Page as the love interest, Malachi Weir as his partner, and Daniel Diemer as one of Kathleen's students with a secret. There are a few shaky performances from secondary characters, but, seriously, who cares?

I also appreciated that for all the salacious potential of the dominatrix subplot, the film is surprisingly judgement-free when it comes to the women performing the sex work. They are just . . . women. While they obviously don't want to broadcast their work, the film never implies that they "brought it on themselves". (Because let's be real: you don't have to be anywhere close to sex work for someone to become dangerously obsessed with you). Of course the film's version of sex work is very silly and sanitized, but, again, whatever.

I only had one real complaint about the film, and that's the fact that an entire subplot is just left hanging when the film ends. It's almost as if everyone just forgot about this important, emotional aspect of the film. It makes me think: Did I like tune out for some important conversation, LOL? I don't think so, and I'm not rewatching the last 15 minutes to find out.

Good (trashy) stuff.

3.5

[Wooley]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81Ngr9-gxZL._SY445_.jpg



3rd Re-watch...Perhaps the greatest teen angst movie that works primarily thanks to Tina Fey's brilliant, Oscar-worthy screenplay that captures the bitchy teen female psyche better than any movie I have ever seen. Lindsay Lohan had the best role of her off-again on-again career playing Cady Herron, a teen who has been homeschooled for most her life and as she enters the high school. Cady's pursuit of social acceptance becomes endlessly messy when she betrays her real friends Damian and Janice in order to infiltrate a group of bitchy girls who rule the school called the Plastics, led by the Queen Bitch, Regina George. The film features imaginative camerawork, sharp editing, and a terrific supporting class led by Rachel McAdams, creating the ultimate villain in Regina George, Lizzy Caplan as Janice, Daniel Franzese as Damian, Lacey Chabert as the desperate Gretchen, Tim Meadows as the principal, Amy Poehler as Regina's mother, and a totally scene stealing turn from Rajiv Surendra as Kevin Gnapoor, head of the Mathletes. This movie never got the attention it deserved because it might be a little too smart for its intended demographic. 4

Wait, I thought this movie was pretty big and almost universally known?

[ThatDarnMKS]

Wait, I thought this movie was pretty big and almost universally known?
It is. Even my students know it (and wear shirts for it) and they have the cultural memory of Goldfish.

[Fabulous]

Run (2020)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/eHaFIIcw51mZKXm4ite9uNXOh1M.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a7/Uslnmv.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478049/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16447574

The U.S. vs John Lennon - (2006)

I became a little impatient with this documentary, which contented itself for much of it's running time with John Lennon's career, music and activism - which is part of the story, I grant, but not the crux of this doc, which is meant to reveal what the Nixon administration and other government agencies did in relation to him. In the end we mostly have to settle for a detailed look at U.S. attempts to deport him, and John's suspicion that his phones were tapped. There's not much else here, so if you already know quite a bit about John Lennon's career, this will be a simple recap on that, with admittedly decent interviews with important people from that era.

6/10

[chawhee]

MIssissippi Grind (2015)
http://benlanehodson.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/mississippi-grind-2015.jpg
3
Im surprised I never heard of this movie until recently, but a gambling plot with Ryan Reynolds seemed perfectly fitting for me. Ultimately though, I didn't find much to enjoy here. Its rather ordinary in telling a degenerate story, but it was interesting enough. I just didn't feel the moral and point of the movie was really portrayed that well.

[honeykid]

It is. Even my students know it (and wear shirts for it) and they have the cultural memory of Goldfish.
Do they know it? Or just wear the T-shirts? Plenty of under 30's walking around in AC/DC or Led Zepplin shirts having no idea they were even bands.

[Takoma11]

Do they know it? Or just wear the T-shirts? Plenty of under 30's walking around in AC/DC or Led Zepplin shirts having no idea they were even bands.

I think that a lot of the catchphrases from the film have endured ("You go, Glenn Coco!" or "Stop trying to make 'Fetch' happen!"), but I agree that a lot of people using them haven't actually seen the film or even realize that it's more than a teen comedy and actually a pretty good look at some of the more troublesome social dynamics of high school culture.

[Thursday Next]

Sing 2 (2021)

Paper thin and slightly dubious story, but the animation is good, the characters remain engaging and it's basically a non-stop hit parade which will keep kids entertained and won't bore adults too much.

3


Red Notice (2021)

Not as bad as I thought it would be. It's big but not clever, a breezy double-crossing action-comedy treasure hunting caper. It's fairly entertaining, although nothing more than that. Still more fun than the last three marvel films.

3


Eternals (2021)

Like a more ponderous version of 2020s Old Guard. Eternals features too many characters with too little to do. There are a few good elements in it, but it's very badly paced, often dull, confusing and basically all over the place. The mentions of the avengers and events of the MCU are jarring, as tonally it doesn't seem to inhabit the same universe.

2.5

[Deschain]

Yeah Mean Girls is in this weird position of both being pretty popular and underrated at the same time.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Do they know it? Or just wear the T-shirts? Plenty of under 30's walking around in AC/DC or Led Zepplin shirts having no idea they were even bands.
They’ve seen it, unlike the Boyz N The Hood and Seinfeld shirts they’ve repped. Mean Girls and Heathers are shockingly beloved among them.

[SpelingError]

27th Hall of Fame (REWATCH)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - 4.5

This film was just as great as I remembered it being when I watched it last year, perhaps even more so. It's the kind of film that nails a few different types of greatness.

A lot of the film's greatness lies in the relationship between Joe and Ratso. When we first meet Joe, he seems overly-confident and adopts a John Wayne look with his cowboy clothing to create what he thinks is a sense of masculinity. The more we learn about his life via flashback though (his girlfriend and potentially him being sexually assaulted, for instance), the clearer it becomes that he dresses the way he does to cope with his past trauma. As he spends more and more time in New York City and experiences failure after failure, his confidence slowly slips away. New York City is shown to be a brutal city (we frequently see buildings being demolished and people breaking into abandoned apartments) and Joe doesn't seem to have it any better than the average, er, Joe living there (if anything, he seems to have it worse than most of the people we meet in the film). That's when he meets Ratso. Though they initially start off on shaky terms, they eventually warm up to each other and soon become close friends. Joe works as a male prostitute (he doesn't have much luck with this though), while Ratso, who's lived in NYC longer and has better adapted himself to its cruel environment, steals from people on the streets.

The emotional core of the film is watching two dysfunctional people bond. As the film goes on, their friendship potentially develops into a love that neither of them seem to fully understand. Joe has a couple sexual experiences with men in the film, so even though we never learn what his sexuality is, he doesn't appear to be straight (or, at least, he's in a process of questioning his sexuality). As for Ratso, even though he uses a number of homophobic slurs throughout the film, a breakthrough moment for him is when, after Joe helps him up a set of stairs at a party, he intimately leans his head into Joe's torso. This shows that both men are a lot softer than their masculine and homophobic outward personalities suggest. In a more cliché films, their growing (romantic?) friendship would give them extra confidence and lead to them finding success, but this film opts for a more brutally honest story where friendship and love don't save the day.

I also love the craft of the film. It has so many standout sequences (the hallucinations in the bus ride to NYC, changing the channel multiple times during a sex scene, Joe chasing Ratso to a subway, Joe's dream of the sexual assault, Ratso imagining him and Joe together in Miami, and the Warhol-esque party) which are literally perfect. Not only is the editing and visuals in those scenes spectacular, but the various cuts in the more grounded scenes are also excellent. And to top it off, that the film sometimes feels meandering and character-driven rather than plot-driven is the icing on the cake.

Overall, I'm glad I got to revisit this film. I wouldn't quite call it a favorite, but it's definitely really close to a 10/10 for me. A third viewing down the road may get me to bump it up to a 10/10. Who knows.

[Tugg]

Mean Girls and Heathers are shockingly beloved among them.
Those are two greats.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Freview%2Fprimary_image%2Freviews%2Fbrawl-in-cell-block-99-2017%2Fhero_brawl-in-cell-block-99-vince-vaughn.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Brawl in Cell Block 99, 2017

Bradley (Vince Vaughn) turns to working for a drug runner after he loses his job, ending up in jail after a deal goes wrong. But a man Bradley betrayed wants revenge and so kidnaps his wife (Jennifer Carpenter), demanding that Bradley take out a man in a maximum security prison run by a cruel warden (Don Johnson). We follow Bradley's strange descent into hell as he tries to complete his deadly mission.

This one landed right in that annoying sweet spot where it had some really good stuff going for it that was just constantly derailed by clumsy elements that took me out of the magic and momentum of the story.

Starting with the good, Vaughn hits exactly the right notes as a big tough guy who is also deeply sentimental and emotional at the same time. Zahler (who both wrote and directed) leans really heavily on the whole "eloquent working class guy" style of dialogue, but Vaughn finds his way around it nicely. Every step of the way on Bradley's journey involves more danger, more moral compromise, and we see that weight build and build on his shoulders.

I also really liked the style of the direction. A lot of it exists in that sort of hyper-reality that can be hit-or-miss, but the scenes draw you in. The violence is over the top, but the emotional stakes of the sequences, wisely built in early scenes between Bradley and his wife, keep the consequences feeling real enough.

I'll also never say no to a character played by Fred Melamed, even if it's basically a cameo as an authoritarian processing guard at the prison. Ditto Clark Johnson!

On the downside, several of the character choices land the film in the wrong side of camp, and also leans hard into some stereotypes. All the virtue-signaling around Bradley owning American flags (something that's prominently established on screen and then talked about for a LONG time by one of the police detectives) is whatever. But then the evil drug dealers have a spokesperson who is . . . German? And when they hire a doctor to forcibly mutilate or abort the fetus, that person is Chinese? And a Spanish enforcer tells a police officer that it's going to be like 9/11? The only bad guy who gets redemption at the end is a rich racist white man (hey look, it's Riley from Buffy the Vampire Slayer!), who gets a cool guy hero edit.

I also really struggled with some of the literal plot elements, especially centered on Bradley's wife. You're telling me Bradley double-crossed a powerful drug cartel and then . . . his wife just kept living in their home? ALONE? Earlier we see that he doesn't even want her using knives in the kitchen while pregnant, but he doesn't anticipate/fear any retaliation? And then when she is attacked in her home her decision is to stand right in front of a window and take potshots with a gun instead of calling 911 and hiding (or good lord at least taking cover)?! That whole sequence was probably peak irritation for me as it was just so dumb (as opposed to fun-dumb).

This is the kind of movie that I enjoy more for its indications at future potential than for what I was actually watching on screen. A bit of a let down, but not without some merit.

3.5

[MovieBuffering]

Stand By Me - 1986

I missed this one for some reason. It's one of those movies you think you might have seen or seen bits and pieces of but can't remember. Released the year before I was born. I always thought the "You guys wanna see a dead body" came from this and I was right. I enjoyed it for the most part. Some of the drama felt a little hammy and the bad guy was cartoonish. You can feel the 80s in it lol. However, I am still marinating in it a day after which shows it had an impact on me. It some how worked. River Phoenix was going be a star like his brother, maybe bigger. Shame he passed away so young. He was the best part of the movie. Anyways I enjoyed it, gives you nostalgic feels about childhood. I wouldn't rush back into it but I am glad I watched it.

https://s2.thcdn.com/productimg/960/960/11313240-1324402110734247.jpg
3

[MovieBuffering]

Maverick - 1994

My buddy in college always tried to get me to watch this flick. I had probably seen bits and pieces of it. Sat down and tried to watch it couple days ago. Couldn't hold my attention. I could see how this worked in the early 90s but didn't do much for me now. It was cheese in the wrong direction. Sometimes cheese can work but not here. It felt like the Batman and Robin for Westerns. It's never a good sign when I can feel them filming a movie. None of the comedy worked on me. I don't know not my bag. It was just too silly for me.

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/aJtiPZTvROqyk5t0eD7s1SPfkR4.jpg
1.5

[Mr Minio]

A clumsy teacher by day, a vengeful rapist by night. Meet the Rapeman!

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

This film series is nothing like you would expect from the title. Or maybe it's everything you would expect from the title. It all depends on whether you're familiar with the manga it was based on. The premise is simple. The eponymous Rapeman and his uncle run a Rapeman Services business. Another woman stole your husband? Your girlfriend is cheating on you? Do you know an all-around evil woman? Just ask Rapeman and he'll straighten her out, one thrust at a time! But Rapeman is much more than that. He's a hero fighting crime, crooked politicians, and the mob! Whenever conventional methods fail, he's there with his motto: "Righting Wrongs Through Penetration”. It's easy to imagine that these films are nothing but softcore rape scenes. Quite the contrary! For example, the second part has only four short rape scenes. The rest is drama, comedy, and mystery divided into equalish blocks of Video goodness. The films are very well shot for straight-to-video productions and bring lots of semi-guilty pleasure. They really feel just like cheap TV series with several rape scenes slapped onto them to add some spice, but that's fine and still better than Asian Dramas (especially contemporary ones).

Only watched the first 2 installments in this seven-film series so far:

Rapeman 1 introduces us to the entire thing. The corrupted politicians' plot isn't that great, but the juxtaposition between the badass rapist and awkward teacher is very fresh and works very well. Rape scenes have this weird blur. This effect feels interesting at first but gets annoying pretty fast. The rapes themselves are pretty mild, nothing too brutal or fancy, but they counteract the monotony very well. I loved the character of the photo reporter. She's got some charm and sports a nice blue cap. Overall a good film. 7/10.

Rapeman 2 is even more plot-heavy than the first effort, introducing us to an entire scheme of Hongkong mafia-backed organ transplant evildoers. It even goes as far as to make a cute little girl a victim of organ trafficking. To my joy, the cute photo reporter returns (but loses her blue cap). It's again interesting to see this genre hotpot, mixing drama and comedy with some mild rape scenes. Obviously, the evil women get their rapey comeuppance, but it's also nice to see the Hongkong mob boss get punched to hell by the Rapeman. Overall a slightly lesser effort than the first one, I felt, but still good entertainment. 7/10.

[Wooley]

27th Hall of Fame (REWATCH)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - 4.5

This film was just as great as I remembered it being when I watched it last year, perhaps even more so. It's the kind of film that nails a few different types of greatness.

A lot of the film's greatness lies in the relationship between Joe and Ratso. When we first meet Joe, he seems overly-confident and adopts a John Wayne look with his cowboy clothing to create what he thinks is a sense of masculinity. The more we learn about his life via flashback though (his girlfriend and potentially him being sexually assaulted, for instance), the clearer it becomes that he dresses the way he does to cope with his past trauma. As he spends more and more time in New York City and experiences failure after failure, his confidence slowly slips away. New York City is shown to be a brutal city (we frequently see buildings being demolished and people breaking into abandoned apartments) and Joe doesn't seem to have it any better than the average, er, Joe living there (if anything, he seems to have it worse than most of the people we meet in the film). That's when he meets Ratso. Though they initially start off on shaky terms, they eventually warm up to each other and soon become close friends. Joe works as a male prostitute (he doesn't have much luck with this though), while Ratso, who's lived in NYC longer and has better adapted himself to its cruel environment, steals from people on the streets.

The emotional core of the film is watching two dysfunctional people bond. As the film goes on, their friendship potentially develops into a love that neither of them seem to fully understand. Joe has a couple sexual experiences with men in the film, so even though we never learn what his sexuality is, he doesn't appear to be straight (or, at least, he's in a process of questioning his sexuality). As for Ratso, even though he uses a number of homophobic slurs throughout the film, a breakthrough moment for him is when, after Joe helps him up a set of stairs at a party, he intimately leans his head into Joe's torso. This shows that both men are a lot softer than their masculine and homophobic outward personalities suggest. In a more cliché films, their growing (romantic?) friendship would give them extra confidence and lead to them finding success, but this film opts for a more brutally honest story where friendship and love don't save the day.

I also love the craft of the film. It has so many standout sequences (the hallucinations in the bus ride to NYC, changing the channel multiple times during a sex scene, Joe chasing Ratso to a subway, Joe's dream of the sexual assault, Ratso imagining him and Joe together in Miami, and the Warhol-esque party) which are literally perfect. Not only is the editing and visuals in those scenes spectacular, but the various cuts in the more grounded scenes are also excellent. And to top it off, that the film sometimes feels meandering and character-driven rather than plot-driven is the icing on the cake.

Overall, I'm glad I got to revisit this film. I wouldn't quite call it a favorite, but it's definitely really close to a 10/10 for me. A third viewing down the road may get me to bump it up to a 10/10. Who knows.

Yup, this film fairly blew me away when I finally watched it, about three years ago.

[Wooley]

Maverick - 1994

My buddy in college always tried to get me to watch this flick. I had probably seen bits and pieces of it. Sat down and tried to watch it couple days ago. Couldn't hold my attention. I could see how this worked in the early 90s but didn't do much for me now. It was cheese in the wrong direction. Sometimes cheese can work but not here. It felt like the Batman and Robin for Westerns. It's never a good sign when I can feel them filming a movie. None of the comedy worked on me. I don't know not my bag. It was just too silly for me.

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/aJtiPZTvROqyk5t0eD7s1SPfkR4.jpg
1.5

I very much enjoy this movie for the silly fun it tries to be.

[GulfportDoc]

85326
Nightmare Alley (2021)

Starring: Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Rooney Mara, Richard Jenkins, Ron Perlman, David Strathairn.
Director: Guillermo del Toro; Screenplay: del Toro and Kim Morgan; DP: Dan Laustsen; Score: Nathan Johnson.

Going in, many know the basic premise from the 1947 film starring Tyrone Power, or from the 1946 novel by William Lindsay Gresham on which both films are based: A down-on-his-luck wanderer comes upon a carnival, where his fascination with the life style and its offer of employment eventually leads him to apprentice with a mentalist act. Although he is disgusted by a “geek” sideshow, where a crazed booze addled individual bites the heads of live chickens, he decides to stay on and learn the secret code of the clairvoyant act.


When he accidentally causes the death of the washed up mentalist in the duo, he and its female assistant decide to leave the carny in order to stage their own mentalist nightclub act that becomes very popular. During that time the protagonist meets up with a psychologist, which leads to their partnership in scamming wealthy society members out of large sums of money. The mentalist act devolves into psychic conjuring sessions which are eventually foiled, and the fate of all the participants start to unravel.

Although beautifully staged, photographed, and well acted, there are two chief deficits in the production. First was the miscasting of Bradley Cooper in the role of Stanton Carlisle. Referred to in the story as “the kid”, Cooper, at aged 46 was too old for the part. He also is not very capable of portraying a villainous cad, or one consumed by money that Tyrone Power did in the original. Leonardo DiCaprio was initially chosen and was in negotiation for the character before he dropped out. A better choice for the role of Cooper could have been Christian Bale, although both DiCaprio and Bale are likewise too old. There are any number of up and coming stars who would have better fit the bill.


Second, during the mid 1940s the public of that time was able to believe the notion of an individual who was crazed and debased enough by alcoholism to the point where he coulddegenerate into a carnival bestial “geek” who would bite the heads off of live chickens. And further, that a person could become an alcoholic capable of that slide simply by heavy drinking. This is not the case with audiences of the 21st Century. The novel and the ‘46 film were contemporary dramas. The 2021 film is a period piece. Because we’re asked to view those anachronistic notions with contemporary sensibilities, it creates a dichotomy that makes it difficult to believe the film.

The acting was of a high level that one would expect from such a dream cast. Stand outs were Willem Dafoe as the carnival boss, Toni Collette as Zeena, the partner in the traditional mentalist act, and Richard Jenkins as the wealthy tycoon mark, Ezra Grindle. Rooney Mara struck me as the embodiment of a 1940s lass. And Collete as Zeena was convincing as a grizzled carny. Blanchett as the psychologist was a little like a cadaver with heavy makeup, but her role was partly dependent on Carlisle’s believable allure for her, which simply was not convincingly demonstrated by Cooper.


Unfortunately there was no chemistry between Cooper and any of the three female leads. So we’re not convinced by the initial Carlisle/Zeena sexual attraction. Nor do we understand the basis of the love generated between Carlisle and the carny played by Mara, to the point where she is eager to leave the carnival with Carlisle. Likewise it’s a strain to believe the relationship that quickly develops between Carlisle and the psychologist.

The cinematography was very captivating. However it’s interesting to note that the ‘46 film created the noir mood with lighting and camera angles, whereas the new film relied too much upon CGI to create the film’s dark patina. In fact there was too much use of CGI. The flames in the prologue as well as some of the special effects seemed a little transparent.


Del Toro’s direction was a good effort, but will probably not be ranked among his finest. Reportedly when he and Cooper met, there occurred not only a meeting of the minds, but rather an artistic marriage. From that point on the film was destined to be the product of that relationship-- I think to its detriment. Del Toro’s screenplay was actually a little more faithful to the book than was the ‘46 version, although both treatments of the picture made some significant departures. The current film’s long running time enabled delving into more aspects of the novel, but it also created a slow pace to the script which detracted from the story’s punch. Of the two, I prefer the ‘46 version. It was more compact and impressive.


Both version’s ending lines were similar, but neither existed in the novel. To me the actual final statement in the novel was much more on target, but the screenwriters could not resist using a larger than life show boat line.
The ‘46 version: “Mister, I was made for it”. The 2021 version: “Mister, I was born for it”. The actual quote, “Of course, it's only temporary – just until we get a real geek" is far more fateful and fitting.
Doc’s rating: 6/10

[GulfportDoc]

Apologies re the spoilers misuse. Don't know how to fix it...

[Deschain]

I very much enjoy this movie for the silly fun it tries to be.

Same. I love how it portrays everyone in the old west as gamblers and con artists. :D

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/8e/Dune_%282021_film%29.jpg/220px-Dune_%282021_film%29.jpg

4

SF = Z


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/01/Welcome_to_Raccoon_City.jpg/220px-Welcome_to_Raccoon_City.jpg

2

SF = Zzzz


[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

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Feast_%28movie_poster%29.jpg
By http://impawards.com/2006/feast.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6359079

Feast - (2005)

I've never seen an episode of Project Greenlight - a show where wanna-be filmmakers send in scripts and a first-time director can win a chance to make a movie. The director for season 3 was John Gulager and the winning screenplay was for this film - Feast, which went on to completely underwhelm me in every aspect. This horror film has a strong slant towards comedy, and the humour for the most part is a little off - it's not bad enough to make you cringe, but it's not funny enough to really be enjoyable. The creatures are seldom seen, to the point where I'm still a little fuzzy on what they exactly looked like. Much of the action takes place in a bar where a bunch of people have barricaded all the doors and windows - and conflict takes place mostly between the humans in this story. Where in Night of the Living Dead this was clever and interesting, in Feast it's sloppy with most of the aggression just making the characters obnoxious. It manages to deliver a few moments of gory fun - but other than that it's a mess.

4/10

[mark f]

The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo, 2020) 2 5/10
I Want You Back (Jason Orley, 2022) 2.5 6-/10
Ambush (Sam Wood, 1950) 2+ 5/10
Attica (Traci Curry & Stanley Nelson, 2021) 3.5 7/10
https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AAQo5hG.img?h=0&w=600&m=6&q=60&u=t&o=f&l=f
The 1971 Attica Prison riot in all its detail through newsreel footage, TV broadcasts, modern interviews, unknown info at the time, etc., paints a noteworthy depiction of the U.S. at the time.
The Outriders (Roy Rowland, 1950) 2+ 5/10
The Other Me (Giga Agladze, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Ascension (Jessica Kingdon, 2021) 3 6.5/10
Bigbug (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://film-book.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/claude-perron-big-bug-01-700x400-1.jpg
In the near future, household robots help protect their humans when an android rebellion begins.
The In Between (Arie Posin, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Stoker Hills (Benjamin Louis, 2020) 2 5/10
Cry Macho (Clint Eastwood, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Nevada Smith (Henry Hathaway, 1966) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c64a316929779a404476e19cc77df54f/tumblr_ozlgamquML1wqbi8co2_400.gifv
Seeking revenge on the murderers of his parents, uneducated halfbreed Max Sand (Steve McQueen) trains with wise Jonas Cord (Brian Keith).
Revenge of the Creature (Jack Arnold, 1955) 2 5/10
Marry Me (Kat Coiro, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Those Who Walk Away (Robert Rippberger, 2022) 2 5/10
The Sky Is Everywhere (Josephine Decker, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1984555/sky-everywhere-movie.jpg?w=600&q=75&f=0bfab099c8cb9094e7d36c5e9a86babd
When her sister suddenly dies, teenager Grace Kaufman goes into severe depression but feels briefly exhilarated by a new student.
Damon's Revenge (David Gere, 2022) 2 5/10
The Reunion (Phil Harding [Phil Donlon], 2022) 2.5 6/10
The Long Night AKA The Coven (Rich Ragsdale, 2022) 1.5+ 4.5/10
Hail!, Mafia (Raoul Lévy, 1965) 2.5 6/10
https://jeffstafford76.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/duo-argue-in-marsh.jpg
Complicated mob hitman saga with Henry Silva and Jack Klugman going after Eddie Constantine for ruining Klugman's sister in more ways than one.

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7e/Feast_%28movie_poster%29.jpg
By http://impawards.com/2006/feast.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6359079

Feast - (2005)

I've never seen an episode of Project Greenlight - a show where wanna-be filmmakers send in scripts and a first-time director can win a chance to make a movie. The director for season 3 was John Gulager and the winning screenplay was for this film - Feast, which went on to completely underwhelm me in every aspect. This horror film has a strong slant towards comedy, and the humour for the most part is a little off - it's not bad enough to make you cringe, but it's not funny enough to really be enjoyable. The creatures are seldom seen, to the point where I'm still a little fuzzy on what they exactly looked like. Much of the action takes place in a bar where a bunch of people have barricaded all the doors and windows - and conflict takes place mostly between the humans in this story. Where in Night of the Living Dead this was clever and interesting, in Feast it's sloppy with most of the aggression just making the characters obnoxious. It manages to deliver a few moments of gory fun - but other than that it's a mess.

4/10

Oh wow.
I really enjoy that movie.

[Stirchley]

85357

Never seen this before. Skipped through the musical bits (I hate musicals), but enjoyed the rest. Björk was really excellent in a very depressing rôle.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Oh wow.
I really enjoy that movie.Same here. I thought it did what it set out to do. Which is provide some good atmosphere and dread. I have a weakness for these types of claustrophobic thrillers where groups of disparate people are trapped together in dicey situations. Legion, Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight, Assault on Precinct 13, hell even something like Devil had it's moments.

[Captain Terror]

I have a weakness for these types of claustrophobic thrillers where groups of disparate people are trapped together in dicey situations.

I watched one on Shudder this weekend called Blood Vessel. While it's far from great, it fits this description. In this case it's a lifeboat full of shipwreck survivors that come upon an abandoned Nazi ship that's overrun with vampires.
If you can get past the one Australian actor's excruciating attempt at a New York accent, it's trashy fun. But not "good", you understand.

[WHITBISSELL!]

I watched one on Shudder this weekend called Blood Vessel. While it's far from great, it fits this description. In this case it's a lifeboat full of shipwreck survivors that come upon an abandoned Nazi ship that's overrun with vampires.
If you can get past the one Australian actor's excruciating attempt at a New York accent, it's trashy fun. But not "good", you understand.That actually does sound pretty good. While reading your description I thought I had seen the trailer before remembering that I was thinking of Blood Red Sky. That's vampires on a plane though.

I've been wanting to upgrade to Shudder for months now. It seems that every time I delve into the "other movies like this" recommendations and run across a horror flick I'd like to watch it's running specifically on Shudder.

[Captain Terror]

That's vampires on a plane though.

LOL

As long as Shudder remains at its current price I think it's worth it. I'll watch 2-3 films per month on average. But I wouldn't join it on Blood Vessel's account. ;)

[edarsenal]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTnU6_wABzjQl9CNbGxM7WGb080joYy4uKS_NEb4zbX7DTtbHbY3E7mjRzsM7HphBceM6Q&usqp=CAU
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A Colt is my Passport aka Koruto wa ore no pasupooto (1967) 4+++ Influenced by French New Wave and Spaghetti Westerns creating a unique and VERY gratifying cinematic experience.

With the title and premise of a Hitman paid to kill a competitive mob boss only to have both gangs go after him, one would expect a lot of shooting, killing, and harrowing chases.
Or so I expected, and when it wasn't, I discovered something far more insightful with a greater resonance that hit on so many nuanced levels.

With the two influences mentioned above and the poetic philosophy of Japanese filmmaking, I was more than just a little impressed with how everything was brought together with such sublime artistry.
Firstly, the spaghetti western homage that included a soundtrack used sparingly at just the right moments, and the remainder was sans music worked beautifully.
The dialogue is thoughtful and introspective, the composition and storytelling are composed and layered with fine acting done throughout.
Also, for such a premise, this is a more strategically oriented film where gunfire and violence are more sparingly used and thus far more effective.

A thinking man's gangster film with western undertones and a French New Wave sense of Style, and retaining the Poetry of Japanese cinema blended so f@cking IMPRESSIVELY!

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTI4NDhhNGEtZjQxZC00ZTRmLThmZTctOGJmY2ZlOTc0ZGY0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTkxNjUyNQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4

[Wooley]

I've been wanting to upgrade to Shudder for months now. It seems that every time I delve into the "other movies like this" recommendations and run across a horror flick I'd like to watch it's running specifically on Shudder.

I finally caved in and got it full time, instead of just in October, and I have not been sorry. I use that and HBOMax most of the time and then rarely I'll watch something on another service.

[CringeFest]

Paradise Now (2005)


5


very deep and moving, and the only israel/palestine conflict movie i have ever seen.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kino-potsdam.de%2Ffiles%2Fimg%2Fxplakate%2F2019%2Fhorror-noire-a-history-of-black-horror%2F373891_1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, 2019

This documentary, featuring a range of directors, actors, and academics explores the history of Black characters and creators in the horror genre.

I really enjoyed this a lot, and that's mainly down to just how engaging the set-up and speakers are. The interviewees---with just one or two exceptions--are filmed in a theater in groups of two. The interviews are highly conversational, and the various presenters do a great job of mixing their own personal experiences with a broader historical sense of the significance of different films.

The speakers talk about the historical dearth of Black characters---and specifically Black-led films---and that's really hammered home by the fact that (1) There are not a ton of people being interviewed and (2) That moderate-sized group manages to cover a LOT of the bases. Tony Todd is on hand, as is Keith David. There are representatives from Bones, Tales from the Hood, and even Blacula.

The combination of the personal and the academic is really expertly done, and the various interviewees are so fun to listen to. Even as they cover some very heavy topics---such as the resonance of the killing of Black characters by white mobs in different films--they never let it feel anything like a misery slog. This is a look at deep questions about representation and belonging delivered with just the right mix of depth and humor.

The final conversation in the film is about Jordan Peele's Get Out, and I thought it was a powerful way to end the film. For starters, one of the interviewee's observes just how incredibly rare it is for an audience to root for a Black lead in a horror film. But their discussion of the ending of the film really brought me back to my own experience seeing the movie in the film, and the dread I felt when those police lights appeared. The discussion of the ending of Get Out also highlights the tricky positions that creators are in when they are featuring a group that is underrepresented: do you aim for realism, or do you do something aspirational? That tension seems to underlie a lot of the films they discuss.

It was also just interesting to note my own feelings as the interviewees offered critiques of films I personally love---like Candyman. It can be hard to get past an initial defensiveness, but I think that the people being interviewed do a great job of giving the context for their interpretations and reactions to the films. It felt like a very accessible way to be challenged on some of my own interpretations and reactions and to think about how certain films might look from a different point of view.

Definitely worth it if you're a horror fan, and honestly such an engaging group of creators that it's probably also well worth it for even a casual horror fan or just someone who is interested in the history of cinema.

4.5

[Deschain]

Loved Horror Noire. Keith David is such a delight.

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kino-potsdam.de%2Ffiles%2Fimg%2Fxplakate%2F2019%2Fhorror-noire-a-history-of-black-horror%2F373891_1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, 2019

This documentary, featuring a range of directors, actors, and academics explores the history of Black characters and creators in the horror genre.

I really enjoyed this a lot, and that's mainly down to just how engaging the set-up and speakers are. The interviewees---with just one or two exceptions--are filmed in a theater in groups of two. The interviews are highly conversational, and the various presenters do a great job of mixing their own personal experiences with a broader historical sense of the significance of different films.

The speakers talk about the historical dearth of Black characters---and specifically Black-led films---and that's really hammered home by the fact that (1) There are not a ton of people being interviewed and (2) That moderate-sized group manages to cover a LOT of the bases. Tony Todd is on hand, as is Keith David. There are representatives from Bones, Tales from the Hood, and even Blacula.

The combination of the personal and the academic is really expertly done, and the various interviewees are so fun to listen to. Even as they cover some very heavy topics---such as the resonance of the killing of Black characters by white mobs in different films--they never let it feel anything like a misery slog. This is a look at deep questions about representation and belonging delivered with just the right mix of depth and humor.

The final conversation in the film is about Jordan Peele's Get Out, and I thought it was a powerful way to end the film. For starters, one of the interviewee's observes just how incredibly rare it is for an audience to root for a Black lead in a horror film. But their discussion of the ending of the film really brought me back to my own experience seeing the movie in the film, and the dread I felt when those police lights appeared. The discussion of the ending of Get Out also highlights the tricky positions that creators are in when they are featuring a group that is underrepresented: do you aim for realism, or do you do something aspirational? That tension seems to underlie a lot of the films they discuss.

It was also just interesting to note my own feelings as the interviewees offered critiques of films I personally love---like Candyman. It can be hard to get past an initial defensiveness, but I think that the people being interviewed do a great job of giving the context for their interpretations and reactions to the films. It felt like a very accessible way to be challenged on some of my own interpretations and reactions and to think about how certain films might look from a different point of view.

Definitely worth it if you're a horror fan, and honestly such an engaging group of creators that it's probably also well worth it for even a casual horror fan or just someone who is interested in the history of cinema.

4.5

I'm looking forward to this.
I have to say, I'm heartbroken that my lengthy dissertation on all themes I felt I saw in Candyman, some with regard to a woman fighting for a place in a man's world that is characterized by ambition (Academia), but as much with regard to its commentary on cultural appropriation, was lost to the death of Corri, because I'd love to read how it's all specifically turned on its ear by hearing from black speakers on the film. I'm sure I'll remember a lot of what I felt when I watch this, but it would be nice to be able to refer back to those thoughts.

[ThatDarnMKS]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kino-potsdam.de%2Ffiles%2Fimg%2Fxplakate%2F2019%2Fhorror-noire-a-history-of-black-horror%2F373891_1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror, 2019

This documentary, featuring a range of directors, actors, and academics explores the history of Black characters and creators in the horror genre.

I really enjoyed this a lot, and that's mainly down to just how engaging the set-up and speakers are. The interviewees---with just one or two exceptions--are filmed in a theater in groups of two. The interviews are highly conversational, and the various presenters do a great job of mixing their own personal experiences with a broader historical sense of the significance of different films.

The speakers talk about the historical dearth of Black characters---and specifically Black-led films---and that's really hammered home by the fact that (1) There are not a ton of people being interviewed and (2) That moderate-sized group manages to cover a LOT of the bases. Tony Todd is on hand, as is Keith David. There are representatives from Bones, Tales from the Hood, and even Blacula.

The combination of the personal and the academic is really expertly done, and the various interviewees are so fun to listen to. Even as they cover some very heavy topics---such as the resonance of the killing of Black characters by white mobs in different films--they never let it feel anything like a misery slog. This is a look at deep questions about representation and belonging delivered with just the right mix of depth and humor.

The final conversation in the film is about Jordan Peele's Get Out, and I thought it was a powerful way to end the film. For starters, one of the interviewee's observes just how incredibly rare it is for an audience to root for a Black lead in a horror film. But their discussion of the ending of the film really brought me back to my own experience seeing the movie in the film, and the dread I felt when those police lights appeared. The discussion of the ending of Get Out also highlights the tricky positions that creators are in when they are featuring a group that is underrepresented: do you aim for realism, or do you do something aspirational? That tension seems to underlie a lot of the films they discuss.

It was also just interesting to note my own feelings as the interviewees offered critiques of films I personally love---like Candyman. It can be hard to get past an initial defensiveness, but I think that the people being interviewed do a great job of giving the context for their interpretations and reactions to the films. It felt like a very accessible way to be challenged on some of my own interpretations and reactions and to think about how certain films might look from a different point of view.

Definitely worth it if you're a horror fan, and honestly such an engaging group of creators that it's probably also well worth it for even a casual horror fan or just someone who is interested in the history of cinema.

4.5

My main criticism of this film was its brevity and how I’d rather it have been a Burns-esque deep dive but I suppose wanting more of a thing is about as high of a compliment as anything.

Also, when Ken Foree and Keith David are saying “offer us roles! We’re still here” may have actually been the genesis of my script The Lonely. But such things are too nebulous to say for certain.

[Fabulous]

Last Christmas (2019)

2

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/zviKUyluKfGYSthn9zdjkbjpAE7.jpg

[matt72582]

Paradise Now (2005)


rating_5


very deep and moving, and the only israel/palestine conflict movie i have ever seen.


Sounds like a good movie, I'll try to find it on Comcast. To me, this is the most important issue in the world... but probably the most ignored, and most distorted.

If you liked this movie, you might like the movie he made right before - "Rana's Wedding".

[CringeFest]

Sounds like a good movie, I'll try to find it on Comcast. To me, this is the most important issue in the world... but probably the most ignored, and most distorted.

If you liked this movie, you might like the movie he made right before - "Rana's Wedding".


it is quite important, for me the most important one is the deforestation and ocean plastic. They're all related though.

[Allaby]

I Am a Ghost (2012). Watched on Shudder. Very interesting twist on the typical ghost story. Instead of focusing on the living, this film focuses on the ghost. I thought it was very well done and had some cool moments. My rating is a 4.

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.b2cd32045113793ae4798098e1b1df02?rik=uuBVYSfTxHtm5g&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
A Winter's Tale (1992, Éric Rohmer)
4
A slightly lesser Rohmer imo, but still charming. It's a film about faith and fate, the choices we make in life and love, the mysteries of human interaction and relationships. As often with the French director, deep existential topics go hand in hand with the light-hearted and mundane side of life, explored in his typically verbose but fascinating dialogue. The simplicity of the plotline tricks you into expecting a surprise/twist at the end (at some point I was like, "This is too simple. Rohmer must have something else up his sleeve") but then the lovely, heartfelt, completely unpretentious fairy-tale happy ending comes, and you realize: simplicity is the whole point. Beautiful movie.

[edarsenal]

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Last Holiday (1950) 4++ Alec Guinness plays a sad, lonely man who learns he's going to die within weeks, so he takes his life savings, and goes to a posh hotel where suddenly every opportunity is now wide open for him.

It is an ideal vehicle for Guinness's subtle nuances filled with bittersweet humor and backed with a tight list of actors throughout that is quite difficult to remark on any specific standout without simply running down the Cast List itself.
It is a very British, life-affirming film of polite society that draws you in due to the depth of the characters and their personal difficulties and how Alec Guinness's George Bird touches them as he attempts to keep a stiff upper lip along with his approaching demise to himself. Meanwhile, finding it even more frustrating how the world seems to open up to a man who knew nothing beyond his previously drab existence.

The ensemble and the storytelling are quite beautiful and rather endearing ending that is a bit of a heart-breaking surprise but equally as beautiful as the story and the film itself. Creating a far more memorable experience, I must say.

Quite the splendid find.

[Gideon58]

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Who_Was_That_Lady-530506446-large.jpg


3

[Takoma11]

Loved Horror Noire. Keith David is such a delight.

Absolutely. They were all delightful!

I'm looking forward to this.
I have to say, I'm heartbroken that my lengthy dissertation on all themes I felt I saw in Candyman, some with regard to a woman fighting for a place in a man's world that is characterized by ambition (Academia), but as much with regard to its commentary on cultural appropriation, was lost to the death of Corri, because I'd love to read how it's all specifically turned on its ear by hearing from black speakers on the film. I'm sure I'll remember a lot of what I felt when I watch this, but it would be nice to be able to refer back to those thoughts.

I think that the theme still holds, but this film would point out the fact that a story with urban, specifically Black roots is centered on a white woman.

My main criticism of this film was its brevity and how I’d rather it have been a Burns-esque deep dive but I suppose wanting more of a thing is about as high of a compliment as anything.

Also, when Ken Foree and Keith David are saying “offer us roles! We’re still here” may have actually been the genesis of my script The Lonely. But such things are too nebulous to say for certain.

LOL.

[Guaporense]

Matrix Resurrections 2021

Basically its a remake of Matrix (1999) but with more recent special effects and rather mediocre writing. So, not good, but still not as bad as I feared it would be. I was entertained for its duration but still left a bad taste in my mouth when I finished it. So, not good, but still more entertaining than most hollywood movies in recent years.

[WHITBISSELL!]

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Foreign Correspondent - Cross another one off my list of never before seen Hitchcock movies. With this and Sabotage I'm getting pretty close to my end goal. Not every single film in his catalogue of course but the classics and the ones I find most intriguing.

I've never found Joel McCrea to be a particularly charismatic actor but he does do earnest and true-blue well. Here he plays John Jones, a NYC newspaper reporter assigned to a European beat in the days preceding England going to war with Germany. He meets Dutch diplomat Van Meer, a co-signer of a treaty that plays a crucial role in what unfolds. Along with Van Meer, Jones also meets Stephen Fisher (Herbert Marshall) the leader of the Universal Peace Party and his daughter Carol (Laraine Day). Like most movies of the time they fall instantaneously in love and are talking marriage within hours of meeting each other.

It does feature a pretty good supporting cast with the always debonair George Sanders as Scott ffolliott (that's no typo), a fellow reporter and friend of Carol's and Edmund Gwenn, playing against type as Rowley, a bodyguard who isn't all he seems.

There's the usual Hitchcock derring do and intrigue and there are bravura set pieces including a rain driven assassination attempt and pursuit under a sea of umbrellas. There's also a tense and drawn out sequence that takes place inside a windmill and an unexpected confrontation between a passenger plane and a German battleship.

In terms of a Hitchcock level of quality this may (or may not) fall right below his classics depending on your take but it's still an exemplary ride.

85/100

[WHITBISSELL!]

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Rancho Notorious - This 1952 Fritz Lang western is a bizarre and turgid sort of movie. It gives off a spoofy sort of vibe starting with the cheesy opening theme "The Legend of Chuck-A-Luck", belted out in all apparent sincerity by someone named Wil‎liam Lee. It's also used throughout as a sort of sung narration which some might find distracting. The palette had this saturated yet fuzzy texture and there was a fight scene early on filled with weird angles and POV's and a shaky, hand held quality. It is low budget though and with next to no money for location shooting it was strictly a studio backlot affair so you'll need to get past the paper mache boulders and stones and whatnot.

Arthur Kennedy stars as cowhand Vern Haskell and as the movie opens he's making plans with his fiance which might as well be the kiss of death. She works in an assayer's office and as soon as Vern takes his leave two bad guys show up and one enters, robs the place and murders the fiance. This all happens quickly so the guy must have been part rabbit because the doctor who examines her body tells Vern, "I don't know how to say this gently, but...she was spared nothing!" There are gems like that sprinkled throughout like, "It's a clean way to die and as quiet as eating a banana" and "It's Frenchy Fairmont!"

Fairmont is played by Mel Ferrer and he's a gunslinger and ardent admirer of Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich looking a little long in the tooth). There was reported bad blood between Lang and Dietrich when the aging star insisted on being specifically lit so she would appear younger. A request that was politely ignored by both Lang and Cinematographer Hal Mohr. Keane is an ex-saloon girl who owns Chuck-A-Luck, the rancho notorious of the title. It doubles as a bandit hideout with Altar taking a 10% cut from the loot of whichever desperado she's giving shelter to. Vern eventually finds his way there on his months long quest for revenge and he of course ends up as the missing piece of that tried and true plot device, the love triangle.

I don't know if it had anything with budget constraints but there are several TV actors in the cast including William Frawley (Fred Mertz), Russell Johnson (The Professor from Gilligan's Island), the mayor from Andy Griffith and even a guy I remember seeing on several Three Stooges shorts. George Reeves and Jack Elam round out the cast of desperadoes.

This Expressionist Western is different enough from other 50's movies that I now have a better idea of what people mean when they use the word outré.

75/100

[GulfportDoc]

Foreign Correspondent - Cross another one off my list of never before seen Hitchcock movies. With this and Sabotage I'm getting pretty close to my end goal. Not every single film in his catalogue of course but the classics and the ones I find most intriguing.
...
85/100



Both thumbs way up for this one. As you may know, Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper for the reporter, but Cooper didn't want to do that type of picture. Joel McCrea didn't have the star rep as did Cooper, but I think McCrea really made the movie, along with the great script.

[rauldc14]

Correspondent is one of my favorite underrated Hitchcock flicks.

[WHITBISSELL!]

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I know this one is gratuitous but ... come on.

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Werewolves Within - At 86% this holds the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating ever for a video game based movie. I'm not sure how sparkly a tiara that would be though because the competition isn't exactly fierce. But it does have numerous things going for it including an immensely likable cast. Sam Richardson (Veep) plays forest ranger Finn Wheeler, recently arrived in the small mountain town of Beaverfield. He immediately meets and hits it off with mail carrier Cecily Moore (Milana Vayntrub).

The sparsely populated town is currently divided between people who want a gas pipeline built through the town and those who oppose it. The prime mover behind this is businessman Sam Parker (Wayne Duvall) and among the supporters are town mechanic Gwen (Sarah Burns), her goofy boyfriend Marcus (George Basil) and the homecraft obsessed Trisha Anderton (Michaela Watkins) and her lecherous husband Pete (Michael Chernus). The opposition consists of lodge owner Jeanine Sherman (Catherine Curmin), environmentalist Dr. Jane Ellis (Rebecca Henderson) and tech millionaires Devon (Cheyenne Jackson) and Joaquim Wolfson (Harvey Guillén). There's also semi-crazed hermit Emerson Flint (Glenn Fleshler) but he's doing his own thing out in the woods and just wants to be left alone.

People and small animals start disappearing. A sudden and powerful snowstorm closes all the roads leading up to the town and someone sabotages most of the generators in a werewolf-y type of manner. I've read quite a few reviews making comparisons to Clue or this giving off a Clue type of vibe but I frankly can't see it. I mean, maybe in the broadest sense but the movie I think it most closely compares to would be The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Maybe it comes down to "your cup of tea" but I preferred that one.

That doesn't mean passing on this in favor of that though. I think they make excellent companion pieces. And I do like the way it commits to messing with specific tropes. Ones that haven't been adequately addressed in the past. Actually, saying that makes it sound that it had occurred to me as well and that isn't exactly true. It is a painfully blunt and jaundiced sort of commentary but once the movie commented on it I could see where they were coming from. Still though, kudos to them for having the chutzpah to address something like that.

80/100

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Hunger2008Poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17719145


Hunger - (2008)

Steve McQueen's feature directorial debut is really something, and if you haven't seen it I recommend you do. There's something striking about it's unconventional narrative structure, and it really feels like something fresh and original compared to most other films. Set in the Northern Ireland prison of Maze, it depicts IRA prisoners protesting for their 'political' status - and at the same time it depicts the guards in a way that is just as personal without taking sides. Many of these prison guards were murdered during the time period this film is set in - the late 1970s - and what they were subjected to (and in turn what they subjected their prisoners to) had long-lasting psychological effects on them. All of this then turns inwards towards one prisoner, Bobby Sands (played terrifically by Michael Fassbender) - the leader of those in prison and the first to undergo a coordinated and staggered hunger strike which had devastating effects which the camera doesn't shy away from.

Our journey in this film doesn't stride forward with the pace and style you'd expect - our focus changes, and fades in and out from character to character and subject to subject, and this helps the film from becoming too one-sided. It's easy to see prisoners take unnecessary beatings and instantly side with them, but Hunger paints this tragedy as an overall human one that includes everyone in it's scope. The last act is dedicated to Fassbender's Sands, but when the credits roll you take much more away from the film than just his suffering and point of view. Terrific movie.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/InsideJob2010Poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29161659


Inside Job - (2010)

The 2008 Financial Crisis exposed Wall Street and modern financial practices for what they are - the at times criminal and certainly immoral looting of all the World's wealth by unscrupulous men in suits. They've bought those who are in power, and they've bought the opposition, so democracy is failing as a tool to rein in their outrageous greed. This documentary does a great job at exposing this, often using these people's own words against them. Those who are interviewed come off as kids with chocolate around their mouths innocently professing ignorance as to what happened with the missing chocolate bar. It's more enraging than depressing - especially since a lot of damage that's being done is irreversible, and that it's still going on right now with no clear way to really put an end to it. This 'Best Documentary Feature' Oscar winner shows how we got here in a very straightforward way, and it's awesome stuff.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Trance2013Poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: EmpireOnline.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38309423

Trance - (2013)

I wouldn't say Trance has the most believable plot of any film I've seen, but I have to admit it really has it's moments. It's one of those movies where the scenes themselves were superb, but I'm not quite sure if they fit together as neatly as they should to make a great movie as a whole. I do very much enjoy watching James McAvoy in roles like this however, and Vincent Cassel does really well with a more substantial part than he usually gets. Danny Boyle gives the film a real edge, with McAvoy an employee at an art auction house (Simon Newton) who helps crooks led by Cassel's Franck steal a painting. Due to a knock on the head, Newton can't remember what he's done with a priceless work of art - which leads Franck to hire Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) to try and hypnotize him and bring this information back from the depths of his mind.

The twists come thick and fast as reality blends with hypnotized fantasy and Newton realizes that as soon as he's fessed up to the location of the painting he'll be killed. Lamb then not only requests an equal share in the spoils, but beds both Franck and Newton - leaving her loyalties very much a question. There are perhaps too many plot twists - some of them predictable - but I could see myself bumping up this film's score a point on reflection. A lot of it was awesome.

6/10

[Wooley]

I think that the theme still holds, but this film would point out the fact that a story with urban, specifically Black roots is centered on a white woman.


And I would counter that the white woman is made to suffer for it.

[Fabulous]

To the Bone (2017)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/en6RCcsjVPeuWBjIwne6eogHhrz.jpg

[SpelingError]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Hunger2008Poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17719145


Hunger - (2008)

Steve McQueen's feature directorial debut is really something, and if you haven't seen it I recommend you do. There's something striking about it's unconventional narrative structure, and it really feels like something fresh and original compared to most other films. Set in the Northern Ireland prison of Maze, it depicts IRA prisoners protesting for their 'political' status - and at the same time it depicts the guards in a way that is just as personal without taking sides. Many of these prison guards were murdered during the time period this film is set in - the late 1970s - and what they were subjected to (and in turn what they subjected their prisoners to) had long-lasting psychological effects on them. All of this then turns inwards towards one prisoner, Bobby Sands (played terrifically by Michael Fassbender) - the leader of those in prison and the first to undergo a coordinated and staggered hunger strike which had devastating effects which the camera doesn't shy away from.

Our journey in this film doesn't stride forward with the pace and style you'd expect - our focus changes, and fades in and out from character to character and subject to subject, and this helps the film from becoming too one-sided. It's easy to see prisoners take unnecessary beatings and instantly side with them, but Hunger paints this tragedy as an overall human one that includes everyone in it's scope. The last act is dedicated to Fassbender's Sands, but when the credits roll you take much more away from the film than just his suffering and point of view. Terrific movie.

9/10

Huge fan of Hunger. Its unconventional narrative choices, though I understand why they might bother other people, didn't bother me. It's the kind of film which leaves me in a trance from beginning to end. Also, the middle scene is incredible.

[ScarletLion]

'The Souvenir Part II' (2022)

Directed by Joanna Hogg

https://i.imgur.com/RnEF2ee.gif

It's been a long time since I saw a sequel better than the first. This film is exquisite. It's so meticulously crafted and brilliantly directed that I would not expect any other film to beat it this year.

Julie's struggles at film school are delved into even more in part 2 and the meta becomes even more meta as we see director Joanna Hogg dissect her own past in ways that just leave the viewer jaw dropped (it takes the film within a film vibe to the extreme). We pick up as Julie looks to overcome grief after her boyfriend Anthony has died of an overdose. There are nods to Welles and Powell/Pressburger films and there is some good comedy too, mostly in the form of Richard Ayoade once again.

But this is all about Joanna Hogg. Literally. the last 20 minutes or so is just some of the best filmmaking I've seen for quite sometime. Its a film that is not just about grief, there is a look at doubt, self reflection, identity and fate. It's difficult to review with no spoilers, and it's difficult to put across just how clever it is. So everyone should see it. A brilliant film.

9.3/10

4.5

[Thief]

WHIPLASH
(2014, Chazelle)

https://i.imgur.com/u23S3DW.jpg


"Is there a line? You know, maybe you go too far, and you discourage the next Charlie Parker from ever becoming Charlie Parker?"



Whiplash follows the struggles of Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) to become a legendary drummer. To achieve this, he is enrolled as a first-year student at Shaffer Conservatory, listens obsessively to Buddy Rich's album, and practices incessantly until his hands bleed while craving to make it into the school's Studio Band, led by the ruthlessly strict Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons).

This was truly a masterful showcase of great performances, script, direction, and editing. The way Chazelle allows us to see the motivations of each character, while also not allowing for us to be entirely sure of how to feel about each of them was excellent. Is Fletcher a ruthless, egotistical bastard? Most definitely. Is Neiman a self-righteous prick? I'd say yes. Is there reasoning behind their respective passion for finding "the next Charlie Parker" and "being the next Charlie Parker"? Of course.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2282814#post2282814)

[Stirchley]

To the Bone (2017)

2.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/en6RCcsjVPeuWBjIwne6eogHhrz.jpg

The British actor in this ruined it for me. Dreadful actor & I cringed every time he appeared. Without him, I would have finished this movie.

[Wooley]

WHIPLASH
(2014, Chazelle)

https://i.imgur.com/u23S3DW.jpg




Whiplash follows the struggles of Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) to become a legendary drummer. To achieve this, he is enrolled as a first-year student at Shaffer Conservatory, listens obsessively to Buddy Rich's album, and practices incessantly until his hands bleed while craving to make it into the school's Studio Band, led by the ruthlessly strict Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons).

This was truly a masterful showcase of great performances, script, direction, and editing. The way Chazelle allows us to see the motivations of each character, while also not allowing for us to be entirely sure of how to feel about each of them was excellent. Is Fletcher a ruthless, egotistical bastard? Most definitely. Is Neiman a self-righteous prick? I'd say yes. Is there reasoning behind their respective passion for finding "the next Charlie Parker" and "being the next Charlie Parker"? Of course.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2282814#post2282814)

Yeah, I was truly impressed with this film. And of course, Simmons' performance is a marvel.

[kgaard]

Heh, I have a friend who calls Damien Chazelle "a cancer on film." His words, not mine! (But I was not a fan of Whiplash.)

[Takoma11]

And I would counter that the white woman is made to suffer for it.

I think that a Black woman in the same lead role would have also suffered. The division between the lead character and the people who live in Cabrini Green isn't just race--it's also class and education. The lead character pays for her intrusion into the space in part because she does not believe in the urban legend of the Candyman.

Her gender is important too, of course, for multiple reasons: it makes her a "wronged woman"; is recalls the trauma of Candyman's murder (and here her race IS very relevant); she is given less respect in an academic institution; etc.

A point that the interviewees make in the film was simply that the story is another incarnation of a Black (or Black-allegory) being fixated on a white woman. And they aren't wrong. But in my affection for the film, I would strongly argue that it has a lot on its mind and is trying to have something of a conversation about race, not just using race as a boogeyman or plot point. The presence of white woman is relevant because the racism evoked by a mixed-race relationship is what led to the cruel murder in the first place. Overall the interviewed subjects were positive about the film (especially as it gave a creative new Black character whose Blackness is essential to the character), and appreciated that in the sequel you get more of the history of Candyman.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media3.giphy.com/media/x1Dg0udvzEyX35ogev/giphy.gif


https://media2.giphy.com/media/alZUF4keOGklZ1NvSK/giphy.gif

Zack Snyder's Justice League - Just finished this four hour mega version. Not all at once though. Watched the first hour like ... I don't know ... a couple of weeks ago. Then watched the second hour a couple of days ago. Then powered through the last two hours. There's no alchemy at work here. People who hated the 2017 release will probably still hate it. People who gave Joss Whedon's version a pass will see it as as some kind of masterpiece. It isn't. It just fixes (or attempts to fix) the undeniably half-assed job Whedon did.

There are positives. The final showdown is much better (which is admittedly a low bar) and numerous plot holes were addressed and explained. But even something like a deeper dive into Victor Stone's character would depend on how you view the character. Spoiler alert: He's kind of dull. Same goes for Barry Allen's additional scenes. They didn't add all that much.

The negatives? Steppenwolf is still a crappy villain. Shiny porcupine armor doesn't change that. And some of the additional footage clearly came off as filler. That last extended scene with The Joker came off as silly to me. Also, why kill off Silas Stone? And you know what else? F Amber Heard.Watching all this in one go would have been exhausting. Joss Whedon's JL was dreck but this version is needlessly long and borderline bloated.

65/100

[Thief]

Yeah, I was truly impressed with this film. And of course, Simmons' performance is a marvel.

Oh yeah, he's excellent. I think I still give an edge to La La Land, but Chazelle's got my full attention. Need to get to First Man cause I keep hearing good things about that one too.

[edarsenal]

https://toomanyposts.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/pitch-black-rise.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/90f851be93217192f241ddbb949d5634/tumblr_miu2t9Fsya1qf27c6o1_1280.gif
https://vodzilla.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Pitch-Black-Netflix-700x325.jpg


Pitch Black (2000) 3.5++ Having not seen the debut of Vin Diesel's character, Riddick that spawned a trilogy since it first came out I was rather curious to see how a revisit would play out. And I gotta tell ya; it was pretty d@mn well.

Stranded on an alien world, the survivors of a crashed transport ship discover that a coming eclipse will unleash ravenous creatures that hide from the light on this barren planet with three suns.
A basic enough Sci-fi/horror trope but done rather well with characters that are not necessarily who they initially appear as, creating a more gripping interchange amongst the dwindling survivors and who they put their ultimate trust with as night comes.

Another aspect that worked quite well was the visual effects involving Riddick's eyesight, which gave a nice surreal aspect to the competent camerawork.

While there have been numerous derisive remarks regarding the Riddick Trilogy in general, rewatching the first, originally a stand-alone film, it is very easy to see why it gained the popularity it did along with the momentum to continue further with Diesel's character.
The tension is done very well; the conflicts amongst the survivors, along with the use of the creatures, are treated with measured restraint and then built up from there for a more exciting last act.
Making Pitch Black either an intriguing beginning to those of us who enjoy the trilogy or simply a very worthwhile and rather enjoyable stand-alone sci-fi/horror all on its own.

[Stirchley]

Heh, I have a friend who calls Damien Chazelle "a cancer on film." His words, not mine! (But I was not a fan of Whiplash.)

I loved Whiplash. Huge fan of Teller.

[kgaard]

I loved Whiplash. Huge fan of Teller.

My friend and I are definitely in the minority on this one. But we (https://slate.com/culture/2014/10/whiplash-charlie-parker-and-the-cymbal-what-the-movie-gets-wrong-about-genius-work-and-the-10000-hours-myth.html) are not alone (https://www.andrewdavidperkins.com/blog/why-i-hated-whiplash)!

[Fabulous]

Buffaloed (2019)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/a7Sg4i6ZlGejVWfi05GU6Shs3Mb.jpg

[mark f]

Anne+ (Valerie Bisscheroux, 2021) 2 5/10
Deep Crimson (Arturo Ripstein, 1996) 3- 6.5/10
Ghosts of the Ozarks (Matt Glass & Jordan Wayne Long, 2021) 2 5/10
Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian, 1933) 3.5 7/10
https://78.media.tumblr.com/b5e877ecb794a2f5170b1e518b72d5f3/tumblr_od57u9bBHn1va9sdio1_500.gifv
Queen Christina of Sweden (Greta Garbo) won't die an old maid or the queen, but she does fall in love with the king of Spain's envoy (John Gilbert).
A Mouthful of Air (Amy Koppelman, 2021) 2 5/10
Spencer's Mountain (Delmer Daves, 1963) 3 6.5/10
The Longest Drive (Bernard McEveety, 1976) 2.5 5.5/10
The Seven Year Itch (Billy Wilder, 1955) 3.5 7/10
https://i.gifer.com/HPRG.gif
Manhattan businessman Tom Ewell lets his imagination run away with him when his family goes away for the summer, and he's left with temporary upstairs roommate Marilyn Monroe.
Love Affair (Leo McCarey, 1939) 2.5 5.5/10
Taste (Le Bao, 2021) 1.5 4/10
Brubaker (Stuart Rosenberg, 1980) 3 6.5/10
Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1957) 4- 8/10
https://i.gifer.com/8lDA.gif
London barrister Charles Laughton gives both murder suspect Tyrone Power and his wife Marlene Dietrich the monocle test, so he takes the case, but he's quite surprised how it turns out.
I Am a Ghost (H.P. Mendoza, 2012) 2.5 6/10
Redeeming Love (D.J. Caruso, 2022) 2 5/10
King Arthur Was a Gentleman (Marcel Varnel, 1942) 2.5 6/10
King of California (Mike Cahill, 2007) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/0d1738373f697295740308a8c63ec00c/tumblr_npg57rP2Dc1up42jgo4_500.gifv
Teenager Evan Rachel Wood helps her cracked father Michael Douglas by surveying the area near a Santa Clarita Costco where he thinks there's Spanish treasure.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them (Ned Benson, 2014) 2.5 5.5/10
Reflections in a Golden Eye (John Huston, 1967) 2 5/10
For Lucio (Pietro Marcello, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Suddenly, Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1959) 3 6.5/10
http://logoonline.mtvnimages.com/uri/mgid:file:http:shared:s3.amazonaws.com/articles.newnownext.com-production/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/suddenly-1548361320-1548361322.gif
Sure, it's dated and talky, but it has witty dialogue with great performances by Katharine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift and contains some striking horrific images.

[Wooley]

I think that a Black woman in the same lead role would have also suffered. The division between the lead character and the people who live in Cabrini Green isn't just race--it's also class and education. The lead character pays for her intrusion into the space in part because she does not believe in the urban legend of the Candyman.

Her gender is important too, of course, for multiple reasons: it makes her a "wronged woman"; is recalls the trauma of Candyman's murder (and here her race IS very relevant); she is given less respect in an academic institution; etc.

A point that the interviewees make in the film was simply that the story is another incarnation of a Black (or Black-allegory) being fixated on a white woman. And they aren't wrong. But in my affection for the film, I would strongly argue that it has a lot on its mind and is trying to have something of a conversation about race, not just using race as a boogeyman or plot point. The presence of white woman is relevant because the racism evoked by a mixed-race relationship is what led to the cruel murder in the first place. Overall the interviewed subjects were positive about the film (especially as it gave a creative new Black character whose Blackness is essential to the character), and appreciated that in the sequel you get more of the history of Candyman.

But if it was a black woman then you take the entire Cultural Appropriation theme out of the movie, which is half if not more of the entire thematic content of the film. Is there a class element there, sure, but the point is really class based on race, and I think that's very clear in the movie. If Cabrini Green were mixed-race then the Class thing would make more sense but it is an all-black tenement and this white lady comes in to make her name off of it. I'm inclined to agree more with your last paragraph.

[Wooley]

https://toomanyposts.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/pitch-black-rise.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/90f851be93217192f241ddbb949d5634/tumblr_miu2t9Fsya1qf27c6o1_1280.gif
https://vodzilla.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Pitch-Black-Netflix-700x325.jpg


Pitch Black (2000) 3.5++ Having not seen the debut of Vin Diesel's character, Riddick that spawned a trilogy since it first came out I was rather curious to see how a revisit would play out. And I gotta tell ya; it was pretty d@mn well.

Stranded on an alien world, the survivors of a crashed transport ship discover that a coming eclipse will unleash ravenous creatures that hide from the light on this barren planet with three suns.
A basic enough Sci-fi/horror trope but done rather well with characters that are not necessarily who they initially appear as, creating a more gripping interchange amongst the dwindling survivors and who they put their ultimate trust with as night comes.

Another aspect that worked quite well was the visual effects involving Riddick's eyesight, which gave a nice surreal aspect to the competent camerawork.

While there have been numerous derisive remarks regarding the Riddick Trilogy in general, rewatching the first, originally a stand-alone film, it is very easy to see why it gained the popularity it did along with the momentum to continue further with Diesel's character.
The tension is done very well; the conflicts amongst the survivors, along with the use of the creatures, are treated with measured restraint and then built up from there for a more exciting last act.
Making Pitch Black either an intriguing beginning to those of us who enjoy the trilogy or simply a very worthwhile and rather enjoyable stand-alone sci-fi/horror all on its own.

I can tell you that, having seen this in the theater before anybody had any idea who Vin Diesel was and with it being a small, tight film that worked, seeing it's sequel was a rather large disappointment as the bloat of Hollywood was so egregious. I didn't bother to see any more.

[pahaK]

I can tell you that, having seen this in the theater before anybody had any idea who Vin Diesel was and with it being a small, tight film that worked, seeing it's sequel was a rather large disappointment as the bloat of Hollywood was so egregious. I didn't bother to see any more.

Maybe it wasn't Hollywood bloat but Diesel's own Dungeons & Dragons fueled bloat? Anyway, the third film is considerably better than the second and much closer (one might even say, too close) to the original.

[Siddon]

https://phantom-marca.unidadeditorial.es/7eef3846d8f414b45b482658c5066fba/resize/1320/f/jpg/assets/multimedia/imagenes/2022/02/12/16446682625264.jpg

Death on the Nile (2022)

If ever you had a film that is a mixed bag it's Kenneth Branaghs Death on the Nile. Hercule Poirot is set on a case in the middle of a decadent wedding featuring an heiress (Gal Godot) and her husband (Armie Hammer). Visually this is a stunning film, some of the vista's are straight out of paintings. Poirot is given much more depth here including a thrilling WWI opener and Bouc returns from Murder on the Orient Express.

The first thing you notice about the film is a downgrade of the cast. In the first Poirot film it's littered with Oscar winners and nominees while this batch features a much lower class of actors. It helps and hurts the story trying to place everyone on the same level should make for a good mystery however...the film has some huge problems.



The film takes place in 1937, so a wildly diverse cast is a hard sell. The problems though are Gal Godot's accent is so thick it takes you out of the film. How can see be related and from this one world when she clearly sounds different from everyone else. Leticia Wright has the same issue with this thick Missouri accent which she's alleged to be from a wealthy finishing school and yet she sounds like she's out of a Faulkner novel.

It gets worse because Wright actually lectures and chastises Poirot at one point in the film. Which I would remind you...she's black young female and it's 1937. Now if the film wanted to ignore racism this could work but it wants it both ways. We see that several of the characters are racist...but they are like 90's racist not 30's racist which again takes you out of the film.

The good news is all the horrible racist white people are murdered and suffer in the film. One of the minority characters actually tries to kill some people and Poirot just lets him slide. It's stupid and distracting. This is a murder mystery you shouldn't have castes in the players


My dislike of the politics of the film should drop this film down to 1 star but yet I'm giving it 3.5. Because when the film is devolved into Hollywood anachronisms it's actually an incredibly well made piece of work. The run-time breezes through some of the Poirot emotional scenes and genuinely heartfelt and compelling and Emma McKay is incredible in this as the woman scorned.

rating_3_5

[SpelingError]

27th Hall of Fame

My Dog Skip (2000) - 2.5

I should probably note that the schmaltzy crowd-pleaser family film is not anywhere near my wheelhouse. I wouldn't call this film bad per se (rather, it's exactly what it wants to be), but it contained very little of anything I found interesting. For instance, the schmaltziness I mentioned weighs the film down way too much. The overbearing emotional score which plays over so much of the film quickly grows excessive, while some other sentimental scenes feel more cringe-inducing than emotionally affecting, like when Skip grabs a football during a game and Willie carries both Skip and the football to the touchdown line. Also, several character arcs and sub-plots feel either underdeveloped or incomplete. The issue of racial segregation is a prime example of this. For example, after Willie meets an American American boy named Sammy in his neighborhood, the kid doesn't appear much in the film after that scene and is only seen in the background a couple brief times. I also found Jack's arc confusing. He initially shows reluctance towards letting Jack keep the dog as he wants him to man up. And yet, his idea is to give him a stuffed dog instead. Like, what? There were also some questions left open regarding the outcomes of some other characters in the film (Big Boy, Henjie, Spit, Rivers, Sammy). With that being said, there were some things I enjoyed about the film. I liked how the film explored the long-term effects war can have on people through Dink as some of his scenes were powerful. I also found Skip helping Willie out with growing up and meeting new people both compelling and relatable since I also had a dog when I was about Willie's age. I suppose it was also cool seeing Frankie Muniz again as I haven't seen him in anything since Malcolm in the Middle. Overall though, this film was pretty average. If you enjoy films like this, you'll likely find a lot to like about it. I've seen much better films though.

[CringeFest]

I just saw Audition and i don't even know what to rate it to be honest, it's a good movie though.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Maybe it wasn't Hollywood bloat but Diesel's own Dungeons & Dragons fueled bloat? Anyway, the third film is considerably better than the second and much closer (one might even say, too close) to the original.
Agreed. I think everyone realized what a misstep Chronicles was and dialed it back with Riddick. I presonally liked it but you're right about parts of it being too similar to PB.

[edarsenal]

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The Assassin aka Ci ke Nie Yin Niang (2015) 4++ A captivating, visually poetic arthouse film set in medieval China.

Starring a shadowy Shu Qi in the titular role who is sent to assassinate her cousin, this is far more cerebral, almost ethereal in design than the premise would suggest. This is in no way a slight against this gorgeously shot film. At times, the scenic shots take a more significant role as Director Hsiao-Hsien Hou lingers and drifts continuously from serene image to serene image. Again, NOT a slight because I remained enamored with each shot and the costume designs as if witnessing a moving still life study.

With a minimalist dialogue, Hou examines the characters and thereby their internal emotions with a delicate, relaxed method that captures the underlying drama as the characters' relationships slowly unravel without truly clarifying the meandering details that drift amongst the still life study that is the lifeblood of this divine cinematic experience.

[Gideon58]

Heh, I have a friend who calls Damien Chazelle "a cancer on film." His words, not mine! (But I was not a fan of Whiplash.)

I think you and I are the only people who had issues with Whiplash...he fared much better with First Man and, of course, La La Land

[WHITBISSELL!]

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http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film5/dvd_reviews_64/the_turning_point_dvd_/The_Turning_Point-William_Holden-Alexis_Smith-DVD-Spain-00529.jpg

The Turning Point - This 1952 crime drama turned out to be a pretty decent noir. Directed by William Dieterle and starring Edmond O'Brien as crusading Special Prosecutor John Conroy. He's been assigned to break the stranglehold that a powerful crime syndicate run by Neil Eichelberger (Ed Begley Sr.) has on an unspecified Midwestern city (just don't look too closely at all the Los Angeles landmarks though). William Holden plays Jerry McKibbon, a streetwise and cynical reporter and also a childhood friend of Conroy's. Alexis Smith is Amanda Waycross, Conroy's assistant. It also stars Tom Tully as Matt Conroy, John's police detective father.

One of the things I liked about this is that everyone seems dialed in on their performances. Russell Johnson, Neville Brand and, that's right, Whit Bissell round out the list of recognizable character actors. It also features a star making turn for Carolyn Jones in her first film. Her gangster's moll is only onscreen for a couple of minutes but it obviously left an indelible image.

This is my first time seeing Alexis Smith in anything and I have to say she made an impression. Her character has been done dozens and dozens of times before. The object of desire who finds herself caught between two men who happen to be good friends. But she doesn't overdo it. Holden and Smith's back and forth is easy and unpretentious and believable. There's a kind of erudite, restrained quality to her that put me in mind of Lauren Bacall. Plus there's her uncanny resemblance to Elisabeth Moss.

The showdown between the idealistic John Conroy and the remorseless syndicate plays out in a prescribed manner but it somehow feels fresh. Or at least the players make it seem novel. Up to and including the unforeseen and audacious ending. There's a case to be made for this being right up there with the best noirs.

85/100

[GulfportDoc]

Great photo of William Holden and Alexis Smith riding in the Angel's Flight!

[WHITBISSELL!]

Great photo of William Holden and Alexis Smith riding in the Angel's Flight!Right!? That's why I included it. Ever since reading Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novel of the same name I've been enamored of it.

[Takoma11]

But if it was a black woman then you take the entire Cultural Appropriation theme out of the movie, which is half if not more of the entire thematic content of the film. Is there a class element there, sure, but the point is really class based on race, and I think that's very clear in the movie. If Cabrini Green were mixed-race then the Class thing would make more sense but it is an all-black tenement and this white lady comes in to make her name off of it. I'm inclined to agree more with your last paragraph.

Sort of. I mean, the main character is someone we are meant to root for. Her cultural appropriation is "innocent" as presented in the film, motivated by something many of us can identify with--she wants to be taken seriously in her field. The horror is not rooted in the fact that she wants to use people to advance her own career---the horror is that she gets in over her head and she loses control over her life because of it.

In fact, we see in the sequence where they first go to the apartments that her friend--who is a Black woman--is just as out of place.

And finally, we see that the white woman is a savior to the entire Black community of Cabrini Green, defeating Candyman and becoming a spectre that will haunt the white, upper class community instead.

I find the ending of the film very powerful and satisfying, but it is literally a ton of Black people coming to pay tribute to a fallen white woman, almost sanctifying her. Someone from outside of the community has had to come in and solve a problem they couldn't take care of themselves.

I think that the story works well, don't get me wrong. But I think that it's not hard to imagine a version in which the protagonist is a Black (or even mixed-race) woman that would still hit on the themes of racial/class separation and the function of urban legends in disenfranchised communities.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I think one of the greatest strengths of CANDYMAN is also what makes it not work perfectly as a social commentary: a feeling of dreamlike logic behind the supernatural occurrences. Like a dream, it has the feeling of hitting larger ideas, bubbling beneath the surface, but only flirts with them in a visceral and upsetting way, rather than anything didactic.

This is what makes it such a masterpiece of Gothic horror.

However, I'd still say the subtext that is there is heavily indebted to the racial divide between the protagonist and her surroundings. Ultimately, the film is about pulling the rug of white privilege out from under her and having the spectre of racism upend her life. It's no longer something academic or on the other side of the tracks, it's her life.

This makes her sacrifice to save black child, being burnt as an effigy, and becoming a symbol of evil all the more potent. It's an element that would be lost if it were another race and would dampen the impact.

That said, there's no reason why it took 3 sequels to finally get black leads of a Candyman. One can easily accuse the original of being blind to its own bias due to the lens it chose to frame its narrative around, but it did build that narrative as authentically and honestly as it could (the same cannot be said of it's sequels).

Unfortunately, the new Candyman IS fairly didactic and contradicts itself without the dream-like flow to defend itself. It's well directed and the best sequel, but does very little to step out of the shadow of the original and is probably even more blind to its bias...

Shifting virtually all of the victims to shitty, racist white people and ultimately turning Candyman into a being of righteous, racial vengeance undercuts what works about the original and lessens the horror of the situation.

[Takoma11]

One can easily accuse the original of being blind to its own bias due to the lens it chose to frame its narrative around, but it did build that narrative as authentically and honestly as it could (the same cannot be said of it's sequels).

Right. I think that there's a lot about the film that works. It is, hands-down, one of my favorite horror films of all time. I love it a lot.

However, it does feel as if it is a movie mainly aimed at a white audience. We spend a LOT of time understanding the white lead's work, her relationship with her husband, her feelings of betrayal, etc. The main sequences of menace involve her being attacked by Black men, both living and supernatural. I think that the portrayals of the citizens of Cabrini Green are mostly well-intentioned, but at the same time there's the limitation of, as you cite, the lens it has chosen for its narrative.

It's interesting that you say that at the end she becomes a symbol of evil. Because of that final sequence I always felt she'd become more of a spirit of vengeance. To put it crudely, it feels like her husband had it coming. That final moment in the mirror feels more about her gender---avenging her husband's infidelity with his young student--than race.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Right. I think that there's a lot about the film that works. It is, hands-down, one of my favorite horror films of all time. I love it a lot.

However, it does feel as if it is a movie mainly aimed at a white audience. We spend a LOT of time understanding the white lead's work, her relationship with her husband, her feelings of betrayal, etc. The main sequences of menace involve her being attacked by Black men, both living and supernatural. I think that the portrayals of the citizens of Cabrini Green are mostly well-intentioned, but at the same time there's the limitation of, as you cite, the lens it has chosen for its narrative.

It's interesting that you say that at the end she becomes a symbol of evil. Because of that final sequence I always felt she'd become more of a spirit of vengeance. To put it crudely, it feels like her husband had it coming. That final moment in the mirror feels more about her gender---avenging her husband's infidelity with his young student--than race.

It's certainly aimed at a white audience. I can even see why people would find that problematic. However, I think what it is saying to that white audience is provacative, intelligent and powerful, if a bit nebulous and smeary in it's messaging.

I just don't see how you can tell that story (and I'm very glad it was told, as it's a favorite) without risking those issues arising. I think it's sort of the same family of Driving Mrs. Daisy and Green Book, where a white person learns to be less racist. The choice of that narrative carries baggage due more to the context in which they're made (fewer black central narratives are celebrated, redemption for racists, simplifying complex issues, etc), as I do think that kind of narrative has value and can be told well (usually isn't. But I'm talking possible!) I think what absolutely saves Candyman is that it's (fittingly) the dark mirror to that white savior narrative. It's mean, brutal and doesn't have an ending that makes people feel like these societal evils are solved.

I do think Helen becomes a symbol of the same evil as Candyman. She's a victim, like him, but is thought of as evil by the citizens of CG. Because of this, she manifests. That she's killing her ******** ex is one of the weaker elements of the film as it lessens the tragedy but doesn't contradict it. Just gives the audience something to not feel too miserable about. Yay righteous murder!

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftvovermind.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F09%2FOn-Golden-Pond.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

On Golden Pond, 1981

Ethel (Katharine Hepburn) and Norman (Henry Fonda) are an older couple gearing up to spend several weeks at a cabin by Golden Pond, an isolated retreat. Their daughter, Chelsea (Jane Fonda) is set to go on vacation with her boyfriend, and they leave the boyfriend's son, Billy (Doug McKeon) with her parents.

This was, overall, a very charming and engaging film buoyed by great lead performances from Hepburn and Fonda.

The best parts of the film are just watching the interactions between Ethel and Norman, a wonderful realization of a couple that's been together for so long that they can have entire conversations with just a glance. In the second half of the film, the focus is almost entirely on Billy bonding with the couple, and especially Norman. Billy is resentful about having been "dumped" by his father and Chelsea. Norman and Ethel gently go about engaging Billy in fishing and other pastimes. (In one great sequence, Billy tries to shock them by using profanity. Ethel just shrugs it off while Norman says in a neutral voice that "It's a good word.").

There's something really nice about the way that the film is willing to move at a slow pace. For the most part it has the feeling of a slow summer day, and you find yourself surprisingly content to just watch Norman and Billy eat sandwiches while they fish.

I had one big and one small complaint about this film. The big complaint had to do with the melodrama, mainly in the form of Chelsea and her relationship with her father. In almost every scene with Chelsea she goes from zero to hysterical in a matter of seconds and it is exhausting. There's already enough drama there in the form of Norman starting to experience some possible dementia and physical fragility. The script is annoyingly non-specific in terms of just why Chelsea behaves the way that she does.

My smaller complaint---though it relates a bit to that complaint about Chelsea--is that I thought that the score was kind of shmaltzy and overbearing. Yes, I realize the score was Oscar nominated. I found it too much, and when Chelsea was being dramatic and all of a sudden a flock of violins kicked in I was like "MAKE IT STOP!!".

Worthy of its classic status, though I wish it had foregone some of the melodrama.

4

[xSookieStackhouse]

major fan of uncharted series also loved this movie but sucks they didnt show elena fisher and nadine ross but hopefully they will make nadine ross and chloe frazer spin off movie like the game uncharted lost legacy make sure to watch post credits scene also*
4.5
https://assets-prd.ignimgs.com/2022/01/13/uncharted-poster-full-1642086040683.jpg

[GulfportDoc]

Right!? That's why I included it. Ever since reading Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novel of the same name I've been enamored of it.
One of Connelly's best, for sure. It's funny, the L.A. basin is basically flat land, but they have a hill or two right in the middle of downtown, which promoted the rail incline.

It'll be interesting to see what they do with the spinoff series, Bosch: Legacy. Reportedly Bosch retires and starts working as a P.I. for the attorney, Honey Chandler. They use some of the characters from the Amazon series, like his daughter.

As I recall in the actual book series, Bosch went to work for the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Dept. Don't know if I've read the latest or not.

[Thief]

CURE
(1997, Kurosawa)

https://i.imgur.com/MlU1WRY.png


"All the things that used to be inside me, now they're all outside. So... I can see all of the things inside you, Doctor, but the inside of me... is empty."



(some mild SPOILERS?)

Cure follows Detective Takabe (Kōji Yakusho) as he investigates a series of murders where victims end up with an X carved on their necks and chests. The weird thing is that in each case, the murderer is found close to the victim, with no recollection of what happened and sometimes no clear remorse. "He was someone I didn't like... I couldn't stand it anymore", says one of them after killing his partner.

There really is no mystery as to who's causing these murders, since we find out fairly early that a mysterious man called Mamiya (Masato Hagiwara) is behind it all. The man, who seems to be suffering from severe memory loss while aimlessly wandering around, seems to have some sort of mental influence in people, forcing them to let their emotions and anger out.

So the film unfolds in two halves, the first of which plays in a more or less straightforward, procedural way, as we see Takabe and his psychologist partner Sakuma (Tsuyoshi Ujiki) play a cat-and-mouse game to find whoever's causing the murders. After Mamiya is captured halfway through the film, the cat-and-mouse game is transferred to their minds as we see Takabe become increasingly more frustrated with the man, which leads him to often let his emotions and anger out.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2283278#post2283278) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2283282#post2283282)

[matt72582]

I... For Icarus - 7.5/10
If you like mystery/thriller (I usually don't), then this is for you. Especially if you're familiar with the JFK assassination. This movie to me is like F.I.S.T to Jimmy Hoffa (in accuracy) then the movies specifically about Hoffa (which both stink, although I must say "The Irishman" is not only all incorrect, but it's probably the 3rd worst movie I have ever seen), and the movie "JFK" stinks, too. The same asset who brought you "The Doors" - and another character assassination.


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/Icare_affiche.jpg

[Thief]

THE BOSS BABY
GET THAT BABY!
(2020, Forgione, Jacobs, and Whitlock)

https://tldrmoviereviewsblog.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/the-boss-baby-get-that-baby-2.jpg


"It just so happens I have a bit of a vengeance scheme of my own. So, whose plan is it gonna be?"



This short follows the "Boss Baby" as he tries to fend off three villains set out to get rid of him one way or the other. This is one of Netflix Interactive programs where, much like those "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, you choose which paths to follow until the ending.

I used to be a fan of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, so I've always kinda liked the interactive aspect of these shorts, and so does my kids (they really love one that Bear Grylls does, You vs. Wild, and see it often). But still, my youngest one didn't seem to be that invested into this one (we only did two runs of it), and neither did I.

Grade: 1.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2283322#post2283322)

[Gideon58]

Oh yeah, he's excellent. I think I still give an edge to La La Land, but Chazelle's got my full attention. Need to get to First Man cause I keep hearing good things about that one too.


First Man was excellent...here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1974333-first-man.html

[CringeFest]

Mean Streets (1973)


3

[ThatDarnMKS]

First Man was excellent...here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1974333-first-man.html
Don't overlook his debut film Guy And Madeleine On A Park Bench. Like the first films many great directors, it's essentially just an expanded version of his film school thesis, but it's a very ambitious flick that clearly sets the stage for what's to come.

He attempts to blend the Nouvelle Vague style with a musical on a nothing budget and for the most part, pulls it off.

[edarsenal]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6c/30/65/6c30657485b447b8dc12a220f2291afa.gif
http://www.jasonbovberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/foreign-correspondent-3.jpg
http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/foreign-correspondent-1940-joe-mccrea-windmill-scene-review.jpg


Foreign Correspondent (1940) 4++ Alfred Hitchcock's action-packed tale of espionage on the eve of WWII is a beautiful blend of Hitchcockian drama with his penchant for moments of whimsy.

In sheer British charisma and polished charm, the acting highlights are George Saunders and Herbert Marshall, whose suave gambits almost. I do mean, almost negate American Correspondent's presence, played by the always earnest and pleasantly sarcastic portrayal by Joel McCrea. He stumbles into the very heart of it all, along with a wonderfully strong-willed Laraine Day.

The slow-building opening introduces and endears us to the initial players; Hitchcock tightens up the action and the depth of intrigue in various locations from the streets of London to the windmills of Holland, and in a rather impressive climax, the crashing of a plane in the ocean.
https://64.media.tumblr.com/9ab8e4947599c33df4499f27ba20f237/0d1fe0c0c1603f4d-56/s400x600/2fd57a645fb00f5fd2cf9ebfae13cc8c16baee38.gifv

A slightly lesser-known than his usual iconic films, it is well-deserving of its high regard by those who have experienced and enjoyed it, and I'm thrilled to have finally joined that crowd.

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/ef/qf/lg/e2/boyfriends-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg?k=b0be02a82c
Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1987, Éric Rohmer)
4
Again, not my top favorite Rohmer, but still lovely. There are some standout scenes for me, like that scene in the wood, and the 'misunderstanding' scene at the end is pretty sweet.

[WHITBISSELL!]

One of Connelly's best, for sure. It's funny, the L.A. basin is basically flat land, but they have a hill or two right in the middle of downtown, which promoted the rail incline.

It'll be interesting to see what they do with the spinoff series, Bosch: Legacy. Reportedly Bosch retires and starts working as a P.I. for the attorney, Honey Chandler. They use some of the characters from the Amazon series, like his daughter.

As I recall in the actual book series, Bosch went to work for the Santa Clarita Sheriff's Dept. Don't know if I've read the latest or not.The last few has him teaming up with LAPD Detective Renée Ballard. She a really great character in her own right. I think they're some of the best in the series.

[ThatDarnMKS]

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022)

Take Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, blend em with Evil Dead (2013), bop it once in the head with a hammer, and you've got this film.

It's a lean, mean, silly 75 min slasher flick full of schlocky thrills and gory kills.

3.5/5

[Rockatansky]

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022)

Take Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, blend em with Evil Dead (2013), bop it once in the head with a hammer, and you've got this film.

It's a lean, mean, silly 75 min slasher flick full of schlocky thrills and gory kills.

3.5/5

Is there less speechifying than Halloween Kills? That was my big problem with that movie.

[CringeFest]

The Princess and The Warrior (2000)


5

[Gideon58]

Don't overlook his debut film Guy And Madeleine On A Park Bench. Like the first films many great directors, it's essentially just an expanded version of his film school thesis, but it's a very ambitious flick that clearly sets the stage for what's to come.

He attempts to blend the Nouvelle Vague style with a musical on a nothing budget and for the most part, pulls it off.


I've never heard of that movie.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Is there less speechifying than Halloween Kills? That was my big problem with that movie.
Practically none. Not that when the characters speak, that it's much higher brow. But no "Evil dies tonight!!!"

[ThatDarnMKS]

I've never heard of that movie.
Then my job is done!

Him and Barry Jenkins' first films are often forgotten and share some interesting overlap. Jenkins' first film was Medicine for Melancholy, for the record.

[Rockatansky]

Practically none. Not that when the characters speak, that it's much higher brow. But no "Evil dies tonight!!!"

I was hoping for a "Leatherface is not a soundbite, spinoff, tie-in, some kind of celebrity scandal..."

[ThatDarnMKS]

I was hoping for a "Leatherface is not a soundbite, spinoff, tie-in, some kind of celebrity scandal..."
Nah. It's dumber and more succinct. It's more *holds up phone for live stream* "try anything and you'll get cancelled!" *abruptly gets chainsaw'd*

[mark f]

Forgive Us Our Trespasses (Ashley Eakin, 2022) 2.5 6/10
A Night of Magic (Herbert Wynne, 1944) 1.5+ 4.5/10
Frisco Kid (Lloyd Bacon, 1935) 2+ 5/10
Scream (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2021-10/12/15/asset/722c1d2f7ff2/anigif_sub-buzz-1902-1634053277-2.gif?resize=625:257
A new Ghostface arrives to take on Sidney (Neve Campbell) and friends.
Don't Bother to Knock (Roy Ward Baker, 1952) 2 5/10
To the Ends of the Earth (Robert Stevenson, 1948) 2.5 6/10
Lightning Strikes Twice (King Vidor, 1951) 2 5/10
The Souvenir: Part II (Joanna Hogg, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://media1.giphy.com/media/oJRDjLGptXS2fCT4EL/giphy.gif
After an emotional relationship breakup, film school student Honor Swinton Byrne makes her graduation film about it, but it isn't easy.
Fistful of Vengeance (Roel Reiné, 2022) 2 5/10
Three Songs for Benazir (Gulistan & Elizabeth Mirzaei, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Gun Code (Sam Newfield, 1940) 2 5/10
The Big Lift (George Seaton, 1950) 2.5 6/10
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/OfficialImportantAntelope-size_restricted.gif
U.S. Air Force sergeants Paul Douglas and Montgomery Clift seem to do an inordinate amount of work concerning the Berlin Airlift.
The Dawn Patrol (Edmund Goulding, 1938) 3+ 6.5/10
Last Man Down (Fansu Njie, 2021) 2 5/10
Audible (Matthew Ogens, 2021) 3 6.5/10
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (David Blue Garcia, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/24a5ac32748ba964dec101b93a8ab6d0/0ac04fd6f4142a6d-75/s540x810/cb18955d14d50d91dc2631b593c4a6ff588081b7.gifv
Leatherface is "awakened" when some entrepreneurs come to his ghost town and his mom (Alice Krige) loses her home and life.
Heaven Knows What (Safdie Bros., 2014) 2 5/10
The Wonderful Winter of Mickey Mouse (3 Directors, 2022) 2.5 6/10
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1997) 3 6.5/10
Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993) 4- 8/10
https://media4.giphy.com/media/3oEjI7REP1DB4KHJDi/giphy.gif
"Scumbag" lawyer gets eaten by a genetically-engineered T rex in Jurassic Park. From there on in, the film picks up on the thrills.

[Allaby]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) is mediocre and unnecessary. The characters and story are underdeveloped. The film isn't very fun or scary or thrilling. It isn't much of anything and feels mostly pointless. There are a couple good moments, but not enough to make this worthwhile. 2.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/c71607bd134c934a6f32df4e93ae0a1d/94280e360ccff552-7f/s400x600/843ce1cd0f56f6815dc2751321321ecaa8705c72.gifvhttps://64.media.tumblr.com/8a91c642afcbbaa0125150eb1e91da89/94280e360ccff552-3c/s400x600/b41cb8b6f99a3d05dda62f698796910afcf7eaae.gifvhttps://64.media.tumblr.com/4919ddc779cb9deb25d015663dd1d7ef/ae2ddb75276c8281-a7/s500x750/cab3612bfc789f8457701ba053d6d399d095e9d0.gifv

Fat City - 1972 boxing drama directed by John Huston and adapted from Leonard Gardner's 1969 novel. It stars Stacy Keach as Billy Tully, never more than a run-of-the-mill fighter now scrabbling to earn a living. Feeling motivated he makes a half-hearted attempt at training where he runs across into 18 year old Ernie Munger (Jeff Bridges). After sparring with him Billy realizes that Ernie is a natural so he gives him the name of his former trainer Ruben (Nicholas Colasanto).

Even though it does have a definite "A Star is Born" vibe it follows a different narrative path than alot of sports movies. There aren't the usual manufactured towering highs or crushing lows to help the viewer out. The victories are small and virtually indistinguishable from everything else going on. The lows are just a little more acute than the perpetual disappointments of these characters lives. And through it all there's Ruben and his unwavering "look on the bright side" take on his fighter's bouts.

Even though their trajectories are apparently moving in different directions Billy and Ernie share similarities when it comes to their personal lives. Saddled with drinking issues Billy has hooked up with pugnacious alcoholic Oma (70's mainstay Susan Tyrell) while Ernie has gotten his young girlfriend Faye (Candy Clark) pregnant. Filmed in the seedier parts of Stockton, California and peopled with current and former professional boxers the film does have an unmistakable authenticity to it. But it's about as far from rousing as you can get though. It's like the anti-Rocky. But Huston does excel at these kinds of "guy" movies. Hard luck types chasing illusory success.

80/100

[Thief]

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2022)

Take Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, blend em with Evil Dead (2013), bop it once in the head with a hammer, and you've got this film.

It's a lean, mean, silly 75 min slasher flick full of schlocky thrills and gory kills.

3.5/5

I'm about to dive into this one, so I'm glad it delivers to some extent.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I'm about to dive into this one, so I'm glad it delivers to some extent.
Approach it with the grace that a rebootquel slasher of the modern era merits and you should come away entertained for it's brisk runtime.

[Allaby]

Eat, Play, Love (2017) This was a cute and sweet romance. 4

[Miss Vicky]

https://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/MoFoPics2/flee.gif
Flee
4-