Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[matt72582]

Chicago: The Terry Kath Experience - 10/10
One of the favorite bands. One of the first bands I ever heard as a kid. A legendary guitarist/singer.

It's Free on YouTube. Sad he died at 31 of an accidental gunshot to the head.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7egJTtz10E&t=4152s&pp=sAQB

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2Y1NDFlODYtYzMwZi00ZmRhLTg5ZWYtYTkwZWUyMTMyOWMzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_.jpg



4

[Fabulous]

The Irishman (2019)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/iLLDiO4dbUfFEnRug8DuvFEl1NB.jpg

[Allaby]

Sex and the Single Girl (1964) This was a blast! Natalie Wood is wonderful here and she has great chemistry with Tony Curtis. The film is witty, fun and laugh out loud funny. Really entertaining and enjoyable. 4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Shithouse_poster.jpg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65211700

Freshman Year - (2020)

This film is called Freshman Year in Australia, which is strange, because the word "Freshman" isn't a thing here - and I don't think the original title would have caused much of a stir. Anyway, here we have Alex Malmquist (Cooper Raiff) - a university student who is struggling away from home. He frequently calls his mother, has no friends and talks to his stuffed animals. He meets Maggie Hill (Dylan Gelula), who just wants to have no-strings-attached sex with him, much to his consternation. In a first attempt he's unable to, but they end up keeping each other company during a drunken night where they bond, and then eventually have sex - but next morning she wants nothing to do with him, and this sends Alex reeling, desperately trying to reconnect. The film kind of criticizes both characters for either being too loose, or too uptight - but both have some depth and the film has a kind of realism to it that's nice. I wasn't sure about the ending though.

7/10

https://i.postimg.cc/Y9sJTHTK/girl-on-the-bridge.jpg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65211700

The Girl on the Bridge - (2020)

Documentary about a survivor of numerous suicide attempts advocating for the mentally ill and suicidal and creating a web series about a friend she could not save. I was constantly worried through this as pressure comes to bear on Jazz Thornton, who has apparently survived 14 suicide attempts. She once ignored a message from a close friend (thinking, "here we go again") and it turned out this friend was about to take her own life. Thornton goes to schools to lecture about suicide, talks on radio shows and counsels families who have lost a loved one - she lives through the ups and downs and stresses of the work she does, but has somehow quelled the demons that used to haunt her. I'd still keep a close eye on her though.

6.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Film_Poster_for_Operation_Avalanche.jpg
By John Chrin - IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52867194

Operation Avanlanche - (2016)

I was disappointed in this film which follows a handful of CIA agents who discover NASA can't possibly land men on the moon by 1969 so assist them in faking the landing. First of all, the agents are played by what seem to me to be immature 16 year-olds. I know they're meant to be green, but these hopeless kids (who act like they're still in school) were annoying and even if this is meant to be farcical, I couldn't buy it. Secondly, the first moon landing is faked and everything is dismantled, burned and some people killed or driven away. What about the other moon landings? They had to have been faked as well. This film was so dumb it gave me a headache. I like the found-footage genre, and the way Stanley Kubrick is spliced into the film is clever - but the screenplay needed a lot more work. I understand it's meant to be a comedy, so realism is expected to be more elastic - and one scene where a suited up astronaut on the moon is brawling with a CIA guy made me laugh out loud - but I still disliked this film.

4/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Willys_wonderland.jpg
By IMP Awards / 2021 Movie Poster Gallery / Willy's Wonderland Poster, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66474492

Willy's Wonderland - (2021)

Despite the poor ratings this has been getting, I had to take a look. Nicolas Cage channeling crazy through facial expressions and body language (he never speaks in this film) was something I felt was just a little too restrictive, even for him. In one scene he plays a pinball machine while dancing, and it was a moment where I was far too aware that this was Cage doing a crazy dance because he's Cage and has the reputation. It lacked any semblance of the kind of crazy that comes naturally from him - it was Cage impersonating himself to a degree. There's a lot of that in this film, which is easily summed up as a slasher with killer robots who have adopted the souls of serial killers ala Child's Play. Cage is a badass who dispatched them with ease, as other kids meet their slasher fate. This movie offers nothing more than that - Cage locked in a novelty restaurant killing robots. It's fun, but so anemic - all of the other performers have zero screen presence or character.

6/10

[Fabulous]

The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/hbh4rEKJoF8hr0gxhWVFcRHJzQ9.jpg

[Raven73]

Nobody
7/10.
What happened to Kevin in Home Alone (1990)? He grew up and became Nobody.
https://musicimage.xboxlive.com/catalog/video.movie.8D6KGWXN8CWT/image?locale=en-ca&mode=crop&purposes=BoxArt&q=90&h=225&w=150&format=jpg

[Torgo]

We are X - 4

This is a very satisfying documentary about legendary Japanese rock band X Japan. It succeeds as an exploration of the band's history, how much they impacted popular Japanese music - the Visual Kei movement in particular - their highly devoted and cult-like fans, etc. It is perhaps more interesting as an exploration of death, particularly when it comes to its place in Japanese culture. After all, death is a big influence in the band, especially in drummer and bandleader Yoshiki's case, who provides most of the commentary. I was moved by how the documentary delves into how a death in his family affected him as a child as well as how he nearly plays himself to death at concerts, thus making him a case study on how death gives meaning to life. The movie's treatment of suicide also got to me, something that sadly impacted both the band and its fans. The movie is definitely not all doom and gloom, though: how it portrays the joy and passion the band has for making music and that their fans have for it is infectious. The movie comes close to being a hagiography at times, and even though Yoshiki probably should do most of the talking, I wish I got to know more about the rest of the band. I still think the band's biggest fans and casual ones like myself who recently got into them will get something out of it.

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.pmgstatic.com%2Fcache%2Fresized%2Fw1989%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Ffilm%2Fphotos%2F16 4%2F547%2F164547304_eab95f.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
Inland Empire (2006, David Lynch)
4
Lynch's 3-hour tour de force of mind and time-bending 'dream logic' sorcery is 'Mulholland Drive' on steroids, but not quite as effective imo. There is some semblance of plot in the beginning but as the film progresses it turns into a literal nightmare that never ends — a non-linear, disorienting and absolutely impenetrable abyss of the subconscious. I'm sure there are lots of interpretations of what's going on there — my personal takeaway is that this type of cinema is best viewed not to be fully understood and analysed but to be dived into and experienced for what it is — a cinematic equivalent of a descent into insanity. The film is shot entirely on digital, which gives it a cheap but oddly uncanny look, replete with unsettling angles, lighting and handheld camerawork. Largely driven by Laura Dern's hauntingly distressing performance, almost teetering on the verge of nervous breakdown, Inland Empire rarely relents its grip on the viewer, who is perpetually stuck in a hypnotic twilight zone where the boundaries between dream and reality, time and place, causation and consequence are blurred and warped beyond comprehension.

Inland Empire is a difficult and often brilliant piece of filmmaking but it's also hellishly long (which means it has its ups and downs) and hard to understand, almost to the point of being confusing for confusion's sake. I adore Lynch but in this case I think he failed to properly rein in his sprawling experimentalism and marry it with a more cohesive and effective plot (imo).

I need to watch this again someday — I feel it has the potential to grow on me.

[Stirchley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/56/Fanny%26Alexander.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6678907

Fanny and Alexander - (1982)

I watched the theatrical version of this last night, and really enjoyed it - over the next few days I might give the longer version a try. I almost thought the entire film was going to revolve around one Christmas, for we stay with the wealthy Ekdahls celebrating for quite a while, but I was engrossed in the visual beauty of their home and the joy of their Christmas, with Swedish touches which were unfamiliar to me. The rest of the film focuses on young Alexander and Fanny in this semi-autobiographical film, and it sometimes leans towards mysticism and magic - which I didn't mind. There was one character near the end - Ismael, (played by Stina Ekblad) - who is fascinating. She's almost an Antichrist kind of figure, locked in a room - and she can read minds, become one with people and even summon death. She's not a villain, though I think she certainly could be if let free. I didn't expect that in Fanny and Alexander - a film that feels like a fairy tale, with it's two young characters locked away by a wicked stepfather in a castle-like rectory/church/home. The film's long running time never bothered me - Ingmar Bergman knows how to make any scene compelling and interesting. I remember when this was released, because there was a great deal made out of it - but I would have been too young to really appreciate it at the time.

8/10

Foreign Language Countdown films seen : 81/100

Do give the longer version a try too. Both are masterpieces.

[Stirchley]

86653

Don’t understand the bad reviews for this movie. Seen far worse. I liked it. Affleck seemed amused by the entire thing & De Armas is lovely.

I mean, how bad can it be? Sam Levinson who created Euphoria on HBO wrote the screenplay.

[AgrippinaX]

Amulet (2020)

Thank you, Takoma11, for recommending.

My immediate reference point for this one was Salvage (2006), a lame-ish effort which however to me seemed an interesting exploration of the concept of hell. Amulet is immeasurably and unquestionably better. The plot is very much a Greek tragedy retelling, which shows, but in this case it very much works. While there’s lots of Christian symbolism, to me the aesthetic is Greek.

I’m not naturally a reviewer, and describing the plot always feels a bit artificial to me. This one in particular can be construed as a revenge tale or a redemption tale, depending on one’s own sensibilities. I suppose the most neutral way to describe it would be to say it explores a mode of revenge where a rapist is forced to experience the consequences of rape/men’s violent treatment of women.

I’ve seen Amulet described as a “female gaze” film, which I guess it is. I do take issue with the central premise, which is that there’s a peculiar kind of revenge/atonement to be found in making a man experience the way women experience the world, details aside, especially when it comes to the physicality of the female body. I think it’s such a mammoth task to try to, first of all, lay out what that experience of being a woman really entails, how and why it hurts, and how a man could go about attempting to wrap his head around stepping into those shoes, that if it isn’t impossible, it should warrant a 5-hour + Dogme 95 treatment with no supernatural/genre distractions . Alas, I just don’t think that’s possible, it doesn’t work for me in terms of human psychology, and to that end, it’s impossible to communicate via the filmic or any other medium.

The execution is great. For the visuals alone, I’ll almost definitely rewatch it very soon. And while I’m repeating myself, I suppose I’m not at peace with the philosophy behind the film: it may be seen as as simple as that being a woman/ giving birth is literally torture - and to me, yes, it may feel like it, but being able to bring life into the world is also a gift women have, not to mention that it’s, well, a somewhat reductive view of the kind of pain women can experience (although I also think it’s somewhat apt and hence very effective), as well as there being no reference to women having a much higher pain threshold (I guess I would have wanted this kind of film to delve much more deeply into the biology of the experience?). That aside, we don’t really know that the victim of rape Miriam necessarily became pregnant, let alone than she didn’t perform an abortion on herself/get one elsewhere, so it seems like a leap of faith to show giving birth as the ultimate outcome of sex/form of torture for the rapist. Wasn’t the actual rape bad enough? This one trips me up.

Anyway, that sums up where I’m conflicted. The pure horror/gore aspect is simply fantastic, far outstripping any shock factor “torture porn” flick, while visually the film is gorgeous, and I’ll definitely rewatch it for that alone as soon as possible and hopefully come out of it with a clearer take.

[pahaK]

It's been ages since my last update on this thread. I haven't watched that many movies lately, and half of them have been covered in the current HoF anyway but here are the missing pieces.

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)
2
It's bad enough to be moderately amusing. I doubt anyone on the set had illusions about making a good movie. Dracula's hypnotic gaze is truly something...
https://64.media.tumblr.com/d8ab3bc6b19fca4d98571efa05385f3f/d799b74eed0ce0dc-89/s500x750/ec13dd32973d3a31dbe3b98fd36fa1313c78473f.gifv

--
The Cursed (2021)
2.5
A pretty standard horror film with a werewolf and a gypsy curse and awful CGI. It's trying hard, but it has very little to offer in the end.

--
Alligator (1980)
3
It's campy and silly, but even after several viewings, I find myself entertained. Some nice small talk between the lovers, too.

--
The Hatred (2018)
2.5
My first Adams family film, so I didn't know what to expect. It's rough around the edges, but there's some talent involved. It enforces the artsy parts a bit too much, and the acting isn't good. Still, probably a lot better than your average family movie collaboration.

--
Luz: The Flower of Evil (2019)
3.5
Ever wondered what The VVitch remake made by Obayashi and Malick would look like? Me neither, but that's the first thing that came to mind from this little Spanish film. It's not the folk horror I was promised, but an artsy dive into a small religious community. A review said the budget was only $20k and if that's true then hats off to these people - the film looks absolutely awesome. MovieGal , have you seen this? Could be something you'd like.

--
X (2022)
3
Ti West continues to make his wannabe 70s movies. Like his earlier films, it's solid but somehow lacking. I think his scripts aren't as sharp as his directing. Again. looks good and has a really solid cast and some sudden, brutal violence.

[MovieGal]

It's been ages since my last update on this thread. I haven't watched that many movies lately, and half of them have been covered in the current HoF anyway but here are the missing pieces.

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)
2
It's bad enough to be moderately amusing. I doubt anyone on the set had illusions about making a good movie. Dracula's hypnotic gaze is truly something...
https://64.media.tumblr.com/d8ab3bc6b19fca4d98571efa05385f3f/d799b74eed0ce0dc-89/s500x750/ec13dd32973d3a31dbe3b98fd36fa1313c78473f.gifv

--
The Cursed (2021)
2.5
A pretty standard horror film with a werewolf and a gypsy curse and awful CGI. It's trying hard, but it has very little to offer in the end.

--
Alligator (1980)
3
It's campy and silly, but even after several viewings, I find myself entertained. Some nice small talk between the lovers, too.

--
The Hatred (2018)
2.5
My first Adams family film, so I didn't know what to expect. It's rough around the edges, but there's some talent involved. It enforces the artsy parts a bit too much, and the acting isn't good. Still, probably a lot better than your average family movie collaboration.

--
Luz: The Flower of Evil (2019)
3.5
Ever wondered what The VVitch remake made by Obayashi and Malick would look like? Me neither, but that's the first thing that came to mind from this little Spanish film. It's not the folk horror I was promised, but an artsy dive into a small religious community. A review said the budget was only $20k and if that's true then hats off to these people - the film looks absolutely awesome. MovieGal , have you seen this? Could be something you'd like.

--
X (2022)
3
Ti West continues to make his wannabe 70s movies. Like his earlier films, it's solid but somehow lacking. I think his scripts aren't as sharp as his directing. Again. looks good and has a really solid cast and some sudden, brutal violence.

I have not but I trust your recommendations so I will give it a try.

Have you seen Apostle? I love that freaking movie. Off the wall cult movie and Dan Stevens is always a plus for a woman to look at.

[pahaK]

I have not but I trust your recommendations so I will give it a try.

Have you seen Apostle? I love that freaking movie. Off the wall cult movie and Dan Stevens is always a plus for a woman to look at.

The Netflix film? Yeah, it's definitely one of their better original movies. Maybe a tad too long like Evans' films usually are, but for the most part, I liked it.

[Takoma11]

Amulet (2020)

I’ve seen Amulet described as a “female gaze” film, which I guess it is. I do take issue with the central premise, which is that there’s a peculiar kind of revenge/atonement to be found in making a man experience the way women experience the world, details aside, especially when it comes to the physicality of the female body. I think it’s such a mammoth task to try to, first of all, lay out what that experience of being a woman really entails, how and why it hurts, and how a man could go about attempting to wrap his head around stepping into those shoes, that if it isn’t impossible, it should warrant a 5-hour + Dogme 95 treatment with no supernatural/genre distractions . Alas, I just don’t think that’s possible, it doesn’t work for me in terms of human psychology, and to that end, it’s impossible to communicate via the filmic or any other medium.

I didn't read it as being that linear. My interpretation of the conclusion was that Hey, someone has to house this evil and control it. And so often it is women who experience forced impregnation. So why not make it a dude who was willing to put a woman in that position? (Because whether his rape victim did get pregnant or not, he still put her in a situation where she could be facing an unwanted pregnancy).

I think that the redemption (albeit against his will) of the main character is not that he's experiencing a "female" experience, it's that he is taking the place of a woman who would normally be forced into that role.

To me it is a nice inversion of all the movies where a woman is kidnapped/manipulated/assaulted into bearing satanic/demonic children. I see it not just as a punitive act, but also one that spares another person the kind of pain he has already caused in the past.

[AgrippinaX]

I didn't read it as being that linear. [/SPOILERS]

I see what you mean. And I do agree that it’s a very good move to argue, well, if someone has to do it, why should it be a woman? In any case, I massively enjoyed it as a piece of art and I almost think once I stop overanalysing it and just come to think about it, that leaves me with a near-perfect impression.

[Takoma11]

I see what you mean. And I do agree that it’s a very good move to argue, well, if someone has to do it, why should it be a woman? In any case, I massively enjoyed it as a piece of art and I almost think once I stop overanalysing it and just come to think about it, that leaves me with a near-perfect impression.

I'm so glad you liked it! I thought that the look of it and the tone were just really interesting. Especially a certain image toward the end.

I also think that the film made really good use of Alec Secareanu, who I think is incredibly naturally charismatic, and that allows you to retain sympathy for him even as we begin to learn the details of his past.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollingstone.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F06%2Fthe-phantom-thread-trailer-1e98fcf2-7417-4ff9-bb81-a75e0cabd04b.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Phantom Thread, 2017

Reynolds (Daniel Day-Lewis) is an exacting fashion designer, the head of his own prestige line of gowns. He meets and falls in love with Alma (Vicky Krieps), a much younger waitress who has what he considers a "perfect" body. Slowly eroding under the critical, dominance Reynolds displays toward her, Alma must look for a way to love him on her own terms, which also involves figuring out how to have power in their relationship.

What does a healthy partnership look like when one partner insists on dominance and the other has no real interest in submission? At first blush, Phantom Thread seems as if it will be a film about a woman being slowly destroyed by the open contempt of a romantic partner who seems to see her more as an object than a person. Perhaps, it seems, everything will end with an act of revenge.

Day-Lewis is, of course, entirely convincing as the eagle-eyed, mercurial Reynolds. He is supported incredibly by Lesley Manville as Reynolds' equally demanding sister, Cyril. (A great sequence involves Reynolds insisting on taking Alma's measurements, interrupted by the arrival of Cyril . . . who then sniffs Alma like she's auditioning for a role in a sequel to Perfume.) But Krieps as Alma is the engine that drives the movie and lends its at once outlandish and human arc a core of credulity.

From the beginning, Alma insists that she wants to love Reynolds in her own way. She is rebuffed by Cyril, and also by Reynolds. In a standout sequence, she surprises him by sending everyone home and serving him a homemade fancy dinner. Petulantly oversalting his food, he notes that she hasn't served the asparagus the way he likes it and he's being such a gentleman by lowering himself to eat it the way she's prepared it. Obviously he is not about to change his ways, so how can Alma find her own peace inside their relationship?

I'm going to stay vague, because two different reviews basically gave away a plot point I wish I hadn't known about before watching the film. But the way that the movie navigates the dynamics between Reynolds and Alma, their own personalities, their independence, but also their co-dependence is really interesting.

The look of the film is really stunning. It won an Oscar for costume design, and it's well deserved. There's a precision and crispness to the look of it all that perfectly mirrors the way that Reynolds approaches everything in his life.

I was surprised as I watched that, despite being very interested in what was happening and taken by the performances, I wasn't that invested in the outcome. It's strange, because I think that we do get a really neat glimpse of how two people evolve into a complex give-and-take of power, but something held me at the surface.

Strong performances and really compelling storytelling. It didn't quite get to me deeply, but a captivating story nonetheless.

4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecranlarge.com%2Fuploads%2Fimage%2F001%2F078%2Fterrified-photo-1078675.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Terrified, 2017

In a Buenos Aires neighborhood, strange things are happening. A man's wife dies under mysterious circumstances, while a dead neighbor boy doesn't seem to want to stay dead. Paranormal researchers Albreck (Elvira Onetto), Jano (Norberto Gonzalo), and Rosentock (George Lewis) converge on the neighborhood, accompanied by the reluctant Funes (Maximiliano Ghione), a police officer who knows the mother of the dead child. But it seems that whatever is happening has set off a chain of events.

This one gets an A for creepy visuals, but only a C for story.

It's an easy recommend when it comes to the actual scary stuff on screen. There are jump scares, there are slow burns, there are in-your-face monsters and figured hovering almost out of the frame. Everything that is meant to be creepy . . . is more than creepy.

But somehow the story itself doesn't totally gel. The sequence of events more or less makes sense, but it feels as if you are being led from one scene to the next as set pieces, not plot advancements. I don't mind the idea of elements of a movie staying ambiguous, but in this case I found myself annoyed by the lack of clarity or closure.

Coming in at a quick 87 minutes, this is definitely something to check out if you're into horror.

3.5

[StuSmallz]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollingstone.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F06%2Fthe-phantom-thread-trailer-1e98fcf2-7417-4ff9-bb81-a75e0cabd04b.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Phantom Thread, 2017

4I felt similarly about it, since it was a bit too "low-key" in general to be a truly gripping Drama, and as far as the PTA/DDL collabs go, (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/tag/paul-thomas-anderson/reviews/) I'd definitely go with There Will Be Blood. Still a pretty good movie despite that, though!

[Takoma11]

I felt similarly about it, since it was a bit too "low-key" in general to be a truly gripping Drama, and as far as the PTA/DDL collabs go, (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/tag/paul-thomas-anderson/reviews/) I'd definitely go with There Will Be Blood. Still a pretty good movie despite that, though!

It was fascinating to observe, but I never felt like I was inside the film. Still, a great performance from Krieps!

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.destroythebrain.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F12%2Fthewomanbig.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Woman, 2011

A woman living wild in the mountains (Pollyanna McIntosh) is captured and held captive by "family man" Chris (Sean Bridgers), who claims that he wants to "civilize" her. As Chris forces his wife, Belle (Angela Bettis), daughter Peg (Lauren Ashley Carter), and blooming sociopath son Brian (Zach Rand) to help out in his little project, simmering family tensions come bubbling to the surface.

I have avoided this film for many years, mainly because of the attachment of Jack Ketchum's name. I've seen (I think) two movies based on Ketchum novels, and they've always really put me off with their almost fetishistic focus on women being abused for extended stretches of runtime. For me, it crossed a line between commenting on violence toward women and relishing in it.

On the other hand, I've quite enjoyed everything I've seen from Lucky McKee, the director, with May and his Masters of Horror episode Sick Girl being two highlights for me. Even his divisive Tales of Halloween short "Ding Dong" made me laugh with its off-kilter approach.

Having now watched the movie, yeah, my initial instinct to stay away was probably the correct one.

There are concepts here that could have been interesting with a better execution. What Chris does to the Woman is an amplified version of what he is already doing to his own family: physical and verbal abuse, humiliation, controlling behavior, sexual abuse. There are also ideas here about how abuse is modeled for children and even implicitly condoned ("Boys will be boys"). All through the film we see an exploration of how people who are victims (like Belle and Peg) can become complicit in victimizing others, hardship driving a wedge between the women instead of making them allies.

So the ideas aren't terrible, but oof, the execution! To begin with, the tone is all over the place. The violence (including rape, torture, domestic abuse) is pretty intense for a dark comedy. And yet this is clearly aiming to be a dark comedy, with scenes like the Woman biting off Chris's finger and then derisively spitting out his wedding ring.

And going back to my reservations about Ketchum, that unfortunate male gaze element shows up here to a ridiculous degree. There's a big difference between the characters objectifying the Woman and the camera/audience objectifying her, and yet the film frequently slips into the latter dynamic. The absolute height of absurdity in all of this is an unnecessary full frontal shot of the nude Woman . . . where we discover that despite apparently never having brushed her teeth, the Woman has somehow procured herself a razor and a bikini wax. The film is happy to cover her in filth, blood, and dirt, but a hairy leg? That's a bridge too far!

McIntosh gives a fantastic performance as the feral Woman, and Bettis is equally good as the abused wife who is being edged toward her breaking point. I lay the issues with the character of Chris at the writers' feet, as he's such a caricature that I'm not sure any performance would have saved it.

But the film's pace is really off-beat, and not in a good way. We get extended stretches of a subplot where Peg is sad at school and her absurdly young teacher (Carlee Baker) is worried about her. (But not worried enough to follow any protocols that would actually help Peg!). There are these sequences that drag, but then they are punctuated by scenes of violence/torture that drag in their own way.

Even for a fan of McKee or the actors involved, I wouldn't recommend this one.

2.5

[StuSmallz]

It was fascinating to observe, but I never felt like I was inside the film. Still, a great performance from Krieps!Yup. Anyway, just out of curiosity, did you like TWBB any better?

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/You_Were_Never_Really_Here.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from StudioCanal., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55384680

You Were Never Really Here - (2017)

A last minute selection for last night's viewing, and it surprised me as to how good it was. I'd never heard of this until recently, it just snuck in between Irrational Man and Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot as far as Joaquin Phoenix's career goes, and a look at his filmography shows very few "did it for the money" bad movies. I might have to count myself as a fan, for I've seen most of them. In this, he plays the "brutal" Joe, who has far too many demons lurking in both his subconscious and conscious mind - from a violent childhood to awful wartime experiences. He's now a mercenary for hire, and is tasked with finding a politician's young daughter - but there's back-room betrayal and shenanigans in the workings going on, and this will affect Joe's beloved mother. He doesn't need anything more to send him off the deep end, he's already there when the film starts. I thought the editing really stood out in a good way - and added to the performances made something of a great character study about someone who sees a very distant light while enveloped by a darkness so black it's difficult to comprehend.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/Penguin_Bloom_poster.png
By Dendy Cinemas, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66338723

Penguin Bloom - (2020)

Here's an Australian true story I already knew much about - and a film that kind of fails to get across what it's trying to. The Australian magpie is a particularly intelligent bird that usually has a violent hatred towards Australian humans - and we're all scared of 'em. But one particular magpie was adopted by the Bloom family not long after surfer Sam Bloom became paralyzed from the waist down, becoming a family friend to the extent that it lifted her out of her almost suicidal depression. You have to imagine a bird behaving something like the family dog - and doing things that make you wonder just how smart these things are. In the movie however, it just looks like some random bird, and aside from the love the Blooms have for it you don't really get a feel for just how intimate the relationship really was. Blandly structured, and following familiar clichés, it might still resonate with kids as a family movie - even though it doesn't feel like one.

5.5/10

[Fabulous]

I, Tonya (2017)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/qJiV9JbFskgpQkL97OLPqcYk394.jpg

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rollingstone.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F06%2Fthe-phantom-thread-trailer-1e98fcf2-7417-4ff9-bb81-a75e0cabd04b.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Phantom Thread, 2017

Reynolds (Daniel Day-Lewis) is an exacting fashion designer, the head of his own prestige line of gowns. He meets and falls in love with Alma (Vicky Krieps), a much younger waitress who has what he considers a "perfect" body. Slowly eroding under the critical, dominance Reynolds displays toward her, Alma must look for a way to love him on her own terms, which also involves figuring out how to have power in their relationship.

What does a healthy partnership look like when one partner insists on dominance and the other has no real interest in submission? At first blush, Phantom Thread seems as if it will be a film about a woman being slowly destroyed by the open contempt of a romantic partner who seems to see her more as an object than a person. Perhaps, it seems, everything will end with an act of revenge.

Day-Lewis is, of course, entirely convincing as the eagle-eyed, mercurial Reynolds. He is supported incredibly by Lesley Manville as Reynolds' equally demanding sister, Cyril. (A great sequence involves Reynolds insisting on taking Alma's measurements, interrupted by the arrival of Cyril . . . who then sniffs Alma like she's auditioning for a role in a sequel to Perfume.) But Krieps as Alma is the engine that drives the movie and lends its at once outlandish and human arc a core of credulity.

From the beginning, Alma insists that she wants to love Reynolds in her own way. She is rebuffed by Cyril, and also by Reynolds. In a standout sequence, she surprises him by sending everyone home and serving him a homemade fancy dinner. Petulantly oversalting his food, he notes that she hasn't served the asparagus the way he likes it and he's being such a gentleman by lowering himself to eat it the way she's prepared it. Obviously he is not about to change his ways, so how can Alma find her own peace inside their relationship?

I'm going to stay vague, because two different reviews basically gave away a plot point I wish I hadn't known about before watching the film. But the way that the movie navigates the dynamics between Reynolds and Alma, their own personalities, their independence, but also their co-dependence is really interesting.

The look of the film is really stunning. It won an Oscar for costume design, and it's well deserved. There's a precision and crispness to the look of it all that perfectly mirrors the way that Reynolds approaches everything in his life.

I was surprised as I watched that, despite being very interested in what was happening and taken by the performances, I wasn't that invested in the outcome. It's strange, because I think that we do get a really neat glimpse of how two people evolve into a complex give-and-take of power, but something held me at the surface.

Strong performances and really compelling storytelling. It didn't quite get to me deeply, but a captivating story nonetheless.

4
Good film, and yes, it looks and feels exquisite, like eating a fine gourmet meal.
Beautiful visuals.

[Takoma11]

Yup. Anyway, just out of curiosity, did you like TWBB any better?

Yes, but I'm not sure it is a fair comparison, as I saw There Will Be Blood in the theater with that amazing score thrumming through the speakers.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/You_Were_Never_Really_Here.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from StudioCanal., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55384680

You Were Never Really Here - (2017)

I really love You Were Never Really Here. The way it builds up a sense of foreboding, the ambiguities in the final act, those gorgeous underwater sequences. IT's something I frequently rewatch.

[Thief]

THUNDER ROAD
(2018, Cummings)

https://i.imgur.com/tM9dWba.png


"I don't know what I'm doing anymore."



Thunder Road follows Jim Arnaud (Jim Cummings), a police officer in a small town struggling with a number of issues; the potential divorce from his wife, the rejections from his young daughter, and the recent death of his mother, which is what the film starts with and sort of what frames the events of the film, to the point that he feels like he doesn't know what he's doing anymore.

But that is where the film's strength is. As both writer, director, and actor, Cummings succeeds in transmitting those feelings of mental instability, anxiety, insecurity as a parent, frustration, bottled up anger, the uneasiness of things unraveling, the impotence against circumstances and not knowing what to do. Even if I'm not going through all the issues that Jim is, I can certainly identify with a lot of those feelings.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2295473#post2295473) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2295474#post2295474)

[ThatDarnMKS]

Phantom Thread and You Were Never Really Here are two of my favorite movies of the last decade. Both are masterfully shot, scored by a member of Radiohead, and do an exquisite job of capturing the subjective experience of their protagonist(s).

PT is the film that made me truly understand my wife's misophonia. The close-ups of forks screeching across plates with punishing sound mixing were just astounding to behold. Given that the rest is opulent cinema rarely seen outside of a Fellini picture (the film seems to be some kind of marriage between Fellini and Hitchcock) and it's one I find myself coming back to every year (it's become a New Year's watch).

[Thief]

Phantom Thread is indeed masterful. Easily Top 5 of the last decade for me as well.

[crumbsroom]

misophonia.


It has a name! Now when I leave a room, unable to bear the company of other people, I will explain it is a medical condition.



Having a fancy term to cover for your anti-social behavior is such a relief.



As for Phantom Thread, while I also found it a hard movie to get inside (as Takoma states), to me this was a lot of what I liked about it. I don't think it wants you to get entirely inside of it. I think it is a movie that forces us to observe the behavior of strangers very much from the outside. To slowly come to revelations about the nature of this relationship. At no point though did I ever feel like I was entirely invited to be watching them. Taking notes. Figuring them out. My witnessing of them was, I'm sure, unwanted. And I sort of liked this vaguely voyeuristic element to it.


I also don't know if I ever spoke about Thunder Road anywhere here, but I think it is a pretty fantastic thing. It took me a while to get my bearings on it, as the whole film seems to adopt the shape and the look of a comedy. And yet, the movie is mostly about the tragedy of a man's life. And while it does have some very funny parts in it, it is the weird dominance of the sad character study elements in it which allow it to resonate. It also feels like a movie that has many layers to peel away on subsequent viewings.

[Thief]

It has a name! Now when I leave a room, unable to bear the company of other people, I will explain it is a medical condition.



Having a fancy term to cover for your anti-social behavior is such a relief.


I've been known to say I'm being "crumbsy" ;)


As for Phantom Thread, while I also found it a hard movie to get inside (as Takoma states), to me this was a lot of what I liked about it. I don't think it wants you to get entirely inside of it. I think it is a movie that forces us to observe the behavior of strangers very much from the outside. To slowly come to revelations about the nature of this relationship. At no point though did I ever feel like I was entirely invited to be watching them. Taking notes. Figuring them out. My witnessing of them was, I'm sure, unwanted. And I sort of liked this vaguely voyeuristic element to it.


Perhaps tied to that "unwanted voyeurism", the film is so constantly plagued by an awkwardness in how the characters interact; there is a purposeful push-and-pull between feeling romantic to feeling just... awkward. Like you, I enjoyed that.


I also don't know if I ever spoke about Thunder Road anywhere here, but I think it is a pretty fantastic thing. It took me a while to get my bearings on it, as the whole film seems to adopt the shape and the look of a comedy. And yet, the movie is mostly about the tragedy of a man's life. And while it does have some very funny parts in it, it is the weird dominance of the sad character study elements in it which allow it to resonate. It also feels like a movie that has many layers to peel away on subsequent viewings.

Totally agree.

[ThatDarnMKS]

It has a name! Now when I leave a room, unable to bear the company of other people, I will explain it is a medical condition.



Having a fancy term to cover for your anti-social behavior is such a relief.



My wife and I even wrote a short film about the condition. We're planning to shoot it this summer. It'll be slick and cute! You'll love it!

[ThatDarnMKS]

Thunder Road, The Wolf of Snow Hollow and the Beta Test are all wonderful. Thunder Road is Cummings' least polished technically but his most engaging dramatically and performance wise. Plus, it has a surprise Macon Blair!

[Takoma11]

I also don't know if I ever spoke about Thunder Road anywhere here, but I think it is a pretty fantastic thing. It took me a while to get my bearings on it, as the whole film seems to adopt the shape and the look of a comedy. And yet, the movie is mostly about the tragedy of a man's life. And while it does have some very funny parts in it, it is the weird dominance of the sad character study elements in it which allow it to resonate. It also feels like a movie that has many layers to peel away on subsequent viewings.

Yeah, I like it more every time I watch it. Even as the staging invites you to laugh, it keeps the hooks of the tragedy in you so that it's painful at the same time.

Thunder Road, The Wolf of Snow Hollow and the Beta Test are all wonderful. Thunder Road is Cummings' least polished technically but his most engaging dramatically and performance wise. Plus, it has a surprise Macon Blair!

Just for personal reasons, that is maybe my favorite scene in the film.

"It's when a man, well, I suppose it doesn't have to be a man. It's when one partner reaches . . . you know, I don't need to describe it. It's a reach around. She called my work a reach around."

[crumbsroom]

I've been known to say I'm being "crumbsy" ;)


I've always wanted to be an adjective.

[Rockatansky]

But who was (miso)phon(ia)?

[Takoma11]

PT is the film that made me truly understand my wife's misophonia. The close-ups of forks screeching across plates with punishing sound mixing were just astounding to behold.

The best part of that element is when Alma begins deliberately trolling him with it, like the scene where she is eating toast and she has this little knowing smile on her face as he cringes.

[Thief]

Just for personal reasons, that is maybe my favorite scene in the film.

"It's when a man, well, I suppose it doesn't have to be a man. It's when one partner reaches . . . you know, I don't need to describe it. It's a reach around. She called my work a reach around."

"You're gonna have to tell me what 'strident' means. I went to LSU. Actually, they said they had to stop making ice over there cause the student with the recipe graduated."

Such a stupid joke, but I LOL'd :laugh: It also goes with Jim's attempts to please people, humor them to try to defuse uncomfortable situations.

[Takoma11]

"You're gonna have to tell me what 'strident' means. I went to LSU. Actually, they said they had to stop making ice over there cause the student with the recipe graduated."

Such a stupid joke, but I LOL'd :laugh: It also goes with Jim's attempts to please people, humor them to try to defuse uncomfortable situations.

His need to please others is so palpable. I'm like "Movie: Please stop holding up a mirror to my own qualities!"

[crumbsroom]

It'll be slick and cute! You'll love it!


Someone prescribe this man a dose of Doris Wishman cut with 10ccs of Barry J. Gillis until the film school fever breaks. Once stabilized, nothing any cleaner than some early black and white Cassavetes. And, let me repeat, absolutely no tracking shots until we can be sure he won't relapse.



Obviously, best of luck on that. Everyone's got to follow their heart, even when clearly being influenced by the palpitations caused by too much Vitamin Wan in the diet.

[ThatDarnMKS]

The best part of that element is when Alma begins deliberately trolling him with it, like the scene where she is eating toast and she has this little knowing smile on her face as he cringes.
It's these little moments of interplay that make the film so invigorating.*I FEEL every single one of these moments, often from both perspectives.

Its absolute defiance to adhere to expectation and norms with such specificity...

Masterful.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Someone prescribe this man a dose of Doris Wishman cut with 10ccs of Barry J. Gillis until the film school fever breaks. Once stabilized, nothing any cleaner than some early black and white Cassavetes. And, let me repeat, absolutely no tracking shots until we can be sure he won't relapse.



Obviously, best of luck on that. Everyone's got to follow their heart, even when clearly being influenced by the palpitations caused by too much Vitamin Wan in the diet.
There's gonna be so many smooth dolly shots that you'll think the camera is coated in butter.

Then, just wait till the musical sequence that is perfectly cut and timed to the pop music.

The whole time I direct it, I'm gonna be like "oh man, this is SO cool."

[crumbsroom]

There's gonna be so many smooth dolly shots that you'll think the camera is coated in butter.

Then, just wait till the musical sequence that is perfectly cut and timed to the pop music.

The whole time I direct it, I'm gonna be like "oh man, this is SO cool."


Even describing this is a crime against humanity.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Even describing this is a crime against humanity.
*Frantically adding a scene where the lead characters argue whether James Wan or Edgar Wright could've done the better job making Blair Witch*

The camera will balletically spin around the entire chat as Sum 41 plays on a jukebox.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/794731b1780fe23bfdfc7c4e6bc97842/tumblr_poyym1P4oq1trkd46o1_540.jpg

https://64.media.tumblr.com/482c9382e531d462a931b45641429f6b/31a808541eb9224f-03/s500x750/cc9fc411aec42115d915236eede8e4d2b5ead8b8.gifv


Pitfall - 1948 noir directed by André De Toth and starring Dick Powell as insurance adjuster John Forbes. He spends the first few minutes of the movie bellyaching about his life and the rut he's in. This is all despite being in a loving marriage to smokeshow wife Sue (Jane Wyatt) and father to little Tommy. All the noir signs point to a hard lesson being learned and, as is usually the case, it's in the form of a femme fatale.

One of John's cases involves embezzler Bill Smiley (Byron Barr). John's sleazy freelance investigator is ex-cop J.B. (Mac) MacDonald (Raymond Burr) and he fills John in on where most of the missing money ended up. Smiley spent it on his girlfriend Mona Stevens (Lizabeth Scott) and when John goes to see her to convince her to return the swag he ends up falling for her. The movie is very circumspect about their dalliance though. One afternoon he goes to her apartment and after the requisite back and forth and finally locking lips it shows him leaving in darkness.

The only problem (besides the family he's just betrayed) being that Mac has warned John that he's interested in Mona himself. He's also been obsessively surveilling her. When he realizes what's happened he takes increasingly drastic steps. John Forbes isn't a sympathetic figure at all. Usually in these types of stories the protagonist is someone who has gotten in way over his head and Forbes has, to a point. But Scott's Mona isn't the usual heartless predator. She's basically the decent person in this and the one caught up in events not of her making. Forbes, on the other hand, comes off like a dunce and a bit of a dirtbag IMO.

It's a pretty good movie all in all. Not exactly a classic and even though Elizabeth Scott isn't a particularly strong actress she does have a way about her. Watch her in Too Late for Tears if you haven't and you'll better see what I mean.

80/100

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Mom_and_Dad_%282017_film%29.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55482751

Mom and Dad - (2017)

Too early to go to bed, but too late to invest myself in something worthwhile, I needed something dumb to watch with an 83 minute running time - and that's where Mom and Dad comes in. A horror/comedy where parents suddenly and inexplicably start attacking and murdering their children, with Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair as said parents. This did have a cinematic first in store for me : first film ever where the opening credits completely ruined a huge reveal, which I was henceforth always aware was going to happen. Why on earth did they give something so big away in the opening credits? Apart from that, and some Nicolas Cage crazy antics™ I never felt like there was anything incredible happening, and found the Q&A after a special screening in the extra features the most interesting thing about it. It's exactly what you think it might be from the description, except more average.

5.5/10

[Fabulous]

Girl (2018)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/iGCHoFp4VUwMoolO2C2u12AgiKl.jpg

[Marco]

Against the ice (2022)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/43/Against_the_Ice.jpeg
This was a good film, well put together and interesting based on the Danish arctic explorers attempts to explore Greenland. The performances were spot on and the story is engaging. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau carries it, pretty much and co-screenwrote it and I like him from the few films I've seen of him. Joe Cole admirable as the mechanic/soundboard/saviour.

3.5

[ueno_station54]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjExYzUwODAtNmQ4OC00ZjY2LTgzOTEtYmE1MTU1ZWQyM2NiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDUyNzkyMTE@._V1_.jpg
Senritsu Kaiki File Kowasugi! File 02: Shivering Ghost (Koji Shiraishi, 2012)

Part 2 of Shiraishi's urban legend/folklore investigation mockumentary series and while its maybe more consistently good than part 1, it lacks the memorable moments the first one had. One thing it does clarify to an extent though is how the audience is supposed to feel about the main dude. He does some shitty things in the first one but its unclear whether they're meant to be seen as shitty and this one makes it much more clear that yeah this dude sucks. Perhaps its because I'm totally ignorant to this particular legend but this did go places I was not expecting given the initial set up and that's cool and all but I also feel like I still don't know anything about this legend. Anyway, its still got the good presentation of all Shiraishi's work in this vein but lacks in terms of imagery (despite the pic I used here being sick as hell as a still lol) and doesn't really stand out in any way. Still excited for the next instalments though as I'm familiar with and interested in the legends presented in next 2.
rating_2_5

[Marco]

The King of Staten Island (2020)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/The_King_of_Staten_Island.jpeg
This was better than I thought it was going to be (as I'm an old git) but still formulaic despite good performances. Funny bits are not funny enough and the serious bits are somewhat trite.

2

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-kxDKDL2GYF4%2FTa8ihvWjGyI%2FAAAAAAAAFNA%2Ff2CFQE7GZHI%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2Flake01.png&f=1&nofb=1

Lake of the Dead, 1958

A group of friends goes to visit Bjorn (Per Lillo-Stenberg), the brother of one of their party, Lillian (Henny Moan). But when they arrive at his secluded cabin, they find him missing and his dog dead by a nearby lake. Finding strange clues (such as a diary that doesn't seem to quite be in Bjorn's handwriting), the group begins to experience strange events, seemingly related to a legend about the lake and its fatal pull on anyone who dares stay nearby.

This was an interesting, kind of subdued horror mystery: like a slightly more procedural Dracula or a slightly more supernatural And Then There Were None.

For me, the strength of the film was definitely the visuals. There is a lot of really neat imagery around the lake, including a fabulous shot of a woman diving into the lake and slowly vanishing into its depths.

Overall, however, I was not all that taken by the way that the movie unfolded. The target of the supernatural activity is Lillian, who sleepwalks out to the lake at night and seems to be a victim of a force that is trying to induce her to drown herself. And yet she is involved in none of the conversation around what is happening. The women are just shuttled off to rest of whatever while the men hold these self-serious conferences about what's going on.

I don't object to movies speaking of supernatural or extrasensory things as if they are real and have consistent rules. That's fine. But the way that a mix of psychology and the supernatural is applied to solving the mystery didn't work for me. There's a lot of withholding information seemingly for the purpose of saving it as a "twist" at the end, not because it makes sense in the reality of the movie.

The visuals are, as I said, really strong. And the question of what is actually happening (human, supernatural, or something in-between) is intriguing enough. But I was overall disappointed in the lack of thrills and the repeated "middle aged man lecturing" stretches of exposition that were used to develop the story.

3.5

[Allaby]

The Robe (1953) Rewatched on blu ray. I've seen this before years ago, but didn't remember much of it. The film looks beautiful, with wonderful cinematography and a great score. I also liked the costumes and sets. Performances are pretty good too. I did feel that the film goes on too long and drags a little at times though. Overall, a good watch for Good Friday. 4

[Stirchley]

The King of Staten Island (2020)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e4/The_King_of_Staten_Island.jpeg
This was better than I thought it was going to be (as I'm an old git) but still formulaic despite good performances. Funny bits are not funny enough and the serious bits are somewhat trite.

2

I had no idea what to expect, but, more or less, agree with your review.

Kim Kardashian & Pete Davidson are the oddest couple ever.

[Allaby]

The Passion of the Christ (2004) Rewatched on blu ray with the theological commentary on it. I really enjoyed the commentary and thought it helped enhance the viewing experience. The Passion of the Christ is controversial and divisive (much like Jesus Himself), but for me this is a powerful and beautiful film. Jim Caviezel is excellent as Jesus and I liked the film's portrayal of Satan. The score is beautiful and the film is really well directed. Yes, it is a violent film, but intentionally and purposely so. The violence packs a punch and definitely has an impact on the audience. The film is definitely not torture porn as some have tried to claim and I don't see anything anti-Semitic about it. I think this holds up really well and it remains on my list of all time favourite films. 4.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthewelltravelledpostcard.files.wordpress.com%2F2014%2F12%2Fthe-great-beauty-nuns-scene.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Great Beauty, 2013

Jep (Toni Servillo) has just celebrated his 65th birthday, but as he tries to enjoy the sights, art, and social scene in Rome, he begins to realize that his life has become hollow. Working as a journalist, Jep is haunted by questions about why he never wrote a never novel after a popular book that he wrote many years earlier. Through various encounters--forming new relationships and reevaluating old ones--Jep begins to reconsider what it means to live a good life.

From the opening minute, I knew exactly why this movie had won an Oscar (and various other awards). If it had nothing else going for it, the imagery and the way that those images are staged alone would keep someone's attention for two hours. Fitting for a film about art and life and the way that the two mix, several sequences started with me thinking they were paintings, only to realize they were real. The art in this film takes on all forms: paintings, sculpture, performance art, circus acts, magic, dance, burlesque, writing, architecture, and so on. And those different mediums are woven into the fabric of the story with such intention that the art itself becomes a character.

The narrative itself is a wry, often funny look at a person who is struggling to find his place in the world having realized that what he thought he wanted just isn't cutting it. As much as Jep has surrounded himself with vivacious characters and beautiful things, there is a lack of resonance. Jep no longer connects with the beautiful things around him, except with a sort of ironic distance. Much of the story is framed around the death of Jep's first love.

One question I had about the film was the noticeable gender disparity in terms of who is framed as being ridiculous in the art world or just generally in life. In the beginning, Jep uses an interview to expose the vague, nonsensical philosophy of a woman who has just performed a piece in which, nude, she runs herself into a wall. Soon thereafter, Jep softly-but-firmly puts a woman novelist in her place for thinking herself superior. When a woman he's slept with offers to show him some photographs she's taken, he says yes but then leaves her apartment without saying goodbye. This isn't to say that there aren't interesting women in the film, but it seemed odd to me that the people being highlighted as frauds or unworthy artists were all women. I'm not sure if this connects to Jep's own relationship with women (as his muses, as his love interests, as his peers, etc), I just found it confusing.

This movie is a feast for the eyes, and it has a playful, ironic sense of humor that is very appealing. If you haven't seen it I would highly recommend it.

4.5

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-kxDKDL2GYF4%2FTa8ihvWjGyI%2FAAAAAAAAFNA%2Ff2CFQE7GZHI%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2Flake01.png&f=1&nofb=1

Lake of the Dead, 1958

A group of friends goes to visit Bjorn (Per Lillo-Stenberg), the brother of one of their party, Lillian (Henny Moan). But when they arrive at his secluded cabin, they find him missing and his dog dead by a nearby lake. Finding strange clues (such as a diary that doesn't seem to quite be in Bjorn's handwriting), the group begins to experience strange events, seemingly related to a legend about the lake and its fatal pull on anyone who dares stay nearby.

This was an interesting, kind of subdued horror mystery: like a slightly more procedural Dracula or a slightly more supernatural And Then There Were None.

For me, the strength of the film was definitely the visuals. There is a lot of really neat imagery around the lake, including a fabulous shot of a woman diving into the lake and slowly vanishing into its depths.

Overall, however, I was not all that taken by the way that the movie unfolded. The target of the supernatural activity is Lillian, who sleepwalks out to the lake at night and seems to be a victim of a force that is trying to induce her to drown herself. And yet she is involved in none of the conversation around what is happening. The women are just shuttled off to rest of whatever while the men hold these self-serious conferences about what's going on.

I don't object to movies speaking of supernatural or extrasensory things as if they are real and have consistent rules. That's fine. But the way that a mix of psychology and the supernatural is applied to solving the mystery didn't work for me. There's a lot of withholding information seemingly for the purpose of saving it as a "twist" at the end, not because it makes sense in the reality of the movie.

The visuals are, as I said, really strong. And the question of what is actually happening (human, supernatural, or something in-between) is intriguing enough. But I was overall disappointed in the lack of thrills and the repeated "middle aged man lecturing" stretches of exposition that were used to develop the story.

3.5
Hello.

[Takoma11]

Hello.

Okay, well say some things about it. I was underwhelmed! I wanted to be at least whelmed!

[Deschain]

I watched 7500. Jay-Go-Lev is a pilot on a plane that gets hijacked. Dry, intense, upsetting. This was really good but it’s realistic nature really bummed me out. I found it randomly browsing Amazon Prime.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/The_Grudge_2020_Poster.jpeg
By IGN Southeast Asia, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62028508

The Grudge - (2020)

The curse comes to the United States, and as such these now Americanized ghosts start demanding money. No, I thought maybe, but instead they're just inferior CGI demonic-zombies - the series now completely relying on jump-scares that immediately fade, because although the film can make you jump there's nothing inherently creepy about the visuals in it. First of all, why trade makeup for CGI? It makes no sense. Is it laziness? The budget is estimated at between $10–14 million - they could afford makeup. Next, why trade the creepy form the ghosts take in most Grudge films for grungy/dirty demon-like zombie things that don't look spooky anymore? The rest is just a repetition of that old non-sequential storyline that tells of a series of personal hauntings - but everything now feels sub-par. The film repeats old familiar moments from previous films, with less panache and more CGI. Jackie Weaver should stop showing up in movies like this as well. Sack your agent. Nicolas Pesce, I hate you.

3/10

[ThatDarnMKS]

Nicolas Pesce, I hate you.


One of the best horror directors of the last 20 years.

[PHOENIX74]

One of the best horror directors of the last 20 years.

That's a bold statement to make from the basis of such a small body of work (that contains a bona fide extra-large turkey.) Unless you were being ultra-sarcastic.

[Rockatansky]

AMBULANCE

The perfect Michael Bay movie.

5/5


Having now seen this, I can confirm that it absolutely rules, owns, rips, slaps, all the verbs. The drone shots are the absolute coolest things I've seen in a movie since the backwards stuff in Tenet. God tier Jake G performance to boot.


I'd probably give it a 4.5 though, only because this theoretically could have been a transcendent ninety minute movie.

[Wooley]

Okay, well say some things about it. I was underwhelmed! I wanted to be at least whelmed!

No, no, that's my bad. Somehow I didn't read the very last sentence of your write-up and so you had my interest piqued with this but then maybe not.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Having now seen this, I can confirm that it absolutely rules, owns, rips, slaps, all the verbs. The drone shots are the absolute coolest things I've seen in a movie since the backwards stuff in Tenet. God tier Jake G performance to boot.


I'd probably give it a 4.5 though, only because this theoretically could have been a transcendent ninety minute movie.
You're going to add that .5 back when you realize it managed to rule that hard for that long, which is more impressive than ruling that hard for 90 mins.

But glad to have you on board.

[Rockatansky]

You're going to add that .5 back when you realize it managed to rule that hard for that long, which is more impressive than ruling that hard for 90 mins.


I think this is like 13 Hours where I don't have an issue with most of what's in the movie, but think it might have benefited from a shorter runtime.



But glad to have you on board.


WE DON'T STOP.

[Fabulous]

On the Basis of Sex (2018)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/uSP1EqGc2aH5Wz0aQahEWkCgUMK.jpg

[Takoma11]

No, no, that's my bad. Somehow I didn't read the very last sentence of your write-up and so you had my interest piqued with this but then maybe not.

I'd still recommend it to any horror fan, but is smacks of something that could have been much better given the premise and spooky setting.

[TheUsualSuspect]

Escape Room: Tournament of Champions

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/jGYJyPzVgrVV2bgClI9uvEZgVLE.jpg

3

I'm not afraid to admit that I like 'shlocky' movies. I'm a horror movie fan, that is the genre that I love, and will give leniency to films like this. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is a film where the characters question why they are in yet another escape room and then proclaim, "what is this, some kind of tournament of champions?" cue camera stare and wink. The reason our characters find themselves stuck in yet another escape room is paper-thin and you don't even have to think about it for it to not make sense. The idea that not a single pedestrian would walk into this subway train is bonkers. But for argument's sake, let's just accept it and move on.

As the title suggests, our characters are all previous champions from the game. So when they find themselves locked in again, it's safe to assume they can work things out pretty quickly. I've done several escape rooms and the rate at which these characters figure things out, with the stress of dying on the line is insane. I'd be dead in the first room, yet these characters figure out how to get from point A to point B incredibly fast. But for argument's sake, let's just accept it and move on.

Much like the first film, this one has extremely extravagant escape rooms, with death lasers, quicksand, acid rain, and the works. Even trying to imagine how they are able to pull these things off and where they do it is impossible to comprehend. But for argument's sake, let's accept it and move on.

The first movie had the characters be survivors of trauma. Each one was given a unique backstory and that story was incorporated into the game. This one lacks any of that. I don't know much about any of these characters and didn't really care if they lived or died. I can't even remember their names. Even our lead character lacks the personality she had in the previous movie. But hey, people want to watch the SAW-like traps and cheer for the characters to find their way out of them. So, for argument's sake, let's just accept it and move on.

The film tries to throw a few surprises your way, but the in-your-face foreshadowing feels a little too, well, in your face. Escape Room is fine and not for everyone. The majority of people will find it dumb, I sure did, but I found it dumb with a weird charm to it. I don't see myself revisiting this movie any time soon, or ever again, but I didn't hate my time trying to escape.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/24/Scream2022film.jpeg/220px-Scream2022film.jpeg

3.5

SF = Z

Enjoyed the new cast so looking forwards to see what the survivors get up to in the next film.

So far:

Scream
Scream 2
Scream(2022)
Scream 4
Scream 3


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

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media2.giphy.com/media/xUPGcymPEjXbNceXDO/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47lqqn0fkjpka05wur97onqci7x1tkjgauy5gxqcow&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ddcd139d43f62d476554c57d18624534/tumblr_olw672VsTf1snmmclo1_500.gifv

The Lost Weekend - 1945 Billy Wilder drama starring Ray Milland in an Oscar winning performance as alcoholic writer Don Birnam. It also won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Wilder's direction. Starts out with Birnam finishing up ten days of sobriety and leaving town with his brother for a visit to their childhood home. He instead arranges it so his fiance Helen (Jane Wyman) and brother Wick (Phillip Terry) attend a concert and then busies himself falling off the wagon.

It's a pretty straighforward narrative with the hook being the in-depth examination of one man's slide into dissoluteness. This sort of gut punch was unheard-of back then and audiences weren't sure how to react. The critics loved it of course.

Birnam is verbose at first, sharing his highbrow musings with anyone who will listen. His brother, girlfriend, bartenders, strangers. But he gradually loses his devil-may-care attitude and penchant for glibness. The movie did a good job dragging the audience along with Birnam as he starts circling the drain. There were parts that might be considered a little wobbly like the use of a theremin during particular sequences but the all around vibe works.

There was what some would call a conventional Hollywood coda and that's where they sort of lost me but it was 1945 after all. Or maybe it was another layer to be peeled back depending on how jaundiced you are. It's a classic and a multiple award winner and therefore requisite viewing.

80/100

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media3.giphy.com/media/l0MYFPAHLoJ9I6IM0/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47vgvbmunob2dtesjiinfvb8i5n5gmq6c4tl26alfy&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
https://media1.giphy.com/media/26AHMygYU5g0gnbgI/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47vgvbmunob2dtesjiinfvb8i5n5gmq6c4tl26alfy&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

Safety Last! - 1923 Harold Lloyd silent where he basically plays himself, a young man who leaves his hometown and his sweetheart Mildred (Mildred Davis) to make his fortune in the big city of Los Angeles. He finds a job at De Vore Department Store and writes her every day. But he embellishes, telling her of his numerous business deals and all the money he's making. His roommate and friend "Limpy" Bill is a construction worker and is comfortable working high above the streets. One day in typical silent movie fashion they run afoul of a cop who doggedly chases Bill. He is forced to scale the outside of a building to make his getaway.

In the meantime Mildred shows up unannounced expecting to find Harold in a position of authority instead of what he actually is, a lowly clerk. After some dexterous subterfuge where he convinces Mildred he's the general manager of the store he overhears the real GM say that he will give anyone one thousand dollars if they can think up a way to attract a huge crowd to the store. Harold immediately thinks of Bill climbing the outside of the building and tells his boss he can guarantee a large audience.

Of course it doesn't go according to plan which leads to the iconic images of Lloyd dangling precariously hundreds of feet up by his fingertips. The fact that this has recently been challenged and some say dis-proven might diminish some of the appeal but the comedic elements certainly hold up. I've only seen two other Lloyd films, Speedy and The Freshman but even without that astounding kamikaze cachet this one is right up alongside those.

80/100

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FriendlyMeekCavy.webp
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TnjF1WzXrb4/Uu411y7t-HI/AAAAAAAAH_0/UnwUob2UYL8/s1600/7Ups08.jpg
The Seven-Ups - This was a rewatch of one of my all time favorite gritty police thrillers. It shares a lot of The French Connection's pedigree while not quite reaching it's heights. This includes the cast with Roy Scheider playing Buddy Manucci, the head of an NYPD secret unit specializing in taking down perps that will serve a minimum of seven years and up. Hence the title. There's also a number of additional French Connection alumnus like Tony Lo Bianco as Vito Lucia, one of Buddy's childhood friends and now his conduit and inside man to the neighborhood wiseguys. But Vito is also using Buddy to set up these same targets for extortion.

This was the only movie directed by Philip D'Antoni whose main claim to fame was as a producer on TFC and Bullitt. And like those two this features an exhilarating car chase. The bad guys are played by veteran character actor Richard Lynch and veteran stunt driver/actor Bill Hickman, who also staged and drove during the chases on this, TFC and Bullitt. This might well be my favorite of the three. This is a must see for any and all aficionados of not only vehicular stuntwork but stark police dramas.

85/100

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fcyclonerealtyinc.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F03%2FEverything-Everywhere-All-at-Once-Reviewed-Theres-No-There-There.jpg%3Fresize%3D1024%252C576%26ssl%3D1&f=1&nofb=1

Everything Everywhere All At Once, 2022

Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) runs a failing laundromat with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). She has a difficult relationship with her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Joy is gay, which further strains Evelyn's biases when her father, Gong Gong (James Hong) comes to visit from China. But Evelyn's problems take on a whole new scale and scope when she finds herself involved in interdimensional intrigue related to the different paths her life could have taken.

This was the first movie I've seen in the theater since I saw The Invisible Man back in early 2020, and it was the perfect reintroduction to the big screen.

Above all else, this is a film that is very funny and uses visual language to the very limits. The jokes and visual gags run the gamut from the "smart" to the very, very stupid, and the result is a delirious mess that somehow manages to surprise even past the two hour mark. Aside from the comedy, it is also absolutely splendid and lavish in its use of costume and color, another element that continues to ramp up as the film goes on.

Performance-wise, Michelle Yeoh absolutely owns every moment that she's on screen, displaying both a knack for physical comedy and action as well as handling the more emotional and intimate moments. She is more than well supported by Ke Huy Quan as her accommodating husband, and Stephanie Hsu as her alienated daughter. Jamie Lee Curtis also puts in a wonderfully funny performance as Deirdre, the tax auditor who is overseeing the family's tax troubles.

In terms of negatives, the movie does feel like it's about 15-20 minutes longer than it needed to be. There's a small degree of redundancy to some of the sequences. The themes regarding Evelyn attitudes about her own life and her relationship with Joy play into pretty familiar character/plot arcs. You'll probably know how the movie ends in the first 30 minutes or so. That said, for me this movie was very much about the journey and not the destination.

Highly recommended and a great film to see in the theater.

4.5

[Wyldesyde19]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fcyclonerealtyinc.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F03%2FEverything-Everywhere-All-at-Once-Reviewed-Theres-No-There-There.jpg%3Fresize%3D1024%252C576%26ssl%3D1&f=1&nofb=1

Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) runs a failing laundromat with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). She has a difficult relationship with her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Joy is gay, which further strains Evelyn's biases when her father, Gong Gong (James Hong) comes to visit from China. But Evelyn's problems take on a whole new scale and scope when she finds herself involved in interdimensional intrigue related to the different paths her life could have taken.

This was the first movie I've seen in the theater since I saw The Invisible Man back in early 2020, and it was the perfect reintroduction to the big screen.

Above all else, this is a film that is very funny and uses visual language to the very limits. The jokes and visual gags run the gamut from the "smart" to the very, very stupid, and the result is a delirious mess that somehow manages to surprise even past the two hour mark. Aside from the comedy, it is also absolutely splendid and lavish in its use of costume and color, another element that continues to ramp up as the film goes on.

Performance-wise, Michelle Yeoh absolutely owns every moment that she's on screen, displaying both a knack for physical comedy and action as well as handling the more emotional and intimate moments. She is more than well supported by Ke Huy Quan as her accommodating husband, and Stephanie Hsu as her alienated daughter. Jamie Lee Curtis also puts in a wonderfully funny performance as Deirdre, the tax auditor who is overseeing the family's tax troubles.

In terms of negatives, the movie does feel like it's about 15-20 minutes longer than it needed to be. There's a small degree of redundancy to some of the sequences. The themes regarding Evelyn attitudes about her own life and her relationship with Joy play into pretty familiar character/plot arcs. You'll probably know how the movie ends in the first 30 minutes or so. That said, for me this movie was very much about the journey and not the destination.

Highly recommended and a great film to see in the theater.

4.5

Thai really is an enjoyable film, overall. I shared the same issues with you, but seriously. I hadn’t laughed so hard as I did during the two rocks on a cliff scene. No dialogue. Just text. Yet it was the funniest thing I’d seen since Werewolves Within last year.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Freview%2Fprimary_image%2Freviews%2Fpiercing-2019%2Fhero_piercing-image-2.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Piercing, 2018

Reed (Christopher Abbott) has a lovely wife (Laia Costa) and a new baby daughter. So naturally when he decides that he must kill a woman, he arranges to do so at a hotel. Mapping out his murder, Reed ends up hiring Jackie (Mia Wasikowska), a prostitute who is willing to engage in S&M. But Jackie has some issues of her own, and things do NOT go smoothly for either of them.

Christopher Abbot and Mia Wasikowska are both delightful weirdos, and I tend to really enjoy their performances, so watching them in a dark comedy/thriller was a no-brainer. Unfortunately, despite them both bringing plenty to the table, this ends up being underwhelming.

There's an entire subgenre of movies about men who try to victimize women, only to discover that the supposed victim is much more messed up than her attacker/captor. At this point, if an even slightly quirky woman shows up, you just know she's going to give the dude a run for his money. There are some specifics in this film that do manage to be a little surprising, but they are too little too late.

Abbott and Wasikowska do have an interesting chemistry with each other. It's a collision of two different kinds of weird, and they are both playing as characters who have managed to mix sexual desire with something more destructive. At various points they do manage to make you question whether what's running through their mind is sexy shenanigans or mutilation. And yet the writing itself is so thin that no number of penetrating gazes or carefully times gasps can give the needed depth of character.

The ending is something I'm not sure I want to praise or condemn. It certainly made me genuinely go, "Wait, that's it? It's over?!" as I incredulously watched the closing credits appear.

I watched this one because I am a fan of both lead actors. If that's the same for you, maybe check it out. It is only about 80 minutes long. But otherwise I can't really recommend it.

3

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTkxMTM2NzM4N15BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwMjUwMzc5._V1_.jpg



3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FAuMwV1RbLJ5cSpiH4mg4VU2iScf.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, 1963

Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni star in three different stories about three very different couples: a poor couple trying to stay out of legal trouble, a wealthy woman and a man she is considering making her lover, and a high-class sex worker who gets her favorite client to help with a young priest next door who is having a crisis.

This is one of those easy-breezy movies that largely coasts on the charisma of its leads and a fun integration of its setting into its story.

The first story was a mixed bag for me--the kind of thing where an element of the narrative just doesn't sit right. Loren plays a woman, Adelina, who has a warrant out for her arrest after failing to pay a fine. Taking advantage of an Italian law that a woman cannot be imprisoned if she is pregnant or 6 months out of giving birth. Adelina takes advantage of this law by getting pregnant again and again. And again. And again. Things turn serious when her exhausted husband cannot seem to get her pregnant for an eighth time and she must consider infidelity in order to stay free.

I mean . . . sigh. Sometimes you feel like a killjoy criticizing what is meant to be an absurd premise in a bit of fluff, but there's something about people having multiple children just to take advantage of a technicality that feels wrong and off-putting. The family is poor to begin with, as only Adelina works, and I just couldn't ever have fun with the idea literally bringing lives into a vulnerable living situation just to use a legal loophole. There are some fun touches in terms of the way that the community supports the couple (including a great opening sequence where they help the couple hide their furniture so it will not be repossessed).

The second story is the shortest and is pretty funny. Loren this time plays a rich woman who cares more about her looks and her car than other people. Mastroianni is very funny as her lover who comes to realize in the course of their drive just how shallow and horrible she is. It all begins with a gag that every time she comes to a stoplight she rear-ends the car in front of her. But it then escalates to the point where she is unconcerned about avoiding hitting a child.

The third story is good, as Loren's sex worker tries to steer the infatuated young man back to his life in the seminary. If you google the title of this film, you will see what I'm sure many people consider the highlight of this story, namely a striptease Loren's character does to thank her client for helping get the young priest back on track. Unfortunately for that client, she swore to be celibate for a week if she succeeded, so . . .

Overall a fun little film. I probably enjoyed the second story the best.

3.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Roma_theatrical_poster.png
By CineMaterial, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59422310

Roma - (2018)

Roma was a pleasant movie to watch - a very 'reality-infused' look at a Mexican family and housekeeper that are both abandoned by the men in their lives. Housekeeper Cleo looks after the family and especially their children, and has a great relationship with matriarch Sofía, which helps when she falls pregnant - but tensions do build when Sofía's husband leaves, and Cleo's boyfriend bolts when he learns of the pregnancy. In the world around them tensions are building, leading up to The Corpus Christi Massacre which Cleo finds herself in the middle of at very much the wrong time. Most of this film however is a slow drinking in of the atmosphere of suburban Mexico in the early 1970s, carefully recreated by Alfonso Cuarón. I now understand what's going on in the film's poster - one of a few critical moments that tie this film together emotionally. I have to say, I enjoyed it.

8/10

Foreign Language Countdown films seen : 82/100

[skizzerflake]

Fantastic Beasts, The Secrets of Dumbledore - I admit to not being any kind of fan of the whole Potter thing, seen several of them and appreciated the FX and animation, but it's all too fan oriented for my taste. Nevertheless, not much else was of interest tonight, so saw this. First the good part - The digital FX, look and sound are terrific and made the movie at least a treat for the eyes.

Now, the rest. Taking it down to bare essentials, it's good wizards trying to save the "muggles" from the bad wizards. The bad wizards also have a corp of guys who look like the archetypal Gestapo, faceless guys with black trench coats, hats and bad attitudes who have bad intentions for the Muggles. The odd character in the story, the Muggle, is Jacob Kowalski, a thinly veiled Jewish character, who lives in a thinly veiled version of Williamsburg in New York, with the Williamsburg Bridge in the background in several quick shots. Of course the evil Nazi wizards are beat back until the next movie, Jacob hooks up with his new girlfriend, Queenie Goldstein, and the muggle world goes on for a while longer.

Being a rank amateur in the Potter universe, I didn't know that any of the stories had that antisemitism angle coded into the plot. In any event, at 2 1/2 hours, with at least 1 hour of running and shooting, it also seemed like a middling western, where half of the movie IS running and shooting, only with wizard sticks instead of Colts and Winchesters and Jewish Brooklynites instead of the farmers and settlers that are often caught in the middle of old westerns.

Oh well, the latest in the franchise. I'd give it a 6 on a 10 point scale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaM_wL1ZOM4

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media4.giphy.com/media/xTgeJ3KHIhl1YwhjsQ/giphy.gif?cid=790b7611aafb939233d5fd9cdfb7f79af4701386b8e070b0&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
https://64.media.tumblr.com/e4269bfdc15d03b44d9776f211be6b2b/9d3ff7d492b62e7f-95/s540x810/91e618b1403e277ff86aa5272968d74e83a21509.gifv
Topkapi - 1964 comedic heist thriller directed by Jules Dassin. I felt sure this had European roots but then read that Dassin had been born here in the States. But once I dug deeper I found that he was an emigre and had moved to France and then Greece after being blacklisted during the McCarthy era. As it is you can discern the European sensibilities from the opening moments with star Melina Mercouri's Elizabeth Lipp explaining her obsession with emeralds. Lipp tracks down her former lover and criminal mastermind Walter Harper (Maximillian Schell) to help her steal a jewel encrusted dagger currently on display at Turkey's Topkapi Palace. He in turn recruits the rest of the crew including mechanical wizard Cedric Page (Robert Morley), "Human Fly" Giulio (Gilles Ségal) and the required muscle, Hans (Jess Hahn).

The last crucial piece of the puzzle is the fall guy, someone who will take the heat while drawing attention away from their larcenous undertaking. The "schmo" Walter picks is Arthur Simon Simpson (Peter Ustinov), a bush-league scam artist eking out a living in Greece selling tourists fake antiquities. Walter and Elizabeth hire him to drive their car into Turkey. Things aren't all that they seem and because of Arthur's passport problems he is soon found out. Fearing the worst, the Turkish Security Service quickly rope him into spying on the crew.

There's all manner of intrigue and double dealing but it's all enlivened with a healthy dose of humor thanks to Ustinov and Akim Tamiroff as the gangs perpetually soused cook Gerven. When the heist finally rolls around it's pretty darn good. You'll be left holding your breath and on the edge of your seat. At least I was. Ustinov won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance and the rest of the cast go through their paces admirably.

80/100

[Wooley]

I'd still recommend it to any horror fan, but is smacks of something that could have been much better given the premise and spooky setting.

I hear ya, I was getting a Strangler From The Swamp vibe but I think that might be overplaying it.

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fcyclonerealtyinc.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F03%2FEverything-Everywhere-All-at-Once-Reviewed-Theres-No-There-There.jpg%3Fresize%3D1024%252C576%26ssl%3D1&f=1&nofb=1

Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh)...

Highly recommended and a great film to see in the theater.

4.5

My anticipation for this film just keeps growing and growing.

[Fabulous]

Alpha Dog (2006)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/sdgTJvzWSAnd0ic9y9kWRpdLLcS.jpg

[Yomi]

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)
rating_3_5

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/[email protected]._V1_FMjpg_UX600_.jpg

[Takoma11]

I hear ya, I was getting a Strangler From The Swamp vibe but I think that might be overplaying it.

I would say they are about on par with each other.

My anticipation for this film just keeps growing and growing.

Believe the hype! Aside from that extra 15-20 minutes that could have been pruned, it is a total delight. On the list of things I'd like to talk about but do not want to spoil there are like 8-10 moments that thrilled me or made me laugh out loud.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.kino.de%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F06%2Fgrimm-2003-film-rct950x407u.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Grimm, 2003

Adult siblings Maria (Halina Reijn) and Jacob (Jacob Derwig) are taken out into the woods and abandoned there by their father. As Jacob and Maria try to make their way to their uncle's home in Spain, they frequently find themselves in dangerous situations.

I have had this movie on my watchlist for at least a decade, and possibly longer. I've never been able to find it streaming or for rent, but it finally popped up on Amazon prime.

Fairy tales or folk tales adapted to either a historical or contemporary setting is something I really enjoy. Things like Freeway get a pretty uncritical reading from me, because I tend to just enjoy the premise. That said, I still found this film to be kind of lacking and unsatisfying.

There are some really fun aspects to the way that the Hansel and Gretel story is adapted. For starters, making the siblings adults means that the film can go to slightly darker places with its characters and scenarios. Many folk/fairy tale adaptations turn monsters into rapists or pedophiles or serial killers. It's not a bad choice, just kind of an obvious one. Grimm takes some of those expected beats and just does them differently. Instead of a witch with a house made of candy, we get a wealthy man who seduces Maria. What's the equivalent of the oven? I appreciated that element of the adaptation as well.

There is also, threaded throughout the film, a streak of physical that I enjoyed.

What hampers the film for the entire run, though, is a lack of character development. Despite being adults, there is a childish element to both characters that feels a bit off. It isn't hard to want the characters to survive, or to escape the various wicked characters who pop up through the movie. But neither Jacob nor Maria seems all that well defined. They don't feel like people who have a past or a future.

If you like the contemporary fairy tale subgenre, this one might be worth checking out. If not, probably one to skip.

3

[TheUsualSuspect]

Cleaner

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w154/fGXiNHFQUo1tExP5POQvCcDViAz.jpg

2.5

I wouldn't be surprised if not many of you have heard of this 2007 crime thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a former detective turned 'cleaner'. This Renny Harlin directed flick came and went in a blink of an eye. I can see why though, it doesn't have anything that really stands out as extraordinary and despite a rather interesting and engaging set-up, the second half of the film meanders around until the credits hit. Some films simply cannot keep the steam running until the end and the Cleaner is a perfect example.

Jackson plays Tom Cutler, a former detective turned cleaner. A cleaner is someone who cleans up after the crime scene. Usually, the cops will take the body away, but leave you with the mess. This is where Cutler comes in. His most recent job has him cleaning up a homicide in a fancy house. The owner informs him the key is under the potted plant. Cutler goes in doe his job and leaves. He remembers that he forgot to leave the key and heads back the next day only to find the homeowner, Ann Norcut (Eva Mendes) having no idea who he is or what he does. Now realizing he just cleaned up a murder before it's been called in, Cutler turns to his former partner Lorenzo (Ed Harris) for help.

Have you ever watched a movie or a tv show and a certain actor pops up and you instantly know that they are the bad guy? Yeah, it's unfortunate but it happens when those actors appear and it ultimately hurts the so-called reveals. Cleaner suffers from this as soon as this individual shows up and it's clear. The cast does well enough to fill their standard roles. Jackson plays Cutler with OCD tendencies, constantly cleaning his hands. Mendes almost has a femme fatale vibe to her. Luis Guzman plays a detective on the case and ultimately on Jackson's trail. It's nice to see him in a serious role, but the eluding police to solve the case yourself cliche is pretty sparse here. At less than 1hr 30 min, I didn't hate myself for watching it. Which is saying something these days.

[SpelingError]

Pulled a Visconti double feature last night:

Ossessione (1943) - 4

Normally, in a film like this, 90% of it would've been a cat and mouse between the police and the main characters, but in this film, the police procedural elements take up about 10% of the film, while the remaining 90% is focused on the consequences which Gino's actions have on him. In the first half, Gino and Giovanna are ready to sacrifice everything for each other, but once they reach the point of no return, they soon discover that their actions greatly limit their freedom and, as a result, fall out of love throughout the film. With this, an interesting contrast emerges between Gino and Lo Spagnolo, a street performer Gino meets. Spagnolo isn't crippled by his obsession and has more freedom in terms of the places he can travel to, while Gino's obsession restricts his freedom to a tavern which is seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Overall, the film's focus on Gino and Giovanna made for an appealing change to the 'police slowly closing in on the main characters' premise which I've seen represented in many other noirs and that the various turns of the plot all felt organic made me welcome this change even more. With that being said though, the film definitely felt much longer than it needed to be and it might've benefitted with a shorter runtime. Due to that, I'll keep the film at an 8/10, but it's still really good.

Death in Venice (1971) - 3.5

This film's plot can be interpreted two ways. The first interpretation is that Gustav yearned for Tadzio as he represented a vision of beauty and youth that, as an artist himself, he desperately wanted to obtain. Evidence for this interpretation includes how Gustav dealt with the effects of aging throughout the film, that he was depicted as being past his prime in terms of the quality of his music, and that a cholera epidemic was in the backdrop of the film. The second interpretation is that Gusav was a pedophile who lusted after Tadzio and that you're repeatedly asked to feel sympathy for him throughout the film. If you watch the film, it seems pretty clear that the symbolic interpretation is what the film is going for, given that so much of the film is focused on Gustav's slow demise. Plus, since much of the music in the film comes from Gustav Mahler, a composer whose works are often seen as being the bridge between Austro-German tradition and 20th century modernism, the Gustav in this film can be read as a stand-in for Mahler. Knowing all this, the pedophilic interpretation of the film may seem superficial, but if you read into the film and learn that Visconti had Andrésen, much to his discomfort, partially disrobe so he and his assistants could evaluate his body during auditions and how Visconti took Andrésen, who was 16 at the time, to a gay nightclub after filming had finished, this adds a creepy bit of subtext to the film which may complicate the first reading. Perhaps, Tadzio was objectivized and Gustav needed to conquer his beauty so his music could appeal to the younger audience, who's slowly moving towards modernism. On the plus side though, the movie's style adds a lot to the film. The soundtrack, cinematography, minimal dialogue, and pacing, while it may be too slow for some people, all work in harmony to create a truly moving experience, one which I didn't appreciate nearly enough when I first watched the film, albeit one with the aforementioned creepy bit of subtext hanging over it.

[LChimp]

https://pipocasclub.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/thebubble-834x1024.jpg

The Bubble, Netflix 2022

No bueno.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.reelgood.com%2Fcontent%2Fmovie%2Fa7ff1154-8916-4dcd-b790-920af9a018f5%2Fbackdrop-1920.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Band Wagon, 1953

Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire) is an aging dancer who is roped into a musical play by his friends Lily (Nanette Fabray) and Lester (Oscar Levant) that they believe will reinvigorate his career. But when dramatic actor and producer Jeffrey (Jack Buchanan) gets involved, the production turns into an overly serious, sprawling Faustian epic. Along for the ride is ballerina Gaby (Cyd Charisse), who at first clashes seriously with Jack.

It is hard to talk about liking or not liking this movie, because a big part of my reaction to it is "What did I just watch?". I mean, don't get me wrong, it is a very familiar comedy/musical trope to have the action take place on a troubled production. Astaire and Charisse are both very talented dancers, and the film makes the most of their abilities in a range of "staged" and "real" numbers. Fabray, Levant, and Buchanan all have great comic timing.

But also . . . this movie is kind of a nightmare-fuel parody of old-timey song and dance numbers. (A number where Astaire, Fabray, and Buchanan play triplet babies who fantasize about murdering each other is the kind of thing someone had to be in a real state of mind to come up with, much less speak out loud to other people to make it a reality).

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Ffilmfanatic.org%2Freviews%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F08%2FBand-Wagon-Triplets.png&f=1&nofb=1

I will grant the film that it is funny. (A sequence where we get little glimpses of Jeffrey dramatically acting out the entire play in order to get funding from rich art patrons is a endlessly rewarding running gag.) There's a classic fizzle and pop to the dialogue and the staging.

But . . . gosh. Some of it is weird in a way that isn't charming or just comes off as confusing. One of these elements is the romance between Jack and Gaby, a woman who is easily 20 years his junior and somehow feels younger than that. Their energies are just so different, it's like watching a man woo his daughter's best friend. As dance partners, there's a kind of coherence that makes sense. But once she's supposed to look at him and declare her love, meh.

I also had mixed feelings about the final number: a song-and-dance noir detective story that goes on for way too long. It is also meant to be a play that an audience is watching, and yet it employs a ton of in-your-face camera moves, like spinning frames that transition Jack from one location to the next. At times it really works (as when the detective goes to a sleazy dance joint whose mascot is a moving, sexily grinding skeleton), but it's just mostly very strange.

This is one of Ebert's Great Movies. I just read his review of it, and his focus is on the technical elements of the film, as well as the way that real insecurities and personal dramas of the cast and crew seeped into the film. I know what he's describing, but somehow it didn't quite cast the same spell for me. A movie definitely worth watching at least once.

4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Tell_No_One_%282006%29.jpg?20180102072916
By Found on Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ne_le_dis_a_personne/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12134715

Tell No One - (2006)

Popular, this one, and I thought it was compelling enough - although it depends on it's mystery angle, and as such I'll probably only ever see it this once. Dr. Alexandre Beck (François Cluzet) goes through a trauma, losing his wife in a violent incident - but various clues start popping up 8 years later indicating she's not dead. The police dig up the bodies of two men near where she was apparently killed, and have their sights set on Beck, who is trying to tie all of the puzzling clues together. There's a great chase sequence at around the half-way point - on foot, and very well put together. I'm going through a phase where I steer away from mystery films quite a bit, but I'd had this one on my watchlist for a while, and while it wasn't the absolute classic I was hoping for, it kept me going all the way through and is a quality piece of work. Best of all - it's easy to follow, and doesn't tangle itself up - you'll get it in the end. Apparently Michael Caine thinks this is one of the best films ever made.

7/10

[Fabulous]

Layer Cake (2004)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/qQYuAobsEBeO178nTAaSLrkD7G5.jpg

[Grogu]

https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-cover.jpg
EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE
(full review to come in Grogu's Review Pod and in the Movie Review Forum)
Rating: 5

[mark f]

Choose or Die (Toby Meakins, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
All the Old Knives (Janus Metz, 2022) 2+ 5/10
The Screaming Woman (Jack Smight, 1972) 2.5 6/10
Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959) 4 8/10
https://i.makeagif.com/media/4-10-2016/gqWITj.gif
Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) races Massala (Stephen Boyd) at the Circus in Rome in an exciting, satisfying conclusion to a major plot point.
Callaway Went Thataway (Melvin Frank & Norman Panama, 1951) 2.5 5.5/10
Three Guys Named Mike (Charles Walters, 1951) 2+ 5/10
So Cold the River (Paul Shoulberg, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Bull Durham (Ron Shelton, 1988) 3.5 7/10
https://y.yarn.co/fa78bad4-2832-4935-9a95-71ec0a0d5e28_text.gif
The minor league Durham Bulls have to discuss major stuff at this mound visit, like what wedding presents to get one of the players.
Better Nate Than Ever (Tim Federle, 2022) 2.5 6/10
The Silver Chalice (Victor Saville, 1954) 2 5/10
Swarm Season (Sarah Christman, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936) 3 6.5/10
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/SilkyQuestionableGroundbeetle-size_restricted.gif
H.G. Wells' futuristic epic predicts lots of the events of the 20th century as well as utilizes interesting F/X.
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (Pedro Costa, 2001) 2.5 6/10
Agent Game (Grant S. Johnson, 2022) 2 5/10
Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (Kiah Roache-Turner, 2021) 2.5 6-/10
Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh, 2022) 3- 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/cffe859ed15cbb4f12d5c3bbbb1f3511/09c374d27c2c8cd7-38/s540x810/2aa13249dab98c27db0179745bd019bacd66197b.gifv
A couple's honeymoon on the Nile turns into a series of murders aboard a ship with multiple suspects and Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Dominik Graf, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950) 3 6.5/10
Mad Love (Karl Freund, 1935) 2.5 6/10
Cyrano (Joe Wright, 2021) 3+ 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/4ead4dfc28588d9b5a19e3a56532fd13/ac3136f2a9362a1c-de/s540x810/36a2593a4631f5f3b232702d2ff5b1edec0be517.gifv
Musical adaptation with Peter Dinklage as the title character and Haley Bennett as his lady love Roxanne to whom he'll never confess his love.

[StuSmallz]

Just in case anyone here who doesn't keep an eye on the Movie Reviews board is interested, I just started a new favorite movies thread there, in case you feel like checking it out: https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296124#post2296124

[Corax]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.shopify.com%2Fs%2Ffiles%2F1%2F0031%2F3026%2F1613%2Fproducts%2Fsbr307-thenorthman-1800_1024x1024_af758388-e77a-4280-b7f5-c78959cf3707_1200x1200.webp%3Fv%3D1649835216&f=1&nofb=1The Northman

So, that was intense.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nme.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F04%2FAlexander_Skarsgard_The_Northman-1068x678.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

I don't want to like this director. I think he hams it up too much. But, I am grudgingly becoming a fan of his work. Bewitched, you might say.

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpopcornfrights.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F04%2FTheNorthman.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

This tale of revenge delivers. Eggers goes a bit too far at moments with the super-gritty, super-nordic, super-psychedelic stuff, but in the main this works. This is Conan without a sense of humor. This is Beowulf with more attitude. This is Hamlet with a harder childhood (which makes sense since the folktale this is based on inspired Hamlet).

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.pitchfork.com%2Fphotos%2F6256f4cad89bfeb80c7f3bbd%2F16%3A9%2Fw_1280%2Cc_limit %2Fthe-northman-THE_NORTHMAN_FB_1080x1600_Bjork_FIN01_rgb.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Some reviewer from the BBC complained that it wasn't weird or violent enough. It couldn't get weirder without Nick Cage starring or veering into Jodorowsky and it couldn't get more violent without becoming a slasher. I think the reviewer wanted a fantastic film that leans more toward fantasy (where are the slithering monsters complains the reviewer). I do not, however, think that this is how Eggers sees the world.

I think Robert Eggers likes the genre of the fantastic. He leans towards realism, but he holds up the magical end by drawing us into the subjectivity of his characters. The magic is on the inside, but what terrors and wonders live in the human breast. In short, humans are f***ing bonkers. Get inside human subjectivity and you're through the looking glass.

I kind of wanted to hate this movie. I am tired of revenge plots (thanks Quentin !). I am tired of super-gritty (thanks Nolan!). I am tired of super-trippy (thanks Eggers!). This one, however, worked. At least it worked for me.

The final act looks like a stone age Duel on Mustafar, and I have no doubt that someone will set William's score to the fight scene in years to come.

[Marco]

The Outfit (2022)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/The_Outfit_%28film%29.jpg
Stagey (as is Mark Rylance's want) and a bit creaky, but this held the interest. Rather predictable "something in the woodshed" playout and rather stylized too much for me but Rylance does do a good turn.

2.5

[John McClane]

https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/fantastic-beasts-3-secrets-of-dumbledore-cast.jpg

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
1.5

I dunno why I keep letting myself get sucked into this cash grab wizarding world. Dan Fogler is the film's only redeeming quality.

[LChimp]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjI4ZTQ1OTYtNTI0Yi00M2EyLThiNjMtMzk1MmZlOWMyMDQwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTEyMjM2NDc2._V1_.jpg

Quite enjoyable, I would definetely recommend it.

[Marco]

Furioza (2021)
https://media-cache.cinematerial.com/p/500x/jiaxfbfd/furioza-polish-movie-poster.jpg?v=1635243641
Pretty interesting Polish story about football/organized hooliganism with a kinda soapy angle. Not bad but not at all original. I made the mistake of watching English dubbed version, if I do watch again I'll stick to subs.

2.5

[Stirchley]

Pulled a Visconti double feature last night:


Death in Venice (1971) - 3.5

This film's plot can be interpreted two ways.

Tadzio is the Angel of Death.

[Stirchley]

86728

Re-watch. Such a good movie that I appreciated a thousand times more on my re-watch. The polar bear was terrifying.

[SpelingError]

Tadzio is the Angel of Death.

Visconti definitely intended for it to be a symbolic film rather than a straight up pedophilia film, but I think the offscreen drama which went on while the film was in production complicates this and, as a result, makes you wonder whether elements of the second interpretations were intended as well. It's still quite good though, in spite of the creepy subtext.

[Stirchley]

Visconti definitely intended for it to be a symbolic film rather than a straight up pedophilia film, but I think the offscreen drama which went on while the film was in production complicates this and, as a result, makes you wonder whether elements of the second interpretations were intended as well. It's still quite good though, in spite of the creepy subtext.

Let’s not forget Thomas Mann the author here. He wrote the darn thing. Mann was married with children, but had homosexual tendencies. He even admitted to being attracted to his own son.

Death in Venice wasn’t written as a book about pedophilia. There are many levels. Aschenbach was definitely enchanted by Tadzio’s beauty. And, if you remember in the movie when he was following Tadzio & his nanny through the Venetian streets, Tadzio would always quietly wait for him to catch up. Leading him on to his death.

[crumbsroom]

Visconti definitely intended for it to be a symbolic film rather than a straight up pedophilia film, but I think the offscreen drama which went on while the film was in production complicates this and, as a result, makes you wonder whether elements of the second interpretations were intended as well. It's still quite good though, in spite of the creepy subtext.


I can't remember the movie as well as I do the book (which also isn't that well), but while I agree that he is a representation of death, this doesn't mean we have to throw away the pedophaelic angle you mentioned in your initial write up. His longing for the boy, and the uncomfortable moral implications that comes with this, and us sitting in the audience bearing witness to his barely hidden desires, is entangled with his pursuit of death. They are one and the same.

[Gideon58]

Choose or Die (Toby Meakins, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
All the Old Knives (Janus Metz, 2022) 2+ 5/10
The Screaming Woman (Jack Smight, 1972) 2.5 6/10
Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959) 4 8/10
https://i.makeagif.com/media/4-10-2016/gqWITj.gif
Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) races Massala (Stephen Boyd) at the Circus in Rome in an exciting, satisfying conclusion to a major plot point.
Callaway Went Thataway (Melvin Frank & Norman Panama, 1951) 2.5 5.5/10
Three Guys Named Mike (Charles Walters, 1951) 2+ 5/10
So Cold the River (Paul Shoulberg, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Bull Durham (Ron Shelton, 1988) 3.5 7/10
https://y.yarn.co/fa78bad4-2832-4935-9a95-71ec0a0d5e28_text.gif
The minor league Durham Bulls have to discuss major stuff at this mound visit, like what wedding presents to get one of the players.
Better Nate Than Ever (Tim Federle, 2022) 2.5 6/10
The Silver Chalice (Victor Saville, 1954) 2 5/10
Swarm Season (Sarah Christman, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Things to Come (William Cameron Menzies, 1936) 3 6.5/10
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/SilkyQuestionableGroundbeetle-size_restricted.gif
H.G. Wells' futuristic epic predicts lots of the events of the 20th century as well as utilizes interesting F/X.
Where Does Your Hidden Smile Lie? (Pedro Costa, 2001) 2.5 6/10
Agent Game (Grant S. Johnson, 2022) 2 5/10
Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (Kiah Roache-Turner, 2021) 2.5 6-/10
Death on the Nile (Kenneth Branagh, 2022) 3- 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/cffe859ed15cbb4f12d5c3bbbb1f3511/09c374d27c2c8cd7-38/s540x810/2aa13249dab98c27db0179745bd019bacd66197b.gifv
A couple's honeymoon on the Nile turns into a series of murders aboard a ship with multiple suspects and Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Dominik Graf, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950) 3 6.5/10
Mad Love (Karl Freund, 1935) 2.5 6/10
Cyrano (Joe Wright, 2021) 3+ 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/4ead4dfc28588d9b5a19e3a56532fd13/ac3136f2a9362a1c-de/s540x810/36a2593a4631f5f3b232702d2ff5b1edec0be517.gifv
Musical adaptation with Peter Dinklage as the title character and Haley Bennett as his lady love Roxanne to whom he'll never confess his love.


I liked Cyrano a lot more than you did.

[Thief]

THE SECRET OF ROAN INISH
(1995, Sayles)

https://i.imgur.com/SACw2zE.png


"Ah, he isn't lost at all. He's just with another branch of the family."



Set in 1946, The Secret of Roan Inish follows Fiona (Jeni Courtney), a young girl who, after the death of her mother, is sent to live with her grandparents near the coast. It is there that she learns about the island of Roan Inish, where the family used to live before the war, as well as the mysterious disappearance of her little brother, Jamie.

This is a film I hadn't heard of before; my experience with John Sayles is limited to Eight Men Out. But I thought it was a pretty solid and charming family film. Most of the performances were good, but I gotta give it to Courtney, who I think did a pretty good job of carrying most of the film on her own.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296229#post2296229) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296230#post2296230).

[skizzerflake]

https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/fantastic-beasts-3-secrets-of-dumbledore-cast.jpg

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
1.5

I dunno why I keep letting myself get sucked into this cash grab wizarding world. Dan Fogler is the film's only redeeming quality.

I know why I got sucked into the cash cow.....nothing to do that night, all the other movies that were new seemed even less appealing. That whole Potter thing is lost on me, but being over 12, I guess that's not surprising. Fogler was pretty good at being the only character who's not just posturing for a role that takes about the same commitment as a soup commercial.

[MovieGal]

https://static1.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/fantastic-beasts-3-secrets-of-dumbledore-cast.jpg

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
1.5

I dunno why I keep letting myself get sucked into this cash grab wizarding world. Dan Fogler is the film's only redeeming quality.

Did Mads do well? He's always great at playing the bad guy.

[Stirchley]

86728

Re-watch. Such a good movie that I appreciated a thousand times more on my re-watch. The polar bear was terrifying.

AgrippinaX, was it you who liked this movie? BTW, amused by Mads in the extras saying he hates flashbacks & appreciated there not being any in the screenplay. Someone else who hates flashbacks!

[AgrippinaX]

AgrippinaX, was it you who liked this movie? BTW, amused by Mads in the extras saying he hates flashbacks & appreciated there not being any in the screenplay. Someone else who hates flashbacks!

I have seen it and I love Mads, but don’t have any particular feelings re this film. I do agree with him/you there, most flashbacks are entirely rudimentary.

[SpelingError]

Let’s not forget Thomas Mann the author here. He wrote the darn thing. Mann was married with children, but had homosexual tendencies. He even admitted to being attracted to his own son.

Death in Venice wasn’t written as a book about pedophilia. There are many levels. Aschenbach was definitely enchanted by Tadzio’s beauty. And, if you remember in the movie when he was following Tadzio & his nanny through the Venetian streets, Tadzio would always quietly wait for him to catch up. Leading him on to his death.

Yeah, I don't think the film is solely about pedophilia. There's several layers of interpretations one can attach to the film, like Tadzio being a representation of Death as you point out. It's just that the offscreen drama involving Visconti and Andresen adds a creepy pedophilic angle to the film which, while not the main point of the film's symbolism, is certainly subtext that's hard to ignore.

[SpelingError]

I can't remember the movie as well as I do the book (which also isn't that well), but while I agree that he is a representation of death, this doesn't mean we have to throw away the pedophaelic angle you mentioned in your initial write up. His longing for the boy, and the uncomfortable moral implications that comes with this, and us sitting in the audience bearing witness to his barely hidden desires, is entangled with his pursuit of death. They are one and the same.

Yeah, if it wasn't for the offscreen drama involving Visconti and Andresen, I don't think the pedophilia aspect would matter too much to me, but while I think there's certainly a handful of non-pedophilic interpretations one could make for the film, it's hard to watch the film without thinking of them as well for a bit of subtext. I do enjoy the film quite a bit though as the non-pedophilic layers to the film and the stylistic elements make up for the problematic bits.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/799f46e238a1b7309eb7b8e104774f88/tumblr_p3hpruGnK81qe4ru4o1_540.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/d587af2481962b042b62f1cef3fd8134/d8c23ffaa4fb5bcd-0d/s500x750/c6a9d70ad6f7a4eb8b4750678d0edfc876c7d01a.gifv

Brute Force - This is another Jules Dassin film, a noirish drama loosely based on the 1946 Battle of Alcatraz where a prison riot broke out and raged for two days. Set in the fictional Westgate prison it stars Burt Lancaster as taciturn convict Joe Collins. His wife is dying of cancer and won't undergo potentially life saving surgery unless he's there with her. Collins is therefore hellbent on breaking out but self-important and remorseless head guard, Captain Munsey (Hume Cronyn), has a personal grudge against him.

He's made Collins a pet project of his and works actively at harassing him. Warden A. J. Barnes (Roman Bohnen) is weak and ineffectual and there's a Bureau of Corrections official named McCallum (Richard Gaines) demanding answers to the recent spate of violence and inmate deaths. Fatalities that Munsey has played a direct role in.

This does a decent job of setting the proper mood even though these are some of the most well behaved convicts I've ever seen. But it was the latter part of the '40's and movie-going audiences were still taken aback at the apparently realistic representation. When the actual riot breaks out at the end it's a bravura piece of film-making. So I suppose the somewhat sober veneer of the prisoners lives only served to underscore the unhinged, Mad Max level of turmoil.

The rest of the cast does a fine job supporting Lancaster and Cronyn. Their characters are lesser objects orbiting and completely at the mercy of the two antagonists. Charles Bickford costars as shot caller and prison newspaper editor Gallagher along with Art Smith as Dr. Walters and Sam Levene, Jeff Corey and John Hoyt. Two other actors make their big screen debuts, Howard Duff and (you know him, you love him, you can't live without him) the fantabulous Whit Bissell!

This is a pretty good movie. Dassin knows his way around a clean narrative and they really pull out all the stops with that climactic eruption.

85/100

[pahaK]

Wolfen (1981)
2.5
Kind of childish with its "white men and science bad, native Americans and myths good" storyline. The characters reminded me of Alligator (a positive thing) but that's a better film as a whole. At least I can't name another film where a wolf bites a man's head clean off.

--
The Batman (2022)
2
A disappointment after what I've read about this. It's like a dark detective film (think of Se7en) but made for the children. It doesn't pack a punch at all. Visually it's pretty but otherwise, it's just an overlong kids' movie in bleak clothing. Also, had to drop half a point for seriously bringing up the white privilege in the dialogue.

[John McClane]

Did Mads do well? He's always great at playing the bad guy.
Yeah, he was alright considering he had to step in and replace Depp. Say what you will about the man Depp looked far more menacing. Probably because he’s batshit crazy IRL so it wasn’t hard for him to sell that as Grindelwald

[Gideon58]

https://www.pinkvilla.com/imageresize/the_batman_review.jpg?width=752&format=webp&t=pvorg


4

[MovieGal]

Yeah, he was alright considering he had to step in and replace Depp. Say what you will about the man he looked far more menacing. Probably because he’s batshit crazy IRL so it wasn’t hard for him to sell that as Grindelwald

He is not batshit crazy. He's a very good character actor. Have you seen him in any other films? He has several English speaking films.

And the be honest IMO, Johnny Deep is a 4 to Mads' 10 in regards to acting. I have seen enough of both actors films to make that call.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.statically.io%2Fimg%2Fwegotthiscovered.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F03%2FThe_Thing_About_Pam1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Thing About Pam, 2022

Pam (Renee Zellweger) drives her terminally-ill friend Betsy home one night. Later that night, Betsy's husband Russ (Glenn Fleshler) finds her brutally killed in their home. The local police decide that this is a slam-dunk case, and newly-elected DA Askey (Judy Greer) sees this as a case that will solidify her political position in the town. But when St. Louis lawyer Joel Schwartz (Josh Duhamel) arrives to defend Russ, a number of strange details and inconsistencies come to light, many of them seeming to center on Pam.

Okay, so this is not a movie, it is a 6-episode mini-series, but I watched it all in one go (as a snowy last day of Spring Break final hurrah) and so I'm reviewing it like one.

Zellweger definitely dominates as Pam, a woman who lies so compulsively and with such conviction that she manages to string others along way past the point of credulity. Pam is a fascinating mix of someone who sees herself as selfless and kind, yet at the same time won't hesitate to drop life insurance intended for two children into her own checking account.

The first two or three episodes really focus on the way that the investigation is moved in exactly one direction almost from the get-go. The police and DA ruthlessly mock Russ's frantic 911 call, never seem to even consider the possibility that he is innocent, and fail to follow up on what seem like basic elements of the investigation such as confirming that someone received a phone call at the time it was alleged. Once things move to trial, it gets even worse. Duhamel's main job during the first half of the miniseries is to simply be baffled and outraged at the absurd shenanigans and small-town nonsense that takes place, including being told he cannot mention the inconsistencies in Pam's testimony and a last minute bizarro closing argument from Askey in which she declares that the multiple witnesses who saw Russ around town at the time of the murder were actually engaged in an elaborate conspiracy to give him an alibi.

The second half of the miniseries follows Pam in the wake of the trial, as her notoriety begins to get under her skin. The more press the case gets, the harder it is for Pam to control the narrative. You get the sense that she wouldn't care, except that it does start to impact her real estate house flipping sideline. Ever determined to be in control, Pam takes more and more extreme steps that only further damage her reputation and threaten to expose some ugly truths. Things eventually culminate in an act that is breathtaking in its cruelty and boldness.

The series is shot in a deliberately dark comedy, out there style. We frequently get sequences that hyperbolically reenact Pam's version of events (and in a really nice touch, her makeup and hair are always much more on point in these sequences). It is real life tragedy and absurdity taken to an even more extreme place.

As with any "based on a true story" piece of media, I often had to wonder about the accuracy of what was on screen. Yes, every episode is prefaced by a disclaimer that characters, dialogue, events, and so on were changed for dramatic effect. Still, in the sense of the bigger story this is a true event that happened. Many of the details are pulled directly from the real events. I almost wish they'd just stuck to the truth, which is plenty absurd on its own. (That said, some outlandish parts were apparently real, such as a police interview discussion about buying knives at the Dollar Store or Pam stopping a cross-examination with WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA . . . WHOA WHOA WHOA! WHOA!).

Great performances and a story that is astonishing in its details.

4

[ThatDarnMKS]

One Shot

https://boxd.it/2LDPJD

A simple premise executed very well.

4/5

[ueno_station54]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eo4Cg6xU8AAQBXS.jpg
The Films of Nanny Lynn (Nanny Lynn, 1997)
not as weird as advertised, though the last of the three stories gets close. neat little oddity.
rating_3

[Wooley]

Wolfen (1981)
2.5
Kind of childish with its "white men and science bad, native Americans and myths good" storyline. The characters reminded me of Alligator (a positive thing) but that's a better film as a whole. At least I can't name another film where a wolf bites a man's head clean off.



Ouch. I quite like the film. It's simplistic dichotomy of the races was actually very progressive at the time, I remember that society was really reflecting on its position on the Native American in the late 70s and this film seemed to reflect that in a way that, at the time, was enjoyable for me. Kinda like the "we are the real monsters" trope, it's not so tropey the first few times you see it.
Oh well, I'll still enjoy it because I'm old.

[Fabulous]

Free Guy (2021)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/rOJb0yQOCny0bPjg8bCLw8DyAD7.jpg

[ThatDarnMKS]

Ouch. I quite like the film. It's simplistic dichotomy of the races was actually very progressive at the time, I remember that society was really reflecting on its position on the Native American in the late 70s and this film seemed to reflect that in a way that, at the time, was enjoyable for me. Kinda like the "we are the real monsters" trope, it's not so tropey the first few times you see it.
Oh well, I'll still enjoy it because I'm old.
I get the vibe thats their issue with it in the first place.

[John McClane]

He is not batshit crazy. He's a very good character actor. Have you seen him in any other films? He has several English speaking films.

And the be honest IMO, Johnny Deep is a 4 to Mads' 10 in regards to acting. I have seen enough of both actors films to make that call.No, Depp is batshit crazy. If even half of what’s been reported is true.

Mikkelsen is amazing, so playing Grindelwald is far beneath him in terms of what he can do. I still say The Hunt is his best work, but the man did far more for the Star Wars franchise than anyone who has come before him.

https://youtu.be/7k0bjIsIvHk
And the scene from the screenshot below, I’d argue, is the best moment from the entire franchise. I will admit my bias, tho, as I love Rogue One.

https://insidethemagic.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/galen-erso-death-star-message-to-jyn.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

Ouch. I quite like the film. It's simplistic dichotomy of the races was actually very progressive at the time, I remember that society was really reflecting on its position on the Native American in the late 70s and this film seemed to reflect that in a way that, at the time, was enjoyable for me. Kinda like the "we are the real monsters" trope, it's not so tropey the first few times you see it.
Oh well, I'll still enjoy it because I'm old.I liked it too and really enjoyed the book by Whitley Strieber. Read it first before seeing the movie but there's no reason to say one was better than the other.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/OriginalWBposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Paramount Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8188193

Wonder Boys - (2000)

This film had a high placing on the original 2000s Countdown, so I wanted to check it out - it has a good ensemble cast, and genuinely funny screenplay, so it was okay. Especially the performance from Tobey Maguire. At a Pennsylvania university novelist Grady teaches, and he has fallen for the wife of the chairman - in the meantime the annual writing festival sees his publisher (played by Robert Downey Jr.) back in town. Grady is suffering - the wife he pines for, Sara (Frances McDormand) is pregnant. His most gifted student, James Leer (Maguire) has shot the chairman's dog, and stolen a priceless jacket worn by Marilyn Monroe. His second book, after a successful first one, is a disaster. His wife has just left him. His weed smoking has become a habit. Although the film does seem to revolve around him, all the characters and actors in this film get their time to shine (Katie Holmes a bit less so, and Rip Torn not at all - I should change that to most.) I would have watched a whole film with "Vernon Hardapple" in it. The soundtrack is great, with a few songs from Bob Dylan (one original one which won an Oscar) and there's some layered meaning in there. Overall I felt it was a good film that passes the time of day, but not one which aspires to be a "great" film. Without Tobey Maguire's turn it wouldn't have been half as good.

7/10

[MovieGal]

No, Depp is batshit crazy. If even half of what’s been reported is true.

Mikkelsen is amazing, so playing Grindelwald is far beneath him in terms of what he can do. I still say The Hunt is his best work, but the man did far more for the Star Wars franchise than anyone who has come before him.

https://youtu.be/7k0bjIsIvHk
And the scene from the screenshot below, I’d argue, is the best moment from the entire franchise. I will admit my bias, tho, as I love Rogue One.

https://insidethemagic.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/galen-erso-death-star-message-to-jyn.jpg

Yes Mikkelsen is one of the best actors EVER! You should watch Valhalla Rising, it truly shows his acting ability. I agree about the Star Wars and Marvel franchises. Also, you should see Another Round. It's very good as well. I do enjoy the films he's in that are directed by Anders Thomas Jensen.

Not sure if you already knew but I am a HUGE Mads fan 💓.

Oh yeah, watch the Hannibal series with him as well.

[mrblond]

ཁ་ ནག་ ན་ ཁ་ [Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom] (2019)

Country: Bhutan
Oscars 2022 Best International Film nominee.

It is about well known story when very young man naturally dreams about a life in some of the world's global cities (in this case he dreams about Sydney, Australia). Instead, life shows him that he is needed and valued in the very opposite direction - in the deepest countryside of his remote Country of origin.
A tough dilemma that is never easy to solve.

Very touching movie! 4.0

86741

[Wooley]

I liked it too and really enjoyed the book by Whitley Strieber. Read it first before seeing the movie but there's no reason to say one was better than the other.

I also read the book and enjoyed it. Have it around here somewhere. An old copy from back in the 80s.

[Thief]

TRUE ROMANCE
(1993, Scott)

https://i.imgur.com/NI192If.jpg


"If I'm with you, then I'm with you, and I don't want anybody else."



True Romance follows Clarence and Alabama Worley (Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette), a loner and a prostitute that get married after meeting one night. But when Clarence tries to settle things with Alabama's pimp, they find themselves on the run from both the Mafia and the cops.

The film is written by Quentin Tarantino and is directed by Tony Scott, and it features both their distinctive trademarks of tense yet cleverly written dialogue, as well as excessive hyper-violence and slow motion action scenes. I found myself enjoying the Tarantino-esque bits of it more than the uber-violent excesses of Scott. The scene between Clarence and Drexl (Oldman) is incredibly tense because of the dialogue, and so is the one between Walken and Hopper. It's a pity that Tarantino and Scott had to rely on racism, though. That "punchline" from Hopper is certainly an unfortunate one.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296426#post2296426) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296427#post2296427).

[Wooley]

TRUE ROMANCE
(1993, Scott)

https://i.imgur.com/NI192If.jpg




True Romance follows Clarence and Alabama Worley (Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette), a loner and a prostitute that get married after meeting one night. But when Clarence tries to settle things with Alabama's pimp, they find themselves on the run from both the Mafia and the cops.

The film is written by Quentin Tarantino and is directed by Tony Scott, and it features both their distinctive trademarks of tense yet cleverly written dialogue, as well as excessive hyper-violence and slow motion action scenes. I found myself enjoying the Tarantino-esque bits of it more than the uber-violent excesses of Scott. The scene between Clarence and Drexl (Oldman) is incredibly tense because of the dialogue, and so is the one between Walken and Hopper. It's a pity that Tarantino and Scott had to rely on racism, though. That "punchline" from Hopper is certainly an unfortunate one.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296426#post2296426) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296427#post2296427).

Hmmm... I didn't get the same feeling as you about the Walken/Hopper punchline. It seemed to me that it was clear Hopper only said it because he knew it would get under Walken's skin and it works in the sense that you can imagine how Walken's character would react to that if he didn't already know he was gonna kill Hopper.
So it worked for me in the sense that it seemed very much like something that those two particular characters would say to each other.

[Thief]

Hmmm... I didn't get the same feeling as you about the Walken/Hopper punchline. It seemed to me that it was clear Hopper only said it because he knew it would get under Walken's skin and it works in the sense that you can imagine how Walken's character would react to that if he didn't already know he was gonna kill Hopper.
So it worked for me in the sense that it seemed very much like something that those two particular characters would say to each other.

Yeah, that thought crossed my mind, but it's still something that rubbed me the wrong way.

[Allaby]

Cyrano (2021) This was fantastic. Peter Dinklage is excellent here and should have been nominated for an Oscar. Haley Bennett and Kelvin Harrison Jr. are both very good too. I loved the music and the singing. The screenplay is well written and the film is beautiful, moving, and captivating. Definitely one of the better films of last year. My rating is a 4.5

[Gideon58]

Cyrano (2021) This was fantastic. Peter Dinklage is excellent here and should have been nominated for an Oscar. Haley Bennett and Kelvin Harrison Jr. are both very good too. I loved the music and the singing. The screenplay is well written and the film is beautiful, moving, and captivating. Definitely one of the better films of last year. My rating is a 4.5


So thrilled to see someone else loved this movie...the movie had its problems but I think Dinklage was robbed of an Oscar nomination too, he was freaking brilliant.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNThmZGY4NzgtMTM4OC00NzNkLWEwNmEtMjdhMGY5YTc1NDE4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.slantmagazine.com%2Fassets%2Ffilm%2F29405%2Fageofinnocence.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Age of Innocence, 1993

Lawyer Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) is engaged to the youthful May (Winona Ryder). But his life is spun all around when May's cousin, Ellen (Michelle Pfeiffer) arrives to the States fresh from a split--though not an official divorce--from her husband, a wealthy count. As Ellen tries to navigate her new social scene, Newland goes from sympathetic friend to aspiring lover.

This is EXACTLY the kind of literary adaptation that I love: one that keeps the spirit of the novel intact while using cinematic elements to enhance the emotion of the story.

Everything in this movie is on point. The performances, first and foremost, really sing. Da-Lewis is his usual dependable self, and Pfeiffer brings a great mix of vulnerability and steel to her role. Actually, both she and Day-Lewis are playing characters who are vulnerable-but-determined, and their performances and characters compliment each other greatly. Ryder is also solid as the seemingly naive May who always has you wondering just how much she knows of her fiance's infatuation. They are surrounded by a stable of perfect supporting roles like Richard E Grant as one of Ellen's suitors or Miriam Margolyes as Ellen's grandmother.

The look of the film is period piece gorgeous, with just enough granular detail in the costuming and set dressing.

Back when I watched Coppola's Dracula, I complained about the in-your-face nature of the cinematic elements. But this film shows a way to do such maneuvers and make it fully coherent with the story. There are some great, overt film moments, such as a shot that dives into Newland's pocket, then through a nesting-doll-like series of envelopes to show us what, finally, is inside. Later, on learning a certain piece of information, the whole room goes dark red. When Newland and Ellen speak at a theater, the camera zooms in on them and everyone around them goes dark. The choices all feel like natural extensions of the emotions of the characters, and specifically how Newland feels about everything.

It's also interesting to see how the film keeps things, very literally, PG-rated. The attraction between Newland and Ellen is confined to glances, hands touching hands, and a 30-second near makeout session. I'm not opposed to sex scenes in romances (historical or otherwise), but it does both heighten the sense of longing and center the emotions and social politics around the characters.

My only complaint is a complaint about the novel and the film. I do not care for the way that May is portrayed as being manipulative and "trapping" Newland. He is the one who actually tries to rush their marriage. And here's a thought: if you don't want someone to possibly be in your life for a long time, you should not have sexual intercourse with that person. Newland is certainly sympathetic (as is Ellen), but the nature of the story makes May the enemy--the impediment to their love. I didn't like how the film sort of rolls with this angle on her character. This is the one downside to how thoroughly the film is in Newland's corner. We're meant to cheer when he asserts that women should have the same social rights as men, and yet also nod along when he says that May is too stupid to ever emancipate herself.

A really sumptuous, well-acted period piece that is more than worth checking out.

4.5

[Takoma11]

Yeah, that thought crossed my mind, but it's still something that rubbed me the wrong way.

I think that the problem is that it's framed so much as a punchline. We, the audience, are meant to laugh along with the insult.

Yes, it's obvious that he says it to be deliberately provocative. Yes, we are meant to understand that he's playing on the other man's bias, not necessarily showing his own. But there's a sense that we are meant to find the moment funny.

If it were done as I think it was intended, the moment he uses the slur you would gasp in realization of what's happening. But somehow that isn't the beat of the moment.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Rescue_Dawn_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12567583

Rescue Dawn - (2006)

Werner Herzog's Rescue Dawn quietly slipped by without anyone noticing in 2006, which is a shame because the film was important to him - the true life story of Dieter Dengler that he covered in a documentary that I now really want to see : Little Dieter Needs to Fly. When this was finished I realized that I'd watched this 126 minute film without once checking how long it had to go - something I've found myself doing quite a bit lately on films that go over 2 hours. It had me fully engaged and not at all aware of how long it was - it's captivating (no pun intended). Dengler was shot down over Laos during his very first mission as a U.S. Navy pilot, and finds himself among the first prisoners taken in the escalating conflict taking place in the region. What he and his fellow prisoners go through is torturous. There are great performances all round here, from Christian Bale to Steve Zahn and an emaciated Jeremy Davies - an actor who will do anything for his role. Special mention as well to Galen Yuen. We've seen the likes of all of this before - but Herzog really got down and dirty in the jungle and it's authenticity is striking, so it's well worth watching.

8/10

[skizzerflake]

Did Mads do well? He's always great at playing the bad guy.

Yep. He's the chief nazi imitator. His glowering mannerisms do it right, a good Euro-villain.

[Obi-Wan_Mifune]

The Color of Money (1986) — I really can’t say if I overall prefer this movie or The Hustler. While the first movie had a much stronger narrative through-line and was bookended by two really strong scenes, I really dug this movie’s more frenetic energy and wider (and more interesting) cast of characters. Although it could have benefitted from a few more methodically paced scenes and some of Vincent’s rebellious moments ended up being a bit repetitive, it was a strong follow-up to the earlier movie and a seemingly under-seen entry in Scorsese’s filmography. 4

Summertime (1955) — I checked this one out to make it an even 6/6 sweep of today’s announced entries into the Criterion Collection (the other five being Okja, Drive My Car, The Virgin Suicides, Devil in a Blue Dress and Raging Bull). And while I do quite like David Lean, and Summertime is as impeccably well-shot as pretty much anything he’s ever done, this was an incessantly dull affair in which nothing of any interest happens… ever. The central romance comes in nearly 45 minutes into the movie, leaves for a rather lengthy stretch of time, then comes back nearer the end. Mostly, it’s just Katherine Hepburn sadly walking around Venice and taking in the sights. 2

Beauty and the Beast (1991) — My perennial favorite Disney movie.*More impeccably detailed and gorgeously rendered than I remembered, it absolutely stands as the high water mark of the company’s 90’s Renaissance. Being the first time that I revisited it since seeing the 2017 remake, I did find myself missing the perfectly placed “Evermore” after Belle leaves the castle, as well as LeFou’s added “Mob Song” quip (“There’s a beast running wild, there’s no question, / but I fear the wrong monster’s released”), but everything from the brassy score to the intricate animation to the fun character interactions held up incredibly well. 5

Predator (1987) — 80’s action movies don’t always land for me, but by condensing the muscle-clad bravura to just the first act, it presented the essential guns-and-guts genre experience with none of the fat. The hard transition to outright horror is perfectly executed and smartly serves both genres (both as an action movie deconstruction and as a set-up for a uniquely gendered slasher movie). 4

[Deschain]

One Shot

https://boxd.it/2LDPJD

A simple premise executed very well.

4/5
Thanks for the rec. This was impressive, and not just the action but the acting too. Except for Ryan Phillippe. He was pretty bad.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://c.tenor.com/4kd1LSc_qdwAAAAd/the-batman.gif
https://c.tenor.com/WzsSP50a8ZoAAAAd/the-batman-robert-pattinson.gif

The Batman - I wanted to like this more than I did. I concur with what so many others have said that it was too long and do think there's a better movie hidden under those extra 30 to 45 minutes. I did like the fact that they tried to work the detective angle complete with the requisite legwork and knocking on doors and interviewing people. That description doesn't quite capture what they accomplished and might sound boring to some but I appreciated that they were trying something different.

That last stretch (the part after you felt the movie should have wrapped up) didn't seem to work properly. I get that The Batman had to eventually turn the corner from vigilante to heroic figure but it came off a little pat. Especially given the weight of his actions and everything they had inadvertently inspired.

The production values were certainly A+ and I couldn't spot any weak links with the casting or performances. If there's a sequel I hope Reeves returns and I hope he tightens up the script and runtime.

75/100

[xSookieStackhouse]

rating_3_5
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMmIwYzFhODAtY2I1YS00ZDdmLTkyYWQtZjI5NDIwMDc2MjEyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODk4OTc3MTY@._V1_.jpg

[D54pod]

Saw this unexpectedly great gem on Amazon Prime. Great to see Vince Vaughn, usually a great comedian, in an exceptional dramatic role. I went in thinking it would be a slapstick family comedy, then saw the incredible cast including Nick Frost, Florence Pugh, Dwayne Johnson and even Stephen Merchant. I would highly recommend this. 4/5 starts

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNWM0NGUxMzUtMjRlZS00OWZlLTlkZDMtMzJhOWVmZDY2ODczXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTQxNzM2MjY@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

[MovieGal]

Yep. He's the chief nazi imitator. His glowering mannerisms do it right, a good Euro-villain.

American or European, he does a good villain. He does everything very good.

[Thief]

I think that the problem is that it's framed so much as a punchline. We, the audience, are meant to laugh along with the insult.

Yes, it's obvious that he says it to be deliberately provocative. Yes, we are meant to understand that he's playing on the other man's bias, not necessarily showing his own. But there's a sense that we are meant to find the moment funny.

If it were done as I think it was intended, the moment he uses the slur you would gasp in realization of what's happening. But somehow that isn't the beat of the moment.

That is a perfect way to put it.

[Wooley]

The Color of Money (1986) — I really can’t say if I overall prefer this movie or The Hustler. While the first movie had a much stronger narrative through-line and was bookended by two really strong scenes, I really dug this movie’s more frenetic energy and wider (and more interesting) cast of characters. Although it could have benefitted from a few more methodically paced scenes and some of Vincent’s rebellious moments ended up being a bit repetitive, it was a strong follow-up to the earlier movie and a seemingly under-seen entry in Scorsese’s filmography. 4


This is one of my favorite Scorseses, like in the top tier with the ones everyone says are his classics. It doesn't matter to me that it's about playing pool and not about mobsters or street hustlers or sociopaths, it's just an excellently made film. It doesn't hurt that Newman gives yet another genuinely great performance.

[Wooley]

https://c.tenor.com/4kd1LSc_qdwAAAAd/the-batman.gif
https://c.tenor.com/WzsSP50a8ZoAAAAd/the-batman-robert-pattinson.gif

The Batman - I wanted to like this more than I did. I concur with what so many others have said that it was too long and do think there's a better movie hidden under those extra 30 to 45 minutes. I did like the fact that they tried to work the detective angle complete with the requisite legwork and knocking on doors and interviewing people. That description doesn't quite capture what they accomplished and might sound boring to some but I appreciated that they were trying something different.

That last stretch (the part after you felt the movie should have wrapped up) didn't seem to work properly. I get that The Batman had to eventually turn the corner from vigilante to heroic figure but it came off a little pat. Especially given the weight of his actions and everything they had inadvertently inspired.

The production values were certainly A+ and I couldn't spot any weak links with the casting or performances. If there's a sequel I hope Reeves returns and I hope he tightens up the script and runtime.

75/100

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Wooley]

I think that the problem is that it's framed so much as a punchline. We, the audience, are meant to laugh along with the insult.

Yes, it's obvious that he says it to be deliberately provocative. Yes, we are meant to understand that he's playing on the other man's bias, not necessarily showing his own. But there's a sense that we are meant to find the moment funny.

If it were done as I think it was intended, the moment he uses the slur you would gasp in realization of what's happening. But somehow that isn't the beat of the moment.

Just to clarify, we're talking about when he says, "You're part eggplant" and we know that he knows he's a dead man and this whole speech is just his personal Last Great Act Of Defiance, right? He knew he was never coming out of that trailer alive and he wanted to take one shot at Walken to not just go out an old man sitting in a chair?
Cause I certainly thought that was pretty clear on first and subsequent viewings.

[AgrippinaX]

My only complaint is a complaint about the novel and the film. I do not care for the way that May is portrayed as being manipulative and "trapping" Newland. He is the one who actually tries to rush their marriage. And here's a thought: if you don't want someone to possibly be in your life for a long time, you should not have sexual intercourse with that person. Newland is certainly sympathetic (as is Ellen), but the nature of the story makes May the enemy--the impediment to their love. I didn't like how the film sort of rolls with this angle on her character. This is the one downside to how thoroughly the film is in Newland's corner. We're meant to cheer when he asserts that women should have the same social rights as men, and yet also nod along when he says that May is too stupid to ever emancipate herself.


But isn’t it a common theme in classics with a marriage subplot? May/the fiancée is less “the enemy” than an antagonist, i.e. her interests happen to*contrast with Newland’s/starstruck lovers’. I don’t feel like that actually vilifies her in any way; after all, we need characters with different motivations.

Even one of my favourite postmodern books of all time, The French Lieutenant’s Woman, frames Ernestina in this way. I see your point, but I also think that it’s, well, realistic, as in true to life and social norms of the time that women would endeavour to “trap” men into marriage, seeing as in most cases, unless the fiancée was much wealthier, marriage was to women’s advantage (it gave them relative social freedom) rather than to men’s (it took their freedom away to a degree).

Narrative-wise, how else are you going to frame it? That May is happy and pats them both on the head? That’s not in line with believable human behaviour, is it?

I wholeheartedly agree with your point re: not having sex with people unless you’re prepared to face the music, whatever that means, but in that Victorian-type marriage narrative, it isn’t always about sex, is it? Even it May hadn’t had sex with him or he with her, if he’d have broken off the engagement at any point in the courtship, she’d be seen as “damaged goods”, so to me it’s more like, once they both chose engage with each other socially, if it’s on, it’s on. I don’t know if not having sex is the answer.

Re: The Age of Innocence in general, I didn’t love the book and didn’t care much for the film, I guess it just didn’t leave any sort of lasting impression.

[SpelingError]

https://c.tenor.com/4kd1LSc_qdwAAAAd/the-batman.gif
https://c.tenor.com/WzsSP50a8ZoAAAAd/the-batman-robert-pattinson.gif

The Batman - I wanted to like this more than I did. I concur with what so many others have said that it was too long and do think there's a better movie hidden under those extra 30 to 45 minutes. I did like the fact that they tried to work the detective angle complete with the requisite legwork and knocking on doors and interviewing people. That description doesn't quite capture what they accomplished and might sound boring to some but I appreciated that they were trying something different.

That last stretch (the part after you felt the movie should have wrapped up) didn't seem to work properly. I get that The Batman had to eventually turn the corner from vigilante to heroic figure but it came off a little pat. Especially given the weight of his actions and everything they had inadvertently inspired.

The production values were certainly A+ and I couldn't spot any weak links with the casting or performances. If there's a sequel I hope Reeves returns and I hope he tightens up the script and runtime.

75/100

That sums up my response to the film pretty well. Starting from the interrogation scene, the final act lost me and I wasn't able to get back into it.

[Stirchley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.slantmagazine.com%2Fassets%2Ffilm%2F29405%2Fageofinnocence.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Age of Innocence, 1993


Love the movie & Edith Wharton’s book. Seen the movie several times & I think I own it. Winona was so good in it.

[Thief]

MAD LOVE
(1985, Żuławski)

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


"Here, with you... is not like a movie or in books, where everything is clear... expected, organized, with a clear purpose. Everything is chaos... unexpected, pain, disorder."



Mad Love follows Mary's boyfriend, Micky (Tchéky Karyo), a bank robber that, along with his gang, stumble upon León (Francis Huster) and take him under his wing, only to have him fall in love with Mary starting a complicated love triangle. But if that's complicated, so is director's Andrzej Żuławski's approach to the film.

It has been a couple of days since I watched it and, I'm still not entirely sure that I understood *everything* that happened. Still, there's a mesmerizing quality to the film; a combination of that manic "disorder" and a dance-like harmony to the direction and the actors movements. The performances, especially Marceau, also help you hold your attention.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296652#post2296652) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2296653#post2296653).

[honeykid]

^^Yet another Mofo who's watched the wrong film because of the title.^^

This is the Mad Love you want. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS4XqN-LaO4

[Marco]

Mute (2018)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/82/Mute_poster.png
Strange, modernistic follow up to "Moon" somehow?! I.e Sam Rockwell is in it for a split sec? Far fetched and corny. Skarsgård deserves better roles.

2

[ThatDarnMKS]

Thanks for the rec. This was impressive, and not just the action but the acting too. Except for Ryan Phillippe. He was pretty bad.
His performance did seem... Rougher than usual? Forced? I bet he was brought in last minute due to the low budget nature of the flick and he's the kind of actor that needs a lot of prep.


I'd say it's certainly one of Adkins' best performances. Everyone else, including Greene, was quite solid.

[Takoma11]

Just to clarify, we're talking about when he says, "You're part eggplant" and we know that he knows he's a dead man and this whole speech is just his personal Last Great Act Of Defiance, right? He knew he was never coming out of that trailer alive and he wanted to take one shot at Walken to not just go out an old man sitting in a chair?
Cause I certainly thought that was pretty clear on first and subsequent viewings.

Yes, but it's to do more with what is around it and the way that the dialogue is paced so that it has punchline vibes. I don't know how else to put it. What you've described is what is supposed to be conveyed (and partly is). But the flow of the entire scene, taken as a whole, in my opinion, doesn't land correctly.

But isn’t it a common theme in classics with a marriage subplot? May/the fiancée is less “the enemy” than an antagonist, i.e. her interests happen to*contrast with Newland’s/starstruck lovers’. I don’t feel like that actually vilifies her in any way; after all, we need characters with different motivations.

May was certainly always going to be an element that worked against the central romance, and I have no problem with that. But there are times that we see looks that she gives or learn information in a certain order that make her appear sneaky and underhanded and manipulative, while similarly sneaky/underhanded/manipulative things done by Day-Lewis's character are portrayed more as being passionate and romantic. It feels, for lack of a better word, like an unfair characterization.

[AgrippinaX]

May was certainly always going to be an element that worked against the central romance, and I have no problem with that. But there are times that we see looks that she gives or learn information in a certain order that make her appear sneaky and underhanded and manipulative, while similarly sneaky/underhanded/manipulative things done by Day-Lewis's character are portrayed more as being passionate and romantic. It feels, for lack of a better word, like an unfair characterization.

Sure, that’s a very fair point. I can totally relate to that feeling. I guess this is what directors/authors often do to make sure you’ll stay “on the right side”. Ironically, I often get the same feeling in opposite contexts: e.g. in Breaking Bad (I’m sorry, I know you haven’t seen it, but I’m making a very general point) we’re meant to see the husband withholding information from the wife as incredibly nefarious/evidence that he’s “turning into Scarface”, yet when she lies to him/withholds pretty damn important information, the authorial intent is clearly for us to think it’s for “a good cause”. It’s like it relies on a “Oh, wait a minute, he’s the baddie, right?” kind of moment. I always find such things equally disingenuous/unfair and hence off putting.

I think to me the ideal scenario is a film where we’re not told who to root for and all characters are equally gray. But how common is that, you know? Noir films, I guess, and even then, not all of them.

[Gideon58]

https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p15680172_v_h8_aa.jpg


2.5

[Allaby]

Just One Kiss (2022) This was really enjoyable. Charming, romantic, sweet, and funny. I liked the actors and the story was well told. Definitely one of the stronger Hallmark films. 4

[Fabulous]

Irresistible (2020)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/viWEyGVe7pEpfR9UhkSsDzzI7iR.jpg

[Takoma11]

I think to me the ideal scenario is a film where we’re not told who to root for and all characters are equally gray. But how common is that, you know? Noir films, I guess, and even then, not all of them.

I think that Age of Innocence has some of that, but more at the beginning.

For example, in the first third of the film, May can sense that things aren't quite right with Newland. She basically offers him an out of their engagement. But in wanting to cover things up, he is the one who pushes for them to get married sooner rather than later. It's a moment that nicely makes the point that what he is doing is really unfair to her, because in wanting to look like a "nice guy" he pretends to be totally in love with her and not have interest in anyone else. It's not just himself he traps in marriage, it's her as well.

I felt bad for everyone in the film. I don't think it was necessary to make May seem kind of stupid (like when she's like "Oh math! I can barely handle lighting this lantern, LOL!") or sneaky, when it's so easy to be like "Hey, she's nice enough. But he's really head over heels for this other woman."

It's totally a romance trope that at least one of the two main characters is dating someone who is a total jerk or dumb person. And now I'm going to go slightly nuts trying to remember a movie I watched in the last year where a woman was dating a guy (who was perfectly nice! But clearly not a good partner for her!) and a big moment was her being like "This just isn't working" without ever vilifying him.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Prideandprejudiceposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Focus Features., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30525992

Pride & Prejudice - (2005)

Been plodding along, watching a lot of films that are good without being blown away by them - and this is probably the best of the bunch. I've been meaning to see it, since it showed up in the last film Countdown done here, but with some trepidation. A Jane Austin romantic period piece doesn't really sound like my kind of thing, but perhaps I'm changing because I really enjoyed watching Pride & Prejudice and felt warm affection for it's characters. I also felt warm affection for the visuals in this, and laughed out loud when a shot late in the film rotated so the sun burst through Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's kiss, filling the frame with reflected light. That called attention to itself, but it was really nice. I was already a huge fan of Atonement, so maybe I should have come to this earlier.

8/10

[Takoma11]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Prideandprejudiceposter.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Focus Features., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30525992

Pride & Prejudice - (2005)

Been plodding along, watching a lot of films that are good without being blown away by them - and this is probably the best of the bunch. I've been meaning to see it, since it showed up in the last film Countdown done here, but with some trepidation. A Jane Austin romantic period piece doesn't really sound like my kind of thing, but perhaps I'm changing because I really enjoyed watching Pride & Prejudice and felt warm affection for it's characters. I also felt warm affection for the visuals in this, and laughed out loud when a shot late in the film rotated so the sun burst through Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's kiss, filling the frame with reflected light. That called attention to itself, but it was really nice. I was already a huge fan of Atonement, so maybe I should have come to this earlier.

8/10

The 1995 miniseries is also really good and does a great job with the characters.

[PHOENIX74]

The 1995 miniseries is also really good and does a great job with the characters.

Ahh, a picture from that miniseries adorns the cover of my "The Complete Novels of Jane Austen" which was part of the book collection I inherited from my mum. I was wondering last night if I'd be up to reading the novel - that miniseries might be a better next step in expanding my knowledge.

[Takoma11]

Ahh, a picture from that miniseries adorns the cover of my "The Complete Novels of Jane Austen" which was part of the book collection I inherited from my mum. I was wondering last night if I'd be up to reading the novel - that miniseries might be a better next step in expanding my knowledge.

It's pretty great. I also happen to think that the novel is really accessible and funny. Admittedly I'm a big fan of Austen's work.

[Wooley]

^^Yet another Mofo who's watched the wrong film because of the title.^^

This is the Mad Love you want. :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS4XqN-LaO4

I beg to differ:

https://i.imgur.com/bqCkpEU.gif
https://i.imgur.com/BFjaSx6.jpg?1

[Fabulous]

Nobody (2021)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/sgXYtcj7SUKnkUxXzEOMJTimAUn.jpg

[Wooley]

Yes, but it's to do more with what is around it and the way that the dialogue is paced so that it has punchline vibes. I don't know how else to put it. What you've described is what is supposed to be conveyed (and partly is). But the flow of the entire scene, taken as a whole, in my opinion, doesn't land correctly.

I guess we're just receiving it differently, that's the only way it's ever landed to me.

[StuSmallz]

Sure, that’s a very fair point. I can totally relate to that feeling. I guess this is what directors/authors often do to make sure you’ll stay “on the right side”. Ironically, I often get the same feeling in opposite contexts: e.g. in Breaking Bad (I’m sorry, I know you haven’t seen it, but I’m making a very general point) we’re meant to see the husband withholding information from the wife as incredibly nefarious/evidence that he’s “turning into Scarface”, yet when she lies to him/withholds pretty damn important information, the authorial intent is clearly for us to think it’s for “a good cause”. It’s like it relies on a “Oh, wait a minute, he’s the baddie, right?” kind of moment. I always find such things equally disingenuous/unfair and hence off putting.I don't know about that; I mean, the information that Skyler kept secret can't really be compared to his transgressions, like when she stole some of his money that he wouldn't have even noticed if circumstances hadn't been coming to a head at that exact time. Compare that to Walter letting Jane die, and I don't see the equality of evil between the two.

[Aryadalos]

Just watched Fantastic Beasts - 8/10;)

[mark f]

Tam Lin (Roddy McDowall, 1970) 2 5/10
Bill Maher: #Adulting (Ryan Polito, 2022) 3 6.5/10
Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter (Saul Swimmer, 1968) 2 5/10
Love in the Afternoon (Billy Wilder, 1957) 3.5 7+/10
http://33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrfjjrRPGp1r31q91o1_500.gif
American businessman/gigolo Gary Cooper grows jealous of Parisian cellist Audrey Hepburn who met him by trying to save his life from a jealous husband (John McGiver) she learned about from her private detective father (Maurice Chevalier).
The Cellar (Brendan Muldowney, 2022) 2 5/10
La ricotta (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1963) 2.5 6/10
The Greatest Inheritance (John K.D. Graham, 2022) 2 5/10
Town Without Pity (Gottfried Reinhardt, 1961) 3 6.5/10
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5lIAAOSwOJVeZ9SD/s-l640.jpg
In Germany, Major Kirk Douglas defends four soldiers on capital rape charges, but he has to put the teenage victim Christine Kaufmann through the ringer to do so.
The Hater (Joey Ally, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Rachel and the Stranger (Norman Foster, 1948) 3 6.5/10
Dog (Andrea Arnold, 2001) 2.5 5.5/10
The Jackie Robinson Story (Alfred E. Green, 1950) 3 6.5/10
https://calisphere.org/clip/500x500/a527bd52ad9233c3707842211eb993d1
Jackie Robinson (Himself) and his wife Rae (Ruby Dee) have to put up with plenty of racism as he breaks the color barrier in major league baseball with the help of Dodgers' owner Branch Rickey (Minor Watson).
She Couldn't Say No (Lloyd Bacon, 1953) 2.5 5.5/10
Take Back the Night (Gia Elliot, 2021) 2 5/10
Through the Night (Loira Limbal, 2020) 2.5 6/10
The Sundowners (Fred Zinnemann, 1959) 3.5 7+/10
https://prod-images.tcm.com/v5cache/TCM/Images/Dynamic/i153/sundowners_neveruseawoman_vd_223x104_112220110636.jpg?w=400
Peter Ustinov, Michael Anderson Jr, Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr are among the colorful characters in early 20th-century Australia who deal with sheep and horses while arguing about how and where to live.
As They Made Us (Mayim Bialik, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Wild Weed (Sam Newfield, 1949) 1.5 4+/10
Please Vote for Me (Weijun Chen, 2007) 2.5 6/10
The Big Steal (Don Siegel, 1949) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/d92309e0ccfb951981bc9bb46bd48b3d/tumblr_p5jb0jBN9I1qe4ru4o1_540.gifv
Ostensibly a non-stop chase movie throughout Mexico involving mistaken identities, government agents and a romance between Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer.

[AgrippinaX]

I don't know about that; I mean, the information that Skyler kept secret can't really be compared to his transgressions, like when she stole some of his money that he wouldn't have even noticed if circumstances hadn't been coming to a head at that exact time. Compare that to Walter letting Jane die, and I don't see the equality of evil between the two.

Well, you see, you say it can’t, I’ve always felt ever since I first watched it that it can and it’s hypocritical. I’m not even talking about it from the inside the story viewpoint, just generally; yes, to me taking a massive amount of money that isn’t yours from someone in secret is pretty much as bad as murder, I know people irl who died, had a heart attack and literally died from heartbreak when that happened to them. And I disagree, at the time this was all the money he had, not a “tiny amount”. And he had his own plans for it (I do remember Stirchley’s old point that there’s no personal money in a marriage, but a stash is a stash). I meant that even if this supposedly isn’t meant to skew my opinion against her, it does, I equally resent authorial intent to make me think she was justified in doing it here because that goes against the very grain of my being. Also regardless of his extrafamilial transgressions, in their partnership until then he had done nothing whatsoever that wasn’t in her best interests/to provide for her.

Taking someone’s money away can be equated to murder in many socioeconomic contexts historically (eg ‘90s post-Soviet countries and, well, anywhere after a political coup. You have no money to show for yourself = you don’t exist, you don’t matter. That especially applies to Walter’s self-understanding. You aren’t just taking the money, you are taking someone’s self-worth away without their permission.

To compare or not is anyone’s choice, but I feel that to portray her stealing, and that’s exactly what it is, as somehow not/less wrong is ridiculous. As with the original The Age of Innocence point, it is framed as being fine because she’s the “less bad” person, I find that reasoning equally disingenuous.

I was brought up with an understanding that taking someone’s money, even if it’s 10 p, without their permission, especially if it’s another family member, especially if it’s “for a good cause” (because so people ever say it’s for anything else?) is just about the worst thing you can do. And looking back years later, I agree.

And then again, that’s my very consistent emotional response over the years, I certainly wouldn’t try to make anyone else interpret it the way I do (unless the view is that we’re doing that by sharing interpretations)- it’s rather absurd that yet again I’m told here that something I think “can’t really be” [thought]/you said “compared”. I suppose people feel I’m deliberately being the devil’s advocate or something, but it’s also exhausting to constantly fight assumptions about uniformity of thought.

[honeykid]

I beg to differ:

https://i.imgur.com/bqCkpEU.gif
https://i.imgur.com/BFjaSx6.jpg?1

No, I've corrected people who've made that mistake as well. :D

[ThatDarnMKS]

Stealing drug money = murder, drug manufacturing, theft, and spousal abuse

What a take!

[StuSmallz]

Stealing drug money = murder, drug manufacturing, theft, and spousal abuse

What a take!Yeah, I don't get how anyone can honestly make a moral equivalence between the two characters' actions.

[Gideon58]

https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B4%2F3%2F6%2F1%2F4361389%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D


4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthecriticalcritics.com%2Freview%2Fwp-content%2Fimages%2Fthe_girl_with_the_dragon_tattoo-still_2.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2011

Journalist Mikael (Daniel Craig) has just lost a libel case when he is hired by a man named Henrik (Christopher Plummer) to track down his long-disappeared niece. As Mikael digs into the story he uncovers a series of murders and enlists the help of a brilliant-but-traumatized hacker named Lisbeth (Rooney Mara).

It is hard for me to parse exactly how I feel about this film, and I think it's due to several factors. Part of what is challenging for me is having watched the original adaptation not too long ago, lending an air of deja vu to many of the plot twists and turns. But even if I were coming to the film fresh, I think that there were some elements that I'd have found a bit questionable.

To start with the positive, I thought that the lead performances were strong and, in the case of Craig and Mara, suitably endearing. It's a neat trick to let characters be both flawed or awkward and yet lovable, and this film does it very well. It helps, of course, that those characters are engaged in trying to solve a series of brutal murders; that Mikael is fighting against a smarmy criminal billionaire; and that Lisbeth is dealing with a sexually abusive case manager who exploits his power over her.

The story itself, even when you are familiar with its beats, is an interesting one. The film takes an incredibly long time to let Mikael and Lisbeth actually sit down in the same room together. In that beginning third of the film, we watch each of their lives so that we have an understanding of what it means for these two particular personalities to collide. Even though the mystery itself involves some lurid and outlandish tropes (serial murders! connection with the Bible! World War 2 stuff!), they are layered together in a way that makes them feel more enjoyable than absurd.

The film won an Oscar for its editing, and I have to say that even before I knew that fact, I had noticed the way that different sequences were stitched together, sometimes in subtle little ways and sometimes with in-your-face smashes from one image to another. The movie looks good and grimy all at the same time, which is another fine line to walk.

Setting aside my familiarity with the story (which I admit isn't a fair criticism of a movie), there were two things that stood out to me in a negative way.

The first is superficial, but what the heck was going on with the accents?! Daniel Craig is speaking like . . . Daniel Craig. And everyone else is, like, doing their own version of a Swedish accent? Did no one, at the beginning of filming, go "Guys, this sounds kind of silly"?

The second, and something I'm still thinking about, is the portrayal of Lisbeth. As the film went on, she started to become like the dark version of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, right down to matter-of-factly sexually servicing a man who is old enough to be her father. Now, I do think that the film does a good job of showing that Lisbeth is attracted to Mikael in part because not only does he respect her, but his existence in her space is never sexually charged and he has no interest in exploiting her. Still, there's something that feels not quire right about a victim of repeated sexual assault/exploitation being the body we see nude over and over, while the bodies of the men are chastely hidden or relegated to distant profile shots. I mean, the villain of the film literally gets off on filming female bodies in distress, and the movie itself feels like it comes uncomfortably close to the same thing. And even aside from the sex stuff, she just becomes too supehuman in the final act. There's a balance of vulnerability that just gets lost in the end and she begins to feel more like a fetish object than a person. She honestly started to make me think of a male character from a trashy mystery series I used to read who was just this dude who would show up, was somehow good with technology and guns and fighting and everything..

All in all I enjoyed the film (though anyone who is sensitive to violence/sexual violence should be warned that there are some graphic and disturbing things that happen on screen), but it feels a bit like it missed being something really good.

3.5

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthecriticalcritics.com%2Freview%2Fwp-content%2Fimages%2Fthe_girl_with_the_dragon_tattoo-still_2.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2011

Journalist Mikael (Daniel Craig) has just lost a libel case when he is hired by a man named Henrik (Christopher Plummer) to track down his long-disappeared niece. As Mikael digs into the story he uncovers a series of murders and enlists the help of a brilliant-but-traumatized hacker named Lisbeth (Rooney Mara).

It is hard for me to parse exactly how I feel about this film, and I think it's due to several factors. Part of what is challenging for me is having watched the original adaptation not too long ago, lending an air of deja vu to many of the plot twists and turns. But even if I were coming to the film fresh, I think that there were some elements that I'd have found a bit questionable.

To start with the positive, I thought that the lead performances were strong and, in the case of Craig and Mara, suitably endearing. It's a neat trick to let characters be both flawed or awkward and yet lovable, and this film does it very well. It helps, of course, that those characters are engaged in trying to solve a series of brutal murders; that Mikael is fighting against a smarmy criminal billionaire; and that Lisbeth is dealing with a sexually abusive case manager who exploits his power over her.

The story itself, even when you are familiar with its beats, is an interesting one. The film takes an incredibly long time to let Mikael and Lisbeth actually sit down in the same room together. In that beginning third of the film, we watch each of their lives so that we have an understanding of what it means for these two particular personalities to collide. Even though the mystery itself involves some lurid and outlandish tropes (serial murders! connection with the Bible! World War 2 stuff!), they are layered together in a way that makes them feel more enjoyable than absurd.

The film won an Oscar for its editing, and I have to say that even before I knew that fact, I had noticed the way that different sequences were stitched together, sometimes in subtle little ways and sometimes with in-your-face smashes from one image to another. The movie looks good and grimy all at the same time, which is another fine line to walk.

Setting aside my familiarity with the story (which I admit isn't a fair criticism of a movie), there were two things that stood out to me in a negative way.

The first is superficial, but what the heck was going on with the accents?! Daniel Craig is speaking like . . . Daniel Craig. And everyone else is, like, doing their own version of a Swedish accent? Did no one, at the beginning of filming, go "Guys, this sounds kind of silly"?

The second, and something I'm still thinking about, is the portrayal of Lisbeth. As the film went on, she started to become like the dark version of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, right down to matter-of-factly sexually servicing a man who is old enough to be her father. Now, I do think that the film does a good job of showing that Lisbeth is attracted to Mikael in part because not only does he respect her, but his existence in her space is never sexually charged and he has no interest in exploiting her. Still, there's something that feels not quire right about a victim of repeated sexual assault/exploitation being the body we see nude over and over, while the bodies of the men are chastely hidden or relegated to distant profile shots. I mean, the villain of the film literally gets off on filming female bodies in distress, and the movie itself feels like it comes uncomfortably close to the same thing. And even aside from the sex stuff, she just becomes too supehuman in the final act. There's a balance of vulnerability that just gets lost in the end and she begins to feel more like a fetish object than a person. She honestly started to make me think of a male character from a trashy mystery series I used to read who was just this dude who would show up, was somehow good with technology and guns and fighting and everything..

All in all I enjoyed the film (though anyone who is sensitive to violence/sexual violence should be warned that there are some graphic and disturbing things that happen on screen), but it feels a bit like it missed being something really good.

3.5

I liked this film better on second viewing but I still significantly if not strongly prefer the original Swedish adaptation. I prefer the directing, editing (screw the Academy), and acting.
The Swedish film seems intentionally less flashy and more like a 1970s spy drama which worked better for me than Fincher's style (which probably would have been fine if I hadn't seen the other already). I liked Craig ok but I liked Nykvist better and I liked Mara but I liked Noomi Rapace a lot more (I think Rapace is one of the most underutilized actors out there and that if Prometheus hadn't been such a turd she would have been a star).
Whether or not the movie gets caught up in exploiting the exploited... I honestly just can't say. It's a fine line and I don't know if I felt it was appropriately straddled in Fincher's version or not.

[Deschain]

I liked this film better on second viewing but I still significantly if not strongly prefer the original Swedish adaptation. I prefer the directing, editing (screw the Academy), and acting.
The Swedish film seems intentionally less flashy and more like a 1970s spy drama which worked better for me than Fincher's style (which probably would have been fine if I hadn't seen the other already). I liked Craig ok but I liked Nykvist better and I liked Mara but I liked Noomi Rapace a lot more (I think Rapace is one of the most underutilized actors out there and that if Prometheus hadn't been such a turd she would have been a star).
Whether or not the movie gets caught up in exploiting the exploited... I honestly just can't say. It's a fine line and I don't know if I felt it was appropriately straddled in Fincher's version or not.

Yeah I also prefer the Swedish version. It dug deep into the more procedural element of the mystery which I found more engaging than the personal dramas of Fincher’s characters.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Suicide_Squad_%28film%29_poster.png
By Suicide Squad Movie Poster (#24 of 49) - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50874280

Suicide Squad - (2016)

This certainly took a hit from everyone when it was released - I must have read dozens of articles and critiques without ever actually seeing the film. As I was interested in watching last year's The Suicide Squad I decided to watch this so I had something to compare it with - and yeah, it was mind-numbing stuff. Generic. Awkwardly put together. But with a film like this, where I've already seen about 25% of it's footage because I was so interested in the criticism which was being generated just after it's release, it's so hard to step back and judge it without being influenced. I wouldn't have liked it, but not particularly hated it either. I'd have put my lack of interest down to a lack of enthusiasm for the genre as a whole. There are a few I like (X-Men First Class for some reason I really loved - it's just really well made and genuinely exciting) but most of them - even the well regarded - I don't really go for. Here the characters aren't really all that interesting (or well developed - except for Harley Quinn and Deadshot) and the adventure they have is about as unimaginative as you can get.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/The_Suicide_Squad_%28film%29_poster.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67214291

The Suicide Squad - (2021)

Obviously there was great comedic value in this particular franchise, because this semi-sequel really hit that aspect out of the park. You get a massive surprise pre-credits, but by then you've already had a few laughs (and when you're not laughing, you have a foolish grin on your face, it's just that kind of film.) It maintains that tone for it's entire runtime, but you also get emotionally attached to the characters, providing a stark contrast with the first Suicide Squad film. Instead of generic and boring, here the characters are on a mission that has an element of absurdity, with 1960 Supervillain Starro the Conqueror brought to life with some pretty decent CGI effects (which work with Stallone's King Shark as well.) The film embraces it's inherent silliness, while the 2016 incarnation tried to play everything straight down the line. Great screenplay from James Gunn - it helps when there's no confusion, changes or loads of reshoots. Should I watch Guardians of the Galaxy finally? If it's anything like this, I'd enjoy it. Would I be pushing it? Anyway, this gets a high rating for being so funny and offbeat.

8/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

The Suicide Squad - (2021)

Should I watch Guardians of the Galaxy finally? 8/10Yes. And try and catch The Peacemaker series while you're at it.

[Obi-Wan_Mifune]

This is one of my favorite Scorseses, like in the top tier with the ones everyone says are his classics. It doesn't matter to me that it's about playing pool and not about mobsters or street hustlers or sociopaths, it's just an excellently made film. It doesn't hurt that Newman gives yet another genuinely great performance.

Looking at his filmography, I guess I’m pretty basic when it comes to my Scorseses. Plus or minus my particular preference for The King of Comedy or Mean Streets (neither of which seems to get enough love these days), it’s a pretty standard-looking lineup of Taxi Driver, The Departed, The Irishman, etc…. There’s lots of great stuff that’s off the beaten trail, though. Speaking of which…

The Age of Innocence (1993) — I also decided to check out this unassuming period romance from Martin Scorsese. “Sumptuous” Is indeed the perfect word for it, as the lavish attention to exorbitant displays of wealth took center stage throughout its meaty runtime. It wasn’t as deeply invested in the dense social politics of the time as I would have hoped for (which is the kind of thing that keeps drawing me back to the works of Jane Austen and similar authors), but the impeccable crafts and cast more than make up for it. Although it is a lot more sedate than the mode I tend to prefer Scorsese working in, the subtly ratcheted up pacing in the final quarter or so of the film played really nicely off of its more languid beginnings. 4

Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends (2014) — Continuing a slow-burn rewatch of the series from earlier this year, I get to the concluding chapter of the franchise’s initial film trilogy. Although it lacks anything like the second movie’s wham-bang opening scene, its steadfast commitment to making ridiculous anime visuals work in live-action, its markedly over-the-top violence and its affecting emotional through-line make it hands down one of the best action films of the last decade. The decision to hold shots for shockingly long stretches of time (and to film many crowded group fights, such as the finale, from a top-down perspective) makes the elaborate choreography clear and discernible despite the frenzy going on in the moment. 4

Big Hero 6 (2014) — This is a shockingly underrated (or maybe just shockingly underseen) Disney-animated Marvel film that suffered by virtue of Frozen still being the main family attraction at movie theaters a full year after it debuted in 2013. A stark and emotional reimagining of the comic franchise that inspired it, it provides a a deftly realized blend of action-comedy interspersed with some thrilling action sequences and a strongly pro-STEM narrative. Of all the merchandisable, franchise-ready movies getting released these days, I’ve always been pretty bummed that this one never got a follow-up. 4

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) — Knowing in advance that this was a riff on the 1950s melodramas of director Douglas Sirk, I did my homework going into this one (watching Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, Imitation of Life and even fellow homage Far from Heaven). While mid-century melodramas are far from my usual taste in movies, I actually ended up liking both them and this as well. While trading in Sirks honey-thick, opulent aesthetic for something colder and more recognizably realistic, the interracial and intergenerational love story at the film’s center hit a lot harder for me than virtually all of its forebears. Cruelly playing out in a divided and deeply racist / sexist / ageist Germany, it mines the social resistance to the central coupling for all its dramatic value. The decision to coyly skirt around depicting their sex lives is at first a perplexing one, but it does serve to keep the focus of the story squarely on the couple’s desperate emotional connection and the consequences that result from it. 4

Jumbo (2020) — Perhaps it’s because the movie compares so poorly with last year’s Palme d’Or winner Titane, or perhaps it’s because it plays out shockingly conventionally for a love story about a woman and a Tilt-a-Whirl, but I was more than a little underwhelmed by this oddball romantic drama. Neither as salacious nor as extreme as advertised, it leaned heavily on visual innuendo and abstract imagery to get its techno-organic romance off the ground, neither of which worked half so well as when Titane simply showed you a woman having sex with a car. An incredibly interesting and promising premise brought down by thoroughly ordinary filmmaking. 3

Ip Man 3 (2015) — Another third installment to an R-rated, mostly 2010s-based, asian action franchise that I’ve been slowly marathoning through in my spare time, Ip Man 3 loosely connects several plot threads from Bruce Lee’s real-life martial arts instructor into a story that mostly holds up over 100 or so minutes. A number of well-choreographed fights (including one in which the titular character faces off against Mike Tyson), a few emotional B-plots (including one in which Ip Man’s wife contracts cancer) and a strong thematic arc carried over from the first two movies make this a must-watch for fans of either the man at its center or the genre to which it belongs, even if it never excels quite so well at any one aspect of its story as I would have hoped (a continuous grievance that I have with the franchise as a whole thus-far). 4

Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) — My new favorite of John Ford’s pre-40’s work (which I have been marathoning through this month), this is an incredibly well-crafted Lincoln biopic that smartly chooses to focus on a single incident from early in his career rather than presenting a sweeping epic of the immeasurable titan of American history (a decision which it shares with the equally excellent Spielberg-directed biopic from 2012). Featuring Henry Fonda at the absolute peak of his craft, hewn into Lincoln’s image through some truly remarkable makeup / costuming, and cast against some of the most arresting cinematography that I’ve seen in a Ford picture, Young Mr. Lincoln is a pithy courtroom drama that at times plays out a bit like a proto-My Cousin Vinny. It’s a wonderful surprise from a director that I largely don’t care for. 4

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/IncompleteThankfulDeermouse.webp
https://64.media.tumblr.com/f02c67fdd0a7d7242ff7ac7cdcb2e96a/285a3ecc8509e801-cc/s500x750/1dbcca8ad4feed51834f61a656f710d659b9a60f.gifv

Virginia City - 1940 western pairing star Errol Flynn (Kerry Bradford) yet again with director Michael Curtiz. Flynn's usual costar Olivia de Havilland is replaced by Miriam Hopkins (Julia Hayne). But his frequent sidekicks Alan Hale (Moosehead) and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams (Marblehead) are back again as well.

The tide has turned against the Confederacy as Julia Hayne visits her childhood friend and commandant of the prison Vance Irby (Randolph Scott). She floats the idea of smuggling five million in gold from Southern sympathizers in Virginia City, Nevada to finance the war effort. Union spy Kerry Bradford is serving time at Richmond's Libby Prison. He's been hunting down rumors of just such a thing and after he and his friends break out of the prison they're sent by his superiors to Virginia City and join Hayne on the stagecoach headed West.

Also on the stage is bandit leader John Murrell (Humphrey Bogart in an implausible mustache and even more implausible Mexican accent) who tries to rob the travelers before being outwitted by Bradford. He promptly disappears from the movie till his character is needed. It's the sort of movie that plays out just like you think it will and it's pretty easy to guess which characters won't survive. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad movie. There's plenty of action and gunplay and the cast are professionals with Scott and Flynn doing a respectable enough job. Hopkins though isn't a very convincing singer or dancer. But in her defense she took over for Brenda Marshall who had replaced Olivia de Havilland. This isn't upper tier Flynn but it's still better than the other Flynn western I watched.

75/100

[xSookieStackhouse]

5
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGQ1NjQyNDMtNzFlZS00ZGIzLTliMWUtNGJkMGMzNTBjNDg0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTE1NDI5MDQx._V1_.jpg

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6e/Suicide_Squad_%28film%29_poster.png
By Suicide Squad Movie Poster (#24 of 49) - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50874280

Suicide Squad - (2016)

This certainly took a hit from everyone when it was released - I must have read dozens of articles and critiques without ever actually seeing the film. As I was interested in watching last year's The Suicide Squad I decided to watch this so I had something to compare it with - and yeah, it was mind-numbing stuff. Generic. Awkwardly put together. But with a film like this, where I've already seen about 25% of it's footage because I was so interested in the criticism which was being generated just after it's release, it's so hard to step back and judge it without being influenced. I wouldn't have liked it, but not particularly hated it either. I'd have put my lack of interest down to a lack of enthusiasm for the genre as a whole. There are a few I like (X-Men First Class for some reason I really loved - it's just really well made and genuinely exciting) but most of them - even the well regarded - I don't really go for. Here the characters aren't really all that interesting (or well developed - except for Harley Quinn and Deadshot) and the adventure they have is about as unimaginative as you can get.

5/10



I genuinely felt this was one of the worst big-budget theatrical releases I ever saw.
I actually thought it was borderline incompetent and couldn't believe the studio would release it the way it was.
It's possible I would be kinder on a re-watch but I thought it was so bad that I will never spend another two hours of my life to find out.

[Wooley]

Looking at his filmography, I guess I’m pretty basic when it comes to my Scorseses. Plus or minus my particular preference for The King of Comedy or Mean Streets (neither of which seems to get enough love these days), it’s a pretty standard-looking lineup of Taxi Driver, The Departed, The Irishman, etc…. There’s lots of great stuff that’s off the beaten trail, though. Speaking of which…



My No.1 Scorsese is After Hours and my No.2 is a tie between The Color Of Money and Taxi Driver. I'm fairly high on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. If it's allowed, I would put The Last Waltz up in here.
After that group, there's a significant drop-off for me in enjoyment, as I respect Raging Bull and Goodfellas but I don't actually enjoy them.
There's nothing from his catalog since AH that I think of as being particularly great.

[Obi-Wan_Mifune]

My No.1 Scorsese is After Hours and my No.2 is a tie between The Color Of Money and Taxi Driver. I'm fairly high on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. If it's allowed, I would put The Last Waltz up in here.
After that group, there's a significant drop-off for me in enjoyment, as I respect Raging Bull and Goodfellas but I don't actually enjoy them.

Even though After Hours wasn’t quite my speed, it really goes to show just how much more range he has than people are willing to give him credit for.

[Goolmaxer]

The Batman (2022)

I saw the new Batman. I wasn't expecting much, so I was pleasantly surprised. I definitely recommend watching it.
9 / 10

[Stirchley]

My No.1 Scorsese is After Hours

Don’t think I’ve ever heard of this movie & definitely never seen it. Need to rectify this.

I’ve seen The Last Waltz a million times.

[Tugg]

I Want You Back (2022) 2.5
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/i/d8c5e4fb-4b81-416f-8a4b-a48189893053/dezwqxs-368244fb-a103-4fd7-83a4-f9c8d08f5b45.png
The Matrix Resurrections (2021) 1.5
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/2c54b004-9dbd-44b7-8031-08fadd6517c1/dewsq9u-7cc0fa69-20f7-4857-8029-2aaabd2fdd91.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzJjNTRiMDA0LTlkYmQtNDRiNy04MDMxLTA4ZmFkZDY1MTdjMVwvZGV3c3E5dS03Y2MwZmE2OS0yMGY3 LTQ4NTctODAyOS0yYWFhYmQyZmRkOTEucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.ik0GIB2_ ypnEvWHVACTL0oXCx07ADkLBBnjNmpwgPjY
Deep Water (2022) 3
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c7268c79-9436-4230-b75e-2814495b25f4/df1g8uj-e2f0ee9e-f201-4ee9-aa8e-2f8fe68967a1.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2M3MjY4Yzc5LTk0MzYtNDIzMC1iNzVlLTI4MTQ0OTViMjVmNFwvZGYxZzh1ai1lMmYwZWU5ZS1mMjAx LTRlZTktYWE4ZS0yZjhmZTY4OTY3YTEucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.FCkib9Nu b8o9jisEOoqUkIrW78NZ4oy0-QO8n7PcgVk
The Batman (2022) 3
https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ectKQkBrZFSFX8osGZQRMxjZKWQ=/0x0:1683x707/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:1683x707):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22932138/the_batman_2022_movie_trailer.jpg
Ambulance (2022) 4
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/14f797d9-ce55-4dad-a2e3-966ae51122f0/dezi0a2-1e03fbf3-780b-4c5c-aaeb-cec15cfc3187.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzE0Zjc5N2Q5LWNlNTUtNGRhZC1hMmUzLTk2NmFlNTExMjJmMFwvZGV6aTBhMi0xZTAzZmJmMy03ODBi LTRjNWMtYWFlYi1jZWMxNWNmYzMxODcucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.B3n6KpPL 7sZA89W0VOryZU6hKcddy2Go-k1VSGdhjEY

[Thief]

DOLORES CLAIBORNE
(1995, Hackford)
A drama film • A film based on a book

https://i.imgur.com/ZIbY0A3.png


"Hell ain't something you get thrown into overnight. The real hell comes on you as slow... and steady as a line of wet winter sheets."



Set in a small island in Maine, Dolores Claiborne follows the titular woman (Kathy Bates) after she is accused of murdering her wealthy yet elderly employer, Vera. The inquiry by obsessive Detective John Mackey (Christopher Plummer) brings Dolores' estranged daughter, Selena (Jennifer Jason Leigh) reluctantly back into the island, which in turn stirs up memories about the death of Dolores' husband and Selena's father 18 years ago.

Bates is an excellent actress and she puts so much into this character that you can, at the most, feel for her or at the very least, understand where she's coming from as a woman trapped by the circumstances. By contrasting who she was with who she is, we can understand the "real hell" that has come over her slowly. Jason Leigh does her best with an underwritten character, but despite that, her moments with Bates are pretty good, thanks to both actresses. I just wish we could've gotten more inside Selena's mind and her feelings since she's the most vulnerable character after all.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2297161#post2297161) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2297162#post2297162).

[crumbsroom]

There's nothing from his catalog since AH that I think of as being particularly great.


For me it would be Goodfellas, Shutter Island, Wolf of Wall Street and maybe The Irishman. Also a few of his documentaries are superb (what he did for Dylan and George Harrison is monumental in their appreciation of those two men's respective genius', and his Fran Liebowitz doc Public Speaking is also pretty great if you're a fan of her.)

[Thief]

US
(2019, Peele)

https://i.imgur.com/E63boHt.jpg


Gabe: "Who are you people?"
Red: "We're Americans."



Us follows the Wilsons as they head to Santa Cruz to enjoy a nice summer weekend. The trip seems to bring up a traumatizing experience that Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) had at the same beach when she was a child, where she encountered her doppelgänger. Despite this, they decide to have fun, until they find themselves face to face with their "evil" counterparts.

This is director Jordan Peele's second film, after the wildly successful and critically acclaimed Get Out. If there's one thing evident from both films is that Peele, for better or worse, certainly has a lot to say about a lot of issues in the country. Whereas Get Out seemed to focus mostly on racial issues, Us seems to tackle so much more: from race and class to consumerism and free will, among other things.

Grade: 5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2297202#post2297202)

[Wooley]

Don’t think I’ve ever heard of this movie & definitely never seen it. Need to rectify this.


:eek:

It's so great.
The less you know going in the more effect it will have and it is also kinda even more fun on subsequent viewing.

[Wooley]

For me it would be Goodfellas, Shutter Island, Wolf of Wall Street and maybe The Irishman. Also a few of his documentaries are superb (what he did for Dylan and George Harrison is monumental in their appreciation of those two men's respective genius', and his Fran Liebowitz doc Public Speaking is also pretty great if you're a fan of her.)

I liked Shutter Island ok, but it had two issues for me, the first being that I actually correctly guessed the ending of the movie the very first time I saw the trailer (I don't even know if it counts as "guessing" when it's that obvious) and the other is that it just suffers from what I think of us Famous Director Bloat, when a director gets big enough that no one ever says no to them and they're too far up their own ass (see Lucas, Spielberg). This was not nearly his worst offense, that would be Hugo, but it was still just too glossy and CGI'd and sort of "perfect" for me to more than just kinda like it.
I didn't see WoWS or The Irishman because of the previous paragraph. I mean, The Departed seemed like a much slicker director was strongly influenced by Scorsese. And then after Hugo, I kinda just gave up on the guy.
Those docs sound good though. If he wants to overspend on a production about Harrison or Dylan, I can get on board with that.

[ueno_station54]

i think shutter island may have completely killed my interest in psychological thrillers lmao

[crumbsroom]

I liked Shutter Island ok, but it had two issues for me, the first being that I actually correctly guessed the ending of the movie the very first time I saw the trailer (I don't even know if it counts as "guessing" when it's that obvious) and the other is that it just suffers from what I think of us Famous Director Bloat, when a director gets big enough that no one ever says no to them and they're too far up their own ass (see Lucas, Spielberg). This was not nearly his worst offense, that would be Hugo, but it was still just too glossy and CGI'd and sort of "perfect" for me to more than just kinda like it.
I didn't see WoWS or The Irishman because of the previous paragraph. I mean, The Departed seemed like a much slicker director was strongly influenced by Scorsese. And then after Hugo, I kinda just gave up on the guy.
Those docs sound good though. If he wants to overspend on a production about Harrison or Dylan, I can get on board with that.


The twist in Shutter Island is so deliberately telegraphed, I only view it as a twist being deployed tongue in cheek. Same with the overt exposition dump at the end explaining obvious things we already know (I assume a homage to the dreadful tacked on end of Psycho) I definitely don't think it is perfect. It does have bloat. And is a little too stylistically showy for my tastes. But as Scorsese doing dumb paranoid B movie, but with lots of money and stars, it's my kind of heaven.


Wolf of Wall Street is essential. One of the greatest comedy satires of this millenium. A baroque nightmare of douche bros destroying the country. And making you laugh at it.


The first Dylan doc he did is a miracle of footage and recent interviews with him. It stands along side Don't Look Now as the most important filmic document of the greatest artist of the 20th century. And the Harrison one is great a giving perspective on the 'forgotten Beatle' and how he was just a few hairs beneath the greatness of the others. And was nearly as complicated a person as Lennon

[Raven73]

Death at a Funeral
7/10.
This reminds me of some classic comedy movies like Clue, Police Academy and The Hangover. The humour is just crude enough and the cast is excellent.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d7/Death_at_a_Funeral_2010_Poster.jpg

[Takoma11]

I liked this film better on second viewing but I still significantly if not strongly prefer the original Swedish adaptation. I prefer the directing, editing (screw the Academy), and acting.
The Swedish film seems intentionally less flashy and more like a 1970s spy drama which worked better for me than Fincher's style (which probably would have been fine if I hadn't seen the other already). I liked Craig ok but I liked Nykvist better and I liked Mara but I liked Noomi Rapace a lot more (I think Rapace is one of the most underutilized actors out there and that if Prometheus hadn't been such a turd she would have been a star).
Whether or not the movie gets caught up in exploiting the exploited... I honestly just can't say. It's a fine line and I don't know if I felt it was appropriately straddled in Fincher's version or not.

Yeah, I think that the actors in the original feel more lived-in.

[Gideon58]

https://static.metacritic.com/images/products/movies/9/4e2330cd62508fb282d17fcd728740ef.jpg


3.5

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BODhkZGE0NDQtZDc0Zi00YmQ4LWJiNmUtYTY1OGM1ODRmNGVkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTMxODk2OTU@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


1st Rewatch..Director/Screenwriter Greta Gerwig received major acclaim for her re-thinking of Little Women, but I think this film, which received Oscar nominations, is her masterpiece. The film is anchored by a luminous performance by Soirse Ronan as a 41 year old soul living inside an 18-year old high school senior who has no filters while dealing with relationships with two very different guys (Lucas Hedges, Timothee Chalamet), her high strung mother (Laurie Metcalf), her depressed unemployed father (Tracy Letts) and her wiser than she thinks BFF (Beanie Fieldstein). And I still think Laurie Metclaf should have won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar over Allison Janney.

[Thief]

MAGICAL GIRL
(2014, Vermut)

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


"And what are bullfights? The representation of the struggle between instinct and technique, between emotion and reason. We must accept our instincts and to learn to struggle with them as if they were a bull, so that they do not destroy us."



Magical Girl follows three separate characters, each with different instincts, emotions, and struggles. There is Luis (Luis Bermejo), the unemployed teacher that is determined to buy an expensive anime dress for her terminally ill daughter. Then there is Bárbara (Bárbara Lennie), the mysterious and enigmatic woman that seems to be recovering from something while trapped in a problematic marriage. Finally, we have Damián (José Sacristán), a former teacher that seems to be suffering the consequences of letting his instincts take over.

The film presents the three storylines separately, but eventually converges them in a tragic collision course where reason fails and instincts succeed. Directed and written by Carlos Vermut, he uses a cold and distant approach to the camera, but does so with undeniable skill. There is a careful selection of what to show, when to show it, and how to show it, which heightens the tension and builds the atmosphere of dread that surrounds every character, where you're sure no one will probably succeed.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2297310#post2297310) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2297311#post2297311).

[skizzerflake]

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:
Damn, this is a dose - The Northman. Anybody familiar with European history knows that a big part of what made the Dark Ages be dark was the Northmen, AKA Vikings. Pillaging villages, murder, fire, abduction were all part of what happened when you saw the sails on the horizon. In his latest feature, Robert Eggers takes us right into the belly of that beast.

The story is liberally adapted from one of the many, ultraviolent, Icelandic Sagas, in particular, the one that Shakespeare broadly adapted when he wrote Hamlet. All of the "cides" are present here, is in fratricide, matricide, patricide and any other form of butchery, torture, burning or mayhem. There's also vengeance, soothsayers, mystic oracles and people being eaten by crows. The quick and dirty summary is - "Prince Amleth is on the verge of becoming a man when his father is brutally murdered by his uncle, who kidnaps the boy's mother. Two decades later, Amleth is now a Viking who raids Slavic villages. He soon meets a seeress who reminds him of his vow -- save his mother, kill his uncle, avenge his father."

You do have to wonder just how they kept the population from crashing for several centuries, before Scandinavians settled down, invented Volvos and Ikea, spawned me and salted down lots of fish, but somehow it worked.

The movie version of all this is pretty stark, well done and full of sweat, blood, gritting teeth, fire and ice and droning music. And, did I mention the crows. I didn't mention the lutefisk. The trailer here is just a sample.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMSdFM12hOw

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/Mpht27jx/coma.jpg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67388581

Coma - (2019)

This film is like a mid-to-low budget Russian version of Inception where, instead of people visiting each other's subconscious they meet each other in a world that exists for everyone who is in a coma. When you stop and really think about it, then it makes little sense. I have to admit, the visuals are quite nice at times, and imaginative, but the story won't hold up even if your mind scrutinizes it for a moment - massive plot holes exist. The performances in it are average (the version I watched was dubbed into English, which doesn't help either) and it has the look and feel of a Dr. Who episode rather than a feature film.

5/10

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/50/The_Matrix_Resurrections.jpg/220px-The_Matrix_Resurrections.jpg

2

SF = Zzzz

and to top it off, an awful Rage cover at the end...


[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

[Thief]

DEMONS
(1971, Matsumoto)

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


"This world is a sea of blood"



The above text appears as the lead in the very final scene, but it is an accurate description of not only what will happen in the last 15 minutes, but what has preceded it too. Set in the Edo period, Demons follows Gengobe (Katsuo Nakamura), a disgraced samurai that's determined to take revenge against the geisha that betrayed him (Yasuko Sanjo) and her husband (Juro Kara).

I very much appreciated the direction and cinematography on this. Not only was the camera movement very neat and effective, but the blocking of the scenes, the use of light and shadows, and "dead spaces" in the framing of certain shots was impressive. Even though Matsumoto keeps his camera at a distance many times, he's not afraid to zoom into the violence to show us that "sea of blood".

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2297354#post2297354) and the HOF27 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2297355#post2297355).

[TheUsualSuspect]

The Northman - 4.5

Sonic 2 - 3.5

[MovieBuffering]

The Batman - 2022

Going into this any Batman film is going be hard to measure up to Nolan's to me. I think Nolan found near the pitch perfect fun/realistic Batman meant for a big cinema screen. So any new Batman is already starting in a hole with me. It peaked my interest because The Riddler is my favorite Batman villain (I really wish Nolan made a movie with him;( would have been gold)I think comic purist seem to like this movie because it's a darker detective Batman. I can dig that but you spent the opening of the movie talking about shadows and Batman could always be lurking....well he spends the majority of the movie just hanging out in public with no sense of surprise at all. I don't think a person he came up against was scared of him expect the opening sequence. It was just goofy to me watching him just hang out with cops with a silly costume on. Just make a detective noir without Batman, which I think this movie would have been better if it was just that. Anyways that was bizarre to me.

Dano was fine as the Riddler. Sort of fizzles out though. Big Spacey Seven vibes. Zoe was adequate as Catwoman, she looked sexy as hell in those wigs. Colin Farrell is unrecognizable as the Penguin, didn't have a ton to do but he was awesome. Pattinson as Batman was fine but as Bruce they were indistinguishable. Both depressed and sad, it's pretty obvious they are the same people. His Bruce needs alot of work.

It looked beautiful as a film. It was just way to long and started to get convoluted at the end. I was wanting it to be over the last 30 minutes of the film which isn't a good sign. The woke/identity politics Hollywood just can't help themselves. It's not in your face but a couple lines are and the casting was pretty deliberate, specially the mayor elect, who I didn't buy at all she looked 20 years old. I don't know I think it's biggest sin is it's boring and it makes Batman kind of uncool. It's freaking Batman...how do I come out of it thinking he is uncool. Maybe if I was into the comics I'd dig it but wasn't for me. I'll forget this movie by next week.

1.5

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDdmMTBiNTYtMDIzNi00NGVlLWIzMDYtZTk3MTQ3NGQxZGEwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzMwOTU5MDk@._V1_.jpg

[Wooley]

For me it would be Goodfellas, Shutter Island, Wolf of Wall Street and maybe The Irishman. Also a few of his documentaries are superb (what he did for Dylan and George Harrison is monumental in their appreciation of those two men's respective genius', and his Fran Liebowitz doc Public Speaking is also pretty great if you're a fan of her.)

Wait, I forgot that I had just said that I thought The Color Of Money was one of his best, so I would say that one.
I've never really liked Goodfellas. I love some of the style, I love some scenes, overall the movie just wasn't for me. I feel like this was the movie where his style rolled over into the slicker version of Scorsese that has made all of his films (that I've seen) since then.

[Wooley]

The twist in Shutter Island is so deliberately telegraphed, I only view it as a twist being deployed tongue in cheek. Same with the overt exposition dump at the end explaining obvious things we already know (I assume a homage to the dreadful tacked on end of Psycho) I definitely don't think it is perfect. It does have bloat. And is a little too stylistically showy for my tastes. But as Scorsese doing dumb paranoid B movie, but with lots of money and stars, it's my kind of heaven.


Wolf of Wall Street is essential. One of the greatest comedy satires of this millenium. A baroque nightmare of douche bros destroying the country. And making you laugh at it.


The first Dylan doc he did is a miracle of footage and recent interviews with him. It stands along side Don't Look Now as the most important filmic document of the greatest artist of the 20th century. And the Harrison one is great a giving perspective on the 'forgotten Beatle' and how he was just a few hairs beneath the greatness of the others. And was nearly as complicated a person as Lennon

Agree with those things above. I think the movie just needed a little less slickness, needed to be closer to the ground if you will.
And what is with directors that fall so totally in love with CGI like Del Toro and Scorsese? It's one thing if there are a few specific things you want to do that can only be accomplished that way, then maybe it works. But ugly green-screens of... two guys in a forest? Why? Why is that necessary. The only acceptable explanation is that he wanted to intentionally create an "unreality" (if you'll allow it) because that's how it looked.
And then exposition dumps as climaxes of movies is arguably my biggest pet peeve in all of film (right ahead of unnecessary green-screens). Other than just not understanding in general why people think it's that great, it is the main reason I am baffled by the love of Minority Report. Steven, you're supposed to be this legendary director, you can't come up with any way to explain the story to the audience other than having Max von Sydow just literally explain it to them? Weak sauce.

I will check out WoWS on your rec. You and I don't always agree, but you're kind of a hard-ass, so there's that. A lot of people have rec'd it to me and I haven't done it, you can be the straw that broke the camel's back.

I'll definitely check out the Dylan doc, that's a guy I keep liking more and more as I get older (I mean, not as a person, obviously, he's an *******, but as a musician and songwriter).

[Gideon58]

https://lumiere-a.akamaihd.net/v1/images/p_mulan_20529_83d3893a.jpeg


4

[Corax]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.wallpapersden.com%2Fimage%2Fdownload%2Fall-the-old-knives-movie-poster_bWdsa2yUmZqaraWkpJRma2VlrW5lZQ.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

3.5/5


It's not bad. In terms of its internal logic, it's quite plausible. It's familiar. It's maudlin. It ends with more whimper than bang.



At a certain point, with films like this, I tire of trying to be the smartest kid in the class figuring out who did what and who double or triple-crossed whom. The plot mechanics of the Rube-Goldberg-Whodunit? machine tend to bore me the longer and more tortured the story becomes, but this film is different. It's about feeling and motivation, the subjective aspects of "why" which become increasingly pronounced as the film goes on. It's different in that it is not a mere "suspense spy thriller," but more of an extended reverie. A useful soporific or "unhappy pill" for those of you who would like to feel depressed (and I don't even really mean that in a bad way).

[EsmagaSapos]

https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/7/1/7/5/4/1/717541-the-outfit-0-230-0-345-crop.jpg?k=7a8525387a

3

Watched it because of Mark Rylance, one of the best actors of our generation. It has particularities that resemblances to his possibly most well known work, Rudolf Abel in The Bridge of Spies, although, the film and character are nothing like it. Chicago, 1956, a tailor, I'm sorry, a cutter, you'll understand when you see it, gets mixed in dangerous mob business. Although this takes place in Chicago, this is an all-in-one room film. Everything is centered around Rylance character, he successfully made it mysterious, slowly unfolding his past history with a twist by the end.

P.s. Stirchley the film mentions Savile Row, it has very slow and detailed takes on tailoring, almost like Hannibal Lecter cooking in the series.

[Gideon58]

https://www.trendycow.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Ambulance-Wrong-headed-movie-remake-1.jpg


3.5

[mark f]

BUtterfield 8 (Daniel Mann, 1960) 2.5 6/10
A Werewolf in England (Charlie Steeds, 2020) 1.5+ 4.5/10
Of Human Bondage (Ken Hughes, 1964) 2.5 6/10
Capricorn One (Peter Hyams, 1977) 3.5 7/10
https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.kiPVx50w2gzGsOC16JqQXgHaFj&pid=15.1
Exciting, funny thriller about astronauts Sam Waterston, James Brolin and O.J. Simpson who have to try to escape in the desert after crazed NASA official Hal Holbrook "uses" them to fake the first Mars landing, but reporter Elliott Gould is on the story.
Just One Kiss (Jeff Beesley, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Lizzie (Hugo Haas, 1957) 2 5/10
Wall of Noise (Richard Wilson, 1963) 2.5 6/10
55 Days at Peking (Nicholas Ray, 1963) 3.5 7+/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/17597e53db2b339900fbff64f35b33c4/tumblr_pt74osnERG1rbe3e3o2_540.jpg
British diplomat David Niven and American major Charlton Heston are in the Wild East during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Grand spectacle and action in and around the International Compound in Peking.
Look in Any Window (William Alland, 1961) 2 5/10
Blood on the Moon (Robert Wise, 1948) 2.5 6/10
In the Cool of the Day (Robert Stevens, 1963) 2 5/10
Infinite Storm (Malgorzata Szumowska, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://rogermooresmovienation.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/watts9.webp?w=640
Rescue climber Naomi Watts ascends Mt. Washington, New Hampshire and tries to save stranded man Billy Howle during a blizzard. Both people carry memories of loss and guilt with them.
Brimstone & Treacle (Richard Loncraine, 1982) 2.5 6/10
Black Patch (Allen H. Miner, 1957) 2 5/10
The Badlanders (Delmer Daves, 1958) 2.5 6/10
All My Friends Hate Me (Andrew Gaynord, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
https://filmdaily.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Friends-03.jpeg
Meeting up with college friends to celebrate his birthday, Pete (Tom Stourton) encounters what he considers to be strange people and occurrences, leaving him paranoid and the party very uncomfortable.
When Billie Met Lisa (David Silverman, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Agnes (Mickey Reece, 2021) 2 5/10
Get Out of My Room (Cheech Marin, 1985) 2.5 6/10
The Contractor (Tarik Saleh, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/a27516550215288cf61485ecaad0805f/77209e9cdabc6799-d0/s540x810/35435f1d5514130f8801cef39a68affa5b461374.gifv
U.S. Special Forces sergeant Chris Pine is discharged and loses his pension and benefits, so to support his family he goes to work for military contractor Kiefer Sutherland who ends up sending him and his friend Ben Foster on a BS mission.

[Corax]

https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/film-poster/7/1/7/5/4/1/717541-the-outfit-0-230-0-345-crop.jpg?k=7a8525387a

rating_3

Watched it because of Mark Rylance, one of the best actors of our generation. It has particularities that resemblances to his possibly most well known work, Rudolf Abel in The Bridge of Spies, although, the film and character are nothing like it. Chicago, 1956, a tailor, I'm sorry, a cutter, you'll understand when you see it, gets mixed in dangerous mob business. Although this takes place in Chicago, this is an all-in-one room film. Everything is centered around Rylance character, he successfully made it mysterious, slowly unfolding his past history with a twist by the end.

P.s. @Stirchley (http://www.movieforums.com/community/member.php?u=97322) the film mentions Savile Row, it has very slow and detailed takes on tailoring, almost like Hannibal Lecter cooking in the series.


This is the sort of thing I mean when I speak of getting tired of twists and turns. This one pushes the turns a few moves past my interest. It was OK, but I need a break from the word "marbles" now.

[skizzerflake]

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

It's really pretty cool and funny - The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent - So what DO you do with Nick Cage? He's been in more movies than you can shake a proverbial stick at, many of them almost seem like self parody. In real life he needs to act because, in spite of being rich, apparently money slips through him like a hole in the pocket, so here we go, his 104th role (according to IMDB). He's being repeatedly confronted by his younger self, who doesn't like Nick's career choices. He also intends to retire after his next job.

So, Nick plays himself, in a low point in his career, with a problematical home life. He's invited (his next job) to a private island by a sketchy guy Javi, who has too much security on the island for anybody's comfort. Javi wants to make a movie starring Cage and also idolizes Cage. Then enter the CIA, who are following Javi who say that Javi is a big time illegal arms dealer, up to his ears with bad guys. There are too many plot twists for a brief note, but many bodies will fall before Nick survives.

This movie is really pretty darn crazy. It's not written by Cage, but Cage is the center. Is it the real Cage or a fictional Cage? What about the young Cage? Does any of this make any sense? Yeah, it does, in a strangely circular, self-referential sort of way. It's funny, weird and moves along well. If you don't mind a lot of dead bodies, it's pretty darn funny and twisted enough to be worth a second viewing since there's a lot of loose ends and strange twists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2YHPZMj8r4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/The_Little_Things_poster.jpeg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - Can be obtained from film’s distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66173915

The Little Things - (2021)

A little bit muddled, especially during it's first half, and not as grabby as these Se7en-like serial killer films usually are - instead of it's focus being on horrible murders or the killer, this one sets it's sights squarely on the detectives trying to solve them. One is a new guy and inexperienced (played by Rami Malek - a little miscast I thought) and the other a broken down wreck who shouldn't be there to start with (played by Denzel Washington). They zero in on a suspect, who appears to walk and talk like a guy who has a T-shirt with "I'm a serial killer" on the front and back of it - but played so very interestingly by Jared Leto. There are half a dozen huge revelations towards the end of the film, and a quite unexpected turn of events. Should have been a great movie, but it's screenplay (with massive dumps of exposition and a lack of focus) lets us down a little, as does Malek I thought.

6/10

[MovieBuffering]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/The_Little_Things_poster.jpeg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - Can be obtained from film’s distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66173915

The Little Things - (2021)

A little bit muddled, especially during it's first half, and not as grabby as these Se7en-like serial killer films usually are - instead of it's focus being on horrible murders or the killer, this one sets it's sights squarely on the detectives trying to solve them. One is a new guy and inexperienced (played by Rami Malek - a little miscast I thought) and the other a broken down wreck who shouldn't be there to start with (played by Denzel Washington). They zero in on a suspect, who appears to walk and talk like a guy who has a T-shirt with "I'm a serial killer" on the front and back of it - but played so very interestingly by Jared Leto. There are half a dozen huge revelations towards the end of the film, and a quite unexpected turn of events. Should have been a great movie, but it's screenplay (with massive dumps of exposition and a lack of focus) lets us down a little, as does Malek I thought.

6/10

I don't remember much from this movie but the part I put in bold. I'd say he was alot miscast. Didn't buy him as an important young cop at all.

[MovieBuffering]

Scent Of A Woman - 1992

Been meaning to get around to this one for awhile. I just knew it was Al Pacino being blind and winning an Oscar. Never seen it. His role was very memorable all be it a bit over the top. O'Donnell was ok I suppose. Played the innocent teen part well, but some of the other stuff was wooden. The movie was too long felt a bit over indulgent. It was a bizarre story. Pacino is so mesmerizing, some good some bad it takes away from the plot being sort of silly. The end doesn't hit because I just didn't much care for O'Donnell's side plot. I get what they were trying to do but it should have been 30 minutes shorter and focused on O'Donnell and Pacino's characters and forget about the school story line. That's all it needed. It was a weird flick to me. Pacino's performance saves it from being a real mess in my eyes.

2
https://i.discogs.com/W4-CquyWVYfFN5TpcPocd8upFWSzlWHzeVM744i3hE8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:497/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4Mjcx/ODMtMTU3MzgyNzUz/My0yMDU5LmpwZWc.jpeg

[EsmagaSapos]

This is the sort of thing I mean when I speak of getting tired of twists and turns. This one pushes the turns a few moves past my interest. It was OK, but I need a break from the word "marbles" now.
If it were not for Mark Rylance I'd never even consider watching this film. The twists and turns are also not appealing to me. I don't consider the film good, I'd actually rate it lower, but I wasn't too bored, I only jumped the movie ahead two times. The final twist was very basic and cliché, like I said, if it were not for Mark I'd not even rate this film.

[EsmagaSapos]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/The_Little_Things_poster.jpeg
By Studio and or Graphic Artist - Can be obtained from film’s distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66173915

The Little Things - (2021)

A little bit muddled, especially during it's first half, and not as grabby as these Se7en-like serial killer films usually are - instead of it's focus being on horrible murders or the killer, this one sets it's sights squarely on the detectives trying to solve them. One is a new guy and inexperienced (played by Rami Malek - a little miscast I thought) and the other a broken down wreck who shouldn't be there to start with (played by Denzel Washington). They zero in on a suspect, who appears to walk and talk like a guy who has a T-shirt with "I'm a serial killer" on the front and back of it - but played so very interestingly by Jared Leto. There are half a dozen huge revelations towards the end of the film, and a quite unexpected turn of events. Should have been a great movie, but it's screenplay (with massive dumps of exposition and a lack of focus) lets us down a little, as does Malek I thought.

6/10
The only things I liked about this film were:
1. The title reminds me of a poem I like very much, the shoelace (https://tinyurl.com/theshoelace), and honestly, I don't believe the author came up with the title by his own.
2. Many people don't like Jared Leto, I do, he's a chameleon, and this was another chameleon role, in this case was too pushed, but it was the only thing that attracted me in this film.

For the ones that enjoyed Denzel's role, I advise watching the film The Flock, this one yes, a good film with a good performance by the great, and possibly my favorite American actor, Richard Gere. A film with an attractive plot and interesting character study.

[Marco]

Nitram (2021)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Nitram_Poster.jpg
True story of an Australian tragedy. The performances are all superb.

Haunting.

3.5

[Marco]

[QUOTE=MovieBuffering;2297559]Scent Of A Woman - 1992

Been meaning to get around to this one for awhile. I just knew it was Al Pacino being blind and winning an Oscar. Never seen it. His role was very memorable all be it a bit over the top. O'Donnell was ok I suppose. Played the innocent teen part well, but some of the other stuff was wooden. The movie was too long felt a bit over indulgent. It was a bizarre story. Pacino is so mesmerizing, some good some bad it takes away from the plot being sort of silly. The end doesn't hit because I just didn't much care for O'Donnell's side plot. I get what they were trying to do but it should have been 30 minutes shorter and focused on O'Donnell and Pacino's characters and forget about the school story line. That's all it needed. It was a weird flick to me. Pacino's performance saves it from being a real mess in my eyes.

I never thought about it before as I think the film is good but agree 100%, without the schmlatz at the end the film could have been shorter and more time spent on the central relationship.

[Wooley]

Scent Of A Woman - 1992

Been meaning to get around to this one for awhile. I just knew it was Al Pacino being blind and winning an Oscar. Never seen it. His role was very memorable all be it a bit over the top. O'Donnell was ok I suppose. Played the innocent teen part well, but some of the other stuff was wooden. The movie was too long felt a bit over indulgent. It was a bizarre story. Pacino is so mesmerizing, some good some bad it takes away from the plot being sort of silly. The end doesn't hit because I just didn't much care for O'Donnell's side plot. I get what they were trying to do but it should have been 30 minutes shorter and focused on O'Donnell and Pacino's characters and forget about the school story line. That's all it needed. It was a weird flick to me. Pacino's performance saves it from being a real mess in my eyes.

2
https://i.discogs.com/W4-CquyWVYfFN5TpcPocd8upFWSzlWHzeVM744i3hE8/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:497/w:500/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE4Mjcx/ODMtMTU3MzgyNzUz/My0yMDU5LmpwZWc.jpeg

Yeah, I rolled my eyes through this whole movie when it came out in the theater.
It's the movie that kinda made me lose respect for Pacino and not wanna see any more of his work.
It's really a classic example, to me, of how lost cinema was in the 90s. Not that there were no good films but the general mainstream product was arguably the poorest of any decade.

[Corax]

If it were not for Mark Rylance I'd never even consider watching this film. The twists and turns are also not appealing to me. I don't consider the film good, I'd actually rate it lower, but I wasn't too bored, I only jumped the movie ahead two times. The final twist was very basic and cliché, like I said, if it were not for Mark I'd not even rate this film.


I think your rating is fair. Rylance carries the film and the camera is centered on him. The gangster characters are hopelessly thin stock types. They are written poorly. They are acted poorly. It's almost like they made them hollow so that we could enjoy Mark's performance more by comparison (as Rodney Dangerfield used to joke, "If you want to look thin, have fat friends.")



I was happy with the twist and turns up to a point. At the point that Rylance turns out to be John Wick and the shears are -- as always knew they would be -- wielded as a deadly weapon, we were miles past our exit. Up to that point, I thought it was a quaint film. It just didn't know when to stop.


As bad as most films are these days, this was actually a quite welcome find for me.

[ScarletLion]

Yeah, I rolled my eyes through this whole movie when it came out in the theater.
It's the movie that kinda made me lose respect for Pacino and not wanna see any more of his work.
It's really a classic example, to me, of how lost cinema was in the 90s. Not that there were no good films but the general mainstream product was arguably the poorest of any decade.

Agree with your point on this film. But I don't feel 'mainstream film' has improved at all since the 1990s. Got worse if anything.

This is why so many mainstream films have had to incorporate / remake so many international films and their themes. Because if they don't you get Scent of a Woman / Green Book etc

[MovieBuffering]

Yeah, I rolled my eyes through this whole movie when it came out in the theater.
It's the movie that kinda made me lose respect for Pacino and not wanna see any more of his work.
It's really a classic example, to me, of how lost cinema was in the 90s. Not that there were no good films but the general mainstream product was arguably the poorest of any decade.

Maybe I am bias because I grew up in the 90s. I think it was the best decade for film. Independent films were given relatively large budgets. Studios were making big films without being reliant on pre existing franchises. Wide variety of movies being made, comedies, independent dramas, big blockbusters etc and they were diverse in the sense of genres. I think 1994 was the pinnacle of cinema. Where classic collide with modern.

The last few years have been trash. It's all about identity or remakes or pre existing properties like superheros, not to mention the political correctness has absolutely killed the comedy genre one of my favorites. Maybe they will course correct, but I have little faith it's going come from Hollywood.

[MovieBuffering]

[QUOTE=MovieBuffering;2297559]Scent Of A Woman - 1992

I never thought about it before as I think the film is good but agree 100%, without the schmlatz at the end the film could have been shorter and more time spent on the central relationship.

I just had no investment in the end scene. Strange choice to me. Whole movie was strange.

[Fabulous]

The Good Liar (2019)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/qhWuoyUQ01ZzsbNfjbddAoK6uEc.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

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San Antonio - 1945 Errol Flynn western directed by David Butler. Flynn plays cattle rancher Clay Hardin. He's hiding out in Mexico after being shot and run off his land by cattle rustlers. The organized gangs have taken over in Texas and there's not much the authorities can do without solid evidence. Hardin is convinced he's found it after discovering a tally book with bills of sale for his stolen cattle. The definitive proof is the signature of Roy Stuart (Paul Kelly), the man Clay has always suspected of being behind the thefts.

Hardin and his friend Charlie Bell (John Litel) venture to San Antonio separately. On the way Clay meets love interest/singer Jeanne Starr (Alexis Smith) who's been hired by Stuart's partner, the manifestly janky Legare (Victor Francen), to entertain at their saloon. Wanting to spend more time with Jeanne but not exactly trusting her, Hardin leaves the tally book with Charlie. Most of you will be able to guess where this is going and eventually the whole thing wraps up with the customary showdown.

I'm not sure if this is a completely worthy Flynn western. But if you have an affinity for the genre it will satisfy.

70/100

[John W Constantine]

John W Constantine's #1 movie on his countdown - (1966)

4.5

[mark f]

Yeah?

[John W Constantine]

Yeah?

no movie is perfect.

[mark f]

What's the flippin' movie?

[John W Constantine]

What's the flippin' movie?

It's a secret, until Iro gets done with his list.

[doubledenim]

no movie is perfect.


https://media.giphy.com/media/ebeRiojLSc608/giphy.gif

[GulfportDoc]

[The Outfit (2022)]
rating_3

Watched it because of Mark Rylance, one of the best actors of our generation. It has particularities that resemblances to his possibly most well known work, Rudolf Abel in The Bridge of Spies, although, the film and character are nothing like it. Chicago, 1956, a tailor, I'm sorry, a cutter, you'll understand when you see it, gets mixed in dangerous mob business. Although this takes place in Chicago, this is an all-in-one room film. Everything is centered around Rylance character, he successfully made it mysterious, slowly unfolding his past history with a twist by the end.

P.s. @Stirchley (http://www.movieforums.com/community/member.php?u=97322) the film mentions Savile Row, it has very slow and detailed takes on tailoring, almost like Hannibal Lecter cooking in the series.
I too am a huge fan of Mark Rylance. Possibly my favorite actor today. And he didn't disappoint here.

Still the movie was just a smidge disappointing. Part of that is due to my imagining what the film was going to be prior to watching it, but another portion was within the production itself.

First of all the color saturation was rather pale, making it seem almost like it was shot on video tape. That could have been my TV's setting. OTOH it could have been filmed that way to connote the 1950s. It's almost if it were color desaturated.

It's very tricky to bring off a crime drama set in one room. In this case I think it was a detraction. In films of this type, the story, writing, and acting have to be first rate in order to overcome the humdrum of the single set.

Notable examples of films set in one room that were successful: Rope, Rear Window (slightly expanded set), Coherence, and The Guilty (Danish).

Some of the casting was questionable, especially Simon Russell Beale as Roy Boyle, the mob boss. I never believed him in the role. The two gangsters played by Johnny Flynn and Dylan O'Brien were not very threatening. Johnny Flynn at times seem to fit the role, but at other times he seemed to be struggling to seem nasty.

The production put me in mind of an American crime version of a British drawing room drama. After about the 10th foray into the ante room, I wanted the camera to go through the front door and show the damn neighborhood!

I'd rate the film about the same as did you. A very nice vehicle for Mark Rylance, but to me the twists, turns, and surprise ending was not enough to rate it the highest.

~Doc

[StuSmallz]

https://media.giphy.com/media/ebeRiojLSc608/giphy.gif
I do love Drive (https://letterboxd.com/stusmallz/film/drive-2011/) a lot on the whole, but even I'll admit that one particular moment in it was a bit too violent for its own good.

[mark f]

It's a secret, until Iro gets done with his list.
So in 6 months.

[Wooley]

Agree with your point on this film. But I don't feel 'mainstream film' has improved at all since the 1990s. Got worse if anything.

This is why so many mainstream films have had to incorporate / remake so many international films and their themes. Because if they don't you get Scent of a Woman / Green Book etc

Could be.
I feel like the rise of alternate outlets to the theater have given rise to the opportunity to some films we just really didn't see much of in the '90s.

[Wooley]

Maybe I am bias because I grew up in the 90s. I think it was the best decade for film. Independent films were given relatively large budgets. Studios were making big films without being reliant on pre existing franchises. Wide variety of movies being made, comedies, independent dramas, big blockbusters etc and they were diverse in the sense of genres. I think 1994 was the pinnacle of cinema. Where classic collide with modern.

The last few years have been trash. It's all about identity or remakes or pre existing properties like superheros, not to mention the political correctness has absolutely killed the comedy genre one of my favorites. Maybe they will course correct, but I have little faith it's going come from Hollywood.

Well, I get that.
I can't say I agree, but I get it.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/Blue_Bayou_%28film%29.jpg
By IMP Awards / 2021 Movie Poster Gallery / Blue Bayou Poster (#2 of 2), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68197138

Blue Bayou - (2021)

Well, this was very heavy handed - it's a 'message movie' about an issue, and particularly emotionally manipulative, but if you're okay with all of that then you might enjoy it. Antonio LeBlanc (Justin Chon) was born in Korea, but adopted by an American family when he was three years old. Married, with a stepdaughter and biological daughter on the way, he desperately looks for work to supplement the income he and his wife are making (he's a tattoo artist.) He ends up crossing his partner's ex, who is a cop, and ends up in trouble - he has a criminal record and the authorities decide to deport him back to Korea, despite the fact he has an American family, accent, and doesn't even speak Korean or remember the place. You see, in the U.S. people who were adopted out as babies are being deported - ripped away from their families and sent to places that are foreign to them. It seem pretty silly, but it's happening. Anyway, really top notch film - very well directed and the actors are great. I recommend it - but afterwards you do get the feeling you've been hit about the head with a baseball bat with the film's message on it. It doesn't rely on subtlety, but it's pretty good.

7/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

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Night and the City - My unintentional flurry of Jules Dassin movies continues. This is a really effective noir from 1950 and stars Richard Widmark as American expatriate Harry Fabian. He's a low level hustler living in London and working as a "club tout" for Philip Nosseross. He goes out and, using his network of cab drivers, doormen and bouncers, entices well to do targets into visiting his bosses nightclub. Fabian is kind of a pathetic schmuck and hustler always looking for the big score that will land him on Easy Street. He lives with his long suffering girlfriend Mary Bristol (Gene Tierney) who seemingly never tires of lending him money for his endless debts and get rich quick schemes.

One night while at the wrestling matches he runs across Gregorius (Stanislaus Zbyszko), a battle-scarred and retired Greco-Roman wrestling champion. He's now managing and training an up and coming young wrestler named Nikolas. Gregorius is also ashamed of his own son Kristos (Herbert Lom), who controls all the wrestling venues throughout London. His father thinks that the glitzy, manufactured entertainment Kristos promotes is an affront to the tradition of classic Greco-Roman wrestling. Never one to let an opportunity pass by, Harry makes sure to meet and charm the old man into a partnership, which would also serve to shield him from Kristos' wrath when he finds out Harry is going into competition with him.

Having conned his way into the old man's graces Fabian next has to come up with the money needed to launch Harry Fabian Promotions. Enter Helen Nosseross (Googie Withers) Philip's rapacious, ambitious wife. She's married the corpulent and lovestruck Philip for his money and has been scheming to break free of him and open her own nightclub. She offers to put up the money on the sly if Harry can help her acquire a license for her new club. There are also intimations that she and Harry were once romantically involved.
There's something about Richard Widmark that just meshed with playing desperately wretched characters and he turns in an indelible performance as Harry Fabian. You can plainly sense that it won't (and will never) end well for the guy. But you still can't look away. It's a dark, moody and palpably angry motion picture and critics at the time were taken aback at the story. But with a deeper appreciation of noir this came into it's own to some extent. Recommended.

85/100

[LChimp]

https://t.ctcdn.com.br/XDiptbyb8AUjwN_fFj-ns90TrOs=/660x0/smart/i554287.jpeg

Maybe a bit too long, but a really good movie.

[Siddon]

Hunger Games 4
Hunger Games:Catching Fire 3
Hunger Games:Mocking Jay Part I 2
Hunger Games:Mocking Jay Part 2 2


The first Hunger Games film is a classic. It has a solid three act structure with the climax being the best part. Gary Ross gives the characters depth, color and texture. We get genuine emotional moments in the film...those of horror, joy and love. Visually it's a full realized world, and while it does have some CGI issues and script issues it can be forgiven through quality execution.


The sequel does basically the same thing, it provides a more interesting fight. The new additions to the cast are pretty great...as a matter of fact when you see these people (in small doses) they are more interesting than the left overs from the original. The story takes a huge narrative leap with Katniss turning her into a messianic figure and that sinks the series. Not to say that she's not a solid lead, Lawrence is fine but it feels unearned. Once again the film has some solid horror aspects (murdering a random black guy is powerful...better than what I saw in the next two).


Mocking Jay it all just turns into a cartoon. Both of the films are just terrible on a script level and a basic execution level. I had to constantly turn my volume up just to hear the actors and then turn the volume down because of the dumb explosions.