Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[SpelingError]

28th Hall of Fame

Young Man With a Horn (1950) - 4

I initially had a couple issues with this film, but it sat quite well for me upon reflection. One could say the film takes too long to get going, but I enjoyed how both halves of the film represented the right and wrong paths which Rick took. In the first half, it was implied that Jo was into Rick and they would eventually fall in love. Since Jo had similar interests as Rick and since her close friends were people in the same profession as him, you definitely got the sense that a relationship between the two of them would be healthy. In the second half though, Rick ultimately fell in love with Amy, Jo's friend. Amy was uninterested in Rick's music, spent little time around him, and they argued constantly, resulting in Rick neglecting his music and his friends (his rejection of Art stuck out as especially heartbreaking). Not only was the second half emotionally powerful, but it also twisted my expectations on the direction I thought the film was going to go in. I definitely couldn't imagine the second half being as impactful as it was without the first half which fleshed out the various characters. Fortunately, both halves of the film were given enough breathing room without them overstaying their welcome. Also, given that the film was released in 1950, bonus points to it for having positive African American representation. I did feel that the final couple minutes were rushed, but that's my only knock against the film.

[mark f]

Homebound (Sebastian Godwin, 2021) 2 5/10
The Day the Bookies Wept (Leslie Goodwins, 1939) 2.5 5.5/10
Morbius (Daniel Espinosa, 2022) 2 5/10
Long Day's Journey Into Night (Sidney Lumet, 1962) 3.5 7/10
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Morphine addict Katharine Hepburn comforts her younger son Dean Stockwell who may be dying from TB. Cheap father Ralph Richardson and layabout older brother Jason Robards Jr. make up the rest of the dysfunctional family.
Deception (Arnaud Desplechin, 2021) 2+ 5/10
The Argyle Secrets (Cy Endfield, 1948) 2.5 6/10
She Had to Say Yes (George Amy & Busby Berkeley, 1933) 2 5/10
George Carlin's American Dream (Judd Apatow & Michael Bonfiglio, 2022) 3.5 7/10
https://c.tenor.com/YY1FxNorRWoAAAAC/george-carlin-american.gif
Thorough biography of the comedian covering his family, evolution of his style, interviews from those who appreciate his honesty and creativity, and clips of his specials and TV appearances.
Vendetta (Jared Cohn, 2022) 2- 5/10
My Name Is Julia Ross (Joseph H. Lewis, 1945) 3- 6.5/10
Keyhole (Guy Maddin, 2011) 2.5 5.5/10
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (Akiva Schaffer, 2022) 3+ 6.5/10
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Chip (voice of John Mulaney) and Dale (Andy Samberg) investigate the disappearance of former Rescue Ranger Monterey Jack (voice of Eric Bana) and encounters an ancient Peter Pan (voice of Will Arnett) and innumerable other toons.
Memory (Martin Campbell, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Bright Lights (Michael Curtiz, 1930) 2 5/10
When Were You Born (William C. McGann, 1938) 2.5 6/10
Seven Days in May (John Frankenheimer, 1964) 3.5 7/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/63b76e2cca38d6d3681e48845ec6d2dc/tumblr_pn2dph5cka1wpdmero5_500.gifv
U.S. Air Force Colonel Kirk Douglas finds that his boss, General Burt Lancaster, may be instigating a military coup against the unpopular President (Fredric March) over his arms treaty with the Soviets.
Private Property (Chadd Harbold, 2022) 2- 5/10
Goodbye Charlie (Vincente Minnelli, 1964) 2.5 6/10
The Center of the World (Wayne Wang, 2001) 2+ 5/10
Mariner of the Mountains (Karim Aïnouz, 2021) 3- 6.5/10
https://ic-cdn.flipboard.com/guim.co.uk/420f320d5bba7eebddd9fe595ec7cd3a4ce86b4e/_medium.jpeg
The director takes a poetic journey to his father's homeland of Algeria with the memory of his Brazilian mother to guide him where he meets several of his father's relatives.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fichef.bbci.co.uk%2Fimages%2Fic%2F1200x675%2Fp04tpjqf.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Set Fire to the Stars, 2014

In 1950, poet and professor John Brinnan (Elijah Wood) invites Dylan Tomas (Celyn Jones) to New York to do a poetry reading tour across the country. But Thomas's hard partying ways make him difficult for Brinnan to control, and as Brinnan watches the different reactions to Thomas, he begins to question his own life as a man and as an artist.

This is one of those frustrating films where the stronger elements seem to be at war with the weaker elements, ultimately ending up as something that doesn't make nearly the impression as a whole that it might have.

One of those strengths is the performances from Wood and Jones. Both men feel lived in, though I must confess that as someone who only knows Thomas from his works and doesn't really know Brinnan at all, I can't speak to how much I feel they nailed the vibe of their biographical subjects. Wood always does a good job at playing mildly anxious (yet determined) characters, and he has good chemistry with Jones as one man who needs to let himself feel more and another man who feels a little too much.

What lets them down, however, is the writing and the overall pace of the film. There's a meandering to the film that just doesn't work well, and the question "where is this all going?" kept popping up for me, and not in a good way.

Now that said, there are a handful of small moments that really sing, and there is one really stellar sequence where Brinnan and Thomas spend an evening with Shirley Jackson (played by the outstandingly weird Shirley Henderson) and her husband. Jackson tells a scary story of her own writing, which then leads Brinnan to reveal his own horrible true story of an incident of animal cruelty he participated in as a teenager.

Overall, though, it's a bit mushy and lacking in impact. The black and white photography is very pretty and the leads are engaging, but it isn't really enough to recommend (aside from the sequence with Shirley Jackson).

3

[xSookieStackhouse]

1.5
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[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/eb/BeforeIWakePoster.jpg
By Relativity Media - The poster art can or could be obtained from Relativity Media., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46352218

Before I Wake - (2016)

When little Cody Morgan (Jacob Tremblay) sleeps and dreams, those dreams come to life in the real world - so if he has a nightmare it's time to be worried. I usually hate CGI effects, but here is one of those times they really work - because Cody's dream manifestations are supposed to have an aura of 'fakeness' about them. A superficial veneer of what his imagination creates. Director Mike Flanagan has a reputation as a horror filmmaker who makes 'thinking person's' horror films, and his first feature, Absentia, I enjoyed very much when it came out in 2011. Here, Cody's new mother (Jessie Hobson, played by Kate Bosworth) uses and exploits Cody to bring back her dead infant son - and she can't quite see that it's just a reflection, and not real. There are some decent scares, but overall the film's screenplay (by Flanagan and Jeff Howard) lacks that sharp edge which might make this film stand out. It's a rewatch for me, so I did think it worth going back to reappraise on memory. It's a neat little film, but nothing extraordinarily special.

6/10

Short Film Bonanza :

The Robbery (2017) - 7/10 - Jim Cummings, one-shot short film featuring a drug addict continually distracted by her cell phone.
Paradox (2006) - 8/10 - Clever short with two people down a well. One from the middle ages, the other from the present. Which time period is the true one?
The Crush (2010) - 6/10 - Cute one, with a little kid challenging his teacher's fiancé to a duel.
Guest (2020) - 4/10 - A woman blinds herself to avoid seeing a horrifying visitor.
Home Education (2016) - 8/10 - A home schooled kid is taught crazy stuff by her demented mother, which includes the fact that her dead father is rotting to "test her".
Other Side of the Box (2018) - 7/10 - Ever-so-creepy film about a magical box you can never take your eyes off - lest the creatures within come out.
We Die Alone (2020) - 6/10 - A guy afraid to talk to girls finally sums up the courage...but he really picked the wrong girl.
Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair (2009) - 8/10 - Guy Maddin short, which features an electric chair which exhibits what is in your mind.
Odilon Redon or The Eye Like a Strange Balloon Mounts Toward Infinity (1995) - 7/10 - Another crazy Guy Maddin short.
Sissy-Boy Slap-Party (2004) - 8/10 - A kind of silly and funny Maddin short.
Zookeeper Workbook (1997) - 6/10 - Another crazy Maddin short.
Elms (2014) - 6/10 - A creepy Maddin short.
Odin’s Shield Maiden (2007) - 6/10 - Another crazy Maddin short.
Sorrowful Shadow (2004) - 7/10 - A Maddin short in colour, about death and grief.
Spanky: To the Pier and Back (2008) - 9/10 - An absolutely awesome Maddin short.
The Present (2020) - 8/10 - Oscar-nominated short about Palestinians and Israelis. Quite good.
Two Distant Strangers (2020) - 8/10 - Oscar-winning short which is praised and absolutely panned in equal measure.
Feeling Through (2019) - 7/10 - Oscar-nominated short that made me realise all Oscar-nominated shorts are about social and political issues.
The Neighbors’ Window (2019) - 6/10 - Another Oscar-nominated short that teaches us all a lesson.
Groundhog Day for a Black Man (2016) - 7/10 - The short that Two Distant Strangers seems to have plagiarized.

[Fabulous]

Cellular (2004)

2

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/wE9J3SHTlVkbtrDRY3iDwsRRsQ.jpg

[Corax]

Cellular (2004)

rating_2

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/wE9J3SHTlVkbtrDRY3iDwsRRsQ.jpg


The Shoveler and Johnny Storm teamed up?

[Corax]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIF.5rU38snvojBiZGr5H0yg4A%26pid%3DApi&f=1


Memberberries in crack form. Let's do this beat. You liked this in '86. OK, now we do this beat. The only change is stealing the trench run on the Death Star for the 3rd act. It's everything you expect and less.


2 out of 7 G's pulled.

[Stirchley]

Memberberries in crack form. Let's do this beat. You liked this in '86. OK, now we do this beat. The only change is stealing the trench run on the Death Star for the 3rd act. It's everything you expect and less.


2 out of 7 G's pulled.

Haven’t a clue what this post means.

[ThatDarnMKS]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse4.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIF.5rU38snvojBiZGr5H0yg4A%26pid%3DApi&f=1


Memberberries in crack form. Let's do this beat. You liked this in '86. OK, now we do this beat. The only change is stealing the trench run on the Death Star for the 3rd act. It's everything you expect and less.


2 out of 7 G's pulled.
I’m seeing it tomorrow but I don’t think it looked NEARLY homoerotic enough to qualify as Memberberries. I mean, does anyone even remember anything beyond volleyball and sexual tension between Cruise and Kilmer? Wait, it’s about *checks notes* the Air Force???

[Rockatansky]

I’m seeing it tomorrow but I don’t think it looked NEARLY homoerotic enough to qualify as Memberberries. I mean, does anyone even remember anything beyond volleyball and sexual tension between Cruise and Kilmer? Wait, it’s about *checks notes* the Air Force???
It's about America demonstrating its military superiority over enemies like Libya in a recreation of the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident, (also the basis for Iron Eagle, which was released the same year and took an even more extreme foreign policy stance).



Also, the planes looked like dicks. What do you mean, homoerotic?

[Corax]

I’m seeing it tomorrow but I don’t think it looked NEARLY homoerotic enough to qualify as Memberberries. I mean, does anyone even remember anything beyond volleyball and sexual tension between Cruise and Kilmer? Wait, it’s about *checks notes* the Air Force???


Let's say young athletic bodies are featured in a scene on a beach, but it feels more like a limp gesture than it does a throbbing endorsement of aretaic homosociality.



Ice Man does make an appearance, but his moment is melancholy-- more Grey Gardens than Brokeback Mountain. It seems Kelly McGillis was successful in her conversation therapy of the precocious and curious Maverick back in '86.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Let's say young athletic bodies are featured in a scene on a beach, but it feels more like a limp gesture than it does a throbbing endorsement of aretaic homosociality.



Ice Man does make an appearance, but his moment is melancholy-- more Grey Gardens than Brokeback Mountain. It seems Kelly McGillis was successful in her conversation therapy of the precocious and curious Maverick back in '86.
Like making Showgirls: Fully Clothed

[ThatDarnMKS]

It's about America demonstrating its military superiority over enemies like Libya in a recreation of the 1981 Gulf of Sidra incident, (also the basis for Iron Eagle, which was released the same year and took an even more extreme foreign policy stance).



Also, the planes looked like dicks. What do you mean, homoerotic?

Pretty sure you watched the wrong movie.

[Rockatansky]

Pretty sure you watched the wrong movie.

Wait, you don't remember the scene in Top Gun where "Gimme Some Lovin'" blares on the soundtrack while the hero bombs the Libya analogue back to the stone age?

[Rockatansky]

Wait, you don't remember the scene in Top Gun where "Gimme Some Lovin'" blares on the soundtrack while the hero bombs the Libya analogue back to the stone age?


And don't tell me you forgot about the scene where the Gaddafi stand-in played by David Suchet says to the hero "I am coming for you, Iron Eagle."


Best scene of Top Gun, hands down.

[Corax]

Like making Showgirls: Fully Clothed


It's a safe movie. Tropey. Simple. By the numbers. Familiar. Somehow, less ambitious than the original. A film you can't remember, because there is nothing to forget.



I will say this for Mr. Cruise, however. I genuinely sense that he wants his audience to be entertained. He is not acting to win Oscars, but to make you feel good about that investment in popcorn. He doesn't always succeed, but I do get the sense that he is, at least, trying to please us.


He is, I sense, as yet too vain to matriculate to the elder statesman roles that Sean Connery eased into after The Hunt for Red October, but he needs to. He is a well-preseved-not-young-man who looks more and more like a deep fake of himself. The reason why Kelly McGillis isn't in the film is simply because she looks her age. She may have cured his youthful exuberance for lusty volleyball in the hot sand, but not his vanity. Thus, a much more gracefully aged (and maintained by whatever witchcraft Hollywood uses) Jennifer Connelly serves as the love-interest. Tom probably felt he was really stretching himself to have gray hair in Collateral, but it is time to start ageing gracefully. There is plenty of work to be had for older males in Hollywood, a golden parachute from the F-14 which is largely denied to senior actresses not named Streep.

[ThatDarnMKS]

And don't tell me you forgot about the scene where the Gaddafi stand-in played by David Suchet says to the hero "I am coming for you, Iron Eagle."


Best scene of Top Gun, hands down.
I mean, that’s definitely Top Gun. But Louis Gosset Jr. was certainly a B plot character meant to break up the tension between locker room chats and volleyball.

[crumbsroom]

I do get the sense that he is, at least, trying to please us.



Yuck.

[crumbsroom]

I've definitely seen Iron Eagle.

I'm pretty sure I've seen Top Gun.

[WHITBISSELL!]

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https://c.tenor.com/LgLz_SIM4oMAAAAd/deborah-kerr-black-narcissus.gif

Black Narcissus - Finally watched this 1947 British film from directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. I remember for the longest time wondering what exactly the title had to do with the actual story. Well, now I know.

A group of Anglican nuns attempt to start a school and hospital in the Himalayas. Young Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) is put in charge of running the new convent, becoming the youngest Mother Superior in the Anglican order. The former palace is perched high up on a sheer cliff and was once used to house the previous ruler's concubines.

The invitation to open the school is issued by General Toda Rai, the local Rajput ruler. He's played by Esmond Knight in the first unfortunate instance of "brownface". The other two performances involve Jean Simmons as Panchi, a troubled teenage girl taken in by the nuns and May Hallat playing Angu Ayat, the palaces local caretaker. David Farrar plays Mr. Dean, the General's agent and he is quick to warn Sister Clodagh of the many difficulties she and the others will face. There are many local customs that must be learned. Weather, high altitude and constant high winds also serve to exacerbate each woman's predisposition.

It's a beautiful movie, filmed in Technicolor and winning two Oscars for Cinematography and Art Direction. There's also an element of sexual tension running throughout that got the movie in trouble when it came time to open in the States. Protests from the Catholic Legion of Decency led to somewhat heavy editing before it was allowed a wide release.

I'll admit there were moments that drew a chuckle out of me but they had nothing to do with disbelief or derision. This should be considered a psychological thriller and like any well made thriller an inelegant release of tension is sometimes called for.

90/100

[StuSmallz]

Never watched Top Gun or Iron Eagle (though I am considering seeing Maverick just because of the reviews), but I do know some about the latter just from this...

https://youtu.be/yQEauAU357E


https://i.ibb.co/7rSbm5V/theyareontome.gif (https://imgbb.com/)

[WHITBISSELL!]

I've never seen Top Gun but I have watched Iron Eagle. My favorite part is where Louis Gossett Jr. says that "queers and steers" line.

[Corax]

Yuck.


You're right. How dare he!

[SpelingError]

5th Shorts Hall of Fame

Brats (1930) - 2.5

Eh, it was okay. Slapstick comedy is fine and all, but I found the jokes in this one to be a mixed bag. Some of the gaps, like the ones where Hardy was hit in the head by various objects, for instance, were overused and stopped being funny fairly quickly, while some other gags were rather straightforward and had somewhat predictable punchlines. On the other hand, there were a couple of well-executed gags here and there, like the pool table and bathtub scenes, but I'd say the jokes missed more than they hit for me. I did enjoy the practical effects though. The oversized props were creative and I had a blast watching Laurel and Hardy interacting with them. That the props looked identical to the furniture they were based on further added to my enjoyment of them. This definitely made up for some of the jokes which fell flat for me. Unfortunately though, they only made up for so much and I'd still call the short average.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWMxZWE1ZjQtYzAyNS00NjEwLTgwM2ItMWI2NWVhZGJiYjk3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg


3

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a9/Girls_of_the_Sun.jpg
By IMDB - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6704880/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59245024

Girls of the Sun - (2018) - France (Les filles du soleil)

Did you ever see those female Kurdish fighters and battalions in the news? They were fighting ISIS, and ISIS fighters were scared as holy hell when faced by them, because in their strict Islamic interpretations being killed by a woman meant it was impossible to get to paradise. They were pretty cool, and I guess writer/director Eva Husson thought they were cool, but unfortunately she makes a film here which looks good but is ultimately forgettable. Also - if I was 15 again, I'd have a huge crush on Golshifteh Farahani. Despite competing for the Palme d'Or at Cannes this movie was panned after it's release and tanked at the box office. I don't think it's bad per se, but it's definitely not great or significant in any way. Excuse me for overusing italics.

6/10

[xSookieStackhouse]

rating_5 first one always gonna be my fav tho
https://d1478j0kge9vfg.cloudfront.net/homepage/20220525105304-b6e12440980648f268aeecdc4b955548_300x442.jpg

[matt72582]

The Mule - 7/10
Clint Eastwood - the last man in Hollywood.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/The_mule_poster.png

[Corax]

The Mule - 7/10
Clint Eastwood - the last man in Hollywood.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/The_mule_poster.png


Is it wrong that I am most surprised that he is still alive when he releases a new film?

[crumbsroom]

You're right. How dare he!


I'm sorry if I don't get too excited by the valorous efforts of Tom Cruise to give people exactly what they want and get reimbursed extraordinary for it. This is the kind of bravery that all too often gets overlooked in society and it must stop!

[Corax]

I'm sorry if I don't get too excited by the valorous efforts of Tom Cruise to give people exactly what they want and get reimbursed extraordinary for it. This is the kind of bravery that all too often gets overlooked in society and it must stop!


It's hard for me to find nice things to say about Tom Cruise. I found one thing, man. Don't take it away from me. He's a crazy narcissist in a cult that kisses his ass. He's benefited tremendously from the guy at the top of the call sheet for some important projects. I get it. But, yeah, I don't think he phones it on. DeCaprio would kill himself for an Oscar. Cruise would kill himself to be the leading man in your life one last time. I don't know that that's all that noble, but I do give him points for effort. Let us, please, have this one nice thing we can say about him.



Comply, or I will have someone check your Thetan levels. Always suspected you were an SP!

[matt72582]

Is it wrong that I am most surprised that he is still alive when he releases a new film?


Na, pretty natural.. I was thinking about it while watching the movie. He's 92, and his last movie (I didn't see "Richard Jewell") but I heard it didn't do well, so who knows if he makes another one.

[crumbsroom]

It's hard for me to find nice things to say about Tom Cruise. I found one thing, man. Don't take it away from me. He's a crazy narcissist in a cult that kisses his ass. He's benefited tremendously from the guy at the top of the call sheet for some important projects. I get it. But, yeah, I don't think he phones it on. DeCaprio would kill himself for an Oscar. Cruise would kill himself to be the leading man in your life one last time. I don't know that that's all that noble, but I do give him points for effort. Let us, please, have this one nice thing we can say about him.



Comply, or I will have someone check your Thetan levels. Always suspected you were an SP!


The one good thing I can say about him is all of my friends who have worked in the entertainment industry says he's a nice guy beyond reproach.


But I imagine it's considerably easier to be a nice guy all the time when you've got a bunch slaves from Sea Org tending to your every desire.

[Rockatansky]

Given how many modern blockbusters suck ass, Tom Cruise gets a lot of points from me for trying to make ones that actually deliver on cool shit. Much respect.

[Rockatansky]

Given how many modern blockbusters suck ass, Tom Cruise gets a lot of points from me for trying to make ones that actually deliver on cool shit. Much respect.

Would legit lol if after he dies we get a wave of Cruiseploitation. Lots of movies starring William Mapother, lots of plots about evil Scientology conspiracies, lots of titles like The Impossible Mission. And all the trailers will be voiced by an Adolph Caesar soundalike.

[Corax]

The one good thing I can say about him is all of my friends who have worked in the entertainment industry says he's a nice guy beyond reproach.



I've heard that too. I guess that's two good things.


But I imagine it's considerably easier to be a nice guy all the time when you've got a bunch slaves from Sea Org tending to your every desire.


That's really not fair, Crumb. Cruise is a multi-millionaire and he also has paid employees who tend to his every desire when Sea-Org slaves aren't around. He's not made stone (but rather money).

[Death Proof]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWMxZWE1ZjQtYzAyNS00NjEwLTgwM2ItMWI2NWVhZGJiYjk3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQxNzMzNDI@._V1_.jpg


rating_3




"I used to suck dick for coke!"
"I SEEN HIM!"

[Death Proof]

Doctor Strange and The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel


8/10


If I was on mushrooms when I saw it probably 9/10


Needed more sassy magic cloak, though.

[WHITBISSELL!]

"I used to suck dick for coke!"
"I SEEN HIM!"Great quotable movie.

https://c.tenor.com/bztCjJJxRyMAAAAd/half-baked-crossbow-crossbow.gif

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmountainx.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F05%2Fgood-night-and-good-luck-original1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Good Night and Good Luck, 2005

Set during the later period of the McCarthy hearings, this film follows CBS journalist Edward Murrow (David Strathairn) as he and his colleagues, especially Fred Friendly (George Clooney) start to take a more aggressive approach in reporting the nature and damage of the anti-Communist hearings.

I grew up in a house with an Edward R Murrow Award on the bookshelf, and so it was fun to watch a film about a man whose name I've known since I was four or five years old.

The film is relatively straight-ahead, recounting a short period of time and the different politics and dynamics---within CBS itself and withing the country as a whole---that informed the reporting done by Murrow and his co-workers. In this way, the film echoes the character of Murrow himself, who is unflinching in his sense of right and wrong.

The movie makes really great use of archive footage, usually in the form of Murrow and his team watching footage of the hearings, but also including a televised rebuttal that McCarthy gave after one of Murrow's reports. The use of the real archive footage--especially an extended sequence of the committee's interrogation of a woman named Annie Lee Moss---gives a flavor for the tone and nature of the hearings. Obviously this film is not a documentary, but I liked the amount of real footage.

The cast is loaded with great supporting performers, like Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey Jr. as a married couple who must conceal their marriage because of a no-relationships policy at CBS. Ray Wise also makes an impression as another broadcaster who is much more emotionally sensitive to the criticisms they receive for their attacks on McCarthy.

A straightforward, interesting look at a key moment in the intersection of politics and journalism.

4

[Wooley]

Doctor Strange and The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel


8/10


If I was on mushrooms when I saw it probably 9/10


Needed more sassy magic cloak, though.

Wow. Color me shocked.

[Gideon58]

Doctor Strange and The Contrabulous Fabtraption of Professor Horatio Hufnagel


8/10


If I was on mushrooms when I saw it probably 9/10


Needed more sassy magic cloak, though.

OK, you're just making that title up.

[Gideon58]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmountainx.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F05%2Fgood-night-and-good-luck-original1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Good Night and Good Luck, 2005

4

I've started to watch this film on three separate occasions and have always turned it off about 20 minutes in. I promise to give it one more try...I started and turned off The Social Network and Gravity four times before I watched both of them from beginning to end on the 5th try.

[Gideon58]

https://i.etsystatic.com/27817007/r/il/794c5a/3033971695/il_1588xN.3033971695_obt9.jpg


1st Rewatch...I had forgotten how amazing this movie is. Two years before winning his first Oscar for Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino put himself on the map with this bloody crime drama about a group of criminals who have never met before, who are brought together by a mob boss to rob a jewelry store, but the robbery goes terribly wrong. The story intrigues and frustrates because we never see the actual robbery, but we see the consequences of what happened and then we see how these people are brought together, resulting in us learning just about everything that went down during the robbery without actually seeing it. It's quite genius and mesmerizing from start to finish featuring unapologetic carnage and some spectacular performances. I liked Tim Roth, the legendary Lawrence Tierney, and especially Steve Buscemi. Also loved the incredible song score. 4.5

[SpelingError]

5th Shorts Hall of Fame

Goodbye Mommy (2019) - 3

The animation style wasn't for me as it hurt my eyes as I watched it. I don't think I'll watch another animated film like this unless it's about as long or a bit shorter than this one. However, I still enjoyed my time with this short for a few reasons. In spite of how crazy the animation gets, that the world depicted in the short remains coherent from beginning to end is impressive. I also found the story compelling, particularly for its portrayal of the detective as a troubled man stuck in the wrong time and setting. While his character isn't always likable, you still feel sympathy for him both due to how he recognizes his past mistakes and his treatment from those who rule the city. Also, even though the animation style wasn't for me, I did enjoy a few touches to it such as some text boxes next to various characters (i.e. "Killer Speaks" and "Killer Listens") as, while these touches would feel jarring in most other films, they feel quite appropriate and coherent in this short. Also, while the tragic backstory cliché tends to bug me, I enjoyed the way the one in this short was presented. I think my only issue with the short's aesthetic, aside from the visuals hurting my eyes, was that the sound mixing of the dialogue wasn't that good since much of it ranged from too loud to near-unintelligible. Overall though, while I don't think I'll ever rewatch this short, I didn't mind checking it out.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/fT6P9nKg/the-searchers.jpg
By Bill Gold - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049730/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25720458

The Searchers - (1956)

Finally seen this - I've been meaning to for a couple of years now. I'm a big fan of just about everything I've seen of John Ford's work, from Stagecoach to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. This fits in well, and includes all of the elements that make his films great, and his partnership with cinematographer Winton C. Hoch makes this a film I'd love to watch in a cinema, in it's proper ratio. The Searchers is epic in scope, and has one of John Wayne's better performances - he's an actor who has been criticized by many for not really being a great actor, instead being a celebrity with a certain stature which automatically translates into the rough hero figure so prevalent in Westerns. Here it's not always so straightforward, and he acquits himself well. Great score, and an overall beautiful film which deals with race without completely avoiding some casual racism - attributable to being made in a different time. I was very impressed, and those first and last shots are iconic for a reason - they may have been the greatest opening and closing shots in cinematic history at the time. I could watch them over and over again.

9/10

https://i.postimg.cc/Pq02vmTs/love-it-was-not.jpg
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25720458

Love It Was Not - (2020)

When they make a movie about this, it'll win Oscars. This doc deals with the real life story of Helena Citron, a prisoner in Auschwitz and a young SS officer called Franz Wunsch. Wunsch falls in love Helena, and that love carries over into those she works with, sorting the luggage of those who are being taken off the trains and gassed. He helps protect her, and then one day her sister arrives with her newborn child and young daughter. He saves the sister, but can do nothing for her two small children, who are immediately killed. When the war ends, he tries to contact her, but Helena has moved to Israel, and Wunsch is told in no uncertain terms that he's a murderer, and to stay away. Then, one day, Wunsch is tried for war crimes, and reaches out for help...The doc uses photographic dioramas to illustrate the story, which is clever and relates to a habit Wunsch had after the war - there's a lot of other techniques, but of course 'talking heads' prevail. Very interesting though.

7/10

[Deschain]

Browsing HBO Max I found suspense thriller Ricochet from 1991 starring Denzel Washington. I never heard of it but it’s got a 74% on Rotty T’s so I gave it a spin. Well-shot and paced with John Lithgow hamming it up as a psycho out for a convoluted form of revenge. Alan Silvestri copy/pasted pervious scores of his so the whole thing sounds like Predator. And Mary Ellen Trainor reprises her role of news reporter Gail Wallens which officially ties this world in with Die Hard for some reason. It is a cheesy, entertaining, baffling movie.

[WHITBISSELL!]

No one would dare to trash any movie where John Lithgow gets a bunch of phone books duct taped to his body so he can swordfight Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

[Stirchley]

https://i.etsystatic.com/27817007/r/il/794c5a/3033971695/il_1588xN.3033971695_obt9.jpg


1st Rewatch...I had forgotten how amazing this movie is. Two years before winning his first Oscar for Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino put himself on the map with this bloody crime drama about a group of criminals who have never met before, who are brought together by a mob boss to rob a jewelry store, but the robbery goes terribly wrong. The story intrigues and frustrates because we never see the actual robbery, but we see the consequences of what happened and then we see how these people are brought together, resulting in us learning just about everything that went down during the robbery without actually seeing it. It's quite genius and mesmerizing from start to finish featuring unapologetic carnage and some spectacular performances. I liked Tim Roth, the legendary Lawrence Tierney, and especially Steve Buscemi. Also loved the incredible song score. 4.5

I’ve seen this movie more times than I can remember.

The very first scenes hook you in the diner & the slo-mo scene when they leave the diner is captivating.

Still by far my fave QT movie.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fs1.ibtimes.com%2Fsites%2Fwww.ibtimes.com%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fv2_article_large%2Fpubli c%2F2014%2F10%2F29%2Fnebraska.png%3Fitok%3DsEy6CEGC&f=1&nofb=1

Nebraska, 2013

Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is an older man living in Billings, Montana, who one day receives a marketing letter that uses the ploy of a "You could already be a millionaire!" as a hook. Taking the letter at face value, Woody is determined to drive to Lincoln, Nebraska to personally claim his prize. Woody's son, David (Will Forte), reluctantly takes the weekend off to drive his father to Nebraska, which includes an illuminating trip through his father's hometown.

At its heart, this is a potent, often funny look at family dynamics and how to make peace with family who might never totally be on your same wavelength.

Performance wise, the film is very solid. Dern is absolutely perfect as a character who is equal parts sympathetic and frustrating. Forte shows off some decent dramatic chops as a man who begins to see his father in a new light as the two of them continue their journey. Also making a strong impression is June Squibb as Woody's foul-mouthed and plain-speaking (to a fault!) wife. Bob Odenkirk plays the couple's older son, a newscaster, while Stacy Keach plays an old friend of Woody's who shows more and more contempt as their visit goes on.

Make no mistake, I don't think that I would want to be part of this family. Both Woody and Kate, his wife, have a habit of speaking bluntly in a way that may be truthful, but often lands as hurtful, as when Kate talks derisively about Woody's dead family member as they are literally standing over the graves of the Grant family. Woody is apparently a lifelong alcoholic. At the same time, we get several moments that show us why David is coming to have a new appreciation for his parents. In one sequence Kate, who until this point has seemed to have only contempt for Woody, viciously stands up for him against greedy relatives. Similarly, a moment of humor between Woody and David shows where the latter got his sense of humor.

The film is shot in an appealing black and white, and the way that long shots and camera angles are used at times transforms Woody's hometown into something even more distant and borderline alien.

I liked the film's simple message about finding the joy in pursuing something with another person, even if it's not what you want to do. As David softens into indulging his father, he is able to find deeper understanding of them both. I thought that the ending was very sweet.

4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/83/Dogfight_%28film%29.png
By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57071079

Dogfight - (1991)

Had another great time last night picking Dogfight to watch, a love story that's very sweet but also very complex and interesting - there's a lot going on, and as such it keeps you interested, and even on edge. Four teenage U.S. Marines in 1963 play a cruel game in San Francisco - find the ugliest girl possible and bring her to a party where the guy with the worst looking wins prize money. Eddie Birdlace (River Phoenix) finds Rose (Lili Taylor) working in her mother's coffee shop. Rose seems unattractive at first, but much to Eddie's consternation he soon realises she's nice and after preparing to go with him even quite handsome and good looking in her way - after trying to make her look worse than she is he gives up, and Rose eventually finds out why she's been invited to go out with him and unloads her fury and leaves. Eddie can't shake her from his head, and heads back to the coffee shop she lives at to apologize - the two end up spending a memorable night together. River Phoenix and Lili Taylor really light this film up with their soul-deep portrayals of characters who feel lived-in and multi-faceted - Birdlace doesn't turn into Prince Charming, and Rose doesn't turn into Poison Ivy - they're both young and unformed, but also full of confused ideals. Their one night story feels really genuine and down to earth - and reminded me very much of when I was their age. The ending doesn't really take us to a place that sits very easily with me, but it made for a great film and one I enjoyed watching very much. I recommend this film.

8/10

[SpelingError]

28th Hall of Fame

The Painted Bird (2019) - 2

I couldn't get into this one. Comparing this to other films about kids experiencing the horrors of war, it can't help but pale to Come and See, but every war film I've seen does, so I won't hold that against this film. What I will hold against it though is how cold I was left throughout it. In spite of how much misery the boy experiences and witnesses in the film (physical abuse, rape, suicide, animal cruelty, pedophilia, bestiality, antisemitism, etc.), the impact it had on him remained too vague for those scenes to stick with me in any lasting way. A lot of this falls on Kotlár since neither his acting nor his physical appearance make any changes throughout the film. Rather, he just keeps the same blank expression on his face and looks the same at the end of the film as he does in the opening. Even the retaliation angle in the second half of the film, while it's one of the more promising elements of the film, didn't click with me as well as it could've due to the reasons listed above. Technically speaking though, the movie is pretty good. Some of the larger-scale gunfights looked cool and, in spite of what I said up above, a couple of the disturbing scenes left a decent impact on me (that's to be expected with a movie like this though). Also, while fair criticisms could be made that the black and white photography looks too pretty and doesn't pair well the disturbing content shown in the film, I enjoyed how it created a contrast between the two. Finally, it was also cool to see Aleksei Kravchenko (star of the aforementioned Come and See) in this film, perhaps as a nod to the film. Overall though, the film sort of just came and went and was pretty forgettable.

[Fabulous]

Our Souls at Night (2017)

2.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/16b6R4Mdb2Zf2tOXe2ntpPlmSQ6.jpg

[Takoma11]

I've started to watch this film on three separate occasions and have always turned it off about 20 minutes in. I promise to give it one more try...I started and turned off The Social Network and Gravity four times before I watched both of them from beginning to end on the 5th try.

It is a very low-key film, with lots of murmured conversations. I could see how it might not grip someone.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fqueergestreift.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F03%2FCodependent.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, 2011

Stationary store worker Jane (Lisa Haas) has always felt out of place, and has had no luck on the romance front. One day she meets Zoinx (Susan Ziegler), an alien who has relocated from a planet where strong emotions are destroying their ozone layer. Despite Zoinx's strange behavior, the two begin a tentative relationship.

This is a film that can best be described as mild. It's a gentle sci-fi/comedy/romance. One of those films where nothing is offensively bad, and the humor only really lands sporadically, but it has enough goofy charm to pull you through its 76 minute runtime.

One benefit of low-budget casting is that we end up with a lead actress who looks like a real human. Lisa Haas is adorable, and she, you know, looks like a lot of the gay women I have known in my life. She really nails the vibe of someone who is nice, but clearly doesn't click with the people--or the world--around her.

The alien characters themselves are more of a mixed bag. The joke, of course, is that they are classic 50s-style aliens, speaking in stilted voices and not understanding those wacky Earth ways. This does land as funny a few times, (such as Zoinx telling a date, "Holly is such a lovely name. I could say it a million times . . . . Holly, Holly, Holly, Holly, Holly, Holly . . ." or when Zoinx answers the phone while in a laundromat and tells the caller that she's just "taking her scarf for a ride"). But the downside of this style for the character is that it throws up a huge barrier to actually investing in them emotionally.

There's also a subplot about two "men in black" types who are spying on the aliens. I think that the joke is that one of the men is also an alien, but from a planet that only understands male-male romances. What helps this section of the film is that the actors (Dennis Davis and Alex Karpovsky) have a good, off-kilter rapport. There is one really strange but fun sequence where the two have a conversation about donuts that seems like it might also be doubling as a conversation about sex, but at the same time doesn't quite go all the way there.

The movie goes for an intentionally "bad" look with some of the effects. For example, an alien's headset which is just openly two plastic cups taped to a band of some sort, or the spaceship which is clearly cardboard.

I also give this movie a high five for use of the song "Sexy Bee".

3

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cinemasmack.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F10%2Fempathy1-330x195.png&f=1&nofb=1

Empathy Inc, 2018

Joel (Zack Robidas) has just come off of a devastating end to a start up that used buckets of his own money as well as his entire network of investors. After being forced to move in with the parents of his wife, Jessica (Kathy Searle), he is hurting and when an old business school friend (Eric Barryman) comes calling with a sure bet, Joel is intrigued. But the new invention, a hyper-realistic Virtual Reality experience, comes with a cost . . .

I really tend to enjoy low-budget sci-fi films that put the emphasis on character instead of on special effects or nit-picking the mechanics of their premise.

While I feel that a plot development that lands around the first third is pretty obvious, it might be considered a mild spoiler, so maybe skip this review if you have any interest in watching the film.

What works here is the premise of the film, which spools out in an interesting way and leads to some fun late-act dynamics. The performances are also good in general. The science fiction aspect is almost entirely conceptual. It's all about the impact that the VR has on the characters, and I liked that the movie kept things simple.

What didn't work quite as well for me was the character of Joel. Now, I can give the film the benefit of the doubt and say that I'm assuming it is intentional that we are supposed to feel a little sorry for him, but also think he's a total moron. From the opening minutes when we learn that he believes his company has figured out how to catalyze water, it's like "This guy is dumb." And as the film goes on he continues to make one terrible choice after another, to the point that it's frustrating.

The premise itself also seems like it has some issues, just from a logistical point of view. While I didn't mind the film keeping certain technical dynamics a bit hand-wavey, I still had a LOT of questions about what was meant to be happening. The concept itself is really solid, but somehow it doesn't make as much sense as it should.

Probably worth a watch for any fan of sci-fi.

3.5

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fqueergestreift.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F03%2FCodependent.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, 2011

Stationary store worker Jane (Lisa Haas) has always felt out of place, and has had no luck on the romance front. One day she meets Zoinx (Susan Ziegler), an alien who has relocated from a planet where strong emotions are destroying their ozone layer. Despite Zoinx's strange behavior, the two begin a tentative relationship.

This is a film that can best be described as mild. It's a gentle sci-fi/comedy/romance. One of those films where nothing is offensively bad, and the humor only really lands sporadically, but it has enough goofy charm to pull you through its 76 minute runtime.

One benefit of low-budget casting is that we end up with a lead actress who looks like a real human. Lisa Haas is adorable, and she, you know, looks like a lot of the gay women I have known in my life. She really nails the vibe of someone who is nice, but clearly doesn't click with the people--or the world--around her.

The alien characters themselves are more of a mixed bag. The joke, of course, is that they are classic 50s-style aliens, speaking in stilted voices and not understanding those wacky Earth ways. This does land as funny a few times, (such as Zoinx telling a date, "Holly is such a lovely name. I could say it a million times . . . . Holly, Holly, Holly, Holly, Holly, Holly . . ." or when Zoinx answers the phone while in a laundromat and tells the caller that she's just "taking her scarf for a ride"). But the downside of this style for the character is that it throws up a huge barrier to actually investing in them emotionally.

There's also a subplot about two "men in black" types who are spying on the aliens. I think that the joke is that one of the men is also an alien, but from a planet that only understands male-male romances. What helps this section of the film is that the actors (Dennis Davis and Alex Karpovsky) have a good, off-kilter rapport. There is one really strange but fun sequence where the two have a conversation about donuts that seems like it might also be doubling as a conversation about sex, but at the same time doesn't quite go all the way there.

The movie goes for an intentionally "bad" look with some of the effects. For example, an alien's headset which is just openly two plastic cups taped to a band of some sort, or the spaceship which is clearly cardboard.

I also give this movie a high five for use of the song "Sexy Bee".

3

This song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKrQI7F7qS8

[Takoma11]

This song?

This one. It made me laugh at 1am.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyXxqyK4pHU&ab_channel=ClayDrinko-Topic

[Gideon58]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fqueergestreift.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F03%2FCodependent.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, 2011

3

Fantastic title...the title alone makes me want to watch it.

[Takoma11]

Fantastic title...the title alone makes me want to watch it.

I wish that the film lived up to the title.

There are some little gems of moment in there. Like one of the aliens going on a dating show where the guy has to guess which woman gave certain feedback about kissing him and her quote is "It was pleasurable, but I wish he had been a woman."

It's fine and mostly easy to watch. It just doesn't quite reach past okay. That said, it's really short.

[Gideon58]

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Encanto-199782276-large.jpg



4.5

[Gideon58]

I wish that the film lived up to the title.

There are some little gems of moment in there. Like one of the aliens going on a dating show where the guy has to guess which woman gave certain feedback about kissing him and her quote is "It was pleasurable, but I wish he had been a woman."

It's fine and mostly easy to watch. It just doesn't quite reach past okay. That said, it's really short.

I'm a little disappointed...I guess it's true, you really can't judge a book by its cover.

[Takoma11]

I'm a little disappointed...I guess it's true, you really can't judge a book by its cover.

Well, the movie is full of codependent lesbian space aliens looking for love. So the title is at least very accurate.

[rchamp]

The last movie I say was the new Boss Baby with my 6 yr old son and it was pretty good.

10/10

[Wooley]

Just wondering if anyone else appreciates what a good performance Albert Finney gave in Annie.

"I thought that he just STOLE the movie. And I watched this movie for him and I recommend it for him."
- Gene Siskel, 1982

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/e24c8ed6de1dd71c4df2028aa0d5dcf5/tumblr_pqfipviBgn1qd71d9_1280.jpg
Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)
3.5
I don't think I've ever seen this sprawling epic in its entirety so I decided to give it another go. Impressions are twofold. It's a good film with an impressive cast, beautifully directed, shot and acted across the board, but in the end it left me a bit cold as a whole. The multiple storylines make the experience a bit too overwhelming, and the ending was not quite the payoff I hoped for. There are some great moments, though. That scene at the pharmacy really stuck with me (Julianna Moore!).

[Wooley]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/e24c8ed6de1dd71c4df2028aa0d5dcf5/tumblr_pqfipviBgn1qd71d9_1280.jpg
Magnolia (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson)
4
I don't think I've ever seen this sprawling epic in its entirety so I decided to give it another go. Impressions are twofold. It's an excellent film with an impressive cast, beautifully directed, shot and acted across the board, but in the end it left me a bit cold as a whole. The multiple storylines make the experience a bit too overwhelming, and the ending was not quite the payoff I hoped for. There are some great moments, though. That scene at the pharmacy really stuck with me (Julianna Moore!).

I mostly agree except that I find the climax very moving and satisfying and I usually cry during it.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/52/The_355_poster.jpeg/220px-The_355_poster.jpeg

3

SF = Zzz


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

[GulfportDoc]

I've started to watch this film on three separate occasions and have always turned it off about 20 minutes in. I promise to give it one more try...I started and turned off The Social Network and Gravity four times before I watched both of them from beginning to end on the 5th try.
I've avoided watching this, presuming it to be just another whine about how badly Congress and Hollywood treated those film industry communists and communist sympathizers. If that isn't the thrust of the movie, I'll probably watch it.

As a kid I watched Murrow's See It Now on TV during the '50s, and it was almost always fascinating-- simply for the reason that it was the first TV show that I know of that had interviews of celebrities in their private lives. Many film actors would not even do TV in those days, so it was fun to see, for example, Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall in their home. The show was hugely popular.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/Sorry_We_Missed_You.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62231698

Sorry We Missed You - (2019)

Out of Ken Loach's oeuvre, aside from this, I've only ever seen I, Daniel Blake, so I can't generalize too much, but I seem to be finding his films terrifying. A modern day horror story, this features a family on the edge. Father Ricky (Kris Hitchen) is in debt, and this only increases as he buys into a delivery franchise and his own van - the person running the place is intolerably strict, and, in his own words, "a nasty bastard". The job is high-pressure, demanding, and punishing. Mother Abby (Debbie Honeywood) is a carer, and has had to sell her car to finance Ricky's van, so she buses around from early in the morning to late at night helping invalids who challenge her. Son Seb (Rhys Stone) is an entitled, sarcastic, ungrateful, maddening teenager who is heading down the wrong path, shoplifting, fighting and spraying graffiti when he should be at school. Daughter Liza (Katie Proctor) is struggling psychologically. These people are sliding further and further into crisis mode, and problems seem to have a kind of domino effect, creating more drama for another family member. The ending is highly unusual, but the film effectively has us really praying that these people can pull through in a modern world that seems a little too fast, too cruel and too isolating - there's a similar vibe to Daniel Blake, and it's a memorable film as far as I'm concerned - well acted and scripted.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bc/Peppermint.png
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6850820/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57565412

Peppermint - (2018)

This one somehow got past quality control. It's your stock standard revenge tale directed by Taken's Pierre Morel, and he doesn't have any awareness of how close to satire he's getting, with a weeping Jennifer Garner pointing out the men who killed her daughter (on her birthday) and being castigated by corrupt defense lawyers and judges - despite being an ordinary Mom she goes off the grid and undergoes Batman training, becoming an invincible assassin. This is all just one slight nudge from being funny, and that's where Morel and screenwriter Chad St. John miss their chance - it could easily be a great comedy, but by playing it straight it becomes irredeemably dumb. Garner goes on to massacre the villains (including that judge) - with dirty cops and drug dealing honchos mown down with military precision, and after being stabbed repeatedly and shot around 5 times, she walks away from it with a limp, having less trouble than I did when I sprained my ankle. Every scene is like a big joke - so representative of the most common and basic the genre has to offer that it's more like a template than a real story. Terribly scripted.

3/10

[mark f]

Torn Hearts (Brea Grant, 2022) 2.5 6/10
The Capote Tapes (Ebs Burnough, 2019) 3 6.5/10
Tankhouse (Noam Tomaschoff, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Samouni Road (Stefano Savona, 2018) 3- 6.5/10
https://agencemediapalestine.fr/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/samouniroad021-e1547435156356.jpg
Partially-animated semi-doc about the slaughter of a Palestinian family mistaken to be terrorists while celebrating a wedding by Israelis in 2009.
Slaughterhouse-Five (George Roy Hill, 1972) 2.5 6/10
The Valet (Richard Wong, 2022) 3- 6.5/10
Godspeed (Mehmet Ada Öztekin, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979) 3.5 7+/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/043dbe67841c91745335aecd4cc176e6/tumblr_mk1l3y8yM41qci1aho1_400.gifv
Writer Woody Allen learns some facts of life from teenager Mariel Hemingway while Gershwin plays in this beautiful B&W love letter to NYC.
Unknown Dimension: The Story of Paranormal Activity (Joe Bandelli, 2021) 3- 6.5/10
No Man Is an Island (John Monks Jr. & Richard Goldstone, 1962) 2.5 6/10
Good Mourning (Machine Gun Kelly & Mod Sun, 2022) 2 5/10
Emergency (Carey Williams, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://ic-cdn.flipboard.com/decider.com/ae9b86bee8189a1bf1b1590124d007880a56edc7/_medium.jpeg
College seniors Sebastian Chacon, Donald Elise Watkins and RJ Cyler just want to party but end up in all kinds of trouble when they find a passed-out white girl in their dorm room.
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (Madeleine Olnek, 2011) 2.5 5.5/10
The Last Victim (Naveen A. Chathapuram, 2021) 2 5/10
Go for Broke! (Robert Pirosh, 1951) 2.5 6/10
An Enemy of the People (Satyajit Ray, 1989) 3 6.5/10
https://madaboutmoviez.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/ghanashatru.jpg?w=620&h=421
Honest doctor Soumitra Chatterjee finds the water in a popular temple causing illness, but his politician brother Dhritiman Chatterjee arranges to have his reports go unpublished and even makes his public meetings difficult.
Ali & Ava (Clio Barnard, 2021) 2.5 6-/10
Zero Contact (Rick Dugdale, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Hell to Eternity (Phil Karlson, 1960) 2.5 6/10
Hold Your Fire (Stefan Forbes, 2021) 3 6.5/10
https://d1nslcd7m2225b.cloudfront.net/Pictures/480xAny/8/0/3/1356803_ifcholdyourfirecopy_312236.jpg
Examination of the 1973 Brooklyn sporting goods robbery, the longest hostage siege in NYPD history with interviews and accounts from all sides.

[ScarletLion]

'Luzzu' (2021)
Dir.: Alex Camilleri

https://cdn-attachments.timesofmalta.com/a900fa9c1ab30d8190d19df64a0519c87dd563ed-1625566940-a6defa81-960x640.jpeg


A quite charming tale about a Maltese fisherman struggling to provide for his young family and the need to spruce up his ageing boat (the titular Luzzu - a Maltese fishing vessel). It is Alex Camilleri’s debut film, which is remarkable given the direction. The cast is mostly made up of non actors playing versions of themselves, which is pretty astonishing given the quality of performances. The subtext seems to have something to say about tradition v progress and commercialism in small communities.

The neo realist feel is bang on and even though there are some well trodden paths concerning morality and ethics, and a pretty open ending, it is a lovely way to spend 90 minutes. Alex Camilleri looks set to have a fine career ahead of him.

4

7.8/10

[Ultraviolence]

https://images.fanart.tv/fanart/top-gun-maverick-6257284fd1b60.jpg
rating_4

https://images.fanart.tv/fanart/the-northman-61c1ce506934c.jpg
rating_3_5

[Marco]

The Legend of Tarzan (2016)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e5/The_Legend_of_Tarzan_poster.jpg
This was a bit uninspired even if the performances were good. Apart from the script being bland the story just kind of.."grinds" along after an exciting start. The CGI is pretty ropey too for the budget it reportedly spent. Tried a reboot and it failed. Alexander Skarsgård is a stunning looking fellow and a decent actor but this was trapped between a Disney version of the tale and a "right-on" retelling.

2

[Takoma11]

I've avoided watching this, presuming it to be just another whine about how badly Congress and Hollywood treated those film industry communists and communist sympathizers. If that isn't the thrust of the movie, I'll probably watch it.

It's nothing to do with Hollywood. It's about how the people at CBS covered McCarthy and the internal struggle over the line between reporting and editorializing. It's also about the culture of fear where, if you did speak up about it, someone would show up with a file folder with "evidence" that you were a communist sympathizer.

The two cases brought up are of a man in the Air Force who is fired because of something to do with his father and sister (and of course no one, even the guy who is fired, is privy to what those accusations are), and Annie Lee Moss.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Freview%2Fprimary_image%2Freviews%2Fthe-party-2018%2Fhero_Party-2018.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Party, 2017

Janet (Kristen Scott Thomas) and her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) are throwing a party to celebrate Janet's new appointment to a high position in the government. They are joined by friends April (Patricia Clarkson) and her husband Gottfried (Bruno Ganz); expecting couple Martha (Cherry Jones) and Jinny (Emily Mortimer); and the husband of Janet's co-worker, Tom (Cillian Murphy).

From the very get-go, you know just what kind of movie this is. As the minutes go by, the veneer of highbrow, civilized company is going to corrode and corrode until all of the group's ugly secrets are revealed.

So the premise itself is very familiar and predictable. Despite this, I would say that the film still mostly works, thanks to engaging performances from the actors and a slightly unreal, off-kilter atmosphere cultivated by the way that Potter shoots the film.

The best performance is easily Clarkson as a character who is cynical, but also honest and loyal. Often, the "blunt outspoken friend" character can feel flat---like a vehicle for making cutting remarks/jokes--but Clarkson manages to give April a kind of weary warmth.

The other characters feel a bit less developed. The performances themselves are good, but the focus is so much on the various deceptions and dramas, that we never totally get a read on the characters before they are in panic mode. Murphy's character walks in the door and immediately does a huge amount of cocaine. Spall's Bill is spaced out/zapped from the beginning. I think that the film could have used more of a "baseline" before everything went off of the rails.

3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.filminquiry.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F12%2Finfinitybaby.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Infinity Baby, 2017

In a near future a company conducting medical research accidentally creates a slew of babies who do not age. The film follows two men, Malcolm (Martin Starr) and Larry (Kevin Corrigan), whose job it is to find clients to adopt the unaging babies. It also follows Ben (Kieran Culkin), a manager at the company who is on a cynical hunt for romantic partnership.

There's a difference between message and delivery, and in the case of Infinity Baby I was sort of onboard with the themes and messages, but didn't really enjoy a lot of how it was delivered.

The film's main theme is about not growing up, in both the literal and figurative sense, and why that is an understandable but ultimately damaging impulse.

This idea works well in the subplot about Ben, who cycles through women he finds on dating apps. Ben has a friend named Hester (Megan Mullally) who he pays to pretend to be his judgmental mother and drive off girlfriends when he doesn't want to be with them anymore. Ben pines vaguely for a youth he never had---doing lots of drugs and going in costume to goth nightclubs--but we can see that he is unwilling to live in the moment and has always probably been this way. Ben blames women for not being what he wants, even as it becomes clear that he himself can't define what that is. His date-and-dump cycle is disrupted by a woman who is clear-eyed about her feelings and desires but also about Ben's lack of emotional investment in her.

Where the film flopped for me was in the actual Infinity Baby subplot. I did enjoy the opening salvo, where we watch Malcolm and Larry try to offload an infinity baby onto a woman who is clearly uninterested (despite the company being willing to pay $20,000 to caretakers). "Why would I want to care for a living thing that won't grow and mature into someone I can have a conversation with?" she asks. "I mean, this apartment is full of houseplants, right?" Larry dryly observes. Corrigan has always been good at playing indifferent creeps, and he and Starr have good on-screen chemistry as two men who are seemingly in a romantic relationship with each other. It's a weird energy, but it mostly works.

But in the middle, things just get uncomfortable. Larry and Malcolm decide to keep the baby themselves to get the payout, but neither wants to actually care for the baby. Thanks to medication they give the baby, it only eats or poops once a week, and yet the two men still bicker over who has to change her or feed her. So, yeah, there is a long stretch of the film that is trying to mine laughs from child abuse/neglect (and there are some horrible outcomes from this abuse). And for me this not only wasn't all that funny, I didn't really understand the point of it. You would think that the baby would serve to explore the psychology of someone who WANTS a baby, and can't handle the idea of the baby growing up and becoming independent.

The film did somewhat redeem itself for me in the very last 15 minutes or so. We see some fallout from Ben's behavior, and we also see an unexpected development in terms of Larry/Malcolm.

The cast is plenty talented, but the tone never feels quite right, some of the humor skews a bit too mean for me, and the message feels a bit muddled.

3

[ueno_station54]

https://i0.wp.com/www.bulletproofaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/3.gif
TC 2000 (T.J. Scott, 1993)

Kickfight movie with Billy Blanks and Bolo Yeung and that's all you really need to know.
3

[Stirchley]

87384

I’ve seen this movie more than twice already. I really like it. Interesting clever storyline. Both leads excellent.

87385

Sweet sad movie based on a true story.

Stay away from reviews & spoilers. They will ruin it for you.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://i0.wp.com/www.bulletproofaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/3.gif
TC 2000 (T.J. Scott, 1993)

Kickfight movie with Billy Blanks and Bolo Yeung and that's all you really need to know.
rating_3I lean on this joke a lot but does anyone doubt that Bolo Yeung could actually explode a watermelon through a two inch steel plate? So yes, this does count as a documentary.

[Kayden Kross]

I did a Zulawski double feature last night. The Most Important Thing: Love which definitely left an impression on me when I first saw it years ago, but I absolutely love it now after finally rewatching it. I don't think there's very many people who can go toe to toe with Klaus Kinski for intensity but Romy holds her own. It has everything a boy could want in a film: Romy, storyline about a photographer, seedy grotesque pornographers, crumbling Paris apartments, orgies... such a lovely piece of cinema! I'd actually really like to read the novel it's based on, but I can't find an English edition of it.


Then I watched The Third Part of the Night, and it does not have those things.

[SpelingError]

5th Shorts Hall of Fame

A Gun for George (2011) - 3.5

This short centers around Terry Finch, an unsuccessful writer of pulp-fiction crime novels who struggles to find publishing for them. Given the lack of success he finds throughout the short and the trouble he gets himself into in the process, it seems clear that he should give up. Via flashback though, it's implied his brother was killed by a group of carjackers, thus making the main character in his novels a stand-in for his brother and the act of publishing them a tribute to him. As a result, I felt sympathy for Terry and hoped for him to find success. Terry copes with the setbacks he experiences throughout the short by imagining himself as the character in his novels who "kills" the people who give him trouble throughout the short. As others have noted, these scenes are technically impressive for how they accurately recreate the look and feel of a 70's grindhouse film. They're also quite humorous given how Terry often shoots people in their balls in them. With that being said though, while this short offers a handful of interesting concepts, I don't think it wrapped itself up well. Since the short wasn't about Terry facing death, the implication that his life might be in danger at the end didn't work for me and seemed to come out of nowhere. Maybe if the short fleshed out the "fantasy and reality becoming intertwined" theme more, the ending would've appropriately chilled me. Still though, I found a lot to like about this short and I'm glad I watched it.

[Siddon]

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Uncharted-film-publishing-article-Released.jpeg

Uncharted (2022)

Uncharted tells the story of orphan bartender who gets tied into an international gold hunt with some shady characters. The film makes absolutely no sense the CGI and filmmaking sucks. Mark Wahlberg's character is good but he's wasted in this dull heartless exercise in Hollywood excess. When you become nostalgic for National Treasure you know you've got a bad film.

rating_1

[Fabulous]

Blue Jay (2016)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/t2F7D7NfbdAk2vhkfAE8N1NJNxH.jpg

[ScarletLion]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Freview%2Fprimary_image%2Freviews%2Fthe-party-2018%2Fhero_Party-2018.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Party, 2017

Janet (Kristen Scott Thomas) and her husband Bill (Timothy Spall) are throwing a party to celebrate Janet's new appointment to a high position in the government. They are joined by friends April (Patricia Clarkson) and her husband Gottfried (Bruno Ganz); expecting couple Martha (Cherry Jones) and Jinny (Emily Mortimer); and the husband of Janet's co-worker, Tom (Cillian Murphy).

From the very get-go, you know just what kind of movie this is. As the minutes go by, the veneer of highbrow, civilized company is going to corrode and corrode until all of the group's ugly secrets are revealed.

So the premise itself is very familiar and predictable. Despite this, I would say that the film still mostly works, thanks to engaging performances from the actors and a slightly unreal, off-kilter atmosphere cultivated by the way that Potter shoots the film.

The best performance is easily Clarkson as a character who is cynical, but also honest and loyal. Often, the "blunt outspoken friend" character can feel flat---like a vehicle for making cutting remarks/jokes--but Clarkson manages to give April a kind of weary warmth.

The other characters feel a bit less developed. The performances themselves are good, but the focus is so much on the various deceptions and dramas, that we never totally get a read on the characters before they are in panic mode. Murphy's character walks in the door and immediately does a huge amount of cocaine. Spall's Bill is spaced out/zapped from the beginning. I think that the film could have used more of a "baseline" before everything went off of the rails.

3.5

I like that film. Good write up of a very watchable chamber piece. Did you ever see the Italian film 'Perfect Strangers' (2016) ? Some similar themes in that one.

[ScarletLion]

Blue Jay (2016)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/t2F7D7NfbdAk2vhkfAE8N1NJNxH.jpg

I love that film.

*sobs

[Calipsont]

Soul 9/1087390

[Wooley]

https://www.escapistmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Uncharted-film-publishing-article-Released.jpeg

Uncharted (2022)

Uncharted tells the story of orphan bartender who gets tied into an international gold hunt with some shady characters. The film makes absolutely no sense the CGI and filmmaking sucks. Mark Wahlberg's character is good but he's wasted in this dull heartless exercise in Hollywood excess. When you become nostalgic for National Treasure you know you've got a bad film.

rating_1

Just an honest question. What was your motivation for using 2 hours of your life to sit through this? I've seen you around enough to know that you like good movies. Why even dignify this with time you can't get back?
Honestly, not busting your balls in any way, it's something I've thought a lot about for quite a while. I watch a lot of "bad" movies but I have a reason for why I watch them (discussed in another thread), but I will pretty much never watch a movie I perceive as just bad. And I see a number of people here watching movies they knew were going to be just garden-variety bad when they went in and watched them anyway, and I've just been thinking a lot about why people do this.

[Torgo]

Erik the Conqueror - 3

This is a pretty good Italian sword and sandal tale set during the Viking invasion of Great Britain. Directed by horror legend Mario Bava, our heroes are Erik (George Ardisson) and Eron (Cameron Mitchell), Viking brothers who are separated during a battle, and as grownups, end up being in line for the thrones of the two nations. If historical accuracy is important to you, you'll obviously be disappointed, but for those who enjoy historical fiction - especially if there is plenty of action, romance and betrayal - this is precisely your cup of tea (or flagon of mead). The lavish look and feel that make Bava's horror movies so watchable can be found here, the highlight being the Viking's castle, which they appropriately built around a gigantic tree. The battle and hand-to-hand combat scenes are also as watchable as they are thrilling since they thankfully trade gloss for grit. As for the performances, Mitchell is as reliable and charismatic as the Vikings' reluctant leader as he is in his other Bava collaborations, and German twins Ellen and Alice Kessler are no slouches either - not to mention easy on the eyes - as our brothers' romantic interests (again, it's very much fiction). It's no classic of the genre or anything, but it’s bound to appeal to fans of or newcomers to the genre. Oh, and it proves that Cameron Mitchell was much more than the Santa Claus lookalike from Space Mutiny.

[Thief]

RUNAWAY TRAIN
(1985, Konchalovsky)

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


"I'm at war with the world and everybody in it."



Runaway Train follows Manny (Jon Voight), a dangerous convict at a secluded maximum security prison in Alaska. Set to be transferred, he plans to escape with the help of Buck (Eric Roberts), a young, impressionable prisoner who idolizes him. After getting out, they hop on a nearby train, not realizing that the engineer has died, leaving the locomotive on the loose. Meanwhile, the ruthless prison warden (John P. Ryan) sets out to find Manny no matter what.

This is a film that is packaged and marketed as an action thriller – and it is – but still, there is something a bit more complex under the surface. There are themes of obsession, loyalty, humanity, and freedom lurking underneath the roaring of the locomotive. Voight is a complicated character to root for since he seems to be "at war with the world and everybody in it"; a man in search of his freedom and humanity, perhaps, and the film does seem to focus on his psyche as much as it does on the action setpieces.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2304307#post2304307)

[Captain Terror]

Erik the Conqueror - 3

This is a pretty good Italian sword and sandal tale set during the Viking invasion of Great Britain. Directed by horror legend Mario Bava, our heroes are Erik (George Ardisson) and Eron (Cameron Mitchell), Viking brothers who are separated during a battle, and as grownups, end up being in line for the thrones of the two nations. If historical accuracy is important to you, you'll obviously be disappointed, but for those who enjoy historical fiction - especially if there is plenty of action, romance and betrayal - this is precisely your cup of tea (or flagon of mead). The lavish look and feel that make Bava's horror movies so watchable can be found here, the highlight being the Viking's castle, which they appropriately built around a gigantic tree. The battle and hand-to-hand combat scenes are also as watchable as they are thrilling since they thankfully trade gloss for grit. As for the performances, Mitchell is as reliable and charismatic as the Vikings' reluctant leader as he is in his other Bava collaborations, and German twins Ellen and Alice Kessler are no slouches either - not to mention easy on the eyes - as our brothers' romantic interests (again, it's very much fiction). It's no classic of the genre or anything, but it’s bound to appeal to fans of or newcomers to the genre. Oh, and it proves that Cameron Mitchell was much more than the Santa Claus lookalike from Space Mutiny.
I actually haven't seen this one yet but Knives of the Avenger is another Bava Viking flick I can recommend. It's also on Tubi so it was probably already on your radar, just thought I'd throw it out there.

[Torgo]

I actually haven't seen this one yet but Knives of the Avenger is another Bava Viking flick I can recommend. It's also on Tubi so it was probably already on your radar, just thought I'd throw it out there.Thanks, I don't think I've heard of that one. One site said it's like Shane with Vikings. Sounds interesting.

[Thief]

MAD MAX 2
(1981, Miller)

https://i.imgur.com/Yb34avw.jpg


"Do you think you're the only one that's suffered? We've all been through it in here. But we haven't given up. We're still human beings, with dignity. But you? You're out there with the garbage. You're nothing."



Mad Max 2 picks up right where the first one ended, with a more desolate and barren land, more ruthless villains, and a more detached and hardened hero in Max Rockatansky (Gibson). As he roams the desert for fuel, he is led to an abandoned oil refinery, where he is forced to defend a group of settlers from a gang of violent bikers led by Lord Humungus.

What follows are a few skillfully built setpieces that culminate with a kickass clash on board of a tanker across the highway (am I the only one that got serious Terminator 2 vibes from this?). There really isn't much else to it, but there doesn't have to be. The film succeeds in what it sets out to achieve as far as a straightforward post-apocalyptic action film goes. The characters are likable, the bad guys are evil and "showy", and the action is fast-paced and well staged. What more do we need?

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2304326#post2304326)

[Takoma11]

I like that film. Good write up of a very watchable chamber piece. Did you ever see the Italian film 'Perfect Strangers' (2016) ? Some similar themes in that one.

I haven't! Would you recommend it?

[Thief]

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
(1934, Capra)

https://i.imgur.com/HdEW1LC.jpg


"You think I'm a fool and a spoiled brat. Well, perhaps I am, although I don't see how I can be. People who are spoiled are accustomed to having their own way. I never have. On the contrary. I've always been told what to do, and how to do it, and when, and with whom. Would you believe it?"



It Happened One Night follows Ellie, who has eloped with a renowned pilot and alleged "gold digger". As her father (Walter Connolly) is trying to have the marriage annulled, she escapes from him and takes a bus to reunite with her husband, only to meet Peter Warne (Clark Gable), a cynical reporter that sees the opportunity for a story but ends up falling for her instead.

This is one of those films that everybody mentions, but that for some reason I hadn't gotten to. Notable for being one of only three "Big Five" Oscar winners, the film earns its reputation on the strength of its witty dialogue, solid performances and an excellent chemistry from Gable and Colbert. Released in 1934, there are certain things that are obviously dated or that haven't aged that well, especially regarding the gender politics, but it more than makes up for it with the great banter between the two leads.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2304346#post2304346)

[ThatDarnMKS]

One of my favorite Capra films.

[SpelingError]

One of my favorite Capra films.
Remove the word "Capra" and you got my opinion of the film.

[Thief]

One of my favorite Capra films.

I've only seen three of his films, counting this one. I've also seen It's a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but even those I haven't seen in a loooong time.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I've only seen three of his films, counting this one. I've also seen It's a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but even those I haven't seen in a loooong time.
Make Arsenic and Old Lace and You Can’t Take It With You priorities. You won’t regret it.

[ueno_station54]

https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Jared-Leto-in-Morbius-Review.jpeg?fit=1500%2C844
Morbius (Daniel Espinosa, 2022)

i will be taking no questions regarding this.
3.5

[SpelingError]

Arsenic and Old Lace

I keep on putting that one off for some reason.

[cricket]

Black Dynamite (2009)

3.5+

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/FarawayCookedIbex-size_restricted.gif

Just wanted to squeeze something in before submitting my comedy ballot and I remember Honeykid being a fan of this. I guess it would be considered a blaxploitation spoof? An easy fun watch at only about 80 minutes and it is very funny.

[Deschain]

MAD MAX 2
(1981, Miller)

https://i.imgur.com/Yb34avw.jpg




Mad Max 2 picks up right where the first one ended, with a more desolate and barren land, more ruthless villains, and a more detached and hardened hero in Max Rockatansky (Gibson). As he roams the desert for fuel, he is led to an abandoned oil refinery, where he is forced to defend a group of settlers from a gang of violent bikers led by Lord Humungus.

What follows are a few skillfully built setpieces that culminate with a kickass clash on board of a tanker across the highway (am I the only one that got serious Terminator 2 vibes from this?). There really isn't much else to it, but there doesn't have to be. The film succeeds in what it sets out to achieve as far as a straightforward post-apocalyptic action film goes. The characters are likable, the bad guys are evil and "showy", and the action is fast-paced and well staged. What more do we need?

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2304326#post2304326)

Road Warrior is a favorite and I could go on about it for hours. I love Max’s neutrality throughout the film. Everything he does is because he thinks he can negotiate a trade, usually in the form of guzzoline. He’s not really a hero, just some guy trying to survive. And the people who have the oil aren’t really good either since they use Max as a driver without telling him their real plan. Even the way Max and the Gyrocaptain’s relationship evolves is out of necessity. They’re not really friends by the end but are allying with each other and the oil group to increase their chances of survival.

I also love all the little character moments like when Toadie loses his fingers to the boomerang and the gang just laughs at him, and then they all drive away leaving him there showing they have no respect or concern for him. He’s a joke to them. Or during the final fight Papagallo rolls up next to the rig and sees the Feral Kid. He gives Max a wtf shrug and Max just rolls his eyes like “This ****ing kid amirite?”

[ThatDarnMKS]

I keep on putting that one off for some reason.
It’s like a horror/comedy version of You Can’t Take It With You with one of the wildest performances this side of Nic Cage from Cary Grant.

I love it so much.

[pahaK]

The Speak (2011)
2
A mediocre at best found footage horror. Feels kinda cheap even for the genre, and isn't scary at all.

--
DNA (1997)
2
A mix of Jurassic Park, Predator, Aliens, and a hefty dose of incompetence. It's definitely a bad movie, but it has its amusing moments. Only for those who like to chuckle at silly bad films.

--
Jeruzalem (2015)
2.5
A slightly above-average found footage with actually good and even ambitious ideas. It fails on some important aspects like the city doesn't feel like it's in panic mode at all when the characters are running through the empty streets. It's a budget issue mostly, but it takes a lot out of the film. Still, I was really tempted to give this .5 more but just couldn't.

--
The Found Footage Phenomenon (2021)
2
A quite weak documentary (screw the documentary thread, I'll just put this here) about the found footage genre. There are a few interesting people talking (like Deodato), but too much is about the directors of some random found footage telling how original they are. We also hear many times why the genre is such a beacon of cinematic quality.

[GulfportDoc]

[Good Night and Good Luck] It's nothing to do with Hollywood. It's about how the people at CBS covered McCarthy and the internal struggle over the line between reporting and editorializing. It's also about the culture of fear where, if you did speak up about it, someone would show up with a file folder with "evidence" that you were a communist sympathizer.

The two cases brought up are of a man in the Air Force who is fired because of something to do with his father and sister (and of course no one, even the guy who is fired, is privy to what those accusations are), and Annie Lee Moss.
Interesting. Here is some commentary contained in the Wikipedia article about the film:

"Jack Shafer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Shafer), at the time a libertarian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism)-leaning columnist for the online magazine Slate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_(magazine)), accused the film of continuing what he characterizes as the hagiography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagiography) of Murrow. Clooney's film gives the impression that Murrow brought down McCarthy single-handedly, while Shafer notes that in reality much of the mainstream media, many Democrats and some Republicans were condemning him before Murrow. Furthermore, Shafer writes, evidence obtained via the declassified Venona (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_project) espionage program confirmed that many Soviet agents and sympathizers were in fact in positions of influence in the U.S. government, a disclosure the film entirely overlooks: "Clooney and company ignore the material that might argue against their simple-minded thesis about Murrow, the era, and the press to produce an after school special (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_school_special)".

Nevertheless, I might go ahead and watch the film some evening.

[Gideon58]

https://www.cinelinx.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/the-valet-poster-2.jpeg



3

[Takoma11]

Interesting. Here is some commentary contained in the Wikipedia article about the film:

"Jack Shafer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Shafer), at the time a libertarian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism)-leaning columnist for the online magazine Slate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_(magazine)), accused the film of continuing what he characterizes as the hagiography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagiography) of Murrow. Clooney's film gives the impression that Murrow brought down McCarthy single-handedly, while Shafer notes that in reality much of the mainstream media, many Democrats and some Republicans were condemning him before Murrow. Furthermore, Shafer writes, evidence obtained via the declassified Venona (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_project) espionage program confirmed that many Soviet agents and sympathizers were in fact in positions of influence in the U.S. government, a disclosure the film entirely overlooks: "Clooney and company ignore the material that might argue against their simple-minded thesis about Murrow, the era, and the press to produce an after school special (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_school_special)".

Nevertheless, I might go ahead and watch the film some evening.


That seems like a pretty simplistic reading of the film. It's very clear in the movie that other people are criticizing McCarthy (and we actually watch archive footage of just that twice during the film, one of which occurs before Murrow does much of anything). The conflict at the heart of it is whether or not Murrow needs to keep giving both sides of the story, or whether it's okay to be more "editorial" in condemning McCarthy's behavior. This is the thrust of several conversations Murrow has with his partner, his writing staff, and his boss. How do you navigate, as a journalist, going beyond just a simplistic statement of facts when you feel that something wrong is happening?

I'd also argue that whether McCarthy was correct or incorrect about people being Communists (or, more often, sympathetic), the point is that the methods he used were inappropriate and un-American. You can't hold up an envelope and say "I have strong evidence that proves your guilt in this envelope, and no you can't see it or know what it is." Further, you can't try to silence critics of your methods by then cobbling together "evidence" that they are also Communists.

[Wyldesyde19]

Strange days indeed, when we see someone essentially sympathize with McCarthyism

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/0QMMsSrx/des.png
By New Pictures and ITV Studios - Still from a Des episode., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=107440508

Des - (2020)

Remember Jeffrey Dahmer? He was apprehended in 1991, but a decade earlier and in Britain there was Dennis Nilsen - he killed roughly the same number of young men, and kept their corpses, pleased that he had control over them. He'd prop them up in a chair next to him when he watched television, and he'd sleep next to them in his bed - only getting rid of them when they became really bad. This tele-movie is part of a yearly ITV series on British serial killers, and it opens with Nilsen getting caught (he was flushing bones and segments down the toilet, and they clogged up the pipes) and freely admitting everything he'd done to police - the onerous task wasn't proving him guilty, it was identifying the remains of all the victims. David Tennant plays the lead role, and he's the only real standout performance-wise. I find stuff made for TV has a kind of blandness, where these films take on a very similar form and appearance from one to the next (I didn't realise it was one when I borrowed it from the library) - but it was interesting and informative.

6/10

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Freview%2Fprimary_image%2Freviews%2Faferim-2016%2Fhero_Aferim-2016.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Aferim!, 2015

Costandin (Teodor Corban) is a local law officer, who is hired by a local boyar to track down and bring back a slave named Carfin (Toma Cuzin) who has had an affair with the boyar's wife. Costandin brings along his son, Ionita (Mihai Comanoiu), who he considers to be too "soft", partly in hopes that their adventure will harden the boy.

This is the kind of dark comedy that lulls you in with its sense of humor, only to then spring things on you that hit all the harder because you weren't quite expecting them.

The film begins with Costandin's borderline sloppy pursuit, as he and Ionita track Carfin to a far away village where Carfin has found a new employer (or owner? I was unclear on this point). But once Carfin is slung over Costandin's saddle---and a young boy they've kidnapped is slung over Ionita's---the two men begin to realize that a nasty fate might be waiting for Carfin when they get him back home.

In a broad sense, the film is an exploration and a condemnation of the slavery that took place in Romania. More specifically, it's a look at the way that people participate in damaging systems, even when they can sense that the system is in the wrong. But instead of questioning those feelings, too often the response is defensive, seeking to justify what they feel is off. Ionita is the main voice of conscience, but even Costandin starts to doubt whether or not what will happen to Carfin is justice.

And, again, this movie is tricky. One moment it's framing things as almost slapstick comedy, but then the reality of the dehumanizing elements of slavery rears its head. Raucous laughter comes from a man who has enticed a slave to try to remove a metal coin from a burning candle with his mouth.

In its final act, the movie gets downright horrifying and includes some incredibly disturbing stuff. It is everything that we already know about slavery and what people are capable of doing to one another, and yet it still manages to turn your stomach.

The performances are good, especially Corban who manages to both espouse values like equality under the law AND genially note that men have a religious duty to beat their wives and slaves are meant to obey (even unto death). It's a pretty brilliant portrayal of the kind of person who thinks he's a good guy, even as that means turning away from the pain and damage he does to others.

Haunting.

**And, like, seriously, there is some really upsetting stuff here. I was not ready. I've been watching mindless TV for the last 40 minutes trying to get my sympathetic nervous system to chill out. One of those movies to watch when you have time to watch something calming afterward.

4.5

[ScarletLion]

I haven't! Would you recommend it?

Yes, absolutely. It's a good critique of modern times, and a good example of a one location chamber piece. Be sure to get the right version though - it's the Italian one made in 2016. There have apparently been 17 remakes since!

[Wooley]

Make Arsenic and Old Lace and You Can’t Take It With You priorities. You won’t regret it.

Arsenic and Old Lace is a great film, one of my favorite comedies of all time.

[Wooley]

https://www.denofgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Jared-Leto-in-Morbius-Review.jpeg?fit=1500%2C844
Morbius (Daniel Espinosa, 2022)

i will be taking no questions regarding this.
3.5

Wow.

[ThatDarnMKS]

RRR

Cinema.

5/5

[Rockatansky]

RRR

Cinema.

5/5

That's right.

[SpelingError]

28th Hall of Fame

My Favorite Year (1982) - 2.5

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one as it didn't leave that great of an impression on me (I'm also not the best at reviewing comedy films, tbh). Granted though, I'd probably rank it slightly above the average comedy film since the character arcs in it (Alan's arc, especially) don't have predictable outcomes (which is a common flaw I've noticed with some other comedy films). However, since I felt that a couple sub-plots (Benjy's relationship with K.C. and Alan's conflict with his daughter) weren't as memorable or impressive as they could've been, I can only give so much praise to the characters. On the plus side, Peter O'Toole was really good and a few other supporting cast members did a fine job as well. Also, the jokes were fine, I suppose. Nothing stuck out to me as especially clever and I didn't laugh much while watching the film, but none of them missed the mark, so there's a positive I guess. Overall though, I was left kind of just lukewarm to most of the film. Definitely not something I can see myself revisiting in the future.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Hook_poster_transparent.png


3

[Gideon58]

28th Hall of Fame

My Favorite Year (1982) - 2.5

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one as it didn't leave that great of an impression on me (I'm also not the best at reviewing comedy films, tbh). Granted though, I'd probably rank it slightly above the average comedy film since the character arcs in it (Alan's arc, especially) don't have predictable outcomes (which is a common flaw I've noticed with some other comedy films). However, since I felt that a couple sub-plots (Benjy's relationship with K.C. and Alan's conflict with his daughter) weren't as memorable or impressive as they could've been, I can only give so much praise to the characters. On the plus side, Peter O'Toole was really good and a few other supporting cast members did a fine job as well. Also, the jokes were fine, I suppose. Nothing stuck out to me as especially clever and I didn't laugh much while watching the film, but none of them missed the mark, so there's a positive I guess. Overall though, I was left kind of just lukewarm to most of the film. Definitely not something I can see myself revisiting in the future.


I absolutely LOVE this movie...O'Toole is brilliant.

[Deschain]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Hook_poster_transparent.png


3

Ruuuuufiiiiiioooooo

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/eb/For_Sama_%282019%29.jpg
By the production company - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9617456, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61835921

For Sama - (2019)

This documentary gives you a real impression of what the civil war in Syria was like - a real hell on Earth. Two activists, Waad Al-Kateab and Hamza Al-Kateab get married and have a daughter around the time of the Arab Spring revolts and are hopeful that the reign of Bashar al-Assad is coming to an end. As the tide turns, Waad starts putting together a video for her baby daughter to see when she grows up - and Hamza organizes a hospital which takes care of an influx of wounded people pulled from the rubble of buildings that are constantly bombed. Their home, Aleppo, is slowly reduced to complete ruins. Be warned - this documentary contains very difficult to watch portions, mainly due to the number of dead children we see. If you're feeling a little peeved at Russia at the moment, this will do nothing to alleviate that either. "Why is the world letting this happen?" Waad keeps on asking - all for one man to cling on desperately to power. These two are torn, for to keep up the fight means putting their beloved daughter at risk. Oscar nominated - I've now seen 2/5 of the nominations for this year.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Dovlatov.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56597190

Dovlatov - (2018)

I have to admit that I'm fascinated by what life was like in the Soviet Union. Chernobyl gave us a bit of an eye for the 1980s, and here we have the early 1970s in Dovlatov, a biopic about the famous Russian writer which takes place over a few days during a period where he struggles with what the regime is asking him to produce for newspapers - lies and propaganda. Sergei Dovlatov is yet to get his membership in the Soviet writer's union (it's kind of like one of those paradoxes - you can't publish anything without a union card - you can't get a union card until you publish something) - and he feels his way around the bureaucracy which basically runs on bribes, buttering people up, doing favours and luck. He's asked to write something about a group of engineers celebrating a Russian holiday by donning costumes and exhibiting breath-taking ignorance about everything, and a metro tunnel being dug which has happened upon a mass grave. All Dovlatov wants is to write with a modicum of honesty, but his superiors ask him to produce what would be humiliating prose. How can a great writer get anywhere in the Soviet system?

7/10

[Thursday Next]

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

Brilliantly bonkers slice of genre-defying multiverse madness from the people who brought you 2016's Swiss Army Man. Everything, Everywhere... has the same blend of deeply weird and a little bit gross and unexpected emotional weight. It's a sci-fi kung-fu action comedy that's also an existential family drama. There are deliberate references to other films from The Matrix and 2001 to In the Mood For Love and Ratatouille.

Michelle Yeoh stars as a harassed middle-aged woman, disappointed with her life, trying to do taxes and laundry and plan a party while her husband serves her divorce papers and her daughter is upset because her mother won't introduce her girlfriend to her traditional grandfather. Then, at the IRS office, her husband is briefly taken over by a version of himself from another universe and gives her some instructions - unlikely as it seems, she is the only one who can save the multiverse from an inter-dimensional evil. From then on, it's madness, with Sense-8 style tapping into the skills of herself in other universes, running from Jamie Lee Curtis' sinister IRS jobsworth, a lot of kung-fu and some wrestling with the meaning of life, generational differences and the nature of happiness.

It's at least 50% madder than any other multiverse movie currently out there (there's a universe where people have hotdogs for hands, for example). It manages to be really quite profound and also profoundly silly, sometimes at the same time. Sometimes it's a bit too much - but even then, that's kind of the point.

4.5

[Wooley]

28th Hall of Fame

My Favorite Year (1982) - 2.5

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one as it didn't leave that great of an impression on me (I'm also not the best at reviewing comedy films, tbh). Granted though, I'd probably rank it slightly above the average comedy film since the character arcs in it (Alan's arc, especially) don't have predictable outcomes (which is a common flaw I've noticed with some other comedy films). However, since I felt that a couple sub-plots (Benjy's relationship with K.C. and Alan's conflict with his daughter) weren't as memorable or impressive as they could've been, I can only give so much praise to the characters. On the plus side, Peter O'Toole was really good and a few other supporting cast members did a fine job as well. Also, the jokes were fine, I suppose. Nothing stuck out to me as especially clever and I didn't laugh much while watching the film, but none of them missed the mark, so there's a positive I guess. Overall though, I was left kind of just lukewarm to most of the film. Definitely not something I can see myself revisiting in the future.

One of my favorite movies of all time, whether it should be or not.

[Wooley]

Interesting. Here is some commentary contained in the Wikipedia article about the film:

"Jack Shafer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Shafer), at the time a libertarian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism)-leaning columnist for the online magazine Slate (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_(magazine)), accused the film of continuing what he characterizes as the hagiography (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagiography) of Murrow. Clooney's film gives the impression that Murrow brought down McCarthy single-handedly, while Shafer notes that in reality much of the mainstream media, many Democrats and some Republicans were condemning him before Murrow. Furthermore, Shafer writes, evidence obtained via the declassified Venona (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_project) espionage program confirmed that many Soviet agents and sympathizers were in fact in positions of influence in the U.S. government, a disclosure the film entirely overlooks: "Clooney and company ignore the material that might argue against their simple-minded thesis about Murrow, the era, and the press to produce an after school special (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_school_special)".

Nevertheless, I might go ahead and watch the film some evening.


Well, it's an interesting take, it's been a few years since I saw the film but regardless of who else took down McCarthy, it seems that Murrow was the person putting his very public reputation on the line and leading the public face of it. Of course, the fact that the Russians had spies here has little to do with it as we also had spies in Russia and none of that excuses McCarthy, who was a poisonous snake that ruined countless American lives. I tend to side with Murrow's personal risk on this.

[Wooley]

I absolutely LOVE this movie...O'Toole is brilliant.

You have good taste. Most of the time. ;)

[Thief]

WINCHESTER '73
(1950, Mann)

https://i.imgur.com/YF6m7sV.jpg


"To cowman, outlaw, peace officer or soldier, the Winchester '73 was a treasured possession. An Indian would sell his soul to own one."



Set shortly after "Custer's Last Stand", Winchester '73 follows Lin McAdam (James Stewart), a cowboy that's determined to find a man called Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally) for unspecified reasons. Finding him in Dodge City, Kansas, but unable to fight him at the moment, they both enter a competition to win one of the coveted titular rifles. The possession of it becomes the driving force of the plot, as the rifle passes through different owners as the film progresses.

There are interesting little stories in every pit stop that the gun gets. From Native American leader Young Bull (Rock Hudson) to meek fiancé Steve Miller (Charles Drake) or outlaw Waco Johnnie Dean (Dan Duryea). In almost every one of them, there are tinges that make you want a bit more from each. Duryea, in particular, gives a really good performance, but I really enjoyed John McIntire as sly gun trader Joe Lamont, who proves to be a worthy rival to Brown early on the film, all in his effort to win the gun.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2304881#post2304881)

[ThatDarnMKS]

WINCHESTER '73
(1950, Mann)

https://i.imgur.com/YF6m7sV.jpg




Set shortly after "Custer's Last Stand", Winchester '73 follows Lin McAdam (James Stewart), a cowboy that's determined to find a man called Dutch Henry Brown (Stephen McNally) for unspecified reasons. Finding him in Dodge City, Kansas, but unable to fight him at the moment, they both enter a competition to win one of the coveted titular rifles. The possession of it becomes the driving force of the plot, as the rifle passes through different owners as the film progresses.

There are interesting little stories in every pit stop that the gun gets. From Native American leader Young Bull (Rock Hudson) to meek fiancé Steve Miller (Charles Drake) or outlaw Waco Johnnie Dean (Dan Duryea). In almost every one of them, there are tinges that make you want a bit more from each. Duryea, in particular, gives a really good performance, but I really enjoyed John McIntire as sly gun trader Joe Lamont, who proves to be a worthy rival to Brown early on the film, all in his effort to win the gun.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2304881#post2304881)
Probably my favorite Anthony Mann western.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.intofilm.org%2Fintofilm-production%2Fscaledcropped%2F970x546https%3A%2Fs3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com%2Fimages.cdn.filmclub.org%2Ffilm__16690-babes-in-arms--hi_res-d828b428.jpg%2Ffilm__16690-babes-in-arms--hi_res-d828b428.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Babes in Arms, 1939

Patsy (Judy Garland) and Mickey (Mickey Rooney) are the children of different vaudeville performers. When their parents go on the road and leave them behind, the teens decide that they will put on their own show. Some jealousy arises when Patsy is displaced in the show by a former child star (June Preisser).

This is one of those films that is a slightly thin story made mostly to carry you through a series of musical numbers. I was interested to see two different songs ("Singin' in the Rain" and "Good Morning!") that I so strongly associate with Singin' in the Rain.

Garland and Rooney both give their roles their all. Garland really projects that "it factor" that she had. While I know that her time in the studio system was not the best thing for her physical and mental health, she still seems to really sparkle here. The actors all have a fun and easy chemistry with each other.

There's also a fun turn from Margaret Hamilton (who would menace Garland as the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz) as a woman who is determined to have the children taken into custody from their parents who she believes is neglecting their educations.

The musical numbers themselves are pretty good. Although there is a blackface number that really grinds things to a halt. Yes, there is dialogue while they are in "costume", yes they do voices, yes the jokes are that the characters they are playing are low-class and stupid. We're supposed to be sad when a freak thunderstorm forces the audience to abandon the number, but I thought it was a relief!

Probably my favorite part of the movie was Preisser's character. She's a real hoot, and performs this memorable (if slightly also horrifying?) sequence of acrobatics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-n_DzFFTm4&ab_channel=PaulHarrod

This is part of a series the Criterion Channel has of Garland films, and I'm interested to see more of her.

3.5

[SpelingError]

5th Shorts Hall of Fame

The Heart of the World (2000) - 4

This is my second time watching this short and it's just as great as I remember it being. This time around, I appreciated the unique style of pacing of this short quite a bit more. The short moves at an incredibly fast clip and the story, editing, and music work in harmony at giving it this unique feel. In spite of the short only lasting 6 minutes, quite a lot happens story-wise which is squeezed into that timeframe. While doing this can often lead to the work in question suffering from a lack of breathing room though, I didn't feel that with this short since it remained easy to follow from beginning to end. The editing also contributes to this short's unique pacing (from what I read, the average shot in this film lasts for about two seconds). Finally, that the music moves at a fast clip as well further contributes to this feel. I also give this short credit for how it captures the feel of a silent film pretty well. I've seen a handful of films which simply put on a black and white filter, mute the sound, and consider that to be sufficient, but this short goes a couple steps further by adopting the unique framing and grainy/scratched film stock which is commonly found in silent films. The only thing Maddin might've forgotten about was the aspect ratio, but whatever. He still got more right than wrong. I wouldn't say I have any issues with this short, though while the ending is certainly surprising, I'm not sure how to interpret it. I may have responded better to a more grounded ending. Who knows. Regardless, this is still a great short film which I'm glad I rewatched.

[GulfportDoc]

Well, it's an interesting take, it's been a few years since I saw the film but regardless of who else took down McCarthy, it seems that Murrow was the person putting his very public reputation on the line and leading the public face of it. Of course, the fact that the Russians had spies here has little to do with it as we also had spies in Russia and none of that excuses McCarthy, who was a poisonous snake that ruined countless American lives. I tend to side with Murrow's personal risk on this.
I'll have to watch the movie (Good Night, and Good Luck [2005]) to see what y'all are talking about. Might be able to fire it up this evening.

In real life McCarthy gradually slipped into monomania, likely fueled by his drinking and morphine addiction. He started seeing communists in every corner, and his over the top zealousness eventually got him censured by the Senate.

However it was later revealed that indeed communists and communist sympathizers HAD infiltrated the U.S. government at a variety of levels. Many were not actual Soviet spies, but rather "fellow travelers" who philosophically were in line with communism. Prior to McCarthy, communist infiltration had earlier been shown by the House of Representatives via its House Un-American Activities Committee starting in the late 1930s.

As far as actual Soviet spies, here is an extensive compilation of known spies uncovered in the U.S. counterintelligence Venona Project, listed here on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Americans_in_the_Venona_papers

But in regards the 2005 film, I'll be able to comment on it once I've seen it.

[Wyldesyde19]

I'll have to watch the movie (Good Night, and Good Luck [2005]) to see what y'all are talking about. Might be able to fire it up this evening.

In real life McCarthy gradually slipped into monomania, likely fueled by his drinking and morphine addiction. He started seeing communists in every corner, and his over the top zealousness eventually got him censured by the Senate.

However it was later revealed that indeed communists and communist sympathizers HAD infiltrated the U.S. government at a variety of levels. Many were not actual Soviet spies, but rather "fellow travelers" who philosophically were in line with communism. Prior to McCarthy, communist infiltration had earlier been shown by the House of Representatives via its House Un-American Activities Committee starting in the late 1930s.

As far as actual Soviet spies, here is an extensive compilation of known spies uncovered in the U.S. counterintelligence Venona Project, listed here on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Americans_in_the_Venona_papers

But in regards the 2005 film, I'll be able to comment on it once I've seen it.

Drug and alcohol abuse are poor excuses for abuse of power. It wasn’t his “zealousness” that got him ousted, but his afore mentioned abuse of power. Were there spies? Sure. But that’s completely different from the blacklist which were merely full of communist sympathizers. Which, btw, wasn’t illegal. And, as you noted, many in the government were alleged to have such sympathies, as well. Again, not illegal. Many of the people he went after weren’t some sort of “terrorists”, as he so often painted them, but merely people with a different ideology.
Many of his claims were, in fact, unsubstantiated.

GNaGL covers a lot of this, but I suspect many won’t be persuaded by it if they actually believe in McCarthy, and as such dismiss the film, which is a shame because it’s actually a great film.

[Gideon58]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.intofilm.org%2Fintofilm-production%2Fscaledcropped%2F970x546https%3A%2Fs3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com%2Fimages.cdn.filmclub.org%2Ffilm__16690-babes-in-arms--hi_res-d828b428.jpg%2Ffilm__16690-babes-in-arms--hi_res-d828b428.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Babes in Arms, 1939


3.5


Really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this movie, I think I rated it the same as you. I think it's the 2nd best of the backyard musicals that Judy and Mickey made together. I think Girl Crazy was the best and if you liked this film, you should definitely check it out. I also agree with you that June Preisser is funny as hell in this movie.

[Takoma11]

Really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this movie, I think I rated it the same as you. I think it's the 2nd best of the backyard musicals that Judy and Mickey made together. I think Girl Crazy was the best and if you liked this film, you should definitely check it out. I also agree with you that June Preisser is funny as hell in this movie.

I'm currently about halfway through Ziegfeld Girl, and I think that Girl Crazy is next. (I'm watching them in chronological order).

[ThatDarnMKS]

Baahubali: The Beginning

Enjoyable but it’s no RRR.

3.5/5

[Gideon58]

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3AgQz0ZwUTBG9ozAeeQ6N10qstECe1CNoohbklxRbfz_7O_MOBrUk32hWDkNK5k9SvMM&usqp=CAU


3.5

[Gideon58]

I'm currently about halfway through Ziegfeld Girl, and I think that Girl Crazy is next. (I'm watching them in chronological order).


Ziegfeld Girl is great...actually, I think Lana Turner kind of walks off with that one.

[Rockatansky]

Baahubali: The Beginning

Enjoyable but it’s no RRR.

3.5/5

I watched the first part years ago but never got to the sequel. Now that I've seen RRR, I should probably fix that.

[Wyldesyde19]

Baahubali: The Beginning

Enjoyable but it’s no RRR.

3.5/5

I’ve been meaning to watch this and it’s sequel for a couple years now. RRR was recently Playing at a local theatre near me, and it caught my at the time as well ( they actually play a surprising amount of films from India, albeit at a limited engagement).
There was a movement named for these types of films recently, and I can’t recall offhand what it was, but it’s something I may take a closer look at soon rather then later

[kgaard]

87422

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (2022)

I let my son (he's 9) pick a movie to watch tonight, and this is what he picked. And boy was it ... actually pretty good? It's not, you know, Citizen Kane, but it uses cultural references/Easter eggs to good effect, unlike some flashier franchises in recent years (looking at you, Star Wars and MCU), including a truly funny appearance by a character reviled recently on the internet. An unexpectedly pleasant surprise! 7/10

[ThatDarnMKS]

I watched the first part years ago but never got to the sequel. Now that I've seen RRR, I should probably fix that.
I was gonna watch pt. 2 today but I’m off to go see Crimes of the Future instead.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I’ve been meaning to watch this and it’s sequel for a couple years now. RRR was recently Playing at a local theatre near me, and it caught my at the time as well ( they actually play a surprising amount of films from India, albeit at a limited engagement).
There was a movement named for these types of films recently, and I can’t recall offhand what it was, but it’s something I may take a closer look at soon rather then later
Tollywood?

[Wyldesyde19]

Tollywood?
Maybe? I literally can’t recall it and it annoys me now.

[Wyldesyde19]

Tollywood?
Found it. It’s referred to as the beginning of Pan-India films.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/The_Dissident_film_poster.png
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65288591

The Dissident - (2020)

On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist working in the United States went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul for marriage documents. He'd been critical of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (one of the most despicable world leaders around today) - so when the Saudi's had their chance they grabbed him, killed him, dismembered the body and disposed of it. To assassinate such a prominent journalist in a consulate is not only unusual, it's horrifically disturbing. This documentary looks at the events leading up to the assassination - why Khashoggi was killed, and the disappointing lack of action taken from Trump's United States, despite demands from congress. Justice is still being demanded, but what I'm more concerned about is the future of the Middle East with a man like Mohammed bin Salman wielding considerable power. A well-paced, intelligent and expertly constructed documentary.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8a/American_Factory_poster.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9351980/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59994223

American Factory - (2019)

In a bit of a role reversal, Chinese entrepreneur Cao Dewang opened a glass manufacturing plant in the United States in 2015, and documentary crews were there to film how the process played out. What they captured was a fascinating clash of cultures that nearly completely derailed the project. Chinese workers are used to working 12 hour days and 7 day weeks, and they go about it like ants on steroids. Dewang was a little set back when American workers started to demand safer working conditions, more pay and less stringent quotas - but things became really dire once workers began sounding out becoming unionized. The entire semi-conflict is captured in this Academy Award-winning documentary which gets me to 3/5 from the list of Oscar-nominated documentary features from 2019.

8/10

[Rockatansky]

I was gonna watch pt. 2 today but I’m off to go see Crimes of the Future instead.

Same movie.

[Obi-Wan_Mifune]

Hoo-boy, another massive backlog (thanks largely to my getting sick and being left on my own over the holiday weekend). So in addition to getting in a lot more unimpeded R-rated movies than usual, I finished up the Luis García Berlanga, Guru Dutt, Sundance 1992 and Italian Neorealism collections that I was working on. Plus with my teacher spouse on summer vacation, they’ve been able to pick out a lot more of the dodgy movies on this list.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to get through as much of my intended Pride viewing as I would like going forward, nor as many of the Richard Linklater / French New Wave backlog I’d been hoping to make a dent into now, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Hell’s Kitchen (1939) — 3

What Price Glory (1952) — 2
Aar Paar (1954) — 4
Mr. & Mrs. ‘55 (1955) — 3
Pyaasa (1957) — 4
Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) — 4

Chaudhvin Ka Chand (1960) — 4
Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam (1962) — 4
Salvatore Giulino (1962) — 4
La Boutique (1967) — 3

Long Live the Bride and Groom (1970) — 3
Julia (1977) — 3

Dressed to Kill (1980) — 4
Clash of the Titans (1981) — 3
National Heritage (1981) — 3
National III (1982) — 3
Scarface (1983) — 1
Yentl (1983) — 4
Firestarter (1984) — 3
In Search of Guru Dutt (1989) — 3

Heads I Win / Tails You Lose (1991) — 2
Class of 1999 (1990) — 3
Deep Blues (1992) — 4
In the Soup (1992) — 3
[Light Sleeper/i] (1992) — 4
[i]My Crasy Life (1992) — 3
The Tune (1992) — 3
Everyone Off to Jail (1993) — 3
Blade (1998) — 3
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999) — 3

Panic Room (2002) — 3
50 First Dates (2004) — 2
Blade Trinity (2004) — 1
Kung Fu Hustle (2004) — 4
Saving Face (2004) — 4
Constantine (2005) — 2
Hostage (2005) — 3
SPL: Kill Zone (2005) — 4
Return to the House on Haunted Hill (2007) — 1
Ninja (2009) — 2

The A-Team (2010) — 2
Conan the Barbarian (2011) — 1
Chronicle (2012) — 3
47 Ronin (2013) — 1
Ninja: Shadow of a Tear (2013) — 4
The Loft (2014) — 2
Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts (2015) — 2
Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem (2015) — 3
SPL 2: A Time for Consequences (2015) — 4
Batman Unlimited: Mechs vs. Mutants (2016) — 3
Aquaman (2018) — 3
Ip Man 4: The Finale (2019) — 4

Identifying Features (2021) — 4
The Northman (2022) — 5
X (2022) — 4

[mark f]

The High Cost of Living (Deborah Chow, 2010) 2.5 6/10
Zorro contro Maciste AKA Samson and the Slave Queen (Umberto Lenzi, 1963) 2 5/10
One Minute to Zero (Tay Garnett, 1952) 2.5 5.5/10
RRR (S.S. Rajamouli, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://c.tenor.com/Vk1BqHjI-3YAAAAC/rrr-movie-nfans.gif
Enemies and friends Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr. work together and apart to kick the Raj out of India and rescue the latter's sister.
Hot Steel (Christy Cabanne, 1940) 2 5/10
Imitation General (George Marshall, 1958) 2.5 6/10
The Pilgrim Lady (Lesley Selander, 1947) 2 5/10
Navalny (Daniel Roher, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://films.sunvalleyfilmfestival.org/images/user/svff_13686/Untitled-3.jpg
Russian activist/counter Putin candidate Alexei Navalny catches the Russians lying about their poisoning of him.
Girl of the Port (Bert Glennon, 1930) 2.5 5.5/10
Respect the Jux (G.H. Goba, 2022) 1.5+ 4.5/10
The Arrangement (Elia Kazan, 1969) 2.5 6/10
Happening (Audrey Diwan, 2021) 3 6.5/10
https://www.francetvinfo.fr/image/75wuzo9cr-9183/500/281/25846997.png
In 1960s Paris, Anamaria Vartolomei needs an abortion, but since it's illegal, she has to go through many dangers and difficulties to try to get one.
Father Stu (Rosalind Ross, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Death Nurse 2 (Nick Millard, 1988) 1 3/10
Sycorax (Lois Patiño & Matías Piñeiro, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Pistol (Danny Boyle, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://ic-cdn.flipboard.com/udiscovermusic.com/2330da578f99e3a2e2347b7d77a03ce32b032f42/_medium.webp
John Lydon (Anson Boon), Sid Vicious (Louis Partridge), Steve Jones
(Toby Wallace) and Paul Cook (Jacob Slater) endure their ups and downs in the controversial TV series.
Undercover (John Ford, 1944) 2.5 5.5/10
Destination Moon (Irving Pichel, 1950) 2 5/10
A Yank at Eton (Norman Taurog, 1942) 2.5 5.5/10
Wet Sand (Elene Naveriani, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://www.swissfilms.ch/upload/media/movies/11538/thumb_movies_teaser/wet-sand_2021.png
When young woman Bebe Sesitashvili (lying down) comes to a remote Georgian town to take care of her grandfather's funeral, she slowly learns what really happened to him and what's going on there, with the help of bartender Megi Kobaladze (leaning over her).

[Marco]

Things we lost in the fire (2007)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cb/Things_lost_fire.jpg
Rewatch
a bit soapy but the performance of Benicio Del Toro lifts this out of the mundane. After you get used to the trajectory of the plot it's a really good watch.

3.5

[Wooley]

87422

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (2022)

I let my son (he's 9) pick a movie to watch tonight, and this is what he picked. And boy was it ... actually pretty good? It's not, you know, Citizen Kane, but it uses cultural references/Easter eggs to good effect, unlike some flashier franchises in recent years (looking at you, Star Wars and MCU), including a truly funny appearance by a character reviled recently on the internet. An unexpectedly pleasant surprise! 7/10

I am confused by the mix of animation media I saw in the trailer (and in your pic).

[Deschain]

I am confused by the mix of animation media I saw in the trailer (and in your pic).

It’s trying very hard to be Roger Rabbit, but it had enough laughs for me that made it worth a watch.

[Thief]

Probably my favorite Anthony Mann western.

I've only seen two, this and Man of the West, and I still prefer the latter, but this one's very good also.

[Thief]

I am confused by the mix of animation media I saw in the trailer (and in your pic).

I haven't seen it, but...

Dale's present-day appearance is depicted with photorealistic computer-animation, unlike the cel-shaded animation of his former teammates; this was explained in-universe as "getting CGI surgery," an equivalent to a plastic surgery.

I've read mixed stuff about the film, but seems to be getting some love/hate feedback with most people saying it's a bit crazy.

[kgaard]

I am confused by the mix of animation media I saw in the trailer (and in your pic).

Yeah, as noted above, it's a Roger Rabbit-esque blend of animation/live action, and the animation styles reflect different periods and types of animation. There are also internal thematic reasons for the various styles. It's not as inventive or dazzling, animation-wise, as, say, Into the Spider-Verse, but it's effective enough for what it wants to do. It's a low-key good time.

[kgaard]

Probably the most similar prior film that did the same kind of thing that Chip 'n Dale is doing was Josie and the Pussycats--another movie that's just kind of weirdly good in terms of its references and meta-commentary.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I've only seen two, this and Man of the West, and I still prefer the latter, but this one's very good also.
I actually haven’t seen MotW yet. I’ve seen and would rank Mann’s other Westerns as such:

Winchester 73
The Devil’s Doorway
The Naked Spur
The Man From Laramie
The Furies
The Tin Star
The Far Country
Bend of the River

Still need to see the Last Frontier, MotW and Cimarron to finish up his run of the genre but at least really like to love each one.

[Thief]

WHERE YOU ARE
(2016, Parkes)

https://i.imgur.com/uLsYKe1.png


"You have to close your eyes, okay? So you can't see where I go."



Where You Are follows Jen (Sarah Burns), who is busy folding clothes, when his young kid James (Hudson West) asks her to play hide-and-seek. But when he actually disappears, Jen is taken in a surreal journey through time to find him. From James' rebellious teenage years to the eventual departure from "the nest" in adulthood and back to his playful childhood.

Parkes takes a simple premise; a game of hide-and-seek and a missing son, and uses some clever direction to takes us on this journey. A journey that is not as much about finding James, but more about realizing that we just can't keep our eyes on our children every time, and we just can't see where they're going every single time.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2305125#post2305125)

[Allaby]

Stud Life (2012) I thought this was well written and interesting. The acting was pretty good too. Definitely worth watching. On Criterion Channel. 3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fproductplacementblog.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F06%2FLaCroix-Sparkling-Water-Packs-in-Fire-Island-2022.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Fire Island, 2022

In this "Pride and Prejudice, but gay!" story, Noah (Joel Kim Booster), best friend Howie (Bowen Yang), and a group of friends head to Fire Island for an annual summer vacation at their friend Erin's (Margaret Cho) beach house. Things get shaken up within the friend group when Howie falls for handsome doctor Charlie (James Scully) and Noah clashes with Darcy-surrogate Will (Conrad Ricamora).

There are plenty of terrible book adaptations out there, often involving very lazy lateral moves between the source material and the updated setting. I had the bar set pretty low for this one, but ended up really enjoying it.

First and foremost, it took me a minute to recognize Joel Kim Booster, but I've watched a lot of his stand-up and find him very funny. Bowen Yang is one of my favorite parts of current-era Saturday Night Live, and both men have excellent comic timing and delivery. Even less powerful punchlines get a lot of lift from the actors. The supporting cast isn't quite as strong, but they still manage to make enough of an impression. Ricamora is particularly good and sneakily charming as the uptight Will, and it's a really fun interpretation of the Darcy archetype.

Another really strong updating of the original novel's dynamics is the rift between Noah and Howie's group and Charlie and Will's group, which comes down to racial and socio-economic biases within the gay community. Early in the film Howie quotes the infamous "No fats, no fems, no asians", and we see how those prejudices play out through the film. While Charlie himself never explicitly expresses those views, he is tolerant of some pretty terrible things that his friend group says about Howie and Noah. There's also a nod to the way that some people exploit the party environment to skirt issues of consent. Subplots like Lydia's seduction or Bingley's hesitation about Jane are nicely reframed in the context of Fire Island.

In terms of the romances, the Noah/Will relationship develops in a very sweet way, with both men getting to see in the other someone who is loyal and principled. The Howie/Charlie pairing doesn't make quite the same impact, in part because we just don't get as many scenes between the two of them. That said, the Howie/Charlie stuff is mostly a way to explore the friendship between Howie and Noah, and the difference in how each man relates to the sex and romance culture around them.

While not without its flaws, the comedic talent of the two leads and a solid screenplay makes this a really pleasant surprise.

4

[ueno_station54]

https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Sylvester-Stallone-and-Dolly-Parton-2-1200x771.jpg
Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984)

Bob Clark, for better or worse, can only make bad vibes films and even Dolly couldn't brighten the mood. Stallone is completely unbearable here, the script is bizarre in the worst ways and there's a big lack of music given what the film is supposed to be. There's like one kinda cute scene in the whole thing. The most miserable rom-com I've ever seen.
1.5

[Thief]

THE MOTHER
(2021, Ridder)

https://i.imgur.com/Jyl0EK8.png


"Don't worry. I'm not gonna be here long. I'll go soon."



The Mother follows Lucy (Ning Lu), a young independent woman that is surprised to find her mother (Crystal Wingx) at her doorstep one day, asking to stay for a while. Believing that she has had a fight with her father (David Yu), Lucy reluctantly agrees but tries her best not to let her mother interfere with her social life and everyday routine.

This is an interesting premise and it has a decidedly emotional story. Unfortunately, the performances feel forced and the whole execution is a bit in-your-face. There is a revelation towards the end that is supposed to pack a punch, but instead feels like a regular "we've told you so" chastising. But I suppose it all depends on each person, and how invested you are in it.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2305171#post2305171)

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dd/Son_of_Saul_%28Saul_fia%29.png
By CineMaterial, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59130288

Son of Saul - (2015)

I thought this was quite good, and gives you an experience that's genuinely frightening - for this László Nemes film virtually chains it's camera and POV to main character Saul (Géza Röhrig) - which eventually gives you the impression you're going through what he's going through. Saul is a member of a Sonderkommando at Auschwitz, which not only means his lifespan is to be measured in weeks, but also means he has the onerous task of emptying the gas chambers of naked bodies, scrubbing the blood the dying prisoners shed by desperately clamoring and burning the corpses. When a young boy survives the gassing process (only to be killed by an SS officer/doctor) he associates this kid with his son and becomes hell-bent on providing a proper Jewish funeral for the boy. This is in conflict with a planned prisoner revolt. The pre-credits sequence is heart-stopping, and while the main body of the film is something resembling a mass of confusion, it's nonetheless one of the most effective Holocaust films I've ever seen. Won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language feature, up against the excellent Embrace of the Serpent and A War - both of which get me to 3/5 for the nominees for that year.

8/10

[skizzerflake]

Either :popcorn::popcorn: or :popcorn::popcorn::popcorn: depending how much you like this stuff. It's visually spectacular, but very predictable.

Top Gun: Maverick - What do I say...I had to see it. Maverick is back, as batsh*t crazy as ever, playing video games with the the Navy's (and taxpayers') expensive aircraft. This time, he's a test pilot, taking a test run in a mythic mach 10 aircraft. (these are the stuff of actual dark rumors but nobody has actually seen one). The program is cancelled, however and after all these years, he's "demoted" to an instructor, training other Top Gun daredevils using "normal" carrier-launched military aircraft. He passed up on command grade promotions so he could stay in the air, but now, he's really needed because there's a mission, in which an un-named adversary is building a nuclear enrichment facility deep down in a mountain valley. It has to go and Maverick is the guy who can train the pilots on the team.

You probably have the rest of the plot already; it's in the trailer. The movie has oodles of references to the first Top Gun movie, as well as lots of scenes that are close to being restaged versions of the old movie. There's old style dog-fighting, the kind that Snoopy did during World War I in his Sopwith Camel, although these are done with FA-18's. What mystified me, plot wise, is that in this video-game air battle, the US goes into the fight against superior aircraft with cranky old 1970's planes, not using the US equivalent of the faster, stealthy adversary's planes. Why?

Why, is because it goes the the Tom Cruise doctrine that they can prevail with good old American spunk and wits. Personally, I'd rather have the faster planes.

Anyway, it's a fun movie of its sort, with all the Reagan-era hooting and hollering, lots of flags, a blossoming romance, much of the music from the old movie and spectacular air scenes, staged like the old one with lots of assistance from the real military. The old movie was a successful recruiting venture for Naval aviators, I assume this one might do that too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giXco2jaZ_4

[Little Ash]

87422

Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (2022)

I let my son (he's 9) pick a movie to watch tonight, and this is what he picked. And boy was it ... actually pretty good? It's not, you know, Citizen Kane, but it uses cultural references/Easter eggs to good effect, unlike some flashier franchises in recent years (looking at you, Star Wars and MCU), including a truly funny appearance by a character reviled recently on the internet. An unexpectedly pleasant surprise! 7/10

I didn't know this movie existed until a week or two ago, when The Next Picture Show said they were going to review it. My initial response was, "huh?"
And then, "we're going to be pairing it with Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", and I was like, "oh, so it's (roughly) that type of a movie."

Then I noticed Andy Sandberg somewhere on the credits, and I mentally went, "yeah, that tracks."

I still haven't seen it; won't be seeing it in theaters, but I can imagine myself in the right mood hitting play on this one day when it hits streaming.

[Siddon]

https://static1.moviewebimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Maika-Monroe-in-IFC-Midnights-Watcher-2022.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1200&dpr=1.5

The Watcher (2022)

The lady in an isolated place being stalked isn't anything new. It's a genre that's been done to death we've also had a rise of crazy female horror films. The Watcher tries to walk that line which tells the story of an actress (Maika Monroe (It Follows)) who is stranded in Romania when her husband gets a promotion. Maika believes she's being watched/stalked while a serial killer hunts the city.

What makes the Watcher good is the film is basically stripped of all gimmicks. Every character in this film acts reasonably the plot never deviates to give you a sudden scare it's a long build in an attempt to let you guess what is happening between these two figures.

We then get to a perfect third act which is what you want from apartment films.

rating_3_5

[MovieGal]

87439
Star Wars III Revenge of the Sith


Its a pretty terrible movie but the reasoning for watching tonight is because a friend of mine isn't a big Star Wars fan. We have been watching the Disney + series for Obi-Wan Kenobi and I wanted her to understand the relationship between Obi-wan and Anakin/Darth Vader. I think this film filled in the missing gaps for the series for her.

[Siddon]

https://i0.wp.com/bloody-disgusting.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/a24-men-trailer.png?fit=1283%2C681&ssl=1

Men (2022)

Hey look it's another film where a woman is being stalked by a creepy dude. Though this one has the gimmick of one actor (Rory Kinner) playing 9-10 different types of men. This is Alex Garland's third film (Ex Machina, Annihilation) and it's likely his worst film because it's very much inspired by other films. You have a lot of Bergman and Polanski in this film and it feels like a response to Ex Machina...this is the inverse of that story.

Jessie Buckley (Fargo) is the lead and she's very good in this dealing with all the different forms of toxic masculinity. She's not completely innocent in this she does after all drive her husband to suicide and is disrespectful to the kindly caretaker. It's good that they don't go over the top with the men and Buckley's character so it doesn't feel like satire.

The film has a D+ cinema score for a reason and I won't spoil the reason for it but the ending is unique and graphic. The CGI is pretty good but it's not top level you get a lot of darkness to cover up some of the issues.

rating_2_5

[kgaard]

I didn't know this movie existed until a week or two ago, when The Next Picture Show said they were going to review it. My initial response was, "huh?"
And then, "we're going to be pairing it with Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", and I was like, "oh, so it's (roughly) that type of a movie."

Then I noticed Andy Sandberg somewhere on the credits, and I mentally went, "yeah, that tracks."

I still haven't seen it; won't be seeing it in theaters, but I can imagine myself in the right mood hitting play on this one day when it hits streaming.

This is your lucky day then, because it’s already on Disney Plus. That, along with the lack of promotion, gave me pause, because I kind of assumed it was just being quietly dumped onto streaming. And maybe it is! But it’s much better than it needs to be.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4f/Color_Out_of_Space_%282019%29_poster.jpg/220px-Color_Out_of_Space_%282019%29_poster.jpg

3

SF = Zzz


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

[Corax]

Is it just me or does Kenobi kind of suck?

[ScarletLion]

'Bergman Island' (2022)
Dir: Mia Hansen Love

https://cdn.cinematerial.com/p/136x/03fm1a0r/bergman-island-swedish-movie-poster-sm.jpg?v=1632582425

A film directing couple go on a retreat to 'Bergman Island', where legendary director Ingmar Bergman lived and shot many of his films, to help inspire their next artistic creations. It's a really great concept (another of those film within a film films, possibly even a hyperlink film) and has so much subtext flowing through it, mostly to do with life choices, morals, lost love etc - which makes Bergman himself the perfect accompaniment for some of the multi layered themes, given the way he lived his life. Vicky Krieps plays the wife Chris, and Tim Roth plays the husband Tony - but it's Mia Wasikowska who steals the show as the lead character in the film that Chris is making while at the retreat.

Come the end of the film, the viewer needs to join the plot dots and try to piece what exactly happened in reality, what is fiction, what blurs the lines. It's superb filmmaking and as well as being a treat for those of us who like the films of Bergman, it also has a great use of 'Winner takes it all' by Abba.

8.3/10

4

[pahaK]

The Ancines Woods (1970)
aka El bosque del lobo
2.5
A Spanish historical drama about a wandering peddler who is also a serial killer. It's loosely based on real events. It's a pretty difficult film to rate; it looks good and the actual historical case is interesting (the only legal case in Spain's history involving lycanthropy), but somehow the film manages to be quite (ok, really) dull. Apparently, there were some censorship issues that forced them to tone down (practically remove) the violence and negativity towards religion, too. I wish I had liked it more.

--
Interceptor (2022)
1
This must be the stupidest film I've watched this year. It's like a trash-tier Under Siege with modern issues on top of general incompetence (the wokeness of the dialogue reaches the parody horizon more than once). Even the acting is on Steven Seagal's level. I probably would have bailed on this if Elsa Pataky wasn't such a babe (like 75% of the rating is for her amazing frame).

[Deschain]

Is it just me or does Kenobi kind of suck?

I’m with ya, it’s not great. We seem to be in the minority though.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I’m with ya, it’s not great. We seem to be in the minority though.
It’s sloppy as hell and feels like first drafts shot quickly. I think people are just happy to see Ewan back and that it isn’t as shoddy as Book of Boba.

[SpelingError]

5th Shorts Hall of Fame

Hedgehog in the Fog (1975) - 4.5

This is my 3rd or 4th time watching this short and it's just as great as I remember it being. While I like how atmospheric it is with the lighting and fog, what keeps me coming back to it is how the various characters the hedgehog encounters convey both horror and wonder at the same time. A few of the animals, like the owl, bats, and the dog, feel intimidating with the way they're introduced, but given how they interact with the hedgehog, it doesn't seem like the hedgehog is actually in any danger. It mostly just feels like the hedgehog is walking around in a harmless environment that looks more spooky than it really is. As with my prior viewings, two characters stuck out to me, in particular. The first is the mysterious sea creature the hedgehog encounters while floating down a river. The horror elements - the hedgehog being powerless to the sea creature, the horror of what's unseen, the mystery of what the shadow belongs to - are all there, yet the short undercuts these elements and portrays the sea creature as friendly. The second character is the horse. This is the most obvious example of a mysterious character in the short, but it's also one of the most memorable characters. I like how the horse can be briefly seen observing the hedgehog a couple times and how the mystery of it is alluded to at the end with the line "How is she there...in the fog?" In short, it's a truly charming film which is endlessly rewatchable.

[GulfportDoc]

I'll have to watch the movie (Good Night, and Good Luck [2005]) to see what y'all are talking about. Might be able to fire it up this evening.

In real life McCarthy gradually slipped into monomania, likely fueled by his drinking and morphine addiction. He started seeing communists in every corner, and his over the top zealousness eventually got him censured by the Senate.

However it was later revealed that indeed communists and communist sympathizers HAD infiltrated the U.S. government at a variety of levels. Many were not actual Soviet spies, but rather "fellow travelers" who philosophically were in line with communism. Prior to McCarthy, communist infiltration had earlier been shown by the House of Representatives via its House Un-American Activities Committee starting in the late 1930s.

As far as actual Soviet spies, here is an extensive compilation of known spies uncovered in the U.S. counterintelligence Venona Project, listed here on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Americans_in_the_Venona_papers

But in regards the 2005 film, I'll be able to comment on it once I've seen it.
I finally caught up with Good Night, and Good Luck the other night. It is a very well done production. The B&W cinematography by Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood, The Bourne Legacy) was fresh and first rate. There was some stand out acting by Frank Langella (William Paley), Ray Wise (Don Hollenbeck), and also David Strathairn (Edward R. Murrow). I recall Murrow being a colorless, serious, and drab individual, which was the style of the time. Presumably it was intended to bring more gravitas and meaningfulness to the presenter and his subject. In that manner, Strathairn did a first rate job. I hope he didn't get sick from all the smoking he had to do in order to portray Murrow..:)

IMO George Clooney should have limited himself to his duties as director and co-writer. His character portrayal of Fred Friendly seemed weak to where it felt superfluous, despite the fact that Friendly was Murrow's co-producer on the TV show, See It Now.

The story was a dramatization, not a documentary, so the writers had rather free will in their editorial view of the real life story. The emphasis they chose was mainly factual (although the interchanges between the characters were necessarily made up), but in their zeal to represent CBS's quandary about what to feature on their broadcasts regarding the McCarthy scandal, and whether or not to allow opposing views to be aired, in that fashion somewhat obscured not only their hatred of McCarthy, but their refusal to state that there had in fact been significant infiltration of communists into government since the 1930s which continued up to that time. That was completely ignored in the screenplay.

Also the movie gave the impression that it was Murrow and CBS's heroism that brought down McCarthy, when in fact Congress had already tried to neuter McCarthy, and had put him firmly in their gun sights. I'm inclined to agree with Jake Shafer of Slate magazine, now of Politico, who accused the film of elevating Murrow to sainthood, and that Murrow "single-handedly" was responsible for McCarthy's downfall.

Still, the film is memorable, and is well worth a watch if for no other reason than it's excellent production value.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/519G8CC55mL._SY445_.jpg



4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/Eat_Drink_Man_Woman.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17039564

Eat Drink Man Woman - (1994)

After hearing about this film for so long I took the plunge and watched it - and even though it's not really my kind of thing, I can't really criticize it. For what it aims to do, it does it well. I have to admit, the cooking scenes were excellent, and a highlight of the entire film for me - the Taiwanese have some damn imaginative cooking, and I must honestly look like a cave person in comparison. I could never understand working so hard for so long on something you pop into your mouth and finish in seconds. Anyway, this was about the balance of all our needs, so along with the food comes love and sex, and I didn't react the same way to the love life of all three sisters in the film, which seemed a little soap opera. Their relationship with their father was more interesting. For me and Ang Lee, I don't become fully fascinated in his work until The Ice Storm, but this was obviously a first-rate early feature of his. It's better than the rating I give it, but I rate how I personally feel.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6b/13th_%28film%29.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51759818

13th - (2016)

Another day, another quality documentary. This one is about the crowded prison population of the U.S. and how things got that way. From a clause in the 13th Amendment of the Constitution that said slavery is abolished, unless you're a prisoner, to the fear campaigns waged from Nixon onwards to compete in elections, adopted by the Democrats from Clinton onwards because if they didn't it hamstrung their chances of victory. There's some really shocking stuff - and even though I'm not an American, at times it feels like I am. We have adopted so much American culture over here that it's impossible not to feel some kind of bond. The first thing that should be done is reduce some of those ridiculous mandatory sentences which took discretion away from judges. Nominated for an Oscar, and I've now seen 2/5 out of the 2016 batch.

8/10

[Obi-Wan_Mifune]

Only a few days gone by this time. My partner and I are going through as many Scooby-Doos as we can before our HBO Max subscriptions expires on the 15th and I’m working on the Criterion Channel’s Richard Linklater collection by myself. I’m looking to add some LGBTQ+ themed movies as I go along, and there’s plenty of great options to choose from.

Directed by Richard Linklater:

SubUrbia (1996) — It feels like Richard Linklater directing a Kevin Smith script. Not quite as smart as it thinks it is, and all-around too enamored by its characters to be sufficiently critical of them, it’s nevertheless a fun and sometimes moving portrait of Gen X ennui. 3

The Newton Boys (1998) — The film’s stellar cast kept this pithy little Coen-adjacent period heist flick moving at a lively enough pace to keep me from lingering on its never-more-than-serviceable script. It’s fun, and it has its charms, but I expected better from Linklater. 3

Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach (2008) — A solid documentary on a subject that is more than the usual amount of interesting. I’m not much of a sports fan (let alone baseball), but Linklater makes the topic uncommonly engaging, even if all of the screaming got repetitive after a while. 3

Scooby-Doo!:

Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword (2009) — Decent enough in the end, but the constant exotification of Japan felt anachronistic for when it was made and it generally gives in to many of the franchise’s worst impulses. It has a few fun surprises buried in the cast listing though (including Casey Kasem and George Takei). 2

Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (2010) — An incredibly fun riff on Friday the 13th and its ilk. It includes one of the crazier villain reveals from the franchise and a few standout locations. This also has a few fun surprises in the voice cast (Mark Hamill, Scott Menville, Tara Strong). 3

Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur (2011) — It was fun to see the origin of “Ultra Instinct Shaggy,” but this was a pretty disappointing entry otherwise. Fun casting this time included Criminal Minds’ Matthew Gray Gubler. 2

Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy (2014) — One of my absolute favorite of these movies so far. It has rapidfire Edgar Wright-styled scene transitions / cutaway gags, fun / interesting things for everybody to do, a great title sequence, fun new location and a lot of great callbacks and gags. I really enjoyed this one a lot. 4

MISC:

American Gigolo (1980) — Paul Schrader takes on male prostitution with a perfectly cast Richard Gere at the center of a noir-twinged plot. It’s not one of Schrader’s better movies, but it is rock-solid from start to finish and has a lot of filmic fixations that I find really enjoyable. 4

A Cry in the Dark (1988) — Has major “cash-in movie of the week” vibes, because that’s basically what it is, slightly elevated by two great actors in the leading roles. 3

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) — A terrible movie, frenetically shot, with two incredibly over-the-top performances at its center. Needlessly gross (from the tubs of amniotic fluid to the unnecessarily mutilated creature designs to being way too eager to remind us of the implicitly incestuous romance that we’re supposed to be rooting for), dizzyingly shot and all-around just *too much*, it might be the worst Frankenstein adaptation I’ve sat through. 2

Mary Reilly (1996) — As terrible as it was, at least Frankenstein wasn’t boring. The infamously Jekyll-less Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde adaptation, featuring two grievously miscast actors as its leads, is even worse the second time around. 1

Blade II (2002) — The perfect marriage of del Toro’s fixations and the manic style established by the first movie, this franchise-best installment is a Hell of a lot of fun, bursting with rich, del Toro-ian details and a large, perfectly selected cast. 4

[ThatDarnMKS]

Journey to the Beginning of Time

Simple, wondrous, imaginative and charming.

5/5

Je Tu Il Elle

An honest and fearless portrayal by Ackerman that investigates gender politics and sexuality through the seemingly dull moments that would be left on the cutting room floor of other films. In doing so, whether it be the rearranging of furniture or protracted sex scene, every scene takes on a voyeuristic, anthropological feel. Deceptively complex and highly influential.

4.5/5

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d4/Uncharted_Official_Poster.jpg/220px-Uncharted_Official_Poster.jpg

2.5

SF = Z


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

[MovieGal]

The Ancines Woods (1970)
aka El bosque del lobo
2.5
A Spanish historical drama about a wandering peddler who is also a serial killer. It's loosely based on real events. It's a pretty difficult film to rate; it looks good and the actual historical case is interesting (the only legal case in Spain's history involving lycanthropy), but somehow the film manages to be quite (ok, really) dull. Apparently, there were some censorship issues that forced them to tone down (practically remove) the violence and negativity towards religion, too. I wish I had liked it more.


Do you think it's my type of film?

[MovieGal]

87449

Lost Horizon
(1973)
3.75/5


Growing up in the 70s and early 80s, when ever this was on, I would watch it..I have always been a fan of Michael York. I love watching this, as well as Logan's Run and The Island of Dr. Moreau. I haven't watched this in about 40 years. I enjoyed it but don't remember it really being a musical. It would have gotten a 4/5 without the singing.

[Wyldesyde19]

87449

Lost Horizon
(1973)
3.75/5


Growing up in the 70s and early 80s, when ever this was on, I would watch it..I have always been a fan of Michael York. I love watching this, as well as Logan's Run and The Island of Dr. Moreau. I haven't watched this in about 40 years. I enjoyed it but don't remember it really being a musical. It would have gotten a 4/5 without the singing.

I’ve only seen Logan’s Run of the three, but I do plan on eventually watching the other two. Lost Horizon as a musical…..just sounds weird saying it.

[MovieGal]

I’ve only seen Logan’s Run of the three, but I do plan on eventually watching the other two. Lost Horizon as a musical…..just sounds weird saying it.

Yeah Citizen Rules talks about the 1937 version, which I haven't seen. I should one day. This being a musical, I really didn't remember it being but I still enjoyed it.

[pahaK]

Do you think it's my type of film?

Not sure, really. It's not exactly like the films we've usually recommended to each other. I guess the best I can say is maybe. It's a hard film to describe.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/8Pv1Mfq5/violent-cop.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24886830

Violent Cop - (1989)

In at the ground floor, which can't help make me wonder if Beat Takeshi's movies aren't best watched in chronological order - this first feature is visceral and kinetic, with an authenticity that bespeaks his method of basically ignoring the screenplay that he started with. The actors are all really in the moment. I enjoyed Violent Cop, and especially Japanese actor Hakuryû, who in this plays a villain who radiates insane malice - a great character and performance. It is violent, but not excessively so, and of course Takeshi himself is where it's at, with his Dirty Harry - Azuma - both menacing and funny. This seems pretty up-to-date for a film produced in the 1980s.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/High_Ground_2020_film_poster.png
By Madman Films (via Facebook), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66086151

High Ground - (2020)

I wasn't really sure if I'd enjoy High Ground, but it continues a trend that tells a story of Australia's history that's more genuine than I've ever seen before - with Indigenous men, woman and children gunned down by people who profess a respect for the "law". This film begins with one of those massacres, and the effects of said murders 12 years after the event, with a survivor gunning down white settlers and setting their ranches on fire. One man, Travis (Simon Baker), wants to avoid the bloodbath that he can see brewing, but ends up blamed and denounced by both sides. This was much better than I thought it was going to be - voted best Australian film of the year (and featuring an almost unrecognizable 80 year-old Jack Thompson) - it shows signs of a nation finally beginning to reckon with it's past.

7/10

[MovieGal]

87451

The Island of Dr. Moreau
(1977)
3.75/5

Decided to watch this as well tonight. Despite the advancement of special effects and studio make-up, this film still stands strong today. I loved it and was glad I rewatched it.

It will be a sad day for me once this amazing actor leaves this earth.

[Siddon]

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NKmdsEC9hDwZ5uoM3MpD2F.jpg

Top Gun:Maverick (2022)

It's been 20+ years since Gladiator came out a summer film that captured the zeitgeist of America and led to a BP win. The Dark Knight should have gotten a BP nomination and Inception should have won. Top Gun Maverick is in that vein of filmmaking. This is a film about letting and nostalgia but it's also an incredible action film.

I wouldn't be shocked if Cruise and Kilmer don't get Oscar noms...Kilmer who's cancer has made it so he can only act with his eyes gives a haunted single scene performance which reminded me of WIlliam Hurt's one scene in A History of Violence and Beatrice Straight in Network. It's the human scenes that anchor and elevate the film. Jennifer Connelly is a star in this she's incredibly solid in a nothing role but she feels like her own version of a movie star.

The action scenes are top notch but the power in them is the moments of humor...it's a funnier film than the original. The only criticism I have with the film is the typical Hollywood casting thing where the rest of the pilots are basically just cast for visuals. The white guys have personalities and back stories the four minorities do not and that's an issue. It would have likely been a lot smarter to not include them because they do nothing with them. The other issue is the film lacks Tony Scott's eye for shot composition. A lot of what made Top Gun great was the iconic shots...this movie is sorely lacking in that department. Basically the editing is there but the cinematography is not.

I think what makes the film special is it's run-time. This is a move that flies by each act is played. Unlike say The Batman where the third act was the mistake Maverick's third act is it's best work. Funny, thrilling and frankly nostalgic for the escapades of the 80's.

rating_4_5

[Daniel M]

New watches

The League of Gentlemen (Basil Dearden, 1960) 3

Well constructed British heist film that has a couple of great heist sequences. Enjoyable stuff.

We Own The Night (James Gray, 2007) 4.5

I just love James Gray films, the way he handles compositions, scenes, actions with such care and beauty. He captures stories in a way that feels personal and emotional but also on a much grander, mythical scale. A really powerful and tragic film that I can hardly stop thinking about.

Two Lovers (James Gray, 2008) 4

Didn't know what to expect from this as the plot is much different from the other Gray films I've seen but I again found myself quietly hypnotised by this. The way the main character Leonard acts is quite relateable and I found myself both sympathetic towards him and incredibly frustrated. Men are complex creatures, often making bad mistakes and incapable of seeing the good they have so close to them that they end up falling for things that are dangerous and unattainable (actually very prevalent in all of Gray's films I've seen). One of the best romance films I think I have seen, amazing how you can get something so different in plot but so masterfully executed in style.

Murder on the Orient Express (Kenneth Branagh, 2017) 3

I grew up on David Suchet as Poirot thanks to my mum and I think Lumet's film is decent if not a little overrated. It doesn't do much in terms of style and relies on its cast. I know this film got a lot of hate but I think because of the source material people went into it ready to stick the dagger in - pun maybe intended.

I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, Branagh's little changes add bits of excitement and the introduction of one character also makes his next film more interesting. I thought the third act, which I've again seen lambasted, was actually really powerful and well executed.

Rewatches

The Living Daylights (John Glen, 1987) 3.5

Been a while since I had seen this and I had forgotten almost everything about it. Really thought it was great although the Afghanistan parts go on a little too long. Love how the story is actually focused on the Bond girl and it goes for a grittier, more realistic approach.

Licence to Kill (John Glen, 1989) 2.5

Similar things here that I like, like the grittier approach. In a way, these Dalton films don't feel much like Bond films at all. I did find the attempts at comedy pretty cringe though, it's like someone told them to camp it up after the last film and they really overdid it badly.

GoldenEye (Martin Campbell, 1995) 2

A lot cheesier than I remembered, I quite like Brosnan as Bond but there's not much I really enjoy about this film that goes beyond the ridiculous on far too many occasions for my liking.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Peter Hunt, 1969) 4.5

Over the last few years this has already become my favourite Bond film, so after the disappointment of GoldenEye I really wanted to revisit this.

I just absolutely love it. I know people don't like Lazenby but I think he's great, and I actually think his one-liners get the best balance in that their funny but not too stupid.

We have a great villain, the best Bond girl, the best love story, one of the best songs, an awesome plot, great settings (Switzerland) and set-pieces, the best ending. It's a shame this wasn't met well and the series didn't build on the maturity of this film. Deserves a proper sequel.

[Guaporense]

https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p12157971_p_v10_ae.jpg

This was more of a documentary than what I expected from something that labels itself as a movie. It was a good change of pace to be honest. ;) 8/10

[AgrippinaX]

https://flxt.tmsimg.com/assets/p12157971_p_v10_ae.jpg

This was more of a documentary than what I expected from something that labels itself as a movie. It was a good change of pace to be honest. ;) 8/10

I love it.

[Allaby]

Fire Island (2022) We need more LGBTQ rom coms, so I appreciate what they are going for here, but I found this a little underwhelming and disappointing. The narration didn't work for me, the screenplay wasn't great, and I found several of the characters annoying and not very likeable. There are a couple fun moments, but it isn't very funny. I did like the ending though. 3

(Full disclosure: I'm straight, for whatever that's worth.)

[Stirchley]

I love it.

Same.

[Gideon58]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fs1.ibtimes.com%2Fsites%2Fwww.ibtimes.com%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fv2_article_large%2Fpubli c%2F2014%2F10%2F29%2Fnebraska.png%3Fitok%3DsEy6CEGC&f=1&nofb=1

Nebraska, 2013


4

Loved this movie...Bruce Dern was amazing. here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2012600-nebraska.html

[Ultraviolence]

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91WFgE-oTLL._RI_.jpg
Th birth of the Red Comet
rating_4

[Stirchley]

Loved this movie...Bruce Dern was amazing. here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2012600-nebraska.html

Terrific movie.

[Marco]

87449

Lost Horizon
(1973)
3.75/5


Growing up in the 70s and early 80s, when ever this was on, I would watch it..I have always been a fan of Michael York. I love watching this, as well as Logan's Run and The Island of Dr. Moreau. I haven't watched this in about 40 years. I enjoyed it but don't remember it really being a musical. It would have gotten a 4/5 without the singing.

Wow, this looks ace!!!!!

[Gideon58]

This is a terrible movie...despite the presence of Michael York.

[Gideon58]

87451

The Island of Dr. Moreau
(1977)
3.75/5

Decided to watch this as well tonight. Despite the advancement of special effects and studio make-up, this film still stands strong today. I loved it and was glad I rewatched it.

It will be a sad day for me once this amazing actor leaves this earth.

I had a big crush on Michael York after I saw Cabaret

[Thief]

FIVE EASY PIECES
(1970, Rafelson)

https://i.imgur.com/WtDFJ3b.jpg


"I move around a lot, not because I'm looking for anything really, but 'cause I'm getting away from things that get bad if I stay."



Some mild SPOILERS perhaps?

Five Easy Pieces follows Bobby Dupea, a former child piano prodigy who has chosen to get away from that life and instead lives as a blue collar oil rig worker. However, his past comes back to haunt him when he finds out that his father, a musical genius himself, is dying forcing him to go back to the things he has tried so hard to get away from.

Bobby is a character hard to pin down. He's not entirely a likeable guy, but as the film unfolds, you can see all the complexities and layers beneath, and Nicholson plays him to perfection. I mean, it's not far from what he usually plays – a mixture of cynical and bitter – and I'm still trying to figure out the scope of his motivations, but he does it so well. And when the last act comes, you can see the subtlety and nuance when he drops his defenses.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2305563#post2305563)

[Sleeperman]

Needed some movies to watch while away in the camper, came across one in a charity shop “Mulholland Drive” covered in praise, stars, hailed as a masterpiece, the biggest clatter of sh..e I’ve seen for many a year, gave up after an hour and a bit

[ThatDarnMKS]

Needed some movies to watch while away in the camper, came across one in a charity shop “Mulholland Drive” covered in praise, stars, hailed as a masterpiece, the biggest clatter of sh..e I’ve seen for many a year, gave up after an hour and a bit
Well, I’m convinced.

[Rockatansky]

Well, I’m convinced.


To be fair, one could easily be misled by the description on the back of the DVD.


This sexy thriller has been acclaimed as one of the year's best films. Two beautiful women are caught up in a lethally twisted mystery - and ensnared in an equally dangerous web of erotic passion. "There's nothing like this baby anywhere! This sinful pleasure is a fresh triumph for Lynch, and one of the best films of the year. Visionary daring, swooning eroticism and colors that pop like a whore's lip gloss!" says Rolling Stone's Peter Travers. "See it… then see it again!" (Time Out New York)

[ThatDarnMKS]

To be fair, one could easily be misled by the description on the back of the DVD.
Well, I’m convinced!

[Rockatansky]

Well, I’m convinced!


The description is accurate to the letter but not spirit of the movie.


Although it is extremely sexy.


So maybe it is accurate to the spirit as well.


Such are the mysteries of Mulholland Drive.

[Captain Terror]

4 posts in 4 years; 3 uses of the word "Shite".
Awesome!

[Thief]

And he turned it off after "an hour and a bit". I wonder if that was just as they were going to Club Silencio :laugh:

[ThatDarnMKS]

And he turned it off after "an hour and a bit". I wonder if that was just as they were going to Club Silencio :laugh:
We know the scene he finished with.

[Rockatansky]

We know the scene he finished with.


I'm gonna assume it was the hobo scare.


The shite he refers to was in his pants.

[chawhee]

The Bad Guys (2022)
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w780/ea3nuV8XgPe5HOrQec1uzX1mzdY.jpg
2.5
I can't believe I'm rating this so low, because it really wasnt that bad. The animation was great, but the plot was a bit too fast-paced, and there were more below-average jokes than above. My daughter liked Sonic 2 better, and I'm afraid I agree....just something felt off about an animated heist movie.

[Gideon58]

https://criticalpopcorn.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/screenshot-2022-03-13-at-13-55-45-the-unbearable-weight-of-massive-talent-movie-trailers-itunes.png?w=975


4

[ThatDarnMKS]

https://criticalpopcorn.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/screenshot-2022-03-13-at-13-55-45-the-unbearable-weight-of-massive-talent-movie-trailers-itunes.png?w=975


4
I really enjoyed it but it’s weird how much of it is just a sillier version of Adaptation, also starring Nic Cage.

[Gideon58]

It certainly made me want to re-watch Adaptation

[Thief]

We know the scene he finished with.

https://i.gifer.com/origin/75/75a6a4f3d98f23665ba25b6dd880ac4c_w200.gif

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZDJlYmUyNGEtMDNiMi00OTczLTg3NzQtZDQ5NjgzZmFlZmY4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjUxODE0MDY@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


4

[Bobbitan]

The Batman 3/5: Looked real nice, fell pretty flat. Batman had zero agency until the last five minutes and the script could have used at least two more passes.

Turning Red 3/5: Pretty cute and gorgeously animated, but too long and suffered from some really, really godawful writing in spots..."my panda, my choice" made my skin crawl.

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 rewatched
https://movieposters2.com/images/1079173-b.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Shoah_poster_1985_US.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.impawards.com/1985/shoah.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49257898

Shoah - (1985)

This kind of deserves a post all of it's own - I watched it over 4 days, and Claude Lanzmann's method works for me, very much. Walking over those places "in the present" while hearing the testimony feels like ghosts are being summoned, and a connection is made which brings the past into the present in a way. It gets at the essence of the Holocaust through carefully selected interviews - and isn't a straight chronological story. I felt the magnitude, and it's a bizarre feeling to have, because what was happening was so far from any human experience to compare it to. It's said that Pauline Kael "panned" Shoah - but she'd seen it at a cinema, with two parts of extraordinary length separated by a break, and many didn't return for the second half - the film is difficult in that respect. It's length would have felt beyond human endurance. It makes this film even more of a "far, far from normality" feature, which just adds to that sense of being evocatively haunted by the events it describes. I don't think it's beyond criticism because of what it's about - but I do think it works exactly as intended, and as such one of the most important films ever made.

10/10

[mark f]

The Overnight (Bobby Francavillo & Kevin Rhoades, 2022) 1.5 4/10
Victor and Victoria (Reinhold Schünzel, 1933) 3 6.5/10
Salt for Svanetia (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1930) 2.5 6/10
Fire Island (Andrew Ahn, 2022) 3- 6.5/10
https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/56cdc4478259b5c112bb2285/1654043497550-MA5QZ133MOC2D6TO2PAV/fire+island2.jpeg?format=500w
Gay version of Pride and Prejudice set on Fire Island with key characters played by Bowen Yang, Joel Kim Booster and Margaret Cho in the foreground. Could be funnier but gets extra points for heart.
Dashcam (Rob Savage, 2021) 2+ 5/10
And Then We Danced (Levan Akin, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Unhuman (Marcus Dunstan, 2022) 2 5/10
His Days Are Numbered (Elio Petri, 1962) 3 6.5/10
https://www.cinemaclock.com/images/580x326/24/days_are_numbered__1962_7571.jpg
Plumber Salvo Randone becomes worried that he's going to die if he doesn't retire and do some living. Simple yet muscularly-directed slice of life ensues.
Friends and Strangers (James Vaughan, 2021) 2+ 5/10
Final Set Quentin Reynaud, 2020) 2.5 6/10
The Ancines Woods (Pedro Olea, 1970) 2+ 5/10
Last Seen Alive (Brian Goodman, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/048ea51187864f90c7aa8f4c45795ce5/dca5a213b19ff745-07/s540x810/b46bf86d9ae3d9f5a88866ad82890c5c461f78ee.pnj
Remake of The Vanishing as a Gerard Butler revenge action flick, and as that, probably better than expected even if mostly predictable.
Corrective Measures (Sean Patrick O'Reilly, 2022) 2+ 5/10
How They Got Over (Robert Clem, 2018) 3.5 7/10
White Elephant (Jesse V. Johnson, 2022) 2 5/10
Hollywood Stargirl (Julia Hart, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://i.pinimg.com/474x/cb/ef/9c/cbef9c75295d307a6286ef6cd06ed0f9.jpg
Teenager Stargirl (Grace VanderWaal) relocates to Los Angeles with her costume designer mom (Judy Greer) and uses her friendliness and natural singing ability to find a way into recording and the movies.
A Flash of Green (Victor Nunez, 1984) 2.5 6/10
Interceptor (Matthew Reilly, 2022) 2 5/10
Wolf Hound (Michael B. Chait, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Atlantis (Valentyn Vasyanovych, 2019) 3 6.5/10
http://www.cia.edu/files/cinematheques/films/detail/atlantis3.jpg
Basically a documentaryish horror film about longtime conflict between Russia and Ukraine seen through the eyes of Ukrainian Andriy Rymaruk who despite living in a contaminated world still finds a chance at love and intimacy.

[Yomi]

Sabrina (1995)
rating_4

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjQ5ZjQ0YzQtOGY3My00MWVhLTgzNWItOTYwMTE5N2ZiMDUyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUwMzI2NzU@.jpg._V1_FMjpg_UX400 _.jpg

[ScarletLion]

'Hive' (2022)

https://i.imgur.com/0jZXqU6.png

Moving account (based on a true story) of a woman searching for closure after her husband went missing in the Kosovan war. There are many allegories in the film - people talk about seeing red fish in the river (blood of the dead?), the Hives that the missing husband built are somewhat recreated when our main character decides to start a bustling business selling jars of red pepper in her home. Needless to say, that doesn't go to plan.

It's a feminist film that paints most men in the town's setting as old fashioned morally dubious patriarchs and has a strong central performance by Yllka Gashi. It's a sad film that has echoes of 2020's 'Quo Vadis, Aida'. But it feels like an important one.

8.1/10
4

[Little Ash]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Shoah_poster_1985_US.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.impawards.com/1985/shoah.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49257898

Shoah - (1985)

This kind of deserves a post all of it's own - I watched it over 4 days, and Claude Lanzmann's method works for me, very much. Walking over those places "in the present" while hearing the testimony feels like ghosts are being summoned, and a connection is made which brings the past into the present in a way. It gets at the essence of the Holocaust through carefully selected interviews - and isn't a straight chronological story. I felt the magnitude, and it's a bizarre feeling to have, because what was happening was so far from any human experience to compare it to. It's said that Pauline Kael "panned" Shoah - but she'd seen it at a cinema, with two parts of extraordinary length separated by a break, and many didn't return for the second half - the film is difficult in that respect. It's length would have felt beyond human endurance. It makes this film even more of a "far, far from normality" feature, which just adds to that sense of being evocatively haunted by the events it describes. I don't think it's beyond criticism because of what it's about - but I do think it works exactly as intended, and as such one of the most important films ever made.

10/10


I feel like the extent of my Kael exposure comes from people mentioning how she hated such and such masterpiece (2001, Last Year in Marienbad, A Woman Under the Influence). I guess I get to add Shoah to that list.


Given that it's Shoah, I decided to at least try to track down what her review actually was (I seemed to find more passing references to this review than the actual review).


Halfway down on this page, someone transcribed it
https://nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=31163#p247777



I think I may have also found a link to a scan of the new Yorker article from going through the Wikipedia references on Shoah, but the image was so blurry I couldn't make out the text.


One of her complaints was that it was too unnecessarily long...
Um. Eh hmmm...
I'll just put that one to the side.
So many of her other issues seem to circle back to her praise for The Sorrow and the Pity (available on Kanopy if you have it, which I know my local library system went from one of those, "Kanopy included as part of your membership," to, "no longer"). Admittedly a film I have not seen. So maybe there's some subtle thing she's getting at that film in contrast highlights, but my inclination is still the, it feels like she's really off there.


It really feels like my perception of her has to be really skewed because of how she comes up in conversation vs how a lot of people seem to revere her. (Her stance of only ever watching a movie once just rubs me the wrong way, in a fundamental way, though).


Anyhow, Shoah, amazing documentary. I wouldn't cut an ounce of it. Admittedly, I've always watched it at home at least over two sittings, if not three. I don't know if I could imagine watching it in the theater.

[Thief]

RATAS, RATONES, RATEROS
(1999, Cordero)

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


"We've got to go on, man, or we won't get anywhere. Don't forget we share the same blood."



Ratas, Ratones, Rateros follows Angel (Carlos Valencia), a criminal and ex-convict that is on the run from a loan shark, and seeks refuge with his cousin, Salvador (Marco Bustos), a young petty thief himself that idolizes him. As they try to stay ahead of the hit men that are chasing Angel, Salvador finds himself more embroiled in his cousin's lifestyle.

This Ecuadorian film from 1999 follows a similar template to many American crime films of the era, with fast-paced direction and editing and morally ambiguous characters, but does it in a way that feels fresh enough and very much of its place. The direction by Sebastián Cordero is confident and the script, although sometimes on the messier side, still has enough interesting strands to hold the interest.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2305831#post2305831)

[Gideon58]

Sabrina (1995)
rating_4

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYjQ5ZjQ0YzQtOGY3My00MWVhLTgzNWItOTYwMTE5N2ZiMDUyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUwMzI2NzU@.jpg._V1_FMjpg_UX400 _.jpg

I was surprised how much I liked this movie, though I did rate it slightly lower than you did.

[MovieGal]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Shoah_poster_1985_US.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.impawards.com/1985/shoah.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49257898

Shoah - (1985)

This kind of deserves a post all of it's own - I watched it over 4 days, and Claude Lanzmann's method works for me, very much. Walking over those places "in the present" while hearing the testimony feels like ghosts are being summoned, and a connection is made which brings the past into the present in a way. It gets at the essence of the Holocaust through carefully selected interviews - and isn't a straight chronological story. I felt the magnitude, and it's a bizarre feeling to have, because what was happening was so far from any human experience to compare it to. It's said that Pauline Kael "panned" Shoah - but she'd seen it at a cinema, with two parts of extraordinary length separated by a break, and many didn't return for the second half - the film is difficult in that respect. It's length would have felt beyond human endurance. It makes this film even more of a "far, far from normality" feature, which just adds to that sense of being evocatively haunted by the events it describes. I don't think it's beyond criticism because of what it's about - but I do think it works exactly as intended, and as such one of the most important films ever made.

10/10


Nice. I enjoyed this as well. I have the Criterion box set.

[chawhee]

Fire Island (2022)
https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/2047697/fire-island-movie.jpg?w=790&f=37c67d3850cde45e212b0a66fd9a84b3
3.5
A refreshing rom-com buddy movie that has a lot of character as others have noted. Predictable plot but it was hard not to smile while watching most of this, whether it was from jokes or general charm.

[Gideon58]

https://images.thewest.com.au/publication/C-6507727/dddd5069d9a9b8b454e6c5f8945c4683077fa594-4x3-x0y6w3071h2303.jpg


2.5

[D54pod]

Top Gun Maverick

Finally saw this in the cinema's and thought it was awesome. Yes the storyline is predictable, and the last 20 minutes could have been out of a children's storybook, but I enjoyed the thrill of this movie. The acting and chemistry was great, the stunt-work was cool and visually it was stunning. A huge improvement from the 1986 original. Looking forward to catching it again once it's available for rent.

4/5

[SpelingError]

5th Shorts Hall of Fame

Malice in Wonderland (1982) - 4

Overall, I enjoyed this short quite a bit. I'm generally not a fan of films/shows/etc. which turn kids' shows into adult films since the concept been done to death, but I think this short managed to find a unique voice in tackling the subject due to how bizarre it is. A lot of the imagery in the film is memorable, with my favorite bits being those which play with dimension and scale, those which utilize the recursion effect (the woman somersaulting and the tea cup), and some of the phallic imagery. In spite of how much sexual imagery is crammed into this short, nothing feels out of place since the entire thing feels like a nightmare. Really, this is the kind of stuff that animation is made for since I can't see a live action short accurately recreating what this short does. Plus, the film is long enough so that it doesn't end too soon and short enough so that it doesn't overstay its welcome. While it doesn't break any new ground, it does manage to breathe some new ideas into a rather tired concept. I'm not sure if I would want to watch more animated shorts akin to it, but I'm glad I watched this one.

[GulfportDoc]

FIVE EASY PIECES [1970]
...


Five Easy Pieces follows Bobby Dupea, a former child piano prodigy who has chosen to get away from that life and instead lives as a blue collar oil rig worker. However, his past comes back to haunt him when he finds out that his father, a musical genius himself, is dying forcing him to go back to the things he has tried so hard to get away from.

Bobby is a character hard to pin down. He's not entirely a likeable guy, but as the film unfolds, you can see all the complexities and layers beneath, and Nicholson plays him to perfection. I mean, it's not far from what he usually plays – a mixture of cynical and bitter – and I'm still trying to figure out the scope of his motivations, but he does it so well. And when the last act comes, you can see the subtlety and nuance when he drops his defenses.

Grade: rating_4

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2305563#post2305563)
Great iconic film, with a brilliant performance by Nicholson. And I LOVED Karen Black in it (in anything,

actually..❤️).

[GulfportDoc]

https://criticalpopcorn.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/screenshot-2022-03-13-at-13-55-45-the-unbearable-weight-of-massive-talent-movie-trailers-itunes.png?w=975


rating_4
It sounds good to me, definitely worth a look. I like Cage better in comedy, ever since Raising Arizona.

It tickles me though: Cage must be on the Hollywood "A" PC list. On Wikipedia they said about the film,that it "... underperformed at the box office (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_office_bomb), grossing $28 million against its $30 million budget", whereas they usually would say about that lousy of a return that it was a "flop", or a "box office bomb"...:D

[GulfportDoc]

[Sabrina - '95] I was surprised how much I liked this movie, though I did rate it slightly lower than you did.
I haven't seen the '95 version, but how would you compare in to the great '54 original with Bogart, Hepburn and W. Holden?

[Gideon58]

I waited a long time to watch it because the site where I watch movies didn't have a clean print for a long time. But the first review I read of the film before I saw it was not very good and I was worried, but when I finally saw it, I loved it.

[gbgoodies]

I haven't seen the '95 version, but how would you compare in to the great '54 original with Bogart, Hepburn and W. Holden?


I think I'm in the minority, but I prefer the 1995 version of Sabrina over the 1954 version. I thought that Bogart was miscast in the role of Linus.

[PHOENIX74]

I'm experiencing one of those "lost my whole review" moments suffered by all of us from time to time. So, I reckon this'll be briefer...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Amores_Perros_poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47536963

Amores Perros - (2000)

Was on edge while watching this - there seems to be a perpetual sense of events spiraling out of control. Three stories, all involving dogs in a meaningful way, are connected by a single event. These stories are also about loyalty, and are set in Mexico - a cinematic country that's ultra-violent, and this carries over into dog territory. There are a few scenes involving pooches which really tested my limits - seeing them fight, or witnessing brutality and harm got to me in a few instances. I don't know if I could ever watch those scenes again. But the film itself is quite good - really appreciated the Reservoir Dogs reference in the very first scene (if indeed that's what it was) and all the other dog references. Watching this Iñárritu feature debut was well overdue.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Night_shift.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7829945

Night Shift - (1982)

Three things made this worth watching. 1 - Remembering just how suited Michael Keaton was to comedy, and the comic timing and presence he had. 2 - Checking out one of Ron Howard's earliest forays into the cinematic realm. 3 - Spotting a very young Kevin Costner working as an extra in a 'frat boys' scene. Other than that though, this is an ordinary 1980s Hollywood comedy. Not really bad, and not really good - but from what I remember very likeable at the time.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/The_Card_Counter_%282021%29_film_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2021/card_counter.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68416926

The Card Counter - (2021)

This was interesting. A lot of people have criticized it for not being original, but considering how few films have ever tried to deal with what happened Abu Ghraib - even indirectly, as this does - it deserves some praise. Oscar Isaac fascinates, and young Tye Sheridan shows promise. It's a subtle slow-burn, and I enjoyed watching it. It passes the "I'd own that on DVD" test - so in future my rating might go up.

7/10

https://i.postimg.cc/1tx4mNqg/de-gualle.jpg

De Gaulle - (2020)

Less historical drama than a fan-worshipping puff-piece - and no matter how good those are, they just turn me off. I like to see biopics which include the good and bad - ones that show complexity. Watching this, you'd think Charles de Gaulle won the war single-handed - every scene shows him as a hero of the moment, and I'd love to see how the France of say, 1970, would have reacted to this film.

4/10

[xSookieStackhouse]

rating_5 i loved it. cant wait for more episodes
https://terrigen-cdn-dev.marvel.com/content/prod/1x/ms_marvel_0.jpg

[ScarletLion]

I'm experiencing one of those "lost my whole review" moments suffered by all of us from time to time. So, I reckon this'll be briefer...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4b/Amores_Perros_poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47536963

Amores Perros - (2000)

Was on edge while watching this - there seems to be a perpetual sense of events spiraling out of control. Three stories, all involving dogs in a meaningful way, are connected by a single event. These stories are also about loyalty, and are set in Mexico - a cinematic country that's ultra-violent, and this carries over into dog territory. There are a few scenes involving pooches which really tested my limits - seeing them fight, or witnessing brutality and harm got to me in a few instances. I don't know if I could ever watch those scenes again. But the film itself is quite good - really appreciated the Reservoir Dogs reference in the very first scene (if indeed that's what it was) and all the other dog references. Watching this Iñárritu feature debut was well overdue.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Night_shift.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7829945

Night Shift - (1982)

Three things made this worth watching. 1 - Remembering just how suited Michael Keaton was to comedy, and the comic timing and presence he had. 2 - Checking out one of Ron Howard's earliest forays into the cinematic realm. 3 - Spotting a very young Kevin Costner working as an extra in a 'frat boys' scene. Other than that though, this is an ordinary 1980s Hollywood comedy. Not really bad, and not really good - but from what I remember very likeable at the time.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/The_Card_Counter_%282021%29_film_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2021/card_counter.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68416926

The Card Counter - (2021)

This was interesting. A lot of people have criticized it for not being original, but considering how few films have ever tried to deal with what happened Abu Ghraib - even indirectly, as this does - it deserves some praise. Oscar Isaac fascinates, and young Tye Sheridan shows promise. It's a subtle slow-burn, and I enjoyed watching it. It passes the "I'd own that on DVD" test - so in future my rating might go up.

7/10



I love Amores Perros. It has huge nods to Tarantino, both with the dogs and it being a hyperlink film like Pulp Fiction. I bought the USA Criterion Import the other day, so I'm due for a re-watch.

The Card Counter was a 6/10 for me. I love Schrader's way of creating those "men on the edge of society" characters, and there is one beautiful scene in this film (the one with all the different coloured fairy lights). But it didn't really flesh out the story as much as I'd have liked.

[Stirchley]

I love Amores Perros. It has huge nods to Tarantino, both with the dogs and it being a hyperlink film like Pulp Fiction. I bought the USA Criterion Import the other day, so I'm due for a re-watch.

The Card Counter was a 6/10 for me. I love Schrader's way of creating those "men on the edge of society" characters, and there is one beautiful scene in this film (the one with all the different coloured fairy lights). But it didn't really flesh out the story as much as I'd have liked.

Agree on Perros. I need to re-watch it.

I own The Card Counter, but haven’t watched it yet. Huge fan of Oscar. Not expecting anything wonderful. Just so long as I can finish it. :)

[Wooley]

https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Sylvester-Stallone-and-Dolly-Parton-2-1200x771.jpg
Rhinestone (Bob Clark, 1984)

Bob Clark, for better or worse, can only make bad vibes films and even Dolly couldn't brighten the mood. Stallone is completely unbearable here, the script is bizarre in the worst ways and there's a big lack of music given what the film is supposed to be. There's like one kinda cute scene in the whole thing. The most miserable rom-com I've ever seen.
1.5

But he wants to show you his organ.

[Wooley]

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994) — A terrible movie, frenetically shot, with two incredibly over-the-top performances at its center. Needlessly gross (from the tubs of amniotic fluid to the unnecessarily mutilated creature designs to being way too eager to remind us of the implicitly incestuous romance that we’re supposed to be rooting for), dizzyingly shot and all-around just *too much*, it might be the worst Frankenstein adaptation I’ve sat through. 2


It's funny, despite being a horror fan and being pretty high on Coppola at that time, I remember this movie, seen in the theater on its initial release, being just so abysmal that I have never, ever been able to bring myself to endure it again.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZDdiZTAwYzAtMDI3Ni00OTRjLTkzN2UtMGE3MDMyZmU4NTU4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjU0OTQ0OTY@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

4

[Takoma11]

Loved this movie...Bruce Dern was amazing. here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2012600-nebraska.html

Sounds like we're on the same page. I agree that it totally nails the ending.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-8hL2DxLpA98%2FXH6BjwsDRII%2FAAAAAAAAauU%2F8g0_Exj_hcol7tmPVYtpJjQW-W9cHi7WgCLcBGAs%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2FZiegfeld%252BGirl%252B1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Ziegfeld Girl, 1941

Three different women get scouted to join the famed Ziegfeld troupe. Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland) is spotted as part of a vaudeville act she does with her father, and has qualms about leaving him behind. Sandra (Hedy Lamarr) must deal with her husband (Philip Dorn) not wanting her to take the job, to the point that he threatens to leave her. Sheila (Lana Turner) embraces her new status, leading her to ultimately reject a marriage offer from her boyfriend, Gil (James Stewart), but fame ultimately takes a toll on her.

This was an interesting look at how the experience of fame--but a very specific type of fame--can have different impacts on different people. I had different reactions to each of the stories.

Susan’s story is probably the most straightforward, but I thought Garland was really charming in her role, and she has great chemistry with Charles Winninger, who plays her father. While the film’s claims that she’s not as pretty as the other girls had me rolling my eyes, she really sells the idea that she makes up for any “deficits” via her strength in singing.

Sandra’s story feels real, but it’s also kind of frustrating. Almost right off the bat, Franz gives Sandra an ultimatum: him or the job. He doesn’t even try to meet her halfway or see things from her point of view. Later in the film when she considers getting back together with him, it’s pointed out that a job as a Ziegfeld girl is only a short term gig. But isn’t that a reason to want Sandra to pursue her career? To let her have a few years, at the most, to be a star? In any event, Franz’s stank, disrespectful attitude toward his wife made me a lot less sympathetic toward his point of view, and frustrated when the film started to push them back together. Lamarr is transcendental in her role, virtually luminous.

Lana Turner’s Sheila gets the meatiest plot, with her fractured romance and descent into alcoholism. Like Sandra’s story, so much of it felt real and it was hard to watch at times. Maybe we’re supposed to think Sheila is getting what she deserves when she throws Gil over in favor of the adoration from wealthy male fans. I thought that her response to having her own money for the first time in her life was understandable. Later, as her addiction begins to take its toll, it feels like the film is punishing her for her actions. Despite this, her story does manage to be compelling. When her drinking affects a performance, she is fired without ceremony. A later declaration about the loyalty of the organization seems laughable in the face of the way that no one lifts a finger to help Sheila. The delight that a man who Sheila’d previously turned down in seeing her reduced in status is appropriately icky. Turner is really good in her role, and she kept my sympathy the whole way through. Stewart is also pretty good as Gil.

Visually, the film offers up several lush production numbers, complete with amazing moving sets and outlandish costumes. I found the songs unmemorable, but enjoyed them on the screen.

3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi0.wp.com%2Fla-explorer.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Flilymars2.jpg%3Ffit%3D960%252C720&f=1&nofb=1

Presenting Lily Mars, 1943

Lily Mars (Judy Garland) is an aspiring actress living at home with her mother (Spring Byington) and several siblings. She contrives to audition for a big-time Broadway producer/writer named John (Van Heflin), but totally flops her first impression. Determined to follow her dream, she makes her way to New York where John is trying to stage a huge production with an experienced leading lady (Marta Eggerth).

This was a very charming little romantic comedy, with solid laughs, solid musical numbers, and winning performances from the leads.

I’m obviously on a Judy Garland kick, and she’s really funny here both in her line delivery and her physical comedy. She does a great job of selling someone who has a lot of talent, but not the right kind of presence (yet!) for the work that she wants to do on stage. She manages to walk just the right line between charming and obnoxious as she relentlessly pursues John, including showing up with her younger sister to make a scene outside of his office or sneaking into a garden party by scaling the wall.

Van Heflin is also a lot of fun as the besieged John. With her meant to be 19 years old and him looking very much like a man in his mid-30s, the film has to tread carefully for him not to come off as a creep. Because a lot of the plot leans on her naivete, I originally thought that she was meant to be even younger than 19. But ultimately I found their romance to be rather sweet. John doesn’t just like her for her talent, he really seems to respect her. And wisely the movie puts most of the heft on how Lily deals with the ups and downs of trying to be a star.

I also enjoyed several of the supporting performances. Eggerth is very enjoyable as the more seasoned star headlining the show. Her character is a bit of a diva, but not to the point that she’s a sneering villain. She isn’t out to sabotage Lily or anything, and we can certainly empathize with her annoyance at finding out that the producer of the show wants to possibly replace her with his new 19 year old girlfriend. I have to give a shout-out to Patricia Barker, the child actor who plays Lily’s little sister Poppy. She has really fun timing and I loved the running gag of all of Lily’s sisters acting as a choir that echoes Lily’s emotions at every twist and turn.

A sweet and engaging movie.

4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fhydra.mediasearch.verizon.com%2FResourcesFiles%2FImageLibrary%2FFiosTV%2FUnBranded% 2FH%2F169_Lrg%2FTVNWARNERBROSSD.COM_VUBM0000000072018402.jpg%3Fs%3D1440x810&f=1&nofb=1

Girl Crazy, 1943

Danny Churchill (Mickey Rooney) is a spoiled rich teenager living in New York City. When his girl crazy--and obnoxiously privileged--behavior starts to make the papers, his father ships him off to a boys-only school in the west. Once there, though, he becomes smitten with mail delivery girl Ginger (Judy Garland). Danny struggles to fit in, but then once he finds his footing the school itself is in jeopardy of closing.

This was a fun little musical/romance/comedy, with winning lead performances from both Rooney and Garland, and more than capable supporting turns from several actors, including Rags Ragland as a worker at the school, Guy Kibbee as the school's easy-going dean, and Nancy Walker as Ginger’s wise-cracking cousin.

I will never get tired, apparently, of watching Judy Garland shut down arrogant flirting that’s thrown in her direction. (Yeah, she always ends up with the guy. Whatever, I guess you can’t have it all!). Sometimes when Garland performs--literally, as in when she’s singing--there seems to be a kind of strain there that can make me a bit uncomfortable. Watching her comedies it is really striking just how at ease she can be, and how capably she delivers some really crackling dialogue.

In fact, there is an ease to the whole film that is mostly very endearing. A lot of the story and humor is predictable--like the “city boy in the country” stuff that Danny goes through when he first arrives--but everyone does such a good job with the material that it’s hard to take too much issue with it. The song and dance numbers are all solid, especially a huge set piece that takes place at Ginger’s birthday party.

Good fun.

4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fderekwinnert.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F05%2F293.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

For Me and My Gal, 1942

Jo Hayden (Judy Garland) is a singer and performer in a struggling song and dance troupe led by Jimmy (George Murphy). When they are joined by arrogant single act Harry Palmer (Gene Kelly), Jo and Harry first clash, but then agree to make a go as a double act. But things get complicated when World War 1 rears its head just as Jo and Harry are trying to make a move to the big time.

I went into this film expecting the emphasis to be on the song and dance numbers, but instead the drama packed a much bigger punch than I could have anticipated.

The story builds the perspectives of both characters really brilliantly, eventually centering their conflict around Harry’s reluctance to enlist in the war. When Harry receives his order to report for duty, he instead chooses to injure himself to be declared unfit to serve. Harry tells Jo (when she discovers the deception) that he did it just to put off his enlistment so that they could make one last push at success. What I liked about the way that Kelly plays this whole series of events is that Harry himself doesn’t seem to be entirely sure if he’s willing to go to war. And while it would be easy for the film to paint Harry as a contemptible coward, it’s more nuanced than that. People should be afraid of war. The film doesn’t like his fear, but it is at least a bit empathetic toward it.

On the other hand, we can understand Jo’s disgust at Harry’s dodging of military service. Jo’s beloved little brother, Danny (Richard Quine) has left medical school to serve. Adding to that, Jo has been a witness to many self-serving actions from Harry. Jo has put up with a lot in holding up her half of the partnership, and this final moment of betrayal hits her hard.

Garland and Kelly are both incredibly talented performers--and not a combo I’d realized had ever worked together. They both light up the screen in their own way and they really match each other well on the banter front in the first act of the film. Likewise, they both do a good job with the heavier drama toward the end.

There’s just a lot more here than I expected. For example, the way that Jimmy clearly pines for Jo, but respectfully keeps his feelings to himself because she’s in a relationship. There’s also a really powerful sequence where Danny has to ship out and won’t be able to see Jo perform . . . which leads to the whole room of diners singing Danny an emotional farewell song. It put a lump in my throat and it’s probably the best moment in the film.

I had very few issues with this film. I thought one of the dance numbers was a bit icky (Garland playing a doll doing a suggestive song directed at “Daddy” like, gross). I also thought that a part where Jimmy (enlisted as a soldier) cheated a French taxi driver out of his fare and robbed him (by demanding change) was gross. Aside from that, nothing negative that stood out to me.
Really good stuff around some great song and dance numbers.

4

[Wyldesyde19]

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Nebraska, 2013

Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is an older man living in Billings, Montana, who one day receives a marketing letter that uses the ploy of a "You could already be a millionaire!" as a hook. Taking the letter at face value, Woody is determined to drive to Lincoln, Nebraska to personally claim his prize. Woody's son, David (Will Forte), reluctantly takes the weekend off to drive his father to Nebraska, which includes an illuminating trip through his father's hometown.

At its heart, this is a potent, often funny look at family dynamics and how to make peace with family who might never totally be on your same wavelength.

Performance wise, the film is very solid. Dern is absolutely perfect as a character who is equal parts sympathetic and frustrating. Forte shows off some decent dramatic chops as a man who begins to see his father in a new light as the two of them continue their journey. Also making a strong impression is June Squibb as Woody's foul-mouthed and plain-speaking (to a fault!) wife. Bob Odenkirk plays the couple's older son, a newscaster, while Stacy Keach plays an old friend of Woody's who shows more and more contempt as their visit goes on.

Make no mistake, I don't think that I would want to be part of this family. Both Woody and Kate, his wife, have a habit of speaking bluntly in a way that may be truthful, but often lands as hurtful, as when Kate talks derisively about Woody's dead family member as they are literally standing over the graves of the Grant family. Woody is apparently a lifelong alcoholic. At the same time, we get several moments that show us why David is coming to have a new appreciation for his parents. In one sequence Kate, who until this point has seemed to have only contempt for Woody, viciously stands up for him against greedy relatives. Similarly, a moment of humor between Woody and David shows where the latter got his sense of humor.

The film is shot in an appealing black and white, and the way that long shots and camera angles are used at times transforms Woody's hometown into something even more distant and borderline alien.

I liked the film's simple message about finding the joy in pursuing something with another person, even if it's not what you want to do. As David softens into indulging his father, he is able to find deeper understanding of them both. I thought that the ending was very sweet.

4

I’m starting this up tonight. 👍

[GulfportDoc]

I think I'm in the minority, but I prefer the 1995 version of Sabrina over the 1954 version. I thought that Bogart was miscast in the role of Linus.
Yeah, Bogie was 55 then, and the booze and butts had taken a toll on his looks. He reportedly was upset during most of the filming, thinking he was wrong for the role. He didn't like Billy Wilder, he and W. Holden didn't get along at all, and he thought Lauren Bacall should have gotten Hepburn's role. He thought Hepburn to be unprofessional and inexperienced.

Bogart only did 5 more pictures before his 1957 death. Interestingly several of them were against the "Bogie" type. And of course he nailed the Capt. Queeg part earlier in '54 in The Caine Mutiny. He was superb in his final film, The Harder They Fall.

Still, the '54 Sabrina has a genuine charm, and was a captivating story.

[Gideon58]

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Ziegfeld Girl, 1941

Three different women get scouted to join the famed Ziegfeld troupe. Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland) is spotted as part of a vaudeville act she does with her father, and has qualms about leaving him behind. Sandra (Hedy Lamarr) must deal with her husband (Philip Dorn) not wanting her to take the job, to the point that he threatens to leave her. Sheila (Lana Turner) embraces her new status, leading her to ultimately reject a marriage offer from her boyfriend, Gil (James Stewart), but fame ultimately takes a toll on her.

This was an interesting look at how the experience of fame--but a very specific type of fame--can have different impacts on different people. I had different reactions to each of the stories.

Susan’s story is probably the most straightforward, but I thought Garland was really charming in her role, and she has great chemistry with Charles Winninger, who plays her father. While the film’s claims that she’s not as pretty as the other girls had me rolling my eyes, she really sells the idea that she makes up for any “deficits” via her strength in singing.

Sandra’s story feels real, but it’s also kind of frustrating. Almost right off the bat, Franz gives Sandra an ultimatum: him or the job. He doesn’t even try to meet her halfway or see things from her point of view. Later in the film when she considers getting back together with him, it’s pointed out that a job as a Ziegfeld girl is only a short term gig. But isn’t that a reason to want Sandra to pursue her career? To let her have a few years, at the most, to be a star? In any event, Franz’s stank, disrespectful attitude toward his wife made me a lot less sympathetic toward his point of view, and frustrated when the film started to push them back together. Lamarr is transcendental in her role, virtually luminous.

Lana Turner’s Sheila gets the meatiest plot, with her fractured romance and descent into alcoholism. Like Sandra’s story, so much of it felt real and it was hard to watch at times. Maybe we’re supposed to think Sheila is getting what she deserves when she throws Gil over in favor of the adoration from wealthy male fans. I thought that her response to having her own money for the first time in her life was understandable. Later, as her addiction begins to take its toll, it feels like the film is punishing her for her actions. Despite this, her story does manage to be compelling. When her drinking affects a performance, she is fired without ceremony. A later declaration about the loyalty of the organization seems laughable in the face of the way that no one lifts a finger to help Sheila. The delight that a man who Sheila’d previously turned down in seeing her reduced in status is appropriately icky. Turner is really good in her role, and she kept my sympathy the whole way through. Stewart is also pretty good as Gil.

Visually, the film offers up several lush production numbers, complete with amazing moving sets and outlandish costumes. I found the songs unmemorable, but enjoyed them on the screen.

3.5

Glad you enjoyed this movie...it's one of a handful of movies where I really enjoyed Lana Turner. Not a great film, but watchable and I agree with most of what you've said here.