Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzUxNzkzMzQtYjIxZC00NzU0LThkYTQtZjNhNTljMTA1MDA1L2ltYWdlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTMxODk2OTU@._V1 _.jpg

3.5

[Ultraviolence]

I’m shocked they Iko Uwais, given that he worked with Keanu in Man of Tai Chi.

I think Jaa, Uwais and Michael Jai White are probably the only glaring omissions in the franchise at this point. Chan and Yeoh don’t quite fit the tone. Maybe Jet Li and Sammo Hung? Guess they gotta leave talent for sequels.

Jai White is a great nameto be in the JW franchise. Uwais is attached to a lot of projects, maybe he is without time (he's recent films were awnful, unfortunally). Jet Li and Sammo fits well. Not sure if Yanin "Jeeja" Vismitananda is still going, but she would be a great cast too.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xts2ZSZUq60/WgpwnB1wtMI/AAAAAAACW4M/8CdxGDNxCzAyI8pPuzIF4JK2mCfJaJO0wCEwYBhgL/s1600/5%2BAgainst%2BThe%2BHouse%2B%252825%2529%2Bcopy.jpg
https://alchetron.com/cdn/5-against-the-house-433c8a96-d2de-4f7f-a173-91873d4051b-resize-750.jpg

5 Against the House - 1955 caper film starring Guy Madison, Brian Keith, Kerwin Matthews, Alvy Moore and Kim Novak. I thought I was paying close enough attention but I'm still not sure if all four men are vets attending college on the GI Bill or just Al Mercer (Madison) and Brick (Keith). It is established early on that Brick saved Al's life in Korea and is obviously suffering from some form of PTSD.

While on a break from their studies the four visit Reno, Nevada and stop at Harold's Club casino. Ronnie (Matthews) and Roy (Moore) are inadvertently dragged into another patron's robbery attempt but eventually exonerated. After being told by a police detective that a successful heist is impossible Ronnie gets it in his head to pull one off. He has no intention of keeping the money mistakenly assuming that it won't be considered an actual crime.

He has no trouble talking Brick and Roy into helping him but since the operation needs four men they decide to rope the strait laced and unsuspecting Al into it. Coincidentally, Al and his girlfriend Kay (Novak) decide to get married and accompany the other three men to Reno for a spontaneous wedding. The remainder of the movie deals with loose cannon Brick hijacking the operation.

It's a small movie in scope and budget but it is ably directed by Phil Karlson and most of the cast would move on to bigger and more well known roles. Brian Keith's Brick is ultimately the heart of the story and he makes the most of a somewhat abridged role, doing a fine job of conveying the damaged vet's mindset and worldview. This should be considered meaningful in that it provided inspiration for later films like Ocean's 11 and Casino.

70/100

[donniedarko]

Never heard of that one, looks cool

[ThatDarnMKS]

Jai White is a great nameto be in the JW franchise. Uwais is attached to a lot of projects, maybe he is without time (he's recent films were awnful, unfortunally). Jet Li and Sammo fits well. Not sure if Yanin "Jeeja" Vismitananda is still going, but she would be a great cast too.
She was in Triple Threat just in 2019 with White, Adkins and Uwais, so I think she’d be a great grab.

I can’t believe I forgot Veronica Ngo. Gonna go watch The Princess to atone.

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cd/Original_movie_poster_for_the_film_Billy_Liar.jpg
By http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_product.asp?master%5Fmovie%5Fid=1884, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7403646



The Heat - (2013)

I'd seen parts of this before, and it looked really funny - and while the film definitely does have it's moments I thought it was a little too one-note to sustain it's running time for me. I became a little tired of the schtick after 45 minutes or so, and it doesn't have a story that can help to maintain interest. Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock are funny and make a great team, but the film industry doesn't make very compelling comedies for the most part.

5/10


The Heat was painfully mediocre

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FzUu52OtJGqgqbSF4bnCjW21bWYz.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Across 110th Street, 1972

In a bold, unexpected heist, two amateur criminals, Jim (Paul Benjamin) and Joe (Ed Bernard) hold up an apartment where Harlem numbers men are squaring up with their Mafia counterparts. The men make off with a ton of money, but also kill several local gangsters, mafia men, and even two police officers. Lieutenant Pope (Yaphet Kotto) is assigned to the case alongside old-school captain Mattelli (Anthony Quinn), and the two race to find the perpetrators before ruthless mafia enforcer DiSalvio (Anthony Franciosa) gets his hands on them.

It would be easy to let the graphic, disturbing, and relentless violence be what sticks with you from this movie, and that element does add to the sense of the film as leaning toward exploitation. But the movie simply has too much on its mind to be written off that way.

A lot of what happens in the film is not subtle, especially when it comes to the race relations aspect. Teaming a Black police detective with a white one and watching the sparks fly is nothing new, and this film came out 5 years after perhaps its most famous incarnation, In the Heat of the Night. Quinn's Mettelli is hugely problematic as a character, with his racism so entrenched that at times he doesn't even seem to register it. (He is the kind of person for whom every Black man in the film is "boy"). When Pope tells him to stop torturing a suspect, Mattelli growls that he's tired of Pope's "liberal bullsh*t".

But while the interactions between the detectives are a bit more blunt in their conversation, there's some interesting stuff happening among the underworld elements who make up the other half of the narrative. You have characters like the gravel-voiced Doc Johnson (Richard Ward) who not only has Mattelli in his pocket, but is starting to openly resent white Mafia coming into Harlem just to keep their hands in the profits. DiSalvio is the most overtly racist character, and a lot is said in the looks between the Harlem enforcers who are sent to accompany him in tracking down the thieves. In one sequence the two Harlem men exchange some very significant looks as DiSalvio tortures a man for information. When DiSalvio calls for a rope, the loaded energy of the scene practically crackles. The killing of one character is referred to by many as a "crucifixion," but many aspect of it (including a castration) are straight out of the lynching playbook.

Despite causing the deaths of so many people in the beginning of the film, the thieves end up being some of the most sympathetic characters. Jim in particular lays out the misery of knowing that the best he could ever hope for is low-level work as a laborer or domestic, and you understand why he would take such a big swing despite the risks. A scene where he talks with his girlfriend about the life he imagines for them is genuinely heartbreaking. She's known from the beginning that he probably won't survive the day, but for a few minutes they agree to pretend. It's sweet and devastating all at once.

A gritty and brutal little piece of filmmaking. I wish that the police characters were a bit more compelling in their dynamic, despite really enjoying the performances, especially Kotto.

4

[ThatDarnMKS]

The Princess

https://boxd.it/33WNJL

Le-Van Kiet’s “what if the Raid was about a live action Disney Princess” joint. 90 mins of action by way of King and Ngo. Delivered on its promises.

4/5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f7/Iron_lady_film_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2011/iron_lady.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33178750

The Iron Lady - (2011)

This might be my first repeat since I've been rating movies in this thread. I'll have to go back and take a gander at myself once I'm finished. Anyway, a lot of people on letterboxd get to this film and scream "Margaret Thatcher was a monster! How dare you humanize her!" - but I just think of this as being about a lady who is going through a process of grieving, suffering from the slightest of first signs of dementia and reliving certain portions of her life. Monster or not - it's interesting to see someone who has lived a remarkable life facing what we all face - our own mortality. Also, Meryl Streep gives one of the greatest performances of the 2010s, and as a biopic this film manages to evade the trap of simply being a series of vignettes that were occurrences in the subjects life. For all of that, in spite of avoiding some of the more awful things Thatcher did as Prime Minister, this is a decent film.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/The_Devil_Wears_Prada_main_onesheet.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8559391

The Devil Wears Prada - (2006)

Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is hired by editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) as a personal assistant and is tasked with an enormous workload of the possible, and a heavy workload of the absolute impossible (such as finding a flight out of a city that's experiencing a hurricane, or finding a copy of a book that hasn't been published yet) - she actually manages to accomplish that last task, but after a while realises that she's being turned into another version of Priestly. I'm sorry people, but this wasn't my kind of movie - it's too full of horrible people and pat life lessons.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/About_Time_%282013_film%29_Poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: BBFC, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39394371

About Time - (2013)

Has anyone else ever fantasized about being able to travel back in time and fix past mistakes? I have - because I've made so many mistakes in my life it would be nice to fix some of them. In this film Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) has that ability. About Time plays a bit fast and loose with the rules of what he can and can't do with his ability, but my biggest issue is with the mistakes he makes where I'd be screaming at the scream "Of course she doesn't know you anymore!" or "Of course you've got a different baby now!" Aside from that, the fact that I like Domhnall Gleeson and time travel helped with what I found to be the occasional mawkish moments that made me uncomfortable. It's like a mix of my most and least favourite genres.

7/10

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FzUu52OtJGqgqbSF4bnCjW21bWYz.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Across 110th Street, 1972

In a bold, unexpected heist, two amateur criminals, Jim (Paul Benjamin) and Joe (Ed Bernard) hold up an apartment where Harlem numbers men are squaring up with their Mafia counterparts. The men make off with a ton of money, but also kill several local gangsters, mafia men, and even two police officers. Lieutenant Pope (Yaphet Kotto) is assigned to the case alongside old-school captain Mattelli (Anthony Quinn), and the two race to find the perpetrators before ruthless mafia enforcer DiSalvio (Anthony Franciosa) gets his hands on them.

It would be easy to let the graphic, disturbing, and relentless violence be what sticks with you from this movie, and that element does add to the sense of the film as leaning toward exploitation. But the movie simply has too much on its mind to be written off that way.

A lot of what happens in the film is not subtle, especially when it comes to the race relations aspect. Teaming a Black police detective with a white one and watching the sparks fly is nothing new, and this film came out 5 years after perhaps its most famous incarnation, In the Heat of the Night. Quinn's Mettelli is hugely problematic as a character, with his racism so entrenched that at times he doesn't even seem to register it. (He is the kind of person for whom every Black man in the film is "boy"). When Pope tells him to stop torturing a suspect, Mattelli growls that he's tired of Pope's "liberal bullsh*t".

But while the interactions between the detectives are a bit more blunt in their conversation, there's some interesting stuff happening among the underworld elements who make up the other half of the narrative. You have characters like the gravel-voiced Doc Johnson (Richard Ward) who not only has Mattelli in his pocket, but is starting to openly resent white Mafia coming into Harlem just to keep their hands in the profits. DiSalvio is the most overtly racist character, and a lot is said in the looks between the Harlem enforcers who are sent to accompany him in tracking down the thieves. In one sequence the two Harlem men exchange some very significant looks as DiSalvio tortures a man for information. When DiSalvio calls for a rope, the loaded energy of the scene practically crackles. The killing of one character is referred to by many as a "crucifixion," but many aspect of it (including a castration) are straight out of the lynching playbook.

Despite causing the deaths of so many people in the beginning of the film, the thieves end up being some of the most sympathetic characters. Jim in particular lays out the misery of knowing that the best he could ever hope for is low-level work as a laborer or domestic, and you understand why he would take such a big swing despite the risks. A scene where he talks with his girlfriend about the life he imagines for them is genuinely heartbreaking. She's known from the beginning that he probably won't survive the day, but for a few minutes they agree to pretend. It's sweet and devastating all at once.

A gritty and brutal little piece of filmmaking. I wish that the police characters were a bit more compelling in their dynamic, despite really enjoying the performances, especially Kotto.

4

And one of the best theme songs of any movie, ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOg_8hCC4u4

[ueno_station54]

https://movies.mxdwn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/x-movie-review-2022.jpeg
X (Ti West, 2022)

Ti West sure is great at making boilerplate horror movies i end up liking more than i should.
4

[Takoma11]

And one of the best theme songs of any movie, ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOg_8hCC4u4

Whenever I've seen the title (and I feel like I've seen it more in the last two years), I always think of Pam Grier singing along to it in Jackie Brown.

[StuSmallz]

And one of the best theme songs of any movie, ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOg_8hCC4u4Ever seen Jackie Brown, Wool?



:)

[ThatDarnMKS]

https://movies.mxdwn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/x-movie-review-2022.jpeg
X (Ti West, 2022)

Ti West sure is great at making boilerplate horror movies i end up liking more than i should.
4
Such a fun flick. Apparently, West wrote a prequel while in quarantine before filming this and because they already had the set, equipment and lead, A24 green lit them filming them back to back. Trailer just dropped.

https://youtu.be/L5PW5r3pEOg

[ueno_station54]

https://www.dreadcentral.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/incantation-1654713936-scaled.jpeg
Incantation (Kevin Ko, 2022)

Starts with some promise and then does everything wrong :)
1.5

[xSookieStackhouse]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/The_Devil_Wears_Prada_main_onesheet.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8559391

The Devil Wears Prada - (2006)

Andrea Sachs (Anne Hathaway) is hired by editor-in-chief of Runway magazine, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) as a personal assistant and is tasked with an enormous workload of the possible, and a heavy workload of the absolute impossible (such as finding a flight out of a city that's experiencing a hurricane, or finding a copy of a book that hasn't been published yet) - she actually manages to accomplish that last task, but after a while realises that she's being turned into another version of Priestly. I'm sorry people, but this wasn't my kind of movie - it's too full of horrible people and pat life lessons.

6/10


By May be found at the following website: BBFC, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39394371


loved that movie and the bloopers:p

[Stirchley]

Oscar Isaac made this movie for me. Having said that, this is a strange movie.

88128

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjM2MTg0MDUtZTMwOS00MTk3LTkzZWQtOTQ0ODY4MTI3MTMxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTM1MTE1NDMx._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg



3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.fandango.com%2Fimagerelay%2F500%2F0%2Fvideo.fandango.com%2FMPX%2Fimage%2FNBC U_Fandango%2F844%2F459%2Fthumb_028219FE-0E3F-423A-8508-5BED3857CDA9.jpg%2Fimage.jpg%2Fredesign%2Fstatic%2Fimg%2FnoxSquare.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Queen, 1968

This documentary follows the competition for the 1967 Miss All-America Camp Beauty pageant--a competition that brings together drag queens from around the nation. In its short run-time, the film spends about half of its time in the hotel with the drag queens before the competition and about half of its time covering the competition and its immediate aftermath.

This film makes for a great companion piece to Paris is Burning, in part because of a few familiar faces that pop up and also because of the different cultures that they portray.

Like Paris is Burning, it is fascinating to hear the different queens talk about their relationship with gender. In particular, I thought that a conversation between three queens about their views on women and their attitudes toward gender-reassignment surgery was very interesting. One drag queen talks about the complications that drag creates in his relationship because his partner doesn't want to be with someone who looks like a woman.

The pageant itself is interesting, and very different from the balls seen in Paris is Burning. It's all much more mannered and like a traditional pageant with bathing suits and ball gowns and talent. The fallout afterwards--involving the very infamous sequence of Crystal LaBeija sounding off after she's denied a top spot--is also kind of fascinating. LaBeija accuses the organizer of essentially rigging the outcome in an effort to build publicity for a local queen. During the confrontation, Crystal is told that she is "showing her colors", to which she replies "I have a right to show my color[/i]". It's a charged moment that reflect that even within a marginalized community, biases can still create a hierarchy.

I was a bit disappointed that after the fireworks, the film simply ends. LaBeija wants to know if the judging panel was stacked. The organizer says that they can sort it out at the after party, but then nothing comes of it. Having raised the issue of racism within gay and pageant culture, the film simply lets that thread drop. It feels a bit like the movie doesn't genuinely want to engage with the question, and that's a let down.

A fascinating cultural artifact that might not have the same heart and soul as Paris is Burning but is nonetheless an interesting glimpse at the development of a subculture.

4

[SpelingError]

29th Hall of Fame

La Promesse (1996) - 4

Even though nothing about this film stuck out to me as great, it was still a solid film that I enjoyed very much. Igor, Roger, and Assita made for a memorable trio of characters who carried the movie really well. As Siddon noted, Roger borders on being a villain from beginning to end. In the second half, he obviously causes problems, but his behavior is spotty even before that as well. There are several scenes throughout the film where he shows abuse, creepiness, and love towards Igor. For instance, after he beats his son for giving away a lot of money to someone else, he laughs it off and tells his son he loves him, jokes about him getting laid, and brings him to a bar where an older woman flirts with him. The impression you get is that, while he isn't a bad person per se, some of his parenting choices are questionable and he might not be the best choice of a guardian for Igor. He doesn't quite cross the line into awfulness though. Assita is also memorable as she shows a certain level of distrust towards Igor throughout most of the film. She threatens him with a knife, tries to get rid of him at a couple points, and frequently asks Igor if he's hiding anything from her. It's clear she has experienced a lot of abuse/betrayal from those around her and, as a result, finds it hard to place her full trust in anyone. As for Igor, he may seem somewhat one dimensional on the surface, but a few things can be said about his character as well. He doesn't go to school, struggles to maintain a job due to the demands of being a human smuggler, and doesn't seem to have a future outside of taking over his father's profession. In terms of his personality, he seems somewhat blank in contrast to the other two characters, but I think he acts as a cypher for the audience. Since he's one of the only people in the film who help Assita, he's the one you may relate to the most. I also enjoyed how his morals weren't of a black and white level of nobility as, while he has good intentions, the details he hides from Assita throughout the film make his process of carrying out his goal questionable. Outside of these three characters, I don't know that there's a whole lot else for me to dig at, but there were a couple small takeaways here and there I enjoyed. Illegal immigration is a big political issue and it would've been easy for the film to feel preachy at convincing you to support one side or the other. However, I appreciated that it didn't get into the political arguments of either side and simply showed you their plight and their day-to-day activities as this was more than enough to invest me into the film. Aside from this, however, the three characters I discussed up above were my main selling points for this film. They were, of course, very well-realized and the payoffs to their arcs were good enough so that I wasn't left thinking the film was missing something. So yeah, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It has a few things on its mind and does a lot with them.

[Wooley]

https://movies.mxdwn.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/x-movie-review-2022.jpeg
X (Ti West, 2022)

Ti West sure is great at making boilerplate horror movies i end up liking more than i should.
4

Personally, I think you should like this one quite a bit.

[Wooley]

Whenever I've seen the title (and I feel like I've seen it more in the last two years), I always think of Pam Grier singing along to it in Jackie Brown.
I always forget it's in Jackie Brown since I can only tolerate that movie once every 7-10 years. :p

[Wooley]

Ever seen Jackie Brown, Wool?



:)

See my response to Tak. :p:p

[Raven73]

Jackass Forever
3/10.
Literally the dumbest thing I've ever seen. Well, this and Star Wars: Force Awakens.

The very definition of hell is a bunch of guys hitting each other in the balls forever. Thank God this was only 96 minutes.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTdmMDNmYmItOWFmNC00YzdkLWIyZWMtMGRlMTQyZDZmNDU0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTkxNjUyNQ@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

[Gideon58]

Oscar Isaac made this movie for me. Having said that, this is a strange movie.

88128


This was a strange movie, but Isaac was very good.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I always forget it's in Jackie Brown since I can only tolerate that movie once every 7-10 years. :p
This is downright libelous! It deserves to be in the conversation or best Tarantino film. His love letter to Leonard, Melville, and blaxploitation.

[Wooley]

This is downright libelous! It deserves to be in the conversation or best Tarantino film. His love letter to Leonard, Melville, and blaxploitation.

Lots of people put it in that conversation, I am just not one of them. I keep re-watching it every 7-10 years hoping it will get better but it remains, to me, the least of his top-tier films. Which is still well ahead several Tarantino films.

[Takoma11]

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

The Dead Don't Die, 2019

Cliff (Bill Murray) and Ronnie (Adam Driver) are police officers in a small town called Centerville. When energy companies mess with the planet's poles in order to harvest natural gas, the Earth is thrown off of its axis and as a result the dead begin to come back to life as zombies. The whole town, including the eccentric new funeral home director (Tilda Swinton) must fight for their lives as the undead start to take over.

Movies in this vein either vibe with you or they don't, and for me this one was a miss.

The cast is great, of course, and they are all in a good rhythm with each other. The various cameos and secondary characters are too numerous to list.

But fundamentally the film felt overcrowded and fractured. There were a few moments that really landed for me. The sequence where Swinton's character slowly slaloms a car down a street of lumbering undead, with an eerie silence, was awesome. As a whole, though, everything felt too disjoint. And when the film really starts to get outlandish and meta, I felt myself disconnecting from the narrative and the characters.

It all looks good. And I can't fault the performances. But it never clicked for me in any deep way.

3.5

[ThatDarnMKS]

Lots of people put it in that conversation, I am just not one of them. I keep re-watching it every 7-10 years hoping it will get better but it remains, to me, the least of his top-tier films. Which is still well ahead several Tarantino films.
I’ll accept it. But I’m not happy about it.

[ThatDarnMKS]

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

The Dead Don't Die, 2019

Cliff (Bill Murray) and Ronnie (Adam Driver) are police officers in a small town called Centerville. When energy companies mess with the planet's poles in order to harvest natural gas, the Earth is thrown off of its axis and as a result the dead begin to come back to life as zombies. The whole town, including the eccentric new funeral home director (Tilda Swinton) must fight for their lives as the undead start to take over.

Movies in this vein either vibe with you or they don't, and for me this one was a miss.

The cast is great, of course, and they are all in a good rhythm with each other. The various cameos and secondary characters are too numerous to list.

But fundamentally the film felt overcrowded and fractured. There were a few moments that really landed for me. The sequence where Swinton's character slowly slaloms a car down a street of lumbering undead, with an eerie silence, was awesome. As a whole, though, everything felt too disjoint. And when the film really starts to get outlandish and meta, I felt myself disconnecting from the narrative and the characters.

It all looks good. And I can't fault the performances. But it never clicked for me in any deep way.

3.5
It clicked with me. A big reason why was I saw it at an oddly crowded opening night screening where almost everyone in the audience seems to be expecting a straightforward Zombie flick. It was one of the most awkward and hilarious experiences, feeling many of them anxiously look at each other because the movie wouldn’t stop being weird.

Like a very mild Greasy Strangler (which of course, is the greatest film ever made).

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/46/Army_of_Darkness_poster.jpg
By Scanned by uploader., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=882786

Army of Darkness - (1992)

Rounding out the Evil Dead trilogy is a film pointedly unlike the rest (each of the three films stood alone in this regard, and as such had self-contained prologues.) It at least runs with the interesting premise the second ended with - Ash stranded in 1300 A.D. and becoming a prophesized hero, fighting the demons he's been plagued with in the previous two films. The comedic aspect of the second film is maintained (even enhanced), but the horror has been further toned down in favour of sword and wizardry fantasy. I find this the funniest of the trilogy, but I miss what I loved so much in the first film - the no-holds-barred horror and inventive cinematic craft. I wouldn't get what I was really looking for until we got the television series which ran from 2016 to 2018. It's not bad though.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/52/Big_Stan_Poster.png
By http://www.worstpreviews.com/images/posters/bigstan/bigstan1_large.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17098782

Big Stan - (2007)

Okay, so obviously Big Stan is really bad, and insulting. But I was expecting a comedy which would land in my "worst ever" bracket of comedies - and it avoided that ignominy. For starters, David Carradine is great in this, and I enjoyed every scene he was in (even if in some he should embarrassed by the material.) Also, unlike some of my least favourite comedies, a few of the jokes actually landed. The rest is pretty awful, and aggrandizing for Schneider, who is making his directorial debut - being a prison movie there are so many rape and race jokes you actually feel bad for watching it - but Schneider's character manages to end prison violence, rape and racism just by talking to everyone. Somehow though, even with it's anti-racism stance, it manages to be horribly racist.

4/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/A_Good_Year.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://impawards.com/2006/good_year.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34072977

A Good Year - (2006)

Managed to squeeze in a couple of Ridley Scott films last night. This one is okay, but painfully average. My friend messaged me - "A Good Year. A film in which Russell Crowe has to choose between a rich partnership in a prestigious trading film, or living in bucolic splendour in a French winery with a scorchingly sensuous Marion Cotillard. It wasn't exactly Sophies Choice." Heh. I might just employ him to write my reviews.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/61/1492film.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9724782

1492 : Conquest of Paradise - (1992)

This film has some great scenes - it's full of action, and has impressive sets and production design. Where it fell down a bit for me was in trying to tell too much of a story in it's 156 minutes - it felt like there was a lot of footage lost simply because the producers desperately wanted this film to run below 160 min. So events of huge consequence get a single scene, and we're continually thrust forward months and years without a chance to digest anything or draw a neat narrative line in our minds. It also had the crucial part of Christopher Columbus miscast somewhat, with a barely comprehensible Gérard Depardieu given a monumental task that seemed a little beyond him. Perhaps I need to see this again one day, but for the moment I was both impressed and a little let down.

6/10

[Takoma11]

It clicked with me. A big reason why was I saw it at an oddly crowded opening night screening where almost everyone in the audience seems to be expecting a straightforward Zombie flick. It was one of the most awkward and hilarious experiences, feeling many of them anxiously look at each other because the movie wouldn’t stop being weird.

Like a very mild Greasy Strangler (which of course, is the greatest film ever made).

I've read reactions of people who really liked it, and people who didn't. I was hoping I could sink into it, but it did not work out that way.

Also, watching it seemed to really ratchet up my anxiety in an unexpected and entirely unpleasant way, a feeling that only got worse as various main and supporting characters were killed and just the overall fatalistic and apocalyptic tone of it.

I can't lay this all at the film's feet, as there are other things making me angsty right now. But I felt distinctly worse as the film went on, and was straight up bummed when the end credits hit. It's like despite all of the meta stuff going on, it hooked me in just enough to be upset about what was happening on screen without the payoff of feeling an emotional connection to the overall narrative.

[Grandmaster Slash]

Varsity Blood (2014) 4/10

[StuSmallz]

I finally just saw Nope today, and there's plenty of things I could criticize about it... ...for example, I could go on about the unnecessarily drawn out pacing of it, which strings the plot along without having much really happening, or the way it squanders certain actors/sub-plots, or its somewhat messy overall approach, which inexplicably includes TWO "cold open" shocks at the beginning, when one of them would've been a more than sufficient hook, but you know what...? I really didn't care that much about all of that; I mean, all of those flaws are still there, but I had a good time with it anyway, due to Peele's generally good grasp on atmosphere/tension, the way it sort of works as a "Jaws in reverse", with the predator hovering above in the clouds instead of down in the sea, and the way it throws out these batshit concepts/images with just enough coherency for them to stick. It's still something of a mess, but it's an entertaining enough mess to be worth watching at least once, if you ask me, and that's all I really needed from it, you know?



Final Score: 8

[Rockatansky]

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

The Dead Don't Die, 2019

Cliff (Bill Murray) and Ronnie (Adam Driver) are police officers in a small town called Centerville. When energy companies mess with the planet's poles in order to harvest natural gas, the Earth is thrown off of its axis and as a result the dead begin to come back to life as zombies. The whole town, including the eccentric new funeral home director (Tilda Swinton) must fight for their lives as the undead start to take over.

Movies in this vein either vibe with you or they don't, and for me this one was a miss.

The cast is great, of course, and they are all in a good rhythm with each other. The various cameos and secondary characters are too numerous to list.

But fundamentally the film felt overcrowded and fractured. There were a few moments that really landed for me. The sequence where Swinton's character slowly slaloms a car down a street of lumbering undead, with an eerie silence, was awesome. As a whole, though, everything felt too disjoint. And when the film really starts to get outlandish and meta, I felt myself disconnecting from the narrative and the characters.

It all looks good. And I can't fault the performances. But it never clicked for me in any deep way.

rating_3_5
Swinton was the only thing I really enjoyed about this. The movie otherwise seemed to play a bit too slowly for me to gel to it (I get that's Jarmusch's thing, but it really did not work for me here). I must in the interest of journalistic objectivity note that I watched this on a brutally hot day and the AC in the theatre was not working nearly as well as it should have, and that my lunch (a delicious torta sandwich from a Mexican place that Crumbsroom regretfully informed me has since closed down) was going down horrendously after I powerwalked in the heat. So perhaps I was not in the best frame of mind to enjoy this.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I finally just saw Nope today, and there's plenty of things I could criticize about it... ...for example, I could go on about the unnecessarily drawn out pacing of it, which strings the plot along without having much really happening, or the way it squanders certain actors/sub-plots, or its somewhat messy overall approach, which inexplicably includes TWO "cold open" shocks at the beginning, when one of them would've been a more than sufficient hook, but you know what...? I really didn't care that much about all of that; I mean, all of those flaws are still there, but I had a good time with it anyway, due to Peele's generally good grasp on atmosphere/tension, the way it sort of works as a "Jaws in reverse", with the predator hovering above in the clouds instead of down in the sea, and the way it throws out these batshit concepts/images with just enough coherency for them to stick. It's still something of a mess, but it's an entertaining enough mess to be worth watching at least once, if you ask me, and that's all I really needed from it, you know?



Final Score: 8

Disagree on those being flaws. Glad you dug it though.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I've read reactions of people who really liked it, and people who didn't. I was hoping I could sink into it, but it did not work out that way.

Also, watching it seemed to really ratchet up my anxiety in an unexpected and entirely unpleasant way, a feeling that only got worse as various main and supporting characters were killed and just the overall fatalistic and apocalyptic tone of it.

I can't lay this all at the film's feet, as there are other things making me angsty right now. But I felt distinctly worse as the film went on, and was straight up bummed when the end credits hit. It's like despite all of the meta stuff going on, it hooked me in just enough to be upset about what was happening on screen without the payoff of feeling an emotional connection to the overall narrative.
Not an unfair reaction, as I link similar to Greasy Strangler or even Funny Games, the movie feels antagonistic to its audience. More playfully than the latter and less insane and gross than the former, but there’s a self aware meta vibe that seems to only enhance its awkwardness rather than alleviate the tension.

[StuSmallz]

Disagree on those being flaws. Glad you dug it though.You didn't think that... ...the cold opening of the "Gordy's Home" incident coming right before Keith David's death felt just a little bit redundant?

[ThatDarnMKS]

You didn't think that... ...the cold opening of the "Gordy's Home" incident coming right before Keith David's death felt just a little bit redundant?

In a word… Nope.

It allows Peele to emphasize the thematic importance of Gordy, rather than making him seem like a mere odd aside, while also creating direct juxtaposition between those events and important images, like the shoe and the key.

Especially as the scene with David isn’t a cold open. It’s the inciting incident.

[Fabulous]

Boomerang! (1947)

3.5

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/e7deWysNWmHjk5zUTDCdvdHeIJs.jpg

[Siddon]

Such a fun flick. Apparently, West wrote a prequel while in quarantine before filming this and because they already had the set, equipment and lead, A24 green lit them filming them back to back. Trailer just dropped.



Yeah I kinda hope Ti West continues this by making a Max film and then another sequel (XXX?). He's got a pretty good horror epic on his hands if he want's it.

[daci17]

12 Years a Slave (2013)

9/10

[Wooley]

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

The Dead Don't Die, 2019

Cliff (Bill Murray) and Ronnie (Adam Driver) are police officers in a small town called Centerville. When energy companies mess with the planet's poles in order to harvest natural gas, the Earth is thrown off of its axis and as a result the dead begin to come back to life as zombies. The whole town, including the eccentric new funeral home director (Tilda Swinton) must fight for their lives as the undead start to take over.

Movies in this vein either vibe with you or they don't, and for me this one was a miss.

The cast is great, of course, and they are all in a good rhythm with each other. The various cameos and secondary characters are too numerous to list.

But fundamentally the film felt overcrowded and fractured. There were a few moments that really landed for me. The sequence where Swinton's character slowly slaloms a car down a street of lumbering undead, with an eerie silence, was awesome. As a whole, though, everything felt too disjoint. And when the film really starts to get outlandish and meta, I felt myself disconnecting from the narrative and the characters.

It all looks good. And I can't fault the performances. But it never clicked for me in any deep way.

3.5

I enjoyed this movie a good bit, though not as much, I think as one of my friends and more than another.
I felt like a lot of the social commentary it was trying to make was really redundant. We had already seen it in Dawn Of The Dead ('78) and we've been seeing it over and over again ever since and yet this film seemed to act like this was a new idea. And that kept taking me out of the film.
On the other hand, I thought all of the performances were first rate, I thought the dialogue was really snappy and enjoyable, and I thought it was a really good-looking film most of the time.

https://i.imgur.com/qdRQjK0.jpg?1

I also especially enjoyed the film repeatedly toying with the idea not only that it was a movie and some of the characters knew they were in a movie, but the way that there was sort of a spectrum of how much each character knew they were in a movie. And so certain characters were actually both the character caught up in the narrative and the actor living out the script and some more than others. I thought it was hilarious that Murray was kinda low-key hurt that Driver had been allowed to read the entire script and therefore knew what was going to happen next when he, whom he thinks of as the bigger star, had not seen the whole script and was therefore in the dark about where things were going. Even though he knew he was acting in a movie. And then the fact that, despite knowing they were in a movie, they could actually still die because they were the character in the movie too. I found that particularly clever, and I have seen something similar done once or twice before but not to that effect.

And finally, there was Tilda Swinton, just elevating the whole thing, not only with her performance but the character itself and the story around her character were, as Tak has already said, the best part of the film and the part you kept wanting more of. But yeah, her performance made it special.

https://i.imgur.com/iHlEaw0.jpg?1

In short, it's a Jarmusch movie that probably should have been a little better than it was but still had enough treats for me to not only recommend it but to go back to it from time to time for those treats.

[Archisorcerus]

Tenet (2020)

https://i.imgur.com/7qXe48x.jpg

This was really good. It has an intriguing plot, very good cast, excellent directing and truly superb utilisation of music. I wanna emphasise the use of the music, as the rhythmically driven tunes really were configured masterfully here which proportions the tension and designates the pace of the movie. Nolan redeemed himself with this movie for me, given that I had colossally been disappointed with his Batmans and Inception.

8/10

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/bcfc5f0ece4e1ff03632d00de87a66d7/73bfd4187743bb2d-07/s540x810/d0998c3f5a377b8c762ebc854d2b2af947f6d587.gifv

https://64.media.tumblr.com/4ea80f181c8c935c2c1a931c33a32c18/90021be60641b856-34/s540x810/c8442b383c075ccc39949daa3e60272d64266384.gifv


Dog Soldiers - For the longest time I had director Neil Marshall confused with director Neil Jordan. I often wondered how the guy who did The Crying Game and Mona Lisa got started with a werewolf flick. Maybe Jordan doing In the Company of Wolves is what threw me? Anyway, he didn't direct this. This Neil specializes in pulpy, up-tempo sort of films like this and Doomsday and The Descent.

I watched like the last half of this years and years ago and found it quite memorable. Never got around to seeing it start to finish though. There's a prologue with some campers being attacked in their tent while somewhere in Wales recruit Private Lawrence Cooper (Kevin McKidd) is vying for a spot on a Special Forces unit run by the hard nosed Captain Ryan (Liam Cunningham). After refusing an order to shoot a dog he is summarily dismissed by Ryan.

Flash forward weeks later to a squad (section?) of soldiers dropped off by helicopter somewhere in the Scottish highlands on some kind of training exercise. They're to engage an SAS unit and eventually find the men's forward base of operations with no one there. Nothing but copious amounts of blood and gore and eventually one survivor. It so happens to be Ryan and he's wounded and raving about "them" coming back. With daylight rapidly fading the spooked squad is forced to withdraw while surrounded on all sides by guttural howls and indistinct shapes in the woods. They're eventually picked up by Megan (Emma Cleasby), a lone woman in a Land Rover. The group eventually takes shelter in a nearby cabin. The rest of the movie plays out within the claustrophobic confines of the house while the squad, Ryan and the woman try to survive the night.

Marshal doesn't give the audience much time to breathe let alone ruminate on plot holes and inaccuracies. He does however take time to setup the soldiers easy camaraderie and give each of the six men distinct and conceivable character traits. It's a quick and dirty exercise in suspenseful horror that achieves what it's attempting. You can't ask for more than that.

80/100

[Little Ash]

It's a bummer that it feels like Marshal seemed to peak with Dog Soldiers and then The Descent. I think he did a few of the big Game of Thrones episodes in the early seasons, so there is that.

[Gideon58]

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1416/8662/products/american_gigolo_1980_original_film_art_spo_5000x.jpg?v=1562538535



3

[WHITBISSELL!]

It's a bummer that it feels like Marshal seemed to peak with Dog Soldiers and then The Descent. I think he did a few of the big Game of Thrones episodes in the early seasons, so there is that.Yeah, that and a couple of Lost In Space episodes and one Westworld and a Hannibal. But Doomsday was a confused mess and Hellboy a trainwreck.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/ce/JurassicWorldDominion_Poster.jpeg/220px-JurassicWorldDominion_Poster.jpeg

3.5

SF = Z



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

[pahaK]

Yeah, that and a couple of Lost In Space episodes and one Westworld and a Hannibal. But Doomsday was a confused mess and Hellboy a trainwreck.

Doomsday is still quite fine, in my opinion. But overall, it's an unfortunate mystery how he's lost his touch with movies completely. His latest output, The Reckoning, was amateurish garbage with none of his former glory visible. It seems he's trying to go back to his roots with the next movie, but I'm not holding my breath.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/Loving_%282016_film%29.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50235576

Loving - (2016)

What makes this true-life love story significant is that it's a love story that led to the Supreme Court invalidating all laws in the United States that banned mixed-race marriages. What makes it enjoyable is that it was directed by Jeff Nichols, under whom DP Adam Stone creates a visually pleasing poetry with most of the scenes. Joel Edgerton was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance, while Ruth Negga was nominated for an Oscar. The score is also great, so when all added up this should have been a much talked-about film. Unfortunately it lags quite a bit during it's last act, where what should be the most compelling part of the narrative becomes a bit muddled. But overall, the good aspects outweigh the bad - so much so that this is my second viewing. Worth seeing.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Our_Brand_Is_Crisis_%282015_film%29_POSTER.jpg
By AwardsWatch, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47764780

Our Brand is Crisis - (2015)

I've just learned that this film was based on a documentary - but I don't think it changes much about what I feel for it. I enjoyed Sandra Bullock's performance - more so in this than most other films, and Billy Bob Thornton oozes sleaze as fellow political consultant Pat Candy. I'm sure we're all very aware of the dirty tricks that are used in many election campaigns, and this film runs through the list of nearly all of them. Set during an election in Bolivia, it's a decent and entertaining film that doesn't quite know how to end.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/Leatherheads_ver2.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15651921

Leatherheads - (2008)

Leatherheads commits that gravest of cinematic sins - being completely forgettable. Directed by George Clooney (at least he got a bit more experience behind the camera) and set during the mid-to-late 1920s, it's a period comedy about the birth of professional football. John Krasinski, Renée Zellweger and Clooney himself aren't given much to work with, and the film doesn't lose any momentum because it never has any to begin with. Ends with a historically boring football game played in mud - and when you choose something deliberately boring for a film like this I see it as some kind of seppuku. Completely wastes Jonathan Pryce in a supporting role.

5/10

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eyeforfilm.co.uk%2Fimages%2Fnewsite%2FRadius-2_600.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Radius, 2017

Liam (Diego Klattenhoff) wakes up in the aftermath of a car accident with no memory of who he is or how he got there. As he stumbles on a series of recently dead people, he panics assuming that there is a deadly virus in the air. But the reality is much worse: Liam is somehow the center of a 50-foot circle, and any living thing that enters that zone immediately drops dead. But when a woman named Jane (Charlotte Sullivan) tracks him down--another victim of the same car accident and also without memory--it turns out that she is the only one who can survive being close to Liam. Further, her presence seems to negate the deadly force. But what is the cause of Liam's curse? And what is the connection between Liam and Jane?

I will admit that my reaction to the first 5 or 10 minutes was to assume that this was going to be some lame Carnival of Souls knockoff. It's not the other people who are dead, Liam, it's you! Oooooooh! TWIST! I hope it's not too spoiler-ish to say that this is not that kind of film, nor is it a case of "it's all a dream/in his head!" and for that I was incredibly grateful.

Instead the film ends up being a sort of horror/fantasy/sci-fi/mystery hash, with varying degrees of success in its different elements.

Klattenhoff is an engaging lead, as is Sullivan. The two have solid chemistry and play well with the idea of being shaken up by not knowing who they are, yet bonding over their shared circumstances. Their chemistry becomes vital in the final act, where the relationship and built up trust between the two characters becomes an essential ingredient to the plot and character arcs.

When it comes to the premise itself, thankfully the film doesn't try to get overly cutesy with the mechanics of it. Get too close to Liam and you're toast. Let Jane get too far away from Liam and you're toast. Bing bang boom. The film establishes the rules and then develops tension from watching well-intentioned but ignorant characters blunder into danger, despite Liam and Jane's best efforts.

Unfortunately, the premise itself doesn't evolve much as the film goes on. There are some nicely tense sequences, and the best moments are those where Liam and Jane must decide whether or not to use what they know about Liam's "powers".

In the final act, the movie does resolve the history between Jane and Liam, and it takes the film into a different kind of territory. On one hand, the relationship work between Liam and Jane gets some hefty emotional payoff. On the other hand, the film ends up raising a lot of questions that it then fails to answer. While I had mixed feelings about the content of the third act overall, I do have to give the film credit for bringing its story to a place of closure and for hitting on some good consistency with one of the characters.

This is by no means great, but I enjoyed it thanks to the solid lead performances and it's surprisingly coherent final moments.

3.5

[mark f]

A Letter from Yene (Manthia Diawara, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Introduction (Hong Sang-soo, 2021) 2 5/10
Poodle Springs (Bob Rafelson, 1998) 2.5 6/10
Dante's Inferno (Francesco Bertolinim, Adolfo Padovan & Giuseppe de Liguoro, 1911) 2.5 5.5/10
http://www.hatiandskoll.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/inferno-bolgia5.gif
Demons keep people buried in flaming lava as Dante (Salvatore Papa) and Virgil (Arturo Pirovano) look on.
Mothering Sunday (Eva Husson, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
1UP (Kyle Newman, 2022) 2 5/10
Strangler of the Swamp (Frank Wisbar, 1946) 2.5 6/10
Rhapsody in Blue (Irving Rapper, 1945) 3 6.5/10
https://prod-images.tcm.com/v5cache/TCM/Images/Dynamic/i406/rhapsodyinblue_sendthatsongovertome_FC_470x264_052320160640.jpg
Composer George Gershwin (Robert Alda) is supported to pursue his individuality by musical publisher Max Dreyfus (Charles Coburn) early in his much too short career.
The Case of the Black Cat (William C. McGann, 1936) 2.5 6/10
White Mane (Albert Lamorisse, 1953) 3 6.5/10
Anything's Possible (Billy Porter, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
The Green Slime (Kinji Fukasaku, 1968) 1.5+ 4.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/e024b0eac9548ecb593b5cf0be8b5f42/tumblr_nwh4ul1HZ91s3rlr2o1_400.gifv
Astronaut rivals Robert Horton and Richard Jaeckel [shown] take on the Green Slime aboard a space station before it can infect Earth.
The Sinful Nuns of Saint Valentine (Sergio Grieco, 1974) 2 5/10
Adolescents (Sébastien Lifshitz, 2019) 2.5 6/10
5 Against the House (Eva Husson, 1955) 2 5/10
Lightyear (Angus MacLane, 2022) 2.5 6+/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c74f1ebbc984fb019bef84a766686489/a670ffa3eafc4506-fe/s540x810/3b87d297d4b82db748fc658e9c8ea3fa0995289e.gifv
Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear (Chris Evans) has several chances to show off his flying prowess and incompetence in this fun prequel to Toy Story.
Curse of the Macbeths (Angus Macfadyen, 2022) 2 5/10
Snowkissed (Jeff Beesley, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Dangerous Mission (Louis King, 1954) 2 5/10
Gojira AKA Godzilla (Ishirô Honda, 1954) 2.5 6/10
https://i.gifer.com/89N9.gif
The best of the Toho monster movies is iconic but not as fun as it should be.

[StuSmallz]

In a word… Nope.

It allows Peele to emphasize the thematic importance of Gordy, rather than making him seem like a mere odd aside, while also creating direct juxtaposition between those events and important images, like the shoe and the key.

Especially as the scene with David isn’t a cold open. It’s the inciting incident. That's a distinction without much of a difference, though, since they're both cryptic, shocking moments meant to hook us put back to back with each other, which are less effective for their overly awkward, close proximity to one another; it's like if Get Out had opened the exact same way it did, but then cut straight to Chris and Rose hitting the deer as they drive to her parents' house. It wouldn't work there, and it didn't work in Nope.

[daci17]

Whiplash (2014)

8/10

[ScarletLion]

'The Quiet Girl' (2022)
Dir.: Colm Bairéad

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSz6O59jfpIZk1AMfNUtRpNK_Z7eN279tp0fMHf3V9FB6MKeoWq8fSVu7JR9kep2h49z5c&usqp=CAU

I haven't been moved by a film as much as this in years. The quiet girl centres on young Cait played by Catherine Clinch who is a bit different, she gets on with barely anyone and even family don't pay her much attention. Her languid, uncouth parents are having another baby and send her off to her mum's cousin for the Summer. There, she not so much comes of age, but just seems to fit in. To say anything else would be a spoiler, but this has to be one of the best films of the year.

The direction by Colm Bairéad (his debut no less) is just fantastic, who adapted the screenplay from a novel. Sensitive and tender, it captures Cait's perspective and the rural natural environment around her. The music and cinematography are just as touching. I have not ugly cried as much as this .....ever. The audience is held to ransom at the end - as there is a character choice that is so important to the film. I'd urge everyone who enjoys good drama to seek it out.

9.3/10

4.5

[Death Proof]

NOPE (2022)


Although I haven't seen US I liked Peele's Get Out. He comes off as more of a modern day Rod Serling rather than an M. Night Shyamalan, which is a good thing.





I'm the kind of viewer who likes to have things force fed to me. I want to know where the UFO came from, how its biophysics work and all that. I'm not going to get it, and that's okay. It doesn't really matter to the story.


I was glad to know other people noticed the shoe. I wanted to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.



The barn scene was pants-shittingly good.





8/10

[Death Proof]

Whiplash (2014)

8/10




God, Fletcher is terrifying in that movie.

[ScarletLion]

NOPE (2022)


Although I haven't seen US I liked Peele's Get Out. He comes off as more of a modern day Rod Serling rather than an M. Night Shyamalan, which is a good thing.





I'm the kind of viewer who likes to have things force fed to me. I want to know where the UFO came from, how its biophysics work and all that. I'm not going to get it, and that's okay. It doesn't really matter to the story.


I was glad to know other people noticed the shoe. I wanted to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.



The barn scene was pants-shittingly good.





8/10

I'm looking forward to Nope. I thought US was alot better than Get Out.

[Stirchley]

'The Quiet Girl' (2022)
Dir.: Colm Bairéad

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSz6O59jfpIZk1AMfNUtRpNK_Z7eN279tp0fMHf3V9FB6MKeoWq8fSVu7JR9kep2h49z5c&usqp=CAU

I haven't been moved by a film as much as this in years. The quiet girl centres on young Cait played by Catherine Clinch who is a bit different, she gets on with barely anyone and even family don't pay her much attention. Her languid, uncouth parents are having another baby and send her off to her mum's cousin for the Summer. There, she not so much comes of age, but just seems to fit in. To say anything else would be a spoiler, but this has to be one of the best films of the year.

The direction by Colm Bairéad (his debut no less) is just fantastic, who adapted the screenplay from a novel. Sensitive and tender, it captures Cait's perspective and the rural natural environment around her. The music and cinematography are just as touching. I have not ugly cried as much as this .....ever. The audience is held to ransom at the end - as there is a character choice that is so important to the film. I'd urge everyone who enjoys good drama to seek it out.

9.3/10

4.5

Dang, Netflix doesn’t have this. Never heard of it, but SL gives such a good review.

[Stirchley]

88162

Huge fan of Matt Damon. He made this movie for me.

I enjoyed it & I never once thought of Knox as I watched the movie. I felt it stood alone whether or not Tom McCarthy was influenced by her story.

Stillwater thread was closed down last year so let’s not revisit it.

[ScarletLion]

Dang, Netflix doesn’t have this. Never heard of it, but SL gives such a good review.

Amazon, Curzon, Google Movies, iTunes, BFI Player if you can get those - are showing it. I rented it on BFI Player, but I think that is Geo locked.

[SpelingError]

I'm looking forward to Nope. I thought US was alot better than Get Out.

I thought Us was a step down from Get Out, personally, but Nope was a pretty big step up.

[ScarletLion]

I thought Us was a step down from Get Out, personally, but Nope was a pretty big step up.

Ah each to their own I guess. 'US' I thought was extremely clever, with all the layers, references, subtext etc. 'Get Out' was OK but far more linear (which isn't a bad thing). Peele appears to be growing as a filmmaker which is all you can ask. I'm looking forward to Nope.

[Stirchley]

Amazon, Curzon, Google Movies, iTunes, BFI Player if you can get those - are showing it. I rented it on BFI Player, but I think that is Geo locked.

Doesn’t seem to be available for streaming here. That’s okay.

[Deschain]

The Princess

https://boxd.it/33WNJL

Le-Van Kiet’s “what if the Raid was about a live action Disney Princess” joint. 90 mins of action by way of King and Ngo. Delivered on its promises.

4/5

I watched this last night. It felt like the little movie that could. It has the budget to pull off a fantasy action movie but just barely. The sets look shoddy sometimes and some of the early action could’ve used a little more rehearsal to really get those motions down but it all comes together to still make a for a good time.

I also don’t know who this movie is for. It’s got the sappiness that comes with fairy tales but it’s rated R and has gore. Is it for tween girls or old martial arts nerds? I guess both.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmVmZTlkZjktYjE1OC00MmU2LTkyYzItNzA3MTRiZTFlMmE3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTQyMTMwOTk0._V1_.jpg



3

[Wooley]

The Green Slime (Kinji Fukasaku, 1968) 1.5+ 4.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/e024b0eac9548ecb593b5cf0be8b5f42/tumblr_nwh4ul1HZ91s3rlr2o1_400.gifv
Astronaut rivals Robert Horton and Richard Jaeckel [shown] take on the Green Slime aboard a space station before it can infect Earth.
[/CENTER]

Greatest movie ever. Incredible theme song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwrhOd9Do2A

[Wooley]

NOPE (2022)


Although I haven't seen US I liked Peele's Get Out. He comes off as more of a modern day Rod Serling rather than an M. Night Shyamalan, which is a good thing.





I'm the kind of viewer who likes to have things force fed to me. I want to know where the UFO came from, how its biophysics work and all that. I'm not going to get it, and that's okay. It doesn't really matter to the story.


I was glad to know other people noticed the shoe. I wanted to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing.



The barn scene was pants-shittingly good.





8/10

Yes, the footwear is significant but I have not yet decided what I think it means.

[Wooley]

I thought Us was a step down from Get Out, personally, but Nope was a pretty big step up.

I think I'm agreeing with you. I mean, Nope was a big step up from Us. I don't know if anything is every gonna dislodge Get Out for me.

[GulfportDoc]

Our Brand is Crisis - (2015)

I've just learned that this film was based on a documentary - but I don't think it changes much about what I feel for it. I enjoyed Sandra Bullock's performance - more so in this than most other films, and Billy Bob Thornton oozes sleaze as fellow political consultant Pat Candy. I'm sure we're all very aware of the dirty tricks that are used in many election campaigns, and this film runs through the list of nearly all of them. Set during an election in Bolivia, it's a decent and entertaining film that doesn't quite know how to end.

6/10
This is the first I've heard of this film. I'll have to check it out, being a big BBT fan.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/08/The_Wizard_of_Lies.jpg
By https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDIxOTMxNzc1Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMzgyOTUxMjI@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,674,1000_AL_.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53906345

The Wizard of Lies - (2017)

We get a Robert De Niro masterclass in this movie has he stars as Bernie Madoff - the real life financial guru who was in all actuality the world's biggest ever fraud - ploughing his way through $64.8 billion in a massive Ponzi scheme. The fact that nobody suspected his criminality lays bare the lack of adequate controls in the U.S. financial system. This movie is interesting from start to finish, and aside from great performances from De Niro and Pfeiffer, it's screenplay and direction from Barry Levinson transform it into a drama full of travesty which focuses on the impact all of this had on Madoff's family (one of his sons committed suicide.) This was my second viewing, and I enjoyed it even more this time.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/Talladega_nights.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4891643

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - (2006)

In the talented hands of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, this comedy actually shoots along with plenty of laughs. If you haven't seen it and yet doubt me, I don't blame you. The world of comedy is full of movies which feature Ferrell and John C. Reilly that don't exactly set the world on fire, but I thought Talledega Nights sits one shelf higher than them. The only problem I had with it, was Sacha Baron Cohen - and I usually like him. His character and accent don't click with what usually suits him. Spoofs the whole NASCAR scene, and the element that are usually attracted to it - but everything it does, it does with affection.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/The_Time_Traveler%27s_Wife_film_poster.jpg
By teaser-trailer.cmo, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23337635

The Time Traveler's Wife - (2009)

Okay, so, I read the book and just wanted to see how they adapted it. I guess a decent enough job was done. I like Robert Schwentke (the director) - his film The Captain was very memorable. While Eric Bana did suit the lead role, I still think he lacked the charm needed to really let us sink into the movie and get carried away. Rachel McAdams was fine. About Time, which arrived 4 years after this, is superior - as was Domhnall Gleeson's part in it. Competent filmmaking, which succeeds somewhat in getting the feel of the book right.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Ace_ventura_pet_detective.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4781518

Ace Ventura : Pet Detective - (1994)

Jim Carrey overdid his manic, plastic-faced trademark comedy in this - so revisiting it did not raise it in esteem for me. It's the usual 90s mainstream comedy, besides what it's unusual lead brings to it. If you're wondering why I've rated it as high as I have - every film which features Udo Kier in it gets a point higher rating from me. Don't get me wrong - I like Jim Carrey. Just not in this.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Men_in_Black_II_Poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2052129

Men in Black II - (2002)

The joy of Men in Black was the slow reveal of the hidden world behind our everyday one - the one with aliens, where crazy tabloid journalism was closer to the truth than the mainstream. The slow reveal of what the Men in Black do, and the tools they have to help them. With all of that already revealed in the first film, Men in Black II lacks the fun and surprise of what went before. The effects are a little dated, and the humour only occasionally funny. The "save the world - and the universe" story lacks the grandness it should have, with seemingly a smaller scale than the first film. In other words, it's a typical sequel.

5/10

[Wooley]

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - (2006)

In the talented hands of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, this comedy actually shoots along with plenty of laughs. If you haven't seen it and yet doubt me, I don't blame you. The world of comedy is full of movies which feature Ferrell and John C. Reilly that don't exactly set the world on fire, but I thought Talledega Nights sits one shelf higher than them. The only problem I had with it, was Sacha Baron Cohen - and I usually like him. His character and accent don't click with what usually suits him. Spoofs the whole NASCAR scene, and the element that are usually attracted to it - but everything it does, it does with affection.

7/10



I agree that, even though I am not a Will Ferrell fan at all, I have very very mixed feelings about him that trend more toward the negative than the positive, this movie is funny as hell and it is the movie that finally allowed me to find him funny, which allowed me to enjoy Anchorman, which I still enjoy.
To be honest, there's not much else in his filmography I would really watch. And I f*cking hated Elf.


BTW, I agree with you on MIIB. What a disappointment.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.streamwijzer.nl%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F07%2FThe-Lost-City-online-kijken-1024x576.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Lost City, 2022

Loretta (Sandra Bullock) is a romance novelist who is in mourning over the death of her husband, a man who shared her passion for history, travel, and archaeology. While soullessly attending a convention to promote her latest (and presumably last) novel alongside her cover model, Alan (Channing Tatum), Loretta is abducted by the wealthy Abigail (Daniel Radcliffe), who wants her help finding a real treasure. Alan mounts a rescue attempt, but he and Loretta end up stranded in the middle of a jungle island with few resources and Abigail's men pursuing them.

Sometimes a movie really works, because it's just the kind of film you need at that moment. We were looking for something light and fun, and this 110 minutes of goofiness perfectly fit the bill.

This is definitely a movie where your mileage will vary depending on how much you enjoy the people in it. I happen to LOVE Sandra Bullock and Daniel Radcliffe, and have generally fond feelings for Tatum, as well as several supporting actors who pop up like Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Brad Pitt, and Bowen Yang. Even when the film's writing was a bit thin, the actors' line delivery and the general sense that everyone was having a good time more than makes up for it.

The central romance between Loretta and Alan takes a few non-typical turns. While it first seems as if the joke is that Alan is a doofus himbo, it's actually established early on that he really likes Loretta and respects her intelligence and her writing. A scene where Alan valiantly (but fruitlessly) tries to get a room full of fans to ask questions about the book instead of directing all their questions at him walks the edge between funny and uncomfortable, and it earns a lot of goodwill for Alan's character. He's someone who doesn't know a lot about Loretta's world and just needs to learn, not someone who is dumb. It might seem like a small difference, but it keeps the film from feeling mean spirited. Through the film the characters reveal their vulnerabilities and losses to each other, and their mutual encouragement of each other becomes the basis of the romance.

The adventuring and bickering of the main characters is the fun of the movie. The purpose of the adventure itself--finding a treasure supposedly buried by a king from the island--is pretty bland. Loretta does some translating of petroglyphs, there are some easily solved riddles about the treasure's location. Radcliffe's character mainly serves to add some urgency to the plot, showing up now and then to menace Loretta and Alan and cajole them into looking for the treasure.

I'd say that a full star of my rating comes from the enjoyment of the actors. If Sandra Bullock going passive-aggressively both stiff and limp when her character is pressured into dancing with Alan doesn't give you the giggles, this might not be your thing.

If you're looking for a generally sweet and goofy comedy, this could fit the bill.

3.5

[Gideon58]

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Listen_Darling-260865654-large.jpg


2

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.filmdoo.com%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F05%2FThe-September-Issue-1240x620.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The September Issue, 2009

This documentary follows Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, as she and her staff prepare for the September issue of the magazine, a sprawling, hundreds-of-pages publication that sets trends for the fashion year.

I'm not what you would call a fashionista, but I do think that the fashion world is interesting. I also enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at an event, and this film delivers nicely.

Anna Wintour was infamously the inspiration behind Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada. When asked by the documentary crew what her greatest strength is, she quickly answers "decisiveness". We see this in action all through the film, and Wintour green lights or throws out various outfits, images, and ideas, all while walking the line of still respecting her contributors.

Interestingly, and understandably, the documentary crew really seems to have fallen in love with a woman named Grace Coddington. Grace is a former model and now works as a photographer for many of Vogue's high-end fashion shoots. Frequently over the course of the movie Grace and Anna clash over which of Grace's photos will be included. As Grace explains, the older she gets the harder it is to see her hard work discarded. At one point, she notes that the photographs that were rejected amount to about $50,000 worth of investment.

I think it's in Grace's work that you feel the most tension between the artistic and the commercial elements of the fashion world. The purpose of the magazine is to highlight fashion trends, but it's also to get people to buy clothing.

In a sequence I found really interesting, they take a photo of the documentary's camera man in profile with a model. The note immediately comes down that the camera man's belly needs to be "retouched", ie they want to digitally erase the slight pooch of his belly. When the camera man repeats that he was told he needs to hit the gym, Grace is visibly upset. "You don't need to be perfect," she says, "Isn't it enough that models are perfect?" She gets on the phone and gives a direction that the camera man not be edited to look like "some skinny male model". Before this scene, we learned that Grace's own career ended when she was in a bad car accident that permanently damaged one of her eyes. The movie never gets into the idea of how fashion magazines perpetuate certain body types or definitions of beauty, but it's there on the edges of a lot of scenes.

Then there's just the interest of watching different people dance around and negotiate in a highly hierarchical system. Andre Leon Talley is on hand to provide some of his signature over-the-top personality.

A solid documentary, though your interest will vary based on how much you're into the world of fashion.

4

[WHITBISSELL!]

I agree that, even though I am not a Will Ferrell fan at all, I have very very mixed feelings about him that trend more toward the negative than the positive, this movie is funny as hell and it is the movie that finally allowed me to find him funny, which allowed me to enjoy Anchorman, which I still enjoy.
To be honest, there's not much else in his filmography I would really watch. And I f*cking hated Elf.


BTW, I agree with you on MIIB. What a disappointment.I really grew to love Elf. And have you seen either Stranger Than Fiction or Everything Must Go? They both feature Farrell in a mostly dramatic role and I think he acquits himself quite well.

[SuperMetro]

Dr. Strange Into the Multiverse - I saw it and hated it. I was angry over how ridiculous this movie was, and how overstuffed it was with characters that it did not need. I was facepalming numerous scenes such as America's parents and the "Illuminati". I also found that Scarlett Witch's character ripped off King Pin from ITSV as to how both want to cause havoc around the multiverse in order to be with family. I found the movie very pretentious as well as how all of this random stuff is thrown in to look badass, but then the movie looked overblown instead. I hated that you needed to watch these other shows in order to understand it. I hated the Scarlett Witch villain. The two people I was watching it with(my brother and dad) also hated it and we all had headaches after this one. My brother and I both said, "What the hell was that," after this mess of a movie was done. I think that I should stay far away from the MCU. I have higher hopes for when I watch Everything Everywhere All At Once, as I think it will make a better multiverse movie. 1.5

What to watch next - La Dolce Vita, Double Life of Veronique, Singing in the Rain, All That Jazz, A Woman Under the Influence, La Strada, Solaris, etc.

[Raven73]

Jungle Cruise
6.5/10.

Better than I thought. It's a bit like the Indiana Jones movies, but with less-interesting characters and storylines. Sadly, this is probably the Rock's best (live-action) movie to date. Also, as beautiful as the waterfalls in Iguazu National Park are, seeing them in every adventure movie located in South America is overdone. Which Disney Theme park is next, Space Mountain?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c6/Jungle_Cruise_-_theatrical_poster.png

[GulfportDoc]

[Our Brand is Crisis - (2015)] This is the first I've heard of this film. I'll have to check it out, being a big BBT fan.
Whoops, this one didn't connect with me. I mainly watched it to see BBT work out, but his role was pretty stock and unmemorable. S. Bullock did a nice job of acting, but I never believed her character for a minute. IMO she was miscast. It should have been either a female actress with more gravitas, or a male actor. But that's not the way they're rolling in Hyd these days. As it was I had to bail about halfway through. The picture could have had potential, but they drove right by it.

[Thief]

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
(1987, Columbus)

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


"I got enough watching these guys. I've got the babysitting blues."



Adventures in Babysitting follows Chris as she decides to take a babysitting gig to keep her mind occupied after her boyfriend cancels their anniversary dinner. The subjects of their care are siblings Sarah and Brad (Maia Brewton and Keith Coogan), but Brad's obnoxious best friend Daryl (Anthony Rapp) also inserts himself in the equation. But things go awry when Chris' best friend Brenda calls her for help from Downtown Chicago after she ran away from her home.

This is one of those films that I remember seeing often when I was a kid/pre-teen, but that for some reason, I hadn't revisited in probably 20 years or more. Turns out it held up extremely well. In his directorial debut, Chris Columbus takes a very whimsical approach to the situations, similar to what he would do later in Home Alone. It doesn't matter the kids are being chased by criminals or that they're hanging from building ledges, it's all handled with a fun and adventurous tone.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2321039#post2321039)

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTVhMThmNGEtMzZiYy00MDQ4LTg2NjEtOTJlZGM1MThjMDk5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODk4OTc3MTY@._V1_.jpg


3.5

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnetworthcelebrities.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2016%2F07%2Fandrew-scott-net-worth-7.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Dead Bodies, 2003

Tommy (Andrew Scott) has broken up with his girlfriend Jean (Katy Davis), but Jean didn't quite get the memo. When the two of them get into an escalating argument that begins to turn physical, Tommy pushes his way past her to leave. But that one little push ends with Jean's death. Not wanting to risk jail time, Tommy enlists his friend Noel (Darren Healy) to help him cover up Jean's death. But Tommy must contend with a dogged detective (Sean McGinley) and a new girlfriend (Kelly Reilly) who both seem to take a keen interest in Tommy and Jean's disapperance.

I mixed this title up with the film Dead Birds that came out around the same time (I remember they were shelved next to each other at the video store where I worked). I was expecting a supernatural thriller, but instead got a crime/comedy/thriller very much in the vein of Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave.

In fact, this film seems to borrow very heavily from Shallow Grave, operating with a similar "everyone is kind of trash and up to no good" worldview.

I really like both Kelly Reilly and Andrew Scott, and both of them bring a lot of charm to their characters. Unfortunately, while the writing does at time manage to land some decent comedy bits (such as a scene where Viv shows Tommy some Rorschach inkblots and he claims to see more and more outlandish things in them) and while the actors do their best to energize the different scenes, the writing is almost too glib.

There are some interesting plot developments along the way, but ultimately this is the kind of movie that you can feel is just a mad scramble. Who will be alive at the end and who won't be? Who knows. And it becomes hard to stay invested in characters when you know that the film is happy to kill them off arbitrarily. Plus, if you've seen even one or two of these types of movies, you'll be able to guess one of the biggest plot twists before you even hit the halfway mark of the film.

Watching baby Andrew Scott and Kelly Reilly do their thing was fun, but in the end this was kind of a lackluster viewing experience.

3

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Thelma_%26_Louise_poster.png
By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58114308

Thelma & Louise - (1991)

Finally. Finally. Thelma & Louise is a favourite for certain members of my family, so I've been seeing bits here and there for many years - and to be honest there wasn't much I hadn't seen. But that can never make up for sitting and watching it whole, which is a great experience. There was controversy when it was released over it's portrayal of men? It was pretty much spot-on regards a certain element. These two are forced into an increasingly dangerous corner because of an attempted rape, and end up a pair of outlaws - although two of the nicest, most fun and sympathetic in the country. One of the best from all involved - Ridley Scott, Davis, Sarandon, Pitt, Keitel and all those with smaller parts.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/The_Equalizer_poster.jpg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43230545

The Equalizer - (2014)

This film belongs to a certain definitive type of 21st Century action/thriller film - the Invincible Spook vs the Russian Mafia. Much like the John Wick films and Nobody, but here director Antoine Fuqua utilizes the man he most often turns to : Denzel Washington. If you know the type, you know what to expect. Many henchmen being dispatched with ease, and in excessive style. Washington's "Bob" is so good at what he does he'll leave you breathless, and an actor I'm noticing a bit lately - Marton Csokas - gives us a soulless Russian fixer as a villain, in a very good turn. Creeping over the 130 minute mark might turn some people off, but this was crisp and expert filmmaking.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/06/Red_Dog_%28movie_poster%29.jpg
By http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/1bd75659, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32646287

Red Dog - (2011)

In the Pilbara region of North Western Australia lived a Kelpie/cattle dog that became so well known a statue was erected in it's honor - there were enough anecdotes regarding this travelling canine personality for Nancy Gillespie to write a book, and it was published in 1983. In 1993, Beverly Duckett added Red Dog: The Pilbara Wanderer to the canon. This movie about the same dog is a little hokey, but it's also nearly guaranteed to make you cry just a little. Good dog.

6.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3d/Sliding_Doors_poster.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16232470

Sliding Doors - (1998)

If you already know about the central conceit regarding this film (and who doesn't) then there's not much to find here except your stock-standard romance. I found it a little empty - but maybe if I'd seen it when it was first released I would have been wowed more regarding the whole butterfly effect vs destiny statement it was making. I just wanted to tick this off the list, and while it's not spectacular, it doesn't do anything terribly wrong either.

6/10

[PHOENIX74]

Whoops, this one didn't connect with me. I mainly watched it to see BBT work out, but his role was pretty stock and unmemorable. S. Bullock did a nice job of acting, but I never believed her character for a minute. IMO she was miscast. It should have been either a female actress with more gravitas, or a male actor. But that's not the way they're rolling in Hyd these days. As it was I had to bail about halfway through. The picture could have had potential, but they drove right by it.

That's alright. Nothing of much of note happens in the film's second half. I didn't think it was awful, but like you I think the film had so much more potential that it failed to deliver.

[pahaK]

I mixed this title up with the film Dead Birds that came out around the same time (I remember they were shelved next to each other at the video store where I worked). I was expecting a supernatural thriller, but instead got a crime/comedy/thriller very much in the vein of Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave.

Dead Birds is actually pretty decent. One of the few western-horrors that work. It's definitely worth a watch.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimages-na.ssl-images-amazon.com%2Fimages%2FS%2Fsgp-catalog-images%2Fregion_US%2F6cdfc-A1W590JP0DC-Full-Image_GalleryBackground-en-US-1488329833633._SX1080_.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Silent Trigger, 1996

A sniper (Dolph Lundgren) and his spotter (Gina Bellman) arrive at an abandoned skyscraper where they are to complete an assassination. However the two have already met once before, in a disastrous mission where the shooter's hesitation nearly resulted in the deaths of both agents.

If you were to offer me $20, I do not think that I could explain what happened in this film. I found both the present-day and the flashback sequences confusing.

I like Dolph Lundgren well enough, and I think that Gina Bellman is a good actress (although at times I find the atonal/nasal quality of her voice a bit annoying). The story itself, though, was just muddled. The film also strips away any sense of what these people are doing or why, and it's hard to root for people when they might be getting ready to murder an AIDS researcher or a human rights activist or something.

The movie also has a scattered quality, jumping back and forth in time and introducing different conflicts in the present. A ridiculous amount of minutes are spent on a subplot about a security guard at the skyscraper (Christopher Heyerdahl) who is determined to rape Bellman's character. By my count he made three separate attempts, including a final one in which he donned a kevlar vest because she'd already pulled a gun on him!

Neither character gets any kind of decent development. Lundgren's character is, what, a little too human for the job? He doesn't want to fire on a woman holding a child, and then he also hesitates in the present-day attempt. So why does he still have this job? He's portrayed as a jack of all trades tough guy, naturally, but there's no dimension to him past that and some vague gestures at sadness or hesitation about the job. Bellman's character doesn't fare much better. She's at once meant to be tough and capable, but also needs to be vulnerable enough that Lundgren can rescue her. Of course she sleeps with Lundgren's character and is shown fully nude and sleeping. Like, c'mon. She's in the middle of a job and she's taking a little sex nap next to her sniper rifle? There's good ridiculous and bad ridiculous and this fell in the latter category for me.

There were one or two decent action moments, but overall this was underwhelming and by-the-numbers. A shame, because they could have done much more with the acitng talent on hand.

2.5

[Captain Terror]

Greatest movie ever. Incredible theme song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwrhOd9Do2A

LOL, my dad texted me this morning to tell me he was watching this, and couldn't wait for the closing credits to find out who performed the theme song

[Marco]

King of the Travellers (2012)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ab/King_of_the_Travellers_poster.jpg/330px-King_of_the_Travellers_poster.jpg
This is slightly better than it sounds, I was actually impressed by Steve Collins acting (bit of a boxing hero of mine)....and the main lad does well in his part. It's predictable but, for me, did keep the interest.

2.5

[Allaby]

Just finished watching Not Okay on Disney+ (in some countries, it is on Hulu). Directed by Quinn Shephard, this dark comedy/drama is about a young woman looking for attention who lies about going on a trip to Paris. When a terrorist attack happens close to where she was supposed to be, the lies escalate and she pretends to be a survivor of the attack. Zoey Deutch does a great job playing a complicated character who isn't very likeable. The real standout for me is the beautiful 18 year old Mia Isaac who plays the survivor of a school shooting. Her performance is fantastic, impassioned and powerful. The film tackles a lot of tough subjects and manages to balance different tones in a way that really worked for me. There are some funny moments and some really interesting scenes. Not Okay is a sharp and clever film, boosted by strong performances. One of the top 10 films of the year so far. My rating is 4

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/fb7801e549f6dd55c489941e9aed060f/tumblr_pyv2aycVSK1rgmfmpo4_500.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/c6e264d2fbba82672d7f569f6e78ebcc/e052144f03e0bc05-7b/s540x810/e7e6c549bd50349f09d8bde0a8386ee4242ac369.gifv


The Devil's Rain - This is ... not a good movie. I get how some might define it as a camp classic or list all the well known stars in the cast as reasons to recommend it. Or maybe bring up some of the interesting, behind the scenes factoids. Like it being allegedly financed by the mob and star Ernest Borgnine never actually having been paid or having infamous Satanic high priest Anton LaVey as both technical adviser and appearing in a small role. But it's ineptly made, inexplicably starting in what is apparently the second or third act.

There's been plenty of films where this has been attempted. Successfully though. There's usually a flashback or two involved or the events leading up to where the audience find themselves are ably revealed. You could put it down to someone maybe mixing up the film reels except for the fact that there is no apparent beginning. You could also maybe blame it on dark forces but, outside of sheer ineptitude, there's no rhyme or reason to it.

Okay, when it starts the Prestons are missing patriarch Steve (George Sawaya). He's driven off in his truck in a sudden rainstorm and son Mark (William Shatner) is attempting to comfort his mother Emma (Ida Lupino). The father shows up out of nowhere but something seems off about him. Maybe it's his missing eyeballs and the fact that he's steaming, bubbling and melting in the rain. He warns them that Corbis (Ernest Borgnine) wants the book before collapsing into a pile of goo. Who is Corbis and what book does he want?:shrug:

The truck shows up apparently driven by a voodoo doll pinned to the steering wheel. There's a commotion from the house and when Mark strolls in (that's right, for some reason he takes his sweet a$$ time) he finds family friend John (Woodrow Chambliss) hanging upside down from the rafters and mama Preston missing.

I'll stop going into details but suffice it to say that everyone that isn't already a member of the Satan worshipping cult makes one astoundingly bad decision after another. This eventually ropes in Sheriff Owens (Keenan Wynn), psychic researcher Dr. Sam Richards (Eddie Albert), Mark's brother Tom (Tom Skerritt) and his wife Julie (Joan Prather).

Robert Fuest had previously directed the two Abominable Dr. Phibes movies with Vincent Price so ... I don't exactly know what to do with that bit of information. I suppose that means he was capable enough. What the hell, let's just blame it all (including my somewhat generous rating) on the devil.

50/100

[Wooley]

I really grew to love Elf. And have you seen either Stranger Than Fiction or Everything Must Go? They both feature Farrell in a mostly dramatic role and I think he acquits himself quite well.

Oh, I don't have any problem with Will Ferrell, it just took me a long time to come to enjoy his comedy, and I still only like it in small doses. I think he seems like a perfectly likable fellow and I'm not surprised he would be a good dramatic actor, I think he shows some of that in his comedy work too. Haven't seen those films but not because of him or anything.
But I still hated Elf.

[Wooley]

Dr. Strange Into the Multiverse - I saw it and hated it. I was angry over how ridiculous this movie was, and how overstuffed it was with characters that it did not need. I was facepalming numerous scenes such as America's parents and the "Illuminati". I also found that Scarlett Witch's character ripped off King Pin from ITSV as to how both want to cause havoc around the multiverse in order to be with family. I found the movie very pretentious as well as how all of this random stuff is thrown in to look badass, but then the movie looked overblown instead. I hated that you needed to watch these other shows in order to understand it. I hated the Scarlett Witch villain. The two people I was watching it with(my brother and dad) also hated it and we all had headaches after this one. My brother and I both said, "What the hell was that," after this mess of a movie was done. I think that I should stay far away from the MCU. I have higher hopes for when I watch Everything Everywhere All At Once, as I think it will make a better multiverse movie. 1.5


It's not a good movie.

[Wooley]

Dead Birds is ok. Watchable but not memorable in any way.
Castle Freak is better, though.

[GulfportDoc]

88197
Haven't watched a movie in months so no reviews from me in awhile. There's so much junk out there, I've had better luck with series.

Decided to fire up Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) last night, and I was surprised at how well done it was. I'm not going to bother with a full review, but I thought the story was a step above the usual ho-hum superhero movie, and the production/special effects were damn near flawless-- more so than any other I've seen.

It was peculiar having 3 Spider-men towards the end, but somehow it worked. I thought the best acting was from Willem Defoe as the "Green Goblin". Cumberbatch was underwhelming as Dr. Strange, but in fairness his dialogue was amateurish. J.K. Simmons appeared in his 46th film of 2021...:rolleyes:

In short I thought they did a fine job in the latest in a series that's getting a little long in the tooth.

Doc's rating: 7/10

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgoodmoviesbox.com%2Fpics%2Ft%2Fthe-guilty-2018-still_fb.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Guilty, 2018

Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) is a police officer who is on desk duty until he can appear at a hearing about his involvement in the shooting death of a teenager. Working at an emergency services call center, one evening he takes a call from a woman named Iben (Jessica Dinnage) who has been abducted by her husband. Over the course of the evening, Asger will pull out all of the stops to identify Iben's kidnapper and find the missing woman while trying to unravel the events that led to her abduction.

I do love a single-location film when it's done well, and this one manages to pull off several tense sequences and plot turns with aplomb, all while confined to the emergency call center.

Feeling very much like a play adapted to a film, the whole movie rests on the shoulders of Cedergren, the only actor playing a key character who we actually get to see. The rest of the characters--Iben the abducted woman, Michael her abductor, Mathilde her daughter, and the other dispatchers and officers in the field working on the case--are only present as voices on the other end of the phone line.

I thought that the film did a good job of balancing action-type logistics (such as trying to navigate a police cruiser to the correct vehicle on the highway) with character moments that force Asger to reflect on the kind of violence that people do to one another and why they do it. Despite never seeing Iben, Dinnage manages to craft a character who feels dimensional, and the relationship of trust that builds between Iben and Asger adds urgency to the proceedings.

I also thought that the film did a good job of accessing that feeling of anxiety and frustration when you cannot communicate with someone. We hear Iben's cheery voicemail probably a dozen or more times during the movie, and each time it's like a bell tolling doom.

I thought that the ultimate payoff with Asger's character--his own revelations about the violent act he committed--was fine, but it felt a bit tacked on to be honest. I get that it's the pivot point of his character development, but the events happening with Iben were so compelling that Asger's own personal drama just didn't feel quite as impactful.

A solid thriller, especially if you're a fan of single-location/small cast movies.

4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/The_Fault_in_Our_Stars_%28Official_Film_Poster%29.png
By KINOMANIA.RU, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47781496

The Fault in Our Stars - (2014)

Forcing myself through a few films in my backlog, even if I don't want to watch them particularly (I'm always surprised by some of those - so it always works out best when I do it.) Well, The Fault in Our Stars was as painful as I thought it might be for it's first hour, then all of the sudden it turned into a really great film in it's second half. It's hard to weigh up a film like that - I felt that after an hour the film grew in complexity, and became something meaningful and interesting. It's actually a very nice love story, and a film really has to do it's work to make me say that. I'm glad I watched it.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/310_to_Yuma_%282007_film%29.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12426406

3:10 to Yuma - (2007)

I always find this modern remake, which many people hold in high esteem, difficult to separate from the original. I love the original 1957 3:10 to Yuma, and at the time I watched it, I thought it was the best Western I'd ever seen. Because it's so hard to avoid an inevitable comparison between these two, this 2007 version always comes out second-best. You can't beat Glenn Ford and Van Heflin - not with Russel Crowe and Christian Bale. But again, that's my prejudice talking perhaps.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/Redirected_Film_Poster.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67084443

Redirected - (2014)

I thought the Lithuanians might be a little angry about the way their country is portrayed in this film, but apparently this was partly a Lithuanian production, so go figure. I didn't like this very much - it comes off as a Snatch/Guy Ritchie/British gangster film wannabe, but it's a little too mean, degrading and nasty without any lighter elements to balance things out. The humour isn't all that great (all of these films insist on being comedic) and, as the film's biggest drawback, it lacks great characters. Not a good screenplay, and it's better moments are few and far between.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Red_ver7.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from Summit Entertainment or IMP Awards., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28209723

Red - (2010)

Silly, but really not my kind of silly - which makes this film ponderous and a chore. All those times I'm meant to be giggling because Helen Mirren is mowing down villains with a heavy machine gun, I'm in all actuality bored. Robert Schwentke directed The Time Traveler's Wife, which I watched recently, and this wasn't quite as good - but as I said when briefly summing that up, his The Captain is a film I like very much. Red is well made, and if it's clicks with your sense of humour it's a wild ride, and fun - unfortunately it doesn't click with me.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4f/Eddie_the_Eagle_poster.png
By http://www.impawards.com/2016/eddie_the_eagle.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48828389

Eddie the Eagle - (2015)

I watched, rated and briefly reviewed this on 05/03/21 (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?p=2200758&highlight=eddie%2Athe%2Aeagle#post2200758) and feel exactly the same about it. Even rated it one higher. Great movie.

8/10

[Ultraviolence]

https://images.fanart.tv/fanart/ninja-assassin-53bd939243124.jpg
The 3D aspects aged poorly as expected. The action is a transition between ok and terrible but fun for a midnight watch.
rating_2

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/310_to_Yuma_%282007_film%29.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12426406

3:10 to Yuma - (2007)

I always find this modern remake, which many people hold in high esteem, difficult to separate from the original. I love the original 1957 3:10 to Yuma, and at the time I watched it, I thought it was the best Western I'd ever seen. Because it's so hard to avoid an inevitable comparison between these two, this 2007 version always comes out second-best. You can't beat Glenn Ford and Van Heflin - not with Russel Crowe and Christian Bale. But again, that's my prejudice talking perhaps.

6/10



I actually saw this one (the remake) first and I still like the original much better.
I think the 2007 version is fine and there are some good parts, but it didn't exactly blow me away.

[Stirchley]

The Guilty, 2018


Very good movie.

3:10 to Yuma - (2007)

Very good movie.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/87/The_Unbearable_Weight_of_Massive_Talent.jpg/220px-The_Unbearable_Weight_of_Massive_Talent.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

[Gideon58]

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/f-MAAOSwIjJZXQrV/s-l500.jpg

4.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/SoftDelightfulFirebelliedtoad-size_restricted.gif
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/SentimentalImprobableDeer-size_restricted.gif


Scarlet Street - Fritz Lang directed this moderately darker than usual noir from 1945. Edward G. Robinson plays middle aged Christopher Cross and as the movie opens he's celebrating 25 years working as a cashier for the same company. He sees his boss leaving with an attractive younger woman and wonders out loud to a coworker what it must be like to have a beautiful young woman love you. On his way home he intervenes in an apparent robbery and saves Katharine "Kitty" March (Joan Bennett) from her assailant.

As it turns out her attacker is actually her boyfriend Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea). He's a bush-league criminal who makes a habit of slapping her around whenever he's drunk, which is often. But Kitty's got it bad for the guy which doesn't stop her from cozying up to the instantly smitten Chris.

Cross is also an unfulfilled artist with numerous paintings to his credit and it isn't long before the predatory Johnny lights on the idea of trying to sell off some of the artwork. During the intervening weeks Kitty convinces Chris to embezzle company funds and steal insurance bonds from his shrewish wife Adele (Rosalind Ivan).

After Johnny purloins and sells off some of Chris' work he cons an art critic into thinking they were Kitty's creations and convinces her to sign her name to the rest of the paintings. All the machinations play out as one would think and there's a surprisingly volatile ending along with a denouement that's also seems to be at odds with the prevailing ethos.

Having seen this I can't help but feel compelled to watch Lang's The Woman in the Window which immediately preceded this in 1944. Outside of a few assorted details it has basically the same plot outline and some have called it a "dry run" for this film. It features the same stars in Robinson, Bennett and Duryea and I'm curious to see how Lang improves on it.

85/100

[GulfportDoc]

Red - (2010)

Silly, but really not my kind of silly - which makes this film ponderous and a chore. All those times I'm meant to be giggling because Helen Mirren is mowing down villains with a heavy machine gun, I'm in all actuality bored. Robert Schwentke directed The Time Traveler's Wife, which I watched recently, and this wasn't quite as good - but as I said when briefly summing that up, his The Captain is a film I like very much. Red is well made, and if it's clicks with your sense of humour it's a wild ride, and fun - unfortunately it doesn't click with me.

5/10
I really enjoyed the picture, what with all the old pros. I know what you mean about Mirren and the machine gun, but I thought most of the laughs landed-- most especially in the first part of the film.

I adored Mary Louise-Parker. I don't know if any actress could have pulled off that part as well as she. So cute!

Come to think of it, maybe it's my older age that causes RED to be so appealing...:D

[GulfportDoc]

Scarlet Street - Fritz Lang directed this moderately darker than usual noir from 1945. Edward G. Robinson plays middle aged Christopher Cross and as the movie opens he's celebrating 25 years working as a cashier for the same company. He sees his boss leaving with an attractive younger woman and wonders out loud to a coworker what it must be like to have a beautiful young woman love you. On his way home he intervenes in an apparent robbery and saves Katharine "Kitty" March (Joan Bennett) from her assailant.

As it turns out her attacker is actually her boyfriend Johnny Prince (Dan Duryea). He's a bush-league criminal who makes a habit of slapping her around whenever he's drunk, which is often. But Kitty's got it bad for the guy which doesn't stop her from cozying up to the instantly smitten Chris.

Cross is also an unfulfilled artist with numerous paintings to his credit and it isn't long before the predatory Johnny lights on the idea of trying to sell off some of the artwork. During the intervening weeks Kitty convinces Chris to embezzle company funds and steal insurance bonds from his shrewish wife Adele (Rosalind Ivan).

After Johnny purloins and sells off some of Chris' work he cons an art critic into thinking they were Kitty's creations and convinces her to sign her name to the rest of the paintings. All the machinations play out as one would think and there's a surprisingly volatile ending along with a denouement that's also seems to be at odds with the prevailing ethos.

Having seen this I can't help but feel compelled to watch Lang's The Woman in the Window which immediately preceded this in 1944. Outside of a few assorted details it has basically the same plot outline and some have called it a "dry run" for this film. It features the same stars in Robinson, Bennett and Duryea and I'm curious to see how Lang improves on it.

85/100
I think "Scarlet" is a good film, but both Duryea and Bennett were way over the top. Of course most of that was in the writing. It was actually a pretty brutal story.

OTOH I thought The Woman In The Window was brilliant. Same basic cast, but good story, acting, and a wonderful ending, which thrilled me.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Logans_run_movie_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5819884

Logan's Run - (1976)

A great science fiction film - set in the 23rd Century where a self-sufficient domed society restricts all of it's citizens to a ceiling of 30 years life - and where those who run when their time is running out are hunted by "sandmen". Michael York plays one such sandman, and when he finds out those who take a chance and hope for a life "renewal" are being sold a fraud, and is tasked with finding a place called "sanctuary" decides to run himself. I love all of the inventive sets, production design, miniatures and costumes. The action is well edited and taut, and it's just so fun to watch - especially if you like the genre. The meaningfulness of the entire film will never get old, and as such it's a timeless classic. Enjoyed watching this a lot last night - especially as it's been such a long time since I last saw it.

8/10

https://i.postimg.cc/dVvCXHGb/busted.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5819884

B.U.S.T.E.D. (aka - Everybody Loves Sunshine) - (1999)

The difficulty I had finding a poster for this really illustrates just how fringe this independent film really was. Despite that, producer Joanne Reay somehow nabbed David Bowie to play a major part in it. As a whole, it's an interesting story - though I was a little confused at first, and really could have done with a Cockney Accent to English translation, but after a while the plot coalesces. Ray (Andrew Goth) and Terry (Goldie) have been released from prison, and while in there Terry has formed something of a loving obsession with Ray - one that will plunge both of them and their criminal gang right down into the bowls of hell. It was this obsession which made me interested in the film and it's performances. This is a little low budget and rough, but all up it was okay. Bowie plays ageing gay gangster Bernie, who is the only one with any sense, and tries to stop a gang war with the Chinese.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/Tommy_Boy.jpg
By Captured from photo, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18386439

Tommy Boy - (1995)

Let me start this by stating the positive aspects of Tommy Boy - in my eyes this is such a good natured and warm comedy of the type we really need more of. The humour can be juvenile or rude, the villains can be dastardly, but at it's heart this film is really about friendship, love, doing what's right and accepting people for who they are. I loved the whole vibe. Unfortunately, as far as the quality of the jokes go, it strained to really get me on board. I hardly ever laughed. It felt very forced, and I felt like I was watching this at far too old of an age to gel with it.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/31/Batman_v_Superman_Dawn_of_Justice_poster.jpg
By Warner Bros., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41557090

Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice - (2016)

It's funny - I was thinking back to the tone of the original Superman and Batman films while watching this. This super hero film is so grim and serious that it could almost be said to be too much so. It's the polar opposite to Superman III - which played for cute laughs and light hijinks. Now we're questioning the very meaning of gods and humanity. The movie as a whole wasn't as bad as what I was expecting after all of the critical evaluation I read, but I never felt uplifted or excited - whether that be by it's story or the quality of filmmaking on display. I've seen far worse, but I've also seen much, much better.

6/10

[Fabulous]

While the City Sleeps (1956)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/k8QiPEaVlxMptKg1mR8IpRo9c1.jpg

[mark f]

Los conductos (Camilo Restrepo, 2020) 2+ 5/10
The Woman in White (Peter Godfrey, 1948) 2.5 6/10
Diary of a Spy (Adam Christian Clark, 2022) 2 5/10
Not Okay (Quinn Shephard, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://i0.wp.com/www.newsfromthecouch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Not-Okay-2.jpg?resize=600%2C300&ssl=1
Zoey Deutch fakes a trip to Paris to gain internet followers and when a terrorist attack occurs there, she keeps up the ruse and co-opts the campaign of trauma survivor Mia Isaac. Advertised as a comedy but more of a drama.
The Drum (Zoltan Korda, 1938) 3 6.5/10
Boxcar Bertha (Martin Scorsese, 1972) 2.5 5.5/10
Pipa AKA Recurrence (Alejandro Montiel, 2022) 2+ 5/10
Honor Society (Oran Zegman, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://www.masslive.com/resizer/SClRTm85n3BB2JNm_y7gWkVoWhg=/500x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/advancelocal/XFLCNWSUSBARXKHK667RBQTZEI.jpeg
Honor (Angourie Rice, right) determines to take out her high school competition to win a scholarship to Harvard but she comes to like them all, especially the nerdiest (Gaten Matarazzo).
Purple Hearts (Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, 2022) 2 5/10
Raw Deal (Anthony Mann, 1948) 2.5 6/10
In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950) 3.5 7+/10
Burden (Ethan Hickey, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBSNEL7ov6o
After a drunk-driving death causes the ruin of two families, recovering alcoholic Tim Dowler-Coltman gets out of prison and has a difficult time but gets miraculous assistance from the dead man's girlfriend (Brenna Coates).
The Grand Inquisitor (Eddie Muller, 2008) 2.5+ 6/10
Cool Hand Luke (Stuart Rosenberg, 1967) 3.5 7+/10
Rider on a Dead Horse (Herbert L. Strock, 1962) 2 5/10
The Royal (Marcel Sarmiento, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNWY2ZDljNzYtNDFmZS00ZjAzLWJmZTMtNTEwMzE2NGEwZTZmXkEyXkFqcGdeQWRpZWdtb25n._V1_QL75_UX500_CR0,0,50 0,281_.jpg
Kansas City Royal World Series hero Willie Mays Aikens (Amin Joseph) serves time in prison for being a crackhead, and when he gets out of prison, he seeks a job with the Royals against all odds.
Stamboul Quest (Sam Wood, 1934) 2.5 5.5/10
RoboGeisha (4 Directors, 2009) 2 5/10
Charlie Chan in Honolulu (H. Bruce Humberstone, 1938) 2.5 6/10
Nest (Hlynur Pálmason, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/166/032/166032542_b91b17.jpg
Shot in 35mm over the course of a weather-intensive year, three Icelandic siblings help create a treehouse which also is very difficult to survive.

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Logans_run_movie_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5819884

Logan's Run - (1976)

A great science fiction film - set in the 23rd Century where a self-sufficient domed society restricts all of it's citizens to a ceiling of 30 years life - and where those who run when their time is running out are hunted by "sandmen". Michael York plays one such sandman, and when he finds out those who take a chance and hope for a life "renewal" are being sold a fraud, and is tasked with finding a place called "sanctuary" decides to run himself. I love all of the inventive sets, production design, miniatures and costumes. The action is well edited and taut, and it's just so fun to watch - especially if you like the genre. The meaningfulness of the entire film will never get old, and as such it's a timeless classic. Enjoyed watching this a lot last night - especially as it's been such a long time since I last saw it.

8/10



I'm glad you liked it. I have a very strong connection to this movie.
First of all, my name is Logan. Logan was an exceedingly uncommon name when I was growing up. I did not meet another Logan until I was in my mid-20s and it was a small child. I did not meet another adult named Logan until I was in my 30s. Second, I've been very into Sci-Fi since I was old enough to consume any form of media, and this film came out when I was young (when I was the only Logan anyone had ever heard of and so everyone identified the movie with me and vice versa). Third, I used to watch the TV show when I was a kid. Fourth, my mom worked at the King Tut Exhibit when it was touring in the 70s, at the New Orleans Museum Of Art, and she brought me home and Ankh (which you, having seen the movie, know the symbolism of in that movie) and the Ankh has always been a part of and symbol in my life. Fifth, I was (and sorta still am) in love with Jessica 6. Sixth, I grew up to become an Anesthesiologist, which means I put people to sleep, which makes me... A Sandman. I am literally a Sandman named Logan.
Anyway, I loved this movie most of my life, thought it kinda sucked in my mid-30s (oddly I lost my love of a lot of the things I had nostalgia for in my 30s) but then recently came back to it and really enjoyed it again (and also read the book).
I do think it's a really cool looking movie and I love the "dystopian" concepts behind it. They are even more clearly drawn in the book, where you only live to 21 but your life is much more decadent than in the film.

[Wooley]

Tommy Boy - (1995)

Let me start this by stating the positive aspects of Tommy Boy - in my eyes this is such a good natured and warm comedy of the type we really need more of. The humour can be juvenile or rude, the villains can be dastardly, but at it's heart this film is really about friendship, love, doing what's right and accepting people for who they are. I loved the whole vibe. Unfortunately, as far as the quality of the jokes go, it strained to really get me on board. I hardly ever laughed. It felt very forced, and I felt like I was watching this at far too old of an age to gel with it.

5/10


I agree with every word of this.

[WHITBISSELL!]

I think "Scarlet" is a good film, but both Duryea and Bennett were way over the top. Of course most of that was in the writing. It was actually a pretty brutal story.Yes it was. It didn't pull any punches or try to sugarcoat Kitty and Johnny's overall seediness. I also thought the writing leaned a little too heavily on the slang. All the "lazylegs" and "for cat's sake". But the part with the ice pick caught me by surprise. And then Chris surviving his suicide attempt. .
OTOH I thought The Woman In The Window was brilliant. Same basic cast, but good story, acting, and a wonderful ending, which thrilled me. I do need to watch that. It doesn't have as strong a Tomatometer rating as SS but that's not always indicative of a better movie.

[matt72582]

Hard Times - 6/10


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d5/Hard_Times_%281975_movie_poster%29.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

Hard Times is my hands down favorite Bronson movie. I think it's closer to an 8/10.

[matt72582]

What to watch next - La Dolce Vita, Double Life of Veronique, Singing in the Rain, All That Jazz, A Woman Under the Influence, La Strada, Solaris, etc.


If you're asking, I'd say "La Strada" (my #2) and "A Woman Under The Influence" (#8) which is also on YouTube in full for free.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AIchOH1cQU

[cricket]

The Domestics (2018)

3

https://64.media.tumblr.com/ab655d25a5457bd8020aae9892f6d3c1/2cfcb4868a143099-2d/s400x600/86626500378d6be7c5e4a963cee0e6111ea08313.gifv

It's almost like a post apocalyptic version of The Warriors if The Warriors were a couple whose marriage was on the rocks. Don't come for the plot, performances, or visuals, but if you just want some action/horror then this movie is for you. It doesn't waste any time and was better than I had expected.

[matt72582]

Hard Times is my hands down favorite Bronson movie. I think it's closer to an 8/10.


I think he's very good in it, but the movie seemed more like an outline. Lots of dialogue over inane things, but so little between Bronson and his woman, or inter-relationships between the other guys. I think I'm done with movies set in a period before the 40s.. The same problems -- so much emphasis on costume, and the stereotypical (Strothers?) Southerner, beating around the bush in a "hillbilly poetic" fashion that annoys the hell out of me. He does the same thing in "Cool Hand Luke"! Ironic considering there's a few mentions of appreciating one who gets right to the point, but regardless of the movie (except "Los Olvidados"), it's the same characters, and a reminder it's 1930 every few seconds. And the movie itself was so predictable, and redundant - fighting, money, money issues, loans..


I had this on my IMDB watch-list, but I was actually watching Louie CK on this YouTube show called "Flagrant 2", and when he was asked what if favorite movies were, he gave the typical, "It's so hard" and only mentioned this movie, so I saw it.


Have you seen the movie, "Fat City"? It was made a few years before, but I think it's one of Huston's best, and I think Stacy Keach delivers one of the greatest performances I have ever seen.

[WHITBISSELL!]

I think he's very good in it, but the movie seemed more like an outline. Lots of dialogue over inane things, but so little between Bronson and his woman, or inter-relationships between the other guys. I think I'm done with movies set in a period before the 40s.. The same problems -- so much emphasis on costume, and the stereotypical (Strothers?) Southerner, beating around the bush in a "hillbilly poetic" fashion that annoys the hell out of me. He does the same thing in "Cool Hand Luke"! Ironic considering there's a few mentions of appreciating one who gets right to the point, but regardless of the movie (except "Los Olvidados"), it's the same characters, and a reminder it's 1930 every few seconds. And the movie itself was so predictable, and redundant - fighting, money, money issues, loans..


I had this on my IMDB watch-list, but I was actually watching Louie CK on this YouTube show called "Flagrant 2", and when he was asked what if favorite movies were, he gave the typical, "It's so hard" and only mentioned this movie, so I saw it.
Have you seen the movie, "Fat City"? It was made a few years before, but I think it's one of Huston's best, and I think Stacy Keach delivers one of the greatest performances I have ever seen.I have seen Fat City and did enjoy Keach's immersive performance. I also thought Jeff Bridges and Susan Tyrell did a great job. Plus Candy Clark and Nicholas Colasanto. Good movie. And overlooked.

But I think HT was meant to be more elegiac. Poeticized. At least that's how I took it. And Strother Martin's Poe might have come off a little threadbare but that was the character in a nutshell. Alcoholic and a drug addict to boot. It worked for me. Walter Hill was never much for frills but his unfussy style seemed to really mesh with the story. And it especially played to Bronson's strengths. I don't know. I've always been really fond of the movie.

[beelzebubble]

While the City Sleeps (1956)

rating_3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/k8QiPEaVlxMptKg1mR8IpRo9c1.jpg
I like Dana Andrews. I wonder if I have seen this yet.

[GulfportDoc]

[The Woman in the Window]
...
I do need to watch that. It doesn't have as strong a Tomatometer rating as SS but that's not always indicative of a better movie.
I think you're going to like it, WH. I could never understand the high praise for Scarlet Street, except that it was a good example of noir.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNjVkMTFjZjktYzI4My00NDdhLWJhYmUtNzhkZWMwYmFmOTc1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjgyOTI1ODY@._V1_.jpg


5

[GulfportDoc]

While the City Sleeps (1956)

rating_3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/k8QiPEaVlxMptKg1mR8IpRo9c1.jpg
This was a very good noir, really more of a serial killer movie. Good story, good acting.

What tickles me about this scene, as Fabulous has cited here, is that everyone in this particular picture --Dana Andrews, Rhonda Fleming, Thomas Mitchell, and Ida Lupino-- were all bombed. They got to drinking before filming the scene, and by the time they got a good take, everyone was drunk. Fritz Lang knew it, but kept the take because of its authenticity...:)

[chawhee]

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
https://townsquare.media/site/442/files/2021/12/attachment-everything-everywhere.jpg?w=980&q=75
3.5
My turn to finally see this, since I don't think I've seen a negative review on it yet. Very glad I did! A multiverse movie that views like a videogame on steroids.

It did tire for me in the middle a bit, but the last third of the movie really brings everything together well emotionally. I think my rating may go up or down a half based on how I feel about this a few months from now.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Troy2004Poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards or Warner Bros. Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29874416

Troy - (2004)

I found Troy to be a much better film than it's reputation suggests. It's not quite empty spectacle - but even if it was than the spectacle itself is a cut above almost all other films of it's ilk. It's actually exciting, very well edited, and visually clear, strong and arresting. The bulk of the film transforms Homer's Iliad and Quintus Smyrnaeus's Posthomerica into a condensed battle - and as such the fates of great warrior Achilles (Brad Pitt) and the royal families of either side combine - the result usually being tragic. Of course, this is an epic fantasy version of those tales - and it takes liberties. I was surprised by the screenplay - expecting melodrama, but receiving something far more philosophical and grand, with the actors delivering their lines with convincing belief. Wolfgang Petersen really had everybody on board for this. The bright blues and golden sands were backed up with character, excitement and interest. I'd avoided Troy like the plague up until now, so my surprise was great - this is actually not too bad at all. A grand historical epic backed by a solid screenplay and performances.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/Catch_a_fire_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17125402

Catch a Fire - (2006)

Catch a Fire is about resistance during the apartheid regime in South Africa, and is a semi-biopic about one man who was driven to extreme action. It features Tim Robbins - who gives an absolutely marvelous performance (a bit of a waste in this film.) There's nothing else that really stands out - but the film's heart is in the right place. It just needed a better structure to really engage and excite us. It doesn't push us as far as it needs to, so we can completely identify with real-life activist Patrick Chamusso (Derek Luke) and condemn what's happening around him. Instead, a lot of important detail is only alluded to, and the film makes large leaps in narrative that we don't see.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Clerks_movie_poster%3B_Just_because_they_serve_you_---_.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2344262

Clerks - (1994)

I like Clerks, but I'd love to love it as much as Kevin Smith's fans do. Every now and then I watch it again to see if my stance has changed - because fortunately it is a rewatchable film.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/22/Intolerable_cruelty.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Universal Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7788547

Intolerable Cruelty - (2003)

I'm actually starting to like this film - really didn't the first time I saw it, but it's so light-hearted and silly that I think I approached it from the wrong angle the first time around.

6.5/10

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fhaphazardstuff.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F01%2FClint-Eastwood-In-the-Line-of-Fire.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

In the Line of Fire, 1993

Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) is a secret service agent who is haunted by his failure to save JFK in the Dallas assassination. When a demented killer (John Malkovich) sets his sights on murdering the president, Frank must give everything he has to track down the man's identity. Assisted by a mentee (Dylan McDermott) and an intelligent agent named Lilly (Rene Russo).

Overall I thought that this was a decent thriller, slightly hamstrung by Eastwood's lead role.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with Eastwood's performance. He does a good job of holding the center of the film and he is by turns intense and funny. But simply put, he is too old for the character he's playing and it has negative ripples through the whole film. To begin with, it doesn't feel realistic that he's still being asked to do this very physical job. I did feel slightly vindicated by reading in the trivia section that the character is meant to be in his 50s, while Eastwood was in his 60s when he made the film. Eastwood's age also creates an age gap between him and love interest Russo (the actress is literally the same age as Eastwood's daughter). It lends an even ickier edge to what already feels inappropriate as Frank flirts with and pursues Lilly. (Yes, Lilly is also into him, but he's definitely the one instigating things, including after she says she doesn't want to make a professional mistake). The movie even seems a bit embarrassed of the idea of sex between the two, shying away in favor of visual jokes, and literally the last shot is them watching pigeons together like a woman caring for her elderly father We are also asked to believe that he's a physical match for a man 20 years his junior and it starts to feel like some weird fantasy wish-fulfillment.

The story itself moves along with engaging thriller twists and turns as Malkovich's killer works to keep several steps ahead of the secret service agents. I really like films like this or like Day of the Jackal where you see the detail of the leg-work that the investigators have to do. Characters searching passenger manifests or questioning bank employees, yes please!

The supporting actors all do a good job in their roles. I wish that Russo's character hadn't been so relegated to being Frank's, like, emotional support partner. Most of what we see of her is her defending Frank to other agents and it starts to feel kind of one-dimensional. Bu Russo is a very engaging presence. McDermott is not an actor I have strong feelings about either way, but I was pleasantly surprised by his turn as the young agent who is struggling to cope with the trauma of an investigation that nearly resulted in his death. I did think that it was a bit too cliched to have the scene where Frank convinces Al not to quit, which, okay, if it wasn't already incredibly obvious that the killer is going to kill Al, it is now!!

I bet there are some people who really dig this film. For me it just had a few too many cliches and asked a bit too much of me with the main character.

Also (and NO, this didn't impact my rating!) is this just a fashion thing I do not understand: in the sexy scene with Frank and Lilly was Lilly wearing a sexy slip thing . . . under her pants? Someone please explain!

3.5

[Rockatansky]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fhaphazardstuff.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2014%2F01%2FClint-Eastwood-In-the-Line-of-Fire.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

In the Line of Fire, 1993
This has an all-timer phone conversation:


"You have a rendezvous with my ass, mother****er!"

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0e/0a/ae/0e0aae81d15a705c59167fdcb0648e6c.gif
https://i.makeagif.com/media/5-09-2021/2f0zV6.gif


Raw Deal - There's a significant number of things to like in this 1948 noir. Directed by Anthony Mann who was responsible for a string of nifty westerns starring Jimmy Stewart as well as Border Incident. And I still haven't forgotten about Tak's recommendation of The Furies. Mann is an expert guide when it comes to these types of crime thrillers.

Dennis O'Keefe stars as Joe Sullivan, currently serving prison time and anxious to get out. His longtime girlfriend/moll, Pat Regan (Claire Trevor), has arranged with Joe's old boss Rick Coyle (Raymond Burr) to bust him out. Joe took the fall for Rick and is owed a 50,000 share of their last job. But Coyle has no intention of paying off and is instead playing the odds that Joe will catch a stray bullet during the escape attempt. Also visiting Joe on that last fateful night in prison is Ann Martin (Marsha Hunt), his legal caseworker. She's a bit of a bleeding heart and is convinced that there is good in Joe. After succeeding in breaking out, Joe and Pat are forced to kidnap Ann and take her along as they avoid an ever tightening dragnet. This sets the stage for a potential love triangle as both women vie not only for Joe's attention but his ultimate fate as well.

The cast is quite capable with Trevor, O'Keefe and Hunt doing a crack job in the leads but it's Burr that draws your attention as the quietly menacing and unstable Coyle. John Ireland also turns in a small, key performance as Fantail, one of Coyle's goons. And there's an Easter egg of sorts (at least for me) when Whit Bissell shows up in a quick cameo and goes down in a hail of bullets, suicide-by-cop style. According to the pre-movie intro Mann was known to include set pieces that allowed him to show off his virtuoso skillset and this is no exception. There are any number of shots that can rightly be considered works of art. There's also a fogbound shootout and, in keeping with Coyle's propensity for all things pyro, a blazing finale. Plus there's an innovative use of Cherries Jubilee. Not a bad noir at all.

80/100

[D54pod]

The Gray Man

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/lxZnN5r6nFy9s0cc8oel8XSjUNs.jpg

So I watched this movie last week, and after digging through a few reviews, it looks as if it's decisive amongst us movie enthusiasts. I would definitely be on the side of those who look favourably upon this movie. It was a two hour non stop thrill ride with all the charisma and absurdness of movies I grew up with in the early to mid 90s. This movie doesn't hold back for anyone or anything, as it throws away (mostly) all semblance of it's plot and questions the existence of physics on a consistent basis. The airplane fight scene is one I will remember as maybe the craziest plane fight I have seen since the movie Eraser staring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The story while a little cliche and predictable is good enough to keep me engaged. The action does most of the talking in this one, and the performances from the cast lead by Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans are spectacular. The Russo brothers are getting into their groove more as of late, and I enjoy their stylish cinematography and action sequences. I really enjoyed this movie and am eagerly awaiting it's eventual sequel.

4/5

[AboveTheClouds]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dxdSiIiqxjs/TPLwpjDephI/AAAAAAAAAcU/xlNrYFUAuFg/s1600/Pieces+poster.jpgrating_4_5

[matt72582]

https://i.postimg.cc/RhghnFzy/800px-Mikey-Nicky-1976-poster.jpg
By Distributed by Castle Hill Productions. - Scan via Posteritati., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90684902

Mikey and Nicky - (1976)

I've been hearing good word about this film on this forum recently, so I decided to check it out, as I'd never seen it. I really don't regret making that decision. Although it's directed by the ill-fated Elaine May, Mikey and Nicky does have the feeling of a Cassavetes/Falk collaboration, and both actors are in absolute top form. This is the recent cut I'm talking about. The pair play gangsters who are/were devoted friends whose close partnership has been torn asunder, but that fact is unknown to one of the men. It all takes place in one night, and also features Ned Beatty in a supporting role. It has a gritty, easy, uninhibited feel, and it's a shame May was shafted by Paramount instead of the two working out their differences to get the best version they could out to the public at the time - but we all know that age-old story, where studios meddle and artists become unmanageable. Anyway, loved this and it's a firm recommendation to any film fan. It's wound tight, and enthralls from start to finish.

9/10


One of the best kept secret great movies. Even the studio/distributor kept this in the can for years, and sabotaged it (can't remember the source), but it's a great, gritty, naturalistic movies. Tragic, but also hilarious in many parts. I can't help but think that "Buffalo '66" wasn't influenced by Cassavetes and these kinds of movies. I think Elaine May was influenced by Cassavetes. I thought he directed it, until I rated it on IMDB and saw her name, who I know through Mort Sahl.



9/10 and bottom four, lol... I didn't care much for "Heartbreak Kid" (but the beginning was great), and heard horrible things about "Ishtar". Any recommendations?



If anyone interested, this movie is FREE and in full on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztGLuzbCGzA

[Siddon]

https://nerdbot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/fireoflove.jpeg

Fire of Love (2022)

I hate when studios release these one and done films. If you get the chance to see this on the big screen take it. This is likely the BP winner for best documentary...Fire of Love tells the story of a pair of volcano scientists/lovers in the 60's-90's. This is a collection of their work and it's breathtaking. If you can get the chance to catch this locally I highly recommend it.


5

[Ultraviolence]

未来忍者：慶雲機忍外伝 ~ Mirai Ninja: Keigumo Kinin Gaidenhttps://64.media.tumblr.com/e8660a224193ffa5001a7d3df9e90961/c4c6a2a489a65be0-3a/s540x810/665c3d4a60bfd136027924cd0236e7f284c2e68d.gifv

One of the best game adaptations out there. It's like tokusatsu, but with more absurdity.

rating_3_5

[SpelingError]

29th Hall of Fame

Stroszek (1977) - 3.5

This is the kind of film I might enjoy more if I rewatch it sometime down the road. All things considered, I enjoyed it, but I felt I should've liked it more than I ultimately did. In order to begin discussing the film though, one must first provide some background on Bruno S. Being abused by his mother to the point he was rendered temporarily deaf and having spent a lot of time in mental institutions, his background actually works to this film's benefit. In spite of having no acting experience when Herzog first met him (this is actually the second film he acted in though), he's great for this role since the film has some parallels to his real-life struggles. As a result, his performance feels very natural. Speaking of which, the same could be said of many other scenes in the film as well. With various freeform scenes of characters interacting with each other or their environments, one gets the impression that Herzog turned the camera on without telling anyone to see what kinds of strange improvisations he could capture. One might be bothered by this approach, but I think this is all at the heart of the film's twisted humor of capturing how bizarre the world Bruno navigates is. Certain scenes such as Eva's pimps playing a piano as they beat Bruno, a mobile home being driven into and away from a plot of land, and the auction do a great job at representing the absurdities of both Germany and the U.S. Also, the final couple minutes are excellent and easily the best example of the film's humor. The scene acts as a parallel for Bruno's emotional journey throughout the film. Regardless of how hard Bruno works to maintain his home doesn't stop the bills from piling up to the point that nothing he can do will provide a sufficient income. The final scene showing several animals stuck in an endless loop of performing and getting no food seems to suggest that Bruno's situation would've kept getting worse if the film continued on. With that being said, I will admit that my appreciation of this film clicked on and off as I watched it. While I loved what I mentioned up above, I felt those elements were too few and far in between for me to love this film. For instance, the twisted humor vibes showed a lot of potential, but at the same time, I felt they were underutilized and should've been more frequent. Part of this might be due to Herzog drawing out certain scenes longer than he needed to, but whatever the issue is, a lot of my time watching this film consisted of me hoping for it to get funny again. Regardless, I still enjoyed this film and I may return to it sometime in the future to see if my opinion of it grows.

[PHOENIX74]

I think Elaine May was influenced by Cassavetes.

9/10 and bottom four, lol

Yeah, Elaine May only ever directed 4 films, so I think it was Little Ash that said something like "one of her best 4 films" being in the know, and so I said "one of her bottom 4" in jest - because there are only 4 to talk about and you're right no matter what you say. A shame, she was royally shafted by the suits in Hollywood - a real talent wasted.

[Wooley]

https://nerdbot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/fireoflove.jpeg

Fire of Love (2022)

I hate when studios release these one and done films. If you get the chance to see this on the big screen take it. This is likely the BP winner for best documentary...Fire of Love tells the story of a pair of volcano scientists/lovers in the 60's-90's. This is a collection of their work and it's breathtaking. If you can get the chance to catch this locally I highly recommend it.


5

Oooh! Showing at The Broad Theater, not 2 1/2 miles from my house!

[Stirchley]

88246

Good movie. Cate Blanchett excellent as per.

[Tugg]

Jerry & Marge Go Large (2022) 3
https://i0.wp.com/michaelcavacini.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/JMGL_SAlone_16_9_1920x1080_1378845_1920x1080.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1
Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe (2022) 3.5
https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Beavis-and-Butt-Head-Do-the-Universe-5.jpg?q=50&fit=contain&w=750&h=&dpr=1.5
The Good Neighbor (2022) 3
https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/w533_and_h300_bestv2/AnmfRV7X0kwEn96pg0lAVopV8YK.jpg
The Gray Man (2022) 3
https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.rogerebert.com/uploads/review/primary_image/reviews/the-gray-man-film-review-2022/124_TS_6590_s0011_VFX_Final.jpeg
Not Okay (2022) 3
https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c7268c79-9436-4230-b75e-2814495b25f4/dfa2ymy-a274e4d2-27ed-4534-955c-139342f656f4.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQz NzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6 W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2M3MjY4Yzc5LTk0MzYtNDIzMC1iNzVlLTI4MTQ0OTViMjVmNFwvZGZhMnlteS1hMjc0ZTRkMi0yN2Vk LTQ1MzQtOTU1Yy0xMzkzNDJmNjU2ZjQucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.o2xheMca YTJQh1TSNv04gviE5pqRF1iCNRjvXYf6P9E

[Death Proof]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWQ3MjBjN2MtMjIxYS00MjBlLWFmYTktN2RlZmVkMWUzYTYwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA3MDk2NDg2._V1_.jpg

The Father (2020)


Heartbreaking story about a man suffering from dementia. The story takes place from his point of view, and shows how dementia patients confuse people with others, lose track of time, and forget even major life events.



Anthony Hopkins won the Academy Award for his role as the titular father with ever-increasing memory problems.




9/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWQ3MjBjN2MtMjIxYS00MjBlLWFmYTktN2RlZmVkMWUzYTYwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA3MDk2NDg2._V1_.jpg

The Father (2020)


Heartbreaking story about a man suffering from dementia. The story takes place from his point of view, and shows how dementia patients confuse people with others, lose track of time, and forget even major life events.



Anthony Hopkins won the Academy Award for his role as the titular father with ever-increasing memory problems.




9/10


I watched this for the second time a few months ago and it was better than it was the first time...Hopkins is breathtaking.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51B4xt270eL.jpg


1st Rewatch...I have to confess that this 2018 Oscar winner for Best Picture didn't quite hold up the way I thought it would, but when I looked at the other Best Picture nominees that year, I still think the Academy got it right. The scene where Tony and Dr. Shirley argue over the stone that Tony tried to steal was stupid and I don't like the way Dr. Shirley read the riot act to Tony for bribing those guys to let Dr. Shirley out of jail. It was the deep south in the 1960's, there was no other way Dr. Shirley was getting out. But you know what? That scene where Dr. Shirley discovers the joys of Kentucky Fried Chicken negates anything else wrong with the movie. 4

[GulfportDoc]

The Father (2020)

Heartbreaking story about a man suffering from dementia. The story takes place from his point of view, and shows how dementia patients confuse people with others, lose track of time, and forget even major life events.

Anthony Hopkins won the Academy Award for his role as the titular father with ever-increasing memory problems.

9/10
A great film, one of the very best of the 21st Century. Hopkins was stunning, and Coleman acted her heart out.
A fascinating story with a bit of a twist.

[GulfportDoc]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51B4xt270eL.jpg


1st Rewatch...I have to confess that this 2018 Oscar winner for Best Picture didn't quite hold up the way I thought it would, but when I looked at the other Best Picture nominees that year, I still think the Academy got it right. The scene where Tony and Dr. Shirley argue over the stone that Tony tried to steal was stupid and I don't like the way Dr. Shirley read the riot act to Tony for bribing those guys to let Dr. Shirley out of jail. It was the deep south in the 1960's, there was no other way Dr. Shirley was getting out. But you know what? That scene where Dr. Shirley discovers the joys of Kentucky Fried Chicken negates anything else wrong with the movie. rating_4
Well, it's true that Green Book was less bad than the other nominees that year. There were some big problems with the film, IMO. Some commentary from me:


Green Book(2018)

It’s a sure fire indication of a weak field when a shaky film such as Green Bookfinds itself in serious consideration within a number of Academy Award top categories. Hollywood has put excellence in story telling on the back burner for the past few years in favor of promoting its own fashionable social causes. Now, just in case there are folks who haven’t been to a movie since 1960, the writers of Green Bookendeavor to show us that there was deep racial prejudice against blacks in the U.S., most especially in the South.

The story creates an account of one of America’s premier pianists named Don Shirley, a black man, who embarked on a year-plus concert tour in 1962, of which many dates were in the South. Because of racist violence against Nat King Cole at a concert in Alabama in 1960, Shirley hired Tony “Lip” Vallelonga --a mob friendly Italian who worked at Manhattan’s Copacabana night club-- to be his driver and bodyguard.

Beyond these basic facts the story is completely fictionalized. To their credit, the producers announced in the opening credits that the film was “inspired by a true story”. “Inspired by” means that the Shirley/Vallelonga tour gave them an idea for a story. Unfortunately in the film version, the tour was shrunk to two months, and was made to end just before Christmas so that Tony could return home to be with his family, and to set up a dramatic ending. In Hollywood fashion Tony and Don soon became buds, yet in true life Shirley’s brother stated that Don never considered Tony a friend, but only an employee who he required to wear a chauffer’s uniform and a cap. And there are no reports of racial incidents on the tour. Presumably the pair did make use of the “The Negro Motorist Green-Book” (actual title) in selecting their safe accommodations.

This is certainly not the first time Hollywood has made up an entire story based on an actual event, and in fact there probably have been more fictionalized movie accounts than not. But while watching the film the question kept coming up: what was this film’s point of view? And whose story were they trying to portray? Certainly they were going for both entertainment and social justice value; but after the many dozens of movies dealing with black/white racial issues over the past 60 years, the back story of the Jim Crow South was not a shocker.

At least since 1958, with The Defiant Ones, then Patch of Blue, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, on

through Driving Miss Daisy,even Forrest Gump, along with scores of others since, have thoroughly explored and displayed the subject of prejudice against mixed race pairings, and in prejudice in general. Yet in Green Bookwe are treated to the corniest scenes of southern boobs dishing out the rankest forms of racial derision in such hackneyed form that it bordered on satire. One half expected to see Sheriff Buford T. Justice appear.

If the film’s title and subject matter were any indication that the focus was on Don Shirley, his beliefs, and his quest to endure a music tour of the South, then it came as a surprise that the thrust of the story put most of the emphasis on Tony Lip: his background, his actions, his philosophy, his awakening. Reportedly this was not lost on Shirley’s relatives, who resented the depiction of their family relationships, along with the emphasis put on Tony

The chief disappointment in the film was the writing. Director Peter Farrelly is known for wacky comedies, and this was his first foray into drama. He participated in the scripting with a sophmore writer, Biran Currie, along with Tony Vallelongas’s son Nick. Tony Lip’s part was the better of the two in construction, and Viggo Mortensen brought in an award winning quality performance. There must have been indecision about scripting Don Shirley’s part. In an attempt to give the character too many facets, the result was a personality who was all over the map, which must have made it a difficult continuity project for the actor. In his defense Mahershala Ali stated that he’d liked to have met with Shirley’s family in order to provide a more nuanced character. Still, what he did well, he did really well. Of particular note was his portrayal of piano playing. He’d worked with composer Kris Bowers until he really appeared to be playing the difficult piano pieces.

Despite its anachronistic nature, heftier writers with a different approach could have made this story into a more interesting film.

Doc’s rating: 5/10

[ThatDarnMKS]

Bullet Train

Kinda annoying. Kinda fun. Great cast. Quality action.

3.5/5

[Fabulous]

Smithereens (1982)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/udnXZi1NJp6kTfBNzJZn7vHhiC1.jpg

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.csfd.cz%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Ffilm%2Fphotos%2F163%2F365%2F163365493_737b60.jpg%3Fw 370h370&f=1&nofb=1

The Wide Blue Road, 1957

Squarcio (Yves Montand) is a fisherman in a town full of similarly employed and similarly impoverished men. Squarcio is working to support his wife Rosetta (Alida Valli), his daughter Diana (Federica Ranchi), and his two sons, Tonino (Giancarlo Soblone) and Bore (Ronaldo Bonacchi) who often accompany their father on his fishing boat. But while the other men use nets for their catches, Squarcio uses the illegal and dangerous strategy of bomb-fishing. This practice soon creates tension with the other local fisherman, as Squarcio hauls in a plentiful and illegal catch.

Probably the best realized element of this movie is the way that it pulls you into Squarcio's point of view and the flawed mathematics at the heart of the decisions that he makes throughout the film.

From the beginning we understand how precarious the financial situation is for the whole village. Even with his illegal bounty, Squarcio just has an edge on his fellow fishermen. In using the explosives, Squarcio is taking a huge risk: the risk of being arrested and the risk of injury. Twice in the film we see the results of accidental mishandling of explosives, and Squarcio reassures Rosetta that he will not make such mistakes.

Often in a movie where someone gets sucked into illegal behavior, there is a real, marked difference between life without the illicit activity and life with it. But here we see just how marginal that difference is, and how, in fact, it can actually be a net negative even though Squarcio is blind to that fact. For example, at one point Squarcio is faced with the choice of whether or not to sink his own boat to escape arrest. The real poison here is Squarcio's hope and optimism that his illegal fishing will make a big difference.

And compounding the tragedy here is the fact that the more he persists in his activities, the more alienated he becomes from the community around him. Through the film we see the respect of his village turn to resentment and anger.

So I found the central character arc pretty interesting, even though Squarcio himself wasn't that engaging of a figure. I never quite got deeply invested in his character or the characters of his family. There's a subplot about Diana fooling around with a man who has promised to marry her, as well as his sons trying to cope with the messaging from those around them that their father is doing wrong.

The scenery of the film is really beautiful, and there are some lovely underwater shots in a sequence where Squarcio dives deep into the water to retrieve something from a sunken boat. The beauty of the film inclines me to bump my rating up about half a point.

4

[StuSmallz]

Bullet Train

Kinda annoying. Kinda fun. Great cast. Quality action.

3.5/5Annoying how, though?

[ThatDarnMKS]

Annoying how, though?
I’m 90% sure they originally wanted Ryan Reynolds for Brad Pitt’s part and there’s endless banter about Thomas the Train.Take from that what you will.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2d/HitmansBodyguard.jpg
By Lionsgate - http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/review-the-hitman-s-bodyguard-158#image-2, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54873445

The Hitman's Bodyguard - (2017)

Okay, I admit it - The Hitman's Bodyguard is cinematic junk food. Samuel L. Jackson is there for one reason only, to yell a lot while dropping the word "Motherf***er" into every other sentence. The action is ridiculously paced, and goes on a little too long. But for what it's meant to be, I though it does the job quite well. I really enjoy that Jackson persona, and he appeared to be very much enjoying unleashing it. Ryan Reynolds plays the exasperated straight man better and more often than most others as well, and I genuinely enjoyed him in this. The story was very simple, and simply a vehicle to get Reynolds and Jackson on the road facing an army (A Belarusian one in this.) It was just a couple of hours of fun - I wasn't expecting anything more, and it delivered - even Gary Oldman's modern day ruthless dictator was spot on. There's some lip service to our two heroes' love lives, with that angle brought to satisfying conclusions. I'll give this the positive tick it didn't seem to get when it came out.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Surrogates2009MP.jpg
By http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=56827, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23463591

Surrogates - (2009)

What the hell happened to Surrogates? It has a science-fiction storyline that is good enough to make something out of, but on the whole it just feels so cheap. Like a made for television movie. It's set in a world where most people use robotic Avatars - and in such a world everything is safer. If you get into a car accident, the most that happens is you need a new surrogate (they can't be cheap though.) Along comes a weapon that can kill the users at home when the surrogate is blasted, and FBI Agent Greer (Bruce Willis) is on the case. We get a younger Greer for his surrogate, and an older more haggard looking one when he's onscreen as a real person. Really interesting, and an area that could have been endlessly explored - but the film doesn't look and sound as good as it should. The CGI effects used to de-humanise most of the people in it could have hindered the film - making it seem cartoonish, and Willis (who doesn't perform that well himself) lacks a supporting cast. Could have been a lot better.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/16/Beneath_Hill_60_Poster.jpg
By http://www.beneathhill60.com.au/images/poster.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26600777

Beneath Hill 60 - (2010)

Serviceable Australian World War I film, where miners tunnel under the German front line - but I want to get to this film's unfortunate major issue. Actor Brendan Cowell was in his mid-30s when he took this role, and he looks mid-40s, but unfortunately his character visits friends back in Australia and starts canoodling their 16-year-old daughter. This just looks so awfully wrong - I couldn't get past it. He looked older than her parents. He gets engaged to her, and marries her - but talk about robbing the cradle. Sheez. Other than that weird aspect, this is a true story that does well recreating the muddy trenches of France and Belgium, along with battle action.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/10_Things_I_Hate_About_You_film.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from Touchstone Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2767815

10 Things I Hate About You - (1999)

With Heath Ledger and a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, this certainly has star power behind it, and the film's soundtrack is supreme (and must have cost a million dollars.) It's fun and well acted, but I found moments that should have been more funny fumbled occasionally. I think this film was one of those the films for a generation - and is fondly remembered. This was my first time watching it.

7/10

[cricket]

What Have They Done to Your Daughters (1974)

3+

https://images.kinorium.com/movie/shot/66898/h280_90702.jpg?21440806937

This is called a combo of giallo and poliziotteschi, and after watching it that makes perfect sense. The police are led to a teenage sex ring while searching for a motorcycle riding hatchet weilding killer. Nothing boring about this one, nothing spectacular either, but certainly a good watch for those who like these films. I had to look up an actress who plays a 15yo girl to check her real age or else I may have needed to shut it off. Crisis averted! Damn good score which a lot of these films have. It's free on YouTube under the Italian title "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto", which translates to "The Police Ask for Help".

[Allaby]

What Have They Done to Your Daughters (1974)

3+

https://images.kinorium.com/movie/shot/66898/h280_90702.jpg?21440806937

This is called a combo of giallo and poliziotteschi, and after watching it that makes perfect sense. The police are led to a teenage sex ring while searching for a motorcycle riding hatchet weilding killer. Nothing boring about this one, nothing spectacular either, but certainly a good watch for those who like these films. I had to look up an actress who plays a 15yo girl to check her real age or else I may have needed to shut it off. Crisis averted! Damn good score which a lot of these films have. It's free on YouTube under the Italian title "La Polizia Chiede Aiuto", which translates to "The Police Ask for Help".

Good movie. I have it on blu ray as part of Arrow's Giallo Essentials (yellow) box set. What other giallo films do you like?

[Fabulous]

Sid and Nancy (1986)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/pLdutWHlPIHf7ldH31akiVLUHQQ.jpg

[cricket]

Good movie. I have it on blu ray as part of Arrow's Giallo Essentials (yellow) box set. What other giallo films do you like?

I'm pretty up and down with them. Deep Red is my favorite but I don't like Suspiria. A lot of the others I'd have to look up because I mix them up. Opera was a good one.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDQzZWRlYjctMjE0ZS00NWU5LWE3NzktYzZiNzJiM2UxMDczXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUwNzk3NDc@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg



4

[Gideon58]

Sid and Nancy (1986)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/pLdutWHlPIHf7ldH31akiVLUHQQ.jpg


Rated this a little higher than you...it's a real downer, but it's really well done. Gary Oldman was robbed of an Oscar nomination.

[Gideon58]

10 Things I Hate About You - (1999)

With Heath Ledger and a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt, this certainly has star power behind it, and the film's soundtrack is supreme (and must have cost a million dollars.) It's fun and well acted, but I found moments that should have been more funny fumbled occasionally. I think this film was one of those the films for a generation - and is fondly remembered. This was my first time watching it.

7/10

Heath Ledger is really the only thing that makes this movie worth watching.

[Gideon58]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgoodmoviesbox.com%2Fpics%2Ft%2Fthe-guilty-2018-still_fb.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Guilty, 2018

Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) is a police officer who is on desk duty until he can appear at a hearing about his involvement in the shooting death of a teenager. Working at an emergency services call center, one evening he takes a call from a woman named Iben (Jessica Dinnage) who has been abducted by her husband. Over the course of the evening, Asger will pull out all of the stops to identify Iben's kidnapper and find the missing woman while trying to unravel the events that led to her abduction.

I do love a single-location film when it's done well, and this one manages to pull off several tense sequences and plot turns with aplomb, all while confined to the emergency call center.

Feeling very much like a play adapted to a film, the whole movie rests on the shoulders of Cedergren, the only actor playing a key character who we actually get to see. The rest of the characters--Iben the abducted woman, Michael her abductor, Mathilde her daughter, and the other dispatchers and officers in the field working on the case--are only present as voices on the other end of the phone line.

I thought that the film did a good job of balancing action-type logistics (such as trying to navigate a police cruiser to the correct vehicle on the highway) with character moments that force Asger to reflect on the kind of violence that people do to one another and why they do it. Despite never seeing Iben, Dinnage manages to craft a character who feels dimensional, and the relationship of trust that builds between Iben and Asger adds urgency to the proceedings.

I also thought that the film did a good job of accessing that feeling of anxiety and frustration when you cannot communicate with someone. We hear Iben's cheery voicemail probably a dozen or more times during the movie, and each time it's like a bell tolling doom.

I thought that the ultimate payoff with Asger's character--his own revelations about the violent act he committed--was fine, but it felt a bit tacked on to be honest. I get that it's the pivot point of his character development, but the events happening with Iben were so compelling that Asger's own personal drama just didn't feel quite as impactful.

A solid thriller, especially if you're a fan of single-location/small cast movies.

4

Have you seen the American version of this film with Jake Gyllenhaal? A link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2277146-the-guilty.html

[Torgo]

But I think HT was meant to be more elegiac. Poeticized. At least that's how I took it. And Strother Martin's Poe might have come off a little threadbare but that was the character in a nutshell. Alcoholic and a drug addict to boot. It worked for me. Walter Hill was never much for frills but his unfussy style seemed to really mesh with the story. And it especially played to Bronson's strengths. I don't know. I've always been really fond of the movie.I really like it too. It's hard to believe its a directorial debut considering how much confidence is on display. I enjoyed it as a story about the worst and best parts of being a drifter. It's not a life that's suitable for forming long-term attachments, romantic or otherwise, but you have almost absolute freedom, you can still be a friend as well as do good deeds. I also like how it sort of plays out like a Depression-era samurai or gunslinger movie.

[WHITBISSELL!]

I really like it too. It's hard to believe its a directorial debut considering how much confidence is on display. I enjoyed it as a story about the worst and best parts of being a drifter. It's not a life that's suitable for forming long-term attachments, romantic or otherwise, but you have almost absolute freedom, you can still be a friend as well as do good deeds. I also like how it sort of plays out like a Depression-era samurai or gunslinger movie.It was a straightforward concept and I thought Hill nailed it.

[Takoma11]

Have you seen the American version of this film with Jake Gyllenhaal? A link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2277146-the-guilty.html

I haven't. I'm kind of off Gyllenhaal right now after that article about his treatment of the woman he worked with.

When I saw the original was available to watch I jumped on it because I dug the premise.

Have you seen both versions? If so, did you have a preference between them?

[Gideon58]

Only saw the American version

[Takoma11]

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

Bridget Jones's Diary, 2001

Bridget (Rene Zellweger) is in her early 30s, working as a publicist's assistant and feeling the pressure of being single. Determined not to spend another year alone, Bridget ends up in a fling with her caddish boss, Daniel (Hugh Grant). At the same time, Bridget constantly finds herself pushed toward stuffy lawyer Mark (Colin Firth), a man who has some history with Daniel.

I tried to read the novel on which this film is based many many years ago and just couldn't click with it. I also remember watching a few minutes of the film at some point and not being all that engaged. This viewing, however, I quite enjoyed the story and the film.

Zellweger is a lot of fun in the lead role, getting to play a woman who starts out as a mess and ends up . . . still kind of a mess? It's part of the film that I found most enjoyable, actually. Yes, Bridget seems to stop smoking and drinking quite so much, but this isn't so much a film about a person fixing themselves, so much as figuring out how they should be treated.

Grant and Firth are both good in their roles, despite the writing of their characters being pretty shallow. Both men benefit from playing characters that are well, WELL in their wheelhouse. Grant just gets to work his bumbling charm, though with a bit more sleaziness than normal. Firth just literally needs to show his face as a buttoned-up character named Darcy and we're like Oh, okay. We get the memo.

The hijinks that move Bridget through the different sequences are pretty good. Salman Rushdie makes a cameo for a scene where Bridget gives a toast at a book release party for a novel, calling it the "Greatest novel of this century," before spotting Rushdie and another well-known author in the crowd and walking back her praise for the new novel to "Top 30, definitely." There's also the iconic sequence where she shows up in her Playboy bunny suit to a party whose costume theme was revoked. Zellweger's physical comedy isn't exactly to my taste (see the simple and exaggerated flop to the ground when she gets off the exercise bike), but she does a great job of conveying the "Why can't I make this stop?!" mortification of finding oneself in an awkward social situation where the only way out seems to be through.

Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent are also fun as Bridget's parents, who are going through a rough patch as her mother is considering leaving for greener pastures.

On the down side, the character development is a bit light, outside of Bridget figuring out what she wants. The film is also shockingly undiverse, something that especially stands out because of a running joke about Bridget's mother remarking that the Japanese are "a cruel race".

(Also, as a sidenote, one of my main associations with this film is a review I'd read that remarked on the weight that Zellweger gained for the role, saying that she was "obese" and that her features had been, like, absorbed into her face because of all the extra weight. I just want to retroactively say: What the heck? She looks fine, beautiful even.)

A light, easy-breezy romantic comedy with engaging performances, even if the actual character development is a bit thin on the ground.

4

[GulfportDoc]

Bullet Train

Kinda annoying. Kinda fun. Great cast. Quality action.

3.5/5
I'm anxious to see this latest picture with Brad Pitt. I didn't think it was to be released until tomorrow. Will have to look for it.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.filmweb.no%2Fincoming%2Farticle1362440.ece%2FREPRESENTATIONS%2Fw%2FBeast&f=1&nofb=1

Beast, 2017

Moll (Jessie Buckley) is a young woman still living at home with her oppressive, mind-game-playing family. One morning a handsome man named Pascal (Johnny Flynn) saves her from a handsy man Moll met at a nightclub, and the two begin a love affair. But when a series of abduction/murders take place, Pascal is on the short list of suspects and Moll finds herself lying to protect him even as she starts to realize he might have some serious issues.

There's a horror/thriller trope that plays out in a lot of films which I'm sure a lot of movie viewers will recognize. You know, a quirky or innocent young woman gets into a relationship of some sort with a seemingly dangerous man. But wait! Could it be that our quirky young woman is just as dangerous or--GASP--even more dangerous than the dude?! When done well, it can certainly be effective, as in Stoker, but it's definitely an overly-familiar dynamic.

For the first two-thirds, I felt that Beast walked the right line with this dynamic. It refuses to tip its hand either way regarding Pascal's guilt or innocence, and likewise plays things close to the chest when it comes to an act of violence in Moll's own past.

There's also, for about the first half, a really neat contrast between Moll's treatment by her family and her treatment by Pascal. Moll's family, and especially her mother, keep her in a constant state of apology and guilt. Part of the emotional manipulation is referring to Moll as being their "friend", and we see the way that Pascal utilizes the same techniques, but Moll can't see it because she's so alienated from her family.

Buckley is good as Moll, and Flynn is also solid as Pascal. Together they manage to generate tension and build anticipation about who will reveal or do what. There's also the mundane wickedness of Moll's family, with Geraldine James and Shannon Tarbet giving icy cruelty as Moll's mother and sister, and Trystan Gravelle exuding smarmy concern as a local police detective with designs on Moll.

From a visual standpoint, the movie has a lot of lush colors and makes the most of Buckley's flaming red hair and Flynn's deep blue eyes. The richness of the colors also echoes Moll's emerging passions, contrasting with the sterile beige of her family's home and outfits. I also liked the element of a hair that grows on Moll's throat, a great representation of how one small difference or abnormality can weigh heavily in making a person feel different.

The last act, though, and really just the last twenty minutes are where the film falters. It's a case of having done things differently in some neat ways, but then not quite knowing how to wrap things up without dipping back into the cliched territory it skirted for the rest of the film.

A good thriller with strong central performances that doesn't quite manage to escape the weight of the cliches baked into its central premise.

3.5

[crumbsroom]

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

Bridget Jones's Diary, 2001

Bridget (Rene Zellweger) is in her early 30s, working as a publicist's assistant and feeling the pressure of being single. Determined not to spend another year alone, Bridget ends up in a fling with her caddish boss, Daniel (Hugh Grant). At the same time, Bridget constantly finds herself pushed toward stuffy lawyer Mark (Colin Firth), a man who has some history with Daniel.

I tried to read the novel on which this film is based many many years ago and just couldn't click with it. I also remember watching a few minutes of the film at some point and not being all that engaged. This viewing, however, I quite enjoyed the story and the film.

Zellweger is a lot of fun in the lead role, getting to play a woman who starts out as a mess and ends up . . . still kind of a mess? It's part of the film that I found most enjoyable, actually. Yes, Bridget seems to stop smoking and drinking quite so much, but this isn't so much a film about a person fixing themselves, so much as figuring out how they should be treated.

Grant and Firth are both good in their roles, despite the writing of their characters being pretty shallow. Both men benefit from playing characters that are well, WELL in their wheelhouse. Grant just gets to work his bumbling charm, though with a bit more sleaziness than normal. Firth just literally needs to show his face as a buttoned-up character named Darcy and we're like Oh, okay. We get the memo.

The hijinks that move Bridget through the different sequences are pretty good. Salman Rushdie makes a cameo for a scene where Bridget gives a toast at a book release party for a novel, calling it the "Greatest novel of this century," before spotting Rushdie and another well-known author in the crowd and walking back her praise for the new novel to "Top 30, definitely." There's also the iconic sequence where she shows up in her Playboy bunny suit to a party whose costume theme was revoked. Zellweger's physical comedy isn't exactly to my taste (see the simple and exaggerated flop to the ground when she gets off the exercise bike), but she does a great job of conveying the "Why can't I make this stop?!" mortification of finding oneself in an awkward social situation where the only way out seems to be through.

Gemma Jones and Jim Broadbent are also fun as Bridget's parents, who are going through a rough patch as her mother is considering leaving for greener pastures.

On the down side, the character development is a bit light, outside of Bridget figuring out what she wants. The film is also shockingly undiverse, something that especially stands out because of a running joke about Bridget's mother remarking that the Japanese are "a cruel race".

(Also, as a sidenote, one of my main associations with this film is a review I'd read that remarked on the weight that Zellweger gained for the role, saying that she was "obese" and that her features had been, like, absorbed into her face because of all the extra weight. I just want to retroactively say: What the heck? She looks fine, beautiful even.)

A light, easy-breezy romantic comedy with engaging performances, even if the actual character development is a bit thin on the ground.

4


You've never seen this??


I like it well enough, but it's obviously not for me. But I appreciate a movie like this not catering to total artless pointlessness, so it gets points for me there. Both Zellweger and Grant are good. Probably Firth too, but I can't remember. Is there even a Firth in it??

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/The_Adjustment_Bureau_Poster.jpg
By The cover art can or could be obtained from IMP Awards or Universal Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29817554

The Adjustment Bureau - (2011)

I couldn't fully get into this - it's religious implications were more pointed than I expected them to be. I don't want to really tie myself up in knots explaining the other parts of it I found unattractive, except to say in a broad way that I didn't like the characters either, and the choices they made. I thought there'd be something interesting and Charlie Kaufman-like behind the curtain this film operates in, but instead it's played dead straight, and thus I couldn't read anything in to it. It means what it means on the surface - so there's little interpretation to be done. That's just my taste though - it's fine enough for those who like it.

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Bad_Boys.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11629360

Bad Boys - (1995)

Standard 90s Michael Bay action here, with plenty of explosions, gunplay, chases, murders, crime and torture. This film's strongest card though is it's humour and the chemistry between Martin Lawrence and Will "Keep my wife's name out your f***ing mouth!" Smith. It's big brash and dumb (and was Bay's feature directorial debut.) As it ended I felt satisfied with the sheer amount of destruction and pyrotechnics I'd witnessed. I might have loved this if I'd seen it when I was a kid, but I've only now decided to check it out.

6/10

[Takoma11]

You've never seen this??

Well, like I wrote, I bailed on the book and wasn't vibing with the film shortly after. That was like 20 years ago though, and this time I liked it.

I like it well enough, but it's obviously not for me. But I appreciate a movie like this not catering to total artless pointlessness, so it gets points for me there. Both Zellweger and Grant are good. Probably Firth too, but I can't remember. Is there even a Firth in it??

Of course---the Firth is the Darcy of the film (literally and figuratively)!

I was disappointed to look at the scores on IMDb and see that this is an example of a "female audience" movie whose rating has been tanked by male users. It's not amazing, but it deserves a bit more than its 6.7

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://thumbs.gfycat.com/BoilingCanineJackal.webp
https://66.media.tumblr.com/5da9bb55e0dcfbe867f4d40474708ab1/tumblr_mgdsg2RxVI1r5v09co1_250.gif
https://64.media.tumblr.com/372a26f5f62606fedcd5b176d0c62bde/5877c361efccb4fd-43/s540x810/f2bd7181398e757282766b7735be756570966f17.gifv


Paths of Glory - I can't help but wonder what sort of picture Stanley Kubrick would have turned out if he hadn't been constantly butting heads with producer/star Kirk Douglas. They say that Kubrick would makes changes to the shooting script whereupon Douglas, as producer, would overrule him and have it changed right back. I think most of this had to do with the director's notoriously perfectionist nature. There are recorded instances of dozens of takes of a single scene and since Douglas was charged with keeping an eye on the bottom line the clashes were inevitable.

This is first and foremost described as an antiwar film but I'm not convinced that's an accurate fit. I came away with more of a people-are-scumbags-and-the-setting-happens-to-be-wartime feeling. But then I guess your individual take would depend on how cynical you're feeling.

Douglas plays Colonel Dax, a French officer charged by his superior General Mireau (George McCready) to lead an assault on the heavily fortified Anthill. It's a suicide mission with little to no chance of success but the ambitious Mireau has had a promotion dangled in front of him by his superior, General Georges Broulard (Adolphe Menjou), a member of the French General Staff. The attack fails miserably with the regiment suffering heavy losses. After seeing so many of their comrades lose their lives, a second company refuses to leave their trench. An enraged Mireau orders his artillery commander to open fire on them which the man refuses. The next day Mireau wants to court martial 100 of the men for cowardice under fire, a charge that carries a sentence of death upon conviction. After meeting with Broulard and Dax he opts instead to have three enlisted men chosen at random to stand trial. Former trial lawyer Dax volunteers to defend the men.

There are so many hissable performances on display here, from McCready's duplicitous Mireau, Richard Anderson's smarmy Major Saint-Auban, Mireau's aide de camp, Menjou's indifferent Broulard and actual coward and drunkard Lieutenant Roget (Wayne Morris). Douglas delivers a powerful lead performance that serves to underscore the futility of it all since in the end nothing has changed. The characters are back at square one. There is no closure or equity. Even the fragile and unexpectedly humane coda is diminished by the inevitability of the miseries to come.

90/100

[xSookieStackhouse]

5
https://i0.wp.com/www.nerdsandbeyond.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FULBZC3XoAA0Q3w.jpeg?resize=851%2C1064&ssl=1

[doubledenim]

There hasn’t been a movie that has made me as happy as Prey in a long time. Thank you for reviving this franchise. Thank you.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/CSYkWsdbPh9Cw/giphy.gif?cid=82a1493bo7q4s1srps4jl1zprc77qpimmjakbj48kkrrluov&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

[Marco]

What Josiah Saw (2021)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/What_Josiah_Saw.jpg
This was middling to good. Told in an episodic format about the three siblings, each fked up from actions that took place when they were young due to an overbearing nutter of a father (superbly portrayed here by Robert Patrick). It's a something in the woodshed number that keeps the interest. The ending let the previous sections of the film down badly.

3

[thomasbishop]

Running Scared - 8/10
Doom - 3/10
Clerks II - 8/10
Pirates 2 - 6/10
Superman Returns - 9/10

[Marco]

Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Broadcast_Signal_Intrusion_2021_Film_Poster.jpg
This was a pretty neat little spooky thriller. Photographer and video geek (in the '90s) sets out upon a search to find the generator of weird video intrusion signals that coincide with the disappearances of 3 young women. It's a bit formulaic (spunky sidekick etc) but it gets the best out of its budget in terms of story line, performances are ok too. The retro techie content I'm a sucker for:D
Strong
2.5

[koimoi]

The Gray Man - Action - 8/10 Story - 4/10

[koimoi]

How is the Top Gun Maverick? I want to watch this movie.

[Torgo]

The Princess - 3

This is a lean, mean and very fun fantasy action movie starring Joey King as our marriage-hesitant titular heroine. She's so hesitant that she's willing to kill anyone in her path to freedom. This is because her would-be suitor is Julius (Dominic Cooper), who only wants to tie the knot as a pretense for taking over her kingdom and ruling it with an iron fist. What's more, he has a bodyguard and consort, Moira (Olga Kurylenko), who wields a whip that puts any of the Belmonts' whips in Castlevania to shame.

There is no fight scene in this movie that didn't excite or shock me. Besides each one being gloriously bloody and violent, they all have a David and Goliath dynamic since King is rather diminutive, and surprisingly, it never gets old. As for the look and feel, almost every shot resembles the cover of a cheesy fantasy romance book cover, which is satisfyingly whether or not it's tongue in cheek. I like King a lot in the lead, but Dominic Cooper's villain is my favorite performance for how he chews the scenery and makes it clear he knows what kind of movie he's in. There's even room for some good laughs amongst the bloodshed, my favorite coming from a rather vain guy with a big helmet. While good - much better than the critical consensus suggests, at least - I wouldn't quite call it great considering how much it cribs from better action fare like The Raid. Also, the movie's leanness is more strength than weakness, but deeper world and character building wouldn't have hurt. If you're a fan of that 2011 classic, you're still bound to enjoy this one in spite of its derivations, and when it comes to streaming exclusives from this summer, it's one of the better ones (much better than that $200 million exclusive on that other service, at least).

[ThatDarnMKS]

PREY

https://boxd.it/369Gnd

4.5/5

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Bad_Boys.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11629360

Bad Boys - (1995)

Standard 90s Michael Bay action here, with plenty of explosions, gunplay, chases, murders, crime and torture. This film's strongest card though is it's humour and the chemistry between Martin Lawrence and Will "Keep my wife's name out your f***ing mouth!" Smith. It's big brash and dumb (and was Bay's feature directorial debut.) As it ended I felt satisfied with the sheer amount of destruction and pyrotechnics I'd witnessed. I might have loved this if I'd seen it when I was a kid, but I've only now decided to check it out.

6/10

I saw it in the theater and then once more at home and I think that's pretty much how I felt about it.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/fd/Persuasion_%282022_film%29.jpg/220px-Persuasion_%282022_film%29.jpg

This got some hate towards it for some reason, I enjoyed every minute. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3.5

SF = Z


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

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/To-sir-with-love-movie-poster-1967.jpg
By May be found at the following website: [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39391687

To Sir, With Love - (1967)

In 1955, Sidney Poitier appeared in a film called Blackboard Jungle as a student in an unruly class that is tamed by Glenn Ford - 12 years later he was the teacher in James Clavell's To Sir, With Love - one of the stronger films of this particular genre. What I like about this film is it isn't your usual "Teacher arrives at a school - takes over a class gone wild - tames them - the end" story. Sure, his Mark Thackeray manages to win the students over by treating them as adults (and expecting the same from them) - but he's always on the brink of losing them again, and at times he does lose them. It makes for a more complex narrative. I happen to love the ending (spoilers coming) - where he rips up his better-paying chosen-career-path acceptance letter when he realises, with much emotion, the difference he's made and what a loss that will be to the next year's students if he leaves. Quality film, with all other aspects rising to the excellence of it's screenplay.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Guess_Who%27s_Coming_to_Dinner_poster.jpg
By May be found at the following website: http://www.movieposter.comwww.movieposter.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6822093

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - (1967)

It was a difficult path for 1960s filmmakers to navigate, but what comes through in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is Spencer Tracy's speech at the end. The best scene is where Poitier's Dr. John Wade Prentice faces off against his father, who thinks his son owes him big because of the sacrifices he made for him. I've always enjoyed this - it's a movie that relies heavily on it's screenplay, and focuses closely on it's characters and their words. Katherine Hepburn is great. At the time this film was made, it was still illegal in some U.S. states for a black person and a white person to marry. There's still a long way to go though.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d0/Bad_boys_two.jpg
By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11629245

Bad Boys II - (2003)

The budget for Bad Boys was $19 million. The budget for Bad Boys II was $130 million. Bigger. More explosive. Longer (way, way longer.) This film is a little uneven and helter skelter, but there are moments of pure insanity that must have had cinemas rocking. The story is less satisfying, but the action and set-pieces are great enough that this equals the first film despite having a barely discernable plot - and that team of Lawrence and Smith keep the funny banter coming. As far as sequels go, this one isn't bad.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1e/Dogma_%28movie%29.jpg
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1941571

Dogma - (1999)

It was Dogma that made me realise Kevin Smith wasn't for me - and I simply endured it to see Bud Cort's cameo. The screenplay is smug, and thinks it has religion completely figured out and owned. It doesn't.

4/10

[Thief]

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
(1986, Oz)
A musical

https://i.imgur.com/UgzPsM2.png


"♫ If you wanna be profound, if you really gotta justify, take a breath and look around, a lot of folks deserve to die! ♪"



Little Shop of Horrors follows meek Seymour (Rick Moranis), an employee at a decrepit flower shop that stumbles upon a mysterious carnivorous plant. When he realizes the plant is sentient and wanting to be fed... with people, Seymour struggles between complying with the plant to maintain his newfound popularity or doing the right thing to protect his friends as well as his co-worker Audrey (Ellen Greene), whom he is secretly in love with.

Based on the off-Broadway musical, the film retains the stage-like qualities as far as the set design goes. It doesn't try to hide that it is a stage play, but rather embraces its nature in a wonderfully playful way. Despite this, it doesn't shy away from going all-in as far as top-notch special effects go, because the whole practical effects to make Audrey II, the carnivorous plant, come to life are amazing.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2322941#post2322941)

[pahaK]

The Appointment (1981)
2.5
A weird and dreamlike UK horror. It doesn't seem to make any sense and very little ever happens. It does have a decent atmosphere, though, and despite being borderline boring it's also somewhat fascinating.

--
The Witch: Part 2, The Other One (2022)
2
As far as I can remember, this has very little to do with part 1. It's very confusing and unlike its predecessor, it's a full-blown superhero movie. Quite a disappointment compared to part 1.

--
Malatesta's Carnival of Blood (1973)
2
Another horror to be described as weird and dreamlike. The idea is fine but the execution lags far behind. Few good ideas aren't enough to salvage much, but at least it isn't garbage.

--
Moloch (2022)
2
A cliched Dutch horror. Nothing memorable (I even had to check the film details to remember what it was) but it's competent enough not to piss you off. Still, probably the worst film of this patch.

--
The Black Forest (2018)
2
A Brazilian horror that doesn't lack the effort but could use some more talent. It has some obvious Evil Dead homages. There's a sequel too but I haven't found it anywhere.

--
Cast a Deadly Spell (1991)
2.5
An HBO movie that tries to combine film noir, Lovecraft, and urban fantasy. Worldbuilding is the biggest flaw as there's no logic in how things work. Too much magic for the world to even resemble ours. It has a very light, comedic tone and it definitely doesn't adhere to modern sensibilities (thumbs up for that).

--
The Big Boss (1971)
2.5
I haven't seen any Bruce Lee films since my childhood so I took an advantage of our national television streaming service. The story is rather weak and the action could have started earlier. The fight scenes are OK and positively brutal.

--
The Gray Man (2022)
2.5
It's a brainless action film that really should have been made R-rated. I would have loved this as a kid and the characters felt like they were written with some 10 to 15-year-old boys in mind. Immature, stupid, but oddly entertaining.

--
Prey (2022)
2.5
Continues the same mediocrity that the franchise has been since the 90s. It's touted as a "return to form" because of its female empowerment aspects. It has beautiful settings and a great concept, but modern feminist slogans don't sit too well with 18th-century Comanches and the horrible CGI animals are a real turn-off. The final conflict and the epilogue are disappointing.

[Chypmunk]

The Witch: Part 2, The Other One (2022)
2
As far as I can remember, this has very little to do with part 1. It's very confusing and unlike its predecessor, it's a full-blown superhero movie. Quite a disappointment compared to part 1.
Damn, this is disappointing to read as Part 1 - The Subversion was pretty decent imo so I had been quite keen to get to Part 2 at some point :(

[pahaK]

Damn, this is disappointing to read as Part 1 - The Subversion was pretty decent imo so I had been quite keen to get to Part 2 at some point :(

Yeah, I liked the first one, too. My expectations for the sequel went down when I read that it's not a real sequel (the main protagonist from the first film isn't in the whole movie even though the first one practically, or as far as I can remember, ended in a cliffhanger of sorts). I don't remember reading anything really positive about part 2.

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/To-sir-with-love-movie-poster-1967.jpg
By May be found at the following website: [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39391687

To Sir, With Love - (1967)

In 1955, Sidney Poitier appeared in a film called Blackboard Jungle as a student in an unruly class that is tamed by Glenn Ford - 12 years later he was the teacher in James Clavell's To Sir, With Love - one of the stronger films of this particular genre. What I like about this film is it isn't your usual "Teacher arrives at a school - takes over a class gone wild - tames them - the end" story. Sure, his Mark Thackeray manages to win the students over by treating them as adults (and expecting the same from them) - but he's always on the brink of losing them again, and at times he does lose them. It makes for a more complex narrative. I happen to love the ending (spoilers coming) - where he rips up his better-paying chosen-career-path acceptance letter when he realises, with much emotion, the difference he's made and what a loss that will be to the next year's students if he leaves. Quality film, with all other aspects rising to the excellence of it's screenplay.

8/10



I saw this randomly late one night on TCM and I was pretty fond of it. I usually do not like these kinds of films but a) Sidney Poitier and b) I liked the kids and as you say, the way he nearly "loses them".
And the ending, yes, it gives one the feels even if, in a lesser movie or maybe just with a lesser actor, one might roll their eyes.

[Wooley]

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
(1986, Oz)
A musical

https://i.imgur.com/UgzPsM2.png




Little Shop of Horrors follows meek Seymour (Rick Moranis), an employee at a decrepit flower shop that stumbles upon a mysterious carnivorous plant. When he realizes the plant is sentient and wanting to be fed... with people, Seymour struggles between complying with the plant to maintain his newfound popularity or doing the right thing to protect his friends as well as his co-worker Audrey (Ellen Greene), whom he is secretly in love with.

Based on the off-Broadway musical, the film retains the stage-like qualities as far as the set design goes. It doesn't try to hide that it is a stage play, but rather embraces its nature in a wonderfully playful way. Despite this, it doesn't shy away from going all-in as far as top-notch special effects go, because the whole practical effects to make Audrey II, the carnivorous plant, come to live are amazing.

Grade: 4.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2322941#post2322941)

YES!!!

I'm so pleased someone else saw it the way I see it. This has become a staple for me over the last few years.
And Ellen Greene's "Suddenly Seymour" (yes, I know it's a duet but god does she soar on that one) is something I end up "rewinding" and watching over and over before I can proceed.
I also love the 60's Girl Group (a la The Supremes or Martha and the Vandellas) as Greek Chorus.

[Wooley]

--
Malatesta's Carnival of Blood (1973)
2
Another horror to be described as weird and dreamlike. The idea is fine but the execution lags far behind. Few good ideas aren't enough to salvage much, but at least it isn't garbage.

--


Boo.

(Also, vis a vis Cast A Deadly Spell, how'd you like the World being saved by a married cop committing Statutory Rape? :rotfl:)

[Thief]

YES!!!

I'm so pleased someone else saw it the way I see it. This has become a staple for me over the last few years.
And Ellen Greene's "Suddenly Seymour" (yes, I know it's a duet but god does she soar on that one) is something I end up "rewinding" and watching over and over before I can proceed.
I also love the 60's Girl Group (a la The Supremes or Martha and the Vandellas) as Greek Chorus.

I get more into it, including the "Greek chorus" on the full review.

[Thief]

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
(1951, Wise)

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


"I am fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason."



Set during the Cold War, The Day the Earth Stood Still begins with a flying saucer landing in the middle of Washington, DC creating all kinds of panic. When a humanoid called Klaatu (Michael Rennie), accompanied by a mysterious robot, claims to have an important message for all humanity, fear becomes the main threat among the population.

This is one of those films that always comes up in pop culture references and discussions about classic films, and understandably so. Even though some things could be seen as typical 50's scifi goofiness in the surface, the truth is that the film manages to instill an effective sense of dread and uneasiness regarding the nature of Klaatu's visit as well as what makes the robot Gort tick.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2323060#post2323060)

[Wooley]

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
(1951, Wise)
A film about aliens or alien abductions

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




Set during the Cold War, The Day the Earth Stood Still begins with a flying saucer landing in the middle of Washington, DC creating all kinds of panic. When a humanoid called Klaatu (Michael Rennie), accompanied by a mysterious robot, claims to have an important message for all humanity, fear becomes the main threat among the population.

This is one of those films that always comes up in pop culture references and discussions about classic films, and understandably so. Even though some things could be seen as typical 50's scifi goofiness in the surface, the truth is that the film manages to instill an effective sense of dread and uneasiness regarding the nature of Klaatu's visit as well as what makes the robot Gort tick.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2323060#post2323060)

Man, I absolutely love this movie.

[Wooley]

Hey, need some help here.

The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie is 2h 14m long.
The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie: Director's Cut is 1h 48m long.
I have never seen either.
I have also never seen a Director's Cut that was shorter than the Theatrical Cut.

Which should I watch?

[crumbsroom]

Hey, need some help here.

The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie is 2h 14m long.
The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie: Director's Cut is 1h 48m long.
I have never seen either.
I have also never seen a Director's Cut that was shorter than the Theatrical Cut.

Which should I watch?
Ive only watched the longer version, which I love even though I can see all of the extraneous footage some might think the movie would be improved by losing. But that shagginess of the narrative is part of the joy of Cassavetes. It shouldn't be restrained as common sense might insist even though this is probably what puts a lot of mainstream audiences off of him. He can let scenes go on for so long they begin to feel uncomfortable, or intrusive, or (to some) unnecessary. But all of this I think is vital towards what his films try to do.


I do know my friend, who is also a fan of the movie, didn't like the shorter cut nearly as much.


Have you seen any other Cassavetes?

[Wooley]

Ive only watched the longer version, which I love even though I can see all of the extraneous footage some might think the movie would be improved by losing. But that shagginess of the narrative is part of the joy of Cassavetes. It shouldn't be restrained as common sense might insist even though this is probably what puts a lot of mainstream audiences off of him. He can let scenes go on for so long they begin to feel uncomfortable, or intrusive, or (to some) unnecessary. But all of this I think is vital towards what his films try to do.


I do know my friend, who is also a fan of the movie, didn't like the shorter cut nearly as much.


Have you seen any other Cassavetes?

Just Gloria and Big Trouble.
I was just thinking that if the Director himself made the cuts...

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FCKbQh_3JOhw%2Fhqdefault.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Marihuana, 1936

In this exploitation-pretending-to-be-educational film, teenager Burma (Harley Wood) and her boyfriend, Dick (Hugh McArthur) get mixed up with drug pusher Tony (Pat Carlyle), leading to multiple tragedies.

This is the kind of movie where you very much have to distinguish between watching it with any sort of sincerity, and watching it for laughs.

Taken at face value, it's pretty garbage. The things attributed to the use of marijuana are a joke and the characters are very silly.

Maybe one of my favorite things about the film is that the awful behavior on display---including Dick getting too aggressive with Burma as she tries to push him away, a young woman waving around a shotgun at a crowded party--happens before any of the characters even catch sight of any pot. These are things that they do when they are drunk, and the behaviors we see after they get high are, honestly, the kind of things that I more associate with people who have been drinking, such as going swimming while intoxicated.

Another layer of absurdity is that the characters are meant to be in high school, but not a one of them looks any younger than mid-20s, and the actor playing Dick was 31. Every time one of them talks about needing to do algebra homework it rings incredibly false. The movie also can't help but tip its exploitation agenda in an overly long sequence where several young women go skinny dipping. I would estimate that 5-10% of this movie consisted of giggling naked women scurrying around a dark beach. (Don't worry homophobes, the "high school" boys never remove a single article of clothing from their suits.)

In terms of ironic viewing, though, this is a winner. At a brisk 57 minutes, there's plenty to mock but without overstaying its welcome. The short runtime also adds to the ridiculousness on show, as a character goes from clean-cut high schooler to jaded heroin peddler in, like, 20 minutes of movie time.

"Recommended", with heavy air quotes.

1.5

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://content.internetvideoarchive.com/content/hdphotos/14093/014093/014093_1187x667_637950717670229037.jpg
Prey (2022, Dan Trachtenberg)
2
As someone who likes the original Predator, I have to say this movie bored me to tears. It offered me nothing in the way of surprises, or scares, or suspense, or memorable characters. Yes, we get some good cinematography with some pretty landscapes but as to the rest, forget it. Huge letdown.

[crumbsroom]

Just Gloria and Big Trouble.
I was just thinking that if the Director himself made the cuts...


He made the cuts after the film was a commerical failure. Which isn't always the best reason, especially when the rest of the movies made in his typical style allow for lots of space for his actors to ramble and improvise until they completely exhaust themselves.


The two you've seen are not typical Cassavetes. They are almost normal films. When it comes to his usual more uncompromising approach, Husbands is the one that pushes his extremes to the max, where Minnie and Moskovitz is one of the tamer ones. Bookie lives in the middle of these two, but it will definitely probably test the patience of those not acclimatized to what he does.


I guess it depends how much you want to be left to the whims of a drunkard filming drunkards until something finally happens. I think that is an important element, even if it pushes against the lean and mean expectations you might have for a neo noir film. It's possible the edit works more as a genre piece than the theatrical cut

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgoodmoviesbox.com%2Fpics%2Ft%2Fthe-guilty-2018-still_fb.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Guilty, 2018

Asger Holm (Jakob Cedergren) is a police officer who is on desk duty until he can appear at a hearing about his involvement in the shooting death of a teenager. Working at an emergency services call center, one evening he takes a call from a woman named Iben (Jessica Dinnage) who has been abducted by her husband. Over the course of the evening, Asger will pull out all of the stops to identify Iben's kidnapper and find the missing woman while trying to unravel the events that led to her abduction.

I do love a single-location film when it's done well, and this one manages to pull off several tense sequences and plot turns with aplomb, all while confined to the emergency call center.

Feeling very much like a play adapted to a film, the whole movie rests on the shoulders of Cedergren, the only actor playing a key character who we actually get to see. The rest of the characters--Iben the abducted woman, Michael her abductor, Mathilde her daughter, and the other dispatchers and officers in the field working on the case--are only present as voices on the other end of the phone line.

I thought that the film did a good job of balancing action-type logistics (such as trying to navigate a police cruiser to the correct vehicle on the highway) with character moments that force Asger to reflect on the kind of violence that people do to one another and why they do it. Despite never seeing Iben, Dinnage manages to craft a character who feels dimensional, and the relationship of trust that builds between Iben and Asger adds urgency to the proceedings.

I also thought that the film did a good job of accessing that feeling of anxiety and frustration when you cannot communicate with someone. We hear Iben's cheery voicemail probably a dozen or more times during the movie, and each time it's like a bell tolling doom.

I thought that the ultimate payoff with Asger's character--his own revelations about the violent act he committed--was fine, but it felt a bit tacked on to be honest. I get that it's the pivot point of his character development, but the events happening with Iben were so compelling that Asger's own personal drama just didn't feel quite as impactful.

A solid thriller, especially if you're a fan of single-location/small cast movies.

4
I saw a U.S. remake of this with Jake Gyllenhaal.
OK film but I bet this one is a lot better.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTY3MmQ2MWItYjhhNC00M2IwLWJlOTktMWNjODA5NTJiZmY4XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTA2NDc4OA@@._V1_.jpg
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/2005/down_three_dark_streets_blu-ray_/960__down_three_dark_streets_06_blu-ray__blu-ray_.jpg


Down Three Dark Streets - 1954 B&W procedural with bits of mystery and noir elements to it. Broderick Crawford plays Los Angeles FBI agent John "Rip" Ripley. His partner, Agent Zack Stewart (Kenneth Tobey), is shot and killed while responding to an urgent phone call from a woman named Brenda Ralles (Suzanne Alexander). At the time of his death Stewart was handling three cases and Ripley delves into all three to find out which one led to his friends murder. One involves an interstate car theft ring, another dealt with the manhunt for a murderous federal fugitive named Joe Walpo (Joe Bassett) and the last one involves young widow Kate Martell (Ruth Roman). She's being harassed by menacing phone calls from an unknown extortionist demanding her husband's insurance settlement. The caller threatens to kidnap and kill her young daughter if she doesn't acquiesce.

Crawford is his usual taciturn/gruff self while also managing a leading man vibe as well. Ruth Roman is his costar in terms of screen time and she does a fine job of playing a harried mother. She also has one too many potential suspects in her life, any one of which could be her antagonist. That's where the mystery aspects come into play as Crawford works with the LAPD to clear the other two cases and move chess pieces off the board. The supporting cast is more than up to the task with Martha Hyer playing the fugitive's girlfriend, Marissa Pavan as the sightless wife of a wrongfully accused man, Max Showalter as an obtrusively well meaning suitor and a young Claude Akins as a thuggish ex-boxer mixed up in the stolen car case.

The dominoes fall and the bodies pile up as Crawford clears his old partners cases which eventually leads to a reckoning with the extortionist who's also the one that gunned down Agent Stewart. There's a reasonably good climax that takes place at an LA landmark and which immediately made me wonder if the folks responsible for It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World based part of their plot on this. This isn't shabby at all. It's a perfectly serviceable movie and an effective thriller.

80/100

[John McClane]

Thirteen Lives

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDc5Y2JjZmYtZDNiZS00Mjc1LTljOGQtYjJkNjYxYThlZWZjXkEyXkFqcGdeQWRvb2xpbmhk._V1_.jpg

4

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOWQwOTA1ZDQtNzk3Yi00ZmVmLWFiZGYtNjdjNThiYjJhNzRjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODE5NzE3OTE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


3

[cricket]

Office Space (1999)

3

https://64.media.tumblr.com/8ffbcff19b8bb483f34be8d17ecc313a/98ad6023fe8c3cd2-66/s540x810/71860ef661f17b8ab619b40f004c5e6b9f6a8a50.gifv

My wife smoked a blunt before I put it on so she was laughing the whole time. I was amused the whole time. I liked the supporting characters better than the lead, not unusual for a comedy. It was good, definitely worth watching. That's as far as it goes for me.

[GulfportDoc]

The Gray Man - Action - 8/10 Story - 4/10
We watched The Gray Man last night, and I pretty much agree with your rating. It's perplexing to me that this film had such eye popping action scenes, but was dragged down by such a trite story.

The action and fight scenes were as good as anything in a Bond or Bourne film. But the hackneyed idiotic story made it seem almost a satire. With a better story, this could have been a top action film.

To my surprise Billy Bob Thorton co-starred in the movie, which I hadn't known before we watched it. I'm a big BBT fan, but try as he might he couldn't overcome the worn out writing of his character.

Despite his buffoonish character, Chris Evans got to let it out a bit, whereas Ryan Gosling pretty much mumbled through his part.

If you have Netflix you might give TGM a watch, but I couldn't have recommended that anyone buy movie tickets to see this one.

[Fabulous]

Repo Man (1984)

3

https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/hsNjq0tU8pXEdKeDTNDoYXvvYVB.jpg

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.moviewebimages.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F07%2FMaisieBlue.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Sea Beast, 2022

In this animated film, seasoned sea monster hunter Jacob (Karl Urban) is set to inherit an imposing ship from his captain (Jared Harris). But when the hunters to after a notorious large red sea monster, plucky orphan Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) stows away on the ship, and after a dangerous encounter Maisie and Jacob end up learning more about the monsters and the nature of the conflict between them and the kingdom.

About halfway through this film, I was like "Well, someone has seen Moana!". You know, sea-faring adventure with a grown man and a young woman; adorable but weird animal sidekick; themes about the balance between people and nature; giant crab monster. But despite some VERY familiar elements, I thought that The Sea Beast was an enjoyable adventure with a good message at its core.

It really helps that the voice acting is very strong. Urban deftly manages the absurd comedy and the more serious moments easily. Hator's Maisie is an engaging child character. And the two of them have an easy chemistry that helps their banter. The supporting cast is also pretty good, including Harris as the grizzled captain and Marianne Jean-Baptiste is also on hand as the stoic first mate of the ship.

Visually, I enjoyed the film. I wouldn't say that it's incredibly original, but the action scenes are easy to follow and the size and scope of the sea monsters is fun.

There are two messages in the film, and I appreciated both of them. One is simply about communication, and the other is about the fact that you can be well-intentioned and wrong at the same time. The latter message is pulled off pretty deftly. Where it would have been easy to vilify the sea monster hunters, the focus is put more on those who have driven the conflict for their own profit.

Nothing earth-shattering, but a solid family film.

3.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Deadmanwalkingp.jpg
By impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9829462

Dead Man Walking - (1995)

Once upon a time, long long ago, I used to work in the accounts department of St John of God Hospital - a Catholic hospital, and as such I got to know a lot of the nuns who you'd always see doing this and that (they mainly seemed to work in the hospice across the road.) Dead Man Walking came out when I was working there, and it became a very important film for all the sisters. I still remember discussing it with them. Watching it again last night, I was still impressed with it's power and unflinching attitude - that even the worst of the worst people in the world deserve dignity, and have rights - despite our craving for revenge. With that attitude it's hard to support execution as a method of punishment. Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon are brilliant in this, and I think Penn should have won the Best Actor Oscar he was nominated for (it ended up going to Nicolas Cage for his part in Leaving Las Vegas - which is nothing to be sneezed at, and not wholly undeserving of an Oscar.) In real life, the person who inspired Penn's part never showed any remorse - but you have to allow for some kind of triumph for Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) which makes the film so powerful. I enjoyed watching it last night just as much as I did the first couple of times.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/Mongol_poster.jpg
By http://www.mongolfilm.ru/site/en/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13310844

Mongol - (2007)

Really enjoyable movie - especially in it's first half where we become accustomed to life in 12th Century Mongolia. Young Temüjin's father is killed by a rival Khan when being taken to choose a wife, and although his vengeance is feared the boy is too young to be killed, according to custom. When he grows, his miseries increase in this violent land - but the older Temüjin (Tadanobu Asano) learns how to be resourceful and has a good mind for strategy. By the end of the film he's well on his way to conquering half the world as Genghis Khan. Nice scenery, fascinating plot and all-around interesting film had me really excited at first, but overall is still great. Nominated for a 'Best Foreign Language Film' Oscar.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Les-miserables-movie-poster1.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/mediaindex, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35988556

Les Misérables - (2012)

To all the lovers of this film - I'm sorry, but 158 minutes was far too long for me. There's around 30 minutes of this film put together which I find to be exciting spectacle - and 2 hours worth of wandering soliloquy, with characters singing their thoughts to themselves. Does the stage show go as long? This movie's excesses made some stretches somewhat painful, and instead of winning me over and getting me to love this musical, I ended up disliking it more than I did initially.

4/10

[gbgoodies]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Les-miserables-movie-poster1.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/mediaindex, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35988556

Les Misérables - (2012)

To all the lovers of this film - I'm sorry, but 158 minutes was far too long for me. There's around 30 minutes of this film put together which I find to be exciting spectacle - and 2 hours worth of wandering soliloquy, with characters singing their thoughts to themselves. Does the stage show go as long? This movie's excesses made some stretches somewhat painful, and instead of winning me over and getting me to love this musical, I ended up disliking it more than I did initially.

4/10


If you like the music from Les Misérables, and you want to see the best version of it that's available on DVD, watch Les Misérables: The Dream Cast in Concert (1995) (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11918512/reference/). It's a special 10th Anniversary concert version of the stage show with the best of the best in each role. It runs about 2-1/2 hours, but it's worth watching every minute of it.

[Takoma11]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Deadmanwalkingp.jpg
By impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9829462

Dead Man Walking - (1995)

Once upon a time, long long ago, I used to work in the accounts department of St John of God Hospital - a Catholic hospital, and as such I got to know a lot of the nuns who you'd always see doing this and that (they mainly seemed to work in the hospice across the road.) Dead Man Walking came out when I was working there, and it became a very important film for all the sisters. I still remember discussing it with them. Watching it again last night, I was still impressed with it's power and unflinching attitude - that even the worst of the worst people in the world deserve dignity, and have rights - despite our craving for revenge. With that attitude it's hard to support execution as a method of punishment.

I think that the most powerful art about the death penalty takes exactly this approach. Have you seen Herzog's Into the Abyss? I thought it was amazing, not only tackling the question of how we treat people who are (undeniably, sometimes even proudly) guilty of crimes, but also the toll that deliberate, state-sponsored killing takes on those involved. If you like Dead Man Walking, I think Into the Abyss makes for a great companion piece. (Though they are both very intense, so maybe not as a double feature!)

[Thief]

TANNA
(2015, Butler & Dean)

https://i.imgur.com/D7gw7DU.jpg


"This is not about you, it's about all of us."



Set in the island of the same name, Tanna follows Wawa and Dain, a couple that doesn't want to comply with this arranged marriage. This, in turn, worsens an ongoing conflict with the neighboring tribe, the Imedin, with whom Wawa was set to marry... not for her, but for the good of the tribe.

It is always interesting for me to dive into different cultures, whether it's by a book, a song, a conversation, or in this case, a film. Tanna takes you deep into the societal minutiae of the people from the island, but does so with a solid story and good, honest performances from actual natives.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2323162#post2323162)

[PHOENIX74]

I think that the most powerful art about the death penalty takes exactly this approach. Have you seen Herzog's Into the Abyss? I thought it was amazing, not only tackling the question of how we treat people who are (undeniably, sometimes even proudly) guilty of crimes, but also the toll that deliberate, state-sponsored killing takes on those involved. If you like Dead Man Walking, I think Into the Abyss makes for a great companion piece. (Though they are both very intense, so maybe not as a double feature!)

I remember reading about Into the Abyss when it came out, and wanting to see it very much - unfortunately I haven't yet, and it seems I have to seek it out rather than waiting to cross paths with it. The best film I've every seen regarding this issue is Krzysztof Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing, which he made towards the end of his 'strictly Polish' period. If you haven't seen that, then I recommend it to you.

[Thief]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic1.moviewebimages.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2022%2F07%2FMaisieBlue.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

The Sea Beast, 2022

In this animated film, seasoned sea monster hunter Jacob (Karl Urban) is set to inherit an imposing ship from his captain (Jared Harris). But when the hunters to after a notorious large red sea monster, plucky orphan Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) stows away on the ship, and after a dangerous encounter Maisie and Jacob end up learning more about the monsters and the nature of the conflict between them and the kingdom.

About halfway through this film, I was like "Well, someone has seen Moana!". You know, sea-faring adventure with a grown man and a young woman; adorable but weird animal sidekick; themes about the balance between people and nature; giant crab monster. But despite some VERY familiar elements, I thought that The Sea Beast was an enjoyable adventure with a good message at its core.

It really helps that the voice acting is very strong. Urban deftly manages the absurd comedy and the more serious moments easily. Hator's Maisie is an engaging child character. And the two of them have an easy chemistry that helps their banter. The supporting cast is also pretty good, including Harris as the grizzled captain and Marianne Jean-Baptiste is also on hand as the stoic first mate of the ship.

Visually, I enjoyed the film. I wouldn't say that it's incredibly original, but the action scenes are easy to follow and the size and scope of the sea monsters is fun.

There are two messages in the film, and I appreciated both of them. One is simply about communication, and the other is about the fact that you can be well-intentioned and wrong at the same time. The latter message is pulled off pretty deftly. Where it would have been easy to vilify the sea monster hunters, the focus is put more on those who have driven the conflict for their own profit.

Nothing earth-shattering, but a solid family film.

3.5

Oh boy, my older kid saw this and he. just. won't. stop talking about it :laugh: To be fair, I saw half of it and thought what I saw was pretty solid, but damn, it's all day he's talking about the Red Beast and Jacob Holland :eek:

[Takoma11]

I remember reading about Into the Abyss when it came out, and wanting to see it very much - unfortunately I haven't yet, and it seems I have to seek it out rather than waiting to cross paths with it. The best film I've every seen regarding this issue is Krzysztof Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing, which he made towards the end of his 'strictly Polish' period. If you haven't seen that, then I recommend it to you.

I started A Short Film About Killing but bailed pretty quickly because of the dead animals. It's sitting there in my Criterion queue, waiting for me to get back into it.

Oh boy, my older kid saw this and he. just. won't. stop talking about it :laugh: To be fair, I saw half of it and thought what I saw was pretty solid, but damn, it's all day he's talking about the Red Beast and Jacob Holland :eek:

I think it does a really good job of creating aspirational characters. Both Jacob and Maisie are brave and funny, and the Red Beast has a great big animal personality. I think that if I were watching this as a 7-10 year old I would have LOVED it.

[StuSmallz]

Bookie lives in the middle of these two, but it will definitely probably test the patience of those not acclimatized to what he does.You got that right...



*shifty eyes*

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f6/Okja.png

3.5

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

[SuperMetro]

Book of Eli - So I actually was quite interested in this movie while watching it, and was into the plot. I do understand that critics do not really like this one, because there were some things off about the movie such as the one-dimensional villain, and the people I was watching it with did not like Mila Kunis very much. Denzel Washington however is great as always in this movie. 3.5
One Sings the Other Doesn't - I enjoyed following the lives of the two characters of the movie(Apple and Suzannah) who follow on through multiple adventures in their lives for a decade. At first sight, I thought it was going to be a Demy-styled musical, but felt rather different from one. The movie was visually appealing as well and kind of made me think of Woodstock a little bit. This was a fun movie, but I actually liked Agnes Varda's other movie(Cleo From 5 to 7) more. Cleo From 5 to 7 though is a masterpiece. For now, I kind of think Agnes Varda is a genius director and better than some of the popular ones most people rave about. 4

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FCKbQh_3JOhw%2Fhqdefault.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Marihuana, 1936

...the behaviors we see after they get high are, honestly, the kind of things that I more associate with people who have been drinking, such as going swimming while intoxicated.



Nope, I do that every time I'm high. :p

[Wooley]

He made the cuts after the film was a commerical failure. Which isn't always the best reason, especially when the rest of the movies made in his typical style allow for lots of space for his actors to ramble and improvise until they completely exhaust themselves.


The two you've seen are not typical Cassavetes. They are almost normal films. When it comes to his usual more uncompromising approach, Husbands is the one that pushes his extremes to the max, where Minnie and Moskovitz is one of the tamer ones. Bookie lives in the middle of these two, but it will definitely probably test the patience of those not acclimatized to what he does.


I guess it depends how much you want to be left to the whims of a drunkard filming drunkards until something finally happens. I think that is an important element, even if it pushes against the lean and mean expectations you might have for a neo noir film. It's possible the edit works more as a genre piece than the theatrical cut

Yeah, I kinda knew the ones I had seen were not the films people cite when they're talking about Cassavetes.
I think I'll watch the long version. I'm very patient.

[Wooley]

Office Space (1999)

3

https://64.media.tumblr.com/8ffbcff19b8bb483f34be8d17ecc313a/98ad6023fe8c3cd2-66/s540x810/71860ef661f17b8ab619b40f004c5e6b9f6a8a50.gifv

My wife smoked a blunt before I put it on so she was laughing the whole time. I was amused the whole time. I liked the supporting characters better than the lead, not unusual for a comedy. It was good, definitely worth watching. That's as far as it goes for me.

I guess, for me, when Ted McGinley, Gary Cole, or Stephen Root are speaking, I find the movie funny and when Jennifer Aniston is in it, I find it a little charming (well, at least her).
The rest of the time I am bored to tears.

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Les-miserables-movie-poster1.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/mediaindex, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35988556

Les Misérables - (2012)

To all the lovers of this film - I'm sorry, but 158 minutes was far too long for me. There's around 30 minutes of this film put together which I find to be exciting spectacle - and 2 hours worth of wandering soliloquy, with characters singing their thoughts to themselves. Does the stage show go as long? This movie's excesses made some stretches somewhat painful, and instead of winning me over and getting me to love this musical, I ended up disliking it more than I did initially.

4/10

Yes.
I took my mother to the stage production for her birthday... and she asked to leave about an hour and a half in. It was really a slog.

[Captain Steel]

A Patch of Blue (1965)

https://a.ltrbxd.com/resized/sm/upload/we/hs/r8/aw/apatchofblue-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg?k=e65188dd89

Excellently acted. Very touching & topical for its time.

Some people think the major reason Gordon (Portier) doesn't consummate his relationship with Selina (Hartman) is because of their different races.

And sure, that's part of it considering the prospects of the long term. But Gordon is very intelligent and he realizes things Selina can't in her love-struck state toward the first eligible man who's shown kindness to her.

What starts as kindness toward a disabled girl on Gordon's part turns into love for both, but he realizes that although Selina is an adult age-wise, she is emotionally & intellectually a child due to her being raised as basically a prisoner / slave in an abusive home. It's almost a statutory issue for Gordon.

To have an adult romantic or sexual relationship with Selina at this point would be taking advantage of her emotional & intellectual immaturity and would be no better than taking advantage of her blindness.

His solution to get her out of her abusive home and into a school, and then revisit their relationship in a year's time (after Selina has a chance to be exposed to the world, other people and things she's never experienced before) seems an optimum one.

I was only left wondering who's going to pay for her schooling? Gordon? The state? (I imagine there must have been some type of funding for the blind at that time - although it was never addressed in the movie.)

4

[Thief]

WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER
(2001, Wain)

https://i.imgur.com/0NuwgER.jpg


"Before we start, I'd just like to say the campers you're about to see suck dick! But nevertheless, please welcome them."



Wet Hot American Summer follows an assorted cast, most of which were part of The State comedy troupe. The characters include theater directors Susie and Ben (Amy Poehler and Bradley Cooper) trying to prepare the camp's talent show, camp director Beth falling in love with a neighboring astrophysics professor (David Hyde Pierce), and Coop (Showalter), a shy nerdy guy secretly in love with Katie (Marguerite Moreau), who is in turn fixated on her obnoxious and unfaithful boyfriend Andy (Paul Rudd).

With an ensemble cast that big, the film does a good job of balancing the different storylines. However, the clear scene-stealer is Rudd. His performance is so effortless and laid-back that you can't help but believe he's an a$$hole, and yet you wanna see more of him. The other thing that makes this work is the way the script and direction combines the meta aspect of parodying classic summer camp films (and teen films in general) and the absurdity of its various sketches (i.e. camp cook Gene receiving life advice from a can of mixed vegetables)

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2323311#post2323311)

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fthecriticalcritics.com%2Freview%2Fwp-content%2Fimages%2Fschool-life-still-1-1160x580.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

School Life, 2016

This documentary follows a year at the Headfort School, an eccentric boarding school in Ireland that's a mix of tradition and classical education and rock'n'roll jam sessions. Leading the school are Amanda and John Leyden, both teachers who have been at the school for decades and are now facing down the idea of retirement.

Obviously I have huge biases when it comes to this subject matter, as I am a teacher and this is the age group I work with the most.

I really enjoyed this documentary as a slice-of-life of a really eccentric environment. The students learn scripture, and then in their ethics class they have a (relatively) open-minded discussion about gay marriage. (Leading to this all-time amazing quote from a child: "I don't know. Maybe sometimes it's better to be gay than to be single.") There is a school band, playing everything from contemporary hits to "Wild Thing", with students playing guitar, drums, bass, keyboard, and singing.

The film really focuses on two students in particular, Eliza and Ted, who are seemingly opposites. Eliza is very shy and withdrawn, but is an academic superstar. This isn't entirely obvious until a class is to compete in a trivia contest and the first young man to pick a teammate quickly chooses Eliza. Ted, on the other hand, is incredibly charismatic and outgoing, but struggles with dyslexia, making his studies a lot more difficult. John and Amanda both work to draw out the best in these students.

We don't see much of how John and Amanda teach, aside from a one-minute snippet here and there. But what does come across is their gift for blending an academic relationship with a surrogate-parent one, and their desire to see their students succeed.

There were a few gaps that made me have questions. Being a boarding school, my assumption would be that these children are all from relatively wealthy families, but maybe that's an incorrect assumption. We do get several hints in this direction, including the fact that one of their students "has done a bit of modeling" and another is seen practicing her harp. I wonder, in part, because the type of free-ranging educational structure that we see in this film is often something reserved for schools with wealthy children.

I also wish that we got a bit more of a sense of how John and Amanda see their roles. There is a little talk about "I don't know what I'll do with myself" regarding their retirement, but otherwise we get very little information on this front.

Still, this is a very charming look at a group of children and adults who have a special relationship. I enjoyed my time at Headfort.

4

[SpelingError]

29th Hall of Fame

Tomboy (2011) - 3

This film was fine. Not a whole lot for me to dig at, but I still enjoyed it. It really shines in a few places, but throughout most of the film, I felt it didn't provide enough character depth to Laure for me to grow invested in her character. Watching Laure's relationship with several kids (Lisa, specifically) and the measures she takes to hide her gender grow, one wonders why she goes to such great measures to hide her identity. There are a few interpretations you could make for the film (e.g., Laure wanting to be seen as tougher, that she developed a romantic interest in Lisa, that she could be transgender), but since the film refuses to get inside Laure's head nor give her much of a personality, there isn't enough evidence provided to determine which of these interpretations the film had in mind and I wasn't able to latch on to any of these readings. In the end, they all seemed superficial and weren't fleshed out enough. Regardless, I still enjoyed enough about the film to give it a loose recommendation. For one, the lengths Laure goes to hide her gender get appropriately disturbing at times, such as when she takes her shirt off in front of her friends or makes a clay penis. These scenes are effective as, not only do they show how far Laure is willing to go, but they also open up questions on whether she was pulling these kinds of stunts at her old house. I also enjoyed the different ways the people around Laure reacted to what she was doing. The reactions ranged from acceptance to violence and it was interesting to watch these situations unfold as they were all fairly compelling. Finally, while I think most of the film is just competent, I did like the ending quite a lot. It simultaneously feels like the end and the start of something big for Laure. For the most part though, I thought this film was alright and I don't expect for it to stick around in my head for long.

[Takoma11]

It really shines in a few places, but throughout most of the film, I felt it didn't provide enough character depth to Laure for me to grow invested in her character. Watching Laure's relationship with several kids (Lisa, specifically) and the measures she takes to hide her gender grow, one wonders why she goes to such great measures to hide her identity.

Kids at the age of the character in this film are often in a discovery/exploration phase when it comes to identity (and I use the word "identity" broadly here, not just to mean gender/sexuality stuff).

I thought that the film really captured the way that kids will do things, not always even knowing why they are doing them. You're right that we don't know exactly what motivates Laure (ie that she is sexually/romantically attracted to Lisa and needs to be a boy to make that work; that she might be transgender and/or more comfortable presenting as a boy; all of the above)---but Laure might also not totally understand their own motivation.

I think that what the film does make very clear and does present very well is the different reactions that people around such a child have, and just how hostile things can get for kids who are in that exploration phase.

I was invested in Laure because it was so clear that Laure's position was a lonely one.

[Thief]

BEN-HUR
(1959, Wyler)

https://i.imgur.com/QEUNa6k.jpg


"It goes on, Judah. The race... the race is not over!"



Set in the times of Christ, Ben-Hur follows the titular character (Charlton Heston), a wealthy Jewish prince that finds himself enslaved and sent to the galleys. As he attempts to regain his freedom, his path crosses with that of Jesus Christ himself.

A good Twitter friend of mine has been constantly insisting on me to watch this. It's his second favorite film, I think. The "Epic of all Epics" he calls it. And he's not wrong. At the time of release, the film had the biggest budget, the largest sets, and one of the most complex productions of any film. The efforts paid off as the film ended up becoming one of the highest grossing films and won 11 out of 12 Academy Awards.

But beyond the huge production values and the huge scope, Ben-Hur is, in and of itself, a very good film. Most of the performances are solid, with Stephen Boyd being perhaps the strongest from the leads. He and Heston did a good job of making this friendship between Ben-Hur and Messala believable. I would've liked if they had given more attention and depth to that after the first act, but what we got worked. Heston also could've added more emotion to his performance, but his stoic demeanor suits the character's determination well.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2323329#post2323329)

[SpelingError]

Kids at the age of the character in this film are often in a discovery/exploration phase when it comes to identity (and I use the word "identity" broadly here, not just to mean gender/sexuality stuff).

I thought that the film really captured the way that kids will do things, not always even knowing why they are doing them. You're right that we don't know exactly what motivates Laure (ie that she is sexually/romantically attracted to Lisa and needs to be a boy to make that work; that she might be transgender and/or more comfortable presenting as a boy; all of the above)---but Laure might also not totally understand their own motivation.

I think that what the film does make very clear and does present very well is the different reactions that people around such a child have, and just how hostile things can get for kids who are in that exploration phase.

I was invested in Laure because it was so clear that Laure's position was a lonely one.

I see what you're saying about Laure potentially not being aware of her own motivations and I think that adds up. I just needed more to her character to get on board with that. For instance, while I generally dig movies about loneliness, I wouldn't describe Laure as lonely throughout most of the film. Yes, she was clearly hiding something from her friends which could potentially ruin their relationships, but since they didn't know about it, she seemed to have a great time with them and was accepted pretty well by their group. After all, provided she was feeling lonely before the film, passing herself off as a boy would've been done to prevent that.

As a comparison, Nicholson's character in Five Easy Pieces was in a similar state of potentially not understanding his own motivations, but his loneliness in that film was made far more clear. As a result, I found that film much more compelling.

I think that what the film does make very clear and does present very well is the different reactions that people around such a child have, and just how hostile things can get for kids who are in that exploration phase.


I do agree that this was handled pretty well though.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FtkhPGA4KTy5njQwglP6t7ytp00p.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

House of Bamboo, 1955

A gang of toughs led by a man named Dawson (Robert Ryan) is pulling of a series of daring heists in post-War Tokyo, including one that kills an American sergeant. When one of the gang is gunned down during one of the robberies, the man's old friend, Eddie (Robert Stack) arrives in town wanting to get to the bottom of the death of his friend. Eddie finds an ally in Mariko (Shirley Yamaguchi) the secret wife of his dead friend. But standing between an investigating US Army and Dawson's deadly gang is not the safest place to be . . .

I have really enjoyed everything that I have seen from director Samuel Fuller, and this film was no exception.

The film pulls tension from multiple relationships, always with Eddie as the center. The most plot relevant is his relationship with Dawson who, despite professing very cold and ruthless philosophies, comes to really like and trust Eddie. Ryan does a good job of showing that Dawson is almost confused about why he gels so well with Eddie.

The relationship that does the most to develop Eddie's character is between him and Mariko. Mariko is broken up over the loss of her husband, and at first she tentatively agrees to pretend to be Eddie's lover so that she can help him figure out her husband's death. The romance that grows between Eddie and Mariko is very engaging, each coming to care for the other even as they realize how dangerous their situation is.

Mariko is definitely put through the ringer, taking abuse from all sides at different points in the film. Eddie is barely apologetic after he hits her in the face in order to make her give him an alibi for earlier in the day. Mariko is shunned by other women for having taken up with a foreigner. And Dawson and his men don't hesitate to menace or leer at Mariko. At times I was a bit torn on whether all of these sequences were showing her resilience, or just leaning into some mild exploitation, for example when Eddie first meets her, having followed her home and then jumped her, pinning her to the ground. Still Yamaguchi imbues her character with enough grit and vulnerability that I was actively rooting for her.

The plot unfolds in a nicely twisty-turny way, with some really interesting reveals about halfway through the film. It all leads up to one heck of an action setpiece in the very last minutes.

Definitely one I'd recommend.

4.5

[Rockatansky]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2FtkhPGA4KTy5njQwglP6t7ytp00p.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

House of Bamboo, 1955


Some great widescreen Technicolor cinematography in this. Might give it a rewatch now that it's on the Criterion Channel.

[Takoma11]

I see what you're saying about Laure potentially not being aware of her own motivations and I think that adds up. I just needed more to her character to get on board with that. For instance, while I generally dig movies about loneliness, I wouldn't describe Laure as lonely throughout most of the film. Yes, she was clearly hiding something from her friends which could potentially ruin their relationships, but since they didn't know about it, she seemed to have a great time with them and was accepted pretty well by their group.

Right, but there are some serious risks that Laure takes by lying about her gender, something that becomes very clear in the last act. The threat of discovery underpins every encounter she has with them.

Loneliness isn't just about being alone, and I do think that Laure is lonely. In fact, I'd argue that there's always an inherent loneliness when being around other people is predicated on deception. I'd say that the camaraderie Laure experiences is tragic in a way, because it's clear it cannot and will not last.

Laure is also forced to conduct this experimentation with only a younger sibling as an ally. There's no one to help talk her through what she is experiencing, and so she has to just wing it.

[Takoma11]

Some great widescreen Technicolor cinematography in this. Might give it a rewatch now that it's on the Criterion Channel.

Yeah, it was a really gorgeous print. It's noticeable through the whole film, but especially in an early sequence at a performance and then in the final chase sequence in the amusement park.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/American_Gangster_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11046386

American Gangster - (2007)

I remember when this came out - it was quite well-received then, but when I watched it yesterday I thought perhaps time might not be kind to it. In the end (and I watched the Extended Edition with an extra 18 minutes) I enjoyed it a whole lot. It's a finely crafted gangster film that manages to pull off all of the tricks it wants to. Denzel Washington is superb as the unflappable Frank Lucas, and Russell Crowe (no stranger to Ridley Scott films) also puts in one of his better performances. I was on the absolute edge of my seat during the raid scene near the end, while also appreciating the grand story of a giant among crime figure's rise and fall. It starts off a little disjointed, scene by scene - it wants to tell a story that occurs over many years, so the film can't waste time by having scenes seamlessly blend into each other. However, once all of the chess pieces are in place the film feels more smooth, to the extent that I can't fault it much at all.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/The_Sapphires_poster.jpg
By Hopscotch Films - http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151733815395430&set=a.245520530429.308889.245451465429&type=1&theater, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35856934

The Sapphires - (2012)

This isn't quite my kind of thing, but I've been meaning to watch it because I like to keep up with Australian cinema (if you can call watching a 10-year-old film "keeping up".) It dragged a little for me, but has nice music, and an endearingly goofy and charming performance from Chris O'Dowd, who I really like. Did I develop a bit of a crush on Deborah Mailman as I watched it? Of course not. Why do you even think I did? I don't understand how you could suspect that happened at all. Her onscreen romance with O'Dowd's character is the film's highlight, and adds something to it's well-worn true story misfit band concept.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/Happy_film.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1613092/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41616793

Happy - (2011)

Having a documentary about happiness is a great thing, but for all of it's benefits it does lack a little imagination and comes off as somewhat forgettable and vanilla plain.

6/10

[SpelingError]

Right, but there are some serious risks that Laure takes by lying about her gender, something that becomes very clear in the last act. The threat of discovery underpins every encounter she has with them.

Loneliness isn't just about being alone, and I do think that Laure is lonely. In fact, I'd argue that there's always an inherent loneliness when being around other people is predicated on deception. I'd say that the camaraderie Laure experiences is tragic in a way, because it's clear it cannot and will not last.

Laure is also forced to conduct this experimentation with only a younger sibling as an ally. There's no one to help talk her through what she is experiencing, and so she has to just wing it.

True, I just didn't feel like Laure was at a serious risk of being exposed until the final act rolled in. Before then, there were a couple small obstacles she solved fairly easily (getting her sister to play along, making a clay penis so she could go swimming) and she also seemed pretty comfortable being around her friends, or at least, comfortable enough to take her shirt off in front of all of them. Maybe if she experienced more difficulties or close calls and was significantly impacted by them more, I would've reacted to the film differently. Who knows. As I alluded to in my review, I think the final act is stronger than what comes before, but while I didn't dislike the first hour, it didn't impress me quite as much.

[Takoma11]

True, I just didn't feel like Laure was at a serious risk of being exposed until the final act rolled in. Before then, there were a couple small obstacles she solved fairly easily (getting her sister to play along, making a clay penis so she could go swimming) and she also seemed pretty comfortable being around her friends, or at least, comfortable enough to take her shirt off in front of all of them. Maybe if she experienced more difficulties or close calls and was significantly impacted by them more, I would've reacted to the film differently. Who knows. As I alluded to in my review, I think the final act is stronger than what comes before, but while I didn't dislike the first hour, it didn't impress me quite as much.

That's fair.

I've watched a (very small) handful of students grapple with gender identity issues, but a key difference is that they are surrounded by peers who know what gender they are supposed to present as. Deviating from what they are expected to look like or behave like is commented on by peers. (With the caveat that kids are actually pretty tolerant of a certain "non-typical" range of behavior. If a girl plays football or a boy wants to draw with chalk, they aren't immediately pounced on or bullied.)

I really love this film showing how someone might explore a different identity and how gender expectations work in Laure's favor. Because they believe Laure is a boy, they treat her a certain way. Laure does take her shirt off and, because she is pre-puberty, it's just a chest to them. It's this magical zone where Laure gets to create her own expectations and not be penned in by the ones that have always been placed around her.

[SpelingError]

That's fair.

I've watched a (very small) handful of students grapple with gender identity issues, but a key difference is that they are surrounded by peers who know what gender they are supposed to present as. Deviating from what they are expected to look like or behave like is commented on by peers. (With the caveat that kids are actually pretty tolerant of a certain "non-typical" range of behavior. If a girl plays football or a boy wants to draw with chalk, they aren't immediately pounced on or bullied.)

I really love this film showing how someone might explore a different identity and how gender expectations work in Laure's favor. Because they believe Laure is a boy, they treat her a certain way. Laure does take her shirt off and, because she is pre-puberty, it's just a chest to them. It's this magical zone where Laure gets to create her own expectations and not be penned in by the ones that have always been placed around her.

That's a good reading of the film. Overall, it's a fine film and I might return to it sometime in the future to see if I warm up to it. From the other films I've seen from Sciamma so far (Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Petite Maman), I wouldn't say I love any of her films yet, but that may change sometime in the future.

[Takoma11]

That's a good reading of the film. Overall, it's a fine film and I might return to it sometime in the future to see if I warm up to it. From the other films I've seen from Sciamma so far (Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Petite Maman), I wouldn't say I love any of her films yet, but that may change sometime in the future.

I think that Tomboy is more subdued than you'd maybe expect. Like you'd expect it to be all about angst and threats of violence. But instead it shows this person existing in what we as the viewer know is a temporary state of being able to try out a different identity.

I know it doesn't get the pulse going, per se, but I liked that for the most part it lacked sensationalism.

[sawduck]

Everything Everywhere All at Once
8.5/10 - A fun movie that proves that Hollywood can still be original, great cast especially Michelle Yeoh. Loved this crazy movie

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
7/10 - Another fun movie, i love when actors play fictionalised versions of themselves and Nicolas Cage does a wonderful job

[SpelingError]

I think that Tomboy is more subdued than you'd maybe expect. Like you'd expect it to be all about angst and threats of violence. But instead it shows this person existing in what we as the viewer know is a temporary state of being able to try out a different identity.

I know it doesn't get the pulse going, per se, but I liked that for the most part it lacked sensationalism.

I think I might've been expecting for it to be less subdued, so that may play a part in my reaction to the film. I don't know if I'll ever end up loving it, but I still admire what it does, at the very least.

[StuSmallz]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9f/American_Gangster_poster.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11046386

American Gangster - (2007)

I remember when this came out - it was quite well-received then, but when I watched it yesterday I thought perhaps time might not be kind to it. In the end (and I watched the Extended Edition with an extra 18 minutes) I enjoyed it a whole lot. It's a finely crafted gangster film that manages to pull off all of the tricks it wants to. Denzel Washington is superb as the unflappable Frank Lucas, and Russell Crowe (no stranger to Ridley Scott films) also puts in one of his better performances. I was on the absolute edge of my seat during the raid scene near the end, while also appreciating the grand story of a giant among crime figure's rise and fall. It starts off a little disjointed, scene by scene - it wants to tell a story that occurs over many years, so the film can't waste time by having scenes seamlessly blend into each other. However, once all of the chess pieces are in place the film feels more smooth, to the extent that I can't fault it much at all.

8/10I didn't think much of this one, I'm afraid; it had about one really good chase scene, and then the rest of it was a bunch of tepid, incohesive gangster cliches in an overlong package, with too much screentime wasted on Crowe's character with not much reason. Wasn't a fan, I gotta say.

[PHOENIX74]

I didn't think much of this one, I'm afraid; it had about one really good chase scene, and then the rest of it was a bunch of tepid, incohesive gangster cliches in an overlong package, with too much screentime wasted on Crowe's character with not much reason. Wasn't a fan, I gotta say.

I thought the procedural aspects were really great, and Crowe's character being an ultra-rare incorruptible not just assumed but methodically shown to us - how and why he was different to those on the force who just took 'contributions' from the drug czars of the time. I was glad to spend time with his character - it made him more layered and not just your usual stereotypical hero cop. Although he had no flaws as a cop, he had innumerable flaws outside of his work, to the point he's always in court opposite his ex-wife. I liked his yearning to pass his bar exams and become something more - and the relationship he eventually develops with Lucas, which for me was completely unexpected. The first time I saw the film though, I brushed it off somewhat - liked it far far more this time.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Falchetron.com%2Fcdn%2FJoshua-Tree-1993-film-images-d1a48703-7cb5-47b9-95a4-bc397cf1c90.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

Joshua Tree, 1993

Santee (Dolph Lundgren) has been convicted for the killing of a police officer resulting from that officer stopping a truck that Santee and his partner were using to transport illicit goods. Following his conviction, Santree breaks out of custody and goes on the run, abducting deputy sheriff Rita Marek (Kristian Alfonso) along the way. But Santee isn't just on the run---he's out for revenge against those who led to his conviction.

Going into a movie like this, you're hoping for big dumb fun, and I have to say that for the most part I felt that it delivered. Santee punches (and eventually shotguns) his way through countless baddies, while Rita is conveniently a martial arts expert who gets to knock down her own fair share of toughs with well-timed roundhouse kicks.

The plot is half in service of Santee getting his revenge and half in service of developing the romance between Santee and Rita. On both fronts it does pretty well. Santee must jump through several hoops to finally land on the person who caused his misfortune. The main action set-piece actually occurs about halfway through the film, as Santee takes on a warehouse full of bad guys. While I felt myself slightly tuning out, I bet most action fans would appreciate this sequence. The plot itself is also decently twisty, if a bit predictable. It's one of those movies where the police chasing Santee are also starting to figure out what's up, and build some nice tension from the parallel investigations.

The romance element is a real mixed bag. Alfonso more than holds her own, and it's a huge compliment to her that Rita's attraction to Santee feels natural, considering how actively disrespectful he is to her and the danger he puts her in over and over.

But my gawd is this movie distractingly and almost pathetically horny. It creates visual inconsistencies and jarring edits to the point where it's like "Was this really worth it?" In one really subtle scene, Santee jams the barrel of a shotgun in between Rita's breasts, something that is shown in close-up. But the following wide shot shows the gun resting several inches down her chest. During two different scenes a body double is used, and it creates distracting edits as close-ups of the double inelegantly transition to shots of Alfonso. In one truly laughable part, Rita emerges from a shower with a full face of makeup (You're a wizard, Harry!). Moments that could have felt sexy and dangerous (like Rita undressing for a shower) lose their charge because of the insistence on blunt body close-ups. The film has some visual flair (see the image at the top of this review), so the "point camera at boobs" approach to the sexy stuff is disappointing.

Outlandish objectification aside, I did appreciate that Rita was a pretty tough character in her own right. I wish they'd done a bit more with the banter between her and Santee because too many of their interactions involve her asking smart questions and him saying some variation on "You talk too much." About the third time, it starts to strain credulity that she'd find it charming. Some of her best sequences are those where she's untethered from Santee, including a scene where she tries and fails to get help from a bunch of sexist yahoos at a rural bar.

I was looking for something a bit trashy and ended up with a movie a step above what I'd expected.

3

[chawhee]

Nope (2022)
https://moviesandmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Nope-movie-film-horror-Jordan-Peele-2022-poster-detail.jpg
3
Peele might be losing me a bit after this one...I think people will walk away with drastically different opinions on this one based on expectations. Will this alien movie stand up 10 years from now?

This movie practically turned into a comedy for me the last 45 minutes or so....anyone else?

[Ultraviolence]

https://images.fanart.tv/fanart/rurouni-kenshin-54e2404b25fcb.jpg

Rewatch - One of my favorites modern film franchises - A very good manga adaptation for the screen. One of the best out there. The amount of effort here is amazing.
rating_4

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fderekwinnert.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F10%2F225.jpg&f=1&nofb=1

A Kiss Before Dying, 1956

Dorothy (Joanne Woodward) is a college student dating the handsome Bud (Robert Wagner). But when Dorothy becomes pregnant and wants to keep the baby---and act that would alienate her from her wealthy father--Bud sees his future at stake and goes to increasingly desperate measures to solve his "problem." But Dorothy has an older sister, Ellen (Virginia Leith) who, along with Dorothy college tutor (Jeffrey Hunter) are determined to discover the truth.

Overall this was a really fun thriller, centered on a particularly cold performance from Wagner as Bud.

Every plot summary you read includes the fact that Bud will try to kill Dorothy--and this is also obvious from the first 5 minutes of the film--but what you don't know going in is just how long that sequence of the film lasts. The most horrifying section of the movie is a long, almost 40 minute first act where Bud tries to end the pregnancy or hurt Dorothy in various ways. In one moment, he lets her tumble down some stone stairs, barely hiding his hopeful expression when he asks if she's okay. Later, he turns to poisons stolen from the chemistry lab. Through all of this there are multiple scenes of Dorothy and Bud together--her alternately excited about the baby and anxious about the fact that Bud is unhappy. It really drives home that this is not a crime of passion.

Immediately after Dorothy's death, it is interesting watching Ellen try to piece together what happened to her sister. She uses information from a letter Dorothy wrote her, along with what was found in her purse to determine that Dorothy planned to marry someone. This investigative portion of the movie is also engaging.

The last act is where things get a bit dodgy. With Dorothy out of the picture, Bud ends up wooing Ellen out of a perverse sense that the family's wealth is rightfully his. Obviously this doesn't seem like the wisest thing for Bud to do (are there no other rich girls around to woo?), but it just passes the sniff test. The real problem is that this final sequence requires that Ellen get dumb. Real dumb. The movie tries to reconcile her stubbornness and denial by grounding it in conflicts she's had with her father about being too controlling, but come on! She literally decides to have an important conversation alone with Bud standing on the edge of a steep precipice, Ellen what are you doing?!?!?!

Bud does make for a great, odious villain. While there could be some classism involved in the idea of the murderous have-not abusing the poor rich girls, I think that Bud would have played about the same if he had also been wealthy. He's a person who wants what he wants and will do whatever he needs to in order to get it. It made me think a bit of the young woman who was sexually assaulted by a high school peer who videotaped the assault, and when she finally went to the police, the judge asked her if she wanted to proceed because of the damage she'd do to her rapist's future. It's this really dark side of making sure that people get the opportunity to "live up to their potential", even if it means hurting other people along the way.

I have seen the 1990s remake with Matt Dillon, though I have very little memory of it. I feel as if that movie made a bigger deal out of the killer's fixation on the wealthy family.

Good stuff, but too bad they did Ellen dirty like that in the last act.

4

[Wooley]

Nope (2022)
https://moviesandmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Nope-movie-film-horror-Jordan-Peele-2022-poster-detail.jpg
3
Peele might be losing me a bit after this one...I think people will walk away with drastically different opinions on this one based on expectations. Will this alien movie stand up 10 years from now?

This movie practically turned into a comedy for me the last 45 minutes or so....anyone else?

No, it didn't for me.
I left thinking that Peele has actually become too good for the Horror/Sci-fi genre as he made something really special with this film but could be moving more into truly great auteur director territory. Except that he also made a movie that makes me think of films like Close Encounters Of The Third Kind so maybe he should just keep making great Sci-fi.

[Thief]

BEAT THE DEVIL
(2002, Scott)

https://i.imgur.com/L8fGzQV.png


"I like a wager, but I like the concept of 'winner take all'."



From 2001 to 2002, BMW Films produced a series of short films dubbed as The Hire to serve as some sort of elaborate car ads. The premise of the shorts feature a nameless driver (Clive Owen) being hired by different clients for various tasks. The short films were notably directed by directors like Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai, John Woo, and others, while also featuring prominent stars like Forest Whitaker, Madonna, and Don Cheadle, among many others.

Beat the Devil is the eight of this series, and it features the Driver accompanying James Brown to meet the Devil (Gary Oldman) as he tries to renegotiate a deal he made with him in his youth for fame and fortune in exchange for his soul. Now older and not able to "do the splits anymore", Brown wants an "extension", but the Devil wants to race for it, which serves as the excuse to have our Driver drive a BMW Z4 real fast down Las Vegas Strip.

I had no idea about the existence of these shorts until a Twitter friend brought it to my attention. It features the usual hyper-kinetic direction by Scott, full of fast-paced cuts and a sensory overload of visuals and sound, which I'm sometimes on the fence about. But what makes it work are the performances of Oldman and Brown. Both give committed and entertaining performances to what is otherwise a glorified "car ad", but they make it interesting to watch.

Grade: 3

[Thief]

LISTEN
(2014, Nyoni & Ramezan)

https://i.imgur.com/t1nHmpE.jpg


"I can't go back. I can't. I beg you to help us."



That's the plea for help from a wife and mother (Zeinab Rahal) at a police station. Her husband has hit her repeatedly and has threatened to kill her and their teenage son (Yusuf Kamal El-Ali). What's the catch? She's a Muslim woman covered with a burqa, living in the Netherlands where nobody understands her language. Moreover, the translator (Amira Helene Larsen) brought to assist her is not translating her words properly, not conveying the urgency of her situation.

Listen was a simple yet harrowing short film. But even in its apparently simple premise, directors Nyoni and Ramezan use a carefully layered approach to the scene where we see the woman's testimony from different perspectives, while examining how others react to her claims. There is a lot of physical performance, especially from Larsen, who I thought was great in how she transmits her frame of mind with her eyes and overall demeanor as she's listening.

I'm hardly an expert, but as far as I read, the Qur'an is very clear regarding domestic violence and spousal separation. But that is not necessarily what's put "on trial" here, but rather the lack of empathy because of misunderstanding, the effects of the language barrier, gender roles, isolation, and the bureaucratic barriers put in place for a woman to get the help she needs. It's not that we don't listen, but that we listen what we want and how we want, and act according to our interests and beliefs, instead of those of who we're listening.

Grade: 4

[Thursday Next]

Elvis (2022)

Baz is back! Luhrmann's flashy, colourful style proves the right choice for taking on the life of Elvis Presley in all his rhinestone-clad glory.

It's about as good as a musician biopic could be - which is a limitation as well as a strength, because there's something a little samey about this particular sub-genre. The editing is very cleverly done, but there are times when it feels a little bit like an extended montage, rather than digging too deeply beneath the surface. The main drama of the film is Elvis's manager, Colonel Parker (played with convincing smiling menace but a rather less convincing accent by Tom Hanks), convincing him to do a residency in Vegas to pay off his own debts, and at this point the film slows down a little.

The music in this was superbly well chosen and mixed - there is Elvis on stage, songs sung by other people, mainly black musicians in Memphis who Elvis borrowed from/stole from/was inspired by, sometimes modern updatings of Elvis songs and sometimes what sounds like more straightforward dramatic movie score but is clearly also a take on an Elvis song.

Austin Butler's performance as Elvis is excellent - it feels genuine, not at all like an impersonation, and if he doesn't get a. nominated for awards and b. a lot more work after this it will be a real shame.

4

[Gideon58]

Office Space (1999)

3

https://64.media.tumblr.com/8ffbcff19b8bb483f34be8d17ecc313a/98ad6023fe8c3cd2-66/s540x810/71860ef661f17b8ab619b40f004c5e6b9f6a8a50.gifv

My wife smoked a blunt before I put it on so she was laughing the whole time. I was amused the whole time. I liked the supporting characters better than the lead, not unusual for a comedy. It was good, definitely worth watching. That's as far as it goes for me.

I liked this movie a little more than you did...Gary Cole was brilliant

[cricket]

I liked this movie a little more than you did...Gary Cole was brilliant

He was my favorite character.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/919AK+RgLXL._SL1500_.jpg


6th Rewatch...ran into this channel surfing yesterday and had to watch it because this film has never lost its rewatch appeal for me. Herbert Ross does a glorious job of opening up this stage play to look like an actual movie about six women who hang at the same beauty parlor. The film has one of the most quotable screenplays since Young Frankenstein and some glorious performances, especially Sally Field, robbed of an Oscar nomination for her tower of strength Ma'Lynn. 4

[mark f]

The Black Forest (Rodrigo Aragão, 2018) 2 5/10
Public Hero #1 (J. Walter Ruben, 1935) 2.5 6/10
The Silver Horde (George Archainbaud, 1930) 2+ 5/10
Donbass (Sergey Loznitsa, 2018) 2.5 6/10
https://storage.pubble.nl/d1e0e7f5/content/2022/3/a44875ce-6dee-4bdd-bb43-a6c3388da616.jpg
The Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine is a hellhole where anyone of a different ethnicity is lucky to get out of there alive. Against all appearances, this is not a documentary.
Our Eternal Summer (Emilie Aussel, 2021) 2+ 5/10
Mimi (Warwick Thornton, 2002) 2.5 6/10
Wood and Water (Jonas Bak, 2021) 2+ 5/10
Galaxy Quest (Dean Parisot, 1999) 3+ 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/baefab4e94b89df26e38fc5430106233/39d5c2169c23f759-97/s540x810/d14ada12deeb9b3f21ca82558c77d0eb810ab5bf.gifv
Actor Alan Rickman who played the medical officer on TV series "Galaxy Quest" in the past gets caught up in an adventure with real-life aliens, including Patrick Breen.
Prey (Dan Trachtenberg, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Holy Emy (Araceli Lemos, 2021) 2 5/10
The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga (Jessica Oreck, 2014) 2.5 5.5/10
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris (Anthony Fabian, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/9ba360ff7365c663818a534b908b3cca/65420acd4c0f3a66-4a/s540x810/82fb8774a290ad26fa237ff31a73397c05fbf456.gifv
In the '50s, when widowed London cleaning lady Mrs. Harris (Lesley Manville) becomes obsessed with a haute couture "frock", she travels to the House of Dior and turns the place upside down.
The Lunchbox (Ritesh Batra, 2013) 2.5 6/10
They/Them (John Logan, 2022) 2 5/10
Skinny Tiger and Fatty Dragon (Chia-Yung Liu, 1990) 2.5 6/10
Minions: The Rise of Gru (Kyle Balda, 2022) 2.5+ 6/10
https://c.tenor.com/m65TRQIhGewAAAAC/lets-sleep-together-stuart.gif
12-year-old Gru (Steve Carell) wants to become a supervillian, but when the Vicious 6 reject him, he seeks help from his Minions. When his fave supervillian, Wild Knuckles (Alan Arkin), gets kicked out of the V6, he seeks to learn from him.
Luck (Peggy Holmes, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Paradise Highway (Anna Gutto, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (Iryna Tsilyk, 2020) 2.5 6/10
Seven Chances (Buster Keaton, 1925) 3.5 7+/10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXNLXqB6KhI
Buster Keaton must get married by a certain time to inherit a fortune, but when too many "brides" show up, they think he's trying to pull a fast one.

[skizzerflake]

Nope (2022)
https://moviesandmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Nope-movie-film-horror-Jordan-Peele-2022-poster-detail.jpg
3
Peele might be losing me a bit after this one...I think people will walk away with drastically different opinions on this one based on expectations. Will this alien movie stand up 10 years from now?

This movie practically turned into a comedy for me the last 45 minutes or so....anyone else?

I appreciated that the movie re-envisioned the idea of an extra-terrestrial visit. For decades, movies have been stuck solid on the flying saucer or large metallic spaceship image. My guess is that Peele's movies are still a wild card, kinda like M Night Shamalayan. They work well in my frame of reference, but who knows about what people will want to see 25 years from now.

For me, I really appreciate that Peele has jumped into whatever his genre is and is upsetting some of the conventions. Having seen a lot of cinematic aliens over the years, this was a new approach. Not being too dreadfully serious worked for me since I end up cringing at movies like that which try at high seriousness.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91IIhPc-ZlL._AC_SL1500_.jpg


3.5