Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[mark f]

Evil of Dracula (Michio Yamamoto, 1974) 2.5 6/10
Legion (Jon Hess, 1998) 2 5/10
The Commune (Thomas Vinterberg, 2016) 3 6.5/10
Adieu Godard (Amartya Bhattacharyya, 2021) 2.5 6/10
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/08/25/arts/adieu-godard-2/adieu-godard-2-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.jpg
Indian villager Choudhury Bikash usually watches porno videos with his friends, but one day he brings home a Godard film and although his friends think it sucks, he's intrigued enough by it to organize a Godard film festival.
Terror Creatures from the Grave (Massimo Pupillo, 1965) 2.5 6/10
Alligator (Lewis Teague, 1980) 3- 6.5/10
Girl in Room 13 (Elisabeth Röhm, 2022) 2+ 5/10
To Leslie (Michael Morris, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://static1.moviewebimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/AndreaRiseboroughMarcMaronToLeslie.jpg
Leslie (Andrea Riseborough) blew $180,000 of lotto winnings on booze and drugs, but Marc Maron gives her a job and tries to help her make her original dream for the money, a diner, come true.
Legion (Jon Hess, 1998) 2 5/10
Mondocane (Alessandro Celli, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Mortuary (Tobe Hooper, 2005) 2 5/10
The Automat (Lisa Hurwitz, 2021) 3+ 6.5/10
https://awfj.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/the-automat.jpg
The Automat was the most popular restaurant in NYC for decades because it served the best food at the cheapest prices, had the best atmosphere and it would not refuse service to anyone regardless of race.
An Angel for Satan (Camillo Mastrocinque, 1966) 2.5 6/10
Run Sweetheart Run (Shana Feste, 2020) 2 5/10
Avarice (John V. Soto, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Hello, Bookstore (A.B. Zax, 2022) 3+ 6.5/10
https://awfj.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/hello-bookstpre-1-1-800x445.jpg
The Bookstore in Lenox, Massachusetts is where people have hung out and communicated with the owner Matt Tannenbaum for 45 year, but with the recent pandemic the store may be forced to close for good.
The Long Hair of Death (Antonio Margheriti, 1965) 2.5 6/10
Djinn (Tobe Hooper, 2013) 2 5-/10
Alligator II: The Mutation (Jon Hess, 1991) 2.5 5.5/10
Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2011) 3+ 6.5/10
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/PositiveUnknownBluefish-size_restricted.gif
Fun, complicated heist movie with Brad Pitt and George Clooney the leaders of the 11, trying to get back at casino owner Andy Garcia who stole Clooney's ex-wife Julia Roberts from him.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.film-rezensionen.de%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F03%2FThe-Big-Sick-Frontpage.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e1506f80323b8d749b673942549f38f289f5f664b71369f5d547bd58d3fa1b9a&ipo=images

The Big Sick, 2017

Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) is a stand-up comedian trying to break big in the Chicago scene. At a show he meets Emily (Zoe Kazan), and the two begin a romantic relationship. Their romance hits a rough patch when Emily learn that Kumail has been hiding her existence from his family, who he believes would disown him for not being with a Pakistani woman. It's during their breakup that Emily falls seriously ill and has to be put into a medically induced coma. Kumail ends up spending a lot of time with Emily's parents, Beth (Holly Hunter) and Terry (Ray Romano) while they await the outcome of Emily's worsening condition.

I've had this one on my to-see list for a while. (I have a weird, sort of second hand connection to the couple, so for some reason that's made it strange to think about watching).

Anyway, this was great!

The inherent risk in this story--and more specifically the dynamic of putting it on screen--is that Emily spend a LOT of time in her coma. A LOT. I was really pleased to see how much time the film spent exploring the relationship as it developed and then the rift that forms over Kumail's conflicted feelings about his family's plan for an arranged marriage. A lesser film would have been all to eager to get her in that coma, but the extra time taken to let us know Emily goes a long way toward giving emotional heft to the rest of the film.

It is of course strange to watch someone acting out the story of their own life, but Kumail is a likable and empathetic lead. It must be said, though, that Hunter and Romano are absolutely aces as Emily's parents. Their bonding with Kumail serves as a way for him to work through his own doubts and fears about committing to a partner without his family's approval. A scene where Hunter defends Kumail from a racist heckler is funny but also heartbreaking as you realize that her anger largely comes from the helplessness she feels as her daughter rests in a hospital bed. Romano also finds some great characterization in little moments, like Terry's need to write down everything the doctors say, or his feelings about when it's worth taking a risk on a tuna sandwich.

As Kumail's loving but traditional family, Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff land in just the right spot as people who care about Kumail but are very set in their ways. The running joke of Kumail's mom constantly finding him potential wives pays off in some unexpected ways, as honestly at least two of the women seem really cool. Like, big props to that one woman who did the magic trick. It's really typical with jokes about arranged marriage to just have every potential match be hilariously unattractive, which always feels incredibly cruel as it isn't these single women perpetuating this system. I appreciated that this subplot managed to be funny without feeling like it was taking shots at the women who, like Kumail, didn't choose this tradition.

If I had one criticism, I would say that I didn't need as much time in the scenes that take place in the comedy club. They just feel like they go on too long. Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, and Kurt Braunohler are all perfectly likable as Kumail's fellow comedians, but we watch a lot of snippets of so-so comedy sets and it doesn't feel like a good use of run time.

Overall a very solid and very funny romantic comedy.

4

[Takoma11]

Here are my thoughts on the final scene as I think it's perfect:

For the first half of the film, given all the bizarre laws of the aboveground society David lives in and given the manipulation the occupants of the hotel do to avoid turning into animals, one gets the impression that living amongst the loners in the forest, while not without its drawbacks (the hunts from the hotel obviously pose a threat), would be a far more preferable society to live in. When we get to the second half though, it's revealed that the underground society isn't any better as it comes with its own set of bizarre laws and punishments the occupants are forced to follow. Due to this, the dystopian society in the film is one where both the above and underground suck and, as the film continues on, it's clear David can't live comfortably in either one. When we get to the ending, though David is back in the aboveground, he technically isn't a part of either society (he's a wanted fugitive and (I think) an illegal alien) but has an opportunity to escape from both societies altogether and live peacefully with the short sighted woman, provided he blinds himself. Whether he decides to blind himself or not, both alternatives come with their pros and cons and neither option seems good.

Due to this, the dystopian society in the film remains disturbing all throughout since there seems to be no way to comfortably escape from it, neither by choosing one of the two societies to live in or by attempting to exist in neither. The laws of each society and the effect both societies have on each other will always affect you in one way or another. I love how the ending doesn't erase this strength but instead acts as the culmination to it.

I also think that it's a perfect ending for the film.

My conflicted feelings are just to do with how I feel for the two characters in this moment. It feels optimistic and pessimistic at the same time. I appreciate that the film didn't just go straight-up bleak, but it's a complex final scenario.

[ueno_station54]

https://dangvoid.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/screenshot-2021-01-16-161615.png?w=948
Interface (Justin Tomchuk, 2021)

A web series starting in 2017 I believe and has now been compiled into a two hour film. Interface is many things: The quietly humourous adventure of a pink clown eldrich god-being and a man who does not age, a sci-fi/alternative history tale set in a present where the Philadelphia experiment was a real thing that happened, but most of all its a profoundly beautiful and haunting musing on loss, change and the passage of time and a triumph of independent animation. An absolute must watch.
rating_4

[Fabulous]

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/ss0p0nRvXxcKXVKgJQaT35ZkIo9.jpg

[skizzerflake]

My Halloween movie, the best of all vampire flicks, Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's closer than most vamp movies to the original Stoker book, which, while it's fairly tame now, was a sensuous potboiler when it was released back in the late 19th century. Coppola mainly used old-school stagecraft in this movie, kept the Victorian feeling. It's full of subtle humor, with Keanu Reeves doing quite sell as the shallow, naive Harker, Gary Oldman as the snarling vampire and Anthony Hopkins chewing the scenery from beginning to end and frail looking Winona Ryder as the frail Mina. It has blood, half nude enslaved vapirettes, amped up color, and poor Lucy with her outrageously red hair, turning into a vampire. Tom Waits chews even more scenery as the fly-eating Renfield. It's the one to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgFPIh5mvNc

[gbgoodies]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.film-rezensionen.de%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F03%2FThe-Big-Sick-Frontpage.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e1506f80323b8d749b673942549f38f289f5f664b71369f5d547bd58d3fa1b9a&ipo=images

The Big Sick, 2017

Kumail (Kumail Nanjiani) is a stand-up comedian trying to break big in the Chicago scene. At a show he meets Emily (Zoe Kazan), and the two begin a romantic relationship. Their romance hits a rough patch when Emily learn that Kumail has been hiding her existence from his family, who he believes would disown him for not being with a Pakistani woman. It's during their breakup that Emily falls seriously ill and has to be put into a medically induced coma. Kumail ends up spending a lot of time with Emily's parents, Beth (Holly Hunter) and Terry (Ray Romano) while they await the outcome of Emily's worsening condition.

I've had this one on my to-see list for a while. (I have a weird, sort of second hand connection to the couple, so for some reason that's made it strange to think about watching).

Anyway, this was great!

The inherent risk in this story--and more specifically the dynamic of putting it on screen--is that Emily spend a LOT of time in her coma. A LOT. I was really pleased to see how much time the film spent exploring the relationship as it developed and then the rift that forms over Kumail's conflicted feelings about his family's plan for an arranged marriage. A lesser film would have been all to eager to get her in that coma, but the extra time taken to let us know Emily goes a long way toward giving emotional heft to the rest of the film.

It is of course strange to watch someone acting out the story of their own life, but Kumail is a likable and empathetic lead. It must be said, though, that Hunter and Romano are absolutely aces as Emily's parents. Their bonding with Kumail serves as a way for him to work through his own doubts and fears about committing to a partner without his family's approval. A scene where Hunter defends Kumail from a racist heckler is funny but also heartbreaking as you realize that her anger largely comes from the helplessness she feels as her daughter rests in a hospital bed. Romano also finds some great characterization in little moments, like Terry's need to write down everything the doctors say, or his feelings about when it's worth taking a risk on a tuna sandwich.

As Kumail's loving but traditional family, Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff land in just the right spot as people who care about Kumail but are very set in their ways. The running joke of Kumail's mom constantly finding him potential wives pays off in some unexpected ways, as honestly at least two of the women seem really cool. Like, big props to that one woman who did the magic trick. It's really typical with jokes about arranged marriage to just have every potential match be hilariously unattractive, which always feels incredibly cruel as it isn't these single women perpetuating this system. I appreciated that this subplot managed to be funny without feeling like it was taking shots at the women who, like Kumail, didn't choose this tradition.

If I had one criticism, I would say that I didn't need as much time in the scenes that take place in the comedy club. They just feel like they go on too long. Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, and Kurt Braunohler are all perfectly likable as Kumail's fellow comedians, but we watch a lot of snippets of so-so comedy sets and it doesn't feel like a good use of run time.

Overall a very solid and very funny romantic comedy.

4


I just watched The Big Sick a few days ago, and I liked it a lot. I didn't know that it was a true story until after I watched it, and I read some trivia about it, but I don't think that would have changed my opinion about it.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/eb/Barbarian_2022_film_poster.png
By 20th Century Studios - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15791034/mediaviewer/rm3095860225/?ref_=tt_ov_i, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71533473

Barbarian - (2022)

I must say that this didn't appeal to me the numerous times I was subjected to it's trailer, but checking out some people's ratings made me think that there was perhaps more than met the eye - and yes, I did have good old fashioned fun watching Barbarian - a film that doesn't mess us around too much with twists or diversions. It's just a straight up horror film - giving off the kinds of vibes that The Hills Have Eyes and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre gave off in the 70s. This is the 2020s, and you can rest assured that Barbarian is unapologetic about putting a modern issue or two front and center - but that just serves to connect us with the time and place, which is now and here - with the here being the decayed heart of the American dream. What were once family homes, which had decayed into gang-infiltrated poor drug-houses have further deteriorated into a place where monsters lurk. I don't think Barbarian is going to become a classic - but it's just the kind of filthy gratification I like to have when I go see a thriller-ish horror film. What kind of sinister, decayed sickness lurks in the inner heart of those dead suburbs you see from time to time? Go and see Barbarian to find out.

7/10

[matt72582]

My Night at Maud's (1969)

rating_3_5

My third film from director Rohmer after La Collectionneuse and Clare's Knee, and I've felt very similar about all three. Unremarkable characters have unremarkable conversations, mostly about love. Except that, with these characters being on each other's level and the way they respond to one another, the unremarkable dialogue becomes fairly remarkable in the context of their limited stories. This movie has a very small cast, basically featuring only four characters, and all four performances are excellent. All three of these movies are beautifully filmed, although this one doesn't have the beautiful outdoor scenery of the other two. Rohmer's movies have crept up on me just at the moments that I thought I had lost interest. These are also movies that leave me thinking a little bit after they're over.

https://filmgrab.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/2949.jpg?w=960&h=



Yes.. "The Collector" goes on and on about how "you don't deserve paper cuts, but all others do" and over and over.. Then the pretty girl using up a very long scene to talk about "beauty", and then dissecting it further, "I don't mean Greek beauty"... C'mon..


You need this movie - his first one. "The Sign of the Leo". This young guy loves to party with his friends, thinking he's going to inherit money.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053279/

[matt72582]

Just a suggestion to get more conversation... If you post the movie's YouTube link, or mention it's on Prime, you might get some who'll watch it, and then comment while your memory of the movie is still fresh. Especially if the movie is FREE.


Over 4,000 FREE movies here. A great site. Free college courses. Books. Everything.
https://openculture.com/freemoviesonline

[MovieMeditation]

RRR (2022) 2nd watch

https://i.postimg.cc/Dyzp9ddL/C2-F3-EA58-2684-4-F2-F-823-D-A8-DADE6018-B7.jpg

No other big budget Hollywood actioner will ever be the same once one have seen this masterpiece…

I strongly enforce: get some friends together, get some beers, find the biggest screen and audio system possible (preferably go to the cinemas if there are showings near you) and just HAVE A F****** BLAST!

5

[Wooley]

3 From Hell (2019)
https://media.senscritique.com/media/000019849197/source_big/3_from_Hell.jpg
2
I'm not a fan of these kinds of movies, but in the spirit of Halloween, here we are....I have seen Devils Rejects and thought it was fine, but I never saw House of 1000 Corpses. This one lacked originality, direction, intelligence, and I dont really know why it needed to be made haha a slight rating above 1/5 simply because it made me laugh a couple times

I feel like it wasn't a good idea to make this without Sid Haig. This series needs his charisma, Mosley and Moon do not have the stuff to carry a movie like this on their own, IMO.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGI3Zjg4YzUtNDk4ZS00ZGI5LTk2MDEtMWFjYWRlOWJiYTllXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTA3MDk2NDg2._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg


5

[matt72582]

This movie has been on my "must see" list for a long time. Thanks for reminding me to see it!


Did you see this yet? "Rachel, Rachel"?

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://64.media.tumblr.com/439635cbca852d8984b8f6bfabf987f3/d8af5db264ca3d72-ef/s500x750/cfb6d2db2755865f7c13853dac152847b099bc02.gifv
https://64.media.tumblr.com/6a72b18a28de9144c21a9379764f4442/708e5dee26f4c5d1-0b/s640x960/de2026414a30d73e47dea3f5b67684d7488c7ecc.gifv

Alligator - Directed by Lewis Teague with a screenplay written by John Sayles this 1980 horror thriller tries to have as much fun as it can with it's admittedly ramshackle, urban legend premise. It starts out with a family vacationing down in Florida and visiting a reptile farm where the daughter buys a tiny alligator. Flash forward an indeterminate time and the family is back home in Chicago where her exasperated father flushes it down the toilet. This is a giant mutated creature feature so that part is explained away by the gator growing to enormous size on a steady diet of dogs injected with an experimental growth hormone. The perps are local company Slade pharmaceuticals who hire sketchy pet store owner Luke Gutchel (Sydney Lassick) to provide the pooches as well as dispose of the remains in the city sewer system.

People start disappearing which brings in Detective David Madison (Robert Forster). It's always good to see Forster in anything and Sayles makes sure to give him just enough little quirks to make him likable. There's also a running gag involving Madison's touchiness about his male pattern baldness. The detective eventually teams up with herpetologist Marissa Kendall (Robin Riker) to track down and kill the creature.

There are plenty of familiar faces in the supporting cast including Michael V. Gazzo as the Chief of Police, Dean Jagger as the owner of the pharmaceutical company and comic Jack Carter as the Mayor. But as far as I'm concerned the movie doesn't entirely kick into gear until Henry Silva shows up as great white hunter Colonel Brock. He immediately makes his presence known by imitating a gator mating call to a female TV reporter.

I thought this was a fun movie that didn't take itself too seriously and the two leads have a relaxed sort of camaraderie even after getting romantically involved. This was due mostly to Sayles' screenplay and the laid back vibe mixes well with the creature feature aspects.

80/100

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/49/Brian_and_Charles.jpg/220px-Brian_and_Charles.jpg

3.5

SF = Z


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

[beelzebubble]

Keanu (2016) 3.5/5

Its got a cute kitten, Key and Peele, comedy, psycho killers and more. What's not to like?

[Fabulous]

House (1977)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/hyflrnlC6maZt89LElCHjulD27x.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/X_%282022_film%29.jpeg
By http://www.impawards.com/2022/x_ver8.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70038073

X - (2022)

I've been digging deep into The Texas Chainsaw Massacre for a future review, and it just so happens most of the modern day horror films I'm watching lately seem to have been inspired by that seminal horror film. X delves deep into the sexual element of horror, but pointedly goes against the grain of most slashers - the "monsters" in this are hideous because of their violence, for sure, but also because of their age. The longing they have for their youth means they don't conform to what younger people demand old people be once they reach a certain age. The film pointedly shapes some of the film's most horrific scenes around sexualized elements that make us cringe - while contrasting that with young beautiful bodies. There is certainly rage against the dying of the light - which befits the victims and perpetrators in this modern day slasher film, and makes this a cut above many others.

7/10

[blackblazer]

The Last movie i watched was a korean drama called extraordinary attorney woo. It was trending korean drama. But I found it pretty normal movie not that intersting.

[Wooley]

The Last movie i watched was a korean drama called extraordinary attorney woo. It was trending korean drama. But I found it pretty normal movie not that intersting.

I had heard good things about this.

[Stirchley]

Keanu (2016) 3.5/5

Its got a cute kitten, Key and Peele, comedy, psycho killers and more. What's not to like?

Very afraid to watch a movie with a “cute kitten” & “psycho killers”. I’ll pass.

[beelzebubble]

Very afraid to watch a movie with a “cute kitten” & “psycho killers”. I’ll pass.
Keanu is very funny and cute. It is about this guy and his cousin trying to get his kitten back from these drug dealers. Keanu the kitten is in the midst of a lot of mayhem but it is never directed at him. He is really a mcguffin but a cute mcguffin. All these bad guys and our heroes want Keanu for their own pet.

[beelzebubble]

The Hunting Ground (2015) 3.5/5
This is a documentary about sexual assault on college campuses and the ineffective way that it is dealt with by the colleges.
The most disturbing statistic is that 1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted in college and that is those who come forward. This does not even include men who are assaulted by other men as they are even more loathe to come forward.
It places the blame squarely on the colleges and universities themselves as statistics have found that though many are sexually assaulted it is by a very low proportion of men. The men, who assault are repeat offenders. It is implied that if the schools were responsive, the numbers of victims would drop precipitously.

The institutions of higher learning are... surprise, surprise... more interested in their reputation than the safety of their students.

The film is definitely on the side of the victims and only interviews one perpetrator. People are often concerned about the perpetrators rights but only one rapists name was mentioned as far as I remember. And that underscored the difference between the shabby treatment of the victim and the preferential treatment that was given to a perpetrator, who was also a talented athlete and an asset to the school's football program, and therefore to their fund raising.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.tmdb.org%2Ft%2Fp%2Foriginal%2F9ylZMKy0CcO7os1EvVjsrs7vlwM.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=a646202b34b1bdd22d0ac35880b4d116358a9fd3e6ccd6632ab3bbfaa192791d&ipo=images

Brimstone, 2016

Liz (Dakota Fanning) is a mute woman living with her husband (William Houston), his son (Jack Hollington) and her daughter (Ivy George). Liz is a midwife, and things take a turn for the very bad when a new preacher (Guy Pearce) rolls into town: a delivery goes bad and the bereaved father turns violent. As Liz flees the preacher, we get a series of chapters showing how he featured in her past and just how she came to her current situation.

Overall this was a well-acted film that looked great and had some interesting themes, but I struggled with how well I felt the plot fit into the runtime.

To be clear: a long runtime isn't inherently a problem for me. But in this case, it felt very much as if scenes were being given way more than the time they needed to breathe. Around the halfway point I stopped feeling like I was watching a slow burn and the word "plodding" started rearing its head. The reveals that we get as the film goes on are more and more outlandish, and yet I felt less and less moved. There's so much cruelty loaded into the first half of the movie that by the time I got to the end I had spent all of my caring coins.

I did think that the performances were really good. Even though it seemed like there was something a little funky going on with his accent, Pearce makes for a more than menacing antagonist. Perfectly balancing his performance is Fanning. Her Liz is clearly a strong person (heck, you'd have to be delivering babies on the frontier!), and her barely concealed panic every time she sees the preacher does plenty of heavy lifting in making him an imposing figure.

I also thought that the supporting actors were very good, including Emilia Jones as a young woman who features in Liz's past. Carice van Houten is haunting as Liz's mother in one of the flashback chapters. And though his role is very brief, Kit Harington makes an impression as a rare example of a sort of moral person in this bleak environment. I'd also give a nod to George, who more than holds her own against much older and more experienced actors.

The film also looks really good. It's a beautiful portrayal of a bleak and harsh landscape, ranging from arid deserts to snowy woods. There were also some really neat camera shots, such as a lovely and almost seamless transition holding on one character from one room to another.

I do think, though, that the movie lost me quite a bit in the last 15-20 minutes. The film is already an extended chronicle of cruel, brutal, and unfair things happening to people, especially women. (While several man are also killed, they are done so more incidentally, while many female characters are tortured, harassed, beaten, etc). It's such a negative outlook that it actually begins to rob the film of suspense. Oh, will that nice person be killed? Of course they will! It almost feels like it's bordering on parody as, in the last act Liz's possibly undead father is monologuing about getting to rape her 7 or 8 year old daughter.

The film does offer a brutal portrayal of patriarchy, and more broadly how abuse and mistreatment are able to thrive especially in certain closed environments, whether that's a church or a brothel. (The fact that women are abused just as badly in the church as in the brothel is sort of bleakly funny.) I did appreciate the film's acknowledgement that women who stand up to abuse often do not fare well. The women in this movie who fight back against abuse are usually just abused further and worse, because the power structure that enables the abuse in the first place also enforces punishments against any pushback. I think that it also neatly skewers the whole "barely legal" fetishist crowd.

I was drawn into this one with the strong opening act, but I felt that it ran on too long and started to become a case of diminishing returns. The more it revealed, the less powerful it got.

3.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/de/Flee_%28film%29.jpg
By IMP Awards / 2021 Movie Poster Gallery / Flee Poster (#2 of 2), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68237239

Flee - (2021)

Flee has a bitter-sweet kind of sadness which stays with you long after it finishes. It also rekindles a restless rage from deep inside of me, because my country treats fleeing refugees like horrible criminals, and Australian political parties take advantage of the xenophobia a certain percentage of my fellow countrymen are saddled with, like tumors. It tells the true story of a man with the alias Amin Nawabi - from his childhood in Afghanistan during the communist days and Soviet invasion (when his father, an anti-communist is dragged off one night never to be seen again) to his family fleeing the Taliban, and ending up in Moscow. Russia was a terrible place for Afghan refugees to be, and so began the plight of his family placing their trust in people smugglers to get the hell out. The horrors they endure will last a lifetime in their memories - but what's worse is the fact that the close-knit family ended up scattered throughout Europe. This film ended up a triple-threat at the 2022 Oscars, for it's animated, a documentary and comes from Denmark. I've now seen 3/5 Best Foreign Language Oscar nominees (winner Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World the other two) and 3/5 Best Feature Documentary nominees (Ascension and Attica the other two). So, was it any good? Yeah - at first I thought seeing another true story in this animated style would be tiring - but it's just different enough to be unique, and it feels like an essential component. The animated storytelling felt like real mental pictures, accessed by Nawabi's memories - and seeing his mother and sisters through the lens of his mind made this all the more sad. Nawabi's homosexuality is also explored - for in Afghanistan, being gay is considered so bad that there isn't even a word for it, so him fleeing the Taliban and finding himself in a more sexually free country completed the picture of escaping persecution and horror. I recommend Flee to those who haven't seen it.

8/10

[pahaK]

Brimstone, 2016

The film is already an extended chronicle of cruel, brutal, and unfair things happening to people, especially women. (While several man are also killed, they are done so more incidentally, while many female characters are tortured, harassed, beaten, etc).

I don't think this film could (or should) possibly work without its brutal treatment of women (and I don't think there was anything incidental or non-cruel in the death of Liz's husband). To me, Brimstone is an anti-religion (with Christian dressing but as, if not more, applicable to Islam as well) film structured in mythical or biblical form.

Brimstone is set in stone for my 2010s ballot. One of my favorite films from this century.

[Thief]

I SAW THE DEVIL
(2010, Kim)

https://i.imgur.com/2LhVt8G.png


"Don't act so weak... this is just the beginning. Remember... your nightmare's only getting worse!"



I Saw the Devil follows Kim Soo-hyun (Lee Byung-huh), a young Secret Service agent that sets out to take revenge on Jang Kyung-chul (Choi Min-sik), the ruthless serial killer that brutally murdered his fiancée. The above is not a statement from the serial killer, but from Kim, who is determined to make Kyung-chul suffer through an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse that will only get worse.

This main premise is nothing new. The downward spiral of a quest for revenge hardly leads to a good place. The horrors committed by Kyung-chul are not hidden, and evident from the first 20 minutes of the film; there is no denying that. But by heading down this path, Kim technically becomes as ruthless as this serial killer. But even though this is a road that has been walked before on other films, a taut direction from Kim Jee-woon, and some solid performances, especially from Choi, make the journey worthwhile.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344141#post2344141)

[Thief]

THE PLATFORM
(2019, Gaztelu-Urrutia)

https://i.imgur.com/05MbmOa.jpg


"Do you believe in God?
"This month, yes."



The Platform follows Goreng (Iván Massagué), a man that wakes up in a concrete cell labeled #48 along with the older Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor). It is through him that we learn that they're both part of a social experiment where people are held prisoners in a multi-leveled structure, while a platform filled to the brim with food descends through a hole in the center of each room. As expected, the ones in the upper levels enjoy the feast, while the ones in the lower levels get nothing.

The Platform premiered in Spain in late 2019, but it was brought to Netflix in March 2020, just as the pandemic started. And to be honest, I can't think of a better representation of the selfishness of people that is represented in the film than the way people have behaved all through these years; the individual interests superseding the good of the whole, but also the failures of economical systems that favor the wealthy. The film is not subtle about its message, but still executes it really well.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344167#post2344167)

[Thief]

THE GIRL IN THE YELLOW JUMPER
(2020, Loukman)

https://i.imgur.com/YajU76R.png


"Sometimes, the good thing is not always the right thing to do."



The Girl in the Yellow Jumper opens with Jim (Michael Wawuyo Jr.) as he limps injured through the Ugandan countryside, trying to hitch a ride to the city. He is eventually picked up by Patrick (Maurice Kirya), an off-duty cop who's reluctantly transporting a witness. On their way, the two men share some stories that shed some light about how they got to where they are now, but more importantly, who they really are.

I had never heard of this Ugandan mystery thriller, but saw it come up on a couple of lists of African films, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by it. Not only is it extremely well shot, but its labyrinthine story is craftily weaved in a way that makes it a real pleasure to unfold. Maybe director and writer Loukman Ali goes a bit too far with some red herrings, but for the most part, everything he sets up, has a solid payoff in the end.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344182#post2344182)

[Deschain]

THE PLATFORM
(2019, Gaztelu-Urrutia)

https://i.imgur.com/05MbmOa.jpg

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344167#post2344167)

I put this on a while back expecting some forgettable trash to use as background noise and was shocked at how good it was.

[Thief]

I put this on a while back expecting some forgettable trash to use as background noise and was shocked at how good it was.

Oh yeah, and unsettling too.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/aa/99/26/aa9926b0dd7849127741271ad8216556.gif
https://i.gifer.com/origin/3d/3db9792da2d763a776089123e24063db.gif

Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena) - This 1973 Spanish parable is a simple and quiet movie where nothing of great consequence happens. It takes place in a small village in 1940 Spain and the Civil War has just ended with Francoist forces victorious. One day a traveling cinema comes into town and most of the village, including six year old Ana (Ana Torrent) and her older sister Isabel (Isabel Telleria), attends a showing of James Whale's Frankenstein. The film is exploited as government propaganda and meant as a warning against socialism. The monster inadvertently causing the death of a little girl and his subsequent burning leaves Ana distressed and full of questions. Isabel explains that it's all fake but plays on her little sister's gullibility by telling her that the monster is like a spirit and that Ana can talk to him by calling to him. Later on she takes her to an abandoned livestock shed and says that is where the monster lives.

The girls live with their older father Fernando (Fernando Fernán Gómez) and their much younger mother Teresa (Teresa Gimpera). Their father busies himself with his bees and writes in his journal of his loathing for the "mindless activity of the beehive". The mother has grown distant from her family and spends her time writing and posting letters to an old lover. The two little girls can also be seen as symbols for the country's innocence before the war and it's cynicism and materialism after Franco's victory but Erice never lays out the rationales behind his metaphors. He instead lets the performances speak for themselves and counts on the audience to follow along. His message is helped along by the charming little Torrent in her screen debut. She basically holds the whole thing together with her big, dark eyes and solemn comportment.

As I said before it's a small, quiet and slow moving film but it works if you allow yourself to be carried along by it's dreamlike pull. And you can definitely see the influence it had on Guillermo Del Toro's work.

80/100

[Takoma11]

I don't think this film could (or should) possibly work without its brutal treatment of women (and I don't think there was anything incidental or non-cruel in the death of Liz's husband). To me, Brimstone is an anti-religion (with Christian dressing but as, if not more, applicable to Islam as well) film structured in mythical or biblical form.

I don't disagree.

If you look at the whole paragraph, my point was that the preponderance of such violence weakens the last act because the total lack of, well, hope means that there just isn't the suspense that the film needs. If the film were just a drama, it wouldn't be such a problem. But the whole movie builds to the showdown between Liz and the preacher and I felt like the air had gone out of the tires by the time we got there.

Also, I thought that the epilogue/very ending was just straight up annoying. On paper I think that the idea that your past can jump up and bite you even after it's "dead" is a good one and an interesting one.

But the man showing up to arrest Liz just left me irritated. You're really telling me that Liz went willingly and smilingly to her death, leaving behind a child younger than she was when she started being abused by her father?

I don't mind that a movie about the oppression of women contained violence against women. I thought that overall the film did a good job of walking the line between what we saw on screen and what we didn't. It didn't feel exploitative. But by the end it was starting to feel like parody and not like the epic pursuit/struggle that I think was intended.

[Thief]

TERRIFIER 2
(2022, Leone)

https://i.imgur.com/h20DSrH.jpg


"They used me to get you here. They need you in this place for a reason."
"Why are you saying that?"
"It's what Daddy saw. I think you're the only one who can stop him."
"Why?"
"I don't know."



Starting immediately after its predecessor, Terrifier 2 follows the Art the Clown again as he is mysteriously resurrected. A year later, he sets out on another killing spree, this time mostly focused on Sienna (Lauren LaVera) and her brother, Jonathan (Elliot Fullam). But can Sienna stop him once and for all? I don't know, she doesn't know, and neither does the film; or at least they don't want to tell us yet.

For the most part, Terrifier 2 delivers and/or improves in all the areas that the original excelled in. The production values are significantly higher, the special effects and the gore is wickedly good, and the cast is likable even if the performances aren't top-notch. One performance that does stand out, though, is Thornton who is amazing. The way he uses his body language and face expressions to instill that sense of dread and terror mixed with dark humor is amazing. He is easily the film's biggest asset.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344208#post2344208)

[Thief]

THE 9TH CIRCLE
(2008, Leone)

https://i.imgur.com/89xWjVU.jpg


"Help me, please! There's something down there. We have to get out of here!"



Intrigued by Damien Leone's work, I went out and checked his first short film, which is also the first media to feature Art the Clown (this time played by Mike Giannelli). This one follows a young woman (Kayla Lian) abducted from a deserted train station and subjected to a series of horrors.

The 9th Circle is pretty much what you would expect from a rookie horror director. It's a mish-mash of every common trope found on films about the occult and the likes. From the dangerous evil clown handing out flowers with insects and the mysterious wart-skinned creature living underground to the mysterious group with hoods and masks pulling out babies and pouring blood on chalices.

It's not only that we've seen it before, but also that it doesn't seem to make much sense other than to be there because, well, it's *occult*. Still, Leone's direction is solid, and at less than 10 minutes, it's not much of a chore to get through. So there has to be no rush to get out of there.

Grade: 2

[ThatDarnMKS]

Banshees of Inisherin

https://boxd.it/3ouX4L

5/5

Movie of the Year

Oh yeah. I also upgraded Tar to a 5/5. Because I can’t stop thinking of it. Great run at the theater. Here’s hoping Triangle of Sadness doesn’t drop the ball.

[iwatchmovies]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTMzODU0NTkxMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjQ4MzMzMw@@._V1_.jpg

Ratatouille (2007) -:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

Been rewatching several Disney / Pixar movies and this happened to be the first of many

[beelzebubble]

Banshees of Inisherin

https://boxd.it/3ouX4L

5/5

Movie of the Year

Oh yeah. I also upgraded Tar to a 5/5. Because I can’t stop thinking of it. Great run at the theater. Here’s hoping Triangle of Sadness doesn’t drop the ball.
Can't wait to see Banshees of Inisherin. I loved Three Billboards. I thought for sure it would have won the Oscar that year.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmoviemarker.co.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F4.26.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c3c7823f8b772617e7b324301ebe99fa1a1ba88e9d42b53cb19858c4d810178d&ipo=images

Age of Adaline, 2015

Born in the early 1900s, Adaline (Blake Lively) lives a relatively normal life until a freak accident halts her aging. Forced to live a life of deception, moving every so often to avoid suspicion, Adaline's world is shaken up when she begins a romance with Ellis (Michiel Huisman). Things are further complicated when it turns out that Adaline and Ellis's father (Harrison Ford) have a history together.

This was overall a sweet and engaging fantasy romance, though its mix of genres didn't always work for me.

On the positive side, the lead performance from Lively is very engaging. She plays a great mix of someone who is vibrant and yet forced into a life of caution and even paranoia. Huisman is also good as Ellis, to the extent that the writing allows (though more about this later). The film's real ace in the hole is Ellen Burstyn, who plays Adaline's daughter Flemming, very much grown up and forced to pretend that she is her own mother's grandmother.

I also enjoyed the look of the film, which is polished and dreamy and makes the most of warm tones and fun costumes.

At its best, I thought that the film did a great job of showing how such an immortal life would lead to moments both wonderful and painful. A sequence in which Adaline looks back at a scrapbook of all the pets she has lost really pulled at my heartstrings. As she looks at it, she laughs and cries. Preparing to leave for a new state, she adds herself (under a fake name) to her bank account, remembering decades old conversations from the same office. Playing a game of Trivial Pursuit, she feigns not knowing an answer, but when goaded proves she has a fabulous memory.

Where the film didn't entirely sell me was in the romance. For starters, Ellis was way too aggressive and intrusive at the beginning. He follows her into an elevator in a move that is straight out of a horror movie. When she later very clearly is like "I'm done for the evening" he continues to persist. He finds out where she works and then (sort of joking but also . . . not joking?) threatens to withdraw a $50,000 donation unless she goes on a date with him. He gets her home address from her workplace(?!?!?!?!?!?!) where he has sway because of his wealth, and then shows up at her home unannounced. Huisman does a good job of selling charisma and also some raw sex appeal, but Ellis as a character was a bit of a flop for me. As written he's kind of smarmy and arrogant, and Huisman's charm just barely rises above this. Like after decades and decades this is the guy making her have second thoughts about her life?

I also thought that the resolution was kind of cheesy and I cringed as they tried to make it "science-y". It was all too parallel and convenient and just felt contrived.

I feel like I'm giving slightly lower scores than usual, but is it too much to ask that a film have a good premise and stick the landing?

3.5

[ThatDarnMKS]

Can't wait to see Banshees of Inisherin. I loved Three Billboards. I thought for sure it would have won the Oscar that year.
It takes a lot of the themes and concepts that McDonagh was attempting in Three Billboards and delivers them in a classier, more stripped down fashion. As if he watched a lot of Bergman and Coen Bros, without losing his own distinct voice.

[Corax]

THE PLATFORM
(2019, Gaztelu-Urrutia)

https://i.imgur.com/05MbmOa.jpg




The Platform follows Goreng (Iván Massagué), a man that wakes up in a concrete cell labeled #48 along with the older Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor). It is through him that we learn that they're both part of a social experiment where people are held prisoners in a multi-leveled structure, while a platform filled to the brim with food descends through a hole in the center of each room. As expected, the ones in the upper levels enjoy the feast, while the ones in the lower levels get nothing.

The Platform premiered in Spain in late 2019, but it was brought to Netflix in March 2020, just as the pandemic started. And to be honest, I can't think of a better representation of the selfishness of people that is represented in the film than the way people have behaved all through these years; the individual interests superseding the good of the whole, but also the failures of economical systems that favor the wealthy. The film is not subtle about its message, but still executes it really well.

Grade: rating_4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344167#post2344167)


A little too "on the nose" for me as an allegory for class and resource distribution.



It's a little overly-negative in it's predictions. We're built for cooperation and competition. People in Nazi death camps, and natural disasters, and so on, have managed some amazing acts of self-sacrifice and cooperation.



The "veneer theory" that our humanity is a thin-coating barely covering up our naked, brutal, self-interest appeals to misanthropic fears and authoritarian philosophers like Hobbes, and hating ourselves is now our favorite past times here in the anthropocene, but the truth is more complicated than people simply being "evil-on-a-leash."

[StuSmallz]

It takes a lot of the themes and concepts that McDonagh was attempting in Three Billboards and delivers them in a classier, more stripped down fashion. As if he watched a lot of Bergman and Coen Bros, without losing his own distinct voice.I thought you liked Billboards?

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d9/Lethal_weapon1.jpg
By Impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16189473

Lethal Weapon - (1987)

Buddy cop action movies were a big feature of 1980s cinema, and when we didn't have buddies fighting crime, the protagonist would usually be a cop anyway. Lethal Weapon managed to shoehorn in another 80s obsession - the Vietnam war - by way of Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) being ex U.S. Army Special Forces and the crime he investigates with Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) a drug running operation that was initially an offshoot from the war. This movie was popular because of the chemistry Gibson and Glover have and the believable way they develop a growing friendship between Riggs and Murtaugh - something that every sequel and reboot plays up the angle on. Lethal Weapon's action actually leaves me a little flat, but whenever we get a scene that features Glover and Gibson's growing bromance I love this to death. I watched the 'director's cut' for the first time last night, which includes a few extraneous scenes (including one huge one where Riggs takes down a sniper who is firing on school kids, but not before daring him to shoot the suicidal character.) All Murtaugh wants to do is get through one single day where Riggs doesn't kill someone. Richard Donner was nearing the end of a great run (aside from The Toy) and this was certainly one of his best - he knew to include much more of the friendship building and stay light on the action.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6f/Babe_ver1.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15652034

Babe - (1995)

If I had to compile a list of kid's films that I don't mind watching, Babe would be on it - it's ultra cute. I find all the talking animals in it adorable. I like how it's not afraid to be honest much of the time - it shows us the cramped, sunless pens pigs are kept in and admits that their off to be butchered. I imagine this has led many a kid to instantly convert to vegetarianism.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/Crow_ver2.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7556692

The Crow - (1994)

I don't know if The Crow would have been more or less successful if it weren't for Brandon Lee's senseless death - it was certainly publicity. Watching it all these years later, I have to admit that despite a shaky beginning The Crow is rather good in an action sense and acting-wise. You can sense the meaningful imitation of the comic style-wise, if not narratively and it has a soundtrack that further enhances the grim gothic cyberpunk world it's set in. It's a completely enjoyable experience if you're into painful catharsis, and features a series of villains each more over-the-top and flamboyant than the last.

7.5/10

[ThatDarnMKS]

I thought you liked Billboards?
Indeed. I’m a huge McDonagh fan. I loved his ambitious swings with SP and 3B but I think they were shakier than In Bruges.

TBOI is simply him landing those ambitious swings with confidence and maturity. It reminds me of his brother’s film Calvary a lot.

[Wooley]

THE 9TH CIRCLE
(2008, Leone)

https://i.imgur.com/89xWjVU.jpg




Intrigued by Damien Leone's work, I went out and checked his first short film, which is also the first media to feature Art the Clown (this time played by Mike Giannelli). This one follows a young woman (Kayla Lian) abducted from a deserted train station and subjected to a series of horrors.

The 9th Circle is pretty much what you would expect from a rookie horror director. It's a mish-mash of every common trope found on films about the occult and the likes. From the dangerous evil clown handing out flowers with insects and the mysterious wart-skinned creature living underground to the mysterious group with hoods and masks pulling out babies and pouring blood on chalices.

It's not only that we've seen it before, but also that it doesn't seem to make much sense other than to be there because, well, it's *occult*. Still, Leone's direction is solid, and at less than 10 minutes, it's not much of a chore to get through. So there has to be no rush to get out of there.

Grade: 2

This is the first segment of Leone's first feature film All Hallow's Eve. Leone added some additional footage for the feature but otherwise it is the short film exactly. As a known hater of Terrifier (the feature not Leone's other short film), it's funny that I actually liked this supernatural-adjacent version of the Art The Clown character. One of my (many) beefs with Terrifier was that the supernatural/omnipotent element was scrapped and he was reduced to a woman-hating and intermittently inept serial-killer. But I really liked the idea of this silent clown who was somehow just down with the Underworld unless of course you pissed him off and then he would hack you to pieces himself.

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmoviemarker.co.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F4.26.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=c3c7823f8b772617e7b324301ebe99fa1a1ba88e9d42b53cb19858c4d810178d&ipo=images

Age of Adaline, 2015

I feel like I'm giving slightly lower scores than usual, but is it too much to ask that a film have a good premise and stick the landing?

3.5

No.
This is a criticism I get a lot of grief about, that the more you promise, the more important it is that you, ya know, deliver.

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6f/Babe_ver1.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15652034

Babe - (1995)

If I had to compile a list of kid's films that I don't mind watching, Babe would be on it - it's ultra cute. I find all the talking animals in it adorable. I like how it's not afraid to be honest much of the time - it shows us the cramped, sunless pens pigs are kept in and admits that their off to be butchered. I imagine this has led many a kid to instantly convert to vegetarianism.

7/10


I have higher praise for it, considering it to be a movie about adorable talking animals that is simply a good movie, kids be damned. I doubt I could go lower than an 8 on it given that if I gave ratings they would be largely based on how well a film delivers on its intention. I can't imagine how this could be a better warm-hearted, talking-animals movie.
It's certainly a better movie than The Crow.

[Thief]

This is the first segment of Leone's first feature film All Hallow's Eve. Leone added some additional footage for the feature but otherwise it is the short film exactly. As a known hater of Terrifier (the feature not Leone's other short film), it's funny that I actually liked this supernatural-adjacent version of the Art The Clown character. One of my (many) beefs with Terrifier was that the supernatural/omnipotent element was scrapped and he was reduced to a woman-hating and intermittently inept serial-killer. But I really liked the idea of this silent clown who was somehow just down with the Underworld unless of course you pissed him off and then he would hack you to pieces himself.

I think that "scraping the supernatural" angle was somewhat intentional on Terrifier, as it sorta serves as an origin of sorts. The Art on that film seems to be a psychopatic misanthrope at first, rather than an otherworld entity. However, that supernatural angle would be picked up right at the end and continued in the sequel.

[PHOENIX74]

It's certainly a better movie than The Crow.

I know I gave The Crow 7.5/10 and Babe 7/10 but I'd find it really hard to judge a really cute and adorable talking animals film against a dark, grim and violent gothic graphic comic book adaptation. If I had to hand out a trophy to the best made, it would go to Babe without hesitation (and Babe might get a better rating if I knuckled down to do a proper review) - but I have to admit I enjoyed both films about the same when I watched them yesterday. I detect from your tone that you're not a fan of The Crow - but I'm willing to stick my neck out and say that after a terribly worrying first 10 minutes which looks like it's setting out to be a turkey, it really rocks and delivers on it's premise - even if it leans a little too far towards taking inspiration from Batman.

Loving Babe however, can't help but get my tick of approval.

[Wooley]

I know I gave The Crow 7.5/10 and Babe 7/10 but I'd find it really hard to judge a really cute and adorable talking animals film against a dark, grim and violent gothic graphic comic book adaptation. If I had to hand out a trophy to the best made, it would go to Babe without hesitation (and Babe might get a better rating if I knuckled down to do a proper review) - but I have to admit I enjoyed both films about the same when I watched them yesterday. I detect from your tone that you're not a fan of The Crow - but I'm willing to stick my neck out and say that after a terribly worrying first 10 minutes which looks like it's setting out to be a turkey, it really rocks and delivers on it's premise - even if it leans a little too far towards taking inspiration from Batman.

Loving Babe however, can't help but get my tick of approval.

I think maybe that was my issue with it. It is true that I have not seen the film since it's first video run, after walking out of the theater angry when I originally saw it. I was a fan of the graphic novel and thought the movie took a huge dump on it and I was furious. I thought it was cartoonish and silly and over-the-top and desperately chasing Batman and I hated that about it. Also way too glossy and 90s. But I should really re-watch it and get a fresh perspective as I've low-key hated that movie for years for being everything I thought was wrong with movie-making at that time.
Meanwhile, I had to accept that Babe is essentially perfect at being what it is, even though I watched it kicking and screaming.

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bc/1a/34/bc1a34399272d776304bc426d82c8ae4.gif
https://media.tenor.com/FbFGZ_f8qhMAAAAC/stare-window.gif

Peeping Tom - Making this movie had to have been a ballsy move on the part of Michael Powell. It was released in Britain in 1960 and was roundly excoriated, damaging Powell's reputation and effectively ending his career in the UK. Hitchcock's Psycho was released in the US two months later with different results. I never figured the US in the late 50's/early 60's to be a laidback sort of place so this surprises me. I figured both countries had more than it's share of bluenoses at the time.

Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm) is a focus puller working at a London film studio. He's shy and withdrawn and doesn't really socialize. He's also never seen without his ever present film camera. As the movie opens a man approaches a streetwalker while surreptitiously filming her with a hidden camera. He procures her services and follows her up to her apartment where he reveals his camera and, meticulously recording her reactions, murders her.

As it is gradually revealed, Mark was the son of a noted psychologist who used him as a guinea pig in his studies concerning the effects of fear inducing stimuli on the nervous system. He also made sure to capture the results on audio recordings and film which of course tidily explains Mark's voyeurism fetish. With both of his parents dead Mark lives in his old family home and rents out the downstairs rooms. He makes the acquaintance of Helen (Anna Massey) and her blind mother Mrs. Stephens (Maxine Audley) and finds himself drawn to Helen's compassionate nature. In the meantime the police are hot on the trail of what they now consider to be a serial killer with a distinctive calling card. The victims are all found with the same look of abject terror on their faces.

Before his death in 1990 Powell's reputation was somewhat rehabilitated when director Martin Scorcese personally championed the film after first watching it in 1970. It went on to gain a cultlike status both here in the states and in it's native England. For not only what it did but, more importantly, the time it did it in I think it has earned it's cult status.

80/100

[honeykid]

It was released in Britain in 1960 and was roundly excoriated, damaging Powell's reputation and effectively ending his career in the UK. Hitchcock's Psycho was released in the US two months later with different results. I never figured the US in the late 50's/early 60's to be a laidback sort of place so this surprises me. I figured both countries had more than it's share of bluenoses at the time.

I think it's because Peeping Tom is a more sexual, seedy and lurid film which, explicitly, focuses on what's being done and makes the viewer part of 'the crime'. To have the filmmaker showing you something 'disgusting' or 'perverted' is one thing, to make you complicit in it is another. There's also the fact that these reviewers are writing for their audience. Or, rather, the audience of the paper their audience is buying. It would've taken a lot to stand out among these people and tell them something good about something everyone else is saying is disgusting. After that, it's a competition as to who can come up with the most descriptive, attention grabbing sentence.

[WHITBISSELL!]

I think it's because Peeping Tom is a more sexual, seedy and lurid film which, explicitly, focuses on what's being done and makes the viewer part of 'the crime'. To have the filmmaker showing you something 'disgusting' or 'perverted' is one thing, to make you complicit in it is another. There's also the fact that these reviewers are writing for their audience. Or, rather, the audience of the paper their audience is buying. It would've taken a lot to stand out among these people and tell them something good about something everyone else is saying is disgusting. After that, it's a competition as to who can come up with the most descriptive, attention grabbing sentence.You're absolutely right. I read some of the reviews and, even factoring in the era and the film dealing with something that just wasn't talked about in polite circles, a lot of it came off as contrived overkill.

[cricket]

Toni Erdmann (2016)

4+

http://montages.no/files/2016/06/te6.jpg

Mature comedy drama that totally works on both levels. Great performances especially from the two leads. It's 2 hrs and 40 minutes and not a minute too long. #64 on the female directors list and that's way too low

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-N-rjl4uQSc0%2FWbmvfiyCKaI%2FAAAAAAAAAvs%2FTEV-Y_5T1-EroqM0I9MdYNyFKZgr7-y1QCLcBGAs%2Fw1200-h630-p-k-no-nu%2Fmother%252Breview%252B01.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=4223f4ac149a4d529fad4f2d0cdcc82e83bcbda72a27d521db67f275b5121bfa&ipo=images

Mother!, 2017

In this highly allegorical film, a woman (Jennifer Lawrence) lives in a sprawling home she is restoring as her husband (Javier Bardem) struggles to write a book of poetry. One day a man (Ed Harris) arrives at their home and the husband invites them to stay. Soon thereafter, the man's wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) also arrives. The couple becomes increasingly intrusive into the lives of the main characters, but it's just a preview of what is to come.

I remember reading a review of this movie that gave it an F. As with any movie that gets scored this way, it kind of makes you want to check it out. For me, where the film was very successful was in the way that it managed to exist in a very blatant figurative mode while at the same time evoking repeated visceral and emotional reactions from me.

I won't claim to have freaked out at any point during this movie, but it was a solid two hours of shuddering recognition and "ugh, don't remind me" moments. There are some basic nightmare premise moments, such as a person coming into your personal space and treating you and your things with disrespect. There are some gender-specific nightmare moments, such as a man whose flirting attention turns vicious when he's rejected or the notion of giving birth in chaotic and dangerous circumstances.

It took me a while, honestly, to pick up on the religious aspect of the film. For a large part of the runtime I was reading it more as an allegory about environmental damage with the house being the Earth and the intruders being people and their lack of care for the home. Looking at it through a lens of connecting to Christian mythology, I see those connections, but that's not really the level on which I was interacting with the movie, if that makes sense.

I thought that Lawewnce's performance was really stunning. At so many turns, she is disrespected, but forced to put a smile on her face out of the rules of civility. What she really gets across is someone who thinks that they can grit it out, only to realize that what's happening has no end and is only going to escalate. Bardem is maddeningly effective as her awful husband, who not only totally disregards her feelings, but fails to act in any meaningful way until it is far too late.

I did like the way that the film was shot, moving around the space of the house so that even something as simple as the woman turning to look at her husband comes across like a jump scare. The house has many layers, and manages to feel both too large to keep track of and claustrophobic.

This film was quite the barrage. It certainly held my attention! I'm not sure I'd want to watch it again, but I'm very glad I checked it out.

4

[crumbsroom]

mother was one of those films I didn't know exactly how I felt about. Which is, I guess, a good thing.

[Takoma11]

mother was one of those films I didn't know exactly how I felt about. Which is, I guess, a good thing.

Same. For a lot of it I was like "Is this terrible or great? Or maybe neither?".

So in the end it was just sort of about how it made me feel in my emotions.

[Captain Terror]

I won't claim to have freaked out at any point during this movie, but it was a solid two hours of shuddering recognition and "ugh, don't remind me" moments. There are some basic nightmare premise moments, such as a person coming into your personal space and treating you and your things with disrespect.
Yes, this was more stressful for me than most horror films (in a good way).


I also missed some of the symbolism but I was completely on board with the film from the beginning. One of my favorites of that year.

[Takoma11]

Yes, this was more stressful for me than most horror films (in a good way).

LOL. I barely blink when someone takes an ax to the head, but during this movie I was like "Why are they still sitting on the sink?! IT'S NOT BRACED YET!!!!!"

[beelzebubble]

LOL. I barely blink when someone takes an ax to the head, but during this movie I was like "Why are they still sitting on the sink?! IT'S NOT BRACED YET!!!!!"
I knew as soon as I read this you people were talking about MOTHER!:lol::lol::lol: definitely a wild ride.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Taking_of_Pelham_One_Two_Three_%281974_film%29.jpg
By May be found at the following website: https://www.imdb.com/media/rm3445799680/tt0072251, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8245506

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - (1974)

I shoved three films out of my schedule because I'd much rather watch The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - a film I'd never seen before, and one with a gripping story about the hijacking of a New York subway train. Who better to do that (for our enjoyment) than Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, and a young Héctor Elizondo. Working with and against them are Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller! The hijackers (who are demanding a million dollars, lest they start executing the hostages) call themselves Mr. Green, Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown etc. The movie is great - engrossing and entertaining. The villains are cut-throat, and won't hesitate to shoot and kill innocent people - the good guys are beleaguered, and the mayor (played by Lee Wallace) is a doofus. This all coming a year before Dog Day Afternoon, which has a similar feel, even though the hostage-takers in that film were amateur fools, and the ones in this have planned everything down to the smallest detail, and three out of the four are professionals. There's nothing silly in this film - Pelham One Two Three plays everything straight (thought we get our light moments with the aforementioned mayor - and there's one hell of a lot of wisecracking jokes), and we get to see how each character's distinct personality affects what happens moment by moment - with tension strung tight. It has a jazzy, cool kind of score which fits the movie perfectly. Great stuff - loved it.

8/10

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Taking_of_Pelham_One_Two_Three_%281974_film%29.jpg
By May be found at the following website: https://www.imdb.com/media/rm3445799680/tt0072251, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8245506

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - (1974)

I shoved three films out of my schedule because I'd much rather watch The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - a film I'd never seen before, and one with a gripping story about the hijacking of a New York subway train. Who better to do that (for our enjoyment) than Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, and a young Héctor Elizondo. Working with and against them are Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller! The hijackers (who are demanding a million dollars, lest they start executing the hostages) call themselves Mr. Green, Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown etc. The movie is great - engrossing and entertaining. The villains are cut-throat, and won't hesitate to shoot and kill innocent people - the good guys are beleaguered, and the mayor (played by Lee Wallace) is a doofus. This all coming a year before Dog Day Afternoon, which has a similar feel, even though the hostage-takers in that film were amateur fools, and the ones in this have planned everything down to the smallest detail, and three out of the four are professionals. There's nothing silly in this film - Pelham One Two Three plays everything straight (thought we get our light moments with the aforementioned mayor - and there's one hell of a lot of wisecracking jokes), and we get to see how each character's distinct personality affects what happens moment by moment - with tension strung tight. It has a jazzy, cool kind of score which fits the movie perfectly. Great stuff - loved it.

8/10

Yeah, I love this one. To me it's everything that was right about filmmaking in the 70s in that it's really an action film but there's lots of great dialogue and the characters are good and the lead is a distinctly un-handsome person and yet the film is excellent. Matthau is so great in this, as is Shaw and I liked Hector Elizondo a lot in this too. And that last scene.

[Marco]

McVicar (1980)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/McVicarPoster.jpg
The story of John McVicar, bank robber, prison escapee. This has all the hard edges of a Brit film of the time (try and think of an elongated "Sweeney") but is a really enjoyable film. With Adam Faith, Billy Murray and Roger Daltrey (who is excellent as the titular character). The soundtrack (sung by Daltrey) is fitting as he is covering different songs by different artists. It really is quite a tale and tightly told. The violent parts are not *too* violent and the emotional parts (especially the scene where his son calls him daddy) are powerful. Daltrey did a great job here IMHO.

3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/41/Taking_of_Pelham_One_Two_Three_%281974_film%29.jpg
By May be found at the following website: https://www.imdb.com/media/rm3445799680/tt0072251, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8245506

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - (1974)

I shoved three films out of my schedule because I'd much rather watch The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - a film I'd never seen before, and one with a gripping story about the hijacking of a New York subway train. Who better to do that (for our enjoyment) than Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, and a young Héctor Elizondo. Working with and against them are Walter Matthau and Jerry Stiller! The hijackers (who are demanding a million dollars, lest they start executing the hostages) call themselves Mr. Green, Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown etc. The movie is great - engrossing and entertaining. The villains are cut-throat, and won't hesitate to shoot and kill innocent people - the good guys are beleaguered, and the mayor (played by Lee Wallace) is a doofus. This all coming a year before Dog Day Afternoon, which has a similar feel, even though the hostage-takers in that film were amateur fools, and the ones in this have planned everything down to the smallest detail, and three out of the four are professionals. There's nothing silly in this film - Pelham One Two Three plays everything straight (thought we get our light moments with the aforementioned mayor - and there's one hell of a lot of wisecracking jokes), and we get to see how each character's distinct personality affects what happens moment by moment - with tension strung tight. It has a jazzy, cool kind of score which fits the movie perfectly. Great stuff - loved it.

8/10

I agree with everything you've said here...first rate entertainment this movie.

[Wooley]

McVicar (1980)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/McVicarPoster.jpg
The story of John McVicar, bank robber, prison escapee. This has all the hard edges of a Brit film of the time (try and think of an elongated "Sweeney") but is a really enjoyable film. With Adam Faith, Billy Murray and Roger Daltrey (who is excellent as the titular character). The soundtrack (sung by Daltrey) is fitting as he is covering different songs by different artists. It really is quite a tale and tightly told. The violent parts are not *too* violent and the emotional parts (especially the scene where his son calls him daddy) are powerful. Daltrey did a great job here IMHO.

3.5

It has been many many moons since I have seen a film with Daltrey in it as an actor, but I always love to hear him sing. I feel like people fawn over Townshend's songwriting so much and his status (right or wrong) as a legendary guitarist and (definitely right) as a rock pioneer, that Daltrey gets lost in his shadow. Certainly I think Daltrey always gets left out of discussions of the great male rock vocalists, certainly he has dropped far, far down from when I was young and he was considered almost shoulder to shoulder with Plant (who in my day was still considered No.1).
But when Townshend wrote, "... and I still sing a razor line, every time", for Daltrey, he was not just whistling Dixie. It is such a pleasure to listen to him sing, and not just his astonishing, genre-defining Rock Scream, but his melodic, sometimes honey-like normal register as well. I remember watching the movie Quicksilver with Kevin Bacon and hearing Daltrey's voice cut through, "I am light-ning!" Such a pleasure.

[LChimp]

https://universoreverso.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Noites-Brutais-Barbarian-poster.jpg

[Wooley]

After 61 straight days of watching movies specifically to review and sitting and take notes during the films and analyzing everything about the movies, I find that I can't just stop on a dime, so here is a brief write-up of an unlikely film.

https://i.imgur.com/V20Vv25.png?5

I thought that Lethal Weapon really launched the "buddy-cop" craze of the late 80s and early 90s, but this film actually predates it by a year. I could not find, on Wikipedia, a buddy-cop film that pre-dates this one however, apparently the buddy-cop genre actually came from television and was so popular it ended up getting translated to the big-screen. Director Peter Hyams, of Outland, The Star Chamber (a personal favorite), and 2010: TYWMC fame, looking to do something a bit more grounded, took a script from MGM about to elderly cops in NY who wouldn't retire and had it transformed to two young cops in Chicago (a city not frequently filmed in at that time) considering early retirement over the frustrations of their job.
By modern sensibilities, this movie probably has a lot of pause-giving moments about how cops should be able to handle criminals and how loose they should be able to play with the letter of the law, but if you accept that their behavior was contemporaneous to the attitudes of the times, this is a pretty entertaining and enjoyable film. Largely this is because of the undeniable charisma and chemistry of its two leads (though I liked Jimmy Smits in this quite a bit too as a one-dimensional but very credible post-Scarface arch-villain).

"Running Scared" transcends its dreary roots and turns out to be a lot of fun. Most of the fun comes from the relationship between the two cops, who are played by Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal as if they were both successfully stealing the picture.
Their good luck starts with an encounter with Snake (Joe Pantoliano), a two-bit hood who has $50,000 in his briefcase. They want to arrest Pantoliano but don't have anything to charge him with. So, in a brilliant scene, they convince Pantoliano to request arrest: Crystal loudly tells the neighborhood hoods that Pantoliano is carrying 50 grand and requests them to keep an eye out for suspicious perpetrators.
The intelligence and wit flowing between them are so palpable you can almost see them, and there and so many throwaway lines that even the bit players get some good ones.
- Rober Ebert

Hines, we've talked about recently, was such a talented man he added to every film he was ever in, from History Of The World to The Cotton Club (god, his tap scene is just breathtaking). And Hines fought hard for this role, which was written as a white cop, apparently, saying, "I just campaigned and campaigned for it until I got it. I'm proud because this is the first film that stars a black guy and a white guy - and the black guy has all the sex scenes. Usually, the black guy has no sexuality at all." And his talent was not lost on Crystal, who helped tweak the dialogue and did a good bit of improv, saying, "You can't do those kinds of things unless you have an actor like Gregory Hines who is there to catch you." It was not lost on Hyams who, despite apparently being hard to work for, praised both leads for their performance and chemistry. I thought it was also noteworthy that, while the two main female characters were only in service to the male leads (as all supporting characters are in service to the leads of films regardless of gender), they had actual personalities and lives and the film took the time to make you actually like them both. To a lesser degree, the new up-and-coming rival cops were a little bit more than one-dimensional. That matters in a film.

Finally, the thing that I need to say about this film is that it's totally competent and coherent. Everything occurs for a reason and not just to rush to the next set-piece. For example, the climax doesn't take place where it does just because it's a cool-looking building, it is chosen by the villain and when you see it, you totally understand. It is a wide-open space that has clear sight-lines in every direction and the walls are glass... so the hero cannot bring any backup and cannot sneak in or pull any shenanigans (though they find a really amusing way). The point of this is the difference between a well-made film like this and how bad mainstream filmmaking has become.
After spending two months watching movie after movie from '99 or earlier (in some cases, much earlier), I think I am finally succumbing to Modern Mainstream Filmmaking Sucks Syndrome. To see a film like this, which received mixed reviews in its day, and realize that I have not seen a mainstream studio film this good in years, is a splash of cold water to the face. In the shadow of the once character-driven but now dismal Marvel Cinematic Universe, it seems like nothing is good at the cinema anymore. I mean, the last few Marvel and almost all of the DC films make the early Transformers movies, movies I refused to see because of how bad they were in their day, seem like Citizen Kane. So now, outside of the occasional populist film about some war veteran, we have small, independent films that occasionally break through but mostly you have to find at a smaller theater or at home.

It is funny to me that it didn't take a Great Film but a film with a 59% on RottenTomatoes (before Review Inflation began), to finally break me of any notion that mainstream cinema wasn't dead.
But also, this movie's fun.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-X1_1NUUK6j8%2FU-Y6ModxGLI%2FAAAAAAAAMA8%2Fz8ROY2FqZKE%2Fs1600%2FThe%2BHouse%2BOn%2BTelegraph%2BHill%2B1.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=5bead6bc757c43cc4c4e2067d17704fb813ff1159a2fab69fe89dd4bf333b08e&ipo=images

The House on Telegraph Hill, 1951

Victoria (Valentina Cortese) has lost her home and her family in WW2, and has been put into a concentration camp. There she befriends a fellow Polish woman named Karin (Natasha Lytess) whose son, Chris (Gordon Gebert) was evacuated to the US and lives with a wealthy aunt. When Karin dies days before the liberation of the concentration camp, Victoria takes Karin's identity and uses it to immigrate to the States. There she ends up marrying a man named Alan (Richard Basehart), a distant relative of her now-deceased aunt and the guardian of Karin's son. But things are not right in the big house on the hill . . .

I watched this film years ago, and I had basically forgotten everything about it except for the harrowing opening act. There are plenty of films that deal with characters who are grappling with the after-effects of WW2, but those characters are most often men who served in the military. I can't say that I can think of another thriller/noir that centers a woman who is a survivor of direct violence from the war. The entire premise of the film rests on a woman making a decision to lie and steal out of desperation, and that lie will color the rest of the proceedings.

I was very pleasantly surprised to remember that the rest of the film is really solid as well. Victoria is a very engaging lead character. She carries with her a fear and paranoia that is more than earned from her time in the concentration camp. She has already known what it means to be in danger of losing her life, and so we understand that her sense of her own safety may have been skewed by her experiences.

I love that every character in this movie who matters has some great nuance. There's Victoria, of course, laying claim to a fortune and a child that don't rightfully belong to her. But there's also Alan, who likewise doesn't want to give up tremendous wealth. Even if it is obvious that Alan romances Victoria with the objective of keeping himself in the inheritance chain, that doesn't necessarily mean that he would wish her harm.

But even better than Alan is the character of Margaret (Fay Baker), the woman who has been Chris's caretaker all his life and is very obviously having a sexual/romantic relationship with Alan. The wicked housekeeper is a trope in these kinds of films, carrying the potent DNA of Rebecca. But Margaret is much more than just a steely, cold-hearted woman. She genuinely cares for Chris and is naturally jealous of Victoria taking her place in the household. Again: does this necessarily mean that she is actively trying to harm Victoria? (It's important to note that Gebert is really good as Chris, and is so likable and fun that you believe someone would be heartbroken at the idea of being taken away from him).

One character that's a bit more shallow is a man named Marc (William Lundigan) who by a very large coincidence was at the liberation of Victoria's concentration camp and just happens to be an old childhood friend of Alan's. Marc ends up serving as a friend and investigative ally to Victoria, but he feels more like a plot necessity than a fully realized character. But without getting into too much detail, I appreciated that he is mostly sidelined in the final act, leaving Victoria to handle her business.

And if the first act is great, I also have to call out the last act. It is SO GOOD! And very specifically there is one part where you don't understand a certain character action and then it all becomes very clear. It's honestly kind of unlike any other noir/mystery conclusion I can think of. There are so many character dynamics at play, and characters living up to their own desires and personal priorities.

I'd remembered this film for its excellent and unique premise, but I was really pleased at how solid the entire thing is from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

4.5

[Rockatansky]

It is funny to me that it didn't take a Great Film but a film with a 59% on RottenTomatoes (before Review Inflation began), to finally break me of any notion that mainstream cinema wasn't dead.
But also, this movie's fun.
I got huge into studio vehicles from the ‘80s and ‘90s during the pandemic, and it really stands out how much these movies have a baseline of craftsmanship that’s pretty much evaporated today.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcasey-film.weebly.com%2Fuploads%2F1%2F2%2F4%2F0%2F124081175%2Ffallenangel1945-23858-112320160918_orig.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e46c1a072cdd73c028fee4abf17799ac00f465530573da09a9fcd005642319b9&ipo=images

Fallen Angel, 1945

Grifter Eric (Dana Andrews) is kicked off of a bus, landing in a small town where he immediately takes a liking to local wild woman Stella (Linda Darnell). But true to his ways, Eric's head is equally turned by a woman named June (Alice Faye) and maybe more specifically turned by the fortune that June is set to inherit. But June has a watchful sister named Clara (Anne Revere), and when a shocking crime rocks the town, everyone seems to be a suspect.

This is a pretty good little thriller/drama that really picks up steam in its final act and managed to keep me guessing up until the final cards were played.

My two favorite characters in this one were Stella and Clara, two very different women but so much more fully realized than the other characters that they really pop. Stella is the kind of character who, in a lesser film, would be treated with a lot of contempt. She has a reputation for sleeping around, and there are multiple men who are obsessed with her, from Eric to a guy named Pop (Percy Kilbride) who owns the diner where she works. Stella is in a position where she depends on male attention and affection, but at the same time has grown openly contemptuous of them. She isn't on screen for more than 5 minutes before telling one guy to his face "You make me sick," because of his fawning over her. Stella just seems to believe that Eric might be the person to help her out of the endless cycle, and that hope gives her a very human dimension.

Clara, who is very prim and proper, is in many ways a great foil for Stella. Clara was conned out of a great deal of her family's money by a man, and has been left with suspicion. She looks at Eric with the same weary eye as Stella, and it's personal experience that causes her agony as June continues forward with her romance with Eric. I guess I also liked Clara because it's hard to watch her endure her sister making such stupid decisions. I was a little sad that we didn't get to see more of her in the very last act.

When it comes to the central characters of Eric and June, I wasn't quite as engaged. June is just, well, ya girl dumb. Real dumb. The film does establish that June has led a pretty sheltered life, and that she has some resentment over having been controlled by her sister and basically punished for her sister's mistakes. That's all understandable. But there's a part where she's talking to Eric and just falls asleep on his shoulder. And then . . . stays asleep? Um, does June have a medical condition we don't know about? And the problem is partly that Andrews and Faye don't have enough sexual chemistry to believe that she'd marry him out of lust. Neither is Eric so charming that I buy that he wins her over to the total detriment of her common sense. Noir is full of people making bad choices, but I found June irritating right up to the last frame.

Thankfully, the film is chock full of suspects right up until the end. I loved how many people could have genuinely been guilty, and it makes for a very unpredictable finale. This saves the film from the lackluster and frustrating central relationship.

4

[Wooley]

I got huge into studio vehicles from the ‘80s and ‘90s during the pandemic, and it really stands out how much these movies have a baseline of craftsmanship that’s pretty much evaporated today.

Really, it's striking how significant the difference is. I remember well that this movie was a bit of a throwaway, middling success at best and obviously not critically praised beyond Ebert's 3/4, but it is better from a film-crafting, particularly the script and what is kept in the film, point of view than almost any mainstream studio film I can remember from the last 5-7 years or maybe longer.
Like, character-development now is kinda, "Have we seen enough to believe that our lead is an alpha-male but with a heart of gold? Great, cut any other dialogue that isn't expository."

[Gideon58]

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M_5Vo9kom88/U7Yxfe7W3PI/AAAAAAAAAdU/V6MF2oc0NDg/s1600/1.jpg


3.5

[mark f]

Ocean's Eight (Gary Ross, 2018) 2.5 6/10
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (Dan Ireland, 2005) 3 6.5/10
Anaïs in Love (Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Dinner in America (Adam Rehmeier, 2020) 3.5- 7/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/ad38c69295db886eea1d7c836ef60f0d/5bb3389d47713c07-89/s540x810/da41bebf143c85f419ddc1e19d468b2917bc39e7.gifv
Unexpectedly sweet, funny film about outsiders Emily Skeggs and Kyle Gallner, who don't get along with their respective families and find they're true soulmates when he, a pyromaniac punk rocker, learns that she is his biggest fan.
No Ordinary Man (Aisling Chin-Yee & Chase Joynt, 2020) 3 6.5/10
Born for Hell (Denis Héroux, 1976) 2+ 5/10
Freebie and the Bean (Richard Rush, 1974) 3 6.5/10
All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger, 2022) 3.5- 7/10
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/BigheartedZigzagCockatiel-size_restricted.gif
Graphic, powerful WWI film follows young German Paul (Felix Kammerer) through all the horrors and insanity of war with with France at the Western Front.
See How They Run (Tom George, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Land of the Pharaohs (Howard Hawks, 1955) 3+ 6.5/10
Blade of the 47 Ronin (Ron Yuani, 2022) 2+ 5/10
Smile (Parker Finn, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/a412692b912c75601c76bf5cdd6af71a/d1ce96dd6d4b4d58-48/s540x810/a93878645083f8685155e9ca1da38794a32cbf95.gifv
Dt. Sosie Bacon finds another victim of the bizarre smile illness which always seems to end in death, and she's about to get it now and must find a way to save herself
The Chocolate War (Keith Gordon, 1988) 2.5 6/10
Time to Love (Metin Erksan, 1966) 3- 6.5/10
Superior (Erin Vassilopoulos, 2021) 2.5 6/10
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Eric Appel, 2022) 3.5 7/10
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYLIYVpITKAz1XTpxNT9I56au3FDacNKA1jZjsM-bLQu19ViCeUMmQC9vDaAO_VWPdOzZkT7TzZDt74Fs6ML631kEqDBYkOWbvn1Reufdl6MkD_Qd_La-QEYvfXNRDLA3zjSEUji67C0AWzHNKlia28cZ0ZWI7Gdr5u3jhrh9yNrallnO_-0rjcvOG/s480/giphy.gif
Very funny parody/satire of the life of Weird Al (a terrific Daniel Radcliffe) whose life and songs already seem a parody. Cast is enorous with tons of real-life characters NOT played by themselves.
Catering Christmas (T.W. Peacocke, 2022) 3 6.5/10
Apples (Christos Nikou, 2020) 2.5 6/10
Causeway (Lila Neugebauer, 2022) 3- 6.5/10
Heathers (Michael Lehmann, 1988) 3.5 7/10
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AgileOilyGecko-size_restricted.gif
At Westerburg High School, supposedly-normal Winona Ryder and psychopath Christian Slater "team up" to kill the worst students and make it look like suicide, but things don't turn out as expected.

[Rockatansky]

[ceNTER]
Freebie and the Bean (Richard Rush, 1974) 3 6.5/10
Land of the Pharaohs (Howard Hawks, 1955) 3+ 6.5/10
I like these two.

[Guaporense]

I'am your man (2021)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/I%27m_Your_Man_poster.jpeg

A pretty nice science fiction movie. Although rare, high-quality science fiction movies still exist. This one is a german romantic movie about the romance between a woman and a robot designed to satisfy her desires. The movie's message is pretty ambivalent regarding the concept of substituting real relationships for relationships with fake partners.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Flh3.googleusercontent.com%2F5U5iL6Rc6bOo9HrkPDuHKkhUXVPi80cgUWeS5SQiug3bNpM4MU5Bzb3 lPFlbIL8ThIdsQ3Py5ELLkv7Qh_uCufocSoFYQa9bI8dIXzuBreNRYAk8MG6FgroruJ1s0tcUoTh3UPswzYg%3Dw2400&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=064a7a64512d7c7452dd277c513580211faa7bb0896fb60e5d65e9cd2680200f&ipo=images

The Dark Corner, 1946

A private investigator named Brad Galt (Mark Stevens) is trying to make a go of things after serving time in jail on a manslaughter charge, having been set up by his former partner, Jardine (Kurt Kreuger). Unfortunately for Galt, Jardine is enmeshed in a love triangle involving a wealthy art dealer (Clifton Webb) and his much younger wife (Cathy Downs). When things get complicated and bodies start falling, Galt's clever secretary, Kathleen (Lucille Ball) helps him get to the bottom of it all.

This is a really fun little noir, with lots of twists and turns and a great performance from Ball. The whole thing has the brisk, enjoyable sensation of reading a good mystery novel.

From the beginning, this is Ball's show as Galt's feisty secretary who won't let Galt give up on proving his innocence when things get tough. From the beginning the two of them make a great pair, and it's a lot of fun watching Kathleen go from answering phones to helping Galt trail a suspect or decipher clues from an overheard conversation.

Complete with double crosses, love triangles, shady dealings, and people who say things like "I need two yards for powder money. The heat is on. Meet me at your place," this film checks just about every film noir box there is. But at the same time, I thought that it had an overall lighter tone than some similar films of the same era. While there are nods to corruption and conspiracy, the general feeling of the movie is not bleak and it makes for enjoyably lighter viewing.

In addition to the plot elements, it's a lot of fun watching some classic detective sequences, such as when Galt and Kathleen try to track down a man's suit at several different dry cleaning establishments. In another sequence, a man escapes police pursuit by steering his stolen taxicab to a central garage that's swarming with identical vehicles.

A great example of how familiar tropes and settings can make for solid viewing when done well.

4

[Thief]

LA GRAN FIESTA
(1985, Zurinaga)

https://i.imgur.com/gk858r0.png


"It doesn't work like that. In a democracy you can't accuse someone without evidence and get away with it."
"Democracy, my ass! José Manuel, in this country we've seen much worse and you know it."



Based in a story from local writer Ana Lydia Vega, La Gran Fiesta follows the last party held by the Puerto Rican high society at the aforementioned casino in 1942. But besides the dance, the music, and the glamour of the night, there is gossip, forbidden romances, backstabbings, conspiracies, and political machinations.

This film was submitted by the island for the Foreign Film Academy Award back in the day, and even though it wasn't nominated, one can see it had the merits. The film is gorgeously shot, with Zurinaga taking great advantage of the structure and floor layout of the casino. The use of music, appropriately set as part of the party, is also very effective. There are a couple of instances where pieces of score feel clunkily integrated, though.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344575#post2344575)

[Thief]

HÉROES DE OTRA PATRIA
(1998, Ortíz)

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


"This is not my war. I'm here fighting for things I know nothing about or care for."



During the Vietnam War, approximately 48,000 Puerto Ricans served. More than 350 either died in combat or never returned. It is in that setting that Héroes de Otra Patria takes place. The film follows Carlos (Jorge Castillo), an idealistic soldier that's anxious to return home to his family. However, when he's sent in a dangerous mission with Raúl (Jimmy Navarro), a more unhinged soldier, the two have to learn to take care of each other.

The scenes in Vietnam are intercalated with scenes in Puerto Rico of Carlos' family struggling to keep things together at the uncertainty of his fate, but also as they try to make ends meet monetarily. Most of these scenes are not that well executed and end up breaking the pace from the war scenes, which are slightly better executed and more engaging. The main performances from Castillo and Navarro are competent. Unfortunately, their dialogue is not. They are given clunky lines that seem to be taken off brochures and don't feel organic at all.

Grade: 2.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344579#post2344579)

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Friday_night_lights_ver2.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15636988

Friday Night Lights - (2004)

I'm actually beginning to understand how American Football works - that's how many football movies I've seen. It was a case of "oh no, not another one" when it came up in my schedule, and I nearly shuffled things around for a better pick - but the whole reason I'm watching movies the way I am is to not miss the really good movies that I'd otherwise push aside (it happens a lot) and instead watch the disappointing ones I think are surefire winners. To prove this example, Friday Night Lights actually turned out to be a great movie. A true story about Odessa's Permian Panthers that subverts a lot of the football movie tropes I'd grown weary of. In this it's all about the journey, and although Billy Bob Thornton is the main attraction the focus on these kids is at times heartbreaking, at others really scary (one of them has a father that would make The Joker nervous.) The headwinds of ill-fortune hit this team hard, and sure-fire careers will be destroyed while some no-hopers will make a name for themselves. I thought the young performers in this matched and sometimes surpassed the main star in this film, and I'm glad I watched it.

7/10

[Marco]

The Keeper (2018)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/The_Keeper_%282018%29_Film_Poster.jpg
Quite interesting story of a German capitee after the second world war that was a goalkeeper. A famous one. Weird though that the movie didn't expand on his actions on the front line apart from flashbacks. Or even a family back in Germany that he may have wanted to visit/call. Felt a bit fake.


2

[Marco]

Buster's Mal Heart (2016)

Not bad, weird and could have done without the theory shite. Grabbed on a lot of other, better, movies and the output wasn.t that good for me.

[PHOENIX74]

The Keeper (2018)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/39/The_Keeper_%282018%29_Film_Poster.jpg
Quite interesting story of a German capitee after the second world war that was a goalkeeper. A famous one. Weird though that the movie didn't expand on his actions on the front line apart from flashbacks. Or even a family back in Germany that he may have wanted to visit/call. Felt a bit fake.


2

I haven't seen the movie, but the story of Bert Trautmann is one of my favourite true life stories of all time.

[Captain Steel]

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

https://c1.neweggimages.com/ProductImageCompressAll1280/32-070-456-01.jpg

Movies from this time were so simple, yet could still be so engaging.

4

[ThatDarnMKS]

My hot streak of new releases at theater continues!

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

https://boxd.it/3oYt97

5/5

[WHITBISSELL!]

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

Movies from this time were so simple, yet could still be so engaging.

rating_4


I think Muni was the closest thing to certain present day stars. I don't necessarily mean in terms of talent either. I mean he landed A LOT of prestige roles. Parts that necessitated him having to inhabit the role. In the few interviews I've seen he came off as kind of driven and serious about his so called "craft". He even had causes that he involved himself in and spoke out in favor of. Not your prototypical movie star of the period.

[Thief]

ROMANCE TROPICAL
(1934, Viguié)

https://i.imgur.com/9M1t7L2.png


"You have come into my life like a dream, and from now on everything must change. To consecrate my whole life to you, it must be fine and pure like you."



Romance Tropical follows Carlos, whose efforts to be with Margarita are endangered when her father catches them together without permission. Unable to be with her at the moment, Carlos embarks on a trip on a sailboat and ends up in the mysterious island of Mu, where he meets Alura (Raquel Canino). Will he remain with his newfound native love, or will he return to his longlost Margarita?

This film decides to answer that question in all the wrong ways possible, and then some. Not only is the script plagued by racist stereotypes of island natives, but its message of selfishness, colonialism, plundering, fleeting love, and the overt importance of material possessions over anything else is problematic, to say the least.

Grade: 1


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344614#post2344614)

[skizzerflake]

:popcorn::popcorn:

Spoiler Alert

Well. Tonight's movie was The Banshees of Inisherin. It's set during the Irish Civil War, 1923. It's not about the revolution, but about two townies in a small town on a small island. One guy, Pádraic, a shallow talker, annoys his friend, Colm, who declares that each time the other guy talks to him, he will cut off one of his own fingers. Yes, he does follow up on this "threat". After more arguments and more fingers, Pádraic's donkey is found dead, having choked on fingers. Pádraic retaliates by saying that he will burn down Colm's house. He does it. What there is of a town has an abusive cop, a strange, would-be Celtic witch and a dog.

It's intended as a comedy, but really not much about all of this rural dysfunction is really all that funny. It reminded me that, way down on MY list of places to live is small islands off the coast of Ireland. I like the dog, but that's about it. One woman decides to leave the town, but the other characters mainly stare out at the ocean. The guys drink dark ale, curse, stare at the ocean and cut off their fingers. My kind of place. Oh, and, there are no banshees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRu3zLOJN2c

[ThatDarnMKS]

Might wanna spoiler text your review for Banshees. It’s bad enough that I disagree with virtually every criticism you say but giving away major plot points is a generally pretty crummy thing to do.

[StuSmallz]

Might wanna spoiler text your review for Banshees. It’s bad enough that I disagree with virtually every criticism you say but giving away major plot points is a generally pretty crummy thing to do.Seconded, especially since I haven't had the chance to see it yet...

[Marco]

I haven't seen the movie, but the story of Bert Trautmann is one of my favourite true life stories of all time.

TBH I was pretty harsh in that rating, it's not a bad film but just a bit jaunty and "cake-cutter" British drama. The story of Bert Trautmann is incredible as you say.

[Thief]

CASI CASI
(2006, Vallés & Vallés)

https://i.imgur.com/vFtQ9Aw.png


"You're sure about this? If we do this, we're doing it for real all the way through."



Set in a local private school, Casi Casi follows Emilio (Mario Pabón), a troublesome but shy kid that decides to run for Student Council in order to impress Jacklynne (Maité Canto), the most popular girl in school. However, he realizes late that Jacklynne herself is running as well. As he unwittingly starts to gain popularity, Emilio recruits his group of friends to sabotage the results to make sure he loses so he can win Jacklynne's heart, all while evading the strict Principal Richardson (Marian Pabón).

I'll start by saying that I had a lot of fun with this. Most of the performances were decent, but what sold it for me was the chemistry between the six main friends. This is made more impressive considering that most of them weren't professional actors, but regular teenagers. Maybe this is why their banter and interactions felt organic and natural.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344647#post2344647)

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Freview%2Fprimary_image%2Freviews%2Fthe-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-2018%2Fhero_buster-scruggs-2018.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=384df38e58fc9c9f4fd7a57f931dd2a5cfb5e7873899fc616b75e5626ad89dbc&ipo=images

Ballad of Buster Scruggs, 2018

In this collection of six short stories set in the wild west, various characters try to survive and thrive in the hostile frontier. The stories follow a gunslinging singer, an outmatched bank robber, a struggling two-person theater troupe, an old man hunting for gold, a young woman on an Oregon-bound wagon train, and strange mix of travelers in a stagecoach.

This film is a darkly comic mix of largely bleak stories that for the most part does a good job of balancing the grim reality of frontier life with a sense of humor. The sharp writing is well matched by a deep and talented cast.

Tim Blake Nelson starts things off on a high note as the titular Buster Scruggs, a man whose cheery mannerisms belie his deadliness with a six shooter. The segment is over-the-top in its staging, bordering on cartoonish as it goes along.

I thought that the best developed segment was probably "The Gal Who Got Rattled" in which Zoe Kazan plays a young woman who is left to fend for herself on a wagon train heading toward Oregon. She befriends a man (Bill Heck) on the train, but circumstances conspire against their happiness.

Other standouts in the film are Brendan Gleeson and Jonjo O'Neill as a pair of strange bounty hunters and Tom Waits as a man hunting for gold in a beautiful valley.

The film does definitely suffer from a lack of a range of points of view. All of the protagonists are white, and there are only two named women characters. There are indigenous characters, but they play the same role each time they appear, namely to show up and brutally massacre people.

A very entertaining film with an excellent cast.

4

[skizzerflake]

Might wanna spoiler text your review for Banshees. It’s bad enough that I disagree with virtually every criticism you say but giving away major plot points is a generally pretty crummy thing to do.

I added that, but really, there's nothing in my comment that's not in one of the trailers I saw. Given that it was billed as a comedy, I expected at least a few chuckles, but got none of those in the actual movie. I was hoping for something cute and quirky with snappy dialog. I will acknowledge decent cinematography and acting (the only reason I gave it two stars) but nothing in the movie left me with anything other than restless legs and a lot of looks at my watch, even though I had neither caffeine nor alcohol with dinner. IMO, both the town and the characters reminded me of why I don't live in a place like that.

I saw it because I didn't want an action fantasy and nothing else seemed to be interesting, but I will never have those two hours nor the 10 bucks again. The nearly empty theater (an indie-foreign film venue, not a mainstream cineplex) seemed to bear out my opinion since the theater owner put it in the largest auditorium in the 5 screen venue, apparently expecting more ticket sales for this one. Fortunately, it was a busy night downtown, so not all was lost. What little audience there was all seemed to stagger out of the theater, counting their fingers. I wish there HAD been a banshee.

[Wooley]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Freview%2Fprimary_image%2Freviews%2Fthe-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-2018%2Fhero_buster-scruggs-2018.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=384df38e58fc9c9f4fd7a57f931dd2a5cfb5e7873899fc616b75e5626ad89dbc&ipo=images

Ballad of Buster Scruggs, 2018

In this collection of six short stories set in the wild west, various characters try to survive and thrive in the hostile frontier. The stories follow a gunslinging singer, an outmatched bank robber, a struggling two-person theater troupe, an old man hunting for gold, a young woman on an Oregon-bound wagon train, and strange mix of travelers in a stagecoach.

This film is a darkly comic mix of largely bleak stories that for the most part does a good job of balancing the grim reality of frontier life with a sense of humor. The sharp writing is well matched by a deep and talented cast.

Tim Blake Nelson starts things off on a high note as the titular Buster Scruggs, a man whose cheery mannerisms belie his deadliness with a six shooter. The segment is over-the-top in its staging, bordering on cartoonish as it goes along.

I thought that the best developed segment was probably "The Gal Who Got Rattled" in which Zoe Kazan plays a young woman who is left to fend for herself on a wagon train heading toward Oregon. She befriends a man (Bill Heck) on the train, but circumstances conspire against their happiness.

Other standouts in the film are Brendan Gleeson and Jonjo O'Neill as a pair of strange bounty hunters and Tom Waits as a man hunting for gold in a beautiful valley.

The film does definitely suffer from a lack of a range of points of view. All of the protagonists are white, and there are only two named women characters. There are indigenous characters, but they play the same role each time they appear, namely to show up and brutally massacre people.

A very entertaining film with an excellent cast.

4

I had no idea who Zoe Kazan was until I saw this film and she had me rushing to the googles immediately.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I added that, but really, there's nothing in my comment that's not in one of the trailers I saw. Given that it was billed as a comedy, I expected at least a few chuckles, but got none of those in the actual movie. I was hoping for something cute and quirky with snappy dialog. I will acknowledge decent cinematography and acting (the only reason I gave it two stars) but nothing in the movie left me with anything other than restless legs and a lot of looks at my watch, even though I had neither caffeine nor alcohol with dinner. IMO, both the town and the characters reminded me of why I don't live in a place like that.

I saw it because I didn't want an action fantasy and nothing else seemed to be interesting, but I will never have those two hours nor the 10 bucks again. The nearly empty theater (an indie-foreign film venue, not a mainstream cineplex) seemed to bear out my opinion since the theater owner put it in the largest auditorium in the 5 screen venue, apparently expecting more ticket sales for this one. Fortunately, it was a busy night downtown, so not all was lost. What little audience there was all seemed to stagger out of the theater, counting their fingers. I wish there HAD been a banshee.
You spoiled every major plot point of the film.

Every criticism you said is an issue of your own expectations. It’s a drama with dark comedy. Tonally somewhere between a Bergman film and A Serious Man. More similar to McDonagh’s brother’s film Calvary than In Bruges. That said, like A Serious Man and Calvary, it IS funny. Just in a dry, subtle way.

Maybe you should’ve had that drink and chilled out, accepting what the film was actually offering.

[Thief]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.rogerebert.com%2Fuploads%2Freview%2Fprimary_image%2Freviews%2Fthe-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-2018%2Fhero_buster-scruggs-2018.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=384df38e58fc9c9f4fd7a57f931dd2a5cfb5e7873899fc616b75e5626ad89dbc&ipo=images

Ballad of Buster Scruggs, 2018

In this collection of six short stories set in the wild west, various characters try to survive and thrive in the hostile frontier. The stories follow a gunslinging singer, an outmatched bank robber, a struggling two-person theater troupe, an old man hunting for gold, a young woman on an Oregon-bound wagon train, and strange mix of travelers in a stagecoach.

This film is a darkly comic mix of largely bleak stories that for the most part does a good job of balancing the grim reality of frontier life with a sense of humor. The sharp writing is well matched by a deep and talented cast.

Tim Blake Nelson starts things off on a high note as the titular Buster Scruggs, a man whose cheery mannerisms belie his deadliness with a six shooter. The segment is over-the-top in its staging, bordering on cartoonish as it goes along.

I thought that the best developed segment was probably "The Gal Who Got Rattled" in which Zoe Kazan plays a young woman who is left to fend for herself on a wagon train heading toward Oregon. She befriends a man (Bill Heck) on the train, but circumstances conspire against their happiness.

Other standouts in the film are Brendan Gleeson and Jonjo O'Neill as a pair of strange bounty hunters and Tom Waits as a man hunting for gold in a beautiful valley.

The film does definitely suffer from a lack of a range of points of view. All of the protagonists are white, and there are only two named women characters. There are indigenous characters, but they play the same role each time they appear, namely to show up and brutally massacre people.

A very entertaining film with an excellent cast.

4

As most Coen films, I dug this. I really liked how varied the stories were; starting with the pure slapstick of the opening bit to something as deep and existential as "The Mortal Remains". They all run the gamut.

I also loved how the theme of characters *not* being the "top dog" despite thinking they are runs through almost every segment.

[Marco]

Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/23/Where_the_Crawdads_Sing_%28film%29.jpg
Story adapted from a book that apparently made a splash. Decent performances all around but a streakiness about the storyline which makes the outcome rather predictable for being a mystery. Not a fan of last minute scooby doo demasking but it doesn't build up enough tension to make the last act that dramatic.
2.5

[skizzerflake]

You spoiled every major plot point of the film.

Every criticism you said is an issue of your own expectations. It’s a drama with dark comedy. Tonally somewhere between a Bergman film and A Serious Man. More similar to McDonagh’s brother’s film Calvary than In Bruges. That said, like A Serious Man and Calvary, it IS funny. Just in a dry, subtle way.

Maybe you should’ve had that drink and chilled out, accepting what the film was actually offering.

It's a totally personal comment, people can accept or reject it, just my opinion. I guess I'm being at least consistent since my other McDonagh movies were In Bruges and Three Billboards and those were completely lost on me as well. Seeing this one was my "second chance" for this director. I didn't know it was going to be a McDonagh movie, accepted someone else's suggestion, so I went in without much expectation only to find out later that night that it was the Bruges director. Too much talk, no appealing characters and nothing going on that I cared about was my problem. I don't mean to strike any nerves, but it was the movie I saw last night and that was my rating.

It did remind me a bit of a Bergman movie, but having part of my family being Swedish and Irish (I grew up around accents), I know why THEY left. The movie has a distinct parallel to Bergman, except that it seems to me like an Irish sort of angst, something seemed not to be anything like a comedy. Being set during one the troubled periods in Ireland, really struck me with the feeling like how lucky I was that some my ancestors left the places they lived in when they did, or I probably would not be here, since I'm a catalog of Euro places and times that nobody wants to see.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fa.ltrbxd.com%2Fresized%2Fsm%2Fupload%2Fj0%2Ffg%2F4z%2Fmc%2Fcompliance-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg%3Fk%3D2e249a0dba&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e18d13b114c6aa0dc8dad6f4131bb3faffa260710e08b7fdcd9de5dacffaf636&ipo=images

Compliance, 2012

Sandra (Ann Dowd) is the manager of a fast food restaurant, overseeing a busy Friday night. She gets a call from a police officer (Pat Healy) claiming that one of the restaurant's employees, Becky (Dreama Walker) has stolen money from a customer. As the day wears on, the officer demands that that Sandra go to more and more extreme lengths to find the missing money.

Woof.

This is a hard one to watch---sort of a social horror movie where you keep thinking that things won't get worse and then, somehow, they do. I had remembered this incident when it happened, but I had not realized the extend of what happened to the actual young woman on whom Becky is based.

There are plenty of movies that deal with the question of "just following orders". What makes this movie so nightmarish is the way that it shows how someone flexing authority causes people to abandon their own moral compass and fail to stop bad things from happening or render aid to someone who badly needs it.

What is particularly nefarious is the way that the officer creates a sense of urgency and an us vs them mentality where he and Sandra are the responsible adults and Becky is the naughty child who won't do what she's told. When Becky resists being stripped or being left alone naked in a room with a man she barely knows, Sandra berates her for not "cooperating".

Dowd is both sympathetic and infuriating as Sandra, a women who is swamped with work and trying to do "the right thing." About halfway through the film, Bill Camp enters the picture as Van, Sandra's fiance. It's when Van appears that the demands from the officer on the phone take a much more cruel and perverse tone. It's sickening to watch the way that Van tries to please the officer, offering to put the phone on Becky's back so that the officer can hear him hitting Becky to punish her for not cooperating.

Walker is incredibly sympathetic as Becky, who goes from being incredulous to in genuine fear. She is later asked by a police officer why she didn't just say no when asked to do the things she did. But threats of being taken to jail, along with the circumstance of being naked and alone in a back room with a much older man creates a horribly skewed power dynamic. When Becky does protest--and even explicitly ask Sandra for help after Van has sexually assaulted her--she is brushed off.

Ashlie Atkinson and Philip Ettinger are also good as Becky's co-workers who know that what's happening isn't right, but can't quite bring themselves to intervene. When the officer demands that Ettinger's character, Kevin, inspect Becky's naked body, the young man demurs until the officer dismisses him as a "guard" because he is not responsible enough. They are a big part of one of the most surreal aspects of the film, which is that as Becky is enduring the worst day of her life in the back room, her coworkers are frying potatoes and slinging chicken sandwiches.

It's only when the store's handyman (Stephen Payne) arrives and articulates that he will not strip a young woman nude that everyone seems to snap out of the spell. By then, of course, Becky has endured hours of humiliation and abuse.

It's utterly maddening to know that the real life man, a corrections officer named David R. Stewart, who committed this crime (and numerous others like it) was acquitted. Great job, Kentucky.

This is a really hard movie to watch. With about 30 minutes left to go I had sweaty hands and a small headache. At the same time, it's one of those stories you think must be fictional until you realize it isn't at all. It's the kind of movie that makes you wonder at what point you would have hung up the phone or firmly said "no." It's depressing to think that many of us might go further than we'd like to believe.

4

[Thief]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fa.ltrbxd.com%2Fresized%2Fsm%2Fupload%2Fj0%2Ffg%2F4z%2Fmc%2Fcompliance-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg%3Fk%3D2e249a0dba&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e18d13b114c6aa0dc8dad6f4131bb3faffa260710e08b7fdcd9de5dacffaf636&ipo=images

Compliance, 2012

Sandra (Ann Dowd) is the manager of a fast food restaurant, overseeing a busy Friday night. She gets a call from a police officer (Pat Healy) claiming that one of the restaurant's employees, Becky (Dreama Walker) has stolen money from a customer. As the day wears on, the officer demands that that Sandra go to more and more extreme lengths to find the missing money.

Woof.

This is a hard one to watch---sort of a social horror movie where you keep thinking that things won't get worse and then, somehow, they do. I had remembered this incident when it happened, but I had not realized the extend of what happened to the actual young woman on whom Becky is based.

There are plenty of movies that deal with the question of "just following orders". What makes this movie so nightmarish is the way that it shows how someone flexing authority causes people to abandon their own moral compass and fail to stop bad things from happening or render aid to someone who badly needs it.

What is particularly nefarious is the way that the officer creates a sense of urgency and an us vs them mentality where he and Sandra are the responsible adults and Becky is the naughty child who won't do what she's told. When Becky resists being stripped or being left alone naked in a room with a man she barely knows, Sandra berates her for not "cooperating".

Dowd is both sympathetic and infuriating as Sandra, a women who is swamped with work and trying to do "the right thing." About halfway through the film, Bill Camp enters the picture as Van, Sandra's fiance. It's when Van appears that the demands from the officer on the phone take a much more cruel and perverse tone. It's sickening to watch the way that Van tries to please the officer, offering to put the phone on Becky's back so that the officer can hear him hitting Becky to punish her for not cooperating.

Walker is incredibly sympathetic as Becky, who goes from being incredulous to in genuine fear. She is later asked by a police officer why she didn't just say no when asked to do the things she did. But threats of being taken to jail, along with the circumstance of being naked and alone in a back room with a much older man creates a horribly skewed power dynamic. When Becky does protest--and even explicitly ask Sandra for help after Van has sexually assaulted her--she is brushed off.

Ashlie Atkinson and Philip Ettinger are also good as Becky's co-workers who know that what's happening isn't right, but can't quite bring themselves to intervene. When the officer demands that Ettinger's character, Kevin, inspect Becky's naked body, the young man demurs until the officer dismisses him as a "guard" because he is not responsible enough. They are a big part of one of the most surreal aspects of the film, which is that as Becky is enduring the worst day of her life in the back room, her coworkers are frying potatoes and slinging chicken sandwiches.

It's only when the store's handyman (Stephen Payne) arrives and articulates that he will not strip a young woman nude that everyone seems to snap out of the spell. By then, of course, Becky has endured hours of humiliation and abuse.

It's utterly maddening to know that the real life man, a corrections officer named David R. Stewart, who committed this crime (and numerous others like it) was acquitted. Great job, Kentucky.

This is a really hard movie to watch. With about 30 minutes left to go I had sweaty hands and a small headache. At the same time, it's one of those stories you think must be fictional until you realize it isn't at all. It's the kind of movie that makes you wonder at what point you would have hung up the phone or firmly said "no." It's depressing to think that many of us might go further than we'd like to believe.

4

Yeah, this was a hard watch indeed. The fact that the real guy did it *multiple* times and that, like you said, got away with it only made it worse.

I saw it with my wife without knowing the real life background and I remember telling her halfway through "This is laughable. There's no way this will happen in real life." *scoffs* And then once it finished, we read all about the case and damn.

[Takoma11]

Yeah, this was a hard watch indeed. The fact that the real guy did it *multiple* times and that, like you said, got away with it only made it worse.

I saw it with my wife without knowing the real life background and I remember telling her halfway through "This is laughable. There's no way this will happen in real life." *scoffs* And then once it finished, we read all about the case and damn.

I had remembered only that a manager had strip-searched an employee.

I assumed, until going to Wikipedia, that the parts where she was forced into sex acts with the manager's fiance was exaggeration on the part of the filmmakers. Nope.

[Wyldesyde19]

Yeah, the fact that a lot of what happened in Compliance was based on actual events adds an extra layer to the film.

[Thief]

I should add that, although the whole cast was pretty good, Ann Dowd was just an extra layer of great.

[Takoma11]

I should add that, although the whole cast was pretty good, Ann Dowd was just an extra layer of great.

Yeah, she is always amazing. I recently watched the first season of The Leftovers and she's a total standout.

I also appreciate that something shown in Compliance is that even though what happens to Becky originates with an abusive, sexualized desire to victimize a woman, people of all ages and genders are made complicit in what happens.

I think that cruelties or injustices that are aimed at a certain group can start from one place, but people of all demographics can get pulled into enforcing or enabling them.

This movie made me think of something that happened when I was in college. I got a phone call (on my dorm room phone, not my personal phone) asking me to participate in a research study about perspectives on female bodies or something like that. I agreed and answered a few basic demographic questions about myself.

But then the person on the other end--who sounded like a middle-aged woman--told me that the real focus of the study was on how women perceive male perspectives on female bodies.

And then it got weird.

I was told that for the next part of the study I would be listening to another student on campus, and she put me on mute and conferenced some young man into the call. She then proceeded to ask him some really personal questions about his sexual preferences, what he thought about different female bodies, etc. And listening to this young guy answer the questions felt deeply invasive. But, hey, I'd agreed and so had he. (I heard her tell him on the phone that a female classmate would be listening. I could hear that he was surprised by this, but she then quickly swept into asking the questions.).

Anyway, it was very uncomfortable! I definitely started to wonder if this might not be some sort of elaborate prank call. But even though I sort of felt like I was invading someone's privacy, I didn't hang up, and neither did he. Obviously nowhere near what happens in the film, but a good example of how we can suppress our instincts when we are trying to be cooperative.

[Thief]

I also appreciate that something shown in Compliance is that even though what happens to Becky originates with an abusive, sexualized desire to victimize a woman, people of all ages and genders are made complicit in what happens.

I think that cruelties or injustices that are aimed at a certain group can start from one place, but people of all demographics can get pulled into enforcing or enabling them.

This movie made me think of something that happened when I was in college. I got a phone call (on my dorm room phone, not my personal phone) asking me to participate in a research study about perspectives on female bodies or something like that. I agreed and answered a few basic demographic questions about myself.

But then the person on the other end--who sounded like a middle-aged woman--told me that the real focus of the study was on how women perceive male perspectives on female bodies.

And then it got weird.

I was told that for the next part of the study I would be listening to another student on campus, and she put me on mute and conferenced some young man into the call. She then proceeded to ask him some really personal questions about his sexual preferences, what he thought about different female bodies, etc. And listening to this young guy answer the questions felt deeply invasive. But, hey, I'd agreed and so had he. (I heard her tell him on the phone that a female classmate would be listening. I could hear that he was surprised by this, but she then quickly swept into asking the questions.).

Anyway, it was very uncomfortable! I definitely started to wonder if this might not be some sort of elaborate prank call. But even though I sort of felt like I was invading someone's privacy, I didn't hang up, and neither did he. Obviously nowhere near what happens in the film, but a good example of how we can suppress our instincts when we are trying to be cooperative.

I don't know about your call, but as far as the film goes, it's the Stanford Experiment angle. I think it has little to do with specific groups (i.e. women) and more with control, and knowing you can do it. I mean...


...you can see the guy at the other end is not getting aroused or anything. On the other hand, he's doing all kinds of mundane things.


It's how you can manipulate others just by pretending a certain level of authority. It's even the basic of social engineering, phishing, etc.

[ThatDarnMKS]

It's a totally personal comment, people can accept or reject it, just my opinion. I guess I'm being at least consistent since my other McDonagh movies were In Bruges and Three Billboards and those were completely lost on me as well. Seeing this one was my "second chance" for this director. I didn't know it was going to be a McDonagh movie, accepted someone else's suggestion, so I went in without much expectation only to find out later that night that it was the Bruges director. Too much talk, no appealing characters and nothing going on that I cared about was my problem. I don't mean to strike any nerves, but it was the movie I saw last night and that was my rating.

It did remind me a bit of a Bergman movie, but having part of my family being Swedish and Irish (I grew up around accents), I know why THEY left. The movie has a distinct parallel to Bergman, except that it seems to me like an Irish sort of angst, something seemed not to be anything like a comedy. Being set during one the troubled periods in Ireland, really struck me with the feeling like how lucky I was that some my ancestors left the places they lived in when they did, or I probably would not be here, since I'm a catalog of Euro places and times that nobody wants to see.
You realize McDonagh isn’t trying to make the island, time period and people attractive, right?

Your criticism is like walking into a sushi restaurant and talking about all the ways it isn’t a burger joint.

[Takoma11]

I don't know about your call, but as far as the film goes, it's the Stanford Experiment angle. I think it has little to do with specific groups (i.e. women) and more with control, and knowing you can do it. I mean...


...you can see the guy at the other end is not getting aroused or anything. On the other hand, he's doing all kinds of mundane things.


I don't know.

We might not see him masturbating or anything, but the scam only ever targeted humiliating female employees (and at one point a female customer).

My impression was that he collects information about the calls to "enjoy" later. He takes notes on the fact that she's "shaved" and that she then did jumping jacks.

You can say he was mainly interested in control, but there's an undeniable sexual component to it. There are non-sexual ways to embarrass someone, but everything he does leans sexual.

[Thief]

I don't know.

We might not see him masturbating or anything, but the scam only ever targeted humiliating female employees (and at one point a female customer).

My impression was that he collects information about the calls to "enjoy" later. He takes notes on the fact that she's "shaved" and that she then did jumping jacks.

You can say he was mainly interested in control, but there's an undeniable sexual component to it. There are non-sexual ways to embarrass someone, but everything he does leans sexual.

Yeah, you're right.

[Thief]

I had no idea who Zoe Kazan was until I saw this film and she had me rushing to the googles immediately.

I recommend The Big Sick and The Exploding Girl. Two of my favorite romantic films.

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4b/Enola_Holmes_2_poster.png/220px-Enola_Holmes_2_poster.png

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

[cricket]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fa.ltrbxd.com%2Fresized%2Fsm%2Fupload%2Fj0%2Ffg%2F4z%2Fmc%2Fcompliance-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg%3Fk%3D2e249a0dba&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=e18d13b114c6aa0dc8dad6f4131bb3faffa260710e08b7fdcd9de5dacffaf636&ipo=images

Compliance, 2012

Sandra (Ann Dowd) is the manager of a fast food restaurant, overseeing a busy Friday night. She gets a call from a police officer (Pat Healy) claiming that one of the restaurant's employees, Becky (Dreama Walker) has stolen money from a customer. As the day wears on, the officer demands that that Sandra go to more and more extreme lengths to find the missing money.

Woof.

This is a hard one to watch---sort of a social horror movie where you keep thinking that things won't get worse and then, somehow, they do. I had remembered this incident when it happened, but I had not realized the extend of what happened to the actual young woman on whom Becky is based.

There are plenty of movies that deal with the question of "just following orders". What makes this movie so nightmarish is the way that it shows how someone flexing authority causes people to abandon their own moral compass and fail to stop bad things from happening or render aid to someone who badly needs it.

What is particularly nefarious is the way that the officer creates a sense of urgency and an us vs them mentality where he and Sandra are the responsible adults and Becky is the naughty child who won't do what she's told. When Becky resists being stripped or being left alone naked in a room with a man she barely knows, Sandra berates her for not "cooperating".

Dowd is both sympathetic and infuriating as Sandra, a women who is swamped with work and trying to do "the right thing." About halfway through the film, Bill Camp enters the picture as Van, Sandra's fiance. It's when Van appears that the demands from the officer on the phone take a much more cruel and perverse tone. It's sickening to watch the way that Van tries to please the officer, offering to put the phone on Becky's back so that the officer can hear him hitting Becky to punish her for not cooperating.

Walker is incredibly sympathetic as Becky, who goes from being incredulous to in genuine fear. She is later asked by a police officer why she didn't just say no when asked to do the things she did. But threats of being taken to jail, along with the circumstance of being naked and alone in a back room with a much older man creates a horribly skewed power dynamic. When Becky does protest--and even explicitly ask Sandra for help after Van has sexually assaulted her--she is brushed off.

Ashlie Atkinson and Philip Ettinger are also good as Becky's co-workers who know that what's happening isn't right, but can't quite bring themselves to intervene. When the officer demands that Ettinger's character, Kevin, inspect Becky's naked body, the young man demurs until the officer dismisses him as a "guard" because he is not responsible enough. They are a big part of one of the most surreal aspects of the film, which is that as Becky is enduring the worst day of her life in the back room, her coworkers are frying potatoes and slinging chicken sandwiches.

It's only when the store's handyman (Stephen Payne) arrives and articulates that he will not strip a young woman nude that everyone seems to snap out of the spell. By then, of course, Becky has endured hours of humiliation and abuse.

It's utterly maddening to know that the real life man, a corrections officer named David R. Stewart, who committed this crime (and numerous others like it) was acquitted. Great job, Kentucky.

This is a really hard movie to watch. With about 30 minutes left to go I had sweaty hands and a small headache. At the same time, it's one of those stories you think must be fictional until you realize it isn't at all. It's the kind of movie that makes you wonder at what point you would have hung up the phone or firmly said "no." It's depressing to think that many of us might go further than we'd like to believe.

4

Check this out, this place is in my area-

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna22347088

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fa.ltrbxd.com%2Fresized%2Fsm%2Fupload%2Fqt%2F13%2Fwi%2Fen%2Fthe-descendants-1200-1200-675-675-crop-000000.jpg%3Fk%3D803f6be956&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=93be94e242b42287473f691f1ad751589fed711ab3c7a8a2dad42519b9effca9&ipo=images

The Descendants, 2011

Steve (George Clooney) is in the midst of an historical real estate deal involving thousands of acres of Hawaii land. At the same time his wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) has been injured in a boating accident and will not survive. As Steve works to help his daughters, Alex (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller), through the imminent loss of their mother, he learns that Elizabeth was having an affair with a local real estate agent.

I know that it's not fair to judge movies by their trailers. I realize that filmmakers sometimes don't have control over how their movies are marketed. Back when this film came out, there was a trailer going around that made it look like a laugh-a-minute, kind of goofy comedy. I watched it when it came out and was turned off by the difference between how the movie had been sold what it was actually like.

So I've been long due a rewatch of this one, divorced from any expectations and this time around I really enjoyed the film for the most part.

Clooney anchors the film as a man who has way too much on his plate and is barely managing to juggle his many responsibilities. Steve is repeatedly forced into the role of middle-man: deciding who his family will sell the land to; mediating between Alex and her unconscious mother; even deciding that he should offer Elizabeth's lover a chance to bid her farewell. He surfs through the film in a mode of barely-kept control. In every moment, he is constantly being forced to think about others, and it complicates the way that he would like to express himself.

There are some really good supporting performances, including a pretty stellar turn from Woodley as wild-child older daughter Alex; Robert Forster as Elizabeth's abrasive, grieving father; and Judy Greer as the wife of Elizabeth's lover.

The movie also makes good use of its island setting, with many sequences taking place at beach-side locations or with a lush forest backdrop.

I was, at times, a bit mixed on the writing. For the most part it really flows well and Clooney in particular seems to get the rhythm of the fast, sardonic dialogue. But every now and then it gets a bit too cutesy. Nick Krause plays Alex's blunt stoner friend Sid, and his character gets a lot of the more clumsy dialogue. The character repeatedly follows the pattern of saying something goofy, something goofy, something profound/sad. It feels like the movie is using him to up the comic relief and it's not always the best fit for the movie around it.

Overall a solid drama comedy with strong performances and a well-earned final act.

4

[matt72582]

Border - 7/10
Unique. Part-drama, sci-fi, mystery, horror, thriller.


https://youtu.be/3LFWHGGU5jk

[pahaK]

Hellhole (2022)
2.5
A Polish horror about undercover police investigating disappearances near an isolated monastery. It's predictable and maybe a little lazily written, but I have a soft spot for films like this. I wish that the CGI toward the end was better, though.

--
Barbarian (2022)
1.5
A passable first act that's pretty much wasted as the film gets progressively worse the further it delves into its secrets. Note to self; don't believe the hype.

--
The Lair (2022)
2
Neil Marshall is making monster movies again, which is kind of a good thing. The bad news is that the film is a B-tier turd compared to Dog Soldiers or The Descent. It's bad enough to be somewhat amusing, though, so not a complete waste of time.

--
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
2.5
A 2.5-hour compilation of every war film cliche that exists. It's not bad by any means, but it's too safe and somewhat soulless.

--
Cold Moon (2016)
1
I tried to read this book a couple of years ago but never finished. Unfortunately, I'm stupid and decided to check if the story works better on film. The answer, sadly, is a firm no.

--
The Trouble with Being Born (2020)
3
A low-budget SciFi about somewhere along the lines of A.I. or Pinochio. It has its own twists in the form of pedophilia, incest, and memories. The latter half drags a little, but surprisingly solid for a completely random watch.

--
The Color of Pomegranates (1969)
2.5
A visual poem about an 18th-century Armenian poet. It didn't really move me that much, but I can see someone else really digging this. Definitely the weirdest film of this bunch.

--
Enola Holmes 2 (2022)
2.5
A really enjoyable first half, but then the preachy politics drowns the fun. I feel like I should give this a worse rating but, then again, Millie is quite legal now.

--
Warlords of Atlantis (1978)
2
Completely braindead silliness. It feels wrong how boring they managed to make this, though. Not terrible, but could have been much better.

[cricket]

The Handmaiden (2016)

4

https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/fd9/d22/718b286fddddfe31bb42c32a8e04911732-17-dress-up.2x.rsocial.w600.jpg

This is a beautiful film with a dark side and an interesting plot. I was not completely immersed for it's entire 140 minute runtime and that kept me from really loving it. It seems to be needlessly explicit at times, which is normally a big plus for me. It just seemed a little out of place in something like this that's pretty elegant. Many more positives than negatives.

[Thief]

CINEMA PUERTO RICO
UNA ANTROPOLOGÍA VISUAL
(2014, Rodríguez & Marrero)

https://i.imgur.com/oj9TzB3.png


"There's a determining factor: continuity, which allows for people both in front and behind the camera – like actors, crew members, directors – to form themselves and create their own styles and define themselves."



Cinema Puerto Rico: Una antropología visual is a documentary that chronicles the story of Puerto Rican cinema from its inception back in the late 19th Century. Through a series of interviews with directors, cinephiles, critics, and anthropologists, directors Freddie Rodríguez and Mariel Marrero try to trace the journey of our film industry, but also the reasons why it hasn't flourished.

The above is one of the reasons presented by one of the interviewees, a young filmmaker called Eduardo Rosado. And when you look at the trajectory, you can't help but agree. Even though cinema has been present here since its birth, its development in the island has sputtered because of lack of vision, economical issues, but also political maneuverings.

Grade: 4


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344772#post2344772)

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/Bull_Durham_film_poster.jpg
By Impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22349503

Bull Durham - (1988)

This movie is basically about baseball and sex. Man, have you ever just typed 8 words and thought to yourself, "I've finished the review already"? Anyway, Tim Robbins, Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon headline this sports film mixed with romantic comedy - and it didn't do much for me I'm afraid. It's a little funny, and a little romantic - all around it does it's job really well, but I never really connected with it. From Sarandon's heavy-drawl narration to the Ron Shelton screenplay, to me it was all middling kind of stuff. Now, Bull Durham was a popular success, and loads of people loved it - so I'm expecting that a few people reading this are going to think, "hey! I love Bull Durham!" but it just seems to be the kind of film that depends on your personal preferences. Costner was great, and at one point angrily says "I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone" - obviously not knowing that three years later he'd be playing Jim Garrison - his performance was a bright spot. Tim Robbins and Sarandon were okay.

6/10

[Thief]

CORREA COTTO
¡ASÍ ME LLAMAN!
(1968, Trucco)

https://i.imgur.com/hVn5ugU.png


"Correa, each step you sink deeper."



Speaking of diversity in Puerto Rican films, this was certainly something different to what is usually seen and discussed among our cinema. Correa Cotto: ¡así me llaman! is a lurid and violent piece of exploitation. The film follows the escapades of Antonio Correa Cotto (Luis Arroyo), a notorious criminal that won't tolerate any offense or slight from anybody.

Seeing a local film so overly charged of violence and sex was certainly surprising to me, since it was always uncommon to see those kind of things in the stuff that was produced here; at least in what was shown in the main 2 or 3 channels.The style of this film is very much in the exploitation vein, with lots of exaggerated sounds and music, as cameras linger on female naked bodies and hands caressing up and down.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2344783#post2344783)

[PHOENIX74]

My hot streak of new releases at theater continues!

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

https://boxd.it/3oYt97

5/5

I'm very much looking forward to seeing this - written and directed by Ruben Östlund, who made The Square and Force Majeure - both great movies.

[skizzerflake]

You realize McDonagh isn’t trying to make the island, time period and people attractive, right?.....


Oh yeah, I got that. What I don't get is the "why?" part. This awful place, populated by people who, with one exception, will mostly be there for the duration, in a particularly difficult time. Got that.

That's where I get to "why?" I know why I saw the movie - someone else's recommendation when I did not have a counterproposal + wanted to get some dinner and be downtown. To me, it's more like walking into the sushi restaurant, knowing I'd get sushi and being OK with that, but the fish is funky.

What I don't know is why anybody else thought it was good. I haven't heard anything on that so far. I know that In Bruges (another McDonagh movie) is a cult movie, a cult I didn't join, and this seems like it's cut from that same cloth, so at least I'm consistent.

[Wooley]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ef/Bull_Durham_film_poster.jpg
By Impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22349503

Bull Durham - (1988)

This movie is basically about baseball and sex. Man, have you ever just typed 8 words and thought to yourself, "I've finished the review already"? Anyway, Tim Robbins, Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon headline this sports film mixed with romantic comedy - and it didn't do much for me I'm afraid. It's a little funny, and a little romantic - all around it does it's job really well, but I never really connected with it. From Sarandon's heavy-drawl narration to the Ron Shelton screenplay, to me it was all middling kind of stuff. Now, Bull Durham was a popular success, and loads of people loved it - so I'm expecting that a few people reading this are going to think, "hey! I love Bull Durham!" but it just seems to be the kind of film that depends on your personal preferences. Costner was great, and at one point angrily says "I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone" - obviously not knowing that three years later he'd be playing Jim Garrison - his performance was a bright spot. Tim Robbins and Sarandon were okay.

6/10

Interesting.
One of my favorite movies of all time that I think of as being about a lot more than baseball and sex and I feel like I could probably write a not-so-short book about. It is baseball, specifically minor-league baseball, as a very thinly-veiled metaphor for life. Youth being wasted on the young, what it feels like to have youth end, especially knowing your dreams didn't come true, loneliness and longing, living in a pretense to protect yourself from your own fear of failure, existentialism, nostalgia for an older America, the acceptance of adulthood, really good music, all that is in there for me. I know every line of the film, I'm sure, and this movie helped me to grow up and think of life as being more than my juvenile perspective
Sorry it didn't hit you the way it hit me but, as my Mom used to say, "That's what makes the World go 'round."

[PHOENIX74]

Interesting.
One of my favorite movies of all time that I think of as being about a lot more than baseball and sex and I feel like I could probably write a not-so-short book about. It is baseball, specifically minor-league baseball, as a very thinly-veiled metaphor for life. Youth being wasted on the young, what it feels like to have youth end, especially knowing your dreams didn't come true, loneliness and longing, living in a pretense to protect yourself from your own fear of failure, existentialism, nostalgia for an older America, the acceptance of adulthood, really good music, all that is in there for me. I know every line of the film, I'm sure, and this movie helped me to grow up and think of life as being more than my juvenile perspective
Sorry it didn't hit you the way it hit me but, as my Mom used to say, "That's what makes the World go 'round."

Baseball is just used as a metaphor in the film, but I wonder if not being an American hurt my perspective on the whole film. There's a sense of nostalgia and emotion surrounding baseball that I don't see in other sporting films that come from the States. I had a feeling that this was going to be one of those films that you'd probably like, and my main problem wasn't that there was anything wrong the film - it was perfect - it was just that it didn't speak to me in an emotional kind of way.

[Siddon]

https://www.blackadammovie.net/images/share.jpg

Black Adam (2022)

Man you just want to suck up and roll around in all of this sweet sweet diversity and wokeness. Look most comic adaptations nowadays are trash we know if a character is supposed to be a moral agent of goodness and change they have to be black. But the pretzel this film twists itself into because they have to cast stereotypes and foster positive cliches is part one that kills the film.

See Black Adam is a bad guy because he kills people but Hawkman who is now black and a good guy because he doesn't kill people is sent to a hostage state to imprison Black Adam. He is doing this on orders from Amanda Waller a black female who killed people in previous films for less reasons than Black Adam who is a bad guy in a hostage country. And while I'm not an expert on Hawkman the two things I know about Hawkman from the comics...he's a white guy that comes from a warring alien people. But here he's a black guy...who has to stop Black Adam on orders from Amanda Waller. Oh and if Hawkman and the JSA was white (which they are in the comics) than the central metaphor of the film works.

Oh and the third act looks like a video game cut scene with sky laser and "CGI bad guy".

While I am not going to say this is a bad movie because The Rock is good in this...he typically is. The problem is most of the film has been given away in the trailer other parts of the film feel like an Indiana Jones film poorly made and the guy who's story you want to follow is a scenery chewing side character played by Pierce Brosnan. Black Adam is great, Doctor Fate is great, most of the ideas in the film are great people should like this to an extent....but it's a mess.


2.5

[LChimp]

https://br.web.img3.acsta.net/pictures/22/10/26/19/19/4006947.jpg


Kinda boring actually.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Oh yeah, I got that. What I don't get is the "why?" part. This awful place, populated by people who, with one exception, will mostly be there for the duration, in a particularly difficult time. Got that.

That's where I get to "why?" I know why I saw the movie - someone else's recommendation when I did not have a counterproposal + wanted to get some dinner and be downtown. To me, it's more like walking into the sushi restaurant, knowing I'd get sushi and being OK with that, but the fish is funky.

What I don't know is why anybody else thought it was good. I haven't heard anything on that so far. I know that In Bruges (another McDonagh movie) is a cult movie, a cult I didn't join, and this seems like it's cut from that same cloth, so at least I'm consistent.
Your analogy correction doesn’t work because my point is you’ve made a categorical mistake in your assessment of this film (and McDonagh’s filmography, it seems). You’re judging them by what you are wrongly expecting them to be rather than what they are.

I also already posted my letterboxd review that explains why I loved it (it’s also gotten critical rave reviews and virtually everyone posting about it on Reddit/Twitter is explaining why they enjoyed it, so you could look around a little if you’re actually curious).

I’ll repost the letterboxd in case you are:

https://boxd.it/3ouX4L

[Stirchley]

89711

Finished it. Was not invested in any of the lives, but I can see why people like the movie. I would never want to watch it again.

Interesting that Dylan McDermott led this movie even though he’d never made a movie before.

[Stirchley]

Re-watch of a BRILLIANT MOVIE. Nothing more needs to be said.

89712

[Stirchley]

89713

Kinda nutty, but it was fun to watch at the end of the day yesterday. Both lead actresses are very good especially the dark-haired one.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOWRiNmI1OTItYjc0Zi00YTYwLWI4OTEtMmE0YTNlODJkOTQwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDM2NDM2MQ@@._V1_.jpg



4

[FromBeyond]

Spell 2022


Very run or the mill stuff, think "Misery" but in the deep south with voodoo. It was by no means terrible and had some nice visual flourishes. Black cinema too I guess if that's your thing or maybe just everyone happened to be black, I don't know, I do like Omari Hardwick in anything, he has a good screen presence bet yeah overall nothing to shout home about and this will be forgotten in time.

[beelzebubble]

Nope (2022) 2.5/5


I just think the script wasn't there. The cast is great, but Daniel Kaluuya is doing his best laconic cowboy without much back story. He seems to be the lead. Keke Palmer and her relentless energy really carrry the movie. Steve Yuen's character is the only one with any back story. The character of the cinematographer and the nosy IT geek are both pretty entertaining..

The movie doesn't really get rolling until we are into the action of fighting the alien. Once the action begins I really enjoyed it. But the set up was ham fisted and that is about half the movie.. If, as Jordan Peele says, this movie is about spectacle; it probably should have centered around the family that owned the fairground. That would be the quickest fix to this movie that just doesn't hold together well.
I don't know. I was disappointed. It needed work.

[Wooley]

Baseball is just used as a metaphor in the film, but I wonder if not being an American hurt my perspective on the whole film. There's a sense of nostalgia and emotion surrounding baseball that I don't see in other sporting films that come from the States. I had a feeling that this was going to be one of those films that you'd probably like, and my main problem wasn't that there was anything wrong the film - it was perfect - it was just that it didn't speak to me in an emotional kind of way.

That is an excellent point.

[Wooley]

Nope (2022) 2.5/5


I just think the script wasn't there. The cast is great, but Daniel Kaluuya is doing his best laconic cowboy without much back story. He seems to be the lead. Keke Palmer and her relentless energy really carrry the movie. Steve Yuen's character is the only one with any back story. The character of the cinematographer and the nosy IT geek are both pretty entertaining..

The movie doesn't really get rolling until we are into the action of fighting the alien. Once the action begins I really enjoyed it. But the set up was ham fisted and that is about half the movie.. If, as Jordan Peele says, this movie is about spectacle; it probably should have centered around the family that owned the fairground. That would be the quickest fix to this movie that just doesn't hold together well.
I don't know. I was disappointed. It needed work.

Oh man. I felt like I knew his whole life. I thought it was implied in the script and his performance, his feelings about living up to his father and not being ready and not being good enough and his desperate need to keep the ranch to keep from failing his late father and all that, despite being kind of a shy, introverted guy... Man, I got every bit of that. That's why I liked the movie so much because Peele and Kaluuya gave me all that without having to come right out and say it.
I thought this movie proved that Peele is a better filmmaker than his material and may just have to move even deeper into expressing the human condition to reach his zenith.

[beelzebubble]

Oh man. I felt like I knew his whole life. I thought it was implied in the script and his performance, his feelings about living up to his father and not being ready and not being good enough and his desperate need to keep the ranch to keep from failing his late father and all that, despite being kind of a shy, introverted guy... Man, I got every bit of that. .
Yeah I saw that but I saw it principally as the family's back story.
then again I may be grasping at straws to explain why I was left a bit bored by the beginning of the film. Things within the film just felt a little too disconnected to me.

[EndlessDream]

https://i.imgur.com/mDzMU7E.jpg

Perfect Blue is an anime thriller about a pop star named Mima whose life begins to unravel when she decides to quit singing and become an actress. She soon finds an online blog that knows way too much about her and which criticizes her risqué acting jobs that are contrary to her previously innocent public image. Is this the work of a deranged fan or is Mima's conscience causing her to lose her grip on reality?

I was into Perfect Blue for the first half or so, but by the end, it had gradually lost both my understanding and my interest. I like its portrayal of the dark side of being a celebrity, particularly for a pretty girl. Mima has fans way too involved in her personal life who at various times cross the line into stalker territory. She's also pressured into doing sexually explicit shoots, while at the same time warned that such media can make some fans look down on her. She sees this criticism firsthand on the blog, which I thought was an accurate representation of the "holier than thou" attitude of internet users.

Perfect Blue lost me when it started to get more surreal and gave some unsatisfactory answers to its mysteries. In the second half of the movie, scenes repeat themselves and are revealed to be movie scenes so often that I no longer knew which way was up. Eventually, we get a solid answer to what's happening, but even that just creates more questions. This all adds up to a movie with good parts, but frustrating as a whole.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Blonde

A surrealist, psychological horror disguised as a biopic

https://boxd.it/3phc0b

4.5/5

[GulfportDoc]

Black Adam (2022)

Man you just want to suck up and roll around in all of this sweet sweet diversity and wokeness. Look most comic adaptations nowadays are trash we know if a character is supposed to be a moral agent of goodness and change they have to be black. But the pretzel this film twists itself into because they have to cast stereotypes and foster positive cliches is part one that kills the film.
...
Two thumbs way up for your commentary!..:) Don't tell me they left out a lesbian character!

[Wooley]

:rolleyes:

[Wyldesyde19]

🙄

[ThatDarnMKS]

:rolleyes:

[Wyldesyde19]

Blonde

A surrealist, psychological horror disguised as a biopic

https://boxd.it/3phc0b

4.5/5
I liked this film, and definitely need to rewatch this, where I might upgrade its rating, but for now, it’s about 3.5/5 for me.

I wish they would have included Sinatra, who was a huge part of her later life. I think he may have even introduced her to JFK? Would have been interesting to see that portrayal. But that’s a minor quibble. The film is quite good.

[skizzerflake]

Your analogy correction doesn’t work because my point is you’ve made a categorical mistake in your assessment of this film (and McDonagh’s filmography, it seems). You’re judging them by what you are wrongly expecting them to be rather than what they are.

I also already posted my letterboxd review that explains why I loved it (it’s also gotten critical rave reviews and virtually everyone posting about it on Reddit/Twitter is explaining why they enjoyed it, so you could look around a little if you’re actually curious).

I’ll repost the letterboxd in case you are:

https://boxd.it/3ouX4L

I admit that my feeling about movies is that they should be clear and communicate. I read the posting and it seemed like a case of over-interpretation. I don't want to explore subtexts, allegories and symbols and don't want to read about what it all means when the overt story and setting are dismal. So we have these two guys carrying on a non-violent, self destructive blood feud, choking a poor donkey with severed fingers in a bleak landscape on an island suited for nothing but perhaps a few shots by a minimalist photographer. Most of the island is covered with ancient stone walls, intended to capture whatever soil doesn't blow away so you can grow meager crops that undernourished islanders eat until they die. A revolution is going on but it doesn't bother with this island. The lone female interest realized that she will wither on this dismal outpost and has left so it's blight will not get to her. When it's all done (or done in), these two guys end up staying in this place, minus some fingers and a donkey and a girlfriend, their brains decaying by the day until this place actually seems OK. I'll guess that, once she escaped, Siobhan never looked back.

I've seen the rave reviews. I don't get some people's fascination with inbred minimalism but somehow it seems to appeal. I wake up every day, glad I don't live in a place like that with it's walls, traditions and pints. No matter how much I try to read into this movie, it works in one sense that it successfully communicates hopelessness and isolation, but I really don't want to go there and don't see the fascination. I did give it two popcorns for nice imagery of all the dismalness and good acting, but it was a relief to leave the theater and I don't get what about it is a comedy. It's really pretty sad.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I liked this film, and definitely need to rewatch this, where I might upgrade its rating, but for now, it’s about 3.5/5 for me.

I wish they would have included Sinatra, who was a huge part of her later life. I think he may have even introduced her to JFK? Would have been interesting to see that portrayal. But that’s a minor quibble. The film is quite good.
I rank it so highly because I’m in love with the craft. I have a general affinity for films where the director throws every technical trick he knows at the screen (see: Coppola’s Dracula) and Dominik seemingly knows a ton of tricks. It gave the film a unique feel that would’ve stood out even if were less about the subjective experience of an unravelling Monroe.

I also keep thinking back at how banal, manipulative, shallow and ultimately well received “Judy” was and how it seems to be the template that critics WANTED for this film. To “reclaim” Monroe’s legacy and give us an inspiring tale of strength despite mental illness and addiction. In other words, to lie to us.

It’s ironic that the film that claims to be based on a fictional novel rather than a straight up biopic (admitting it’s flagrant falsehoods), likely gets a great deal closer to the “truth” of its subject.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I I don't want to explore subtexts, allegories and symbols and don't want to read about what it all means when the overt story and setting are dismal.
Well… Black Adam is still in theaters. I hear it’s better than the last few DCU films.

[Wyldesyde19]

I rank it so highly because I’m in love with the craft. I have a general affinity for films where the director throws every technical trick he knows at the screen (see: Coppola’s Dracula) and Dominik seemingly knows a ton of tricks. It gave the film a unique feel that would’ve stood out even if were less about the subjective experience of an unravelling Monroe.

I also keep thinking back at how banal, manipulative, shallow and ultimately well received “Judy” was and how it seems to be the template that critics WANTED for this film. To “reclaim” Monroe’s legacy and give us an inspiring tale of strength despite mental illness and addiction. In other words, to lie to us.

It’s ironic that the film that claims to be based on a fictional novel rather than a straight up biopic (admitting it’s flagrant falsehoods), likely gets a great deal closer to the “truth” of its subject.

Right. And there are many who claim this film Disrespects her legacy, but honestly, what legacy was that? Was she not difficult to work with? Was she not insecure and constantly craving an ersatz father figure in the much older men she dated and married? She was a mess, and as such, her life is depicted as one. *

The fact she is also treated as a victim, mainly taken advantage of by all the men surrounding her (Mr “Z”, her make up artist, Chaplin jr and Robinson jr, and finally JFK (!) ) adds an extra layer of tragedy to the film, because let’s face it, her life was tragic, she was taken advantage of often, while those who should have cared for her were too busy feeling sorry for their own selves.

Yeah, a lot is made up, but it’s still pretty true to the myth and legend that is Monroe. It helps that I’m a fan of the director (Killing Them Softly is likely making my ballot for the upcoming countdown).

I haven’t seen Judy yet, but I aim to soon.

[crumbsroom]

:rolleyes:


Can I eyeroll too?


I think there needs to be more eyerolls.


:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Chypmunk]

I'll add an egg roll
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/egg-roll-21617366.jpg

Partly for variety and partly in case anyone gets peckish from rolling their eyes.

[Siddon]

I mean you guys can roll your eyes but when you ignore continuity for PC reasoning that hurts films. Hawkman...who has no problem in the comics is working for this woman. That we saw in the movies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUT2flHjdUs

So the central theme of the film...Black Adam is a bad guy because he kills is dumb. Now they could have picked non-murdering characters to argue against murder in the film but they didn't do that.

And because you did a pair of dumb race swaps the second message of the film. The JSA exist to keep countries stable...they are literal white knights. Kahndaq is being occupied and the JSA did nothing about it. They had one job make a film criticizing America's foreign policy and they muddled the metaphor by engaging in cheap marketing gimmick that re-writes an 80 year old character and ignores the continuity of another character. And worse of all you have a character on the team that is all-knowing in Doctor Fate.

[Wyldesyde19]

I think most of the eye rolls were at Gulfports rather tasteless post.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7c/Armageddon_Time_Poster.jpeg
By http://www.impawards.com/2022/armageddon_time_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71681689

Armageddon Time - (2022)

We go way back to 1980 and James Gray's own childhood for Armageddon Time, which seems to mirror our own times - and pointedly, Fred Trump finances the New York private school young 12-year-old Paul Graff (Banks Repeta) is sent to when he fouls up by smoking weed with his friend Johnny (Jaylin Webb) at his much more lax one. Johnny is black - something his new upper class school chums find hilarious - so much so it forces the kid to lie about how close they are. Because of his race Johnny is usually immediately presumed guilty when things happen, while Paul usually gets off light - and it's Paul's grandfather Aaron Rabinowitz (Anthony Hopkins) who tries to open his eyes about speaking out - not being racist isn't enough. This all could have been played very heavy-handedly, but instead Gray inserts a lot of his own experience, confusion and lost innocence. Cinematographer Darius Khondji, with whom Gray made The Lost City of Z keeps everything at a low lighting, and our attention on Paul's face - the dark atmosphere reminds me of the end to A Serious Man - an approaching storm, and the beginning to a decade of eroding financial and moral enlightenment. Very uneasy.

You'll see a lot of nods to cinematic scenes you may know well - there's a lot of The 400 Blows in this, right down to when Paul and Johnny steal a computer which looks like the typewriter stolen in that film, and head down to the local pawn shop. There's another I've been trying to recall for ages - but it's one of those moment-by-moment recreations of a famous scene from another film - and I've lost it. I really found Paul a believable little kid - neither full of wisdom nor goodness, but simply in need of respect from his peers. He has a hard time accepting that school will lead anywhere, and a terminal need to goof off and not do his work. All the little nuances are there within him, and I was impressed. Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong are great as his parents.

7.5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/88/Chattahoochee_%28film%29.png
By https://yuq.me/users/20/654/L5eGE8hWtz.png, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48756450

Chattahoochee - (1989)

Emmett Foley (Gary Oldman) - a mentally damaged Korean War vet loses it one day, and attempts suicide by cop before turning a gun on himself and attempting to kill himself with a bullet to the heart (he misses). After his arrest and recovery, he finds himself in the brutal nightmare world of Florida State Hospital which houses so many insane inmates that those locked up there sleep head to toe. All kinds of brutality are regularly dished out - and when Emmett writes a letter to an inmate's wife one day, those in charge of the hospital come down hard on him. Over time he notes every brutal act and with the help of his sister mounts a political campaign for reform. I thought this was a very well acted little movie, with Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Frances McDormand and Pamela Reed real standouts - but the only thing I had a problem with was the overly optimistic ending - one that seemed to sum thing up as "and everything is perfectly okay now." In my practice, it seldom all gets fixed in any first wave of reforms.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/Fast_food_nation_ver2.jpg
By impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9965715

Fast Food Nation - (2006)

I've always liked animals, but the older I get the more I love them - so the end of Fast Food Nation was a brutal shock to me, and upsetting. Those cows meet a terrible, nightmarish end - and the assembly line works continually, meaning non-stop horror. Fast Food Nation uses a simple narrative to be able to touch on all areas of the fast food business, with it's dodgy practices in the employment realm and the disgusting "food" side. It has many really light moments, but can get dark awfully fast - and I'm sure will push anyone who watches it a little closer to changing their diets.

7/10

[sawduck]

Midsommar 8/10 - weird,creepy and beautiful
All Quiet On The Western Front (2022) 9/10 - probably the best movie i have seen so far this year
East Is East 7.5/10
Heart and Souls 7/10

[cricket]

The Artist (2011)

3.5

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ1-e8S447FPlNWdNHCNwW_N1xuU67TxM97TQ&usqp=CAU

Nice look back or tribute to silent film, or whatever one would like to call it. It's charming and very well done. I certainly enjoyed it but not to a huge degree. A very good film that won't stay with me.

[SpelingError]

The Artist (2011)

3.5

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ1-e8S447FPlNWdNHCNwW_N1xuU67TxM97TQ&usqp=CAU

Nice look back or tribute to silent film, or whatever one would like to call it. It's charming and very well done. I certainly enjoyed it but not to a huge degree. A very good film that won't stay with me.

My reaction to it was pretty much the same.

[Thief]

MALDEAMORES
(2007, Ruíz & Pérez)

https://i.imgur.com/c8Lnexa.png


"Don't worry, beer is like that. At first they're not good, but then... you love them."
"Like girls?"
"No, no, no, with girls is the opposite. At first you love them like hell, but then?... then no one can swallow them."



That's the advice given by Macho (Norman Santiago) to his young nephew, Ismaelito (Fernando Tarrazo) as they share a cold beer in the curb. It can also be seen as part of the thesis of this Puerto Rican film from 2007. Maldeamores follows three separate storylines about different people in different stages of love, or what they think is love, and how they can move forward beyond the struggles of figuring it out.

I really enjoyed the film as a whole. I think all of the segments had many strengths, starting with the performances which were all pretty good across the board. Also, the script and dialogue was strong and felt very natural, very much "of here", which made for a pleasant watching experience. Although the stories don't really connect in any way, the way the themes are handled made it feel as a whole.

Grade: 3.5


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2345101#post2345101)

[pahaK]

I think most of the eye rolls were at Gulfports rather tasteless post.

That was tasteless? OK, let me give it a like then.

[Gideon58]

https://www.moviemem.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/KILLINGHRws.jpg


4

[Gideon58]

The Artist (2011)

3.5

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ1-e8S447FPlNWdNHCNwW_N1xuU67TxM97TQ&usqp=CAU

Nice look back or tribute to silent film, or whatever one would like to call it. It's charming and very well done. I certainly enjoyed it but not to a huge degree. A very good film that won't stay with me.

I LOVED this movie

[ThatDarnMKS]

I think most of the eye rolls were at Gulfports rather tasteless post.
I rolled one eye for each of them.

[skizzerflake]

Well… Black Adam is still in theaters. I hear it’s better than the last few DCU films.

I'll probably not see that unless I get talked into it. I've seen enough "leotard movies" to last for the next couple lifetimes. They remind me too much of westerns, which thankfully have mainly disappeared from theaters.

I guess we're heading toward the Christmas season, so hopefully the studios are holding back something worth seeing, but for me, it's been a bland late summer/early autumn, now heading into mid autumn.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I'll probably not see that unless I get talked into it. I've seen enough "leotard movies" to last for the next couple lifetimes. They remind me too much of westerns, which thankfully have mainly disappeared from theaters.

I guess we're heading toward the Christmas season, so hopefully the studios are holding back something worth seeing, but for me, it's been a bland late summer/early autumn, now heading into mid autumn.
Love me some westerns. Hope we get a resurgence.

[skizzerflake]

Love me some westerns. Hope we get a resurgence.

It would be interesting to see what they'd need to do to revive the genre. Old westerns featured so much clear good guy-bad guy stuff that seems dated in our world of ambiguous morality, that it's hard to see that coming back as it once was. Way back, when the sheriff shot someone the town thought "he had it coming"....no protests, no hearings, no police brutality charges. Vegans and giant chicken factories have made cattle ranches not seem like the future of the world and I don't think anybody would want to go down into the awful perception of Native Americans that also populated the run time of a lot of westerns.

I'd be curious to see how someone would revive the genre, but I don't think I'd put my investment millions into a western revival.

[crumbsroom]

There are leagues of morally ambiguous westerns.


It's the seemingly frequent misunderstanding that they were a white hat/black hat genre that led to misunderstand the moral ambiguities of something like The Searchers and thinking it was just a racist relic.

[Takoma11]

There are leagues of morally ambiguous westerns.

It's the seemingly frequent misunderstanding that they were a white hat/black hat genre that led to misunderstand the moral ambiguities of something like The Searchers and thinking it was just a racist relic.

Yeah, things like The Ox Bow Incident or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance pivot entirely on questions of morality and don't always have easy answers about the "right" course of action.

[beelzebubble]

Can I eyeroll too?


I think there needs to be more eyerolls.


:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
What are you guys rolling eyes at?
I want to join in but I don't want to use such a dangerous tactic against the wrong target.

[beelzebubble]

https://www.moviemem.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/KILLINGHRws.jpg


rating_4
I have never seen this. I keep trying to but there is something about the sangfroid of Kubrick's direction that often puts me off. That is probably why I like Spartacus so much. It is not only Kubrick's baby. Kirk Douglas takes the chill off of it somehow.

[Gideon58]

I'll probably not see that unless I get talked into it. I've seen enough "leotard movies" to last for the next couple lifetimes. They remind me too much of westerns, which thankfully have mainly disappeared from theaters.

I guess we're heading toward the Christmas season, so hopefully the studios are holding back something worth seeing, but for me, it's been a bland late summer/early autumn, now heading into mid autumn.

I have to agree...there has been a gem here and there, but for the most part, 2022 has been a less than memorable year in film.

[crumbsroom]

What are you guys rolling eyes at?
I want to join in but I don't want to use such a dangerous tactic against the wrong target.

The supposed terror of diversity and how it is ruining everyone's good time. Or so I keep hearing.


But since there is no reason to talk about it, a chorus of rolled eyes will have to suffice.

[SpelingError]

I'll add an egg roll
https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/egg-roll-21617366.jpg

Partly for variety and partly in case anyone gets peckish from rolling their eyes.

Also, I'll add an Agro for the heck of it:

89739

[ThatDarnMKS]

It would be interesting to see what they'd need to do to revive the genre. Old westerns featured so much clear good guy-bad guy stuff that seems dated in our world of ambiguous morality, that it's hard to see that coming back as it once was. Way back, when the sheriff shot someone the town thought "he had it coming"....no protests, no hearings, no police brutality charges. Vegans and giant chicken factories have made cattle ranches not seem like the future of the world and I don't think anybody would want to go down into the awful perception of Native Americans that also populated the run time of a lot of westerns.

I'd be curious to see how someone would revive the genre, but I don't think I'd put my investment millions into a western revival.
Ah. Haven’t seen many westerns then?

[EndlessDream]

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

Munster, Go Home! is a really funny theatrical continuation of the TV series. Herman inherits an English manor from a long-lost relative. Hijinks ensue.

I think the writers of this movie brought their A-game. It feels like a feature-length episode of the show, which is a good thing. I loved how cocky Herman got when he found out he was a lord. The rhinestone reveal made me burst out laughing. My favorite bit in the movie is when the English Munsters try to scare away Herman and Lily, only for it to backfire completely.

I think Munster, Go Home! balances out the characters' roles better than the show. It's still primarily Herman-centric, but everyone else is given some good gags. We get a classic Herman and Grandpa escapade in the manor's basement, Lily has some funny moments chasing after Herman during the drag race, Eddie sleeps in a drawer, and even Marilyn gets a substantial romantic part. Speaking of Marilyn, she's played by a new actress and not Pat Priest or Beverley Owen, which is disappointing.

The movie ends in an epic drag race across the English countryside, which goes on a little long, but it's fun. Definitely check this movie out if you're a fan of the show.

[Takoma11]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.italymagazine.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fcrema-call-me-by-your-name.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=003ed0b3156f5aabdafd308ffb9e3e182bd806f130c86e30a520b1130ef3e47d&ipo=images

Call Me By Your Name, 2017

Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is a 17 year old who lives in Italy with his archaeology professor father (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his mother (Amira Casar). Elio's world is shaken up when his father's summer research assistant, Oliver (Armie Hammer) arrives. Elio develops a profound attraction to Oliver, and experiences emotional highs and lows when he discovers that Oliver returns his feelings.

There are movies about traditionally marginalized groups that emphasize systems of oppression and movies that instead take a more "life is hard no matter who you are" universal approach. Call Me By Your Name mixes both of these approaches together and the result is a story that is both very specific and very relatable.

My main apprehension going into the film is that I tend to be very critical of movies that feature relationships with conspicuous age gaps. For the most part I felt that this film landed on the right side of the line. Hammer's character is meant to be in his early/mid-20s, though I felt that he and Chalamet looked like there was more distance between them age-wise. That said, I felt that overall Oliver followed the "campsite rule" and it didn't feel like Oliver was intentionally taking advantage of Elio.

But I do think that some of the movie's best moments come from the fact that there is an inherent imbalance between the characters. Elio talks a good game and, for the most part, he is the one who initiates the relationship. But Elio is still a teenager who does not have a wealth of romantic or sexual experience (with men or with women). While Oliver tries to be careful with Elio's feelings, it's such a complex time in Elio's life that even when things are going well he is overwhelmed. It's also significant that with his confidence and all-American looks, Oliver is the kind of person who will never have trouble finding a partner, male or female. But for Elio, who is far less confident and imposing, such relationship can't and won't just come at the drop of a hat.

I also liked how the film handled the question of the acceptance (or lack thereof) of homosexuality. Elio's parents are very accepting, as is his childhood friend and girlfriend Marzia (Esther Garrel). His parents even have good friends who are a gay couple. But there is a tacit acknowledgement that it's not expected of Elio to be openly gay. Oliver repeatedly says that he doesn't want himself or Elio to be "punished" or "suffer" from their relationship, and it's pretty clear he's not talking about the age gap. The fact that Elio can barely talk about his feelings, and even then half in code, only exacerbates the agony of his first serious romantic love. This is echoed in the fact that the family do not advertise that they are Jewish, with his mother saying that they are "Jews of discretion." There is this vague sense that some things should not be said aloud, and it creates an undercurrent of fear and unease.

I thought that Chalamet was very good in the lead role, really nailing the way that teenagers can put up a front of indifferent swagger while actually being a mess on the inside. Hammer also really nails the way that some attractive people can be, like, annoyingly seductive. Obviously some of Oliver's actions are meant to deliberately get Elio's attention, but mainly he's a man who is incredibly confident and settled as a person. Stuhlbarg and Casar also do a good job of portraying an affability that constantly leaves you wondering how much they know about what is happening with their son.

I was a big fan of the way that the film was choreographed. Elio can't stop touching Oliver, something that he finds erotic, of course, but also clearly comforting in a way. It's interesting to see the way that the film differentiates this from Elio's relationship with Marzia. Elio loves Marzia, and the two have sexual encounters that Elio seems to enjoy, but what he feels towards Oliver comes across as a much deeper need than that of sexual gratification. The movie is relatively chaste when it comes to their sex scenes, so the main emphasis is not on their lust (though that is certainly a driver). At times this feels a bit prudish (like when the camera just pans over to a tree for a minute?), but overall I didn't think that the movie needed to be more explicit, especially when one of the characters is a teenager.

The Italian setting is absolutely beautiful, and many of the sequences are just really breathtaking. I liked the soundtrack, and especially liked the closing number that played in the transition into the credits.

A very relatable, heartbreaking romance. I see why it got so much positive attention.

4.5

[ThatDarnMKS]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.italymagazine.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fcrema-call-me-by-your-name.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=003ed0b3156f5aabdafd308ffb9e3e182bd806f130c86e30a520b1130ef3e47d&ipo=images

Call Me By Your Name, 2017

Elio (Timothée Chalamet) is a 17 year old who lives in Italy with his archaeology professor father (Michael Stuhlbarg) and his mother (Amira Casar). Elio's world is shaken up when his father's summer research assistant, Oliver (Armie Hammer) arrives. Elio develops a profound attraction to Oliver, and experiences emotional highs and lows when he discovers that Oliver returns his feelings.

There are movies about traditionally marginalized groups that emphasize systems of oppression and movies that instead take a more "life is hard no matter who you are" universal approach. Call Me By Your Name mixes both of these approaches together and the result is a story that is both very specific and very relatable.

My main apprehension going into the film is that I tend to be very critical of movies that feature relationships with conspicuous age gaps. For the most part I felt that this film landed on the right side of the line. Hammer's character is meant to be in his early/mid-20s, though I felt that he and Chalamet looked like there was more distance between them age-wise. That said, I felt that overall Oliver followed the "campsite rule" and it didn't feel like Oliver was intentionally taking advantage of Elio.

But I do think that some of the movie's best moments come from the fact that there is an inherent imbalance between the characters. Elio talks a good game and, for the most part, he is the one who initiates the relationship. But Elio is still a teenager who does not have a wealth of romantic or sexual experience (with men or with women). While Oliver tries to be careful with Elio's feelings, it's such a complex time in Elio's life that even when things are going well he is overwhelmed. It's also significant that with his confidence and all-American looks, Oliver is the kind of person who will never have trouble finding a partner, male or female. But for Elio, who is far less confident and imposing, such relationship can't and won't just come at the drop of a hat.

I also liked how the film handled the question of the acceptance (or lack thereof) of homosexuality. Elio's parents are very accepting, as is his childhood friend and girlfriend Marzia (Esther Garrel). His parents even have good friends who are a gay couple. But there is a tacit acknowledgement that it's not expected of Elio to be openly gay. Oliver repeatedly says that he doesn't want himself or Elio to be "punished" or "suffer" from their relationship, and it's pretty clear he's not talking about the age gap. The fact that Elio can barely talk about his feelings, and even then half in code, only exacerbates the agony of his first serious romantic love. This is echoed in the fact that the family do not advertise that they are Jewish, with his mother saying that they are "Jews of discretion." There is this vague sense that some things should not be said aloud, and it creates an undercurrent of fear and unease.

I thought that Chalamet was very good in the lead role, really nailing the way that teenagers can put up a front of indifferent swagger while actually being a mess on the inside. Hammer also really nails the way that some attractive people can be, like, annoyingly seductive. Obviously some of Oliver's actions are meant to deliberately get Elio's attention, but mainly he's a man who is incredibly confident and settled as a person. Stuhlbarg and Casar also do a good job of portraying an affability that constantly leaves you wondering how much they know about what is happening with their son.

I was a big fan of the way that the film was choreographed. Elio can't stop touching Oliver, something that he finds erotic, of course, but also clearly comforting in a way. It's interesting to see the way that the film differentiates this from Elio's relationship with Marzia. Elio loves Marzia, and the two have sexual encounters that Elio seems to enjoy, but what he feels towards Oliver comes across as a much deeper need than that of sexual gratification. The movie is relatively chaste when it comes to their sex scenes, so the main emphasis is not on their lust (though that is certainly a driver). At times this feels a bit prudish (like when the camera just pans over to a tree for a minute?), but overall I didn't think that the movie needed to be more explicit, especially when one of the characters is a teenager.

The Italian setting is absolutely beautiful, and many of the sequences are just really breathtaking. I liked the soundtrack, and especially liked the closing number that played in the transition into the credits.

A very relatable, heartbreaking romance. I see why it got so much positive attention.

4.5
Good review but not one mention of taking a bite out of the cum peach. I needed your thoughts on that and am left with nothing.

[crumbsroom]

Call Me By Your Name is great. At first there seemed to be a stuffy bookishness to it that felt mannered to me.But this ends up seeming as much as a defense mechanism of the characters, hiding behind their educated upbringings, then actually a superficial ploy for intellectual depth.


It won me over completely

[Miss Vicky]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.italymagazine.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fcrema-call-me-by-your-name.jpeg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=003ed0b3156f5aabdafd308ffb9e3e182bd806f130c86e30a520b1130ef3e47d&ipo=images

Call Me By Your Name, 2017

4.5

Glad to see you enjoyed this. It's a contender for my ballot, though I don't like as much as you do so it'll probably place on the lower end if I do vote for it. I need to give it rewatch though.

[Takoma11]

Good review but not one mention of taking a bite out of the cum peach. I needed your thoughts on that and am left with nothing.

I mean, I do have several thoughts on that scene if you actually want to hear them.

[beelzebubble]

The supposed terror of diversity and how it is ruining everyone's good time. Or so I keep hearing.


But since there is no reason to talk about it, a chorus of rolled eyes will have to suffice.
Ah the audacity of the others to wish to be included and the horror of that inclusion. Consider my eyes rolled at GulfportDoc :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Wooley]

I mean you guys can roll your eyes but when you ignore continuity for PC reasoning that hurts films. Hawkman...who has no problem in the comics is working for this woman. That we saw in the movies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUT2flHjdUs

So the central theme of the film...Black Adam is a bad guy because he kills is dumb. Now they could have picked non-murdering characters to argue against murder in the film but they didn't do that.

And because you did a pair of dumb race swaps the second message of the film. The JSA exist to keep countries stable...they are literal white knights. Kahndaq is being occupied and the JSA did nothing about it. They had one job make a film criticizing America's foreign policy and they muddled the metaphor by engaging in cheap marketing gimmick that re-writes an 80 year old character and ignores the continuity of another character. And worse of all you have a character on the team that is all-knowing in Doctor Fate.

I guess I would just say that I reject the idea of "race-swapping" outright. White men have played just about every damn character (often indigenous peoples and even in black-face) since the dawn of cinema. And now if you have a non-white actor play a role "that was written as white (gasp!) it's somehow this big f*cking deal? Why are some people so worried about this? Just relax the sphincters a bit and let everybody have a turn for god's sake.

[ThatDarnMKS]

I mean, I do have several thoughts on that scene if you actually want to hear them.
I do!

[Wooley]

Love me some westerns. Hope we get a resurgence.
Wouldn't that be something?
Except they'll probably just turn into overlong action set-pieces with one-dimensional "characters" and only expository dialogue.
Le sigh.

[Wooley]

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

Munster, Go Home! is a really funny theatrical continuation of the TV series. Herman inherits an English manor from a long-lost relative. Hijinks ensue.

I think the writers of this movie brought their A-game. It feels like a feature-length episode of the show, which is a good thing. I loved how cocky Herman got when he found out he was a lord. The rhinestone reveal made me burst out laughing. My favorite bit in the movie is when the English Munsters try to scare away Herman and Lily, only for it to backfire completely.

I think Munster, Go Home! balances out the characters' roles better than the show. It's still primarily Herman-centric, but everyone else is given some good gags. We get a classic Herman and Grandpa escapade in the manor's basement, Lily has some funny moments chasing after Herman during the drag race, Eddie sleeps in a drawer, and even Marilyn gets a substantial romantic part. Speaking of Marilyn, she's played by a new actress and not Pat Priest or Beverley Owen, which is disappointing.

The movie ends in an epic drag race across the English countryside, which goes on a little long, but it's fun. Definitely check this movie out if you're a fan of the show.

I've seen this many years ago and meant to revisit it this year. Sadly, I ran out of slots (could only fit in 32). I will add it on for next year based on your review.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Wouldn't that be something?
Except they'll probably just turn into overlong action set-pieces with one-dimensional "characters" and only expository dialogue.
Le sigh.
Hey, I enjoyed The Lone Ranger. If the overlong action set pieces are that good, I’ll take it!

[SpelingError]

Wouldn't that be something?
Except they'll probably just turn into overlong action set-pieces with one-dimensional "characters" and only expository dialogue.
Le sigh.

Yeah, many of the recent Westerns I've seen don't capture the spirit of classic Westerns. Sort of like gangster films, I view most classic Westerns as middle grounds between action and drama/romance, and too many recent Westerns feel more like action films than anything.

[Rockatansky]

Yeah, many of the recent Westerns I've seen don't capture the spirit of classic Westerns. Sort of like gangster films, I view most classic Westerns as middle grounds between action and drama/romance, and too many recent Westerns feel more like action films than anything.
I think a lot of the more “recent” major westerns (basically after the ‘70s) feel like deliberate statements on the genre, rather than simple offerings of the genre’s pleasures. I’d like to see some in the vein of John Ford’s community westerns, where the movies are as much about hanging out in the milieu with the characters as they are about their actual plot.

I believe there’s actually a pretty active low budget DTV western scene right now, but I’ve heard next to nothing about the movies themselves.

[Wooley]

Hey, I enjoyed The Lone Ranger. If the overlong action set pieces are that good, I’ll take it!

I just meant that the direction of all tentpole films seems to be toward the least amount of character development and human dialogue that can possibly be employed to make anyone listen to the expository dialogue that will explain the next set-piece. Not that Westerns have done this yet but that, if they become bankable, they will.

[Wooley]

I think a lot of the more “recent” major westerns (basically after the ‘70s) feel like deliberate statements on the genre, rather than simple offerings of the genre’s pleasures...

Silverado.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Yeah, many of the recent Westerns I've seen don't capture the spirit of classic Westerns. Sort of like gangster films, I view most classic Westerns as middle grounds between action and drama/romance, and too many recent Westerns feel more like action films than anything.
Some modern westerns that I wouldn't consider action movies (I don't imagine a shootout should disqualify them):

The Power of the Dog
Hateful Eight
Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Bone Tomahawk
Old Henry
Hostiles
News of the World
The Salvation
The Homesman
The Wind
Slow West
The Keeping Room
Meek's Cutoff
Sweet Country

[SpelingError]

Some modern westerns that I wouldn't consider action movies (I don't imagine a shootout should disqualify them):

The Power of the Dog
Hateful Eight
Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Bone Tomahawk
Old Henry
Hostiles
News of the World
The Salvation
The Homesman
The Wind
Slow West
The Keeping Room
Meek's Cutoff
Sweet Country

I've only seen the first two, both of which I like quite a bit (I'd call The Hateful Eight a thriller though). I've heard of several of those though, so I'll keep an eye out for them.

[cricket]

I think some films do a great job with diversity, and others do it in a way that seems unnatural and forced, and then the film suffers for it.

[Takoma11]

I do!

Great! Spoilers for peaches!


So one of the only things I knew about the movie going in were many references to "the peach scene". As you might imagine, the fact that it seemed like all the fuss was just about him masturbating with a peach made me roll my eyes a bit. (Though I do think it's a great portrayal of the foolish directions many people--male and female--have gone in the name of teenage horniness).

But it's really a two-part thing, right?

So Oliver comes in and figures out what Elio did, and laughs about it. When he playfully picks up the peach, Elio says, "Don't." But Oliver persists, asking "Do you want to see something really sick?" Elio tries to wrestle it away, Oliver easily overpowers him, Elio says, "You're hurting me," Oliver retorts, "Then stop fighting," and then Elio breaks down and cries.

I see this as a crucial turning point between the two of them, as I think it's the first moment that Oliver realizes the emotional gravity of what's happening with Elio and where Elio has to confront what is probably some mix of body shame, embarrassment, and internalized homophobia.

That phrasing of "Want to see something really sick?" really hit me, because at that point Oliver's mindset is of kind of one-upsmanship. It's the "are we really doing this?", dare mode of a sexual relationship. It's a level of game playing that Elio isn't ready for. It's where Elio's facade really cracks. It's also a moment where Elio is saying no to something, and repeating that fact over and over, and he's being laughed over and disregarded. While it would obviously be a stretch to put the words "assault" and "consent" into that scene, there's a combination of physical and emotional vulnerability that left me with a lot sorrow for people who are overmatched in such moments.

Obviously Oliver immediately backs down when he realizes Elio is genuinely upset, but it gives you a preview of the heartbreak that's in store for Elio when their relationship ends. And for Oliver, I think it throws into stark relief the many dimensions of power that he has over Elio in terms of age, experience, authority, and actual physical strength. The person he's dealing with isn't a kid, but he's not really an adult either.

So I get why there's a bunch of snickering and winking because, you know, there's a peach full of semen. But I also think that their short interaction does a ton of heavy lifting in shifting the nature of their relationship and laying bare the dangers of a relationship with such a power imbalance.

[Rockatansky]

Silverado.
A welcome exception to the rule.

[GulfportDoc]

89740

The Turning Point (1952)


This “A” picture from Paramount is an atypical noir, defined more by its mood, tone, and narrative structure. Directed by William Dieterle, his only other noir pictures are Rope of Sand (1949) and Dark City (1950). The photography by Lionel Lindon, while nicely done, is not at all evocative of the classic chiaroscuro style so typical of classic noir.

The cast is a stunning one for its day. William Holden, fresh off from Sunset Boulevard (1950), had become an overnight A-lister, and was perfectly cast as a suspicious world-weary big city newspaper reporter Jerry McKibbon, who is doubtful that the special investigator, played by Edmond O’Brien, is up to the task of taking on the leader of the city’s big gangster syndicate, played by Ed Begley. The investigator’s love interest, played by the lovely and unique Alexis Smith, becomes attracted to McKibbon, so there is a simmering love triangle background during the story.

As it develops, there is a veteran cop close to the investigator who is taking bribe money from the gangster boss, playing both ends against the middle. The rest of the story shows how the various relationships play out, leading to the inevitable outcome, but which has an uncharacteristic ending.

It’s noteworthy how many Hollywood famous character actors are featured in the film: Ed Begley, Tom Tully, Danny Dayton, Ray Teal, Whit Bissell, Neville Brand, and Don Porter are all featured in important roles. All of them were in high demand for character parts, and here they all earned their money.

The screenplay by Warren Duff was undoubtedly influenced by the recent U.S. Senate Kefauver Committee hearings investigating organized crime. In the film, during the committee hearings, we’re treated to a memorable wisecracking moll character played to perfection by a blonde Carolyn Jones in her first screen role. She was later famous for playing “Morticia” in TV’s The Addams Family in the mid-’60s.

The film is a classic newsman vs. gangster crime picture, done during the peak of the noir movement. Available on YouTube.

Doc’s rating: 7/10

[ThatDarnMKS]

I've only seen the first two, both of which I like quite a bit (I'd call The Hateful Eight a thriller though). I've heard of several of those though, so I'll keep an eye out for them.
I don't love them all but I at least like them. All offer something interesting in their modern approach to the genre.

I think western encompasses many other genres. Some are romances, comedies. adventures, actioneers, horrors, thrillers, and even courtroom dramas. One of its greatest strengths as a genre is how DIVERSE it is.

[Takoma11]

I think western encompasses many other genres. Some are romances, comedies. adventures, actioneers, horrors, thrillers, and even courtroom dramas. One of its greatest strengths as a genre is how DIVERSE it is.

Yes. Kind of like horror, I think that the Western genre adapts well to multiple other hyphenated genre pairings.

You've got the period trappings of the old west for wind-swept romance. You've got the thriller/horror aspect of a liminal space on the edge of law and order. You've got the gunfights and horseback-riding for your action. And so on and so on.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Great! Spoilers for peaches!


So one of the only things I knew about the movie going in were many references to "the peach scene". As you might imagine, the fact that it seemed like all the fuss was just about him masturbating with a peach made me roll my eyes a bit. (Though I do think it's a great portrayal of the foolish directions many people--male and female--have gone in the name of teenage horniness).

But it's really a two-part thing, right?

So Oliver comes in and figures out what Elio did, and laughs about it. When he playfully picks up the peach, Elio says, "Don't." But Oliver persists, asking "Do you want to see something really sick?" Elio tries to wrestle it away, Oliver easily overpowers him, Elio says, "You're hurting me," Oliver retorts, "Then stop fighting," and then Elio breaks down and cries.

I see this as a crucial turning point between the two of them, as I think it's the first moment that Oliver realizes the emotional gravity of what's happening with Elio and where Elio has to confront what is probably some mix of body shame, embarrassment, and internalized homophobia.

That phrasing of "Want to see something really sick?" really hit me, because at that point Oliver's mindset is of kind of one-upsmanship. It's the "are we really doing this?", dare mode of a sexual relationship. It's a level of game playing that Elio isn't ready for. It's where Elio's facade really cracks. It's also a moment where Elio is saying no to something, and repeating that fact over and over, and he's being laughed over and disregarded. While it would obviously be a stretch to put the words "assault" and "consent" into that scene, there's a combination of physical and emotional vulnerability that left me with a lot sorrow for people who are overmatched in such moments.

Obviously Oliver immediately backs down when he realizes Elio is genuinely upset, but it gives you a preview of the heartbreak that's in store for Elio when their relationship ends. And for Oliver, I think it throws into stark relief the many dimensions of power that he has over Elio in terms of age, experience, authority, and actual physical strength. The person he's dealing with isn't a kid, but he's not really an adult either.

So I get why there's a bunch of snickering and winking because, you know, there's a peach full of semen. But I also think that their short interaction does a ton of heavy lifting in shifting the nature of their relationship and laying bare the dangers of a relationship with such a power imbalance.
I think this is a great and accurate reading of the scene.

I just can't help but associate it with a semen cookbook that was memefied decades ago and have a superficial revulsion to the idea (I would be similarly grossed out if a lover bit my peach). I do think it lends a specificity and authenticity but at risk of being the cinematic equivalent of TMI and borders on lessening the effect due to being distracted by the “ew” element.

[Takoma11]

I think this is a great and accurate reading of the scene.

I just can't help but associate it with a semen cookbook that was memefied decades ago and have a superficial revulsion to the idea (I would be similarly grossed out if a lover bit my peach). I do think it lends a specificity and authenticity but at risk of being the cinematic equivalent of TMI and borders on lessening the effect due to being distracted by the “ew” element.


I was just about to ask if you had a read on the scene.

So here's something else I would add:

Yes, of course there is an "ew" element. But you know what? People (and really I mean men) expect women to have semen in their mouths or swallow it. Is it "ew" because it's semen, or "ew" because the act of eating it is taking place independent (sort of) of the ejaculation? (This is rhetorical, we don't need to discuss this here. That's what Rock's thread is for).

I actually think that part of the "ew" element comes from the fact that consuming semen is inherently coded in our culture as an act of submission. There are lots of "ew" things that people do with or for someone else's body, and the "ew"/taboo is actually part of the turn on. I think that part of what's happening is seeing such an "alpha male" so willingly committing such an act.

I agree that it walks right up to the edge in terms of what you can put on screen so that the thematic weight of it isn't totally destroyed by people going "AHHHHHH! HE ATE THE **** PEACH!!!!"

But I think it works in part because Elio's reaction is of revulsion. It's revulsion partly bound up in his own body, partly bound up in his own actions, and partly bound up in what such a sex act would say about his relationship. I think that the scene does an admirable job of centering Elio's feelings (the peach is furthest from the camera and Elio is closest), especially with how quickly Oliver puts it down and it's never mentioned again once he realizes how upset Elio is.

Also, considering how relatively chaste the film is (I understand both lead actors had it in their contracts not to do frontal nudity and we don't see much outside of makeout sessions), it's important to have something visceral to help draw that line between lust/physical and emotional.

Anyway, I think the scene is brilliant and they must have known that the visceral elements of it had the potential to derail all of the great emotional work happening, so good for them for taking that risk. Kudos especially to Chalamet for the fraught, jangled emotional energy he brought to that performance and that scene in particular.

[Captain Steel]

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/2/Open/1SPS/VT/France/Cin%C3%A9%20FX%20(AB)/_derived_jpg_q90_310x470_m0/22564781_PA_Frankenstein%20sest%20echappe_2.jpg

May Contain Spoilers...

If I'd never heard of "Frankenstein" I might rate this movie higher, but it's impossible to not compare it to the novel or other motion pictures that preceded it.

This version has little to do with the novel - with only Victor, Elizabeth and the Creature remaining from the book.

Victor Frankenstein's assistant in the movie seems to be an amalgam of Doctor Waldman (Victor's mentor from the novel), Fritz (Dr. Frankenstein's lab assistant & minion in the 1931 movie version) and Henry Clerval (Victor's best friend from the novel). The assistant is named Paul - he starts out as young Victor's tutor, then becomes his lab assistant & partner, but tries to turn Victor away from his obsession with reanimation as a friend and ultimately turns against Victor.

While the acting was fine, my issues with this film are:
Why did they pick Christopher Lee as the monster? He made a great Dracula, but as Frankenstein's creation he's kind of lacking, He's gross-enough looking, but the make-up looked cheap (and oh that wig)! And while Lee was tall, he was hardly physically imposing - and thus made a rather lame monster.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nDEOe71ogks/UGr_-2nw2nI/AAAAAAAALUw/xGWnnz1Lss4/s1600/cof15.jpg

Unlike the Karloff version, this one lacks any personality that garners sympathy. Karloff's creature only killed in response to torment or by accident, but Lee's creature seems to kill mindlessly yet intentionally. This creature is nothing more than a mute zombie that tries to kill anyone it encounters. The sympathy for Karloff's monster as a tormented & tortured soul that still had the potential for kindness is what made 1931's Frankenstein a success - that same quality is completely lacking in this movie.

Even Victor, while always being of questionable ethics in other versions, was not a murderer himself - yet, in this film he is.

Kudos to Hazel Court for being such a looker and displaying some dazzling cleavage in the later part of the film! ;)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d3/79/cb/d379cb5db2b1cf701cebb412312c9880.jpg

2

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dd/Almost_famous_poster1.jpg
By Clayton Hartley - Impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13287110

Almost Famous - (2000)

I've never had a great urge to see Almost Famous, but when it showed up as one of the few movies on the 2000s Countdown I hadn't seen I finally locked it in. It was about as good as it could be for me - I enjoy any story I can vicariously insert myself in, with me wanting to be both William (Patrick Fugit) or one of the rockers in this, although the music industry and rock music is only glamourized part of the time - the rest devoted to a more cynical view of the whole business. Good to see Noah Taylor, and Frances McDormand towers over the rest of the cast performance-wise. I'm not a great lover of Cameron Crowe's movies, but *looks around, feeling awkward - and whispers : "I liked Vanilla Sky"*.

7.5/10

[Siddon]

I guess I would just say that I reject the idea of "race-swapping" outright. White men have played just about every damn character (often indigenous peoples and even in black-face) since the dawn of cinema. And now if you have a non-white actor play a role "that was written as white (gasp!) it's somehow this big f*cking deal? Why are some people so worried about this? Just relax the sphincters a bit and let everybody have a turn for god's sake.

Well you are actually going back 40-50-100 years. It's like when people say black people are only shown as maids, criminals, and victims you are talking about something that goes back to point when most of those actors are dead. The problem with the "black authority figure" is it's a modern cliiche it's a disposable character that doesn't really have any agency it simple exists to make people feel better about the movie they are watching. You think it's a good message because the character is "positive" well hold onto your socks but this isn't new...before every movie had the black authority figure they had the "magical negro".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waqwn4QRlJQ

Moving onto to Black Adam, this is a film with a centered political message. The main theme of the film is imperialism the idea that a country wants it's own hero and that the rest of the world is wrong to come in and overthrow it and colonize it. It's not a bad idea but this is what the JSA looks like from the source material

https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Justice-Society-of-America-JSA-Robinson.jpg


What we ended up with was

Hawkman - the race swapped character who's personality was changed to fit an antithetical version of the lead and foster the current stereotype.

Cyclone - Another gender/race swap using a minor character instead of the major one (Red Tornado). She's basically written as a perfect person who can do everything. Let's make the black female in the film look as good and uncomplex as possible so we said that we did it. And we'll pair her with

Atom Smasher - The white guy who unlike Hawkman and Cyclone has all the flaws in the film. He's the bumbling idiot who doesn't deserve to be there the comic relief.

Doctor Fate - a dying old man who plays the mystic role but also sends the message that time moves on. He exists to be replaced.

This isn't some deep analyze of the film this is the shallow one dimensional antagonists of the film. The problem with race swaps in this movie is it compromises the political message you are already trying to tell. You are wearing a hat...and then you are putting another hat on top of that hat.

It's also not something that I am suddenly not okay with. This has been derivative over the last 10 years.

(2013) Man of Steel - Perry White - Superman's Boss - switched to Laurence Fishburne
(2016) Suicide Squad - Deadshot - team leader switched to Will Smith
(2019) SHAZAM - Jebediah O' Keenan - ancient wizard who gives Shazam his powers - switched to Djimon Hounsou (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djimon_Hounsou)
(2022) The Batman - James Gordon - the commissioner of Gotham and Batman's main police friend - race swapped to Jeffery Wright


How are these new stereotypes going to look 50 years from now? Because that's what these films are creating a new stereotype. Taking POC and putting them in a different box isn't a good thing

[Wyldesyde19]

Black authority portrayals are a modern cliche now? Here I thought it was sign of the times recognizing the advancement in their respective careers at a time where it had been denied to them.

Mr Tibbs just rolled in his grave.

[WHITBISSELL!]

Silverado.A welcome exception to the rule.Open Range I think also qualifies. And as far as something more recent I loved Old Henry. The Ballad of Lefty Brown was also not bad. Slow West. The Homesman. Appaloosa. They might be spaced out but there's good stuff out there.

[Siddon]

Black authority portrayals are a modern cliche now? Here I thought it was sign of the times recognizing the advancement in their respective careers at a time where it had been denied to them.

Mr Tibbs just rolled in his grave.

You do understand that you illustrate the exact problem with your statement.

"Black authority portrayals" "sign of the times"

Tying race to a type of character is a very bad thing that has long term negative consequences. For in the example in Black Adam taking a pretty important political massage and muddling it with US racial politics. Tells international kids yeah the US is going to come into your country and destabilize your region...but it'll be diverse group of people destabilize your country.

It's also a problem because you are telling a false narrative.

"recognizing the advancement in their respective careers"

That is a very dangerous and corrosive way of thinking. It's like saying that black people in this country aren't poor look at all of these rich athletes and rappers. See the problem doesn't exist buy product. You are also raising a generation of children who are being told bad guys are white good guys are black. What are the long term consequences of setting a false race based narrative. Just because you feel like these new stereotypes are fine and good doesn't mean that it's not going to have serious issues later on.

[Wyldesyde19]

You do understand that you illustrate the exact problem with your statement.


Tying race to a type of character is a very bad thing that has long term negative consequences. For in the example in Black Adam taking a pretty important political massage and muddling it with US racial politics. Tells international kids yeah the US is going to come into your country and destabilize your region...but it'll be diverse group of people destabilize your country.

It's also a problem because you are telling a false narrative.



That is a very dangerous and corrosive way of thinking. It's like saying that black people in this country aren't poor look at all of these rich athletes and rappers. See the problem doesn't exist buy product. You are also raising a generation of children who are being told bad guys are white good guys are black. What are the long term consequences of setting a false race based narrative. Just because you feel like these new stereotypes are fine and good doesn't mean that it's not going to have serious issues later on.

You do realize that’s it’s natural to actually represent the growing existence of said individuals, right?
Comic books movies are hardly indicative of any real progression, other than offering roles to those who have been long denied such roles. Oh no.
It’s strange that in all of your examples you ignored the case of the Ancient One in Dr Strange being represented as a white woman.

I don’t honestly care about this gender/identity/skin color swapping for the sake of representation. Is it often contrived?
Sure.
Do I care?
Nope. Why should I? (Representation is a good thing after all, regardless).
There is nothing insidious, as you suggest, going on here.

To complain about such things as to how it retains towards a film is the cinema equivalent of grasping low hanging fruit.

[crumbsroom]

That is a lot of words and weird anxiety regarding black people getting a role we might normally expect a white person to get.


I'm still not understanding why I should give a ****. Or why it makes a movie worse.

[Thief]

PARTY TIME
THE MOVIE
(2009, Fernández París)

https://i.imgur.com/02r91ur.png


"In the mix is where you find the flavor. If there weren't any mixes, there wouldn't be Puerto Ricans."



Set in the late 1980s, Party Time: The Movie follows Javier (Rafael Albarran) and Laura (Suheil Martin), two teenagers from different cliques at the school that decide to join forces to participate in a dance competition at the show; something that Laura has been dreaming of, while also giving Javier a chance to bond with the girl of his dreams.

You can probably guess where the story goes from there. Although the script does incorporate some nice local touches, the basics of the story have been done dozens of times. But regardless of how predictable the story is, the film manages to be fun. Most of it is because of the cast, all of which have pretty good chemistry. The performances from Albarran and Martin feel natural, and the way their relationship develops, although expected, makes sense.

Grade: 3


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2345265#post2345265)

[Rockatansky]

That is a lot of words and weird anxiety regarding black people getting a role we might normally expect a white person to get.


I'm still not understanding why I should give a ****. Or why it makes a movie worse.
Didn't you know we could just solve this problem by never, ever casting those scary minorities in anything ever.


:rolleyes:

[Thief]

LOL, I didn't just read what I read here. This has got to be a joke :laugh: :facepalm:

[Wooley]

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/2/Open/1SPS/VT/France/Cin%C3%A9%20FX%20(AB)/_derived_jpg_q90_310x470_m0/22564781_PA_Frankenstein%20sest%20echappe_2.jpg

May Contain Spoilers...

If I'd never heard of "Frankenstein" I might rate this movie higher, but it's impossible to not compare it to the novel or other motion pictures that preceded it.

This version has little to do with the novel - with only Victor, Elizabeth and the Creature remaining from the book.

Victor Frankenstein's assistant in the movie seems to be an amalgam of Doctor Waldman (Victor's mentor from the novel), Fritz (Dr. Frankenstein's lab assistant & minion in the 1931 movie version) and Henry Clerval (Victor's best friend from the novel). The assistant is named Paul - he starts out as young Victor's tutor, then becomes his lab assistant & partner, but tries to turn Victor away from his obsession with reanimation as a friend and ultimately turns against Victor.

While the acting was fine, my issues with this film are:
Why did they pick Christopher Lee as the monster? He made a great Dracula, but as Frankenstein's creation he's kind of lacking, He's gross-enough looking, but the make-up looked cheap (and oh that wig)! And while Lee was tall, he was hardly physically imposing - and thus made a rather lame monster.

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nDEOe71ogks/UGr_-2nw2nI/AAAAAAAALUw/xGWnnz1Lss4/s1600/cof15.jpg

Unlike the Karloff version, this one lacks any personality that garners sympathy. Karloff's creature only killed in response to torment or by accident, but Lee's creature seems to kill mindlessly yet intentionally. This creature is nothing more than a mute zombie that tries to kill anyone it encounters. The sympathy for Karloff's monster as a tormented & tortured soul that still had the potential for kindness is what made 1931's Frankenstein a success - that same quality is completely lacking in this movie.

Even Victor, while always being of questionable ethics in other versions, was not a murderer himself - yet, in this film he is.

Kudos to Hazel Court for being such a looker and displaying some dazzling cleavage in the later part of the film! ;)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d3/79/cb/d379cb5db2b1cf701cebb412312c9880.jpg

2

Interestingly, I wrote the exact opposite about Lee's portrayal of The Monster (which preceded his Dracula) just two weeks ago.
And yes, this is different from the book and previous movies in much the same way that the previous movies were a departure from the book itself.

[Wooley]

Well you are actually going back 40-50-100 years. It's like when people say black people are only shown as maids, criminals, and victims you are talking about something that goes back to point when most of those actors are dead. The problem with the "black authority figure" is it's a modern cliiche it's a disposable character that doesn't really have any agency it simple exists to make people feel better about the movie they are watching. You think it's a good message because the character is "positive" well hold onto your socks but this isn't new...before every movie had the black authority figure they had the "magical negro".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waqwn4QRlJQ

Moving onto to Black Adam, this is a film with a centered political message. The main theme of the film is imperialism the idea that a country wants it's own hero and that the rest of the world is wrong to come in and overthrow it and colonize it. It's not a bad idea but this is what the JSA looks like from the source material

https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Justice-Society-of-America-JSA-Robinson.jpg


What we ended up with was

Hawkman - the race swapped character who's personality was changed to fit an antithetical version of the lead and foster the current stereotype.

Cyclone - Another gender/race swap using a minor character instead of the major one (Red Tornado). She's basically written as a perfect person who can do everything. Let's make the black female in the film look as good and uncomplex as possible so we said that we did it. And we'll pair her with

Atom Smasher - The white guy who unlike Hawkman and Cyclone has all the flaws in the film. He's the bumbling idiot who doesn't deserve to be there the comic relief.

Doctor Fate - a dying old man who plays the mystic role but also sends the message that time moves on. He exists to be replaced.

This isn't some deep analyze of the film this is the shallow one dimensional antagonists of the film. The problem with race swaps in this movie is it compromises the political message you are already trying to tell. You are wearing a hat...and then you are putting another hat on top of that hat.

It's also not something that I am suddenly not okay with. This has been derivative over the last 10 years.

(2013) Man of Steel - Perry White - Superman's Boss - switched to Laurence Fishburne
(2016) Suicide Squad - Deadshot - team leader switched to Will Smith
(2019) SHAZAM - Jebediah O' Keenan - ancient wizard who gives Shazam his powers - switched to Djimon Hounsou (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djimon_Hounsou)
(2022) The Batman - James Gordon - the commissioner of Gotham and Batman's main police friend - race swapped to Jeffery Wright


How are these new stereotypes going to look 50 years from now? Because that's what these films are creating a new stereotype. Taking POC and putting them in a different box isn't a good thing

Who cares what the JSA looked like a long time ago? The whole industry was white men back then, of course they were all white. Why can't things evolve? Actually, they do and people are happy with them as long as they don't evolve in ways that take them out of the center. And you still keep saying "race-swapped" as opposed to, "they just cast somebody who wasn't white for a change". Sheesh.

[Wooley]

Open Range I think also qualifies. And as far as something more recent I loved Old Henry. The Ballad of Lefty Brown was also not bad. Slow West. The Homesman. Appaloosa. They might be spaced out but there's good stuff out there.

Yeah, we were just referring to ones that specifically celebrated the joys of the Pre-Revisionist Western.

[Captain Steel]

Interestingly, I wrote the exact opposite about Lee's portrayal of The Monster (which preceded his Dracula) just two weeks ago.
And yes, this is different from the book and previous movies in much the same way that the previous movies were a departure from the book itself.

I'd be curious to read what you wrote - is it on this site somewhere?

Opposite in what respect?

[WHITBISSELL!]

Yeah, we were just referring to ones that specifically celebrated the joys of the Pre-Revisionist Western.Oh. I still think Open Range might qualify. Maybe Appaloosa.

Or not. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Siddon]

Didn't you know we could just solve this problem by never, ever casting those scary minorities in anything ever.

:rolleyes:


Giving POC the "authority" position in all films and television is just doing the "uncle" from 100 years ago or the "magical" one from 30 years. You are taking a group of people and you are putting them in a specific box in the hopes that it's positive.


And frankly this is generational because while you will read in history books about white washing and black face. The agenda and intent has been around since the 70's/80's. This isn't a new idea and you say well people shouldn't be scarred. The guy that was the most successful and moving forward and changing the image of black people in america was doing that in the AM and drugging and raping women in the PM.

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 i really loved it, amazing cast, they did amazing job tribute to chadwick and i knew it was shuri she did a good job as black panther like in the comics and namor gosh loved him as a villain and gonna watch it again 😍
https://images.thedirect.com/media/article_big/black-panther-2-rating.jpg?imgeng=cmpr_90/f_webp/

[Torgo]

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story - 4

This is one of the funniest comedies I've seen in a long time, and best of all, it's all true (according to Weird Al, anyway). It's hard to write a lot about the movie since its surprises are its biggest appeals, so I'll just say that it ably covers the most pivotal moments of Weird Al's career. They include his struggle to gain his father's affection, his struggles with alcohol abuse, a sordid love affair and...let's just say a performance on a rather notorious figure's birthday.

If this sounds like Walk Hard to you, it is similar, but if you think you shouldn't bother as a result, think again. The comedy has Weird Al's stamp all over it, especially in the reveals of what inspired his most popular parodies like a personalized package of bologna or how he pokes fun at his squeaky clean (or is it?) image. Weird Al understandably has a lot of pals, which means there is a fair share of cameos. If the Zoolander movies have taught us anything, it's that more does not always mean merrier, but I didn’t find that to be the case here since each one is inspired and well-timed. Also, between the laughs, the movie manages to slip in moments that are genuinely moving, the highlights being Weird Al’s speech in which he explains what’s good about being weird and any scene with his mentor, Dr. Demento (a very good Rainn Wilson). As for Radcliffe, while his casting may be in jest, he's awesome in the part, and with this performance, I'm at a point where I have to force myself to remember that he once played Harry Potter. Not all of Weird Al's parody songs are on the same level as "Amish Paradise" or "Dare to be Stupid," and by the same token, not all of the comedy in this movie sticks the landing. The moment when Weird Al claims he's abandoning parodies for original songs, for instance, isn't really paid off. The movie still stands as a worthy reminder that the comedy movie is alive and well, and what a silly, outrageous yet wholesome reminder it is.

[Rockatansky]

Giving POC the "authority" position in all films and television is just doing the "uncle" from 100 years ago or the "magical" one from 30 years. You are taking a group of people and you are putting them in a specific box in the hopes that it's positive.


And frankly this is generational because while you will read in history books about white washing and black face. The agenda and intent has been around since the 70's/80's. This isn't a new idea and you say well people shouldn't be scarred. The guy that was the most successful and moving forward and changing the image of black people in america was doing that in the AM and drugging and raping women in the PM.
Sure dude, whatever you say. No weird racial insecurity here at all. Perfectly normal, sane response.

:rolleyes:

[Mr Minio]

Don't you people feel like you're wasting time discussing stuff in shit movies? I don't know, maybe watch a good African film. Everybody's black in them, for the most part, so you can focus on the actual quality of the film and not some flame wars over something that will not matter a thing in your lives two days from now.

[Captain Steel]

Don't you people feel like you're wasting time discussing stuff in shit movies? I don't know, maybe watch a good African film. Everybody's black in them, for the most part, so you can focus on the actual quality of the film and not some flame wars over something that will not matter a thing in your lives two days from now.

"Flame Wars" - now there's a movie title!

[Gideon58]

https://moviepie.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/see_how_they_run.jpg


3.5

[Corax]

https://moviepie.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/see_how_they_run.jpg


rating_3_5


I enjoyed the start of this one, but it was just trying a little too hard to be cute for my taste. Cloying. Needy. And winkingly meta (trust us, we're doing this on purpose!). A cutesy attempt to recreate a vibe that the makers were never really a part of -- kind of like little kids putting on their parents' clothes. Kinda cute, but the garments don't fit and the kids only have a vague sense of the purpose and style of the clothing. Meh.

[Gideon58]

Well don't hold back there, Corax, tell me how you really felt about the movie?

[Wooley]

Don't you people feel like you're wasting time discussing stuff in shit movies? I don't know, maybe watch a good African film. Everybody's black in them, for the most part, so you can focus on the actual quality of the film and not some flame wars over something that will not matter a thing in your lives two days from now.

Nope. There's value to be found everywhere. My grandfather used to tell me, "When you can see the beauty in a road-side puddle, then you have become a man." Which is why I love Messiah Of Evil and also gave Trancers a pretty good review.

Also, nothing matters, so chill out.

[Wooley]

I'd be curious to read what you wrote - is it on this site somewhere?

Opposite in what respect?

https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2341062#post2341062

[beelzebubble]

. This isn't a new idea and you say well people shouldn't be scarred. The guy that was the most successful and moving forward and changing the image of black people in america was doing that in the AM and drugging and raping women in the PM.
Holy Cow! that took a weird turn.😲:facepalm:😲

[crumbsroom]

Holy Cow! that took a weird turn.😲:facepalm:😲
I think we might need the Pudding Pop decoder ring to decipher that one.

So far all I've got is something something Bill Cosby is a rapist something something too many blacks in my movies


I'm sure if we all put our minds together to crack the code, we can do it. I just hope it doesn't turn out that Rudy and Theo are also in on this nefarious plot to replace all of our white superheros.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Sure we could focus on Siddon’s racism, but I feel like we didn’t laugh at him enough for posting that the new Hellraiser was too woke and that Triangle of Sadness would be attacked for not being woke.

[SpelingError]

Glad that you guys are still having fun here.

[mark f]

The Takeover (Annemarie van de Mond, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Daughter of the Nile (Hsiao-Hsien Hou, 1987) 2 5/10
The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (Hanns Schwarz, 1937) 2.5 6/10
Language Lessons (Natalie Morales, 2021) 3+ 6.5/10
https://decider.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/language-lessons.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=1200
Mark Duplass got a year's worth of Spanish lessons from his husband, but when the latter suddenly dies, Duplass and the instructor (Natalie Morales) develop a close relationship through Zoom in this warm, honest film.
On the Line (Romuald Boulanger, 2022) 2.5 6/10
Romance Tropical (Juan E. Viguié, 1934) 1.5+ 4.5/10
Incarnation (Filip Kovacevic, 2016) 2.5 5.5/10
Enola Holmes 2 (Harry Bradbeer, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/24a3d9ba12d3aea63eae2fd4e4f19b2e/172feff1b152750f-c5/s540x810/c4cf4c11c71f40cae5c55b66a430e2ff9e2844de.gif
Enola (Millie Bobby Brown), the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavill), gets into trouble when she tries to solve a mystery, and they try to help each other with cases they're trying to resolve.
Love in the City (Hank Orion, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
Paradise City (John Mrco Lopez, 2019) 2.5 6/10
Carmen (Valerie Buhagiar, 2021) 2.5 5.5/10
Confess, Fletch (Greg Mottola, 2022) 3- 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/4eef3683e921c9387eb351f691d8bf5e/18eaebc24edf33ea-d5/s540x810/cdd4328b461c5e641f1907bffa0d446475da6359.gifv
Smartass investigator Fletch (Jon Hamm) is the chief suspect in multiple murders, but somehow he's able to stay out of jail and keep trying to solve the cases at which he's really rather good.
All Jacked Up and Full of Worms (Alex Phillips, 2022) 2.5 5.5/10
The Dare (Giles Alderson, 2019) 2 5/10
Press Play (Greg Björkman, 2022) 2.5 6/10
The Woman King (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2022) 3 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/3d52e8b17a21870caf0a9ae7ca139460/b32a63f2922d5d5d-7d/s500x750/69e3a005405492bc0be2b8afc7c92f0f4c58f4d6.gif
Dahomey, c.1835. Warrior leader Viola Davis trains her all-female recruits to battle against an enemy which has no respect for women or their progressive way of life.
The Story Won't Die (David Henry Gerson, 2021) 3 6.5/10
Raymond & Ray (Rodrigo García, 2022) 2.5 6/10
The Daughter of Dawn (Norbert A. Myles, 1920) 2 5/10
Medieval (Petr Jákl, 2022) 2.5 6/10
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/60/bb/a0/60bba031fe4049667667df1e4e47f175.gif
Historical action adventure involving Czech warlord Jan Zizka (Ben Foster) and a complicated plot involving his mentor Michael Caine, Henry III of Rosenberg (Til Schweiger) and his fiancée, Katherine, Princess of Spain (Sophie Lowe).

[StuSmallz]

There are leagues of morally ambiguous westerns.

It's the seemingly frequent misunderstanding that they were a white hat/black hat genre that led to misunderstand the moral ambiguities of something like The Searchers and thinking it was just a racist relic.Yeah, but I think the real "white hat/black hat" aspect of The Searchers isn't so much its portrayal of Native Americans (which is still worthy of some criticism anyway, IMO), but the way that Ethan randomly decides to start being a "good guy" at the end, even though the entire film had been building itself up for a final confrontation with his own racism, a confrontation the film pretty much completely wussed out from, for lack of a better term.Yeah, things like The Ox Bow Incident or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance pivot entirely on questions of morality and don't always have easy answers about the "right" course of action.But there's still very little ambiguity in Liberty Valence on who the good and bad guys were, which I think is where a lot of the moral black-&-whiteness in the genre came from.

[crumbsroom]

Yeah, but I think the real "white hat/black hat" aspect of The Searchers isn't so much its portrayal of Native Americans (which is still worthy of some criticism anyway, IMO), but the way that Ethan randomly decides to start being a "good guy" at the end, even though the entire film had been building itself up for a final confrontation with his own racism, a confrontation the film pretty much completely wussed out from, for lack of a better term.


Of course there is a lot of talk that can be made of the portrayal of Native Americans in The Searchers. It is terrible, as nearly all Westerns are (as well as every movie almost ever made up until that point and long after).



And while I imagine there are elements I've long forgotten about The Searchers (I've only seen it a couple of times, and its been years since the last time I watched it), expecting a confrontation with his racism isn't the point of the film. It's not about him overcoming his bigotry. It's about him damaging himself as a result of it. Ostracizing him from his own life. He is alone at the end.



A confrontation isn't needed because sometimes a confrontation isn't needed. That doesn't mean the film wusses out. In fact, its a braver film than most westerns at the time because it at least acknowledges the ugly heart that beats inside so many of these (still) great films. It doesn't allow Ethan to ride his horrible prejudices to glory. But because so many people (wrongly) think the films view point is also Ethans, it somehow gets called out as being the most racist of golden age westerns. And, frankly, I think that assessment is beyond flawed. To the point that I don't know why it still gets any traction anymore.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b0/Wonder_Woman_%282017_film%29_poster.jpg
By Wonder Woman Movie Poster (#6 of 16) - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51137764

Wonder Woman - (2017)

Why fight it, and who needs logic and common sense - this is a superhero movie. Straight from the computer graphics guys to us. Since I'd seen Batman v Superman I decided to check out the DC side of things, and not just limit myself to Marvel - after years of just shutting myself out of the whole genre. Curiosity always gets me in the end, and it's a big part of cinema these days - plus there are oodles of titles to occupy me. Last night was Wonder Woman, which looked nice (there's a limit though - with CGI) in a visual sense - running the spectrum from the golden greens and blues of Themyscira to the dark grey and green of our world. Nice evil character in Doctor Poison, with suitably horror-infused mask. I didn't even mind the story, with a young Diana (Gal Gadot) on a quest that takes her to the heart of the battlefield in a fictional version of World War I. I just thought occasionally the writers took the easy way out - such as when Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) fakes his way into a high-level conference pretending to have lost his ticket. Some reveals feel a little off as well - but I won't go into spoiler territory. Of the two big franchises, DC feels very much the weaker one. All up a decent, if very typical, superhero flick. Gadot was nice, and played her part well.

6.5/10

https://i.postimg.cc/T3cckwW8/the-dark.jpg

The Dark - (1979)

Good lord. I wanted to be able to be informed about this film when I mention it in my Tobe Hooper thread, because he spent a few days directing it before he was sacked - and I just have to say it's a shame, because maybe he'd have done a better job than John Cardos. Anyway, The Dark was the most boring film I've seen in years, and crept along with absolutely no suspense, no fun, no humour, no excitement and nothing much in it worth mentioning except for the final battle with the "alien" which had been a zombie during principle photography - before the producers decided to change direction. Plodding, dull and awful.

2/10

[LChimp]

https://br.web.img3.acsta.net/pictures/14/07/08/14/35/550188.jpg

My God, the acting. Not much of a story either. Actually, I only watched this because of all the fuss around Terrifier 2. Moving on.

[Allaby]

I watched the new movie Falling For Christmas today. It is a sufficiently pleasant Netflix Christmas movie. Lindsay Lohan did a decent job and Chord Overstreet was alright. I think Olivia Perez gave the best performance in the film. There are a couple funny scenes and some cute and sweet moments. I have seen better Christmas romances, but this is fine for what it is. Worth a watch if you are a sucker for Christmas romances (like I am). My rating is a 3.5

[EndlessDream]

https://i.imgur.com/4IMos0b.jpg

The Banshees of Inisherin is a dark comedic drama about an old man who decides one day to stop being friends with his middle-aged drinking companion because he finds him dull. This causes the younger man to question his entire identity. The feud eventually escalates into threats of violence.

This movie is hilarious and also a thoughtful examination of human relationships. Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson basically reprise their roles from In Bruges: Gleeson is the intellectual who appreciates art and Farrell is the simple man who likes spending all his free time drinking at the pub. The fact that their relationship is post-friendship here though changes the dynamic. Now Gleeson has been putting up with Farrell for years to the point where he's finally had enough of him.

That being said, I had a hard time understanding Gleeson's character Colm's mindset. I've definitely had friends like Padraic (Farrell), where the relationship is held together more by proximity than by similar interests, but Colm is simply uncaring to his former friend's feelings and doesn't give good enough reasons to act the way he does. That made me totally understand Padraic's confusion and frustration. Add to that the other misfortunes that befall Padraic and I just felt terrible for him by the end of the movie.

Padraic's sister, played by Kerry Condon, is similar in a lot of ways to Colm, but much more mature and reasonable. She's also an intelligent person who feels time slipping away from her. She deals with it by making a major life change that hurts Padraic, but isn't cruel. Her character seems like a commentary on how men are quicker than women to resort to violence.

Being a Martin McDonagh film, Banshees of Inisherin also manages to be really funny. A lot of the humor obviously comes from Padraic's total daftness and Farrell plays that role brilliantly. I love moments like when he has to ask the town idiot to explain what touche means. Said idiot is played by Barry Keoghan, who is also quite funny and just accentuates how ignorant Padraic really is. The other Inisherin citizens have their quirks and the nosiness that comes from small town life. The blunt priest gets the biggest laugh of the movie.

The Banshees of Inisherin is a funny and intelligent film that is more cynical than I am, but I appreciated its sincerity and humanity.

[Captain Steel]

https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2341062#post2341062

Thank you. I'll respond on that thread.

[Takoma11]

But there's still very little ambiguity in Liberty Valence on who the good and bad guys were, which I think is where a lot of the moral black-&-whiteness in the genre came from.

I disagree.

I think that there is a lot of moral ambiguity to be had in a man taking credit for an act that he did not commit.

For me, feeling that an action is both right and wrong in its own way is a very strong form of moral ambiguity.

[ThatDarnMKS]

Yeah, but I think the real "white hat/black hat" aspect of The Searchers isn't so much its portrayal of Native Americans (which is still worthy of some criticism anyway, IMO), but the way that Ethan randomly decides to start being a "good guy" at the end, even though the entire film had been building itself up for a final confrontation with his own racism, a confrontation the film pretty much completely wussed out from, for lack of a better term.But there's still very little ambiguity in Liberty Valence on who the good and bad guys were, which I think is where a lot of the moral black-&-whiteness in the genre came from.
What do you think a “confrontation with his own racism” would look like? How is that not exactly what happens?

[GulfportDoc]

I enjoyed the start of this one, but it was just trying a little too hard to be cute for my taste. Cloying. Needy. And winkingly meta (trust us, we're doing this on purpose!). A cutesy attempt to recreate a vibe that the makers were never really a part of -- kind of like little kids putting on their parents' clothes. Kinda cute, but the garments don't fit and the kids only have a vague sense of the purpose and style of the clothing. Meh.
Well put, and I agree. I'm a big fan of Adrien Brody's, but this script was off the mark, and it couldn't escape the hackneyed set ups. There really were no laughs in it, and --as you say-- they were trying a little too hard. I made it 30 minutes then reluctantly had to bail.

[Wooley]

So, Commando, which I have not seen in over 30 years, is quite possibly the silliest and most ridiculous movie I have ever seen.
(I'll be back with more later, but I have another film to do first.)

[Corax]

So, Commando, which I have not seen in over 30 years, is quite possibly the silliest and most ridiculous movie I have ever seen.
(I'll be back with more later, but I have another film to do first.)


For me, this one was like "Arnold Schwarzenegger does a Chuck Norris movie." Closer to Invasion USA than is to Predator.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ca/Frankie_and_Johnny_poster.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101912/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3840903

Frankie and Johnny - (1991)

I thought Frankie and Johnny was good - it reflected what middle-aged romance is really like, and expanded Terrence McNally's play into the real world - a play that I would have loved to have seen with it's original leads - F. Murray Abraham and Kathy Bates. By casting Michelle Pfeiffer as Frankie you've changed the whole story, because Frankie is meant to be "frumpy, fat, and emotionally defined by her unattractiveness." That's certainly not what we've got here. We do get her being reluctant and cautious about love however - while Pacino's Johnny is eager to just jump in and get things started. There are so many scars and so much damage that Frankie pushes Johnny away every chance she gets - and the film walks a dangerous line, because Johnny does cross a line or two, showing up at places Frankie has asked him not to. He comes on so strong I'm surprised this didn't turn into a horror movie. I think it would have played better if an actress less attractive than Michelle Pfeiffer had of played that part. Anyway, by the film's conclusion I thought it had wrestled with the whole subject of love for two damaged older people well enough that I gave it a thumbs up.

7/10

[gbgoodies]

Confess, Fletch (Greg Mottola, 2022) 3- 6.5/10
https://64.media.tumblr.com/4eef3683e921c9387eb351f691d8bf5e/18eaebc24edf33ea-d5/s540x810/cdd4328b461c5e641f1907bffa0d446475da6359.gifv
Mark Duplass got a year's worth of Spanish lessons from his husband, but when the latter suddenly dies, Duplass and the instructor (Natalie Morales) develop a close relationship through Zoom in this warm, honest film.



Do you have to see the Chevy Chase Fletch movies before watching Confess, Fletch, or is this a stand-alone movie?

[mark f]

No

[gbgoodies]

Do you have to see the Chevy Chase Fletch movies before watching Confess, Fletch, or is this a stand-alone movie?

No


Thank you. :)

[WHITBISSELL!]

So, Commando, which I have not seen in over 30 years, is quite possibly the silliest and most ridiculous movie I have ever seen.
(I'll be back with more later, but I have another film to do first.)Yes it is. But how about 'dem steel drums though? And Rae Dawn Chong looking foin in that business suit. And "What'd you do with Sully?" "I let him go." And me getting my mind blown when I found out Bennett was played by the same guy who played Wez in The Road Warrior. How 'bout dat?

[WHITBISSELL!]

Frankie and Johnny - (1991)
I barely paid attention to Pfeiffer. I was too busy checking out Kate Nelligan. For some reason I thought her character was just so hot.

[ueno_station54]

https://assets.bigcartel.com/product_images/307478430/jesters4.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&w=1200
Jester's Rotunda (Carlos Gonzalez, 2021)

SOV cut on a VCR little home movie that's kinda fun and cute. Some interesting visual ideas here and there and some decent laughs.
3.5

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.cinemagia.ro%2Fimg%2Fdb%2Fmovie%2F02%2F20%2F08%2Fnazarin-986829l.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=bf9a24b2a5dcfb9081e05cbd579e7146f38fb10d6b5a643abc01b01bf8b25ef2&ipo=images
Nazarin (1959, Luis Buñuel)
4.5
One of Tarkovsky's favorite films, and it's easy to see why. In many ways it mirrors his own cinematic explorations of faith, the dichotomy between the individual and the collective, as well as his affinity for asceticism. In the film's protagonist, priest Nazario, we clearly see parallels to the priest of Ambricourt from Robert Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest, the tormented Russian artist Andrei Rublev, and of course, Tarkovsky himself.

[doubledenim]

Yes it is. But how about 'dem steel drums though? And Rae Dawn Chong looking foin in that business suit. And "What'd you do with Sully?" "I let him go." And me getting my mind blown when I found out Bennett was played by the same guy who played Wez in The Road Warrior. How 'bout dat?

Let’s not forget the indestructible 911!

You really hit it with the steel drums and Vernon Wells.

[Wooley]

For me, this one was like "Arnold Schwarzenegger does a Chuck Norris movie." Closer to Invasion USA than is to Predator.

But it's almost a parody of even Invasion USA.

I have to talk about The Rescuers first but I am also stalling because I need to tease out whether this idea of "they knew they were doing a sort of parody" is a ret-con or truth.