Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[xSookieStackhouse]

5 i loved it , one of the best slasher movies in 2023, it has early 2000s slasher movies vibes, love love love patrick dempsey hes one of my favorite people on greys anatomy <3.
https://cdn.moviefone.com/admin-uploads/posters/thanksgiving-movie-poster_1694103592.jpg?d=360x540&q=60

[ScarletLion]

'Bad Timing' (1980)

https://scdn.nflximg.net/images/4133/3164133.jpg

Really good film from Nicolas Roeg. The more I see of Roeg’s work, the more I think he maybe a master director. This is the 5th film of his that I’ve seen and one of the best.

Synopsis: “Amid the decaying elegance of cold-war Vienna, psychoanalyst Dr. Alex Linden (Art Garfunkel) becomes mired in an erotically charged affair with the elusive Milena Flaherty (Theresa Russell). When their all-consuming passion takes a life-threatening turn, Inspector Netusil (Harvey Keitel) is assigned to piece together the sordid details.”

The editing and directing from Roeg here is fascinating. Lines of dialogue appearing in the audio before they are spoken, ensuring the viewer is in the heads of the characters. Zooms and cuts that splice the different timelines in order to piece together events, and a very grimy ending. The result is a drama focusing on obsession and infatuation that moves into a chaotic erotic thriller

A really superb film.

8.3/10

4

[LChimp]

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The Killer - (2023)

Fenomenal soundtrack (can't really go wrong with The Smiths), but the movie itself is kinda... bland? No major plot twists, not enough Tilda Swinton, the monologue at the start didn't help either. But it's not a bad movie, not at all.

[DeTesYeuxBleus]

MY LIFE AS ZUCCHINI
4
Not much to say about this. Childhood trauma sucks

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
4.5

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA
Just watched. First half was damn tiring

I love exam weeks (i'm clinically insane btw)

[Gideon58]

MY LIFE AS ZUCCHINI
4
Not much to say about this. Childhood trauma sucks

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
4.5

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA
Just watched. First half was damn tiring

I love exam weeks (i'm clinically insane btw)

I absolutely LOVED My Life as a Zuicchini

[Gideon58]

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Umpteenth Rewatch...For my money, this is Tarantino's masterpiece...Samuel L Jackson was robbed of an Oscar and Bruce Willis has never been better. 5

[Gideon58]

https://www.speednik.com/files/2019/08/robs-car-movie-review-nightcrawler-2014-2019-08-24_22-23-39_531333.jpeg



3rd Rewatch...Jake Gyllenhaal was robbed of an Oscar nomination for his bone-chilling performance in this crime thriller playing a sociopath who stumbles into the world video news reporting. Rene Russo offers one of her best performances too and Riz Ahmed steals every scene he is in. The ending pisses me off, but it's pretty much flawless up to that point.
4

[Allaby]

Leo (2023) Watched on Netflix. Adam Sandler is a talking 74 year old lizard in this animated musical set in a fifth grade class. I thought Adam Sandler did a good job voicing the title lizard. I'm not sure why this is a musical though or if it really needed to be, but it has enough cute moments and a few laughs to make it worthwhile. Some of the songs are pretty good, but others don't feel genuine to the characters and story. Storywise, not everything works. The overprotective drone storyline doesn't really fit and the substitute teacher's arc isn't completely effective or believable. At times, it feels like the film doesn't quite know what it wants to be or who it is aimed at, but it was entertaining enough to keep me amused. And I can't quite decide if the design of the kindergarteners was hilarious or disturbing (or both), but those kindergarteners certainly are...something. 3.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/64/EveryLittleStepPoster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2009/every_little_step_xlg.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21969551

Every Little Step - (2008)

So - A Chorus Line - a show I don't (didn't) really know a hell of a lot about. Every Little Step takes you through the auditioning process for the 2006 Broadway revival. It's most interesting aspect is the way it plays clips from the original audio tape recorded by Michael Bennett, of his initial interviews with dancers when he was formulating a plan for this very show. There are segments of this tape which led straight to numbers from A Chorus Line, and it's a fascinating peek into the formulation of a famous show. The rest is exactly what you'd expect - audition after audition and nervous waits, celebrations for callbacks and tear-stained defeat for the ones not chosen. There were lots of times when I wanted to hear a song uninterrupted, but this isn't a movie that's giving us that kind of show. To win a part, you have to be both supremely talented, at your performing peak and also a little bit lucky. We do learn a lot about the show - the history behind each song and character - and that's about it. A lot of people really love this - I was in and out of it's groove but I also had so many distractions while trying to watch it. I'd also have loved to have seen the show or at least heard all of the numbers before seeing this - I'd have been more into the anecdotes about it's inception and formulation. Still, a spectacular behind the scenes blast of a documentary.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/ImaginationlandMovie.jpeg
By South Park Studios - South Park Studios, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71965127

South Park : Imaginationland - (2008)

Okay, this is probably the loosest way we can use the word "movie" - Imaginationland is basically three South Park episodes put together which make up one continuous story. Oh lord, how do I describe it? The land of imagination is like a spectral place that characters can be transported to. When war erupts there, the U.S. plans on nuking it through a portal - its up to the boys to resolve the conflict before the whole place is destroyed. The B-story involves a bet between Kyle and Cartman, whereupon if Kyle loses (and he does) he has to do something horrible - so Cartman spends the whole "movie" more concerned about Kyle debasing himself and holding up his end of the bargain than what's happening in the story. Filled to the brim with famous horror characters, and just about every character you could ever think of relating to famous novels, tales, plays, fairytales, cartoons, movies etc. Trey Parker/Matt Stone are in good form here. If you like South Park, you'll like this.

7/10

[Jackie Daytona]

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12 Angry Men

What is there to even say? Undeniable masterpiece.The screenwriting is so strong, all the characters seem so perfectly inhabited by the actors, it never feels dull even though we're confined in this one room. Just about as perfect a movie as I've ever seen, imo.

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://media0.giphy.com/media/o42hOOrpT5hIf9ZkOo/giphy.gif


The Endless - #6 on Mike Flanagan's list of Underrated Horror Films. This one also caught my eye when it first came out six years ago. I had it in my Netflix queue for the longest time then just lost track of it.

Aaron (Aaron Moorhead) and Justin Smith (Justin Benson) are two brothers living a life of near destitution when they receive a video tape in the mail. It shows a young woman named Anna who hints at the brother's previous life with a group she still lives with. The script gets right to the point in revealing that the two are survivors of what Justin insists was a "UFO Death Cult". Aaron on the other hand has more pleasant memories of their childhood spent at the commune-like Camp Arcadia in the backwoods of Southern California. He's also fed up with their hardscrabble existence in the ten years since leaving the group and convinces Justin to go back and visit for one day. Once the brothers get there the movie gradually reveals what exactly is going on at the so called commune.

Moorhead and Benson both produced and directed while Benson wrote the script and Moorhead did the cinematography. There's a couple of characters introduced named Mike and Chris who appeared in a prequel of sorts called Resolution. Their characters did have a "lived in" sort of feel that hinted at some kind of history and their brief appearance does make me want to check out Resolution.

I think this would make a good double bill with something like Jordan Peele's Nope. And once it got particularly clever and twisty in it's second half it put me in mind of 2007's Timecrimes.

80/100
I really like the Endless, I think it's my favorite film by the duo. Resolution has some cool moments but probably not as good.

[Act III]

96224

Son of a Gun (2014)

Everything was great except I didn't like how it ended there in the last 10 minutes.

7/10

[WorldFilmGeek]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BM2MwYWZkMjUtZDcwMC00MGY1LTk5YzgtZGFkZDliNjk3MWUyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTM0NTU5Mg@@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.j pg

5.0

Julia Marchese, who directed the excellent documentary "Out of Print", adapted her favorite Stephen King short story into a 45-minute short film about an eccentric man who meets a college student and helps her out with both a test and consolation after the death of her boyfriend, which leads to a relationship between the two. However, he may not exactly be the knight in shining armor she longs for. Marchese sets the film in the 70s (like the King story), shot it at the University of Maine (King's alma mater), and gives it the perfect nostalgic afterschool special feel, with looks, costumes, and even her brother Peter's amazing music which fits perfectly along with great performances by leads Caroline Goldenberg and William Champion.

[LChimp]

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/27QAAOSwNp1k1LMO/s-l1600.jpg

Talk to Me - (2023)

Cool story, cool effects, decent acting. I liked it very much.

[Act III]

96230

First Blood (1982)

I only remember snippets of the Rambo series because I haven't seen any of them since like 1988-1989. This first movie in the series is very original and well done, highly recommended. It does what Stunt Man tried to do as far as sympathizing with Vietnam vets re-entering civilian life. Makes Rocky look like a fussy baby.

10/10

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81YI6CBnOHL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


1st Rewatch...This movie provides a lot of what we had come to expect from the Ferrelly Brothers...silly supporting characters, gross out humor, and overlength, but this one remains watchable thanks to the performances of Woody Harrelson and Randy Quaid as a former bowling champ and his Amish protegee. Though like I did the first time I watched it, I kept picturing Harrelson and Quaid in each other's roles. If the truth be known, the film is effortlessly stolen by Bill Murray as Ernie McCracken, one of his funniest performances. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTI3MDI2ODc1OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDE3MTkzMg@@._V1_.jpg



6th Rewatch...Easily the best movie based on an SNL sketch and still one of the funniest movies ever made. 4

[John W Constantine]

No way.

[Thief]

SEVENTH MOON
(2008, Sanchez)

https://i.imgur.com/Xfi1zVs.jpg


"This isn't just China-weird, okay? It's fu¢king just weird-weird."



Seventh Moon is set in China during this celebration, and it follows newly married couple Yul and Melissa (Tim Chiou and Amy Smart) as they are enjoying their honeymoon in his native town. However, when they are left stranded in the wilderness by their tour guide, they have to find ways to avoid the hungry beings and survive the night.

Director Eduardo Sanchez has a talent to build dread and fear through silhouettes, blurry figures, and creatures in the distance. There's a talent there in how he can make you feel on edge with just that. The notion of some impending doom approaching creeps under your skin, especially through that first act as Yul and Melissa are trying to figure out what's going on.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2424200#post2424200)

[Galactic Traveler]

The French Connection. 5/5. One of my 10 favorites. Gene Hackman has always been one of my favorite actors. Definitely one of the best cop/detective movies ever made.

[Gideon58]

The French Connection came in at # 2 on my list of favorite Gene Hackman performances.

[Stirchley]

96235
96236
96238

Three good movies. First one is very strange.

[Gideon58]

Never even heard of the first one. I only gave Licorice Pizza a rating of [Rating]3[/Rating} but The Apartment is Wilder's 2nd best film, only topped by Sunset Boulevard. If memory serves, The Apartment clocked in at #1 for my favorite Jack Lemmon performance.

[Stirchley]

Never even heard of the first one. I only gave Licorice Pizza a rating of [Rating]3[/Rating} but The Apartment is Wilder's 2nd best film, only topped by Sunset Boulevard. If memory serves, The Apartment clocked in at #1 for my favorite Jack Lemmon performance.

For some reason LP was in my negative pile, which was strange as I had never seen it. I liked it.

I want to revisit Lemmon in The Days of Wine & Roses since I found his performance to be just brilliant. I love Sunset Boulevard.

[WHITBISSELL!]

I really like the Endless, I think it's my favorite film by the duo. Resolution has some cool moments but probably not as good.I guess Resolution might be considered a dry run of sorts for The Endless. And as it turns out, Moorhead and Benson also worked on episodes of Moon Knight and Loki both of which I really liked. Haven't watched Synchronic though.

[matt72582]

Insiang - 8/10
This was a difficult watch, because it's good enough that her struggles became my struggle. A very nuanced movies with characters who are nuanced, as well as the well-written script. The acting is excellent as well.


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/Insiang_poster.jpg

[Galactic Traveler]

The French Connection came in at # 2 on my list of favorite Gene Hackman performances.

Is Unforgiven your #1?

[Gideon58]

Nope...The Conversation

[Galactic Traveler]

Nope...The Conversation

Love that film.

[Fabulous]

The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/zxQMedIezpcS6Npx8Q5o30WNDhC.jpg

[Gideon58]

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3

[mrblond]

The Lady in the Van (2015)

Directed by Nicholas Hytner
Starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings

Caught it today on the telly. It is probably my third viewing.
Pleasant comedy, though here and there, there are some dumb lines for Maggie Smith.
Alex Jennings is awesome all of the time. Cute movie as a whole.
3.5
73/100
96310

[WHITBISSELL!]

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A Dark Song - #5 on Flanagan's list. The movie opens with Sophia Howard (Catherine Walker) and a realtor touring a home in the hinterlands of Wales. She leases it for a year and then meets up with the gruff and surly Joseph Solomon (Steve Oram) at a train station. It's eventually revealed that Sophia has hired Solomon to perform some sort of occult ritual. After some digging the brusque Solomon gets her to admit that she wants to be able to talk with her dead child. He tries to dissuade her by listing all the various ways it will be a danger to both of them and the odds of it not working. But she is steadfast and he reluctantly agrees, stating that she will need to keep up that level of unwavering dedication. But Sophia is still holding back on the actual reason for the ceremony which just adds to the likelihood of it blowing up in their faces.

This is quite literally a things-that-go-bump-in-the-night chiller in the form of a liturgical dyad. The terminology sounds authentic enough but director/writer Liam Gavin has said that even though the actual ceremony is based on The Book of Abramelin it was largely fabricated. Partly out of respect but also due to a healthy dose of superstition. Walker and Oram do all the heavy lifting in this story and they're both admirably up to the task. By the time the third act was ramping up I was fully invested and dialed in. Gavin maintains that level of dread until the denouement which is the mark of any respectable horror offering.

80/100

[Takoma11]

I really like the Endless, I think it's my favorite film by the duo. Resolution has some cool moments but probably not as good.

While I would probably overall rate The Endless a bit higher than Resolution, the latter has a grimy charm to it and sits in this low-key sci-fi/horror space that I find very appealing.

[Act III]

96365

Replicant (2001)

Starts off looking like a cheesy straight-to-video movie and after that looks like a generic made-for-TV copshow episode but then once that bad intro wears off it gets to feel like a real movie and is quite amusing with Van Damme playing a partially retarded clone that can do Olympic acrobats but not too good at knowing how and when to fight. The premise is unrealistic and at times looks lifted right out of a comic book, but despite all these strange setbacks its actually an entertaining and out-of-the-ordinary flick.

6/10

[Act III]

96315

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

All the ingredients are there for a great movie; big budget, big stars, excellent setwork and so on, but it misses the mark in pretty much every way. I had a hard time seeing it through to the end. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't much entertaining either beyond some eye candy here and there. I read up on it and learned this movie was plagued with problems which probably knocked it out of the zone a tick. Everything seems off a bit and the tone is much the same. You want it to be something you can say was awesome but it doesn't seem that way. I think even kids would get bored with this.

5/10

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/71/Last-train-home-lixin-fan.jpg
By http://www.eyesteelfilm.com/?page_id=60, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25325004

Last Train Home - (2009)

This is just a sad documentary in nearly every way possible. Many migrant workers in China only get the Chinese New Year's holiday off, and as such each year on that date, there's a tidal wave of over 100 million people all wanting to travel home at the same time. Last Train Home follows a plight of one such family over many years and reunions. The Zhang family consists of mother and father - who work in another part of the country so they can only see their kids for a couple of days each year. They're desperately keen to see daughter Qin do well at school, but she resents them being away so often - and her quitting school to find a job and some excitement in her life leads to the horrible disintegration of the whole family. In the meantime - what this doc was meant to be giving us a glimpse of adds to the drama. The fight for tickets on trains and lengthy delays cause crushes, fights, and hospitalizations. Sheer madness. So sad. Both views - the close up of the one family and the bigger picture with a tidal wave of humanity on the move fit neatly and give the documentary the sheen of being one of the better 21st Century ones out there. It was really great, albeit bittersweet when you consider the Zhang family. I like how the film's poster gives 50% space to each general storyline.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/The_Bingo_Long_Traveling_All-Stars_%26_Motor_Kings.jpg
By https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZGEzMjFlYzUtZjk1OS00YzdlLWJiZDQtMDdkMjlmY2I5MDg5L2ltYWdlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzc5MjA3OA@@._V1 _SY1000_CR0,0,657,1000_AL_.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58838910

The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings - (1976)

This wasn't really as awful as I thought it might be - and was a box office success in it's day. I'm surprised I hadn't heard of it until now - this depression-era Negro baseball league story features the likes of Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor - all doing pretty good jobs as talented baseball players. They become sick of being treated poorly by their team owners and get together to form their own "Harlem Globetrotters"-type baseball team, travelling the U.S. and making money, only to be on the receiving end of dirty tactics from the dastardly Sallison Potter (Ted Ross) - owner of the "Ebony Aces" team. It all takes place at a time when baseball was segregated. This was directed by John Badham - no African American director or writers here - but all the same it manages to feel like the actors were allowed freedom to be and mould their characters. A baseball film I was never the slightest bit aware existed until now. Slow at first, but a real builder of momentum - one reviewer called it "The rise and fall of communism in a baseball movie" and that's a pretty accurate way to look at it. In any event - there's enough here to make this a film that shouldn't have faded away the way it seems to have.

6/10

https://i.postimg.cc/85zskTDx/truckers.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22274313

Space Truckers - (1996)

This was a great deal of fun every time villain Captain Macanudo (Charles Dance) was onscreen, and this also had the added benefit of having Vernon Wells in it's cast as a heavy. Those two factors alone will do a lot to win favour from me, but apart from that and the design of the cyborg warriors (some of the other production design here wasn't too bad either) there was a dearth of fun. When Stephen Dorff, Debi Mazar and a surprisingly mediocre Dennis Hopper are guiding the story, this lacks spark, with Mike (Dorff) and Cindy (Mazar) being bare outlines of characters without much to do - and they get the majority of the "heavy lifting" for this film's first half. Hopper feels miscast. This film needed much more Charles Dance and Vernon Wells in it - Stuart Gordon's silliness hit a peak with their scenes. A mixed bag.

5/10

[LChimp]

https://www.cwfilms.jp/en/news/images/12809e7f10e8ec3c6691c5c0c1be7cc50fe00ba6.jpg

Suzume No Tojimari - (2022)

Absolutely beaultiful! Animation, story, characters.... simply gorgeous!

[mrblond]

Married Life (2007)

Written and Directed by Ira Sachs
Starring: Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson, Pierce Brosnan and Rachel McAdams

I discovered this title several days ago and was highly attracted by the listed actors. So, I immediately found it in the net.
Well, it is okay but I think that the filmmakers failed to get maximum of this premier league cast. They had Cooper, Brosnan and the absolutely great Patricia Clarkson (the cute Rachel McAdams was a bit dull here), alas, the screenplay and the directing weren't on that level.
3.5 68/100
96320

[this_is_the_ girl]

Haven't watched Synchronic though.
Seen it, didn't like it as much as the other two. I think I rated it 2/5, IIRC.

While I would probably overall rate The Endless a bit higher than Resolution, the latter has a grimy charm to it and sits in this low-key sci-fi/horror space that I find very appealing.
Agreed.
That scene in the French archaeologist's trailer was excellent, probably my favorite in the film. Very Lynch-esque.

[Act III]

96321

The Delta Force (1986)

I saw this many years ago, I think the last time on one of the cable movie channels where it played on repeat for months. I also remember it in the rental stores on VHS in the 80s and 90s. I forgot though what it was about. I thought it was going to be a guerrilla warfare in the jungle movie but was I surprised. I've been drawing these out of a hat without much previewing so really its all a random gamble. Good movie though, despite its current political relevance, as in my opinion you can take your politics and foreign affairs and go for a long walk off a short pike because I don't care.

Happy Thanksgiving

7/10

[Fabulous]

The Artist (2011)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/bYimqNnizPUCnL5HOdoCW02IGmH.jpg

[Act III]

96324

Left Behind (2014)

This movie has an extremely low rating on IMDb, 3.1. Hard to say why because it isnt that bad, nowhere as bad as The Monitors or Benjamin Button or Phone Booth. About a notch better than your average TV movie. Not a classic, not trash, not boring, not cutting edge. I'd rather see this than The Brothers Grimm that I just watched.

6/10

[PHOENIX74]

The Delta Force (1986)

I saw this many years ago, I think the last time on one of the cable movie channels where it played on repeat for months. I also remember it in the rental stores on VHS in the 80s and 90s. I forgot though what it was about. I thought it was going to be a guerrilla warfare in the jungle movie but was I surprised. I've been drawing these out of a hat without much previewing so really its all a random gamble. Good movie though, despite its current political relevance, as in my opinion you can take your politics and foreign affairs and go for a long walk off a short pike because I don't care.


My only problem with this movie was seeing Lee Marvin so sick and frail - although even that is better than no Lee Marvin at all.

[Takoma11]

Agreed.
That scene in the French archaeologist's trailer was excellent, probably my favorite in the film. Very Lynch-esque.

I also (and this is a MAJOR SPOILER for anyone who hasn't seen the film!) love that a movie literally called "resolution" has an ending that is wonderfully ambiguous. And not in the annoying, "we couldn't think of an ending, so things just got weird" way. I felt like The Endless did a little more explaining, and the lack of total understanding from the protagonists in Resolution lends it a much more tragic air.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_Vol._3_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2023/guardians_of_the_galaxy_vol_three_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72394795

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - (2023)

Rewatch - this time at home. Guardians 3 can't match the pure brilliance of the first movie, but it's a whole lot of fun all the same. The comedy is still working, and so is the creature design and overall artistic flair when it comes to Galaxy-building. Rocket's story is genuinely touching, and powers the whole film quite well - there are more future viewings left in this one (in my younger days, I'd have watched this many times already.) There's so much backstory behind all of the characters and the universe they live in now - is this really going to be the last Guardians movie? From what I've heard, a future one is possible, but it would be centered on different characters - which to me wouldn't be a Guardians movie really. I come to see Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Nebula, Mantis and Rocket. This was a good time, and very easy to lose yourself in - I've upped my rating from last time because not only had it lost nothing with a second go-around, I think I enjoyed myself even more than the first time.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Extremely_loud_and_incredibly_close_film_poster.jpg
By IMPAwards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33246497

Extremely loud and Incredibly Close - (2011)

My biggest problem with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is that pretty soon into it I'm turned off main character Oscar (Thomas Horn) and his father Thomas Schell (Tom Hanks). I mean, I really don't like them very much. Thomas is one of those eccentric parents who invents his own brand of parenting to counteract what seem like autistic traits in his son (interestingly, the doctors never end up giving the kid a diagnosis of autism.) Does this include putting him in danger? I thought it did. The son, Oscar, is himself an extremely annoying kid - rude, brash, dishonest, pushy, demanding, insensitive and sometimes even cruel. The kindly old man played by Max von Sydow actually has to flee the area to get away from him. I know, I know - this movie's saying to me "Yeah - but autism!" I don't know. Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth (who adapted Jonathan Safran Foer's novel) don't do a good job of getting us to side with these characters. They're tugging away at our heart strings, but with painful fish-hooks. They're trying to calculate "cute" and "mournful" but getting "exasperating" and "galling" instead. One of the worst Best Picture Oscar nominees I've ever seen.

4/10

[Jackie Daytona]

I have, but it must not have left an impression on me because I don't remember much about it. I'll give it another chance. This one is my new favorite with The Steel Helmet trailing slightly behind it.

I saw Shock Corridor recently, would recommend.

[Fabulous]

The Invention of Lying (2009)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/7FOOpKifyRdEbfWH2xNjcKKPPXx.jpg

[Siddon]

https://paulstriptothemovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/the-Holdovers.jpeg

The Holdovers (2023)
rating_5


It doesn't quite hit the modern American classic but I think for a lot of people this will be the favorite movie of the year.

[Stirchley]

https://paulstriptothemovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/the-Holdovers.jpeg

The Holdovers (2023)
rating_5


It doesn't quite hit the modern American classic but I think for a lot of people this will be the favorite movie of the year.

Looking forward to this.

96334

Re-watch. Casey Affleck really good in this. So handsome too. :)

96335

A rare Afrikaners movie from South Africa. Really enjoyed it.

[whisper1song]

Twilight on Tubi. I love free TV. Probably go with a 4/5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e8/Family_man_movie.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20757137

The Family Man - (2000)

On the face of it, The Family Man appears to be a pretty schmaltzy knock off of It's a Wonderful Life - and it pretty much is - but I'll be damned if Nicholas Cage doesn't put 110% into it, transforming it into a really pleasing fantasy film. What's especially agreeable is that we get unexpected glimpses of crazy Cage, but also a great serious dramatic performance which I'd rate as one of Cage's best. In this he's Jack Campbell, leaving his girlfriend Kate (Téa Leoni) at the airport to never return to her, and going on to become an ultra-wealthy Wall Street executive and bachelor. One day an unexpected encounter with a gun wielding, seemingly crazy man (played by Don Cheadle) sees him cross over into an alternate version of his life where he married Kate and had kids. Yeah, it's the whole "learning that having a family is better than all the money in the world" thing - but the screenplay is more than solid, and little perks like an adorable child performance from Makenzie Vega elevate the movie and make it earn it's Frank Capra credentials (amazingly, this was directed by an outed Me Too movement perpetrator - it's a minefield that robs many films of their power when people find out.) I'm rating this for Cage though - he's simply wonderful in this.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/She_said_film_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2022/she_said_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71294136

She Said - (2022)

There aren't too many surprises in store for those who watch She Said, but it's always enjoyable seeing a monster hunted down, outed and finally stopped after decades of destroying promising lives. For all his reputation as a thunderously bad tempered, fearsome and argumentative man, he comes off as pretty whiny in She Said. That seems to be the go-to for people like him. They don't argue with thunderous passion, they just whine. Anyway - this is a newspaper movie which basically consists of the two New York Times reporters, Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) tracking down lead after lead, and listening to stories about Weinstein and what he was like. The fat and extremely ugly man would use his power to force sex or sexual acts on many of the women he came across - usually in disgustingly shameless ways. These women had promising careers they were excited about - and came away with their lives in tatters. After the Times articles were published, 82 women came forward with horror stories concerning the Hollywood producer. If any of the women fought back during his reign, he blacklisted them and made sure they never worked in the industry again.

Nowhere near as good as Spotlight or All the President's Men, but a fine watch. This was my second go-around with She Said.

7/10

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/48/Mafia_mamma_film.png/220px-Mafia_mamma_film.png

2

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

[Fabulous]

Haunt (2019)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/9qTtlJ5hbRqQce7dIVNloMO931D.jpg

[chawhee]

Nightcrawler (2014)
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/ca/99/b6/ca99b667904b1ef08335e9ce805a4904.jpg
3
I had been waiting to see this pop up on streaming somewhere, and I finally found it. Gyllenhaal is outstanding as usual, but the story itself fizzled a bit for me. There are definitely parts where I was glued to the screen, but by the end, it felt a bit empty.

[FromBeyond]

Studio 666 (2022)


I feel like Dave Grohl had on his bucket list to make a corny horror/comedy.. problem is I wasn't scared and if I chuckled it was because of terrible wooden acting. At least the boys gave it a shot I guess I just felt they could put a bit more effort in.. so many references from classic horror films I forgot them all and I appreciated the homages. The kills were like graphic as f*CK. Michael Myers would be proud. I guess this will be fun for the foo's to watch but as for me, I can't see myself revisiting this unless I smoked like a load of good quality .. 1 Star from the foo fighters just attempting this trash.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61kB7GmJYTL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg


5th Rewatch...the ghost story and the love story still meld flawlessly in the 1990 box office smash that earned a Best Picture nomination. After dozens of other actors, including Tom Hanks, turned the role down, the late Patrick Swayze cemented himself as a box office champion playing a man who was recently murdered, but cannot rest until the guy who had him killed is brought to justice and his girlfriend (Demi Moore) is out of danger. This movie pulled me into it last week the same way it did thirty years ago. Of course, Whoopi Goldberg won the Supporting Actress for her Odda Mae Brown, but I have to wonder if her award was more a move of political correctness. Was she really better than Lorraine Broco in Goodfellas or Annette Bening in The Grifters? LOVED Tony Goldwyn's greasy turn as Carl though. This is now officially one of those films where an annual rewatch would not be out of the realm of normality.

[Gideon58]

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Annie_Hall-798503064-large.jpg


2nd Rewatch...Still trying to figure out why people consider this movie such a masterpiece and how it won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1977. There's so many things about this movie I just don't get. First of all, I don't understand the title because the movie is not about Annie, it's about Woody's character, Alvy Singer, who is one of the most unlikable characters Woody has ever played. I hate the way he tries to change and educate Annie throughout the movie, while encouraging her singing career until an LA record producer (Paul Simon) wants to put her on his label. His griping about what an awful place LA is and how New York is the only place on the planet worth living and those final scenes where he flies to LA to make Annie come back to him do not endear the character to the viewer at all. Keaton's musical scene in that nightclub with dishes crashing and Woody sneezing in to a plate of cocaine never grow old though. I think Woody has made at least half a dozen films better than this one. 3.5

[ScarletLion]

https://pics.filmaffinity.com/Annie_Hall-798503064-large.jpg


2nd Rewatch...Still trying to figure out why people consider this movie such a masterpiece and how it won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1977. There's so many things about this movie I just don't get. First of all, I don't understand the title because the movie is not about Annie, it's about Woody's character, Alvy Singer, who is one of the most unlikable characters Woody has ever played. I hate the way he tries to change and educate Annie throughout the movie, while encouraging her singing career until an LA record producer (Paul Simon) wants to put her on his label. His griping about what an awful place LA is and how New York is the only place on the planet worth living and those final scenes where he flies to LA to make Annie come back to him do not endear the character to the viewer at all. Keaton's musical scene in that nightclub with dishes crashing and Woody sneezing in to a plate of cocaine never grow old though. I think Woody has made at least half a dozen films better than this one. 3.5

My favourite Woody Allen film. The comedy just seems so intelligent and well written. Not many films like it in my opinion.

Also, if you start wondering why certain films won best picture oscars then all I can say is best of luck.

[Gideon58]

https://wdltd.imgix.net/assets/images/site/product/1000774790_1_7700.jpg?width=700


1st Rewatch...Enjoyed this movie a lot more on the rewatch. There's a lot of subtlety and clever double entendres in Billy Wilder and IAL Diamonds screenplay, the polar opposite of their previous film Sunset Boulevard, which won them an Oscar. There is a lot of legend regarding the behind the scenes turmoil in getting this film made, mostly surrounding the unprofessionalism of Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane...she was apparently constantly late for work and her lines were taped up all over the set because she couldn't remember them and Tony Curtis apparently hated working with her as well, but none of this really shows onscreen. Joe E Brown made me laugh every time he appeared on screen, but if the truth be told, Jack Lemmon's Oscar-nominated performance as Jerry/Daphne that is the best thing about this movie. This is another of those performances that should be studied by acting students. 4.5

[Gideon58]

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Space_Jam_5458.jpg

3rd Rewatch...This movie provides the same laughs it did back in 1992, thanks to the effortless onscreen charisma provided by Michael Jordan. Jordan has just begun his baseball career when he gets sucked into a hole by the Looney Tunes who need his help in winning a basketball game with five very large aliens who stole their talent from five NBA legends (Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Shawn Jackson, Larry Johnson, Muggsey Bogues). This movie still provides consistent laughs most of them coming from Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Bill Murray, even though you really notice the absence of Mel Blanc. That scene where Bugs and Daffy go to Jordan's house to get his basketball clothes never gets old. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/917-EQpPwIL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


1st Rewatch...this film is such an oddity, though it does provide sporadic laughs. I'm pretty sure the only reason this film came to fruition is because someone wanted to do a sequel to Bruce Almighty and Jim Carrey either wasn't available or wasn't interested. So what they did was take the villain out of that movie and place him in a similar situation that actually reminded me more of a 1977 film called Oh God! than it did of Bruce Almighty. Just like in Oh God, I hate the way God (Morgan Freeman) just craps all over Evan's life to the point where his family walks out on him, his career is destroyed and the world thinks he's insane. I don't understand why God would do this to someone. Maybe it had something to do with Evan's campaign slogan "Change the World", which got him elected to Congress, but God is really hard on Evan in this one. 3

[matt72582]

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil - 5/10
This could have been good. I even FF'd the first 30 minutes, and that hour remaining lasted forever.. Inger Stevens is pretty. I listened to an interview recently where she's on a panel of women on The Tonight Show who talk about "the new woman" in the age of liberation (1962 and it was nice to put a moving woman to the voice I've heard many times. There was too much emphasis on showing empty streets, but the movie had a lot of empty dialogue. And even that was not well thought out... Either you be natural, OR, an intellectual way of saying a lot in a few words to avoid having a 4 hour movie. And Harry Belafonte, the lead, can't act, but he was brought in because of his popularity in music, just like that same year with Mort Sahl with stand-up.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/World_Flesh_Devil_1959.jpg

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/PxvzpMPZ/up.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5296811

Which Way is Up? - (1977)

Here's another virtually forgotten movie from the 1970s - I was expecting this to be quite bad, and while it's certainly very poor in many departments Richard Pryor really busts a nut to try and elevate it. It's just like one of these Pryor vehicles to give me a pretty good laugh here and there in spite of the overall tackiness of the screenplay. Pryor plays three roles - Leroy Jones, a worker who becomes a union hero when volunteers are being called for and he accidentally falls off a ladder. Rufus Jones, Leroy's father, who has a high libido and is a one-joke character. Reverend Lenox Thomas, who impregnates Leroy's wife causing Leroy to seek revenge by seducing the Reverend's wife. It's the tale of a union hero selling out after witnessing an assassination - it plays to Pryor's schtick of being terrified of something, and it plays to that a lot. The other dominant theme is sex - every second scene features Pryor either seducing someone or being aggressively seduced by a woman. So, all you have to do to imagine what this is like is to think of one scene where Pryor is really scared and chickening out of something, then a scene where Pryor is being handcuffed to a bed and being violated, or smoothly (sometimes comically clumsily) seducing some woman. Rinse and repeat. If it sounds bad - most of it really is, but Pryor can sure dredge up a big laugh from time to time, making this a little less awful than it could have been. (As long as you're willing to overlook the raging homophobia - apparently this was perfectly okay in the 1970s.)

5/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/ff/John_Carpenter%27s_Ghosts_of_Mars.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/2001/john_carpenters_ghosts_of_mars_ver1.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18409442

Ghosts of Mars - (2001)

Once again I ventured into a film I thought would be terrible, but ended up just being a little bad and forgettable. I was surprised just how good the premise to Ghosts of Mars is, and the make-up effects for the possessed Mars workers. You see, they've been possessed by the wandering spirits of a bygone Martian civilisation - beings which float around and possess any other lifeforms that come to Mars as 'invaders' - okay, it sounds stupid. It sounds a lot better when the movie explains it, and when you see the creepy creatures putting heads on spikes and mutilating themselves. Horror/creepy, on a deserted Martian base that feels haunted. Unfortunately, Carpenter and co couldn't think of much else to do with this film, so we just end up with action scenes while the group of survivors we have race from building to train to building staving the creatures off. It's Assault on Precinct 13 with Martian spirits instead of local thugs and gang members. This film has a great atmosphere, set design and make-up effects - it's just a shame that the story is so non-existent. By the way spoiler alert but

Pam Grier dies way too early in this!
Okay, okay - the scales end up level on this one. John Carpenter really had something here, but did nothing with it - he took a great horror premise and by the time he was finished it had morphed into a mindless action flick.

5/10

https://i.postimg.cc/1zS3NGMT/costa.jpg

Costa Rican Summer - (2010)

No way. Peter Dante (a lower tier 'Happy Madison' schlub) and Pamela Anderson sink as low as they can go by featuring in this amateur, microbudget production. It has every mark of a "worst ever" movie - stilted delivery by actors not at all suited to the profession, nudity that feels so exploitative you'll actually look away, music that sounds like it's a Casio keyboard demo tune, excruciating "jokes" that are painful to watch, sub-par production values, "never handled a camera before - or even learned how" cinematography and a clumsily lifted storyline that's a cliché of clichés. Everything is rock bottom - Costa Rican Summer is easily one of the worst movies I've ever watched, and you can be damned sure I'm going to force other people to watch it as often as I can. Words don't do it justice really - even the two "big name" stars give wooden, awkward and halting line readings. This isn't bottom of the barrel - this exists somewhere beneath the barrel, most probably in hell itself. It's insane that this was even made.

1/10

[Raven73]

Napoleon
7/10.
Napoleon delves into both the personal life and the military career of one of the world's greatest rulers. The battle of Waterloo was the best part - epic and grand.

https://www.dvdsreleasedates.com/posters/800/N/Napoleon-2023-movie-poster.jpg

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1a/Studio_666.jpeg/220px-Studio_666.jpeg

2

SF = Zzzz



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

[Fabulous]

The Brood (1979)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/xVPVG28hjd5EpNLk2SeCDMjbITN.jpg

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://wordsworth-editions.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/1712_Invisible1.jpg
The Invisible Man (1933, James Whale)
4.5
What a delightful adaptation this is! Short, sweet, and the special effects are just outstanding...still hold up to this day!

[ScarletLion]

'Repulsion' (1965)

Dir.: Roman Polanski

https://sgtr.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/repulsion.gif

This has to rank among the best psychological horror films I've ever seen. Catherine Deneuve stars as a frigid female scared stiff of men and as she interacts with them she slowly loses ber mind, with the film culminating in acts of extreme violence.

Polanski's direction is amazing, there are a couple of very jarring jump scares and effective use of practical effects (like the cracking of walls) to mimic the lead characters psychological state.

Excellent film.

8.9/10

4.5

[Gideon58]

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91K%2BeOBUXUL._SX342_.jpg




1st Rewatch...This one didn't hold up as well on rewatch as I had hoped. This story of a fictional 196o's black singing group offers some strong performances, especially Michael Wright and Leon, but the script gets a little syrupy at times. That scene where Robert Townsend and his little sister write a song on the spot from pieces of paper hidden around the room is one of the silliest things I have ever seen. 3

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/pv-target-images/523ef17d12e0c0d54b5d7a3fa091640ea6503f5ee6b802ba298ec372a1c6988b.jpg



1st Rewatch...this one might have been even more harrowing than the first time. It had my stomach in knots and had me talking back to the screen. This is the story of an overweight, barely literate teen who lives with her physically and emotionally abusive mother (Mo'Nique) and has one child and one on the way, courtesy of her stepfather. The Oscar winning screenplay (Geoffrey Fletcher, BTW, was the first African American to win the award in this category, original or adaptation) is raw and uncompromising and just so you know, the welfare system doesn't work like this anymore (the film is set circa 1987). Lee Daniels' Oscar nominated direction sends a story that you want to but are unable to turn away from. My only problem with this story is that Precious is a character we want a better a life for and she deserves it, but she just seems to want it to be handed to her on a silver platter. But this movie does not play. Gabourey Sidibe's Oscar-nominated performance in the title role demands viewer empathy and Mo'Nique's ferocious performance as her mom won her the Best Supporting Actress, a win that surprised me at the time, but after watching this again and reviewing who the other four nominees were, I understand the win. The scene where Precious brings her second baby home is one of the most horrifying things I have ever seen in a movie. 4

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/911Q6WEcKbL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

1st Rewatch...this one was definitely better than I remembered. This sexually charged romantic drama stars Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling as Cindy and Dean, a married couple with an adorable daughter, whose marriage has begun to implode and they have decided o figure out why by sending their daughter to Grandpa for the night and checking into a hotel, and it is there Dean and Cindy's past is revealed to us, hopefully providing some insight into what led Dean and Cindy to this hotel. We never really get an answer to that, but what we do get is a fascinating look into a marriage that had more than its shares of dangerous waters. It's insane how the screenplay leaps back and forth in time, requiring complete attention. That scene in the doctor's office where Dean his Cindy's boss heartbreaking and terrifying. The chemistry between Williams and Gosling is off the charts. Gosling brings a very De Niro quality to Dean and Michelle Williams' all over the place and earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. This appointment viewing for fans of the stars and I am upping my original rating. 4

[mrblond]

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023), short film

Written and Directed by Wes Anderson
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel and Ben Kingsley

Wow! This guy Wes Anderson is a cult. What a screen design! Very Nice!
4.5 90/100
96359
96360

[Miss Vicky]

https://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/MoFoPics2/napoleon.gif
Napoleon (Ridley Scott, 2023)

I went into this movie wanting to see Joaquin Phoenix and some cool battle scenes and on that level I was definitely not disappointed. Ridley Scott is a master at constructing spectacular battles. He also has a keen eye for cinematography. The film, its sets, and its costumes are gorgeous. I also thought the performances were excellent.

But I definitely didn’t love it. What little story there was felt disjointed, none of its key players were even a little bit likable, and supporting characters just seem to appear and then suddenly disappear with little to no explanation. There wasn’t really anyone to root for or against. I do think it is a good film overall and one that I will watch again but it’s definitely never going to be a favorite.

3.5


https://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/MoFoPics2/carnage.gif
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Andy Serkis, 2021)

I watched this because I wanted some stupid entertainment with the delicious eye candy that is Tom Hardy. I was not disappointed. It is REALLY stupid, Tom Hardy looks hot AF, and I was entertained. Great for one watch, but I doubt I will ever see it again.

3

[Takoma11]

https://www.angelfire.com/music6/walteregan/MoFoPics2/carnage.gif
Venom: Let There Be Carnage (Andy Serkis, 2021)

It is REALLY stupid, Tom Hardy looks hot AF, and I was entertained.

And the chickens were adorable.

[Thief]

PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE
(1957, Wood)

https://i.imgur.com/JT3mKOh.jpg


"You know, it's an interesting thing when you consider... the Earth people, who can think, are so frightened by those who cannot: the dead."



Plan 9 from Outer Space follows a group of aliens, ahem, from outer space implementing a plan to stop humans from using "big guns" and "explosives" or, if that fails, destroy humanity. The plan? To resurrect the dead because, as their commander Eros says in the above quote, humans are "frightened by those who cannot [think]". So they think that, somehow, the undead and the ensuing chaos will help them to either grab humanity's attention or just finish them.

Written, produced, directed, and edited by Ed Wood, it is one of the most notorious examples of his skills, or lack of. The film has a mostly non-sensical plot, stilted performances, odd use of stock footage, and overall inept production values. The sets and costumes look like those from a school production and the pace of the film is, to put it mildly, awkward as it sputters along different plotlines loosely hanging from each other.

Grade: 2


Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2424906#post2424906)

[GulfportDoc]

'Repulsion' (1965)

Dir.: Roman Polanski


This has to rank among the best psychological horror films I've ever seen. Catherine Deneuve stars as a frigid female scared stiff of men and as she interacts with them she slowly loses ber mind, with the film culminating in acts of extreme violence.

Polanski's direction is amazing, there are a couple of very jarring jump scares and effective use of practical effects (like the cracking of walls) to mimic the lead characters psychological state.

Excellent film.

8.9/10

rating_4_5
I was really impressed by this film when it came out in '65. But I was so shocked, afterward it took me 5 beers to calm down. I was reluctant to see a Catherine Deneuve film for a long time afterwards! God bless her, she's a year older than I, and happily still alive. She was gorgeous.

[GulfportDoc]

...
Plan 9 from Outer Space follows a group of aliens, ahem, from outer space implementing a plan to stop humans from using "big guns" and "explosives" or, if that fails, destroy humanity. The plan? To resurrect the dead because, as their commander Eros says in the above quote, humans are "frightened by those who cannot [think]". So they think that, somehow, the undead and the ensuing chaos will help them to either grab humanity's attention or just finish them.

Written, produced, directed, and edited by Ed Wood, it is one of the most notorious examples of his skills, or lack of. The film has a mostly non-sensical plot, stilted performances, odd use of stock footage, and overall inept production values. The sets and costumes look like those from a school production and the pace of the film is, to put it mildly, awkward as it sputters along different plotlines loosely hanging from each other.

Grade: rating_2

Full review on my Movie Loot (https://www.movieforums.com/community/showthread.php?anchor=1&p=2424906#post2424906)
Interesting color still. The original film of course was in black & white, but I read that there had been a colorization of it in 2006. I don't know if color would help it or not. The film was silly-ass even in 1957, but I love the parts with Lugosi and Vampira.

As you know the movie plays an interesting part in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994), which I thought was a great film.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Bombshell_poster.jpg
By C@rtelesmix, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62070151

Bombshell - (2019)

Fox News has been at the center of one controversy after another in recent years - for example, their need to cozy up to a certain controversial figure meant they reported certain things they knew weren't true. In the meantime, there's been a steady outing of senior figures sexually harassing and debasing women working there. Not being an American, all I know about the place comes from documentaries like Outfoxed and various other commentaries I happen to see, read and/or hear - making the channel seem assuredly propagandistic and biased towards right-leaning politics. Bombshell actually seems balanced for the most part - and doesn't portray Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) as a complete slobbering monster, just as a guy who quietly preyed upon women because he had the power to do so. Overall it gives us another example of a kind of "strength in numbers" victory for the victims of powerful predators. Many great performances in this - although I feel the surface is just being scratched, and in future years, once the dust has settled, deeper probes into the rise and fall of the toxic environment at this particular workplace might come to fruition.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/The_Boondock_Saints_poster.jpeg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22208094

The Boondock Saints - (1999)

Watching 2003 documentary Overnight poisoned the well a little - it paints the making of this film and it's director in such an awful light it's hard for me to judge it solely on it's merits. Still, if you don't take it too seriously, The Boondock Saints is somewhat fun and enjoyable. You can see why Troy Duffy's screenplay attracted the attention it did, and all we can do is lament the fact that his guy didn't have the poise and sense of humble self-awareness to be a real filmmaker. His story - the MacManus twins Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus) deciding they have such a flair for killing that they decide to take out as many Mafioso as they can - isn't bad, and you sense Duffy is seeing himself as the next Tarantino. Unfortunately for him, he's not as talented, and some of this really comes off as amateurish and lacking polish. Moments of "coolness" come off as juvenile posing, and there's nothing worse than a person who's not cool thinking he is. All that aside - it's a lot of silly fun though, and if you don't take it seriously or think too much about Duffy being a poser and wannabe you can enjoy much of this film's comic aspect and bizarre charm. Because of that, it's all the more tragic it's talented maker couldn't rein in his self-destructive impulses.

7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3b/Hell_House_LLC_Origins-_The_Carmichael_Manor.jpeg
By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=75188346

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor - (2023)

For found footage horror, this movie gets a little too brazen and ups the ghostly visuals a little too early for the proper amount of tension to have built up, but overall it's not a bad spook-fest. It's haunted mansion location, various freaky clown statues that come alive, and reality-bending creepy moments are enough to entertain, and the film trundles along with no pretense to being a masterpiece. It's got me in the mood to go back to the original of this series, Hell House LLC, which I didn't have enough time to see last night.

6/10

[Fabulous]

Dreamgirls (2006)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/7lfzg2qkFpMLNgTr2HfX9ZLSO0h.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media4.giphy.com/media/cjb50o3CMIvpeCy1hV/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47ypyrq5dxaz7b4yzthnnrv9u01ncayh90h798j2qg&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
https://krui.fm/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image-1.gif

They Look Like People - #4 on Mike Flanagan's Top 10 list of underrated horror movies. Wyatt (MacLeod Andrews) shows up one day out of the blue at his friend Christian's (Evan Dumouchel) NYC apartment building. The two had once been close but had drifted apart. They're at loose ends in their personal lives both having recently left long term relationships so Christian invites Wyatt to stay with him for the time being. Wyatt is desperate and as close to broken as a person can get in that he has come to believe that shape shifting creatures have started to take over the bodies of people around him. He has visions and hears voices warning him of a coming war between humanity and these creatures. Christian, on the other hand, has long been plagued by feelings of inadequacy which he disguises with weightlifting and aggressive machismo.

This was written, produced, filmed and edited by first time director Perry Blackshear and, in Wyatt and Christian, he's managed to create two fragile and genuinely endearing characters. If it wasn't for their inherent likability a lot of what goes on might have been hard to accept. It's a short film clocking in at around 80 minutes but Blackshear has peopled it with winning characters including Christian's work boss and unrequited crush Mara (Margaret Ying Drake). Their interactions and reactions go a long ways towards selling the narrative. You quickly come to that realization when the screen goes to black and the credits start rolling.

I'm going put this in spoilers just in case but this isn't really a straight up horror movie. It's psychological horror. I remember watching a 2004 film called Keane starring Damian Lewis that also dealt with schizophrenia. It was nerve wracking in that you were never quite sure what was going to happen. This is a lot like that. 85/100

[ScarletLion]

I was really impressed by this film when it came out in '65. But I was so shocked, afterward it took me 5 beers to calm down. I was reluctant to see a Catherine Deneuve film for a long time afterwards! God bless her, she's a year older than I, and happily still alive. She was gorgeous.

She really was (and still is!) beautiful. I can only imagine the reception in the 60s to this film!

I may have got the wrong poster here but - Didn't you knock about with Zappa and Beefheart in those days? I bet there were some wild reactions to films like this from that crowd if they were on the mind altering stuff!!!!

[chawhee]

BlacKKKlansman (2018)
https://dailycollegian.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Picture1-900x600.png
3.5
A clever, funny tale that was a little hard to watch because of how it makes you realize that some people in this world do act/think how the KKK does. Adam Driver is incredible as always, but John David Washington continues to be a bit underwhelming.

[LChimp]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71hS+pnZN3L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

This is Spinal Tap - (1984)

First view, I thought it was pretty funny, the songs are hilarious.

[Marco]

Champions (1984)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/Championsfilm.jpg
A charming true story film about the jockey Bob Champion and his battle back to fitness from cancer to his favourite steed Aldaniti (that had been described as lame) to victory. It's a low budget film but John Hurt and the interesting cast (Jan Francis, Edward Woodward, Alison Steadman, Ben Johnson, Kirstie Alley), combined with the realistic race scenes make this a really enjoyable "little" film.

3

[ScarletLion]

Champions (1984)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/Championsfilm.jpg
A charming true story film about the jockey Bob Champion and his battle back to fitness from cancer to his favourite steed Aldaniti (that had been described as lame) to victory. It's a low budget film but John Hurt and the interesting cast (Jan Francis, Edward Woodward, Alison Steadman, Ben Johnson, Kirstie Alley), combined with the realistic race scenes make this a really enjoyable "little" film.

3

I remember seeing this on UK TV in the late 80s as a youngster! A real blast from the past!

[Torgo]

Grand Slam - 2

Despite a cast featuring Edward G. Robinson, Klaus Kinski and Janet Leigh and settings like New York and Brazil, I found this heist movie to be an endurance test. A retired teacher (Robinson) who taught in Brazil works with old friend and criminal mastermind Mark (Celi) to steal millions of dollars in diamonds while Carnival is happening. They assemble an international team including Kinski's stuntman and Robert Hoffmann's Casanova. The first step? Have Hoffmann charm Mary Ann (Leigh), the safe's sole keyholder.

When I think about my favorite heist movies - examples include Thief, Rififi, Topkapi and the 2001 Ocean's Eleven - one thing they have in common is one or more characters who are interesting at the most and worth giving a damn about in the least. This movie simply has neither. It succeeds at informing me about each one's specialty, but it does not do enough to say what they are like. It comes close with Cucciolla's kind and nerdy toymaker, but no cigar. I do not think the relatively large cast is an excuse because, well, look at Ocean's Eleven. While I have no complaints about the filmmaking during the pivotal safecracking sequence, my ultimate reaction to it is indifference. A scene where the safe's guards return to duty made me think "go ahead, catch them, I don't care," for instance. Besides, there is a problem when you are more interested in the cutaways to the Carnival than the heist. The movie does succeed in defying your expectations late in the game, but it is not enough to redeem everything that happens before. I like the movie's time capsule qualities with its late ‘60s footage of New York City and Rio de Janeiro and Ennio Morricone's score is as enjoyable as the rest of his music. Other than that, the end result comes across like director Montaldo and company watched Rififi, were inspired to make their own version afterwards but left out the secret ingredients in the process.

[Stirchley]

96368

Terrific movie. Bening very good as Diana Nyad, but Jodie Foster stole the show as her coach.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71hS+pnZN3L._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

This is Spinal Tap - (1984)

First view, I thought it was pretty funny, the songs are hilarious.

I promise you that this movie will become funnier upon each rewatch, but thank you for noticing the brilliance of the song lyrics.

[Gideon58]

96368

Terrific movie. Bening very good as Diana Nyad, but Jodie Foster stole the show as her coach.


Loved this movie too...here's my review:


https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2422668-nyad.html

[Gideon58]

https://www.taxidrivers.it/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/August-landscape-edited-1.png


1st Rewatch...enjoyed this much more upon rewatch. This film version of Tracy Letts' play centering around a terribly dysfunctional southern family who are brought together when the patriarch of the family commits suicide. John Wells' uncompromising direction is given a huge boost by a serious shot of star power, including Meryl Strep, Margo Martindale, Ewan MacGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Chris Cooper, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Julianne Nicholson, and in the performance of her career that earned her a supporting actress Oscar nomination, Julia Roberts as Barbara, the bitter and emotionally exhausted eldest daughter. Roberts has never been better and is the anchor that holds this film together. 4

[Gideon58]

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4th Rewatch....Not sure why this film didn't really hold up on this rewatch, but I found it kind of dumb, with plenty of plot holes for which no explanation is provided. Martin Lawrence plays an FBI agent who goes undercover as an old woman to catch a murderer (Terrance Howard) by cozying up to his ex-girlfriend (Nia Long) and her young son. The story tries to set up Lawrence's Malcolm as the greatest FBI agent ever, which is pretty much impossible to accept, since he pretty much starts sexually harassing Long's character from the moment he meets her. Of course, we're supposed to believe that she doesn't catch any of his leering so that the story can move. Basically, the story is just too protective of this guy and, in order to do so, makes the rest of the characters in the movie look like blithering idiots. It's starting to remind me of some of those stupid comedies that Jerry Lewis made during the 60's. The bloom has definitely worn off this cinematic rose. Lowering my original rating 2

[SpelingError]

The Piano Teacher (2001) - 5

While I've enjoyed most of what I've seen from Haneke so far, my appreciation of his films mainly boils down to enjoying them more on a technical level rather than an emotional level (Cache and The White Ribbon have their moments though), so I was definitely not expecting this film to resonate with me as much as it did.

My initial takeaway was how well Huppert communicates the sexual repression and loneliness of her character. Erika's mother is domineering and expects perfection from her (interestingly enough, this behavior has strong parallels with her teaching style), yet she's unable to meet her high expectations. Since Erika has likely spent her entire life with her mother, her repression comes out in the form of porn addiction, paraphilia, and sadomasochism. With minimal contacts outside of work though, her tendencies turn out unfulfilled all too often, so there's no place for her to direct them but inwards. This leads to some disturbing set pieces of her urinating outside a car where a couple are making love and cutting her vagina with a razor. They tell you all there is to know about why she grows to latch onto Walter and demand so much from him.

Speaking of which, the love-making scenes between Erika and Walter are disturbing for reasons including but not limited to the paraphilic and sadomasochistic aspects of them. One thing which stood out to me is how Erik and Walter pursue their relationship at the expense of other people. The first half scratched the surface of this with the aforementioned urinating scene, but the second half shows the sheer lengths which the two of them go to satisfy their tendencies. Leaving a bathroom door wide open during a love-making session and having sex while Walter's hockey team members are right in the other room represent the lower end of extremity with this aspect. A more disturbing scene is a climactic scene of Walter forcing Erika's Mom into her bedroom so he can make love with Erika. Though Erika was clearly in a state of hesitancy at that point in the film, it's worth noting how she doesn't protest or speak up against Walter's rough treatment of her Mom at all. The most disturbing scene though is when Erika causes one of her students to cut her hand on broken glass for socializing with Walter. Though she clearly displayed a hard personality with her students prior to that, it's still a shocking moment, albeit one which feels true to her character.

What gave me the most anxiety though was how their hesitancy to commit to their sadomasochistic relationship gave a sense of escalation to the film. Erika and Walter are never on the same page on how to proceed with their relationship. Initially, Erika is the one eager to go along with it while Walter is hesitant. But then Walter begins to take Erika's role while she takes his, thus keeping an impasse between the pair. The frustration this causes them adds a sense of escalation to their relationship and gives the sense the film is building to something where either one of them or someone around them will be hurt. What we do get as a culmination may come off as abrupt, but the ambiguity it left gave me a couple disturbing outcomes to ponder over.

Overall, this is definitely my favorite Haneke film by a long shot and, given how well I responded to it, I'm tempted to revisit some of his other films to see if I'll warm up some more to them.

[Stirchley]

The Piano Teacher (2001) - 5

While I've enjoyed most of what I've seen from Haneke so far, my appreciation of his films mainly boils down to enjoying them more on a technical level rather than an emotional level (Cache and The White Ribbon have their moments though), so I was definitely not expecting this film to resonate with me as much as it did.

My initial takeaway was how well Huppert communicates the sexual repression and loneliness of her character. Erika's mother is domineering and expects perfection from her (interestingly enough, this behavior has strong parallels with her teaching style), yet she's unable to meet her high expectations. Since Erika has likely spent her entire life with her mother, her repression comes out in the form of porn addiction, paraphilia, and sadomasochism. With minimal contacts outside of work though, her tendencies turn out unfulfilled all too often, so there's no place for her to direct them but inwards. This leads to some disturbing set pieces of her urinating outside a car where a couple are making love and cutting her vagina with a razor. They tell you all there is to know about why she grows to latch onto Walter and demand so much from him.

Speaking of which, the love-making scenes between Erika and Walter are disturbing for reasons including but not limited to the paraphilic and sadomasochistic aspects of them. One thing which stood out to me is how Erik and Walter pursue their relationship at the expense of other people. The first half scratched the surface of this with the aforementioned urinating scene, but the second half shows the sheer lengths which the two of them go to satisfy their tendencies. Leaving a bathroom door wide open during a love-making session and having sex while Walter's hockey team members are right in the other room represent the lower end of extremity with this aspect. A more disturbing scene is a climactic scene of Walter forcing Erika's Mom into her bedroom so he can make love with Erika. Though Erika was clearly in a state of hesitancy at that point in the film, it's worth noting how she doesn't protest or speak up against Walter's rough treatment of her Mom at all. The most disturbing scene though is when Erika causes one of her students to cut her hand on broken glass for socializing with Walter. Though she clearly displayed a hard personality with her students prior to that, it's still a shocking moment, albeit one which feels true to her character.

What gave me the most anxiety though was how their hesitancy to commit to their sadomasochistic relationship gave a sense of escalation to the film. Erika and Walter are never on the same page on how to proceed with their relationship. Initially, Erika is the one eager to go along with it while Walter is hesitant. But then Walter begins to take Erika's role while she takes his, thus keeping an impasse between the pair. The frustration this causes them adds a sense of escalation to their relationship and gives the sense the film is building to something where either one of them or someone around them will be hurt. What we do get as a culmination may come off as abrupt, but the ambiguity it left gave me a couple disturbing outcomes to ponder over.

Overall, this is definitely my favorite Haneke film by a long shot and, given how well I responded to it, I'm tempted to revisit some of his other films to see if I'll warm up some more to them.

You’ve inspired me to re-visit this movie & now it’s in my Q.

[SpelingError]

You’ve inspired me to re-visit this movie & now it’s in my Q.
I hope you enjoy it. Would you say you're a fan of Haneke?

[Stirchley]

I hope you enjoy it. Would you say you're a fan of Haneke?

Absolutely. The White Ribbon being my total fave.

[Marco]

I remember seeing this on UK TV in the late 80s as a youngster! A real blast from the past!
I know ScarletLion, as a youth playing 5-a-side football if we were getting beat, our in joke was (smokey John Hurt voice) "With Aldaniti we can win this!". I 1/2 expected the hand of Michael Winner in this!

[ScarletLion]

I know ScarletLion, as a youth playing 5-a-side football if we were getting beat, our in joke was (smokey John Hurt voice) "With Aldaniti we can win this!". I 1/2 expected the hand of Michael Winner in this!

:D

[ScarletLion]

The Piano Teacher (2001) - 5

While I've enjoyed most of what I've seen from Haneke so far, my appreciation of his films mainly boils down to enjoying them more on a technical level rather than an emotional level (Cache and The White Ribbon have their moments though), so I was definitely not expecting this film to resonate with me as much as it did.

My initial takeaway was how well Huppert communicates the sexual repression and loneliness of her character. Erika's mother is domineering and expects perfection from her (interestingly enough, this behavior has strong parallels with her teaching style), yet she's unable to meet her high expectations. Since Erika has likely spent her entire life with her mother, her repression comes out in the form of porn addiction, paraphilia, and sadomasochism. With minimal contacts outside of work though, her tendencies turn out unfulfilled all too often, so there's no place for her to direct them but inwards. This leads to some disturbing set pieces of her urinating outside a car where a couple are making love and cutting her vagina with a razor. They tell you all there is to know about why she grows to latch onto Walter and demand so much from him.

Speaking of which, the love-making scenes between Erika and Walter are disturbing for reasons including but not limited to the paraphilic and sadomasochistic aspects of them. One thing which stood out to me is how Erik and Walter pursue their relationship at the expense of other people. The first half scratched the surface of this with the aforementioned urinating scene, but the second half shows the sheer lengths which the two of them go to satisfy their tendencies. Leaving a bathroom door wide open during a love-making session and having sex while Walter's hockey team members are right in the other room represent the lower end of extremity with this aspect. A more disturbing scene is a climactic scene of Walter forcing Erika's Mom into her bedroom so he can make love with Erika. Though Erika was clearly in a state of hesitancy at that point in the film, it's worth noting how she doesn't protest or speak up against Walter's rough treatment of her Mom at all. The most disturbing scene though is when Erika causes one of her students to cut her hand on broken glass for socializing with Walter. Though she clearly displayed a hard personality with her students prior to that, it's still a shocking moment, albeit one which feels true to her character.

What gave me the most anxiety though was how their hesitancy to commit to their sadomasochistic relationship gave a sense of escalation to the film. Erika and Walter are never on the same page on how to proceed with their relationship. Initially, Erika is the one eager to go along with it while Walter is hesitant. But then Walter begins to take Erika's role while she takes his, thus keeping an impasse between the pair. The frustration this causes them adds a sense of escalation to their relationship and gives the sense the film is building to something where either one of them or someone around them will be hurt. What we do get as a culmination may come off as abrupt, but the ambiguity it left gave me a couple disturbing outcomes to ponder over.

Overall, this is definitely my favorite Haneke film by a long shot and, given how well I responded to it, I'm tempted to revisit some of his other films to see if I'll warm up some more to them.

Yeah that's a great film. Haneke is one of the greats in my opinion. The White Ribbon is my favourite also. Cache also good and 'Code Unknown' i find to be hugely underrated.

[Gideon58]

https://static.fmovies.style/dist/static/XrnE00ehYEFYchGqlReddBLrJXQGZUbGO4AVxxYVTIjsKNayg7oZWB5uutlSJJwoIO6gmqnKsjvjZheoV6zmnSRUTCUK0AY9cObz piRSDfA.jpg



3.5

[GulfportDoc]

She really was (and still is!) beautiful. I can only imagine the reception in the 60s to this film!

I may have got the wrong poster here but - Didn't you knock about with Zappa and Beefheart in those days? I bet there were some wild reactions to films like this from that crowd if they were on the mind altering stuff!!!!
When I saw Repulsion I was still at music conservatory. I can't imagine seeing that film on drugs!!:D In '68 some of us in the band went to see 2001: A Space Odessy. A few were a little high from weed, so I'm sure they had an enhanced experience..:)

I was with Zappa/MOI from '67-'70, and Beefheart from '70-'74.

[Raven73]

Elemental
7.5/10
Disney has had a string of less-than stellar movies. But I enjoyed this one.

The funniest bit: Wade's family crying (believe it or not, this was funny)
The almost-brought-me-to-tears bit: Ember saying goodbye to her father at the end.

https://prod-ripcut-delivery.disney-plus.net/v1/variant/disney/F53745BFEA377E6CB6BC67E4F5DB0EC19224AA4EA0A97F100A820970B33A1296/scale?width=506&aspectRatio=2.00&format=jpeg

[FromBeyond]

Malignant (2021)


A young girl has a "Malignant" invisible friend.. or are they invisible, all grown up it returns.


in fact Edward Mordrake is getting the James Wan treatment



It has its moments but meh it's ludicrously preposterous and not scary

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Alien_movie_poster.jpg
By Imp Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=398031

Alien - (1979)

Double feature night at the movies last evening kicked off with Ridley Scott's quintessential sci-fi classic Alien, aboard the grimy and functional spacecraft Nostromo - a very thespian take on the horror and science fiction genre, with the likes of John Hurt, Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton and Tom Skerritt beefing up an acting department that included future and contemporary stars like Sigourney Weaver and Yaphet Kotto. I enjoyed the production and set design on the big screen - the extra scrutiny does nothing at all to expose this as fakery, and as such you really feel like you're out in the complete isolation of space. That was the big take-away from seeing it on the big screen. Alien plays on our fear of contamination, claustrophobia, death and especially the fear of being isolated and alone. Apart from that, the most glaringly obvious effect is the xenophobia (a word co-opted to have a different meaning these days) our characters feel. This is a really moody film, and completely different to the movies that formed a part of the franchise when sequels were made. It's all about the atmosphere, and the complete lack of an atmosphere. Cold dread.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Aliens_poster.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/1986/aliens_ver1_xlg.html WebArchive Archive, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=897538

Aliens - (1986)

Aliens was made to be seen on the big screen - I thought I'd seen this enough to have drained all of the white-knuckle excitement and edge-of-my-seat delirium out of it. I was wrong. The last time on the big screen for me was back in '86, and I was reminded of why this was so huge at the time - James Cameron took the original, put it on steroids, gave it a shot of adrenaline and then set it alight. After enduring endless CGI vistas, the stuff here is wonderful and beautiful - how did he do it? By the looks of it hard work and a real belief in the project. Bring back miniatures, fiberglass and vacuum-formed castings, styrofoam and true optical effects. Isolation isn't at play here as it is in the original - instead, Cameron plays on our fear of battle, and the bloody destruction of war. The whole concept of bringing in Colonial Marines to fight swarms of what we'd seen in the first film was intuitively brilliant, and comes off by being anchored with a very assured and confident Sigourney Weaver. The performances in this are actually quite good, and every laugh and thrill still lands exactly where it should. I was surprised just how exciting and enjoyable this rewatch on the big screen was. It's an astonishingly rare cinematic beast - a mainstream action/sci-fi blockbuster that also happens to be a masterpiece.

10/10

[Deschain]

An Alien/Aliens double feature in theaters is my white whale. Where’d they put that on PHOENIX74 ?

[PHOENIX74]

An Alien/Aliens double feature in theaters is my white whale. Where’d they put that on PHOENIX74 ?

It's the second time this year they've run the Alien/Aliens double feature at the Luna Leederville, here in W.A. Australia. Next week it's Lawrence of Arabia, which will be another "must see on the big screen" ticket to cross off my list. It's an 8 screen place, but Cinema 1 is a nice two tiered big old-style cinema.

https://i.postimg.cc/xdknBK1g/lun.jpg

[Fabulous]

Late Autumn (1960)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/ka39xyD9WyEC48aHVfhY2ZsC7jn.jpg

[ScarletLion]

When I saw Repulsion I was still at music conservatory. I can't imagine seeing that film on drugs!!:D In '68 some of us in the band went to see 2001: A Space Odessy. A few were a little high from weed, so I'm sure they had an enhanced experience..:)

I was with Zappa/MOI from '67-'70, and Beefheart from '70-'74.

Ha amazing man. Bet you have a load of stories from that era.

[ScarletLion]

'20,000 Species of Bees'

Spanish / Basque film about an 8 year old trans youngster who experiences family struggling to come to term with her changes. Some critics have said this film is a little thin and with a run-time of over 2 hours there are some scenes that felt a little unnecessary. There is also perhaps an analogy too far in terms of the central theme. Some of the images remidned me of Victor Erice's classic 'Spirit of the Beehive', but the coming of age narrative is only part of the story here.

The central performance by Sofia Otero though is nothing short of remarkable. There are so many child performances these days that catch the eye, especially in European cinema, and this is right at the top. Otero’s facial expressions and body language is so natural.

The film itself is very tenderly directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, who gives us a couple of weeks in the life of a child trying to make sense of why she is different as she goes on holiday with her family. Most people around her seem more confused at her gender than she is, and that just makes her feel even more out of place. Her mother Ana is on board with whatever Lucia wants to be, but has struggles of her own in terms of identity and family dynamic. The only person Lucia really connects with is her Aunty who is widowed and keeps bees. Lucia connects to nature and finds solace in the stories her aunty tells her about bee-keeping and her faith in the church. The last 40 minutes or so of the film has two or three heart-rendering scenes that make it all worthwhile and the pay off is so satisfying.


7.6/10

4

https://hebdenbridgepicturehouse.co.uk/images/3433.jpg

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51dioqx3jJL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


2nd Rewatch...Danny DeVito knocks it of the park as the star and director of this comic reworking of the Hitchcock classic Strangers on a Train. This film seems to improve with each rewatch, primarily thanks to DeVito's imaginative camerawork and the slightly pathetic layer he brings to the character of Owen, actually bringing a sympathetic element to the character we're not really sure he deserves. Watch DeVito in that scene where he shows Larry (Billy Crystal) his coin collection...it actually makes my eyes well up with water. Billy Crystal's razor sharp performance as Larry and the insane, Oscar-nominated performance by Anne Ramsey as Owen's momma are fresh as ever. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/33/Brigadoon_%28french_poster%29.jpg



1st Rewatch...This film version of the classic Lerner and Lowe Broadway musical provides suitable entertainment for fans of Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse, but for fans of the original stage show, this film will disappoint. Stripped to its bones, it seems to have just been re-tailored to fit the talents of Kelly and Charisse. Most of the glorious Lerner and Lowe score has been cut, leaving a lot of scenes of Kelly and Charisse dancing on sound stages painted to look like Scotland. Van Johnson attempts to inject some comic relief into the proceedings, but I kept picturing Donald O'Connor as Jeff. This would have been a perfect film to reunite him and Kelly after Singing in the Rain. Vincente Minnelli's eye for color is still there, but this film was a disappointment, considering the talent in front of and behind the camera. Even Kelly's choreography was kind of blah. 2.5

[Gideon58]

https://bloodymurder.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/running-on-empty-poster.jpg



4

[Gideon58]

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2.5

[mattiasflgrtll6]

It was that disappointing? What didn't work about it?

[Gideon58]

It was weird, it didn't seem like the right people being chose to tribute him. People who were probably provided with prepared speeches and google searches from which to work instead of people of his generation at the very least. There were a couple of teen actors up there gushing about the guy. What would a teenager, even a teen actor, know about Norman Lear? I don't know may be it's just me, maybe you need to watch it for yourself but the whole thing was very strange to me. And Sally Struthers wasn't even there.

[matt72582]

Rocky - 8/10
It's more allegorical than I remembered ... "The American Dream" with the black champion (Ali is an entire story regarding Vietnam and how they never oppressed him) who is on top of the world, void of stereotypes, and the usual stereotypes about the white guy, Paulie is a mooch, and Mick couldn't stand him or his locker until he got the title shot. And it's addressed, but that's life. People don't necessarily live on principles or what they think is right/wrong, and they make exceptions. "America was found by an Italian"... It's all marketing. It's a set-up, like the American system. There are values on paper, but there's reality, too, and they show it.. Even the name "Apollo" is symbolic. "Apollo, this guy means business", "I mean business, too.. Get me some coffee" he says to his secretary, but talking about two different things. On the eve of the fight, the promoter is wondering why Rocky is there. "It doesn't matter who wins, it's all about the show" is a constant theme. Apollo's trainer says, "But he thinks this is a fight" when his only focus is marketing, doing commercials, after-school special to tell kids to go to college, etc... Bicentennial, white/black, rich/poor, opportunity, fighting, love, outcasts, the loan shark is the only "good guy".. and as a replacement. The entire boxing match is built around the idea of "I've spent over a million promoting the fight" (get me ANY fighter) until they come up with this "special"..



Unfortunately, because it made so much money on a low-budget, they made so many sequels they might as well call it "Greed". I think a lot of serious movie people will think, "Ah, I'm not watching that franchise crap, I want something independent" not realizing "Rocky" is independent, helped by the underrated King of The Underdogs (John Avildsen) who has great vision. I compared the script, and feel Avildsen took the best, and made it more allegorical.



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Rocky_poster.jpg

[Gideon58]

Deck the Halls.........and so begins my christmas movie watching :p
10/10

Really? I thought this movie was stupid...here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/1613827-deck_the_halls.html

[WHITBISSELL!]

I found more versions of A Christmas Carol on Prime. Actually there were countless others but these appeared to be the most faithful to Dickens' story. I'm not much into adaptations set in modern times but, since I still haven't seen it, I would like to watch Bill Murray's Scrooged. And I'm definitely going to re-watch the 1951 version with Alastair Sim.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/yXMAAOSwOkxghuP9/s-l400.jpg


A Christmas Carol (1954) - In this version I immediately noticed a confined sort of scope to the opening shots of Victorian era London and thought it looked like a television production of some kind. Which it was. The fact that Fredric March headlined as Ebenezer Scrooge and Basil Rathbone as Marley's ghost is what drew me to it. But then it also turned out to be a musical of sorts which immediately dropped it a couple of points. But since it was only 51 or so minutes long I stuck with it. The fact that it was designed to fill an hour long slot along with the addition of the songs led them to truncate the story quite a bit especially with the spirit of Christmas to come. This is a trifling bit of stagecraft with some of the characters hamming it up and playing to the back rows like the beefy actor playing Scrooge's nephew Fred. This being TV there was none of the ambient set design of the more well known productions and the abbreviated nature of the story being told made it impossible to immerse yourself in it.

45/100

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51FEMRP4AQL._AC_.jpg

Scrooge (1935) - This one features Sir Reginald Hicks playing Ebenezer and is notable for being the first full length sound adaptation. It's mostly faithful to Dicken's novella but it does play out in typical mid 1930's fashion with the same music playing in the background that you may have heard in the Our Gang or Laurel and Hardy shorts. And since it's in the public domain the print I watched was noticeably subpar. Hicks, who portrayed the character over a thousand times during his career, goes for a frail, elderly and fearful Scrooge complete with a palsied shake. Which made me realize that, despite Scrooge's age, all the versions of the character I had seen before were played with a modicum of vigor.

And I'm not sure if it was due to budgetary constraints or the technology not being up to snuff but Marley's specter was invisible as was the ghost of Christmas past (outside of a vague outline). The only other real difference I noticed was the inclusion of the Christmas Eve Lord Mayor's Banquet in London. I thought it made for an effective juxtaposition between the opulent surroundings of the banquet and the impoverished children begging for food at the windows of the kitchen preparing the feast. Outside of these few touches this adaptation didn't really offer much in the way of originality or pizzazz.

55/100

https://images.justwatch.com/poster/178664865/s592/a-christmas-carol


A Christmas Carol (2012) - This is an Irish production and opens at an estate on the outskirts of London. I thought it was going to be some sort of flashback to Ebenezer Scrooge's childhood but it turned out to be the home of Charles Dickens. He corners a servant and has them sit while he proceeds to read his latest story to them, which so happens to be A Christmas Carol. Having the author himself narrating parts of the story was a clever way of covering up what had to be a limited budget. It is most noticeable in the paucity of extras and the mise en scene. There are no scenes featuring substantial crowds and none of the convincingly cramped and shabby Victorian London settings. Instead all of the characters, including the Cratchits and even the ragpicker, seem to reside in bright, spacious homes. In an attempt at adding atmosphere there are endless shots featuring scudding clouds, ghostly figures staring forlornly into the camera and echoing voices. This adaptation doesn't really add anything innovative to the telling. Lead actor Vincent Fegan however makes for a middle aged, younger Scrooge and the overall acting is decent enough.

60/100

[GulfportDoc]

It's the second time this year they've run the Alien/Aliens double feature at the Luna Leederville, here in W.A. Australia. Next week it's Lawrence of Arabia, which will be another "must see on the big screen" ticket to cross off my list. It's an 8 screen place, but Cinema 1 is a nice two tiered big old-style cinema.
Great looking theater! Lawrence of Arabia was one of the greatest pictures ever made. I hope the theater has a wide screen. The original was shot in Super Panavision 70mm, which was really impressive at the time, and it made the film even more overwhelming.

[GulfportDoc]

Ha amazing man. Bet you have a load of stories from that era.
Ha! Yes, dozens, but I won't hog up this thread with any. I tell one from time to time.

[GulfportDoc]

It was weird, it didn't seem like the right people being chose to tribute him. People who were probably provided with prepared speeches and google searches from which to work instead of people of his generation at the very least. There were a couple of teen actors up there gushing about the guy. What would a teenager, even a teen actor, know about Norman Lear? I don't know may be it's just me, maybe you need to watch it for yourself but the whole thing was very strange to me. And Sally Struthers wasn't even there.
Yeah, I recall having similar feelings as you when I watched it. I was very familiar with Lear's shows.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/The_Pajama_Game_1957.jpg
By [1] Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the film poster (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45516140

The Pajama Game - (1957)

Here's another Broadway show turned movie - I've been broadening my knowledge of such, and I've been curious about Doris Day lately - so two birds. Sid Sorokin (John Raitt) gets a job at a Pajama factory as a superintendent, and immediately gets to what these days would be called sexual harassment. Babe Williams (Doris Day) relents in the end - suddenly in love, but guys the world over kept thinking "if she says no, you just come on harder and persistently dog that lady until she says yes". All of that aside though, I kind of liked the song and dance routines in this (choreographed by Bob Fosse) but it felt fluffy and light - something like a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie or an Elvis one. Confectionary for the moviegoers of that era. Bright pastels, catchy songs and the always-pleasing Doris Day. I get the feeling she was in 100 movies of this sort.

6/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/57/Hell_House_LLC_poster.jpg
By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4267026/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57992770

Hell House LLC - (2015)

It's often nice to realise that my subscription to Shudder isn't a complete waste of money, and that among the mountain of sub-par horror there's a title here and there that at least passes my minimum threshold for creepy found footage fun. Yeah, Hell House LLC overdoes things, as many of these movies do, but there are scenes that were really effectively scary. As a whole I wouldn't say the film is, but I'd watch this again just to see those segments again - there's much invention, but if you ever stop at certain moments and think "Why the hell are they still recording this?" it won't make sense. A group of young people who dress up abandoned properties as Ghost House fun attractions for the public get their hands on a property that is genuinely haunted, and disaster ensues. The film has a mockumentary style, which includes news footage of the disaster, uploaded YouTube videos, and then the footage captured by the proprietors themselves. It's no Blair Witch but it is a somewhat enjoyable romp. Many sequels are here already, and probably to come.

6/10

[Fabulous]

Human Desire (1954)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/yqfeWVhhqrI8w3wACVGEeudeQv9.jpg

[matt72582]

DESPERATE SOULS, DARK CITY AND THE LEGEND OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY

There was little "Midnight Cowboy" (about 90 seconds of a new Jon Voigt interview interspersed) with a lot of other extracurricular shit.


https://youtu.be/ug81AX553HQ

[ScarletLion]

'Earth Mama' (2023)

The new A24 drama - This film is directed by Savannah Leaf - a lady that has just turned 30, and who was in the 2012 Olympics representing Britain at volleyball! What at talented girl. It’s a neo-realistic type film in the same vein as ‘Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always’ or perhaps ‘A Thousand and One’. Tia Nomore stars as Gia, a single mother in California who is struggling with addiction and has had her two children put into foster care.

She’s pregnant again and the film explores her actions as she tries to be a good mother in order that her newborn is given the best start in life possible. Tia Nomore’s performance is very engaging. I felt the film could be a little more dramatic at times but it’s a really promising debut from Savanna Leaf.

https://resizing.flixster.com/-XZAfHZM39UwaGJIFWKAE8fS0ak=/v3/t/assets/p24600592_v_h8_aa.jpg

3.5

[Torgo]

Theater Camp - 4

This endearing and very funny comedy is not far off from being the Waiting for Guffman of this era. The titular camp, known as AdironACTS, is a hair's breadth away from shutting down. To make matters worse, founder Joan (Sedaris) slipped into a coma. Her son Troy (Tatro), despite not "getting it" and being the kind of guy the average camper tries to avoid, is enthusiastic about keeping the lights on albeit in a particularly misguided way. Meanwhile, best friends, former campers and now teachers Amos (Platt) and Rebecca-Diane (Gordon) stage a musical based on Joan's life, which is beset by the latter having one foot out the door. All the while, a representative from the wealthy camp across the river is champing at the bit to take it over.

As the final song of the camp's project lovingly puts it, it's more of a home to the campers than their real homes. Besides being enthusiastic about something that most people only think of as something fun to do while traveling in New York, most of the staff and campers are LBGTQ. I especially like how their suspicious treatment of the seemingly only straight camper reiterates this, which is capped by a hilarious moment of acceptance from his gay parents. The character of Troy is all the more genius while considering this and not just because Tatro is so funny in the part. Presumably like anyone who goes into this movie cold, he's a guy who doesn't get why theater is so important to everyone else but wants to. The drama (no pun intended) of whether the camp will stay open always keeps things interesting, whether for how it strains Amos and Rebecca-Diane's friendship, or the increasingly offbeat ideas Troy comes up with to make money. They range from making campers work at a Rotary Club event to a possible investment from shady dudebro influencers. The drama and the kids' hard work in spite of it culminates in a performance that brings the laughs, tears and is bound to make you want to see it in its entirety. It results in a comedy that expertly stresses the importance of having a place to belong and of making such places last. By the same token, it reminds us that it's just as important to take a chance on outsiders to such places.

[Gideon58]

[QUOTE=PHOENIX74;2425313]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a4/The_Pajama_Game_1957.jpg
By [1] Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the film poster (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45516140

The Pajama Game - (1957)

Here's another Broadway show turned movie - I've been broadening my knowledge of such, and I've been curious about Doris Day lately - so two birds. Sid Sorokin (John Raitt) gets a job at a Pajama factory as a superintendent, and immediately gets to what these days would be called sexual harassment. Babe Williams (Doris Day) relents in the end - suddenly in love, but guys the world over kept thinking "if she says no, you just come on harder and persistently dog that lady until she says yes". All of that aside though, I kind of liked the song and dance routines in this (choreographed by Bob Fosse) but it felt fluffy and light - something like a Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movie or an Elvis one. Confectionary for the moviegoers of that era. Bright pastels, catchy songs and the always-pleasing Doris Day. I get the feeling she was in 100 movies of this sort.

6/10
i love, love, love, love, love this movie. Day has rarely been better and the choreography is superb..."Steam Heat" is a master class in the art of choreography...the body just wasn't meant to move like that.

[Gideon58]

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/19oAAOSw5JxkjOGl/s-l1200.webp


1st Rewatch....This slick and sexy sports comedy/romance holds up beautifully 35 years after its release. Directed by Ron Shelton (White Men Can't Jump), this is the story of the romantic triangle that develops on a minor league baseball team between two players and a very special baseball groupie. Susan Sarandon's sex on legs performance as Annie, the intelligent and vivacious groupie who takes it upon herself to have a sexual relationship with a team member every year is incredible because she creates white hot chemistry with both Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins. As a matter of fact, the heat between Sarandon and Robbins continued offscreen into a relationship that lasted almost 20 years. The great thing about the movie though is that, despite Sarandon's steamy presence, it is the relationship that develops between Costner and Robbins that is the heart of this movie. 4

[Darth Pazuzu]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/cd/Thanksgiving_poster_2023j.jpg/220px-Thanksgiving_poster_2023j.jpg

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

THANKSGIVING (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_(2023_film))

Well, all I can say is Eli Roth's done it again! And by "it" I mean that caustically black-humored and often politically barbed take on the American slasher genre that I'd say is about roughly equivalent to the Italian Sergio Corbucci's equally abrasive and idiosyncratic take on the Western genre back in the late '60s. And this particular tale has been an epic 16 years in the making, ever since we saw Eli's fake trailer in the middle of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's 2007's Grindhouse double-feature (along with similar fake trailers from Rodriguez, Edgar Wright and Rob Zombie. NEWSFLASH: Rodriguez and now Roth's trailers were the only ones to eventually be made into actual feature films!)

I'll not bore you with a rehash of the plot, but I'll just say that it was a satisfyingly horrific cinematic experience, even if I suspect that the director of the first two Hostel films is getting just a tad mellow as he gets older! I really must say that it was an honest surprise when the identity of the killer was finally revealed. (I must say that I didn't fall for the frame-up job which precedes it, although I strongly suspect the audience isn't really meant to buy it.)

To sum up: A very bloody holiday-themed slasher tale, told with just the right amount of shocks and scares, even if it does come off as just a tad domesticated compared with Roth's earlier work. :devil:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2e/Napoleon_Film_poster.jpg/220px-Napoleon_Film_poster.jpg

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

NAPOLEON (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_(2023_film))

I must say, I was impressed with Ridley Scott's epic historical drama based on the life of French military general and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Quite famously, it's the one great subject that got away from Stanley Kubrick, who never got to bring his own version to the big screen. (Although I think Steven Spielberg is now working on bringing Kubrick's version to the small screen.) So far, it's probably my third favorite movie of 2023 behind Killers of the Flower Moon and Oppenheimer. Joaquin Phoenix strikes just the right tone, playing Napoleon as a somewhat immature yet very intelligent man-child, and Vanessa Kirby was also note-perfect as his willful and often wayward wife Joséphine. Lest it be lost in the shuffle, let us also give a shout-out to Rupert Everett's performance as the Duke of Wellington, who leads the British army against Napoleon at Waterloo. (And yes, I can hear some of you breaking into that damned ABBA song right now. Stop it! :lol:)

One thing that struck me about the earlier sequences, dealing with the aftermath of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror, is how farcical the sequence of events is. And I'm not saying "farcical" as a criticism of Scott's film, but as an observation of the historical events. We begin with a scene showing the beheading of Marie Antoinette, and then subsequently a whole series of would-be revolutionary leaders and provisional governments is elevated and then overthrown in their turn! It would be almost comical if the consequences weren't so bloody. And I think that Ridley Scott gets this balance of horror and farce absolutely right. And that Battle of Austerlitz is a real doozy. (If you've seen any of the film's trailers, that's the one where the Austrian and Russian armies are forced to retreat over a frozen lake, whereupon the French just bombard the ice and drown them.)

Verdict: With Napoleon, Ridley Scott once again proves himself to be a master at blending large-scale epic storytelling with intimate personal characterizations. He never lets the latter get swamped by the former. And it's all delivered with Scott's usual, much-vaunted visual panache. Highly recommended.

Oh, by the way, completely apropos of nothing, I just thought you'd find this amusing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQNI1KfGXBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5m138-Fn5Tw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IxH-BvkiOA

[matt72582]

Chilly Scenes of Winter - 7/10



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Chilly_Scenes_of_Winter_%28film%29.jpg

[Citizen Rules]

Chilly Scenes of Winter - 7/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c0/Chilly_Scenes_of_Winter_%28film%29.jpgI liked that movie too. The film is much better than that movie poster would suggest...But that was the style of movie posters when Chilly Scenes of Winter was made.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/X7Qx857V/infernal.jpg
By IMDB, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17258440

Infernal Affairs - (2002)

I've been meaning to see this for years and years and I have a nice Eastern Eye release I got for next to nothing which has come up in the rotation - so very enjoyable! A lean 101 minutes as opposed to Scorsese's 151, not that running time defines a film's worth - but if you can tell the story well in 101 it hits a bit harder. Hey, I loved this year's two biggest movies, and they went 181-minutes and 206-minutes respectively, but they earned those lengths by having nothing in either that felt really extraneous. Infernal Affairs really fast-forwards through years of story, setting everything up so all of a sudden we're with our characters as their story is already coming to a climax - two men infiltrated into the police force and Hon Sam's (a Hong Kong Triad boss) operations. Feeling each other out, they are diametrically opposed and both given the tasks of rooting the other out. This is fast-paced Hong Kong crime action storytelling - with emotionally complicated characters navigating a foggy minefield - trying to live some kind of life amongst the danger. I really liked this - the pace, the visuals, the style, sound and the story all work well in conjunction. Better than The Departed for me.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3a/Love_me_or_leave_me.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9076613

Love Me or Leave Me - (1955)

Okay - after Pillow Talk and The Pajama Game I was not expecting a Doris Day movie so complex and for it to have an abusive, toxic relationship at it's heart. Here we have a biopic involving singer and actress Ruth Etting (I went in completely blind, so I knew nothing about her to start off with) - and the movie keeps Doris Day singing by having her belting out some of Etting's old numbers (aside from one or two newly composed songs), all in a diegetic framework. James Cagney plays Martin Snyder, Etting's first husband and a notorious gangster - a role Cagney rips into with relish. Doris Day's other love interest in the movie is Johnny Alderman, played by, of all people, Cameron Mitchell. I've only ever seen him in low-to-no budget movies during the heydays of VHS - so seeing him here was a blast. This was something more than I thought it might be - and I'm glad I saw it.

7/10

[Thursday Next]

Saltburn (2023)


Brideshead Revisited if it were set in 2007 and the main character was more Tom Ripley (or even Gormenghast's Steerpike) than Charles Ryder.


The excellent Barry Keoghan plays Oliver, an awkward student, who falls in with Felix, rich, popular and good looking and ends up spending the summer at his family's country house, Saltburn. Here, he seems to try to ingratiate and seduce his way into the heart of the family.


You're never quite sure how sincere any of the characters are and almost every interaction feels like it could end with lust, humiliation or possibly even violence. The family are outwardly charming but casually awful and Oliver himself flits between admiration and manipulation.


The cast are excellent, Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant are spot on as the parents, with all the best lines. It's darkly funny and genuinely disquieting (with more bodily fluids than you might expect).


It does seem to lose that comic energy towards the end, and there is an unnecessary sequence of flashbacks that plays like a twist but doesn't really offer much of a new perspective. I feel like more could have been made of the idea of the unreliable narrator. It doesn't quite have anything new to say, rich people are awful and so are other people sometimes.


The film is beautifully, brilliantly shot. It looks absolutely gorgeous. There are suggestions of gothic horror, references to other films/genres and paintings. The party sequence is fantastic.


I enjoyed the 2000s nostalgia as well.


Best film I've seen this year so far.


,4.5

[Gideon58]

I found more versions of A Christmas Carol on Prime. Actually there were countless others but these appeared to be the most faithful to Dickens' story. I'm not much into adaptations set in modern times but, since I still haven't seen it, I would like to watch Bill Murray's Scrooged. And I'm definitely going to re-watch the 1951 version with Alastair Sim.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/yXMAAOSwOkxghuP9/s-l400.jpg


A Christmas Carol (1954) - In this version I immediately noticed a confined sort of scope to the opening shots of Victorian era London and thought it looked like a television production of some kind. Which it was. The fact that Fredric March headlined as Ebenezer Scrooge and Basil Rathbone as Marley's ghost is what drew me to it. But then it also turned out to be a musical of sorts which immediately dropped it a couple of points. But since it was only 51 or so minutes long I stuck with it. The fact that it was designed to fill an hour long slot along with the addition of the songs led them to truncate the story quite a bit especially with the spirit of Christmas to come. This is a trifling bit of stagecraft with some of the characters hamming it up and playing to the back rows like the beefy actor playing Scrooge's nephew Fred. This being TV there was none of the ambient set design of the more well known productions and the abbreviated nature of the story being told made it impossible to immerse yourself in it.

45/100

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51FEMRP4AQL._AC_.jpg

Scrooge (1935) - This one features Sir Reginald Hicks playing Ebenezer and is notable for being the first full length sound adaptation. It's mostly faithful to Dicken's novella but it does play out in typical mid 1930's fashion with the same music playing in the background that you may have heard in the Our Gang or Laurel and Hardy shorts. And since it's in the public domain the print I watched was noticeably subpar. Hicks, who portrayed the character over a thousand times during his career, goes for a frail, elderly and fearful Scrooge complete with a palsied shake. Which made me realize that, despite Scrooge's age, all the versions of the character I had seen before were played with a modicum of vigor.

And I'm not sure if it was due to budgetary constraints or the technology not being up to snuff but Marley's specter was invisible as was the ghost of Christmas past (outside of a vague outline). The only other real difference I noticed was the inclusion of the Christmas Eve Lord Mayor's Banquet in London. I thought it made for an effective juxtaposition between the opulent surroundings of the banquet and the impoverished children begging for food at the windows of the kitchen preparing the feast. Outside of these few touches this adaptation didn't really offer much in the way of originality or pizzazz.

55/100

https://images.justwatch.com/poster/178664865/s592/a-christmas-carol


A Christmas Carol (2012) - This is an Irish production and opens at an estate on the outskirts of London. I thought it was going to be some sort of flashback to Ebenezer Scrooge's childhood but it turned out to be the home of Charles Dickens. He corners a servant and has them sit while he proceeds to read his latest story to them, which so happens to be A Christmas Carol. Having the author himself narrating parts of the story was a clever way of covering up what had to be a limited budget. It is most noticeable in the paucity of extras and the mise en scene. There are no scenes featuring substantial crowds and none of the convincingly cramped and shabby Victorian London settings. Instead all of the characters, including the Cratchits and even the ragpicker, seem to reside in bright, spacious homes. In an attempt at adding atmosphere there are endless shots featuring scudding clouds, ghostly figures staring forlornly into the camera and echoing voices. This adaptation doesn't really add anything innovative to the telling. Lead actor Vincent Fegan however makes for a middle aged, younger Scrooge and the overall acting is decent enough.

60/100

I don't know if you ever saw the TV version originally airing on CBS with George C. Scott as Scrooge, I highly recommend it. Scott's performance is breathtaking.

[Torgo]

The Killer (2023) - 3

This is a clever and darkly funny thriller in which...well, I'll steal the official plot summary since it's spot on: "after a fateful near miss, [the killer] takes on his employers and himself in an international manhunt that he insists is not personal." To elaborate, in a tense Paris opening scene that I credit for making me jump, things go south very badly. In response, the killer's employers retaliate a bit too close to home. Thus begins a personal challenge: can the killer put his professionalism on hold and respond in kind without regaining his humanity - which we learn is hardly a skill in his business - in the process?

While I am more forgiving of voiceover narration than most, I would bet than even its most die-hard haters would agree it's the movie's secret weapon. Besides how well it gets us inside the killer's brain and learn his philosophy, I like how it reveals the impact of his unfortunate situation on it. The way he repeats or rephrases his mantras, for example, made me imagine an AI trying to fight a computer virus. The blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments proving that knowing and walking the path also add nice touches. The movie is divided into chapters, with each one being as unique as it is unpredictable. That each one features a sight as welcome as Fassbender is a plus - Tilda Swinton stands out in particular - with the best compliment I can give being I wish I could have seen more of everybody. Also, like he does in Fight Club, Fincher proves his expertise at using product placement in non-promotional ways, and come to think of it, the soundtrack of Smiths song may be just as effective at character building as the narration.

Despite how well the movie lets you walk in a contract killer's shoes and all the inspired touches along the way, it does not quite achieve greatness. The main reason is that the narration, lapses in judgement, etc. are clever ways of showing the killer losing his grip, but Fincher and company's presentation makes you admire and think about them, but it barely makes you feel. Even though cold blood is a trademark of movies like this one, similar movies it recalls like Point Blank, Drive and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai prove it is possible to do both. I still recommend it, particularly for successfully making you wonder if letting cold blood run through your veins is possible in the long-term.

[Tugg]

The Killer is better than John Wick 1 (I didn't bother watching sequels).

[Fabulous]

Valley Girl (1983)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/stTmJizMu8LklEIIkSu7NqHchdH.jpg

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51cT7K0n2DL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg


4

[WHITBISSELL!]

I don't know if you ever saw the TV version originally airing on CBS with George C. Scott as Scrooge, I highly recommend it. Scott's performance is breathtaking.Yes I did. I consider it one of the big four adaptations. The versions starring Alastair Sim, George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart and Reginald Owen are my favorites. I've already re-watched Sim's and will get around to the other three before Christmas. I never meant for them to become a yearly tradition but Xmas isn't the same without them. Add A Christmas Story, Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, It's a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas to my yearly list as well.

[Gideon58]

Yes I did. I consider it one of the big four adaptations. The versions starring Alastair Sim, George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart and Reginald Owen are my favorites. I've already re-watched Sim's and will get around to the other three before Christmas. I never meant for them to become a yearly tradition but Xmas isn't the same without them. Add A Christmas Story, Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, It's a Wonderful Life and A Charlie Brown Christmas to my yearly list as well.

After my last rewatch, I decided that Christmas Vacation is my favorite film in thatf ranchise.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/Hkz5hrhz/bounty.jpg
By Reynold Brown - Brown, Franz. Mutiny on the Bounty. This image was posted at the website operated by Reynold Brown's son, Franz Brown. The webpage offers a detailed discussion of Reynold Brown's poster art for Mutiny on the Bounty., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17878408

Mutiny on the Bounty - (1962)

I'm glad I watched this before reading about how troubled the production was - Mutiny on the Bounty is a gripping real-life tale, and it's good to focus on the story and visuals without any distractions. Of course, Marlon Brando does the best he can to make us tilt our heads and ask "Huh?" It was around about this time he started to sabotage films with his bizarre behavior and need to make a creative input. He arrives wearing an 18th Century foppish costume I've never seen the likes of before - he has a grey pilgrim hat, bright red cloak and shiny silver top and pants. It's the kind of thing where I think to myself "I've no doubt that's historically accurate, but wow - it's so distracting." Takes me out of the scene. Then there's his British upper class (possibly gay - as has been suggested) accent, which is so unusual it made audiences laugh at the film's premiere. All of that aside though - I thought this was pretty good considering. It's 185-minutes flew by, so as pure entertainment it did it's job. Trevor Howard makes a very convincing Capt. William Bligh, despite his age, and the fact that they not only rebuilt the Bounty but filmed on location in Tahiti made for a very authentic sea voyage. It's not something I'll be compelled to see again in a hurry, but I never had cause to check how much running time was remaining (I also watched the deleted prologue and epilogue which were bonus features on the DVD copy I have.) It might be the least accurate version of the Bounty story, but if asked I'd say that it's definitely worth a look.

7.5/10

Oh, and by the way - I finally learned how keelhauling is done. I thought sailors were thrown off one side of the ship, and pulled up the other - but in all actuality it's from bow to stern. I guess that's why it's nearly impossible to survive it. By the time the Bounty sailed, it had been outlawed - but the Capt. Bligh in this film is all too ready to use it.

[SpelingError]

Mikey and Nicky (1976) 4

I'm not sure I enjoyed this more than The Heartbreak Kid, which blew me away when I watched it a few years ago, but this film still lived up to my expectations. It chronicles a dying friendship on its last legs at the worst possible time for one of the two involved in it. Though Nicky initially comes off as panicked and not thinking straight due to his fear of being killed, the more you learn of his behavior (that he cheats on his wife, is openly racist, and assaults or threatens to assault most people he comes across), the clearer it becomes that he's a toxic individual who Mikey has been stuck with for years. Bearing witness to Mikey putting his own safety on the line to keep him out of trouble and putting up with his antics over and over again creates tension as to whether he'll finally reach his breaking point and betray his friend. Given the clear abuse and disloyalty Nicky shows to Mikey (as well as to the women in his life), it constantly seems like the film is about to build to this inevitable climax, yet in typical abuser fashion, Nicky appears to restore his relations by smooth talking and begging for forgiveness (and this pattern has likely gone on for years). But how long will these ingenuine apologies work? Since Nicky lacks empathy, the film could've just been a case of rooting for an inevitable ending from the start, but since Nicky's fate is basically in Mikey's hands, it puts him in a rough spot. He can either swallow his pride and stick by Nicky or sacrifice his morals and cause his death. Neither option is good and that Mikey is considerably more empathetic got me to hold out a bit of hope that he wouldn't lower himself. All these elements made Nicky's fate quite compelling to the point I was genuinely curious as to how the film was going to end. Overall, it was a really good character study and I'm glad to have finally watched something else in Elaine May's unfortunately small body of films.

[WHITBISSELL!]

After my last rewatch, I decided that Christmas Vacation is my favorite film in thatf ranchise.Well, you share something in common with my sister then. That's her favorite too.

[Fabulous]

Sanctuary (2022)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/8mTX0AxwFmNHhMsSAZZAxt2OvEC.jpg

[StuSmallz]

The Killer is better than John Wick 1 (I didn't bother watching sequels).That's too bad then, since Chapter 2 & 4 are much better than the original, if you ask me.

[Stirchley]

Saltburn (2023)


Brideshead Revisited if it were set in 2007 and the main character was more Tom Ripley (or even Gormenghast's Steerpike) than Charles Ryder.


The excellent Barry Keoghan plays Oliver, an awkward student, who falls in with Felix, rich, popular and good looking and ends up spending the summer at his family's country house, Saltburn. Here, he seems to try to ingratiate and seduce his way into the heart of the family.


You're never quite sure how sincere any of the characters are and almost every interaction feels like it could end with lust, humiliation or possibly even violence. The family are outwardly charming but casually awful and Oliver himself flits between admiration and manipulation.


The cast are excellent, Rosamund Pike and Richard E Grant are spot on as the parents, with all the best lines. It's darkly funny and genuinely disquieting (with more bodily fluids than you might expect).


It does seem to lose that comic energy towards the end, and there is an unnecessary sequence of flashbacks that plays like a twist but doesn't really offer much of a new perspective. I feel like more could have been made of the idea of the unreliable narrator. It doesn't quite have anything new to say, rich people are awful and so are other people sometimes.


The film is beautifully, brilliantly shot. It looks absolutely gorgeous. There are suggestions of gothic horror, references to other films/genres and paintings. The party sequence is fantastic.


I enjoyed the 2000s nostalgia as well.


Best film I've seen this year so far.


,4.5

Wow, looking forward to it even more now.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZmUxYjg4ZmMtNjZhZC00ZGQ2LThlZDktNmMyZWYwMGM0MzE1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI4OTk1Mw@@._V1_.jpg


1.5

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-axVsWe8Jn2g/WaDbkbpReWI/AAAAAAAANqo/oKPqv73K6Ww39ECEApOYgc8bOizGLP87wCLcBGAs/s1600/bbbb.gif
https://i.gifer.com/FmZL.gif
https://66.media.tumblr.com/a3898466ebdcd13a0a742f31b3d5b162/tumblr_pr64vcTHEz1qzmp11o2_500.gif


The Bad Batch - This is the third Ana Lily Amirpour film I've watched after A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon. So apparently I've watched all of her full length projects. She's also done several TV series episodes and short films. This sophomore effort was a bit of a misfire for her especially after her impressive debut with AGWHAaN.

In some non disclosed future reputed criminals along with the mentally ill and any and all fringe dwellers have been deemed the "bad batch" and exiled into the desert wastelands of Texas. The story opens with Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) being tattooed with her batch number and dropped off at the fenced entrance to the ad hoc prison. Things go south for her in a hurry after she's abducted by cannibals who take two of her limbs. This community of roided out "bridge people" capture unsuspecting passersby and keep them prisoner while harvesting their body parts for food. Yeah, it's that kind of film. It doesn't come off as torture porn though. Just very matter-of-fact which doesn't really add anything to the proceedings. That might be the first clue that Amirpour's script isn't really working.

Despite missing an arm and a leg Arlen manages to escape her captors. She's found by a wandering hermit type played by an unrecognizable Jim Carrey (at least I couldn't place him. I kept thinking it was Will Patton). Jason Momoa costars while attempting (and largely failing at) a Cuban accent as Miami Man. He's either the leader of the muscle bound barbarians (or he isn't) but he does have an artistic bent and loves a little girl who either is or isn't his daughter. It's character building 101 yet somehow doesn't succeed in making the guy any kind of sympathetic figure.

Keanu Reeves has the more interesting role as The Dream, the leader of a drug soaked Burning Man type of society also dubbed The Dream. Reeves plays a creepy David Koresh type who surrounds himself with a retinue of gun toting young women all of whom he has evidently impregnated. Again, it is that type of movie. This profusion of nihilism amounts to not much at all.

The most glaring thing that kept taking me out of the story was one legged Arlen being able to just walk out several times into the wasteland. A distance that would later take people up to a couple of days to cover in a golf cart or a motorcycle. Stuff like that might not be so glaring when the narrative has you deeply engrossed but when the script is as anorexic as this your mind ends up distracted by the implausibilities. The ending also lands with a thud since Amirpour hasn't done enough to set it up or to even bolster her characters. It's not a terrible film but it's also not worth recommending to anyone.

50/100

[Corax]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZmUxYjg4ZmMtNjZhZC00ZGQ2LThlZDktNmMyZWYwMGM0MzE1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjI4OTk1Mw@@._V1_.jpg


rating_1_5


What the hell is this?

[Takoma11]

The Bad Batch - This is the third Ana Lily Amirpour film I've watched after A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon. So apparently I've watched all of her full length projects. She's also done several TV series episodes and short films. This sophomore effort was a bit of a misfire
.
.
.
It doesn't come off as torture porn though. Just very matter-of-fact which doesn't really add anything to the proceedings. That might be the first clue that Amirpour's script isn't really working.


Interesting. I had avoided this film for a long time because I was worried about the degree to which it would feel overly cruel and torture-centered.

Instead it's a reflection on what kind of lives you can live in a time of scarcity, freedom vs security, etc. Everyone is basically a predator, but it's deciding what kind of predator you will be.

Here (https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2338106-the_bad_batch.html) is what I wrote about it when I watched it. (I'd probably give it more of a 4 than a 4.5 now).

And while I'll agree that Momoa's accent was iffy, I thought that he was incredibly charismatic and magnetic.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/FRztfJXC/room-at-the-top.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19784745

Room at the Top - (1959)

Oh yeah - I'm going to go big with Room at the Top. Reasons I like it? It's a great British film. It has a scintillating Simone Signoret in it giving the performance of a lifetime. It's about class, envy, greed and lust. It's just terrific. Jack Clayton didn't direct many films - but every film he did direct he tried to make great. Room at the Top was his first, and preceded The Innocents - another great movie. In this, Joe Lampton (Laurence Harvey) does a Billy Liar in the worst possible way and ends up with two sweethearts - the first, the very young Susan Brown (Heather Sears) - daughter of a wealthy industrial magnate. Susan's parents try everything they can to quash the burgeoning romance between them, because Lampton is poor. Lampton himself isn't sure whether it's Susan he wants, or the money that comes with her. In the meantime, he strikes up an affair with older married Frenchwoman Alice Aisgill (Simone Signoret) - although no less trouble (her husband threatens to ruin Joe) he's much more emotionally attached to her. When Susan becomes pregnant, disaster ensues. The way all of this plays out, it sounds like Joe was an okay fellow before class barriers between him and Susan drive him a little mad, and from there his character splinters and he starts going down the wrong path. To understand this, you have to see how character Jack Wales (John Westbrook) - wealthy, and an officer in the war (not to mention Susan's current boyfriend) - goads ex-sergeant Lampton, frequently patronizing him and humiliating him by outdoing the guy in every way possible very publicly.

Once Lampton has a chip on his shoulder, his usual cheerful conviviality drains away - he becomes more scheming and combative. On a trip to visit his aunt and uncle, when they ask him if he's seeing anyone he mentions Susan's wealthy parents before talking about Susan herself, alarming the couple. He's handsome and charming enough to win Susan's love, but she's very young and naïve - unlike Alice, Joe hardly spends any time at all with Susan and the two don't seem matched mentally. Susan is extraordinarily beautiful though (Alice is no slouch either - she's the "older" lover, 10 years Joe's senior, but Simone Signoret is so transcendently beautiful she's plenty attractive.) Alice is the one we cheer for in Room at the Top - she's the only level-headed mature character, and head over heels in love with Joe despite his occasional flare-ups in temper. He spends time with Alice because he loves her. He spends time with Susan to stick it to all the snobs, and defy Susan's priggish, ultra-wealthy parents who look at him as if he's a diseased dog, sliding in insults with their faint praise of him. You can see disaster coming for Joe a mile away - and he'll take just about everyone he's involved with in his not very well thought-out plans with him. Clayton conducts all of this tragedy like an old pro, and as such I enjoyed watching this one hell of a lot.

9/10

[skizzerflake]

I have a fairly contrary view of Saltburn. I'd rather have spent those two hours trying to get salt to burn. Imagine a summer long party. Everybody is drinking all the time, and everybody other than the protagonist, Oliver, is entitled. Bodies start to fall. How could they not. If they hadn't been murdered, they'd have expired from the life style, so death is not unexpected, especially given the kind of movie it is. What kind of castle mystery could it be without murder?

It's not as witty as some British murder mysteries and I can't really say that I liked any of the characters. I didn't feel threatened by the murders since I'd never have consented to stay at this place for the entire summer.

Yeah, so production and acting were good, but also speech and sound were also indistinct, in a way that made me miss half of the dialog. That wasn't much of a loss since I still knew what was going on.

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

[skizzerflake]

One of my recent visits to Film Noir - He Walked By Night - It's an early version of Film Noir (1948), in one of my noir DVD sets. Cops are assigned to catch a killer..."loosely based on the real-life actions of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker, a former Glendale, California police department employee and World War II veteran who unleashed a crime spree of burglaries, robberies and shootouts in the Los Angeles area in 1945 and 1946."

It's early in the noir cycle and has the additional aspect of having Jack Webb of subsequent Dragnet fame, pretty much being Joe Friday. Cops with hats talk fast, the telephone and walkie-talkie are state of the art and there's a serious male voice doing voice-over narration, Dragnet style. The story is interrupted by a female voice broadcasting police bulletins to cop car radios.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMkGu8AQScA

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/ef/TalkToMe2022poster.jpg/220px-TalkToMe2022poster.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

[Fabulous]

Creep (2014)

3.5

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/xSjp6bPUoVG7SgD6KSBnN5nCFhK.jpg

[Allaby]

When the Cat Comes 1963 Inventive and entertaining with style and substance. I loved the use of colour in the film. The magical cat with the cool shades is fantastic. Kitty should have gotten more screen time. 4

[Allaby]

Noirs I watched today:

Roadblock 1951 A decent film noir. Nothing exceptional, but it is alright. 3

Repeat Performance 1947 The year repeating element feels like a gimmick and doesn't really fit with the film. It isn't necessary and they don't do enough with it to justify it. Performances are fine and there is some good drama, but I personally wouldn't consider this a film noir. 3

I Wouldn’t Be in Your Shoes 1948 This was a pleasant surprise. Directed by William Nigh, the film stars Don Castle, Elyse Knox, and Regis Toomey. Around Christmastime, a dancer is falsely accused of murder and his wife desperately tries to prove his innocence. Good performances from the leads and an interesting, well written screenplay make this an enjoyable film noir. Watched on the Criterion Channel. 4

[Allaby]

May December (2023) Directed by Todd Haynes. Starring Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman, and Charles Melton. This is a very well written film with a trio of strong performances and powerful moments. Good score too. Currently my 8th favourite film of the year. Watched on Netflix. 4

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c1/Blue_Beetle_poster.jpg/220px-Blue_Beetle_poster.jpg

3.5

SF = Z


Oooo a lot of fun.



[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

[FromBeyond]

Extinction (2018)


A family man keeps having visions and nightmares of an off-world invasion, soon the visions turn into a reality when spacecrafts appear in the sky. I enjoyed this and the twist was mind bending, some of the CGI was pretty terrible but I could look past that

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Operation_Mincemeat.jpg
By https://images.mymovies.net/images/film/cin/500x377/fid21198.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68850079

Operation Mincemeat - (2021)

Okay - historical film time, and I'm pulled in two different directions. Learning about history is fun, but I also have to add that learning about history directly from films is a no-no because they manipulate the facts to make for a better story. The movie should be an inspiration to go seek out the real true story. Operation Mincemeat has that element of fun to it. But man - there's a flatness to historical films these days as well. Something a little mundane. Anyway, this is about the operation to float a corpse off the coast of Spain during World War II with papers on it that will fool the Nazis into thinking the Allies will invade Greece instead of Sicily. There's a lot of "eww" to that. They try to take a nice pic to include in his papers, but only end up with corpse face. Eww. He goes more and more rotten as the planning proceeds. Eww. We get to see some of the autopsy by the Spanish authorities, of this green, blown-up, rotten thing. Ewwww. So much corpse in this movie. Then there's Ian Fleming...

Ian Fleming (Johnny Flynn) was one of the planners of this operation, and the movie keeps making as much of that as it possibly can. For example, Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) keeps saying "Everyone is a writer these days!" while Fleming is around, and at one point accosts him directly about how he's sick of everyone writing novels. Because we, the audience, are meant to go "Ha ha! Ian Fleming will write the James Bond novels!" Yes. We get it. And it goes on and on. Hints here, there and everywhere. Then, once the operation is underway, we see Ian Fleming at a typewriter and he's asked "What are you doing??" and he answers "I'm writing a spy novel!" We're meant to be thinking "Oh my God! He's been inspired to create James Bond!" Too overt movie. Too overt. And I thought just mentioning his name was a little too much.

This was okay - a decent movie about a devious deception that saved lives during World War II. I don't think it had an effect on the course of the whole war - not as much as the movie wants you to think it did - but it saved lives and it's interesting to see how it worked in detail.

6/10

[Fabulous]

Renfield (2023)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/sRIV7aDkQgmwAeG150ohtDXKzjK.jpg

[Siddon]

https://www.torontomu.ca/content/dam/the-creative-school/images/news-events/news/top-5/2023-09/TIFF1-min.png
Dream Scenario (2023)

rating_4_5

Like how Poltergeist was a hidden Spielberg film...this is a hidden Ari Aster film.

[this_is_the_ girl]

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/594002d5e4fcb5c4586862d9/1615894998908-CA57NYHC57U70366DTRA/Screenshot+2021-03-16+at+11.42.45.png
Bad Timing (1980, Nicolas Roeg)
4.5
In the hands of a less original, less ambitious director, this dark tale of lust and obsession would probably have ended up becoming a fairly unremarkable conventional psychological drama inhabited by nasty, flawed characters. Thankfully, Nicolas Roeg's imaginative visuals and virtuoso editing techniques coupled with his non-linear approach to storytelling elevated it into something completely different and totally engrossing. I love his ability to jump back and forth in time and memory, picking out and highlighting various minute details and nuances—disorienting at first, but gradually it all falls into place as you get used to the language (Tarkovsky's "mosaic made of time" quite literally). There is a decadent, subversive feel to the film—viscerally carnal yet powerfully cerebral at the same time—increasingly veering into disturbing territory as it nears its shocking final revelation. Loved the contrast between the two leads too, Art Garfunkel as the cold, possessive control freak and Theresa Russell (terrific performance!) as the wild, unpredictable, promiscuous Milena.
Brilliant film, very underrated!

[Tugg]

Dumb Money (2023) 3.5
https://www.pinkvilla.com/images/2023-10/120582344_dumb-money-l.jpg
Angel Heart (1987) 4
https://www.quartertothree.com/fp/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/whos_the_wrestlerest_of_them_all.jpg

[FromBeyond]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/Operation_Mincemeat.jpg
By https://images.mymovies.net/images/film/cin/500x377/fid21198.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68850079

Operation Mincemeat - (2021)

Okay - historical film time, and I'm pulled in two different directions. Learning about history is fun, but I also have to add that learning about history directly from films is a no-no because they manipulate the facts to make for a better story. The movie should be an inspiration to go seek out the real true story. Operation Mincemeat has that element of fun to it. But man - there's a flatness to historical films these days as well. Something a little mundane. Anyway, this is about the operation to float a corpse off the coast of Spain during World War II with papers on it that will fool the Nazis into thinking the Allies will invade Greece instead of Sicily. There's a lot of "eww" to that. They try to take a nice pic to include in his papers, but only end up with corpse face. Eww. He goes more and more rotten as the planning proceeds. Eww. We get to see some of the autopsy by the Spanish authorities, of this green, blown-up, rotten thing. Ewwww. So much corpse in this movie. Then there's Ian Fleming...

Ian Fleming (Johnny Flynn) was one of the planners of this operation, and the movie keeps making as much of that as it possibly can. For example, Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen) keeps saying "Everyone is a writer these days!" while Fleming is around, and at one point accosts him directly about how he's sick of everyone writing novels. Because we, the audience, are meant to go "Ha ha! Ian Fleming will write the James Bond novels!" Yes. We get it. And it goes on and on. Hints here, there and everywhere. Then, once the operation is underway, we see Ian Fleming at a typewriter and he's asked "What are you doing??" and he answers "I'm writing a spy novel!" We're meant to be thinking "Oh my God! He's been inspired to create James Bond!" Too overt movie. Too overt. And I thought just mentioning his name was a little too much.

This was okay - a decent movie about a devious deception that saved lives during World War II. I don't think it had an effect on the course of the whole war - not as much as the movie wants you to think it did - but it saved lives and it's interesting to see how it worked in detail.

6/10


Good review, it confirm my doubts really and I knew of this true story for a long time and I didn't think it merited an entire film, as soon as I heard it was being made into one I inwardly sighed tbh.

[EsmagaSapos]

DESPERATE SOULS, DARK CITY AND THE LEGEND OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY

There was little "Midnight Cowboy" (about 90 seconds of a new Jon Voigt interview interspersed) with a lot of other extracurricular shit.


https://youtu.be/ug81AX553HQ

I want to see this. What a terrific film.

[matt72582]

I want to see this. What a terrific film.


This was one of my favorite movies in my first year of being serious about movies at 17 and 18 and enjoyed it when I saw it a couple of years ago.

[FromBeyond]

Over The Top (1987)


Someone give me a baseball cap, I need to turn it around now. The quintessential arm wrestling pic, five stars for the soundtrack alone.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/FRhKT2c1/hush.jpg
By http://www.impawards.com/1964/posters/hush_hush_sweet_charlotte_xxlg.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70760179

Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte - (1964)

Well, this was certainly different. After the success director Robert Aldrich and screenwriter Lukas Heller had adapting Henry Farrell's What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, they had a stab at another, this one based on "What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?" Of course the tone is similar - everyone is back and that includes Bette Davis as nutty old dame Charlotte. The only real dropout is Joan Crawford, who did start, but was replaced by Olivia de Havilland and shooting had to start from scratch. This one is a little more haunting than Baby Jane - it begins with a prologue set in 1927, with Charlotte's wealthy Southern daddy and patriarch Big Sam (Victor Buono) chewing out her already-married boyfriend (who was soon to elope with her), John Mayhew (a really young Bruce Dern.) Mayhew is forced to break it off with Charlotte, and for his trouble he's attacked with a meat cleaver, which chops off his hand and his head. Friday the 13th was a while away, but oh boy - I was surprised how gory that was. Flip over to the present day, and Charlotte (Bette Davis) is an eccentric recluse - seemingly in denial of what happened back then. Unfortunately, her house has been bought by the government for the construction of a highway bridge, but she's refusing to go.

Alright - so obviously the story is interesting if I'm basically telling it blow by blow. Olivia de Havilland is Charlotte's Cousin, Miriam Deering - she arrives to help persuade her to leave, and she's the one who, as a child, told Charlotte's father about her affair with a married man. Then there's Charlotte's doctor and Miriam's past love interest Doctor Drew Bayliss (the always enjoyable Joseph Cotten). Agnes Moorehead, Mary Astor, Cecil Kellaway and George Kennedy round out the cast. The gruesome death of Mayhew hangs over the events in this film like a ghostly fog (his hand and head were never found) - and that's the aspect of Sweet Charlotte I liked best. I also enjoyed Betty's crazy, rambunctious performance, which unfortunately has to compete with Agnes Moorehead's equally shouty, off-the-wall turn (she's Velma, the housekeeper.) The Oscar nominated song, "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" is so good I assumed it was a well known Southern song - it doesn't leave you once the film is over. It haunts you. The story twists and turns and stays interesting, and the movie is well shot - so it's a worthy addition to anyone's Bette Davis collection.

7.5/10

[Fabulous]

Bullet Train (2022)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/C8FpZfTPEZDjngPlatiFsaDB4A.jpg

[chawhee]

Wish (2023)
https://www.youloveit.com/uploads/posts/2022-09/1662808194_youloveit_com_disney_wish_2023_movie_01.jpg
3
This one started off a bit too generic (and the animation style felt dated), but it develops into a reasonably good story that my daughter loved. I'm not sure why it seems to be getting so much negative criticism, because it follows the standard plotline for fairy tales well. I laughed several times, and I thought this world setting was actually pretty fascinating. Better than Elemental in my opinion.

[ScarletLion]

'May December' (2023)

"Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past."

I need to collect my thoughts after this one but it's definitely in the top few films of the year. It's a calculating, cold psychological drama that creeps up on the viewer and leaves some very interesting questions in their head.

Moore, Portman and Melton are all terrific. Haynes' directing and use of mirrors / symmetry is great and he seems to channel his inner Bergman at times, specifically 'Persona'.

Lots of symbolism with graduation and the metamorphosis of butterflies. I went in to this film completely blind and was left feeling extremely rewarded.

8.1/10

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4

[LChimp]

https://img.elo7.com.br/product/zoom/1DC8235/big-poster-avengers-infinity-war-tamanho-90x-0-cm-lo001-avengers.jpg

Avengers - Infinity War - (2018)

4th re-watch (I think). Still awesome

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1st Rewatch...Rewatch has not altered any previous opinions about this movie. Vastly inferior to the first film, which I really liked. Best thing about this movie is the scene-stealing performance by Chris Pine as the spoiled billionaire's son trying to steal our heroes company and get revenge on his dad (Christoph Waltz) at the same time. 2.5

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1st Rewatch...Still find this rom-com works too hard at being quirky and just comes off as rambling and confusing, despite the charm of Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zoey Deschenal in the starring roles. 2.5

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1st Rewatch...Julie Taymor's directorial eye is the main reason this eye-popping musical look at a star-crossed romance set to the music of the Beatles was just as dazzling as the first time I watched. Fans of films like Tommy and Hair will love this. 4

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1st Rewatch...This movie was just as ridiculous on a second viewing. This Mickey/Judy musical set to classic rock songs is just painful to watch and most of the cast looks suitably embarrassed. What a waste of talent and money. 1.5

[Stirchley]

I want to see this. What a terrific film.

It’s a classic of American cinema.

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1st Rewatch...This movie did provide sporadic entertainment on a second watch. The screenplay is a little confusing because it doesn't seem to be sure whether or not this movie is about this adorable dog or his owners (Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston). Aniston shines in one powerful scene after the birth of their second child where Jenny demands that John get rid of Marley, but this one does get a little too syrupy as it meanders to its conclusion. 3.5

[Stirchley]

96493

Wowser, nothing to say. One hell of a movie.

[FromBeyond]

Into The Wild (2007)


Read the novel and second viewing of movie, brill but very sad.. Sean Penn solid job with direction and Emile Hirsch brill as Christopher McCandless/Alexander Supertramp.


"Happiness Is Only Real When Shared" 😥

[Nausicaä]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/31/Haunted_Mansion_%282023%29_poster.jpg/220px-Haunted_Mansion_%282023%29_poster.jpg

2.5

SF = Z


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

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/52/Saltburn_Film_Poster.jpg
By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74710333

Saltburn - (2023)

How do I describe Saltburn? Maybe a grotesque, horror Great Gatsby for the 21st Century? A horrifying Talented Mr. Ripley? I had no idea what I was in for going in, but left with Triangle of Sadness levels of excitement - and that's perhaps the best measuring stick on expectations and/or recommendations. If you liked that film you'll probably like this one. The vibe is fantastic - but really interesting in how it twists and changes throughout the film. It starts like your everyday average university campus coming of age story and then morphs, becoming darker and darker until we find ourselves in deeply disturbing territory, grinding away in the meantime at protagonist Oliver Quick's (Keoghan) humiliation and damnation at the hands of his wealthy, snobbish "friends". Barry Keoghan gives the best performance of his burgeoning career. I'm overjoyed to see Richard E. Grant in something this good. I hope I see more of Jacob Elordi. Alison Oliver really is someone to watch. This film nearly gets a perfect score - but one thing that's going to hurt it are some reveals at the end which are treated like revelations but of which I'd guessed every single one. I know that doesn't go down well sometimes, but it has no real bearing on how good the movie is. I won't even describe the plot - I saw it blind, and it was brilliantly surprising and exceedingly enjoyable. I loved this so much - now I have a big 3 from this year, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and this.

9/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f8/The_Old_Oak_2023_film_poster.png
By https://limelight.ie/the-old-oak/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74474226

The Old Oak - (2023)

Directed by Ken Loach, written by Paul Laverty - that's what got me through the doors to see this film as soon as it's come out. Having been wowed by I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You in recent years, as well as going back in time and enjoying Sweet Sixteen, I find I'm getting on with their films just fine. This has a message for our current era, both worldwide and specific to the County Durham neighbourhood it's set in. Syrian refugees are being given housing in the area, and are beset with racist goons and angry townsfolk who resent that they're being helped while the locals are struggling. Eventually, many townsfolk learn to love their Middle Eastern neighbours ,but a hard-core group become even more embittered - driven my online message boards and echo-chambers. This is all central to TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) and his Old Oak pub in which many residents spend their time in. This has the heart of your usual Ken Loach film, along with the heartache - and while the story is uplifting, there are no magical transformations aside from the growing sense of community fostered by people with positive intentions. It brings a much need restoration of hope for this community and via that, the world at large. I have to warn - a beloved little doggy gets killed in this movie, and while you don't witness the act, you hear it and if you're like me it'll break you a little inside. But it shouldn't be a deal-breaker for this film - all is within the bounds of tolerance. You're in safe hands with Loach.

8/10

[Fabulous]

Zero F*cks Given (2021)

4

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3.5

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2nd Rewatch...One of director Barry Levinson's best films that kind of got lost in the shuffle during an exceptional year at the movies. This story of five lifelong friends who find their lives moving in different directions but still trying to be there for each other has endless rewatch appeal. Especially loved Steve Guttenberg as the guy who makes a condition of marrying his girlfriend passing a trivia quiz about the Baltimore Colts, Daniel Stern as Shrevie, the guy who is anal about his record collection, and Kevin Bacon as the group mascot, who is tired of existing on the periphery of the group. Levinson's attention to period detail and control over his perfect ensemble cast is fantastic. I could watch this movie annually. 4

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1st Rewatch...it's not as gritty and adult as Alan Parker's original 1980 film, but there is entertainment provided here from some very talented young performers. The multiple storylines have been tweaked from the original film, but they've also been cleaned up a bit. I liked that one of the performers accepted into the acting program was really interested in directing and that a gifted concert pianist really wanted to be a singer. Megan Mullaly, who plays the voice teacher, brings down the house with "You Took Advantage of Me" and Naturi Naughton does the same with her version of the Oscar nominated song from 1980 "Out Here On My Own". It's definitely worth a look, especially if you never saw the original. 3.5

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1st Rewatch...A riveting and heartbreaking biopic that was so much better than I imagined and had me fighting tears for the majority of the running time. One thing that I noticed this time around that I didn't the first time is that even though Harvey Milk was a tireless advocate for gay rights, he also had interest in issues that were important to all of San Francisco, not just the gay population. I also liked the way Dustin Lance Black's Oscar winning screenplay didn't gloss over the fact that Harvey might have done a little too much thinking from below his waist, which caused him to hurt a lot of people during the story. LOVED the scene where Harvey told his staff that if they wanted to work with him, they had to be out to their family and friends, forcing one of his followers (played by Joseph Cross) to go to another room and call his parents. Sean Penn's Oscar winning performance in the title role is a master class and Josh Brolin has rarely been better in his Oscar-nominated performance as the conflicted Dan White. Gus Van Sant's direction is sensitive and this might be his masterpiece. upping my original rating. 4.5

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/76/Extremitiesposter.jpg
By Impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12542436

Extremities - (1986)

Ech. This is the better movie I watched last night? Farrah Fawcett, in a role she kind of owned during the 80s, plays a victim tormented by a crazy rapist (played convincingly by James Russo) - and oh boy, this was hard to watch. It begins with Marjorie (Fawcett) getting into her car in a parking lot - he's sequestered in the back seat, and holds her at knifepoint. She escapes, but he's stolen her belongings and knows her address - the police won't do anything and as such the next day he gains access to her house and the psychological torture and sexual abuse begins. This lasts for a long time, and had me so close to hitting the fast forward button (something I very rarely do) because I couldn't take it. I was actually becoming more and more furious with the film for putting me through this - it was manipulating me, and I knew why. When the tables would turn, I'd get a giddy high out of seeing her gain the upper hand and exact revenge. So, all in all how do I rate this thriller? Based on a 1982 Broadway play, it has performances that are very impressive. The cruelty and malice feel too real, and it takes a strong constitution to watch (if not, you may just be a psychopath) - I felt manipulated, but the end results were interesting. Stressful and exceedingly blunt, Extremities seems to be thrashing around in the dark but genuinely concerned about a justice system that leaves women vulnerable, and what men can do when they break a woman they want power over. When Marjorie's two female friends get home, and find a battered and bleeding guy tied up, their reactions really provide a little grist to the mill - and that's the film's strongest point.

6/10

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By Studio / Graphic Artist - [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51275427

Sea of Trees - (2015)

Part survival story, part spiritual odyssey, Sea of Trees goes fine for quite a while, but close to the end it falls off a cliff and escapes us, or at least, it veers off the path it seemed to be on, like a broken shopping trolley. Arthur Brennan (Matthew McConaughey) makes his way to Aokigahara (The Suicide Forest) in Japan after his wife, Joan (Naomi Watts) dies (both expectedly, and in an unexpected manner.) Once there, he starts popping pills, but sees a Japanese man in some distress. Takumi Nakamura (Ken Watanabe) is desperately trying to find his way out of the enormous, labyrinth-like forest after cutting his wrists, but surviving. There begins a survival story that has the two fighting the cold and rain - often stealing clothes, equipment and food from the various corpses they come across. After the ordeal is over, Arthur suspects that Takumi wasn't all he appeared to be after all. I don't know - I was onboard for some of this film but in the end it completely loses it's focus and kind of gazes into the sun for too long, delivering us unsatisfying (albeit major) twists, and a little absurdity for those not willing to completely suspend their disbelief.

4/10

[Galactic Traveler]

The Hurt Locker.

4/5

[Marco]

I'm thinking of ending things (2020)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2f/I%27m_Thinking_Of_Ending_Things_poster.jpeg
Well, this was a strange nut to crack. I know that Kaufman's films can be angular and quirky but I wasn't really prepared for this. Guy takes new GF to parents house midst a snow storm and then drives back so she can attend her shift at a diner. The car ride is not great viewing, it goes on far too long with lots of intellectual musings and a touch of Pinter thrown into the pot for good luck. The performances are good and, eventually, the film does make sense, but to what end? It's a bore-fest.
1.5

[Stirchley]

96554

Two hours of mumbling from my fellow Brits. Was so close to bailing out of this, but, somehow, it grows on one. I’ve been away from England for so long - did we always talk so slowly in an inarticulate way?

Good movie though. :)

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3rd Rewatch...this tongue in cheek horror film still holds up quite nicely as long as you don't think about it too much. One thing I love about this horror homage is that the citizens of this town don't run...they freaking fight back. Love when Frances Lee McCain nukes that one gremlin in her microwave. Also love Polly Holliday's flawless channeling of Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz as Mrs. Deagle and Zach Galligan is all kinds of adorable as Billy Peltzer. 3.5

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[Fabulous]

Fall (2022)

3.5

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[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/The_Bronze_poster.png
By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49042878

The Bronze - (2015)

The Bronze has it's funny moments, but all-in-all it should be a lot more consistently laugh-out-loud funny considering the rich vein of entitled, spoiled, delusional and selfish it mines from it's sports star celebrity story. Hope Ann Greggory (Melissa Rauch) won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and was considered a future star before an injury curtailed her career - but she still lives off the fame it brought her, especially in her home town. Finances are tight though - she lives off of her postal worker father Stan (Gary Cole), occasionally stealing mail for cash. When a half-million dollar windfall from her ex-coach's death lands on her doorstep, there's one condition. Train newfound talent Maggie Townsend (Haley Lu Richardson) for a year, or no money - the only trouble being Hope loathes Maggie, and would do anything to sabotage her quest for Olympic glory. Yeah - a lot of the funny stuff relates to how absurdly spoiled and horrible Hope is, and her giant-sized expectations around how she should be treated (think royalty times ten), and it's kind of nice seeing how she evolves throughout the film. All in all though, once the credits start rolling the whole thing feels kind of light - the laughs I've had from films like this have always been louder and more frequent.

5/10

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Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=971172

Twisted - (2004)

Wow. Sometimes a film can redeem itself with a great ending, and sometimes it's like a match to the noxious fumes that have been escaping as one implausible and suspect plot twist/turn after another have made you doubt it's quality. Ashley Judd is homicide detective Jessica Shepard - newly promoted, and daughter of a maniac serial killer who killed her mother then himself when she was a young girl. When the bodies of men she's recently had sex with start turning up, suspicion falls upon her - especially since she's been blacking out during the murders. Her boss, John Mills (Samuel L. Jackson) and partner, Mike Delmarco (Andy García) back her up, but can only hold the rest of the police force at bay for so long - is she being framed, or does Jessica have some kind of serial killer gene that's making her kill? The twist in this is boneheaded, and the story has not one scintilla of plausibility or believability in it - Twisted is only for the most forgiving, or a lover of guilty pleasures. I didn't get much pleasure out of it, and I can't forgive it for the various cinematic transgressions it brazenly commits. Philip Kaufman directed this - he made The Right Stuff and cowrote Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don't know what happened to you Philip, but whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad for having this land in your lap. Simply a bad movie.

3/10

[FromBeyond]

Pig 2021


Pig is a wonderful expectation turning piece of filmmaking, I cannot recommend this film enough to everyone. To find it was made on a small budget mostly with one takes on a 20 day shoot is incredible, fav Nic Cage performance of recent years. Only negative I take from this was an hour was cut from the runtime, an hour I would like to see!

[Gideon58]

Pig 2021


Pig is a wonderful expectation turning piece of filmmaking, I cannot recommend this film enough to everyone. To find it was made on a small budget mostly with one takes on a 20 day shoot is incredible, fav Nic Cage performance of recent years. Only negative I take from this was an hour was cut from the runtime, an hour I would like to see!

I liked this movie too....here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2235115-pig.html

[Gideon58]

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3rd Rewatch...Vincente Minnelli's warm and sentimental musical of days gone by remains just as entertaining as it was when it premiered way back in 1944. This story of a St Louis family named the Smiths actually features more than one storyline that segue quite neatly from one to the other. Of course, the heart of this movie is the enchanting performance by Judy Garland as Esther Smith. This film offers three of the strongest vocal performances of Garland's career: "The Boy Next Door", "The Trolley Song", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Mary Astor adds a real touch of class to the movie playing Esther's mother and Margaret O'Brien is adorable as baby sister Tootie. 4

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1st Rewatch...A 2013 Best Picture nominee, Her was the first real computer generated romantic drama that I think I liked even more this time around. Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombley, a lonely writer who has a new operating system installed into his computer with a female voice (Scarlett Johansson) and actually finds himself falling in love with her (her name is Samantha) and, while attempting to establish relationships with real women, decides to stop fighting the fact that Samantha is the woman he wants. Spike Jonz won a richly deserved Original Screenplay Oscar for this consistently inventive love story that offers smiles and possible tears from beginning to end. Love the moment when Samantha first speaks to Theodore...somehow it feels like she's sitting right there next to him or on the phone. Also love the scene where they have cyber sex for the first time and the scene where he gets up one morning and he can't find Samantha. It's also heartbreaking when he learns that he's not the only man in Samantha's life. This movie is such a heartbreaker and Joaquin Phoenix was robbed of a Best Actor nomination for his warm and sexy performance in the starring role...yeah, I said it, sexy. Upping my original rating.
4.5

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1st Rewatch...I have such mixed emotions about this movie. I like director Craig Gillespie's almost tongue in cheek presentation of the story, it certainly keeps the viewer on their toes, but I just have trouble getting behind the way screenplay portrays Tonya Harding as this hapless victim. The movie is unapologetic in its presentation of Tonya's abusive relationships with Jeff Gilooly (Sebastian Stan) and her mother (Allison Janney), but the way she keeps returning to Jeff makes her look stupid. The movie does tell us that Tonya knew nothing about the attack on Nancy Kerrigan and I'm not sure I believe that. But, as fictionalized entertainment based on real events, this movie does hit a bullseye. I found myself enjoying Margot Robbie's in your face performance that earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination this time. However, I still find Janney's performance as Tonya's bully of a mother, that won her the Best Supporting Actress, rather one-note and not that interesting. Still think that award should have gone to Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird, a much more interesting performance. Sebastian Stan and Paul Walter Hauser are great though. Upping my original rating. 4

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2.5

[Darth Pazuzu]

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DECEMBER 5, 2023

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hunger_Games:_The_Ballad_of_Songbirds_%26_Snakes)

I must admit, I haven't seen any of the earlier films in The Hunger Games series. And if you've been following any of my previous reviews of other franchise film entries, you'll find this to be a familiar refrain with me! :lol: As I've stated before, my visits to local movie theaters have been pretty sparse over the past decade-plus, and it's only recently that I've gotten back into the habit of going to a new movie once every week. So this is my first dip into the young adult sci-fi dystopia created by author Suzanne Collins. And quite honestly, what I saw last Tuesday is just entertaining enough to make me curious about the earlier films. I've always had a soft spot for sci-fi dystopias, anyway, being a fan of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and the 1984 Michael Radford film version starring John Hurt and Richard Burton, John Boorman's brilliantly eccentric Zardoz from 1973 with Sean Connery, as well as the Wachowskis-penned screen version of Alan Moore's V For Vendetta from 2006 (in which, of course, John Hurt himself has become the big threatening face on the viewscreen).

(SIDE NOTE: For a very interesting viewing exercise, if you ever have the time, try watching these three films together in a viewing marathon:

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Nineteen Eighty-Four (Michael Radford / 1984)
The Osterman Weekend (Sam Peckinpah / 1983)
V For Vendetta (James McTeigue / 2006)

You'll watch John Hurt's screen persona undergo a quite fascinating metamorphosis from victim to monster, with Peckinpah's spy thriller / media-critique swan song serving as the missing link between the two more overtly dystopian tales!) :D

As you may know, the lead character here is Coriolanus Snow, who as played by Donald Sutherland is established as the primary villain of the series. So this is a kind of "Portrait of a Despot As a Young Man," so to speak. Here, the 18-year-old future president is played by Tom Blyth, whose screen persona I find to be rather thin, but that's rather well-suited to the character as Snow is here an unformed, undeveloped younger man and has yet to evolve into the villain he would later become. (I guess I would defend Blyth on the same grounds as I would defend Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker for being a perfectly good precursor to the cybernetic Man in Black that would be Darth Vader in the Star Wars prequels.) Snow has become a mentor for the 10th Hunger Games, and Rachel Zegler portrays his charge Lucy Gray, a defiant young woman from District 12 who is one of the selected contestants, as well as a compelling singer-songwriter. (This, of course, what the Songbird part of the title refers to.) Zegler is very effective, developing an attachment to Snow as the story progresses, but Zegler's intelligence also conveys Lucy's not suffering fools gladly, a sense that time will tell with regard to what path Snow chooses to take. Less effectively, Peter Dinklage plays Casca Highbottom, the Academy Dean and the man who actually came up with the idea of the Hunger Games. Dinklage does a good job of oozing a weary mixture of schadenfreude and contempt, but beyond that he is not really given much to work with. Viola Davis is pretty good as Dr. Volumnia Gaul, the head gamemaker and primary villain of the story. Davis' take on Gaul is quite inhumanely malevolent, but lacks a certain depth, and I feel as though if she had a mustache she would probably twirl it! A trifle better is Jason Schwartzman as TV host Lucretius "Lucky" Flickerman, the ancestor of a character in the earlier films, who provides some amusing moments but whose cynicism eventually becomes grating beyond the call of duty. But best of all is probably Josh Andrés Rivera, who plays Sejanus Plinth, Snow's classmate and fellow mentor, who protests the inhumanity of the Hunger Games.

I was very impressed with how "organic" the film seemed in comparison to other franchise film entries. Yeah, I know, there are probably lots of CGI effects, but they're blended quite invisibly, to the point where I was completely immersed and didn't even notice. When it comes to the old "practical effects vs. digital effects" arguments, I have to say that it's ultimately a matter of whether or not you've succeeded in making a viewing audience suspend its disbelief. Everybody who goes to a movie understands on some level that everything they're seeing onscreen is an illusion of one sort or another, but if they forget about it for the movie's duration, then the filmmakers have certainly done their job.

I don't want to give out any spoilers. But I will say that the story deals with the question of just how "good" human beings innately are, whether deep down human beings are savages who need taming, or whether human beings are born with a purity and goodness and that it's society at large that screws them up and perverts them. In other words, the old saw of "nature vs. nurture." I can understand why liberals and progressives feel the need to reject the first notion out of hand, because they feel that if we accept the notion of innate human violence and savagery then we are automatically sanctioning the cold and pitiless grip of fascist control. But while I consider myself to be liberal and progressive in my thinking - a "bleeding heart," if you will - I can't quite blindly accept the second notion, because human beings are far too contrary and grasping to be completely peaceable. (To quote the great David Johansen from the New York Dolls' song Human Being: "And if I'm acting like a king / Well, that's 'cause I'm a human being / And if I want too many things / Don't you know that I'm a human being") And in any case, the liberal argument against fascist control is a bit of a projection, because how is any leftist form of social programming - or the most extreme communistic sort anyway - substantially different from any form of control on the right? Making people "play nice in the sandbox together" is certainly a laudable goal, and I'm certainly not saying it isn't possible. In fact, that's the very basis of civilized society itself! But I also think it's very dangerous to ascribe sinister motivations to the defenders of traditional "law and order" while actively being in denial of one's own desire to control and modify human behavior, and I would not support anyone who was so willfully blind.

Well... That certainly got a bit heavy, didn't it? :lol: Sorry for getting on the soapbox and pontificating a little bit, but it's a habit sometimes, you understand? Everyone's got opinions about things, especially these days, and I'm certainly no exception. I know that's quite a heavy load to put on a little Hollywood franchise flick like The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and I'm not saying it's any kind of substantial contributor to such social discourse. Heck, I don't even really think it's all that great, y'know? But any form of art or entertainment touches on real-world concerns to one extent or another, right? So if it makes you think, then I should think any movie, book, piece of music or painting would be a worthwhile experience (if not necessarily a masterpiece).

That's all for now... ;)

[doubledenim]

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

More impressed by forgetting the people that were in this. Juliette Lewis’s forehead stole the show as always.

[FromBeyond]

I liked this movie too....here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2235115-pig.html


Nice review, that scene where Robin meets his old sous chef is my favourite too, hilarious as well.

[Torgo]

Sisu - 4

A gold prospector, Aatami (Tommila) and his loyal terrier run afoul of Nazis in this lean, mean, efficient and delightfully bloody action movie from Finland. Led by Bruno (Hennie), the squad let him pass (but not without bullying him a little). Then, much to his chagrin, they discover that Aatami had a better than average day of work. The chagrin soon becomes theirs, though, because it's not long until they discover that he is not a man to be trifled with.

First and foremost, Lapland is a sight to behold. There is more than one moment that made me want to pause so I could take in the scenery even more. Cinematography is not just photography, though: it and the elegant editing also make the action as visceral and shocking as it is. That's not to discount Jorma Tommila, who makes Aatami a man who would traverse hell to pursue someone who wronged him or his dog in the slightest. On that note, hell describes what the Nazis have done to the place: if it's not the houses and businesses they've leveled, it's the mines they've laid, the latter of which figure in to one of the tensest and so bloody, you can't help but laugh scenes I've seen in a movie like this in a while. The laughter is nearly as frequent as the bursts of adrenaline, by the way, with the best of it coming at the expense of the movie's own near-live action cartoon craziness (some sample dialogue: "how many mines did you bury here?" "All of them.") I also like how the Tarantino-like chapters keep things moving, and hopefully not to spoil it too much, but the climactic moment is one he'd appreciate and surely tell you what it's from.

A one-man army who's triggered to take out an entire squad all by himself? If you're asking if this is like John Wick, you're not wrong, but since John Wick-like movies practically belong to their own genre now, I don’t think it’s a drawback. There are moments when the Nazis could have taken care of Aatami once and for all, but that provide an out that raised an eyebrow despite the pride and arrogance they give our villains. Also, while it is efficient, I would have preferred more skin on its bones on the whole if you know what I mean. Other than that, it succeeds as a tongue-in cheek John Wick-like movie in the same ways Nobody does and in making you want to hike the Finnish countryside. Oh, and don’t worry: the dog doesn’t die.

[Stirchley]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjA1Nzk0OTM2OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjU2NjEwMDE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg


1st Rewatch...A 2013 Best Picture nominee, Her was the first real computer generated romantic drama that I think I liked even more this time around. Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombley, a lonely writer who has a new operating system installed into his computer with a female voice (Scarlett Johansson) and actually finds himself falling in love with her (her name is Samantha) and, while attempting to establish relationships with real women, decides to stop fighting the fact that Samantha is the woman he wants. Spike Jonz won a richly deserved Original Screenplay Oscar for this consistently inventive love story that offers smiles and possible tears from beginning to end. Love the moment when Samantha first speaks to Theodore...somehow it feels like she's sitting right there next to him or on the phone. Also love the scene where they have cyber sex for the first time and the scene where he gets up one morning and he can't find Samantha. It's also heartbreaking when he learns that he's not the only man in Samantha's life. This movie is such a heartbreaker and Joaquin Phoenix was robbed of a Best Actor nomination for his warm and sexy performance in the title role...yeah, I said it, sexy. Upping my original rating.
4.5

Loved this movie. Very believable. You probably know that Samantha Morton recorded all her dialog, but Jonze decided she wasn’t quite right for the rôle. Amicably resolved & Scarlet took her place.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjI5MDY1NjYzMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwNjIzNDAxNDM@._V1_.jpg


1st Rewatch...I have such mixed emotions about this movie. I like director Craig Gillespie's almost tongue in cheek presentation of the story, it certainly keeps the viewer on their toes, but I just have trouble getting behind the way screenplay portrays Tonya Harding as this hapless victim. The movie is unapologetic in its presentation of Tonya's abusive relationships with Jeff Gilooly (Sebastian Stan) and her mother (Allison Janney), but the way she keeps returning to Jeff makes her look stupid. The movie does tell us that Tonya knew nothing about the attack on Nancy Kerrigan and I'm not sure I believe that. But, as fictionalized entertainment based on real events, this movie does hit a bullseye. I found myself enjoying Margot Robbie's in your face performance that earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination this time. However, I still find Janney's performance as Tonya's bully of a mother, that won her the Best Supporting Actress, rather one-note and not that interesting. Still think that award should have gone to Laurie Metcalf for Lady Bird, a much more interesting performance. Sebastian Stan and Paul Walter Hauser are great though. Upping my original rating. 4

Really liked this movie. There’s a documentary about Tonya Harding, which is also very interesting - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0810012/

[chawhee]

The Good Nurse (2022)
https://www.heavenofhorror.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/the-good-nurse-netflix-thriller.jpg
3
Based on a true story, this movie certainly makes for an uncomfortably terrifying watch. However, it is pretty ordinary, and I still can't tell if Eddie Redmayne is acting or just being a slightly different version of himself in all of the movies I've seen him in.

[Fabulous]

This Must Be the Place (2011)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/g8mF9H17uEWYzSR1RA0dPIXqmXO.jpg

[Allaby]

The Christmas Chronicles (2018) I enjoyed this even more on rewatch. Kurt Russell is wonderful as Santa and the film is sweet and fun. 4

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Tunes_of_glory76.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9244680

Tunes of Glory - (1960)

There's a great movie here aside from Alec Guinness, who gives a performance in Tunes of Glory that dominates the film to such an extent it's hard to see beyond it. Not a bad thing - who doesn't want to see this thespian provide us with something explosive? His equal, in a role that's much quieter and more introspective, is John Mills - and he was generally the award winner when this film played at festivals. I knew when I saw this was being distributed by Janus Films that it'd be interesting, and indeed, Tunes of Glory was very enjoyable. It's about a battalion of Scottish Highland soldiers commanded by the eccentric, fun-loving Major Jock Sinclair (Guinness) - not a stickler for soldierly rules and regulations, he's loud, drinks heavily, and is a smile and a wink kind of guy. When a new commander takes over, Lieutenant Colonel Basil Barrow (John Mills) he's shocked that there's so much deviating from strict regulations, and wastes no time punishing the entire regiment for infractions. It's when Sinclair is up on a court-martial charge for striking a fellow officer that the crux of the matter plays out - with terrible consequences. It's a battle between written codes of behavior and unwritten codes of spiritual definition - under Sinclair there's pride, happiness and brotherhood, under Barrow there's a lot of griping and ill-feeling, but discipline. For some officers, it hurts to see rules and regulations ignored, but for others it hurts to follow those rules and regulations if it means dampening morale. Very good film.

8/10

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/Operation_Crossbow.jpg
By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33164922

Operation Crossbow - (1965)

This World War II spy movie had me continually mumbling "...well that was dark," as I watched the various good guys die horribly. It's why I hesitated to call it an adventure kind of feature - in most of those one or two of the characters bite the bullet, but rarely every single one. Another strange aspect is the sub-plot involving the Nazis perfecting their V-1 flying bomb, which is filmed from their point of view - up to the point where, when Hanna Reitsch (Barbara Rütting) makes a breakthrough it's a triumphant moment. Hey! That's the Nazis - we're not supposed to be celebrating their successes! Yes - an odd duck, Operation Crossbow. In it, various agents such as 1st Lt. John Curtis (George Peppard), Robert Henshaw (Tom Courtenay) and Phil Bradley (Jeremy Kemp) are given the identities of dead Dutch engineers, and tasked with infiltrating the Nazi's subterranean rocket factory. Included in the cast is a whole host of well-known stars of the day : Trevor Howard, John Mills, Sophia Loren, Anthony Quayle and Richard Johnson. It's not bad. It plays like a toned down sequel to Battle of Britain - with a lot of factual stuff included to give the action a sheen of authenticity. It's hard to fault - no expense was spared, and it's screenplay is smart and well worked out. I liked it.

6.5/10

[crumbsroom]

I really like Tunes of Glory.


And that movie poster is in my local pub, so I have double the affection for it.


I should probably watch Operation Crossbow

[skizzerflake]

:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

I have no idea how anybody would ever make a biopic about Leonard Bernstein, arguably the most important classical music conductor of the 2nd half of the 20th century, not to mention a composer, pubic figure, a controversial dabbler in 1960's radical politics, top-drawer New York celebrity and the target of the invention of the word Radical Chic. Bradley Cooper tried as director and also starred in Maestro. Given some makeup (aging wrinkles and a prosthetic nose) and a sketchy set of Bernstein speech mannerisms, it's a good try, but I can't imagine movie-fying such a vivid, larger-than-life character. Sometimes it works, some of it does not and an awesome number of cigarettes get smoked along the way. It's the smokiest movie I have seen in a long time.

We see both Bernsteins....the family guy married to a female musician Felecia Montealegre, with several kids, and also the fairly conspicuous gay man-about-town. He's writing music, conducting, being a public front of the New York Philharmonic, being a front page celebrity who goes to all of the parties worth going to, being controversial, being pictured in the media, and doing TV shows both as a performer and as an educator.

I guess that's the problem with the script....there's just way too much material for one 2+ hour movie and Cooper seems over-extended as director and star, playing in the role of this person that is so obviously NOT Cooper. Cooper wants to be Bernstein, doing everything, but doesn't pull it off. Part of it is color, part black and white and the sound of the music was great, at least in my theater. A lot happens in those two hours and as a result, pretty much every aspect of this charismatic media star gets short run time. Being a long time fan of classical music, I appreciated the attempt, but it did leave me wanting more. A significant chapter that is completely missing is Bernstein's 1960's anti-war activities, as well as his associations with the Black Panthers. That was quite a story in its time, but is absent in the movie.

And....Cooper really should have done something different with those Bernstein-New York speech mannerisms. A lot of work must have gone into the vocal tone and accent, but it was laid on too thick for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJP2QblqLA0

[sawduck]

The King of Comedy 9/10 - Perhaps the most underrated movie from the great Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro was fantastic in this
Four Christmases 6.5/10 - A lot better than i thought it was going to be
Oppenheimer 7.5/10 - Its a good film but i found it a bit overrated, some parts were a bit of a drag but the acting was wonderful by everyone
Barbie 7.5/10 - I didn't think i'd enjoy a movie about barbie as much as i did,but it was a delight

[Mr Minio]

Jaws (1975)

https://media.tenor.com/oB7ZftaUxP8AAAAC/jaws.gif

I've been meaning to rewatch Jaws for years. Yesterday I finally did!

A rewatch after 17 (?!) years, which means it's like a new watch. I remembered absolutely nothing from my first watch, not a single scene, so it felt like I was watching it for the first time. First of all, I'm surprised how brutal it is. Not just blood but also gore (there's a shot of a severed leg going underwater!). Second of all, the cinematography is great, from the colors to inventive shots (the reflection in the glasses, the vertigo effect, the shark emerging from the water above his shoulder, the through-the-window that is also through-the-jaws, the glistening light on the surface of the water...), to blocking (Spielberg might not be Kurosawa, but he's good). Third of all, the suspense is kinda Hitchcockian at times (weird association, maybe?) but it didn't work that well on me - I was mostly glued to the screen thanks to the camerawork and how, quoting mark f, it just flows so nicely. Maybe even too nicely, making it land in the gray zone between arthouse and mainstream, just like, say, most Johnnie To films do. But hey, this is very good overall.

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTcwODUwMjg2Ml5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMTc2NzkxOA@@._V1_.jpg


1st Rewatch...A series shot of star power makes this movie seem a lot better than it is. The screenplay comes off like an extended episode of a sitcom, but Robert DeNiro, Diane Keaton, and Susan Sarandon do make it worth a look. 3

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/W/MEDIAX_792452-T2/images/I/817+h9g44DL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


1st Rewatch...The breezy performances of Cher, Winona Ryder, and Bob Hoskins make this unconventional rom-com worth the watch. Cher lights up the screen as the sexually uninhibited single mom of two daughters who refuses to let her uptight older daughter (Ryder) dictate her life, which has basically consisted of moving every time an affair goes bad. Director Richard Benjamin's attention period detail is exquisite and Cher's rendition of "The Shoop Shoop Song" over the closing credits is flawless. 3.5

[Gideon58]

https://filmartgallery.com/cdn/shop/products/Paper-Moon-Vintage-Movie-Poster-Original-Half-Sheet-22x28-8000.jpg?v=1665119037



4th Rewatch...I'm still a little spooked that I was in the middle of watching this movie when I heard about Ryan O'Neal's death. Peter Bogdanovich was in the director's chair for this sweet and nostalgic comedy about a con man named Moses Prey (O'Neal), who finds himself teaming up with a little girl who might be his daughter (Tatum O'Neal) in a series of con games that eventually get them both in a lot of trouble. Tatum O'Neal's film debut as Addie Prey made her the youngest Oscar winner in history for Best Supporting Actress, though her role is clearly the lead. Her dad is solid though and Madeline Kahn's hysterical turn as good time gal Trixie Delight earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination as well. The movie features exquisite black and white cinematography and the period appropriate song score is a delight. 4

[Gideon58]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71aycWs8q8L._UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg


Umpteenth Rewatch....As I found myself sucked into this classic once again, I found myself drawn to a couple of specific things. First was the dazzling performance by Jean Hagen as the deliciously evil and dumb as a box of rocks Lina Lamont that earned her one of the film's two Oscar nominations (robbed of a Best Picture nomination IMO). I also find myself riveted to the dancing styles of Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Every time I watch "Fit as a Fiddle" and "Moses", I can't help noticing a distinct difference between the way the two men danced. Kelly always seems very concentrated on the steps and always appears to be counting, you can practically see his lips mouthing the counts. O'Connor, on the other hand, always looks like he' making up the steps as he goes along, I never see him counting, I just see him dancing, I love that. I love after the "Broadway Rhythm Ballet" when the producers tells Don he can't quite picture it. 4.5

[LavidDynch]

OG Wall Street

Enjoyed watching the movie. A real classic with great acting by Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas. Having Sheen Sr. playing the dad was a nice touch. More emphasis on closure would have made the movie better, like a short text at the end about what happened to the lives of GG Fox and Darien. Could've been better than just "The End"

[Citizen Rules]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2F736x%2Fd9%2F53%2F43%2Fd95343bdc32136d0affb41aaba5c46cc--holiday-movies-christmas-movies.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=f777c1713f37677032f837907d8284987bb1fd0cfaf6a249849876a4d38324fe&ipo=images
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
rating_5
The little girl, Trudy was very naughty!...and funny too. Great songs by the greatest, Judy Garland.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/t4Gm9Grp/lion-of-the-desert.jpg
By It is believed that the cover art can or could be obtained from the publisher or studio., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31121659

Lion of the Desert - (1980)

The French had Algeria, and the Italians had Libya - they'd been trying to establish themselves since 1911, and we pick up in 1929. Mussolini (Rod Steiger) is in a rage, his troops continually bested by a rebellion led by the "Lion of the Desert" Omar al-Mukhtar (Anthony Quinn) - so the Italian dictator sends General Rodolfo Graziani (Oliver Reed), nicknamed "The Butcher", to establish order once and for all. No expense was spared for this forgotten epic - included are a wealth of authentic military vehicles, hundreds of extras, and real sweeping vistas from location filming in Libya. I'd never heard of this - despite it's sterling reputation. 8.2/10 on the IMDb. Bigger than Heaven's Gate or Raise the Titanic, it failed miserably at the box office, even after the rave reviews came in. Watching it last night, I couldn't help be impressed despite the fact it wasn't a great transfer. Sure, Oliver Reed does look drunk in every scene he's in, but Anthony Quinn picks up the slack marvelously as al-Mukhtar. Best of all are the set-pieces - battles that give the impression you've travelled back in time and are watching for real. Moustapha Akkad I recognized as the producer of the Halloween films - he'd only directed another Middle Eastern historical epic The Message, in 1976. The failure of Lion of the Desert led to him sticking to producing. This epic shouldn't have failed though - it's not the greatest, but it's not bad by any means. It shines a light on a conflict most people have never heard about, and a historical figure that deserves wider recognition. I'm keeping my eye out for a copy of the Blu-Ray that doesn't cost a fortune. If I see a better copy, my rating might go up, and up.

7/10

[Fabulous]

The Killer (2023)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/47nv1UXkSDvpBlEv3BiAss9TxIX.jpg

[WHITBISSELL!]

https://media4.giphy.com/media/8wfbsizcbRtHGTEbZ4/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e472tfjl9a46juw3xfoeb80zyx4ejc9boqrdmhmwcyb&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExcmFxaXRscWllZjJsb2k4YTVvaDR6czZkOTl1Z3h6bzFuNWd4ZGllYyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfY nlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/ZvTabySEpImzywo0aF/giphy.gif


#3 on The 10 Most Underrated Horror Movies Recommended by Mike Flanagan list. (This is from a Collider article (https://collider.com/underrated-horror-movies-mike-flanagan-recommended/))

Possum - Directed by Matthew Holness, the film opens with Phillip Connell (Sean Harris) apparently released from some kind of institution. He returns to his childhood home where his creepy, malignant father or stepfather (?) Maurice (Alun Armstrong) is still living. Holness refuses to be the "tour guide" type of director. Holding the audience's hand and leading them around while explaining every development and detail. He tells the story and if you can't keep up or get lost or lose interest then it's on you. The crux of the story being that Phillip underwent some sort of childhood trauma involving his mother (or parents). They're never seen or mentioned outside of a mysterious closed door in their decrepit home that Phillip refuses to open. On the train ride home he does take notice of some schoolboys and attempts to talk to one of them. The same boy is later reported to be missing in the area with the local constabulary investigating his disappearance.

All this murk is meant to keep you off balance and it does. Throughout the film Phillip carries around this valise in which he keeps a puppet of sorts. But a simple creepy manikin wouldn't be enough. No. It's an enormous, hairy, spider looking effigy with a human face. It's supposed to be some sort of coping mechanism Phillip came up with to help him process what he was going through. Yikes. This reminded me so much of a 2002 David Cronenberg film called Spider that I figured it must surely be where Holness got at least part of his inspiration. I'm still not sure. The movie itself stands or topples on the strength of Sean Harris' performance and it ultimately works because of his tortured and wretched protagonist. Kudoes to Armstrong as well for conveying so much menace and dissolution in just a few fleeting scenes.

You never know what's what until the very end and even then it's nowhere close to being what any rational person would consider a happy ending. More of a slackening of an inexorable and dangerous pressure.

75/100

[Fabulous]

Asteroid City (2023)

4

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/oHWhrjmS2djcJ0vUZaq9qMaYia3.jpg

[Takoma11]

Possum - Directed by Matthew Holness, the film opens with Phillip Connell (Sean Harris) apparently released from some kind of institution. He returns to his childhood home where his creepy, malignant father or stepfather (?) Maurice (Alun Armstrong) is still living.

You never know what's what until the very end and even then it's nowhere close to being what any rational person would consider a happy ending. More of a slackening of an inexorable and dangerous pressure.

After watching Possum, I later was reading an article about adult men accusing someone (I genuinely can't remember if it was Michael Jackson related or Brian Singer related) of sexually abusing them when they were children.

One of the things that was mentioned in the article was the way that people who have been abused can grow up to have "markers" or behaviors that make them seem untrustworthy: drug addictions, asocial personalities, lying, etc.

Anyway, it made me think about Possum, and about how the character played by Harris looks from the outside exactly like the stereotype of a child molester: pale, awkward, child entertainer, off energy, etc.

I think it's a really powerful take on how trauma can linger in someone's life. And like you say, there can't be anything like a happy ending, just relief.

[Fabulous]

The Amityville Horror (1979)

3

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/61E1jgKW1wthB6pi6nM2Yp3pW9w.jpg

[Steve Freeling]

https://www.themoviedb.org/t/p/original/wcUgf96y4KLAcwrdkJdb4u0dSkW.jpg
The Boy and the Heron (2023) rating_5
So, the legendary Hayao Miyazaki's done it again. I've always said that Miyazaki's never made a bad film, and The Boy and the Heron keeps up the filmmaker's winning streak that began with The Castle of Cagliostro in 1979. As someone who discovered Miyazaki's canon in 2017—some years after his most recent "retirement"—I can't help but feel fortunate to have gotten the chance to see a brand new Miyazaki film and have that experience inside of a theater—and, by extension, experiencing the hype train in the years leading up to this point of being excited that, "Yes, there's a new Miyazaki film on the way!" And what a Miyazaki film it is—for my money, it's his best film since Howl's Moving Castle. If anyone knows how to craft a compelling story, it's Miyazaki, and The Boy and the Heron is no exception. The story is somewhat semi-autobiographical, having been partially based on Miyazaki's own experiences, and this is felt throughout the film, which often carries an elegiac tone. It's a complex and engrossing story where you don't dare turn your brain off for a second as Miyazaki reveals backstories in manageable chunks throughout the film, and I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't get everything on the first viewing, but as Miyazaki films tend to, I have a feeling it will prove to reward repeated viewings once it arrives on Blu-ray and/or UHD next year. In true Miyazaki fashion, the animation is stunning, and I have to wonder how much this was enhanced by the film apparently being rendered in Dolby Vision, as evidenced by the Dolby Vision and Atmos tag that appears as the final credits roll. Joe Hisaishi's musical score is different from his previous scores but is haunting and matches the story the film tells. NYAV Post has delivered yet another excellent English dub, directed by voice acting legend Michael Sinterniklaas and featuring a collection of live-action stars, some up-and-coming—in some cases, I missed their live-action work—and some veterans—some of whom have dubbed previous Miyazaki films, but all perfectly cast. Luca Padovan is excellent as Mahito Maki, a boy grappling with grief after losing his mother in a fire. Robert Pattinson is rock-solid as the titular grey heron, perfecting a "crusty" voice very, very far removed from his natural voice. Christian Bale also does some great work here—in his second Miyazaki film after his turn as Howl—as Shoichi (interestingly, voiced in Japanese by Takuya Kimura, who also voiced Howl), Mahito's father who owns an air munitions factory. Gemma Chan also impresses as Natsuko, Mahito's stepmother. Karen Fukuhara nails it as Himi, a girl with fire powers who may be connected to Mahito's past. Florence Pugh is also excellent as Kiriko, a mariner. In his third Miyazaki film, Mark Hamill gets to flex his voice acting muscles as the tower master, who takes on an unexpected role as the film progresses and is quite different from his turns as the Mayor of Pejite in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Muska in Castle in the Sky. Willem Dafoe wrings the most out of the briefest of screen time as the "noble pelican." The rest of the cast—it's cool to see voice acting veterans Barbara Goodson and Melora Harte still getting cast in new dubs—is also up to par, and the dub script written by Stephanie Sheh is completely natural. Overall, I think The Boy and the Heron is incredible. Like the best Miyazaki films, it is engrossing, poignant, and emotionally satisfying. Miyazaki's once again proven why he's one of the best, I eagerly await the film's arrival on Blu-ray and/or UHD, and since he plans on making more films, I can hardly wait to see what the master animator comes up with next.

[WHITBISSELL!]

After watching Possum, I later was reading an article about adult men accusing someone (I genuinely can't remember if it was Michael Jackson related or Brian Singer related) of sexually abusing them when they were children.

One of the things that was mentioned in the article was the way that people who have been abused can grow up to have "markers" or behaviors that make them seem untrustworthy: drug addictions, asocial personalities, lying, etc.

Anyway, it made me think about Possum, and about how the character played by Harris looks from the outside exactly like the stereotype of a child molester: pale, awkward, child entertainer, off energy, etc.

I think it's a really powerful take on how trauma can linger in someone's life. And like you say, there can't be anything like a happy ending, just relief.Holness sets it up so that you never really know if Phillip went away because he actually was guilty of the previous disappearances. After the credits started rolling I couldn't help but wonder how it would play out. He let's the kid out of the trunk who quickly runs away. He'll eventually lead the cops back and there sits Phillip with his recently dead "uncle". Maurice wore a mask so will the kid be able to clear up who actually kidnapped him? Will the teacher at the school that Phillip claimed knew the truth of what happened when he was a child be able to help? Or was that all in his head?

Nope. Not a happy ending.

[PHOENIX74]

https://i.postimg.cc/DzmnrsBP/too-late-the-hero.webp
https://i.postimg.cc/DzmnrsBP/too-late-the-hero.webp

Too Late the Hero - (1970)

Far too late, but over the last couple of nights I've found a couple of really good war films that would have made great 1-pointers on my War Countdown ballot. First Lion of the Desert and now Robert Aldrich film Too Late the Hero, which deserves checking out for anyone interested. Another box office bomb, this one came about after a request from ABC Pictures for Aldrich to do another film in the same spirit as The Dirty Dozen. This is about an English patrol (with one Japanese-speaking American on board) on an island half occupied by the British and half by the Japanese. The patrol is to make their way through a jungle studded with minefields to the Japanese base in the north, destroy their radio equipment and radio false broadcasts to the Japanese mainland. Anything that can go wrong, does go wrong - but what really impressed me was how much we get to see the failings, uncertainty, fear and despair from all the soldiers - which cast-wise includes Michael Caine, Cliff Robertson, Denholm Elliott and Ronald Fraser. Ill-prepared, the troops end up with a few dead already when they happen across a Japanese patrol - even though the Japanese don't fire a shot. Wounded comrades are to be left behind (in other words, left for dead) and the whole plan isn't all that sound. On the way back, those left alive stumble across a hidden airfield, and as such the enemy is determined to stop them returning to their base to communicate this fact. Caine gives a fantastic performance - he's a real standout for me, and the film itself holds up really well. It doesn't romanticize war, and isn't like an adventure film - instead illustrating how ill-preparedness and uncertainty is deadly in situations such as this. Heroics boil down to doing something, anything for the benefit of anyone other than yourself. I liked it.

7/10

[Fabulous]

Owning Mahowny (2003)

3.5

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[LChimp]

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The Creator - (2023)

I wasn't expecting it to be so emocional, but I enjoyed very much.

[Gideon58]

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1st Rewatch...even with veteran Nancy Meyers as the brainchild, this comedy never quite gels as complete movie experience. Robert DeNiro plays a 70 year old widower who gets hired as an intern at an internet fashion empire run by a woman named Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway). i just don't buy the premise that an internet company would hire a 70 year old intern and I never buy the relationship that develops between DeNiro and Hathaway. There is one very funny scene where DeNiro and three other interns break into Jules' mother's house to delete an email she sent accidentally, but other than that, this is a very long and labored jurney. 2.5

[Stirchley]

The Good Nurse (2022)
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3
Based on a true story, this movie certainly makes for an uncomfortably terrifying watch. However, it is pretty ordinary, and I still can't tell if Eddie Redmayne is acting or just being a slightly different version of himself in all of the movies I've seen him in.

I loved this movie.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Tunes_of_glory76.jpg
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9244680

Tunes of Glory - (1960)


Terrific movie.


96590

Good movie. Interesting true-story storyline. Nobody in the movie is a professional actor except Binoche. The woman she interacts with the most is exceptionally believable.

[Gideon58]

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1st Rewatch...John Cassavetes and Gene Rowlands created their masterpiece with this heartbreaking drama about a housewife and mother in denial about her mental health issues. The scene where Myrtle serves dinner to her husband's co-workers and the scene where she's standing in the middle of traffic waiting for her children's school bus are among the most cringe-worthy thing I have ever seen in a movie. Rowlands was robbed of an Oscar for this film, though she did win a Golden Globe. Not an easy watch, but if you've got the stomach for it. 4.5

[Gideon58]

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5th Rewatch...This movie still holds up pretty well for a movie over 40 years old. It's actually about 2/3 of a really great movie, but it's still watchable, thanks primarily to a brilliant performance by Lily Tomlin as Violet Newstead, one of a trio of secretaries who plot revenge on their boss. Dabney Coleman created the ultimate comic villain in the slimy Franklin Hart and Dolly Parton makes a delightful film debut as Doralee Rhodes. 3.5

[Gideon58]

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6th Rewatch...This is the comic book action movie that started it all and it still holds up remarkably well. It takes a little too long with exposition, the scenes on Krypton and in Smallville go on a little longer than necessary but once the movie gets to Metropolis, it hits and stays on a bullseye. The late Christopher Reeve became an official movie star with his performance in the title role, though if the truth be told, his clumsy and socially awkward Clark Kent is the most endearing part of his performance and Gene Hackman is absolutely flawless as Lex Luthor. Director Richard Donner has a solid hand over the action scenes...I still have trouble watching the scene where Lois Lane's car gets buried in the dirt and rocks. 4

[Gideon58]

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6th Rewatch...This movie is silly, pointless, and defies logic at every turn, but it still makes me laugh and is one the guiltiest of my guilty pleasures. 3

[Gideon58]

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2.5

[ScarletLion]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/A_Woman_Under_the_Influence_%281974_poster_-_retouched%29.jpg


1st Rewatch...John Cassavetes and Gene Rowlands created their masterpiece with this heartbreaking drama about a housewife and mother in denial about her mental health issues. The scene where Myrtle serves dinner to her husband's co-workers and the scene where she's standing in the middle of traffic waiting for her children's school bus are among the most cringe-worthy thing I have ever seen in a movie. Rowlands was robbed of an Oscar for this film, though she did win a Golden Globe. Not an easy watch, but if you've got the stomach for it. 4.5

Greatest performance I've ever seen by an actress.

[mrblond]

Oppenheimer (2023)

Ugh, the favorite of the orcanised populace Nolan strikes again with this mediocre cartel commission. People, skip this rubbish, Please!
I've hardly stood half of this three-hour crap.
1.5
96595

[Raven73]

The sitter
6/10.
The major problem in this movie could have been easily rectified with the hoover vacuum cleaner which we see at the end.
Dumb.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71iXpMyjsIL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg

[Fabulous]

The Boat That Rocked (2009)

3.5

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[Tugg]

Oppenheimer (2023)

I've hardly stood half of this three-hour crap.
Then you ain't seen the worst, lol.

[PHOENIX74]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2e/Napoleon_Film_poster.jpg
By https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/napoleon/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74312765

Napoleon - (2023)

Well, that was a very unexciting shade of ordinary. Ridley Scott's Napoleon spreads itself way, way too thin - and as such we don't get a really interesting insight into anything. It's a quick succession of battles and events in Napoleon Bonaparte's life from storming the castle at Toulon until his exile on Saint Helena - and we lose every time one of these events is rushed through without much orienting, penetrating discernment, or familiarization. What is the point of this movie's existence? It's the bare bones. One thing that did work for me though - Joaquin Phoenix is good. We can see the boy inside of the man, and Phoenix really seems to have worked out who Napoleon was inside and out. A shame then that his performance is in service to a film that will be forgotten over time. The Toulon battle felt most real, and promised more than the movie ended up delivering. After that, things were rote (although that ambush on the ice was cool - which is way the trailers fixated on it.) His relationship with Joséphine - that gets very basic points across. Napoleon was a poor lover, and tried to assert his power over her, but what counted in the end was a kind of sincere friendship that grew from a volatile marriage. That's what I got - I'm no Napoleon expert. Actors and effects do their job here, but David Scarpa and Ridley Scott would have done better to focus on specifics to probe deeper - and only have to look at Oppenheimer to see how that's done. Racing through one event after the other in chronological order is unimaginative and serves no real purpose - you'd get just as much from browsing Wikipedia.

6/10

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By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051077/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28793358

The Three Faces of Eve - (1957)

Had no idea about this before watching it so imagine my surprise that we're dealing with one of the earliest films ever made about multiple personality disorder. At first Eve White's (an Oscar-winning Joanne Woodward) husband, Ralph (David Wayne) and doctor, Curtis Luther (Lee J. Cobb) think she's faking - but after a certain amount of time it becomes apparent that when shy, reserved Eve White turns into promiscuous, outgoing Eve Black, it's real. I wasn't wholly on this film's wavelength - but seeing it's ending and listening to some commentary had me thinking about the life of the woman this was based on : Christine Costner Sizemore, and the book written about her. Interesting subject, and fledgling film about psychological trauma, mental illness and a host of other hushed up subjects of the 1950s. Hollywood had just fastened on a set of training wheels - so it's wobbly, but interesting in how it approaches certain matters. Joanne Woodward's task was gargantuan.

6/10

[matt72582]

Hand in the Trap - 6.5/10


https://youtu.be/-CFOe-flrdk

[Marco]

The Mighty Celt (2005)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/61/TheMightyCelt.jpg
Story set in Northern Ireland about a lad that is living in Belfast midst Post Good Friday agreement times. He helps out at a Greyhound "kennels" for want of a better word as they are used for racing so basically they are "stock". Once they start losing they are not worth their "keep" and are despatched with accordingly. The lad puts his heart and soul into The Mighty Celt dog but it is a cruel "sport" The acting is excellent (Robert Carlisle, Gillian Anderson, Ken Stott) and I was surprised to see the lad that played Donal is now a boxer as he is great here. Having a sighthound (Lurcher) some bits were quite hard to watch but it was honest about this barbaric practice.

3.5

[Gideon58]

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1st Rewatch...the luminous performance by Oscar winner Julianne Moore playing a lonely divorcee looking for romance and purpose in her life makes this film worth a look. 3.5

[Gideon58]

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1st Rewatch...Unfortunately, David Spade's execution of his premise doesn't really work. Spade plays a former child star trying to reignite his career with a part in Rob Reiner's latest film, who tells him he's wrong for the part because he never had a real childhood, so he pays a troubled middle class family $20,000 to "adopt" him and teach him about being part of a family. The film opens strong with Dickie and his poker paying buddies who include Barry Williams, Dustin diamond, Leif Garrett, and Danny Bonaduce and it closes strong with a plausible happy ending and a hilarious parody of "We are the World" featuring over 30 former child stars, but everything in between is pretty stupid. 2.5