Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Nobody (2021)

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

I don't know about that; I mean, the information that Skyler kept secret can't really be compared to his transgressions, like when

Just watched Fantastic Beasts - 8/10

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
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Well, you see, you say it can’t, I’ve always felt ever since I first watched it that it can and it’s hypocritical. I’m not even talking about it from the inside the story viewpoint, just generally; yes, to me , I know people irl who died, had a heart attack and literally died from heartbreak when that happened to them.

(eg ‘90s post-Soviet countries and, well, anywhere after a political coup.

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

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

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

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

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

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

What a take!

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

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The second, and something I'm still thinking about, is the portrayal of Lisbeth. As the film went on, she started to become like the dark version of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, right down to .

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

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

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

By Suicide Squad Movie Poster (#24 of 49) - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50874280

Suicide Squad - (2016)

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

5/10


By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67214291

The Suicide Squad - (2021)

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

8/10

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Yes. And try and catch The Peacemaker series while you're at it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

75/100

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

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