Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Prey was a bop. I like a movie that does what it says on the tin, and this movie gives you just what you’re expecting. I could watch a dozen movies where Predators drop into human history to mess with people.

By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50759197

Moana - (2016)

I was thinking this Disney animated film was going to be reaching for clichés and trotting out derivative and tired songs - and the first 15 or so minutes wasn't impressing me - but then the colour and vibrancy mixed with some awesome musical choices and cultural inclusions got me on board, with the film getting better and better as it went along. It's nice to have non-white characters that highlight Polynesian culture and legends instead of a whitewashing free-for-all, and the animation is simply breathtaking. In fact, there's a lot about this film that puts it in 'top drawer' territory - it looks so incredibly beautiful I want to hang it on my wall, with the sparkling sea and all of it's treasures highlighted, along with a Polynesian island paradise that features nature's best assets. I was especially overjoyed by Jemaine Clement playing the giant crab creature in the Realm of Monsters - and hearing him sing took me back to Flight of the Conchords - but Auliʻi Cravalho leads well with Dwayne Johnson and Temuera Morrison. The Gods and legends on display make for a truly magical story - this wasn't the throwaway I feared it might be - in fact it was terrific.

8/10


By May be found at the following website: Disney Insider, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40060295

Saving Mr. Banks - (2013)

I was hoping I could get my mother to watch this before she passed away, but sadly that never came to fruition - it's just a movie I thought she would have really liked. Watching it again, I thought it could be seen as schmaltzy to someone in an unforgiving mood - despite it being about the making of Mary Poppins, and how there was depth beneath the schmaltz in that. Disney represents the worst in some respects - the cold corporate machine behind the toys and movies your children love, and it's impossible to take that out of the equation. It's why you can sit through a movie as good as Saving Mr. Banks and then, in spite of enjoying it, think "Screw that movie." There's love and emotionless capital mixed together, and it's often hard to separate the two - so cynics and romantics are both right. I was delighted by this the first time I saw it, and although I'm over the surprise and delight I still rank Saving Mr. Banks as good.

7/10

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I watched Moana last week, and I haven't been able to get this song out of my head:

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

So catchy! There were some great songs with inventive animation in that movie - I loved it.

3/10. DC movies always feel a little off to me. The script is usually the worst offender.

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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?

I knew it. I can spot them a mile away

American Psycho -

Gets worse every time I watch it. But that Jared Leto axe scene is primo.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

The above is a quote from Liāna Mihailova, a Latvian cinematographer and director who directed Vertigo, one of four Latvian animated short films I saw as part of my monthly challenge. More by chance than by design, the four short films I randomly chose were the first, and sometimes, the only project so far from all four filmmakers, which could explain the experimental and yes, weird nature of them.

There really isn't a clear or intentional narrative tie between them, considering I chose them at random, but the four showcase bizarre scenarios and unique animation styles. Like Mihailova said, these projects are learning opportunities to grow and develop, it seems, and they are all impressively done as far as the craft goes. The stories are mostly quirky and weird, but you can feel the heart and creative passion in all of them.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Who knew Mila Kunis could act. Good movie based on true events. A tad overwrought at times, but I enjoyed it.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Thank you to those who pointed out that I'd reviewed a long lost, previously unheard of film by the Marx Brothers called A Night at the Opear.

This movie had its problems, mostly rooted in the screenplay, but it's quite watchable and definitely Mila Kunis' strongest performance. Close is superb and I would have nominated her for this rather than for Hillbilly Elegy.

"You're welcome" was my favorite song in the movie and Dwayne nailed it.

By May be found at the following website: Disney Insider, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40060295

Saving Mr. Banks - (2013)

I was hoping I could get my mother to watch this before she passed away, but sadly that never came to fruition - it's just a movie I thought she would have really liked. Watching it again, I thought it could be seen as schmaltzy to someone in an unforgiving mood - despite it being about the making of Mary Poppins, and how there was depth beneath the schmaltz in that. Disney represents the worst in some respects - the cold corporate machine behind the toys and movies your children love, and it's impossible to take that out of the equation. It's why you can sit through a movie as good as Saving Mr. Banks and then, in spite of enjoying it, think "Screw that movie." There's love and emotionless capital mixed together, and it's often hard to separate the two - so cynics and romantics are both right. I was delighted by this the first time I saw it, and although I'm over the surprise and delight I still rank Saving Mr. Banks as good.

7/10[/quote]


I loved saving Mr Banks...I think Emma Thompson was robbed of an Oscar nomination. She was the anchor that made this movie work.

Loved this movie and really don't think it got the attention it deserved. Danie Day Lewis and Lesley Manville were brilliant.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Jeanne Dielman (Delphine Seyrig) is a widow who lives in an apartment with her teenage son (Jan Decorte) and supports herself in part through sex work. The film follows Jeanne through three consecutive days her her life as small fractures begin to appear in Jeanne's carefully regimented daily routines and rituals.

This was a rewatch, of course inspired by the Sight and Sound list, but also instigated by surprise that I didn't write up a review of this film when I watched it the first time.

If possible, this one was even better a second time around. While the film's narrative is, to say the least, minimal, knowing the broader beats of the story meant really being able to sink into the details that populate the film.

Anchoring the film is Seyrig's excellent performance as Jeanne. It's a performance that shows just enough, but matches the film itself in the way that it resists offering any simple insights into Jeanne's state of mind. Sure, we see the way that Jeanne pulls her hand away when one of her clients tries to hold it in a familiar way. But what is going through her mind as she tries (and fails) to soothe the baby she's watching for a neighbor? What is she thinking when the woman at the fabric store tells her that it's not good to just change one button--you have to change them all? Seyrig lets Jeanne rest on the perfect tipping point between poise and rigidity, and her actions between precision and compulsion. As the film goes on, she seems to skew more towards the latter, reaching out a hand to touch the mailbox when she leaves the apartment in an unplanned brief sojourn.

This time around I was very struck by the portrayal of the apartment itself and the way that the film plays with Jeanne's relationship to her space. As the camera is always static, Jeanne often wanders out of frame, giving you time to consider the various structures around her. This is only exacerbated by the detail that Jeanne turns the lights on and off every time she enters or leaves a room. While it may mainly serve to show her frugality, it often put me in mind of those display cases in museums where you push a button to illuminate a diorama. And on a different level, we see how the different spaces of the house match up with certain rituals. It's particularly striking to watch Jeanne take away her son's dirty clothing and then fold his bed away into a couch, essentially erasing him from the apartment until his return from school each day.

I really appreciated the way that the film builds a strong sense of unease, using the combination of what is shown and not shown to push us towards Jeanne's mindset. When, on the third day, Jeanne seems disgusted by a carafe of coffee, I immediately asked, "Wait, did she make the coffee this morning?" I knew we'd seen it on the second day, but did we see it on the third day? Did she not make it, or did we not see her make it? At times, watching the film gives you that "Did I lock the door?" or "Did I turn off the oven?" sensation. The length of the sequences and the similarities between the three days at times make it hard to remember which actions happened on which day. We get some small taste of the way that even a small deviation in her daily routine can throw Jeanne's whole day off track.

Lastly, the film presents some interesting questions about what it means to perform intimate/familial duties as labor. There are two kinds of intimate labor that Jeanne does in the film: the "free" labor that she performs for her son like making his meals, taking care of his clothing, and giving him money to spend. The other labor that she performs is for others, such as watching her neighbor's baby and, of course, her sex work. Jeanne is notably emotionally detached through much of the film. Has she always been this way, or is it a way of living that she uses to disconnect from the discomfort of having sex with men she does not love (or even like) and caring for an infant that isn't her own? While she is paid for her sex work, we see the men take liberties, such as holding her hand and, later, refusing to get off of her when she tries to push him away. The line between Jeanne as a person and Jeanne as a product is constantly being blurred. Her rituals provide a scaffold for her, but such a rigid way of living is punishing when things get off track.

I thought that the film's runtime would be a bit painful with the novelty of a first viewing out of the way, but if anything I was more engrossed this time and I was shocked at how fast the whole thing flew by. There are so many little details, little gestures to pick out. The most mundane thing that she does is layered with meaning, whether that's cleaning out the bathtub, reaching (inexplicably?) for her top pocket, or smoothing out the bedding on her bed.

I felt so in sync with the film this time around. Even as Jeanne and her motivations or emotions were hidden or ambiguous at times, there was an innate logic to everything that happened that made everything that went wrong for Jeanne feel at once avoidable and inevitable.

King of Chinatown (1939)


Ah wow, I love me a classic noir from the 1930's; this one stands out by featuring Anna May Wong during a brief period in Hollywood history when Asian-American actors were allowed to speak in normal English. It's an amazing snapshot of 1930's San Francisco, it's just classic grimy noir.

Summer Stock (1950)

"HOW CAN A WEEK GO SO QUICKLY?"
"WE MADE THE MISTAKE OF ENJOYING OURSELVES"

Stanley Donen's 'Two for the Road' is a cynical but possibly accurate take on marriage and the sacrifice it takes. Part road movie, part flashback relationship drama - It's very witty in places due to the razor sharp dialogue, mostly coming out of Albert Finney's mouth and surely influenced great filmmakers like Mike Leigh, Rob Reiner (The Sure Thing has so much in common with this film) and Wes Anderson. The photography, colour and wardrobe choices all brilliantly capture the late 60s too especially where beautiful Audrey Hepburn is concerned.



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Another sumptuous Almodovar. Will be in the running for one of the best films of the year. Penelope Cruz is outstanding, the colours in the film mean so much - (E.g.: fore-shadowing grief, fertility or danger).

The film isn't just about the two mothers. It's about the injustices of the Spanish civil war. How Almodovar weaves the two into one film is nothing short of miraculous. Almodovar is a genius.

I'm with you, I had fairly low expectations and got them trounced. This really is this type of movie at or near its best and I felt, culturally, it even transcended a bit, feeling, in a couple of moments, a bit more like something like Kubo and the Two Strings than standard Disney fare.