Rate The Last Movie You Saw

PTU -

If one reason you keep coming back to Johnnie To is Lam Suet, this should be the next one you watch. While typically in bit or character parts, he gets a complete arc here as Lo Sa, a sergeant who loses his firearm while pursuing Triads down an alley, a blunder that gets the titular squad involved in retrieving it. What follows is essentially what would happen if Johnnie To made a "one crazy night" movie, and if you're guessing it would be awesome, you would be right.

So, you may be asking, "doesn't a 'one crazy night' movie feature a bunch of young people having a wild time" a la Adventures in Babysitting and Booksmart? That is the genre's norm, but since this one occurs over one night, is in real time and, well, gets a little crazy, I think it qualifies despite no parties breaking out. Hong Kong is the setting, but it's closer to Hong Kong than movie Hong Kong, if you will. Other action movies from the city show its grit and grime, but there are more unflattering locations in this one than you may be used to, kicking off with its filthiest alley, not to mention most slippery, which Lo Sa discovers the hard way. While Lam Suet's sergeant is yet again bumbling, the butt of jokes, etc., he is not all the time. Again, he's afforded more dignity, humanity and dimensions than usual and the actor pulls it off beautifully. One scene in particular where he wrestles with making a deal with the triads to get his gun back may be one of the best acted scenes in a Johnnie To movie. From moments like this to others involving torture and removing crime scene evidence, the movie's claims that the thin blue line is indeed thin are never not dramatic or intense. There is more suspense than action here than usual, but in typical fashion, it saves the best action for last. Besides, this does not mean the suspense is dull: I could have watched the PTU climb the stairs to one of the triads' suspected hideouts for another 20 minutes. It amounts to more proof that few directors understand what it's like to be in the Hong Kong police force as well as Johnnie To does and that none of his tales about them would be the same without Lam Suet. Let's just hope to makes another one where his name is above the title on the poster some day.

SF = Z

Viewed: Netflix





[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

Two brothers, who are both criminals, fight over the same women. She only loves one and will do most anything to be with him. Sam (D'Onofrio) and Jjaks (Reeves) have always competed as brothers. This time it's over Sam's new bride, Freddie (Diaz), who was forced to marry him due to a debt she had to pay to Sam's boss, who is a crime lord.

This is a cute unknown film in my book until recently. D'Onofrio is always pleasant to see on the screen. He's one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. Reeve's character is adorable and very loveable for seeming a bit simple-minded. They are the main two reasons I wanted to see this film.

This is the only romance/crime film I can stand Keanu's acting. I think he's terrible at romance films but this one, his character is adorable as stated above.

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90's Redux Seen: 18/34
My List 2/25
#12 The Crow
One Pointer: The Polar Bear King

Зной (1963) - Larisa Shepitko: 6/10

By Lionsgate - Internet Movie Database, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77273409

Never Let Go - (2024)

Never Let Go doesn't succeed in all departments, but it surely delivers the chills and at times really gave me what's commonly referred to as "the willies". In fact, there's an awful unexpected (and appropriately frightening) scare around a minute or two in that sets the scene for how wonderfully freaky the scary stuff is in this. One overriding question dominates proceedings - a mother played by Halle Berry directs her two young sons to never let go of a rope connected to their house deep in the wilderness because of some evil that's infested the entire world - it will get them if they "let go". Now, is she crazy? One son thinks she is, because the two kids never actually see what their mother sees, and the other is a true believer. As the three of them begin to starve, familial conflict makes their situation more fraught. The metaphorical ideation behind all of this is obvious, but it does fall apart a little as the movie really wants to have things both ways. It desperately wants to have it's cake and eat it too - to add another, unneeded but pointed cliché. Everybody hates this movie - except me*. They hate it. If you go for this movie because of me, remember that I warned you. But man, I was into this from start to finish. The two little kids they got are phenomenal child actors, and there's an ethereal atmosphere that maintains itself throughout - as much as this felt a little (read : a lot) like an M. Night Shyamalan movie.

*Maybe it has something to do with my mother.

7/10

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After Life (1998) - Ah, one of those. First film in a long time that had me smiling from start to finish. What else could I do, facing such relentless waves of imagination and kindness?..... really the only thing that might stand in one's way from enjoying this IMO is if they actively resist even entertaining of the idea that an afterlife exists.

it's a work that consistently charms the viewer as it milks every drop of its concpt and I found myself especially engaged during the first half as I was actively looking for the answers through my own memories while the interviewees were asked to do their own on the screen... also surprising is how the 3rd act becomes abou the interviewers and I realized how slowly we had grown to care for them as well, so much so to feel sad when a depature happens....
Not to be missed. 9/10.

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HEI guys.

K-On! The Movie (2011)


A classic indeed. K-On anime franchise is the ultimate highschool nostalgia: perfectly expected and animated. 10/10

I'm definitely a fan. Have been since I saw it in the theater, then on the cable, then on VHS, then on DVD. It's been a few years.
"No gun, no respect. That's why I always got the gun."

The Player (1992)



Both wiki and IMDB describe it as a satirical black comedy but there's nothing particularly satirical or funny about what happens on screen.
But even if it is the satire that I just "didn't get" then I must say that Hollywood was already an easy and cliché target in the 1990s.
To me it looks like a Columbo episode without the detective, perhaps with a touch of noir, but the crime and mystery aspects are too much underplayed to make it an intriguing thriller.

One thing that several of Altman films have in common is that they're difficult to categorise, but whereas Nashville cleverly mixes an abundance of genres, The Player looks unique for the absence of genres. Not necessarily a bad thing, and for quite a while I was wondering what kind of film I was watching so I guess that also classifies as "intrigue".

Cinematically it has the Altman trademark of brilliantly executed crowd scenes with overlapping dialogue that would otherwise look very confusing and annoying if it had been done by someone else.
The sets, fashions and hairdos are kinda boring but that's what the late 80s / early 90s looked like so I guess there's no one to blame.
There are some interesting and surprising sound effects (e.g. the love making scene) and the episode at the police station looks positively surreal. I would have liked to see a little bit more of that. Luckily, that happened two years later in The Hudsucker Proxy.

Actors walk-in cameos was nothing new in 1992 but this film takes it to the next level, and if they're not on screen then they're being name-dropped.
Sorry, but this just doesn't work for me at all. The only part that I like happens in the last act when we see Bruce Willis and Julia Roberts in a fake movie.

The feeling is neutral, I don't love it but I don't regret watching it.

I enjoyed this. Two female leads very good.



Fell asleep & missed some of the middle part.
Didn’t feel like tackling this again, but what I did see, I enjoyed.

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

This has been a favorite of me and my people since it came out. I guess we found it both satirical and funny.

I want to see Altman's Short Cuts, 3 Women and A Cold Day In The Park but they're hard to find, even on DVD.

It’s very disturbing when classic movies & tv slowly disappear.

Short Cuts and 3 Women are amazing.

1st Rewatch....Tim Burton followed up his smash hit with Nicholson and Keaton with this film that has a lighter tone than the '89 film and the absolute bonkers performances by Danny DeVito as the Penguin and MMichelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman help to make this film just as good as the first one.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade follows the titular hero (Harrison Ford) as he sets out to find his estranged father (Sean Connery), and by proxy try to find the Holy Grail that he has been obsessed with for decades. Things are complicated when they realize that the Nazis, as usual, are looking for the same things.

Although it never reaches the levels of the original, it does have a lot of strengths. It has an exciting opening, the addition of Connery is a big plus and his chemistry with Ford is undeniable. It also has a good amount of thrilling and effective action setpieces, even if some of them feel like they are tacked on (the zeppelin ride is one that I feel we could've done without).

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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1st Rewatch...I always thought it was kind of stupid when TV characters like Kramer on Seinfeld claim to be scared of clowns, but then I think about Pennywise. Stephen King's story first came to television screens back in 1990 as an ABC miniseries shown in two parts. This 2017 re-imagining of the story concentrates on the backstory which only took about 40 minutes of the miniseries. In the first of two films, a little boy named Georgie is lured into a sewer by a clown named Pennywise, who then begins haunting Georgie's older brother Billy and six other so-called "losers" in the fictional town of Derry, scaring the bejesus out of these kids while, not realizing it, teaching these kids how to escape the private hells in which they are all living and that the way to fight them and Pennywise is by sticking together. Director Andy Muschietti, with the aid of some superb camera work, editing, visual effects and music, has offered a pretty scary story rich with effective surface "boos", but they don't really have a lot behind them in terms of logic. We have a terrific horror film here that works as long as you don't think about it too much. Bill Skarsgaard is excellent as Pennywise, but I still think Tim Curry was better in the miniseries. Followed by a sequel.

1st Rewatch...Bette Davis' Oscar-nominated performance is pretty much the only reason to give this one a look. This overheated melodrama stars Davis as Margaret Elliott, an Oscar-winning actress in denial about the fact that her career is circling the drain. After being arrested for drunk driving, Margaret is bailed out by Jim Johanssen (Sterling Hayden) a former actor who Margaret got a part opposite her in a movie many years ago that bombed. After which, Jim gave up acting and now works as a boatbuilder and has never forgotten Margaret. Davis' effectiveness here might have do with how close this story mirrored Davis' own career at the time. She couldn't get arrested in Hollywood after All About Eve and did a lot of potboilers like this one before her big comeback in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?. Davis is always worth watching and Hayden is kind of sexy as Johanssen and a young Natalie Wood makes the most of her role as Davis' daughter.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his family as they are inadvertently sucked into the Quantum Realm. While down there, they discover a subatomic world controlled by Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), an exile that shares a past with Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). It is up to Scott and Co. to face off against him and defeat him before he finds a way to get out; or should he get out?

For all its faults, Quantumania still manages to be a fairly entertaining and engaging film. This is thanks mostly to the chemistry between the characters, which includes Kathryn Newton stepping up as Scott's daughter, Cassie. But most importantly, it is thanks to Majors menacing performance as Kang. As the MCU moves on past him, only fate and time will tell if he was the only shot they had.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot