Rate The Last Movie You Saw

You would/will be, trust me. Too many quick cuts for you for sure. It's the new Superman movie.

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Letterboxd

“Except for markf, you’re all a disgrace to cinema.”

Oh...yup you're right.

Its his own fault, he shoulda learned. That superhero film paycheck must have been calling to him, as after Argo and Gone Baby Gone, wow did he take a dip in quality with this pick.

No, it's the new Batman movie.

Don't talk back to your elders.

A Brighter Summer Day
An incredible film that's extremely powerful, honest and heartbreaking.The type of cinema that makes we wonder what I would even do without films in my life. A compelling, thematically rich masterpiece and one of the greatest films of the 1990's. Can't wait to revisit this again.

The House is Black *
Decided to revisit this one, as I hadn't seen it in quite some time. It's a very good short film, doesn't surprise me that it is regarded as well as it is. I don't adore it, but I can appreciate its significance.

4:44 Last Day on Earth
The editing and photography are terrible, yet I can't help but sort of like this one. It's an interesting take on the "end of the world" scenario. It's a nice companion piece to New Rose Hotel. Not one of Ferrara's best, but it is worth checking out at least once.

7/10

That moment in BvS when Bruce Wayne's colleague asks Bruce if he should evacuate the building and at that very moment Bruce is telling him to leave, the colleague looks outside and sees a building falling down. and then says "come on let's go, boss says we need to leave". As if what he just witnessed literally did not provoke a fearful thought?

Pretty Woman was just on telly.


Not my sort of thing but 'know, I forgot how feel good that movie is.

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Likely going to watch this tomorrow or Saturday. I saw it about a year ago when the only version available was VHS quality, very much lacking in image quality and contrast, and with very large mandarin and english subtitles that were very obtrusive. Very excited to revisit the new print, which looks beautiful.

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Mubi

Poor Ben. Did you see the recent interview he was part of that has gone viral thanks to some tinkering? Absolutely heartbreaking!

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Wild Strawberries - 10/10

One of my favorite movies. Third time watching. Very philosophical, honest, and the trip itself is a vehicle for random relationships between strangers.

The end was so great when Isak's housekeeper makes a flirtatious remark, I actually clapped the first time I saw it. I'm sure some of his unhappiness results from the loss of his wife, and his bad relationships with the only people close to him. Maybe this is why he takes his career seriously, since it's the only place he is respected. But at that age, Isak starts to think about everything.

Isak and daughter-in-law come out with it, and realize they don't quite like each other, but that even changes.

I think the dream sequences, past experiences, and the current are made pretty clear, and essential to the story. I love when Isak can't understand compassion.

Since it's in the watch list, did anyone notice the "homage" to Fellini in "La Strada" - when the watch stops ticking? (I don't wanna say too much about it) with Basehart and then Isak.

Anyway, going to keep this brief, as I don't wanna say too much. This was on TCM, and perhaps it's ON-DEMAND?

Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice

In order to start this review off proper, I want to admit something I wouldn't normally profess in public. And to that I say yes, I am a Zack Snyder apologists. I didn't enjoy Sucker Punch at all, and I never watched his animated film that involved owls? Regardless, Watchmen remains the slice of pop brilliance that it is, 300 remains an extremely bloody, macho affair. And his remake of Dawn Of The Dead is still one of my favorites in the zombie genre.

His skillful directing in each of these films show themselves sporadically throughout this film. Take the intro for instance, when Bruce's parents are murdered. I know people were thinking that they'd seen Bruce's parents get killed for the umpteenth time, but when Bruce's father puts his arm around Bruce and clenches his fist, making his leather glove tighten up, I knew this was gonna be a Snyder film. Then when the gun goes off in slow-mo and the bullet shell pops out with that noir-ish feel, I really knew. And I got excited.

But some moments (laughably) lack critical thinking among some of these characters. As I've mentioned in a prior post, the moment I knew this film was gonna have editing issues is when seeing Jack (Bruce's colleague in Wayne Tower) evacuating his floor after Bruce gives him the go-ahead? This makes no sense considering the destruction happening outside literally before his own eyes.

And to some this might make or break the film, but at the end of my day I know dressing up as a bat and running around a city is ultimately silly. So a few silly editing mistakes I looked past. This isn't to say I still have NO problems with it, cause I do. The big moment, the money shot, the words you uttered to your fellow box office worker, almost does not pay off. Batman beats Superman in a good (to great) fight but it lasts less than 10 minutes. And then a bigger threat comes in to play which honestly could've been handled much better.

Doomsday was very much shoe-horned into the film to show a greater climax involving not just Batman or Superman, but Wonder Woman as well who I thought could've had more screen time, but she was kick-a**. Eisenberg as Luthor (Lord, forgive me) was great. I really enjoyed his performance. If he gets a razzie nom, I'll never understand why. And Ben Affleck, most people agree, played an excellent Batman. His brooding stature and extreme method of crime fighting is wonderful to see come alive on screen.

All In All, Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice is better than what you've been reading, or maybe it isn't. It's all subjective. Mr. Snyder hits it out of the park again and I'm more excited about the DC universe than I've ever been. Sorry, haters!

You should, it's really good.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show Always a fun watch. I'll admit that I don't think I love it as much as most people who frequently rewatch it-the first half is 11/10 stuff, but after Meat Loaf's death the plot drags and the song rate slows down.

Tyler Perry Presents Peeples Nothing special, but I did like it. It's helped by the fact that Tyler Perry is just the lead producer. He doesn't direct it, so it's competent, he doesn't write it, so it's occasionally funny, and he doesn't star in it, so the cast is charismatic. Craig Robinson is very good in it. It's a bit mean spirited for my tastes. It's basicslly Meet the Parents with black people, but I don't remember the dad being so unlikable in Meet the Parents, and he definitely is unlikable here. Contrary to the title, not really a Tyler Perry movie, so watch it if his name was holding you back, because it has merit.

Kingsman: The Secret Service This is a very visual experience. The action scenes are brilliant, and there is a lot of visual humor. The excessive violence isn't bad because you're not supposed to take it seriously, so things like exploding heads can work as jokes. It also might have been even better on mute. I don't dislike the movie, it's a great technical achievement, but I hate the script. It goes in a million different directions, and then settles on the least interesting one-a fish out of water taking out a super villain bent on taking over the world. The entire first half is a training montage, and the sky dive, while great, ends in a way that removes all stakes from the rest of the training. The most interesting characters in the beginning, Colin Firth and the love interest, are both completely wasted in the second half. Part of me wants to give it a higher rating based on how much I enjoyed it, but it's not a great film and could have been great with only a few easy changes.

The Walk Very similar to Kingsman for me. It's a great technical accomplishment with a weak screenplay that I really enjoyed but wouldn't call a great film. Advantage Walk in Joesph Gordon-Levitt's performance. The wig and accent are kind of goofy but you get used to it, and JGL is so great at becoming this character. He gave his all into this portrayal. You know he's a great actor because he overcame the major external limitations with internal talent. He has an interesting character. Everybody else in the movie has a single trait that you know them by. The plot takes some jumps and then fills in the gaps with nearly constant narration, which was lazy. The first act is kind of bad, but the heist is a lot of fun and the visuals during the actual walk are outstanding.

The Hunted (2003)


The climax of this movie contains the following:
- Two guys in a race for time stopping to craft artisanal knives
- Jungle booby traps a la Predator (1987)
- "Tommy Lee Jones" bungee jumping a waterfall
- You guessed it: a knife fight

http://letterboxd.com/redwell/film/the-hunted-2003/

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Earthlings (2005)

Disappointed in this one.Overall it felt very lazy. Shocking images are included sure but the footage was obviously just picked from random places on the internet and nothing new was added or discussed on. Joaquin Phoenix narration also got very tiresome and along with background music from Moby it felt like a lot longer than the 1hour 35mins runtime.

No idea how this is sitting at 8.7 on IMDB.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Now there's a movie I do not want to see.

I agree. Gave it the same rating.

It gives you an idea of what is going on and how things are done. But the specifics are missing, the analyzis and study of the material is missing. It does feel lazy and like an easy attempt to slap some grusome stuff in one's face and make you blind to the fact there's very little to it other than just that.

Lazy indeed.