Rate The Last Movie You Saw

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016, Dan Trachtenberg)


A potentially strong movie with an interesting premise ruined by a ludicrously anticlimactic ending. Still pretty good for the most part.

The Lego Batman Movie

A Cure for Wellness. An ambitious young executive is sent to the Swiss Alps to try and bring back his company's CEO, who is refusing to leave a luxury health farm. But following a car accident, he finds himself unable to leave and increasingly cut off from the outside world, and becomes more and more convinced that this "health farm" is hiding some very dark secrets... This creepy weirdo modern thriller was a rather delightful surprise and really entertaining and engrossing in spite of its rather long running time. I was particularly happy to see the film refusing to go to some by now tired cliche ending (where the "twist" is that the main character is just losing his mind and imagining all the sinister goings-on) and instead delivers a proper (if warped as hell) plot and plunge into full-on horror territory in the last act. Really enjoyed this!
And the young woman in it bugged the hell out of me until I realised it was the teenage runaway who was targeted as a potential witness by the serial killing "Truth Terrorist" in season 1 of The Tunnel!

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

A fun-filled second installment featuring the Guardians, with all kinds of action and comedy and yes, even a bit of drama. Star-Lord or Peter Quill, whichever you choose (played by Chris Pratt) is probably the main focus of this one, as mainly focused as you can be when ships are flying, explosions are happening, monsters are threatening, etc. etc. But he and his motley crew are saved during a space battle by Ego (Kurt Russell), who, no spoiler because it's in the trailers for the movie, turns out to be Peter's long-missing father. Ego supposedly has been searching for Peter after giving him over to Yondu (Michael Rooker) when Peter was young. Great gobs of the movie deal with Peter and Ego and their relationship but there's also Gamora (Zoe Saldana) dealing with her hateful sister Nebula (Karen Gillan); Drax (Dave Bautista) making friends with Ego's assistant, Mantis (Pom Klementieff); Baby Groot (voice of Vin Diesel) trying to be a contributing part to the team despite being very small; and lastly we have Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper) doing his usual mayhem and thievery and being more surly than usual, much to the anger of his shipmates.

Tons of action that might make you cross-eyed if you try to catch everything whizzing by, but the special effects are fine...I especially enjoyed the fireworks-in-space funeral of a character near the movie's end. Everybody does a great job in their roles, and Sylvester Stallone even shows up as a former cohort of Yondu. Lots of tidbits and characters show up and you may have to look fast to catch them. There are, I think, five after-credits scenes, so stick around, but if you're a Marvel movie fan, you don't have to be told. Oh yeah, the soundtrack once again is great!





Starter for 10 (2006)

Fun, smooth little flick with James McAvoy as Brian, a young man from humble roots who tries to make his way in his first year at Bristol University. He soon ends up on a college quiz team, where his teammates learn how intelligent he is. He sets his cap for one of the team members, Alice (Alice Eve), who may or may not be interested in him. The team captain, Patrick, is played uptight by a very good Benedict Cumberbatch. who clashes with McAvoy at times, threatening the upcoming quiz contest, to be televised. Alice also distracts McAvoy, as does his somewhat hooligan friend Spencer (Dominic Cooper), his mother, played by Catherine Tate, who upsets McAvoy because she has found romance with another man after being widowed for a while. Many things make Brian distracted and doubting himself. There is also Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), a political student who may not be as uptight as she seems. I truly liked this movie---I'd not heard of it and gave it a shot and ended up loving it. A great cast truly makes this movie.

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) -
The Hallow (2015) -
The Damned United (2009) -


Side note. Currently on Season 4 Episode 4 of Breaking Bad. Really is worthy of the hype.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

The Silence of the Lambs won the "Big Five" Awards at the Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay, making it 1 of only 3 films to be able to accomplish that feat. Impressive and worthy, as Silence of the Lambs was ahead of its time, laying the foundation for crime thrillers we see today.

Serial killer Buffalo Bill has claimed another victim and the FBI agent in training Clarice Starling is tasked with interviewing a cannibalistic serial killer who might have insight into the mind of Bill.

In a role the defined his career, Anthony Hopkins defined the role of Hannibal Lecter, once played by Brian Cox. Some people may forget the Cox originated the role because Hopkins delivers a chillingly still performance that is cemented in Hollywood forever. When we first are introduced to him, he's standing in his cell, behind a pane of glass. Here's a man confined to one room, yet gives off the impression and demeanour of commanding everything and everyone around him. His words are his weapons now and he spars calmly with Starling in her quest to find out who Buffalo Bill is. Lecter knows, but he prefers the interaction with Starling far more and will use this as his opportunity to possibly escape. I can't stress how great I think Hopkins is in this film. Watch how carefully and purposely he chooses to pronounce his words, it immediately takes a hold of you and lets you know that HE is actually in charge, despite his current physical predicament. His eyes, always focused and his posture, always perfect.

Jodie Foster had been around for a long time before Lambs came out, she was a young teenage prostitute in Scorsese's Taxi Driver. When we are first introduced to her, she's training outside at Quantico. When she is called in to the FBI director's office, Demme has a shot of her in an elevator with all these guys who are taller than her. Showing not only her spot on the totem pole, but the uphill battle she faces as a woman. Why of all people is she being picked to interview Lecter? Knowing there must be ulterior motives, she still uses the opportunity to overcome it. Foster brings Southern strength to the character, showcasing her determination and willpower to get the job done. Her interaction with Hopkins are highlights for the film.

Demme has created a concise and controlled psychological thriller that has been copied over and over again. The Silence of the Lambs launched the careers of everyone involved and holds up incredibly well today. I do wish I could chat about this film longer, but I'm having an old friend for dinner...

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Such a well written and concise show.

Agree. The detail and depth of each character is so impressive. Each one is so interesting they literally could have made a spin off of many of them and I would still tune in. At present Mike is currently my favourite.

Violent Streets

I wish it was me going through BB for the first time. I have watched the series twice now. I'm beginning to itch for a third run-through.

Loved season 4, looking forward to hear your comments on the final few episodes of that season.

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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Good step for Tina Fey, but still by the numbers over all. Not comedic enough to be funny, and too safe to be dramatic. Watch and forget. Grab Good Morning Vietnam again, instead.


yay!
My first popcorn icon thingy!!!

I enjoyed WTF but it helped that I watched it simply because I'm interested in the subject matter and hadn't seen the trailer until after, which I thought was an unbelievably stupid marketing mistake on their behalf. I didnt even know Tina was in it, but I thought she did a great job, but as a whole I dont think the film makers knew what genre they wanted to go for. Definitely not a comedy like the trailer makes out.

The jokes were so crude and juvenile in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot that I shut it off after only 10 minutes.

I dont even remember any jokes, to be honest. A couple of light moments but to me it was just pretty much a war correspondent film with some wishy washy chick flic stuff. Do you mean the scene at the beginning in the boardroom? I cant even remember what was said other than I thought her delivery was good but I certainly didnt laugh. One thing I do remember is I thought Molina was a really poor choice for Massoud and his portrayal was totally clownish, but you wouldnt have made it that far. Could have been a really good war drama but misses the mark and fell flat. I havent read the book, though. Maybe she wanted it to be a light drama.

Yeah I think so, it's been a long time since I didn't see it. It did seem like they were in a room with a bunch of people so that was probably where I shut it off.

I vaguely recall a woman was chosen to go to afghanistan and she started bawling so Tina;s character volunteered and made some jab. Wasnt particularly funny. All the 'humour' was in the trailer to market it as a comedy. Will have to go back for another look. As ynwtf said, looking for good humour in a hard hitting war corro movie get GMVietnam instead.

I actually wanted a hard hitting war correspondent movie, but at least in the first 10 minutes it seemed pretty dumb.

American Beauty (1999) -

So darkly funny. One of those films I can rewatch over and over again

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Letterboxd

I just watched the trailer again for the boardroom scene. Yep, not funny - just slapstick to set the light mood IMO. I remember some people on imdb being highly offended but I just went with the flow and was entertained, but not enough to convince my husband to watch it. As I said in an earlier posts, just doesnt know what it wants to be. One of those movies that feels 'confused'. Poor editing maybe?