Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Re-watch of a classic of French cinema.
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The Gunfighter (1950)

I decided to watch this based on the Personal Recommendation HoF discussions. It really reminds me of John Wayne's The Shootist and like that, it's above-average traditional western. A bit too much comedic (or at least too light-hearted) elements for my taste and I didn't particularly like Peck in the lead. The story is solid though, and that "young guns searching for fame by trying to kill a legend" is one of the better western tropes. This may even end up on my vote for the western countdown.

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Contagion 5/10
Started promising but seemed to lose itself in the third act, worth watching with everything that is occurring right now though
No way am I watching something like that specifically because of everything that is going on right now.
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Rules:
When women have a poet, they want a cowboy.
When they have a cowboy, they want a poet.
They'll say "I don't care if he's a poet or cowboy, so long as he's a nice guy. But oh, I'm so attracted to that bad guy over there."
Understand this last part, and you'll get them all.



Once Upon A Time In The West (1968)



Thought I would dig into an older flick tonight. I have seen The Good, The Bad and The Ugly so I was prepared for what I was getting into. A good old Western is always fun. Sometimes they can drag however. This one did pretty well with the pace being an older movie. Most of the older flicks drag to me. The plot in this film got sort of convoluted to me in some parts. Fonda and Bronson did wonderful in their parts, however the 3rd lead, who I didn't know his name did fine as well but I think the movie could have done without. His part just felt inconsequential in the end. I think if they ever remade it they should cut that part out or seriously rework it. Whenever he was on screen I was just thinking about the other two. If the movie was solely focused on Fonda, Bronson and the girl it would have flowed alot better and been more consistently interesting.

My god the score was amazing however. The two times towards the beginning of the movie Bronson was introduced by playing the hermonica were brilliant. I think they should have kept his character more mysterious. The beginning was crazy good how they set him up, but then I think they started to use him too much. I don't know what I am talking about ha. I just think it was a really good flick, but it feels like at the same time could really be improved upon. I think a remake would actually do this movie alot of good if it was reworked a bit.

Oh and the chick in the flick was an absolute babe. But that was another character that was weird to me. I could never tell her intentions in the movie as it was happening. Maybe a re-watch and all this stuff would go away but I do think it was a bumpy yet well done movie at the same time. Hard to pin point.

Anyways I'd give it like a 2.8 out of 5
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I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused

101 Favorite Movies (2019)



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Lawless (2012)


9.0 / 10
(
for the reviewing system)

Movie is gritty, but not overly so for the era and context. Crazy violent at what seems totally appropriate times, but some may find that a putoff; I don't, not because I particularly like crazy violent, but I'm fairly immune to it being a Tarantino fan (this is not a Tarantino movie). Solid 9, perhaps some kind of 9+, out of 10.

On top of that, I always find the moonshine business of the era to be a very interesting subculture.

Shia LaBeouf is distracting for me to watch though, because I'm well aware of the royal pain in the ass he is to his fellow actors, the directors, and everyone else around him during shooting.

WARNING: "Stay clear, because these really are" spoilers below
And I loved the side drama of the love interest, the law corruption, the psycho "law"man, the back and forth realization of the "real" law that the psycho lawman had gone too far, and the gathering of the others to try to run to the rescue. And I loved the unusual clumsy shootout at the end.....these days things are far too cliche in that regard.




Drive (2011, Nicolas Winding Refn)
+
My first time revisiting this since back in the day... Still dig the cinematography, the style, the understated vibe with all the long (almost overlong to the point of being awkward) pauses and silences, the open ending, and the score... what can I say, the score is just perfect. The violence still makes me squirm though, and the final face-off feels slightly underwhelming, but overall - a really strong film.





Still Walking (2008) - 7/10. Lovely movie. Almost all of the characters have a dark side. Wonderful dissection of human nature done in a mellow way. It's pretty well shot for a movie that is shot mostly indoors.
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My Favorite Films




Joe Begos, 2019


Got it after an article on the scream magazine, or fangoria, i don't know, anyway, it's a very specific kind of film, made for a specific audience, not my cup of tea like the british like to say. Metal as f%ck, blood, drugs, vulgarity, sex, screaming black-bloodshed hell, every possible filming angle with a kind of broken neon dark light that makes it hard to look at. The story: a female artist, painter, in los angeles is having a creative block, she calls her drug dealer, he sells her a dmt type of drug called bliss. The effects: a sort of raoul duke satanic drug where she turns into some kind of blood seeking vampire. Everything's good at the end, she was able to create again. I liked the ascetics, but it's becoming more of the same nowadays.



Charlie’s Angels-

Was not expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. Kristen Stewart is amazing as always. Sir Patrick Stewart is never not enjoyable. Not much of a plot but it was never really meant to be story heavy. A few good twists and turns. It was fairly funny and enjoyable throughout. Action was decently good. None of that shaky cam nonsense, fairly slick. A fun way to spend a quarantined evening.

8/10



Hmmm... it seems that I've missed another Cave / Hillcoat collaboration. Based on The Proposition I definitely need to watch this in the near future.

I liked it a lot more. For me, it's in top-5 films for 2019.



“Sugar is the most important thing in my life…”

Drive (2011, Nicolas Winding Refn)
+
My first time revisiting this since back in the day... Still dig the cinematography, the style, the understated vibe with all the long (almost overlong to the point of being awkward) pauses and silences, the open ending, and the score... what can I say, the score is just perfect. The violence still makes me squirm though, and the final face-off feels slightly underwhelming, but overall - a really strong film.




Combat Shock (1984)
aka American Nightmares

This one's pretty hard to rate. On one hand, I really like the concept and the utter hopelessness of the film. Then again, it's clumsy, awkwardly paced and badly acted (Frankie being the sole exception and he's just OK) on the level that clearly distracts the vision. Fortunately, I often prefer failure due to too high goals more than aiming low to be safe. It's definitely not for everybody, but it's one of the bleakest movies I know so it's got to count for something. The ending is so good that I have to round my rating up...




Legend in my own mind


Blinded by the light (2019)

Charming. Great sound track

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Combat Shock (1984)
aka American Nightmares

This one's pretty hard to rate. On one hand, I really like the concept and the utter hopelessness of the film. Then again, it's clumsy, awkwardly paced and badly acted (Frankie being the sole exception and he's just OK) on the level that clearly distracts the vision. Fortunately, I often prefer failure due to too high goals more than aiming low to be safe. It's definitely not for everybody, but it's one of the bleakest movies I know so it's got to count for something. The ending is so good that I have to round my rating up...

I've often wondered if movies should sometimes have two or more ratings. One if you take {A} into account. One if you take {B} into account. To me it sometimes seems a shame to average a movie to a single value.




The Art of Racing in the Rain (2019)

This is a delightful, humorous and touching film directed by Simon Curtis from a screenplay by Mark Bomback from the novel by Garth Stein.

The movie has no name stars, save Kevin Costner, who voices the thoughts of one of the star characters: a Labrador Retriever. The only other actor of note was Kathy Baker, who turns in a good portrayal as the mother-in-law.

Denny Swift is a race car driver who has a close relationship with his dog, Enzo. Enzo is proud to be owned by his master, and revels in their time together. He believes that when he dies he will be re-incarnated as a human being. Enzo watches a lot of TV and auto races. Eventually Denny meets and marries Eve, and Enzo finds himself competing for attention from Denny, until Eve and Enzo finally bond. A similar situation occurs when a daughter named Zoe is born.

Denny's career keeps improving and their family grows in closeness, until several dramatic events occur that change the dynamic, and put Denny at odds with his in-laws. The film builds to a climax after which we are treated to a very gratifying conclusion.

All the actors do fine work, both together and in ensemble, to the point where we forget that they're acting. Despite the unusual narrating of the dog's thoughts, it's a believable story. It's nice to see a well put together PG film, and to realize most movies used to be made this way-- a very pleasing 109 minutes.

Doc's rating: 8/10



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
The Amazing Spider Man (2012)

Annoying lead, a movie that can't decide if it copies the previous entries or if it creates something new and a weak villain. Emma Stone almost saved this but even those eyes didn't turn the film into something decent.

-

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Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Not a bad action film. It drags at some points, as all the others before did, and I always get the sense that some of the action scenes are too overdone. Still, it's way better than the second and not much worse than the first. Seymour Hofman does a tremendous job as the villain.

+

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The Princess Bride (1987)

It's one of the most beloved films around here, judging by its placement on the lists, and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about.
I kind of get it, especially to people who has seen this as a child for the first time. It has some funny moments but I couldn't really overcome how cheesy it really is. And the princess has to be the weakest leading lady ever. Inigo Montoya is a great character though!

+