Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Flower
(2017)
3.75/5

I found this on my watchlist and I was wondering why I had placed it there, I must have been looking for films with Adam Scott starring in them. That had to the be the only reason. It wasn't a bad movie, actually pretty good. Of course, the same ol' troubled teen movie.



I just watched Tropic Thunder (8.5/10) for the second time, I still found it hilarious as I did when it first came out. I think it has some brilliant performances usually not found in absurd comedies, obviously Downey Jr. also Nick Nolte and Jack Black did nice work but I save the hightest praise for Tom Cruise. I have always felt he doesn't get the proper amount of love anymore because he seems a bit off but he's a top notch actor and this is some of my favorite work by him.

Yeah Cruise is hilarious in this. A lot of people like to hate on him because of some of his bizarre antics and Scientology nonsense but from what I've seen of him in interviews he seems like a thoroughly decent guy. He's also a criminally underrated actor, the biggest movie star of the past thirty years and his commitment to his films is legendary and laudable.



[Leave Her to Heaven] Oh yeah, she's a wickedly good femme fatale in this one...hope you love aqua
Man, you and Thunderbolt are playing music to my ears. Two great Tierney's! I'd forgotten that "Heaven" was in color. I think I'd have liked it in B&W better. But I'm not complaining...

I think Jose Ferrer really jumped into prominence in Whirlpool. Followed it up with "Cyrano". IMO one of his best is The Caine Mutiny (1954).

Have y'all listened to any of those TCM podcasts, The Plot Thickens? The current "season" is about Bogdanovich. You can listen online, or download the podcasts. It's free. Great stuff.



Mulholland Drive. (2001)

the story just disintegrates, morphing into a nonsensical tangent where nothing makes sense. Is Naomi Watts meant to be playing another character? Both characters? Is it a dream? A flashback? A flash forward? Who's the chick with the black hair? Very frustrating and disappointing.


I mean who makes a film like this?
This is not meant to sound at all condescending: have you watched a lot of Lynch's films?

Now, on a literal level, I think that you could take the first half as
WARNING: spoilers below
a fantasy in the head of the Watts character. In the first half, "Betty" is this fresh-faced actress who arrives in town and makes a big splash. Then when you get to the second half, the other character played by Watts is not successful and I believe she's betrayed by the other characters. So one way to read the film is that the first half is like a dying hallucination of the "real" actress, and then the second half is us watching her story up until the point she shoots herself.


I feel like any time a movie takes place in Hollywood, the question of "what is real?" hangs over the film. And in this film, Lynch pushes that idea to an extreme.

Often in Lynch's work, though, there are a lot of things that don't make sense. It's disorienting and illogical and I think that's sometimes the power of his films. They are upsetting not because he puts disturbing content on screen (like a graphic murder), but because he constantly frustrates the part of our "audience brain" that wants to wrap stories up in a neat bow and have everything make sense.



Suicide Commando (1968)
4.5/5

I had the pleasure to watch this film on a VHS, and there's something to be said about that. There are films like The Thin Red Line and Saving Private Ryan that benefit from HD transfers like DVD/Blu-Ray. They are essentially "designed" to look good and have quality audio... but then there's a film like Suicide Commando. It's based off a war novel I've never heard of and I imagine they got this novel at a dime store with it's cover badly damaged, the pages aged and missing, and with perhaps a few coffee stains to boot. Needless to say, a novel such as this and the rights to it were easily obtained. To watch something like this in the quality of VHS... *muah* bliss. I think if I had seen a restoration HD version of this film it may have scored lower. But there is something to be said about tape degradation and low-budget/cinema obscura.

...
Right. IMO it's very similar to preferring the style of old B&W films rather than modern color ones. And the music scores: I don't want to hear a remixed stereophonic update of the music. I enjoy it the old-fashioned way. To me certain music is better in mono-- even hearing snapping and occasional hissing. I like listening to early Jimmie Rodgers blues and yodel songs with the original recording techniques. Sounds more authentic.

~Doc



This is not meant to sound at all condescending: have you watched a lot of Lynch's films?

Now, on a literal level, I think that you could take the first half as
WARNING: spoilers below
a fantasy in the head of the Watts character. In the first half, "Betty" is this fresh-faced actress who arrives in town and makes a big splash. Then when you get to the second half, the other character played by Watts is not successful and I believe she's betrayed by the other characters. So one way to read the film is that the first half is like a dying hallucination of the "real" actress, and then the second half is us watching her story up until the point she shoots herself.


I feel like any time a movie takes place in Hollywood, the question of "what is real?" hangs over the film. And in this film, Lynch pushes that idea to an extreme.

Often in Lynch's work, though, there are a lot of things that don't make sense. It's disorienting and illogical and I think that's sometimes the power of his films. They are upsetting not because he puts disturbing content on screen (like a graphic murder), but because he constantly frustrates the part of our "audience brain" that wants to wrap stories up in a neat bow and have everything make sense.

No offence taken. Like I said this film is highly regarded by many so I'm quite open to the possibility that it's just me and my brain that is unable to appreciate it.


It's an interesting theory about the Betty character. My problem was the first half of the film seemed relatively "real", albeit a bit quirky and stylised with some eccentric characters, that's why it felt so jarring and frustrating when it veered away from reality in the second half. It felt like I was being betrayed and exploited.


This is my first David Lynch film and if this is symptomatic of his style then it may well be my last TBH. Not my taste.



Right. IMO it's very similar to preferring the style of old B&W films rather than modern color ones. And the music scores: I don't want to hear a remixed stereophonic update of the music. I enjoy it the old-fashioned way. To me certain music is better in mono-- even hearing snapping and occasional hissing. I like listening to early Jimmie Rodgers blues and yodel songs with the original recording techniques. Sounds more authentic.

~Doc
Precisely. This is the main reason I'm a transfer junkie. I have a collection of over 1,500+ films. But I own many of them in 2, 3, 4+ duplicates in some cases. It really all depends on what kind of experience I want.
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Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of 'Green'?

-Stan Brakhage



This is my first David Lynch film and if this is symptomatic of his style then it may well be my last TBH. Not my taste.
I would say that it's on the weirder side of his stuff. Lynch is a really talented storyteller, and he's much more than just "I'm weird to be EDGY!!!".

If you want a non-weird Lynch, I would highly recommend The Elephant Man. It is marvelously acted and wonderfully directed, and it's actually my favorite film of his. There's no "What is real?!??!" stuff. I haven't yet seen The Straight Story, but it is also a, well, straight story.

Going up the ladder of ones I have seen, Blue Velvet is weird but has an easier to follow central story.

Lost Highway is weird and has some of the not-explained stuff. It's probably my least favorite of his films, but it's not a bad movie.

Eraserhead is WEIRD. But, you know what, it's very clear from an emotional point of view. There's a mutant baby and a small woman who lives in a radiator, and yet I never felt like I wasn't able to "follow" the film.

If you want something where the weirdness nicely intersects with comedy, I can solidly vouch for the first season of Twin Peaks. (Warning: the show will make you hungry for pie.)



Mulholland Drive. (2001)

This is a weird one. Up until about 30 minutes from the end I thought it was a compelling, sinister, slightly disturbing film noir and I was intrigued to see how all the plot threads fitted together. But then the film just loses the plot... literally. I mean what the actual f**k? They open the empty little blue box and the story just disintegrates, morphing into a nonsensical tangent where nothing makes sense...
I seen that for the first time recently. My reaction was similarly to yours. I really enjoyed the movie until the very end when Lynch threw in everything but the kitchen sink. So many directors feel the need to GO BIG at the end, to me less is more. I would rated it at


Man, you and Thunderbolt are playing music to my ears. Two great Tierney's! I'd forgotten that "Heaven" was in color. I think I'd have liked it in B&W better
...Oh, oh! not Leave Her to Heaven the entire film is drenched in aqua. Tierney has at least 3 different outifts all in aqua...when we first meet her she's in an all aqua colored train cabin and most of the house has aqua colors. It's really a think of beauty. One would think Vincent Minnelli had a had in set design....But yeah usually I love B&W for old film noir.

I think Jose Ferrer really jumped into prominence in Whirlpool. Followed it up with "Cyrano". IMO one of his best is The Caine Mutiny (1954).
That might just be a 5/5 movie for me. So good! I need to check that out again one of these days.





Message Man
(2018)
3.75/5

My kind of action, bloody and violent.

WARNING: "My favorite scenes were" spoilers below
When their heads were exploding like crushed tomatoes from the gunshots.



You’re the disease, and I’m the cure.
An action movie classic. Seagal was never better. Gary Busey improves every film he's in by about 20%. He should be in everything.
Agreed.
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“I really have to feel that I could make a difference in the movie, or I shouldn't be doing it.“
Joe Dante



Crawl (2019)




Bad weather movies have always been a guilty pleasure of mine. Lately it seems filmmakers are adding another hook, like maybe a robbery going on during a storm. This time it's big ass crocodiles. They are fun ideas but they don't seem to be coming together well. This movie was pretty stupid and it seems Barry Pepper must be slumming. Not a bad watch if you just want some cheap thrills.



Wanna Date? Got Any Money?
Love Camp 7




Punk Vacation




Nightmare Sisters




What I watched today.Yes, I am obviously a man of culture.
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Buy a bag, go home in a box.



Ride Lonesome (1959) -

The Tall T (1957) -

Seven Men From Now (1956) -

Decision at Sundown (1957) -

Comanche Station (1960) -

Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) -

Westbound (1959) -




@Takoma11 inspired me to watch a film by Budd Boetticher, so I watched Ride Lonesome. The film was very good, but I disliked the rushed ending and ended up desiring more, so I thought what the hell, I'll watch more, and watched The Tall T, which turned out to be my favorite of all Budd Boetticher & Scott collaborations. Brutal and very gripping with Henry Silva playing one helluva bastard! I still craved for more, so I decided to watch all 5 remaining films. None of them topped the first two, but all were enjoyable watches. I watched 7 westerns in 2 days. I can't look at a western now! I need a break from the genre!
Hey Mr Minio, I'm confused - if you liked Ride Lonesome and The Tall T, why did you give them such low ratings?




The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

Entire trilogy

Wow, Bourne hits galactic levels of badass in this one (that Tangiers fight scene ). At some point toward the end I have to admit I had trouble suspending my disbelief ("c'mon this is impossible, this guy is not HUMAN!"), but hey who cares when the story is so damn entertaining.



Dr Alien (1989)

Pure late 80s cheese. Lots of plot essential nudity Highly enjoyable, the story itself is not that bad but it really is genuinely funny in a number of the scenes. Especially the ones where the "stalk" comes into view Remember renting this at the time....good harmless fun!




Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
if you liked Ride Lonesome and The Tall T, why did you give them such low ratings?
They were good, but not life-changing, or anything.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.