Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Ema

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A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. Heinlein

No Time for Sergeants (1958)

The ventriloquist's dummy was probably my favorite.

One thing that kept me from rating it higher was that, while the stories themselves were overall quite entertaining, I thought weaving that anthology element into the central plot detracted somewhat from the creepiness potential set up by that opening sequence - all those people each telling a story felt a bit too contrived and convenient - you see what I'm saying? It felt a tad like structure for structure's sake, and it took me out of the film a little bit. I wondered if it would actually have been better to just further develop and flesh out that opening idea without the anthology element.

Outpost (2020)

Strong film about the Battle of Kamdesh in Afghanistan. Perhaps what is interesting (rather than the battle scene, which is fine) is the politics of leaving such a small, barely supported (in manpower and provisions) unit to the prey of the Taliban. Not a rant, just curious that the most powerful Army on the globe would allow the circumstances.

Good solid performances and, as stated, a creeping inevitability that when the Unit are just about to be withdrawn from the front line they will be left exposed. Un-fussy direction that gives us good understanding of the Soldiers' individual and collective motivations.

I think of the wrap-around segment as basically being one of the entries in the film. And despite not liking the golf segment very much, I did appreciate that this is kind of what happens when a group of people each tell a story/joke/whatever, namely that they kind of vary and match the personality of the person telling it.

I see what you're saying, but I also wonder if the premise of the opening sequence would have sustained itself through a full run time. It's effective as basically 15 minutes of screen time, but I'm not sure how it would fare for longer.

La Ronde, 1950

This film is comprised of a series of love/sex themed vignettes in which a character from each vignette appears in the next one: a prostitute goes off with a soldier, the soldier picks up a chambermaid, the chambermaid hooks up with her young employer, the young man starts an affair with married woman, the married woman has an intense bedtime conversation with her husband, the husband hooks up with a young woman, the young woman is in love with a writer, the writer is in love with an actress, the actress invites a soldier up to her bedroom, and then the soldier ends up with the prostitute who started everything.

The whole film has a lighthearted tone, but through its humor it also tackles some interesting topics, such as the double standards around sex regarding men and women. The very middle of the film--the sequence that is just a conversation between the husband and wife--is where the movie dives most deeply into this. The scene follows the wife's attempted liaison with the young man, something that doesn't end well when he cannot get an erection. (He suggests that instead of sex they might "hold each other and cry" for several hours--and the look on her face when he makes this "romantic" suggestion is one of the funniest things in the film). Laying in separate beds, the wife is lectured by her husband about why it's okay that their marriage is basically sexless. He says that women should feel sorry for men because women "get to" stay virgins before marriage while men "have to practice" on prostitutes and "immoral women." He lambastes any women who would cheat on her husband (while admitting that he had an affair with a married woman), and that there can't be real love without "truth and purity". This scene is, of course, immediately followed by him having sex with a 19 year old in a restaurant.

The film acknowledges the double standard, but seems willing to laugh at it. The wife isn't seen as being wrong for wanting sex outside of her marriage, especially when her husband unabashedly does the same thing. Despite the film's summary frequently referring to the female characters as being "seduced", it's pretty clear that the men and women in the film are equal partners (the husband and the 19 year old is maybe the only relationship that feels a bit off, though the woman seems to know exactly what she's doing). There's a really nice echo to the wife's melancholy in the character of the soldier--he really likes the actress, but she's only interested in sex and rebuffs any attempt to make their relationship a romance. The encounter with the prostitute, despite them liking each other, leaves him feeling even more alone.

It's a fun concept/structure, and the actors all give very good performances. The film has a sense of humor, but considering the era in which it was made, I was impressed with the empathy that it showed towards characters like the prostitute and the young mistress and the distinction it's able to make between the young man's off-putting notions of romance and the soldier's desire for a genuine emotional connection.

#ALIVE (NetFlix, 2020)


If you have some time to spare... I kinda liked the duo dynamic.

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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?

Finally saw Spartacus. While the action scenes seemed just a wee bit dated, everything else (including the grand scale of production) is good. I just found it enthralling, especially the politics of Rome. I am half tempted to watch the series or better still pick up a book on Gracchus or Crassus.


Also, if I hadn't read his name in the credits before the movie, I wouldn't have guessed that this was a Kubrick movie.

PS: I read about Douglas being a controlling producer, which explains why it didn't have trademark Kubrick features.

Try 'Rome' series; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384766/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

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Great film, I believe Stanley Kubrick was brought in as Douglas thought the direction (up to that point) was too conservative...either way, a b@llsy choice and it reaped dividends.

Great call John Connor, whenever I am a wee bit down I watch Titus Pullo in the arena calling out the "13th! 13th!"...amazing scene.

La La Land, 2016

A down on his luck jazz musician (Ryan Gosling) and a down on her luck aspiring actress (Emma Stone) stumble into a romance that could be threatened if either of them makes it big.

This is one of those movies that came out to good reviews, then got some "but is it that good?" mild backlash. I definitely went into it thinking that it would be fun, especially since I like both lead actors and know from their previous work together that they have great chemistry.

While I liked the movie overall, it ultimately felt a bit . . . empty. There were quite a few sequences that were technically put together in a very strong way, but just failed to spark for me. For a musical, I didn't feel that many of the musical sequences added that much to the film. If you cut out every single song I actually think the film would have flowed better. (I did like "City of Stars", the song which won the best original song Oscar. But I honestly couldn't even hum a single other song from this film and I literally just finished it.)

Now, this is not to bash the musical productions themselves. The songs are not that memorable, but some of the visuals are really cool. A moment where the two of them suddenly walk on air in the darkness of an observatory is breathtaking, and some abstract touches in a final dance number evoke the kind of stylized imagery that I associate with something like An American in Paris. In fact, it's almost as if all of the stylistic boldness was saved for the last 10 minutes of the movie.

I really wish that more of the musical numbers had been willing to go over the top and be more bold. Overall the film is just too gentle and tentative. There's a lot of people just stopping to sing their feelings with some nice, but predictable, choreography thrown in there.

Gosling and Stone are good in their roles, though their relationship is pretty shallow. I couldn't tell you why they fell in love or why they are a good match. They are the leads, so they fall in love. I wanted them to be happy, but the film never makes an argument for why they belong with each other. Even outside of their relationship, there's not a ton of character development.

I did enjoy some of the film's humor--such as Stone's character going to auditions where the other actresses all look like her and wear the same clothing, or some of the sequences of her reading absurd parts in auditions. Gosling and Stone both have good comic timing, and they get the most out of the writing.

(I can now offer an opinion that I couldn't until now, namely that Moonlight DEFINITELY deserved its Best Picture win over this. La La Land is fine and well-made, but it lacks soul.)

Will do. HBO rarely go wrong.

(1985)
Rewatch. I’m not really a fan of courtroom dramas but this is a great film from the 80’s. The always reliable Jeff Bridges is perfect in the role of the accused. A well told story of corruption and deceit.

The Social Dilemma premiered on Netflix on 9/09/2020. It is a sobering and frightening documentary/docudrama by Jeff Orlowski (Chasing Ice; Chasing Coral), and written by Orlowski, ,Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis, about the evils being surreptitiously foisted upon social media users, and by extension, the rest of us. It features previous heavyweight high placed corporate officers and designers from Google, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and others, who explain how these tech titans do much more than simply mine users' data, and how most users are manipulated and influenced while being totally unaware.

Gen Z-ers (born mid-1990s) are currently the worst affected. But the carefully planned addiction to social media is brought out into the sunlight and examined, with dire warnings offered, along with estimates of where it's all going. Kevin Crust of the Los Angeles Times stated that... "while most people are aware that they're being mined for data while on these sites, few realize how deep the probe goes [...] if you think the trade-off is merely getting targeted ads for your favorite sneakers, you are in for a big shock".

Anyone who has even had a brush with social media owes it to themselves to watch this alarming, crucial and far-reaching documentary.

Doc's rating: 9/10

This is a solid little sci-fi. It isn't really scary but has some tense moments and some of the characters decisions didn't make a lot of sense but all-in-all it was pretty good. I'd probably recommend this to folks who enjoyed Alien, Splice, Life, and other similar science fiction.

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Missed this one. Thanks for the heads-up. I'm a big D. Quaid fan. Loved him in The Big Easy, Great Balls of Fire, and as a superb ruthless guy in last season's Goliath. Will definitely check this one out.

Maps to the Stars, 2014

A dysfunctional Hollywood family does their best to hold on to their teenage son's fame, something that is complicated by their fraught family dynamics and the return of their mentally ill daughter. Also thrown into the mix are a narcissistic actress and an aspiring actor/chauffeur.

After watching La La Land, it was a real jolt to see such an acerbic take on Hollywood. No one escapes derision in this film. The father (John Cusack) cares only about peddling his self-help books and good publicity; the mother (Olivia Williams) seems to care only about money; the son is jaded and crude and self-centered; the chauffeur (Robert Pattinson) is out to make connections any way he can and isn't above using a personal relationship as fodder for a script; and the actress (Julianne Moore, fantastic) isn't above doing a celebratory song and dance when a child's death leads to a part in a film for her.

While everyone in the movie is good, Julianne Moore completely dominates the film. Her character, Havana, is literally haunted by her dead mother--a woman who was a famous actress and also physically and sexually abused Havana. Havana clearly has some past traumas, but the brilliance of the way that the character is written is that Havana rolls together her recovery and a jaw-dropping self-centered streak. Havana pulls a whole lot of selfishness under the umbrella of "reclaiming herself" or "moving forward" or "taking ownership".

The film has some nice Cronenberg touches, specifically in the hauntings and the generally foreboding atmosphere of the whole thing. There are times that the more horrific elements of the film seem almost at odds with the dark comedic satire of the rest of the movie. While I enjoyed the movie overall, there were a few aspects of it that felt unresolved. I did appreciate, of all things, that the movie actually pairs up actors who are the same age. It added a degree of realism to the marriage of the husband and wife and to the blossoming romance between the mentally ill daughter and the chauffeur. I also have to give props to any film that even approaches equitable use of male and female nudity, specifically in the context of a sex scene that manages to be erotic, upsetting, and darkly funny all at the same time.

It had its flaws, but it was certainly an interesting watch.

(EDIT: There's an excellent Carrie Fisher cameo--she plays herself--and it hurt my heart a little to see her.)

I like The Man from Earth. It's one of those rare movies that doesn't rely on action sequences and special effects to hold your interest. It's just several people in a room having an interesting conversation.


There is a sequel to The Man from Earth. It's called The Man from Earth: Holocene (2017), and it was written by the original writer's son. The original writer was Jerome Bixby, and the sequel was written by Richard Schenkman and Emerson Bixby.

I haven't seen the sequel, but I've read that it's not as good as the original movie.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

Yeah, I guess I'm just not a huge fan of the "spooky stories to share around the campfire" construct, at least in this particular instance.