Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Duel (1971)
Rewatch. Can’t believe this film is almost 50 years old. It has aged really well.

12 AND HOLDING (2005)
A film with the number 12 in its title



I knew literally nothing about this before I hit "Play", but it came up when I was browsing for films with the number 12 in its title, so I thought "Why not?". The film follows three friends that have to deal with different issues as they grow up. From parental neglect, sexuality, obesity, death, and guilt, all three are haunted and burdened by different problems, which they try to solve in innocent yet immature ways. This is what I found refreshing about the film, in that there are no hints of unrealistic "child wisdom", or a "magically" convenient paternal figure that appears to guide them, but rather an honest portrayal of how a 12 year old might deal with the situations that are thrown at him/her.

The one that takes center stage is the death of Jacob's twin brother, Rudy (both played by Conor Donovan), but equally interesting is Malee's exploration of her sexuality, and Leonard's coping with obesity. The girl that plays Malee (Zoe Weizenbaum) was amazing in the role, and there's a supporting performance by a young Jeremy Renner, who plays pretty well off her. The parents portrayal also feels very truthful and grounded. There is some level of amateurishness in the direction, but not enough to hinder the overall effect.

After watching it, I realized that the director, Michael Cuesta, had also directed Kill the Messenger, also with Renner, which is easily on my Top 5 of 2014, so take that as a double recommendation.

Grade:

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Hey, do you have a list posted somewhere of this month's challenges? I've been kinda sorta keeping it up just to finish out the year. And 12 Years a Slave (which I missed in the theaters) just popped up on Hulu so that's an easy one right there.

Oh, and Michael Cuesta also directed L.I.E., which was Paul Dano's first major film role. Worth looking up.

I haven't brought up the challenge here to MoFo, but might do so once 2021 starts. I'm still juggling some changes that I might do, but hopefully I will start a thread here in January.

Anyway, these are the categories I chose for December...

A film with the number 12 (Twelve, Twelfth, etc.) in its title: 12 and Holding
Any film that starts with the letters W, X, Y, or Z
A film from the 1001 Movies list whose ranking includes the #12 (i.e. 12, 129, 912)
A film from the 2010s: The Invitation
A war film
A TV film
The last Best Picture winner you haven't seen
The last film from any deceased director you like
A film from UAE (Independence Day, December 2)
A film with a prominent character with a disability (Int'l Day of People w/Disability, Dec 3)
A film set in a mine or cave (National Miners Day, December 6)
A film from Yasujiro Ozu (born December 12)
A film about children (Int'l Chidren's Day, December 13)
A film with the word "Winter" in its title
A Holiday/Christmas film: Die Hard

I'm way behind. Only 3 films so far, but hopefully I can pick up later once work stuff dwindles down.

Yeah, I read a bit about this too. Stars Brian Cox, I think.

Super, thanks, man. I usually don't get to all categories but I find it useful for pointing me in directions I may not have gone on my own (I've never seen an Ozu film, for example), so I've found it pretty rewarding.

Same here. That was the plan all along.

I want to maintain that idea, but might try to spin it a bit in 2021. We'll see.

Since you mentioned Electric Company on another thread-- Did you happen to recognize Julie from EC during the big dance number? She's the teenager that emerges from the house with Irene Cara. An early crush of Lil' Cap's back in the day, so I recognized her immediately.

Irene was also on EC, so maybe the two young kids were too but I didn't recognize them.

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Captain's Log
My Collection

Fun movie that I had never seen in its entirety. Tom was super-charismatic from the start of his career.



One of the 1st movies to go straight to streaming in HBOMax. Underwhelming, but might take a 2nd look.

Gimmicky: no script, virtually all improvised. Shot over 2 weeks, predominantly on the Queen Mary 2. Soderbergh was cinematographer, editor & director. Very much like a Woody Allen movie with a slight underlying story.

Candice Bergen was so hilarious. Streep & Wiest very good too.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

I guess my issue is with the word "politicized", which implies that critics were critical because of the content and not because of the quality of the film itself. Like "Well, I'm not going to give it a good score if it's about THOSE people!". But the film isn't, like, celebrating "hillbilly" culture. And the criticisms I've read of it have mostly talked about the film being shallow or trotting out cliches (like the main character not knowing what a salad fork is). That the characters feel more like costumes being worn by prestigious actors than real people.

Now, I've not seen the film. But at this point I've read several informal reviews (in this thread, including yours) and several "official" reviews, and they all seem to mostly echo each other. A common thing I'm reading over on IMDb is "Critics didn't like this because they've never experienced severe poverty", but that ignores that other films with this focus have been positively received.

I obviously can't extend much more into the conversation without watching the darn thing, but I think the "critics hate it!" is overblown. Most reviews I've seen have been middling, C+ type reviews. Even one of the "positive" reviews on Rotten Tomatoes calls it, "A tolerable film."

I'm fine with the audience score being so high if people (clearly) feel that they are seeing themselves or their culture or their struggles represented on screen. But representation only gets you so many points. I'm just as skeptical of all the 10/10 scores on IMDb.

I know you've already watched it, but I feel at this point it is obligatory for me to respond Short Term 12 to your prompts wherever possible.

Tenet: 5/10

One of the best early Marvel Comics movies. Still stands up after all these years.

The Lure (2015)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

And a great recommendation it was. Casually, someone mentioned it on Twitter this morning and I gave him my thumbs up

Did you warn him that an insane woman would hound him to the ends of the Earth if he didn't check it out?

Kinda like Grace chasing that kid in the movie

Its . .. *PANT* . . . available . . . on so . . .. *PANT*. . . many streaming . . . sites. C'MERE!!!

Knife in the Water (1962)