Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Sorry man, don't know how I missed that.

Yes, I liked what she did what the clothing too, especially considering Chloe chooses the black hat even though it's out of season, because at that point she is over-dramatizing her feelings, but then later gives the hat away as she becomes more... whatever she becomes.
Yes, on the men, but really, that scene seemed to me to be the jumping off point. Once she leaves the apartment, that is when her growth begins, which is largely about understanding that the world does not revolve completely around her.
Yes, and Anna Karina is the fiancee in the silent film.

I think you click on the time the post was posted in the upper right hand corner of the post. Ex: "2 hours ago", "4 days ago", etc.

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Blue Jay, 2016

Wandering the aisles of a grocery store, Jim (Mark Duplass) and Amanda (Sarah Paulson) happen to cross paths. The two are old flames and both back in their hometown, and what begins as a light trip down memory lane turns more serious as the night goes on.

The strongest aspect of the film is the way that it captures the danger of nostalgia. When Jim and Amanda return to his childhood home (his mother has recently passed away), their musings frequently slip from light fun into depression and fatalism. While on the surface they are enjoying their trip down memory lane, it is clear that both of them feel strong regrets about the direction of their lives.

I struggled at times to tell the degree to which the film was aware how ridiculous the characters were, and Jim in particular. He seems to trade in deep emotion and pity. When the conversation eventually turns to the moment that broke them up, the film seems to acknowledge the way that Jim mishandled their relationship.

I'm not sure that I would recommend this film. Paulson and Duplass are fine in their roles, but the film feels somehow overwritten and too self-aware for the slice of realism vibe it seems to be going for. I enjoyed a short speech that Paulson's character gave at the end about .

This isn't a bad film by any stretch, but neither is it one I would hurry to see.

I thought just about everyone who was at Corrierino was a former RT poster, yeah?

I don't see it so much being about a progression away from being self-centered, but something a bit broader. To me it was more about the kind of life she had cultivated-including her self-image and the kind of relationships she has with the people in her life. I agree that her being self-centered is part of her life, but I think that the scope of Cleo's awakening is more than just becoming less superficial. I think that she is connecting with the world around her, but she is also connecting with her own internal self.

Old School (2003):
Todd Phillips masterpiece. A tribute to frat comedies but with a twist. Will Ferrell became a star because of this.
9.5/10

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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

Thanks!

I agree completely, but I felt that Varda leaned fairly hard into the theme of not always seeing and hearing only herself or others when they talked to or about her. Hence her looking at herself in the mirror constantly and preening then only catching herself in the mirror and feeling sad about what she sees, then sitting next to a mirror she can't actually see herself in and not even noticing the mirror, then finally breaking the mirror. It's not the only thing but it is a very central thing to the arc.

But even from the beginning I think that there is a dawning awareness. For example, the first time she looks in the mirror she says something like "As long as I'm beautiful I'm alive", but there's an interesting flicker on her face as she says it.

I think that Cleo's goals for herself have been superficial, and everything gets recontextualized in the wake of such a serious life event. The musicians who used to be a lot of fun are suddenly less fun when they brush off the fact that she's dealing with a possible cancer diagnosis.

I see a lot of the preening in the film as a defense mechanism. I see Cleo's relationship with the mirrors as a reflection of how she feels about herself, not just a commentary on her self-involvement. And I think that her "mirror" toward the end of the film is

The Mikado, 1939

I am not overly familiar with the original Gilbert and Sullivan musical, so I came into this film having to just judge what was on screen.

The heir to the throne is in disguise as a poor musician, and he is wooing a lady. The city's executioner must execute someone by the end of the month or the city will be demoted to a town. So the executioner and the prince-in-disguise come to an agreement whereby he will marry the woman he loves, but agree to be executed (for the crime of flirting) at the end of the month.

To begin with, the "yellow face" aspect (British actors playing Japanese characters) was actually a lot less problematic than I'd expected, and for a combination of reasons. First of all, there is thankfully very little makeup used to mimic Japanese facial features, and the actors lean into their British accents with no one attempting any sort of accent. (And I believe that this is an intentional aspect of the show, yes?). Secondly, the costuming, scenery, and make-up/hair are so over the top that it's hard to take any of it seriously. I read a few articles/hot takes on the politics of the show. I can see the argument that it's offensive to put on the "clothing" of another culture, and to create a story that trades in some basic stereotypes and uses another culture's names and traditions as the punchline of jokes.

I guess that what sort of saves the story for me is that the main humor doesn't seem to actually come from the "otherness" of Japanese society. It comes from the absurd behavior of the characters. And to that end, it almost doesn't feel like the story needs to take place in Japan. The basic elements of the story would work just as well in almost any country.

In any event, the performances are all very broad and very funny. Almost all of the main cast gets several stand-out punchlines (saying of the plan to bury her alive, "It is a very stuffy death . . ."). The whole thing exists in a heightened universe of color and kooky facial expressions. There's some good physical comedy and you can feel in the film that good energy that means it would be a compelling stage production.

I love that film.

Shirley (2020, Josephine Decker)

I was left cold by this one, to be completely honest. It was OK, I guess, and the acting was fine, but it didn't grab me or touch me in any way, and I knew where the whole thing was going from a thousand miles away.


The Vast of Night (2019, Andrew Patterson)

OK this was interesting. Not all of it worked by any stretch but there was stuff in it that I thought, 'Hmm that's kinda cool'. Like for example, at one point instead of simply cutting from one location to another, the camera literally travels all the way across the small town where the story takes place in real time - that came completely out of the blue. I liked it.

Is that the tracking shot through the window of the gym that travels outside? That was an amazing shot.

Indeed it is! I was absolutely gobsmacked by it. Actually the more I think about this film, the higher the rating I want to give it.

Yeah it's shot very well. I really enjoyed it for a Saturday night type movie - it was a sort of homage to all those nostalgic 80s sci fi Amblin type movies we got.

Love and Monsters -

This was a nice surprise. It owes a lot to other recent post-apocalyptic movies like Zombieland and ones where humans and dangerous beasts live side by side like How to Train Your Dragon - protagonist Joel even acquires a dog companion - but it has its own personality and enough other good things going for it to make me disregard such similarities. For one, it has a unique and cool look and feel that reminded me of the Borderlands and Fallout video games, but even more colorful. Also, Australia clearly substitutes for California here, but it's a welcome substitution since the filming locations are naturally overrun and unkempt, which suggests that human hands have not touched them in many years. Plus, the movie is just so darn endearing. With its voiceover narration and fourth wall breaks that it shares with those other movies, I figured I would be in for more irony and snark, but I instead got a movie that very much has its heart on its sleeve. While I have nothing against ironic or snarky comedy, it's a nice change of pace to see a movie like this and be compelled to grin ear to ear and be moved to tears; besides, that's more of what the world needs now. The scene with the kindly robot who spends its last 15 minutes listening to Joel's deepest feelings, for instance, made me do both of those things. Again, it does not do anything I have not seen before, but it does what it does in a heartwarming, charming and genuinely funny way. Oh, and most importantly, the dog doesn't die.

Jeanne Dielman (1975)


First proper/sober watch of this and appreciate it so much more. Its never going to break into my top 10 films and I'll not pretend it was easy to get through the entire time but in terms of minamilist films, its a masterpiece.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

Classic of Indian cinema that I finally got round to. The almost Italian neo-realism is something I appreciated since those types of movies fascinate me. The mixture of family life / poverty / tragedy and making the best of what you have was beautifully done. There's one scene where the water insects appear to be dancing in time to the traditional Indian music.

I will be continuing the Apu trilogy.

This is the only one of the trilogy I have seen too. Not quite sure why as I rated it even higher than you did. Amazing movie. I imagine you'll get to the other two before I do, so looking forward to reading your thoughts.