Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Had a mini-binge of Kubrick's first two short films the other day...



Day of the Fight is Stanley Kubrick's first short documentary film. It follows middleweight boxer Walter Cartier as he prepares for a championship fight in New York. During the 10-minute short, Kubrick frequently emphasizes how hard the "waiting" is for Cartier, as we see him have breakfast, spend time with his brother (and manager), walk around New York, have a medical exam, train, etc.

I suppose it was way overdue for me to catch up on Kubrick short films, which I'm not sure why I hadn't seen before. He's my favorite director and, as part of my research for my next podcast episode, I decided to finally face his first two. There's not much to say about them. They're fairly interesting and well shot, even if they're not particularly memorable.

Much like Cartier's fight, this short film finishes in the blink of an eye, but not without showing a preamble of Kubrick's directorial eye. And much like Cartier, he would have another film coming along, and another one after that. Always "fighting and training".

Grade:




Flying Padre is Stanley Kubrick's second short documentary film. This one follows two days in the life of Reverend Fred Stadtmueller, who services a handful of churches across rural New Mexico with the help of his small plane. During the course of these days, we see him officiate a funeral service, helping quarreling kids make amends, and flying a sick child to a nearby hospital.

Like Day of the Fight before it, there's not much to say about this short. Clocking in at less than 10 minutes, even shorter than his first one, it is more of an interesting curiosity, but a well directed one. But released in the same year than the previous one, it shows that work intensity I mentioned in the previous review: there's always another film coming along, and another one after that.

Grade:

__________________

Some great use of sound in that one, from what I remember.


Ignatiy Vishnevetsky wrote a pretty good piece about it for the AV Club a while back. That's what prompted me to check it out in the first place.


https://www.avclub.com/an-overlooked...ing-1798245401

That's an excellent article, thanks.

Cheers @Captain_Spaulding; for including this on your ballot, great performance and film, loved it!

__________________
Entertainment Log
Letterboxd profile

I agree. It's not a bad film. It's just weak Hitchcock. His notion was that the Sean Connery character had a fetish for a women because she was a thief. But the writing and editing didn't emphasize that enough, and Connery was not the best actor to represent that type of guy. Hitchcock admitted the film's weaknesses.

I think it's had a bit of a re-assessment over the years, despite the wokesters yapping about a character in a 60 year old movie...

Nebraska - Rewatch of Alexander Payne's 2013 B&W family centered drama starring Bruce Dern as Woody Grant, an irascible retired mechanic living out his twilight years in Billings, Montana. He's pretty much an alcoholic and his wife Kate (a wonderful June Squibb) can barely tolerate him. They have two sons, David (Will Forte) and Ross (Bob Odenkirk), who try and steer clear of their parent's constant wrangling. David is an electronics salesman and Ross an up-and-coming local newscaster. One day Woody is stopped by a police officer while walking along the side of a busy highway. The disoriented Woody is taken in and picked up by David who finds out that his dad was planning on walking to Lincoln, Nebraska to ostensibly claim a sweepstakes prize after receiving a letter in the mail. He makes no headway with his father after trying to explain that it's a come on to sell magazine subscriptions and after the third try by Woody to walk to Lincoln, David decides that it would be simpler to drive him there himself.

The rest is a road trip of sorts with the son trying to forge some kind of connection and ultimately make sense of his remote and surly father. There's a detour to a family reunion of sorts in the Grant's hometown of Hawthorne, Nebraska to visit Woody's large collection of brothers. It's a genetic tableau by turns hilarious and poignant and which Payne fans will immediately recognize. The good-hearted and wistful denouement is also typical Payne. Bruce Dern is great in this as is Will Forte. He and Bob Odenkirk are known more for their comedic chops but they both do a commendable job in their respective roles. I've seen six of Payne's films and this is probably my favorite but Election is right up there too.

By Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the Film Poster/DVD Cover (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39396941

The Great Beauty - (2013) - Italy

The second half of this film caught me off guard - I was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. Paolo Sorrentino's story about a talented writer just wasting his life away going to parties and fluffing up his own ego won such a slew of awards - and to me it felt like a lot of baggage searching for justification. It's a long film (135 minutes for me, though there is a 142 minute version and a 173 minute director's cut) and takes it's time to really get going. We have to soak up a lot of ugliness before it's contrasted with the beauty the film's title daringly proclaims is here. "The Great Beauty" is what Jep Gambardella (Toni Servillo) has failed to find after the artistic success of his first (and only) novel - and so he dines out (sometimes literally) on it's success for decades, knowing he doesn't have it in him to follow it up with a second. After an hour of following Jep around, from party to party to social gathering, I was becoming extremely restless and puzzled. It isn't one thing that creates an epiphany for Jep, but a number of things one after the other - and when we get there we're treated to a torrent of incredible beauty, our eyes similarly opened to enchanting and seducing wonders. I feel this film really deserves another watch from me, but I'm hesitant because I felt the first hour was such a drag. The rest was a sheer masterpiece.

7/10

Dangerous Beauty (1998)

I am no expert, but I remember Sword of Doom and Kill! from Kichachi Okamoto being quite worthwhile. And obviously Kobayashi's Hara-Kiri and Samurai Rebellion should be sought out as well (I'm not crazy about the latter, but worth seeing for the Mifune performance obviously).

__________________

I was a little cold on the first one (it's definitely the first part of a trilogy, with a lot of setup), but parts 2 and 3 have some really terrific action sequences.

Awesome and noted. Out of those the only one I have seen is Sword of Doom. Which I enjoyed the hell out of. Thanks for the recommendations!

Rad. Going to be popping in 2 in a few minutes. It might have been because I just finished watching The Vault, which was like the movie equivalent of my unwashed gym clothes, but I couldn't help but get sucked right into Samurai 1.

By horror-wood, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11803968

The Naked Jungle - (1954)

A romance between Christopher Leiningen (Charlton Heston) and his sight-unseen mail-order bride Joanna (Elenor Parker) is interrupted by billions of army ants on the march in a South American jungle. It's not too bad - I always enjoy watching Charlton Heston act, and his Leiningen is such a douchebag, he creates a great deal of tension in the film's opening act. Directed by Byron Haskin, who also helmed War of the Worlds the year previously.

5/10

Very good movie. Unusual storyline. Lane & Costner very convincing as a married couple. Excellent acting from both of them.



Re-watch. Excellent true-life story. Poignant & sad.

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

Freaky - This is from Blumhouse Productions the studio that specializes in low budget but generally effective horror offerings. They've also cranked out great drama like Whiplash and BlacKkKlansman but this definitely falls under the former category. It's a takeoff on body switch comedies like Freaky Friday and The Hot Chick and stars Kathryn Newton as Millie Kessler, an awkward teen beset by the usual awkward teen problems. It's a bit of a stretch since Newton is so naturally appealing but Millie and her sister Charlene (Dana Drori) and mother Coral (Katie Finneran) are having trouble getting past the recent death of her husband and their father. But Millie has two good friends, Nyla (Celeste O'Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich) and an unrequited crush on Booker (Uriah Shelton) to keep her busy.


It's not a horror classic by any means and pilfers from just about any teen slasher movie you can name but Vaughn has all kinds of fun channeling a perky and guileless teenage girl. The rest of the cast acquits themselves nicely as well.

Daar Doer in die Bosveld (South Africa, 1951)



Translated as Far Away in the Bushveld, this was the film debut of one of South Africa's most renowned filmmakers, the late Jamie Uys (1921-1996). This film, in which Uys takes the lead role, revolves around a farmer who is asked to pick up the new school mistress leading to a series of wacky misadventures back to town. Those who have seen Uys' renowned The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980) will recognize that this is the same as the subplot of Marius Weyers' shy and wacky Andrew Steyn falling for school mistress Kate Thompson, played by Sandra Prinsloo. In the case here, Jamie Uys is the shy farmer Hans Botha with his real-life wife Hettie playing school mistress Martie du Toit. Pretty fun film in the classic slapstick manner and it only runs 61 minutes. The full movie is on YouTube with English subtitles.

__________________
It's All About the Movies
http://www.worldfilmgeek.com

Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)



Having improved upon his skill as a swordsman, Musashi Miyamoto (formerly known as Takezo) travels across the countryside in search of knowledge that will allow him to become a truly great samurai. After a deadly duel with a veteran wielding a chain and scythe, Musashi is accused of being nothing but a murderer who lacks the chivalry to be a respected samurai. He must overcome his anger and learn restraint, compassion and humility.

In this film Musashi is mostly either being attacked on all sides by he thug-like samurai students of a local school or attacked on all sides by the various woman in his life that are all so madly in love him. The fight sequences in this film are very well done, especially near the end of the film where Musashi is outnumbered 80 to 1 and shows how he has improved tactically by leading the men into rice paddies and then a forest. These large fights are where the film is at it's best. They are well choreographed, stylish, and smart. The film is at it's worst with nearly everything involving the love love-crazed women. I felt Otsu and Akemi's stories had a lot more depth and variety in the first film. And while there were a few interesting scenes such as Akemi threatening Otsu with knife then straight up lying to her to discourage her from pursuing Musashi, and Otsu almost becoming a nun in order to forget about Musashi, for the most part I felt like I was being beaten over the head with their love. It was very one note and far too much time was spent with it.

Toshiro Mifune does a fantastic job delivering a performance of a man that is outwardly more well-composed than in the first film, but inwardly still the same angry beast we know. Scene by scene we watch him learn the lessons he needs to get closer to his goal of being a respected samurai and Mifune's performance evolves accordingly, with it all culminating in the final duel. Visually the movie is just as beautiful as the first, but a little less grand. The adventure and large scale battle with plenty of extras in the first film gave it a more epic scope, compared to this story that takes place in mostly one place. The cinematography, editing, and production design was still fantastic, however.

Overall I dug it, but prefer the first one. The action sequences were better in this one and Mifune's performance was arguably better as well, but I found the characters surrounding Musashi far more compelling the first film, despite the film itself being mostly set up.

7.5/10

I've heard good things about Samurai Rebellion but haven't watched it yet.

Echoing Rock's post a bit, but:
Hara-kiri
Three Outlaw Samurai
Sword of the Beast

Samurai Vibes (Not Quite Samurai, but Sorta?):
Onibaba
Kuroneko
Gate of Hell
Blind Woman's Curse


Out of Your Time Frame, but Samurai Favorites:
Lone Wolf and Cub
Blade of the Immortal

The Crime of Monsieur Lange aka Le crime de Monsieur Lang (1936)



I've only seen a couple of Jean Renoir films with a few more I'd like to and one of the things that truly sticks out for me with Renoir is how masterfully he depicts Human Nature in all it's glory, rife with strengths and faults, good and bad. Here we have something akin to a dark comedy with the opening after the murder as Monsieur Lang and his girlfriend, Valentine are running from the police. Arriving in a small inn, the people recognize Lang and consider turning him in when Valentine sits with them and tells all.
What unfolds is an expose into the "victim" who was and is, an utter scoundrel in every sense of the word. Played with a serpent's prowess by Jules Berry. Whom I first saw in Jour se Leve aka Daybreak opposite Jean Gabin. Where he played a more world weary scoundrel, in this, he is a manipulating, thieving, womanizing cad of such finesse, at the very height of his cunning. I was continually chuckling at how evil a culprit he was and how smooth he was at it.
The one person beyond his serpent wiles is the street smart Valentine (Florelle), but just barely.

A common enough setup nowadays, I simply loved how it all played out.

__________________
What I actually said to win MovieGal's heart:
- I might not be a real King of Kinkiness, but I make good pancakes

~Mr Minio

47 Ronin, of which there are multiple versions. Mizoguchi, Inagaki, Watanabe (1958)and even Fukusaku have made one, though the last one was in 1994.

Hold on a tick. I’m fairly certain in confusing Kukusaku version with another director from 1994