Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Cavalcade opens in the last day of 1899, as we see an upper-class English couple, Robert and Jane Marryot (Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard), celebrate the New Year, along with their two sons and their servants, the Bridges. The film then moves on as we see how the families are affected by events like the Second Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, and World War I, among others.

I just read a review that labeled Cavalcade as the "worst best picture winner ever", which, to me, is not entirely true, but also not that far from it. Like a true "procession", Cavalcade is full of lulls and gaps of tediousness, with some worthy and well executed moments interspersed through.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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This is the country where Raoul Peck was born and raised, and where he returned after fleeing the dictatorship of the Duvaliers. This documentary is a snapshot of only a small aspect of Haiti's struggles, and how external interests have had an effect in the country throughout history.

The documentary is not the best in terms of craft and technique, but it does succeed in presenting the harsh reality of Haiti through a collage of interviews, events, and recollections. Most of the "talking heads" presented are engaging, and they manage to shed light on the classism in the country. Unfortunately, it does seem to lack a bit of focus with the main thesis not being necessarily clear.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

Seven Days in May

A stylish but shockingly subtle and classy political/conspiracy thriller that swaps out violence for intrigue and manipulation. The cast is stacked, with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Ava Gardner delivering the top notch performances one expects. The real star is Frankenheimer’s direction, which elevates what could’ve been extremely dry material (see: Executive Action) into a fine feature.

4/5

Also, THE BETA TEST is now on Hulu. I know folks like @Takoma1; want to see it (I plan to tonight).

Sorry if this is the incorrect thread, but I couldn't find one in regards to the last series watched (if there is one, I'm sure an admin can move my post).


Anyways, just watched And Just Like That..., all 10 episodes, on HBO Go (my country gets HBO Max on March 8th). First things first, although it seems forced, most of the time, it's quite catchy and fun. Lots of changes, perhaps too many, too fast. And the diversity/inclusion card is overplayed, in my opinion. Clearly not the result they expected, but overall I don't regret the 5 hours I've spent on it. It's pretty clear that Carrie is the only one who pushed for this, and she remains unchanged. Big up for Charlotte, always was my favorite of the bunch.


Although I understand change and I can see what they tried to do with this sequel, the end result lacks in substance. Quite a bummer, but see it anyway, for some it may bring back nice memories from the past, while the new generation could learn a thing or two about friendship and human connections.


Hopefully this was the last reboot, though.


Cheers, I'm open for discussions on the matter, if anyone else saw the whole series.

This could go here https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ad.php?t=62943

Or https://www.movieforums.com/communit...ad.php?t=14892

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I watched the first episode and that was enough for me...I thought it was terrible, I didn't even bother to review it.

Burden of Dreams - Excellent companion piece to Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. It's basically a behind-the-scenes, making of documentary with director Les Blank and his crew shadowing Herzog during the interminable and tumultuous four years that it took to wrap up filming. People need to watch both of these features, the movie first of course. The film itself does a pretty good job of conveying Fitzcarraldo's herculean and chimeric undertaking. But then screen this to fill in the blanks and sharpen the focus of what it actually took to capture Herzog's exacting interpretation. It also, in revelatory fashion, shows how closely the director and protagonist are mirror images of each other.

To say it was a troubled production would be exceedingly understating it. By the time all was said and done the project had found themselves in the middle of an incipient border war between Peru and Ecuador. With 40% of the movie filmed it suffered the loss of it's two stars, Jason Robards and Mick Jagger, to amoebic dysentery and scheduling conflicts. There was also the unavoidable evacuation and relocation of shooting locations due to death threats and a campaign of misinformation by local press and unsympathetic media back in Herzog's native Germany. Some of these were beyond the filmmakers ability to control while a host of problems were self inflicted due to Herzog's obsession with authenticity and his inflexible vision of what the film should be.

The never ending calamities and the ensuing delays take a toll on everyone, crew and cast and even Herzog himself. In an especially telling scene the fed up director monologues (one which Blank admits coaxing out of Herzog a second time because the first time he didn't have his camera with him) about the misery and disorder of the surroundings. I won't bother quoting it because it wouldn't do it justice but it's on youtube listed under "Herzog on the obscenity of the jungle". It's an epic and unnerving rant and sounds like something straight out of The Addams Family. Probably my favorite part of the movie.

This could be considered slow moving which is yet another way it mirrors the finished film. But just as Fitzcarraldo draws you in and envelops you in it's web this will also weave it's own spell. It's a fascinating, revealing look into the mind of a compulsive and bedeviled virtuoso.

85/100

Toni Collette is ageing wonderfully. Damien Lewis is looking a little . . . horsey.

EDIT: But he's kept his natural hair color, and I respect that.

IMO a great film and one of the top 3 or so noirs. Here's some commentary from a couple of years ago:"

Double Indemnity(1944)

Double Indemnity (DI) is the big kahuna of films noir. It was not the first noir, but it was the one which influenced all that followed in terms of story, dialogue, photography, set design, narration, and hard as nails stereophonic characters. Director Billy Wilder stepped into what would become a famous style purely from the desire for artistic exposition, and to make a good film. His famous quote: “I never heard that expression film noir when I made Double Indemnity ... I just made pictures I would have liked to see. When I was lucky, it coincided with the taste of the audience. With Double Indemnity, I was lucky.”

But it turns out that we film lovers were far luckier than was Wilder. Thanks to his talents we’ve been treated to a fascinating film style that has endured over the decades all the way to modern times. All those juicy and mesmerizing films to follow in DI’s style would not have been possible without Wilder & crew’s work in this film.

Most fans know the story: an insurance salesman mentored by a tough wily claims examiner falls for an enticing woman who later enlists him for a murder plot of her husband in order to collect the life insurance benefit from the company who employs both the salesman and the mentor. Many recall the story as one of a scheming femme fatale who uses her lover’s emotions against him in order to bring off the crime. And that’s true in part. But the real story is how the salesman tries to outwit his long time mentor, and to pull off the crime while fooling his hero. It’s as much a cat & mouse game as it is a doomed love story.

Much praise has been given the 3 stars: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, and Edward G. Robinson. It’s hard to imagine who could have portrayed their parts with more believabilty and style. MacMurray and Stanwyck had worked together 4 years earlier in Remember the Night, a romantic comedy. And now each was the highest paid actor in Hollywood of their respective sexes. Stanwyck didn’t want the role, and had to be coaxed into it, whereas MacMurray --being a light comedy actor-- didn’t believe he could handle the part. He too had to be convinced. Their pairing for DI turned out to be one of the best in film history. And Robinson also wowed audiences with his portrayal. One of his best known speeches was the “method of suicide” monologue, which is one of the most memorable from the era.

Wilder’s direction was masterful, as he reportedly was trying to out-do Alfred Hitchcock in excellence. But it was the pregnant and rough clipped dialogue --chiefly written by the great Raymond Chandler-- that set the mood up on a pedestal, never to be knocked down. Chandler’s hard boiled word interplay was to be a master class in dialogue for future film writers. Wilder rewarded Chandler with a cameo, visible 16 minutes into the film, as he sat outside the door of the insurance office reading a newspaper.

Cinematographer John Seitz brought with him years of experience from a catalogue of fine films to photograph the shadows and set design necessary to this picture. He was to follow it up with other top Wilder films such as The Lost Weekend and Sunset Boulevard. Also at a high level was Miklos Rozsa’s alluring score. He typically set moods by use of leitmotif musical passages representing the main characters, and also for surreptitious meetings between the two principals.

James N. Cain had written the novella on which DI was based, and many of the studios wanted the rights. But when Paramount finally acquired the rights the Hays office objected that the film was too tawdry, and that MacMurray’s character (Walter Neff) hadn’t received a decisive enough demise. Wilder had initially written an ending at great expense that showed Neff being executed in the gas chamber while his mentor looked on. But yet that ending was thought to be too gruesome by the censors. On reconsideration Wilder realized that the way Neff’s end was shown was perfectly proper, given the nature of the two characters’ relationship, so he omitted the gas chamber ending entirely, and we all can be grateful for Wilder’s decision.

DI is one picture on a small list of films which would be difficult to imagine anything added or subtracted. It’s one of those happy convergences that have occurred over the decades that bring just the right people together at just the right time. Double Indemnity is not just one of the great noirs, but one of America’s greatest films.

Crossfire (1947)

I was really pleasantly surprised by this one when I watched it last year.

Safety Last! follows this young man (Harold Lloyd) after he moves to the city to make some money so he can finally get married to his sweetheart (Mildred Davis). But the road there is full of obstacles and he can't seem to keep himself out of danger; whether it's from his bosses, a surprise visit from his girlfriend, a persistent cop, or the rioting hordes of ladies demanding his service at the store.

The most notable and iconic bit is Lloyd hanging from the clock, which is impressive. That stunt takes pretty much the last 20 minutes or so, but I like how they make it not feel overlong with the many ways that Lloyd's friend is trying to escape the cop which forces our lead to keep climbing, or the many obstacles that he faces on his way up (doves, the clock, obtrusive onlookers).

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot or the HOF27.

Pushover (1954)

Not in the mood for a serious movie, so tonight, it's Moonfall, from none other than the notorious Roland Emmerich, the guy who brought us Independence Day, one of the Godzilla do-overs, Midway and 10,000 BC. In this one, all of a sudden one fine day, the moon decides to fall out of orbit onto the earth, which would be really, really bad for us down here.

Of course, a bunch of right-stuff astronauts are available to fix things, but they have to use a graffitti-ed up Space Shuttle that's been in a garage for quite a while to transport their crew of misfits to save the world. Oh yeah, and, as we find out, the moon is actually some sort of ark, disguised as a moon, for some sort of ET culture that we never see. And, (if that were not enough), some sort of cloud of evil micro-bots wants to make this happen and destroy the earth

Bruce Willis being not available to save the earth, it's left to Halle Berry, who does her best. Did I say that there's a misfit crew too? So, Moonfall isn't exactly heavy stuff, but it has pretensions to "serious" sci-fi, but damn. Being an Emmerich epic, it has lots of spectacular animation, crashing planets and chaos on Earth. If the dates in the story are right, this all should happen soon too.

(on account for how it was exactly what I wanted) or a for the insane plot line and dialog or maybe it actually deserves at least a because they know how to do all this crazy FX stuff. You decide....get some popcorn. I don't recall the last couple lines of dialog, but I had the definite impression that there'd be an End of the World...Part 2.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939) ++ Featuring the fiery December/May relationship between Queen Elizabeth (Bette Davis) and the Earl of Essex (Errol Flynn) and pride and stubbornness that fueled it.

One of the bits of trivia I rather enjoyed about this film regarded Davis' strong preference for Laurence Olivier for the part of Essex and firm belief that Flynn was incapable of reading the lines correctly. Upon rewatching it in 1983 with Olivia de Havilland (who costars in this film as a smitten rival to the Queen for Essex's love), she recanted, saying that he did a fine performance.

Speaking of costars, along with several other notable actors, Vincent Price plays a small part as Sir Walter Raliegh. He, unfortunately, has little to do but play a minor competition for the Queen's favor against Essex.

This period piece plays out like a Soap Opera with some serious talent at the helm. Davis is at top form as the aged, vain Queen with equal parts of ice, warmth, and fire. Along with remorse and sovereign instilled strength. A pre-cursor to the vindictive, cold roles she would become renowned for that are beautifully adorned with the vulnerability that slips through the cracks.

One of my favorite scenes is between her and Flynn as they play cards. The mercurial shift between anger and laughter was like watching an old married couple. It was sublime.

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Pig (2021)
6/10.

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City on Fire aka Lung foo fung wan (1987) +++ Chow Yun-Fat teams up with Danny Lee whose pairing I LOOVED in John Woo's The Killer for a jewelry heist with an undercover cop in their midst.




The inspiration for Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, or more precisely, key scenes
We get to know Chow Yun-Fat's character Ko Chow and his reluctance to go undercover again, and the reasons behind it. Along with a competitive, antagonistic pairing of a new Inspector looking to demean the present long-running Inspector, Ko Chow's uncle, and Handler.

Awarded with two Hong Kong Film Awards, Best Director & Best Actor, CoF sets a broader, Blockbuster stage with an opening failed jewel heist along with the climactic heist at its end. Along with a few character side stories to round off the violent heists and intrigue, including several realistic foot chases involving losing Police "tails," that is the heart of this Action/Heist film with a strong ensemble cast that draws you in.

Dead poet society (1989)





Stargate (1994)