Rate The Last Movie You Saw

A Winter's Tale (1992, Éric Rohmer)

A slightly lesser Rohmer imo, but still charming. It's a film about faith and fate, the choices we make in life and love, the mysteries of human interaction and relationships. As often with the French director, deep existential topics go hand in hand with the light-hearted and mundane side of life, explored in his typically verbose but fascinating dialogue. The simplicity of the plotline tricks you into expecting a surprise/twist at the end (at some point I was like, "This is too simple. Rohmer must have something else up his sleeve") but then the lovely, heartfelt, completely unpretentious fairy-tale happy ending comes, and you realize: simplicity is the whole point. Beautiful movie.

Last Holiday (1950) ++ Alec Guinness plays a sad, lonely man who learns he's going to die within weeks, so he takes his life savings, and goes to a posh hotel where suddenly every opportunity is now wide open for him.

It is an ideal vehicle for Guinness's subtle nuances filled with bittersweet humor and backed with a tight list of actors throughout that is quite difficult to remark on any specific standout without simply running down the Cast List itself.
It is a very British, life-affirming film of polite society that draws you in due to the depth of the characters and their personal difficulties and how Alec Guinness's George Bird touches them as he attempts to keep a stiff upper lip along with his approaching demise to himself. Meanwhile, finding it even more frustrating how the world seems to open up to a man who knew nothing beyond his previously drab existence.

The ensemble and the storytelling are quite beautiful and rather endearing

Quite the splendid find.

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Absolutely. They were all delightful!

I think that the theme still holds, but this film would point out the fact that a story with urban, specifically Black roots is centered on a white woman.

LOL.

Matrix Resurrections 2021

Basically its a remake of Matrix (1999) but with more recent special effects and rather mediocre writing. So, not good, but still not as bad as I feared it would be. I was entertained for its duration but still left a bad taste in my mouth when I finished it. So, not good, but still more entertaining than most hollywood movies in recent years.

Rancho Notorious - This 1952 Fritz Lang western is a bizarre and turgid sort of movie. It gives off a spoofy sort of vibe starting with the cheesy opening theme "The Legend of Chuck-A-Luck", belted out in all apparent sincerity by someone named Wil‎liam Lee. It's also used throughout as a sort of sung narration which some might find distracting. The palette had this saturated yet fuzzy texture and there was a fight scene early on filled with weird angles and POV's and a shaky, hand held quality. It is low budget though and with next to no money for location shooting it was strictly a studio backlot affair so you'll need to get past the paper mache boulders and stones and whatnot.

Arthur Kennedy stars as cowhand Vern Haskell and as the movie opens he's making plans with his fiance which might as well be the kiss of death. She works in an assayer's office and as soon as Vern takes his leave two bad guys show up and one enters, robs the place and murders the fiance. This all happens quickly so the guy must have been part rabbit because the doctor who examines her body tells Vern, "I don't know how to say this gently, but...she was spared nothing!" There are gems like that sprinkled throughout like, "It's a clean way to die and as quiet as eating a banana" and "It's Frenchy Fairmont!"

Fairmont is played by Mel Ferrer and he's a gunslinger and ardent admirer of Altar Keane (Marlene Dietrich looking a little long in the tooth). There was reported bad blood between Lang and Dietrich when the aging star insisted on being specifically lit so she would appear younger. A request that was politely ignored by both Lang and Cinematographer Hal Mohr. Keane is an ex-saloon girl who owns Chuck-A-Luck, the rancho notorious of the title. It doubles as a bandit hideout with Altar taking a 10% cut from the loot of whichever desperado she's giving shelter to. Vern eventually finds his way there on his months long quest for revenge and he of course ends up as the missing piece of that tried and true plot device, the love triangle.

I don't know if it had anything with budget constraints but there are several TV actors in the cast including William Frawley (Fred Mertz), Russell Johnson (The Professor from Gilligan's Island), the mayor from Andy Griffith and even a guy I remember seeing on several Three Stooges shorts. George Reeves and Jack Elam round out the cast of desperadoes.

This Expressionist Western is different enough from other 50's movies that I now have a better idea of what people mean when they use the word outré.

75/100

Both thumbs way up for this one. As you may know, Hitchcock wanted Gary Cooper for the reporter, but Cooper didn't want to do that type of picture. Joel McCrea didn't have the star rep as did Cooper, but I think McCrea really made the movie, along with the great script.

Correspondent is one of my favorite underrated Hitchcock flicks.

Werewolves Within - At 86% this holds the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating ever for a video game based movie. I'm not sure how sparkly a tiara that would be though because the competition isn't exactly fierce. But it does have numerous things going for it including an immensely likable cast. Sam Richardson (Veep) plays forest ranger Finn Wheeler, recently arrived in the small mountain town of Beaverfield. He immediately meets and hits it off with mail carrier Cecily Moore (Milana Vayntrub).

The sparsely populated town is currently divided between people who want a gas pipeline built through the town and those who oppose it. The prime mover behind this is businessman Sam Parker (Wayne Duvall) and among the supporters are town mechanic Gwen (Sarah Burns), her goofy boyfriend Marcus (George Basil) and the homecraft obsessed Trisha Anderton (Michaela Watkins) and her lecherous husband Pete (Michael Chernus). The opposition consists of lodge owner Jeanine Sherman (Catherine Curmin), environmentalist Dr. Jane Ellis (Rebecca Henderson) and tech millionaires Devon (Cheyenne Jackson) and Joaquim Wolfson (Harvey Guillén). There's also semi-crazed hermit Emerson Flint (Glenn Fleshler) but he's doing his own thing out in the woods and just wants to be left alone.

People and small animals start disappearing. A sudden and powerful snowstorm closes all the roads leading up to the town and someone sabotages most of the generators in a werewolf-y type of manner. I've read quite a few reviews making comparisons to Clue or this giving off a Clue type of vibe but I frankly can't see it. I mean, maybe in the broadest sense but the movie I think it most closely compares to would be The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Maybe it comes down to "your cup of tea" but I preferred that one.

That doesn't mean passing on this in favor of that though. I think they make excellent companion pieces. And I do like the way it commits to messing with specific tropes. Ones that haven't been adequately addressed in the past. Actually, saying that makes it sound that it had occurred to me as well and that isn't exactly true. It is a painfully blunt and jaundiced sort of commentary but once the movie commented on it I could see where they were coming from. Still though, kudos to them for having the chutzpah to address something like that.

80/100

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Hunger - (2008)

Steve McQueen's feature directorial debut is really something, and if you haven't seen it I recommend you do. There's something striking about it's unconventional narrative structure, and it really feels like something fresh and original compared to most other films. Set in the Northern Ireland prison of Maze, it depicts IRA prisoners protesting for their 'political' status - and at the same time it depicts the guards in a way that is just as personal without taking sides. Many of these prison guards were murdered during the time period this film is set in - the late 1970s - and what they were subjected to (and in turn what they subjected their prisoners to) had long-lasting psychological effects on them. All of this then turns inwards towards one prisoner, Bobby Sands (played terrifically by Michael Fassbender) - the leader of those in prison and the first to undergo a coordinated and staggered hunger strike which had devastating effects which the camera doesn't shy away from.

Our journey in this film doesn't stride forward with the pace and style you'd expect - our focus changes, and fades in and out from character to character and subject to subject, and this helps the film from becoming too one-sided. It's easy to see prisoners take unnecessary beatings and instantly side with them, but Hunger paints this tragedy as an overall human one that includes everyone in it's scope. The last act is dedicated to Fassbender's Sands, but when the credits roll you take much more away from the film than just his suffering and point of view. Terrific movie.

9/10


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Inside Job - (2010)

The 2008 Financial Crisis exposed Wall Street and modern financial practices for what they are - the at times criminal and certainly immoral looting of all the World's wealth by unscrupulous men in suits. They've bought those who are in power, and they've bought the opposition, so democracy is failing as a tool to rein in their outrageous greed. This documentary does a great job at exposing this, often using these people's own words against them. Those who are interviewed come off as kids with chocolate around their mouths innocently professing ignorance as to what happened with the missing chocolate bar. It's more enraging than depressing - especially since a lot of damage that's being done is irreversible, and that it's still going on right now with no clear way to really put an end to it. This 'Best Documentary Feature' Oscar winner shows how we got here in a very straightforward way, and it's awesome stuff.

8/10


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Trance - (2013)

I wouldn't say Trance has the most believable plot of any film I've seen, but I have to admit it really has it's moments. It's one of those movies where the scenes themselves were superb, but I'm not quite sure if they fit together as neatly as they should to make a great movie as a whole. I do very much enjoy watching James McAvoy in roles like this however, and Vincent Cassel does really well with a more substantial part than he usually gets. Danny Boyle gives the film a real edge, with McAvoy an employee at an art auction house (Simon Newton) who helps crooks led by Cassel's Franck steal a painting. Due to a knock on the head, Newton can't remember what he's done with a priceless work of art - which leads Franck to hire Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) to try and hypnotize him and bring this information back from the depths of his mind.

The twists come thick and fast as reality blends with hypnotized fantasy and Newton realizes that as soon as he's fessed up to the location of the painting he'll be killed. Lamb then not only requests an equal share in the spoils, but beds both Franck and Newton - leaving her loyalties very much a question. There are perhaps too many plot twists - some of them predictable - but I could see myself bumping up this film's score a point on reflection. A lot of it was awesome.

6/10

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And I would counter that the white woman is made to suffer for it.

To the Bone (2017)

Huge fan of Hunger. Its unconventional narrative choices, though I understand why they might bother other people, didn't bother me. It's the kind of film which leaves me in a trance from beginning to end. Also, the middle scene is incredible.

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It's been a long time since I saw a sequel better than the first. This film is exquisite. It's so meticulously crafted and brilliantly directed that I would not expect any other film to beat it this year.

Julie's struggles at film school are delved into even more in part 2 and the meta becomes even more meta as we see director Joanna Hogg dissect her own past in ways that just leave the viewer jaw dropped (it takes the film within a film vibe to the extreme). We pick up as Julie looks to overcome grief after her boyfriend Anthony has died of an overdose. There are nods to Welles and Powell/Pressburger films and there is some good comedy too, mostly in the form of Richard Ayoade once again.

But this is all about Joanna Hogg. Literally. the last 20 minutes or so is just some of the best filmmaking I've seen for quite sometime. Its a film that is not just about grief, there is a look at doubt, self reflection, identity and fate. It's difficult to review with no spoilers, and it's difficult to put across just how clever it is. So everyone should see it. A brilliant film.

9.3/10

Whiplash follows the struggles of Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) to become a legendary drummer. To achieve this, he is enrolled as a first-year student at Shaffer Conservatory, listens obsessively to Buddy Rich's album, and practices incessantly until his hands bleed while craving to make it into the school's Studio Band, led by the ruthlessly strict Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons).

This was truly a masterful showcase of great performances, script, direction, and editing. The way Chazelle allows us to see the motivations of each character, while also not allowing for us to be entirely sure of how to feel about each of them was excellent. Is Fletcher a ruthless, egotistical bastard? Most definitely. Is Neiman a self-righteous prick? I'd say yes. Is there reasoning behind their respective passion for finding "the next Charlie Parker" and "being the next Charlie Parker"? Of course.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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The British actor in this ruined it for me. Dreadful actor & I cringed every time he appeared. Without him, I would have finished this movie.

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

Yeah, I was truly impressed with this film. And of course, Simmons' performance is a marvel.

Heh, I have a friend who calls Damien Chazelle "a cancer on film." His words, not mine! (But I was not a fan of Whiplash.)

I think that a Black woman in the same lead role would have also suffered. The division between the lead character and the people who live in Cabrini Green isn't just race--it's also class and education. The lead character pays for her intrusion into the space in part because she does not believe in the urban legend of the Candyman.

Her gender is important too, of course, for multiple reasons: it makes her a "wronged woman"; is recalls the trauma of Candyman's murder (and here her race IS very relevant); she is given less respect in an academic institution; etc.

A point that the interviewees make in the film was simply that the story is another incarnation of a Black (or Black-allegory) being fixated on a white woman. And they aren't wrong. But in my affection for the film, I would strongly argue that it has a lot on its mind and is trying to have something of a conversation about race, not just using race as a boogeyman or plot point. The presence of white woman is relevant because the racism evoked by a mixed-race relationship is what led to the cruel murder in the first place. Overall the interviewed subjects were positive about the film (especially as it gave a creative new Black character whose Blackness is essential to the character), and appreciated that in the sequel you get more of the history of Candyman.