Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Zack Snyder's Justice League - Just finished this four hour mega version. Not all at once though. Watched the first hour like ... I don't know ... a couple of weeks ago. Then watched the second hour a couple of days ago. Then powered through the last two hours. There's no alchemy at work here. People who hated the 2017 release will probably still hate it. People who gave Joss Whedon's version a pass will see it as as some kind of masterpiece. It isn't. It just fixes (or attempts to fix) the undeniably half-assed job Whedon did.

There are positives. The final showdown is much better (which is admittedly a low bar) and numerous plot holes were addressed and explained. But even something like a deeper dive into Victor Stone's character would depend on how you view the character. Spoiler alert: He's kind of dull. Same goes for Barry Allen's additional scenes. They didn't add all that much.

The negatives? Steppenwolf is still a crappy villain. Shiny porcupine armor doesn't change that. And some of the additional footage clearly came off as filler. Watching all this in one go would have been exhausting. Joss Whedon's JL was dreck but this version is needlessly long and borderline bloated.

65/100

Oh yeah, he's excellent. I think I still give an edge to La La Land, but Chazelle's got my full attention. Need to get to First Man cause I keep hearing good things about that one too.

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Pitch Black (2000) ++ Having not seen the debut of Vin Diesel's character, Riddick that spawned a trilogy since it first came out I was rather curious to see how a revisit would play out. And I gotta tell ya; it was pretty d@mn well.

Stranded on an alien world, the survivors of a crashed transport ship discover that a coming eclipse will unleash ravenous creatures that hide from the light on this barren planet with three suns.
A basic enough Sci-fi/horror trope but done rather well with characters that are not necessarily who they initially appear as, creating a more gripping interchange amongst the dwindling survivors and who they put their ultimate trust with as night comes.

Another aspect that worked quite well was the visual effects involving Riddick's eyesight, which gave a nice surreal aspect to the competent camerawork.

While there have been numerous derisive remarks regarding the Riddick Trilogy in general, rewatching the first, originally a stand-alone film, it is very easy to see why it gained the popularity it did along with the momentum to continue further with Diesel's character.
The tension is done very well; the conflicts amongst the survivors, along with the use of the creatures, are treated with measured restraint and then built up from there for a more exciting last act.
Making Pitch Black either an intriguing beginning to those of us who enjoy the trilogy or simply a very worthwhile and rather enjoyable stand-alone sci-fi/horror all on its own.

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I loved Whiplash. Huge fan of Teller.

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My friend and I are definitely in the minority on this one. But we are not alone!

Buffaloed (2019)

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But if it was a black woman then you take the entire Cultural Appropriation theme out of the movie, which is half if not more of the entire thematic content of the film. Is there a class element there, sure, but the point is really class based on race, and I think that's very clear in the movie. If Cabrini Green were mixed-race then the Class thing would make more sense but it is an all-black tenement and this white lady comes in to make her name off of it. I'm inclined to agree more with your last paragraph.

I can tell you that, having seen this in the theater before anybody had any idea who Vin Diesel was and with it being a small, tight film that worked, seeing it's sequel was a rather large disappointment as the bloat of Hollywood was so egregious. I didn't bother to see any more.

Maybe it wasn't Hollywood bloat but Diesel's own Dungeons & Dragons fueled bloat? Anyway, the third film is considerably better than the second and much closer (one might even say, too close) to the original.

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Death on the Nile (2022)

If ever you had a film that is a mixed bag it's Kenneth Branaghs Death on the Nile. Hercule Poirot is set on a case in the middle of a decadent wedding featuring an heiress (Gal Godot) and her husband (Armie Hammer). Visually this is a stunning film, some of the vista's are straight out of paintings. Poirot is given much more depth here including a thrilling WWI opener and Bouc returns from Murder on the Orient Express.

The first thing you notice about the film is a downgrade of the cast. In the first Poirot film it's littered with Oscar winners and nominees while this batch features a much lower class of actors. It helps and hurts the story trying to place everyone on the same level should make for a good mystery however...the film has some huge problems.




My dislike of the politics of the film should drop this film down to 1 star but yet I'm giving it 3.5. Because when the film is devolved into Hollywood anachronisms it's actually an incredibly well made piece of work. The run-time breezes through some of the Poirot emotional scenes and genuinely heartfelt and compelling and Emma McKay is incredible in this as the woman scorned.

27th Hall of Fame

My Dog Skip (2000) -

I should probably note that the schmaltzy crowd-pleaser family film is not anywhere near my wheelhouse. I wouldn't call this film bad per se (rather, it's exactly what it wants to be), but it contained very little of anything I found interesting. For instance, the schmaltziness I mentioned weighs the film down way too much. The overbearing emotional score which plays over so much of the film quickly grows excessive, while some other sentimental scenes feel more cringe-inducing than emotionally affecting, like when Skip grabs a football during a game and Willie carries both Skip and the football to the touchdown line. Also, several character arcs and sub-plots feel either underdeveloped or incomplete. The issue of racial segregation is a prime example of this. For example, after Willie meets an American American boy named Sammy in his neighborhood, the kid doesn't appear much in the film after that scene and is only seen in the background a couple brief times. I also found Jack's arc confusing. He initially shows reluctance towards letting Jack keep the dog as he wants him to man up. And yet, his idea is to give him a stuffed dog instead. Like, what? There were also some questions left open regarding the outcomes of some other characters in the film (Big Boy, Henjie, Spit, Rivers, Sammy). With that being said, there were some things I enjoyed about the film. I liked how the film explored the long-term effects war can have on people through Dink as some of his scenes were powerful. I also found Skip helping Willie out with growing up and meeting new people both compelling and relatable since I also had a dog when I was about Willie's age. I suppose it was also cool seeing Frankie Muniz again as I haven't seen him in anything since Malcolm in the Middle. Overall though, this film was pretty average. If you enjoy films like this, you'll likely find a lot to like about it. I've seen much better films though.

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I just saw Audition and i don't even know what to rate it to be honest, it's a good movie though.

Agreed. I think everyone realized what a misstep Chronicles was and dialed it back with Riddick. I presonally liked it but you're right about parts of it being too similar to PB.

The Assassin aka Ci ke Nie Yin Niang (2015) ++ A captivating, visually poetic arthouse film set in medieval China.

Starring a shadowy Shu Qi in the titular role who is sent to assassinate her cousin, this is far more cerebral, almost ethereal in design than the premise would suggest. This is in no way a slight against this gorgeously shot film. At times, the scenic shots take a more significant role as Director Hsiao-Hsien Hou lingers and drifts continuously from serene image to serene image. Again, NOT a slight because I remained enamored with each shot and the costume designs as if witnessing a moving still life study.

With a minimalist dialogue, Hou examines the characters and thereby their internal emotions with a delicate, relaxed method that captures the underlying drama as the characters' relationships slowly unravel without truly clarifying the meandering details that drift amongst the still life study that is the lifeblood of this divine cinematic experience.

I think you and I are the only people who had issues with Whiplash...he fared much better with First Man and, of course, La La Land

The Turning Point - This 1952 crime drama turned out to be a pretty decent noir. Directed by William Dieterle and starring Edmond O'Brien as crusading Special Prosecutor John Conroy. He's been assigned to break the stranglehold that a powerful crime syndicate run by Neil Eichelberger (Ed Begley Sr.) has on an unspecified Midwestern city (just don't look too closely at all the Los Angeles landmarks though). William Holden plays Jerry McKibbon, a streetwise and cynical reporter and also a childhood friend of Conroy's. Alexis Smith is Amanda Waycross, Conroy's assistant. It also stars Tom Tully as Matt Conroy, John's police detective father.

One of the things I liked about this is that everyone seems dialed in on their performances. Russell Johnson, Neville Brand and, that's right, Whit Bissell round out the list of recognizable character actors. It also features a star making turn for Carolyn Jones in her first film. Her gangster's moll is only onscreen for a couple of minutes but it obviously left an indelible image.

This is my first time seeing Alexis Smith in anything and I have to say she made an impression. Her character has been done dozens and dozens of times before. The object of desire who finds herself caught between two men who happen to be good friends. But she doesn't overdo it. Holden and Smith's back and forth is easy and unpretentious and believable. There's a kind of erudite, restrained quality to her that put me in mind of Lauren Bacall. Plus there's her uncanny resemblance to Elisabeth Moss.

The showdown between the idealistic John Conroy and the remorseless syndicate plays out in a prescribed manner but it somehow feels fresh. Or at least the players make it seem novel. Up to and including the unforeseen and audacious ending. There's a case to be made for this being right up there with the best noirs.

85/100

Great photo of William Holden and Alexis Smith riding in the Angel's Flight!

Right!? That's why I included it. Ever since reading Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch novel of the same name I've been enamored of it.

Sort of. I mean, the main character is someone we are meant to root for. Her cultural appropriation is "innocent" as presented in the film, motivated by something many of us can identify with--she wants to be taken seriously in her field. The horror is not rooted in the fact that she wants to use people to advance her own career---the horror is that she gets in over her head and she loses control over her life because of it.

In fact, we see in the sequence where they first go to the apartments that her friend--who is a Black woman--is just as out of place.

And finally,

I think that the story works well, don't get me wrong. But I think that it's not hard to imagine a version in which the protagonist is a Black (or even mixed-race) woman that would still hit on the themes of racial/class separation and the function of urban legends in disenfranchised communities.