Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Charlie Says (2018)

Well worn tale of the women in Charles Manson's The Family that I watched out of curiosity to see how Matt Smith would do as Manson. And he did very well, very intense and believable. The remainder of the cast are so-so and the story is told of the build up to the Tate-La Bianca murders. It's decent enough fare but sheds no new light on the story.

Joe (2013)



This has been on my list for some time now. One of the 'rawest' movies I have been. It's definitely a slow burn, and to be honest not much happens in the movie from a plot perspective. But I did enjoy this, especially due to the performances from everyone. Cage is at his gritty best, reminds me a little of his performance in Mandy. But I was even more impressed by the homeless man (yes Homeless man and not actor) Gary Poulter. He'd never acted before, so I guess he was playing himself. Which makes this all the more depressing. A hard watch, but I would highly recommend it. It's not everyday you get a movie like this.

8/10

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Excalibur -

This epic about Arthur Pendragon's rise from squire to king is bound to satisfy fans of his legend and lovers of the sword and sorcery genre alike. For a 40-year-old movie, I was struck by how good and not dated it looks, at least in comparison to a lot of movies in this genre from this decade. It helps that its visual effects would come across as unique in any era, my favorite being how it uses light from the knights' shining armor to the otherworldly green glow of the titular sword. You don't have to be an expert in the King Arthur legend to know how expansive it is, and I like how Boorman and company account for this by structuring the movie as a series of episodes. As a result, none of its time jumps seem out of place or make the movie seem incoherent. Also, whether directly or indirectly, this approach keeps the movie briskly paced and more reliant on dialogue than narration. Another quality that makes it so much fun is that it's a who's who of other legends: those of the British acting world. The joy of seeing familiar faces like Patrick Stewart, Helen Mirren, Liam Neeson, et al, all of whom are just as watchable then as they are now, never gets old, but that's not to take away from the performers in more prominent roles who I do not know as well. Familiar or not, the standout is Nicol Williamson as Merlin, who could not be a better guide and friend to Nigel Terry's Arthur, or to the audience for that matter thanks to his consistent - and consistently surprising -appearances. Credit also goes to Nicholas Clay as Lancelot, who is utterly convincing at how his love for Arthur's bride conflicts with his need to be his king's most just and loyal knight. Moreover, thanks to him and how it puts its R rating to good use, the movie earns its romance label as much as it earns its sword and sorcery labels.

Again, this movie covers a lot of material in its two-and-a-half-hour runtime and thankfully without coming across as overstuffed, but there are characters and subplots I wish were more fleshed out, namely Morgana le Fay, Perceval, and the quest for the Holy Grail. In other words, those expecting a deep exploration of the entire Arthurian legend rather than the survey this movie provides may be disappointed. Despite wishing it had been a little bit longer for this reason, I am more than satisfied with this movie's treatment of it. Besides, it succeeds at telling King Arthur’s story, if anyone’s, and since I’d be happy to watch, but do not feel compelled to see any other movies that tell this story that have been or are yet to be made, it must be doing something right.

JOE pairs very nicely with MUD, both Southern crime flicks with a young Tye Sheridan. JOE is the grimier of the two but both sport brilliant titular performances from their stars. Big fan of each, though I prefer the formal precision of Nichols to Green’s attempts at realism.

The Heiress follows Catherine (Olivia de Havilland), a naïve and shy young woman with poor social skills. This results in the disappointment of her father, Dr. Austin Sloper (Ralph Richardson), a widower that can't help but compare her to his late wife; "Only I know what I lost when she died, and what I got in her place." Ouch. So when a young and handsome man, Morris (Montgomery Clift) starts courting Catherine, Dr. Sloper is obviously suspicious and assumes he's after her money.

This is a film I hadn't heard much about, until two guests of my podcast brought it up a couple of months ago, specifically praising De Havilland's performance, and oh, how right they were. She is excellent in the role as she perfectly portrays the evolution of Catherine in a way that's both believable and organic. Clift and Richardson are not far behind; especially Richardson, who is also great handling the contempt under that façade of fake admiration.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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London Fields (2018)

Wow, what an absolute mess. It's not even as if they had the "well, the book is un-filmable" get-out clause, they have just made a stylized, pale, wan version of it. The characterisation is actually not too bad, Sturgess maybe overdoing the Keith Talent chavness somewhat. It's just the writing is so boring and dull, in an attempt to be profound it just makes it look like a read though. Thats one of many problems, the resetting of the timeline, the complete lack of humour in the Amis novel (think that's the biggest failing).

Punch-Drunk Love -

This film is usually passed over because it is sandwiched between two classics. This Sandler flick has charm, humour and a vibe that Anderson hasn't captured since.

Evil Dead II - Went to a 35mm screening of this in Toronto. Loved it. Great crowd.

The Northman - - Probably Eggers most accessible film, while maintaining his weird imagery, dialogue and tone. I can see people having issues with this one, but I was in it from the beginning.

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Suspect's Reviews

They Live follows a nameless drifter (Roddy Piper), who stumbles upon an alien conspiracy to manipulate people's thoughts and behaviors through subliminal messages. He realizes this when he finds out some special sunglasses that are designed to reveal not only these hidden messages, but the aliens hidden in plain sight that are behind them.

Piper might not be the best actor, but I think he's perfect for this role. There's an "everyday guy" vibe and an innocent charm to his performance that you can't help but root for him. Plus, he's helped by Keith David who, as usual, is all kinds of awesome. Aside from that, Carpenter's direction is very assured and efficient.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

It’s a brilliant movie. So sad & touching. Based, of course, on Henry James’s Washington Square.

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When Umberto loses his little dog I bawl my eyes out. Every single time I’ve seen this movie.

Saint Jack - I really enjoyed this 1979 Peter Bogdanovich comeback of sorts. His last three movies had not been well received and/or tanked after his previous (and introductory) three had earned him a wunderkind sort of rep. Jack Flowers (Ben Gazzara) is an American expatriate hustler living in early '70's Singapore. When the film opens he's working for Chinese national Mr. Hing (Kian Bee Ong) but also does some procuring on the side.

The unfailingly laid-back and affable Jack's dream is to open his own high end brothel. Denholm Elliot costars as William Leigh, a British accountant and auditor who flies in once a year to go over Mr. Hing's books. Leigh's visits are used to mark the passage of time but it also shows the easygoing friendship that forms between the two seemingly disparate characters. Jack's eventual venture come to pass and is a big success which runs him afoul of the local triad.

Gazzara is so wonderful in this. He makes the movie. I would say he inhabits the role but that would imply some kind of effort on his part. His performance and the actual character are so seamless that the rest of the story is just carried along in it's wake. Bogdanovich himself is in this as CIA agent Eddie Schuman, who approaches Jack with an interesting business proposition. And there's a couple of cameos worth noting including George Lazenby as a U.S. Senator. There's also an uncredited and brief appearance of a very young (and mustached) Bruce Campbell as a brothel customer.

This put me in mind of The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, another film where Gazzara plays a father figure of sorts to a group of entertainers. But that's the loosest of analogies. This was a much more sentimental sort of film and to be honest, as much as I loved this, TKoaCB is the better film. But it's still highly recommended for Gazzara's performance alone.

90/100

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Mirror - (1975)

There have been many times this past year or two where my current practice of going into movies completely blind has paid of really well - but as far as Mirror is concerned that totally backfired. I felt like a dunce, not understanding much of what was going on at all, despite this being filmed in such a beautifully enchanting manner. It was like watching someone else's dream, and the film flowed to a kind of dream-logic. In that manner it felt haunting at times, at others achingly sad or just nostalgic. It was like being let loose inside someone's head, finding dreams and memories scattered about and moving between them with scant, dream-like connections. I don't know if I should rate this - I feel like reading up on the film and revisiting it, and already feel a sense of a 9/10 film due to it's wonderful visual quality which mixes colour, sepia-toned and black and white with newsreel footage to create a collage of thought. This is really something from inside Tarkovsky's mind - and is autobiographical. I give it the score I do just by how excited I feel about examining this film in the future.

9/10

Foreign Language Countdown films seen : 83/100

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It wasn't exactly a great choice, but we were there at the movies, had seen the others so it was Father Stu tonight. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson, both self proclaimed catholics in real life, with Wahlberg playing a character with parallels to his real life with a dubious youth followed by conversion. The difference here is that "Father Stu", after his conversion, also unfortunately begins to suffer from a fatal neurological disorder. His time is limited but he wants to be ordained before he dies. The story contains some kernels of truth.

Gibson is his father, a blustering alcoholic who goes on racist and anti-semitic rants, again with parallels between actor and character. The plot follows their personal evolution after getting religion and how both as well as Stu's mother, deal with the inevitable death of the son. It could be a sad movie, but for the weird characters and their interactions.

As for performances - Gibson is about as gnarly as you might expect but does manage to bring some sort of forgivability to this nasty character. Wahlberg, as Father Stu, is fairly good as this guy who wants to come out of the streets, doesn't quite know how to fit into formal catholicism, is definitely an edgy priest. It's also worth noting that as Stu goes into his inevitable decline, he also adds a lot of very soft weight, which seems to have been prosthetically added to Wahlber's well muscled frame as he declines into a wheel chair guy.

This is not my kind of movie, but it was somewhat interesting. Nothing about it appeared to be digital; it had the look of makeup and acting, which is unusual in this time. Mine is a dubious recommendation.....more conventionally catholic than I am (I'm not at all), weird characters and a plot that was taken from real life but altered in a dubious way. I just don't know.

I Am Mother (2019)

Karloff plays once renowned medical hypnotist Dr. Marcus Montserrat. He's been relegated to living in a small London flat with his wife Estelle (Catherine Lacey) and has been working on a device that will give him control of a persons mind and allow him to experience their actions. It being the height of 60's counter culture, Estelle hits upon the idea of trying out the machine on one of the disaffected youth cluttering the streets of London.

I don't see how this has a 100% rating. The scenes between Karloff and Lacey have a certain gravity to them and once it gets going the plot moves along nicely. But like so many other 60's horror the rest of the movie is weighted down with dubious and labored "modish" content. Maybe not as egregious as other films I can name but it's strictly filler.

This is perfectly fine for Karloff fans, everyone else should probably skip it.

75/100

"Chronicles" is one of my favorites, but I only like social documentaries, bio-docs, or things made about those I like. You might like "Place de la Republique" more by Louis Malle.

"Umberto D" is one of my favorite movies by my favorite director.

I just put "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" on my Top 250. I just rated "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town" at #55.


Oh, and if you want a better "The Lives of Others", try "The Ear". It's more natural, domestic (involving bad marriage) and the threat of "The Ear" of the government listening in. It's a very unique movie, where "The Lives of Others" is kinda mainstream. Good, but overrated. "The Conversation" is one I love, and think I just put that on my all-time favorites list a few days ago.


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066498/

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Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)

It's not just that it was badly written, it just didn't really have anything have anything more to say. If you loved Downton Abbey and want to watch all your favourite characters just be there on the screen, having a jolly old time and then saying a fond farewell, you might get something out of it.

Venom 2 is my last movie I watched.

I love this movie..

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