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4th Rewatch...This absolutely delicious comedy just gets better every time I watch it. Oscar winner Kevin Kline plays Howard Brackett, a small town English teacher engaged to the neurotic and newly thin Emily (Joan Cusack) who sits down with Emily to watch the Academy Awards because his former student, Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon) is nominated for Best Actor for his portrayal of a gay solder. Cameron wins the Oscar and thanks Howard in his acceptance speech because Howard's gay(or so Cameron has always believed). Now this floors Howard, Emily, and the rest of Greenleaf Indiana since it happens three days before Howard and Emily's wedding, but what it ends up doing is actually having Howard begin to question his sexuality. This movie is so funny and everything that happens because of Cameron's Oscar win totally rings true, including a reporter (Tom Selleck) arriving in Greenleaf and trying to help Howard come out of the closet. This movie is a joy from start to finish, anchored by one of Kline's richest performances. Also loved Debbie Reynolds and Wilfred Brimley as his parents and Cusack's Oscar-nominated performance as Emily is a knockout.






2nd Rewatch...This lovely romantic fantasy continues to have more re-watch appeal than I imagined. Mark Ruffalo plays a sexy widower who moves into an apartment that he thinks is being haunted by a ghost (Reese Witherspoon), but what's going on is a little more complicated than that. Ruffalo has rarely been more sexy and appealing onscreen and I think this is the most overlooked and underrated performance of Witherspoon's career. There are a few holes in the plot that I still find it hard to ignore, specifically centered around the powers of Witherspoon's character, but they aren't intrusive enough to ruin this fun and engaging romantic comedy.



Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

This caught my attention because of its Oscar nomination.
Good entertainment, a bit too childish at moments. Typical subjects for the last twenty years - changing of the generations (this time father-daughter clash) combined with the digital world matrix slavery.
It is OK.


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28th Hall of Fame

Miracle Mile (1988) -


This was a lot darker than I expected it would be going into it. At the back of my mind, I noticed a bit of cheesiness here and there which may or may not bother me if I were to rewatch it (Harry searching for a helicopter pilot was a prime example of this), but for the most part, I enjoyed the film quite a lot and felt it was able to maintain its disturbing feel. This is the kind of film whose tone at the end is so different than what it was like at the beginning, by the time I finished it, I lost sight of how the film even got to such a state as I was edged closer and closer to the climax. The film is also technically impressive, specifically with its depiction of the city-wide panic in the final act which ranks amongst the most exciting sequences I've seen in a while. The only flaw with this film is it hasn't aged that well as, if something like this were to happen nowadays, the film would be more like Don't Look Up. Still though, really good film and I'm glad I watched it.
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Stella Dallas, 1937

Stella (Barbara Stanwyck) comes from a lower class family and decides that she wants to live a more refined life. She meets Stephen Dallas (John Boles), a man from the upper class and the two of them get married. Soon their daughter Laurel (played as a teenager by Anne Shirley) is born, and they settle into an arrangement where Stella raises Laurel alone while Stephen does business in another state most of the time. Stella loves Laurel, but holds onto her partying ways. But as Laurel grows up and begins to look for romantic prospects, Stella realizes that her "low class" behavior is an impediment to Laurel's future happiness.

This was a well acted and poignant film, though I ultimately had mixed feelings about its message. There are also many moments that feel contradictory as the movie tries to move through its plot.

Stanwyck is really excellent in the lead role, playing a woman who loves her child and yet cannot find a way to reconcile her own desires with being the best parent. Stanwyck and Shirley have very good chemistry, and are believable as a mother and daughter who love each other very much. This pays off strongly in the end as they each feel pain at how Stella is viewed by her father's high society crowd.

There are some really nice nuances in how the film unfurls the story. Stella may be a bit wild and have terrible taste in friends (more on this later), but she is never unfaithful to her husband and is incredibly devoted to Laurel. It is Stephen who wants to break up their marriage so that he can pair off with a more "suitable" woman. It's also really interesting to see the portrayal of Mrs. Morrison (Barbara O'Neil), the woman Stephen has his affair with. She is really nice and very respectful of Stella, more so than Stephen.

Where the film doesn't entirely work for me is in how it maneuvers itself into the conclusion that Laurel is better off without her mother. One aspect that feels really off is the character of Stella's friend Ed (Alan Hale). Ed, and this is not an exaggeration, repeatedly sexually harasses Laurel starting when she looks to be about 9 or 10. He tries to see her in her underwear. He grabs her and tries to force a kiss on her. Given the fierce loyalty and care that Stella shows toward Laurel, her blase reaction to Ed's behavior seems odd.

Despite really liking the performances and its portrayal of the relationship between the mother and daughter, I was uncomfortable with the film's message that seemed to be, yeah, kids are better off with rich people than poor people. The film lauds Stella for being willing to give up her daughter in the name of a better future. But I was unconvinced. Stella is a big personality, to be sure, but she's also smart and kind and compassionate. The film can't quite settle on who she is. When she's at home with Laurel she is soft and funny and eloquent, but her behaviors are exaggerated when she's out in public so that we can understand just how embarrassing she is. We are given to understand that Laurel's boyfriend might dump Laurel because of her mother, and this just makes him seem like a spoiled turd.

The final sequence is heartbreaking to be sure (and heartbreakingly acted by Stanwyck), but I found myself deeply unsettled by the film's implications about poor parents being inherently less fit to raise successful children. Obviously children in wealthy homes do get advantages that set them up for a better life, but Stella isn't exactly impoverished, and Laurel has grown up to be a really charming and well-mannered young woman.

A troublesome message, but a compelling story nonetheless.




Miracle Mile (1988) -


This was a lot darker than I expected it would be going into it. At the back of my mind, I noticed a bit of cheesiness here and there which may or may not bother me if I were to rewatch it (Harry searching for a helicopter pilot was a prime example of this), but for the most part, I enjoyed the film quite a lot and felt it was able to maintain its disturbing feel. This is the kind of film whose tone at the end is so different than what it was like at the beginning, by the time I finished it, I lost sight of how the film even got to such a state as I was edged closer and closer to the climax. The film is also technically impressive, specifically with its depiction of the city-wide panic in the final act which ranks amongst the most exciting sequences I've seen in a while. The only flaw with this film is it hasn't aged that well as, if something like this were to happen nowadays, the film would be more like Don't Look Up. Still though, really good film and I'm glad I watched it.
I absolutely LOVE Miracle Mile. I think it has one of the best final lines of any movie ever, and the way that it navigates between the big picture of what is happening and the character-level relationships that develop is astounding.



Victim of The Night
I am learning Spanish with Pedro Almodóvar, this is the 6th movie of his that I watched, it was good but below the level of most other of his movies:
No kidding? It's the only one of his films I've seen and I thought it was wonderful.
Maybe I have some homework to do.



Victim of The Night
28th Hall of Fame

Miracle Mile (1988) -


This was a lot darker than I expected it would be going into it. At the back of my mind, I noticed a bit of cheesiness here and there which may or may not bother me if I were to rewatch it (Harry searching for a helicopter pilot was a prime example of this), but for the most part, I enjoyed the film quite a lot and felt it was able to maintain its disturbing feel. This is the kind of film whose tone at the end is so different than what it was like at the beginning, by the time I finished it, I lost sight of how the film even got to such a state as I was edged closer and closer to the climax. The film is also technically impressive, specifically with its depiction of the city-wide panic in the final act which ranks amongst the most exciting sequences I've seen in a while. The only flaw with this film is it hasn't aged that well as, if something like this were to happen nowadays, the film would be more like Don't Look Up. Still though, really good film and I'm glad I watched it.
I mostly agree with you, but on the aging part, I agree you gotta watch this as a movie of its time and not this time to some degree, but in the context of just people on the street during a crisis like this, I think this movie's take on how people would really act is a lot more realistic and less glib than we like to think with a movie like DLU.



Victim of The Night
I absolutely LOVE Miracle Mile. I think it has one of the best final lines of any movie ever, and the way that it navigates between the big picture of what is happening and the character-level relationships that develop is astounding.
I agree and I wanna thank you for bringing this back into my world.
It's a film I had seen as a teenager and really liked but somehow had forgotten it ever even existed, I didn't even recognize it when you reviewed it and talked about it and it took almost half the movie before it started to come back to me.
But man, especially as someone who lived in that time, it really hits me like a train.



I mostly agree with you, but on the aging part, I agree you gotta watch this as a movie of its time and not this time to some degree, but in the context of just people on the street during a crisis like this, I think this movie's take on how people would really act is a lot more realistic and less glib than we like to think with a movie like DLU.
That's fair and all. To be honest, I was kind of half-joking with that comment. In reality, it's the cheesiness I recalled which brought the film down a bi for me. Still really good though.



I absolutely LOVE Miracle Mile. I think it has one of the best final lines of any movie ever, and the way that it navigates between the big picture of what is happening and the character-level relationships that develop is astounding.
Yeah, the final scene in general made for a great ending.



No kidding? It's the only one of his films I've seen and I thought it was wonderful.
Maybe I have some homework to do.
I've only seen All About My Mother and Talk to Her, both of which are excellent.



I forgot the opening line.

By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=67714046

Fear Street : Part 3 - 1666 - (2021)

Before I start, can I just get off my chest what was bothering me so much last night? Friggin' CGI being used all over the place, even when practical effects wouldn't have been too expensive or troublesome. I never believe in CGI, and I'm always underwhelmed by it. Okay, but otherwise, I also got the feeling last night that Stephen King being referenced so much in Part 2 of this trilogy wasn't by accident. The Fear Street saga feels very much inspired by his work. In this we return to the beginning, which we now desperately want to know about because everything has remained a mystery for two entire films. All of the actors we've been seeing in those films now appear as characters in 1666, but only in main character Deena's mind - which was another nice touch. We return to 1994 to close the series, and get to see all of those cool monsters again, which is another plus. The climax may be a bit generic, but overall this is all just good fun, and if practical effects had of been used I'd be giving this enormous praise.

7/10


By http://www.impawards.com/2022/texas_..._massacre.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69543509

Texas Chainsaw Massacre - (2022)

Damn, that lady looked so much like Bud Cort. Anyway, this built up a little bit of suspense in the crashed van sequence, and that was about the only thing good about Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Was this a direct sequel to the original? I haven't seen any of the various original sequels, reboots and such, so I don't know. I watched this because it was short, but by the end I was falling asleep. It's just very standard slasher stuff - one of those particularly underwhelming ones. Telling a murderer on a rampage to stop otherwise they'll be "cancelled" isn't exactly how being cancelled works - you lose your standing in society and your job, a lightning bolt doesn't come down and hit you.

3/10
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Our Father
(2022)

This man, who many childless couples relied on, was a sick M********ker. He fathered over 90 children through the women he helped.He lied to his patients, his own wife, his community and the state to hide what he did. What a delusional piece of sh*t.



I've only seen All About My Mother and Talk to Her, both of which are excellent.
Yup, anything Almodovar is worth watching. Pain and Glory, The Skin I live in, Julieta, What have I done to deserve this? Also all very good.



Yup, anything Almodovar is worth watching. Pain and Glory, The Skin I live in, Julieta, What have I done to deserve this? Also all very good.

I would have agreed with this up to I'm So Excited. Other than that it's a pretty flawless filmography.



I've only seen All About My Mother and Talk to Her, both of which are excellent.
SE, you need to see The Skin I Live In. It's amazing!




Our Father
(2022)

This man, who many childless couples relied on, was a sick M********ker. He fathered over 90 children through the women he helped.He lied to his patients, his own wife, his community and the state to hide what he did. What a delusional piece of sh*t.
This should probably be in the documentaries thread.
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