Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Chop Shop, 2007

Ale (Alejandro Polanco) is an orphan living a precarious existence in New York with his older sister, Isamar (Isamar Gonzales). Living in a small space allotted to them by the man who runs the chop shop where Ale works, the two young people dream of one day owning a food truck. As they both hustle to earn money--sometimes by illegal means--the uncaring city environment perpetually threatens to turn on them.

There's always a moment when you go to watch a film about something like homeless children where you hold your breath a bit that it might be a misery slog. And don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that there isn't value in showing the brutal realities of how some people's lives look. But sometimes such films can veer into almost a freak show/exploitation lane where it feels as if the filmmaker is just constantly trying to one-up themselves in terms of pain and misfortune.

Chop Shop hits a really lovely balance between showing the harsh realities of living such a precarious life with so little social protection and showcasing moments of triumph and joy. It never tips over into that odious "maybe poor people are living the better lives" trope, but neither does it assume that there can't be glimpses of happiness even in a hard life.

Polanco is a totally captivating lead. He manages to exude both a street-savvy, world weariness and a child-like optimism. When he and his best friend spend a day hustling for dollars by selling candy on the subway, there's a great moment where the two of them look at each other before launching into a rehearsed bit. It's the kind of look two men in their 40s should be giving each other before a pointless business meeting, not a look that should be exchanged between two children who aren't even old enough to drive.

Gonzales is also very likable in her role as Ale's older sister. Because of her age and her gender, Isamar understands more about how much the world is willing to take from people who are desperate. But it's really lovely seeing how she escapes into a more childish frame of mind when she is around Ale, such as when the two of them banter about how they will paint and design their food truck.

While the two child leads are very engaging, the film wisely anchors the performances with a really strong turn from Ahmad Razvi as Ahmad, the operator of a rival chop shop with a soft spot for Ale. Perhaps nowhere is the pain and complication of Ale's life better demonstrated than in a sequence where Ale comes to suspect that Ahmad may be paying his sister for sex work. While people in the different chop shops show kindness or affection toward Ale, there is a limit. In this world there is always the sense that you aren't wondering if the other shoe will drop, just waiting for whose foot will be inside.

The film also makes really great use of the city as a backdrop. We don't see any active cruelty from the middle or upper class citizens. In fact, it is their indifference that condemns them and that strands Ale and Isamar in their situation. Ale listening to the crowd at a Mets game, or watching fans trickle in to watch the US Open---it is a part of the city that will never really be his except as a scavenger.

There is one plot point that didn't feel like it attained closure, and that has to do with Ale's friendship with a boy named Carlos (Carlos Zapata), whose uncle has promised to sell Ale and Isamar a food truck.

Overall a really strong film, full of memorable characters.

The Guardian has some nice practical effects, and it's not an ugly film, but the story could have been much better. Not a top-tier Friedkin, but could be worse. House of Voices (or Saint Ange) is a familiar ghost story set in an empty orphanage. Nothing like the director's best-known film, Martyrs, but closer to Del Toro playing with the ideas seen in Japanese Dark Water.

Smile Before Death is yet another Giallo that offers very little new to the genre (or its niche within the genre as there seems to be more than one formula to bake a Giallo). Quite a bit of skin but low on violence. Nobody seems to be a well-liked film, but I wasn't too impressed. It's a B-tier John Wick, Equilibrium, and Kick-Ass rip-off that lacks the best aspects of them all.

It's scary that Krull is a big-budget fantasy epic only 18 years older than the first Lord of the Rings film. Seeing Tolkien's work in an adaptation like this is the stuff of nightmares. The script is like a 101 on how not to write an adventure for your TTRPG.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was better than the first Doctor Strange, but that's not saying much. Few cool visuals aside, it was a soulless and dull affair. Olsen hasn't enough charisma to be the main villain. The only redeeming quality here is an interesting socio-political interpretation I kept seeing the whole time (Wanda and Darkhold are modern feminism and its byproducts, and in the end, America is saved from them through their self-realization that they've become monsters), but the film is still weakish.



Catacombs is an average monastery horror. Like a combination of The Church and The Keep. The ending is really poor, though, and it actually dropped my rating by half a point.

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Force Majeure - (2014)

Okay, I'm getting pretty spoiled lately with films at the very upper scale of quality and interest. Now Force Majeure enters the picture, directed by The Square's Ruben Östlund. If I were to say that it's a film about the aftermath of an avalanche at a ski resort on the French alps, you might think I'm talking about disaster and being being dug up and rescued - but not at all. This is about the reaction of a family to a terrifying event, which has it's own metaphorical kind of avalanche trailing in it's wake. Before the film is out you'll see people absolutely emotionally destroyed as they find out more about themselves - and you'll also think of yourself, and put yourself in the shoes of nearly all the characters. Do split-second decisions reveal more about your character than the more measured, pre-thought out ones? Do all of us have the same instincts? What does it mean to be a man? To be a protector of a family? The emotional unpacking, which is done while astonishing visual backdrops are sublimely caught on camera, catches you as a kind of car crash you simply can't look away from for a moment. When Force Majeure ended I thought to myself that I'd found another great movie - of which I've watched a few of in the last week.

9/10


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The Wedding Party - (1969)

This I knew wasn't going to be great. I don't know why I watched it - I was curious I suppose, and didn't want to feel overwhelmed with cinematic greatness. The Wedding Party was filmed while Brian De Palma was still basically a student, and was directed in part by Wilford Leach and Cynthia Munroe also. The parts of it that don't work (most of it) are interminably boring - ad-libbing that lacks any entertainment value, by actors who are trying their best but are inexperienced. One of them is Robert De Niro, and another William Finley (who never appeared in much, but of whom I've seen twice recently - and a favourite of mine.) Through inventive editing (and post-production work) there is an attempt to save this movie - and sometimes it comes close to working - but it rarely lifts this above the mediocre. It was filmed in 1963, but not released until 1969, after De Palma had started releasing promising features like Greetings.

3/10

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Agreed about
Just curious, since he's from New Orleans, is he a local celebrity? Is there an official Jim Cummings Day? I mean, there should be.

It is so good. And so funny. It's been a while, but whatever the sequence is where he's like sobbing (in a hallway?) going

Great film. Ostlund is one of my favourite directors working. He just won his 2nd Palm D'Or for his new film 'Triangle of Sadness'. The way he tells stories of morals, ethics and dilemmas is incredible. His film 'Involuntary' is worth checking out if you haven't.

In an open hallway with concert hall-like acoustics, and he's sobbing like a hurt donkey - but his audience, although admittedly probably large, has as it's most visible member the vacuum cleaner guy who seems like he's stumbled into something truly bizarre and wonderous during his many brushes with the family vacationing there.

This is great. I really look forward to seeing Triangle of Sadness (cinematically, it's not opening here until December 22 ) - and I'll check out Involuntary and the rest of Östlund's oeuvre. He's fast becoming a favourite of mine.

I love Krull. Goofy fun. Plus really young Liam Neeson.

Amusingly, not enough that I even knew he was from New Orleans.

So disappointing & underwhelming.

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

Uh...well, you do now, don't you?

He's become as much of a must-see filmmaker to me as Taika Waititi and Denis Villeneuve. Unless it's for his own idea, let's hope he avoids the sway of Disney's deep pockets as long as possible.

Glad you said that because I didn't know either.

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Written and directed by Forugh Farrokhzad, The House Is Black is a documentary that follows life at a leper colony in rural Iran. It features footage of various residents going on about their daily routines while contrasting it with frequent narration of quotes from the Bible or the Qur'an by Farrokhzad herself; quotes that often, like the one above, clash with the visuals of the film.

When I watched this a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea what it was about; didn't even know it was a documentary, so it caught me by surprise. But then again, I suppose that's the intention. Per the opening quote, it's obvious that Farrokhzad's intention was to open our eyes to this "ugliness", and let us know that there are ways to remedy it, but moreover, that there is still beauty in it.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot and the 5th Short HoF thread

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Love this!

Norwegian horror, with a very original plot-4 twenty somethings on their way to a trip in the middle of nowhere encounter psychotic hillbillies who want to kill them. Of course our 4 potential victims stop at a creepy diner/gas station and have an intense encounter with the locals and give a frightened girl a ride beforehand. Honestly this could be the plot for every single movie and I'd be fine with it. Seriously though I did wonder why there was no attempt at originality or a real storyline because this was pretty good for fans of backwoods horror.

I hardly come ever anymore unfortunately (I should comeback it's a really cool forum with genuinely intelligent people), but I just saw a movie for the 1st time that I thought was incredibly remarkable and I wanted to share. Nobody in my friends/family like this kind of film, so I'm saying it here.

Mike Leigh's Secrets and Lies is a masterpiece, it captures the complex relations in a human being's life in a way so realistic that I was impressed. And I also loved that it wasn't JUST realistic, there is also nice directing and writing decisions that make the film better. The music, the fact we don't really know who the characters are at the beginning, the fact that the adopted daughter was just genuinely looking for her mom and wasn't negatively judging her.

I just loved it and wanted to share to someone haha!

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The Batman (2022)
8/10.
After years of having to endure Ben Affleck, we finally get a decent Batman movie,
and definitely the best Riddler.

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Boldly going.

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Red Rocket - (2021)

Mikey is a kind of no-hoper with nothing going for him, and is the kind of guy who will show up on the doorstep of his estranged ex begging for a place to stay, with no money and no prospects - but there is one thing about him which sets him apart. Mikey was once a porn star, so he sees himself as somewhat removed from his white trash roots. In this film we see him hustle a 17 year-old, gorgeous donut vendor - hoping she's his ticket back into the industry, all the while prevailing on his poor put-upon partner to keep a roof over his head. I loved The Florida Project, and here Sean Baker goes into the same dark corners to, once again, linger and not shy away from the complex truths carefully tucked away in the numerous dwellings of those "basket of deplorables" seemingly estranged from reality and a healthy lifestyle. Mikey is a dirtbag, but he's the kind of dirtbag who receives beatings instead of handing them out - he's a cheater and small-time hustler who revels in what most of us would be ashamed of.

Red Rocket has a daring ending that truly subverts expectations, and it has a towering and eminently praise-worthy performance from Simon Rex as Mikey Saber - but most of the cast is perfectly tuned to what Baker is creating. There are more good characters than I can count on one hand. It's hard (perhaps impossible) to top The Florida Project, but this is another worthy addition to Baker's catalogue of creations.

8/10


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Licorice Pizza - (2021)

The ball and chain that are the expectations from new Paul Thomas Anderson movies is nearly becoming too heavy to bear - I was at times wishing Licorice Pizza had been filmed and released anonymously to remove all of the baggage. I kept on thinking back to Boogie Nights while watching this, and thinking "No - this is nowhere near as good as that film." Anyway, it's one of those 'vignettes' kind of movies set in the 1970s, where the film takes shape around the relationship between a mid-twenties underachiever in Alana (Alana Haim) and 15 year-old Gary (Cooper Hoffman) - a wannabe hustler/actor/entrepreneur who is absolutely besotted with her. Alana is obviously too old for Gary, but she's charmed by him and can't help but become his very close friend, with romance always hovering around the edges. There's no overarching story - it's a series of capers and exploits that eventually comes to a conclusion that's a little dodgy if you ask me. But anyway, my rating might go up over time - it's a memorable film, and a good one - but won't be considered one of Anderson's best when it comes time to size up his career as a whole.

7/10

I admit to never having belonged to any part of the Cult of Elvis. I like his music prior to his time in the Army, but after that, he often seemed like a parody of himself, and by the time of his sad end, it was really painful, only to be followed by a cult, and a legion of fans and imitators. I completely do NOT get it.

Nevertheless, I do get Baz Luhrmann and his crazy, over the top movies, so another one, this time Elvis, was tonight's flick.

Elvis is played by Austin Butler (never heard of him) with the infamous "Colonel" Tom Parker (a complete fraud as well as an illegal immigrant) is Tom Hanks in a fat suit. The rest of the cast is not known to me. As you would expect for a Luhrmann movie, it's a visual and musical spectacle, 2 1/2 hours worth of it. Butler's performance (both singing and acting) is melded into some actual footage of Presley, especially toward his sad end, so it's about as real looking as can be.

Nothing about the plot hasn't been said way too many times (Elvis, stardom, drugs, obesity, marriage, kids, etc) but, all things considered, it's not bad. The movie does acknowledge Presley's debt to Black performers that came before him, but glosses over the length of his decline (much longer than his great period). All said, it's a movie, a Baz Luhrmann extravaganza at that, and that's OK.