Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Thor: Love and Thunder -

The third Thor sequel is not the shot in the arm to the MCU that Ragnarok is, but I still had a fun time with it and believe that it shares that entry's appeals. Like that movie, many of them result from Taika Waititi's imagination and sense of humor. His direction adds spontaneity and unpredictably, which at this point this franchise could always use more of. When the movie gets serious, however, it tones down the silliness before you even realize it, which is a feat worth calling out since the story covers deicide, child abduction, severe illness, i.e., some not so funny stuff. While Waititi deserves credit for this, the cast does as well, which besides the regulars who could play their roles in their sleep at this point features the return and addition of some familiar faces. The main returner is Natalie Portman, whose Jane Foster I and a lot of people don't love in the first two Thor movies, but her turn in this one improved my opinion of the character. Christian Bale also elevates his role of Gorr beyond what could have been a stock villain, and Russell Crowe's turn as the hedonistic and less than helpful Zeus, which could be my favorite performance in the movie, is another one of his strange - that's the good kind of strange, mind you - supporting roles. My admiration for the performances of course has to do with how good they are, but since I haven't been a regular theater goer in over two years, the family reunion-like appeal of simply getting to see actors and actresses who I've spent much of my life watching made their appearances even more special. As for the visuals, if the cool and unique look and feel of Thor: Ragnarok made you excited about this entry, they won't let you down. I especially like the look of the Omnipotence Realm, which is the home of Gods like Zeus and Quetzalcoatl, which manages to mash up ancient Rome with a metropolis like Akira's Neo Tokyo. There's also a fun ride through space featuring flying whales that would neither be out of place in a modern Star Trek episode nor on a Lisa Frank notebook cover.

Despite having a good time, I wish my enjoyment were more substantive. It's closer to the appeal of downing a box of candy - which I proudly did during the movie - than the appeal of a full course meal that the MCU's best entries like The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and again, Thor: Ragnorok have. This is partly due to the action, while exciting overall, has too many fights involving obviously CGI and thus weightless monsters. Also, the middle, despite some visual tricks like a shift from color to black and white, drags so much that I almost nodded off. With that said, the main culprit is my current impression of the MCU, which is of an album I finished listening to, with this movie and the others that have come out since Avengers: Endgame coming across like demos or bonus tracks. To be fair, we didn't know what the MCU was leading up to when it started way back in the late 2000s, so the problem may be that whatever the goal of this phase may be, it doesn't matter to me that much. As my indifference to outright contempt for the DC League of Super-Pets and Black Adam trailers indicates, the problem may be that every superhero movie these days might as well be a demo or bonus track. I don't know what the next prevailing trend in the movie industry should be, but I'm very much ready for another one, and as much as I've enjoyed the MCU, I'd probably just shrug if Thor: Love and Thunder was the last one for a very long time. Again, I did have fun, and if you also look forward to anything with Taika Waititi's name on it, this movie is bound to maintain your enthusiasm. I just wish that fun didn't have to be so superficial or tinged with a longing for something different.

The Killer is One of 13 (1973) This didn't feel like a Giallo film and took a while to get warmed up. Once things started happening, it was pretty good and there was some stuff I enjoyed. I would rate the first hour a and the last 35 minutes a , so my total rating for the film is a

Yep, this is what the MCU has been reduced/elevated to. Take your pick.

29th Hall of Fame (REWATCH)

Das Boot (1981) -

This is a really good film which flies by surprisingly quickly, in spite of its nearly 3.5 hour runtime. I must confess though that it leaves me somewhat cold since it falls in the 'characters feel like props amidst the action/suspense set pieces' category. With the exception of the Captain and (to a smaller extent) Johann, most of the other characters (the Chief Engineer, the 2nd Watch Officer, and Ullmann) are given only one character trait to stand out, and the movie doesn't even do much with that character trait to begin with. Also, Werner, who I think is intended to be the main character, is easily the blandest of the bunch. In spite of this, I do enjoy the movie quite a bit as, judging the film through the lens of the suspense and claustrophobia it creates, it's pretty fantastic. The sounds and visuals (the radar showing the ship's depth, the ship creaking from water pressure, the darkness of the cabin) work in harmony to make the film technically outstanding. The highlight of the film is when their ship faces a British fleet and are forced to dive well below the sub's test depth. The various large and small scale set pieces within that sequence are highly memorable and the conclusion clinches it as one of the greatest stretches of cinema I've ever seen. I also like how you never get the sense that the U-boat is at an advantage against the enemy ships. After all, the opening text says all that's needed to be said about how the crew was basically sent on a suicide mission. From what we see, their boat seems rather flimsy given how often they have to take shelter and only by carefully sneaking up to an enemy ship will they have a chance of sinking it. Overall, I have a ton of respect for this film's technical craft. I just wish it would grab me more on an emotional level. I might watch the mini series someday though as it may do a better job with that.

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I'm a little shocked that I wasn't more aware of it!

Though that might partly be that the title sounds a little more like a romance than a thriller. Maybe I've just always glossed over it when it was mentioned.

LOVED Leave Her to Heaven...I think Joan Crawford robbed her of the Best Actress Oscar that year,

It is in that setting that Un obus partout takes place. It follows Gabriel (Arthur Dupont), a young man desperate to see his fiancée in the other side of the city. The problem? To get there, he has to cross a bridge heavily guarded by enemy snipers. The plan? He recruits his friend Mokhtar (Thomas Blumenthal) to make a mad dash through the bridge in an old car as the snipers are distracted watching the 1982 World Cup.

Director Zaven Najjar does a great job with a sleek animation style that uses silhouette-like figures. This serves to accentuate the kinetic nature of the story and makes the visuals pop out more. I also thought that the use of a soccer game to contrast against the violence of the setting was an effective choice, while also highlighting two elements that define our humanity: our desire to have fun and our need to love.

Grade:


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

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Silent Souls, 2010

Miron (Yuriy Tsurilo) has just lost his wife, Tanya (Yuliya Aug), and asks one of his workers, an aspiring writer/ethnographer named Aist (Igor Sergeev) to help him with the funeral rites. Identifying as Maryan, an ancient tribe from the upper Volga, the men take a road trip to a small seaside town to cremate her. In conversation and their own thoughts, the two men grapple with existential angst and grief.

Not knowing much about this film before watching it, and so close on the heels of watching Departures, it's interesting to have watched two films in such short order about the rituals around death and how the force a kind of reflection on the past, present, and future.

A theme both literal and figurative in the film is drowning, with the unusual twist that it is often framed as a positive. Culturally, it is explained, dying in the water is the "best" death, and only bodies of those who drown are not cremated. As Miron mourns Tanya's death, we see the way that he desires to "drown"--in his memories of his wife, in the distraction of a night with a sex worker. Aist, likewise, seeks escape, at first by surrounding himself in information about his culture, and later through flashbacks to his own youth.

Love and/or sex as drowning is the source of some of the film's most memorable imagery and sequences. We watch, in a flashback, as Miron pours bottles of water over Tanya so that she can bathe in a washbasin in their home. Later, two sex workers are shown nude, laid out against a carpet whose pattern strongly evokes river currents.

This is a movie where you can feel the slow and steady press of emotional weight on the characters. The men bring two birds in a cage on their trip, and while it at first seems like the birds might be meant to evoke Miron and Tanya, it soon becomes clear that their agitated fluttering is mirroring Miron and Aist. It's hard to find the right word to put to it. "Sad" or "bleak" don't seem to hit the note I'm thinking of. It is a film about mourning and sorrow, but it's after something a bit more than that. It is not uplifting or optimistic by any means--please don't get that impression. This movie is a real downer. But it's interested in the mechanics of grief as much as the accurate portrayal of it.

Everyone knows that animal stuff is one of my movie no-nos, and as soon as the birds were introduced (in a horribly too-small cage), my anxiety amped way up. It was a very unpleasant suspense for me with a frustrating resolution.

This is also a film that is unapologetically locked in the male gaze. While most of the time it works, especially in those moments where we are operating strongly from the memory and/or point of view of the main characters, by the fifth shot of a fully nude woman the lack of any male nudity starts to become conspicuous. Multiple sequences involve nude women and fully dressed men and, come on. It starts to feel a little silly.

This is a very engaging, immersive film about loss and how we define ourselves within relationships and with the outside world, and how that balance can get thrown off. It's also a really interesting twist on a road trip film, with loads of gorgeous imagery along the way.

A down-on-his-luck detective is hired by a Queen to find her husband and baby, but shady elements threaten his mission. Think you've seen this story done before? Well, think again, cause writer and director Jack Wedge takes that story and grinds it through an acid-trip kaleidoscope of color, noir-ish vibes, and bizarre CGI animation.

Goodbye Mommy is the third short film from Wedge, whose father Chris achieved fame by directing the first Ice Age film and for voicing the ill-fated squirrel Scrat all through the franchise. But the apple couldn't have fallen further from the tree, at least in terms of style. This short film is a dizzying and disorienting experience, not only because of the way the camera frantically moves around the environment, but also because of how convoluted the story is.

But to be clear, I don't mean any of that in a bad way. There is a hypnotizing quality to it that doesn't let you look away, and there is a certain melancholy to the way the story unfolds, even if you're not really sure what is happening. The lead detective (voiced by Chris Wedge) feels misunderstood and like he "doesn't really fit into this world", but much like this short film, this job will turn out to be not what he (or us!) expected.

Grade:

By "Copyright by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. MCMXLI" - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from original image., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=86243596

How Green Was My Valley - (1941)

There was no Kanye West in 1942 to interrupt, say "I'mma let you finish" and proclaim Citizen Kane one of the best movies "of all time!" But that's the manner John Ford's How Green Was My Valley is always remembered, winning the Best Picture Oscar and denying Orson Welles (who also lost the Best Actor category to Gary Cooper) - most shockingly, Valley also won Best Cinematography from Kane. But How Green Was My Valley is no Green Book or Crash - it's a mighty achievement in itself, and the cinematography is far beyond what you'd expect from a feature in 1941 - wonderful shots throughout the whole film, weaving a literary and visual tapestry from Richard Llewellyn's novel. The performances in it are great (perhaps actually shading Kane in that department) with Donald Crisp winning Best Supporting Actor - and a very young Roddy McDowall performing one of the best 'child actor' roles ever on screen. It's an honest, forthright, and emotionally winning film - as is typical with John Ford, I came away knowing that one day I'll see this again. Worth visiting if you've never seen it.

8/10

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I liked that better than Kane, to be honest with you...

Censor: 7/10

Well, I just got done arguing that opinions on art can't be objectively wrong and dang it, Stu! Why you gotta provide evidence for the opposition!!!

Another of those south / central American films that focus on the direction of the country as a backdrop (the more the merrier) such as Bacarau, Monos. Prayers for the stolen is a tale of 3 girls who live in a remote Mexican village that seems to have no purpose other than to serve as a function of a local drug war, providing both the narcotics and women. Living in this place is a constant battle against fear.

The film is presented in 2 separate timelines - both when the girls are very young, and again when they are in early teens. Nothing has changed in either timeline. The gangsters still plunder. There are little spots of hope, mainly manifested in the characters resilience but this is a film that isn't a fairytale. It's one firmly rooted in reality, and that reality comes with grimness that is clearly close to director Tatiana Huezo's heart. The friendship between the girls is lovely to see unfold but moving and heart-breaking as they endure the daily perils of the drug war that exists around them. The gangsters basically use them as slaves and when they feel like it, cherry pick a young girl who'll never be seen again. The performances are terrific, especially from the mother of our central character played by Mayra Batalla.

Prayers for the stolen offers a reminder as to why we're so lucky to live in any near normal form of society but is also another in the long list of terrific films to come from the region in recent years.

7.8/10

The Black Phone (2021)

Dunno why but this reminded me a lot of "The Lovely Bones", a film I didn't really take to. It concerns a hostage taker/murderer in the 70s (I think) called "The Grabber" and his scary methods in a small-ish community. Overall pretty good with a few surprising jump scares.

I admit I was slightly shocked at first to hear Toni with a Welsh accent. But it seemed very good to me - she had a light touch & didn’t clobber us with the accent. Damian to me sounded very good too & I took it as a sort of homage to his paternal grands.

Definitely want to see this movie. For some reason I hadn’t put it in my Netflix Q yet. Remedied that.

America, to me, is becoming less & less a “near normal form of society”.

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

2nd Rewatch...the third look at Baz Lurhman's masterpiece was just as intoxicating as the first. I've found this is one of those movies where I notice things with each rewatch that I never noticed before. Despite a mostly unoriginal score, the musical numbers work beautifully with "Come What May", "Like a Virgin", "The Show Must Go On". and especially "Roxanne", one of the best examples of a musical number that advances story. Kidman and McGregor still light up the screen, but this time I noticed how easy it is to overlook the work of Jim Broadbent and especially Richard Roxburgh as the Duke, who not only brings the obsessive jealousy of the character to the screen, but a sliver of insanity as well, which really fuels the romantic triangle at the surface of this eye-popping musical fantasy that is just as entertaining now as it was 21 years ago.

I really liked The Lovely Bones even if the story cops out a bit, so I guess I'm going to have to check this out.