Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Pretty much how I felt about the film. I went in cynically not expecting to like it much so I was pleasantly surprised. I think I found a lot of it relatable in a sentimental way - like the family all watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Jamie Dornan is a star, mind. He really ought to be in some bigger and better stuff now. He's brilliant too in the BBC Drama The Fall.

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Videodrome (1983)

I loved The Fall. Best thing he’s ever done IMO.

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The Ring (2002)


First time watching this since it first came out 20 years ago, and it was actually pretty fun. It was a lot less jumpy than I remember (that must have been The Grudge), and the plot was executed adequately.

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Speak No Evil - (2022)

I feel really grand about the fact that I've watched a few horror films lately that have thoroughly horrified and entertained me - this Danish/Dutch release is available to watch on Paramount+, and I feel like sending them an email just patting them on the back and pleading they show more stuff like this. My first reaction to it was recorded on Letterboxd : "Whether about loss of masculinity, unearned politeness, political correctness or just plain passivity, Speak No Evil will rip your heart and soul out anyway and leave it discarded on the highway of cinema, shaking and speechless." I can't say much more, because although you can pretty much see where the movie is heading, films like this are best seen cold, with little revealed until the filmmaker wants it to be so. Most of what you'll feel is dread - so if you can handle dread, a little reverse social commentary and bleak Haneke-like darkness take a look at this Danish family's holiday in Holland.

8/10


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Willow Creek - (2013)

Bobcat Goldthwait, one of my favourite filmmakers, seems to have a mind like mine - and to be some kind of hopped-up crazy incarnation of me, so it would stand to reason that he'd make a film that pays homage to The Blair Witch Project. Hell, this is virtually a remake of The Blair Witch Project - it uses many of that film's plot points. I quote : "Too often filmmakers try so hard to avoid comparisons to that innovator that they neglect the elements of The Blair Witch Project (1999) that make it work so well." Thus he really uses them. Now, this is Goldthwait, so instead of a witch he uses something ridiculous : Bigfoot (there's always a middle finger to our sense of what's solemn and serious), but Willow Creek still managed to terrify me. Unfortunately, when we get to the scary stuff the film rockets to a quick conclusion, and the first hour or so really just sets up the "reality" of this found footage film. It's effective, has an 18 minute "one shot" scene that is amazing, and I really like it - there's a mystery at it's core, and we never see what's hunting our protagonists. A spiritual successor and really good, but not one of Goldthwait's best films.

7/10


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The Station Agent - (2003)

An outcast and loner finds himself in a town filled with restless souls in The Station Agent, with Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Williams getting to become characters with a lot of depth and subtle finesse. Dinklage plays Finbar McBride - a train enthusiast who finds himself the owner of an old Station Agent's building when his boss and benefactor dies - it's a touching film which won many awards, and I can see a lot that's relatable in all of it. Fin attracts these people into his orbit, probably because he seems so sure of who he wants to be and what he wants from life - they're all missing something, and it takes a lot to get Fin to allow them in. His changed circumstances seem to force him to open himself up - and a lot of what the film is about relates to change and growth. A really good drama.

7/10

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Malignant (2021)

Kuroko's Last Game

A nice conclusion to a nice show.

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Los Olvidados (1950, Luis Buñuel)

One of the best films about poverty (and child poverty, in particular) that I've ever seen. Steeped in real life and incredibly bold for its time in its unflinching portrayal of the misery of the Mexican slums, it grabs you right from the start and never lets go. Loved the characters, the fast-paced, compact storytelling, and the powerful simplicity and honesty of Buñuel's direction. It's more than just a movie—it's a poignant statement about the horrific societal ills and injustices plaguing the most vulnerable among us. The final shot has got to be one of the most devastating in film history. Brilliant and endlessly relevant.

A Field in England - This 2013 historical and psychological horror from director Ben Wheatley comes off a bit like a student film. A really good student film mind you but still a loose-fitting conglomerate in meaning and intent. It manages to work though. I've liked the other Wheatley films I've seen like Kill List, Down Terrace and Free Fire.

Set during the English Civil War the film opens on a scraggly band of potential deserters. They're gathered just on the other side of a hedgerow from what sounds like a major conflict. There's Whitehead (Reece Shearsmith), a self admitted coward and servant of a never seen alchemist known only as The Master. He's been tasked with finding the man who purloined some valuable papers from his master. Whitehead is himself pursued by the indignant Commander Trower (Julian Barratt). He is saved by churlish soldier Cutler (Ryan Pope) and they're eventually joined by two deserters, the veteran campaigner Jacob (Peter Ferdinando) and the simple minded Friend (Richard Glover).

Cutler persuades the men to accompany him to his camp with promises of a meal and the added attraction of a nearby tavern. Once they've eaten he leads them on a meandering journey to this so called ale house. But when they eventually run across a mysterious engraved totem half buried in a field he forces the others at gunpoint to pull at an unseen object attached to the totem by a thick rope.

It turns out to be a man named O'Neill (Michael Smiley). He is both the man Whitehead has been sent to find and Cutler's employer. O'Neill is convinced that Whitehead can help him find the buried treasure alluded to in the The Master's purloined papers. In his tent he brutalizes Whitehead and in essence breaks him, turning him into an empty vessel that he then leads around the field until he locates the likely spot in which to dig.

I'll be honest, I got a little lost the first time Wheatley trotted out a tableau vivant shot. I shrugged it off though but then it was immediately followed by the men encountering Whiteside in baffling fashion. This too went unexplained but was eventually alluded to satisfactorily enough. The ending I suppose is meant to be open to interpretation with I'm not completely sure but hey, it works for me. It isn't a perfect film but it will capture and hold your attention.

80/100

Perhaps my favorite Bunuel.

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The only movie that takes place over 100 yrs ago that I like because it doesn't stress it (costume, etc)

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The Next Voice You Hear - 5/10
An American couple and the world hear nightly radio broadcasts from God. Maybe HE can give me a movie recommendation?

That was a great one. With the TV show is one of the best things I ever watched.

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Death Rides a Horse - (1967)

Death Rides a Horse is a superb genre exercise, and I think an essential spaghetti western - simply because everything it does, it does to perfection. Of course, while watching it you'll find innumerable moments and aspects that Tarantino has borrowed wholesale and transplanted into his films. It combines two common tropes - the revenge story, and the "tutorship variation" - where an older, experienced (and somewhat redeemed) character teaches a younger protagonist various ways that highlight their age and differing motivations. Usually, by the end, the partnership ends in conflict. Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law are perfectly cast, and it was an immense pleasure watching both of them strut their stuff in this film. It also has an absolutely wonderful score by Ennio Morricone, just to top off a gritty and downright fun genre film. It's the tale of Bill (Phillip Law) who witnesses the rape of his mother and sisters, and the murder of his entire family as a child - in his quest for revenge he becomes a master gunslinger, but has to rely on the help of Ryan (Van Cleef), who knows all the old tricks and has a dark secret. They both have their own motivations, which lead them on the same path - up to a point. Simple, but ever so stylish, fun, cool and in a cinematic sense razor sharp in editing, cinematography and performance. Loved it.

8/10

Yep. That's exactly the score I gave Malignant - some wasted potential there.

The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Now I wanna see this movie. Is it streaming somewhere?

(Also, it's funny, I see a lot of that about Malignant, I gave it a very high score as I thought it was fun and was exactly the movie Wan set out to make.)

I liked, but didn't love Malignant. Here's a short review I wrote in the Horror thread:

As an action movie, it works pretty well - for one, it has one of the best foot chases I've seen in a long time - but as a horror movie? Not so much. Likely due to Wan's workmanlike and unsubtle direction, I could spot each of his attempts at building suspense, dread and everything else required to make a good scare a mile away. I also found the concept silly and not in a good way. I've seen sillier concepts in other horror movies and was able to wrap my head around them, which may be another consequence of the direction also being humorless and shallow. Again, it's solid as an action movie, it raised my opinion of Annabelle Wallis even more and I like how cool the production design makes Seattle look. I just wish I could have concurred with those that believe this is one of 2021's hidden gems.

I'd put it in the 6-7 out of 10 range.