Rate The Last Movie You Saw

What a wonderful movie. It was such a surprise in 1987. And who doesn't love Holly Hunter?

It's been on my watchlist ever since I read a really interesting article about it in the Film Comment newsletter. I'm very much looking forward to it.

I agree. I saw it a couple of years ago for the first time and it became one of my Coen favorites.

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I would probably rank A Serious Man as my favorite Coen film, but it's hard to rank their films due to how great many of them are.

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A Chorus Line (1985)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

And the many differences in theme, style and genre.

I agree. One of the great films. Seems to me I read that at the time they didn't think the picture was going to be anything special, but it turned out going through the roof right away upon release. Even the old curmudgeon Bosley Crowther praised it!

I rated it about the same as did you. It was a rather peculiar picture: the combination of an old western and other-worldly aliens. I thought Paul Dano had an interesting if unflattering part. Pretty good special effects with the "lassoing parts".

With me, rating these newer scifis (2010-present) against the older ones gets difficult because the standards for special effects are pretty much at their max for 2D screens, so I look to the story and originality and for other elements that make it stand out as its own thing.

By Reynold Brown - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from original image and retouched by uploader; see unretouched version in upload history., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=86856075

All That Heaven Allows - (1955)

On it's surface, All That Heaven Allows looks like it might be your average 50s romance - paper-thin and hackneyed. It's really not. This film really takes aim at the conformity of the time, and questions a person's need to be liked over and above what makes them happy. Cary Scott, (Jane Wyman) is a recently widowed, middle aged woman living a typical suburban life. Part of the upper middle-class, she has two adult kids but seems bored with what the future is offering her - namely, the new invention of the day : television. Along comes young gardener Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson), uber-confident in himself, with plans to start a tree nursery. Ron sweeps Cary off of her feet, and as a couple they fix up the old mill on Ron's property into a cozy and beautiful home - but when Ron asks Cary to marry her, she faces rejection from all of her friends and her two offspring. Ron's philosophy is to never worry about what other people say, and follow your inner compass wherever it might lead - but Cory is so used to the validation of others that she might prefer to be miserable if that means she's accepted by her peers. If she's to change her mind though - it might be too late. I guess this film is kind of like the 50s Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, except instead of race it's the age difference between Cary and Ron - and it's so perfectly paced with wonderful performances. I was with it from start to finish, and despite this film coming from the 50s every theme it touched on rang true. Superb.

8/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1690973

Unleashed - (2005)

There's something missing from Unleashed, but it's hard to say what it is. Perhaps it's a satisfyingly complex plot - Jet Li and Bob Hoskins bring their absolute best to this, and I enjoyed watching the latter act and the former do crazy kung-fu and enact Yuen Woo-Ping-choreographed mayhem. Li features as Danny, and is Bart's (Bob Hoskin) "pet dog" - whenever Bart removes Danny's leash, people get beat up pretty bad - especially if they haven't paid the gangster what's owed to him. One day, after a particularly nasty car crash, Danny escapes and finds himself being looked after by blind piano tuner Sam (Morgan Freeman) and his virtuoso charge Victoria (Kerry Condon) - but Danny can't fully escape his violent and bloody previous life. It's okay - but martial arts connoisseurs might wish there was a tad more action. Hoskins plays a great evil kingpin, and Freeman is his usual wise self (his character being blind makes him seem even wiser for some reason.) There's not really much more to it than what I've described - and it needed that extra added touch to be really worthwhile.

5/10

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Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

This wasn't the hard laugh comedy I thought it was going to be, but instead was more of a mildly dramatic comedy with an original story.

63/100

#97 on the 30's list, I watched it because it's eligible for the war countdown. Errol Flynn is always cool and Olivia De Havilland is always a babe, and they make the movie. I liked the love story/triangle more than the action/war angle.

Family Relations - 7.5/10
This is the Russian movie I've been looking for. It's not as good as "The Cranes Are Flying", but that's kinda mainstream, while again, I could judge by the cover (as I scrolled on YouTube) that the main character was great. It's always the face. I've got a handful of great recommendations here because they uploaded the movie poster, and the face of some woman appealed to me. Unique face seem to bring in a unique movie, and this is one and it's Free.

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This was the first movie by Aki Kaurismaki I had seen (I've seen them all, and a few of Mika's) and it's one of the best, and it's his favorite. Matti Pellonpaa is one of my favorites. But I love the scene when the couple are in bed, and she wants .. something more sentimental and romantic, and he says something like, "OK, I will love you for the rest of my life" to some supposed one-night stand..


You are so lucky to have some great movies ahead of you. May I recommend one of my Top 10-15 movies and my favorite of his, "Shadows in Paradise". It's interesting to see him go from supporting to lead, but in retrospect, it's weird seeing Matti as a supporting character, because other than his first couple, he was always the lead.

I didn't think much of the 1st but tried this one because it seems pretty popular. With how popular it is, I was surprised right away that it wasn't a little more well made. It wasn't poorly made at least so I settled in pretty well. It's long and started to drag out in the end as it got a bit more ridiculous. I enjoyed it though because it felt nostalgic. It's a nice throwback to 80's horror. Art is a good villain and the leading lady was pretty good. One big complaint is the sound. The voices were very low while everything else was very loud. It was quite a distracting imbalance that often made it hard to hear what the characters were saying. With about 10 minutes left my wife says, this is disgusting I'm never watching a movie like this again. Oh sure, but you watched the whole thing.

Fame (1980)

Waiting... (2005)


Another one of my favorite comedies over the years. You get the expected performance from Ryan Reynolds, but the rest of the supporting cast does an excellent job carrying the comedy and plot otherwise.

Nona follows the titular grandmother (Wilma Bonet), a huge wrestling fan, who is just preparing to watch her favorite wrestling event. As she's "turning off the world" to focus on the show, her granddaughter is unexpectedly dropped at her apartment, forcing her to choose between her beloved wrestling show and her family.

There really isn't much to the short. It's very simple and cute. Apparently, the biggest conflict between Gonzales and his team was in how "neglectful" the grandmother should be with her granddaughter, and how "confrontational" should she be as a result. After all, Gonzales jokingly describes the two characters as "opponents" in an interview.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

Shadows in Paradise will likely be my next Kaurismäki film. I've seen it pop up a few times here and there.

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