Rate The Last Movie You Saw

It's still good. Go figure.

Oh God! What a film. One of Hitch's best that I never get tired of re-watching. Talk about a sizzle between Grant and Eve Marie Saint! One of B. Herrmann's finest scores.

Blind watch from the Cannes list, and a crazy coincidence that it was about the exact same true story as the last movie I watched, which I didn't pick out. This is a Czech film about the rebel assassination of Nazi Reinhard Heydrich during the occupation of Czechoslovakia during World War II, and it's fall out. I watched it on Rarefilm.

Wittgenstein, 1993

A brisk and charming biographical comedy, and an easy recommend.



Full review

You must be tripping.

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San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.

By "Copyright 1949 Selznick Releasing Organization, Inc. Country of Origin U.S.A." - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from the original image and lightly retouched to repair the torn upper-left corner., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=85714336

The Third Man - (1949)

This was an impromptu watch - a time-filler, but this second viewing of The Third Man absolutely stole my attention. Every scene in it demands attentiveness - each one with clever little things going on in it. Whether it's visual, smart dialogue, a great twist in the story, that unusual zither score, the great performances - or usually all of those things combined. It's the ultimate pleasure for a movie-lover, and so to hell with anything else I might like to do - I was glued to the screen. This time I had the StudioCanal Blu-Ray edition of it, and it looked fantastic. Despite it being a noir mystery, it's easy to follow with Joseph Cotten's Holly Martins finding clue after clue leading to the unravelling of the tangled web of deceit surrounding his black-market bad guy friend Harry Lime (a super Orson Welles, delivering a truly great performance) who is meant to be dead. The fascinating Italian actress Alida Valli rounds things out. There are only so many movies I can admit to loving in the real sense of the word "love" - and I think The Third Man is one of those films.

10/10


By The cover art can or could be obtained from Inferno Distribution or Columbia Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26592242

The Experiment - (2010)

This is an American remake of the 2001 German film Das Experiment - the one with a social experiment where participants are either prison guards or prisoners. Everyone on board is doing this for a $14,000 payday, and at first both guards and prisoners are having a good time - hardly adhering to the rules/punishment doctrine initially delivered. However, once a few too many rules are trampled on, and a guard humiliated, Michael Barris (Forest Whitaker) sets to establishing high ground and superiority. As prisoner resentment sets in, the guards start punishing them in ways that were at first not allowed, and suddenly hate, anger and violence erupts with deadly consequences. At one point I thought the whole idea behind the film was being abandoned, with the focus continually on a battle of wills between Barris and prisoner Travis Cacksmackberg (Adrien Brody) - but, almost like somebody realised this was happening, we snap back to the power dynamic as a whole. The ideas which were at first explored in the novel Black Box (by Mario Giordano) and then these films were ones based on the events that occurred during the Stanford prison experiment in 1971 - a 2015 docudrama also explored what went on there. How evolved are us humans really?

6/10


By Source: impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16243993

100 Days in the Jungle - (2002)

Anyone who knows me well will know that I have a great need, from time to time, to watch movies about people stuck in the jungle. This one is a Canadian TV movie based on the true story of 8 oil pipe repair workers being kidnapped by rebel soldiers in Columbia and held for a $20 million ransom. They have to continually trek through the jungle while being fed meagre rations - but this film suffers from a real dearth of problems. No medical emergency, no spiders, no snakes, no jungle animals whatsoever, no escape attempt, nobody gets shot, nobody gets badly injured, nobody nearly dies - there's no terrible abuse. I mean, they do get sick, and treatment is harsh - but when you watch a movie called 100 Days in the Jungle, you don't really expect the film to feature that, and only that. Some of the performances were surprisingly good, and the location, costuming and make-up effects were well done for a TV film - the movie only really lacks more drama.

5/10

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Huh? I've seen both Ples v dezju and Last Year In Marienbad and while Ples v dezju is very good, it's nowhere near the masterwork of Alain Resnais.

Night Train - 7/10
Starts out great, but the chase is mainstream bullshit.. And thank the director for not showing too much of that overrated James Dean wannabe, Cybulski.... Now Leon, that's an actor. Great work in "Knife in the Water", which I think is Polanski's best..... This movie could have been better, because everyone is closed in this train. "Chamber movie"?


And it's free on YouTube with great video/sound quality.

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https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition

Agree to disagree. It's like food. People like what they like.

Your analogy of movies and food is fallacious and facile, as it ignores the fundamental differences between biological and cultural phenomena. Food preferences are largely contingent on physiological factors, such as gustatory receptors, metabolic rate, immunological reactions, etc. Movies, conversely, are artistic expressions that can be appraised by rational standards, such as narrative coherence, aesthetic quality, performative skill, etc. Your relativistic stance is nothing but a cop-out from engaging in intellectual discourse and acknowledging divergent perspectives. Movies can transcend mere amusement; they can also be edification, enlightenment, and empowerment. Hence, they warrant more than just a capricious and egocentric assessment. Of course, such a nuanced appreciation of movies requires a refined taste.

Your evaluation of Kawalerowicz’s film Night Train is replete with vague and arbitrary judgments. The chase sequence is not “mainstream bullshit”, but a masterful example of suspense, symbolism, and social commentary. The film explores the themes of identity, morality, and alienation in post-war Poland under the shadow of Stalinism.

The use of the train as a metaphor for the journey of life, the contrast between the claustrophobic interiors and the expansive landscapes, and the subtle references to Hitchcock, Kafka, and Dostoyevsky are all indicative of Kawalerowicz’s mastery.

And though I can understand one can be at odds with Cybulski's smugness, your disparagement of his as an “overrated James Dean wannabe” is short-sighted when juxtaposed to the stale Social Realist prism of Polish cinema of the 50s.

You must be tripping.

I’m not tripping, I’m just applying some critical thinking and aesthetic sensibility to films that deserve more than your superficial and dismissive comments. Let's make it clear: Only I can make such comments.

I have this in my watchlist.

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

I enjoyed this movie. If anyone has reviewed it send me the link please.



Not bad. It never really took off & it was too long. Hugh Jackman put 500% into his rôle.

Blue, 1993

Against an unchanging blue backdrop, Derek Jarman and a handful of voice actors explore Jarman’s experience of being seriously ill with AIDS, the impact it’s had on his physical and mental state, and the social framing of HIV/AIDS.

An involving mix of the personal and the political, uniquely suited to expression through film.



Full review

Radio On - 7/10
Road trip. Minimalist. Little dialogue. And it's on YouTube for free.

Lost Horizon (1937)

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