Rate The Last Movie You Saw

The Creation of the Humanoids (1962)

This post-WW3 sci-fi film is dialogue heavy and overflowing with relevant AI philosophy. The story is doom laden with the humans unable to repopulate themselves along with their cyborg/android creations in mutiny against them. I was anticipating a 10/10 movie but it ends prematurely without resolving the story. This was like a Twilight Zone episode. There doesn't appear to be a sequel so I must remain disappointed. In regards to AI this film was way ahead of its time.

8/10

I just wrote a free essay on my Patreon comparing/contrasting Shutter Island & Inception, inspired by a point @ThatDarnMKS made about it a while ago, so feel free to check it out if you're interested, guys: https://www.patreon.com/posts/shutter-island-56789555

This is a film on the fight between the old and the new. Old and new cinema, old and new mentality. It's a film where the old monsters of the silver screen go against the new killers of reality. Karloff, the old cinematic monster, eventually confronts the new real monster and beats the hell out of him. The new monster turns out to be but a weeping wimp.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

That poster doesn't do the film justices. The poster looks like a z movie but The Creation of the Humanoids and several steps beyond that, it surprised me and that's saying a lot.

By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4050478

Buena Vista Social Club - (1999)

A good documentary has the power to transport you somewhere else both physically and psychologically. Wim Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club does both superbly, illuminating both the joy great Cuban musicians have for their particular style of music, and the poverty that exists all around them - a visual incongruity that will strike many people who watch this, but of which the singers themselves seem mostly unaware of. Initiated by musician, songwriter and film score composer Ry Cooder, a friend of Wenders, some of the danzón greats are assembled, and we hear their particular stories. When they travel to the United States for the first time in their lives, they don't see the disparity in living conditions in a negative light, and are simply delighted to be on the adventure they're on. It's a privilege to hear the great music they perform - it's been dancing around in my brain ever since I watched this.

8/10


By The cover art can be obtained from Movieposterdb.com., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32739286

Scream of Stone - (1991)

A strange one from Werner Herzog. Look, some aspects of Scream of Stone are undeniably terrible, and if you're hoping to enjoy a film in an ordinary narrative sense, then get ready to be frustrated. It's hard to tell what's going on in this film - despite the bigger picture being clear, and as such the superfluous scenes meander painfully and characters appear seemingly at random in places you're surprised to find them in. The film is about two climbers, Roccia Innerkofler (Vittorio Mezzogiorno) and Martin Sedlmayr (Stefan Glowacz), who are battling to be the first to climb the unclimbable Cerro Torre - egged on by publicist Ivan (Donald Sutherland). It also features Brad Dourif as a character called "Fingerless" - and yes, what you're thinking is why he's called that. It's a crazy mess of a movie that seems to have been beyond being saved in editing. Cinematographer Rainer Klausmann managed to capture many wonderful mountain shots - but even with them, this is hard to watch. I would have loved to have seen this one work.

5/10


By New Line Cinema - IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72657374

Evil Dead Rise - (2023)

Got the DVD and gave this a rewatch. The main body of the film is perfect, and it's only the film's sub-par opening and lack of satisfying or original ending that I don't like. Far better than I was expecting though, when the first trailer gave me the feeling this would be disappointing. I enjoyed it, probably even more the second time. It's a keeper.

7/10

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The reviews on my last movie that is "Ant-Man" will give 9/10.

1st Rewatch...Arrived at a friend's house who was getting ready to watch this and joined her. my opinion hasn't really changed. My original opinion hasn't changed, nothing special, just another biopic.

Barbie (2023) There is a lot to unpack (unbox?) here. Some parts worked for me but some elements I had issues with. First the positives. The film looks great. I enjoyed the colours and sets and costumes in Barbieland. The performances are mostly good. Margot Robbie does a great job. Ryan Gosling does the best he can with Ken, although I really didn't like the way the character was written. Helen Mirren is good as the narrator. For the most part, I liked America Ferrera and Ariana Greenblatt as a mother and daughter that Barbie meets in the real world. There are some fun moments early on and a few laughs. The problem is that the film is very heavy handed at key moments and becomes entirely too preachy in the second half. The lecturing takes away from the enjoyment of the film. I didn't like parts of the story that focused and talked repeatedly about the patriarchy. The movie pits Ken against Barbie in a way that doesn't feel genuine and is not convincing and Ken comes across as an ass. There are moments where this film feels incredibly dishonest, which is a shame because this could have been a really fun and entertaining adventure. In spite of the winning performance of Margot Robbie and some amusing early scenes, Barbie is a preachy, heavy handed disappointment.

SF = Z

Bla, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Especially Supergirl, she was fabulous. And Michael Keaton is my Batman, so loved the parts with him.



[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

The Fortune (1975)

I didn't believe I'd seen this, so I took your tip and watched it last night. I soon realized I HAD seen it. I recognized most scenes as they occurred, but I could remember any of it coming up. Must have seen it in 2012.

It was very good, and held one's interest despite being a bit of a slog. Good acting, directing, etc. It's length made it feel almost as an epic, like Once Upon a Time in America (1984). One silly thing. When the time frames jumped ahead 15 years, everybody still looked about the same...

I see what you mean but its still a lame ending.

America America (1963)

Interstellar (2014)

I could go on for pages about this movie because there's so much there to contemplate and examine, but my main impression is a few mysterious slips in the story and a shaky first act kept me from rating it higher. There's some kinks in there but altogether its an amazing realistic space movie filled with some fancifulness. I don't want to spoil it but there's some awesome stuff to see.

9/10

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Mission: Impossible - (1996)

Going back to the first Mission: Impossible film, some 27 years ago, made me apprehensive at first - but those famous set-pieces that define it still stand out as excellent examples of perfectly drawn-out tension and well calibrated action. It's hard to bring to mind sequences in the ensuing couple of entries off the top of my head, but the computer room heist and bullet train/helicopter segments in the first are famous and instantly recognizable. Other than that, it pulls slick fake-outs on us and adds the star power of Jon Voight, Jean Reno, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Redgrave, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emilio Estevez. Some characters are killed early, and some aren't who we think they are with Tom Cruise becoming a younger, more agile and laid back version of James Bond with his Ethan Hunt character. What makes this really stand out is Brian De Palma's direction, with him adding that Hitchcock aura he'd bring to most of the movies he made. Obviously Paramount were hoping this would become the first film in a series, but I think even they'd have been surprised to hear that these films would be around for as long as they have. Although it was a big deal at the time, we hardly recognize that it all started with a television series in the late '60s and early '70s.

8/10


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Mission: Impossible 2 - (2000)

I've been hoping and wishing for a long long time that James Bond comes on over to Australia, even if it's only for one small part of a mission. Mission: Impossible 2 did pretty much what I'd imagined up to that point. A biological weapon developer has it's virus stolen, so it's up to Ethan Hunt to track it down and destroy it, preferably in places that feature the Sydney Harbour Bridge or the Sydney Opera House in the background. John Woo really knows how to shoot action, so watching this isn't a chore, but it does follow age old formulas regarding macguffins, femme fatales and villains. It feels too much like every other action-adventure film out on the market, albeit a good one. The characters feel too archetypal. Also, though Australians do say "mate" a lot (me included) we don't insert it into every single sentence we utter.

6/10


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Mission: Impossible III - (2006)

This is the last explicitly numbered Mission : Impossible film. That's gone out of fashion, with films tending not to be numbered at all now. The series had lost a little traction at the box office, but those who stayed home missed a film that was better than the one before. This time it's the magnificence of Philip Seymour Hoffman that livened things up - and man, do I miss him. J. J. Abrams gets his turn - Paramount, much like Eon did with the Bond franchise, using an ultra-impressive roster of directors. Another improvement over the second film was the fact that it felt like we were dealing with people again, rather than soulless action figures and cliched baddies. The action remains top-drawer, but neither the second nor third could top those special set-pieces the first had. Ving Rhames knew he was on to a good thing, career wise, appearing in all three up to this point, and Simon Pegg's Benji Dunn character is introduced. James Bond was feeling the competition, and rebooted for the first time ever around the same time this came out.

7/10

A Walk Among the Tombstones -

While this pretty good neo-noir may seem like yet another Liam Neeson action vehicle, and it may have moments straight out of one, it has more going for it than that. He is Matt Scudder, a New York P.I. and main character in Lawrence Block's long-running book series. A recovering alcoholic who is also recovering from a tragic moment from his past, his latest case comes courtesy of drug dealer Kenny (Stevens), who wants him to locate a pair who kidnapped and murdered his wife, and it’s not long until Matt learns she's not their only victim. Realizing he is too old fashioned for his own good, he enlists the help of T.J. (Astro), an intelligent, streetwise, tech-savvy teenager against his better judgement.

This movie succeeds at making you feel like you're going into this case as cold as Matt is. It provides a uniquely genuine sensation that he is entering uncharted territory, which says a lot given how Neeson makes him seem like he's been around the block. Speaking of Neeson, he could have just gone through the motions given how many characters he has played like this in the last decade, but he acts with a refreshing amount of nuance and is convincing as someone who is desperate to recover in more ways than one. Its look into AA and the clever way it presents its 12-step program also deserves credit, as is the pleasant amount of grit and grime, which doesn't come close to how much there is in movies from the genre's '70s heyday, but I can't complain too much since it's in short supply in general.

Neo-noir is a crowded genre, and this entry does a lot of good things, but it does not do enough to make it a very special one. Also, it reminds us that it takes place on the verge of Y2K more than once, and other than emphasizing how not tech savvy Matt is and limiting the use of cellphones, it does not do anything that interesting with the setting. It's still worth seeking out if you enjoy this genre as much as I do, especially if you also enjoy revenge and redemption stories. Oh, and fellow Stranger Things fans, take warning: you may never look at David Harbour the same way again.

Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop (2021)



A pretty meh anime movie. While I have been watching a ton of TV anime, it has been a while since I watched an animated movie. This one is one of those Japanese slice of life/romance movies where nothing significant happens, but it is supposed to have the feelz. In this case, I got a low signal-to-noise ratio.