Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Oppenheimer (2023)

Calm down Chris,
we don’t need to see everything in IMAX.

Talk to me I give it 7.5 out of 10.. . I’ve seen so many horror films and feel this is fair shake…. It’s not your typical horror movie ether

I’m glad those guys got to make a movie. After reading up on them, it’s a great story.

If only Iro was around, he could tell us if they had any Aussie street cred.

By IMP Awards Original 1968 theatrical release poster, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6680159

The Thomas Crown Affair - (1968)

I feel better now, for having expunged the experience of having watched the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair - the 1999 version had a creepy Jeffrey Epstein-like Crown played by Pierce Brosnan. Here we have Steve McQueen playing Steve McQueen, making the character of Thomas Crown as believable as he can. I mean, he's a millionaire risk-taking adrenaline junky playing the same - the role was made for him. Something I found really interesting was the use of multiple split-screens two years before Airport came out - the film that I thought had pioneered the technique. It seems that this got there first. "The Windmills of Your Mind" is great (and also in the remake) along with the score. That chess game! There was a moment during that game that had me guffawing. An unusual romance - it's much more that than a heist film I think, reconfiguring the game of love into one somewhat approximating a game of chess - and that's the interpretation which makes the film work best.

8/10


By http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:260318, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4875051

May - (2002)

I think I need to watch more gross-out horror films so I get desensitized again. May came at me from multiple directions - one concerning eye-trauma and the other was a kind of animal cruelty angle that upset me slightly. To be fair - you don't see any animals tortured during May - although a cat is senselessly killed with a projectile. It's the stories character May (Angela Bettis) tells people that has my mind screaming "Oh, that's horrible!" She's a veterinary assistant and not at all the squeamish type. In fact, it's her propensity to draw blood during intimate encounters that has lovers running away from her. May has oodles of scenes that will make you uncomfortable - from a class of little blind kids crawling on broken glass to an eyeball extraction - this cult film needs you to be the kind of viewer that isn't easily disgusted. It's themes of loneliness, rejection, fetishization and social anxiety make May a sympathetic character - but that's strongly tested by her more gruesome proclivities as a modern Dr. Frankenstein. A treatise on isolation that works purely as a horror film.

6/10

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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, 2022

Nicholas Cage (Nicholas Cage) is in a bit of a slump, which includes a rift with his ex-wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan) and daughter, Addy (Lily Mo Sheen). Unsure if he wants to continue acting, Nicholas accepts a $1 million offer to travel to Majorca to be the guest of honor at the birthday party of a billionaire named Javi (Pedro Pascal). But he’s soon approached by CIA agents Vivian (Tiffany Haddish) and Martin (Ike Barinholtz), who tell him that Javi is an arms dealer who has kidnapped a young woman, and they want Nicholas to help them infiltrate Javi’s inner circle.

A fantastic cast and some great comedic set-pieces help keep an overstuffed plot afloat.



Full review

The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

This was by far the most modern-like of the early era films I've seen. I had to double check that I didn't rent a 1950s version. The Amazon rental was in color, with some noteable aging damage during the opening 15 minutes or so, but altogether of finer quality than what is shown on the IMDb page. Less pretentious and "still life" than other films of this era I've seen. Urgent action and nice shots. There isn't much to complain about here, this movie seems a step ahead of its contemporaries.

Oh, and the story, acting, characters, plot, progression, etcetera... they all were done very well.

10/10

I really love May, and the sequence where her "edgy" boyfriend tries to impress her with his movie only to turn totally green when she gives a mundane account of the horrors she's seen at her job never fails to make me laugh (yes, even despite the fact that it involves animal suffering).

I also think that the final shot is excellent.

Noises Off!, 1992

In this adaptation of Michael Frayn’s stage play, director Lloyd (Michael Caine) must try to salvage a disastrous farce starring a former star (Carol Burnett), her current flame (John Ritter), a spacey actress (Nicollette Sheridan), a sensitive actor (Christopher Reeves), an elderly alcoholic (Denholm Elliott), and more. Assisted by an overworked stage manager (Julie Hagerty) and an under-rested handyman (Mark Linn-Baker), every attempt at a run-through is met with one disaster or another.

For me, this is a great film to put on when I just need something silly. A great effort from the cast building on a solid script makes for a good time.



Full review

The Quick and the Dead (1995)


Takes place in a fantasy theme park Western setting that disregards all pretence at historical accuracy, where the good guys could shoot the bad guy at pretty much any time but choose instead to play his weird game and everybody has a poker face when getting shot. There are so many faux-Leone close ups it borders on parody and the laws of physics don't get in the way of the camera looking through massive bullet holes. Sharon Stone is a badass gunslinger who shoots bad men and sleeps with both Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Possibly one of the most 90s films ever made. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

1776 (1972)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Scare Me, 2020

Aspiring writer Fred (Josh Ruben) has rented a cabin in the woods so that he can brainstorm and write in isolation. While on a run he meets Fanny (Aya Cash), a very successful horror writer who has just put out a bestselling novel. When the power goes out, Fanny ends up visiting Fred, and the two spend the evening telling each other scary stories as tensions and resentments between them grow.

Everything here just feels muddled, and no amount of enthusiasm from the cast can lift it into something scary, illuminating, or interesting. Points for some funny moments from Redd and some genuinely good storytelling from Cash.



Full review

Unforgiven (2013)



Japanese remake of the Clint Eastwood masterpiece, set at the end of the samurai era. Stars Ken Watanabe whom you will recognize from a million supporting roles in Hollywood movies --it's a shame but I don't recall if he's had a starring role in an American film. He's great, Akira Emoto also sells the part of the Morgan Freeman character perfectly. It looks gorgeous, I'd go so far as to say that it stands on par with the original.

License to Drive is mostly divided in two halves: the first one follows Les' attempts to pass his drivers license exam. The second half, however, follows his attempts to charm Mercedes (Heather Graham), the girl of his dreams, after she agrees to go out with him. But, like Murphy says, what has to go wrong, will go wrong, and the night becomes a hell-ish attempt from Les to return home safe and sound.

For most of its duration, the film moves within the realms of suburban magical realism as we experience Les' "painstaking" school bus trips, shackled to the seats with a cackling evil driver, or when we see him take his knowledge exam with the computer constantly blaring "INCORRECT" at him. There's also the bit with his road exam, where the examiner (James Avery) throws the clipboard out the window choosing to use his cup of coffee as the decider of Les' fate: "You burn me, you fail. You don't, you pass." This is made more funny when it's contrasted with the experience of Les' twin sister (Nina Siemaszko) and her examiner.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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I found out about this "remake" a while ago and I've been meaning to check it out. Considering the ties between westerns and samurai films, I think it's an interesting approach.


EDIT: Re: Watanabe having a starring role in an American film, I think the closer he has come is Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima, which probably doesn't count considering it's mostly set in Japan with Japanese characters.

Sound of Violence, 2021

Alexis (Jasmin Savoy Brown) is a college student who has grappled since childhood with a hearing loss issue. After witnessing a violent event as a child, Alexis regains some hearing. Years later, she finds her hearing threatened again and discovers that she requires the sound of violence to maintain her ability to hear. Alexis goes to increasingly extreme and cruel lengths to hold on to her hearing.

Great performances and a very cool concept are let down by hokey and unbelievable kill sequences.



Full review

Red River (1948, Howard Hawks) - A+

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Blazing Saddles - A+

Bay of Angels (1963)

By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13055592

Raising Cain - (1992)

What can you say about a movie when it's all about the actor and performance? John Lithgow, sometimes I forget about how much I love you because you were too often a supporting actor. Get yourself an Academy Award man, because you're 77 now and time is running out. Lithgow is Raising Cain and anything that falls outside the purview of his performance and character isn't nearly as impressive or enjoyable. Thankfully, he dominates the film as the completely unstable Carter Nix with his various other personalities and proclivity to murder adults and kidnap children. You can feel the influence of Hitchcock and Psycho everywhere, a great example is the near shot-for-shot replica of the 'car in the swamp' scene - it's not a big surprise really, considering this is De Palma we're talking about. Do I enjoy this movie? Well, yeah. A lot. Nobody else could have featured in this demented and playfully fun thriller but the man we got - and I'm glad we got the right man for the job. "Hickory, dickory, doc. Cain has picked his lock." A crazy tour de force.

7.5/10


By http://www.impawards.com/2013/conjuring_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72389935

The Conjuring - (2013)

When The Conjuring came out most of the critics and friends I heard from gave it top marks for scaring them. They raved so much that I began to look forward to seeing it - I love being spooked and scared by a good horror film. So when the time came, and it was the dead of night, I got myself in the mood and watched it. Curiously, it didn't do a thing for me. It was a modern-day version of The Amityville Horror, and just like that film it kind of goes off the rails fairly early, never to return. Good scary movies make their mark in the shadows, but The Conjuring is in your face, with crazy exorcisms, ghosts that are more corporeal than some of the characters, and so much door slamming, breakage, flinging, screaming and moaning that I'm never able to get into a haunted frame of mind myself. The Warrens (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) annoy me, and I'm not surprised that their work doesn't hold up in real life. Whatever good there is in the film is drowned out by excess and the sheer lack of mystery the film leaves us with. I'm sorry I don't see The Conjuring the same way so many others do - especially since I love the genre. I gave it anther chance last night - and felt exactly the same way about it. I know it's very highly regarded and most people love it - I really wish I did too.

4/10

The last movie I watched was with Sylvester Stallone and Ray Liotta & Harvey Keitel in "COPLAND".. Great, very underrated movie that showcases Stallone's acting chops..