Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Caligula (1979)

Well, you could make a film about the making and editing of this film but just lets say, if your expecting a sword and sandals epic, forget it. Tinto Brass made a rather artsy and erotic retelling of the legend of the Emperor Caligula, packed with nudity and violence. Then it was butchered to increase sales by inserting hardcore sex scenes post production by Bob Guccione and we end up with this mess. Not to say it doesn't have good "bits"...McDowell is great playing the insane Prince/Emperor and there are several good set pieces. The "inserted" scenes are obvious and slow the story down and caused even moreupset to the original director as they used the same sets made for his vision.
Pretty mad!

I agree. Lange took pains to almost impersonate Crawford-- her expressions, her manner; whereas Sarandon rarely felt like B. Davis. Interesting portrayal of them and their relationship.

I'm shocked. Not the gooch. I mean, just look at him.

Set in 1934, Shimásáni follows two sisters (Brigadier and Noelle Brown) standing at a cultural crossroad. Because of the needs in the household, only one of them has been chosen to attend school while the other has to stay to tend the goats and the crops under the watchful eye of their strict grandmother (Carmelita B. Lowe). The die has been cast for both, and both hate the fate that has been chosen for each. But when the second one gets her hand in her sister's school book, she finds herself drawn and mesmerized by the outside world she might never know.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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My Name is Nobody - (1973)

You go in blind and sometimes you come out a little perplexed, but it wasn't long before I was set straight regarding My Name is Nobody. By the time it came out, in 1973, the Spaghetti Western was old hat, and this Tonino Valerii (Sergio Leone did have a big hand in this as well) version completely pokes fun at the genre. I guess the inclusion of Italian comedian Terence Hill should have clued me in, but I just thought he was branching out into westerns. There are two distinct sides to this film - there's the Henry Fonda side, which is pretty much straight-up western stuff, and then there's the Terence Hill side, which is flat out Tom and Jerry cartoon. This slapstick isn't quite my style, but it was so strange seeing it in a western that I have to admit to being interested. Even Ennio Morricone is in on it - composing loopy versions of work he'd done previously, trading lusty twangs and operatic swoons for foghorns, duck quacks and tin-rattles. The story, of old great gunslinger Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda) and the young, better, up-and-comer who idolizes him, Nobody (Hill) is par for the course - but when cartoon logic is sometimes applied, I wouldn't get comfortable with relying on it. I'd have been better steeping myself in Spaghetti Westerns before watching this - but I get the joke anyway. The genre as a whole was dying around this time, and to send it up would be the smart thing to do.

7/10


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Triangle - (2009)

The best psychological horror films go the weird and inexplicable route without copping out and explaining what's going on - half of the fun is maintaining the mystery, and in Triangle there's so much that's weird and wonderful, and never even given the slightest hint of being explicable. I can't say much - the fun of the film is in the way it unfolds, and as such it's a spoiler minefield. Single mother Jess (Melissa George) and a group of her friends take a yacht sailing, encounter a storm, and are stranded on their upturned boat - but along comes a mysterious ship to save them. Trouble is, the group can't find anyone aboard, and those they do see are only fleeting glimpses of someone, just around corners - always running away. From there, things get freakier and freakier. If you think too hard about everything, there are plot holes - but when you're in the land of the bizarre, who's to say what's real or what's not? This mightn't feel special at first, but when the conceit has finally been revealed, then many will be hooked - and will remain so right to the end.

7/10


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Safe House - (2012)

Master manipulator Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) has valuable information on his hands that he's trying to sell for $10 million. When pursued by killers, he flees to the American consulate in Cape Town, South Africa. He's tortured by the C.I.A. in an attempt to get him to confess his contacts, and what he knows, but the killers find him, and kill all but one of the agents, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds) who flees with Frost - beginning a wild ride and bloody ride. This is one of those films where a main character, Frost, is set up with a gift (here, as someone who can talk anyone around) - so of course I'm expecting that to play a big part in what follows. Nope. Safe House goes the safe route, and pretty much stuffs in as much chasing and gunplay as it can instead of storytelling - it's not bad per se, but it just felt like we were promised so much more at the start. I mean, it's Denzel Washington playing a silver tongued rogue - come on, let's see him use it - and come to think of it, the film didn't make any use of Ryan Reynolds innate abilities either. A fine movie - while at the same time a monumental waste of acting talent.

6/10

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A completely new version of this played at the Cannes festival this year - edited from previously unused footage, this new "Ultimate Cut" version (considering the film, I might say definitely no pun intended) doesn't have a single shot that was used for the 1979 version. Tinto Brass is being a killjoy and trying to kill it with lawsuits - but that will only perhaps end up with his name being scrubbed from the credits. I'm looking forward to checking it out, albeit with reservations.

It isn't available anywhere for streaming that I can find and maybe this legal thing is the reason. I would like to see both versions now, theatrical and re-cut.

Love that film. It's a proper mindfunk film.

Dead presidents tells the story of Anthony, a black man from New York who struggles to adapt to life after being a marine in the Vietnam war. The film is structured into three distinct parts; his early years deciding to not go to college, the experience of the Vietnam war, and life after the war in which he decides to commit a crime to help pay the bills.

It's a bit of a patchwork film in that respect, as the segments don't flow easily. The first segment is well put together with some excellent family drama. The Vietnam segment is quite graphic and has some rather ludicrous make up / blood spurting effects, and the last segment is altogether a bit of a mess. The acting is satisfactory in parts but stunted in others. There’s no real resolution at the end, with the directors choosing to just hammer home the theme of how difficult life was after military service. It’s not a bad film, just rather dated and no real spark there to enhance any emotion.

Red Rock West follows Michael (Nicolas Cage), a drifter desperately looking for a job in rural Wyoming. In the process, he finds himself in the middle of a misunderstanding when a bar owner (J.T. Walsh) mistakes him for a hitman he hired to murder his wife (Lara Flynn Boyle). Things get even more complicated when the actual hitman (Dennis Hopper) arrives and stumbles upon Michael.

Cage has always done a great job portraying vulnerable guys that are cornered into complicated situations all while trying to come afloat and still be "nice". He's also paired with a solid supporting cast, with Hopper easily having the meatier role. His performance as Lyle (from Dallas) is not equal to Frank Booth, but it's somewhere in that area. Walsh and Boyle are both pretty good too.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

Not many can get away with *that* look.....

Nic Cage and Dennis Hopper, together at last! How have I never heard of this movie before?

Sounds interesting, certainly to me. How much footage did they actually shoot?! I'd heard that the idyllic scene with he and his sis in the field at the start was originally to go in the middle of the film. Good editing whomever put it at the start. Shows his decline.

It's mostly out of print and unavailable on streaming platforms. You might have to use, umm, alternate means to see it.

Canadian tuxedo ✅
Cowboy boots ✅
Shirt open almost to the navel ✅
Gold chains ✅

His dogs seem to like him though.

Artificial Intelligence is a 12-minute short produced by YouTube creator LEMMiNO. In it, he analyzes the development and growth of artificial intelligence, and how it can pose a threat to us. From seemingly inconsequential things like computers beating expert players in chess or Go, to the development of AI-generated content in news media or even music.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

I rented the DVD of Red Rock West from Netflix, but that won’t be an option much longer.

Triangle is great. It's in the Sixth Sense club of movies that have a "big twist", and yet are just as compelling to rewatch, and maybe even more rewarding when you know the full story from the beginning.

We rated it the same. Enjoyable film, unusual story. I never know how to link to reviews, so here is a little commentary about the film:

Red Rock West (1993)

First of all, let me make a confession: I had no idea going into the theater that this was the third in a series of Agatha Christie adaptations directed by Kenneth Branagh! I mean, yeah, I knew that over the last couple years there had been adaptations of Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Death on the Nile (2022), but I didn't really know that much about them or even pay much attention to who was in them, so I hadn't properly made the connection. I mean, I have yet to see the original 1974 Sidney Lumet adaptation of the first one. You know, the one with the all-star cast including Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman and Sean Connery! One of these days, yeah, I suppose...

Anyway... This one was okay, I guess. When I first saw the trailer for A Haunting in Venice, I was definitely intrigued. It looked like some supernaturally-themed period murder mystery thriller. The locale also intrigued me, because I was also a fan of Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice (1971) and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973). I must say, this one doesn't really approach the heights of either one of these. One of the things I liked about the movie is its air of post-World War II melancholy, with Branagh's Hercule Poirot having lost faith in God and humanity in the wake of human suffering. This theme lies at the heart of the work of William Peter Blatty (specifically his so-called "Faith Trilogy" consisting of The Exorcist, The Ninth Configuration and Legion), and so consequently when this subject was addressed I was led to expect a great deal more from the movie. Perhaps that was unfair. Anyway, this thriller at least has the decency to get the obligatory jump scares out of the way early on (a falling chandelier, a noisy cockatoo), and throughout at least a murky, melancholic mood is maintained. The plot involves a séance at the palazzo of a famous opera singer (Kelly Reilly) who had lost her ailing daughter a couple of years back. This ritual is to be conducted by a supposed psychic medium (Michelle Yeoh), and the now-retired Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh) is roped into coming along by a novelist friend of his (Tina Fey, performing quite adequately in a serious role). Inevitably there are some brutal murders, and Poirot has to solve yet one more case.

I don't really know why I wasn't more impressed by this one, but for me it was merely an adequte, professional Hollywood thriller. There are some pretty good performances, some decent scares, and I have to admit I didn't really see the twists coming. (This is adapted from an Agatha Christie story, after all. We're in the hands of a master here.) But everything just felt kind of lockstep and there didn't seem to be anything at stake as the story progressed. You can't win them all, I suppose...

Does anybody else feel different about the movie? Am I missing something here?