Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Was 2013 a big movie year? My IMDb movie meter says I've rated more movies from 2013 than any other year. Strange.

can u share the list?
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Traffic, from 2000, is for me not only a worthwhile film, but still true enough to beat all these current productions in many ways. An amazing combination of stories and fates of many people, in a distinctive and specific to this scenario, who has not seen it, I will not tell but it is worth watching.





The World's End (2013)

Best Simon Pegg movie I've seen yet. I didn't laugh as much but although his humor didn't get me it was still a good movie. Ridiculous, stupid, nonsensical and completely unrealistic, but altogether a fun uplifting adventure. The first act sets him up as a burnout among successful friends and really presses on the morals of that common story, but then, once the serious face is gone, it gets weirder as it progresses. You should see this if you like comedy.

8/10



Get Out (2017)


Still think this is easily Peele's best movie. Despite knowing everything that happens it continues to make me uncomfortable watching many scenes.



Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)

Surprised I hadn't hear of this, a TV movie about a friendship between journo/writer Alexander and homeless addict Stuart who meet through a campaign to release 2 charity workers. It's very moving with great performances by Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hardy.



THE MUMMY'S TOMB
(1942, Young)



"Whether you can believe it or not, the facts are here and we've got to face them. A creature that's been alive for over 3,000 years is in this town."

That's the warning issued by the town sheriff after it is found out that the 3,000 year old mummy, Kharis (Lon Chaney, Jr.) has come back in this follow up to The Mummy's Hand. Set 30 years after the events on that film, The Mummy's Tomb follows the efforts of Kharis and its new handler, Mehmet Bey (Turhan Bey) to seek revenge against the Banning family that defeated them in the previous film, notably Steve (Dick Foran) and his partner Babe (Wallace Ford).

The connections go a bit further than that because, as far as quality goes, The Mummy's Tomb isn't that far from The Mummy's Hand. It is nice to see the mummy taken out of its usual desert environment and have it transferred to Massachusetts, I do think the pace of the film is a bit better and it does get things going a bit faster than the previous film, and I appreciate the more serious and darker tone.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
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LAKE PLACID
(1999, Miner)



"I'm rooting for the crocodile. I hope he swallows your friends whole. You might want to arrest me for that too. Is that a crime? To wish the chewing of law enforcement?"

Lake Placid follows a group of people trying to find and stop a giant crocodile that's terrorizing a lake in Maine. The mixed group includes Fish and Game officer Jack Wells (Bill Pullman), paleontologist Kelly Scott (Bridget Fonda), eccentric millionaire Hector Cyr (Oliver Platt), and the town sheriff Hank Keough (Brendan Gleeson). All of them, and Betty White is still rooting for the crocodile!

This is a film that I really don't know why I missed back in the day, but I finally caught up with it and I had a lot of fun! The film falls in that line between horror, thriller, and comedy, and I think it handles all of them pretty well. It reminded me a bit of 1950s creature features, or even more "modern" stuff like Anaconda in terms of tone and vibe, with the ensemble cast and the focus on the creature.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot



15. The Curse of The Mummy's Tomb (1964/Plex)



Hammer's second mummy film doesn't do much that hasn't been done in other mummy films, but I had a good time with it.

16. The Werewolf vs The Vampire Woman (1971/YouTube)



A Spanish/German film that stars Paul Naschy as a werewolf who must stop a countess from turning others into vampires like herself. I really liked the werewolf makeup and the gothic sets, but the movie was just a decent monster mash.

17. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923/Blu Ray)



A silent film about a love triangle between Esmeralda, a captain of the guards (good), and an archdeacon's brother (evil). A deaf and half-blind hunchback, Quasimodo, gets caught up in this affair as well.

The production of this film is very impressive. The sets are massive, there are hundreds of extras, and Lon Chaney's Quasimodo makeup is wonderfully grotesque. The acrobatic stunt work he does on the exterior of the cathedral looks to have been really dangerous.

There's a lot going on in the story, which culminates in a fiery conflict between the rich, the poor, and the hunchbacked. Speaking of which, Quasimodo is not as sympathetic here as he is sometimes portrayed, as he goes on a murderous rampage at the end of the movie. It makes his character unlikable, but it's also fun to watch. Lon Chaney's performance and the stunning production make this essential if you like silent films.



18. The Fall of The House of Usher (1928/YouTube)



A silent film based on the Poe story. It's only an hour long, but takes place almost entirely in slow motion. You should try watching this if you have insomnia.

19. Alone in the Dark (1982/Blu Ray)



Four murderous psychopaths break out of an asylum and lay siege to their new doctor's house, mistakenly thinking that he killed his predecessor.

This stars some big actors, like Jack Palance, Martin Landau, and Donald Pleasence, who all give over-the-top performances. They knew this was a trashy slasher, so they decided to have fun with it. A few of the kills are unique, but most aren't that creative. I was disappointed in Donald Pleasence's mysterious fate and the bizarre final scene, but I enjoyed this as a crude, dumb horror movie.

20. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995/DVD/Theatrical Version)



Halloween 6 opens with Jamie Lloyd escaping a cult with her newborn baby. Michael Myers catches her, but the baby winds up in the custody of Tommy Doyle, a participant in the first Halloween massacre. He vows to protect the child from the cult and their enforcer, Michael Myers.

The Curse of Michael Myers has two different versions, the theatrical cut and the producer's cut. I watched the theatrical version, which is a mess. It added more gore, contemporary music, and weird scene transitions.

Michael Myers being the pawn of a cult is a stupid idea. It robs him of any agency and makes him a lackey. It's interesting in the sense that it harkens back to Halloween III, but it doesn't work as part of the original's mythology.

As a bad movie, this provides a lot of entertainment. The best scene takes place at a family breakfast table, where a father insults everyone and throws money at his daughter. His character wonderfully chews the scenery and he's given a suitably gory death later on. I've heard the Producer's Cut makes more sense, but the Theatrical is worth watching for that death alone.

The Curse of Michael Myers started with a misguided premise and then went wrong in just about every other respect.



I forgot the opening line.

By https://www.cinema-aventure.be/catal...7-DCDBFCBC23B4, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70881825

Close - (2022)

Here's something a little emotionally devastating from Belgium, about two young boys who have a close, intimate friendship. When their schoolmates question Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi's (Gustav De Waele) intimacy, Léo puts distance between himself and his best friend, betraying him, and the fallout is heart-rending. Apparently director Lukas Dhont's first feature film, Girl, is very good as well, so keep an eye on him. I found the ease Léo and Rémi had displaying physical affection really beautiful - friendship with absolutely no inhibitions. The two little actors were terrific! Such naturalistic performances - and demanding roles. I've seen 4/5 of the Best International Feature Oscar nominations from the last ceremony now - and I'm keeping an eye out for Eo.

8/10


By The cover art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31417230

The Devil's Brigade - (1968)

So, nobody would be surprised to learn that The Dirty Dozen came out the year before The Devil's Brigade - this seems very much inspired by it, and is like The Dirty Hundred, with various American servicemen released from prison and bailed out of trouble to form a crack commando troop. Joining them are the same number of buttoned down, obedient, professional Canadians. The two camps hate each other, and do nothing but squabble - but, wouldn't you know it, these men eventually form touching bonds with each other. That's one of my favourite tropes in movies - the enemies becoming best friends twist. Shipped off to Italy, they fight the Germans, and become known as "The Devil's Brigade". This is the true (but inaccurate) story of the First Special Service Force - a drunken William Holden leads, and we don't see the array of talent that we do in The Dirty Dozen, but the movie is still a lot of fun. It doesn't have any anti-war credentials, because hell, I wanted to join up after watching it. An adventurous, easy-going war movie that exemplifies the bonds of brotherhood great fighting forces always have. Unusual film poster though.

7/10


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The Night House - (2020)

The last film I saw Rebecca Hall in was Resurrection - so I'm starting to associate her with horror and see her as the psychologically searing scary-movie lady. This had much atmosphere - it oozed out of the film's pores, and made every jump scare a problem for my cat, who just wanted to settle on me. The only sour note from my perspective was it's tendency to try and explain everything as it came to a close - erasing any sense of mystery that might have lingered, or any fun I might have had interpreting all that's in it. Beth Parchin's (Hall) husband has committed suicide, but his spirit seems to be lingering - and every frightening ghostly moment pushes Beth more and more to seek answers. There's a very, very nice twist near the end, and like I said, the atmosphere of dread is perfectly relayed to us movie-wise. Two great positives. The rest I though was average, though not bad.

6/10


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Deadstream - (2022)

Rewatch. I was going to watch 10 to 20 minutes of this before going to bed last night, but I couldn't stop, so I ended up going to bed late. That's a pretty good compliment for a movie I've already seen - nicely inspired from the Evil Dead series, and a great, fun time.

7/10
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The Shining (1980)


Nothing new to report here. Love the Lloyd bartender scenes. Gotta make room for a Dr Sleep rewatch now.





The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Add this to the list of bad movies that are inoffensive. Confusing and messy until the bar scene, I was drinking. Then the band played and it felt like being in a real club, so that was pretty cool. After that some space aliens showed up, then, I sort of lost track of what was going on. Then I didn't care, it was good enough to watch while I drank and Jeff Goldblum is in there as the anchor to sanity, so, it wasn't so bad.

3/10





Zombieland (2009)

Right off the top I don't like the soundtrack. Then the next problem is with the middling story. Not much progression and not much suspense or thrill there. Popping off zombies seems easy as pie and the lighthearted friends thing, it just doesn't take itself serious enough to make the zombies terrifying. Because of the crap story alone I'd have said no points from me but visually this movie is pretty damn good and there wasn't anything offensive or off-putting in there so with the writers handicap I say can't be seven.

6/10

I will finish off my last beer now.