Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Wowser, nothing to say. One hell of a movie.

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

Into The Wild (2007)


Read the novel and second viewing of movie, brill but very sad.. Sean Penn solid job with direction and Emile Hirsch brill as Christopher McCandless/Alexander Supertramp.


"Happiness Is Only Real When Shared" 😥

SF = Z


[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

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Saltburn - (2023)

How do I describe Saltburn? Maybe a grotesque, horror Great Gatsby for the 21st Century? A horrifying Talented Mr. Ripley? I had no idea what I was in for going in, but left with Triangle of Sadness levels of excitement - and that's perhaps the best measuring stick on expectations and/or recommendations. If you liked that film you'll probably like this one. The vibe is fantastic - but really interesting in how it twists and changes throughout the film. It starts like your everyday average university campus coming of age story and then morphs, becoming darker and darker until we find ourselves in deeply disturbing territory, grinding away in the meantime at protagonist Oliver Quick's (Keoghan) humiliation and damnation at the hands of his wealthy, snobbish "friends". Barry Keoghan gives the best performance of his burgeoning career. I'm overjoyed to see Richard E. Grant in something this good. I hope I see more of Jacob Elordi. Alison Oliver really is someone to watch. This film nearly gets a perfect score - but one thing that's going to hurt it are some reveals at the end which are treated like revelations but of which I'd guessed every single one. I know that doesn't go down well sometimes, but it has no real bearing on how good the movie is. I won't even describe the plot - I saw it blind, and it was brilliantly surprising and exceedingly enjoyable. I loved this so much - now I have a big 3 from this year, Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon and this.

9/10


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The Old Oak - (2023)

Directed by Ken Loach, written by Paul Laverty - that's what got me through the doors to see this film as soon as it's come out. Having been wowed by I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You in recent years, as well as going back in time and enjoying Sweet Sixteen, I find I'm getting on with their films just fine. This has a message for our current era, both worldwide and specific to the County Durham neighbourhood it's set in. Syrian refugees are being given housing in the area, and are beset with racist goons and angry townsfolk who resent that they're being helped while the locals are struggling. Eventually, many townsfolk learn to love their Middle Eastern neighbours ,but a hard-core group become even more embittered - driven my online message boards and echo-chambers. This is all central to TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner) and his Old Oak pub in which many residents spend their time in. This has the heart of your usual Ken Loach film, along with the heartache - and while the story is uplifting, there are no magical transformations aside from the growing sense of community fostered by people with positive intentions. It brings a much need restoration of hope for this community and via that, the world at large. I have to warn - a beloved little doggy gets killed in this movie, and while you don't witness the act, you hear it and if you're like me it'll break you a little inside. But it shouldn't be a deal-breaker for this film - all is within the bounds of tolerance. You're in safe hands with Loach.

8/10

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Zero F*cks Given (2021)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

2nd Rewatch...One of director Barry Levinson's best films that kind of got lost in the shuffle during an exceptional year at the movies. This story of five lifelong friends who find their lives moving in different directions but still trying to be there for each other has endless rewatch appeal. Especially loved Steve Guttenberg as the guy who makes a condition of marrying his girlfriend passing a trivia quiz about the Baltimore Colts, Daniel Stern as Shrevie, the guy who is anal about his record collection, and Kevin Bacon as the group mascot, who is tired of existing on the periphery of the group. Levinson's attention to period detail and control over his perfect ensemble cast is fantastic. I could watch this movie annually.

1st Rewatch...it's not as gritty and adult as Alan Parker's original 1980 film, but there is entertainment provided here from some very talented young performers. The multiple storylines have been tweaked from the original film, but they've also been cleaned up a bit. I liked that one of the performers accepted into the acting program was really interested in directing and that a gifted concert pianist really wanted to be a singer. Megan Mullaly, who plays the voice teacher, brings down the house with "You Took Advantage of Me" and Naturi Naughton does the same with her version of the Oscar nominated song from 1980 "Out Here On My Own". It's definitely worth a look, especially if you never saw the original.

1st Rewatch...A riveting and heartbreaking biopic that was so much better than I imagined and had me fighting tears for the majority of the running time. One thing that I noticed this time around that I didn't the first time is that even though Harvey Milk was a tireless advocate for gay rights, he also had interest in issues that were important to all of San Francisco, not just the gay population. I also liked the way Dustin Lance Black's Oscar winning screenplay didn't gloss over the fact that Harvey might have done a little too much thinking from below his waist, which caused him to hurt a lot of people during the story. LOVED the scene where Harvey told his staff that if they wanted to work with him, they had to be out to their family and friends, forcing one of his followers (played by Joseph Cross) to go to another room and call his parents. Sean Penn's Oscar winning performance in the title role is a master class and Josh Brolin has rarely been better in his Oscar-nominated performance as the conflicted Dan White. Gus Van Sant's direction is sensitive and this might be his masterpiece. upping my original rating.

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Extremities - (1986)

Ech. This is the better movie I watched last night? Farrah Fawcett, in a role she kind of owned during the 80s, plays a victim tormented by a crazy rapist (played convincingly by James Russo) - and oh boy, this was hard to watch. It begins with Marjorie (Fawcett) getting into her car in a parking lot - he's sequestered in the back seat, and holds her at knifepoint. She escapes, but he's stolen her belongings and knows her address - the police won't do anything and as such the next day he gains access to her house and the psychological torture and sexual abuse begins. This lasts for a long time, and had me so close to hitting the fast forward button (something I very rarely do) because I couldn't take it. I was actually becoming more and more furious with the film for putting me through this - it was manipulating me, and I knew why. When the tables would turn, I'd get a giddy high out of seeing her gain the upper hand and exact revenge. So, all in all how do I rate this thriller? Based on a 1982 Broadway play, it has performances that are very impressive. The cruelty and malice feel too real, and it takes a strong constitution to watch (if not, you may just be a psychopath) - I felt manipulated, but the end results were interesting. Stressful and exceedingly blunt, Extremities seems to be thrashing around in the dark but genuinely concerned about a justice system that leaves women vulnerable, and what men can do when they break a woman they want power over. When Marjorie's two female friends get home, and find a battered and bleeding guy tied up, their reactions really provide a little grist to the mill - and that's the film's strongest point.

6/10


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Sea of Trees - (2015)

Part survival story, part spiritual odyssey, Sea of Trees goes fine for quite a while, but close to the end it falls off a cliff and escapes us, or at least, it veers off the path it seemed to be on, like a broken shopping trolley. Arthur Brennan (Matthew McConaughey) makes his way to Aokigahara (The Suicide Forest) in Japan after his wife, Joan (Naomi Watts) dies (both expectedly, and in an unexpected manner.) Once there, he starts popping pills, but sees a Japanese man in some distress. Takumi Nakamura (Ken Watanabe) is desperately trying to find his way out of the enormous, labyrinth-like forest after cutting his wrists, but surviving. There begins a survival story that has the two fighting the cold and rain - often stealing clothes, equipment and food from the various corpses they come across. After the ordeal is over, Arthur suspects that Takumi wasn't all he appeared to be after all. I don't know - I was onboard for some of this film but in the end it completely loses it's focus and kind of gazes into the sun for too long, delivering us unsatisfying (albeit major) twists, and a little absurdity for those not willing to completely suspend their disbelief.

4/10

The Hurt Locker.

4/5

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I'm thinking of ending things (2020)

Well, this was a strange nut to crack. I know that Kaufman's films can be angular and quirky but I wasn't really prepared for this. Guy takes new GF to parents house midst a snow storm and then drives back so she can attend her shift at a diner. The car ride is not great viewing, it goes on far too long with lots of intellectual musings and a touch of Pinter thrown into the pot for good luck. The performances are good and, eventually, the film does make sense, but to what end? It's a bore-fest.

Two hours of mumbling from my fellow Brits. Was so close to bailing out of this, but, somehow, it grows on one. I’ve been away from England for so long - did we always talk so slowly in an inarticulate way?

Good movie though.

3rd Rewatch...this tongue in cheek horror film still holds up quite nicely as long as you don't think about it too much. One thing I love about this horror homage is that the citizens of this town don't run...they freaking fight back. Love when Frances Lee McCain nukes that one gremlin in her microwave. Also love Polly Holliday's flawless channeling of Margaret Hamilton in The Wizard of Oz as Mrs. Deagle and Zach Galligan is all kinds of adorable as Billy Peltzer.

Fall (2022)

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The Bronze - (2015)

The Bronze has it's funny moments, but all-in-all it should be a lot more consistently laugh-out-loud funny considering the rich vein of entitled, spoiled, delusional and selfish it mines from it's sports star celebrity story. Hope Ann Greggory (Melissa Rauch) won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and was considered a future star before an injury curtailed her career - but she still lives off the fame it brought her, especially in her home town. Finances are tight though - she lives off of her postal worker father Stan (Gary Cole), occasionally stealing mail for cash. When a half-million dollar windfall from her ex-coach's death lands on her doorstep, there's one condition. Train newfound talent Maggie Townsend (Haley Lu Richardson) for a year, or no money - the only trouble being Hope loathes Maggie, and would do anything to sabotage her quest for Olympic glory. Yeah - a lot of the funny stuff relates to how absurdly spoiled and horrible Hope is, and her giant-sized expectations around how she should be treated (think royalty times ten), and it's kind of nice seeing how she evolves throughout the film. All in all though, once the credits start rolling the whole thing feels kind of light - the laughs I've had from films like this have always been louder and more frequent.

5/10


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Twisted - (2004)

Wow. Sometimes a film can redeem itself with a great ending, and sometimes it's like a match to the noxious fumes that have been escaping as one implausible and suspect plot twist/turn after another have made you doubt it's quality. Ashley Judd is homicide detective Jessica Shepard - newly promoted, and daughter of a maniac serial killer who killed her mother then himself when she was a young girl. When the bodies of men she's recently had sex with start turning up, suspicion falls upon her - especially since she's been blacking out during the murders. Her boss, John Mills (Samuel L. Jackson) and partner, Mike Delmarco (Andy García) back her up, but can only hold the rest of the police force at bay for so long - is she being framed, or does Jessica have some kind of serial killer gene that's making her kill? The twist in this is boneheaded, and the story has not one scintilla of plausibility or believability in it - Twisted is only for the most forgiving, or a lover of guilty pleasures. I didn't get much pleasure out of it, and I can't forgive it for the various cinematic transgressions it brazenly commits. Philip Kaufman directed this - he made The Right Stuff and cowrote Raiders of the Lost Ark. I don't know what happened to you Philip, but whatever it was, it must have been pretty bad for having this land in your lap. Simply a bad movie.

3/10

Pig 2021


Pig is a wonderful expectation turning piece of filmmaking, I cannot recommend this film enough to everyone. To find it was made on a small budget mostly with one takes on a 20 day shoot is incredible, fav Nic Cage performance of recent years. Only negative I take from this was an hour was cut from the runtime, an hour I would like to see!

I liked this movie too....here's a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/2235115-pig.html

3rd Rewatch...Vincente Minnelli's warm and sentimental musical of days gone by remains just as entertaining as it was when it premiered way back in 1944. This story of a St Louis family named the Smiths actually features more than one storyline that segue quite neatly from one to the other. Of course, the heart of this movie is the enchanting performance by Judy Garland as Esther Smith. This film offers three of the strongest vocal performances of Garland's career: "The Boy Next Door", "The Trolley Song", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Mary Astor adds a real touch of class to the movie playing Esther's mother and Margaret O'Brien is adorable as baby sister Tootie.