Rate The Last Movie You Saw

The Merry Widow (1925)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

The Bank Dick -- 1940 -- 3/5 -- it was ok, some giggles, was disappointed i didn't hear the line Tony Soprano said in connection to it "Did you warble my little glen?"

The Shield of Honor -- 1927 -- 4/5 -- enjoyable cop flick where they use airplanes.

some Chaplin at Keystone shorts from 1914, all unrateable imo, but with all silent era films they are thee thing for me.

Little Geezer -- 1932 -- 4/5 -- a neat spoof of gangster flicks starring children.

Broadway Love -- 1918 -- 3/5 -- from the Pioneers Early Women Filmmakers set, a lot of the films are veritably unwatchable in that Bill Morrison Decasia sense, but this was preserved pretty nicely. A little on the sordid side, and SJW's will find some faults with it, but also it stars the man with a thousand faces with the face his momma gave him.

The Eagle -- 1925 -- 4/5 -- the best Rudolph Valentino i've seen yet, where it just so happens that he treats women respectfully for a change.

Metropolis -- 1927 -- 5/5 -- i'm getting used to the VHS quality of the parts added to make it "complete", some fantastic imagery here going down snazzy with the gummies.

With Sydney Sweeney now being Hollywood's latest 'it' girl, it felt like a good time to revisit this absorbing dramatization from HBO films about real-life whistleblower Reality Winner.

Sweeney is in top form at her most unadorned and raw, in a sensational performance that fully conveys the weight of receiving a visit from the FBI after having gone over the edge with information that the laws say she should have kept to herself - but didn't.

7,5/10

In comparison with movies of the same years 8,5/10

Dobro pozhalovat, ili Postoronnim vkhod vospreshchen (English title: Welcome, or No Trespassing, 1964) Watched this today on Criterion Channel. This was an enjoyable and charming comedy with a cast of cute and likeable kids. It's very different in tone and style from the very intense and hard hitting war film from the same director, Come and See.

Pitfall -- 1962 -- 3/5 -- didn't hit home like it did long ago when i 1st seen it.

Taste of Cherry -- 1997 -- 5/5 -- nice and slow, a great sense of place, and time, in a dusty golden hue. The protagonist however is less sympathetic when i 1st saw it, he's like intrusive this time. Will finish it in the dark, but it is a good one if you can't see it except in a sun bathed room.

IF (2024) There are some wonderful, beautiful moments here but not everything completely works. It felt a little uneven like something was missing at times, but I love the idea and I appreciate what they were going for. Ryan Reynolds and John Krasinski are effective in their roles. Cailey Fleming anchors the film with a lovely performance and Alan Kim makes a memorable impact with limited screen time. The ifs are colourful and fun characters. This is a pretty good film that feels like it could have been something even more.

The Boy Friend (1971)

The Earth Dies Screaming - 1964 scifi/horror directed by Terence Fisher who helmed quite a few Hammer productions. The films opens with countless people dropping dead right in the middle of their day. Cars crash, planes plummet to the ground. Next you cut to a lone Range Rover driving into a seemingly deserted village. Inside is test pilot Jeff Nolan (Willard Parker). He settles in at a local hotel before being interrupted by Quinn Taggart (Dennis Price) and Peggy Hatton (Virginia Field). They also are part of the few survivors of what is apparently a country wide phenomenon.

Others soon join them. Edgar Otis (Thorley Walters) and Violet Courtland (Vanda Godsell) were at a company party at a chemical laboratory. Young couple Mel Brenard (David Spenser) and his very pregnant wife Lorna (Anna Palk) are the last to wander through. Through simple deduction the group figures out that it was some sort of gas attack since they all shared the same backstory of having been in hermetically sealed or oxygen rich environments. The rest of the mystery is quickly filled in when strangely costumed individuals show up in the village who turn out to be robotic shock troops.

The group understandably goes into survival mode with weapons gathered, guards posted and plans made for an inevitable evacuation to a better fortified position. There are casualties of course plus wild cards with one of the group being sketchy AF and showing himself not to be trusted. In fact there's nothing that hasn't been seen already in just about any post apocalyptic movie. But the clean uncluttered look of the black and white cinematography and the British accents are almost like comfort food. Maybe these sorts of movies are right up my alley because, despite not much happening, I really enjoyed this.

75/100

Rina Wu's The Last Frenzy (末路狂花钱) sure brings back memories of Alfonso Cuarón's directorial debut, Sólo con tu pareja.

Both movies center on young, rather aimless single men for whom an apparent misdiagnosis causes them to reevaluate their life priorities and what they hoped to get out of life... but that's where the similarities end.

Jia Bing plays Jia You Wei, for whom the sudden diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumor makes him want to spend the time he thinks he's got left with his closest buddies from his school days.

His goal is to spend his remaining days and money with them and try to make their wildest wishes come true... which may sound easier than it really is.

This movie was a huge hit in China, and it's not hard to see why; the film is wild in many unexpected ways and quite moving in others.

Sundown: The Vampire In Retreat (Anthony Hickox, 1989)
Imdb

At some point between Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, Bruce Campbell appeared in this weird ass horror comedy vampire Western - alongside vaguely familiar faces like David Carradine, M. Emmett Walsh, and Maxwell Caulfield. But even as a Bruce Campbell fan, I don't think I'd ever heard of this movie until I received the Bluray for my recent birthday.

Like many of Campbell's lesser known movies, this is a mess. The acting is mostly terrible, the effects are pretty equally so, the story is lacking, and at about an hour and 45 minutes it's a bit overlong for what it offers, but I can't say I was ever bored with it.

It probably deserves a 2 or 2.5, but as a Campbell fan I'm feeling generous.

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By Momentum Pictures - http://www.impawards.com/2019/haunt.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61776568

Haunt - (2019)

It's Halloween, and a bunch of teenagers decide to visit a haunted house attraction - one of those set-ups that seem to be popular these days, where actors do ghoulish stuff and plastic skeletons pop out from behind cupboards. Boo! But as the scares increase in intensity, the kids start to realise that all is not quite right with this particular place - and when they start to go missing, and get injured, the fear factor ramps up and panic sets in. This was pretty effective, and the tension is ratcheted up with an absolutely flawless rhythm and pace. Better yet, the reveals work well - this is a ghoulish horror movie I can really believe in. One of the better new horror movies out there.

7/10


By Peppercorn-Wormser Film Enterprises (Harry Saltzman, distributor) - Source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=45785246

Chimes at Midnight - (1966)

The legendary Orson Welles brings the legendary Shakespeare character Sir John Falstaff to life in this spectacularly filmed and edited War of the Roses-period classic. You might not understand much of the lyrical conversation, but the Battle of Shrewsbury scenes are astonishing and there's much for a cinephile to stare at in awe here. Mystifying, but truly great. Review here, on my watchlist thread.

7.5/10


By It is believed that the cover art can or could be obtained from the publisher or studio., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13064311

The Phantom Carriage - (1921)

Victor Sjöström (Professor Isak Borg in Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries) writes, directs and stars in this very old Swedish film that stands as one of the classics of early cinema. Every New Year a person who dies at midnight is tasked with driving a phantom carriage, and hopeless drunk David Holm (Sjöström), having just died, finds himself not only facing his destiny, but also that of his poor suffering wife and children. Fascinating glimpse into a cinema and horror genre with very different conventions. Review here, on my watchlist thread.

8/10


By Official film poster - https://www.kinopoisk.ru/picture/1290402/#, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51920847

A Visitor to a Museum - (1989)

After environmental disasters have pushed humanity to the verge of extinction, a lone traveler searches for an abandoned city but finds himself waylaid at a hotel where a religious cult attracts the "deranged" and people spend time mindlessly ogling television. This is a very dark film that takes grit to see your way through - but it's worth it. Review here, on my watchlist thread.

8/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15891502

The Ruins - (2008)

Four American tourists along with a German backpacker find the Mayan ruins they're searching for, and uncover a secret so horrifying that they're forbidden to leave - leading to a desperate effort to survive. There's some neat horror and gore here, but the characters are paper-thin and there's not much to this average horror movie. Review here, on my watchlist thread.

5/10

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SF = Zzzz


[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

Miami Vice (2006) - Erm... And the point of that was? I knew I was better off not wasting my time. But, after 18 years, I finally decided to try. It's not awful, it's just pointless.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Opposite Day (2009) An accident causes parents and kids to switch personalities and roles in a town. Parents have to go to school, while the kids are suddenly lawyers, police, and executives. If you have a childlike sense of humour and go with the premise, this is a lot of fun. The kids are cute and there are some funny moments. I enjoyed seeing the kids acting like police and the girls dressed up acting like high powered businesswomen. It's silly and wacky, but I dug it.

Dune Part Two


I liked the first one well enough, but I felt it was a bit slow in its second half. Everything that was being built up in the first one was improved on in the second one, especially where the mythology of the Fremen are concerned. Their mystique never broke the spirit or vibe of the film, but steered into sci-fantasy territory pretty heavily, essentially becoming a clever combo of Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars, the former of which I correctly guessed influenced this novel. The story worked well with the universe itself, and even had sand cinematography beating Lawrence of Arabia. However, it needed more character development for the villains. Nevertheless, excellent movie.

Is The Strangers: Chapter 1 a prequel, a reboot, or a sequel?

That's a trick question, of course, because it essentially serves as a feature-length trailer for The Strangers: Chapter 2 and The Strangers: Chapter 3, both of which have already been filmed and will be released theatrically over the next year or so.

But, yeah, at least the first film in the new trilogy doesn't really offer anything that we haven't seen before, as it follows the two previous films so closely that you probably know the story beats by heart already.

However, Renny Harlin, who directed the entire new trilogy, has promised that the next two movies will go in a "new direction" or something like that. Whether you consider that a promise or a threat is up to you.




This time around, Garfield isn't the laziest one around - it's whomever wrote this sloppy, extraordinarily lazy, unfunny and unimaginative film that even little kids may find boring.

The movie is not just a lazy mess, it's also one that fundamentally misunderstands what made Garfield funny in the first place, and has sort of reimagined him as some kind of a feline action star - yes, your ears aren't deceiving you when you hear the themes of both Top Gun and Mission: Impossible during Garfield's antics here.

Everybody who ever read the cartoon strip knows Garfield's isn't a feline Tom Cruise - he's more of a Zach Galifianakis type.

To no one's surprise, the movie is more committed to product placement - everything from a Catflix streaming service to (of course!) Sony laptops, since this is a Sony movie - than to original storytelling or compelling characters.

And to make manners worse, there's even a hint of misogyny due to the fact that both of the main villains are (of course!) women.

Honestly, any of the old comic strips offer more entertainment value than this sorry excuse for a movie.

The World (2004)