Rate The Last Movie You Saw

I never got the impression that Woody Allen worked with those actors for promotion/box office reasons, they are simply the actors who perform very well in his type of film.
Nobody plays passive-aggressiveness like Mia Farrow does, and that's a recurring theme in his films.

Many filmmakers have their favourite actors for that reason (e.g. Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern for David Lynch) and that has nothing to do with box office value.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002)

This is one of the greatest directorial debuts I’ve ever seen. Loosely based on true events, Better Luck Tomorrow tells the story of a group of Asian-American teenagers in an affluent suburb in Kalifornia who turn to crime, beginning with high school cheat sheets and ending with something far more serious and disturbing. Better Luck Tomorrow makes an interesting contrast to Menace II Society. In the latter film, African-American teenagers living in violent, poverty-stricken South Central become criminals because their existence is bleak and hopeless; in the former film, Asian-American teenagers who possess every luxury and opportunity they could ever ask for become criminals simply because they’re bored.

Annapolis (2006)

This is a classic case of a young, talented director churning out generic, formulaic studio trash after bursting onto the scene with a phenomenal indie film. If you want to know what Annapolis is like without having to waste your time watching it, then see the VASTLY superior An Officer and a Gentleman; the plots to both films are identical, but the latter film (which Annapolis ripped off from) does things a hundred times better.
I don’t know what Justin Lin, whose directorial debut (Better Luck Tomorrow) is one of the best indie films I’ve ever seen, has done since Annapolis, but I hope for his sake that he improved over his second effort. If nothing else, it's hard to see how he could have done worse.

Drop (2025)

Pretty good considering limitations of the premise. The style of the movie was graceful and made plot easy to follow. Still, just good for one watch, though.

Thunderbolts (2025)

It is centered around Yelena Belova (by Florence Pugh) character. Memory sequences due to Bob's superpowers elevates the movie and makes me want to re-watch it to see what I missed. Other than that it is a bit of a disappointment to be honest, because it lacks dynamism. It is intriguing as a sort of dreamy vibe, and lacking in factual depth.

Revenge (2017) This was entertaining. Lots of bloody action and a satisfying climax. Performances were effective. It's not quite as fantastic as The Substance, but still an enjoyable ride.

The Last Showgirl (2024)

Directed by Gia Coppola
Starring Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis

I saw this one because it was mentioned here and there of the last award season nominations.
The film is about very problematic part of people's life, often discussed in the cinema works. What happens when a single in his/her late middle age suddenly becomes unemployed. That's always interesting material for films.
Must say, The Last Showgirl quite well presents the matter. It is not that bad as remarked here and there on the internet. The cinematography is very nice. Pamela Anderson's acting is not on top level but not bad at all, she tries. The problems, the movie was created for, can be felt very well here.

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67/100

The Last Unicorn
6/10.
The artwork was impressive. But I thought the story, which was based on the 1968 novel, was a bit weak. It's almost as if the author asked his 5 year old daughter...
"Honey, what should daddy's next book should be about?"
"Uh... a unicorn?"
"A unicorn. Okay, what else?"
"A princess!"
"And what happens to the princess?"
"She meets a prince and they fall in love!"
"Is there anything scary in the story?"
Little girl looks out the window and sees a bull in the yard.
"A bull?"
Not much more to it than that, I'm afraid.

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Boldly going.

Il conformista (1970) - Bernardo Bertolucci: 7/10

By https://www.moviepostershop.com/face...ie-poster-1997, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66302064

Face/Off - (1997)

I watched a pretty crazy movie the other night - Law Abiding Citizen - and as such decided why not relive the absolute all-time champ of crazy movies - Face/Off. No matter how prepared I am for having seen it previously, it still surprises - mainly thanks to an absolutely unhinged performance from Nicholas Cage which John Travolta struggles at times to emulate. He must at least try to emulate it because both actors play the same two characters at different stages of the movie, them having swapped faces. No, this isn't some "Freaky Friday" wish upon a star romp - their faces are surgically removed and attached to each other's head. You see? Makes perfectly reasonable sense when you put it like that. The film starts with some explosive action in which evil mastermind Castor Troy (Cage - to begin with) is caught by FBI agent Sean Archer (Travolta - to begin with) trying to flee via jet on a desert runway, and from there he steals Troy's face while he's in a coma so he can infiltrate the gang of his arch nemesis and discover the location of a dirty bomb set to go off in Los Angeles. The villain wakes up of course, nabs Archer's face and the fun really begins. The film has classic status and the action is okay while the screenplay was never going to win an Oscar (the film was Oscar nominated - for sound effects editing), but what really shines are the performances from our two leads who have an undeniable screen presence worthy of Face/Off's standing. Nicholas Cage proved that he could make just about anything eminently watchable - and would go on to transform many a movie that may otherwise have been forgettable.

7/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22503191

Garde à Vue (aka The Inquisitor/The Grilling) - (1981)

A couple of years ago I watched a middling 2000 thriller called Under Suspicion featuring Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman, but I was interested enough in the premise to be curious about where the film originated. It was a remake of a 1981 French film, Garde à Vue - about an interrogation of a haughty, evasive high-priced lawyer who is suspected of raping and murdering two little girls. It's cracking stuff, brought off with aplomb from start to finish with not a moment of it's sub-90 minute runtime wasted. Super tense stuff, and better than it's U.S. remake.

8/10

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Kinds Of Kindness (2024)



I found it very enjoyable, very intriguing and very unpredictable.

The second part features a doctor in a supporting role and he speaks in the weirdest vocal fry I've ever heard.
The third part of the anthology features a female character who always drives her car like a maniac, and I wonder if this is a nod to Cruella De Vil also played by Emma Stone.

Late Spring (1949)


Last time I watched it was over 10 years ago, so I was thinking: It was time to re-watch it. My memory of it was quite accurate: I remembered nearly all major scenes. That's because this is indeed one of the greatest movies made in mankind's history. Yes, this is the real deal; cinema simply does not get better than this.

+

Breakdown (1997)




Can't believe I hadn't seen this yet. I'll admit I've never been much of a Kurt Russel fan. Nor a big fan of obvious for sheer entertainment stuff in general. This one however is different. It's by far Russel's best performance in my book and the plot itself isn't half bad either. There's no cringe, no macho bullshit, it's a fairly believable story with an intense yet unforced suspense throughout and beautiful scenery to boot. Even the music is more than tolerable.

Can't think of too many examples to compare it to but it beats The Fugitive, which I thought was pretty great for what it is. Die Hard can kick rocks all together. In fact, if this was the average standard for empty calories movies I would probably be much less of a film snob, spend a lot less time looking for movies and more on watching them.

Sure it's not Shakespeare but sometimes a straight action thriller is just what the doctor ordered and If that's what you're looking for it doesn't get much better than this.

Overall a solid 8/10

I agree it's a very entertaining film (seen it twice) but somehow I keep forgetting the title (was it "Vanished"? "Wrong Turn"? Something else?)

Breakdown?

Yes! That's the one!

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

This is one of the greatest romantic movies ever made. Richard Gere, one of my favorite actors, gives his career-best performance as Zack Mayo, a naval aviation officer cadet with a troubled past, and it’s nothing less than a crime that he wasn’t even nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. Debra Winger, who plays Zack’s love interest and WAS nominated for Best Actress, gives one of her most memorable performances. But the real standout is Louis Gossett Jr. as Zack’s drill instructor, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Foley. Gossett won a well-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (the first African-American to achieve this feat), and his portrayal of GySgt Foley is even more impressive than R. Lee Ermey’s much-celebrated performance as GySgt Hartman from Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket in large part because Ermey had served as a Marine drill instructor in real life while Gossett had never served in any branch of the military. An Officer and a Gentleman also contains what has got to be my favorite movie ending; I’ve watched it countless times, and it never fails to bring tears to my eyes.

But then, you answered your own question, he likes working with them and they perform well in his type of film. Also, Woody is the star of his films whether he's in them or not. With a few exceptions is the draw.

I'd also argue that many/most of those named (not Mia Farrow although, without looking at numbers I'm not convinced she was either. More famous for who she married and who her mother was than a movie star?) aren't movie stars anyway, that is to say, they can't/couldn't open a movie.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

I rated this film the same you did...a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/..._showgirl.html

1st Rewatch...A thoroughjly original and delightfully off-center black comedy from the creative force behind Being John Malkovich that stars Jim Carrey as Joel, a lonel and romanticlaly-challenged man who hgas a bumpy relationship with a kook named Clementine (Kate Winslet). Fast forward to the end of the romance whereJoel receives a bituce he wasn't supposed to from a mysterious company that informs him that Clementine has had all memories of him erased from her brain. Enraged, Joel goes to the company and requests they do the same to, which then chronicles the relationship between Joel and Clementine. Charlie Kaufman's Oscar-winning screenplay is the real story here, the way it goes back and forth in time just bonkers and sometimes hard to keep up with, but viewer pastience is definitely award. Kate Winsletg received a Best Actress POscar nomination for her goofy Clementine, buyt Carrey is just as good as Joel and was totally robbed of a nomination. Next to The Truman Show, thjis Carrey's best performance. Tom WIlkenson,Kirsten Dunst, and Mark Ruffalo offer solid support as the staff of this weirdo company that is the hook for this wonderfully originally story.

exactly what i expected but like 1000 times better

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slurps up! 🤙🤙