Rate The Last Movie You Saw

28 Days Later

While I cannot say that this is a bad movie (and I think it's a good one), I found it to be quite flawed. I thought the acting was alright but I wasn't too fond of the direction, the camerawork in particular, and in some sequences the music seemed out of place. Also, the final act was a bit disappointing.

First post, yay!

50/50

Great movie. Simple story executed really well with some great acting. Oh, and ANNA KENDRICK.

8.5/10

Skyfall

Really enjoyed this. It was a lot more simplistic than previous Bond films and I liked it for it. Javier Bardem is badass and Daniel Craig is an awesome Bond. I thought a couple things were silly, like shooting a flare underwater (although I haven't researched this, I'm pretty sure you can't do it) but that's to be expected in a Bond movie and is a part of its charm. Really looking forward to the next Bond after seeing this especially after the introduction of the new 3 central characters.

8/10

Since I "reviewed" Spider-Man last time, I'll just do a comparison of the two.

What Amazing did better:

-I think the overall acting is stronger in this. Garfield, Stone, Ifans, Leary, Sheen, and Field.

-I like Garfield's Parker quite a bit. He was still a nerd, but a much more modern one. He's a social outcast, but not he's not weak. He was actually kind of badass before he even got his powers.

-The relationship was much more fleshed out and developed. It combined awkward introductions with growing confidence and strengthening bonds.

-I like Flash Thompson in this. He was a typical bully and a dick, but he showed various colours of his personality. Much better than the Raimi throwaway.

-Parker's relationship with his aunt and uncle is much more in depth. It's not just 5 minutes of "hey, that Parker kid is changing", before the death scene. There is development, and an arc between the characters, involving happiness, sadness, anger, then pain.

-Emma Stone is hot. Oh, back to the movie. Gwen Stacy is actually a character in this, and not just an object of various guy's affection (AKA slut). She's almost smarter than Parker, brave, and gives attitude at times. Good job Webb, you created one of the stronger female leads in a comic book film.

-The Lizard was a freaking awesome villain. He looked gross and menacing. He almost killed Spider-Man every time they fought, who got his ass saved a lot. Not actually how I imagined him from the tv show, but still good.

-I liked the dry humour from Spider-Man. I know some found it corny and not funny, but that's what I liked about it. Parker thinks he's being funny, when he's really just a smart-ass behind the safety of his mask.

-More people actually acknowledged Uncle Ben's death this time. Like, the whole school. Even Gwen's Dad was given more respect than anyone in Raimi's version.

What was worse:

-I wish they didn't show Uncle Ben getting shot. I know we all know what happens, but the first one had it right in keeping the tension. Or at least show them struggling with the gun, having the gun raised, then cut from there with a loud gunshot.

-Yeah, still didn't like that pandering towards the audience with the whole crane bit. I get what they're doing with this, but both Spider-Man and this one made it feel cheap and useless. I feel like Webb and Raimi were forced to include something like this from stupid producers.

-I think Dafoe's character was more interesting as the main villain, but that's debatable.

-I didn't like that fight scene at the beginning. I like seeing Parker stand up for others before he got his powers, but I didn't see Flash in this movie as the kind of guy who would turn that violent. Their relationship was more like "I'm bigger than you, so that means I'm better. Just do what I say, I don't consider you equal." The name 'Eugene' must really be his breaking point.

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Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake... I... drink... your... milkshake!
-Daniel, There Will Be Blood

The Butterfly Effect

Bouncing all the time...no dead time, fast pace, interesting characters.......I first thought it's gonna be another cliche like Groundog Day but it wasn't. 8/10

I watched Our Idiot Brother which has Zooey Deschanel and Elizabeth Banks, two females that I have started to really enjoy over the years. The movie wasn't anything special, it had a few entertaining moments here and there, but ultimately, it didn't have anything that I will be talking about in the future.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

The Palm Beach Story 9/10

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Furious 6 6.5/10

Definitely a guilty pleasure, a film to train to. Fast 5 was better though

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"Don't just stare at it, Eat it!"

Last night I watched the latest from Billy Friedkin, being Killer Joe.

First, who is Billy Friedkin - well, he is that fellow who directed The Exorcist, and The French Connection, and Sorcerer, and Bug. In recent years Billy has spent his time directing live opera, all over the globe - but every now again he returns to film. Killer Joe is his latest.

I found Killer Joe like most of Billy's films - which is to say I found it spellbinding and was lost within it completely. In terms of filmcraft, it had one bad segment of edit that can easily be fixed. As a film - its genius, as is Billy.

If you have not seen Bug or Killer Joe (Billy's most recent films) I highly recommend them. Here you will see film done by a true director with real skills. There are few alive that still work at this level of filmcraft - so, to not pay attention is folly.

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Have you ever held a lion in your arms? I have. He smelled funky.

A poor man's Mulholland Drive. To say it's a very confusing film would be an understatement. I even read about it after I finished watching it and I still can't wrap my head around it. It almost makes no sense. I loved the opening credits scene, and the scenes in which Patricia Arquette was naked. To make the experience even more surrealistic and weird, I paused the movie halfway through and slept for about an hour because I was extremely tired, and then woke up and watched the rest. I liked what I saw, but at the same time it left me cold. I'm still thinking about it.

Probably my least-favourite Lynch movie, though the scene introducing the Robert Blake character is genuinely creepy. ** / ****

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"Yes, citizen, there is no cause for alarm -- you may return to your harpsichord."

It might be my second favorite Lynch actually, either this or Blue Velvet, I'm not sure. But it's still early to say.

Well at least you liked it, it's not a poor man's Mulholland Drive, just a man version of it, like I've said before I think it makes sense anyway, I'll write it up proper sometime if you want, I actually understood the film on first viewing unlike Mulholland Drive which I read about then got.

Why? I think I have asked you this before, but what makes it so much worse than Mulholland Drive?

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It's not exactly a man version of Mulholland Drive. It has some similarities, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's different.

And you didn't ask me but I'll respond to that anyway. Lost Highway isn't so much worse than Mulholland Drive. Mulholland Drive is far superior to Lost Highway. There is a reason why Mulholland Drive was on both Sight and Sound lists (directors and critics), while Lost Highway wasn't part of any of these lists. Furthermore, Ebert has the former on his Greatest Movies collection while he gave Lost Highway a thumbs down.

Ebert's two reviews of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are silly, he basically condemns one and praises the other for exactly the same thing. I read somewhere else where he talked about how a film doesn't have to make sense to be good - citing Mulholland Drive as an example - but he uses this as his main criticism of Lost Highway.

In fact, Roger Ebert annoys me with almost all his reviews of Lynch, he gives The Elephant Man 2 stars, and Blue Velvet even less, a film that is ahead of Mulholland Drive on S&S directors poll.

I find it strange that he hates pretty much everything Lynch and puts Mulholland Drive in his 'great movies' section, it just doesn't seem right and consistent. It's as if he saw The Straight Story, realised that others thought he was a great film maker and jumped on the bandwagon and 'loved' his next film despite disliking similar films he had seen before it.

Honestly, I think Mulholland Drive is a great film, and if people love it then it's easy to see why, I am just curious to know why some people seem quick to criticise a similar film, at least for me - although yes, it does have a lot of differences too - for things they enjoy in another film. You still give it a good rating, which I am glad of

I don't think so. Even in his Lost Highway review, he said "Lynch is such a talented director".

And what do you mean "for things they enjoy in another film"? You make it sound like it's the same movie, only consisting of different actors, and with a male lead instead of female. It's a different movie. Yes, it has similar themes, but it's a completely different film.

There wasn't a single scene in Lost Highway that even resembled the Club Silencio scene for instance, let alone evoke such emotions. That is the main difference between these two films.

What I mean by they are similar is that they are both films:



So yeh, actually, it pretty much is the same film, I reckon.

Lost Highway is just more aggressive/darker like a murder mystery, and is more about the male role in relationship, sexual paranoia, jealousy etc.

And there were plenty of scenes that I enjoyed and found equally or more powerful than the Silencio thing, but that's a matter of opinion It's clear you feel more connected to the film than me and as a result it is more powerful than you, but in terms of thematically/structure/design/style I don't get why Lost Highway is criticised for similar things to Mulholland Drive.

If it's pretty much the same film, then why do you prefer one over the other?

Don't know really, it's nothing definitive but I will try to explain. Like I said I have no problem with people loving Mulholland Drive more, even a lot more, it's just when they say they love it and hate Lost Highway, I begin to wonder why, maybe I am missing something that makes the films so different. But I don't think I am.

I think it's just a lot of little things that make me prefer it, stuff that I like to see in films. A lot of it feels like a murder mystery film noir thing with the detectives trailing him and the Robert Blake character representing like a private investigator, and the video tapes too, the character himself is creepy/awesome. I love Bill Pullman and really like his character look and style. Then there's the cabin, the cars, it kind of reminds me of Twin Peaks, I loved the music slightly better, although both scores are fantastic, and I loved the character of Dick Laurent, and the tailgating scene, that actor was in The Sopranos briefly which I loved too.

I am not trying to argue that one is better than the other, because I don't believe you can say that it is, it's all down to you, it's just if someone finds the two so different in quality I want to know just why

Fair enough. I also liked Bill Pullman's character, but then after his transformation Pullman is gone and the new character was such a cold character I almost didn't care for him.

The tailgating scene I felt was totally unnecessary. If there is one scene that I'd remove from the movie, it's that one.