Rate The Last Movie You Saw

The Hitchcock version is superb.

Bang....on the list Thunderbolt! Wasn't aware there was one, some parts of the story felt really familiar so (having not read the book) had a dig and there was a UK TV mini-series with Charles Dance as Mawin and Emilia Fox as Mrs de Winter....Diana Rigg as Mrs Danvers also that I must have seen.

I'm a huge fan of that film. Definitely my favorite of Noe's films. Also, in terms of violence, it's actually pretty toned down from Noe's other films.

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Prince of the City -

Butchie from The Wire said it best: "Conscience do cost." NYPD Detective Daniel Ciello (Treat Williams) learns this the hard way in Sidney Lumet's solid police corruption epic. Like the Strike Team in The Shield, Ciello's SIU takes a little evidence for themselves every now and then. Eventually, the voice inside Ciello's head becomes too loud to ignore, so he goes undercover to expose the rot in the system, a decision that makes him consider doing the unthinkable: betray his partners. Williams, in one of his first roles, is strong as Ciello. He gives the detective an everyman quality that puts you in his shoes and the way he expresses his assignment's escalating pressure got under my skin. I also like how he and Lumet let the audience rather than themselves decide if Ciello is a good person and if his corruption is borne from necessity or the thrill of the steal. The way the movie highlights the divide between the working-class NYPD and the more elite, status-seeking lawyers - exemplified by Bob Balaban’s performance as the tweedy Santimassino - who hire Ciello to go undercover is another nice touch. It makes you wonder how much better the American legal system would operate if each group was more willing and able to understand its counterpart. Not to mention, while this applies to most of Sidney Lumet’s work, it's a must-see for lovers of movies set in New York City, especially since it's one of the few to be filmed in all five boroughs. Regardless, this is not a classic like Lumet's most popular movie about police corruption, Serpico. One glaring flaw is that the source of Ciello's apprehension, betraying his partners, lacks emotional weight. You don't have to be a police commissioner to know that this is a cardinal sin amongst cops, but I would have liked to have seen the SIU together more beyond the opening sting operation scene and the few perfunctory moments of them cracking wise with each other. The editing also limits the emotional resonance overall because too many scenes end before it seems like they should and jarringly shift to much different locations. I described the movie as an epic for a reason - it is nearly three hours long - but since it's long as it needs to be to tell its story, I do not think this is a mark against it. Despite its drawbacks, this is still a very good and very underseen entry in Lumet's filmography. Even so, if you haven't seen Serpico yet, you should watch it first.

Cold War Roadshow - 8/10
Great documentary on Nikita S. Kruschev (not to confuse with all the others) 8-day trip to the US going across the country to some ups and downs.

Officers - 4/10
Jingoistic agitprop

Lady in a Cage - 5/10
I love these kinds of movies, but they blew a great chance. Very sexual. Ann Sothern looked very good, as did Olivia, so much focus on the cleavage of women a little older than me.

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place - 8/10

Are you experienced?
I loved the archival footage around the country in 1964, it's a lot more accurate than the (coincidental) "1964" PBS documentary I saw earlier today.

Green Room - Finally watched this after having had it in my Netflix queue for quite awhile. Should have made time to watch it sooner because it's as perfect an indie thriller as you could hope for. Plus it's directed by Jeremy Saulnier who also did one of my all time favorites Blue Ruin. A cash strapped punk band takes a last minute gig at a remote club deep in the Oregon woods that turns out to be a neo-nazi stronghold. They inadvertently stumble across a crime and end up having to barricade themselves backstage. It sounds like an overly simplistic premise but the thrills and chills are bolstered by a fiercely intelligent script and winning performances by the young cast. Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat play members of the hapless band and Patrick Stewart delivers an unexpected gut punch as the sociopathic leader of the remorseless and homicidal crew. 95/100

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Rebecca (1940) Hitchcock
8

Storytelling (2001) Todd Solondz
Interesting cast: Paul Giamatti, Selma Blair, John Goodman, Leo Fitzpatrick.
The most amusing element in this film is Paul Giamatti trying to make a documentary, about teens of today. And his subject for the documentary, the laid back slacker Scooby.
7,5




Delicatessen (1991) Jean-Pierre Jeunet/Marc Caro
Post apocalyptic setting in an apartment building, where the landlord occationally kills and chop up his employees for food. The humor and the scenery are pretty dark.
7,5

The Young Girls of Rochefort(1967) Jaques Demy
Musical.

The main reason I saw this was because of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Demy). Where Umbrellas had a storyline during wartime and take us into the lives of the workingclass, with their struggles, The Young Girls of Rochefort felt very shallow compared. It is about two sisters/dancers ( Catherine Deneuve, Francoice Dorleac) looking for love. And there are some different men swarming for them.

6,5

The Hitchcock film is a must.

My favorite response when the news of the remake came out was someone who tweeted, "Oh, Rebecca remake: you'll never be good enough."

I love Saulnier, but I've been holding off on this one because I'm still in the sad zone with Yelchin's death.

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You had me at Ann Southern.
I've seen most of the Maisie movies.

Probably my favorite "foreign" musical and a movie I really, really like. Actually prefer it to The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg.

I think you're right to hold off. He's so good in this and was such an emotive presence in his films that a large part of anyone's viewing will be melancholic.

We discussed this back at Corrie, but agreed. The Young Girls of Rochefort is in the running for my 10 favorite first time watches of this year. None of the music in it is as good as I Will Wait For You in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, but rewatches have gotten me to connect more with the oblique missed opportunity themes in TYGoR, while my appreciation of TUoC has stayed pretty much the same since my first viewing. And, I'm not criticizing [I[TUoC[/i] or anything. I think it does a wonderful job at most of what it did. I just think TYGoR is able to create a wider emotional spectrum, which makes it the better film, in my opinion.

Maby a little unfair that i saw The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in cinema for the first viewing. And maby i expected The Girls of Rocheford to be a bit different.
I really enjoyed the way they sang all the dialog in Cherbourg. And there where some scenes that really made an impression, like the last scene at the gas station.
Maby you guys know if any other film by Demy is worth watching? Other films with same use of color maby.

I'm not entirely sure what it was about his death that shook me so much. I've had actors around my age die before. If you'd asked me to name favorite actors, he wasn't super on my radar. Maybe it's just that he seemed like a nice person and his death was so random and "unfair".

But last year or so I started rewatching Odd Thomas and I couldn't get past the first 30 or so minutes. I dunno. Maybe the more I put off watching him, the more I'm building it up in my mind. But when I see the cover for Green Room (which is on my watchlist) even that makes me kind of sad.

But here's a less sad/morbid thought: have you ever looked at a picture of Saulnier? Doesn't he look almost eerily . . . normal? Like, for a person who made Blue Ruin and Murder Party. And he sort of looks like your friend's boyfriend who works in Accounting and has strong opinions about local breweries?

White Sun of the Desert (1970) Vladimir Motyl.
The main character is easy to like, Red Army Soldier Fyodor Sukhov. The desert scenery, combined with the battle scenes between Red Army/ Rebellions gives associations to american western movies.
8/10.

White Dog (1982). Samuel Fuller.
7,5