Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Asteroid City (2023)

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Soul.
I rated a 8/10.
Really like this 3D animation.

High Tide (1947)

This is a surprisingly good "B" noir from the poverty row distributor, Monogram Pictures.

Lee Tracy, Don Castle, and Julie Bishop star in the story of a newspaper editor who hires a P.I. to help protect him during a struggle with the mob. Several twists and turns holds one's interest leading to a typical noir ending.

Lee Tracy always played a fast talking, wise cracking newspapermen, lawyers, salesmen, etc. He was the original Hildy Johnson in the play The Front Page in 1928-29. He was passed over for the film of the same name in 1931 in favor of Pat O'Brien, presumably because the producers wanted a bigger name. Then they sex-swapped Hildy to a woman, and chose the great Rosalind Russell to play Hildy in the Howard Hawks' version renamed His Girl Friday (1940) with Cary Grant and Ralph Bellamy.

Don Castle was a poor man's Clark Gable lookalike, who had a pretty good reputation in "B" films. When he came back from WWII though his star had slightly faded, although he got steady work. He died young at aged 48.

High Tide is available for free on YouTube and also The Internet Archive.

Doc's rating: 6/10

IMO the '74 version was fairly close to Fitzgerald's book, and Redford was a pretty faithful Gatsby. I didn't care for the rest of the cast, although I typically drooled over Karen Black... But the mood, especially during the first half, was the same feel I got from the novel.

By Soundtrack collector.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10810789

Thoroughly Modern Millie - (1967)

This is a tough one, because I absolutely loved parts of Thoroughly Modern Millie - but first off, it's two-and-a-half hour runtime is simply too much to take with a whimsical, playful (and crazy) musical/comedy/romance of this sort. There was plenty of stuff that could have been let go, and one of the plot elements which we could have done with less of is the Chinese "white slavery" human traffickers bit. Just think up the most racist, silly, cartoonish depiction of Chinese people and you've got Thoroughly Modern Millie. A shame, because there are scenes in this film which are pure magic. Carol Channing belts out a song and dance rendition of "Jazz Baby" that I had to rewind to watch all over again (she ended up with an Oscar nomination for her performance all-round), and Julie Andrews is simply gorgeous and wonderful as the naïve and ambitious title character. Just think of a roaring 20s-set musical with pure insanity turned way up, and some great music. Those facial expressions from Andrews were adorable, and the various props and set decorations (which include 20s planes and automobiles) along with costumes and dancing all stood out. The only reason I couldn't ever think of myself watching it again is it's tortuous 153-minute runtime, but I'd find a 45-minute highlight reel very attractive indeed.

6/10

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The Prince of Jutland (1994)

This movie was renamed several times but the title on screen when you watch it remains. So, I included the most prominent posters and cover art for the newer releases.

This movie is Hamlet, but in its viking saga form, the inspiration for Shakespeares play. I liked this movie for many reasons, one of them being far less close ups and sweeping camera movements that fill so many movies these days. It felt more like a classic play than a Hollywood hype piece. Early young Christian Bale, you could see how great of an actor he was back then. I like these medieval movies and recommend this.

7/10

As someone on the autism spectrum and someone who is/was an aspiring accountant, I'd say this one hit me a bit harder. I liked all the callbacks to various scandals (Christian's business is called ZZZ Accounting, for example, a nod at Barry Minkow's ZZZZ Best which defrauded investors to the tune of millions in a Ponzi scheme). And Ben is definitely better at playing autistic than he was playing with a Tennessee accent (sorry Pearl Harbor).

I liked it enough that I do wish there was a sequel to it. But I'll admit there were some parts that were rough to watch (for example, the whole shin thing). Nope, I've had zero desire to do that to my body. And it never seemed to know what to do with Kendrick's character.

I've seen a lot of good films in June. But I felt it was time to take in a bad film to reset the grade-o-meter to make sure I don't get too harsh with good titles.

I chose the RT favorite Saving Christmas (2014). The film where Kirk Cameron lectures a straw man (director/co-writer Darren Doane) on how to be a good Christian and still celebrate the secular portions of the holiday. A film that is one part A Christmas Carol and one part Christmas with the Kranks.

I don't know how to admit these things, but I actually laughed a few times. To be fair, the whole conversation about Silly Shirt Friday which turned into one big conspiracy theory was so over the top that it was kinda funny. And an extended hip-hop breakdance sequence to Angels We Have Heard on High, featuring choreography that apparently took months to learn? got me do to the ridiculousness of it all.

It's not the worst Christian film of 2014 (that would be God's Not Dead) nor is it the worst Christmas film of all time (All I Want for Christmas for the loss). It's still the equivalent of Aunt May's fruitcake she gives everyone over the holiday season. Not wanted and hardly edible.

This fourth installment in the popular franchise focuses on Nick (Bobby Campo) who has a vision of the car crash minutes before it happens, which prompts him to flee the stands with his friends (as well as a handful of others that follow). But of course, as we know from this franchise and as it is told by Nick himself later, "sooner or later... you're up."

This is a franchise that, although it's never at the top of my lists of anything, I always have fun with. I had already read this was the weakest one, so I didn't really have a lot of expectations other than to see freaky kills; because if this franchise has taught me anything is that nobody really cares about the characters, but rather about how and when they die. The real star of these films are the Rube-Goldberg-like contrivances that lead to each character's death.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)

Not a movie I'd like to see twice. Full of pop culture references and social commentary on the movie journalism industry, the first half of the movie reinforces your typical disdain for tabloids and journalists in general. I wasn't interested in spending time watching a reporter get his scoops. Somewhere in the middle the story seems to redeem itself through legitimizing the main character. I held on to see what was next and it turns into a chick flick romance where he still takes the girl that ran off with some other guy, taking my lack of respect for this character even further. Everyone can act convincing and the movie was filmed professionally but I am unable to like this movie much.

4/10

Excerpt:
Journalist says: "Hi, I was just umm, you know, just routing through your personal possessions."

I have to hope that they at least based that on some research, but I agree. Students I've had who needed that stimulation usually go about it in ways that are much less theatrical, like chewing on plastic bottle caps.

It's almost funny. What do you do when you have a woman in an action movie, but you aren't comfortable having her have sex with the male protagonist? Darned if they knew! They were like, at least she can be a vehicle for some exposition.

Luca.
9/10.

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My novel Lucifer God's beloved son: https://www.amazon.com/Lucifer-Gods-...dp/B006AZLZAI/

The Goat, 1921

A young man (Buster Keaton) is accidentally photographed in place of killer Dead Shot Dan (Malcolm St. Clair), leading to many misunderstandings as he can’t seem to understand why citizens on the street are so spooked by him and the local police are taking an active interest. Along the way, he is pursued by the police chief (Joe Roberts) and strikes up a relationship with a nice young woman (Virginia Fox).

A short run time and a rapid rate of sight gags and stunts makes this an easy, breezy watch.



Full review

Broken Blossoms, 1919

Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) moves to England to spread the word of Buddhism, though he quickly becomes disillusioned and ends up managing a small store in a rough neighborhood. Across the road, young Lucy (Lillian Gish) lives a violent, oppressive life under the thumb of her boxer father, Battling Burrows (Donald Crisp). Burrows drinks heavily and takes out any disappointments on Lucy. When chance brings Cheng and Lucy together, their cruel circumstances threaten their newfound happiness.

Despite some painfully dated elements, this highly empathetic story makes for compelling viewing.



Full review

Oh, Sun - 7/10
A movie about racism. There were some really great parts, but I think they took a story and thought, "Let's make it artsy" and only a few really connected, while the rest detracted focus from the story. Like the person who has a great story to tell you, but digresses by telling you all the cars he passed by to get to the scene of the crime.

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https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition

That's Gwen Stacey's love proclamation to boyfriend/superhero Peter (Andrew Garfield) during the first half of this film. Following up Marc Webb's 2012 film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 follows Parker as he struggles with his superhero "duties", as well as the burden of trying and wanting to protect those around him; from Stacey (Emma Stone) to his childhood friend, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan). Oh, and there's also the geek-turned-supervillain Electro (Jamie Foxx) and the Russian criminal that turns into Rhino (Paul Giamatti).

If that sounds like a lot, it's because it is. For some reason, Marc Webb decides to cram as much as he can into the 2+ hours runtime and the results are, to say the least, a mess. The abrupt and clumsy introduction of Harry into the story is one of the worst offenders. If I complained that the first film felt like "going through a list of Spider-Man checkboxes to cover", this one amps that up to the max. Most people know what will happen with Harry, and most people probably know what will happen with Gwen, so it's all a matter of rushing through these checkpoints just because.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

Petulia (1968)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Bloody brilliant film! I'm going to go so far as to say that this is my new favorite Hammer horror film.

By Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the Film Poster. Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28677293

Sweet Charity - (1969)

Here's another in a current trend for me - one more film that the critics rated poorly when originally released that I liked a lot. There's a lot of backstory to Sweet Charity - originally a stage production, which in turn was inspired by the Federico Fellini film Nights of Cabiria. I never knew this before, but the songs "Big Spender", "If My Friends Could See Me Now" and "The Rhythm of Life" some from Sweet Charity, and they're very enjoyable musical interludes in the context of the original story. This was the first film directed by Bob Fosse, who had directed and choreographed the stage version - and he's refreshingly frank about his experience, explaining how unsure he was with such a large responsibility. Well, the film flopped, but I'm glad to hear that it's been reappraised somewhat over the years. The music, dancing and Shirley MacLaine all shine in this, underpinned by optimism and hope amidst squalor and misery - the wonder of Charity Hope Valentine is the fearless grasp she has on life despite constant let-downs. The likes of Sammy Davis Jr. adds much to the film's latter half, and the film needs it as it's another two-and-a-half hour epic runtime to get through. Right at the end, Bud Cort popped up unexpectedly in a small role as a flower child. I never even knew he was in this. There was so much to like here - and Edith Head's costumes were perfect, adding yet another touch of attractiveness to the film. Never knew much about this before - and it was a big surprise for me, how much I enjoyed it and like it. (Thank goodness the studio didn't force Fosse to add the alternate happy ending that he filmed - knowing that they'd want one. It didn't match the spirit of what preceded it and would have felt like a very flat cop-out. The ending we get is perfect, and optimistic all the same despite not being your typical happily ever after.)

8/10

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