Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Alone in Berlin - (2016)

I thought I'd already seen this one, but it turns out I hadn't - and it was really good. A German couple living in Berlin, 1940, lose their son in the war and become embittered - launching an anti-Hitler campaign. They leave postcards throughout the city protesting against the Nazi government, and the authorities have a devil of a time trying to find out who they are. Featuring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson as Anna and Otto Quangel (both husband and wife have names that are palindromes - cute coincidence) along with Daniel Brühl as Inspector Escherich. It's a wonderful ode to the fight against totalitarianism and really captures the mood of 1940s Berlin really well. Hysteria and paranoia abound, with the oppressive shadow of the regime everywhere you look. Thompson and Gleeson - perfect casting, and my only criticism would be that you know what you'll be getting and how the story will progress. Based on the story of Otto and Elise Hampel - a memorial plaque marks the site of their residence in memory of their brave resistance against the overwhelming and violent momentum of history, so to speak.

7/10


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Priest - (1994)

A new priest arrives at St Mary's parish in Liverpool - Father Greg Pilkington (Linus Roache) is a pig-headed pretentious conservative that only Margaret Thatcher or Ronald Reagan or MAGA could love, and there's a whole heap of friction when he constantly chides and criticizes the ultra-progressive Father Matthew Thomas (Tom Wilkinson). Pilkington's world will be rocked in 3...2...1...Okay, first a girl comes to confession and tells the priest that her father is raping her - the old confessional dilemma arrives like the breaking of a melodramatic storm over Priest, but it's followed by the revelation that Father Greg Pilkington is gay. He starts having an affair with local hunk Graham (Robert Carlyle - with an ever-present grin) and it's not long before he's caught having gay sex in a car. I wonder how the parish will react to this? I'm giving too much away, but I just want to illustrate how hard Priest goes at setting up the conditions for stormy bouts of emotionalism that somehow feel more genuine than the pat lessons we learn in today's films. Father Thomas decides to fight an almost impossible fight with Pilkington by his side, confronting prejudices and turmoil with what he sees as the true meaning of Christianity. Some genuine passion on display here, and real humanism.

8/10


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The Burbs - (1989)

I saw this at the movies way back in the day, and walked away liking it quite a bit. It now feels like a cultural artifact displaying (as if in a museum case) American suburbia during the 1980s, with the men on Mayfield Place (Ray played by Tom Hanks, Mark played by Bruce Dern and Art played by Rick Ducommun) looking for an outsider or "other" to basically attack. Luckily there are foreign people who have moved in next to Ray's place - the Klopeks. Suspicions and paranoia spin out of control - events are misinterpreted and mildly amusing hilarity ensues. The ending kind of ruins the whole message which irks me to this day - but they had to squeeze a twist in, whether it wrecks the thrust of the film or not. Carrie Fisher and Henry Gibson are the other significant inclusions in the cast, but Corey Feldman is there too - I'll leave you to make your own judgement about that.

6/10

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