Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Torch Song Trilogy - (1988)

Something from the 80s that I'd never seen before, and was ever so peripherally aware of - a 2 hour film based on Harvey Fierstein's (who writes and stars here) 4 hour play Torch Song Trilogy. So, apparently, much had to be cut from this story about Arnold Beckoff and his relationships with lover Ed (Brian Kerwin), partner Alan Simon (Matthew Broderick) and his mother (Anne Bancroft) - relating to his struggle finding love and being accepted as a gay man in 70s New York City. I don't know if it's down to the squeeze, but the only hiccup I felt associated with watching Torch Song Trilogy is the way it keeps jumping forward many years from scene to scene - continually. We're always catching up with a bunch of events that have suddenly already happened. The performances are heartfelt however, and nobody lets this film down. It's a strong drama with heart, and I think it might actually have worked better being longer, or actually being a trilogy.

7/10


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Frances Ha - (2012)

Frances Halladay (Greta Gerwig) is a hoot, and this slice of her life makes for an entertaining, charming, bright and beautiful movie. Reviewed here, on my watchlist thread.

9/10

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I like finding a movie like this - The Last Voyage of the Demeter - Rewatching this one tonight. It's one of those off-the-mainstream, low budget, no-name movies that turns out to be pretty good. It has the look of direct-to-video. It fills in the back story of that first chapter of Bram Stoker's Dracula (the original book, that is, not the movie of the same title). The no-name actors are pretty good (theatrical in the good sense), FX are minimal (almost like a stage presentation) but graphic (mainly props, lighting and stage effects) and it's tense, tragic and grim, especially since you already know that this is NOT going to end well for the gnarly crew of the ship. I like finding a movie like this. It was a near freebee blue-ray from Amazon, apparently a box-office hit nowhere.

Apt Pupil (1998)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

May December (2023)

The Price of Freedom (2021)

Documentary about the politicisation of the National Rifle Association of America and its subsequent effects. The politicisation was started by a man who killed a 15 year old a shotgun, later to change his name and be seen on stage endorsing Ronald Raygun. It's a tough watch as the pain of the families of the victims of mass shootings is palpable. Most chilling is the Police just driving past some idiot walking down the middle of the street coralling people with an automatic rifle strapped on.

No rating.

The Fly starts as a bit of an eccentric, steamy romance as Seth and Veronica meet and fall in love. But then it all quickly devolves as he tests the teleportation device himself in a night of drunken jealousy. At first, this results in superhuman agility and stamina, but then it turns into physical deformation and aggressiveness. Hence, the "subtle warning" above. Seth is recognizing that there is "more insect" in him than there is "human".

This is a film I've seen a bunch of times, but I revisited it in preparation for a podcast guest appearance. It's amazing what time does to our perspective on a film. Whereas I used to see this as an icky, goop-fest when I was a teen, now I see it more as a tragic drama about change and death. Sure, there's gore, but there's also a lot of subtext here on how a terminal illness can affect and consume a person, and by consequence his/her loved ones.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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1st Rewatch...this movie was even less funny upon rewatch. This big budget combination of live action and animation, in which all the human characters are live action and all of the animal characters are animated (something I didn't really notice during my first watch), is just a hot mess thanks to a screenplay that's all over the place, the primary problem being the relationship between Tom and Jerry changes from scene to scene. Just as I felt during my first watch, the only thing in this movie that works for me is the absolutely charming performance by SNL's Colin Jost as an over anxious groom in a wedding being planned by a new hotel employee (Chloe Grace Moretz). This rewatch was basically 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

Me too. (Wendy & Lucy.) Huge fan of this director.

Huge fan of Gerwig.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Game Change - (2012)

It was a landmark moment in American politics that exposed a system in deep trouble. Looking for a popular Vice Presidential candidate for John McCain's faltering presidential campaign, Republican strategist Steve Schmidt and McCain's team brought in Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska - someone who's various anti-abortion and creationist stances would excite the base. Trouble was, their vetting process was hurried, and they missed the fact that Palin was unqualified and lacking in the knowledge and understanding high office requires. These faults were quickly exposed by the press during interviews - leading to controversy, and a campaign dogged by that singular issue : this woman could become president, despite knowing nearly nothing about world affairs, finance, sociology or diplomacy. Game Change is a straight retelling of this story based on what happened when it happened, and it makes for fascinating viewing - especially today, with the American system teetering on the brink of disaster. Anyone can become president, if popular enough - and that's the problem.

7/10


Recently saw Game Change+ a couple of months ago. The movie was OK, but Moore and Harrelson were fantastic.

Hated Frances Ha

After years and years of procrastinating I finally started watching it last night and just couldn't get into it. There's obviously a subset of people that others immediately relate to or empathize with and who I find at best irrelevant. And it's not just that their experiences are foreign to me because that describes most movies and one of the main reasons I watch them. I guess I don't have the patience or tolerance I used to.

Frances Ha definitely has a cult following but I'm not a member.

Pet Sematary Bloodlines
6/10.
The sequel to Pet Sematary wasn't necessary, and neither is this prequel, or the 2019 remake.
It takes a 30 minutes segment from the original movie and tries to stretch it into 90 minutes. Like the remake, they also changed the ending, but failed to improve it.

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Boldly going.

Have you seen the PBS mini-series with Louis Jourdan as Dracula (1977)?

I recollect seeing that long ago, as well as Bram Stoker's Dracula (the movie, not the book) and they were good in their own way. I've always been curious, however, what it would take to duplicate the book....probably a miniseries.

What I liked about Demeter is that it amplified a small part of the book that precedes all of the usual cape-and-bat stuff. That chapter of the book is generally ignored, but it really is creepy and ominous in setting the scene. In the book, you can't help but wonder just WHAT happened on that ship that drifts into a port.

I see that you can stream a 2 2/1 hour PBS version on Youtube, might check out that one. It's been a long time since I saw that and my mental collection of bloodsucker movies might need to be refreshed.

I’ll be watching this finally tonight. Looking forward to it!

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The Zone of Interest - (2023)

I know the family of Rudolf Höss had been taught to hate Jewish people and so called "enemies of the state", but boy. They sure can compartmentalize. Living mere yards away from the horror in Auschwitz (close enough to hear the screams, the yells and the gunshots) they go about their daily lives as if they're living in paradise. In fact, Rudolf's wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) becomes very upset when she learns they might have to leave (eventually refusing to) in this almost surreal mind-bending factual film. I'm very happy to see Christian Friedel in another big film (I'm a big fan) and overall it left me feeling more disturbed than I am from Holocaust films which show what happened in brutal detail. This seems far more disturbing. It is, perhaps, an essential entry to that particular library of films that have built up over the years. Jonathan Glazer creates an atmosphere of undiluted unreality - making what we've come to accept about what happened bizarre and almost unbelievable again.

8/10


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The Great Gatsby - (1949)

When it started I thought this was going to be a very pulpy hack version of The Great Gatsby, but Alan Ladd's charisma just about saves a sinking ship here and if we don't let our eyes wander from him (which they rarely do) then we can just about forget the rest. Shelley Winters drops in a few times as the sleazy Myrtle Wilson and makes an impression. The 'ahem' "special effects" when Myrtle is run over are a hoot, and a great reason to rewind half a dozen times to make sure you're not watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Overall though, it's Ladd's show and he, at least, shines. Apparently director Elliott Nugent was suffering from some kind of mental illness while making the film - must have been fun on set.

6/10


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Alice - (1988)

I want to see the Czech version of this bizarro version of Alice In Wonderland because the English dub hurts my brain more than watching taxidermy coming to life, surreal stop-motion and all the other "just dropped acid" moments that are thrown at us in this very loose adaptation. Every time something is said, the girl dubbing the Alice character adds "so and so said" as if we're reading a book. It becomes so tiresome - I nearly turned the whole thing off. But, this is so damn weird I couldn't. A must see for those who love surreal and weird films, as an Alice in Wonderland adaptation should be. It's probably the closest to a real dream you'll ever see in film format.

7/10


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The Spirit of the Beehive - (1973)

A magical chance to relive childhood (in fascist Spain, ruled by dictator Franco after a bloody civil war) - reviewed here, in my watchlist thread.

10/10