Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Carol (2015)

The period detail was incredible, but it almost overshadowed the romantic plot. I know all movie adaptations change things from the book, but in shifting the perspective away from Therese I felt it lost some of the emotional power, Carol loses some of her mystery. It's still a good movie, but I wanted more from the love story.




Welcome to the human race...
Everybody Wants Some!! -


As soon as it got to the bit where they're all singing along to "Rapper's Delight" I knew I was in for a good time.
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



I saw The Fundamentals of Caring on Netflix and even though it won't be known as one of the best films of 2016, it's pretty good. One of the film's greatest strengths is Paul Rudd. His onscreen charisma and comedic talent really turns his character away from bland to really fresh and likable. Rudd also uses his dramatic chops every now and then. While it does not always work, when it does it really does. Craig Roberts is also a standout in Fundamentals, giving the film some dry humor as well as a likable *******. The cinematography and direction may not be the most original, but they are both appealing and well done. The soundtrack is really cool and the script offers some twists on the genre while still creating interesting characters and an interesting plot.

I only have 3 main problems with this film. One is Selena Gomez. While she sometimes gives a good performance, she often feels flat and like she is trying too hard. And when she curses, it honestly sounds like a kid who likes to curse. That probably won't bother a lot of people, but it was a bit annoying for me. She has a good acting career ahead of her if she tries to be a little less generic and finds her voice since some of her stuff is really good. My second problem is the script, which as you read was something I liked. While it does offer some cool twists and interesting characters, plot, dialogue etc., it still couldn't manage to escape the indie comedy-drama genre that it very clearly is in. Every time an indie song comes on, you are reminded of that. The beginning was actually brilliant. It starts off really cold and depressing while having a sense of charm, I loved it! But when the 2nd act starts, it veers off into generic territory. My last problem is that some moments in the film try too hard to pull at the heartstrings when the film has not developed that kind of a movie. The first time it hinted at a certain plot point (no spoilers here) during the first act, it was really effective (no tears, but a real sense of depression and sadness). But as the film continues on, it becomes more of that generic indie dramedy which (unless done very well) makes it a lot harder for you to feel for any of the characters emotionally.

Overall, the Fundamentals of Caring is another successful Netflix Original with fun characters, a really unique and fresh 1st act, great performances from Paul Rudd and Craig Roberts and a script that (for the most part) offers up some cool ideas but it is unfortunately weighed down by a lackluster and disappointing performance by Selena Gomez, a generic tone, direction and plot as the film progresses and failed attempts to make those tears flow.



jane got a gun, 7.5/10 decent western actioneer,nathalie portman as hot as ever in this.



one of the worst movies ever made, paul verhoeven's lowest point



Coherence (2013) -

Bound (1996) -
+
About Elly (2009) -

A short Vision (1956) -
I so need to get to About Elly. It has been in my Netflix que forever, and I loved A Separation and The Past.
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I had 5 Swatches on my arm…


I don't know what took me so long to watch this. The cyber-crime angle was probably why. Mann's work is instantly recognizable. The lights, the "looks like home video but not" style and the sound of gunfire. The latter may be more impressive than the lighting.

This movie works, regardless of the techno-who-dunnit bits. From start to beginning, it moves fluidly without a stutter. I put this on late as the "go to bed movie" and I stayed awake until the end.






Me Before You (2016)


Surprisingly enjoyable. Not usually a fan of romantic comedies but this one isn't bad at all. The dialogue is at times....odd but the performances are really what saves this movie. Emilia Clarke is a great, Claflin is good, also seeing Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance lol) smile is weird...
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I don't know what took me so long to watch this. The cyber-crime angle was probably why. Mann's work is instantly recognizable. The lights, the "looks like home video but not" style and the sound of gunfire. The latter may be more impressive than the lighting.

This movie works, regardless of the techno-who-dunnit bits. From start to beginning, it moves fluidly without a stutter. I put this on late as the "go to bed movie" and I stayed awake until the end.


That's really interesting. I was watching it with a few friends a couple weeks ago and we were laughing our heads off, not in a good way. We all found it so boring and unrealistic except for the action sequences. But, I'm glad you liked it.



Welcome to the human race...
The Hunted -


You ever catch part of a movie on TV one time and then when you watch the full thing it turns out that you already watched the best part?



Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawdor, & King Hereafter
Independence Day - 8/10 - Average acting, average story, and mostly average dialogue, but it has some fantastic sound quality and music, and if definitely earned its VFX Oscar! It also has one of the best rallying speeches in all of the movies I've ever seen! I'd say it's either #1 or #2 in Roland Emmerich's best movies. (If it's #2, then The Patriot would be #1.)

Mad Max: Fury Road - 10/10 - Rewatched recently and I actually enjoyed it more the second time! I still think the doof warrior is overrated, though. Aside from that, beautifully made movie - definitely in the top ten best of 2015!



The Last Command (1928)


Incredible.
Emil Jannings - what an actor...



Green Room (2016)



While everyone raved about Blue Ruin, I found myself a bit distant from it. I don't even recall why exactly, only a bit of empty space between me and the events happening on screen. Still, its charm lay in its extremely grounded reality and subversion of expectations.

Green Room submits a premise with far more potential, but fails slightly to deliver the elements I appreciated from Jeremy Saulner's initial effort. In fact, it's kind of... well, dumb. While the cold and clinical performance from Patrick Stewart is convincing as a logical authority, I couldn't wrap my head around some of the decision making. The Nazi punks' approach to the entire situation got convoluted. Everything felt very contrived as opposed to Saulner's earlier naturalist take on things.

The locked room problem, not unlike the one presented in 10th Cloverfield Lane earlier this year, is an excellent vehicle for on screen problem solving that requires a sound logic. I don't consider myself a pedantic viewer like so many Youtube critics are, but the whole dynamic of the movie encourages critical thinking. This same picture with a little more simplicity could've won me over a lot more. A little less COD: Nazi Zombies and a little more Escape from Alcatraz.

Green Room gets a bit too messy for its own good and that's no in reference to the excellent tidbits of ultra-violence. Fortunately, the characters are effortlessly likeable in the first act, one that could have extended to an entire SLC Punkesque full length without a complaint from me. Saulner definitely crafts an interesting aesthetic in punk culture, one that he respectfully never parodies or even really cheaply leans on with an all star soundtrack. I can see why people love this film, but once again I'm a little luke warm.

http://boxd.it/alEAF
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The Visit (2015)

Entertaining horror/mystery flick about a brother and sister who go to visit their grandparents in the country. The grandparents, day-by-day, start acting weirder and weirder. Both kids are into filming, with the girl making a film on her "Nana" and "Pop Pop" and the boy filming also, catching some pretty strange things. I really enjoyed this film and thought the woman playing Nana (Deanna Dunagan) especially very effective at portraying
WARNING: spoilers below
madness
. I've seen some of that from someone as a child and she gave me some chills bringing that across, although I never experienced anything that bad. Bad enough, but not like Nana. Things were set up nicely to give us a good ending, especially with the son. Although sometimes it plays like a "found film" movie, it's not, and is much better than most films of that genre.





Private Lives (1931)

Total fun, with a divorced couple (the beautiful Norma Shearer and the handsome Robert Montgomery) arriving at the same hotel with their new husband and wife, and ending up in adjoining suites. Norma and her new husband start bickering as do Robert and his new wife. With adjoining balconies that abut, Norma and Robert see each other, join on one balcony, and reveal that they never stopped loving each other. If this sounds like a romance, it is a bit, but mostly it's an uproarious comedy, with the exes running off together, leaving their new mates in the lurch, with the movie following them on their journey. They travel to Switzerland, prepare to have a wonderful reunion and began quarreling almost immediately. They make up, quarrel, make up, quarrel, etc. etc. If this sounds monotonous, it's not. Every time the arguing gets to be too much, they come up with a funny safe word to stop arguing for at least two minutes. When the two minutes are up, they've usually cooled off and are romantic again. At first. Nothing ever goes as planned. Reginald Denny plays Shearer's new hubby and the great Una Merkel plays Montgomery's new wife. Funny stuff.





The Scorch Trials (2015)

Second in a series of films based on "The Maze Runner" books by James Dashner (I believe there are five in all, with the last two being prequels). The good thing about this is that so far, for YA adaptations, the movies are well-made and the acting good, with lots of action and mystery to overcome any plot holes. If there were any holes, I didn't notice them, probably because I wasn't looking for them. The movie picks right up where the first left off, with the kids who lived in "The Glade" having escaped The Maze that surrounded them, being picked up by a helicopter that flies them to "safety." Well, it's pretty obvious that's not the truth, as Thomas (Dylan O'Brien) has his eyes open the whole time, suspecting and confirming what he fears. The teens are soon forced to escape their haven, only to make it out into a world that is covered with desert and the ruins of a city. Kudos to the movie for answering mysteries set up in the first film, including why the kids where picked in the first place to be in the Maze of the first film, why new arrivals begin to disappear, who's running things, and what the
WARNING: spoilers below
virus talked about in the first film that decimated most of the world does to people. It turns them into crazed zombie-liked people, much like the people with the "Rage" virus in "28 Days Later."
Plus, it's revealed if the rumored safe haven in the mountains beyond the desert is real and who might be there.

As I said before, good acting is part of the appeal here, with the same actors from the first film that escaped coming back, plus new characters played by Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper, Rosa Salazar, Aidan Gillen, Lili Taylor, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Alan Tudyk. Another second installment of a series that actually has me looking forward to the third.



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