Rate The Last Movie You Saw

The film is so well made, and the performances are so good, that it's worth holding onto. I was toying with a kind of 'half way' interpretation where...

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It's a film that I've liked more and more on each viewing. (I think I've watched it 3 or 4 times). Once you have the full scope of the story and where it's headed, you'll just notice more details and scenes will have a different read.

Like, don't get me wrong, the first time you watch the film you get a lot of tension and charge from the ambiguity. But one of its strengths as a film and as a story is that it has just as much interest and tension even if you already know where it's all going, "twists" and all.

Without a doubt.

I understand how it will always be a concern for him, but yes, he shoehorns it into everything (the opening section is odd, if I was running a business and someone I hired gave that kind of presentation, I’d think twice about hiring them again, credentials notwithstanding, because you’ve just politicised my set without my permission), and it’s a bit annoying. That’s obviously the vibe/signature look he’ll go for ad infinitum, which is his right, but yeah, I felt the same, though I found the film very entertaining once you forget it’s meant to be “horror”.

How is that single moment evidence of the movie being "obsessed" with race, though?

It isn’t, I completely agree that “obsessed” is a strong/unhelpful word here. I think it’s usually possible to discern intended meaning through such unhelpful terminology, though. As I say, I completely get that this will be Peele’s signature thing, which also makes it… not exactly insincere, but now that he knows it’s marketable, shoving race commentary into everything he makes to me feels a bit tasteless/disingenuous, but I’m very sure he’ll stick to it, and fair enough, good for him, because that’s a brand, too.

P.S. What with the broader diversity conversation, I’d be interested to see Peele attempt a film with a white cast, not an all-white cast but a few whites who don’t get slaughtered as per US and Get Out. Diversity considerations go both ways imo, but of course that would be totally against his brand, so he won’t do it. He openly acknowledges that he won’t cast “white dudes” and that elicits laughter/approval, whereas if a white director spoke out against diversity/casting non-white people…

And to me the argument that white leads are the default/ubiquitous/have been historically dominating the market is irrelevant. I’m not denying it, but for Peele to pointedly stick to one demographic and not be “““called out””” (triple quote marks intended) while white filmmakers are forced to grapple with diversity quotas… So much objectivity here.

And FYI, I really like Peele and find everything he does very original/fresh/watchable.

I had 0 expectations, but I was positively surprised. The action scenes are on another level, crazy stuff.

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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?

I loved it.

Parenthood mostly follows Gil Buckman (Steve Martin) as he struggles to keep it together against the woes of parenthood. But so is his whole family as we also follow his siblings: Helen (Dianne Wiest), Susan (Harley Jane Kozak), and Larry (Tom Hulce), and their respective partners and children, all of which are going through different issues and situations. When you see the poster for this film, you see a smiling Steve Martin holding two of his children by the legs, which gives a sense of this being a comedy of wacky shenanigans and crazy hijinks. That might be the reason why I wasn't that enthusiastic about it when my friend Ian, from Best Film Ever Podcast, recommended it to me. Not that I didn't want to see it, but I dismissed it thinking it would be "just a silly comedy". But the truth is that the film is so much more than that.

Directed by Ron Howard and written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, the film is inspired by their family and parenting experiences, and those of producer Brian Grazer. This makes sense because the situations that we see in the film feel real. Although giving the appearance of a silly comedy, Parenthood walks a fine line between that and drama while handling very serious adult issues; divorce, economical worries, the false expectations we put on others, teenage sex, mental conditions, parental abandonment, regrets. It is all there, along with the tedious and mundane daily routine of being a parent AND a spouse. Howard expertly balances both the dramatic and the comedic without making it sway too much into either side.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Seen this before, but had no strong memory of it. Was it always so sexually graphic? I think I would have remembered that. Anyway, good movie.



Classic. Such a good movie. Interesting how Kidman’s is the only name above the title. I thought Paul Bettany was excellent also.

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

They'll let any butt-reamin' *sshole be a father.

No Time to Die - As sendoffs go I thought this wasn't the disappointment that some had made it out to be. Their are some familiar drumbeats associated with swan songs such as characters dying and the revelation of previously unknown progeny. But it's handled well for the most part. The script does seem to hurry through the dispatching of a couple of previously featured players like


The latter comes off particularly perfunctory. More like checking a box than dealing with someone who played such a large role in Bond's life. But I suppose these things are to be expected. The narrative is moving on and moving in a specific direction that no longer has use for these people. So why not use them to advance the plot?

The only other issue might be Rami Malek's main baddie Lyutsifer Safin. I thought he was a perfectly serviceable antagonist, his problem was that he wasn't onscreen for all that long. Aside from the prologue (in which he was masked) he didn't appear until well into the movie. Aside from that the rest of the movie acquits itself quite well. The cinematography, exotic locales, big action set pieces, the weapons and gadgetry are all worthy of being in a Bond film.

And the Bond girls are utilized appropriately for the first time in recent memory. Ana de Armas as Paloma and Lashana Lynch as Bond's 007 successor Nomi blend neatly into the story. There's not a damn thing wrong with showing them to be skillful badasses. I just don't get the people who are troubled by this and choose to cast it as some kind of bow to political correctness.

Anyway, as far as saying goodbye to Daniel Craig's iteration of the venerable spy, this was a perfectly fine sendoff.

85/100

The Last Son, 2021

Isaac LeMay (Sam Worthington) is paying for his past in the form of a curse that says he will be killed by one of his sons. Having fathered many children by many different women, LeMay is now on a quest to track down and kill them all before they can harm him. The first real resistance comes in the form of Cal (Colson Baker), one of a pair of twins born to sex worker Anna (Heather Graham). Cal is an outlaw, and both Cal and LeMay are being hunted by officer Solomon (Thomas Jane).

There is a huge gap in this film between the premise and the execution, which is a shame because the plot description had me completely hooked.

Worthington does no more and no less than required as LeMay, a dangerous and deadly man who leaves many innocent bodies in his wake. The film presupposes LeMay's incredible reputation, as almost no one will stand up to him. But in LeMay's character we get absolutely no character development. Maybe it's true to life that a man who would kill his own children out of a sense of self-preservation would just be a walking ice cube, but it doesn't make for very dynamic viewing.

Cal, his intended target, is just as oblique. Cal is a real psychopath, casually murdering innocent people as he conducts an extended campaign of bank robbery and general bad guy stuff. (Please everyone join me in a deep sigh, as Cal's weapon of choice is an automatic gun, and the character is played by Machine Gun Kelly, like why?). I think that the film is trying to build to a moment where two fundamentally evil forces of nature clash, but I was so uninvested in the characters that it was hard to care. I was well over an hour into the film before realizing it was Machine Gun Kelly in the lead role, and I'd been going, "Why do I feel like this guy is kind of a bozo?". (To be fair, I thought Kelly was good in his role in Beyond the Lights, but he was also playing an obnoxious and abusive rapper, so . . . )

Graham is fine in her role as Cal's mother and LeMay's former lover. But she's given very little to work with. Instead the film uses her more as a prop, exploiting both LeMay and Cal's mistreatment of her as easy provocation. LeMay mutilates her hand. Cal pulls her shirt off and begins to force sex on her. It's shocking, but with such calculation that it ends up being more annoying than striking.

The scenery is really gorgeous, and I liked the different geographical backgrounds to the various sequences. I also liked the look of the costumes, so props to the costume designers.

The premise of this film is so dark and interesting, I thought that it would be a slam dunk. But the total lack of character development and the lack of stakes really took the punch out of what should have been a really neat story. It also does some crappy "mythical native people" stuff, between the woman who curses LeMay and a random native character who attacks LeMay seemingly to show how unkillable the man is.

Disappointing, and probably only for Western fans with the willingness to go in with low expectations.

It's not a good movie, but Machine Gun Kelly is not terrible in The Dirt, the Motley Crue biopic. But that's really only worth watching for the Ozzy scene and the zombified portrayal of Mick Mars.

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I think it's a hard pass for me, LOL.

Bloodline, 2018

Evan Cole (Seann William Scott) is a high school counselor who is also a new father. Life with a new baby is hard on Evan and his wife, Lauren (Mariela Garriga), and Evan's stress relief is a bit unconventional: he tracks down, tortures, and murders all of the bad dads (and the occasional uncle) causing harm to his student clients. Evan's mother, Marie (Dale Dickey) moves in with the couple to help with child care, but her charged past with Evan further raises tensions in the house.

Ehhhhhhhhhhh . . . .

Okay, much like the last film I watched, this seemed like the kind of premise that would be a win even with a merely decent execution. But some bold decisions in the last act make for a real mixed bag.

Seann William Scott has always had a vaguely likable, but also sort of blank energy for me, and in this film that works out pretty well. You believe that he's nice enough that students trust him, but that blankness also conveys nicely that there's a certain soullessness underneath his genial exterior.

Dale Dickey is the film's real strength, the film taking its time in revealing her past and just how much she knows or doesn't know about Evan's activities. Garriga is also good as a woman who is being ground down by the intense demands and isolation of new motherhood, while also being baffled by her husband's late night absences from their home.

The killings themselves are violent, but also a bit samey. One murder stands out from the rest, the killing of a mean-spirited nurse who shames Lauren for having difficulty getting the hang of breastfeeding, but it mainly stands out for the wrong reasons. I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear that the male victims are all middle aged men wearing dirty clothing, while the only female victim is young and traditionally attractive, killed fully nude in the shower. *eye roll*

The jiggle-jiggle killing of the nurse is just one aspect of how the film doesn't quite manage to escape some worn out horror tropes. Evan is your classic "benevolent psychopath" in the mold of Dexter. This killing impulse is constantly being grounded in flashbacks Evan has to a violent confrontation involving Evan and his parents, but it all feels a bit trite. The film decides to take certain characters in an unexpected direction. While this does result in one satisfying shock, it also results in one totally unbelievable one. This latter shock not only doesn't feel right, even in the universe of this movie, it also undercuts most of the groundwork that the film spent a lot minutes building.

I actually really enjoyed about the first third of this film, especially the portrayal of the tension that builds as Lauren spirals into post-partum depression and Evan's own paternal anxiety manifests in brutal murders. But the longer it went, the more it started to lose me. By the end, I was just irritated.

Another waste of a good premise!

The mention of Machine Gun Kelly reminded me that I had just seen him in something as well. It's a small role but does feature what is sure to be the high point of his career.

I last saw Titanic ( 1997 )

God damn kate Winslet is still young and hot