Rate The Last Movie You Saw

(I have tried to refer to plot-points here without making them spoilers, I hope I succeeded.)

I just put this on in the background while I made breakfast because I hadn't seen it in several years. Of course, I ended up watching the whole thing.
I'm the person who really, really liked this movie the first time around and didn't think it was a letdown after Casino Royale (yes, there is such a person).
And I really, really liked it again. I mean, as much as pretty much any of the new Bond movies. I prefer this film to Skyfall myself (as I have always felt, since my first viewing in the theater, that the third act of that film is a total non-sensical collapse).

Shadow of a Doubt - This makes 20 Hitchcock films I've seen and even though there aren’t any of his usual set pieces or exotic locales it still delivers the goods suspense wise. Joseph Cotten plays Charlie Oakley, who’s first appears onscreen in his room at a boarding house where the landlady informs him that two men have been asking about him. He sets out to ascertain their true motivations as they pursue and he eludes. Hitchcock lets the story unfold at a deliberate, unhurried pace as Oakley decides to visit his sister and her family in the small California town of Santa Rosa. There he meets up with his namesake niece Charlie Newton (Teresa Wright). They seem to share an uncommon connection with mentions of their almost telepathic bond. But that’s more of a plot device than anything. Young Charlie arrives at her misgivings about her uncle the old fashioned way, through subtle clues and his somewhat erratic behavior and flashes of temper. The cast is first rate with Cotten and Wright holding center stage, engaging in a Hitchcock trademark game of cat and mouse and essentially carrying the movie. 90/100

I went into this blind as well! I saw you post this, and immediately went and watched it. You have a very good write-up, and don't think I can add any more, except to say thanks.. I noticed I get these kneejerk impulses to watch a movie after someone posts it, usually because of a title, or a line, and I can think of just some really good ones I recently saw.

The Spy Who Dumped Me, 2018 (F)

Just awful. All I could think of while watching this is how much better Leslie Nielsen's movies, and even the Scary Movie franchise were at doing comedy. Good, structured movies with a preponderence of jokes and lightness and actual punchlines and time to breathe.

This movie is not a comedy, first off. It's an underwhelming thriller plot in which Kate Mckinnon and Mila Kunis act silly and never stop talking. Even when there's a funny moment, it's ruined because no one can ever shut up. The thriller elements are completely void of comedy and drag the mood down into the pits, and the comedy elements make it impossible to take the dramatic elements seriously. There's also a ton of dry character moments that just add nothing.

Both fine movies. "M" might be my favorite thriller, and "Paris, Texas" might be his best road movie, along with "Alice in the Streets" (also gave it an 8/10 - Harry is always good)

Yeah, first time. And it was really good.



I really enjoyed Quantum of Solace. Everyone was bagging on it, but I liked it both times I watched it. I thought it was a lovely epilogue to the events of Casino Royale while still being its own thing.

Shadow of a Doubt - This makes 20 Hitchcock films I've seen and even though there aren’t any of his usual set pieces or exotic locales it still delivers the goods suspense wise. Joseph Cotten plays Charlie Oakley, who’s first appears onscreen in his room at a boarding house where the landlady informs him that two men have been asking about him. He sets out to ascertain their true motivations as they pursue and he eludes. Hitchcock lets the story unfold at a deliberate, unhurried pace as Oakley decides to visit his sister and her family in the small California town of Santa Rosa. There he meets up with his namesake niece Charlie Newton (Teresa Wright). They seem to share an uncommon connection with mentions of their almost telepathic bond. But that’s more of a plot device than anything. Young Charlie arrives at her misgivings about her uncle the old fashioned way, through subtle clues and his somewhat erratic behavior and flashes of temper. The cast is first rate with Cotten and Wright holding center stage, engaging in a Hitchcock trademark game of cat and mouse and essentially carrying the movie. 90/100

I liked this so much more on second-viewing. I had a lot of positive things to say about it the first time but just didn't connect with it. This time (on TCM) I was able to sit back and connect with all the things it does so well. The romance angle still seemed very forced and frankly unnecessary, but it is what it is.

(I have tried to refer to plot-points here without making them spoilers, I hope I succeeded.)

I just put this on in the background while I made breakfast because I hadn't seen it in several years. Of course, I ended up watching the whole thing.
I'm the person who really, really liked this movie the first time around and didn't think it was a letdown after Casino Royale (yes, there is such a person).
And I really, really liked it again. I mean, as much as pretty much any of the new Bond movies. I prefer this film to Skyfall myself (as I have always felt, since my first viewing in the theater, that the third act of that film is a total non-sensical collapse). I've always really enjoyed the complexity of the relationship between Bond and M in this film and there are a couple of moments here (when he escapes but returns to tell M that Fields' bravery must be documented in her report and in a later scene when he tells her that he never left M.I.6 despite her perception to the contrary) that I just really really love for the characters and their relationship but especially for building who Bond is in this incarnation. I was really happy with Bond's relationship with Mathis in this film, especially flowing over from the last. I thought Kurylenko was a very good "Bond girl" (even though it's hard to live up to Vesper from the previous film, who haunts this one to the very end). And I thought Amalric's villain was an interesting turn on the classic Bond villain, just being the slimy, sociopathic representative of the shadowy organization, rather than some arch mustache-twirler. I particularly liked the angle of Revenge and whether Bond was motivated by it and mirrored by another character who is totally motivated by it and how both of those arcs resolve. I also loved the Opera scene (which I thought was as clever as anything in the Bond movies, particularly when Mr. White remains seated) and the climactic scene when Bond faces Yusef and Corinne. Just great stuff.
There was just so much that I liked here.
I'm not sure why so many people dislike this movie or think it is a step down from the rest of the series, though I am aware that that is the case. I liked everything about this film on re-watching it and I suspect I will re-watch it more often than either Skyfall or Spectre.