Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Captain's Log
My Collection

Johnny Belinda if you haven't yet.

Last year I watched (almost) the entire filmography of the Beach Party Cinematic Universe and intended to write a big long piece highlighting all of the horror tie-ins there are. (There's more than you'd think.) But ultimately I couldn't be bothered, so I didn't. Your loss.

Maybe I'll get back on it.

Wyman is good in the Douglas Sirk movies I've seen her in. I think All That Heaven Allows is the consensus pick for his best, but I was more moved by Magnificent Obsession.

5th Shorts Hall of Fame

Un Obus Partout (2015) -

I found this to be a pretty good short film. I enjoyed the usage of black for the visual aesthetic, especially in the second half of the short which takes place at night as this caused the flashes of color to stick out more. I also enjoyed the sense of futility throughout the short as, even if Gabriel and Mokhatr would make it across the bridge, that's not going to make their political situation any better as they're still going to live in the same war-torn environment where civilians are killed each day. This knowledge gave the suspense set piece at the end an extra layer of resonance. I also appreciated how the short built tension by cutting back and forth between the snipers watching the World Cup premier and the drive across the bridge as, even though that sequence could've done more in the way of suspense, it was still a nice editing technique. Finally, that the snipers and many of the civilians were spending the night watching the World Cup premiere, there's a sense of futility to the conflict as, since both groups seemed to share some of the same interests, they could potentially get along with each other. Overall, it's a solid short film that I enjoyed watching. In terms of animated films about the Lebanon War though, I prefer Waltz With Bashir by a decent margin and highly recommend watching that film.

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By Impawards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12495756

The Year My Voice Broke - (1987)

Growing up in an Australian country town can be a rough experience, and for 15 year-old Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) things are about to become more complicated. It's the 1960s, his life-long best friend Freya (Loene Carmen) is not returning the crush he has on her, and is instead eyeing up older football player Trevor Leishman (Ben Mendelsohn). Complicating things further is the fact that Trevor treats him really well - but Danny tries not to miss a minute they're together to try and drive a wedge between them, which is painful for him as he watches their sexual awakening from close quarters. This is a wonderful film, and one of the best Australia has to offer from this time period - the scenic landscape, dreamy score and amazing breakthrough acting from Noah Taylor and Mendelsohn set this apart, but the story should also get recognition. It's wonderfully real and accurate, while at the same time transcendental and beautiful. I don't know if I've even seen this before, but I was surprisingly blown away watching it last night - it took me back to my youth, and reached a place that's deep down inside of me. I love when films do that. A special one.

9/10

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Noted, thanks.

SF = Z


[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

Ready for a Friday night movie that's not awful? This one might be it - Brian and Charles, set in a remote location in Wales. An isolated, eccentric, inventor/hoarder (Brian) builds a sentient robot from a washing machine and spare parts. The robot (Charles) reaches adolescence and starts to rebel. Brian unwittingly finds a girlfriend but has to face down the local redneck bullies who have other plans for his robot. Eventually, the robot has plans of his own.

It seems to have made a hit as a Sundance movie, is funny, likable, definitely unusual, doesn't feature either Tom Cruise or Dinosaurs. It's seriously low budget. One of the script writers also plays the robot. The movie has a serious case of shaky camera, but it doesn't hurt much. Did I say, no dinosaurs?

Had never heard of this until seeing it mentioned on the forum a while ago. Japanese animation about a young boy going through the bombing of Hiroshima. It's been a few years since I've seen Grave of the Fireflies but I'd put this in the same tier. The animation isn't as good but it's all about the story anyway. I was saddened and enraged while watching this moving and devastating film. On YouTube with subtitles.

Brightburn (2019)

Sunny Skies, 1930

Benny (Benny Rubin) is a young man who has just arrived to college where he is immediately bullied. Fortunately for Benny, football star Jim (Rex Lease) is willing to stand up for him and the two men form a genial friendship. But when Jim's drinking and aggression get out of hand, both men find themselves in a crisis.

There's not a lot on the internet about this film, but the two things that do stand out are (1) a theory that the film is subtextually about a gay relationship and (2) a hilarious pan review of the film from the New York Times from the film's initial release.

It can certainly be said that the film puts Benny into a "girlfriend" role relative to Jim. There are sequences where he gets directions from Jim on how to mix him a drink (which he brings to him in the shower), fetches him underwear, and when Jim holds him and flirts with him as a demonstration of how to woo a lady, Benny leans into Jim in a momentary swoon. What kind of complicates this is the way that Benny's ethnicity---a strong accent and suggestive clothing choices---is pushed to the fore. Is this actually about them being gay, or is it more a joke about immigrants/Europeans being feminine compared to the American men who make up the rest of the college population?

In any event, possible gay subtext makes the film a lot more interesting to watch, because without it, it's just a story about an angry football player whose friendship with the new kid is kind of pushy. As the scathing NYT review points out, "the sum of its efforts is little more than a blank." The acting is unremarkable, and there is very little character development. If you believe that there's an unspoken desire between the two lead characters, then at least you get some depth out of their imagined anguish. But if these are just friends? Eh. The women they woo are also poorly developed, and pretty forgettable aside from the fact that one of them performs a song-and-dance number that's so close to the stereotype of an old timey number that it feels like borderline parody.

Please enjoy the following excerpt from the NYT review in all its glorious snark. "There are several players in this film who enact supposedly collegiate rôles. They include Marceline Day, Marjorie Kane and Wesley Ruggles, who try hard." Who try hard, LOL.

The run time is blessedly short, and there's nothing actually terrible here. Just a lot of minutes that fail to make an impression. Thinking about what it's trying to say either about sexuality or ethnicity at least makes it engaging from an analysis point of view.

Visit to a Small Planet, 1960

An alien youth called Kreton (Jerry Lewis) sneaks out of school and takes a trip to Earth, where he insinuates himself into the family of Major Spelding (Fred Clark). This includes an interest in Spelding's daughter, Ellen (Joan Blackman), much to the dismay of Ellen's boyfriend Conrad (Earl Holliman). Meanwhile, a neighbor tries to capture evidence of Kreton's alien origins.

There's a Portlandia sketch where a woman is making flirtatious eye contact with a man in her yoga class. Then at the end she goes to speak to him and he is whiny and petty and the spell is completely broken. This dynamic describes almost every sequence in Visit to a Small Planet.

I was underwhelmed by The Nutty Professor, and this film is certainly no gem either. But there's a frustrating number of times that Kreton, in his open naivete, is really likeable, only for over-the-top facial expressions or physical comedy to take things to a grating place.

There are some charming moments. A first drink of alcohol has Kreton walking up the walls and on to the ceiling in that old practical effects trick. Ellen and Kreton go to a beatnik gathering where Kreton ends up performing a dance with a woman, played by Barbara Bostock. Bostock is really funny in this role, and demonstrates a kind of controlled absurdity that would have made the rest of the film far more palatable.

The movie clips along with minor laughs, mainly courtesy of trained animals and practical effects/wirework. Lee Patrick is fun as the bustling Spelding matriarch who is totally nonplussed by any of the plot developments. Blackman is enjoyable as Ellen, but the character is hampered by corny dialogue and the requirement that she fall for Kreton.

Watchable, but nothing more.

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I remember watching this a couple of times as a kid but then never hearing of it again and basically forgetting it existed until just now.

3rd Rewatch...Alexander Payne's 2004 Best Picture nominee just seems to get better with each watch. This Woody Allen-esque look into friendship and moral compasses set against the background of the California wine country is rich and riveting entertainment from start to finish. Writer and English teacher Miles and his best buddy, an out of work actor named Jack decide to take a week to tour wine country before Jack gets married. I don't know what it is about this movie, because it features characters etched in various shades of gray in whole lot of questionable behavior, with the possible exception of Maya, the vivacious and intelligent waitress played by Virginia Madsen, earning the actress her only Oscar nomination. Sandra Oh pretty much became a star with her effervescent Stephanie and Thomas Haden Church's greasy Jack earned him his only Oscar nomination. Payne's Oscar-winning screenplay is witty and intelligent...all of the talk about wine and the adjectives used to describe wine is like music. But towering above of all of this is the extraordinary performance by Paul Giamatti as Miles, that didn't even earn him an Oscar nomination. Giamatti's performance as the slightly pathetic but fascinating Miles makes this film worth watching all by itself.

By Fünf Seen Filmfestival, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69103654

Fabian: Going to the Dogs - (2021)

Based on the novel by the fascinating Erich Kästner - which was published in the Germany of 1931, just prior to the Nazis taking power. The main thing that goes against Fabian is that it's 176 minutes long, and didn't really need to be (I'm sure the filmmakers would disagree) - but it's good for the most part. It's the story of writer Jakob Fabian, whose life in Berlin begins to deteriorate when he loses his job as an advertising copywriter - his friend can't get his thesis passed in a university controlled by fascists, and the love of his life becomes the lover of a film studio boss to advance her career. Pushed and pulled by the hedonism prevalent on one side and political violence on the other, he begins to unravel - and nobody can seem to help. Many are willfully blind to what's happening in the country. Fabian can't get anywhere in 1930s Germany - he's too morally upright. It's good as a reflection of the times we're currently going through, in an economic and political sense. It lacks a little cohesion (and I mean, just a little - slightly) and there's that problem of how long it runs, but I'd still recommend it to anyone interested in the period. There are obvious parallels to Cabaret.

7/10

I can see that. When I was little we watched The Absent-Minded Professor and The Shaggy Dog many many times, and yet you talking about childhood watches is the first time I've thought of them in years.

The overall goofy nature of Visit to a Small Planet would make it more than passable fare for kids.

Son. of. a. bitch. Lolita was amazing. I've never seen a dramedy like that before, and Sue Lyon was a perfect Lolita Hayes, Now I gotta go on a James Mason marathon.

Bram Stoker's Dracula -

Watching Coppola's Dracula, one I usually reserve for Halloween. This flick is so outrageously, rediculously, terrifically over the top, but if you've ever read the original, the book by Bram Stoker, allowing for a century of cultural change about what you can say in a book or movie, Coppola's version of the blood sucker really fits the book's feel, Victorian English supernatural craziness. Most of it was done with traditional stagecraft rather than digital FX, so it looks very retro. It has nearly lurid sex, like the original (adjusting for the time period), and Dracula does NOT look like Bela Lugosi, but a reanimated corpse.

It has Tom Waits as Renfield, a perfect casting decision with his gravel-voiced strangeness and Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, the raging vampire hunter. Winona Ryder as the fragile Mina is perfect and Keanu Reeves as the shallow Harker is just about right and red-haired Sadie Frost gets to play Lucy. There's even an American cowboy, Quincy (Stoker's name for an American cowboy), part of the retinue. This color-boosted Victorian parlor-horror is the one to see, the only version I recall that did show baby-eating, as in Stoker's book