Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Little Voice (1998)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

“An illegal Chinese immigrant falls behind on payments on an enormous smuggling debt. Ming Ding has only until the end of the day to come up with the money.”

This is an interesting example of Cinéma verité, filmed documentary style and with piercing neo-realism. Charles Jang is great as Ming Ding, who needs to come up with cash, quickly. Most of the film is Ming making deliveries from the Chinese take away in New York where he works to try and make enough tips to pay his debts back to the people who smuggled him into the USA.. Baker delves into the pretty miserable existence of illegal immigrants who work to send money home to their families.

The final 15 minutes is a real pay off with a mixture of emotions. Really interesting to see what set Baker off on is film-making journey. I really like everything I’ve seen from him.

I saw that in the cinema. An almost indescribable experience.

The Big Short (2015)


Broke up my Vegas movie binging with this rewatch after arguing with my dad over how this crisis started. Phenomenal movie that uses a documentary style similar to Casino (though with a more annoying soundtrack and jumpy imagery). I worked in the financial industry for some years after the 2008 recession, so it is comical to me how some of these processes used to work.

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Caché [Hidden] (2005)

Directed by Michael Haneke
Starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche

My second view.
Yes, confirmed, Haneke is one of the most notable filmmakers of our time. Everything is original here. Daniel Auteuil makes probably his top performance thanks to the masterful direction. Of course, usual for this filmmaker, the movie hits hard at some point, so it is not for unstable people.
88/100

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
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Next of Kin (1982)
Creepy and stylised Aussie horror where, strangely, the lack of production credits conspire to make this a great watch. It really does have a sparse and menacing feel and the action (where needed) is done to a T. Lady inherits a sprawling house and things start getting spooky. Even the outro music is wonderful. Good old "TalkingPictures" channel

Beatriz At Dinner (2017)


A woman played by Salma Hayek with deep feeling, by chance - attends a dinner party of vacuous wealthy types and she soons comes to odds with them, especially John Lithgow's unscrupulous game-hunting real estate Tycoon. I missed the beginning but was immediately taken with this right until the final scene which was really quite beautiful.I felt quitely effected by this fine film which came out of nowhere. The role was written for Hayek and presented to her as a birthday present.


"All tears flow from the same source"

The Meg, 2018

Jonas (Jason Statham) is a deep-water rescue specialist who is still haunted by a mission that resulted in the death of several of his colleagues. When his ex-wife (Jessica McNamee) becomes trapped in a deep sea trench on a research mission, he is persuaded to come and assist in the rescue. But the deep sea exploration unintentionally releases a prehistoric megalodon into the ocean, and Jonas must work with the research crew to prevent massive bloodshed.

Nothing to write home about, but enough shark-related thrills to be worth a watch.



FULL REVIEW

Memoria is a film I would have loved to have seen in a cinema - I think it kind of demands that mode of viewing.

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By http://www.allmovie.com/work/what-happened-was-134607, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26310379

What Happened Was... - (1994)

Brilliant adaptation of Tom Noonan play is both heartbreaking and full of moments that are touching and relatable. A date between Jackie (Karen Sillas) and Michael (Tom Noonan) that is full of awkward moments, and enticing possibility. Loved it. My full review is on my watchlist thread here.

9/10


By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52148618

The Brand New Testament - (2015)

My sense of humour and the comedy in The Brand New Testament seem diametrically opposed, which completely ruined the film for me despite such a promising premise. Popular, but not for me. My review is on my watchlist thread here.

4/10

Out of Time (2003)

I don't get the love for this film at all. Bunch of middle aged guys agreeing that after all, alcoholism isn't all what it's cracked up to be? If you coud tell me why you rated it so highly I'd like to know.

To me it has all the hallmarks of one of those skewed foreign language pictures. It's ratings are higher than it shold be because the main star of it (Mikkelsen) is beloved. Just like 'Burning' and Steven Yeung.

There are so many hundreds of international films that are better but rated lower because the actors in it aren't well known. Just my two penneth.

Are you There God? It's Me, Margaret


A very likable film - moving and funny - that looks at faith from the point of view of a young 11-year-old girl. A charming performance from the lead Abby Ryder Fortson and a nice support cast including the always brilliant Kathy Bates.

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I really liked Another Round. My full review of it is HERE.

I thought that it did a good job of portraying the allure of substance abuse, the consequences of that substance abuse, and the social factors that lead many people into such a situation.

Thanks for your reply. I don't really agree because the characters are forcing comedy through it too much. I get the analogy that addictions first start off as recreation and fun I personally thought it was a far too jovial and blaze film to really hammer home the trappings of addiction. There are films that do a far better job.

That said, I'm glad that it made people see more international films. That's something.

I get what you're saying about the comedy. It definitely has "crowd pleasing" elements that I can see being irritating. I also don't think you're wrong that having an actor who would be recognizable to an American audience probably boosted the film's ratings and popularity.

I liked that (1) it made fun of the way that people will use all sort of logic (science says we're at an alcohol deficit!!!) to justify doing what they want to do anyway and (2) it showed the way that the positives/good feelings can blind people to the harm they are doing to themselves and others.

Ye, what's up?

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

1st Rewatch...This 2015 Oscar nominee for Best Picture is a disturbing and often heart stopping drama that had me just as mesmerized as I was the first time I watched it. This is the story of a young woman named Joy (Brie Larson) who has been held captive in a gardening shed for seven years and gave birth to a son while imprisoned who is now five years old. We watch a fed up Joy going to desperate measures to escape, thinking that this will be the end of her problems. This movie causes almost immediate knots in the stomach for the viewer because precious little backstory is provided as to why this woman is in this situation. It's beyond creepy that this gardening shed is equipped with indoor plumbing and a stove, making us wonder how long the kidnapper had been planning this and why. Loved the scene where Joy tells her son, Jack about the one time she tried to escape and failed. The scene where Joy is forced to execute her escape plan before she was really ready had me holding my breath and the last ten minutes of the film had my heart in my shoes. Brie Larson's gut-wrenching performance as Joy won her the Outstanding Lead Actress Oscar and Jacob Tremblay was robbed of a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his star-making performance as young Jack. Looking over the supporting actor nominees for that year, Tremblay's nomination was clearly stolen by Christian Bale for The Big Short. Not an easy watch, but well worth it.