Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Thor: Ragnarok (2017, Taika Waititi)






Snooze factor rating = Z

I nearly cried because of a CGI dinosaur...





Snooze factor rating = Z

I nearly cried because of a CGI ape...


[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



matt72582's Avatar
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Bullitt - 6/10
I saw this before, but wanted something "easy". I'm probably the only person to minimize the window during the car chase.



I've been keeping track of movies I watch, writing them on a huge post-it on my wall. 51 movies in the last 47 days. I'm kinda proud of myself - I expected much less.





Bullitt - seen it a million times. Love it.
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Hudsucker's an all-time favorite. Memorized the whole Amy Adams news room speech at one point.

From what I can tell that's not a common opinion. But I think The Hudsucker Proxy is one of the only full Coen Bros. comedies that I think works all the way through. I liked Hail, Caesar!, reallyy liked Intolerable Cruelty, and was pretty meh on Burn After Reading. And even Intolerable Cruelty felt a little too wacky for its own good at times.

Hudsucker is the only zany comedy of theirs that I think strikes the right balance the whole time, and it's largely because it's a little more whimsical in its comedy than the others, which are a good deal drier and more cynical.
Yoda, since you're a Coen Bros. fan, I'm curious as to what you thought of the recent The Ballad of Buster Scruggs from Netflix?

I've been a big Coen's fan since 1987's Raising Arizona, and I've enjoyed roughly 2/3rds of their films. But personally I was stunned at "Ballad's" mediocrity. To me the big problem was the story writing. The cinematograpy was good, the production was fine, and the acting was fine (I especially enjoyed Tom Waits as the prospector). But the only Coenesque segment was really the first, with Tim Blake Nelson as the singing cowboy.

As I watched, I kept thinking, "Alright that wasn't good, but the next one surely will be." But none of them were. To me the segments were barely interesting. A few of them put me in mind of some of the poorer segments on the old Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series. The only explanation I can think of that would explain compiling these semi-boring stories is that the duo weren't giving their best efforts for a non theatrical, subscription service release.

What's worse is that most of the critics are praising the film! That makes me believe that the Coen's have solidly achieved official Hollywood approved PC status-- one of the anointed directing teams. In other words they will never be criticized.

For those who enjoyed the film, more power to them. I just couldn't find much of anything in the production that was impressive. Perhaps the team is in a bit of a slump, or it may be that they've gotten too old to keep up the high standard they've set with some of their previous films, especially in light of so many imitators. I'm hoping they'll right the ship.

~Doc



Yoda, since you're a Coen Bros. fan, I'm curious as to what you thought of the recent The Ballad of Buster Scruggs from Netflix?
Mostly liked it. I posted some brief thoughts in another thread:

I liked every segment. Some more than others, for sure. But every one of them was enjoyable and I was genuinely sad when it ended. Lovely film.
I will say that after the first half, you start to get a feel for the wry, cruel nature of the tales, and you can start predicting certain general things. High Noon, high concept, low characters. Blacksmith Mirror, if you will.

I've been a big Coen's fan since 1987's Raising Arizona, and I've enjoyed roughly 2/3rds of their films. But personally I was stunned at "Ballad's" mediocrity. To me the big problem was the story writing. The cinematograpy was good, the production was fine, and the acting was fine (I especially enjoyed Tom Waits as the prospector). But the only Coenesque segment was really the first, with Tim Blake Nelson as the singing cowboy.
I can't really disagree re: the writing. Some of it was pretty good, but none of it was great. But then, I think there are plenty of Coen films where the writing isn't great, but is completely elevated by their handling of it. That's pretty much what I think of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Sometimes the writing's just okay (or merely "good"), but it's all pretty enthralling anyway because the acting, cinematography, and all-around direction is excellent throughout.

I sure would like to see an entire film that felt more like that first segment, though. I was kind of confused because I didn't see how it could be sustained, and of course it turns out it wasn't. But the music was really lovely and I'd just assumed it would be used throughout. Wish it had been. I also wondered if maybe each of the segments would be about a new gunslinger, tracking them until someone came and took them down. Both of those things might've been better than what we got.

Wouldn't mind hearing more on why you didn't care for it, though. Maybe expectation? It might not be exceptional among their other works, but even a middling Coen production is better than most of the things I'll be watching the night before, or after.



Funny how tastes differ. I posted elsewhere here that I hated the 1st segment & almost bailed out. Singing cowboy? Oof.

My favorite story was Zoe Kazan’s. I really loved it. Loved that guy who asked her to marry him. A new actor for me. And the guy who held off the Indians was excellent too.

Tom Waits was also excellent. Last story was good though I think there was a meaning to it that eluded me.

Over-hyped, which often disappoints.



Earlier this month, I, a long time friend, my sister-in-law, and my 15-year-old niece all attended a Sunday afternoon screening of the 70mm film version of The Sound of Music. It showed at a movie theatre not far from where I presently live, and, despite some little quirks in the print, we all had a wonderful afternoon. The Sound of Music, although it definitely doesn't hold the same special place in my heart regarding movies as West Side Story, is a good movie that's worth seeing. The song "Climb Every Mountain" is my favorite song in "The Sound of Music", because it delivers a very powerful message; that one must believe in him/herself, follow his/her dreams, and give that dream all the love they need.
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Widows (2018)

Not my kind of movie, so I'm rating this based on just plain quality (not sure what else I rate on though). Everything about the movie was really well done, from the acting/writing/cinematography/etc. I never found myself bored, and the emotion in this movie is constantly tense.



Welcome to the human race...
Anna and the Apocalypse -


if I'm going to be honest with myself, any film billing itself as a zombie Christmas musical is never going to live up to my expectations (though not for lack of trying, I guess)
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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0






"Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?"
Set in ancient Rome, the common folk are becoming bored with your standard gladiator fight so something must be done. After witnessing a few of the female slaves fighting in the kitchen the local Bigwig decides to have them replace the male gladiators and the common folk rejoice. Needless to say the women are not terribly excited about fighting to the death and devise an elaborate escape plan. A bad movie in a good way but not quite as bad/good as similar films like The Big Bird Cage or the Big Doll House.




First Bond film I've ever seen from start to finish and it was a lot of fun.





Breathe (2017)




[The Ballad of Buster Scruggs] ...
Wouldn't mind hearing more on why you didn't care for it, though. Maybe expectation? It might not be exceptional among their other works, but even a middling Coen production is better than most of the things I'll be watching the night before, or after.
Whenever I find myself digging to find good points about a film, based upon the filmmaker's enjoyable previous work, it usually means that the film is inferior. That's the case here. It reminds me of wanting to defend some of Woody Allen's stinkers, simply because I loved several single films in his body of work.

It's hard to put "dull" and "Coen Brothers" into the same sentence, but: The Coen Brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is pretty dull.. It's not hard to imagine the writers sitting around a table saying, "Yeah, that's cool, let's use that!" But when placed on film many of the ideas didn't translate cinematically. Imagine if the exact movie had been released by a lesser name. It would have been panned.

There again, the first segment was pure Coen brothers. The prospector segment was fine acting by Tom Waits, and had stunning settings. The Zoe Kazan segment where she played a religious settler was interesting, and could have been developed into a full length story, and its silly ending was probably necessary to fit into the anthology format.

I've never been a fan of anthology movies, and that may have negatively influenced me. Likewise dark, dreary stories leave me cold. So the viewer is either attracted or nonplussed by "Ballad".

I did get a smile out of Jessica Kiang's comment, writing for The Playlist: "O Coen Brothers, Where Art Thou?"

~Doc