Rate The Last Movie You Saw

I'm not sure I'd say its much more true to the source material, but I really enjoyed it. Among other things, by making his character younger it gets around the icky book trope of him sleeping his way through every woman who crosses his path (including his best friend's daughter!).

Basically the TV series kept the stuff I liked about the books and got rid of 90% of what I thought was gross about them, so I enjoyed it very much.

Christine, 1983

Arnie (Keith Gordon) is a bit of a nerd and, despite his friendship with football star Dennis (John Stockwell), a frequent victim of bullying. He also has to deal with overbearing parents who criticize his every move. But things change when he buys and begins to restore an old car named Christine. It seems that Christine has a mind of her own, and anyone who gets between her and Arnie is in grave danger.

I saw this movie on TV many, many years ago and was not a big fan of it. This time around I liked it quite a bit more, mainly because I appreciated the friendship dynamic between Arnie and Dennis.

The strength of the film, overall, is in those relationships. Mainly the friendship between Arnie and Dennis, but also in the relationship between Arnie and Leigh (Alexandra Paul), the pretty new girl at his high school.

Something that the movie does very well is show that Arnie isn't some lost cause outsider. The big tragedy is that Arnie didn't need Christine for things to go well. Leigh agrees to go on several dates with him. Dennis is genuinely his friend. Arnie's skill at fixing cars even endears him to the grumpy man who runs the garage where Arnie keeps and works on Christine. Arnie undoubtedly is very put upon by both the school bullies and his parents, but all of that could have been salvaged with time and care.

Gordon is good as Arnie, transitioning from a shy nerd type to a more confident young man and then to something more deranged. Stockwell is very likable as Dennis, someone who has more social cache than Arnie, but still gets harassed by the bullying gang and gets passed over for a date. Paul is also good as Leigh, who likes Arnie but doesn't like his car and doesn't like the way that he treats her compared to the car.

The Arnie and Dennis friendship was my favorite part of the film, and so it's a shame when Dennis gets sidelined for a huge portion of the film. There's some good character work later in the movie as Dennis and Leigh begin to bond over their concern for Arnie.

I do have to say that I'm not really a car person. Car chases, killer cars---that stuff leaves me a bit cold. While I wouldn't say that I found the sequences of the car killing people silly, they also didn't do much for me.

A decent horror/thriller, but I wish they'd kept the relationships at the foreground.

Sucker Punch.

End of list.

We're pretty close on this. I liked this more when I was very young, like when it came out and then less as I got into late teen-hood/college/adulthood, but a revisit a few years ago, particularly with my adult focus on what a film does well first, allowed me to get back right about to where you are.
As you say, the standout of the movie is Arnie and Dennis, that's what works best, although I thought Leigh was also strong, and the movie only really got into trouble when it wandered too far away from those relationships.
I did end up liking the car itself quite a bit, the way it was not only over-protective but also jealous and then Arnie's sort of unwinding with his newfound power. On the other hand, there were some things that didn't work that great for me, if I remember, that dragged the movie back from being a really good one.

Umpteenth re-watch- Ever since I was a kid, I couldn't go to sleep on Christmas Eve until I watched this movie. I don't know what it is exactly about this movie that entrances me the way it does, but everything here works for me...even that odd number that Danny Kaye does called "Choreography." The movie is closing in on 70 years old, but it's still my favorite Christmas movie.

I never seen White Christmas until just a few years ago. I'm watching it tonight.

The Banshees of Inisherin 8.5/10
A beautifully directed movie set in my home country of Ireland. The acting by all of the main players is very impressive. It's at times hilarious and at other times devastating.


Violent Night 6/10
Like a cross between Die hard and home alone


8-Bit Christmas 7/10
A very pleasant surprise indeed

Klaus 8/10

Pet Sematary, 1989

Louis (Dale Midkiff) and Rachel (Denise Crosby) move to a small town where Louis is to become the local doctor. They are accompanied by their two children, Ellie (Blaze Berdahl) and Gage (Miko Hughes), as well as the family cat, Church. But when Church is killed, neighbor Jud (Fred Gwynne) shows Louis a local secret: a high ledge where dead things that are buried come back to life.

A Stephen King double feature following Christine, and I think that I liked this one a bit more. The character motivations flow more naturally, and the horror is very relatable.

There is something particularly sad about horror that comes from someone trying to do something kind, or at least doing something very understandable. Midkiff's Louis is a man who comes to accept the magic of the high ledge, but at the same time seems unwilling to engage fully with the implications of using that power. And Gwynne's Jud is the perfect benevolently nefarious counterpoint to Louis. Jud always gives Louis just enough rope to hang himself with. Despite the obvious problems with Church's resurrection, Louis cannot help himself when he faces the loss of someone more near and dear to him.

The other characters are a bit more uneven in their execution. Crosby is good as Rachel, who has her own complex relationship with the idea of death and guilt, having watched her terminally ill older sister suffer and die of spinal meningitis. But Rachel's character isn't super well developed. Ellie is also a mixed bag. As a character she's fine, but there's this whole subplot where she has psychic visions of everything that is going to happen (or has happened) and the execution of that subplot is kind of clunky. Miko Hughes is mainly tasked with toddling around, but it has to be said that he is absolutely adorable.

I was also a bit torn on the inclusion of a character called Pascow (Brad Greenquist), a young man who dies despite Louis trying to save him in the hospital and returns as a benevolent ghost to help the family with warnings and advice. Greenquist is a fun presence, but the existence of the character is a bit weird and it's hard to see how it fits with the mythology of the ledge.

The horror content itself is pretty good. I really liked the way that the setting itself keeps you on edge, as the family lives right next to a highway where trucks race up and down at high speeds. And once things kick off in the last act, they are surprisingly bloody and disturbing.

A solid horror film, even if there are a few too many ideas zinging around for it to feel entirely coherent. My favorite piece of trivia from the IMDb entry on the film is that they had to reshoot a conversation between Pascow and Louis because Midkiff looked too sexy lounging around in bed with no shirt on. Imagine.

I agree. I've read many Reacher novels, so I was shocked to see the movie, despite the fact that I'm from Pittsburgh, and I'm a Cruise fan... Your advice is good re clearing you mind of any Lee Childs' Reach novels if you go to see the film. The TV series is even worse. I believe it would be more difficult to cast a good Reacher than one would think.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022, Rian Johnson)

Enjoyable, but I definitely prefer the first movie.

The FBI Story (1959)

I watched the new Matilda: The Musical on Netflix today. The performances are good and I liked the musical numbers, but I feel they could have done a little more with the story. If you like singing children, it's worth a watch. My rating is .

Christmas has conspired to make this the least movie-watching couple of days I've had this year. I did manage to fit Dog Day Afternoon in on Christmas Eve to start formulating my views on that film for the 30th Hall of Fame (it's a 10/10 film for me.) Otherwise, being overloaded when Christmas Day started to turn into evening (me being a guy who works hard all day cooking and performing other logistics) I was exhaused, and none of the films that were up for a watch could be done justice - so I opted for a rewatch of a recent viewing. A film I was sure eager for a 2nd look at :


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Nope - (2022)

Great all-round filmmaking, and a perfect film to ease into on a satisfying Christmas evening (today I wake up to find my father has just got Covid - satisfaction never lasts for long.) Anyway, having thought about this film for a while now since the first viewing, I was very impressed by all the themes that are worked into the story. Our relationship with animals, our need to rubber-neck, observe and record the remarkable and the very nature of being human. The respect we need when it comes to these things, for once we lose that respect the unknown will cause all sorts of misery for us. These are things that can trouble some of us - when disasters occur and everyone is recording instead of processing and helping, and our exploitation of the animal kingdom. This is all wrapped in a Spielberg-like, awesome and deeply unsettling atmosphere which creates one of the most enjoyable cinematic experiences of the year. Loved all elements - the cinematography, music, score, acting and screenplay. It actually creeped me out more the 2nd time. A great 2nd viewing.

8/10

I said this about it in September : A fascinating genre-defying film that slowly twists you this way and that, refusing to expend all of it's energy and ammunition from the get-go like most similar films of it's ilk. The less you know, the better, and once you've been able to digest (ha!) all of it it provides ample grist to grind in an interpretative sense. Of course, it's part horror, part sci-fi, part Spielberg but all Jordan Peele. A fascinating study of exploitation - cinematic or otherwise, and our need to 'look'. This is the film M. Night Shyamalan always wants to make, but can't quite succeed at - so I guess some directors have it and some don't. Full of dreadful suspense, and a breath of fresh air.

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I like their style of comedy, so for me, it worked. I loved Pineapple Express, The Night Before, The End...

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

Avatar 2



To be honest about it: it was substantially superior to the first Avatar, in my opinion. Characters are much better fleshed out, and even the villain now feels more "real," although he is obviously "the villain," he is the type of villain that you love to hate.

Also, one thing about Avatar movies is that while they are mainstream Hollywood movies, they are also movies that were made for hardcore science fiction fans such as myself: I think the movie was worth watching just for the science fiction worldbuilding, such as the alien planet, the creatures inhabiting it, and the cool technologies that were imagined and suberbly visually represented in this movie.

The computer animation is some of the best ever made and the whole movie is very well executed and paced. There was pretty much nothing in this movie that I think could be substantially improved: it achieves everything it tried to do and does so suberbly.

Also, since 90% of the stuff on the frames of the movie are computer animations, this is an animated movie and I would even say this is the best American animated movie I ever watched, indeed a much better work of art than anything Disney/Pixar ever made, despite the rather "James Cameron-style" of the movie: lots of scenes feel like a mix of Terminator, Aliens and Titanic. But well, that shows James Cameron is a true auteur. Maybe in fifty yers he will be as well regarded as Hitchcock is today.

Cleopatra Jones (1973)

Puppetmaster Vs Demonic Toys. 3 popcorns


it's rare i enjoy a post 1989 corey feldman but he seemed to be having fun making this full moon feature and his co star was so hot.

an awful movie by normal standards, but i liked it. It didnt have the usual tendency to stack up some plot that bores the viewer, and instead skated by on light comedy and some sporadic gore instead, which is how it's supposed to be done, imo.

terrorvision director ted nicolau takes the helm.

Glass Onion, 2022

Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is back, this time invited to an exclusive island murder mystery party hosted by obnoxious billionaire Miles (Edward Norton). Also along for the ride are friends of Miles, including a politician named Claire (Kathryn Hahn), a model/clothing line head Birdie (Kate Hudson), a scientist named Lionel (Leslie Odom Jr.), and an alpha-male-type YouTuber named Duke (Dave Bautista). Shocking everyone, the woman Miles shut out of a partnership, Andi (Janelle Monáe) also shows up. And before long, the island is home to a real murder.

I've been intrigued by the range of reactions I've seen to this film: everything from declaring it superior to the original film to saying it's not good at all. I have to report that my own reaction to it is a very tepid, eh, it's okay, I guess.

Let's start off with the positives. This is a great cast, and I could say nice things about every single one of them. Craig is clearly having a great time in the lead role, Kathryn Hahn is someone I'll watch in anything, Janelle Monae is just a fun person to watch doing whatever, Norton captures the doofus billionaire wonderfully, and there is a somewhat infectious sense that the people making this movie are having a really good time.

I'm also very partial to movies (especially mysteries, but of any genre) that can do that thing where they double back to a flashback, then let you rewatch a scene with a new understanding of the real dynamics at play. During its middle stretch, Glass Onion does this to pretty good effect.

But fundamentally I struggled with a lot of this movie because, for me, it takes the stories and the characters far too deep into farcical territory, to the point where it feels ridiculous in a not-good way. Knives Out had over the top characters, sure, but there was a much more grounded feel to it, mainly in the form of Ana de Armas's falsely accused nurse.

But here? Here we get people literally hiding behind trees to spy on people. Everything is overly poised and arranged. It's all too slick, and at the same time the mockery of everyone involved, including Blanc, robs it of any real suspense or emotional stakes. For about maybe 5 minutes, there was something that made me go "Oh, whoa!", but that feeling quickly falls by the wayside. Blanc is made a really active player in this story, as opposed to a keen observer. While this yields some good moments, overall I think that it makes for a weaker story.

There are some great little details in the set, just as in the first film. I loved a sequence of two characters eating at an outdoor restaurant, a bottle of sparkling water and a bottle of hand sanitizer in the middle of the table. There are lots of rewarding things if you look (like a perpetually slightly out of focus/uncentered self-portrait of Miles shirtless and lifting weights?).

I think I would have enjoyed this if it were a play that I was watching in a theater. But as a film it was kind of a miss. There's a distance and a contempt toward everyone involved. I love an ensemble mystery, but there have to be compelling character dynamics involved. When terrible people kill terrible people, eh. Who cares?

I hope that the future entries in this series steer back towards the vibe of Knives Out, which I really enjoyed. There's an obvious familiarity with old school mysteries, but what this film is missing that its predecessor had is a sense of affection.

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Captain America : The First Avenger - (2011)

Well, that's it - the last of the various introductions of characters in the MCU that led up to the first Avengers movie. I'd seen them all way back when they came out, but I really needed to revisit every one before watching the big one (which I haven't seen yet.) Why did I get so far but not go see The Avengers? I think by the time I'd seen these I felt pretty sure that superhero movies weren't for me. There were a bunch of friends who loved them, and they'd drag me along to the movies to see them - but at this point I gave it away. Now, after all this time I'm curious to see more. Still - what about this film? Well...

Captain America : The First Avenger had a feel of a film made lovingly but also awfully quickly, as if the studio and filmmakers couldn't wait to get it out of the way so they could focus on the main goal. Action scenes are tidy and decent, but the real success was Hugo Weaving as Johann Schmidt and Red Skull. That often happens - the villain is a much more satisfying part to play sometimes. He digs deep into that kind of Germanic arrogance, wit and lack of empathy. Some parts of the film were very underdeveloped. Steve Rogers' "team" that he puts together after rescuing them from captivity have roles that barely last one line and moment onscreen. Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones and Hayley Atwell are serviceable. The formula is well-worn and very, very tired. This and Thor really felt like quick introductions leading up to the first ensemble film - so that's what I have in front of me next.

6/10


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Smile - (2022)

Still love it!

8/10

I really enjoyed the first season of Agent Carter, and thought Atwell was great in it.