Rate The Last Movie You Saw

4th Rewatch....I know Reese Witherspoon won an Oscar for this movie, but I'm one of the few people who thinks Joaquin Phoenix owned this movie and should have won him his first Oscar. As he always does, Joaquin disappears inside the legendary Country and Western singer, offering a performance that leaps off the screen at you and scratches at your heart. Watch him in that scene where his daughters almost catch him beginning to beat first wife Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin) or that Thanksgiving Dinner where his father (Robert Patrick) can't stop criticizing him and drives him away from the dinner table to the tractor outside stuck in the mud. Love the scene where he proposes to June on the bus and the concert at Folsum Prison too. Don't get me wrong, Witherspoon works very hard in the role of June Carter, but I've seen June Carter and she just fails to convince in this role. I still think that Oscar should have gone to Felicity Huffman for Transamerica. Patrick and Goodwin are both superb in very unsympathetic roles though.

2nd Rewatch...This movie gets better with each viewing. It's not just the electric, sex-on-legs performance by Austin Butler that might have won him in an Oscar in another year, it's Baz Luhrman's dazzling, inventive, and eye-popping approach to the staging of a story that everybody knows. You don't learn anything we didn't know about Elvis, but it's presented in the most imaginative way possible, utilizing just about every cinematic storytelling technique you can think of. And I don't care what anyone else says, I thought Tom Hanks made a terrific Col Parker, a performance of strength and risk that can alienate the viewer. It takes a little too long to get started and a little too long to wrap up, but I love this movie.

Bottoms 7/10 It's just a fun silly comedy movie

Gran Turismo 7.5/10 Enjoyed it more than i thought i would,having never really gotten into the game itself

Theater Camp 7/10 Some very funny moments in this

To Have and Have Not 8/10 A brilliant classic with two of the greatest actors of all time

Dark City
7/10.
Repeat viewing. It's basically the Matrix meets The Truman Show. A physical simulation by aliens instead of humans, or a virtual one made by machines.

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Boldly going.

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Sense and Sensibility - (1995)

Well, here's another Jane Austin novel I have to read - Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility deserves all the love I've been hearing for it over the years, and I deserve all of the derision for not watching it until now. What a golden era the 1990s were for Emma Thompson - she's marvelous in this, and of course she wrote the screenplay making for what could have been an amazing double on Oscars night. She won one for that screenplay, but her performance lost out to Susan Sarandon for her role in Dead Man Walking. It's hard to argue with that. Anyway, I loved this movie - it's overflowing with greatness in every aspect of filmmaking. There are wonderful recreations of life in 19th Century England, and of course Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie, Tom Wilkinson - which makes it very easy to like. A very emotionally testing story for the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne - and who among us hasn't been through the wringer of unrequited love or the belief you were set for a future with someone only for things to crumble to pieces. My empathy to anyone going through that. Anyway - a great big tick beside Sense and Sensibility, for it was great and a film I'm going to hold in very high esteem from this point onwards.

9/10


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Howl's Moving Castle - (2004)

I have a few Studio Ghibli films under my belt now, and it's more enjoyable to watch them when you're actually expecting the craziness you end up getting - usually with a helping of cuteness added. In Howl's Moving Castle that cuteness is the character that's a living being made of fire - Calcifer. How on Earth do I describe it - Sophie Hatter is turned into an old lady when the Witch of the Waste casts a spell on her, and she has to seek out wizard Howl to help her out - but because the spell makes her unable to talk about what was done to her, she ends up becoming his cleaning lady. Also, the kingdom they all live in is at war - in a kind of steampunk society. Ahh - it's all complex and crazy, but I'm starting to really enjoy these films to the hilt. So imaginative, and so grand in scope and animation style. If only Sophie could stop trying to take the initiative and mucking things up! Her ideas are crazy! Loved this, and I'm at the stage where I'm enjoying Studio Ghibli films so much I'd like to go back and watch Spirited Away again.

8/10


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Three Men and a Baby - (1987)

I bet you the French original is funnier - but this isn't bad. I'm not sure if I watched this back in the day, but I'm on a mission to see all the stuff I didn't think I was into when it was new. Three Men and a Baby, for some reason, got stuck with Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg and Ted Danson - and I have to wonder, why didn't they get three better comedic actors? I guess it was hard to cast - because the men have to be manly eligible bachelors to offset how unusual it is they're all looking after this baby. If you get, say, a Martin Short, it doesn't work. So, much like in Cary Grant movie Penny Serenade, this makes a lot of fun from what it's like when you start caring for a newborn - and I'm sure those who had recently been through it, or were going through it, enjoyed this all the more. It's not too bad, for mainstream fare - and made $240 million 1980s money on a $11 million budget. Could have been better though.

6/10

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I'm trying to remember if I've actually read Sense and Sensibility. (I think it may be the only Austen I haven't read.).

The film is, as you say, deserving of all the love. For me it really captures how a lot of Austen's work feels when you read it.

It's interesting: I think that Austen might have, for me, one of the best track records in terms of how much I've enjoyed movie/miniseries adaptations of her work.

This one's an old favorite, a combination of sci-fi, fantasy and film noir. Somehow my first DVD copy stopped working and I had to buy another one just so I would not see that vacant spot on the shelf.

There's often a point in art, literature or movies when a genre is used up...no sense in doing more of this. Westerns got there a long time ago, WW II movies also. Private eye movies are yesterday's news and have been for a while. IMO, superhero movies hit that point tonight with The Marvels. To me at least, aside from the quality of the animation, this movie is a bomb, a very large bomb. Nothing about it made much sense plot wise. Acting was zilch. I seem to recall an interview with Sam Jackson who snidely quipped that as long as they pay him, he'd do these movies until the cows came home. I guess they paid him for this dog.

Really....why? All there is in this flick is chasing, shooting, superhero antics, sparse dialog and credits. I've seen all that superhero posturing before, seen spandex, lightning coming out of eyes and "human" bodies tumbling off into the distance, just to turn on their laser thruster and jet back to the action. I've seen that so many times.

I don't know why I consented to see this except for a lack of an alternative suggestion. The theater was next to the food destination, so I only had to park once.

I don't think I'll ever get those two hours back again.

Minus That's 3 popcorns below zero.

Lake Mungo - #7 on Mike Flanagan's list of Top 10 Most Underrated Horror Movies. Right off the bat I really don't consider this pseudo-documentary straight up horror. It's Australian and well made for what it is but it just didn't generate many scares with me even though I was certainly open to it. The plot and principal players were accessible with actors doing a credible job of playing the Palmer family.

I don't think it's a spoiler to reveal that the movie opens with 16 year old Alice Palmer drowning. Her parents Russell and June and her brother Matthew soon after start experiencing seemingly paranormal events in their home. Just like any documentary it's methodical in introducing a lot of the people who knew Alice the best. Boyfriend, friends, classmates, grandparents. But then they all share something in common as it turns out in that they really didn't know Alice. In their search for some answers and a semblance of closure her mother June contacts psychic/spiritualist Ray Kemeney. But, just like the ongoing events in their home, this only leads to more questions.

I did appreciate how the ending I didn't dislike this movie. Not in the least. But I also wasn't bowled over by it. Maybe I wasn't in the right frame of mind.

75/100

Back from the hiatus and watching some movies again.


The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965, Martin Ritt)

An excellent spy movie that I definitely need to revisit some time in the future. It's on the cerebral side, with not much action (if at all) and a pretty convoluted plot that I had a bit of trouble following at times (or maybe I just wasn't in the mood). Top notch writing, directing and cinematography, and the performances from the cast are stellar. Very good!

The Killer (2023)

A half rating for the amount of the Smiths songs I actually heard and being half of what my expectations for a Fincher movie is.

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

I absolutely love Lake Mungo, and on multiple levels.

1) I think it does look like a documentary, along with the messiness of real life
2) I think the acting is really strong, especially the actress who plays the mother
3) I like that it allows nuance and aspects of the story that don't make it "obviously true" that supernatural things were happening.
4) Most of all, I think that it serves as a harrowing allegory about the anxiety and fear that comes with growing up. For me, the line that stands out the most is when .
5) I love the way that the photographs are used, as well as the information from the psychic's sessions. The part where we learn that is something I somehow missed on the first viewing. Partly because THAT SCENE occupies so much of your attention.

It's just hands-down one of my favorite movies. It makes me feel a whole range of emotions very deeply.

I didn't misread that ending did I? It has to do with I may not have found the movie truly frightening but that ending did resonate with me.

Exactly my understanding. Alice was

So many elements pointing to this family that clearly loved their daughter, but had some disconnect between them.

Parasite (2019)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

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Caligula : The Ultimate Cut - (2023)

Caligula, as first released in 1979, was one of the biggest fiascos in film history. A hodgepodge of shots edited together almost at random, with hard-core pornography spliced in just to add insult to injury. I went through a period where I was fascinated with all aspects of the film's history, and while writing extensively about it I got to know it in detail. That was around about 2010, and my interest hasn't wavered, which means of course a friend and I would rush out and see the local premiere of this astonishing new cut of the film. Supposedly not one shot that was in the original version was used in this (a claim we both felt was a little dubious) - but one thing's for sure : using the original screenplay to put together this version creates a completely different film. Much of what I saw last night I'd never seen before. Whole swathes of the film, previously unseen, add important narrative structure to the whole and as such this truly was a completely different movie. I went suspecting I might just be watching a rejigged version of the same Tinto Brass stinker - but that wasn't the case at all.

It starts with a prologue - first some text, dramatically bringing us up to date with the history of the film itself. How it was mangled by amateurs and producer Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse magazine. Then there's an animated prologue - an interesting addition, and very informative, and I liked it in spite of my feeling that films shouldn't be messed with in this manner. The movie itself was exciting from the get-go because of how dramatically different it is. It's like a real movie now - a real epic and not a bizarre curiosity. It kind of fell two ways for me in the end. The good was that this is a pretty darn good movie - I mean, seeing it on the big screen is almost a must. The sets are magnificent, as are the costumes and production design. I've read they aren't at all historically accurate for the most part - but they're still glorious. The performances are really good as well - and all of this tied into a more weighty narrative about an Emperor sickened by his own sycophants makes all the difference. The bad is that now Caligula is just your run of the mill ordinary film. Without the disaster and the messy deformity it created, it doesn't distinguish itself as much from other movies.

I just want to add, for those curious or those who weigh up watching it - there is still tons of nudity and sex. It's not nearly as explicit as it is in the original - that stuff isn't dwelled upon as much - but this being the film it is, you'll still get an eyeful of both sexes. Some parts are also puzzlingly absent. We no longer get to see the death of poor old Proculus, which might actually be a bonus come to think of it. Also, some characters are a much, much bigger part of the narrative and stick out. This is why I said to my friend, "they should have called this the Longinus Cut!" when it finished. Longinus (played by John Steiner) comes out as one of the major characters - and in the original film you hardly notice him at all. The plot to assassinate Caligula is also much more expertly drawn out and not seemingly as impromptu and random. Overall, my friend didn't like it so much, but I thought it's a much better film and loved finally seeing this as it was meant to be. A highlight of the year.

7.5/10

Empire Records (1995)

Pros:
Cillian Murphy is excellent. Some tense scenes towards the end.

Cons:
Far too long. Didn’t feel connected to it in any way. Some laborious scenes. Many of the cast are putting on dreadful accents. I’m a big fan of Benny Safdie but he sounds Russian in this rather than Hungarian. Tom Conti as Einstein was laughable, and casting Kenneth Brannagh as a Danish physicist just topped it all off. Weak film.

This film is currently listed as 33rd in IMDB’s greatest films of all time list. Sigh.

Thor Ragnarok - (2017)

Rewatch, with my son. Better than I remembered, my son also enjoyed it quite a bit. Infinity War next

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