Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Seconds follows a middle-aged banker that feels unfulfilled in his life, only to be approached by a company that offers him the chance to start a new life with a new identity through plastic surgery. What if you had that chane? Will you take it? After becoming "Tony Wilson" (Rock Hudson), the man realizes that it's not that easy to move forward and cut your ties to your past life.

One of the strengths of the film is Frankenheimer's direction, which is claustrophobic and oppressive. Regardless of the persona that Wilson is under, you can feel that he's never entirely free to move back or forward. "They made the decisions for me all over again", he says as he gets to another threshold in his life.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37065217

The Act of Killing - (2012)

It's hard to write about The Act of Killing without feeling like the tone isn't somber enough, or that the point is being missed. Once you've seen it, it sits in your subconscious in the same way all the dark things you've learned about humanity has. We get so close to it in this documentary, because the killers we see here are not the least bit troubled inviting us in and showing us how they did what they did. Not because they're proud, though they might be, but because the allure of making and starring in movies was too irresistible for them. Just another slaughter for another regime. Can their long-lost morality be stirred? Did they ever have a sense of what they were doing? Seems that murder is a very personal thing that had a different effect on each of them - and during the re-enactments they make, one in particular stands out as a person who actually realises what he's done for the first time. I watched the director's cut, which loses focus a little in the middle, but nevertheless this is an extraordinary film that most people should see.

9/10


By https://www.movieposters.com/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6835938

The Last Picture Show - (1971)

This film really took me back and reminded me of what life (and sex) was like during those 'just graduating high school' days - it was so relatable and as a coming of age drama The Last Picture Show is grounded but fun. There's a lot of emotional grist to this, with the close relationships typical to a small town playing a role in shaking up everyone whenever something with a lot of gravity happens. That might be a death, a break-up or someone leaving. Jeff Bridges went from television to being an Oscar-nominated actor in a major film, and never looked back. I really enjoyed watching him in Bad Company, which came out soon after this. The black and white cinematography, with it's soft dream-like glow, really works well for this. Glad to have finally seen it.

8/10

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Apollo 10 1/2, 2022

In 1960s Houston, Texas, Stan (Milo Coy) is surrounded by images and conversations around the Space Race. With a father who works in NASA--albeit in an administrative position--Stan is captivated by the leadup to the Apollo launch. The film alternates between a memoir-like look at Stan's childhood and a dream subplot in which he is recruited by the government to fly a secret space mission to prepare for the Apollo 11.

I really enjoyed this film. The childhood sequences resound with a wonderful specificity, while the fantasy sequences capture the imagination of a child imagining space travel.

This film feels deeply personal, and of course it reflects a lot of the real history of its writer and director Richard Linklater. Stan is part of a large family, headed up by the no-nonsense, hippie-hating Mom (Lee Eddy) and an absurdly frugal Dad (Bill Wise). The family dynamics are incredibly well established. While a lot of the memories ring with evoking the specifics of his childhood--such as the family getting their first touch-tone phone or riding bicycles behind a truck spraying DDT--the nature of the interactions between the kids and with the adults will be familiar to anyone who grew up with siblings of their own, no matter what the decade of their own childhood.

I also found the movie very funny, including from the opening sequence of Stan being recruited by two men-in-black government agents. Telling Stan that they've admired his prowess on the kickball field AND his Presidential Fitness results, they confide in him that they accidentally built their space capsule way too small for an adult. When Stan asks how that could have happened, one of the agents snippily asks Stan if he always scores 100% on his math tests. Then there is the simple observational humor of life with a big family, like their wise older sister telling them all the secret information that the "squares" don't want them to know. I also loved a sequence where an enthusiastic Stan attempts to explain the plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey to an uninterested classmate at recess.

Finally, I enjoyed the way that the film approached the idea of space travel. There's one monologue where Stan describes the mix of emotions he felt as a child. With the Cold War raging, the future seemed both frightening and incredibly exciting. There was danger, but also the possibility of scientific discovery. This feeling extends to the sequences in space. Through Stan's imagined experience of training and then launching into space we can feel the thrill of it.

The only downside to the movie, in my opinion, is that sometimes the memories could skew a little overly broad. At times there are echoes of "hey, remember this thing?!" comedy, where nostalgia takes the place of an actual joke. But it's not so much that the movie doesn't have anything to say about these things, just that it seems to have so much it wants to mention and not enough time to do it.

This was a really cool film.

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Seconds is like a movie-length episode of The Twilight Zone. Extremely unsettling ending sequence.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

These are the ones I saw recently.




I think it tries too hard to be cool and all, but it is kinda entertaining. 06/10



I've seen a few scenes, but never the whole thing until now. 06/10.

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Grease, 1978

Australian transplant Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) has a summer fling with a guy named Danny (John Travolta). But when the school year begins, and the two learn they attend the same high school, Sandy is shocked to find that Danny hangs out with a greaser crowd and feels the need to keep up a tough guy persona. As the school year goes on, complete with dance contests and drag races, it's unclear whether good girl Sandy and bad boy Danny can make it as a couple.

A few years ago, my local high school put on a production of Grease that I took my young students to see. At the time, I was like "Yikes!", because it wasn't the best. Now, years later, I owe those high schoolers an apology. They weren't the problem. Grease is the problem.

I will grant the film that at times its particular energy and the musical numbers intersect really well. "Beauty School Drop Out" is really funny. "You're the One That I Want" is really catchy. "Together Forever" is a fun, energetic closing number. It's also a film whose cast is clearly talented as performers. Newton-John and Travolta go all-in on their song and dance numbers. Stockard Channing, DiDi Conn, and Jeff Conaway are really solid and funny in their supporting roles.

I also enjoyed the set design and costumes, which really reflect the 70s looking back at the 50s. The colors pop, the dresses flow.

But while there are several strong elements to this film, the story is a bust. There are various plot lines---romantic dramas, Conn's character dropping out of school, a pregnancy scare, rivalry with another group of greasers---but I felt apathetic to just about all of it. A moment here or there makes an impact. Danny wanting to drop his tough guy act, only to chicken out and play the role despite knowing he's pushing Sandy away. Or Channing's barely concealed fear and vulnerability over an unexpected pregnancy. But for the most part I struggled to care about any of it, and the movie doesn't spend enough time on any of the subplots to really develop the conflicts or their impacts on the kids.

And the kids. The "kids". There's suspension of disbelief, and then there's people old enough to HAVE high school aged children playing teenagers. While this is obviously a really common practice in movies and TV, these actors and actresses really really look like they are in their 20s/30s. It kept jumping out at me through the whole runtime, despite the film's goofy tone and the fact that it's obviously not going for realism.

Fine, but not one I'd be eager to revisit.

Saw The Menu last night. Really enjoyed it. I don't think it completely nails the delicate, absurd balance it's going for (and I think it could've gone to some more interesting places than the places it ultimately did).

Maybe the biggest issue is that there's just too much build up for us to be really shocked by most of what happens in the stretch run. When it can still surprise us, up to the film's middle point, it does so really well, but once you see what it's willing to do it doesn't have any extra reservoir of audacity.

Still a really fun, well-made film. , a good chunk of which is down to degree of difficulty.

EDIT: oh, and I agree with something I remember reading about how, since it covers some of the same satirical ground, seeing The Menu made them like Glass Onion less, and I have to agree.

I feel that this movie has been done several times already.

Good movie & one of James Joyce’s best short stories.

I took Craig’s accent with a pinch of salt. I don’t think it was meant to sound authentic. Is he even meant to be a Southerner? Probably not - I don’t recall him ever saying where he was born.

I’m watching this movie now after a re-watch of the first movie. I like it so far.

Very interesting that you, an Australian, found this movie to be “so relatable” in terms of your own high school. Whereas me, as a Brit in prep school, I love the movie, but can’t relate to it at all. For one reason our school was all girls & all female teachers.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Wow.
Would never have seen this reaction coming.
I was just thinking, oddly, this very morning that Grease is a movie that I would really watch at any time without the slightest hesitation. Anytime anybody wants to watch it, I'm game. And I got probably a dozen friends who would say the same. I love the nostalgia for 1961, I love everybody in it, especially Channing's Rizzo. I even find the the "lesser" T-birds to be endlessly amusing and I thought Eve Arden's principal was great fun along with Sid Freakin' Caesar as the Coach. I find the musical numbers, from "Summer Nights" to "Greased Lightning" to "Stranded At The Drive-in", "Born To Hand Jive", obviously "Beauty School Drop-out" (bringing in Frankie Avalon is a stroke of genius), hell, I even love the theme song, written by Andy Gibb (!) and performed by Frankie F*cking Valli (!!), just a big winner. It's a total buy-in for me and probably one of the best movie-musicals ever.
Frankly, your review is heresy.

Indecent Desires, 1968

A man named Zeb (Michael Alaimo) finds a blonde doll in a public trash can one day. Taking the doll home, he realizes that it bears some resemblance to a neighbor he lusts after, Ann (Sharon Kent). Ann is seeing a man named Tom (Trom Little), though the two have their on and off moments. As Zeb becomes more obsessed and jealous regarding Ann, he uses the doll as a surrogate for his feelings and, through some undefined mechanic, what he does to the doll happens to Ann.

This is a softcore film from Doris Wishman that the IMDb classifies as a drama/fantasy, but in my opinion this is a horror film smashed together with sexploitation in a way that only makes the horrific parts hit harder.

Maybe the most fascinating thing about this movie is how clearly you can see the goofier, sexier and less terrifying version of this story. A man finds a doll. As he touches it, his object of desire feels the touch of his hands and, while at first alarmed or confused, soon comes to enjoy these mystery sensations. Insert a few cheesecake sequences of her rolling around in pleasure, then find some way for the man and woman to come together with no need for the doll.

But this is very much not that movie, and the ways that it deviates from that softer version of the story renders what happens on screen a lot darker. I'm not so ignorant as to think that there aren't people who would get off on the idea of causing a woman pain, or having control over a woman, and so on. But for a movie that starts out with very lighthearted soft-nudity sequences, it's a surprise to see it venture into that more upsetting territory.

The film gets to this place via both Ann and Zeb's sides of the story. From Ann's side, her reaction is actually kind of realistic. And that is to say that she's incredibly upset by experiencing these sudden sensations and thinks that she's going crazy or having some sort of a nervous breakdown. We repeatedly watch Ann cry over these episodes, and the stress and embarrassment drives a wedge between her and Tom. On Zeb's side of things, his treatment of the doll is pretty icky to watch. Even the "sexy" parts--the groping and undressing--are shot with close-ups and over-the-shoulder angles that give it a predatory vibe. And when Zeb gets angry at Ann (who, remember, doesn't know him or know he has a crush on her), he punishes the doll by burning or hitting it, resulting in real injuries to Ann.

I've found with Wishman that it's hard to nail down what exactly I think she's getting at with her films. She often creates situations and uses filming techniques that are exaggerated to the point that they feel like they might be poking a bit of fun at the kind of people who would watch such films. I'm probably not her target audience, but is there any other response than laughter when the action is interrupted so that we can watch a woman do a series of exercises in the nude? Honestly, this movie is so disturbing on some levels that I have to think there's some kind of nod toward objectification. I mean, come on:


This being a Wishman film, naturally the dialogue has all been dubbed over with medium attention to accuracy. The performances are . . . fine. The camera circles and zooms unexpectedly.

I don't know. This movie kind of gave me viewer whiplash. It's a very disturbing premise with some very disturbing sequences, intermixed with cheesy nudie scenes. I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but I can definitely say that I wasn't bored!

Yikes, he looks like the murderer of those students in Moscow, Idaho.

You thought I'd watch a movie where one guy asks another "Did she put up a fight?" and be . . . charmed?

There are lots of great pieces to this film, but they didn't really cohere for me. And while, yeah, it's just a big dumb musical, it's conclusions about how you should just change your personality for someone else aren't my thing.

Yeah, Zeb is not a great dude.

I'm not a huge Grease fan, but the high point is clearly Hopelessly Devoted to You. *sigh*



EDIT: I somehow didn't get around to seeing it until sometime in the past 20 years. But thanks to a neighborhood girl who owned the LP, I had the soundtrack memorized as a kid.

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That was mean. You picked out the most horrific moment in the film and threw it in my face? I thought we were friends.
Jesus, I hate that line.
But anyway, you're wrong, it's a wonderful movie.

You know what, I will meet you halfway.

It's the best movie I've ever seen where a 30-year-old high schooler learned the importance of getting a perm and taking up smoking so that a boy will like you.

Thunder Road (1958)

Forty Guns, 1957

Griff Bonell (Barry Sullivan) and his brothers Wes (Gene Barry) and Chico (Robert Dix) arrive in an Arizona town in order to serve a warrant. The man they are seeking is in the employ of a woman named Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck), who basically rules the town through a combination of wealth and a large army of hired guns. When the Bonell brothers end up staying in town, partly due to Wes falling in love with a local girl, conflict grows between them and Jessica's wild younger brother, Brockie (John Ericson).

This western was directed by Samuel Fuller, and boy does it shine with his inspired visuals and set-pieces that hit you like a punch.

This review could basically be a laundry list of amazing moments from the film. I will resist that temptation, but let's talk about a handful of them.

Fuller makes Jessica into a wonderful, imposing figure. Clad in all black, she is the kind of person who moves through the world with no doubt that everyone will just get out of her way. She leads her troupe of forty hired guns, and in the scenes where they ride after her, it's like someone trailing a deadly cape of armed men. Early in the film, we meet the town's current marshal, a man named Ned Logan (Dean Jagger) who is losing his eyesight. In several sequences, we see things from Logan's point of view, an out-of-focus blur. When Logan is challenged to a duel by Brockie, Fuller takes us back into Logan's eyes, and we have to contemplate the horror of trying to defend oneself in a gunfight without being able to see.

The third act is packed with amazing imagery, much of which would venture very deep into spoiler territory. There is a sequence at a wedding and then a final showdown that I thought were simply incredible.

I was admittedly so-so on the development of the romance between Griff and Jessica. I get a little tired of the plot where a woman has power, and the lesson is that she just needs a man's love to soften her into a "real" woman and then she's happy to give it all up for her man. (The film's theme song declares "But if someone could break her/And take her whip away,/Someone big, someone strong, someone tall,/You may find that the woman with a whip/Is only a woman after all."). There's a pretty awesome sequence in one part of the film that suggests they might avoid this trope (and from what I read about the movie, Fuller wanted an ending that avoided it), but alas. I at least appreciate that the film shows that their attraction to one another mostly comes out of mutual respect.

The performances here are all good. Sullivan brings a low key confidence and authority to Griff, which contrasts with the more enthusiastic personalities of his two brothers. Stanwyck is great as Jessica, a woman who has allowed her loyalty to her brother to keep her from keeping him under control. I also thought Ericson brought a great wild child energy to his performance as Brockie. We all know this person: guarded by wealth and power, no one has ever said no to him in his life. And because he has no fear of consequences, he'll get someone pregnant or shoot someone just because and not think twice about it. His raw, indulgent personality makes for a great contrast with the more controlled Griff.


I do wish that the film had had the guts to end things with

Recommended for sure based on the way that the film is shot, but it's also a pretty good story with great performances.