Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Mamma Mia (2008) 8/10 good movie with amazing music and great casting

I love Mamma Mia!, but the sequel wasn't very good.

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i havent seen the 2nd one yet D=

Onibaba (1964, Kaneto Shindô)

While this film is described as horror, there really isn't much actual horror in it - I saw it more as a medieval folk fairy tale that utilizes the fantasy horror element as a metaphorical subtext in its exploration of the themes of family relations, lust, jealousy and human passions in general (a short version of it would have fit right in on something like Kwaidan). It takes a while to get really going but it gets better and better as the story unfolds, building up to a crescendo at the end. This is not horror for horror's sake, but horror used brilliantly to tell a story and create an atmosphere.

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003) 10/10 loved this movie and great casting

And Then We Danced (2019)

I don't think I have ever seen a Georgian film before and don't know much about Georgia as a country, so it was a really interesting film just from a cultural perspective. The story is a coming-of-age type story about a dedicated young dancer who is trying to make it into the main dance company, with a strict dance teacher, a job as a waiter, a feckless brother and no money - and then he develops feelings for his new dance rival which disturbs his focus. There is a lot of dancing, both in and outside of the dance company which added to the way the story was told. Altogether I thought it was a good film.

Did some viewing with my daughter, who has just recently turned two...


Branagh, 2015





This was much better than I thought it would be. I figured it would be yet another bland live-action retread of a classic animated film. For instance, I had attempted to watch the remake of Beauty and the Beast a couple of weeks ago, turning it off before the 10 minute mark. Anyway, my whole family just adored this movie. Sure, it doesn't do anything new with the material, but it really brought the whole thing to life, keeping the spark of magic alive from the original. This is a good thing, in my book. My daughter was mesmerized.



Miyazaki, 1988





What a wonderful film. I had gone through Miyazaki's stuff back in the late 90s, and I don't recall this making much of an impression at the time. I was a much different person at that time, much preferring stuff like Perfect Blue and Ghost in the Shell. I am always amazed at Miyazaki's ability to keep his art clean and vibrant while also maintaining an incredible level of detail and density. My daughter just loved this, and had a big smile on her face every time Totoro would appear.



Miyazaki, 2001





This one has a lot going for it, as well, but I do feel like some of this went over my head as far as the cultural references etc. The art was superb, and the score was fantastic, but I didn't find it as charming as Totoro. I will probably watch this one again fairly soon, to see if it lands a bit better for me. I understand that many feel this is one of Miyazaki's best, or perhaps his best film, but after seeing it once, I would rank it in the middle of the pack. Of course, that is still better than many films of its ilk, and probably falls more on my ignorance of Japanese culture as a whole, as opposed to some fault of the film.

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Pretty good, considering the budget.

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In Ralph Breaks the Internet, our characters have to deal with two fears. Vanellope is burdened by the monotony and routine of her game, while Ralph is afraid of losing her. When the Sugar Rush game is broken, they both decide to use the newly plugged-WiFi router to get into the vastness of the Internet to find the broken part. As a result, they end up exploring the world beyond their arcade.

You gotta hand it to directors Moore and Johnston, and co-writer Pamela Ribon. Like the original film, they find immensely clever ways to build this imaginary world and how the characters interact with them. I particularly enjoyed their integrations of the "search bar", eBay, YouTube, and online ads and pop-ups. The creativity with which these technologies are integrated into the story is amazing, most of which happens during the first half of the film.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Re-watch. Still a classic after all these years.

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Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence -

While not the classic the first movie is, the sequel is still a worthy follow-up. A tale that is as much about feminism as it is transhumanism, it follows lone wolf and dog lover Batou and fabulously coiffed family man Togusa as they find out why a line of mechanical geishas are killing their owners. Their investigation culminates in a showdown at the headquarters of Locus Solus, the geishas' manufacturer, which is so trippy and mind-bending that I honestly thought something was wrong with my disc. This might just be a way of saying that I really enjoyed it, but this sequence could have lasted a bit longer and had more room to breathe. Also, even though the philosophical discussion is one of my favorite things about Ghost in the Shell, some conversations border on parody in that they’re just series of trading quotations. The movie still has the trademarks of the anime franchise that made it one of my favorites, i.e. exciting action, though-provoking debate and spectacular visuals, the latter of which combines CGI and hand-drawn animation and looks so good that the movie might as well have come out this year rather than 2004.

Before the movie, it mentioned how Dmytryk wanted to make it almost 4 hours long, and I wonder how it would have been. I think a main reason I watched it was because I told my parents to see it, and they did. My mom liked it, my dad seemed to dislike it only because he was against the mutiny, and told me about his time on a (civilian) ship.



I think it's Bogart's best, as well as "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (in my Top 10) because unlike most of his other movies, he's not smooth and "perfect" in this one... My favorite scene of this movie was when he asked the guys for help, and no one said a thing.

His facial mannerisms were great, too. His eyes, how they moved around, even the quiver of his lip at times, his speech.. He died only a couple of years after this, and I always have the "what ifs", wondering what movies he could have done, and if his acting would change. It was cool to see Mitchum being able to transition into the character in say "Friends of Eddie Coyle", where the 70s didn't shy away from the more taboo stuff. I just laughed inside at the thought of Bogart as "Dirty Harry", or just saying the word, "m-o-t-h-e-r-f-u-c-k-e-r" for example.



I read somewhere that the book and movie influenced the 25th amendment.

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David and Lisa - 9/10 (original score)


This was on TCM, and I had seen it before, so I "kinda" watched it again. I did do a few things online, thinking it wasn't a big deal since I saw it before. I'm a little surprised of the high score, but when I rated this, I could have been in a drought, or in a certain mood, but I didn't want to rate it today, since it was just something to do... A big part of me posting this is for people to remember this, talk about it, or to check it out, since TCM usually have movies on for a while (on-demand) after showing it live.


This was made right after "A Child Is Waiting" (Cassavetes) which I gave a 10/10, one of my favorites.. Burt Lancaster is the male lead, but the movie seemed to be made for Judy Garland, whose vulnerability is perfect for the movie.


Seems like every movie made in the 60s has a mention of Freud.. I watched a movie about a black family, and the 17-year old protagonist even says (in a cool way), "I've read Freud"

Anatomy of a Murder - 1959 courtroom drama that, owing to it's two hours and forty minute long runtime, is meticulously detailed in it's depiction of a murder trial in a small, upper peninsula Michigan, army base town. Lt. Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara) is accused of shooting and killing the man who raped his wife Laura (Lee Remick). She's a beautiful, bored and flirtatious young housewife who may or may not have known the victim well. Enter ex-DA Paul Biegler, (Jimmy Stewart), now reduced to a private practice. Laura Manion begs him (in her own fashion) to take on her husband's case. With the help of old friend, boozy attorney Parnell Emmett McCarthy (Arthur O'Connell) and loyal secretary Maida (Eve Arden) Biegler takes on the thorny, ambiguous case.

The courtroom proceedings take up most of the film and director Otto Preminger never lets the momentum flag. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it couldn't have done with some judicious editing here and there. George C. Scott also turns up eventually as Claude Dancer, a prosecutor from the State Attorney General's office and he and Stewart's character are responsible for most of the films captivating, tension filled moments. I did wonder though how this film was even allowed to be made and released in 1959 given it's methodical breakdown of the actual act and it's numerous references to rape. This is a very sober and grown up sort of picture and one that simply doesn't jibe with Eisenhower era mores.

The cast is first rate with Gazzara and Remick simultaneously upfront and restrained in suggesting that the Manions aren't your typical young couple. Scott and Arden also do a fine job in their supporting roles and all four actors are so proficient in their work that IMO Stewart as star and protagonist is left with not much to do but Jimmy Stewart it up. There's an outstanding soundtrack by Duke Ellington who makes a cameo as, you guessed it, a musician. Oh and lastly, you also get to see Floyd the Barber say the word "sperm" several times.

The Grissom Gang, 1971

Heiress Barbara Blandish (Kim Darby) is kidnapped by the Grissom Gang, led by the brutal Ma Grissom (Irene Dailey), who intend to ransom Blandish but then kill her so that she cannot inform on them. Things get complicated when the simple-minded Slim (Scott Wilson) falls in love with Barbara and comes into conflict with his family, especially the ambitious Eddie (Tony Musante).

Sometimes I get a film from Netflix and I just wonder . . . how did this end up in my queue? I see that the film has some buzz as one of those "best films you've never heard of", but it really didn't do much for me.

To begin with the positive, the film does a good job of portraying the unhealthy family dynamics of the gang. The family are totally ruthless, and they often feel more like a pack of predatory animals than people. Eddie in particular comes across as a particularly calculating sociopath. Slim isn't that bright, but he can be just as brutal as the rest of the family, and it makes the character--who spends a lot of time whining and crying and fussing--uncomfortably dangerous. His attentions toward Barbara are gross, and her disgust at having to capitulate to his desires because he is the closest thing she has to an ally is palpable.

The film also does a decent job at portraying some of the contradictions of people who would act this way. They believe that they deserve the money, case closed. In one scene, Eddie says that he intends to go upstairs and rape Barbara, to which another member of the gang protests, "She's just a kid." And yet this man doesn't blink at the plan to kill Barbara once they have the money. It really is a case of a group of people creating their own code of morals.

Unfortunately, there isn't enough going on to justify the long running time. There are a lot of story elements being juggled, and even the best developed ones don't feel totally baked. For example, Slim coerces Barbara--who has also been brutally beaten up--into sex in exchange for protecting her. At some point in the film they imply that she has developed some real feelings for him, but we don't see this during their interactions. In fact, Barbara is given very little to do aside from gasping in disbelief at the cruelty of the Grissoms and screaming in terror. Barbara is pretty under-developed as a character. She's an entitled rich girl and she doesn't like being kidnapped. That's about it. She isn't strong enough (in a nice way or a villainous way) to make much of an impression. Her entire journey through the film is very passive, and the interactions with the other characters don't generate much spark.

I also felt myself underwhelmed with the time-consuming subplot about the detectives trying to track down Barbara. They were all incredibly unmemorable, and the scenes involving a showgirl named Anna (Connie Stevens) who may have information about the kidnapping just feel sort of . . . blah. Anna is blond! And kind of dumb! As a whole the characters lack development and it becomes more of a problem as the film throws more and more of them on stage.

Also, and I know this might sound weird, but whatever make-up effect they used to try and make it look like everyone was sweaty was so bad. Everyone looks like they've just been sprayed with oil and from a visual point of view it makes the film kind of gross to look at.

The desire to know how it would all end kept me watching, but on the whole this was a let-down.

The Underworld Story (1950)

This is a nicely written screenplay by Henry Blankfort, starring Dan Duryea in one of his finest portrayals. Also starting is the perky Gale Storm, and the durable Herbert Marshall. Mary Anderson plays a black woman who is falsely accused of murder. Anderson does not remotely look black, but she turns in a good performance protesting her innocence, and refusing to buckle under to a scheming attorney and a greedy reporter. Howard Da Silva shines as a mobster boss.

Duryea plays a big city reporter --ala Ace in the Hole-- whose lust for a juicy story causes a crime which benefits a local mob king. He’s subsequently blacklisted from big city newspapers, so he repairs to a small town where he buys his way into an editorship of the local paper owned by Storm, while trying to stir up headlines by hook or by crook. He seizes on the local murder as an opportunity for big sales, and to further his career. We learn early on that the murder is actually committed by a local wealthy man’s (Marshall) son, and the son tries to frame Anderson.

Midway through Duryea’s hawking of Anderson’s guilt, he has a change of heart, and works to establish her innocence. He made a career out of playing heels and creeps, but here he carries the picture with a full palette of emotions ranging from cheap schemer to good guy.

Interestingly, despite it’s title, the picture has little to do with the underworld, and it really isn’t a film noir, although it’s sometimes billed that way. The movie was somewhat dissed by reviewers at its release due to its negative portrayal of newspapermen. It has gained stature since then as a timely well written, well acted drama.

Doc’s rating: 7/10

Another Round

It's close to perfect. It tightropes the tonal line between drama and comedy and turns what could've easily been an after-school special on the dangers of alcohol into something that is multidimensional, introspective and authentic.

It also has the best ending I've seen in a very long time.

Perhaps my favorite film and performance of 2020.

Overboard (1987)