Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Think it's about time Paul Schrader moved past his same old plotline of isolated man with former violent past keeps a diary (Country Priestesque like) and then gets involved in violence again through a series of misfortunate events. It worked well in Taxi Driver and to a lesser extent First Reformed. But it's getting old.

I get that this is part of an unofficial trilogy with First Reformed and the Card Counter, but it's working less and less with each effort. This time a gardener has to mentor a young tearaway and the obvious happens again.

The flashback scenes are dated and unconvincing, Sigourney Weaver's character is overwritten and yet her arc creeps up very quickly with little backstory. Some characters develop too fast and just feel unnatural. Joel Edgerton carries the film and yet it's still a relatively poor one. Time for Schrader to move on.

5.9/10

I have seen most of Scorsese's films but going into this year I still had a handful left to get to. Loved The Age of Innocence on first viewing earlier in the year and then this was great too.

Over the last couple of years, I have become increasingly interested in religion so this felt like the perfect time to finally check it out. Gorgeously shot and exquisitely acted, which makes the portrayal of pain and the human consciousness all the more effective. Not seen the Garfield film you mention.

I have Bringing out the Dead, Kundun, The Aviator, Boxcar Bertha and New York, New York left to watch from his narrative feature films, I think.

I LOVE Boetticher. I've seen most of his Scott "Ranown" collaborations now and I've enjoyed them all.

I'd rank them:

1. Ride Lonesome
2. Comanche Station
3. The Tall T
4. Buchanan Rides Alone
5. Decision at Sundown

And would consider the top three to be great films.

Agree with your description. I love the simplicity of his films, simple landscapes and often one-location interiors that he utilises so effectively. A master of simplicity in mise-en-scene in communicating certain moral themes in subtle but revealing interactions through characters.

I think he and Mann are a great sort of bridge between classic Hollywood and the 60s revisionism of Peckinpah, Spaghetti and so on.

I watched an interesting Western today called Hangman's Knot by Roy Huggins (who wrote The Fugitive TV show) which felt a lot like a Boetticher film too, starring Scott, Lee Marvin and Donna Reed. Also, check out The Hanging Tree if you haven't, I was reading a piece about how if you love Mann and Boetticher you should check out Delmer Daves. I had only seen 3:10 to Yuma from him before which I should probably rewatch.

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I'm surprised you didn't like Hell or High Water, I thought it was great. Some classics there though - winter light and Haxan are amazing.

I second that! If I needed more movies on a “Favorites” list, its ticket is getting punched.

I prepare to read Daniel M's movie ratings like ship captains prepare to read damage reports.

Usually when I see a Daniel rating, I've either not seen the film or sigh and wonder where I went wrong in my early recommendations to you.

But this makes my heart sing. I'm hardly an expert on this, but it's the best silent film I've seen and I've seen a few people refer to it as the peak of silent movie making.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Zero interest in Jordan or basketball, but this movie, mostly thanks to Damon, is a lot of fun. Enjoyed it very much.

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

It's really good. I completely misunderstood the ending the first time I watched it, and after having it explained to me, rewatched the last 20 minutes and really enjoyed it.

I think it's a really interesting exploration of the external vs internal nature of religious belief.

Agreed roughly on your ranking, though I might put The Tall T above Comanche Station and Decision at Sundown above Buchanan Rides Alone.

I'll put these on my watchlist. I consider myself to be something of a Western novice, but I'm slowly working my way through some good ones.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) There are some things I liked here and others that didn't work for me. I liked the opening sequence and there were some good adventure sequences towards the end. I thought Phoebe Waller-Bridge was miscast and they could have done more with some of the other characters. I really didn't like the way they handled one character's fate in particular. The film is longer than it needs to be, but there are enough moments of classic Indy charm to still make it worthwhile.

Is that too low?

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Letterboxd

Yup, too low! I'd give Valley of the Dolls

Violent Night, 2022

Santa (David Harbour) is deep in an alcoholic bender, stumbling and bumbling through a night of Christma deliveries. At the same time, a man named Jason (Alex Hassell), his estranged wife Linda (Alexis Louder), and their young daughter Trudy (Leah Brady) make their way to the home of Jason’s obscenely wealthy and profane mother, Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo). Unfortunately, a crew of criminals, led by Scrooge (John Leguizamo), have chosen this night to take the family hostage and extort the family fortune from them.

This movie was roughly what I expected, but sadly it was nothing more than what I expected. The reindeer were the best part.



Full review

Beau is Afraid, 2023

Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is afraid. Racked by anxieties and doubts, he is meant to go on a visit to see his mother, the wealthy and powerful Mona (Patti LuPone). But Beau’s fear is not just in his head: he lives in a world that is violent and unpredictable, and every time he ventures out of his home, something very bad happens. After some alarming news from home, Beau redoubles his efforts to get home, and is seriously injured. He wakes up in the home of couple Grace (Amy Ryan) and Roger (Nathan Lane), but his quest to get to his home has only just begun.

It’s hard to rate a film where I consider the two-thirds to be great and the last act to be borderline unwatchable. I could never watch this movie all the way through again. Just know that despite my rating below, I consider the first 80-90 minutes a film, and will probably revisit those parts in the future.



Full review

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4946410

Passion Fish - (1992)

If you'd told me that a 135-minute drama that moves at a glacial pace would have been the best movie I'd watch yesterday I'd say, "Well...that must be the only movie I watch." But it's not the case. Passion Fish has a lot of heart. John Sayles developed his idea for the film from observing the way wheelchair-bound patients in hospital would interact with people they were forced to be in the same proximity with - fighting boredom while at the same time having personalities that clashed. Here's what I jotted down on Letterboxd immediately after watching it - "I was too young to notice this heartfelt, winsome film about recovery when I was young - but now can see that it really deserved it's two Oscar nominations. One for Mary McDonnell's strong performance (only a couple of years on from her Dances With Wolves success) and John Sayles' writing - his career also peaking. It is slow - but that's the whole point, as so is recovery. Alcoholism, injury-related, psychological or drug-related - two steps forward, one step back - in lush Louisiana, the fiercely unruly soap-star May-Alice (McDonnell) and Chantelle (Alfre Woodard) forge an uneasy nurse/patient alliance which slowly blossoms into friendship. Don't expect a lot of action - this film soaks into you, and is about inner journeys. David Strathairn and Vondie Curtis-Hall feature as two able love interests. It's quality drama, and demands patient contemplation."

7.5/10


By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3210355

Memoirs of a Geisha - (2005)

Technically well-made, I really thought Memoirs of a Geisha would be better than what I got. Narrowing it down to the flat-footed screenplay, I see that Robin Swicord wrote the scripts for many films I don't like all that much. A bit more depth and intelligence and this would have been unstoppable - it's really a beautiful film to look at, but Chiyo's (Ziyi Zhang/Suzuka Ohgo/Shizuko Hoshi) journey as a Geisha is full of dumb metaphors, cliched lines and predictable story beats. If you're interested, then read the book. The film was generally hated in Asia, and had a mixed reception in the English-speaking world. For me, it was one of those films that just made me feel empty throughout - a complete lack of emotional or intellectual engagement. A shame, because of its stunning cinematography, costumes, art direction, sound and score.

5/10


By http://www.impawards.com/2018/skyscraper_ver2.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56478846

Skyscraper - (2018)

I kinda liked Skyscraper the first time I saw it, but this second watch has me lowering the rating a little. The film's high points action-wise show that Rawson Marshall Thurber knew how to build suspense and really draw out those edge-of-your-seat moments. As to why some action scenes are kind of rushed and fumbled - I can only think that Thurber thought too much of a good thing would wear an audience out. I was also a little perplexed as to why it takes 40 minutes for any skyscraper-related fun to start - that one is beyond me, and even when we get some, we spend a lot of action-related time on the ground. This film tries hard to be Die Hard 2018, but I think we'd have got more value if more set-pieces from The Towering Inferno had of made it in. Anyway, Dwayne Johnson is a bone fide good action star - I just wish we'd had more vertigo-inducing fun with the fact that this is set in the tallest skyscraper imaginable - there's a lot of wasted time elsewhere with scenes you'd find in the most mediocre of action films.

5/10

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This is such a good one - John Carpenter's The Fog. A remote northern California town is haunted by the ghosts of sailors betrayed by the town long ago. It was shot in and around the atmospheric Point Reyes lighthouse, north of San Francisco.

John Carpenter, in his autuer mode, wrote the script, produced, directed, acted, wrote the music and played some of it on piano. It's a movie that has a musical pace. The music and sound FX drive the plot, the sound effects and the pacing of the film. The horror action is paced by soft jazz and DJ "Stevie Wayne". It's the movie that made John Carpenter into the Fellini or Bergman of the horror genre. Throats get cut, and the movie has two scream queens, Adrien Barbeaux (Carpenter's wife at that time) and Jamie Lee Curtis in an early role. Not to be missed.

I first saw it when I was barricaded in a beachfront hotel room during a hurricane strength Nor'easter. Fortunately, the power did not go out so I watched this while the building shaked and while waves rolled underneath the building, which was up on stilts.

My Brilliant Career (1979)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

The Naked Spur (1953, Anthony Mann) - A

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The Lone Ranger (2013)

This movie looks so good and is filled with great visuals start to finish you want to give it a ten but then there some things here that really bother me that I cant ignore. Parts of it are wacky and daft and how they string some things up its very uncanny, down to impossible luck. Then I saw the Disney stamp at the end and said to myself, no wonder. Fantastic movie I'm adding it to my collection.

8/10

Croatian drama about a girl named Julija (Gracija Filipovic) who wishes to flee her nasty father who beats her and locks her up while her mother just watches on. Julija isn't allowed the freedom that other teenagers seem to enjoy. By day the family seems to live an idyllic life harpoon fishing in the crystal blue waters. Things take a turn when a wealthy old friend of her father's comes to stay and she tries to escape with him.

Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic's film seems to be a feature length version of her earlier short 'Into the Blue' and is shot on the beautiful Croatian coastline. It's part arthouse drama, part fairy tale and is executively produced by Martin Scorsese.

The title 'Murina' is Croatian for 'eel', a creature which we see frequently in the film. Perhaps the eel symbolises Julia tricking her way out of the abusive relationship into new beginnings that she craves. Or maybe the eel is her father, constantly slithering around Julija, controlling her.

Will Julija escape and attain the freedom she deserves or forever be trapped in the middle of nowhere? Either way, Murina is a thoughtful, interesting debut.

7.2/10

Yeah, sorry. Definitely has the ingredients that would normally make me like a film, a modern take on a Western but I think my main problem was the extremely unlikeable characters. I just found the whole thing unpleasant, people who weren't nice in any way doing horrible things, especially toward the end where he unloads on people with a machine gun, I found it quite unsettling and uncomfortable, to be honest.

This sounds like the type of thing I should put in my signature

Only seen two Sjöström films, both amazing. Need to get to The Phantom Carriage next.