Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Oh, they were comfy chairs

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Belle de Jour (1967) - Luis Buñuel: 7.5/10

The Room Next Door (2024)


On one hand this is a lesser Almodovar film a fairly big dip in quality and scope from Parallel Mothers one of my favorite films of 2021. On the other hand this film elevated the 4 actor in a house indie genre we've seen over the last decade. This is a small film that could have been shot during COVID but is greatly elevated by all of Almodovar's bells and whistles.


The basic plot is a writer (Julianne Moore) finds out her old friend (Tilda Swinton) has cancer and they reconnect and reminisce in New York City. The film is in essence a mediation on death but it's also filled with so much life. While the film is Oscar bait it's short run time and effective use of tension over "big acting scenes" really elevate the work. If you've seen early Bergman films, or lesser Allen films you understand what you are getting here but Almodovar makes it his own.



The film starts with flashbacks and then peels it away to a suspenseful third act. You have this conflict in the film where you are constantly wondering if something is going to go wrong. And because you are left waiting for that twist a film that's a hangout film just allows it's runtime to fly by. It's not a top five Almodovar for me and it won't be your favorite of his works but it's still very good and worth seeking out.

10/10 -- this is going to prove to be one of the best watches this year, and the best in a long time, so many little touches that would be missed if you blink, in fact things are missed when blinking, blinking is usually needed to keep the eyeballs moist, but that is just the amount of lavish artistry put into it.



8/10 Wings of Desire -- a perfectly lovely film, and the idea of an angel wanting to be human makes more sense now, for we humans have what angels don't have, connection in a word, other words may apply better, but it'll be what i choose now. So why don't i rate it higher than 8? It's because it's a softie film after all is said and done, it believes too highly of the human, its purpose i feel is to inject some wonder in humanity, that departs from reality too sharply, as an alternative to pessimism. When Nick Cave is first heard, i can't for the life of me hear how that sounds good, it's way too abrasive sounding. But when we next hear Nick, he and the Bad Seeds sound cool.

The Prince of Tides (1991)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Really enjoyed it, and perfect lenght.

Odd, I'm on a string of shorter films, under 90s mins. I don't have an issue with longer film, as long as they're good ones, but I have to admit, it's kind of nice going through a series of short pieces.

7 Days (2021) - cute covid days rom-com about two people on a pre-arranged date, organized by their traditional Indian parents, who wind up having to shelter together. 86 min - around a 3-star flick, maybe 3.5 (it's really funny at the start)

The Lady from Constantinople (1969) - 73 min Hungarian film about a lonely old woman, it's direct cinema and not plot driven - wrote about it in my review thread. 4-stars

Smiley Face (2007) - 84 min - haven't finished it yet, but Anna Faris is a force of nature in this stoner comedy, she's the reason to watch it - the rest, the story and such is "eh", which is why I haven't finished it yet... but I will, just for her.


My favorite Andersson - love the dream sequence set on the train

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Completed Extant Filmographies: Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Satyajit Ray, Fritz Lang, Andrei Tarkovsky, Buster Keaton, Yasujirō Ozu, Carl Th. Dreyer - (for favorite directors who have passed or retired, 10 minimum)

Lynch, 2001





It had been quite a while since I last visited this film, but it pulled me right back in all over again. Pretty much a perfect film for first frame to last, delivering a truly visceral cinematic experience. Each time I watch this film I try to focus on something different, and this time it was Watts' excellent performance and Lynch's use of color and texture. Watts attributes her time on Mulholland Drive as helping to break out of her shell, find her voice as an actor, and shatter self-imposed shackles of doubt about her ability as a performer. The rest of the cast are great, but this is Naomi's show from start to finish.

While the film is overall an unsettling experience, having seen it so many times, it puts me in an odd sort of comforted state pretty much as soon as the camera floats down over the limo accompanied by Angelo Badalamenti's score. I am immediately drawn into the film's clutches and it doesn't let go until the credits roll. Actually, not even then, as I was still thinking about various scenes, and Lynch's works in general, for a while afterward.

Truly immersive and haunting cinema. Thank you Mr. Lynch.

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Three good movies.

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

A Hole in My Heart (2004)

Probably should have seen more than Lucas Moodysson than I have already seen. I love his style and stories. This, however, is an experimental film about 2 sleazebags trying to film a cheap porn film with an aspiring smut actress. All the while the homeowner/directors disabled son is hiding in his bedroom to avoid the depravity occurring around him. It seems he in inured to his fathers pastime. The music, close ups of female genital operations and mirthless tone make this a hard one to like. Remember the director saying he wanted to alienate the viewer - worked here. though it is a brave subject matter and nihilistic to its core.

Paris, je t'aime (2006) - Bruno Podalydès, Gurinder Chadha, Gus Van Sant, Joel and Ethan Coen, Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas, Christopher Doyle, Isabel Coixet, Nobuhiro Suwa, Sylvain Chomet, Alfonso Cuarón, Olivier Assayas, Oliver Schmitz, Richard LaGravenese, Vincenzo Natali, Wes Craven, Tom Tykwer, Frédéric Auburtin and Gérard Depardieu, Alexander Payne: 6.5/10

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, 1964

Princess Salno (Akiko Wababayashi) is nearly assassinated en route to a conference about UFOs. She emerges later in disguise as a mysterious psychic who predicts great destruction on the horizon. Reporter Naoko (Yuriko Hoshi) and her detective brother (Yosuke Natsuki) become involved in the situation, trying to keep the mysterious woman from being assassinated by the diabolical Malmess (Hisaya Ito). But assassins are small change compared to the danger of the alien dragon creature Ghidorah who soon arrives on Earth.

This is the kind of movie that I could easily see rewatching over and over. The monster fights look really good. The whole look of the film is interesting and strange in the right ways. This is probably a close second to the original Godzilla film in terms of how much I enjoyed it.



This was so fun!

FULL REVIEW

SF = Z

Viewed: TV(BBC1)





[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

The Wolf Man - I liked it. I heard scathing comments before going...."you could find some worse ways to waste two hours, but not many that don't require a hospital visit". My local reviewers have horror movie attitudes well known to me, so I ignored their advice and saw it. Given that, yes, it IS a werewolf movie and, yes, we can pretty well anticipate what's going to happen, I thought it was quite a good addition to that hairy genre.

Mom, Pop and Daughter are driving a truck....late at night, remote area of course, and get in an accident that involves a local guy who seems to have "changed". Things go downhill pretty quickly after that. Dad gets scratched and starts to transform. There's lots of running and screaming and crashy sound FX to raise your blood pressure and Dad starts to look downright awful.

There's nothing especially surprising here. I'm not saying how it ends, but, I thought it was quite good. I'm a guy who has life long experience with the hairy undead and this WAS a good werewolf. It's not the Larry Talbot regretful werewolf, it's full bore carnivore, fierce and scary. You do NOT want to run into this guy in a remote area.

I'm not familiar with any of the cast members, but they were all good at running and screaming.

Death Proof (2007)



Very entertaining, great action and well played by the whole cast.
It's also a very talkative film and it doesn't always work. It's fine when they talk about themselves and their boyfriends and whatnot, but in a more plot-driven scene like how to get the car for a test drive the conversation goes on forever (that's what makes it slow).
There was also less "damaged" film in the second part so that felt a bit inconsistent.
It seemed like an odd choice to turn the villain into a wimp, but since I don't see that very often I guess it is, at least, somewhat original.

7/10

I watched Fall tonight. Holy crap what a disappointment. I guess the character development was a nice idea. I just strongly disliked what they used. No I don't know how I would have done it differently. I certainly wouldn't have done that. The only good parts of the film were the premise and the ending song. I guess the main brunette being hot was nice and the acting wasn't bad. Overall I am highly disappointed. Oh well I'll move onto the next film. Keeping up with my mantra, I do not regret watching it. I am merely disappointed with what I deemed a poor film. I will, however, regret rewatching it, so I hope I don't have to ever do that.

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I destroyed the dastardly dairy dame! I made mad milk maid mulch!

I hate insomnia. Oh yeah. Last year I had four cases of it, and each time it lasted three months.

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17817519

The Last Wave - (1977)

I thought I'd watched this weird and wonderful movie a few times over the past couple of years, but there's no record on Letterboxd, so perhaps not. Anyway, just bought the combined 4KHD/Blu-Ray (one day I'll get the Criterion, and I'll have so many copies) and was in the mood for something strange and soothing. Indigenous Australian lore and mythological premonitions of an apocalypse, and at the center of it all Richard Chamberlain as David Burton, a lawyer with an unusual case involving curses and murder. Peter Weir constructs a very watery dreamscape where we're not sure what's real, and this is really a fantastic movie to get yourself wrapped up in over repeat watches - as eerie and unreal as Picnic at Hanging Rock, which takes place in an Australia haunted by a folkloric dreamtime. I'm a big fan of this one.

9/10


By Yildiz Film Studios, Turkey - http://www.beyazperde.com/filmler/fi...afile=20090726, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=66729183

Law of the Border - (1967)

This film was very nearly lost due to political upheaval in Turkey, and exists now as a pretty scratchy saved relic. Part of Criterion's/Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project, I've tried to watch it a few times but one thing or another always distracts me - and even last night I found it hard staying awake. A group of outlaw smugglers are up against border agents and one, Hidir (Yılmaz Güney) is torn between going straight (which would allow him to send his kid to school and start building some kind of firm foundation) or continuing his outlaw ways - an easier and more profitable venture. In the meantime, rivals make the profession even more deadly. It's kinda westerny and pretty rough around the edges (and features Erol Tas, from that classic Turkish film Dry Summer), but worth seeing at least once.

6/10


By Poster - Cat and the Canary, The (1939)_01.jpg at Dr. Macro's High Quality Movie Scans, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8912992

The Cat and the Canary - (1939)

So many films that serve as vehicles for this or that comedian or comedy team only serve up a very basic template as a framework for moments of comedy to happen on, but The Cat and the Canary is another carefully crafted movie that provides more fun than a mere handful of laughs. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

7/10

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I need to watch this again because I only remember the first and last scenes. Good to know it's avallable on DVD.

Anora (2024)


This didn't quite meet my expectations, as it was a mixed bag for me. The dramatic portrayals are done well at first, but they wore thin for me by the end. It certainly earns its sexy reputation in the first half of the movie, and it becomes a solid comedy in the second half.

The ending ceases the comedic tone abruptly, and it works...but it felt like a reach given the whole movie didn't try to provide much depth until that moment. It could have been more effective with its 2+ hour runtime in establishing that depth. Maybe I'm rating this a little too low, but I don't think I'll ever be drawn to watch it again or strongly recommend it to anyone.

Just because others rate it higher doesn't mean you are rating it too low. (As far as I'm concerned you are rating it too high)