Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Del Toro's take on the classic story. I really enjoyed this one, watched it with my son. Way better than Disney's live action adaptation.

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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?

Not much of a story, and not much of a sports movie even if it handled that part well. It's a good look at people with little hope for the future with strong performances. It didn't have a big impact on me but I like this kind of thing.

Porridge (1972)

A great little film that stretches the premise of the original TV series but still keeps the wittiness and warmth of it. The recidivist Fletcher is ordered to organise a football team out of the lags...all to get an escape route going. The laughs are sparser than the TV Prog but just as effective.

Freebie and the Bean (1974)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Ambulance (2022) -

This movie provides a sensation too many superhero and other action movies from the last few decades lack: that visceral one that makes you grit your teeth and maybe even sweat a little that come from actual stakes and effects that favor the practical over the digital. I'm probably not qualified to say this since I've only seen The Rock and Armageddon, but this is Michael Bay's best movie since Nicolas Cage's turn as a chemical superfreak. A movie that could have "That Couldn't Slow Down" appended to its title, it refers to the makeshift getaway vehicle of foster brothers Danny (Jake Gyllenhaal), a career criminal who stole millions from a downtown L.A. bank, and Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), an unemployed veteran with overdue bills who's assisting out of desperation. Complicating matters are the vehicle's other two passengers: ailing Officer Zach (Jackson White) who Will shot and EMT Cam (Eiza Gonzalez).

Armageddon made me avoid Bay's movies because I found his direction in it more exhausting than exhilarating. The multiple cuts and drone shots smacking of a child playing with a new toy that dominate this movie's first act started to make me regret my decision to give him another try, but it thankfully achieves a less headache-inducing rhythm as it goes on. The fact that the movie provides quality cake for all that frosting in Will's dire situation, Zach's much more dire one and Will and Danny's complicated relationship helps, as do the quality performances that shine through all the bullets and octane. Gonzalez is especially strong in a turn that should make her a star, as is Garrett Dillahunt's cocksure police captain, especially whenever he ribs Keir O'Donnell's bookish FBI agent. Enough of the boring stuff? Fine: the "frosting" thrills on both the small scale, especially a hasty, Facetime-aided surgery scene and of course on the big one like when police helicopters pursue the ambulance down the L.A. river. Again, Bay lets up on the drone shot button as the movie progresses, but there are still occasions when I considered the old saying about too much of a good thing etc. etc. With that said, I encourage anyone who also gave up on Bay or on the possibility of a modern action movie to punch you in the gut to give this a chance.

Matrix Resurrections
4/10.
If this was a resurrection, they should go back to being dead. I couldn't even watch the whole thing.

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Boldly going.

Turning red
6.5/10.
Mei Mei was meh meh.

Scoop (2006)

Comedy crime film from writer and director Woody Allen, also starring with Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson and Ian McShane. The ghost of a former investigative journalist (McShane) temporarily escapes death in a bid to pass on information regarding a murder mystery. He successfully conveys this to a journalism student (Johansson) whilst she participates on stage in a magic trick, performed by "The Great Splendini" (Allen). A British aristocrat (Jackman) is the suspect she must investigate assisted by her now stand-in father (Allen).

Jackman and Johansson naturally become romantically involved and are generally lacklustre in their roles, with a script to be fair that didn't have much character interest for them to begin with. There is never any mystery or surprise in the story (except for one thing at the end which still wasn't really made into a big deal). The re-appearing ghost character performed by McShane offered some interest but ultimately not enough was made of him.

Allen's own scenes were by far the funniest and most engaging and really the only thing that saved it, although I felt that I'd seen it all before in some of his previous films. I didn't mind that so much other than noting that he didn't seem to be offering anything particularly original here. Good production values though, as one comes to expect from him.

For me it's worth it for Woody Allen but the rest is forgettable.

6/10

Taut rural thriller from Director Rodrigo Sorogoyen. A French couple; Antonio (Denis Ménochet) and Olga (Marina Foïs) move to Galicia in North Western Spain and start to live a more eco friendly, idyllic life. That is until they fall out with a local family, the eldest brother Xan (Luis Zahera) being the most hostile.

What follows is a dangerous feud that is hard to write about without spoiling, but it gets tense. Very tense. There is one superb scene in the local bar that is a single long take, and feels like the characters could errupt at any moment. The acting from Menochet and Zahera at this point is off the charts. It is so natural that the viewer feels like they are sat at a nearby table in the bar looking for the exits.

'The Beasts' probably takes it's name from the annual festival named 'shearing of the beasts' in the Galicia region that involves the locals gathering up the wild horses that roam and branding them. The very first slo-mo sequence shows this taking place. However, there is so much subtext in the film, that the title could refer to the huge wind turbines that dominate the sky line of the region, and provide a driver to the animosity between the two families in the film. It could refer to the outsiders, the beasts who have invaded the Gallician land that has been inhabited by the same families for decades. Or it could mean the families themselves who are overly hostile to any form of newcomer to their homeland.

Either way, The Beasts is a finely crafted, very well acted thriller which deserves to be seen by many.

Blue Sky (1994)

3 stories about love. I only really liked the first one, the other two are ok at best. But yeah, at least it's a short movie.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome presents another side of that story in the character of Aunty Entity (Tina Turner), a woman that proudly proclaims having gone from "nobody" to "somebody" as the ruler of Bartertown. The film follows Max as he and Aunty clash when he refuses to help her strengthen her control of the place, which lands him in the titular Thunderdome and eventually exile.

To me, the most interesting aspect of the film was Aunty. She is really a mystifying and intriguing character that I would've liked to see more of. I was really surprised by Turner's performance and how she conveyed the strength in this woman that managed to survive and had "a chance to be somebody". An interesting contrast to Max, who she describes as a "cock of the walk" before and a "feather duster" after. Again, what does tragedy do with us? and how do we face what's ahead of us?

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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I re-watched this a few years ago and ended up liking it a lot more than I ever had. Made sense to me in the context of the MM saga and I actually also really liked the kids which most people do not.

The Fabelmans (2022)

The Fabelmans is a core family movie-- a movie about a family, one that has a prodigy within it whose story is revealed as a reflection of that family and of his inspirations and his formation into one of the greatest movie makers of the last 50 years.

This is not an autobiography of Steven Spielberg, but it is autobiographical. We’re left to wonder how much of the story is verbatim, but we’re certain that they’ve included many significant highlights.

Sammy Fabelman was born into a Jewish family consisting of a gifted pre-computer scientist father, an artist dreamer mother, three sisters, and the father’s best friend Benny who lives with them, referred to as an “uncle”. Early on Sammy, aged 7, is taken to a showing of DeMille’s The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), where Sammy’s initial reluctance turns into complete fascination with the powerful film, most especially by a remarkable scene showing the traveling circus’s train crashing and piling up upon itself. The boy can’t get the scene out of his mind, and when he gets a train set for a present he tries over and over to replicate the scene. Fearing that Sammy will ruin the train set, his mother suggests that he get permission from his dad to use his 8mm camera to film the crash, which he then can view as many times as he’d like.

Filming that crash scene starts Sammy’s journey into film making. He enlists family, friends, and fellow boy scouts to participate in his film escapades, and as he acquires better equipment and more experience, he’s allowed to film his high school’s Senior “skip day” as the class spends a fun day at the beach, which is a smash success, but uncovers unexpected emotions from a few students, even from a former anti-Semitic tormentor. Along the way his filming during a family outing accidentally reveals a budding relationship between his mother and “uncle” Benny. Several characters come and go into Sammy’s life giving him insights and inspiration. After much rejection from the industry, he’s finally offered a job with a CBS sitcom, which sets him out on his well known professional career.

I approached this picture with the same confidence that I’ve felt in the past watching films from directors like Alfred Hitchcock and John Houston, that their work is of such a high quality, I was with high expectations willing to put myself in their capable hands for a couple of hours. The Fabelmans did not disappoint. Despite its 2-1/2 hour runtime I was not the least bit aware of its length from start to finish.

The story was interesting enough but it was the acting, cinematography, production design and settings and costuming that really impressed me. I’m two years older than Spielberg so I’m well aware of the way things looked in the decades of the ‘50s into the early ‘60s. So often earlier time frames are treated in a gaudy technicolor manner which is caricature, not reality. The buildings, garb, coloring, homes, furniture were 100% authentic. The era’s personality types, state of mind and manner of speaking were well represented, almost perfectly avoiding present day idioms. The simple but powerful music score was by John Williams.

Michelle Williams is a sure bet for an Oscar from her role as Sammy’s mother, Mitzi. She let out all the stops, and if the Academy has any integrity left, she’ll likely win Best Actress. I thought Paul Dano was slightly miscast as Sammy’s father, Burt, but he delivered a solid and understated performance. Sammy was played with excellence by Gabriel LaBelle, a young Canadian actor who we’re guaranteed to see more of. There must have been a lot of pressure on him to perform under the eyes of the man he’s portraying. And the young Sammy, played by Mateo Zoryan was letter perfect.

Two cameos --one extended, the other rather brief-- were absolutely memorable standouts. One, Sammy’s Uncle Boris, played by the venerable Judd Hirsch, was a performance which will be studied in acting schools. The other, director John Ford, played by the quixotic director David Lynch, was not only a good impersonation, but one with enjoyable high style.

Reportedly Spielberg had envisioned this film for many years, and it must have taken a huge amount of thought as to how to hit important events in his childhood and family which produced the development of his determination to make movies, but yet with enough appeal to engage a wide audience. Still, when it came down to it, the script, co-written by Spielberg and Tony Kushner, came together very quickly. It is of the very best of the year, and will be awarded for it.

Doc’s rating: 8/10

I did like that scene where Sammy tries to recreate the train crash in Th Greatest Show on Earth, but in the HBO documentary Spielberg we were told that Lawrence of Arabia was the movie that motivated him to be a filmmaker and it might have been interesting to see what he would have done with that, And as great as the performance might have been, I thought Judd Hirsch's role as the Uncle was pointless.

They hired him to film 7 minutes where he spelled out the theme of the movie for anyone not paying attention.

Well, whatever the reason for the role, it was a waste of screentime.

Yes, I can see where you're coming from with the Uncle Boris part. However it was important to the story because Uncle Boris was the one who instilled in Sammy that to be a great artist he must not let that conflict or be influenced by family.

The other cameo where David Lynch played John Ford-- although superbly done, he was shown in his office at CBS. But as far as I know, Ford never had anything to do with CBS...

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Avatar : The Way of Water - (2022)

See Avatar : The Way of Water in a cinema (and also in 3D) because once it's available streaming or on DVD/Blu-Ray it's stocks will lower considerably. This is a movie that puts all of it's oomph into it's computer generated visuals, and incredible biological invention. The story just exists to support that audiovisual aspect, although it's entertaining enough and isn't taxing. There was only one thing about the movie that I felt was really on the nose, and that was the hokum, lazy spiritual naval-gazing that sounded like a 14-year-old's answer to an essay question he hasn't studied for. "Water surrounds us. It's the beginning and end. It's eternal - exists within and..." This is something the film could have gone deep for, but instead it's a very surface-level search for divinity. Still, it's a very pleasant way to spend 3+ hours. The film takes a lot of inspiration from New Zealand natives, and to underscore that, Jemaine Clement shows up, which was a bonus for me.

7/10


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The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - (1994)

This movie was another step along the road for LGBT acceptance in Australia - a country where just a decade or two previously that acceptance would have been unthinkable (just watch what a few of these characters go through in this movie.) Basically a road trip movie, with a trio of drag queens played by Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce embarking on a road trip to Alice Springs - they've been invited to perform there by the wife (a shock for two of the three) of one of the performers. There's a heap of mincing, which is something that's put me off seeing it for all these years, but I felt it was time I saw this considering it's acclaim - and indeed that acclaim is deserved. Incredible performances, a lot of fun, and a movie that carries a lot of meaning and subtext. A must see.

8/10


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Land of the Dead - (2005)

Meet Big Daddy (Eugene Clark) - the Einstein of zombies. He puts fellow zombies out of their misery when they're decapitated, and he's on to us living people. He also works out how to operate firearms, and how to teach his fellow zombies how to shoot - along with being something of a problem-solver. I'd have hated this aspect of a George A. Romero Living Dead movie years ago - but now I kind of go along with it. Where else can these movies go? This had just the right amount of gore - and if they'd skimped on that I would have been let down. We get late Dennis Hopper and the Dead Reckoning vehicle, along with some decent action and serviceable characters. It was better than I thought it would be.

7/10


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The Faculty - (1998)

Something of a throwback to a 1980s horror film - which is a great thing. The only letdown item on The Faculty's list of what it offers is how much Robert Rodriguez and co relied on CGI for their monsters and horror. This was 1998 - so it all looks terribly dated now. However, there's a lot more to The Faculty, and the whole Class of 1984 atmosphere that kicks this off is a breath of fresh air considering how many movies have bad things happen to good people. Nearly every character in this is rotten to the core, save Casey Connor (Elijah Wood) and that includes gym teacher Coach Willis, giving Robert Patrick exactly the kind of role that suits him. This film is so much like Invasion of the Body Snatchers that the characters in it continually reference that film - proving just how self-aware this is, and letting the audience in on the fact this is all just good fun.

6/10

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