Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Snack Shack. Written and directed by Adam Rehmeier, the same guy who did Dinner in America. This was a little more conventionally plotted and a little less focused than Dinner in America but overall very good. I wish it kept up the pace and energy of the first hour or so but still worth some good laughs and all the feels.

Legend of the Lost (1957)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

You're over-thinking it. It's a movie adaptation of material that has been commenting on itself for several decades now, so in that sense it isn't anything new. It does a few things that the source material couldn't really do as well: it works extremely well as a bromance, it's as close to a full-blown musical as any comic book movie has ever been; and it is also an eulogy for a movie series produced by a now-defunct studio (and in some very subversive ways, it is also very critical of the media conglomerate that owns it).

But more than all of that, it's obviously the product of a creative team working on all cylinders and very much aware of the material's inherent flaws. It is, in its own viciously self-deprecating way, damn near perfect.

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Longlegs - (2024)

You've got yourself a bit of Silence of the Lambs, a bit of Zodiac and some creepy Sinister-like plot and atmosphere in Longlegs. Osgood Perkins gets nearly everything perfectly right for this kind of film, and the only dropping of the ball was in figuring out where he wanted the story to go. The character of Longlegs/Dale Cobble, played with relish by Nicolas Cage, is effectively scary, and fascinatingly insane - while at the same time seeming to have tapped into the minds of anyone he wants to. Lee Harker (Maika Monroe), our Clarice Starling new FBI recruit set onto Cobble's murder spree is no less weird than Cobble himself. A little psychic, and seemingly autistic - she has an extraordinarily tough time socializing with anyone, but can wrap her head around this monster's cyphers. It's all a road to madness, with a series of horribly murdered families left with few clues and no motive. I loved so much about this movie, but I just think that the story lacked a bit of complexity - made up for with tons of atmosphere and very authentic 70s and 90s decor. Nearly an out-and-out home run. Wonderfully layered and interesting characters all through the movie, with great dialogue. Have yourself a perfectly creepy, unsettling time.

7.5/10


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Deadpool & Wolverine - (2024)

If you want dumb fun this is the place to get it at the moment. The fights have absolutely no stakes - with invincible characters either stabbing each other over and over again for no reason, or else dispatching disposable henchmen in ultra-violent "R-rated" ways. The 4th wall breaking has become endemic, and very much Deadpool's (Ryan Reynolds) thing, and Hugh Jackman shows that it's not always a bad thing to embrace a character that is iconic, no matter how many times you sign on to play him. What makes this worth your money though, is how much fun everyone has - as if the world-building, make-or-break pressure is off a little. Emma Corrin, Chris Evans, Channing Tatum, Jennifer Garner, Wesley Snipes and Jon Favreau get to let loose with established characters in a movie that is basically anything goes for laughs, and in the end it made me understand Jackman's sex appeal more than any of his more serious outings. Also, it's use of music is absolutely first class - little wonder that "Like a Prayer" is back on the charts, but all the songs in Deadpool are great and very well utilized. I thought the villain - Cassandra Nova - was interesting and I would have liked to have seen her expanded upon in the greater universe. I mean, there's a gaping hole there right now, isn't there?

7/10

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A Quiet Place Part II continues the struggle of the Abbott family to survive against deadly aliens in a post-apocalyptic world. As was seen in the first film, Regan (Millicent Simmonds) has discovered a way to beat the aliens using her hearing aid, which allows them to leave their destroyed house to seek another shelter. Eventually, they stumble upon Emmett (Cillian Murphy), an old friend that has lost hope in humanity, which is why he delivers the above quote.

I'm not an adoring fan of the first film, but I thought it was a pretty solid alien horror film with an interesting premise and some effective setpieces. The sequel doesn't really bring a lot of new stuff to the table, but it's just as consistently effective. Most of the performances are solid, with Murphy being a welcome addition. His character adds a pretty good contrast to Evelyn's outlook and provides for a nice character arc. Djimon Hounsou also appears in the last act, but his role is fairly limited.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Cure 1997
Slow, riveting even if confusing at times & deeply engrossing. Really enjoyed watching this.
My first Kiyoshi Kurosawa film. Very tempted to check out his others movies after this.

Yeah, I probably am over-thinking it. And I'm probably just overdosing on the post-modern and the self-referential at this point. I remember back when I saw Argylle and The Fall Guy earlier this year, and I remember feeling frustrated and wondering why anything can't just be a straight-ahead story anymore without commenting on itself. Which isn't true, there are probably lots of movies that are more straightforward these days. But to me, it just feels like there's a plethora of the post-modern these days, and it's kind of wearing thin on me. (And yet somehow, I am a fan of the recent Inside Out 2, which is a commentary on human emotional states by human emotional states. Post-modernism with its inner working components disguised, you might say.)

But it also kind of annoys me that something relatively straightforward yet ambitious like Kevin Costner's Horizon series can't get arrested these days, while it looks like Deadpool & Wolverine is going to clean up. (Frankly, it almost makes one sympathize with Martin Scorsese's criticisms of the comic-book movie phenomenon, although I'm not in full accord with them.) Yes, we can argue about the merits of Costner's Horizon back and forth ad nauseum until the cows come home, but I can't help but feel like most moviegoers these days don't seem to trust anything unless it's something which makes them feel smarter and more clever or hip than they really are. Traditional narrative may as well be dead. Most of the time I feel like I'm the furthest thing from a cultural conservative as it's possible for anyone to be, but at age 51, "hip" and "clever" is starting to wear a little thin with me. (That's probably one of the reasons why I'm starting to "age into" an appreciation of Westerns these days.)

BTW, FilmBuff, if criticism of media conglomerates as "on the nose" as it is in Deadpool & Wolverine is even allowed by those conglomerates, I'd hardly call it "subversive."

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"Well, it's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid" - Clint Eastwood as The Stranger, High Plains Drifter (1973)

"I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours" - Bob Dylan, Talkin' World War III Blues (1963)

A fairly decent folk horror. I will watch it again soon.

Wicked Little Letters - Really enjoyed this British period comedy from 2023. Solid cast with Olivia Colman, Jesse Buckley and Timothy Spall. Based on the true events of the Littlehampton letters in 1920. Someone has been sending profanity laced missives to pious spinster Edith Swan (Colman). Suspicion immediately focuses on her hard living and free-spirited neighbor Rose Gooding. She's an Irish emigre and a war widow, raising her daughter Nancy by herself while cohabitating with her boyfriend Bill (Malachi Kirby). Edith's father is the tightly wound and bigoted Edward (Spall) who has both Edith and her kindhearted mother Elizabeth (Gemma Jones) cowed and under his thumb.

Mousy Edith secretly admires Rose for her joie de vivre and the letters start when their incipient friendship is abruptly terminated by Mr. Swan. He also goes to the local constabulary and demands that Rose be investigated. The cops are portrayed as casually virulent misogynists who border on buffoonery. It still serves to make your blood boil. The lone female constable Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) notices numerous discrepancies in the investigation but is quickly rebuffed by her superior. She recruits several of Rose's sympathetic friends to help uncover the actual author of the poison pen letters. At this point the scandal and subsequent libel trial have become national news.

This is not a true-to-life portrayal of the events. The filmmakers do attempt to tell a compelling real world story. But then they handicap themselves and that narrative with several casting choices that serve to take you out of the moment. They seem to want it both ways and IMO it ultimately doesn't work. It's still a vastly entertaining endeavor. Just not superlative.

75/100

Watching the Blade trilogy with a 2024 perspective, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that these movies are definitely a mixed bag.

On the one hand, Wesley Snipes was an absolutely perfect choice to play the title role, and his performance remains a high benchmark for Mahershala Ali, should he indeed play Blade in the planned reboot. But these movies all suffer from anemic storylines that become increasingly repetitive with each new iteration.

Snipes is all too often saddled with a crew of misfits who take up a lot of screentime and leave less scenes for Blade himself.

And the quite incessant use of late-90s/early 00s CGI looks like a bad choice, artistically, in hindsight. Sure it might have seemed pretty cool to see a vampire disintegrate into a cloud of smoke, but did we need to see it hundreds of times in each movie?

Still, Blade was the first Marvel character to be successfully serialized by Hollywood - in some ways, he is still the granddaddy of the MCU. For that alone, he deserves a special place in CBM history.

Oklahoma! (1955)

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare - (Guy Ritchie, 2024)

7/10

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

I can't wait for this to drop on one of streaming services. I know I will like this. I tend to enjoy Guy Ritchie films.

Why only three stars?

Umpteenth Rewatch...This instant classic directed by John Landis is still as laugh out loud funny as it was since its theatrical release over 40 years ago. Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy play a commodities broker and criminal/hustler whose lives are changed forever by Aykroyd's greedy and manipulative uncles (Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy). It was only his 2nd feature film, but Murphy is a comic powerhouse here and Aykroyd matches him note for note. Another film with endless rewatch appeal.

1st Rewatch...A juvenile and unfunny comedy about a group of high school classmates who are reunited as adults when their high school basketball coach dies. Despite a cast that includes Adam Sandler, David Spade, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, and Maya Rudolph, the only real laughs in this film come from Rob Schneider as the high school cry baby now married to a much older woman (Joyce Van Patten). I don't know, the movie comes off like an expanded SNL skit that never made it to the air. Someone even decided that it was worthy of a sequel, which was even worse.

6th Rewatch...I think this has officially become my favorite Martin Scorsese film. Dazzling entertainment from opening to closing credits. I never get tired of re-watching this move, the fastest three hours in cinema history.

1st Rewatch...An engaging drama that stars Joseph Gordon Levitt as a 27 year old writer who learns he has cancer. The screenplay takes the subject matter seriously without ever growing too maudlin. Nothing groundbreaking here, but Levitt is utterly charming and Seth Rogan provides just the right amount of comic relief as his BFF. Mention should also be made of Oscar winner Anjelica Huston as Levitt's mother and Bryce Dallas Howard, in another unsympathetic role as Levitt's girlfriend who can't handle what's going on. It's so funny to me that Howard, the real life daughter of one of the world's most likable actors, has made a career out of playing characters you love to hate.

The Holdovers - This is the seventh Alexander Payne film I've seen. The only one of his features I haven't watched is his first, Citizen Ruth (I'm not counting The Passion of Martin as a full length feature). In terms of body of work he might well be my favorite director. This features a resonant triumvirate of performances from Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and newcomer Dominic Sessa.

Giamatti plays Paul Hunham, a teacher at Barton Academy, a New England boarding school in 1970. He's not well liked by either the students or fellow faculty. Before the Christmas holiday break he's inveigled to stay over at the school to watch over the handful of students that have no place to go. Randolph plays Mary Lamb, the no-nonsense cafeteria supervisor still in mourning over the death of her son in Vietnam. Sessa is Angus Tully, the resident troublemaker with an unspecified and problematic family life.

These three broken and solitary people eventually end up getting thrown together and this being a Payne movie it's basically a dialogue driven character study. The director excels at introducing audiences to these kinds of strangers and then gradually revealing their inner workings. This is only the second Oscar nominated Best Picture I've seen but it definitely belongs on that list and Giamatti earned his spot on the Best Actor nominee list as well. An Alexander Payne film is something to look forward to.

90/100

Interesting... as this is often overshadowed by Goodfellas. What do you think about his other crime epics? Wolf, The Irishman...