Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Fallen Angel, 1945

Grifter Eric (Dana Andrews) is kicked off of a bus, landing in a small town where he immediately takes a liking to local wild woman Stella (Linda Darnell). But true to his ways, Eric's head is equally turned by a woman named June (Alice Faye) and maybe more specifically turned by the fortune that June is set to inherit. But June has a watchful sister named Clara (Anne Revere), and when a shocking crime rocks the town, everyone seems to be a suspect.

This is a pretty good little thriller/drama that really picks up steam in its final act and managed to keep me guessing up until the final cards were played.

My two favorite characters in this one were Stella and Clara, two very different women but so much more fully realized than the other characters that they really pop. Stella is the kind of character who, in a lesser film, would be treated with a lot of contempt. She has a reputation for sleeping around, and there are multiple men who are obsessed with her, from Eric to a guy named Pop (Percy Kilbride) who owns the diner where she works. Stella is in a position where she depends on male attention and affection, but at the same time has grown openly contemptuous of them. She isn't on screen for more than 5 minutes before telling one guy to his face "You make me sick," because of his fawning over her. Stella just seems to believe that Eric might be the person to help her out of the endless cycle, and that hope gives her a very human dimension.

Clara, who is very prim and proper, is in many ways a great foil for Stella. Clara was conned out of a great deal of her family's money by a man, and has been left with suspicion. She looks at Eric with the same weary eye as Stella, and it's personal experience that causes her agony as June continues forward with her romance with Eric. I guess I also liked Clara because it's hard to watch her endure her sister making such stupid decisions. I was a little sad that we didn't get to see more of her in the very last act.

When it comes to the central characters of Eric and June, I wasn't quite as engaged. June is just, well, ya girl dumb. Real dumb. The film does establish that June has led a pretty sheltered life, and that she has some resentment over having been controlled by her sister and basically punished for her sister's mistakes. That's all understandable. But there's a part where she's talking to Eric and just falls asleep on his shoulder. And then . . . stays asleep? Um, does June have a medical condition we don't know about? And the problem is partly that Andrews and Faye don't have enough sexual chemistry to believe that she'd marry him out of lust. Neither is Eric so charming that I buy that he wins her over to the total detriment of her common sense. Noir is full of people making bad choices, but I found June irritating right up to the last frame.

Thankfully, the film is chock full of suspects right up until the end. I loved how many people could have genuinely been guilty, and it makes for a very unpredictable finale. This saves the film from the lackluster and frustrating central relationship.

Really, it's striking how significant the difference is. I remember well that this movie was a bit of a throwaway, middling success at best and obviously not critically praised beyond Ebert's 3/4, but it is better from a film-crafting, particularly the script and what is kept in the film, point of view than almost any mainstream studio film I can remember from the last 5-7 years or maybe longer.
Like, character-development now is kinda, "Have we seen enough to believe that our lead is an alpha-male but with a heart of gold? Great, cut any other dialogue that isn't expository."

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
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I like these two.

I'am your man (2021)


A pretty nice science fiction movie. Although rare, high-quality science fiction movies still exist. This one is a german romantic movie about the romance between a woman and a robot designed to satisfy her desires. The movie's message is pretty ambivalent regarding the concept of substituting real relationships for relationships with fake partners.

The Dark Corner, 1946

A private investigator named Brad Galt (Mark Stevens) is trying to make a go of things after serving time in jail on a manslaughter charge, having been set up by his former partner, Jardine (Kurt Kreuger). Unfortunately for Galt, Jardine is enmeshed in a love triangle involving a wealthy art dealer (Clifton Webb) and his much younger wife (Cathy Downs). When things get complicated and bodies start falling, Galt's clever secretary, Kathleen (Lucille Ball) helps him get to the bottom of it all.

This is a really fun little noir, with lots of twists and turns and a great performance from Ball. The whole thing has the brisk, enjoyable sensation of reading a good mystery novel.

From the beginning, this is Ball's show as Galt's feisty secretary who won't let Galt give up on proving his innocence when things get tough. From the beginning the two of them make a great pair, and it's a lot of fun watching Kathleen go from answering phones to helping Galt trail a suspect or decipher clues from an overheard conversation.

Complete with double crosses, love triangles, shady dealings, and people who say things like "I need two yards for powder money. The heat is on. Meet me at your place," this film checks just about every film noir box there is. But at the same time, I thought that it had an overall lighter tone than some similar films of the same era. While there are nods to corruption and conspiracy, the general feeling of the movie is not bleak and it makes for enjoyably lighter viewing.

In addition to the plot elements, it's a lot of fun watching some classic detective sequences, such as when Galt and Kathleen try to track down a man's suit at several different dry cleaning establishments. In another sequence, a man escapes police pursuit by steering his stolen taxicab to a central garage that's swarming with identical vehicles.

A great example of how familiar tropes and settings can make for solid viewing when done well.

Based in a story from local writer Ana Lydia Vega, La Gran Fiesta follows the last party held by the Puerto Rican high society at the aforementioned casino in 1942. But besides the dance, the music, and the glamour of the night, there is gossip, forbidden romances, backstabbings, conspiracies, and political machinations.

This film was submitted by the island for the Foreign Film Academy Award back in the day, and even though it wasn't nominated, one can see it had the merits. The film is gorgeously shot, with Zurinaga taking great advantage of the structure and floor layout of the casino. The use of music, appropriately set as part of the party, is also very effective. There are a couple of instances where pieces of score feel clunkily integrated, though.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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During the Vietnam War, approximately 48,000 Puerto Ricans served. More than 350 either died in combat or never returned. It is in that setting that Héroes de Otra Patria takes place. The film follows Carlos (Jorge Castillo), an idealistic soldier that's anxious to return home to his family. However, when he's sent in a dangerous mission with Raúl (Jimmy Navarro), a more unhinged soldier, the two have to learn to take care of each other.

The scenes in Vietnam are intercalated with scenes in Puerto Rico of Carlos' family struggling to keep things together at the uncertainty of his fate, but also as they try to make ends meet monetarily. Most of these scenes are not that well executed and end up breaking the pace from the war scenes, which are slightly better executed and more engaging. The main performances from Castillo and Navarro are competent. Unfortunately, their dialogue is not. They are given clunky lines that seem to be taken off brochures and don't feel organic at all.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15636988

Friday Night Lights - (2004)

I'm actually beginning to understand how American Football works - that's how many football movies I've seen. It was a case of "oh no, not another one" when it came up in my schedule, and I nearly shuffled things around for a better pick - but the whole reason I'm watching movies the way I am is to not miss the really good movies that I'd otherwise push aside (it happens a lot) and instead watch the disappointing ones I think are surefire winners. To prove this example, Friday Night Lights actually turned out to be a great movie. A true story about Odessa's Permian Panthers that subverts a lot of the football movie tropes I'd grown weary of. In this it's all about the journey, and although Billy Bob Thornton is the main attraction the focus on these kids is at times heartbreaking, at others really scary (one of them has a father that would make The Joker nervous.) The headwinds of ill-fortune hit this team hard, and sure-fire careers will be destroyed while some no-hopers will make a name for themselves. I thought the young performers in this matched and sometimes surpassed the main star in this film, and I'm glad I watched it.

7/10

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The Keeper (2018)

Quite interesting story of a German capitee after the second world war that was a goalkeeper. A famous one. Weird though that the movie didn't expand on his actions on the front line apart from flashbacks. Or even a family back in Germany that he may have wanted to visit/call. Felt a bit fake.

Buster's Mal Heart (2016)

Not bad, weird and could have done without the theory shite. Grabbed on a lot of other, better, movies and the output wasn.t that good for me.

I haven't seen the movie, but the story of Bert Trautmann is one of my favourite true life stories of all time.

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)



Movies from this time were so simple, yet could still be so engaging.

My hot streak of new releases at theater continues!

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

https://boxd.it/3oYt97

5/5

I think Muni was the closest thing to certain present day stars. I don't necessarily mean in terms of talent either. I mean he landed A LOT of prestige roles. Parts that necessitated him having to inhabit the role. In the few interviews I've seen he came off as kind of driven and serious about his so called "craft". He even had causes that he involved himself in and spoke out in favor of. Not your prototypical movie star of the period.

Romance Tropical follows Carlos, whose efforts to be with Margarita are endangered when her father catches them together without permission. Unable to be with her at the moment, Carlos embarks on a trip on a sailboat and ends up in the mysterious island of Mu, where he meets Alura (Raquel Canino). Will he remain with his newfound native love, or will he return to his longlost Margarita?

This film decides to answer that question in all the wrong ways possible, and then some. Not only is the script plagued by racist stereotypes of island natives, but its message of selfishness, colonialism, plundering, fleeting love, and the overt importance of material possessions over anything else is problematic, to say the least.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

Spoiler Alert

Well. Tonight's movie was The Banshees of Inisherin. It's set during the Irish Civil War, 1923. It's not about the revolution, but about two townies in a small town on a small island. One guy, Pádraic, a shallow talker, annoys his friend, Colm, who declares that each time the other guy talks to him, he will cut off one of his own fingers. Yes, he does follow up on this "threat". After more arguments and more fingers, Pádraic's donkey is found dead, having choked on fingers. Pádraic retaliates by saying that he will burn down Colm's house. He does it. What there is of a town has an abusive cop, a strange, would-be Celtic witch and a dog.

It's intended as a comedy, but really not much about all of this rural dysfunction is really all that funny. It reminded me that, way down on MY list of places to live is small islands off the coast of Ireland. I like the dog, but that's about it. One woman decides to leave the town, but the other characters mainly stare out at the ocean. The guys drink dark ale, curse, stare at the ocean and cut off their fingers. My kind of place. Oh, and, there are no banshees.

Might wanna spoiler text your review for Banshees. It’s bad enough that I disagree with virtually every criticism you say but giving away major plot points is a generally pretty crummy thing to do.

Seconded, especially since I haven't had the chance to see it yet...