Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Caught this doc last night. It wasn't as fascinating as I had anticipated, although it was a very nice historical tracing of film criticism/commentary. The interviews of some of the prominent critics were illuminating and insightful.

I grew up during a lot of the chief film commentary from the '50s on (Bosley Crowthes, Kael, Canby, etc.), and it is interesting how it's changed somewhat. I've often wondered how much payola is involved. The Siskel and Ebert TV show became wildly popular, and pretty much set the standard which still exists today.

Even though it was made in 2009, the status of criticism and who is doing it is just the same as it is in 2020.

The documentary gives a sense of how things were in each era, and would be an educational treat for most film buffs.

~Doc

They do talk about payola, and how initially if someone gave a bad review that the advertisers would go elsewhere. It also talks about the studios dishing out big bucks to the critics with 1st class private flying, nice hotels, etc., and it's a good investment, since one critic could bring in a lot of people who would never see it otherwise. After I was finished with the documentary and would google a few names, with keywords similar to "payola", probably used "controversy", to see all of the accusations of quid pro quo. The Paulettes vs. the Crowtheys, recruiting young, new critics to their club to solidify their positions/theories. I also read about how some would give awful movies good reviews, some who made cameos in the movie, which is too obvious, so Harry Knowles gave it a bad review. I bet critics "trade" to avoid suspicion. They probably create a lot of the fake "controversy" just to get more attention. If everyone is saying how "X" is the greatest movie ever, someone who has little attention can make a splash by criticizing it. Speaking of, I didn't care about Kael's "Raising Kane". Too much hearsay, and it appeared she was on Mank's side, so I'll avoid the movie, too. I can't tell you many times I've heard Ben Mank on TCM talk about "My family" "My grandfather who wrote Citizen Kane".

I think that a film can be anti-war and still acknowledge that feats of heroism can take place within that event.

I think that the film goes a step further than just being honest about war being unpleasant. It takes several chunks of time to illuminate the sheer wastefulness and devastation and even pointlessness of war.

Much like All Quiet on the Western Front, the film takes its main character(s) as being part of the war machine. 1917 doesn't have as much of a despairing outlook as that film, but the framing of "They'll just send us out there tomorrow" shows that the victories are small ones.

I do take the point that a film that celebrates the heroic actions of a soldier maybe cannot be read as 100% anti-war, but I felt as though it was significant that there was never even a hint that the fighting had anything close to a moral imperative (which would be different if the film took place during WW2).

The Rifleman (2019) (aka Blizzard of Souls)

Interesting (factual) look at a boy soldiers life who goes to fight in WWI. His life is full of loss in present day Latvia but fighting for the Imperial Russian Army. I thought this was very well made and told the story of the memoirs in a blunt manner with the odd cinematic flourish.

Interesting watch:

The Red Turtle -

In this animated desert island tale, the titular creature repeatedly thwarts a castaway's attempts at sailing away. Silent except for ambient sounds, a minimal soundtrack and the castaway's occasional expressions of frustration, it could be described in the words of Hopper from A Bug's Life as "one of those Circle of Life kind of things." "Work of art" gets thrown around a lot when praising movies, but it definitely applies to this one. In addition to being beautiful and dreamlike, it put me in a state of contemplation and where my feelings are at their purest that I have when I'm in a gallery. Since I finished watching the movie, I have repeatedly recalled and reassessed its indelible images, so if this review seems light and incomplete, that is why. However, maybe that is an endorsement in and of itself?

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Yeah, but you give like half the movies you watch a so it doesn't matter.

David Byrne's American Utopia -

This guy's a little weird huh

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

A , then.

Relax, it's only a movie.

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“I really have to feel that I could make a difference in the movie, or I shouldn't be doing it.“
Joe Dante

You had me, bro. For a moment I thought it was real life.

But what about the part where the movie opens, and it's that sweet Aerosmith bass, and then we see a car you know is being driven by some cool guy slowly cruising through a parking lot then---hello drums!!--"Sweeeet Emooootion"---oh yeeeeah---and immediately you realize this is going to be just like one of those bad ass highschool experiences people kept telling you all about when you were in highschool!!! How exciting! And I'm invited!!!


10/10

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) & Jason and the Argonauts - (1963)

These are both fantasy epics featuring Ray Harryhausen's stop motion FX. JatA is the more accomplished movie, script and acting wise. The effects look better as well for the most part. The creatures on display are an interesting lot featuring winged Harpies and a gigantic Bronze statue as well as an iconic scene with several animated skeletons. This might have to do with T7VoS having a smaller budget. The fantastical leviathans are decent creations as well with a goat legged, horned and one eyed cyclops and a dragon duking it out in one scene. These are similar films in some ways with their sea voyages and islands full of menacing monsters.

Jason and the Argonauts - 85/100

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad - 75/100

The Great Debaters (2007)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

I may have to try to find this...

I watched one called Captain Sindbad last week, which was pretty fun if you're predisposed to this sort of thing. Directed by Byron Haskin of War of the Worlds fame, but don't expect a classic of that caliber. Despite its low budget they still managed some fun effects, although it was probably not wise to attempt a Hydra in the same year as Harryhausen's masterwork.



Honestly, this one looks like it was constructed using the same technique as the dragon from Lang's Siegfried 40 years earlier. But yeah, if you know what you're in for and enjoy these 60s fantasy things I can give it a mild recommendation. I watched a decent print here--

https://archive.org/details/Captain.Sindbad.1963.DVDRip

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Captain's Log
My Collection

I'd probably give it a similar rating.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

Some debaters you two are...

I'm going to debate you on that post.

This movie rules along with the soundtrack. This is more controversial than me calling Christmas Vacation lame. But........we are all entitled to our opinions.

I forgot to mention the Hydra in Jason. That was a pretty sweet movie. And I don't think I've seen Captain Sindbad. I'd certainly remember Guy Williams being in it. I'll have to check it out.