Rate The Last Movie You Saw

SOUND OF METAL (2019)
A film with a prominent character with a disability:



There's a certain line of dialogue in this film about how a "deaf" person would want to see or "label" him/herself, which on hindsight, kinda made me feel bad for including it under this category, but for the sake of discussion, I'll continue. The film follows Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed), the drummer of a heavy metal duo along with singer/girlfriend Lou (Olivia Cooke). When Ruben starts losing his hearing, his whole world begins to crumble around him as he has to learn to deal with the situation.

I had read/heard good to great things about this on the Internet, but I really wasn't expecting something as pensive, introspective, and affecting as it ended up being. The film really doesn't turn any unexpected corners, but it does manage to convey the sense of desperation and impotence that something like this would entail, particularly to someone that literally lives of it. Director Darius Marder and his crew make the most of the use of sound (or the lack of it) to put us in Ruben's shoes, and it works perfectly.

But the thing that elevates this beyond is Ahmed's excellent performance. He does a great job with his body language, particularly his eyes, to show that desperation and impotence I mentioned above. I've liked everything I've seen from him so far, but this was on another level of acting. Kudos to him.

Grade: , maybe a bit higher

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To be honest, I think that if he would've axed the whole cops subplot, and focused more on Walken, the film would've been way better.

As for Ferrara, there are a couple of his films I know I saw (Body Snatchers, The Funeral) but that I really don't remember. I know I have to see Bad Lieutenant, but haven't gotten around to it. I did see Herzog's, umm... spin-off? which was a crazy film.

It is, but only the censored version is extant. So annoying.

Love this guy, but haven’t seen the movie yet.

As mentioned above, only the censored version is extant. Whose decision was it to censor this movie?

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

I've seen only 3 other films of his (Four Lions, Nightcrawler, and Rogue One), but I've loved him in all of those.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

He was brilliant in this. https://www.hbo.com/the-night-of

I had heard good things about it, but didn't even know what it was about or the people involved. I don't have HBO Max yet, but I'll keep it in mind.

The best thing about HBO is that one can go in & out. I subscribed again recently, but, by the time the first month was up, I had seen everything so I cancelled again. And, if you’re totally new to HBO, usually the first week is free.

What's Going on the Life and Death of Marvin Gaye (2005)


This was pretty good.

After the first watch I wasn’t sure but after a revisit, I quite enjoyed this Jeff Bridges thriller/drama.

I also thought it was very strong. A full-fledged character arc and a really insightful look at someone grappling with the meaning of morality and faith.

I agree with other reviews that put it in the same thematic space as Winter Light.

I’d say it’s more than just a similar thematic space. It directly pulls images from Bergman’s film and seemingly operates as a remake for the first 2/3rds until it becomes a Schrader script ala Taxi Driver or Mishima.

I say this as a big fan of the film. I can only guess as to the reasons it was besmirched in this thread...

Terrific movie. I saw it twice too.

I almost wrote "companion piece" or "homage", but neither felt quite right. I agree that the film is deliberately pulling from Winter Light on several levels.

A Christmas Carol - Decided to give this 1938 version with Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge a shot. My favorite has always been the '51 version with Alastair Sim and, after having watched this, it remains so. This isn't a bad attempt and Owen is quite good as Scrooge. Maybe even a hair better than Sim. But his character arc doesn't have the depth of Sim's. His Scrooge is seemingly halfway to being reformed while the Ghost of Christmas Present (Lionel Braham) is still presenting his case. I don't know, maybe it was the fine and foxy Ghost of Christmas Past (Ann Rutherford) that had something to with it.Either way I did prefer the darker, bleaker '51 version. That made Scrooge's transformation all the more compelling and believable. It's so much more adept at not only laying out but also defining the character's trajectory. This one seemed to focus on other aspects with a whole section devoted to the Cratchit's present day Christmas day feast. All in all, the Alastair Sim version is the far superior experience as far as I'm concerned. 75/100

I figured as much but just wanted to hammer that point home. It is Joker/King of Comedy/Taxi Driver levels of similarity to WL at times. It’s hard to articulate when a film is purposely homaging to such a strong degree without making it sound like a pejorative (rip off feels wrong too).

The World According to Dick Cheney (2013)

This was good, and even better, great to see this in hindsight. Focus on language, how Dick Cheney answers, deflects, keywords like "could" and other "untruths".. Rumsfeld was featured, but his "Known Unknowns" speech was not.

and De Niro is in all of them... (I couldn't stand "Joker")


But, I did just see a Paul Schrader movie today, "First Reformed" which was the first one of his I not only didn't like, but grew to hate because I know he can do better.

Only person on this forum besides me to use the word “besmirched”.

8 1/2 (1963)

For me, I think the line between whether a War film qualifies as being anti-war on the whole or not should be drawn at whether the film in question depicts the costs of war (at least, the particular portion of the specific war that it chooses to focus on) as being worth it in any way, shape, or form; in other words, is anything at all positive accomplished by the warfare? Portraying any negative aspect of war at all isn't enough, because after all, even a War film as relatively "soft" as Sergeant York still has the scene where his best friend dies in an ambush by the dasterdly "Krauts", though that film still ultimately portrays York's decision to join the Army and fight the war as an overall positive. And, while 1917 certainly portrays World War I in a much more honest, unpleasant light than that film, with

Compare that to the aforementioned Paths Of Glory, where a bunch of men die after being forced into a reckless charge on an enemy position, fail in the process, get blamed by their superiors (the ones that came up with the plan in the first place), who then execute a couple of them for "cowardice" to make an example of them, and which causes their Corporal to become even disillusioned with the war than he was already. And, while I'd say that 1917 is closer in its portrayal of WWI to Paths than it is to York, I also can't really say that feels 100% anti-war in the end either (although again, I do not mean that at all to say 1917 is a worse film than it should've been as a result).