Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Fast Times at Ridgemont High. (1982)






Classic teen movie. Shockingly young Sean Penn on top stoner form. Judge Reinhold as the king of fast food wage slaves. Phoebe Cares' iconic red bikini scene. Great cast, great characters, great music. A thoroughly fun way to spend ninety minutes.

4/5 Stars.

Horse Girl (2020)

This is one of those films that leaves a distinct impression on the viewer—in my case a very good impression.

Produced by the Duplass Brothers, directed by Jeff Baena (I Heart Huckabees), and starring Alison Brie, Molly Shannon, and a lesser but important role by Jay Duplass, this starts as a rather chick flick story about a shy girl (Sarah) who works in a fabric store. Another lady employee is her close friend while at work where they share secrets and jokes with each other.

Sarah has a ditzy roommate who sets her up on a date with a friend of her boyfriend. It goes very well, and they share many of the same interests, including space alien movies and UFOs. But when Sarah shares with him her deep and harrowing thoughts about who she really is, and where she’s come from, the boyfriend believes that she has some mental problems. In fact Sarah sees a psychiatrist (Duplass) who tries to explain why she might harbor these thoughts. Her condition deteriorates, and what she sees may or may not be real. This moves to a surprise ending which is very nicely photographed.

The standout here is Bries’ indelible performance, which features her at times as a shy retiring type, and at others in a raving frenzy. With this capability of scope, she’ll surely be in demand.

This is a film that changes pace midstream, and at it’s conclusion one finds oneself mulling over just what happened, and what does it mean.

Doc’s rating: 7/10

I just realized that I never added this to my watchlist (after reading a positive review of it elsewhere). Thanks for the reminder!

When Harry Met Sally... (1989)

Being John Malkovich - 1999

What an off the wall movie . Lot to unpack from this one that someone much smarter than me can articulate. It feels pretty relevant to the age of social media and celebrity today. Even some ideas about transexuals/gender identity I'd say. Lot of different rabbit holes you could go down. Must be a ton of eassys breaking down the meaning of the film and such. Malkovich was obviously great in the flick but I thought Cusack was really good and I didn't realize Catherine Keener was a two time nominated Oscar actress. Always seen her in little parts minus 40-Year Old Virgin. She was great as well, but I gotta tell you...It took me a couple scenes to figure out that Cusack's wife was Cameron Diaz. I was dumbstruck when I realized it was her, after that you could tell. But it was in the scene in the car after her trip inside I was like sh*t that's Diaz. Charlie Sheen sort of felt out of place but he was still fun.

This was definitely an experience. The absurdity of the movie made me laugh out loud many times. What an imaginative piece of art I would never be capable of haha. Kaufman and Jonze made something here. Definitely see seeds of inspiration for Jonze's later work Her in here. In kind of a weird way you could say that Her is a sequel to this movie or at least in the same universe. Anyways I don't know if I'd jump right back in and watch it but I'll revisit it down the line at some point. On originality alone it gets A+.

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I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused

101 Favorite Movies (2019)

Una lucertola con la pelle di donna (1971)
aka A Lizard in a Woman's Skin

Lucio Fulci's Giallo that seems to be heavily inspired by Hitchcock's Spellbound. It has sex, drugs, murders, psychoanalysis, and living disemboweled dogs (apparently they were accused of animal cruelty and the special effects guy had to bring his props to the court and prove it was an effect). The story is rather good, but Fulci's script could have used some extra polish. It's considerably better than Spellbound though. Not among Fulci's best films but in the top half for sure. I'm maybe a little generous with the rating but still...

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Black Legion - 6/10
I was looking for something by Bogart, then was interested when I saw the subject matter and was curious how it was portrayed 80 years ago.
'

Only 2 stars? Wow! As far as rom-coms go, this is possibly the best movie of that genre. I rate it a solid

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“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” ~ Rocky Balboa

Any Given Sunday (1999)






A great cast elevates this otherwise average film. The story is nothing special and I have zero interest in American "football" but the actors had some good dialogue to dig their teeth into and were all turning it up to 11: it's like they were each competing for the overacting Oscar. I'm a sucker for films with A-listers shouting at each other, especially if one of them is Al Pacino at his 90s shouting prime. I also love a good inspiring locker room speech. I therefore found this an entertaining if shallow viewing experience.


3/5 Stars

Your comments about this movie are pretty much on the money.

Master and Commander - The Far Side Of The World - 2003

Meh. That's my best description . I had a buddy that said he liked it. Then I saw a couple guys argue on a podcast this was better than Gladiator. I don't see it. It's a decent effort but nothing about the movie is particularly memorable. Hell the only two characters that really stuck out were Crowe's and Bettany's and the kid with one arm....because he had one arm. Crowe was adequate but I wasn't godsmacked with his performance. I just found it bland and forgettable. I remember I was in high school when this came out and the marketing made it seem sort of dull.

When characters died I didn't really feel much even though I was apparently suppose to. They were all just disposable and interchangeable to me. But maybe that's what the director was going for besides the two main characters. The claustrophobic and hopeless somewhat pointless nature of being at sea for that long in the early 1800s. If that's what he was going for he nailed it lol.

I can see why some people would enjoy it. Just really was not my cup of tea. Too long and forgettable to me. Sacrilegious to say it's better then Gladiator imho. Oh well I gave it a shot.

Actually, when I think back on the film, this is what actually made the most emotional connection for me. The utter sense of isolation and the claustrophobia of a boat contrasted with the awe-inducing vastness of the ocean.

I literally remember almost nothing of the plot, but the scenes that evoked the ocean (like the ) made a lasting impression.

My rating would probably be a bit higher than yours (more like a 3 or 3.5) due to just how good the thing looked, but I agree with the general vibe of your feelings about it.

Comparing it to Gladiator (just because of Russell Crowe?) seems like an odd thing to me.

I agree with that. I can also relate to the comparisons with Gladiator, because that and Crowe's performance in it when it first came out really impressed me. It kind of set the standard for my expectations, with this coming out soon after. I was also really into the Hornblower TV series and that sort of thing, so I had some high hopes for it. It had some decent elements going for it at times, but everything just seemed tremendously overworked and stereotyped. A lot of action, characters and dialogue but no meaning or spirit. It never seemed like it was telling a story. Fault of the director I think. Anyway, the family got the DVD free with the pizza we ordered so I can't complain too much.

It was okay...I kept waiting for the movie to kick into a second gear it never did. No clue as to how Regina King won an Oscar for this.

Act of Valor (2012)

Surprisingly entertaining action movie. Yes, it's patriotic propaganda and extreme military glorification but I can live with that. Action sequences are really good, the plot is OK, acting is kinda stiff (apparently the seals are seals in real life also so they're just amateur actors) but in a way authentic. I'm sure US navy had no issues lending their gear for this. I wasn't really expecting to like this but yeah, it was quite good.

Considering the real life true story & the really stellar cast, this movie was so boring. I fell asleep halfway through, but managed to finish it.

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