Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Tools    






The Underneath (1995)

It should be said that it took either courage or chutzpah for director Steven Soderbergh to fashion a re-make of one of the greatest of noir films, Criss Cross (1949) for his fourth film project. Re-makes however tend to pale in comparison to the originals. The Underneath is a good example of an attempt that missed the mark by a wide margin.

The screenplay by Sam Lowry and Daniel Fuchs did manage to copy the main plot points of the original: man returns to hometown; rekindles a realtionship with former lover; takes job as armored car driver: runs afoul of former lover’s secret lover; man enlists that guy to help in armored car robbery; man gets hurt; lover double crosses him; she is in turn double crossed (“criss cross”).

However the cards were reshuffled in some critical ways, both in the writing and in the mood of the picture. Soderbergh used some interesting filtering and camera angles, but his repetitive use of extreme closeups provided a rather senseless claustrophobic feel, which, combined with the laconic performance of the lead (Peter Gallagher), made the film a little incoherent and misty. The other two characters in the sordid triangle, played by Alison Elliot and William Frichtner both turned in good performances, yet the writing tended to strain credulity. There were also memorable parts for Joe Don Baker, Shelley Duvall, and the lovely Anjanette Comer.

There was a very tasty and spare music score done by Cliff Martinez, formerly of he Red Hot Chili Peppers and Captain Beefheart. Martinez has worked with Soderbergh on several films.

Gallagher, at aged 40, was a strikingly handsome actor—almost to the point of prettiness. Yet I’ve always felt that he had a limited range, and it shows here. The picture is a bit of a mess of a film, and it’s doubtful that a heftier actor could have put it over the top.

Doc’s rating: 4/10







Take Shelter - Finally watched this Jeff Nichols 2011 film which followed up his impressive 2007 debut Shotgun Stories. Michael Shannon stars as quiet and devoted family man, Curtis LaForche. He has a good job on a pipeline project in Ohio and is married to Samantha (Jessica Chastain). They have a hearing impaired daughter named Hannah (Tova Stewart) and, having finally navigated their way through a morass of medical insurance regulations, the couple can finally afford a medical procedure for her.
WARNING: spoilers below
Curtis however is suddenly stricken with vivid apocalyptic nightmares that all involve thunderstorms. It's only when Curtis starts having waking nightmares that he comes to believe are hallucinations that his worst fears are realized. His mother Sarah (Kathy Baker) had abandoned her family and been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at the same age as Curtis and is currently in an assisted living facility. After seeing a doctor and a therapist and trying sedatives his nightmares continue to the point where he becomes obsessed with building onto his storm shelter. His life gradually starts to implode as he sinks into debt and alienates his boss as well as his best friend and co-worker Dewart (Shea Whigham).
It's a slow moving film and Jeff Nichols takes care to keep the tension simmering at just below the boiling point. I've always been a fan of Michael Shannon ever since first seeing him in Shotgun Stories and make a point of trying to check out all his roles and he does a masterful job here.
WARNING: spoilers below
His Curtis is a man suddenly adrift and feeling precariously alone. Cut off from his wife and daughter and unable to either help himself or respond to the harbingers of doom that threaten the people he cares about the most. And always with the specter of mental illness looming over him.
Jessica Chastain is oh so good in this as well. Her character is the perfect bookend for Shannon's and it's hard to imagine this having the same impact it does without her. The rest of the cast is aces. Shea Whigham is another actor I keep an eye out for and having him and Michael Shannon share the screen was a treat for any fans of Boardwalk Empire. The little girl who played Hannah is also hearing impaired and she is just as valuable an asset as the others. With this film I've watched all five of Jeff Nichols' big screen directorial projects and as far as I'm concerned there isn't a misstep among them. As with most of his films there is a bit of a twist at the end that is left open to interpretation. I'm open to believing what another viewer speculated and see it as more an uplifting benediction than a prophecy fulfilled.




⬆️ Take Shelter is very good.
__________________
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



Blue Thunder 1983 John Badham

Cool throwback 80's action flick (pre Air Wolf) starring; Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, Daniel Stern and Malcolm McDowell.

+



Victim of The Night
Have you seen the Final Cut? I was skeptical about it but the changes between it and the DC were largely technical and it seemed to maintain the important narrative changes. Just a big official polish from Ridley Scott himself (the Director’s Cut is something of a misnomer as, if I recall correctly, it was made without his direct involvement and was merely based off notes and the Final Cut is also a proper Director’s Cut).
I've seen and own the five versions released in 2007. The DC remains my favorite. Though I'd probably have to watch them all again to remember why. The Final Cut was, I believe made during one of the Scott's periods when he was taking one position on the Big Question of the film, which was not part of the theatrical, was only hinted at as a possibility in the DC (the way I like it), then was made almost irrefutable in the Final Cut... which he has subsequently dramatically softened his stance on. I think that's why I preferred the DC, it was more open.
Some quick research shows that the DC I saw in theaters in '92 is the Scott-approved DC not the one made without his involvement. He subsequently made the FC for 2007.



A Bigger Splash (2015)

Interesting drama about a singing star (Tilda Swinton) holidaying on an Italian island with her younger, troubled boyfriend (Matthias Schoenaerts). They are joined by her ex-lover and promoter (Ralph Fiennes) and his recently discovered daughter (Dakota Johnson). The tension builds nicely, as, as well as the language barriers with the locals, the star cannot talk as she needs to allow her voice to recover.



I've seen and own the five versions released in 2007. The DC remains my favorite. Though I'd probably have to watch them all again to remember why. The Final Cut was, I believe made during one of the Scott's periods when he was taking one position on the Big Question of the film, which was not part of the theatrical, was only hinted at as a possibility in the DC (the way I like it), then was made almost irrefutable in the Final Cut... which he has subsequently dramatically softened his stance on. I think that's why I preferred the DC, it was more open.
Some quick research shows that the DC I saw in theaters in '92 is the Scott-approved DC not the one made without his involvement. He subsequently made the FC for 2007.
I’d heard people complain about that element when I watched it and was myself caught up in it… Until I rewatched the theatrical and the DC and realized virtually all the little things I thought Scott had added were already in place and I just hadn’t been looking for them then.

I think it pairs nicely with 2049 in keeping the ambiguity



The Double (2013)



I liked this too.





Comanche Station, 1960

A man named Cody (Randolph Scott) arrives at a Comanche camp, where he trades a blanket full of goods for a woman named Nancy (Nancy Gates) who was taken in a raid. Their return to Nancy's home is complicated when the two come across another group of searchers, led by the immoral Ben Lane (Claude Akins). Lane, along with his much younger men Frank (Skip Homeier) and Dobie (Richard Rust), are interested in the award money offered for the return of Nancy.

This western is one of the many collaborations between Scott and director Budd Boetticher and writer Burt Kennedy.

Generally speaking, I thought that this was a pretty good entry in the Scott-Boetticher catalog. While not quite as compelling as my favorites, there were still enough interesting character dynamics and tense action set-pieces to more than hold my interest.

Scott plays his usual gruff-but-compassionate cowboy. In this case, he is a man whose motives for rescuing the kidnapped Nancy (along with many others he's rescued) are both personal and tragic. As with many of these Westerns, the characters are engaged in something of a "parallel romance"--Cody's emotions toward Nancy are grounded in a different relationship. It adds a lot more depth to what might typically be a "rescued damsel falls for rugged rescuer" dynamic.

The most interesting characters, though, are the villains. We learn very early that Lane intentionally led a massacre of a non-violent Native American village, slaughtering women and children along the way. Cody was one of those who advocated not only for Lane's court marshal, but openly expressed that he should be hanged for his crimes. (The fact that Lane was merely dismissed from the army for his slaughter of so many lives is its own commentary). There's a casual, almost charismatic aspect to Lane's sociopathy, and it's reflected in interesting ways in the characters of Frank and Dobie. Both men at first seem to be just simple, nice dudes, but when Lane notes that they could kill Cody and Nancy and still claim the reward, the two go along with it without much more than a remark from Frank that it seems a shame to "waste" a woman like Nancy. Dobie is maybe more reserved, but he still goes along with it.

There's an interesting discussion between Frank and Dobie, in which one of the men says that his father told him "No matter what you have to do, or who you have to do it to, make something of yourself." The idea of what it means to be a "great man" is something that is often explored in the Boetticher westerns. I always find it noteworthy that the hero--in this case Cody--is often a bit awkward, sometimes even kind of a bit of a goober. But he wouldn't kill unarmed people. In this universe, manliness is about intentions and deeds, not about being cool and unflappable in every moment.

The action scenes are also pretty thrilling and well-shot.

The only real negative for me was Nancy. The performance is fine, and the character herself is also fine, but most of the use of the character is to be stubborn at times and to serve essentially as a prize the men fight over. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, except that the character feels a bit flat compared to the other characters. The film keeps a piece of information close to the chest until the last few minutes, and yet I felt this information would have been better served if it were revealed earlier.

Overall a good little Western.




I gotta get off (or on) my ass and get around to Boetticher's work one of these days.





Re-watch after many years. Good movie though I had to wiki it to understand what the heck was going on. I am not good with convoluted plots.

Interesting tidbit: the 2 excellent leads - Hutton & Penn - were born one day apart in California in 1985.
Leave the plot for the eggheads and bask in Penn's amazing sleazy fashion sense. *chef's kiss*



Blue Thunder 1983 John Badham

Cool throwback 80's action flick (pre Air Wolf) starring; Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, Daniel Stern and Malcolm McDowell.

+
I understand Dan O'Bannon wrote the movie after being pissed off about loud police helicopters. Interesting critique of the increasing militarization of police undermined by lots of sweet super helicopter footage.



I gotta get off (or on) my ass and get around to Boetticher's work one of these days.
A ton of them are currently on the Criterion Channel, if that's something you have access to.

I've yet to dislike anything I've seen from him, and I've really liked a few of them.





Greenland - Decent enough comet-destroys-earth disaster film. Not the all encompassing turgidity of 2012 or the patented Michael Bay cheesiness of Armageddon. Still though I found it just a bit more involving than Deep Impact. The always reliable Gerard Butler stars as building engineer John Garrity. Because of his particular know-how he's been chosen by lottery to be evacuated to a secure bunker to wait out the impact of a so-called planet killing comet. He sets out with his wife Allison (Morena Bacarin) and son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd) to a nearby Air Force base. This being a standard 2 hour movie the wheels have to come off at one point or another and the film wastes no time outside of some basic expository background involving John and Alison's troubled marriage and their son's diabetes. The rest is the usual people behaving badly in a crisis situation. But Butler makes for an appropriate everyman and a steady presence to help see this through to the end.




I forgot the opening line.

By https://a24films.com/films/minari, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65461364

Minari - (2020)

Nice film, with a satisfying ending (for some - it was fairly open-ended,) but I couldn't quite see it up there as a film truly deserving of being called one of the best of 2020. I did think the performance from Yuh-Jung Youn was terrific however, so I agree with the Academy there. I loved her character - she seems like a nightmare for all and sundry (especially young David) when she arrives on the scene, but after a while she really endeared herself to me - to the point where I cared deeply about her during her turbulent journey through the story. It was her that lifted the movie to a '7' for me.

7/10


By https://sonypicturespublicity.com/do...rrtitleId=1840, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61598613

Little Women - (2019)

This. I had two reasons for watching the 2019 version of Little Women. First and foremost, I want to get through all the Best Picture Academy Award nominated films for 2020 (that's Joker, Jojo Rabbit, Parasite, 1917, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood and this one done - a remarkable field of films.) Secondly, I've never read Little Women or seen any of the other adaptations, and I'd like to have some familiarity with it, seeing as it comes up so often. That said, it's really not my kind of thing. I was checking the run-time constantly, seeing how far I'd progressed and how long I had to go. I remember (I think it was when I went to see Parasite) seeing the trailer for this and musing about the fact that I'd never see it. Well, I've seen it now. I remember reading Wuthering Heights and thinking it was a tremendous novel, and yet I don't fancy any of the myriad screen version of that. I doubt I'll ever attempt to read Little Women though.

On a positive note - the film looks beautiful. The cinematography marvelous. A lady-orientated period drama is about as far from my favoured type of film as you can possibly get... I got negative again didn't I? I should quit now...

6/10



Victim of The Night
I’d heard people complain about that element when I watched it and was myself caught up in it… Until I rewatched the theatrical and the DC and realized virtually all the little things I thought Scott had added were already in place and I just hadn’t been looking for them then.

I think it pairs nicely with 2049 in keeping the ambiguity
Yes, I think 2049 almost REFUTES The Final Cut.