Rate The Last Movie You Saw

By Heritage Auctions, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6185128

Insignificance - (1985)

This Nicolas Roeg film, based on a Terry Johnson play, brings together four icons in a fictional account of one night in New York when Marilyn Monroe (Theresa Russell), Albert Einstein (Michael Emil), Joe DiMaggio (Gary Busey) and Senator Joseph McCarthy (Tony Curtis) end up becoming embroiled in each other's lives at a hotel. McCarthy wants Einstein to testify at his hearings and make a grand statement, Marilyn wants to prove to him that she has brains (and also sleep with the famous professor), DiMaggio just wants normality and respect for his physical abilities while Einstein wrestles with what this current generation of thinkers have delivered to the world. Visions of their childhoods and various past incidents haunt each character, each one of them trying to come to grips with who they are and their own self worth. Despite their fame, they are all as insignificant as each other and everyone else when judged by how large the universe is and how far away real stars are. Funny to think that Tony Curtis once starred opposite the real Marilyn Monroe - I wonder what he was thinking? Strangely, I thought this film was at it's sharpest during the very brief interludes with the Cherokee elevator operator (played by Will Sampson) - but it was an interesting diversion that attempts to find wisdom by combining four very different personality types who relative to us were very significant people. Do we finally know the shape of the universe? Today's brightest minds say it's flat. God must have sat on it.

7/10


By Robert Coburn - Scan via Heritage Auctions. Cropped from the original image., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=88142536

Gilda - (1946)

Rita Hayworth dominates everyone and everything around her in Gilda, despite a powerful performance from Glenn Ford and some terrific villainy from George Macready. I reviewed it a couple of years ago here, and enjoyed watching it again last night.

9/10

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The Ten Commandments (1956) - A

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Barbie (2023)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024)


This foreign language film from Germany by way of Iran is the story of a investigator who's family life falls apart due to the head scarf protests in Iran. This film is shot guerrilla style so it was made against the Iranian Government wishes and it limited what the filmmakers could actually achieve.



This means how they shot this film is more interesting than what they put on the screen for understandable reasons. Still it is a great look into this theocratic world where everyone is in conflict with each other. But this movie is long, it's almost 3 hours long and the last 45 minutes really drag on. What the actual plot point to the second half of the film is interesting but it's not executed in the best way.


I think some of you are really going to like the novelty of the film but if I'm comparing this to other foreign language films...well it's still better than Emilia Perez but it's pretty far behind Flow. If I could describe this film best it's a very good student film.

Soundtrack to a Coup d’État (2024) I felt this was too long. It was more like a visual essay or presentation than a documentary film. There was too much stuff going on and the film wasn't focused or engaging enough for me. No disrespect to the filmmakers, but I don't think it deserved to be nominated for best documentary when there were other better documentaries last year.

Nayak - 7/10

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The Madness of King George (1994)

That's how James, a tour guide, prepares his guests as they begin a "Holocaust tour" in Poland. The tour will include visits to the Warsaw Ghetto and Majdanek concentration camp, so all of that is indeed expected, but for cousins David and Benji Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin), pain and suffering and loss are closer. A Real Pain follows their attempt to reconnect and smooth some tensions after the death of their grandmother.

Evidently, my main motivation to watch this film is the fact that it has a couple of Oscar nominations. However, I was very much captivated by the story and relationship between the two main characters and how they relate with each other, and with others. On the surface, David is reserved, restrained, and maybe a bit OCD-ish, while Benji is more outspoken, a bit loud and abrasive. But beyond that, both characters have numerous layers and nuances that are interesting to see unfold and clash as the two try to see how they fit with each other.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Re-watch that I haven’t seen for many years. Perfect little rom-com. Couldn’t be better.



Didn’t much care for this the first time I saw this. I am working my way through the “series”. It’s not bad by any means, but contrived in many instances.

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Umpteenth Rewatch...This 1962 film adaptation of the classic Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim musical has a few problems, but it is always worth watching because of the enchanting performance by Natalie Wood as Louise and that show-stopping number by the three strippers called "You Gotta Get a Gimmick". Rosalind Russell works very hard at being a convincing Mama Rose, but never quite gets it.

1st Rewatch...Despite a solid cast, this story of three female employees of the Federal Reserve (Diane Keaton, Katie Holmes, Queen Latifah) who come up with a plan to rob their employer of old money they plan to destroy is just a little hard to swallow.

!st Rewatch, Despite the presence of the always watchable Kevin Hart, file this under unnecessary sequels which finds a police detective (Ice Cube) reluctantly having to allow his rookie cop/future brother in law (Hart) to accompany him on a case in Miami to nail a drug and arms dealer (Benjamin Bratt). Having the always annoying Ken Jeong in a major role doesn't help matters either.

Deadpool & Wolverine - Finally got around to watching this. It certainly deserved all the money it made with audiences liking it more than critics (94% rating to 78% for the critics). A little long but it doesn't noticeably drag. Made with comic book fans in mind but easily accessible to everyone else. I think all the controversy involving Ryan Reynold's wife will color some people's perceptions of him. It has mine but luckily that all came to light after the films box office run was over. Am I in a hurry to watch it again? No. I may revisit this again or maybe I won't. That has nothing to do with the Lively/Baldoni ruckus. It has mostly to do with superhero fatigue. You should probably still watch it at least once though. It is a pretty good movie after all is said and done.

80/100

I can't really overstate how much it got me with...

The Nest (2020)



This is very much my kind of dysfunctional family drama but as a film it looks a little bit too understated.
Not that it needed something bigger or special, it just needed more - especially when the film's theme is about more, more, more.
The Nest looks like a terrific pilot episode of a series that was cancelled before production had started.

Before the End: Searching for Jim Morrison - 1/10


(I just pasted my IMDB review onto here.. I'll add only that I was going to avoid leaving an IMDB review because I plan on uploading it, and don't want the 2nd comment on IMDB to be a 1/10 with the following critique.. If you are an expert, check it out, otherwise, you'll not only be wasting money, but some of that disinformation will stick to your memory)


I hate giving anything related to Jim Morrison a bad score, because I want people to be reminded more of Jim Morrison, and hopefully look things up, but I've seen what ollie stone's movie did to ruin his image. When people say things and spread them (sometimes to millions if they have enough followers - perfect term) then they become part of you, in your head. When someone mentions Jim Morrison, I'm guessing most aren't thinking of the source - which magazine they read it from. Especially nothing in text - our minds remember video (which also includes audio, text and juxtaposed with music for effect). Don't make my word for it, Jim Morrison said "Movies are the most authoritative of all the arts". All the allegations in this movie will stick, especially since it's new - recency bias. Instead of focusing on facets of Jim Morrison that have been neglected (his sense of humor, as one of many examples) with previous documentaries and writing, he asks NOTHING of value to Andy Morrison. I'm guessing he told the director he'd give him 20 minutes of his time, and then the "director" cut them up into 20 parts and spread them throughout the "documentary" with this AWFUL noise. I can't call it music, because there isn't a single musical instrument used. Nope just "apps", "drum-machines", and other computer generated AI nonsense... I've been a collector of Jim Morrison since the 90s. The only guy I'm more interested in is Mort Sahl, so I did see this. Just listen to the audio interviews, or the many magazines from the 60s/70s. This is a way to exploit Jim Morrison for money. This thing makes stone's movie look like a documentary. Avoid it. Go on YouTube and look up actual documentaries. There are Patreon dedicated to uploading things you can't on YouTube for copyright issues, or because they're interviews in magazine PDF formats. There are something amazing REAL things - don't be lazy and watch anything fictional and suspect documentaries unless it's coming from Jim's sister (despite them sugarcoating and leaving out the craziest stuff which is understandable) or a member of The Doors, but also remember people forget things after 50 years, or jumble things, and you can actually do research for yourself. If you are interested in the truth, find a way to contact me. I have a YT channel and a message board dedicated to proving all the lies about him with truth. If you have any questions, I'll gladly give you first-hand sources, not some silly hearsay by a groupie... I've been waiting for this for 8 years, and have seen this guy launch gof***me campaigns everywhere to finance this, which is why it took so long I'm sure - waiting for Mary to die? I hope Jim's siblings say something, but they're the most silent people of any rock star I've ever witnessed.

And this trend of making every dead man a homosexual is another pejorative.

Hm. I agree you don't have to like it. I understand your complaint. It worked for me. I really enjoy Death Trap very much for what it is (a film doing its best to be a play) and don't mind what it isn't (a more direct-cinematic adaptation of a play). And I really enjoy the story and the characters. It's not without a small wart here or there but it almost entirely works for me.
Plus, this is my favorite Christopher Reeve performance and character, Clifford. When he loses his temper in this one, that's actually the moment I always think of when I think of him, over Superman, believe it or not. And this movie actually always makes me a little sad the way his career went even before the accident, because I feel like he was a real talent that people didn't understand how to use (other than him making the most marvelous Superman).
And Michael Caine is marvelous as always. Diane Cannon does a lovely woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Try as I might, I have been able to sit through this movie from beginning to end

Have or have not?

Why is that?

I meant I haven’t. I guess because I found it long and boring. Yul Brynner is fantastic though