Rate The Last Movie You Saw

I didn’t see ambiguity in the ending so you might have to explain some more what you think you’re missing.

He moved into her apartment. His daughter is in college & she has met his younger daughter. We last see them on the sidewalk waiting for movers to move his humongous speakers into her apartment. If you recall, her couch almost didn’t make it. So he drives away to take his daughter someplace & she is left watching one of the speakers swing back & forth in the breeze as they need to be hoisted aloft & moved in via the windows.

I took the speakers to be a metaphor for him. Will he be able to move into her life fully & seamlessly or will their relationship swing aimlessly in the breeze?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

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

More of a Lifetime tv movie I would say. Not really my cuppa, but the 3 kids are wonderful actors & very believable especially the 2 girls.

The donkeys were super cute.

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Call Me Chihiro (2023)



Its a quite mediocre slice-of-life Japanese movie based on a manga that depicts a retired hooker, age 29, who is trying to live a more typical life. Its slice of life all right, which means there is no real plot, but since I didn't find the characters interesting, then there was little interesting going on this movie. Still, it had quite good cinematography.

You can retire from hooking at 29? I can't believe I frittered away my prime earning years.

And you've been missed at the old truckstop.

Sherman's March (1986) -

With maybe the exception of American Movie, this is my favorite documentary about the act of making a film. To say that Ross McElwee is unfocused though would be an understatement. Though he intended for the film to be about Sherman's March to the Sea, the historical events of Sherman comprise so little of the film. What we mainly get are his failed romances with various women he encounters while filming. Every time he's able to record some footage relevant to Sherman, life gets in his way and disrupts his plans time and time again. As a result, the repetition of the film's narrative structure recalls La Dolce Vita. Like Marcello, Ross seems trapped in a never ending cycle of forming relationships, but with so many of them turning out short-lived and unsuccessful, he keeps coming out of them unfulfilled and back at square one. The more one watches the film, the less it seems like he's enjoying himself so much as it feels like he's trapped in a prolonged mid-life crisis. One which is exacerbated by the constant urges of his friends and family members to help him get married. Though he can get obsessive from time to time, his rising desperation seems to stem from his endless stream of misfortunes and, regardless of how much you vibe with his behavior, it's hard not to feel at least a bit of sympathy for him. This all culminates in what may be the most laughably pathetic and painful ending I've ever seen in a film. In spite of the intensity of emotion I felt from it though, a slight undercurrent of hope still bubbled underneath the surface which I've been unable to shake since watching the film.

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F9: The Fast Saga (B)

Our heroes are brought into some espionage shenanigans by John Cena and Charlize Theron, along with some eccentric rich European. Things are somewhat muddy there.

As we can expect from this franchise, the action sets are ballin' and one-up each other for ridiculousness. Loved them all. So much magnet action as well. Great.

The problems here are mostly about Vin Diesel and John Cena. The two characters are their own thing, largely because Vin Diesel is his own thing and John Cena is his brother. Vin Diesel barely mingles with the group, but everything about him is a power fantasy. The car stuff has been ridiculous since the 5th one or so, but Vinny is now a low-tier superhero. He can ram people through walls, he can fight off 9 guys, he can pull down concrete structures by pulling on chains, one in each arm, and survive whatever happened afterwards. He's just so far removed from everything it's no longer funny. You can smell him looking over the scriptwriters' shoulders to make sure he's the awesomest thing in the movie.

The best characters here are Nathalie Emmanuel, Ludacris and Tyrese Gibson. They have great chemistry, great moments, great comedic timing, everything. It's a shame that Walker is no longer here to balance with the other remaining original main character. Anyway, these three are great.

By The poster art can or could be obtained from Paramount Pictures., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20131284

The Truman Show - (1998)

It's been 25 years since The Truman Show was released - it still looks great today, and now we are well used to Jim Carrey taking on dramatic roles, although he still kept a vestige of his comedic persona in this. Great idea for a film at the time, and I like the way we stick with Truman's world for a good amount of runtime before the curtain is pulled back and we see what's going on behind the scenes, with Christof (Ed Harris) maintaining a God-like position in Truman's world (Dennis Hopper was originally going to play the role - he left during filming.) I hadn't seen the movie in ages, so it was really great to catch up with it again - I love the moments when Truman is on the very verge of discovering what's going on, but still not quite sure what it is. We're behind him every step of the way - and some of the methods used to keep him in his home town allow levity into the film, which is nice. Paul Giamatti was yet to really make it big - so his part is way smaller than what we're used to now, and nice seeing Philip Baker Hall in there. Great movie.

8/10

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The Killer follows Ah Jong (Chow Yun-fat), a hitman that decides to perform one last job in order to pay for the surgery of a singer he accidentally blinded during a previous shoot-out. As a result, he ends up relentlessly pursued by the triad members that double-cross him, as well as Li (Danny Lee), a cop that might be just as determined as him.

But beside the performances, the main attraction of this film is the action setpieces and choreographies. There is an almost operatic fluidness to the way Woo films these stand-offs and shoot-outs that you can't help but be amazed by how gorgeous and cool it looks. There is such a nice mixture between the excesses of violence and the dance-like movements that you can't help but be amazed by it.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Amazing. And bizarre.

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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?

I've been known for tearing up a bit when listening to Sally Yeh's main theme.

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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.

Just like I did with In Bruges, and Three Billboards, I assumed I knew what this movie would be going in and had no interest in what I imagined. And just like In Bruges and Three Billboards, it impressed me. I really liked this, even more than the other two, which I also really liked.


I need to stop underestimating this guy.

I love this movie. More people need to see it.

His brother’s movies, except for War On Everyone, are similarly good. Calvary is especially great and would serve as a great companion to Banshees.

SF = Z


[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

I've heard great things about Calvary. I think it was @Takoma11 or Sylvie on Twitter that mentioned it to me a couple of times

By https://www.movieposters.com/product...ise-mpw-107238, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5811937

Phantom of the Paradise - (1974)

Phantom of the Paradise is one of the greatest films ever made - I won't accept any other assessment as valid, and my love for the film was reaffirmed last night after watching it yet again. I was put in the mood by a couple of reviewers who forewent their usual topic once the film came up in a previous discussion, and decided to talk about it*. One hadn't seen it, and was instantly won over - so their discussion of it's greatness had me watching it again. It's an early Brian De Palma film, with hundreds of little touches paying tributes to all the other films that mean something to the director. It's also a rock musical, with music composed and sometimes sung by Paul Williams, although Jessica Harper and others contribute to it's richly varied sound. It's a bizarre comedy, based on Faust and Phantom of the Opera, featuring William Finley as a composer whose music is stolen by a man who has made a bargain with the devil - this composer, Winslow Leach, is framed, sent to jail, mutilated once before and once after he escapes, and haunts a music palace run by Swan (Paul Williams) - the man under contract to Satan, and the man who will fool Winslow's Phantom into signing a contract as well.

This is a wonderfully strange film, with absolutely great music, inspired cinematography which references such films as Touch of Evil and Psycho, perfect casting and a very unique feel to it. Gerrit Graham appears as a glam rock caricature with an interesting off-stage persona, and is a lot of fun. There's a very sharp edge to it, which gives a heavy, sometimes sad, feel to the film as a whole. It's in a similar category to films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and a cult classic that grows more in stature as the decades pass. A festival known as "Phantompalooza" sprung up in Winnipeg to celebrate it - and next year is it's 50th Anniversary. Shortly before passing away, my brother got me into this film by recording it for me late at night - and I never looked back. I love Phantom of the Paradise and it easily slots into my top 50 Best Films of All Time.

10/10

*Two guys talk about how great Phantom of the Paradise is.