Rate The Last Movie You Saw

By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7349662/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57942037

BlacKkKlansman - (2018)

I don't know what was happening when I first watched BlacKkKlansman but this is one of those movies where I felt I had to watch it again to have truly seen it - distracted by whatever it was the first time around. It had that familiarity you have when you've 'sort of' seen a film, but this time around I really got it all - I didn't remember that epilogue which takes us yet again through those disturbing events in Charlottesville in 2017 that leave me angry and incensed. The speech about the lynching of Jesse Washington is chilling - one of the most cruel and brutal murders I've ever heard about. I'd love to read Ron Stallworth's Black Klansman to see how closely the film hues to the real story - John David Washington and Adam Driver (a favourite of mine) really propel this tale with thoughtful and humerous charisma - reminding me of Imperium, which this is far superior to. Props to Spike Lee and everyone for really making this feel like it's taking place in the 1970s.

8/10


By http://images.themoviedb.org/posters...tu_m_aimes.jpg, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25545158

How Much Do You Love Me? - (2005)

Sometimes you get a movie recommendation from your dad and you realise that you've ignored so many of his recommendations that you just have to take one for the sake of family unity. That was How Much Do You Love Me? - a romp where lottery winner François (Bernard Campan) pays prostitute Daniela (Monica Bellucci) 100,000 euros a month to come live with him as if she were his wife. Can you really buy love? François has a bad heart, so the sexy Daniela initially causes medical complications, but she stays - for a time at least. The character of Daniela in this is wildly inconsistent, and the tone of this film as a whole shifts from farce to metaphorical inquiry and back again without rhyme or reason. You might say it eventually "liberates itself from it's own story" which is another way of saying disintegrates. Gérard Depardieu comes in late and adds some interest as a gangster, but eventually even his character goes awry (despite his character and motivations he eventually just joins everyone and parties - for no reason) and we end up with a movie that just seems lost.

5/10

__________________

Joker (2019)

Closely Watched Trains - 1966 coming-of-age story directed by Jiří Menzel and part of the Czechoslovak New Wave. Teenaged Miloš Hrma comes from a family known for their idleness. He takes a misdirected pride in it and when he's hired as a train dispatcher he looks forward to following in his father's footsteps and doing as little as possible.

This takes place in a small town in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia during the waning days of WWII. There are plenty of colorful characters populating the station with pudgy stationmaster Lanska (Vladimír Valenta) preoccupied with his flock of pigeons while Miloš' supervising trainer Hubička (Josef Somr) is a casual and opportunistic womanizer. But it seems like everyone of the players in this comedic drama are obsessed with sex.

That's apparently the central theme here with Miloš ongoing attempts to lose his virginity with his prospective girlfriend Máša (Jitka Bendová) taking a major part in the story. There are other small touches and peripheral characters such as officious councilor and Nazi collaborator Zedníček (Vlastimil Brodský) who drops by the station to exhort the clearly apathetic crew. The actor playing him could be Fred Armisen's doppelganger.

This is the third Czech film I've seen along with The Shop on Main Street and The Firemen's Ball and I've liked them all. I liked the fatalistic, shaggy-dog-story aspects of them. Sh*t happens and will continue to happen. This one is along the same lines.

85/100

Vice (2018)

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Even speaking as someone who thought it was pretty good, that's still...

A little too silly for my taste, but a worthy entry in the Pixarverse.

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

I just liked how unsettling and wierd it was, even though it didn't have much in the way of depth or originality. It does portray how it feels to have a mental illness pretty accurately though...jouquin's awkwardness and confusion deserved an Oscar by itself...

the movie is so cute i loved it lol

Love me some Camelot.

I like, but don't love Joker. I'd give it . It is scary, thrilling and has value as a cautionary tale about the consequences of not taking mental health seriously, but I don't love the way it's directed and edited. It comes across like a feature length trailer, or better yet, a feature length clip that they play for the nominees during the Best Actor Oscar presentation.

My idea of hell would be to watch Camelot.

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

Best film of the year so far for me.

2nd Re-watch...this semi-classic comedy from 1978 still holds up admirably, thanks to a beautifully constructed homage to Alfred Hitchcock as its story, the more than viable chemistry between Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase, and an impressive supporting cast, with a still roll-on the-floor-funny cameo from Dudley Moore.

X (2022) Entertaining and effective horror film, 2nd best film of the year so far for me.

One of my all-time favorites, been watching this since I was like 9 years old.
(1978, btw)

In 1978, I was 20.

Queen and Slim (2019)


Rewatch of likely my favorite 2019 movie. I still feel like the content and message was a primary reason this movie didn't get more love. Kaluuya is remarkable as usual, and this movie is terrific in my eyes, scene for scene.

By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63761368

Boss Level - (2020)

This mash-up of Groundhog Day and action seemed pretty dumb and had an overly convoluted mixed-up and confusing story when it started, but as more of it's plot and action unfolded I have to admit I had myself a pretty good time with it. CGI explosions notwithstanding (cheapskates). What we have at the start is like a video game in real life, with Roy Pulver (Frank Grillo) waking up to the same assassin trying to kill him over and over again, whereupon, if he manages to neutralize him and the helicopter gunship which destroys his apartment he'll be beset by further wacky assassins trying to kill him - which they always eventually succeed at doing, whereupon it all starts again from scratch. He figures this all has something to do with his ex, Jemma (Naomi Watts) - a scientist working on something that's half-doomsday, half world-changing and her boss, Colonel Clive Ventor (Mel Gibson) - a kind of evil mastermind. Edge of Tomorrow has already kind of done this, but Boss Level is more laid back and really gets it's groove on in an action/comedy kind of way that I found myself really liking. I actually recommend it.

7/10


By https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6386748/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57313075

Birds of Passage - (2018)

It took me too long to get around to this - a film by Ciro Guerra, who wrote and directed Embrace of the Serpent. It unfolds much like Scarface, except steeped in Colombian tradition, superstition and culture. It follows the fortunes of a family who get into the marijuana trade (almost by accident, a groom has to raise serious funds for a dowry to marry the woman he's really set on - and he stumbles into American Peace Corps representatives who are eager to buy in large quantities.) It's not long before murders start occurring, and the traditions these people have sworn by for generations start getting left by the roadside as violence and war between different families spiral out of control. Dreams and signs guide these people, especially the matriarchs - but such bloodshed and wealth are like a cancer to their delicate and intricate way of life. Seeing the effect the drug trade has on the Wayuu people of Northern Columbia is like watching an apocalypse or extinction - and Birds of Passage gives you that sad view from the inside of their unusual and unique way of life.

8/10