Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Buffet froid (1979)

A surreal adventure like movie that seems to be aiming for some sort of black comedy, a genre I usually find quite enjoyable. And while mildly amusing at times, the surrealism often feels forced or thrown in for cheep thrills/laughs/shocks and it all gets pretty boring before the movie is halfway through, at which point indifference is what best describes my feeling about it. Sadly it doesn't get any better towards the end. Throughout the movie I found myself wondering what I was supposed to connect to in order to care about which way things turned, and even for its genre, the emotional distance to all of the characters and the plot itself was of such magnitude that it made it hard to sit through the whole thing.

I'm starting to think that I'm just not particularly fond of surreal movies in general, at least of a certain style, so maybe take this rating with a grain of salt, especially if you're the diehard type fan.

It might off course be that there was some key point to "get" in order to appreciate this movie. I don't know. If so then it went way above my head for sure. Probably it's some sub genre thing or style that you either like or you don't. In fact, the humor and style reminded me a bit of Brazil and Dr. Strangelove, both of which I wasn't particularly crazy about either. Especially Dr. Strangelove.

Nevertheless, it's probably safe to say that Buffet froid is unlikely to be everyone's favorite. However, if a Kafka novel without the grounding contrast of the reasonably sound main character sounds like your thing then this movie may be right up your alley.

5/10

BLUE RUIN (2013)
Dir. Jeremy Saulnier

Yeah, it's good stuff.

Yeah, the show had already declined quite a bit when the film was released, but the writers managed to put the remainder of their ideas that they didn't already use up into this film and delivered a surprisingly strong movie. I watched it several times in a row when I got it on DVD back in 2008.

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This came in at #5 on my Top 25 list back in November.

The wedding video scene felt more real and sincere than most movies I see.

By Eagle-Lion Films - http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_prod...amp;sku=420894, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36205326

A Matter of Life and Death - (1946) - (aka : Stairway to Heaven)

The last of the three Powell & Pressburger films I had lined up to watch, and to say they were ahead of their time is a massive understatement. Here we have Peter Carter heading towards certain death on a bombing mission during WWII, but a mistake in the afterlife is made. When a French aristocrat (who had died during the French Revolution) comes to pick him up and explain Carter refuses to go, having fallen in love during his 'borrowed time' - this all leads to a bizarre court case involving an American revolutionary as the prosecutor, and Carter's doctor (played by Colonel Blimp's Roger Livesey) as his defense (the doctor having died in a motorcycle accident that night.) The film subverts our expectations, portraying the afterlife in black & white and Earth in glorious technicolour.

This film had a playful Shakespearean quality to it (no mistake I think that the airmen are preparing for a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream during one scene.) When I finished this and went on to the next film I felt a big letdown - it was back to 'normal' films now. That speaks volumes as to how Powell & Pressburger films capture the imagination and stand apart from others. I look forward to Black Narcissus down the track, along with their other films.

8/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18414986

Carve Her Name With Pride - (1958)

Okay film about special agent Violette Szabo, her assignments in Nazi-occupied France and her eventual capture and execution. I was won over into watching this because of the surprise inclusion of Paul Scofield in the cast - not exactly someone I'd be expecting in a World War II spy/action caper. It was only his second feature film. Virginia McKenna is great in the lead role. Like I said above, I was kind of flat watching this after having enjoyed three Powell and Pressburger films.

6/10


By [1], Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21007230

This Happy Breed - (1944)

This snuck up on me and surprised me just how good it was. Reminded me very much of Mike Leigh's movies, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear that this film was an influence on him. Follows the lives of one ordinary British family from the end of the First World War up until the beginning of the Second. Sounds fairly ordinary, but the characters are so well grounded and fleshed out that when serious events happen they have a real effect. One of David Lean's very early films. Wonderfully shot and staged - based on a 1939 Noël Coward play.

8/10

Plus, it's also just really funny too: "Bountiful penis!".

I seem to be in the minority in thinking this is one of Dolan's best. Sure there are moments where character choices are a little odd, and the score (as lovely as it is) is a little too pointed at what is coming next. But then that is what these characters do. They all seem lost and want something in their lives that they can't have, and the result is a Dolan drama that spills into thriller (nods to Hitchock and others are everywhere).

Tom (Dolan) visits his late boyfriend's farm for the funeral. And all hell breaks loose with emotion, repression, anger, loneliness and deceit and rising to the surface.

Dolan also does his aspect ratio changes again in this film (more subtly than 'Mommy' it has to be said), which make the viewer question the ending - which I'm still thinking on.

Artsy fartsy, rape revenge movie. Not exaggerating at all when I say this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. There's no dialogue, an edit every 1-2 seconds and camera work that doesn't make any sense at all. Lots of shaky cam, blurred images, shots of railings and posts because they look cool? Half of it takes place in in the worst strip club ever. On top of all that the revenge is seriously lacking. In other words, I didn't "get" it.

Pleased that you've seen this and I have to agree with your rating. I don't think it has so much to do with coming down from Powell & Pressburger (incidentally you're gonna' love Black Narcissus if you haven't seen it already), rather it's just a bit of an unsatisfying movie really, to my thinking anyway. Like you say it had some nice ingredients, like Virginia McKenna really making a good effort for the character and embracing the role, the writers trying to do justice to the story and the British studios still capable of making their trademark high quality war films. Lewis Gilbert was certainly no slouch of a director, yet I think they got the balance wrong somehow between the romantic melodrama at the beginning and the rather grim and realism inspired warfare at the end. I tend to think it's one of those ones that could have been great but turned out just kinda' average.

I also seem to recall there was an uncredited Michael Caine as a prisoner onboard the train she was on towards the end, allegedly as famous British agent Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas, code name 'The White Rabbit'. Despite seeing the film several times I never picked up on that until I read it on various movie sites! They should've made that more obvious for the likes of me.

(apparently a member of mofo also has it listed as his favourite movie)

8/10


A chaotic/thrilling movie to watch about dream prediction, kinda weird and nonsensical at times. Great ending.


I overused my internet data and at home i am looking through big piles of vhs tapes and DVDs

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Pixie - For all it's wannabe posturing and affected indifference this is a remarkably watery film. It came off like a random series of images flashing across the screen with no connection to plot or characterization. There was a plot of course. And characters. It's just that it totally failed to engage. I suppose when father and son filmmakers Barnaby and Preston Thompson put their heads together they were probably trying to evoke the McDonagh brothers or Guy Ritchie. But once the son got through cherry picking from other scripts the dad seemed unable to translate it to the screen in a viable or compelling way.

It's an Irish gangster thriller with Olivia Cooke as title character Pixie Hardy. She's the stepdaughter of gangleader Dermot O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and is looking to avenge the murder of her mother. But her ultimate goal is to leave Ireland behind and resettle in San Francisco. To this end she sets in motion a drug theft that almost immediately goes south, forcing her to improvise and throw in with two amateurish thieves (Ben Hardy, Daryl McCormack).

There's a female empowerment theme running throughout and Cooke does a fine job of bringing across her character's restiveness. She's just not given much to work with. Or maybe the fault lies in the editing. Anyway, Cooke's talents are largely wasted as are Meaney's. Alec Baldwin is thrown into the mix as a drug running, gangster priest leading a squad of similarly shady nuns and priests. I'd say he's wasted too but he's not onscreen long enough for it to matter. It closes with a big and loud shootout with plenty of sound and fury but if you're anything like me you'll find it hard to give much of a shyte. And I especially had a problem with the close which I suppose was more lip service to grrl power. But, given the context of what the three survivors had been through, it only served to make Cooke's character come off as a real jerk. There's nothing more irksome than unearned nihilism.

Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021)

I'm wondering what the "over and under" number would be on this flick in terms of how many minutes the average viewer could watch until they shut it off in disgust. I'm guessing 30 minutes. I made it almost that long, even though my stomach was starting to hurt.

I was hooked in by seeing that it "starred" Bruce Willis. In the few scenes that he was in, it was embarrassing to see a big name actor like he rattle off lines as if he were reading from a teleprompter, and not very well at that! Someone can refresh my memory if he's done a noteworthy job in any film since 2013's Red 2.

Emile Hirsch showed some engaging talent as a Florida cop collaborating with federal agents on a kidnapping/murder case, supposedly patterned after the "Truck Stop Killer" murders. Megan Fox and Lukas Haas both acted reasonably well.

But it was the idiotic and trite screenplay and dialogue that were right up next to laughable that sunk this turkey. Perhaps Willis is in debt and needs to keep making poor movies at a high fee. But avoid this one.


Doc's rating: 2/10

Eight Legged Freaks follows a group of people from a small Arizona town as they face mutant spiders that are the result of a toxic waste spill. The main focus of the story is Chris (David Arquette), the son of the former owner of the mine that made the town prosper, and Samantha (Kari Wuhrer), the tough sheriff he used to be in love with.

For the most part, the film doesn't take itself too seriously, and manages to find a good balance between thrills and comedy, which reminded me of stuff like Tremors, Critters, or even Gremlins. The special effects might be cheap, but I guess it kinda works for the kind of film it ends up being.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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He has been on auto-pilot mode for a couple of years now. I think the most notable thing he has done recently are his two films with Shyamalan (Split and Glass). Other than that, it's mostly DTV fodder where he grumbles for less than 5 minutes, and that's it.


EDIT: I recently read this article and I thought it was a fascinating look at why this old action stars (Willis, Sly, Arnie, even De Niro and Pacino) agree to go this route.

Wrong Move (1975)

I definitely can relate to the aspiring writer in this Wim Wenders film (my first, I'm pretty sure). It's weird and illogical but somehow intriguing. I guess I should check out some other films by him. And yes, I chose this film out of curiosity after reading the IMDb trivia for my previous watch To the Devil a Daughter.

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I also found it quite interesting. From a thematic point of view, watching it very close to watching Stranger by the Lake made for an interesting viewing experience.