Rate The Last Movie You Saw

I know it might not fully hit the magic of the first film, but I am SO excited about this movie.

STALKER (1979)


One of Tarkovsky's two Sci-fi films, based on the novel Roadside Picnic (the novel also an inspiration for the novel Annihilation)
This slow and meditative film about desire and faith wormed it's self into my brain. This film uses symbolism to zig when you think it will zag. It's a film where nothing happens, and everything happens.
Criterion Blue-Ray transfer is gorgeous!



9 out of 10.

By Roadshow Entertainment - IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14096424

Blood Oath - (1990)

At the close of the Second World War there was a complex reckoning due for the Japanese forces involving their POW camp operations - but the war crimes trials involving them were seemingly not as clear cut as their counterpart ones in Germany. Blood Oath explores some of those issues by basing itself on the real-life war crimes trial of the Japanese (who were the POWs now) for their actions on Ambon Island. Unwarranted executions, starvation and vicious beatings - the process of accounting for this started with the digging up of mass graves of Australian servicemen. This film had all of the potential to be really gripping, but it kind of gets bogged down in side-issues at times - it puts courtroom strategy above the interesting moral issues at play. Bryan Brown leads as best he can as prosecutor Captain Cooper, and he's backed up by Russel Crowe, who takes a back seat due to the fact that this was his film debut. Terry O'Quinn also stars as an American Major trying to interfere so that Vice-Admiral Baron Takahashi (George Takei) gets off and as such can contribute to the reconstruction of Japan and her economy. It all sounds so interesting, and at times it threatens to become really good - but it's almost like Blood Oath tries to cover too much ground, and too many separate trials, robbing the film of a good climax and any building of tension. We know the Japanese didn't give these prisoners court martials with all the attendant paperwork and record-keeping, so the pretense from one side and search from the other could probably have been handled with one or two lines of dialogue. As for the rest - all the ingredients are present, but they're simply not mixed together in a way that's ultimately as satisfying as it should be.

5/10


By Derived from a digital capture (photo/scan) of the Film Poster/DVD Cover (creator of this digital version is irrelevant as the copyright in all equivalent images is still held by the same party). Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40290800

The Fifth Estate - (2013)

An Australian accent is hard for non-Australian actors to master, even though some slog through repeated efforts (Robert Downey Jr. for example) despite mangling it and sounding ridiculous. Benedict Cumberbatch does the best in The Fifth Estate that I've ever heard. As for his portrayal of Julian Assange and the general story of the explosive growth of Wikileaks and what that did to the world, along with his friendship with Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) - the truth or propaganda? I have no idea. Assange rattled the cage so much that I can't tell what's retribution, reflection or re-iteration, and as such it's hard to judge the man himself. The film is interesting without being absolutely smashingly great - and I have to admit that my favourite parts were the ones that dealt with U.S. State Department figures Sarah Shaw (Laura Linney) and James Boswell (Stanley Tucci) along with the mess they found themselves in after nearly every private word they'd had about foreign leaders was suddenly out there for everyone to read. Anyway - great stuff from Benedict Cumberbatch.

6/10

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Croatian Juraj Lerotić directs this haunting film and also stars in it as a man whose brother is hellbent on inflicting self harm. It’s bleak and covers the most harrowing of subjects but Lerotić has created a mini masterpiece here. Drawing on his own life experience, this must have been a deeply personal film to make. The film has no score to it and most of the time the camera is stable, just observing.

Save for one magical surrealist type scene (a very bold, meta-like choice from the director), the realism on show is on another level, no doubt assisted by the autobiographical nature of the project. The film is set over a 24 hour period where Bruno (Lerotić) runs to the apartment of his brother Damir, afraid that he might do something silly as he sounded very odd on the phone. Damir is played by Goran Markovic, and if there’s a better performance this year I’d love to see it. His doe eyed, tormented, vulnerability masterfully executed.

Damir’s actions result in the emergency services being called – most of which are shown to be unsympathetic and bordering on negligent. Lerotić doesn’t hold back here which suggests a level of anger in his experiences. Safe place is a film that shows us how desperate some people are, and how sometimes - knowing what the right thing to do is practically impossible. No doubt some people will lazily label this film as ‘depressing’, but it is a staggering accomplishment beautifully put together.

And this is Juraj Lerotić’s debut feature! Highly recommended.

I watched the 2nd and 3rd films of Kiarostami’s Koker trilogy back to back and glad I did as the third directly follows up the 2nd (‘Life and Nothing More’). The third film is insane in terms of ‘meta’ – even for Kiarostami. Like his films ‘Close up’ and’ Life and Nothing More’, this film peels back a layer of reality and films it – but here we are seeing Kiarostami making a film about the making of a film about the making of a film about a film he made. I think that’s right, (it makes the viewers head spin).

Kiarostami is blending reality and cinema, then making a film about the process. The person playing The Director in this film (Mohamad Ali Keshavarz) is the only professional actor in the entire trilogy. At one stage, celebrated Iranian director Jafar Panahi pops up playing a version of himself, as assistant director on ‘Life and Nothing More’. Integral to the story in the third film is the ‘narrative’ tale of Hossein (a local lad who was shipped in to play a role in the 2nd film) and Tahereh, a local girl who he wants to marry but whose family doesn’t want her to marry him. He consistently asks her to give him a go even if he has no house and cannot read. There’s something quite charming about his persistence, and even up to the end, Kiarostami keeps us guessing (the ending is a beautiful, ambiguous wide shot). Is this tale actually real? Is Hossein acting to Kiarostami’s script? Or is Kiarostami just filming Hossein’s actual attempts at wooing a girl? How Kiarostami blended this into a 90 minute film that warped time and reality is nothing short of miraculous. It’s a poetic tribute to film-making, love, traditions and people.

The whole trilogy is a masterpiece and surely one of the greatest trilogies ever made.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop -

you guys lied to me

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Ben Affleck has proven to be a personal favorite director. This movie is not extraordinary in any way but there's nothing about it I didn't like. Viola Davis and Jason Bateman can do know wrong. An extra half popcorn given for my own personal feelings because I was emotional for much of the movie. Before I was an ahole from Boston, I was once a 13yo boy growing up in Chicago during Michael Jordan's rookie season. He meant a lot to me and he still does.

The Japanese were brutal in WWII. They despised POWs & treated them accordingly.

China & Korea suffered dreadfully under their rule too. The Japanese despised both countries.

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

Good movie. I enjoyed it. Lead actress very good. Adorable baby especially when he wasn’t bawling his eyes out.

Halina Reijn, 2022





For the first 15 minutes or so, I wasn't sure I was going to stick with this one, as I found pretty much all of the characters to be really grating. Glad I stuck with it, as it turned out to be a pretty clever little whodunnit. By then end, I ended up liking most of the cast, which is comprised of a pretty talented group. The film used its dark spaces really well, and although not as tightly written as Knives Out, a film with which this film shares DNA, it was still a fun watch.

If I had to try to pull some subtext, it is that Gen Z has become extremely reactionary due to a deluge of (mis)information that is more often than not presented without context. This, combined with a confusing, ever-shifting moral landscape, makes smooth and rewarding social interactions nigh impossible. The film doesn't pull many punches in its analysis of this young generation, that's for sure. I did knock a half-box off for the annoying OST, most of which was pretty terrible.

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Set in Croatia, The Mystery of Green Hill follows a group of five friends as they set out to investigate a series of burglaries in their rural home town of Green Hill. As is usual, the five kids fit the typical stereotypes: there's the main kid, Koko (Marko Tocilj), there's the romantic one, the "nerdy" one (big glasses and all), the cynical one, and the "fat" one. Fortunately, the five actors have a solid chemistry, and although none of them are bad actors, it anyway compensates for whatever they may lack in acting talent.

The story about the burglaries is intriguing, and so are the ways the kids go to try to solve it. However, the pace is a bit off, as it juggles the main story with some brief subplots about the kid's relatives, as well as their daily mingling as they hang out around town or in the lake fishing (hence the above quote as they have fun fishing). There is a bit of a payoff with these subplots in the end, but I think the execution in the middle could've been better. Overall, the direction is pretty solid and the film is entertaining, even if feels a bit generic.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

By

/photo/1" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/SpiderVerse/stat...313281/photo/1, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72536149

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse - (2023)

That's a lot to take in - but I thoroughly enjoyed taking it in. Across the Spider-Verse continues giving us that mish-mash of illustration-style and animation that made the first film so great, and it wastes no time in wowing us with the impressive imagination the people making these have. Not only that, but buzzing past are hundreds of Easter eggs and little references that make this so much fun. Of course, that wouldn't be worth much if it didn't have that same level of storytelling competence, and I thought that came through as well, with solid character growth and more emphasis on Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) and her story to start things off. Mainly though, I was just in love with the visionary artwork - so inventive and so wonderfully incorporating so many different drawing styles, computer animation and innovative visual flair. It's rare that I get to go see a movie and just enjoy every image that's thrown my way - and thank goodness I'm not an epileptic or anything because this movie is surely dangerous for them to see. I'd sure like to just score this and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse as a whole, but for now I'll give this a slightly lower score than the first film. It might not be as good, but I mean that in a very, very slight way. It's still pretty marvelous.

8.5/10


By Source: http://www.movieposter.com/poster/A7...Americans.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9799806

My Fellow Americans - (1996)

Have you ever watched a movie and wished that the whole thing had of been based on a fun side-character you don't see enough of? John Heard plays Vice President Ted Matthews in this, and he was giving me belly laughs. Unfortunately he disappears around 30 minutes into the movie, and we don't see him again until the end - I tell you though, a Vice President is the perfect person to base comedy around (and no, I've never seen an episode of Veep.) But I'm afraid I'm going to have to offer my opinion on the actual film here - two ex-presidents and fierce rivals on the run due to some corrupt scheme which current President William Haney (Dan Aykroyd) is trying to keep quiet. As usual, Aykroyd probably only wanted to spend a couple of days earning a huge paycheck - and this film boils down to an 'Odd-Couple' type movie with Jack Lemmon and James Garner as the aforementioned ex-Presidents. There's not much really great comedy in this, but whenever one or both of them pop up and surprise strangers in the middle of nowhere like they're meant to be there - espousing the American wilderness or just surveying campers - it's pretty funny. The rest is not quite there. Watching the bloopers, you can see that Jack Lemmon was having a ball making this. I'm happy he was - but Peter Segal and the writers he had are not great comedic talents so I can't really give this film a hearty thumbs up.

5/10

The Blue Caftan is Maryam Touzani’s second feature and tells the story of a man (Halim) and his unwell wife (Mina). Halim is a maalem (tailor) who finely crafts intricate designs onto beautiful caftans and dresses. Halim is also gay, a secret that his wife knows but is barely spoken about. The trouble is – living in Morocco is not a pleasurable experience for any gay person. Halim frequents the local baths to fulfill his desires and takes good care of his wife when at home.

Mina is played by Lubna Azabal (who was so excellent in Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Incendies’), and again here she is outstanding. Her illness starts to get the better of her but she is devoted to her husband despite his sexuality. The chemistry between the two is beautiful. When the latest apprentice arrives to help Halim with his ever increasing workload, things start to get complicated. The Blue Caftan is a thoroughly predictable film, but it’s beauty and believability sweeps that aside as you can just let the story wash over you and take you on its journey.

Virginie Surdej’s cinematography is notable with lots of close ups of embroidery and hands (almost Phantom Thread like in that respect). The film won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes among others.

7.6/10

That's the principle by which Pastor and Dionisio (Ever Enciso and Aníbal Ortíz) live by. Their job is to bury the bodies of political victims of the 1978 dictatorship in Paraguay. But when one of these "bodies" turns up not as "dead" as he should be, Pastor and Dionisio must figure out whether to follow their rules and protect both their lives or follow their conscience endangering all three in the aptly titled drama, Killing the Dead (or Matar a un Muerto).

Directed by Hugo Giménez, this was Paraguay's submission for the Academy Awards in 2020, and you can easily see why. Matar a un Muerto is gorgeously shot and directed, taking a lot of advantage of its rural setting, the vegetation, and the resulting lights and shadows. Giménez does a great job of putting his actors in places where these natural elements either hide them or highlight them, depending on their situation.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

A Woman's Secret (1949)





this one didn't bore me, but the story just wasn't interesting and the ending was disappointing to me since I was expecting the typical noir film storyline, the dialogue was funny and witty. the actresses were gorgeous and finally the whole inspector's wife just sucked.

I'm definitely commiting to only watching old films specifically noir. some of the things that make waching old films hard is how fast they talk ((espcially noir films )) and that makes it hard to follow sometimes, and for some weird reason sometimes I confuse female charaters with one another , sometmes they appear to look and sound like each other.[/quote]

I had my own issues with A Woman's Secret....way too many plot holes. If it hadn't been for Gloria Grahame, I probably wouldn't have watched the whole thing. here's a link to my review of the film:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/...ns_secret.html

Lee, 2006





At some point over the years, I managed to conflate this film with 1999's The Insider. This had the effect of causing me to skip over and ignore this film whenever it would float by on a streaming service, even though I knew The Insider starred Russel Crowe, and this film featured Denzel Washington on the cover. Last night, I actually took the time to read the description, which made me realize my error.

I am glad I realized this, as both my wife and I ended up enjoying Spike Lee's Inside Man quite a bit. All the players were excellent, the pacing nice and brisk, and the screenplay was clever and fun to watch unfold. I love a good heist flick, and this certainly qualifies.



Johnson, 1983





Last week, a screenshot, or a meme, or perhaps a quote from this old 1983 mini floated by, which got me thinking about it. I figured I would dig it up and watch it again after all these years. I fully expect a bunch of corny dialogue, bad acting, and a weak story all wrapped in cringey 80's TV level special effects.

I was right about the special effects, although they were perhaps a bit above what I expected. Other than that, I must say I was surprised to find a pretty damned good alien invasion movie. The acting was for the most part down-to-earth and believable, and the themes still resonate today. Sure, the Nazi allegory was on-the-nose, but the themes of sacrifice and banding together in the face of authoritarian rule are pretty much timeless. Most of the acting was better than I expected, really, with maybe Faye Grant and Mark Singer being a bit wobbly in some scenes.

I was also surprised to find some of the scenes to be quite affecting emotionally. I plan on watching V: The Final Battle when I get a chance to see how that holds up.

Bedazzled (1967)

Blood Oath was made in a time in which Japan was on its high as a world power. I remember a lot of changes to movies and books were made in order to dampen the heinousness of Japan's part in WWII and its role in the pre-war Asia and the Pacific. There was definitely a lot of catering to Japanese interests in the Eighties in the US. I don't know how it was in Australia then.