Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Stuff I watched this weekend:

7 Years in Tibet (1997)



It has Brad Pit being Brat Pitt, he was inversely good in acting out different roles as he was handsome. A good movie, but not great: lacks the gravitas it is trying to aim for. I found it interesting mostly for the historical perspective of an Austrian living in Tibet before modernity reached the region.

Knives Out (2019)



I actually watched Glass Onion recently, so I decided to check out the original, Knives Out. I found this movie more interesting than Glass Onion. It is less over-the-top comedy and more like a normal detective movie. I was pleasantly surprised by its high quality, being a straightforward Hollywood movie made in 2019 that feels like it could have been made 20 years earlier.

It's strange that with Nicholas Ray (In a Lonely Place; Rebel Without a Cause) directing, and Herman J. Mankiewicz (Citizen Kane; Wizard of Oz), not to mention the star actors, that the picture was so mediocre. Maybe that's why I can't recall much about it...

I strated watching this but lost interest. Maybe I will give it another chance.

Bodies Bodies Bodies was great imo. Good word from the young actors, fresh twist on the murder mystery genre. A fine study in how paranoia can metastasize and grow out of control.

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15732941

What Dreams May Come - (1998)

I've steered clear of this film for some time, but as I get older my thoughts turn more and more to the strange conundrum of my mind ceasing to exist for all eternity - and it leads me to kind of meditate on the question of what constitutes my thoughts, and my very existence. So, I had a change of heart - I decided that I'd indeed be interested in what this film imagined an afterlife to be. By it's very nature, it has to use physical reality as a basis of what it shows us - so it's always going to be imperfect - but it basically postulates that consciousness and thought continues in some form, and our identity stays intact - only unfettered by having a physical body. There are some tremendous visuals in the film, which represent the imagination of various spirits who exist in a realm of pure imaginative creation. The story though, is a little thin and anemic - and Robin Williams seems unsuited to a role which would have better fit a more handsome and dashing actor. His character's wife, Annie (Annabella Sciorra) ends up in "hell" after committing suicide, and you could have knocked me over with a feather when Werner Herzog showed up for a bizarre cameo. I wonder how that happened. Anyway, she's to be rescued by her soulmate (who seems to be based on Patch Adams going by what we see in this film) - something that's never been done before. It's an uncomfortable turn of events given how Robin Williams' life actually ended.

5/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15578358

Kinky Boots - (2005)

My film choices have been dreadful lately. I don't know what to say about Kinky Boots - it's so normal and average in every way, and I was genuinely bored watching it. I don't often get bored watching films. It's an "inspired by a true story" kind of film about a shoe factory that Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton) has inherited from his father. Set in working class Northampton, it's workers are rough, rugged and conservative people who have been turning out the same kind of boots ever since they started working there - but the factory is in some financial strife, and through a series of events too boring and predictable for me to be bothered to outline, Charlie stumbles into the idea of making footwear for a niche market - drag queens, who need sturdy boots that look feminine but can take a man's weight. Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is the transvestite Charlie befriends who gives advice and models the boots in Milan. Nick Frost appears as a chauvinistic manly man's man who eventually sees the light and accepts people like Lola (real name Simon.) Edgerton really seems to struggle with this role, and he's given little help by the rest of the cast or director Julian Jarrold. Without a really appealing lead performance, funny writing or interesting story (the soundtrack isn't too bad) this film simply drags (pun not intended) along until it's predictable and unexciting end.

5/10

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The Frighteners, a Thursday night watch with my best pal over some light refreshments 👌👌 8.5

Frustrating would be a good word to describe what it was like, it was never dampened here, although the crux of the issue for us was the way these crimes were basically completely covered up and never mentioned in Japan itself. The fact that their schoolkids would never learn about any of the atrocities and be spoon-fed a diet of only good things being said about their conduct was galling to us - especially those who had suffered a great deal. Germany as a whole went through a whole process of having to deal with shame and guilt, and had to learn about what went wrong with their society - but in Japan it was a process of complete denial. For Australians, it was just frustrating.

Air - 2023

I'll be short and sweet. Well made of course being Damon and Affleck. I just don't think this film was really necessary. Maybe if you don't follow basketball you could find it suspenseful but there was nothing new I learned or any suspense gain from the film for me. I think even causals would know how this ended with MJ and Nike. Entertaining enough but just sort of a safe film.

I also feel like they made MJ's mom pimp him out in a scene. It was kind of nauseating scene to me. Think they just made it more of a meaty role just to have an excuse to put Viola Davis in the flick. Not sure if his mom was that involved. Plus the not showing MJ felt like that was MJ telling them he didn't really give them his blessing for it.

Anyways it's a fine enough film. If you like Damon and Affleck you will enjoy it. I just think it was sort of forgettably safe film to me.

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I came here to do two things, drink some beer and kick some ass, looks like we are almost outta beer - Dazed and Confused

101 Favorite Movies (2019)

An german Series Biohacker

Kelly Reichardt's latest film is another suitably quiet one about quiet people. Michelle Williams is superb as the rather grumpy daughter Lizzy, who dresses like a 75 year old woman, lives alone and makes sculptures in her spare time when she's not working at the Portland art school run by her mother.

Her father, divorced from her mother is a bluffing old former potter who lives on past glories, that are mostly unfounded. Her brother Sean is a manic depressive and unemployed. Her landlord Jo, is also an artist and cares more about her exhibition and social life than fixing the hot water in Lizzy’s apartment.

Lizzy may be grumpy, cantankerous and awkward but throughout the film she’s the only character that seems to have a caring nature. She cares for an injured pigeon, she cares about the whereabouts of her brother when he goes out and she cares about her dad (and worries the sponging, freeloading grifter couple who have seemingly squatter in her father’s house – who provide most of the comedic moments in the film).

At it’s heart the film is about art versus nature and how they intertwine via the human element. There are symbols here to be discovered concerning Lizzy’s sculptures, caring and the injured pigeon. The end scene is one of the most beautiful of the year which doesn’t need spoiling.

Michelle Williams is a brilliant actress and Kelly Reichardt is a brilliant director.

It's practically Robert McNamara's life story, at least professionally, narrated by him. He was in the army during World War II and then during the Vietnam era he was secretary of defense. In his 80's at the time of filming, he talks about different wars and conflicts, how close we have come to nuclear war, what he's proud of and his regrets. It's on our documentary list and it's a good watch. They really should have done something about his teeth because I got sick of looking at them.

So glad to hear a positive review and your description of the movie makes me want to see it sooner than later. Kelly Reichardt is my favorite currently working director and I've seen all of her feature films except her latest Showing Up....Glad to see Michelle Williams is in another of Reichardt's films.

If you liked her others then I think you'll like this. Michelle Williams is just great. I just wanted to give her a great big hug. I think it's Reichardt's funniest film, though probably not an outright comedy. At times it felt like a 'Wendy and Lucy 15 years on' film. Which still remains my favourite of hers.

Do you see your movies at the theater? Because you always seem to watch movies that aren’t available for streaming in America yet. (I love Kelly’s movies too.)

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

This was rather lovely.

Coming Home (1978)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

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Veronica Guerin - (2003)

For whatever random reason I'm in the mood for something - last night it was for a film with a murder in it. This is based on the true-life story of Veronica Guerin, who was a newspaper reporter for the Sunday Independent in Ireland. Doing an investigative series on drug-related crime in Dublin, she was gunned down - an event that led to new laws being passed that targeted drug barons, stripping them of the wealth they'd accumulated through that particularly dirty trade. Guerin (who dies at the start of the film, which then goes back to look at the events leading to her death) is played by Cate Blanchett as a very feisty and fun-loving woman - crazy brave and dedicated to her job. From the get-go you see her doing things that are borderline foolhardy - going down dark alleys and places that seem highly dangerous, and confronting criminal overlords known for violence and suspected killings. You'll see Guerin get shot once, and beat to a bloody pulp, not to mention have shots fired through her family home's windows, her little boy threatened and more. It's like a red rag to a bull - there's nothing that can stop this woman doing the right thing and going after these people. On the one hand, she's completely crazy - but on the other, if everyone were like Veronica Guerin, we'd be living in a much better world. Ciarán Hinds - a very interesting actor - is the only other person in this who really stands out. Joel Schumacher mostly gets out of Cate Blanchett's way and lets her embody her character - lifting this film a couple of notches. Colin Farrell pops in for a cameo. This was an okay film - better than most of the stuff I've been watching lately anyway.

6/10

Yes, lots of the time I go to my local arthouse cinema. But this film is streaming on:

Google Play Movies US
Vudu US
DIRECTV US
YouTube US
Microsoft Store US

The Hit (1984)