Rate The Last Movie You Saw

That is how physicist Thomas Nesbitt (Paul Christian) sums up another scientist skeptical reaction to the alleged appearance of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, a prehistoric dinosaur awakened by a nuclear bomb test. The film follows Nesbitt's attempts to alert everybody after his first encounter with the beast in the Arctic. An encounter that everybody dismisses as a moment of delirium.

But regardless of the scientific push-and-pull from the story, this is a film about a giant lizard wreaking havoc, and in that aspect, the film delivers. The special effects and stop-motion animation of the beast are quite impressive and wonderful to look at. One notable example is the moment when the beast destroys a lighthouse, which results in a very visually striking moment (hence my inclusion of it here), but the scenes in the city halfway through, or the closing ones in Coney Island are just as good.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot and the 1950s Sci-Fi/Creature thread.

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Some flake.

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

Definitely a fan of Billie Piper who wrote, directed & starred in this very odd movie. Piper has to lose the odd-combination outfits & completely erase “Suzie” from her life now. Too much overlap in this movie.



Re-watch. Zero interest in wrestling, but Mickey Rourke so very good & vulnerable in this movie. Marisa Tomei as a pole dancer facing her faded looks.

A Hero - 7.5/10
Very good movie. I've seen others, and the director/writer is very interested in accidents, and how the world is built on these little corruptions, even without bad intentions, but that also is nuanced, which I like. Conscience. How the actions of one can have an effect on so many others, sometimes without knowing.



Thanks @PHOENIX74
Your description got me to check the movie out, and remind me.

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The Deadly Mantis follows a team of scientists and military personnel as they try to find and stop the titular creature as it starts attacking several military bases in the North Pole. The military team is led by Col. Joe Parkman (Craig Stevens) and General Mark Ford (Donald Randolph), but they are joined by paleontologist Ned Jackson (William Hopper) and journalist Marge Blaine (Alix Talton).

The Deadly Mantis follows a template, and it does so fairly well. However, its pace is a bit more clunky than, say, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. At times, it feels like it kinda sputters often, before actually getting things going. In addition, none of the main characters are that memorable. There's also the frequent objectification of Marge, which we are meant to take in stride because she does so as well, all while dozens of soldiers ogle and leer at her.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot and the 1950s Sci-Fi/Creature thread.

Big Man Japan is a mockumentary about an average joe who defends Japan from giant monsters. He comes from a long line of men who can become gigantic when they are electrocuted. His father and grandfather were celebrated for their heroism, but he is ostracized and treated as an instigator.

Needless to say if you read the above, but this is a weird movie. The creators clearly wanted to highlight the contrast between the mundane everyday life of the titular character and the wacky kaiju fights. The problem is only the latter half of the equation works. The mockumentary portion of Big Man Japan is boring and tedious. The main character rarely shows emotion and comes off as bored as I was watching him.

Thankfully the over-the-top monster fights help make up somewhat for the lackluster human segments. Big Man battles ugly creatures with human faces and the unimpressive CGI adds to their charm. These creatures all have their own quirks and you never really know what to expect. Speaking of which, the movie's finale comes out of nowhere. It continues to baffle me and needs to be seen to be believed.

If you can get through the boring mockumentary segments of Big Man Japan, there is fun to be had in the goofy monster fights and wtf ending.

Mannequin: Fun
Mannequin 2: Lame

Wasn't expecting much but it was a good watch. Reasonably creepy with some decent jump scares. The ending could've been better that's for sure.

Maniac: Thumbs way up.


If Taxi Driver were a slasher, it'd be Maniac.


I used to disagree with people who called Maniac a slasher. I thought that since the killer is so up-close-and-personal with the audience, that it was a psychological thriller/serial killer movie (which it is). But the way this film delights in the kills, it just makes every other aspect of the film take a backseat. These vicious effects are some of the most brutal and haunting that I have ever seen. This is very much a slasher, and a strong one at that.

Vaalvi aka Termite
One of the best dark comedies I have seen, & definitely the best movie of this year.




Also, watched Sabrina. Quite late to this fun, little light romcom, with the cute Audrey Hepburn.

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71856953

Aftersun - (2022)

Memory. I've recently felt nostalgic about a Christmas that took place when I was around 9 or 10 years old - and thinking back really hard, I realised that even though the day meant so much to me I had no concrete memories of it. I only remember what it felt like, and occasional flashes that hardly even count as memories. Sophie (Frankie Corio) has her special holiday with her father brought back to her in bits and pieces from recordings made on a camcorder, and you can tell by the dreamy insistent intensity of the way this comes to us visually that this was a seminal event in her childhood. Sophie can tell something isn't quite right with her dad, Calum (Paul Mescal), but she lacks the authority and experience to discuss whatever it is going on in his life. We occasionally get the feeling Calum might up and commit suicide at any moment, such is the unspoken undertone of depression in everything he does - but at the same time he shares a special bond with his daughter, and makes sure the time they spend together at a resort in Turkey is a lot of fun, and that she has a great time. Now an adult, she thinks back to those crucial days together before another enforced separation as she heads back home to her mum in Aftersun.

Aftersun is full of those ordinary moments that take on heightened meaning in someone's life - especially in childhood, and especially in a nostalgic way thinking back. It's the sum total of these moments that add up to an emotional total - and it's the unspoken moments of anxiety, depression, exasperation and disappointment which acts like puffs of smoke indicating a fire somewhere deep inside. Sophie, obviously a very intuitive girl, always makes things easier for her father and is the girl we'd all love to call our daughter - and Calum is the kind of dad we all wished we had, if only he was okay, and not suffering some unspoken pain. Whatever events came after this summer holiday, what we see in Aftersun is the crux of a moment in time that was special to a growing human being, and it's reflected brilliantly by debut director Charlotte Wells, who has turned some heads with this.

8/10

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Just watched that yesterday and haven't gotten it out of my mind yet.

I have been listening to its version of Under Pressure for a week now. The movie was amazing.
What a stunning debut from Miss Wells.

It's a really good film but apparently he stole the entire concept from one of his students, who is now trying to sue him.

Really quaint little Italian comedy. A man wakes up in his girlfriend's apartment with ringing in his ears and there's a note on the fridge that says Luigi has died and he needs to get to the funeral. Trouble is, he doesn't know anyone called Luigi. The film trundles along quite merrily then ends with a sort of life affirming message that seems to be 'be thankful for what you have while you're still on the planet' kind of thing. Not groundbreaking, just a nice film.

Oh, shit. Sounds more like a different Iranian movie now - "Close Up" (Kiarostami)

Ha yeah the plot of that one! Quick get somebody to film it.

Imagine that. It's all a plan - the director of 'A Hero' films a film about his own film that was stolen from another persons film in homage to a film about a film within a film about a director impersonating another director.

I think I have that right.

Not quite my type but this was a pretty solid Japanese horror. On YouTube with subtitles.

That is exactly what I thought and thinking.. Get the entire world to look inward