Rate The Last Movie You Saw

You Should Have Left (2020)

Entertaining little thriller but a bit predictable. Kevin Bacon has aged well!

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“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” ~ Rocky Balboa

Re-watch of an American classic that is still relevant today.

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⬆️ Added this to my Netflix Q since for some reason I have never seen it.

funi

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Love this film. Some parts haven't aged particularly well but it has one my favourite Nicholson performances. He's brilliant as Bobby; a lost soul, running from job to job, place to place, woman to woman, from his past and his family, ultimately from himself, whoever that is.

⬆️ I need to see this again. Cannot remember a single scene.

High Noon (1952)






Classic western. Gary Cooper is great as the sheriff who's the only person with the righteous courage to confront a gang of criminals. One by one he's abandoned by the townfolk; his friends, neighbours, colleagues, even his wife, all turn their back on him, whether from cowardice, pragmatism, greed or religion. The noble warrior stands alone to fight evil. Great tense buildup to the gunfight including the iconic crane shot of Cooper walking alone down the street. However, the fight itself is a bit anticlimactic since Cooper dispatches his enemies with little trouble, and the ending is way too abrupt but the rest of the film is very well made.


3.5/5 Stars.

A Patch of Blue (1965)

I often wonder if there’s another movie in history that has a man & woman almost break up on their wedding day?

I liked the film a lot, probably mostly due to Bobby (Nicholson).

The Five Deadly Venoms (1978, first viewing)

The films of the Shaw Brothers are a huge blindspot for me, and something I've been slowly trying to remedy over the last few years. This one was a real delight, and probably a great starting point for anyone who hasn't seen much "classic" kung fu.

As the film opens, the master teacher of the Poison Clan is dying. He tells his pupil about five of his former students (Centipede, Snake, Scorpion, Lizard, and Toad--ie the Five Venoms) who have gone out in to the world. The master is worried that some of them may be using their powers for evil and directs his student to take out those who are doing wrong. Because the students always wore masks around each other, they do not know each others' faces.

The plot of this film is complex, and yet at the same time pretty easy to follow. It's not simply a case of good guys and bad guys--there are multiple allegiances at play with the prize of both money and honor hanging in the air. There are crosses and double-crosses, and all of it takes place in the scope of a justice system where seemingly everyone from witnesses to judges are for sale. Once a murder is committed, the process of finding and punishing the guilty party turns the court into a playground for the different students to seek out and attack each other.

I was a bit nervous about watching this on Amazon, because some of their prints are absolutely garbage. But this was a really nice transfer, and the colors of the film pop nicely. The dubbing was also really solid and expressive, which compliments the acting in the film. The actors bring some strong physicality to their characters, and I especially liked Meng Lo's swagger as Toad.

The big question, of course, is how is the action? The answer is really good. The actors in the lead roles are very acrobatic and perform their choreography very well. There are some really inventive uses of wire-work and sequences where characters work together in battles.

I would put this pretty close to the top of Shaw Brothers films that I've seen so far. I think that I still would put Come Drink with Me at the top, but this one really gives it a run for its money. This one was directed by Cheh Chang, who also directed The One-Armed Swordsman and Golden Swallow. This one is definitely highly recommended.

The closest I can think of offhand is in the movie Private Benjamin (1980), Judy Benjamin's husband dies on their wedding night.

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OPEN FLOOR.

The Westerner (1940)

Almost break up or actually break up? I can only think of Arsenic and Old Lace, The Corpse Bride, In and Out, I Married a Witch, Father of the Bride, The Devil's Eye, and maybe the western Decision at Sundown?

If you want a kind of tongue-in-cheek answer, Ready or Not.

Carnal Knowledge (1971)