Rate The Last Movie You Saw

elemental (2023)

"Baby faced savage in a jungle of intrigue" Well looky here. I seemed to have found the title for my memoirs.

@AgrippinaX, seen this one from Hogg?

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

Not yet! On my list now.

It’s no great shakes, but it’s not bad.

Chinaman (Kinamand) (2005)

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Mephisto - 7.5/10
<sigh of relief after watching a good movie for the first time>

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"Treasure" is one of my favorite movies.. I love Huston and Bogart. I only saw "Johnny Guitar" once, but I thought it was pretty unique for a Western. The only other really unique ones I can think of is "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and "The Professionals".

Like a theme park ride that won't stop for a second more than absolutely necessary and never stops trying to outdo everything else to deliver maximum impact, the latest MonsterVerse movie can best be appreciated as a good popcorn movie - and nothing more.

As it happens, this is the 2nd Godzilla movie to hit theaters in the last 6 months, and Godzilla Minus One was a masterclass of how to make a Godzilla movie that was deeply engaging at the most basic human level, while still having a good time with the usual antics of gargantuan monster movies.

Rest assured, in the American-produced movie, the humans are there merely to serve as convenient plot devices, and pretty much nothing else. These are rather thankless roles, but Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Dan Stevens give it their all to earn those paychecks.

The cast counts with a few new faces, most notably Fala Chen as the queen of an ancient civilization (she was last seen in American theaters as Shang Chi's mom in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Her presence here is most definitely welcome, even if she isn't given all that much to do.

There's nothing particularly new in this latest installment, although one can't help but perhaps worry a bit about the rapid rate at which world monuments are being destroyed. At this rate, soon there might not be any more recognizable structures to be smashed into a million pieces.

By Deadline, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73287380

Mission Impossible : Dead Reckoning Part One - (2023)

This chapter in the Mission Impossible franchise feels monumentally huge. The entire world order is at stake, with a devious artificial intelligence entity at large and at work, pulling the strings while Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is desperately trying to get his hands of two halves of a key and discover the "what and where" about the key's lock, which will hopefully vanquish this new, ever-evolving threat. He's never been up against a foe this dangerous, and helping him are old hands Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) - so it's familiar stuff, but somehow Christopher McQuarrie and Cruise inject so much juice into this thing that it feels like something we've never seen before. The ultimate action/adventure epic that tries to outdo James Bond, Jason Bourne and Jack Ryan combined, with state of the art special effects, a pulsating score, razor sharp screenplay and some extremely well choreographed action set-pieces. I loved the epic chase scene, and of course the train segment at the end - I remember the ending to Fallout, which was absolutely brilliant. Nobody does it better at the moment, so kudos - these latest Mission Impossibles are worth all the hoopla. Oh, and Pom Klementieff? You stand out, and are something special.

8/10


By Pixar - http://www.impawards.com/2023/elemental_ver10.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73800022

Elemental - (2023)

Goes hard on the metaphors, but there's a sweetness to much of Elemental that's difficult to really criticize. Considering how it evolved directly from the story of director Peter Sohn's parents and their immigration to the United States, I'd have to say the story comes from a very genuine place - even if it might appear, at first glance, hackneyed. It looks nice as well, so while it didn't blow me away completely I don't think it's a bad movie. Surely the small kids must love this stuff. All that said it's a large step-down in depth and breadth of comedy, and there aren't as many great ideas plugged into this as there have been Pixar films of the past.

6/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73800022

Murmur - (2019)

Donna (Shan MacDonald) is doing community service at a vet's practice after drunk driving when she adopts the terminally ill Charlie, then a cat, then another dog and a hamster and a guinea pig. Soon more dogs follow for Donna, a lonely lady who craves nothing more than to be needed, and loved. Where will it end? Review here, on my watchlist thread.

7/10


By Karoly Grosz - Scan via James Hancock (@colebrax) on Twitter., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...curid=87569006

The Old Dark House - (1932)

This old film, where five young men and women seek shelter during a storm at a run-down old house where a family of eccentrics and mad people live, was one of the main inspirations for The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Features Boris Karloff, Gloria Stuart and Charles Laughton. Reviewed here, on my watchlist thread.

8/10

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John Wick Chapter 2 (2017)

1st Rewatch...Robert De Niro made an impressive directorial debut with this explosive and intense mob drama based on a play written by Chazz Palminteri. A young boy growing up in a Bronx Italian neighborhood finds himself torn between his bus driver father (De Niro) and the local mob boss named Sonny (Palminteri) and as the boy grows up, the two men end up in a battle for his soul. De Niro brings Bronx in the 1960's to life with an atmospheric story rife with mob and racial tension. One thing I really love about this movie is De Niro's often sensitive performance as a work a day, a complete about face of the characters he usually plays and it is a joy to watch. I also loved the fact that Sonny genuinely cared about this kid, never put him in any danger and most important, made it clear that he didn't want the kid to grow up like him. Also loved the performances of both Francis Capra and Lillo Brancato as the young and teenage C. Brancato's resemblance to De Niro is frightening, they really look like father and son.

1st Rewatch...It was a box office smash that actually inspired two sequels though I have always thought it a tad overrated. This is about four buddies traveling to Vegas for a bachelor party who wake up the next day with a myriad of questions about what happened at the party, primarily, where is the groom-to-be. The cast and director do provide laughs though it does start to run out of gas before the end.

2nd Rewatch...The extraordinary Oscar-winning performance by Joaquin Phoenix continues to anchor this sad and disturbing re-imagining of the most popular Batman nemesis. The title character has been given entirely new backstory that has nothing to do with previous versions of the character, actually breathing new life and squirm worthy entertainment into the character. Phoenix gets first rate assistance from director, Todd Phillips, who, believe it or not, also directed The Hangover.

Road House - (2024)

Gets kinda of crazy towards the end, but it's pretty ok. Not bad, not great either.

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Teen Star Academy (2017) I watched this today on Tubi. This is barely a movie. There isn't much of a plot and the acting is amateurish, at best. It's like a strange extended music video or a bunch of Tik Tok or Youtube videos sewn together awkwardly. I'm not sure why this was made. That being said, I did enjoy it and had fun watching it. This is bad in a charming and amusing way. I really liked some of the actors, despite them not being good actors. Teen Star Academy is not a good movie, but it is wonderfully terrible and delightfully awful. I rate it based on entertainment value, not necessarily quality.

New York Stories (1989)



Three stories created by Scorsese, Coppola and Allen. A bit long but nice to watch.

How do you rank the three stories? (from best to worst)

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

3rd viewing.




SF = Z



[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

A Taste of Praise (2023) A Christian baker is sued when he refuses to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. I watched this on Tubi. Some of the writing and the dialogue was poor and the acting wasn't very believable. The story is somewhat interesting, but it is too one sided and heavy handed.