Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Mike Birbiglia: Thank God for Jokes - Here he performs more as a regular standup than a monologuist. But just like in his other specials where he dissects and breaks down how and why he got to this point in his life, here he explores the concept of humor and of jokes. He also touches on being raised Catholic and on humor's volatility when mixed with religion. And he does a pretty good job of it, all while entertaining a sold out crowd in Brooklyn. He shares experiences from his life on the road including a disastrous hosting gig in Canada with The Muppets. But the highlight has to be the true story of his hosting the Gotham Awards in front of a star studded crowd where director David O'Russell is scheduled to win a Lifetime Achievement Award. Not to give too much away but this anecdote is prefaced by Birbiglia's musings on inappropriate levity. After asking for advice from his unfailingly pragmatic wife he decides to be true to himself as a comedian. Which turns out to be the heart and soul of this particular special.

80/100


Mike Birbiglia: My Girlfriend's Boyfriend - Here he sort of explains why he is the way he is vis a vis relationships. He goes all the way back to his middle school days which apparently were equal parts reticence and incompetence. The rest of his experiences through college and then young and single can be summed up as Mike Birbiglia is a nice guy. With all the inherent drawbacks and frailties that entails. You just have to persevere and avoid turning into one of those embittered incel types and believe you will find that one person you're supposed to be with. Which is what happened with Birbiglia when he met his future spouse Jennifer Stein. Being allowed a glimpse into his life and his inner workings you feel that's a good thing because Mike Birbiglia seems like a good guy.

85/100


Mike Birbiglia: What I Should Have Said Was Nothing - Tales From My Secret Public Journal - His first standup special from 2008. He was younger of course and even though the trademark diffident delivery is there you can tell he's still sort of finding himself. Following the guidance of his therapist Birbiglia starts keeping a journal of all the crazy things going on in his life. He eventually starts sending these little vignettes to all the people on his mailing list. This also coincides with a shortage of standup material so that soon enough he starts incorporating his hilariously thorny personal life into his onstage performances. And this touch of serendipity lead to all manner of exceptional stagecraft.

80/100

It takes a long time to get started, and I can see how a lot of people were disappointed by its ending, but there is some real genius here. It reminds me of David Lynch's Inland Empire.


It's a story about a man accidentally finding far more than he was supposed to. It gets a lot stranger and surreal than your traditional Noir mystery, but the ending fits the story and genre well.


It does take a LONG while to really get started, and it peaks a little early with the Songwriter scene, but overall it works.





I like that

By The poster art can or could be obtained from IFC Films., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44730926

Match - (2014)

Sometimes the performers in a certain film can really lift it, and that's what I found happened with Match - what would have been a perfectly ordinary film for me was one I enjoyed immensely because of Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard. I have to admit though, lately I've been getting a lot out of films based on plays - perhaps I'm more into dialogue at this stage in my movie-watching existence. Anyway, spoiler rich territory in this one, so I won't say much - it starts with Lisa (Gugino) coming to New York with her husband Mike (Lillard) to interview famous dance instructor Tobi Powell (Patrick Stewart) for her dissertation on the dance community of the 1960s, whereupon the interview goes in a very unexpected direction. Stewart knocks this one out of the park - such a gifted actor. Must have been a great play (by Stephen Belber) to see - originally featuring Frank Langella, Ray Liotta and Jane Adams - I wish I could go back in time and catch a performance. Loads of fun, and a great mix of melodrama and humour.

7.5/10


By Intellectual property owned by Christian Petzold. - http://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2012/08...oster-barbara/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37065773

Barbara - (2012)

Another look over the Iron Curtain into East Germany, where doctor Barbara Wolff (Nina Hoss) is being persecuted by the Stasi while working at a small out-of-the-way hospital, watched, searched, questioned - and all the while planning her ultimate escape. There's more to it than that though - so my review is here, on my watchlist thread.

8/10

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I Like Movies (2022)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Pretty much an identical reaction to me. Brilliant film. Brilliantly directed. The parents home in the film was the actual home the Director grew up in, which must have made it such a personal project for him.

Wow, That's some experience in a theatre. Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast, Under the Skin) has created a film about the Nazis and the holocaust quite different from any other I have experienced. It is set in the family home of key Commander Rudolf Hoss, who lives in a lovely house – right outside the walls to Auschwitz concentration camp. Glazer lets his audience see Hoss’ family routines, strife and happy moments, all the while next door his ideas and slaughterings are taking place. Immediately after the showing I was not sure what I had just seen and experienced. The film is artful but has moments of abstractness and odd quietness. After having digested it for a good few hours, I can safely say it’s one of the films of the year (already).

The key to this film is what we hear. The sound design is absolutely devastating, in that it induces the power of suggestion. We already know what has gone on in these camps, because we have seen countless films which have burned indelible images on our brains. Glazer piggybacks on this and lets us hear only the audio, while we see Hoss and his family enabling all of this terror. In this respect it reminded me of the Lanzmann documentary Shoah – very few actual images of the suffering.

Most holocaust films I’ve seen have reduced me to tears, this one did not, but it is arguably more horrific than all the others because we are shown what it takes for evil to manifest itself into what is otherwise a normal family, What caused it. What started it. And what didn’t do enough to stop it. It’s an impeccably directed film, and save for one possibly awry directorial choice which sets itself apart from the rest of the film, it is an absolute must see. And a must hear.

I'm afraid your rating system is too general. You need the freedom of having more decimal places. I think this is definitely a 9.34994494 film.

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Mindcage - (2022)

Discount Silence of The Lambs. Also, Martin Lawrence is really bad in this, it seems he got inspired by Chris Rock, after he watched that Saw spinoff

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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?

You've rated it a bit too high for me there. Each to their own I guess.

Yeah, 9.34994493 sounds closer to it.

They don't re-make em like they used to!

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Topaz -

For most of the running time, I was confused by this late period Hitchcock movie's lukewarm reception because I found myself really into it. Its inability to stick the landing likely explains it, but on the whole, I found it to be a pretty good Cold War spy thriller. Frederick Stafford is Andre Deveraux, a French secret agent working in D.C. who acts upon a Soviet defector's intelligence, goes to Cuba and uncovers a certain missile crisis you may have heard about. Upon returning home, his investigation takes him to a place he wouldn't have expected: his original home.

Despite a French accent that wavers as much as Keanu Reeves' southern one in The Devil's Advocate, I like Stafford as the leading man. While he's no Grant, Connery or Stewart - well, who is - he has the necessary presence and charisma. Also impressive are John Vernon as Cuban official Parra, who's at his steely-eyed intimidating best, and the incredibly charming Karin Dor as Juanita, Andre's Cuban mistress and Hitchcock's version of a Bond girl. With Dor as well as gadgets and subterfuge Q would dream up, it is not far off from being what would happen if Hitchcock made a Bond movie. There are also the moments that make you understand why he is the master of suspense, the highlight being Andre, with the assistance of Roscoe Lee Browne's spy/florist, swiping a briefcase and taking pictures of what's inside before Parra discovers it's missing.

From the Statue of Liberty in Saboteur to Mt. Rushmore in North by Northwest, Hitchcock knew how to properly end a thriller, but that is not the case here. The typical image in the third act is men in suits talking in conference rooms, and what's more, instead of seeing what sounds like an exciting getaway, someone tells us what happened instead. It was nice to see French acting legends like Michel Piccoli and Philippe Noiret, and given that the Cold War was not only still in progress, but also had shades of grey, an ending like the ones I mentioned may not have been appropriate. Even so, "entertaining" is not how I would describe it. I still give the movie a mild recommendation, and while this isn't saying much, it is more enjoyable than Torn Curtain. Just prepared to ask "so, that's it" when the credits roll instead of sitting in stunned silence.

Child 44 (2015)

Being in hibernation mode at the minute the duvet is out on the setee and I'm trying to catch up on some films. Child 44 isn't bad, has a great cast (Hardy, Rapace, Considine, Oldman) but it has a blandness about it that comes from the flat direction and poor dialogue. The key ingredients are somewhat wasted. As I say, it's not altogether bad but just a bit bloated. Recommendations for a film on the same line would be Citizen X, a TV movie but a great one.

Mean Girls (2024)

Man Hollywood's diversity agenda murders another promising film. The irony in all of this is that you had the right person to race swap in A'uli Cravalho as either Regina or Kady and you just made her a Lesbian version of Janis. Janis isn't supposed to be a lesbian it's the mean thing that the mean girl did. But this film race swaps both friends and makes Janis gay so Katies friends are now the most diverse people possible. You are making the film that's central theme is about exclusivity inclusive...

Angourie Rice plays Cady and see looks like a good ginger...she's a fake ginger. But more importantly...it's a musical where she can't sing. Renee Rapp can sing but she looks 30 half the cast looks age appropriate and the other half doesn't. You need age continuity in casting that is much more important than checking off boxes for diversity hires.

Anyways not going to say the film was terrible...it just could have been much better than what was put out.

C+

It's too bad this is pretty much universally despised because having read the book, it would have made a great movie. I encourage everyone to read it. I also agree Citizen X is worth seeing.

2nd Rewatch...Star power is the main attraction in this slapsticky comedy which finds a long divorced couple pretending to still be married for the wedding of their adopted son whose non-English speaking mother is coming to the wedding and doesn't believe in divorce. The solid ensemble cast includes Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Topher Grace, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Robin Williams, Christine Ebersole, David Rasche, and totally stealing the show, Susan Sarandon as De Niro's current live in girlfriend and Keaton's best friend, who politely agrees to stay from the wedding but we know that's not happening. It's pretty predictable, but the cast makes it worth checking out.

Three good movies.

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1st Rewatch...This joyous and often moving HBO documentary is a birth to death chronicle of the entertainment icon, from her childhood with a no-nonsense dad and an alcoholic mom, through a career that garnered her seven Emmys, two Golden,Globes, a Tony Award and an Oscar nomination. As I mentioned in my original review, this documentary is not really for people who want to learn about the star, but for the people who already know and love her and want to revel in that love and adoration. Even on rewatch, i found myself fighting tears throughout and think a lot of that has to do with the fact that, even though it's been seven years now, I'm still in denial about the fact that she's gone and if you feel the same way, this film is appointment viewing.