Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Regrouping (1976) Directed by Lizzie Borden. I watched this today on Criterion Channel. It's an experimental type of documentary about women, feminism, art and sexuality in the 70s. I thought it was interesting the way it was filmed and edited. This wasn't what I expected, but it worked well for me. I was surprised by the nudity, but I enjoyed it. Highly recommended.

IIRC, you’re in Oz. You seem to get a lot of movies that we don’t get here for streaming. SMILE, for example, which I would love to see.

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

1st Rewatch...David O Russell and his muse, Jennifer Lawrence followed up their smash Silver Linings Playbook with this melodramatic docudrama about a single mother who invents a mop and finds initially success with it on QVC but once, obtaining a modicum of success, finds unscrupulous businessmen crapping all over her success. The story is a little formulaic, but Lawrence's Oscar-nominated performance in the title role has the viewer routing. The supporting cast is solid, include Lawrence's Playbook co-stars, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, and an icy turn from Isabella Rossini as Joy's nasty stepmother. It's an entertaining film, even if it does wrap up a little too conveniently in a pretty little bow.

It’s not bad. As I posted before, not really into sales of mops.

2nd Rewatch...Bowling has never really been an user friendly sports for movies, but the Ferrelly Brothers had a modicum of success with this comedy about a former pro bowler named Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) who lost his hand in an "accident" who may have found a way back into the business via a not-too-bright Amish guy (Randy Quaid) he discovers and persuades to let him manage and take him on turn. The first time I watched this, I pictured Harrelson and Quaid switching roles, but I have re-thought this and they seem to be playing the right roles. The film contains less of the smarmy bathroom humor we expect from the Farrellys and Bill Murray steals every scene he's in as crooked bowling champ Earl McCracken and, as far as I know, this film is only opportunity to see Randy Quaid in drag.

1st Rewatch...Confusing and overlong mob drama that follows the cat and mouse between an FBI detective named John Connelly (Joel Edgerton) and the leader of Boston's White Hill Gang, Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp). This film gets progressively more confusing as it rolls across the screen because it is never really made clear exactly what the deal is with Connelly and Bulger, which Connelly convinces his superiors is going to be their benefit, but Whitey's reign of terror gets more dangerous to the point where Connelly actually finds himself getting arrested before Bulger, which is where the film loses me. Depp works hard at being menacing but the only scene where he achieves this is with a brief scene with Connolly's wife, played by Julianne Nicholson. The supporting cast is solid including Benedict Cumberbatch, Kevin Bacon, Peter Skarsgaard, Jesse Plammons, and David Harbour, but the film is still curiously unmoving in its attempt to create a Sopranos-type story.

Filmed by Sean Wang, Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó follows his two grandmothers, who live together, as they spend their time having fun and, by their own admission, being silly. The documentary was mostly filmed in 2021, during the peak of the pandemic, when most people didn't have many options to go out. It shows what seems to be the daily routine of the grandmothers, although they admit to Wang that "it's only because you're home that we're this silly".

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Even if you haven't spent the last few decades desperately wanting to know more about what happened before the events depicted in The Omen (1976), this movie has a bit more to offer than the average horror prequel.
Without giving too much away, there's an awful lot of satanic nunsense (pun fully intended) going on in Rome in 1971. The movie doesn't go as far as The Holdovers in trying to recreate the look of 70s films, but I've a hunch it was a deliberate choice to make the cinematography look very similar to those of movies from that period.
Whether or not some of the "shocks" in the movie are things they could possibly have gotten away with in the 1970s is something I will leave for you to decide (I've a pretty big hunch it couldn't have been released without an "X" rating back then).
While there are more than a few thematic similarities with the recent Immaculate, which one is the better film is probably just a matter of taste; I found this one a lot more engaging.
It also benefits from some very solid supporting character actors, including Bill Nighy, Ralph Ineson, Sônia Braga and Charles Dance.


I suspect Indian viewers will get a lot more out of this movie than I ever could - Dev Patel seems pretty intent on delivering a great deal of social commentary regarding India and, personally, I don't know that I could ever really fully appreciate it as much as someone who is from that culture.
Which makes this movie a curious hybrid - is it more of a social commentary movie, attempting to address some of the ills in modern-day Indian society, or more of an action movie that happens to take place in a fictional Indian city? I'm not sure if Patel wanted the film to work on different levels for different viewers.
As an action film, it doesn't fully deliver despite some pretty good stunts and a bit of good choreography that is sometimes done a big disservice by handheld camerawork that is a bit too shaky. There are relatively few action scenes compared to the non-action scenes, at least when you compare it directly against recent action flicks like the John Wick series, The Beekeeper, etc.
And ultimately there are a few too many very stupid mistakes made by the title character for the story to be completely believable - he's supposed to be a man consumed by the desire for revenge, but he just has a habit of letting it slip much too easily. We can all understand a bit of contrivance is sometimes needed for dramatic purpose, but this movie takes that a little to far to overlook.

Riders of Justice (2020)

This is a queer event, a film that manages to meld humour with drama well. A man goes on a revenge mission after his wife is killed with the aid of 3 rather dis-functional cohorts. All the time trying to maintain some semblance of a relationship with his grieving daughter. The story is full of holes but the fact is that's not important because of the performances and the tone of the film overall is pitch perfect for the subject matter. Mads M awesome.

Occasionally, if there's a movie I really want to see and it's not streaming (it wasn't here in Australia either) I keep an eye out for a bargain DVD-wise, which I happened to get with Smile (1975). I'm a collector, so that was never going to go to waste. If not for that, I'm sure SpelingError would have sniffed it out for me in some corner of the web - he has a very particular set of skills...

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The Iron Claw - (2023)

This was a surprisingly emotional watch - a nearly unfathomable true story about the Von Erich family, famous in professional wrestling circles. It's interesting to note that the true story is so heartbreaking the movie even had to dial it back a little. Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) is one of four competitive brothers coached by father Jack (Holt McCallany) - and continually worried about a "curse" that is said to haunt the name "Von Erich". As one tragic disaster after another hits the family, their success in the ring is overtaken by grief and an unspoken awareness that Jack has pushed his sons too hard to compete and achieve. Zac Efron is really good in this, and the film's intimate style really had me hooked big time. This has to be the best of the big '23 films which I missed last year - a loud and clear statement about what parental expectations and toxic masculinity can do to human beings.

8.5/10


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Thriller 40 - (2023)

You can pinpoint the exact second things started to go wrong for Michael Jackson, who we see in this documentary become one of the biggest stars and best performers in human history after releasing his 'Thriller' album and making that short film with John Landis - it was the Victory tour his father made him do, and selling out to Pepsi - emotional and physical pain followed. Great documentary though - an inside look into the creation of the biggest album of all time. Very enjoyable.

7/10


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Great Freedom - (2021)

In 1945 Hans Hoffmann (Franz Rogowski) is taken straight from a concentration camp to prison after liberation in Germany because of his homosexuality - turns out this is a great film about German law "Paragraph 175", and how it was enforced after the war despite being made extreme by the Nazis. Rogowski is terrific as the gentle, determined Hans. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

9/10

Oh yeah, I forgot to add: Disney missed one heck of a good marketing opportunity by not opening the movie at 6am on June 6th

Creating Rem Lezar (1989) Watched on Tubi. A bizarre children's musical about two kids who create a superhero that comes to life. It's not exactly what you would call "good", but it is certainly memorable. This was weirdly amusing. I liked it. It's only 48 minutes. If you folks haven't experienced it yet, check it out on Tubi.

Prizzi's Honor (1985)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

The Time Travelers - To say that this 1964 kitschy scifi is good might be an overstatement. But it's also not as bad as one might think given it's low budget ambience. Directed by Ib Melchior who only helmed six total films including The Angry Red Planet. He did co-write several well known screenplays including Death Race 2000, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, The Angry Red Planet and Reptilicus. It inspired the TV series The Time Tunnel and Gene Roddenberry used it as an example to convince Desilu studios that they didn't need to spend an arm and a leg to bankroll his Star Trek pilot. The studio then hired some of the production staff to build sets and and create costumes which is why some parts might look vaguely familiar to ST:TOS fans.

Three scientists and a power plant technician are working at a college campus lab to perfect their time viewing device apparatus. The screen seemingly works for the first time showing a desolate landscape. Danny the technician (Steve Franken) discovers that he can pass his hand through and decides to step through this "time portal". The rest involves an irradiated Earth, mutants and the last vestiges of a technologically advanced humanity and their android workforce now living in caves.

It stars veteran character actors Preston Foster, Philip Carey, Merry Anders, John Hoyt and Franken. You've probably seen it all before in other low budget scifi films of the period like World Without End or Queen of Outer Space. This one however seems to have a passing familiarity with at least some of the scientific principles being referenced. There's the comic relief of Franken playing Danny the technician but they don't go overboard with it and turn it into farce. Most of these types of sci-fi are tailor made to be riffed on but the screenplay, set design and performances don't give you much ammunition or opportunities. Outside of several cheesecake shots of the featured actresses that is. I guess Melchior was an admirer of the female form. For what it is and the story it's attempting to put forward I guess it could be called a reasonably good movie. You're left with the feeling that some thought and effort was put into this.

75/100

Erin’s Guide to Kissing Girls (2022) A Canadian teen lesbian romantic comedy. This was cute and enjoyable. I thought the young cast did a good job in their roles.

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The Suicide Squad - (2021)

First of all, you need great characters - and this sequel/reboot managed that in spades. Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior) gives this film a real heart, instead of it needing an artificial one (I loved Taika Waititi's cameo as her father), Nanaue (Sylvester Stallone) is a CGI character that absolutely works - pretty tough considering how he looks, Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian) is used sparingly - but has endless comedic potential as "the crazy one" out of a group of crazy people, Bloodsport (Idris Elba) gets to explore some depth to his character without compromising his hard edge, and Elba does really well at that. Margot Robbie's return as Harley Quinn takes what was probably the only thing that worked in the original Suicide Squad and just continues it - although this time she doesn't stand out as much, which is a good thing. Narrative-wise we plunge into black comedy as opposed to a superhero plot arc, and this more resembles a war film like Guns of Navarone, which suits what a "Suicide Squad" actually is much better. As befitting it's darker subject matter, the violence is gory, messy and horrific in an over the top way. It's cartoonish, which helps to balance the light comedic tone. I loved this when it came out, and looked forward to seeing it again - it's simply a good time movie-wise. Funny movie, but the stuff with the rats always makes me go "awww" - I love rats. They make great pets, but only live a few years which is why I don't keep them as pets anymore.

8/10

Monster (2023)



Starts very well, and it's fine all the way to the "teacher on the roof" scene. What follows is so generic, safe, predictable, and bland that I can't believe Koreeda did that. A typical "festival winner" & "normie's darling" film. Pretty manipulative, even in the first part, and no, not because it's structured like Rashomon. That second part is ludicrous. They could make it really good, whatta bummer!

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Beat Street (1984)