Rate The Last Movie You Saw

I recently took to watching Brian de Palma's Scarface on a VHS transfer thinking, "Quintessential 80's film on an 80's format—yes this will be cool." ... but honestly what I learned is VHS formats seem to handle "gutter-films" from the 80's and 90's better. "Higher brow" films, (and yes, like it or lump it Scarface is more legit than say other films), don't transfer too well... but then I have Titanic on VHS and love it, so I don't know... I guess it's different strokes for different things... perhaps the "full screen" experience, (knowing the "wide"), tainted some of the experience. All told, oddly, I did enjoy my experience with it... just would stick to more "legit" handling(s) and versions. It's like a great big chicken just waiting to get plucked.

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Imagine an eye unruled by man-made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compositional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception. How many colors are there in a field of grass to the crawling baby unaware of 'Green'?

-Stan Brakhage

Been awhile since I've seen it, but the dynamics of motion through the boat on the waves and the mise-en-scene are really telling in that film an "add more" to the narrative and character interplay as well. Glad you liked it, mate!

I frequently see this sentiment but can’t think of a time I’ve agreed. I value this world of Severin, Arrow and Vinegar Syndrome pristine releases of cult fare. One of two things tends to happen: either there’s more artistry on display, uncompromised by a garbage format OR the incompetence is heightened by the crystal clarity.

I feel I’m one of the few that grew up with VHS, and watched a great many classics that way, but am utterly un-nostalgic for the format.

To each their own.

The Matrix Resurrections (2021)

Maybe I'm too generous with this, but it exceeded my expectations so much that I was left with a mostly positive vibe. I don't usually like these meta movies, but here it worked decently. Nothing too innovative in its jibes towards the entertainment industry and the consumers, but sort of funny to see that in a cash grabby sequel to a major franchise. Also, surprisingly lacking the woke agenda (unless you take the ending seriously, which I didn't). Still, totally unnecessary film.

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Labyrinth (1986)

A bit too childish for me, but still quite an entertaining tribute to classics like The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland.

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The Innocents (2021)
aka De uskyldige

A dark and haunting tale of childhood. Trauma, friendship, curiosity, and selfish childish cruelty combined with a strand of supernatural. Just my kind of film. It ended on my watchlist after @this_is_the_ girl gave it a positive review here, thanks.

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Slither (2006)

I’m with ya man. I still have my VHS tapes from my childhood but once DVDs came out I never looked back.

Well, the thing that got my attention was that my boss, who is Republican enough to throw had a fund-raiser for an extremely Conservative Senator, who had us all "join in prayer for our nation" in his house and my friend who is an exhausting Party Democrat (the worst kind) both recommended it pretty vigorously to me.
Given that there is a political/societal nature to the film, and that no one can have a discourse with anyone from the "other side" about anything anymore, that got me scratching my chin.

New Year's resolution: Watch better movies in 2022

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Captain's Log
My Collection

Lack is so brutal in this. It might be the single worst film performance I can remember. Although Keanu had a couple of pretty bad ones too, now that I think about it.

I had the same experience. Well, up until the notebooks.

I agree.
I thought I was the other way, give me the grainy, dark, and almost out of focus feel of VHS for the low-brow fare.
And then I saw the re-releases of Lemora, Eaten Alive, and Messiah Of Evil.
Now I want that on all my wonderful trash.

I had thought that (about Lack) when I watched years ago. Re-watched earlier this year and thought his performance brought an other-wordly (like it needed it) aspect. He is cr@p though.

My Brilliant Career, 1979

Sybylla Melvyn (Judy Davis) decides very early on that she will not fall into the societal trap of being married off. As various relatives--her mother, her aunt, her grandmother--try to convince her of the importance of marrying well, Sybylla digs in her heels and decides instead that she will make her own way and pursue her own career. This gets complicated when a local gentleman named Harry (Sam Neill) catches feelings for her, and Sybylla realizes that she loves him in return.

I really enjoyed this film, anchored by a very fun performance from Davis in the lead role.

What the film captures best is just how limited the imagination is when it comes to how certain people can live their lives. The idea of Sybylla not marrying is something that so many people just cannot handle. Her desire to make her own way is seen as offensive and an insubordination.

What makes this observation all the more powerful is that the system her family wants her to fall into puts her at a disadvantage. Sybylla is not a beauty, and her looks manage to become the talking point for how people regard her. She is truly treated more like an object, and things like her ability to play an instrument are seen as a fun little extra as opposed to something she might seriously pursue. And while Harry seems to be drawn to her personality, he also does not hesitate to literally push her around, in one sequence dragging her into an empty room and repeatedly grabbing at her. When he believes on their first meeting that she is a servant, his "attentions" are even more aggressive. It's not hard to see why Sybylla chafes at this system, even when there are "nice guys" here and there in the mix.

I had two little complaints with the film. The first has to do with the titular career. Sybylla talks a lot about having a career but, like, what career? She seems to mention a lot of things, but we don't see enough of her being creative, in my opinion. I wish we'd gotten more of a sense of who she is as a writer.

The other complaint is just to do with film and its own reality. We are told over and over that Sybylla is ugly and . . . nope. Just nope. You can frizz out her hair, you can cover her face with a thin layer of dirt, you can make her lips look chapped. But to repeatedly hear characters--and Sybylla herself--refer to her as being ugly was just obnoxious. I can buy the idea that she isn't refined, and that comes across very well and very comedically. But when the guy wooing her starts his proposal with "looks aren't everything" I just had to roll my eyes.

Overall this was a charming and funny film. It made me think a bit of the recent version of Little Women and the idea of a woman's relationship to her art being like a romance in a parallel (and even in competition) to a romance with a man. A very endearing picture.

Have you seen Starstruck? For a musical, the songs are kind of whatever, but otherwise it's a very fun movie, the kind of thing that would have been a favourite had I seen it as a teenager.

I haven't! But it's on Tubi so I just added it to my watchlist.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Re-watch. Could have been more sharply edited. We did not need to see the wedding of Julia Child’s sister, for example.

Amy Adams & Chris Messina very cute together.

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

Samurai Cop has a dazzling transfer that shows at least the camera operator knew how to keep that 35mm film in crystal clear focus, which makes the incompetence he captured all the more hilarious.

The only movies that I wouldn't mind watching on VHS are ones like Sledgehammer, actually shot on VHS. But those are generally harder to come by.