Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Once were warriors (1994)

This is a troubling but great insight into the troubles of the Maori people distilled into one family's life. The father Jake "the muss" seems to have given up having lost a menial job and doesn't even seem to care as his life seems pointless. Spends his time with his "mates" drinking and neglecting his family. His wife is admirably trying to find a better way for their children. The violence is uncompromising but that is the credo that the community are living in. Be harder, survive. How frustration/hopelessness leads to alcoholism and violence is perfectly portrayed. Superb performance from Temuera Morrison and a sobering watch.

I thought Dogtooth was great and felt a bit like Haneke's allegories especially The Seventh Continent.

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire(2024)

Well good news bad news...bad news this is easily the worst of the four Ghostbusters films that didn't feature the ladies. The good news is that it's still significantly better than the Kristin Wiig and Mellissa McCarthey vehicle...that received better reviews than 2, Afterlife and Frozen Empire.

The film has a number of little things and small flaws that accumulate throughout the film. What I mean to say is if you like Ghostbusters you'll find quite a bit to enjoy in this one. On the other hand if you hated Ghostbusters 2 get ready for a lot of disappointment.

So the big difference between Afterlife and Frozen Empire is Frozen Empire moves very quickly. 60% pf this film is world building comedy. This film introduces it's characters and concepts well into the second act. The film never takes a moment to breathe and to let an action set piece feel like a horror film. The magic is very much gone...which is a shame because the humor is here.

The biggest issue with the film is the GGI. So many parts of the film just look bad because they are computer animated and not in the style of the classic Ghost Busters. Two of the ghosts in particular look really bad especially when compared to the 84' versions. The film also has way to many characters in particular Podcast and Lucky who when you combine with every other person means we have about a dozen ghostbusters. When you have a team that big you don't really have a lot for people to actually do.

A different director likely would have made this into a very good movie...but we ended up with something that was just fine.

It is rather dispiriting (no pun intended) that the latest installment of the Ghostbusters franchise doesn't try to be much of a comedy. Sure, there's a few chuckles here and there (mostly relying on viewer's familiarity with the original films), but it can't really be said to be much of a comedy.
Which is a shame, given that the franchise about combating the undead seems to, uhm, well, determined not to go to the big franchise afterlife.
At this point, any newcomers to the franchise must be just dying to know what the fuzz is all about - are the movies really worth so much enthusiasm on the part of its fans?
It's easy to forget what made the 1984 movie stand out among so many other FX-heavy movies to become one of the biggest hits of the 80s. But it really came down to some pretty sharp comedic skills, and the way the movie constantly kept pointing out just how downright nuts its whole premise was.
And 40 years later, the freshness has long since run dry; what's left is a cast that mixes the old pros and a lot of promising young actors (not one of whom has really great comedic skills), and a rather generous (and perhaps unhealthy) dose of fan service.
Despite how likable most of the cast is, the movie really feels like it's been stretched awfully thin to fill out a 2-hour running time (the film is also exceedingly poorly paced, with long stretches of interminable exposition while we wait for the Big Fight that we know is coming towards the end).

One interesting tidbit: this movie is MCU-adjacent by a factor of 5!

Also worth noting, I got a cool pin with the mini Stay-Puft man, at least that gag still gets a few good laughs 40 years later.

I thought Session 9 had a lot more to give. The Cam shooting certainly was authentic but not fleshed out. I worked in an Asbestos removal team BTW #9in a Uni). I could watch Peter Mullan all day but this didn't grab me.

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Monster's Ball - (2001)

Wow, well. I'd sure forgotten how much pain and tragedy there was in Monster's Ball. Basically, when you come down to it, it's about two people who lose everything - but (I know, this sounds corny) find each other. Hank Grotowski (Billy Bob Thornton) loses his son, Sonny (Heath Ledger) when he impulsively commits suicide in front of him, quits his job, and puts his father, Buck (Peter Boyle) in a home when he racially abuses the woman he's fallen in love with. Leticia Musgrove (Halle Berry) loses her husband Lawrence (Sean P. Diddy Combs) when he's executed via electric chair, and her young son Tyrell when he's hit by a car. Their shared grief comes to a climax in a charged sex scene that spares us nothing. It's Hank that goes through a transformation from bigot to humanitarian via the whole series of events that unfold - and for once it's a kind of believable transformation. Continually struck by these savage blows, and on hand when Leticia's son is killed, Hank is humbled and he sees what he's never seen before. Berry won her Oscar for Best Actress by giving us a mix of grief and anger which beset what would normally be a bubbly and happy person. It is performance-driven, and admiring the various great actors at work is the way to get the most out of it.

7/10


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One Cut of the Dead - (2017)

Rewatch - a live, one shot 'zombie film' goes awry when disaster after disaster plagues the production. Lots of surprises in this, and the reason I watched it yet again is the fact that I'd just watched Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes and was entertained. I just felt the need to hook up with another nagamawashi movie.

8/10


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Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes - (2020)

Kato (Kazunari Tosa) discovers a computer monitor which allows him to see 2 minutes into the future via a television in the café he owns - and once his friends find out absolute mayhem ensues when they try to experiment with this new-found wonder. Simply a hilarious, inventive and amazingly original movie. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

8/10

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Repo Man (1984)

We all knew Amazon's Road House remake wasn't exactly likely to be an Oscar contender, so, like, no one should be surprised that it delivers exactly what it promised?

Yes, the movie is definitely as dumb and gratuitously violent as you'd expect it to be; it is, in fact, so inherently stupid and grotesquely bloodthirsty that I feel a solid case could be made that it would make a Neanderthal blush.

Let's look at the bright side: the sunny locations (the Dominican Republic doubling for the Florida keys) are very pretty, and Daniela Melchior as the required love interest is, well, easy on the eyes.

Other than that, there's nothing in the movie that merits a long write-up or, for that matter, a whole lot of thought.

If there was some kind of cinematic award for movies that are meant to be watched with your brain turned off, then this new Road House would likely be as utterly undefeatable as its protagonist.

Love One Cut of the Dead. The ending always makes me cry.

Daimajin -

I'm not sure if I want kaijus to exist - at least not how movies depict them - but if I were forced to bring one into our world, it would probably be Daimajin. The movie is an enjoyable fantasy that hopes, like I do, that if one comes along, it will punish the wicked. First of all, talk about beautiful! The color photography has an enhanced, otherworldly quality that is reminiscent of Kwaidan's. It is easy to accept that our exiled sibling heroes could spend so much time in their forest enclave because the movie makes it seem like a slice of heaven. As for the villain who forced their exile, Ryūzō Shimada not only does a great job at making him easy to hate, but I also like that the character believes it is foolish to have faith in Daimajin. Luckily, the movie manages to do the latter without offending believers or non-believers. As for the grand finale, it worthily pays off the buildup thanks to special effects that make determining where the actual buildings end and their models begin impossible.

I hesitate to talk more about the finale; after all, it's hard not to when it's the main draw for movies like this one. It's so satisfying that it does make more than one scene preceding it seem trite and/or dull in retrospect. Other than that, I highly recommend it for kaiju lovers, especially ones who tire of seeing ones set in big cities. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to hoping Daimajin actually exists because seriously, watch the news lately.

ALL 3 MOVIES ARE EXCELLENT.

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2nd Rewatch...Breezy crime caper with the Rat Pack at the top of their form, with standout work from Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis Jr, and a laugh out loud cameo from Shirley MacLaine. We got a remake followed by two dreadful sequels forty years later.

1st Rewatch...Wayans did something with this concert that I had never seen a comic do before. He concentrated the concert on one event: what happened at the Oscars when Will Smith smacked Chris Rock, which upon my initial viewing, seemed like overkill, but upon this rewatch, I actually took notice of how superb Wayans' writing is, in terms of story structure. He recreates the event, admits how much he enjoyed it initially due to some unresolved feelings about Rock as a rival. He then flashes back and tells us where his resentment of Rock came from. He then recalls his first meeting with Will and Jada and then returns to Oscar night and explains why what Smith did was so stupid. He then offers his vision of how black and white audience members must have reacted to the event and wraps with how Smith screwed up a historical night for blacks and what he would have done if he had been Chris Rock. It's really a beautifully written piece of comedy.

Dune Alternative Edition Redux (edited by Spicediver) 8/10

The Giant Gila Monster (1959)


I'm a big fan of eco horror and monster movies but this one falls a little flat. A giant lumbering Gila Monster slooooowly plods through the countryside and somehow manages to eat a couple of dozen people. The cast isn't bad, the script is moderately better than a made for Syfy movie but you don't really get to see the Gila Monster interact with anyone - it's just some footage of a Gila and shots of people reacting to it. At least movies like THEM! or The Deadly Mantis try to use practical effects to put the monster in the same scene as its victims.



The train crash is hilariously bad.

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Set during World War II, The Zone of Interest follows the lives of the family of Rudolf, Nazi commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. As the war rages on, he and his family are settled in a house right next to the camp; a house where they live their best lives, enjoy picnics, swims in the river, garden parties at the pool, all while next door, the most terrible atrocities are occurring. But director Jonathan Glazer makes the bold choice of not showing us *anything* that happens beyond the wall; all we get are the horrifying sounds.

The Zone of Interest is an impressively crafted film. The direction and cinematography are meticulous, and the ice cold performances are on point. However, I won't deny the fact that after it finished, I was left more puzzled than impressed. But then, it happened. As the days went on, the film slowly crept up inside of me to the point that I just couldn't stop thinking about it. Unlike this family, the constant sounds of machinery, the screams of anguish and horror, the ever-increasing gunshot sounds, they're all things you can't ignore.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023)

Cute movie, very well done and effective. Well, it is a bit scheming too, adding on the second plan some offence towards the religions which almost spoiled the film. Anyway, the main character (Margaret) is quite enjoyable to watch.
+
72/100

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The Wheeler Dealers (1963)



Another 60's rom-com I hadn't seen.

I've got kind of mixed feelings about it.
There were a few genuine chuckles here and there, and some cringey moments, but they seemed to overload it with stock-market jargon that seemed to make the audience (= me) feel somewhat out of place in a plot that at times seemed overcomplicated.

The movie has a feminist theme, yet almost makes the idea of feminism a joke itself. For instance, in one scene, Lee Remick (looking stunning throughout) is heading up a meeting of female investment analysts and talks about how men think women are unsuited for the business world because they too quickly become emotional - as she's speaking, she becomes over emotional about what she's saying, thus making the accusation true by demonstrating it. The movie seems to laugh more at feminism than support it; like showing "yeah, women ARE too emotional to function in man's world - here, we'll show you as the lead character loses it at the idea that women are overly emotional!"

At least James Garner (who is a slightly unscrupulous investor) never crossed the "red lines" that Lee Remick draws in the sand - she refuses to be a floozy and James (as much as he tries to get her in the sack) respects that... until the end, of course, when Lee offers her affections willingly.

The best thing about this movie was the amount of cameos by actors whose names I don't know. It was almost like "It's a Mad Mad Mad World" except with that movie's all-star cast, the comedians were all major names. In this movie there is a plethora of 2nd-string comic actors with extremely recognizable faces, but whose names you may not remember.

P.S. Finally caught James "Scotty" Doohan in a non-Star Trek movie. (Only movie I can recall seeing him in where he wasn't playing Mr. Scott.)

Regarding Monsters Ball, Sonny wasn’t Hank’s son, he was his brother