Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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The trick is not minding
I have The Hitch Hiker saved and ready to watch for the 2020 challenge. It’s been a film I’ve had on my watch list since forever.

I, Daniel Blake is a great film, and I’ve started diving further into Ken Loach’s films this month. Tubi has several of them available.





HELLO DOWN THERE (1969)

This is an odd one; sort of a Jetsons meets Sealab 2020 meets The Partridge Family kinda thing.

Tony Randall is a scientist that, unbeknownst to his family and boss, designs and builds a futuristic underwater home as a response to the imminent population crisis. The boss is annoyed to find that his funds have been used for this project and threatens to dismantle the home, unless Randall can find a family to live in it for a month to prove its viability. Randall of course volunteers his own family and ostensibly-funny hijinks ensue. (They're not really funny).

So this isn't great and I wouldn't recommend it, but it's fun to talk about anyway. To wit:

*It's directed by Jack "Creature from the Black Lagoon" Arnold, with underwater scenes directed by the Gillman himself, Ricou Browning. Reunion!

*The cast is loaded with recognizable faces of the era. Jim Backus is the boss, Janet Leigh is the wife, Roddy McDowall is record producer Nate Ashbury (get it?), and smaller roles are played by Charlotte Rae, Ken Berry, Harvey Lembeck, and Merv Griffin as himself.

*Randall's teenage son and daughter are members of a rock group known as Harold and the Hangups. Harold is played by Richard Dreyfuss on vocals and bass. Things get meta when Dreyfuss has to assist Randall during a shark attack.

*It is no doubt 100% coincidence that a film from 1969 features a submarine that is yellow.

So...yeah. This film's idea of humor is along the lines of "There's a seal in the living room! LOL!" The whole thing feels like it could've been a pilot for a sitcom. A lame sitcom that I wouldn't have watched. Again, the fact that it exists at all is more interesting than the act of actually watching it. If I had to find something positive to say, I'd point out that the retro-futuristic set design might appeal to fans of that aesthetic.



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HELLO DOWN THERE (1969)

This is an odd one; sort of a Jetsons meets Sealab 2020 meets The Partridge Family kinda thing.

Tony Randall is a scientist that, unbeknownst to his family and boss, designs and builds a futuristic underwater home as a response to the imminent population crisis. The boss is annoyed to find that his funds have been used for this project and threatens to dismantle the home, unless Randall can find a family to live in it for a month to prove its viability. Randall of course volunteers his own family and ostensibly-funny hijinks ensue. (They're not really funny).

So this isn't great and I wouldn't recommend it, but it's fun to talk about anyway. To wit:

*It's directed by Jack "Creature from the Black Lagoon" Arnold, with underwater scenes directed by the Gillman himself, Ricou Browning. Reunion!

*The cast is loaded with recognizable faces of the era. Jim Backus is the boss, Janet Leigh is the wife, Roddy McDowall is record producer Nate Ashbury (get it?), and smaller roles are played by Charlotte Rae, Ken Berry, Harvey Lembeck, and Merv Griffin as himself.

*Randall's teenage son and daughter are members of a rock group known as Harold and the Hangups. Harold is played by Richard Dreyfuss on vocals and bass. Things get meta when Dreyfuss has to assist Randall during a shark attack.

*It is no doubt 100% coincidence that a film from 1969 features a submarine that is yellow.

So...yeah. This film's idea of humor is along the lines of "There's a seal in the living room! LOL!" The whole thing feels like it could've been a pilot for a sitcom. A lame sitcom that I wouldn't have watched. Again, the fact that it exists at all is more interesting than the act of actually watching it. If I had to find something positive to say, I'd point out that the retro-futuristic set design might appeal to fans of that aesthetic.




What I wouldn't give for one of those homes today as the world swirls the drain.





I, Daniel Blake, 2016

An emotional watch, but a good one.

This too is a favorite of mine.



I have recently watched The Millers



ONE WEEK
(1920, Keaton & Cline)



"Home is where the heart is"

I'm pretty sure I had seen bits and pieces from this short before. However, this is the first time I had seen it whole and what a hoot it was! Like most of the Keaton shorts I've seen so far, the highlight are the stunts and physical gags he pulls. In this instance, the many ways he uses this house to create some great physical comedy.

But aside from the excellent stunts and physical gags, there's an effective sentimentality in it as we see the groom struggle and eventually resign to not having a proper home. But, as the saying goes, as long as they're together, their home will be wherever they are.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
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Northwest (Dn) 2013

I can honestly say this reminded me of early Refn. Low key, urban nickle-bagger crime movie and maybe as violent as "Pusher" and "Bleeder"...probably the latter when it comes to settling scores....not to bundle it in with them as the style and content are quite distinctive in their own right.

it's probably between there and a 4 to be honest.







SF = Zzzz


[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





Re-watch. Better on a 2nd viewing. Interesting subject (sort of The Family Way(ish) & the two leads are excellent. Good book too.



Had no idea what to expect from this, but very good movie based on true facts in the Balkans. Lead actress carried this movie. She’s new to me & so talented. Horrible how futile war is.



Re-watch of an excellent movie. I don’t know which movie I like best in Bergman’s trilogy - they are all so good.
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The Rover - Watched this not too long ago but I liked it so much that I felt compelled to watch it again. Second movie from director David Michôd following up Animal Kingdom. Taking place ten years after a world financial collapse it focuses on deracinated drifter Eric (Guy Pearce) as he aimlessly wanders the Australian outback. Three men on the run from an unspecified robbery damage their getaway vehicle and steal Eric's. The rest of the film involves his single minded pursuit of the thieves and his stolen car. That is a bare bones description though. Pearce turns in a galvanic performance as a hollowed out husk of a man. The spartan script by Michod and Joel Edgerton doesn't bother holding the viewer's hand or shedding light on what's going through Eric's mind at any given moment. It allows the audience their own interpretation. Some might see this as a shortcoming or needlessly opaque but to me it made the film.

Robert Pattinson costars as Rey, the younger brother of and part of the crew led by his brother Henry (Scoot McNairy). He was wounded during the robbery and left for dead and crosses paths with Eric who uses him to lead him to Henry and the other two men. Rey is a bit simple minded and has what some would call a complicated relationship with his older brother. He's a born follower and can't help but imprint on what he sees as an authority figure in Eric.

This all takes place against a backdrop of what under normal circumstances would be considered a somewhat feral and foreboding place called the Outback. So the barter system/flea market economy and the ubiquitous army patrols don't come off so much as apocalyptic as they do marginally sketchier. I thought the payoff in combination with Eric and Rey's story arc was up to snuff. This is one of Guy Pearce's best roles, right up there with Memento and The Proposition. And it was also Pattinson's first steps in his journey to divest himself of the albatross that was Twilight.

85/100







The Rover - Watched this not too long ago but I liked it so much that I felt compelled to watch it again. Second movie from director David Michôd following up Animal Kingdom. Taking place ten years after a world financial collapse it focuses on deracinated drifter Eric (Guy Pearce) as he aimlessly wanders the Australian outback. Three men on the run from an unspecified robbery damage their getaway vehicle and steal Eric's. The rest of the film involves his single minded pursuit of the thieves and his stolen car. That is a bare bones description though. Pearce turns in a galvanic performance as a hollowed out husk of a man. The spartan script by Michod and Joel Edgerton doesn't bother holding the viewer's hand or shedding light on what's going through Eric's mind at any given moment. It allows the audience their own interpretation. Some might see this as a shortcoming or needlessly opaque but to me it made the film.

Robert Pattinson costars as Rey, the younger brother of and part of the crew led by his brother Henry (Scoot McNairy). He was wounded during the robbery and left for dead and crosses paths with Eric who uses him to lead him to Henry and the other two men. Rey is a bit simple minded and has what some would call a complicated relationship with his older brother. He's a born follower and can't help but imprint on what he sees as an authority figure in Eric.

This all takes place against a backdrop of what under normal circumstances would be considered a somewhat feral and foreboding place called the Outback. So the barter system/flea market economy and the ubiquitous army patrols don't come off so much as apocalyptic as they do marginally sketchier. I thought the payoff in combination with Eric and Rey's story arc was up to snuff. This is one of Guy Pearce's best roles, right up there with Memento and The Proposition. And it was also Pattinson's first steps in his journey to divest himself of the albatross that was Twilight.

85/100
I also liked that one quite a bit.
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The Rover - Watched this not too long ago but I liked it so much that I felt compelled to watch it again. . . . . It allows the audience their own interpretation. Some might see this as a shortcoming or needlessly opaque but to me it made the film
Yeah, it is a very solid and very compelling film.

This is one of Guy Pearce's best roles, right up there with Memento and The Proposition. And it was also Pattinson's first steps in his journey to divest himself of the albatross that was Twilight.
Pearce is great in this, and this was the film that had me taking Pattinson seriously even while he was still getting crap about Twilight (and having seen the first film, I'd pretty much written him off as an actor).