Rate The Last Movie You Saw

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (Michael Bay, 2016)


Needs less propaganda and more anal sex.

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Well yeah. You could say that about anything.

It's been a while since I've been on, so this might be a long read. You've been forewarned.

1. Hard Candy - 9/10 - Found this movie while browsing through Netflix at the beginning of the month, decided to give it a watch. It stars Ellen Page as a teen girl who meets up with, goes to the house of, and entraps and tortures a man that she suspects is a pedophile.

Honestly, the movie is really good. The acting's well done, the dialogue works for the movie, and the story is concise. My issue with it is the cinematography. Sometimes, it was a clear picture; other times, it was shaky cam; and in one particular scene, there were lens flares everywhere. Aside from that, all in all solid film. Definitely not for kids!

2. 10 Things I Hate About You - 9/10 - Two things that helped me love this movie: I'm a Heath Ledger fan, and I'm a William Shakespeare fan. This is a modernized retelling of "The Taming of the Shrew" that stars Ledger, Julia Stiles, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, among others I don't recall seeing in any other movie, as high schoolers trying to hook up on dates with two sisters: the older is "the shrew", a girl who doesn't like anyone and wants to make a statement with her life; the younger is a typical ditzy girl who wants to date. Their father approved of the younger sister dating...if the older sister dated as well! Cue the hilarity, the nonsense, and all the plots!

As far as high school movies go, this is among my favorites. The acting is pretty good, the dialogue and jokes are hilarious, and the story is enjoyable! Recommended to those looking for a good rom-com, but don't bring the younger kids in to see this! Also, it's a pity that some channel decided to make a run-of-the-mill teen show out of it years later.

3 & 4. The Godfather & The Godfather Part II- 10/10 - I have finally gotten around to seeing The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, and oh my! I have been missing out! Crime dramas are among my favorite genres, so why it took so long for me to see these is beyond me!

Simply put, the movies are amazing in every way, and to be honest, I thought The Godfather Part II was better than the first film, but even so, they're both masterpieces! The acting is spectacular, the dialogue is fantastic, the stories are wonderful, the editing is superb, the list goes on! Definitely a must-watch, but probably not for kids, as there is a lot of language, blood, and violence in both movies. Also, a heads-up - both movies are long (The Godfather is 2h 57m; The Godfather Part II is 3h 22m), so be sure to have the time to watch them!

I also watched La La Land and The Lego Batman Movie recently, but I haven't actually prepared a review for either. I can say this, though: I give La La Land a 10/10 and I'm debating on either an 8/10 or 9/10 for The Lego Batman Movie.

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Coming in 2017: two short films and (maybe) another feature-length film. More details another time.

Extended thoughts on my thread.

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"I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me" (Frank Costello)

Fences. 8/10

Network (1976, Sidney Lumet)


This film may not be perfect - it may come off as overly verbose and a bit theatrical at times, and some parts of it just don't seem to work as effectively as the others. But when it delivers, it delivers in spades. Long story short, it simply resonates with me, both in terms of thematic content and how it merges drama with deadpan comedy. It's brilliantly acted, too. The "I'm mad as hell" speech is the most cited one but it's not even my favorite speech in the film - it's chock full of them. Which says a lot about how well written it is.

A classic.

Joy Division -

What a miserable bunch of dudes.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

It's a re-watch, but what a re-watch.

I honestly don't understand how come this movie didn't win an award for Visuals. They are gorgeous at hi definition. And whoever would think that a movie about Dr Strange could actually be good?

There were a couple of things I personally didn't enjoy that much or would have done a bit differently [tone down his jokes - Stephen Strange isn't a humorous character at all- , make him far more egotistical and make him suffer a bit longer till he finally redeems himself] but I understand why it was done the way it was done.

Have absolutely no problem whatsoever with The Ancient One's character sex change. Don't really think portraying him [it's a him in the comics, though he also shapeshifts] as a long bearded Kung Fu Master out of those 60's and 70's Japanese flicks would be smart [though there is a nod to it when Strange enters Kamar Taj]

The use of Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive was such a cool feature [for those that don't know, Pink Floyd's second album "A Saucerful of Secrets" cover is straight out of Dr. Strange's comics. And it also features "the living Tribunal" character that is referenced in the movie - Mordo presents a Relic called "the Staff of the Living Tribunal" - and, as a curio, Pink Floyd also reference Dr. Strange in their song "Cymbaline"], so it is in perfect alignment with the 60's and 70's psychedelic movement [and Dr. Strange was a great read for the stoners back then]



8/10

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The Woman in The Window (1944)


Excellent noir from Fritz Lang. Not convinced on the ending but it was great up to that point.

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

REwatches
Resident Evil (2002)

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

They are getting better, Iro... but as I remember the streak stopped with Extinction. We'll see once I continue my Resident Evil run-through.

Other films:
Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)
Jackie (2016)
The Fast and the Furious (2001)* - starting up my Fast watchings leading up to the premiere of the 8th film in the franchise, as I did with the 7th film...

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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Hmm, well, you already said that you hated Afterlife, but looking back I consider it a bit of a rough draft for Retribution. The first two thirds are a pretty standard zombie apocalypse story (albeit with some decent characters thrown in like Luther and Chris), but the third third sets the tone for Retribution rather nicely. I still maintain that that's the series' Fast Five, though now I wonder if I've built it up too much.

I think you have.

But, I did see a short action scene with the crew escaping in a military-like vehicle, and I didn't think that looked too bad. I'm pretty sure it's that Afterlife entry that had screwed up the franchise completely for me and clouded everything. Hopefully my expections for the rewatch are so low I might enjoy it. And perhaps it'll be the other way around for Retribution.

X-Men Apocalypse

Yep... they totally screwed a great character.

Moneyball (2011)

The Bronx Bull
Originally meant to be a sequel to 1980's Raging Bull, this is more of a new take of the life of Jake LaMotta. Most of the film is set before and after his in-ring career whereas Raging Bull focused more on his life in the ring and shortly after his retirement. William Forsythe will no doubt be unfavorably compared to DeNiro, but he brings his own style to the role of LaMotta and for its production value, it works here. One thing I did like is when LaMotta has an obstacle in his life that he must face, it juxtaposes to him fighting in the ring, as if he ready to face said obstacle head on. Definitely not a classic, but not bad for a biopic.

Rating: B-

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I had practically the same reaction when i rewatched it for the first time in four or five years a few months back. It's in my top five definitely and is my favourite Disney.

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

The story was deep, amazing, encouraging. The simple man stands up to his principles and Christian values. It was a complete package. There was love, forgiveness, fear, anger, sorrow, etc, simply anything from the variety of basic human emotions, virtues, vices. Also the acting was excellent (Garfield and all around him). Up until here I was really enjoying.

However does Gibson need to be this explicit with the graphics? Why he needs to supplement such a beautiful story with all that butchery? I think the graphics were too elaborated, quite over the edge. I understand it's about the war, but this will not help me to comprehend as I've never been in one.

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You can call it the art of fighting without fighting.

Out Of The Blue -

Great film. I'm pretty pissed right now because i lost a long write-up i had done for this . So just my general thoughts. This could have actually been higher as it had a big effect on me. The reason it wasn't was because i had a mixed reaction to the first half, some stuff really worked like the super intense prison visit scene which was one of the best parts in the film, some didn't mostly during the part she had run away. As well as that some of the performances weren't very good like the cheerleader who Cebe hated and there was some crazy editing choices, some i liked but the scenes ending really abruptly got annoying. The second half however was completely amazing and so devastating. Those last ten minutes were extremely depressing and horrifying, everything from when Hopper was released was in a more understated way then those last ten were just nuts. The performances of the main four characters were fantastic too particularly Hopper i was stunned that he played such a horrible character in his own film, loved the soundtrack too. Wouldn't make a habit of watching this coz as i said it was really devastating to me, but i did kinda love it.

Wait, does it mean I missed something in 2016