Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Squid game 7/10
Vagabond 9/10
The Menu 8/10

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Re-watch. Leo & Brad are excellent in this movie.

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Ya know, I did not care much for this film, though to be clear, I didn't dislike it, but it was instantly one of my favorite Brad Pitt performances, if not my absolute favorite, and it even made me like Leo for 2 1/2 hours.

Definitely not a favorite movie of Quentin or any other director, but Brad & Leo made the movie for me.

Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)

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By http://www.impawards.com/2004/as_it_is_in_heaven.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48656444

As It Is in Heaven - (2004)

As It Is in Heaven has an ending that I can really get behind - I mean, it's crazy (it's an insane ending) but that was part of why I loved it. Nobody can accuse this film of doing the usual. It was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 2005 awards - the same year Downfall was nominated. Both films lost to The Sea Inside, which is really good - but I think Downfall will be the one remembered from the whole group as time goes by. It's Swedish and features Michael Nyqvist as musical prodigy Daniel Daréus - an ultra-famous man who decides to move back to the tiny village he spent his childhood in, before bullies convinced his mother to take him elsewhere. (Michael Nyqvist - I spent half an hour trying to remember the movies I'd seen his famous face in - they were the three Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movies he has the lead in, along with playing the villain in John Wick - he's also in Kursk, A Hidden Life, Europa Report and Colonia - no wonder he felt so familiar.) The bully still lives in the town, only now he beats the hell out of his wife along with anyone else who crosses him. Daniel has an incurable heart problem which means he doesn't have long to live, a factor which complicates the new relationships he embarks on after taking on the job of coaching the church choir. There's a lot of good, emotional melodrama that unfolds in surprising ways - each new scene goes in a new direction, just as we expect a certain crisis to be solved, which makes for a strange kind of disorientating pace.

I think As It Is in Heaven is a great feel-good movie that covers an incredible amount of ground in it's 132 minutes - many characters have added depth, and you feel like you get to know them well. I cared deeply about most of them. The one over-riding theme is the healing, transformational power of music and the love a community can develop when harmonized. Amazing, amazing performances and music along with a tremendously well-developed screenplay.

8/10


By http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/c50b170d, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19407289

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 hours 11 minutes - (1965)

Never mind the title - this is a long movie. It felt twice as long as As It Is in Heaven, yet it only runs 6 minutes longer. It's conscious of the fact too - including an intermission after around 90 minutes. The film's plot is about an air race from London to Paris, but when you get to that intermission at 90 minutes the race still hasn't started yet. That irked me a little. As the plot develops you can see that we're into Wacky Races territory with this. I never saw The Great Race, which amazingly came out the same year, but it can't be much different to this. Most nationalities take part, and the results pretty much mirror the Second World War - the U.S.A, Britain and France do exceedingly well, Italy gets bailed out of everything late, while Germany and Japan crash and burn. The Germans are used as the comedy, and Gert Fröbe as Colonel Manfred von Holstein takes the cake as the funniest of all the actors on display - with his "flying machine instruction book" and the marching band sounds he makes with his mouth - all the while shouting "There's nothing a German officer cannot do!" There are many interesting "birth of aviation" planes which are marvelous to behold, but holy moly this film goes on for far too long - longer than it takes to fly from London to Paris these days.

James Fox, Stuart Whitman, Sarah Miles and Robert Morley (one of my least favourite actors) all appear, along with a wonderfully fun Benny Hill as the head of a Keystone Kops-like fire brigade. That fire brigade is another part of the film that really works well, and got a laugh from me.

6/10

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Of Mice and Men (1939)

(Jeong, 1972)



Also known as King Boxer, this was an important one as it to a large part started the kung fu craze in the west. The series Kung Fu had already started running on tele, and this movie was a big success. It paved the way for Enter the Dragon by showing the audiences a different sort of movie than they were used to. Upon rewatch, I found I enjoyed this even more, especially the characters are interesting here. It's quite a large cast of important characters, and during the movie we sometimes shift perspective between them, including from the bad guys point of view. Mostly we follow the protagonist played by Lieh Lo. The directing is well done throughout and fight choreography is well done, with some shocking moments. At times the story telling is a bit rough, for example when the main character is depicted as training hard for a year, the montage takes about 10 seconds, and then suddenly he is amazing. Overall a strong early kung fu with all the classic ingredients.

Troll

3/5

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The Snake Pit (1948)

I remember watching this at a drive-in.

I watched this at a theater in my hometown. I remember the theme from Ironside playing when the guy's hands started glowing. Tarantino reused it as well in Kill Bill.

SF = Z


[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

By May be found at the following website: http://www.impawards.com/1983/trading_places_xlg.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8618308

Trading Places - (1983)

One of those huge 1980s comedies that I dismissed at the time for some reason, despite my friends really holding it in high esteem. Ironically, it was originally meant to be a Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder vehicle before they dropped out and Aykroyd/Murphy signed up - which would have had my younger self really paying it close attention. I've never really had cause to appreciate Dan Aykroyd as a comedian - but I can see why Eddie Murphy carried all before him at the time. I had the best time I've ever had watching Trading Places when I saw it again last night - I never really laughed out loud, but I could appreciate the comedic performances and overall Prince and the Pauper story. This film makes especial use of race relations at the time it was made, along with a grinding sense of corruption and greed on Wall Street. I just love watching Eddie Murphy do his thing, and many of these early films of his are carried squarely on his shoulders. Director John Landis would completely lose his way after the 80s, making some absolutely terrible films. I'm going pretty high with the rating - but my enjoyment coupled with the love I've heard for this film over the years gets it there.

8/10


Copyright held by the film company or the artist. Claimed as fair use regardless., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5885947

Romeo + Juliet - (1996)

The Baz Luhrmann films I've seen have been a little problematic for me. Moulin Rouge! I liked - but it just had problems. Silly contrivances that infringe on the enjoyment I get from magnificent visuals and great music. With Romeo + Juliet it's the strict adherence to William Shakespeare's original language while setting the film in modern day times. It doesn't work for me, in that it makes everything feel odd and out of place. Constantly, over and over again, I'm thinking "Saying those lines dressed the way you are is making you look ridiculous." I wish I could expel that feeling - but it's always there. It's a shame because apart from that the film is freaking incredible. A wonderful rendition of Romeo and Juliet - with towering performances and electrifying visuals - not to mention the music, and one that makes me really feel what the characters are feeling and appreciate the majestic tragedy, and great love story. It remains a film I absolutely love, and yet hate a little.

6/10

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Violent Night

Is that really minus two popcorns? Yes it is. At the suggestion of a person who shall go nameless, I saw this tonight, in a thankfully nearly empty theater. Just think of a tinkly, snowy Christmas movie, with gang gunfights and Santa gouging out people's eyes with a screwdriver, incinerations, testicle crushing, beheadings and bloody snow. They don't kill baby Jesus or directly defame religion, but that's about the only icon that escapes this movie, something that I assumed was a calculation by the producers about how many protests would come with the movie.

Yeah, I know, it was Tommy Wirkola, the Dead Snow guy. It consciously mocks cheesy Christmas movies, revealing the holiday to be an existential threat to a tight knit family that is the target of a gang hit. Santa is the guy who will tie you up and cut off your fingers. There's screaming, splattering, beheading and snow, reindeer, sleds, a magic Christmas list and incinerations.

I have to admit that while I'm a hard guy to offend, fairly crusty and have seen everything, this movie just seems pointless. It had a few gore-splattering jokes, but mostly, it was just a waste of two hours. I'm not offended...it takes intelligence or purpose to offend, and this had neither. It was just plain dumb, fairly boring and predictable and the point is lost on me.

Violent Night. A gory, mid budget, R-rated, action comedy in theaters? It’s a Christmas miracle! This genuinely made me laugh, the action set pieces are wonderful, there’s actual fight choreography. It’s like watching a real movie. I think I loved it.

The above two Violent Night reviews combined increased my interest in the film. Congratulations

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3:10 to Yuma (1957)

Easy to spot the red herrings but not the actual killer.

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