Rate The Last Movie You Saw

This is the first I've heard of this film. I'll have to check it out, being a big BBT fan.

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The Wizard of Lies - (2017)

We get a Robert De Niro masterclass in this movie has he stars as Bernie Madoff - the real life financial guru who was in all actuality the world's biggest ever fraud - ploughing his way through $64.8 billion in a massive Ponzi scheme. The fact that nobody suspected his criminality lays bare the lack of adequate controls in the U.S. financial system. This movie is interesting from start to finish, and aside from great performances from De Niro and Pfeiffer, it's screenplay and direction from Barry Levinson transform it into a drama full of travesty which focuses on the impact all of this had on Madoff's family (one of his sons committed suicide.) This was my second viewing, and I enjoyed it even more this time.

8/10


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Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - (2006)

In the talented hands of Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, this comedy actually shoots along with plenty of laughs. If you haven't seen it and yet doubt me, I don't blame you. The world of comedy is full of movies which feature Ferrell and John C. Reilly that don't exactly set the world on fire, but I thought Talledega Nights sits one shelf higher than them. The only problem I had with it, was Sacha Baron Cohen - and I usually like him. His character and accent don't click with what usually suits him. Spoofs the whole NASCAR scene, and the element that are usually attracted to it - but everything it does, it does with affection.

7/10


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The Time Traveler's Wife - (2009)

Okay, so, I read the book and just wanted to see how they adapted it. I guess a decent enough job was done. I like Robert Schwentke (the director) - his film The Captain was very memorable. While Eric Bana did suit the lead role, I still think he lacked the charm needed to really let us sink into the movie and get carried away. Rachel McAdams was fine. About Time, which arrived 4 years after this, is superior - as was Domhnall Gleeson's part in it. Competent filmmaking, which succeeds somewhat in getting the feel of the book right.

6/10


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Ace Ventura : Pet Detective - (1994)

Jim Carrey overdid his manic, plastic-faced trademark comedy in this - so revisiting it did not raise it in esteem for me. It's the usual 90s mainstream comedy, besides what it's unusual lead brings to it. If you're wondering why I've rated it as high as I have - every film which features Udo Kier in it gets a point higher rating from me. Don't get me wrong - I like Jim Carrey. Just not in this.

6/10


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Men in Black II - (2002)

The joy of Men in Black was the slow reveal of the hidden world behind our everyday one - the one with aliens, where crazy tabloid journalism was closer to the truth than the mainstream. The slow reveal of what the Men in Black do, and the tools they have to help them. With all of that already revealed in the first film, Men in Black II lacks the fun and surprise of what went before. The effects are a little dated, and the humour only occasionally funny. The "save the world - and the universe" story lacks the grandness it should have, with seemingly a smaller scale than the first film. In other words, it's a typical sequel.

5/10

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I agree that, even though I am not a Will Ferrell fan at all, I have very very mixed feelings about him that trend more toward the negative than the positive, this movie is funny as hell and it is the movie that finally allowed me to find him funny, which allowed me to enjoy Anchorman, which I still enjoy.
To be honest, there's not much else in his filmography I would really watch. And I f*cking hated Elf.


BTW, I agree with you on MIIB. What a disappointment.

The Lost City, 2022

Loretta (Sandra Bullock) is a romance novelist who is in mourning over the death of her husband, a man who shared her passion for history, travel, and archaeology. While soullessly attending a convention to promote her latest (and presumably last) novel alongside her cover model, Alan (Channing Tatum), Loretta is abducted by the wealthy Abigail (Daniel Radcliffe), who wants her help finding a real treasure. Alan mounts a rescue attempt, but he and Loretta end up stranded in the middle of a jungle island with few resources and Abigail's men pursuing them.

Sometimes a movie really works, because it's just the kind of film you need at that moment. We were looking for something light and fun, and this 110 minutes of goofiness perfectly fit the bill.

This is definitely a movie where your mileage will vary depending on how much you enjoy the people in it. I happen to LOVE Sandra Bullock and Daniel Radcliffe, and have generally fond feelings for Tatum, as well as several supporting actors who pop up like Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Brad Pitt, and Bowen Yang. Even when the film's writing was a bit thin, the actors' line delivery and the general sense that everyone was having a good time more than makes up for it.

The central romance between Loretta and Alan takes a few non-typical turns. While it first seems as if the joke is that Alan is a doofus himbo, it's actually established early on that he really likes Loretta and respects her intelligence and her writing. A scene where Alan valiantly (but fruitlessly) tries to get a room full of fans to ask questions about the book instead of directing all their questions at him walks the edge between funny and uncomfortable, and it earns a lot of goodwill for Alan's character. He's someone who doesn't know a lot about Loretta's world and just needs to learn, not someone who is dumb. It might seem like a small difference, but it keeps the film from feeling mean spirited. Through the film the characters reveal their vulnerabilities and losses to each other, and their mutual encouragement of each other becomes the basis of the romance.

The adventuring and bickering of the main characters is the fun of the movie. The purpose of the adventure itself--finding a treasure supposedly buried by a king from the island--is pretty bland. Loretta does some translating of petroglyphs, there are some easily solved riddles about the treasure's location. Radcliffe's character mainly serves to add some urgency to the plot, showing up now and then to menace Loretta and Alan and cajole them into looking for the treasure.

I'd say that a full star of my rating comes from the enjoyment of the actors. If Sandra Bullock going passive-aggressively both stiff and limp when her character is pressured into dancing with Alan doesn't give you the giggles, this might not be your thing.

If you're looking for a generally sweet and goofy comedy, this could fit the bill.

The September Issue, 2009

This documentary follows Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue, as she and her staff prepare for the September issue of the magazine, a sprawling, hundreds-of-pages publication that sets trends for the fashion year.

I'm not what you would call a fashionista, but I do think that the fashion world is interesting. I also enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at an event, and this film delivers nicely.

Anna Wintour was infamously the inspiration behind Meryl Streep's character in The Devil Wears Prada. When asked by the documentary crew what her greatest strength is, she quickly answers "decisiveness". We see this in action all through the film, and Wintour green lights or throws out various outfits, images, and ideas, all while walking the line of still respecting her contributors.

Interestingly, and understandably, the documentary crew really seems to have fallen in love with a woman named Grace Coddington. Grace is a former model and now works as a photographer for many of Vogue's high-end fashion shoots. Frequently over the course of the movie Grace and Anna clash over which of Grace's photos will be included. As Grace explains, the older she gets the harder it is to see her hard work discarded. At one point, she notes that the photographs that were rejected amount to about $50,000 worth of investment.

I think it's in Grace's work that you feel the most tension between the artistic and the commercial elements of the fashion world. The purpose of the magazine is to highlight fashion trends, but it's also to get people to buy clothing.

In a sequence I found really interesting, they take a photo of the documentary's camera man in profile with a model. The note immediately comes down that the camera man's belly needs to be "retouched", ie they want to digitally erase the slight pooch of his belly. When the camera man repeats that he was told he needs to hit the gym, Grace is visibly upset. "You don't need to be perfect," she says, "Isn't it enough that models are perfect?" She gets on the phone and gives a direction that the camera man not be edited to look like "some skinny male model". Before this scene, we learned that Grace's own career ended when she was in a bad car accident that permanently damaged one of her eyes. The movie never gets into the idea of how fashion magazines perpetuate certain body types or definitions of beauty, but it's there on the edges of a lot of scenes.

Then there's just the interest of watching different people dance around and negotiate in a highly hierarchical system. Andre Leon Talley is on hand to provide some of his signature over-the-top personality.

A solid documentary, though your interest will vary based on how much you're into the world of fashion.

I really grew to love Elf. And have you seen either Stranger Than Fiction or Everything Must Go? They both feature Farrell in a mostly dramatic role and I think he acquits himself quite well.

Dr. Strange Into the Multiverse - I saw it and hated it. I was angry over how ridiculous this movie was, and how overstuffed it was with characters that it did not need. I was facepalming numerous scenes such as America's parents and the "Illuminati". I also found that Scarlett Witch's character ripped off King Pin from ITSV as to how both want to cause havoc around the multiverse in order to be with family. I found the movie very pretentious as well as how all of this random stuff is thrown in to look badass, but then the movie looked overblown instead. I hated that you needed to watch these other shows in order to understand it. I hated the Scarlett Witch villain. The two people I was watching it with(my brother and dad) also hated it and we all had headaches after this one. My brother and I both said, "What the hell was that," after this mess of a movie was done. I think that I should stay far away from the MCU. I have higher hopes for when I watch Everything Everywhere All At Once, as I think it will make a better multiverse movie.

What to watch next - La Dolce Vita, Double Life of Veronique, Singing in the Rain, All That Jazz, A Woman Under the Influence, La Strada, Solaris, etc.

Jungle Cruise
6.5/10.

Better than I thought. It's a bit like the Indiana Jones movies, but with less-interesting characters and storylines. Sadly, this is probably the Rock's best (live-action) movie to date. Also, as beautiful as the waterfalls in Iguazu National Park are, seeing them in every adventure movie located in South America is overdone. Which Disney Theme park is next, Space Mountain?

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Boldly going.

Whoops, this one didn't connect with me. I mainly watched it to see BBT work out, but his role was pretty stock and unmemorable. S. Bullock did a nice job of acting, but I never believed her character for a minute. IMO she was miscast. It should have been either a female actress with more gravitas, or a male actor. But that's not the way they're rolling in Hyd these days. As it was I had to bail about halfway through. The picture could have had potential, but they drove right by it.

Adventures in Babysitting follows Chris as she decides to take a babysitting gig to keep her mind occupied after her boyfriend cancels their anniversary dinner. The subjects of their care are siblings Sarah and Brad (Maia Brewton and Keith Coogan), but Brad's obnoxious best friend Daryl (Anthony Rapp) also inserts himself in the equation. But things go awry when Chris' best friend Brenda calls her for help from Downtown Chicago after she ran away from her home.

This is one of those films that I remember seeing often when I was a kid/pre-teen, but that for some reason, I hadn't revisited in probably 20 years or more. Turns out it held up extremely well. In his directorial debut, Chris Columbus takes a very whimsical approach to the situations, similar to what he would do later in Home Alone. It doesn't matter the kids are being chased by criminals or that they're hanging from building ledges, it's all handled with a fun and adventurous tone.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Dead Bodies, 2003

Tommy (Andrew Scott) has broken up with his girlfriend Jean (Katy Davis), but Jean didn't quite get the memo. When the two of them get into an escalating argument that begins to turn physical, Tommy pushes his way past her to leave. But that one little push ends with Jean's death. Not wanting to risk jail time, Tommy enlists his friend Noel (Darren Healy) to help him cover up Jean's death. But Tommy must contend with a dogged detective (Sean McGinley) and a new girlfriend (Kelly Reilly) who both seem to take a keen interest in Tommy and Jean's disapperance.

I mixed this title up with the film Dead Birds that came out around the same time (I remember they were shelved next to each other at the video store where I worked). I was expecting a supernatural thriller, but instead got a crime/comedy/thriller very much in the vein of Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave.

In fact, this film seems to borrow very heavily from Shallow Grave, operating with a similar "everyone is kind of trash and up to no good" worldview.

I really like both Kelly Reilly and Andrew Scott, and both of them bring a lot of charm to their characters. Unfortunately, while the writing does at time manage to land some decent comedy bits (such as a scene where Viv shows Tommy some Rorschach inkblots and he claims to see more and more outlandish things in them) and while the actors do their best to energize the different scenes, the writing is almost too glib.

There are some interesting plot developments along the way, but ultimately this is the kind of movie that you can feel is just a mad scramble. Who will be alive at the end and who won't be? Who knows. And it becomes hard to stay invested in characters when you know that the film is happy to kill them off arbitrarily. Plus, if you've seen even one or two of these types of movies, you'll be able to guess one of the biggest plot twists before you even hit the halfway mark of the film.

Watching baby Andrew Scott and Kelly Reilly do their thing was fun, but in the end this was kind of a lackluster viewing experience.

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Thelma & Louise - (1991)

Finally. Finally. Thelma & Louise is a favourite for certain members of my family, so I've been seeing bits here and there for many years - and to be honest there wasn't much I hadn't seen. But that can never make up for sitting and watching it whole, which is a great experience. There was controversy when it was released over it's portrayal of men? It was pretty much spot-on regards a certain element. These two are forced into an increasingly dangerous corner because of an attempted rape, and end up a pair of outlaws - although two of the nicest, most fun and sympathetic in the country. One of the best from all involved - Ridley Scott, Davis, Sarandon, Pitt, Keitel and all those with smaller parts.

8/10


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The Equalizer - (2014)

This film belongs to a certain definitive type of 21st Century action/thriller film - the Invincible Spook vs the Russian Mafia. Much like the John Wick films and Nobody, but here director Antoine Fuqua utilizes the man he most often turns to : Denzel Washington. If you know the type, you know what to expect. Many henchmen being dispatched with ease, and in excessive style. Washington's "Bob" is so good at what he does he'll leave you breathless, and an actor I'm noticing a bit lately - Marton Csokas - gives us a soulless Russian fixer as a villain, in a very good turn. Creeping over the 130 minute mark might turn some people off, but this was crisp and expert filmmaking.

7/10


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Red Dog - (2011)

In the Pilbara region of North Western Australia lived a Kelpie/cattle dog that became so well known a statue was erected in it's honor - there were enough anecdotes regarding this travelling canine personality for Nancy Gillespie to write a book, and it was published in 1983. In 1993, Beverly Duckett added Red Dog: The Pilbara Wanderer to the canon. This movie about the same dog is a little hokey, but it's also nearly guaranteed to make you cry just a little. Good dog.

6.5/10


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Sliding Doors - (1998)

If you already know about the central conceit regarding this film (and who doesn't) then there's not much to find here except your stock-standard romance. I found it a little empty - but maybe if I'd seen it when it was first released I would have been wowed more regarding the whole butterfly effect vs destiny statement it was making. I just wanted to tick this off the list, and while it's not spectacular, it doesn't do anything terribly wrong either.

6/10

That's alright. Nothing of much of note happens in the film's second half. I didn't think it was awful, but like you I think the film had so much more potential that it failed to deliver.

Dead Birds is actually pretty decent. One of the few western-horrors that work. It's definitely worth a watch.

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Silent Trigger, 1996

A sniper (Dolph Lundgren) and his spotter (Gina Bellman) arrive at an abandoned skyscraper where they are to complete an assassination. However the two have already met once before, in a disastrous mission where the shooter's hesitation nearly resulted in the deaths of both agents.

If you were to offer me $20, I do not think that I could explain what happened in this film. I found both the present-day and the flashback sequences confusing.

I like Dolph Lundgren well enough, and I think that Gina Bellman is a good actress (although at times I find the atonal/nasal quality of her voice a bit annoying). The story itself, though, was just muddled. The film also strips away any sense of what these people are doing or why, and it's hard to root for people when they might be getting ready to murder an AIDS researcher or a human rights activist or something.

The movie also has a scattered quality, jumping back and forth in time and introducing different conflicts in the present. A ridiculous amount of minutes are spent on a subplot about a security guard at the skyscraper (Christopher Heyerdahl) who is determined to rape Bellman's character. By my count he made three separate attempts, including a final one in which he donned a kevlar vest because she'd already pulled a gun on him!

Neither character gets any kind of decent development. Lundgren's character is, what, a little too human for the job? He doesn't want to fire on a woman holding a child, and then he also hesitates in the present-day attempt. So why does he still have this job? He's portrayed as a jack of all trades tough guy, naturally, but there's no dimension to him past that and some vague gestures at sadness or hesitation about the job. Bellman's character doesn't fare much better. She's at once meant to be tough and capable, but also needs to be vulnerable enough that Lundgren can rescue her. Of course she sleeps with Lundgren's character and is shown fully nude and sleeping. Like, c'mon. She's in the middle of a job and she's taking a little sex nap next to her sniper rifle? There's good ridiculous and bad ridiculous and this fell in the latter category for me.

There were one or two decent action moments, but overall this was underwhelming and by-the-numbers. A shame, because they could have done much more with the acitng talent on hand.

LOL, my dad texted me this morning to tell me he was watching this, and couldn't wait for the closing credits to find out who performed the theme song

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Captain's Log
My Collection

King of the Travellers (2012)

This is slightly better than it sounds, I was actually impressed by Steve Collins acting (bit of a boxing hero of mine)....and the main lad does well in his part. It's predictable but, for me, did keep the interest.

Just finished watching Not Okay on Disney+ (in some countries, it is on Hulu). Directed by Quinn Shephard, this dark comedy/drama is about a young woman looking for attention who lies about going on a trip to Paris. When a terrorist attack happens close to where she was supposed to be, the lies escalate and she pretends to be a survivor of the attack. Zoey Deutch does a great job playing a complicated character who isn't very likeable. The real standout for me is the beautiful 18 year old Mia Isaac who plays the survivor of a school shooting. Her performance is fantastic, impassioned and powerful. The film tackles a lot of tough subjects and manages to balance different tones in a way that really worked for me. There are some funny moments and some really interesting scenes. Not Okay is a sharp and clever film, boosted by strong performances. One of the top 10 films of the year so far. My rating is