Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Popping a DVD into the player for my late night movie. It's that classic from 1942, Casablanca. Movies have rarely been better than this. With wartime drama and urgency, music performance from Dooley Wilson as Sam (Play It Again, Sam, As Time Goes By) and an iconic cast including Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman as Rick and Ilsa, creepy Peter Lorre as the sleazy smuggler, Sidney Greenstreet as the "civilized" smuggler and Claude Rains as the chief of police, it's classic black and white Hollywood about as good as it ever got. This DVD is about as pristine with images as could be for a 1942 piece of film. It's a compact movie that goes right to the point, no wasted words or scenes and terrific iconic imagery, hard to forget.


Uh Oh. Methinks something is wrong on the site. No matter how many times I post a Casablanca clip, this weird thing shows up with a wheelchair kid going off a cliff.

Destroy All Neighbors 7/10

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That's a great review Gideon, pretty much how I felt. I really could have done without the wise-cracking and a bit more of menace. Conor MacGregor does his panto bit well but it kinda descended into farce.

Peace by Chocolate -

If you'd like to understand why Roger Ebert referred to movies as "empathy machines," this one is a decent place to start. Syrian refugees in Canada indeed founded the titular candy company, and in this dramatization of how it came to be, you gain a pretty complete understanding of what the immigrant experience is like. The movie ably runs the gamut from language barriers to culture clashes to unfavorable responses from locals to personal sacrifices. The latter is the source of the most compelling drama thanks to Ammar's work as Tareq Hadhad, his family’s eldest son who understandably wants to take the opportunity to break free and continue his medical studies. As you would expect, it is not that simple, especially in the moment when he thinks he has all the I's dotted and T's crossed only to have everything blow up in the worst way. As the company's success indicates, this movie does not just cover the hardships. It does well at proving that a little kindness and willingness to walk in someone else's shoes goes a long way. I was especially moved by the Hadhad's sponsor, Frank (a very good Mark Camacho), and how he works around the family not wanting to accept a loan with interest. In the new, non-family employees, investors, etc., we also observe how the Hadhads' success hardly benefits them and only them. I must also give credit to all the well-timed comic relief given the subject matter, especially in Tareq's confusion over Canadian colloquialisms and his father's less than subtle distaste for the local chocolate.

While the Hadhad's story moved me and I walked away with a better understanding of what it means to be a refugee, that does not excuse how ordinary the filmmaking is most of the time. As good as Ammar is as Tareq and how true his struggle to follow his dreams while pleasing his family at the same time may be, it's a familiar arc that doesn't rise above its many other portrayals. Also, stylistically, its look and feel could be best described as "Lifetime movie-adjacent." Again, if you want to know what an "empathy machine" is, have interest in actual immigrant success stories and/or the company in general, it is worth watching. Otherwise, if you're in the mood for something like it that also features extraordinary moviemaking, see The Big Sick or The Visitor (2007) first.

Umpteenth Rewatch...This delightful romantic comedy from 1972 still holds up thanks primarily to the three first rate starring performances. The story of a commitment-shy kook falling for a young blind man, who is being watched over by his ferociously protective mother still has endless rewatch appeal. Goldie Hawn has rarely been more enchanting in one of her earliest roles and Eileen Heckart's Oscar-winning performance as Don's mother defines the term Best Supporting Actress. Edward Albert (son of Eddie) made an impressive film debut as the sensitive blind young man, a performance which won him a Golden Globe for Outstanding Newcomer.

2nd Rewatch...The inventive direction by Derek Cianfrance and the powerhouse performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams in the starring roles help to make this film better with each rewatch. It's one of those films where I notice something new I never caught during the previous watch. Gosling and Williams play a hard working married couple with a daughter who decided they need some alone time and check into a hotel while leaving their daughter with her grandparents. We observe a marriage that is deeply troubled and we get some insight into what might have gone wrong in this marriage via flashbacks. It's absolutely insane the way Cianfrance makes such jarring shifts from the present to the past that it's extremely difficult for the viewer to keep up, demanding undivided attention that takes awhile to pay off. Didn't learn until this viewing that this film was almost entirely improvised, making the experience all the richer. It's so unsettling where one minute we're watching this couple uncomfortably moving around this hotel room and the next watching the first time they meet. The scene where Dean bursts into Cindy's workplace and causes a scene is worth the price of admission by itself. Gosling brings a real De Niro quality to Dean and Williams' Cindy earned her an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. The most unsettling thing about the movie is the primary question posed, what went wrong in this marriage, is never really answered.

Just watched this as thought I would like it given the write ups...I was wrong.

Re-watch of a delightful movie.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Prank Squad (2023) Watched on Tubi. A group of innocent children involved in a prank war have their childhood dreams smashed when one of them is abducted by an evil couple. They must put aside their differences and work against the clock to save the little girl. This is a gritty and dark crime drama that pulls no punches. The film is anchored by the brave and powerhouse performances from the main little girls. This disturbing neo noir thriller builds suspense until finally reaching a shocking and hard hitting conclusion. Recommended if you like raw and edgy independent dramas.

I liked this movie too...a link to my review:

https://www.movieforums.com/reviews/...-paterson.html

Tx. Will check it out later.

More home video purchases...



A Bullet for the General (Damiano Damiani / 1966)
The Big Gundown (Sergio Sollima / 1967)

Two terrific Italian Westerns! A Bullet for the General stars the late, great Gian Maria Volonté as El Chuncho, the leader of a group of bandits who steal and rob trains. Supposedly their efforts are in service of the Mexican Revolution and a rebel general named Elias, but Chuncho's actually a bit more mercenary, hoping to profit from the sale of stolen weapons. Klaus Kinski plays El Santo, Chuncho's religious fanatic brother who is even more committed to the cause. And Lou Castel portrays Bill Tate, nicknamed Nińo, a mysterious well-dressed young American who falls in with Chuncho and his gang but has an agenda far more sinister and mercenary than Chuncho's. Less a traditional Western than a south-of-the-border period action/adventure story, very intelligently written with a bitingly satirical tone as well as some barbed political commentary.

And for some more action on the U.S./Mexico border, we have The Big Gundown, in which deadly professional bounty hunter Jonathan Corbett (played by Sergio Leone's "Mr. Bad," Lee Van Cleef) is assigned by a railroad tycoon to track down a Mexican bandit named Cuchillo (the always-brilliant Tomas Milian), who is wanted for having supposedly committed a heinous crime, but while Cuchillo is certainly no saint, he may in fact be the victim of a frame job. The film's story consists primarily of a very entertaining game of cat-and-mouse between Corbett and Cuchillo, as the bandit manages to consistently evade and thwart the bounty hunter's best efforts. It seems the two are just far too evenly matched! Eventually, Corbett comes to know the truth about Cuchillo and the true perpetrator of the crime. But I'm not going to say anything more...

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"It's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid." - Clint Eastwood as The Stranger, High Plains Drifter (1973)

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou - 2004



Loved it. Pretty relaxing movie. Wes Anderson's favourite crew present again in this "aquatic adventure". Jaguar shark Funny !

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https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2980592/


In hindsight I enjoyed the movie, but the reveal took way too long. It was as if I was watching 2 separate movies. Felt like a discount less serious Drive, but good nevertheless. Oh, and RIP Reddick.

I agree that Casablanca was a near perfect film. There were no weaknesses in it: the acting, the story, the humor. It was the right film, with the right story, coming out at the right time. One of the great films. It's surprising to think that the producers didn't think much of this film when it was made.

Re the images you referenced. It's an April Fool's joke. I fell for it too. Even made a post about it on the site thread...

Late Night with the Devil (2023)
I really enjoyed this movie of a a late night TV host whose Halloween special goes awry. It's an independent film and only the costumes and set give it away. The acting and the writing are good. But I would have liked it if they had employed a joke writer to beef up the TV shows banter. The editing is excellent.
One interesting touch is the actor who plays the producer looks just like Hyde from That Seventies Show. Thee TV host goes to The Bohemian Grove. For those not up on their conspiracy theories, the Bohemian Grove is a hideaway for the rich and powerful to commune with Satan and drink adrenochrome. There is a ex-magician who debunks paranormal incidents. He is kind of like The Amazing
Randi without the charm. There are a lot of Easter eggs in this movie. It was good fun for a comedy/horror film.

By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74314488

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - (2023)

I'm not a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (when people first heard about them they thought the world was going mad - now we're well used to such creative expression) but I have to say this Jeff Rowe-directed animated film is ultra-stylish and quite good. It takes everything back to the very start, and has a freeform kind of animated style that's really interesting. The screenplay is genuinely funny, and smart - it has more in common with the recent 'Spiderverse' films than anything else we're seeing at the moment, and while the film isn't quite up to that level of brilliance, it was still worth my time checking it out. It also didn't rake in as much money as the animated Spider-Man film, but did quite well for itself I think. The voice cast includes such luminaries as John Cena, Seth Rogan, Rose Byrne, Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Ayo Edebiri (who has done so much this year) and Paul Rudd - so it's no low-key arthouse release obviously, but nevertheless feels less mainstream and more edgy with it's smudgy, tangled visual style and cool Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score.

7/10


By Universal, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68810546

The Super Mario Bros. Movie - (2023)

The last animated film from 2023 I need to cross off my list looks really nice but doesn't have a story or screenplay with as much sparkling wit, interesting narrative or inventive ideas as the other offerings I saw. One thing I did like very much though was that angry dog - I laughed every time I saw that dog, who only makes a brief appearance at the start of the film. Other than that it has a plot you'd expect to find in a Mario game and some nice references. I enjoyed the film's look and animation, but couldn't get really invested in the story, and aside from that dog the jokes didn't land with me either. Kids might really like it a lot though, although I'm not sure how steeped they'd be in Mario lore - I'm the one who has played the games from Donkey Kong on down to the more expansive ones.

5/10

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I adored Mutant Mayhem. That animation and soundtrack are extra glorious in 4K.

So glad you enjoyed this. Mark Jenkin is one of the most interesting British directors working. He's a Nicolas Roeg devotee, and it shows (the red coat etc). His first film Bait is great too. All his audio is recorded in post and added on to the films, which in itself is extraordinary.