Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Registered User

11-01-20

Originally Posted by Takoma11

The Aristocats, 1970

I watched this film for the 2020 film challenge. It is the last "classic Disney" feature that I hadn't yet seen.

I mean, meh.

The animation is charming, but it feels very much like an echo of other films. The cats' owner looks exactly like Cinderella's wicked stepmother, and a mouse character looks very much like one of Cinderella's little helpers. I recognized several voices from the Disney animated Robin Hood (especially the lead male actor, who played both Little John and Baloo). The music is pleasant, but largely forgettable. I know the tune "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat" from having watched the trailer for the movie a thousand times when I was a kid. I actually learned the serviceable "Scales and Arpeggios" song on the piano as a kid because we had a Disney movie songbook.

Special shout-out to the most over-the-top Chinese caricature I've ever seen (I had concerns when I saw a very white looking name credited next to "Chinese cat" in the opening credits but . . . I was not prepared).

The very definition of a shrug, and the racism keeps it from being something I'd revisit or want to show to a kid, especially when there are so many other good options.

ahhh my favorite classic disney movie as a child

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Msg

Registered User

11-01-20

The Sea Shall Not Have Them, the first of a Michael Redgrave triple-bill I watched the other day. A war film in which Redgrave is carrying vital intel on a plane journey to England when the plane he is travelling on is shot down. Redgrave and a few others survive and spend most of the film in a lifeboat waiting to be rescued.

Law and Disorder, a fine comedy in which Redgrave plays a criminal who keeps getting sent to jail for his various schemes. One of my favourite films of the 1950's. Co-starring Robert Morley as the judge who keeps sending Redgrave to jail, it also has supporting roles by Lionel Jeffries, Joan Hickson and Elizabeth Sellers.

Dead Of Night, my favourite of every film Redgrave is in despite him only being in it for about 15 minutes, lol. An anthology film which has five short stories, told by people in the linking narrative, which also has a great story of its own with Mervyn Johns as the main character.
Highlights include the haunted mirror story starring the lovely Googie Withers, the hearse driver story and the Michael Redgrave story where he plays ventriloquist Maxwell Frere.

Thief

Master of None

11-01-20

And I closed my Halloween month with a rewatch of a classic...

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

What can we say about this film? It's pretty much complete perfection. Pretty much every performance is on point, from Foster and Hopkins to Glenn and Levine. And seriously, I don't think Anthony Heald gets enough credit for his performance as Dr. Frederick Chilton. But anyway, Demme's direction is great, the editing is precise, the script and dialogue is excellent.

Grade:

Despite all my praise, there's one very minor nitpick I'd like to share... am I the only one that finds the whole "Your-self" storage/Hester Mofet anagram bit to be a bit clumsy? and to a certain extent unnecessary? Sure, Lecter later reveals the ties from Benjamin Raspail to Buffalo Bill, but I've never been entirely sold on the execution of that detour.

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AgrippinaX

Registered User

11-01-20

Originally Posted by Thief

And I closed my Halloween month with a rewatch of a classic...

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

I�m with you on that. I�d say it grows on you the more you watch the film; but even during my first viewing, I thought it was odd. There�s an argument that puns are going out of fashion now, but it doesn�t seem like something Lector would find amusing anyway. It�s way too simplistic. Agreed that the Raspail/Bill reveal could have been done differently. Quite a few plot devices in SotL are a bit clumsy to modern eyes. But it does a great job at generating tension, and I guess the self storage bit contributes to that.

Last edited by AgrippinaX; 11-01-20 at 01:55 PM.

AgrippinaX

Registered User

11-01-20

His House (2020)

I was really looking forward to this and wanted to love it, but, alas... the setting, or rather, the set up - the twist on the �haunted house� trope - works well enough. It feels way more legitimate that usual that they can�t leave the property as that will jeopardise their citizenship prospects. That certainly plays out better than the oft-used idea that the family has used the last of the money to move etc... If I remember correctly, that was the case in Conjuring and I was never sold. If you think you�re going to die, you�ll move/run anyway. Anyhow, this is addressed in a more nuanced way in His House, and the

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daughter twist is fine and grounded, though predictable (and hence not much of a twist).

But the tension is missing, and I feel like the horror wasn�t embedded in the �alien experience� premise as much as it could have been.

Haven�t had much luck with horror recently.

Last edited by AgrippinaX; 11-01-20 at 06:31 PM.

CharlesAoup

Registered User

11-01-20

Iron Sky: The Coming Race (F)

Sequel to the movie Iron Sky, about moon nazis invading Earth. This one is atrocious. It starts as an overly dramatic, overly serious pile of drivel, comparable to Pulse 3. Then, it devolves into a script written by a bunch of mid-2000s stoners saying hey, wouldn't it be funny if? And just adding whatever they come up with with zero proofreading. Spoilers: It's never funny. Easily the most heavy-handed, ham-fisted, bottom shelf humor I've seen in any comedy. And the opening song ends with Let's Make Earth Great Again, just to make you wince early. The movie still thinks it can make dramatic moments work throughout, and it's amazing how badly it can't. Not one of them work, and not one joke lands.

AgrippinaX

Registered User

11-01-20

Originally Posted by Takoma11

Agreed.

I also am constantly impressed with

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how sympathetic I find Norman Bates each time. Every note that is creepy is tinged with something equally sad and isolated.

Have you seen Bates Motel (the newer stuff with Vera Farmiga) and, if so, what were your thoughts?

Takoma11

Registered User

11-01-20

Originally Posted by AgrippinaX

Have you seen Bates Motel (the newer stuff with Vera Farmiga) and, if so, what were your thoughts?

I think I watched about 4 or 5 episodes of the first season and never went back to it. I was enjoying it but not loving it.

AgrippinaX

Registered User

11-01-20

Originally Posted by Takoma11

I think I watched about 4 or 5 episodes of the first season and never went back to it. I was enjoying it but not loving it.

I watched it recovering after surgery in hospital and thought I might as well finish it as I was climbing the walls from boredom.
It doesn�t come anywhere near capturing what Perkins� Norman�s childhood might have been like imo.
At the time, I was annoyed at it ruining that character arc for me a bit. Serves me right for breaking the rule to not watch prequels. But I thought it was an interesting attempt nonetheless. If anything, it emphasises how masterful the original�s treatment of Norman is - it definitely didn�t need development.

Marco

Registered User

11-01-20

The Confirmation (2016)

A fine and understated performance by Clive Owen as a recovering alcoholic carpenter. It's got it's rough edges production and storyline - wise. The battle against temptation is well mapped out and gut-wrenching at times. His love and sacrifice for his son shines through.

Thief

Master of None

11-01-20

Originally Posted by Takoma11

I think I watched about 4 or 5 episodes of the first season and never went back to it. I was enjoying it but not loving it.

I think I probably mentioned it to you on RT or Corri, but the show is pretty good. I would say the first two seasons are a bit shaky, as characters and subplots find their footing, but then it's pretty consistent. If anything, it's worth a watch for Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore's performances.

Raven73

Boldly going.

11-01-20

Dracula (1931)
7/10.
First viewing. I compare it to Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), which I've seen many times.
Pretty tame by today's standards. Apparently the studio reported that women had been fainting in the theatres, in a promotional effort (hard to imagine anyone fainting to this movie).
One departure from both the novel and the 1992 movie is that Jonathan Harker (whose role is significantly diminished in this) doesn't visit Transylvania, but Renfield does instead. I also noticed that Van Helsing in this movie looks like Renfield in the 1992 movie. I thought Dwight Frye actually had a better performance as Renfield than Legosi as Dracula.

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Jonsilfab

11-01-20

The Half of It (2020)

Takoma11

Registered User

11-01-20

Originally Posted by Thief

It is something I plan to watch at some point (when I've got the energy for a several-seasons-long show). I know it has overall pretty good buzz.

LChimp

Registered User

11-01-20

Japanese take on the zombie genre. This is the cover of the mangs

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McConnaughay

The Bib-iest of Nickels

11-01-20

I watched a horror film on Shudder called WNUF Halloween Special, it is a film that goes all out to come off like a local television news broadcast from the 80s / 90s, and, as you would expect, that comes with some baggage, but, at the same time, it was a fun film that captured the Halloween spirit.

mojofilter

Keep Moving Forward

11-01-20

BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM
(2020)

First viewing. Not as funny as I wanted it to be. Might get funnier with repeated viewings, as is the case with many comedies for me.

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Jonsilfab

11-01-20

Mirage (2018)

mark f

Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.

11-02-20

Guru, the Mad Monk (Andy Milligan, 1970)

+ 4.5/10
Time Lock (Gerald Thomas, 1957)

6/10
Fleshpot on 42nd Street (Andy Milligan, 1972)

5/10
Kill Me Three Times (Kriv Stenders, 2014)

6/10

Hitman Simon Pegg is really good at his job despite a few hiccups.
New Life (Drew Waters, 2016)

5.5/10
Kindred Spirits (Lucky McKee, 2019)

5/10
May the Devil Take You (Timo Tjahjanto, 2018)

6/10
May the Devil Take You: Chapter Two (Timo Tjahjanto, 2020)

6/10

From the first of the Indonesian gorefests.
I Was at Home, But... (Angela Schanelec, 2019)

5/10
The Broken Butterfly (Maurice Tourneur, 1919)

6/10
Monday's Girls (Ngozi Onwurah, 1993)

6.5/10
Them! (Gordon Douglas, 1954)

+ 6/10

Investigators track a nest of giant killer ant eggs to the Los Angeles storm drain system.
Xiao Wu (Jia Zhang-ke, 1998)

5.5/10
Exil (Rithy Panh, 2016)

6/10
Sexy Sisters (Jess Franco, 1977)

4/10 Kinky Sex Rating: 7
Rachida (Yamina Bachir, 2002)

6/10

In Algiers, teacher Rachida (Ibtissem Djouadi) is shot and left for dead when she refuses to plant a bomb for terrorists.
South Mountain Hilary Brougher, 2019)

6/10
Susie's Hope (Jerry Rees, 2013)

6/10
Citizen Bio (Trish Dolman, 2020)

6/10
Behind the Door (Irvin V. Willat), 1919)

6/10

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After WWI, scumbag Wallace Beery stumbles into the wrong [and unrecognized] man (Hobart Bosworth) who wants to get him behind the door.

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