Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Terrifier - (2016)

Lowbrow night for me last night meant I was watching bits and pieces of person flying across my screen and Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) getting up to all kind of devilish antics in what was a pretty much a stock standard slasher. Pretty gruesome - I imagine this elicited some shouts when playing in theaters. The clown himself is a kind of perfect make-up effects creation that is the only feature of the film that really distinguishes it from anything else, other than just how yucky and nasty this gets. There's not really all that much more to say about Terrifier - I liked it as an "oh that's too much...too much" horror movie and slasher. It lacks in excitement because overall the filmmaking isn't that great, but make-up effects are very inspired.

6/10


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Jawbreaker - (1999)

Lord save me from high schoolers who want to be popular and beautiful, especially if that's all they care about even after accidentally killing their good friend. My review for Jawbreaker is here, on my watchlist thread.

5/10

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1st Rewatch...This rather blah dramedy is the story of a writer {Jeff Daniels) who wrote a runaway best seller 20 years ago called "Me & God", but hasn't written a word since and lives like a hermit. His back pain finds him connecting to a chiropractor and single mom (Lauren Graham) while his desire to clear the clutter out of his condo finds the alcoholic owner of a bookstore (Lou Taylor Pucci) looking to him for answers to staying sober. The fuzzy screenplay really hurts this one...the main problem with this story is that we are never told exactly what "Me & God" said, making it impossible to latch onto the rest of what happens in the rest of the movie. The only thing that really works here is a charismatic, Jack Nicholson-esque performance by Daniels in the starring role.

3rd Rewatch...For my money, the finest performance of Paul Newman's career that should have won him his first Oscar. Under the guidance of one of my favorite directors, Sidney Lumet, Newman is simultaneously explosive and heartbreaking as Frank Galvin, an alcoholic attorney whose career is circling the drain and is given a final chance for redemption with what appears to be a slam dunk case regarding a woman going into a coma after given the incorrect anesthetic. We then watch Frank's will being broken as his case methodically begins to fall apart. Lumet and Newman get a grand assist from near brilliant screenplay that clearly delineates most of the good guys from the bad guys and keeps us on Galvin's side. The only moment where Galvin loses sympathy is when he meets his expert witness and is distressed to see that he is a 74 year old black man. This is some of Lumet's greatest work, telling so much of the story with great pictures. I LOVE the opening shot in the film where we see Galvin, in a bar, in a suit and tie, playing pinball with a full shot glass sitting next to him...this scene perfectly sets up the story. I've only watched this four times because it is a very difficult film to watch, but every time I do, it destroys me.

I'm a huge fan of musicals - and consider myself lucky to have watched the stage original on Broadway back in the day. But I never quite enjoyed the screen adaptation as much as I would have liked to - and now that I've revisited in Dolby Cinema, my opinion of it is even lower than it was before.

The cast isn't at fault, rather it's the way the movie was directed - a few too many sweeping shots, too many close-ups, choppy editing that leaves very few shots of longer than 20 seconds - that really undermines the potential of a screen adaptation of a rather popular Broadway musical.

It's a shame, because if this movie hadn't aged so badly, it would probably already be a modern classic worth revisiting over and over.

A great film.

Whoops, meant The Verdict...Paul Newman really acted his socks off.

Legends of the fall (1994

This is good as a "watcher" but comes over like The little house on the prarrie The gap in times doesn't really let it flow so it would have been good to see some subtext. Can't cram a good tale into such a slice and I bet the editors did their best. Interesting film but the main performances fell a bit flat.

While I definitely consider myself lucky to have gotten a chance to revisit Nolan's TENET in 70mm IMAX, it really hasn't fundamentally changed my opinion about the movie, which has a pretty good cast and great production values - but doesn't know how to do anything truly memorable with them. Unfortunately, it also ends up feeling bloated and wildly overproduced - it may represent Nolan at his most self-indulgent and pseudo-intellectual.

It's a bit revealing that this movie ends up being more of a nice demo on the kinds of things you can do with the format, than an actual demonstration of it. And, unfortunately, the 70mm IMAX prints for this don't have the same kind of sharp detail that was visible in Oppenheimer when watched in the same format.

Those of us who attended the 70mm IMAX presentations were given a small facsimile of a 70mm print strip (see photo) which goes well with the similar "film" strip from Oppenheimer.

Looking at the positive side of it, it seems fair to say that Nolan may have grown as a filmmaker between these two movies, and learned to make a movie that depends a little more on solid, concise ideas, than on overblown spectacle for spectacle's sake.

The picture impressed me almost as little as it did you. Here's some commentary from 2020:

TENET (2020)

Being hesitant and somewhat ambivalent about watching this picture due to mediocre ratings and an unknown star (to me), it was being referenced so often that it became time to view it.

The film was predictably complex, what with time inversion and time travel, but the story was interesting enough in its weave, but yet rather simple in it’s premise: an espionage thriller in which an organization named “Tenet” tries to prevent World War III. The ins and outs of the action and development are too complicated to summarize here, and I’m not sure I understand it completely at any rate.

As a thriller it’s a dilly. And the special effects are impressive once one realizes what they’re portraying on screen. I prefer the effects in Nolan’s Inception, but here the effects are pretty stunning. Nolan’s experience in battlefield camera work served him well in Tenet.

Still, the picture somewhat fizzles. Through it’s imparted confusion there’s a updrafting sense that something is missing from the overall punch of the production. Perhaps there were so many disparate parts that the project didn’t seem to congeal, to hold together.

Part of the problem was the mediocre acting of the lead, John David Washington. I’m not privy to how he was selected for the part, but he does not have enough acting talent or experience to carry such an important role. He would be fine in a straight action movie, but he is unable at this point in his career to express the nuances necessary to pull off a complex part. This is made even more obvious when his character is interacting with some of the better actors, like Robert Pattinson or Michael Caine.

Bless her heart, Elizabeth Debicki is a decent actress, and has had several fine parts. But at 6’2”, why did they have her wear 5” heels? She already has a giraffe like presence, but making her 5” taller, towering over everyone in the cast, is positively burlesque-- almost a satire. When she was sitting, one could focus on her portrayal, her character. Standing, she was a redwood in an orange grove.

The picture cost $200M. It didn’t recoup it’s expense, and reportedly Warner Bros. lost $100M on the deal. Tenet had the makings of a top film, but as it turned out it’s just an interesting, but off target curio.

Doc’s rating: 5/10

1st Rewatch...I actually got a lot more entertainment value out of this rewatch. It just amazes me that the power of the origimal story hasn't been diluted by some really solid song and dance numbers. One thing I noticed this time is that every moment Fantasia Barrino amd Taraji P Hensen spend onscreen together is gold. They give this movie its heart and I love their two musical numbers together, both done in a fantasy vein. Danielle Brooks just blows me away as Sophia and I wouldn't mind her seeing her win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar though I don't see it happening. Love her first number "Hell No". Something about Colamn Domingo's performance doesn't work for me, but it's a minor quibble. Love the choreography too and just like In the Heights, it was great to see that all the dancers were not anorexic ballrinas. The other thing I loved about this moive is that it ended exactly the way it was supposed to and everyone in the movie got what they deserved.

This film follows the rise and fall of Oppenheimer from his early studies and his subsequent work on the Manhattan Project, to his 1954 security hearing and the 1959 Senate confirmation hearing of Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.) All of the story is anchored in the development, use, proliferation, and criticism of nuclear weapons, and Oppenheimer's involvement in all of those phases.

At a little over 3 hours, the film moves at an unbelievable pace. For a film that's mostly about scientists and government officials talking and talking, it's incredibly breezy and engaging. Nolan manages to inject thrill and tension to pretty much every turn, but without losing the nuances and layers of all the characters involved. Murphy is great transmitting all the hidden insecurities of Oppenheimer, while Downey shines in the last act as he realizes what will be his "demise".

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Albert Pyun Roulette, Part 4

Nemesis -

Plot: In the future, chaos is rampant as 'information terrorists' threaten to destroy order in society. Alex is a part-man, part-machine LAPD cop who is the best at what he does. When one of the terrorists calls him a machine, Alex questions his humanity and decides to leave the force. His final assignment is to apprehend an old colleague who has stolen some data. However, there is more than meets the eye and Alex must question his allegiance.

To paraphrase Ralphie in A Christmas Story, "some men are Baptists, others Catholics. Albert Pyun was a Cyborg man." I was surprised to learn the director didn't actually have a passion for them - he just considered them a means to an end - because he could sure spin a good yarn with them. If he topped this one, I would be surprised. Whether by design or not, Olivier Gruner's mostly human cop, Alex Rain, doesn't emote much, but he remains a solid and steady guide through this dilapidated world (a better guide than Van Damme would have been, at least). Speaking of this vision of 2027, like Pyun and company did in Cyborg, they ingeniously relied on existing locations with natural decay like ruined factories and warehouses, all of which are plenty convincing for me and preferable to ones relying on CGI. They also make for ideal action set pieces, which perhaps except for the bonkers hotel gunfight feature the standout where Alex chases a cyborg down a gigantic, dirty cement slide. The natural sets, especially the ones in Hawaii, are put to just as good of use and prove that not all cyberpunk stories have to occur in a metropolis. The ingenuity of the small-scale production design with its small, handheld video players and proto-USB drives is just as convincing. Also, the story is nothing if not unpredictable, and the cast of mostly Pyun regulars like Tim Thomerson's T-800-adjacent villain, Brion James' curiously German-accented henchman and Yuji Okumoto's hotelier are welcome sights as always.

Pyun's vision of our near future is delightfully gritty, and given recent scientific developments, scarily prophetic. Despite its twists and turns, it's really not that different from Cyborg on paper. Still, if I took a test on everything that actually happens in this movie, I'd probably fail, and I don't think it would totally be my fault. You can also hear the voice of the most pedantic movie nerd you've ever met saying things like "that's from Blade Runner," "that's from Terminator," etc. as it plays out. Pyun treated all that existing material like so much straw and spun it into something that I would choose to watch again over many larger-budgeted ones like it, though. Besides, how many dystopian action movies feature the hero leaving a building by shooting holes in the floors?

Nope. It’s in my watchlist.

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

Re-watch. Delightful movie (documentary?) about nomadic Mongolians. Not easy to find now, but finally found it on YouTube.



Re-watch. Terrific movie from Slovenia. Hard to find these days, but found it on tubi.com. Free with no ads.

Set in the fantasy world of Barbieland, Barbie follows the titular doll (Margot Robbie), a part of a female-led society that's somehow tethered to the real-life world where real people play with them. When Barbie starts to have unexpected feelings about death, she decides to travel to the real world with Ken (Ryan Gosling), accidentally causing a clash between the establishment in Barbieland and a rising patriarchy.

If that synopsis sounds wild for a film inspired by a fashion doll, well, it's because it is. I might've groaned a bit when they announced the development of this film years ago, but then Greta Gerwig jumped in and things shifted. Because how can Gerwig, a notably progressive female filmmaker, turn this into something more akin to her sensibilities and not the stereotypical Barbie "vanilla flavor"?

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

I need to see this because I love Fantasia's voice.

I wish there was something unique, or even truly interesting, about Denis Villeneuve's latest pseudo-spectacle, but ultimately, there really isn't.

It's especially frustrating because he's been given resources most indie directors would absolutely kill for - he's got a fantastic cast and crew, seemingly unlimited resources, and even stronger backing from WB than Christopher Nolan got before parting ways with the studio.

Strip away the eye candy and ear-shattering score from Dune: Part Two, and what's left? Not much, really. There's a lot of desert (like in the first one) and a lot of palace intrigue (like in the first one), a kind-of-cultish mystery sect, and a sort-of protagonist who appears headed to be the "white savior" in this sprawling intergalactic soap opera. Or maybe he's not. Oh, wait, never mind, he's changed his mind again. Oh well.

Oh, and there's also worms. Many worms. It kind of makes you wonder why the would-be invaders of Arrakis didn't bother looking for a good dewormer.

Since you could never pay me enough money to actually read the original novels that have inspired countless movies and mini-series, I'll just have to make an educated guess that the source material simply isn't very cinematic in any conventional sense. And, sadly for fans of the Dune novels, George Lucas got there first and came up with his own vision, in an inherently cinematic way that still remains unsurpassed.

My best guess is that the kind of stuff that Dune novels rely on so heavily could only be made truly cinematic if it were presented as a Shakespearean drama - one where a lot of inner conflicts and turmoil could be expressed in a kind of soliloquy. Maybe that would be the only way to really milk the material for all that it's worth.

While admittedly a lot less annoying than he was in Wonka, Timothée Chalamet absolutely sucks at creating a compelling character undergoing some kind of serious internal conflict or spiritual turmoil. When compared with all-time greats like Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia or Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons, Chalamet comes across like the equivalent of the leading kid in a high-school play getting stuck in a $250m production.

There seems to be a lot of palace intrigue going on in these movies, and unfortunately it is never really explained in any way that would make it seem more than a half-baked excuse for a plot. "Just hang in there," the movies seem to be saying, "it's all part of some incredible grand design, just wait until we get there!!".

Out of all the people in the cast (and it is a nice cast), Zendaya comes closest to giving us a character we can truly care about; unfortunately she's still coming across more as an accessory for the male hero than anything else. Couple that with a mysterious cult at the heart of it all that gives off seriously misogynistic vibes (blame Herbert, not Villaneuve for that one) and it's hard to care very much about any of the remaining characters in this one.

It doesn't help that two of the most charming actors from the first movie (Oscar Isaac and Jason Momoa) played actors that got killed off in that one; they had a sort of presence that really helped to ground the series as something vaguely relatable. Javier Bardem might do that in this one if he were given a chance to do anything more than play second banana to a younger, less experience actor.

Léa Seydoux, Florence Pugh and *cough, cough* the lady who appears unbilled in this one can be quite charming on screen, with the right material - but they are given next to nothing here, adding to the list of disappointing aspects of the movie.

And Christopher Walken brings some appreciated gravitas, but the role doesn't really call for him to do anything more than stand around, looking fairly dazed most of the time, with a look on his face that most closely resembles a deer caught in the headlights.

It takes almost 3 hours* for this movie to finally end, and when it does, it makes it fairly clear that all that has come before is merely a taste of something much bigger that still awaits moviegoers. Or does it? One doesn't need to be a clairvoyant to see how it will all pan out.


*the 3-hour running time is actually closer to 3 hours and 15 minutes once you factor in the previews, which in some places can run as long as 30 minutes or so. At least the 70mm IMAX version doesn't really allow for any trailers before the movie, so you're at least spared that.

Got my tickets for tonight. Can't wait!

I like you kid. You don't want much. Just perfection.