Rate The Last Movie You Saw

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

The runt of the litter.

The Edge of Seventeen (2016)

Yeah, it's another teen angst film and a comedy/drama but the writing, direction, and especially the acting make it really special and well worth watching. Hailee Steinfeld stars as the young girl the title refers to, and her character's name is Nadine. It seems Nadine has been struggling all her life to be accepted, yet being stubborn enough that it makes it hard for people to want to be her friend. When she first starts school though, while throwing a temper tantrum outside the school grounds, she meets a young girl, Krista, who likes her for who she is and they become the closest of pals: in fact, they are the only friends of each other. The older version of Krista is played by Haley Lu Richardson, who does anything to build Nadine up, that is until as a high school student, she begins to crush on Nadine's popular brother, Darian. Which of course blows up Nadine's world. To say she's angry about this and feels betrayed is putting it mildly.

Nadine struggles all her life with jealousy of her older brother, Darian (Blake Jenner), whom she thinks has it so easy in everything. Her mother (played by a great Kyra Sedgwick) makes no bones about saying Darian is her favorite, which really makes Nadine angry. Nadine's drama-queen antics are so funny and well-played out by Steinfeld and she dumps all her heavy woes upon her favorite teacher (or favorite dumpee), Mr. Bruner (Woody Harrelson, who is super here). The scenes where she comes in and says things like she's going to kill herself (in a comical way) only to have Mr. Bruner dryly comment about how he likes to spend his lunch hour in solitude are comic gold. Yet, before the movie is over, she comes to realize how much she relies on Bruner. In fact, she learns how she's not the only one in the world with problems. But for a long while, she experiences practically every problem a young girl in high school can, especially unrequited love.

This is easily Steinfeld's best movie since True Grit and she really shows her acting skills here. She runs the gamut of emotions in this movie and shows how versatile she can be. Not to say she hasn't been good in various movies since her first one, but this one comes the closest to topping that one. Your appreciation of Steinfeld as an actress will definitely color your opinion of whether or not you like her in this film. But I've always liked her and was really touched by how good she is. It's her movie all the way, despite everyone else being fine also, but Harrelson comes the closest to being her equal. He is so funny in his line-delivery and he is Death Valley-dry with his acting. But you also get to see what anchors him before the movie is over. Mention must be made of Hayden Szeto who plays Erwin, Nadine's classmate who loves her from afar yet she just considers him a friend. But Nadine finds out he has lots of mystery about him that is revealed as the movie proceeds.

Lastly, don't be put off by the "teen angst" shingle hung upon this film---it's really done with a great sense of humor throughout and I found myself laughing and looking forward to whatever happened next in Nadine's little cosmos. Steinfeld should have at least been nominated for a Golden Globe for this. She just keeps growing with her acting talent and I hope her singing career (she really good) doesn't sideline her too much. I look forward to her next film.

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

So horrendously bad it makes me want to stab something

Edge of Seventeen is a cute movie.

Touching too, if you got experience with a specific kind of teenage selfishness.

Shrew's Nest (2014) (Dir. Juanfer Andres & Esteban Roel)


Shrew's Nest draws on familiar premises from the likes of Repulsion and Misery, steeping them in soap opera hysterics pulled from Spain's telenovelas. Despite how chaotically the narrative unwinds, the story's outline is wieldy and quaint, like an urban legend passing around sleepovers, living in rumors about neighborhood widows, being handed down to a forever renewing crop of impressionable children. Its tone is as manic as its lead, ricocheting between PG-13 chamber drama and macabre giallo, the melodrama and turmoil only kept coherent by a guilted, nervous performance from Macarena Gómez.

Spoor (2017) (Dir. Agnieszka Holland)


I was foolish enough to introduce myself to a storied director like Agnieszka Holland with her most recent work. I'm missing an entire career to help contextualize and understand how she arrived here. I can only say that this isn't a terrible place to be so late in her tenure. Without revealing almost anything, Spoor is a supposed thriller in the realm of Fincher driven by a palpable conviction which manages to preserve the dignity of its point even as it slides off the rails. Its grave concerns and good intentions survive the wreckage by way of a character study relatively unscathed by the dramatic concessions.

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Deep Red -

How on Earth did I forget that final scene?

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Thanks to a recent discussion about Aranofsky. Such an erotic descent into madness.




and not a movie but this doco about Bruce Lee was riveting

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt6011918/

Anybody who likes Black Swan has to watch Haneke's The Piano Teacher. Definitely a huge influence on it.

Gave it some thought... and...

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Thanks very much, Red.

Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) A really great war movie, which, spliced in some amazing actual footage almost seamlessly - which is no easy thing.
I can't honestly believe it took me THIS LONG to finally see this one. A definite mandatory film for anyone who enjoys war movies.
Pretty sure this would have been another new watch knocking out an old favorite for my 40's List.

A bit of trivia: For the final scene they reenact the planting of the flag which has a statue commemorating it and they had the actual soldiers AND borrowed the original flag from a museum for it. Kinda cool, that.

Yes, really, I thought it was really funny and just as funny as the first movie.

Girlfriends - 8/10

Best movie @Citizen Rules has recommended me. I think anyone would love this movie.

Re-Animator (1985)

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Baby Driver. Pretty good, didn't go into it with any major expectations but like Edgar Wrights other stuff. The reliance on the soundtrack was rather heavy. 3.5/5.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle - The pacing was wildly inconsistent and it is definitely not as seamless as the first. But hell this movie is very fun and very enjoyable to watch. 68/100

Stallone rules here

It's My Turn - 5/10

After such recommendation...I really need to watch it.