Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
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A few of those are on my watchlist. I may give Minari a go soon really keen to watch it. I think it's Vanessa Kirby not Vanessa Shaw by the way.

Well at least I've been warned, so I should be ok. Nothing worse than getting blindsided by a Swayze ballad.

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Captain's Log
My Collection

The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

First time watch, 2nd Ben Gazzara film in a short while (also Roadhouse!).

Small but interesting story of a rather self-obssessed man who receives a task he must perform to cancel out a gambling debt that he had accrued over one night after clearing off a long term one. (Whether the long game for the "hoods" was to cheat him and put him in that position is left unclear).

Strong performances if a bit meandering and only the 2nd Cassavetes directorial effort I've seen.

Well, that ending was more of an appeasement to the production code. And Scottie was a thorny character himself.

I started watching it a while back but could tell I was in the wrong headspace for it. I've been meaning to revisit it, but it's no longer on that same streaming service.

If you don't remember the doctor's children then, well, you really owe yourself a rewatch.

I do not remember that. My brain is shameful.

One of my favorites, I think Leslie Howard is just aces in this.

Snooze factor = Z


[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

My kind of movie and I still didn't like it. It was kind of ok seeing Kevin James play a villain, but I wouldn't call it a revelation as far as his acting or anything. Mediocre and painfully typical.

Two thumbs way up! It's one of the greatest films ever made. It's one I've watched many times, along with North by Northwest, Rear Window, and Shadow of a Doubt.

Hitchcock said, "I was intrigued by the hero's attempts to re-create the image of a dead woman through another one who's alive." And: "To put it plainly, the man wants to go to bed with a woman who's dead; he is indulging in a form of necrophilia."

Well, that's putting it out there. But the film had such a dream-like quality in so many scenes, and in the picture overall. I suppose books have been written about Vertigo-- a true masterpiece.

Andrei Rublev (1966) Andrei Tarkovsky

8

Zatoichi (2003) Takeshi Kitano

The story sounds familiar. A blind swordsman comes to a small town, controlled by gangs who are at war. This lays the foundation for some great sword fighting scenes.
8.5

Sonatine (1993) Takeshi Kitano

Yakuza gang war. Kitano is sent to Okinawa by his boss, to try and help end the war. As the war escalades, the gang members hide out on the beach in Okinawa countryside. This gives us the chance to enjoy the scenery, and the gang to have some fun getting time to pass.

8,5

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) Luc Besson

7,5

That is why I've held off. It smelled like typical.
Like you, I thought it might be up my alley, so I added it to my queue but I had that feeling...

Capote, 2005

Back when I was a lowly video store clerk, we had a screener that played current release trailers on a loop. And in 2005 there was not one, but two films about Truman Capote and the circumstances surrounding his writing of In Cold Blood. I watched Infamous back then, and it was jarring today to watch Capote and hear line readings that are etched into my brain from hearing them on the screener a billion times.

The film begins with the Kansas murders and Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) becoming intrigued by certain details in the case. Once he catches sight of the murderers, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith (Clifton Collins Jr), Capote is hooked for reasons he doesn't entirely understand. As Capote researches a book about the case with the help of his childhood friend Harper Lee (Catherine Keener), he becomes emotionally entangled with Smith.

It's really a delight when a film stars a lot of actors I know, and yet they seem to disappear into their characters. I find it increasingly hard to not be like "OH LOOK! LEONARDO DICAPRIO!" these days. But this film really worked on that level for me. Hoffman's Capote is incredibly well-realized-- a man who operates on incredible emotional wavelengths but also has an almost compulsive need for self-promotion and sometimes turns the power of his communication skills to portraying the world the way he wants it to be instead of the way it is.

The rest of the cast is equally strong. Keener's Harper Lee is loyal to Capote, but sees him for who he is. Chris Cooper plays Alvin Dewey, the man who investigates the murders. Bruce Greenwood turns in a nicely understated performance as Jack Dunphy, Capote's lifelong romantic partner.

The film seems to position Capote's fascination with Smith as arising from the way that Smith pushes the emotional and attention-seeking buttons in Capote. Smith's wounded, gentle masculinity creates a sort of charisma. And the story that he represents--the lurid farmhouse murders--are, as Capote puts it, "a gold mine." In Smith, Capote finds personal and professional attraction. And as Capote begins to nurture his relationship with Smith, he finds himself interfering with the course of events.

The film touches a bit on the idea of journalistic ethics. Part of how Capote gains access to Smith and Hickock during their trials and appeals is to promise financial and legal assistance. It blurs a line, and many people along the way are complicit in it.

This is the third version of this story I've seen (I have also watched In Cold Blood), and I'd actually be hard pressed to choose a favorite. A deservedly praised performance from Hoffman and a very assured first narrative film from director Bennett Miller.

Even though I'm a huge fan of Hoffman, I've never seen Capote. I need to prioritize that.

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It's maybe the best performance I've seen of his. It's streaming on Amazon Prime if that's a service you currently have.

Yeah, I'll see when I can sneak it in.

How accessible do you think it is for someone that's not that familiar with Capote himself or his works? I mean, I read Breakfast at Tiffany's decades ago and I barely remember it.

Very.

I mean, my exposure to Capote is . . . the two movies I watched about him. I'm sure that people more knowing would have a better understanding of some of the secondary characters, but it's not needed.

If you're doing the 2021 film challenge, it could be something that fills one of the awards categories. Just sayin'.

Double feature it with Richard Brooks' IN COLD BLOOD adaptation and you're perfectly groovy.