Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Color Out of Space (2019)






Vivarium (2019)






The Shooting (1966)

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Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

My wife was quite perplexed as to how I knew nothing about this story. She must forget what a mess I was when we met a couple of months later. I knew there had been a bombing at the olympics in Atlanta but none of the details. If portrayed accurately, it's pretty sad how the media jumped all over this guy. Fake news is certainly real and it's not a new thing. It is very understandable however that he was a suspect, but law enforcement could have handled it much better as well. I thought that this movie was pretty standard in just about every way, but in a good way. It was just a very good watch that kept me consumed from start to finish. For me, being a true story is a big part of that so it's very possible I'm giving the movie too much credit. Whatever I really enjoyed it.

This sounds absolutely brilliant. Will definitely check this out.

Love Richard Jewell. A great Eastwood flick!

Somehow I didn't even know it was a Clint flick.

The Babadook (2014)


Pretty effective Aussie chiller that charts the dissolution of a woman's sanity following the death of her husband. Not helped at all by having one of the most annoying brats in cinematic history

It's OK, the main lady is good and it builds up nice tension. The blurriness of what is real and not is nicely done. Not original at all but still enjoyable for what it is.

I quite liked The Babadook. I thought that the direction was solid, the central allegory about grief/loss was interesting, and it's actually a pretty good portrayal of a child with a disability.

I agree! Still mixed on this film. It’s well-executed, and Essie Davis is a very talented actress, but the annoying kids as a means of generating tension need to stop. Not to mention is felt somewhat... exploitative to me in a way I can’t pinpoint.

I can see that side of it too. Perhaps I take films with children too personally and that’s my problem.

I remember arguing with my Film Studies lecturer at uni about whether or not scenes explicitly showing children’s death were illegal. He seemed to think they weren’t, and he used IT, of all things, to argue the point, but I think they are not legal in most jurisdictions and for good reasons. While Babadook does explore the issues parents of special needs children raise, I felt using it for horror was slightly tacky. But I think that’s very subjective.

Stan & Ollie ��������
A sweet and enjoyable film about two legendary comic actors,John C. Reilly in particular was fantastic and deserved more praise for his transformation

Illegal? I very much doubt it and don't think they should be, either. I suppose I can't recommend you In a Glass Cage either

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I’ve seen it, not as great as it could have been, but a solid film nonetheless.

Oh no, I’m very much open to such recommendations and I still watch them all, loved ‘The Devil’s Backbone’ and all the old stuff. But in ‘The Babadook’ it just felt overdone to me. At the same time, I did want to kill the kid myself in the first 20 minutes, so that stressed me out to no end, seeing as I was working with kids at the time... can’t seem to make a balanced argument on this. It’s not so much with children being hurt as what felt to me like exploiting developmental issues.

Not illegal of course, but how often do we see children literally ripped apart with blood and guts in film, rather than being given a vague & somber indication that they’re dead? I think what made think it could be illegal was the lack of such scenes.

Seen it once, and then I loved it. Will need to rewatch it at some point, especially if we do top-100 movies countdown next.

As deranged as this sounds, I'd say far too rarely. I personally hate taboos, censorship, and political correctness and welcome all deviations from them

One of my least favorite horror sub-genres is the "evil child" subgenre/trope. I actively dislike such films.

But The Babadook is different for me because it's not about the kid being evil or possessed. It's about the fractured relationship between a parent and child, how they misread each other's actions/intentions, and how anger and trauma can be misdirected.

In an interview, Jennifer Kent said that she wanted both characters to be "loving and lovable" and I think that she succeeded. We are obviously seeing these people at their worst, but I think that the film does a good job of showing how their same actions can be recast.

Throughout the whole film,

I thought it was a movie with a lot of empathy for both main characters, and that kept it from feeling at all exploitative. Parenting a child with a disability or mental health issues is intense. I've seen many parents break down over things far less intense than what we see in this movie. I thought that the child's behavior and the mother's response fit in the context of the story and what it was trying to explore.

I already recommended it to her AND she'd already seen it!

I liked it!

Ha, no, I know what you mean. Actually, I agree. I think you’ve pretty much converted me. I suppose I now need to hunt for films that break the convention and re-evaluate.

I think it’s the scene at the aunt’s party that left me mixed. The way it was done almost feels Kent wanted the boy to come across as annoying and unpleasant towards other children, and that’s what bothered me. But otherwise, you’re right, and it’s certainly important to make films addressing these issues. I appreciated it as a horror film, especially the book and all, so maybe I’m overdue a new viewing.

As far as I know, there’s a savage kid death scene in Genocyber (1992), but that’s manga and not the sort of mainstream I was thinking about.

Having worked with a few children who have lost parents or other family members, sometimes kids dealing with trauma are annoying and unpleasant. In fact, being deliberately annoying and unpleasant is a pretty good technique for driving people away. I agree that Kent wanted us to feel how annoying he was--it was an intentional decision. It helps us to understand the mother's point of view, and it helps us to understand the stress that the child is under.

I haven't seen the film since it was released, but I remember being impressed with what felt like its accuracy. Children dealing with mental/emotional health issues can be incredibly frustrating to work with, especially if they aren't getting the therapy/help they need and ESPECIALLY if their parents are also kind of a mess.