Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Captain Marvel, 2019

On a distant planet, Vers (Brie Larson) trains under her mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law) in a larger battle against a shapeshiting race that seeks to infiltrate and invade their planet. During a mission, Vers is captured by the alien race and taken to Earth where she escapes and encounters a young Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Together they work to uncover the truth behind the interplanetary war that has endured so long.

Very much cut from the generic Marvel cloth, this film makes little use of its late 90s setting, nor its talented cast.

Every piece of this movie is a tale of something that could have been cool done in a way that just makes you ask, why? For example, the setting of the movie in the 90s yields little more than name-dropping Blockbuster Video and flashing some very clunky pre-cell-phone technology. Young Nick Fury sounds really fun, until you see that they've used CGI to de-age Jackson so that he looks like a video game version of himself.

The writing is also aggressively average. The actors are all people who have shown themselves capable of comic timing, and yet they really have to fight the dialogue. Worse off is hands down Jude Law, whose first 10 or 12 lines of dialogue sound like he's just reading off of motivational posters just out of our sight. "Emotion is the warrior's greatest enemy." "You need to fight here *points at head* instead of here *points at fists*". He actually, ACTUALLY says at one point: "I want to help you be the best version of yourself." He sounds less like an intergalactic military specialist and more like a guy who should be shilling self-confidence seminars in hotel conference rooms. The other actors fare a bit better, but the moments of genuinely good lines are few and far between.

The action is okay, though it's heavily dominated by effects and I wish that there was more than just a bit more primary color in the palette to distinguish them from every other Marvel fight.

Another one to put in the Meh-vel pile.

And Then We Danced, 2019

Merab (Levan Gelbakhiani) is a dancer in the Georgian National Dance Troupe, along with his brother, David (Giorgi Tsereteli) and girlfriend Mary (Ana Javakishvili). Merab becomes jealous when a new dancer, Irakli (Bachi Valishvili) arrives and immediately grabs everyone's attention and a top spot in the troupe. When the rivalry between Mareb and Irakli sparks into a romantic relationship, it threatens both of their positions in the dance troupe.

This was an energetic, moving look at someone grappling with being told they aren't the right kind of person for the art form they've embraced as self-expression.

There's plenty to unpack here in terms of themes about identity and repression and art, but the thing I must mention first is the music and the dancing. Wowza. With no exaggeration, we probably hear the same song seven or eight times and I never got tired of it. The musicians are stunningly talented and the music is driving and powerful. Later in the film we get a slower, ballad-like song. It's all just gorgeous. And the dancing is fantastic, as you would hope in a film centered on that art form. The performers are expressive and the film captures the lightness and the visceral impact of a dancer moving over a wooden stage. The final dance sequence is a stunner, but everything up to that point is excellent as well.

The story is very messy and very human. Merab is constantly chastised for not being masculine enough by troupe choreographer Aleko (Kakha Gogidze). It's interesting coming from an American lens, where male dancers are often stereotyped as being feminine and assumed to be gay. Instead, a rigid front of heterosexuality is enforced, including the beating and firing of a dancer who is discovered to be gay. Merab is barely covered by his relationship with Mary, and once he and Irakli fall for each other, life as a pretend boyfriend starts to seem a lot less appealing.

Fundamentally, the way that success is framed in the dance troupe goes against who Merab is as a person. He is drawn to a much more modern version of dance, which rankles the men who run the troupe and his fellow dancers. Merab is stuck between trying to conform to their expectations and doing what feels right to him, both on the stage and in his personal life.

Gelbakhiani is very good as Merab. You constantly see the personal calculations that he is forced to do in deciding just how much to conform versus doing what he actually wants to do. Valishvili's Irakli, an intense and much more self assured character, makes perfect sense as someone Merab would be drawn to. You can tell that this probably isn't a forever love, but you can see why Irakli would light a fire in Merab that would make it hard to go back to being fully closeted.

Aside from the dancing, my favorite sequence came in a late scene where Merab has a heart-to-heart with his brother, David. The direction of their conversation is unexpected, and it gives us an insight into Merab's family dynamics that I did not anticipate.

Definitely recommended, especially if you are at all interested in dance.

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17818087

Short Cuts - (1993)

Short Cuts really knocked me off my feet - I'd say it's Robert Altman at his best, but when wasn't this guy at his best? The film is an ensemble piece, but unlike Nashville, the characters are more disparate and if they tend to cross paths it's often either incidental or brief - though they often do. 22 main characters, and an array of actors to die for. Frances McDormand, Jack Lemmon, Chris Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lily Tomlin, Tim Robbins, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew Modine, Julianne Moore, Tom Waits, Fred Ward...they all contribute something to this surprising narrative with an emphasis on death and sex. It was a case of a film that goes for over three hours, and the runtime being of absolutely no issue to me, because I was rapt and glued to the screen. While everything constantly feels real, there's also a heavy slant towards the melodramatic and plenty of pain and angst suffered by characters who range from sympathetic to absolute dirtbags. I was ready for something more low-key, but some of Short Cuts is quite cutting and markedly powerful. The trio of fishing buddies who find a young woman's body in the lake, and leave it there for three days so they can fish nearby - that was quite telling, and brings to the surface all kinds of feelings about masculinity and the way some men are cut off from their own emotions. Of course, everybody has a story in Short Cuts, but to delve in deeper is for a different day. Suffice to say for now that it gets the highest rating possible - it's an incredible work and a truly great film.

10/10


By The poster art can or could be obtained from 20th Century Fox., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1573068

Nightmare Alley - (1947)

The original Nightmare Alley is dwarfed by the remake in a visual sense, but the story is more direct and the moral and ethical reading of what everything means is more neatly laid out and easier to read. It features a great performance from Tyrone Power, whose eyes command most of your attention almost as if he were hypnotizing us in the audience. That's the main difference between this and the remake - in this version that performance encapsulates most of the film, and when you remember Nightmare Alley you'll immediately thing of Power's Stanton Carlisle. When I think of the remake I think of the production design, along with Blanchett and Willem Dafoe. The distracting visuals kind of take your focus away a bit. I enjoyed seeing the original, and I think both films have their own distinct strengths.

7/10

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Summer of '42 (1971)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Yeah, this is sort of the beginning-of-the-end for Marvel.
I have great personal investment in this character, the original (male) version having been my favorite superhero for a good part of my life, Ms. Marvel (the original Carol Danvers character) also being one I was very fond of, Quasar/Captain Marvel, aka Phyla-Vell was a new favorite of mine some decade or so ago, and then finally the reimagined Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel became a new favorite. So to say I was pumped as shit for this movie is an understatement.
But missed expectations is actually not why I feel this movie is so incredibly mediocre. It's incredibly mediocre because it's incredibly mediocre. And honestly, I think that's being kind. Everything you outlined above, the script, the dialogue itself, the very cursory period nods, not giving the characters much that's really interesting so that actors like Brie Larson, Lashana Lynch, Annette Benning, and Lee Pace are almost completely wasted, it all adds up to almost sub-meh.
Though I do love the final minutes when she finds her power, tears a galactic-cruiser-sized spaceship apart in a blaze of fire, stares down Ronin, and then goes and whoops Yon-Rogg's ass - all in about a 10-minute span. That's all a good bit of fun and I frequently go back and just re-watch that part.
Too bad they couldn't have made the first hour and fifty minutes live up to that.

Women Talking (2023)

Caution Mild Spoilers ahead:


Sarah Polley is a filmmaker that can best be described as maddening. I generally went into this film cold I might have seen the trailer and some of the still imagery so I thought this was going to be one type of film and was surprised that it was something else. This film is practically a stage production the vast majority of the film takes place in a barn with Women Talking. We leave the barn for short periods of time but often time it's very clunky and frankly unsatisfying. This is a clear choice from Polley who chooses to never show us the villains in the story. It's a good idea that could have been executed significantly better.

The other issue I had with the film is the pretense that these are uneducated women yet you don't really get that feeling from the performances and writings. With that said it's a good film it just could have been great. Rooney Mara plays completely against type to the point where I didn't even recognize her until the credits rolled. In the book the POV character is the one male in the story August (Ben Whishaw) an actor that I've never been a huge fan of. In the film he's merely a character with the POV switching to a younger daughter (Kate Hallet) it's an interesting choice that once again could have paid off significantly better in another film.

The basic plot of the film is women were being drugged and raped by men in this Amish(like) community. They are told they had 48 hours to forgive the men or they must stay and fight them...or leave to find another community. A selection of families are chosen as the deciders and the film is in essence a discussion piece. Polley does cut away from the action to show some community life scenes but it's in bits and pieces. Theirs very little actual momentum in the scenes and that's a choice.

If you enjoyed say Tree of Life you'd likely enjoy this as Polley tries to strip away most cinematic trappings and give us something unique. Her vision is both her greatest strength and the film's anchor because you do feel the runtime. When going into this film I would suggest being cautious and not seeing it at the end of the day cause it will put you to sleep. Some of you are really going to love this film, others will not. I admired it's choices more than I enjoyed them.

Still catching up with December reviews!...




The term "Wild West" was a term coined to highlight the incontrollable and chaotic nature of the American frontier. Maybe because of the lawlessness of this newly "discovered" lands, or the aftermath of the genocidal violence against Native Americans. This setting became fertile ground for thousands of tales, stories, and with time, films and TV series, where the West is depicted as unforgiving and ruthless. and populated by people just as much. John Ford is one of many directors that made a career by directing these stories, with his westerns going as far back as the early 20th Century.

The Searchers, however, comes at the final stretch of his career. Starring John Wayne, it follows a Civil War veteran that sets out to find his young niece Debbie (Natalie Wood) after a tragic "Indian" attack results in her being kidnapped. So Ethan Edwards (Wayne) decides to brave this unforgiving and ruthless setting, along with his nephew Martin (Jeffrey Hunter) to find her at any cost. Half of the tension is outward, as it comes from the natural obstacles they face during their search, but the other half is inward, as it comes from the relationship between Ethan and Martin, who is initially dismissed by him as a "half-breed", as well as Ethan's fighting his own inner demons.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Gilroy, 2014



Second viewing here. I wish I would have watched this again before sending my ballot in for the most recent countdown, as it most surely would have made my ballot, probably somewhere around the middle of the pack. Gyllenhaal's performance is one of his best, and the film just drips with atmosphere.

Fantastic stuff.

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Yes. It's aggressively average with periods of below-average and a handful of moments of above-average.

The Intern (2015).


I avoided this movie for a long time thinking it was not going to be very good. But I thought what the hey let's see how De Niro handles himself in a movie like this. I was pleasantly surprised. It's a slow movie, going at a leisurely, ordinary pace. They could have done a lot worse in terms of all the young people at the Brooklyn startup company that forms the center of the plot, in terms of showing off how young they are with lots of snarky dialogue which usually movies lay on way too thickly.



De Niro does a good job in a very ordinary role, as a stodgy 70 year old retired guy who worked for the Brooklyn chapter of the telephone book for many years, who likes to keep busy and decides to answer an ad to be an intern at an up-and-coming internet company in Brooklyn. He's assigned as an intern to be the assistant to the boss herself, Anne Hathaway, who is excellent in her role.



One thing I noticed interestingly is that nobody else in the movie is famous or even remotely famous as far as I can tell -- with the one exception being the company masseuse played by Renee Russo who begins to have a little bit of a playful romance with De Niro (age appropriate -- she was 61 at the time -- although she's quite the cougar). I think probably De Niro exercised his celebrity moxie on the director and told him he doesn't want anyone remotely famous in any other role to distract from himself and Hathaway. It would have been better had they cast the role of the "house husband" (Hathaway's stay at home husband) with someone well known: I would have recommended Jake Gyllenhaal or Sam Rockwell.



There were many nice little touches that the director put in. For example in one scene De Niro happens to mention that he shaves every day, and the young people at the office are aghast and they say even on Sunday!? And he says yes even on Sunday. Then about a half an hour later when he has flown on a business trip with his boss Hathaway to San Francisco where she's interviewing prospective CEOs that might take partnership of her company, on the second morning there, the director shows De Niro leaning back in a barber chair getting the full treatment of a lathered up shave old style. That was just a nice touch which didn't have to be there, but I like moments of frosting like that in movies. Overall the relationship between De Niro and Hathaway progresses and grows in interesting ways, with nothing earth-shattering or unique about it, but still heartwarming in a quiet way.

Vigil, 1984

Adolescent Toss (Fiona Kay) has her world turned upside down when her father is killed by a poacher, Ethan (Frank Whitten). As Toss's mother, Elizabeth (Penelope Stewart) struggles to keep their family farm afloat with the help of Toss and Toss's grandfather, Birdie (Bill Kerr), Toss receives another shock when Ethan is taken on by her mother as help around the farm. Plagued by a sense of unease and strange dreams, Toss must decide how to handle Ethan's presence.

This is a moody, ominous coming-of-age film that sits somewhere between The Reflecting Skin and Valerie's Week of Wonders in terms of "the world is a messed up, confusing place!" discomfort.

Toss is a fascinating protagonist, full of conflicting loyalties and anger and confusion, all layered under the already-confusing wave of puberty. Kay gives an intense, emotional performance as a young woman whose world is crumbling around her. The film captures the emotional turmoil of a young person realizing that the people around her are powerless or flawed or selfish, and that she cannot really rely on them.

The other characters are not as well-drawn as Toss, which is a bit unfortunate. I appreciated the touch that her grandfather, Birdie, is also facing an uncertain future and responds in ways that are not always the most mature. There is a lot of unspoken grief swirling around the whole family. Ethan is kept in a very nicely ambiguous light. At times he seems like an okay guy who is maybe trying to make things right after a terrible accident. At other times, he seems more like a predator who has taken down the family's line of defense and is now moving in on its weaker members.

Elizabeth, Toss's mother, is the character whose actions are the most confounding at times. While I think that this sometimes nicely reflects the idea that Toss is growing into a woman and must start to see her mother as a woman and not just a caretaker, at other times it's behavior that veers into the bizarre. At one point, Elizabeth seems pretty convinced that Ethan has attempted to molest Toss. This is also the guy who killed her husband. And yet five minutes later she seems to have just gotten over it? Her character seemed frustratingly inconsistent, and I can only attribute some of that to the whole child's point of view element.

On the whole, the film is filled with strange and uncomfortable moments, increasingly so as it moves toward its last act. I had a viscerally disgusted response to a sequence where Ethan tells Toss he can summon souls. When she asks if he can summon her father's spirit, he puts his hand on her face and then puts his fingers in her mouth. This only gets more disturbing when a similar shot is used later

This film was very effective as a portrait of an alienating early teenage experience. Toss doesn't know what to make of her emotions, which come out in strange actions and even stranger dreams. While I thought the film was a bit slow to start, it picks up its own sense of bizarre pacing in its middle and final acts.

By Studio and or Graphic Artist - Can be obtained from film's distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61945109

The Gentlemen - (2019)

Guy Ritchie never really went away after delivering Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, but it always felt like he did. First the disaster that was Swept Away, and then the varied sojourns into different genres with mixed levels of success. I really enjoyed The Man from U.N.C.L.E. a lot, but little else - however, in 2019 he returned to his dapper English gangster roots with The Gentlemen, and it's a worthy addition to his earlier films. I will say though, those who hated those films will hate this one a lot. That snappy kind of clever dialogue is back - and I know that's what turns a lot of people off. Having loved Snatch, this was right up my alley, and I don't think I've liked Matthew McConaughey more than I liked him as weed baron Michael Pearson. Hugh Grant, as gay investigator/journalist Fletcher really gets to chew the scenery, and I can probably say the same about him. The story is complex, but very easy to follow (if that makes sense) with Pearson attempting to sell his criminal enterprise and go straight, while various nefarious dudes attempt to get the price pushed down by messing with his business - and you don't mess with Pearson. Charlie Hunnam appears as Ray, Pearson's right hand man, and the two really won me over as they should. The Gentlemen was a lot of fun - and the most fun I've had watching a Guy Ritchie film since Snatch.

7.5/10

The Arrangement (1969)

Fall. A mountain climber and her influencer friend scale a TV tower to spread her husband’s ashes and get stuck up there. This movie does a fantastic job of showing how high up they are, great use of visuals and sound. It’d be cool to see in IMAX. And for PG-13 it gets away with some stuff. Unfortunately the dialogue and acting aren’t that great. Speaking of which Jeffrey Dean Morgan has a small role as the dad.

Sicario, 2015

FBI rising star Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) leads a raid with her partner, Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya) in which she is confronted with the horrifying aftermath of cartel related torture and execution. Following this incident, Kate is drafted onto an inter-agency task force meant to take down the head of the cartel. The task force is led by CIA agent Matt (Josh Brolin) and a mysterious "consultant" named Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro). But the further the mission goes, the more Kate comes to suspect that simply capturing the cartel leader is not the real aim of the team.

This is an incredibly solid thriller with a great mix of interesting visuals and engaging performances.

Emily Blunt is such an entertaining performer. While for the most part her character is reactive as opposed to proactive, she brings a lot of dynamism to a character who is slowly realizing that she's part of something unethical and truly powerless to do much about it.

Del Toro's Alejandro is a nicely enigmatic character. On reading a bit about the film, it seems that a lot of the character's dialogue was trimmed down at del Toro's insistence, and it's a good choice. The way that the film allows silences to stretch out between his character and Kate makes for some great moments. It's obvious that at some level Alejandro likes Kate. But it's also obvious that he has ulterior motives for being on the task force, and it generates nice suspense to wonder where this will land them in the end.

Brolin's Matt and the rest of the task force are a painfully accurate portrait of the kind of group "might makes right" mentality. There's a sequence where several of the team members hold Reggie down so that he can't defend Kate from a fight, and one of them tells Reggie "Let it happen". Ugh. Kaluuya makes for a charismatic and engaging sounding board for Kate, who is quickly at sea in the legally and morally dubious actions of the task force.

Visually speaking the staging of the various sequences is quite enjoyable. There's a great sense of flow between the talking/planning sequences and the action sequences. Everything crackles with tension, especially as Kate realizes that there are potential consequences to her involvement in the task force that she did not anticipate. Nothing is really safe, and even the most innocuous interaction could be underscored with danger.

I also give the film bonus points for including a track from Alison Krause/Robert Plant's album Raising Sand.

You liked it a bit more than did I, but it was a fairly enjoyable watch. Here's some commentary:

The Gentlemen (2019)

Fans of Guy Ritchie's --especially of his earlier Brit crime comedies, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch-- will be delighted that he's returned 20 years later to the formula that really put him on the map. Others without that experience may have a less enthusiastic response to this crispy criminal conspiracy comedy.

Its big name cast includes Matthew McGonaughey, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell, Charlie Hunnam, Eddie Marsan, and Jeremy Strong. The cinematography by Alan Stewart, and music by Christopher Benstead were both very competent. Ritchie wrote, directed, and was one of the 11 producers.

The story is a bit too complex to outline here, but suffice to say that it's a entangled drug territorial dispute tale, with certain parties wanting to buy the other out. Violence ensues when they can't come to terms, and instead do some double dealing.

Grant's character starts off the dealing to one of the major drug lords, an American who has developed into a major crime figure (McGonaughey) that has become well established in his success. Grant more or less serves as the narrator for the twisty and surprise laden plot-- sort of a criminal Our Town type character who at once describes, but is also involved in, the action.

The whole project seemed to me to be a little tired and shallow; not hackneyed, but familiar. Grant's character put me in mind of the Michael Caine part in Sleuth (1972), although with not nearly the heft.

The detraction from the credibility of the story was in the casting of two key players: McGonaughey as the chief crime boss, and Jeremy Strong as a fabulously wealthy drug boss who was one wanting to take over McGonaughey's business. McGonaughey's Texas drawl seemed too out of place, and therefore his character had believability problems; whereas Strong's mousey demeanor was simply too weak for the part. Also in limited supply were the type of offbeat quirky jokes and speech patterns so evident in Ritchie's earlier works.

The film certainly had some enjoyable portions, yet without the good acting of the name players, the picture would likely have expired as quickly as did some of the bad guys. My guess is that Ritchie was beseeched by his money people to revive his earlier approach, after a couple of semi-stinkers (King Arthur and Aladdin), in order to get his stock back on track. Whether this mediocre film was enough to do it, time will tell. Next up from him is Cash Truck, set in Los Angeles. Fingers crossed...

Doc's rating: 5/10

I agree. And I thought the great Roger Deakins' cinematography was phenomenal.

Yeah, this one was mostly just okay, with a few cool moments here and there (like when the Captain's memories are being probed), which hint at a better movie lurking beneath the overall averageness of it.



Besides that, I also think in its obvious attempt at propping up an empowered female hero, it ended up being so progressive that it actually ended up being regressive , in the sense that CM was more "strong" than she was actually interesting as a character, when it doesn't have to be a choice between the two qualities; I mean, back in the 90's, you had plenty of female characters in media who were both empowered and compelling at the same time, whether they be Clarice Starling, Faye Valentine, or Catwoman in Batman Returns, so it's clearly something that can actually be done, without just settling on them being strong, and leaving it at that.

I don't think that this is a gender issue, so much as a story issue. (Though I agree that "make her strong!" seems to have been more of a driver than making her character compelling). I had really hoped that they'd do something better with the thematic threads of her having been picked on as a child and the power she now possesses. It never got to a good point of her having to make a decision or a realization about herself. Instead she has revelations about other people and it's much less interesting.