Rate The Last Movie You Saw

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5



An ideal non-Christmas film for the holiday period. I've written a full review here.

Jim Broadbent is excellent, his amiable sincerity making sure the film both wins our sympathies and our hearts. A wonderfully tender film about hope and the human spirit.

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Bad Santa 2 (2016)


Rewatch for Christmastime...not as good as the original, but better than the critics' consensus

Air -

Like this year's other big "business movie," BlackBerry, this one also successfully mines compelling drama from a household item, in this case, a shoe. Granted, it's no ordinary shoe since it changed professional sports forever. In 1984, Nike was an underdog in professional basketball, having only a 17% share. Enter scout Sonny Vaccaro (Damon), who devised the idea to put the #3 pick's name on their product. To convince CEO Knight (Affleck, who also directed), Mike and his parents (Davis and Tennon), Sonny must compete with 900 lbs. gorillas Converse and Adidas as well as agent David Falk (Messina), a guy who probably invented quoting Wall Street's Gordon Gekko.

When the montage of '80s media and news footage in the opening sets in, I sighed because I doubt I'm not the only one with '80s nostalgia fatigue. Its affection is primarily for pro sports of this era, though, and if there's any nostalgia, it's more for the '90s and its variety of sturdy little dramas for grownups that this one resembles. There’s also its cast of familiar faces who bloomed in that decade, a highlight being Chris Tucker's surprising turn as VP Howard White. I was even more impressed by Matthew Maher's performance as shoe designer Peter Moore and not just because I'm used to him playing oddballs. Like Affleck's other directing efforts, it's an actor's movie, but that doesn't mean it skimps on period details like the clothes, computers or nuances like Phil Knight's preference for working without shoes. I also applaud the choice to keep Mike in the background for the mystique it gives him and for how it makes the movie about the shoe first as well as all the perfectly timed, tongue-in-cheek needle drops.

All the back and forth that happened behind the scenes during the Air Jordan's conception that this movie reveals will surprise you, as will how it manages to make a multimillion-dollar corporation like Nike the underdog. Again, the shoe is front and center, but I couldn't help but root for them. With that said, it does not quite achieve greatness, mostly because of its paint-by-numbers structure. There are times when it seems like a few word changes could make the movie about any new product. While this familiarity, the needle drops, etc. could means it is going for "eat the rich" satire, it works better as a history lesson because if that's the case, the satire has more bark than bite. If you range from a die-hard NBA fan to one who just casually checks the scores on ESPN, you are still bound to enjoy it. Then again, it's also worth watching if you're simply down for some low-stakes, lazy Sunday entertainment.

Haven’t heard of this one yet, but it’s in my watchlist now.

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Three good movies.

Remains Of The Day (1993)


A film I've always been aware in the peripheral I decided to take the plunge. Hopkins plays the ultimate repressed Englishman, the butler of the doltish Lord Darlington..his quite dignity and ever present professional leave little in the way of the man underneath although there are flashes of a man. Add to this the new house housekeeper played by Emma Thompson's who there is a clear chemistry between the two, she fails to break though to Steven's the man who neither stands equally to the high standing and important men he serve or the common man down the pub it's a Impossibly sad tale of a love story with no end or no beginning Add into the this the naive but well meaning Nazi sympathies of Lord Darlington and Steven's unobjection in it but in later life both possess a sense of regret, I am pleased I took the plunge but unlikely one I will revist

Silent Night (2023)

Strange offering from John Woo here as Joel Kinnaman plays a man on a revenge mission after his son is killed. The action takes a time to get going so we see the protagonists journey to recovery/bad-assedness. The main dude is mute after the incident that killed his son too so we get lots of facial acting from Kinnaman. All in all, not bad, V.predictable, seems to have been done on the cheap but there are still a few nice moments/set-pieces. I didn't get the Christmas angle at all. Nice ending but I don't really think they thought out what they wanted the film to be.

The Taking of Deborah Logan - A film crew sets out to shoot a documentary on a woman's nascent struggle against Alzheimers. Sarah Logan (Anne Ramsay) has arranged for Mia Medina (Michelle Ang) and her videographer and sound tech to move into her mother's home. Deborah (Jill Larson) is in danger of losing it to foreclosure and reluctantly agrees in return for some promised remuneration. It isn't long before things start happening that aren't easily explained away.

I liked the first half of the movie which does an effective enough job via all the closed circuit cameras the film crew has set up thoughout the house. Even though it's been used countless times before it still works to bring the creepiness as Deborah is eventually revealed to be more than your typically frail old woman. I thought Larson's performance as Deborah was the main draw. And to a lesser degree Ramsay as her beleaguered and on edge daughter (the actress playing Sarah was driving me nuts trying to place her face until I finally remembered her from A League of Their Own).

Michelle Ang as Mia Medina is shown to be the resolute one mostly because the two guys are apparently there to either state the obvious or pointlessly remind the viewer of the precariousness of the situation. The last few minutes are plagued by shaky camera work, which is the same issue with so many other found footage projects (you'll also have to ignore your brain asking how the hell they're still managing to film all this).

Pretty good first half but it sort of loses it's way a bit in the second half. But there is a seriously creepy WTF!? moment mixed in there. I'm still not sure how I feel about the actual closing shot. You'll find this entertaining enough if you can work your way around the found footage setup.

65/100

Maestro (2023) Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan are both excellent in this well made, beautifully filmed biopic. I would rank it as the 10th best film of the year.

Cash on Demand (1961)

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By The poster art can or could be obtained from Dendy Films., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6179690

Romulus, My Father - (2007)

I dragged myself to watch Romulus, My Father and, knowing me, I told myself that I'd probably love it then. In fact I did, which means I must really be in tune with films about abject misery - an outpouring of sympathy and empathetic grief might have seen an influx of endorphins to stimulate my mind. Anyway - more to the point - like they say these days, if you're easily triggered by any depiction of suicide then oh boy - don't watch this movie. I'm not kidding - there is more suicide in this movie than any other I've ever seen, and it's based on the real-life memoirs of philosopher Raimond Gaita, so it bends my mind to imagine that all of these failed attempts and "successes" really happened in his family. Raimond himself is played by a terribly young and little Kodi Smit-McPhee, an immigrant to Australia shortly after the Second World War, from Romania, and brought up by father Romulus (Eric Bana - an Australian playing a non-Australian in an Australian movie.) His mother, Christine (Franka Potente), has left to be with another man, a friend of Romulus called Mitru (Russell Dykstra) - but it's her depression which really becomes the destroyer of everyone's world in Romulus, My Father.

Christine's behaviour is erratic, and it becomes clear later that she suffers from debilitating post-partum depression after having a child (she has one more in the film, a daughter - but had two more in real life.) She stays in touch with young Raimond and Romulus, visiting them on their desolate property. In fact, there's a sense of family between all of the characters. Everyone stays close, but betrayal, abandonment, mental illness and the isolating loneliness of being an immigrant makes for a terribly hard and brutal life - especially in Australia. In the end the challenges Raimond and his family face does make for compelling storytelling in a cinematic package. You want to reach out and help these people. The desolation of country Australia just highlights that sense of having to rely solely on yourself. In the end I thought the movie really held up particularly well, and if you're interested in the immigrant experience, dealing with mental illness, or childhood in these circumstances you might do a lot worse than see this. A really good 21st Century Australian film.

Animal lovers : there's cruelty to chickens at one stage in this movie. I'm sure they weren't badly harmed, but holy hell it's one sickly, scary scene.

8/10

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Love this one. I spent a lot of time hanging out with Harvey and Joyce when they would come down to the Dallas Fantasy Fair in the mid-'80s. They were very kind and always interesting to talk to. The movie really does them justice (but I also recommend seeking out copies of the comic; they're a great example of American art).

Bullet (1996)

Mickey Rourke plays a jewish hoodlum just out of the jail and up to his old tricks. Nothing here really that interesting except his nemesis "on da street" is played by Tupak Shakur. There were (unintentional) laugh out loud moments mainly due to the script and the antics of his brother (played by Ted Levine). Ending is balls, a total mess of a film. It was directed by Julien Temple, he should stick to trotting out his old punk retrospectives.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown it's one of the best representations of that as it follows our group of children through various Halloween related interactions. The most notable one is Linus (Christopher Shea) belief that "the Great Pumpkin" will appear to him to give him toys, but there's also the perennial mishaps of Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins), and Snoopy's imaginary dogfight with the Red Baron!

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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They Cloned Tyrone -

This funny, strange and insightful sci-fi tale is a fine entry in the subgenre Jordan Peele, Boots Riley and Donald Glover practically invented: surreal takes on African-Americans' place in the U.S. today. Fontaine (Boyega), a drug dealer in predominantly black community the Glen, lives a routine existence, starting each day with saying bye to mom, scratching off a (losing) lottery ticket and greeting the local drunk. This day is different in that it doesn't end so well. After waking up the next day like nothing ever happened, he teams up with pimp Slick Charles (Foxx) and prostitute Yo-Yo (Parris) to investigate. They discover a conspiracy to make life just as routine and indistinct for every Glen resident.

If the plot sounds like ones in other movies you've seen, I don't blame you, but what the movie does with it makes you forget about it pretty quickly. Besides, from the mentions of Hollow Man to the appearance of Kiefer Sutherland, it lampshades its familiarity for good laughs. The way it pulls no punches makes the movie all the better in other ways, especially in how the conspirators control the Glen by hocking stereotypically black products like fried chicken and perm cream. It does this in a way that pokes fun at the stereotypes and at those who perpetuate them. Like Donald Glover does in Atlanta, I like how director Juel Taylor and crew ride a fine line of making the Glen look totally normal at one moment, a surreal world the next - the use of purple helps - and altogether oddly beautiful. I also really enjoyed the performances of our three would-be detectives, especially Boyega's and not just because of the relief that his career is back on track after his unfortunate Star Wars experience.

While specific to the African-American community, this movie succeeds as a funny and pertinent reminder to everyone of how insidious our institutions can be in their attempts to maintain order. Again, your results may vary in how it cribs from other sci-fi classics and there are some leaps in logic here and there. It still stands as one of 2023's best sci-fi movies. Oh, and stick around after the end credits. Unlike some recent end credit sequences, this movie's won't disappoint.

1st Rewatch...This heartbreaking and disturbing psychological drama was even more heartbreaking and disturbing upon rewatch. Four time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan plays Susie Salmon, a teenage girl who is murdered by a creepy pedophile named George Harvey and then becomes stuck in some sort of bizarre purgatory because she cannot reconcile how she died and that George might actually get away with it. We then watch the possibility of a cosmic connection between Susie and her dad that begins to lead dad toward Susie's killer. This is much more complex and disturbing look at the same issues that come to light in 1990's Ghost, but it's way more disturbing because it makes our heart ache for Susie in a what seems to be a hopeless plight, leading to an ending that doesn't completely satisfy this reviewer. Ronan is enchanting as Susie Salmon and Stanley Tucci's creepy George Harvey earned him his only Oscar nomination to date. Maybe his performance in Boogie Nights might be the only Mark Wahlberg performance that is better than his performance here as Susie's father. Peter Jackson's direction redefines imaginative.

The Whistler follows Earl C. Conrad (Richard Dix), a businessman that hires a hitman through a middleman to kill himself, as he hasn't been able to recover from the death of his wife. The twist comes when he realizes later that his wife is alive, but he has no way to contact the hitman to stop the hit since the middleman was killed as well.

This was an interesting watch that I found out about when looking for short film noirs (its runtime is just 60 minutes). The premise is really interesting and Dix is a competent lead. However, the way the hitman behaves really doesn't make much sense as he seems determined in completing the job, but still spins his wheels too much when the time comes for some odd reasons.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot and the Noirvember thread.

Umpteenth Rewatch...Just like The Terminator, I have watched Brian DePalma's masterpiece so many times that I found myself concentrating on certain aspects of the movie than the movie as a whole, which still remains totally watchable, though this time I found myself concentrating on who I found the story's biggest victim and that for me would be Tommy Ross, played by William Katt, who made his film debut in this movie, along with Amy Irving, Betty Buckley, and Edie McClurg. He initially comes off with just a dash of mean (watch him in that scene near the beginning where he is shot in the front and Carrie is in the background). Then watch how Sue (Irving) manipulates him into asking Carrie to the prom. Tommy really doesn't want to do this, but he does it for Sue, but by the time they arrive at the prom, it really looks like Tommy is developing some genuine feelings for Carrie. I love the amount of screentime that DePalma devotes to Carrie and Tommy getting to know each other at the prom. It not only makes us totally fall in love with Tommy, but our heart begins to break for Carrie, because we watch nasty Norma (PJ Soles) collecting and getting rid of ballots and we hate to see what's coming. I also couldn't help but get caught up in the horrifying Margaret White, brilliantly realized by Piper Laurie, in a performance that earned her a second Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Laurie scares the crap out of me in this movie, no matter how many times I watch it. And just so we're clear, I will NEVER watch the remake...I just can't bring myself to do it.

Lates movie that i watch is open hiemer