Rate The Last Movie You Saw

SF = Z


Trailer:




[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

By EMI - http://www.cartelespeliculas.com/pgr...&width=504, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41530017

Death on the Nile - (1978)

A star-studded Agatha Christie adaptation, and if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, it'll keep you guessing with it's deception. I didn't get it right. We have Peter Ustinov, Bette Davis, Mia Farrow, Olivia Hussey, George Kennedy, Angela Lansbury, David Niven, Maggie Smith and Jack Warden all in the mix playing various characters that have a strong motive to kill Linnet Ridgeway-Doyle (Lois Chiles) - that's how you know she's going to be murdered at some point. Great setting, and although some stuff was shot in a studio, most of the film was made on location in Egypt - a very exotic place for a murder mystery, with it's ancient ruins and sand-swept vistas. I think Ustinov makes a great Poirot, and the music from Nino Rota is particularly strong as well. The costume designer, Anthony Powell, won an Oscar for his good work in this. I'll have to catch up with the 2022 version now. Overall - pretty good, but we could have trimmed around 20 minutes from it's 140-minute runtime.

7/10


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Death to Smoochy - (2002)

Robin Williams can hold his head up high for his energetic performance in Death to Smoochy - and all I can say is I hope it wasn't a drug-enhanced act. His manic energy suits a villain, something he rarely got to play. In this film he's child show host "Rainbow" Randolph Smiley, who gets fired in disgrace for taking pay offs and is replaced by the squeaky clean Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton) who plays Smoochy the Rhino. Smiley's insane jealousy and psychotic grudge against Mopes is what powers Death to Smoochy - and whenever Williams isn't onscreen the film isn't quite as good. Not as bad as many critics made it out to be - and it has Catherine Keener in it, which is a bonus. Every Robin Williams rant is gold to me in this.

6/10


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Reign Over Me - (2007)

Reign Over Me features another serious Adam Sandler role that I'd never heard about before. He plays Charlie Fineman, a dentist school graduate who has lost his wife and three daughters in the September 11 terrorist attacks. The movie has a The Fisher King/Manchester By the Sea vibe to it, with Don Cheadle as the other half of the film, playing Dr. Alan Johnson, a man who knew Fineman in dental school and is determined to find help for the troubled man. The only trouble is, the reason Charlie decided to build a friendship with Johnson is the fact that he thought he wouldn't go there. It's effective drama which gets tense when Charlie loses his temper and goes on rampages, destroying everything in his path. It also features Jada Pinkett Smith and Liv Tyler in minor roles - Smith is okay, but Tyler struggles somewhat with her 'young therapist' part.

6/10

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Moulin Rouge (2001)

I saw this when it was a new release on video and forgot that I didn't like it. My memory was refreshed right quick when I started watching it tonight. This movie has got to have the worst soundtrack of any big budget musical I've seen. Almost all of the music is a poorly done rendition of 80s and 90s hit pop tunes, often amalgamated together. The picture style takes many chaotic and messy spins, appearing to try a psychedelic quality but comes off as more psychotic. The best performance here is the character Zidler as he steals the show and gives a great performance, even when he's singing crap cover songs. Nicole Kidman ironically sums the movie up with the line, "You're going to be bad for business, I can tell." I made it to the end though and thought that maybe on mute this movie could be more entertaining. I didn't know until now that this was a remake, so maybe I will check the original one out.

5/10

My tally is in for Barbenheimer

Barbie
Oppenheimer

I feel both will be difficult to rewatch in their entirety.

SF = 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

25th Hour, 2002

Monty (Edward Norton) is a mid-level drug dealer who has been caught, tried, and convicted. With just one day left before he must report to prison, Monty spends the day with his girlfriend Naturelle (Rosario Dawson), as well as his childhood friends Jacob (Phillip Seymour-Hoffman) and Frank (Barry Pepper).

Grounding its narrative in a highly specific post-9/11 New York, this film is a powerful study of place with a so-so set of character arcs.



Full review

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The Lion in Winter - (1968)

Christmas in 1183 appears to be the season of plotting, backstabbing and Shakespearean soliloquies shouted and screamed at the castle roof. Henry II (Peter O'Toole) is readying his favourite goofy son, John (Nigel Terry) for the throne, but his other two - the quietly competent Geoffrey (John Castle) and the almost psychotically bloodthirsty and stabby Richard (Anthony Hopkins) - won't go down without a fight. Into this dispute, he invites his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn) home for the Xmas season, from her prison, and also added to the mix are Henry's mistress, Alais (Jane Merrow) - a pawn in this game - and Philip II, King of France (Timothy Dalton). Those fond of history will know that King Henry's favourite son, Young Henry (already crowned a kind of co-King during Henry II's lifetime) had died earlier that year, making the succession messy. The Lion in Winter is almost too explosive - there's little time in which to catch one's breath during it's 134-minute runtime, and the changing alliances, plots, moves, seductions, persuasions and threats come one on top of the other. O'Toole is magnificent, and if he'd jumped out of his seat and stabbed Cliff Robertson in the heart during the Academy Award Ceremonies in 1969 nobody would have blamed him - it would have suited his character in this film and the occasion in real life. Katharine Hepburn equals him in every way - she'd win a third for Best Actress. Timothy Dalton and Anthony Hopkins give us an early glimpse into their power and burgeoning ability. A stupendous film based on the 1966 James Goldman play, echoing the Bard's from the late 1500s and early 1600s. Overwhelming, emotionally powerful and visually fascinating in it's originality and realistic design. The Lion in the Winter wants to shake you in your chair and put a sword at your throat.

9/10


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On Golden Pond - (1981)

On Golden Pond is alright - it gets a little too 'Soap Opera' at times, and it's definitely hokey at others. Katharine Hepburn and Henry Fonda almost single-handedly lift it from it's very own mediocrity and you ought to at least have a little tear in your eye when Ethel (Hepburn) begs God not to take Norman (Henry Fonda) until some other day. Norman has an especially sharp wit, and Fonda is fantastic in his delivery. Also helping is the contrast between Ethel's butterfly-bouncing positivity and optimism and Norman's dour pessimistic negativity - the film's first lines play on that - but it doesn't affect the love between the two. Going by what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is like, I'd have probably backed this in for Best Picture in 1982, but Henry Fonda for Best Actor is fine by me. Hepburn won a 4th Best Actress Oscar, putting a stamp on her greatness. The rest of the cast (including Jane Fonda) really pale in comparison, so the more time they're not there the better really. Performers can sometimes make the ordinary extraordinary, and these experienced pros do just that.

7/10

I liked that one quite a lot. The hiding in the curtains sequence, in particular, was terrific.

SF = Zzz


[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

Funny Games (1997) - A

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The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Beautiful film

The Passenger (2023)

This was quite an enjoyable low budget job that sees a fellow who is glad to be walked over due to a childhood action that he believes wasted the life of a much loved teacher. It explodes into violence early but it's not gratuitous and the dialogue between Randy and Benson is well done. It has an eerie feel to it which I like.