Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Tools    





Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.

Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman (Daniel Farrands, 2021)
5/10
Annie Get Your Gun (George Sidney, 1950)
6.5/10
Over-Exposed (Lewis Seiler, 1956)
+ 5/10
Annabelle: Creation (David F. Sandberg, 2017)
6/10

Miranda Otto, whose daughter died 12 years earlier, performs an exorcism (or is it a reverse exorcism?) she hopes will bring her daughter back.
Torn Curtain (Alfred Hitchcock, 1966)
6/10
Satan's Bed (Michael Findlay, Marshall Smith & Tamijian, 1965)
4/10
Topaz (Alfred Hitchcock, 1969)
5.5/10
The Catered Affair (Richard Brooks, 1956)
7+/10

Lonely, frustrated housewife Bette Davis decides to give her daughter (Debbie Reynolds) a big wedding to make up for the fact she feels that she and cab driver husband Ernest Borgnine didn't provide well enough for her growing up.
Body at Brighton Rock (Roxanne Benjamin, 2019)
+ 5/10
Munich: The Edge of War (Christian Schwochow, 2021)
5.5/10
Get to Know Your Rabbit (Brian De Palma, 1972)
+ 5/10
Wild Man Blues (Barbara Kopple, 1997)
6.5/10

Woody Allen and his New Orleans jazz band tour Europe where he enjoys ths clarinet playing and complains amusingly about everything else to his traveling companion, Soon-Yi Previn.
Go Naked in the World (Ranald MacDougall, 1961)
5/10
Ailey (Jamila Wignot, 2021)
6.5/10
Dog Days (Ken Marino, 2018)
6/10
There Will Be No More Night (Éléonore Weber, 2020)
+ 6.5/10

Eerily-compelling, thought-provoking view of modern warfare in the Middle East seen through the camera lens of helicopter gunners who sometimes make mistakes.
Transgression (Herbert Brenon, 1931)
+ 5/10
The Legend of Lylah Clare (Robert Aldrich, 1968)
5.5/10
Downhill AKA When Boys Leave Home (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927)
+ 5/10
A Band A Brotherhood A Barn (DHLoveLife [Daryl Hannah], 2021)
+ 6.5/10

Neil Young & Crazy Horse rehearse for their new album in a remote barn. Artistic. funny and beautiful. Entire documentary above.
__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page







The Mob - This 1951 noir stars Broderick Crawford as police detective Johnny D'Amico. When the film opens D'Amico has been suspended for letting a killer slip through his fingers. The murder victim was scheduled to testify before a grand jury investigating corruption on the NYC waterfront. The gunman also killed the detective in charge of that investigation and used the dead officer's badge to dupe D'Amico. But the suspension's a subterfuge of sorts. The Police Commissioner and the District Attorney offer Johnny a deal. He is to go undercover as a longshoreman to find out what he can about the man in charge of the organized crime ring controlling the docks.

Crawford is a natural at playing a wisecracking tough guy and the supporting cast includes Ernest Borgnine as malevolent linchpin Joe Castro and Neville Brand as Gunner, his lieutenant and enforcer. Richard Kiley also costars as Johnny's coworker Tom Clancy, who may or may not be up to his neck in the dirty dealings. Director Robert Parrish handles the seedy environs and the rough characters with aplomb but it's the script by William Bowers that stands out. The quips and the gallows humor flow like the booze that the majority of the characters continuously toss back. Crawford isn't exactly a leading man type but he's in his element playing the intrepid and unwavering D'Amico. Pretty good crime noir.

80/100






Intruder in the Dust - I wasn't really familiar with this 1949 drama but having seen it I think it deserves a spot right alongside classics like To Kill a Mockingbird. Equal parts murder mystery and social commentary it's directed by Clarence Brown from the 1948 William Faulkner novel. Claude Jarman Jr. stars as teenager Chick Mallison. He is acquainted with Lucas Beauchamp, a principled black farmer who has been accused of shooting Vinson Gowrie, a white man, in the back. Beauchamp had once helped Chick and his black friend Aleck (Elzie Emanuel) after Chick fell through some ice while hunting rabbits on Beauchamp's property. When Sheriff Hampton (Will Geer) brings Lucas in he singles out Chick in the crowd that has gathered and asks him to contact Chick's uncle, attorney John Gavin Stevens (David Brian). After being convinced by Chick, Stevens agrees to talk with Beauchamp who tells him that it couldn't have been his pistol that shot Gowrie. He wants Stevens to check the body and compare the round that he believes came from a rifle. But he won't say who he believes the shooter to be.

This is where the murder mystery comes into play. This movie is peopled with some of the most interesting and honorable characters alongside some of the usual racist characters. But no one is up on a soapbox. There is no pontificating or histrionics. The "N" word is dropped several times but, just like the nobler characters and whatever their respective motivations, it's not really dwelt on. And that just adds to the power and overall impact of the narrative.

The secret weapon would have to be Miss Eunice Habersham (Elizabeth Patterson), the octogenarian who somehow takes it upon herself to right a wrong that someone like lawyer Stevens is reluctant to do. There's a powerful scene that mirrors a sequence from the aforementioned To Kill a Mockingbird so that by the end of the film the viewer will find themselves in awe of the indomitable Miss Habersham. There are other quietly decent and unassuming portrayals such as the Sheriff and even folks who you would assume to be one note characters are ultimately shown to be simply human. Such is the power of good writing. Kudos to Faulkner.

90/100



The stunt is in Steamboat Bill, Jr. Hollywood legend has it that he'd just gotten word that his studio was going under (SBJ is among the last 3 independent films he made before signing with MGM in a deal that would ruin his career) so just made them roll with the stunt, not taking other safety precautions.

The famous gags in One Week involves trying to get the house off train tracks and the house rotating. I personally think the 4th wall break involving the camera man hiding nudity should be there as well (both this gag and the falling house from SBJ were recreated for Arrested Development, to name few of the many explicit homages).

I don't believe Keaton ever did the gag again, outside of SBJ. Though he did rehash some gags in his MGM days, like the aforementioned train scene from OW.
Actually the falling wall gag was first used in a Keaton/Arbuckle 2-reeler, Backstage (1919). Then in One Week (1920), followed by Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).



Actually the falling wall gag was first used in a Keaton/Arbuckle 2-reeler, Backstage (1919). Then in One Week (1920), followed by Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928).
Ya know what, you're right. I'd completely deleted the gag from One Week in my mind but it is there, albeit in a far less dangerous interpretation of the stunt.





Nomadland, 2020

After the death of her husband and the loss of her job, Fern (Frances McDormand) ends up going on the road, living out of her van and moving from place to place for work as the seasons change. She makes friendships along the way, but a burgeoning romance with Dave (David Strathairn) forces her to question when and if she might settle down again.

This movie really grew on me as I was watching, and I went from thinking it was okay to thinking it was really good to thinking "wow" and rewatching the last 10 minutes again.

At first, the film seems like it's a straight ahead character study mixed with a condemnation of the kind of low-level "corporate" gruntwork where so many people can find themselves trapped. We see Fern work seasonally in an Amazon warehouse, then help manage a campsite, and finally scrape plates and tear lettuce in a restaurant.

But as the film progresses, it becomes clear that Fern's nomadic lifestyle isn't some tragic failing of the American dream. In fact, it's a part of her personality and part of the way that she copes with the grief she feels about her husband's passing.

The longer I watched Fern, the more I felt I both understood and felt for her. While she desires connection and friendship and love, she also needs a sense of freedom and impermanence. A permanent life would draw into stark contrast the permanence of the loss of her loved one. Her family sees her need to keep moving as a rejection or abandonment. But as we see illuminated in a conversation late in the film, always being on the move gives a much needed sense of hope that she might, somehow, be moving toward the thing she misses most.

I thought that the film did a good job of portraying both the positives and the downsides to Fern's life. There is a strong sense of community among her fellow nomads. But at the same time it is a precarious lifestyle, and a flat tire or a busted engine can be devastating. In one of my favorite sequences, Fern wanders off on a tour of a beautiful rocky desert. At first exhilarated, she suddenly realizes she's lost her bearings. When Dave's voice gives her a sense of direction, she smiles. This is her life: roaming free, but needing that orienting voice from time to time.

I thought that McDormand was pretty fantastic here, and her sequences with a large number of non-professional actors really shows an ability to be solid in her craft while maintaining an ease with the other person. I also thought that the film was beautifully shot, making the open road look at once welcoming and a bit menacing.






Crazy Heart, 2009

"Bad" Blake (Jeff Bridges) is an aging country singer whose star has waned but not quite extinguished. Making a circuit that includes stints at a bowling alley, Bad is a not-so-functional alcoholic who gets a bit of a jolt when he falls for a journalist named Jean (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Bad must also deal with his feelings around the popularity of his former protegee, a musician named Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell) who remains loyal to his mentor, but doesn't quite have the pull to bring him along for the ride.

I really wanted to see this movie when it first came out and somehow . . . it's been over a decade! Anyway, it more than lives up to the hype around it at the time, especially in the form of the heartfelt, lived-in performance from Bridges. I don't quite know what it is about Bridges that his characters always seem so credible (I feel the same way about Frances McDormand, so it's funny to watch this film right after Nomadland). Bad feels through and through like a real person, and it makes watching his less admirable moments far more bearable.

By extension, the May-December romance between Bad and Jean, a woman almost 30 years his junior, also feels credible. Oh, it's clear from the beginning that it's headed nowhere good. And not just because of the age gap between them, but because despite the love he feels for Jean and her young son, Bad cannot find it in himself to change his ways. A near-disastrous car accident doesn't move the needle, and as you watch a tipsy Bad supervising a child on a play structure, you can just feel that there's some tragedy looming. It's the kind of dynamic where you get it even if at the same time it's so obviously a bad idea.

The Achilles heel of a lot of movies about artists is the art itself. Bridges and Farrell acquit themselves quite well in their singing, and the songs themselves are believable as the kind of music that would earn someone faithful fans. Going back again to that word, credible, the way that the film shows Bad's gift as a songwriter feels real. In conversation--and especially in flirting--we see how he can turn a phrase. And then that phrase becomes a refrain or a verse. It makes the whole thing feel natural and believable.

I did at times struggle with the character of Jean. Bad is an alcoholic, and so his horrible choices are made under the influence. Jean is also under the influence, but of an emotion, not a substance. And so despite Bad being the more reckless and careless of the two, I found myself annoyed with her and specifically the way that her decisions impacted her kid. Gyllenhaal does a good job of making you believe just how this woman has fallen under Bad's spell, and how much she wants it to be real and good. But in the moments where her child's welfare is at stake, I just shook my head.

Good stuff well acted.







The Matrix Resurrections - First of all I appreciate the meta spin that the writers (Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell, Aleksandar Hemon) put on this even though, all things considered, this still falls under the "Why was this made?" umbrella. I don't think it adds anything to the Matrix canon. It's too long and at times so needlessly convoluted that I couldn't help but tune out. And since I was never completely invested in the proceedings I felt no great compunction about going back and rewatching the parts I had zoned out on. In the end it didn't really matter. It is a good looking film though but largely soulless. This was a misfire.

p.s. Where the hell was Laurence Fishburne?

60/100





Poster says it all. The conspiracy IS real.
__________________
There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?



Ya know what, you're right. I'd completely deleted the gag from One Week in my mind but it is there, albeit in a far less dangerous interpretation of the stunt.
Yeah, the one in Steamboat Bill, Jr. was insane. It took pinpoint precision and probably booze along with a death wish to do that one!



Madhouse (1981)
aka There Was a Little Girl

A slasher that's kinda aptly named as its story makes little sense. It has its moments, some silly and some not. A nice atmosphere during the first hour. One of the tamest video nasties I've seen this far.
__________________



Victim of The Night
TLJ in that poster is like, "can I get paid now?"
"I've been here for the three hours we agreed upon."





No matter what anyone says, you must have some kind of interest in Ingmar Bergman to watch this movie. The two female leads are very good. Tim Roth looks like he’d rather be someplace else - miscast. Not bad, but not sure I understood the entire plot.
__________________
I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.



Madhouse (1981)
aka There Was a Little Girl

A slasher that's kinda aptly named as its story makes little sense. It has its moments, some silly and some not. A nice atmosphere during the first hour. One of the tamest video nasties I've seen this far.
I liked this film quite a bit more than its reputation and consider it among the better non-Italian giallo underdogs (alongside Happy Birthday To Me and the Killer Is One of 13). It's certainly the best from Assonitis that I've seen, even though I do much enjoy Tentacles and Beyond the Door.