Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Rubber (2010)

A good unrealistic film about a tire that animates to life and starts killing people. While nice for being something you haven't seen before I think there could have been more to it. There's a few puzzling elements to the story that you could mull over in your mind and it belongs on the shelf next to other strange movies.

6/10

His movies are all surrealist. Interesting director. 'Deerskin' is probably his best, the tagline is:

"A man's obsession with his designer deerskin jacket causes him to blow his life savings and turn to crime."

Families! Who needs them. A sprawling mammoth Iranian drama. Director Saeed Roustayi follows up the excellent ‘Law of Tehran’ with a tale of a poverty stricken family in modern day patriarchal Iran. Roustayi is destined to go all Bong Joon Ho on us – the directorial chops on him are huge. The performance he gets from Tarane Alidousti as the lone female among her four brothers is outstanding.

Typical of Iranian cinema, the film dissects morals and ethical decision making and examines how difficult it is for families to adhere to traditions whilst also trying to modernise. It’s a very dialogue driven film, and at nearly 3 hours, demands a lot of concentration. But it is worth it, and the last 30 minutes are quite touching. It feels like a blend of ‘Yi Yi’ and ‘The Great Beauty’, and has a magnificent set piece wedding scene.

Roustayi is destined for great things, if he hasn’t achieved them already.

8.1/10

Beetlejuice (1988)

Been so many years since I've seen this that I forgot most of it but then a feeling of deja vu took hold and by the time I reached the end of the movie it felt like the last time I saw it was a week ago. A classic movie, some of it too campy for my tastes but brings back good memories of nostalgia.

9/10

I'm sifting my way through this directors filmography and think maybe he's yet to create his best work.

Nice to see some love for Dr. Jekyl and Sister Hyde.

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On The Waterfront - 10/10
First saw this in Jan of 2000. I remember it well because I borrowed my mom's car to go to the mall to buy the VHS. On the way home, I made a left and was hit - car totaled... I finally got home, and my next-door neighbor came over. I asked if he wanted to watch the movie, he didn't, so I did. I loved it so much and I hit REWIND, and played it again and loved it more. I've never done that before, and only on two occasions have I watched the same movie back-to-back (only the next day). I probably saw this dozens of times in my teens.


In the early 50s, there were no actors like Marlon Brando. Even those who went to the same acting school weren't half as convincing. I'm pausing out of disbelief how amazing he was in the movie, and shaking my head in amazement. But I hadn't seen this movie in a long time, but TCM had it on, and I was hooked. My only criticism is that I thought Rod Steiger didn't play his character well. The way he read his lines, I just didn't believe him. He had the face, though. And to this day, I got embarrassed when he'd say certain lines, and I would actually brace for it..

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I faintly remember watching this as a kid and thinking it was insanely cool because at the time I was really into Knights and Magic. A recent watch has me wondering if little me was kind of dumb. The acting was way over the top, I get they were trying for a Shakespearean delivery but wow it's all kinds of forced. The costumes and landscape was pretty spot on for the times, very dreary and foggy. The special effects were OK for the early 80s. Lovely to see a young Patrick Stewart having the time of his life in this. Overall it's a cheesy sword & sorcery mess and I liked it a little less than I used to. 6.5/10

On the Waterfront is one of the first films I think of when I think of classics that live up to their billing. I saw it, assuming I kind of "had to," in the way you have to see a lot of classic films that turn out not to hold up especially well, but are more Important than Great. This definitely wasn't that. Just a tremendous film, so well acted. The fact that the climax of the film isn't an event so much as someone just finally letting it all out after being fed up, and knowing the way Kazan's experiences must've fed into it, is both formally impressive and incredibly moving.

Never heard of this, but it’s in my watchlist now.

This movie might be my favorite Iranian movie. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ci...m)?wprov=sfti1

Brilliant movie. Seen it a million times. Brando’s scenes with Marie Saint were lovely.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

Latest viewings:
The First Purge 2018 +
The Blood Beast Terror 1968
The Misfit Brigade aka Wheels Of Terror 1987
The Green Man 1956
Earth's Final Hours 2011
The Guns Of Navarone 1961
I Met A Murderer 1939
Boiling Point 1993
Meteor Apocalypse 2010 +
A Walk In The Sun 1945 +
The Resident 2011
Monster Island 2019 +
Shed Of The Dead 2019
Desperado 1995 +
Tarantula 1955 +

Anvil: The Story of Anvil, 2008

This documentary profiles the members of a late 70s/80s rock group called Anvil who were innovative and influential, yet never really broke big. The documentary fills in the band’s history and follows as they attempt a tour and a comeback.

This is a complex, funny-but-tragic look at the tribulations of trying to make it as an artist.



Full review

The Seven Five, 2014

This documentary follows the immoral and very illegal activities of a New York City police officer named Mike Dowd and his partner, Ken Eurell. Working their way up from petty theft to outright collaboration with big time drug dealer Adam Diaz, the two officers tell their own version of events.

Remarkable for the extremity of the officers’ actions and their total lack of remorse, this film is equal parts compelling and depressing.



Full review

Tequila Sunrise (1988)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Really funny film from Clay Tatum and Whit Thomas, who play themselves. Clay's wife goes out of town and he just wants to sit on his sofa, but an old friend appears out of nowhere and they have a little adventure.

I laughed hard at a few of the jokes. Tatum has a sort of Woody Allen like dead pan demeanour and the humour is snappy.

It perhaps lacks a little something in the final third but is a nice fun watch.

7/10

By https://www.cinematerial.com/movies/...926/p/a1v2ei5e, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6449189

Moulin Rouge - (1952)

This film focuses on the life of famed artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (played by José Ferrer - who also plays his father in flashbacks) and is really worth a look. His aristocratic family were inbred to the point of afflicting the poor guy with legs that broke, wouldn't heal, and wouldn't grow - which didn't affect his painting, but sadly tormented him in every other way. He'd drink himself to an early grave, dying at the age of 36. (He's played by John Leguizamo in Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge!) I was really impressed by this, with it's narrowing down on the man's art itself and primarily on the two lost opportunities he had for love. Toulouse-Lautrec learns early that some ladies find his malformation too ugly to overlook - and this hardens his soul and makes it impossible for those who do grow fond of him to get through that their feelings are genuine. Despite such prominent billing, Zsa Zsa Gabor doesn't play one of these two women (the actresses that do are Colette Marchand and Suzanne Flon) - instead only appearing briefly for a few song and dance numbers. Toulouse-Lautrec's pain concerning lost chances at love, amid the wonderous world of 1890 to 1900s Paris, makes it feel like he's living through the canvas he paints on. A young Peter Cushing turns up late as a suitor for one of Toulouse-Lautrec's love interests. Ferrer's performance is curt, and taciturn, and modelled I think on the way aristocrats with generations of breeding might talk once they've descended into the hoi polloi. A really moving, interesting, colourful and enjoyably musical movie. It could have done with more Moulin Rouge - considering the fact that it's called Moulin Rouge.

7.5/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6449189

Driving Madeleine - (2022)

Just like a real taxi-ride through Paris, Driving Madeleine races through everything so abruptly, without much feeling, that all of the payoff and drama at the end feels completely undeserved. Charles (Dany Boon) is a struggling French taxi driver who one day picks up Madeleine (Line Renaud) who is 92, and about to unburden herself of her entire life story as he takes her to a nursing home - but not before visiting various places important to her life (which have usually been demolished and built over.) We start with her at age 16, in 1944 her first kiss with an American G.I. develops into something more - namely a son without a father. When Madeleine does marry, she ends up with an abusive violent rapist monster for a husband, so she sends him to sleep via drugs in his whisky and takes to his privates with a blowtorch. She's charged with attempted murder, ends up in prison, and when she gets out her adult son (now a photographer) is off to Vietnam. There's interest in there - but a scant 90-minute runtime means there's so little time to expand and really feel her struggles and grief. Even the relationship she develops with her driver doesn't feel it should be at the place it ends up at - helping him avoid a ticket and sharing dinner and suddenly Charles deserves her undying gratitude and love, and he's shoving his family through doors so they can meet her. Of course, he needs to shove because he's racing the clock. Everything needed more time to develop - this feels like a big story stuffed into a very small movie.

5/10


By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5150564

American Dreamz - (2006)

This comedy suffers from a dearth of really funny moments, and is instantly dated by it's George W. Bush-era satire. It lacks elements such as being clever, and meanders through it's predictable story in a flat kind of way. I really didn't like American Dreamz, and I only give it the score I do because of Hugh Grant's performance, deigning to use Willem Dafoe as an evil, bald American Chief of Staff and it's technical competence.

4/10

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Rewatch. I think this movie became better after all these years. It's actually fire

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There has been an awekening.... have you felt it?

3/5 Admirable and heartwarming, but i couldn't help thinking of Ikiru throughout, and how awesome that film was.

Like all four films before it, Final Destination 5 follows a group of friends and co-workers that end up surviving a deadly bridge collapse when Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a vision about it. But as it's usual in these films, "death comes for them all" to fix those "wrinkles" and set things straight again.

It was nice to see that, after the fourth one which felt a bit stale, the writer and director here still managed to throw a couple of misdirections and surprise us with some of the deaths. Plus, some of them were really gory, surprising, or just cringe-inducing (the eye laser one had me squirming in pain). The opening bridge collapse scene was also well executed, and it was nice to see the return of Tony Todd as the mysterious "seer".

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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I usually don't like made-for-TV animated movies, but I did enjoy this one.
Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox
7.5/10

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