Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Folk, 2024





In short: The film was HILARIOUS. Walsh is fantastic at deadpan.

I had no plans to see this, but my brother in law ended up having tickets he couldn't use due to his band getting an unexpected gig as as a fill-in at a local place a few towns over.

My expectations were that I would meet my friend, we would walk into the theater, have our pick of the best seats, afterward enjoying the film with the other 4 people in attendance, with the possibility of a full half of those people walking out in the first 20 minutes. This is a film put out by The Daily Wire, and I live in Massachusetts.

We walked in during previews and the place was over 2/3 full. No one walked out and there was applause after the film. People were roaring with laughter, including my friend and myself.

Funny shit, and totally worth the ticket.

__________________

Yol (1982) - Turkish drama following a few men on leave from prison by getting into their personal lives and ways in which they're facing oppresseion from either their family or society at large while maintaining stoic looks from outside.

The structure is of the kind that is always attractive and while I need to watch it again for some clarifications here and there, this kinda broke me... its realism recalled neo-realism (a certain character's crying at the end reminded me of the ending to Bicycle Thieves) and it's cinematography was captivating (those shots in the dark)... Look up the director Yilmaz Güney and how he directed this, from prison no less... legend material. 8/10.

__________________
HEI guys.

Imagine someone trying to rip-off the Borat movie, but without being the least bit funny.

That's what watching this movie feels like, the audience I watched it with just sat there dumbfounded and didn't find anything about it remotely funny (except for how pathetic it is to take advantage of well-meaning people by setting up interviews under completely false pretenses).

One can only imagine that the people who were duped by the filmmakers had already granted permission for the interviews to be used before finding out that the person doing the interviewing wasn't the least bit serious about anything.

The only good thing that will come out from all of this is that people will hopefully not be duped again by the same filmmaking team.

A dreadful experience, for sure.

This is what I pay Internet for :applause:

__________________

Speak No Evil (2022)



If you watch this as a Survival Horror then this story isn't going to make much sense, and I find it very hard to believe that the filmmaker wasn't aware of that.
So I figured, perhaps I wasn't meant to be taken at face value.

It has an underlying tone of submissiveness especially from the Danish husband's point of view because he's feeling trapped in a well-organised but unsatisfying life of keeping up appearances.
His incapacity or unwillingness to act like the man he wants to be makes the excesses of tragedy and cruelty that unfold more effective from a metaphorical point of view - and then the motives of the Dutch couple (which are never explained anyway) don't seem very important in the grand scheme of things.
"Why are you doing this?"
"Because you let me".

But then again, it's also possible that I'm giving this screenplay way too much credit and maybe it's a very stupid movie after all.
I guess I'll never know....and that's why this film is un-rateable.

First What Is a Woman?, then Am I Racist?. The next one in the Question Trilogy is bound to be Am I a Racist Woman?.

__________________
San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (Sidney Lumet, 2007)



Good performances, competently made, but despite the shifting narrative structure the whole thing is pretty straightforward. Very dark and depressing, does a good job of capturing dread and the feeling of hopelessness.

Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff, 2001)



Strangely I feel quite similar about this. Competent all round, good performances, but a little too dark and depressing. I felt pretty hopeless and depressed watching this, maybe even more so than BTDKYD. Life is sad and cruel, the world can be a difficult place to live in. We all have to lose our innocence when we grow up.

__________________

Are psychics real?

Well, they are real in the sense that they definitely exist and that some people believe in what they claim to do.

There is, of course, no scientific proof - as far as I know - that something real and measurable is happening when people claim to use psychic powers to communicate with what can't be seen (or even with living animals).

But this documentary by Lana Wilson - whose other recent subjects include Taylor Swift and Brooke Shields - doesn't really seem interested in whether or not science can prove or disprove anything in regards to psychics.

The documentary seems to be much more interested in what drives the desire for certain kinds of connection - the need to have a "connection" with a lost one, or a pet that obviously can't speak, etc. - and what someone can evidently do to make that person feel that connection (whether it's just some kind of grift or a genuine gift is left up to the viewer).

I am, of course, skeptical about anything that can't be scientifically proven, so I can't say I exactly believe in what psychics claim to be able to do. But I can definitely believe - because the documentary offers plenty of evidence - that there is a real human need for the things they claim to be able to provide, and that very real need is something that lies very deep inside some people; feeling that they have achieved the "connection" can seemingly bring about great relief.

This is definitely - by far - the better of two documentaries that I've watched this weekend; this one concerns folks who, whether or not they are able to do what they say they do, have a genuine gift for making those who come to them feel better; the other one was about a cruel and heartless grifter who cons innocent, well-meaning people in order to, well, just in order to profit off of them.

You don't have to be a psychic to know which one I feel is the morally repugnant one.

Superman The Movie (Extended version) - (Richard Donner, 1978)


First time seeing it with my 16 year old son. A lot of additional scenes compared to the theatrical version, which is the one I'm used to. Most of these scenes are silly, but there a few quite interesting ones. 11/10

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

By May be found at the following website: http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/e5b5fd4c, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34444825

Bread and Tulips - (2000)

If you're a housewife, your husband constantly berates you, your kids find it an inconvenience to constantly have to ignore you and you work like a slave for these people - then this is your fantasy movie. I mean, it would be nice to find yourself suddenly living in Venice, starting a new career as a florist, finding new and interesting best friends and starting a love affair with Bruno Ganz. This is what happens to Rosalba Barletta (Licia Maglietta) when a tour bus with her family on it leaves her stranded in Greece, and her supposed loved ones don't even notice right away. She decides to make her own way home, but on the way detours to Venice (she's never been) and that's where she meets new people, gets a new job and starts a new life - while in the meantime her husband, Mimmo (Antonio Catania) hires a private investigator, Costantino (Giuseppe Battiston), to try and track her down. Every so often I'll watch a movie that I don't see myself as the target audience for - that's the case here, and I don't think I was ever going to love Break and Tulips regardless of how good the performances in it were, or the fact that it won 9 David di Donatello awards (and 5 Nastro d'Argento awards.) Licia Maglietta was a huge surprise though - I wish I could see more of her. Ganz, as depressed Icelandic landlord/restauranteur Fernando made it worth my while as well. Sounds like this was the movie of the year in Italy during 2000, but for me it pretty much hit the region I'd call "average". It was okay.

6/10

__________________

I saw this in the theater when it first came out and just thought it was really sweet. Nothing super special, but fun and cute. It was definitely a crowd-pleaser in the theater.

It hit that exact spot for me, where I didn't dislike it, didn't love it - it had plenty of nice moments, and that kind of fantasy vibe to it. Go to Venice, start your dream job, meet interesting new people who you gel with immediately and become your de facto family. I've yet to see Venice - but it's more than a drive for me.

Costa Rican Summer (2010) -

The filmmakers certainly intended for this to be a critique of the objectification of the female body, but I'd argue they didn't handle these points with a deft hand and lacked the maturity to go all the way on it. The portrayal of the unhinged characters is handled so obnoxiously, the nudity feels so exploitative and forced (to cut the film some slack, the men are sexualized a bit as well), and the dreamlike score whenever Pamela Anderson appeared onscreen made me check out entirely. While we're not asked to approve of the characters' behaviors, given the over-the-top direction of these elements, the intentions of the film weren't always clear. Whenever a film is critiquing nudity/sexuality, there's a thin line as to how much of that subject it can depict and how it portrays it before its commentary becomes muddled. The more it shows and the more emphasis it places on such, the more its points get diluted and the more it seems like depicting the "titillating" content is all the film wants to do. While I've encountered worse cases over the years (e.g. Cuties), this film still felt shallow. As for the rest of the film, it has the standard flaws I've seen in other terrible films, like bad acting, poorly-written dialogue, an overbearing and obnoxious score, poor cinematography, and an uninspired story. Of course, it's not like this is the only poorly made film out there which is disposable entertainment, but I think the reason this film bugged me so much was because it was pretending to be something else. At least Jurassic Shark and Meet the Spartans weren't trying to do this. I will grant that the second half is a slight improvement over the first half since it's more toned down, but not by much. Overall, this is horrendously bad on almost all levels and whatever undercurrents of quality are sprinkled in were ultimately overshadowed.

__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd

Honestly, now that I know a lot more women who have children, it makes a lot more sense to me why this one struck a chord with so many people. The dual exhaustion of either having everyone (other adults included!) clamoring for your attention and then being ignored/disregarded when you're not in the act of serving someone else . . . yeah, oops I found a dream life where I'm appreciated makes a lot more sense as a fantasy.

Boyz n the Hood (1991)

__________________

[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)


An average rom-com that I hope would elevate to being above-average given the cast. Gosling doesn't seem to hit the right notes for a character more suited for someone like Ryan Reynolds. The script follows mostly predictable paths, but it does veer off wildly once or twice which were the funniest and best parts for me.

I know the bar isn't high but this is one of my favorite rom-coms of the last 20 years. The cast do lovely work and I lose it everytime I get to the bit you posted with that picture

Marie-Claude Treilhou's directing debut isn't overly concerned with conventional narrative tropes, it seem perfectly happy to just observe Simone Barbès (Ingrid Bourgoin) as she goes through a regular workday.

And what does Simone do? She is an usher at an XXX theater in Paris - and this movie makes that seem even more tedious than it might sound at first.

Treilhou's gift for quiet observation will reward patient viewers and is better at simply recording a time and place in history that is long gone; there is certainly something about the locations (not just the XXX theater, but also a lesbian nightclub where Simone goes after work) that feels so much more quaint now than when the movie was brand new in 1980.

SF = Zzzzz


[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

Last week I saw the Regular Cut with my two kids (10 and 11) and it didn't go as well That middle act almost made them give up