Rate The Last Movie You Saw

So are like half the ones you don't finish, but so what.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

I liked the film a lot, but what did you not like about it?

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IMDb
Letterboxd

A masochist Iroquois huh? I found it interesting but too clever-clever. Certainly a 1 time watch.

Yikes. Been looking forward to this, since it's Kaufman and all. Still gonna have to see for myself, but that's a bummer to hear.

Seven Beauties (1975)

Yeah I will watch it too I guess. But probably not tonight! Switched to Onibaba!

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My Favorite Films

I thought I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS was great. *shrug*

All about opinions my fellow, fellowess I did think it was a great bit of film-making but the story was rather slight.

Yeah the Mandalorian season 1 was great, I’ll watch season 2 soon have to get Disney plus back, literally the only thing I use that site for. Dark wing duck series I have a soft spot for too haha. I most recently watched the ‘Chernobyl’ series which I enjoyed but way overrated for me.

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"If you're good at something never do it for free".

I just thought I'd pipe in given the relative dog pile the film was getting.

I do think a film like ITOET demands a paradigm shift away from plot/story and more emphasis should be paid to the themes, idea and execution that it's presenting.

hope scream 5 will be okay movie

Thunderball (Terence Young, 1965)
Big step up from Goldfinger in terms of visuals and just feeling like a spy movie and I can't believe how hype all the underwater stuff managed to be. Shooting to build tension and actually using the wonderful music they had access to are probably the biggest boons to the film but the plot and set pieces are all fun too. There's definitely still some jank though (the quick turn-around on these film taking its effect) with some bad ADR and rough edits and unfortunately Bond still out here "Baby, It's Cold Outside"-ing people but at least it doesn't heroically save the day this time around. Overall this is the perfect middle ground between the (relative) elegance of From Russia with Love and the silly concepts of Goldfinger and I'm about it.


You Only Live Twice (Lewis Gilbert, 1967)
At its peak its probably the best looking Bond film up to this point. Lots of absolutely stunning wides and some genuinely inspired shots but there's unfortunately also an over-reliance on terrible looking composite shots, which are present throughout the series but never this often and this poor, and as the film goes on (and on) those nice shots appear less and less. The story has the same overall arc the camerawork does as it just gets more embarrassing as it goes (not dropping spoilers but there's some real yikes moments) but at least there's some beautiful new additions to the score.



Current Bond rankings:
01. From Russia with Love
02. Thunderball
03. Dr. No
04. You Only Live Twice
05. Goldfinger

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, 2nd watch (D)

This is the least lazy of the series, and that's its biggest strength. The movie moves a lot, even though it has stupidly long bouts of nothing every now and then, but it moves. The biggest problem is that it revolves around a teenage douchebag that is never actually made sympathetic to the audience. They have bad stuff happen to him, but he's a douche all the way. It expands on the plot behind everything else in the series, which is good. There's some good stuff to learn here. It plays nearly no role up to now, but hey, meat.

All in all, an unremarkable found-footage movie with a very unlikable protagonist.

Yeah, it was unwavering in it's method in that sense, I do applaud it. Interesting that you say "the idea". I didn't really get a theme or idea that was original apart from regret.

Expresso Bongo (1959)
D: Val Guest
Starring: Laurence Harvey, Sylvia Syms, Yolande Donlan, Cliff Richard.

Zillionth re-watch of this fascinating gem. Harvey plays rat-like talent agent Johnny Jackson, who whilst out with his stripper girlfriend and aspiring singer (Syms), discovers undiscovered talent in the form of Bert Rudge (Cliff Richard), whom Jackson promptly re-brands as 'Bongo Herbert' and launches an all out assault on the music industry. The witty and satirical dialogue is laugh a minute stuff, and there are some rather naughty scenes that can scarcely be missed. It slows down and goes a bit serious towards the end, but overall a unique, funny and occasionally bizarre film with a charm all of its own.

9/10

Enjoying your write-ups on the Bond franchise so far. I've been doing a slow (very slow!) dive-in into the franchise as well for the last couple of years. Still have to see Connery's Diamonds Are Forever, and then it's onto Moore. I'm surprised about your reaction to Goldfinger. It's not my favorite (it's my #3 or #4), but I would say it's the most iconically Bond (whatever that means) of the franchise.

For what it's worth, here are some quick reviews I wrote about those last two...

Thunderball

You Only Live Twice

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Mamma Roma, 1962

Mamma Roma (Anna Magnani) is an outspoken woman who tries to put her life as a prostitute behind her to build a better life for herself and for her son, Ettore (Ettore Garofolo). She fears that he will fall into the same cycle of crime that she and all the people in her life have been a part of, but her schemes to further his position in life spirals them both into dangerous territory.

First of all, this film was dedicated to Rossellini, and it shares a lead actress with Rossellini's Rome, Open City (which I just happened to watch recently). There are certainly emotional overlaps and many similarities in the way that humor, dark humor, and plain darkness live side-by-side. There are many sequences that look a lot like broad comedy, such as the opening sequence in which Mamma Roma herds a trio of costumed pigs into the wedding of her ex-husband. But none of these characters, especially Mamma Roma, are happy. And a sort of desperation creeps in as she tries to put her son on a better path at exactly the same time that he begins walking down the wrong one.

Part of the tragedy of this film is the fact that Momma Roma doesn't have the cultural savvy to help her son in a legal way. Her best idea to help him involves a blackmail scheme. She is trying to turn her skillset to her son's advantage, but ends up pushing him away.

I also felt that the film did a good job, in the scenes featuring Ettore and the little crew of bad boys he falls in with, in showing how easy it is to get pulled into a bad social situation. The film very skillfully walks the line of letting Ettore be very much a frustrating teenage boy who makes stupid choices and is very self-centered--but you never lose a certain degree of sympathy for him. He wants to be his own man. He wants a degree of independence. He has come from an unstable childhood and has no real context for a healthy way of life.

This is one of those movies where a large portion of the cast are not trained actors. This is very noticeable, especially in the case of Ettore because of how much time he is on screen. But Magnani provides a solid anchor to every scene in which she appears, she plays very well off of every other actor, and she brings an effortless energy and intensity that simply refuses to let any of her scenes fall flat.

This might not be the best of the neo-realist films I've seen, but it does have its own unique energy and an unforgettable final shot.

I share your opinions. "Ordinary" is a good adjective, and pretty much sums up the feeling I had throughout watching it. Nothing wrong with the film. It just seemed too familiar.

I was charmed by the young girl, played by Helena Zengel, though not at first. She'll get a lot of work because of this film. Hanks was adequately good, although his accent was wrong-- his character supposedly from Texas.

I'd be surprised if it made its budget back. Still, it was pleasing to see a film without incessant gutter language and gratuitous violence.

I will again encourage everyone to read the (very short!!!) novel on which News of the World was based.

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“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” ~ Rocky Balboa