Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Slaxx, 2020 (B)

A horror movie about a pair of possessed, killer jeans.

The movie is set entirely in a single store called Canadian Cotton Clothiers. A store where every employee is a douchebag, and the environment and culture is essentially a riff on Apple stores. There, a pair of revolutionary jeans using experimental cotton begins killing the employees.

I'm not sure if the movie has a clear message, but I don't know what it is if it's there. There's stuff about the way the company meaninglessly embraces the aesthetics of progressive politics, and simply repeats what it hears about it all. It's all unclear.

The movie is a good splatter movie, with interesting kills however. The protagonist is good, or at least unobstrusive, and the flow is nice. I would recommend it.

25th Hall of Fame

The Long Goodbye (1973) -

I'm still fairly new to Altman as, other than this film, I've only seen Nashville and his segment in Aria, the former of which I loved and the latter I thought was alright. I thought this film was pretty good and I'd put it in the middle. I was mainly impressed with the dialogue. The various wisecracks from Elliott Gould were quite witty and brought a great deal of humor to this film, especially when he agitated other people with them, like Marty Augustine. Elliott Gould was definitely the main highlight of this film for me, as I imagine he was for many others. I also enjoyed the main conflict with Lennox well enough. I found it fairly compelling and was caught off guard by the various twists and turns of it. While I enjoyed that conflict though, I also felt it was overshadowed by other sub-plots, specifically the conflict with the aforementioned Marty Augustine. The sadism and charisma of Augustine and the strangely lovable qualities of his gang members resonated with me much more. His sub-plot also culminated with a delightfully awkward, yet suspenseful sequence which was heightened by an Arnold Schwarzenegger cameo. I found all this more memorable than Eileen and Roger, in part due to the average to poor acting from Pallandt and Hayden. Of course, I still liked their scenes, but comparing them to some of the other major characters and their sub-plots, they simply didn't hold up. Regardless of my thoughts on Eileen and Roger though, I still liked quite a bit about this film and I may revisit it in the future to see if I warm up to it some more.

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For Altman, I definitely recommend MASH, Streamers, And Gosford Park.
Also, Brewster McCloud and MCCabe and Mrs Miller are decent as well.
I did not care for Images and Popeye
Still al out of his films I need to see yet

I'll keep an eye out for them. Thanks for the recs!

I’m sure there are other who may have seen more his films that can give more recs.
And Images is a film that needs to be seen for oneself, so still see it.

(re : Silent Running) I had no trouble with imagining a future where nobody (unfortunately) gives a damn about the natural wonders of this World - and commend the film for having the courage to end the way it did. But a lot of things irked me along the way. I couldn't conceive of a space mission in any reality where nearly all of the crew have no stake in the mission and are happy to blow the lot up and return home to a dead planet. Lowell, however, has the requisite wisdom but resorts to murder so easily that he loses my trust. And then we're treading water...

And Dark Star. I was really expecting it to be a lot more like Dark Star, which admittedly isn't nearly as profound but is a lot more fun. If I want a similar one-character film that is profound I have Duncan Jones' Moon.


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Jasper Jones - (2017)

There were many moments watching Jasper Jones where I thought I was watching a really good movie, but ever since the credits rolled I've been wondering if maybe this would be better recommended for younger audiences. The 14-year old protagonist Charlie (Levi Miller) and his friend Jasper Jones (Aaron L. McGrath) look too young to realistically be hiding bodies, solving murders and drinking hard liquor. Miller's obvious youth (he looks around 12) nagged at the back of my mind the whole way through, and I'd have had a much easier time if this character was 17-years old or thereabouts. I can't really blame the filmmakers about this - in the novel (of the same name) this is based on Charlie is 13.

The film itself is slick, well-scripted and engrossing - a murder mystery you can certainly enjoy. The great Toni Collette and Hugo Weaving are great and much-needed as supporting actors, and the fictitious town of Corrigan is carefully woven and seeded with characters that make it feel real. I feel somewhat bad for having so much of the film knocked off it's perch by the simple fact that it's main characters look too young to be doing what they're doing. Also taken into consideration is the film's setting in time : 1969 - so "kids grow up a lot faster these days" can't excuse it either. I'd have had a better time if I were watching it and I were 14-years old too, so maybe it's great for young adults.

5/10


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Them! - (1954) - DVD

Ahh, them. The radiation from atomic blasts have mutated ordinary ants into ones the size of cars. Now there is a race against the clock - if too many queen ants hatch and make new nests then humanity has only one year before losing their domination over Earth. It's hard to be as cynical about Them! as I was Invaders From Mars - there was obviously a lot of care and attention put into this production and it shows. Surprisingly, Them! is most effective as a film when the giant ants aren't on screen swaying this way and that. Tension and mystery builds in the film's first act, and the evidence of destruction is magnified by an excellent performance by James Whitmore.

Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon (who passed away this February) and James Arness round out a cast who give it their all with production values that bring us interesting choppers, planes, ships and military equipment without having to resort to too much stock footage. The giant ants were impressive in their day but have been superseded by Spielberg's dinosaurs in Jurassic Park - you can either chuckle at them, find them endearing, or both.

Bonus Features - If the remastering and clean-up job can be considered a bonus feature then give it ten out of ten - the film looks flawless and beautiful. Behind the scenes film clips are brief and not narrated. The photo gallery is difficult to operate and sparse. The trailer is what you'd expect for a 1950s science fiction feature.

6/10

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021)

Wow. This was much worse than I expected. It's like a supernatural detective story where every single plot development is done through Lorraine's special ability. No suspense, no surprises, no creativity.

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Yay Virtue

rewatched

Oldboy 7/10 (Playing with feelings)
Se7en 8/10 (Contains more creepy scenes)

Saturday night movie time with my kid. Oh Ghibli, you never disappoint, do you? Loved it, it's just so adorable.

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

Perfect Blue (1997) -

Soul
8/10.
Like music to my ears.

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Boldly going.

Seeing as I joined this blog just over a month ago, I will fortunately be just about eligible to submit a ballot for the Foreign Films list . And since I was previously (almost) wholly ignorant of world cinema, I have tried to do a quick-fire blitz over the last couple of weeks. So...


Embrace of the Serpent (2015) - Very well crafted. Weaves nicely between two stories. Brutal, tragic, insightful while maintaining a pathos and sensitivity.

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) - A stylish and entertaining adventure in 18th century France, complete with wild martial arts fight scenes, forbidden romances and devilish plots. Only downside was the CGI which hasn't aged very well and didn't do the film any favours.

Stalker (1979) - Slow moving, moody and introspective. Asks pertinent questions about human psychology and individuality and focuses on the characters' desires and fears. All fun stuff



Fanny and Alexander (1982) - I was a little worried this wouldn't live up to the hype but thankfully it did. Shows a transient glimpse of a previous era in Sweden by focusing on the traditions and ordeals of an eccentric, aristocratic family. All told through the eyes of two children (although its mainly Alexander, poor Fanny didn't get much of a look in. I watched the 3 hour movie so she might have featured more heavily in the longer, TV version? I don't know.)

One Cut of the Dead (2017) - Honestly cannot remember the last time I laughed as much while watching a movie. Hilarious and creative take on zombies. I would definitely recommend. Only advice I would give is that if you feel it's a little slow at points - just persevere.



The Wages of Fear (1953) - Reminded me a lot of Ice Cold in Alex both in tone and plot (although Ice Cold in Alex came later so I guess it should be the other way around). Anyway, I love Ice Cold in Alex so I had no problem with that. Details the miserable existence of destitute European labourers stranded in a claustrophobic South American oil town and the lengths they are driven to (pun intended, sorry). Great atmosphere, characters and tension.



Nights of Cabiria (1957) - Looks at the daily struggles of Cabiria, who works as a prostitute in Rome. Giulietta Masina gives a fantastic performance; charming and effervescent while also being tempestuous and violent. Excellently put together by Fellini



The Brand New Testament (2015) - Started off fine. An intriguing idea of God creating all the problems in the world out of spite and his 10 year old daughter rebelling against him and trying to put everything right. However, after about 25 minutes the story deteriorates rapidly and gets very messy. The main characters just seem to do the same thing again and again. Similarly, the surrealist humour crumbles from amusing early on to excruciatingly awkward and pointless. Also, the effects were brutal


Closely Observed Trains (1966) - I was a little disappointed with this one. The story follows a group of employees at a train station in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia. Parts of it were funny, (including a particularly amusing scene involving stamps) but it also really dragged at times and the ending was rushed. Josef Somr's character was easily the most entertaining.


In the Mood for Love (2000) - Loved this from the first scene until the last. A fabulous romantic drama. Acting, direction, cinematography, etc. all stunning. Also, the main theme that is played repeatedly throughout wonderfully epitomises both the suffocating isolation and the desperate desire for love that the main characters feel.



I'd better stop now. 4 days left and Oldboy, Fitzcarraldo, Mahanagar and City of God are all lined up and eagerly awaiting my viewing.

"Nights of Cabiria" is a hell of a movie.. "La Strada" is my #2.. "Closely Watched Trains" was pretty good. I think "Stalker" had some amazing lines, but I couldn't get into that one, or "Charulata". I've tried more than once, especially with TCM having played a bunch of old Indian movies. Bergman is one of my favorite directors, but his last couple movies seemed like recycling.



I looked at your Top 10, and see you have "The Lives of Others", a movie I saw before "Ucho" (The Ear), a movie which I found to be more real, and overall better than "The Lives of Others", which I liked very much. I won't spoil it for you, since you can look it up if you're the type who likes details, and found it on YouTube

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Gilbert -

This is a sweet and good natured documentary, which is surprisingly how I'd describe its subject, comedian/actor Gilbeet Gottfried, given his abrasive and button-pushing comedy. His lovely wife Dara and his kids have a lot to do with this, and I very much enjoyed getting to know them, finding out how Gilbert and Dara met and observing their home life. I also found his quirks amusing, such as his thriftiness (he still takes buses to gigs and hoards hotel toiletries). It also gives a fair treatment to his comedy career thanks to a good mix of clips, footage of actual gigs and input from colleagues from Dave Attel to Jim Gaffigan. It thankfully doesn't shy away from the moments that made a lot of people hate him, i.e. his ill-timed 9/11 and Japan tsunami jokes. Speaking of ill-timed, how soon is too soon? The movie leaves that up to you, but then again, none of his colleagues can properly answer the question. I'm glad Mr. Gottfried has such a great family, but I would have preferred if the doc covered his career a bit more instead. It seems like its a 60-40 split. I still recommend it, especially to anyone who cursed his name after the aforementioned controversies.

Thanks, I'll give "Ucho" a watch as well. Not getting much work done this week it would seem.

Possessor (2020)


This was gorgeous, exactly as I was hoping. Even the ending not a letdown, how rare is that?