Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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The One That Got Away - (1957)

One of those weird movies where we're kind of meant to be cheering for the guy fighting for Nazi Germany - The One That Got Away advertises that fact that flying ace Franz von Werra (Hardy Krüger) was the only German POW to escape and make his way back to Germany. His Wikipedia page qualifies that in a couple of ways though - it says that he was the only German POW to escape from Canadian custody, and then it adds "apart from a U-boat seaman, Walter Kurt Reich" - take everything with a grain of salt. There are some striking parallels in this film to The Great Escape (an American production - this is British), such as when a choir of Germans strike up to cover the noise of Werra tunnelling under the barbed wire fence of his camp. It's a pretty exciting movie, if it wasn't for the fact that the main goal of our protagonist is to get back to Nazi Germany so he can resume fighting for Hitler I'd have been cheering all the way through. In doing this he nearly kills himself a couple of times, and although the film tries to twist things our way by British intelligence figuring out that "he's not one of those fanatics - he doesn't believe in all the Nazi gobbledygook", you have to be something of a fanatic to go through what he does just to get back to that nightmare place to go on killing. Despite all of that, this is a very well made movie, with an expertly fashioned screenplay and magnificent locations used with no expense spared.

7/10


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Blue Collar - (1978)

Paul Schrader's directorial debut vent's it's furious anger at unions, bosses, corporations, racial profiling, the government - everyone but the blue collar worker, who slaves away but still always finds him or herself under pressure and in debt. It's a brilliant film, and the casting of Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel and Yaphet Kotto works to perfection. I loved it. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

9/10

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I have a habit of watching the majority of Asian horror films that appear on Netflix. This one had been on my watchlist since it came there, and I decided to watch it after your review. I ended up giving it the same rating as you did, and it's one of the better new horrors found on the streaming service. Surprisingly good special effects and plenty of nods toward Evil Dead without being just a tribute.

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Very strange movie…rated it slightly lower than you did

La La Land
(Damien Chazelle, 2016)

I hate musicals. Because I hate musicals, I didn't vote for musicals in the poll for the next countdown. Because I hate musicals, I told myself I wasn't going to do any first time watches in preparation for the musicals countdown. Because I hate musicals, I've intentionally avoided this movie for eight years. Yet somehow, against my better judgement and fully expecting to outright hate it, I watched La La Land today.

And having seen it, I can actually say that I didn't hate it. Not quite, but I definitely didn't like it either. The one thing that I ask of any movie is that it makes me give a shit and, until about the final quarter or so of its runtime, La La Land utterly failed to do that. I didn't find either Mia or Sebastian to be particularly likable or unlikable, they just kind of existed to me and anytime they broke out in song and dance I went from not caring to being annoyed. I don't know why the hell I even finished it since I wasn't under any obligation to, but I did eventually start to care towards the end of the movie. Though that tiny flicker of giving a shit was nearly extinguished by that final dance number and so here we are. I've seen the movie. It was okay-ish. But not okay enough to have any chance at my ballot.

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There really seems to be a boom in the region. Feel free to recommend any good stuff.

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Unpregnant (2020)

Talking Heads - 7/10
15-minute short movie.

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https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition

Out of the newer ones, I'd say In My Mother's Skin and Susuk are easily worth watching. The first one is a harrowing Philippine fairy tale and the second is an Indonesian curse / demonic possession thing (I strongly suggest Googling the term susuk before watching the film unless you happen to know already what it means).

At least here in Finland In My Mother's Skin is on Amazon Prime and Susuk on Netflix.

Mon dieu! Has it been 10 years already since La Famille Belier was released?

Yes, it has. And imho it is still a much, much better film in just about any regard than the U.S. remake.

This movie sadly did not get a theatrical release in the U.S., not even following Coda's Oscar win.

At least now it is easily available for streaming, you can catch it on Kanopy and a few other streamers.



Am I OK? is, well... just OK.

The film premiered at Sundance in 2022, and it's taken it this long to get a streaming premiere via Max.

Maybe part of the reason is that a movie like this would have seemed pretty edgy in the 1990s, but in 2024 it just feels like... "been there, done that!".

Still, I am a huge fan of Dakota Johnson and it's fun to see her constantly trying to get better in the less commercial efforts she occasionally makes (Daddio will be out this summer).

Sonoya Mizuno, who was born in Tokyo and raised in London, is extremely appealing as Johnson's BFF. She definitely deserves better parts.

Ok, I just googled what "susuk" means, and yeah, I'll approach that one with discretion

And since you mentioned Finland, I think it might have come up in another conversation here, but have you seen Kyrsyä: Tuftland? It's a sorta occult thriller/horror film from there. It's very low budget and amateurish, and far from great, but I still think they had something going on there. It kinda stuck with me for various reasons.

Spokoj - 7.5/10
Fine acting. Natural. Like many European movies, they're about people, and their relationships with each other, themselves, the external world. Not crossing a finish line or making the kill shot, robbing a bank.

I didn't mean it as a content warning, but understanding the concept makes (or so I would assume) the film easier to follow and more sensible. My brother watched it without any prior knowledge and afterward, he wished he'd Googled it before watching, not after.

I rarely watch Finnish movies. As a general rule, if the film is Finnish it's most likely bad. There are exceptions, of course, but they're rare (the first that comes to mind is Talvisota - Winter War which is among the best war movies ever made).

A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More -- both 4/5's, trilogy really does get better, and i wasted my time and didn't get the 3rd watched while it was still dark. But i will be spending a lot more time with this famed trilogy, for it is the gold standard of the sub-genre that has become a focus, along with the Golden Age of Animation, and silent cinema.

All three are great, but For a Few Dollars More is my favorite.

You rarely Finnish movies that are Finnish... Then watch movies directed by Aki Kaurismaki

Roman Scandals (1933) Watched on Tubi. Eddie Cantor stars as a man who suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself in ancient Rome. Wacky shenanigans and musical numbers ensue. Some fun moments and clever dialogue make this an entertaining musical comedy. While not everything works and some parts are a little too dated (there is a "blackface" number), it is still an enjoyable time.

The Promised Land (2023)

Starring Mads Mikkelsen

Good period drama movie. It is perfectly set for the main actor - the outstanding Mikkelsen.
Well, some of the other characters and events are a bit overstated which smells like intervention by the nowadays regime, which is usual for the cinema as a whole.
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78/100

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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

They stole that poster design from Anatomy of a Murder. At least they aimed high... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_of_a_Murder

I've meant to for a long time but always find something more interesting. I have a somewhat negative preconception of them (I vaguely remember seeing one or two long ago).

Of his Spaghetti Westerns, I prefer Once Upon a Time in the West and Duck, You Sucker! Over the Man with No Name Trilogy. They are, however, still decent films.
I think Once Upon a Time in America is his best, however.