Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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Love and Monsters (2020)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

The Exorcism
(Joshua John Miller, 2024)

Not sure why this is getting such terrible ratings. I thought it was pretty average for an exorcism movie and Russell Crowe was good in it so I was happy.

I did prefer last year's The Pope's Exorcist over this one, if only because Crowe played a more likable character in it.

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Furiosa (2024, George Miller) - A-

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Ronin (1998)

1st rewatch. This is a good film and interesting. All the part players are good (especially De Niro and Reno). In my eyes it falls between a "Hard boiler" and out and out action film. Definately better on my second watch. With such an ensemble cast I think Frankenheimer tried to cram too much into it's running time.

I think this film is wonderful Gideon, the Jamie Cullum refrain at the end always makes me bubble.

The General (1926, Buster Keaton) - A+

And yes, Furiosa brought me there to revisit the classic silent picture that has been endlessly influential and the blue print for the action genre.

House of the Damned - I'll be honest and admit that I tried out this 1963 ‘Old Dark House’ horror thriller based mostly on the title. Architect Scott Campbell (Ron Foster) is hired by estate attorney Joseph Schiller (Richard Crane) to survey a secluded old mansion. He takes along his wife Nancy (Merry Anders) and when they stop at a local realtor to pick up a spare set of keys he informs them that the previous tenant reportedly disappeared without a trace. Schiller's wife Loy (Erika Peters) also eventually shows up followed by Schiller himself.

Even with a compact 62 minute running time the script still labors to have anything of great import transpire. There's the usual things going bump in the night, another disappearance (which is met by a perplexing lack of concern by just about everyone) and a sprinkling of arresting images but it fails to build up much suspense. You might also pass the time looking for a young, lank haired Richard Kiel. The black and white cinematography is clean and the interiors of the mansion stately but the acting, especially by Erika Peters, doesn't really add to the proceedings. The biggest problem you might have with this is the denouement which just sort of reveals itself in an anticlimactic way with no buildup or setup. Maybe this film's vitality was left on the cutting room floor, which would, of course, explain the running time.

40/100

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)

Boiling Point (2021) -

This is an excellent "anxiety movie" in the same vein as Uncut Gems that occurs in a place where it is never in short supply: a restaurant kitchen. What’s more, there's tension in every facet imaginable, and thankfully, none of it seems contrived. Where to begin: the health score just got downgraded, the manager is more interested in the restaurant's social media presence than her employees' needs, a dishwasher is two hours late, a customer is berating the wait staff, a celebrity chef (Flemyng) with whom head chef Andy (Graham) has a strained relationship is not only there, but also with a food critic, one of the chefs is still learning English, etc. Oh, and it's the holidays. As the running time indicates, it's a lean and mean movie, but it manages to make time to humanize the key players without diluting the momentum. It's smart enough to do this right away with Andy failing to call his son - likely something that happens frequently - as well as in a wrenching closed-door scene where the manager breaks down and reveals her cluelessness after the staff berates her. The movie is filmed in one take, a technique that often calls too much attention to itself, but director Barantini and company put it to good use here. The action is perhaps too involving to ever remove you from it anyway, but I credit the movie for how elegantly it passes the baton, if you will, between each character of focus. As for the performances, this may prove the statement that the best acting occurs in close quarters, with Graham's sometimes Gordon Ramsay, sometimes Paul Hollywood and always on the verge of breaking down head chef being the standout. I was also impressed by Panthaki and Robinson, who play the most vocal and rightfully frustrated chefs.

The service industry is hell - especially when you add social media to the mix - which this movie ably reinforces. Filmed during the pandemic, Barantini and crew likely had the same kind of problems as the restaurant staff it depicts, especially since it prevented them from getting every take they wanted. While this chaos enhances the movie’s, it is rough around the edges here and there as a result. Other than that, it is a more than welcome addition to this subgenre the Safdies gifted us with, the impact on our blood pressure notwithstanding. Thankfully, now that the pandemic is over, it's nice that restaurant workers can breathe sighs of relief now (just kidding).

Smaller in scale than I expected and not too long. I liked the cast and style, music was ok. I have a connection to the city having been born there so that's a plus. Having a crime element is good. The girl's skimpy costumes made the difference between a passing and a failing grade.

A Man and a Woman Trilogy

Directed by Claude Lelouch
Starring Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant

• A Man and a Woman (1966)
  90/100 (second view)
• A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later (1986)
  - 68/100
• The Best Years of a Life (2019)
  + 73/100

In memoriam of just passed Anouk Aimée, I rewatched the masterpice of the sixties A Man and a Woman and decided that it is the moment to cover the whole Trilogy.
Considering the high level placed by the original film, naturally there are some issues with the next films, mostly with the second one, probably caused by the interfere of the American distributors (collaborators and hidden co-authors). I guess, that's why, in the third movie, the filmmakers don't count the events of the previous instalment.
Anyway, this trilogy is a must for the lovers of the art of cinema.

That was an absolute luck for all admirers that all the three personalities - Lelouch, Trintignant and Aimée - had so long lifetime to create this 50-years long project.
I wonder if The Before Trilogy was inspired by this one...

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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.

Black Angel (1980)


Genres: Medieval, Fantasy, Short


While visually astonishing, the short film spent a lot of it's time slowly panning the beautiful scenery stripping the story and plot so bare that it felt like a 4-7 minute film stretched with slow camera pans to 20 minutes. The result was very pleasing on the eyes, and atmospheric, but left me wishing there had been a little more substance and a little less slow panning. I think with a film of this length you have to be extremely selective about each individual shot, and this felt like it took it's time where it should have added more substance to its scenes besides a lone knight wandering through the mystical wilderness. He's on his way to somewhere, and when he gets there he'll be on his way to somewhere else. Still, it's a nice gem, definitely worth watching. Some may even consider it an essential piece of cinema, especially for it's time and how influential it was.


Rating:

Umpteenth Rewatch...The most underrated Jack Lemmon/Neil Simon collaboration. Lemmon takes over a role that was originated on Broadway by Peter Falk playing a stressed out NYC executive who loses his job, then his apartment is robbed, his ever patient wife (Anne Bancrost) decides to get a job but she, too, gets fired in a couple of months while Lemmon is quietly having a nervous breakdown. It's the performances by Lemmon and Bancroft that raise the bar on this one. And if you don't blink you'll catch quick appearances from F Murray Abraham as a cabbie, M Emmett Walsh as a doorman, Ivor Francis as a shrink, and Sylvester Stallone as an alleged pickpocket.

1st Rewatch...If you can accept the basic premise of this fact-based drama then the rest of the movie should be quite digestable. Kevin Hart plays a recently released from jail parolee who is hired by a quadraplegic millionaire (Bryan Cranston) to be his caregiver. As interesting as this fact-based movie might be, I still find it hard to believe that a wheelchair bound millionaire would trust his care to a black manfresh out of jail, but that's just me. On the other hand, it was kind of aggravating watcing this con being so unappreciative of the opportunity that has fallen into his lap. If you can get behind the unlikely story, true as it might be, the performances by Cranston and Hart do help.

Have you seen the original film, The Intouchables?

I sort of liked it, but there was one scene I had a really hard time getting over, where (mild spoilers) .

I don't know if that scene is in the American remake, but I really couldn't get past it.

2nd Rewatch...Maybe the last source material that I ever thought could be turned into a musical, this exuberant film version of the 2005 Broadway musical based on the 1985 Steven Spielberg film based on the Alice Walker novel blazes across the screen, retaining the novel's original often ugly and unsettling subject matter is still center stage with musical numbers that somehow come from a believable place. Especially enjoyed "Hell No", "Shug Avery's Coming to Town" and "What About Love". The performances are on target, espcially Fantasia Barrino as Celie and Danielle Brooks' powerhouse turn as Sophia that earned her an Oscar nomination. Gorgeous photography and dazzling choreography are icing on the cake.

3rd Rewatch...Michael Keaton's remarkable work brining four different characters to the screen still keeps this comedy watchable. Keaton plays an overworked contractor who decides the solution to freeing up some time for himself is to have himself cloned, causing a lot of confusion for his wife (Andie McDowell), boss, co-workers and clients. It starts to run out of gas once the third clone is created, but Keaton and director Harold Ramis keep the film watchable.

I have not seen The Intouchables and there is a scene in this movie where Cranston gets hot coffee spilled on him.

Saw this in the theater when it was released and it was a fantastic film to see on the big screen from the first moment to the last. I thought all the performances were fantastic and the blend of drama, comedy, and music landed just right.