Rate The Last Movie You Saw

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North by Northwest (1959)
I'll give it a 9.25

Haha. I've watched the first half of this movie goodness knows how many times, and always given up on it because it's so ridiculous.

Well last night I finally finished it. I'm glad I did, because whilst it doesn't get all that much less ridiculous, it's actually quite thrilling by the end, but most of all it is visually gorgeous. Some just stunning pictures from Hitchcock, which Antonioni would have been genuinely proud of.

For me it went from an over hyped nonsense to a must see.
I saw it couple of years ago and agree with the outstanding visuals very much. Loved Grant and Mason (and Martin Launda!) in it.



I saw it couple of years ago and agree with the outstanding visuals very much. Loved Grant and Mason (and Martin Launda!) in it.
and their suits!!! they were gorgeous suits!!



In the Name of the Father (1993)... took a while to get going but when it did, poof... Powerful story and DDL (my avatar) and Pete Postlethwaite were heartbreaking. Should be a mandatory Fathers Day viewing or something. 8/10



It was a stunning film when it came out in '58-- both important artistically and very adult. Everyone loved it, and I was mystified why Brick continuously repelled the sexual advances of is wife, Maggie "the cat", who was drop..dead..gorgeous. When I got older, I understood better, but I think Newman's part was just a tad overwritten and overacted. But he admitted that he overacted in The Hustler as well, but it's one of my favorite films.

All told it was an enjoyable adaption of T. William's '55 play. He wrote some pretty twisted stories.
THey took all inferences out of the movie, but the reason Brick wasn't interested in Maggie was because he and Skipper were lovers.in the play.





Kneecap

I knew absolutely nothing about the Belfast-based hip-hop trio before watching Kneecap, and while I'm no hip-hop fan, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The band members apparently play themselves, with Michael Fassbender along in a supporting role.

It's hard to think of another recent musical "origin story" as fascinating and disarming as this one, written and directed by Rich Peppiatt in his feature directing debut.

Be aware that much of the movie is in Irish (with English subtitles) and even the parts that are in English have some pretty think Irish accents, so you may want to watch this with a captioning device if you watch it in a theater.



LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL
(1997, Benigni)



"I don't like Visigoths. Starting tomorrow we'll write: 'No spiders and Visigoths allowed'. I'm sick and tired of these Visigoths."

Directed and co-written by Benigni, Life is Beautiful follows the relationship between Guido and Dora (Nicoletta Braschi) in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust. The film is clearly divided in two parts. The first one in 1939 when Guido and Dora meet and fall in love, plays more or less like a traditional romantic comedy. There's your "meet cute", the flirting and courting, an "evil" boyfriend to "defeat", and ultimately a "happy ending".

The second half, though, is a serious war drama. Set in 1944 as the Nazi occupation of Italy takes place, we see Guido and Dora, now a married couple, being forced into a concentration camp along with their young son. As the parents are split, and Giosué is trying to figure out what's going on, Guido makes an effort to convince him that everything is just a game in order to protect him from the horrors around them.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot
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THey took all inferences out of the movie, but the reason Brick wasn't interested in Maggie was because he and Skipper were lovers.in the play.
Yes, of course. That's what I was referring to.



Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)

An extreme film by Pasolini. It's reputation probably makes any rational review meaningless.
Children are captured, children are raped, children are killed. I know it's allegorical as to the fall of the Italian Fascist powers in the North of the country married to the writings of de Sade.

It's a lot to take in and I think the utter bleakness of the film reflects Pasolini's total disgust in humanity. It is,however, well shot, phrased (the "stories" of the whores are interesting) and the internecine actions of those in captivity are as disturbing as the violence that they encounter. What I can say is that it is a profound film directed by a man who was obviously at odds with the world he lived in. Mad humerous cameos and scenes depicting ennui amongst the chaos and torture counterpoint the utter dread. Just don't watch with your grandmother



North by Northwest (1959)
I'll give it a 9.25

Haha. I've watched the first half of this movie goodness knows how many times, and always given up on it because it's so ridiculous.

Well last night I finally finished it. I'm glad I did, because whilst it doesn't get all that much less ridiculous, it's actually quite thrilling by the end, but most of all it is visually gorgeous. Some just stunning pictures from Hitchcock, which Antonioni would have been genuinely proud of.

For me it went from an over hyped nonsense to a must see.
Heh, heh. Well, the audiences (I among them) didn't think it was ridiculous in 1959.. In fact it was the #1 box office success in the U.S. for its first 2 months. Critics loved the picture. Unfortunately it was up against Ben-Hur (now there's a boring picture but for the chariot race), as well as Anatomy of a Murder, Some Like It Hot, The Last Angry Man, and other great films, so it didn't do much at the Oscars.

I was blown away by the picture, and I still love it after umpteen viewings. Everything clicked in that movie: the great actors, the script, Hitchcock's direction, and one of the greatest of music scores in film by the legendary Bernard Herrmann.

The excitement generated right from the opening credits with innovative graphics and Herrmann's driving score instantly draws the viewer in. It's top 3 Hitchcock.

I'm glad to hear that you've become a convert!...





Twisters (4DX presentation)

Whatever your feelings about the movie itself, the 4DX presentation of Twisters should be considered a new benchmark for the format.

An almost perfect marriage of movie and film format, the 4DX effects that accompany this movie will shake you up, twist you around until you almost beg for mercy, and leave you feeling like you've just been through, well, a major tornado.

As could be expected, the wind and breeze effects are the major attraction here, but don't underestimate the motion effects. When a truck rolls over several times while the protagonist is tucked inside - believe me, you will feel exactly what that person would have felt, if the rollover had been real.

Now, if that doesn't sound like your idea of fun - that's fine. The format has always appealed to the most adventurous moviegoers and, frankly, it's perfectly understandable that a lot of people prefer the "regular" presentation for action movies.

It had been quite a while since I had as much fun attending a 4DX show, and it definitely sets a high bar for the films that will follow this summer and fall.







SF = Z






[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



I mentioned in the top5 from each decade thread that I hadn't watched Day of wrath, so to fill that gap I saw it today.
It was amazing. Gorgeous in a lot of ways, in the way it's shot, in the way it flows, in the writing, in its approach to the characters, its overall gravity... and above all, it is a story about spirituality in the particularly dark and disheartening context of witch hunts, but one that makes a genuine effort to understand that spirituality in how it affects people and define their values. For a story that could very easily be catalogued as a horror, a psychological drama or an aggressive criticism of the authoritarian use of faith to control society and morality, what I find most amazing is that, being all that, it's mostly a humanistic tale of people whose ideas of happiness or guilt, and their entire lives actually, can only be defined in the context and expectations set by their own faith.
Dreyer is profoundly critical, but also respectful and even mesmerized by how spirituality makes the characters what they are, and he doesn't offer an alternative to that, not because he doesn't want to, but because it wouldn't make sense for them to consider another reality or mindset than the one they are deeply rooted into. To me, this is a masterpiece and another excellent take on Christianity and faith by Dreyer.



THE PURGE
(2013, DeMonaco)



James: "We're gonna make it through tonight and everything's going to be okay."
Zoey: "Nothing is ever going to be okay again, dad."

Set in a dystopian near future, The Purge follows the annual titular event: a period of 12 hours where any type of crime is permitted as a way of controlling population and improving the economy. Right in the middle of it is James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) who makes a living selling security systems designed to withstand the event. But when he and his family are targeted by a ruthless gang of murderers, they have to find ways to make it through the night.

The thing is that The Purge presents a compelling premise; a society that has essentially found a way to justify and condone crime by giving up to primal impulses, while creating social safeguards around it to pretend that they care. Unfortunately, that premise is then limited for the most part to a basic home invasion film. The novelty of what "the purge" is gets lost in a movie that's really not different from any other home invasion movie.

Grade:



Full review on my Movie Loot





LOGAN

I am not familiar with the "Old Man Logan" comics storyline, but I can only imagine it must be better than this!

A blatantly manipulative mess of a film that never quite feels like it has a single genuine emotion in it, further marred by some horribly-shot action scenes, this might also be the worst thing that James Mangold ever directed.

It was once meant to be a final goodbye to the Wolverine character, at least as portrayed by Hugh Jackman (We all know why it's not his final goodbye to the character).

The sole saving graces here are Dafne Keen as Wolverine's daughter, Laura, and the ever-reliable Patrick Stewart, in another not-quite-final turn as Professor Xavier.

Well, it's a good thing that comic-book characters seldom ever truly die.





July 23, 2024

TWISTERS (Lee Isaac Chung / 2024)

Well, I don't really have much to say beyond the fact that I enjoyed it, and I had fun. : I saw the original 1996 Jan De Bont Twister only once in my lifetime, during its original theatrical run (a loooooooooong time ago! ), so I don't really remember that much about it. Not that it's particularly relevant in the case of this sequel, because it's a standalone film that's not really dependent on one's having seen the '96 original.

No spoilers, but a few observations:

1) If you've seen the trailer, you will recall the character of Boone (Brandon Perea) screaming "We've got twins! Twins!!" In the actual movie, it's a scream of joyous amazement, not terror. And the twin tornadoes come fairly early on in the movie, and it's mainly a plot device to split the characters up, in terms of "Which one do we chase?"

2) This is one of those increasingly rare Hollywood blockbusters which does put a lot of destruction and devastation onscreen, but which is also actually quite mindful of the real-life human cost of such destruction and devastation. A couple of times in the movie, we are shown the destruction of entire neighborhoods and communities, and we see the main characters coming to the aid of people in the aftermath of a tornado, and during the film's intense climax (quite well-executed, I might add) they help to get the townspeople into a movie theater. (BTW, remember The Shining playing at the drive-in during the '96 film? This time it's the original Frankenstein with the famous line "It's alive! It's alive!!" coming just before the screen gets ripped away!) These days, when Godzilla and King Kong beat the crap out of each other (or other monsters) and smash each other into buildings, nobody ever talks about or mentions whether or not people are actually in those structures or if everybody got evacuated when they received word that the "Titans" were in town. The difference is, Godzilla and Kong are not real and tornadoes very much are, and I'm pleased that this movie - while primarily seeking to thrill and entertain - is astute enough to take the human factor into consideration. In addition, there's a little subplot about how information about tornadoes is being fed to a local real estate mogul and developer who uses the information to profit from the destruction, and how this creates a minor conflict between two of the characters and a crisis of conscience for one of them. (No prizes for guessing which way this character will fall.)

In short, not exactly great, but I would still classify it as a superior example of Hollywood franchise filmmaking, which by my reckoning tends to be not all that superior these days. I'm thinking that this is the kind of movie that the late Roger Ebert would have described as a Bruised Forearm Movie (and he also puts the best Indiana Jones and Lethal Weapon movies in this category), "the kind of movie where your date is always grabbing your forearm in a viselike grip, as unbearable excitement unfolds on the screen. After the movie is over, you've had a great time but your arm is black-and-blue for a week."
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"Well, it's what people know about themselves inside that makes 'em afraid" - Clint Eastwood as The Stranger, High Plains Drifter (1973)

"I'll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours" - Bob Dylan, Talkin' World War III Blues (1963)



[center]THE PURGE
(2013, DeMonaco)



The thing is that The Purge presents a compelling premise; a society that has essentially found a way to justify and condone crime by giving up to primal impulses, while creating social safeguards around it to pretend that they care. Unfortunately, that premise is then limited for the most part to a basic home invasion film. The novelty of what "the purge" is gets lost in a movie that's really not different from any other home invasion movie.

Grade:
The potential that these movies wasted I swear...