Rate The Last Movie You Saw

This just came out at my local theater. I haven't seen it yet, but - finances and penny-pinching being a present concern - I'm waiting to catch the Tuesday showing for $7. And frankly, I can't wait! I'm really looking forward to this...

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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)

They say that "third time's the charm," and that certainly applies to Megalopolis.

I can't say enough about how transformative this movie really feels to me, but honestly I'm having a hard time thinking of another movie in recent years that has been such a mind-blowing experience as this.

So, there are some things that ran through my mind during my 3rd viewing of Coppola's masterpiece. The character of Cesar Catilina (Adam Driver) might be the most unambiguously heroic figure of any of Coppola's films; I think many of his best works feature anti-heroes or, at best, people with very mixed motives. Catilina is a Nobel-prize winning genius whose sole concern, as far as we can tell, is the future of humanity - namely, making it a better future for everybody.

Throughout the movie, Catilina survives all kinds of nefarious plots against him, and somehow manages to get through all of it, if not completely unscathed, certainly without his spirit being in the least affected.

This seems to me like a marked departure from some of Coppola's best films; since they were inherently dramatic, it was probably very appropriate that they would explore some of the darkest motives of human endeavors, or at the very least, the actions of flawed individuals.

And to be sure, Megalopolis is full of very flawed individuals, although for the most part, Catilina is downright heroic by comparison with his peers and other assorted individuals who are prominent in the milieu of the movie.

Another character I've been thinking about a bit more is Vesta Sweetwater; I've been wondering to what extent she may have been at least partly inspired by Taylor Swift. No, not in the specific details of what Vesta most prominently claims to be, but just in the general sense of being some kind of pop-culture phenomenon who attracts a huge amount of attention from her fans (for a really fun Easter egg, check out what car she's riding in when she arrives to one of the big events in the movie).

Like I said, the very broad outline of who Vesta is may be partly inspired by a real-life superstar, but the specifics that the movie gets into are obviously meant to show that she's different in some key ways, but also that the image a performer presents does not always correspond to who they really are.

To be sure, the way the entire political elite of New Rome is presented is far from flattering, but also, crucially, probably not entirely detached from our reality, what exaggeration there is may be simply a matter of Coppola's artistic sensibilities being in full display.

And speaking of things being on display, I think I may have an even greater admiration for Milena Canonero's costume design now that I have had more time to look at some of the most outlandish costumes here. After being in the business for over 50 years, Ms. Canonero is still full of amazing ideas, especially when given full rein by a top director.

After watching the movie 3 times, the first thing that struck me as I was leaving the IMAX cinema was... how boring the real world seems by comparison. Yes, reality does seem rather dreary after spending quite a few hours inside Coppola's astonishing vision of, well, some kind of alternate reality.

It is a nice place to visit, and I would really love living there.

Star Trek 3, as I previously mentioned, and I kinda loved it. It's a good balance between the SFX nature of I and the characterization of II with some good-ol' fashioned Vulcan weirdness in the mix. Christopher Lloyd's villain needs a little more development, though. That's the only flaw IMO.

The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
3 out of 5 stars.
They went waaaay beyond what prisons do in some ways. Between Harvard experimenting on the Ted Krasinski when he was there still as an adolescent, and Stanford doing what they did to these kids......never vollunteer for a study. Never.

Inside Out 2 - (2024)

Very similar to the first one, but without most of its charm. Some emotions are pretty useless too (Envy, Ennui). Disappointed.

6/10

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

@TONGO not sure if you are into foreign cinema but if you are, check out Die Welle ( The Wave) from 2008. You may find it interesting.

Stranger on the Third Floor follows reporter Mike Ward (John McGuire) who is about to testify on a murder trial, much to the chagrin of her fiancée Jane (Margaret Tallichet). But when one of Ward's neighbor turns out dead, he becomes the prime suspect. That is unless Jane can find the stranger that Mike had seen spying on the neighbor's apartment days before.

This is a film that is often mentioned as one of the first film noir. It has most of the typical ingredients; a mystery, narration, use of shadows and camera angles, and a lead character stuck in what seems like an impossible situation. Most of those elements, especially the ones that have to do with the direction and cinematography are expertly used here. There is a lengthy dream sequence towards the middle act that is quite impressive.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Rebel Ridge follows former Marine Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre) as he's on his way to post bail for his young cousin. However, his journey puts him in the middle of a deep-seated corruption scheme in the small police force of Shelby Springs and right in the face of its corrupt police chief Sandy Burnne (Don Johnson). As they set out to make Terry's life impossible, he's determined to haunt the motherfu¢kers himself.

I've had my eye on director and writer Jeremy Saulnier since I got my eyes on Blue Ruin and Green Room, so I was kinda looking forward to this; and yet it's like I wasn't really prepared for how much this film ruled, and it seems that the world agrees with me. It is so satisfying to see a mid-budget *original* action/drama/thriller getting all this attention... with no big "stars" or big SFX/CGI; just a compelling story, great performances and characters, all while staying true to the director's style.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

By http://impawards.com/2011/mission_im...ocol_ver3.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33644516

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol - (2011)

Okay, so here with the fourth Mission Impossible movie they started getting seriously good and progressively get better. To tell the truth, I don't care too much for the first three, although the third is okay - but once we get to Ghost Protocol the series seems to go into overdrive as the formula has fully transformed into one huge action set-piece after another. What ended the first Mission : Impossible movie had become the standard for the whole movie from start to finish, with fast-paced, fun, connective scenes bristling with high-tech gadgetry and beautiful, panoramic international scenery. Nuclear missiles, diamonds, tall buildings, the Kremlin, fast cars, explosions, sand storms - Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) was now an established competitor to James Bond, and would go on to cement that in Rogue Nation, Fallout and Dead Reckoning - Part 1.

7.5/10


By Megarama Distribution, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72581691

The Blue Caftan - (2022)

The Blue Caftan is quietly dignified, and bravely steps out of line with it's country of origin - Morocco - and it's laws, featuring a gay relationship which fully acknowledges love, in it's many different forms. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

8/10


By http://www.impawards.com/2022/showing_up.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72437592

Showing Up - (2022)

Showing Up was meaningful, humanistic, grounded and a really worthwhile film to become absorbed by. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

8/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2966075

Ponette - (1996)

Ponette is so well made that the journey into that world is magical, and almost transcendental. You see grief from a perspective that's totally unfamiliar, while at the same time being easy to understand, and very much a part of who we all are. In a way, we spend our entire lives doing what little Ponette does - trying to come to terms with what it all means once we've lost what made us whole. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

9/10

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Guarding Tess (1994)

The Policeman's Lineage (2022)
Amazon Prime Video



A Korean crime drama. Cho Jin-woong plays a high-profile detective who's suspected of cutting corners, and Choi Woo-sik is the young officer assigned to join his team as a mole in order to get to the bottom of it. The relationships between the warring police factions (Cho's team and internal affairs) and the warring crooks (a local crime lord who keeps evading prosecution and the Yakuza-backed madman who Cho conspires with) can be a challenge to follow at times. But the key discussion is around how far The Good Guys can go to catch The Bad Guys without become A Bad Guy themselves. A fair diversion.

4/5

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Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain ... only straw. Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they? Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)



I've been watching a lot of excellent silent films in the past couple of months. This was another strong one, excellent cinematography and mise-en-scene. There's something that's just incredibly "watchable" about these old horror films and their use of shadows and space.

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The Holy Mountain 8.5/10 - This might be the strangest film i have ever seen, but i was engaged and entertained the whole way through, Jodorowsky is a mad genius but this film won't be for everyone's taste

The Fall Guy 7/10 - a fun movie with likable characters and some great action scenes

Inside Out 2 7/10 I preferred the first one but this is still great. A couple of fantastic new characters are introduced and features a great cast.

Thelma 8/10 A sweet,funny, entertaining film with the wonderful June Squibb, who hopefully will win some awards for this. It's also the final film of the legend Richard Roundtree

Didi 8/10 - I love coming of age movies and this is possibly my favorite from the last few years