Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Society was the debut film from Brian Yuzna. Already known for his work as a writer and producer for films like Re-Animator and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, he wanted to make a film that leaned into body horror and gore; something that Society fits to a tee. His inspiration for one of the most climatic scenes on the film comes from a painting by Salvador Dalí called "The Great Masturbator".

The film's main themes are paranoia and mistrust, as Billy knows someone is out to get him. He is joined by Clarissa (Devin DeVasquez), a mysterious student he had a crush on at school. What he doesn't know is if Clarissa is also in on things, or if she's there to help him. That is paired with a general mistrust on the elite and the "high society" to give an ever-present of dread through all the film.

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Full review on my Movie Loot

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That's sort of the mantra that climber Becky (Grace Caroline Currey) tries to live through. That is until her husband Dan (Mason Gooding) dies in a terrible climbing accident putting her on a freefall of depression and alcoholism. When her best friend and fellow "daredevil" Hunter (Virginia Gardner) comes to her with the idea for them to climb a 2,000-foot tower, the need to do something to "feel alive" becomes more compulsory.

If you've seen the trailer for this, or heard the basic plot, you can probably guess what you will get. Two friends trying to climb a tower, things go awry, lots of edge-of-your-seat, hair-raising moments, will they/won't they fall, etc. From that perspective, the film doesn't really disappoint. It is full of those kind of moments that make you feel all tingly in your tummy.

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Full review on my Movie Loot

Not sure if you have seen The Richard Donner Cut, but it is worth a watch if just to compare the differences. That cut is sort of incomplete, and has some really rough edges where production and post weren't finished up, but I like the more serious tone of that cut more than the sort of silly, sight gag filled Lester cut.

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The Monolith Monsters follows the efforts of the citizens of the desert town of San Angelo, California to stop the threat that comes from the fragments of a large meteorite. As the residents try to figure out what's going on, the fragments start growing and spreading nearby town petrifying those that come in contact with it.

Had this on my watchlist for a while, not sure where I picked it up, but I was always intrigued by the premise. As goofy as it might sound, I thought there was something to seeing the different elements of small town America, from the small newspaper and paperboys to local construction workers and law enforcement, unite forces against an atypical threat that – despite the movie title – is not necessarily a monster, but more of a threat of nature.

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Full review on my Movie Loot

Haven't seen it, but that was actually the plan. I wanted to revisit the original first before diving into Donner's cut.

I think you might like it better!

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice follows Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) who is tormented by visions of the titular character, even though it has been almost 40 years since they last saw each other. Lydia, who is now the host of a successful supernatural talk show, is struggling with pill dependency, love, and a strained relationship with her daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega). Things worsen when her dad dies in a freak accident, forcing Lydia to return home and face her past, however random they might seem.

About a month ago, we introduced one of our kids to the original, and he liked it well enough. So when the opportunity came to see the new one, we all jumped in. For the most part, even though the kid found some things to be creepy. I think he liked it. His mother and I? Ehhh, not so much. The film has several issues with it, but the main thing for me was that there was just too much stuff going on.

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Full review on my Movie Loot

"Too much stuff going on" seems to be the consensus with most people who've seen this movie, myself included. I did rate it slightly higher than you did.

rewatch

The Man from Nowhere

I'm pretty sure that if they had streamlined some of these subplots and nicked others, the film would've been significantly better. The whole Beetlejuice girlfriend subplot, with Monica Bellucci, was pretty much useless.

2nd Rewatch...This long nd lumbering film version of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical just seems longer and more lumbering with each viewing. This story of army nurses, plantation owners, hustlers, island girls, and WW II spies is still worth a look for that glorious score: "Bali H'ai", "There Ain't Nothin Like a Dame", "Younger Than Springtime". "Gonna Wash that Man Right Out of My Hair", 'Some Enchanted Evening", "Happy Talk, "You've Got to be Carefully Taught, "This Nearly was Mine. I also have issues with the casting...sorry, Citizen, I know you love Mitzi Gaynor but for me, this role was a little above her pay grade. I think Doris Day should have played Nellie. Gaynor is pretty much the only cast member who does her own singing though. I was just as crushed when I learned Juanita Hall was dubbed as I was when I learned that Jeremy Brett was dubbed in My Fair Lady. John Kerr doesn't exactly turn the world on fire as Lt Cable either. A wonderful role that I probably would have given to Tab Hunter, but that's me.

Agreed, weakest part of the movie.

1st Rewatch...Still think [i]Apollo 13 /I] is his masterpiece, but Oscar winner Ron Howard came pretty close to topping it with this meticulous docudrama that addresses a side of the Nixon administration that All the President's Men and Nixon did not. The film opens in 1974 right after Nixon has resigned as a way of avoiding facing prosecution for his part in Watergate and there is a rumbling surfacing in America that a lot of US citizens want to see Nixon pay for his crime, or at least confess to it and display contrition. An opportunity arises for down on his current career talk show host David Frost when Nixon agrees to sit down for series of interviews for the purpose of said confession. The film begins in a squirm worthy matter as Frost underestimates Nixon and is not taking this golden opportunity seriously, but once he does, this movie goes on sizzle and stays there. The movie is based on a Broadway play that actually only ran for 137 performances but this did not stop Howard from allowing Frank Langella and Michael Sheen to reprise their stage roles as Nixon and Frost, respectively. Langella is extraordinary as he disappears inside Nixon. This performance earned Langella the first and only Oscar nomination for Best Actor to date. Sheen matches him note for note and Howard's direction earned him a directing nomination too. There is solid support from Matthew McFayden, as Frost's producer, Kevin Bacon as Nixon Chief of Staff Jack Brennan and Sam Rockwell as writer Jack Reston, who was at the top of Nixon's enemy list. Appointment movie viewing, Howard really knocked this out of the park.

1st Rewatch...Robert DeNiro's Oscar winning performance as Jake Le Motta anchors Martin Scorsese's scorching and unflinching biopic about the boxer who, until this film was originally released, I had never heard, but in this film Le Motta was a superb athlete who allowed his inner demons to destroy his career, those demons seem to have been manifested from the facts that he was a middleweight who wanted to be a heavyweight and his obsession that his child bride (Cathy Moriarty) was cheating on him. Scorsese and Moriarty also received nominations as did Joe Pesci, who just about steals the show as Jake's little brother. There's a lot of shocking stuff going on here, but Le Motta is credited as one of the screenwriters, making it hard to question the legitimacy of a lot of the horror on display, but as pure entertainment, it works.

Shock follows Janet (Anabel Shaw) who accidentally witnesses a man murder his wife through a balcony window, which leaves her in a state of catatonic shock. In a stroke of chance, the doctor that is called up to examine her is the murderer himself, Dr. Richard Cross (Vincent Price). Upon realizing that she witnessed his crime, Cross is determined to do anything to keep her silent; even if it means having her committed.

Shaw does a pretty solid job, at least for a character that spends most of her screentime in bed; but she makes the most of the moments she gets to shine. Lynn Bari, who plays Dr. Cross colleague and lover, is also great whereas Frank Latimore as the husband is a bit of a blank spot. However, if you've seen any Vincent Price film, you probably know that the main reason to watch them is Vincent Price, and this is no exception.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

The Big Room With Mort Sahl (Nicolas Roeg) - 8/10

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Ouch! I do really like Mitzi Gaynor, have you seen her musical Bloodhounds of Broadway?

Kill her Gently (1957)

Of it's own but quite a nice little noir lite. about a "bounder" that picks up two escapees with plans of his own. Namely to knock off his wife and get her loot (what's new). It emerges that the husband carries a grudge as he had to be hospitalised due to mental issues (his plan here would suggest they were correct to do so) and thinks his wife was having carnals with the doctor. It is played very well and even though mostly shot in one house is quite expansive. I enjoyed it.

By Impawards.com, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22712753

Agora - (2009)

For those of you who'd like to get into a time machine and go back to the Alexandria of the 4th Century, Agora is visually breathtaking and beautiful - that goes for costumes and make-up as well, everything in this movie feels detailed and authentic. The city writhes with life and an alien culture that is beset with 3 religions very uncomfortable to be sharing the same physical space. Central to our journey is of course the famous library and the Mouseion - where Hypatia (Rachel Weisz) teaches her students at the Platonic school, which includes future ruler Orestes (Oscar Isaac). We follow the fortunes of Alexandria from 391 A.D. to 415 A.D. as the Christians, Jews and Pagans constantly battle for supremacy, and Hypatia tries to find an answer to whether the heliocentric model of the solar system makes sense.

This film has the weirdest kind of narrative shape - I swear, an hour in (the mid-point of the film) I thought it had ended, and that there was something wrong with the version I was watching. By that stage we'd kind of followed a story to it's conclusion, with the movie still continuing onwards as we skip forward in time. I think I felt this way because I'd read that this was all about the Christian siege of the Library of Alexandria and it's destruction - but instead it kind of settles on the life of Hypatia once that story has played out already. The ending (spoilers I guess)

This film delighted me in it's visual portrayal of Alexandria, and was okay as long as you discount how disjointed and weirdly shaped it's narrative is. The first half is a lot stronger and focused than it's second. An interesting look at an early clash between religion and science, along with how outspoken religious differences often become heated and soon after, violent. Everything that doesn't conform to a fanatic's viewpoint ends up burning.

6/10

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i heard they making a 2nd of this movie, i wonder how it goes