Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Had a notion this was in my dvd shelves someplace & it was. Watched it on my laptop. Poor sound quality & non-existent closed captioning or subtitles that the jacket said it had.

Not as dreadful as I remember & I do wonder what the point of making it was. Who would want to be in such a movie is beyond me.

Anyway, dusted it off, re-shelved it & will not watch it again.

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I’m here only on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. That’s why I’m here now.

After Hours follows Hackett's misadventures as he heads into that rendezvous with Marcy (Rosanna Arquette) and as he eventually tries to make his way back home. Through the night he encounters himself in all kinds of weird, bizarre, and absurd situations which range from his only $20 bill flying out of the taxi window to being pursued around the neighborhood by a lynch mob after being suspect of burglary and murder.

Aside from the performances, I really enjoyed the film's vibe. It has that weird mixture of thriller, absurdist comedy, with even some hints of film noir. I also find it interesting the way that fate keeps playing against Paul by not allowing him any "pleasures" so to speak. He's like Sisyphus, forced to push that boulder up a hill over and over and over.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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November 19, 2024

THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER (Dallas Jenkins / 2024)
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE (Kelly Marcel / 2024)

November 26, 2024

GLADIATOR II (Ridley Scott / 2024)
WICKED: PART I (John M. Chu / 2024)

Okaaaaaaayyy... I will try to keep this brief.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has a lot of good humor and charm, although it often tilts toward the sentimental, and you just know that those darned Herdman kids are going to knock it out of the park come pageant time and totally win over the previously hostile townsfolk. Gives off a kind of would-be "alt-holiday-perennial" vibe similar to that of Bob Clark's A Christmas Story (1983), although it hedges just a bit by going soft. Still, it's a pretty good family holiday picture and I think it's a worthwhile viewing experience.

Venom: The Last Dance is the third and (apparently) last in a trilogy of films devoted to half-alien symbiotic Marvel character Venom. Mind you, I haven't actually seen the two earlier films with Tom Hardy (although I do remember the symbiote from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3), so I'm speaking from a lack of direct knowledge here. But I've got to say I wasn't overly impressed here. A lot of morphing alien FX, action sequences, explosions, hippies looking for Area 51, would-be-funny banter, would-be-poignancy, etc., etc., primarily amounting to little more than a sensory overload for people with short attention spans. The Marvel Universe is wearing rather thin through the scalp for me at this time...

Gladiator II is, of course, Ridley Scott's sequel to his own original Gladiator, 24 years later. By my own reckoning, it's a much more successful revisitation of Scott's earlier work than his Prometheus / Alien prequels. Denzel Washington makes a very charismatic villain and Paul Mescal is quite effective as the son of Russell Crowe's character from the first film. I enjoyed it a great deal, and I'm thinking that I'll have to watch the 2000 original again sometime soon, as I've only seen it once, believe it or not!

Wicked: Part I makes for a fun and exciting prequel to the classic 1939 The Wizard of Oz. Like the original, it's a fantasy/musical based on writer Gregory Maguire's original novel, which takes a rather revisionist look at the universe created by L. Frank Baum. I mean, what can I say? Cynthia Erivo is very good as Elphaba Thropp, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and Ariana Grande-Butera is very funny as the sugary but shallow Galinda Upland (the future Glinda the Good Witch). And it's always a pleasure to see Jeff Goldblum in anything, and he did make a wonderful Wizard. I honestly can't wait for Part II!

There's a lot of hype in the air about Gladiator II and Wicked being the "Barbenheimer" of 2024, and maybe that's just wishful thinking, but the hype isn't far wrong, because this is what happens when big-budget Hollywood filmmaking goes right. You know, it does still happen from time to time...

P.S. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

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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)

Gladiator II
(Ridley Scott, 2024)

As with most sequels, I've had my reservations about this film since it was announced. The original film was an instant favorite and for the last 24 years I have loved it more than almost every other movie ever made. So I knew that there was no hope for this film to ever come close to reaching that same level and the more I found out about it, the more I was sure this wasn't going to be one of those rare good sequels. As such I went into this movie with low expectations, but I tried my best to be optimistic about it.

Fellow MoFo @honeykid loves to describe 2000's Gladiator as "painfully average" and though I obviously disagree with that assessment, while I watched Gladiator II today the thought that this thing failed to even reach the level of painfully mediocre kept crossing my mind. Every possible aspect of this movie fell not only well short of the original but also of my low expectations. The CG-heavy battle scenes felt lifeless and as fake as they were. The story was little more than a pale imitation of the original. The score was forgettable and only ever even stood out when it stole from Hans Zimmer's original compositions. The dialogue was lackluster and there wasn't even a single quotable line. Lucius, as played by Paul Mescal, does not possess even a tiny fraction of the charisma and presence of Russell Crowe's Maximus, his alleged father. Pedro Pascal's General Whatever-The-Hell-His-Name-Was was bland, forgettable, and might as well have not even been in the movie. The twin emperors were little more than clowns that failed to be either menacing or amusing. The only close to memorable performance was that of Denzel Washington as gladiator owner and political manipulator Macrinus, but even he was kind of all over the place and when he and Lucius faced off one on one I couldn't bring myself to give a damn who won. Whereas the finale of Gladiator gives me chills, the final scenes of Gladiator II just left me cold.

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I think I also gave it 1-1/2 stars. Really sad to see such a talented cast wasted on such tripe!

I took a 2nd look at Moana 2 - this time in the fancy format known as 4DX, and the result just about blew me away. This is obviously the best way to watch this movie - and, in fact, I would say the only way to watch this if you're gonna bother with watching it in the cinema at all.

Anyone who likes the "effects" of the 4DX process would have to agree that it's hard to think of a movie that has put them to better use - the wind, the rain/mist, the seat motion and lightning effects all work seamlessly to fully draw you into the Polynesian setting, almost making you feel like a participant in Moana's adventures in and around the ocean.

I was a little scared before going into the 4DX auditorium that the movie would have too many 'watery' effects and that we would all end up getting drenched, but luckily, that was not the case - also, the movie is being shown in 3D in these theaters, so you have the extra "protection" afforded by the 3D glasses.

Juror #2
Just back from the theater, and Jesus, I'm, just, wow. If this truly is Eastwood's final picture, he went out on top. And how refreshing it was to see a mature, thoughtful movie made for grownups!

The moral complexities that have been a signature throughout his career are present, he's always excelled in the gray areas. Performances are top drawer; Hoult should get some awards consideration.

So, so glad I got the chance to see this on the big screen. Clint and I go way back (to the 60s) and it was only right and proper that I should see his final feature where it should be seen. I'm a happy old man right now.

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Completed Extant Filmographies: Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Satyajit Ray, Fritz Lang, Andrei Tarkovsky, Buster Keaton, Yasujirō Ozu - (for favorite directors who have passed or retired, 10 minimum)

The Searchers (1956) - John Ford: 5/10

Glad you posted that, as now I have to see that movie. The part I bolded is what did it for me.

By http://www.impawards.com/2002/monsoon_wedding.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21888840

Monsoon Wedding - (2001)

There aren't many movies as delightful as Monsoon Wedding that could have been lined up for me to watch last night. It's basically controlled chaos as two families gather for a spectacular wedding in New Delhi, and five stories intertwine over the course of three or so days. There's heaps of love and laughter, but also heavier undertones at times because one story involved paedophilia, which darkens the mood and threatens to undo your peace of mind when it arrives - a real surprise in such a celebratory, colourful and magnificent feature. There's a lot of Indian culture, but the one binding theme is that of family, and the intrigue, infighting, joy and pain that always coincides with large get-togethers family-wise. Something intrinsic to us all. Naseeruddin Shah, giving us a terrific performance as father of the bride Lalit Verma leads a stunning ensemble cast. This first caught my eye after I watched Mira Nair's The Namesake a couple of weeks ago, and I actually spied it in the unwatched portion of my DVD collection - so that was rather fortuitous. This isn't like your typical film of this sort - there's a bright earnestness about it that feels very genuine. It'll make you feel good, but none of it feels as contrived as these things usually do. It's simply a beautiful celebration of life - and the artistry on display regarding the production design and cinematography has a very fresh feel to it. I've become very cynical lately, but my cynicism was bypassed and Mira Nair's most famous cinematic achievement more than lived up to my expectations.

9/10

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I have nits I could have picked, but mostly it worked wonderfully for me, and yeah, at some point, I thought, this is nice, a movie like this, made for folks like me, and the others in the theater, all in our 40s and above.

Hope you like it.

Conclave
I am quite surprised how much I enjoyed a movie about the Papal election.
It feels like an old school drama/thriller that relies on performances. & it's beautifully shot. Both the indoor & outdoor scenes are picturesque.

Kick-Ass (2010)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

Jonathan Winters On The Loose

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

well this is definitely gonna be on my 90s ballot.

1st Rewatch...This is one of Woody Allen's most underrated and nearly forgotten gems. Woody plays a trying to go straight lousy criminal named Ray Winkler who thinks he's Ralph Kramden who along with three of his loser buddies (Michael Rapaport, Tony Darrow, Jon Lovitz) decide to rob a bank by tunneling through a vacant pizza shop next door. They decide to the pizza store into a cookie store run by Ray's wife, Frenchy (Tracy Ullmann). The guys totally bungle the robbery but Frenchy's cookies become a huge success and, in a year, the Winklers are millionaires but this just the beginning of the end for the Winklers. In the best tradition of Woody, this film starts off a little on the slapstick side and then morphs into a three dimensional story we don't see coming. Woody's writing is biting and hilarious and he and Tracy Ullmann are a joy together. Hugh Grant and Elaine Stritch make the most of their screentime, but it's legendary actress/writer/director Elaine May who just about steals the show as Frenchy's ditzy cousin, Mae.

The story of an orphan boy named Nikolas and his life that lead him to become Santa Claus.

This movie is in no way perfect but its a holiday gem from Finland.

The Beast with a Million Eyes follows the Kelley family, who's struggling to make ends meet in the middle of the California desert while also dealing with some serious dysfunction amongst them. Things get worse when a creature from outer space lands nearby and starts taking control of the surrounding animals in an effort to go up the ladder to control humans as well, and thus the Earth.

That premise sounds infinitely more interesting than what we got in the end. The film behaves like your typical 1950s cheap "creature feature" where two thirds of the film feature the characters trying to figure out what's going on, only to unleash whatever's threatening them in the last act. The Beast with a Million Eyes has a mostly dull and awkward two thirds, and then also fails to pay off in the last one.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

Dave (1993)