Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Terrific French movie. Re-watch.



Good indie movie.



Terrific movie many people have never heard of. Re-watch.

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

MKS gave it his highest possible rating if I remember correctly. Enjoy!

Joe Bonamassa Guitar Man (2020)

A documentary about this superb blues-rock musician, covering his music life from high school till nowadays. I'd like it showed a bit more of Joe's personality and life outside the stage and studio.
The film was presented at CineLibri film fest. It is one of a few events when I visit a movie theatre since a decade time.
Anyway, I follow Bonamassa music career, especially his participation in Black Country Communion and his performances with Beth Hart.

80/100

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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.

Great guitarist I always forget about.

Umpteenth Rewatch...What can be said about this Christmas classic that hasn't been already said. Peter Billingsley redefines adorable as Ralphie and the late Melinda Dillon and Darren McGavin are perfection as his parents.

The Match Factory Girl -

The third part of the Proletariat trilogy is essentially Kaurismaki with the gloves off. A movie that would pair well with Takeshi Kitano's Violent Cop or Robert Bresson's L'Argent, the director does not beat around the bush here on his thoughts and feelings about evil begetting evil and the increasingly unbalanced scale of justice between poor and powerful. Expertly setting the tone with a news report on the Tiananmen Square massacre, he moves on to establish one of his most pitiable protagonists - and perhaps in all of film - in Iris (Outinen). Besides her titular dead-end job, she is in abusive relationships with her parents, only finds joy in the pages of books and always leaves bars alone. On the one night someone shows interest in her at one, it happens to be the worst kind of person for her imaginable: Aarne (Vierikko), who like Tom Cruise in Eyes Wide Shut is a guy used to solving all his problems with money. What follows has Iris seeking justice for his crimes and eventually those of everyone like him while not exactly retaining what humanity she has left in the process.

Kaurismaki and Outinen have become one of my favorite director/performer relationships, with this being the best instance I've seen yet. The dialogue is incredibly sparse - it's 25 minutes until a main character says something and it's fitting that it's an insult to Iris - but Outinen succeeds at letting us inside Iris's head anyway. As for Aarne, with his wolfish beard and steely expressions, Vierikko appropriately makes him out to be more monster than man. Did Kaurismaki influence Kitano? I cannot find evidence of such, but if it's not the minimal dialogue and lack of camera movement that makes you wonder, it's how stark and subtlety-free each crime, attempt at retribution, etc. comes across. We never see the aftermath of the worst offenses, but we simply do not need to. Also, Kaurismaki sure knows his way around Helsinki, especially when it comes to choosing which parts represent Iris's world and which represent Aarne's. If it's not how decrepit or kitschy Iris's is and how clean, shiny and new Aarne's that says it all, it's how jarring the director makes them contrast.

Simply put, this movie functions quite well as a middle finger to the decade that preceded it, especially to the forces that pressed the iron boot even harder on the face of the working class and to those who yearn to kiss it anyway. It also succeeds in proving that subtlety is not always a virtue, which, however, is why I cannot say this is one of my very favorites by the director. What keeps me coming back to him is how he manages to express multitudes with such a minimal approach. As satisfying and true the starker drama in this entry may be, I ended up appreciating the outcome more than liking it as a result. I still understand why this would be considered the best Finnish movie of all time and encourage you to seek it out, but not without seeking out the trilogy's preceding entries first, of course. I'll add that all three movies, but especially this one, could not be a better antidote to an '80s nostalgia overdose.

Snerting [Touch] (2024)

Directed by Baltasar Kormákur

An aging Iceland widower turns back to his college years memory and undertakes a search for his love of these years, a Japanese girl...
As the title says, it is a touching movie at some moments.
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73/100

makes me appreciate their previous film a bit more given this is the same thing just watered down and it still isn't really thaaaaat bad.

I've taken a knack for watching Tubi during my lunch hour, specifically for low demand watches like low budget horror thrillers or 1950s creature features. From Beneath falls in the former category. It follows a young couple: Sam and Jason (Lauren Watson and Jamie Temple) as they head out to visit Sam's sister, who just moved to a secluded farmhouse with her family. However, as Sam and Jason arrive, her sister is nowhere to be found while Jason ends up being bitten by a mysterious organism... from beneath!

But for every little workable flair with the camera, there are ten lines of cringey dialogue or bad delivery from the two leads. Not only is the dialogue terrible, but the performances from Watson and Temple are plain bad. Moreover, their reactions to the things that start happening are dumb and make no sense at all. The two characters behave more as if they just found out the toilet overflowed, instead of the two being attacked by a murderous organism that's taking over one of them.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

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Fancy Dance (2023)
Lily Gladstone and Isabel Deroy-Olson are outstanding in this coming of age, road picture, missing person-crime, mashup. It's as slow unfolding tale, patient, but not dull, there is tension, and much heart. It's playing on Apple TV+

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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 Funeral (1984)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

That's how a representative of the Italian government describes the situation of this film, where an alien creature was brought from Venus by American astronauts. Unfortunately, the ship crashes near the coast of Sicily with only Colonel Bob Calder (William Hopper) surviving. 20 Million Miles to Earth follows the attempts of Calder and the government to stop the creature once it gets loose and on the rampage.

The special effects are perhaps the film's biggest asset, which is understandable since the creature and some of its setpieces were done with stop-motion animation designed by Ray Harryhausen. The end result is pretty impressive for the time, with some of the effects in these setpieces being pretty seamless and well executed. Notable examples are the creature escaping from a barn, fighting an elephant, and his final rampage through the streets of Rome. Horrible, but fascinating.

Grade:


Full review on my Movie Loot

The Great Escaper (2023)

Directed by Oliver Parker
Starring Michael Caine and Glenda Jackson

Came across to it previous week on the television.
A comedy-drama film about a WWII veteran who lives in a retirement home together with his wife. One day, he undertakes a gambling trip to France to take part in the 70th anniversary celebration of the war end. Many touching moments especially the scene with the German officers when all gave a respect to each other and the memory of their fallen friends.
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74/100

Juror #2 (2024)

This is a trustworthy good old fashioned studio film, the likes of which are no longer common in modern times. It’s a well thought out story that quickly puts both the protagonist and audience in a quandary that inexorably causes unrelenting tension and suspense that doesn’t let up until the final scene.

Nicholas Hoult stars as Justin Kemp, a recovered alcoholic whose wife (Zoey Deutch) is expecting a baby. To his and her chagrin he’s been selected for jury duty in a murder trial. As he hears the evidence against the accused killer, he gradually realizes that he may have been involved in the incident. As his culpability becomes apparent to him, how will this knowledge guide his actions in the jury deliberations, and also at home?

Toni Collette shines as a determined prosecutor who is looking for slam dunk win to help in her campaign for District Attorney, and Chris Messina delivers a nuanced and varied performance as the public defender who represents the accused. In addition we’re treated to a few famous veteran actors in surprisingly smaller roles: J.K. Simmons as a juror who raises doubt about the defendant’s guilt; Kiefer Sutherland plays Justin’s AA sponsor who is also a defense attorney; and a solid turn by Amy Aquino (Lt. Grace Billets in Bosch) as the trial judge.

Several characters are trapped in moral dilemmas. Justin is pulled into conflict with his wife, his 12-step principles, his sponsor, the attorneys, and his basic morality. The prosecuting attorney soon faces a circumstance which conflicts with her early determination, her zeal to become D.A., and her eventual truth seeking. Simmons’ juror wrestles with his sworn duty which is in contrast to his previous work as a police detective. And Justin’s wife struggles to protect her baby and husband from her fear that Justin may have been involved in the crime.

There are a few mentionable detractions. The lead could have been better cast than with Nicholas Hoult. His inherent diffident personality did not really fit the story. In a way Hoult put me in mind of director Eastwood’s real life personality. Perhaps Hoult was signed because he is a very popular actor with the younger set.

The story itself is appealing and somewhat fresh, whose essence is very reminiscent of an Alfred Hitchcock suspense tale. But some of the dialogue, especially in the jury deliberations scenes, was almost trite. For example Cedric Yarbrough’s performance as the angry black male juror was burdened with rather hackneyed lines, which, despite his best efforts, sounded inauthentic. Gabriel Basso as the accused suffered with poor dialogue, so one could never really feel his anguish. It’s surprising that Jonathan Abrams was tasked with the screenplay, given his lack of previous credits. Surely Eastwood could have lassoed a heftier writer. And, presumably as an “in” joke, Eastwood’s daughter Francesca was cast as the murder victim, and she did a fine job.

Warner Bros. reportedly had intended the picture originally as a streaming release, but after the positive stir, they released it in a very limited fashion to theaters. I think it would have done well as a major general release. Keep in mind that Clint Eastwood has made billions of dollars for Warners over the years. Much has been made of this as supposedly being Eastwood’s final directed film. Hopefully he’ll change his mind. There have been few directors left who can spin a tale as can Eastwood. Most of his pictures feel very authentic and true to life. Maybe he has another one left in him.

Doc’s rating: 7/10

I finally finished Twelve O'Clock High. I found it a solid film. It was very well done. I thought Peck and his support were great and the story is strong. It was worth watching, even if it did take me four days to get through it vis external distractions.

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I destroyed the dastardly dairy dame! I made mad milk maid mulch!

I hate insomnia. Oh yeah. Last year I had four cases of it, and each time it lasted three months.

Christmas, Every Day (2024) Watched on Youtube. This is a really interesting short documentary, only 13 minutes, directed by Faye Tsakas. It's about tween (now teen) influencers/models/actors Peyton and Lyla Wesson and their parents. The short is thought provoking without being heavy handed and allows the viewer to come to their own conclusions. It raises questions in a way that feels honest and natural. I think it could have been longer and explored more of the girls' lives. A follow up short could work too. Definitely worth checking out.

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9765814

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas - (1982)

I'd seen The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas numerous times during the 1980s - I'm not sure if it was because I really liked it, or simply because it was popular and available. There were songs in it that I'd completely forgotten in the interim, but most of the film felt quite familiar. Watching it again was like visiting someone that I knew from high school but hadn't seen for a long time - someone I really wasn't good friends with, but didn't mind all the same. There are a few good numbers - "A Lil' Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place", "Texas Has a Whorehouse in It" and especially "The Sidestep" with Charles Durning, which is one moment where the film really shines. "Hard Candy Christmas" is pretty good as well. The inclusion of Jim Nabors in the cast highlights the hokey nature of some of the comedy in this - there's so much mugging for the camera, but I guess that's also the nature of musical comedies. I often wonder what the stage show was like. Anyway, it's part of my collection now, and part of my early film-watching history.

6/10

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Spotlight (2015) – Tom McCarthy: 8/10

I like Spotlight. Its biggest drawback was coming out the same year as Big Short, which was also an Oscar-contender, and winner, and they are very similar films. I saw Big Short first, which I am convinced is why I prefer it. Spotlight is still a great film.