Rate The Last Movie You Saw

The Apprentice (2024)



I knew beforehand that this film needn't make a lot of effort to please me, meaning that I would have liked it even if it was nothing more than a superficial trip down memory lane.
Call it cheap if you like, but sometimes it simply does the trick.
Luckily, it turns out to be much more than that, and it's actually much more than a early-Trump biopic.

The first time I heard about Trump he had already made it - it could have been the opening of Trump Tower. I guess that's what made the Europeans take notice and allowed business man Trump to cross over to pop culture as the embodiment of western culture capitalism.
Or perhaps it connected with the 1980s "greed is good" that we had already seen (and enjoyed) in hit TV series like Dallas and Dynasty.
I guess he was sort of the Randolph Hearst of our generation.

It also says a lot about going back to the roots of "the American way" and the way it affected western culture not limited to North America.
The theme of prosperity inadvertently caused some of the old-fashioned values to be reinstated, the wish to sanitise this new way of living, devoid of the shambles of the liberal 1970s.
I think this is defnitely felt in 1980s cinema and TV, the decade's grand delusion of "finally doing things the right way".
And then came AIDS, which played right into the hands of said attitude.
Oh yes, Reagan and Thatcher were the perfect players in this fantasy world.

Back to Trump, the actor reminded me of Michael C. Hall - imagine that, Dexter Morgan as president.
There are shades of the fantastic 1940s classic All That Money Can Buy.
It's also the classic tale of creating a monster that cannot be contained, but strangely enough Roy Cohn's fate in this film doesn't really feel like the comeuppance it could or should have been. I guess that's the power of cinema, they can make you feel whatever they want.

The film features two songs by spanish duo Baccara, well, actually not.
The first one is the evergreen Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, not the most original choice but somehow it always works.
The second song - and this really blew me away - is the now obscure European hit Fantasy Boy by New Baccara. One of the singers quit and then it was re-grouped with a new singer hence why it doesn't belong in original Baccara's discography.

Even if it wasn't about Donald Trump then it would still satisfy as a Harold Robbins type of drama.

9/10

The Crush (1993) This was fun and entertaining, although it gets kind of ridiculous. The writing is juicy and delightfully trashy, but a little too one sided. Nick's character is portrayed as an innocent victim, even though he is significantly flawed and didn't set appropriate boundaries or make the best decisions. Adrian is portrayed as a pure villain without any redeeming elements, which isn't completely fair. I like the film, but there are some questionable implications here. I did think that Alicia Silverstone was fantastic and easily the highlight of the film.

I recall that one. I remember it being pretty good. It had the added benefit of "fulfilling" a recurring dream I had as a kid of seeing a giant wave approaching the beach I was standing on. The wave in the movie was a good replica. Fortunately that wave has not come so far when I'm on the beach.

As I recall there were similar scenes in those asteroid movies like Deep Impact.

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The Great Waldo Pepper - (1975)

I had a good feeling about this one, and it didn't let me down - Robert Redford was pretty good picking roles for himself, and The Great Waldo Pepper suits him just fine. He plays biplane barnstormer Waldo Pepper, working his way through the U.S. as a stunt pilot in 1926, and regretful he wasn't able to see action in the First World War. The character is fictional, but the events detailing the accidents and deaths in his profession (which led to the formation of the Civil Aviation Authority) are true. The film also features Susan Sarandon and Margot Kidder, along with some aerial photography that's really breathtaking. The hair-raising stunts (and tragic deaths) really add an element of great excitement, drama and tragedy to the story. This was on a '5 Movie Pack' which I thought would be stuffed with rubbish, but this title along with a couple of others had me really curious.

7/10


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Music from Another Room - (1998)

This features a very young Jude Law, who hadn't broken through yet, and it's a vapid drama that surely wasn't going to help him. Originally set for a theatrical release, it instead ended up direct-to-video. Law plays Danny Kowalski, in love with Anna Swan (Gretchen Mol) - who by a twist of fate he happened to have helped deliver as a baby when he was only a small child. The film opens with this incident, which is weird, gross and simply all kinds of wrong (a five-year-old reaching inside as per his father's instructions, de-tangling an umbilico cord.) Danny tells his father that he'll marry that girl, but when he encounters her family again, Anna is engaged to be married to someone else. Anna's family are full of pretentious, upper-class bores - and that kills the movie for me. We're supposed to like these people, but I hated them. This also features Jennifer Tilly (as Anna's blind sister, Nina), which is nice, but the screenplay is clumsy and for the most part the movie is boring. Clunky, awkward, and with plenty of comedy which falls flat on it's face, Music from Another Room is one to avoid.

4/10


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Taipei Story - (1985)

This movie from Criterion and Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Project comes from Edward Yang, who'd go on to win Best Director at Cannes for his 2000 film Yi Yi. It took me a long while to warm up to it - a very moody slow burn it is, but in the end I had to admit to myself that there was something there. The kind of movie you desperately want to go back to and watch again, just to soak up the amazing way it captures urban malaise and individual angst. A mournful cry in cinematic form from a modernizing city that's losing itself, it features a couple (Ah-chen played by Tsai Chin and Ah-lung played by Hou Hsiao-hsien), on the verge of an end to their relationship, and the way they both search for meaning in their lives. Muted, melancholy and very well filmed, it's a very painful and impactful piece of work that I'm glad has been held onto for the benefit of film lovers the world over. Definitely worth a look for those interested in mood, with award-winning cinematography and a pair of measured performances of note as well.

8/10

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The Room Next Door - (from Wikipedia) "Ingrid and Martha were close friends in their youth when they worked together at the same magazine. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme, but strangely sweet, situation. Ingrid, a successful author, discovers that her estranged friend Martha has terminal cancer. She feels compelled to reconnect. They move to a quiet country house where they share deep and meaningful moments about the past, present, and future. Martha wants to end her own life, and Ingrid supports her in that journey that leaves Ingrid with memories of their connection."

For me, it was just awful. I sat there, squirming in my seat, wishing this would just be over, not liking the plot, dialog or the actors. It was directed by that Spanish guy Pedro Almodovar, starring Tilda Swinton and Juliane Moore in a mainly Spanish production. I managed to stay in my seat until it was over, but damn....I don't need movies like this.

I gave it that because it looks nice.

Wonderstruck (2017)



Yes, I can see why a film like this is kinda hard to sell as it often falls between two stools.
But if you stop thinking about what kind of film it is supposed to be (or why it failed to be a specific kind of film) and simply watch what happens on screen, you may come out of it feeling a little richer for it.
Naturally, Todd Haynes is the perfect choice for this somewhat problematic film because he finds magic in the most obscure but also mundane facts of life.
The way he's translated the story into film is absolutely gorgeous, and I think it still has some of his trademark offbeat approach.
Actually, it often reminded me a lot of his film debut Poison (1991).

Tonally I think it's similar to warm-hearted films like 84 Charing Cross Road (1987).
It's got a very lovely and clever soundtrack and it even made me discover Deodato's Also Sprach Zarathurstra from 1973 (I may or may not have heard it before).

I'll add one point because it's an unsung gem of a movie.
9/10

Spider (2002)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

I watched Visitor Q tonight. Holy crap this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I don't know where to begin. So many terrible things happen and someone records it all and not in faux documentary style but as actual news story footage. Like he chases some woman while another man films him, the guy catches up to her, rips off all of her clothes, and molests her and chokes her at the same time, which ends up killing her, and this is all on tape. I want whoever wrote this piece of filth to be admitted because he's obviously nuts.

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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.

Georgy Girl (1966)

Spider-Man (2002)



My second rewatch, and hopefully not my last.
They often say, your first spider-man/batman/superman will be your favourite, the definitive version.
In my case that certainly applies to Spider-Man even though I have no idea if it captures the spirit of the classic comic books accurately.
What I love about this film is its glorious blockbuster grandeur combined with shameless, unsubtle superhero worshipping.
The special effects look dated but somehow I find it very easy to buy into the fakeness of it all. These days we've become so demanding of perfect GCI that it inadvertently creates a stress factor. "Is it going to look good enough?"

Peter and Mary Jane are perfectly loveable and wholesome - pretty much like sixties Batman and Robin - and the film unabashedly embraces its old-fashioned schmaltz.
The film makes it very easy to lose yourself in, it's almost like a love letter to classic cinema, or the way it was experienced by people who watched those films many decades ago.
There's also good humour in it, especially J.K. Simmons' character that seemed to have crossed over from The Hudsucker Proxy, and there's Mary Jane who's always in a position to plunge into scary depths. And then of course she does, hilariously.
M.J. and Spider-Man's upside down kiss looks unintentionally grotesque because his partially covered face doesn't really look like a face.

I love villains with an evil laughter but I wouldn't say that Goblin is a better villain than the ones we saw in 90s Batman. It's just that I don't care for the Batmans portrayed in those films.
Nevertheless, the friends and family connection complicates Spider-Man's situation in an interesting way.

It think the very best scene happens in Spider-Man 2.

My problem with this terrific sequel is that Alfred Molina as the villain doesn't work for me at all.
Not because he's not a good actor, but...I don't know. I like Doc Ock and his tentacles but the actor himself never looks menacing enough.

Anyway, I'm going to try my first popcorn rating.

It's one of Miike's best, which tells you a lot about his other films.

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San Franciscan lesbian dwarves and their tomato orgies.

The Brutalist (2024)


So the budget for this film was less than 10 million dollars...Air which took place entirely in a conference room cost 90 million dollars. Hollywood needs to open it's books because investors are getting robbed blindly. The film take zero short cuts in it's cinematography, casting, set design, score, and costuming. It is legitimately an epic a work that on the surface is compromised. On the surface this is the best film of the year and a masterpiece.


But man do I wish this film came out before the Hamas/Israel war and before Donald Trump and the immigration issue and also the Opioid crisis because this film comes at you with a social justice hammer at times when a scapal would have been much better served. But even with it's heavy handed political leanings it's still an incredible achievement.


Adrian Brody places a Holocaust survivor who is basically stranded in Pennsylvania. Taken in by his cousin who as assimilated into the American lifestyle and removed the judaiac trappings of his life. His cousin is given a job and a home in a storage closet in a small shop, One day he ends up in the employ of a wealthy dutch family. Things go right and then they go wrong and we end up with Guy Pearce's Van Buren. At first glance you expect him to be the heavy and villain of the story. Van Buren is really the force that drives the film, the boot straps ideals of Americana and the darker underbelly of the American Dream.


The film is at it's best when you are in conflict with Toth and his personal demons. The Van Buren character is a much more compelling subject and it brings into the central idea of the film...is the art dictated by the artist or the person who funds the art. Guy Pearce broke out in LA Confidential and Memento but never really became the leading man/super star he had the early promise to become. The Brutalist is really the culmination of his career.


If the Brutalist has a failure it's that it compromises itself with current issues rather than trying to touch on deeper ideas. The film feels a bit too contemporary at times which is a shame because the three hours flew by for me. When the intermission came up I was shocked at how quick the first hour and a half went. Each part of the story are equally strong hitting you with incredible visuals and a haunting score. I don't think the film is going to win best picture. It will have it's supporters and champions and I did enjoy the film and rank it highly.

The Sandlot (1993) For me, this is overrated and relies too heavily on nostalgia. I didn't like the narration, the writing is mediocre, and the performances are just okay. A couple effective moments, but too much padding and not sufficiently entertaining or amusing enough. I think this would have been a better film if the main characters were a mix of boys and girls, or maybe just all girls. These boys were kind of annoying and not that likeable or interesting.

8/10 -- i'm very glad i tried again to watch my Studio Ghibli set, which is not an official release, this was full of heart, makes me want to watch more wholesome cartoons.

Drunken Angel (1948, Kurosawa) - A

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All About Eve (1950) - Joseph L. Mankiewicz: 8/10

Castle in the Sky -- 10/10 -- what a magical experience, and not just because i took some gummies, this is some good stuff, how the story goes, i think the correct word is pacing, yes, pacing was top notch!

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Waterland - (1992)

This movie, directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal (and yes, his young daughter Maggie does have a very brief appearance) has all the ingredients of what should be a pretty good film, but it's kind of poorly constructed, awfully paced and very dull visually. History teacher Tom Crick (Jeremy Irons), in the midst of a personal crisis which involves the mental deterioration of his wife Mary (Sinéad Cusack), starts to tell his bored history class (which includes a very brattish kid played by Ethan Hawke) the story of his life, with every sordid detail included. This leads to flashbacks where as a teenager he and his wife to be were involved with some bad business related to his mentally challenged older brother Dick (David Morrissey). There are some horrible moments which would have been standout shocks in a better movie, but they kind of become lost in this dark and dreary plodder which provides atmosphere but struggles to bring it's two narrative strands together with any cohesiveness. Perhaps it would be better to read Graham Swift's novel. A shame, because I think parts of this movie are brilliant. It's the whole package that lacks.

5/10


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Mystery Team - (2009)

I used to watch Derrick Comedy's (Dominic Dierkes, DC Pierson, and Donald Glover) sketches on YouTube in the 2000s and loved them a great deal - so when they decided to make a feature film I was definitely excited. Mystery Team ended up feeling like a feature film made by a comedy group who mainly had experience in putting together sketches - it's a little anaemic at feature length. It features Derrick Comedy's three members as friends in Senior High School behaving as if they're still six years old - since they were little they'd solved "mysteries" for a dime, but suddenly are asked to solve a double homicide when a young girl comes enquiring. Usually in over their head anyway, the trio encounter a world they're totally unfamiliar with - drug dealing, murder, sex etc. It's fun to see such a young Donald Glover strut his stuff, and the guys are funny - but this feels like a sketch stretched out to nearly 100 minutes at times, so it's spread thin. Still, I have to admit to having seen this several times, and it has some really great moments.

6/10


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The Paleface - (1948)

Very commercial and mainstream - even predictable in the way Hollywood often operates, but this film's success and colourful brightness along with Bob Hope's natural charisma and sense of humour make it an enjoyable enough watch. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

6/10

So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

can't believe she spends that whole movie viewing herself as a dog and she doesn't even get clicker trained smdh