Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Den of Thieves Pantera (2025)


I expected not to like this as much as the first, as it would be hard to match the great chemistry and portrayal of humanity the first one did in my opinion. This one has less chemistry and more playfulness than you would want in a gritty action movie. It still barely succeeds at being just a cool heist though.

Why does it seem to me that Gerard Butler is eating or drinking or smoking in more than half the scenes he is in...

Corpse Bride (2005) - 8/10


The official goth girl movie turned out to be fun, whimsical, and way funnier than it has any right to be. Every character (barring one) has his or her own charisma that gets you to pay attention. Emily especially just melts my heart. The settings are all like a halloween funhouse, it feels like they had fun with every last one of the background characters, the living ones included. The timing of the visual gags is way smoother than it usually is in these kids' movies, and that counts for a lot considering how many of them there are. Makes it way more enjoyable to hang around in this world when the script and directing, which are your portal to it, lack any awkwardness. Will definitely rewatch it at some point in the future.


The only major flaw is that whenever the villain is on screen, the quality just plummets. He's terrible.

Lynch, 1992





It had years since I saw the 1992 follow-up film to the short-lived television series Twin Peaks. Anyone who has been on this site for a decent amount of time will know I am a huge Lynch fan, even if my fervor and zealotry for his work his cooled somewhat over the years. Or at least...it had cooled. Apparently all it took was Mr. Lynch shuffling off this mortal coil for me to dive head first back into the shimmering pool of the surreal. I am working my way through his entire catalog of film in no particular order while simultaneously watching the original run of the series and also Twin Peaks: The Return.

It had been years and years since I had seen Fire Walk with Me. This film has aged like fine wine. Lynch is at the top of his game here, and combined with Lee's tour de force performance, which is easily her best work, the film had me riveted to the screen. My only nitpicks are the recasting of Donna and the absence of Sherilyn Fenn's Audrey. Both actresses still had a bitter taste in their mouth after Lynch and Frost abandoned the show in the second season to work on other projects. Even Kyle McLachlan has reduced screen time, allegedly due to the same reservations.

But like I said, this is Lee's film, and she and the rest of the cast bring it, big time. This film also contains some of the darkest and most disturbing scenes of Lynch's career, as well as an underpinning sadness for its entire run time. I watched this, and then immediately fired up the pilot of the original series; the film dovetails into the show perfectly, adding emotional impact to several of the scenes, such as Donna and James' realization of Laura's fate just before the teacher is about to announce it.

This film used to float around the middle of my rankings for Lynch's work, but this most recent viewing puts it up into my top 5.

It's been an interesting contrast so far watching these classic episodes and this film alongside The Return, which sees Lynch dialing everything he is known for up to 11, stringing together absolutely bananas scenes and just letting his creativity lead him into the darkest corners of his creative mind.

Watching all this stuff just reaffirms what I have always knows: Lynch was an absolute master of his craft.

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Will you be meditating today at noon? (Not asking cheekily, I think it's a really cool idea).

I have never tried this!

Mothra vs Godzilla, 1964

After a huge storm, a mysterious egg is found floating in the ocean. A wealthy businessman buys the egg and begins building a convention center around it as a spectacle. But reporters Ichiro (Akira Takarada), photographers Junko (Yuriko Hoshi), and professor Miura (Hiroshi Koizumi) come to learn that the egg belongs to Mothra. Despite their efforts the egg continues to be held prisoner. But when Godzilla emerges from the ground and begins wreaking havoc, humankind asks for Mothra’s help to defeat the lizard monster.

The monster fight scenes are all solid, with the later addition of larval Mothra babies a particular delight. Mothra, in all her incarnations, really is the best.



FULL REVIEW

https://www.avclub.com/david-lynch-c...ide-meditation

Well...I will be at work, so probably can't join in.

SF = Zzz

Viewed: Blu ray

Out of everything I could have done without the






[Snooze Factor Ratings]:
Z = didn't nod off at all
Zz = nearly nodded off but managed to stay alert
Zzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed
Zzzz = nodded off and missed some of the film but went back to watch what I missed but nodded off again at the same point and therefore needed to go back a number of times before I got through it...
Zzzzz = nodded off and missed some or the rest of the film but was not interested enough to go back over it

Had another stab at these two movies & was glad I did.

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

Die Hard 2 (1990)



The main reason that makes this a lesser Die Hard is the same reason that makes the first one a better Die Hard: location.
Instead of being trapped in the same place (which gave the first one such a disaster movie feel) the sequel is literally all over the place.
There's the many locations inside the airport, the church hideout place, outdoors scenes and then everything that happens in the air - and it's all happening at the same time.
This could work for an esemble cast but not really for a one-man show.
Oddly enough, the film feels smaller and cheaper in scale.

I never like cheesy banter or one-liners but it didn't bother me in Die Hard. Now those cheesy one-liners are getting rehashed which makes it much harder too ignore.
The villain is so-so and I failed to connect with this character.
Because the story alternates between all these locations and characters it kinda loses its momentum midway, and this also very much affects the climax (even though it's extremely over the top).

Incidentally, I thought this was the one with the clues (Simon Says?) but maybe that's the next one.

I finished Even the Wind Is Afraid this afternoon. What an awesome film. It's not overly complicated and what the creators did with their non-complex film worked great. The movie is silky smooth. The only real knock I have against it is that some of the acting isn't great. Overall the acting is fine, although I would say it's the weakest part of the film. I found it highly captivating. Even the Wind Is Afraid is a slow burn and totally worth the payoff. I loved it. I want a copy.



There's the poster. I didn't know it when I started it; the movie is from Mexico. That's pretty cool.

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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.

1st Rewatch...20 years of the release of That's Entertainment 2, MGM did another deep dive into their treasure chest of musical highlights and came up with a third installment that concentrated on a lot of footage that ended up on the cutting room floor. My favorites were a side by side look at Eleanor Powell in Lady Be Good that showed the number as it appeared onscreen and how the crew moved the scenery as the number was shot; an audio track of a song called "Two Faced Woman" sung by a studio singer named India Adams, that was originally used for Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon, but was cut from that film and was used a couple of years later for Joan Crawford in Torch Song, a spectacular production number that was cut from the Judy Garland musical The Harvey Girls, and best of all, "Mr Monotony", a number cut from Easter Parade where she's clad in the same cut off tuxedo she wore in Summer Stock.

2nd Rewatch...Despite an attractive all-star cast, this multi-storyline look at new millenium relationships barelky holds interest thanks to the confusing linking of storylines to each other and some odd casting. Jennifer Aniston does her best to make her story of a woman who breaks up with her boyfriend (Ben Affleck) because he doesn't want to get married and Jennifer Connolly is completley humorless as a woman who is destroying her marriage because her husband (Bradley Cooper) won't quit smoking and Ginnifer Goodwin is kind of annoying as a romance-challenged gal asking and not taking the advice of a hunky bar owner (Justin Long). The film comes off as pretty people having pretty problems and it's very hard to care for the entire runniing time. It was nice seeing the late Kris Kristofferson as Aniston's dad.

1st Rewatch....Alex Winter, who played Bill in the Bill and Ted franchise, directed this insightful and eye-opening documentary centering n a handful of frmer child stars, some who were forced into the business, some who weren't, and some who learned to hate it. The subjects include Todd Bridges, Wil Wheaton, Evan Rachel Wood, Mara Wilson, Milla Jovovich. and the late Cameroin Boyce. The film also features two kids named Demi Singleton and Marc Slater, who are just starting in the business and when this documentarywas made, this film was the only thing on their imdb pages. When I checked their IMDB pages after this viewing, Demi had five credits and there was nothing new on Marc's page and if you watch this film closely , I think you'll see why.

Umpteenth Rewatch...Winner of eight Oscars, probably the best translation of a Broadway musical to the screen and in the top five of best movie musicals ever made. Based on the 1966 Brodway musical, this is the story of an ill-fated romance between self-absorbed American party girl and an English writer in WW1 Berlin and the parallels between what ishappening between and what is happening around them. Bob Fosse blindsided Francis Ford Copolla when he won the Oscar for Best Director and he deserved it. His chorography is spectacular and no matter how many times I watch it, the "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" scene gives me chills. Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey won Oscar for their performances and Michael York is a sexy leading man. Everything works here, even after all these years.

3rd Rewatch...From the "If it Ain't Broke Don't Fix It" school of filmmaking comes Tim Burton's remake of the Gene Wilder classic Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp inheriting the title role and offering one of his cingiest performances that seems to be a cmbination of Bob Eubanks and Carol Channing. The songs are depressing and it's just creepy that the oompah loompas are all played by a single actor. The only thing I liked about this movie is the performance by Freddie Highmore as Charlie, who had prevously worked with Depp in Finding Neverland.

I wonder if Leone listens to Cradle of Filth?

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By Unknown author - impawards.com, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/inde...urid=157567568

The Cocoanuts - (1929)

Starting at the very beginning - the first ever Marx Bros movie, and it's not bad considering it was made at the very dawn of the age of talking pictures. The "plot" in a Marx Bros movie is usually pretty loose, and that's the case here with Mr. Hammer (Groucho Marx) being the proprietor of a resort hotel in Florida. It's one that hardly attracts any guests, but soon enough there are miscreants (the rest of the Marx bros), a couple of crooks, Mrs. Potter (Margaret Dumont - often ending up in skits with Groucho), her daughter Polly (Mary Eaton) and Polly's love interest, Bob Adams (Oscar Shaw) - who will be framed by the two crooks. It's a narrative that exists as a framework for a series of skits and musical numbers - and most of the funny stuff still feels pretty fresh despite being a century old. I love it when Groucho combines with Chico - their comedic chemistry is really fantastic. There's an auction that Chico is meant to help Groucho with, but he ends up outbidding everyone instead of upping the price as Groucho wants. I really liked all of this, despite the rawness of this first attempt at what would become one of the great comedic formulas of all time.

7/10


By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54043510

mother! - (2017)

Arthouse meets mainstream in a rare instance of an avant-garde movie loosed upon your average everyday moviegoer - and those "normies" still ended up giving the movie an "F" CinemaScore grade! Never the twain shall meet. Jennifer Lawrence plays Mother Earth while Javier Bardem plays God, happily living as a couple in a house He created and she tries to nurture, but His need for adulation and her need for respect and growth conflict. Never mind that though, because once people arrive they start to systematically spoil, degrade and destroy the place. Big credit to Darren Aronofsky for attempting the impossible, but meeting people halfway kind of pleases nobody - even if I find this entertaining, horrifying and interesting - especially in a visual sense. The art direction and set designers really outdid themselves with their creations, and the octagonal house that stands as the centerpiece of the movie. I've seen this a few times, and I'm always up to seeing it again.

7/10


Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2768320

Scorchers - (1991)

Welcome the worst movie I've watched so far in 2025! This is a stinker, despite featuring the talents of James Earl Jones and Denholm Elliott, who only appear in a bar separate from the rest of the action as if David Beaird didn't want them to know how awful the rest of the film is - and their scenes aren't exactly amazing anyway. Based on Beaird's stage play of the same name, it's about a wedding night where the bride, Splended (Emily Lloyd) is reluctant to consummate the marriage and has to be persuaded by her father, Jumper (Leland Crooke), to do the deed. In the meantime Talbot (Jennifer Tilly) is looking to gun her husband down for seeking the pleasures of the town prostitute, Thais (Faye Dunaway). It all comes off as both pretentious and tiresomely dumb at the same time - a mean feat to achieve. It starts with a monologue delivered by Leland Crooke that sets the stage as to how inane the whole movie is. Elliott and James Earl Jones are game, but can only play a losing hand with the cards they're dealt.

3/10

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