Rate The Last Movie You Saw

This is one of my favorite YouTube videos ever:



I watch it a few times a year and feel inspired and cry a lot.

I recently watched three of Carlos Enrique Taboada's movies (Poison For the Fairies, Blacker Than Night and Rapine) - they were very good! I've put Even the Wind is Afraid in my watchlist.

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Ooh that's cool. Yeah I stumbled upon Blacker Than Night a day or two ago as well. That one piqued my interest. Poison for the Fairies and Rapine look good too so I saved them.

I just happened upon Even the Wind Is Afraid and it sounded good so I gave it a shot. I didn't even know it existed until a few days ago. I thought it was awesome. The movie is slow, and some performances are a little middling. Overall though it's great. If you watch it, I'd be curious what you think.

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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.

I have issues with calling it the Gene Wilder classic and this one a remake (he didn't direct it) (and it's just another adaptation of the same book with no correlation betwixt the two movies). I am very picky about movie labels. However, Burton's version really isn't so good. It's not really terrible, although for fans of Mel Stuart's version, I can understand the distaste. I think the Stuart fans annoy me more than the movie does. I like the references in Burton's version, and the songs have some charm. Otherwise it's a slog. One issue is the added Wonka's Dad garbage. If he wanted Christopher Lee so badly, he could have been a grandparent or the narrator, or a combination of the two or something.

Just to be clear, I saw Burton's version before Mel Stuart's, and I've never been a huge fan of Gene Wilder. I have been a fan of Tim Burton for some time, although this was a weird choice for him. His style doesn't really fit this story. It's about bratty kids, not drugs-vision.

No argument regarding the flashbacks with Christopher Lee as Wonka's dad.

The Music Room (1958)

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[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

9/10

Powerful movie based on true events in Brazil. Walter Salles is a very good director.

Dahl, 1994





Still catching up on some neo noir titles with some crossover into prep for the 90s part deux, I fired up this steamy neo from the mid 90s. A well made and played flick with a generous coating of sleaze, I found it entertaining, but wasn't totally over the moon for it. Slightly above average noir.

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Adelheid - 8/10
Best movie I've seen in at least 2 years.. Despite my neighbor and her loud assed muffler going on for an hour.. I had to take a break (play drums to block out the sound) which usually is a hindrance to a movie, but I couldn't take it anymore.. I had this on my IMDB watch-list... along with 2,000 others. Don't remember ever even reading the title. I did a Search on here and found 0 results. Less than 1,000 votes on IMDB but it's on Criterion. I need more movies like this. Contemporary dramas about people that stand on their own, ones you can't compare.

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

Swept Away (1974) -

This was truly something else. I think I've finally arrived at a consensus, but making sense of it was a real challenge given how often I kept jumping back and forth on the film. Some of the reservations I pondered over included whether the film delivered its capitalist commentary in the most obvious way possible, whether Gennarino's growing physical/sexual abuse muddled its political musings, the apparent Stockholm syndrome angle, and whether the film was attempting to garner sympathy for Gennarino. After some mulling, I ultimately decided this was pretty stellar and I look forward to revisiting it down the road now that I know what to expect.

First things first, I don't think this was solely intended as a critique of capitalism. I think it's more about the cyclical nature of oppression and the unfortunate tragic irony of how swapping the roles between the upper and lower classes as a form of punishment causes you to be the perpetrator of the issues you criticize the other side for. Though Gennarino claimed to be a Communist, the forms of punishment he inflicted on Raffaella (making her work for food and establishing a hierarchy between them) all reeked of what he condemned the rich for. In defense, Gennarino claimed he merely wanted her to see how he felt when she abused him, but then his treatment kept growing in severity until he lost control and became just as, if not more manipulative than her.

Another point of contention is how Raffaella seemingly falls in love with Gennarino. I touched on this at the start when I brought up Stockholm syndrome, but I did use the word "apparent" since I'm not sure that was actually the idea. I'm not 100% on this, but given Raffaella's actions in the ending, I don't know that she was necessarily in love with him so much as she felt there was no other option for her to survive the island. The film doesn't explicitly say this, but again, the helicopter scene in the ending is a pretty crucial moment which suggests her passion was a ruse all along. I'm sure this reading will be too implicit for some people, but regardless of where you stand, I'll also note that I generally don't have an issue with Stockholm syndrome. It's a real-life occurrence, so why can't it occur in film? Plus, I don't think we're asked to sympathize with Gennarino. His flaws are left right out in the open and he seems pretty pathetic by the end.

Overall, while my appreciation of the film remained shaky while watching it, it has sat quite well upon reflection and gave me a lot to ponder over. It's definitely not the kind of film I'm going to forget about anytime soon.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

first 2025 movie! Keke Palmer is funny and charming and SZA is umm.... there. it has some moments.

Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22503148

Roadgames - (1981)

Occasionally Australian exploitation films would make use of American actors to help improve a movie's marketability overseas - and that's why Roadgames features Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis, two very out-of-place Americans making their way along the desert highways which stretch many, many hundreds of miles through the country. Pat Quid (Keach) is a truck driver transporting meat to Perth, Western Australia - when he happens upon a curious man in a green van who suspiciously buries garbage bags in the desert. A killer is on the loose, and Quid soon suspects the stranger. After picking up hitchhiker Pamela (Jamie Lee Curtis) the two set about trying to solve the mystery, and end up playing a psychological game which threatens to kill them all. It's not a bad suspense-driven thriller that quickly disappeared (I don't think the terrible poster helped) upon release but has lived on due to critical reappraisals and Quentin Tarantino's dogged support - a really nice examination of paranoia and uncertainty in isolated situations among strangers. Quid has a dog called "Boswell" (he's a fan of poetry) - and now I'm thinking the dog we got from a bunch of University students around about 1983 wasn't called Boswell because they were a fan of Alexander Boswell, but instead because they saw Roadgames! This one is worth checking out if you're into modern-day Hitchcock-like movies, and it also reminds me a little bit of Steven Spielberg's Duel.

7/10


By Paramount Pictures - IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=68763344

The Seven Little Foys - (1955)

A little depressing, and in some ways misguided considering the exploitation of those kids (and the way that matter is brushed aside), but I thought Bob Hope was terrific in this. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

6/10

Blue Velvet (1986) - David Lynch: 8.5/10

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Alex Thompson & Kelly O'Sullivan, 2024





This one is a bit buy-the-numbers, but I ended up enjoying it overall, mostly due to it being an effective father/daughter story elevated by the performances of the whole cast. It cleverly weaves aspects of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet into events in the lives of the family the film focuses on, while the father - a brash construction worker who has trouble expressing himself emotionally - ends up joining a small production of the play after a dust up with one of the cast members over a noise compliant.

While there are some sweet and effective scenes, as well as a couple of heartbreaking sequences, some almost sitcom level contrivances dragged the rating down for this one. It also plays out exactly as you would expect and felt a bit on the tropey side, staying well inside its indie film lane.

While it was a decent little examination of grief, some of its shortcomings kept it from really shining. I do think it drove its main message home well: the healing power of community, especially when sharing artistic pursuits.

Mafioso - 7.5/10
One of the first movies to look at the Mafia..

Good weird movie. Stan’s full frontal nudity was fun to see.

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

Testament (1983)

Neat drama set among the idea family in the idea town who's lives suddenly (and those around them) change after atomic attacks (by the Russkies it is implied). We see the radiation illness and bodies pile up while the former orderly-ness of the family and social structure. Suprising appearances by a young Rebecca De Mornay and Kevin Costner as a lovestruck young couple that lose everything. It's more focussed but less than a watch than the broader palette of "Threads" but very good of it's time. The film poster is wonderful for the subject matter.

i didn't love it but its the exact kind of bs i'm looking for. felt a little too in on the bit but the last few shots went hard.

By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49201388

Love & Friendship - (2016)

A general feeling of hopelessness and depression has descended upon me in the last day or so, and that plays havoc with my appreciation of good movies - and although Love & Friendship feels fresh, original and is good fun, I felt an especial coldness towards it's main character, Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale). Susan Vernon is a schemer - an emotionless manipulator who sees life in very clinical terms. The villain of Love & Friendship, but also it's protagonist and main character. In opposition to that is the very sprightly, intelligent and boundless humour writer/director Whit Stillman injects into the film, turning this into a period piece the likes of which I've never seen before. In Jane Austin fashion (and this is based on Jane Austin's novel "Lady Susan") it's a movie about marriage, birthright, courtship and gamesmanship. I thought it was a very good movie - but I wasn't in the mood for it, since having to deal with any and all of the Susan Vernons of this world evokes too strong a feeling in me at the moment. Most of the other characters have a sense of humanness about them - although they might be lumped into two groups : the hopeless (the dumb as a doorbell Sir James Martin - played by Tom Bennett, and the overly emotional Lady Lucy Manwaring - played by Jenn Murray) and the decent. I'll have to check out more of Whit Stillman's stuff.

7/10