Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Sidewalks of New York (2001)

__________________

[ J ] - [ S ] - [ F ]

By The poster art can or could be obtained from the distributor., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5100071

Jour de fête - (1949)

This was really interesting - and I guess I should be saying "hilarious", but it took me a while to warm up to and get used to Jacques Tati's brand of physical comedy, which is often underpinned by props, themes and set-pieces. It takes place in a very quaint French village which is being visited by a fair - and eventually settles on mailman François (Tati) as a main character. François sees a film promoting America's postal service, and decides he has to really lift his game - leading to some comedic results. I tell you - the comedy is really fast in this movie, so if you're not awake and fully tuned in you'll miss around 80% of the gags, and I'm sure I still missed many even though I tried my hardest to concentrate. I'm hooked though, because Jour de fête seems stuffed full of interesting tidbits and cinematic invention - I look forward to seeing documentary À l’américaine, which I previewed last night, for it seems to lay out much of what I find curious about this movie and filmmaker. Then I want to watch this movie again.

7/10


By IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60921288

Ford v Ferrari - (2019)

I grew up in Australia where all guys are obsessed with cars and for some reason I wasn't, but I can appreciate a good film where determined engineers and determined drivers aim to push the envelope and be the best. Doing enough to entertain a non-enthusiast is a pretty good benchmark to aim for - so this still gets my tick of approval after a second watch.

7/10

__________________

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) - John Ford: 8.5/10

I watched The Train 1964. It was kind of disappointing. Not because it's bad; because it isn't great. I like the movie. I just hoped for more. The film just didn't resonate with me. Burt Lancaster was good though.

__________________
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.

DePalma, 1993





Checking off another film from the Holden Pike Top 100 of the 1990s.

I was unsure if I had had seen this or not. As I watched, some parts seemed familiar, so I am guessing I probably rented it back in 1994 on VHS, watched a pan and scan copy of the film, didn't find it memorable, and never ended up going back to it.

This is one of DePalma's best films, right up there with Blow Out for me. I still give Blow Out the edge as his best, but this is close. I do have this thing with film in which Al Pacino portrays Hispanic characters, but he wasn't trying to put on a bogus accent, so this wasn't as annoying as Scarface, which I don't really care for.

This is a more restrained effort from DePalma, and he doesn't lean into diopter shots or over-the-top violence anywhere near as often as his other films - the violence is still there, but it is more restrained - and I think it's all the better for it. DePalma like to insert homages to Hitchcock and even his own films into his work, so you get some of that here, as well. This is one of his best start-to-finish directorial efforts, especially the final cat and mouse sequence that closes out the film. The man delivers a clinic on cinematic tension, and I was on the edge of my seat for the duration of the finale.

Great cast, excellent script, excellent cinematography...it might even deserve a but I will leave it where I have it for now. I might toss another half point its way on additional viewings.

__________________

September 5 (2024) This came out on demand today, so I went ahead and splurged and bought it. It's well paced, tense, and has a sharp, tightly written screenplay. Good performances from the ensemble cast.

Great film, I wouldn't have recognised "strike" from that photo.

Deathtrap (1982)



I think this film works on a technical, mechanical level but I can't say I enjoyed it very much.
Similar to Sleuth from a decade before the farcical tone overshadows the mystery, and the comedy is sabotaged by elements of suspense (as in: what will happen next?).

Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby derives its humour from the eeriness and vice versa, it's perfectly osmotic. Deathtrap looks like they've taken two different genres and put them in the same movie.
The talented actors make the best of it (although I find Michael Caine rather hit-or-miss) and the only reason I kept watching was Christopher Reeve.
Even before his career was tragically cut short I feel his talent didn't always reach full potential but I guess that's how it works in the movie business. It's also a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time (and especially the right movie).
Nevertheless, I found Christopher the most watchable in Deathtrap.

Dyan Cannon plays Michael Caine's character's ditzy wife whose main purpose is performing a running gag of hysterical surprise screams. It's funny enough but again it doesn't really suit the context or even the scenery.
Even if it's meant to look this way (adapted from a stage play) doesn't mean I have to like it.
Btw, Dyan Cannon was great in the real murder mystery The Last Of Sheila.

Deathtrap was in my to-watch therefore I'm grateful that youtube suggested this brand new upload, apparently by WB Classics itself (?).

fun!

On my list of favorite Jeff Bridges performances. this clocked in at # 1

The Creator (2023)

By May be found at the following website: IMP Awards, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36266012

The Sessions - (2012)

I knew nothing about sex surrogates before watching The Sessions, and I'm surprised I wasn't more eager to see it once finding out what it's about - 38-year-old poet Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes) is paralyzed from the neck down and lives in an iron lung most of the time due to complications from polio earlier in life. After discussions with his priest, Father Brendan (William H. Macy), and especially after falling in love once already, he decides to try to lose his virginity with the help of sex surrogate Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Helen Hunt), who guides him through the process of having a healthy sex life with all of the difficulties he has. Through their sessions, Mark and Cheryl start to develop feelings for each other, despite Cheryl's happy marriage, home life, and general rules about getting close to clients. Hunt was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, and she equals Demi Moore's bravery this year for going naked and baring it all unabashedly. This was sweetly humanizing and the way we go through the process with Mark helps demystify the whole arena of a disabled person's sex life and shows how learning processes can normalize any difficult situation. It was interesting too - I think at first I wasn't sure how it was going to be treated (I thought it would be more comedic), but in the end it strikes a pretty good tone, and that made me feel more comfortable.

7/10


By IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78081132

Lamb - (2021)

Is this a probing examination of anthropomorphism, a searching look at our interference in the natural world or did some guy just daydream about a lamb's head with a human body attached and go from there? It seems the latter when it comes to Icelandic film Lamb (Dýrið), so it constantly feels like there's a lot of missing depth while the film kind of just unspools and we wait for for some kind of denouement that'll blow out minds and have us thinking. What we get is something of a letdown, considering how much we're promised by the weird scenario - especially when we simply sit and live with that scenario for so long. A moron could have thought up that ending - and it's one that doesn't leave us a lot to chew on. Still, after all of that I guess Lamb can get by as a freaky little horror movie when all is said and done.

6/10


By The cover art can be obtained from Movieposterdb.com., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33785827

Dawn Anna - (2005)

TV movie Dawn Anna coasts on main character Dawn's (Debra Winger) struggle with some kind of brain disease while her four children and sweet boyfriend cheer her on and help get her back on her feet one agonizing step at a time. Then it suddenly pivots when one of Dawn's daughters ends up getting killed in the Columbine High School massacre, making it (and I don't want to be disrespectful here) a kind of '2-in-1' TV movie of the week instead of just tackling one or the other subject. The Columbine segment gets no real time to breathe after the marathon disease fighting - and despite the fact Debra Winger was nominated for 'Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie' at the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards I was more shocked by what the filmmakers attempted to squeeze into 88 minutes more than the events themselves. You can't just tack a Columbine tragedy at the very rear end of a very typical Lifetime movie without the contrast upsetting the whole.

3/10


By Gene Mitchum - IMDb, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45702287

Heroes For Sale - (1933)

Perhaps the gravity of the times weighed on some of the writers and producers at Warner Bros - but for whatever reason, we ended up with a heartening (despite much of it's grimness) piece of cinema with Heroes For Sale. Full review here, in my watchlist thread.

8/10

Loop Track - (2023)

Slowly building the tension and when stuff is finally reveald, it was kinda disapointing. The ending is pretty bad too. 5/10

__________________
You don't remember me? We spoke on the phone two days ago. I told you I would find you.

(MILLS, 2008)

Looks like Sainsbury wrote, acted in & directed this movie. Don’t think I’ve heard of him, but maybe he took on too much.

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

Good movie.

3rd Rewatch...Martin Scorsese's atmospheric direction and Robert De Niro's bone-chilling performance anchor this psychological thriller than became an instant classic. De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a lonely insomniac whose psychotic leanings have him planning the murder of a presidential candidate until his mission is thwarted by a 12 year old prostitute named Iris who becomes his new mission. Scorsese and De Niro put themselves on the map as the premiere actor/director collaborators in 1976 and Jodie Foster was robbed of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her Iris. This movie improves with each viewing.

1st Rewatch...Natalie Portman was robbed of a second Oscar for her breathtaking performance in this voyeuristic drama that looks at first lady Jacqueline Kennedy a few days after the assassination of her husband. The film is mounted on the hooks of Jackie's CBS tour of the white house and an interview with a journalist (Billy Crudup) whose every question to Jackie as she worked to manipulate the narrative of the article, showing Jackie to be a lot more calculated than I imagined. Also loved Peter Skarsgaard as Bobby Kennedy, John Carroll Lynch as LBJ and Beth Grant as Lady Bird, but Portman drives this movie and helps to make the viewer feel like a complete intruder.

2nd Rewatch...Judy Garland is absolutely delightful in this bawdy western musical playing a woman who travels by train to a western as a mail order bride for a man she's never met (Chill Wills). The engagement doesn't work out but Garland decides to stay in town and joins a group of waitresses called The Harvey girls and becomes involved in a range war with the saloon across the street and romantically involved with the man who really wrote the letters that brought her here (John Hodiak). Judy is terrific and gets terrific support from Ray Bolger, Angela Lansbury, Virginia O' Brien, and a very young Cyd Charisse. The bouncy score includes the Oscar winning "On the Acheson, Topeka, and the Santa Fe".

Third Rewatch...Melissa McCarthy is hysterically funny in this comedy about a female Donald Trump who gets arrested for insider trading and loses everything. When she gets out she decides to build her empire again by starting a brownie company with a receipe made by her former assistant (Kristen Bell). McCarthy pretty much blows everyone off the screen with the exception of Peter Dinklage, brilliant as always, as McCarthy's rival who wants to destroy her because he's in love with her.