Rate The Last Movie You Saw

Fat City -

Have you ever had a really good day? You know, the kind of day where you got your dream job, you said "I love you" to your dream girl or guy for the first time and they said it back, etc.? This delightfully gritty '70s drama expertly captures the vibes of the next day, whether it's all the work required to maintain the previous one's fortunes or accepting that, sadly, maybe it wasn't such a good day after all. The amateur/veteran dynamic is a reliable one for good reason, with this one having an all-timer in Jeff Bridges' would-be boxing phenom, Ernie, and Stacy Keach's former phenom and current palooka, Billy. Where it's better than the average one is in how Ernie's setbacks while climbing the ladder and Billy's while trying to get back on it appear one and the same. It especially hits hard when Ernie's "next day" involves a huge change in his relationship with his girlfriend, while Billy's, thanks to a chaotic dinner scene, has him seeing new flame Orma (an excellent Susan Tyrell) in a less flattering light. While not a "boxing movie" per se since the aftermath of the match is more important than the outcome here, the fighting is still as unpredictable and thrilling as it is in Rocky. The city of Stockton is also an ideal location - it's not surprising that so many of the shooting locations were demolished after filming - and the Kris Kristofferson tunes hit just the right fatalistic tone.

The path to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is so elusive because its stepping stones resemble roadblocks and vice versa. This movie works as well as it does for how it reminds us that this rule applies to winner, loser, amateur and veteran alike. Director John Huston specialized in movies about guys like Ernie and Billy, and since this one is up there with the best of them, I'm surprised I had not heard it existed until recently. Oh, and as exciting as the boxing scenes may be, that dinner scene with Billy and Orma has peas and ketchup flying everywhere and may be even more pulse-pounding.

The Pawnbroker (1964)
A searing drama about a Holocaust survivor who runs a pawnshop in a run-down area of Harlem. Rod Steiger gave his finest performance as Sol Nazerman, a German Jew who managed to come out of a Nazi death camp with his body intact but whose soul was ripped apart in the process; he may be alive physically but is dead emotionally and resembles a zombie more than a human being. Brock Peters is also great as Nazerman’s cruel underworld boss. The film is almost painful to watch as we see flashbacks in which the protagonist loses everyone in his life who was dear to him while, in scenes that take place in the present, he, a former university professor, has been reduced to working in an occupation that conjures up some of the worst stereotypes people have of Jews. Sidney Lumet was one of the greatest of all movie directors, and here he does a good job of dealing with the guilt and trauma that Holocaust survivors experienced as well as the tensions that exist between Jewish merchants and racial minorities in the inner city. Better than any other film, The Pawnbroker shows that those Jews who were “lucky” enough to survive the death camps merely traded one hell for another.

Fat City -

Have you ever had a really good day? You know, the kind of day where you got your dream job, you said "I love you" to your dream girl or guy for the first time and they said it back, etc.? This delightfully gritty '70s drama expertly captures the vibes of the next day, whether it's all the work required to maintain the previous one's fortunes or accepting that, sadly, maybe it wasn't such a good day after all. The amateur/veteran dynamic is a reliable one for good reason, with this one having an all-timer in Jeff Bridges' would-be boxing phenom, Ernie, and Stacy Keach's former phenom and current palooka, Billy. Where it's better than the average one is in how Ernie's setbacks while climbing the ladder and Billy's while trying to get back on it appear one and the same. It especially hits hard when Ernie's "next day" involves a huge change in his relationship with his girlfriend, while Billy's, thanks to a chaotic dinner scene, has him seeing new flame Orma (an excellent Susan Tyrell) in a less flattering light. While not a "boxing movie" per se since the aftermath of the match is more important than the outcome here, the fighting is still as unpredictable and thrilling as it is in Rocky. The city of Stockton is also an ideal location - it's not surprising that so many of the shooting locations were demolished after filming - and the Kris Kristofferson tunes hit just the right fatalistic tone.

The path to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is so elusive because its stepping stones resemble roadblocks and vice versa. This movie works as well as it does for how it reminds us that this rule applies to winner, loser, amateur and veteran alike. Director John Huston specialized in movies about guys like Ernie and Billy, and since this one is up there with the best of them, I'm surprised I had not heard it existed until recently. Oh, and as exciting as the boxing scenes may be, that dinner scene with Billy and Orma has peas and ketchup flying everywhere and may be even more pulse-pounding.

Nickel Boys (2024) I have mixed feelings about this film. I respect what they are trying to achieve with the first person point of view, but sadly it didn't work for me. It didn't feel organic or natural and I found it distracting. It took away from the story and the actors performances. The performances were good, but I couldn't fully connect with the characters. There are some beautiful shots and powerful moments, but the film felt too long and much of it wasn't as effective or as engaging as it should have been.