Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Cinema at the End of the World Edition

[ProstheticConscience]

Once again the thread's over 40 pages, last page here:

Movies: - Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Mid-Spring Edition. Happy Beltane!

Enjoy a movie while the world burns down outside and the air conditioner whines so loud you can barely hear anything else but it only cools an area of about five square feet around the unit itself because it's just too damn hot.

*Edit* Just watched a much better movie that the one I tried to open the thread with, so there it is.

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The Grey Fox

with Richard Farnsworth, and other people you've probably never heard of.

1901. Elderly stagecoach robber Bill "The Gentleman Bandit" Miner (Farnsworth) is released from San Quentin prison. He heads up to Washington state to visit his sister, but after seeing a newfangled talking picture about train robbers, the career criminal in him gets to planning train robberies. The first fails badly, and he moseys up north to beautiful British Columbia (border control being looser in 1901). He settles in Kamloops where he meets his shifty old crime planner, a new sidekick, and also a feisty love interest in the form of a suffragette with a photography business. He gets to liking the place, but his sidekick isn't keen on posing as a miner for too much longer...and uh oh. There's a reptilian Pinkerton detective from down south who rolls up in a Caddy (really) determined to get his man. Bill wants to settle down because he's old and and has a new girlfriend...but dammit those CPR trains won't rob themselves. Canadian criminal politeness ensues.

An artifact from a previous time on a variety of levels, from characters, plot, production, all the way down the line. Miner himself is polite, methodical, doesn't move when he doesn't have to...but he's a criminal and we watch his finely honed criminal mind moving all through the movie. There's no flashy plot devices or narrative shiftiness...the movie just moves leisurely along telling us about these people doing their thing. There's a cop, and he's a nice guy. The courtship between Miner and Katie Flynn is gentle and touching. The movie just moves along telling its story without pretense or fuss...but we do see that the Grey Fox is aptly named as we move along. He's both a nicer guy and a smarter criminal than pretty much anyone on any screen you can mention in 2021.

Oh, and due to this movie coming out in 1982, you can see what the interior of BC looked like before it became a fiery hellscape, so watch it for that at least.

Don't mess with the mustache. Just don't.

Click to read more...

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Rewatched for the zillionth time:

8/10

 

[OzzyFan]

For fun, all the $100million+ movies that came out this summer-ish I felt like ranking from a pure enjoyment standpoint from most enjoyable at the top to least enjoyable at the bottom:

The Suicide Squad
Black Widow
Free Guy
Godzilla Vs Kong
Cruella
Jungle Cruise

F9(Fast and the Furious 9)
The Tomorrow War

Chaos Walking

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

For gialli #7 & 8, I went with 2 more obscure films that I hadn't seen before. They both stretch the classic giallo narrative in the direction of more conventional crime flicks, but are still widely considered as part of the genre.

Puzzle (L'uomo senza memoria, Tessari, 1974) – Tessari is a Jack-of-all-trades (and master of none) who mingled with lots of film genres. Here he does a little romance kind of ok (but kitsch), a little suspense kind of ok, a little crime flick a little better (its mostly a crime flick), but none of that is ever great or really very interesting. In this mix up, the giallo tropes remain very few and discreet, and even more so than Short Night of Glass Dolls, the film would never be associated to the genre if it hadn't been made by an Italian director in the early 70s. It's certainly not a great giallo (it does have a few flashes of repressed memories that belong to the genre), but it's not a complete waste of a film either. 3.5/10

Naked Girl Murdered In the Park (Ragazza tutta nuda assassinata nel parco, Brescia, 1972) – TUBI complicated things a little with this one, with sound going out of synch or switching quite a few times to the original Italian. Like the film itself, the experience greatly lacked in fluidity and wasn't the smoothest ride. It's available under it's alternate title, Girl Murdered In the Park, but no worry, the lady is still tutta nuda. It's an inheritance fraud/revenge crime story, nicely dressed as a giallo (especially once they get to the remote mansion). It has the right tone, even if it feels dated and that the story wanders pretty far from the conventional giallo. Weird undertones of incest which will never be addressed ultimately compensate for the bland (mostly offscreen) murders and general lack of tension. The scene where the culprit explains the whole scheme to a painting (yes) to make sure we understand what's going on might insult some spectators' intelligence. 3/10

 

[Eisen]

The timetravelling war movie with the guy from Parks and Rec. Horrible, horrible movie. Stay away.

 

[Havre]

Inside man 4/6

Decent movie, but felt like a missed opportunity. To me it felt like a movie trying to be a bit cooler than it really is. It's not bad though so decent enough entertainment even if it feels slow and you are just waiting for something to happen that never really happens. Maybe others find the "suspense" more "real".

Joker 5/6

I'm a bit late to the party I guess. In some sense it resembles Inside Man in the sense that it is very very slow. But for me, unlike Inside Man, there is more tension in the movie. A lot more uncertainty as to what will happen and Phoenix delivers a much better performance than anyone in Inside Man.

I wish the movie had a bigger budget and without going into details for those who haven't seen it I wish there were certain aspects of the character they would have explored more. There are in my opinion some missing pieces in terms of explaining The Joker we see later.

In any case I thought it was a great movie and I think some of the criticism it has received completely misses the mark.

 

[Osprey]

Jungle Cruise (2021) - 4/10 (Disliked it)

It captures the feeling of the Disneyland ride... of being guided from one expensive fake scene to another while listening to the captain make bad jokes and not being able to get off. Seriously, the whole movie looks like it was filmed on a stage. Nearly everything besides the boat and the actors is CGIed, and that includes every animal and most of the scenery. Even the principle villains are half CGI. You'd think that a movie called "Jungle Cruise" would be at least partly filmed in a jungle, but, according to IMDb, production never left America. Even Anaconda filmed in Brazil, but Disney didn't bother here, despite a $200M budget (and, for the record, it was filmed before the pandemic). At least the bad jokes were kind of funny, probably thanks to Dwayne Johnson's charisma. He was one of the few likable things about the movie for me. The other two heroes (one played by Emily Blunt) were mostly unlikable and the two non-CGIed antagonists were weak and cartoonish. There's nothing special about the plot, either, which involves a legend, an artifact, a curse, a hidden site and undead villains. It's the Pirates of the Caribbean template with a little of The Mummy thrown in, but not as fun or original at this point. It follows a successful formula and re-uses familiar cliches. You'd expect nothing less from a modern Disney movie and a lot of people won't mind, but I couldn't get past the feeling that I'd experienced this ride before.

 

[OzzyFan]

Curse of the Demon (Night of the Demon) (1957)
3.05 out of 4stars

"American professor John Holden arrives in London for a conference on parapsychology only to discover that the colleague he was supposed to meet was killed in a freak accident the day before. It turns out that the deceased had been investigating a satanic cult leader, Dr. Julian Karswell. Holden then begins his own investigation into Karswell."
Succeeds on bringing both the visual scares and the mental ones. Plays with the ideas of a devil's existence or the gullibility/fragility of the mind, and is done in an excellent storytelling way. Funny thing to note, I'd image it's hard to call something a cliche from a movie made in 1957, I hope it's innovative stuff but I am unclear on that, but this is filled with a dozen at least fun 'cliche' visual scare tactics that were copied countless times moving forward in the horror genre. That's not a negative either, they were done successfully in a story-flowing and appealing manner (albeit a couple of the special effects are clearly outdated). Especially the 'demon' on that note, which is apparently iconic. This is another nice little reminder of the hidden gems you can find in the black and white movie time period if you look.

Prince of Darkness (1987)
2.50 out of 4stars

"Poking around in a church cellar, a priest (Donald Pleasence) finds an otherworldly vial filled with slime. Frightened, he brings his discovery to a circle of top scholars and scientists to investigate the vial over a live in weekend's time."
Loved some of the storytelling and buildup elements, felt the payoffs were a let down. I feel some might find parts of the story tacky or even too unrealistic, but I enjoyed it and applaud it's ideology spin on the explored subject matter. It creates a consistently uneasy mood as the story continually builds. Conclusion fell of a cliff almost entirely for me and some of the occurrences/choices during that period felt out of place and didn't live up to the story hype. For the subject matter they were dealing with and speaking of throughout, the ending events felt a bit weak also.

Nine Days (2020)
3.25 out of 4stars

"A man conducts a series of interviews with unborn souls over the course of 9 days for a chance to be born into an earthly existence."
Pretty heavy stuff. Intelligently covers it's subject matter while adding the usual personal connection to it's discussion. The movie starts off with Winston Duke watching a number of television sets of previously chosen souls by him living out their earthly existences, Duke is doing so for analysis purposes. That sets the tone and concept of the movie for those curious in a solid fashion. Duke is great, someone who I already found solidly charismatic, shows off some differently skilled acting chops here. And the soundtrack, albeit a bit repetitive, is emotively expressive and sticks with you while adding to the film nicely.

I am not really sure how to explain more of the movie or debate it brings up without ruining anything, so spoiler tags it is for those curious and don't mind spoiler or won't be seeing this movie. That said, the movie doesn't play out the same knowing these spoilers.

Spoiler

The selection process includes a number of moral, decision making, interest related, views, and psychological tests being run. A perfectly logical way to address the situation. That said, almost the entirety of these interview processes are dualistic. The answers given by the subjects are not only telling of them in a personal matter but also telling of Duke and his previous soul incarnate decisions because they involve situations, examples, and video all taken from 'their lives' playing/played out. Altogether it's analysis of the current subjects, Duke himself as the decision maker, and of his present/past soul incarnate decisions. Hope that's not worded too confusingly. Get it? Good. Now don't read further if you don't want the entirety of this movie destroyed for you.

This is all personal for Duke because he has chosen souls to be incarnated with similar characteristics and traits up to this point that he had/has in his past incarnate life. Yes, Duke was once a soul chosen and has previously lived and died through an earthly existence. That said, Duke sees himself as a personal failure and failure as a soul chooser, especially considering his prized pupil selection (a violin prodigy) recently committed suicide, something Duke himself did in his short earthly life due to the emotional toll an outcast whom is an overly sensitive helpless 'good' being of sympathy has to go through in that existence. Examples of this can be seen in his other choices: being bullied without taking action, getting shot and paralyzed as a police officer in a life and death situation, and even something as inconsequential as having anxiety/nerves cause you to lose a tennis match you were leading are examples of what type of person Duke was and how he didn't fit in and "couldn't survive'' a natural term length human existence. Duke throughout this movie (internally more than externally) is living as a depressed, regretful, damaged, and unfixable soul that doesn't deserve life on earth or maybe even life at all.

Which led to Duke having his final 2 interviewees being 1 soul similar to himself and 1 soul that is the purest definition of logical incarnate. The logical soul will pull the trigger in a life or death situation, feels an eye for an eye system is balanced, will connect and blend with the majority of human beings on earth, can make decisions in a split second without feeling any "emotional/mental" strain/regret/deliberation/lingering thought, and can most importantly survive and thrive in an earthy existence (barring completely unforeseen outside circumstances). He chooses the logical soul to be incarnated, but does get closure and "a new view on living'' (at least in his non-earthly realm) with the help of sensitive/deliberating soul's help on his personal issues after making that decision. Logic > pureness/innocence.

I personally feel this is either a partial slap in the face or optimistically bittersweet towards Christianity or a Christian God. Someone near cookie cutter idealistic to the "sensitive to all beings and things on earth", "meek", "pure hearted", "sympathetic/selfless-even", and "turn the other cheek methodology" will get abused and neglected and emotionally tormented in their lifetime. Living that ideology hurts oneself to a fault alongside the externally caused issues it incurs (or at least that's the example in this film).

Jungle Cruise (2021) - 4/10 (Disliked it)
At least the bad jokes were kind of funny, probably thanks to Dwayne Johnson's charisma.

"I had a girlfriend once. She was cross-eyed. It didn't work out. We could never see eye-to-eye. I'm also quite sure she was seeing somebody on the side.

 

[Osprey]

"I had a girlfriend once. She was cross-eyed. It didn't work out. We could never see eye-to-eye. I'm also quite sure she was seeing somebody on the side.

"We're headed into head hunter territory, which is a terrible place... to be headed." The fact that it was the hero making these cracks and not the usual comic sidekick was the one thing that felt somewhat original in the film. Also, each one made me think of kihei for some reason.

 

[Martinez]

The Empty Man (2020)
6/10 (it’s ok)
- On HBO right now

I wanted to like it more than I did, it starts off great but kinda drags at times. It’s a suspenseful creepy movie that is worth giving a try.

 

[Chili]

Geronimo: An American Legend-1993

Read Geronimo's autobiography (available at Project Gutenberg). The film condenses some of the later story, although it appears to have largely been based on the journal of one of the military officers involved in the chase of Geronimo. Much of the film does seem to be based on fact, although it was curious that Geronimo did not talk about Lt Gatewood in his book and he plays a prominent role in the film. Book or film it's clear Geronimo was an incredible warrior. There is a lot of violence in the story, it was a struggle for survival in a rapidly changing way of life for the Chiricahua Apaches in Arizona in the second half of the 19th century. Danger seemed to be never too far away.

The film mentions the turning point in Geronimo's life when his family (mother, wife and children) were slain by Mexican troops. Interesting that near the end of his life Geronimo became a Christian. Good film, interesting book. Got a kick out of him describing his trip to the St Louis fair, especially his ride on the Ferris Wheel.

Add: Wes Studi as Geronimo stands out in an impressive cast that includes Gene Hackman, Matt Damon, Robert Duvall and Jason Patric. Strong performance.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

9-10 Never sleep again.

Eye In the Labyrinth (L'occhio nel labirinto, Caiano, 1972) – Surprising minor giallo that opens with a Borges quote that suggests narrative labyrinths and deceptiveness. The film starts accordingly with a disorientating dream sequence that looks very good. The aesthetics will not be maintained, but the direction remains often nervous and inventive. Even though the dubbing is superior to most of these films, the sound really is the weakest point here (at least, the version TUBI offers): atrocious use of music (dumb and probably unwanted counterpoints or sudden amplification with cuts to saturation), and maybe even worse, the hilarious beheading and stabbing sound effects. Far-fetched outcome to an investigation that often feels like it's left aside (and maybe it makes sense that it would), but I do appreciate that a quick visual clue could get the spectator to identify the murderer – it's far from the brilliant strategies of Argento, but it's still fun to know there's a game to be played. Overall a pretty fun film, but not a pamphlet for consent. 4.5/10

Knife of Ice (Il coltello di ghiaccio, Lenzi, 1972) – The knife of ice is from a quote from Poe and doesn't exist in the film (fear is a knife of ice, I guess it implies that this movie should be scary, which it's not). Lenzi is a capable director and I was expecting a lot more than this pretty bland whodunit (it's not close to being his best giallo) with a twist that kind of goes in the same direction as Eye In the Labyrinth, but here you just don't care. Also, Carroll Baker is a pretty bad actress. 2.5/10

 

[Osprey]

Settlers (2021) - 5/10 (Didn't like or dislike it)

A small family colonizing Mars (Sofia Boutella, et al.) is threatened by an outsider (Ismael Cruz Cordova) who intrudes on their settlement. It's a low-budget/indie sci-fi drama that feels like a western (imagine a family homestead threatened by indians/drifters), but happens to take place on another planet. That fact can be hard to believe because everything is like Earth (atmosphere, temperature, gravity, soil, etc.), but, rather than being unscientific, it's seemingly just more concerned with the characters than the science (unlike The Martian) and relies on the viewer's imagination rather than on exposition. In fact, we aren't even told that it's Mars, though that's a safe bet. From the setting to the story, the film eschews explanation seemingly to respect the viewer's intelligence, which I appreciated, but to the point that things can be a little confusing. For example, there's almost no backstory about the colonization of Mars or how the family got there, only minor details from time to time when the story needs them. Also, motivations were sometimes hard to understand. The characters occasionally didn't act like I would've expected, considering what happened in the past. If the film has a theme, I would say that it's "trust" (i.e. will the settlers trust the stranger and vice versa?), but it ultimately doesn't seem to have anything to say about it. It's the kind of film that you finish and wonder what the point was, especially because it's also quite slow and bleak. On the positive side, the acting is solid all around and the direction and cinematography are very good. It's well made and had potential, but missed the mark, at least for me. Some people might be interested because of the setting, as I was, but I can't quite give it a recommendation.

 

[Jussi]

Has anyone seen the indie film Tango Shalom? Robert Meyer Burnett plugs it every time on John Campea's show. He was a producer on it, edited it and also was the visual effects supervisor.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

11-12 - I went with a few safe bets.

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh, 1971, Martino) – True example of a giallo as it should be, Martino's film is a stylized thriller with all of the right ingredients. It's also the first of a series of very important films to the genre. After making a few mondo films about the sinful ways of the late 60s and early 70s, Martino's next few films feel pretty ironic. His two “vice” films are very much about free love, and being “modern” (Sex Without Love claims a poster we can see in the film, summing up quite well the many relationships it depicts) – and they can't really be read as moral tales, as you could with something like Halloween. This one is a pretty fun film that just doesn't know when to quit: twist after twist after twist. 6.5/10

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave, Martino, 1972) – A variation on Poe's The Black Cat, mixed with a little Sade and some echoes from The Shining (which King will only write 5 years later), the film starts as a particularly intense and sleazy giallo, but drops its formula half way and ends up as a very original entry in the horror genre – and that despite being mostly composed of familiar disparate elements (for example, the visit of the niece and her relation to already established characters, as well as her charm and confident and displaced attitude strangely links her to other mesmerizing cinematic visitors from Teorema, The Lickerish Quartet, or Visitor Q). The enigmatic title is actually from The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, making of this second vice film a strange follow-up to the first one, sharing some actors and plot points. This mixture of familiarity and originality makes of Your Vice... a unique and somewhat uncanny (and undeniably beautiful) film. If you're looking for an original take on the giallo, and don't mind the sleaze and the predictable ending from the Poe short story, this might be the masterpiece you're looking for. 7.5/10

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

11-12 - I went with a few safe bets.

The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (Lo strano vizio della signora Wardh, 1971, Martino) – True example of a giallo as it should be, Martino's film is a stylized thriller with all of the right ingredients. It's also the first of a series of very important films to the genre. After making a few mondo films about the sinful ways of the late 60s and early 70s, Martino's next few films feel pretty ironic. His two “vice” films are very much about free love, and being “modern” (Sex Without Love claims a poster we can see in the film, summing up quite well the many relationships it depicts) – and they can't really be read as moral tales, as you could with something like Halloween. This one is a pretty fun film that just doesn't know when to quit: twist after twist after twist. 6.5/10

Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (Il tuo vizio è una stanza chiusa e solo io ne ho la chiave, Martino, 1972) – A variation on Poe's The Black Cat, mixed with a little Sade and some echoes from The Shining (which King will only write 5 years later), the film starts as a particularly intense and sleazy giallo, but drops its formula half way and ends up as a very original entry in the horror genre – and that despite being mostly composed of familiar disparate elements (for example, the visit of the niece and her relation to already established characters, as well as her charm and confident and displaced attitude strangely links her to other mesmerizing cinematic visitors from Teorema, The Lickerish Quartet, or Visitor Q). The enigmatic title is actually from The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, making of this second vice film a strange follow-up to the first one, sharing some actors and plot points. This mixture of familiarity and originality makes of Your Vice... a unique and somewhat uncanny (and undeniably beautiful) film. If you're looking for an original take on the giallo, and don't mind the sleaze and the predictable ending from the Poe short story, this might be the masterpiece you're looking for. 7.5/10

Mrs. Wardh has sat on my watch list for a while now. Perhaps I should get moving on it.

Been enjoying your giallo tour. My pick for movie genre with the absolute best titles.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Mrs. Wardh has sat on my watch list for a while now. Perhaps I should get moving on it.

Been enjoying your giallo tour. My pick for movie genre with the absolute best titles.

This experiment is a little confusing (same actors, similar plots), but quite fun. Mrs. Wardh is a very nice one if you have a giallo craving.

 

[kingsfan28]

Lawrence of Arabia.

This was the first time I've watched it on my Panasonic 4k player. Just stunning all the way around. The desert scenes look so great and the colors just popped. As for the movie, an epic in every sense of the word. David Leans scope for this film was amazing .

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975) - 7.5/10

Hard to live up to such a good name but it's a hypnotic film. I didn't realize Sophia Coppola lifted so much of Virgin Suicides and I have a lesser opinion of that film after seeing this. This doesn't have any of the dumb narration and it adheres better to its style giving it a better rhythm. The ending is always dissatisfying in this sort of movie but a beautiful film nonetheless with really good colour usage compared to the usual Australian stuff from the 70s or 80s.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Dark City is a bit of an underrated gem in terms of the sheer audacity of the concept and the visuals.

Sure, the conflict is resolved rather conveniently but it’s the kind of film that I think would have a great deal of trouble being made today.

Dark City, The City of Lost Children....I'll always have the time of day for at least one go around with films like those.

 

[Puck]

Infinite (2021), Directed by Antoine Fuqua, 5.5

A man discovers that his hallucinations are actually visions from past lives.

Produced by and starring Mark Walberg. I assume he is trying to build franchises for his production company. The story is along the lines of the Immortal series like Highlander and The Old Guard. I enjoyed Highlander although it was not the best, the films and tv series were quite inconsistent. The Old Guard was the best of the lot and there is already a sequel in the works . Infinite falls somewhere in between. Chiwetel Ejiofor appears in two of these, The Old Guard and Infinite, he plays the bad guy in the latter; he must love the concept if he keeps accepting roles in these Immortal flicks. A few good action scenes in Infinite but the storyline is not the best. Walberg has to save the planet against Ejiofor who is tired of living as an Immortal and has invented an exploding egg that will wipe out humanity. Oh dear.

 

[Puck]

CODA (2021), Directed by Sian Heder, 8.0+

Every family has its own language. As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family's fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.

A remake of the 2014 French film La Famille Bélier (which I have heard of but not seen). I've never heard of Sian Heder, don't know where she came out of the woodwork to direct this small gem. I have not seen tons of movies this year except for action flicks, but if I was to come up with a top ten list for 2021, this would be number one at this point. Highly recommended.

 

[Bruins4Lifer]

CODA (2021), Directed by Sian Heder, 8.0+

Every family has its own language. As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family's fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents.

A remake of the 2014 French film La Famille Bélier (which I have heard of but not seen). I've never heard of Sian Heder, don't know where she came out of the woodwork to direct this small gem. I have not seen tons of movies this year except for action flicks, but if I was to come up with a top ten list for 2021, this would be number one at this point. Highly recommended.

CODA gets a recommendation from me as well. It does follow the same formula of a lot of other coming-of-age films but I couldn't help but really enjoy it. The last half hour has some really great moments.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Batman: The Long Halloween Part 2 (2021) - 7/10

Fairly good action sequences here with some bad dialogue in between as expected for a cartoon film trying to be serious and deep. The Dark Knight Returns Parts 1 and 2 were much better done in terms of flow and action but this has the better animation style. Voice acting is fine but the script is poor. Worth a watch though for a quick 85 minutes.

/6

.
.
.

/6

Legend.

 

[Puck]

c/net, a computer and tech website, has a nifty article about the film CODA.

Apple's movie CODA lets you into an inner world of sign language