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

[Puck]

Not what I meant really lol. Sounds harsh in retrospect. Just meant time to reset things in your mind for a fresh look after a timeout. You still might still hate it and that's ok.

I remember doing that with Baby Driver a few years back after hating on it and Led Zappa (the poster) asked me to take a second look. Liked it better on the 2nd shot. That happens sometimes.

 

[Pink Mist]

Spencer (Pablo Larraín, 2021)

I’ve always had a disdain for the Royals. I hate everything about the crown and its institutions and what it represents, and I can’t wait for the day that either Canada separates from the British monarchy or the monarchy in the UK is abolished. But at the same time, I am fascinated by it. There is a perverse satisfaction in watching the dysfunctions of the rich and powerful. It’s the same reason watching something like Succession is enjoyable to watch despite every character being awful and unlikeable people.

Despite my aversion to the crown (the institution not the show, I do love the Netflix series), Spencer is enjoyable for these reasons. Spencer documents a Christmas from hell, in which Princess Diana suffocates from the pressures and traditions of the monarchy and her husband’s infidelity and contemplates divorcing herself from both her husband and the monarchy. If you thought your Christmas with your in-laws was bad, let me introduce you to the Windsor family Christmas in Britain. Princess Diana is an unlikeable person. She is bourgeois and spoiled, has no hesitation in bossing the staff around, but she is a sympathetic character and charismatically played by Kristen Stewart who doesn’t do an impersonation of Di but morphs into and becomes her. I’ve always been a champion of both Stewart and Robert Pattinson in their post-Twilight career as two of the best actors in Hollywood today (never seen Twilight), and Stewart is at her best here in Spencer.

The direction from Larraín is excellent, I’ve never been huge on the typical biopic format of a person’s life crammed into two hours, and his and scriptwriter’s idea of documenting a weekend in the life of Diana is very effective at encapsulating her life, her character, and her contradictions. Larraín plays the film like a psychological horror film as if Diana is trapped in a haunted mansion, which is on the nose a little bit at times, but it works effectively for the most part. The score by Johnny Greenwood is outstanding and should be a favourite for the Oscar. My favourite Hollywood film from this year so far that I’ve watched (which granted, isn’t much).

Also being from Ontario, it was pretty jarring to see Princess Di randomly wearing an OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) hat in the final scene of the movie.

 

[Pink Mist]

Barrage (Laura Schroeder, 2017)

After a decade abroad, Christine (Lolita Chammah) returns to Luxembourg to try to return to her daughter’s (Thémis Pauwels) life who she abandoned to be cared for by her mother (Isabelle Huppert, who is the real life mother of Lolita Chammah). Catherine has had a troubled past and struggles with her own demons in part caused by her mother’s insistence in her playing tennis at a high level, something which the grandmother is now passing onto Christine’s daughter in her care. Barrage is a foreboding drama of a parent struggling to renter and connect with their child’s life and how mental health issues and family strain can be passed down generationally. Barrage is a relatively low-key family drama, it lacks a little bit in depth, but I’m a sucker for these types of family dramas and for anything involving Huppert (even if she is in a supporting role here). The cinematography by Hélène Louvart is extremely well done with some very creative shots using the lush greens of the forests and countryside. Chammah also looks so much like a younger version of her mother (which I suppose isn’t surprising) with her red hair and bangs, every time it quickly glimpsed at her and shot her from behind I kept thinking it was Huppert.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Matrix Resurrections (Wachowski, 2021) – As I said before, the first film was based on a misreading of Baudrillard, and it always bothered me a little that they'd refer to him while messing with his ideas (just couldn't think of the whole thing as smart while clearly not being smart enough), so there's one little thing that I really had a kick from in this new (and, let's hope, last) entry: Simulatte. Now I don't think Baudrillard ever wrote a line about Starbucks, but if you've read him, you just know he'd have a field day with it as pure simulation. Here's a little side-note: an article (a little too “cool” but still relevant – I hate that the guy presents him as the “creator of the Matrix”, which he isn't) about the simulated reality of the coffee shop:
Understanding Jean Baudrillard with Pumpkin Spice Lattes
Back to the movie. I thought that for something that laments the absence of originality in new media, it was a lot more of the same (and way too often literally the same, with these constant flashbacks to the first films). If the original Matrix missed its marks and oversimplified its presentation of a simulated reality, this new film points its guns to video games and social medias in ways that either lack subtlety to the point of childishness or that are supposed to be ironic – thus making the film either counterperformative by being part of the problem it points to, or completely muddled and relying on its atrocious post-credit scene to be readable. The main point of the film seems to be that “People stay in their pods, happier than pigs in shit”, and it just applies too easily to everything social media to be read as ironic (well, maybe the Merovingian's rant could be, the staff meetings...). The whole “f*** the facts” as post-trumpian political comments was another touch of eye-rolling facilité that made the whole thing feel like it had been written with an undeserved sense of purpose (which is made putrid by the constant reminders that the original trilogy had ideas, woke up people, changed their lives – but then again, could this all be ironic?). In the end, everybody seems to admit that humanity doesn't want to be unplugged from the matrix, so might as well make the fake world more pleasant and remind these peasants that originality still exists. I guess that was the justification for making this new film – we know it's garbage, and more of the same, but it's a little reminder of past originality? I just can't find a way to read this film that is not either depressing or wearying. I did like reuniting with a good chunk of the cast of Sense8, even though the acting was overall pretty bad. 3.5/10

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Us (Peele, 2019) – Almost a good horror film (there was the potential to turn this into a pretty nice scary movie with that intro sequence), almost an interesting comment on class struggle in the USA (it gets lost somewhere along the way), but in the end just another self-aware movie filled with empty allusions. I love intertextuality and I think it's a powerful tool for meaning, but I hate when it's used for show. 4/10

 

[guinness]

My work from home this week has certainly given me time to watch some DVDs, the following 3 a handful that I will attempt rewatch every few years.

Indiscreet (1958) - definitely stagey, as originally based on a play, but if I think of it as the rom com relative to Notorious, as both star Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.

And I don't like rom coms, as the relationship of the leads punches above what I think is an OK, but not exceptional script. Notable scene is where Ingrid and Cary are in separate beds and rooms, but due to split screen effects, made to look like in bed together. 7/10

Skyjacked (1972) - or what I will describe as 'the plane that couldn't land'. Boring, slow, plodding. Elements of interesting characters and story, but just too slow to get to the point for me. Amusing to see how different plane travel was back then, smoking was allowed and little in the way of security, hence the terrorist getting on board.

Totally not Christian Bale's older doppelganger does well playing crazy guy though 3/10

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1941) - attractive, slick presentation, but the main leads were all miscast IMO. Spencer Tracy as Jekyll/Hyde, Ingrid Bergman as Ivy, the "barmaid" that Hyde pursues, and Lana Turner as the virtuous love of Jekyll.

The makeup effects to change Tracy into Hyde are always laughable to me, basically just make him look older around the eyes and mussing up his hair. 4/10

 

[kihei]

Riders of Justice (2021) Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen 7A

Globe-trotting actor Mads Mikkelsen always goes home to Denmark when his principle collaborator Anders Thomas Jensen directs a movie; in fact, they have now made five films together. Next to Sweden's Roy Andersson (About Endlessness; Songs from the Second Floor; You, the Living), no other European director has as weird and distinctive sense of humour as Jensen. Riders of Justice, a mix of drama, suspense, off-beat humour, and action, is about Markus, a hard-as-nails soldier (Mikkelsen) who comes home from the Middle East to look after his teenage daughter after his wife is killed in a subway explosion. A well-meaning goofball who was on the train goes to Markus and tells him that his wife was mistakenly murdered by a biker gang trying to knock someone else off. The police have scoffed at this theory, but the guy is a statistical wizard who demonstrates that her death couldn't possibly have been a mere accident. Distraught with grief that is eating what's left of him up inside, our already wound way-too-tight soldier, listens, at first reluctantly but then with, shall we say, a lot more aggression. The goofball brings in two more well-intentioned but highly unstable geeks, one a very volatile and easily enraged computer whiz, to help Markus chase down the perpetrators.

So on the one hand, initially, we have a story of tragedy and grief, played straight by Mikkelsen (who brings a ferocious A-game to the cause) co-existing simultaneously with a plot that seems like a nutty uptake on The Three Stooges. Jensen makes this polar-opposite mix work superbly well as he is a talented screenwriter (basically his day job when not directing). The humour is out of left-field, often unexpected and cunningly funny. For instance when Markus is appalled that one of the geeks is going to pretend to be a grief counseler in order to help his daughter, one of the other goofballs says, "You have nothing to worry about. He will be very good, He's been to forty psychiatrists." There are some very clever plot twists and an eventual sense of camaraderie among the characters that is both charming and emotionally satisfying. The movie is even thematically rich. Jensen walks a really high tightrope here, but he never comes close to falling off. Riders of Justice is one of the most purely entertaining movies of the year.

subtitles


Best of '21

1, The Power of the Dog, Campion, New Zealand/US
2. Drive My Car, Yamaguchi, Japan
3. Annette, Carax, France/US
4. The Cloud in Her Room, Zheng, China
5. The Worst Person in the World, Trier, Norway
6. The Hand of God, Sorrentino, Italy
7. Red Moon Tide, Patino, Spain
8. The Trouble with Being Born, Wollner, Austria
9. Bergman Island, Hansen-Love, France
10. Riders of Justice, Jensen, Denmark

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Attic (Edwards, 1980) - I can't remember why, but this film was in a short list of films I wanted to see (it's not a horror film, but I guess I thought it was). Though I'm sure someone could read something of interest in it, it was just too poor to hook me in enough for me to care. Exposition dialogues, emetic use of music, and terrible overacting (from a series of unbearably miserable and borderly mentally challenged characters) made me question the rest of that list... The only thing I thought was interesting is a scene at the movie theater where they go see Deadly Games, a cheapo horror film that would only come out two years later. 2.5/10

 

[fcpremix88]

CODA 7/10

I feel like CODA was built to have as familiar and comfortable a plot/story as possible, so that the audience can better appreciate the one component that sets it apart from the many, many movies like it - and that's having deaf actors portraying a deaf family. The focus on the family dynamic and getting that peek into deaf culture was what made the movie for me. I felt like there was an earnestness in having deaf characters depicted as flawed humans instead of one-note side characters. It's also a feel-good melodrama, when I can only recall seeing deaf culture portrayed in movies that are typically more on the dramatic/sad side of the spectrum.

I guess it's one of those movies where you're either charmed by its wholesomeness or you can only see the tropes and emotional manipulation. Reminds me of how I felt about Belfast (5/10). When the credits rolled, I had been waiting for it to be over for probably 20 minutes. Then I looked a few seats down from me and saw an older lady openly crying. I'm happy for her, but I wasn't feeling it.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Belly (1998) - Genuinely great stylization, some intentionally and unintentionally funny moments (I mean, I'm fairly certain that DMX's sole direction is: Say these lines to the fella next to you.) that makes it easy to see why it's become such a cult classic. The plot is ordinary, but not any more ordinary than something like, Scarface, which has received a ton of acclaim and I legitimately prefer Belly. There's definitely some issues with the pacing and the cutting from scene to scene that could have been ironed out and helped the flow of the story, but I still enjoyed it.



Tommy on the uselessness of books: You think another motherf***er knows what you need to do?



Tyrin Turner's small role is superb as well.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Us (Peele, 2019) – Almost a good horror film (there was the potential to turn this into a pretty nice scary movie with that intro sequence), almost an interesting comment on class struggle in the USA (it gets lost somewhere along the way), but in the end just another self-aware movie filled with empty allusions. I love intertextuality and I think it's a powerful tool for meaning, but I hate when it's used for show. 4/10

I thought I was the only one who didn’t like that movie. I felt it missed contact on most of what it was trying to say and it certainly wasn’t scary.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Bagdad Cafe (1987) - 6.5/10

A Twilight Zone episode of a Jim Jarmusch film made by a German director in some Californian small town. It's pretty uneven throughout but a pretty watch, has a good theme song called Calling You which it really overuses.

Minus half a star for having a musical number at the end.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

The Suicide Squad

with lots of people. Also a giant starfish, rats, a human-sized weasel with emphysema, a shark dude...etc etc etc.

DC hikes up its boots for yet another run at that sweet, sweet Marvel movie money. Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman (pumped way up no doubt due to insecurity after having seen John Cena in his briefs) and other people all tumble out of the gate as baddies given a second chance if only they complete this super-secret, super-dangerous mission for evil government lady Viola Davis. A Caribbean island nation has had a bloody coup, and there's dirty American secrets to be mopped up. We briefly start by checking in with another suicide squad assaulting another beach on the island...who decide they want to be the diversionary attack and are killed in various amusing ways. The cast then move inland and kill everyone in a rebel camp in various amusing ways. Then lots of anonymous Hispanic soldiers in various amusing ways...yeah. That's a running theme. A Portuguese millennial with the power to control rats sleeps in and makes a lot of millennial jokes, lots of muscly guys mug for the camera, and the guy who played Piter de Vries in the latest Dune movie kills people by sending streams of polka dots flying out of his wristbands.

It's better than it sounds.

Easily the best of the DC Harley Quinn vehicles, which isn't really saying much. Balancing bloodshed, pathos, and character development with cartoony fun can be a difficult feat...and this one falters quite a bit. Doesn't know how seriously to take itself. Goes on much too long. A bewildered Alice Braga shows up as a rebel leader, and probably wondered why she bothered. But you get to see Pete Davidson getting shot in the face. So there's that at least.

Spoiler alert: Suicide isn't painless.

 

[kihei]

The Lost Daughter (2021) Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal 7B

The Lost Daughter is a very slow burn character study of middle-aged Leda (Olivia Colman), a professor in Massachusetts on vacation by herself at a sea-side resort in Greece. She becomes slightly involved with a young woman and her demanding daughter. While Leda seems borderline sympathetic, first time director Maggie Gyllenhall deliberately makes it hard to tell. Leda has daughters of her own, now grown up, but she made some hard decisions back when they were young. While not totally overwhelming Leda, the consequences of those decisions lead her to make some perplexing choices in the present.

The Lost Daughter is a multi-layered character study that takes a very oblique approach to the general topic of motherhood, an approach that won't please a lot of viewers. Patience is definitely requireed but the pieces slowly fit together into a portrait of a very complex woman. Showing a lot of respect for her audience's intelligence, Gyllenhaal is far less judgemental than a male director/writer might be, much more interested in examining Leda from a detached but not unsympathetic perspective rather than coming to simplistic conclusions about her. Leda is not presented as some kind of monster, but as a woman who made choices for understandable reasons that left scars on herself and others. Basically The Lost Daughter is an examination of how this flawed woman continues to (not always very well) deal with her past, a story more common than we likely would care to think. Obviously it helps immensely that Colman is superb.

Netflix


Best of '21 so far

1, The Power of the Dog, Campion, New Zealand
2. Drive My Car, Yamaguchi, Japan
3. Annette, Carax, France/US
4. The Cloud in Her Room, Zheng, China
5. The Worst Person in the World, Trier, Norway
6 The Lost Daughter, Gyllenhaal, US
7. The Hand of God, Sorrentino, Italy
8. Red Moon Tide, Patino, Spain
9. The Trouble with Being Born, Wollner, Austria
10. Bergman Island, Hansen-Love, France

 

[Puck]

Last Looks, Directed By Tim Kirkby, unrateable

Here is a quirky movie that's crap but I enjoyed it. If you liked the style of Under the Silver Lake, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or Bad Times at the El Royale, this might be for you. If not, stay away. The script might be mediocre but just turn off your thinking cap and enjoy the ride. Charlie Hunnam plays a disgraced ex-cop, retired and off the grid until his ex-girl friend drags him back to solve a murder case. The alleged muderer is Mel Gibson playing an alcoholic actor (not a stretch there). Mayhem ensues.

Cliché'd, neo-noir, Hollywood, low budget, who-dunnit that is a decent way to waste 2 hours if you can get it streaming free somewhere. IMBD gives it a 5.6 rating but I saw it free so I'd rate it much higher as someone addicted to quirky flicks. Might be crap but entertaining nonetheless.

 

[Pink Mist]

Kaili Blues / 路边野餐 (Bi Gan, 2015)

When Chen’s neglected nephew is sold by his half-brother into servitude, Chen travels from Kaili City to a mysterious village to search for him. Well, at least that’s loosely what the plot is about. While this plot description sounds like a Chinese knockoff of Taken, Kaili Blues is the furthest thing from an action or thriller movie. Kaili Blues is a slow cinema film that is a Buddhist meditation on memory and the blurring of the past, present, and future. With Bi’s focus on the forgotten and left behind of Chinese rush for development and his use of Buddhist poetry and themes and mysticism, Kaili Blues feels like a blending of the films of Jia Zhangke and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Bi’s work is extremely beautiful and creative, there are some really impressive shots and tricks he uses.

Most notably, there is a 40-minute-long single take that follows the protagonist through the dreamy world he ends up in for his journey to find his nephew. Long takes of that length are almost always impressive to me (when done well) due to the planning and coordination involved to do it right, and for the viewer's perspective the lack of cutting puts you in the character’s sense of space and time. This is effective for this film since the film blurs these temporal and spatial boundaries as the film explores the blending of past, present, and future. It’s a very effective move for this film and it’s mostly well executed.

However, a frequent criticism of films which feature extended long takes are that they are gimmicky. Bi Gan has directed two films so far, this one and Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and both of these films feature extended 40 minute plus long takes in the 2nd halves of the films. I had previously seen Long Day’s Journey Into Night and I enjoyed it and was impressed by his use of the long take to explore temporal and spatial boundaries. However, now that I’ve seen both his feature films, his use of the long take begins to shift in my perspective from impressive and creative to gimmicky territory as it makes him seem like a bit of a one trick pony. If I had only seen one or the other, the magic of it would have sustained, but watching both and seeing the same trick used it seems gimmicky. Bi is undoubtedly a talent to watch, but I would like to see if he has some different tricks up his sleeve.

@kihei I know you're a big fan of both Jia Zhangke and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, I'm curious if you've seen either of Bi Gan's works and what your thoughts are of him. He seems like someone up your alley (If not, Long Day's Journey Into Night is his more polished work)

 

[kihei]

I saw Long Days Journey into Night at TIFF, like the fifth film that particular day, and I didn't do it justice. Saw it again later and was way more impressed. Will definitely look for this one.

 

[Pink Mist]

I saw Long Days Journey into Night at TIFF, like the fifth film that particular day, and I didn't do it justice. Saw it again later and was way more impressed. Will definitely look for this one.

It's on Mubi

 

[OzzyFan]

Come True (2020)
2.40 out of 4stars

"High school student Sarah is at her lowest point when she runs away from home and finds herself with no one to rely on and struggling with recurring nightmares. She chances upon a university sleep study that offers the promise of safety and money, and which also brings her an unexpected friend and confidant in the overseeing scientist Jeremy. But there's something curious about proceedings, and being under observation seems to make Sarah's disturbing dreams even worse. As the darkness begins to close in, it's soon clear that Sarah has unknowingly become the conduit to a horrifying new discovery."
A decent slow burn artsy sci-fi horror that has a contentious ending twist. Part of me feels like the ending is a slap in the face and a let down given all the set-up of the main plot prior, and part of me knows that the twist works and has direct connectedness to a lot of the movie's events/choices. That said, the straight forward/non-twist explanation for the movie is a lot more interesting and intriguing and 'frightening/relatable' than the twist explanation. "That" concept and it's ideas explored, while not expanded on enough to where you want them to go, had a lot of weight, power, and earned investment and widespread relatability to an extent. Enough of my rambling for trying to explain stuff without directly explaining what it is. Not to mention the twist explanation is uncharacteristic of the genre too. The electric youth/pilotpriest soundtrack added nicely to the movies tone also.

The King's Man (2021)
2.35 out of 4stars

"In the early 20th century, a man and his cohorts must race against time to stop history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds from starting a war and wiping out millions of people."
A very odd 3rd installment into this franchise known for it's R rated fun, humor, and stylish action. While there is some stylish action and humor, it's much less so than the first 2 movies and a lot more serious, which is playing completely against one of it's biggest strengths. Ifans in an underutilized Rasputin role was great fun. Fiennes was solid, but most of this movie is filled with cookie cutter characters. And this movie feels to have had an agenda of sorts, mainly that being anti-war, anti-military, and even anti-politicians. I might even argue a bit anti-governments by showing them headed by unworthy people whom are foolish, highly impressionable, and overly emotional. That said, this is a tongue in cheek franchise so it's hard to tell what's meaningful, but again this movie had motives so who knows. It delivers a little fun and humor and stylish action sequences, but it's a bit choppy/uneven, and definitely too serious with not enough depth on it's mind to be worthy of that tone imo.

Sing 2 (2021)
2.50 out of 4stars

"Buster Moon and his friends must persuade reclusive rock star Clay Calloway to join them for the opening of a new Vegas musical show."
Another animated sequel that's satisfying but not as good as the first. That said, younger kids will eat it up and Miss Crawly is the scene stealer. Very odd overhyping and underutilizing of Bono in this movie was a headscratcher, alongside oddly using a Cardi B song in a PG movie and bleeping out 4 of 5 swears in said song(amongst a couple other questionable songs sampled).


Not a movie, but I binged Season 1 of Vice Principals. I know it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but McBride/Hill's dark comedy no-filter schtick always gets me. Yes, there is some crude, cheap, and missed mark material here, but there is also sprinkles of commentary, hilarity, reality, depth, earned sympathy(maybe empathy), and heart throughout too.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Hitman's Bodyguard (Hugues, 2017) - Put that on thinking "ok, another one of these all-similar R. Reynolds action comedies", turns out I'd already seen it. The guy's really found his distinct comedy touch (with Deadpool?) - I guess you like his stuff or not. I laughed even though I knew what was coming, so I guess I like it, it's still pretty bad films. 4/10

The Hitman's Wife Bodyguard (Hugues, 2021) - More of the same, with too much emphasis on Salma Hayek swearing. Less funny, but still ok. 3.5/10

Get A Job (Kidd, 2016) - Not sure who's supposed to like that. Outside of Cheech & Chong, drug related humor always makes me roll my eyes, and there's quite a bit of that here. It's supposed to be a straight up comedy and it's not funny. 2.5/10

Les goûts et les couleurs (To Each, Her Own, Aziza, 2018) - Netflix French movie - and how do you say comédie dramatique in English? I should know that... Dramatic comedy? Comedy drama? Anyway, this wasn't straight up comedy, and it was funnier than all previous entries. It's still a pretty bad film, with undistinctive direction and bland results, but with good intentions, pretty good performances, and a few funny enough situations (about a strict lesbian not practicing jew who kisses a muslim Senegalese man). You quickly see where it goes in terms of discourse, but it's not a complete waste of time. 4/10

Waydowntown (Burns, 2000) - Rewatch (x5? 6?). One of my favorite canadian films outside of the top-guys' filmographies. Might be a little too MTVish for some, with direction choices you don't really understand (the work on color and grain could be tiresome to some - not saying it doesn't make sense, just that you won't care enough to really think about it), but it has a very distinct atmosphere/signature that just works for me. It has the typical "9 to 5 alienation in the work office" backdrop but, contrarily to most, it never lets it go in favor of a solution/liberation. It is just depressing, but with that cool/funny vibe that makes it kind of unique. Don McKellar's Sadly I'm Bradley is probably my favorite character I've seen of his (I like him a lot in Last Night too - another great canadian flick). 8/10

 

[Devilsfan992]

My 2021 movies so far

CODA - 8.5/10
King Richard - 8/10
Luca - 7.5/10
Free Guy - 7/10
Don't Look Up - 3/10

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Alice (Allen, 1990) - Woody Allen's filmography works in phases and after an amazing strech of a little over 10 years of good to great films, the period between Another Woman and Husbands and Wives (his return to form) is kind of a lower ditch. Alice tells the very simple story of an unhappy marriage, using some of Allen's sweet narrative tricks (flashbacks coming in continuity, conversations with absent or imaginary characters, cinematic/autoreflexive tricks - here a semi-transparent Alec Baldwin and characters using invisibility and reappearing in frame, etc.). This could have made for a pretty good minor flick from him, had it come a few years earlier. Now, it feels a bit tired, and his portrait of NY's higher circles (filled with only unbearable characters) feels more bitter than ironic and has lost most of its charm/fun. 4.5/10

 

[Unholy Diver]

Sing 2 - 8/10

Fun kids flick, soundtrack was pretty good, Miss Crawley was great.....Good casting choice of Bono as the whiny old rock star

 

[fcpremix88]

Raccoon Valley - 6/10

My friend always recommends the weirdest things, and this is certainly one of them. Available on Prime and just over an hour long, this movie had a production budget of $175 dollars. A plane with biohazardous cargo crashes near a small town of 1800 people in Raccoon Valley. A local woman misses the warnings and ends up stuck in a quarantine zone; she tries to find an escape while dodging the people infected by the contagion. It's a very understated take on the zombie outbreak story. It has some interesting themes of loss, but it's more of a statement on how much can be done with so little. By no means a great movie, nor would I necessarily recommend it, but Raccoon Valley is interesting.


Spider-Man: No Way Home - 6/10

I thought Homecoming (7/10) was good and enjoyed Far From Home (6/10), and this newest Tom Holland Spider-Man movie lands closer to the latter. If you take out the nostalgia, this is an enjoyable action movie. Unfortunately, that's all I got out of it. Though I did love Willem Dafoe doing his own fighting sequences.


The Avengers - 5/10

I now know where the "I understood that reference" meme came from, and that's about it. It was just alright. The Marvel cinematic universe isn't really my thing I guess.


Stories We Tell - 8/10

A documentary about family stories and how the truth is hard to decipher with so many perspectives weighing in. The story in question revolves around a family whose mother is no longer alive to share her side of it, so the children and adults do their best to tell it. The director and daughter, Sarah Polley, does an interesting job of showing the inconsistencies and contradictions in the story as told by each person affected. I found the calmness in this documentary rather surprising given the nature of the story.


Don't Look Up - 5/10

A group of scientists confirm that a comet is heading towards Earth, while its citizens and leaders would rather ignore it to continue living a life without looking beyond their own perspectives. I wish the movie made any effort to provide stakes to the story by showing why humanity is worth fighting for. It felt like a 138 minute-long Twitter rant that had me looking at the clock. It would have been better if cut down to 90 minutes with fewer cameos. My favorite sequence came near the end with a small monologue from Timothee Chalamet, and I wish there were more moments like that.


The Slow Hustle - 7/10

Directed by The Wire alum, Sonja Sohn, this documentary on HBO looks at the death of a Baltimore police officer from every angle. In a series of never-ending controversies, the only answer we have at the start is when the officer died. Everything else - how he died, why he died, who killed him - is all up for debate. The documentary takes its time and provides yet another indictment on modern-day policework, especially as corrupt a department as the BPD. For any Wire fan, this is a great watch - you can see how the show rings true in real life.

 

[Chili]

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp-1943

The life of a British military officer over ~ 40 years, from the Boer War to WWII. A different war film more of a satire of an officer who is unable or unwilling to adapt to modern warfare. Interesting the film was released in 1943 although the British War office was trying to suppress it. So many of the films of that era are jingoistic, not this one. Three leads are all very good, especially Roger Livesey as the General. Anton Walbrook gives a moving speech as he tells his story of how his character ended up in England. A young Deborah Kerr is very good in three seperate roles, how did she not ever win an academy award? Could say that for a bunch of other actors too. A jolly good film, beautifully filmed.

The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe-1954

The classic novel of the shipwrecked sailor surviving on a tropical island. Beautifully shot, well done.

The Arrow-1997

A mini series of the story of the Avro Arrow, a fighter plane built in the late 1950's that was said to be far ahead of it's time. And the politics around the decisions. Sidenote: Elwy Yost used to host 'Saturday Night at the Movies' on TVOntario. Great classic films and a vault of interesting interviews with stars. He probably influenced my love of classic films. Learned that he was an engineer on the Avro Arrow. Interesting story.

Those three films are on YouTube.

Criss Cross-1949

A man returns to a town and reacquaints with his ex-wife. Suddenly she skips town and marrys a shady character. In an attempt to win her back the man plans an armoured car robbery and convinces her new husband to join in the heist. Several twists to the story. Thought I recognized Tony Curtis briefly in one scene and sure enough, his film debut. Good noir.