Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate it | {Insert Appropriate Seasonal Greeting Here}

[Chili]

Wolfs (2024) Directed by Jon Watts 5A

Sidenote: What's with this spelling of the title? Makes as much sense as Toronto Maple Leafs.

Conn Smythe explained the origin in his memoirs 'If you can't beat 'em in the alley'. When he got control of the team in 1927, he changed the nickname from the St. Patricks (which he said had been to attract the local Irish population to attend games). Smythe had been an artilleryman and later a flyer in WWI (was shot down and became a prisoner of war too). The Maple Leaf had been on badges and insignia he wore during the war. The Canadian athletes had worn the Maple Leaf crest on their chests during the 1924 Olympics, so he believed it meant something across Canada. When the new arena was built in 1931 it was of course called Maple Leaf Gardens.

There may be further details in Ripley's Beleaf It or Not.

 

[NyQuil]

Conn Smythe explained the origin in his memoirs 'If you can't beat 'em in the alley'. When he got control of the team in 1927, he changed the nickname from the St. Patricks (which he said had been to attract the local Irish population to attend games). Smythe had been an artilleryman and later a flyer in WWI (was shot down and became a prisoner of war too). The Maple Leaf had been on badges and insignia he wore during the war. The Canadian athletes had worn the Maple Leaf crest on their chests during the 1924 Olympics, so he believed it meant something across Canada. When the new arena was built in 1931 it was of course called Maple Leaf Gardens.

There may be further details in Ripley's Beleaf It or Not.

He's referring to the fact that it's the Leafs and not the Leaves.

 

[Chili]

He's referring to the fact that it's the Leafs and not the Leaves.

Yes and that is the explanation for the spelling of the team's nickname.

 

[NyQuil]

Yes and that is the explanation for the spelling.

The grammatical explanation is that it's a proper noun.

 

[Chili]

The grammatical explanation is that it's a proper noun.

If he was naming the team today and there was a grammatical backlash, Conn Smythe may have just called them the Toronto Maple Leaf and left it at that. Or something else but the Maple Leaf was an inspiration for him.

 

[NyQuil]

If he was naming the team today and there was a grammatical backlash, Conn Smythe may have just called them the Toronto Maple Leaf and left it at that. Or something else but the Maple Leaf was an inspiration for him.

Well, it makes sense in terms of names with nouns in them.

Like the Blackfoot Mountains are called the Blackfoots and not the Blackfeet.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Wolfs (2024) Directed by Jon Watts 5A

A "fixer" is called into to clean up a messy crime that has taken place at an exclusive hotel. Only minutes after he enters the room, another "fixer" appears, claiming he has been summoned to take care of the situation. They don't get along, and many complications follow. Wolfs is a vehicle of pure star power reuniting George Clooney and Brad Pitt. Unfortunately, the movie itself is kind of disappointing, never rising above workmanlike at best.

While there is some fun watching the old pros snipe at one another, despite its convolution, there isn't much of a story, nor is there any sense of urgency. Though no one else seems to have shared this thought, I found that the young cub in this movie (Austin Abrams who plays an unsuspecting accomplice) stole the show, injecting some much needed warmth and good nature into the proceedings.

It has been sixteen years since Clooney and Pitt have made a movie together, which is surprising given their comic chemistry (though I think Pitt is a lot better at it by this stage than Clooney). One would think that given their immense clout they could have come up with a more promising and wittier script than this one.

Sidenote: What's with this spelling of the title? Makes as much sense as Toronto Maple Leafs.

It's a testament to that kid that the best scene in a movie with Clooney and Pitt is this kid's long comedic monologue/ramble about how he got into the situation he's in.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Watched a few flicks recently that I hadn't gotten around to reviewing yet.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Directed by Stanley Kubrick 10/10
What can I say about this one that hasn't been said? A cornerstone of cinema and frequently listed as one of the greatest and most influential films of all time. I'm not sure how or why I took so long to watch this movie, but I finally got around to it and I am glad that I did.

I'm not going to spend much time recapping this one, as I'm sure most people will know the general gist of the film. Team goes to space on a mysterious mission with the assistance of artificial intelligence named HAL 9000. Things don't exactly goes as planned.

Hard to find anything I didn't like about this movie. The music and visuals were absolutely mesmerizing, the story was gripping, the cinematography was immaculate especially when you consider the time that the film was made. The acting was great, and just the entire overall 'vibe' of the film is just awesome. The movie didn't feel dated one bit, despite being over half a century old.

The interactions between the characters feel authentic and Kubrick's attention to detail and obsession with wide-angles, long-tracking shots, and using music to create an eerie and captivating atmosphere is on full display here. The psychedelic nature of many portions of the film, especially the end, makes for quite a mind-journey of the movie. Easily one of the most immersive film experiences that I've ever had.

One I shall be re-visiting many times, I'm sure. I would love to see this one in a theatre.

Sophie's Choice (1982) - Directed by Alan Paluka - 6/10
Very classic film about Polish immigrant Sophie (Meryl Streep) who struggles to live with and heal from her past trauma along with her her emotional and at times abusive boyfriend Nathan (Kevin Cline), and their 3rd wheel Stingo (Peter McNicol).
Having lived through hell in Auschwitz Sophie's heart is heavy with loss and heartbreak. The story shifts between the present day and her time as a Nazi prisoner, as well as recounting stories to Stingo of her family and upbringing in Europe. Stingo, being a young and naive author, tries his best to heal those around him, especially Sophie. As the film goes on and the viewer learns more and more of Sophie's history it becomes apparent how deeply traumatized that she is. The film culminates with Sophie having to make her choice, of course, which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't seen it yet like I hadn't.

I thought it was an interesting and intense film and a decent portrayal of mental illness in observing Nathan in his various outbursts throughout the film.

Meryl Streep absolutely crushes this role. If I didn't know who she was I would have thought she was actually Polish, her accent is just perfect. I really wasn't too crazy about this film overall though. I had heard before through references about the choice, so it didn't hit me as hard as I think it would have if I had watched it going in completely blind. Still pretty impactful though.

Green Room (2016) - Directed by Jeremy Saulnier - 4/10
My wife has recently become absolutely obsessed with the studio A24 so we've got quite the list set up of films from there. The most recent we've watched is Green Room.

Green Room is a thriller/horror film which follows the story of a vagabond punk rock band "Ain't Rights" as they travel around the Pacific Northwest skimping and stealing what they can to get by, trying their best to gain some notoriety and make some cash. They get set up a gig in the middle of no where in a neo-Nazi bar. When they begin to play their anti-nazi music they clearly piss them off. When the band returns to the green room to get one of their cell phones they witness a dead body and are subsequently held hostage by the people who run the bar.

Most of the film revolves around them trying to escape from their captors by any means necessary while the owner of the bar Darcy (Patrick Stewart) tries to keep the events under wraps as much as possible.

The cast was alright, but not exactly a home run in terms of acting performances. Patrick Stewart's appearance in this film is so odd and seemingly out of place and is one of the saving graces of this film. I'm not a gore enthusiast or anything, but I really liked that they didn't shy away from showing some of the more gory scenes. Anton Yelchin was pretty good, and this was sadly one of his last films. Solid music, especially if you like punk rock. Not a particularly inspired film though, IMO.

Short little popcorn film, only 95 minutes but doesn't exactly have the depth and complexity of many A24 films.

 

[kihei]

Megalopolis (2024) Directed Francis Ford Coppola 5C

The scaffolding provided for Megalopolis is elaborate: ancient Rome, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar with reference to other Shakespearean plays and staging; the hope of a Phoenix rising from ashes, Fellini's Roman imagination; Citizen Kane in terms of sheer technical virtuosity and the idea of the great man; and related to the Italian elements, the whole notion of the power of public spectacle. The story is simple on paper, basically a battle between a visionary artist who wants people and by extension society to realize its potential and a hack politician who claims to have the interests of the public in mind but actually just is too comfortable with the status quo to change in any meaningful, helpful way. The larger theme here is how can a visionary artist fulfill his potential in a society that is constantly in danger of unravelling, especially when so many thorny personal issues keep getting in the way of the artist as well. The playing out of all this is messy, weird, wildly imaginative, and, frequently, hit-and-miss or massively indulgent. If you treat this as a normal movie, you may not have much fun. I sat through the thing not worrying too much about plot, but rather trying to figure out just what Coppola was trying to express about the pitfalls and potential calamities of Caesar's life and times and how they reflected the director's own sense of the impediments he faces as an artist.

So Megalopolis is an idea movie, maybe a personal narrative movie, too. However, as a movie movie, I think it ultimately disappoints. Why? First and foremost, It fails at something very basic, characterization. In his hodgepodge collection of wildly imaginative ideas and images, Coppola forgets to include believable characters to lighten the load of all this intellectual abstraction and cinematic razzmatazz. All of these characters feel like they exist only on the printed page, with no sense of depth or back story or flesh and blood. Flitting around like a butterfly as it often does, the editing doesn't always help them find a rhythm either. Coppola does a whole lot of direction in this movie, but not much of it seems aimed at his male actors, everyone of whom, save maybe for Giancarlo Esposito, seems to be floundering, making up his character out of thin air, showy gestures often replacing any believable hint of authenticity. Megalopolis ends being a flawed but audacious technical marvel--wide as a river, but half an inch deep.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

8/10

 

[kihei]

Pictures of Ghosts (2024) Directed by Kleber Mendoca Filho 7B

I have to admit that Pictures of Ghosts is about as niche as you can get, but I really liked it. It is a hybrid documentary/memoir in the style of Agnes Varda's graceful doc/memoirs such as The Gleaners and I; The Beaches of Agnes; and Faces, Places. In those works, Varda takes a subject (gleaners, conceptual art, herself) and examines it from a very personal perspective, so that the film is as much about her impressions as it is about the subject at hand. In a nice, homey, perceptive way, though.

Basically, Pictures of Ghosts is a journey through the past in which the director reflects on his home town of Recife, Brazil, a tough, sprawling city on the northeastern coast of the country. In a gently nostalgic way, Filho is focusing on change, the kind of change that obliterates the past. It is a very personal reminiscence that starts with his old neighbourhood where he grew up as a child and where he filmed some of his movies (Neighboring Sounds; Aquarius). Then he gradually shifts to the downtown area of Recife that has become so out of fashion, run down and dangerous that many of the young people of the city have never visited it.

That's a jumping off point for something about which he is particularly interested: the old movie theatres that used to populate the downtown area but aren't there anymore, that are in most cases completely forgotten. Ironically some of the movie palaces have even been transformed into evangelical churches. All this is shown with a kind of relaxed, non-judgmental melancholy. He's not ranting against change, just noting some of its casualties. In the end, maybe he is just pointing out the importance of memory.

Best of '24 so far

1) Flow, Zilbalodis, Latvia
2) All We Imagine As Light, Kapadia, India
3) Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Jude, Romania
4) Green Border, Holland, Poland
5) Pictures of Ghosts, Filho, Brazil
6) Hit Man, Linklater, US
7) The Substance, Fargeat, US
8) The Breaking Ice, Chen, China
9) Dune, part 2, Villeneuve, US
10) The Wild Robot, Sanders, US

 

[kihei]

Joker: Folie a Deux (2024) Directed by Todd Phillips 3B

I don't know who is going to want to sit through this sad, depressing movie. Half of Joker: Folie a Deux is about Arthur's plight in a mental ward of a high security prison and the other half is a tepid courtroom drama. Through both halves, Arthur has found a love interest, another psycho played by Lady Gaga who madly falls in love with Joker. The fact that this movie is a musical could have played well and provided some relief from the drudgery; the approach is unconventional, certainly not frilly or even that showy. The music is actually fairly well integrated into the narrative, such as it is. The problem is while Lady Gaga brings her trademark intensity to the mostly low-key numbers, Phoenix shouldn't be allowed to sing even in a shower. His voice is awful which just adds to the collection of woes already in evidence. The real problem is how much of a downer this movie is. Who wants a movie about Joker restricted to a prison and courtroom setting? It's just kind of a dull slog that is occasionally, but not often enough, enlivened by the two leads. It is just more of Phoenix doing his Joker schtick, only this time in a setting where there is nothing new added to what we already know. Joker remains bleak and full of despair, a tortured soul if there ever was one--but I kind of figured that out in the first one. Why director Todd Phillips decided he wanted to make this movie is mystifying.

 

[kihei]

Here (2024) Directed by Bas Devos 7C

Stefan works on construction sites in Brussels, but plans a vacation to visit his mother in Romania. He has a couple of days to kill, so he cleans out his fridge and makes soup which he hands out to his friends before he leaves. By chance, he meets ShuXio, a biologist, who is momentarily helping out her grandma in a Chinese restaurant where Stefan is eating. Later he bumps into her again on a forest trail where she is collecting moss specimens. They kind of, sort of, almost, maybe hit it off. As one critic already pointed out, Here has the funniest, cleverest final line in any movie that I have seen in ages.

Here's the thing, though. Here is ultra minimalist, even ultra-, ultra minimalist. Establishing shots usually appear at the start of the movie. In Here, they are all over the place, eating up space that usually is devoted to character development or action--there are tons of establishing shots throughout the movie and they invite contemplation and introspection, even serenity. This technique could well drive some viewers crazy who see the device as merely a distraction, but they add a certain chill, tranquil ambience to Here. The bottom line is that Here, by selecting so few moments of revelation, allows us to develop an unhurried liking for its characters and a feeling of how random moments can add up to something unpredictable, like the beginning of a romantic relationship. Few directors have the kind of discipline to pull off a movie like Here, which is a fair ways off the beaten path.

Sidenote: not to be confused with Ben Foster's soon to be released Here nor, yet another movie with the same title about to be released, Tom Hanks Here.

subtitles


Best of '24 so far

1) Flow, Zilbalodis, Latvia
2) All We Imagine As Light, Kapadia, India
3) Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Jude, Romania
4) Green Border, Holland, Poland
5) Here, Devos, Belgium
6) Pictures of Ghosts, Filho, Brazil
7) Hit Man, Linklater, US
8) The Substance, Fargeat, US
9) The Breaking Ice, Chen, China
10) Dune, part 2, Villeneuve, US

 

[CDJ]

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)

f*** I love Zahler. Will be watching Dragged Across Concrete next. Vince Vaughn did some of his best work in years in this one.

8.4/10

I liked it more than Bone Tomahawk

 

[Bahama Mama]

A fun film.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056059/

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Bouncing between the horror thread and the main thread this month.

Two by Mike Flanagan ...

Doctor Sleep. First time I saw this I thought it was fine. Few years pass, I picked up the director's cut and that plus the combination of time and this hit way harder for me now. The DC adds about 40 minutes and it's largely through extending scenes best as I can tell. Unlike other DCs I don't know that there are major additions. Just an expanding and, I would argue, a deepening. Perhaps its the fact that in the intervening years I've really loved Flanagan's Netflix work, particularly The Haunting of Hill House (which came out before this) and Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher, both of which came after. (The Haunting of Bly Manor is fine, but not as good as the others). I've said it about his Netflix work and I really felt it on this rewatch of Doctor Sleep, but the guy does such a fantastic job with his characters. While a lot of horror relies on shock and surprise, Flanagan's magic is that he makes you care. At least he makes me care. He casts well and gets good performances and that almost never fails to pull me into his stories. Sure he can execute a jump scare if needed ... but it's that investment in character that really drives a lot of his work. Not a ton of horror can claim that. I don't find his movies to be "scary" per se, but they are often upsetting (the baseball boy!) and, again to me, are quite engaging on an emotional level. Again, as much as I love horror, I don't often find that those are my thoughts and feelings when the credits roll.

Wow. I got this far and haven't even mentioned Stephen King (whose source material is a pretty crackerjack bit of writing that probably shouldn't work but does) and Stanley Kubrick (whose The Shining is about as stone-cold a classic as can be and is, famously, hated by King). I know the melding of these two things is something many feel does not work and/or is awkward. That was an initial criticism of mine, but watching the DC (and perhaps the benefit of time) I think Flanagan does a much better job at an incredibly difficult task than he was given credit for. Certainly the extended scenes in the DC help that including a longer early scene with Halloran and young Danny and key late scene with grown up Dan and his dad. And if you know the source material ... you can see why King trusted Flanagan to thread this needle he really didn't want to be threaded.

Double wow. I got this far without mentioning Rebecca Ferguson. Lordy. Great menacing, sexy, funny performance. Girl, inhale my steam! And god bless them for simply recasting key people from The Shining with real actors instead of messing with bad CGI.

Ouija: Origin of Evil. I'll make this one MUCH shorter. The first one is forgettable dog shit that Flanagan takes the core from and fashions into a very solid little haunted house/family creeper prequel which gives the first movie a better legacy than it could ever possibly deserve. Again, this is pretty character driven. There are a lot more traditional jumps and scares in this (all pretty effective). A nice turn-the-lights-off and pop-a-bag-of-popcorn scary flick.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I've really loved Flanagan's Netflix work, particularly The Haunting of Hill House (which came out before this) and Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher, both of which came after. (The Haunting of Bly Manor is fine, but not as good as the others).

I really hated Midnight Mass and it turned me off from The Fall of the House of Usher... You're saying I should give it a try?

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I really hated Midnight Mass and it turned me off from The Fall of the House of Usher... You're saying I should give it a try?

Midnight Mass is my favorite so ... maybe probably not.

Usher does have a fun "victim of the episode" structure. Everyone gets dispatched to a specific Poe story. It's fun.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I really hated Midnight Mass and it turned me off from The Fall of the House of Usher... You're saying I should give it a try?

Just chiming in here to recommend Fall of the House of Usher. Great re-telling of a bunch of different Poe stories with a modernized twist. Fun series with a lot of big personalities with some great acting performances. Mark Hamill in particular hits it out of the park, as expected.

 

[flyersnorth]

Forgotten (Gi-eok-ui bam), 2017

Watched this on Netflix last night. The synopsis piqued my interest, and it more than delivered.

This South Korean film starts off with a family moving to a new house. The 21 year old son (Jin-seok) is the primary focus. Shortly after they move in, the older brother (Yoo-seok) is kidnapped and just reappears 19 days later with no memory of what happened. It doesn't take long for the Jin-seok to feel like something is off with Yoo-seok.

It has more twists and turns than a soft serve cone. For the most part, they are all handled really well and the package does all come together very well in the end. It's a very dark thriller that keeps you asking questions the entire time.

8.5/10.

 

[IslesNbeer]

Beetlejuice x2, 2024

0.5/10

What utter garbage. Made it about 45mins before I shut it off. I gave it .5 cause it made me chuckle once.

 

[kihei]

The Menendez Brothers (2024) Directed by Alejandro Hartman 7A (documentary)

In 1989, Lyle and Eric Menendez brutally killed their parents with shot gun blasts in Beverley Hills. Netflix recently released a mini-series entitled Monsters about this slaughter. Obviously given the title, that series had a distinctly condemning point of view about the brothers and their crime. Now Netflix has released a counterpoint to that original series, The Menendez Brothers, which looks at the events from Lyle and Eric's perspective. According to them, they killed their parents because they were in fear of their lives after years of sexual abuse by their father with no support from their mother. Even the District Attorney admitted that she could not find anyone, save his secretary, who had a good word to say about the father. On the basis of the presentation here, Jose was a real monster, a sadistic, perverted, powerful man who demanded his way or else violence would ensue. The doc also goes into to why the two trials (the first ended in a hung jury) were so different in terms of the evidence that each trial was or was not able to admit.

So a real life Roshomon, or maybe a cinematic Rorschach test. The initial reviews of this documentary were highly negative, most critics claiming undue bias on the film maker's part. There is some basis for this concern in terms of some of the details that Alejandro Hartman leaves out. But The Menendez Brothers is intended as an advocacy piece, a counter-balance to the Monsters mini series. So obviously it is presenting the case for the defense. The question is who do you believe? The brothers or the case that the State raised against them? The answer to that question is bound to be highly personal and a product of several mitigating factors. The act of parricide is one of the most repugnant of taboos, and it may be people just can't get beyond that. Could a father possibly be that wicked and diseased? The sheer brutality of the crime is another element to consider. Why did they feel that they couldn't just leave? All that being said, the story the brothers tell is convincing; if their story is not true, it's a hell of a performance. And family members back them up, though their testimony was almost completely eliminated in the second trial. Could the brothers be that good at lying, and other family members, too? I tend to doubt it. Allegedly LA county is re-examining the case in light of new evidence that has come forward. Whatever side one is on, it is hard to believe that families come more dysfunctional than this one. Though, of course, they inevitably do.

Netflix

 

[Nakatomi]

I just posted about it in the Horror movie thread, but Arrow is having a huge sale right now for anyone into digital media:

CheapCharts

Save up to 80% on iTunes movie deals and other offers for all digital products like movies, music, TV shows, books, audiobooks and apps. CheapCharts is the ultimate deal platform and price tracker for iTunes and Vudu Stores and the best place to find cheap iTunes movies.

www.cheapcharts.info

Just be sure to filter by Studio, and it is worth noting most of their films are horror. Though other movies for $3.99 right now are Donnie Darko with a bunch of extras and Joint Security Area, which seems to be a solid Korean drama.

I am now considering getting Giants and Toys (1958) and Irezumi (1966) in addition to the rest of my horror haul since $3.99 is a pretty reasonable price to "own" digital in my estimation, and both of these movies look very interesting.

Anyway, I hope sharing this is alright with the mods, but I figured such a good sale was worth flagging for other movie lovers.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

The Menendez Brothers (2024) Directed by Alejandro Hartman 7A (documentary)

In 1989, Lyle and Eric Menendez brutally killed their parents with shot gun blasts in Beverley Hills. Netflix recently released a mini-series entitled Monsters about this slaughter. Obviously given the title, that series had a distinctly condemning point of view about the brothers and their crime. Now Netflix has released a counterpoint to that original series, The Menendez Brothers, which looks at the events from Lyle and Eric's perspective. According to them, they killed their parents because they were in fear of their lives after years of sexual abuse by their father with no support from their mother. Even the District Attorney admitted that she could not find anyone, save his secretary, who had a good word to say about the father. On the basis of the presentation here, Jose was a real monster, a sadistic, perverted, powerful man who demanded his way or else violence would ensue. The doc also goes into to why the two trials (the first ended in a hung jury) were so different in terms of the evidence that each trial was or was not able to admit.

So a real life Roshomon, or maybe a cinematic Rorschach test. The initial reviews of this documentary were highly negative, most critics claiming undue bias on the film maker's part. There is some basis for this concern in terms of some of the details that Alejandro Hartman leaves out. But The Menendez Brothers is intended as an advocacy piece, a counter-balance to the Monsters mini series. So obviously it is presenting the case for the defense. The question is who do you believe? The brothers or the case that the State raised against them? The answer to that question is bound to be highly personal and a product of several mitigating factors. The act of parricide is one of the most repugnant of taboos, and it may be people just can't get beyond that. Could a father possibly be that wicked and diseased? The sheer brutality of the crime is another element to consider. Why did they feel that they couldn't just leave? All that being said, the story the brothers tell is convincing; if their story is not true, it's a hell of a performance. And family members back them up, though their testimony was almost completely eliminated in the second trial. Could the brothers be that good at lying, and other family members, too? I tend to doubt it. Allegedly LA county is re-examining the case in light of new evidence that has come forward. Whatever side one is on, it is hard to believe that families come more dysfunctional than this one. Though, of course, they inevitably do.

Netflix

Great breakdown, buddy. Looking forward to watching this once the wife actually commits to it. I wasn't born yet when this situation occurred, but I recently watched the dramatized Monsters version and am very much looking forward to seeing this documentary.

I wasn't alive when the case happened, so I don't have any frame of reference from when it actually happened and the media storm that accompanied it. I've done some reading up on it since I watched Monsters and I really am at a loss of what to think about it. Maybe the documentary will shed some more light for me.

As an aside, I've been listening to Milli Vanilli's "Girl I'm Gunna Miss You" on repeat since watching Monsters lol.

 

[Osprey]

As an aside, I've been listening to Milli Vanilli's "Girl I'm Gunna Miss You" on repeat since watching Monsters lol.

If you watch the "Milli Vanilli" documentary on Paramount+ or AppleTV+, you can get all of their songs stuck in your head.