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

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Veronica (Plaza, 2017) - I've been told to have a look at this one. Can't say I liked it much. It's competently made, nice looking, nice pace, pretty good performances for what I can tell (don't speak much Spanish), but it feels a little teen-oriented, and it's only rehashing stuff you've seen too many times (starting with the Ouija board and the occult books/magazines, is this the 80s? - I guess you could stay it's a nice "old school" horror film): it tries real hard to be a scary movie, but once it fails at that, not much left. It's too predictable, and too tame - the whole (loosely) based on a true story thingy is not exploited efficiently. 3.5/10

 

[sdf]

 

[Chili]

The Last Emperor-1987

The life of Pu Yi, the Last Emperor of China. The film starts with him arriving to a prison with many others. The story then flashes back and forth from the present to his life to this point. Many striking images & settings, great attention to detail. Cool that they were able to film in the Forbidden City. Watched the extended version (218 minutes) and really didn't seem long. Beautifully filmed historical journey, was worth the time.

The Proud Ones-1956

A Marshall (Robert Ryan)'s old nemesis moves into town, opening a gambling house. The conflict and shooting is not far behind. Standard western story but good cast, well done. Catchy whistled theme. I always enjoy Robert Ryan on screen.

The Lodger-1927

The setting is the fog of London and a serial murder mystery, similar to the Jack Ripper story. A mysterious lodger has come to the neighbourhood and suspicion mounts. Is he the Avenger who leaves his calling card on his victims? Can see the plot of some of Hitch's future films developing in this one. My favorite Hitchcock film.

 

[Jussi]

Haven't seen this one talked about much so:
Everything Everywhere All at Once.

It's a very enjoyable movie, the opening and first act is the strongest. It's very cleverly written to where a lot of little details matter and not much is wasted.
It's mostly not laugh out loud funny as a comedy but more so .....generally humorous if that makes sense. The action elements are very well done drawing from martial arts films and The Matrix (which is sort of a martial arts action style film itself I guess in some ways, and it's cribbed pretty directly many times as a callback). Jamie Lee Curtis, Michelle Yeoh, and James Hong are tremendous. The rest of the cast is well above average. IMO this movie incorporates such a wide breath of styles of story telling in a way that's as good as it has ever been done for the most part. Living up to its title I suppose.

My two biggest complaints that I think hold it back from being a new classic instead of just a very good movie (Semi spoilery)
1. The daughter Joy is really underdeveloped. There's a lot of really well done exposition that flows well into the action sequences but she's just very underserved in all of it. Given how important her character becomes as the film goes on I think this was a critical mistake.
2. Some of the "adult" humor is really out of place and all tends to be packed in about 3 scenes where it's just overload.


A lesser issue, but still one IMO, is some of the action scenes in the middle and the final one could have really been trimmed by about 10 minutes total and no one would have missed it.

Unless you watch nothing but Oscar bait I think just about every moviegoer would like this one on some level.

I hadn't heard about this movie until several big Youtubers began talking about it, like John Campea. For him it was by far the best movie of the year. Very well liked by critics and movie goers: Everything Everywhere All at Once

I probably won't be able to watch it until torrents become available but I'm really looking forward to watching it.

 

[Jussi]

The Death of Superman Lives. Pretty good for a doc that leans a little more toward cheap fanboy production than a more professional affair. The biggest positive is the access. Nearly everyone involved including big names Jon Peters and Tim Burton (not counting Kevin Smith because he'll talk to anyone) gave the movie a lot of time and insights. No Nic Cage, but there's access to a lot of test footage so he's still present throughout. Could've been shorter. Gets really lost in the weeds on some minor aspects of the various versions of the movie that were never to be. It's a pet peeve of mine that the director shoots himself interviewing everyone rather than being off camera. Adds to the cheap fanboyness of it. There are some HORRIBLE animations and reenactments of scenes from the scripts that underline and circle the cheap fanboyness. All that said, it's an informative enough treatment of the subject. And it's hard to be amused by Jon Peters in all his arrogant glory (especially after seeing Bradley Cooper play him in Licorice Pizza). Biggest bonus: You could tell me Tim Burton is actually Nic Cage in this and I'd believe you.

The late Jon Schnepp was among the biggest fan boys. I didn't watch Collider stuff when he was still alive but his death hit several now former Collider folks hard. They still speak so fondly of him.

Jon Schnepp - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Pink Mist]

The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (Martin Ritt, 1965)

When a MI6 operative is killed crossing over from East Berlin, the MI6 agent Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) returns to London to take on his latest mission – to pose as an unwilling defector to the East Germans in order to help discredit a powerful East German agent. Released in the heydays of the Sean Connery James Bond films, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is the antithesis to 007. Alec Leamas is basically what James Bond would be like in real life – cold, calculating, and chameleon like rather than flamboyant and glamourous. Basically, a civil servant rather than an action movie star. This film also feels like a product of 1960s British cinema since there is a little bit of a Kitchen Sink Realism influence to it as we watch Leamas (as a charade) become disheveled and impoverished upon being dismissed from British intelligence and for a half hour or so it feels like a working class angry young man film. I guess spies can also be disillusioned angry (albeit not particularly young) men. I’m a big fan of this film – its everything you want from a cold war spy film. It has a tight script interrogating the moralism of Western intelligence, great performances from Burton and company, and brilliant black and white cinematography. Highly recommended for fans of spy thrillers.

 

[kingsfan28]

It was pretty much what I thought it'd be. My expectations were low and was surprised it was better than expected. Still, it was another dark, depressing, humorless DC movie. It was like they took Nolans version and said, "lets take out all the humor and color, add 75 percent more rain and darkness...and add emo Bruce Wayne." Did he even smile once? All he did was brood, nothing else. Back to the rain, my god did they get their monies worth with the rain machines. The entire movie was just one rainy scene after another, NO SUNSHINE. Does the sun ever rise there? No wonder everyone is misserable in Gotham, there's no sun! Wright was good as Gordon and kept the movie from going straight into the dark abyss, and carried his part well. Kyle/Cat woman was ok, sometimes good, sometime she tried too hard.The one joke, and I'm not sure everyone got it was when they left the Penguin with his hands and feet tied up and made him walk back.That made me laugh. Overall, it was alright, and you could tell who they are setting up to be Robin, should they continue making them. I hope the next one doesn't open up with the overly violent blunt force trauma scene. That went on longer than needed. 3 out of 5 stars

 

[kingsfan28]

Moonfall (2022) - 4/10 (Disliked it)

A hastily assembled team (Patrick Wilson, Halle Berry, John Bradley) is sent into space to detonate a bomb inside the Moon before it crashes into and destroys the Earth. If you're thinking that that was the plot of Armageddon, you couldn't be more wrong, since that was an asteroid and this is the Moon. Also, Armageddon was more plausible. If there's one thing that Roland Emmerich films will never be accused of, though, it's being plausible. This one starts with an astronaut who, while in space, witnesses something large coming out of the Moon, but no one at NASA believes him because it's not like they can see the Moon for themselves or watch his helmet cam footage. Then, there's a fast food worker who does amateur astronomy on the side and somehow notices that the Moon is out of its orbit before even NASA, but no one believes him, strangely enough. Most of the first half of the movie felt like things that I'd seen before in other sci-fi/environmental disaster films. At least the second half is slightly more original and interesting, but that's mostly because the plot gets crazier than most movies. The main actors do the best that they can with the terrible story and dialogue. Halle Berry, especially, tries to elevate it and seemed a little too good for her part and this movie. John Bradley (Samwell Tarly from Game of Thrones) is likable enough. There's a boring subplot with less interesting, mostly younger characters trying to escape the destruction on Earth that felt tacked on for added drama and demographic appeal (including Chinese market appeal). There's a little bit of humor (that I didn't find that funny), but the tone is mostly serious. That suits the end-of-the-world stakes, but not the ridiculousness of the plot, so I couldn't help but laugh at how seriously the movie seemed to be taking itself. As such, it isn't fun enough to be very entertaining and the plot is far too silly and thin to be thoughtful sci-fi. It does have blockbuster levels of CGI, though, especially CGI destruction. We're talking 100-foot tsunamis, chunks of Moon raining down, cities being demolished, vehicles flying through the air, satellites being destroyed and more. It delivers the eye candy, but not much else. It's available for rent if you'd care to see something that feels largely recycled from previous disaster films.

It reminded me so much of Mission to Mars. Good actors, bad script, bad direction, terrible music and good cgi. Halle Barry must really need her mortgage paid off.

 

[kihei]

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy (2021) Direccted by Ryusuke Hamaguchi 8A

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is the other movie that director Ryusuke Hamaguchi made in 2021 and it is very nearly as good as Drive My Car. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy consists of three forty minute movies that deal with coincidence, romance and destiny. The focus is on women, but the theme is universal—the sometime magical, sometimes not, way that fate can trip you up when you least expect it to do so. In one story a young woman realizes her new friend is going out with her ex to whom she is still emotionally attached; in the second story, a couple plot a honey trap for an unsuspecting professor using the girl as seduction bait; the final story finds two women bumping into one another years later only to realize neither is who the other thinks she is. The movie consists almost entirely of conversations, and the style is light but precise, two things that don’t necessarily always go together. All these situations are handled with a freshness and wit that I found a delight to watch. In fact, to give it a high complement, the movie reminded me a little of Truffaut's work at his most deftly insightful. Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy has more than its share of gentle glimpses into the human condition and it finds a refreshing and entertaining way to deliver them. Highly recommended, but especially for those who liked Drive My Car.

subtitles

Criterion Channel


Revised best of 2021

1, Memoria, Weerasethakul, Columbia
2. The Power of the Dog, Campion, US
3. Drive My Car, Yamaguchi, Japan
4 Wheel of Fortune and Wonder, Yamaguchi, Japan
5. The Cloud in Her Room, Zheng, China
6. The Worst Person in the World, Trier, Norway
7. Annette, Carax, US
8. The Lost Daughter, Gyllenhaal, US
9. Nitram, Kurzel, Australia
10. The Green Night, Lowry, US

11 Bergman Island, Hansen-Love, France
12. Identifying Features, Valadez, Mexico
13. After Love, Khan, UK
14. The Hand of God, Sorrentino, Italy
15. Red Moon Tide, Patino, Spain
16 The Trouble Being Born, Wollner, Austria
17. Riders of Freedom. Nelson, Denmark
18 Zero f***s Given, Marre/Lacoustre, France
19. Azor, Fantana, Argentina
20. There Is No Evil, Rasoulov, Iran

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

The Northman. Robert Eggers continues to be one of the best American filmmakers going. Much like his first film, The Witch, he takes the bones of a familiar sort of story and creates something not exactly new, but inarguabley distinct. (I love the gross and darkly funny The Lighthouse but that feels more like a unique/original creation to me than these other two). He creates journeys, not destinations. And he's damn good at it. All three of his films FEEL authentic. I can't speak to whether or not they actual are in their look and language and whatnot, but he gets my buy-in that they are. You also feel he is fully bought in as a filmmaker. He expertly toes a line between art and entertainment. The Northman is his most populist creation since it's a farily straightforward and classic bloody familial revenge tale echoing everything from Hamlet to Gladiator. But the guy still gets plenty of his style, not to mention his point, across. It's a basic story, but that doesn't mean it's dumbed down. This is some big, gnarly and (in moments) beautiful filmmaking. The violence and gore may be off putting to some, but didn't feel gratuitous. Again back to that aura of authenticity. It's a committed, intense movie with committed, intense performances throughout (Nicole Kidman in particularly I don't feel has had something this meaty in years).

 

[sdf]

 

[ProstheticConscience]

The Matrix Resurrections

with some Matrix-y people. Also Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss, who both manage to age incredibly well.

The internet's favourite saintly movie star is back once again as Thomas Anderson, now in middle age and strangely back at work for a huge software company. He created a massively popular video game trilogy called the Matrix decades ago, and now the parent company wants a sequel. A totally unnecessary sequel. One that doesn't really work because the story was complete, nobody is calling for, and only exists because of a greedy parent company wants more money. Oooo...going meta up in here! Tom's in therapy, unsatisfied with his job and business partner, full of ennui...but he spots a strangely alluring woman in a coffee shop. He can't quite put his finger on it, but everything's just wrong. Sound familiar? It should. Redundancy happens.

As cynical and unnecessary an attempted cash grab as any I've ever seen. Most of it's basically a remake of the first movie, even using quite a bit of footage from it. Morpheus and Agent Smith are both in it, but Lawrence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving had better things to do (and good on both of them). The new crews of the rebellious human ships exist. There are also a few sentient machines helping out following a civil war among the machines after the last Matrix movie...which would have made a lot better movie than this one, that's for bloody sure.

Mrs. PC had a coupon on her scene card for a free movie rental, so we used it on this. For free the price is right. Even after all these years the original Matrix movie is still the only one worth watching.

Remember: this random stranger offering pills in the washroom was friendly. The one in your local YMCA isn't.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

The Matrix Resurrections

with some Matrix-y people. Also Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss, who both manage to age incredibly well.

The internet's favourite saintly movie star is back once again as Thomas Anderson, now in middle age and strangely back at work for a huge software company. He created a massively popular video game trilogy called the Matrix decades ago, and now the parent company wants a sequel. A totally unnecessary sequel. One that doesn't really work because the story was complete, nobody is calling for, and only exists because of a greedy parent company wants more money. Oooo...going meta up in here! Tom's in therapy, unsatisfied with his job and business partner, full of ennui...but he spots a strangely alluring woman in a coffee shop. He can't quite put his finger on it, but everything's just wrong. Sound familiar? It should. Redundancy happens.

As cynical and unnecessary an attempted cash grab as any I've ever seen. Most of it's basically a remake of the first movie, even using quite a bit of footage from it. Morpheus and Agent Smith are both in it, but Lawrence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving had better things to do (and good on both of them). The new crews of the rebellious human ships exist. There are also a few sentient machines helping out following a civil war among the machines after the last Matrix movie...which would have made a lot better movie than this one, that's for bloody sure.

Mrs. PC had a coupon on her scene card for a free movie rental, so we used it on this. For free the price is right. Even after all these years the original Matrix movie is still the only one worth watching.

Remember: this random stranger offering pills was friendly. The one in your local YMCA washroom isn't.

Apparently Fishburne wanted to be in this new film and Wachowski never asked:

Laurence Fishburne Got Real About Why You Won't See Him in The Matrix Resurrections

Laurence Fishburne's Morpheus is one of the most iconic characters in cinematic history. The Matrix character, who, at one point, was living inside the Matrix, protected Zion in the films, helping free humans from the Matrix.

money.yahoo.com

If he watched this trash bag, I’m quite certain he was thrilled he got locked out.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Took some of your advice and went and saw Everything Everywhere All at Once. Don't really have anything to add, what a terrific movie. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me 8.5/10.

A24 is a movie studio that gets it, really making some fantastic content. Pushing boundaries and reimagining the medium and I'm here for it.

 

[BobColesNasalCavity]

Rookie of the Year. 10/10. Two thumbs up. 100% rotten potatoes or whatever.

 

[Osprey]

Man was this ever a piece of crap. Think 4/10 is even being a little generous. The acting and writing are awful, some of the worst I've seen in a contemporary big budget film. It's an interesting premise they just decided to throw money at and I agree the CGI was really only its redeeming quality. A total failure at providing the movie parts of a movie.

It reminded me so much of Mission to Mars. Good actors, bad script, bad direction, terrible music and good cgi. Halle Barry must really need her mortgage paid off.

You both should appreciate this:

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I Am Divine (Schwarz, 2013) - Talking heads, with more archive material than I would have thought, but still a documentary that remains anecdotal and without a real voice. Interesting if you're interested in the character, probably not much if you don't care. He had a weird (and very bad) music career. He died the night before he was to report to the set of Married With Children, in which he was to play a man. Not uninteresting, anecdotal. 3.5/10


It's Waters' character, the tone is right, but the music absolutely atrocious - it seems he had a following, go figure.

 

[Osprey]

Zero Hour! (1957) - 6/10

A traumatized former fighter pilot (Dana Andrews) must fly and land a passenger plane when both pilots become incapacitated. I knew that this was the basis for Airplane!, but I was surprised at just how much the Zuckers copied and parodied from it. I never realized that whole lines like "most of all, it takes respect, and I can't live with a man I don't respect" and "we have to find someone who not only can fly this plane but who didn't have fish for dinner" were lifted word for word from this film and not written for Airplane!. There's also a boy who goes to the cockpit and gets a toy plane, a female passenger who panics and gets slapped, a doctor who helps out and gives a speech to the passengers, a stern person on the ground helping Ted land the plane and more. Even most of the camera angles are the same. It felt like watching Airplane! again, just without the punch lines and gags. Even without those, I found it amusing because I was thinking of them and because it's so self serious that it felt like it was made to be parodied. At least that self seriousness made it rather suspenseful, though it was also entirely predictable, perhaps because I'm so familiar with the plot. It's decent on its own, but really worth watching if you're fan of Airplane!. If you'd rather just watch comparisons of the similarities, though, there are several on YouTube.

---

Skyjacked (1972) - 6/10

A commercial airline pilot (Charlton Heston) and his crew contend with a hijacker aboard their Boeing 707. It's one of the earlier 70s disaster movies and resembles the Airport movies, especially Airport 1975, in which Heston would also be the pilot. It was only the second airplane disaster film of the 70s (after Airport) and the first film about skyjacking. Apparently, the first commercial skyjacking incident in the U.S. wasn't until 1961 and then there were over 100 during the following decade, so this was a serious and hot topic when the film was made. The subject feels very familiar and even cliched today, but it would've been new and timely 50 years ago. Most of the first half of the film is a mystery about who's leaving threatening messages about a bomb being on board. It's not a mystery that's hard to figure out, though, and it ends when the skyjacker is revealed halfway through. The rest is all thriller as the crew, especially the pilot, has to do what the skyjacker says. I was pleasantly surprised at where the film (and the plane) went. I would've never guessed it and I liked it. I also liked that it doesn't have too much melodrama, such as time spent on the personal lives of the passengers, which similar movies at the time were often guilty of. It's mainly Heston and the skyjacker. It doesn't stand out from similar airplane disaster movies, but it was better than I expected.

 

[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore: 7.3/10 Decent movie if you are already a fan of the Potter world.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Closer - 7/10

Watching this at 20 and then re-watching it now at 37 it hits on a whole different level haha.
I also almost forgot how gorgeous both Natalie Portman and Julia Roberts are.

 

[Pink Mist]

My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979)

Sybylla (Judy Davis in one of her first roles) is an independent – some would say wild or free spirited – young woman who lives in rural Australia around the turn of the 19th century. Now at a certain age, her family wants her to settle down, find a man, and raise a family – something which would impede her ambitions to become a writer. However, encountering the handsome Harry Beecham (Sam Neill), a family friend, makes her reconsider her ambition and independence. My Brilliant Career is one of those films that feels like an adaptation of a 19th century coming of age novel, such as Little Women, which makes it perhaps unsurprising that it is based off a turn of the century coming of age novel (didn’t know that until after). Which is something I struggle with, for whatever reason I find it really hard to get into period romance films that take place in that era. Not really the film’s fault but I tend to find the conventions of that era uninteresting and it tends to leave me bored – I think I tend to find these types a of films a little too literary. The feminist themes, the acting from Davis and Neill, and the fabulous cinematography unfortunately were not enough for the film to raise above those hurdles of my personal taste. Not a film for me but I can tell why it is highly regarded by others.

 

[kihei]

My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979)

Sybylla (Judy Davis in one of her first roles) is an independent – some would say wild or free spirited – young woman who lives in rural Australia around the turn of the 19th century. Now at a certain age, her family wants her to settle down, find a man, and raise a family – something which would impede her ambitions to become a writer. However, encountering the handsome Harry Beecham (Sam Neill), a family friend, makes her reconsider her ambition and independence. My Brilliant Career is one of those films that feels like an adaptation of a 19th century coming of age novel, such as Little Women, which makes it perhaps unsurprising that it is based off a turn of the century coming of age novel (didn’t know that until after). Which is something I struggle with, for whatever reason I find it really hard to get into period romance films that take place in that era. Not really the film’s fault but I tend to find the conventions of that era uninteresting and it tends to leave me bored – I think I tend to find these types a of films a little too literary. The feminist themes, the acting from Davis and Neill, and the fabulous cinematography unfortunately were not enough for the film to raise above those hurdles of my personal taste. Not a film for me but I can tell why it is highly regarded by others.

Judy Davis has had a long brilliant career. You might consider catching her latest Nitram, in which she gives another very accomplished performance.

 

[Pink Mist]

All the King’s Men (Robert Rossen, 1949)

When Willie Stark (Broderick Crawford) the last honest politician who a perpetual election loser, finally learns how to play the political game and wins the governorship in a wave of populist appeal his corruption makes his friends richer and his enemies blackmailed or dead. That is until his demagoguery and authoritarianism goes a little too far. Best picture winner in 1949, along with Best actor to Crawford and Supporting Actress to Mercedes McCambridge who plays his political aide, All the King’s Men portrays a form of populism that feels a little too familiar in recent years with the raise of borderline fascist populism in the West. The film for the most part is great, however my issue with it is that the beginning moves to quickly – Willie Stark clearly starts out as honest but before we know it four years have passed and he’s an extremely corrupt politician, talk about an abrupt change! Some suspect pacing but overall it hit most of the right notes, although I’m not sure I would consider it an all time great – it falls into the mushy “good not great” category.

 

[OzzyFan]

Thieves' Highway (1949)
3.05 out of 4stars

"A war-veteran-turned-truck driver arrives at home to find that his foreign-born father, a California fruit farmer, has lost his legs and was forced to sell his truck. He learns that his father was crippled at the hands of an unscrupulous produce dealer in San Francisco and vows revenge."
An interesting great noir about the dark side of capitalist trade marketing. Unregulated business dealings seen here show the dark chain from producers to wholesalers/distributors to retailers (to consumers). Everyone tries to cheat each other to some degree all in the name of greed, or revenge in the protagonist's case. And the degrees are dark, as dark as bribery, hoodwinking, lying, property damage, theft, harassment, mugging, crippling, and more, all of which are shown or hinted at. Some of the people behind the scenes of the produce market operate like an individualist crime syndicate. And some of the sinister acts really hit hard. Learning of the crippling of the protagonist's father at the beginning of the film is not only an act of thievery and brutality, it means that he will no longer be able to make a living as a truck produce distributor anymore to supports himself or his loved ones (nor wear slippers, which I hope was a touch of dark humor at the beginning). A couple more I'd like to mention but don't want to ruin the movie for those curious, so I'll leave it at that.

Them! (1954)
3.00 out of 4stars

"While investigating a series of mysterious deaths, police finds a young girl who is unable to speak. After FBI and scientist involvement, it's discovered that all the incidents are due to giant ants that have been mutated by atomic radiation. The ants must be stopped before they threaten the extinction of humanity."
A great sci-fi creature thriller/horror with a smart script, quick pacing, lots of suspense, solid acting, and formidable foes. Even before the giant ants are seen, mystery and a sense of dread are thoroughly built. And once the giant ants are incorporated in, they are used tactfully, thrilling, and apparently true to life ways. Nothing feels overly dramatic or silly here. There's enough factual ant knowledge incorporated in this film to fill a Discovery channel special and it plays out rationally. Without question, learning of these giant ants background, they are strong, resilient, intelligent, and tough creatures. The special effects feel great for it's time period, and imo are not laughable for today viewers with respect to time given, and it also helps that ants themselves are rather basic looking creatures (it's not like they needed to display xenomorphs). The investigation and excitements on the giant ants is a fun journey to be had. Not to mention, it appears at least a couple of things in this film were repeated countless times in creature/monster films throughout the near 70years since it's release.

The Big Combo (1955)
2.90 out of 4stars

"Police Lt. Leonard Diamond is on a personal crusade to bring down the sadistic gangster Mr. Brown. He is also dangerously obsessed with Brown's girlfriend, the suicidal Susan Lowell. His main objective as a detective is to uncover what happened to a woman called "Alicia" from the crime boss's past."
A great clever twist filled noir with some violent surprises and a memorable villain. It's an fun journey filled with interesting burdened characters and Conte's Brown as mob boss is by far the most memorable. Brown is a smooth fast talking scornfully preachy man that thrives on 'fear and hate'. He uses fear as a method of control to get what he wants and he uses hate to conquer all that threaten him, directly or indirectly, in any way possible. He also gives us a reiteration on the Ricky Bobby "If you ain't first you're last" statement with "First is first, 2nd is nobody". Brown has a soft spot though, which complicates things for him. A lot of little interesting ideas of the criminal underworld and police's interaction and cautions surrounding it also are seen here.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
2.80 out of 4stars

"In this action-packed comedy, creatively unfulfilled and facing financial ruin, the fictionalized version of Nicolas Cage must accept a $1 million offer to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan (Pedro Pascal) whom the CIA is after."
A good to great meta buddy comedy action film about Nick Cage and movies themselves, even separate from his own. First and foremost, if you don't know or haven't seen the top tier of Nicholas Cage movies or know of his offscreen persona, you will miss a lot of references and jokes, which imo will determine if you like or love this movie. 2ndly, this is a buddy comedy first and foremost, so if you don't like those films or style of comedy, this isn't for you either. That said, it tries to do a lot and hits on most of it. The chemistry between Pascal and Cage is top notch. And the fun, energy, and superfan angle playing out amongst them is through the screen contagious. The meta talk on Cage is obviously spot on, as our his answers to those statements/questions. The meta talk on movies/movie making is satirically spot on but not too deep. It's dabbling into other deeper and sometimes personal themes is moderately successful, but generally just scratched upon. All the time it never tries to take itself too seriously even when it is trying to make statements aside from a heartfelt scene or 2, which helps the movie a lot.

 

[kihei]

Intregalde (2021) Directed by Radu Muntean 7B

Romanian director Radu Muntean takes a plausible situation--three relief workers delivering food to the ouback get their SUV stuck in the mud somewhere in godforsaken rural Romania--and teases it into a very good suspense movie. I kept expecting a horror movie to break out at any minute, but that's part of Muntean's tease. The movie is a slow-burn, high tension affair, with some beautiful night photography, and I was cleverly left to conclude that if there are any even mataphorical monsters in this movie, they are the ones freezing their asses off in the SUV. In its typically subtle Romanian way (with typically subtle Romania humour), Intregalde demonstrates how city folk tend to look down, patronize and even fear rural folk without any clear cause other than assuming that they are stupid and dangerous. This is not an original idea--Burt Reynolds' Deliverance way back when was built around a similar conceit--but Intregalde is a cleverly scripted reimagining of an old theme.

subtitles

TIFF.net