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

[OzzyFan]

The Big Sleep (1946)
3.50 out of 4stars

“Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.”
An excellent noir that's an iconic fast paced highly convoluted unpredictable journey that’s always engaging, even the odd interactions with Bogart and super-side characters. Well executed by all, most obviously Bogart carrying the film, Hawk’s direction, the fun memorable dialogue and writing that includes some surprising sexual innuendo, Steiner’s orchestral score, etc. Chock full of twists, murders, and new characters being added throughout. Still trying to figure out overall how I truly feel about the overly intricate screenplay/sequence of events. Without question it’s genius and works, but I’m just curious with all the added characters throughout involved if there wouldn’t have been previous or more interaction in reality between all of them.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) (silent)
2.90 out of 4stars

“In 15th-century Paris, the brother of the archdeacon plots with the gypsy king to foment a peasant revolt. Meanwhile, a freakish hunchback falls in love with the gypsy queen.”
A great drama romance with a touch of monster horror that is most noted for another legendary Lon Chaney transformative turn physically and acting-wise as Quasimodo. All things compounded, Chaney’s brilliance is in full effect, whose acting steals the show when he’s on the screen alongside his mannerisms expressed to a tee creating true sympathy for this tortured revolting figure. Chaney’s self-created grotesque portrayal is great, that he again paid a physical price for exhibiting which included his own method-acting choice to use a self-made hunch weighing over 50pounds to feel the pain and difficulty a true hunchback would, while still completing some notable physical tasks within the film. Deserved Chaney gushing aside, who surprisingly is not the main character in his own titular film, the film is mostly about the socio-political and romantic battle within the city and for Esmeralda’s hand, a gypsy girl whom many men pursue. Some grand sets and high-volume extras scenes go nicely along with the solid main story.

M3GAN (2022)
2.70 out of 4stars

“M3GAN is a marvel of artificial intelligence, a life-like doll programmed to be a child's greatest companion and a parent's greatest ally. When Gemma suddenly becomes the caretaker of her orphaned 8-year-old niece, Gemma decides to pair her M3GAN prototype with Cady in an attempt to resolve and aid with this new ‘problem’--a decision that will have unimaginable consequences.”
A good sci-fi comedy horror that is much more funny than scary and a bit overhyped but contains an excellent character added to the horror genre in M3GAN. Don’t get me wrong on this, the film is overall satisfying for sure, but it felt like there was a lot of wasted potential there. The trailers and reviews are promoting this as something better than its final product is, not to mention the trailers give away too much. M3GAN the character is great though; creepy, witty, smart, and physically threatening. Too bad she’s underutilized, the story doesn’t take her as deep or far as she could and the PG-13 rating handcuffs her, taming down the horror and a few interesting murders occur completely or partially off screen. Not to mention, the film starts off a bit slow, M3GAN is not introduced until a half hour in and doesn’t get rolling until even further in. Funny though, with the satire and commentary on toys, technology and kids, and new age parenting hitting the right notes when it aims for them. One also wonders how Allison Williams got her acting role, doing her best Hayden Christensen impression for most of the movie, until you see her listed as a producer on the film, but McGraw and Davis make up for this. The good definitely outweighs the misses though. I hope it does well enough for a sequel because so much potential went untapped here with the character and themes.

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) (subtitles)
2.65 out of 4stars

“A businessman accidentally kills The Metal Fetishist, who gets his revenge by slowly turning the man into a grotesque hybrid of flesh and rusty metal.”
A good cyberpunk body horror sci-fi that is a very frantic over the top film that one needs a lot of patience or a fondness of its style and/or subject matter to truly enjoy. On the Kihei scale, this is a D or E for me on difficulty to absorb/appreciate, which I should always say is in the eye of the beholder in this very strange graphic film. There are things I really like about it: its industrial score, its body horror visuals and symbolism, and its bleak settings. But it’s also a bit frustrating given how lighting fast most scenes flash by that one truly can’t enjoy the creativity and intricacy of the work done to its fullest extent, while also dealing with almost subliminal interruptions throughout. While that delivery is likely part of the purpose from its writer/director, I feel it to be the wrong choice. Overtly about industrialism, sexuality, guilt, and revenge/justice. A very unique, very odd, surreal, and arguably disturbing experience though.

 

[Pink Mist]

Andrei Rublev / Андрей Рублёв (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966)

In turbulent 15th century Russia, the iconic painter Andrei Rublev gains renown for his artwork while struggling to create under a repressive and violent regime.

Going into Andrei Rublev I assumed the film was a three-hour long biography of the Andrei Rublev, the painter. Which it is of course, but not really. It’s more of a slice of life film of early 15th century Russia centred around the day to day life of Andrei Rublev who at times is only a marginal character in the eight episodes of his life that the film depicts. We barely even see him pick up a paintbrush throughout the film – some painter he was. Tarkovsky instead is concerned with the sociopolitical turmoil of the era and divide between Christianity and Paganism in a period characterized by unpredictable violence, princely feuds, and invasions from the Tatars. Tarkovsky doesn’t hold back in depicting the violence of the era either as some of the scenes are shockingly gruesome. Admittedly at times the three hour runtime was testing for me (I had to split the film into two viewings since I got way to sleepy in the first half of the film), the Russian history lesson often went over my head, and I also had difficulty identifying who was playing Andrei Rublev in the film at times - middle aged monks with beards all look the same to me – but once I got into the groove of the film in the second half I really enjoyed it. Goes without saying Tarkovsky has an eye for composition and the film is gorgeous to look at with some really interesting and creative shots.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Él (Buñuel, 1953) – To me, a lesser Buñuel film, Él is still of some importance, mainly as a primary influence on Hitchcock's Vertigo (and not only for the bell tower scene, which is the obvious point of junction). The jealous husband is supposed to be a very close alter-ego of the director, who would control his wife to insane lengths. It is said that when the film was poorly received at Cannes, Jean Cocteau told Buñuel that he just commited career suicide. The film was also supposedly screened to 50 psychiatrists at the Paris cinémathèque and Jacques Lacan himself would have told Buñuel that his film was a truthful representation of paranoia and that he'd use it with his students. That's for the anecdote. As for the film itself, it's an interesting portrait of obsessive desire that pushes one to paranoid frenzy. Structured in three distinctive parts, with the core one giving narrative control to the female protagonist as narrator, it ends on a last subtle paranoid hint suggesting we might have been fooled by her story (while the husband metaphorically reminds us of his threat of infibulation). This narrative structure should be the starting point of any reading of the film since it's a clear departure from the novel, which is strictly told from the wife's point of view, with every mention of her husband as Él (him/he), making him a stand-in for every men. Without making the husband any saner, Buñuel's film still subtly implies that there is two sides to every story. 5.5/10

Elle (Sarmiento, 1995) – Sarmiento's film is as much a new adaptation of the Mercedes Pinto novel as a variation on Buñuel's Él. The title implies a reappropriation of the narrative by the female protagonist. Whereas Buñuel managed to take a novel where the male character was stripped down to his pronoun, as a diffuse (symbolically disembodied) threat to the female protagonist, and kind of made it about him, Sarmiento plays on the French pronunciation of Él (him/he), and reverses it to Elle (her/she). Her female character (the wife) takes back full control of the narration, with voice-over intervention throughout the film, but she also takes some other forms of agency (which go against both the novel and its previous adaptation): she also spies on her husband, she's violent to their kid, she goes to the neighbor for advice, etc.. She's not a simple victim of her husband's lunacy, in fact she recognizes his amour fou, and the part she played in provoking it – and she's not too sane herself (you couldn't even say she's really the victim of her husband's madness, even the genital threats are now turned against him). The plot is much more complicated here, and the abstract (Ruizian) approach makes it kind of chaotic. Sarmiento was Raul Ruiz's wife, and he co-wrote the screenplay. It bears his signature all over – it's not a Ruiz film, it's a lot less prude, it's less precise and it doesn't have his visual experimentation bravura. But it's kind of a Ruiz film still, and if you don't like his unique tone, you won't appreciate this one either. You often feel his typical de-psychologisation of the characters, making them recite strange and abstruse dialogues that depart from the diegesis and relate purely to thematic elements. You also recognize his touch through the parallel with arts. Buñuel's husband first falls in love with the feet of his wife, but here, it's her hands and arms on which the husband flashes, because they're perfect incarnations of the missing ones on a Venus sculpture he loves (which his friends used to call his girlfriend). This whole Pygmalion thing is not part of the novel either, and is purely Ruizian. The film being a lot about incomplete representations: statues with missing limbs, skeletons, unfinished drawings (“where is my face, who is that woman?”). As a variation on Él, it's a pretty interesting film. As a Ruiz film, it misses its direction, exhaustiveness and focus – still, I'm a Ruiz groupie (by miles my favorite director), and I miss him a lot, so I enjoyed the ride anyway. 7/10

 

[Sentinel]

The Invisible Man (2020) - 8/10

A woman believes her dead ex-partner is stalking her.

Elisabeth Moss stars as Cecilia, a woman desperately trying to escape an abusive relationship with wealthy tech businessman Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). Cecilia goes into hiding at childhood friend James's (Aldis Hodge) house and becomes a recluse, fearing Adrian will find her. When Adrian shockingly commits suicide, Cecilia begins healing and finds a new lease on life. However, after a series of unexplainable strange events, Cecilia believes Adrian isn't really dead...

The Invisible Man was written and directed by Leigh Whannell, and produced by Jason Blum. Universal initially planned on big budget reboots all of their classic monster movies, but those plans were scrapped after Tom Cruise vehicle The Mummy (2017) flopped. Enter Blumhouse Productions, the independent studio famous for making lucrative profits off a shoestring budget. The Invisible Man is yet another attempt at this, with a meager budget of $7M ($10M minus kickbacks for filming in Australia).

And it succeeds, big time. The film has limited sets and characters, and manages to create a claustrophobia and paranoia as both Cecilia and the audience aren't sure if she's alone. Elisabeth Moss gives a strong performance in challenging circumstances given that she is often acting alone in an empty room. Aldis Hodge also gives a strong supporting performance as her police officer friend, who is skeptical of Cecilia's claims yet remains supportive of her. Overall I thought the characterizations in the film were strong and the characters weren't stupid.

Plot wise, rather than going the psychological horror route, the film lets you know right away that Cecilia is indeed being stalked. However, there are lots of plot twists along the way (which I obviously won't spoil), and I was impressed once again with Whannell's writing. With that said, I have seen many negative comments online about the latter half of the movie going downhill due to plot and/or logic issues, but I can't say I agree. I thought the ending was clever and extremely satisfying.

Overall, The Invisible Man is a heck of a way to kick off the new decade in horror. It is another example that less is often more, and despite being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the film earned $144M theatrically - over 20 times its microscopic budget. Blumhouse put out so many movies that the quality can be hit or miss, but this one is on their Mount Rushmore as far as I'm concerned.

Turned it off after 15 minutes. But then again, horrors are (typically) not my thing.

Andrei Rublev / Андрей Рублёв (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1966)

In turbulent 15th century Russia, the iconic painter Andrei Rublev gains renown for his artwork while struggling to create under a repressive and violent regime.

Going into Andrei Rublev I assumed the film was a three-hour long biography of the Andrei Rublev, the painter. Which it is of course, but not really. It’s more of a slice of life film of early 15th century Russia centred around the day to day life of Andrei Rublev who at times is only a marginal character in the eight episodes of his life that the film depicts. We barely even see him pick up a paintbrush throughout the film – some painter he was. Tarkovsky instead is concerned with the sociopolitical turmoil of the era and divide between Christianity and Paganism in a period characterized by unpredictable violence, princely feuds, and invasions from the Tatars. Tarkovsky doesn’t hold back in depicting the violence of the era either as some of the scenes are shockingly gruesome. Admittedly at times the three hour runtime was testing for me (I had to split the film into two viewings since I got way to sleepy in the first half of the film), the Russian history lesson often went over my head, and I also had difficulty identifying who was playing Andrei Rublev in the film at times - middle aged monks with beards all look the same to me – but once I got into the groove of the film in the second half I really enjoyed it. Goes without saying Tarkovsky has an eye for composition and the film is gorgeous to look at with some really interesting and creative shots.

The only Tarkovsky film I can stomach. At least it didn't ruin a sci-fi classic like Stalker or Solaris.

The Big Sleep (1946)
3.50 out of 4stars

“Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love.”
An excellent noir that's an iconic fast paced highly convoluted unpredictable journey that’s always engaging, even the odd interactions with Bogart and super-side characters. Well executed by all, most obviously Bogart carrying the film, Hawk’s direction, the fun memorable dialogue and writing that includes some surprising sexual innuendo, Steiner’s orchestral score, etc. Chock full of twists, murders, and new characters being added throughout. Still trying to figure out overall how I truly feel about the overly intricate screenplay/sequence of events. Without question it’s genius and works, but I’m just curious with all the added characters throughout involved if there wouldn’t have been previous or more interaction in reality between all of them.

I want to see this.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

A Man Escaped. I was just babbling a few posts above about how Quentin Tarantino has morphed into someone who only wants to do big moments in his movies and doesn't seem to have desire for the little moments, the process. Well here's the exact opposite. This is a thriller built entirely of small moments and patient process. Simple story: French resistance fighter is capture by Nazis and jailed. He immediately sets to free himself. Not much else to it. Spare backstory. The enemies are time and a lack of resources. There are no sadistic guards or shifty inmates, just a man and a focused mission. Perhaps the ultimate process movie. Simple and disciplined like the best plate of Cacio e Pepe you could possibly order.

The Menu. Speaking of food ... very solid dark comedy. A handful of elites head to a remote island for the exclusive dinner of a lifetime but all is not exactly as it seems. (trailers give all that away, sadly, though I'm not sure how else you can market this). Tension is thick and maintained and when I say dark there are moments where it gets real bleak. But it's genuinely funny too. Some of the guests are fish-in-a-barrel 1% cliches but they're well done. Lots of expertly delivered deadpan lines (there's a birthday gag that I howled at). It makes obvious points about wealth and privledge and art but I appreciate that Ralph Finnes chef is also not quite all he seems to be, bringing a bit of balance that I didn't expect or necessarily need, but was pleasantly surprised to see there.

Ravenous. (I must be hungry?) Gnarly little late 90s Western that developed a cult following. Soldiers stuck in a remote fort in the 1840s encounter a stranger who confesses to cannibalism. Bloody and I do mean bloody mayhem ensues. What an odd duck of a movie! It's weird — not in a trippy David Lynch way — but in that tonal mashup way. It has the sheen and performances of an action Western, but a strong vein of dark, dark humor. Hell the epigraph has two quotes, one of which is "Eat Me" (I lol'd) so it's not subtle about its intentions, nor is the jaunty score. Packed with recognizable faces and a fun and unexpectedly twisty plot. It's the sort of movie that you watch thinking "How did a studio allow this?" and studio execs definitely saw and thought "What the f*** did we just do? Who is this for?" Me. That's who it's for. I LOVED it.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I'm an avowed fan of Shane Black's shtick, for better and worse. Saw this when it first came out and really adored it. Hadn't revisted it in years and I have to say having gone back to it finally, I'm now pretty cool on it. Twisty Chandler-esque L.A. noir packed with chatty smartasses. I like these things. I like it when Black has done it before and since and I liked this once, but a lot less now. So what changed? The Robert Downey Jr. of it all is one thing. This was part of the pre-MCU comeback so 15 years ago or so he felt fresh and funny. I think I'm just burned out on him. Definitely didn't vibe with his character like I originally did. Much more irritating than charming. The other thing is the total onslaught of gay jokes. I don't think the movie is offensive per se. Val Kilmer's character is gay and is clearly the most competent person in the movie and he is a more than willing and able combatant in the verbal sparing. There's just so many and they're consistently unfunny. A lot of "stop looking at my dick" and "are you looking at my dick?" type bits. Made it feel more like a 1985 movie not a 2005 movie. Disappointing.

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man. Believe it or not this is the ONLY movie where Big John Studd and Vanessa Williams play husband and wife.

Ravenous is one of my all time favorite quirky films.

Carlyle gives a great performance and the score is one of those atmospheric haunts that always sticks with you.

Boyd’s Journey, teasing both hope and dread, basically sums up the bizarre and peculiar nature of the film in one song:

 

[shadow1]

Thunderbolt (1995) - 6/10

A part-time racer mechanic must compete in a car race against a criminal to recover his kidnapped sisters.

Jackie Chan stars as Jackie, a no-nonsense Hong Kong mechanic shop owner who previously trained in Japan with Mitsubishi racing. Jackie and his crew frequently collaborate with the Hong Kong police department to help them identify illegally modified cars. During a seizure of some illegally modified vehicles, Jackie ends up encountering Cougar (Thorsten Nickel), a street racing criminal with a mean streak. Jackie helps the police capture Cougar after he blows through a police check point, but Cougar escapes and retaliates against Jackie and his family by destroying his shop and kidnapping his two sisters. He offers Jackie a chance to reclaim his loved ones: win a circuit race in Japan.

Thunderbolt was written and directed by Gordon Chan, and marked Jackie Chan's first movie after making Rumble in the Bronx (1995). Unlike Rumble - which went on to become extremely popular internationally in 1996 - Thunderbolt was a nearly impossible movie to find in the USA during Jackie's heyday, giving it somewhat of a mystique. Thunderbolt didn't arrive on DVD in the United States until 2006, which was after Jackie's biggest period of commercial success. This was only my second viewing and first in more than a decade, allowing me to go in completely unbiased.

• Note: By some strange coincidence, this movie was uploaded to the official (free) Youtube Movies account the night I fished out my DVD; I'm talking within the same hour of me grabbing the box. My DVD is so old (and possibly a bootleg) that when I opened the case, there was all kinds of broken thin plastic pieces inside: the label on the DVD had peeled off and seemingly exploded over the years! Sadly, the Youtube version is a terrible dub without Jackie Chan's real voice (especially disappointing because the original audio has a significant amount of English) so I stuck with my janky DVD for this re-watch.

The film is a change of pace for Jackie, whose character is a hot head and not goofy at all; so much so that there is a romance subplot with a reporter named Amy (Anita Yuen), and she often points out how he doesn't smile. Aside from that though, we get the usual Jackie Chan fight sequences you'd expect, with the asterisk that Jackie used a stunt double for many of these sequences. The reason for that is Jackie had broken his ankle while filming Rumble in the Bronx, and still wasn't fully recovered. It's probably not too noticeable for the average audience member, and fortunately a lot of the film's action involves racing, so this was a good project to work on while recovering.

Thunderbolt's biggest weakness is its plot, which is a hot mess. The concept is preposterous and could've been tightened by reducing the number of characters. Jackie has two sisters who get kidnapped, but the audience doesn't know a thing about them and therefore don't care. Re-writing the movie to have only one sister and giving her some actual development would've greatly improved the emotional weight of the film, in my opinion. The villain, Cougar, is a cardboard cut out of a character, and I'm not even sure what crime he's guilty of committing. He does commit crimes during the film, but before we meet him he's already a wanted man with fake passports and identities. I haven't got a clue why.

Possibly worst of all is Jackie's character, whose back story makes little sense. The film opens to a montage of he and a group of trainees at a Mitsubishi racing location in Japan, but then suddenly shifts and he's working his mechanic job in Hong Kong. After his sisters are kidnapped, I thought that it was going to turn out that the film's opening image was a flash forward, and Jackie was now going through this training to defeat Cougar in the race. But no, it was in the past. The film's opening has a kickin' 1990's rock song sung by Jackie, by the way.

The film has a supporting role from Michael Wong, a well known actor who plays a detective hunting Cougar. Though his character is yet another that could've been removed from the film without much consequence, I bring him up because the film has a big shootout scene in the middle of the film (sans-Jackie Chan) that heavily features Wong. It's an awesome, slightly over-the-top sequence that is reminiscent of a film like Big Bullet (1996).

Finally, I need to comment on the racing scenes. They suit the needs of the film well enough, but I didn't think they were anything to write home about. This may be due to how they were filmed, which apparently involved the stunt team driving at reasonable speeds and then having the footage later sped up. Again, they aren't bad, but aren't any special either.

Overall, Thunderbolt is a mixed bag, but still manages to be entertaining. Though it's one of Jackie's more mixed-1990's efforts, it was still a fun watch and ekes out a 6 from me. In hindsight, I can understand why this film wasn't released to American theaters, as Jackie's angry character could've potentially impacted the goofy, friendly persona he was manicuring at the time. Not a much watch Jackie Chan movie, but an interesting entry from his heyday that works as a popcorn flick.

 

[shadow1]

M3GAN (2023) - 6/10

A sophisticated toy begins evolving faster than its creators intended.

Allison Williams stars as Emma, a robotics engineer who is unexpectedly entrusted with caring for her niece Cady (Violet McGraw). As the two begin adjusting to their new situation, Emma introduces her latest invention to Cady - a lifelike doll called M3GAN (Amie Donald). As Cody and M3GAN begin to form an unhealthy bond, Emma becomes concerned that M3GAN has become sentient with an agenda of its own...

M3GAN was written by Akela Cooper and James Wan, and was directed by Gerard Johnstone. The film was produced by Jason Blum, and marks another lower budget Blumhouse production, reportedly coming in at $12M.

The film uses a classic horror movie trope - an evil doll - but goes in a different direction with the story, focusing on the potential pitfalls of technology, with commentary about what constitutes real social interaction. The film - rated PG-13 in the United States - is very tame by horror movie standards, with only an instance or two of blood. I might even hesitate calling M3GAN a horror film; it's more of a comedy-thriller with some horror elements.

For the most part, the movie doesn't even try to scare the audience; it does try to unnerve them, however. I thought M3GAN succeeded in that it avoided a lot of low hanging fruits of the "killer doll" subgenre, and turned things on its head a bit in that I found myself rooting for M3GAN a lot of the time (and no, it wasn't because I'm a psychopath - it was the filmmaker's intention).

With that being said, the film is very predictable, and it beats you over the head a little too much with exposition about the "technology is replacing real human connection" theme. I thought the character of Cady was strong, with a good performance by Violet McGraw, but I could take or leave any of the adult characters. I didn't fear for their safety, and Emma was hard to relate to at times. She starts off as a very cold character, and it takes her too long to connect the dots that something is wrong with M3GAN - even though her character is a genius.

Overall though, M3GAN is a pretty decent comedy-horror-thriller. While I don't think I'll return to it anytime in the near future, I do think it's worth checking out and isn't a bad way to kick off the horror genre in 2023. I also think it's a good "gateway" horror film for young audiences due to tame violence.

 

[shadow1]

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) - 8/10

A famous detective is invited to a murder mystery party on a remote island.

Daniel Craig stars as famed detective Benoit Blanc, who is unexpectedly invited to an island getaway by eccentric billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) whom he's never met. This getaway has a twist: the main event is a game where the guests have to solve a fictional murder mystery surrounding Miles' "death". When Benoit arrives on the island and begins interacting with the guests, he quickly realizes they all have a motive to really kill Miles.

Glass Onion was written and directed by Rian Johnson, and serves as the sequel to the 2019 hit film Knives Out. The movie, which was both filmed during and set during the Covid-19 pandemic, and is fittingly set on an island away from civilization.

The film borrows the isolation set up from Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" and tells a funny, quirky story with an all-star cast of memorable characters - portrayed by Dave Bautista, Madelyn Cline, Kathryn Hahn, Peggy Henwick, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, and Leslie Odom Jr. With such an all-star cast, it makes it more difficult to discern who the killer(s) may be, which is a common pitfall of lesser mystery films (the lone star cast member being the murderer).

Being as Glass Onion is a mystery, the less said about the film the better. I do have one spoiler-y comment though: my only disappointment with the film is it was very obvious to me who the killer(s) were. I've read a ton of Agatha Christie mystery books and have seen similar plots to this one a time or two, so your milage may vary. Regardless of that fact, the route to arriving at the ultimate conclusion was very fun, with lots of twists and turns along the way I didn't see coming.

Overall, Glass Onion is another great entry into the mystery genre by Ryan Johnson. It is a funny, quirky film with a great cast and memorable characters. As mystery films lose much of their luster after the conclusion is revealed, I'll end my brief review simply by recommending the film to anyone who likes mysteries or liked Knives Out.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

The Fabelmans - 7.5/10

I'm not the biggest Spielberg fan and thinks he makes mediocre films but this is probably his best since 2004 (The Terminal). He's not someone that gives the best depth to his characters due to wanting to be sentimental while balancing some light-heartedness but the acting from Dano & Williams helps (and even Seth Rogen but I found it hilarious that he cast Seth Rogen here lol). Also like the way this looks, some generic sets that could fit in any movie based in the 60s but he adds a lot of good vivid colour to it. Someone said Spielberg movies are better if you watch them at 2x and while I don't agree with that, he does have a really bad habit of thinking that drawing or slowing down scenes will make them better which is hit or miss. The two most interesting scenes in this film come at the end imo probably because they break from his formula a little bit. A one-to-one he has with his father in their apartment at the end and another scene where he's at the CBS studios, they break away from the more formulaic biographical 'this happens and then there's this quirky thing and this sad thing and then this happens'.

Also Paul Dano with makeup and acting plays a very believable dad here. He's in his mid-30s in real life and just a few years older than me but acts 10 years older here while in my mind Paul Dano was still in his 20s....I should probably look to get married at this point lol, but naaah.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) - 8/10

A famous detective is invited to a murder mystery party on a remote island.

Daniel Craig stars as famed detective Benoit Blanc, who is unexpectedly invited to an island getaway by eccentric billionaire Miles Bron (Edward Norton) whom he's never met. This getaway has a twist: the main event is a game where the guests have to solve a fictional murder mystery surrounding Miles' "death". When Benoit arrives on the island and begins interacting with the guests, he quickly realizes they all have a motive to really kill Miles.

Glass Onion was written and directed by Rian Johnson, and serves as the sequel to the 2019 hit film Knives Out. The movie, which was both filmed during and set during the Covid-19 pandemic, and is fittingly set on an island away from civilization.

The film borrows the isolation set up from Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" and tells a funny, quirky story with an all-star cast of memorable characters - portrayed by Dave Bautista, Madelyn Cline, Kathryn Hahn, Peggy Henwick, Kate Hudson, Janelle Monae, and Leslie Odom Jr. With such an all-star cast, it makes it more difficult to discern who the killer(s) may be, which is a common pitfall of lesser mystery films (the lone star cast member being the murderer).

Being as Glass Onion is a mystery, the less said about the film the better. I do have one spoiler-y comment though: my only disappointment with the film is it was very obvious to me who the killer(s) were. I've read a ton of Agatha Christie mystery books and have seen similar plots to this one a time or two, so your milage may vary. Regardless of that fact, the route to arriving at the ultimate conclusion was very fun, with lots of twists and turns along the way I didn't see coming.

Overall, Glass Onion is another great entry into the mystery genre by Ryan Johnson. It is a funny, quirky film with a great cast and memorable characters. As mystery films lose much of their luster after the conclusion is revealed, I'll end my brief review simply by recommending the film to anyone who likes mysteries or liked Knives Out.

I think part of what I enjoyed about the movie is that the mystery was so obvious. There's clues everywhere. And the movie even makes a point of saying that the crime was so obvious and stupid that it fooled Blanc, because he assumed it was something more complicated, lol.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

THX 1138 (1971) - 7/10

It's certainly the most interesting looking and feeling of George Lukas' films. If he hadn't just worked on Star Wars, we'd have gotten some more interesting stuff from him imo at least visually. I have nothing else to really add that hasn't been said though, it's a fairly flat generic dystopian tale with a solid ending and a clean ~90 minute runtime. The storyline isn't fleshed out nor are the characters but that was never Lucas' strengh. The slightly surreal atmosphere that was captured here though.....I think he failed a bit to create that with Star Wars when he showed he has the talent to do it.

 

[Unholy Diver]

Weird: The Al Yankovic story - 8/10

I was not thrilled when I first heard that Harry Potter was going to be portraying Weird Al, and was skeptical but he did a great job, and upon hearing and then seeing that it was going to be a parody biopic I felt a lot better, I was a huge fan of Al in my younger days and felt the movie did him and his story right, fits right in with Al's cult classic UHF

The party at Dr Demento's house was brilliant

 

[shadow1]

Bullet Train (2022) - 7/10

Multiple underworld operatives, unaware of each other's presence, all board the same train in search of a briefcase.

Brad Pitt stars as Ladybug, an operative with a notorious bad luck streak that has resulted in several accidental deaths. He is assigned to steal a briefcase off of a bullet train in Japan that belongs to Lemon (Brian Tyree Henry) and Tangerine (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), two assassins who are trying to deliver the case to a notorious Yakuza boss called The White Death (Michael Shannon). Meanwhile, a distraught father named Yuichi (Andrew Koji) seeks revenge on The Prince (Joey King), a young woman who injured his son. Despite the chaos, Ladybug quickly retrieves the briefcase and prepares to exit the train at the next stop, until things go horribly awry...

Bullet Train was written by Zak Olkewicz, and is based on a 2010 Kotaro Isaka novel of the same name. The film was directed by David Leitch, who's most well known for directing Deadpool 2 (2018), as well as with serving as producer on the John Wick films. Leitch's association with those two films should inform the audience what they're getting into here, which is an over-the-top action film with wacky comedy.

Bullet Train is a very stylish movie, but in my opinion it goes overboard in the first 20 minutes. There is way too much going on at the start of the film, and with editing that I'd consider to be schizophrenic, I could see this opening alienating viewers. I also wasn't a fan of how much narrative the film tries to spoon feed early on. However, for audiences who stick with the film, things calm down considerably and the Bullet Train becomes a lot more digestible.

Brad Pitt is very funny as the chronically unlucky but wholesome Ladybug, and the rest of the cast does a good job as well. I'd recommend skipping the trailers - or reading the IMDB cast list - for this one, as there are three major cameos that may be spoiled for you. Story wise, the film is somewhat of a Neo-noir, with lots of twists and turns as events unfold. I wouldn't call any of the twists too shocking, but they do enough to keep the audience on its toes.

The meat of the movie is the action-comedy, which it does well. It's very stylized in a way that's very similar to Deadpool 2, which I personally enjoy. I wouldn't put the fight scenes on the same level as a Jackie Chan film (can I go one review without mentioning him?), but they were still entertaining. The comedy - most of which was physical humor - was also good, and I found myself laughing out loud a few times.

Overall, Bullet Train is a popcorn movie that embraces the fact. It's unapologetically over-the-top and was very enjoyable, aside from a rocky opening to the film. It's a film that you'll know whether or not it's your cup of tea by just reading the synopsis, and if it is you won't be disappointed.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

She Said. A respectful, by-the-book (literally?) journalism "thriller" that doesn't really rise above that. Thinking about this for a few days now I think there's a lack of compelling drama. Eventhough we know the outcomes in similar films like All the President's Men and Spotlight those still have an element of watching journalists piece together a puzzle. There really is no such "conspiracy" in She Said, yes Harvey Weinstein successfully suppressed stories of his behavior for years but there's only surface attention paid to that issue and how lawyers, the industry and media effectively covered things up. There's no what and how here. That's all known from the jump.

So, the drama is almost exclusively centered on whether or not sources will speak on the record or not. That — arguably morally and correctly — makes the crux of the movie about the victims deciding to speak up. That taking back of power is important. But the issue is the text of the movie isn't really about the victims, it's about the journalists and they don't investigate as much they console and/or serve as therapists. I don't think that's false. I have every belief that there's truth and accuracy in what's portrayed here. But with one foot fully in the journalism world and one foot kinda in the victim world it doesn't really give a compelling plot-driven drama nor a compelling emotional-driven drama. Tries to do both, but ultimately doesn't fully succeed at either though the scenes with Jennifer Ehle and Samantha Morton as past victims are excellent and the best parts of the movie.

 

[Jussi]

I think part of what I enjoyed about the movie is that the mystery was so obvious. There's clues everywhere. And the movie even makes a point of saying that the crime was so obvious and stupid that it fooled Blanc, because he assumed it was something more complicated, lol.

I think that's the charm of the movie, how it managed to made the obvious so entertaining. On a side note, I though this was much better than the recent actual Agatha Christie adaptation, Death On The Nile.

 

[Jussi]

The Menu. Noticed while watching that it was going to drop on Disney+ this Wednesday but I didn't want to wait. 8½/10 You knew it was going to end badly, not quite as I expected, but yeah. Class warfare of sorts was the theme. Clever little twist at the end which

Spoiler

got Anya Taylor Joy out of the "finale"

.

 

[Pink Mist]

La Promesse (Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, 1996)

Igor, aged 15, and his father Roger deal in housing and peddling illicit labor in the outlying districts of Liege, Belgium. When one of his father’s illegal workers gets injured on the job and asks Igor to promise to take care of his wife and baby, Igor finds himself at a crossroad.

Prior to becoming feature film directors, the Dardenne brothers pumped out a ton of documentary films covering historical and sociological topics. In the 1980s they began to transition from documentary to dramas and their third dramatic film, La Promesse, is what began to cement the Dardenne brothers as the Cannes darlings they are today. La Promesse has all of the traits that the Dardenne brothers are known for today, the minimalist and almost documentary like style shot with handhelds, with a local ensemble of cast – many of the cast from La Promesse would appear in subsequent Dardenne brothers films, including both of the leads Jérémie Renier and Olivier Gourmet. A brilliant work of social realism, about a teenager trapped between supporting his father and the exploitive scheme they use to try to climb out of their own poverty, and empathy for the vulnerable and marginalized he and his father exploit. A devastating and gut-wrenching film.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Swelter (Parmer, 2014) - JCVD takes the backseat in this one, which isn't a bad thing. Pretty bland film otherwise, doesn't do anything you don't expect it to do. 3/10

Dreamscape (Ruben, 1984) - How on Earth did I miss this one when I was a kid? It's a weird cousin to A Nightmare on Elm Street (even read someone proposing they'd belong in the same universe based on an allusion to the Dreamscape creature on the Freddy poster - a snake-man I had never noticed), which got out a couple months later only. Mix that with small doses of cold war tension, it makes for a very peculiar film. It's a poor horror movie, and it's worth nothing as a paranoid thriller, but it's still kind of interesting. Very poorly made, even though they had a pretty good cast. 4/10

Bullet Train (Leitch, 2022) - At first, the TV-ads aesthetics and the it was cool in the 90s construction got me thinking that I'd despise this one, but the humor caught me off guard a few times. 4.5/10

 

[kihei]

Pacifiction (2022) Directed by Albert Serra 8C

Albert Serra (The Death of Louis IV; Story of My Death; Birdsong) is among the leading practitioners of slow cinema, granted, an acquired taste. Pacifiction is a close to three hour study of De Roller (Benoit Magimel), France's High Commissioner to Tahiti, still ostensibly a French territory, during the waning days of his tenure. De Roller is a semi-sleazy, rumpled diplomat who feels as at home in night clubs as he does handling the various problems, big and small, that come to his attention. He has real power on the island and is not afraid to use it, but he also has that oddly French ability to combine bumptious self-regard with a vague awareness of his own inconsequence at the same time. However, a bigger snake is turning up in paradise than the ones he is used to dealing with--the appearance of French naval officers suggests a possibility that Polynesia might become again a site for the testing of nuclear weapons. Though whatever moral framework that De Roller might have once possessed has become atrophied beyond recognition, he does not want this resumption of nuclear testing to happen. But what can he do about it? Can he even find evidence that such a thing is in the works?

While the movie is a fascinating character study of a deceptively complex man brilliantly acted by Magimel, Pacifiction is much more than that. It is a painstaking creation of a milieu, and Serra plops the audience right in the middle of it. By paying so much attention to detail and atmosphere (no tropical island has ever been more gorgeously photographed), Serra forces us to become flies on the wall observing this burned-out case of a diplomat trying to cope with a problem way above his pay grade. By my standards, this was pretty speedy slow cinema; the film went by fast. I really got into the unique perspective that I had been given. and as with all successful slow cinema works, I know for certain that I will be unpacking the insights and implications of Pacifiction for weeks.

Sidenote: One critic pointed out that Benoit Magimel is morphing into Gerard Depardieu right before our eyes and at a rapid rate. Indeed, Pacifiction contains one of the greatest Depardieu roles that Gerard never played. A quarter of a century ago, Depardieu would have been an absolute slam dunk for the part--no one else would have even been considered.

subtitles


Best Movies of 2022

1) The Banshees of Inisherin, McDonagh, Ireland
2) Aftersun, Wells UK
3} Decision to Leave, Park, South Korea
4) Pacifiction, Serra, France
5) The Quiet Girl, Bairead, Ireland
6) No Bears, J. Panahi, Iran
7) Hit the Road, P. Panahi, Iran
8) Everything Everywhere All at Once, Kwan/Scheinert, US
9) Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths, Inarritu, Mexico
10) Moonage Daydream, Morgen, UK

 

[shadow1]

Dragon Lord (1982) - 6/10

Two nitwit friends become entangled with a group of thieves planning to steal Chinese artifacts.

Jackie Chan and Mars star as Dragon and Cowboy (respectively), two young men who spend their time chasing girls, playing sports, and misbehaving. Due to their knack for putting themselves in stupid situations, they end up crossing paths with a gang of thieves planning to steal artifacts from the town's temple.

Dragon Lord was written and directed by Jackie Chan. The film was originally written as a sequel to 1980's The Young Master, and it's easy to tell. Jackie once again plays a misbehaving kung-fu student, and his master is once again played by Feng Tien, though this time he plays Jackie's father. Mars, a long time member of the Jackie Chan stunt team, has a starring role and would later have co-starring roles with Jackie throughout the 1980's.

Dragon Lord is a truly perplexing film. There is very little plot; we follow around the misadventures of Dragon and Cowboy as they do stupid things like try to send a love letter via kite, play rugby, and accidentally fire a loaded musket indoors. There are a couple scenes to remind you that there are thieves about, but otherwise the film feels like a Seinfeld episode: a story about nothing.

Somehow it works, and the film kept my attention the entire time. It's not as good (or as funny) as The Young Master, but Dragon Lord still manages to be entertaining. Strangely for a Jackie Chan film, the first fight doesn't take place until an hour into the film, and it's a brief one (there are a couple scenes featuring sports matches, though). The film is most well known for its final fight that takes place within a barn, with Dragon and Cowboy taking on the leader of the thieves. This is not a traditional martial arts fight; rather, Dragon and Cowboy absorb tons of physical damage and do everything in their power to defeat their opponent, who has them completely overmatched.

Overall, Dragon Lord is an okay movie. It bewilderingly manages to be entertaining despite little-to-no plot and no fight sequences until the very end of the movie. I couldn't find the budget online, but I imagine this film cost very little to make (assuming existing sets were used), as the overwhelming majority of it takes place outdoors in broad daylight. If so, kudos to Jackie and co. for making a decent movie with very few resources. Dragon Lord is not a must watch Jackie Chan film, but is worth checking out for fans of his martial arts period piece movies.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Overall, Bullet Train is a popcorn movie that embraces the fact. It's unapologetically over-the-top and was very enjoyable, aside from a rocky opening to the film.

It's very much a popcorn movie because I did watch it at the theatre (without buying for popcorn cos f*** them and their $10 ask in 2022) and I thought it was pretty decent albeit with a drawn-out ending but I put it on Amazon Prime to watch with someone last week and quit part way through because it came across as try-hard over the top dumb when trying to watch at home.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Jaws (1975) - 7/10

My favourite parts? The ones without the shark. I f***in love the scenes where Roy Schneider is running around the town and they're showing tourists and people talking with the looming threat of the shark. When the shark is close or on the screen is where I get turned off here. Spielberg also ruins a bit of a good thing here with his crazier caricature of the shark-hunter character, he always has to go a bit zany and juvenile but the more down-to-earth parts feel well done.

 

[Puck]

Golden Globes 2023: ‘Fabelmans,”Banshees of Inisherin’ take home top prizes - National | Globalnews.ca

The 2023 Golden Globes featured a diverse slate of nominees and winners as the beleaguered award show sought to rekindle its pre-pandemic and pre-scandal glamour.

globalnews.ca

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

Was Fabelmans any good? I'm kind of burned out on the whole "Hollywood's ode to Hollywood" genre. Cinema Paradiso pretty much covered it.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Was Fabelmans any good? I'm kind of burned out on the whole "Hollywood's ode to Hollywood" genre. Cinema Paradiso pretty much covered it.

I liked it quite a bit. There's definitely some "magic of movies" stuff in it but I thought it played more fun than saccharine. It's used more as the Spielberg stand in clearly being gifted at making movies and a little less "wow, ain't the old movie great!" So you see him making movies more than you get him sitting in a theater all wide eyed. It's more of an active love than a passive one, if that makes sense. It plays as a refuge for him, something he can control, as opposed to his turbulent home life which he cannot.

It's a lot more about him than Hollywood.

I went in thinking I'd be bothered by it but wasn't at all.