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

[BigBadBruins7708]

Salem's Lot (2024) - 6/10

I really wanted to like this one more, but they just tried to cram way too much material into a movie run time.

I love the novel and the original mini series. At this point Salem's Lot needs to be done as a 1 season series like Chernobyl to properly tell the story and fit all the material in. The original mini series does a very good job of it in its 3 hours run time, but even that had to drop subplots and combine a few characters into one (notably the adultery angle and the amount of time between Danny disappearing and the next attack). The latest attempt unfortunately cuts out pretty any character development moments to where to where they're all just faces on the screen with no identity to connect to. It simply jumps from big moment to big moment from the book and plays out like a book report written by a 6th grader.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice - 5/10

Finally got around to taking the boys and some of their friends to see this. Had them watch the original a month or so ago. Overall, it's (obviously) all about the nostalgia and the main reason it even got the 5 rating. As a stand-alone movie, there are a number of different plots that make the movie jumbled and confusing at times. I think Burton had all these ideas over the years, and when it was finally greenlit, he decided to cram all of them into one movie. Plus, not a shocker as it's Tim Burton, but parts were just really weird.

Overall, it's a fun trip down memory lane and they did a good job bringing back characters and linking to the first one. Got a few chuckles too. However, it was a mess as it jumped from one story to another.

 

[kihei]

Conclave (2024) Directed by Edward Berger 4A

Handsomely mounted, well acted, elegantly photographed, oozing gravitas like a supertanker leaking oil, a peek into the inner workings of the Catholic Church when it comes to electing a new Pope, Conclave is a fun ride until near the end when it gives way to the dumbest, most preposterous, totally ludicrous self-inflicted ending that I have seen in many a year. This papal thriller has other problems, too.

Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes), Dean of the College of Cardinals, is tasked with organizing the conclave of Church Cardinals that always follows the death of a Pope. Though I would have expected the Dean to be neutral, he actually is wheeling and dealing to ensure that a more progressive candidate (Stanley Tucci) wins the vote rather the racist arch-conservative Italian candidate whose skullcap could very well read Make Catholicism Great Again. Like victims in a murder mystery, various candidates bite the dust not because of poison in their tea but because of scandal. All this culminates in said stupid ending that caused snickers and the odd guffaw of laughter in my theatre. Now to the other problem: Conclave doesn't even disguise the fact that it is about the upcoming US presidential election as much as it is about electing a new Pope. Clearly the good guys are the progressives and the bad guys are the fiendish conservatives who want to turn back the clock and take away all the Church's reforms. To say the least, the movie is ill-served by this stacked-deck, grandstanding political maneuver. Well, you do get an excellent performance from Fiennes, but the flaws of Conclave are too overwhelming to ignore.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Motivated by the Best Horror Movie of the 70s thread, I knocked out the two movies on that list that I hadn't seen before.

The Tenant. It's kinda reductive to parallel this to Rosemary's Baby and yet you can't not given that it's about a tenant in an apartment building who may or may not be going crazy and whose neighbors may or may not be up to some supernatural shit and how those things may or may not be related. I liked it in general. Roman Polanski is a masterful crafter of a paranoid thriller/horror and this has some wonderful moments and some interesting themes/meanings that loom over the story. The weakness is that he also happens to be the star. He's not really a bad actor, but I couldn't help but feel this is a better movie with a better actor in the key role. Not to mention having Polanski himself at the center of a movie about a man who may or may not be the target of persecution ... well, real life intrudes a little too much for me there. I'm a fairly liberal separate-the-art-from-the-artist person and this was made before his legal issues ... but let's just say he's a hard person to really feel for.

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. Holy crap I loved this. A weird, dark fairy tale of a movie with maidens and lurking evil (wonderful swirling, enveloping cape work in this!) and a castle of a sort. The kinda dreamy movie that makes me wonder if Ingmar Bergman and David Lynch like it. It feels like they'd really dig it. (There's a rather obvious character reason in the movie for me making those specific connections, but the feel and themes all match as well). Beyond seeing future David Lynch in this, I also got a lot of Ken Russell as well. Engaging if you're stone-cold sober, but is probably also gangbusters if you're trippin' balls too. Also would play well in the background of a party or bar. Real four-quadrant movie for me.

 

[kihei]

Daughters (2024) Director by Angela Patton and Natalie Robinson 8A (documentary)

At a medium security prison in Washington D.C., four young girls, aged five to eleven, prepare to meet their incarcerated fathers in a prison programme called Date with Daddy Dance. Both groups prepare in their own way for what has the potential to be a wrenching though perhaps life altering experience for both sides. This particular prison, like many for-profit prisons in the US, no longer allows inmates personal visits (contact is allowed via infrequent telephone calls or skype-type hook ups--is this not crazy as hell?). So the result is that neither parent nor daughter may have had anything more than cursory contact with one another or no contact at all. Obviously this is a big, big deal for the hopeful little daughters who count the years until Daddy comes home, but it is also a big, big deal for the nervous dads who agree to undergo a ten-week training programme to get ready for the big day. When the big moment arrives, believe me, you are going to need Kleenex, though the documentary, a model of restraint really, goes out of its way not to unnecessarily tug at your heartstrings. Daughters also shies away from any kind of elaborate political statement about the controversial prison environment in the US where black convicts make up slightly over 37% of the inmates while representing roughly only 13% of the general population. The focus is entirely on the daughters and fathers and what the aftereffects are of the Date with Daddy programme. The documentary claims that 95% of the participants in this programme do not return to prison after they are released. Daughters is well worth everybody's time. I can't think of the last documentary that I found as moving as this one.

Netflix

Best of '24 so far

1. Anora, Baker, US
2. Flow, Zilbalodis, Latvia
3. Caught by the Tides, Jia, China
4. All We Imagine As Light, Kapadia, India
5. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Jude, Romania
6. Green Border, Holland, Poland
7. The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Rasoulof, Germany
8. Daughters, Patton and Robinson, US (documentary)
9. Here, Devos, Belgium
10. Pictures of Ghosts, Filho, Brazil

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Tenant. It's kinda reductive to parallel this to Rosemary's Baby and yet you can't not given that it's about a tenant in an apartment building who may or may not be going crazy and whose neighbors may or may not be up to some supernatural shit and how those things may or may not be related.

It is refered to as the "apartment trilogy" (with Repulsion - three amazing films).

Glad you liked Valerie too! Love both these films, but have a preference for The Tenant (I included it in the Panic thread).

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

It is refered to as the "apartment trilogy" (with Repulsion - three amazing films).

Glad you liked Valerie too! Love both these films, but have a preference for The Tenant (I included it in the Panic thread).

I didn't put that trilogy together but that certainly makes a ton of sense

 

[Nakatomi]

It is refered to as the "apartment trilogy" (with Repulsion - three amazing films).

Glad you liked Valerie too! Love both these films, but have a preference for The Tenant (I included it in the Panic thread).

Wow, it was not until your reply that I realized he did not say Tenet and was not talking about the Nolan film. I have not seen Tenet and felt that I understood why people were confused because the previews did not seem to be about what was described here at all, haha. Please, carry on.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Been on a major early 2000s kick lately for some reason.

Scary Movie(2000) - 8/10

Honestly this movie is iconic, so many funny scenes.

TLDR everything sucks now ranting here: Not going to lie one of the main things I despair the loss of in contemporary cinema is the disappearance of dumb ridiculous analog movies like this one. I'm sure people are still doing good satire somewhere but stuff like Ace Ventura, Dumb and Dumber, Anchorman, Happy Gilmore, The Wedding Singer, Old School, Jay and Silent Bob, Zoolander and the ones that came before them like Caddyshack, Revenge of the Nerds, Blazing Saddles, Animal House, National Lampoons, Slapshot etc will always hold some special luster for me.
Could just be garden variety nostalgia now that I've written it out but it seems like every comedy in theatres these days has to be topical and relatable. Don't get me wrong there's plenty of good ones, some impressive dry wit out there. But leave a dollar for the cheap laugh.


Lots of jokes that would be bending the lines these days but none that offended my bleeding heart liberal sensibilities. Some of the supporting actors make it happen, the sheriff and Gale Summers the reporter have some hilarious scenes. When the sheriff is interviewing Cindy and showing her pictures of himself in a speedo Not generally a huge Wayans brothers guy but they had good parts in this, the obviously gay not gay QB made me laugh more than once. Would put Anna Faris's dumb bitch up against anybody. WARNING: it is basically illegal to not be very stoned watching this

Charlie's Angels(2000) - 7/10

Had at least a little crush on each of these actresses at one point as a teenager. Would probably still saw off a pinky toe for a drink on the beach and a friendly game of cornhole with Cameron Diaz.

Pretty quality ensemble action comedy. Sam Rockwell(always enjoy him) plays the client/villain. Luke Wilson, TIm Curry, Matt LeBlanc, and Tom Green are all in this because of course they are that makes sense. Bill Murray ties things together nicely as Bosley. Stunts are excellent and the soundtrack bangs. We begin by getting to know our angels, their quirks and their backgrounds. There's Dylan(Barrymore) the tomboy who could rip your arm out of your socket and rides a bike. Alex(Liu) who is as cold and calculating as she is deadly. Great scene leading a bunch of geeky engineers in a seminar dressed as a full leather daddy dominatrix. Natalie(Diaz) the late blooming bumbling blonde beauty. Great intuition in anything other than men and potent dancing skills.

They have to use their impressive guile and skill and feminine wiles in increasingly imaginative ways to save Bosley and their boss Charlie from being murdered by a powerful madman. Looked like a lot of fun to make, something the GF and I could both laugh a lot in.



Shanghai Noon(2000) - 5,5/10 & Shanghai Knights(2003) - 6.5/10

I'll be a Jackie Chan fan till I die. Could be said he invented a genre, or at least created a niche of his own within a genre. A Jackie Chan movie is a very specific and unique thing, the stunt work Jackie puts in is seriously incredible. Also always thought he had an underappreciated comedic timing.
Just a small and not at all comprehensive list of some of his injuries over the years:

• Skull fracture, bone cave-in behind left ear, and brain bleeding from falling out of a tree: The Armour of God (1986)
• Broken eye socket and nearly lost an eye during a fight with actor Hwang Jang-Lee in the 1978 kung fu classic Drunken Master
• Broken vertebra during the pole slide stunt in Police Story
• Burns, electrical shocks, and a broken vertebra during the pole slide stunt in Police Story
• Broken sternum in Armour Of God 2: Operation Condor
• Broken nose four times
• Dislocated shoulders
• Damaged spine
• Broken ankle
• Injured eye
• Cut lip
• Broken teeth

Have no idea how he's still upright that is one tough little dude from Hong Kong.

Chan(Li aka John Wayne) and Owen Wilson(Roy O'Bannon) team us in these unlikely buddy cop Western action comedies. There's some solid scenes in these two movies. Jackie jumps around and kicks ass, Wilson delivers some decent one liners. By no means great or even all that memorable movies but some heartfelt moments and good chemistry with the actors made these worth the rewatch. The stunt scenes are well choreographed and flow effectively. Humor can be hit or miss but definitely hits more often.

The first movie(Noon) Chan is tasked with finding the princess by his Emperor. She has been kidnapped and taken to the wild west of America. After a string of racial mishaps he's introduced to Wilson and they team up to bust out of jail. Encounter a string of colorful characters and face off against several baddies. Starts well but loses steam for me in the final act, not sure why exactly. Didn't have enough complexity or something maybe, they announce the plot and it unfolds kind of exactly as you expect. Something didn't payoff the way they had hoped it would I think, but not like that ruined it all together. Still a very competent what you see is what you get film.

The second movie(Knights) Chan enlists Wilson to go to London to save his sister and recover the Imperial seal after Wilson loses all their money on a blimp investment. This one you could tell had more of a budget. More refined, better bigger story with a bigger better cast. One of those instances where the sequel outshines the original. Lord Fannybottom has teamed up with a leader in the Boxer rebellion to steal China's future right out from under them, with a plot to ascend the Lord to the crown. Our heroes race against time to save the whole day and are helped by a certain Inspector Arthur Conan Doyle. Couple fun historical references like that and some running gags, Wilson has a more developed role and he delivers on it.

Solid concept and solid delivery. Not a ton too them but enough there to see them through.