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

[fin8]

Gladiator 2
A worthy enough successor to the first one. I love Denzel, but he was miscast in this one.
6.5/10

I was very disappointed. 5/10 at best.

 

[Osprey]

In fairness, many of the Christmas classics people love today initially fell flat - Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life come to mind.

A Wonderful Life was a dud after its initial release.

If I recall correctly, it took 30 years until the film became public domain in the mid 70s and got played on the major networks.

This was the catalyst that gave the film a new lease on life and launched it into the beloved classic it is today.

I do agree with the thought that rewatching The Holdovers isn’t something I would want to do every Christmas.

I absolutely loved this movie, but much like Manchester by the Sea (which I adore as well), it’s a very depressing plot that I’m not sure I’d care to rewatch.

So I admit it isn’t fit with the uplifting spirit of Christmas in my opinion.

True, but The Holdovers didn't fall flat and what helped It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story to eventually become beloved is that they do fit the uplifting spirit of Christmas and are appealing to watch every year around the holiday. I'm not sure that people are going to feel like watching The Holdovers every Christmas.

The Holdovers may have more in common with Christmas films like It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) and Christmas Holiday (1944) which were also moderately successful at the time of their release (certainly more so than It's a Wonderful Life was), but have been largely forgotten since. I'm not arguing that it will face the same fate, but just as initial failure doesn't prevent a film from becoming a classic, being initially praised doesn't ensure becoming one, either.

Anyways, I'm not trying to argue with anyone who loves the movie. I was just giving the reasons why I, personally, didn't and won't be adding it to my Christmas rotation, even though I still did like it enough and was happy to see it once.

 

[Nakatomi]

True, but The Holdovers didn't fall flat and what helped It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story to eventually become beloved is that they do fit the uplifting spirit of Christmas and are appealing to watch every year around the holiday. I'm not sure that people are going to feel like watching The Holdovers every Christmas.

The Holdovers may have more in common with Christmas films like It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947) and Christmas Holiday (1944) which were also moderately successful at the time of their release (certainly more so than It's a Wonderful Life was), but have been largely forgotten since. I'm not arguing that it will face the same fate, but just as initial failure doesn't prevent a film from becoming a classic, being initially praised doesn't ensure becoming one, either.

Anyways, I'm not trying to argue with anyone who loves the movie. I was just giving the reasons why I, personally, didn't and won't be adding it to my Christmas rotation, even though I still did like it enough and was happy to see it once.

Interestingly enough I have had It Happened on 5th Avenue on my "to watch" list for some time but have never heard of Christmas Holiday before your post. It seems to not be available digitally anywhere and only ever had a DVD physical release. Wow. Now I feel compelled to see it, haha.

 

[Osprey]

Interestingly enough I have had It Happened on 5th Avenue on my "to watch" list for some time but have never heard of Christmas Holiday before your post. It seems to not be available digitally anywhere and only ever had a DVD physical release. Wow. Now I feel compelled to see it, haha.

Honestly, I had never heard of Christmas Holiday until today, either. I just wanted another example of a successful but forgotten Christmas film to try to make my point and saw it at the top of a list. I haven't seen it, so I can't recommend it or not, but it has a decent score at IMDb and is on YouTube, so I may check it out. I have seen It Happened on 5th Avenue, though, and you might've added it to your watch list after I reviewed and recommended it last Christmas.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

True, but The Holdovers didn't fall flat

Ya that was my point - success at the box office/with critics doesn’t necessarily mean a movie will become a Christmas classic, and vice versa.

It has to first and foremost stand the test of time, and as we both agreed it has to have an uplifting message to fit the optimistic spirit of the season.

Holdovers is one of those films like Manchester by the Sea that is a great experience to watch once, but the depressing nature of both films makes it difficult to enjoy watching again.

As much as I enjoyed The Holdovers, I doubt I’ll ever rewatch it, let alone at Christmas time.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Beau is Afraid - Directed by Ari Aster ???/10

Been putting off reviewing this film because I just really didn't know what to think of it, to be honest... My wife hounded me to watch this movie for a few weeks, and when I eventually subjected myself to it, I wish I hadn't. She's a big Ari Aster fan, for whatever reason... Beau Is Afraid is an absolutely exhausting viewing experience. Basically nothing that 'happens' in the film actually 'happens'.

The basic synopsis of Beau is Afraid is that Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is afraid..... of everything. He's afraid of his apartment, he's afraid of his neighbor, he's afraid of the city he lives in, he's afraid of his mom, he's afraid of his feelings, he's afraid of the bees, he's afraid of the trees... he's afraid of everything.

Basically all of the events of the film are figments of Beau's imagination, there is a hell of an interlude in which Beau experiences a stage play which he sort of inserts himself into the narrative and experiences the story as his own life. This was one of the most striking moments of the film for me.

All in all, I can't even give this film a rating. It's so far out there and so bizarre that after viewing it, my main thought pattern is "what the f***???". Phoenix puts in a hell of a performance, as always, but I just don't get the point. Maybe the movie went over my head, but as I said earlier, I found it to be a rather exhausting experience.

Spoiler: Ending

What the f*** was up with that penis monster???? Why tf did Ari Aster have to include a CGI Penis monster at the end of this movie? This scene added such a deeply unsettling "what the f***" moment, to an already "what the f***" type of film. Absolutely hated that part.

 

[kihei]

A Complete Unknown (2024) Directed by James Mangold 5A

A more conventional and less ambitious Dylan biopic than 2007's I'm Not There, A Complete Unknown is noteworthy for Timothee Chalamet's excellent impersonation of Bob Dylan but very little else. Much like the earlier film, A Complete Unknown, best described as a musical containing a greatest hits collection of the singer's most iconic acoustic works, considers Dylan inscrutable, unfathomable, and is content to genuflect in the direction of the well-established mystique of its culture-altering musician. The non-musical sections of the movie seem like little more than a connect-the-dots exercise, combining known dots, speculative but well grounded dots and and wholly fictional dots in a way that provides no fresh insights whatsoever into Dylan's elusive character. If not quite the equal of Daniel Craig in Queer or Adrien Brody in The Bruatlist, Chalamet's performance is among the best of the year. He obviously possessed the chops to have gone deeper within the character, but the script didn't really require him to do so.

 

[RandV]

View attachment 953842
Beau is Afraid - Directed by Ari Aster ???/10

Been putting off reviewing this film because I just really didn't know what to think of it, to be honest... My wife hounded me to watch this movie for a few weeks, and when I eventually subjected myself to it, I wish I hadn't. She's a big Ari Aster fan, for whatever reason... Beau Is Afraid is an absolutely exhausting viewing experience. Basically nothing that 'happens' in the film actually 'happens'.

The basic synopsis of Beau is Afraid is that Beau (Joaquin Phoenix) is afraid..... of everything. He's afraid of his apartment, he's afraid of his neighbor, he's afraid of the city he lives in, he's afraid of his mom, he's afraid of his feelings, he's afraid of the bees, he's afraid of the trees... he's afraid of everything.

Sounds like it would have been better if he learned to take baby steps and later went sailing.

 

[Osprey]

Sounds like it would have been better if he learned to take baby steps and later went sailing.

It does sound like he could use a vacation from his problems... and maybe a little death therapy.

 

[kihei]

Nosferatu (2024) Directed by Robert Eggers 8B

I went into this thinking, do we really need a third Nosferatu; do we need to revisit the same basic Dracula story again for at least the 50th time (likely more, much more). Safe to say, I was not expecting to be blown away, but blown away I was. Director Robert Eggers uses every single technical aspect of film making to perfection. Little things that I normally don't notice, like, for instance, how he manipulates depth of focus in various shots, all contributed to the overall effect, which was not just creepy but unsettling in a way that I found disturbing. In its own way, this Nosferatu, a film of shadows, mist and very dark places, is a gorgeous piece of cinematic brilliance. The story has a few new wrinkles, especially in the second half, but it is basically the tale with which we are familiar. The major innovation is the striking changes in two of its central characters, Nosferatu and his preferred victim Ellen. This Nosferatu is no effete romantic lead, but a cruel warrior type, Vlad, the Empaler come to life, an uncultured Romanian barbarian with a bad attitude. Meanwhile, this Ellen has been haunted for years by a dream in which her fate seems already sealed. That she meets that fate with a combination of hysteria, desire and eventual agency gives Nosferatu a wildly unconventional erotic charge that transports this movie well beyond being a visual tour de force into a totally different psychological realm. Kudos to both Bill Skarsgard and Lily-Rose Depp for performances that will stay in my memory long after those of this year's likely award winners fade.


Best of '24 so far

1. Flow, Zilbalodis, Latvia
2. Anora, Baker, US
3. Caught by the Tides, Jia, China
4. All We Imagine as Light, Kapadia, India
5. Nosferatu, Eggers, US
6. Green Border, Holland, Poland
7. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Jude, Romania
8. Bird, Arnold, UK
9. The Room Next Door, Almodovar, US
10. The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Rasoulof, Germany

 

[Nakatomi]

Nosferatu (2024) Directed by Robert Eggers 8B

I went into this thinking, do we really need a third Nosferatu; do we need to revisit the same basic Dracula story again for at least the 50th time (likely more, much more). Safe to say, I was not expecting to be blown away, but blown away I was. Director Robert Eggers uses every single technical aspect of film making to perfection. Little things that I normally don't notice, like, for instance, how he manipulates depth of focus in various shots, all contributed to the overall effect, which was not just creepy but unsettling in a way that I found disturbing. In its own way, this Nosferatu, a film of shadows, mist and very dark places, is a gorgeous piece of cinematic brilliance. The story has a few new wrinkles, especially in the second half, but it is basically the tale with which we are familiar. The major innovation is the striking changes in two of its central characters, Nosferatu and his preferred victim Ellen. This Nosferatu is no effete romantic lead, but a cruel warrior type, Vlad, the Empaler come to life, an uncultured Romanian barbarian with a bad attitude. Meanwhile, this Ellen has been haunted for years by a dream in which her fate seems already sealed. That she meets that fate with a combination of hysteria, desire and eventual agency gives Nosferatu a wildly unconventional erotic charge that transports this movie well beyond being a visual tour de force into a totally different psychological realm. Kudos to both Bill Skarsgard and Lily-Rose Depp for performances that will stay in my memory long after those of this year's likely award winners fade.


Best of '24 so far

1. Flow, Zilbalodis, Latvia
2. Anora, Baker, US
3. Caught by the Tides, Jia, China
4. All We Imagine as Light, Kapadia, India
5. Nosferatu, Eggers, US
6. Green Border, Holland, Poland
7. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Jude, Romania
8. Bird, Arnold, UK
9. The Room Next Door, Almodovar, US
10. The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Rasoulof, Germany

Thanks for the great review. Anymore I generally wait to watch movies in 4K at home on my OLED, but this review inspired me to look for a showing near me in Dolby Digital sometime these next few days. Looks great!

 

[Fantomas]

During the holidays I watched Jackie Chan and Louis de Funes movies to cheer me up. I feel great! My ratings:

Chan
Project A - 4/5
Police Story - 4.5/5
Armor of God - 3.5/5

De Funes
Hibernatus - 3.5/5
La Grande Vadrouille - 5/5
Delusions of Grandeur - 4.5/5