Pranzo Oltranzista
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- Oct 18, 2017
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Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Mid-Spring Edition. Happy Beltane!
- Thread starter ProstheticConscience
- Start date
EXTRAS
Registered User
- Jul 31, 2012
- 9,366
- 5,857
I've noticed that the RT audience score is dropping quickly. 24 hours ago, it was 80%. Now, it's 70%. As for IMDb, while the user rating is 6.3, it seems like the majority of the actual reviews are negative. So many of them echo that it doesn't feel like the 90s, that it's too much of a teen movie, that the characters are unlikable, that it can't decide on a tone and so on. We're definitely not alone in our thoughts on it.
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Werewolves Within (2021) - 7/10 (Really liked it)
When a storm snows in a small Vermont town, a newly transferred park ranger (Sam Richardson), a local mail carrier (Milana Vayntrub) and the rest of the town folk become terrorized by a werewolf. It's a horror comedy that, unlike the one that I watched last night, is actually funny. It's sharply written and the humor is smartly timed. Richardson is very likable as an overly nice guy with nervous mannerisms and Vayntrub is adorably quirky, like she is as Lily in those AT&T commercials. They make a good team and, as odd as they can be, serve as the "normal" characters in a town in which everyone else seems to have more than one screw loose. A lot of the humor comes from the caricatured townspeople talking and acting crazy and the two stars reacting to it, the new-in-town ranger with bewilderment and the local mail girl as if it's normal. The first half of the film is more light comedy, as she shows him around and we meet the town, and the second half is more dark comedy and clearly inspired by The Thing, as the town folk turn on one another and suspect that each other is the werewolf. It doesn't really become a horror or go for scares, though. The only jump scares are played for laughs, for example. It's consistently a comedy, just with horror elements. There are several twists and surprises, though a few are predictable. Overall, I really enjoyed it and was quite amused. If you're looking for a good horror comedy, it's worth a rent.
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Mutiny On The Bounty (1935) directed by Frank Lloyd
In 1787, the HMS Bounty set sail from England led by Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) and his lieutenant Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) on a two year journey to Tahiti. However, fed up with Captain Bligh’s tyrannical rule of the ship, Christian leads a mutiny against the ship’s diabolical captain and returns to Tahiti with his fellow mutineers. The first of many remakes of this story and the most successful of the bunch. And for good reason, as it is a fantastic adventure film with two incredible performances by Laughton and Gable. This was the second film I watched this week featuring Laughton as a tyrannical ruler (the other being The Barretts of Wimpole Street), and its basically the same character, but Laughton is so effective at playing menacing and cruel characters. Lloyd’s direction is very good, very well paced and had some great shots, as well as some great almost Soviet inspired montages. A great story and effectively told, that doesn’t let any of the characters off the hook for their actions; I had a lot of fun with this one.
In 1787, the HMS Bounty set sail from England led by Captain Bligh (Charles Laughton) and his lieutenant Fletcher Christian (Clark Gable) on a two year journey to Tahiti. However, fed up with Captain Bligh’s tyrannical rule of the ship, Christian leads a mutiny against the ship’s diabolical captain and returns to Tahiti with his fellow mutineers. The first of many remakes of this story and the most successful of the bunch. And for good reason, as it is a fantastic adventure film with two incredible performances by Laughton and Gable. This was the second film I watched this week featuring Laughton as a tyrannical ruler (the other being The Barretts of Wimpole Street), and its basically the same character, but Laughton is so effective at playing menacing and cruel characters. Lloyd’s direction is very good, very well paced and had some great shots, as well as some great almost Soviet inspired montages. A great story and effectively told, that doesn’t let any of the characters off the hook for their actions; I had a lot of fun with this one.
deadinthewater
Registered User
- Jan 14, 2012
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Pranzo Oltranzista
Registered User
- Oct 18, 2017
- 3,981
- 2,900
White Slaves of K-Town (Yeung & Hendrickson, 2017) - This film is 4 years old, and apart from an advertisement disguised as a review, I can't seem to find any information about it outside of its IMDB page (where it only has 27 votes), so I guess it wasn't really meant to be seen. Anyway, popcornflix has it and it looked like absolute trash, so I gave it a go - and I don't regret it! Now let's start with that "review", so you all know what we have here: "one of the most controversial films released this year", a "film that is shocking censor boards worldwide" (!!). Now maybe you think they're overdoing it a little, just wait: "Shot in Koreatown over a five year period to capture the authenticity, the blood-soaked realism", "This film contains graphic nudity, disturbing images, explicit torture and a real fetus being aborted" (!!!!!!!). Now this is almost as good as the film itself - believe me, by 5 years, they meant 5 hours, and by real fetus, they meant a real teddy stuffed toy soaked in jam. The "review" also pretends the plot is subtle and complex, but I really couldn't say because I didn't understand much of anything - in part because it was total chaos and made very little sense, and in part because the crew was too dumb to use a mic, so they got all the sound through the camera which makes it absolutely terrible (the subtitles on my TV were mostly [inaudible dialogue]). But no worry, these guys are geniuses and masked their terrible sound recording with wall to wall music which only makes things worse (very bad jazz that will make you wish the film was silent) and some dubbing that's equally terrible than the original recording (a phone conversation that makes absolutely no sense - they filmed two people talking about different stuff on the phone and edited it together - where the girl clearly doesn't say a word, but has a voice over). Oh, also, a guy hired a detective and receives a message from him (on a hallmark card, obviously) and procedes to read it and his voice switches to the voice over of the detective (he just stops talking and the other actor, who is clearly sitting offscreen, takes over - amazing stuff!). This is without a doubt the worst film I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of crap. I've laughed through most of it (the evil brothel lady and the "mammogram electric shock therapy" has to be seen), but it still manages to be boring at times (the interludes with the girl dancing in the window are hilarious at first, but they cover a good chunk of the 70 minutes of the movie) - that and the fact that they clearly didn't give a f***, didn't even care editing out directions to the actors (without a mic, you hear the crew and actors about equally bad) takes it out of contention for a so bad it's good mention. It's really just really really really bad, it's beyond absurdity. 0/10
Return of the Living Dead
3.20 out of 4stars
"When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies."
Might be the most fun zombie movie I've ever seen. Silly, yet smartly satirical, delivers the laughs and the visuals (that have aged well) and a few scares with quotable dialogue, all while bringing a relevantly punk spin and soundtrack to the table. What a blast.
Night of the Creeps
2.60 out of 4stars
"Alien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie. Some teenagers start to fight against them."
It's a lot of light B movie fun, albeit slightly cliched, with genre aliens and zombies. Ray Cameron deserving of more screen time with his performance here.
Harold and Maude
2.70 out of 4stars
"Harold is a disillusioned 20 year old obsessed with suicide and Maude is a fun-loving 80-year-old eccentric. They meet at a funeral and develop a romantic relationship, in which they explore the meaning of life with a fresh perspective."
On paper, this should have blown me away, but for some reason I can't put my finger on it didn't. I don't know if it's the Cat Stevens soundtrack that was too overbearing to me, the repetitive suicide jokes from Harold, the repetitive jokes of Maude and stolen cars and erratic driving, maybe the dry delivery at times, or even the believability of a friendship like this turning romantic and serious. I don't know. But with such relevant ideas on life as something to be lived, enjoyed, and explored it should have been more powerful to me.
A New Leaf (1971)
2.85 out of 4stars
"Henry Graham lives the life of a playboy. When his lawyer tells him one day that his lifestyle has consumed all his funds, he needs an idea to avoid climbing down the social ladder. So he intends to marry a rich woman and - murder her."
Matthau and May are more often times funny than not in this wacky black comedy that subtly speaks a lot of truths about relationships throughout it's runtime.
Reign Over Me
2.50 out of 4stars
"A man who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate, going through his own personal struggles. Rekindling the friendship is the one thing that appears able to help the man recover from his grief."
A good but unspectacular film about the effects severe grief and PTSD can do to one's soul, especially if they don't have any true support system around them. Best served as an example of how talented a serious actor Sandler can be (odd speaking voice choice aside here) and how charismatic and reliable Cheadle is. Kind of funny, Sandler started out wanting to become a serious actor but fell into the comedy thing. Sandler is a usually mediocre at best comedy actor given his full resume, but a clearly above average dramatic actor. (Rambling off, but that means nothing to success. For instance, Jerry Seinfeld isn't a good comedy actor, but the results are funny)
Look Who's Back (subtitles)
2.50 out of 4stars
"Adolf Hitler wakes up in the 21st century. He quickly gains media attention, but while Germany finds him hilarious and charming, Hitler makes some serious observations about society."
First and foremost, if word or sight or thought of Hitler bothers you (understandably so), don't watch this. If you can get past that, it's a solidly funny and socially pertinent at times black comedy satire that rarely goes too far. There are some times "Hitler" interacts with non-actors Borat style, and might suggest that Borat and Hitler might not get threatened or physically abused much in these situations because they are large people (Borat is 6'3'' and Masucci's Hitler is 6'2''), aside from the fact that most people are not aggressive by nature.
Boss Baby: The Family Business
2.65 out of 4stars
"The Templeton brothers have become adults and drifted away from each other, but a new boss baby with a cutting-edge approach is about to bring them together again - and inspire a new family business."
Child focused, non-stop and hyperactive active sequel that slams as many jokes and touching/family promoting moments in as possible. Succeeds at throwing in a lot more higher brow jokes and a tighter storyline than the first movie.
Zola
1.75 out of 4stars
"A stripper named Zola embarks on a wild road trip to Florida."
As a previous poster stated, stay far away. Not funny, not suspenseful, not fun, not intriguing, a well shot annoying mess is what it is. Best seen as a short example of the all surrounding atrocities of the escort business.
3.20 out of 4stars
"When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies."
Might be the most fun zombie movie I've ever seen. Silly, yet smartly satirical, delivers the laughs and the visuals (that have aged well) and a few scares with quotable dialogue, all while bringing a relevantly punk spin and soundtrack to the table. What a blast.
Night of the Creeps
2.60 out of 4stars
"Alien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie. Some teenagers start to fight against them."
It's a lot of light B movie fun, albeit slightly cliched, with genre aliens and zombies. Ray Cameron deserving of more screen time with his performance here.
Harold and Maude
2.70 out of 4stars
"Harold is a disillusioned 20 year old obsessed with suicide and Maude is a fun-loving 80-year-old eccentric. They meet at a funeral and develop a romantic relationship, in which they explore the meaning of life with a fresh perspective."
On paper, this should have blown me away, but for some reason I can't put my finger on it didn't. I don't know if it's the Cat Stevens soundtrack that was too overbearing to me, the repetitive suicide jokes from Harold, the repetitive jokes of Maude and stolen cars and erratic driving, maybe the dry delivery at times, or even the believability of a friendship like this turning romantic and serious. I don't know. But with such relevant ideas on life as something to be lived, enjoyed, and explored it should have been more powerful to me.
A New Leaf (1971)
2.85 out of 4stars
"Henry Graham lives the life of a playboy. When his lawyer tells him one day that his lifestyle has consumed all his funds, he needs an idea to avoid climbing down the social ladder. So he intends to marry a rich woman and - murder her."
Matthau and May are more often times funny than not in this wacky black comedy that subtly speaks a lot of truths about relationships throughout it's runtime.
Reign Over Me
2.50 out of 4stars
"A man who lost his family in the September 11 attack on New York City runs into his old college roommate, going through his own personal struggles. Rekindling the friendship is the one thing that appears able to help the man recover from his grief."
A good but unspectacular film about the effects severe grief and PTSD can do to one's soul, especially if they don't have any true support system around them. Best served as an example of how talented a serious actor Sandler can be (odd speaking voice choice aside here) and how charismatic and reliable Cheadle is. Kind of funny, Sandler started out wanting to become a serious actor but fell into the comedy thing. Sandler is a usually mediocre at best comedy actor given his full resume, but a clearly above average dramatic actor. (Rambling off, but that means nothing to success. For instance, Jerry Seinfeld isn't a good comedy actor, but the results are funny)
Look Who's Back (subtitles)
2.50 out of 4stars
"Adolf Hitler wakes up in the 21st century. He quickly gains media attention, but while Germany finds him hilarious and charming, Hitler makes some serious observations about society."
First and foremost, if word or sight or thought of Hitler bothers you (understandably so), don't watch this. If you can get past that, it's a solidly funny and socially pertinent at times black comedy satire that rarely goes too far. There are some times "Hitler" interacts with non-actors Borat style, and might suggest that Borat and Hitler might not get threatened or physically abused much in these situations because they are large people (Borat is 6'3'' and Masucci's Hitler is 6'2''), aside from the fact that most people are not aggressive by nature.
Boss Baby: The Family Business
2.65 out of 4stars
"The Templeton brothers have become adults and drifted away from each other, but a new boss baby with a cutting-edge approach is about to bring them together again - and inspire a new family business."
Child focused, non-stop and hyperactive active sequel that slams as many jokes and touching/family promoting moments in as possible. Succeeds at throwing in a lot more higher brow jokes and a tighter storyline than the first movie.
Zola
1.75 out of 4stars
"A stripper named Zola embarks on a wild road trip to Florida."
As a previous poster stated, stay far away. Not funny, not suspenseful, not fun, not intriguing, a well shot annoying mess is what it is. Best seen as a short example of the all surrounding atrocities of the escort business.
ProstheticConscience
Check dein Limit
The Tomorrow War
with Chris Pratt, a deeply annoying Sam Richardson, a pumped-up J.K Simmons, and other people.
Pratt is a former Green Beret who's stuck working as a high school biology teacher (that's a thing! shut up!) who's bummed due to missing out on a job he wanted. He cuddles up with his hot wife and adorable daughter on his nice couch in his nice house to watch the World Cup on their nice tv in front of all their nice friends at their nice Christmas party...when a purple time distortion thingie opens up on the pitch and out come some heavily armed soldiers to announce they're from the future, humanity is almost completely wiped out, and they need conscripts for their losing war against invading aliens they call the white spikes. Bummer. Two and a half hours of shooty stabby absurdity commences.
Where to start with this one. It's just dumb. Relentlessly dumb. On a variety of levels. Every plot point has logical holes you could drive a truck through. It's just insulting. It doesn't know what kind of tone it's going for; the humour is painfully wedged in against a backdrop that should be so utterly depressing that anyone still alive would be lucky to get off the floor in despair. The time travel gimmick here may only work to drop people off from one time to another...but they can still give the past information, can't they? It's quickly established that machine guns are terrible at killing the white spikes...so arming random middle aged people with machine guns and dropping them randomly on the future battlefield would seem like a terrible plan. The invading aliens are given a backstory that's a mishmash of Alien and The Thing, and there's about a hundred better ways of fighting them than any the humans settle on. You're waiting for the macguffin which will fix time, and of course it goes to Chris Pratt's gormless soldier. He spends 75% of his screen time staring in disbelief like someone's explaining sex to him for the first time. You can feel yourself losing IQ points as you go along.
On Prime. Ugh.
Please die. Painfully. Right now. All of you.
with Chris Pratt, a deeply annoying Sam Richardson, a pumped-up J.K Simmons, and other people.
Pratt is a former Green Beret who's stuck working as a high school biology teacher (that's a thing! shut up!) who's bummed due to missing out on a job he wanted. He cuddles up with his hot wife and adorable daughter on his nice couch in his nice house to watch the World Cup on their nice tv in front of all their nice friends at their nice Christmas party...when a purple time distortion thingie opens up on the pitch and out come some heavily armed soldiers to announce they're from the future, humanity is almost completely wiped out, and they need conscripts for their losing war against invading aliens they call the white spikes. Bummer. Two and a half hours of shooty stabby absurdity commences.
Where to start with this one. It's just dumb. Relentlessly dumb. On a variety of levels. Every plot point has logical holes you could drive a truck through. It's just insulting. It doesn't know what kind of tone it's going for; the humour is painfully wedged in against a backdrop that should be so utterly depressing that anyone still alive would be lucky to get off the floor in despair. The time travel gimmick here may only work to drop people off from one time to another...but they can still give the past information, can't they? It's quickly established that machine guns are terrible at killing the white spikes...so arming random middle aged people with machine guns and dropping them randomly on the future battlefield would seem like a terrible plan. The invading aliens are given a backstory that's a mishmash of Alien and The Thing, and there's about a hundred better ways of fighting them than any the humans settle on. You're waiting for the macguffin which will fix time, and of course it goes to Chris Pratt's gormless soldier. He spends 75% of his screen time staring in disbelief like someone's explaining sex to him for the first time. You can feel yourself losing IQ points as you go along.
On Prime. Ugh.
Please die. Painfully. Right now. All of you.
Rabid Ranger
2 is better than one
Watched:
A Quiet Place. Had never seen it. I'm not really a fan of sci-fi that lacks at least a little exposition as to the particulars (sometimes that works-like Alien) but I found this movie suffered a bit because of it. Gimmick was somewhat interesting and the "acting" was decent. I just don't think enough happened. I guess that's why they made a sequel! 6.5/10
Raiders of the Lost Ark. One of my all-time favorite movies that I will watch again and again. Grade A entertainment start to finish. 10/10
Dial M for Murder. My favorite Hitchcock film. Top notch performance by Ray Milland and a tight plot. My only quibble is he should have gotten away with it. 9.9/10
A Quiet Place. Had never seen it. I'm not really a fan of sci-fi that lacks at least a little exposition as to the particulars (sometimes that works-like Alien) but I found this movie suffered a bit because of it. Gimmick was somewhat interesting and the "acting" was decent. I just don't think enough happened. I guess that's why they made a sequel! 6.5/10
Raiders of the Lost Ark. One of my all-time favorite movies that I will watch again and again. Grade A entertainment start to finish. 10/10
Dial M for Murder. My favorite Hitchcock film. Top notch performance by Ray Milland and a tight plot. My only quibble is he should have gotten away with it. 9.9/10
JackSlater
Registered User
- Apr 27, 2010
- 19,298
- 14,644
I watched this one a few months ago and was pleasantly surprised. I'd like to have seen more of the stuff that happened after the mutiny, having read some of the actual accounts, but it's still a solid movie. Especially enjoyed Laughton.
another round: 7.8/10 one of the best movies of last year
promising young woman: 7.8/10 good movie
the father : 7.8/10 good movie
judas and the black messiah: 7.8/10 good movie
Luca: 7.5/10 good pixar movie
The Trial of the Chicago 7: 7.5/10 average movie but good acting by Rylance, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Sacha Baron Cohen
bo burnham inside: 7.3/10 Not really funny but good cinematography + white woman instagram song was great
Adieu les cons (Bye bye morons): 7/10 decent french movie.
Minari: 6.8/10
Nomadland : 6.5/10 not a very good movie with very little happening. Undeserved oscar for the movie and best director.
Sound of metal: 6.5/10 not a good movie but great performances by the two actors + the sound experience.
Mank: 5.5/10 bad movie
promising young woman: 7.8/10 good movie
the father : 7.8/10 good movie
judas and the black messiah: 7.8/10 good movie
Luca: 7.5/10 good pixar movie
The Trial of the Chicago 7: 7.5/10 average movie but good acting by Rylance, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Sacha Baron Cohen
bo burnham inside: 7.3/10 Not really funny but good cinematography + white woman instagram song was great
Adieu les cons (Bye bye morons): 7/10 decent french movie.
Minari: 6.8/10
Nomadland : 6.5/10 not a very good movie with very little happening. Undeserved oscar for the movie and best director.
Sound of metal: 6.5/10 not a good movie but great performances by the two actors + the sound experience.
Mank: 5.5/10 bad movie
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logan5
Registered User
Downloaded this movie on Friday. It’s not going to win any awards, but it was entertaining enough. I usually end up turning movies like this off partway through.The Tomorrow War
with Chris Pratt, a deeply annoying Sam Richardson, a pumped-up J.K Simmons, and other people.
Pratt is a former Green Beret who's stuck working as a high school biology teacher (that's a thing! shut up!) who's bummed due to missing out on a job he wanted. He cuddles up with his hot wife and adorable daughter on his nice couch in his nice house to watch the World Cup on their nice tv in front of all their nice friends at their nice Christmas party...when a purple time distortion thingie opens up on the pitch and out come some heavily armed soldiers to announce they're from the future, humanity is almost completely wiped out, and they need conscripts for their losing war against invading aliens they call the white spikes. Bummer. Two and a half hours of shooty stabby absurdity commences.
Where to start with this one. It's just dumb. Relentlessly dumb. On a variety of levels. Every plot point has logical holes you could drive a truck through. It's just insulting. It doesn't know what kind of tone it's going for; the humour is painfully wedged in against a backdrop that should be so utterly depressing that anyone still alive would be lucky to get off the floor in despair. The time travel gimmick here may only work to drop people off from one time to another...but they can still give the past information, can't they? It's quickly established that machine guns are terrible at killing the white spikes...so arming random middle aged people with machine guns and dropping them randomly on the future battlefield would seem like a terrible plan. The invading aliens are given a backstory that's a mishmash of Alien and The Thing, and there's about a hundred better ways of fighting them than any the humans settle on. You're waiting for the macguffin which will fix time, and of course it goes to Chris Pratt's gormless soldier. He spends 75% of his screen time staring in disbelief like someone's explaining sex to him for the first time. You can feel yourself losing IQ points as you go along.
On Prime. Ugh.
Please die. Painfully. Right now. All of you.
Had an Edge of Tomorrow feel to it, fittingly enough. Not sure if they were purposely going for that. Anyways, Tomorrow War is worth a shot.
Pranzo Oltranzista
Registered User
- Oct 18, 2017
- 3,981
- 2,900
Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (Janiak, 2021) - Highly predictable teen flick that should have been more clever (the forshadowing stuff of the beginning lead me to believe they'd have a few interesting ideas throughout). It looks pretty good at times (the opening in the mall might be a little too Strangerthingish, but it's still pretty nice), but both the pace and the teen-oriented story will probably leave you bored. Not sure if the kill above (↑) was a conscious wink to Intruder, but I smiled. 2.5/10
ProstheticConscience
Check dein Limit
Oh yeah. Mrs. PC and I realized about halfway through The Tomorrow War that Pratt's grown daughter is played by the same actress who does the Commander's wife Serena in the Handmaid's Tale series. I knew I didn't like her from somewhere.
ManwithNoIdentity
Registered User
The Forever Purge - 3/10
Managed to barely be better than the worst entry in the series which in my money would be the first purge
Ham fisted political ranting that we’ve seen dozens of times before and really it does nothing to advance the plot. There were plenty of places to take a group of people wanting the purge to never stop and they took the easiest route possible
Managed to barely be better than the worst entry in the series which in my money would be the first purge
Ham fisted political ranting that we’ve seen dozens of times before and really it does nothing to advance the plot. There were plenty of places to take a group of people wanting the purge to never stop and they took the easiest route possible
The Night of the Hunter (1958)
3.45 out of 4stars
"The Rev. Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) is a religious fanatic and serial killer who targets women who use their sexuality to attract men. Serving time in prison for car theft, he meets condemned murderer Ben Harper, who confesses to hiding $10,000 in stolen loot. Released from jail, Powell is obsessed with finding the money to build his own church, and he tracks down Harper's widow and her two children."
Powerful, lots of food for thought. An old time horror thriller movie with religious/morality themes and dialogue abound. It's realism and relatability makes it hit even harder. Mitchum's performance makes it all the more striking. Whether commanding a camp fire speech amongst others or singing a hymn alone in the night or standing in the shadows or one on one alone with another, he's a truly menacing figure. It's incredibly scary how someone's public image or societal 'rank' allows them to get away with or even have people turn a blind eye to things they do behind closed doors, whether from ignorance or disbelief or admiration of said figure or otherwise. Not to mention, how powerful one feels and how important one's mission becomes when it involves the backing of an almighty deity. Mitchum's haunting preacher is terror incarnate, charismatic and empowered with the ability to speak God's word as undisputable doctrine and strike eternal punishment fear into one's mind with a handful of words. The manipulation ability of a person in said position is immense, especially if there is faith in that one's God or the person itself. Through fear or faith, the influence is enormous. And as usual, these people are always fallible human beings, and sometimes corrupt and/or disgusting ones behind closed doors. There are countless examples of this abuse from the beginning to the likely end of time in these scenarios.
Which also sparks the never-ending conversation again of how easy it is to pull parts of the Bible out or interpret them in specific ways to do you're own selfish/personal bidding. Is one's own religious interpretation, especially Christian, stating more about one's self than it is about the God himself 'you act for'? Or if I will ramble on, is most of spirituality and religion tied to the simple balance of good and evil or love and hate, as hinted on upon in this movie? Which one will you let run your life and make your decisions for you? Because whatever path you choose, most of the time you do reap what you so and the actions and events and even thoughts you have all culminate into the fruit you produce, good bad or neutral. Enough of my rambling. It was a great thought provoking movie.
3.45 out of 4stars
"The Rev. Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) is a religious fanatic and serial killer who targets women who use their sexuality to attract men. Serving time in prison for car theft, he meets condemned murderer Ben Harper, who confesses to hiding $10,000 in stolen loot. Released from jail, Powell is obsessed with finding the money to build his own church, and he tracks down Harper's widow and her two children."
Powerful, lots of food for thought. An old time horror thriller movie with religious/morality themes and dialogue abound. It's realism and relatability makes it hit even harder. Mitchum's performance makes it all the more striking. Whether commanding a camp fire speech amongst others or singing a hymn alone in the night or standing in the shadows or one on one alone with another, he's a truly menacing figure. It's incredibly scary how someone's public image or societal 'rank' allows them to get away with or even have people turn a blind eye to things they do behind closed doors, whether from ignorance or disbelief or admiration of said figure or otherwise. Not to mention, how powerful one feels and how important one's mission becomes when it involves the backing of an almighty deity. Mitchum's haunting preacher is terror incarnate, charismatic and empowered with the ability to speak God's word as undisputable doctrine and strike eternal punishment fear into one's mind with a handful of words. The manipulation ability of a person in said position is immense, especially if there is faith in that one's God or the person itself. Through fear or faith, the influence is enormous. And as usual, these people are always fallible human beings, and sometimes corrupt and/or disgusting ones behind closed doors. There are countless examples of this abuse from the beginning to the likely end of time in these scenarios.
Which also sparks the never-ending conversation again of how easy it is to pull parts of the Bible out or interpret them in specific ways to do you're own selfish/personal bidding. Is one's own religious interpretation, especially Christian, stating more about one's self than it is about the God himself 'you act for'? Or if I will ramble on, is most of spirituality and religion tied to the simple balance of good and evil or love and hate, as hinted on upon in this movie? Which one will you let run your life and make your decisions for you? Because whatever path you choose, most of the time you do reap what you so and the actions and events and even thoughts you have all culminate into the fruit you produce, good bad or neutral. Enough of my rambling. It was a great thought provoking movie.
ItsFineImFine
Registered User
- Aug 11, 2019
- 3,745
- 2,389
Andrey Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer (2019) Directed by Andrei A Tarkovsky 8B
Andrey Tarkovsky's son has created Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer, a thoughtful and informative homage to his father. The documentary employs the Russian director's own commentary to which his son has spliced in footage from his various films and some personal archival material that makes this film feel almost like an autobiography rather than a biography. We learn Tarkovsky's thoughts on religion which he takes very seriously as he stresses religion's social importance as something that binds cultures together and provides hope in a dark world. He believes humankind's purpose is to serve and that there is no greater service than art, which is in effect a mediation between the spiritual and the temporal.
We find out a great deal about his world view. He discusses his displeasure with the way many of his films were received by Soviet authorities. Later, he acknowledges humankind's great "poets," of which he includes Shakespeare, Tolstoi, Bach, Bresson, and Leonardo. As well, he mentions the purity of the old icon painters and his distaste for "artistic pretentiousness" which he defines as "overly exaggerated expressiveness," certainly a definiton with which I can live. Through the skill of his son, Tarkovsky comes across as a very serious man, an intellectual able to articulate his ideas and beliefs through cinema, an artist whose life, and feelings about life, are reflected in every one of his movies in one way or antoher. I think the closest comparable to him among film directors is probably Ingmar Bergman, who, while compromised eventually by his Freudian assumptions, nonetheless made very personal movies that tackled the big issues: life, death and the silence of God. Making movies for both directors was not so much a profession as a means of exploring their existence in the world. Thanks to Andrey Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer, now I want to go back and watch all of Tarkovsky's movies again.
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A Colony [Une Colonie] (2018) directed by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles
Mylia (Émilie Bierre), a 14 year old who lives in rural Quebec, faces the anxieties of adolescence as she enters high school for the first time. A bit of an outsider due to her introversion and that she was bullied in her previous school, her only real friend is her younger sister Camille (Irlande Côté). However, slowly she begins to open up and starts a friendship with an indigenous classmate, Jimmy (Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie), from a nearby Abenaki reserve that she met through her sister, while also drawn into the superficiality of high school drama. I’ve seen some refer to this as the Quebecois version of Eighth Grade, and I think it is an apt comparison as both are recent coming of age films concerned with the anxieties and pressures of conformity of that transitionary period from middle school to high school, but I think this film is a bit more subdued than Eighth Grade (and certainly a lot more subdued than your typical coming of age drama aimed for teen audiences that lands in the garbage heap of Netflix). There isn’t much plot to speak of in the film, but rather it is a quiet reflection of the growing pains and everyday struggles of that period of life. Dulude-De Celles direction, her first feature, isn’t flashy (though the cinematography is great and it visually looks really good) but it’s understated tone is suitable for her story, as it grounded with naturalistic performances and almost a Malick like meditations on rural life. Émilie Bierre, who I’ve only previously seen in Genesis from the same year, is superb in her role and puts in a great performances, as does Irlande Côté, as her charming little sister who eats up the scenes she’s in. The film also has a great critical scene concerning how colonialism is taught in Canada’s social studies classes, along with some great commentary on colonialism and contemporary settler/indigenous relations which is particularly relevant given current events in Canada right now. A heartwarming, but by no means manipulative, coming of age film that gives a solid and engaging examination of those early teenager years that I do not miss at all.
Mylia (Émilie Bierre), a 14 year old who lives in rural Quebec, faces the anxieties of adolescence as she enters high school for the first time. A bit of an outsider due to her introversion and that she was bullied in her previous school, her only real friend is her younger sister Camille (Irlande Côté). However, slowly she begins to open up and starts a friendship with an indigenous classmate, Jimmy (Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie), from a nearby Abenaki reserve that she met through her sister, while also drawn into the superficiality of high school drama. I’ve seen some refer to this as the Quebecois version of Eighth Grade, and I think it is an apt comparison as both are recent coming of age films concerned with the anxieties and pressures of conformity of that transitionary period from middle school to high school, but I think this film is a bit more subdued than Eighth Grade (and certainly a lot more subdued than your typical coming of age drama aimed for teen audiences that lands in the garbage heap of Netflix). There isn’t much plot to speak of in the film, but rather it is a quiet reflection of the growing pains and everyday struggles of that period of life. Dulude-De Celles direction, her first feature, isn’t flashy (though the cinematography is great and it visually looks really good) but it’s understated tone is suitable for her story, as it grounded with naturalistic performances and almost a Malick like meditations on rural life. Émilie Bierre, who I’ve only previously seen in Genesis from the same year, is superb in her role and puts in a great performances, as does Irlande Côté, as her charming little sister who eats up the scenes she’s in. The film also has a great critical scene concerning how colonialism is taught in Canada’s social studies classes, along with some great commentary on colonialism and contemporary settler/indigenous relations which is particularly relevant given current events in Canada right now. A heartwarming, but by no means manipulative, coming of age film that gives a solid and engaging examination of those early teenager years that I do not miss at all.
No Sudden Moves. I’ve got it on deck, but I want to finish Band of Brothers first so it’ll take me a few days. It’s got a solid cast though and the reviews have typically been more positive than negative.
Savi
Registered User
Great review, I loved that movie too and I always felt like I was the only one who saw it.
KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
Hey! We won!
- May 30, 2003
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No Sudden Move. Steven Soderbergh loves toying with genres. He's cat-like. Pawing, poking. He's gone back to heist movies so many times I feel like his latest movie is him playing with playing with the heist genre. His take on his take. The sounds masturbatory when I write it, but as with most of his work, it's too deft to get bogged down in such ... to use a term, pretentiousness. 
... This isn't as light and breezy as the Ocean's movies or Logan Lucky but it certainly can't be considered heavy either (therein lies his magic, I'd say). There are some laughs but it's mostly from performance, no real wit or quips or cleverness.
The plot is convoluted (honestly not sure I could accurately account for everything after just one viewing) but it FEELS like it works, if that makes sense? I wasn't annoyed by the turns. The stacked cast glides, particularly Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro and an against-type David Harbour.
... This isn't as light and breezy as the Ocean's movies or Logan Lucky but it certainly can't be considered heavy either (therein lies his magic, I'd say). There are some laughs but it's mostly from performance, no real wit or quips or cleverness. The plot is convoluted (honestly not sure I could accurately account for everything after just one viewing) but it FEELS like it works, if that makes sense? I wasn't annoyed by the turns. The stacked cast glides, particularly Don Cheadle, Benicio Del Toro and an against-type David Harbour.
I watched The Tomorrow War. I agree with people before me that the writing is terrible and the you can drive a truck through the plotline holes. But it was watchable and the Director and cast did ok with the mediocre script. It's nowhere near The Edge of Tomorrow, that one is near classic status on the sci-fi list. Tomorrow War is a basic gamer shooter flick. Writer seemed to have Daddy issues (Father-son, Father-daughter) and used a mix of previous sci-fi time travel/alien plotlines as a base to write through his own psychological issues as a catharsis. But I've seen worse and this was ok.
Interesting sidebar, the following is a list of the Cahiers du Cinema's best films for the decade of 2010-2019 and for 2020. The list here is a PDF snapshot, but if you want to click on the individual film links you can head to the Wikipedia page here
Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists - Wikipedia
I've seen quite a few of these, I will try to look for a few others here that seem interesting.
Cahiers du Cinema got sold last year. The new owners intend to take it towards a more mainstream direction. The entire Editorial Board quit. I haven't followed the latest developments in 2021.
Entire Cahiers du Cinéma Staff of 15 Quits as Publication Faces Uncertain Future
Cahiers du Cinéma's Annual Top 10 Lists - Wikipedia
I've seen quite a few of these, I will try to look for a few others here that seem interesting.
Cahiers du Cinema got sold last year. The new owners intend to take it towards a more mainstream direction. The entire Editorial Board quit. I haven't followed the latest developments in 2021.
Entire Cahiers du Cinéma Staff of 15 Quits as Publication Faces Uncertain Future
