Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +2

[kihei]

I wouldn't give The Departed 9/10 but I think I'm one of the few who thought it was better than Infernal Affairs.

Man, I'd love to argue out this one with you. I thought every adjustment Scorsese made was for the worse and that the original was much better directed and acted.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

The ending/climax of the US Departed was much better done imo than the Chinese one which felt more budget-like.

The Shop On Main Street (1965) - 7.5/10

Pretty devastating classic Czechoslovak Holocaust film.

Burn After Reading (1995) - 7/10

It's not Fargo but lots of classic Coen-isms. Brad Pitt is pretty fun in this one, Clooney is too much of a caricature, and Malkovich is a bit too over-the-top and not very fun to watch here.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

My Departed take remains this: It's a solid, entertaining 2 hours but it still is not among Scorsese's 10 best movies.

I won't turn the TV off if it's on but it is dramatically overrated.

 

[ORRFForever]

The Irishman (2019) Directed by Martin Scorsese 7B

Well, as they say, it's a long story. Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) is a vet home from the war who becomes a hitman for a Russ Bofalino (Joe Pesci), a Mafioso boss, In the course of Frank's duties, he both protects and becomes friends with Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), a union boss who had colossal power in the '50s and '60s, who sometimes did business with the Mafia and sometimes made life difficult for the Mafia, a dangerous tendency. Scorsese supplies a ton of back story that both fleshes out the De Niro and Pesci characters and informs us of the intricacies of organized crime, both in terms of its rewards (money, power) and perils (violent death). The detail that Scorsese devotes to the first hour is laudable, but becomes a bit of overkill (no pun intended). When Pacino finally makes the scene, The Irishman picks up momentum and from that point onward the movie is a fascinating crime film on a lot of different levels. This is no Goodfellas or even Casino, much less one of the overly operatic Godfather movies. Nothing about the lifestyle here is presented as fun or exciting or full of camaraderie--The Irishman is one thoroughly deglamourized crime movie. Though there is violence, there is not a lot of it and it's pretty muted by Scorsese's standards. What we end up with is a study of a man who at some point became a shell and didn't even notice. I don't know what younger generations who probably don't know Jimmy Hoffa from Adam are going to take from this more muted approach, but The Irishman is among Scorsese's best films.

Sidenote: A word on the de-aging process that is used in this movie. You get used to it. I kind of willled myself not to think about it too much. There are a few scenes, especially early on, when De Niro looks like he suddenly has acquired John Wayne's eyes. Younger viewers may not notice, but it creeped me out, like De Niro was going to say "Whatcha doin' with that gun, pilgrim," or something. I guess we better get used to this process, though. Someone is even bringing James Dean back from the dead for a movie. Ain't progress grand?

Thanks for the review, K.

I am looking forward to seeing it - most likely on line. Where did you see it?

 

[ORRFForever]

My Departed take remains this: It's a solid, entertaining 2 hours but it still is not among Scorsese's 10 best movies.

I won't turn the TV off if it's on but it is dramatically overrated.

Amen to that.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Joker (2019)
Dir. Todd Phillips

A psychologically ill individual cursed with emotional incontinence becomes a mass murdering clown.

I thought it was fine. Well shot, well acted (Phoenix doesn't need any more fellating), though the pacing felt a touch slow during the first half. The film was heading towards a lukewarm 5/10 for a great portion of its runtime, as if a pastiche was all to be seen, but a terrific final 30 mins greatly elevated the material.

7/10

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

The Fighter - 8.5/10

Great acting all around, but man oh man, Bale is freakin amazing!

 

[kihei]

Thanks for the review, K.

I am looking forward to seeing it - most likely on line. Where did you see it?

Bell Llightbox here in Toronto. It will play well on a small screen which I think Scorsese took in mind.

 

[tealhockey]

My Departed take remains this: It's a solid, entertaining 2 hours but it still is not among Scorsese's 10 best movies.

I won't turn the TV off if it's on but it is dramatically overrated.

Did you like Silence? I thought it was really good

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Man, I'd love to argue out this one with you. I thought every adjustment Scorsese made was for the worse and that the original was much better directed and acted.

It's not so much that I think The Departed is a great film (it's not) but that I found Infernal Affairs so poor. It's been a minute since I've watched it but I remember finding the dialogue, flashbacks and interactions utterly corny. There were so great shots though.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Did you like Silence? I thought it was really good

I loved Silence. I think it's his most underrated movie.

 

[NyQuil]

What I found funny about the Departed is that the performances were so uneven.

I really liked Leonardo Di Caprio - he pulled off the undercover cop on the verge of a mental breakdown so well - a real tour de force performance in my opinion.

Mark Wahlberg stole just about every scene he was in, in a role that was perfectly suited for him. Easy points for him and not much of a stretch, but still effective.

Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen played their roles serviceably well. Sheen in particular was wonderfully manipulative in acting as a father figure to Leo's character. Vera Farmiga was criminally underused and her character reduced to being a mirror for the main two characters.

Where I really struggled was with Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson.

Matt Damon's cocky and surprisingly untroubled traitor role just didn't seem to fit very well. It's almost as if he was trying to play Ben Affleck in Good Will Hunting. The accent was just too forced and while he was clearly meant to be a douche bag, it made him repellent and hard to imagine anyone liking him. Just bad casting here.

Meanwhile, Jack Nicholson was an absolute caricature of himself in a deeply painful way. It's like he was channeling every odd ball character he'd every played in one role. Sometimes I have to go back and watch Chinatown or Easy Rider to remember that he was capable of some sublime subtlety.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Everybody Knows
A tight, compelling family drama with a kidnapping mystery wrapped around it. This really seems to have flown under the radar but I thought it was excellent. Well drawn characters with deep histories and mysteries that may or may not be coiling into the family's current predicament. Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Ricardo Darin are stellar.

 

[Shareefruck]

I no longer love either Infernal Affairs or The Departed (although I find The Departed to be significantly more annoyingly nonsensical, obnoxious, and overly pleased with itself), but I will say that some of Infernal Affairs dialogue is lost in translation. Yes there is definitely a lot of corniness to it (all of the dramatic side-character moments/deaths are awful, IMO), but some of the dialogue does sound very cool in Cantonese and is undeniably quotable in a Godfather-esque way if you speak the language (I'm not sure how much Western audiences could catch onto that, but it's a big part of the reason it became an endlessly memed and referenced cultural phenomenon in Hong Kong). Also, I can't quite put my finger on it, but the look and tone of some of the scenes just has a quality that feels really right to me-- that innocuous record player sequence is like permanently stuck in my head for some reason. I also just like the broad strokes beats and structure of the movie as whole.

I remember being particularly amused by the demeanor of his foolish head-strong gangster buddy, who had so thoroughly bought into the gangster lifestyle and has such a fool/loser complex that he just willingly takes bottles to the head in stride/shakes it off as if it's nothing and follows it up with this silly gangster proverb-like philosophy of "Hey man, what's the big deal? Breaking bottles over your head is just what life is all about."

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I'm going to watch Infernal Affairs again. I want to expand on my thoughts/see how they hold up.

 

[Osprey]

Summer of 84 (2018) - 7/10 (Really liked it)

A suburban teenage boy thinks that his neighbor might be a serial killer and convinces his friends to help him find out. This indie film has a lot of similarities to Stranger Things. It's set in 1984 suburbia, there are four boys, they hang out a lot at one of their houses, they talk on walkie talkies and they try to get to the bottom of things without telling grownups. Even the soundtrack is uncannily similar. It basically meshes that with the plot of Disturbia (or Rear Window, if you want to get classic, or The 'Burbs, if you want to keep with the 80s theme). Fortunately, even though it seems to be a rip-off of at least a couple of sources, it's a very good one. It has a mostly convincing 80s look and tone, there's some nostalgia (without overdoing it), the acting is decent, the boys are likable and it has a little bit of everything: lightheartedness, sentimentality, mystery, suspense and horror. Even though it feels very familiar and a little predictable for most of its length, it takes a hard turn near the end and has a wild, unpredictable finish. I really liked that the ending is bit shocking, gutsy and probably not something that a Hollywood production would've gone with. If I had to nitpick, I might say that the boys' friendship doesn't quite feel explained enough and the small romantic subplot doesn't seem believable. Those aren't big deals, though. Overall, I really enjoyed the film. It felt like watching a movie version of Stranger Things, but with a more realistic, non-supernatural plot, which is exactly what I was hoping for. If you're a fan of that series or like movies about suspicious neighbors, it's well worth checking out.

Edit: I'm reading now that the script was written two years before Stranger Things premiered, so some of the similarities are just coincidental. The success of the series helped it to get greenlit, though, and may well have influenced some of the elements (especially the soundtrack).

 

[tardigrade81]

Dr Sleep

8/10

Very good, acting was fantastic. Only thing I would say is it got off to a slow start but I’m also sick with mono and was tired. But regardless was very good.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Karate Kid III - At 28 y/o, Ralph Macchio competes and wins the U18 karate championship by placing one single hit on his only opponent. And that after crying for about 90 minutes about a bonsai tree. I had never seen this one, and for good reasons I guess, it's atrocious. Not that the first two are any good, but they do have something - some kind of aura or atmosphere that you just know it's KK. Here, everything is dumb, and the actors are ridiculous (the two bad coaches overacting the whole thing makes it uncomfortable). 0.5/10

Couldn't stop thinking about this while watching Daniel-san trying to butcher karate:

 

[heatnikki]

The Good Liar (2019) - 6/10

Slow paced in delivery, but very well put together and keeps your interest to the end thanks to the great acting from the cast.
The plot is predictable, but does take a few unexpected turns and a very unexpected dark turn towards the end, although the ending is pretty much as you would expect.​

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Meanwhile, Jack Nicholson was an absolute caricature of himself in a deeply painful way. It's like he was channeling every odd ball character he'd every played in one role. Sometimes I have to go back and watch Chinatown or Easy Rider to remember that he was capable of some sublime subtlety.

Still really liked what he did in About Schmidt as well.

 

[NyQuil]

Still really liked what he did in About Schmidt as well.

It was definitely out of his usual comfort zone.

That was a weird film - I saw it in the theatre and couldn't decide if I liked it or not.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

It was definitely out of his usual comfort zone.

That was a weird film - I saw it in the theatre and couldn't decide if I liked it or not.

One of those movies where the final scene/shot makes the whole film, but the journey getting there is a little bumpy.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

The Lighthouse - 9/10

And they say Hollywood doesn’t make original films anymore! Wildly entertaining performances from Pattinson & Dafoe. Confusing at times (on purpose, I’d believe), creepy, humorous in odd ways, and just a well constructed film. Don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

The Lighthouse - 9/10

And they say Hollywood doesn’t make original films anymore! Wildly entertaining performances from Pattinson & Dafoe. Confusing at times (on purpose, I’d believe), creepy, humorous in odd ways, and just a well constructed film. Don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything quite like it.

With all due respect, I don't think a24 should count as Hollywood.

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

The accent was just too forced

Interestingly enough, Matt Damon is from Boston, as is Mark Whalberg and Leonard Nimoy (the latter had nothing to do, afaik, with The Departed, just learned that today).