Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +4

[ProstheticConscience]

40 page limit meet and beat yet again, time for a new thread.

Last one ended here: Movies: - Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +3

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Parasite

with Korean people who somehow won the Best Picture Oscar

Mom, Dad, Bro and Sis are the poor Kim family living in a semi-basement hovel in Downtroddensville, SK. They assemble pizza boxes to get by, steal wifi to distract themselves from the drunk people pissing on the wall right in front of their window, which is right at the level of a storm grate. One day, Bro's pal comes over and gives him a lead on a paying gig; tutoring this rich girl uptown. Sis prints off some bogus creds, and he's off to the interview, which he quickly aces. The Park family lives in a post-modern house the size of the Parliament buildings in Ottawa, and clearly have far more money than sense, which the Kims move in like a school of piranhas to siphon off. They quickly dispose of the Parks' current roster of household staff and move in to fill the void; Sis becomes the young Park son's art teacher, Mom becomes the maid, and Dad becomes the driver. So far, so good. But then it turns out that the basement has a secret bomb shelter which the Parks don't know about. And...well, don't tell me someone else is down there...?!

Certainly good and enjoyable, but the best movie of its Oscar year? Can't go that far myself. You feel for all the characters, and it's nice to watch something that's not formulaic like 99% of all movies out there nowadays, but best movie? Nah. Very good, but not great.

We're the nicest family ever! What was your PIN number again?

Click to read more...

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Howl's Moving Castle (2020)
Dir. Hayao Miyazaki

I'm biased towards the film, I admit. The art style, the characters, the pacing, it's like Miyazaki made it just for me. Really got nothing else to say, this is technically a worthless review because my perspective was pre-determined, but I watched it last so here's the score.

Score: 9/10

 

[kihei]

The Dead Zone (1983) Directed by David Cronenberg 5A

Director David Cronenberg's adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone is a curiously flaccid affair. Johnny (Christopher Walken), a school teacher who is soon to be married, is in a terrible car accident and goes into a coma for five long years. When he comes out of it, his job is gone and his girl is married with a kid. If that is not enough woe, Johnny has acquired a horrible "gift"--by just touching someone he can see into their lives and their futures. So far, so good, if barely, but then the movie just seems to audition numerous subplots related to this "gift" of Johnny's, hoping that they build to something, but they don't. Finally, unconvincingly, the movie lands on a crazy politician who creates a rather obvious dilemma for our hero. I've only read one Stephen King novel (Salem's Lot), so I don't know if the flatness in the movie is inherent in the this particular book or not. I do know Cronenberg's direction is undistinguished, the closest he has ever come to being merely pedestrian. If the movie has a minor saving grace, it is Christopher Walken. Johnny is a straightforward character, but Walken, blow-dried coiffure and all, plays him with his usual penchant for quirky mannerisms and off-beat line readings. You never know exactly how Walken is going to handle any scene, and that gives The Dead Zone a tension that it otherwise completely lacks.

 

[ORRFForever]

Certainly good and enjoyable, but the best movie of its Oscar year? Can't go that far myself. You feel for all the characters, and it's nice to watch something that's not formulaic like 99% of all movies out there nowadays, but best movie? Nah. Very good, but not great.

Agree. Overrated - you liked it more than me.

When the "shocking" ending came, I yawned. It felt forced and came out of no where.

P.S. The YouTube pizza box chick is Canadian!

 

[ORRFForever]

Is Christopher Walken creepy or cool looking? Both? I can never tell.

 

[Trap Jesus]

I watched The Night Eats the World. So on one level this is a very generic zombie movie in terms of set-up and the presentation of the zombies themselves. Dude wakes up and the world has been overrun with these unthinking, rabid flesh-eating people that can be nothing other than zombies. It's the same old story, we've seen this.

However, what this one does differently is that it trims essentially all the fat around what these things are or why it's happening, and becomes an unbelievably focused and unflinching procedural on what this guy has to do to survive this completely horrific and hopeless situation.

What I liked the most about this is that it had such a commitment to avoiding horror movie tropes. There's no, "Why would you do that?!?!" in this movie, and if there is, it comes from a place of understanding of why he would act the way he does. There's a lot of, "Yep, that's what I would do", and "Ah, that was smart."

There's a little bit more going on here in terms of being a commentary about introversion and isolation, which is nice, but I think it works really well as this tight little hour and a half zombie flick.

 

[Mark7733]

Felon (2008) with Stephen Dorff and Val Kilmer. It's a good prison movie. 8/10.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Is Christopher Walken creepy or cool looking? Both? I can never tell.

He’s creepy cool?

He plays all of his characters the same though.

I never see his character in any movie he’s in, I just see CW.

I guess that’s bad, but he does have his own unique style.

 

[kihei]

Walken has had that unique style right from the beginning. Remember that brief but memorable turn as Annie Hall's brother where he tells Woody Allen he feels compelled to turn right into the oncoming headlights? 1977, I think.

 

[ORRFForever]

Walken has had that unique style right from the beginning. Remember that brief but memorable turn as Annie Hall's brother where he tells Woody Allen he feels compelled to turn right into the oncoming headlights? 1977, I think.

LMAO. I love how FAST the car is going... always makes me laugh!

 

[ORRFForever]

He’s creepy cool?

He plays all of his characters the same though.

I never see his character in any movie he’s in, I just see CW.

I guess that’s bad, but he does have his own unique style.

I always thought he was terrific across from Sean Penn in At Close Range...

 

[ORRFForever]

Then, of course, there is one of the great scenes of ALL TIME...

 

[nameless1]

In light of recent events in the United States, Cineplex has a lot of good movies to rent for free online right. You just need an account, which is very easy to create, and you get to keep the movie for 30 days unplayed, then 48 hours once you started the movie. Check it out if you have the time. There are a couple that I wanted to check out, but they left the cinema way too soon.

 

[ORRFForever]

In light of recent events in the United States, Cineplex has a lot of good movies to rent for free online right. You just need an account, which is very easy to create, and you get to keep the movie for 30 days unplayed, 48 hours once you started the movie. Check it out if you have the time. There are a couple that I wanted to check out, but they left the cinema way too soon.

Wow! They are really getting creative. They're worried people won't come back.

 

[nameless1]

Wow! They are really getting creative. They're worried people won't come back.

I know I will not be bored for the next little while. I have 30 in the queue now.


I have seen the majority of them, but some of them are so good, that I would love to watch them again.

 

[ORRFForever]

I know I will not be bored for the next little while.

I like that it's accessible. The more movies I can watch at home, the better.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Bad Education (2019/20) - 7/10

Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney (with a strange accent) featuring a hint of Ray Romano. That trio does the bulk of the work, the rest is meh but the suspense style given to the whole thing is interesting. Oh also...the US education system is f***ed up. Man I had it simpler growing up in Canada and I realize this more and more as I hear about stories from my relatives who live in the US. Grade school should not be that competitive and high-stakes let alone the early parts of high school.

 

[ORRFForever]

Bad Education (2019/20) - 7/10

Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney (with a strange accent) featuring a hint of Ray Romano. That trio does the bulk of the work, the rest is meh but the suspense style given to the whole thing is interesting.

Agree. It's good but not great.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

In light of recent events in the United States, Cineplex has a lot of good movies to rent for free online right. You just need an account, which is very easy to create, and you get to keep the movie for 30 days unplayed, 48 hours once you started the movie. Check it out if you have the time. There are a couple that I wanted to check out, but they left the cinema way too soon.

Wow, thanks for the head's up!! Do you know until when it's free?

 

[ProstheticConscience]

The Decline

with French-Canadian people

We open with this guy Antoine staging an evacuation drill with his wife and young daughter from their home somewhere in Montreal. Success! They survive the imaginary threat! Next up on his agenda is a multi-day training session taught by Alain, the greying, bearded star of numerous youtube videos on how to survive the no doubt imminent collapse of society. Antoine's bundled off on a blindfolded snowmobile ride to the Quebec wilderness where Alain has his compound, and Antoine meets a few other people who have signed on for the privilege of Alain's tutelage. Surprisingly, you don't immediately hate them. They're a kinder, nicer, more Canadian brand of survivalist nutball than you're used to. Like, okay, in their defense, there's something to be said for preparation. Nothing wrong with growing your own veggies, buying solar panels for your own electricity, trapping your own food, building your own pipe bombs...wait, what? Yeah, there's where you lose me. And also that Francois guy...who dropped the wrong box. Uh-oh. Dead bodies are a complication we don't need. Does Alain react well to the prospect of cops all up in his business about people blowing themselves up? Take a wild stab.

A nicer, more polite, more Canadian version of survivalism. But they'll still shoot you, though. One wonders where they got all the guns. Well, actually, one doesn't wonder...

Not bad, all things considered. Okayish.

On Netflix.

We're totally badass, right? RIGHT?!

 

[kihei]

Insomnia (1998) Directed by Erik Skjoldjaerg 8A

Swedish cop Jonas (Stellen Skarsgard), sure of himself to the point of arrogance, and his sidekick are sent off to the wilds of northern Norway to help local police solve the murder of a young girl. There are two mysteries here for the price of one. First, who killed the girl? But, equally of interest, is the question: is our cocksure cop Jonas a good guy or a bad guy because given his methods it is nearly impossible to tell? The stakes get even higher when Jonas shoots his partner dead in dense fog and then attempts to cover it up. Throughout the movie Skarsgard is magnificent, one of his best performances ever. He walks an exceptionally narrow line while maintaining the very essence of subtle ambiguity. That ambiguity makes Insomnia more than just another cop thriller. It elevates the status of a first-rate genre piece into the realm of art.

Side Note: Four years later the inevitable US version of Insomnia came out directed by no less than Christopher Nolan and starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. As adaptations of European movies go it is a somewhat respectful one, but it still f***ed everything up anyway. Though the English language version cleaves close to the original story, Nolan provides a back-story that explains Pacino's behaviour and thus eliminates what made the original great: that queasy ambiguity we feel toward the main character from beginning to end in the 1998 version. The Hollywood version is still a watchable movie (6A), for sure. However, it is disheartening that even a director as well-thought of as Nolan feels he has to dumb down European films so that NA audience's don't have to deal with the burden of uncertainty, totally missing the point of what made the original great in the process.

subtitles

 

[sr edler]

He kinda looks a bit like Woody Harrelson there, with the hair. Funny scene, but I missed it originally because we turned Annie Hall off pretty early, thought it was boring plus I'm kinda allergic to films where they break the 4th wall, I think they can do that on stage put on screen it never really works in my opinion.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Ninth Gate (Polanski, 1999) - You'd think a guy responsible for Repulsion, The Tenant and Rosemary's Baby, some of the (IMO) scariest films ever made, would be inclined to insert a little tension in a devil-summoning tale, but nah. Nevertheless, it was an ok mystery/detective flick until Emmanuelle Seiger - the stiffest actress of all time (?) - started flying around. 4/10

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The Unholy (Vila, 1988) - Speaking of stiff, one has to see the final form of the demon in this one, that's some old-time crazy slimy papier-mâché shit. I guess I was into that show-me-your-breasts-yah-sexy-demon kind of mood, I only realized I was watching again the same thing when Ben Cross qualified the whole demon-summoning crap of "mumbo-jumbo", an expression I wasn't familiar with before Frank Langella said the exact same thing regarding the The Ninth Gate's similar material. The Unholy isn't a better film, and it isn't scarier, but it's somewhat more fun and it doesn't have Seiger. Add to this a little nostalgia and I'll go with a symbolic 4,5/10.

 

[nameless1]

Wow, thanks for the head's up!! Do you know until when it's free?

Not sure. I will just put it into the account first, and worry about it later. You got at least 30 days anyways.

 

[OzzyFan]

The Vast of Night
2.40 out of 4stars

Nostalgic little sci-fi mystery movie, set in the 1950's, with a very very very less is more approach. It felt to me, like Kihei hinted, as a movie with no real payoffs or essence. Is it intriguing? Yes. Does it get you thinking? Yes. Is there a solid amount of suspense? Yes. But....there is no payoff, there are only the outermost carvings of a what should be a more deep and complete movie. All of which could have been forgiven if said storyline and movie path was taken up a few notches or expanded upon. Everything just scrapes the surface, and at times almost feels rushed in an already short movie. I might add, it's overuse of dialogue and at times odd direction of 'action' scenes were slightly offputting to me.