Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +5

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Osprey

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Alone (2020)... not to be confused with Alone (2020) or Alone (2020) - 2/10 (Hated it)

It starts out promisingly with a blind woman arriving at and spending the night alone in an expensive house in the woods, then being assaulted by an intruder who drags her to the basement. It then switches to following four 20-year-olds who arrive at the same house for a weekend of fun. As 20-somethings are prone to do in horror films, they die one by one... but in more idiotic ways than usual. For example, one yells "Boo!" at a character and gets accidentally slashed in the throat when he spins around with a knife in his hand. Another falls from a second-story deck onto a convertible with the soft-top up and somehow dies from the fall. It doesn't stop there. None of it is supposed to be absurd, though. It's supposed to be clever, relying on misdirection and frequent use of flashbacks in a "now we'll show you what you didn't see" fashion. Sometimes, that can be pulled off well, but, here, it's just done all wrong and makes the plot needlessly complicated and hard to follow. There's also frequent use of voiceovers that don't add or flesh out anything; they're just for the sake of being dramatic and artistic. Finally, most of the twists are telegraphed, so they're not surprising when they happen. The movie tries really hard to be clever and twisty, but it's a real amateur effort that fails on multiple levels. It doesn't help that the acting is really bad across the board. Some of that may have to do with the awful dialogue and directing, though. I'm honestly surprised that I managed to sit through this ridiculous movie, especially after realizing that it's not the one that I intended to watch. I think that the only reason that I did is that I found it pretty amusing how terrible it is, despite trying so hard to not be.

If you care for a laugh and don't mind the whole movie being spoiled because you'll never watch it, anyways:
The killer of most of the 20-year-olds ends up being the blind woman who accidentally killed the real intruder in the basement and thinks that the kids are more home invaders come to assault her. Yes, in a house that she's had less than a day to learn the layout of, a blind woman is able to move around and kill able-bodied millennials one by one without being seen... and it's all just a big misunderstanding. Believe it or not, that's the plot :laugh:.
 
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ORRFForever

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Your review and the RT scores convinced me to check this out, so I looked it up and started watching. 10 minutes in, I started to wonder if it was the same film, mainly because the acting is pretty bad. It turns out that what I'm watching is another 2020 horror film named Alone that is also about a woman being terrorized in a cabin in the woods. On top of that, I've found that there's yet another 2020 horror film named Alone, but about zombies and starring Donald Sutherland. What gives? Does no one check these things? Is this what happens during a pandemic when the film industry's left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing?

Alone (2020)

Alone (2020)

Alone (2020)

^That is not the same link pasted three times
Your review saved me watching "Alone" with the blind woman - the trailer made me curious.

The movie I liked was the one with the guy with the BIG moustache.
 
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ORRFForever

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The Social Dilemma (2020 / Netflix) :

“The one unforgivable sin is to be boring.” ― Christopher Hitchens

A fascinating subject for a documentary - social media destroying the world while making a profit. Intertwined with the information and interviews is a story about a fictional family - a black father, a white mother, an Asian sister, and a brother who is headed down the wrong path because of the internet. :rolleyes:

Despite all the potential the topic provides, The Social Dilemma is a dull mess.

3.5/10

 
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ORRFForever

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Alone (2020)... not to be confused with Alone (2020) or Alone (2020) - 3/10 (Really disliked it)

It starts out promisingly with a blind woman spending the night alone in an expensive house in the woods, only to be assaulted and dragged into the basement. The movie then switches to following four 20-year-olds who coincidentally arrive at the same house for a weekend of fun. As 20-somethings are prone to do in horror films, they die one by one... but in more idiotic ways than usual. For example, one yells "Boo!" at a character and gets slashed in the throat when he spins around with a knife in his hand. Another falls from a second-story deck onto a convertible with the soft-top up and somehow dies from the fall. It doesn't stop there. None of it is supposed to be absurd, though. It's supposed to be clever. Much of it is presented via flashbacks in a "now we'll show you what you didn't see" fashion and there's frequent use of voiceover recordings for the sake of trying to be artistic. Also, thanks to the flashbacks, it's needlessly complicated and disjointed. The movie tries really hard to be clever and twisty, but it's a real amateur effort that fails on multiple levels. It doesn't help that the acting is really bad across the board. Some of that may have to do with the awful dialogue and directing, though. I'm honestly surprised that I managed to sit through this ridiculous film, especially after realizing that it's not the movie that I intended to watch. I think that the only reason that I did and why I can't rate it even lower is that I found it pretty amusing how terrible it is, despite trying so hard to not be.

If you care for a laugh and don't mind the whole movie being spoiled because you'll never watch it, anyways:
The killer of most of the 20-year-olds ends up being the blind woman who accidentally killed the real intruder in the basement and thinks that the kids are more home invaders come to assault her. Yes, in a house that she's had less than a day to learn the layout of, a blind woman is able to move around and kill able-bodied millennials one by one without being seen... and it's all just a big misunderstanding. Believe it or not, that's the plot :laugh:.
I watched the trailer before reading your review and spoiler. The twist was pretty well what I assumed it would be. Glad I didn't waste my time.
 

kihei

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Salon Kitty
(1976) Directed by Tinto Brass 4C

Italian director Tinto Brass was a serious avant-garde artist until midway in his career when he turned to kitschy erotica. While Salon Kitty ain't exactly tasteful, Brass does bring a certain enthusiasm to his job that makes it hard to avert one’s eyes. Salon Kitty includes Nazis; beautiful prostitutes; a villainous and kinky SS officer named Wallenberg (Helmut Berger); and lots of naked bodies of both genders, though primarily female. Among other items, the movie offers grotesquerie, a butchered pig, high camp, cabaret, homoeroticism, and straight eroticism. The movie has a little something for everyone--though, I suspect, what one group might like, the other groups aren't going to be crazy about. The arrogant Wallenberg has taken over the most notorious Cabaret-style brothel in Berlin and is using his own carefully chosen cadre of innocent and beautiful prostitutes to tape the post-coital conversations of soldiers and government officials who may be insufficiently enthusiastic about the Third Reich. Eventually one of the comely prostitutes figures out that Wallender is evil at which point he becomes a target for reprisal. None of this translates into a convincing plot but it does provide more than sufficient platform for explicit nudity and simulated sexuality of which there is a whole lot. Early on, the movie seems like it may break some record for crudity, but once Brass has our attention, things settle down into a more conventional soft-ish porn movie, one done with more panache than the genre is generally noted for. Some will be mightily offended; some will notice the high production values (production design is by the same guy who did Barry Lyndon); some will wonder why in hell Ingmar Bergman regular Ingrid Thulin took this role and is doing all those naughty things. Is it art? Oh, don't ask.

Oddly enough, Salon Kitty is in English (not dubbed)

MUBI
 
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Pranzo Oltranzista

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Salon Kitty
(1976) Directed by Tinto Brass 4C

Italian director Tinto Brass was a serious avant-garde artist until midway in his career when he turned to kitschy erotica. While Salon Kitty ain't exactly tasteful, Brass does bring a certain enthusiasm to his job that makes it hard to avert one’s eyes. Salon Kitty includes Nazis; beautiful prostitutes; a villainous and kinky SS officer named Wallenberg (Helmut Berger); and lots of naked bodies of both genders, though primarily female. Among other items, the movie offers grotesquerie, a butchered pig, high camp, cabaret, homoeroticism, and straight eroticism. The movie has a little something for everyone--though, I suspect, what one group might like, the other groups aren't going to be crazy about. The arrogant Wallenberg has taken over the most notorious Cabaret-style brothel in Berlin and is using his own carefully chosen cadre of innocent and beautiful prostitutes to tape the post-coital conversations of soldiers and government officials who may be insufficiently enthusiastic about the Third Reich. Eventually one of the comely prostitutes figures out that Wallender is evil at which point he becomes a target for reprisal. None of this translates into a convincing plot but it does provide more than sufficient platform for explicit nudity and simulated sexuality of which there is a whole lot. Early on, the movie seems like it may break some record for crudity, but once Brass has our attention, things settle down into a more conventional soft-ish porn movie, one done with more panache than the genre is generally noted for. Some will be mightily offended; some will notice the high production values (production design is by the same guy who did Barry Lyndon); some will wonder why in hell Ingmar Bergman regular Ingrid Thulin took this role and is doing all those naughty things. Is it art? Oh, don't ask.

Oddly enough, Salon Kitty is in English (not dubbed)

MUBI

Of course I love Tinto Brass.
 
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kingsholygrail

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Midway(2019) 5/10. Really watch it for the dive bombing sequences. You can find them on youtube I'm sure. I really think more of the movie should have been the Battle of Midway itself. Really missed out on showing the resilience of the Yorktown or showing off the Thach Weave, a technique in dogfighting that gave the Americans their first victories against Japanese Zeroes. Also, it was funny how much anti-air they gave the Japanese to push the dramatic effect of the divebombing. Fortunately, in reality, the Japanese had pretty weak anti-air on their ships and relied almost entirely on fighter coverage to protect them from dive bombers(but that's less exciting getting cut to ribbons by fighters on your tail rather that guns from your target.

If you got a couple hours to kill and want some great strategic insight into Midway, check out this guys videos. Top notch and he incorporates some dramatic flair too.
 
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Osprey

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Blood Games (1990) - 6/10 (Liked it)

An all-girl softball team from out of town beats a bunch of local hicks who are part of a militia (naturally), leading to a literal gender war with the babes and slobs hunting and killing each other in the woods. This is one of those straight-to-Cinemax movies that was typical of the late 80s and early 90s, especially in the fact that it manages to be both exploitative and feminist at the same time. You get your requisite shower scene, revealing clothing and sexual assaults, but it's OK because these girls are tough and get the upper hand on the dumb, disgusting men. Amusingly, it was directed by a woman. The acting is corny and the action isn't great. It's just a cheesy movie that's really not good, but, in spite of that, I found it watchable and even a little enjoyable because of nostalgia for the trashy movies of my youth that made me the man that I am today. BTW, Violenza, it stars the girl from Dr. Caligari, so at least one actor still found work after being in that ;).

You can watch the whole movie on YouTube...

...or watch the whole movie in the 90-second trailer:
 
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ItsFineImFine

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Millennium Actress (2001) - 6/10

Nice animation style (strangely low frame rate for a 2001 film) but it's too weeby and corny for me to really enjoy. I found it settling into a very repetitive tedious groove too around the half hour mark. Whenever a film is under 90 minutes and is still hard to fully sit through then I have an issue with it. Nice editing though.
 

kihei

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The Wild Goose Lake
(2019) Directed by Diao Yi-nan 5B

In this stylish but otherwise empty Chinese noir, a small-time thief manages to piss off both other thieves and the police. First, he gets involved in a turf war regarding stolen motor bikes, then he unintentionally kills a cop during an escape attempt. A huge bounty is placed on his head, and he wants his wife to claim it. But up pops this femme fatale out of nowhere and things start to make less and less sense, not that they ever made much in the first place. In an otherwise aimless movie (though kind of cool anyway),The Wild Goose Lake scatters artful images and well-choreographed action sequences. Director Diao Yi-nan has flair to burn. What he doesn’t have is a compelling plot, understandable character motivation or much concern for the basic essentials of editing. It is a rare thing to watch a film directed by someone with this kind of visual ingenuity who is nonetheless incapable of telling a coherent story. It’s like, jeez, dummy, you got the hard part right, pay more attention to detail next time.

subtitles
 

kihei

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Enola Holmes
(2020) Directed by Harry Bradbeer 5A

There is a line in the documentary The Social Dilemma that I was reminded of while I was watching Enola Holmes: "If you are not paying for the product, you are the product." And our product is our attention. Enola Holmes is a movie designed to grab out attention to promote one thing, the career of its young star, Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things. This movie is a cleverly designed and marketed corporate entity that takes all of Brown's strengths--her pluck, her charm, her intelligence--and joins them to a time-tested formula, a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery. The goal is to make Brown an even bigger star than she is right now, to promote her eventually into super star status so that her presence in a movie or a series becomes even more profitable for everyone involved than it is now. Enola Holmes starts out with a lot of pizazz as Enola, speaking directly into the camera at every opportunity, must cope with the sudden disappearance of her dear mother, the person who has taught her everything that is really important about life. In embarking on a search for her, Enola is sometimes frustrated in her efforts by her older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock, who have had nothing to do with her up to this point in her life. A young viscount who she rescues plays an important role as well. It's fun for a while, until you notice all the loose ends and how the end of the movie doesn't make much sense with the start of the movie. So there is a big letdown at the worst time, but, never fear, the sequels have almost surely already been written. Mycroft (Sam Claflin) is just a stick-in-the-mud and no fun at all, and Sherlock (Henry Cavill) isn't much better. Cavill's Sherlock is the least eccentric Holmes ever--which is bad. Basically Cavill is sleepwalking through the role and doesn't care who knows it. His Sherlock has no personality whatsoever. But Brown, bless her heart, delivers the goods entirely. I thought she was captivating even when I was grating my teeth. She's got my attention for the next decade or so. So on that level, the only level that counts with Enola Holmes, it was a successful transaction.

Netflix
 
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Osprey

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Enola Holmes
(2020) Directed by Harry Bradbeer 5A

There is a line in the documentary The Social Dilemma that I was reminded of while I was watching Enola Holmes: "If you are not paying for the product, you are the product." And our product is our attention. Enola Holmes is a movie designed to grab out attention to promote one thing, the career of its young star, Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things. This movie is a cleverly designed and marketed corporate entity that takes all of Brown's strengths--her pluck, her charm, her intelligence--and joins them to a time-tested formula, a Sherlock Holmes-style mystery. The goal is to make Brown an even bigger star than she is right now, to promote her eventually into super star status so that her presence in a movie or a series becomes even more profitable for everyone involved than it is now. Enola Holmes starts out with a lot of pizazz as Enola, speaking directly into the camera at every opportunity, must cope with the sudden disappearance of her dear mother, the person who has taught her everything that is really important about life. In embarking on a search for her, Enola is sometimes frustrated in her efforts by her older brothers, Mycroft and Sherlock, who have had nothing to do with her up to this point in her life. A young viscount who she rescues plays an important role as well. It's fun for a while, until you notice all the loose ends and how the end of the movie doesn't make much sense with the start of the movie. So there is a big letdown at the worst time, but, never fear, the sequels have almost surely already been written. Mycroft (Sam Claflin) is just a stick-in-the-mud and no fun at all, and Sherlock (Henry Cavill) isn't much better. Cavill's Sherlock is the least eccentric Holmes ever--which is bad. Basically Cavill is sleepwalking through the role and doesn't care who knows it. His Sherlock has no personality whatsoever. But Brown, bless her heart, delivers the goods entirely. I thought she was captivating even when I was grating my teeth. She's got my attention for the next decade or so. So on that level, the only level that counts with Enola Holmes, it was a successful transaction.

Netflix

You watched it on the day that it was released, and before lunch time, no less. Yeah, I'd say that it got your attention ;). It got mine from the fun-looking trailer, as well, and I had been planning to give this a try, but didn't realize that today was the day, so thanks.
 

kihei

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You watched it on the day that it was released, and before lunch time, no less. Yeah, I'd say that it got your attention ;). It got mine from the fun-looking trailer, as well, and I had been planning to give this a try, but didn't realize that today was the day, so thanks.
Well, I do like to scoop the competition. :laugh: I was definitely looking forward to this movie. Brown may well be the first genuine Netflix mega-star, and I think her films are going to be carefully constructed to maximize that effort over the next while. She is a mix of the "constructed" (lucky initial casting before she was even in her teens) and the "genuine" (she has a lot of talent) and it will fun to see how big she gets.
 

Osprey

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Well, I do like to scoop the competition. :laugh: I was definitely looking forward to this movie. Brown may well be the first genuine Netflix mega-star, and I think her films are going to be carefully constructed to maximize that effort over the next while. She is a mix of the "constructed" (lucky initial casting before she was even in her teens) and the "genuine" (she has a lot of talent) and it will fun to see how big she gets.

If I had realized that it was releasing today, I would've tried to watch it first and scoop the rest of you. You win this time.

She reminds me a bit of Natalie Portman, whom I remember being impressed with when she was only 12 years old in The Professional. She even looks a bit like her, especially in the screen grab that you posted. I never had to get used to Portman with hair, though :laugh:.
 
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ItsFineImFine

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Her accent is the type that sounds like she has something in her mouth. Anyways, I was enjoying this until the other teen showed up, it's taken a turn for young-adult fiction now, whatever I'll finish it.
 
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kihei

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If I had realized that it was releasing today, I would've tried to watch it first and scoop the rest of you. You win this time.

She reminds me a bit of Natalie Portman, whom I remember being impressed with when she was only 12 years old in The Professional. She even looks a bit like her, especially in the screen grab that you posted. I never had to get used to Portman with hair, though :laugh:.
Maybe a little young Ashley Judd in there, too.

ItsFineI'mFine: I think she is going to be stuck in YA for a couple of more years. She's too young to do anything else. If her management is as smart as it looks, I think they will play the long game, though.
 

ItsFineImFine

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Enola Holmes (2020!) - 7/10

I'm a sucker for Sherlock Holmes films. I don't like the style of this one completely, it tries to aim itself a bit too much at the under-18 crowd at times, but it's still better than the overly stylized and messier Guy Ritchie films. It's corny but at least it's fun, I can let some of that slide. Just feels like it's a bit too basic which holds it back from being a great film. However, if they want to do a series of films with Enola Holmes & Henry Cavill solving crimes, I'd be down for that. But it won't happen and if it did, it would probably be even more disappointing than the final seasons of the Sherlock TV show.
 

Osprey

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The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) - 8/10 (Loved it)

Sinbad (Kerwin Mathews) enlists the help of an untrustworthy sorcerer (Torin Thatcher) and a genie to undo a spell on his fiancee (Kathryn Grant) and battle terrifying mythical creatures. This full-color adventure is fun and has a good story with some similarities to the story of Aladdin. It also has nice location filming and a good soundtrack. The special effects are the real star of the picture, though. Ray Harryhausen's stop motion animation (for the first time in color) is spectacular. We're treated to a cyclops, a dragon, a two-headed eagle, a skeleton warrior and more. Better yet, they're on screen a lot. From the very beginning to the very end, barely does 5 minutes pass before we're treated to another terrific effect. It all climaxes with a monster fight between a cyclops and a dragon that looks inspired by The Lost World. Reportedly, that scene alone took Harryhausen 3 weeks to create and all of the effects in the film took him 11 whole months to finish. The result is a special effects spectacle. I can only imagine how mesmerizing this film must've been in 1958, especially for younger viewers. Even in 2020, it's an impressive and exciting adventure film.
 
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kihei

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I did a Sophia Loren review back there a bit (A Special Day). I wasn't sure she was even still alive. But today The Guardian reported that she is doing another movie (after an eleven year absence) with her son directing. Netflix bound, too. Good for her.
 
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Langdon Alger

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Fast Times At Ridgemont High - 1982

Decent movie. I thought Sean Penn would be in it more. Some funny moments, but hardly anything great.

Went back and watched this one earlier today. Better than I originally gave it credit for. Pretty fun movie actually.
 
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