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

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (Zucker, 1988) - Started it just to fall asleep, ended up watching the whole thing. It comes after better films from Zucker and has lots of easy jokes, but still kinda fun. 3.5/10

Fast Times At Ridgemont High (Heckerling, 1982) - You guys got me to watch this thing (never saw it before). I guess it is what it is, hell of a cast though, even has "Nicolas Copppola". 3/10

 

[Jussi]

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

First off, copying my review from the movie's thread:

Well that was an absolute blast. 9+/10 Millie Bobby Brown really is a next gen level star in the making. If you thought she carried Stranger Things then this takes it to another level. Honestly, I had 10 times more fun watching this than both RDJ Holmes movies combined. Cavill's Sherlock didn't feel quite THE Sherlock but this is a "young detective" that's early in his career and there's no Holmes and for some reason he goes everywhere without a hat. Special mention to the score. Really fit the show.

This is based on a series of books and if I've understood correctly, this is pretty faithful to them. As for Mycroft and Sherlock, Mycroft was always the dull government worker, whether it was ITV's Jeremy Brett lead Holmes tv show or the new BBC show. To me Claflin played him to a tee. And for Sherlock, as I mentioned previously, the movie refers to him early on as the "young detective", there's no Watson yet and he goes everywhere without a hat. Even Jeremy Brett's Holmes wore a hat when he was out and about.

 

[heatnikki]

Enemy Lines on Netflix,

Supposed to be a war film and one thing I can't stand is inaccuracies , John Hannah is supposed to be a WW2 Colonel and he has a fine array of medal ribbons
yet the earliest one he has is 1962, he even has an Iraq war ribbon.
If you can't get the little things right it doesn't bode well for the rest of the film, it is mediocre at best, didn't even finish it.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Blood Simple and The Big Lebowski. One of the things I've really grown to appreciate over the years from the Coen Brothers is how innately internalized their influences are. They're among our most literate filmmakers and I'm always impressed at how good they are at making things that are clearly inspired by other sources yet not directly from that source. Maybe no better example than this duo of movies. Blood Simple ISN'T based on a novel by James M. Cain or Jim Thompson but damn if it doesn't fully feel like it could have been and The Big Lebowski most definitely isn't a Raymond Chandler book, but perhaps if a literary multiverse existed, it is. They manage to both be themselves and their influences about as well as any going creative concern. They know it so well, it feels natural. But knowing their influences isn't necessary to the enjoyment. They stand on their own. They're well balanced/calibrated whereas I think a lot of other filmmakers veer toward being just a collection of references and inspirations, human checklists asking you if you've seen this or that or read this or that. There's pleasure and entertainment sometimes in that, but it can also be a little hollow. The Coens rarely feel hollow to me.

Blood Simple is still to this day on my shortlists for favorite films of theirs. It's a genuine and not remotely contrarian choice. They feel so fully formed right here in their first movie, technically, thematically, stylistically. They'd do so many more bigger, flashier films, but this will always be a wonderfully tight, nasty little mousetrap about venal, horny idiots each of whom is in over their heads though each one thinks it has the others figured out. Some great, dark laughs too. It's almost even a horror movie (at least through the Frances McDormand character's eyes).

The Big Lebowski. Honestly, I probably like this one a smidge less than its devoted fanbase, though I still enjoy it quite a bit. An extremely clever private eye riff masked with some riotously funny stupidity.

 

[kihei]

The Big Sleep (1946) Directed by Howard Hawks 9A

This classic noir is still a whole lot of fun. Private eye Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) is called to the estate of a rich old man who wants Marlowe to take care of some gambling debts his younger, wild-child daughter has run up. The old man’s elder daughter Vivian ((Lauren Bacall) isn’t so sure she trusts Marlowe, but he takes the case anyway which seems simple enough. Then the murders start piling up and nothing is simple anymore. Not one person in fifty who like this movie can summarize the plot, me included. In fact there is a murder in the movie that never does get explained. Even the writers of the wonderful script, who include the author of the novel Raymond Chandler and William Faulkner, no less, could not explain what happened to that particular victim. No matter. No one has ever objected to this odd glitch because The Big Sleep is so entertaining anyway, full of snappy dialogue, terrific scenes, a fast pace, and great chemistry between Bogie and Bacall. Bogart is in every single scene in the movie—something that I would guess is at least as rare as a no-hitter in the Major Leagues—and he carries the movie with ease to spare. As film noir goes, only The Maltese Falcon is in the same class.

YouTube

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Blood Simple and The Big Lebowski. One of the things I've really grown to appreciate over the years from the Coen Brothers is how innately internalized their influences are. They're among our most literate filmmakers and I'm always impressed at how good they are at making things that are clearly inspired by other sources yet not directly from that source. Maybe no better example than this duo of movies. Blood Simple ISN'T based on a novel by James M. Cain or Jim Thompson but damn if it doesn't fully feel like it could have been and The Big Lebowski most definitely isn't a Raymond Chandler book, but perhaps if a literary multiverse existed, it is. They manage to both be themselves and their influences about as well as any going creative concern. They know it so well, it feels natural. But knowing their influences isn't necessary to the enjoyment. They stand on their own. They're well balanced/calibrated whereas I think a lot of other filmmakers veer toward being just a collection of references and inspirations, human checklists asking you if you've seen this or that or read this or that. There's pleasure and entertainment sometimes in that, but it can also be a little hollow. The Coens rarely feel hollow to me.

Blood Simple is still to this day on my shortlists for favorite films of theirs. It's a genuine and not remotely contrarian choice. They feel so fully formed right here in their first movie, technically, thematically, stylistically. They'd do so many more bigger, flashier films, but this will always be a wonderfully tight, nasty little mousetrap about venal, horny idiots each of whom is in over their heads though each one thinks it has the others figured out. Some great, dark laughs too. It's almost even a horror movie (at least through the Frances McDormand character's eyes).

The Big Lebowski. Honestly, I probably like this one a smidge less than its devoted fanbase, though I still enjoy it quite a bit. An extremely clever private eye riff masked with some riotously funny stupidity.

Is Blood Simple considered one of their minor works? I agree that it certainly doesn't come across as lesser or less polished/more amateurish than any of their other works. It's one of their great films. How do you feel about Miller's Crossing? That's my favorite, with No Country for Old Men right after it. A Serious Man is really superb too.

 

[Osprey]

I watched Blood Simple for the first time a week ago. I thought that it was pretty good for a debut, but I can't say that I "liked" it. It felt very much like a Coen brothers film, only a little smaller and less polished. I suppose that the familiarity of most of their films is what their fans like, but I've never really been a fan, personally. I don't know what it is, but their films just don't "do" much for me. I don't even get why The Big Lebowski is so popular. I guess that you either love their style or you don't.

 

[Langdon Alger]

I watched Blood Simple for the first time a week ago. I thought that it was pretty good for a debut, but I can't say that I liked it. It felt very much like a Coen brothers film, only a little smaller and less polished. I suppose that fans of them like that every film of them is distinctly "Coen," but I've never really been a fan. I don't even get what people like The Big Lebowski so much for. I guess that you either love their style or you don't.

I saw Blood Simple so long ago, I don’t remember it at all. I remember very little of Barton Fink too. No Country, Fargo and Lebowski are the ones I’ve seen the most times.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Same, seen Blood Simple so long ago that I don't remember much of it. I know I really wasn't carried away... It's been a while too, but my favorite is Barton Fink, after that, I probably liked No Country and The Hudsucker Proxy the most. I've only seen A Serious Man once, but liked it a lot too.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Is Blood Simple considered one of their minor works? I agree that it certainly doesn't come across as lesser or less polished/more amateurish than any of their other works. It's one of their great films. How do you feel about Miller's Crossing? That's my favorite, with No Country for Old Men right after it. A Serious Man is really superb too.

I FEEL like it's regarded as second-tier in general. I don't agree with that, but I would guess that broadly speaking Raising Arizona, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men rank high for most and I think Barton Fink, A Serious Man and Inside llewyn Davis have at least very passionate defenders if not numbers of supporters.

Maybe a better way for me to phrase it would be that it's probably not in the top 5 Coen brothers movies for most fans and could be on the fringes of their top 10 for quite a few. Again, not my personal feeling, but a general impression. It's small and cheap and stripped down in ways none of their other movies are, which makes it easy to underrate or under appreciate. I think it's a strength of Blood Simple though that makes it stand out in their filmography. For good reasons.

It is among my five favorite. As would Miller's Crossing for that matter (which I've been eager to rewatch for a while but haven't actually done).

 

[Langdon Alger]

Same, seen Blood Simple so long ago that I don't remember much of it. I know I really wasn't carried away... It's been a while too, but my favorite is Barton Fink, after that, I probably liked No Country and The Hudsucker Proxy the most. I've only seen A Serious Man once, but liked it a lot too.

Isn’t Hudsucker Proxy considered to be their worst film? I mean, that doesn’t mean you can’t like it.

 

[Osprey]

Same, seen Blood Simple so long ago that I don't remember much of it. I know I really wasn't carried away... It's been a while too, but my favorite is Barton Fink, after that, I probably liked No Country and The Hudsucker Proxy the most. I've only seen A Serious Man once, but liked it a lot too.

The Hudsucker Proxy is the Coen brothers? In that case, I like one of their films after all!

Isn’t Hudsucker Proxy considered to be their worst film? I mean, that doesn’t mean you can’t like it.

That figures. The film that's considered their worst (maybe because it's the least "Coen"-like?) is my favorite of theirs .

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Personally, I disliked Barton Fink but I feel like I could change my mind on second viewing for some reason. On paper, it sounds great.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

I don't know what it is about the Big Lebowski, but even though I've probably seen it about ten times, I can still watch it if it pops up randomly on tv and still laugh. It still holds up after many, many repeated viewings. Miller's Crossing is another one like that, and a fair bit of it is the authenticity of the dialogue. There'd be very little of what we consider swearing in the 20's or earlier, which is one reason I wasn't all that big a fan of Deadwood, which my wife recently binged her way through. People just simply didn't talk like that back then. Non-stop f-bombs are actually a pretty recent development.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Isn’t Hudsucker Proxy considered to be their worst film? I mean, that doesn’t mean you can’t like it.

By whom? Either way, I'm very comfortable with disagreement.

The Hudsucker Proxy is the Coen brothers? In that case, I like one of their films after all!

That figures. The film that's considered their worst (maybe because it's the least "Coen"-like?) is my favorite of theirs .

Have you seen Crimewave? Written by the Coens, directed by their buddy Sam Raimi, it's cheap and dumb, and more fun than a lot of the stuff they all did afterwards.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Barton Fink is the tough one for me. I've revisited it several times and it just never clicks with me. I've been meaning to give The Man Who Wasn't There another go-round as well since that's another that left me wanting.

I think the one thing about the Coens everyone agrees on is that The Ladykillers is their worst.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

By whom? Either way, I'm very comfortable with disagreement.

The Hudsucker Proxy is delightful. You know, for kids!

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Hudsucker Proxy is delightful. You know, for kids!

Ahah, is that so? I hate kiddie flicks, I had no idea what to put down as my favorite family film in a recent thread... Had I known...

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Barton Fink is the tough one for me. I've revisited it several times and it just never clicks with me. I've been meaning to give The Man Who Wasn't There another go-round as well since that's another that left me wanting.

I think the one thing about the Coens everyone agrees on is that The Ladykillers is their worst.

I loved The Man Who Wasn't There. It's quite underrated I find.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Stalag 17 (1953) - 8/10

It's not quite The Great Escape, and it has a couple of characters which make it unnecessarily tedious in parts, plus it probably should've been a 90 minute tightly paced film and Billy Wilder's direction is a bit too zany, but he manages to mix it quite well with a POW WW2 film.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

I think the one thing about the Coens everyone agrees on is that The Ladykillers is their worst.

Killer soundtrack though.

 

[ORRFForever]

From A House On Willow Street (2016) :

I watched From A House On Willow Street in the hope of seeing Sharni Vinson wearing something sexy. I got my wish in the opening minutes - she got out of bed wearing panties and a t-shirt. The movie went down hill from there.

Sharni Vinson (looking OLD and anorexic) is Hazel, the leader of a criminal gang. The gang kidnaps a young woman who is possessed and their plan to extort diamonds from her family goes to hell... literally.

Predictable, poorly acted, and disappointing.
3/10

 

[kihei]

Corpus Christi (2019) Directed by Jan Komasa 7A

Well, here's a complex one, close to Bergman or Dreyer territory. Tomasz (Bertosz Bielenia) is a young man who has just been paroled from a Catholic reform school. Part of his parole is that he must work in a sawmill on the other side of Poland. He longs to be a priest but is told that because of the seriousness of his offense he can never hope to enter the ministry. When he gets to the small town, he defensively tells a girl in a church that he is a priest, and thus begins his perilous journey of substituting for the local pastor who is sick. His takes his duties very seriously. His ministry benefits the entire community even though he makes the kind of controversial decisions that Christ might make in his place. What the fates have in store for him is not predictable but it makes a certain kind of sense. Without overplaying its hand and without falling into formula, Corpus Christi raises important questions about the nature of mercy, forgiveness and redemption. The movie contrasts the gulf between true Christian spirituality and the kind of lip service that Christianity practices now. Bielenia is superb as Tomasz. He has a haunting face that can somehow appear blank one moment and animated the next. He digs into his character about as deeply as it is humanly possible to do, and the results benefit the film immensely. Corpus Christi is a movie from "within the tent," but nonetheless a critique and a challenge, maybe more like an accusation, to those of faith.

subtitles

Criterion Channel

Top Ten so far

First Cow, Reichardt, US
Seducio da Carne, Bressane, Brazil
Corpus Christi, Komasa, Poland
Before We Vanish, Kurosawa, Japan
Beanpole, Balagov, Russia
Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Hittman, US
Only the Animals, Moll, France
The Portuguese Woman, Gomes, Portugal
The Forest of Love, Sono, Japan
The Load, Glavonic, Serbia

 

[kihei]

My Coen Brothers Scorecard

Yes

No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Blood Simple
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Big Lebowski
Miller's Crossing
A Serious Man
Burn After Reading (only thanks to Brad Pitt)

Meh

Raising Arizona
The Man Who Wasn't There
True Grit
Inside Llewyn Davis

No, More like HELL, NO

Barton Fink
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Hudsucker Proxy
The Ladykillers
Intolerable Cruelty
Hail Caesar

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

My Coen Brothers Scorecard

Yes

No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Blood Simple
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The Big Lebowski
Miller's Crossing
A Serious Man
Burn After Reading (only thanks to Brad Pitt)

Meh

Barton Fink
Raising Arizona
The Man Who Wasn't There
True Grit
Inside Llewyn Davis

No, More like HELL, NO

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
The Hudsucker Proxy
The Ladykillers
Intolerable Cruelty
Hail Caesar

Well since I started this conversation. Using your scale (with a few tweaks since I'm total homer) ...

Unqualified Yes
No Country for Old Men
Fargo
Blood Simple
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Miller's Crossing
A Serious Man
Raising Arizona
Inside Llewyn Davis

Yes, but it probably helps if I'm high
Burn After Reading
The Hudsucker Proxy
Hail Caesar
The Big Lebowski
O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Better than the reputation
True Grit
Intolerable Cruelty

Meh
Barton Fink
The Man Who Wasn't There

No, More like HELL, NO
The Ladykillers