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

[Langdon Alger]

Loved it. Watched it many times.

Yeah, I might go with a different ending though. Chris deserved to get caught.

 

[ORRFForever]

Evil Eye (2020):

Usha was traumatized by an abusive man she killed 30 years earlier. Because of the trauma, she stresses endlessly about her daughter, Pallavi, who is 29 and unmarried. One day, Pallavi meets a handsome young man (Sandeep) and her mother starts to worry if Sandeep is the reincarnation of the man who tried to kill her.

For the first hour and ten minutes, I really enjoyed the film's tension, the Indian culture, and the beautiful East Indian women.

Unfortunately, with 20 minutes left, the makers of Evil Eye had to answer the question :

Is Sandeep an evil reincarnation or not?

...and there's no way to answer that question without disappointing some viewers. As for me, I'm "okay" with how things ended.

Full Disclosure : I've always had a thing for East Indian women. The pitch black hair, the big eyes, the dark skin. For that reason, I liked Evil Eye more than I probably should have.

7.5/10

 

[nameless1]

He pulled a LOT of string behind the scenes in many high quality films and he inserted himself into those movies. If those films hadn't been classics, he likely would have disappeared - like so many before him. Fortunately for Beatty, Splendor In Grass, Bonnie and Clyde, and McCabe and Mrs Miller propelled him into super stardom.

That makes sense. The behind-the-scene influences are often overlooked, and it is fair to say that he made his own success. His closest comparable is probably Michael Douglas then, but even though I am not a fan of Douglas myself, I will say that Douglas brings a lot more to the table than Beatty.

Quite frankly, Beatty really is not special at all. Heck, he is not even the best performer in his family. That honour goes to Shirley MacLaine.

 

[ORRFForever]

Yeah, the behind-the-scene influences are often overlooked, and he made his own success. His closest comparable is probably Michael Douglas then, but even though I am not a fan of Douglas myself, I will say that Douglas brings a lot more to the table than Beatty.

Quite frankly, Beatty really is not special at all. Heck, he is not even the best performer in his family. That honour goes to Shirley MacLaine.

All true.

Beatty had a way with women - to put it mildly. LOTS of beautiful women. That made him interesting and famous. If you're ALWAYS with a different beautiful woman, people will notice. Plus, Joan Collins told the world he was amazing in bed and that certainly didn't hurt.

After he dumped Collins, Beatty stole this woman (Natalie Wood) from the UGLY guy on the left, and that impressed a lot of people...

Then he cheated on Natalie Wood like there was no tomorrow.

If I recall correctly, one time Beatty took Natalie Wood for dinner and left her at the table, leaving with the hat check girl. LOL.

What a BEAST !!!!

Natalie Wood was a painfully beautiful woman who was use to getting her way with men. Then she dated Beatty and ended up having a nervous breakdown.

Warren Beatty's Love Life: His 37 Beautiful Lovers (And A Wife), Listed

As Woody Allen once said...

"If there is reincarnation, I'd like to come back as Warren Beatty's fingertips."

Me too.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Kodachrome (Raso, 2017) - They had something to build around, could have been really interesting, but it's polite and polished and all too convenient. 4/10

 

[Langdon Alger]

The Lincoln Lawyer - 2011

Legal thriller starring Matthew McConaughey. Strong supporting cast including William H. Macy, Marisa Tomei and Bryan Cranston. Good film with some surprises along the way. McConaughey is very good in this. Enjoyed it very much.

8/10

 

[kihei]

Watched The Trial of the Chicago Seven last night and thought it was phenomenal. I didn't know much about the story (not American and relatively young), it was enthralling and left you bitter at the system. Sacha Baron Cohen was phenomenal. I'll give it an 8/10.

I saw it tonight, and found it entertaining and relevant, too. I had some problems, though, especially with the way the film attempts to "balance" responsibility between the police and Tom Hayden, employing largely a fiction to do so. But even though it took about a half century longer than it should have, The Trial of the Chicago Seven does give a sense of what was at stake and what the authorities attempted violently to repress. I'd advise no one to take this movie as real history, though--there are just too many misrepresentations of events evident in the work. Movies tend to do that, but people can take them at face value, even institutions that should know better. I remember a couple of decades ago visiting family in Michigan and casually watching something called the "History" channel, which I assumed meant "real" history. The channel was running John Wayne's The Green Berets. I found that bitterly funny. Anyway for anyone interested in some of the central discrepancies between The Trial of the Chicago Seven and what actually occurred, this article gives at least a partial summary.

Netflix's 'The Trial of the Chicago 7': Separating fact from fiction

 

[kihei]

Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) Directed by Tomas Guiterrez Alea 8B

If you asked a serious film buff to name five films from Caribbean countries, I’d bet a lot of money that he or she couldn’t do it. While film has exploded just about everywhere on the planet, the Caribbean remains a desert in an otherwise fertile garden. However, there are a handful of worthy films, and Memories of Underdevelopment is among the best of them. Covering the period from the victory of the Cuban revolution in 1959 to the dawning of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Memories of Underdevelopment is the story of Sergio Mendoza, an intellectual who decides to stay in Cuba after the revolution despite his complete dissatisfaction with and even rancor toward the regime. Much of the movie consists of Sergio’s monologues as he observes the world around him, his internal musings becoming a central part of his character development. Director Tomas Guiterrez Alea seems to take his approach from the French New Wave, specifically Jean Luc Godard’s political and experimental works (I don’t know this for a fact, but it sure looks that way). He combines dramatic scenes with archival footage, documentary images and scenes where actors take part in real situations as a means of showing both the depth of Sergio’s malaise but, also, interestingly, the character flaws of Sergio himself. In fact, Sergio becomes something of a portrait of the clueless intellectual—a man who thinks complex thoughts about existence but whose personal behaviour is hardly above reproach. Memories of Underdevelopment is an innovative look at post-revolutionary Cuban history as well as at the limitations of certain intellectuals who recognize their alienation but who choose to do little but complain about it.

subtitles

Criterion Channel

 

[Jumptheshark]

Just watched "The trial of Chicago 7"

A bit of a back story on the movie. first it was Speilberg who was going to make, then it was Soderbergh was supposed to do and then it fell to a few other directors before Sorkin involved. Both Speilberg and Soderbergh had their scrips on line for the longest time. Lot of big name actors came and went via the pre production

Now the movie is not bad--but it could have been great or far better.

Abbie Hoffman said a lot of nasty thing towards Bobby Seale during the trial--it is on the transcript and they did not address it in the movie. Hofffman was not a nice person and this sugar coated a lot of things he said and did.


I like Sorkin's writing and it works better when he has a director that can mold his image and hone his message and I think it was lacking here.

there are a lot of good docs out there on this subject that give far better insight into what happened and why.

 

[Jumptheshark]

I saw it tonight, and found it entertaining and relevant, too. I had some problems, though, especially with the way the film attempts to "balance" responsibility between the police and Tom Hayden, employing largely a fiction to do so. But even though it took about a half century longer than it should have, The Trial of the Chicago Seven does give a sense of what was at stake and what the authorities attempted violently to repress. I'd advise no one to take this movie as real history, though--there are just too many misrepresentations of events evident in the work. Movies tend to do that, but people can take them at face value, even institutions that should know better. I remember a couple of decades ago visiting family in Michigan and casually watching something called the "History" channel, which I assumed meant "real" history. The channel was running John Wayne's The Green Berets. I found that bitterly funny. Anyway for anyone interested in some of the central discrepancies between The Trial of the Chicago Seven and what actually occurred, this article gives at least a partial summary.

Netflix's 'The Trial of the Chicago 7': Separating fact from fiction

I think we will see a few article on how history was twisted

 

[HolyGhost]

For those interested

On YouTube there is 'Conspiracr, trial of the chicago 8' we worth a viewing and is better than the movie

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

The Rythm Section (Morano, 2020) - A useless variation on the nobody trained to be a deadly vengeful killer, that tries to be somewhat realistic with dealing with abilities and remorse, and that aims for a "complicated" plot, only failing at both and ending up quite boring. 3.5/10

 

[Chili]

The Chernobyl Diaries-2012

A visit to the forbidden area where the nuclear disaster occurred turns into a Night of the Living Dead type film. For horror fans.

Chernobyl HBO Mini Series 2019

Powerful, profound, painful very well told story of what happened. If the subject interests someone highly recommend it but it's a sad story.

 

[nameless1]

Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) Directed by Tomas Guiterrez Alea 8B

If you asked a serious film buff to name five films from Caribbean countries, I’d bet a lot of money that he or she couldn’t do it. While film has exploded just about everywhere on the planet, the Caribbean remains a desert in an otherwise fertile garden. However, there are a handful of worthy films, and Memories of Underdevelopment is among the best of them. Covering the period from the victory of the Cuban revolution in 1959 to the dawning of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, Memories of Underdevelopment is the story of Sergio Mendoza, an intellectual who decides to stay in Cuba after the revolution despite his complete dissatisfaction with and even rancor toward the regime. Much of the movie consists of Sergio’s monologues as he observes the world around him, his internal musings becoming a central part of his character development. Director Tomas Guiterrez Alea seems to take his approach from the French New Wave, specifically Jean Luc Godard’s political and experimental works (I don’t know this for a fact, but it sure looks that way). He combines dramatic scenes with archival footage, documentary images and scenes where actors take part in real situations as a means of showing both the depth of Sergio’s malaise but, also, interestingly, the character flaws of Sergio himself. In fact, Sergio becomes something of a portrait of the clueless intellectual—a man who thinks complex thoughts about existence but whose personal behaviour is hardly above reproach. Memories of Underdevelopment is an innovative look at post-revolutionary Cuban history as well as at the limitations of certain intellectuals who recognize their alienation but who choose to do little but complain about it.

subtitles

Criterion Channel

I tried to take up your challenge, and you are right. I have probably seen around four movies from Caribbean countries, and I actually cannot name half of them.


I also find that almost all of them are from Cuba too. The film industries are just vastly underdeveloped in many of the other countries, unfortunately, and the people there probably have more pressing concerns to deal with.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Just watched The Keep. Michael Mann supernatural flick. This is one crazy *** movie. Loved it. 8/10. Acting is over the top but it's the best kind of cheese. Crazy special effects to boot.

 

[ORRFForever]

Nocturne (2020):

"Women don’t trust women, men don’t trust women…no-one trusts women." - Oscar Wilde

Two sisters compete over a boy, a prestigious position at Juilliard and a future in classical music. The sisters stab each other in the back for 90 long minutes.

Nocturne is an overacted, overdirected, overwritten film that fails to deliver on any level.

2/10

 

[ORRFForever]

Ranking the 4 Blumhouse films released on Amazon Prime in October...

Black Box
Evil Eye
Big Lie
=====
Nocturne

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Nocturne (2020):

"Women don’t trust women, men don’t trust women…no-one trusts women." - Oscar Wilde

Two sisters compete over a boy, a prestigious position at Juilliard and a future in classical music. The sisters give each other dirty looks and stab each other in the back for 90 long minutes.

Nocturne is an overacted, overwritten film that fails to deliver on any level.

2/10

Oh, good, I almost watched it tonight, but chose to go with:

The Void (Gillepsie & Kostanski, 2016) - A fun ride for any fan of 80s horror. It's just a dumb horror film, done well - it borrows from quite a few films, but subtly enough to do without the bullshit nostalgia and obvious throwbacks. If you used to enjoy body horror and don't mind some level of incoherence, I say go for it. 6/10

 

[ORRFForever]

Oh, good, I almost watched it tonight, but chose to go with:

The Void (Gillepsie & Kostanski, 2016) - A fun ride for any fan of 80s horror. It's just a dumb horror film, done well - it borrows from quite a few films, but subtly enough to do without the bullshit nostalgia and obvious throwbacks. If you used to enjoy body horror and don't mind some level of incoherence, I say go for it. 6/10

You chose wisely.

 

[Devilsfan992]

The Trial of the Chicago 7

8.5/10

 

[kihei]

I tried to take up your challenge, and you are right. I have probably seen around four movies from Caribbean countries, and I actually cannot name half of them.


I also find that almost all of them are from Cuba too. The film industries are just vastly underdeveloped in many of the other countries, unfortunately, and the people there probably have more pressing concerns to deal with.

I just barely passed my own test. I have seen five and can't name any others, two from Cuba, Memories of Underdevelopment and Juan of the Dead; two from Jamaica, The Harder They Come and Rockers; and one from the Dominican Republic, Cristo Rey, which popped up at TIFF a few years back. Caribbean movies are rare birds.

 

[ORRFForever]

Fidelity / Vernost (2019):

Lena is an obstetrician and gynecologist. She is sexy and beautiful and for reasons she nor the world can understand, her husband has lost interest in her. Because of his indifference, she believes he's cheating and she has a series of affairs as payback.

The first is a one night stand that's awkward and uncomfortable but it serves its purpose - a younger man makes her feel wanted and attractive. She walks away unscathed.

The second is messier. He's a piece of garbage and it comes back to haunt her in multiple ways.

After that, she just wants the thrill of cheap sex. Then her husband finds out.

Fidelity is hot and sexy - the lead, Evgeniya Gromova, carries the movie and you feel the emotional roller coaster she's experiencing. Add her natural beauty and it makes for an enjoyable 82 minute erotic character study.

7.5/10

The spoken language is Russian.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I saw it tonight, and found it entertaining and relevant, too. I had some problems, though, especially with the way the film attempts to "balance" responsibility between the police and Tom Hayden, employing largely a fiction to do so. But even though it took about a half century longer than it should have, The Trial of the Chicago Seven does give a sense of what was at stake and what the authorities attempted violently to repress. I'd advise no one to take this movie as real history, though--there are just too many misrepresentations of events evident in the work. Movies tend to do that, but people can take them at face value, even institutions that should know better. I remember a couple of decades ago visiting family in Michigan and casually watching something called the "History" channel, which I assumed meant "real" history. The channel was running John Wayne's The Green Berets. I found that bitterly funny. Anyway for anyone interested in some of the central discrepancies between The Trial of the Chicago Seven and what actually occurred, this article gives at least a partial summary.

Netflix's 'The Trial of the Chicago 7': Separating fact from fiction

I also thought this was pretty entertaining -- that's definitely the right word. Honestly I was ready with my knives. Sorkin is an undeniably good writer, but he has a few tics that drive me up a wall and when he has sole control over a project (i.e. he's the director and/or lead creative) I find some of those things to go unchecked. But I think his best work has always been when someone else takes his script.

All that said, this was pretty good. Lively. Funnier than I would have expected. Certainly very of the moment, though I think it reflects more how things haven't changed and less an application of modern insights.

As for the factual issues, I don't THINK I have a problem with them. The spirit of the story feels intact even if some details were tweaked or changed for the sake of drama. It's a tough line to walk, but that's how I try to evaluate dramatic depictions of true stories. My hope is that viewers always do additional research on real stories and don't accept them as absolute truth, though I suspect this often isn't the case.

 

[kihei]

Black Narcissus (1947)j Directed by Michael Powell and Ereric Pressburger 5A

A group of Anglican nuns are sent to the Himalayas to set up a mountain-top convent. Ensconced in a broken down but picturesque palace, they set up a school and a medical facility, but an accumulation of different emotional dilemmas challenges their ability to cope with their new home. Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) struggles mightily to make things work out, but she is in over her head. Black Narcissus is beautiful to watch, but frustrating, too. Powell and Pressburger are known for their elaborate and visually imaginative fantasies (Red Shoes; Stairway to Heaven: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp) and Black Narcissus certainly reinforces their reputation for spectacular staging and cinematography. However, the movie starts out with The Sound of Music-type nuns, a maddeningly colonial attitude, and a Disney approach to native Himalayans (complete with cartoonish style costumes) that is embarrassing to watch today. As Black Narcissus wades into deeper waters, there becomes something of a disconnect between the stiff-upper lip, the sun-never-sets-on-the-British-Empire attitude evident earlier in the movie and the growing seriousness that reflects the nuns in crisis. The source of much of the repressed desire central to the film--the gruff, bare-chested British overseer (David Farrar), swanning about in short shorts and a silly cap with feathers on it--makes it hard to take the movie seriously, nor do his ludicrously overheated close ups help matters. With final scenes embracing full-blown sexual hysteria, Black Narcissus courts the danger of drawing laughs for all the wrong reasons. However, just on eye candy values alone, Black Narcissus is still worth a look.

Criterion Channel

Sidenote: As for the accompanying still photograph for this review, where is ProstheticConscience when you need him?

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I've got it top-4 for sure. Eyes Wide Shut first, then you could go with 2001, Strangelove and The Shining in pretty much any order. I know you adore Lolita, but I'd have it at 5 or 6 with Clockwork Orange, and then somewhat of a drop.

To be fair, I have not seen all of his feature-length films (Maybe 80%?) My ranking:

Lolita

--

2001: A Space Odyssey
Full Metal Jacket
Dr. Strangelove

--

Eyes Wide Shut
A Clockwork Orange

--

The Shining

--

Spartacus