Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Spring 2021 Edition

[Puck]

Here's two films that are not on your mental (or other) to-watch list:

Cérémonie d'amour (Love Rites, Borowczyk, 1987)
View attachment 397230

The Beautiful Risk (Penney, 2013) -

I don't have your knowledge or insight of French or Quebec films but I would suggest these. Perhaps you already mentioned them earlier, apologies if you did, I don't remember.

Lupin on Netflix is awesome. It did upset me that it ends on episode 5 on a 'To Be Continued' note. I suspect Netflix brashly held out on the subsequent 5 episodes, to create an artificial season 2.
Lupin (TV Series 2021– ) - IMDb

Mafia Inc. A Quebec Godfather flick.
Mafia Inc (2019) - IMDb

Roubaix, une lumiere (Oh Mercy!). French police/crime drama
Oh Mercy! (2019) - IMDb

Le mystère Henri Pick. A nice mystery story.
Le mystère Henri Pick (2019) - IMDb

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I don't have your knowledge or insight of French or Quebec films but I would suggest these. Perhaps you already mentioned them earlier, apologies if you did, I don't remember.

Lupin on Netflix is awesome. It did upset me that it ends on episode 5 on a 'To Be Continued' note. I suspect Netflix brashly held out on the subsequent 5 episodes, to create an artificial season 2.
Lupin (TV Series 2021– ) - IMDb

Mafia Inc. A Quebec Godfather flick.
Mafia Inc (2019) - IMDb

Roubaix, une lumiere (Oh Mercy!). French police/crime drama
Oh Mercy! (2019) - IMDb

Le mystère Henri Pick. A nice mystery story.
Le mystère Henri Pick (2019) - IMDb

The Beautiful Risk wasn't a film québécois so it was kind of a surprise to see my neighborhoods used in very distinctive ways (something the films from here don't really do). As for your picks, I've seen Lupin, it was a fun watch with the gf (who's not into anything I normally watch or listen to). I'd sure want to see Henri Pick and Roubaix being a great fan of Luchini (who's coincidentally in one of Borowczyk's better known films, Contes Immoraux), and a casual fan of Desplechin - where did you see them? Mafia, Inc. I don't know... I was kind of skeptical....

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Lupin

Funny thing, yesterday I checked where the last episode was filmed because I was watching this little reportage about what's clearly the worst (and most funny) film ever, and when they showed some shots of the original locations (see 12:57), I thought they looked just like the beach in Lupin.



Turns out I wasn't completely off, the filming locations being 16km from one another!

Oh and the film... a must see!

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Here's two films that are not on your mental (or other) to-watch list:

Cérémonie d'amour (Love Rites, Borowczyk, 1987) - I like Borowczyk a lot. His fist films exist in a world of their own, but because he commited some atrocities (Emmanuel 5 being absolute garbage), I never gave a chance to his last one. I should have! Like a few of his earlier films, it's an adaptation of an André Pieyre de Mandiargues story, and it captures some of his earlier spirit. The whole last part gets a little out of hand, but before that you've got some distant thematic cousin to films like In the Realm of the Senses or the best parts of Romance, making an interesting (if not very complex) equation between sex and representation. The theatrical dialogues in the Paris subway, the constant references to theater and acting, the obvious recognition of the gaze (through obstruction in the shots) and a quasi-ironic distanciative narration gives the whole thing panache. Still, if it's your first Borowczyk, better go with something else. Little warning: the film didn't age that well and is somewhat guilty of racism, homophobia. It also walks a thin line between emasculation and misogyny that could offend some. 6.5/10

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The Beautiful Risk (Penney, 2013) - At this point, I probably should have went to sleep. After Love Rites, Tubi suggested this one. I thought for sure it would be pure smut, but at 7.8/10 on IMDB, I was curious. I'm somewhat glad I was. It's not a good film, this must be clear. It's amateurish to a point that is borderline tolerable: acting is terrible, pacing is terrible, spatial construction is terrible, and the sound work is terribly terrible. Still, it tries to go places that not a lot of films go, even if it does it all wrong. It was also a pretty fun ride through Montreal's trashy nightlife: Cinéma L'amour, Super Sexe, Café Cléopâtre ... The character even ends up at Hurley's (Montreal's classic Irish Pub). A few beautiful shots show that Penney has some visual sensibility (including that shot of the Notre-Dame Basilica), but overall it's a very poor result on a somewhat honest effort (up to that shot - the moment where he meets the Québécoise after having his ass kicked - the film is kind of interesting, made me think of Stuart Gordon's Edmond, but after that it gets lame fast). 3.5/10

They are now!

For anyone who enjoyed Solarbabies, there are a number of films made in this era with a similar future dystopian element:

Prayer of the Rollerboys
Class of 1999
Screamers

These films really give off that cheesy dystopian future vibe that only that era of films could, but all three are quite entertaining in their own right.

They aren’t going to make anyone’s list for extremely well made movies, but neither would Solarbabies.

Prayer of the Rollerboys and Class of 1999 both have been on my list as well.

Speaking of roller-skate-centric distopias (why exactly did rollerskates/blades equate to THE FUTURE?) ... has anyone seen any of Donald G. Jackson's Roller Blade movies? Roku used to have a channel called B Movie TV. Not sure if it's still there, but I caught the first two movies on that years ago. Definitely bad-bad if that's your thing.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

They are now!



Prayer of the Rollerboys and Class of 1999 both have been on my list as well.

Speaking of roller-skate-centric distopias (why exactly did rollerskates/blades equate to THE FUTURE?) ... has anyone seen any of Donald G. Jackson's Roller Blade movies? Roku used to have a channel called B Movie TV. Not sure if it's still there, but I caught the first two movies on that years ago. Definitely bad-bad if that's your thing.

Watch the Borowczyk one, but maybe skip the other! Class of 1999 is also pretty bad (Screamers too! a film québécois (!)).

 

[Puck]

The Beautiful Risk wasn't a film québécois so it was kind of a surprise to see my neighborhoods used in very distinctive ways (something the films from here don't really do). As for your picks, I've seen Lupin, it was a fun watch with the gf (who's not into anything I normally watch or listen to). I'd sure want to see Henri Pick and Roubaix being a great fan of Luchini (who's coincidentally in one of Borowczyk's better known films, Contes Immoraux), and a casual fan of Desplechin - where did you see them? Mafia, Inc. I don't know... I was kind of skeptical....

Lupin is on Netflix. I'm told the other three are on Super-Ecran although they can be had on other streaming websites on the net.

p.s. the only other thing I've watched is the series La Maison Bleue on Radio-Canada. Pretty funny and great show.

 

[John Price]

Titanic (1997) 9/10

I had no intentions of seeing this movie when I woke up this morning.

It is a film I did not remember that much having not seen it for nearly 2 decades. I saw it in theaters in a mall that was torn down a few years ago, in 1998. I have the VHS copy elsewhere. But I had never thought about this movie, never bothered to rewatch it, until today when I was out in the town and they played it out of nowhere on cable on one of those HBO / Starz / Showtime networks.

I had the leisure of watching 1 hour of the film before going back home. At first I was like "This movie. Pfft. This is a dumb ass film." I had forgotten how good this film was and how great a story it was. As I sat there watching the first hour my opinions of the film, jaded by lack of attention throughout the years, began to fade. I began to be pulled into the story of Jack Dawson and Rose.

As the iceberg hit and the ship began to fall apart I had a few concerns (Why did Rose get BACK on a sinking ship after she had made it onto one of the life boats) and the movie was a bit longer than it could have been (they inserted a few scenes I thought for dramatic effect like the lost kid who is later rescued by his father, they get swamped in the water rush, what was the point of that) but as the ending played and Celine started to play I could not stop crying. I did this at least 3 times during the film.

I think this film is very emotional and tells a great story. It is a good story. It is a sad story. After all this time I am proud to say that yes I a man cried like a baby at Titanic because it is just that good of a film that is such a heartbreaker.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Night Moves (1975) - 7.5/10

Great 70s mystery film where thanks to the chaotic nature of 70s cinema, the mystery is actually the least interesting part. Gene Hackman interacting with basically everyone else is the star of the show. The final scene is honestly probably the weakest and least like in tone to the rest.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Watch the Borowczyk one, but maybe skip the other! Class of 1999 is also pretty bad (Screamers too! a film québécois (!)).

You have to be able to enjoy a good B movie, especially from that era.

Being bad is what makes them fun to watch.

Class of 1999 is worth watching just for Joshua John Miller alone.

They did Angel dirty!

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

You have to be able to enjoy a good B movie, especially from that era.

Being bad is what makes them fun to watch.

Class of 1999 is worth watching just for Joshua John Miller alone.

They did Angel dirty!

I'm one to appreciate crappy stuff. I don't remember either one to be much fun, but if I come accross them, I'll give 'em a shot. It's been a long time.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

I'm one to appreciate crappy stuff. I don't remember either one to be much fun, but if I come accross them, I'll give 'em a shot. It's been a long time.

Some of it may be nostalgia for me... coming home at like 1 am with my friends and throwing on HBO or USA Network and watching one of these movies while we all sat around and cracked jokes.

Then at hockey practice we would skate past each other and yell funny ass lines from the movie like “The Pinky Van Man!”

 

[cupcrazyman]

Just got Disney + so we are watch all the Star Wars movies. 8/10

 

[Osprey]

Monster Hunter (2020) - 3/10 (Really disliked it)

An Army Ranger Captain (Milla Jovovich) and her team get inexplicably transported from a desert on Earth to a desert in another realm, where they must battle battle dragons and other monsters to survive. I think that this is based on a video game and it shows. For one, the "plot" is just a series of boss fights connected by tropes. It's very predictable, not much makes sense and there are plot holes that left me scratching my head and saying "this is so dumb." It's just mindless action sequences until the movie suddenly ends after a boss fight that doesn't really feel any more climactic than the ones before. There's no plot resolution, just the feeling that we have to wait for the hinted at sequel for that. On the plus side, the desert visuals are nice, the CGI isn't terrible (most of the time) and Milla Jovovich still has it. Those aren't enough to recommend it, though. I can't say that it's any better than your typical movie based on a video game, and you know how bad those are. I'd skip it unless huge monsters and mindless action are enough for you.

 

[John Price]

Just got Disney + so we are watch all the Star Wars movies. 8/10

I have thought about rewatching the SW movies in term of universe order starting from Solo - 1 2 3 Rogue One 4 5 6 7 8 9 but I'm too busy rewatching other movies. Damn quarantine now has me watching movies all day now

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Screamers (Duguay, 1995) - You see Philip K. Dick and Dan O'Bannon put together and you'd think you've got something special, but put that in the hands of subpar doer Christian Duguay, of Scanners II & III "fame", and you've got the most washed out sci-fi you could think of. It's not good enough to be really watchable, and not bad enough to be really fun. Apart from Québec's darling Roy Dupuis overacting his way through and atrocious sFX, nothing here is of note. It's a collage of stuff you've seen before, with no personnality or signature - kind of a Roger Corman superproduction, without Corman's no-shit-given. 2.5/10

After watching that, and because Class of 1999 wasn't available anywhere, I went for the real post-apocalyptic "dystopia" piece of trash I was looking for:

The Terror Within (Notz, 1989) - Too bad the whole mouse chase at the end drags on and gets pretty boring, because until that this "movie" is pretty fun. Roger Corman production - the real deal - it's a pretty obvious Alien wannabe (so there's the O'Bannon connection), with no suspense and way too much lights. IMDB compares the creature in it to the Watchers one, another gem from my childhood that I haven't seen in so long, but that I remember liking quite a bit (so now I need to see it, if anybody has a lead). I'm not giving it a true 1/10 because I got bored with the ending. 1.5/10

 

[Shareefruck]

Anyone seen Tag by Sion Sono from 2015? Curious what people think of it. His movies kind of fell off my radar.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Simple Men (1992) - 7/10

90s indie film that's basically like Jim Jarmusch film but cranked up a bit in intensity and story. I wanted to watch another Hal Hartley film after seeing the excellent trust. It isn't as good of a story here and it's more loose but the weird vibe and rhythm work well, characters are interesting, everything feels empty but captivating. Cool

 

[Osprey]

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) - 7/10 (Really liked it)

A lowly but surprisingly well-dressed mechanic (Bing Crosby) wakes up in Camelot and uses his knowledge of technology to impress the peasants and King Arthur, making an enemy out of Merlin, and his knowledge of 1940s popular music to impress the King's niece, making an enemy out of jock Lancelot. It's a Technicolor musical comedy with good production values. They even went so far as to film in Sherwood Forest... Sherwood Forest, California... and used vegetable dye to make the water-starved, fire hazard foliage look greener and more like England. The film is more amusing than outright funny, but there are a few good laughs (like when a joust participant is carried past on a stretcher with a lance impaled in him and Bing, who's next up to joust, flippantly remarks "Tough break ol' chap," only for his squire to say, "But m'lord, that's the winner"). Bing is his usual self: a confident, well-dressed 1940s man (even though it takes place in 1912, perhaps to excuse why he doesn't impress the 6th Century peasants with the atom bomb) and, of course, a crooner who'll just as soon sing a playful song for a group of neglected kids as a love song to a beautiful woman. The combination of Mark Twain's implausible story, the silliness of Bing in Camelot and the making fun of Old English speech (ex. "Dost thou?" "I dost") makes it all a little corny, but it doesn't take itself seriously and I'm a sucker for period films with nice sets, especially when they're in Technicolor. It's maybe not a classic like some of Bing's other films, but it's lighthearted and pleasant.

 

[John Price]

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) - 7/10 (Really liked it)

A lowly but surprisingly well-dressed mechanic (Bing Crosby) wakes up in Camelot and uses his knowledge of technology to impress the peasants and King Arthur, making an enemy out of Merlin, and his knowledge of 1940s popular music to impress the King's niece, making an enemy out of jock Lancelot. It's a Technicolor musical comedy with good production values... for a production that clearly never left California. Supposedly, parts were filmed in Sherwood Forest... Sherwood Forest, California... and they used vegetable dye to make the water-starved, fire hazard foliage look greener and more like England. The film is more amusing than outright funny, but there are a few good laughs (like when a joust participant is carried past on a stretcher with a lance impaled in him and Bing, who's next up to joust, flippantly remarks "Tough break ol' chap," only for his squire to say, "But m'lord, that's the winner"). Bing is his usual self: a confident, well-dressed 1940s man (even though it takes place in 1912, perhaps to excuse why he doesn't impress the 6th Century peasants with the atom bomb) and, of course, a crooner who'll just as soon sing a playful song for a group of kids as a love song to a beautiful woman. The combination of Twain's implausible story and the extra silliness of Bing being Bing in Camelot makes it all a little hokey, but it doesn't take itself seriously and I'm a sucker for period films with nice sets, especially when they're in color. It's not a classic like some of Bing's better films, but it's pleasant and lighthearted.

Thank you for posting. I read the book a very long time ago but didn't know a movie like this existed. As I am in quarantine I will look for it online through legal means and watch.

 

[Osprey]

Thank you for posting. I read the book a very long time ago but didn't know a movie like this existed. As I am in quarantine I will look for it online through legal means and watch.

The novel has been adapted to film quite a few times, but that's likely the most popular adaptation. I'm not sure how close to the novel it is, but it's probably not too close . FYI, you can find it on dailymotion.com.

 

[NyQuil]

The novel has been adapted to film quite a few times, but that's likely the most popular adaptation. I'm not sure how close to the novel it is, but it's probably not too close . FYI, you can find it on dailymotion.com.

The novel is a criticism of American exceptionalism and belief that accompanied the Industrial Revolution that progress and technology can fix everything. It's quite depressing.

The protagonist engineer understands the natural law very well but does not understand human nature.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

À jamais (Jacquot, 2016) - This is a ghost film without a ghost*, a scary film without scares. It's clearly a film that misses something - a very clever form for a film that is, in part, about mourning. Like a lot of horror ghost stories, it flirts with Nicolas Abraham's psychoanalytical theories about the crypt and the phantom - the crypt here being illustrated by that weird room upstairs, obviously holding a secret but (another missing thing) that will never be revealed. It flirts with Todorov's understanding of the fantastic too, balancing on a single word: "non". I think the introduction to Laura is key to understand the rest of the film: Rey is the filmmaker, but she is the artist - and she is reaching to something that isn't there, that's her whole act. He's an aging filmmaker (he also acts as a double to Jacquot), he is writing a film for her, but she - Julia Roy, the actress - wrote this film for him. There's a very rich (and kind of flirtatious) reflexivity at play here, and I'd be curious to know more about the relation between Jacquot and Roy. It's not a horror film, but if I was still teaching, I'd use it for sure in the horror cursus. Also of note, Amalric and Balibar, two of my favorite actors (both great, even if restrained). It all sounds like a masterpiece, but it's not. It's almost great, but again, there's something missing. I might push it up later on, but as of now, I'll have it at 7.5/10

*At some point there's a weird shadow that might be a technician of the film, or the real ghost of this story.

Available on Tubi as Never Ever.

 

[Osprey]

The novel is a criticism of American exceptionalism and belief that accompanied the Industrial Revolution that progress and technology can fix everything. It's quite depressing.

The protagonist engineer understands the natural law very well but does not understand human nature.

Thanks for the insight. I think that the first sentence may not be what Twain intended, though. He was an ardent imperialist when he wrote it, was very interested in revolutions and was becoming critical of the Church. The plot involves a modern man going back in time and making a mockery of the superstitions of the period and modern day romantic notions of it. He uses knowledge gained from the scientific and industrial revolutions (like understanding of solar eclipses and factories) to transform the country and free the people from superstition and oppression by the Church, the ruling class and mystics like Merlin. Through his success, he affirms belief in progress and technology and he falters at the end seemingly not because they fail him, but due to a couple of mistakes brought on by his human nature that you mentioned. Regardless, you're definitely right that it's more depressing than the film, which has a happy Hollywood ending, naturally.

 

[kihei]

À jamais (Jacquot, 2016) - This is a ghost film without a ghost*, a scary film without scares. It's clearly a film that misses something - a very clever form for a film that is, in part, about mourning. Like a lot of horror ghost stories, it flirts with Nicolas Abraham's psychoanalytical theories about the crypt and the phantom - the crypt here being illustrated by that weird room upstairs, obviously holding a secret but (another missing thing) that will never be revealed. It flirts with Todorov's understanding of the fantastic too, balancing on a single word: "non". I think the introduction to Laura is key to understand the rest of the film: Rey is the filmmaker, but she is the artist - and she is reaching to something that isn't there, that's her whole act. He's an aging filmmaker (he also acts as a double to Jacquot), he is writing a film for her, but she - Julia Roy, the actress - wrote this film for him. There's a very rich (and kind of flirtatious) reflexivity at play here, and I'd be curious to know more about the relation between Jacquot and Roy. It's not a horror film, but if I was still teaching, I'd use it for sure in the horror cursus. Also of note, Amalric and Balibar, two of my favorite actors (both great, even if restrained). It all sounds like a masterpiece, but it's not. It's almost great, but again, there's something missing. I might push it up later on, but as of now, I'll have it at 7.5/10

*At some point there's a weird shadow that might be a technician of the film, or the real ghost of this story.

Available on Tubi as Never Ever.

I quite liked it, though I would come in lower than your score. I think you are spot on in that it is a sxary movie without scares, which I thought was cool, and that, to the extent it has a theme, it is about mourning, for lack of anythingbetter to be about. I do think it pretty clearly has a ghost, though; I mean ghosts aren't real in the first place, so you can't take his ghosstiness away because he's in her imagination. I think what was missing for me was a complete lack of depth--maybe Roy just doesn't have much to say yet on the subject. The movie didn't seem to me to have any grounding in reality at all, more a super chilled-out play on meloodramatic romances and high concept grief movies. Kind of a really cool package without much in it.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I quite liked it, though I would come in lower than your score. I think you are spot on in that it is a sxary movie without scares, which I thought was cool, and that, to the extent it has a theme, it is about mourning, for lack of anythingbetter to be about. I do think it pretty clearly has a ghost, though; I mean ghosts aren't real in the first place, so you can't take his ghosstiness away because he's in her imagination. I think what was missing for me was a complete lack of depth--maybe Roy just doesn't have much to say yet on the subject. The movie didn't seem to me to have any grounding in reality at all, more a super chilled-out play on meloodramatic romances and high concept grief movies. Kind of a really cool package without much in it.

Ghosts dont exist except in ghost stories. The "non" with Rey's voice is the only trace of potential "supernatural" happenings, so that might be pointing to ghostiness, but otherwise it seems pretty clear that she is immersing into her new performance, inspired by words he left in his notes (I mean, pretty clearly devoid of ghost). I agree that there's lack of depth, just too many hints at something meaningful going on and too little reward. But there's enough interesting elements, even if not exploited as exhaustively as you'd hope, to make it worth some thought.