Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It

[Arizonan God]

Paterson (2016, dir. Jim Jarmusch) 9/10

A lovely little film about a man named Paterson, who lives, writes poetry, and drives a municipal bus in Paterson, New Jersey. Adam Driver was excellent as the titular character, and I also quite enjoyed Golshifteh Farahani's performance as Paterson's girlfriend. It's not a plot heavy film, in fact it mostly does away with "plot" completely outside of a few instances. It instead focuses on the life of a simple, well meaning man and his art, without the nosie of "movie stuff" happening. The dialogue is generally grounded and humorous, especially the sections in which Driver's character overhears others conversations. The film is also beautifully lensed by DoP, Frederick Elmes, with naturalistic and sometimes gritty, but pretty looking imagery.

It really is kind of hard to describe why I love Paterson so much. I've tried to explain it to friends and usually get a funny look in return. But I think something about the film speaks to me on a very basic, non heady way. I don't have to think about Paterson too much, I don't have to comb over scenes to find hidden meaning. It's a low maintenance watch. Put it on, and just enjoy.


I'd really like to know what others thought of Paterson on here.

 

[Puck]

Paterson (2016, dir. Jim Jarmusch) 9/10

A lovely little film about a man named Paterson, who lives, writes poetry, and drives a municipal bus in Paterson, New Jersey. Adam Driver was excellent as the titular character, and I also quite enjoyed Golshifteh Farahani's performance as Paterson's girlfriend. It's not a plot heavy film, in fact it mostly does away with "plot" completely outside of a few instances. It instead focuses on the life of a simple, well meaning man and his art, without the nosie of "movie stuff" happening. The dialogue is generally grounded and humorous, especially the sections in which Driver's character overhears others conversations. The film is also beautifully lensed by DoP, Frederick Elmes, with naturalistic and sometimes gritty, but pretty looking imagery.

It really is kind of hard to describe why I love Paterson so much. I've tried to explain it to friends and usually get a funny look in return. But I think something about the film speaks to me on a very basic, non heady way. I don't have to think about Paterson too much, I don't have to comb over scenes to find hidden meaning. It's a low maintenance watch. Put it on, and just enjoy.


I'd really like to know what others thought of Paterson on here.

I hear ya. It's one of my top 5 films of the year. Can't explain it either.

 

[Nalens Oga]

My fav part of it is his girlfriend, it got more and more funnier as she got more and more crazy with her design patterns and how she was oblivious to it.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Paterson (2016, dir. Jim Jarmusch) 9/10

A lovely little film about a man named Paterson, who lives, writes poetry, and drives a municipal bus in Paterson, New Jersey. Adam Driver was excellent as the titular character, and I also quite enjoyed Golshifteh Farahani's performance as Paterson's girlfriend. It's not a plot heavy film, in fact it mostly does away with "plot" completely outside of a few instances. It instead focuses on the life of a simple, well meaning man and his art, without the nosie of "movie stuff" happening. The dialogue is generally grounded and humorous, especially the sections in which Driver's character overhears others conversations. The film is also beautifully lensed by DoP, Frederick Elmes, with naturalistic and sometimes gritty, but pretty looking imagery.

It really is kind of hard to describe why I love Paterson so much. I've tried to explain it to friends and usually get a funny look in return. But I think something about the film speaks to me on a very basic, non heady way. I don't have to think about Paterson too much, I don't have to comb over scenes to find hidden meaning. It's a low maintenance watch. Put it on, and just enjoy.


I'd really like to know what others thought of Paterson on here.

I didn't care much for it, personally. I thought some of the visual techniques were rather tacky - like the writing of the actual poetry presented on the screen as if it were a Chainsmokers music video - and that the main characters interactions were the sort of scenes that have been overdone since the turn of the century and that have gone stale, because they're not being presented in a new and exciting way, despite the main character's depth and his approach to art and it's struggle, which I appreciated. But Jim Jarmusch is hit and miss with me. I liked the bar scene with the black man though, that was great.

 

[kihei]

Paterson (2016, dir. Jim Jarmusch) 9/10

A lovely little film about a man named Paterson, who lives, writes poetry, and drives a municipal bus in Paterson, New Jersey. Adam Driver was excellent as the titular character, and I also quite enjoyed Golshifteh Farahani's performance as Paterson's girlfriend. It's not a plot heavy film, in fact it mostly does away with "plot" completely outside of a few instances. It instead focuses on the life of a simple, well meaning man and his art, without the nosie of "movie stuff" happening. The dialogue is generally grounded and humorous, especially the sections in which Driver's character overhears others conversations. The film is also beautifully lensed by DoP, Frederick Elmes, with naturalistic and sometimes gritty, but pretty looking imagery.

It really is kind of hard to describe why I love Paterson so much. I've tried to explain it to friends and usually get a funny look in return. But I think something about the film speaks to me on a very basic, non heady way. I don't have to think about Paterson too much, I don't have to comb over scenes to find hidden meaning. It's a low maintenance watch. Put it on, and just enjoy.


I'd really like to know what others thought of Paterson on here.

I loved it, too. Top five or six for '16 easily. Just a beautifully human film.

 

[Jussi]

I’ve seen 17 of the 82 “foreign language” movies submitted for consideration for this year’s Academy Awards, and presently I would rank them in this order.

Loveless (Russia)
On Body and Soul (Hungary}
A Fantastic Woman (Chile)

Zama (Argentina)
Amerika Square (Greece)
Saint George (Portugal)
Thelma (Norway)
The Divine Order (Switzerland)
BPM (France)
The Fixer (Romania)
First They Killed My Father (Cambodia)

The Square (Sweden)
Happy End (Austria)
A Taxi Driver (South Korea)

In the Fade (Germany)
Sheikh Jackson (Egypt)
Wolf Warrior II (China)

Still to see: Foxtrot (Israel) and whatever else might pop up eventually.

I'm not sure what Finland's entry is, but I read they're trying to get the new version of The Unknown Soldier released abroad. I haven't seen it yet myself, but it's been out just over a month but the critics loved it and it's already got over 600K viewers which is a lot in Finland.

Tuntematon sotilas (2017) - IMDb

 

[kihei]

I'm not sure what Finland's entry is, but I read they're trying to get the new version of The Unknown Soldier released abroad. I haven't seen it yet myself, but it's been out just over a month but the critics loved it and it's already got over 600K viewers which is a lot in Finland.

Tuntematon sotilas (2017) - IMDb

Tom of Finland is the submitted film from Finland, seemingly a biopic about an artist who created " stylized highly masculinized homoerotic fetish art, and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture."--(Wikipedia). Thanks for the head's up on Tuntematon sotilas--I notice it has an impressive 8.4 currently on IMDb. Hope it plays Toronto soon.

 

[Jussi]

Tom of Finland is the submitted film from Finland, seemingly a biopic about an artist who created " stylized highly masculinized homoerotic fetish art, and his influence on late twentieth century gay culture."--(Wikipedia). Thanks for the head's up on Tuntematon sotilas--I notice it has an impressive 8.4 currently on IMDb. Hope it plays Toronto soon.

Oh yeah, forgot that one. That was also a big hit with the critics and I think did well at the theaters.

Tuntematon Sotilas is being distributed at least in the other Nordic countries, apparently there was big interest for it. It's been cut from 3 hours to 2 hours 13 minutes for those markets. They seem to have intentions for a wider market release since the movie's website has an English language version with a subtitled trailer: The premiere of The Unknown Soldier is in 2017.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

2/10

 

[Arizonan God]

I quite liked Green Room, although I can see it being not very enjoyable for some.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Infernal Affairs (2002) - 8/10

These Hong Kongers really like making you dizzy with their quick cuts and diagonal cameras. Anyways, it was more concise and less over-the-top than The Departed but didn't have the same level of tension or acting and was tougher to follow. Think I like it better.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Infernal Affairs (2002) - 8/10

These Hong Kongers really like making you dizzy with their quick cuts and diagonal cameras. Anyways, it was more concise and less over-the-top than The Departed but didn't have the same level of tension or acting and was tougher to follow. Think I like it better.

I think I'm the only person in the world who thought The Departed was vastly superior to Infernal Affairs. I didn't think much of the latter, personally. Found it incredibly corny.

 

[kihei]

Last Flag Flying (2017) Directed by Richard Linklater 5A

When former Marine Larry (Steve Carrell) learns that his son has been killed in Iraq, he seeks out two of his buddies from his Vietnam days, Sal (Bryan Cranston) and Mueller (Laurence Fishburne). Larry hasn't seen either of these guys in decades, and they all barely recognize one another. Sal is still as opinionated as ever but now he's the owner of a failing bar, and Mueller has become a minister of all things. Thus begins a long road trip that involves escorting Larry's son's body from an air force base in Vermont to its final resting place which Larry insists will not be the Arlington cemetery for fallen soldiers. The Marine colonel in charge of this detail strongly disagrees with Larry's decision, but what can he do? He insists that a former friend of Larry's son, another Marine, go along to escort the body home. On the way, a lot of guilt about the past has to be dealt with as the three old soldiers struggle with their Vietnam memories. While Last Flag Flying isn't a bad movie, it's not particularly a good one either. Because of the solemnity of the proceedings, the frequent attempts at humour have a tendency to fall a little flat, creating an uncertain tone that remains unresolved throughout the movie. Even more seriously, after a promising start in which the old soldiers find themselves at odds with the military brass, director Richard Linklater has absolutely nothing new to say about grief, war, guilt, culpability or anything else. In the end he relies on a sentimental gimmick that makes mush of any more thoughtful response. Finally, there is also no reason why this movie is a little over two hours long. Ninety minutes should have been more than enough time for Last Flag Flying to make its inconsequential points.

 

[OzzyFan]

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3.40 out of 4stars

To summarize: Emotional rollercoaster filled with dark comedy, drama, balls, wisdom, and great performances. It's unorthodox, but it does what it does really well, even if it has a couple faults.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) Directed by Martin McDonagh 6A

Seven months having passed since her daughter's rape and murder, Mildred (Francis McDormand) tries to spur Sheriff Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) into action by erecting a trio of billboards near her home that shame the police department's futility. Officer Dixon (Sam Rockwell), a loose cannon at the best of times, takes offense, as do most of the town's people. But that does nothing to assuage Mildred's wrath. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri sounds like it is setting up to solve a mystery, but it happens to have very different intentions. The focus here is on rage, penance, redemption, and renewal, all of which are thoughtfully and entertainingly explored but with enough bumps in the road along the way to give one pause. Key letters, spoken aloud during the movie, do way too much to direct traffic and change our perception about certain characters. As movies should show not tell, this one seems to be taking a rather facile shortcut in this instance. As well, certain important relationships that Mildred has--mother and son, wife and ex, and so on--are either a bit baffling or unconvincingly drawn (also, Lucas Hedges as her son seems to think that he is still acting his part in Manchester by the Sea). Although the three lead actors are all so good that it pretty much washed away most of my doubts, I ended up feeling that the movie never really earned its moments of epiphany. I enjoyed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri but also found it ultimately a little underwhelming. I couldn't quite shake the feeling that the director isn't always playing fair with his interesting collection of characters, and in this case that left me with unwanted mixed feelings about their various fates.

Follow up point: I'm raising the score up a notch to 7A. Partly, it's because the movie is a legit tweener for me. My reservations stated above haven't changed. In fact, since reading other reviews, those reservations have been reinforced and even broadened. No deus ex machina, no change, no resolution, nowhere for the movie to go. This is a hoary theatrical trick that seriously compromises any work, as it indeed does here.

But then there is this other factor that goes in the movie's favour: when writing a review right after seeing a movie there is always the possibility that one misses seeing the forest because the trees are in the way. Problems that seem immediate and damning don't always appear that serious the next day. Other impressions have time to settle in. In this instance, my later reaction to the film reminded me more of my feelings toward In Bruges which I love rather than Seven Psychopaths, which I don't. I kept thinking about the characters--they stayed in my head in a mostly pleasing but also nagging way. With McDonagh when it comes to the characters in his movies. what you see initially is seldom what you get. He makes and gets away with making the same point over and over again in his movies: don't be quick to judge people because to pigeon-hole them as good or bad is to misread how complex humans are. It's McDonagh's own best signature theatrical trick and though this strategem is in danger of becoming predictable in his works, it succeeds here way better than I initially thought it did. Three wonderful performances help make it work, but work it does. It just took me a while to recognize that. In short, the movie has more heart than I initially gave it credit for.

I don't know about being so harsh on the letters thing. For starters, they didn't abuse the tool imo, and only 1 of the letters truly had an impact on the future of the film. I'm not going to spoil everything, but you now the old saying it's not what you do but how you do it? And I think it works excellently. Is it ideal? No, but the reasoning surrounding it, the theme it explores, context directly and indirectly, and events that work before and through it mesh perfectly and what's the difference if "MAJOR LETTER GAMECHANGER" came from a letter to said recipient or from a "heart felt, closed room, one on one talk when both characters were alive or after a strong event even"? Would it really have been a night and day difference if say......character A spoke his feelings from the letter to character B after he attacked another character from anger or after character A came to an epiphany as character B was talking about some anger/boiling stuff he'd seen/heard? Would it have been night and day meshing for you? Does the method truly make that much of a difference to you?

To me, the balance and execution and flow and social wisdom/life wisdom of such strong and earned emotions up and down throughout this film is a hell of an accomplishment in itself. Add the performances and character depth for the main players(your right, the family members could have been written a bit deeper, but they were not necessary to the film's main concepts or plot), and it's one hell of a movie.

This isn't an attack, but I just find it funny to nitpick on a movie you now have given a 7A. Do you think this will make your top 20 list for the year?

 

[kihei]

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
3.40 out of 4stars

To summarize: Emotional rollercoaster filled with dark comedy, drama, balls, wisdom, and great performances. It's unorthodox, but it does what it does really well, even if it has a couple faults.



I don't know about being so harsh on the letters thing. For starters, they didn't abuse the tool imo, and only 1 of the letters truly had an impact on the future of the film. I'm not going to spoil everything, but you now the old saying it's not what you do but how you do it? And I think it works excellently. Is it ideal? No, but the reasoning surrounding it, the theme it explores, context directly and indirectly, and events that work before and through it mesh perfectly and what's the difference if "MAJOR LETTER GAMECHANGER" came from a letter to said recipient or from a "heart felt, closed room, one on one talk when both characters were alive or after a strong event even"? Would it really have been a night and day difference if say......character A spoke his feelings from the letter to character B after he attacked another character from anger or after character A came to an epiphany as character B was talking about some anger/boiling stuff he'd seen/heard? Would it have been night and day meshing for you? Does the method truly make that much of a difference to you?

To me, the balance and execution and flow and social wisdom/life wisdom of such strong and earned emotions up and down throughout this film is a hell of an accomplishment in itself. Add the performances and character depth for the main players(your right, the family members could have been written a bit deeper, but they were not necessary to the film's main concepts or plot), and it's one hell of a movie.

This isn't an attack, but I just find it funny to nitpick on a movie you now have given a 7A. Do you think this will make your top 20 list for the year?

If 7s didn't have flaws, they would be 8s, 9s, or even 10s. I guess in this instance it is more of a case of one person's nitpick is another person's structural flaw. In the end after thinking more and reading more about responses to the film, it was not so much the letter thing alone that bugged me as how it plugged into the whole "deus ex machina" thing. If one of the characters doesn't do what he does, the movie has no viable exit strategy that I could see. Is that a deal breaker? No, but it does compromise my feelings about the quality of the movie. Should it? Well, that's a whole different kettle of fish. Basically I want the movies to be emotionally satisfying and intellectually satisfying. I did find Three Billboards emotionally satisfying, but I had problems with the way it got me there so I didn't find the film intellectually satisfying to anywhere near the same degree. Unless a director like Godard or movie artists like the Marx Brothers wants me to see the wheels going around, I usually react negatively when I become consciously aware of how my feelings are being manipulated as was the case with Three Billboards. So though I haven't really thought 11-20 through for this years "best of" list yet, I am pretty sure that Three Billboards is not going to make the cut. But these things aren't carved in stone; any opinion is subject to revision at a later date.

 

[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

On body and soul: 7.8/10 One of the best movie of the year with top notch acting, score and cinematography.

A taxi driver (2017): 7/10 Most of the points are for being base on a true story that i didn't knew. The car chase at the end is over the top and probably far from the real events. Some scenes are closed to the best russian communist propaganda movies with over the top violence.

Justice league: 6.8/10 very average movie

 

[Nalens Oga]

Anyone know if you can skip Ocean's 12 and just watch Ocean's 13 straight? I'm on a comedy caper kick after Logan Lucky

 

[kihei]

Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017) Directed by Dan Gilroy 6A

Roman (Denzel Washington) is the behind-the-scenes man of a two-person law firm. He does all the research, all the preparation, all of the tiny details that make for winning cases in a court of law. Then he hands it over to his partner, who is gifted in the courtroom, to be the front man. This approach works great until his partner dies at which time the socially inept, borderline autistic, '60s idealist has to step into the spotlight. Inevitably he gets things wrong in a world not of his making. Roman is an interesting character and Washington has a field day playing him, a little too much so on occasion as Denzel allows Roman to sometimes chew up a trifle too much scenery. Meanwhile the movies struggles to figure out what exactly to do with its main character. Obviously Roman J. Israel, Esq. desperately wants to be about something, but the movie just kind of stumbles along going from this to that trying to figure out what that something might be. Briefly the film lands on an important theme--purity of purpose is of no value in the modern world--but after nibbling a bit on that bone, the film just drifts into a makeshift finale that really feels like a makeshift finale. Washington is a whole lot of fun and worth the price of admission, but everything around him is just a source of frustration.

 

[kihei]

On body and soul: 7.8/10 One of the best movie of the year with top notch acting, score and cinematography.

A taxi driver (2017): 7/10 Most of the points are for being base on a true story that i didn't knew. The car chase at the end is over the top and probably far from the real events. Some scenes are closed to the best russian communist propaganda movies with over the top violence.

Justice league: 6.8/10 very average movie

I agree totally about On Body and Soul. Glad to see people are getting a chance to see it.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Watched this one on Netflix recently. It moved slowly (especially first half), so I ended up watching it in segments. Story of a broken down man (Tommy Lee Jones), hired (& accompanied) by Hilary Swank to transport 3 mentally shattered women across the barren midwest.
Sparse Old West scenery was cool, and the movie was really committed to depicting the contemporary hardships of that era; a sobering trip for Jones & the women.
My main complaint was the slow pace (which was understandable for maintaining realism), but net effect (for me) the story was still basically compelling & the depiction of coping w/mental illness in the 19th century is hard to shake.

Give it 4 out of 10..

 

[Puck]

These films have already been mentioned in the previous page:

Blade of the Immortal 6.5/10. This one gets 5 stars (out of 5) from cinephiles who know more than I do but everyone I watched it with didn't think it was THAT great; there might be some samurai-culture-flick education missing in our upbringing. One part reminded me of a fight scene in Monty Python's Holy Grail (Black Knight dismemberment). Yet I couldn't figure out why they could reattach the immortal samurai's arms and not his eye. But if I'm ever in a swordfight, I'd want those guys on my side. It's a bloodbath, lots of death and dismemberment for fans of that stuff. Reviewers in Europe and North America love it but it bombed commercially in Japan. That might indicate something, not sure. It's good enough however, just wait for it on tv (like many Japanese did).

Logan Lucky 7.5/10. THis one is lots of fun, you have to suspend belief on some of the plotlines but that's ok. I like Director Steven Soderbergh and I think he was channeling his inner Coen Brothers on this one. As a heist flick, I thought it ran more like an art-house film than a more slick commercial film like Ocean's 11, but that's probably intentional. I think Soderbergh had fun doing this and you'll probably have fun watching. There's lots of oddball characters to enjoy in this one.

 

[Puck]

Hired Gun 8/10 by Fran Strine

Very good music documentary about behind-the-scenes session musicians hired by famous artists. I still recognized several 'hired guns'; some have done well enough in the shadows. Big Boss Billy Joel gets kicked in the teeth for being so cheap. Alice Cooper gets praise for being helpful, allowing them to showboat on stage at their turn. Lots of interesting commentary.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

Last Flag Flying (2017) Directed by Richard Linklater 5A

When former Marine Larry (Steve Carrell) learns that his son has been killed in Iraq, he seeks out two of his buddies from his Vietnam days, Sal (Bryan Cranston) and Mueller (Laurence Fishburne). Larry hasn't seen either of these guys in decades, and they all barely recognize one another. Sal is still as opinionated as ever but now he's the owner of a failing bar, and Mueller has become a minister of all things. Thus begins a long road trip that involves escorting Larry's son's body from an air force base in Vermont to its final resting place which Larry insists will not be the Arlington cemetery for fallen soldiers. The Marine colonel in charge of this detail strongly disagrees with Larry's decision, but what can he do? He insists that a former friend of Larry's son, another Marine, go along to escort the body home. On the way, a lot of guilt about the past has to be dealt with as the three old soldiers struggle with their Vietnam memories. While Last Flag Flying isn't a bad movie, it's not particularly a good one either. Because of the solemnity of the proceedings, the frequent attempts at humour have a tendency to fall a little flat, creating an uncertain tone that remains unresolved throughout the movie. Even more seriously, after a promising start in which the old soldiers find themselves at odds with the military brass, director Richard Linklater has absolutely nothing new to say about grief, war, guilt, culpability or anything else. In the end he relies on a sentimental gimmick that makes mush of any more thoughtful response. Finally, there is also no reason why this movie is a little over two hours long. Ninety minutes should have been more than enough time for Last Flag Flying to make its inconsequential points.

Small nitpick, but isn't Carrel a little young to be playing a Vietnam vet?

In real life he was like 12 or 13 when the war ended wasn't he?

 

[kihei]

Small nitpick, but isn't Carrel a little young to be playing a Vietnam vet?

In real life he was like 12 or 13 when the war ended wasn't he?

The movie is set in 2003 which I failed to mention. Carrel is actually only a year younger than Fishburne who, of course, was a young (skinny) soldier in Apocalypse Now, so the age thing isn't that much of a stretch.

 

[Mr Jiggyfly]

The movie is set in 2003 which I failed to mention. Carrel is actually only a year younger than Fishburne who, of course, was a young soldier in Apocalypse Now, so the age thing isn't that much of a stretch.

Ya I was thinking about Fishburne in Apocalypse Now as I typed that out, but thought there was a 6-7 year difference between the two.

If it was set in 2003, that makes a lot more sense though, thx.