Last Movie You Saw, Name & Review Movie • Page 188

nepo babies

 

my dad never really collected anything except viet karaoke laserdiscs, but now he just uses youtube haha. still sings almost every night actually. i guess i got my love of music from my parents, even though i mostly can't understand viet when it's sung. or when they're watching the news. i mean, i can hold a conversation, and read a restaurant menu. years of viet school paying off...

but yeah the only film my parents had on vhs is probably Titanic, plus a few Disney movies I had as a kid

 

Heat (1995) - When everything comes together. An ensemble cast, an original script, a director with a vision and the money to make it happen. With the death of the movie star and studios unwilling to chance anything untired from existing IP this feels like a treasure from a golden past. Val Kilmer scar across his eye sporting a ponytail, moving like a demon. Deniro V Pacino mono a mono. Classic action scenes, no CGI, built with narrative tension, expertly planned and shot on location, where you can tell the actors put in work necessary to execute the role, everyone coming together firing on all cylinders.

Alps (2007) - Yorgos Lanthimos doing more with less. A companion to Dogtooth, where the oppressive structures begin to blur into self imposed territory. The absurdity of our social rituals pulls us away from the terrifying uncertainty of the unknown and back to a comfortable familiar pain we can suppress, a role that can be performed and executed correctly. That the way we live can be judged as satisfactory.

An Andalusian Dog (1929) - More canon catch up. Watched a great analysis on Youtube on how surrealist cinema applied dream logic to narratives. In contrast to Dada or pur cinema’s absence of narrative they aimed to have an anti narrative, where the shape of narrative is recognisable but lacks causality and coherence forcing meaning to be derived from the symbols extracted from the subconscious.

 

that’s a nice weekend

 

still need to buy a copy of Alps. underrated Lanthimos

 

The last movie my father saw in theaters was Home Alone 2. The only time I remember him wanting to see a new movie was when The Departed came out. He had no interest in the Irishman after Robert De Niro criticized Trump.

 

My parents definitely had some VHS tapes growing up, I remember copies of Tombstone and Striptease for sure, and then they collected some DVDs when the switch happened, a lot of comedy classics that would stick with me and my tastes (The Jerk, Hot Shots, Caddyshack, Animal House, Blues Brothers). I think the most recent addition to their collection was when I bought my dad the LotR and Hobbit collections on bluray (they finally got a player!) because our last video rental store closed down.

 

I bought my dad Close Encounters of The Third Kind once and I bet it's still shrink-wrapped

 

was it a family video? loved that place in college.

 

Nah, we did have one or two of those in the city but I lived about 20 minutes out of Erie in a rural area and we had a local place called Film Fest Video in Union City (after Knight's Video closed in Waterford). When Film Fest closed, they sold all of their movies and I bought like 30 DVDs, some of them the exact copies I grew up renting, so that was a nice consolation prize. Still have the rental stickers on the cases and everything.

 

Heat - 10/10
I don't know what you guys expected lol but yeah, this one just gets the job done, man. I don't know how else to explain it. I think the trick is in the simplicity. There aren't a ton of like, Nolan-esque twists or modern action tropes to string you along or convolute the story. You are watch two actors that are the best at what they do play characters that are the best at what they do, leading a crime epic where they share very little actual screentime (but what's there is electric), directed by someone who is just completely locked in. There's a distinct lack of the frills and visual style that I loved about Manhunter, but I honestly think that plays to strength here; it's relatively straightforward drama between fleshed out characters that you care about, accompanied by clearly influential action sequences where the stakes feel very, very real. As cliche as it is, they really just don't make 'em like this anymore.

I think I prefer Pacino in this one, but they're neck and neck, and DeNiro looks shockingly different with every new style of facial hair I see him in. Diane Venora is fantastic. Kilmer feels like he was born to play this role. I'm not 100% sold on Judd here, but everyone else -- Voight, Levine, Azaria, Trejo -- just perfectly cast. Could I have done without shirtless Jeremy Piven? Sure, but who amongst us hasn't unknowingly casted an undesirable predator in a small bit part.

 

Fellas really bug you for your review of a three-hour movie for a week and then go radio silent when you drop it smdh

 

this

 

The Flintstones - 8/10
Al Pacino this, Michael Mann that, bro I literally do not care. If you don't fuck with wonder-filled score, inspired production design, and unmatched coziness of the 1994 live-action Flintstones adaptation starring John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Elizabeth Perkins, Rosie O'Donnell, Kyle MacLachlan, and Halle Berry, I don't fuck with you. Simple as.

 

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas GOAT

 

Better believe it's on my shortlist

 

Buffalo 66 (1998) - After looking at my watch list seeing it was overwhelmingly first time watches im adding old favourites to the schedule. There's a cool patheticness in this movie that speaks to me. When the Heart Of The Sunrise bass line drops it's all over im ready to live life again.

Ossos (1997) - There is an unsettling conflict in Pedro Costa’s work. To portray a community’s suffering as beautiful for the entertainment of those who don't endure it. This idea floats above separate from the guttural feeling experiencing the stunning images as they weave their story.

Beau Travial (1999) - This was awesome. Cinema as ballet, where the shots have a rhythm, a pulse and rising tension. There's an ambiguity that lets you read into it what you want, I was still thinking about Alps. Here the system that is an anchor for order and structure simultaneously creates a repressive pressure cooker with no outlet. One of the best final scenes ever.

 

Civil War 7.5/10

After all the hubbub over this movie I was on the fence on even seeing it. Most of the people whose opinions I value were pretty down on it. And the general discourse around it was getting pretty exhausting. I caught it last night in IMAX. I thought it was provocative & visceral. Yes it's flawed but I still thought it was ultimately successful.

To me, the Jesse Plemmons scene is the lynchpin of the whole movie, and the clearest expression of Gardland’s thesis. He believes we’re at a point as a society where we simply cannot communicate with one another unless we know ahead of time that we are on the same “side.” Plemmons’ character obviously is the most extreme version of this—literally killing people on sight who aren’t the “right” kind of American—but our willingness to make political affiliation the first lens we evaluate people before engaging with them is destroying our ability to recognize the humanity in others. I think some people tripping up on why California and Texas would side with one another is proof of that. Our first impulse is to laugh at the idea of one of the bluest and one of the reddest states in the country joining forces. I think Garland is trying to say that’s a myopic view of the world because we’ve grown to see everything through politics. Every news story that mentions a politician puts an (R) or (D) next to their name that primes our response before we even read what they said or did.

Now, I think the two reviews I linked above are totally valid critiques. I think the interviews Garland has given are doing the film a disservice. He valorizes the journalists, but they exist in a world where what they do has no effect. To them, getting the scoop or getting the shot is the goal, not part of a larger journalistic mission. If Garland hadn’t come out and said how he holds these characters in such high regard I think that would have come off as an interesting critique of the role journalists play in such a divided world. It’s obviously no longer enough to “let others decide what it means” or whatever Lee says because we’ve seen that anyone can twist anything to serve their needs.

Obviously I feel this is a really great movie to think about both in spite of and because of its flaws. I've got tons more thoughts but I'm now three hours into a workday with nothing to show for it.

 

Liking that post but gonna wait to read your review until after I see it!

 

The Night of the Hunter - 8/10
Filled with terrifying realism and heart in equal measure, a classic tale of good vs evil that takes its time getting under your skin. Feels distinctly ahead of its time as far as non-traditional horror goes for the 1950s; it's a shame Laughton never continued to explore his talent as a director. Some of the most bizarre and stunning shots I've ever seen in a film this old, truly elevating the script to be something unforgettable, even if there a few off-kilter moments that feel dated or simply out of place tonally. That underwater sequence is one of the greatest I've ever seen. Mitchum is cast perfectly and Billy Chapin provides some really incredible child acting. Already chewing on this one and getting excited about revisiting it in the future.

 

I grew up about 20 minutes away from Vasquez Rocks where they built the neighborhood set. You've seen it in a million movies and shows. After they were done shooting they left the sets up and let people walk through. One of my favorite childhood memories was our babysitter taking us there and being able to climb all over Bedrock. Honestly probably sparked my love for movies.

 

Damn, this is so sick

 

Did…did you just rate The Flintstones as highly as The Night of the Hunter…

 

They did. They're right.