Last Movie You Saw, Name & Review Movie • Page 79

Not having seen a Tarkovsky is by miles my biggest film sin right now

 

Rachel Bilson was somehow the funniest in The To Do List which is impressive given how stacked the cast is

Fort Tilden was definitely from the same people as Search Party

 

Totally forgot about The To Do List. I need to see that.

 

Red Lights - 3/10
Dead Man Down - 2.5/10
Live and Let Die - 7.5/10
The Spy Who Loved Me - 9/10
For Your Eyes Only - 8/10
Office Space - 8/10
The Birdcage - 8.5/10

A rewatch heavy week that started off bad with the first two films and got worse due to the incredibly sad passing of one of my favorite actors. Red Lights has a solid cast with it being somewhat watchable right up until a main character suddenly dies and then the whole film turns on its head and becomes utterly idiotic. Dead Man Down also has a solid cast and despite dealing with gangsters, revenge and violent crime it is awfully boring while making me not care for the characters involved in any way. With that bad start to the week it was hard to see how it could get worse but sadly it did with the passing of Roger Moore but least that unfortunate occurrence enticed me into watching my three favorite films from his seven film run as James Bond. Live and Let Die is easily one of the weirder entries in the franchise with its mix of spy thriller and blaxploitation but it was a solid start for Moore (albeit weaker than the start that other actors have had in the role) while also featuring some of the best stunts in the series. The Spy Who Loved Me is Moore's You Only Live Twice in terms of scale and production though far better than that film in terms of the supporting cast and action (the Lotus car chase which escalates several times is brilliantly executed as well as the Liperus breakout scene) with Barbara Bach playing one of the best 'Bond girls' in the series. Finally For Your Eyes Only scales down the whole affair after two large scale films in a row (with their bombastic villains and world decimating schemes) and it benefits from this scaling down as it goes back to basics while allowing the characters more room to breathe while also making the action a bit more inventive (the ski chase for instance is the best in the series) along with Moore being the most ruthless he ever was during his lengthy run. Ended the week with a comedy I have been meaning to see (Office Space) and a favorite comedy of mine that I finally purchased physically. Office Space is one of those rare instances where I actually really rather liked an American comedy thanks to a great script, solid cast and some relatable themes. The Birdcage is easily not just one of my favorite comedies but also a great LGBT film as it doesn't succumb to using characters that are pure stereotype while also featuring a great cast who all perform brilliantly.

So an odd week for sure but a mostly good one just in terms of films watched although the passing of Roger Moore has left a big impact on me that will last well beyond the week in which he passed away.

 

The next set of films I re-examined included Tokyo Story. I have always felt that Late Spring was the more affecting and essential Ozu film, but Tokyo Story is always devastating no matter how many times you see it. It is the kind of film that changes with you, as you start to see yourself in the adult children while simultaneously worrying whether or not you will end up like the parents. There is a remarkable trust placed in the audience; Ozu's very basic medium shots hide nothing, but Japanese cultural traditions require the characters to conceal the types of raw emotions that would be much more deeply expressed in a Western film. The father never cries, or complains, or makes a fuss, but he is a far more tragic figure as compared to what you might see in most films.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is a film I have watched before, but this time felt like the first real viewing. When it comes to classic films, something like Tokyo Story can be seen early in your development as a cinephile, as the basic structure and impact is easy to understand. With Sunrise, you need a better background on the history of film to truly understand it. Not that it is not a great film on its own; it is a perfectly capable drama with a deserved happy ending. However, its cinematic techniques are much more remarkable when you understand what filmmakers were attempting and succeeding with prior to the film's release.

Regarding cinematic techniques, Man with a Movie Camera is really nothing but experimentation with the camera and how it can be used to move past the proscenium arch origins of movies. It is an experimental film that ends up becoming an influence on everything that came before it. Even when you are watching the latest billion dollar superhero movie, it is important to know those techniques in camera movement and editing that we take for granted comes from those filmmakers who had no idea what cinema would become trying things out just because they could. On a political level, it is interesting that such a radical film came from such a totalitarian place.

 

Wonder Woman was great and uplifting
Band Aid was hilarious and touching, I feel like as TV has gotten better there have been less great comedies but this felt like watching You're The Worst

 

That Thing You Do is a forever hidden gem.

 

I quit....I quit...

 

Battleship Potemkin is another of the silent masterpieces, teaching us so much about how to move the camera and edit in seventy minutes than any book or class could. It is remarkable how much you can "hear" the action going on in the two biggest scenes through a combination of emotionally appropriate music and quick cuts. The steps scene has obviously been dissected to death, but it is important for anyone who pays attention to mainstream action cinema to watch the scene and see how Eisenstein balances the larger narrative of the advancing troops and the smaller details of the crushed child, the woman with the carriage, and the woman with the bullet through the eye.

Persona is identified as the greatest Bergman film, and it is certainly the most challenging. Ultimately, it is about the universal feeling of competition for dominance in our interpersonal relationships. The fact that the nurse feels most comfortable confiding in someone who appears unable to speak indicates our sense of selfishness in all relationships, even ones that seem symbiotic or even deferential. It also indicates the ways in which we craft our ideas of ourselves through the various people we meet in our lives, to the point that what seems like our genuine selves to new people that we meet is really just a series of borrowed ideas and mannerisms.

Bicycle Thieves is always such an exciting film to rewatch, a film that is pure in intention and in its ability to convey the realities of postwar poverty. World and classic cinema is the closest thing we have to time travel; even though the films themselves are fictional, the buildings and the lines on the actors' faces and the mannerisms indicate a time and place that is foreign to us. Any contemporary film that tried to tell this story would feel false and condescending, but there is a real sense of earnestness in the father's struggle to keep this low-wage job that he was lucky to get in the first place. Like so many great films, its ending makes us question the beginning; was the original thief worthy of our sympathy as well?

 

Double Impact - 5.5/10
Good Will Hunting - 8/10
The Hallow - 7/10
Eye of the Needle - 8.5/10
We Were Soldiers - 7.5/10
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman - 5.5/10
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - 9/10
Tangerine - 8/10
Running Scared - 6.5/10

Mixed bunch with only a couple of rewatches. Two films were equally hilarious for their cheesy, awful nature but were not boring because of it which is surprising considering Double Impact and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman couldn't be any more different in production quality and genre. Finally got round to Good Will Hunting which has been on my watchlist forever since I have been told I should watch it and the reviews looked solid but despite all of its good qualities it just didn't entirely win me over. So it is watchable and quite entertaining but I am unlikely to revisit as I felt I got all I could out of it. The Hallow is a debut feature by Corin Hardy and shows promise for greater things in the future as it is flawed but a nonetheless well acted, great looking and slightly unusual horror film. Eye of the Needle was a complete walk into the dark as I noticed it was part of an MGM subscription I have and only tried it out since it stars Donald Sutherland in the lead role and I am glad I watched it on that basis. Sutherland is great as the Nazi spy not only trying to complete his mission but also under consistent pressure from outside forces. Directed by Richard Marquand (most known for directing Return of the Jedi) but personally I like this small scale thriller far more. We Were Soldiers is a Vietnam war movie steeped in cliches but the action scenes are truly incredible in their violence, scope and realism while Mel Gibson is solid in the lead role. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was the second rewatch of the week (the first being Double Impact) and is not just one of my favorite comedies but easily one of my favorites from the 90s. Three stellar performances by Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce coupled with a script that beautifully balances comedy and emotion this another LGBT film that excels. Speaking of LGBT films I finally got round to watching Tangerine and while it did take me awhile to get used to the tone and the world in which the film is centered on I was thoroughly enjoying myself long before the credits rolled as it manages to also balance comedy and emotion well like the previous film I watched and even though it isn't as grandiose it is still an entertaining journey. The last film I watched this week is the sixth film so far this year I have watched by Peter Hyams and even though Running Scared is not the strongest from him I have watched it is ultimately an entertaining film thanks to the two leads and the script.

 

Airplane 2 - 5/10

Man I remember liking this SO much more as a kid. Perhaps, I saw this before the original, and when it used to be on repeat on comedy central, i just accepted that both movies were great. But watching it in full, after watching airplane in full a week earlier.....it's the SAME jokes. The movie also becomes extremely tedious by the end. I always remembered the court room scene and the insane asylum scenes being hilarious, and they are, but i totally forgot there was another hour of movie left. Oh well. Nothing beats the guy complaining about the terrible expensive hospital and Striker asking what his problem is... doctor "he's obviously crazy".

 

Edge of Darkness - 8.5/10

So much more and better than your standard revenge thriller. I recommend it.

Hacksaw Ridge - 8/10

Strong performances all around. Definitely my favorite Mel Gibson directed film. It was a little slow, but still very entertaining. Vince Vaughn was the last person I expected to portray a Sargeant.

 

Megan Leavey- 8/10
I feel like making a compassionate war movie, especially about the Iraq War is tough but it was mostly not jingoistic my mostly focusing on Megan and Rex
and Kate Mara is so good in this

 

I've been watch Breillat's films for the first time over the last couple days. I'm pretty floored by everyone I've seen so far, Anatomy of Hell and Abuse of Weakness being the best.

 

The Day of the Jackal - 9/10*
Still of the Night - 5.5/10
Hard Target - 7.5/10*
Beetlejuice - 8/10
Total Recall (2012) - 3/10
Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - 5/10
Man of Steel - 2.5/10
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - 3.5/10

* = Rewatch

Hahaha, a massively underwhelming week. The two rewatches were solid but the only film I saw for the first time this week worthy of note was Beetlejuice, everything else was average or worse. The Day of the Jackal has always been one of my favorite thrillers from the seventies so I finally purchased it physically and despite being in a format that quite frankly was ridiculous I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Still of the Night is a Hitchcock rip off but the leads are solid enough and it was entertaining in a schlock kind of way. Hard Target is one of the more entertaining action films from the nineties and though it isn't John Woo's best film (not even his best American film) but the action is stellar and Van Damme is again a competent action hero. Beetlejuice is another one of those films that despite being hugely popular (apparently) I had yet to see, now I have finally seen it and it was good but was expecting more quite frankly. The cast is good, the visuals are great, I really liked the score and there were some funny moments but the plot was hardly the most engrossing and the script had its flaws. Total Recall is another one of those wank remakes and that is all I have to say on that abysmal effort. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back was a big disappointment as I quite liked the first film but this sequel though not exactly awful just lacked a lot of what made the first film an entertaining ride. Now onto the murky and overblown world of two DC films helmed by Zack Snyder, firstly Man of Steel which somehow manages to be pointlessly long while devoid of pretty much anything to sustain its runtime. The cast is decent and the special effects though relatively impressive are utterly devoid of any originality or sense of style, the action is utterly tensionless and boring, the plot and script are lacking and why do we need to reiterate the same general backstory for like the third time? Then there is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice which considering what I had seen earlier in the day I hardly had high expectations for and yet it failed to even meet those, yes it is slightly better than MoS but only because of an improved score, less reliance on city sized destruction and an improved score but everything else is the same along with new problems like pointless dream sequences, an actor portraying Batman who was utterly unconvincing and an annoying as fuck Jesse Eisenberg playing Lex Luthor.

Hopefully next week won't be as wearisome and underwhelming.

 

Wonder Woman - 8/10
Suicide Squad - 1.5/10
Breakheart Pass - 7.5/10
Reversal of Fortune - 7/10
Mississippi Grind - 8.5/10
Rollerball (1975) - 6/10
Capricorn One - 7/10

Much better week than the previous one as only one film was incredibly bad whereas the rest were average or higher. Wonder Woman is the first DC film I have seen at the cinema for a long time (think The Dark Knight Rises was the last one) and after the awful DC films I subjected myself to in the previous week I was somewhat lacking in hope for it however it succeeded despite having some of the flaws from previous DC films. Suicide Squad is verging on being an abomination of modern cinema, it is easily one of the worst big budget modern films I have watched and despite being shorter than other DC efforts it felt longer and more painful. It has a stupid plot, stupid script, idiotic narrative, boring villain, mostly useless characters, Jai Courtney and an overuse of popular music. I never wish to set eyes on that film again for as long as I live. Breakheart Pass is a relatively undemanding western adventure where Charles Bronson plays a character than can do anything and everything but entertaining enough and wasn't headbangingly infuriating. Reversal of Fortune was well acted and had a somewhat interesting plot but overall I felt really rather detached from the whole affair. Mississippi Grind was a surprise despite narratively being predictable however the cast, the script, the style, the music all make it extremely enjoyable and I was invested in it practically from start to finish. Rollerball has a decent cast, great action and some noble ideas but it is way too padded out and the subplots don't come to a convincing conclusion. Finally Capricorn One may well not be the best conspiracy thriller from the seventies (of which there are many) and neither is it the best Peter Hyams effort but despite its flaws it was entertaining, has an interesting premise and there are some well made action scenes.

Not the best week but compared to the god awful week prior it was stellar.

 

Scooby-Doo Movie -

this movie is the fucking bomb. i hadn't watched it since i was a kid and i thought it was cool then and it's fucking hilarious now and it actually does a live action scooby doo pretty well? it's so solid

scooby-doo movie 2 -

fucking awful

 

I'm not a big fan of either of them, but the casting was damn good

 

freal, they ride the parody/played straight line so well and Daphne is totally Buffy it's great

 

First Scooby-Doo is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Just putrid. The second is marginally better. A little bit of wit at least.

 

NO

 

This made me think of something. It would be funny if Airplane 2 was *literally* the exact same script as Airplane 1, but with different actors. It could have just lampooned sequel movies in general.

 

I remember when I was a little kid I watched the Scooby-Doo movie with my mom and I felt so much secondhand embarrassment because even I thought it was terrible and I knew that she must have been strugglin'.

 

fuck you guys it is the best kind of adult scooby doo movie

 

Song to Song is out there now, and it was certainly worth the wait. It is much more conventional than To the Wonder and Knight of Cups, but it still follows those themes of the emptiness of fame and fortune, albeit one that jumps around more with characters. It will take a while to figure out just what it all is for, though.