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

[kihei]

Sorry to Bother You (2018) Director Bootsy Riley 6B

Cassius Green (LaKeith Stanfield) is a broke bordering on desperate young man who, for want of other opportunities, casts his lot with a telemarketing company. At first he is more embarrassed than elated about what the job entails, but, in a short time, he decides to make the best of a bad situation and does what he needs to do to get ahead. This includes selling out by adopting a "white sales" voice over the phone that bears little resemblance to his normal black Oakland accent and manipulating people, including his friends and colleagues, in ways that he never dreamed himself capable of doing. For his girlfriend, a young artist with a social conscience, his new direction is a red flag signalling moral duplicity. On his way to the top of the telemarketer food chain, he is introduced to a wacky entrepreneur (Armie Hammer) who has some alarming ideas of his own, one's that will make him a lot of money and revolutionize the labour market. You can tell this movie has a lot on its mind. I don't know whether to call it a comedy masquerading as a social satire or a social satire disguised as a comedy. White and black requirements for success, getting ahead in a Darwinian economy, capitalism's less enticing consequences, social apathy, marketing techniques, and television's degeneracy, all come in for a sharp look. The humour ranges from scaldingly perceptive to uneven, but the sheer audacity of director Boots Riley's approach is worthy of praise. A lot of people will find this movie "weird." I wouldn't disagree, but Sorry to Bother You is at least attempting something well off the beaten path while presenting its social commentary.

 

[kihei]

Skyscraper (2018) Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber 3A

Dwayne Johnson playing basically Dwayne Johnson goes to extraordinary lengths to save wife and children, trapped during a fire in the world's tallest building, from really, really mean, awful, terrible, no good people. Does he succeed? Is the Pope Catholic?

Skyscraper is the very definition of generic, and it comes with a generic performance by Dwayne Johnson who gets no help from a numbingly generic script and equally generic direction. So what does this movie and scads of others like it need to do to freshen up a little. First I would suggest their producers and directors watch the recent Upgrade for clues. After which it should be pretty clear what this movie lacks:

Humour: Though a couple of listlessly lame attempts are made here and there, Skyscraper has none. Good action movies usually do.

Character development: An underrated attribute that is missing in action here. These movies don't want to waste too much time on character development, sure, but it almost goes without saying that if the audience does not have an emotional stake in the characters, viewers are not going to care too much about what happens to them. The characters in Skyscraper struggle to be even one-dimensional.

Plausibility: Bad guys firing endless rounds of ammunition at the good guy and missing is beyond cliche at this point. Everybody knows this is part of the rules of the game, but it is one element that makes these movies seem so tired and so unimaginative.

Clarity: In Skyscraper, the bad guys are so poorly drawn that it is hard to tell where the threat is coming from and how the various bad guys are interrelated. In fact, the guy I thought was the lead bad guy turns out to be a good guy. Go figure. This sort of script writing signals laziness and that the writers just don't give a f***.

Villains: Bad guys are totally without personality in this movie. Producers should watch the original Die Hard again before embarking on any new project. People to this day remember Hans Gruber fondly. Give your villain intelligence and some charm.

Unpredictability: The main problem with these movies is that they are so utterly predictable that special effects alone can't save them. This isn't a spoiler though it will function like one: what are the chances of the Rock's wife and two kids being actually harmed in this movie? Going in to the theatre knowing what you know about these kind of movies, what would you guess? If characters aren't genuinely vulnerable, there will be absolutely no suspense, and people, both on the screen and in the audience, will do in this movie what they almost always do in these flacid genre exercises: go through the motions.

Moral to the story: everybody seek out Upgrade for an example of how an old dog can indeed be taught new tricks.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Good Night and Good Luck (2005) - 7/10

Dramatic but also inconsequential. Quite a basic feeling film even though the material is complicated. Actors are good, shots are good, black and white look is good, but the film doesn't have much of a soul and follows some typical cliches you would expect from a film set in a newsroom or TV station. 90 minutes long and a fairly easy watch.

Pickup On South Street (1953) - 7/10

Decent noir but it lacks any real tension tbh. 85 minute running time but still slow at times. It has a decent enough atmosphere and good enough story with enough double crosses and noir elements like sassy dialogue to justify seeing it.

 

[kihei]

Gauguin in Tahiti (2018) Directed by Edouard Deluc 3B

Gauguin in Tahiti is an overly respectful biopic of the great artist's first habitation in Tahiti, the one which produced virtually none of his best art. The movie is handsomely mounted but bland, ignoring Gauguin's creative process in favour of a predictably tragic love triangle that functions as the film's centrepiece because there is nothing else going on in the movie. Vincent Cassel, one of the most underrated actors in the world, gives a grueling, committed performance, but even he cannot save the film from its essential dullness.

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[WingsMJN2965]

Just finished Arrival. I'm not as detailed as you guys, but I'm not quite sure how it got the good ratings it did. I didn't have a problem with the lack of action you would come to expect in an alien invasion movie, but there just seemed to be no point to the movie at all.

 

[NyQuil]

Just finished Arrival. I'm not as detailed as you guys, but I'm not quite sure how it got the good ratings it did. I didn't have a problem with the lack of action you would come to expect in an alien invasion movie, but there just seemed to be no point to the movie at all.

It’s an interesting exploration of the concept that our language actually defines thinking processes and therefore our reality.

It also raises questions of how humanity would interact with an alien species where there are fundamental differences in how they think.

 

[nameless1]

I am not a big fan of Arrival either, but it is very well-done, with the way the narrative is structured, and it asks some very interesting philosophical questions, especially with the ending. Amy Adams continues to show that she is one of the best, yet overlooked, actress in Hollywood today, because she gave an Oscar-worthy performance.

 

[nameless1]

Sorry to Bother You (2018) Director Bootsy Riley 6B

Cassius Green (LaKeith Stanfield) is a broke bordering on desperate young man who, for want of other opportunities, casts his lot with a telemarketing company. At first he is more embarrassed than elated about what the job entails, but, in a short time, he decides to make the best of a bad situation and does what he needs to do to get ahead. This includes selling out by adopting a "white sales" voice over the phone that bears little resemblance to his normal black Oakland accent and manipulating people, including his friends and colleagues, in ways that he never dreamed himself capable of doing. For his girlfriend, a young artist with a social conscience, his new direction is a red flag signalling moral duplicity. On his way to the top of the telemarketer food chain, he is introduced to a wacky entrepreneur (Armie Hammer) who has some alarming ideas of his own, one's that will make him a lot of money and revolutionize the labour market. You can tell this movie has a lot on its mind. I don't know whether to call it a comedy masquerading as a social satire or a social satire disguised as a comedy. White and black requirements for success, getting ahead in a Darwinian economy, capitalism's less enticing consequences, social apathy, marketing techniques, and television's degeneracy, all come in for a sharp look. The humour ranges from scaldingly perceptive to uneven, but the sheer audacity of director Boots Riley's approach is worthy of praise. A lot of people will find this movie "weird." I wouldn't disagree, but Sorry to Bother You is at least attempting something well off the beaten path while presenting its social commentary.

This one I completely agree with you. Objectively, it is a very uneven movie, and it is certainly hard to define, but I do find it very interesting, with a lot to think about. I am just glad someone took a shot at this really weird script, because it certainly deserves at least a recommendation.

 

[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

Top gun: 7.5/10

Calibre: 7.4/10

Mildred pierce: 6.8/10

 

[kihei]

The Equalizer 2 (2018) Directed by Antoine Fuqua 5A

Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) returns to defend the weak against the strong with as much brutality as possible. He spends a lot of time doing just that, disguised as a nosy Uber driver who can't resist helping needy people out. Meanwhile the script scrambles to find a reason for its existence. It never does. Yes, there are bad guys in the primary plot thread who must be brought to righteous justice, but this time around they are only tying up "loose ends" of something that happened that we never learn anything about. How perfunctory can you get? Still the movie has attractions. Washington is fun here much in the same way that Liam Neeson is fun in the Taken series. Both actors take their characters seriously, but neither role requires their "A" game or anything close to it. Actually there is one scene in Equalizer 2--a brief scene in a hallway between Denzel and a teen he is trying to counsel--where Washington transitions into his "A" game, and it is like, wow, where the hell did that come from? But he quickly slides back to cruise control which is all he really needs. The other attraction is director Antoine Fuqua whose approach to action and suspense has always been a bit more virile and gritty than the overwhelming majority of his NA counterparts. He makes the most out of several good scenes that keep the adrenaline flowing. However, best to go in with low expectations on this one. I suspect viewers will enjoy it more than critics but not enough to help it break even.

 

[Moon Man]

Mercury Rising

9.5/10

Can’t believe the Rotton Tomatoes score on this. It was amazing. I thought everyone but the two nerds were phenomenal, especially the kid’s acting. I’ve met a few autistic people in my life, and the kid actor’s portrayal was amazing. Prepare to get emotional. My gosh.

It’s on Netflix in Canada right now.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Suicide Squad (2016)
by David Ayers

Maybe the worst viewing experience I've had in 2010s. Not fun, not particularly exciting, dumb as can be, an eyesore to look at, absolute garbage.

Score: Worthless/10

 

[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

Upstream Color : 5/10 with heavy fastforward. Good cinematography but abysmal story, text and acting.

the shop around the corner: 7/10

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Anon

with Clive Owen, Colm Feore, and a couple of other people that remind you that some parts were filmed in Canada.

Near future murder mystery. Panopticon society. Everyone's view is a HUD of information. Buildings radiate ads in your field of vision, everyone walking down the street has all their biometrics hovering over their heads, and all the items in your local 9 to 5 scream their data at you ALL THE TIME. Clive Owen is a futuristic murder cop on the trail of a very elusive killer who can delete The Record of everyone's memories after killing people...for unknown reasons. Wait...why is that guy dead? Who was that girl who just didn't register on your scans? Why the hell would anyone sign up to wire their heads into a computer system than they can't shut off or get away from? Watch and be mildly entertained.

Better than your average Netflix movie. Still leaves you with a lot of questions, but at least you're not asking yourself what horrible gambling debts Clive Owen must have in order to take a role in this movie.

 

[OzzyFan]

Princess Mononoke
3.25 out of 4stars

Weird, I feel that of all the Miyazaki films I've seen that this may be the most "realistic"/least "fantasy"/most "direct"/least metaphorical, most story-detail oriented, "least imaginative", and yet: it's also the most violent, most coldly delivered, and most neutral film I've ever seen by him. I don't know what to compare it to, but it's one of those grand works that I admire but didn't enjoy quite nearly as much as I should have. A detachment so to speak. And it's not like I didn't understand it either. The themes of nature, humanity, technology, greed, anger, revenge, wealth, quality of life, harmony/co-existing/unity, peace, etc were all evident to me. If anyone wants to chime in or give me a description for what I feel or an opinion of this movie they've also seen, I welcome it with open arms.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

You Were Never Really Here - 5/10


What am I missing here? The film has some great individual moments of suspense and tension, but is seriously lacking in plot (non-ending endings are becoming an unfortunate trend in low-budget Hollywood films these days) and character development, and is ultimately pointless. In the end it not only fails as a mystery and a drama, but also as a character study. Yes it's minimalist and yes it has Joaquin Phoenix, but that's not good enough.

 

[kihei]

You Were Never Really Here - 5/10


What am I missing here? The film has some great individual moments of suspense and tension, but is seriously lacking in plot (non-ending endings are becoming an unfortunate trend in low-budget Hollywood films these days) and character development, and is ultimately pointless. In the end it not only fails as a mystery and a drama, but also as a character study. Yes it's minimalist and yes it has Joaquin Phoenix, but that's not good enough.

l gave it an "8" originally which has slid down to a "7," but I still really like it and think it one of the best films that I've seen so far this year. I loved Lynne Ramsay's direction including the context-free flashbacks, the general feel of the film enhanced by the gloomy cinematography, the shardy expressionistic soundtrack music, and the performance that she draws from Phoenix, all of which in concert created for me a visually and psychologically persuasive inner world of a irreparably damaged mind. I wouldn't suggest that You Were Never Really Here is its equal, but in terms of central character development, I responded to Phoenix's acting much the same way that I did to Robert De Niro's performance as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, especially in the sense of two actors reaching down into the depths to do justice to their characters. However, I think it is the context that Ramsay provides that makes Phoenix"s performance possible.

 

[kihei]

Arrhythmia (2018) Directed by Boris Khlebnikov 6B

Two medical practitioners, Katya, a doctor, and Oleg, a paramedic on an emergency crew, are slowly coming to the end of their relationship, but they are not quite there yet. For both, there are widening personality divides which are exacerbated by tensions at work, especially for Oleg who must cope with a new bureaucrat for a boss and a new set of rules that are devoid of common sense, thus making his ability to save lives only that much more difficult. Arrhythmia seems to want to expose the kind of socialist state health care incompetence seen in The Death of Mr. Lazarescu while at the same time closely examining the emotional shattering of a relationship ala Blue Valentine. It's a heady mix, and I was surprised that the movie held together as well as it does. But the central characters are suitably complex and somehow very likable, so it was easy for me to care about what happened to them professionally and personally. I don't know how this little Russian movie managed to secure a one-off screening in one of Toronto's busiest mainline multiplexes, but I'm glad it did.

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[kihei]

November (2018) Directed by Rainer Sarnet 8B

A deeply peculiar folklore-informed picture in which unrequited love is more troubling than the plague, the Devil and a forest full of ghosts.

--John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

A brilliant and dark fairy tale that will undoubtedly delight the most daring palates.

--Jaime Fa de Lucas, Culturamas

November is a multi-faceted genre masterpiece, taking a stylish blend of classic supernatural horror and blending it with a tender tragedy to create a superior work of Eastern European Cinema.

--John Higgins, Starburst

A fairy tale, a cautionary tale, a magical dreamland, a dark comedy, a feverish yet cold nightmare.

--Sheila Rowan-Legg, ScreenAnarchy

While the marketing materials conjure visions of The Witch and its supernatural entities writhing around in period filth, November hews closer to Hard to Be a God and its genre-bending chaos.

--Jared Mobarek, The Film Stage

This midnight-movie classic in the making uses ancient Estonian folk tales to create something shockingly unexpected. Both gravely serious and demonically funny, it's meant to knock audiences off balance. Mission accomplished.

--Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Sarnet's earthbound fairy tale occupies a dreamscape somewhere between the teeming canvases of Brueghel and the existential agonies of Bela Tarr's films. And it's funny, with a sly salaciousness all its own.

--Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times

If Canada's Guy Maddin collaborated with Czech stop motion animator Jan vankmajer using an abandoned location from a Bela Tarr film, the result might be something like this strange (and often strangely humorous) gothic fairy tale.

--Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews

November is all-caps CRAZY in the best, funniest, most exhilarating way possible. A mere description cannot, I recognize, do its out-there-ness true justice.

--Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

November received a cursory release in North America to make it eligible for last year's Academy Awards and, then, disappeared. The sensation of watching the film is like being dropped inside a Grimm's fairy tale, only way more surreal, with the peasants vying with a host of wonderfully different and imaginative creations, including something that looks like it was made from spare plumbing pipes and another creation that is little more than a sympathetic snowman. The black-and-white cinematography is beyond entrancing, as beautiful as anything you could find in a Bela Tarr film. There is not a lot of story, though a tale of tragic love does emerge and very effectively. I was thoroughly captivated by every hypnotically strange second of the film.

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Best of ’18 so far

On the Beach at Night Alone, Hong, South Korea
November, Sarnet, Estonia
Leave No Trace, Granik, US
Foxtrot, Maoz, Israel
You Were Never Really Here, Ramsay, US
Upgrade, Whannell, Australia
Annihilation, Garland, US
Clare’s Camera, Hong, South Korea

 

[Arizonan God]

Ant-Man and the Wasp (dir. Peyton Reed)

It's a movie where some stuff happens or whatever. I fell asleep for about 10 minutes and didn't feel like I missed anything. A few funny jokes. Dull as rocks plot, not much to look at, action is passable.

4A

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Swiss Army Man

with Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe

Paul Dano is Hank, an unshaven guy marooned on an island. He's trying to kill himself when the corpse of Daniel Radcliffe washes up onshore, and Hank names him Manny. Manny, though dead, proves to have several interesting powers. His flatulence allows Hanks to ride him like a jet-ski to a bigger island (?). He's a well of potable water. Shove something into his throat, hammer on his chest, and he's a projectile weapon. But most importantly, he's Hank's best friend, and he's learning how to talk again. He needs Hank to teach him what Life is, as he has no memory. Hank teaches him about how it's not nice to fart and why he can't masturbate because his mom died, among other things. Hank constructs a settlement out of discarded rubbish, sticks and brush (curiously ignoring more thorough exploration despite more and more evidence of nearby human habitation), has a party, stages re-enactments of talking to the girl on the bus he likes but can't talk to, and other disturbing behaviour. But the humans might not be as far away as they think...

Is this a stylized allegorical tale of one man's desperate quest for survival in a hostile environment, or is it one man's descent into total drooling batshit insanity? Uh...well...let me put it this way. If you find yourself relating to Hank, seek professional help.

"The moral is masturbate and fart or you'll end up talking to a dead guy...?!" -- review by Mrs. PC.

 

[kihei]

Under the Tree (2018) Directed by Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson 5B

In Iceland's Under the Tree, an increasingly bitter dispute over a tree and the unwanted shade that its branches cause in a neighbour's front yard is the starting point for a black comedy about how the trivial can escalate into the tragic in no time at all. The darkness of the comedy falls somewhere between Ruben Ostland (Force Majeure; The Square) on the lighter side and Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth; The Lobster) on the bleaker side. In addition to the foliage problem Under the Tree also wants to spend nearly equal time looking at a failing relationship between the son of one of the home owners and his estranged wife, perhaps in an attempt to explore another level of irrationality. The trouble is though the humour is sharp and I laughed out loud a couple of times (no one else did--always problematic), there is no one in the movie to actually care that much about and, in addition, the plot development seems too often like an afterthought. So the end result is a movie that is only intermittently satisfying. But it certainly has its moments.

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[OzzyFan]

Won't You Be My Neighbor?
3 out of 4stars

Having gone in with near zero knowledge of the TV personality and never having grown up through his TV years, I was pleasantly surprised. Mr. Rogers was painted and felt like a man that preached inner and outward emotional acceptance, love, care, positivity, and understanding. What's not to like, or love given the messages? The bio is gleeful and full of heart as it gives viewers a behind the scenes, before, and after look of Fred Rogers during his fame prime, where he was supposedly the same squeaky clean open-arms kind joyous man on screen as he was off of it. Very interesting that he wanted and targeted young children with his teaching, arguably the period of time when we are most impressionable and emotionally fragile/needy. 143 says it all.

 

[Tkachuk4MVP]

l gave it an "8" originally which has slid down to a "7," but I still really like it and think it one of the best films that I've seen so far this year. I loved Lynne Ramsay's direction including the context-free flashbacks, the general feel of the film enhanced by the gloomy cinematography, the shardy expressionistic soundtrack music, and the performance that she draws from Phoenix, all of which in concert created for me a visually and psychologically persuasive inner world of a irreparably damaged mind. I wouldn't suggest that You Were Never Really Here is its equal, but in terms of central character development, I responded to Phoenix's acting much the same way that I did to Robert De Niro's performance as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, especially in the sense of two actors reaching down into the depths to do justice to their characters. However, I think it is the context that Ramsay provides that makes Phoenix"s performance possible.

The flashbacks were indicative a bigger overall problem. There's a fine line between "ambiguous" and "incomplete," and both the flashbacks and the film as a whole fell into the latter category for me. From a character building standpoint they added nothing that we couldn't have inferred from Phoenix's current actions and state of mind, and as a result they felt gimmicky more than anything. I also don't feel that Ramsey brought this performance out of Joaquin; he could do this kind of role in his sleep. Ramsey is an interesting female filmmaker at a time where we need a lot more of them, but her direction didn't add much to this very thin material. It merely disguised and distracted from it.

 

[kihei]

The flashbacks were indicative a bigger overall problem. There's a fine line between "ambiguous" and "incomplete," and both the flashbacks and the film as a whole fell into the latter category for me. From a character building standpoint they added nothing that we couldn't have inferred from Phoenix's current actions and state of mind, and as a result they felt gimmicky more than anything. I also don't feel that Ramsey brought this performance out of Joaquin; he could do this kind of role in his sleep. Ramsey is an interesting female filmmaker at a time where we need a lot more of them, but her direction didn't add much to this very thin material. It merely disguised and distracted from it.

I'll get to test out my position during the weekend when I go to another Joaquin Phoenix big performance movie Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot directed by Gus Van Sant. I'll reserve further comment until I see that and have something to compare Ramsay's work to and see how the two films match up. Until then, I leave you with this piece from The Globe and Mail, a pretty good reflection of my basic position vis a vis Ramsay and You Were Never Really Here:

Review: You Were Never Really Here is Lynne Ramsay’s dark masterpiece