Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +2

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

If Marvel films are theme parks, The Irishman is the equivalent of this:

Lol!

Funny though, because I actually enjoyed The Irishman.

 

[ORRFForever]

Inside Lehman Brothers [2018] :

Maybe I've seen too many docs on the subject and I've become immune to it, but Inside Lehman Brothers bored me.

3/10

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

The Report (Amazon) - 8.5/10

Didn’t love the pacing for maybe the first 30 minutes or so, but thought it really excelled after that. Fantastic watch. Definitely recommend a viewing.

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood was good. It's essentially a Mr. Rogers episode for adults. Goes down easy. Worth a watch.

 

[Arizonan God]

I adored Rian Johnson's Knives Out so much. It's just pure entertainment. Sharply written, handsomely shot, and expertly acted. It took me about 20 minutes for the narrative to really hook me, but once I knew what Johnson was going for, I was sold.

Oh, and Ana de Armas will be a massive super star.

9/10, one of my favourites of the year

 

[Osprey]

Brick (2005) - 3/10 (Really disliked it)

A high schooler (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) investigates the death of his ex-girlfriend in this stylized "neo-noir" film. I watched this because a few people in the Knives Out thread mentioned it as one of Rian Johnson's best films. It reminded me of what I like least about him. It's highly pretentious, with every character and line of dialogue trying to be clever. Even many of the shots are from odd angles and the editing is often deliberately erratic. It felt rather shallow because the setting and characters aren't well established or developed. It takes place in high school, but no one acts or talks their age, which I understand was the point, but it didn't work for me. It's hard to follow because the dialogue is often hard to understand, partly because it's often delivered rapid fire and partly because it's often not enunciated. It didn't help that I found it boring and didn't care to pay too much attention. In all, it felt like the effort of a first time writer and director (which it was), but, beyond that, a writer-director that was trying too hard. Perhaps I'm missing something, because the scores from critics and regular viewers are quite high at RT, but it wasn't for me at all.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Knives Out.
Just a crackling, crackerjack piece of entertainment. Not the best movie of the year, but quite possibly the most fun. I'm a sucker for an old fashioned whodunit and so it seems is writer-director Rian Johnson who concocted this gem of an entertainment that's both aware of and beholden to its roots. The red herring is clever and there are more questions to ponder than a simple: Who? If I were to lobby a complaint, I honestly wanted maybe another scene or two of caustic family bickering. Lots of good actors here having fun. I could've watched them eat some more.

I could be overrating, but I watch a movie like this and think: Who isn't going to find some level of enjoyment from this? Feels like a broadly appealing, four-quadrant hit (and to think it's not based on previous IP or someone's life story ...).

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Elle - Verhoeven - 2016

A completely different kind of whodunit, without the inspector and without any real satisfaction in guessing - but still with (weak) false hints and misdirections (and a reveal that comes too quick, kind of like the men in the film). To me, Verhoeven is the guy who always tries to go hard, and always fails. It's not La pianiste, it's not Caché, but it kind of tries. Isabelle Huppert, love her or hate her (I'm of the first propensity), must be the hardest actress to exchange lines with, and here everybody fails (especially Laurent Lafitte and Anne Consigny, who get so overmatched that it's hard to watch). Huppert's character is complex enough to give some charm to the whole thing, but that's about it. 4/10

 

[kihei]

I realize I am in the minority on this one, but I thought Elle was a terrific, albeit provocative, movie, coming in at #6 for 2016 for me. Here's an edited version of the review that I wrote at the time. Great year for Huppert, whose Things to Come came in at #2 for the year behind Moonlight for me.

Elle (2016) Directed by Paul Verhoeven 8B

I stayed away from Elle at TIFF after hearing some bad word of mouth about it. On these boards, Mario Lemieux fan 66, with whom I agree roughly 80% of the time, absolutely eviscerated the film, giving it a 0/10 rating. You could say that I went in with very low expectations. Quelle surprise, I loved it. Elle is a very unconventional movie about a rape victim. In the first scene of the movie, Michelle is brutally raped, picks herself up, dusts herself off, and then resolutely tries to not let what just happened affect her very much. And, though she takes sensible precautions, the rape indeed doesn't affect her all that much--on the surface. However, the influence of the violence perpetrated upon her is as subtle as Michelle's behaviour is unpredictable. I took what followed to be one of the darkest comic films of the year, a movie about one very particular woman's approach to misogyny, agency and revenge. To be sure, Elle isn't comic all the time--it sprinkles humour around judiciously, but the overall effect for me was bracing and insightful rather than boring or disgusting. It helps that Isabelle Huppert once again, and for the second time this year (Things to Come), takes a complex not always sympathetic character and makes her totally human and endlessly fascinating. A great actress for decades, she may be on a career high this year. But the movie has more to offer than Huppert at the top of her game. The edgy material, especially as it applies to the kinds of flaws exhibited by herself and others, is certainly risky, often damning, but somehow the movie never gets heavy-handed. Director Paul Verhoeven provides assured, elegant direction and establishes just the right tone--neither too serious, nor too flippant. People may behave monstrously at times, as most do in this movie, but they are not all cut from the same cloth. We all just have to make fine distinctions. I enjoyed Elle immensely.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I realize I am in the minority on this one, but I thought Elle was a terrific, albeit provocative, movie, coming in at #6 for 2016 for me. Here's an edited version of the review that I wrote at the time. Great year for Huppert, whose Things to Come came in at #2 for the year behind Moonlight for me.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, I wanted to - and it feels like it should have been my kind of film - but nah... Haven't seen Things to Come, but it does look pretty good. If I have a chance I'll try to see it. Like you, I used to watch everything coming out of the important festivals, but it's been almost 10 years of hibernation for me. A quick look through my stuff tells me that my favorite film of 2016 was Nocturnal Animals at 9/10, followed by Moonlight and American Honey at 7/10, but I really haven't seen much.

 

[kihei]

I'm glad you enjoyed it, I wanted to - and it feels like it should have been my kind of film - but nah... Haven't seen Things to Come, but it does look pretty good. If I have a chance I'll try to see it. Like you, I used to watch everything coming out of the important festivals, but it's been almost 10 years of hibernation for me. A quick look through my stuff tells me that my favorite film of 2016 was Nocturnal Animals at 9/10, followed by Moonlight and American Honey at 7/10, but I really haven't seen much.

Red Turtle and Paterson are two lovely films from that year. If you pick either of those or both up sometime, I would be very curious to see what you think of them. I feel like you and I are pretty much swimming in the same waters, we just often prefer different fish.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Red Turtle and Paterson are two lovely films from that year. If you pick either of those or both up sometime, I would be very curious to see what you think of them. I feel like you and I are pretty much swimming in the same waters, we just often prefer different fish.

I'm kind of out of the pool right now, but yeah, I guess you're right. Proof is, I don't really watch animated films, and Jarmusch always feel a little underwhelming to me. I'll still try to watch that one, but the turtle I'm pretty sure I never will!

 

[Arizonan God]

Red Turtle and Paterson are two lovely films from that year. If you pick either of those or both up sometime, I would be very curious to see what you think of them. I feel like you and I are pretty much swimming in the same waters, we just often prefer different fish.

Sometimes when I'm having a bad day, I just think of Paterson and it pretty much always lightens my mood.

 

[nameless1]

I love Paterson too. It is poetry on film, and it is an absolute tranquil delight.

It also made me gave my first positive review on Adam Driver, for better or worst.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I didn't think much at all of Paterson. Some things about it were just too utterly corny, like writing out the man's poetry on the screen. Bleh!

 

[kihei]

Varda by Agnes (2019) Directed by Agnes Varda 7B

Earlier in the year, New Wave pioneer Agnes Varda died at age 90. Until the end, she made movies, some great ones (Cleo from 5 to 7) and some forgettable ones (One Hundred and One Nights, which flopped despite cameos by Mastroianni, Delon, Depardieu, De Niro, Belmondo, Deneuve, Aimee, and Lollobrigida). She rejuvenated her career at 70 years of age when cheap digital cameras became available. She used the new technology to create her very own hybrid documentary format, which was part essay, part personal memoir and part history lesson. The resulting films, The Gleaners, Beaches of Agnes, and Faces Places became among her greatest successes. Varda by Agnes is her personal guided tour through her work from the beginning until the end, including her late growth as a visual conceptual artist. The final third of the film is a wondrous look at how she changed and grew at an age when most of her colleagues had long since retired. She said she believed in three things: imagination, creation and sharing. Perhaps her greatest late work, Faces Places, in which she combines forces with French visual artist JR, showed just how fruitful such a collaborative approach could be. As always, Varda makes a charming and lucid commentator on her own works and on her own life. Varda by Agnes is a fitting valedictory by an endlessly fascinating, multidimensional artist whose heart always seemed to be in the right place.

subtitles


Best of '19 so far

1) Parasite, Bong, South Korea
2) Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Sciamma, France
3) An Elephant Sitting Still, Hu, China
4) Hope, Sodahl, Norway
5) Pain & Glory, Almodovar, Spain
6) Vitalina Varela, Costa, Portugal
7) The Irishman, Scorsese, US
8) The Lighthouse, Eggers, United States
9) Varda by Agnes, Varda, France
10) Marriage Story, US, Baumbach

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

6.5/10

Finally got around to watching this on Netflixx

Was not a bad film but just didn't do much for me

It has its moments of being pretty good but nothing really clicks overall for me. The acting was fine , The guy playing Han wasn't bad at all and his performance got better as movie progressed. He is of course no Ford but alot of people before film came out expected his performance to bomb and it honestly wasn't that bad

Not a film I will go out of my way to watch in future but is something that is decent enough that if there is nothing else on and I have time to waste I would sit and watch

Weakest of the Disney SW films but is still better the TPM and ATC

 

[Tasty Biscuits]

Oh, and Ana de Armas will be a massive super star.

I would be okay with this.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

The Report
I'm still processing this one a bit. The info is pretty compelling. It makes you angry. The blow-by-blow is well laid out. I appreciate writer-director Scott Z. Burns' ability to resist temptation to Sorkin this up by giving the lead investigator a family he neglects (but who will find redemption through work!) or daddy issues or some such cliche. The story is the story and that's where the focus is. That said, it does leave you a bit cold. I DEFINITELY didn't want any of that forced personal hokum so I'm not sure how I'd want to fix its bedside manner. Movie does feel like medicine though. Or a lecture.

 

[Puck]

Sundance has just unveiled it's 2020 line-up

Sundance Unveils 2020 Lineup

 

[The Crypto Guy]

The Last Christmas - Pretty horrible for the most part, Emilia Clarke was fantastic for her role but the story was very bland, pretty good shocker ending though.

C+

 

[ItsFineImFine]

The Other Side of Hope (2017) - 7.5/10
I was expecting it to be a lot more hopeless and cynical, quite an optimistic but sad film.

Knives Out (2019) - 8/10
Who would've thought that getting a director who does crime films to direct a crime film would turn out better than getting him to do a space sci-fi.

The Bridge (1959) - 7/10
Basic anti-war German film, better than All Quiet On The Western Front probably, not bad.

Divorce Italian Style (1961) - 7/10
Quite juicy once it gets going, pretty solid climax.

The General Della Rovere (1959) - 7/10
Cliched Rosellini, somewhat awkward but it was fine..

Private Life (2017) - 7/10
It was fine.

Batman vs Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019) - 7/10
Sadly cheesy but it's Batman + Ninja Turtles, that's a childood fantasy and it was watchable so tough to go wrong there.

 

[ORRFForever]

This Is Our Home [2019] :

A young couple struggles after he forces her to have an abortion. In the hope of making things better, they spend the weekend at her childhood home. While there, their aborted child pays a visit.

There are a million things wrong with this movie - the main one being that none of the characters act in a normal way. It's also all style and NO substance. Having said that, it pulled me in and I found it really scary.

The lead actress (Simone Policano) is very good. So is the direction - which does a lot with nothing.

This Is Our Home is a mix of The Shining and I Trapped The Devil - it's better than the former, but not as good as the latter.

A Quick Story : I was watching the movie at night, in a dark room, with my lap top resting on my stomach, wearing head phones so as not to wake the house. Half way through the 85 minute run time, as the tension mounted and the music blared, a Daddy Long Legs landed on my glasses. I almost had a heart attack trying to figure out if it was real or some kind of optical movie trick.

Once I realized it was real, I jumped up and squished the little bastard!!!

Not sure if that added to the horror I felt watching the movie but...

7.5/10

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Dark Waters - 8/10

Very interesting movie. Does have some slower moments, as you’d expect for a movie of this nature. But very entertaining and informative watch overall.

 

[Osprey]

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) - 4/10 (Disliked it)

This was about what I expected: a watchable, sometimes entertaining film that's also incoherent, self-indulgent and too long. It felt like a mishmash of elements meant to pay homage to 60s Hollywood and indulge Tarantino's personal nostalgia more than to tell a story. So many scenes seemed unnecessarily included or long to suit his whims or give actors cameos. The biggest offender would be the Tate character, which was obviously given more screen time than necessary just to give Margot Robbie third billing. In order to try to connect everything, the "story" relies on a lot of coincidence...

Spoiler

...like Rick living next door to Tate, his stunt double just happening to give a ride to a girl who lives at ranch that he once worked at and that same stunt double just happening to be at Rick's house and smoking his only acid-dipped cigarette the same night that a few of the Manson gang that he met at the ranch came to murder Tate for happening to live at the house formerly owned by Manson's friend. Sorry for the mouthful.

I've read a lot of praise for DiCaprio's performance, but I found it very unconvincing and irritating. I don't think that the fact that his naturally hammy acting style happened to suit this particular character makes it a good acting performance, personally. Anyways, despite all of the problems that I had with it, Tarantino's gift for style and production made it watchable and occasionally entertaining, as I said. It's too bad that he doesn't also have more of a gift for storytelling and self restraint.