Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +3

[kihei]

The Marriage Circle (1924) Directed by Ernst Lubitsch 8A

It is amazing to me the number of times critics through the ages have called Ersnt Lubitsch’s comedies “frothy.” I guess it goes with the Viennese schtick: all those elaborate art works, romantic waltzes; and fancy concoctions made out of whipped cream and cake. The Marriage Circle is a sexy, witty, sophisticated comedy about marital infidelity but frothy it’s not. The plot (buckle your seat belts) is a delightful mix of complications that begins with Professor Josef Stock who is trying to divorce his wife Mizzi. Mizzi doesn’t need much encouragement to seek love in the arms of Dr. Franz, her personal physician. Unfortunately his wife Charlotte is rather inconveniently Mizzi’s best friend. Sorely tempted for sure, Doctor Franz knows he shouldn’t say “yes” to Mizzi, but he can’t quite bring himself to say “no,” either. Then Charlotte, feeling jilted, gets some ideas of her own at about the same moment that Dr, Gustav, Dr. Franz’s partner in their shared medical practice, begins to fall in love with Charlotte. Sounds hopelessly complicated but the execution is as smooth as silk. Lubitsch keeps all these balls expertly juggling in the air, and the end result is polished and amusing. On one level, that is. The interesting thing, though, is that Lubitsch doesn’t let us completely ignore the pain and turmoil just lurking underneath the surface of all these essentially unhappy people. The Marriage Circle is a comedy and a brilliant one, but it works on a knife’s edge. Just shade it one way or the other by a degree or two and the same story would fall into tragic melodrama. Lubitsch’s genius is that he maintains the expert balance required with grace to spare. His touch is light, but frothy? Not here.

Note: The acting in this movie was surprisingly normal, not the exaggerated, overwrought stuff one find's in most silent films. It was quite refreshing and somehow reinforced the notiion that Lubitsch didn't perceive his audience to be a bunch of simpletons who required overstatement to get the point.

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[Chili]

The McKenzie Break 1970

Prisoner of war/ escape movie. Large scale escape of German POWs from a camp in Scotland.

Interesting throughout, well done.

 

[kihei]

The McKenzie Break 1970

Prisoner of war/ escape movie. Large scale escape of German POWs from a camp in Scotland.

Interesting throughout, well done.

Very underrated little movie.

 

[Chili]

Very underrated little movie.

Fair bit of German dialogue which makes it real. Supposed to be somewhat based on a true attempt in Canada. The only other German POW escape movie I have seen was The One That Got Away an amazing true story and a great book.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

La Vivre Sie (1962) - 7.5/10

Would it be an unpopular thing to say that I can't stand Anna Karina? That dancing billiard scene in particular, eugh. Still, everything else is fairly good, Godard was really good when he was focusing on dialogue rather than showing off or being silly.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Downfall

with very stressed-out German people

An insane megalomaniacal leader is facing the end of his line, and he's losing his mind. Formerly rosy circumstances have soured, and his civilian population is under threat. He's holding daily briefings in which he plots outcomes untethered from reality, shouts abuse at anyone who crosses him, and all his immediate circle live in fear of his temper but they know his grip on reality is shaky at best. Day after day the situation worsens, and although central leadership is desperately needed, he spends his time brooding and ranting. An absence of leadership at the top means responsibilities are going unmet, and the overall situation is devolving into an every-man-for-himself crapsack. Nobody knows what to do, so nothing constructive gets done, and it's the ordinary people who are suffering the most. Everyone around him held out hope this man was a gifted leader with vision, but it's more and more inescapably obvious he's leading them to doom.

Oh yeah, it's about Hitler's final days in the Fuhrerbunker at the end of Nazi Germany as the Red Army begins its final assault against Berlin.

Should be required viewing.

Which one of you is leaking to the New York Times?!

 

[Savi]

Would it be an unpopular thing to say that I can't stand Anna Karina?

Yes. Yes it would. I'll let this one go, don't let it happen again

 

[Osprey]

Shadow of the Vampire (2000) - 6/10 (Liked it)

German silent film director F.W. Murnau (John Malkovich) hires an actual vampire (Willem Dafoe) to star in his horror film, Nosferatu. It's a film about the making of a classic film, but it's mostly fictional (obviously). It's not really horror or comedy, but is occasionally creepy and funny. John Malkovich is OK, but simply plays his standard character who either speaks softly or yells, with little in between. It's Willem Dafoe, in an Academy Award-nominated performance, who steals the film with his uncanny portrayal of Max Schreck and by being the subject of most of the humor. I found it interesting to see how a silent film was made. For one thing, it never occurred to me that directors could coach the actors through their scenes (ex. "now, pick up the book... now, look sad"), since, obviously, no sound was being recorded. Also, it was neat to see reconstructions of scenes from Nosferatu, especially when they transitioned from black and white and grainy to normal color. The film's largest weakness is probably that the plot is a little lacking and never really gets going or quite lives up to the marvelously original premise. That said, it has good elements and enough moments to make up for some of that. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it if you haven't seen Nosferatu, but, if you have, it's interesting and mildly enjoyable.

 

[kihei]

Oh, the timing....

 

[kihei]

Nosferatu (1922) Directed by F W Murnau 9A

Nosferatu was the first vampire movie and for my money it has never been equaled, let alone surpassed. Similar to the later Bram Stoker adaptation Dracula, Huller, an unsuspecting and naïve young man, ventures to the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania where he meets a nobleman of sorts, Count Orlok, in his gloomy and forbidding castle. Huller is there to arrange for Orlok to buy a deserted house back in his hometown in Wisborg, Germany. While at the castle, he falls under the Count's spell and awakes to find two teeth marks on his neck. Eventually the vampire travels to Germany in a ship that docks with no crew on board only diseased rats. The vampire has brought the plague with him. Eventually, Huller’s wife, who also falls victim to the vampire’s power, saves the city by sacrificing herself and enabling the sun to rise before Orlok can make his escape. Vampires ("nosferatu" is another word for vampire in German) are the only monsters who can sometimes possess charm and even sex appeal, but not this vampire. As performed by Max Schreck he is evil creepiness incarnate, as frightening as he is ugly. Director W F Murnau supplies expert pacing, evocative cinematography and the judicious use of ghoulish special effects to great end, making the movie something you can’t forget even if you wanted to. I don’t think that Nosferatu is the best film of the silent era, but it just might be my favourite.

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[ProstheticConscience]

We've Forgotten More Than We Ever Knew

with three people, including Doug Jones, who's less intimidating without makeup.

Weird little movie. An unnamed and unkempt Man and Woman are foraging and hunting with homemade bows and arrows in a post-apocalyptic forest. No names are ever given. Over a fire at night, Man tells Woman a story of meeting people in a community by a beach where there's food, water, beds, clean sheets, and home. This is clearly a ritual for them. One day, Woman breaks her ankle chasing a deer. Uh-oh. Deserted woods probably don't have the best extended medical plan. Luckily, Man finds a clearing where stand two high-rise towers connected by a bridge many stories up. They warily enter, and we see this was clearly a hotel complex, very suddenly deserted. Bags wait at tables, drinks are half-finished, ashtrays sport butts with clearly visible lipstick stains...in the kitchen, dishes sit half-assembled on kitchen lines. The tech level is somewhere in the 70's or 80's...except for a kind of bandage that heals Woman's broken ankle almost overnight, and everything is written in some bizarre squarish script which Man can understand. He turns the power back on, which freaks Woman out. She's not used to artificial lights. Or eating with utensils. Man seems to be able to remember how civilized life works...Woman not so much. They decide to stick around for the meantime, and start to carefully get more comfortable...but what's in the other tower? The one with fewer lights on? Let the mystery commence.

What is this movie really about? Where are these people? Purgatory? Don't rightly know. It keeps you guessing all the way through, and after. Is it deep and profound...or does it just neglect to have any kind of purpose? You be the judge.

On Prime.

Forks are stupid. Hold me.

 

[sdf]

Fellini's Satyricon

with Italian people doing weird shit and staring at the camera half the time.

In honour of kihei's trip down cinematic history, I decided to watch this one again. Legendary director Frederico Fellini brings us this utterly bizarre and surreal portrait of ancient Rome as we follow a pair of young men through their various weird-ass trials and tribulations. Based on the fragmentary writings of Roman writer Petronius, it doesn't so much tell a story but simply leads us through one lunatic tableau after the next. We go through bathhouses, a brothel, a small theatre, a feast thrown by an egomaniac rich guy who takes everyone down to his tomb and pretends to be dead to hear his "friends" all eulogize him, a pirate ship, a villa, and lots of public sex. Romans really liked sex. Also apparently screaming and laughing at bizarrely inappropriate times. And they also didn't put doors on rooms in their houses or tenements. Which is also weird. The whole thing's just one big weird-a-thon, but in a good way.

Fellini's even got his own adjective; Felliniesque. From Bernard A. Cook (who's definitely a guy who wrote a book at some point): "Felliniesque" has come to mean a certain Italian sophistication yet earthiness, a fascination with the bizarre yet a love of simplicity all wrapped in a flamboyant Mediterranean approach to life and art. These films also contain magic moments that transcended realism, and they introduced the world to a certain flamboyant lyricism we now label Felliniesque. <-- That's totally this film.

On youtube.

"LSD's only 2000 years away! I'd better get a head start!"

So your review is that it is bizare and weird-ass? And also Felliniesque? Okay

 

[nameless1]

I saw both versions of Nosferatu, and the original is much, much better. Kinski may not have been a bad choice to play the titular character on paper, but his performance is too much at times. When he rolled around on the floor like a dead insect, I burst out laughing.

 

[Trap Jesus]

Nosferatu (1922) Directed by F W Murnau 9A

Robert Eggers (director of The Lighthouse/The Witch) has been trying to get the green light for a remake/re-imagining of this for years.

 

[Osprey]

I saw both versions of Nosferatu, and the original is much, much better. Kinski may not have been a bad choice to play the titular character on paper, but his performance is too much at times. When he rolled around on the floor like a dead insect, I burst out laughing.

Yeah, I reviewed both versions a few months ago and didn't like the 70s remake.

Robert Eggers (director of The Lighthouse/The Witch) has been trying to get the green light for a remake/re-imagining of this for years.

I remember reading about that a few years ago and that Eggers would reunite with Anya Taylor-Joy in it. I wonder if he would tap Dafoe for the titular character, considering their familiarity on The Lighthouse and Dafoe's experience (and Academy Award nomination) playing the role in the film that I reviewed earlier today. Being 20 years older now would probably only make him more suitable for it.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Code 8

with people

Near future in X-Men-ish Lincoln City. 4% of the population is born "Powered"; telekinetic, super-strong, pyro/freeze powers or electro people walk among us...and for some utterly illogical reason, they're an oppressed minority. People who can throw around concrete blocks like styrofoam and weld without TIG and MIG welding equipment are somehow relegated to begging for scraps like illegal Mexican immigrants in Republicountry. And bearing the brunt of this is Connor, a high-level electro whose freezie-pop mom is having serious medical problems. She's having "attacks" where she involuntarily freezes the contents of jars she stocks at the local grocery store, and that's threatening to cut off their fragile financial lifeline. Connor falls in with some nasty Powered criminals to pay for her surgery and quickly gets in over his head. Heists go wrong, debts remain unpaid, and the nasty Powered organized crime folks The Trust want their money. Also the cops suck and have predatory hunter/killer robots with the habit of shooting everything. Drug lab? Shooty bots. Bank heist? Shooty bots. Jaywalking with the intent to not scoop your Pomeranian's crap up off the sidewalk? Oh, you better bet the shooty bots come out for that. But wait...in the Big Bad Guy's gang, there's a Powered healer! She can heal mom! Or wait...can she? And can we duck the shooty bots long enough to find out? Watch and be underwhelmed.

Thoroughly meh. The sort of thing you see one day and won't remember the next. And the premise is just stupid on its face. People with superhuman strength and abilities are somehow a hated and repressed minority when they'd be just too damn useful to ignore. Why would we want to pay a guy who can weld with his hands when we can pay for expensive welding equipment and pay to train a guy for months to use it? Just dumb.

I'm totally an oppressed minority! No, really!

 

[Osprey]

Battleship Potemkin (1925) - 8/10 (Loved it)

In 1905, the crew of a Russian battleship, the Potemkin, mutinies against oppressive officers. Kihei already gave a great review about the film's technical feats and impact, so I'll just say that it's like the silent era's "Jerry Bruckheimer film." It's packed with action and exciting scenes, from the mutiny to the famous Odessa Steps sequence to a naval standoff. The soundtrack (though likely not the original) is fantastically rousing. Between the two, I've never been more on the edge of my seat during a silent film. Of course, it's Soviet propaganda and we're meant to get caught up in it, but it's so effective that you just have to tip your hat to the director, regardless. It does, however, lead to a lack of emphasis on individual characters--it's more a story of the collective masses versus the tyrants--and, thus, also a lack of great acting performances. It's definitely an action film, not a character drama. Another small criticism is that there are far too many intertitles. Most are very short, but even those interrupt the action and just aren't necessary. It's the silent era's version of "too much exposition" and is starkly different than the German trend of using intertitles as little as possible. Anyways, those are just little criticisms and can be somewhat excused because, like a Jerry Bruckheimer film, it knows what kind of film that it wants to be and nails it. With its impressive (and on-location) action, intense soundtrack and very short length (only 71 minutes), it's a silent film that's probably one of the most accessible to modern audiences and suitable as an introduction to them or for those who tend to have trouble getting into them.

Above is the full movie on YouTube.

 

[kihei]

The End of St. Petersburg (1927) Directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin 8A

The End of St. Petersburg covers a lot of ground in less than an hour and a half. The movie begins with a farm boy and his mom leaving their rural village to go to the city because if they stay where they are, they become just another pair of mouths to feed and there is very little food. The son tries to find work in St. Petersurg but the factory has just gone on strike. It quickly becomes apparent that there is a class war heating up in no uncertain terms between the workers and the bosses, and the situation doesn’t take long to explode. The rest of the movie economically races through a brief history of the struggle that began the Russian revolution and ends on an upbeat note when the revolution finally takes over from the ruling class. Among many other concerns, along the way we get a short but vivid introduction to trench warfare. This movie might have been just another piece of Soviet agitprop except for the skill of the director. If you melded together the rugged visual poetry of Dovzhenko with the purposeful editing of Eisenstein, you might get something close to Pudovkin. His approach to montage is immediate and emotional, and he is a master at capturing the expressiveness of the human face. He also has a great eye for the memorable cinematic image, as well. The End of St. Petersburg can seem frenzied and sloppy from time to time, but there is no denying its powerful presentation of revolution. In a way The End of St. Petersburg is the land-locked companion piece to Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.

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[member 51464]

All About Eve. I'd say either an 8 or 9 out of 10.

I had never watched it before, and it is shocking to me that this film is SEVENTY years old. The writing is truly top-notch, and just about everyone gets in a few biting lines. Great acting, nice pacing, and a lot of moments that you may recognize borrowed in later, lesser films and TV.

The voice-over had me laughing and hooked within moments of the movie opening. A true gem that I'd recommend to anyone who has not seen it.

Spoiler

Am I the only one who was rooting for Eve? Entrenched power structures are not meant to be forever.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

In the Tall Grass

with people. Patrick Wilson being the most prominent.

Cal and his 6 months pregnant sister Becky are driving across the US to San Diego. They briefly pull over so Becky can puke and get some air, and they hear a child crying for help from within a field of tall grass. His name's Tobin, and he can't find the road. Cal parks the car across the street at a totally normal, non-spooky, dilapidated church, and inside the field they go to find the lost child. Bad move. They quickly get separated, and nobody can find the kid. The field's doing weird stuff; distances change, time speeds up and/or reverses, and there's this huge stone in a clearing with ancient native writing on it. So, the whole scene is totally non-haunted. Months later in outside the field time, Becky's ex-boyfriend comes looking for her, finds their car, and enters the field himself. Paranormal stuff happens.

Tries for scary, and outside the occasional jumpscare doesn't really get there. Doesn't explain the various time loops to any real degree. The moral is basically to avoid Indian burial grounds. Yawn.

On Netflix, adapted from a Stephen King short story or book or something.

You left a trail of breadcrumbs? BREADCRUMBS?!

 

[Osprey]

Speaking of breadcrumbs...

Gretel & Hansel (2020) - 3/10 (Really disliked it)

A brother and sister sister and brother stumble upon a house in the woods and are lured inside by a not-so-lovely old lady. As might be guessed from the title, this isn't a very faithful telling of the folk tale. Gretel has been made the main character, narrator and 8 years older than Hansel, who's now little more than her baggage. The purpose is to make the film's theme about her discovering her inner strength and independence. In other words, it's the Grimms' 200-year-old tale turned into a female empowerment story for modern audiences. She even gets her #MeToo moment when, near the beginning, she's sexually harassed during a job interview (I kid you not). The spirit of the original is missing (along with the breadcrumbs), and that's disappointing because I really liked the aesthetic and atmosphere. The visuals are beautiful and the film looks and sounds old world (except for an odd exception or two), much like The Witch, which I'm sure that the filmmakers were heavily inspired by. Unfortunately, in spite of that, I didn't find the film the least bit scary or even unsettling. Most of the scenes that are meant to be creepy occur in Gretel's dreams, which saps them of effect, and most of us know the witch's dirty secret from the start. In fact, I found the film rather boring and checked the time remaining on multiple occasions, even though it's not even 90 minutes long. The story is a slow burn (which is not a bad thing), but it doesn't really build up and, then, is over (disappointingly) before you realize it. It also doesn't make sense in spots and some elements feel added in for demographic appeal (such as the kids getting high on mushrooms). It's too bad because I would've loved to have seen a more faithful telling of the story with these visuals and atmosphere. I just get the feeling that the studio saw all of the praise for The Witch, wanted to rip it off and decided to lazily piggyback off of the familiar tale of Hansel and Gretel, instead of just writing something original like Eggers did.

 

[kihei]

Greed (1924) By Erich von Stroheim 8A

Director Erich von Stroheim’s original cut of Greed was north of nine hours long, meaning, among other things, that it would have taken longer to watch the movie than to read the novel by Frank Norris upon which the movie was based. Much to von Stroheim’s displeasure a 2 hour and 20 minute-version was released. As the remaining footage has been lost or destroyed, this chopped down cut is all we have of the original work. Greed is still a pretty impressive movie. The story focuses on a very strange love triangle between McTeague, an opportunistic dentist, Marcus, a rough-and-tumble boyo, and Trina, Marcus’ girlfriend/cousin. The cousin sort of falls for the dentist, who is a real piece of work himself (the first time he kisses her she is under anaesthetic), which is kind of okay with Marcus until the cousin wins a lottery of $5000, a small fortune at this time. Then greed infects each of them with dire consequences for all. The theme is as old as the hills: money inevitably corrupts those who value it beyond all else. Von Stroheim saw his movie as being something of an antidote to the lightweight material that was being produced by Hollywood studios at this time. While the story is a serious, not to mention, sordid one, Greed has an irrepressible energy that is hard to resist. The final abrupt shift in scene to a desert setting provides one of the greatest endings in film history (actually, it's the greatest).

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[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

Jusqu'au déclin (The decline) (Netflix): 8/10 really good movie.

Jumanji: The Next Level: 7/10 simple and fun

The Invisible Man: 6.8/10 didn't live up to the hype for me. Average movie.

Merci pour tout : 6.5/10 it's watchable but not really good.

 

[kihei]

The Gold Rush (1927) Directed by Charlie Chaplin 8A

There are few fictional characters in any medium more endearing and enduring than Charlie Chaplin’s The Tramp. The fact that The Tramp was a creation of the silent era, before sound separated international audiences linguistically, added immensely to his universal appeal, an appeal that now seems timeless, as well. His almost but not quite down-and-out tramp character communicated directly to social underdogs the world over. The Tramp became a symbol of hope and cheerful optimism in the face of stacked decks everywhere. While I readily concede all that, I find Chaplin's many short films during the silent era often more appealing than his feature length films--more of what Chaplin did best with less fat on the bone. The Gold Rush is a case in point. The Tramp’s attempts to find gold in California are indeed often funny (trying to keep one’s place in a wind storm), clever (boiling a shoe to feed a fellow miner), even ingenious (dancing dinner rolls on forks to entertain some pretty guests). But as frequently is the case in his full length films, the longer the movie runs, the more Chaplin relies on his trade-mark pathos. To me a little pathos goes a long way with him and too often turns quickly into a particularly unwelcome form of abject sentimentality. That fact doesn’t diminish The Gold Rush’s charm for most viewers, but, for me, it gets a bit in the way. The purely comic routines, though, remain genius personified.

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[heatnikki]

2012 - It should be called ‘planes that almost don’t take off - the movie’. They do the same thing with a plane taking off 3 frickin’ times. Aside from the obligatory bloated run time this is pretty fun and mindless. 6/10