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

[Osprey]

You know that times are rough when kihei has nothing better to watch than a Chinese popcorn film that I just offhandedly and somewhat unflatteringly mentioned .

I managed to find my review from last year, if you or anyone else is interested in a second opinion (though it's funny how similar our reviews are):

The Wandering Earth (2019) - 5/10 (Didn't like or dislike it)

With the Sun becoming unstable, all of the people of Earth join together and build huge thrusters on the surface to turn Earth into a spaceship and fly it to a neighboring solar system. Yeah, you read that right. It makes Armageddon sound downright plausible and scientific. In fact, it feels like a Chinese mismash of every Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster from ~20 years ago (Armageddon, Independence Day, Deep Impact and The Day After Tomorrow). That includes ridiculous plot points, cardboard characters, sappy sentimentality, lame dialogue, cliches and so on. On the positive side, it has a nice Earth unity message (i.e. it's not pro-China like you might fear), it's action packed and it's chock full of CGI. Much of that CGI is gorgeous and seemingly on par with Hollywood, but some shots, especially action shots, look much less so. Overall, it's not a good movie, but it's often pretty to look at, it's quite inoffensive and there's something sort of charming about seeing China try their hand at a 90s Hollywood blockbuster in 2019. I was also curious because it's supposedly China's first crack at this sort of movie, it's the 2nd-highest grossing Chinese film ever and the 3rd-highest grossing film worldwide of 2019 (after Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel). If you're a sucker for sci-fi blockbusters, are curious about what a Chinese one would look like, feel like a mindless visual feast and keep your expectations really low, you might find it watchable. 50% of RT users can't be wrong.

It's available on Netflix and you can watch it in Chinese with English subtitles or with English dubbing. I started out with subtitles, but found that I couldn't really take in the visuals when I was looking down every other second, so I switched. The dubbing is not very good and makes the film hokier, but it hardly ruins it because it's already hokey. Anyways, I mention it so that you know that you have a choice.

 

[kihei]

You know that times are rough when kihei has nothing better to watch than a Chinese popcorn film that I just offhandedly and somewhat unflatteringly mentioned .

Times are tough. I'm mulling over a Steven Seagal retrospective.

Spoiler

Just kidding

 

[Sniper99]

Bad Boys For Life. 7 out of 10

Better than the 1st one, hell anything is better than a Tea Leoni movie. 2nd Bad Boys movie was best of the 3.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Times are tough. I'm mulling over a Steven Seagal retrospective.

Spoiler

Just kidding

I'll defend Hard to Kill and Under Siege!

 

[Osprey]

Little Women (2019) - 4/10 (Disliked it)

In 1860s New England, three poor sisters fight over the scrawny rich kid next door. This adaptation of the beloved novel seems to assume that we're familiar with the story (either from the novel or from the six previous film adaptations) because it frequently jumps forward and backward in time with no warning or indication (except for the first time, when it flashes "7 years earlier" on the screen; after that, we're on our own). We're meant to pick up on clues such as how the characters are dressed or acting (ex. like teenagers or young adults) to gauge whether the scenes are from the early 1860s or late 1860s. Maybe it isn't so hard to follow if you're familiar with the story, but I am not, so I was often confused. I eventually learned what was up and to tell when the story jumped forward or backward, but, though it stopped being confusing, it was still extremely disjointed. I can only assume that the writer/director wanted to mix things up to make the experience fresh for those who are more than familiar with the story already. It's shame because it's a good story, the costuming is good, the acting is solid and I love a good period film. I could've liked a straight, chronological presentation, but the structure just ruined it for me. Honestly, I'm a little puzzled by all of the praise and the Best Picture nomination (the latter, especially, because I feel that the best films should be easy to follow and engaging regardless of familiarity), but I guess that I'm one of the few people not interested enough to have yet seen an adaptation of the story, yet interested enough to start with this one. I may've picked the wrong one to start with because this one doesn't make things easy for newcomers.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

My film consumption has been entirely too classy of late. I like to balance the high brow and low brow, the health food with the junk. Just been on a recent run though of classics (some rewatches, some new to me) and though they've almost all been great, I'm itching to consume some mindless garbage. So that's my plan this week. In the meantime:

The Apu Trilogy. Been on my to-watch list for some time and man they did not disappoint. Full disclosure, I watched Pather Panchali earlier this year, but finally got around to Aparajito and Apur Sansar over the weekend. What a human and universal story. A decades spanning personal epic with themes and scenes likely to strike a chord with many despite this being a very specific time and place. Joyous and funny in moments. Heartbreaking in others. For the second time in a few weeks I find myself drawing a parallel to books. It feels novel-like in its depth and scope. Maybe a way less-horny John Updike. I will come back to these again.

Sunset Blvd and All About Eve. A pair of stone-cold classic bits of Hollywood cynicism. The direction is great, particularly Billy Wilder's pseudo-horror touches in Sunset but man these scripts are cracking and the actors get to go to town. Gloria Swanson in particular is always a delight to me. She's not over the top, she's through the damn roof. And the machinations within Eve are a wicked blast. Both of these are just fun, dark versions of the Hollywood fairy tale. Timeless.

Hunger. Still Steve McQueen's best movie. And it's not even close in my mind. It's grueling and hard and unpleasant but powerful. There's three short films crammed in here. The first is a brutal and detailed recreation of the blanket protests in Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. The second is a one-act play, a two-handed philosophical/political debate between Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) and his priest (Liam Cunningham), the third is a nearly wordless depiction of a slow, deteriorating death. It's almost a meditation.

The Crying Game. Never seen it. Only knew of the famed TWIST. It's a testament to the film that even knowing that important bit of information doesn't diminish the experience. In a way, it might even enhance it. I suppose that all goes back to Hitchcock's famed thoughts on surprise vs. suspense. The emotional beats hit for me though.

'71. As these last few indicate, I've been on a bit of a Northern Ireland/The Troubles kick. It was spurred by the fantastic book Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (highly recommend!). While it's probably an outlier here among these other films, I thought it was a pretty gripping thriller. I don't know that it says much about the issues or the world, but it made for a pretty intense 100 minutes or so.

Three Days of the Condor. A fun ride. You see the playbook for so many other movies to come. But this one still stands on its own.

OH wait, I did watch some garbage:

It: Chapter 2. I saw someone online refer to it as Serious Beetlejuice and I am not sure I've ever been more jealous of a turn of phrase. Not a good movie, but having read the book and sat through the previous TV adaptation, this is probably the best we're ever going to get. That's fine. The book is still good.

 

[Jevo]

Times are tough. I'm mulling over a Steven Seagal retrospective.

Spoiler

Just kidding

Shoah and Tiexi Qu aren't streaming anywhere? Should occupy a couple of days without having to resort to such drastic measures.

 

[kihei]

Shoah and Tiexi Qu aren't streaming anywhere? Should occupy a couple of days without having to resort to such drastic measures.

Saw Shoah a few years ago. It's an important document, certainly worth seeing, but not something I am ready to repeat any time soon. Haven't seen Tiexi Qu, but will watch it if I can find it. I was being a little bit hyperbolic with my Steven Seagal comment. The MUBI site, sponsored by the British Film Institute, is providing me with a lot of interesting and challenging films and there is a bunch of free stuff on YouTube that is worth exploring, too. Plus the odd Chinese blockbuster, eh.

 

[kihei]

My film consumption has been entirely too classy of late. I like to balance the high brow and low brow, the health food with the junk. Just been on a recent run though of classics (some rewatches, some new to me) and though they've almost all been great, I'm itching to consume some mindless garbage. So that's my plan this week. In the meantime:

The Apu Trilogy. Been on my to-watch list for some time and man they did not disappoint. Full disclosure, I watched Pather Panchali earlier this year, but finally got around to Aparajito and Apur Sansar over the weekend. What a human and universal story. A decades spanning personal epic with themes and scenes likely to strike a chord with many despite this being a very specific time and place. Joyous and funny in moments. Heartbreaking in others. For the second time in a few weeks I find myself drawing a parallel to books. It feels novel-like in its depth and scope. Maybe a way less-horny John Updike. I will come back to these again.

Sunset Blvd and All About Eve. A pair of stone-cold classic bits of Hollywood cynicism. The direction is great, particularly Billy Wilder's pseudo-horror touches in Sunset but man these scripts are cracking and the actors get to go to town. Gloria Swanson in particular is always a delight to me. She's not over the top, she's through the damn roof. And the machinations within Eve are a wicked blast. Both of these are just fun, dark versions of the Hollywood fairy tale. Timeless.

Hunger. Still Steve McQueen's best movie. And it's not even close in my mind. It's grueling and hard and unpleasant but powerful. There's three short films crammed in here. The first is a brutal and detailed recreation of the blanket protests in Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. The second is a one-act play, a two-handed philosophical/political debate between Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) and his priest (Liam Cunningham), the third is a nearly wordless depiction of a slow, deteriorating death. It's almost a meditation.

The Crying Game. Never seen it. Only knew of the famed TWIST. It's a testament to the film that even knowing that important bit of information doesn't diminish the experience. In a way, it might even enhance it. I suppose that all goes back to Hitchcock's famed thoughts on surprise vs. suspense. The emotional beats hit for me though.

'71. As these last few indicate, I've been on a bit of a Northern Ireland/The Troubles kick. It was spurred by the fantastic book Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (highly recommend!). While it's probably an outlier here among these other films, I thought it was a pretty gripping thriller. I don't know that it says much about the issues or the world, but it made for a pretty intense 100 minutes or so.

Three Days of the Condor. A fun ride. You see the playbook for so many other movies to come. But this one still stands on its own.

OH wait, I did watch some garbage:

It: Chapter 2. I saw someone online refer to it as Serious Beetlejuice and I am not sure I've ever been more jealous of a turn of phrase. Not a good movie, but having read the book and sat through the previous TV adaptation, this is probably the best we're ever going to get. That's fine. The book is still good.

Agree on everything, but especially happy that you were so impressed by the Apu Trilogy by my favourite director ever Satyajit Ray.

 

[Jevo]

Saw Shoah a few years ago. It's an important document, certainly worth seeing, but not something I am ready to repeat any time soon. Haven't seen Tiexi Qu, but will watch it if I can find it. I was being a little bit hyperbolic with my Steven Seagal comment. The MUBI site, sponsored by the British Film Institute, is providing me with a lot of interesting and challenging films and there is a bunch of free stuff on YouTube that is worth exploring, too. Plus the odd Chinese blockbuster, eh.

I basically just picked the two longest movies I can recall seeing. Unless you count Out 1 as a movie instead of a mini-series, but I wouldn't recommend Out 1 to my worst enemy. I agree with your assessment of Shoah. I personally think Night and Fog is the best Holocaust documentary. It's not very long, but the emotional punch it packs is immense. I would probably also call Tiexi Qu import and and worth seeing. But I'm not sure I'll watch it again, not least because of its length. 9 hour slow paced documentary about industrial decline is not something I usually feel like putting on on a sunday afternoon.

 

[kihei]

I basically just picked the two longest movies I can recall seeing. Unless you count Out 1 as a movie instead of a mini-series, but I wouldn't recommend Out 1 to my worst enemy. I agree with your assessment of Shoah. I personally think Night and Fog is the best Holocaust documentary. It's not very long, but the emotional punch it packs is immense. I would probably also call Tiexi Qu import and and worth seeing. But I'm not sure I'll watch it again, not least because of its length. 9 hour slow paced documentary about industrial decline is not something I usually feel like putting on on a sunday afternoon.

Hey, there's always Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) which is just over 15 hours long. I watched it over about a three day period some years ago and thought it was pretty damn good, in terms of detailed narrative as close as film is likely going to get to Marcel Proust's seven volume novel In Search of Lost Time (formerly called Remembrance of Things Past). "Close" in that one respect doesn't mean better, though. Proust's mammoth work is in a class by itself.

 

[Jevo]

Hey, there's always Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) which is just over 15 hours long. I watched it over about a three day period some years ago and thought it was pretty damn good, in terms of detailed narrative as close as film is likely going to get to Marcel Proust's seven volume novel In Search of Lost Time (formerly called Remembrance of Things Past). "Close" in that one respect doesn't mean better, though. Proust's mammoth work is in a class by itself.

I watched Berlin Alexanderplatz some years ago, but since it was originally made for TV I counted as a mini-series in this instance. I think I watched it over a couple of weeks, watching about an episode a day. I thought it was very good. As you say a very detailed narrative, and as far as cinematic works, it's quite unique in that department.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Agree on everything, but especially happy that you were so impressed by the Apu Trilogy by my favourite director ever Satyajit Ray.

All three are great. I think I liked the third the best ... of course the impact of that is meaningless without all the work that comes before it. That stretch of happiness though from when Apu agrees to Aparna until ... well, you know ... is one of the most lovely things I've seen on film.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Veronika Voss (1982) - 6.5/10

Ach this ends up being a disappointment after a good start. It turns into a typical story about a drug addict in the end and I generally never enjoy watching that play (Leaving Las Vegas possibly exempted). Also you expect good cinematography from a modern film that decides to go black and white but I don't think it did much for this one here.

Drunken Angel (1948) - 5/10

Probably the worst Kurosawa film I've seen, pretty slow despite not being long. It has the problem of feauring two characters who mainly just yell at each other throughout. The famous Samurai from his other films plays an unbearable doctor in this one. The real conflict doesn't show up till the final third and it's not that interesting, I'd skip.

Anyways, my Kanopy subscription from school is almost done because I'm done school so I'll probably try to catch one last film, maybe Bergman's 'The Silence' or The Last Metro, but I'm relieved because I mainly felt like a captive to foreign films that were overrated near the end once I'd seen all the good ones.

 

[x Tame Impala]

“Death Becomes Her” was surprisingly pretty good. All three of them killed it in their roles

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Zombieland 2: Double Tap

with people and zombies who wish they had something better to do.

We pick up after the first Zombieland movie with Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson and Abigail Breslin (my, has she ever grown...) still referring to each other by the name of the cities they were born and still stumbling through awkward ersatz family relationships. Jesse (Columbus) and Emma (Wichita) play the neurotic and unsatisfied couple while Harrelson (Tallahasse) and Breslin (Little Rock) are the overprotective father and suddenly blossoming daughter who yearns to break free with a boyfriend her own age. But...uh...it is the zombie apocalypse, and you're kind of stuck for human companionship. Or are you...? Little Rock and Wichita bolt under the suffocating domestic pressure ( ) and run off into the waiting arms of...a guy on the road. A despairing Columbus trashes a mall and finds a blond poodle airhead who's been living in a mall freezer for the last few years (as you would) and they have sex in the Lincoln bedroom. Then Wichita comes back...to get guns and ammo to find her sister. Yeah, that's it. Totally not to meet Columbus again. They all slough off in the Pontiac minivan in the driveway...off to Graceland! And glory! And find Little Rock and her new idiot boyfriend Berkeley! Yeah!

The original Zombieland offered us a pretty good zombie comedy. Not Shawn of the Dead good... but still good in its own right. This one...yeah. Not so much. It starts off okay...ish...with the gang from the first movie crashing in the (we all wish...) Trump-free White House but quickly goes downhill as we have to deal with Jesse Eisenberg's numerous relationship neuroses and the road trip from hell that follows. Harrelson and Eisenberg meet their doppelgangers in a deeply annoying sequence and it only gets worse from there. At least Woody Harrelson gets laid in this one, though.

Not a patch on the original.

On Prime now. Yay...

Dear holy f***ing dogshit let this quarantine shit stop soon.

Which one of us is lamer? There's literally no wrong answer.

 

[Osprey]

Coherence (2013) - 6/10 (Liked it)

Eight people have a dinner party the night that a comet passes overhead and soon experience strange occurrences. As OzzyFan said in his review, this is a low-budget Twilight Zone-esque film. It gets into some pretty scientific theories, yet hardly looks like a sci-fi because it takes place almost entirely in and around an ordinary house. It's mostly dialogue and mystery driven as the party guests try to figure out what's going on. It's mind bending and like a puzzle, if you like that kind of thing. I do and enjoyed that about it, though I did find that I could predict the next step in several cases and the ending felt a bit disappointing. Still, I liked it enough and give a lot of credit to the filmmaker for making such a watchable film for only $50K (which is absurd). I, personally, had no problem with the acting, the dialogue (much of which was improvised, apparently) or how it looked, surprisingly. It goes to show what you can accomplish on even a shoestring budget if you have a good premise, some passion and good preparation. It's on Prime and Hulu and you can even watch it for free on Sony Crackle (no account needed): https://www.crackle.com/watch/5840

 

[Elvis P]

Capote - 2005 - 9/10

PSH is so good, he deserved the Oscar. He was so talented I wish he was still alive. Catherine Keener is also very good.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

I promised myself some good mindless garbage so I went back to a favorite.

Ninja 3: The Domination. The only thing better than the first 15 minutes of this movie are the 77 minutes that follow.

 

[SouthGeorge]

Vivarium - 8/10.

My take on it..

Spoiler

Yeah, I've seen the video game sim theory and opening scene with Cuckoo bird. They trick them into raising their own and it's just the way of life. Same with the aliens tricking them into raising their kid. Although it wasn't really tricking them. That makes sense but I think it definitely laid on some heavier stuff in the open.

I think it showed typical suburban lifestyle. All the houses look the same because everybody wants that white picket fence. The kid is always crying for food, following them, and asking questions. They resent it at first. The dad looks for any excuse to get away from them, digging a stupid hole or whatever meaningless job they take on. The mom falls in love with the kid and chooses him over the dad. Dad ends up resenting both of them for it. Kid ends up leaving the house, school or whatever and the mom is following behind him. Dad still slaving away at this 9-5 and ends up digging his own grave. Dad dies and mom realizes what an animal the kid really is. Kid goes on and takes the job of the guy who tricked them into that house. That bad house/family created the next monster that's going to do the same thing and trick another family into living there. The cycle continues.

 

[nameless1]

Veronika Voss (1982) - 6.5/10

Ach this ends up being a disappointment after a good start. It turns into a typical story about a drug addict in the end and I generally never enjoy watching that play (Leaving Las Vegas possibly exempted). Also you expect good cinematography from a modern film that decides to go black and white but I don't think it did much for this one here.

Have you watched the other two in Fassbender's BDR trilogy? This is the worst in the series, and the grade is about where I have it too, but I do like that it is a homage to Sunset Boulevard, in the most Fassbender-way possible.

Drunken Angel (1948) - 5/10

Probably the worst Kurosawa film I've seen, pretty slow despite not being long. It has the problem of feauring two characters who mainly just yell at each other throughout. The famous Samurai from his other films plays an unbearable doctor in this one. The real conflict doesn't show up till the final third and it's not that interesting, I'd skip.

Anyways, my Kanopy subscription from school is almost done because I'm done school so I'll probably try to catch one last film, maybe Bergman's 'The Silence' or The Last Metro, but I'm relieved because I mainly felt like a captive to foreign films that were overrated near the end once I'd seen all the good ones.

Kurosawa had some bad ones. Scandal always pop up at the top of my list, along with Dodes'ka-den. I would not put Drunken Angel in that category though. Back then, Japan just came out of World War II, and the country is still occupied by American forces. Thus, even though it feels campy now, the script is not any different from any American movies from back then, and it does reflect the reality of the situation, in a easy to digest manner. Kurosawa, after all, is always a mainstream director, and it took him some time until he truly finds his style, and be able to produce the profound. This is a glimpse, and also part of the genesis to his collaboration with Mifune, one of the most successful partnership between director and actor.

 

[nameless1]

“Death Becomes Her” was surprisingly pretty good. All three of them killed it in their roles

Oh man, I hated it.


In the early 90s, Streep began to give uneven performance, and this was by far the worst Streep performance I have ever seen. Perhaps the charm of the movie is in the overtop performances, but it is too much for me.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Oh man, I hated it.


In the early 90s, Streep began to give uneven performance, and this was by far the worst Streep performance I have ever seen. Perhaps the charm of the movie is in the overtop performances, but it is too much for me.

I was told she agreed to do this movie because prior a lot of people were saying how “over the top” she was. So she leaned into what people were saying about her and was purposefully over the top.

 

[x Tame Impala]

You know that times are rough when kihei has nothing better to watch than a Chinese popcorn film that I just offhandedly and somewhat unflatteringly mentioned .

I managed to find my review from last year, if you or anyone else is interested in a second opinion (though it's funny how similar our reviews are):

Sounds like a Futurama episode

 

[nameless1]

I was told she agreed to do this movie because prior a lot of people were saying how “over the top” she was. So she leaned into what people were saying about her and was purposefully over the top.

That sass sounds like her.


I am still not a fan though. It is just not for me.