Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Part#: Some High Number +5

[Osprey]

The Abominable Snowman (1957) - 6/10 (Liked it)

An expedition team ventures into the Himalayas in pursuit of the fabled yeti. This British horror from Hammer Films, starring Peter Cushing and Forrest Tucker, reminded me of The Thing From Another World because of the snowy setting and the men dying one by one and King Kong because of the purpose of the expedition and the way that the yeti isn't portrayed solely as a monster. It's really not scary and what passed for suspense in the 50s is not very suspenseful these days, but it makes up for some of that by having nice visuals, being an adventure in an exotic setting and having bit of intelligence to it. As kihei said recently in his review of a 50s sci-fi movie, there's more talking about the subject than action, and we don't even really see the yeti until the very end, which was a little disappointing, but there's a charm to it and I could imagine how it might've been more exciting to watch in the 50s. Anyways, I found it to be a decent, though dated, lite horror, but I should note that I'm a sucker for snowy movies and for horror movies set in exotic locations (which is why I like the various versions of The Thing so much), so it may be slightly more to my liking than to others'.

It's available to watch for free on Facebook (no account required):

 

[kihei]

First Cow (2020) Directed by Kelly Reichardt 8B

Otis (John Magaro), nicknamed Cookie for good reason, and Lu (Orion Lee), a Chinese guy on the run, meet in the woods in 1820, and decide to join forces. Given the rugged, often brutal nature of the West at this time, these two guys seem like fish out of water, being likeable and gentle men. Otis worked in a bakery back East, and when the first cow in the territory is introduced into their scruffy little community, he gets an idea. The two begin to steal milk at night and Otis begins to make delicious biscuits and cookies for Lu. Soon they begin to sell them to the locals, and the money piles up. Then the owner (Toby Jones) of the cow comes into the picture, and this amiable movie takes a not completely unexpected turn. Okay, Reichardt makes really slow movies, but First Cow is such a good one that people should develop some patience. The story is as fresh and original as any Western since McCabe and Mrs. Miller, with whom it shares a wonderful sense of atmosphere. There are themes here, but treated in a low key way, about money and capitalism, but the heart of this movie is the relationship between Otis and Lu. Are they gay? Maybe, maybe not--Reichardt's clear position is "Who cares?" With every movie her skill as a director grows. First Cow is her best film since Wendy and Lucy. So far, it's the best movie of the year by a wide margin.


Best of 2020 so far (includes some recent movies available for the first time in Canada this year)

First Cow, Reichardt, US
Seducio da Carne, Bressane, Brazil
The Portuguese Woman, Gomes, Portugal
The Load, Glavonic, Serbia
A Land Imagined, Siew, Singapore
The Day after I'm Gone, Eldar, Israel
Echo, Runarsson, Iceland
Da 5 Bloods, Lee, US
Infinite Football, Porumboiu, Romania
Family Romance, LLC, Herzog, US/Japan

 

[Spring in Fialta]

First Cow (2020) Directed by Kelly Reichardt 8B

Otis (John Magaro), nicknamed Cookie for good reason, and Lu (Orion Lee), a Chinese guy on the run, meet in the woods in 1820, and decide to join forces. Given the rugged, often brutal nature of the West at this time, these two guys seem like fish out of water, being likeable and gentle men. Otis worked in a bakery back East, and when the first cow in the territory is introduced into their scruffy little community, he gets an idea. The two begin to steal milk at night and Otis begins to make delicious biscuits and cookies for Lu. Soon they begin to sell them to the locals, and the money piles up. Then the owner (Toby Jones) of the cow comes into the picture, and this amiable movie takes a not completely unexpected turn. Okay, Reichardt makes really slow movies, but First Cow is such a good one that people should develop some patience. The story is as fresh and original as any Western since McCabe and Mrs. Miller, with whom it shares a wonderful sense of atmosphere. There are themes here, but treated in a low key way, about money and capitalism, but the heart of this movie is the relationship between Otis and Lu. Are they gay? Maybe, maybe not--Reichardt's clear position is "Who cares?" With every movie her skill as a director grows. First Cow is her best film since Wendy and Lucy. So far, it's the best movie of the year by a wide margin.


Best of 2020 so far (includes some recent movies available for the first time in Canada this year)

First Cow, Reichardt, US
Seducio da Carne, Bressane, Brazil
The Portuguese Woman, Gomes, Portugal
The Load, Glavonic, Serbia
A Land Imagined, Siew, Singapore
The Day after I'm Gone, Eldar, Israel
Echo, Runarsson, Iceland
Da 5 Bloods, Lee, US
Infinite Football, Porumboiu, Romania
Family Romance, LLC, Herzog, US/Japan

Where did you see this? It sounds great.

 

[kihei]

Where did you see this? It sounds great.

I'll PM you with the info.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

A sortable 1001 film ranking for anyone interested by 'They Shoot Pictures Don't They'. Just be warned that this has a bunch of well-made but boring films on it (as shown by Citizen Kane and Veritgo being 1-2) but it's a decent resource:

TSPDT - 1,000 Greatest Films (Full List)

Not too sure how Vertigo is boring, but thanks. ;-)

(brought it in the right thread)



edit: that's a very boring list.... could have been made by a machine with the question "what should a best of all time films list look like if I want to look like a connaisseur?" ... just no suprise.

 

[Chili]

The Last Picture Show-1971

If I was to make up a 'must see' list, this film would make the cut. Have seen it a few times before, it has aged well. Glad it was made in b/w, adds to the 1950's atmosphere.

Strong performances from all including Cybill Shepherd (who was then not an actor) but especially Ben Johnson.

A simple, easy paced, growing of age story of the era with just the right amount of music.

Some interesting quotes from the cast and director here:

'The Last Picture Show': An Oral History

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Bond rewatch. The Craig films.

As a whole, it’s hard to deny the leveling up the series did in some respects during the last four films. These are by far the most polished, best looking movies. It’s not a series notable for its cinematography, but Roger Deakins’ work in Skyfall is stellar on its own, regardless of being an action movie or Bond movie. Sam Mendes brings an undeniable visual look to both Skyfall and Spectre. Though the writing doesn’t always keep up, the four actors in the villain roles are great talents who look like they’re having fun playing in this world. Craig is good. I prefer his moments of sass to his brooding but overall he’s good. Save for Eva Green, the women are pretty forgettable. Judi Dench is reliably terse. The latter additions of Ralph Finnes as M, Naomi Harris as Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw as Q are nice touches.

Casino Royale is another classic course correction after the ridiculous Die Another Day (which I like). It’s a nice intro to the harder edge Craig version of Bond. The parkour sequence is the single best action sequence in the series, not only notable for what happens, but how it functions as character development, doing a wonderful job establishing Craig’s Bond as tough and resourceful. He’s not elegant like Brosnan. Downside: Boy is this a bloated movie. The prolonged Texas Hold ‘Em sequence is really tedious. I know the actual book also has a long card playing seqence, but sheesh. Also, sorry, I don’t buy Bond as a poker player. Quantum of Solace just feels rushed and incomplete, more forgettable than bad. Skyfall still holds up as one of the best in the series. Silva’s plan is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary though I find this to be more funny than detrimental. Bardem remains great. Spectre, like Casino Royale, is just way to bloated. It’s unfocused, drawing out a climax and reveal everyone knew in the damn trailer. Christoph Walz was put on this earth to be a Bond villain and he feels wasted here. The movie looks good though.

Going broad again, despite numerous positives, I’m still left a little cold by the Craig movies. A couple of issues: First, it feels like Bond is fired/suspended/medically sidelined in every movie. They keep going to this well and making him a rebel against the establishment. It’s just corny and cliche. Why can’t he just get a job and do it? Second, and the bigger issue, is the awkward, ham-handed attempt to create continuity. God forbid these can’t be stand alone stories, like most of the series historically is. Nope, they all try (poorly) to build on each other building to a grand reveal of motivation ... daddy issues! Well isn’t that just another cliche there.

So overall, good action, nice polish, solid performances but pretty rough writing.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Lingering Bond thoughts on the series as a whole. Seen some of these movies countless times over the years, but this was my first organized, chronological rewatch. I don’t know that any of my previously held feelings were changed in any meaningful way. Two that stood out in interesting ways were Moonraker which is an easy target for jokes and is undoubtedly flawed, but I wouldn’t put it among the five worst (it might be the 6th worst though), also Licence to Kill which just is very un-Bond in so many ways. I had more issues with the Craig movies than I expected upon rewatch. But overall the greats remain the greats. Nothing changed there.

It’s tempting to call such a long-running, durable series timeless, but one of the interesting attributes of it is how of-the-moment it often is. There were samurais in the 60s. The 70s movies pulled from Blackspolitation and kung fu. It toyed with Smokey and the Bandit-style southern fried shenananigans. The Moonraker theme is distinctly disco tinged, not to mention clearly banking on Star Wars. The early 80s feature the Olympics. The late 80s is drug wars. Parkour and Texas hold ‘em are used when those were popular.

Another interesting thing: Asians have reliable and durable villains for the series over the years. As masterminds and henchmen. Really no Middle Eastern villains though.

Final lingering thought. I noted this at various points in my rewatch records here, but the way that the series is in fairly constant dialogue with its fans and followers is notable as well. It has a long history of tonal shifts and recalibrations when it’s deemed that either a harder edge or softer edge didn’t work. Moonraker to For Your Eyes Only. Moore to Dalton to Brosnan. Tomorrow Never Dies to The World is Not Enough. Die Another Day to Casino Royale. After Spectre got somewhat tepid response I’m curious if No Time to Die will represent another shift. We’ll see ...

 

[kihei]

edit: that's a very boring list.... could have been made by a machine with the question "what should a best of all time films list look like if I want to look like a connaisseur?" ... just no suprise.

I thought it was a damn good list, at least the first 200 I went through. It's based on many sources, so it is a broad consensus--genuine surprises aren't really to be expected. I do think the list has flaws that venture significantly beyond quibbling about this movie or that one's inclusion or exclusion. A list of a thousand anything is crazy to begin with; such a list would change every 60 seconds if the compiler was being honest. I would have preferred that the compiler divided the movies by the hundred and then listed the selections in each unit in alphabetical order. That would downplay endless ranking quibbles while still providing lots of food for thought. I would also note two other flaws endemic to lengthy "best of" movie lists of this kind: the films of the 21st century, which has been a great century for film so far, are always grossly underrated and, secondly, Asia, in general, does not receive anywhere near the attention and acclaim that it deserves. But overall I think the compiler(s) did a good job.

 

[frisco]

Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood (2019) 9.5/10-This is really my kind of film. Lots has been said good and bad but this one rockets into my all-time top 15 for sure. LD is spot on but Brad Pitt steals the show. Plus you've got D.Lewis and the McQueen cameo and a sizzling Margot Robbie. Slice of Hollywood life in the late 60's never done better.

Arrival (2016) 7.5/10-Excellent film held my interest throughout. The movie gains upon reflection of the layers of stuff that went on. Sort of reminded my of Signs, which I didn't like, but this is the superior film. Amy Adams is GOOD.

Love With The Proper Stranger (1963) 6.5/10-Box office stars Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood carry this rather dark romance which tackles then illegal abortion and "modern" love. Not paced like a movie today would be it is a good watch. Really McQueen's only traditional romantic lead role if you think of it.

My Best-Carey

 

[nameless1]

I'll PM you with the info.

Has TIFF started? I believe it is online this year, is it not?

 

[nameless1]

I thought this might interest some posters here.

Why you should still care about ‘Bicycle Thieves’

(I did not hit a paywall for this specific article, if you do, let me know and I'll paste it here)

This article is basically a review of Bicycle Thieves, and I mostly agree with its points, but I am not sure it is even necessary. Sure, the film is released in 1948, over 70 years ago, but it has never been forgotten. In fact, it has continuously makes Top 10 lists, and that has not changed for a long time now. People do care about the movie, and any rudimentary search for great films will lead to this one. What more does the writer wants?

 

[nameless1]

Not too sure how Vertigo is boring, but thanks. ;-)

(brought it in the right thread)



edit: that's a very boring list.... could have been made by a machine with the question "what should a best of all time films list look like if I want to look like a connaisseur?" ... just no suprise.

Overall, the list is fine. Of course, I personally would have lowered some of the rankings, and maybe even drop some of them off the list, but lists are subjective. I understand where you come from, but because these lists are necessary to introduce great films to a new generation, one has to live with the mainstream nature of these things. It is, for a lack of a better term, a necessary evil.

Personally, I really dislike The Night of The Hunter and North By Northwest, but I would not try to change people's mind. It is what it is.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I thought it was a damn good list, at least the first 200 I went through. It's based on many sources, so it is a broad consensus--genuine surprises aren't really to be expected. I do think the list has flaws that venture significantly beyond quibbling about this movie or that one's inclusion or exclusion. A list of a thousand anything is crazy to begin with; such a list would change every 60 seconds if the compiler was being honest. I would have preferred that the compiler divided the movies by the hundred and then listed the selections in each unit in alphabetical order. That would downplay endless ranking quibbles while still providing lots of food for thought. I would also note two other flaws endemic to lengthy "best of" movie lists of this kind: the films of the 21st century, which has been a great century for film so far, are always grossly underrated and, secondly, Asia, in general, does not receive anywhere near the attention and acclaim that it deserves. But overall I think the compiler(s) did a good job.

Yeah, that's what I meant, it's a boring compilation, could have been made by a machine. Boring and so predictable that it's borderline ridiculous. Of course Breathless is JLG's "best film", of course India Song is the required entry for Duras...

And not a single Raoul Ruiz film? Yeah,... but they've got Batman covered.

 

[nameless1]

I hated Blue Velvet too, but it is in the top 100. Oh well.


I am also not high on Vivre sa vie, but I do have a love-hate relationship with Godard.

Not of fan of Mousette either.

Salo, or 120 Days in Sodom disturbs me, and to this day, I have no idea why it needs to exist.

Ivan the Terrible, Part 2 is higher than Part 1.


Obaltan, the film widely regarded as the best South Korean film, is not on the list.

The list lacks recent films too. There are no entries after 2015. There are merits for Cold War and Shoplifters to be included.

Brokeback Mountain is ranked higher than Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That is questionable.

 

[kihei]

While it is definitely not perfect, Sight and Sound's 250 film list makes the most sense to me (with the same reservations that I stated above):

Sight and sound top 250 – Movie List

 

[nameless1]

While it is definitely not perfect, Sight and Sound's 250 film list makes the most sense to me (with the same reservations that I stated above):

Sight and sound top 250 – Movie List

Yeah, the ranking is decent. I have no problem with The Searchers at No. 7. The inverted nature of the opening and closing shots impresses me to this day.

I always find Apocalypse Now to be ranked too high on any lists, but that may be just me.

I find it interesting that The Three Colours Trilogy is ranked differently across the lists. Most prefer Blue, but this list only has Red, and the other list listed Red over Blue. Perhaps people should just lump all three together.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I hated Blue Velvet too, but it is in the top 100. Oh well.


I am also not high on Vivre sa vie, but I do have a love-hate relationship with Godard.

Not of fan of Mousette either.

Salo, or 120 Days in Sodom disturbs me, and to this day, I have no idea why it needs to exist.

Ivan the Terrible, Part 2 is higher than Part 1.


Obaltan, the film widely regarded as the best South Korean film, is not on the list.

The list lacks recent films too. There are no entries after 2015. There are merits for Cold War and Shoplifters to be included.

Brokeback Mountain is ranked higher than Couching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That is questionable.

The ranking isn't really what bothers me, it's just so conventional and devoid of any insight.

While it is definitely not perfect, Sight and Sound's 250 film list makes the most sense to me (with the same reservations that I stated above):

Sight and sound top 250 – Movie List

It is indeed already a lot better.

 

[kihei]

Blue Valentine (2010) Directed by Derek Cianfranco 8B

Blue Valentine is one of the most devastating examinations of a relationship gone bad in Hollywood history. By the time the story begins, Cindy (Michelle Williams) already knows her marriage with Dean is over, but, to steal a line from novelist Paul Bowles, she doesn’t yet know that she knows. Dean (Ryan Gosling), the intuitive one, senses, but everything he does only makes matters worse. Through flashbacks, we see both the early love that the two shared, but, also, a lot of the reasons why the relationship might well not last. We feel for both characters—bone-tired Cindy and exasperated Dean. Eventually they talk themselves into a point of no return, leaving their young daughter distraught in the process. Love emerges and it disappears, and there is not enough good will in the world left to get it back. Gosling and Williams are both superb, each giving one of their best performances. While I can see why this movie struggled to find an audience, no question it is tough medicine to swallow, Blue Valentine is among the best US movies of the past decade.

Prime Video

 

[McOilers97]

This weekend I watched:

Rosemary's Baby - Roman Polanski 1968
Incredible movie. 2 hours and 15 minutes of building tension and dread with a great lead performance by Mia Farrow. Not "horror" in the conventional sense, but it effectively freaked me the hell out and I loved it. Can't condone Polanski's life choices, but he's a hell of a director.

Eyes Wide Shut - Stanley Kubrick 1999
I can see why the movie was polarizing - it was not at all what it appears to be billed as or what I thought it would be, but nevertheless I enjoyed it a lot. It was almost 2h and 40min but the time flew by for me and I loved the creepy piano score played throughout the movie. As much of a wacko as Tom Cruise is in real life, he always nails any performance that I've ever seen from him. Can't believe he did this and Magnolia in the same year.

Rope - Alfred Hitchcock 1948
Tightly written and well executed movie. Hitchcock's first colour film effectively utilizes the concept of a long take as the tension builds over the very short 1h and 20min run time. The long take might seem like a gimmick to some, but I found it effective because the nature of the movie is really more like that of a play (which it is adapted from). Single setting movies with a smaller cast are generally very entertaining to me and I definitely recommend Rope.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Project Power (Joost & Schulman, 2020) - the bastard child of too many superhero movies gang banging a teen-flick in the projekts. 3/10

Triangle (Smith, 2009) - randomly selected from TUBI at 4AM thinking it would be just one other made-for-a-dime crappy flick, but it turned out actually almost interesting. There's a few ideas and ambitions that went into this. It turns out highly predictable anyway (I still had a "aaahhhh" moment at the end), the computer effects are terrible (that big boat coming at them, I thought I was suddenly playing a video game 20 years ago), and either I didn't get the full return from the blatant allusion to Shining, either they didn't really know what they were doing, but still, it's an ok film overall. 4.5/10

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Witness (1985) - 7.5/10

1985 was not a very good year for Hollywood unless you overrate cheesy blockbusters. Witness seems to be the only prominent serious Hollywood crime film which was any good. It's a bit Terrence Malick-esque in parts which probably adds an extra 30 minutes to its running time. Harrison Ford is good but we don't see much from the villains here and there's a bit of plot meandering in the middle which really detracts from the film but also makes me look back at it fondly (there's a really long Amish barn raising scene for example).

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) - 7/10

Honestly, not bad. It's a bit of a re-hash of T2 but it accomplishes most of it quite well minus the messy ending (but I thought both T1 & T2 had endings which were a let-down). From a big budget Hollywood blockbuster, I don't really have high expectations and a lot of reviews unfairly compared it to T2. It might not be that but it's far better than the subsequent ones. You still have a lot of fun here with Arnold, Mackenzie Davis is pretty cool (though she has a strong Canadian accent which kinda cracked me up in scenes), and Linda Hamilton makes it more interesting. I do think though that making it a bit more horror-esque and filled with more tension rather than continuous action would make it a bit better but this was probably pretty fun to view in the summer unless you went in expecting to nitpick.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Blue Valentine (2010) Directed by Derek Cianfranco 8B

Blue Valentine is one of the most devastating examinations of a relationship gone bad in Hollywood history. By the time the story begins, Cindy (Michelle Williams) already knows her marriage with Dean is over, but, to steal a line from novelist Paul Bowles, she doesn’t yet know that she knows. Dean (Ryan Gosling), the intuitive one, senses, but everything he does only makes matters worse. Through flashbacks, we see both the early love that the two shared, but, also, a lot of the reasons why the relationship might well not last. We feel for both characters—bone-tired Cindy and exasperated Dean. Eventually they talk themselves into a point of no return, leaving their young daughter distraught in the process. Love emerges and it disappears, and there is not enough good will in the world left to get it back. Gosling and Williams are both superb, each giving one of their best performances. While I can see why this movie struggled to find an audience, no question it is tough medicine to swallow, Blue Valentine is among the best US movies of the past decade.

Prime Video

Yeah, I watched this a few months back. I thought Williams and Gosling were both great.

 

[member 51464]

This weekend I watched:

Rosemary's Baby - Roman Polanski 1968
Incredible movie. 2 hours and 15 minutes of building tension and dread with a great lead performance by Mia Farrow. Not "horror" in the conventional sense, but it effectively freaked me the hell out and I loved it. Can't condone Polanski's life choices, but he's a hell of a director.

Eyes Wide Shut - Stanley Kubrick 1999
I can see why the movie was polarizing - it was not at all what it appears to be billed as or what I thought it would be, but nevertheless I enjoyed it a lot. It was almost 2h and 40min but the time flew by for me and I loved the creepy piano score played throughout the movie. As much of a wacko as Tom Cruise is in real life, he always nails any performance that I've ever seen from him. Can't believe he did this and Magnolia in the same year.

Rope - Alfred Hitchcock 1948
Tightly written and well executed movie. Hitchcock's first colour film effectively utilizes the concept of a long take as the tension builds over the very short 1h and 20min run time. The long take might seem like a gimmick to some, but I found it effective because the nature of the movie is really more like that of a play (which it is adapted from). Single setting movies with a smaller cast are generally very entertaining to me and I definitely recommend Rope.

There are a lot of interesting articles out and about on Eyes Wide Shut and the different worlds it contains, one where the Christmas lights are present and one where they are not.

I may need to rewatch this one again. it has been years.

 

[ViktorBaeArvidsson]

I watched Ratatouille, it was good. Story makes no sense doh lol a rat controls a man idk who came up with that idea but it’s amazing, hope it doesn’t get a dumb sequel. 4/5