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

[ORRFForever]

Removed as per a P.M. request.

 

[kihei]

Rosemary's Baby (1968) Directed by Roman Polanski 8A

Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes), a struggling actor, find the perfect apartment in Manhattan. An old friend informs them that their apartment building has quite a reputation for strangely tragic events involving some seriously deranged people. But everything seems fine. Then they meet an old busy body (Ruth Gordon) and her seemingly harmless husband, and Rosemary very slowly begins to suspect that she is dealing with witches and devil worshipers. Newly pregnant, she doesn't feel so well either. Something is seriously wrong. But can she get anyone to believe her? Director Roman Polanski's adaptation of the best selling novel of the same name is nearly perfect. I think the Ruth Gordon character is way over the top; I hated that performance. But she won the Academy Award, so what are you gonna do? The real star is Farrow who is mousey and helpless, but still sympathetic. If it wasn't for her, I would not have been as emotionally invested as I was in the movie (especially seeing as I had already read the novel). Polanski gets a lot of credit, too--his camera movement, editing and camera placement are flawless as he effortlessly ratchets up the tension. He knows how to involve and manipulate an audience. There are a few scenes shot through doorways in which a character goes into another room and does something, like answer a phone, slightly off camera. I remember when I saw Rosemary's Baby when it opened to packed movie houses that people actually leaned one way or the other to see if they could get a better view of what was going on. Like Don't Look Now and Les Diaboliques, Rosemary's Baby requires no special effects, no gore, and very little violence to achieve its ends. The horror is in the situation, a horror that it takes time to discover because it doesn't seem like anything is initially wrong. Horror is not an effect in these movies; it is a fact of life. Not a bad Halloween pick if you are actually going to watch a movie rather than just have it on in the background for the evening.

 

[ItsFineImFine]

Bob The Gambler (Bob Le Fambleur) - 6/10

I think this was a Melville film but it felt like a poorly acted and bad imitation of one at times. The story is weird, character focused then suddenly heist focused and back? It has just enough French new wave imagery and coolness at times to keep you interested though.

But people criticize 'by the numbers' Hollywood blockbusters today. I'd say this is even more of a by the numbers French film from it's era.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Kill Bill (2003-2004) - One of its decade's best, at the very least in America. Now my favorite Tarantino. Great film.

Boogie Nights (1997) Better than I remembered but a bit too long for what it is, IMO. Lots of appealing flash but ultimately very by the numbers, albeit fun and with a salacious theme and background. Burt Reynolds is the star of that film. Music is sometimes a bit too gratuitous and serves as a substitute not for substance but for form.

Lost Highway (1997) - Great sets, lighting and soundtrack. Outside of that...I was not very engaged. Pullman is a hunk in that movie (great clothes too). The other Getty kid stunk up the joint. Will have to watch again, though. Was quite drunk by the midway point so this review isn't as set as the others.

All on Netflix.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Kill Bill (2003-2004) - One of its decade's best, at the very least in America. Now my favorite Tarantino. Great film.

Boogie Nights (1997) Better than I remembered but a bit too long for what it is, IMO. Lots of appealing flash but ultimately very by the numbers, albeit fun and with a salacious theme and background. Burt Reynolds is the underrated star of that film. Music is sometimes used a bit too gratuitous and serves as a substitute not for substance but for form.

Lost Highway (1997) - Great sets, lighting and soundtrack. Outside of that...I was not very engaged. Pullman is a hunk in that movie (great clothes too). The other Getty kid stunk up the joint. Will have to watch again, though. Was quite drunk by the midway point so this review isn't as set as the others.

All on Netflix.

I heard Burt Reynolds never saw Boogie Nights. That’s a good film. Julianne Moore is great in it, and I really like Don Cheadle too. Especially the scene in the bank where they won’t give him a loan because of his profession.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I heard Burt Reynolds never saw Boogie Nights. That’s a good film. Julianne Moore is great in it, and I really like Don Cheadle too. Especially the scene in the bank where they won’t give him a loan because of his profession.

Yeah, I forgot about Cheadle. He was great too.

 

[Langdon Alger]

Yeah, I forgot about Cheadle. He was great too.

Great actor. John C. Reilly is good as well.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Few comments. I have very little memory of Vamp, but I know that like you I liked it for questionable reasons when I was a kid. Loved Inferno, but I should watch it again, another one I haven't seen in a loooong time. Love Dagon, but yeah the effects are cheapo - the whole atmosphere of the town though, great work (I think I made a comment on it not so long ago). To me, Halloween is so overrated... everytime I read something positive about it, I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry. It's badly directed, not that original, and kind of dumb (and responsible for so many dumb films that followed it). I think Carpenter is a pretty bad director overall (even though contrarily to better directors, he has a clear signature, which is to me a good thing), and I think The Thing was a lucky shot. There's at least 2 or 3, maybe 4 other of his films that I think are better than Halloween, and none that are great in that. I prefer Halloween II (probably my favorite slasher), and probably III, and probably the two remakes by Zombie, to the original - I know, extra-blasphemous.

I must have Amer somewhere. If I find it, I'll try to send it your way. It's amazing. The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears is great too, but yeah, Let the Corpses Tan (one of the last films I've seen in a theater) is not a horror film. It's fun, but really not as good as the previous two.

I think Halloween is Carpenter’s 2nd best horror movie but in his overall filmography, I think They Live, Big Trouble in Little China and Escape From New York are all better. He’s honestly one of my favorite filmmakers. There are a lot better, but he’s so consistently entertaining. Only a few true duds in his filmography IMO.

 

[Savi]

On the Rocks is a serious misfire from the normally reliable Sofia Coppola.

For me, it's entirely the other way around. I liked On the Rocks and I don't think Coppola is reliable at all Liked her early films very much but her last three were terrible IMO.
On the Rocks wasn't that good but I kinda felt some of the magic of Lost in Translation again in certain scenes, maybe also thanks to Bill Murray, and even though it didn't have that much substance and a lousy ending, I felt a kind of warmth I haven't felt in a long time within a Coppola film.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

For me, it's entirely the other way around. I liked On the Rocks and I don't think Coppola is reliable at all Liked her early films very much but her last three were terrible IMO.
On the Rocks wasn't that good but I kinda felt some of the magic of Lost in Translation again in certain scenes, maybe also thanks to Bill Murray, and even though it didn't have that much substance and a lousy ending, I felt a kind of warmth I haven't felt in a long time within a Coppola film.

I'm the same way. I've not seen her latest but I find Sofia Coppola very hit and miss. Somewhere is a masterpiece but she has some serious trash in her filmography (Marie Antoinette, Bling Ring).

 

[Chili]

Sorry, I read about it years ago, and it turns out Payne cut it from the movie.

I did find it in the Deleted Scenes on youtube:


It starts at 11:35.

Good catch. Actors like Jack or Daniel Day Lewis (The Phantom Thread) can make ordering a meal interesting.

Some of Jack's facial expressions in that film are priceless.

 

[kihei]

I'm the same way. I've not seen her latest but I find Sofia Coppola very hit and miss. Somewhere is a masterpiece but she has some serious trash in her filmography (Marie Antoinette, Bling Ring).

Yeah, thinking it through, I probably could be convinced. I think I mercifully forgot a couple of 'em.

 

[kihei]

Fulci...... I don't know, if you consider only his better horror films, you might want to put him third. If you consider his whole filmography, he competes with Hooper for last place.

I just saw my first Fauci minutes ago, City of the Living Dead. Trashy is an understatement. However, if one can ignore plot coherence, sequencing, editing technique, any form of logical development or explanation (for at least the first hour, the movie seems to be pasted together with random scenes from four or five different horror movies), and diminished expectations (the city of hell looks like somebody's Halloween decoration), you end up with some world class, ultra cheapo gore that has to be seen to be believed. I can well imagine that if I were 18, had just consumed six beers and a couple of joints, this might be fun, at least up until the hangover kicked in.

 

[Osprey]

Rosemary's Baby (1968) Directed by Roman Polanski 8A

Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes), a struggling actor, find the perfect apartment in Manhattan. An old friend informs them that their apartment building has quite a reputation for strangely tragic events involving some seriously deranged people. But everything seems fine. Then they meet an old busy body (Ruth Gordon) and her seemingly harmless husband, and Rosemary very slowly begins to suspect that she is dealing with witches and devil worshipers. Newly pregnant, she doesn't feel so well either. Something is seriously wrong. But can she get anyone to believe her? Director Roman Polanski's adaptation of the best selling novel of the same name is nearly perfect. I think the Ruth Gordon character is way over the top; I hated that performance. But she won the Academy Award, so what are you gonna do? The real star is Farrow who is mousey and helpless, but still sympathetic. If it wasn't for her, I would not have been as emotionally invested as I was in the movie (especially seeing as I had already read the novel). Polanski gets a lot of credit, too--his camera movement, editing and camera placement are flawless as he effortlessly ratchets up the tension. He knows how to involve and manipulate an audience. There are a few scenes shot through doorways in which a character goes into another room and does something, like answer a phone, slightly off camera. I remember when I saw Rosemary's Baby when it opened to packed movie houses that people actually leaned one way or the other to see if they could get a better view of what was going on. Like Don't Look Now and Les Diaboliques, Rosemary's Baby requires no special effects, no gore, and very little violence to achieve its ends. The horror is in the situation, a horror that it takes time to discover because it doesn't seem like anything is initially wrong. Horror is not an effect in these movies; it is a fact of life. Not a bad Halloween pick if you are actually going to watch a movie rather than just have it on in the background for the evening.

I'm experiencing deja vu because I used the same image and gave it the same score in my review a few months ago. It feels like I can't stop talking about the film because reasons to discuss it keep coming up and I keep running across what seem like its influences on other movies (ex. Suspiria with its plot similarities and even Enola Holmes with its anagrams). It really is such a classy horror that achieves its suspense almost entirely without effects, gore, jump scares and so on, as you mentioned. It's a great horror film for people who don't typically like horror films.

The one difference in my take is that I liked Ruth Gordon's performance. It's out there, but I think that that was the point. Her character is supposed to come across at different times as harmlessly loopy, like a grandmother, and suspiciously loopy, like a nosey neighbor (or worse). You're never sure which she is, and I suspect that Gordon nailing that is why she won the Academy Award, not because her acting was great on a technical level (similar to why Kathy Bates won for Misery, despite much of her performance being over the top, as well). I think that it's essential to establishing the atmosphere that all is not quite normal about the building and there's no getting away from it (because the character keeps showing up at their door). If the character had been more normal or even as stiff as her husband, that couple and the first 2/3rds of the film would've been more boring, IMO. Obviously, you've read the novel and I take it that the character isn't written like that, so you have a perspective that I don't.

Anyways, I didn't mean to write so much on our one difference of opinion. I really replied to echo our agreements. It's just a very well crafted film. I liked it when I first saw it many years ago, but I achieved a whole new appreciation when I re-watched it a few months ago.

 

[ORRFForever]

100% on RT...

 

[Franck]

After years away from hfboards I have to say that I am happy to see that @kihei is still posting reviews!

Your book always catches the attention whenever I have guests over and they decide to take a look at my bookshelf, usually leads to an awkward conversation about a film thread on a hockey forum where I used to waste my time before I got a job.

Anyway, to get to the topic of the thread:

Brassed Off (1996) - United Kingdom - Dir. Mark Herman

"I thought it mattered. I thought that music mattered. But does it bollocks? Not compared to how people matter."

A story about a Yorkshire colliery brass band set against a backdrop of pit closures and economic decline. Starring the late Pete Postlethwaite as the band leader, Tara Fitzgerald as a newly arrived flugelhorn player and Ewan McGregor as her easily distracted, tenor horn-playing love interest. An angry, biting, yet warm and heart-felt drama-comedy about music, community and the search for dignity in a small coal-mining village that is falling apart. A harsh criticism of Thatcherism and the political abandonment of Northern England.

4.5/5

 

[Chaels Arms]

Kingdom of Heaven - 7.5

I don't think I've ever been as bothered by a casting decision as I was while watching Orlando Bloom in this movie. Is this one of the worst casting decisions of all time? What was going on in 2005 that people thought Orlando Bloom would be a good choice to lead an otherwise exceptional cast while playing a scarred, grizzled crusader? The mismatch in acting range is on display in pretty much every scene as he gets overshadowed by Neeson, Norton, David Thewlis, Eva Green and Jeremy Irons all movie.

 

[ORRFForever]

Horror movies releases were meh for October 2021.

 

[kihei]

Into the Inferno (2016) Directed by Werner Herzog (documentary) 8A

It has gotten to the point where Werner Herzog is better known for his wide-ranging and fascinating documentaries than his feature films. This time around the ever-curious Herzog focuses on volcanoes, their physical beauty, their cultural and scientific significance, and their importance to the planet. Being a Herzog documentary, he also engages in some wonderful tangents, such as when he is allowed to visit North Korea and photograph its volcano site but he also takes time to give us a glimpse of the strange society that exists there. Herzog also ventures to a site excavating the remains of the earliest homo sapiens and visits a remote Catholic Church in Indonesia that looks like a chicken. He has Clive Oppenheimer, a very likeable Cambridge vulcanologist, in tow who does most of the interviewing. Complete with spectacular cinematography over a significant chunk of the globe, from mountain top to desert, Into the Inferno is among Herzog’s most interesting and engaging works which is really saying something.

Netflix

 

[NyQuil]

Actually he's better known for being in the Mandalorian.

 

[NyQuil]

After years away from hfboards I have to say that I am happy to see that @kihei is still posting reviews!

Your book always catches the attention whenever I have guests over and they decide to take a look at my bookshelf, usually leads to an awkward conversation about a film thread on a hockey forum where I used to waste my time before I got a job.

Anyway, to get to the topic of the thread:

Brassed Off (1996) - United Kingdom - Dir. Mark Herman

"I thought it mattered. I thought that music mattered. But does it bollocks? Not compared to how people matter."

A story about a Yorkshire colliery brass band set against a backdrop of pit closures and economic decline. Starring the late Pete Postlethwaite as the band leader, Tara Fitzgerald as a newly arrived flugelhorn player and Ewan McGregor as her easily distracted, tenor horn-playing love interest. An angry, biting, yet warm and heart-felt drama-comedy about music, community and the search for dignity in a small coal-mining village that is falling apart. A harsh criticism of Thatcherism and the political abandonment of Northern England.

4.5/5

I really liked this film because it certainly didn't try to diminish or minimize the social, emotional and financial damage beneath a heart-warming story about a local brass band.

It's the kind of film that I think could never be made in the US, where studios would demand a happy ending, or try to polish away the rough edges.

 

[nameless1]

Actually he's better known for being in the Mandalorian.

I will raise you with the fact that he saved Joaquin Phoenix's life.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

My favorite Werner Herzog bit is him talking about hypnotizing chickens and how overwhelming their stupidity is. Or when he plays a tape of a raving Klaus Kinski calling him a shit director and that greater directors called him Mister Kinski and by God, he will too.

 

[kihei]

I seldom do movie biographies but Klaus Kinski's autobiography Kinski Uncut is well worth a read. Lots of Herzog stories in there, both hilariious and mind boggling.

 

[nameless1]

My favorite Werner Herzog bit is him talking about hypnotizing chickens and how overwhelming their stupidity is. Or when he plays a tape of a raving Klaus Kinski calling him a shit director and that greater directors called him Mister Kinski and by God, he will too.

Oh man, his dynamic with Kinski deserves a movie by itself. Also, do not forget the fact that the man fulfilled his end of the bet and actually ate his own shoe, all of which was captured on film.


Herzog is at times too weird for me, but there is always something there with his movies. His recent appearances on screen has been quite memorable and fun too, even if he gives little to no reactions.