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

[ORRFForever]

Widows [2018] :

Widows is about a group of women whose husbands died during a robbery. To pay back a mobster who lost two million dollars when the scheme went bad, the women pull their own heist.

To the movie's credit, Widows tries to be something special. It has well developed characters (albeit, too many of them), sharp dialogue (sometimes too sharp), and stylish direction.

Unfortunately, the movie tries too hard. It's overly complicated and feels "long" - when I left the theater, I was amazed the movie was ONLY 2 hours.

Still, you have to give director Steve McQueen credit for aiming high and trying to make a great movie - even if he came up short.

7/10

Movie Trailer :

 

[ORRFForever]

Widows Note :

I couldn't help but notice EVERY woman (leads and extras) in Widows has a GREAT bum - and they seem to be on display. Like Kramer, I bet Steve McQueen's licence plate reads "Ass Man".

 

[kihei]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen 8A (among the best movies of the year; accessible)

Offhand, the only "anthology" film that I remember liking is Paris, je t'aime, but I quite enjoyed this one as well; in fact, I would have to go back to 2009's A Serious Man to find a semi-recent Coen brothers film that I liked more. I think the short story format may be perfect for their devilish sense of humour. At the moment, I don't have a particular favourite among the six short films because there is something to like about all of them. It is one of the few anthology movies that I think might be worth a second look to appreciate fully its satiric approach to Old West campfire yarns. For instance the series of shots of nature that bookend the episode about the prospector digging for gold seemed downright witty to me--a very succinct but biting comment about how little use humans are to nature. Those brief sequences may appear like an offhand throw-in and yet those scenes are painstakingly constructed. Something like that, something subtle but pointed, stood out for me in all of the episodes. Another thing that stood out is, despite the movie being a Netflix production, the Coen brothers certainly didn't cut corners in terms of production values or cinematography--each short film is beautifully mounted and acted. Granted, the pleasures the film provides mostly come with nasty stings in their tails; however silly or serious the characters may be, death is riding with them, never far away. But the Coens insure that the audience has no trouble finding pleasure in the darkness. All the actors seem to be having a fine time, too. James Franco, Liam Neeson, Saul Rubinek, and Tim Blake Nelson stand out at the moment, but there was no shortage of fine performances all over the place--I got the sense that the actors enjoyed this project, something that seldom comes across collectively when using an anthology approach. In the best possible sense, there is a great deal of clever, cunning artifice involved in this wickedly funny movie. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs might just end up being my favourite Hollywood movie of the year.


Available on Netflix

 

[Nalens Oga]

Phantom Thread (2017) - 8/10

Ah 2017, one of the best years for modern film. This is a bit of a flawed one for me but its exquisiteness is adequate makeup. A f***ed up love story it eventually turns out to be and I don't find Andersen's flawed intense characters as likable as others do but he does put more pleasantry into this one at least. I was more fascinated by the girl in this film than by Daniel Day-Lewis' character who was well done but almost one-dimensional, possibly because he's played by a career actor who's done some version of this in the past. I think it wraps itself up far more neatly than Andersen's other films because of a lack of need for a crescendo at the end and it's more grounded doing a better job of walking that line of despicable and beautiful.

 

[sr edler]

Gattaca (1997) by Andrew Niccol – 7.5/10

I kinda liked this film, but it also annoyed/annoys me a little. Firstly, I don't particularly like Ethan Hawke as an actor/person. He comes across as a totally normal/uninteresting individual and this kinda translates onto his character in the film. It's not like the lead character (Vincent, played by Hawke) is totally unlikable, but he's not really likable either, so you pretty much stop caring about his fate pretty early on in the story (even though it's supposed to be an underdog story).

Jude Law plays a bit more interesting character, a crippled genetically superior individual (Jerome). There's one scene I really liked (couldn't find it on YT though) when Ethan, Jude and Uma Thurman's characters are at a fancy restaurant and Ethan blows smoke into a round champagne glass pretending it's a gas planet, going into the details of those parts of the universe. Ethan's (Vincent's) mission is to travel into space. He then asks crippled Jude if he wouldn't like to travel too, but Jude's just brushing it off, claiming he's happy with his books at home because he can "go places in his head". That one got to me (and it will also lead to the end scene, which I won't spoil here).

It's supposed to be a science fiction film, but it kinda feels more like a jazz noir detective story, which I'm fine with because lightsabers aren't really my biggest pleasure. The music and the settings and costumes are pretty nice too. The story centers around eugenics and space travel, and one normal guys fight against his own disadvantageous genetical predisposition, although the space travel thing is not visually present in the film but located in the future (and thus on the periphery of the story arc).

I like the half-slowish pace of it all though, and there's the occasional jazz song too (Stan Getz!).



Oh, and this film apparently inspired Predestination (2014), also with Ethan Hawke, which I absolutely hated and couldn't finish.

 

[OzzyFan]

Wreck it Ralph 2/Ralph Breaks the Internet
2.60 out of 4stars

I first off want to say, it's refreshing for the sequel to have taken a step into a more expansive world (the internet) and with a more heavy handed angle (friendship/friendship growth-changes). That said, for a movie who's target audience is ~the 10year old and younger crowd, I think it missed the mark. For starters, how many of the 6year old and under crowd know of and understand wifi, ebay, virtual merchandise, the dark web, spam, pop-ups, viruses, shank double entendre, waxing, or even possibly buzzfeed? I think the writers had great intentions but missed the mark. This movie easily had a lot lot more adult material and adult jokes than children's compared to the original. Enjoyable, but a let down if you are expecting more of the lighthearted, charming, fun and silliness from the first one, because this is definitely a more mature "coming of age" movie.

Fantastic Beasts 2: Crimes of Grinderwald
2.5 out of 4stars

Better than the 1st one imo, but still a little short in the storytelling department and the side characters having too much screen time and storyline (and forced romantic relationships/issues I should add also) are a bit of hassle and nuisance now. If Queenie didn't exist, aka if Jacob and Queenie didn't have a romantic relationship, if Newt and Leta never had romantic ties, this movie would be notably better and tighter paced (also, the forcing of Newt and Tina's romantic involvement feels story derailing a bit too).

The Grinch (2018)
2.35 out of 4stars

Cute and lighthearted and good messaged, but brings very little new to or needed to deserve a retelling.

Widows
3.25 out of 4stars

You have to love when a great cast meets a story that tries intelligently hard to bring something new to a tired cliche ridden genre. And it works 8 times out of 10 for each part of the whole. I thoroughly enjoyed it, albeit I thought part of the ending was a bit muddled/unrealistic(relating to Jatemme's last scene(s) and involvement with the ending dominoes event(s)). And not to sell the other characters, but Davis and Kaluuya have some serious screen presence to me. Can't wait to see them in their next roles.

 

[Puck]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) Directed by Ethan and Joel Coen 8A (among the best movies of the year; accessible)

If I had to chose, I think the first and last stories were my favorite, The last reminded me a bit of The Hateful Eight. After that it was the prospector story. The least liked was the Liam Neeson story, but that's an emotional pick for bad, the story was just too dark and the storyteller's look on his face realising he was replaced by a chicken was the darkest thing I've seen this year...and I tend to agree with you in retrospect, it's probably the best movie I've seen this year so far, but I'm missing a lot (I'm sure I haven't seen half the movies you have seen).

Just one thing I'd like to point out, the film is produced by Annapurna Pictures owned by Larry Ellison, the multi-billionaire owner of Oracle Corp. I think this might be a new wave in the film industry with the internet tech disruptions in the film industry. The Coens went this route for funding, the film majors are focusing on Marvel and Action flicks. If a Netflix film wins a few Oscars, this might be a turning point of sorts.

I respect your opinions, I'm glad you liked it as much as I did.

p.s. for anthology films, Wild Tales (2014) was pretty good

 

[Mario Lemieux fan 66]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: 7.5/10 Well made movie. But it could have been better if it the movie was entirely about the 1st or the 5th story.

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Minions is on again.

I still like it better than any of the Despicable Me movies I've seen.

 

[lud]

The Debt Collector(1999)
Powerful,gritty,realistic. 8.5/10

 

[Emperoreddy]

Justice League: 4 out of 10

Finally sat down to watch this mess and man was it an absolute mess. Right away you can tell they took the complaints about B v S being too muted visually to heart because now it there is color everywhere. Not sure how I feel about that.

Also clear the mandate to keep it under 2 hours left some pretty important scenes on the cutting room floor.

The villain was a generic video game monster that puts Marvel’s shitty villians to shame. The plot was a waste of time.

There was a few brief moments I did like though. Some of the interactions between Flash, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman kind of worked. The fight with Superman was also kind of cool.

I liked Superman’s reveal during the final fight. It was the correct kind of corny, and I liked seeing him and Flash actually save people. Plus Flash getting all giddy that Supes could keep up with him was neat to. For brief moments someone in the writer’s room actually got these characters. Superman in the last 20 minutes of the movie was finally the bright beacon of hope he was always supposed to be and was missing from these shitty movies.

Batman continues to be awful. Ben was checked out and no one seems to get the character of Batman at all.

Overall the movie sucked. It shouldn’t have sucked, and it’s embarressing that it did.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Close-Up (1990) - 8/10

Great for how unique it is. I'm not sure why it's classified as a documentary in some places but it's easy to get confused I guess, to be clear, it is a movie made in a documentary format with almost every actor playing themselves from a real-life story. It's a humbling and humanistic story with an 80s foreign film charm on a crisp Criterion restoration. While I'm fairly sympathetic, I found the main character's 'down on his luck feeling sorry for himself' a bit too much to take him seriously and he felt more pathetic by the end but it's still one of those great films for showing the devastating difference between class.

 

[Puck]

Juliet, Naked, Directed by Jesse Peretz 7.0

Juliet, Naked is the story of Annie (the long-suffering girlfriend of Duncan) and her unlikely transatlantic romance with once revered, now faded, singer-songwriter, Tucker Crowe, who also happens to be the subject of Duncan's musical obsession. (IMDB)

This is a good Rom-Com that should appeal to both men and women. The good ones are kind of scarce in my opinion. The story rambles a bit at times but I found the premise interesting, the actors are good and believable in their roles. This might not win any Oscars but it might win a BAFTA Award (British). I truly enjoyed it.

 

[kihei]

Eighth Grade (2018) Directed by Bo Burnham 7A (very good movie; accessible)

13-year-old Kayla (Elsie Fisher) is about to graduate from middle school and move onto secondary school and the prospect of doing so is both thrilling and terrifying. A quiet girl with seemingly no close friends, life feels overwhelming to her as she wavers back and forth between her own insecurities and her sense that she must come out of her self-imposed shell of shyness and deal with the world. Consciously trying to shake up her own approach to life, she forces herself into a series of uncomfortable, but believable (and often hilarious) situations. Though she tries to fake her way through them, things don't always go so well. She has a YouTube channel that she has created in which she gives advice to younger kids, though eventually she realizes she just has too many things still to learn herself to try to give advice to anybody. Kayla has a lot of problems at the moment, but there is a clear sense that time is on her side. She's going to be just fine--though maybe not as quickly as she would like. Movies don't often try to mimic the perspective of eighth graders which accounts for some of the Eighth Grade's freshness. Elsie Fisher is perfect in the role, a little ball of doubt, insecurity and self-absorption whose emotions are all over the place. While Kayla has a limited vocabulary consisting of a lot of "um"s and "aw"s and "like"s and "cool"s, Fisher shows the inner turmoils raging within. Director Bo Burnham keeps Kayla virtually in every scene, the central focus throughout the entire movie, and Fisher holds our attention effortlessly. This emphasis on one character doesn't make the movie one-dimensional in the least, as Burnham explores a number of themes including how social media both liberate and handicap young adolescents. Though Eighth Grade is a modest work, probably made on a shoestring budget, it captures Kayla's young adolescent angst with compassion, insight and humour.

 

[Osprey]

Bridge of Spies (2015) - 7/10 (Really liked it)

I waited a long time to finally watch this, maybe because I was afraid that it'd be boring. I shouldn't have had so little faith in a film directed by Spielberg, starring Hanks and written by the Coen brothers. It's over two hours of mostly talk and almost no action, but I was gripped from the beginning and never bored. It's about as good of a Cold War spy thriller as I've seen, except that it's not so much about the spying, itself, but what happens after being caught.

I particularly liked that, though it's a film that emphasizes American values (mainly the right of accused spies to a proper defense), it's never gets too preachy and no one is really portrayed as an enemy (of said values or literally). Even the Soviet spy (a role that won Mark Rylance Best Supporting Actor) is made easy to sympathize with and the Soviet and East German government officials are portrayed fairly, as reasonable men only as cautious as our own. It would've been easy to turn them into the film's enemies, especially to show our values as superior in contrast to theirs, but the Coens and Spielberg don't fall for that. Overall, it captures the mistrust of the era without overly vilifying any one side or agency, which I found refreshing.

The story is a little predictable, but no more so than most famous true stories. A lot like Hanks' film the following year, Sully, a true story that mostly sticks to the well-known facts doesn't need to suffer for it if written, directed and acted with great skill, and that's the case here.

 

[NyQuil]

I was decidedly unimpressed with Bridge of Spies, which is surprising because I certainly don't have anything against Steven Spielberg or the Coen brothers.

I guess because I knew the historical details, the suspense was de-fanged.

I get that Mark Rylance played a very subtle role, but in essence, he did nothing and said very little, and I think the Academy is so used to bombastic attempts to garner attention (e.g. Revenant) that he sort of sailed through.

It was a serviceable historical film (I got a similar impression from The Post) but I'm trying to remember the last Spielberg directed-film that I truly enjoyed and I think I have to go back to 2002 with A.I. (the best parts of which were likely Stanley Kubrick) and Catch Me If You Can.

I found that those films were a little more brazen and less "safe".

To be fair, I should probably include Munich in 2005 on the good list as it was a very bold and potentially controversial look at that particular series of events.

I get that Tom Hanks has perfected the "everyman hero" role but as a result there's a string of films where he's playing the same guy with different hair. I'd like to see him in something a little different. Road to Perdition was a high point IMO.

 

[NyQuil]

The villain was a generic video game monster that puts Marvel’s ****ty villians to shame. The plot was a waste of time.

The movie actually had some good parts (the League was actually decently cast and I think Affleck is a serviceable aging Batman) but as you say, a superhero film without a decent villain is a complete waste of time.

It probably didn't help that I was thinking "Born to be Wild" in my head every time Steppenwolf was on the screen. Who was this guy? What was his motivation? Killing everything? Yawn. And bugs? CGI alien bug villains? It was the aspect of Avengers that I disliked the most and they took it up to 11.

A family living by Chernobyl for empathy?

Some odd choices in this one.

 

[NyQuil]

Gattaca (1997) by Andrew Niccol – 7.5/10

I kinda liked this film, but it also annoyed/annoys me a little. Firstly, I don't particularly like Ethan Hawke as an actor/person. He comes across as a totally normal/uninteresting individual and this kinda translates onto his character in the film. It's not like the lead character (Vincent, played by Hawke) is totally unlikable, but he's not really likable either, so you pretty much stop caring about his fate pretty early on in the story (even though it's supposed to be an underdog story).

Jude Law plays a bit more interesting character, a crippled genetically superior individual (Jerome). There's one scene I really liked (couldn't find it on YT though) when Ethan, Jude and Uma Thurman's characters are at a fancy restaurant and Ethan blows smoke into a round champagne glass pretending it's a gas planet, going into the details of those parts of the universe. Ethan's (Vincent's) mission is to travel into space. He then asks crippled Jude if he wouldn't like to travel too, but Jude's just brushing it off, claiming he's happy with his books at home because he can "go places in his head". That one got to me (and it will also lead to the end scene, which I won't spoil here).

It's supposed to be a science fiction film, but it kinda feels more like a jazz noir detective story, which I'm fine with because lightsabers aren't really my biggest pleasure. The music and the settings and costumes are pretty nice too. The story centers around eugenics and space travel, and one normal guys fight against his own disadvantageous genetical predisposition, although the space travel thing is not visually present in the film but located in the future (and thus on the periphery of the story arc).

I like the half-slowish pace of it all though, and there's the occasional jazz song too (Stan Getz!).



Oh, and this film apparently inspired Predestination (2014), also with Ethan Hawke, which I absolutely hated and couldn't finish.

Jude Law was the noteworthy one in this one - and I think it was pretty much by design.

Hawke was serviceable and that was enough to create a compelling and interesting film.

I found the ending surprisingly emotional so I'd give it a solid 8.

Not a lot of science-fiction has a heart.

 

[kihei]

Roma, in my opinion the best movie of the year and among the best of the century, opens in Toronto at Bell Lightbox today. Though it will be eventually coming to Netflix, Roma's power as well as its beautiful black-and-white cinematography are best suited to a big screen. Its worth the bucks to pick it up in a movie theatre.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

Widows.
I'm way behind on my 2018 movies, but this one is right up there among my favorites. Didn't know I need Viola Davis taking on stern Sterling Hayden-like role, but I apparently did. A smart, thoroughly entertaining, well acted flick. It's got the typical heist movie beats, albeit a little subdued in some ways, but there's an added level of gravitas with its clear thoughts on race, class and politics. Davis is solid gold, as always. Kaluuya is a menace for the ages. Duvall and Ferrell are just the right amount of ham and cheese. And Elizabeth Debicki handles the showiest character arc like a pro.
Please create more opportunities like this for talented filmmakers and actors.

Sorry to Bother You
Another catch-up for me that almost assuredly will be among my favorites at year end. I'll take a pass on recounting plot since I'm not even sure I fully could (nor would I want to because there's a few great surprises here). Basically Cash Green needs money so he takes a gig at a telemarketing firm. He's good at it. Employees organize to get higher wages and things sorta spin in interesting directions from there. There was many a laugh. Between this and Atlanta, Lakeith Stanfield has the dazed, fish-out-of-water routine down pat. Tessa Thompson and Steve Yuen always make me happy. Armie Hammer gets the juicy powerful Zuckerbergian/Bezosian/Jobsian white guy role. It's a bizarre, hilarious satire that takes aim at a lot and pretty much hits.

Shampoo
About 36 hours or so in the life of Warren Beatty's lothario hairdresser as he pinballs around Los Angeles on Election Day 1968, sleeping with lovers and trying to drum up finances to breakaway and start a salon of its own. Directed by Hal Ashby and written by Beatty and Robert Towne, that's a pretty killer cabal of 1970s talent running at peak. Julie Christie, Lee Grant and an enjoyable Jack Warden are the vets in the cast alongside a young Goldie Hawn and an even younger Carrie Fisher in her first movie. Takes a spell to get its bearings, but really runs when the prolonged party hoping scenes arrive and the farcical elements really take hold. Several the characters are sleeping or were sleeping or potentially will be sleeping with each other and when all are thrown into the same space, well, you can imagine. One of Beatty's best performances as he plays both the heartthrob (seriously, he has sex at least five times with four women in the 36 hours) but ultimately also the fool. The dim view of politics and politicians that runs throughout sadly remains relevant.

Breakfast at Tiffany's
Never seen it, but it's one of my partner's favorites and thus my penance for making her watch Shampoo and Sorry to Bother You. Bills come due. What a weird movie. Audrey Hepburn is charming as ever, but she's also more than a little bit maddening. I know the "manic pixie dream girl" is a credited as a more recent trope, but boy does much of that DNA seem to come from Holly Golightly. It isn't an exact match because Holly has a little more going on and isn't a mere cipher for male improvement. George Pepard pretty much stays the same the entire time. Actually, come to think of it, he's actually the one-dimensional tool on which her evolution hinges. So that, I suppose puts him in that "manic pixie dream girl" role. Is there a name for his? Oh wait, there is: WASP. Oof. And Mickey Rooney. I'd always heard they made some choices with his character, but boy did they make some CHOICES. That's a painful watch.

 

[sr edler]

Jude Law was the noteworthy one in this one - and I think it was pretty much by design.

You do? He’s not getting that much screen time, does he?

When you say "by design" I’m thinking someone wrote the character specifically for him and then he goes in and owns the vast majority of the film (think Paul Bettany in A Knight’s Tale, they even had to cut scenes in that one because the ownage became too strong).

 

[NyQuil]

You do? He’s not getting that much screen time, does he?

When you say "by design" I’m thinking someone wrote the character specifically for him and then he goes in and owns the vast majority of the film (think Paul Bettany in A Knight’s Tale, they even had to cut scenes in that one because the ownage became too strong).

Yeah, that's what I mean.

 

[sr edler]

Alrighty then, perhaps you’re right.

 

[Puck]

I'm starting to catch up on 2018 movies after a lull. I did not know quite what to make of Sorry to Bother You. I liked it, but it's kinda weird. It's a good anti-establishment, anti-capitalist movie but the social commentary wasn't that hard hitting IMHO. It didn't really stir my rebellious side to go stick it to the Man, with revolutionary fervour. I think the comedy and intentional over the top plotline (equine bio-engineering) may have hampered the social messaging a bit. I did notice that the union organizer (Steven Yeun, had to look it up) was the sociopathic greenhouse burner in the really good South Korean film Burning. He's a good actor. I think this film is prolly better if watched while high on your favorite medicating substance (I was sober). Still, I enjoyed it.
(Kallio seemed to like it a lot, I might watch it again next year; I did that with Baby Driver last year and enjoyed it more the 2nd time)

The Padre with Tim Roth and Nick Nolte is pretty good. I think it's a Canadian Production but has little Canadian content. Nolte is excellent playing a bitter curmudgeon US Sheriff chasing Tim Roth in Mexico. Tim Roth plays a down on his luck con masquerading as a priest that teams up with a young Mexican orphan girl trying to steal enough money to reach her sister in Minnesota. I didn't like the ending but the rest of the movie is decent.

Hotel Artemis reminded me of a John Wick movie with a splash of tech-noir Blade Runner. It's not as good a production as those two but Jodie Foster is excellent. It also has Sofia Boutella (I like her) and Jeff Goldblum (always good). Keep watching the credits at the end, there is a quick flash of a shadowy character that zips by the screen; I think someone you think has died has survived and there might be a sequel.

One that won't see a sequel is Mile 22 with Mark Wahlberg. The ending is open and inconclusive. The studio did that on purpose I think hoping to turn this into a franchise. One of the evil characters (trying to avoid spoilers) gets away and the star will want revenge and get the 'bastard'. But the film cost 50 million to produce and only made 66 million at the box office, not covering costs (film distributor only gets around 50% of theatre ticket sales), so I doubt a sequel is in the offing. The film is edited like a Bourne flick (but not as good), and it's not as good as this year's Mission Impossible Fallout but I won't dump on it, it's still a fairly good action thriller (although missing a better storyline). I still recommend it, a good mindless shoot-em up double agent movie.

There was a few more but I don't want to be too lengthy, so I'll stop here. I'll give all the above a common 6.5 score, I'm not a serious rating guy, I don't think I'm good at that. YMMV.

 

[Elvis P]

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs on Netflix. 4 stars.