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

[Shareefruck]

Delete.

Hmmm... now I'm curious. Was it something about support for increased opportunity/exposure for Asian-American actors/actresses?

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

Momento. 8/10.
I really enjoyed how the movie was shot and how everything was backwards. It's a very intriguing storyline and has a good cast. The twist didn't really shock me much; the nature of the movie puts you on notice that a twist is inevitable, and I had guessed what it was with about 45 mins to spare (to be fair, I had 2 or 3 other guesses that were incorrect as well). I actually preferred the ending to The Prestige than to this one, but both were great movies.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

I actually sat down and watched the entirety of Silence of the Lambs for the first time in my life.

Firstly, great title. Silence of the Lambs just sounds cool.

Second, definitely one of the finest horror films to this day.

9/10

Not surprised I enjoyed it, very disappointed in myself for waiting this long.

 

[Baby Punisher]

I recently watched the movie A Bronx Tale with Robert De Niro who also directed it. Overall I enjoyed it, pretty much any mafia movie set in the 40s, 50s and 60s catches my eye. I believe the movie is somewhat a reflection of De Niro’s life plus imagination of course, as I’ve heard he’s into African American women and the main character in the movie pursues/ goes out with one. I’d give it a 7.5/10.

It's the True Story of Chazz Palminteri growing up in the Bronx. Chazz is C.

 

[Baby Punisher]

Chef 6/10
A movie directed by John Favreau. A touching and heart warming Father and Son story that sees Favreau's character a disgraced chef embarks on a journey of self-discovery of himself while re-evaluating his life while driving his newly renovated food truck across America with his 9-year-old son and best friend (John Leguizamo) in tow.

Justice Leauge 5/10
Just another mess from the world of DC. It's mindless plot has makes no sense. When comparing this movie to Infinity War with all it's plot issues it makes more sense than Justice Leauge.

 

[Natey]

ALPHA (2018)

THOUGHTS: Wow. Absolutely blown away. It's not made by Disney, but I was expecting a typical Disney-like film. And while it has aspects of that, it's really so much more. First of all, the film is subtitled. I would have never guessed that. There's very little dialogue to speak of which made this very fresh. The visuals were absolutely astonishing and jaw-dropping. The story was very well done. The acting, lead by Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) was absolutely phenomenal. I've enjoyed a lot of movies this year from Black Panther to Ready Player One to Infinity War to Deadpool 2 to Upgrade ... but this is the best of them all. Just an absolutely unreal piece of work that I was not expecting to be very good.

Do yourself a favour and go see this while it's still in the cinema. Even if you hate the movie, the visuals are something that needs to be seen on the big screen. I don't do this often, but this one is going the full distance.

FINAL RATING: *****

Info
Alpha (2018) - IMDb
Alpha Rotten Tomatoes

Trailers

 

[Trap Jesus]

Saw Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Basically what I thought it was going to be, very nice special effects and a pretty fun movie overall, but not much substance to it. I thought the world-building aspect of it was fairly well done though, considering it's based on a property that a lot of people don't know about.

The acting from the two leads was so bad though. It really does deserve the criticism it gets for that. Horrible dialogue as well, but the acting really stood out. I have quite honestly NEVER seen a romance that was this bad. Zero chemistry and everything felt completely forced. They briefly try to set up that Valerian is some kind of player by a throwaway line of dialogue, and then all of a sudden he's talking about settling down and marrying Laureline. I swear this is all done in the first scene they're in the movie. No sense of a history between the two characters or anything, it literally felt like when 2 little kids play "pretend marriage" or something. She's comically standoffish throughout the movie with obvious hints that she actually likes him and then, yep (spoilers), they kiss and get engaged at the end. Romance side-plots aren't usually things I get too invested in but it was hard not to notice how bad this was.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

Just watched a classic double feature: Good Will Hunting and The Burbs. Watched Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger last night.

 

[Satan'sIsland81]

ALPHA (2018)

THOUGHTS: Wow. Absolutely blown away. It's not made by Disney, but I was expecting a typical Disney-like film. And while it has aspects of that, it's really so much more. First of all, the film is subtitled. I would have never guessed that. There's very little dialogue to speak of which made this very fresh. The visuals were absolutely astonishing and jaw-dropping. The story was very well done. The acting, lead by Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) was absolutely phenomenal. I've enjoyed a lot of movies this year from Black Panther to Ready Player One to Infinity War to Deadpool 2 to Upgrade ... but this is the best of them all. Just an absolutely unreal piece of work that I was not expecting to be very good.

Do yourself a favour and go see this while it's still in the cinema. Even if you hate the movie, the visuals are something that needs to be seen on the big screen. I don't do this often, but this one is going the full distance.

FINAL RATING: *****

Info
Alpha (2018) - IMDb
Alpha Rotten Tomatoes

Trailers

Completely agree. Glad to see someone else on here finally mention this movie. One of my favorites of the year and well worth the extra money for IMAX 3D.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Drive (2011) - 8/10

This makes up for that Baby Driver bullshit.

 

[Fantomas]

I was surprised to not have liked Mission Impossible: Fallout very much. And I really dug the previous two movies.

The new one was just too dark and less fun than the previous two. And it wasn't dark in a classy way like the De Palma original.

I share three complaints made about this film I have seen other people make: a) there is not enough investment in characterization (I particularly hated the way Alec Baldwin's and Angela Bassett's characters were written); b) the characters fawn about Ethan Hunt too much, to the point of absurdity There is one longish and cringeworthy scene with Ving Rhames going on and on about how great of a guy he is. Laughable; and finally c) the narrative device of the deadline ('ticking clock') is overused so much that it made me numb. Deadlines are common in stories, but in this case I couldn't suspend disbelief.

Another thing I did not like was that the main villain was not given much to do. Meanwhile the other spoiler villain was not hateable enough to get me very invested.

The fight in the restroom is excellent. I wish more of the film was like that.

 

[kihei]

Europe Raiders (2018) Directed by Jingle Ma 4A

Despite the presence of Tony Leung, who I thought might be getting a little old for this sort of thing until I remembered that he is the same age as Tom Cruise, Europe Raiders is a Mission Impossible-style knock off, though totally absent the death-defying stunts that make the last few films in that franchise so exciting. Spectacular stunts are replaced in this move by conventional action sequences, none of which are anything to write home about. Although, the ending is a clever twist on the story, it deserved a far better set up than it gets here. But because of unfocused direction, everything in the movie just seems tired and pointless. Unlike many lesser actors, Leung has never been able to disguise the fact that he doesn't enjoy working with a poor script. He provides his body and a mixed bag of typical "Tony Leung" facial expressions, but you can tell his brain is somewhere else far, far away, just waiting for the director to say "Cut." The rest of the attractive cast is equally wasted.

subtitles

 

[Bruce Wayne]

7/10.

 

[kihei]

The Spy Gone North (2018) Directed by Yoon Jong-bin 6A

Based on a true story, "Black Venus" is the code name of a South Korean intelligence officer (Hwang Jung-min) who sacrifices his career to go underground and become a spy whose mission is to infiltrate the upper echelons of North Korea's power structure in order to gather evidence about that country's nuclear capability. While it is an extremely delicate and risky mission under any circumstances, it becomes potentially a lethal assignment when the spy's own government begins playing fast and loose with the rules, and in the process jeopardizes everything that "Black Venus" has worked so hard to achieve in North Korea. Consider The Spy Gone North as South Korea's answer to Bridge of Spies: both movies are based on real life occurrences; both obviously embellish the truth for dramatic effect (The Spy Gone North perhaps a little more so); both have strong lead and supporting performances; and both have not-so-hidden messages about the present political climate in their respective countries. An added bonus with this film is that it does a good job of sorting out recent Korean political history which I found informative. The only thing that keeps the movie from being a "7" is that at two hours and twenty minutes, it is at least a half hour longer than it needed to be.

subtitles

 

[kihei]

American Animals (2018) Directed by Bart Layton 7B

American Animals is a heist movie that is really as much a documentary as a fictional work though it doesn't feel that way in the viewing. The narrative is so seamless in its approach to the melding of fiction and fact that it could easily be mistaken as a straight fictional movie with an innovative structure. Four college guys, each dissatisfied with the direction that his life is going in, decide to steal from a university library a pair of rare books by Audubon and by Darwin. The idea to do so, to take this chance if only to see how things might turn out on the other side, forms slowly. First one guy gets an idea, passes it along to a second pal, who decides they need a third guy, and, finally a fourth accomplice comes on board. None of these dudes is a hardened felon type in the least; they all worry about hurting somebody in the process. They all have to devote time to exams exams coming up. But they allow themselves to get sucked in to this scheme for lack of anything better to do with their lives. What should go easy, they had thought, turns out to be much more difficult than they ever envisioned. As actors play out the events that actually occurred in Kentucky, their real life older-by-several-years counterparts comment on the action--about what they were thinking and feeling at the time (initially I thought that these were just other actors, but not so). Even the librarian who was a victim of the crime gets to throw her two cents in at the end, a good way to move the film toward closure. This clever juxtaposition between speculative fiction and documentary comes complete with much humour and a kind of bumbling intensity that perfectly suits the work. American Animals is a brilliant and troubling movie--brilliant because the structure of the film and the recreation of the events are creative and make for very compelling viewing; troubling because the film's sympathies seem to be with these likeable but rather lost college kids who did a horrible thing in which people got hurt. Ultimately American Animals is a wonderful, deeply involving examination of privileged people who really don't deserve our sympathy. I don't quite know what to make of that.

 

[kihei]

The Island (2018) Directed by Bo Huang 5A

A large group of company workers out for a holiday on the high seas are shipwrecked by a tidal wave and forced to find shelter on a remote, uncharted island. Because a large meteorite has been rumoured to devastate the earth, they believe they may be the sole survivors of humankind. So, in effect, society gets to start all over again and, what d'ya know, people tend to make the exact same mistakes that they did before. Some wonderful moments are wasted in a film with no end of problems, the foremost being bloat. The Island is such a long-winded parable that even its talented cast can't keep it afloat. Lame attempts at slapstick humour only reinforce the movie's tonal problems. An abandoned, upside-down ship that provides a marvelous set piece, a wacky sea-going bus, and a sequence in which tropical fish rain down from the sky seem like they are excerpts taken from another, far better movie. It's like 15% of this movie is captivating while the other 85% is seriously problematic. Fans of South Korean movies might be interested in checking The Island out, but I doubt anybody else will be.

subtitles

 

[Nalens Oga]

Sixteen Candles (1984) - 5.5/10

The f*** is this? Another overrated 80s film by nostalgic kids who now work as writers or critics. It actually had a decent number of laughs or I'd rate it lower but it's a f***in mess, Hughes always tries to do too much in his movies. Some of them like Ferris Bueller work for the most part, this piece of shit though was always gonna fail cos it's a grown ass man writing about a teenage girl that has a crush. I honestly could not care less about this petty shit but a decent director would have probably gotten me to pay more attention, even if it was through better editing alone.

 

[nameless1]

The Island (2018) Directed by Bo Huang 5A

A large group of company workers out for a holiday on the high seas are shipwrecked by a tidal wave and forced to find shelter on a remote, uncharted island. Because a large meteorite has been rumoured to devastate the earth, they believe they may be the sole survivors of humankind. So, in effect, society gets to start all over again and, what d'ya know, people tend to make the exact same mistakes that they did before. Some wonderful moments are wasted in a film with no end of problems, the foremost being bloat. The Island is such a long-winded parable that even its talented cast can't keep it afloat. Lame attempts at slapstick humour only reinforce the movie's tonal problems. An abandoned, upside-down ship that provides a marvelous set piece, a wacky sea-going bus, and a sequence in which tropical fish rain down from the sky seem like they are excerpts taken from another, far better movie. It's like 15% of this movie is captivating while the other 85% is seriously problematic. Fans of South Korean movies might be interested in checking The Island out, but I doubt anybody else will be.

subtitles

It is actually a Chinese movie. Now, I have heard good things about it from various critics, but I am mostly disappointed by the movies that come out of China. Most of them are just awful remakes.

 

[ViktorBaeArvidsson]

Click 10/10

Click is a comedy with a serious side. I watched it with Michael and it made us think. There is too much of the dog and chicken, and there could've been less profanity. Although I do not like angels in movies he fits. Adam Sandler can be boring, and I wonder how he mades so many movies. I was intrigued with Kate Beckinsale. She is British.

 

[kihei]

It is actually a Chinese movie. Now, I have heard good things about it from various critics, but I am mostly disappointed by the movies that come out of China. Most of them are just awful remakes.

My mistake.

That's a sweeping statement about Chinese directors, some of whom I would rank among the best in the world. Could you expand on your comments a bit?

 

[nameless1]

My mistake.

That's a sweeping statement about Chinese directors, some of whom I would rank among the best in the world. Could you expand on your comments a bit?

I meant recent mainstream Chinese movies that you can see outside of film festivals.

I have enjoyed the early works from the Fifth Generation, such as Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, but recently, most of them have sold out and their movies no longer resonate with me. Luckily, there is still the Sixth Generation, with figures such as Jia Zhangke and Lou Ye, and they continue to try to challenge the status quo, but their movies are not that accessible outside of film festivals, and many of them are very often banned within their own countries.

There are also other talents that impresses me, but unfortunately, they are not accessible outside of the film festival.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Blue Jay (2016)

Not sure how to rank this one as I thought it was a mixture of being cute, repulsive, nice, and stupid. Only 80 minutes though so mostly worth a watch.

 

[OzzyFan]

Papillon (2018)
2.50 out of 4stars

I have never seen the original. That said, this is an effective slow burn jail break movie, stretching the truth or not (given the "bio" tag). Imperfect, but well acted and impactful enough throughout. Hunnam is really interesting to me. Some movies he's just spot on in and others he just feels too out of place or dry. This is another solid turn for Hunnam to add to his resume.

PS=I won't be able to likely stomach it, but supposedly A Prayer Before Dawn is the jail-centric movei to see this summer.

 

[kihei]

1945 (2018) Directed by Ferenc Torok 8A

World War II has just barely ended and a small Hungarian village, occupied by Russians, is getting ready to celebrate a wedding when word comes through that two Jews, survivors of concentration camps, are on their way to the village. News of their arrival is greeted positively by absolutely no one. The most extreme reactions come from the town's leading citizens who have profited greatly by taking over Jewish homes and properties and are appalled by the very notion that they owe Jewish people any recompense whatsoever for stealing their land. As the two Jews venture by wagon nearer to the village, the pressures become intensified among the villagers and tensions dangerously mount. There are several Holocaust-related films that are masterful works, and I would rank 1945 among them. The movie has a relatively small, circumscribed tale to tell, yet one with huge moral and ethical implications that are relevant to this day. It is also a beautiful movie to watch unfold with black and white cinematography that is of award calibre. The acting by a collection of actors with whom I am totally unfamiliar is excellent, and the pacing pitch perfect with the movie coming in at a neat and tidy 91 minutes. I realize that Holocaust-themed movies can be a hard sell. Despite the necessity and worth of such films, people sometimes shy away from them because the content is inevitably tragic, depressing and emotionally draining. However, 1945 takes a somewhat different approach to its subject matter and becomes a gem of a film in the process. Highly recommended.

subtitles


Best of ’18 so far

On the Beach at Night Alone, Hong, South Korea
November, Sarnet, Estonia
1945, Toroc, Hungary
Leave No Trace, Granik, US
Foxtrot, Maoz, Israel
You Were Never Really Here, Ramsay, US
Upgrade, Whannell, Australia
BlacKkKlansman, Lee, US
Annihilation, Garland, US
American Animals, Layton, US

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Saw the latest Avengers movie again.

Watching it late at night in a cruise ship cabin while you're buzzing on a bucket of free mojitos doesn't make it any more coherent.