Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[titoli]

 I haven't seen A Woman Under the Influence (1974), Minnie and Moskowitz (1971), Husbands (1970), or Faces (1968).

Anybody seen those last five and what did you think of them?

I've seen them all and remember little. You may watch them and can't say you didn't like them. Or that you love them, either. The kinda movies which can last 30' or 5h and nothing changes. I've bought the dvd of WUTI 15 years ago and still have to watch it.

[noodles_leone]

Faces is great. I think you’ll appreciate the performances and -especially- the cinematography, but it’s too talkative for you.

Husbands you may like a lot. From what i’ve seen it’s the Cassavetes film that looks the most like ca film by Claude Sautet. But with a lot more of partying.


I have yet to see again Woman under influence (only saw it once when I was 16), and i’ve never seen Minnie (next one on my list).

[stanton]

The only two movies of his that I've liked so far are The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) and Gloria (1980), I hated Too Late Blues (1961) thought it was quite tedious,

Too Late Blues is a film Cassavates himself detests. It was a failed flirt with the Hollywood studio system, and is as result an odd bastard. But he made another troubled and failed Hollywood film (for Stanley Kramer) with A Child Is Waiting before he learned that his kind of cinema could only be done outside the system.

So if you like the other 2 you can try some more of his later films.

[cigar joe]

Too Late Blues is a film Cassavates himself detests. It was a failed flirt with the Hollywood studio system, and is as result an odd bastard. But he made another troubled and failed Hollywood film (for Stanley Kramer) with A Child Is Waiting before he learned that his kind of cinema could only be done outside the system.

So if you like the other 2 you can try some more of his later films.

OK thanks

[drinkanddestroy]

RE: Cassavetes:

Shadows is excruciating.

Husbands is good. A few scenes are silly and go on too long, but mostly it is good.

[dave jenkins]

The Browning Version (1951) - 10/10. This is one of those very rare things, an adaptation that is far superior to its source. Terrence "Ratty" Rattigan wrote a very good play, but it was a one-act piece. Anthony Asquith needed more material to make a feature film, so he enlisted Rattigan to expand things. Everything added was inspired. The climactic speech at the end--amazingly--wasn't even in the original. Michael Redgrave is of course excellent as the old schoolmaster being put out to pasture (this is a kind of anti-Goodbye Mr. Chips--no one likes the guy), but all the acting is equally good. I suppose now I'll have to see the Albert Finney version and compare . . . .

[dave jenkins]

The Silent Partner (1978) – 8/10. Eliott Gould is a bank teller who one Christmas season gets tipped to the fact that Santa Claus (Christopher Plummer) is going to stick the place up. Gould arranges matters so that the cash is diverted; Plummer gets away with little, the lion-share stays with Gould. The perfect crime, except Plummer immediately understands what has happened and begins terrorizing Gould for the money. Gould, unable to go to the police, emerges from milquetoast mode and terrorizes back. The partnership is forged and cannot be dissolved until one of the men is dead. This is such a wonderfully plotted film that when the story goes wrong near the end the flaw is glaringly obvious. Gould agrees to give up the money, but Plummer has to come back to the bank to get it. No way would Plummer expose himself to such a risk—without further enticement. Gould should have come up with some kind of B.S. to sweeten the pot:  by coming in a second time, he could have said, Plummer would double his money (maybe there was going to be a big deposit on that day or something). Without some such inducement, Plummer needn’t run any risks, just insist Gould deliver the already stolen money or else. Nonetheless, the film is a lot of fun, the very best example of a neo-noir I can think of. 

[T.H.]

The Silent Partner (1978) – 8/10. Eliott Gould is a bank teller who one Christmas season gets tipped to the fact that Santa Claus (Christopher Plummer) is going to stick the place up. Gould arranges matters so that the cash is diverted; Plummer gets away with little, the lion-share stays with Gould. The perfect crime, except Plummer immediately understands what has happened and begins terrorizing Gould for the money. Gould, unable to go to the police, emerges from milquetoast mode and terrorizes back. The partnership is forged and cannot be dissolved until one of the men is dead. This is such a wonderfully plotted film that when the story goes wrong near the end the flaw is glaringly obvious. Gould agrees to give up the money, but Plummer has to come back to the bank to get it. No way would Plummer expose himself to such a risk—without further enticement. Gould should have come up with some kind of B.S. to sweeten the pot:  by coming in a second time, he could have said, Plummer would double his money (maybe there was going to be a big deposit on that day or something). Without some such inducement, Plummer needn’t run any risks, just insist Gould deliver the already stolen money or else. Nonetheless, the film is a lot of fun, the very best example of a neo-noir I can think of.

How's the transfer, assuming you watched the new bluray?

[dave jenkins]

Yes, the new blu is the occasion for my review. The transfer is adequate. It didn't blow me away, but then the movie's image may have been pretty soft to begin with.

[cigar joe]

The Silent Partner (1978) – 8/10. Eliott Gould is a bank teller who one Christmas season gets tipped to the fact that Santa Claus (Christopher Plummer) is going to stick the place up. Gould arranges matters so that the cash is diverted; Plummer gets away with little, the lion-share stays with Gould. The perfect crime, except Plummer immediately understands what has happened and begins terrorizing Gould for the money. Gould, unable to go to the police, emerges from milquetoast mode and terrorizes back. The partnership is forged and cannot be dissolved until one of the men is dead. This is such a wonderfully plotted film that when the story goes wrong near the end the flaw is glaringly obvious. Gould agrees to give up the money, but Plummer has to come back to the bank to get it. No way would Plummer expose himself to such a risk—without further enticement. Gould should have come up with some kind of B.S. to sweeten the pot:  by coming in a second time, he could have said, Plummer would double his money (maybe there was going to be a big deposit on that day or something). Without some such inducement, Plummer needn’t run any risks, just insist Gould deliver the already stolen money or else. Nonetheless, the film is a lot of fun, the very best example of a neo-noir I can think of.

I saw this perhaps a year ago and there was something about it that seemed a bit off, it didn't click with me, it's probably the flaw you mention.

[Cusser]

Hearbreakers, 2001.  Mrs. Cusser chose this for us to watch the other night.  S. Weaver and hottie Jennifer Love Hewitt play mother-daughter scammers, but Gene Hackman as a super-chainsmoking rich guy is gross but hilarious. Something of a chick flick.

[T.H.]

Donnie Brasco (1997) Theatrical Cut. SPOILERS ABOUND.

If this isn't a classic, it's close. The flaws are very easy to spot. The family scenes with Anne Heche are just plain bad, but made way worse due to their abundance and length. Also, the traditional score just doesn't work at all in a mob movie set in the wild late 70s NYC. Get the fuck outta here with that orchestral crap. It ruins a lot of great moments like the (beautifully lit) violent gunfight in the basement, which is arguably the single most exciting point in the movie and the traditional sounding score chimes in and takes much of the life out of what should be an unforgettable scene in film. And then the sequence ends prematurely, when the chopping up and transporting of the bodies should take over the movie for some time.

There are too many anarchisms once they get to Miami. While I understand period movies are unbelievably expensive to produce, the movie felt a little cheap at times. Also, Michael Madsen was miscast as a mob boss and the movie should have ended on Lefty knowing he was getting hit and walking out of his apartment.

Unfortunately, some of the mafia stuff like all the characters working on their schemes together in their lounge hangout can look a little goofy in a post Sopranos world.

On to the good. The cinematography was better than I remembered with some great color usage, especially at night. This is one of Depp and Pacino's better performances and all the mob scenes flow beautifully well. It's a nice humble B-side to the smash hit masterworks Goodfellas and Casino. I feel like this review was a little to nitpicky for how much I enjoyed the movie, but it could have been so much better with some minor tweaks.

8.5/10

There is an extended cut of this which I honestly forgot existed. If anyone has seen that version and recommends it, let me know. This is streaming free on Vudu (until July 1st) and Crackle as I type this for US posters.


Thanks for letting me know about the Silent Partner bluray DJ. There aren't a lot of reviews out there. I'll definitely be picking that one up.

[dave jenkins]

Thanks for your words on D.B. I don't think I've ever seen the whole thing and should give it a shot. Anyway, your comments got me interested.

[drinkanddestroy]

Is this the movie that made “fughedaboutit” a famous term?

Definitely did for “fugazi”

[T.H.]

Yeah, this is the fugazi and fuhgetaboutit movie.

Thanks for your words on D.B. I don't think I've ever seen the whole thing and should give it a shot. Anyway, your comments got me interested.

I think it's more than fair to say that it's worth a watch, at the very least. I also forgot to mention that it's probably one of the better male bonding friendship movies of the last 20 or so years. Pacino and Depp have that special type of chemistry that Depp and Landau had in Ed Wood (1994) and Depp and Peter DeLuise in 21 Jump Street s/