Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[noodles_leone]

Wild at Heart (1990) - A beautifully shot, entertaining and strangely coherent mess of a movie. The cast is great sans Laura Dern, who is way too aristocratic looking to play a white trash sweetheart - she also couldn't even bother to convincingly smoke a cigarette. Jennifer Jason Leigh would have been perfect here, but that can be said for so many movies. While it doesn't work in the way that a Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive works, and doesn't really improve on an additional view, Wild at Heart is a nice little movie with some great visuals (scope) and dialogue that probably influenced Tarantino to some degree. B

I think a more nervous editing would have been highly beneficial.
I liked it more the last time I saw it, mostly because I now have seen the third season of Twin Peaks and understand way more what's in David's mind: it all ties together pretty nicely.

So I'm back from a week of vacation in the Alps, I can now watch movies again.

Lady Bird (2017) 7.5/10
Now that's a better coming of age movie, TH! That was actually really good. Much better than the Juno wannabe it seemed to be. The thing I liked the most about it wasn't what the movie is frontally about but the underlying depiction of the US (culture, way of life...). I liked that part a whole lot. Very few movies manage to capture that, especially when it isn't their main goal. You certainly can see why the 400 blows is Gerwig's first inspiration.

Perdrix (2019) 7/10
A good french movie! What's happening?

[cigar joe]

2 Days In The Valley (1996) Written and Directed by John Herzfeld. Cinematography by Oliver Wood and Music by Anthony Marinelli. Film Editing was by Jim Miller and Wayne Wahrman.   

The film stars Danny Aiello (Once Upon A Time In America, Do the Right Thing, L?on: The Professional ) as Dosmo Pizzo, Greg Cruttwell as Allan Hopper, Jeff Daniels (The Lookout) as Alvin Strayer, Teri Hatcher as Becky Foxx, Glenne Headly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy) as Susan Parish, Peter Horton as Roy Foxx, Marsha Mason as Audrey Hopper, Paul Mazursky (Blackboard Jungle) as Teddy Peppers, James Spader (Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Storyville) as Lee Woods, Eric Stoltz as Wes Taylor, Charlize Theron as Helga Svelgen, Keith Carradine (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Emperor of the North, Pretty Baby) as Detective Creighton, Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over The ) Cuckoo's Nest, Mulholland Falls ) as Evelyn and Classic Noir vet Lawrence Tierney as Older Man.

Somehow I missed it first go round - entertaining 8/10

[dave jenkins]

2 Days In The Valley (1996) Written and Directed by John Herzfeld. Cinematography by Oliver Wood and Music by Anthony Marinelli. Film Editing was by Jim Miller and Wayne Wahrman.   

The film stars Danny Aiello (Once Upon A Time In America, Do the Right Thing, L?on: The Professional ) as Dosmo Pizzo, Greg Cruttwell as Allan Hopper, Jeff Daniels (The Lookout) as Alvin Strayer, Teri Hatcher as Becky Foxx, Glenne Headly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Dick Tracy) as Susan Parish, Peter Horton as Roy Foxx, Marsha Mason as Audrey Hopper, Paul Mazursky (Blackboard Jungle) as Teddy Peppers, James Spader (Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Storyville) as Lee Woods, Eric Stoltz as Wes Taylor, Charlize Theron as Helga Svelgen, Keith Carradine (McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Emperor of the North, Pretty Baby) as Detective Creighton, Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over The ) Cuckoo's Nest, Mulholland Falls ) as Evelyn and Classic Noir vet Lawrence Tierney as Older Man.

Somehow I missed it first go round - entertaining 8/10

Anything else you can tell us? Does it have a story?

[cigar joe]

Anything else you can tell us? Does it have a story?

The Story

Night. Mulholland Drive. A dirt turnoff. 1984 Buick Century. Two contract killers. One, a four-eyed  whack job named Lee "one minute" Wood. The other, an overweight, toup wearing, has been named Dosmo Pizzo. Currently flipping pizza at some Valley pizzeria.

Its Lee's gig. Dosmo is his backup. Its an uneasy and unlikely business relationship.

Dosmo Pizzo: How did you find me?

Lee Woods: In the phone book under Washout.

Dosmo Pizzo: Hey, you go through a little dry spell, what's it make? It makes you stronger.

They are surveilling the house of American Olympic Skier Becky Foxx. They watch with binoculars and eavesdrop over a bug. Her ex-husband Roy has stopped by and is trying to make the moves on her.

When things quite down Lee and Dosmo make their move. The drop down the hill to the back of the house. Break in. In the bedroom, Becky and Roy are asleep on the bed.  Lee pulls out a large hypodermic and stabs it into the ass of Becky. It's a trank. Becky's out. But Roy awakened by the jolt, finds Domso's revolver stuck in his mouth.

Lee takes over, hops onto Roy's chest, pulls out a stop watch and starts it.

Lee Woods:  You have one minute to decide the rest of your life.

Lee asks Roy about a relationship with Helga Svelgen. Wants to know if they did it. Thinking it might save him Roy answers yes. Lee blows his brains out.

Later, parked at an abandoned building site with an old pool that overlooks The Valley.  A settling of accounts. Dosmo is the patsy. Lee shoots him. Fakes evidence to make it look like the suicide of an addict. Then opens the trunk and sets a timer that will blow the gas tank of the Century.

A 1993 Buick Park Avenue pulls up driven by Helga Svelgen. Lee hops in. They make out.

Meanwhile, a bullet proof vest wearing Dosmo is not dead. He's exited the Century and is surrying down the hill, and into the back yard of Allan Hopper. Hooper is a dealer in high end new age kitsch.

At Hoopers, Dosmo takes Hooper and his assistant Susan Parish hostage and decides to hold out there until all the police activity brought on by the car explosion dies down. Hooper who is suffering from kidney stones, had prior to Dosmos arrival called his sister Audrey who is a nurse for her medial advice.

While all the above is going on, Teddy Peppers a forgotten ,writer/director, four months behind on his rent is contemplating suicide. While he is about to pull the trigger at the grave of his mother he spots Audrey who is visiting the grave of her boyfriend on the way to see her brother Allan. Teddy has a dog and it's his concern for his companion that spurs Teddy to ask Audrey if she wants to take the dog off his hands. One thing leads to another and Teddy hops in with Audrey.

Two Valley police officers on a mission to bust massage parlors come upon a hysterical Becky who had awakened splattered in blood laying next to Roy with his brains blown out. All these various storylines trickle together entertainingly Streaming

[dave jenkins]

Right. Thanks.

[T.H.]

I'm firmly on the right side of the coming-of-age debate. I tortured myself and watched a scene from Lady Bird. Yuck. 

Anything else you can tell us? Does it have a story?

Here was my mini review from a few months back. I don't know if you'll like it.

2 Days in the Valley (1996) - This had to be sold/greenlit as Pulp Fiction meets Short Cuts and while this badly misses its intended target, it's still an interesting and entertaining miss with a mostly solid ensemble cast. The plot is goofy and illogical at many points but I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys the Altman Nashville type of movie - just keep the expectations low. C+

[cigar joe]

I'm firmly on the right side of the coming-of-age debate. I tortured myself and watched a scene from Lady Bird. Yuck. 


Here was my mini review from a few months back. I don't know if you'll like it.

2 Days in the Valley (1996) - This had to be sold/greenlit as Pulp Fiction meets Short Cuts and while this badly misses its intended target, it's still an interesting and entertaining miss with a mostly solid ensemble cast. The plot is goofy and illogical at many points but I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys the Altman Nashville type of movie - just keep the expectations low. C+

Exactly, I wasn't expecting much and was entertained.

[dave jenkins]

I'm firmly on the right side of the coming-of-age debate. I tortured myself and watched a scene from Lady Bird. Yuck. 

WTH?

[dave jenkins]

I tortured myself and watched a scene from Lady Bird. Yuck. 

OK, now try TWO scenes from Ladybird Ladybird.

[dave jenkins]

Symphonie pour un massacre (1963) 8/10. Partners in a casino are also drug runners, and one of the group (Jean Rochefort) sees an opportunity to rob his friends and remain undetected. Things go according to plan . . . until they don't. Then exciting improvisations begin, but chance remains the great spoiler. This neatly plotted crime film would surely delight Tarantino. Charles Vanel has a role, and there is even a brief appearance by Jose Giovanni (who also helped write the screenplay's dialog).

My third viewing and it holds up pretty well, although some scenes drag and the pace could be improved. Do we really need to watch every character walking to their car multiple times? The plotting isn't bad, and it is fun to see the moment Jean Rochefort comes up with his double-cross. Also, the fact that the betrayal leads to an inexorable domino effect is pretty cool. In a thread titoli started about this film he alludes to stupid mistakes made by the characters and he's right to do so. OTOH, the fact that so much of the story is about recovering from mistakes keeps things interesting. And it's all done without voice-overs: we learn everything from watching and listening to the characters. I can just imagine how a modern remake would require us to hear everything going on in the characters' heads. It's refreshing to see a film like this where things are mostly shown rather than told.

[dave jenkins]

Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) - 9/10. Saw this almost exactly 40 years ago at the 1979 Chicago International Film Festival. I couldn't remember much about it and decided to try it again now that a restored version is touring. It was showing at Film Forum and I took the wife. She loved it. I also was impressed. Gian Maria Volonte plays Carlo Levi, an intellectual placed in internal exile by Mussolini during the war with Ethiopia (ca. 1935). This was made for Italian TV and it's a quality production in 4 parts. Part one is mostly Levi's journey to his place of exile, Lucania, the end of the world. In part 2 Levi's sister (Lea Masari) visits him, and he secures the services of a housekeeper (Irene Pappas). In part 3 he reluctantly begins providing the peasants with medical treatment (he trained as a doctor but heretofore never practiced). In part 4 he gets the better of his masters just before the war ends and his amnesty comes through. Based on, I gather, real events. It's an impressive bit of filmmaking at 220 minutes. I guess some feel this is Rossi's masterpiece and it certainly must be Volonte's.

Rewatching this on the new Criterion Blu and enjoying it very much. Love that dog in episode 1. Why does he disappear from the story?

[noodles_leone]

A Cure for Wellness (2016) 4/10
I've been intrigued by Verbinski's psychological horror effort since I first so the trailer back in 2016 but had never got to see it until it showed up on the French Netflix. Well, what a disappointment. There are some great shots  and atmosphere in it, especially earlier in the film... although 6 years later they tend to give the film more of a high end commercial/music video feel than anything else. Anyway, the plot progressively becomes ridiculous, never achieves to ties the thematic together and Dane DeHaan looks weird the whole time.
As far as I'm concerned, Rango is still the only good film under Gore Verbinski's belt.

[Cusser]

"Woman of Desire" 1994.  Erotic thriller, but good for Bo Derek fans.

[dave jenkins]

Rango is still the only good film under Gore Verbinski's belt.

noodles is (undoubtedly) right.

[dave jenkins]

Gas-Oil aka Hi-Jack Highway (1955) 



Director: Gilles Grangier, with stars Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Gaby Basse, Simone Berthier, Charles Bouillaud, and Marcel Bozzuffi.

 A nice French Noir story that can easily fit in with They Drive by Night (1940), Thieves' Highway (1949) Hell Drivers (1957) and The Long Haul (1957). It's about truck drivers on the haul between Paris and Auvergne in Central France.  A group of gangsters rob a  messenger service of a 50 million francs. They use two cars for the job one to block the messenger the other to block it from backing up. They gun down the guards and three men take off in one car in one direction while the driver of other car in the rear grabs the briefcase with the loot. He switches cars.  The first three gangsters wait at a rendezvous but the man with the loot never shows up.  He does show up on a dark rainy night when we see his body pushed from a car.

Jean Chape (Gabin) a trucker, after sleeping over at his gal pal Anne's house (Moreau) , gets in his truck and while  driving his route, runs over the body of the already dead gangster. He calls the police who immediately impound his truck.  Soon the widow of the dead man and his gangster buddies begin to harass Jean believing he has the stolen money.  Jean rallies his teamster buddies to deal with them. 7/10

Good review, CJ, and I concur with your rating. There are things in the film that add interest beyond the plot mechanics. One thing I liked very much was the chemistry between Gabin and Moreau. I don't remember seeing Moreau smile so many times in a film, but she could really charm in her heyday. And the leads get a lot of good support from character actors, as well--there are honest-to-gawd people in this film! This is a movie with a lot of re-watch potential.