Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[dave jenkins]

Nomadland (2021) - 10/10. Chloe Zhao makes the film of the year and Francis McDormand heads for her next Oscar nom. McDormand plays Fern, a woman who has lost everything but her indomitable will, who dedicates herself to living the life of a modern American nomad, encountering, as she travels, a variety of like-minded people. The really interesting thing about the film is how like a documentary it is. To underscore this, all the characters are played by "actors" using their real names, and the film is filled with people who have never been on screen before. The story is subtle enough to fool many into thinking nothing much happens (and the basis for the film comes from a non-fiction book about the nomad sub-culture). The film eschews elaborate camera movements and instead uses very simple set-ups that do not call attention to themselves. This serves the movie by allowing the characters and locations to be the stars rather than the director (and scenes depicting Nevada, Nebraska, South Dakota, and the Northern California coast are a welcome change from the usual A-listers). Maybe we can finally toss all the bullshit artists in the film biz into the rubbish bin of history. Here's hoping Zhao's example will inspire a thousand similar films.

[cigar joe]

Nomadland (2021) - 10/10. Chloe Zhao makes the film of the year and Francis McDormand heads for her next Oscar nom. McDormand plays Fern, a woman who has lost everything but her indomitable will, who dedicates herself to living the life of a modern American nomad, encountering, as she travels, a variety of like-minded people. The really interesting thing about the film is how like a documentary it is. To underscore this, all the characters are played by "actors" using their real names, and the film is filled with people who have never been on screen before. The story is subtle enough to fool many into thinking nothing much happens (and the basis for the film comes from a non-fiction book about the nomad sub-culture). The film eschews elaborate camera movements and instead uses very simple set-ups that do not call attention to themselves. This serves the movie by allowing the characters and locations to be the stars rather than the director (and scenes depicting Nevada, Nebraska, South Dakota, and the Northern California coast are a welcome change from the usual A-listers). Maybe we can finally toss all the bullshit artists in the film biz into the rubbish bin of history. Here's hoping Zhao's example will inspire a thousand similar films.

Sounds interesting how did you watch this?

[dave jenkins]

Sounds interesting how did you watch this?

In the Cinema 15 multi-plex in White Plains. Yeah, CJ, you might like this one, if you're willing to go with something that doesn't have a lot of plot. The western U.S. looks fabulous--I'd like to go there sometime.

San Francisco (1936) - 8/10. Warner Archive blu: 10/10. https://trailersfromhell.com/san-francisco/

[dave jenkins]

The Morricone Duel (2018) - 9/10. The Danish National Orchestra plays the maestro's greatest film hits, plus stuff by some other guys. A lot of this, if not all, has been chopped up and put on YouTube, but Cusser, recently in one of the Morricone threads, tipped us to the fact the whole concert is available on amazon Prime, allowing us to watch the whole thing in sequence. Then I realized there was a blu-ray available as well--it came almost as soon as ordered. The "duel" of the title refers to the fact that all the material comes from movies featuring gun violence, Westerns and gangster films mostly, but here the violence is, you could say, celebrated. The Morricone stuff is done with as much original instrumentation as possible (whistles, guitars, a harmonica), but the arrangements tend to be simple medleys. For example, OUATITW is represented by a single piece that incorporates the four main themes. So it begins with Man With a Harmonica/Frank's Theme which peters out and then we get a few bars of Cheyenne's Theme before ending with Jill's Theme, each section discrete. This is OK but not particularly imaginative. A much better approach is the one they take when doing Herrmann's Taxi Driver: theme, variation, a coda that returns to the opening. Morricone's scores for the Dollars films are represented, as well a OUATITW and OUATIA, The Big Gundown, The Untouchables, The Hateful Eight, The Sicilian Clan. The concert finishes with Rota's The Godfather. The only clunker in the program is Sonny and Cher's "Bang, Bang" (WTF?).  The encore is For a Few Dollars More, which they fool around a bit with, and then end by having select members of the orchestra firing blanks at each other. Uh, they could have left out the cute stuff.

[dave jenkins]

Baby Doll (1956) - 3/10.  Wow, what a great looking blu-ray, and wow, what a wretched film. Boris Kaufman's photography is amazing, and Kazan's direction can't be faulted. The failure lies with Tennessee Williams' dull, dull, script. Three idiotic characters talk and talk and talk about things I care nothing about. Couldn't wait for this one to end.

[drinkanddestroy]

Baby Doll (1956) - 3/10.  Wow, what a great looking blu-ray, and wow, what a wretched film. Boris Kaufman's photography is amazing, and Kazan's direction can't be faulted. The failure lies with Tennessee Williams' dull, dull, script. Three idiotic characters talk and talk and talk about things I care nothing about. Couldn't wait for this one to end.

The story ain?t great, but with a performance like that from Wallach (I believe his first movie role, BTW), and also Karl Malden, 3/10 seems low

[noodles_leone]

Captain Fantastic (2016) 7/10
Nice one. It's a shame Viggo's character arc is too simple. I'd have liked to see someone smart attack his views too, and not only the craziest stuff that endengers his kids and make them borderline asocial. I was deeply moved by the way grandparental (or whatever the right word would be) love is portrayed.

Tale of Cinema (2005) 7.5/10
I'm not too much into naturalism, but that one is very powerful. If you're into these things, you could even think it's close to being a masterpiece. The idea is to show that cinema and life are the same. Or at least, they should be.

[T.H.]

Baby Doll (1956) - 3/10.  Wow, what a great looking blu-ray, and wow, what a wretched film. Boris Kaufman's photography is amazing, and Kazan's direction can't be faulted. The failure lies with Tennessee Williams' dull, dull, script. Three idiotic characters talk and talk and talk about things I care nothing about. Couldn't wait for this one to end.

It's been years since I've seen this, but I completely agree with you -- though I don't remember the photography being very cinematic. To me, Kazan's movies are incredibly stagy, and not cinematic in the least. And while the acting was influential and different for its time, I don't believe it has aged well outside of moments like the car scene with Brando and Steiger, which is much more understated than the typical hammy stage acting found in Kazan's movies. I also don't appreciate actors like Mitchum, Cooper, Stanwyck, etc etc being indirectly trashed by those that think that Brando and Kazan invented film acting.

Of all the so-called greats of the classic era, Kazan is far and away my least favorite. A Face in the Crowd and East of Eden are the only movies of his that I would re-watch. I can see the influence on Scorsese, but that doesn't mean that I enjoy the overwhelming majority of his stuff.

[dave jenkins]

Wolf (1994) - 6/10. This movie has a single gag and it runs it into the ground: in the dog-eat-dog world of business, it's better to be a wolf. Jack Nicholson plays a man in transition, and something of a wolf evangelist, spreading the good news to others. James Spader is very good as a conniving little shit. I like this slight film, but my fun is spoiled a bit by the silly looking appliances Nicholson has to wear, the inept use of slow-mo that turns all the action scenes into bad 80s TV, and the insistence by the filmmakers that the Bradbury Building, that famous LA landmark, is located in Manhattan.

[cigar joe]

Native Son (1951) Director: Pierre Chenal (Sinners of Paris (1958)) written by Pierre Chenal and Richard Wright and based on the novel by Richard Wright. The film stars Richard Wright, Jean Wallace, Nicholas Joy Gloria Madison, Charles Cane, and George Rigaud.

Interesting film noir that delves into race relations with Buenos Aries filling in for Chicago. 6/10

[drinkanddestroy]

It's been years since I've seen this, but I completely agree with you -- though I don't remember the photography being very cinematic. To me, Kazan's movies are incredibly stagy, and not cinematic in the least. And while the acting was influential and different for its time, I don't believe it has aged well outside of moments like the car scene with Brando and Steiger, which is much more understated than the typical hammy stage acting found in Kazan's movies. I also don't appreciate actors like Mitchum, Cooper, Stanwyck, etc etc being indirectly trashed by those that think that Brando and Kazan invented film acting.

Of all the so-called greats of the classic era, Kazan is far and away my least favorite. A Face in the Crowd and East of Eden are the only movies of his that I would re-watch. I can see the influence on Scorsese, but that doesn't mean that I enjoy the overwhelming majority of his stuff.

I can appreciate Brando as well as classic actors.

I disagree with you on Kazan. A Streetcar Named Desire is one of my very favorite movies of all-time, which I re-watch frequently.

[cigar joe]

My favorite Kazan films

America America 1963 - this one is cinematic and has Frank Wolff
Splendor in the Grass 1961
A Face in the Crowd 1957
Baby Doll 1956 - kinky
On the Waterfront 1954
Viva Zapata 1952
A Streetcar Named Desire 1951
Panic in the Streets 1950 this also is cinematic

[dave jenkins]

I too like America America, perhaps his best film. The other Kazan I like a lot is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, but that was before Kazan was Kazan, and maybe the studio controlled the production on that one, and anyway, he was faithfully following a popular book.

[T.H.]

Race With the Devil (1975) - Great exploitation horror action movie that's elevated by its excellent cast featuring the great Warren Oates. The car stunt work in the last third of movie is top notch and the movie itself is an effective slow/medium burner that properly builds to its climax. While it's been a while since I've last seen Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974), that's also a quality movie and I'd highly recommend the Shout double feature bluray of these two movies. B

Suburbia (1983) - The punk concert scenes have a raw documentary feel to them (the T.S.O.L stuff stands out), but the acting really just isn't there and the pace is off. But there's still some (maybe half) genius stuff here -- but if you're looking for the ultimate late 70's/early 80's juvenile delinquency movie, 1979's Over the Edge is the way to go, and the following film is the ultimate 80s punk film.... C+

Repo Man (1984) - Kiss Me Deadly meets Black Flag or Bad Brains, or something like that. This one gets better (and funnier) on repeated views and there's enough story here to keep the pace flying. if this isn't straight up genius, it's close. And what a soundtrack. "Yeah. Let's go get sushi and not pay." A

[dave jenkins]

Temptation / Yuwaku (1957) - 7/10. Not to be confused with an earlier film of the same title starring Setsuko Hara, this film--about privileged youth who want to break into the art world--is a formulaic romcom that leans heavily on Hollywood movies, particularly those of Frank Tashlin. What sets it apart, though, is the filmmakers' use of voice-over to convey what the various characters are thinking throughout. The technique is used incessantly and indiscriminately--not even minor characters are spared--to great comic effect. I don't remember laughing so hard at any other Japanese movie before. And Seijjun Suzuki fans take note: one of the featured female roles here is taken by Misako Watanabe, the actress who in Youth of the Beast plays the secret crime lord eventually exposed by Joe Shishido (oops, SPOILER!). https://ok.ru/video/2473963358830