Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[Kurug3n]

Song to Song 3/10
WOW.

Sounds similar to how Mark Kermode felt about it.

[dave jenkins]

To Serve Them All My Days (1980-81) - 9/10. An eleven-hour mini-series that chronicles the career of a shell-shocked survivor of the Great War who becomes a teacher at a boarding school in S.W. England and then rises to be the school's headmaster. Soapy at times, it's also a wonderful evocation of a milieu that doesn't really exist anymore. Being a British TV show from the 80s, production values are not high. By way of compensation, the writing is good (adapted from a novel) and the acting is astonishing. Of course the leads are all good--what amazes me are the bit parts played with subtlety and assurance. No role is badly done. Even the child actors are more than credible.

[XhcnoirX]

The Woman In The Window (1944): Edward G. Robinson is mesmerized by the portrait of Joan Bennett who promptly enters his life, and he ends up killing her lover by accident. Good noir but not as good the 2nd Fritz Lang/EGR/Joan Bennett/Dan Duryea collaboration, 'Scarlet Street'. 7+/10

The Fifth Cord aka Giornata Nera Per l'Ariete (1971): Crummy journalist Franco Nero becomes a suspect in a series of murders that he's writing about. Decent-to-good giallo, bonus point for the beautiful cinematography by Vittorio Storaro. 7/10

[Dust Devil]

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) - 7/10

It could have been much better. The directing (some striking great scale action scenes), photography and acting are above average, yet the plot and the vast majority of the smaller scenes suffer from Ritchie trying to imprint his style onto a medieval (?) flick with fantasy elements. I always have the feeling (with these newer movies) the sets and costumes need more patina.

[dave jenkins]

Trotsky (2017) - 7/10. Eight 50-minute episodes (in Russian). In August, 1940, Leon Trotsky recounts the story of his life. Cue the flashbacks. The flashbacks follow themes rather than a strict chronology, and the series is better for it. It's as if Leon were unstuck in time, bouncing around between the past and present. He always has to come back to 1940, though, so that he can be visited by ghosts. The formula develops: one of the significant players in each week's episode comes back after death to visit Leon at the end of each show. Leon sees dead people. And talks with them. Lenin is a bore, but Freud is pretty interesting. I binge watched this because it was so compelling (a bit cheesy, too, but Oh well). Btw, The Stranglers got it wrong: it was an ice axe, not a pick.

[noodles_leone]

McCabe & Mrs Miller 6.5/10
I finally got around to see this weird one. Fresh take on the genre, I really like where they went with it. I'm among the ones who think the Cohen songs add a lot to the film's whimsical mood (in a good way). The best thing it has going for it, and that will inspire filmmakers at some point, is the way the environment is a character of its own, evolving with the story. And of course the great "physicality" of such a set (I'm sure these things will come back, one way or another, at some point in the near future).The fake snow during the shootout really took me outside of the film. Anyway, the film is a bit rough for a first viewing (I understand why CJ was initially so caution when writing about it in the film's thread), so I could see its charm but not feel it that much. I'll probably rethink my rating after a second viewing some day: it's the kind of film that either grows on you or becomes annoying as hell.
Of course, like many here have noted, its influence on OUATIA is striking.

[drinkanddestroy]

McCabe & Mrs Miller 6.5/10
I finally got around to see this weird one. Fresh take on the genre, I really like where they went with it. I'm among the ones who think the Cohen songs add a lot to the film's whimsical mood (in a good way). The best thing it has going for it, and that will inspire filmmakers at some point, is the way the environment is a character of its own, evolving with the story. And of course the great "physicality" of such a set (I'm sure these things will come back, one way or another, at some point in the near future).The fake snow during the shootout really took me outside of the film. Anyway, the film is a bit rough for a first viewing (I understand why CJ was initially so caution when writing about it in the film's thread), so I could see its charm but not feel it that much. I'll probably rethink my rating after a second viewing some day: it's the kind of film that either grows on you or becomes annoying as hell.
Of course, like many here have noted, its influence on OUATIA is striking.

Your rating is too low. Yeah, I know, for you 6.5/10 means “great movie” 

What’s the influence on OUATIA?

[noodles_leone]

Your rating is too low. Yeah, I know, for you 6.5/10 means “great movie” 

No in this case the truth is it isn't a definitive rating. I liked a lot of things... but it still feels clunky. I'll adjust after I watch it again.

What’s the influence on OUATIA?

SPOILER

Several things, including similarities in the Max/Miller vs Noodles/McCabe opposition. But the most obvious one to me is the Chinese opium den with zoom in in the end... under similar circumstances. There is a lot of discussion about it in the film's thread.

[dave jenkins]

McCabe & Mrs Miller 6.5/10
The fake snow during the shootout really took me outside of the film.

I take it you mean the fake snowfall, as the snow on the ground is the real deal. But you're absolutely right. On re-watches it really annoys me too. Still, even with those blemishes, I enjoy the last half-hour of the film a tremendous amount.

[drinkanddestroy]

SPOILER

Several things, including similarities in the Max/Miller vs Noodles/McCabe opposition. But the most obvious one to me is the Chinese opium den with zoom in in the end... under similar circumstances. There is a lot of discussion about it in the film's thread.

I remember now the discussion of the opium den. Not sure what else.

[cigar joe]

I take it you mean the fake snowfall, as the snow on the ground is the real deal. But you're absolutely right. On re-watches it really annoys me too. Still, even with those blemishes, I enjoy the last half-hour of the film a tremendous amount.

I let it slide.

I still think it would make a good miniseries along the lines of Deadwood.

[noodles_leone]

I let it slide.

I still think it would make a good miniseries along the lines of Deadwood.

The pacing and (especially) the episodic nature of the structure would be perfect for a miniseries.

[noodles_leone]

I take it you mean the fake snowfall, as the snow on the ground is the real deal. But you're absolutely right. On re-watches it really annoys me too. Still, even with those blemishes, I enjoy the last half-hour of the film a tremendous amount.

Yeah, the snowfall. I’m oversensitive to it these days because i’m Working very hard to generate fake snow on a few shots.

[cigar joe]

Kona Coast (1968) Directed by Lamont Johnson, written by Gilbert Ralston (screenplay), and based on the John D. MacDonald story "Bimini Gal."  It stars Richard Boone, Vera Miles, Joan Blondell, Steve Ihnat, Chips Rafferty, and Kent Smith.

Boone plays a ship captain after the killers of his daughter and his best friend. Nice cinematography of Hawaii. I'd heard about this being trash.  If you are a Boone fan, you'll get a kick out of seeing him once again as a tough hombre, though this go round in John D. MacDonald style, in T shirt, shorts, and yellow windbreaker.

He's not a beach bum like Travis McGee he's more a fishing guide/captain marina bum, sort of like Bogart in To Have And Have Not. The film is watchable, you get to see Joan Blondell as the runner of dry out crash pad for alcoholics, Vera Miles as Boone's ex gal pal, and Kent Smith as the owner of a beach bar, hear a lot of Hawaiian lingo and see a lot of Kona scenery.

It's watchable, a time waster for Boone fans 6/10

source: internet a beautiful print BTW

Cleopatra (1963) long bloated epic. 6/10 For interesting entertaining stories about Rome I still prefer BBC's "I, Claudius" and HBO's "Rome." Watch chronologically (historical-wise), the latter first then "I, Claudius."

Fury at Gunsight Pass (1956) David Brian's part of an outlaw gang rides into town to rob the bank and their accomplice is the local undertaker (Percy Helton). They are supposed to wait for gang leader Dan Duryea's other part of the gang to get to town before starting the robbery. However Percy Helton tells Brian that the stage is gonna take a big part of the banks money as soon as a marriage ceremony gets done. Brain decides to go ahead with it. The robbery goes awry and Brian's part of the gang are captured. However the money is not found. The second half of the film takes place in a horrendous dust storm. 6.5/10

Rafles sur la ville (1958) AKA Sinners of Paris
A French Film Noir  where Michel Piccoli plays a police inspector whose best friend is is shot down by escaping gang boss Charles Vanel. Piccoli has not only lost a friend but his moral compass. He starts to have an affair with the wife of his replacement while pumping stoolies for information. 7/10

The Happy Hooker Goes to Washington (1977) Trash. Really dumb film starring Joey Heatherton as (Xaviera Hollander) and George Hamilton. The film is loosely based on Hollander who was a former Dutch call girl, madam, and author. She was a flash in the pan for her best-selling memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.

"In 1968 she resigned from her job as secretary of the Dutch consulate in Manhattan to become a call girl,where she made $1,000 a night. A year later she opened her own brothel, the Vertical Whorehouse, and soon became New York City's leading madam. In 1971 she was arrested for prostitution by New York Police and forced to leave the United States." (IMDb)

The jokes are lame, and the T&A is plentiful. I kept thinking to my self where are the song and dance numbers? This may have worked as a Mel Brooks film, something along the lines of The Producers, where the jokes are punctuated with "Springtime for Hitler" show pieces.

I won't rate it since I didn't finish it. lol

[dave jenkins]

Pinter at the BBC: a 5-disc set of 10 plays for television, 1965-1988. Most are stagey; all are from videotape sources. Here's some of them:

The Birthday Party (1987) 8/10 Kind of “The Killers” meets Waiting For Godot. Pinter himself plays one of the characters and makes a good Jewish gangster (if that’s what he in fact is).

A Slight Ache (1967) 7/10 – A middle-aged English couple invite a mute match seller into their home. Separately, they reveal themselves to him. It isn’t pretty.

The Basement (1967) 4/10 – Pinter and Kika Markham visit an old friend. Strangeness ensues.

Monologue (1983) 5/10 – A man addresses an empty chair; the chair apparently sits in for an absent friend.  Hey, Pinter! Even I know that an actor addressing an absent character does not perform a monologue, rather an apostrophe.  Nobel laureate my ass!

Old Times (1975) 6/10 – A middle-aged English couple welcomes an old friend of the wife’s into their home. Remembrances are tested and found wanting. I saw this on Broadway (with Clive Owen) a few years ago and it didn’t make much of an impression. This one with Barry Foster doesn’t either. Odd Man Out, though, gets a shout out.

Landscape (1983) 5/10 – A middle-aged English couple talk, but not to each other. A monologue plus an apostrophe.