Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[noodles_leone]

As it is, I only ever watch Part 2 anymore.

Same. It was the first time I've seen vol.1 "for real" (and not 20min during lunch or in the background) in years, if not in a decade.
That being said, remove the ridiculous sushi shop scene in vol.1, considerably shorten (to a 1min montage) the training with Pai Mei in Vol.2 and find an incredible actress instead of a pretty good Uma Thurman and I could watch these 2 movies over and over.

[Kurug3n]

Domino (2005) 3/10
Wow that was bad. At least the trailer didn't lie: it's exactly like the trailer. As in: it's a 2 hours trailer. There isn't a single scene in that movie, just cool clips edited by an MTV editor.

As a Tony Scott enthusiast and apologist, I support this rating and comments. But as a Tony Scott enthusiast and apologist, I really enjoyed this movie. I couldn't give you a complete solid reason as to why I enjoy this particular film, I probably would give it a solid 5/10 as its still not that great of a movie, but its possible that I just enjoy the complete madness of it. Cast members of Beverly Hills 90210 showing up for no viable reason, Tom Waits appearing in the desert to add the cherry on top of the shitstorm of a film, then there's the shot of the goldfish reaction shot. What a film. I should give it another watch but with Days of Thunder playing right after to balance the palette.

[noodles_leone]

Cast members of Beverly Hills 90210 showing up for no viable reason, Tom Waits appearing in the desert to add the cherry on top of the shitstorm of a film, then there's the shot of the goldfish reaction shot.

Those are valid points. Especially the goldfish reaction shot. The movie should have had a lot more of these ideas, by the way: if you're going to go nuts and edit it like a trailer, go really nuts!

[Novecento]

The Sunchaser shares a lot of post Year Of The Dragon flaws:
- tendency to replace actual camerwork with typical late 80's/90's fast paced editing
- terrible music that's used in a typical hollywoodian way
- the film rarely takes the time to let a real scene play out

All these things are radicaly different from Cimino's first 4 movies, and it changes everything. That being said, The Sunchaser works. It's pretty fun and features moment of pure Cimino brilliance. More importantly, it may very well be his most personnal film, and you can feel it. Just like you can feel Cimino is much more at ease once the film leaves the city to enter the great American outdoors. It fits him way more than any Desperate Hour/The Sicilian bullshit. And Woody Harrelson is great in a character very unlike what he usually does.

So yes, definitely heavily flawed but worth a watch, or more: I've actually seen it twice in a couple of months and it got even better the second time around.

Desperate Hours shows that Cimino had lost non of his visual flair. There are very few directors with an appreciation of visuals like that. He remains extraordinarily underrated.

The Sunchaser has some nice moments too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tFeYHOaCpk&feature=youtu.be&t=114

[noodles_leone]

The Sunchaser has some nice moments too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tFeYHOaCpk&feature=youtu.be&t=114

That scene keeps getting mentioned by people trying to defend The Sunchaser. It's also the best scene of the movie, and a terrific scene in itself.

[T.H.]

Dick Tracy (1990) - This has aged incredibly well and was an adult blockbuster that was marketed to kids. The exterior matte painting city visuals are unbelievable (I can't stress this enough), and while the plot is rudimentary, there's the facade of a finely tuned cop drama and the quick pace also helps to keep that illusion. The score should have been much better to accompany the gorgeous visuals, and to nitpick, I wish the interiors were better lit and matched the effort of the exterior stuff. The cast here is really great on paper, but it's debatable whether the over-the-top makeup and performances were the best route to go. But it ultimately works, so that's all that matters. B+

PS I wonder if this movie's reputation will improve in the HD era. This looked nothing like the movie I watched as a kid on VHS or cable.

[noodles_leone]

Dick Tracy (1990) - This has aged incredibly well and was an adult blockbuster that was marketed to kids. The exterior matte painting city visuals are unbelievable (I can't stress this enough), and while the plot is rudimentary, there's the facade of a finely tuned cop drama and the quick pace also helps to keep that illusion. The score should have been much better to accompany the gorgeous visuals, and to nitpick, I wish the interiors were better lit and matched the effort of the exterior stuff. The cast here is really great on paper, but it's debatable whether the over-the-top makeup and performances were the best route to go. But it ultimately works, so that's all that matters. B+

PS I wonder if this movie's reputation will improve in the HD era. This looked nothing like the movie I watched as a kid on VHS or cable.

You just made me want to give it another shot. I have never seen it in HD.

[dave jenkins]

Dick Tracy (1990) - This has aged incredibly well and was an adult blockbuster that was marketed to kids. The exterior matte painting city visuals are unbelievable (I can't stress this enough), and while the plot is rudimentary, there's the facade of a finely tuned cop drama and the quick pace also helps to keep that illusion. The score should have been much better to accompany the gorgeous visuals, and to nitpick, I wish the interiors were better lit and matched the effort of the exterior stuff. The cast here is really great on paper, but it's debatable whether the over-the-top makeup and performances were the best route to go. But it ultimately works, so that's all that matters. B+

PS I wonder if this movie's reputation will improve in the HD era. This looked nothing like the movie I watched as a kid on VHS or cable.

I love this film: loved it in the theater, loved it on LD, loved it on DVD, love it now on Blu. The plot really works and (first time through) I didn't see the twist coming. I love all the Sondheim songs. Madonna is better than she deserves to be. Beatty is very good, playing a credible cop while riffing on his personas from Shampoo and Bonnie and Clyde and others. The kid actor is not annoying. Glenne Headly was once the girl of my dreams (RIP, baby) and I'm always happy to see her again. This film looks amazing and is funny, funny, funny. 10/10.

[T.H.]

Blood Simple (1984) - The Criterion bluray is a must own, and this one gets better on repeated views. It's a fantastically shot and edited movie, and I wish the Coens proceeding films used color and lighting the way this one did. This is special. A+

You just made me want to give it another shot. I have never seen it in HD.

It's worth seeing just for the visuals. It's Sin City before Sin City.

I love this film: loved it in the theater, loved it on LD, loved it on DVD, love it now on Blu. The plot really works and (first time through) I didn't see the twist coming. I love all the Sondheim songs. Madonna is better than she deserves to be. Beatty is very good, playing a credible cop while riffing on his personas from Shampoo and Bonnie and Clyde and others. The kid actor is not annoying. Glenne Headly was once the girl of my dreams (RIP, baby) and I'm always happy to see her again. This film looks amazing and is funny, funny, funny. 10/10.

I also can not believe how good the kid actor was. I hate when genre movies have kids as sidekicks, but the kid somehow wasn't annoying.

I was surprised by Madonna's performance as well. It was good.

[cigar joe]

Al Pacino is hilarious as the wanna be impresario

[cigar joe]

No Sudden Move (2021) A Neo Noir Gem directed by Steven Soderbergh written by Ed Solomon
Starring Don Cheadle, Brendan Fraser,   Benicio Del Toro, Julia Fox, Ray Liotta and many more. Sort of Like a Detroit's Chinatown. 9/10 great cinematography.

[dave jenkins]

Mirror (1975) - 7/10. Impressions of A.T.'s childhood, presented either as memories and/or dreams. Beautifully photographed by Georgy Rerberg, the use of Margarita Terekhova as Alexei's mother was the greatest casting decision of the 20th Century. The documentary footage interspersed throughout the feature was, though, a mistake--we never want to see anything but Rerberg's images--but it may have been a necessary concession to get the film made. I like the fact that the "memories" never signify more than what they mean on the surface (except maybe to Tarkovsky). We are free to interpret them as we see fit or, as I choose to do, view them without interpretation. A very lyrical film (this is not for anyone requiring a story), where poetic images are sometimes counterpointed with actual spoken verse (from the director's father):

We were taken who knows where:
Cities built by miracles
Would melt like mirages,
Mint was crushed beneath our feet
And birds accompanied us,
Fish leaped, swimming upstream,
The skies parted as we watched . . .
When fate followed our footsteps
Like a madman with a razor.

The film's largest failing is that it isn't long enough--it should run about 4 hours. The new CC home video edition is an impressive package, with wonderful PQ and enough extras to require a second blu-ray disc.

[dave jenkins]

New blu in da house. Here's my old review:

Alias Nick Beal (1949) 9/10. Faust meets All The King's Men, but with laughs. A crusading D.A. (Thomas Mitchell) meets Nick Beal (Ray Milland) a political fixer with supernatural powers (Nick Beal, geddit? Nick as in the Old Nick and Beal as in Beelzebub. One of the running gags has Nick appearing and disappearing in scenes without the aid of special effects. Some of Milland's entrances are truly (heh) diabolical.). Beal helps the D.A. obtain a conviction he desperately wants, but at the cost of violating the law and the man's conscience. Little by little, Beal leads him away from virtue, and before long the D.A. is running for governor. Helping Beal keep Thomas Mitchell on the broad path to destruction is Audrey Totter, employed by Nick to drive a wedge between the D.A. and his strait-laced wife (there is one hilarious scene where Milland instructs Totter on how to vamp Mitchell). George Macready plays a clergyman (!) who finds a way to ultimately thwart Mr. Beal. The film was directed by John Farrow (The Big Clock).

I will now listen to Uncle Eddie's commentary . . .

[dave jenkins]

Quiet Flows the Don (1957) - 7/10. Russia's answer to Gone With the Wind, only it goes on for 6 hours. A lot of it was filmed on location, using direct sound, right next to the Don river which, I was happy to confirm, is very, very quiet.  The battles and the soap opera are all competently handled. But couldn't they have found better looking actresses?

[dave jenkins]

Pig (2021) - 9/10. Not to be confused with earlier films with the same name. Here's the IMDb synopsis: "A truffle hunter (Nicholas Cage) who lives alone in the Oregonian wilderness must return to his past in Portland in search of his beloved foraging pig (Brandy) after she is kidnapped." It's John Wick meets Babette's Feast! A concept whose time has come!