Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[drinkanddestroy]

Stella Dallas (1937) 8/10

TCM has been showing a bunch of movies about moms cuz it's Mother's Day. Mildred Pierce is up next.


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Saddle the Wind (1958)  6.5/10

[Groggy]

I remember liking Stella Dallas.

[drinkanddestroy]

I remember liking Stella Dallas.

That scene where Stella goes prancing around the hotel like a clown is absolutely hilarious!

SPOILER ALERT

It's a shame that such an enjoyable movie had to have such a silly ending

I understand that Stella sent her daughter away cuz felt like she was just a piece of shit and an embarrassment to her. But what exactly was she trying to accomplish when -- after she sends her daughter off following that hotel incident --  she starts acting like a tramp and running off with that drunk old man Eddie Munn??  (for some reason, the mention of that name Eddie Munn just cracks me up   ) It's not like you can say that she realized she was trash and not going to get any better, cuz the fact is that she hadn't been getting any action anyway for the past 15 years, and it didn't seem to to bother her.

Then her daughter says "but she would have seen in the papers that we were getting married," as if the newspapers in South America mentioned every marriage in Massachusetts! And then she comes back just in time, watches through the window, and walks away? Come on..... Though the truth is, once the movie was going to end with that scenario, it is definitely better that it ended completely unsentimentally, with Stella walking off into the night, rather than coming inside and ending on a big kiss, that's for sure! But overall, I think the script just kind of fell apart a bit in those last few minutes, starting with the moment she decides to go after Eddie Munn. But a good watch nonetheless. (How hilarious was it that this drunk bastard living in a shitty little room, keeps a framed picture of himself on the mantle?!   )

Barbara Stanwyck was good in the lead role, but John Boles (as Stephen Dallas), Ann Shirley (as Laurel Dallas), and Alan Hale (as Ed Munn) were particularly great.

[Groggy]

I liked the ending.

[drinkanddestroy]

I liked the ending.

My problem isn't so much with the final scene, but with Stella running off with Ed Munn.

it didn't bother you that after such a good movie in which you can understand the characters' motivations all along, she would do something so implausible at the end? If Munn was still wealthy, then maybe it would be an understandable act of desperation by Stella looking for a sugar daddy or sumthin, even if he is a drunken idiot. But with him living in that shithole like that, with no money or status, I just don't see anything to justify her doing that. (I don't think it was cuz she was feeling lonely without her daughter, or cuz she needed a guy in her life). As miserable and desperate as she may have been, he offered her nothing whatsoever, and it makes no sense why she would do that. (Then again., how often do women make sense?  )

[drinkanddestroy]

The Avengers - 9/10 - This is the most fun I've had in theaters in ages. No ponderous bore like Nolan's Batman flicks, it's nonstop, unpretentious fun from beginning to end. This movie could have gone wrong in so many ways but Joss Whedon manages to get everything right. The heroes are balanced perfectly (even with tertiary characters like Black Widow and Nick Fury crammed in), the action scenes excellent, a lot of welcome humor too. The whole cast is good; Mark Ruffalo's arguably the standout, since his Bruce Banner is infinitely better than his predecessors. Harry Dean Stanton has a hilarious cameo. The rating may be hyperbolic but what the hell.

I see that The Avengers is one of 11 movies that are tied for 24-34th place on IMDB's all-time rankings, with an 8.6/10 rating http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

(I will copy those 11 movies here; cuz the list may have changed by the time someone clicks on the link.  The number at the end of each line is how many users have ranked the movie; for this greatest-of-all-time list, they only count votes from "regular voters," whatever that means).


24.   8.6   The Silence of the Lambs (1991)   366,888
25.   8.6   The Usual Suspects (1995)   365,230
26.   8.6   The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)   477,619
27.   8.6   Se7en (1995)   434,436
28.   8.6   Forrest Gump (1994)   480,850
29.   8.6   Psycho (1960)   199,903
30.   8.6   It's a Wonderful Life (1946)   138,944
31.   8.6   The Avengers (2012)   157,052
32.   8.6   Leon: The Professional (1994)   316,011
33.   8.6   Sunset Blvd. (1950)   74,502
34.   8.6   Memento (2000) 401,743

[moviesceleton]

I see that The Avengers is one of 11 movies that are tied for 24-34th place on IMDB's all-time rankings, with an 8.6/10 rating http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

(I will copy those 11 movies here; cuz the list may have changed by the time someone clicks on the link.  The number at the end of each line is how many users have ranked the movie; for this greatest-of-all-time list, they only count votes from "regular voters," whatever that means).


24.   8.6   The Silence of the Lambs (1991)   366,888
25.   8.6   The Usual Suspects (1995)   365,230
26.   8.6   The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)   477,619
27.   8.6   Se7en (1995)   434,436
28.   8.6   Forrest Gump (1994)   480,850
29.   8.6   Psycho (1960)   199,903
30.   8.6   It's a Wonderful Life (1946)   138,944
31.   8.6   The Avengers (2012)   157,052
32.   8.6   Leon: The Professional (1994)   316,011
33.   8.6   Sunset Blvd. (1950)   74,502
34.   8.6   Memento (2000) 401,743

I don't think they are tied. IMDb just doesn't show more than one decimal.

[drinkanddestroy]

I don't think they are tied. IMDb just doesn't show more than one decimal.

so you think that the order of this list is in the order of the ranking to the hundredth (or thousandth?) of a point, though they only show to the tenth of a point?


That would be interesting, cuz I see no other reason for the order in which they list the movies that have the same rating. They are neither in alphabetical order, nor in chronological order, nor in order of the number of voters. So it would be interesting if the order is actually based on the rankings with further decimals.

------------------------------

One of the many problems with IMDB rankings is in the disparity of the number of voters for each movie. Generally, I am sure that those who watch older movies are more serious fans and students of cinema, while more casual fans mostly watch recently released movies. I don't know many high school kids who have seen Casablanca or Sunset Boulevard. Those sorts of fans probably have some bias against black and white films, or subtitled films. So it's not just that the older movies have fewer voters, but that they also have a different kind of viewer/voter. I know that for this Top 250 list, IMDb only uses regular voters, and I guess that is to make sure that they are getting the kind of viewer who basically votes on every movie they see, rather than the kind of viewer who occasionally goes online to vote when they sees a movie that they love. (That would have the result of pushing the ratings upward, I guess). Perhaps that rule helps ensure a somewhat more accurate voting process, who knows.

I think that older movies have an advantage in at least one one regard: people are probably more likely to see a bad current movie than a bad older movie. Ie., someone may hear that Casablanca or Sunset Boulevard is a great movie, and therefore make the effort to get the dvd or go online and watch it, but they are less likely to just randomly watch movies from the 40's without having heard from a friend or read online that they are supposed to be good. On the other hand, sometimes a person just wants to see a movie and will go to a theater and just watch a movie without having heard much about it, this making it much more likely that they will see a current bad movie than an old bad movie.  (The terms "bad" and "good" here refer to subjective definitions; ie. IMO a person has probably seen more current movies that he/she considers bad, than movies from the 40's that he/she considers bad).

[Groggy]

Duh.

[moviesceleton]

so you think that the order of this list is in the order of the ranking to the hundredth (or thousandth?) of a point, though they only show to the tenth of a point?


That would be interesting, cuz I see no other reason for the order in which they list the movies that have the same rating. They are neither in alphabetical order, nor in chronological order, nor in order of the number of voters. So it would be interesting if the order is actually based on the rankings with further decimals.

I can't be bothered but if you're willing, you can try to prove that with their formula: 

weighted rating (WR) = (v ÷ (v+m)) × R + (m ÷ (v+m)) × C

where:
R = average for the movie (mean) = (Rating)
v = number of votes for the movie = (votes)
m = minimum votes required to be listed in the Top 250 (currently 3000)
C = the mean vote across the whole report (currently 6.9)

But I don't think this is the thread to continue this discussion.

[Groggy]

It's not really an interesting discussion either since the answer is self-evident.

[drinkanddestroy]

Duh.

did you really invoke the phrase "Duh"?

(I distinctly recall the first time I heard it: I was 6 years old, in summer camp in 1991, and it was said by a friend of mine who had these L.A. Gear Pumps... The last time I heard it  was pretty shortly thereafter)

[drinkanddestroy]

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) 7.5/10

I didn't find the story all that interesting, but taking the script as it is, this movie is done so well.

Firstly, you will be hard pressed to find a movie with two better lead performances that the ones delivered by James Stewart and Doris Day here. Day was particularly outstanding.

The movie is beautiful to look at. I rented it off iTunes and watched it on my laptop; the picture was terrific. There are some beautiful scenes, and of course the famous one at the concert is wonderful.

 One problem is that many of the closeups, particularly in the Morocco scenes. I really don't know anything about technical stuff, but it looks to me like the movie constantly will cut from a beautiful wide shot, to a closer shot in which the subject looks very sharp but the background looks like it was not shot at the same time. I don't know if they are using rear projection or what, but the color and sharpness of the character shown in closeup looks like a totally different shot than the landscape in the background (btw, this movie had few "closeups" like Leone closeups; I mean more like medium shots).
I remember watching an interview, I believe with Clint Eastwood, in which he discussed how while many directors would shoot their closeups at the end of the day when all the long shots are done, Leone would always take the time to shoot 'em at the same time as the long shots, with the good lighting.
I am recently really starting to appreciate that now, how the closeups in Leone movies look like they really are happening at the same time that the rest of the scene is happening. I'm noticing how so many other movies use rear projection or sumthin with their closeups; the subjects look very sharp and a different color than the background, which looks kind of fuzzy (and not just simply out of focus, which the background is supposed to be. It doesn't look like it was actually shot at the same time).

[drinkanddestroy]

Saw two dramas that were written and directed by Andrew Stone, on TCM:

1. Cry Terror! (1958) 7.5/10

This crime thriller has a terrific cast: Rod Steiger, James Mason, Inger Stevens, Jack Klugman, Angie Dickinson (as a bad girl!) and Neville Brand.

Steiger and his gang -- Dickinson, Klugman, and Brand -- kidnap Mason, Stevens, and their little daughter in a hostage/terrorist scheme. The gang demonstrates their ability to blow up a plane if they so wish, and then blackmail an airline into paying $500,000 ransom: failure to do so will result in the blowing up of one of their airliners and the death of the family.

-- One bit of sloppy work here, as pointed out in this review from Film Fanatic: http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/?p=2961
During one very tense scene involving Stevens, we suddenly, for the first time, get some voice-over narration by her. And toward the end of the movie, in scenes involving Mason, we get some out of the blue voice-over narration from him. At no prior point were we aware that this movie is supposed to be a first-person account from either of them; and after that one lengthy scene that each of them has with narration, we never hear a word of narration from them again. That is very sloppy work by Stone.

-- If a little girl's life were in serious danger, yes, her mom would be hysterical. But it's not something that is ever fun in seeing much of in movies. The hysterical scenes with Stevens make you crazy.

-- Oh, and in the scenes with Brand and Steiger in the house in Riverdale: I'd close my window shades if I was holding a hostage in the front room of a house on a city street.

But a cast as this as this one makes the movie fun to watch.

2. The Steel Trap (1952) 8.5/10

Joseph Cotten plays a bank manager living a typical 50's suburban life: he's been working at the same bank for 11 years, during which time he has steadily been promoted; nice wife (played by a terrific Teresa Wright) and daughter. But then one day, a casual remark by a teller gets Cotten thinking about how easy it would be for him to get into that safe. He does some research and finds out that Brazil has no extradition treaty (the Marisa Tomei and Philip Seymour Hoffman charactersin Before the Devil Knows You're Dead must have seen this movie  ). So, steal the money at closing on Friday, be on a plane out of town that night, and connecting flights will get you to Rio by the time the bank realizes the theft on Monday morning. Easy enough, right? Not in noir world, where you'll probably hit every red light on the way outta town...  

This movie has every characteristic of a noir, including voice-over narration by the Cotten character... except the visuals. I really do not recall seeing any shadows, almost the whole thing takes place during the day, few tight areas, etc. But it really feels like a noir with the situation, the tension involved in the plot, and the narration.


This one definitely had an influence on the ending of The Killing, but I won't spoil anything  

[drinkanddestroy]

Niagara 9/10 (1953)

What an amazing experience watching this movie is.

This movie showcases two beautiful forces of nature: Niagara Falls and Marilyn Monroe. (No, that's not my line. But it's a great line  )