Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[drinkanddestroy]

Vertigo (1958) -11/10. 35mm projection. I've seen Vertigo about 30 times: on TV, VHS, LD, DVD, and Blu-ray. Now at last, after all these years, I've finally seen it on film (I guess I need to see it on DCP to complete my run). The print I watched was apparently struck for the 1996 re-launch; it has the modern Universal logo, the erroneously colored face of the anonymous woman in the credits, the awful restoration Foley. It's also badly beat up in places, and has faded colors in the early reels (well, the print is 17 years old after all).

how did the infamous blue suits look?

On TCM, where I saw the movie recently, the blue of the suits of the jury members during the inquest scene, as well as Stewart's blue suit on his first visit to Ernie's after he recovers, and the blue skirt of Bel Geddes, were all this weird shade (I recall one dvd reviewer calling it 'LSD blue')

[dave jenkins]

I just saw Winter Light (first time I ever saw a Bergman movie). I thought it was well-made for what it was, but the story just didn't interest me at all.

Story? There's a story? All I've ever found in it is 81 minutes of ugly Swedish people kvetching.

[drinkanddestroy]

Story? There's a story? All I've ever found in it is 81 minutes of ugly Swedish people kvetching.

 

The church that is featured in the movie, is that Lutheran? Are those priests allowed to marry?

[drinkanddestroy]

TCM showed The Battleship Potemkin the other day (part of its "The Story of Film" series), I watched it, the first time I've ever watched a silent film. (No, I won't be rushing out to see more silent films.)

So, I've read about how various bands/individuals have composed different scores for the movie; I'm not sure which score TCM used. But at times, the music felt like it had nothing to do with what was happening on screen. Like during a tense scene (heck, all the scenes in this film are tense), this lush symphony playing, seemingly oblivious to what was happening on screen. I know that some of the scores used symphonies by Dmitri Shostakovich; I have no idea if this was one of his songs.
Anyway, I guess it's not much different than the experience of watching the movie in a theater in 1925; cuz every movie had its own orchestra (or pianist or whatever) and the scores probably varied greatly from theater to theater.

This film may have been mighty influential in the history of cinema, but I, for one, am thrilled I was born after the invention of talkies 

[drinkanddestroy]

Picnic (1955) 8/10

[dave jenkins]

The church that is featured in the movie, is that Lutheran? Are those priests allowed to marry?

Yes and yes. They're also employees of the Swedish government and eligible for a state pension.

Psycho II (1982) - 7/10. First Blu-ray viewing. In the 80s I had a lot of free time, and since matinee movie tickets were only a couple dollars, I saw a lot of films. I didn't much care what I saw, and went to everything, expecting very little in most cases. So no one was more surprised than me when it turned out this film not only did not completely suck, but had a clever plot that actually kept me guessing. Almost from the start the central question is presented: is the rehabilitated Norman Bates sliding back into insanity, or is someone out to Gaslight him? Then the murders start, and it seems like there's another element in play [SPOILER The film's alternative title could be Psycho Too END SPOILER]. With Anthony Perkins and Vera Miles returning to their roles from the first film, plus Robert Loggia and Meg Tilly--who was really cute, but couldn't act a lick.

[Groggy]

This film may have been mighty influential in the history of cinema, but I, for one, am thrilled I was born after the invention of talkies 

It's not nearly as good as Strike or October.

[dave jenkins]

Two I first saw on Turner, now out on Blu from Olive Films:

Plunder Road (1957) - 7/10. The railroad gold robbery was so perfectly planned, nothing could possibly go wrong! Er . . . maybe the plan wasn't all that great, actually. Why is it so important to get on the road after the heist? Wouldn't it be better to lie low for a week or two until things die down, rather than try to negotiate all the roadblocks? And if you're going to split up the loot among separate vehicles, wouldn't it be better to send them on different routes? If the first one gets caught (and it does) the cops will certainly scrutinize all that come after (and they do), especially when they're rolling only 30 minutes apart.  And when you get to LA, is it really such a good idea to melt down some of the gold into fixtures for your car, especially when you're gonna end up carrying many of the actual bars anyway? And who in his right mind plans the final leg of the journey to cross LA during rush hour, allowing only a half hour cushion? Lots of things in this film don't really make sense. Why are the crooks hurrying to the hijack point at the start of the film? Wouldn't it have been prudent to get there many hours earlier, to both set up carefully AND make sure you're there on time? In spite of all these stupidities, the film is a lot of fun. We never find out why all the hurry was necessary at the start, but dramatically it gives the film a lot of forward momentum that hardly ever lets up. Cutting back and forth between the three trucks does a lot to sustain interest. And the b&w RegalScope photography--fabulous.

God's Little Acre (1958) - 6/10. What a cast! Robert Ryan (!). Vic Morrow (!). Jack Lord (!) Aldo Ray (!!) Buddy Hackett (??) Michael Landon (as the albino) and Introducing Tina Louise (!!!). Pretty weird film though: as Savant says, everybody talks like they're out of the Li'l Abner comic. Ryan is especially bizarre, as if he were doing some kind of caricature of a Southern hick.  Something to experience, though.

[cigar joe]

God's Little Acre (1958) - 6/10. What a cast! Robert Ryan (!). Vic Morrow (!). Jack Lord (!) Aldo Ray (!!) Buddy Hackett (??) Michael Landon (as the albino) and Introducing Tina Louise (!!!). Pretty weird film though: as Savant says, everybody talks like they're out of the Li'l Abner comic. Ryan is especially bizarre, as if he were doing some kind of caricature of a Southern hick.  Something to experience, though.

Yea I gave it lower, give me The Beverly Hillbillies any day

[moviesceleton]

Stoker (2013) - 6/10
Park Chan-Wook's English language debut has an 80s B-film vibe to it. Couldn't help thinking of The Stepfather.
 
A Field in England (2013) - 6/10
Like watching somebody else's LSD trip. Nice ride, but has nothing more to offer.

And the two best films I've seen this year (both documentaries - makes you wonder...):

Stories We Tell (2012) - 9/10
"A film that excavates layers of myth and memory to find the elusive truth at the core of a family of storytellers."

The Act of Killing - Director's Cut (2013) - 10/10
"A documentary that challenges former Indonesian death squad leaders to reenact their real-life mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers." I'm pretty sure this will well represented at the Sight and Sound 2022 poll. (That's not either a positive or negative thing - just an assumption.) One of the most intense film watching experiences I've had in recent memory.

[Groggy]

God's Little Acre (1958) - 6/10. What a cast! Robert Ryan (!). Vic Morrow (!). Jack Lord (!) Aldo Ray (!!) Buddy Hackett (??) Michael Landon (as the albino) and Introducing Tina Louise (!!!). Pretty weird film though: as Savant says, everybody talks like they're out of the Li'l Abner comic. Ryan is especially bizarre, as if he were doing some kind of caricature of a Southern hick.  Something to experience, though.

I don't know, a 1/10 seems more appropriate.

[dave jenkins]

I don't know, a 1/10 seems more appropriate.

No, it's more entertaining than that. I've seen it twice, and I'll certainly see it again.

[Groggy]

I could barely sit through it once.

[Groggy]

Rocco and His Brothers - 8/10 - This one starts out in neorealism territory (well, except the star actors) before turning into a standard melodrama. Visconti's generally good at that sort of thing, though, so it works. Alain Delon plays a nice guy for once and Claudia Cardinale has a few quick scenes. Long in the tooth at 170+ minutes, but it's less wearying than, say, La Terra Trema.

[dave jenkins]

Rush (2013) 4K - 6/10. The rivalry between Formula 1 drivers James Hunt (Thor) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl), particularly during the 1976 season. Ron Howard has a very annoying approach to showing the races: everything is so cut up, you can't tell what the hell's going on. This being the case, Howard relies almost exclusively on on-scene media commentators to tell us what's happening ("Lauda's off to a bad start." "Lauda's been at the back of the pack, but now he's making his moooove"). So much for show don't tell. Also, there are very few driver's POV shots and those only of short duration. Is it so passé to show things from the driver's perspective, to give audience members the vicarious thrill of high-speed racing? Apparently. And to make the off-track goings on more palatable, Howard has loaded his lead characters with easily digested traits. Hunt is ALWAYS Mr. Party Hearty, Lauda is ALWAYS Mr. All Work, No Play. Do I need to mention that the story arc has the pair moving from mutual loathing to mutual admiration? Please be sure to properly dispose of your vomit as you exit the screening room.

The Warriors (1979) 35mm - 5/10. Oddly, I had never seen this Walter Hill film, so I rectified the situation yesterday with a 10pm screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Yonkers. I'd heard that the movie has a cult following--well, the cultists were out in force last night, there was hardly a seat to be had. This was the original threatrical cut of the print. I guess the cultists don't much like the director's re-vamped version now available on home video. Anyway, I was surprised how dull this film is. The premise is great: a gang from Coney Island must get from the Bronx back to home turf during a night in which every hand in the city is raised against them. Good thing those metro trains are so reliable, although that transfer at Union Square sure can be a bitch. The biggest problem with this film is that for most of the time the Warriors don't know they're being chased (they've been blamed for the death of a charismatic gang overlord, so all the gangs are out to "rack" 'em--if I have the parlance right). Hey, if you don't know you're in the middle of a mine field, it's just another walk in the park. The rumble scenes are fun, shot and edited for maximum effect, but the long pauses between fights dissipates most of the tension. This could have been so much better--where's the remake?