Rate The Last Movie You Saw

[drinkanddestroy]

The Panic in Needle Park (1971) - 10/10. Brilliantly executed and (therefore) really difficult to watch. Pacino and Richard Bright were never better. Whatever happened to Kitty Winn?

I liked this a lot too, but wouldn?t go quite that high

[Novecento]

Regarding Yojimbo, Miyagawa does a great job. But his work on Rashomon is even more spectacular.

[dave jenkins]

1 - OUATITW
2 - GBU

Gigantic gap, because we're leaving the realm of divine cinematic perfection to enter the world of great filmmaking by talented mortals.

4 - My Name is Nobody
5 - FAFDM
6 - The Great Silence

As you may have noticed, #3 is missing, and that's because it's a league of its own: DYS, which is torn between its divine and mortal status.

Thank you. Nice to see someone actually gets this.

[drinkanddestroy]

I like FOD and FAFDM more than you do, DYS and MNIN and The Great Silence less.

[noodles_leone]

Thank you. Nice to see someone actually gets this.

Thank you yourself. I had forgotten that post, I like how it was phrased.


Amour (2012) - 9/10
Fuck you. I'm never watching this again.
(also it's a near career-high performance for Darius Khondji's cinematography)
(as well as it is the worst Evian commercial ever)


Tenet (2020) - wtf/10
What a HUGE mess, what a fail. But I like it way more than pretty much everything else Nolan did since Memento. It's like PURE Nolan, which lets us see exactly what that filmmaker likes and what bores him. I like the radicality of this movie, the absolute lack of any kind of concession for an audience member not called Christopher Nolan. Also it has a few really fun moments (and so much laaaaaaaaaaaaame ones).

[noodles_leone]

Une Vie Violente (2017) - 8.5/10
Best french film I've seen in years (I have trouble seeing Amour as french). It's a very realistic, almost naturalistic and deeply anti sensationalist (rarely have I seen such an ethic take on how to tackle on screen violence) movie about Corsican nationalists.

[T.H.]

Foxy Brown (1974) - Coffy (1973) is the best Jack Hill movie and the best of the 70s Pam Grier stuff, but Foxy Brown definitely has its moments and is very gritty and entertaining, with some rough violence. The soul soundtrack, its creative opening credit sequence and the appeal of the 70s LA locations elevate the material -- and Grier's charisma, beauty and screen presence add so much as well. While the plot can be silly at points, the best Jack Hill movies really stay with you and I remembered a lot of this even though it was probably 12-15 years since I last saw it. B

Streaming for free on Tubi, along with Coffy.

[noodles_leone]

Glad to see you?re alive. Out of nowhere: What?s your review of Point Blank? (I caught the beginning a couple of days ago)

[T.H.]

What?s your review of Point Blank? (I caught the beginning a couple of days ago)

The short review: it might be my absolute favorite movie of all time.

[dave jenkins]

It's on his 10/10 list: http://www.fistful-of-leone.com/forums/index.php?topic=12022.msg173141#msg173141

[T.H.]

Point Blank (1967) - The truly great movies of the 60s were influenced by the present but created something modern and timeless. The 60s influence holds up incredibly well over 50 years later, and this type of movie will still try to be replicated. It's still modern and designer slick, yet just as gritty and visceral as the day of its release. Nearly every scene is memorable -- and maybe every scene can even be considered great. Point Blank was released in the same month as the now dated Bonnie and Clyde, which was too much of its time. Critics and audiences crowned the wrong crime movie that was released in August of '67. A++

[dave jenkins]

Point Blank (1967) - The truly great movies of the 60s were influenced by the present but created something modern and timeless. The 60s influence holds up incredibly well over 50 years later, and this type of movie will still try to be replicated. It's still modern and designer slick, yet just as gritty and visceral as the day of its release. Nearly every scene is memorable -- and maybe every scene can even be considered great. Point Blank was released in the same month as the now dated Bonnie and Clyde, which was too much of its time. Critics and audiences crowned the wrong crime movie that was released in August of '67. A++

I too prefer PB to B&C, and agree that every scene in it is memorable. My favorite is the one where Angie Dickinson tries to beat up Marvin, who just stands and takes it until Angie collapses, exhausted. My only problem with the film is the ending. It just doesn't work for me. But the film in nonetheless eternally re-watchable.

[dave jenkins]

Aki Kaurismaki survey.

Been going through the box set put out by Curzon in the UK in 2017. Most of these I've never seen before. It's been fun.

Crime and Punishment (1983) - 8/10. There are a lot of Dostoyevsky adaptations and most aren't very good. Kaurismaki takes the curse off by transferring everything to 80s Finland and streamlining much of the plot. And in the end he actually subverts what Dostoyevsky was getting at, which, if nothing else, keeps the whole thing fresh. This was A.K.'s first feature, made before he was A.K., and as such it has a different vibe from the rest of his work. In fact, it's kind of a Bresson wannabe, but there's no fault in that.

Hamlet Goes Business (1987) - 7/10. Unlike C&P, this literary adaptation is strictly for laughs. Well, on those terms it works. The b&w photography is very nice.

Ariel (1988) - 6/10. A lot of Kaurismaki relies on exploiting genre tropes, which A.K. then invests with new values. Here the cliches are too numerous and so the film can never rise above its foundation. Amusing at times, I felt like this was a missed opportunity.

The Match Factory Girl (1990) - 10/10. About as perfect as a 68 minute film can be. Kati Outinen must be from another planet.

Drifting Clouds (1996) - 8/10. A pair of Helsinki DINKs lose their jobs at the same time and have trouble making ends meet. This is a comedy.

The Man Without a Past (2002) - 10/10. A man from the north comes to Helsinki and is immediately mugged. In fact, he's beaten so bad he loses his memory. Life without memory and money is hard. This is probably A.K.'s funniest film, and interestingly, probably the only feature in the world that presents such a positive view of the Salvation Army.

Lights in the Darkness (2006) - 9/10. A.K.'s treatment of a sucker and a femme fatale, a kind of updating of Criss Cross. Not too many laughs in this one.

[Novecento]

Point Blank (1967) - The truly great movies of the 60s were influenced by the present but created something modern and timeless. The 60s influence holds up incredibly well over 50 years later, and this type of movie will still try to be replicated. It's still modern and designer slick, yet just as gritty and visceral as the day of its release. Nearly every scene is memorable -- and maybe every scene can even be considered great. Point Blank was released in the same month as the now dated Bonnie and Clyde, which was too much of its time. Critics and audiences crowned the wrong crime movie that was released in August of '67. A++

Point Blank is seriously good throughout. But Bonnie and Clyde does have that fantastic editing during the end sequence, which justifies its place in movie lore.

[T.H.]

I too prefer PB to B&C, and agree that every scene in it is memorable. My favorite is the one where Angie Dickinson tries to beat up Marvin, who just stands and takes it until Angie collapses, exhausted. My only problem with the film is the ending. It just doesn't work for me. But the film in nonetheless eternally re-watchable.

I really like the ending because of its atmospheric strangeness. It works for me because I can't think of anything better, especially when the location calls back to the beginning.

Point Blank is seriously good throughout. But Bonnie and Clyde does have that fantastic editing during the end sequence, which justifies its place in movie lore.

Fair, but to me, the shootout from The Wild Bunch eclipses the violence/editing/etc in Bonnie and Clyde in every way. To go full Bill Simmons, Bonnie and Clyde's shootout is like Clyde Drexler or Dominque Wilkins in that they had a huge impact but came right before a rookie Michael Jordan. Not to say that The Wild Bunch is the GOAT the way that MJ is, but The Wild Bunch's shootout is the GOAT in my humble opinion in terms of action scenes.